The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • ASUU to Tinubu, IGP: arrest killers of UI Prof

    ASUU to Tinubu, IGP: arrest killers of UI Prof

    The Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), University of Ibadan Chapter yesterday urged the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Alkali Baba to aid the Oyo State Police Command to nab the killers of Prof. Opeyemi Ajewole.
    Ajewole, of UI’s Department of Social and Environmental Forestry Development, was gunned down by yet-to-be-identified assailants on the evening of June 5, 2023, in Ibadan, Oyo State.
    In a release signed by the Chairman UI Chapter of ASUU, Prof. Ayo Akinwole, the Union tasked President Tinubu to take a “passionate interest and ensure the security system unmasks the faces behind the murder of the Professor of forest economics and urban forestry.”

    Read Also: Subsidy: ASUU urges Tinubu to fix refineries


    It reads in part, “We condemn in totality the gruesome murder of our comrade, Professor Opeyemi Isaac Ajewole and charge the security operatives to track down and apprehend the perpetrators of this dastardly act, with a view to unravelling the motive behind the incident as well as bringing the perpetrators to book.”

  • Police rescue two accused of ritual killing in Anambra Emma Elekwa, Onitsha

    Police rescue two accused of ritual killing in Anambra Emma Elekwa, Onitsha

    The police in Anambra State have rescued two persons accused of ritual killings in Ihiala Local Government Area (LGA) of the state.
    The victims, a male and a female paraded naked in a viral video, were accused by a mob of killing three persons in the area.
    The mob forced them to carry the corpses in a wheelbarrow.
    A male voice in the video claimed that the duo killed the deceased for money rituals before being caught by residents.
    But Police Spokesperson Tochukwu Ikenga in a statement absolved the duo of the accusations, saying they were falsely accused.

    Read Also: Police arrest man for allegedly defrauding Catholic Seminary


    He clarified that the case was that of suspected murder and not of rituals as alleged, adding that the deceased had been deposited in a morgue, while the victims were receiving treatment.
    He said: “The Command’s operatives by 10am on 7/6/2023 rescued two victims and a suspect, who were about to be lynched by a mob at the Total junction, Ihiala.
    “To set the records straight, it is not a case of ritual killing, but a pure incident of murder. Preliminary information reveals that the two culprits, a man and a woman, who were humiliated and paraded as shown in the video by the angry mob were erroneously accused as they were seen at the scene where the murder took place.
    “Also, both the suspect and victims are currently receiving treatment in the hospital, while the deceased has been deposited in a morgue.”
    Ikenga said Commissioner of Police, Echeng Echeng had called for calm, while the matter had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Awka for a comprehensive investigation.

  • Police arrest man for allegedly defrauding Catholic Seminary

    The Ebonyi State Police Command has arrested a 31-year-old man, Benjamin Ufoh for allegedly defrauding St. Augustine Seminary College, Ezzamgbo in Ohaukwu Local Government Area (LGA) of Ebonyi State, of N425,000.
    Ufoh, who is awaiting arraignment, was arrested following a petition to the state Commissioner of Police by the college Solicitor, Sampson Ekigbo.

    Read Also: Police rescue two accused of ritual killing in Anambra Emma Elekwa, Onitsha


    In the petition, the school alleged that the suspect approached the College’s Rector sometime in November 2022 and represented himself as a Staff of a health company which turned out to be false as he was a salesman with a marketing company in Abuja and Lagos.

  • Navy seeks U.S. support in anti-piracy battle

    Navy seeks U.S. support in anti-piracy battle

    By Precious Igbonwelundu

    The Nigerian Navy (NN) has said its anti-piracy initiatives within the country’s waters and up to the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) would be sustained, warning criminal elements to stay off.

    This is just as the service canvassed improved support, collaboration with the United States of America (US) especially with regards to sea riders.

    The Flag Officer Commanding (FOC), Western Naval Command (WNC), Rear Admiral Joseph Akpan made the commitments while receiving a five-man delegation from the US Congress led by subcommittee Staff Director, House Foreign Affairs Majority, Joe Foltz.

    Read Also: How Navy protected creeks, others in Southwest, by FOC

    The visit was to review some of the donations to the Nigerian Navy by the US government; understand areas of importance to the NN for future assistance and improve existing relations between both countries and navies.

    Noting that both maritime countries has come a long way in terms of collaboration, the FOC said the presence of the US Navy in the GoG would serve as encouragement to the NN especially with the current initiative it was driving.

    “The developing countries, which Nigeria is one of its disproportionately affected by piracy and because we have more dependence on sea, with 90% of our trade using water transport.

    “The developed countries have other alternatives to reduce that figure, but for developing countries, it is just the sea, so piracy creates so much negative effect.

    “The multiplying effect of insurance premium on goods coming and so many unwanted, undesired offence also affect our economy. So anything to do with providing more security at sea, to deal with illegal activities in our waters is a welcome development.

    “One of the things that can foster cooperation is the issue of sea riders. We haven’t had that with the United States warships in recent time. We have had that with French and Spanish sea riders.

    “There has to be cooperation, where we get our men posted onboard US Naval warships and vice versa, maybe during an important exercise. It’s also something that widens our scope and bridges the gap that might be existing,” said Akpan.

    The FOC pointed out that beyond piracy illegal and unregulated fishing was also a problem affecting economies of countries in the region.

    “It is a big issue for countries in the Gulf of Guinea; I think it’s only Nigeria that is actually trying to get to the fringes of 350 nautical miles and beyond where most of these things take place. Other countries or Navies are too small to deal with that. So it’s another issue that has to do with food security in countries,” he said.

    The FOC told the visitors that plans were underway to launch a joint taskforce for the GoG which was being sponsored by Nigeria, adding that all participating countries were in a meeting and signed a communique at the end of the day on the way forward.

    “We have already apportioned some ships in the Nigerian Navy that will form the Task Force. I think the idea is that we need to do more at the fringes of our maritime environment, maritime law enforcement so that it will keep in abeyance, the security threats. The more they are kept away, the better for us,” said Akpan.

  • Activist to Oborevwori: refrain from lopsided appointments

    Activist to Oborevwori: refrain from lopsided appointments

    A lawyer and rights activist, Chief Robinson Ariyo, has appealed to Delta State Governor , Sheriff Oborevwori, to refrain from making appointments along ethnic or sectional lines .

    Ariyo, who is also a public analyst made the call at Ubeji in Warri South Council area , while briefing reporters.

    He noted that the Itsekiris seem to have been left out in the number of sensitive appointments so far made by the new government.

    Chief Ariyo asserted: “I am particularly disturbed that the allegory ‘Ukodo’, which the Governor assured Delta would be equitably shared appears to have left out a very critical ethnic nationality that contributes a chunk of the oil resources of Delta State and indeed the country.

    “Several sensitive appointments have so far been made and while some ethnic groups already have two or more, the Itsekiris do not have any”.

    The Itsekiri chief emphasized that the founding fathers of Nigeria intended that every government “promotes was national unity and the feeling of inclusion”.

    Read Also: Appointments: legal imperative for prioritising women, minority groups

    He cited Section 14 (4) of the constitution which provides that “the composition of the Government of a state or any of the agencies of such Government, and the conduct of the affairs of the Government or such agencies shall be carried out in such manner as to recognise the diversity of the people within its area of authority and the need to promote a sense of belonging and loyalty among all the people of the Federation”.

    According to him, having taken oath to discharge his duties to the best of his ability and in accordance with the constitution, it would be too early in the day for the governor to begin manifesting traits that appear to reflect the contrary.

    The Warri lawyer who is also a peace building expert, however, urged all well-meaning Itsekiri leaders to close ranks and think beyond their personal interests.

    “In every society there is usually a tension between the individualistic and communal interest but posterity never forgets those who perpetually sacrifice communal interest for their personal interest.

    “I have observed many influential Itsekiris constantly sacrificing the communal for their personal interests and seek to give the impression that they are patriots; there is nothing that can be more deceitful. We must begin to think more of what we can do for the community than what we can do for ourselves.

    “We cannot go to church every Sunday and sit on front row while the cardinal doctrine of Christianity; love thy neighbour as thy self does not resonate in us. We must begin to give effect to what we preach and claim to stand for.

    “The level of hypocrisy in our land is unprecedented. Let us remember the last words of Late Dele Giwa; ‘No evil deed will go unpunished; any evil done by man to man will be redressed; if not now then certainly later; if not by man, then by God for the victory of evil over good is temporary’,” he concluded.

  • Politics of petroleum subsidy and official sleaze

    Politics of petroleum subsidy and official sleaze

    • By Mike Kebonkwu

    Nigeria has four moribund refineries run by the Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) – a government subsidiary.  Nobody is sure of the refining or production capacities whether at installation or at any other time it was operational.  The workforce of the NNPC is probably a matter of speculation and guess as it is customary with us to recruit ghost workers as part of our workforce.  The salary structure is the most attractive with jumbo pay and allowances and good working condition.   There is an organized cartel in the oil industry that operates like the Sicilian Mafia that pulls the strings in the petroleum sector.

    The history of the fuel subsidy is as old as the refineries because the refineries were never able to meet and satisfy our local market and domestic consumption. 

    The big issue may not actually be whether there is petroleum subsidy or not, but whether it will be right for the poor to pay for official sleaze and corruption in the industry and bad governance. The NNPC has become a huge bureaucracy of fraud manipulated by the civil servants and chaperoned by the supervising ministry and members of the National Assembly over-sighting the department. The corporation is a gargantuan nest of graft of unimaginable proportion run by cartel that is firmly rooted in government establishment. 

    Nigeria is the second largest producer of crude in Africa after Angola that displaced her from the first position. 

    The government will be chasing shadow to think that the major problem with the petroleum industry and oiling its bureaucracy is about subsidy removal. The oil industry needs a total and wholesale audit and overhaul in all ramifications; the workforce, production and sale of crude, the regular turn-around maintenance etc.  Where does the huge money spent on so-called turn-around-maintenance of the decrepit refineries that have gone comatose go to?

    Read Also: NNPCL withholding N8.4tr from Federation Account, says RMAFC

    Just like the government bureaucracy itself, the NNPC has become a drain-pipe for siphoning our resources; everything is manipulated from the crude production figure and quantity of imported petrol.  Government officials and security agencies supervise the fraud at the high seas selling crude to international criminal network in huge ships and tankers and sharing the proceeds. 

    Petroleum plays a critical role as the lifeblood of Nigeria, oxygenating the economy.  Availability and cost of petrol determine what happens in other critical sectors and chains of production of goods and services in the country.  It goes down the line without exception affecting every household; students, farmers, market women and small and medium scale enterprises.  The masses have always been the beast of burden at the receiving end as the government is fixated on oil as the single revenue yielding resource to finance every other thing including the insatiable appetite of the cartel behind the oil industry.

    Government all over the world find a way to provide social services by subsidizing critical areas in agriculture and food production and even gasoline supply including in Europe and America.  The government kept talking about the humongous amount spent as subsidy on petroleum but we are not told the people who receive the payment and evidence of delivery of products is shrouded in official secrecy.  Will it not be easier to identify and deal with the cartel than to put such a heavy burden on the poor and indigent citizens?  

    Removing subsidy is to levy citizens for the corruption in the civil service, failure of the security agencies and cost of governance. 

    While basking in the euphoria of smooth transition and inauguration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the 16th President of the Federal Republic, the nation was struck like a bolt from the blue with the sudden removal of subsidy.  The new sheriff in town is not a stranger to the socio-economic and political temperature of the country.  He is a hard-nosed politician and strategist with uncommon boldness and courage. 

    During his inaugural speech, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu mentioned very casually but emphatically that the subsidy regime is unsustainable and not contained in the Budget of 2023, and so the subsidy is gone!  The announcement was bold, courageous but insensitive; insensitive because there is no known measure like palliative put in place to assuage the harsh and sudden removal.   Demand for salary increment as one of the measures is out of the question because the economy cannot even sustain that at the moment.  And how many Nigerians earn salary from the government?

    The president appears very prepared for his job though; he has a measured calibration and his orders are strident, loud and clear.  First, he ordered the DSS to vacate EFCC’s  office in what appeared the usual inter-agency rivalry that characterised Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, where agencies of government worked at cross purposes and struggling for media attention rather than do their job professionally.  He also did not miss it when ordering the security chiefs to deal with insecurity, petrol thieves and other felons. 

    When the subsidy was in place, it did not as much benefit the masses and it is not expected that the removal is going to translate to a better economic condition for the ordinary citizens.  If anything, the economic condition of Nigerians is going to be worse off because of the multiplier effects on goods and services.  Operating within the same income bracket and economy in recession, the pain is already being felt by everyone that movement from one point to the other has become unbearable burden. 

    Moving forward, it would be ennobling for the government to deal decisively with the core problems which are at the root of the fraud and heist in the oil industry.  First, fix the refineries; audit the NNPC workforce, overhaul the security architecture responsible for overseeing movement of goods and services in the oil industry and make examples with people without pretentions.  The cost of governance in Nigeria is outrageous; it has to be pruned down. especially maintaining two Legislative Chambers. The cartel supervising the sleaze in the oil industry should be identified and appropriately dealt with without sentiment.  

    Importation should only be an interim and short term measure.  We cannot depend on foreign conglomerates to come and harvest our rich resources with their advance technologies and leave our land desolate.  The NNPC and its refineries are not able to engage in production but government is busy destroying so-called illegal refineries by our ingenious industrious youths with local technology, instead of getting them together to improve on the local home-made technology and improve or increase production of petroleum products. This is what made the Asian Tigers to be where they are today technologically. 

    Head or tail, the masses will continue to bear the brunt as the end users of gasoline in mass movement whether it is to take our wares to the market or to bring them from the farms or to commute to work place.

    Our western trained scholars, intellectual merchants and economists always see the growth of an economy from wholesale borrowing and foreign loans, just the same way our indolent political class feel that we should sell all asserts to private individuals and foreign investors and enjoy immediate pleasure and overseas trips. 

    Since 2015, the country has been lying prostrate on a sick bed.  It got worse in the build up to the elections including the asphyxiating economic measure of Naira redesign that turned out to be political weapon draining everyone.  Being sick in hospital before taking a jab, the nurse or medics would first apply mentholated spirit on the spot to ensure that the needle does not carry infection.  On subsidy removal, nothing, absolutely nothing can assuage the laceration of the removal.  The government should take a second look at the whole business and politics of subsidy; the masses deserve a better deal.

    • Kebonkwu Esq is an Abuja-based attorney.
  • Chimamanda turns the table

    Chimamanda turns the table

    The woman king sits resplendent on her throne. Palace guards surround her as she dishes out instructions. Chief among her words is the need for her subjects to avoid men, who, in her view, are plagues that must be stoned.

    Welcome to Ilubirin.

    This town is from a 2000 Yoruba home video titled ‘Lagidigba’. In it, there was a kingdom of women who resented men as a result of past sins committed against them. Everything was controlled by women in the town and men were persona non grata.

    The producer, Yemi Adegunju, wrote it in protest against what he felt was men’s treatment of women. He felt women should be encouraged to participate in government.

    His motive resonates with what I heard some weeks back. The Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Gender Policy Council, Jennifer Klein, said studies show that closing gender gaps in the workforce could add between 12 and 28 trillion dollars in global GDP over a decade.

    Read Also: I want to see Wole Soyinka, Chimamanda Adichie debate on Live TV – Okon Lagos

    “Expanding access for women to markets and finance fosters entrepreneurship and innovation, with estimates suggesting that gender parity in entrepreneurship could add between 5 to 6 trillion dollars in net value to the global economy.  

    “Yet, despite the clear benefits of women’s economic participation, too often, social, legal, and financial barriers remain. We know that on the average, women spend more than twice the amount of time than men do performing unpaid care work, and that the annual value of this work is approximately $11 trillion globally. We also recognise that 2.4 billion working-age women still face legal obstacles to their full economic participation, and that dismantling these systemic barriers is necessary to unlock economic gains. And we also know that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a disproportionate effect on women’s employment, with devastating effects on families, communities, and economies,” she said.

    Reading Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s ‘The Visit’ reminds me of Adegunju’s home video and also brought to mind Klein. The similarity between ‘The Visit’ and ‘Lagidigba’ is limited to women being in control. Other details are different.

    Adichie imagines a spectacular world in which matriarchy wrestles patriarchy and gives it a bloody nose.

    Two men, Obinna and Eze — old friends — confront the past and future and both men are made to see what women see daily.

    The Amazon Original e-book retells the man-woman experience, the woman is head of family and provider and the man stays home and care for the kids. The wife sees no reason the man should work with all his academic qualifications and he agrees and obeys.

    In ‘The Visit’, the author of ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ takes us through the ordeal of Obinna, a once-upon-a-time poet, who is married to Amara, the managing director of a big company.

    The story opens with Obinna watching CNN’s broadcast of a female American president’s approval of a law prohibiting male masturbation. Soon, he starts thinking about his life, and his friend, Eze, who is visiting from America. He also thinks about Amara constantly cheating on him and her family telling him not to make a fuss about it; after all she is providing all his needs. They tell him he should be happy she returns home to him every day. He remembers ‘fighting’ one of the boys in her life but is not bold enough to confront her about her cheating.

    When Eze arrives, he asks Obinna to go with him to a nightclub. Obinna is reluctant and argues it is wrong for a married man to go to a nightclub without his wife. He also says he needs to be home to take care of their kid.

    “I can’t just go to a club. I’m a married man,” he says.

    Eze succeeds in convincing him to leave the housekeeper to take charge in his absence. But guilt takes over him all through their outing.

    On their way back from the club, a police officer stops them and asks them where they were coming from.

    “Is that why you’re dressed like prostitutes?” The officer queries them.

    Throughout the story, Adichie turns the table. Men face the hassles women face daily, but she still leaves biological functions such as getting pregnant and keeping humanity going for women. But, all the insults the world heap on women are transferred to men and all the world does to discourage women from dreaming big is reserved for men in this feminist text. Even male masturbation is criminalised and scientific researchers are done using female specimens, making the outcomes not useful to men and thus compounding their woes.

    Nightclubbing that men consider their right is presented as something a married man should be ashamed of doing without his wife, an obvious protest against the belief that only loose women frequent nightclubs. A police officer is made to refer to Obinna’s and Eze’s looks as not befitting of married men. In fact, she describes them as looking like prostitutes. Policemen have been known to refer to women driving home after a night out that way. The officer saying she would have respected them on account of marriage is an obvious switch of women’s experience with men’s.

    Adichie tells this tale in a sleek language, so sleek even the folks she is taking jibes at will enjoy the tale before her message sinks in and cause them to grimace.

    While there is no doubt that some men are a bunch of disappointments, there are good men, millions of them all over the world, men who are not intimidated by their women’s successes, men who look out for their women, men who are fantastic role models to their kids, men who are not bothered about who is the head or the neck, men who are just out for the good of all.

    The ones who mess up may turn out to be the vocal minority. Since bad news sells, their bad acts get out before the good acts of the fantastic men who are partners in progress with women.

    My final take: Despite biological drawbacks, women have shown brilliance in as many endeavours as possible. They are special and will always be.  

  • Rural electrification: Untold success stories of the REA

    Rural electrification: Untold success stories of the REA

    • By Olabanjo Johnson

    One of the greatest challenges being faced in most Third World countries is the ability or inability of poor people, especially in the remote areas, to have access to electricity. The main reason is that most of these locations are off the national grid. 

    Ironically, these challenges are not even limited to the rural areas. Even hospitals, schools, public institutions in urban centres are also facing these challenges as they have to look for alternative source of power due to poor supply in public power.

    Over the years, this alternative source of electric power has been limited to generators only with hundreds of millions of litres of fuel being burnt every year. This has been the case until the emergence of renewable energy which has proved to be a veritable alternative source of electric power with the attendant advantage of being renewable.

    And this why it is pertinent to look at the role the Rural Electrification Agency, REA, has been playing with its yeoman’s job in aggregating the efforts of critical stakeholders in ensuring that efforts are never spared to guarantee access to electrical energy using renewable energy sources. The first board of the REA was inaugurated on March 16, 2006 with the agency itself set up through the Section 88 of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act of 2005.

    It is, therefore, trite to look at the impacts of some of the programmes of the REA in the last few years and aggregate the positive effects they have had on the lives and businesses of the beneficiaries of these programmes.  

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    It must be noted that the agency has been an important and effective implementation tool of the federal government, being leveraged to deliver data-driven projects with nationwide spread. With the agency implementing one of the biggest electrification projects in sub-Saharan Africa, the Nigeria Electrification Project (NEP), with funding from the World Bank and the African Development Bank, over five million Nigerians are already benefitting from this programme.

    Through NEP, we have deployed over 80 solar hybrid mini-grids, hit a milestone of over a million solar home systems connections and we already recorded over 20,000mini-grid connections nationwide. Through these, local businesses are being powered, community water sources are being powered, primary schools and health centres in those communities are being powered and milling, agriculture processing centers are equally being powered.

    The REA has equally continued to strategically manage and implement the federal government’s Rural Electrification Fund (REF), a funding mechanism designed to catalyse off-grid electrification. In the last three years, the 1st REF Call has been completed, delivering 12 solar hybrid mini-grids and over 19, 000 solar home systems. The 2nd REF Call was approved; projects are ongoing to deliver a total of 51 additional solar hybrid mini-grids. Because of the urgency of REA projects, the agency already kick-started technical engagements with critical stakeholders and private sector players for the implementation of REF Call 3.

    The REF has been very impactful because it has proven to be an effective mechanism for private sector participation in the nation’s off-grid space. It has equally enabled us to optimize renewable energy technologies to energize and enliven previously unserved and underserved communities.   Through access to sustainable energy, small businesses in rural communities have sprung up, women have been empowered to key into their local economies, household units have been energized and jobs, over 5,000directandindirect, have been created.

    The REA has delivered well on the Energizing Education Programme, a programme designed to power select federal universities and university teaching hospitals. Solar hybrid power plants in seven universities under the first phase have been completed and handed over to the beneficiary universities. Developers are already on site to deliver on the task of powering seven additional universities and two university teaching hospitals under phase two of the programme. Stakeholder engagement already started in earnest to power eight additional federal universities and one university teaching hospital.

    This particular programme is very strategic as it is a achieving its objectives by improving the learning environment in our tertiary institutions, improving knowledge on renewable energy technologies in those institutions, and aiding the delivery of better academic services. Already, thousands of students and staff members are benefitting from the EEP at different campuses.

    In the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, the REA was tasked by the federal government to implement the COVID-19 and Beyond the Pandemic programme, as part of the strategic reaction of the federal government to mitigate the effects of the pandemic. The programme is being funded by the World Bank, through the Nigeria Electrification Project, NEP. The objective is to power 100 isolation and treatment centers (ITCs) and 400 primary healthcare centres across Nigeria.

    Already, over 50 of these projects have been completed and are serving these health facilities, many more under construction. The impact is cutting down on carbon emission, aiding quality healthcare delivery, cutting down on running costs and enabling better environment for healthcare workers. The ITCs have equally been benefitting greatly from this intervention, especially in terms of availability of sustainable energy for storage of cold chain medications.

    Another critical programme birthed during the pandemic and activated though the federal government’s Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) is the Solar Power Naija programme. The REA is equally implementing this programme, with funding from the Central Bank of Nigeria. Upon its full delivery, this will add five million additional renewable energy connections, impacting about 25 million Nigerians.

    Already, the agency is leveraging the SPN to deliver on the National Poverty Reduction with Growth Strategy, (NPRGS), a strategy by the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEAC). Over 300 businesses and over 1,000 households are already being energized through the solar home system technologies deployed under this programme. Over 60kw of clean energy already deployed.

    In line with federal government’s efforts targeted at socio-economic impact, the REA kicked off the deployment of projects through a programmatic approach to ensure that the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP)/Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP) principles and targets are fulfilled. In 2022, the REA kicked off the delivery of these projects, targeted at agricultural clusters, irrigation farms, communities, and internally displaced locations

    Already, six solar hybrid mini-grids, one in each geo-political zone have been completed. Over 1,000 solar-powered irrigation pumps already deployed. Over 1,000 and over 800 solar home systems and solar-powered street lights have been deployed, respectively. To deliver on these projects effectively and equitably, the REA continues to work alongside the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development as well as the National FADAMA Development Office

    Farmers have recorded a 30%+ increase in yield for through the use of these interventions, a 50%+ increase in profitability for farmers is expected due to transition to more affordable, renewable source of power, easy accessibility of the solar-powered water pumps for women and youths to get into farming. Also, 300+ neighbourhoods, including schools, markets, and hospital pathways already illuminated through the deployment of solar-powered streetlights.

    Has the Agency achieved its aims and objectives? Definitely not. But it is suffice to say that since 2020, when the new management came in, the agency has moved at a pace that baffles even the management itself.

    • Johnson, an alternative energy consultant, wrote in from Abuja.
  • CBN governor’s enormous powers without accountability

    CBN governor’s enormous powers without accountability

    • By Obinna Ndubuisi

    After the oil boom of the early 2010s that supported strong growth in the Nigerian economy, there was an oversupply of oil from the US shale industry that crashed prices in the mid -2010s and upset oil producers.

    This development altered activities in the international oil market. It was no longer business as usual and oil-dependent economies like Nigeria were presented with an opportunity for reform; the kind of reforms that should improve the economy’s resilience to shocks from the oil market.

    It was under this context that Godwin Emefiele was appointed as the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Unlike his predecessors, Charles Soludo and Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who both had the legacy of cleaning up the banking industry and making it more resilient after years of military rule and a global financial crisis, Emefiele’s task and legacy was going to be focused around managing Nigeria’s economic transition away from oil dependence.

    Emefiele was presented with an opportunity to make an impact. Nine years later, he is rated as the most consequential governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. He has the rare privilege of leading the CBN for two consecutive terms and he is now in the last year of his 10 years tenure.

    Read Also: CBN: Naira not yet devalued

    However, from evaluation of available facts, one can conclude that Emefiele will be leaving the CBN and the Nigerian economy in a worse shape than he met it.

    While the notion of the independence of the CBN was put to test with the removal of Sanusi Lamido Sanusi in 2014, the Emefiele-led CBN never pretended that such statutory independence was necessary to carry out his duties.

     The CBN, like other institutions such as the judiciary and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is protected from external influence and political pressure. This is because political pressure will create conflicts of interests, compromise its mandate and make it act against public interest.

    In the past nine years, the wall separating and protecting the CBN and political interest has been broken, thus exposing the CBN governor to the tunes of officials in the presidency and state governors, especially on matters of exchange rate policy, monetary financing and lending. In fact, the CBN governor admitted that he had no choice but to lend to the states in the face of political pressure in 2016. 

    The lack of independence was clear in the matters of exchange rate management. The CBN governor adopted the president’s preference for an unsustainable rate rather than quick adjustments to restore economic stability.

    The past nine years have been the most challenging since the late‘80s with regard to stability of the exchange rate, a mandate that the CBN has been vested with. Since 2014, the Naira has depreciated by over 15% every year; the worst since the late ‘80s, excluding the 1999 adjustment. Between 2020 and 2022, the depreciation has been 21.9% annually, the worst of any three year period 1999-2001.

     The CBN’s management of the currency has created room for arbitrage and corruption, with the parallel market premium averaging N65.8/$ over the official rate between 2015 and 2021, much higher than the N5.1/$ premium between 2004 and 2014.

    While the CBN has stopped tracking parallel market data to discredit the segment, it remains important in assessing the dysfunctional forex market as the exchange rate currently trades at a N310/$ premium. There remains no clarity on when the forex crisis will end and investors have turned their back on Nigeria as a result.

     Today, Nigerians are reluctant to hold unto the Naira for store of value because it only makes them poorer. With inflation target of 6-9% and a mandate to ensure price stability in the economy, there was no full year that the CBN achieved this target under Emefiele.

    Between June 2014 and April 2023, inflation averaged a distressing 14.1%. The consequence is widespread cost of living crisis for Nigerians as a result of widespread low purchasing power. The CBN’s aggressive expansion of the money supply has contributed to the persistently high inflation. Unfortunately, there is no growth to show for it as the economy grew only 1.4% between 2015 and 2022, much below the historical rate of 7.0% in the preceding decade.

     All things considered, the most damaging impact of the CBN’s lack of independence can be seen in the most aggressive financing of the government in Nigeria’s history. Without revenue to support its huge spending programmes and against the CBN’s Act, the federal government has turned the CBN to its piggy bank, borrowing over N22.8tn since June 2015; almost doubling Nigeria public debt of Nigeria at N12.1tn as at June 2015.

    The consequence has been that the federal government’s fiscal finances are in the worst shape in recent history, with debt servicing accounting for 96% of revenue. This has led to credit rating downgrades that have affected the ability of Nigeria’s institutions to tap international financing.

    Emefiele also stretched the limit of his powers as the CBN governor, with far reaching policies that touched almost all segments of the Nigerian economy from agriculture to manufacturing and healthcare. There was no restraint as the CBN almost assumed the role of commercial banks in directing credit to the economy. Its intervention programmes, designed poorly and without accountability, cut across the real sector and ran into trillions, even while the financing of government deficits was aggressive. Many of these loans are yet to be repaid, posing great threat to the overall economy.

    With much power, there has been little accompanying accountability at the CBN. The audited financial statements of the CBN have not been published since 2015, in violation of the provisions of the CBN Act of 2007. The supervision of AMCON, which was created to clean up bad credit in the banking system, has been shambolic. There has been no proper accountability to the public on the terms of rescue and the eventual sale of banks by AMCON.

     Emefiele will go down in history as Nigeria’s most powerful CBN governor, who missed the opportunity for reform but will bequeath a huge mess to his successors in office. That would be his legacy.

    The CBN must untether the attachment to the presidency, restore price and exchange rate stability, make monetary policy resilient to the commodity markets, put development financing on the back foot, be more serious with the regulation of financial institutions and obey the laws guiding the CBN’s activities.

    For the Nigerian public and for posterity, Emefiele should be a cautionary tale on how not to run a Central Bank or any institution of national importance.

    • Ndubuisi, an economist, wrote from Lagos.
  • Sterling Bank, refund my money

    Sterling Bank, refund my money

    Sir : At 8:22 pm on March 30, I transferred N103,000 from my Sterling Bank account (0075368754) to my FairMoney Microfinance Bank account. (7988739461).

    I contacted FairMoney’s customer service on Friday, March 31, only to be informed that the transaction did not deliver into my account, despite Sterling Bank’s claim that the transaction had been successful.

    I requested for my FairMoney Statement of Account covering the period March till date, to establish that the N103,000 transaction was unsuccessful.

    I contacted Sterling Bank customer service on Wednesday, April 5, and was informed that Recall of Fund would be the most appropriate course of action since I had not received the money. After it was approved, I received a mail stating that the case would be resolved in 45 working days (from April 5 to May 23).

    I had earlier sent a mail where I attached a copy of the transfer receipt from my Sterling Bank App (One Bank), the receipt issued to me in Sterling Bank (Matori branch) that the transaction was successful and my Statement of Account from FairMoney showing the transaction was not successful, as well as the mail showing the Recall of Fund which lasted on Tuesday, May 23 from Sterling Bank and nothing was done.

    When I got in touch with someone who knows someone in the hierarchy of the bank, he told me that he had brought my complaint to the attention of the Managing Director, who had promised to handle the matter within a week. Nothing has been done till date.

    But after I called Sterling Bank’s customer service and threatened to make the case public especially the social media, I started getting calls and emails every day from Sterling Bank, promising that the Recall of Funds would be carried out as soon as possible and that the case would be resolved.

    Even now, I still get emails from Sterling Bank apologizing for taking so long to resolve my concern, yet without any solution.

    Read Also: Sterling Bank projects higher returns on holdco status

    The money I’m referring to is my heard-earned income, but Sterling Bank won’t let me spend it when I want to. I’ve endured far too much sorrow and suffering trying to get the bank to resolve the problem. Sterling Bank has wasted my time, resources, and money.

    FairMoney has also been contacting me through emails to let me know that the transaction failed and that I should ask Sterling Bank to contact them via help@fairmoney.io so they can work things out. Sterling Bank received my letter, however they made no response.

    I visited the FairMoney office on Wednesday, June 7, at Pade Odanye close, Off Adeniyi Jones, Ikeja to file a complaint again. The customer support representative again informed me that the situation was still the same.

    The official showed me the multiple emails made to Monify asking if the transaction had been successful. As of June 2, the response from Monify was that “the transaction was not successful.”

    I went back to the Sterling Bank branch in Matori to ask them to reverse my money since Fairmoney confirmed it to them only to be told again that the transaction was successful based on the email response he received, and that they are expecting another update from the head office.

    This is most unfortunate. I am by this medium appealing to Sterling Bank to immediately reverse the transaction.

    • Taiwo Adam, Ibrahim, Matori, Lagos.