The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

  • Teacher quality and student outcome

    Teacher quality and student outcome

    The four most crucial pieces indispensable to the all-important task of educating our children include the parent, the government, the teacher, and the student. My comments in the last four weeks have focused on the government and its responsibility to educate citizens. Last week, I dealt with the need for a public-private partnership for which the public sector has to provide leadership and direction. Some may be troubled by the disproportionate focus on government in this matter. After all, parents who brought children in the world ought to be responsible for their upbringing, and some are against the provision of free education at any level precisely on the basis of such reasoning. I think that they are wrong but I will not pause to pursue this argument here. Today, I take on one of the other pieces in the puzzle, namely the teacher.

    I should start with a confession. Having been a teacher all my life, I have a bias in favour of the profession because I have not had a sustained experience of any other. One of the greatest joys of a teacher is to be pulled aside by a former student who you now don’t remember and who has apparently done well, and be reminded that you were his or her teacher. This is why, for me, student outcome is the most important affirmation of the teacher’s success. The joy of a teacher, the motivator-in-chief, is the achievement of his or her students. I see myself in the accomplishment of the students that pass through me and that is why I make extra efforts, many times beyond the call of duty and at the expense of personal welfare, to ensure that my students have the quality of instruction from me that puts them in the path of success. This was what I received from my teachers. It is what teaching is about.

    Teaching is often referred to as the noble profession. If education is about molding the nation, the teacher is the most important molder and the nation’s children are the clay. If we continue with the metaphor of the potter and the clay, it is instructive to note that the quality of the pottery depends on the quality of the potter. Is the potter knowledgeable in what she does? Is she patient? Is her aesthetic sense so trained that she appreciates beauty and pursues it? Then the works of her hands should be of high quality. So it is with the teacher as the potter of the nation.

    As I went through my first training as a Grade III teacher, I was exposed to a large number of literatures on teacher preparation. In 1962, Randall Butisingh, a life-long teacher, wrote that a “teacher must know that he or she is teaching, not only a subject, but a child. A good teacher, by his or her methods will be able to motivate the pupil, waken his interest, and arouse his curiosity. Teachers can make learning pleasant. They must exhibit energy, enthusiasm and cheerfulness, and never cease to learn themselves. A teacher who ceases to learn becomes irrelevant.” This last point cannot be stated more forcefully. And the question is,” what is the state of our teacher preparation?” And “what is the quality of our teacher cadre?”

    If we take education seriously, and if the future success of our children, and thus of our nation is important to us, then it must be reflected in the emphasis that we place on teacher preparation and teacher quality. This is not just a task for the government; it is equally the task of the teacher’s union. And it is the focus of attention and efforts in nations that we have considered advanced in the matter of educational attainments.

    The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) recently released a report on teacher preparation and teacher quality. In her foreword to the report titled “Raising the Bar: Aligning and elevating teacher preparation and the teaching profession,” Randi Weingarten, AFT President comes out forcefully against what she refers to as a “common rite of passage, whereby newly minted teachers are tossed the keys to their classrooms, expected to figure things out, and left to see if they (and their students) sink or swim. Such a haphazard approach to the complex and crucial enterprise of educating children is wholly inadequate. It’s unfair to both students and teachers, who want and need to be well-prepared to teach from their first day on the job.” In the case of this country, we are worse off. For what we do is toss our classroom keys to anyone—trained or not—and we leave them to see if they and their students sink or swim. How many of our classroom teachers are trained teachers? How many have adequate (not to talk of superior) knowledge of the subjects they teach?

    It is interesting to note that the AFT is the professional organisation of teachers in the United States. It doesn’t see itself as just a trade organisation only interested in the struggle for the welfare of its members. It also recognises that as a professional organisation, it has to worry about its end product—the student outcome. This is why it insists on “raising the bar” of the teaching profession. Consider the following recommendations from the organisation: First, it recommends that the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards must take the leading role in bringing together all stakeholders to define a “rigorous entry bar for beginning teachers, just as it has established a process for becoming an accomplished board-certified teacher.”

    Second, the AFT recommends an entry bar for the profession that must include “rigorous preparation” and “a demonstration of teaching ability through performance assessment.” Third, it recommends that the “process of establishing the bar and ensuring its professional standards are maintained should involve all stakeholders but be driven by teachers and teacher educators.” In other words, what AFT is recommending for the teaching profession is akin to what lawyers and physicians have in place for their professions. No lawyer is allowed to practice unless he or she passes the Bar. No doctor is allowed to practice unless he or she is certified by the Board of Physicians.

    The Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) has the responsibility to move the teaching profession forward not by standing in the way of reasonable standards but by leading the effort to improve teacher standard and thus student outcome. Some recent stories on positions taken by the NUT against specific actions of state governments suggest a rethinking of the organisation on its role as the champion of the noble profession. In one such story, the Bauchi State chapter of the organisation went on strike for three weeks in protest against the decision of the state government to “send about 5,000 unqualified teachers back to school.” If it was established that these 5,000 were truly unqualified, and they were being sent back to school for proper qualification, why would an organisation that promotes quality teaching protest such a decision? And why would the union stand against continuous evaluation and assessment of the classroom effectiveness of teachers through periodic testing?

    Surely, governments need to work with the NUT and other professional organisations in coming up with policy measures for the improvement of teaching in our schools. But in the final analysis, it is the responsibility of the government, as the custodian of the public trust, to promote quality education through appropriate policies to ensure successful students outcome.

  • Jonathan’s CNN interview

    Jonathan’s CNN interview

    When he was in Davos, Switzerland, last week for the World Economic Summit, President Jonathan gave the ace CNN reporter, Christine Amanpour, a radio interview later shown on the CNN network. Of the issues raised with the President two were very interesting, but the President’s response to them was disturbing. First, Amanpour referred to advice from the US Embassy in Nigeria that US citizens should avoid going to certain parts of Northern Nigeria unless it was absolutely necessary. This advice to US citizens was given by the Embassy because of the disturbing security situation there, on account of the terror activities of Boko Haram, the extremist and violent Islamic sect in some parts of the North. Other Western Embassies including the British, French, and German have also routinely, as a precautionary measure, issued their citizens the same advice.

    Amanpour also asked President Jonathan about alleged reservations by the US Embassy of the strategy of the use of force by the Federal Government in handling terrorism in vast swathes of the North. She asked whether the use of force to put down the insurgency was being complemented by a dialogue with the insurgents. I consider the questions fair and appropriate in the prevailing disturbing security situation in Northern Nigeria. The same questions are being asked here at home.

    The other issue brought up in the interview by Amanpour with President Jonathan was about the huge oil bunkering that has been taking place in Nigeria for years without the government being able to do anything to stop it. According to Amanpour, some 400,000 barrels of crude oil are stolen daily from Nigeria and sold illegally in the foreign oil markets. This particular information is not new. It has been in the public domain for decades. I watched the interview with some dismay as I considered it very damaging to Nigeria’s foreign image. I also felt that the response of President Jonathan to the two questions by Amanpour were largely evasive and less than satisfactory. During the telecast interview he appeared tense, nervous and unsure of himself. He did not respond to the questions with any credibility or even conviction.

    On the question of the advice from the US Embassy regarding the general state of insecurity in Northern Nigeria, and the strategy of the Federal Government in tackling the danger of Boko Haram to national security, President Jonathan said he believed that the source of information of the US Embassy on the situation in Northern Nigeria was local. But he blamed the Embassy for relying on local information from the Nigerian public. Specifically, he blamed the Embassy for allowing Nigerians access to it and purportedly misleading it about the security situation in Northern Nigeria. But the security situation is not a secret and should not be treated as such.

    In this regard, President Jonathan was wholly wrong in vilifying the Nigerian public as the source of information of the US Embassy. Are the Embassies in Nigeria expected to rely on foreign sources for information about the country to which they are accredited? The primary duty of an Embassy is to gather useful information locally about its host country for the information of its own government and country. It is a traditional aspect of diplomatic practice accepted globally and taken seriously by professional diplomats as an essential part of their duties. Some of the information that the US and other Embassies have about Nigeria is from the local media which the Embassy staff monitor on a daily basis for useful information. But the press is not their only source of information on Nigeria. The US and other Embassies in Nigeria also have useful contacts in the National Assembly and in other government circles, including the Presidency itself. They interact often with senior members of the government many of whom talk freely with these foreign diplomats about the situation in Nigeria.

    In fact, the Nigerian secret service and security agencies collaborate fully and exchange information with their counterparts from other foreign countries on matters of national security. The US and other western friendly countries offer Nigeria assistance in tracking down the Boko Haram terrorists. On some occasions, they have taken part directly in military operations against the terrorists. There is nothing unusual about this, as these official contacts and security collaboration are useful to both sides and should be encouraged as a means of promoting cordial relations between the two countries.

    As a retired diplomat, I find nothing wrong with foreign embassies here openly seeking information legitimately about important political and economic developments in Nigeria. It is a basic function of an Embassy. That is why foreign diplomats are here in the first place. Their rights in this regard are fully protected by the Geneva Convention. What the foreign Embassies do here to gather useful information is not different from what Nigerian diplomatic missions are expected to do abroad to keep their government better informed about their host countries. In any case, there is far greater interaction at the official level between the officials of the Federal Government and the diplomatic staff of foreign embassies here, than with the general public. Representatives of the Federal Government have ample opportunities of correcting any wrong impressions or misinformation about Nigeria that the foreign embassies might harbour as a result of their interaction with the Nigerian public and press. In this particular case, in advising American citizens to stay away from the areas of the North affected by the current insurgency there, the US Embassy cannot legitimately be blamed for seeking to protect its citizens in Nigeria. Even Nigerians avoid going to the North now unless it is absolutely necessary for them to go there. It is counterproductive for the Nigerian authorities, particularly the President, to seek to deceive the public and foreigners on the security situation here.

    President Jonathan’s acerbic response on this matter reminds me of the manner the former American Ambassador here, Walter Carrington, was hounded by the authoritarian Abacha military regime for supporting and encouraging resistance to the regime. Very few people will now argue that Ambassador Carrington was wrong in his opposition to military rule in Nigeria and support for democracy in Nigeria. As the representative of a democratic government, he could not have been expected to support an unpopular and vicious military regime. The fault is not with the Embassies but with us, particularly our leaders who are intolerant of any form of criticism, even if such criticisms are legitimate and in the interest of the country.

    The second issue brought up in the interview by Amanpour was about the vast amount of oil being stolen daily from Nigeria through bunkering. Specifically, Amanpour claimed that some 400,000 barrels of crude oil were involved in this illegal export and sale of Nigerian crude oil. It is difficult to believe this figure as it represents about 20 % of total Nigerian oil production of about 2.5 million barrels per day. Considering the fact that oil exports remain the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, the government should be concerned about this vast oil theft and take the necessary measures in eliminating it. President Jonathan’s response on this crucial matter was very disappointing. Instead of outlining measures to tackle the problem, he blamed foreign oil companies for it, arguing that they were, in effect, the receivers of stolen goods. But oil is such an important and scarce resource that it will always find a market abroad. Whether they suspect it to be stolen, or not, there will always be buyers abroad for crude oil, some of which is sold in the open oil market. The fact is that the government is aware of the vast amount of crude oil being stolen from Nigeria. But it has done little to curb it because of vested interests in oil bunkering in the corridors of power in Nigeria. Very few culprits of oil theft have been caught and punished for the crime. When caught, as they are occasionally, they are let off the hook by the powers that be. Recently, this situation prompted the retiring Naval Commander in the area to complain that the Nigerian Navy has not succeeded in curbing oil theft in the area because of the connivance of people in high places and the rampart corruption in the Judiciary.

    These are local problems that require local solutions. President Jonathan should face them squarely. It does not do his government or Nigeria’s foreign image any good to look for scapegoats abroad for our internal problems created by our leaders. Foreign observers know quite a bit about Nigeria. With the vast improvement in global communications and reach there is no longer any hiding place for corrupt or incompetent governments any where in the world. It is a reality that the government should accept instead of blaming foreigners for our self inflicted problems.

  • Fayemi at work

    Fayemi at work

    At the mid-term of his first four-year mandate, which will be due for renewal in 2014, Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi encapsulated his mission in government in two telling phrases: “Reclaiming the trust of the people; delivering the promise to the people.” This self-definition formed the theme of celebrations to mark his second anniversary in office, which included the launch of his new book, Reclaiming the Trust, a collection of his key speeches in the last two years at the helm of government business in Ekiti. Fayemi said, at a well-attended state banquet to end the week-long festivities, “Without being immodest and at the risk of sounding arrogant, our record of achievement in the past two years in Ekiti is better in quality and quantity than the previous seven and a half years that our people have lived through. But we are not deluding ourselves. We know we have not reached the destination. We know the road is still long. But from the prism of our eight-Point Agenda, we have been able to consistently present our scorecard to the people of the state.”

    Any trace of braggadocio in his self-appraisal found redemption as leaders of his party, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), in Ekiti State, endorsed him for re-election during the end-of-year party hosted by a former governor of the state, Niyi Adebayo, at his country home in Iyin Ekiti. According to ACN state Chairman, Chief Jide Awe, “The leaders of our party have spoken and the people on the streets have also spoken in clear terms. They are all saying the governor has performed and should be given a second term. I endorse this position because the Fayemi administration has made a difference in the state.”

    Even Fayemi appeared unprepared for the political colour of the social event, saying, “I am humbled by this expression of confidence and goodwill by our party men and women.” If there were any lingering doubts about the sentiments expressed by Awe the politician, the visit to the governor by the non-partisan Ekiti Council of Elders helped to put the party’s endorsement into perspective. At the governor’s office in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, the senior citizens, led by a First Republic minister, Chief Joel Babatola, said Ekiti was “very fortunate “ to have Fayemi in the saddle, and praised his “passion for development.” The first half of Fayemi’s tenure, they observed, was “characterized by integrity, hard work and performance.”

    Fayemi never gets weary of attributing his acclaimed performance in office to his determination to fulfil what he perceives as a social contract. According to him, “Everywhere we go, we get confronted by the question of how we have been able to record such a great success in Ekiti in just two years. I do explain it in two ways. One is to see everything as the favour of God Almighty. Without him and his support, nothing is possible. Another explanation we cannot run away from is that this administration understands the meaning of social contract.

    Leaders must understand that the position involves giving useful directions to the people, protecting them through policies and programmes, and empowering them meaningfully and usefully.”

    The harvest of completed “milestone projects” across the state’s 16 local government areas at the mid-term bears testimony to his commitment to his political philosophy; it was a grand inauguration of 160 projects , including roads, schools, water and rural electrification. Among his administration’s endearing achievements, which have touched the grassroots, is the building of five-kilometre roads in council areas, free education and free health programmes, and the Social Security Scheme for the Elderly, which is an impressive innovation in these parts.

    It promises to be business as usual at the Government House in Ado- Ekiti in the remaining half of Fayemi’s first term, if his administration’s proposed N93.6 billion budget for 2013 is anything to go by. According to the financial plan, tagged “Budget of Empowerment and Consolidation, “ capital expenditure is put at N47,200,688,770 (50.4 per cent), against recurrent expenditure of N46,416,141,231 (49.6 per cent), which has positive implications for developmental projects. Furthermore, among the top priorities of the administration, as shown by the budget, Infrastructure has the lion’s share of 21.2 per cent, followed by Education with 17.2 per cent, and Health with 10.7 per cent.

    Fayemi plans to spend N9.9 billion on roads, saying that intra-township roads in the state’s three divisional administrative headquarters, including Ikere, Ikole and Ijero, would be built with street lights installed, and all ongoing road projects would be completed by next year. Water projects would get N2.4 billion, while N2.163 billion is budgeted for the rehabilitation of General Hospitals and Comprehensive Health Centres.

    In line with the budget’s focus on empowering rural dwellers, the Fayemi administration is set to grab the headlines with yet another innovation, with his promise to create a new ministry to address poverty reduction and facilitate rural development. The state’s rural communities can look forward to improved living conditions when this promise is fulfilled.

    The governor’s track record of delivering on his electioneering promises provides reasonable grounds for optimism that he will sustain the tempo of development in Ekiti in the second half of his term, which will likely work to his advantage in seeking re-election. And, to his credit, he has been able to quieten the opposition with the sheer force of his electorate-friendly performance. It is remarkable that he has so far managed to escape damaging political mudslinging, and his opponents are hard put to find a chink in his armour.

    In truth, the Fayemi administration has so far been scandal-free, particularly concerning official corruption, which remains the bane of many political office holders in the country. He has ascribed this to his mission to reclaim the people’s trust based on “competence, creativity, reliability and transparency in public funding in all that we do.”

    With about one year to go to the 2014 Ekiti governorship poll, which is a long time in politics, the odds are that, with more endorsements of Fayemi rolling in, as is likely in the countdown to the event, he will be pre-eminently positioned to clinch a deserved re-election.

     

    • Adewale writes from Ado-Ekiti

     

  • Adetiloye : Fare thee well

    Adetiloye : Fare thee well

    The death of Archbishop Abiodun Adetiloye marks the end of an era in the Anglican Communion of Nigeria. Archbishop Abiodun Adetiloye became a Bishop at an early age. He was in his late 30s, when he became a Bishop several decades ago. His meteoric rise in the church caught the envious eyes of many people including his clerical colleagues. He was a cerebral Bishop who applied his reasoning faculty to the work of the church. The church to him was not just the buildings or churches and cathedrals but the people. In this regard, he believed in Christian Evangelism all over the country and particularly to the Islamic North. He challenged the tradition established by the British colonialists that Christian evangelization of the Islamic North was forbidden. Archbishop Adetiloye was able to mobilise men and resources for the establishment of Anglican Missionary Dioceses in the North and in other parts of the South where the Christian religion was not being properly preached. He was an organisational man and he believed in structures. The creation of the office of the Primate as the head of the Anglican Communion in Nigeria was his making. He subsequently became the first Primate of Anglican Communion in Nigeria.

    He began as a liberal cleric when he was young but he later tightened up the doctrine of the church of Nigeria and frowned on sexual and moral laxity among communicants. He was intolerant of the Western practice of homosexuality and lesbianism and he believed in the old time religion and biblical doctrine against same sex unions. When he was Archbishop of Nigeria, he promoted young people into bishoprics and embraced the idea of graduate priests and even priests with higher degrees. At a point in time, he wanted this writer to become a Reverend gentleman. He was not totally against the Pentecostal movement in Nigeria as many Bishops are to today. He frowned on loud music during church worship and was rather committed to the old mode of songs and hymns rather than the loud music characteristic of the Pentecostal movement. I remember sometimes in the late 1980s when the Fountain of Faith of which I was a member in the Anglican Church on Montgomery road, Yaba donated a set of musical instruments and drums to our church in order to stem the tide of migration of young people into the Pentecostal churches. We called on Archbishop Adetiloye to commission the musical instruments. When the professionals we hired struck a loud note, the Archbishop nearly had a fit and instructed that the sound of the music be kept to the barest minimum.

    During his time, he encountered subterranean opposition of those who were uncomfortable with an upcountry man lording it over clerics in Lagos. Archbishop Adetiloye had a great social life and was very comfortable with people and he made friends easily with low and high in the society and was a patriotic Ekiti man who loved the rustic lives of his people and celebrated the immense educational attainment and achievements of his people. He epitomised the great qualities of the Ekiti man especially the commitment to transparency, excellence, honesty and courage. He spoke truth to power when it was necessary especially during the Babangida and Abacha days and he was earmarked for elimination during the Abacha days. He knew this but he still spoke the truth. He trusted the Lord for protection and the Lord protected him. In crisis he embraced the doctrine of liberation theology and like one of his younger colleagues, Bishop Bolanle Gbonigi of Akure he was prepared if needs be to die as a tribune and champion of suffering humanity.

    He retired to Ekiti, his home state after he had served out his term as Primate of the Anglican Communion. He was recognized and celebrated by the state which named the events centre of Ado-Ekiti, Archbishop Adetiloye Hall. If there was any holy man in Nigeria, Archbishop Abiodun Adetiloye was one. Being a Christian does not mean one will not have problems. Saint Paul of Tarsus had a thorn in his flesh. Adetiloye was not above having his own thorn but God was gracious to him and he was not overwhelmed by any problem. Our Lord Bishop will be highly missed by many especially those who are used to his advice, ministration and prayers. Our Lord Bishop has gone to join the saints triumphant and I have no doubt that our Lord Jesus Christ will reward him.

    I will never forget his homily during the burial of Professor D.F. Ojo, the famous Physicist from Igbole in Ido-osi Local Government. The atmosphere was sad and sombre even though Prof Ojo was not a young man. When the Archbishop saw the long drawn faces, he lightened up the atmosphere by telling us how he had advised the dead man to stop smoking to no avail. He said Prof Ojo told him man must die or be killed by something. The Archbishop then turned his gaze to the casket and said “Ojo; cigarette has killed you oh”. He said this in the Ekiti tongue and the whole church erupted into laughter. The Bishop was such a great preacher who knew what to say at the appropriate time. He touched the lives of many and whomsoever he touched changed for the better. It is apportioned for man to live for a certain period of time and afterwards the holy book said there will be judgement. Vox Populi Vox Dei says the Romans and because man has born witness to Adetiloye’s good deeds, God will receive the Lord Bishop into his glory.

     

     

  • What Nigerians expect of Buhari and Tinubu

    What Nigerians expect of Buhari and Tinubu

    Nuhu Ribadu, the former EFCC boss expressed his anguish during a two-day summit of Northern Development Focus Initiative (NDFI) in Kano last week. He was troubled by the fact that the 19 northern state governors and the 414 local governments have nothing to show for the N8.3 trillion that accrued to them between 1999 and 2010.

    On the contrary, Ahmadu Bello and his team, with an annual budget of N44m which is less than what a local government collects today maintained law and order and ensured effective security of life and property, built Ahmadu Bello University, Ahmadu Bello Stadium and NNDC conglomerate in addition to well paved roads, etc.

    But what Ribadu like many of us seem to have forgotten was that Ahmadu Bello, like Awo his counterpart in the West, made those giant strides using their political parties, the Northern Peoples Congres (NPC) and Action Group (AG) not just as tools for the mobilization of the masses of their people for electoral purposes but also as participants in the policy thrust of their administrations. The political parties of the first republic, apart from serving as channels for recruitment of political leadership, were modernization agents.

    They had taken a cue from Herbert Macaulay’s Nigeria National Democratic Party (NNDP) which he introduced in 1923 as a response to Hugh Clifford 1922 constitution with defined objectives of seeking a “municipal status for Lagos, local self government, compulsory primary education, non discriminatory private economic enterprise and Africanisation of the civil service.”

    In the same manner, the foundation of NPC was laid by educated and dedicated northern youths, first, through the Bauchi General Improvement Union and Youths Special Circle of Sokoto in the mid- forties. Both metamorphosed into Jam’yyar Mutanem Arewa, Northern Nigerian Congress (NNC) in June 1949 through the efforts of Dr. A. R Dikko and D. A .Rafih. The main objective of NPC as stated by Dr. Dikko, its first president was ‘fighting ignorance, idleness and injustice’ in the northern region’.

    The AG, nurtured by Obafemi Awolowo, Samuel Ladoke Akintola, Bode Thomas, Anthony Enahoro, Adekunle Ajasin and other young educated elites of the region was inaugurated in August 1950. Besides its unstated purpose of reducing the influence of Zik in the West, it had a well articulated manifesto which promised free education, free health, and full employment among many others.

    Political parties of the first republic were created as agents of modernization by dedicated youths who had their eyes on history as against what obtained today where we have gangs with garrison commanders engaged in squabbles over the sharing of our common wealth among its members.

    The travails of our party system as modernising agents started with the onslaught of the military. Ill-informed and ill-trained Ironsi and Gowon banned the parties because they could not just understand that they were in fact index of political development.

    Babangida tried to create political parties in the image of the military. But because they were government creations in name but orphans in reality, Tony Anenih of SDP found it easy to trade off his party’s victory while Tom Ikimi of NRC settled for the position of a foreign affairs minister. Both opted for short term advantage.

    Abacha came up with, the UNCP, CNC, NCPN, DPN and GDM which late Bola Ige described as five fingers of a leprous hand. Ige was proved right as all the five so called political parties adopted Abacha as their presidential candidate even before he publicly declared his interest.

    The PDP emerged from the G-34 during General Abubakar’s 11-month transition program. But it was soon hijacked by retired soldiers and their contractors. Using vicious military tactics, PDP was able to easily infiltrate AD and ANPP leaving each to behave like a woman with three husbands.

    What Buhari, Tinubu and their colleagues are being called upon to do is not just an inauguration of party to win an election. That job has been made easy by PDP’s self-inflicted damage. All the new party needs to do is to celebrate the credentials of all those who are today fighting over the soul of PDP starting with Obasanjo, followed by other vicious leaders like Tony Anenih, Ahmadu Alli, Bamanga Tukur, Bode George.

    Nigerians have already known through judicial pronouncements the invidious role of Anenih ‘the Fixer’ in the states and federal elections between 1999 and 2007. The House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts only last week declared that Anenih, the newly appointed chairman of Ports Authority, must appear before it to answer some questions regarding his role in the alleged N20 billion road contract scam.

    Before then there was the suppressed Heineken Lokpobiri Senate transport probe report which alleged that from 1999 to 2009, some N645 billion was spent on 4,752 kilometres of road; shortchanging the government to the tune of N49 million on each kilometre of road purportedly constructed.

    Ahmadu Alli has often been trailed by crisis. As chairman of PDP, he was alleged to have nominated his son and wife for board positions. As chairman of PPRA, he and the current minister of petroleum presided over the theft of about N2 trillion by some of the over 140 independent oil marketers they appointed.

    Goodluck Ebere Jonathan is a harmless man PDP leading light imposed as president, sacrificing in the process their party’s constitution. He is as a result said to have sold Nigeria to PDP whose other name has become ‘corruption’. Former World Bank Vice President for Africa Oby Ezekwesili, who was Education Minister in the Obasanjo administration, has just alleged that the PDP administration of Jonathan squandered $67billion reserves left by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration. Government spokesman said it was only $43.13billion that was left. Amidst the war of figures, the one thing government has found difficult to do, is account for either of the figures.

    Nigerians can therefore take the right decision if as Chief Bisi Akande recently put it, ‘the Independent National Electoral Commission will provide a level playing ground whereby due process will be adhered to.. and if the security agencies will be fair and impartial and will reject advances that could taint elections’.

    What Nigerians want from Buhari and Tinubu is inauguration of a modernising party in line with what obtained in the first republic and elsewhere in the developed democracies. The challenge before the two and their colleagues is to replace the current political parties moulded in the military image, with garrison commanders as party leaders who supervised the squandering of N8.3trillion in 10 years by the 19 northern state governors and something closer to that by their southern counterparts.

    Achieving this noble objective calls for a sober reflection on the parts of the main actors. Apart from Buhari’s rigidity and offensive image of ‘blood, dogs, monkeys,’ he seems to have started well by cancelling an elaborate 70th birthday bash Nigerians know he could ill-afford on his own, but organized by those who would have used public funds.

    What these times call for are men with eyes on history; men who would emulate the federalists Hamilton and Adams, the Republicans Jefferson and Madison of USA of the 1790s, the British enlightened elite that established parties as modernizing agents after the Britain reforms of 1832, their French counterparts who did the same after French revolution of 1789 and the Japanese leaders after the Meiji Restoration of 1867.

    Buhari and Tinubu have the goodwill of Nigerians. They are both blessed with educated, dedicated youths and professionals who look up to them to provide leadership so that they can jointly write their names in gold as they map out a better future for our children. This task is not unattainable.

  • Anti-graft law’s many loopholes

    Anti-graft law’s many loopholes

    What do you make of the verdict? Which verdict, did I hear you say? That verdict, yes that same verdict! Oh! are you talking about the verdict handed down to that pension thief, now I get your drift? As Baba would say I dey laugh o! What’s the cause of your laughter? The judgment or is it not funny? How can a man be convicted of stealing N32.8 billion pension funds and sentenced to a total of six years imprisonment? If that is not funny, then tell me what is? The judgment does not make any sense at all and the people are justified to be angry.

    There is no sane person who will not be annoyed by the verdict because it seems to give legal seal to the crime that was committed rather than adequately punish the offender to deter others. What is the deterrence factor in the verdict? There is none whatsoever, rather it celebrates criminality.. What the judgment is saying in effect is that crime pays. The wages of sin, the Bible tells us, is death. But this verdict has rewritten the scripture to tell us that the wages of crime is a lifetime of bliss. Yes, the offender after getting away with this light penalty will have all the time in the world to enjoy his loot with his family at the expense of those whose money he stole.

    This is not the first time a thing like this is happening. The most recent of this kind of sickening verdicts before that of Monday in which John Yakubu Yusufu got six years imprisonment with a N750,000 fine option for stealing N32.8 billion pension funds, were those of former Edo State Governor Lucky Igbinedion, former Bayelsa State Governor Diepreye Alamieyeseigha, one-time Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tafa Balogun and erstwhile Oceanic Bank chief Cecilia Ibru. They all got away with light sentences for offences which many lowly placed Nigerians are today rotting away in jail. Their sentences did not in any way match the gravity of the offences for which they were tried.

    Yes, some people will blame the law for the punishment meted out to these convicts. They will do so because it is the most convenient thing to do in the circumstance. They will take such position because it is to their favour and that of the convicts. We are not saying that judges should not apply the law, but they should try as much as possible to apply it to reflect the seriousness of the case at hand. Did I hear you ask what can a judge do when the law has laid down the penalty for an offence? He can do plenty by noting the gravity of the offence vis-a vis the soft penalty. Nothing stops the judge from showing his annoyance with such law by recommending it for the trash can.

    But where the judge keeps quiet in the face of such anomaly, he lends himself to the rot in the system and becomes open to attacks. We live in the same society and so judges, no matter how conservative they are, cannot pretend not to know what is going on. To pretend that they are far removed from the goings on around them is to carry their pretences too far. A judge’s job is pensionable, if I am not wrong. So, assuming someone stole judges’ pension running into N50 billion and he is brought before a judge like Justice Abubakar Talba, who convicted Yusufu, will he treat the matter the same way?

    Agreed that judges swore to do justice to all manner of man ‘’without fear or favour; affection or ill will’’, but in such a case involving all what the judge had worked for all his life, he may be forced to take a position outside the purview of the law and he will be justified in the eyes of the people if he did so. We are not saying that judges should break the law in order to satisfy the public in the discharge of their duties. No, far from it, but they should not feel unconcerned about people’s feeling which is that ex-convicts like Yusufu, Igbinedion, Balogun, Ibru and their ilk should have been given harsher sentences. To plea bargain for a lighter sentence after stealing the people blind is not the kind of legal deal our judges should be part of.

    A plea bargain, which is not in the public interest, should

    not be endorsed by our judges. In this instant case, what price did Yusufu, a former deputy director in the Police Pension Office, pay for the offence of stealing N32 .8 billion pension funds? He has not paid any price, so the tendency is for those occupying high public office to feel that they can do the same thing and get away with it as long as the penalty is to pay a token as fine in lieu of going to jail for two years. Ironically, some people, who did not steal up to N500, 000 are being kept in jail for years without trial. Where they have been tried, they are sentenced to jail with hard labour. Yet, the big thieves are walking the streets as free men and women using their loot to oppress us after getting light sentences.

    Judges interpret the law, we all know. In their interpretation of the law, they should leave a message, which will resonate across the country. In doing so, they are telling the world that yes we are applying the law but nothing stops us from contributing to the making or remaking of the law for our collective good. In days gone by, Justice Chukwudifu Oputa, Justice Andrews Otutu-Obaseki and the late Justice Kayode Eso, among others, were doing things like this. They applied the law as it were and contributed to its reform through their considered rulings. Judges of these days can borrow a leaf from them.

    An Oputa or Otutu-Obaseki or Eso would not have given the kind of verdicts we have seen in the cases of Yusufu, Igbinedion, Ibru and Balogun. No, not all. They would not have allowed the convicts to go just like that without telling them some home truths. Yes, these men, in their individual capacity, would have reasoned, ‘’well, I don’t have the power to penalise you beyond what the law says, be that as it may, let it be on record that you have committed a grave offence – the stealing of money kept in your care – for which you deserve to rot in jail to deter others. What kind of public officer are you that you steal public funds with reckless abandon. What are you going to do with all the money? To build houses in heaven? Let it be on record that this law is too lenient for the kind of offence you have committed. If I have my way, you will rot in jail. But luckily for you the law says otherwise. There is need to review a law like this which allows thieves to go away virtually free’’.

    It is painful that we don’t have men like this anymore on the Bench. As our country sinks deeper into morass, we crave the return of such legal minds to restore sanity in the bodypolity. It is, however, not a task for judges alone. We should all be involved but the greater part of the job must be done by the National Assembly. Will the lawmakers continue to watch as criminals run rings round us because of the inadequate laws under which they are tried? Our anti-corruption laws need to be reviewed to deal appropriately with public officers who dip their hands inside the till at will.

     

  • Ten years of Trust’s dialogues (I)

    Ten years of Trust’s dialogues (I)

    On January 15, 2004, Media Trust Limited, publishers of Daily Trust, Weekend Trust, Sunday Trust, Aminiya in Hausa, Kano Chronicle and the annual Kilimanjaro pan-African journal, held its first Trust Annual Dialogue in promotion of dialogue as a means of solving Nigeria’s problems. Ten years on last month, the annual event, a “town hall” meeting of sorts, has become possibly the most important regular platform for discourse in the country about its sociology, politics and economy. The dialogue has certainly made January an important date in the nation’s political and media calendar.

    The topic for the first dialogue was “The Nigerian Question: The Way Forward.” The chair was then Archbishop, now Cardinal, John Onaiyekan. The special guest of honour was President Olusegun Obasanjo, represented by his minister of Information, the youthful, dignified and somewhat reticent Chukwuemeka Chikelu. The panel of six, entirely from, or least of, the academia at one time or the other, paraded some of the country’s best egg-heads; Professors Bolaji Akinyemi, Jonah Elaigwu and Miriam Ikejiani-Clark, Drs Mahmud Tukur and Usman Bugaje and Messrs Kanu Agabi and Pharaoh Okadigbo.

    All six agreed that the answer to the Nigerian question was, to use Dr Tukur’s words, a “proper federation” with a “de-concentrated” centre. They were also unanimous about the need for the country to remain one. However, predictably for a panel of egg-heads, they disagreed on how to achieve these objectives. For example, whereas both Akinyemi and Elaigwu advocated for a national conference, Agabi disagreed.

    As special guest of honour Obasanjo, speaking through Chikelu, had asked, “When shall we move from the Nigerian question to the Nigerian answer?” The disagreement among the panellists about the means suggested that the time for Nigeria to become the answer remained in the distant future, if indeed it was not a mirage. Ten years hence it still seems that Nigeria has remained a question. This much is obvious from the fact that this year’s dialogue held last week – on January 23 – returned to the same theme of nation building as was the first.

    Between the first dialogue and last week’s there were the second on reforming Nigeria’s economy, the third on corruption, the fourth on free and fair elections, the fifth on democracy in Africa, the sixth on how to restore faith in the country’s democracy, the seventh on African women in politics, the eighth on the challenges of good governance on the continent, and last year’s on politics and the media.

    This year’s, as we all probably know, was chaired by the former president of Botswana, Mr Festus Mogae, who distinguished himself in office as honest, humble, transparent and accountable to his people. Trust could hardly have picked a better chair for a dialogue on how to build a nation. Similarly, it could hardly have constituted a livelier, more rigorous and more eloquent panel; Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah, Femi Falana, SAN, Dr. Sule Bello of Ahmadu Bello University’s History department and Ms. Ann-Kio Briggs, well-known as a champion of the rights of the people of her oil-rich but much abused Delta region.

    Having attended virtually all the dialogues, the four liveliest, for me, were the third on corruption, the seventh on African women in politics, the ninth on politics and the media, and this year’s, if only for its context of the serious security threat posed to the unity and stability of the country not only by the Boko Haram insurgency but even more so by the brazen and unprecedented venality of government officials and their racketeering confederates in the private sector.

    To begin with the third dialogue on corruption, Trust could hardly have found a better chairman and panellists for the topic. Retired Major-General Garba Aliyu Mohammed, the chair, I knew very well from our days in primary school in Kano in the late fifties and early sixties. The man served the country as military governor of Niger State and minister of works and left as clean as a whistle.

    As for the panellists, didn’t it used to be said that the fear of Nuhu Ribadu’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission was the beginning of wisdom? Controversy may surround the legitimacy of the commission and its selective use by President Obasanjo may have detracted from its integrity but few doubted the sincerity of Ribadu. Since his contrived departure by Obasanjo’s successor, the late Umaru Yar’Adua, there is a general consensus that the EFCC has become a toothless bulldog.

    The other two panellists, Major-General Ishola Williams, retired, and Professor Attahiru Jega had built their reputations as incorruptible Nigerians in the pursuit of their careers as an officer and gentleman and a brilliant and profound academic respectively.

    For the general the story is told of how on the occasion of an army conference in the eighties one senior officer chided any officer who did not own a house by the time he was a Lt-Colonel as being irresponsible. This was apparently too much for General Williams who was present at the conference and at the time owned no house. He responded to his fellow general by saying that any officer who owned a house by the time he was a one-star general was a thief because it was hard to see how even on that rank one could own a house on one’s legitimate income. Not surprisingly the general went on to become the pioneer chairman of Transparent International (Nigeria).

    As for Jega, the chairman of INEC, he came to the job highly recommended for his dogged fight with the federal authorities as probably the most celebrated president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities who refused all and every blandishment to give in.

    Most Nigerians would agree with Jega’s assertion in his paper that “Corruption has become the second name of our country. It is all pervasive, it is brazen and it is simply unbelievable.” Among the few that would disagree is our president, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan. This much was clear from the way he rejected the cry by the officiating priest at the burial of General Owoye Azazi, a former National Security Adviser, who died along with Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna State in a helicopter crash in Bayelsa State, that corruption had since become the problem with Nigeria.

    “Corruption,” the President said in reply, “is not the cause of our problem. Nigeria has more institutions (now) that fight corruption…If Nigerians would change their attitudes you will realise that most of these issues attributed to corruption are not caused by corruption.” For evidence, he made the rather strange analogy with what he said some senior staff of our road safety corps told him, namely, that most accidents in the country occurred on our good roads. Apparently the logic was lost on our President that just as his belief that good roads have not been enough to stop accidents, and indeed have led to even more accidents, the existence of more institutions to fight corruption is not enough to deter corruption.

    In any case his argument that attitude and not corruption is our problem begs the obvious question: attitude to what? True, corruption, even on the incredible scale of Nigeria’s, is not in itself alone the problem. There is probably as much corruption in, say India, China, Mexico and Italy, and even in America, as there is in our dear country. The difference is the attitude of each country towards the scourge. Whereas the corrupt in these other countries are punished, often very severely, in our country they are celebrated. It is this attitude of impunity by the corrupt that has kept this country in the terrible mess in which it has been, socially, politically and economically – and in whatever..ly you can think of.

    All three panellists at the Trust third dialogue made this fundamental point. They also agreed that the solution was a change of attitude to corruption, especially by our leaders. So in a sense our President was right in saying attitude is the problem of the country, only that he failed to ask the logical question about what the subject of this terrible attitude is for the simple reason that attitude is a noun that needs an adjective to make any sense.

     

     

     

     

  • Channels TV’s aborted forum

    Channels TV’s aborted forum

    Suddenly, there was the hype, then the hue and cries, and finally, a dead silence. Perhaps, the above summarises the entire story of the ‘scoop’recently brought to public attention by Channels Television, a private television station that prides itself as a force to be reckoned with in the annals of broadcasting in Nigeria. The station has much trail-blazing reporting to its credit, which has won it vast audience attention and several merit awards in the past.

    It is probably these ground-breaking successes that fired the management of the station to engage in a very recent conspicuous investigative reporting. Dubbed corporate social responsibility by no other person than John Momoh, the Chief Executive Officer of the station, the report was centred on the rot that is the Police College in Ikeja, Lagos. The report came in snippets, or what media managers will easily refer to as promos, the forerunner to the main report.

    These snippets took the form of showing the toilets, dormitory and the general hygiene of the college. From what I was able to piece together, the President’s busy schedule did not permit him a chance to stumble on any of the snippets. Somehow, his attention was drawn to it. Thereafter, he requested for the clips. When he saw them, he was said to have been enraged and livid with anger. Barely a few days after, the President had a scheduled appointment in Ivory Coast, where he was to meet his other ECOWAS brothers on the ‘war’ in Mali.

    As the plane taxied on the tarmac in Abuja before it finally took off, none of the members of the President’s entourage had the slightest inkling that the President will be heading for Lagos en route Abidjan. Even when the plane touched down in Lagos, nobody, except, perhaps, the ADC, knew the President’s final destination. By the time the President’s motorcade got to the gate of the Police College, it was discovered that an “Owambe” party was in full swing on the grounds of the 73-year-old institution. That, in essence, means that an institution for state security such as the Police College had metamorphosed into an event centre.

    That was not the first time such event was being held in the college. While it may be difficult to trace the genesis of such events, it may also be difficult to ascertain how much must have been accrued to the College or some private pockets in the past through the staging of such events in such a sensitive place. In these days of bomb blasts everywhere, I wonder why no one has thought it very risky to throw the gates open for all Dicks and Harry in the name of making money. I am sure only a pittance is usually remitted to the college purse while the bulk of it goes into the pockets of greedy officers.

    Anyway, the President was no doubt startled by what he saw. The photograph of the visit, which adorned the front pages of some of the national dailies the following day, said it all. It showed the President and some of his aides transfixed with eyes wide open, and mouth agape as he looked at the double-decker bed inside one of the dormitories without any foam on it. Even the iron bed itself had visible signs of old age or was completely disused with its rustic iron going brown all over. The President might not have visited the lavatories for fear of epidemic breakouts. It was in this sorry state that the President fired certain questions at the Commandant, who turned out to be as blank as the President’s face as he (the Commandant) could not find any suitable answer to the questions.

    Surprisingly, Momoh, Channels’ CEO, was conspicuously present during the visit. He must have been jolted to the bone marrow when the President furiously concluded that the documentary was calculated to embarrass the government. Although I did not subscribe to this line of thought, Momoh got the message.

    Last Tuesday, the appointed day for the Town’s Meeting, which had been scheduled to commence at 7p.m at the Muson Centre, Channels’ simply made a volte-face. It said that the event had been postponed. A statement issued by the station said the postponement arose from the need to get all stakeholders involved in the project. That is purely a PR gimmick. That project may never see the light of the day anymore. It is as dead as dodo!

    Now, both the Police hierarchy and the Police Ministry are surreptitiously engaged in buck-passing over the Ikeja Police College issue. Perhaps, not many people are aware that the budget of the Police Ministry is less than N500million per annum which is mostly spent on overheads. The jumbo budgets of the police are spent by the Police hierarchy. The ministry only rubber-stamps whatever contract papers forwarded to it by the Police. It is very sad that this pervasive rot at the Police College has been allowed to fester for so long without anybody, not even any Police officer, serving or retired, drawing attention to this eyesore.

    There is no gainsaying that there is a culture of conspiracy in the police. This culture permeates down the ranks and file who prefer to keep quiet even when their cherished profession is being threatened or dragged in the mud by unscrupulous elements among them. The stinking rot in the police is like a sore thumb. Anywhere you go within any of the service formations, you are confronted with gargantuan corruption. Even if you make attempt to complain or denounce this, you are most likely going to be rebuffed, that is, if you are not immediately victimized. It could as well take the form of being framed for any imaginable or unimaginable offence, which may not be backed by any relevant law in the statute book.

    Those who are conversant with police operations, viz-a-viz purchase of equipment or contract awards are aware of the shady deals that have pervaded and characterised this department for ages. In the first instance, if you take a nominal roll call of the dramatis personae or those who have held sway for several years in this department, quite a good number of them are very old hands who have manned this department since God knows when. They are the foot soldiers used by successive top brass of the police to defraud the system.

    When you go to the Police Central Stores, you will be assailed by the heaps of junks that litter the whole space in the name of equipment and or armaments. Many of them were simply dumped there and are still dumped there by the powerful cartel that is in charge. Quite a good number of them too have outlived their importance and needs, while marking time inside the junkyard that is called Police stores. The fact is that contracts for most of the supplies were awarded to girlfriends and cronies, just to siphon money.

    In most cases, the quantities of items are never supplied correctly, thereby giving room for greedy officers and criminal-minded contractors to shortchange the system. And when it comes to the list of contractors, it is another scandal on its own. The contractors cut through every strata of the society – society ladies and women, retired police and military officers, former and serving legislators- all manner of contractors whose major qualification to corner the contracts is their clout or knowing the language of the business – bribery and corruption. They get these contracts but sublet them to capable hands to execute.

    To me, it is the Police top shots who have been befuddled by corruption for many years that do not care about the type of environment the newly recruited officers are trained. What matters to them is the money going into their private pockets than any thought of welfare for their young, upcoming ones. A thorough probe of contract awards and the Police Central Stores, carried out diligently, will confirm this.

  • FAAN’s Aircraft Wealth to Waste; Mali; The Highway War: FERMA vs State vs citizens

    FAAN’s Aircraft Wealth to Waste; Mali; The Highway War: FERMA vs State vs citizens

    As Nigeria’s President boasts 4,700Mw as an ‘achievement’, the world frowns at the poverty of purposeful Nigerian governance over 40 years. But the leaders Obasanjo1, Buhari, Babangida, Abdulsalami, Obasanjo2 do not apologise. Some show avarice, seeking profit from failure, getting new electricity contracts. African leaders seeking legacies should ‘Go Solar’ before someone sells our sunshine to America.

    The Minister of Aviation should intervene in FAAN’s instruction for old planes to be removed or they will be sold as scrap for plates and spoons –‘A New FAAN Scientific Aircraft-Wealth-to-Kitchen-Waste Programme.’ Bad! We all saw the Space Shuttle Atlantis piggybacked across America. Can Nigeria send the planes for display/dissection to universities/polytechnics by an Aviation Ministry/FAAN phone call to Vice Chancellors/Provosts/Ministries of Education or Science? What country misses this chance to teach live aircraft technology to youth? Nigeria of course! At least one plane left in each airport can kick-start new Airport Museums/Exhibition Centres.

    International reporters on the Mali war, should not reveal military detail on Breaking News. This puts soldiers at risk.

    The on-going Highway War in Nigeria between states and citizens opens the roads and improves IGR, Internally Generated Revenue. When is IGR ‘IGRobbery’? There are new combatants, 3000 FERMA federal recruits, under ‘employment drive’ as highway soldiers. The FERMA will copy, counter and cancel the financial and political successes of state highway soldiers at Ogere, Lagos expressway end etc, forcing them to withdraw to state roads. Will FERMA’s tactics also be ‘pouncing’, extortion, bribery, threats of violence and entrapment without warning or signboards?

    Why are highway soldiers never ‘friendly’ or ‘helpful’ even for an ‘Act of God’ flat tyre, engine failure or not-your-fault accident? A person with those is ‘Not A Traffic Offender’! Distinguish between a traveller-in-need-of-help and a wilful-traffic-offender and offer service not censure.

    Why do we only adopt half of anything from abroad leaving maximum room for ABC – Abuse, Bribery, Corruption? Where are the – ‘Traffic Offence Tickets’ and ‘2-4 Weeks To Pay The Fine’, a helping hand or a ‘Preventive Measure Is Better Than Cure’, Cautionary Announcement, or 1st and 2nd Warning? In Nigeria you ‘Arrest’ for a simple ‘apologisable’ mistake. The training is AAA, Arrest-Arrest-Arrest or ‘Arass- Arass-Arass’ as in ‘Harass’ and not ‘Help’. Without the civility of warning signs, directions, ‘advice to move’ they, by powers-invested-in-them, unseen edicts, bye-laws and ‘arrogance-of-uniform’, they intimidate, extort, seize vehicles and demand immediately payable fines of N25,000 which only politicians think is small and carry around. The Nigerian road fines are outrageous, disproportionate to income. N25,000 for cars is 1.5 months or 45 days minimum wage. The same N25,000 or £100 fine is imposed in London where it is just 2-4 days minimum wage. The equivalent fine based on London’s wages would be £500-700.

    Reduce the fines to N2,500 or increase the minimum wage to N120,000-240,000/month. Having been saved by IGP Abubakar from N12-24billion annual extortion at police checkpoints, is the Nigerian traveller to suffer from unsupervised FERMA? Gear-up for a new FERMA para-military onslaught. Instead of developing our roads with strong teams of road signs providers, instant year-round pothole fillers and road lane wideners during the ‘dry seasons’ of the last 30 years, FERMA just copies state highway soldiers. Federal Ministry of Works, please concentrate on rainy season pothole filling, increasing and improving Nigeria’s road surfaces and networks. Do not ‘police’ rubbish roads!

    Highway soldiers lay traps and want roads without cars. BEWARE WHERE YOU STOP AND SHOP. Avoid stopping when hailed by a vendor who may be colluding in an ensnarement scam. Tyres, batteries and luggage may be ‘flattened’ or disappear during arrest. In Nigeria the best plans are distorted, disrupted and destroyed by the implementers who see‘power’ and ‘bribes’, not ‘service’. This is exactly like Nigeria’s politics –a failure. Let someone start a road blog/website FERMAWatch to post our experiences with these Highway soldiers.

    To curb youthful arrogance and dishonesty, highway soldiers need supervision by honest, fair and sympathetic supervisors. The honest supervisors are oppressed by under-budgeting. Many demand and or receive corruption-driven presents, cash-filled envelopes as routine ‘Please give us a pass mark’. This has been taken to mega-levels by NASS whose supervisors of national budgetary activities regularly disgrace themselves by demanding or happily receiving ‘gifts’ during ‘oversight functions’. Can the reported outcomes, the televised insults or praise during subsequent public sittings and NASS sessions be traced to gifts-a bribe? Such bribes are worthy of resignation, prosecution of the politicians. All Hail Oteh, the only CEO bold enough to ‘whistleblow’ this extortion.

    In addition to ambulances, waste trucks, tractors, buses, bridges and flyovers, busy Oyo State Governor Ajimobi has empowered Local Inspectors of Education, LIEs with inspection vehicles. Great! The country should provide something to inspect/supervise. Fill Nigeria’s schools with books, science and sports equipment. Text and library books, not exercise books!

    The Oyo State Retreat at the University of Ibadan afforded welcome long-abandoned Town/Gown interaction. UI/ NISER have been ignored except for taxation. During the retreat, the Ministry of Environment’s YESO army interacted by advancing on the citizenry in an unnecessarily belligerent manner, for Internally Generated Revenue. Pity! Three of my clinic nurses paid a total of N75,000 for ‘illegal parking’ on the Yemetu road, Ibadan. No warning. No signboard. Just pounce, arrest, seize car overnight, fine. It should not be necessary to extort money by IGRobbery, to buy development. Law-abiding citizens need instructions not accusations of anti-government agendas. Citizens also went to UI.

  • Creating the environment for sustainable industrial growth

    Creating the environment for sustainable industrial growth

    The fact is undeniable that national transformation and industrial growth are inextricably intertwined. Investigations and explorations by scholars have shown very clearly that higher productivity is a sure means of boosting sustainable economic growth and raising standards of living in any country. Formulating and implementing effective productivity schemes have undoubtedly assisted many economies to pull out of global recession and set them on the course of sustainable growth.

    According to the statistics recently published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), the industrial sector of the economy which is made up of crude petroleum and natural gas, solid minerals and manufacturing, contributed an average of 40% to the national Gross Domestic Product between 2007 and 2011.

    Manufacturing which should ordinarily form the bedrock of industrialization contributed less than five percent to the pool while crude oil and gas contributed 95%.

    The above is a glaring indication that the industrial sector of Nigeria is still in a state of gross underdevelopment despite various reforms being implemented by the Federal Government. Although infrastructural problems must be acknowledged as a big challenge to industrial growth, I believe there are more critical issues stifling the sustainable growth and development in the industrial sector.

    However, the situation in the industrial sector is not altogether gloomy. Specifically, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN) reported that most of the variables that measure the performance of the real sector have been on the upward swing, albeit marginally. Capacity utilization of the sector is now about 49% compared to the 47.5% average in 2011, indicating that more companies in the country are putting more resources to use in their factories than they did in previous years. The value of industrial production has also increased, although marginally from N130billion to almost N350billion at the end of 2012.

    As indicated earlier, the problems posed by the current infrastructural decay is obvious but unavailability of reliable data for critical decision making is a major challenge to industrial growth in Nigeria. As a matter of fact, reliable data for critical business decisions are in most cases non-existent. In cases, where there they exist, the integrity of such data requires serious authentication before it can be used as a basis for decision-making.

    Corruption is another impediment to sustainable industrial growth in Nigeria. Although this has become a global scourge, Nigeria’s experience is particularly worrisome because of its widespread nature in the system. Despite the huge sum of money from crude oil earned over the years, most indices still show that Nigeria has barely begun its journey towards sustainable industrial growth. It is a sad commentary that Nigeria was described as a rich nation floating on oil wealth “but almost none of it flows to the people” (San Francisco Chronicle, March 11, 2007). The mentality that public money belongs to no one runs through the entire cadre of public service. That is why corruption has become a monster that all previous and current governments are finding difficult to tame.

    Closely linked to corruption are bureaucracies in business regulatory services such as property registration, business licensing, tax administration and commercial dispute resolution and advocacy by private sector and civil society weakened by lack of organization, poor resource mobilization and paucity of research evidence among others. These have hampered business climate in no small way.

    Corruption and bureaucracies affect the cost of doing business thereby making industries incapable of competing globally. In “Doing Business in Nigeria” report published for 2013, exporting a standard container of goods in Nigeria requires 10 documents, takes 24 days and costs $1,380. Importing the same container requires 10 documents, takes 39 days and costs $1,540. Globally, Nigeria ranks 154 out of ranking of 185 economies on the ease of trading across borders while Ghana and South Africa rank 99 and 115 respectively.

    Excessive document requirements, burdensome custom procedures, inefficient port operations and inadequate infrastructure all lead to extra cost of delays and corruption, thereby stifling the potential for industrial growth. Beside this, the overall quality, integrity and efficiency of services delivered by public institutions are rated extremely low, also due to corruption and bureaucracies.

    Policy somersault, involving periodic reversal of policies generally deemed to be in support of promoting the growth of local industries is also identified as a major inhibition to industrial growth and economic development in the country. Policies inconsistency in respect of unregulated importation of goods that are being produced locally has affected the local industries negatively. A recent example is the cement companies who are currently experiencing low capacity utilization occasioned by weak demand.

    Another challenging obstacle facing the industrial sector especially manufacturing industry today is the lack of skilled manpower. The problems facing Nigeria is that its educational institutions are not designed for the modern economy. They lack the tools to produce good quality graduates to manage the affairs of the nation. Majority of them (the graduates/workers) lack the skills that drive human productivity.

    No nation would make any meaningful socio-economic and political stride without viable educational institutions. Some schools’ curriculum is as old as the institutions. They are rarely updated to accommodate the requirements of modern economy. Invariably, the institutions produce half-baked graduates who are misfits into the new industrial environment.

    Building a vibrant economy or restoring growth to a sluggish economy requires a solid legal and institutional framework. To ensure long-term growth and prosperity, Nigeria must use its resources wisely, invest in advanced technology and rebuild the legal systems and institutions without which the economy will not gain from the ‘power of productivity’. Investors would definitely be wary of bringing funds into an economy with weak legal and institutional framework for enforcing contractual obligations and resolving conflicts as evidenced by the unceremonious exit of governments from Public Private Partnership arrangements entered into with some institutional investors.

    Doing Business in Nigeria for 2013 confirms that globally, Nigeria stands at 155 out of 185 economies on the administrative burden of complying with multiple taxation for businesses. The report further states that, “on the average, firms make 41 taxes and pay total taxes amounting to 33.8% of profit”. MAN has always lamented on the negative effects of multiple taxation on sustainable industrial growth. The exact number of taxes and levies collected from entrepreneurs in Nigeria are not clearly defined as a result of the non-specificity of the number of taxes chargeable and the continuous introduction of new ones.

    Easy access to credit is also a major problem for industrial growth in Nigeria. While the cost of fund in the economy is significantly high compared to other vibrant economies in the world, access to credit is even a more serious problem, in view of the tight monetary policy stance of the CBN, which affects the credit conditions. For instance, the collateral cover requirement by banks to access credit is beyond many SME investors, which impedes access to credit, slows down the tempo of economic activities and undermines intermediation role of banks in the financial system.

    High level of insecurity is also an impediment to industrial growth in Nigeria. Major challenges faced by the industrial cum manufacturing sector include insecurity in most parts of the North and few spots in the South, which impeded sales and distribution of goods and services. It was reported last year that telecommunication companies lost an estimated sum of N1.0 billion as result of the destruction of masts by Boko Haram insurgents in some Northern part of Nigeria.

    Research findings clearly suggest that structural transition from low to high productivity is a necessary pre-requisite for economic development and that industrial sector remains a key engine of growth in the development process (Oyelaran-Oyeyinka, 2006). Economic transformation and prosperity will remain a mirage in Nigeria unless we keep our attention focused on creating an enabling environment for sustainable industrial growth.

    • Jimoh is Group Managing Director, Odu’a Investment Company Limited.