The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • CBN abolishes multiple naira/dollar exchange rates

    CBN abolishes multiple naira/dollar exchange rates

    • Market-driven currency regime excites financial experts

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday unified all exchange rates within the economy into the Investors and Exporters (I&E) window.

    In a circular to authorised dealers signed by CBN Director, Financial Markets, Angela Sere-Ejembi, the regulator said all exchange rate segmentation is “abolished with immediate effect”. 

    The CBN said all segments of the foreign exchange market are now collapsed into the I&E window.

    It added that applications for medicals, school fees, Business Travel Allowance/Personal Travel Allowance and SMEs would continue to be processed through the I&E window.

    Experts spoken to by The Nation welcomed the development, saying it will remove corruption, increase Forex inflow and boost economic development.

    The apex bank action is in line with the directive by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his inauguration day speech, which was yet to be carried out by suspended CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele before he was edged out of office last week. 

    Emefiele is currently under probe for his conduct during his nine years in office.

    Under Emefiele, the CBN resisted the pressure from World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) that the naira should be floated to determine its real value and eliminate the corruption embedded in the multiple exchange rates regime.

    In the circular, the CBN also said that the operational changes to the foreign exchange market include the re-introduction of the “Willing Buyer, Willing Seller” model at the I&E Window.

    Read Also: JUST IN: CBN floats naira at I&E window

    “Operations in this window shall be guided by the extant circular on the establishment of the window, dated 21 April 2017 and referenced FMD/DIR/CIR/GEN/08/007. 

    “All eligible transactions are permitted to access foreign exchange at this window,” it stated.

    According to the circular, all operational rates for all government-related transactions shall be the weighted average rate of the preceding day’s executed transactions at the I&E window, calculated to two decimal places.

    “Proscription of trading limits on oversold FX positions with permission to hedge short positions with OTC futures limits on overbought positions shall be zero. 

    “Re-introduction of order-based two-way quotes, with bid-ask spread of N1. All transactions shall be cleared by a Central Counter Party (CCP). 

    “Re-introduction of Order Book to ensure transparency of orders and seamless execution of trades. 

    “The operational hours of trades shall be from 9 am to 4 pm, Nigeria time,” the circular said.

    Also, there is a cessation of the RT200 Rebate Scheme and the Naira4Dollar Remittance Scheme, with effect from 30 June 2023.

    Market-driven naira value excites financial experts

    The Finance and economic experts, who welcomed the floating of the Naira are the President, the Association of Capital Market Academics, Prof. Uche Uwaleke; Chief Executive Officer, Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise [CPPE], Mr Muda Yusuf;   Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader, PwC, Taiwo Oyedele; Chief Economist, PwC Nigeria, Andrew Neven;  Managing Director, Arthur Steven Asset Management, Mr Olatunde Amolegbe;  and President, Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe.

    Others are  Senior Credit Research Analyst, REDD Intelligence, Mark Bohlund; former Executive Director, Keystone Bank, Richard Obire;    Director General, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Mr Segun Ajayi-Kadiri;  Financial analysts, Renaissance Capital, Charles Robertson; and Managing Director, SD & D Capital Management Limited, Mr Gbolade Idakolo.

    Uwaleke, who  said that  the unification of exchange rates  would  lead to “ a more transparent forex market,” however, advised  the   CBN  to implement the policy  ”in a way that it would not cause massive distortions in the general price level.”

    He said: “The unification of exchange rates should not be a one-step process but should be implemented over a period of time however short it may be. Empirical evidence suggests that reforms are more successful when they are sequenced and implemented in phases. This is against the backdrop of the oil subsidy removal which, taken together, can result in galloping inflation and rising poverty levels. So, while fiscal and monetary policy reforms are welcome, absolute care should be taken to strike the right balance and minimise their unintended consequences.”

    Yusuf said the policy would facilitate the mopping up of naira liquidity in the economy in the short to medium term.

    That, according to him,   will impact positively on inflation outlook and deepen the autonomous foreign exchange market through the liberalisation of inflows from export proceeds, diaspora remittances, multinational oil companies, diplomatic missions, etc.

    He added that “the erstwhile foreign exchange policy regime was for all practical purposes, a fixed exchange rate regime that  created   distortions and negative outcomes.” 

    Yusuf said the distortions included “widening the  gap between the official, other multiple windows and parallel market exchange rates, collapse   of liquidity in the foreign exchange market and    high demand for forex .”   

    He added: “It is important to reiterate that this is not a devaluation policy, it is a normalisation of the foreign exchange policy regime and an adjustment of rate to reflect the fundamentals of demand and supply.  It would be dynamic, and the naira will appreciate or depreciate depending on the fundamentals.”

    The expert advised the  CBN  to  ”position itself for periodic intervention in the forex market, as and when necessary.”

    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.

    Neven expressed support for the policy as it would remove uncertainties and ensure transparency in the forex market.

    “We had stated in a report to the CBN that as long as we don’t have a unified exchange rate, and there is a lack of transparency, nobody will invest in Nigeria. We will continue to have insufficient investment and growth and consequently remain poor. What we said years ago came to pass.

     ”During the (Muhammadu) Buhari Administration, the average growth rate was 1.5 per cent and the population growth was 2.7 per cent. So, it is a necessary condition to get enough investment into the country when we have a unified exchange rate.

    “A situation where you have multiple exchange rates, where you don’t know how to have access to foreign exchange or at what price, simply is unworkable. Any system where you have to go to the CBN in order to access foreign exchange or get approval simply isn’t going to work. That is what has been proved over the last decade.

    “I think the reaction to President Tinubu’s inauguration statement was very positive, and this latest statement is very positive. We view these as a necessary step toward economic recovery in Nigeria. We’re very much in favour of the unification of the exchange rate,” Neven said.

    Ajayi-Kadiri said it was a “positive development and an indication of a far-sighted strategic choice”.

    He said the policy, among other range of fiscal measures to promote domestic manufacturing, was borne out of a deep reflection on the current inclement manufacturing environment and the need to stop the drift into inglorious de-industrialization of the Nigerian economy.

    The MAN chief,  however, said in addition to pursuing the unification of the exchange rate, the CBN should be prevailed upon to take effective action to give priority to the allocations of forex to the productive sector, particularly to manufacturers to import raw materials, spares, and machinery that are not locally available.

    Also, 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 the inflow of much-needed foreign investments, but it also encouraged massive corruption. Harmonizing 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 the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) said.

    Gwadabe said the removal of the rate cap would allow a true market clearance rate which has been the agitation of several stakeholders in the economy.

    He said the move will harness and increase various sources of supply of dollars into the economy like foreign portfolio investment, foreign direct investment, diaspora remittances, and export proceeds, among others.

    “The new directive, in my opinion, is to checkmate various illegal economic behaviours like rent-seeking, currency substitution, forex holding positions and frivolous demand in the market,” Gwadabe said.

    Obire said eradicating multiple exchange rates would bring about increased dollar supply, and exchange rate stability.

    Also, Bohlund said the unification would help the federal government to better balance its books as it is still highly dependent on dollar-linked oil revenue while spending is in naira.

    While Robertson said that “Nigeria has become investable again, adding that attracting foreign money is wise when local savings are in short supply.”  

    Idakolo said the floating of the naira would lead to a free market system that allows market forces to determine the rate.

    “This would allow availability to determine the rate and eliminate hoarding,” Idakolo said.

    He added that the development “would also encourage foreign direct investment into the economy as restrictions limiting free flow has been lifted. In the long run, as the economy becomes stronger, the naira would begin to appreciate against the Dollar and the economic activities would now determine the strength of our currency going forward.” 

  • Tinubu orders probe of EFCC chairman’s tenure

    Tinubu orders probe of EFCC chairman’s tenure

    • DSS detains Bawa after indefinite suspension

     After three years and four months in office, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa got the boot yesterday.

    He was suspended from office indefinitely by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who also ordered a probe into his activities in office.

    Bawa was promptly arrested and detained last night by the Department of State Services (DSS), whose spokesman Dr Peter Afunanya said: “Bawa arrived a few hours ago. The invitation relates to some investigative activities concerning him.”

    The presidential directive on Bawa came from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF) Senator George Akume through a circular by Director of Information Willie Bassey.

    It said the President’s action followed allegations levelled against him. 

    He has been directed to hand affairs of the Commission over to the Director of Operations.

    He said: “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the indefinite suspension from office of Mr. AbdulRasheed Bawa, as the Chairman, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to allow for proper investigation into his conduct while in office. 

    “This follows weighty allegations of abuse of office levelled against him.

    Read Also: Tinubu meets EFCC chairman, Bawa

    “Mr Bawa has been directed to immediately handover the affairs of his office to the Director, Operations in the Commission, who will oversee the affairs of the Office of the Chairman of the Commission pending the conclusion of the investigation”. 

    Bawa’s predecessor Ibrahim Magu was controversially removed from office.

    Bawa, 43, at the time of his appointment, was the youngest to lead the anti-graft agency.

    He has been attending meetings at Aso Villa with President Tinubu and other officials of government since the president’s inauguration on May 29.

    In the last two weeks, he has had an engagement with former Zamfara Governor Bello Matawalle, who he accused of mismanaging the state’s resources.

    Matawalle fired back, describing the EFCC chair as corrupt and asking him to quit office and submit himself for investigation.

    Previous chairmen of the agency are Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Mr. Ibrahim Lamorde, Mrs Farida Waziri and Magu – all of them senior police officers. 

    Bawa is the first civilian to head the agency, where he worked for more than 20 years as an investigator before his appointment.

    He led the team that investigated the alleged sleaze under the watch of former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke.

    Bawa until his appointment, was a Deputy Chief Superintendent.

    He was nominated as substantive Chairman on February 16, 2021, and was confirmed on February 24, 2021, by the National Assembly.

    Bawa holds a degree in Economics from the Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto, where he also obtained a Master’s in International Affairs and Diplomacy. He is said to be studying Law currently.

    Bawa recently appeared at the Ikeja High Court to testify for the EFCC in a petrol subsidy scam case.

  • Gbajabiamila resigns as  Rep, resumes as President’s CoS

    Gbajabiamila resigns as  Rep, resumes as President’s CoS

    Immediate past Speaker of the House of Representatives  Femi Gbajabiamila yesterday resigned as a member of the House.

     With his resignation, the seat for   Surulere 1 Federal Constituency of Lagos State which he represented for 20 years became vacant.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is expected to conduct a bye-election to fill the seat.

    Gbajabiamila, who immediately assumed office as the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu, presented his letter of resignation to  Speaker Tajudeen Abbas at  12.12 pm.  

    In it, he informed the House of his appointment as the President’s CoS and thanked his colleagues for their support throughout his stay in the House, especially in the last four years when he served as Speaker.

    Gbajabiamila said: “It is with mixed feelings that I want to, at this time, at this moment and at this hour and this minute present to this House, my letter of resignation from this House.”

    The former Speaker left the chamber at exactly 12.14 pm to a standing ovation from members. He was accompanied out of the chamber by Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu and a few other members.

    He had told his colleagues  that he  was ready “to work with Mr President in delivering his Renewed Hope agenda for Nigeria.”

    Read Also: APC women plead for Gbajabiamila’s seat

    Senate resumes

     The 10th Senate yesterday resumed legislative activities and immediately went into a closed-door session after its  Senate   Godswill Akpabio took the opening prayers.

     More than three hours later,  it resolved to inform President Bola Tinubu that it had resumed.  

    The members, who promised not to be confrontational, congratulated the House of Representatives for its successful inauguration and informed it that they had commenced the session.

     The lawmakers also set up a 15-member Welfare Committee, chaired by Isah to make arrangements for them to settle in.

    They, thereafter,  adjourned plenary till July 4, 2023, to allow their Welfare Committee and  Senate management to arrange for the allocation of offices and seats to them.

  • Abibatu Mogaji: 10 years after

    Abibatu Mogaji: 10 years after

    Ten years ago, Alhaja Abibatu Ashabi Mogaji, Iyaloja-General of Lagos and Nigeria, died. Deputy Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU writes on the life and times of the Amazon, and her involvement in the Southwest and national politics.

    In the fifties, women participation in politics was limited to attending rallies, campaigns and voting. Only few women-Mrs. Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti and Mrs. Magret Ekpo-were fielded as candidates for elections. The late Mrs. Wuraola Esan, Iyalode of Ibadan, was also appointed as a member of the ceremonial Senate.

    The slots conceded to women were few. The few concessions did not justify their level of involvement and commitment.

    Among prominent women leaders who mobilised for political action, from pre-independence era,  was the late Alhaja Abibatu Ashabi Mogaji. Although she passed on 10 years ago in Lagos at 96, her legacies are evergreen.

    Mogaji was a relentless market activist, woman of substance, philanthropist, and promoter of Islam. She knew her onions; very enterprising, discliplined, courageous, hardworking, diligent and highly principled.

    But the deceased President of Market Men and Women Association of Nigeria also made her marks in politics. She was in the class of women politician like the late Mrs. Olayinka Rosiji, the leader of the Action Group (AG) Women Association and illustrious mother of Chief Ayo Rosiji, celebrated secretary of the defunct party, and the late Mrs. Jolubu Kolade, a leader of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) women’s wing in Ondo State. The market matriarch was also a close associate of the Mrs. Hannah Dideolu Awolowo, the widow of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo. They remained as friends till the end.

    Alhaja Mogaji was a consummate politician. Yet, she played her politics without expecting any exceptional personal reward. Her expectation was a new lease of life for the masses, particularly members of her trading constituency, market women.

    Read Also: APC women plead for Gbajabiamila’s seat

    She paid her financial dues to the coffers of the AG and UPN, unlike nowadays when payment of party dues by party members is old-fashioned. She also organised the market women into “political cells” across the old local councils, thereby making it easy for the parties to mobilise them under her indisputable leadership. For over 60 years, Mogaji was the voice of women in Lagos. She used her platform, the market association, for interest articulation andf aggregation. Even, when she had an opportunity to to contribute to old council management, she stuck to her passion, which was advancing the cause of market men and women.

    Three years before she passed on, the Yeyeoba of Lagos, Ikirun and Kweme, was appointed as the Chairman of Lagos State Market Development Board. The appointment by Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) crowned her involvement and service to the members of the strategic community who accounted for her pre-eminence in the metropolis. On her wheel chair, she spoke as the market ambassador and endowed the office with visibility and honour. Throughout her life, she acted as an effective bridge builder between the government and the masses.

    “All market men and women are important and government should carry them along,” she said at her inauguration by the former Head of Service, Alhaji Yakubu Balogun, who presented her with the certificate of appointment, amid applause by other board members.

    Throughout her market career, her leadership was never disputed by traders who held her in high esteem. Not only has she articulated the views and interests of traders, her name has been synonymous with Lagos market, its pride, beauty and varieties, its challenges and pains, its prospects and pitfalls. It was a no mean feat that she had led the organisation without betraying the group’s objectives and without abusing her exalted office. She never personalised the power of the market, but promoted inclusion and fostered a team spirit among market leaders across the local governments.

    During the colonial period, Alhaja Mogaji had shown that promise of leadership as a kid trader and an apprentice learning at the feet of the legendary Madam Pelewura, a successful and influential trader in the metropolis. She was not afraid of the rain and scourging sun, the devastating threat to hawking, and the discomfort associated with buying and selling in the city. She was faithful to her boss to the end, making her to earn her trust and receive her blessing.

    Immediately, she built on that time-tested trading reputation. When she started her own business, she became a household name in Lagos, mentoring young leaders and organising them into associations and societies for interest articulation. In her informal school of commerce, she taught the principles of profitable trading, diversification of commercial ventures and traditional debt recovery. She also exposed many traders to variety trading, the value of hard-work, customers relations and confidence building, lending and borrowing with dignity, and keeping of promise.

    Alhaja Mogaji achieved fame by dint of hardwork, self-sacrifice and commitment to the goals of life. She was a focused trader and employer of labour in the informal setting. Many who came to her as trading apprentices later became so close to her and she treated them like blood relations. She was also a strict disciplinarian. As a parent, she groomed people without sparing the rod to spoil the child.

    But, early in life too, her human face, human heart and milk of human kindness came to the fore. She became a philanthropist, channeling resources to the poor and needy. Her house became the rallying point and refuge for widows, homeless and other artisans and peasants who needed succor. Many youths became graduates on her unsung scholarship. Numerous others were aided to be up and doing in their businesses. Although an advocate of religious harmony, the devoted Muslim was a frontline defender of the faith who sponsored many religious activities in the media.

    However, she was not a religious bigot. The iyaloja sponsored faithful on pilgrimage to Mecca and Jerusalem.

    Unknown to many, Alhaja Mogaji was also a politician. The Amazon was active in the hey days of party supremacy and hierarchical discipline when party followers paid dues as financial members, when political consensus received majority endorsement, when leaders were credible, and when government was responsible and accountable. She had joined the AG.in the fifties, mobilising support for the leader, Awolowo, during campaigns. She was an active member of the AG Women Association, led by the late Mrs Rosiji, mother of the late Chief Ayotunde Rosiji, until the split in the party at the Jos Conference in 1962. She printed banners and posters for AG leaders for free and steered women to endorse Awo and other candidates at the polls.

    Paradoxically, Lagos, her main base, was firmly under the control of the defunct National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC), led by the late Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, who had become a parliamentarian in Ibadan. But, when the AG seized the storm, Alhaja Mogaji played a prominent role in securing the bloc vote of women for AG in Lagos. Her mobilisation prowess, despite her lack of formal education, puzzled the NCNCers like Otunba Theophilus Benson, Chief Adeniran Ogunsanya, Alhaji S. A. Adewale (the boy is good) , Dr Ibiyinka Olorunnimbe, Chief Adeleke Adedoyin, and Prince Adeyinka Oyekan, who later became the Oba of Lagos. Through her political activities, she became very close to Mrs. HID Awolowo.

    When the late Alhaji Ganiyu Dawodu wanted to replace Bashorun J. K. Randle as a councilor in the Lagos City council, Mogaji was one of the eminent Lagosians who campaigned for him, despite the stiff opposition by the equally powerful Lagosians in the NCNC, who objected to the ambition of the “political lad.” Dawodu later became the chairman of the council in the First Republic.

    During the military rule, Alhaja Mogaji was a force to reckon with. When the prices of food jumped up in Lagos, the first military Head of State, Gen. Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi, pleaded with her to appeal to the traders. But, she also demanded for social amenities for the people from the government. Reflecting on the incident, Ironsi’s secretary, Ambassador Hamzat Ahmadu, who paid a condolence visit to the family, said: “The former Head of State sent me to her to appeal to her to reduce the price of foodstuff, which she did. She did not leave it at that. She called me and said, my son, I have done my part. What about the General? I said he will do his part.”

    Her lack of education may have robbed her of cabinet appointments in Lagos State during the long period of military rule and during the Second Republic. Alhaja Mogaji was among top women leaders who rallied women behind Alhaji Lateef Jakande, when he ran for governor of Lagos in 1979. Jakande, son of Oluwo of Lagos, defeated Prince Ladega Adele, son of Oba Musendiku Adeniji-Adele of Lagos, and in1983, he defeated Hakeem Habeeb.

    Alhaja Mogaji’s services to the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), even at the centre, was legendary. An Awoist, she played a prominent role in the crisis resolution agenda of the AG and UPN under Awolowo. She accompanied Mrs. Awolowo to Offa, Kwara State, on a historic peace mission mooted by the leaders of the UPN to reconcile the late Chief Josiah Sunday Olawoyin and Senator Cornelius Adebayo, following the crisis that broke out after the 1982 governorship primary. Then, Awo and Jakande supported the governorship ambition of Olawoyin, the Asiwaju of Offa, while former Governor Bola Ige of old Oyo State and Senator Abraham Adesanya backed Adebayo. It was not easy for Olawoyin to let go, especially when there were indications that UPN would ride on the back of the protracted crisis between Senator Olusola Saraki and Governor Adamu Attah to power. Olawoyin felt that he should be the candidate, in view of his past contributions to the progressive fold, his sacrifices and humiliation in the hands of Northern Peoples Congress (NPC) leaders when he was the Leader of Opposition in the old Northern Region. Twice was the shadow election held, and Adebayo won on all counts.

    To prevent the escalation of the intra-party crisis in the Kwara State UPN, the duo of Mrs. Awolowo and Mogaji left Lagos for Offa to pacify Olawoyin. As the Mrs Awolowo, Yeyeoba of Ife, later recalled, the woman recorded success where men had failed.

    Alhaja Mogaji was not lettered, but when the elite deserted Awo in the days of political tribulation in the First Republic, she rejected overtures from Chief Ladoke Akintola, leader of ‘Demo Party’ and controversial Premier of Western Region, to defect from the AG. Throughout the period that Awo was in jail, she was always present at Ikenne home of the leader for the yearly birthday celebrations. She was a pillar of support for Mama Awo and other oppressed progressive leaders under the banner of the United Progressive Grand Alliance (UPGA).

    Three years before she passed on, she reviewed her political life during her birthday at her Alausa, Ikeja residence. She said: “I have seen it all. I have interacted with Zik, Balewa, Sardauna, Ironsi and Gowon. I have played my role and served my people. All I have been saying is that market women and the masses should be catered for.” The remarks were reminiscent of her farewell address to former military President Ibrahim Babangida, during the commissioning of the Third Mainland Bridge, Lagos. Mogaji said: “Ibrahim and Moriamo (Maryam), as you are going to Abuja, you should not forget Lagos. You should not forget us because you have been part of us”.

    Mogaji was also a “June 12” crusader. An apostle of justice, she had decried the criminal annulment of the historic election won by the late Chief Moshood Abiola. In fact, she went to appeal to Babangida in Abuja to rescind his decision on the cancellation of the results. She was accompanied by her son, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Third Republic senator and pro-democracy crusader who played a key role in the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO).

    Tinubu is now president, a decade after her demise. Whenever he stormed Sunday Adigun Street, Alausa, Ikeja to cast his votes, he is always seized by emotion and nostalgia. On those occasions, Tinubu used to wheel Alhaja Mogaji to and fro the polling booth.

    Mama Awo and her compatriot, Mama Mogaji, were weighed down by the burden of old age at the twilight of life. They could only dictate the tune on wheel chairs, although their powers of ideas and mental recall remained intact. Reflecting on that inevitable limitation imposed by old age, Mrs. Awolowo, who is ever fond of her friend, said that the early tolls and deep political involvement later, actually sapped their energy.

    Also, at private level, Alhaja Mogaji bore the vicissitudes of life, including the demise of her promising daughter, Mrs. Kasumu, with philosophical calmness.

    Under the Tinubu Administration, there were allegations that some traders had converted their market shops to residence by sleeping overnight there. Government threatened to deal with the culprits. Drastic measures were proposed to curb their desecration of the markets. It was Mogaji who brokered peace between the government and aggrieved market women.

    In 2011, the women leader also endorsed Fashola for a second term, ahead of the party’s endorsement. During her birthday, which was attended by Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) leaders-Chief Bisi Akande, the late Alhaji Olatunji Hamzat, Prince Tajudeen Olusi, and prince Abiodun Ogunleye, she raised up the hand of the governor. Turning to former Governor Bola Tinubu, Mogaji, she said in Yoruba: “I was here in this house when you said that you have discovered the best man to take over from you. You have spent eight years. Fashola will also spend eight years.”

    A staunch believer welfarist programmes, Mogaji was instrumental to the Lagos State government policy of paying the WAEC and NECO of secondary students as a way of sustaining the access of indigent students to quality education.

    Many people used to seek help from her over school fees and WAEC/NECO fees. When she cold not cope, she usually sent the long list to Tinubu in the Round House, Alausa seat of government. The former governor now realised that many poor people may not be able pay examination fees. Tinubu administration therefore, took over the payment. Other states started emulating Lagos.

    In appreciation of her contributions to the socio-economic and political development of the country, Mogaji was bestowed with the national honour of “Member of the Order of Federal Republic” (MFR) and Officer of the order of the Niger (OON) by the Federal Government. In addition, Lagos State University (LASU), Ojo, and Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, gave her a honorary doctorate degrees.

  • Student loan law takes off in September

    Student loan law takes off in September

    The implementation of the Student Loan Scheme will kick off in September, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, David Adejo, said yesterday.

    He said students in public and privately-run institutes will benefit from the scheme.

    Adejo told reporters in Abuja that President Bola Tinubu has directed an Inter-Ministerial Committee to work out the modalities for the implementation of the scheme.

    President Tinubu had signed into law the Student Loan Bill in fulfillment of one of his campaign promises.

    The student loan bill sponsored by the Speaker of the 9th House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, provided for interest-free loans to indigent students. The law is expected to facilitate easy access to higher education by indigent Nigerians.

    Adejo said President Tinubu has directed the Inter-Ministerial Committee to ensure that the first batch of eligible students begin to access the loan in September. 

    The permanent secretary dispelled the insinuation that the Federal Government would introduce tuition fees in tertiary institutions because of the new law.

    Adejo explained that the government had been working on granting financial autonomy to universities before now. 

    The permanent secretary also disclosed that the Gazetted Act would be made public after its transmission from the Federal Ministry of Justice. 

    Read Also: FG set to begin giving student loans in September

    He said the Federal Government could no longer fund university education alone, adding that it is considering public-private partnership. 

    The permanent secretary emphasised that government wanted to provide opportunities for every Nigerian child to go to school and live a life of dignity. 

    He said the defunct Student Loan Board and Nigeria Education Bank collapsed due to leakages, default and mismanagement.

    He said: “During the last administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, the former Education Minister Malam Adamu Adamu, asked the ministry to come up with a scheme that will make sure that anybody that wants to go to school, but couldn’t go to school because he or she does not have money would be able to. 

    “Within that period too, the House of Representatives under the leadership of Femi Gbajabiamila, who is now the Chief of Staff to the President, had sponsored the bill for the establishment of the Student Loan Fund.

    “The bill is to make sure that every Nigerian has access to higher education through what we called the Higher Education Nigerian Bank.

    “Learning from past mistakes, the bank is not going to be the type that will sit down and be collecting applications for loans. It will also perform normal banking functions and make sure loans are given because we had cases of loan recovery in the past.

    “The Act tells us the process, but as I speak with you today, the president has approved the committee made up of the ministries and agencies and their inaugural meeting will come up on 20th of June. 

    “The president has also directed that between September and October, this 2023/2024 academic session, he wants to see recipients of these loans. So, it is a very serious marching order for us. So, between now and then we have to fine-tune the process for people to get the loan.”

    While disclosing that a tracking system would be put in place, the permanent secretary said all applications would be submitted in the individual applicant’s school before getting to the bank for processing.

    Adejo said a specialised bank would be created to handle the loan applications. 

    He said that the loan scheme would not be politicised, adding that the Federal Government will reduce the influence of politicians on the scheme. 

    Adejo added: “We are not going to use existing banks. We are going to create a new bank that will address this because we can’t use an existing bank.

    “We don’t want to make it that only people who want to go to public schools will benefit from the loan, private schools are paying tuition, so you have to give them the opportunity.

    “The loan is for you to get an education programme and get employed then you start paying back. The loan recovery does not start until you get employed.”

    While commending President Tinubu for the bill, he said: “Our current president today is a job creator from his experience from the private sector and he has given us policy direction and job creation is one of the things he is going to do, even though you cannot create job for everybody.”

  • Don’t shift blame for sloppy handling of your case, INEC tells LP’s, Obi’s lawyers

    Don’t shift blame for sloppy handling of your case, INEC tells LP’s, Obi’s lawyers

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has asked the Labour Party (LP) and its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, to desist from blaming it for their inability to effectively prosecute their case before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC).

    INEC’s lawyer, Kemi Pinheiro (SAN), spoke in reaction to a claim by counsel for LP and Obi, Livy Uzoukwu (SAN) that the office of the Chairman of INEC declined to accept a subpoena served on Prof. Mahmood Yakubu to produce some documents.

    Uzoukwu made the claim mid-way into proceedings yesterday after another member of the petitioners’ legal team, Audu Anuga (SAN), who was tendering documents, suddenly announced that he had exhausted what they had for the day.

    Uzoukwu, who led the petitioners’ legal team, told the court that his team would have loved to continue, but for the refusal of the INEC Chairman’s office to accept a subpoena served on him to produce some documents, a development that was hindering progress in their case.

    The SAN said he earlier informed INEC’s lead lawyer, Abubakar Mahmoud (SAN), about the issue and that Mahmoud requested a copy of the subpoena.

    He added: “He (Mahmoud) graciously asked me to give him a copy of the subpoena. But, I did not have an extra copy to give him. 

    “He asked me to give a copy to any member of his team. But, because I still do not have an extra copy, what I intend to do is to send him one immediately after I am done with the proceedings today.

    “I am confident that he will do the needful for us to continue tomorrow (today). I ask for an adjournment.” 

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    Pinheiro claimed it had become a pattern with the petitioners to always look for someone to blame whenever they were unable to make progress.

    He said: “It has become a habit. Whenever they want to seek an adjournment, they look for somebody to whip. 

    “It cannot be true that a subpoena is refused by the office of the INEC Chairman. It is very unfair and uncharitable to blame INEC for your inability to proceed with your case.” 

    He said the INEC Chairman and other officials of the commission have no reason to decline to accept subpoenas or any other court documents because there is a department with the responsibility to handle such issues and respond accordingly.

    Pinheiro cited the case of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in which subpoenas have been served on the INEC Chairman and some other senior officials, which were accepted and responded to accordingly.

    He added: “They have done almost two weeks now and have only been able to call two witnesses out of the 50 that they said they want to call.

    “Don’t use INEC as a whipping boy. If they have nothing else to do today, they should just stay so. It is their day. It is not correct that the office of the INEC Chairman refused to accept a subpoena.

    “They made the same claim about documents. All the documents they are just tendering now, some of them were certified as far back as March, some in April and the last was in May.”

    Earlier, Anuga tendered from the bar bundles of documents, which he described as certified true copies (CTCs) of downloaded reports from INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV) in respect of some local government areas in Benue, Niger, Edo, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Gombe and Kaduna.

    Anuga tendered some of such reports he said were blurred and could not be associated with any LGA in some of the states.

    Further hearing in the petition resumes at 9 am on Thursday.

    The PDP and its presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, continued the presentation of their case by calling a witness, Samuel Oduntan, who they described as a statistician.

    The petitioners tendered through Oduntan, who featured as their 21st witness, reports of analysis of election materials. 

    Eyitayo Jegede (SAN), who led the petitioners’ legal team, told the court that the respondents agreed to return the next day to cross-examine the witness.

    Respondents’ lawyers – Mahmoud for INEC, Wole Olanipekun (SAN) for President Bola Tinubu, and Lateef Fagbemi (SAN) for the All Progressives Congress (APC) – agreed to return the next day to cross-examine the witness.

    As against the expectation of all, including the court, Jegede applied for an adjournment, prompting a member of the court’s panel, Justice Boloukuoromo Ugo, to express surprise that the proceedings, for which four hours had been allocated, ended in just an hour.

    The court fixed further hearing for 2 pm.

  • ‘Aregbesola should explain why he didn’t vote for Tinubu, Oyetola’

    ‘Aregbesola should explain why he didn’t vote for Tinubu, Oyetola’

    Immediate –Past Interior Minister Rauf Aregbesola should explain why he did not vote for Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu during the Osun State governorship election in August last year and February 25 presidential poll.

    Spokesman of the Ninth Senate, Ajibola Basiru, who carpeted Aregbesola over the extension of his apologies to whoever he might have offended in within the All Progressives Congress (APC), put a question mark on Aregbesola’s APC membership status.

    The former minister was Oyetola’s predecessor as Osun State governor. He openly opposed Oyetola’s re-election last year.

    Oyetola’s challenger, Governor Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party, defeated the APC in Aregbesola’s polling unit at the election.   

    Senator Bashiru who served in Aregbesola’s administration as Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, also lost his reelection bid to the candidate, Olubiyi Fadeyi.

    The former Chairman of the Senate Committee on Information, who presented his scorecard in Osogbo yesterday, berated the faction loyal to Aregbesola for working against Tinubu and Oyetola.

    He said: “Leaders of our party that are still in the party today and I know Baba Bisi Akande and former governor Gboyega Oyetola. We have had four important processes leading to the last general elections which he didn’t participated.

    “I cannot deny that Aregbesola was our leader, but today, I am not sure whether he is still within the party. I don’t know which party he belongs to. For the past three elections, we have not seen him participating in any of our party activities.

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    “Today, I’m in APC and I work for the party whether we win or lose. Ask Aregbesola which party he voted for during the presidential, governorship and National Assembly elections and where he voted.

    “We only have one APC in the state. I sent a written memo to the former minister in 2021, pleading that as a leader of the party, no matter what issues or grievance he has, he should not engaged in the factionalisation of the party.

    “When there are disagreements, it is not by seeking to undermine the state platform you rode to the top.”

    He also chided a prominent Osun monarch for leaving his royal duty to oppose his re-election to pitch tent with the PDP against other political parties.

  • Fed Govt’s N819b extra budget filled with ghost projects

    Fed Govt’s N819b extra budget filled with ghost projects

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has uncovered phantom projects in the N819 billion 2022 Supplementary Budget.

    The implementation period of the supplementary budget was on May 27  by the Ninth National Assembly  from June 30 to December 31.

    The budget is one of the challenges inherited by the Godswill Akpabio and Tajudeen Abass-led .10th National Assembly. 

    But the EFCC detected many sharp practices and under-the-table deals by the immediate past lawmakers, including most principal officers of the National Assembly. 

    Out of the 277 projects, 258 projects with contract value of N704, 789,763,043.00, are  domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.

    Most of the projects on “phantom roads” allegedly belong to members of the 9th National Assembly.

    Five ongoing projects and rehabilitation works were allocated N140.1 billion.

    The 258 projects comprise 184 new ones, 23 Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) projects and 51 ongoing projects.

    Also in the budget are 121 projects worth N320. 7 billion  located in the states of the principal officers of the immediate past Assembly.

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    A principal officer secured 14 of the projects with a cost of  N55, 816,232,553.90.

    A minority principal officer got N16, 521,273,684.74 allocated to him.

    Other irregularities highlighted in the Supplementary Budget are duplication of projects, inclusion of already completed projects to siphon funds, ongoing and rehabilitation of projects with seemingly outrageous amounts, outright padding.

    Records indicated that many projects were inserted in the budget of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Federal Ministry of Water Resources and in the Federal Capital Territory Administration.

    It was gathered that with the ongoing investigation, many senators and House of Representatives members may face trial.

    Some of the documents on the alleged budget fraud revealed how Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) were held hostage by some lawmakers.

    A document reads in part: “Intelligence indicates that most of the projects of phantom roads amounting to billions of naira, which were inserted into the Federal Ministry of Works estimates, belong to members of the National Assembly.

    “Despite this Supplementary budget, most of these projects are still in the 2023 Budget.

    “Due process was not followed in arriving at the projects majority of which are new projects that looking at the time can come under the 2023 Supplementary Budget.”

    Some of the specific details were contained in another document.

    It says: “Two hundred and fifty-eight projects amounting to N704, 789,762,043.00 are domiciled under the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing. The 258 projects comprise 184 new projects, 23 FERMA projects and 51 ongoing projects.

    “The 258 projects are spread across all the states in Nigeria except Enugu State.

    “Three projects have the sane narration in the 2022 Amended Appropriation Act and 2022 Supplementary Act. Five ongoing projects have the considerable sum of N140. 080 billion.

    “The rehabilitation of the National Assembly Complex, for Thirty Billion Naira (N30,000,000,000.00), an ongoing project, is approved for the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) in the Act.

    “As of 15th January, 2023, the project has 70% for procurement of materials progress, 35% for overall work progress, and payment made so far is nine billion, two hundred million naira (N9,200,000,000.00).

    “One hundred and twenty-one projects out of the total 277 projects listed in the Supplementary Act, worth N320, 722,065,252.08 are in the states of the Principal Officers of the National Assembly and Heads of Committees who supervise the various ministries.

    “In the Ministry of Water Resources, the Supplementary Act further budgets N500 million for the Pategi Water Supply Project in Kwara State, an already completed project.

    “A seemingly outrageous amount was quoted for rehabilitating the Nasarawa Water Project, a project that the Ministry has almost completed.”

    As at press time, it was gathered that only the intervention of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu could halt the plot to fleece swindle the nation of scarce resources.

    A highly-placed source said: “The President needs to allow a comprehensive audit of the Supplementary Budget and some of these infractions.

    “What the lawmakers did will have strong effects on the economy. How can 2022 Supplementary Budget run till December 31st 2023?

    “Are we in a Banana Republic? The President must act to avoid running conflicting budgets.”

    A document highlighted the implications of the extension of the tenor of 2022 Supplementary Act.

    It says: “The action of the National Assembly, which extended the life of the Supplementary Budget to December 2023 and the amendment of the Central Bank of Nigeria Act, has the following negative consequences.

    “The Auditor-General of the Federation cannot audit the 2022 Accounts of the Federal Government of Nigeria until the end of 2023. An act that goes against the Constitutional provision that states that the Federal Government Accounts of 2022 shall be audited before 30th June 2023.

    “The Federal Government of Nigeria will run two books of accounts throughout 2023, which is unhealthy for the economy. There will be more borrowing for the Federal Government through Ways and Means.”

  • Why healthcare strategy needs fresh thinking

    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 Borno 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!

    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.

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     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)
  • How voluntary blood donation saves lives, by experts

    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.

     “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.

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     “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.