The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

Banks tighten forex processes to block racketeering
- Three-year tax, name verification, clearing rate
Banks have started implementing enhanced foreign exchange (forex) rules to forestall sharp practices in forex application, allocation and use, in line with the ongoing forex reforms by President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

Circulars by banks at the weekend showed several updates in the forex application processes as part of enhanced measures to reinforced documentation requirements.

The new measures were with immediate effect and applied to pending and new forex applications, according to the banks.

All forex applicants for invisible items such as school fees, business travel allowance (BTA), personal travel allowance (PTA) and medicals; all small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and other corporates are expected to, henceforth, submit tax clearance certificate (TCC) evidencing tax payment and compliance for three years preceding the current year of assessment. Alternatively, the applicants must provide tax exemption certificate for the same period.

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According to the new forex processing regime, in addition to documents required to be uploaded on Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)’s platform, forex applicants must provide TCC that covers a three-year period preceding the year of the forex application with the tax identification number (TIN) visible and legible.

Also, the name on the TCC must match the applicant’s name on the CBN portal while TCC would be verified by the bank through the relevant local tax authority.

The new requirements apply to all applicants including for the purchase of forex for Form A-invisible, Form Q-SMEs, Form M-Letters of Credit and Bills for Collection.

The enhanced processing regime brought to bear provisions of Section 85(2), (4) and (5) of the Personal Income Tax Act 2011, as amended.

Besides, all forex applicants for BTA, PTA, medicals, SMEs and others categorised under Form A and Form Q will now be provided forex on the basis of prevailing rate at the Investors and Exporters Window (I &E W) as at the time of processing by the bank.

The CBN last Wednesday in a circular entitled: “Operational Changes to the Foreign Exchange Market (OCFEM)”, outlined new guidelines in a major reform of the forex market.

The highlights of the circular included the collapse of all forex windows into the (I & E) window, re-introduction of the “willing buyer, willing seller” model at the I & E window for all eligible transactions and pegging of all government-related forex transactions to the weighted average rate of the preceding day executed transactions at the I & E window.

Other highlights included proscription of trading limits on oversold forex positions with permission to hedge short term positions in over-the-counter (OTC) futures, re-introduction of order-based two-way quotes with a bid-ask spread of N1.00, and the cessation of cash-tied rebate schemes of the CBN with effect from June 30.

At the official I & E Window, the naira depreciated from the previous close of N471.67 per dollar to N664.04 per dollar after the CBN allowed commercial banks and dealers to sell forex at market-determined rates.

Finance and economic experts described the adoption of a floating forex system by the CBN as a positive development for the Nigerian economy.

Experts across the various sectors of the economy said the market-driven rates would unlock significant opportunities for the economy, curtail corruption and create enabling environment for the national growth and development.

Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader, PwC, Taiwo Oyedele, said the decision was a positive move that should bring more benefits than pains to the economy.

He outlined that with the market-driven rate, the aggregate demand for forex across markets should reduce as round-tripping incentive is removed, noting that avenues for corruption such as people who fake foreign travels just to get forex at discounted rates would be.

“Also, Nigeria’s sovereign credit rating should improve if this is complemented with the right fiscal and monetary policies thereby attracting more forex inflows and lowering the cost of borrowing,” Oyedele said.

In a 10-point impact analysis, Oyedele explained that while the decision expectedly would have some negative implications, the overall impact would be positive for the economy, government revenue and the capital market.

Managing Director, Arthur Steven Asset Management, Mr. Olatunde Amolegbe said the market-driven rate was another painful reform that needed to be done, noting that the multiple exchange rate regime was not doing the economy any good.

“Not only did the former multiple exchange rate system discourage inflow of much-needed foreign investments, it also encouraged massive corruption. Harmonising the rates should lead to better price discovery and hopefully lead to more transparent commerce. That is why the markets responded to it positively,” Amolegbe, a former president of Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) said.
June 19, 2023
Investors swarm on sovereign bonds
- Fed Govt raises N1.22b despite lower rates
Nigeria’s latest sovereign bond issuance recorded higher subscription despite the change in government and reduction in coupon rates on the instruments.

Allotment data for this month’s issuance of the Federal Government of Nigeria Savings Bonds (FGNSBs) showed that total allotment for the issuance was N1.22 billion as against N1.17 billion recorded last month.

The increase in subscription came as the government reduced the coupon rates for its two-year and three-year FGNSBs by nine basis points each to 10.301 per cent and 11.301 per cent.

A breakdown of allotment by the Debt Management Office (DMO), which oversees government’s debt issuance and management, showed that government increased allotment for its two-year bonds by 48.67 per cent from N324.86 million in May 2023 to N482.96 million in June 2023. However, allotment for three-year bonds dropped by 12.86 per cent to N735.94 million in June as against N844.56 million allotted in May.

The June 2023 issuance was the 72nd tranche of the savings bond, introduced in 2017. Usually, the minimum subscription to the bonds, offered at N1,000 per unit, is N5,000 or five units and in multiples of N1,000 thereafter, subject to a maximum subscription of N50 million. Application list for the bonds open every first week of the month.

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The FGNSBs are designed to have most of the features of the existing sovereign bond but with other benefits to the bondholder, including low amount of minimum subscription, listing on stock exchange and trading on the bonds.

It is also backed by the full faith of the Federal Government and is, therefore, deemed risk-free.

The coupon is paid on a quarterly basis, providing investors with a regular stream of incomes.

The FGNSB was introduced in 2017 as a mass instrument for nationwide mobilisation of savings and investments.

GTI Securities Limited, one of the authorised distribution agents for the FGNSB, had explained that the savings bonds help to deepen national savings culture while providing opportunity to Nigerians irrespective of income level to contribute to and benefit from national development.

According to the stockbroking firm, FGNSB enables all Nigerians opportunity to participate in and benefit from the favourable returns available in the capital market.

GTI Securities noted that the savings bonds are acceptable as collateral for loans by banks and can be sold for cash in the secondary market before maturity.

The bonds are usually listed on the stock exchange for trading, thus providing liquidity for investors who want to exit before maturity.

Savings bonds are good for savings towards retirement, marriage, school fees and house projects among other targets while assuring on its safety as the bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the Federal Government.
June 19, 2023
With LAMATA, multi-modal transport takes shape in Lagos

Commuters in Lagos are increasingly becoming spoilt for choice on how they want to move within the city as transportation becomes multi-modal, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

For decades, the movement of people and goods within Lagos has remained a major challenge for the government and businesses. With a population of about 24 million, and over 22 million round trips per day by over three million private and 200,000 commercial vehicles, commuters and private vehicles struggle for space on over 5,000km of roads in the smallest state in Nigeria.

Saying transportation was a problem is an understatement. Not only is huge man-hour lost, experts have argued that traffic leaves its costs in billions.

For instance, if just 20,000 vehicles trapped in traffic had to consume N1,000 extra fuel daily, it would amount to N20 million and in five days that amounts to N100 million. In a month, it would be N400 million and in a year, about N5 billion would have been wasted on extra fuel guzzled in traffic by motorists.

With people spending more time in traffic than they do in productive ventures, it behoves the government to become more serious about improving traffic flow in the state.

The way to go as reasoned by the Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration is to prioritise transportation planning and traffic management under its THEMES Agenda which evolved a number of road traffic reforms as part of a robust Strategic Transportation Master Plan (STMP) that aimed at introducing multi-modal transportation–rail, road, water and air travel alternatives in moving the people from one point to the other.

Read Also: Oando, LAMATA seal electric buses partnership deal

The reality today is a vastly improved public sector transportation architecture that pushes the mantra of change without coercing any operator or stakeholder but silently reflecting the rickety rutted and inefficient vehicles with modern alternatives that are providing the same services cheaper, safer, more reliable and in a more congenial atmosphere.

While the roads are being expanded and road infrastructure that had long gone is gradually returning, the government has embarked on the introduction of First Mile and Last Mile Buses (FMLM) to replace the commercial motorcycles taking commuters from their homes to the bus stops from where they connect with the bus rapid transit (BRT) buses to their various destinations.

Added to this is the introduction of taxi services with the injection of the Lagride taxi fleet, which gives riders a more pleasurable experience on the roads.

The BRT system, which the government started on March 17 2008, keeps getting more exciting as the government, through its private sector partners, only recently took delivery of large-capacity electric buses, which would be added to the ones already converted to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) which aims at achieving a NetZero carbon emission thereby making the state more environmentally friendly.

The BRT drove into extinction during the molue era, in the Lagos transportation ecosystem. Gradually, a new generation of residents is evolving who never knew or rode on the molue ubiquitous buses that were once the poster face of Lagos.

All these are being complemented with a functional Rail transportation system fast emerging.

More significantly, however, the government is injecting new ferries, making the state’s over 4,000 kilometres of coastline and navigable waterways a better alternative to commuters especially those living in riverside communities to relieve the road stress.

All these strategic reform plans are being coordinated by the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), the Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) agency which has the responsibility of actualising the desired transportation architecture of the state, and its diligent execution of the vision and objectives of the Lagos Strategic Transportation Master Plan (STMP).

The LAMATA journey

Following a law passed by the Lagos State House of Assembly and signed into law on January 13 2002, by the then Governor of the State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, LAMATA was established as a semi-autonomous corporate body with perpetual succession and an independent board responsible for the formulation, coordination and implementation of urban transport policies and programmes in the Lagos metropolitan area.

LAMATA’s mandate which remains till day is “to provide a world-class, sustainable integrated transport system that satisfies stakeholders and drives the growth of Lagos.”

To better understand the essence of LAMATA as distinct from the state’s Ministry of Transportation, the Commissioner in charge of the ministry, Dr Frederic Oladeinde clearly makes the distinction that “…while the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation develops policies, LAMATA develops strategies around those policies, converts them to plans, and proceeds to implement the infrastructure required.”

The STMP as a compass

To succeed with its mandate of enabling a more efficient and sustainable public transportation system, LAMATA developed for the state a robust Strategic Transport Master Plan and ensures it is strictly followed by the government.

This is the compass that details the requisite infrastructure required to achieve the desired transportation architecture for the state, as well as the guidelines on how and when to implement it. This is the plan that has been at the core of the development of Public Transportation in Lagos since the inception of LAMATA itself in 2002, because it envisages, factors, and integrates all modes of transport including rail, road, and water.

The STMP provides for six rail lines and one monorail; 14 bus rapid transit routes; 485 independent bus routes; and over 20 water terminals, with regular upgrades every 10 years to accommodate changing populations and realities.

Today, as obtained in successive administrations in Lagos State, LAMATA has moved the centre of excellence that much closer to the public transportation dreamland envisioned over 20 years ago.

Bus reform initiative

Given the highly metropolitan nature of Lagos and the humongous challenges that come with the congestion occasioned by the large population it attracts, LAMATA figured rightly that making transportation easier on the people would require an attempt at solving public bus transportation.

This focused approach has seen the conceptualisation and implementation of the Bus Reform Initiative (BRI), the part of the STMP that addresses the transformation required in public road transportation.

This has led to the continuing development of the BRT system which now moves up to 200, 000 passengers daily and has conveyed over 100 million passengers in the first three years of the present administration.

Part of the bus reforms is the construction of new and modern bus terminals at strategic hubs across the state such as Oyingbo, Yaba, Ikeja, Oshodi, Agege, Ojota and Ajah, among others areas, as part of efforts aimed at changing the face of public bus transportation towards a modern world-class system deserving of Nigeria’s economic capital.

In addition, there is the successful introduction of over 500 First and Last Mile buses since their inauguration in August 2021, by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration as part of efforts at ridding the state of the ruinous menace of the motorcycle operators (okada).

In the first year of the First and Last Mile Bus Scheme, over 3.5 million passengers have been moved to and from their homes to the BRT bus stops and major bus terminals.

Another accomplishment of the BRT is the automation of fare collection through the Cowry Card, an e-ticketing system that has been integrated to work on all modes of transportation – land, sea and soon, rail. This is a most innovative accomplishment and is a massive departure from what was obtainable until recently. With a single swipe of the Cowry card, commuters can pay for their bus, and will soon be able to pay for train, and boat rides conveniently.

The system helps to check revenue leakages and enables LAMATA to accurately project, plan; budget and effectively advise the government on future moves, and investments, counting on the reliable revenue projection model.

As of the end of 2022, over 2.2 million Cowry Cards have been registered and are effectively in use in the state.

Lagos rail mass transit

The Lagos Rail Mass Transit (LRMT) is part of the STMP that seeks to bring the dreams of successive Lagos administrations to life, with regard to the development of modern rail transportation. It envisions six functional rail lines and one monorail to meet the huge urban transportation needs of Lagos today and in the future.

The six lines have been colourfully named to cover different parts of the city as follows: Blue Line to run from Marina to Okokomaiko: Red Line – Marina to Agbado; Green Line – Marina to Lekki Free Trade Zone; Orange Line – Ikeja to Agbowa; Purple Line to run from Redemption Camp, Mowe to Ojo; and Yellow Line to run from Ota to the National Theatre.

Working steadily to surmount multi-various challenges, including funding and topography, LAMATA has displayed commendable diligence in bringing the Blue and Red Lines to life before our eyes with both metro systems close to the commencement of commercial operations.

The 37 km Red line is being implemented in two phases. The construction of all infrastructure of the first phase from Agbado to Oyingbo, a 27km stretch is about 90% done with stations at Oyingbo, Yaba, Mushin, Oshodi, Ikeja, Agege, Iju, and Agbado, as well as four overpasses constructed and retrofitted. The rolling stock for the Red line is in Lagos and will be operational in a matter of months.

The second phase, which will extend from Oyingbo, via Iddo and all the way to the iconic Marina station and will include a sea-crossing with a 5.2km elevated rail bridge across the Lagos Lagoon, is expected to follow immediately.

The Blue Line, however, has been the infrastructure generating the most excitement among Lagosians, Nigerians, and indeed all of Africa with the completion of the infrastructure of the 13km first phase in December 2022, and its official commissioning by President Muhammadu Buhari on January 24, 2023.

Like the Red line, the Blue line is being implemented in phases one and two. The 13km first phase will run from Marina to Mile 2, servicing 5 stations in total including Marina, National Theatre, Iganmu, Alaba and Mile 2. When completed, the Blue Line will be 27km from Marina all the way to Okokomaiko.

With the Blue Line, LAMATA and the Lagos State Government have recorded many firsts in the annals of history: the first metro rail system by a sub-national in the world; the first rail system to be powered 100 per cent by electricity, making it a 21st Century green infrastructure that is environment-friendly and no carbon emission. All these further affirmed Lagos State’s undoubted position as the crown jewel of sub-nationals in Africa.

Since the inauguration of the Blue Line by President Muhammadu Buhari in January this year, LAMATA is on record to have transported about 16,000 Lagosians on the Blue Line as part of an ongoing test of the infrastructure, system and processes ahead of expected commercial operations in the second quarter of the year.

From the infrastructure and facilities being implemented across road, rail, and water transportation and the positive transformation all these are bringing to urban transportation in Lagos State, LAMATA is a great example of what smart visioning and diligent execution can bring to a city desirous of progress.

The agency is showing that a decent, affordable, comfortable, and timeous transportation system with best-in-class infrastructure and technology for a best-in-class mobility experience is possible for Lagosians.

June 19, 2023
Why healthcare strategy needs fresh thinking
By : Sola Solarin

The ultimate test of the functionality of our health care system is if a pregnant woman in the remote town of Gashua in Bornu State goes into labour by 1,00a.m. (in the early morning) of any day, she is able to get attention in good time from a trained health personnel, and delivered of her baby uneventfully and safely. The baby gets the required post natal care and survives his/her first year. However, the reality in today’s Nigeria is different. Such a woman has the highest chance of any person in her condition in the world to die in labour, and if she’s lucky to survive the event and births the baby, the prognosis is equally dire for the baby. The chances of dying within the first year of life are equally high, one of the highest in the world!

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Little wonder then that the ailments related to pregnancy, and those that afflict infants disproportionately contribute to mortality in Nigeria. The highest causes of mortality and morbidity in Nigeria also include malaria, HIV/AIDS, road traffic accidents and pneumonia. A string that ties all these ailments together is the fact that they can all be vastly reduced through health education and behavioural change. Discourse on public health in Nigeria lately has been seized by those who push the narrative that the country’s healthcare is best served by investment in ‘world-class tertiary healthcare facilities.’ I think our policymakers have bought into this argument. Most of the investments in that sector in the recent past have gone to sophisticated diagnostic centres and facilities for cancer care. The Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority has rolled out a plan to build one tertiary cancer care centre in each of the geopolitical zones. The misalignment between what our objectives should be, and where we direct our resources cannot be starker.

The sector needs fresh thinking, and that can only be brought about by a different leadership. All the agencies in charge of our healthcare are led by clinicians, from the ministries to hospitals and other extra ministerial departments. They have lived true to the popular maxim that when you have a hammer as your only tool, every problem looks like a nail. The most audacious attempt at solving our healthcare problems in the last 25 years had come from an economist. Professor Oyewo, during his tenure as health minister, gave us the National Health Insurance Commission and the National Health Act – initiatives that attempted to resolve financing for the sector and define the roles of different levels of governments in health provision. It appears we are reverting to the thinking that has kept our healthcare in the doldrums.

If we are looking for countries to emulate to develop a healthcare system that will serve us, we should look in the direction of Cuba. In spite of being visited with the most stringent sanction regime for the past 60 years, it still boasts as one of the best performing health systems in the world. Cuba’s per capital income is only 15 per cent of that of the United States with many “world-class’ health facilities, but its health outcomes are as good, if not in certain instances better than what obtains in the United States. Its focus on public health, preventive care and education of the girl-child has ensured that diseases are most often prevented, and where they occur, are diagnosed and treated early. These have made Cuba’s health system one of the most efficient and highest performing in the world.

The healthcare landscape is also being reshaped by innovation in information technology and biomedical engineering. Thirty years ago, I needed to dress up and go to a hospital to get my blood pressure measured. Today, a simple wrist-worn device will constantly generate data on many health indices including blood pressure, pulse rate and blood oxygen saturation level. Devices have been miniaturised such that asthma patients can carry nebulisers in their pockets, diabetics can dose themselves with insulin, and people who suffer life-threatening allergies can self-administer injection of epinephrine. The healthcare landscape has changed. The paradigm that requires that I go to a hospital to treat myself for malaria and other common ailments is not only expensive, but has become unsustainable. We need to rethink the healthcare system from first principles.

Algorithms have been developed and trialled in clinical settings to perform the functions of physicians and pharmacists. IBM Watson performed better, and made fewer errors than humans performing these functions. We need to ask ourselves if we need a doctor that spent seven years in medical school is best deployed to the outpatient department of a hospital where 80 per cent of the cases he attends to can be better treated by an algorithm. The pharmacist in the community protects against drug misuse and watches out for errors in prescription. The bulk of the medicines he handles are not nearly as dangerous that a mechanical device that is AI-assisted cannot do just as well. He may well be deployed to manufacturing, and the handling of more sophisticated and dangerous medicines that when used wrongyly may cause grievous harm.

Rethinking the way we deliver healthcare requires that we engage fresh minds, who have not been indoctrinated for seven years in the atavistic way that healthcare is delivered. Can we try a philosopher, an information technology specialist, a futurist, or an engineer in the Ministry of Health for a change? The mandate should be simple. Deliver 70-year life expectancy within four years without any budgetary increase to health. No rule or law is sacrosanct. If we must amend or jettison them to achieve the objectives, bring them on. Let us have a conversation.
- Solarin is a fellow of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP)
June 19, 2023
How voluntary blood donation saves lives, by experts

Despite the World Health Organisation’s standard practice requiring one per cent of citizens to voluntarily donate blood for medical support, Nigeria’s blood donating culture remains alarmingly poor. In this report, CHINYERE OKOROAFOR writes on the health benefits of voluntary blood donation

The popular Cele bus stop along Oshodi-Apapa way was her regular stop before she would board another bus to the Oke Afa area of Lagos State. Just like every other day, Stella Obiagu (not her real name) walked on the pedestrian walkway towards the parked buses calling for Oke Afa passengers when two armed robbers attacked and snatched her handbag from her.

With a stab wound on her neck, she ran as fast as she could for any available help but by the time she made it to the nearest hospital, a blood transfusion was required to replace the lost blood. Unfortunately, Obiagu later died as a result of severe hemorrhage; it was an emergency a lack of blood bank at the hospital made impossible to manage. Her painful death is one out of many Nigerians who have to die because of severe hemorrhage, which steady availability of blood bank can help to manage.

Professor of Hematology and Transfusion Medicine at the College of Medicine of the University of Lagos and a Consultant Hematologist at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Alani Sulaimon Akanmu, listed other situations where people hemorrhage to include ghastly accidents, obstetric causes of hemorrhage, among other medical causes of severe hemorrhage. For Nigeria, a country where demand for blood transfusion is very high, to get out of its low position in blood donation, the government needs to start a 100 per cent regular voluntary blood donation programme, he said.

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“The demand for blood transfusion in Nigeria is high, as the country has one of the highest maternal mortality rates globally and the prevalence of diseases such as malaria, which requires blood transfusion. Therefore, strategies aimed at promoting voluntary blood donation are needed in Nigeria to increase the availability of safe blood and meet the high demand for blood transfusion.

“The unfortunate situation where someone has to die because of a lack of available blood for transfusion is painful and one that could be avoided if Nigerians should embrace the culture of volunteering for blood donation instead of paid one,” Prof Akanmu said.

Condemning the practice of paid blood donation, he said individuals who engage in seeking remuneration before donating blood would lie during donor criteria questions because they are in dire need of money; unlike voluntary blood donor individuals who are doing it for humanity sake. “There is something spiritual about blood that makes it not good to be sold. Blood donation should be an altruistic endeavour, and the blood of volunteer donors is safe unlike that of paid donors. Paid donation is always unsafe because the majority of people who would request to be paid before they donate blood are people who can do anything for a living. They are the people who would collect the money and buy drugs and we don’t want to collect blood from such a group,” he said.

Explaining the benefit of blood donation, Akanmu said that blood donation is very good for everybody as long the individual is fit to donate and met other donation criteria. “I used to teach what I call medical advantages of regular voluntary returning blood donation. We say you are a regular voluntary returning blood donor if you donate blood at least twice a year for more than a period of 10 years. This will make an individual to benefit from what we call medical advantages of blood donation.”

He explained that diseases that are related to excessive iron is far away from an individual who is a regular returning blood donor. “Number two is that what we call hinging of the bone marrow doesn’t happen to you because when we were born as a neonate, every part of our bone is making blood up to the age of two years; everywhere you touch is making blood, from the age of two years up to the age of 18 years when the part that is making blood begins to decrease.

“By the time you are 18, the part of our bone that is making blood is now only confined to the bone that is covering our brain, the bones of the spine and then the bones of the shoulder and ribs but all the long bones have stopped making blood except at their tip ends. Those areas of the long bones tend to get converted to fatty tissues as we are aging. But we don’t see this happening in individuals who are regular voluntary returning blood donor; rather that long bone now containing fat tissues are still remaining as if they are still active. By the time an individual is 65 to 80 year-old, most part of the long bones are already fatty but if the individuals have been voluntary returning blood donors in their lives, the bone tissue you will find in them will be as if they are still 40-45year-old.

“The bone marrow doesn’t age and therefore what we call the anemia of the elderly doesn’t happen to these people. We don’t have data for that here, but the data is available elsewhere where it has now been shown that the average lifespan of a voluntary returning blood donor is at least three to five years more than the average lifespan of people who have never donated blood.”

With the theme, “Give blood, give plasma, share life, share often,” this year’s World Blood Donor Day campaign focuses on patients requiring life-long transfusion support and underlines the role every single person can play by giving the valuable gift of blood or plasma. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends that a country of Nigeria’s size should have a minimum of two million voluntary blood donations annually to ensure blood safety and availability for transfusion. Instead, only about half a million voluntary donations are made across all the country’s hospitals and blood establishments each year, leaving a shortfall of over 1.5 million blood units. But the country’s agency in charge of blood donation, National Blood Transfusion Service (NBTS, said it collects only 500,000 pints of blood every year, leaving a shortfall of about 73.3 per cent.

According to the NBTS’ head of planning, research and statistics department, Adaeze Oreh, only about 25,000 blood units sourced exclusively from voluntary unpaid blood donors were screened, collected and distributed in 2019 and 2020. In countries like Nigeria, up to 65 per cent of blood transfusions are given to children under five years of age; whereas in high-income countries, patients aged above 65 years are the most frequently transfused. This further underlines the fact that in the Nigerian environment, younger populations are hardest hit by the lack of safe blood supplies.

Mrs Oreh said recent available data showed that only eight per cent of Nigerians donate blood freely and that about 80 per cent of donors donate to relatives in need. “From the data available to NBTS, approximately 80 per cent of donations are from family members, which we call family replacement donations,” she said.

Several studies revealed the reasons why Nigerians are hesitant to donate blood voluntarily and regularly. These hindrances include fears of infections, side effects such as weight loss, sudden death, sexual problems, high blood pressure, and convulsions, and additionally, various religious beliefs are frequently cited as reasons not to donate blood. Mrs Oreh said that developed countries with optimally structured health systems and robust blood transfusion services that are based on voluntary blood donation can meet their population demands for blood and blood products. Despite periodic or seasonal shortages, their patients are largely assured of access to safe blood when needed. Therefore, for developing countries like Nigeria, which are plagued by incessant incidents of shortages in safe, quality blood and blood products, harnessing the power of the country’s youthful population is key to tackling the unavailability of safe blood.

June 19, 2023
Abba and the Gang

Abba was a 20th century Swedish band that brought sheer joy coursing through the global soul, by the sheer melody and electricity of its lyrics and music. Kool & the Gang was a similar group, though American, that did no less.

But Abba and the Gang? That’s a man-made typhoon now tearing though Kano, flattening properties, trashing value and planting sadness and gloom in its trail! From Kano’s new Governor Abba Yusuf, it’s a new day with a new plague.

Already, the humongous costs are sobering: according to a report in The Nation of June 18, gone are a three-storey plaza of more than 90 shops, worth N100 billion and a 90-room Five-Star Daula Boutique Hotel, reported to cost more than N10 billion — gone under the rubble.

Also smashed and flattened is a monument which, if it had stood, could have memorialized Kano history and nativity: the N160 million Golden Monument, erected by the Ganduje administration in 2017 to mark the 50th anniversary of the creation of the old Kano State (now Kano and Jigawa states) in 1967.

You could hear the anguish of Hajiya Kaltume Gana, the monument’s designer and curator of the National Art Gallery in Kano, ruing the demise of her artistic offspring as a parent would mourn the premature passing of a golden child.

“I am very sad and displeased by the demolition of this monument which has become the symbol of Kano,” Hajiya Gana said “In fact, it is the face of Kano; the people keep appreciating its tourism essence.”

Gana and the pro-Golden Monument lobby claim it teems with motifs celebrating the Kanawa (the indigenous Kano people’s) Hausa local patterns and cultural/traditional arts and crafts. But the bulldozing government claimed it boasted an offensive cross, in a dominant Muslim state, projecting a needless faith tension.

Read Also: Kano State Assembly adopts motion to end gang violence, thuggery, crime

Faith tension is incalculable. Still, the most costly of all the losses so far were clearly two lives — two scavengers lay buried with the ruins of demolition.

Scavengers — Mallam Aminu Kano’s golden talakawas, perishing with bulldozed choice properties, should be a big deal! It jars against that age-long essence of Kano as haven of the poor and the vulnerable, as the late Aminu Kano professed all his remarkable life.

It’s not in Hardball’s place to start pontificating on who is right or who is wrong in this grim Kano debacle. All the facts are not out yet. We don’t know if the Ganduje government actually rode roughshod over the law, as the Abba Yusuf government now alleges. We don’t know too, if the new government is just too filled with bile it can’t wait to settle brazen scores.

All of the facts will emerge in due course.

But one thing is clear: politicians should cherish and respect value even while settling scores. Mowing down assets, in a polity struggling with resources for development, is all-round bad economics. Indeed, it’s brazen and arrogant lack of common sense!

That’s why the three-week old Kano government may yet rue this early rush, after the initial whoosh of conquest from newfound power.

June 19, 2023
I pardon all

“I shall do nothing in malice. What I deal with is too vast for malicious dealing. The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present,” – Abraham Lincoln

It was a pun but they did not see the fun. Yet, I am not writing in jest, but to follow the rhetorical footprints of President Bola Tinubu in his inaugural speech that echoed another great man, Abraham Lincoln. I write, as this essayist has always done, with “malice towards none.”

When I wrote the piece, Obi-tuary, there was a tempest in the land. I did not even know until half-way through that Monday in early August when my attention was drawn to my phone. It was on silent mode, but the screen flashed like the restless winks of a war zone at night. The cannons unleashed, the night-sky brilliance a bloody omen. An incandescence without sound. It was not only phone calls but text messages. They clashed for living room in my device.

I didn’t pick any of the calls because I had indicated on the column that I only entertained text messages. But when I saw the messages, I gasped. Before I read one sentence, another had entered. It was like this for weeks. The messages said such things as “you and your generation will never know peace.” “Since you wish our candidate death, we shall also kill you.” Amadioha will perish you.” “Sam you think you can rubbish Peter Obi and go free. We go shoot you. That obituary na there we go put you .” “We must kill you.” “We are tracing you.” Many said lines like this, “We know where you live, expect us and say goodbye to your family.” “Tinubu is your slave master”. “Idiot educated slave.” “Your days on earth are numbered.” “You and your principal are in trouble. If we can’t get him, we will get you.”

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These are a few of them. Online, on Facebook and Twitter, it was mayhem. They posted false photos of me. One photo of man holding a goat with a sign, My name is Jonathan, was identified as me attending Goodluck Jonathan’s rally. Several posters of my obituary bloomed darkly. One of them read the “shameless of a foolish man.” A TV station veered from professional integrity to host a guy who propagated that falsely. Yet, the hosts know who I am, my face and profile. I had to rebut it on TVC. Some wrote press statements that I had been fired. I discarded my phone number and tossed the SIM card. I got calls from well wishers on my other line showing solidarity and praying I survived it. A friend sent a text, saying “this too shall pass.”

It was a hectic time for me and my loved ones. I did not go to the office for four months. I was a hermit, except my trips for TVC Breakfast show, and I had go there in disguise. I attended no parties, no public events, and restaurants. I was as Americans say a home buddy.

But I forgive all. I forgive them who did not understand English enough to know that I was using a figure of speech. In the article, I said it was an electoral obituary. But I pardon their ignorance. If Jesus could ask God to forgive his foes because they knew not what they did, who am I? Ignorance is fatal, and I saw the danger for months. I also wondered, if they could turn Obi into Obidients and get away with mangling the word for their purpose, why did they not see my own wordplay? They make right their impunity to twist Tinubu’s name to all sorts of innuendoes. That is the nature of populism. They are 100 percent right; no other person has a right.

I also forgive their candidate who acted as though nothing happened. I thought he was not online. But he is a man who knows me personally and who I visited in Awka when he was governor. I forgive him because he was in the insular business of sealing minds in his favour as a politician, rallying tribe and church for a personal gain. I feel no pain for him and his “yes daddy” candidacy.

I forgive also those who should belong to an intelligentsia and who know about hyphens and metaphors but who shut their minds from the light. Some I have known for decades. Some I have worked with, played with and wept with over the fragility of a nation. The same wrote as though I was their monster. One of them I just saw a few days earlier. I forgive him for his lack of grace and finesse. One of them said he did me a favour for reviewing my book as though he did not get paid for his effort. Who was encouraging whom? I forgive him. One said I was not a seasoned journalist, referring to a newspaper report that described me as such. He said I was a seasonal journalist. At least, you should have seasoning first before you become seasonal or seasoned. I thank him for the unintended compliment. This same person called once to describe me as the number one columnist in the country. Maybe it was an inebriated moment. One of them had very bad words to say about the LP candidate and he had shared it with passion and sometimes bitterness because he worked with him as governor. But he joined the Obidient rage with such gusto that I wonder whether I was observing schizophrenia. He was not the only one. One other one had written bales and bales of articles over his abysmal stewardship as governor. Suddenly, he scented him as a saint. It was probably loss of memory. A tear for their memory. It is the tragedy of what an author, Eric Hoffer, designated as the true believer.

When I wrote about “closet Biafrans,” it was a hint. My article teased them out of the woodworks. They came hooting and raging. I forgive them for their pharisaic paroxysm, for not making the election about ideas but about tribe and church. My misty eye for them for failing.

I also forgive that man, who will remain anonymous. He called me and said, “Sam, why are you profiling a whole tribe?” I said I did not profile a tribe but a tendency of some within it. Then he said he had not read it. This man is too big to mention without sullying his majesty in Nigerian history. I respect him too much to name him. My tears for him.

Someone said I take my quotes from a book of quotes. I forgive him because he just revealed how he writes. He does not read like me and if it is envy over my cornucopia of learning, I also forgive him. Some of us don’t need to justify our depths. How will he explain my copious allusions to history, plays, novels, poems, philosophy, sociology and the Bible? I must be superhuman to get all of that together within a day. It is another unintended applause. I hail him.

Someone said, he does not read me because I write poor sentences and wrong words? Really? This guy’s column is never read unless by his family and myself occasionally. Maybe he does not know my syntax or my imaginative use of language. I forgive. I must say, no writer is perfect. Nor am I. Even Soyinka’s, Achebe’s and Shakespeare’s flaws are well-known. In his Cancer Ward, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote of a person, “You have the strengths of a great writer but none of his weaknesses.” I came upon this line in Kano during my youth service when I read the novel. So, I do not need to be perfect to be a great writer. As humans, we are not perfect either. As essayist William Hazlitt writes, “It is well that there is no one without fault, for he would not have a friend in the world.” Apostle John said, “If we say we have no sin, we make Christ a liar.” As for those critics, I pardon their perfection.

I also forgive my group I have been with for all of 50 years and how they turned against me because of my political stance even though they knew we were on the same WhatsApp group. They are a vital part of my identity today. Their vitriol tested friendship. But I forgive.

I also sought personal security then, and called the commissioner of police in Lagos and seemed to harangue him with my calls. He picked a few times and promised. Then he stopped picking and replying my text messages. It was then I knew I was all alone with God. Maybe he was too busy. I forgive his busyness.

If I forgive, I ought to thank. I thank those colleagues of mine who stuck with me in those trying times. I thank some who called from the southeast and stood by me and understood that I meant no wrong. What I wrote was only confirmed by the fiery waves of reaction. Instant prophecy, instant fulfillment. Some constantly got in touch with me. One of them worked with the LP candidate, and he was miffed by the herd of worshippers.

I thank Reno Omokri for his phone call and for his kind words when the storm came. I recall his words even now and also his stand for me on his platform. I remember getting calls from PDP chieftains. Indeed, one of them, now a PDP senator but then a governor, wondered if I was in my home, and whether it was safe. I told him I had already moved to somewhere anonymous. I thank my uncle, Prof. Nesin Omatseye, for his shout of solidarity in the press. God bless him. Of course, my close family, for standing by me. I thank The Nation newspaper family for understanding.

In all, the essay was about free expression in a democracy. If one has a candidate, it is in the democratic culture to allow others to scream. I had my vision for Nigeria. They would not. They wanted to skewer me because I had a dream. A dream of one country. They skewed it into a dream agency for one part of the country.

June 19, 2023
Abia begins salary, pension arrears payment month end

Abia State Governor Alex Otti has promised that workers would start getting their salary and pension arrears owed by the previous administration by month end.

The Nation learnt that civil servants are owed for about 30 months arrears.

The governor spoke in Umuahia at a thanksgiving service for Obi Aguocha, who represents Ikwuano-Umuahia Federal Constituency in the House of Assembly.

According to him, the total indebtedness left by the previous administration ‘at the last count was over N200 billion. But it is a debt the state must pay’.

He said: “I must assure you that we will deal with them. By the end of this month we would start paying confirmed salary arrears. You also know that a lot of our retired elderly people are also owed several years of pension arrears. We promised during our campaign that we will defray the arrears, and we will start as soon as possible.

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“We are being held back by the fictitious figures and numbers which cannot be confirmed. So we have started with the forensic audit to ensure that we will be paying the right people. We plead with you to be patient as we work to make Abia a better place.”

June 19, 2023
NNPP voids suspension of Imo chairman

The New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) has voided suspension of the Imo State Chairman, Chief Charles Duruimo, by chairmen at the local government chairmen level.

National Publicity Secretary, Dr Agbo Major, at a news conference in Abuja, said the decision was taken by the National Working Committee (NWC).

He said: “There was a leadership disagreement within the Imo Chapter of our party and the State Chairman, Charles Duruimo, was purportedly suspended foor alleged anti-party activities. Duruimo dismissed his removal, saying his leadership had earlier suspended the officers and members involved in the plot to sack him.

“The National Working Committee (NWC) directs that status quo be maintained in the Imo State Chapter Executive led by Chief Charles Duruimo. All actions taken by the two sides are null, void, and of no effect in running the affairs of the party in Imo.” he said.

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He said that the affected officers of the party did not explore the appropriate channel of communication and procedure in handling the dispute in line with the clear provisions of NNPP’s constitution.

Major added that the state executive will be invited to Abuja to formally resolve the crisis. According to him, the need for peace, unity, teamwork and synergy in running the party affairs in Imo cannot be over emphasised as it prepares for the November 2023 governorship election.

June 19, 2023
Don’t spread propaganda, Ohanaeze cautions

Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide has urged Igbo in Lagos to remain calm and avoid spreading propaganda about the planned demolition of distressed buildings at the Alaba International Market.

There have been series of online publications alleging that the planned demolition was to victimise Igbo resident in Lagos.

But President-General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo Worldwide, Chief Emmanuel Iwuanyanwu, said investigations showed that the publications and statements were fake and ‘propaganda meant to raise tension and cause disaffection between the Igbo and their Lagos hosts’.

According to Iwuanyanwu, reliable information showed that the directive was not related to plazas and shops in the markets or along the market road.

A statement yesterday by the National Publicity Secretary, Alex Ogbonnia, reads: “The attention of Ohanaeze Ndigbo worldwide has been drawn to several fake publications circulating the social media, and alleging a decision by the Lagos State government as victimising the Igbo domiciled in Lagos.

“We have investigated and one of our reliable sources, Comrade Chinedu Ukatu, a member of the Lagos State Market Advisory Council and President, Ndigbo-Amaka Progressive Market Association, said ‘the Lagos State Environment and Development Authority has been issuing warnings as regards the obstruction of some water ways. All that happened at Alaba and the emergency visit by government officials were directly about those blocking the free flow of water through the provided water ways. The directive is not in any way related to plazas and shops on the markets or along the market road. He enjoined all disregard the statements and messages trending online as such propaganda is not necessary for the Igbo at this time’.

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“Another Alaba resident, Chief Ikechukwu Okolo said ‘some structures were erected on waterways, thereby obstructing drainages and causing flooding, especially during the rainy seasons. Owners of the affected structures have since been notified, for months, but each time the execution order was to be effected, corrupt government officials would get compromised, and the flooding challenge continues, until this time.

“Chief Evaristus Ozonweke, an Ohanaeze chieftain resident in Lagos, has also validated the above position’.”

Iwuanyanwu, who worried over the lingering problems in Lagos, urged the Environment and Development Authority to exercise prudence and best considerations in discharging its duties.

He, therefore, indicated a pressing need to visit Lagos and the Southwest in the next few weeks, hoping that during the visit, all the challenges confronting the Igbo in Lagos will be addressed.

June 19, 2023