The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • BA supports award

    British Airways  has signed a deal  with organizers of The Diana Award for 2019 Legacy event  hosted by Earl Spencer.

    As the official travel partner, British Airways flew Diana Legacy Award winners from around the world to London for the bi-annual Legacy Award ceremony.

    The Diana Award was put together to recognise and inspire the next generation of young leaders who are creating positive social change in their communities.

    The programme  provided the winners  the opportunity to enhance their skills in four key areas; leadership, community development, social entrepreneurship and technology for good.

    The winners were selected from a poll of nominations by an independent judging panel which included British Airways Chairman and CEO Alex Cruz, Baroness Lawrence OBE and Holly Branson.

    Read Also: British Airways rewards top sales agent 

     

    Alex Cruz, British Airways Chairman and CEO, said: “We are delighted to partner with The Diana Award for the Legacy Award ceremony, as they continue their work in recognising incredible young people.

    British Airways is committed to having a positive impact in local communities in the UK and around the world.

    so we are proud to support projects and individuals who make a positive, lasting impact.

    “Young people are a driving force for change so I’m very proud to have been on the judging panel for the awards, hearing about some inspiring achievements and championing the next generation of young leaders.”

  • FAAN, FCI sign pact on construction of Aviation Expo centre

    Efforts to improve the airport landscape received a boost at the weekend as the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) signed an agreement with FCI International Limited  to build an Aviation Expo Centre at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

    The Aviation Expo Centre will serve as a venue for major industry events.

    Disclosing this while handing over the letter for the land lease agreement to the Managing Director, FCI International Limited, Mr Fortune Idi,  FAAN’s Managing Director, Captain Hamisu Yadudu, said the facility will serve the needs of the industry.

    Yadudu’s message was conyeyed in a letter conveyed to Idu by the Company Secretary / Legal Adviser as well as Head of Directorate of Legal Services, Mr Clifford Imade Omozeghian.

    The terms of the agreement include  setting up a permanent befitting centre for development and international trade promotion within the corridor of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport called the Nigeria Aviation (NIGAV) Conference and Exhibition Centre.

    The 2500 square kilometer  centre, according to the FAAN boss  is to project the best of Nigeria’s businesses and enterprises as well as stand as a centre for the promotion of industry   excellence.

    The centre  billed to  take off early next year is planned through three development stages as envisioned by Mr. Idu.

    Read Also: FAAN cautions airport users on facilities

    He said : “ The first stage is to develop a 1000 sitter capacity hall that can hold 100 exhibition booths where all kinds of industry activities including open-to-public ceremonies can be held.

    “Then the second stage is to expand by building meeting rooms, cafeteria for workshop and business hub meetings and the third stage will be a multistory facility with aerial hall, underground parking, meeting rooms, recreation and learning facilities.

    “Centres of such at the international airport axis’s   are often considered as investor’s gateway and the foresight to sign this project by the Managing Director of FAAN is in line with the President Buhari’s administration’s mandate of increasing indigenous capacity in creating wealth by opening a platform within the airport corridors where the numerous indigenous produce can be showcased for export market using the air cargo services.

    “Exhibition and conference is a uniting force and it will bring people from all over the world to Nigeria. This of course means greater air traffic flow to Nigeria and with direct impact on the aviation economy and the Nigeria economy too.”

    He described the NIGAV centre as  a win-win for the air transport industry and Nigeria.

    He said : “ It is planned to start hosting events from February 2020 such as the Airport Business Summit and Expo, OPITeX for the oil and gas pipeline expo, NIMPORT, Agro Air Logistics Conference, WedExpo and hopefully the next Nigeria award will be held at the centre in 2020.

     

  • Tackling the menace of bird strikes

    Flying birds ‘interface with aircraft is increasingly becoming a recurring headache for  the global aviation industry. Huge cost borne by airlines to replace  damaged engines and the attendant  effects on  air safety is forcing airport authorities to evolve containment measures,  writes KELVIN OSA OKUNBOR.

    Birds strike is causing incalculable damage to the global air transport industry forcing airlines to incur huge costs in replacing vital parts damaged by flying birds.

    Bird strikes have  become a major threat to air safety globally. Over the years, collision between birds and aircraft has resulted in the death of hundreds of people due to crashes, and have resulted into losses estimated at over  $1.2 billion to the global aviation industry.

    Nigerian carriers are not insulated, as they  continue to grapple with the challenges of bird strikes. In Nigeria,   data from the  Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) indicated that between 2005 and 2010, a total of 209 strike incidents were reported.

    Bird strikes not only lead to carriers losing money, it causes flight delays and disruptions to the operations of airlines.

    As a global challenges, airlines, regulatory bodies and airport authorities are rethinking their strategies on the best containment measures.

    In the United States, about $650 million is lost annually as a result of bird strikes.

    There are bird strikes all over the world, resulting in emergency landings and damaged aircraft. The aviation industry spends a minimum of US$1.2 billion  per year on bird strike damage and delays, according to  John Allan, Head of the National Wildlife Management Center, which is part of the UK Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency.

    Statistics for bird strikes are murky. In 2012, there were 10,726 wildlife strikes in the U.S., the vast majority of which involved birds, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The UK Civil Aviation Authority reported 2,215 bird strikes.

    But reporting standards, differ based on  each country’s experience,  according to  Allan, former chairman of the International Bird Strike Committee.

    He is a  specialist in bird strike prevention in  England over the past 25 years. Allan said airlines and airports must work together to keep bird strikes to a minimum.

    Different countries across the globe have mapped out various strategies to keep  birds far from their airports.

    Singapore Changi Airport, for instance , has a 12-member wildlife management team that conducts daily patrols to monitor the movements of birds and other animals. Mynas, sparrows, egrets, crows and kites are common in Singapore.

    Singapore Changi Airport  broadcasts bird distress calls and puts anti-perching devices on railings near  runways and taxiways.

    Managing bird strikes is a never-ending job for  many airports across the world.

    Investigations revealed that Nigerian airlines  lose  over  N20 billion to bird strike annually as the frequency of such incidents  increased over the years without sufficient  efforts to curtail it.

    Some airline operators, who declined to be named said,   bird strikes have become very regular that they have to make provisions for the possibility of changing aircraft engines many times in a year.

    Bird strike incidents usually affect the engines of aircraft, which cost about $1.5 million (N547.5 million) to replace, depending on the type and capacity of the aircraft involved in the incident.

    This is apart from the cost of shipping the engine into the country.

    Read Also: ‘Air transport supports 65.5m jobs, $2.7tr economy’

     

    Between 2016 and 2017, Nigerian airlines experienced  no fewer than 27 bird strike incidents recorded across the country’s airports.

    Statistics obtained from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) indicated that airlines encountered 14 bird strikes during take-offs and another 13 on landings, with half of the incidents happening at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

    In the period under review, Dana Air, Medview, Arik Air aircraft were hit by birds.

    The Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulation 2006/2009 Part 18 Offenses – Paragraph 23 (1), states that an aerodrome operator can be liable to a fine of N2.5 million in case of a bird strike. But  the regulatory agency is yet to sanction the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) for any bird strike incidents at the nation’s airports.

    An aircraft engineer with the defunct Nigeria Airways, Chris Amokwu blamed  FAAN for the massive losses recorded by the airlines due to bird strike incidents.

    He said : “  FAAN is just looking at the airlines and allowing them to bear the cost alone through their insurance companies. Our approach to the menace has to be forensic because you need to know the kind of birds that are coming around. It is so deep and a lot of people who work in wildlife here just scratch the surface. They are not helping the airlines.“

    In 2017, many Nigerian carriers including Arik Air spent about N3.2 billion to fix its aircraft which recorded 15 incidents of bird strike within twelve months.

    Aero on its part spent over N2.1 billion to fix  its aircraft involved in eight incidents of bird strike within 24 months. Medview experienced three incidents on bird strike forcing it to spent over N1.2 billion on the replacement of its aircraft engines.

    Dana Air , which recorded a single incident of bird strike, spent N547 .5 million to fix its aircraft  engine affected by strike within 12 months.

     

    Intervention

    FAAN said it is responding to the menace of bird strike by putting in place measures to tackle it.

    Investigations revealed that FAAN has observed the presence of various habitat close  to the Lagos Airport where no fewer than 5,000 birds of varying species mill during the day. The birds   rest at night only to cause damage to aircraft when they fly off.

    According to the airport authority, for over 20 years, the birds have bred, hunted and fed in this habitat, multiplying exponentially.

    In  the United States alone, there are over 13,000 bird strikes annually and despite this, they have found a way around the hazard to operate their aircraft.

    Nigeria is not insulated  from bird strike related incidents as between 1990 and 2019, there were  about 700 reported cases  of bird strikes.

    However, FAAN is looking at ways to either eradicate or reduce the threat.

    On assumption of duty about seven months ago,  Managing Director of FAAN ,  Captain  Hamisu Yadudu  had a meeting with the Wildlife Control and Hazard Unit  on how to resolve the problem.

    Yadudu scheduled a meeting with the property owners  around the Lagos Airport  to enable the Wildlife Unit evolve measures to identify the birds.

    Following the intervention, trained ornithologists in the Department of Wildlife Control, were able to identify birds that create  problems for airlines and the things that attract birds to the airport. The team also evolved measures on  how to reduce or disperse birds from the airports, without  hindering  safe  flight operations.

    A  source in FAAN’s Department of Wildlife Control said the agency had embarked on a project, tagged,  Roost Dispersal Operation of Murtala Muhammed Airport, which led to ornithologists discovering and categorizing and dispersing several species of birds at the  airport.

    Investigations revealed that in the last six to eight months, there has not been a reported case of bird strike around the nation’s airports and this is because the authority took time to identify the problem and has done something differently that turned this near-monthly occurrence around to the point of near eradication.

     

  • Potentials of wagon factory

    ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE writes that the wagon assembly plant already shaping up the Kajola, Ogun State skyline, is already transforming the communities and exciting engineers, planners and providing artisanal professionals with a future away from across the nation’s shores.

    TO meet the increasing demand of freight and passenger traffic on the new standard gauge railway service, the Federal Government recently flagged off Africa’s single largest private investment by the Chinese government, which is a Wagon Assembly Plant in Kajola, Ogun State. From all indications, it is the first of its kind.

    This move has been applauded in several quarters given the numerous advantages it portends for the nation at large, especially when it comes to capital flight. According to the Ministry of Transportation, this Wagon Assembly Plant will see to the production of rolling stock  – locomotives, coaches, wagons and even contemporary diesel multiple units to facilitate movement of passengers and goods on the Abuja-Kaduna, Itakpe – Ajaokuta– Warri train route as well as the ongoing Lagos-Ibadan Railway. It will also serve any railway service in the West-African sub-region.

    According to the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, the factory’s installed capacity is to produce 500 wagons yearly, and it will undertake key production processes like welding, assembly, painting, drying and testing. It will also have the capacity to produce open, container, flat, tank and box wagons, as well as provide 5,000 jobs directly and about double that figure as secondary employment.

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, said the factory held high hopes for Nigeria’s economic prosperity.

    At the groundbreaking ceremony of the plant, Osinbajo commended Amaechi and his ministry for the very hard work and commitment they have demonstrated from the inception of the rail modernisation project, and acknowledged the Chinese government, particularly the investor, CCECC Nigeria Limited for this significant and strategic investment.

    Stressing that the railway holds the master key to transforming the economy, Osinbajo noted that its modernisation by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration will provide linkages, job creation, and more.

    Osinbajo said: “This ceremony is not just another event, it is a historic turning point, for us, the railway is not just an alternative and comfortable mode of travel, it holds the master key to  transforming commerce in Nigeria and across the continent.

    “The siting of the plant here in Nigeria and the commitment to hiring Nigerians and Nigerian businesses affirms the president’s directives in Executive Order Five, on prioritising Nigerians and Nigerian businesses in the innovation, production and procurement of engineering projects and services.

    “The plant would offer an important platform for engineers, technicians, artisans and other professionals to gain the specialised skills required for the production and maintenance of rolling stock. This will invariably conduce to spin-off businesses in the region of operation in particular and across the country wherever rail networks are in existence. The plant is expected to generate about 5,000 direct and indirect jobs.”

    He said the plant is an important project for so many reasons- it is central in the production of rolling stock spare parts and maintenance equipment needed for the railway modernisation programme being implemented by this administration.

    By linking the nation’s ports to rail lines and now, building the rolling stock locally, the vice president enthused that import and export business within and out of Africa’s largest market will be completely transformed.

    “When completed, it is expected that the plant would produce some parts of the wagons for the Lagos – Ibadan and Abuja – Kaduna rail lines, but also for the central rail lines and to satisfy the needs of other rail operators within the West-African sub-region”.

    He also charged CCECC to move on very quickly to the next phase of this project, which is the assembly and construction of coaches and locomotives.

    Highlighting some of the rail achievements by this administration he said: “After completing the Abuja – Kaduna Railway project in July 2016, this administration commenced construction works on the Lagos – Ibadan Railway modernisation project in March 2017, following which we initiated the rehabilitation and completion of the abandoned Itakpe – Ajaokuta – Warri rail line which was started over three decades ago.

    ”Furthermore, last month, we signed an agreement with Messrs China Railway Construction Company International to construct the Itakpe – Ajaokuta rail line which will be extended from Itakpe to Abuja through Baro Inland Water Port in Niger State with a branch line to Lokoja in Kogi State. This rail line will link into the new Warri sea port being constructed under the agreement.

    ”Also we are optimising the Lagos-Ibadan rail modernisation project by extending it to the Apapa Port, the nation’s busiest port for the efficient movement of cargo from the port to various destinations. This will expedite import/export flows, decongest the ports, and depressurise our roads in the process. Also, we are putting all mechanisms in place to achieve the swift completion of the Ibadan Inland Dry port which will off-take containers and cargoes from Apapa port through the Lagos – Ibadan rail line.

    Read Also: Osinbajo performs ground breaking ceremony of railway plant

     

    Meanwhile, he charged the host communities to  continue to support government’s efforts by effectively cooperating with the contractors in safeguarding and protecting these lasting investments so that all intended objectives and mutual benefits are attained.

    Meanwhile, he charged the host communities to  continue to support government’s efforts by effectively cooperating with the contractors in safeguarding and protecting these lasting investments so that all intended objectives and mutual benefits are attained.

    The Minister’s Drive

    If there is one thing the minister breathes and talks, it’s the completion of the rail system. Over the course of the last few years as minister, his passion for the rail has been unequivocal and visible achievements have been recorded.

    At the groundbreaking in Kajola, Amaechi, while reiterating his dream to connect regions and states through the rail, said the contract for the plant was awarded for the procurement of rolling stock to meet the increasing demand of both passenger and freight on the new Nigeria Standard Gauge Railway Service.

    Going down memory lane, Amaechi recalled  that Osinbajo had on March 7, 2017 performed the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the segment two of the Lagos – Kano Railway Modernisation project: the Lagos – Ibadan segment with extension to Lagos Ports Complex at Apapa which is nearing completion.

    This segment he posited, holds the key to the development of the economy of the nation from the commercial city of Lagos to the commercial hub of Northern Nigeria, Kano.

    Thus to meet the increasing demand of both passenger and freight on the new Nigeria Standard Gauge Railway Service, he said the federal government awarded contract for the procurement of rolling stock that is, locomotives, coaches, wagons and contemporary diesel multiple units to serve movement of passengers and freight on the Abuja-Kaduna, Itakpe – Ajaokuta – Warri train services as well as the ongoing Lagos – Ibadan Railway. It will also serve any railway service in the West-African sub-region.

    He noted that the Ministry of Transportation realised the need to set up this type of plant considering the potential need in view of the on-going rail projects in the country and the sub-region encourage Messrs CCECC to establish this plant.

    He further posited that it is expected that the plant would generate job opportunities for Nigerians and as well facilitate the much-desired objective of the government towards the local content capacity development.

    He said: “It was in the pursuit of these objectives that the Federal Ministry of Transportation signed an agreement with Messrs. CCECC Nig. Limited in March, 2018 to establish this plant for the production and assembling of rolling stock, spare parts and maintenance equipment in Nigeria.”

    On the choice of Kajola he said CCECC conducted a feasibility study in which the choice of Kajola, Ogun State was arrived at as the suitable location for the project

    “This project is therefore a direct investment of CCECC Nig. Ltd in the country and would remain as part of the gains from the contract signed for the supply of rolling stock. This will be the first of its kind in Nigeria and the first batch of the wagons to be assembled from the production line of this plant will form part of the rolling stock for Lagos – Ibadan and Abuja -Kaduna Railway operations. Subsequently, other rolling stock would be produced as its production capacities increase.

    “The project when completed would be able to generate about 5,000 jobs and in the long run, Nigeria would be able to manufacture rolling stock for local use and for other African countries. More so, we would be able to conserve our much needed foreign exchange which can be deployed to other areas of development.

    “Among all these, it is cardinal to mention that the sustainability of our railway modernisation projects would depend on our ability to develop local capacity to construct, maintain and manage our new railway system. It is on this note that we feel that this project is germane to the railway development in Nigeria and that CCECC should be given every reasonable support to actualise this investment.”

     

    Investor’s Commitment

     

    In his address, the Managing Director of CCECC, Jiang Yigao, who expressed the company’s commitment to work with Nigerian authorities to achieve the country’s aim of modernising its railway, stressed on  the purpose of the Wagon Assembly Plant project and the benefits it would accrue to Nigeria through the project.

    Noting that the inauguration of the project underlines the commitment of CCECC towards the industrial and economic development of Nigeria, he said: “During the past years, CCECC was impressed by the Federal Government of Nigeria and the Federal Ministry of Transportation for their determination and efforts on modernising the railway. Therefore, CCECC commits to spare no effort to cooperate with the Nigerian government.

    “The concept of this Wagon Assembly Plant is to grow local technology and ultimately make Nigeria not only self-sufficient in certain components of locomotive rolling stock, but also an exporter.  With the completion and operation of the Abuja to Kaduna Railway, Abuja Rail Mass Transit and work on other railway projects, the plant will play a pivotal role in ensuring that provision of wagons.  The socio-economic benefits of the plant cannot be overemphasised. A number of youths will be employed and it will stimulate the creation of other ancillary jobs and bring development not only to Kajola community but the South -west in general.

     

    “Today, the construction of the wagon assembly plant will open a new chapter of railway construction in Nigeria, which will help Nigeria speed up the railway industrialisation chain.”

  • A minister’s conceit

    Yours truly has been struggling to make sense of the showboat activism of the type mounted by Isa Ibrahim Pantami, since his assumption of office as President Buhari’s Minister for Minister of Communication and Digital Economy. It started with a ‘directive’ by the minister to the Nigerian Communications Commission “to compel telecommunications service providers to reduce the prices of data being offered subscribers” and to stop “illegal deduction of subscribers’ data by the telcos”. The minister’s personal assistant on new media, Yusuf Abubakar, said his boss issued the directive after he received a progress report on the implementation of Short-Term Performance Targets set for the NCC.

    The rationale: A country of over 174 million internet users should rank among the top 10 African countries with low average price of data. As if the prevailing high cost of data in Nigeria is not bad enough, the minister claims that “citizens still do not enjoy value for money as subscribers battle daily with illegal deduction of data, poor quality of service, among others”.

    The NCC, he said is to “immediately work hand in hand with the telecom operators and ensure a downward review of the price of data…improve the quality of service and check the illegal deduction of subscribers’ data”.

    Now, if you considered that strange from a minister, how about the fiat issued to the NCC Board on November 5? Receiving the Olabiyi Durojaiye-led board on a courtesy visit, the minister had insisted that the NCC must work out modalities to reduce the price of data in the interest of Nigerians.

    “His office”, he said “has been inundated with complaints from concerned Nigerians about the high cost of data by telecoms.

    He then went on to canvass the now worn argument: “If you go to other countries, even countries that are not as largely populated as Nigeria, data prices are not this high”.

    The long and short of it is that the minister wants data prices reduced – initially within FIVE working days and as it now seems –at all costs. As for the complaints by the telcos – of poor infrastructure, insecurity, multiple tariffs etc. – which although preceded the current administration but has gone unaddressed, the minister’s word appears to be – obey first; complain later!

    And now that his fiat has been ignored, the minister is alleging blackmail by forces he claims are opposed to his ‘people-friendly’ policies!

    Read Also: Pantami, populism and telecom sector

     

    Hear the minister’s spokesman – Uwa Suleiman on the subject  only last week: “Since assumption of office, the honourable minister has consistently rolled out policies that strive to protect the consumer and entrench discipline and professionalism in the sector, this stand has obviously ruffled some feathers whose sole aim is to discredit Dr Pantami’s mass-friendly policies.”

    “The strategy”, he said “is to compromise the media, using financial inducements and they have raised a considerable amount of money for this campaign.”

    The essence, according to Uwa, “was to intimidate Pantami’s office into allowing the continued exploitation of Nigerians by compromising regulators”.

    The minister certainly deserves pity. If, as one suspects that his problem is with the regulator, he should simply go ahead to report things to his principal? Wouldn’t that have been better than casting a veiled aspersion on one of the few institutions that have managed to stand the integrity test? By the way, isn’t the NCC a creation of law – as against being another parastatal – prone to being micro-managed by a powerful minister?

    We must pity the minister for his exaggerated notion of the office that he occupies hence his promise of what is clearly beyond his powers to deliver! The minister obviously didn’t think that his remit stops at formulating and implementing policies for the digital economy; he wants to play the regulator as well including descending into the arena of tariff formulation whenever he deems necessary. And now that he’s apparently run into the brick wall, he in a moment of grand delusion would recline to playing the patriotism card!

    “Mass-friendly policies”; sole-minded resolve “to protect the consumer and entrench discipline and professionalism in the sector”; what else are we not going to hear?

    Or that the entire world, including his own regulator – NCC united against the all-knowing Pantami! And the media too! Over what?

    Such conceit! Does anyone smell blackmail?

    And to imagine Pantami is not your typical, run-of-the-mill political appointee. Until his current station, he was supposed to have been the top gun the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) – a key agency in the digital economy orbit. A graduate of Computer Science from Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, he also holds a PhD from Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen.

    I do understand the seduction to populism. It is however too cheap. Unfortunately, that is the way we do business here. For other ministers, it is not sufficient to prance about in project sites even at the cost of distraction to busy contractors, outlandish promises have often come as part of the package if only to prove that the minister is truly working for the people! Just imagine what would have happened were the minister to have had his way with his so-called ‘directive’ on the telcos. For sure, he would have emerged as the darling of the masses; more, he would have secured for himself the spot of number one activist in government – never mind that this would have come at the cost of a fatal misunderstanding of his remit!

    Now the minister is being forced to learn the hard way – that things are not necessarily as they seem; that issues of tariff determination in a complex sector like telecoms are neither simple nor straightforward; and that arbitrariness, no matter how well packaged has its limits. The awareness obviously makes the minister mad – hence his rage at imaginary enemies!

    Here’s my one kobo: the minister should eat the humble pie by seeking the counsel from wide and near to carve a way forward. If he has a problem with NCC, he needs to sort it out fast!

    He needs to engage the telcos as the key drivers of his digital dream – if ever there was one. He needs to understand that without the telcos, there will be no ministry to preside over! Aside seeking to understand their problems, he should be in the vanguard of the creative policies to address them. To put it in street lingo, the current adversarial postures won’t cut! In all,  to learn to work with the relevant stakeholders for the public good.

  • How high population under develops Nigeria

    By Babatope Babalobi

     

    Nigeria’s population statistics are scary and future projections are frightful. It was 140m at the last count in 2016, it has climbed to 200m in 2019 and expected to double to about 400m by 2050, no thanks to a high fertility rate of between 2.5% and 2.5%. A global site demographic site Worldometers.info, puts the national population at 203,021,855 as of November 25, equivalent to 2.61% of the total world population, ranking it the highest in Africa and 7th globally.

    Nigeria’s population has been rising in leaps and bounds, and this was not matched with economic growth, exacerbating poverty in the progress. At independence in 1960, Nigeria’s population was 45m, 55m in 1970, 73m in 1980, 95m in 1990, 122m in 2000, 158m in 2010, and now above 200m. Nigeria’s population at the present growth rate is expected to shoot to 262m by 2030, 329m by 2040. In 2050, Nigeria population will rise to 401m displacing United States and China as the third most populous country in the world.

    The average population density is widely believed to be over 200 people per kilometre out of which Lagos has the highest population density of about 2607 people according to 2006 census. It is also predicted by 2050, 77 percent of Nigeria’s population will be urban, up from the current 51% residing in mega cities such as Lagos, Benin, Kano, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, and Sokoto.

    Just as corruption is a national signpost, Nigerians are also very fertile reproducing. Birth rates that was 1.9% in 1960 rose to 2.6% in 2019. Every second, the nation records four births, adding about 20,000 Nigerians to the landmass every day.

    Are poor people more prolific in reproducing?  This seems to be the case, when one considers that countries with the highest fertility rates in the world are all in Africa- the poorest continent. Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world leads the pack, followed by war-torn Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Chad, Angola, Burundi, Uganda, and Nigeria.

    Ironically, the lowest fertility rates are in developed countries such as South Korea, Spain, Japan, and United States where households have relatively higher disposable incomes. In   several countries of the North, death rates have outpaced birth rates, national population are shrinking, and towns in Spain are become desolate due to low population.

    The fastest shrinking population according to United Nations are in Eastern Europe-Bulgaria, Latvia, Moldova, Ukraine, Croatia, Lithuania, Romania, Serbia, Poland, Hungary. The population are expected to shrink by 15% or more by 2050.

    Why is Nigeria’s population rising sporadically over the years? Reasons include cultural factors that support early marriages, preference for male child causing continuous procreation in search for a boy, extended family system that encourages large families, and traditional expectations for child bearing; religious beliefs that support polygamy and prohibits contraception even among married and encourages dependence on God rather than personal incomes to sustain families; low literacy rates negatively affecting uptake of sex education, population education, health education and reproductive health education; and economic factors fostering  dependence on children for old age security.

    Nigeria is a big child factory and the girl child is the greatest victim. girlsnotbrides.org/ campaign in Nigeria reports ‘that 44% of girls in Nigeria are married before their 18th birthday and 18% are married before the age of 15.  According to UNICEF, Nigeria has the third highest absolute number of child brides in the world – 3,538,000 – and the 11th highest prevalence rate of child marriage globally.  Child marriage is most common in the Northwest and Northeast, where 68% and 57% of women aged 20-49 were married before their 18th birthday. Child marriage is particularly common among Nigeria’s poorest, rural households and the Hausa ethnic group. A 2017 World Bank study estimates that child marriage costs Nigeria USD7.6 billion in lost earnings and productivity every year’.

    The crux of the problem is that national, state, and local governments have not been able to match provision of social services such as health, education, water, and housing and infrastructure development such as roads, railways, and energy with increasing population growth due to inadequacy of funds, poor governance, and graft. Nigeria’s rising population has been marked with low economic growth and decaying social services and infrastructures thereby under developing Nigeria.

    A large population is not necessarily a development challenge if its productive with low mortality. Nigeria’s rising population is not productive and the resources available cannot cope with the numbers on ground even if shared more equitably. The median age of Nigeria’s population is between 18-19, implying most Nigerians are youths in school, out of school, or unemployed.

    A school of thought, however, argues that Nigeria’s problem is not its population size as it is blessed with natural resources adequate to sustain a good standard of living if the society is egalitarian and welfarist and funds are used for the good of the greatest number. While this is true, the reality is that developed countries are working to control their population despite their enormous economic resources.

    Nigeria’s first population policy was developed in 1988 during the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida with late Professor Olikoye Ransome Kuti as Minister of Health. Its principal provisions were to ’ reduce  the  number  of  children  a  woman  is  likely  to  have  during her lifetime, now over six, to four per woman by 2000 and and ‘reduce the present rate  of population growth from about 3.3 per cent per year to 2.5 per cent by 1995 and 2.0 per cent by the  year  2000″

    The revised edition National Population Policy for Sustainable Development (NPP) 2004 seeks to achieve a reduction of the National population growth rate to 2 percent or lower by the year 2015 amongst others. All these lofty declarations were not respected, and targets were missed.

    Read Also: High population eats up Nigeria’s forests

     

    A 2016 study by Professor R. Murdi and Dr S Darkyes of the University of Abuja reveals ‘that 69.6% of the population have large family size of six and above’, listing factors militating against fertility decline to include among others, poor dissemination of national population policies creating lack of awareness on the policy by most of the population, religious prohibition, occupation especially farming that requires large family size, level of education as well as income level of the population.

    The way forward is for Nigeria’s three tier of governments to see its spiralling population as a national challenge and address it as such.  We cannot successfully tackle and overcome poverty if we continue to proliferate like rabbits. Governments of developed countries with low fertility rates give incentives to encourage early marriage before 30 years and childbearing, likewise, we should adopt the same approach in the reverse version. There should be benefits for raising small families and penalties for raising large families. Nigeria should understudy how countries such as Russia, Hungary, Estonia, and China are achieving negative growth rates, and imbibe lessons.

    Government should no longer pay a lip service to population control programmes. A national emergency should be declared on Nigeria’s rising population and all hands should be on deck to seriously stem the tide.

    Agencies saddled with implementing national population polices such as the National Council on Population Management (NCPM), National Council on Population Management (NCPM), and Population Technical Working Group (PTWG) should be strengthened technically and financially to enable them effectively discharge their statutory roles. Capacity of state and local governments agencies should be built with enough financial resources and manpower to implement health, education, religious, and gender provisions in population issues.

    The traditional and mass media should be harnessed in creating conducive attitudes supporting implementation of population programmes. Nigerians should realise that there is nothing fanciful being labelled as Africa’s most populous country, whereas its huge population is a liability living in poverty rather than an asset. The ‘most populous nation’ tag should cease to be a national pride. It is no good being big for nothing.

     

    • Babalobi is a doctorate researcher, Department of Health, University of Bath, UK.

  • Salome Abuh, and the cost of a Nigerian life

    SIR: How much is a Nigerian life worth, to the kidnapper, to the arsonist, to the murderer, when a Nigerian’s life is cut short by the bullet of the same security forces that his/her taxes pay to maintain, who is responsible for the inhuman policies that are responsible for lives that are lost?

    How much is the life of that woman that loses her baby because of avoidable circumstances in the slums called hospital, or who consoles the widower who has lost his wife because the hospital had no water, what is the cost if the children that are killed daily because of negligence.

    Men are suicidal because they cannot meet their family responsibilities, women are doing the jobs of ten men, because of abuse of all sorts. Who is responsible when we do not know the value of life?

    And when we murder our mothers, women, our sisters, our daughters, and people’s aunties due to electoral violence, who is held liable?

    So, the Kogi elections have come and gone, and so has the Bayelsa elections too. As Nigerians we have moved on. There are winners and yes losers; isn’t that what elections are about? In the phrase of Professor Larry Diamond, our semi-democracy continues; it limps, it stutters, in somersaults, in a manner of one step forward, and ten backward.

    Democracy without good governance, without justice and filled with bloodshed.

    Read Also: Women demand justice for late PDP woman leader, Salome Abuh

    For those that do not know, and trust me, many do not know, Mrs. Abuh, a PDP women leader who also doubled as a coordinator of the Wada/Aro Governorship Campaign Council, was holed up in her home and set ablaze by political supporters alleged to be from the ruling party.

    The criminality happened on November 18, after the November 16, governorship election in the state. Suspected thugs who invaded the home of Mrs. Abuh at about 02:00pm, locked all exits in the house and poured petrol before setting the house on fire.

    The hoodlums were said to have prevented locals from coming to the rescue of the woman as they shot sporadically to scare the people away and kept watch until the building was razed down. Mrs. Abuh reportedly attempted to escape through a window but was prevented by the metal burglary proof and bullets raining in her direction.

    Elder Simeon Babani Seidu Abuh, husband of the, late Mrs. Abuh, described her death as premeditated and called on security agencies and all authorities concerned to ensure justice in the matter. He further stated that the community knew the culprits.

    The United Nations (UN) condemned the killing through the Deputy Secretary of the UN, Amina Mohammed, who expressed the concern of the global body when the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, hosted her. “No person especially women should have to lose their lives when seeking political office,” Mrs. Mohammed said. She said it is incredibly important to make seeking political office safer.

    Five days after the incident on November 24, President Buhari ordered a “scrupulous investigation of the murder of the women leader.”

    Is there any agency that has a list of persons that died this year; that were killed as a result of state violence? People that died as a result of those collapsed buildings, those that were abducted and killed, Boko Haram related killings, even members of the security apparatchik that were killed on duty? Is there anywhere that serves as a remembrance for Nigerians because our lives are worth something? Really what is the cost of a Nigerian life?

    Salome Abuh after all said and done, is gone, gone to the great beyond. This attack on womanhood that ordinarily should warrant reason to action by men and women of good conscience irrespective of political, social and religious leaning would just again be one of those things, collateral damage. Women that should be partners in our democratic space hacked down, Nigerians killed, and no one is accountable, or answerable, because we leave the space to urchins and all sorts of disturbed persons.

     

    • Prince Charles Dickson,

    <pcdbooks@gmail.com>

  • Of ASUU and IPPIS

    SIR: The locust years of military rule dealt a crippling blow to the nation’s educational system. Before independence, the University of Ibadan was a Mecca of sorts for academics and students from all over the world. Foreign students interested in knowing more about Africa berthed there as well as academics who wanted to do their sabbatical on African soil. The other first generation universities like the University of Lagos, University of Nigeria Nsukka, University of Ife now Obafemi Awolowo University and the Ahmadu Bello University were ranked globally as competitive institutions of higher learning.

    These schools alongside the second-generation universities and the ones to follow were dealt a gargantuan blow with lack of funding, strikes, interference with the appointment of the vice-chancellors, dearth of research among the challenges that the schools are grappling with.

    The essence of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information Systems (IPPIS) is to stop the unwholesome practice of many academics teaching in more than one institution at the same time on a full-time basis. The idea is to ensure that academics identify with one higher institution where they will be paid their salaries.

    The practice is morally wrong as the innocent students, most of who went through hell and high water to pay their fees are short-changed. Research which is a core function of academics the world over also suffers a great backlash.

    To be fair, ASUU has a point as the budgetary allocation to the educational sector falls way below the United Nations Educational and Scientific Organization (UNESCO) recommendation. There is also the indiscriminate award of university licenses without a corresponding quality assurance check on those mushroom schools.

    However, the unionization of higher education is doing more harm than good. It belonged to the Marxist era which has long collapsed – the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989. It has no place in the 21st century. Our universities should be run on a public-private partnership with the private sector leading the course. Fund managers should be allowed to manage the endowment grants and funds from school fees and the rest to ensure that funding becomes a thing of the past.

    The vice-chancellor should not necessarily be an academic just as in the same way hospital administrators abroad are not necessarily doctors. The vice chancellors should preferably come from the private sector and should set the agenda for the smooth running of the universities. The professors should concentrate and channel their energies towards their core mandates of teaching and research. The scramble and battle for political positions especially the vice chancellorship is a huge distraction which shouldn’t be allowed to subsist in the best interest of the students who in reality are the only customers and they have every right to be treated like royalty.

    Read Also: IPPIS is a scam – ASUU

    Let’s borrow from the telecommunications sector. NITEL, the government telecommunications parastatal that held Nigerians to ransom for decades was in the market through its GSM arm, MTEL. Today, who uses MTEL? They have been chased out of the market through a fierce competition.

    ASUU can be likened to MTEL; its high time market forces hounded them out of the student’s lives for good. No Nigerian institution is in the first 100 in the globe. None attracts foreign academics or students. None gets massive research grants from international donor foundations that have a deep interest in education. For how long will we continue like this?

    We need to replicate the gains of the telecoms sector to education. Agreed, the school fees may be rather high for a while but let’s cast our minds back to when GSM lines first came out. They were very expensive. Today, it’s within the reach of a secondary school student. That is the same change we need in our educational system. The market forces will crash down the price of school fees. Even if it doesn’t do so, there will be the attraction of student loans, scholarships, grants, financial aid etc that will ensure that every indigent student gets a shot at having a sound education. After all, education doesn’t come cheap in the west where our rulers send their offspring and minions to but there aforementioned ways in subsidizing it are all there.

    The government should stand its ground and resist every attempt by ASUU at emotional blackmail for the swift implementation of the IPPIS. For once, the students should be recognized as the real Kings and Queens.

     

    • Tony Ademiluyi, Lagos. 

  • Accidents waiting to happen

    The tragic deaths of two workers in factory-related accidents in Lagos State recently are another sobering reminder of the urgent need for regulatory authorities to properly address the vexed issue of occupational safety and health.

    In one case, Mr.  Sunday Usenobong fell into the crucible of an iron and steel manufacturing concern situated in Ikorodu. Given that crucibles are the receptacles for melting metal and can reach extremely high temperatures, it is no surprise that he died instantly. In the other case, a moulding machine operator, Mr.  Femi Olatunde, had his head trapped in the machine he was operating. He also died on the spot.

    Both cases reveal a toxic mix of inadequate training, the lack of protective clothing, the absence of safety procedure, the failure to institute and implement workplace safety measures, and an overall dearth of a safety culture.

    How was it possible that the late Mr. Usenobong was working so close to a superheated crucible which apparently did not have any safety barriers? Was he dressed in appropriate clothing, including a helmet and non-slip boots? Was there any signage providing clear warning to workers of safe distances from the crucible, or emergency alarms which would go off the moment safety measures were breached?

    Similar questions can be posed for the late Mr. Olatunde as well. Why was he so close to the moulding machine as to get his head trapped in it? Was he wearing safety apparel and protective gear? Were there no warning signs to alert workers about getting too close to the machinery? Had he received proper training and orientation when he was first employed by the company?

    Read Also: Adebule advocates healthy workplace at Lagos Safety Summit

     

    It is impossible to separate the extremely poor safety regimen in many companies operating in Nigeria from the nature of their ownership. Far too many firms are run by Nigerians and foreigners with very little concern for the welfare of their hapless workers. Stories abound of factory workers who have been killed or maimed due to the heartlessness and negligence of those who were supposed to be supervising them.

    They have been locked in factories and left to burn to death while their managers enjoyed a night on the town. They have been compelled to work in dangerous conditions without proper safety procedures and clothing. They have been left to their own devices after suffering serious injury at work. They have been harassed and threatened into not complaining to the authorities.

    Matters have been worsened by the abject failure of the regulatory agencies to properly police derelict businesses and ensure that they meet all laid-down standards. Companies are not often subject to the regular spot checks which would reveal their shortcomings. Worker complaints are not taken up with sufficient seriousness, even when it is obvious that there is a serious problem. Mandatory training and orientation procedures are rarely insisted upon by these agencies as part of the process of employing workers.

    This cannot continue. A comprehensive survey of all manufacturing concerns in Lagos must be carried out with a view to ensuring that they are all inspected and compelled to meet established occupational and health safety standards. Effective reporting systems must be set up to facilitate the communication of workplace anomalies by members of staff. Where the culpability of supervisors and management is established, the full force of the law must be brought to bear, including compensation, fines and prosecution. Members of regulatory agencies found to collude with negligent companies must be sanctioned.

    Nigeria can no longer be a country where citizens must risk life and limb in order to earn a living.

     

  • Peacocky greed

    A major indication that something is fundamentally wrong with the way the former Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, regards the state he was once saddled with leading was his audacity to create and proudly proclaim an unknown “ Office of the Former Governor “. He also had the effrontery to flaunt such an illegality before the current constituted authority.

    After rushing through a law granting former governors, their deputies, speakers and deputy speakers through the House of Assembly two months before quitting office, Yari, last week, confronted the legislature, executive and general public with a bill of allegedly unpaid allowances of N10 million monthly over five months.

    It did not matter to the former governor that the said allowance runs contrary to prescriptions of the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation, and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the body constitutionally saddled with regulating such activities. Like a tax collector running after defaulters, the former governor was miffed that his successor did not accord the illegal payout priority over other items of governance.

    Read Also: WhatsApp comments: Sokoto kingmaker sues ex-governorship candidate Shinkafi for N500m libel

    We condemn the ex-governor’s action. He created a contraption to permanently exploit the tax payers in the state. It is unfortunate that he sought to do that in one of Nigeria’s poorest states. He had flagrantly flouted the extant minimum wage law that prescribes no worker in Nigeria should be paid a monthly wage below N18,000. Yari told the labour union he was in no position to bear such a burden. He paid a miserly N7,500 till he left office. Pensioners suffered a worse fate under Yari who saw himself as an emperor for whose taste all state resources should be committed. They were not paid for about a year under the ex-governor’s watch, again with the lame excuse that the state was poor.

    Zamfara is a state that has been so serially raped over the years by those mandated to serve the people but who turned themselves to overlords. The consequence is the violence bedeviling the state today. On many occasions, faced with starvation and squalor, the people were turned into slaves in gold mines where foreigners called the shots and scores died as a result of poor safety measures and pervasive insecurity.

    Zamfara is not the only state where rapacious politicians have cornered resources for personal needs and greed. BudgeIT, a credible non-governmental organization, has listed 23 states where public funds have been similarly cornered by former governors. They are not only paid huge pensions, but have certain clauses that could only have stemmed from a mindset that the states had been converted into fiefdoms by the ruling class.

    Only recently, an attempt by Bayelsa State to extend the largesse to all legislators was shot down following public outcry. In most states, including Zamfara, the law covers Speakers and Deputy Speakers in a desperate bid by the governors to enlist the support of the legislators. The public must become more vigilant in monitoring how public finance is administered. Good governance must be the major yardstick for deciding who to be returned at elections.

    We commend the Zamfara State government, both executive and legislature, for acceding to public demand that the obnoxious legislation be repealed. The speed by which this was done is particularly laudable. The likes of the former Zamfara State governor should be shut out of the public space as the recycling of such characters is one reason the country is not making progress.