The Niger Delta Progressive Alliance (NDPA) has faulted a claim by the Concerned Senior Staff Members of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) that Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi and his wife Judith were involved in the mismanagement of NDDC funds.
The “staff members” had urged the Presidency to investigate the couple’s involvement.
NDPA, in a statement by its spokesperson Ikporukpo David, urged the Presidency and the public to discountenance the allegations.
“This is nothing but another cheap and unholy attempt to mar the good image of Mr Amaechi, his wife and other individuals mentioned in the press release by the Concerned Senior Staff Members of NDDC.
“As a progressive group which is committed to transparency and accountability, we hereby stand against any attempt to manipulate facts for purely selfish reasons,” David said.
According to NDPA, the allegations lacked merit and came from “a faceless group”.
The Federal Government has declared Wednesday 12th and Thursday 13th May, as Public Holidays to mark this year’s Eid-il-Fitr.
Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, made the declaration yesterday.
He congratulated the Muslim faithful on the occasion and called on all Nigerians, at home and abroad to use the Sallah period to pray for peace, stability and economic transformation in the land.
Aregbesola in a statement signed by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Dr Shuaib Belgore, said development cannot thrive in a rancorous atmosphere.
He urged Nigerians to be law-abiding and embrace the spirit of love, self-discipline, and tolerance, as taught by Prophet Muhammad.
He also called on all security agencies to be more courageous and patriotic to surmount the battle against insecurity and activities of criminal elements.
He assured that President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration was resolved to end crime and criminality in the country.
“This administration will not be deterred in its efforts, until every Nigerian and resident of the country, is free to move around without fear of any threat to his/her life and property. We are, therefore, putting necessary measures and strategies in place to strengthen the stability of the country as well as ensuring economic prosperity of our dear nation,” he said.
When the history of this epoch in Nigeria comes to be written, this past week is sure to register as an inflection point.
Not on account of the apparent flight of the virus from Nigeria, thanks in no small part to Governor Yahaya Bello who has made the Kogi clime so inhospitable to the virus that it has fled from the entire country. Nigeria thus appears to have been spared the Covid conflagration sweeping India and turning the subcontinent into one roaring funeral pyre and hospitals into theatres of unspeakable suffering and misery in which death lurks in every corner.
But there is no room for complacency. Covid-19 is nothing if not cunning. See how it assumes different forms and shapes, each deadlier and more intractable than the strain that preceded it, and roars back when you think you have subdued it or forced it to retreat to its infernal habitat, there to hibernate for up to a century before making its insidious re-entry into human society.
The horror unfolding in India should therefore serve as a cautionary tale. One hopes devoutly that we have seen the worst of Covid in Nigeria. But that cannot be assumed. This is the time to build capacity, to stockpile vaccines and oxygen tanks and ventilators and build field hospitals and re-imagine social life in anticipation of a possible recrudescence. Temporising, or “waiting it out” to conserve resources that may be needed elsewhere is not the best strategy.
Nor does the past week stand out in terms of the fatalities – policemen and women, students, farmers, passengers on the highways, etc — from the depredations of herdsmen, bandits, ritualists, jihadists and others actuated for the most part by ignoble causes. It was just another week in the carnage that now defines Nigeria.
It featured the usual mix of riots, strikes, rumours of riots and strikes, horrific accidents, crippling deprivations, syndicated and freelance fraud, patently fake news and news that is neither fake nor true, rumors that the long subsisting subsidy on petroleum products was set, finally, to be revoked completely and forever.
Not an exceptional week overall, certainly not in a sense that would qualify it as an inflection point.
I count that week an inflection point because it jolted Nigerians to a reality they we had long forgotten – the ugly reality of coups. For nigh on 25 years, they had luxuriated in the comforting certainty that the government of the day, established by law, could be changed only law; that government derives its power only from the consent of the governed as expressed in elections in which the people vote their un-coerced choices.
They had successfully established, funded and organised political parties and conducted elections in which not a few limbs were broken and not a few heads were bloodied, to set up precisely a government so contoured. They were never going back to that dark era when some inebriated soldiers could just amble out of a pepper-soup joint, seize the nearest radio station, declare that they had taken over the government, and proceed over the next seven or eight years to fill in the gaps.
The nation had been labouring under a delusion, it learned that week from its vigilant and usually discreet security forces, which had uncovered in the nick of time, a dastardly plot to overthrow by force the government of the day, recognised under the Law of Nations as the organ in which inheres the sovereignty, unity and indivisibility of Nigeria.
And this was not going to be your run-of-the-mill military coup. No martial music. No tanks rumbling through the streets and quiet neighbourhoods. No decrees. No curfews. No new Saviour in uniform.
The putsch was going to be executed by an unruly assemblage of civilians – disgruntled politicians who had given up on the ballot box, knowing that they can never win free and fair elections, their misguided collaborators, religionists, ethnic jingoists masquerading as champions of the people, desperate grifters, faded and jaded statesmen and women united by one thing and one thing only: the lust for power and its unearned rewards.
Nor was that the only novelty. The vehicle the coup makers had chosen for executing their plot was a grand assembly of these malcontents at which they would excoriate the legitimate government of the day, declare that they had lost the last iota of confidence in it, proclaim a new order, and assign to themselves and their confederates the principal, secondary, subsidiary and ancillary offices of state.
Just like that.
As if Nigeria were a banana republic or, changing metaphors, a pepper-soup federation. They were hoping to ride on the crest of the seething, murmuring discontent that had perfused the country for several years now, bubbling to the surface every now and then.
Among the perceived causes: the privatisation of government and its instrumentalities by entrenched interests, and their deployment to serve those interests, and all others be damned. The willful contempt for the imperatives of the nation’s geopolitics by those enjoined to uphold them. Application of the law in a half-heartedly, if at all.
And among the manifestations: Rampant insecurity of lives and property. The Boko Haram insurgency in the Northeast that has now made its way to the outskirts of Abuja Federal Capital Territory, if Niger State Governor Sani Bello is to be believed. The sacking of Lagos in the so-called anti SARS protests. The war on police personnel and formations.
Relentless extraction of and trafficking in precious minerals by local and foreign cartels in brazen defiance of the las and the constituted authorities. The relentless pillaging of public assets, and not just in the oil industry.
Not to be discounted is the widespread perception that those at the top lost the plot a long time, in rhetoric as well as in remedial and self-redeeming action. Those trained to divine such matters say that their body language bespeaks complete resignation. Many in the attentive audience say that for the first time, they cannot with confidence, name more than a few members of President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet – four or five honourable exceptions who are executing their remit with quiet commitment.
Also not to be discounted is the absence of common purpose up there — apart from announcing yet another raft of contracts at their periodical meetings. In daily transactions, those who regard themselves as the true custodians and legatees of the system dismiss Vice President Yemi Osibajo contemptuously as “the VP Academic” is a mark of his relevance to their scheme, rank outsider that he is considered.
It will come as no surprise if, in the same vein, they deride the president’s Chief of Staff, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, as the “CoS UN,” having regard to his previous job as high official of the United Nations, even though he shares their privileged pedigree.
And yet, the government has been sitting pretty, confident that the public appreciates its good intentions, understands the challenges of the moment and has been willing to put up with them. It has been resting secure in the knowledge that any attempt to supplant it by persons who have serially been rejected at the polls and cannot lay any credible claim to influence is sure to collide with the law of the land, the will of the people, and the preferences of the international community.
It has remained in power and in office despite the foregoing calumnies and insurrections.
Why is it then so jittery at the prospect that a resolution for its ouster may be passed at an illegal assembly of some busybodies accountable to no one?
The Consolidated Insurance Bill 2020 being reviewed at the National Assembly will align with global best practice and promote the business of insurance in the country, the Chairman, Nigeria Insurers Association (NIA), Mr. Ganiyu Musa has said.
He described the review as a welcome development to practitioners as the insurance legislation is outdated and has made it impossible to do business.
Musa, who spoke at a briefing, stated that they had been working with the National Assembly to modernise the insurance legislation.
He said they were also working with the regulator, the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM), to ensure that the final version of the law would respond to the legislative environment of the 21st Century.
He said: “We are working with NAICOM and because we have had a number of engagements with the regulator, we have come to understand that the constraint they have is the law which is what we are now working to deal with the bottleneck.
“The Bill has gone through the second reading and we have had a public hearing on it. Other stakeholders also made their presentations. Now they are going through the process of reconciling all the positions and hopefully, it will get to the floor of the National Assembly.
He further said the association has been doing some house cleaning by beaming its searchlight on member insurance companies who have failed to pay genuine claims to the insureds.
He said they have focused a lot of attention on discipline among their members .
“We have to be very harsh as it were now. We have an active committee on discipline and conflict resolution. The committee has been strengthened and empowered. We now go beyond the usual refrain or chastisement to taking active steps to discipline erring members.
“As we speak, we have a few of our members that have been suspended and some are about to be expelled. In a few weeks when the whole processes is completed, we will release the names of the erring companies to the public.
“We believe it is very important to send the message to our members, that when you carry the NIA badge, it should count for something.There is no amount of marketing that you can do, if the experience of the insuring public is bad, then we can not make progress in the insurance industry. We believe that after cleansing ourself of bad image, we can go back to the public to say all the good things that insurance stands for,” he added.
The dream of attaining housing for all may remain an illusion as long as prices of building materials remain high. This is why eggheads in the sector are calling for the institutionalisation of a price control mechanism, which if established and implemented, will drive down cost of housing. OKWY IROEGBU-CHIKEZIE writes that stakeholders are also challenging the Federal Government to encourage further local investment in cement production as a means of crashing the product’s rising cost.
In Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, shelter is an important requirement to be met for a man’s self-actualisation to be met. This is why the place of housing cannot be overemphasised in a society.
With the country’s housing requirement put at 21 million, the need to bridge the gap becomes imperative. Sadly, it is becoming a challenge to provide housing yearly on sustainable level, thus making the deficit gap to widen regularly.
Stakeholders have blamed the rising cost of building materials for the failure of developers foraying into housing development. For instance, they are quick to point at the cost of cement – a commodity that accounts for about 35 percent cost in a building project. Last week, a bag of cement rose from N3,200 to N4, 000.
Experts are, however, worried about this development, especially when it is considered that the country’s cement production capacity is more than double that of its demand.This translates that the nation should satisfy its needs and then export the surplus and still have some left in reserve. Yet, somehow this isn’t happening.
Besides, with Nigeria an import dependent nation, the crashing local currency against international currencies have not helped matters in the building sector as most of the materials needed are mainly imported and paid for in foreign exchange.
Experts in economics and finance, however blamed the government for its lack of deliberate policies that would stimulate the building sector. For instance, they mulled the idea of a price control mechanism that would keep in check the galloping cost of building materials. Also, they canvassed special waivers on customs duty on building materials, for operators in the sector.
•Adeyemi
In an interview, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of an estate development firm, Sterling Homes, Dr Kunle Adeyemi, lamented the rising price of cement, which he put at N3,800 from a previous N3,450.
According to him, at the current price, it means that the price of cement within the first quarter of this year has moved over 70 percent. According to him, there are dealers who are hoarding because they are sure that the price will still go up before the end of the week, as one of them predicted a rise to N5, 000 per bag.
He frowned that the dream of an average Nigerian to own a home is very slim. He said: “For us as developers, it is a huge challenge because we already have the prices of houses that are still being built, but we cannot deliver at the old price as cement alone is N4,000. The price of rod and steel has gone up also. This is a major challenge as these are important building components you cannot do without.”
Similarly, the President, Nigeria Institute of Building (NIOB), Kunle Awobodu, decried the increase and added that it had a lot of consequences. He recalled that his company had to discontinue a particular project in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, when the price rose to N4, 000, from a little over N2, 000 two days earlier.
Awobodu said the rise in cost of building materials affects the sector, which he noted, to include compromise in the use of the materials where some people disregard the original cement, sand and water mix ratio.
Canvassing the need for the government to intervene on this, he said in the long run, it might lead to building failure. “The construction sector is a huge employer and anything that will upset it should be avoided. This rise in price can lead to building failure as some may compromise on the cement ratio in order to complete a particular project as a result of cost. When the youth are not engaged, they become a willing tool for violence and the construction sector is a good sector that absorbs youths.” According to him, the rise in cost is unexplainable as nothing supports the wide margin of increase.
To check unbridled price increases, Adeyemi advised government to come up with price control policy on essential materials in the construction industry such as cement and reinforcement. Furthermore, he advised that if all the raw materials needed in the manufacture of important components in the building and construction industry are not available locally, the manufacturers should be allowed to import them to make the final products cheaper.
He said: “I know that there is some bureaucracy around the mining industry making it difficult for those extracting those materials to do their work easily. The government should relax it or totally eliminate these bureaucracies to make it easy for these miners to do their business. It is a lot cheaper to source the limestone locally than importing them because of the exchange rate and import duty problems. I believe that if the materials are sourced locally and government comes up with price control policy, reduction in the price of cement can be achieved.”
But how can price control possibly work in a free enterprise economy? Adeyemi explained: ‘’The country has no choice but to look at price control and regulation to ensure that people are adequately housed.”
Addressing the issue of monopoly in the cement sector, he regretted that the government failed in its duty by allowing monopoly in the sector. He canvassed the need for the government to be deliberate about breaking this monopoly.
‘’The price of this important commodity should not be dictated by just a few individuals. The government succeeded in doing this in the textile industry. That success story should be replicated in the cement industry,’’ he stated.
On the challenges ahead in the midst of incessant price increases, Adeyemi commended the government, who he said, to a large extent, succeeded in regulating the quality of building materials. However, he stressed that all things being equal, it might lead to doom as some developers may be forced to compromise on quality and standards of housing they put on the market.
“They may go for sub-standard materials in a bid to meet up with supply. This is because inflation and rising costs have eaten up the profit margin. So, they will think that the only way they can hedge inflation is to subscribe to substandard materials,” he said.
He argued that in construction, one thing that is not subject of debate is safety that is guaranteed by the quality materials and adherence to standard practice. According to him, if these two are compromised, it can lead to loss of lives. If the government does not move into action swiftly and begins to regulate price of essential materials like cement and rods, some developers may be forced to compromise on quality. This will lead to building collapse and construction failures. Because of the drive for profit maximisation which is essential for business survival, developers may be tempted to go for substandard materials, he added.
He continued: “I foresee doom, more so when the agency that is responsible for regulation is docile. The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) is not living up to its name as a result compromise by its officials, corruption and bureaucracy. There are several materials in the market that are not of standard quality, the quality of rods, for instance, has been compromised.This is why we recommend that such materials should be subjected to laboratory test.You will be shocked that some of these materials with SON certification seal cannot pass this test. These are the materials that have flooded the market and there is a body set up by the government to check the influx of substandard materials into the country.”
On the way out, he said it is for developers to be creative, innovative, play with designs and also reconsider their construction methodology while building to suit their target audience.
“My advice is that if we are to address the issue of housing deficit, which is about 20 million units, developers have to be deliberate about their designs. You cannot deliver mass housing with imported foreign components and design.Just as one can build a three-bedroom house with N10 million, the same number of rooms can be built with N500 million. The difference is in the design and the finishing. So, the developer has to be deliberate about design. Again, our construction method has to change because it encourages waste. We need to curb waste in our construction through a deliberate design. On the part of the government, it has to liaise with developers because housing for all will remain a day dream until some of the problems in the housing industry are addressed. And the deficit is on the increase in the country,” he said.
Italy and Nigeria are promoting entrepreneurship through agro exports, DANIEL ESSIET reports.
The Italian Trade Agency (ITA) is working with the Federal Government to boost farmers’ livelihoods and create opportunities for youths in farming and agribusinesses.
Speaking at a virtual meeting, ITA Director for West Africa, Dr Alessandro Gerbino said the organisation is providing a one-stop shop for export-oriented firms to learn about regional and international trade opportunities.
The agency, he added, offers targeted business advisory services and training to businesses; help them to better understand the international demand for certain products and the technical requirements for market access; and facilitate regional and export market linkages.
According to him, the agency is laying a foundation for exporters to meet the demands of the global marketplace, adding that ITA is determined to help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to take advantage of opportunities to export to the European Union (E.U.).
In 2019, Italy confirmed its first position in E.U. with 31.9 billion euros of agricultural value added. However, the Italian agro-food chain has demonstrated resilience to guarantee the supply of food to consumers. Thanks to the rapid technological development that has taken place in recent years, agriculture is experiencing a revolution.
The advent of new machines and tools for agriculture, such as satellites, drones, proximal sensors, software and robotics are bringing in agronomic and economic benefits.
Italy has also strengthening its lead in fruit and vegetable exports, following years of implementation of international sanitary and phytosanitary standards to improve their health status and ability to access markets.
Gerbino said the organisation wants to empower more Nigerians to go into exports by improving their food safety know-how throughout the horticulture supply chain.
According to him, there are benchmarks for quality assurance on meeting the requirements of the E.U. market.
He said the European market is very fond of Italian agricultural products as they are of the highest quality and food safety requirements in the world.
He noted that the Nigerian agricultural products might find it difficult to enter the E.U. market except they comply with food safety standards and quality control. He added that fresh exports must have a Global Good Agricultural Practices (Global Gap) certificate.
He said ITA launched the E-Lab Innova training programme to, among other things, help improve the technical and managerial skills of agribusiness firms to support their access to E. U. markets.
He said the programme, launched, in collaboration with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPA), aims at fostering business partnerships with Italian firms and improving the Nigerian value chain and local industry development and employment.
Other objectives include promoting technology transfer and innovation on the model of Italian agribusiness districts and foster opportunities for technical industrial partnerships with Italian firms.
Moreover, ITA is supporting Nigerians agribusiness exporters’ participation to MacFrut, a major international event to connect suppliers and buyers of the industry that will take place in September.
Presidente, Camera di Commercio Italo-Argentina, Enrico Turoni said the Italian private sector is ready to help fruit and vegetable producers and exporters to comply with international food quality and safety requirements, enabling them to sell their products to Europe so they can do more business and earn higher incomes.
Turoni, also, the President, Italian-Argentinian Chamber of Commerce, said there is a market for exporters of ginger. The demand, according to him, is expected to grow in the coming years and that prices are slowly rising. The top three markets in Europe are the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Germany.
The Deputy Head of Mission, Embassy of Italy in Abuja, Tarek Chazli, noted that the agribusiness sector has acquired a greater strategic relevance.
According to him, Italian food businesses performed well on foreign markets.
He said the Nigerian and Italian partnership would benefit agribusiness growth in manufacturing of machinery and component parts, fertiliser and industrial chemicals.
He noted the two countries have, for years, enjoyed close bilateral relations in trade, investments, development and humanitarian assistance.
The Archbishop of the African Church Lagos Province, Rev Julius Oludotun, has called on the Federal and State governments to address the security challenges.
Oludotun addressed reporters at the African Church Saviour’s Cathedral, Agege, as part of activities marking the third biennial congress and fifth year Founders’ Day of the province.
The cleric, who lamented the worsening trend of abductions and other crimes, said:
“The government should tighten the security apparatus and we the citizens should obey simple instructions. “We appeal to the federal and state governments to accord security the importance it deserves because all of us know we are not safe. On the states’ Amotekun initiative, some states have already defeated the bandits, so the Federal Government should do more on security,” he said.
Oludotun urged the people to move closer to God to enjoy peace.
“We, as christians, need to turn back to God. We are equally guilty of some of the sins committed but our God is able to deliver us from every challenge and unpalatable situation we may be going through now. We know all things are possible with God. Nigeria needs prayer at a crucial time like this, and by the grace of God, peace will come back to Nigeria,” he added.
A coalition of civil society organisations has rejected a provision in the proposed amendment to the Electoral Act 2010 that imposes “draconian” sanctions on the media and editors.
In the proposed amendment bill to the Electoral Act before the National Assembly, Section 100 (6 (a) provides that the fine for media houses that contravene the law on election reporting should be increased to N2millon from N500,000 in the first instance and N5million from N1million upon a subsequent conviction.
Sub-section (b) further provides that “principal officers and other officers of the media house” are liable to “a fine of N2 million or to imprisonment for a term of 12 months.”
Section 100 mandates the media to provide equal space to all political parties and candidates during an election.
At a briefing in Lagos, the coalition said: “The penalty for contravention of the provisions in Section 100 should be restricted to the offending entity (the media house). It should not be extended to the ‘principal officers’ and ‘other officers’ of the media house.”
Members of the coalition include the Institute for Media and Society (IMS), International Press Centre (IPC), Centre for Citizens with Disability (CCD), Inclusive Friends Association, National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Nigeria Women’s Trust Fund and the Policy and Legal Advocacy Centre (PLAC). They added: “Public media (broadcast and print) should grant the usually underserved and marginalised groups, particularly women and people with disabilities (PWDs), special discounted airtime/advert rates during election campaigns.”
The groups sought the strengthening of the financial and operational independence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC); publication of polling unit level results by INEC to promote transparency in the results process; and legitimising the use of technology in the electoral process through electronic accreditation of voters, electronic voting, electronic collation and transmission of results.
“Nigerians deserve a new Electoral Act in which citizens aspirations are prioritised and which is produced through adequate timely attention of the National Assembly,” the civil society members said.
A total of 400,000 children across the country will benefit from a free deworming exercise put in place by Biomedical Limited as part of activities marking its 40th Anniversary.
Biomedical is the first pharmaceutical company in Nigeria to manufacture and distribute intravenous fluids, dialysis and irrigation fluids and oral rehydration salts.
According to the Chairman of the Organising Committee for the event, Mr Sulaiman Olabanji, “arrangements have been concluded for the free deworming exercise and 400,000 children across the country will benefit from the programme”.
Olabanji said other activities have been lined up to celebrate the company’s milestone.
“Apart from the free deworming exercise, there other activities lined up to mark the historic event. One of them is the launch and official public presentation of our wide range of syrup products.
“A press conference where we present our scorecard to the media will also take place. All these are prelude to the grand finale of the anniversary which takes place in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital in August,” Olabanji said.
The Grand Mufti of Conference of Islamic Organisations (CIO), Sheikh Dhikrullah Shafi’I and Chief Executive Officer of Jaiz Charity and Development Foundation, Dr Abdullahi Shuaib, yesterday said Zakat can be paid to one’s siblings.
Zakat is an obligatory charity which a Muslim with adequate means must pay once a year to the rightful beneficiaries.
The eight categories of people Allah mentioned in the Quran as beneficiaries were the poor, needy, zakat administrators, those whose hearts are inclined to Islam, those in bondage, debtors, in the cause of Allah and the wayfarers.
Sheikh Shafi’I said payers of Zakat can give it to their siblings who fall into any of those categories.
Such siblings, he said, must not be the people whose livelihoods are being catered for by the payers.
“If payers are directly involved in catering for the wellbeing of those siblings, they cannot benefit from the Zakat. If otherwise, they could. More so, paying Zakat to siblings will also foster family unity which Islam strongly recommends,” he said.
The revered scholar noted that the payers’ parents cannot be among the beneficiaries.
Dr Shuaib said “the payment to one’s siblings should be governed by certain conditions such that provided you are not obligated in Islam to provide for their living expenses; that your siblings fall under the eight Zakat beneficiaries as stipulated in Q9:60 and that the Zakat given to them is a one-off and not to be repeated annually. Otherwise, one should utilise the windows of Sadaqah (ordinary charity) and awqaf (ongoing charity – endowments) to support them frequently.”
Such siblings, he said, must have projects for the fund.
He added: “You can’t just say my brother is broke or out of job or poor and give him Zakat. No, it doesn’t work that way, such a person must have a business idea or use it to upgrade his/her business because the essence of Zakat is to empower people and banish poverty. However, it is important to state clearly that the Islamic schools of jurisprudence of Imam Hanbali, Maliki, Sha’fi and Abu Hanifah all posited that one can pay Zakat to one’s siblings. Even, Ibn Qudamah, also held the same view. Let me also add that Prophet Muhammad was reported to have said ‘Sadaqah to the needy is merely sadaqah, while it is both sadaqah and kindness to kin when given to relatives (That is, it is commendable twice in the sight of Allah.’ “Furthermore, Ibn Abbas also said ‘one should give Zakat to relatives in need.’ A renowned Qur’an commentator, Mujahid, said ‘One’s Zakat is not accepted if it is given to others when one has needy relatives’.”
