The Nation Newspaper

Category: Discourse

  • Segun Adeyemo: A visionary researcher transforming Nigeria’s forestry sector 

    Segun Adeyemo: A visionary researcher transforming Nigeria’s forestry sector 

    Segun Adeyemo, a brilliant forestry researcher at the University of Ibadan, is leading a multidisciplinary research effort to address the challenges facing Nigeria’s forestry sector. 

    His groundbreaking work spans a wide range of topics, from quantifying wood usage in construction and optimizing harvesting techniques to investigating the properties of lesser-used timber species to meet the growing demand for wood products in the country. 

    Adeyemo’s exceptional research has earned him international recognition, including a highly competitive fully funded scholarship from the European Union (Erasmus Mundus) to study at three prestigious European universities and earn a double master’s degree.

    In a groundbreaking study, Adeyemo discovered that a staggering 41% of the total wood consumed in building construction in Ibadan is used for replacements due to poor-quality timber and ineffective preservation methods. 

    This high percentage of wood used for repairs leads to economic losses and places increased pressure on Nigeria’s already dwindling forest resources. Adeyemo’s findings highlight the urgent need to adopt more effective wood preservation techniques and use durable, lesser-known timber species to reduce the frequency of replacements and promote sustainable construction practices.

    Adeyemo’s research also delves into optimizing harvesting techniques to improve efficiency and productivity in Nigeria’s Onigambari Forest Reserve. 

    By assessing current logging operations, he identified that only 15% of the harvested trees met the recommended minimum felling diameter of 48cm, leading to suboptimal efficiency and productivity. His study revealed that harvesting efficiency could be improved by adhering to the minimum felling diameter, investing in proper equipment maintenance, and ensuring expert supervision. 

    These recommendations aim to enhance the sustainability of logging operations while promoting forest regeneration. Recognizing the need to explore alternative timber species to meet the growing demand for wood products, Adeyemo has collaborated with other researchers to investigate the properties of lesser-used species. In a series of studies, they evaluated the anatomical characteristics, physical properties, and mechanical properties of Blighia sapida K. Koenig wood, demonstrating its potential for various applications. 

    Additionally, Adeyemo and his colleagues have examined the radial and axial variation in ring width and tracheid length of plantation-grown Caribbean pine (Pinus caribaea MORELET) in Afaka, Kaduna State, providing valuable insights into the growth patterns and wood quality of this species.

    Adeyemo’s outstanding research has not gone unnoticed by the international scientific community. In recognition of his exceptional work, he was awarded a highly competitive fully funded scholarship from the European Union (Erasmus Mundus) to pursue a double master’s degree at three esteemed European universities. This prestigious scholarship is a testament to Adeyemo’s intellectual prowess and the global relevance of his research in addressing the challenges faced by the forestry sector.

    Through his multifaceted approach and international exposure, Segun Adeyemo is setting a new standard for forestry research in Nigeria. By addressing critical issues such as wood utilization in construction, harvesting techniques, and the properties of lesser-used species, he is contributing to the development of sustainable forest management strategies that balance economic needs with environmental conservation. 

    Adeyemo’s groundbreaking work catalyzes positive change in Nigeria’s forestry sector, emphasizing the importance of research-driven solutions in ensuring the long-term health and resilience of the nation’s forests.

    As Nigeria strives to meet the growing demand for wood products while preserving its valuable forest resources, Segun Adeyemo’s innovative research provides a roadmap for sustainable wood utilization and forest management. 

    His findings underscore the need for collaborative efforts among policymakers, industry stakeholders, and researchers to implement evidence-based strategies that promote the responsible use of forest resources. 

    By embracing Adeyemo’s recommendations, exploring the potential of lesser-used timber species, and fostering international collaboration, Nigeria can take significant strides toward building a sustainable and thriving forestry sector that benefits both the economy and the environment.

  • ‘A soldiers’ soldier at 80’  

    Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi pays tribute to 80 year-old Gen. Alani Akinrinade for his pro-democracy activities, military professionalism and commitment to the rule of law and the cause of national unity.

    I’ most delighted to contribute this tribute to a leader who has affected me positively in my own growth trajectory, General Alani Akinrinade as he clocks eighty. His spartan reputation loomed large even before the privilege of meeting him. He was the intrepid barnstormer in the 3rd Marine Commando that played a pivotal role in Nigeria’s eventual victory in the Civil War. He was also the General Officer Commanding the First Division, who told Colonel Bukar Sukar Dimka that it was in his best interest to change his mind about the 1976 coup before he marched down south with his troops to overrun him and his band of coup plotters. Soldiers talked about him in hushed tones but with bated breath and barely concealed admiration. Contemporaries regard him as the quintessential exemplary soldier. It was no surprise that he went on to attain the highest levels in his chosen career – first as Chief of Army Staff and subsequently as Chief of Defence Staff under President Shehu Shagari even before he turned 50.

    General Akinrinade was a soldiers’ soldier. Brave, bold, intrepid and professional in his chosen trade. He is also self -effacing to a fault. He would rather operate in the shadows than call attention to himself. Yet he is a patriot to the core, one who is never afraid of speaking truth to power and challenging any status quo that is not delivering development to the downtrodden.

    Although I met him first as a research student writing a doctoral thesis on defence planning in Nigeria, my relationship with him  has grown from one of a detached academic observer to a mentee and an adopted son. I have had the privilege of working closely with him in the quest of making Nigeria a truly Federal republic at home and abroad and have seen him agonize over missed opportunities in our country over the years. What becomes clear very early  to anyone who knows General Akinrinade is his abhorrence of oppression. Whether he is defending the Ogoni in the Niger Delta or protecting the rights of the small and medium scale enterprises as Industry and Agriculture Minister, he is never tired of being the voice of the voiceless and the defender of the defenseless. For that, he suffered greatly. Not only did he become persona non grata in the country he fought to keep united, assassins were sent after him for his audacity to speak truth to power. His Opebi, Lagos house was fire bombed and his Yakoyo residence ransacked. His family suffered greatly in the hands of those not even fit to tie his shoelace.

    There are many who now bestride the Nigerian political space like the colossus with scant acknowledgment of General Akinrinade’s role in making this democratic process possible. I should know. I was involved in that process and could speak authoritatively about the role General Akinrinade played. In fact, written  about it in my book, Out of the Shadows.  I know that I’m a beneficiary of his generosity of spirit and of his extensive knowledge of Nigeria’s complexities. Yet there are many who are also beneficiaries of the General’s goodwill without the decency of openly confirming this.

    One of his most unique qualities is the fact that he is an unapologetic Nigerian nationalist as he is a proud Yoruba patriot. His position on the distortions that have bedraggled the Nigerian state is well known. His critique of the creeping unitarism brought about partly by military incursion into politics is also well documented. And he has proffered solutions by arguing largely for competitive and cooperative federalism – particularly the type that strengthen minority segments of the country.

    Today at 80, I’m almost certain that he is not happy about the state of affairs in our beloved country. But with his incurable optimism and his unflagging determination, General Akinrinade has defied stereotypes and become one of the most dashing 80 year olds in this clime. And that is why we cannot let go of him in these difficult times. The leadership that is needed in troubled times like this requires the experience, courage and non-partisan direction of his type. Although he has always avoided been put in a position in which leadership is thrust upon him, it is clear as the elders say, Ti Ina o ba tan laso, eje ki tan Lekan na. Our country needs guardian angels right now  and they don’t come any better than General Akinrinade.

    General, sir! The job is not done. Your children and mentees in the saddle still need you. They need your wise counsel, they need your network, they need your clarity of vision, they need your sincerity of purpose. We need your consensual, purpose-driven leadership.

    Happy Birthday sir…..Igba Odun, Odun kan oo.

  • ‘To secure, we have to love: herdsmen, kidnappers, Boko Haram and the climate of fear’

    It is also a story of economic hierarchy. The herders are not the owners of the cattle. Some of them are owned by shadowy big men, who encourage them to bring home the profits. So those who argue against the herdsmen also are pitching battles by proxy against the Fulani hegemon. It makes the matter even more complicated.

    The question of banditry has become another hobgoblin. Is the herdsman a bandit, or it is just the bandit masquerading as herdsman. If the herdsman was so busy trying to sell its cows, what time will they have to sell their cows if they lay ambush everyday on highways?  According to some analysts, the herdsmen exist who have always been with us. These men still occupy the farms and wreak havoc. They still want grazing fields for their animals. Yet, when we see them, we only see sticks. They don’t read. They don’t follow the fire and outrage of contemporary angst and debate. They just go about their businesses.

    But some say there are bad herdsmen, but most of the havoc we see come from bandits who have lost their way in the world. So, they live and die by killing and dispossessing the victims. According to recent reports of captured marauders, some of them are trained outside the country. They steal into the country through the borders. Yet, the reports show that they would not know their way around the country if they did not make companionship with locals. That is why the economic blends with the cultural. The Zamfara case tells us that it is essentially an economic matter.

    Zamfara State would, in a properly governed environment, be a near Eldorado with networks of highways, high-rises, shopping malls, a buzzing airport, the panoply of spinoff commerce, burgeoning cultural exports, et al. But it’s the hallowed ground of bandits and crude adventurers. It is the economic equivalent of a hoodlum’s paradise.

    Tied to this is the perception of the bandit crisis as class warfare. Take, for instance, the rage of elite kidnappings, especially in the north. The Abuja-Kaduna highway is now a thoroughfare of woe for even the Fulani elite. Those who say the bandit crisis is Fulanisation and Islamisation should answer why a governor, a minister, a permanent secretary, a money bag of the Fulani extraction would not travel that road with all the array of cars and security men. Rather they would huddle with others in the rowdy comfort of a train. The story is told of an imam who gave a pep talk in Abuja and told his audience that the Abuja-Kaduna expressway was safe. After his glowing delivery, it was time to return home to Kaduna. He did not hit the express. Rather his hosts escorted him to the train station. His faith was not tailored to his own soul, but to those he encouraged. Do what I say, but not what I do.

    Nothing demonstrates the confluence of class warfare and economic imperative than the issue of kidnapping. They have redefined the value of human capital. You kidnap a judge or a minister’s son, and that is a great investment in human resources. The return could be more profitable than drugs. Within hours, you can make as much as N20 million or N50million, or even more, depending on the opulence and desperation of the captive and their family. Why would the talakawa, who neither reads nor write, and who cannot earn with all his manic muscles more than N20 thousand Naira a month, neglect so great a financial salvation? Within a week, he can stun himself with enough to buy a new car and build a house and enjoy all the soft life and luxuries that Maigida has taken for granted. All he has to do is kidnap again. It becomes addictive. Any catch translates into a generational wealth in their eyes. He becomes a money-miss-road, dross in gold. So, to such gold diggers, they don’t see Fulani, they see Eldorado.

    In the northeast, the Boko haram flame has failed to abate. When it is not smothering lives in firestorms of surprise attacks, suicides bombs and all, it is smouldering in intermittent skirmishes. Yet, it all began with a class narrative. The poor under the cynical watch of former Borno State Governor, Ali Modu Sherriff, were used for elections and cast away. They needed shelter, food, and wives. A certain messianic creature known as Mohammed Yusuf provided them all these. All he wanted from them was his own version of Islamic piety. They are under the thrall of the man who gave them food. He works under what the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky designates as the triad of oppression. They are authority, mystery and miracle. These three weapons under a person’s command can make him a god on earth. That was Yusuf, and the founder of Boko Haram. After providing the Sheriff castaways with food, shelter and wives. He had made them his children, his urchins. As Dostoyevsky noted in his novel, The Brothers Karamazov, “anyone who can appease a man’s conscience can take his freedom.”

    With mystery, he gave them faith. With miracle, he gave them food, shelter, and all of that gave him authority.  To other classes of humans, food may not be miracle. To the poor who is hungry, especially the destitute, food and shelter are miracles from God. Again, as Dostoyevsky defines it, “In a realist, faith does not spring from miracle but miracle out of faith.” You define your own miracle.

    So, his followers now decided to strike. Was it about Islam? Well, yes, the extreme variant. But was it about class? Plenty. They brought down emirs, razed tony mosques, pillaged the markets, carted away the girls that would be brides to the rich, etc. They saw themselves not as evil people. They saw themselves as messengers of the Almighty, who loathed the moral squalor of the feathered class.

    Yusuf took away their freedom and gave them his own. They all want to be free to be terrorists. Philosopher Isaiah Berlin noted that freedom was not only about the classical idea of western liberal thought. Anyone can define it their way. As the Marxist wants his freedom, so does the terrorist, so does Boko Haram.

    Within the Nigerian state, we therefore see all of these clashes in the family. Each one wants a different definition of comfort and peace. In that ambience, peace is the major casualty, and where there is no peace, fear abounds.

    When Boko Haram was at its peak, the military brass backed by its Fulani elite waged a quiet genocide against the Kanuri. Anytime they saw a Kanuri gathering, or a kanuri traveller with their distinctive tribal marks, they were targeted for arrests, harassments and killing. The shoe, as they say, is in the other foot now. The targets are Fulani today. No one trusts them, including the Hausa. Even the elite Fulani suspects the talakawa up north. As Samuel Coleridge once noted, even “whoring brothers disagree.” So, we have created fear as an instrument of governance. It will take fear banishment and as sense of fairness for the fear to go.

    With each afraid of the other, we cannot stop banditry, or herdsmen crisis, or even Boko haram. We need a leadership of fairness and fearlessness. Is that not why the issue of banditry even in the southwest has become even a big problem. On the military level, why are we not using drones to target and isolate and knock out the hoodlums? Are they not living among us? Are they spirits?

    What did the former Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima deploy to flush out many Boko haram players from among the people? They were the Civilian JTF. They are the unsung heroes of modern Nigeria. We need drones as intelligence since the intelligence agencies in Nigeria have failed us. We need to create civilian equivalents of the JTF in the southwest and other parts of the country. Then the drones can track their hideouts, and the Air Force and soldiers can go to work. In short order, we can deal with the scourge. That is a short term solution to the herdsmen bugbear.

    After that, we can face the perennial issue of distrust. If we cannot stop it, it will haunt us, and the scourges will emerge in other dimensions.  We have to awake the right identities and paradigms for the future. That accounts for why the philosopher Rene Descartes said, cogito ego sum, “I think therefore I am.” In his own book of polemics titled, The Rebel, Albert Camus wrote, “I rebel – therefore we exist.” In his novel, Satanic verses” Salman Rushdie declares, “to be born again first you have to die.”

    So, it means we have to pursue a new birth and a new identity. Hence I titled this piece, “To secure, first we have to love.” That is love each other. It means a leadership of cooperative charisma beyond class and tribe and primordial loyalties. Or else we shall solve one and go into another problem. For instance, as Femi Falana has warned, the followers of Sheikh EL Zakzaky are fuming and growing. Is that the next bandit? Or cover for one?

    So, the problem is not in anywhere else but in us. It is because we fear ourselves.

     

  • ‘To secure, we have to love: herdsmen, kidnappers, Boko Haram and the climate of fear’

    It is also a story of economic hierarchy. The herders are not the owners of the cattle. Some of them are owned by shadowy big men, who encourage them to bring home the profits. So those who argue against the herdsmen also are pitching battles by proxy against the Fulani hegemon. It makes the matter even more complicated.

    The question of banditry has become another hobgoblin. Is the herdsman a bandit, or it is just the bandit masquerading as herdsman. If the herdsman was so busy trying to sell its cows, what time will they have to sell their cows if they lay ambush everyday on highways?  According to some analysts, the herdsmen exist who have always been with us. These men still occupy the farms and wreak havoc. They still want grazing fields for their animals. Yet, when we see them, we only see sticks. They don’t read. They don’t follow the fire and outrage of contemporary angst and debate. They just go about their businesses.

    But some say there are bad herdsmen, but most of the havoc we see come from bandits who have lost their way in the world. So, they live and die by killing and dispossessing the victims. According to recent reports of captured marauders, some of them are trained outside the country. They steal into the country through the borders. Yet, the reports show that they would not know their way around the country if they did not make companionship with locals. That is why the economic blends with the cultural. The Zamfara case tells us that it is essentially an economic matter.

    Zamfara State would, in a properly governed environment, be a near Eldorado with networks of highways, high-rises, shopping malls, a buzzing airport, the panoply of spinoff commerce, burgeoning cultural exports, et al. But it’s the hallowed ground of bandits and crude adventurers. It is the economic equivalent of a hoodlum’s paradise.

    Tied to this is the perception of the bandit crisis as class warfare. Take, for instance, the rage of elite kidnappings, especially in the north. The Abuja-Kaduna highway is now a thoroughfare of woe for even the Fulani elite. Those who say the bandit crisis is Fulanisation and Islamisation should answer why a governor, a minister, a permanent secretary, a money bag of the Fulani extraction would not travel that road with all the array of cars and security men. Rather they would huddle with others in the rowdy comfort of a train. The story is told of an imam who gave a pep talk in Abuja and told his audience that the Abuja-Kaduna expressway was safe. After his glowing delivery, it was time to return home to Kaduna. He did not hit the express. Rather his hosts escorted him to the train station. His faith was not tailored to his own soul, but to those he encouraged. Do what I say, but not what I do.

    Nothing demonstrates the confluence of class warfare and economic imperative than the issue of kidnapping. They have redefined the value of human capital. You kidnap a judge or a minister’s son, and that is a great investment in human resources. The return could be more profitable than drugs. Within hours, you can make as much as N20 million or N50million, or even more, depending on the opulence and desperation of the captive and their family. Why would the talakawa, who neither reads nor write, and who cannot earn with all his manic muscles more than N20 thousand Naira a month, neglect so great a financial salvation? Within a week, he can stun himself with enough to buy a new car and build a house and enjoy all the soft life and luxuries that Maigida has taken for granted. All he has to do is kidnap again. It becomes addictive. Any catch translates into a generational wealth in their eyes. He becomes a money-miss-road, dross in gold. So, to such gold diggers, they don’t see Fulani, they see Eldorado.

    In the northeast, the Boko haram flame has failed to abate. When it is not smothering lives in firestorms of surprise attacks, suicides bombs and all, it is smouldering in intermittent skirmishes. Yet, it all began with a class narrative. The poor under the cynical watch of former Borno State Governor, Ali Modu Sherriff, were used for elections and cast away. They needed shelter, food, and wives. A certain messianic creature known as Mohammed Yusuf provided them all these. All he wanted from them was his own version of Islamic piety. They are under the thrall of the man who gave them food. He works under what the Russian writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky designates as the triad of oppression. They are authority, mystery and miracle. These three weapons under a person’s command can make him a god on earth. That was Yusuf, and the founder of Boko Haram. After providing the Sheriff castaways with food, shelter and wives. He had made them his children, his urchins. As Dostoyevsky noted in his novel, The Brothers Karamazov, “anyone who can appease a man’s conscience can take his freedom.”

    With mystery, he gave them faith. With miracle, he gave them food, shelter, and all of that gave him authority.  To other classes of humans, food may not be miracle. To the poor who is hungry, especially the destitute, food and shelter are miracles from God. Again, as Dostoyevsky defines it, “In a realist, faith does not spring from miracle but miracle out of faith.” You define your own miracle.

    So, his followers now decided to strike. Was it about Islam? Well, yes, the extreme variant. But was it about class? Plenty. They brought down emirs, razed tony mosques, pillaged the markets, carted away the girls that would be brides to the rich, etc. They saw themselves not as evil people. They saw themselves as messengers of the Almighty, who loathed the moral squalor of the feathered class.

    Yusuf took away their freedom and gave them his own. They all want to be free to be terrorists. Philosopher Isaiah Berlin noted that freedom was not only about the classical idea of western liberal thought. Anyone can define it their way. As the Marxist wants his freedom, so does the terrorist, so does Boko Haram.

    Within the Nigerian state, we therefore see all of these clashes in the family. Each one wants a different definition of comfort and peace. In that ambience, peace is the major casualty, and where there is no peace, fear abounds.

    When Boko Haram was at its peak, the military brass backed by its Fulani elite waged a quiet genocide against the Kanuri. Anytime they saw a Kanuri gathering, or a kanuri traveller with their distinctive tribal marks, they were targeted for arrests, harassments and killing. The shoe, as they say, is in the other foot now. The targets are Fulani today. No one trusts them, including the Hausa. Even the elite Fulani suspects the talakawa up north. As Samuel Coleridge once noted, even “whoring brothers disagree.” So, we have created fear as an instrument of governance. It will take fear banishment and as sense of fairness for the fear to go.

    With each afraid of the other, we cannot stop banditry, or herdsmen crisis, or even Boko haram. We need a leadership of fairness and fearlessness. Is that not why the issue of banditry even in the southwest has become even a big problem. On the military level, why are we not using drones to target and isolate and knock out the hoodlums? Are they not living among us? Are they spirits?

    What did the former Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima deploy to flush out many Boko haram players from among the people? They were the Civilian JTF. They are the unsung heroes of modern Nigeria. We need drones as intelligence since the intelligence agencies in Nigeria have failed us. We need to create civilian equivalents of the JTF in the southwest and other parts of the country. Then the drones can track their hideouts, and the Air Force and soldiers can go to work. In short order, we can deal with the scourge. That is a short term solution to the herdsmen bugbear.

    After that, we can face the perennial issue of distrust. If we cannot stop it, it will haunt us, and the scourges will emerge in other dimensions.  We have to awake the right identities and paradigms for the future. That accounts for why the philosopher Rene Descartes said, cogito ego sum, “I think therefore I am.” In his own book of polemics titled, The Rebel, Albert Camus wrote, “I rebel – therefore we exist.” In his novel, Satanic verses” Salman Rushdie declares, “to be born again first you have to die.”

    So, it means we have to pursue a new birth and a new identity. Hence I titled this piece, “To secure, first we have to love.” That is love each other. It means a leadership of cooperative charisma beyond class and tribe and primordial loyalties. Or else we shall solve one and go into another problem. For instance, as Femi Falana has warned, the followers of Sheikh EL Zakzaky are fuming and growing. Is that the next bandit? Or cover for one?

    So, the problem is not in anywhere else but in us. It is because we fear ourselves.

  • ‘To secure, we have to love: herdsmen, kidnappers, Boko Haram and the climate of fear’

    Text of a lecture delivered by Chairman, The Nation’s Editorial Board, Sam Omatseye at the Annual lecture of the Faculty of Arts, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti.

    Barely ten years ago, the Nigerian geographic sweep did not weep with bumps or deeps, except the physical ones. When we traversed the country’s landscape, death traps were open to the eyes. They were the Lucifer without spirits. The death traps materialised as craters on highways, sharp, precipitous drops  like cliffs. We know why. They arose from near illiterate survey works, and corruption that deprived some roads of enjoying the full weight of expenditure, according to the budget. They were unmistakable as gullies, unnatural valleys, potholes, sharp bends, erosions, and more. They accounted for fear on the highways. You didn’t have to drive slow, or speed to the death to die. As a character in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night put it, “care is an enemy to life.”

    Citizens died from collisions. They were of a variety sometimes craved now as the preferred option in a nation of sanguinary compulsions. Car-to car crashes, car-to-crater tragedies, trailers tumbling over fragile sedans, cars or buses sliding on mud-spattered paths into roadside ditches or bushes, or vehicles ramming into trees accidentally felled across the road, and so on.

    A few years back, a certain minister visited the Ore-Benin highway and she staged a rage of public tears. She bewailed the antediluvian atrocity of the structure. Humans – that is fellow citizens – found communion with wounds and fatal finalities on that fabled highway. I am referring to the former minister of oil, then of works, Diezani Allison-Madueke.

    Priests and imams prayed for wayfarers not to encounter death by the demons of bad roads or an ancient infrastructure.

    Today, it is a different story. Those plying some of the roads encounter bumps and deeps, but not just of the roads but of a vital part of their bodies: the heart. It is called palpitation. Death traps do not appear until you know them. Death traps are ghosts or spirits, bearing deaths and kidnapping. The highway menace is now two-fold. We fear the roads, the gullies, the valleys, et al. Now, we fear something infinitely more deadly: the brigand. We now fear and tremble, with bumps and deeps of the heart.

    Ten years ago, in another irony, it was safer when travelling from north to south. The traveller could sleep pacifically in the northern half of the trip, having no premonitions about highway robbers or killers or kidnappers. Now, the fear is more potent in the northern part than in the south. Once the travellers crossed the Middle-belt southwards, and entered such states as Edo, Nasarawa, Kogi etc, the eyes pop out in impotent vigilance. At night, the eyes are owlish. During daylight, the eyes are like owls in daytime. They are wide open but see nothing, until danger, ever lurking, pounces on them from the shadows. It does not pay whether you set out in the morning or at night. The journey will benefit from the prayer of one of Soyinka’s poems, that says, “You must set forth at dawn/ I promise marvels of the holy hour.”

    No holy hours now in the land. Demons frisk about at day, and like in Shakespeare play, Hamlet, “we are doomed for a certain term to walk the night.” The brigands who murdered sleep have murder and rapine awaiting the traveller every hour and at any turn.

    So, where did we get this problem, how did we become a nation that was not contented with the fatalities of the underdevelopment but now embrace the more spiritual, moral fatalities that some have now characterised as herdsmen clashes.

    Some have said it is a problem of ethnic suspicion. Some have chalked it up to poverty. Others said, it is merely the function of porous borders. A few have said it has been coming to us for decades, and the fatal ship only just arrived after a storm-tossed voyage. A few others say we have had religious fervour turned upside down, and that is what we get when we believe because, sooner or later, faith collapses into fanaticism.

    For those who say it is an issue of ethnic suspicion. They have their reasons. For instance, the Muhammadu Buhari administration has done little to project itself as an enclave none other than of tribal irredentists. Appointment after key appointment seems to present him as blindsided by his Fulani fidelity. His Kanuri appointees are seen not as Kanuris at heart but Fulani everywhere except in name and origin.

    But in spite of the outcry, it seems he hears only what his heart tells him. His heart beats only to the rhythm of his northwest origins, according to many of his critics. But it has been a nation of ethnic disloyalty, a fear of Nigeria as a nation. That accounts for why we hide under what the Yoruba call “Tiwa ni tiwa.” Our is ours. Let us recall an interview published in an online publication called The Niche with Professor Anya O. Anya, on the struggle for the June 12 actualisation.

    In the interview, Professor Anya recalled how the Yorubas and the Igbos had a handshake across the Niger, and formed what was known then as the Council of Unity and Understanding. Some of the key players included the great Pa Adekunle Ajasin, Ayo Opadokun, Segun Osoba, Ayo Adebanjo, and others from the southwest. From the east were persons like Ebitu Ukiwe, Professor Anya, and others.  The CUU did not anticipate the turbulence of the June 12 struggle and the maelstrom of the National Democratic Coalition or NADECO struggles.

    The group adopted Chief M.K.O Abiola as their candidate, and Theophilus Danjuma was also drafted into the field to include the Middle-belt. But once crisis hit the organisation, identity politics threatened to paralyse the body. It had happened when the body metamorphosed into NADECO after General Ibrahim Babangida annulled the June 12 polls in 1983.

    But the military had turned fierce and even bloody, clamping down on the media, opposition henchmen, civil society warriors, and students on the rampage. In responding to the annulment, the members of the group wanted to draft a statement to dissociate from the military move to nullify a democracy act. The Yoruba in the group thought that such a statement should include an ultimatum to the military government to reverse its position. The Igbo as well as votaries of the Middle-belt like General Theophilus Danjuma, thought otherwise. They saw such a move as perilous. Here is part of Professor Anya’s account:

    “But something happened that was to transform the nature of the NADECO that was formed. At one of our meetings, it was agreed that a statement should be issued, in that statement, there was one sentence that looked like an ultimatum to the government, I remember that Danjuma asked that the sentence be removed, Ukiwe also said the sentence should be removed and our argument was quite simple: that you are dealing with a military government and an ultimatum to a military government is a declaration of war. If they now decide to take you on, do you have the armament? Have you made the preparations?

    “So unanimously we agreed that the sentence should be removed but one of those things that happens in history, when the statement was published in The Punch, that sentence was still there. Of course, it upset some of us. I knew it upset Ukiwe and Danjuma.

    So, what happened? Why was the statement not expunged as agreed?

    “It turned out that after we had met, three people met again, all Yoruba, and decided that the sentence must be there.

    “I can’t speak for Ukiwe and Danjuma but I speak for myself. For me, it was a dangerous signal because what we were involved in, we were now going into a situation where any of us could be arrested, where it is even possible that any of us could be executed, the least you expect is that those people you are working with you can trust them, that whatever was agreed as our collective wisdom will be obeyed. That was dangerous because it means that you can get into an understanding and you go away doing certain things that was agreed and then the results will be different because some people are doing something else. So it undermined trust.”

    By this account, Professor Anya delineates what he saw as the metamorphosis of NADECO into a predominantly Yoruba force. This is the sort of suspicion that has eaten deep into the fabric of cooperation of the matter. In his recent book titled Battlelines, former Ogun State Governor Segun Osoba referred to the group, but he romanticised its virtues as a model of inter-ethnic harmony. But Anya saw it as a paragon of fear and distrust.

    All our stories of disaffection in Nigeria often start with the story telling. Who controls the narrative? Who is the better spinmeister? It is all about class and tribe and interests. The truth often is a casualty. The political scientist Harold Laski once asserted that “they think differently who live differently.” Those who describe Nigeria as a mere geographical expression find refuge in such episodes. The statement is credited to Chief Obafemi Awolowo, also echoed by one-time foreign minister Okoi Arikpo. But the expression is not original to the great Yoruba sage. The leading European Statesman Count Metternich said Italy was a mere geographical expression in 1814. It comprised a series of principalities occupying a space then known as Italian peninsula. This changed in 1870 when it became a single, harmonious nation.

    So what happened to the Igbo and Yorubas in the CUU that harmony melted into mistrust? It is the story of Nigeria. If we believe Professor Anya’s narrative, what shall we say? Was it that the Yoruba in the group thought the Igbo were cowards and did not understand the peril of June 12? Did the Igbo not understand that you cannot fight the military with kid gloves? Was it what the Yoruba were thinking? Were the Yoruba thinking in line with what Nobel Prize-winning novelist and absurdist philosopher Albert Camus enjoined when he said, “Better to die on one’s feet than to live on one’s knees?”

    If that was the position of the Yoruba, what was the need cohabiting with the Igbo? Why meet if they did not think there was a nexus for any such dialogue? Was it a case of Achebe in Things Fall Apart who turned Okonkwo as a tragic failure, who insisted on dying on his feet and lose rather than Obierika who insisted on living on his knees and compromise and ultimately surrender?

    Were the Igbo not right not to distrust a group that agreed during a meeting but went under cover to portray the wrong conclusions of the meeting? Does that portray the Yoruba in the group as capable of any sort of trust, or what the Yoruba call omoluabi? How, as Professor Anya noted, could the Igbo go into a fight with a person or group who jettisoned agreements. Did the Yoruba think the others were lackadaisical about the cause because Abiola was not their son, and so decided early on to conduct the duel with the military without the emotional or intellectual investment of the other tribes?

    At the bottom of this distrust is our perception of history and identities. So, it is such suspicion that has played out even in the resolution of the problem of resolving banditry in the country. But what is more important in the herders crisis is that it began, according to many analysts, in the ungoverned spaces. According to those who know, it is actually a battle between the Hausas and Fulani. This is a duo that have worked as two peas in a pod for over two centuries. It happened in the Zamfara State area where the Hausa, having been oppressed by the more prosperous Fulani, decided to lash back. It became a case of the Hausa who had since 1804 laboured under the lordship of the Fulani now taking back their pints of blood.

    Again we can also take our minds back to when the issue became a debate between those who wanted the herdsmen everywhere and those who did not care if they remained in the north. The argument was that they should be given ranches. You see, the argument for ranches could have been ordinarily unimpeachable. If the herdsmen had ranches anywhere, they would not wander into people’s farms, they would not have a reason to clash with locals because there would be no locals. But the question is not in the ranches. it is in the ranchers. That is our problem. We trust ranches but not the ranchers. If we don’t trust the ranchers, why would we live with their ranches?

    This takes us to our original sin? Distrust. We cannot work together even if we propound the best of ideas. In Plateau State, the Fulani arrived to the gusto of the natives’ welcoming arms. They were few then and that was decades past. They lived in harmony, but the population of the settlers grew. Then came the era of Ibrahim Babangida. He gave them a local government. They crowned their king, and suddenly, the concept of settler versus natives became a question of even constitutional dimension. They now had electoral legitimacy; they could vote and be voted for with enough numbers to tilt the election results against their hosts.

    Again, ordinarily, if we saw each other as neighbours, what was wrong with a people of so large a population seeking electoral legitimacy? After all, they came with their own culture and historical idiosyncrasies. How could they assimilate if the locals welcomed them while each maintained their individual characteristics?  Each group has their own values they compress to form culture. According to French writer and astronomer, Jerome Lalande,  values “most often represent a transition from facts to rights, from what is desired to what is desirable.”

    Remember this is the same Plateau where the popular Cock Crow at Dawn drama series flourished. The executive producer, Peter Igho, an Urhobo from Delta State, noted that the halcyon days that produced the drama no longer exists today. The same hosts now live in adversarial relationship with their hosts and claim proprietary rights over the landlords. That is what Governor Lalong has undertaken to douse by setting a template of harmony among the groups. To his credit, it has worked for most part, although we cannot rule out the eruptions of fifth columnists from time to time as we have seen.

    So, it was not that the Fulani could not have prospered without let. It was that suspicion grew when hegemonic forces came into play. Hegemony also comes because of a consciousness of a different identity from the host, and vice versa. The distrust of the Fulani by the locals grew because of the sense and perception that they (the Fulani) had grown proprietary wings.

    When the concept of RUGA took centre stage, many in the south said no. RUGA means the same as ranch. But it meant, according to those who know, a village in Fulani. It is a semiotic assault. They – that is the southerners – are not seeing them as merely a ranch but as a Fulani ranch. That killed the concept on arrival. The Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong, tried to defrock it of its ethnic origin, by saying that a ranch by whatever name is a place where you breed animals for meat. That was clever but the politics of it puts semiotics over reality. Semiotics can also be its own reality.

    Yet there is a strong part of the narrative often downplayed in all these. It is the economic imperative. The herdsmen crisis has been posted as an economic issue. After all, the herders are selling animals, the customers are buying, and money keeps changing hands.

    Its supporters say the herder is not just an economic entity but a cultural one. Herding is their way of life. The herder has an almost ineluctable spiritual connection with the cow. So, the cow is not a totem; it has close to a totemic bond with its owner.

    But the economic factor stands. They have to eat to live to care for their animals. The reason the south has to accommodate the crisis in the first place is that if they hate the herdsmen they still love the cows. They need it for meat, for protein, for the big parties and assurance of a healthy life. They love the meat, if they think the herdsmen mean. If they must beef the seller, they must not beef the beef. Here lies the economic dilemma.

    cont’d – ‘To secure, we have to love: herdsmen, kidnappers, Boko Haram and the climate of fear’

     

  • ‘Our people are under siege’

    Text of a keynote address delivered by Ondo State Governor and Chairman, Southwest Governors’ Forum, Oluwarotimi Odunayo Akeredolu, SAN, at the Southwest security summit at the Theophilus Ogunlesi Hall, opposite University College Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Road, Ibadan, Oyo State on Tuesday.


    INTRODUCTION

    I welcome, most heartily, my fellow brothers from all South Western States and, indeed, all dignitaries invited to this very important gathering in Ibadan, the political capital of the Yoruba people. This meeting has become exigent considering the spate of insecurity in the country. The anxiety of our people is palpable. The growing fear among the populace makes nonsense of any plans conceived for the development of our God-given space.

    It is my fervent hope that this engagement will not be limited to the current challenge which threatens to wreck our collective peace. I look forward to future interactions on matters as important and affective as this one which compels this assembly. There is no gainsaying the obvious; the issue of socio-economic integration in the region must be taken seriously for any aspiration towards development to be meaningful. No remarkable progress can be achieved amidst chaos. No state in the region can achieve greatness in isolation.

    We should extend the possibility of cooperation on other socio-economic fronts. Our people stand to benefit from our resolve to ensure that they remain at the centre of all permutations and considerations. Partisan coloration should not delimit the extent of collaboration aimed at maximum service for our people. With shared yearnings for the development of the region, there should be no difficultyin agreeing to provide the best services possible in the interest of our people.

    There should be no disagreement in aspiration for service, if altruism is the focus. Our seeming difference, considering political platforms, should not stand in the way of commitment to promote the collective well-being of our people. Convinced of our shared heritage, propelled by the desire to proceed on the enviable tradition of excellence for which our ancestors are reputed, we cannot harbour any extraneous preferences to this inherited and established course of development.

    We are particularly lucky; we have many examples to draw from history considering exemplary courage in the face of adversity, uncommon display of hospitality, even in privation, industry and distinctive virtues, all of which mark us as a unique people. The influx of peoples from other parts of the country and beyond attest to our urbanity and humane disposition which accommodate divergence.The evidence of great successes recorded by those who seek refuge in our geo-political space is sufficient reason for the sustenance of our hospitable disposition, provided that our people’s interests are not in jeopardy.

    Again, our history compels us to be cautious when confronted with strange occurrences. Our past experiences should teach us that understanding a phenomenon will assist us, tremendously, in proffering useful solutions. As leaders of our people we cannot afford to be emotive in taking decisions for their benefit. Any step taken must reflect the collective will to protect them. No sacrifice is too much to preserve this heritage of peace and prosperity.

    The pervasive presence of persons not indigenous to our space bears eloquent testimony to the quality of our upbringing. The preponderance of thriving businesses owned and controlled by our brothers and sisters from other parts of the country is evidence of sophistication. Our land is indeed a lesson to other parts of the country. There is no limit to the aspiration of anyone who lives, peacefully, among us. Nobody is persecuted in our midst. We protect the weak, even against our own. Our borders are thrown open to all and sundry in the spirit of brotherhood and oneness.

    There is, however, the urgent need compelling a review of this liberal policy of openness. Our people are under siege, the harbingers of death, sorrow, tears and blood threaten the existing fraternity among the peoples of this country. Narrow-mindedness gloats over the horrendous crimes perpetrated by these criminal elements. Some fail to see beyond partisan parochialism. The situation on ground should compel a broader and open-minded analysis of this strange incursion with a view to ascertaining the real reasons responsible for this disquiet.

    We should be particularly worried by the current spate of an insidious phenomenon, hitherto unknown and uncommon in our immediate clime, creeping into our erstwhile peaceful and prosperous ambience. The incessant perpetration of anti social behaviours, occasioning pervasive despair, and the seeming helplessness of our security agencies to stem the tide of these aberrant attitudes, which threaten the very existence of our region as an autonomous socio-political entity, call for serious scrutiny. We must review these unfortunate incidents individually and collectively. Every State must be able to ascertain the extent of this current threat. We must locate the sources of compromise within our space with a view to curtailing same effectively in both the short and long run.

    Our collective goal should be the security of our space and safety of our people in all ramifications. On this, there should be no compromise. We must, consequently, be proactive in tackling the current security issues. The adoption of a scientific approach towards the resolution of the current crisis will bear far-reaching effects. Our State will be looking forward to working with other States in the South Western Region to eradicate the menace of armed robbery, drug abuse, cultism, kidnapping, among others.

    There can be no argument on the assertion that insecurity has becomea major issue in the polity today. There is virtually no part of the country which is spared at the moment. All the six geo-political zones experience one form of crisis or the other. From Zamfara to Katsina, the current trends are banditry and cattle rustling. Kano, Sokoto and Bauchi are not spared. Kaduna faces an uphill task in combating security challenges.

    The Middle Belt Region is also affected seriously. The crisis between the Jukun and Tiv in Taraba State appears intractable. Jos has witnessed a serious upheaval recently. Benue State was practically under siege at a moment. The North East has been waging a seemingly endless war against insurgents who have now introduced an international dimension to the mindless killings and destruction of properties. The South East and South South battle with communal clashes, banditry, armed robbery and kidnapping.

    The South West had enjoyed some moments of respite until recently. What started as isolated cases have now become a daily occurrence. Some cases are obviously exaggerated and there are many fictive narratives out there. Some unscrupulous persons hope to derive political mileage from this confusion, no doubt. There is no denying the fact that the region which had enjoyed some relative peace, is currently under siege. Everybody is concerned about the ease with which these fiendish characters operate. Some victims have been unlucky, they paid the supreme price.Others live with bodily scars and bruised psyche. The morale of our people had never been this low. Our security agencies appear overwhelmed by the incessant and sustained attacks on our people in different parts of the country. Our roads are no longer safe. Our schools operate under palpable fear. School children are now abducted for ransom. Commuters are no longer safe on our roads. This aberrant phenomenon seems blind to class, religion and ethnicity. Nobody is spared. All of us have become victims, suddenly.

    There have been attempts by some to create disaffection among Nigerians. Others have tried to take advantage of the unfortunate crisis to further compound the problems. A traditional ruler and a pastor have been accused of feigning kidnap to extort money from sympathisers. Crime, of varying hue, is gradually becoming a very lucrative business in Nigeria.

     

    Security challenges: The Ondo State experience

     

    The Ondo State Government, recognizing the gravity of the current challenges, held a Security Summit early this year. The enormity of these problems made the convocation of the event exigent. There was unanimity in the belief that the location of our state explains the seeming vulnerability of both the government and its people. The assemblage of security experts, personnel and representatives of agencies agreed on the pathway towards the resolution of the current crisis.

    Ondo State occupies a very strategic location in the country. Her littoral shores are the longest and, arguably, the deepest. Her northern borders lead to the North Central and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The volume of human and vehicular traffic coursing through the State requires constant alertness. The State is the gateway to the South-West. She shares common borders with Kogi, Edo, Osun and Ogun States. The state is easily accessible from Lagos State by the Lagoon and Atlantic.

    These geographical realities dictate that our security architecture be honed, constantly, to reflect the dynamic nature of the challenges faced by our people. Some fugitive criminal elements believe that our State provides a safe haven for them by the simple logic of her heterogeneous composition. Our porous borders encourage seamless ingress and egress, especially by these undesirable elements whose nefarious activities excite anxieties.

    The State has had her own share of socio-economic adversities, chief among which has been the issue of crime and the embarrassing presence of army of unemployed youths. We have been contending with common anti- social attitudes like stealing, thuggery, even armed robbery. We have had to resolve crisis between farmers and herdsmen and a new understanding has been reached. The introduction of the novel phenomenon of kidnappinghas, however, been quite unsettling. We are not unaware of the antics of some unscrupulous elements who seek to employ this unfortunate development to divide the people. The pernicious attempt to bring in ethnicity and religion must be condemned by all well-meaning citizens in the country.

    The Ondo State Security Summit produced a Security Policy Document for the State. This document considers the current situation and suggests ways through which the problems can be tackled. The Summit identified high level of insecurity, wide gaps in available security architecture, constraints occasioned by these challenges, future institutional arrangements, sustainable structure and funding. It also came up with both medium security and safety strategic plans.

    Our administration has exhibited sufficient political will which leaves no one in doubt of its readiness to confront the challenges headlong. This Security Policy Document (SPD) promises to address these problems realistically. The provision of adequate security architecture will enhance the socio-economic development of the people of Ondo State and promote investment and tourism.

    The document contains five key Security Policy Objectives which the government proposes to boost public confidence. These are enunciated as follows:

    1. Ensuring Public Safety: providing for, and mitigating risks to, the safety of citizens and communities;
    2. Preserving Domestic peace and safety: protecting the physical security of residents and their properties;
    3. Protecting Public Assets: this is both physical and virtual. The citizens are allowed to communicate, trade and engage in socio-economic activities without any fear of molestation from any quarters;
    4. Sustaining economic prosperity: maintaining and advancing the economic well-being of individuals, families, business and communities; and
    5. Maintaining democratic institutions and national values: preventing activities aimed at undermining or overturning government institutions, principles and values that underpin the society.

     

    Overall Strategy

    The Ondo State Government has adopted a holistic and integrated strategic approach to manage security risk. We will be relying on the 4Rs to combat the menace. These are:

    1. Reduction: this administration believes in the drastic reduction in crime rate through identification and analysis of long term and short term risks with a view to eliminating them.
    2. Readiness: developing operational systems and capabilities to prevent crimes.
    3. Response: moving swiftly to nip in the bud any significant event before, during and/or directly after occurrence.
    4. Recovery: using coordinated efforts and processes to engender immediate, medium-term and long term prevention of crimes.

    In achieving these lofty aims, heavy reliance will be placed on collaboration with certain government agencies which deal with crime and delinquency prevention. These include:

    Law Enforcement and Investigations

    Criminal Prosecution Justice Administration Legal Defence, Victims and Witness Protection Prisons and Offender-Correction.

     

    Specific Strategies

    Need for a proper coordination of the activities of all formal and informal security groups in the State.

    Free flow of information regarding crime from members of the public as encouraged by the State. Need for a toll-free line for crime reporting in the State. Need for joint border patrols with neighbouring States.

    Above all, the need for inter-agency cooperation and collaboration.

    We must ensure that we fill the gaps in legislation to sanction deviance promptly, firmly and comprehensively.

    The role of the people is vital in the implementation of any conceived ideas. The people must be informed adequately on the strategic importance of collaboration with the agencies of the State. Unless they are made to own the programme, it will be very difficult for the government to make any appreciable impact in its bid to confront insecurity.

     

    Conclusion

    The South-Western States must ensure that their stratgies are harmonized to achieve a common purpose. We cannot afford to work in isolation at this moment. We must cast aside all partisan considerations in the interest of our people. Our ultimate aim must be the socio-economic integration of the Region which reflects our collective aspirations for a peaceful and prosperous environment.

    As we seek to collaborate to combat a common challenge, it should also not be tasking for those of us in the saddle to begin to think of the socio-economic benefits accruable from working together to make our Region less dependent, almost solely, on external sources for survival.

    I shall be listening, attentively, to the presentations of my brothers. I look forward to gaining more from the practical examples to be presented.

     

  • FIDA advocates stiffer punishment for sexual offenses

    Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA) Chairperson in Ondo State Mrs Bola Joel-Ogundadegbe has called for laws that would provide stiffer punishment for sexual offenses.

    Speaking to newsmen during a peaceful protest at the Governor’s Office, Akure, Ogundadegbe said such laws would stop incessant rape cases in the state.

    Members of the association carried placards with inscriptions: “Violence against women is intolerable and inexcusable” and “Say no to rape”.

    Other inscription include “Save our girls; protect our girls; Abuse, rape must stop in Ondo State; and Let rape carry death penalty”.

    The chairperson called on the state government to control the increasing rate of rape cases, adding, “Our girls are being raped on a daily basis. Even three month old babies are not spared.

    “We are proposing castration of rapists: When they are castrated, they won’t have anything to use to rape anymore.

    “That is what we are advocating because of its alarming rate in the state. We are calling the governor to come to our aid.

    “We want a sexual offence law that will make the process of prosecution speedy.”

    Commissioner for Information and Orientation Mr Yemi Olowolabi while receiving the protesters described rape as a crime against humanity, which the state government would not allow to continus.

    He said the peaceful protest by FIDA was a salutary advocacy and a complementary enlightenment against the illegal act.

    The commissioner said the state government would guarantee the rights to life of citizens of the state.

  • Intensify efforts to free Chibok girls, CACOL pleads

    The Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership (CACOL) has urged the Federal Government to intensify efforts to secure the release of the abducted Chibok girls.

    The girls were abducted on April 15, 2014.

    The group said no stoned should be left unturned in freeing all those in Boko Haram’s captivity, including Leah Sharibu.

    In a statement by the Centre’s Executive Chairman, Mr. Debo Adeniran, CACOL said: “Those girls have not been secured completely because of the lack of adequate will to explore all necessary processes required to bring back the girls.

    “There is inadequate intelligence, commitment and funding of those cognate forces required to achieve the feat.

    “All of these observed inadequacies combine to elongate the confinement of these hapless ladies.”

    CACOL noted that most of the girls, who were preparing for their West African Senior School Certificate examinations when they were abducted, would have graduated by now.

    It added: “Their parents and generality of Nigerians need to be constantly kept abreast of proof of life for as many as still possible amongst them, their location, and whatever fate has befallen them, from time to time. This is the only acceptable response of a deserving government.

    “This much would not have been difficult, if there had been an effective intelligence and cooperative endeavor with neighboring countries, like Chad, Cameroon, Niger and any other places, where these insurgents have made their focus of activities.

    “In essence, the Federal Government has to demonstrate greater political will and put in more workable strategies and effective cooperative endeavours, with neighboring countries to achieve tangible outcomes that should be patently evident.”

    On Miss Sharibu, CACOL said it was not enough for the government to keep reassuring Nigerians that she is alive and well.

    It believes extra efforts must be made to secure her release, in view of the fact that those abducted with her had since regained their freedom.

    “We, therefore, advise that the Buhari-led administration should take a step further by stamping its foot in the sands of time through a complete overhaul of the security architecture of Nigeria in a way that reinforces the sacredness of lives and properties of all Nigerians,” the Centre added.

  • Conundrum of banks as FIRS’ collecting agents

    Olisa Agbakoba Legal (OAL) Senior Associate/Practice Manager Ifeatu Medidem examines the legality of banks mandatory obligation as collecting agents for FIRS.

    The Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has intensified its drive to recover out-standing tax liabilities from tax payers in default of tax obligations.

    To this end, FIRS has been writing to tax payers’ bankers, appointing the banks agent of the banks’ customer, to collect outstanding tax liabilities from the tax payers’ bank account balance. This is referred to as tax substitution.

    FIRS bases its appointment of the banks as collecting agents on the provisions of Section 49 of the Companies Income Tax Act 2004, and Section 31 of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act 2007.

    Section 31 of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act 2007 provides:

    “The Service may by notice in writing appoint any person to be the agent of a taxable person if the circumstances provided in sub-section (2) of this section makes it expedient to do so.

     The agent appointed under sub-section (1) of this section may be required to pay any tax payable by the taxable person from any money which may be held by the agent of the taxable person

    Where the agent referred to in subsection (2) of this sectiondefaults, the tax shall be recoverable from him.

    For the purposes of this section, the Service may require any person to give information as to any money, fund or other assets which may be held by him for, or of any money due from him to, any person.

    The provisions of this Act with respect to objections and appeals shall apply to any notice given under this section as if such notice werean assessment.”

    Section 49 of the Companies and Income Tax Act, 2007 also empowers the FIRS to collect tax due from companies and appoint agents to collect tax due from companies, thus:

    “The Board may by notice in writing appoint any person to be the agent of any company and the person so declared the agent shall be the agent of such company for the purposes of this Act, and may be required to pay any tax which is or will be payable by the company from any monies which may be held by him for or due by or to become due by him to the company whose agent he has been declared to be, and in default of such payment, the tax shall be recovered from him”.

    Typically, FIRS instructs the bank to set aside an amount equivalent to the tax payer’s outstanding tax liability, and remit same to FIRS.

    FIRS also directs that the bank place a restriction on the tax payer’s accounts and inform FIRS of any transaction on the tax payer’s account prior to execution on the accounts. The bank is also expected to release the tax payer’s bank statements and other financial records to FIRS.

    The banks, probably concerned about compliance and cooperation with government agencies are quite swift to comply with the directives. Some valued customers are lucky to receivesome notification, prior to the bank’s execution of FIRS’ directives; others, not so much.

    Understandably, given how difficult it often is to recover outstanding debts from recalcitrant debtors, it may not be so surprising that FIRS devised this strategy.

    But the appointment of banks as collecting agents has stoked several fundamental issues in relation to the propriety or otherwise of the action. Chief of which, is the constitutionality of FIRS’ appointment of banks as collecting agents to collect and remit outstanding tax liabilities of tax payers, without court orders.

    This is besides the conversation around the hardship that may be occasioned the tax payer who has had its bank account restricted, particularly where it turns out that the restriction is unjustifiable.

    However, a salient issue that seems to have eluded discussion is the query, “Is a bank legally enabled to act as collecting agent to collect outstanding tax liabilities from its customers’ bank account(s) on behalf of the FIRS?”

     

    Appointment of a bank as a collecting agent imposes mandatory responsibility

     

    On a cursory reading of the provisions of Section 31(3) FIRS Establishment Act and Section 49 of theCompanies Income Tax Act, it may appear that the provisions create an ordinary principal/agent relationship between FIRS and the appointed collecting agent. By principles of law an agency relationship presumes a payment obligation between the principal and the agent. This is not the case with tax substitution, because the appointed/declared agent is the agent of the tax payer, and not FIRS.

    The provisions of Section 31(3) of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act 2007 and Section 49 of the Companies and Income Tax Act, 2007 impose a mandatory responsibility on the Bank appointed as collecting agent, rather than a commission earning activity.

    By these provisions, where the FIRS appointed Bank fails to remit the outstanding tax liability from the tax payers’ funds in its custody, such bank would be personally liable to FIRS for the tax payer’s outstanding liability. This certainly places the banks between the devil and the deep blue sea.

     

    Banks owe a duty of confidentiality/secrecy to their customers with some exceptions

     

    A pressing issue for concern, as to the propriety of the banks’ appointment as collecting agents for FIRS, is the unavoidable breach of a bank’s fiduciary duty to its customer. This issue has raised a lot of hue and cry, over FIRS’ appointment of banks as collecting agents over their customers’ outstanding tax liabilities.

    A bank and its staff are obliged to keep secret, information regarding the business and account(s) of its customers.

    In Tournier v National Provincial and Union Bank of England, (1924) 1KB 461, BankesLJ of the Court of Appeal of England held that confidentiality was an implied term in the customer’s contract and that any breach could give rise to liability in damages if loss results.

    As with every general rule, there are exceptions to the duty of the bank to keep secret, every information regarding the customer’s account(s). These exceptions are:  (a) Where the bank has duty to the public to do so. (b) Where the bank’s own interest requires disclosure: – This occurs for example, where legal proceedings are required to enforce the repayment of an overdraft or where a surety has to be told the extent to which his guarantee is being relied upon. (c)  Where the bank has the express or implied consent of its customer to do so: – where he supplies a reference to its customer or where it replies to a status inquiry from another bank. (d) Where disclosure is required by law.

    FIRS’ appointment of banks as collecting agents in respect of the bank’s customer’s outstanding tax liability, ostensibly falls under the exception (d) above; given the provisions of Section 31(3) FIRS Establishment Act and Section 49 of theCompanies Income Tax Act.

    Yet, the manner in which the banks typically respond, with swift compliance, undeniably raises issues of conflict of interest and breach of the bank’s fiduciary duty to its customer. The banks’ compliance with the directives imposed by the FIRS,against ‘tax defaulters’(customers of the banks) involve a glaring breach of the duty.

    A bank cannot perform the obligations of tax substitution, without impairing the confidential obligation it owes its customers. This confidentiality obligationis the pillar of banking.

    Clearly, the banks, as collecting agents for FIRS, are conflicted, in that they are torn between complying with directives of FIRS, a government agency; and fulfilling their obligations to their customers.

    There is however no positive law to safeguard the relationship between a bank and its customers. It is advisable that banks tread with caution, and take steps to secure their position.

     

    Banks as collecting agents for FIRS – possible safeguards

     

    In light of the foregoing, where a bank is faced with tax substitution directives from FIRS, the bank may rely on Section 31(5) FIRS Establishment Act to protect itself. The bank ought to take into consideration that as with all tax assessments and notices, a tax payer has the right to object or appeal.

    Banks rather than rushing to comply with FIRS’ directives, should ensure that adequate inquiries are made, to confirm that the notice in respect of a tax payer relates to a tax liability that is final, due and outstanding.

    A tax payer’s liability is payable when a tax payer defaults in paying its tax liability on a tax assessment that is undisputed, either on the basis of a self-assessment, or upon the tax payer’s specific agreement to FIRS’ assessment. Where an assessment is disputed, the tax liability is payable when the assessment has become final and conclusive.

    This may either be uponexpiration of statutory time for objection or payment, and the tax payer fails to object to the assessment, or upon determination by the Tax Appeal Tribunalor the Courts, in the absence of an appeal of decision of the Tribunal or Court.

     

    Final word

     

    Pending the interpretation of the Courts on the constitutionality of FIRS’ powers to appoint a tax payer’s banker as its agent to collect outstanding tax liabilities from the tax payer’s bank account, tax payers are best advised to take steps to comply with statutory requirements to compute and remit their outstanding tax obligations.

    Where, however, the tax payer has already had its bank accounts restricted under FIRS’ directives, it would be prudent to seek professional counsel to explore resolution mechanisms best suited to the peculiar circumstances.

    FIRS’appointment of banks as collecting agents in respect of the banks’ customers’ outstanding tax liability, places the banks in the precarious position of potentially impairing the confidentiality obligation owed to customers. Banks are also exposed to legal action, particularly where the tax liability is disputed.

    It is the writer’s view that a bank should consider all possible options to secure its position, in addressing the mandatory obligation imposed by FIRS’ appointment to act as collecting agents from its customer’s bank accounts.

    The banks are also at liberty to test their appointment by FIRS, as collecting agents, pursuant to the provisions of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (Establishment) Act 2007 and Section 49 of the Companies and Income Tax Act, 2007.

    A determination by the Courts would certainly bring welcome development to our jurisprudence.

    Besides, there is the danger of taking the now largely banked economy a few steps back. Individuals and business organizations may refuse to bank, for fear of having their funds subjected to seizure without recourse to them, or to avoid having their financial activities monitored, or to maintain their financial privacy.

    Tax evasion is a criminal offence under the law. FIRS may choose to lay more emphasis on prosecuting offenders as a deterrent to intending tax evaders.

    It is quite commendable that FIRS is actively widening the tax net, particularly with the proposed imposition of five per cent value added tax on lottery and gambling activities.

  • Nigeria’s self-styled Macron wants to win power by ending corruption

    First there were the Brics. After coining that acronym in 2001, Jim O’Neill, then chief economist at Goldman Sachs, came up with the “Next Eleven” two years later, identifying 11 economies capable of joining the Brics as the world’s fastest-growing. Fidelity Investments developed this further when, in 2011, it identified the Mint economies, which it said could prove as rewarding for investors over the next decade as the Brics had been in the previous decade.

    The Mints — Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey — have not kept that promise. Indonesia probably has been the most reliable, its economy growing at just under 5 per cent or more in every year since 2011. Turkey and Mexico have delivered variable growth. The worst of the four and the biggest disappointment by far has been Nigeria, which slid into recession in 2016, going on to achieve GDP growth of only 0.8 per cent last year.

    Yet Nigeria boasts vast resources and huge potential. It is the world’s seventh most populous nation and by the middle of the century the United Nations expects it to be the third largest, with its population doubling from the present 200 million. Moreover, that population is urbanising rapidly, with Lagos projected to become the world’s biggest city by population by 2100.

    As well as one of the world’s youngest and fastest-growing populations, Nigeria enjoys vast natural resources, most obviously oil and gas. It owns 2.2 per cent of proven global oil reserves, according to the BP Statistical Review of World Energy, while accounting for 1.3 per cent of global natural gas production. It also boasts generous gold, lead, zinc, coal and uranium reserves.

    Why, then, does Nigeria’s economy underperform so dramatically? The most obvious answer is corruption. Nigeria is ranked 148th out of 180 in the latest corruption perceptions index published by Transparency International. Corruption and poverty go hand-in-hand, poverty is still rising and so is the jobless rate, because GDP growth is not keeping pace with population growth.

    All this will be keenly debated in Nigeria’s presidential election, due in February next year, in which the incumbent, Muhammadu Buhari, will be standing. So, too, will be Atiku Abubakar, one of the candidates of the People’s Democratic Party, the party of former presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Olusegun Obasanjo, under whom Mr Abubakar served as vice president.

    The most intriguing candidate is Kingsley Moghalu, a former deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria and candidate of the Young Progressive Party. A lawyer who worked for the United Nations for 17 years and who was educated in Nigeria, the United States and Britain (he has a PhD in international relations from the London School of Economics), Mr Moghalu presents himself as a thoroughly modern presidential candidate in the mould of Emmanuel Macron.

    Last week, while on a visit to the UK, he said: “One of the major things I am going to do is move away from dependence on oil and move the economy towards innovation. We will have to look very seriously at the philosophical foundations that drive successful capitalist economies, make sure that there’s property rights, make sure that there’s innovation, make sure that there is capital. I shall be introducing a major venture capital fund that is going to fund small businesses and stimulate the economy.”

    Mr Moghalu’s policy prescription also includes more infrastructure investment. He accepts that while Nigeria has benefited from the process of “leapfrogging”, where a lack of landlines has encouraged rapid take-up of mobile technology and a lack of established electricity grids has enabled the rapid adoption of off-grid solar power, that can go only so far: “Nigeria, in particular, has a very high level of mobile phone technology and that’s a good thing, but I don’t think you can apply leapfrogging to every aspect of development. I still think Nigeria needs an industrial base. You can’t go into a post-industrial society, as some people recommend, without having been an industrial society.”

    The would-be president also has controversial views on Chinese investment in Africa. He says that many African nations have not benefited as they should have done, arguing that a lot of the continent’s leaders have lacked the “intellectual soundness” to drive a harder bargain with the Chinese. He argues it has exacerbated debt traps around Africa and increased dependency on foreign loans. Two thirds of taxes raised in Nigeria go on servicing its debts.

    Another key policy of Mr Moghalu is greater equality for women. He argues that Nigeria’s education and legal systems prevent too many women from reaching their potential and is promising a 50-50 gender balance in his ministerial appointments.

    But is Nigeria ready for a technocratic president? Mr Moghalu, who points to his work nation-building in Rwanda, Angola and the former Yugoslavia during his time at the UN, insists that it is. Pointing out that the country has become poorer since it became a democracy in 1999, he argued: “The people of Nigeria are tired of the old, recycled and corrupt political class, which President Buhari’s government represents.”

    Many will wish him luck. If this is to be the African century, the continent’s biggest country must fulfil its economic potential. If it does not and poverty continues to grow, the chances are that an increasing proportion of Nigeria’s growing population will head elsewhere, adding to the global migration crisis.

    .Ian King is the business presenter for Sky News.