Category: Letters

SIR: Nasarawa State has shown commitment to achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC), though progress has been slow. The 2017 Lafia Summit Declaration affirms that UHC is key to ensuring equitable access to high-quality, affordable health care for all citizens in the state.

A recent review of health-system financing for UHC in Nasarawa State shows high out-of-pocket expenses for health care, a very low budget for health at the state level of government, and lack of health insurance implementation.

In recent years, the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has been working to improve access to health insurance and promote universal health coverage in Nasarawa State. This is a laudable effort, as healthcare is a fundamental right that should be available to all citizens, regardless of their income or social status.

The CSJ is a non-profit organisation that aims to promote social justice and human rights in Nigeria. They work on a variety of issues, including public finance management, governance, gender equity, rule of law and social justice. One of their main focuses is on health policy and access to healthcare.

In Nasarawa State, the CSJ has been working under the #Righ2Health project to increase the number of people who have access to health insurance. The project is being carried out as part of the USAID-SCALE (Strengthening Civic Advocacy and Local Engagement) programme, which aims to influence policies and reforms across the most critical service sectors.

 Health insurance is a key component of universal health coverage, which means that everyone has access to essential health services without suffering financial hardship. This is a critical issue in Nigeria, where many people do not have access to basic healthcare services.

The CSJ has been working with the Nasarawa State Health Insurance Agency (NASHIA) to implement a health insurance scheme that is accessible to all citizens. This scheme is designed to provide financial protection to individuals and families in the event of illness or injury. It covers the cost of essential health services, including hospitalisation, surgery, and diagnostic tests.

The health insurance scheme has been a success so far, with thousands of formal sector employees enrolled in the programme. This is a significant achievement, as it means that more people have access to healthcare than before. It also means that people who do get sick or injured are less likely to face financial ruin as a result of medical expenses.

There is an urgent need to fully operationalise the Nasarawa State Health Insurance Agency to cater for the burgeoning health needs of the population. Currently, less than 2% of Nasarawa state citizenry have health insurance coverage; most enrollees are in the federal institutions with no coverage in the state formal and informal sectors and inherent implementation challenges.

Political leaders in the state should therefore muster enough political will to ensure that quality and affordable healthcare services in Nasarawa State are provided. They should stop paying lip service to healthcare issues.

•Victor Okeke,

Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) Nigeria

Sir: Undoubtedly, Nigeria, Africa’s most populous democracy and economy, faces great challenges, and indeed a race against time to be considered a developed nation.
A confluence of shocks and factors has drained the country of the prodigious promise shown at independence in 1960.
In many ways, Nigeria is a lesson in how not to manage a country, especially one as gifted with human and material resources. In fact, even the devastating civil war of 1967-1970 could have been averted if wisdom was engaged. That the scars of that horrible war continue to mark Nigeria more than forty years later in the form of secessionist agitations is testament to a country that has been defiant and directionless for far too long as to be fatal.
But how many of Nigeria’s multifaceted problems are locally made, and how many of them are imported into the country from other countries?
One of the most glaring deficiencies of globalisation manifests in the fact that for all its benefits, it has left developing countries like Nigeria horribly exposed to the antics of some developed countries, who for all their altruism, are not immune to the occasional dollop of opportunism.
For most of the eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, Nigeria has been racked by forceful fits of insecurity. What Boko Haram has left in the northeastern states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, bandits have consumed in the northwestern states of Kaduna, Sokoto, Katsina and Zamfara.
What terrorist Fulani herdsmen have left in the north central states of Benue, Nasarawa, Plateau and Niger, unknown gunmen have ripped apart in the southeastern states of Anambra, Ebonyi and Imo.
In fact, the activities of the disparate but deadly non-state actors in the country in the past eight years have made it look like the country has been in an all-out war.
Now, it has emerged that the resource curse is haunting Nigeria again, with the revelation that some Chinese expatriates know more than they are letting on about the criminals who kill and maim Nigerians.
In a damning report by The Times, a British national daily, it was revealed that Chinese nationals in Nigeria’s mining sector are funding terrorists to secure easy access to Nigeria’s vast mineral reserves. The report went further to accuse China of using bribes and illegal transactions to fund terror in Africa’s largest economy.
The exhaustive report underpinned by research conducted with SBM Intelligence, a Lagos-based think-thank showed that the network that weaves insecurity in Nigeria is indeed a complicated one.
Though the Chinese embassy in Nigeria has debunked the report, it confirms long-held suspicion among everyday Nigerians that powerful interests are behind Nigeria’s sprawling insecurity, which has so far proven impossible to contain.
In many states of the country, people are killed every day with the government showing an embarrassing helplessness.
In 2021, the United Arab Emirates drew up an authentic list of some of those sponsoring terrorism in Nigeria. Until this day, Nigerians do not know if the law took its full course against those on the list.
That is what obtains in a country that lacks transparency, a country where impunity thrives because anything goes.
It doesn’t matter the identity of those driving insecurity in Nigeria. Nigerians demand accountability from their government, and then from locals and foreigners alike who sow terror in Nigeria and have succeeded in turning a once peaceful and prosperous country into a pool of blood.
Buhari’s government has had eight years in which to clean the Augean stables of insecurity in Nigeria. To say it has failed abysmally is to put it mildly. On its watch, terrorists have run Nigeria ragged, showing chilling audacity in the way and manner they have ransacked states like Benue, Kaduna and Niger that border the Federal Capital Territory.
When on July 5, 2022, terrorists cracked the medium security correctional facility at Kuje, and let loose some of Nigeria’s most dangerous criminals, an embarrassed Buhari had wondered why there were no security cameras in the prison.
It is doubtful that other correctional facilities in the country have since been upgraded to match growing security threats.
The Nigerian government should be embarrassed that its failure to secure Nigerians has enabled foreigners to play poker with Nigerian lives.
But in a country where shame in public office is an impossibly scarce commodity, it will take an eternity for anyone to flinch.
•Ike Willie-Nwobu,
Ikewilly9@gmail.com

Sir: The news that the Federal Government of Nigeria will be increasing the excise tax on tobacco products from 30 percent ad-valorem to 50 percent is a welcome development and a step in the right direction. It will boost the nation’s non-oil sector earnings and move the government closer towards realising its goal of weaning the economy from its over-reliance on oil revenues.

 However, I disagree with the assertion by Dr Mangai Malau, Head of the Tobacco Control Unit, Noncommunicable Diseases Division, in the Federal Ministry of Health, that the tax increase is part of the federal government’s effort to control smoking in the country.

Tobacco causes more than eight million deaths annually around the world, with more than seven million of those deaths as a result of direct tobacco use. In Nigeria, over 20,000 deaths annually are as a result of tobacco use. It is the greatest risk factor for non-communicable diseases like hypertension, stroke, cancers, diabetes and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases.

Tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke is a leading cause of mortality, morbidity, disability and impoverishment in the world. About 1.2 million deaths globally are as a result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke. Also, there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco smoke and even a brief exposure can be harmful to one’s health.

We need to embrace smoke-free policies if we are serious about controlling the sale and use of tobacco products. Smoke-free policies which have been legislated in many European countries have proven their effectiveness, and have reduced illness and death caused by tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke. They have protected millions from the harmful effects of secondhand smoking.

Smoking bans are a necessity. It is an idea whose time has come. No matter how much tax the federal government imposes on tobacco products, the manufacturers will simply shift the cost to the consumers, who will pay no matter how expensive it is.

Tobacco use is an addiction, and like all other addictions, addicts will always find a way to satisfy their cravings, even if they have to sell everything that they have.

 Smoking bans will limit the amount of tobacco that an individual can smoke. These smoking bans should include all public spaces, public and private workplaces, government buildings, airports, restaurants, buses, taxis, and even private cars if there are other occupants. There should be strict enforcement of the smoking bans by the regulatory authorities to ensure compliance, and offenders should be punished with steep fines.

•Peter Ovie Akus,

akuspeter@gmail.com

Sir: Plateau State Governor-elect, Caleb Mutfwang, certainly understands that the herculean task of restoring Plateau’s shattered glory is not going to be a leisurely walk in the park.

After overwhelmingly securing the mandate of Plateau people to be their next governor, he promised them that he would hit the ground running immediately he assumed office. Many thought that he meant that he would not waste time but start working immediately he is sworn in.

But he has already started running even before he hits the ground, so to say. The expectations are extraordinarily huge. But Mutfwang’s desire to take Plateau citizens out of the woods is even larger and more urgent. Going by his interactions with wide ranging individuals and groups so far, there is no doubt that he is prepared to risk everything to reach that goal.

As a practical demonstration of that vision, the governor-elect, a lawyer, paid a working visit to the headquarters of the Energy Commission of Nigeria, ECN, in Abuja, on April 14, 2023. During a strategic session with the ECN Director-General, Professor E.J. Bala, and management, Mutfwang revealed that the state has huge potentials in solar energy, hydro power, wind farms and biomass.

When fully tapped, the governor-elect informed his hosts, these would improve the energy balance and demand of the state, increase productivity, improve manpower development, security and sustainable economic development. Apparently, exploiting these wide array of energy sources on the Plateau will have a very magnificent ripple-effect on the overall well-being of the people of the state in a very profound way.

This is a new approach to unlocking the energy potentials of the state towards tackling multifaceted developmental challenges. Only forward-looking leaders imbued with great vision and strategic thinking take such rare steps.

It is gratifying that a draft memorandum of understanding was agreed upon with referrals to the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). They are expected to invest in the state through the Global Environment Facility (GEF) domiciled in the organisations. Pursuant to that, ECN is billed to dispatch a technical team to the state after the May 29 inauguration to begin the actualisation phase of the proposals.

•Chris Gyang,

chrisgyang01@gmail.com

Sir: I was glad when I read the announcement by the Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, that Nigeria has approved a new malaria vaccine for use in infants from 5 to 36 months old.

The vaccine-R21/Matrix-M is developed by the University of Oxford and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. Its approval by the Nigerian authorities is coming weeks after a similar approval by neighbouring Ghana, which is the first country in the world to do so.

The R21/Matrix-M vaccine is the second ever to be approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the first to exceed the WHO threshold of 75 per cent efficacy over 12 months of follow-up.

The vaccine showed a 77 per cent protective efficacy over 12 months in a phase 2b trial involving young West African children, following an initial three-dose course of injections.

According to Adeyeye, Nigeria expects to get at least 100,000 doses of the vaccine in donations soon before the market authorisation will start making other arrangements with the National Primary Health Care Development Agency.

Nigeria suffers the world’s greatest malaria burden. According to the US National Institutes of Health, there are 51 million cases of malaria in the country annually, with 207, 000 reported deaths, while 97 percent of the population (173 million) is at the risk of infection. This vaccine offers hope for Nigeria in its battle to defeat this scourge that has plagued the nation for ages.

Conspiracy theorists have posited that this is an attempt at population control by certain globalist forces. This isn’t a new accusation. They said the same thing about the polio vaccine and the Covid-19 vaccine. It didn’t stop the efficacy of those vaccines. And it achieved its intended results while putting paid to the lies of the naysayers. Same would happen with the malaria vaccine.

With the financial support of the international community, incidences of malaria will be reduced to the barest minimum in future generations. We would have a healthier Nigeria that every citizen would be proud of.

•Peter Ovie Akus,

akuspeter@gmail.com

SIR: Language is a marker of ethnic identity as well as the mediator of cultural, symbolic and material resources. Every language, according to UNESCO (2003), “is a unique expression of the human experience of the world,” thus, “the knowledge of any single language may be the key to answering fundamental questions of the future.’’ The collective and individual identity, dignity, and power are bound up in the social stature of a group’s “mother tongue.” 

Thus, every language has an inherent value which neither depends on the status a state or the society assigns to it, nor on the number of its speakers. The linguistic and cultural diversity is an added advantage to society. Citizens of such countries have access to more varied knowledge, ideas, and cosmo-visions than those in countries with few languages and cultures.

If that is true, then Nigeria must begin to consider her multilingual status as a source of cultural enrichment that must be maintained and preserved. Her rich linguistic resources need to be harnessed for knowledge economy and development. 

Unfortunately, many Nigerian languages are presently threatened with extinction due to their utter neglect by both the government and the society at large. As a highly multilingual and multiethnic country, Nigeria needs to uphold the dual status to ensure that the rights of her citizens are respected and to guarantee democracy. 

However, participatory democracy entails making every citizen count, and this is enhanced if there is a free flow of information between the government and the governed. For this to become feasible in Nigeria, recognising the indigenous languages by upholding linguistic pluralism is indispensable.

 Upholding linguistic pluralism in Nigeria is fundamental to achieving the democratic principles, while democracy is itself a tool for guaranteeing linguistic pluralism. The link between democracy and the development of African languages cannot be overemphasised. This is to say that democracy is essential for the equal development of African languages, and African languages are vital for the development of democracy based on equality and social justice.

The power of language in ensuring participatory democracy should not be underestimated. Equality and fairness are essential principles in building shared societies, and they cannot exist where there is discrimination, marginalisation and lack of opportunity for all. 

When a people’s language is not recognised by the government, the speakers are invariably denied the right to participate fully in the national life, including in politics, legal system, education and even the ability to function optimally in the modern world – in so far as they are unable to articulate themselves in the preferred language of governance. Besides, social justice demands a fair hearing, especially when there is a conflict.

The journey to a democratic and an egalitarian society is not an easy one. While the Nigerian governments continue to pursue policies that would move the country forward in the areas of science, technology and material development, they should never forget that inclusion is both a necessity for and a means of achieving development.

 However, language rights are central to inclusion. Any policy that makes a segment of the society feel a sense of alienation cannot be anything but unwholesome. Since Nigeria is a highly multilingual nation, it is important that the government recognises the roles of the indigenous languages, both in human and material development.

These languages need to be promoted so that those who speak them, whether they are few or many, would feel at home in the country, contribute their quotas to national development and live the life that they desire.

Hence, there is a need for the Nigerian government to standardise and increase the status of the numerous indigenous languages because this would help to uplift the speakers and give them both a voice and a place in the ever- increasing competitive society.

In view of that, using and promoting most of these languages in key areas, especially in education and the media, are paramount to increasing their status, usability and sustainability.

 Since many languages are involved, it is obvious that all of them cannot receive attention at the same time. That would definitely be unthinkable. However, what is important is that there is a need to start somewhere. A starting point might be to start implementing the existing language policy on education and, from there, to extend the use of the indigenous languages beyond the lower primary school.

•Felix Oladeji,

 Lagos 

Sir: Barring a change of circumstances, the payment of petroleum subsidy will end by June this year as hinted by the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed. According to her, the World Bank has released the sum of $800 million to pay palliatives to Nigerians in order to cushion the effects of subsidy removal.

Though advanced countries of the world offer subsidies to their people in different aspects of human development, in Nigeria, the petroleum subsidy has become a thorn in the flesh of any government in power.

There is no doubt that successive administrations, including the outgoing one, had tried to stop the payment of subsidies but could not succeed. It is estimated that in the last 16 years, the Nigerian government has spent a whopping sum of $30 billion as petroleum subsidy.  

These huge funds spent on subsidies could have been used to revamp our ailing power sector, fix our decayed education and, above all, infrastructure deficit. There is no gainsaying that subsidy payment has raised more questions than answers.

 The money guzzling intervention has been dogged by corruption. It is alleged that marketers in collaboration with some corrupt government officials feed fat from the programme through submission of false claims.

Subsidy is a form of government intervention to reduce the cost of fuel by providing direct financial support to oil companies, and as such, subsidise the product to consumers. Nigeria is one of Africa’s largest producers of crude oil, and it relies heavily on this resource for its economic growth.

  The history of fuel subsidy dates back to October 2000, and was due to supply inadequacies from the country’s four refineries. The Nigerian government set up a committee to review all aspects of petroleum product pricing and distribution. The committee recommended the establishment of the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Committee (PPPCRC), which later metamorphosed into Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency (PPPRA). PPPRA uses a price modulation mechanism, which allows for adjusting petroleum product prices to reflect changes in global oil prices.

 When international oil prices are high, the government may increase the regulated price of petroleum products in Nigeria to prevent shortages and ensure that independent petroleum marketers can operate profitably. When global oil prices are low, the government may decrease the regulated cost of petroleum products to reflect the market conditions and pass on the benefits to consumers.

 Under PPPRA, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (now NNPC Ltd) gives approval for importers to bring in petroleum products. These products are sold to independent petroleum marketers at government-regulated prices, usually lower than the landing cost. The independent marketers then sell the products to consumers at a price that includes their operating costs and a government-regulated margin.

Although fuel subsidies have been beneficial in terms of making petroleum more accessible to citizens, they have also had some negative impacts on the economy. For one, they have led to increased corruption and mismanagement due to weak oversight mechanisms, with some individuals and companies taking advantage of the system to make illegal profits. 

  In addition, the government spends a significant amount of money on petroleum subsidies, leading to increased public debt. In some cases, the cost of subsidies can exceed the revenue earned from the sale of crude oil, Nigeria’s main export. Furthermore, due to the price differences between Nigeria and neighbouring countries, and the inefficiencies in the distribution and supply chain, petroleum products are often smuggled out of the country, leading to frequent shortages and long queues at petrol stations.

 Subsidy prices encouraged the overconsumption of petroleum products, leading to increase in air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, discouraging investment in the domestic refining industry and alternative energy sources.

In terms of monetary cost, the government spends humongous sums monthly to subsidise the product. The cost of maintaining it is unbearable amidst dwindling revenue due to massive oil theft.

Given these issues associated with fuel subsidy, it is clear that there is the need for it to go. The new government should come up with comprehensive reforms aimed at addressing these challenges if Nigeria is to achieve sustainable development through petroleum-generated revenue.

 The Tinubu incoming administration which will inherit petroleum subsidy should consider complete deregulation of the petroleum sector to allow market forces to determine the prices. This would reduce the burden on the government to provide subsidies, encourage competition, and attract more private investment into the sector. Lastly, the incoming government should incentivize investment in renewable energy sources such as solar and hydropower for speeding national development.

•Ibrahim Mustapha Pambegua,

Kaduna State

Sir: In today’s changing world, gender should no longer be a determinant factor in global leadership and corporate management conversations. According to Statista, a total of 58 countries were governed by a woman between 1960 and 2021. In the last 50 years, 13 countries had more than one female leader.

The UN Secretariat’s records show that while women run nearly 21percent of ministries across the globe, the rate of women in cabinets stands over 50 percent in 14 countries. While figures show a significant improvement in women’s representation in parliaments around the world, with Rwanda having the highest rate of female parliament members with 61 percent, followed by Cuba and Bolivia with 53 percent and the United Arab Emirates with 50 percent, the number of women in national parliament in Nigeria has reduced, with only 18 females returning to the 10th National Assembly out of the 378 women that contested the 2023 general elections. 

With women leading almost all major global institutions: Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala as the DG of the World Trade Organization; Christine Lagarde as the President of the European Central Bank; Kristalina Georgieva as the President of the IMF; Audrey Azoulay as the DG of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); Ursula von der Leyen as the President of the European Commission; Winnie Byanyima as the Executive Director of UN AIDS Agency (UNAIDS), among others, it is apt to discuss how to raise and create more opportunities for the next generation of women in leadership. 

This conversation is important because female leadership is critical to harness the enormous possibilities in building better societies. Women bring to bear important leadership qualities such as empathy, compassion, courage and character. Also, women are easily able to succeed with managing complex situations because they are authentic, collaborative, rigorous, result-oriented and sincere. Our societies need all these attributes today to rebuild from multiple social crises.

To sustainably nurture the next generation of women in leadership, we must prioritise quality education of the girl-child, ensure girl-child mental wellness, girl-child social security, which includes protection against abuse and reduction of restrictions, and proper training of the male-child for civilised cultures. Through mentorship, we can expand future female leaders’ leadership skills and sense of civic responsibility as they consider their own character, leadership and integrity.

The next generation of women in leadership cannot be built through affirmative action alone, they will be nurtured through education, mentorship, equal opportunities, empowerment and social security. More importantly, our society must begin to look beyond gender considerations and stereotypes. A country with balanced gender opportunities is a country that has conquered cultural conditionings against women. 

Politically, we must go beyond reserved and restricted positions like women leaders and headship of ministries of women affairs. We need a political reform that makes politics friendly and enables every competent and credible citizen – man or woman – to freely and fairly participate in the process.

 In politics, women must, more than ever, understand that since the Age of Liberty (1718-1772) in Sweden, when conditional women’s suffrage came into effect, to the first province to continuously allow women to vote (Pitcairn Islands) from 1838, to Norway as the first sovereign state to grant women the right to vote, down to as recent as Affirmative Action policies across many democracies, power has never been given to women – the freedom to participate, the freedom of expression and the opportunities to make social impacts are created.

The women of the future must do more for themselves than they expect from the government. And given that the society stands to gain more from credible female leaders, it is upon different constituencies to ensure that women of value are given the opportunities to serve. 

•Maryam Haruna Lami,

Bingham University, Keffi

Sir: For sure, the incoming governor of Jigawa State, Mallam Umar Namadi, has a lot of work to do to address the challenges facing the state and ensure that it achieves its full potential.

The governor-elect has already prioritised some key areas, which he comprehensively outlined as a 12-point development plan (the blueprint) that will guide the administration as a roadmap to improving the quality of life of the people of Jigawa State. This includes initiatives to improve education, healthcare, infrastructure, agriculture, and information technology.  Below are some of the items in the blueprint:

Agricultural Development: This agenda includes initiatives aimed at improving farming production through modernisation and mechanisation, investing in irrigation infrastructure, promoting all-year-round food production through the expansion of irrigation facilities, research and development, and strategic partnerships with local and international partners to attract needed investments to the sector. The goal of this track is to achieve poverty reduction, food security, job creation, and an increase in the state’s internally generated revenue.

Education Development: This agenda focuses on improving the quality education system of Islamic, primary, and tertiary education. This involves consolidating and upscaling gains made within the education sector by ensuring timely recruitment of additional qualified teachers, provision of instructional materials, and training programmes (seminars, symposiums, workshops), monitoring, reward, and punishment systems for performance and punctuality.

Healthcare Development: This agenda seeks to improve an innovative, accessible, and affordable healthcare system for all. This includes increasing budgetary funding to the health sector, well above the 15 percent benchmark of the Abuja Declaration, institutionalising other innovative financing instruments that will inject more funds into the health sector without prejudice to the existing budgetary allocation, the expansion and strengthening of contributory health schemes, and a free maternal and child healthcare system.

People Development: This agenda involves creating a conducive and inclusive environment for youth empowerment, employment, and productivity through investments in agriculture, ICT, business incubation, and vocational skills. This includes establishing ultra-modern skills acquisition centres, renovating, upgrading, and equipping the existing ones to undertake demand-driven empowerment training.

Next, it is for the incoming governor to develop the implementation plan for this blueprint and also assemble the right calibre of people to help him implement it.

•Hamisu Gumel,  

Limawa Quarters, Gumel, Jigawa State.