The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Oguta-Orashi dredging and Southeast

    Oguta-Orashi dredging and Southeast

    President Muhammadu Buhari, vilified as a hater of the Southeast, may yet be the stone which the builders rejected, but which has become the cornerstone of enduring developmental projects in the region. At the twilight of his regime, he has through the vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, flagged-off the hydrographic survey and dredging of Oguta Lake and Orashi River to Degema in Rivers State up to the Atlantic Ocean. The project described as a game changer by Osinbajo, is an addition to the other game changer, the Second Niger Bridge.

    Clearly, President Buhari’s reputation among the majority of Ndigbo is un-flattering. Historically, despite his best efforts, he was unable to penetrate the region politically. In two attempts at winning the presidency, he ran with vice presidential candidates from the Southeast, but couldn’t make a dent. He ran with Dr Chuba Okadigbo (2003) and Chief Godwin Ume-Ezeoke (2007). For reasons which political scientists and sociologists may explain, Buhari never got the kind of support that could propel him to the presidency with the two vice presidential candidates from the Southeast.

    The table however turned for Buhari when he aligned with the dominant political party in the Southwest led by the president-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and chose Professor Yemi Osinbajo as his running mate in the 2015 and 2019 presidential elections. President Buhari won on the two occasions, and is about to run out the final term in less than two weeks. What intrigues are how Buhari’s reputation in south-east, swung from lukewarm to detestation. 

    Could it be his political statements at the beginning of his presidency, when he described the people of the region in unpalatable words? When asked about the distribution of political patronage after winning the election, President Buhari stated that there would be a huge difference between those who gave 97 percent and those who gave mere five percent. Again, in the diatribe that ensured over his ethnocentric programmes, he dismissed the people of the region as a dot, and inconsequential.

    To add salt to the injury of the region, Buhari engaged in debilitating economic programmes, which the businessmen in the region vociferously claimed were targeted at their line of business. The hated economic programmes included the closure and prohibition of importation through the borders, the drastic anti-importation monetary and fiscal policies, and banning of importation of several items, amongst others. While the national economy haemorrhaged under his ill-conceived programmes, just as it happened during his first coming as military president, many Ndigbo appropriated the public angst over the programmes.

    To turn the salted injury into a gangrene, Buhari engaged in one of the worst practice of nepotism and tribalism that Nigeria may have witnessed since independence. From the armed forces to the other security agencies, Ndigbo were blatantly excluded in a most brazen exhibition. The exclusion spread across other sectors of the nation’s appointive positions, in total disregard of section 14(3) of the 1999 constitution, which provides: “The composition of the Government of the Federation or any of its agencies and the conduct of its affairs shall be carried out in such manner as to reflect the federal character of Nigeria and the need to promote national unity, and also to command national loyalty …” 

    The gangrene relationship was due for amputation when armed herders spread their lethal wares across the Benue river into the southeast, decapitating lives and properties, with President Buhari accused of tacit support. Those who gave Buhari the benefit of doubt over his economic and employment policies, joined the wailing wailers (apologies to Buhari’s media men), as mourners were scythed by armed herders while they were burying those killed by the same terrorist group. Even a governor wept. And never was the marauders ever caught and brought to justice.

    But in the midst of these atrocious developments, Buhari and his men appear to have patched the pains with some far reaching legacy projects. One of the most enduring of the projects is the Second Niger Bridge. This column over the years has written on the exploitation of the emotional well-being of the people of southeast region by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led governments of presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, and later Goodluck Jonathan. The scandal was such that while campaigning for a second term, Jonathan confessed he has forgotten his promise to deliver the Bridge before 2015.

    Between him and Obasanjo, building the Niger Bridge was a bridge too far. So, it is worth celebrating that Buhari, with his mixed bag of reputation delivered the bridge. All the cock and bull story of how the previous regimes paid in advance for the bridge, as far as this column is concerned amounts to tales by moonlight.

    Another enduring intervention of the Buhari regime is the extension and rebuilding of the runway of the Akanu Ibiam Airport, Enugu, after the failed promises of the PDP government.

    Again, there is the claim that between the governments of Obasanjo and Jonathan, the necessary approvals were secured for the internationalization of the airport, but it was Buhari government that extended and rebuilt the runway, to admit long range airlines. The same can be said of the Enugu-Onitsha, the Onitsha-Owerri and Port Harcourt-Enugu expressways, which though not moving at great speed have been receiving quality attention for the portions rebuilt. How soothing those projects are to the pains of the region remains to seen.

    But approving the dredging of the Oguta/Orashi rivers is an interesting parting gift to Ndigbo. One of the contentious issues that agitate political analysts in the region is the claim that the southeast region is landlocked. The claim of being landlocked infuriates the people of the region, and they hold the Nigerian government over the years responsible for the economic strangulation of the region, through the denial of international airport and seaport. Arguably, the Buhari government has delivered an international airport and has given approval for a seaport.

    The economic import of the Oguta/Orashi dredging if taken to a logical conclusion would be far-reaching. Governor Hope Uzodimma who deserves praise for the project, at the flag-off said: “The dredging and opening of the two rivers to the Atlantic will remove Imo State from being landlocked.” He further said: “The success of the project will bring unquantifiable employment for Imo State, the southeast and Nigeria at large.”

    The project will be more than an economic behemoth for the region. It will bring pride and fulfilment to the people of the region, most of whom feel unwanted as partners in the Nigerian project. It will release a burst of economic energy which will benefit the entire country. As this column has argued over the years, the match to national economic well-being can only be realized with deliberate empowerment policies across all the geo-political regions.

  • Dangote: 16 years (and $19 billion) after!

    Dangote: 16 years (and $19 billion) after!

    Glad to be back! As the Buhari/Tinubu transition coasts finally home, one of the more comforting parallels must be the planned commissioning of the 650,000 barrels per day Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Company on May 22 by President Muhammadu Buhari. Coming few hours to the exit of the administration, it is, arguably, one legacy for which the administration could stake some claims of achievement.

    Yes, the country can hopefully, heave a sigh of relief that Africa’s leading crude producer has finally cracked the riddle of its dependence on imported refined fuel. That should be a big deal amidst claims that nearly 40 percent of our entire earnings from crude exports actually go into used for fuel importation.  But just as critical are the multiple derivatives all of which are expected to provide the spring board for other ancillary industries in the petrochemical sector.  Which is why it remains intriguing that the media, save one or two authoritative commentaries, have been less than upbeat and, if I may add – uncharacteristically so – perhaps borne of their experience of serial completion notices all of which came to naught!  Trust the mainstream media not wanting to be accused, yet again, of not only rejoicing too soon, but going to town with speculations!

    This time around however, it is authoritative. The commissioning, according to a presidential aide Bashir Ahmad, will take place on May 22. Reuters, the foreign news agency, has equally reported a spokesperson for Dangote group as confirming ‘the timing of the commissioning but did not give details’.

    For Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, the moment should ordinarily evoke a tinge of triumphalism. This after all, was an individual whose $700 million cheque for the acquisition of two of the nation’s moribund refineries in Port Harcourt and Kaduna was returned after the nation’s organised Labour put the gun to the head of the government to abort. That he has now become the headstone on which everything about refining business now turns must have come as something of a sweet ‘revenge’.

    To go back a bit. President Olusegun Obasanjo had on the eve of the departure of his administration sold the two refineries to the Bluestar Consortium – promoted by the business mogul. As one would imagine of every good deed of the Obasanjo administration that must be laden with some dose of mischief, it waited until the eve of its exit to sell the two entities to Bluestar. As one might imagine in such situations, several issues were thrown up, the first being the matter of pricing – the question of whether the $700 million paid could be deemed a fair bargain given the obsolete state of the two entities; there were issues about whether or not due process were followed in the sale. All of these amidst such other puerile ideological debates on whether alienation of those worthless patrimonies was actually the way to go! With organised labour not only strident in their objection but also threatening fire and brimstone, the pliant Umaru Yar’Adua administration saw the entire thing as a most needless distraction it could ill-afford and so promptly did a somersault.   

    Sixteen years on and $19 billion after – a good chunk of which went for cost overruns, not to talk of the indeterminable opportunity costs, the country, far from being better, is to put it mildly, worse for it. Yes, billions of naira of taxpayers’ money has been poured into the refineries, yet, there remains no realistic basis to expect their full restoration. This writer, as indeed many other writers, recalls calling for a nominal value of N1 (yes – one naira) to be placed on the entities to be sold to any entity that could demonstrate the capacity to put them to work. That way, the nation would have been spared the billions annually expended in the name of keeping the scraps together!

    Unfortunately, if the same stone that the builder once rejected has become the chief cornerstone, neither the citizens nor the government appears to have learnt anything appreciable in nearly the whole of this time.  In fact, the lone issue that Nigerians could be said to be in agreement several years on is that a leading producer of crude should have no business importing its refined fuel. Simply put, none of those outmoded fixations appear to have yielded in any appreciable way to a more realistic thinking on the future of the industry.

    From such basic things about pump price determination, the question of the subsidy and how to lay its ghost to rest, the role that the government vis-à-vis the private sector should play, including – wait for it – the question of quantity of fuel is currently consumed under the current dispensation. Even the so-called Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), the magic pill expected to cure the industry of its multiple malaises have had to be put in abeyance in the unfortunate situation that the government could not find the nerves to tackle the problem headlong. Not with the looming shadow of the organised labour and its allies, which appears to have been long persuaded that the government’s touted subsidy is not only a hoax but spurious.

    Against this background, the lingering question is where to put the new entrant in the matrix. Let’s start with the general issues. Never mind the so-called transition, so sick is the industry that the only reason the sector is still so described is that the transparently opaque government monopoly is in charge. How much fuel does the country produce? Whereas the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited would routinely bandy its guestimate of “60 million litres of petrol daily”, Nigerian Customs Service’s Hammed Ali, in a counter-charge to the claim of widespread smuggling, has since raised the intriguing question of “why NNPC, which put the daily fuel consumption at 60 million litres, purports to pump 98 million litres into the market.

    Here is how he framed the issue: “So, how did you get to 60 million litres per day? That is my question. The issue of smuggling, if you release 98 million litres in actual and 60 million litres are used; the balance should be 38 million litres. How many trucks will carry 38 million litres every day? Which road are they following and where are they carrying this thing to?”

    In all, imagine this forming the basis of the over N6 trillion being earmarked for subsidy payments!

    See why Aliko Dangote as indeed the ordinary Nigerian needs our prayers? Surely, the coming of Dangote refinery represents a huge milestone; but then, the main battles against the psychology of statism, the associated culture of entitlement and its in-bred corruption still lie ahead. May the good Lord deliver us from them. Can I have a resounding amen?

  • Obi’s many fathers

    Obi’s many fathers

    From the conclave of “Yes Daddies”, to emergency daddies on the partisan front and now the iconic literary world of our own WS, it’s the universe of Peter Gregory Obi’s many fathers!

    But on one thing, you can be sure: during electioneering or strutting post-election charm offensives (whatever for?), you can trust Holy Gregory to skew the tale.

    That was crystal clear from Obi’s May 7 visit to the “Ijegba”, Abeokuta, “fortress” of Prof. Wole Soyinka; and the Kongi’s rather scathing put-down of Obi’s rude and crude Obidients, the rabble WS dismissed as “a spectral emanation”.  

    “I do not know, and unable to relate to something known as the ‘Obedient’ or ‘Obidient Family’,” Kongi roared, “Thus, albeit in a different vein, any notion of reconciliation, or even relations — positive, negative or indifferent — with such a spectral emanation is simply gasping at empty air.”

    Ouch!  Yet, poor son Obi was busy spinning WS and some rapprochement with “Obidient Family”!

    His exact tweet: “I cherish this Sunday visit which was intended to erase the needless misconceptions about the relationship between the great icon and the Obidient Family.”

    Obidient Family!  That clinical disavowal echoes the Yoruba joke about Tenant Kolawole: a name that evokes great wealth.  Still, whenever ejection comes from his landlord, Kolawole would exit with his imaginary trove!  Obidient Family, indeed!

    No one, that saying insists, kids himself like Kolawole.  So, Kolawole — at least in that saying’s context — is the quintessential metaphor for wilful deceit.  

    Wilful deceit aptly captures Obi’s post-poll exertions: as wilful captive to own whims; and wilful serf to Obidients’ sorry phantasy, over an election Obi couldn’t have won — even conducted a million times — given his clannish appeal and suspect structure. 

    A clear over-performance has pumped Obi full of the wild steroid of self-deceit, which he and his ‘Obidient Family’ somewhat hope would turn crushing defeat into stunning victory, so long as they are boisterous enough.  Comic! 

    Still, Obi’s many fathers straddle many layers. 

    Pre-election: many Daddies Spiritual — Catholic, Orthodox and Pentecostal: a conclave of holy fathers and sacred vote mendicant, hush-hush in less-than-civil droning, about elections as faith wars; recruiting pulpit brain-washed Christians, into their zombie election Salvation Army, against real or imagined enemies.

    To be sure, the only one caught out — no thanks to that satanic audio leak — was the “Yes Daddy” of Ota, who — Holy Moses! — instantly balked and fled.

    Yet, you could finger other “Yes Daddies” crawling out of holy woodworks, well-hidden behind a finger, strutting their bits in Obi’s post-defeat pantomime: insisting honed legal precedents must be changed, for a son in whom they are well pleased!

    It’s holy hush-hush that nevertheless beams blinding lights into the rot deep behind the holy-of-holies curtains, were the polity a theocracy, with all its thumping, glittering hypocrisies!  But thank God, ours is still a democracy!

    Yet, Obi’s daddies are not found on the straight and narrow path that leads to the spirit.  Theirs is the wide and merry way that thrives on earthy lobbies and flatteries.

    Which was why Obi — was he wracked by immediate post-defeat neurosis? — once declared President-elect Bola Tinubu as his brother, nay, father!  

    It was March 13 after the February 25 election had been lost and won; and post-poll neurosis had not quite darkened into the psychosis it now approaches.

    “The APC presidential candidate is an elder brother; I can even call him a father …” he told Arise TV, his favourite media watering hole, with trademark cant. “I am only challenging the process in which he was declared winner …”

    Enter another Election ’23 quip, in the quicksands of immediate electoral defeat: I challenge not the result, but the process!  

    Still, that challenge came with Obi cocking guns at Obi’s holy fathers — those perhaps outside the holy-of-holies of sacred electoral plots.  Clearly not guided by the spirit, they had the effrontery to tell Obi to cease lusting after a lost cause, after a fair loss.

    “I am very respectful to prominent Nigerians especially church leaders, traditional rulers and all that … but,” Obi screeched, “l disagree with them.  What they are actually preaching is the problem of Nigeria, the problem of accepting wrongdoing, accepting what is unacceptable; that is using God’s name in vain; that’s not what God said, God said do not use my name in vain.”

    The grand irony: Obi and co, hiding behind smudged cassocks, are the wrong doers, using God’s name in vain.  Still, a fitting raking fire from an entitled but beloved son, in whom they were all well pleased!  

    WS was Obi’s latest jaunt in search of fathers.  

    But WS does no hush-hush.  He operates behind no holy-of-holies — only in the full open of the republican space, where it’s freedom or nothing. Hence, his stark disavowal of Obi’s cant. 

    All, however, is again grand metaphor: Obi’s election-time dissembling and on-going post-poll pantomime.  Both are holy high dramas to sell genuine fakery.

    That Nigerians somewhat dodged this consecrated fakery is prime proof God is still on the throne, despite the prime conclave of “Yes Daddies” that mouth his name in vain.

    It all started as grand fraud: APC and PDP are the same; Obi and LP are new; so vote the new messiahs.  But that was a lie from the pit of hell which the spectral Obidients nevertheless blared.

    Then Tinubu, a model of fresh ideas and revolutionary policies that shaped Lagos to a national reference, became synonymous with Olusegun Obasanjo and his Abuja PDP pests that Tinubu — and progressive forces — spared no effort to dislodge.

    Open sesame: Obi, part of the old dregs, is new messiah of the youth, the Church and his clannish folks, just because loud Obidients can out-shout and out-abuse everyone, from their (anti)social media bastion.

    It all fell flat.  For one, Obi, no great believer in infrastructure, began regurgitating plans already put in place by the Buhari Presidency, as something esoteric and new.  

    For another, right-thinking Nigerians — the majority on February 25 — saw through Obi’s full emptiness, narrow clannish appeal and crass weaponization of faith and rejected him.

    Yet, his fascistic minority zestfully pushed to browbeat the legitimate majority, and even pitched a military putsch, at Defence Headquarters, in vile desperation.

    When all that collapsed, Obi’s Catholic fathers and cynical lawyers are pushing a stay on May 29, until Obi’s litigious electoral challenge is determined.  Nice try!

    As the Lord (that these fathers worship) lives and the Law (that these lawyers profess) holds, May 29 — some two weeks away — stays: and the president-elect would be inaugurated.

    Not even Obi’s many fathers — and lawyers — will prevail over the supreme rule of law, which democracy epitomizes.

  • Seun Kuti and duplicitous mob

    Seun Kuti and duplicitous mob

    Sir : While the social media was awash in the past few days with the viral video of Seun Kuti, the popular Afrobeat musician and son of the “Godfather” of afro beat, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, a common thread emerged was that a lot of people were outraged by the act and rightly so.

    But a more disturbing trend was the self-serving hypocrisy by a few middle class Nigerians usually loud on social media the same class that talk and abuse without decorum, anyone with an opposing political ideology.

    In their mind Seun Kuti had committed the crime of the century. Where was this outcry when about five police officers were killed by the EndSARS protesters?

    Where was this outcry when unknown gunmen were killing police officers and bombing police stations across the country?

    Righteousness they say exalts a nation but we live in a country riddled with hypocrisy. 

    The same outrage was seen with the Ike Ekweremadu saga. While Ekweremadu has rightly faced justice for his actions, I worry that the loud outcry against Ekweremadu had more to do with his ill-timed interview with a TV reporter shortly before he embarked on the trip to England that would lead to his eventually arrest on charges of organ trafficking. That interview where he stated that his “people” would vote for the PDP all but sealed his fate with the social media mob.

    The outcry amongst Nigerians, these same Nigerians who employ underage “slaves” from neighbouring Togo and Benin Republic to work as house helps, with some paid through dubious third party agents and definitely below the national minimum wage.

    Some inherit blood relatives who may have lost one or both parents from the village only to bring them to big cities like Lagos and subject these relatives to substandard treatment compared to their own children.

    Stories abound of these kids eating with plastic spoons, unable to go to similar schools with the children of their benefactors while generally subjected to second class treatment in such homes. 

    These are ingrained in the Nigerian society. Yet we cry “murder” while not looking and examining the very acts in our immediate environment. 

    Yes violence in any form should be decried and more so against uniformed personnel. 

    We should apply outrage against ALL forms of wrong doing and introspect.

    For in the bigger picture, the underlying principle that will make one individual import another human from Togo or Benin to work in Lekki is not much different from the mind-set that will make another ferry a street boy from Lagos to harvest his kidney in London. 

    Righteousness they say exalts a nation; there’s a reason the country is where it is despite the multiplication of religious houses.

    •Lagundoye Ayo,

    ayolagzy@yahoo.com

  • On the amendment of Oyo Chieftaincy Law 2023

    On the amendment of Oyo Chieftaincy Law 2023

    Sir : The Seyi Makinde administration has been a blessing to Oyo State in the last four years going by its policies with human face and it led to the support it got from people which culminated in its victory in the March 18 gubernatorial election. However, the news credited to the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in Oyo State, Professor Oyelowo Oyewo as regards the decision of the executive council of the state to amend the law governing the approval and granting of beaded crown to Baales in Oyo State should be a source of concern to the discerning citizens of the state.

    Professor Oyewo, addressing press after the weekly meeting of the executive council, spoke about the decision of the state government to seek the amendment of section 28 of Oyo State Chieftaincy Law. The need for the amendment of the law according to Oyewo is that many Baales are seeking the government’s approval to wear beaded crown.

    The extant law guiding the approval of crown sub 28 sub section 1 states that the governor can only approve application for beaded crown after consultation with Oyo State Council of Obas and Chiefs. The decision of the state executive council in this regard shows that the governor wants to usurp the functions of traditional rulers and this has no other name than dictatorship. It is doubtful whether the government sought the advice of the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Matters on this. Even during the military era, such advice was sought and it went a long way to help the government in the implementation of its policies.

    The issue of beaded crown cannot be taken lightly as the state government is doing. Beaded crown is the sceptre of authority of Obas in Yorubaland. As a matter of fact, during the colonial era, colonial authority had to seek the advice of the Ooni and Alaafin on such issues and their advices were strictly adhered to. For instance, in 1903, the governor of Lagos, Sir W Macgregor, had to invite Ooni Adelekan Olubuse 1 to Lagos to adjudicate on the festering dispute between Akarigbo of Remo and Elepe of Sagamu as whether Elepe was entitled to, by right, to wear beaded crown as Oba. It is in line with this that Western Region government in 1976 had to seek the advice of the traditional council when both Olubadan and Soun were to be granted the permission to wear beaded crown.

    In actual fact, it was Alaafin Adeyemi 111 who recommended the two Obas for the right and this was backed up by the roles of the two towns in the development of Yorubaland. Ibadan, for instance, did not have a monarchical system as other Yoruba towns, but most of those who ascended her throne had connection with key Oyo Yoruba Obas. For example, Baale Fijabi was a great grandson of Onpetu of Ijeru. Soun on the other hand is related to two classical thrones of Igbon and Iresa. According to Ooni Olubuse 1, in a correspondence with Macgregor, any crown that doesn’t originate from Ife or has the approval of the traditional council is “anyhow hat.” Any Baale or “Oba” who wears such crown is treated as anyhow oba in the committee of Obas in Yoruba land. I hope the government understands. 

    In addition, the reasons given by government for seeking the amendment of the chieftaincy law, which is that the state Council of Obas and Chiefs no longer meets, is spurious, preposterous and untenable. It is true that Oyo Council of Obas and Chiefs no longer meet but what has the government done in the last four years to make sure the meeting is convened? Crisis in the Council of Obas was premeditated by the politicians majorly of Ibadan extraction.

    The question that readily comes to mind at this juncture is that how did Makinde administration whom God and ancestors used to bring sanity to Ibadan chieftaincy institution arrive at the idea of becoming sole authority on traditional institution in Oyo State? There is no doubt that Oyo State House of Assembly will amend the law due to its nature but history beacons. 

    •Adewuyi Adegbite,

    ayekooto05@gmail.com

  • Airports everywhere, few travellers

    Airports everywhere, few travellers

    Sir : With commissioning of some state-built airports in recent years, virtually all 36 states in the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja) now have an airport. The exceptions are very few indeed. All but one of the last set of states created in 1996 now have an airport. They are Bayelsa International Airport, Yenagoa; Nasarawa Cargo Airport, Lafia; Agro-Cargo Airport in Ekiti State; Ebonyi International Airport, Abakiliki and Gombe International Airport.  Zamfara is the odd state. And it is also the only one of the total seven states in the Northwest without an airport. It has an airstrip of course, located in its capital, Gusau. Expectedly, the state government has plans for its own airport.

    For the Northeast, Yobe State is the only one without an airport. But it has two airstrips which are in Potiskum and Nguru, that is, outside Damaturu, the state capital.   In the North-central, Kogi is the only state without an airport. It however, has an airstrip in Ajaokuta while the Ilorin International Airport (Kwara) is the only designated ‘international’ airport there, apart from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International airport, Abuja.

    All six states in the South-south host airports, Bayelsa being the latest entrant into the league. The other state-constructed airports are Akwa Ibom International Airport and Asaba airport while the ones in Port Harcourt and Calabar are owned by the federal government. Apart from having an airport, the Akwa Ibom state government also owns an airline (Ibom Air) which is fairly popular in the south.

    For the Southeast, there were hitherto, two functional airports here, namely, the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu and Sam Mbakwe International Airport, Owerri. The state funded Anambra and Ebonyi International airports came on board with inaugural flights in 2022 and 2023 respectively. So, Abia is the only state without an airport now in this zone. In the Southwest zones are Lagos, Ibadan and Akure airports. Ogun, Ekiti and Osun states are building their own airports. While Osun’s Moshood Abiola International Airport is stalled, the Agro-Cargo Airport in Ekiti and Ogun State’s Cargo Airport are very much on course. In fact the latter recently had an inaugural flight.

    How justified, viable are these airports that are dotted across the length and breadth of our country?  The Cargo Airport in Ogun State can be justified on the grounds that that state is now an industrial hub with nearby Lagos congested.  The Uyo Airport is also being complemented by the Ibom Air that offers commercial flight services. But the federal government-owned Ibadan airport is perplexing from point of view of economic returns with Lagos, Ilorin, Akure airports around it.  Ditto other airports that are surrounded by airports in neighbouring states. I sense that a driving force for establishment of airports is the prestige that goes with it, being ranked as a state with an airport.

    Another question is, how ‘international’ are these airports, given the trend of adding ‘international’ to their name. Again such designation seems to be borne out of prestige-hunting. Apart from Lagos, Abuja and perhaps Port Harcourt airports, it is doubtful if the plethora of ‘international’ airports in the country play host to international passengers. Many of the airports hardly have regular flights to such places and so rarely have regular Nigerian passengers. Most of those that patronise them are governors and the super-rich on chartered flights.  However some of these ‘international’ airports in the north serve the useful purpose of airlifting  their indigenes for hajj, thereby saving them the stress associated in travelling to another state for the yearly hajj . This is an occasional operation though.

    I suspect that state governments that have built airports would be lobbying the federal government to take them over in order to save them their associated huge maintenance costs. Air travel   has advantage of speed. And with security concerns in parts of the country coupled with bad roads, it should be the preferred mode of travel. But its prohibitive cost puts it out of reach of the ordinary man/woman. For state governments in particular, constructing an airport, a capital intensive project, remains an elitist project for the elites generally.

    •Victoria Ngozi Ikeano,

     Victoriangozii@gmail.com 

  • Unhealthy trend

    Unhealthy trend

    • Reward system must be improved to minimise quackery in teaching

    Seventy percent of teachers in private schools in the Southwest zone are not qualified. So says the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), which is the regulator of the profession in the country. TRCN registrar, Professor Josiah Ajiboye, reported the dismal state of affairs.

    According to the regulator, this pattern is replicated across the country. “When we conducted our survey, we observed that 70 percent of teachers in the Southwest are not qualified. A large number of teachers in private schools in Nigeria today are also not qualified,” Ajiboye said at the signing in Abuja of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the TRCN and INSTILL Education, a South Africa-based educational firm. “Unqualified teachers are not only cheating pupils and students, they are cheating the education system in its entirety. They are not registered with the TRCN because (they) lack the prerequisites to be registered by the council,” he further said.

    The registration council boss noted that the quantum of unqualified teachers in the Southwest contradicted a general notion about standards in private schools, adding that a large number of teachers in Nigeria had never been exposed to training and had been using outdated equipment for illustrations. He stressed that the point of the collaboration between TRCN and INSTILL Education is to equip Nigerian teachers with 21st Century skills, as the MoU would help teachers develop professionally and enhance learning outcomes. “The major component of the MoU is to retrain in-service teachers and enhance their capacities and skills. A large number of teachers have never been exposed to a single training programme since they were employed, thereby making them doing the same thing the same way,” he said.

    A primary criterion for anyone to be registered with the TRCN is possession of teaching qualification, whether a degree or certificate in Education, in addition to whatever other qualification may be held. Ajiboye apparently was referring to throngs of ‘emergency’ teachers who have found themselves in the profession as a last resort, and not because they were trained teachers or persons who opted for the career by premeditation; and they have held back from going for teacher training perhaps because they have not made up their minds to settle for the profession and see themselves as birds of passage. Of such, Ajiboye said: “There is a difference between teachers and cheaters; if you are not a teacher, you must be a cheater.”

    The trend observed by the regulator highlights the failure of standardisation in the teaching profession. The population of accidental teachers by far outpaces that of committed ones, and this obviously has had hugely negative impact on the quality of education being dispensed. It is not difficult to figure out why there is a preponderance of unqualified teachers in the private school system. Commercialisation of education makes  proprietors, who are businesspersons, to settle for manpower available at lesser costs so as to optimise profit from fees paid  by pupils. Meanwhile, the general perception is that private schools offer better standard of education than public schools, and parents pay through the nose to access what they deem to be on offer. But the perception isn’t helped either by the pervasive condition of public schools where structures are ramshackle and classes overcrowded, even though teachers in that system are generally more qualified because of better standardisation at the point of recruitment. In some cases, the defective standard of education being dispensed is dissembled by commoditisation of certificates whereby parents fund ‘ways and means’ of procuring ‘good’ results for  their wards, as distinct from good education. It is a complex mix of factors that leaves subscribers to the nation’s education system with the short end of the stick.

    One reason why there are more quack teachers than originals is the reward system. Not much has changed from the ancient code of a teacher’s reward being in heaven. During the commemoration of the World Teachers Day in 2020, President Muhammadu Buhari announced new incentives for teachers which include a bumper and specialised salary structure, upward review of their retirement age from 60 to 65 and years of service from 35 to 40, payment of fees of teachers’ children and provision of low-cost houses for them. Other incentives promised include increase in rural posting allowance for teachers, science teachers’ allowance, peculiar allowance, automatic employment for Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) and Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.) students upon graduation, prompt payment of teachers’ salaries and timely promotion to eliminate stagnation, and sponsorship of teachers on skills enhancement trainings. Many of those bounties remain what they were: promises, with fulfilment awaited till date.

    To attract willing and qualified practitioners into the teaching profession, the reward system must be made comparable with other professions whose practitioners are products of teachers.

  • Kings’ goats

    Kings’ goats

    • Governments and their MDAs must be good role models by paying for power consumed

    Businesses thrive when customers pay for goods bought or services rendered. Little wonder the notice usually pasted by some business concerns on their doors: ‘no credit today, come tomorrow’. If after seeing the notice you decide to go back and return there tomorrow,  you would still see the notice. Meaning that at no time would there be any transaction on credit by that business concern. That is the principle that should guide businesses that intend to do well, including the power sector.

    Many Nigerians want uninterrupted power supply. But not all want to pay for power, even when truly they had consumed it. We say this because we also know there are issues with billing, as millions of electricity consumers are slammed outrageous bills every month, euphemistically called ‘estimated or crazy bills’ which have no bearing with the power they use.

    But the power firms, be they generating companies (GenCos), transmission companies or even distribution companies (DisCos), all need money to deliver on their mandate of making steady power supply available to Nigerians. And that can only come when their respective customers settle their bills. Power consumers cannot refuse or fail to settle their bills and at the same time expect to continue to enjoy the service.

    It is bad enough when individuals do not settle electricity bills. But it is worse when the chronic power debtors are governments and  their agencies, Including the Nigerian Armed Forces. This is why we find the latest report about these categories of power consumers owing the DisCos a whopping sum of money unsettling.

    The Senate Committee on Power said state governments, military formations and educational institutions are among the customers owing the DisCos huge debts. Although the committee chairman, Senator Gabriel Suswan, who disclosed this during an interactive session with the Minister of State for Power, Abubakar Aliyu, did not tell the exact amount the governments and their agencies are owing, we know this is true because it is not a new phenomenon.

    As far back as 2016, Mr Sunday Olurotimi Oduntan, Executive Director of Research and Advocacy for the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) said that the federal, states and local governments together with their ministries, departments and agencies owed DisCos about N60billion. “The Nigerian Armed Forces particularly owe us more than any other group, especially the army”, he added, pleading with the president “to call the military to order.”

    The debt profile has been growing since 2015 when the governments and their agencies owed DisCos about N26 billion. This jumped to N60 billion in 2016. As of July 2021, federal, state and local governments as well as MDAs were reportedly owing DisCos up to N202 billion.

    Last year, ANED disclosed that the Federal Government had verified N48 billion as MDAs’ debts, while N61 billion was yet to be confirmed. Another N93 billion was estimated to be owed by Armed Forces and other security agencies in Nigeria.

    While, as we stated earlier, not all these debts are genuine, the fact is that many of these agencies do not pay for power supply at all. What these categories of debtors fail to realise is that the DisCos are now private entities and they are in business to make money. We know that this was the trend in the days of the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) and the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) when power generation, transmission and distribution were essentially public entities. Many governments and their establishments were simply not paying for power supply then. The assumption probably was that they were all government establishments and so, owing a sister institution was no big deal. Sometimes, the government had to step in and resolve the debt logjam.

    Refusal or failure to pay for power consumed impacts negatively the DisCos’ ability to function optimally. Yet, power supply is pivotal to everything we do these days, from providing comfort in the homes after a hard day’s job, to facilitating production processes in the small, medium and large scale business concerns. Alternative power supply through power generators is a hard choice because it raises the cost of production which ultimately affects competitiveness of goods produced in the country.

    We therefore, call on the incoming government to be prepared to sort out the issues of governments’ indebtedness to DisCos. These are agencies that should be role models in prompt settlement of electricity bills. There should be mechanisms for reconciliation where there are disputes on the bills given to the government debtors. The moment these have been resolved, then governments must ensure the reconciled amounts are paid. If the debts are to be deducted at source from the budgets of the respective governments and institutions, so be it.

    To avoid such disputations in the future, the Federal Government must insist on the DisCos metering all their customers. This would lay to rest, once and for all, the issues associated with crazy bills, which is the reason many power consumers give for not paying their bills.

  • Beaconhill Smile, Lakeshore partner on oral cancer awareness

    Beaconhill Smile, Lakeshore partner on oral cancer awareness

    Beaconhill Smile Clinic and Lakeshore Cancer Centre have called for increased awareness on oral cancer. Beaconhill, renowned for dental care and other health services in Nigeria and America, organised the maiden oral cancer awareness walk in partnership with the cancer centre to mark this year’s International Oral Cancer Awareness month.

     The four-kilometre walk began as early as 7:00a.m., from Beaconhill Smile Clinic to Lakeshore Cancer Centre in Victoria Island, Lagos. Awarded as the Best Dental Care provider by the Nigerian Healthcare Excellence Awards (NHEA) 2022, Beaconhill Smile Group, a fast-rising international clinical chain with several specialist clinics, provides dental care provider ranging from dentistry, physician-led skin aesthetics and dermatology centre and optometry.

     According to the latest WHO data, oral cancer in Nigeria has reached about 2,238 or 0.15 per cent of the total annual deaths in the country. The event, which was held recently, attracted a huge sponsorship from reputable brands, including Leadway Health HMO and Ikoyi Club. Other sponsors are Nestle Pure Life Nigeria, Bodyline Gym, Colgate Nigeria, Exclusive Smile Clinic, Visioncraft Eye Clinic, Phoenix Derma Aesthetics and Laser Centre and a host of others.

     The four-kilometers walk started as early as 7 am beginning from Beaconhill Smile Clinic to Lakeshore Cancer Center in Victoria Island Lagos and was followed subsequently by an oral cancer sensitisation on the causes, preventive measures, early detection needs and treatment of the disease. Free oral cancer checks and also Breast cancer checks followed immediately at Lakeshore cancer centre.

     Dr. Oluwaseun Akinbobola, Beaconhill Smile Group’s Managing Director, reiterated the importance of early detection of oral cancer and listed some major causes of oral cancer: alcohol and tobacco intake, poor dental hygiene, exposure to extreme sunlight, etc; all of which Nigerians are widely predisposed to from their social nature. “If the disease is caught early, the chances of survival are much higher, around 90 per cent. Beaconhill Smile Foundation, therefore, aims to increase awareness of the disease nationwide, including risk factors and warning signs, and encourage people to be proactive when it comes to their oral health. This includes being alert to any changes in your mouth and speaking to a dentist or doctor as soon as you notice anything,” he said.

  • Kia breaks ground with EV9 SUV

    Kia breaks ground with EV9 SUV

    Kia has introduced its Software Defined Vehicle (SDV) technology through its EV9 SUV’s on-demand features and over-the-air (OTA) software updates, allowing customers to remotely purchase and install new software functions based on their needs. Kia, which is affiliated with Hyundai Motor Group, has recently launched its flagship electric SUV, the EV9. Notably, it is the Group’s first model to offer a range of digital features and services accessible via the Kia Connect Store.

    The EV9’s electrical/electronic (E/E) architecture allows for OTA software updates, giving customers the added flexibility to select the features they want to upgrade. In addition to innovative experiences, such as Highway Driving Pilot (HDP), which provides conditional Level 3 autonomous driving, further on-demand services will be continuously introduced through the Kia Connect Store, providing personalized experiences and new value for customers through advanced SDV technology.

    Hyundai Motor Group’s future roadmap for SDV, announced last October at the Unlock the Software Age event, highlights the safe and comfortable freedom of movement offered by software. Upgradeable software can enhance vehicle functions, including safety, convenience, connectivity, security, and driving performance, to offer innovative customer experiences. By embracing the latest technology, Kia is providing customers with personalized, cutting-edge experiences and paving the way for a new era of mobility.  Kia’s introduction of the Kia EV9 marks a big step forward for the SDV era. One of the most notable features of the EV9 is its expanded OTA software update capability. Unlike previous models, the EV9’s OTA software update capability allows for updating not just the vehicle’s core components but also its convenience features, providing the EV9 with endless possibilities as an SDV.

    With the expanded OTA software update capability, various functions and convenience specifications can now be added or updated without requiring a separate equipment connection to the vehicle. This is possible through wireless communication between the cloud server and the vehicle, enabling control unit software updates without customers having to visit a service center.

    The integration of vehicle control units into four functional areas, based on a domain centralized architecture, is in line with the Group’s SDV strategy. This integration process has significantly reduced the number of control units, providing a robust technological foundation for efficient vehicle function and performance upgrades.

    Kia is taking a step further in providing a personalized vehicle experience to its customers. The company recently announced the introduction of Hyundai Motor Group’s first-ever on-demand service with the Kia EV9, which will be available through the Kia Connect Store.

    The Kia Connect Store offers a range of features, such as Remote Smart Parking Assist 2, which enables drivers to park and exit their vehicles remotely. The store also offers a feature called Lighting Pattern, which provides five different display modes for the two clusters of small cube lamps affixed to the SUV’s front. The ultimate goal is to provide a wider range of high-tech features in the future.

    Customers are met with unprecedented freedom and flexibility to choose and purchase the features they want at any time and from any location. With the Kia Connect Store website, customers can effortlessly browse and select the features they desire, without being bound by the constraints of their initial purchase specifications.

    Kia’s unwavering commitment to expanding customer choice and providing lifetime usage products is evident in its focus on catering to the unique needs of its diverse customer base, including those who opt for leasing, rental, and used car sales. The company is devoted to developing on-demand services that are personalized to individual lifestyles and enable customers to directly customize their products, further enhancing their driving experience.

    Hyundai Motor Group is dedicated to continuously advancing the latest mobility technologies. To that end, the brand places an emphasis on creating products and services that empower customers to express their individuality and enhance their entertainment options. 

    Such features include entertainment-related services like movies, games, and video conferencing, which are highly relevant in the context of mobility as a living space. Additionally, in response to the trend towards personalization, the group plans to further develop products and services that allow customers to express their individuality through displays, sound, lighting, and other means. 

    Hyundai Motor Group remains dedicated to exploring new avenues to elevate the mobility experience for its customers. Starting with the Kia EV9, Kia, alongside its sister brands Hyundai and Genesis, aims to accelerate its journey towards SDVs and bolster associated technologies, ultimately providing unparalleled mobility experiences to its valued customers.