Category: Hardball

By Hardball

COVID-19 could have been a global health challenge.  That is bad enough, with the pandemic altering life and living, more than any single phenomenon, in living memory.

But its real pestilence would appear economic.  It is getting clear: COVID-19 won’t leave the globe in a hurry.  But even after it does, its economic plague would linger.  That is grim news already making 2020 a year to forget, even when it is barely half-year.

The effect of COVID-19, as a rippling, ruthless job tornado, is underscored by the latest stats from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), which states 42 per cent of Nigerian workers have lost their jobs, no thanks to the COVID-19 storm.

By that NBS survey, 42 per cent of those polled said they lost the jobs they had, pre-COVID-19.  That’s a breath short of half of the putative working population.  Now, add underemployment — vastly reduced clientele/customer traffic, no thanks COVID-19 lockdown at its highest.

Add temporary job losses, from forced leaves, to be reviewed as the pandemic peters out.  Add even salary cuts, forced by businesses’ lower earnings, as a result of diving sales and vanishing clientele, and you could be talking of a cumulative range of about 55 per cent to 60 per cent.  That is no gravy to savour!

Of course, it goes without saying, the follow-up NBS finding: that 79 per cent of the polled respondents (that’s almost four out of every five) revealed their income had taken a hit, since mid-March, when the COVID-19 emergency started in the country.

Again, it logically follows: lower income translates to lower demand of goods and services. Between 35 per cent and 59 per cent of the respondents said they found it increasingly difficult to buy routine staples — rice, yam and beans — to feed.  Another 26 per cent said they could no longer afford medical treatment.

So, no thanks to COVID-19, the poverty situation is worsened, with a section of the poor no longer able to afford the little food they could hitherto muster.  This segment of the population also progressively gets crowded out of the healthcare market.

Thus, COVID-19 is a double-whammy, among the most vulnerable: increased poverty and decreased wellness!  When slightly more than half of the population (51 per cent resort to reducing food consumption: enduring some form of hunger) and another (26 per cent) cut down on medical needs, and probably resort to self-medication), then you have a grim situation.

O dear!  The medical market gets attacked from two ends.  If less people than hitherto could afford hospital services, it logically follows that each hospital would earn less cash to pay its medics: doctors and nurses, not to talk of the paramedics and other back-up staff.

Then the direct impact: fear of cropping COVID-19!  Many private clinics have closed shop, simply because they can’t muster the additional COVID-19 protective kits.  That is temporary job losses for the clinics involved.  It could also mean a severe business-changing blow, for those clinics would have to summon more capital to procure those gears (yet are faced with lower earnings).  If they hope to be in business, post-COVID-19, they are faced with a completely altered business paradigm!

Surely it’s not the best of times?  That is why it calls for radically new thinking that would trigger the capacity to adjust.

Indeed, adjust or die!  That would be the COVID-19-19 battle cry, even well into the post-COVID-19 globe!  It’s not the best of times!

Hardball

IT’S well and good that the Federal Government has shelved the evacuation of Nigerians abroad over the Covid-19 pandemic until a new policy on mandatory supervised isolation of persons arriving the country is put in place. While at it, the authorities should as well address the issue of engaging foreign airlines for evacuation of Nigerians to the detriment of qualified indigenous operators.

National Coordinator of the Presidential Task Force on Covid-19, Dr. Sani Aliyu, on Monday said there would be no further evacuation of Nigerians from outside the country until the new policy currently being worked out with the private sector is unveiled. He added that any prior arrangement for the evacuation was being suspended.

Aliyu spoke against the backdrop of clamour by federal legislators that government stop permitting airlines from countries that deny Nigerian carriers landing rights to operate into this country. Late last week, House of Representatives Committee on Aviation specifically warned that no United Kingdom-based airline should be allowed into this country for evacuation flights if Nigerian carriers were refused landing rights for similar flights into the UK.

The legislators have a compelling argument. The aviation sector is among the most hit by the lockdown precipitated globally by Covid-19, making any opportunity for airlines to operate at this time most coveted. Authorities of other countries angle to corner such opportunity for airlines from their domains; but we have had some countries withholding landing rights from Nigerian operators, yet Nigerian authorities settle for airlines from such countries to come evacuate their own citizens from here and also bring Nigerians home. The Reps committee held a hearing on the recent use of Emirate Airlines to evacuate Nigerians from Dubai, British Airways for those from the UK and Ethiopian Airlines for those from the United States. Meanwhile, the UK and Canada pointedly refused Nigeria’s Air Peace landing right for evacuation of Nigerian citizens in their domains. The lawmakers demanded that government give Nigerian airlines the right of first refusal in future evacuation flights.

Hardball totally agrees with the legislators, as in diplomacy there is something called the rule of reciprocity. This is especially so because the denial of landing right to Nigerian carriers is not for non-qualification. Air Peace, for instance, has evacuated Chinese, Israelis and Indians to their respective country from Nigeria at the instance of those countries’ governments. To do this, this Nigerian operator obviously must have requisite industry safety certifications. So, under the new policy being worked out, express provision should be made for eligible Nigerian airlines to conduct evacuation of Nigerians abroad.

By Hardball

Seventy-year-old Col Abubakar Dangiwa Umar (retd) has a history of speaking truth to power. He did so under dictatorial military regimes. He has done so under democratic civilian governments. His recent open letter to President Mohammadu Buhari demonstrated his consistency as a vocal social critic.

Umar said “any conversation” with the President “cannot gloss over the chaos that has overtaken appointments into government offices” in his administration.  ”All those who wish you and the country well must mince no words in warning you that Nigeria has become dangerously polarised and risks sliding into crisis on account of your administration’s lopsided appointments which continues to give undue preference to some sections of the country over others,” he said.

According to him, “Nowhere is this more glaring than in the leadership cadre of our security services.” He blamed the President for “skewed appointments into the offices of the federal government, favouring some and frustrating others.” He was emphatic that the President’s style “shall bring ruin and destruction to this nation.”

Are these mere allegations or factual observations? Umar is not given to baseless criticism. The attentive public pays attention to him when he criticises power.  Indeed, in this instance, his criticism of the Buhari administration is familiar. Other perceptive observers have made similar observations about the President and his approach to governance. The observations are provable.

The question is: Is the President listening?  Umar also drew Buhari’s attention to “the pending matter of appointment of a Chief Judge of the Nigerian Court Appeal which appears to be generating public interest.”

This is what he said about the matter: “As it is, the most senior Judge, Justice Monica Dongban Mensem, a northern Christian, is serving out her second three-month term as acting Chief Judge without firm prospects that she will be confirmed substantive head. I do not know Justice Mensem but those who do attest to her competence, honesty and humility. She appears eminently qualified for appointment as the substantive Chief Judge of the Court of Appeal as she is also said to be highly recommended by the National Judicial Council. If she is not and is bypassed in favour of the next in line who happens to be another northern Muslim, that would be truly odd.”

It is not clear what the President will do in this case. But it is clear what he should do. Ultimately, Buhari needs to listen more, and reflect more.

By Hardball

The poetics, in sweet fancy, claim the pen is mightier than the sword.  But the power clan, in stark realpolitik, counter that is nothing but sweet delusion.

The latest theatre, of that unending clash, is Bauchi State, no thanks to a May 29 media chat marking the Bauchi governor’s first year in office.

Hassan Ibrahim, the DailyTrust correspondent had fired  a question, on the governor’s alleged suffocation of the Bauchi legislature, dominated by the rival APC, by Governor Bala Mohammed, elected on the ticket of PDP.

A piqued and clearly bristling governor blew his tops, accusing the reporter of mischief and treachery, and threatening to “excommunicate you from this state”, if the governor confirmed his hunch that the reporter was a factotum for former Governor Mohammed Abubakar, masquerading as newspaper reporter to ask satanic questions, at the slightest opportunity.

From the governor’s outburst, it is clear both reporter and governor had quite a record,  of pesky questions and saucy answers.  Well, both are no crime, in the routine cut-and-thrust of democracy.

But whatever the reporter’s sins, no matter how grievous they are in hurting gubernatorial eyes, the governor has absolutely no power to “excommunicate” anyone.  Nigeria is a 21st democracy, not some 14th century theocracy, where court fatwas held sway.  Here, the rule of law it is; and whatever the reporter’s offence, not even the governor can punish him, outside the confines of the court processes.

For special emphasis: the governor can’t even banish anyone from State House.  That is a public property in which the sitting governor is only the current occupier, on public trust.  If you can’t banish law-abiding citizens from State House, how can you then excommunicate a citizen from Bauchi State?

Still, as the governor is limited in his powers by law and due process, so is the reporter bounded by professional ethics and basic fairness.  The media is a public trust.  That is    why not just anybody can come to party, asking questions, at a media chat.  That sacred trust, that made the media the fourth estate of the realm, compels that media players also play by the rules.

If indeed the Daily Trust reporter were indeed a factotum, to partisan interests, that would be a grave professional misconduct which must never be tolerated.  That would be a gross abuse of sacred trust, just like the governor’s open threat was a scandalous abuse of executive power and temper.  Both must be condemned without reservation.

But as it is, the governor’s threat is a fact, since it was made live on TV, radio and other social media platforms, that plugged into that media chat.  On the other hand, the reporter’s “treachery” and “mischief” were only gubernatorial allegations that could be true or false, depending on proof proffered by the governor.

Until the governor can prove his allegations, and the reporter put through the grill and found guilty, neither the governor nor the reporter can elbow each other out of the constitutional space, guaranteed by the democratic republic.

So, let the sword co-habit with the pen.  Both are wired together, even if in uneasy tension, in democratic dialectics.

By Hardball

A woman in throes of labour pains driving herself to hospital penultimate weekend came across as a ‘poster girl’ of courage amidst extreme pangs of desperation. Her grit in apparent defiance of crushing pain arising from imminent childbirth was exemplary – a signpost of an indomitable spirit that triumphs over tough challenges. It is such mindset we need in this country to overcome the many debilitating challenges of our nationhood.

The Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) early last week reported the rescue of the woman in Lagos as she struggled with driving in high noon amidst labour pangs. A statement by Corps Public Education Officer Bisi Kazeem said the woman, who was not named but whose pictures on the highway and later at the hospital were provided, was sighted at about 2:34p.m. by a patrol team from RS 2.110 Airport Unit Command of the Corps that  rushed her to a nearby hospital in Ajao Estate where she was delivered of a baby girl barely three hours later.

From the pictures shared, it was evident the woman and her baby were doing well after that experience; so also her young boy of between three and six years who was with her on the risky ride to the hospital before the FRSC operatives’ intervention. By the way, this woman and her family surely must have their reasons for why she preffered driving herself amidst labour pangs rather than get a taxi, if there was no family member on hand to drive her. But while her courage is highly commendable, it is important to say such risks are to the extent possible better avoided.

With the happy ending, the FRSC literally gushed over the role its operatives played in the saga. Corps Marshal Boboye Oyeyemi applauded the intervention and compassion shown by the patrol team in rescuing the distressed lady, saying their action correctly represented the true mission of the agency. He added that what these particular operatives did was only one of many such interventions the corps undertakes from time to time when its agents go on patrol.

From the celebratory ring of FRSC’s statement, you would almost think the agency was the personality who dared excruciating labour pain and got delivered of bouncing baby. And why not anyway? The corps in this instance illustrated the concept of fraternal engagement with the public that should characterise all law enforcement agencies – especially those involved in civil security, not the adversarial disposition that is commonplace and have become more familiar.

All law enforcers should learn from this incident that they are primarily there to protect, not fight the public. The Police in particular should take note, after all they sloganeer that they are our friends.

By Hardball

What is the substance, as different from wrangling over mere form in the controversial case of the alleged index case of Covid-19 in Benue State? Clarity is needed on this to break the deadlock in the long running show.

Fifty-eight-year-old Susan Idoko-Okpe walked out of the National Hospital, Abuja last Wednesday after 54 days in quarantine allegedly for being Benue’s index case of the pandemic, but without showing symptoms of infection all through. She insisted she was held in “medical detention” for an ailment she does not believe she has and groused over procedures of her being named an index case, and the conduct of tests whose results she rejected. But medical authorities said those tests did show her up as positive to coronavirus.

While leaving hospital last week, Susan said she was told the result of her latest test yet showed her positive to the virus, but hospital authorities freed her from isolation for having met World Health Organisation (WHO) requirement. Speaking in a video conversation reported in the media, she stated: “They (nurses) said I was still positive. I said, ‘Okay, give it (the result) to me.’ I wanted to leave, so I called the (Chief Medical Director). I put the CMD on the line with the nurses. The CMD said, ‘Yes, you have satisfied the WHO (guidelines). You have never been a prisoner. You are free to go home.’”

Susan added that she was picked up from hospital by a friend whose house she has relocated to but would not disclose the location.

In a subsequent statement, the National Hospital denied that any Covid-19 patient was “detained” at its facility, saying more than 35 patients were admitted at various times and 27 of them had been discharged, with the only patient who refused treatment staying beyond 45 days though remaining asymptomatic. Hospital spokesman Tayo Haastrup did not name names, but explained that following a review of protocols for isolation it was agreed that any patient who stayed asymptomatic beyond 45 days could be allowed to go home on self-isolation. He added that under the review, “a repeat test could be done after five to 10 days to confirm if the patient has become negative.”

An implication of the hospital’s statement is: Susan is going on self-isolation and is expected to submit to a repeat test shortly. But with the gentlelady not even disclosing where she is staying, that is a tall order. Susan believes she is not coronavirus-positive while the authorities insist she is. Unless there is effective confidence building as to why she has been without symptom, her challenge raises a big question about the accuracy of COVID-19 case count in Nigeria.