The Nation Newspaper

Author: The Nation

  • Students decry fare increase

    From Chima Osuji

    Operators of Korope, the mini-bus used as campus shuttle at the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), have shut operations to protest their demand for an increase in their charge from N50 to N70.

    On Monday, the aggrieved drivers parked their buses at the school terminus in Tanke area of Ilorin. The development left most students stranded and dispirited as the drivers stuck to their guns.

    The Students Union (SU) and the school leadership had to intervene to douse tension. Subsequently, an SU luxury bus conveyed the stranded students to the campus. However, this was short-lived in view of the massive student population.

    One of the drivers told CAMPUSLIFE that the Korope Transport Operators, a body comprising drivers of the mini-bus, have agreed not to operate until the SU signed the agreement put forward by their operators on the new charges.

    Sources informed CAMPUSLIFE that the drivers’ action was a fallout of broken negotiations between SU and Korope Transport Union, with the latter accusing the former of being unwilling to honour the agreement it initiated.

    The Sub-Dean, Student Affairs, Dr. Alex Akanmu, who was at the scene, prevailed on aggrieved students to show understanding to the plight of the operators.

    Read Also: Why medical, acceptance fees are reviewed, by FUOYE

    Akanmu told students that N50 would only prevail for Monday. He  urged the students to accept the outcome of the deal between the institution’s leadership and the transport operators which, according to him, would, henceforth, peg the new bus fare at N60, a bargain Akanmu described as a ‘win-win for all the parties’.

    However, CAMPUSLIFE learnt that the terms of the temporary agreement brokered by the Akanmu were flouted by most of the drivers, who initially complied to the N60 fare but later backpedalled as none of them was available to convey students to their destinations at nightfall.

    Korope mini-bus is basically a seven-seater vehicle, whose operators are regulated by SU. Their relationship with the students can be likened to a marriage of convenience—with students always at the receiving end.

    Sources informed CAMPUSLIFE that Korope commercial drivers had persistently exploited students during peak periods by not covering the agreed distance from campus. Students, going by their population, see themselves at the mercy of the drivers, leaving them with no option than to comply.

    Ordinarily, the sitting arrangement is supposed to have one passenger on the front seat, with three passengers each occupying the first and second rows. However, at UNILORIN,  two passengers are camped on the front seat, with four passengers each squeezed in the first and second rows.

    Unfortunately, due to inflation, coupled with the high cost of maintenance, the drivers had to make a fresh demand for an upward review of their charges, a situation that resulted into Monday’s crisis.

    Earlier last month, SU had issued a statement updating students on the outcome of the meeting between the union and the transporters.

    The statement signed by SU’s PRO Comrade Odewole Abdul-Jemeel Olatunde, stated that the usual N50 bus fare was agreed upon as the official rate for passengers alighting at a bus stop called Sanrab, while students would henceforth pay N60 as a fixed rate for destinations terminating at the school terminus in Tanke.

  • Assassination, protest in UNIBEN

    From Ifunanya Osakwe

     

    Authorities of the University of Benin (UNIBEN) have banned social events on the campus. This is coming in the wake of the assassination of a final year student of the Department of Nursing, popularly known as Alfilsonado, by suspected cultists within the school premises.

    Pandemonium broke out at the Ugbowo Campus of the university about 5:00pm last Friday, sending students and lecturers scampering for safety. Eyewitnesses told CAMPUSLIFE that the deceased, who was heading for a carnival organised for students in Social Sciences, was shot on the neck at close range from behind by some students.

    Further findings by CAMPUSLIFE revealed that the assailant had driven into the school campus in a tinted glass vehicle and hid at the car park where they ambushed the deceased before eliminating him.

    Though the victim’s first name was Moses, friends and admirers knew him by his nickname.

    Until his death, he was a teacher of the English Language at two tutorial centres within UNIBEN premises.

    Rumours making the rounds indicated that the victim might have been shot dead by a rival cult group that have been terrorising the institution for some time.

    “Initially, the young man was rushed to the University Health Centre, he was quickly referred to the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH) because of his severe state. It was at the hospital that Alfilonade was declared dead,” an eyewitness who pleaded anonymity told CAMPUSLIFE.

    Read also: Fuoye crisis: SU seeks justice for slain, injured colleagues

    He continued: “The victim, who apparently appeared gentle looking was shot at the back of his neck as he was heading for the jeans-party carnival organised for Social Science students. The incidence itself happened close to where the Faculty of Arts students where having their welcome party.

    “While the university security officers were able to bring the stampede caused by the incidence under control, the assailants cashed in on the commotion to escape.”

    Other students who spoke to CAMPUSLIFE, however, condemned the incidence, calling on the school authorities to beef up security to ward off future occurence.

    “We are aware that, for some years, the incidence of cultism has not been heard in the school. How and why this would occur is what we do not know,” said another student.

    “Beyond that, however, I think it is time a police post was built on campus to help checkmate the incidence of cultism.

    “To me what has just happened is a terrible incidence and we hope such would not happen again,” he added.

    The spokesperson of the university, Michael Osasuyi, confirmed that the deceased was shot dead by a rival cult group.

    According to him, social activities have been suspended in the campus; while security measures have been put in place to ensure that there is no reprisal attack.

    Meanwhile, students of the Ugbowo campus of the university embarked on a protest at the weekend, over what they described as the inability of the university authority to make water and electricity available in the institution.

    The students, who blocked the Lagos-Benin Highway, also carried placards calling on the management to heed their demands.

    Some of the students, who spoke to CAMPUS, lamented that they had been going through challenges owing to the dearth of the the facilities.

    One of the protesters, who gave his name as Henry, said: “A situation where you live on the campus and yet you cannot access water or electricity is unacceptable.

    “We have suffered enough and it is time we made our feelings felt. That is why we have decided to embark on this protest. There is no water in the school, just as electricity is not there. The generating set is hardly powered.

    “We want the school authorities to address our plight and bring our suffering to an end,” the student said.

     

  • In defence of Okoi Obono-Obla

    Whether the battle is fought with ‘deodorant or with insecticide’, President Buhari’s commitment to war on corruption has never been in doubt. His refrain has always been –  “if we don’t kill corruption, corruption will kill us”. Because of a mindset that everyone is a thief until he or she can prove his innocence, he was during his first coming as military head of state unable to make a distinction between   politicians who spent state resources to set up private banks, marry new wives and those who spent such resources to build universities and provide infrastructure for their people. They all without discrimination got long jail sentences ranging from 100-200 years. He has remained focused despite being described by political enemies as one-issue president. Fighting corruption is what Buhari probably wants to be remembered for.

    But now we are in a democracy which allows for  dissent even within his kitchen cabinet just as it provides a breeding ground for people like Obolo-Obla , former chairman of the Special Investigation Panel for the Recovery of Public Property (SIPRPP)  who  shares his passion for and mindset on anti-corruption war.

    Following its inauguration by the then Acting President Yemi Osinbajo in August 2017, Obono-Obla  went after everyone –lawmakers, judges, public servants  including those working in the offices of the vice president and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. He asserted albeit without proof that “most of the buildings in Abuja are owned by directors in public service” and threatened to recover from ‘’‘public officers who have assets that are beyond their legitimate earnings’’.

    By October 2018, Okoi Obolo-Obla was reeling out list of his achievements: recovery of N4 billion and $7 million in cash as well as physical assets by the Special Presidential Investigation Panel for Recovery of Public Property (SPIPP) in its various operations. He said the $7 million was recovered from the previous management of the Nigeria Export and Import (NEXIM) Bank who had “illegally placed” it in Heritage Bank. The naira component of the recoveries, according to him, include N533 million and land valued at N1.5 billion also from the former NEXIM management. He also reported the recovery of  N24 million misappropriated by some directors of the National Theatre, and two hectares of land worth N2 billion, belonging to the National Council for Arts and Culture (NCAC). Other recoveries include 86 assorted vehicles valued at N500 million from a director in the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing. He also claimed the panel was “investigating the failure of a contract awarded to a company to dredge Calabar Channel, after the company had received 12 million dollars.”

    A gale of petitions greeted the announcement. Ten of them were sent to the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami for investigation. His report found Obono-Obla guilty of alleged ‘abuse of power, intimidation and harassment of innocent citizens’. With threat of arrest by EFCC and ICPC, he went into hiding from where he has been appealing to APC and the president who gave him a difficult task which he faithfully implemented and to Nigerians he said must understand the campaign of calumny is all about corruption fighting back.

    And what were the charges? Two cases were sent to Obono but he went on to unilaterally investigate 50 cases. But many will argue what Obono deserves for his resourcefulness is commendation and not condemnation. And by the way, did he by any chance discover evidence of corruption in the 50 cases he unilaterally investigated? His accusers were silent on this.

    Obono was also accused of working with a team of 100 policemen including one ASP Suleiman who was carrying out investigation without the knowledge or approval of the panel. But Obono-Obla, many will argue is not the IG and could not have assigned 100 policemen to himself without the approval of the IG or the president and commander-in-chief. And even if he had applied his wits to seduce 100 policemen to wage war on corruption, most observers would think the endeavor was for a good cause for which he deserves commendation. After all, we are daily driven off the roads by police escorts protecting senators facing criminal charges in courts and daily assaulted by distressing scenes of armed policemen following India and Chinese boys to fish markets or those with AK-47 in one hand with another hand holding umbrella to shield wives of big men from inclement weather in the market.

    Other charge includes unauthorised investigation of judges. Obono’s tormentors say the “singular act by the chairman of the panel could easily have been misconstrued as a form of intimidation and interference by the executive on the judiciary, contrary to the principles of separation of power”. But Nigerians can see through this type of hypocrisy. They understand Obono-Obla was only trying to establish his loyalty by what his principal not too long ago did when DSS men invaded houses of justices of the Supreme Court in the dead of the night raking in millions in local and foreign currencies as exhibits for their trial.

    Okono-Obla was also accused of appointing Mr. Victor Osita Uwajeh as a private investigator, despite the fact that the person was facing prosecution by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC)”. But is anyone saying Osita cannot earn a living because he was facing EFCC charges? That will amount to double standard. Nigerians are aware of 21 senators, which represented about 21 per cent of the 109 lawmakers at the 8th upper legislative chamber who were earning their living as senators while facing criminal charges in the courts or were under intense investigation or interrogation by the security operatives or anti-graft agencies. They include the 8th Senate President, Bukola Saraki, the deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu who the Okoi-Obono-Obla-led presidential panel had on March 21, 2018, filed an ex parte motion against seeking an order of interim forfeiture of his 22 houses pending the conclusion of the investigation. Others were Godswill Obot Akpabio currently President Buhari’s minister, Kashamu Buruji, Joshua Chibi Dariye, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu and Ahmed Sani Yarima among others.

    In any case, with the endless war of attrition between EFCC, DSS, NSA and other security forces including the military, how does Obono-Obla’s tormentors expect him to make sense out of the chaos and absence of co-ordination that seem to define President Buhari’s security architecture?

    Obono also stepped on powerful toes for what was described as “attempted arrest of the executive secretary of TETFUND with a truck of mobile policemen” and the arrest of the Deputy Director (Maintenance) in the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation. And finally, Obono was accused of “Flagrant acts of disrespect, indiscipline and insubordination against members of the panel” and of tampering with his WAEC result and ‘parading a questionable academic credential’.

    We have no evidence Obono’s advertised vices and alleged certificate forgery in anyway impeded his performance as ant-corruption crusader. In any case, certificate forgery is a problem common with Nigerian politicians and identified cases have always been referred to the courts and not ICPC.

    The irony is that Malami who wasted millions of taxpayers’ money in a failed attempt to re-integrate Abdulrasheed Maina who EFCC described in court on Monday, October 4 as ‘not a responsible citizen but a fugitive of law who stole about N3billion pensioners’ fund” back into the bureaucracy through the back door and was rewarded with a ministerial appointment for his pains, is the one deciding the fate of Obono-Obla whose only sin from evidence presented to Nigerians so far is over-enthusiasm.

  • Niger’s ‘the bad, the bad and the ugly’ – II

    Governor Abu-Lolo’s initial exposé of some of the sordid entrails of his predecessor’s corruption table manners would soon prove merely a foretaste of what he really had in stock for this flippantly irritable grand-uncle-in-law of his, Dr. Babangida Aliyu. The Federal High Court in Minna would thereafter order an interim forfeiture of some of the former governor’s fixed assets including raw cash, -seizures which an EFCC suit had claimed were proceeds of corruption involving a couple of billions from the state’s ecological funds. A couple of multi-acred farmlands, exquisite chateaux, cozy resorts here and there and some sleek multi-million naira jeeps and limousines purportedly acquired from the filthy fats of the ‘Power State’, were parts of this interim forfeiture. And this was after Aliyu had earlier been arraigned by the same anti-corruption agency along with his former commissioner/Chief of Staff, namely the ‘once-brother-in-law-to-have-been’, or PDP’s now twice-defeated flag-bearer Umar Nasko, before the High Court in Minna, on a separate seven count charge of fraud involving another sum of N2 billion. But as mister hare is said proverbially to be crossed more with the one that hangs it’s dead body into town than it is with the one that kills it at the hunt, neither of the suits of EFCC alleging humongous corruption against him may have unnecessarily perturbed Dr. Aliyu as much as the humiliatingly exhibitionist manner by which he was twice luridly brought to court, did. Abu Lolo had made sure the former governor was Black-Mariad to court swarmed by a tumultuous crowd of Nigerlite rank-and-file on foot, motorbikes and keke napeps even as they allegedly pelted and yelled condemnable, day-of-reckoning obscenities at his predecessor-grand-uncle-in-law.

    But those who forget history, it is said, are often condemned to repeat it. Dr. Aliyu too, after assuming office in 2007 had treated his predecessor, the late Engineer Abdulkadir Kure with no less ignominy. He did not arraign Kure before the regular courts; but he had instituted a public inquiry to recover billions allegedly stolen by Kure, even though many sympathizers of the former governor –without necessarily denying that Kure was guilty as charged- had said that Dr. Aliyu was more interested in publicly humiliating his predecessor than he was in genuinely recovering looted state money from him. And so, just as Dr. Aliyu was publicly pelted and called a ‘thief of the Niger’ under the governorship of his grand-son-in-law, Abu Lolo, so too had Kure previously been pelted and called the ‘Robin Hood of the Niger’ under the suzerainty of his own successor-brother-in-law, Dr. Aliyu.

    By the way, you should ask me: ‘Mohammed, did you say that Aliyu was Kure’s brother-in-law?’ Yes, I did. Kure too, was part of that unending layers of ‘in-law-ship’ and ‘grand-uncle-ship’ linked to the ever-expanding ‘grand-patriarch-ship’ of the Abdulsalamis and the IBBs.’ By sibling affinity, if not by consanguinity, the late Kure was related –through Dr. Aliyu- to the Abdulsalamis, because one of Kure’s younger sisters, of the same father and mother, is married to one of Dr. Aliyu’s younger brothers, also of the same father and mother. And so, as Dr. Aliyu is ‘uncle-in-law’ and ‘uncle’, respectively to Abdulsalami and his wife Fati, which I had earlier shown to also make him ‘grand-uncle-in-law’ to their ‘governor-son-in-law’, Lolo, the late Kure himself was Dr. Aliyu’s brother-in-law and by a curious customary extension too, he was Abdulsalami’s ‘uncle-in-law-at-large’ (my creation). See?

    It can thus be seen that the power gladiators on the Niger have always been connected one way or another to each other. Or how else would you have known that both Dr. Aliyu and the late Engineer Kure –even as they were once openly at each other’s’ jugular, politically- they were both conjugal and political affines of the Abdulsalamis, and were thus equally entitled to the protection of the ‘grand patriarch’ himself, or -by necessary implication the protection- of the grandest patriarch of all, namely IBB, to whom Abdulsalami is in habitual deference. Or again, how else would you have known that Dr. Aliyu and Abu Lolo who are both also conjugal and political affines of the Abdulsalamis in virtually all the ramifications of the word, can still, when it comes to politics, go after each other’s jugular?

    When Governor Aliyu defied all kinship entreaties (including his mother’s) to let go of Kure’s jugular during the public inquiry, Aliyu’s mother (who you must keep in mind is also mother to Kure’s sister’s husband) resorted to matriarchal troubleshooting in the hope of thawing her governor-son’s obduracy. And it was such pleasant irony that an octogenarian mother of an incumbent governor, Dr. Aliyu, doubling also as mother-in-law to her incumbent governor-son’s predecessor, Kure, had to be the one to run pillar-to-post importuning the intervention of one and all to save the extended family from political in-fighting; including she went to Minna Prison, they said to calm and to assure Kure’s two henchmen (one, IBB’s blood brother and closest aide, and the other, Kure’s uncle and political godfather) who were already in the remand while the inquiry was on. And when even this matriarchal intervention of the governor’s mother had failed to assuage Dr. Aliyu’s intransigence, Kure, it was said, was advised to resort to bruising kindred nerves, a joker which worked perfectly by blackmailing Dr. Aliyu to call off the inquiry. And what did he do? -at all subsequent hearings, a desperate Kure had made sure to rope in the name of an entrenched Niger State contractor, General M.I. Wushishi , -another distant paterfamilias of the Babangidas and the Abdulsalamis. All three Generals hailed from Wushishi, a town historically administered jointly with Zungeru, by a common traditional ruler. And when Wushishi appeared at the next hearing and was booed as the ‘contractual thief of the Niger’ by Kure’s loyalist, esprit de corps and jus sanguinis required that the patriarchs immediately put an end to this ‘wasan karya qafa’. And they must’ve screamed in unison: ‘cut, cut, cut….’!

    By the way, these same patriarchs on the Niger who had left Kure to his own desperate devices while under Dr. Aliyu’s stranglehold had made as much gaping wounds on the state’s economy under Aliyu’s eight years of patrician corruption, as they did under Kure’s corruptly gratuitous bazaar, eight years earlier. But the same are allegedly, even more self-indulgently involved now in the tragic, do-nothing administration of their clueless son-in-law, Lolo. Confirming the fact that every government on the Niger has an uncanny ability always, of beating its predecessor hands-down only in corruption and bad governance. And the question in fact arises: how far can the incumbent governor, Abu Lolo go in his current judicial effort to recover the state’s patrimony from his grand-uncle-in-law, Dr. Aliyu without risking again, a repeat of ‘forgotten’ history?

    Given the obvious fact that Dr. Aliyu is not one not to cave in under judicial scrutiny, we may yet witness another round of a former governor tactically implicating the patriarchs in his judicial ordeal, to free his windpipe from the stranglehold of his successor. Or can Governor Abu Lolo afford to allow a court subpoena on any of his patriarchal fathers-in-law? This is the way that kinship cookies always crumble. And maybe it is the reason that the former governor, Aliyu has recently started throwing careless allegations around about some financial wrong doings against his grand-son-in-law, Lolo. It may be to let his own niece (Fati) and his nephew-in-law (Abdulsalami), know that if they allow their governor-son-in-law, (Lolo) persist in throwing pebbles at his fragile glass house, well then, they should beware the boulders that he (Aliyu) their ‘uncle’ and ‘uncle-in-law’ may soon be throwing, in the direction of their even more delicately fragile ‘glass house’.

    If Dr. Aliyu had let go of his brother-in-law, Kure’s jugular in deference to the patriarchs who are his political godfathers, why should not Abu Lolo let go of his grand-uncle-in-law, Aliyu’s jugular in deference to the same patriarchs who are his parents-in-law?

    • Concluded

  • No competition with Dangote, says Kyari

    By Okwy Iroegbu-Chikezie

     

    Group Managing Director, Nigeria National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Mele Kyari at the recent tour of Dangote Petroleum Refinery said the government was working to ensure that refineries came on stream as soon as possible to ensure the availability of the stock year round.

    He spoke when he toured the Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Fertiliser company famed to be eight times size of Victoria Island with the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva.

    Responding to a question on whether there is a veiled competition between NNPC and Dangote Refinery, Kyari said: “lt is important to state that we are not competing with Dangote Refineries, rather we are complementing each other to make Nigeria a net exporter of refined petroleum products and you can’t do this until you have complementary activities that involved all stakeholders in the sector”.

    According to him, what they are doing with the refineries is to make them work so that by the time Dangote refineries come up, it will have a full accompaniment of NNPC refineries also to complete each other for the good of the country.

    The NNPC boss said it would enable the country to be a net exporter of gasoline and other associated products.

    He said: “Not only that, it is going to guarantee products security for our nation. As President of Dangote has said, Nigeria will now be the real supplier of products to Africa markets.’’

    Earlier, Dangote Group Executive Director, Strategy, Capital Projects & Portfolio Development Mr Edwin Devakumar said the Refinery will not only serve local demands which stand at 53 million litres daily but also set for export  to Europe and other parts of the world.

    Read Also: NNPC deepens downstream oil sector reforms

     

    He said gas will be trapped for electricity which is a sore point for manufacturers in addition to other by -products of the refinery used in the petrochemical industry to drive industrialisation..

    He also said that as a deliberate policy the complexity of the refinery is to ensure surplus revenue generation for the country as the company is worth over $12 billion.

    Edwin further revealed that over 800 engineers have been trained in India and employed by the organisation.

    President Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote also appealed to government to provide an enabling environment for organisations like his to thrive.

    He said the refinery will produce Gasoline, Diesel, Kerosine and aviation jet that would be surplus for export. Dangote further said:

    We believe in Nigeria and if we don’t do it, nobody will come and do it for us. You know Nigeria has population growth of three percent

    annually and there is need for Nigeria to feed itself and the entire Africa market, that’s why we went for this massive investment”, he added.

  • Bringing theories to town (3)

    Agbo Agbo

    08116759750

    •aagboa@gmail.com

     

    One key sector where applying the wrong theory or theories has had far-reaching repercussion is education. In 1986, the Babangida led administration began the implementation of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP). After an open public debate that was truncated midway, the administration came to the conclusion that there was “no alternative” to SAP. It was a bitter pill our economy needed to swallow in other to get well.

    After a decade of implementation, the World Bank, one of the initiators of the programme described it as “a wrenching change in economic policy.” When it was initiated, it was expected to be short-lived. Its adverse impact, if any, was “expected to be a temporary one.” Over time, however, it became clear that adjustment was going to take longer than anticipated. In a nutshell, the theory undergirding it include: rule of the market; cutting public expenditure for social services; removal of subsidies; staff rationalisation in government ministries, parastatals and agencies and other “conditionalities.”

    The downsizing also affected tertiary education. The justification for this was their claim that so much money was already expended on university education at the expense of the primary education. Decades later, they turned around that the wrong theory was implemented and not focusing on varsities – which are supposed to be the bulwark of creativity and innovation – was a mistake that pulled Nigeria and Africa back. We are still feeling the impact of this to date.

    It is instructive that the rhetoric of efficiency and improvement under which SAP was promoted hides the reality of educational retrenchment. The real motive was to phase out radical academic staff and students. In a nutshell it could be argued that SAP negatively affected tertiary education in Nigeria because it led to a drastic reduction in quality manpower. Their anchor was that Africans needed only vocational education.

    Unhappy with its theory and the generation of African intellectuals produced by the universities, the WB launched the Africa Capacity Building Initiative (ACBI) in 1991. This was to train African policy analyst and development managers. The initiative was however criticised by some African scholars who already believed that WB has never meant well for the future of African education.

    Their criticisms were based on an implicit belief that Africa lacked the cognitive skill to handle her affairs and needs to be guided and sustained by the WB. This recommendation is justified with the claim that no serious socioeconomic knowledge is being produced in Africa, or can be produced without the sustained intervention, direction and guidance provided by the foreign agencies. The authors of ACBI confirmed their impression of Africans intellectual deficiency when they wrote that Africa is blessed with a greater number of foreign “technical assistants” – from senior policy analysts, managers and business executive to technician and teachers – than any other region of the world.

    The purpose of ACBI was “to build, over the long term, a critical mass of professional policy analysts and economic managers who will be able to better manage the development process, and to ensure the more effective utilisation of already trained African analysts and managers.” Actually, in itself this project does not violate academic freedom, but the intended method of its implementation does.

    Besides disseminating the message of “Capacity Building” the ACBI tends to monopolise the distribution of fund going to African university system from all sources and to block the fund from any sources or institution that does not subscribed to the WB plan for African development. The fact of channeling every fund that comes to the African universities through the WB does not permit academic freedom. Also, not to allow institutional autonomy from state control of knowledge production and dissemination is a violation of academic freedom. Surely a state that premised its funding of a research program on the acceptability of certain state-sponsored conclusions, and forbids any supplementary funding from other sources would be considered a violator of academic freedom. The WB intention in creating ACBI did exactly that.

    The inability of the SAP to maintain internal balance had a two-pronged effect on educational spending. First, the insignificant attempt to reduce federal government deficit had a negative impact on public expenditure on education. Through this, the SAP became one of the major contributors to the crisis in our education sector. As a result, financing education reached a crisis point. The government was not to be able to make adequate provisions for capital development in the various educational institutions. Classroom accommodation, student’s hostels, staff quarters (where they exist at all) do not seem to be adequate.

    In the long run, the SAP did not transform the Nigeria economy or stimulate industrialisation as was widely speculated. Numerous economic problems remained intractable. For instance; there was apparent lack of commitment to adjustment and national development by the government. During the course of implementation, many distortions surfaced while others defied solutions. Of particular significance were the problems of continuing depreciation of the Naira, high and volatile interest rates, slow growth and near paralysis of the real sector, sky-rocketing inflation, unsustainable fiscal deficit profile, heavy external debt overhang, increasing unemployment, emergence of social movements and militia groups among others.

    It was not only the education sector that felt the impact of subsidy removal; the agricultural sector did as well. Government banned importation of rice, maize, wheat and vegetable oil to boost local production. But in a strange twist, it also phased out food subsidy which reduced productivity and profitability of farmers. This led to loss of farm holdings.

    This also applied in the real sector. By the late 1970s, Nigeria had over 15000 public enterprises which generated over 65 per cent employment. As a policy measure, SAP adoption meant the “rationalisation” of these Public enterprises through privatisation. Between 1988 and 1999 for instance, over 55 public enterprises were privatised. This scenario led to massive sack of workers. The adoption of the SAP in Nigeria thus worsened unemployment in the country. Through the staff rationalisation of government ministries, parastatals and agencies, many civil servants lost their jobs. The accompanying retrenchment caused social dislocations with little or no alternative means of livelihood to the majority. The fallout was the nationwide massive anti-SAP riots of 1989 which forced the government to give the SAP a “human face.”

    More lamentably, local manufacturing companies which were averagely doing very well in business prior to the deregulation and subsequent devaluation of the currency also had to drastically reduce its workforce thereby heightening the unemployment crisis. For instance, statistics showed that the workforce of United Africa Company (UAC), then one of Nigeria’s biggest conglomerates compressed from 23,850 workers in 1985 to 9,000 workers in 1988. As a corollary to the economic turmoil orchestrated by the SAP, there was reduction in capacity utilisation which remained abysmally low between 30 and 37  per cent and income per capita collapsed from $778 to $108 in 1989.

    This unsavory scenario also led to a drastic fall in standard of living, galloping inflation and underdevelopment in the country. In addition, the SAP led to proliferation of ethnic militia movements in Nigeria which emerged as a result of the atavistic nature of the state and its determination to see the policy through. Some of these social movement groups became rallying points for dis-empowered and marginalised citizens to aggregate their power to challenge the state.

    This further reduced the capacity of the state to deal with the challenges of development and welfare. The consequences were mounting unemployment problem, inflation, and widespread poverty which eroded the cultural, economic and political glues that sought to integrate the different elements of the nation. It also deepened the process of uneven development along ethnic and regional lines, leading to tension and feeling of exclusion at all levels of governance. The social polarisation that accompanied the process undermined the viability of the middle class that would have provided a stabilising force for the state. It led to the flowering of ethnic and religious extremism because the loss of social security represented by the state constituted religious and ethnic solidarity to alternative sites of organising social life.

    All these happen when wrong theories are implemented.

  • Operators to explore energy deficit

    Stakeholders are exploring other ways to close power supply gaps. They are looking at using liquefied natural gas (LNG) and renewable energy to address the deficit, writes EMEKA UGWUANYI

     

    Stakeholders in the renewable energy space and liquefied natural gas (LNG) subsectors are exploring ways to address the supply gaps in the power sector.

    They said there is a need for the government to make the sector attractive for investment through policies and by embracing new technologies. They noted that Nigeria lags behind Niger and Cameroon in renewable energy.

    However, they were optimistic that Nigeria will catch up with other countries when the right policies are were implemented. To them, depending on the grid supply when there are opportunities in the off-grid segment doesn’t encourage closure of the supply gaps.

    Speaking with reporters in Lagos ahead of the Future Energy Nigeria conference and expo scheduled for November 12 and 13 in Lagos, some of the stakeholders noted that there was need to advance conversations in the sector.

    The Head of Sales, East and West Africa, Clarion Energy-Spintelligent, Ade Yesufu, wants value chain overhauled for competitiveness.

    On the theme of the conference, which is “Advancing partnerships and solutions for a sustainable energy economy,” Yesufu said the event is expected to focus on the value chain and seek ways to provide solutions to the power challenges as well as empower youths for improved capacity development.

    Read Also: Unending power sector battles for loans

    Marketing Manager, Jubaili Bros Engineering, George Kai, explained that the initial cost of adopting renewable solution as well as access to funding are critical issues that are limiting the growth of renewables.

    Considering the cost of the project at the initial stage, Kai urged off-takers to explore financing options as people are sceptical about their capital expenditure.

    On how to bridge the energy gap, Pradipta K. Mitra, Market Research Specialist Greenville Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), observed that the claim that electricity can’t be supplied nationwide would be erased when the government promotes more investment to harness LNG in Nigeria, adding that if such projects can be replicated, the power problem would gradually be solved.

    Mitra explained that LNG offers huge cost savings as against other fossil fuel products, adding that the firm is already supplying LNG to many industrial customers and noted that 200 tankers have been deployed with 100 more tankers underway.

     

    President Women in Renewable Energy Association/Former President of the Council on Renewable Energy, Mrs. Anita Okuribido, said the biggest consumers of electricity (ministries, departments and agencies) in the country are not willing to pay, adding that there is a need for smart energy delivery system in the energy value chain.

  • Behold: The British royals’ guest

    A young Nigerian, Gideon Olanrewaju, has developed education-in-bottles, an educational intervention that provides basic educational infrastructure through waste plastic bottles to support access to quality education and empowerment for marginalised girls and vulnerable women in educationally-deprived communities. For this feat, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex invited Gideon to the United Kingdom to share the inspiration behind this life-changing project. WALE AJETUNMOBI and Anjorin Philip (200L Mass Communication) writes.

     

    With an ambitious plan to build informal community learning centres with waste plastic bottles, which would enhance access to alternative learning and empowerment for the under-served and disadvantaged populations across Nigeria, a young Nigerian has become the guest of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in the United Kingdom (UK).

    Gideon Olanrewaju, an education development practitioner and quality education advocate, was invited by Prince Harry and Megan Markle to Windsor Castle to share how his non-profit organisation – Aid for Rural Education Access Initiative (AREAi) – had been boosting access to alternative learning and empowerment opportunities for girls and women in Nigeria.

    Gideon, an Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Young Leader for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), was one of the 10 inspiring young leaders around the world selected by the British royal family to join a high-level roundtable discussion focused on gender equality, inclusion, education and empowerment of women and girls.

    The Duke and Duchess convened the meeting, given their roles as president and vice president of the Queen’s Commonwealth Trust.

    The roundtable also formed a critical component of the 10th One Young Summit in London, where over 2,000 young leaders who are accelerating social impact globally gathered to discuss on various themes towards the attainment of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

    Participants at the event with the Duke and Duchess, among others, deliberated on how to achieve best practice in empowering women and identifying international commonalities in gender equality.

    While sharing their individual projects and activities that support gender parity and inclusion in various disadvantaged countries, which include South Africa, Nigeria, Iraq, Malawi and Bangladesh, the young leaders listed their achievements and progress, showcasing how their works and efforts had empowered people in their local communities to overcome complex challenges and obstacles.

    Gideon, who represented Theirworld, the UK leading education charity, as its youth representative at last year’s United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), told Prince Harry how AREAi has designed alternative strategies and implemented accelerated yet effective education programs to close the gaps between education and employability for girls, youths and women who did not and cannot attend conventional schools.

    He recounted how his organisation started in 2014 by providing technical and infrastructural support to under-resourced schools in rural communities, after which it decided to scale up the impact to facilitate access for more girls, especially those in hard-to-reach communities.

    Responding to a question about the effectiveness of the global education systems, particularly in Africa, Gideon pointed to a widening gap in education access and quality in many African countries.

    He said: “Disadvantaged countries on our continent are at crossroads education-wise, given that a quarter of a billion young people and children are out of school. If we do not urgently address this situation, then we will fail a whole generation who would not have the necessary skills to build their future or engage within the community as active citizens.”

    Read Also: Lagos reiterates commitment to quality education

    Giving details on strategies deployed by his organisation in addressing the situation, Gideon explained that AREAi leveraged alternative approach to provide education infrastructure in disadvantaged communities and committed resources and efforts to engender accelerated learning programmes, which, he said, had improved access to quality education for beneficiaries.

    He said further that the mission of AREAi over the next 10 years is to build on the progress achieved in alternative learning and create more empowerment opportunities for the out-of-school population, vulnerable women and youth, and also equip them with skills that would better prepare them for employment.Gideon added that the organisation is implementing this intervention in three remote communities (Kaida Sabo, Orozo and Ruga) in Abuja.

    He said: “In the past, we have worked with over 6,000 children, enriching their learning experiences and outcomes through various programmes. But now, we want to provide access to education, training and empowerment for youth, children and women through a traditional innovation that expands access to quality life-long learning opportunities for thousands of beneficiaries. This approach using waste plastic bottles means we are providing education infrastructure for the under-served populations and ensuring environmental integrity in the same vein.”

    He continued: “The Education-In-Bottles programme has a bi-dimensional learning model that emphasises the need to develop a blend of entrepreneurial, vocational, life, cognitive and technological skills. We are deploying this as a school readiness programme through an accelerated learning experience.

    “Using a holistic model that seeks to close gaps between education and employability, we will curate and deliver alternative learning programs that holistically meet the educational and empowerment needs for our beneficiaries to access quality education.”

    “Across 12 months, our beneficiaries are exposed to non-formal education programs including ‘skill workshops’ and ‘vocational training courses’ that expand their skill sets allowing them to be well equipped, self-confident and productive members of their communities.

    Amazed by Gideon’s revelation and projections, the Duke of Sussex hailed the Nigerian for making an impact, expressing his delight at the details given to strengthen quality education access in disadvantaged communities. Prince Harry expressed hope in the prospects of Gideon’s ideas, saying: “I hope to visit Nigeria soon and see how your organisation is growing.”

    On his experience after the meeting with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Gideon described the event as a “humbling privilege”, noting that he was honoured to represent Nigeria on the global stage and amplify the voices of young people working to ensure people’s right  to education is guaranteed.

    He said: “I felt so honoured and inspired to have physical engagement with the UK Royal family and share the work that I and many other volunteers at AREAi have done in the past few years to promote quality education and access. I remain grateful to my sponsor who enabled me to attend the One Young World Summit that facilitated my engagement with the Royal family. I consider this the greatest honour of my lifetime.”

    At the end of the event, the participants formed an informal global taskforce team of young leaders to be known as #Action10.

    Participants also agreed to ensure gender parity and accepted the responsibility of building, and maintaining a consortium that would research and share global best practices aimed at amplifying the impact of empowering women, promote working with communities that are hard to reach, facilitate the feasibility of projects with the right facilities and devise creative approaches to longstanding challenges facing women and girls in accessing education opportunities.

     

  • Six years after privatisation, power woes linger

    Six years after the Federal Government unbundled the assets of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) and  privatised it, uninterrupted electricity for the citizenry has remained elusive, writes Senior Correspondent AKINOLA AJIBADE

     

    Penultimate week, the country marked the sixth anniversary of the privatisation of the power sector.

    Last Friday, Nigerians woke up to witness what has become perennial in the sector – power outage and its attendant debilitating effects on not only the people, but also on the economy.

    The same scenario played out in previous editions, as the first, second, third, fourth and fifth anniversaries of the transition of the power sector from a state-owned to privately-run institution were marked by poor power supply. Not only has the sector recorded poor performance, it has also shown its unpreparedness to welcome a privately-driven power initiative.

    Before now, Nigerians were expecting an electricity industry driven by private operators. The reason was that the government has failed, by not allowing the sector to grow coupled with the fact that the sector has failed to impact on the socio-economic activities.

    The idea appeared good and capable of ending the irregular supply of electricity then. But it turned out not to be so. The situation has gone so bad that the power generation level is at its lowest.

    Records have shown that the sector, in the first quarter of the year,  generated less than 2,500 megawatts (Mw) of electricity. This is in addition to the fact that generation has been fluctuating between 3,000  and 4,500 Megawatts in the last six years, a development, which has affected the economy.

    Like a recurrent decimal, the problems in the sector, which include shortage of gas, meters, poor distribution and transmission networks, high tariffs, have continued to stare Nigerians in the face, as the government appears helpless in proffering solutions to them.

    Stakeholders argued that the problems permeate the three key areas in the sector’s value chain – generation, distribution and transmission. The subsectors are bedeviled shortage of gas, weak transmission and distribution equipment.

     

    Generation

    The sector has not been able to record appreciable output in generation of electricity. The problem is attributed to inability of the thermal plants to access gas for production, as at when due.

    The report titled: “Overview of the Nigerian Electricity Sector” showed that generation fluctuates between 1,500 Mw and 4,600 Mw between 2015 and 2017.

    The report further stated that gas, which is the feedstock  for generating electricity, has not been in constant supply. It said there was insufficient gas to power the thermal plants, adding that the development has made the plants to operate below their installed capacity.

    According to the report, “the non-completion of the Oben pipeline, and the absence of a commercial gas framework was responsible for this problem”.

    The Association of Power Generation Companies (APGC) Executive Secretary, Dr Joy Ogaji, said the problems were many. Speaking during a stakeholders’conference in Lagos,  she said generation appears to be the major problem.

    Speaking on the theme, “Harnessing oil and gas potential for national development,” Ogaji said the inability of the Federal Government to fully harness the potential in the sector has caused challenges in the industry, saying the power sector for instance, is not making use of its potential, as the sector lacks enough gas to operate with.

    The non-availability of gas coupled with its rising price has caused a big problem in the industry. The power generation companies (GenCos) were not being paid for the power they supply the distribution companies (DisCos) promptly, a development that has resulted in huge debts for the firms. She said this was having adverse effect on the output of the generation firms.

    Read Also: Reps reject N20b PHCN assets sale report

    Ogaji said the problem, which started in 2013, has defied solution. “The generation companies were owed and are not being paid as at when due. The GenCos are being owed huge amount of money, so, where will the power generation firms get money to meet their obligations to the industry?’’ she said.

    She said the failure of the key operators to fulfill their obligations has an effect on the entire industry, urging stakeholders, including the government, to help bail the sector.

     

    Distribution

    The 11 DisCos are having challenges in taking up electricity from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and distributing it to homes, offices and industrial concerns across the country. The Director, Research and Advocacy, Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), Dr Sunday Oduntan, said poor distribution of energy should not be put on the DisCos, adding that the DisCos only distribute what they have at their disposal.

    He said the company in charge of transmission of electricity has its blames; ditto the power generation firms. He told The Nation that the sector is sitting on a tripod – the GenCos, DisCos and the TCN (TransCo), adding that every layer  has a role to play to foster growth.

    The transmission, generation and distribution firms must not abdicate their roles one for another, if growth should be recorded. He said liquidity was a problem, which the sector requires, but lacks to provide the needed solution to record appreciable growth, insisting that until the liquidity crisis is sorted out, Nigerians would not be able to enjoy uninterrupted supply of electricity.

    He noted that the sector has been having liquidity problem before and after privatisation, noting that the issue must be resolved by the stakeholders to foster growth. The sector, he said, has liquidity crisis and shortfall of about N1.3trillion, urging stakeholders to collaborate in tackling the issue for the common good of Nigerians.

    He said the sector is bleeding, which is why the country cannot have stable power, urging stakeholders not to allow the crises to snowball into a more complex one that would spell doom for the sector.

     

    Transmission

    This has become one of the major problems that is hindering the supply of electricity. The issue is attributed to obsolete transmission equipment and lack of funding, a development, which has resulted in grid collapse.

    The Managing Director, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Mohammed Gur Usman, said the rampant cases of grid collapse and other problems of transmission of electricity started many years ago, saying the agency has imported new equipment to address the problems.

    Also, the spokesperson, Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), Mrs. Angela Adekunle, said the industry has witnessed more than 100 cases of grid collapse, adding that the recent one in June affected energy distributors, including IBEDC. Consumers and stakeholders, while identifying with sector’s challenges, have come to the conclusion that the sector is almost dead, as it is unable to improve its output, years after it was privatised.  While some were said due process was not followed in the sale of PHCN and that the Electric Power Sector Reform Act of 2005 should be revisited by the Federal Government to pave way for a turnaround, others hold different views. Yet, others called for the recapitalisation.

     

    Infrastructure

    Observers said poor infrastructure has slowed the growth of the sector in the last six years, adding that when the government is able to shore up its capital, the industry would return to optimal performance.

  • Sundry Misusages XXXIV: Secure/Secured . . . plus more

    Some words, by virtue of their different inflections, can be very confusing and complicated for writers to handle. These are words whose noun, adjective and even verb inflections are almost the same, for example, secure, mature and the like. We treated mature and its various forms before. In this edition, we begin our conversation with secure which has similar morphological and functional characteristics with mature.

    Secure/Secured

    Handling these related words can get really difficult for some writers. The problem usually is, many do not see the differences in the nature and functions between secure and secured and have thus been confusing and misusing them. Such misusages mislead the reader and stifle good communication. Below is an example:

    Some locals had reportedly left their villages to a secured location near Dutse.

    “Pop” Errors, our writers’ companion, says: “The writer of this has used secured to denote safe – in obvious confusion of secure the verb with secure the adjective. To secure is to make safe, among other things; thus we can correctly say that we secured the location. A secure location is a safe place; that is using secure as the adjective that it is in this context.” Correct usage is therefore set out thus:

    Some locals had reportedly left their villages to a secure location near Dutse.

    Self

    Problems of incorrect usage tend to occur when you do not take sufficient care to master the different forms of the simple word self. It is normally either in a combining form or a stand-alone form, each of which calls for careful application. This means that the way to use it in combining form is different from the way to use it as a stand-alone. By implication, it will be wrong to use the combining form where a stand-alone is the more appropriate. This will get clearer as we consider the specimen errors below:

    (a)…Many are asking today whether it would not have been better to remain under British colonial rule than the self government we have been practising since.

    “In use here is the combining form of the word self. As a noun, pronoun and adjective, it can stand alone, but not in its combining form. In its combining form, it functions as a prefix, as in self-determination or self-government. Failure to join self in its combining form with the word it prefixes is sheer fragmentation. Thus, correct usage is:

    Read Also: ‘African writers should contribute to ending poverty’

    “Many are asking today whether it would not have been better to remain under British colonial rule than the self-government we have been practising since.”

    “Self-government is “the government of a country by its own people” (“Pop” Errors, citing ODE/AmazonKindle).

    (b)…This rubbish must stop, if the NFF must remain solvent and self financing.

    “This is a different way of applying self in its combining form. Here it combines with another word to form an adjective, unlike the preceding example which is a combination with a noun. In this usage, it must also be joined with the accompanying word by a hyphen. Without the hyphen joining the two words, neither of them on its own can stand alone and make sense. So, we correct as below:

    “This rubbish must stop, if the NFF must remain solvent and self-financing” (“Pop” Errors)

    “Pop” Errors has asked us to note that: “Both usages, (a) and (b) above, are different from the usage of self in: I appeal to your good self to temper justice with mercy. Here, self is used as a stand-alone noun, not in the combining form as a prefix.”

    Sensitize

    Apart from duplicating meaning most times writers combine this word with educate, as in to sensitize and educate, they often also are confused about which preposition to follow sensitize. Commonly, you encounter sensitize about or sensitize on, as in the example below (All such usages are incorrect.)

    We should sensitize the public on the importance of such an act.

    The correct preposition that normally goes with sensitize is to, not on or any other. You educate about or on, but sensitize to. Hence:

    We should sensitize the public to the importance of such an act.

    You would do well to note, however, that you would be correct if you write a sentence like: The team is sensitizing people so that the will appreciate the consequences of such criminal acts. You may have used many words, but you have escaped the risk of using a wrong preposition after sensitize. That is just invoking the old-fashioned wisdom of leaving out something you are not sure of and seeking another way out.

    Series

    It is instructive to understand the nature of the noun series to avoid the kind of error that follows:

    A series of meetings have been scheduled with Central Bank officials to resolve the stalemate.

    The misusage here is the verb have instead of has, thereby betraying the writer’s lack of attention to the nature of the noun series. Hence, he has used it as a singular noun, but given it the plural verb “have.” Series is both singular and plural. The use of the article “a” indicates that it has been used in the singular sense, which dictates that the singular verb has is the more appropriate, thus:

    A series of meetings has been scheduled with Central Bank officials to resolve the stalemate.

    However, used in a plural sense, as in the following statement, the noun series can take a plural verb: The series of consultations were well appreciated.