The Nation Newspaper

Category: Emeka Omeihe

  • Customs’ revealing statistics

    Customs’ revealing statistics

    Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) last week, unveiled startling data on activities of smugglers of petrol around the border states of the country.

    Its Comptroller-General, Adewale Adeniyi while updating the nation on the activities of his agency raised alarm over the renewed smuggling of petrol to neighbouring countries following what he called, the massive hike in the price of the product in those countries. He bandied comparative prices of the product in neighbouring countries and the region to back up his claim.

    Hear him: “While PMS is sold at an average of N701.99 in Nigeria, it is sold at an average of N1,672.05 in the Republic of Benin and N2,061.55 in Cameroon. In other countries around the region, the price of PMS ranges from N1,427.68 in Liberia to N2,128.20 in Mali, averaging  N1,787.57 according to fuel price data obtained from Opensource”.

    That is not all. He further reeled out statistics from the National Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) on the average daily evacuation of petrol to various states of the country to buttress the smuggling trend. The data shows significant changes in evacuation patterns that are not justified by corresponding economic and demographic changes in states that share contiguous borders with neighbouring countries.

    According to the figures, between April and May, Borno and Kebbi states recorded 76 and 59 per cent increases in evacuations ranking among the top three states. Katsina also recorded more than 50 per cent increase in evacuation raising concerns on the actual delivery of petrol and the potential for smuggling.

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    As a response to this nagging trend, the agency in collaboration with the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA initiated what they called “Operation Whirlwind”. The objective is to dismantle the smuggling cartel and save the nation from the economic and social repercussions that unlawful activity entails. The operation NCS said, paid off handsomely with the arrests and confiscation of smuggled petrol.

    Within seven days, Operation Whirlwind intercepted 150, 950 litres of fuel valued at N105,965,391 in various states nationwide. These included Adamawa, Sokoto, Cross River, Ogun, Katsina, Kebbi and Taraba. That was not all. Other seizures amounting to humongous sums of money were equally made.

    It is good a thing the NCS with the assistance of the NMDPRA is monitoring fuel evacuations across the country. It has gone ahead to initiate measures in conjunction with the ONSA to check the rising smuggling of petrol around border states. That some of these states have in the last couple of months, been receiving fuel evacuations that defy demographic and economic reasoning can only be explained by the allure of smuggling.

    Smuggling around our porous and largely unmanned borders is not entirely new. It thrives because of the inability of those in authority to police the borders and unmask the unpatriotic cartel behind the economic sabotage. Smuggling and illegal oil lifting deny the country of the much needed revenue for its development.

    Perhaps, the new initiative by the NCS and the ONSA marks a renewed awareness on the harm which that act of economic sabotage has wrought on the national economy. That is why every effort must be deployed to ensure that the new campaign is sustained and results achieved.

    But the campaign may not achieve its goal without the collaboration of the local population and the traditional institutions in the border states. The smuggling routes are well known to the indigenous people and the traditional institutions in the border states. These groups should be identified and their collaboration sought in stemming the tide of smuggling.

    There should be serious monitoring of the destinations of the delivery trucks. With effective monitoring, diversion will be put to effective check. It will also bar fraudulent officials and their collaborators from ordering supplies that will end up in phoney destinations.

    Here, the job of the security agencies comes into serious calculation. If the speculation that security agencies now accompany delivery trucks to border states are true, the measure should be further reinforced to nip smuggling of petrol in the bud.

    But the observed increase in smuggling of petrol around border states as monitored by the NCS and NMDPRA are as revealing as they are troubling. More than anything, they touch on the controversies that had overtime dogged the fuel subsidy regime. At issue has been the domestic consumption of petrol.

    The most potent argument usually put forward to justify subsidy removal has been the large quantity of petrol consumed domestically. Though the figures have never lent themselves to exactitude, but officials of the government have always argued that the huge savings from subsidy removal will catalyse quantum development when injected into the national economy.

    The argument is that we consume large quantities of petrol daily and a lot of money will be realised from subsidy elimination. This, the promoters of subsidy removal contend will ultimately lead to public good. 

    But this line of argument has always elicited the concomitant question of the precise amount of local fuel consumption for the larger picture to come clearer. That information has remained within the realm of speculation.

    The question has resonated with the revelations from the NCS and NMDPRA. Their records of sporadic rise in the supply of petrol to border states when there are no observed changes in economic and demographic indices, point inexorably to the fact that domestic estimation of fuel consumption may have been largely exaggerated. And any calculations based on such distorted figures will remain largely illusory.

    That is the issue to contend with. It is loaded with the frightening prospects of distorting all the calculations of the government on the quantum of revenue generation from fuel subsidy removal and investments it can generate. That is the startling danger the high incidence of petrol smuggling in border states brings to the fore.

    But smuggling around the border states either of petrol or other essential products are not entirely new developments. They have always been there. The difference in prices between goods produced locally and their counterparts in border countries is the oxygen that sustains the illicit business. The same logic has all these years, been the basis for the campaign on subsidy removal either of petrol or electricity. So the issues raised by the NCS are not entirely new.

    They have always been part of the calculations. And if the price of the product in neighbouring states is influenced by our local price adjustments, there is everything to expect that prices will be higher in those countries now fuel sells for about N900 in some states of the country.

    But the floating of comparative pricing in such other African countries as Liberia and Mali etc., which do not share borders with Nigeria, is an entirely different kettle of fish. The intention of the NCS boss in factoring these into his comparative engagement is not known. But they strike as sad reminders to the type of strategies deployed each time a government seeks to increase the price of petrol.

    It is scary that we are at it again. Coming at a time a former governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai and oil marketers had alleged the government is still paying subsidy more than before, the comparison is suspicious. Though the federal government denied the allegation by El-Rufai, comparisons portraying the country as paying the cheapest price for petrol are highly suggestive.

    This is not the time for such reminders even if the data floated are collaborative. With the excruciating cost of living brought about by liberalisation measures, nothing should be done to exacerbate an already fluid situation.

    The NCS should concentrate its efforts in fighting the menace of smuggling around our border states. It is obvious from the figures released, that Nigerians consume far less amount of petrol than is ordinarily attributed to them. Its message is clear.

     If the current fight is waged to its logical conclusion, it may be possible to know our domestic fuel consumption. Then, the accruable revenue from subsidy removal will become clearer. It may then dawn on us that much of the so-called subsidy ends up in the pockets of the cartel neck-deep in trans-border smuggling of the product.

  • High minimum wage contradiction

    High minimum wage contradiction

    Before this article is published, the federal government and organised labour may have reached consensus on a national minimum wage. But before then, it bears stating that the logjam over the appropriate national minimum wage which culminated in the just suspended nationwide industrial strike is a product of contradiction.

    It is a dialectical situation thrown up by the policies of the federal government and reactions to them by organised labour. The initial demand for an outrageous minimum wage of N1million from the current N30,000 by organised labour and government’s rejection of it as unrealistic and unsustainable, further underscores the dynamics of this contradiction. What are the issues?

    President Bola Tinubu had immediately after his swearing-in last year, announced the elimination of subsidy on petrol. The measure immediately saw the pump price of the product rising well above N550 per litre in some areas. Before then, the product sold below N200 per litre. 

    Fuel subsidy removal was quickly followed by the floating of the Naira in the foreign exchange market. This saw the local currency exchanging for about N1, 400 against the dollar in the parallel market. The exchange rate was about N450 against the US dollar before the floating of the local currency. The effects of these measures on hyperinflationary trend were quite spontaneous with the prices of essentials hitting the rooftops.

    The centrality of petrol to daily businesses and economic activities made the impact of the policies heavily felt in all households. The government was to explain that the interventions were necessary to save the national economy from collapse even as it urged the citizens for patience as the eventual outcome will lead to public good.

    The ensuing inflation brought untold hardship as the prices of essential commodities including food items went beyond the reach of the average citizen.  But the salaries and wages of the working class remained the same despite federal government’s award of N35, 000 to be paid workers for a few months. The reality was that many state governments were unable to pay that sum to their workers. In the face of this, the average worker was left to lick the wounds inflicted on him by the excruciating economic circumstances that are logical outcomes of government’s policies.

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    Attempts by organised labour to get the government reverse these policies including poorly coordinated strike actions failed to achieve any meaningful result. Organised labour subsequently began to mount pressure on the government for a wage increase such that will enable workers cope with the rising cost of living.

    Negotiations have been on for quite some time without any agreement. Expectations that the tripartite negotiation committee would have concluded their assignment well on time for the federal government to unveil the new national minimum wage during the last workers day, failed to materialise.

    Feelers on the inconclusiveness of the negotiations emerged when the President of the Trade Union Congress TUC, Festus Osifo announced that the new national minimum wage would not be announced on May Day. He had also said the only way that announcement could be possible was if the government accepted the N615, 000 demand presented to it by organised labour.

    The implication was that organised labour had come down from its initial minimum wage demand to the new figure. But it was still on the high side. It seemed inconceivable how the government could accede to such a humongous amount given the parlous state of the national economy.

    Osifo got the reading right. No new national minimum wage was pronounced on the May Day. But President Tinubu, apparently dissatisfied with the inconclusiveness of the negotiations by the tripartite committee, promised workers better working and living conditions buoyed by fair wage.

    “This shall be resolved soon and I assure you that your days of worrying are over. Indeed the government is open to the committee’s suggestion of not just a minimum wage but a living wage”, he assured workers on May Day.

    Even with the assurances from the president, negotiations failed to resume until organised labour went on industrial action last week paralysing activities with heavy losses to the national economy. Negotiations resumed following the suspension of the strike action for five days. Organised labour returned to the negotiation table with a minimum wage demand of N494,000. The government considers this still unrealistic and unsustainable. The president’s task to the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun to furnish him with the cost implications of the new minimum wage has been complied with amidst speculations.

    For now, it remains a matter of conjecture what the final outcome of the negotiations will be. But one thing that seems clear is that with the intervention of the president, some consensus will soon be reached irrespective of whether it properly aligns with the inflationary trend triggered off by government policies.

    Yes, N494,000 and the higher figures earlier demanded as minimum wage are unrealistic and unsustainable. The government and the private sector cannot possibly afford to pay such without dire consequences. But as unrealistic and unsustainable as the figure appear, they illustrate most poignantly the contradiction in the inability of the government to factor in the material conditions of our people as they went about floating inflation influencing policies.

    It was obvious from all economic and social indices that the economy was not strong enough to absorb the dislocations bound to arise from those liberalization policies. Not only is the populace contending with low per capita income, the poverty rate is so high that the policies will end up reducing the people to the poorest of the poor. Incremental and guarded responses would have made better economic sense.

    Organised labour seeks high minimum wage to enable workers cope with the hyperinflation unleashed by these policy measures. They have a point. But high minimum wage could also turn out counterproductive. It has the prospects of spiralling another round of inflation that could bring the economy on its knees.

    The contradiction arose first, from the hyperinflationary trend unleashed by the removal of fuel subsidy and the floating of the national currency.  To cope with escalating prices of general goods and services, labour mounted pressure on the government to grant workers high salaries and allowances.

    If the government accedes to the high wage demand, it could in turn unleash another round of inflation with consequences more devastating than what we currently experience. That is the uncanny dialectics at play.

    Even as workers deserve a better/living wage, extreme caution should be exercised to ensure another round of inflation is not about to be triggered off by whatever is finally agreed as the new national minimum wage. It is for this reason that suggestions have been made that it would have made better sense for organised labour to demand for a reduction in the price of petrol and some form of control on the value of the Naira in the foreign exchange market.

    Such measures will bring down inflation, shore up real income. They also promise more beneficial to a greater majority of the citizenry than wage increases that target only those in gainful employment.

     Organised labour also embarked on the suspended strike to press home their demand for the reduction of the cost of electricity following government’s elimination of subsidy for categories of consumers in that sector. The government had a few months back, raised the unit price of electricity for categories of consumers by over 250 per cent.

    Apart from this figure being very prohibitive and unaffordable, the lot of consumers is compounded by the unavailability of pre-paid meters. Households without pre-paid metres in the so-called Band A areas are now made to pay estimated bills of N185,000 per month. This is as unrealistic as it is prohibitive. Matters are compounded by the inability of the Discos to make pre-paid metres available to customer willing to pay for them.

    As the government considers a minimum wage that will not jolt the system further, it has to be more circumspect rolling out policies that will further erode the purchasing power of the ordinary people. The elimination of subsidy on electricity is one of such policies that has to be tinkered with. Else, it will make nonsense of whatever is finally approved as the national minimum wage with no end to the cycle of inflation already in active motion.

  • That LGs may breathe

    That LGs may breathe

    There appears a renewed momentum to get the 774 local governments in the country begin to live up to their constitutional functions. President Bola Tinubu, the Senate and the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi had within the last two weeks or so, shown inclinations to that desirable direction.

    The president had at a national discourse on Nigeria’s security challenges and good governance, established a nexus between the worsening insecurity and the poor state of governance at the local government levels across the country.

    He noted that the degradation and incapacitation of the local government system contributed greatly to our inability to address the prevailing national security threat even as the local governments stand as first line defenders against insecurity on account of their closeness to the people.

    Fagbemi in his contribution at the occasion would rather want the State Independent Electoral Commissions SIECs scrapped for constituting the main impediment to the development of the local government system.

    For him, the most prevalent form of abuse is the use of the SIECs to conduct sham elections and governors’ preference to appoint caretaker committees. The elimination of the SIECs and transfer of their powers to the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, he contended, would foster true democracy at the local government levels.

    Senate intervention came through a resolution asking president Tinubu to convene a national dialogue with state governors, state legislators, local government officials and relevant interest groups to deliberate on full autonomy for the local governments.

     But the federal government has moved beyond rhetoric. It instituted a suit at the Supreme Court to compel state governors grant full autonomy to the local governments. In that suit, the government is asking the apex court to grant “an order prohibiting the state governors from unilateral, arbitrary and unlawful dissolution of democratically elected local government leaders for local governments”.

    It is also asking the court to make an order expressly stating that the funds standing to the credit of the local governments from the Federation Account should be paid directly to the local governments rather than through the state governments.

    The court is equally being prayed for an “injunction restraining the governors, their agents and privies from receiving, spending or tampering with funds released from the Federation Account for the benefit of the local governments when no democratically elected local government system is put in place in the states”.

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    Encapsulated in all these prayers are the key challenges militating against the effective functioning of the local government administration in the country. If the apex court (being a policy court) grants all the prayers, most of the challenges standing in the way to the autonomy and financial independence of the local government administration would have been sorted out. Then, we shall witness a local government system that discharges on its statutory mandate.

    But it remains a moot issue whether the reliefs sort by the federal government are better approximated through court action or the instrumentality of constitutional amendment. So, it is not just enough for the senate to pass a resolution requesting the president to convoke a national dialogue to discuss the local government autonomy question.

    Our political space is neither lacking in such conversations nor is the National Assembly handicapped in initiating the necessary constitutional amendments to plug loopholes in the extant constitution. Pious statements, resolutions and pontifications are inherently ineffective in addressing the more fundamental challenges to the local government administration that arise from gaps in sections of the constitution.

    The last National Assembly did a lot of work to get the contentious sections of the constitution amended to enhance the financial and administrative autonomy of the local governments. But that effort was sabotaged by some state governors goading their state houses of assembly. It remained a sad commentary that when the bill for the proposed amendments was transmitted by the last National Assembly for the concurrence of the state assemblies, they voted against it.

    Part of the bills voted against by the state assemblies were ones seeking financial and administrative autonomy for the local governments, the abrogation of the state-local government joint accounts and the establishment of the local governments as the third tier of government.

    Perhaps frustrated by the inability of the national and state assemblies to forge a common front on this vital constitutional change, the federal government had to approach the apex court to seek judicial remedy. Though it would appear a desperate approach to a malignant challenge, the move by the federal government resonates with the people.

    This is especially so given the suspicion that many of the state assemblies that are rubber stamping for the state governors may still frustrate any piece of legislation that seeks to curtail their unbridled hegemony and control over local government funds.

    The issues for which the government approached the court are at the root of the inability of the local governments to discharge their statutory duties in the areas of sanitation, market control and development and local road construction among others.

    They hinge on the funds accruing to the local governments from the Federation Account paid into the state-local governments’ joint accounts. The reality is that much of the funds allocated for the development of the local councils are hijacked by state governors and diverted.

    Incidentally, that is the tier of government closest to the people. It is also the barometer for gauging the temperament of the people; effects of government’s policies, programmes. The boundaries of all the 774 local governments coincide with the boundaries of the country.

    By extrapolation, when you develop all the local governments, no part of the country will be left underdeveloped. Even the seemingly advantaged state capitals and the federal capital territory fall within one local government council or the other.

    That illustrates the incalculable harm the country is into disallowing effective governance at that level. It also illustrates the incongruity in allowing governors regale in the hijack of funds meant for the local governments through various guises. It is inconceivable that we can make reasonable progress when development at that level is stalled through deliberate subterfuge to disallow true democracy from germinating and flourishing at that level of governance.

    There is merit in any arrangement that allows funds meant for the local councils to get to them directly. The preference for caretaker committees in place of democratically elected persons at the local governments should not be allowed to continue.

    Not only do governors refuse to conduct elections when the terms of incumbents expire, they connive with their assemblies to amend laws to allow them dissolve democratically elected governments at will. When they find time to conduct elections through the SIECs, it is more of a selection process. Only those approved by the ruling party win such election.

    Fagbemi wants SIECs disbanded and their functions transferred to INEC. Sadly, INEC has not even fared better within its current sphere of functions. With the way it has acquitted itself, allegations of federal interference in local government elections may also creep in.

    The challenge is not as much with the institutions created to handle certain functions as with the disposition and willingness of the operators to play by the rules. Our democracy is constrained more by the dispositions, attitudes and orientations of the people than the systems we operate. Perhaps, the Supreme Court will be visionary and patriotic enough to resolve this constitutional lacuna and allow the local governments breathe.

  • Bernard Ifechi Nnagha (1957-2024)

    Bernard Ifechi Nnagha (1957-2024)

    Bernard’s late father was my headmaster and teacher while I was in primary six. Bernard was also in the same primary school then but three classes behind me.

    But he drew considerable attention because of his brilliance in class. The school had a unique way of celebrating pupils’ exceptional performance. So, you will definitely get to know those doing well irrespective of their classes.

    My late eldest brother who worked in the Ministry of Agriculture, Okigwe in the then Eastern Region, used to send my school fees through his father. That brought me closer to the family with his father regularly showing interest in my class performance.

    And when the entrance forms into secondary schools were out, he encouraged us to apply. Among the schools I took their common entrance was Holy Ghost Juniorate, Ihiala – a junior seminary. When the result was out, four of us from St Mary’s primary school, Osina were successful.

    The letter from the seminary which was received by the headmaster had also indicated the date for the interview. The challenge was how to get to my eldest brother to inform him of my success and get prepared for the interview.

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     My brother used to send my school fees and other messages to my headmaster through a commercial bus that plied Afikpo/Okigwe through my community to Onitsha. Our headmaster quickly arranged for me to follow that bus on a Friday afternoon preceding the Monday of the interview. He instructed the bus driver to drop me off at the Ministry of Agriculture while proceeding to Afikpo. That was how I travelled to Okigwe.

    My brother took over from there and made arrangements for me to be at that school early that Monday. The outcome was successful.

    Bernard was later to enrol at Iheme Memorial Grammar School Arondizuogu. We usually met and interacted during some of those holiday activities organised by the student’s association in the community.

    After the result of my school certificate (London GCE ordinary level) came out, I relocated to Lagos for my Advanced Level courses. As I was awaiting my result, the news filtered that Bernard had secured admission to the University of Ife (Obafemi Awolowo University) to study Geology.

    It was a rare feat then. There were actually five full-fledged first generation universities in the country. Two or three others that had come on board then, were affiliates of these first generation universities-Jos and Calabar. I had the chance of meeting his father later that year during one of those football matches organised by our community to mark the annual New Yam festival celebrations.

    He took keen interest in me having not seen me since I left the seminary. He asked many questions including my next plans. I told him I was awaiting my A/L results and was optimistic of gaining admission the next academic session.

    Around the same period, I was at the Orlu motor park to catch a vehicle when I saw Bernard strolling in, clutching a newspaper. He had not seen me. My mind was divided as to whether to draw his attention to where I was or allow him go his way. I quickly opted to dodge him.

    Why? I knew the first question he would ask me after exchanging pleasantries will be: where are you now? I didn’t want to be repeating the story I told his father of how I had finished A/L and hoping to enter the university and all that. Remember he was three classes behind me. Somehow, I did not have the psychological comfort of mind to enter discussions with him on university admissions.

    But luck came my way later that year when I secured direct entry admission to the University of Ibadan. That opened the way for those of us from my community in the various universities to meet on holidays and interact on the educational progress of our community.

    During one of our sittings, I shared the story of how I saw Bernard at the Orlu motor park during his first year in the university and dodged him. The story drew loud laughter but it underscored the prestige that accompanied mere admission to the university then and perhaps, the complex that drove me to hiding.

    Bernard graduated with second class upper division and lectured at the University of Benin during his youth service. At the end of the service, both of us taught briefly at the secondary school in my community and decided to pursue other endeavours.

    But when the news of our imminent departure filtered, some prominent men from the community under the auspices of a social club sent emissaries to us. They invited us to a meeting where an offer of Peugeot 504 salon cars was to be made to us. They reasoned for good, that the cars would encourage us stay and help the school children.

    But we did not fall for the car offer as enticing as it was. Accepting it would bar us from pursuing other plans and consign us to the village. Those who invited us did not take kindly to our guts. They were later to summon us to the general meeting of the town union to explain our conduct.

    But before the summons by the town union, Bernard had secured appointment at the National Iron Mining Company (NIOMC), Itakpe, Kogi State. I had taken to journalism. He quickly rose through the ranks occupying various positions. He was technical assistant to three Project Directors, Deputy General Manager and General Manager, Beneficiation.

    He spent all his working life in that company and shared in the bitter experience of the disagreement between the federal government and an Indian company that stalled activities in NIOMC for many years. The Yar’Adua regime had cancelled the concession agreement his predecessor entered into with the Indian company following allegations of assets stripping. That led to litigations.

    For the years the legal dispute lasted at The Hague and the International Court of Arbitration, London, the company was virtually grounded. It took serious toll on the work force. And Bernard had a sour taste of that.

    But he remained committed believing they were temporary setbacks. At a time during that period, he had asked me for a media plan for the repositioning of the organisation. I promptly availed him one. He was later to inform me his boss was happy with that proposal.

    Luck seemingly smiled his way when in August 2016, the then Minister of Steel Development, Kayode Fayemi announced an out-of-court settlement of the dispute with the Indian firm. Bernard was thereafter appointed the Sole Administrator and Chief Executive Officer of the Company.

    With the new prospects, he initiated action in many fronts to bring the company back to function. These yielded fruits as he succeeded in attracting a World Bank sponsored project for the iron ore sector. The sole administrator also succeeded in defending the company’s budget at the National Assembly and money was released.

    The joy of the workers knew no bounds. The company was to sign contracts for the face-lifting of the facilities that had gone rusty following years of neglect and auction of some properties. These decisions were taken at an executive meeting which ended at about 6pm. Implementation was billed for the next day.

    But the unfortunate happened. Man’s inhumanity to his fellow man took the centre stage. As he was being driven to his residence located right inside NIOMC premises after that meeting, a volley of bullets were suddenly pumped  into his car by assassins lying in wait. He was fatally wounded.

     Some interests that wanted him out by all means had done their worst. By the time he was rescued, he was still alive. But the damage had been done. The next five years or so saw the family doing all humanly possible to save his life. It took a heavy toll on them.

    Sadly, all those efforts and sacrifice could not reverse the mortal damage inflicted on the innocent man by demented assassins. He departed this sinful world on April 17.

    A well brought up and brilliant man, Bernard was an embodiment of honesty and integrity. God fearing and unassuming, he accepted challenges with philosophical vision.

    He was a fellow of the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society (FNMGS), Fellow Nigerian Metallurgical Society (FNMS) and Institute of Management Consultants (FIMC).

    Fare well Bernard. ‘Assassination is the tool of the weak and the cowardly’. They have harmed the physical body but your gentle soul rests in the comfort of God’s bosom. You live in our minds!

  • Death penalty for drug convicts

    Death penalty for drug convicts

    Barring other interventions, the senate is about to return death penalty for convicts of drug offences into our status books. This is sequel to a bill that passed its second reading in the upper legislative chamber penultimate week seeking capital punishment for convicts of drug offences.

    The National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, (NDLEA) Act (Amendment Bill 2024 which is now billed for third reading provides for death sentence for those dealing in the manufacture, trafficking, delivery or use of drugs. The existing law has a maximum of life imprisonment for offenders.

    Senate Whip, Ali Ndume while contributing to the debate on the bill, had argued that the sentence for drug convicts should be toughened to death penalty. This he claimed, “is the standard practice worldwide. We have to do this to address this drug problem that has seriously affected our youths. It should be death sentence either by hanging or any other way”.

    Spirited efforts by some of the senators to have the matter put on vote were rebuffed by the deputy senate president on procedural grounds. If the bill scales the third reading, it will require the assent of the president to come into force of law. Then, we would have returned to the era of execution of convicts of drug related offences-a retrogressive step one may wish to say. We shall return to this.

    The mortal harm the consumption, manufacture and sale of hard drugs pose to the wellbeing of the society has been of serious concern to the government. Much of the violent crimes that assail the social space, are somewhat traceable to the use and abuse of harmful drug substances by our youths. Hard drugs destroy the youths.

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    The frequent arrest of drug couriers and barons in and around the entry and exit points of the country speak of the quick source of illicit money the export of the substances has become. Even with stringent measures put in place by the relevant agencies of the government to fight the scourge, the malfeasance seems not abating. It is therefore only proper that our laws are regularly fine-tuned to respond to the challenges posed by hard drugs. That is the raison d’être for the bill seeking to amend the NDLEA Act.

    The Chief Executive Officer of the NDLEA, Mohammed Marwa painted a grim picture of the growing sophistication in the illicit business in January last year, when he disclosed that within the first two years of his assumption of duty, 26,485 drug traffickers including 34 drug barons were arrested by his agency.

    The agency also secured the conviction of 3,733 drug dealers who were awarded various jail terms within the same period. The volume of arrests and convictions underscore how degenerate the illegal trade has become.

    It is a thing of worry that despite measures to deter potential dealers and manufacturers of hard drugs, these do not seem to have acted as sufficient deterrent to prospective offenders. That is the reason Ndume would want death sentence by hanging or other means for convicts. He is entitled to his opinion.

    But the ranking senator obviously erred when he claimed that death penalty for drug convicts is the practice the world over. The facts on the ground are at variance with that claim.

    In verity, most of the advanced democracies in the world have for long, done away with capital punishment. Whereas the United States of America (USA) is one of the few advanced countries where capital punishment still exists, it is applied to such capital offences as murder, treason, genocide, the killing or kidnapping of the president, congressman or supreme court Justices. Even then, a jury must decide whether to impose the death sentence.

    The United Kingdom (UK), Germany and Canada have all abolished capital punishment. Capital punishment has been completely thrown overboard in all European countries save Belarus and Russia; but Russia provides for a moratorium and has not carried out any execution since Sept, 1996. Capital punishment in France (French: Peine de mort en France) is banned by Article 66-1 of the constitution of the French Republic.

    So the claim that capital punishment is the practice the world over is not supported by available facts. If capital punishment has been abolished for heinous crimes in advanced democracies, it is inconceivable how drug related offences can possibly attract the same punishment.

    Admittedly, countries like Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, India and Indonesia among others still retain capital punishment for drug convicts. But that does not qualify as a universal practice. And as can be gleaned from the category of countries involved, there exist some other underlying reasons why they retain capital punishment for drug offences. Nigeria does not properly fit into that common denominator.

    Rather than a world-wide practice as the senator would want us to believe, capital punishment is old fashioned. The world is increasingly laying emphasis on the sanctity of the human life, reformatory and correctional laws.

    Marwa spoke along these lines when he said the agency had broadened access to treatment and rehabilitation through the inauguration of the NDLEA drug abuse call centres.  More of such interventions offer better prospects in the fight against hard drugs.

     I guess it was this principle that informed the recent change of the nomenclature of the Nigerian Prisons Service to Nigerian Correctional Services. We run the mortal danger of rubbishing the spirits of that visionary change by legitimising death penalty for drug offences.

    Unfortunately, this country had treaded that odious path in the past. The trauma inflicted on the psyche of our people by the retrogressive application of Decree 20 of 1984 during the military regime of Muhammadu Buhari will for long linger.

    Then, three Nigerians-Bernard Ogedengbe, Bathlomew Owoh and Lawal Ojuolape were tied to the stake and shot dead for drug offences. Our laws have since abolished death penalty for drug offences. It has gone out of fashion and any piece of legislation that seeks to bring it back is patently retrogressive.

    It is a truism that our laws still retain capital punishment for such offences as murder, culpable homicide and armed robbery. But many of those sentenced to death for these offences have for long remained in prison custody as state governors show increasing reluctance to sign their death warrants. This is not unconnected to the belief in the sanctity of human life and doubts on the propriety of death sentence as an effective deterrent to offenders.

    Just last year, the Nigerian Correctional Services corroborated the situation when they disclosed that 3,413 inmates on death row were still in the country’s custodial centres across the country. This is part of the reasons for the congestion of available facilities. 

    It is a mark of the unpopularity of death sentences that this high number of those convicted for such offences are still unable to have a date with the hangman. If the governors are not keen in signing death warrants for murderers, armed robbers and convicts of culpable homicide, their attitude to the execution of drug convicts should be anybody’s guess.

    Beyond this, the piece of legislation that seeks to return death penalty into our laws brings to question the propriety of capital punishment as deterrent to prospective offenders. Armed robbery, murder and culpable homicide are still a regular feature in our society despite the death sentences convicts face.

    Death penalty has rather emboldened offenders to operate in the most cruel and ruthless manner knowing the consequences that await them. The society has largely been at the receiving end for it. The emphasis on death sentences loses sight of the factors that conduce for the high prevalence of crimes in societies as ours. These are some of the issues our lawmakers should be addressing. What of the high level of corruption in public offices that deprives the people of their common patrimony, reducing them to hewers of wood and fetchers of water despite the abundance of wealth nature placed at our disposal?

    The NDLEA is obviously making serious progress in the fight against hard drugs. It should be encouraged with all it takes to lighten its duty in this daunting task.

    Extant law which provides for imprisonment, fine and forfeiture of assets for convicts is enough to debar prospective offenders. No to death sentence as it has become an anachronism of sorts. The senate can save precious time by discontinuing with that piece of legislation.

    But where the bill manages to scale through, President Bola Tinubu should not waste time in refusing assent as it is a rusted piece of legislation.

  • Cybersecurity levy

    Cybersecurity levy

    Are ordinary Nigerians excluded from the 0.5 per cent cybersecurity levy on all electronic transactions which the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN directed financial institutions to commence immediate collection? That is the big question the House of Representatives is spurring to entangle.

    In a circular last week, the CBN directed  commercial, merchant, non-interest and payment service banks, other financial institutions, mobile money operators and payment service providers  to deduct a levy of 0.5 per cent (0.005) equivalent to a half per cent from all electronic transactions. The apex bank cited the enactment of the cybercrime (prohibition, prevention, etc) (amendment) Act 2024 and the provisions of section 44(a) of the Act to back up the order.

    By the terms of the circular, the deducted sum is to be remitted to the National Cybersecurity Fund (NCF) and to be administered by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). Offenders are liable on conviction, to a fine of not less than two per cent of the annual turnover of the defaulting business.

    But the House of Representatives has cried foul and ordered the CBN to suspend implementation of the cybersecurity levy. It said the circular by the apex bank negates the spirits and letters of section 44(2a) of the Cybercrime Act. The section listed those to pay the levy as GSM and telecom companies, internet providers, banks and other financial institutions, insurance companies and stock exchange.

    The House directed the CBN to withdraw the circular; issue another in its place as the impression created is that the levy is to be paid by the ordinary citizens. This misconception, the House reasoned, was responsible for the furore trailing the directive. That was the new twist the circular took at the weekend.

    The observations of the House of Representatives illustrate the glaring ambiguities and misunderstanding that trailed the CBN directive since it became public knowledge. Reactions to the circular have been quite adverse.

    Public perception of the CBN directive was that the burden of the 0.5 per cent deductions from all electronic money transactions is to be borne by Nigerians at the point of transaction. This reading accounted for the avalanche of criticisms, ultimatums and threats that became the sad fate of the directive. Much of the reservations on the cybersecurity levy had centred on the propriety of burdening the hapless and suffering poor citizens with the added responsibility of paying for cybercrime fighting. It also raised the question of the role and responsibility of the government in maintaining law and order.

    No doubt, cybercrimes of all hue have wrought incalculable harm on the national economy. Not only does it lead to huge losses of depositors’ funds diminishing confidence in the banking system, it is one criminal activity that has continued to paint the country black especially in the eyes of the international community.

    The rate at which our youths (both the educated and not well-educated) take quick resort to such criminalities is bound to give serious concern to all and sundry.

    Effective measures including equipping the various government crime-fighting agencies with sufficient tools and funds to decisively confront this manner of criminality cannot but attract the support of all fair-minded Nigerians. So why the hullabaloo about the cyber security levy? Why is everybody seemingly up in arms against the levy? This poser is the basis for the intervention of the House of Representatives directing that the levy be halted henceforth.

     So, the issue is not as much with the propriety of adequately funding cybercrime fighting as with the confusion created by the CBN circular regarding those that should pay the levy. As far as the House members are concerned, the wordings of the CBN circular conveyed the erroneous impression that individual Nigerians are to pay the levy.

    But there is nowhere in the letters of the relevant schedule of the Act that it was explicitly so stated. Rather, the Act was unambiguous in listing the financial institutions that are to be charged the cyber security levy.

    How the CBN arrived at the idea of individuals paying the levy at the point of transaction is the raison d’être for the House directing that the memo be withdrawn. And in its place, a new one that reflects the letters and spirits of the Act be issued.

    The observations of the House are very fundamental. Coincidentally, they hinge on all the reservations that have been expressed about the levy. Much of the criticisms have centred around the rationale for shifting the burden of cybercrime fighting to the ordinary citizenry especially at this period of general hardship occasioned by hyperinflationary trend arising from government policies?

    Issues have also been canvassed regarding the prospects of the new levy suffocating the citizens already overburdened by such multiplicity of taxes as services charges, Value Added Tax, Stamp Duty and sundry deduction made while withdrawing cash at the Point of Sales POS centres.

    That is not all. The cyber security levy is also loaded with the frightening prospects of making a mess all the gains from the cashless policy of the government-a policy that Nigerians cannot forget in a hurry for the injuries it inflicted on their collective psyche when it was being introduced.

     The new levy will further drive people into more patronage of cash transactions and use of the cheques as safeguard against the harsh economic realities that have significantly eroded their real income and purchasing power. Inflation will further rise even as the ability of the CBN to effectively control the money in circulation will face additional hurdles.

     A decisive war against cybercrimes is a compelling imperative. But the thinking that the burden must be borne by the ordinary people is highly misplaced. It is misplaced against the background of the existential challenges it is bound to impose on peoples’ lives as they contend with the excruciating consequences of the policies of the government on subsidy removal among others. It is also misplaced for placing higher premium on funding as if it is a guarantee for waging a successful war against cybercrime.

    The Nigerian Communications Commission in a recent report claimed that Nigeria is “losing $500 million annually to all forms of cybercrimes including hacking, identity theft, cyber terrorism, harassment and internet fraud”.

    Read Also: Tinubu suspends cybersecurity levy policy implementation

    That may be a rough estimate of the losses as the figures may be even higher. But it underscores the enormity of the challenge posed by cybercrimes to the country’s financial system. That would seem enough justification for the new cybersecurity levy.

    But it goes with the underlying assumption that the money to be generated would be ploughed judiciously into cybercrime fighting. The profligacy and glaring mismanagement of funds in public offices do not give much confidence in this regard. That is however, beside the point.

    Issues have also been raised on the rationale in domiciling the remittance of the levy into the National Cybersecurity Fund (NCF) ostensibly to be administered by the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA). The Nigerian Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) in a report, said electronic payments on its platform in 2023 stood at N600 trillion. 0.5 per cent of this amounts to N3 trillion. This, by all standards is really huge.

    The proper thing is for such funds to be paid into the Consolidated Fund for the National Assembly to make the necessary appropriations. This would make for probity and accountability in the use of public funds.

    The House has taken the rightful lead in raising issues with the impression conveyed by the CBN circular on those listed by the Act to pay the levy. That such ambiguities in the interpretation of the cybercrime Act should arise is really sad and unfortunate.

    The House order for the halting of the levy implementation before it overburdens the citizenry in error is the proper thing to do. It should also instruct a cybersecurity funding strategy involving the government, the regulatory bodies and stakeholders.

    But the burden must be lifted from the shoulders of the ordinary people. It would amount to one levy, too many!

  • Minimum/living wage

    Minimum/living wage

    It did not come as a surprise that the federal government could not announce a new national minimum wage during this year’s May Day celebrations. Indications to that reality emerged few days earlier when the president of the Trade Union Congress, (TUC) Festus Osifo said negotiations were yet to be concluded by the parties.

    “So certainly, May 1, will not work for the pronouncement of the new minimum wage”, except the government wants to pay the N615,000 recommended by organised labour, he had said.

    That prediction has come to pass. But on the May Day, both the government and organised labour traded blames on the reasons for the inability to announce the much awaited new wage regime. The government blamed lack of consensus among the tripartite committee. But organised labour accused the government of refusal to reconvene the meeting that was adjourned for the issue to be finally resolved.

    Some complications seemed to have been injected into the minimum wage negotiations when the federal government on the eve of the May Day, approved salary increases of between 25 to 35 per cent for public servants on the remaining six consolidated salary structures. It also approved pay rise for pensioners under the Defined Benefits Scheme DBS.

    The measure raised mixed feelings within the labour force. The NLC did not take kindly to the announcement as the measure was seen to have seemingly thrown spanners into the wheels of the minimum wage negotiations. NLC president, Joe Ajaero betrayed that feeling when he lamented that the nation should have been in a new minimum wage regime as we celebrate the May Day since discussions were supposed to have been concluded before that day.

     “I think the announcement now appears mischievous because there is no minimum wage increase the government is announcing. For them to announce it now, is an issue we are worried about at NLC and even at the TUC”, Ajaero said. 

    But the fears raised by the NLC appeared to have been dispelled by the explanation from the president of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), Tommy Okon. He had told reporters that the salary increase has nothing to do with the minimum wage but to close the salary gap that existed in some ministries, departments and agencies.

    That may well be the case. But the timing of the salary increase for that category of civil/public servants on the eve of the May Day did create considerable suspicions.

    Nonetheless, the dominance of the new minimum wage in all discussions during the May Day celebrations gave further credence to the position that the increases had nothing to do with it.

    President Tinubu in his speech said the government was poised to give workers better living and working conditions buoyed by fair living wage. He noted that in spite of concerted efforts, the tripartite committee on national minimum wage was unable to reach consensus on the issue at their last meeting.

    “This shall be resolved soon and I assure you that your days of worrying are over. Indeed, the government is open to the committee’s suggestion of not just a minimum wage but a living wage”, the president promised.

    This should be something to cheer. The moot question however, is what should be a living wage for the Nigerian worker? Organised labour spoke along the lines of a living wage also. For them, a living wage is one that will at the least, keep the worker alive. It is not a wage that will make you poor and poorer. It is not a wage that will lead you to the hospital every day because of malnutrition. Neither is it a wage that will make you borrow money in order to go to work.

    Read Also: Ondo 2024: APC will retain power, says Aiyedatiwa

    By their calculations N615,000 is that living wage for a worker with six family members. They did their calculations based on the cost of accommodation, feeding, transportation, school fees and associated expenses.

    Can the federal government and the private sector afford that pay? Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy has emphatic No as the answer. That is the point at which the government and organised labour may continue to disagree. And there are sufficient grounds for disagreement.

    The government is yet to make an offer for organised labour to consider. But labour is pilling pressure on the government to ensure that the new minimum wage regime does not exceed the end of May 2024.

    But whatever fears entertained by labour on possible delays in the commencement of the new national minimum wage was allayed by the Minister of State for Labour, Nkeiruka Onyejeocha in her May Day speech. She had said although the tripartite committee was yet to finish its work, workers will not lose anything as the new minimum wage will take effect from May 1, 2024.

    In spite of this promise, the exact amount to be paid as the minimum/living wage will continue to be thorny in the discussions. The government has kept to its chest what it considers the minimum/living wage. It is perhaps, frightened by the huge proposals from labour. But sources close to the centre of power indicated that between N60,000 to N70,000 is being considered as the new wage.  How this will sit with organised labour is anyone’s guess.

    The N615,000 wage increase demanded by organised labour appears unrealistic given the wide gap between it and the N30, 000 minimum wage that expired last month. The Minimum Wage Act which was signed by former President Buhari in April 2019 is to be reviewed every five years.

    By the provisions of that Act, the national minimum wage is due for review. It is also due for review on account of the far-reaching policies initiated by the Tinubu administration since it assumed office last May. Such difficult policy measures as the removal of subsidy on petrol, the floating of the Naira in the foreign exchange market and of late, subsidy removal on electricity have come with debilitating consequences on general standard of living.

    Not only did they fuel spiralling inflation in manners never witnessed before in the country, their toll on the general standard of living has been quite telling. In the face of these existential challenges, the wage of worker has remained stagnant. That has been the raison d’être for agitations for a new national minimum wage.

    Consensus exists between the government and organised labour on the imperative of a new minimum wage that will enable the worker afford his basic needs. Perhaps, that is what the references to a living wage is all about. But can the Nigerian economy in its current form sustain a living wage regime for the worker? Put differently, how far can the speculated N70,000 new minimum wage go in sustaining the least paid worker given the current economic realities of the country?

    Even as the amount proposed by organised labour would appear outlandish, that being speculated as the possible offer by the government cannot by any dint of the imagination be taken for a living wage. It is patently incapable of enabling the worker cope with escalated prices of general goods and services. The average worker cannot live well with such a wage regime.

    But the reality is that the government is seriously constrained. It is constrained by the resources to pay a living wage in the true sense of it. It is also constrained by the fear of further inflationary trend which unguarded wage increases will engender.

    So even as organised labour’s demand for substantial salary increase for workers has serious justification, that figure is by no means sacrosanct. The TUC leadership spoke along this line when they said the recommendation is just a proposal that is subject to negotiations.

    The government must show good faith to the negotiations and reconvene the tripartite committee without further delay. It should be forthcoming with its offer on the minimum/living wage. It is wrong to shroud its proposal in secrecy and expect progress to be made by the committee.

    But, the government found itself in this quagmire because of the fundamental policy changes it initiated in many fronts-policies that led to high inflationary trend and the erosion of the real income of the people. Curiously, these policies did not sufficiently factor in the material conditions of the poor citizenry. The seeming high minimum wage demanded by labour is a response to the escalated rise in the prices of essential goods and services.

     Had these policies been approached on incremental basis, the adjustments in wages would not pose the threat of jolting the system as a N615,000 minimum wage is bound to. The government should negotiate and find common ground that will make life worth living for the average worker. Things are really hard and time is of essence.

    Beyond wages, social intervention measures to cushion the effects of the excruciating economic conditions must also come into serious calculation.

  • Unbundling the unbundled Discos

    Unbundling the unbundled Discos

    The unbundling of the former National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) followed the signing into law by former President Obasanjo of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act which led to the formation of the Power Holding Company Of Nigeria (PHCN).

    By that Act, NEPA was broken into 18 companies- six Generating Companies, one Transmission Company and eleven Distribution Companies with each issued operating licences. But the actual privatisation of PCHN was consummated by former President Jonathan in 2013 when he handed over the subsidiary companies that made up PHCN to the new core investors.

    Between the time Obasanjo signed the Act and the actual handover of the companies to the new investors, the word ‘Unbundling’ gained so much prominence within the power sector that it was viewed as an elixir for all that was wrong with electricity generation, supply and distribution in the country.

    The enthusiasm was so high that it was generally thought that with privatisation, the challenges of epileptic and unreliable power supply that had virtually stifled national development would soon take the back seat. That was the level of public confidence reposed on privatisation in that sector.

     But 10 years thereon, that prospect has turned down a pipe dream as no significant improvement has since been recorded in that critical sector of the national economy. Rather, it has been more of business as usual raising questions on the appropriateness of the implementation and execution of the exercise.

    Time without number have governments after governments promised substantial improvement in power generation and distribution since the unbundling of the power sector, but all these have failed to materialise. Rather, we are regularly confronted by frequent collapse of the national grip. With regular breakdown of the national grid, it remains to be seen how the distribution companies assailed by debilitating operational hiccups will be able to make the required improvement in power supply.

    Not only has the country not gone beyond 4,000mw of electricity generation, a far cry from the overall electricity needs of the country, the distribution of the much generated has remained largely unsatisfactory leading to the exit of multinational companies due to inclement investment climate. It is a measure of the inadequacies of the power privatisation process that over these years, electricity supply and distribution have not really gone beyond the pre-privatisation era.

    It was a matter of time for the government to take another look at the entire exercise if the objectives of the unbundling exercise are to be realised. So when last month, the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu threatened severe consequences against power distribution companies (Discos) for wilful non-performance, it was obvious the government was about to do something about the shortcomings of the unbundling process.

    Read Also: Govt to sell Abuja, Ibadan, Benin, Kaduna, Kano DisCos

    That threat was made good last week when he announced plans to unbundle power distribution companies Discos along state lines due to their large sizes; the inefficiency and ineffectiveness these engender. Additionally, the government directed the sale of Discos that have been taken over by banks or the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria AMCON within the next three months. Through the sales, the government intends to ensure that the buyers are technical manpower operators with good reputation in utility management.

    Four of the Discos are under the management of the banks for their inability to pay the loans with which they acquired the companies, while the remaining one was taken over by AMCON. The Abuja Disco is under the management of the United Bank of Africa UBA while Fidelity Bank manages the Benin Disco, Kaduna Disco and Kano Disco. The Ibadan Disco is under AMCON management.

     Apart from the sale of the five Discos, the government intends to go further down the line to licence smaller Discos in areas of operation not fully covered by the existing ones.

    “We will start seeing regulations about franchising. The fact that you are Eko Disco doesn’t  mean that you cannot have smaller Discos that are ready to invest in your unserved communities. So we are looking at franchising”, Adelabu further explained.

    It is unclear whether the unbundling along state lines would be carried out before the proposed sale of the five Discos in the next three months. Also not stated is if the franchising the government plans for areas not covered by the current Discos will be done before the unbundling along state lines and sale of the itemised ones.

    Whatever the case, it is important that the government takes a holistic and more enduring perspective of its plans for effective electricity generation and distribution in the country. Adequate safeguards should be made to guard against the mistakes of the past.

    Before selling off the ailing Discos, the government must be clear with its plans on unbundling along state lines and franchising within the uncovered areas. This will entail proper delineation of the spheres of coverage of the Discos being unbundled along state lines vis-a-vis the areas that will be franchised.

    Through this, the government will checkmate  the clash of interest that may arise if the Discos are hurriedly sold off without earmarking the areas for franchising. The case of the 188-megawatt Geometric Power plant in Aba, Abia state which was commissioned last February should be instructive.

     The altercation that ensued on the alleged roles of some official of government agencies and the owners of the Enugu Disco that worked against the quick realisation of the project underscores the imperative for clarity on the spheres of operation of all power distributors. Such gaps should not be allowed in the new endeavour.

    With clarity on the spheres of coverage of the Discos that will emerge from the unbundling, prospective bidders will not be left in doubt as to what they are actually paying for. Then, the unbundled Discos including the ones that will be franchised can now be put up for sale. The sale of the five Discos under receivership must also follow the same path of unbundling and franchising.

    Overall, the measures earmarked by the government to ensure efficiency in the power sector are high-minded. It is clear from the woeful performances of the Discos that the privatisation of the power sector failed to deliver on its mandate. Both in terms of its execution and implementation, the privatisation process fell short of its laudable objectives.

    Not only are the buyers of the privatised firms contending with lack of relevant expertise to run utility firms, many of them did not have the required financial capacity to pay for the power companies. Faced with debilitating financial hiccups, the new investors failed to keep to their promise of injecting funds into the project to enhance their distribution network. It remains to be conjectured how such investments will be possible when the investors took quick resort to bank loans.

    They have since found it difficult to pay back the loans given the long time it takes for investments in that sector to mature and make returns to the owners. Nothing bears out this failure than the take-over of the management of the five Discos by the banks and AMCON.

     But it is neither the business of the banks nor that of AMCON to run power business they lack the requisite expertise. Even then, with the impending recapitalisation of the banks that will put serious stress on their capital base, the fate of the Discos under their management would rather worsen. This will entail dire consequences for the power sector.

    It is good a thing the Discos are being rescued through the measures listed by the government. In doing this, the Nigerian factor must be avoided like a plague. It remains a sad commentary that investors without the requisite expertise and financial capacity in the management of such a critical sector were allowed to buy off the privatised companies.

    What seems obvious from all this is that some other considerations than merit and capacity influenced the decisions of those that superintended over the sales. This is the time to correct all that. It is not another opportunity for those in power to now bring in their favoured ones and cronies.

    But the Discos are not the only challenge in the electricity supply and distribution chain. Equal attention should be accorded to power generation and supply. The government must upscale very substantially, the amount of megawatts of electricity generated and supplied to meet the country’s electricity needs. The partial removal of subsidy on electricity for those branded as Band ‘A’ should free resources for the completion of the power plants envisaged to give a quantum leap to power generation.

  • Deaths in hotels: The soldiers’ angle

    Deaths in hotels: The soldiers’ angle

    It is a good thing the Nigerian Army promptly responded to the alleged torture to death of a hotel manager, Achimugu Etubi, in Umuahia, Abia State, by some of its personnel following the drowning of an Air Force cadet, Emmanuel Onyemereche, in a swimming pool within the hotel premises.

    The Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja, ordered full investigations with a pledge to bring any of its personnel found culpable of wrongdoing in the incident to face appropriate legal sanctions. And to dispel insinuations of possible agency cover-up, Lagbaja promised to make the findings of the probe public.  This should be re-assuring given the sensitivity and intense public interest the matter has since generated.

    But the probe should not be limited to this singular incident. Of equal weight was another torture to death a week earlier in Imo State where another staff of a guest house in Umulogho, Obowu Local Government Area, Ebuka Udemba, was sent to his early grave after being locked-up in the generator room for allegedly stealing the phone of an army officer.

    The hotel owner, the army personnel and another individual were fingered in the torture that led to Ebuka’s death. A common thread runs through the two incidents. Both involved the death of civilians after alleged torture in the hands of personnel of the Nigerian Army.

     Coincidentally, the incidents happened in two Southeast sister states of Imo and Abia. As a matter of fact, the Obowu Local Government Area of Imo State shares common boundary with Umuahia, the Abia State capital.

     Is there anything in this association or the temperament of the personnel of the Nigerian Army in that zone that predisposes them to easy resort to the torture of civilians? Why the uncanny coincidence in the circumstances leading to the death of the two hotel workers?

    These questions arise because of what appears as crass mismanagement of the two incidents leading to avoidable loss of human lives. Or is it a measure of the value we now attach to human lives? In verity, the deaths were clearly avoidable. Why those who tortured the hotel workers resorted to self-help remains confounding. It also puzzles what remedies they sought to procure by their acts of indiscretion that have now aggravated matters that should ordinarily lend themselves to resolution through due process.

    What were the issues? The account of the owner of the Umuahia hotel, Steve Ihedigbo, will be relied upon in the case of Etubi’s torture and subsequent death.

    According to him, he was alerted around 6.45 pm on the fateful day that someone was missing around the pool side. When he arrived at the hotel and went to the pool side, he was told the cadet did not jump into the swimming pool. “They were going outside to check whether he went outside or inside the toilet. Up till 8pm, he was not found but I was told that they started looking for him since 5pm”.

    At about 9pm, policemen were there and everybody was searching for him. The fire service was called and they brought a vehicle and ladder. The cadet’s father also came and told me that his son should be released and I told him I didn’t  understand what was going on. The father told me that his son’s colleague told him that his son did not swim. We called three divers who went into the pool and found him and brought him out, he recounted.

    Ihedigbo said when he was brought out, everybody was surprised because he did not look like a drowned person as no water was coming out of his mouth or nose. The police came the next day and arrested the manager and three other staff for questioning but later released them on bail.

    But things turned awry when some army personnel stormed the hotel the next day, insisting they wanted to interrogate the staff. The manager later went to the army base at the Agricultural Development Project ADP where she was interrogated till late in the evening and released with an instruction to bring three other staff unfailingly by 8am the next day.

    They complied with the order and after interrogation, Ihedigbo said an order was given for them to be beaten. They concentrated on Etubi, beating him to a pulp. He said they were hitting him on the neck and the head and when he died, they put him in a tricycle together with the other staff and took them to the hospital where he was confirmed dead.

    Read Also: Army confirms killing of two officers, four soldiers in Niger terrorists ambush

    He was piqued that the other cadet who accompanied Onyemereche to the hotel that ordinarily should be the prime suspect, was among those who tortured and beat up his staff. He has therefore accused the army personnel from the ADP base, Umuahia, of torturing his manager to death. That is the Abia incident.

    The one that happened in Imo is another account of similar torture of a hotel worker for allegedly stealing a phone belonging to an army officer who visited the place for relaxation. The state police command said “Ebuka Udemba was tortured and locked up inside the generator room by the owner of the hotel and two others at large, where he suffocated to death on the allegation that he stole a customer’s handset.” The police said the hotel owner has provided information that will lead to the arrest of the other two suspects.

    A community source corroborated this narrative. The source said those who tortured Ebuka were the hotel owner, the soldier whose phone was allegedly stolen and one other individual. “They mercilessly beat up the 25-year old boy and locked him up in the generator house and he died there,” he lamented.

    The hotel owner is in the custody of the police. But the whereabouts of the soldier and the third suspect that took part in the torture are not of public knowledge. Even then, the police have not been forthcoming in disclosing the identity of the soldier whose phone was allegedly stolen and who actively participated in the torture. They only spoke of two other suspects.

    This has given rise to apprehension that the soldier may get away with his illegal action if the Army high command does not intervene to bring him to justice. That is why the scope of investigations ordered by Lagbaja should be expanded to include the equally inhuman and callous torturing and locking up of Ebuka in a generator house, only for him to be suffocated. That treatment should ordinarily offend public sensibilities.

    The two incidents expose all that is bad in the temperament of military personnel in handling disputes or security issues involving the civilian population. For a country that has been under uninterrupted civil rule more than 25 years, our military should have been sufficiently tamed to imbibe and uphold the culture of democratic engagement. Sadly, events of the two incidents speak to the contrary. Not even in the military era was our collective psyche assailed in this callous manner.

    The issues relate to alleged death in a swimming pool of an Air Force cadet and stealing of a telephone handset belonging to a soldier which our laws have copious provisions for their resolution. Even as the death of the cadet in that suspicious circumstance assails public sensibilities , its handle requires diligent investigation to get at the root of what actually transpired.

    Neither mob action nor the resort to self-help by some personnel of the Nigerian army holds the key to their resolution. The police in liaison with the relevant military authorities are in a better stead to investigate the matter and fish out the culprits to face the raw teeth of the law.

    The army high command can reverse the resort to jungle justice by its personnel through the firm and decisive manner it brings to book its officers and men found culpable in these avoidable deaths.  

  • Band ‘A’ electricity tariff

    Band ‘A’ electricity tariff

    Suddenly, there was remarkable improvement in electricity supply in my area just a day after the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission NERC announced total elimination of subsidy for customers branded as Band A. Before then, power supply in that area had at best, remained epileptic with some days of total black-out.

    Things appeared to have changed in a jiffy. That evening and throughout the night, power supply was surprisingly stable. Even when there were outages, it took only seconds for normal supply to be restored. This sudden and surprising turn of events continued throughout the following day such that it began to raise questions among residents.

    What could have been responsible for the overnight huge improvement in power supply? Is the concerned Disco now receiving more energy from the supply company that it has enough to maintain steady power supply? Or, what is the magic behind this huge improvement and for how long will it last? Has the total amount of power generated in the country gone beyond the 4,000mw mark?

     Faced with these searing posers, I had on my Facebook page wondered if the development was not an attempt to group the area under the Band A category that has just been slated for an upgrade from N68 Kilowatts per hour (KWh) to N225KWh under the subsidy elimination regime. Soon, similar arguments began to trend in our Community Development Association CDA platform.

    But the issue appeared resolved when someone posted the receipt of the payment he made that very day, indicating that for the N10,000 recharge he made, he got only 41 units of electricity. The arithmetic of it showed very clearly that it was calculated on the basis of the new Band A rate. The message got clearer in the absence of any clarification from the power distribution company (Disco)

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    In the last 10 days or so, electricity supply has been steady in my area. How that became possible is still confounding. But that is the reality on the ground. Nobody is now left in doubt about the reality of the new tariff paid by those classified under the Band A for presumably receiving between 20 to 24 hours of electricity supply daily. In  verity, the Ikeja Distribution Company under which coverage we fall, has been able to maintain 20 hours of power supply or even more in the area under focus. A big feat one will admit!

    But that feat has continued to raise eyebrows as to the magic the Disco did in an area that hitherto stayed some days without electricity. Before this time, power outages had become so rampant that the CDA had begun negotiations with the power distribution company for possible connection to another feeder said to have better power supply.

    All that have now been overtaken by events. The nagging challenge is how to contend with high cost of energy consequent upon the classification within the Band A customers who NERC said constitute 15 per cent of the total number of power users in the country.

    The 240 per cent increase in electricity tariff has further added to the burden of consumers already contending with the debilitating effects of fuel subsidy removal and the floating of the Naira in the foreign exchange market. The effect is really telling.

    As those classified within the Band A category grapple with high cost of electricity, the capacity of the Discos to keep faith with the minimum of 20-hour daily power supply has also been at issue. Since NERC benchmarked the increase on the supply of at least 20 hours of electricity per a day, what remedies are there for customers in the event of default by the Discos? For now, there is no clarity on that seeming contractual agreement.

    The only thing available is a threat by NERC  to downgrade feeders under Band A that are unable to supply up to 20 hours of power a day. What happens to customers short-changed in the process, remains a moot issue. But that threat says much about the criteria adopted in classifying some of these feeders under Band A. It speaks of some arbitrariness and haste in the classification process.

    Not unexpectedly, the consequences of that faulty classification process are beginning to manifest. Some of the Discos have since blamed their inability to supply the required minimum of 20 hours of electricity per day on technical glitches among other challenges.

    Benin Disco apologised to its customers on about 13 Band A feeders for its inability to generate 20 hours of electricity. Kano Disco also apologised to customers on Band A 33KV Gaskiya feeder while its Ibadan counterpart asked for customers’ understanding over power outages in about 20 Band A feeders.

    The list is not exhaustive.  But it mirrors vividly the shortcomings in NERC’s strategy on subsidy removal in the electricity sector. Apparently responding to pressure from the Bretton Woods institutions on subsidy removal in that sector, the government sought a way out through what appears as price discrimination.

    But, this brand of discriminatory monopoly is not necessarily based on the ability to pay or some other social or demographic indicators but on the capacity of the Discos to supply at least 20 hours daily electricity to the earmarked areas. There is something inherently untidy in this strategy. Perhaps, the government found itself in this contradiction in an attempt to present subsidy removal in the mould of price discrimination.

    And as we have seen, even some of the Discos that are being positioned to rake in huge revenue from the process are not even prepared to deliver on that mandate. The capacity is not just there. They will only end up short-changing all segments of the consuming public that have been lumped together under Band A.

    Twenty hours daily electricity supply, appears a smart way to run away from the backlash of a wholesale elimination of subsidy in the face of the glaring inefficiencies in that sector. It may also be a subterfuge to save the government from the social discontent bound to follow that police given the biting effects of those before it.

    But the policy  has seen some of the Discos struggling to meet the target. Only time will tell how long this will last before another collapse of the national grid.

    There is the notion that those in Band A are net worth consumers that should be able to pay the new rate. This calculation may not be foolproof given the widening poverty in the land and its toll on the middle class.

    The government said the price paid by customers in Band A represent the appropriate pricing for the commodity and would allow the Discos fully recover the efficient cost of operation, including a reasonable return on capital invested in the business. That could as well be. 

    Price comparisons for one KWh of electricity in Ghana, Togo and Benin Republic have also been bandied to justify the hike. Even then, the government has not left anyone in doubt that the new price regime will sooner or later spread to other Bands implying that the branding strategy is largely provisional and will soon give way to total deregulation.

    One of the conditions for the success of the new price regime is the installation of metres for the affected customers. Sadly, many of the customers now being made to pay the cut-throat price have no metres and have to depend on estimated billing.

    Before now, estimated billing created serious challenges for most customers as they often complained of bills that bore no semblance with their consumption pattern. Unmetered customers are bound to face very serious challenges with the new tariff regime. They may end up paying for services they did not receive. NERC estimates that between 15 to 20 per cent of Band A customers are unmetered. It has asked the Discos to speed up the process of metering. The figure is likely to be even much higher.

    But such lapses have been the bane of many a policy in this country. Metering should have presaged the implementation of the so called Band A classification to ensure customers are not saddled with electricity bills they did not consume.

    There is also the high cost of procuring such meters which ordinarily are the properties of the Disco. Now that the band A consumers are being charged the appropriate price for the electricity they consume, sundry expenses incurred by consumers each time there are faults in their transformers etc, should no longer have any basis. Neither will there be further reason to fund the inefficiencies of the Discos through outright or partial purchase of transformers by communities or CDAs.

    Beyond these, extreme caution should be exercised by the government in considering wholesale removal of the subsidy on electricity. The experience of those who have had the misfortune of testing the Band A category is not funny at all. The reality is that at the current rate, a majority of our citizens can ill-afford the cost of two hours of electricity supply a day.