The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sunday

  • Breaking the yoke to debt cycle with his tax reforms

    Breaking the yoke to debt cycle with his tax reforms

    How to begin describing the past week, regarding the President’s schedule, can be a bit difficult because mostly, the ‘ghost mode’ persisted, almost like when he was putting his list of ministers together. The difference this time around was that his scarcity was mostly occasioned by the weight and urgency of attending to the political crisis in neighbouring Niger Republic. You will remember he is the incumbent Chairman of the Authority of the Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the beleaguered neighbouring country is next door to seven Nigerian states in the northern part.

    However, the most significant event of the week for Nigerians was the inauguration of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms on Tuesday. Besides the fact that it is targeted at rewriting the revenue generation strategy of the country, it is aiming a stronger economy and both goals are meant to give every Nigerian another shot at decent human living, hence making the step one of the most significant for the administration.

    At the inauguration of the Taiwo Oyedele-headed committee, the President lamented the way the tax regime had run over the years; lacking proper coordination and suffocating to the people, especially those in the lowest wrong of the social ladder, and businesses too. His target is raising the tax-to-GDP ratio to above 18% in three years as well as end the era of borrowing to fund public spending, which has kept the country under the debt serving yoke for years.

    Read Also: We need more Christians in politics, says Obasanjo

    “The consequences of the ongoing failure of our tax regime are real and significant. The inability of government to efficiently raise revenue has led directly to an overreliance on borrowing to finance public spending. A government that cannot properly fund itself will also lack the flexibility or fiscal scope to sensibly manage the economy or respond to external shocks. Instead, debt service begins to consume an ever greater portion of government’s already meagre revenues. This traps the economy in a vicious cycle of borrowing simply to service previous debt and leaves almost no scope for socio-economic development.

    “As President, I am determined to end this cycle. On the day of my inauguration, I promised that my administration would address all of the issues impeding investment and economic growth in Nigeria. This promise is why I saw an end to the fuel subsidy. It is the reason the Central Bank has called an end to its multiple exchange rate system under my watch. It is for the same reason we gather here today to inaugurate the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms”, he said.

    The Chairman of the Committee, a world-class tax administration, Oyedele, elaborating the mandate of his team to journalists at the Villa, after their inauguration, lamented that the country is losing around N20 trillion in uncollected tax to a number of irregular practices, which the team had been tasked to take out in order to make the most for the country and bringing relief to the people.

    According to him, the mandate of the committee “is to get rid of so many taxes that come in the way of prosperity for our people. So Nigerians should look forward to a more harmonized, fewer number of taxes. But then it seems like it’s a contradiction. How do you then raise the revenue? Now, we know where we’re going to get the revenue from – there’s a huge tax-gap. What that means is as of today, without introducing any new taxes, if you get everyone that needs to pay their taxes to pay, we will not be where we are. So we think that the gap is somewhere in the region of N20 trillion.

    “In addition to that, you would also imagine that we have inefficiencies in the way we collect the little that we collect. And that inefficiency is coming from, sometimes, I think in the 2023 budget, we have like 63 MDAs that were given revenue targets. Those MDAs want to be able to focus on their primary duties of why they were established, the revenue mandate is a distraction for them. So imagine that we asked the FIRS to collect those revenues on their behalf so those agencies, by focusing on their primary mandates, they’ll facilitate the economic development we’re looking for. FIRS will collect the revenues efficiently, which means not only is the top line growing because of collecting it is reducing. And that gives you a much bigger margin to take care of the people”, he said.

    Public opinions have, again, ticked this as one of the best steps and reforms of the Bola Tinubu administration yet. Reviews across sections of society, as well as on the international plane, have lauded the President’s decisiveness and focus on reforming the economy and setting the right bricks in place for the ultimate turnaround of the largest economy in Africa.

    Mr Adeoye Adeyeye, a Chartered Accountant, with many years’ experience in Taxation, Policy and Strategy Formulation in the private sector backed the President’s positions on the need for tax reforms in the country. Besides the fact that the current regime has a lot of inefficient practices, it is also responsible for the inability of government to raise needed revenues, which has resulted in borrowing to fund public spending and throwing the system into the asphyxiating cycle of debt servicing.

    “The inauguration of the Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee could end up being one of the best decisions of the Tinubu Presidency. The following reasons are germane; some of our tax laws are outdated, the multiplicity of taxes has been a major hindrance to business growth, the cost of collection is high, our tax revenue to GDP ratio is one of the lowest in the world, revenue loss due to inefficiency in collection among others.

    “If the number of taxes (currently over 60) payable by businesses and the agency of collection is centralized, more people would be brought into the tax net without necessarilyincreasing the tax rate. Also, the use of data to drive tax collection will also be key in achieving the objectives of the Committee.

    “I am of the opinion that government can achieve the target of 18% tax to GDP ratio in three years through the work of the committee. Also of note is the composition of the Committee- the members (especially the Chairman), are largely people who have distinguished themselves over the years. If more people are brought into the tax net, it gives people more impetus to demand accountability from the government.

    “Modernizing and streamlining our tax regime will remove the absurdity of arbitrariness, which has discouraged businesses from coming into the economy and frustrated existing ones. We should all encourage and support the reforms coming into our tax and fiscal policy; the government needs all the revenue it could generate and reduce borrowings”, Adeyeye explained.

    Also taking an overview of the President’s Tax Reforms Committee, the National Chairman of the Arewa Economic Forum, Ibrahim Shehu Yahaya also popularly known as Dandakata, lauded the President for making the move, saying it is aimed at streamlining collection of taxes, reducing possibilities of corruption and ultimately giving the economy a new lease of life. Drawing a connecting line with two other major steps at saving the economy, taken by the President; subsidy removal and the abolition of multiple foreign exchange rates, he noted that all point to the direction that the Tinubu administration is serious about reforming and repositioning the economy.

    “The new tax policy reform committee comes at the right time to look for ways to close the gaps in tax collection in Nigeria, which is one of the lowest in the world with a GDP to tax ratio of 10.8%, according to the NBS. It’s pertinent to note that this initiative is in the right direction, given that the Mr. Nami leadership at FIRS had tried to close this collection gap with raft of incentives to defaulters and non-compliant people and businesses, which resulted in an increase of 56% in the amount collected in 2022, which came to about N10 trillion. The mandate of the present committee is to triple this figure in 3 years.

    “This initiative is a very important economic tool in creating fiscal transparency, entrenchment of rule of law and getting our economy in the right track by eliminating avenues of loss of revenue and corruption.

    “It’s important to say that the committee started on a good note by trying to streamline collection in one location to improve transparency and make agencies more focused on their core activities.

    This, like the Treasury Single Account, will give the government a bird’s eye view on its income and attendant need for further reforms. If one couples this initiative with the removal of subsidy and the removal of multiple exchange rates of the Naira, one can see genuine economic reforms that will open up Nigeria for investment being done”, he said.

    He, however, did not stop without sounding a note of caution, especially how the reforms, this latest one in particular, saying the full value of any good policy is striving its best not to hurt the people it was made for. 

    “However, these initiatives should be very mindful of introducing policies that will marginalize sections of the Nigerian population that are, at this moment, traumatized by these same reforms that we hail. As much as the government is doing good policies for the overall and long-term benefit of the country, it should also look at the short and medium term effects on the population it’s leading and also look at those policies peculiarly as they will affect certain regions/groups/demographics.

    “There’s a need to exercise caution so that we don’t throw away the bath water with the baby. In our quest for economic nirvana, we shouldn’t forget the people that economy is supposed to serve”, Dandakata said.

    It was a busy week indeed and a lot happened, only that nut much was seen of the President because he was engaged in serious national/international matters. However, it was within the week he met governors from the seven states bordering Niger Republic (Sunday); he met the Senate President and Majority Leader (Monday); met with the World Trade Organisation’s Director General, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, (Tuesday); met with ministerial nominees Nasir el-Rufai and Nyesom Wike (Wednesday); and the various meetings of the Niger coup all through the week.

    A new week has opened today, we should wait to see what comes with it.

  • A long week

    A long week

    • But thank God, all is well, at least for now.

    Last week was one week that was dreaded in the country. Dreaded because of the initial threat by organised Labour to shut down the country; but this was later changed to nationwide protests, to register workers’ displeasure with the economic challenges that Nigerians are going through. Labour backed down on its strike threat due to a subsisting court order restraining it from going on strike. Given the banging of the head against the wall by the Labour leaders on the protests, one would think that heaven was going to fall. But thank God, here we are today. Sanity eventually prevailed.

    There is no doubt that things is hard in the country. Nkan le. There is no doubt too that this did not just start. It had been hard even before the Buhari administration. Just that that government did not have an idea of how to get things a little better. By the time the government was through with its second tenure, it became obvious that his successor was going to have a lot to chew to reposition the economy and the country at large. And that is exactly what has happened.

    The Bola Tinubu administration came on board on May 29, after a tough election in which everything was skewed against the incumbent president. Although the result of the election is still being contested by both the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate that came second at the polls and Labour Party (LP) that came third, the incumbent has been in the saddle since the exit of General Muhammadu Buhari on May 29, the court case notwithstanding. Nature abhors a vacuum.

    Ipso facto, Tinubu has had to take some tough decisions that his government believed must be taken if the country is to find its feet again. Two of these are the merging of the exchange rates with the aim of having a convergence between the official and the parallel market rates. This would eliminate the idea of people buying foreign exchange at the official N470 per dollar only to resell at the black market at over N700 per dollar. Thus, the country was producing a few people who became rich overnight without lifting a finger.

    The other policy measure was removal of fuel subsidy. This has taken pump price from about N195 per litre when Tinubu assumed office on May 29, to its present N586. Again, the intention is to bring to an end the era when Nigeria was being creamed off by unconscionable thieves who took more subsidy than actual fuel imported and supplied. Both policies led to soaring inflation, thus making nonsense of whatever salaries workers earn.

    Without doubt, these measures would hurt those that had been benefitting from the two abnormalities. Unfortunately, they were not the only victims. The average Nigerian has turned out to be the ultimate victim because he is the one at the receiving end of the stick. The result of the Federal Government’s decisions was loss of purchasing power on the part of workers. And when this happens, Labour has its job cut out for it.

    I am not one of those who would want to believe that Labour, particularly the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), overreacted on the matter because of its support for Peter Obi’s LP. It may jolly well be true. But the ground was made the more fertile for that by the government. As a matter of fact the president himself said that much in his state-of-the-nation address last week Monday.  ”Sadly, there was an unavoidable lag between subsidy removal and these plans coming fully online. However, we are swiftly closing the time gap. I plead with you to please have faith in our ability to deliver and in our concern for your well-being.” It is only the government that would see the timelag between subsidy removal and palliatives as ”unavoidable”, not the people who have started suffering in advance.  Poverty or hunger does not discriminate. It has nothing to do with ethnicity, same faith, or political affiliation..

    I was happy that Labour was able to hold its protest rally on Wednesday. It is their inalienable right in a democracy. I am also happy that the protest was largely peaceful nationwide. But something of significance during the protest in Abuja was the pulling down of the National Assembly gate. I do not know if many other Nigerians thought the way I did when that happened. But, that is not a matter for today.

    However, one of the highlights of the Labour protest that I love most is the promise by President Tinubu that the Port Harcourt Refinery would resume production by December. This, for me, is good news. It is rather sad that the Buhari administration could not ensure the resumption of local refining of petroleum products in the eight long years it was in power. Indeed, it is incredible and sad. Disappointing, to say the least, given the high hopes that Nigerians had about that government’s ability to deliver.

    I am one of the diehard supporters of subsidy retention. Not that I did not understand its implications for the economy, but because I felt it was government’s responsibility to rein in those profiteering from the arrangement at the expense of the poor masses. The other reason was that I did not see any sense in any government in Nigeria being in office for as long as eight years without ensuring that our local refineries resumed production.

    Indeed, no one would hear what the Buhari administration wasted on turn-around maintenance that never turned anything around beyond corruption; and other expenses, that would not feel sad for this country. According to Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State, that government spent more than $19bn on the refineries. “Look at how much the President Buhari administration spent on fixing the refineries. In the eight years, he spent more money than the $19 billion that Dangote spent in building a refinery. That is one and half times the size of our three refineries combined”, the governor said on Channels Television sometime in June.

    To think that this was the same Buhari who in March, 2015, lambasted Goodluck Jonathan, his predecessor, for neglecting the refineries, leading to the country becoming a major importer of petroleum products. “But over the last several years our refineries have declined, and we are at the mercy of imports,” he had said. Was Nigeria at the mercy of exports in his own eight-year reign? It is only unfortunate that an action like this is not criminalised in the country. Otherwise, some of our leaders would rot in jail. Nothing under the sun can justify a major crude producer exporting the crude oil at rock bottom prices only to import the refined products at cut-throat prices.

    So, as a latter-day convert of fuel subsidy removal, you can understand my interest in this aspect of Tinubu’s response to the labour protest. Economists and other analysts have been commenting on several other policy options that he has outlined as palliatives to cushion the effects of the subsidy removal.

    It is good that Labour was able to extract the commitment to get at least the Port Harcourt Refinery functional by December. Otherwise, we may have a situation where four years down the line, we would still be talking about not being able to refine crude locally, with government still spending on the moribund and unproductive refineries.

    Now that the president has given his word on this matter, he should make his word his bond. I have always maintained that when presidents talk, it is like an oracle has spoken. But Tinubu should not be under the illusion that the people that made those refineries not to work for decades because it pays them to do so would be pleased with his decision that has ended their honeymoon. So, he should be ready to fight them too. Riba dun. I mean cheap money is sweet. So, those making it would not want to give up without a fight.

  • Fruits of his listening ears, magic of his dialogue skills

    The last week opened on a note of action for President Bola Tinubu, but this time around not actions directly focused on Nigeria. As Chairman of the Authority of Heads of State and Government of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), President Tinubu convened an emergency meeting of the Authority, in order to decide on how to go about the Niger Republic debacle.

    However, as packed-together as that event seemed during the week, it could not beat two other events, being the President’s national broadcast on Monday evening and the emergency engagement with leaders of the organised Labour in his office. The two actions have become the most discussed, analyzed and critiqued activities of the President for the week. In all, the summation was that both events brought the real Jagaban out of the President: he faces his fears, challenges his challenges, all in a bid to find solutions to what confronts him as a person and confronts his people as their leader.

    The idea of a national broadcast became the way to go for him because the despite the attempt at getting Nigerians to understand the need for the removal of the fuel subsidy, which they have gotten used to over the years, the harsh conditions that accompanied the action, especially hunger, has sort of made it difficult for the message to sink. It became obvious that he needed to engage with the people on a personal note and the best way to go about that, obviously was through the media. He used the occasion to douse fears and calm nerves.

    Read Also: Tinubuism: Triumphing tough times? (Part 2)

    Of course the people were attentive; most people ensured to go sit by a television screen about the time he was speaking from 7pm, while many others turned to the on-the-go media on their phone. From the reviews done on several channels, including the social media, he was able to connect with the people, he was able to give them the message of hope they all yearned for. He was able to reveal how he intends to relief them the current pains and how soon his plan might take and after the speech came the adulation, even from some of his most acerbic critics.

    In his analysis of the national broadcast, an Abuja-based journalist and social analyst, Emmanuel Addeh, if he would follow through with his promises in the speech, then the Golden Era is by the corner indeed.   

    “I hope this goes beyond the usual political talk because we have heard most of these things before, especially the issues relating to the deployment of gas-powered vehicles. That’s actually the part I am interested in. If the President follows through with his plan to deploy CNG-powered vehicles by the first quarter of next year, then the current pressure on commuters and the citizenry will be substantially reduced.

    “I am also aware that the President has directed the NNPC to accelerate the process and I think the national oil company, last Thursday, announced its collaboration with NIPCO Gas and Miju to deploy 35 stations nationwide in the first instance. If the proposed stations, which will service and fuel 200,000 vehicles per day, become a reality, then that would mean the first step to weaning the country from its addiction to Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

    “So, for me, there’s a bit of cautious excitement as it concerns the N100 billion project. But beyond that, I have also noticed that there’s at least an attempt to communicate with Nigerians. Some governments in the past won’t even acknowledge that Nigerians were facing a lot of hardship. So, the effort to calm Nigerians, even in the face of the current harsh realities, is commendable”, he said.

    Similarly, the public has been talking about how the President abruptly, with just a single meeting, held within an hour, the President managed to convince leaders of the organised Labour that neither protest, not strike should be the way to solve the nation’s economic issues. These were people who had been meeting with government representatives, all of whom are experts in various field, all along, but still went on with calling a nationwide mass protest hours after their last meeting.

    However, just as it was starting, the Jagaban stepped in and before the Day One’s sun went down, the protest ended prematurely. Critiquing the President’s style of engagement, especially how he was able to get Joe Ajaero and Festus Osifo to calm down to listen and actually get them to acquiesce to his ideas, the spokesman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Darlington Nwauju, noted this President is doing things differently.   

    “It is exhilarating to see that he chose to engage physically with the Labour leaders, to fashion a way forward on cushioning the effect of subsidy removal. It is welcoming that he drew from his wealth of experience as a social democrat to handle the protest issue and at the same time gave commitment of government to ensure the Port Harcourt refinery comes on stream by December. That ingredient of listening and paying attention to critical opinions is what any caring leadership cum government cannot afford to lack. The maturity in handling the strike called by the Labour not in the usual brick and mortar strategy, finally paid off”, Nwauju said.

    Also, the President, as head of ECOWAS, hosted the Authority’s members-states on the crisis in Niger. Far-reaching steps were taken and sanctions threatened, including a possibility of armed-intervention. Though many, including the most powerful nations of the world, have lauded Tinubu on his quick response as regional leader, many Nigerians have advised caution and tact in dealing with the situation. The putsch in Niger Republic, which has become something of a breaking point in the escalating democratic crisis in the West African sub-region in the last few years, presents a major test to the influence of the ECOWAS Authority.

    The new week is expected to unfold with activities on the Niger Republic debacle because a lot of causes have been set in motion, which will most likely start leading to some effects in the affairs of the sub-region. Remember a seven-day ultimatum was issued by ECOWAS last Sunday, which threatened a lot, including armed intervention. Already, the Chiefs of Defense Staff of ten members states met in Abuja on Thursday in response to the Authority’s instruction. In order not to restrict response to just military, the sub-regional body sent two missions out, also on Thursday: one to Niger to interface with General Omar Tchiani, the man who has declared himself the country’s new leader, the second team to Libya and Algeria, to enlist the intervention of those believed to wield some level of influence in Niger’s internal affairs.

    Already, there are a couple of feedbacks from the actions initiated in the course of last week. One, the envoy that was dispatched to Niger, led by former Nigerian military Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, returned to the country without meeting Tchaini in person. Number two, the Chiefs of Defense Staff of the ECOWAS member-states, which convened and ended meeting in Abuja on Thursday, have expressed readiness to follow the regional body’s instructions. Already, the President has written the National Assembly to seek approval for action against Niger coupists. Three, Nigeria shut its borders against movements from Niger into Nigeria, just as it has cut the country off electricity supply.

    Meanwhile, same Sunday, the President appointed the Chief Executive Officer of the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRCN) as Special Investigator, tasked with the duties of enforcing sanity in the nation’s financial and business environment. One particular target if the nation’s apex bank, the Central bank of Nigeria (CBN), which seems to be facing difficulties in containing the volatile monetary environment, which has contributed to the galloping inflation in no small measure.

    Monday was a day of many activities in the Villa. Besides the national broadcast, addressing the most critical of the concerns of Nigerians, it was the day he formalized the appointment of the nation’s military hierarchy by decorating the new Chief of Defense Staff and his service chiefs with their new ranks. Now they are designated as Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) General Christopher Musa; Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-General Taoreed Lagbaja; Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar, and Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla. The President also tasked them on the need for teamwork.

    It was a week of series of events, from Sunday to Saturday. He President responded to the agitation against rising cost of acquiring tertiary education, warning federal institutions to desist from arbitrary hiking of fees. Meanwhile, from the standpoint of the administration, he ordered that all restrictions on students’ loans be removed. Besides that, he pledged some other forms of supports for students facing the current harsh economic realities.

    This week too will come with its excitements and we all will see how it goes.

  • Tinubuism: Triumphing tough times? (Part 2)

    Tinubuism: Triumphing tough times? (Part 2)

    The onus lies on the governors to aid transportation of goods and people within their states by investing on procurement of electric or compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles … Moreover, it is high time that state governments proactively engaged in agribusiness to aid food security, boosts income, enhances foreign exchange earnings, attracts foreign direct investment, and promotes job creation along the value chain. This will spur the country into a massive industrial site overtime like India and China.” – John Ekundayo. Nation, Sunday 31st July 2023.

    It is elating and exciting reading the lips of President Bola Tinubu on Monday 31st July as he addressed Nigerians to palpably and possibly douse the concomitant tension arising from the dual effect of removal of fuel subsidy and harmonization of the foreign exchange rate of the local currency, Naira. There are still some Nigerians, as pointedly stated in last week’s edition of this column, that are ill-informed about the nauseating and naughty subsidy scam regime that has eaten deep into the economy of Nigeria. If Nigeria were to be a human system, by now, there is the possibility of her being dead and buried! Mysteriously and miraculously, taking cognizance of currents of corruption cases caressing the body, soul and spirit of the country, she is still breathing!! However, is the breathing normal and healthy for the country’s survival and sustainability?

    Read Also: Senate creates additional Standing Committees

    The present leaders, at both the federal and state levels, will determine, to a great extent, whether Nigeria will sink, swim or soar in the coming years. In Yoruba common parlance, it is simply and squarely stated: “omo to ba ma gun, ese re a tinrin” (meaning: the child that will grow up tall will show by how thin the legs look like). The motives behind the moves by the incumbent administration, at the centre, will determine how soon light will shine over the horizon even though the man in the saddle vehemently and vociferously vouched, in tandem with the Renewed Hope Agenda, in his address to the country on 31st July 2023 that “after darkness comes the glorious dawn, a vision of hope for our beloved nation.” Writing as a development strategist and scholar, it is time to discuss and dissect Mr. President’s address to Nigerians in order to decipher whether it would not end up as one of those ‘great’ speeches that when mirrored in the lens of result-based management produces no outcome and impact even though lots of activities have gone into inputs and activities.

    Propping Presidential Perception?

    “A leader needs enough understanding to fashion an intelligent strategy.” John Kotter, Harvard Business School Professor

    Much was expected from President Bola Tinubu in the content and context of the 31st July 2023 publicised address to the nation. Seemingly, the nation’s helmsman did not disappoint many, even though some still felt that he did not hit the nail on the head in certain areas, whilst others perceive a missing point or part in the whole gamut depicting diverse governmental interventions intended to cushion the impact of the fuel subsidy removal signaling the cessation of the perennial subsidy scam that over the decades have been enriching privileged aristocratic few. To this columnist, there were lots of good intentions in the speech of the President. According to Harvard Business School Professor, John Kotter, crafting a good strategy demands rigour. Succinctly and saliently in his own words: “a leader needs enough understanding to fashion an intelligent strategy.” However, in the tinkering of another globally acknowledged management guru, Peter Drucker, implementation or execution of a well laid-out strategy is the kernel of the matter. Drucker rammed it home when he posited: “strategy is a commodity; execution is an art.” Therefore, for a result-oriented organization or government, it is not about activities but, enacted out of the process envisaged at the outset, outcomes and impacts that are based on result-based monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) model. In this treatise dissecting the presidential perception, attempts will be made to make meaning or sense out of the diverse interventions listed which are aimed at touching the lives of various sections of the Nigerian society.

    Lumping together the agro-allied interventions of releasing 200,000 metric tonnes of grains; 225,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer, seedlings and of their inputs; N50bn each to cultivate 150,000 hectares of rice and maize; and N50bn each to cultivate 100,000 hectares of wheat and cassava. These seem laudable and commendable. However, if there is no strict application of MEAL systems, these humongous resources will go down the drain as witnessed in previous administrations. President Tinubu and his team should learn, with humility, from Ethiopia who approached and attended to the design and dictates of African Development Bank (AfDB) headed by the erstwhile former Minister of Agriculture of Nigeria, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina. Will Nigeria listen, lean and learn from others who are successfully and sustainably implementing their agricultural programmes such as Ethiopia. The latter has now turned into an exporter of wheat!

    In the last edition of “Followership Challenge”, the government was counselled to adapt or adopt the use of the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) fueled vehicles to save income and consume less gasoline. In the said article it was stated inter alia: “the onus lies on the governors to aid transportation of goods and people within their states by investing on procurement of electric or compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles.” It is gladdening that the government at the centre is taking the bull by the horns. However, for transparency and inclusion, states and civil society organizations (CSOs) should be inculcated into operationalizing this strategy of the federal government which intended intervening with injection of 3,000 units of 20-seater CNG-fueled buses by expending a whopping N100 billion in the programme. It should be stressed that the MEAL model should be adhered to from the programme initiation to close out.

    In addition, imperative on the list was the issue of review of the minimum wage to workers. The government seems to be dilly dallying on this tangible matter seemingly not serious with the eroding purchasing power of the populace. It is high time the government at the centre interfaced with state Governors, and labour unions with a view to agreeing at a commensurate figure that will be paid regularly. The Federal Government should not unilaterally fix the minimum wage that will be at wide disparity with the ones of the states as the previous government at the centre was wont and wired to.

    Moreover, the President’s pandering to ignite development of the manufacturing sector which is apparently comatose is commendable. Specifically, the initiative of injecting a humongous amount of N75 billion Naira into 75 entities (each accessible to N1 billion with favourable borrowing conditions) is intended to rev manufacturing to live and provide jobs whilst enhancing the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as goods are produced, thus gradually wresting the economy from perennially and perpetually being import dependent. If this is strategically executed with application of MEAL, in a concrete and credible manner, it has the added advantage of engaging many of our youths in worthwhile ventures considering the value chains associated with the industries. However, will the federal government be brave and bold to initiate a process of banning importation of items being produced locally as a way of protecting and propping these manufacturing firms?

    In addition, the Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSME) received a big boost of a whopping injection of N125 billion partly reaching businesses owned by constituents in all the 774 local government areas (LGAs) (1,300 per LGAs). This equally is well intentioned if properly and credibly implemented.

    Synopsis of the Matter

    The President reiterating that cessation of subsidy ensues savings accruals, within two months, amounting to trillions of Naira. It is expected that if properly utilized – in the immediate, short term and long term – the savings from financing fuel subsidy should be expeditiously expended eschewing any form of prevarication. The hand of the clock is ticking whilst the apparent and inherent angst of the people bottled up is about to explode to the dismay of the people in power who promised interventions that are virtually becoming elusive to the ordinary man on the street. Moreover, the President seemed concerned about the prices of food items. However, genuine stakeholders’ engagement should inculcate proactive and practical steps that will ensure that both the federal and state governments should subsidize and incentivize production, rather than consumption of agricultural produce as it is being done in sane and serious climes and countries. In addition, rural roads should not only be opened up but continuously and sustainably maintained for movement of people and goods between rural, semi-urban and urban areas of the country.

    This way farm produce will be prevented from rotting away in the hinterland.

    Tinkering on education and the plight of Nigerian students, the tertiary students, apart from benefiting from the transportation scheme through the introduction of CNG-fueled buses, has nothing beneficial in the whole gamut of interventions. It is recommended that a certain financial palliative of not less than N10,000 be extended to all students of tertiary institutions for a period not less than 6 months. This period will allow them to adjust to the new realities before all other interventions of the government will mature for them, their parents and guardians to savour. Listening to the President:

    “No Nigerian student will have to abandon his or her education because of lack of money.”

    It is on this premise that President Bola Tinubu promised to make education more affordable to higher education students. However, this seems elusive until his government ensures certain cogent, core and crucial steps are taken. The government, taking cognizance that the new session starts in September or October, is seemingly slow in operationalizing the students’ loan scheme. It is apparently doubtful that many students of higher institutions will not be sent out of the school system in the coming session. If this occurs, it may not augur well for the security situations in the states and local governments of the country. Will the President walk his talk in ensuring no student in debarred from accessing education at any level? How veritable is this statement of President Bola Tinubu, if he himself tinkers on his trajectory to higher education considering his poor background that would have pinned his back to the ground in life? Does that not speak volumes of the dire need to urgently and proactively act in ensuring that all indigent Nigerian students, in the higher institutions, have access to loans to further their studies and research without hassles and hardship?

    In conclusion, the onus lies on the federal government to ensure application, adaptation and adoption of monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) in all her programmes and projects. Credible, competent and courageous Nigerians drawn from the public and private sectors should be involved in empirically tracking the outcomes, not just outputs, of these laudable initiatives and interventions of the Tinubu administration. In this context, the contribution of the National Association of Evaluator (NAE) headed by the resourceful Dr. Usman Shamsuddeen, the erstwhile Minister of National Planning, should be courted into the whole monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL) template. All said and done, quintessentially, in his own words: “our commitment is to promote the greatest good for the greatest number of our people”, will the man in the saddle at the centre live up to his billing? Seriously, a stitch in time, saves nine! Time will tell!

    •John Ekundayo, Ph.D. – can be reached via +2348030598267 (WhatsApp only) and drjmoekundayo@hotmail.com

  • Current hardship in Nigeria: Blamepast weak, corrupt governments (2)

    Current hardship in Nigeria: Blame
    past weak, corrupt governments (2)

    The first part of this article – (which will be in series but occasionally) appeared on Sunday, 23 July, 2023. In it the beginning of our current agonies was put at between 1999, during the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and May 29, 2023, and if there is one president you cannot blame for it, that will be president Bola Ahmed Tinubu even though it was his burden to undertake that excruciating operation analogous only to the doctor who operated a cancer patient in order to to bring his cancerous cells into remission.

    It is important to recall, meanwhile, that while the former President no longer writes letters with the same rapidity as  of yore, he has not spared book launchings, qua launching, as opportunity to loft his verbal volleys at political opposition, especially his successors.

    Read Also: Senate creates additional Standing Committees

    Hopeful then of a Third Term which might have metamorphorsed into a Life Presidency, he had turned a blind eye when members of the National Assembly not only bypassed the Revenue Mobilisation And Fiscal Commission to award themselves  humongous salaries and allowances, millions of Naira were, in addition, gifted each member to facilitate his much desired alteration to the constitution which allowed only  a two- term tenure for Presidents.

    Although the gambit failed, not so the legislators’ stupendous emoluments which they have since serially increased through devious ways as we saw in the N70B allocated to them in the recently passed supplementary budget; not  forgetting  the other N40B earmarked for purchase of bullet proof cars for their leadership.

    Unfortunately, in vain did Nigerians wait for a reversal of those two mindless, and totally obtuse, expenditure items during President Tinubu’s recent address to the nation.

    Knowing full well that there’s very little President Tinubu can do to impress the current Nigerian Labour Congress under the joint leadership of Joe Ajaero and his brother, Emmanuel Ugboaja, the General Secretary, bearing in mind their consanguinity with Labour party’s Peter Obi, the address should have gone much deeper regarding what to include in his, no doubt, impressive list of on – coming palliative measures, if only to have majority of Nigerians queuing right behind him.

    It was, therefore for me, a missed opportunity. Or which honest, apolitical Nigerian, would not have been impressed to see the President take the opportunity to launch the much desired reduction in the cost of governance in the country?

    Far from regarding it as a populist move, most Nigerians would have been impressed to see him announce a 50 per cent cut in his own emolument, as well as that of all political appointees on permanent appointment.

    While not suggesting that he should rule as if he is running a military government, the truth is that Nigeria is in such a terrible situation today that Nigerians would be more than happy to see those people feeding fat on the National treasury cut to size because nothing

    galls Nigerians more than the fact that while they are, forever, being asked to tighten their belts, those they know have helped themselves at their expense, are perpetually being given more, or giving themselves more, as we just saw at the National Assembly.

    It can bear repetition that Nigeria is today in a far worse situation than it was when austerity measures were introduced in 1983/4 under military Head of state General Mohammadu Buhari.

    Although there is, as yet, no mass sack of civil servants or the expulsion of thousands of  foreigners nor have we seen Nigerians queuing up for essential commodities as was the case then, the country’s present situation is such that the masses would be only too glad to see the Tinubu government socialise the current hardship  as the burden is far more on the poor masses.

    In an earlier article on these pages, I  suggested that “the President should encourage, and persuade, National Assembly members to, willy nilly, take a substantial cut in their huge emoluments which run into multiples of millions of Naira per month and that he should let them know, if they don’t already, that Nigeria is on tenterhooks”.

    Writing further, I suggested that the same cut in allowances must be fully extended to the executive branch where the President must lead by example by not only announcing a massive cut in his own, but ‘decree’ an end to the outlandish wastages that have characterised the executive branch over the years”.

    If the president had taken the advantage offered by his national address to announce a reduction in his own emoluments, he would only have had to encourage members of the National Assembly, as members of a different arm of government, to follow suit, failing which he should have approved an Executive Order to that effect.

    Come to think of it, what would  members of the National Assembly have done, resign?

    That would have been the grand opportunity to discontinue the present unnecessarily expensive, if not ruinous, bicameral system Nigeria runs for a unilateral Legislature; and thereby put an end to the unwholesome repetition we see in law making in the country.

    I also suggested that what the president should do next was commence the immediate implementation of the recommendations of the Oronsaye Committee.

    Set up by President Goodluck Jonathan on August 18, 2011, the Oronsaye Committee had the following mandate:

    “to study and review all previous reports and records on the restructuring of Federal Parastatals, and advise on whether they were still relevant; examine the enabling Acts of all the federal agencies, parastatals and commissions and classify them into various sectors; examine critically, the mandate of the existing federal agencies, parastatals and commissions and determine areas of overlap or duplication of functions and make appropriate recommendations to either restructure, merge or scrap some to eliminate such overlaps, duplications or redundancies; and advise on any other matter incidental to the foregoing, which might be relevant to the desire of the government to prune down the cost of governance.”

    Had the President indicated his preparedness to immediately set in motion the implementation of the report, NLC leaders would have needed nobody to  dissuade them from asking workers out on protest as they did on Wednesday, 2nd August, 2023. This is because Nigerians need such affirmative actions to know that the Tinubu government is different, and a far cry, from what they have had for government since 1999; long on words but far short in people friendly actions.

    Indeed, Nigerians have  perpetually been fed more on lies by successive governments at the centre.

    For instance, Nigerians had long been told to await petroleum products from Dangote’s multi-billion dollar, 650,000 barrels per day refinery in July this year which has since passed. There is now talk in the grave vine that we may actually have more months to wait before that becomes a reality.

    The Tinubu Administration can certainly not afford to go that rout at all.

    And it mustn’t.

    Which is why it is heartwarming to hear that the President will be effecting some changes in the structure of the public service along the lines suggested in the Oronsaye committee recommendations, beginning with ministries, some of which it is rumoured, will be streamlined by being scrapped and new ones created.

    In spite of the billions now coming into the treasury – thanks to the punishing but necessary removal of subsidy – there is little or no doubt, at all, that Nigeria is still in a revenue bind. This must be the reason the President has set up the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms with a proven tax expert, Taiwo Oyedele , the Fiscal Policy Partner and Africa Tax Leader at Price Water house Coopers (PwC) – a position from which he has subsequently resigned – as Chairman.

    It is my considered opinion that the President should now consider approving an Executive order authorising a 50 percent cut in, at least, the allowances of all permanent political appointees beginning with himself.

    Also, the number of aides to National Assembly members, ministers as well as appropriate officials in states and local governments should be halved.

    Nothing, I repeat again, can be worse than public officials living in opulence, at public expense, while the masses are eke- ing out a living.

    In the near future, God willing, I shall be drawing the President’s attention to the subject of restructuring which is where the Tinubu government must be leading Nigeria, even though for now, there are more than enough  urgent challenges before the  government to keep that proposition in the back burner.

  • The Catholic opposition

    The Catholic opposition

    By a strange and unfathomable coincidence, the Catholic Church in Nigeria has seemed to set itself against the Bola Tinubu administration. The opposition began immediately the All Progressives Congress (APC) opted for a Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket, and it lasted through the elections, and has flowered till today. Some of the bishops have indicated they might relent if the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) returned a verdict in favour of President Tinubu; but given the stridency of their opposition to the APC-led administration, there are no guarantees they will honour their promise. The protestant clergy also fiercely opposed the same-faith ticket before the election, with some of them cursing their dissenting congregants who harbour sympathies for the ruling party, but they have since shrugged their shoulders at the election outcome, swallowed their pride, left the matter in the hands of God, and in some instances even congratulated the winner of the presidential race. The Catholics are, however, standing pat. Their priests give the impression that their congregations are united behind them, probably the most homogenous religious group ever known to man.

    It is unlikely the Catholic bishops gravitate even mildly towards the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate in the last election, ex-vice president Atiku Abubakar. Like most Christians, they were tired of the political and religious chicanery of the previous administration, particularly the land-grabbing antics of herdsmen and the unmitigated violence of bandits. The kind of change the clerics wanted could not lure them into the cold embrace of Alhaji Atiku. Instead, the bishops eagerly embraced the Catholic ensign, Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), who deliberately postured as the Christian candidate out to remedy historic wrongs. Mr Obi and the bishops easily became kindred spirits, and during the campaigns, they politicked as if religion and ethnicity were the main considerations. Unlike Mr Obi who was provocatively flagrant in his exploitation of religion to win votes, the bishops had couched their opposition to the APC in legalisms, morality and empathy for the poor and oppressed. But despite the disguise, despite the subterfuge, it is still as plain as daylight that the bishops are prepared to sink or swim with Mr Obi, logic be damned.

    Under the auspices of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), the bishops last week waded into the murky waters of politics. Speaking through the president of the CBCN, Most Rev. Lucius Iwejuru Ugorji, at a reception in Owerri last weekend, the bishops declared:  “The suffering in the land has over the years been galloping uncontrollably. Our growing economic crisis became exacerbated with the recent withdrawal of petrol subsidy by the Federal Government. Indeed, Nigeria is on the brink of collapse. Government has not ceased to inundate citizens with its fabled palliative measures to cushion the effects of the subsidy removal. I am sure those running the nation’s affairs at all levels know that palliative measures can never be a cure for any economic or health challenge…So, I ask: Why waste resources on palliative measures, instead of attacking the problems frontally? Provision of a constant source of energy remains the driving force in all developing and developed economies. Why is ours different? Why should we not subsidise fuel?”

    The bishops’ view on economics, particularly on the oil and gas sector, is a badly jaded. They said little about the cancerous effects of subsidising oil which is then smuggled by powerful cartels across Nigeria’s long and porous borders. And they dismiss the programme of palliatives without proffering any other panacea. The last elections witnessed the undue politicisation of worship centres, thus polarising worshippers and sowing seeds of distrust and bitterness. Clearly, the negative effects of politicising the church will take time to heal, assuming the clerics have learnt any lesson.

    Among the vociferous bishops, no one has been as truculent as Archbishop Emeritus of the Catholic Archdiocese of Abuja, John Cardinal Onaiyekan. Last October he declared that he would never support a Muslim-Muslim ticket, and he has kept faith with that declaration. The problem is that given his standing in the Catholic Church, his seemingly private views on politics do not remain strictly private. Those views are transformed into something much bigger, more encompassing, even more proselytising. Here him: “Honestly, it is difficult to have any views on the activities of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu since in my own opinion, he is not yet our president until the courts have finished their job and declared who our president is. He is obviously labouring under a very serious liability of questionable legitimacy.” Would his eminence say the same thing were Mr Obi to be president? Would he be as implacable over the Christian ticket, had his Christian candidate won?

    The bishop continued:  “I take all this to mean that the declaration of results by INEC is not final. It is subject to the adjudication of the courts, which may either confirm or reject the declaration of INEC. It means that until the court gives a final judgment on a disputed election result, the election process cannot be said to be concluded. A swearing in ritual of any candidate still being disputed does not change this fact. Therefore, it is my position that a president sworn in under our present circumstances is at best holding office in a temporary capacity, until his status is confirmed. If and when the court confirms him, I will give him my full loyalty.”

    Last March, in a statement issued on his behalf, the bishop also bellowed: “After a tragically questionable election, his eminence blatantly refuses to be drafted into boosting a non-existing credibility of results and its consequent legitimacy of the declared winner. His eminence is a firm lover of peace, but Never at the expense of TRUTH AND JUSTICE. God bless Nigeria.” In short, he has taken sides, and for him, only one side, Mr Obi’s side, could be right, just and true. Like all Obidients who run rampage all over the social media, if the courts do not give Mr Obi what he wants, but does not deserve, then justice had not been done.

    A faction of the Yoruba socio-cultural and political organisation, Afenifere, has also joined the opposition to the APC. In a statement issued by factional secretary general, Sola Ebiseni, the group says: “Nigeria is currently caught in a labyrinth of inclement weather of a convoluted election process and its unwieldy outcomes, intractable security problems and the nightmarish aftermath of a sudden and harsh removal of petrol subsidy on the other. In less than six weeks, an already asphyxiating economy reeling under the crushing impact of hyperinflation, unemployment, mass hunger and poverty foisted by the gross ineptitude and incompetence that characterised the watch of eight years is looking like an episode drawn straight out of Dante’s Hell.” The group will persist in its opposition politics, just as the Catholic bishops will remain intransigent, long after the courts have laid the matter to rest. To them, the APC presidential victory, not to say the same-faith ticket, is too execrable and too galling to be countenanced.

  • NLC, TUC and protests

    NLC, TUC and protests

    Last week’s nationwide protests by the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) to express their pains over the government’s biting economic policies, particularly the fuel subsidy removal, had varying degrees of success. On the whole, the protest, which was erroneously reported as a strike by a section of the media, was impactful. The turnout was not low, but it was also not impressive. It gingered the administration into quickly reaching a tentative agreement with the unions, thus staving off more protests. The unions were exultant. It is not clear whether the administration, which is still trying to find its feet and is thus mired in some inexplicable clumsiness, was mortified for having to roll out the president to negotiate with the unions.

    Read Also: NLC threatens strike over contempt charge against Ajaero

    But sooner or later, the country will have to resolve the contradiction of a labour union setting up and running a political party. As it sometimes happens, when that political offspring loses election, could union strike or protest, in case it is declared, not be construed as seeking indirect means of winning political power by other probably discreditable methods? Unfortunately for the NLC, its leadership at this point is unduly politicised and has viewed politics from a narrow, impatient, pontifical and insular perspective. It is a question of time before things come to a head.

  • Renewed Hope: Letting the poor breathe

    Sir: In a nation that prides itself on being the “Giant of Africa,” there exists a deep-seated disparity that continues to suffocate the most vulnerable in society – the poor. The aspirations for progress, equality, and social justice that have long eluded the marginalized sections of society are in dire need of attention and action.

    Since assuming office, President Bola Tinubu’s government has promised various economic reforms and policies to uplift the nation. However, the reality on the ground presents a stark contrast. The poor have continued to endure most of the country’s economic challenges, facing limited access to education, healthcare, and opportunities for advancement. Rising inflation rates, unemployment, and inadequate social welfare programs have further marginalized vulnerable communities, pushing them deeper into poverty.

    One of the primary challenges facing the poor is the lack of access to quality education. Without adequate educational opportunities, the cycle of poverty stays unbroken, trapping generations within the same dire circumstances. President Tinubu’s administration must prioritize education reform and commit to allocating sufficient resources to improve the educational infrastructure, ensure teacher training, and make education accessible to all, regardless of socio-economic status.

    The state of healthcare in Nigeria is another pressing issue. Basic medical services, including access to clean water, sanitation facilities, and essential medicines, remain out of reach for millions of Nigerians. The poor are particularly vulnerable to illnesses and suffer disproportionately due to inadequate healthcare facilities. It is the responsibility of President Tinubu’s government to invest in the healthcare system, strengthen public hospitals, and expand health coverage to provide relief to those struggling for survival.

    Furthermore, the rural-urban divide exacerbates the poverty crisis. Rural communities often lack basic amenities, including reliable electricity, access to credit, and job opportunities. It is essential for President Tinubu’s administration to implement policies that bridge this gap and empower rural areas by promoting agricultural development, creating rural industries, and investing in infrastructure projects that connect these communities to the larger economy.

    The issue of corruption cannot be overlooked in the fight to alleviate poverty. Rampant corruption not only drains the nation’s resources but also perpetuates income inequality. President Tinubu must lead by example and demonstrate a zero-tolerance policy towards corruption, implementing stringent measures to hold corrupt individuals accountable, regardless of their social or political standing. He should start by probing into the corrupt practices of the previous administration and where necessary restore any stolen resources.

    To truly let the poor, breathe, President Tinubu must embrace a comprehensive social safety net that protects the most vulnerable in times of economic hardships. The implementation of well-targeted social welfare programs can provide a lifeline for those in need and create a more equitable society.

    Inclusivity and representation are also crucial in driving change. President Tinubu’s government must ensure that the voices of the poor are heard in policymaking processes. Engaging with grassroots organizations, civil society, and community leaders can foster a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by the marginalized and aid in formulating effective solutions.

    The Nigerian people have shown resilience in the face of adversity, and they deserve a leader who prioritizes their welfare. President Tinubu has an opportunity to leave a legacy by championing the cause of the poor and creating a more inclusive society. Let us hope that under his leadership, the nation can take significant strides toward a more equitable and prosperous Nigeria, where every citizen can breathe freely and fulfil their potential.

    President Tinubu’s administration should prioritize job creation and entrepreneurship. Sustainable economic growth can lift people out of poverty and provide them with the means to support themselves and their families. By encouraging investment in industries, promoting small businesses, and supporting vocational training programs, the government can lay the foundation for a more prosperous future.

    The situation of the poor in Nigeria demands urgent attention and action. As President Bola Ahmed Tinubu leads the nation, he has the opportunity to enact meaningful reforms that will allow the impoverished masses to breathe freely, unburdened by the chains of poverty. It is time to prioritize the well-being of all Nigerians and build a nation where every citizen can dream and aspire to a brighter future.

    • Tosin Afeniforo, IUSS Pavia, Italy.
  • Rethinking Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal

    Rethinking Code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal

    Both the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) are constitutional bodies established under the Third Schedule Part A and Fifth Schedule Part 1 Paragraph 15 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. There is also the Code of Conduct Bureau and Code of Conduct Tribunal Act No 1 of 1989 (c) Cap. 59.  The basic objective for the establishment of the CCB is to maintain a high standard of morality in the conduct of government business. It is also to ensure that the actions and behaviour of public officers conform to the highest standards of public morality and accountability. Its functions include: (a) receiving assets declarations by public officers; (b) examining the assets declarations and ensuring that they comply with the requirements of the Act setting it up or of any law for the time being in force; (c) taking and retaining custody of such assets declarations; and (d) receiving complaints about non-compliance with or breach of the Act. Where the Bureau considers it necessary to do so, it is empowered to refer complaints to the Code of Conduct Tribunal.

    Read Also: Increase funding for Code of Conduct Bureau

    The Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT) is the second leg of the bureaucracy of the Nigerian Assets and Liabilities Declaration framework, created to strengthen integrity in public service. It is the enforcement arm with judicial powers to sanction persons who breach the constitutional Code of Conduct. It has the exclusive powers and authority to punish breaches of the Code of Conduct Act. If both the CCB and CCT focused on the objectives for which they were established, they would, by today, have become great pillars in the fight against corruption and gone a long way towards sanitising the public service. It is doubtful if both bodies have lived up to their mandates. Indeed, little is heard of their activities except the frequent bickering among the chairmen of the two bodies and their board members that make newspapers and social media headlines.

    Long before the establishment of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) as anti-corruption agencies, the establishment of the CCB and CCT had ignited hope that corruption would be tackled head-on to restore faith in the system. Unfortunately, the two agencies’ journey has been marred by controversies and internal dissension. Over time, the agencies became defanged. This institutionalised weakening rendered the agencies incapable of carrying out their core mandate and has eroded public trust to unprecedented levels.

    Transparency and accountability are vital pillars of any anti-corruption agency, ensuring that the public has faith in its work. Unfortunately, both the CCB and CCT have not inspired confidence. The consequences of an ineffective anti-corruption agency extend far beyond its own walls. As public trust crumbles, cynicism spreads, and the belief that fighting corruption is an unattainable goal takes root. This erosion of trust not only affects citizens’ faith in the two bodies, it is also capable of tarnishing the reputation of the entire governance system. An anti-corruption agency should operate autonomously, free from political interference, in order to fulfill its objectives effectively. However, the agencies have been distracted by political influence. Instead of being a shield against corruption, they have evoked distrust.

    The experience of the former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, before the CCT leaves much to be desired. It remains one of the darkest moments of abuse of judicial power in the country and the extent to which the agency rendered itself vulnerable to political control. The existence of the CCB and CCT as anti-corruption agencies that have lost their ways is a wake-up call to demand immediate action. The fight against corruption necessitates a comprehensive overhaul of the agencies’ leadership, structure, and operational mechanisms. The process should be guided by integrity, transparency, and the inclusion of independent voices to ensure effectiveness. Rebuilding public trust in them is paramount.

    The weakening of an anti-corruption agency due to internal contradictions should be a grave concern. This betrayal of public trust undermines the fight against corruption and poses significant challenges to the integrity of the entire governance system. By acknowledging the extent of the problem, demanding reform, and working towards renewed integrity, society can strive to rebuild a robust and effective anti-corruption agency that truly upholds the principles of justice, accountability, and transparency. Only through collective efforts can Nigeria triumph over corruption and pave the way for a brighter future.

  • Unfaithful multinationals

    Unfaithful multinationals

    NEITI deserves commendation for ensuring they give to Nigeria what is Nigeria’s

    Just as Nigerians have the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) to thank for the great role it is playing on transparency and accountability in the polity generally, they also have the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) to thank for its alertness in the oil and gas sector. I am sure the organisation must be a pain in the necks of the major players in that all-important sector. Only last week, I wrote a satirical piece on SERAP, with the group’s demand for sensitivity to the country’s economic plight on the part of the country’s leaders, especially those in the National Assembly.

    Today, my focus has shifted to NEITI. The background to this was the report in ‘The Tribune’ of July 25, about the vow of our House of Representatives members to recover over $9bn gas flaring levy from the international oil companies (IOCs) and other players in the sector. I have been following the activities of this organisation for some years but I doubt if I ever had the opportunity to comment on it. And if I ever did, I am not sure it is enough, considering the Yeoman’s job that it is doing in the oil and gas sector to keep the players on their toes.

    Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee Investigating Gas Flaring, Ahmed Munir, who appeared worried by the level of impunity perpetrated in the sector assured that the current National Assembly would recover all debts owed by the companies, as well as ensure compliance with the rules and regulations guiding operations in the sector. Munir was speaking in Abuja during a post-investigative hearing attended by  the various stakeholders, including the Federal Ministry of Environment, the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NISDRA), among others. “I can assure you that we will not take this lying down.  There are two ways to go about it; we have the issues of penalties that are not paid amounting to about $9bn or thereabout. That one is there. We know how to recover it.”

    But it is not all about penalties alone. According to Munir, “Secondly, going forward, those that are still polluting, how do you ensure you get it down to zero level and what are the penalties that are going to be put in place?”

    Read Also; Aladja/Ogbe-Ijoh: Delta’s field of deaths

    The latest appeal to debtor oil companies to pay their debts was not the first by NEITI. NEITI’s Executive Secretary, Dr Orji Ogbonnaya Orji, had cause to make a similar appeal to them last September when he urged the debtor companies to pay over $2 billion debt owed to the Federal Government, saying the government was in dire need of funds for its projects. Orji spoke at the NEITI-Companies Forum Sensitisation on Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) validation.

    He said “If we have over $2 billion that is outstanding, it is important we sensitise those who are owing to pay up because the government needs the money right now. We have moved from disclosing what is owed to what needs to be paid on time so that the government will have some money to fund projects. That is the target of NEITI at the moment, using our report to hold accountable companies that are owing the government.”

    In 2019, 77 oil and gas companies owed the Federal Government about $6.8bn. Subsequently, the National Assembly summoned the companies following NEITI’s report on the debts. Twenty-six of them paid and the debt was reduced to $3.6bn in the following year’s NEITI report.

    “So far, NEITI has conducted and published 25 cycles of audit reports in the oil and gas sector, covering the period 1999-2020. From the report, a total of $741.48 billion was recorded as revenue earnings to government coffers from the sector”, Orji said.

    He added that “Besides, NEITI reports have led to the recovery of several billions of dollars by the government from companies operating in the sector. Recommendations of our reports are also triggering huge reforms in the sector, one of which is the PIA…”

    Interestingly, the oil and gas companies hardly dispute its reports. Rather, they shop for excuses to explain why they did not pay. An attempt to discredit NEITI’s report in 2013 failed woefully as the plot was not well carried out, thus exposing the agency responsible for what it was. What happened was that the agency, the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA) withheld relevant documents that it should have produced on demand by NEITI for audit purposes until after the exercise only to produce same after the report was released! It involved over-recovery of about N4.423bn.

    My worry is why it is convenient for these companies to owe all manner of fees and levies in Nigeria, a thing they dare not try in other oil producing nations? How come companies with very high moral standing in their own countries misbehave without compunction in Nigeria? The big names in the oil sector are multinationals. They are reputed for the high ethical and professional standards that they uphold back home. But all of these count for nothing when they are doing business outside their home countries, particularly when they are based in Africa and other parts of the so-called Third World.

    And this, unfortunately, is not limited to oil companies. Many of our banks also cream off huge sums of money fraudulently from unsuspecting customers. It is just that most of the individual customers are either ignorant of these illegal deductions or they simply think they are too negligible to be bothered about. Corporate entities that had been duped by banks know what they would have lost if they had not engaged consultants to slug it out with their banks. I know of a particular company that got substantial millions refunded when financial consultants engaged by it interrogated its bank over some of the fraudulent deductions from the company’s account euphemistically called charges.

    And these are banks that should be role models of transparency and honesty. When gold rusts, what will iron do?

    But these fraudulent practices in the country, whether in the banking or oil sector or indeed wherever have persisted because of the collusion by top government regulatory agents with the companies in the sectors they are supposed to be regulating. No lizard can penetrate a wall that is not cracked. These irregularities have become malignant tumors here because our system is too lax. Blue murder that if you try in a place like China you are as dead as dodo, people commit with impunity here. The wages of such sin is death in China. So, unless you have more than one life, or you are in a hurry to join your ancestors, you won’t try those silly things in that place. This is the kind of draconian measure we need in the country if we are ever to get out of this hydra-headed mess.

    One can only imagine how much debts the oil and gas companies would have got away with without NEITI insisting that all payments due to the Federal Government from all extractive industry companies are duly made, in line with its core mandate.

    Gas flaring poses a significant environmental, health and economic as well as social concerns in the oil bearing areas. It is instructive that it was in a bid to discourage it that fines were imposed for it. It used to be US$0.30 from 2013 to June 2018. When it was discovered that the fine was too small to make a dent on the problem, it was raised to US$2.00 from July 2018 till date. Mr Patrick Mgbebu, RMAFC chairman for gas flaring made the stakeholders understand that the fines payable on this was about $3,465,226.55 while the value of the gas would have been $12,403,000,001.20 if it was sold instead of being flared.

    Law breakers should be ready to face the consequence. But not in Nigeria. People would break the law and would still be hobnobbing with our political leaders who should be interested in ensuring they pay up their fines so that government would have funds for developmental projects. These oil companies know that they are flaring gas; a thing that is intolerable in Nigeria as in other oil producing countries, why then do they wait for NEITI to be running after them before paying their fines? Meaning that if NEITI does not pursue them for the debts, they won’t pay. Can they do that elsewhere?

    It is not only on fuel subsidy that government should beam its searchlight in the oil and gas sector. The government can realise substantial revenue from the extractive sub-sector of the business. Nigeria’s debt is said to be in the region of about $100bn comprising a total external debt stock of $40.06bn (N16.61trn) and $63.24bn (N26.23trn) domestic stock. The oil and gas sector alone has a lot to offer in relieving us of the debt burden; if only we can retrieve what is stolen through fuel subsidy, oil royalties, fines, and other unpaid monies that are due to the government from the sector.

    As a matter of fact, we would not need to borrow a dime if all these bleedings in the oil and gas sector alone are checked. But to do that, we need to protect NEITI from the corruptive influences of the society. We are also lucky that the National Assembly members have largely not made themselves available to be corrupted. Where any of these two institutions decides to join the corruption train, then the country would continue to lose huge sums of money into private pockets.

    We need to build the structures and not continue to believe that tomorrow’s handlers of an organisation like NEITI would continue to be as incorruptible as today’s who are toiling round the clock to get the best for the country from those who are ready to milk it dry without bating an eyelid.