The Nation Newspaper

Category: Letters

  • NEXIM and Nigeria’s non-oil export

    NEXIM and Nigeria’s non-oil export

    SIR: Around the world’s growing economies- from China to India and to the biggest economies in the US and UK, emphases are placed on support for export-oriented small and medium enterprises, SMEs, as well as their modernisation and expansion activities.

    Nigeria’s case should not be different. Nigeria, like many other developing African countries started as agrarian economy. The agricultural produce of the early Nigeria included groundnuts, rubber, timber, cocoa, beans, palm kernel, hides and skin, to mention just a few.

    These products accounted for over 50 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and was the main source of export earnings and public revenue. With the crude oil discovery in 1956 and its exploration in commercial quantityin1958 however, the oil sector gradually became the dominant sector in the economy, and almost the sole source of export earnings. For instance in 1970’s petroleum constituted of about 78 percent of Federal Government revenue and more than 95 percent of export earnings.

    To give the economy a boast and encourage exporters to meet with the challenge of sourcing for required funds, the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM) was established by Act 38 of 1991 as an Export Credit Agency (ECA) with a strategic objective of enhancing value-added exports and bolstering the capacity of SMEs for job creation and foreign exchange earnings.

    However, before now, the Nigerian Export-Import Bank (NEXIM), was largely seen by many operators in the financial sector as a mere waste pipe or another bureaucratic contraption set up to minister to the needs of well-connected borrowers who may never repay their loans. In fact, at a point NEXIM became almost a dead institution and no one would want to touch it with a 12-foot pole. It became deeply mired in debts, posting losses year after year.

    NEXIM Bank was however reconstituted in August 2009 by the federal government. The board of directors, led by Dr. Kingsley C. Moghalu, deputy governor, Financial System Stability of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in 2010, endorsed the repositioning of NEXIM Bank. The bank then remodelled its objectives to develop the sectors of manufacturing, agro-processing, solid minerals and services which have high amount of employment and foreign exchange earning potential in the non-oil sector.

    Recently, NEXIM made available the sum of N23.33 billion to Nigerian non-oil exporters, particularly the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) while the sum of $27.3 billion guarantees had been issued between 2009 and August 2012. Out of this amount, manufacturing received N11.3 billion of 48 percent while agro-processing got about N5 billion or 21 per cent. The solid minerals sector received about N2 billion, representing 8.9 per cent and the services sector about N4.8 billion.

    This shows a commitment to becoming a major contributor to non-oil exports.

    Though not well known to the public, NEXIM Bank has been increasingly important to a growing number of small businesses who have become an integral part of the growing number of non-oil exports by Nigerian export companies to top export destinations. NEXIM presently provides short and medium term loans to Nigerian exporters. It also provides short term guarantees for loans granted by Nigerian banks to exporters as well as credit insurance against political and commercial risks in the event of non-payment by foreign buyers. The bank is also the government’s National Guarantor under the ECOWAS Inter-state Road Transit programme.

    NEXIM is indeed moving in the right direction in the quest to increase Nigeria’s non-oil exports.

    • Augustine Aminu

    Abuja

  • Mimiko, please do justice to me

    Mimiko, please do justice to me

    Sir: I was employed as class teacher by Ondo SUBEB in September 2006. I was posted to St. Peter’s Anglican Primary School, Bolorunduro. However, barely a month later, my appointment was withdrawn on the ground that I am an hearing-impaired person.

    The board was aware of my physical disability before it employed and posted me. I did well in the interview which was conducted twice and fully merited my appointment. Thereafter, I was informed that I will be re-posted to the School For the Deaf in Akure through the Ministry of Education.

    However, one morning, the Education Secretary came in and ordered me to follow him to the Board office in Akure. There, I was informed that my appointment had been terminated. When I reminded them the promise made to re-post me, I was told to go to the Ministry of Education myself as that was none of their business.

    Ever since, I have gone from one office to the other in an effort to regain my job.

    During the administration of former Governor Olusegun Agagu, I appealed to different quarters without any positive response. And for the past four years, I have being trying to reach Governor Olusegun Mimiko without success.

    The hardships that I face daily as a result of the loss of my job, coupled with the stress of trying to regain my job over the years have been too much me. I have been jobless since then and this has led to depression.

    It is on this premise I am appealing to Governor Mimiko to have mercy on me and use his good office to reinstate into teaching.

    • Oladipo Blessing

    Ikare-Akoko, Ondo State.

  • PDP is causing chaos

    PDP is causing chaos

    SIR: The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is creating political chaos in Nigeria. Note that the principle of rotational presidency was not contested until Dr. Goodluck Jonathan decided to take undue advantage of the death of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua. All the major opposition political parties chose their presidential candidates from the North-west in 2011, to indicate they found rotational presidency reasonable and just.

    Surprisingly, confusionists keep saying rotational presidency is undemocratic, as if democracy implies lack of political order. They also argue that it will lead to choosing mediocres as President; they have not indicated which zones harbour only mediocres, so that we can exclude such zones from the rotation roster. Then, they have not told concerned Nigerians how else the nation can engender political equity, peace, and progress. They should explain also why the Jonathan-led administration has refused to allow an electoral commission whose principal officers are not chosen by the PDP.

    The PDP and its beneficiaries should explain the foregoing, and outline their proposal for equity, peace, and progress in Nigeria. I propose that the President should come from (Yar’Adua’s) North-west zone in 2015 to serve a single term of four years, and afterwards the baton should pass to the South-east, since Jonathan (from South-south) has spent many years in the presidency. Thereafter, the presidency should rotate from zone to zone, on north-south basis.

    The most recent act of intolerance and desperation betrayed by the PDP was the seizing of Offa Local Government from the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), using inter-communal clash as an excuse. Offa is the only local government won in Kwara state by the opposition political party (the ACN). The long-standing bad blood between Offa and Erin-Ile (in another local government) which resurfaced recently provided an opportunity the PDP had been looking-for to seize Offa local government.

    The state Governor, AbdulFatah Ahmed, also sacked the other chairman to convey appearance of even-handedness, and replaced both with caretakers. I enjoin the Offa people to endure the humiliation, hold their peace, but never succumb to intimidation and deceptive “gifts”. Nigeria must sack the PDP after many years of chaos, disorientation, and retrogression.

    I appeal to the All Progressives Congress (APC) to solidify rotational presidency, and work for the establishment of a truly independent electoral commission whose principal officers will not be chosen by the partisan President. I enjoin support for General Muhammadu Buhari to be the presidential candidate; he is a highly trustworthy person from the North-west. At worse, there should be primary election, rather than begging the General to drop his ambition.

     

    • Pius Oyeniran Abioje, Ph. D,

    University of Ilorin.

     

  • NASS, Presidency and 2013 budget delay

    NASS, Presidency and 2013 budget delay

    SIR: When on October 10, 2012, President Goodluck Jonathan presented the 2013 budget proposal to the joint session of both chambers of the National Assembly (NASS), Nigerians had thought that we have moved from the era, where the passage and signing of annual budgets were being delayed due to late presentation by the Presidency.

    In fact, the President received accolades from the entire people of Nigeria, as it was believed to be a good development that will greatly aid the budget implementation process. They (Nigerians) had expected the federal lawmakers to follow suit in ensuring quick passage, without prejudice to their constitutional powers to carry out proper scrutiny of the content of the budget proposal and make amends where necessary.

    Interestingly, the legislators did not disappoint Nigerians as they worked round the clock to ensure that the 2013 appropriation bill was passed on December 20, 2012, with an addition of about N63 billion to the N4.924 trillion originally proposed by the Presidency.

    However, almost two months after the passage of the 2013 budget by the parliamentarians, it is still awaiting the assent of the President. This delay in the signing of the 2013 appropriation bill into law, according to reports, may be due to disagreements between the Presidency and NASS on the oil benchmark, constituency projects and zero allocation for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Another reason that may have been holding back the President from signing the budget is said to be the additional N63 billion added to it by NASS. The President appears not to be comfortable with the increase made by the lawmakers.

    What is truly important at this point is for the two parties to come to terms as fast as possible. Continuous delay in the signing of the 2013 budget will not augur well for us. The Presidency must not allow this to get to a level where lawmakers will have to take the option of overriding the President’s veto as some members are already threatening and looking towards that direction.

    Come to think of it, of what use would it be that despite commendable efforts made by the executive to present the 2013 budget early October, 2012 as against previous years where it was presented in December, the signing of the appropriation bill is delayed till March or April? This would mean that the essence of the early presentation would have been defeated.

    • Michael Jegede

    Abuja

  • Attention IGP, Police Affairs minister

    Attention IGP, Police Affairs minister

    SIR: The uproar generated by the recent judgment of Justice Mohammed Talba on the pilfering of the Nigeria Police Pension funds will continue to form part of our discourse for as long as we will continue to witness the suffering of police pensioners. This was recently brought to the fore by the admission of the Minister of Police Affairs, Capt Caleb Olubolade that more than 4000 retirees are still waiting to be verified for the payment of what ordinarily is their entitlement. This statement is an indictment on a government that is pursuing transformation agenda.

    I wish to highlight the story of a gentleman who had served this country diligently but is still waiting for his gratuity and pension from the Nigerian Police force since retirement in 2006 after putting into service the mandatory 35 years in service.

    On a recent trip to Abuja, I met this man Richard Atanda Ogundare,ASP (rtd) who related his ordeal in the quest to get his entitlement.

    He said he was enlisted into the Nigeria Army in 1969 during the Nigeria Civil war and later in 1976 demobilized into the Nigeria Police Force. In 2006 that he retired, all the demobilised soldiers were asked to write voluntarily retirement application. The most shocking and embarrassing news according to him was when he was told by the Salary Department of the Nigeria Police that three years salaries would be deducted from his long-awaited and yet to be paid money.

    Despite writing through his D.P.O. at Owutu Police station in 2002 to the A.I.G Zone 2 informing the police management that he would be 35 years in service by 2004, his application was disapproved despite his willingness to leave then. He said since 2006 that he left the Nigeria Police to this moment, neither his gratuity nor pension has been paid even though all his documents have been submitted to the Police Pension office.

    I really do not know which side to be on in the present imbroglio between the Senate and Presidential Task Force on Pension for the resolution of the pension problem in this country. Must people that serve this country be made to suffer like this? We really don’t know how many Ogundares we have still struggling for what belongs to them, or those that had died or even those that may be facing some health challenges who may be confined to a location.

    I call on President Goodluck Jonathan, the Minister of Police Affairs Capt Caleb Olubolade and Inspector General of Police Mohammed Abubakar to look into the case of Richard Ogudare ASP (rtd) and others (the 4000 mentioned by the minister). Please lets remember that the society owe them this much.

     

    • Adedeji Badejo

    Lagos

  • The neglect of Tiv culture

    The neglect of Tiv culture

    Sir: Culture generally describes the behavioural patterns of people within a certain geographical enclave. Culture therefore entails peoples’ modes of dressing, eating habits, value system, taboos and norms. Culture has direct correlation with the traditional practices of the people within a region.

    The Tiv, an ethnic group in the North-central Nigeria belong to the Bantoid group of languages. It is widely believed that the Tiv came from the East, specifically from the Congo Basin area. They` are homogeneous people. They constitute approximately 3.5% of Nigeria’s total population, numbering over six million spread through Nigeria and Cameroon.

    The Tiv are the fourth largest ethnic group in Nigeria. A greater percentage of them live in Benue State where they are the largest

    Ethnic group, some in Taraba State where they are the second largest, and others are found in Nasarawa, Plateau, Cross-River, Niger and FCT, where they are minorities. Some are in the Republic of Cameroon.

    The Tiv culture is regarded as one of the richest heritage in Nigeria, Africa and the whole world. But today, their culture has been neglected as a result of influx of Western culture and civilisation.

    The stupendous neglect of our cultural values by our educated youth knows no bound. Children born and bred by Tiv parents prefer speaking English language to the Tiv language. The once cherished dialect (Zwa) is now neglected. Most Tiv families, especially those in diaspora, have long ignored the use of the dialect (Zwa Tiv) in their homes thereby alienating their children from their heritage. This has given rise to a trend where children and adults of Tiv extraction are completely oblivious of their language.

    Educated sons and daughters of Tiv Awange now dress like Europeans. Anger, Tugudu, Chado, Ivavtyo, Gbevwa etc which are some of the beautiful dresses cherished by our forefathers are now abhorred by the educated youth. The Swange dance which futures prominently on television have now been replaced with Kukere, Makosa, Hip hop and other foreign music.

    It is high time we came to our senses by moving towards reviving our dying cultures. Our Tiv traditional cultures must survive against all the odds!

     

    • John Akevi,

    Bauchi

     

  • Chasing the ‘ghost’ of Sylva?

    Chasing the ‘ghost’ of Sylva?

    SIR: The preoccupation of Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State with fighting his predecessor Chief Timipre Sylva, even when the latter is a harmless private citizen, reminds me of the story of the corrupt king and his poor but reputable subject.

    Each morning every inhabitant of the village would head for the ruler’s palace to collect money and heap shallow flattering compliments on the man. The poor subject, despite his deprivation, would stay behind, content with his untainted integrity and meagre means that met his basic needs.

    Although the wealthy king could boast of the “loyalty” of several members of the citizens on account of the largesse he doled out, still he complained that his happiness and security were not assured because the poor man did not make up the number of the sycophants. It unsettled the fawning subjects to learn that the king was not satisfied with their homage without the poor man’s. Nothing, he declared, would give him joy and rest until he dealt with the man who had refused to bow like others. But why would a king be afraid of a poor subject?

    I discern a parallel morbidity in what is going on in the post-Sylva era in Bayelsa. It’s quite a while since the departure of Sylva from the Government House, Yenagoa. Sylva was qualified constitutionally to run for a second term as governor. But with the connivance of the forces in Abuja, he was excluded from the poll and Dickson was foisted on the people.

    Practically then, Sylva is supposed to have become a forgotten or spent force in Bayelsa politics. But surprisingly that is not the case! He is still very much present, his name a thorn in the flesh of Dickson and officialdom. And so you have the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) operatives storming houses purportedly owned by Sylva in Abuja and claiming they have seized them as assets alleged to have been acquired through corrupt means.

    Forty-eight such mansions are said to have been retrieved, with a touch of drama as the media and their klieg lights are alerted to cover the raid on the houses.

    The Sylva phobia has lately shifted to Bayelsa with Governor Dickson claiming that his government inherited from Sylva a state treasury with N4,451! Now this is not only laughable but also calls into question the quality of governance and seriousness of the administration.

    Sylva may appear a helpless private man for now. But there is much strength in a man who has a formidable past of achievements, which a year after his exit, are still making his successors uncomfortable in their borrowed garments. Ordinarily, Dickson, the governor, ought to be satisfied with his incumbency and governing the people of Bayelsa without bothering about poor Citizen Sylva. But as with the story at the beginning of this piece, even a king must stand in fear of a man who does not depend on ephemeral power for survival!

     

    •Tom Oruh

    Lagos.

  • All Progressive Congress: Where are the Igbos?

    All Progressive Congress: Where are the Igbos?

    SIR: A historic event took place at Lagos House Marina on Tuesday February 5. Committed men and women gathered to strategize on how to move Nigeria forward after almost 16 years of harrowing hardship in the midst of plenty. It was an assemblage of people with known antecedents, people that can be trusted and people with character.

    After almost two years of search to end tales of misery, anguish and pain in Nigeria, a new baby, (child of necessity) was born in Lagos. Welcome, All Progressives Congress (APC)!

    Before this time, the PDP, desperate to cling to power at all costs, has been scoffing and boasting that the other parties cannot find a common ground to challenge its cosmetic hold on power. That must have informed the way and manner the enablers of this merger worked; keeping the PDP and its acolytes guessing for the most parts of the period the merger talks lasted till February 5 when, unannounced, 10 governors met in Lagos and proclaimed the birth of APC!

    Sadly, I saw poor Igbo representation in the historic event. Only Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and few other Igbo leaders were there. A day after, some all-weather Igbo politicians began to struggle to pull the rug from Governor Okorocha’s feet. I was taken aback that our people through timid and backyard politics are not keying in into this monumental political development in Nigeria. The era of “the president is our neighbour” should be thrown into the dustbin of history. How to retrieve Nigeria from soulless and stone age men and women should be the big picture. During the June 12, 1993 struggle, a greater percentage of Igbo leaders lined up behind IBB and Abacha. We know the consequences thereafter. An attempt to change the cause of political events in 1999 failed also because Igbo insisted on playing PDP politics. In 2011 again Igbo timidly played the “Jonathan Azikiwe” politics. And Nigeria continued to go under.

    Now, the big question is this: what have Ndigbo benefited from PDP since 1999? Can we see the benefits in Igboland?

    What have we benefited from ‘Jonathan Azikiwe’s politics since 2011? Which of the promises he made to Ndigbo have been fulfilled as the politics of 2015 is about to kick start? Second Niger Bridge? International Airport? Good federal roads, security? Refineries? Power stations? Additional state(s)? Our people must open their eyes now.

    In 1995, in my book, Igbos: 25 years After Biafra, I challenged Ndigbo to do away with the politics of the stomach and play politics of growth, and survival. It is this politics that has worsened our fate in Nigeria and from a major leg of the tripod that is the Nigerian project, we have been relegated to no leg at all and the elite crop of Igbo politicians continue to grope about without direction. A serious alliance is being built with the coming of APC but Igbo are stranded on the very crossroad of indecision and lack of political vision and foresight.

    There is no alternative to serious politics if you want to change your fortune for the better. I support the likes of Governor Rochas Okorocha, Chief George Moghalu, Senator Annie Okonkwo, Dr Chris Ngige, former Governor Achike Udenwa, and former Governor Ogbonnaya Onu etc who joined the great movement to salvage Nigeria. I urge them to work harder to develop a new and visionary genre of politicians that will be able to articulate Igbo politics and issues to the next level and work to achieve the noble goals that will benefit Ndigbo.

    • Joe Igbokwe

    Lagos

  • Who is afraid of state police?

    Who is afraid of state police?

    SIR: State police is an important component of true federalism and emblem of authority of governance, since sovereignty is divided between the central and federating states. State police is not a new concept in Nigeria, but there is a clamour for modification to the colonial legacy of Native Authority Police which successfully worked alongside the Nigeria Police force till the 1970s before it was abolished and integrated into a single Nigeria Police force by the military oligarchy to achieve their unitary command system.

    The native authority police was very effective as a tool for combating crime and maintaining law and order then, though with some excesses and abuses typical of the way party politics was played at that time. The 1999 constitution provides for a single federal police which precludes states from taking charge of the protection of lives and properties of their states. If Nigeria is really a federation, this is a constitutional lacuna that must be addressed through constitution amendment.

    One of the arguments being canvassed by the antagonists of state police is the likelihood of abuses by governors. Should allocation of resources to government or its agencies for development purposes be stopped based on the assumption that some few corrupt officials would mismanage them? If governors could manage other institutions of governance, there is no reason why they cannot manage state police. After all, the combined team of LASTMA, Federal Road Safety Commission Officials along with the Police are all collaborating and complementing each other on Lagos roads to maintain traffic and discipline among motorists. Imagine Lagos roads with just only traffic police in control!

    It has also been argued that many states cannot afford the cost of establishing and maintaining state police. It is worthy to note that the primary and most fundamental responsibility of any government at whatever level is the protection of lives and property of its citizenry. This is the cross they swore to carry and they must carry it at whatever cost. Indeed, many states have been doing this indirectly by spending huge amount of resources on the Nigeria police in their respective states. In Lagos, Governor Babatunde Fashola has donated dozens of armoured personnel carriers, hundreds of 4X4 trucks, hundreds of power bikes, two helicopters, thousands of bullet proof jackets and helmets, AK-47 rifles, ammunition, welfare and allowance packages running into billions of naira with other logistics to the state police command to enhance their operational efficiency.

    How does one expect the federal police to effectively enforce laws that are promulgated by the states?

    Fortunately, everyone seems to agree to the fact that Nigeria is currently under- policed. The current 370,000 policemen are grossly inadequate to effectively police a population of 170 million. This makes nonsense of the United Nations recommendation of a minimum police-population ratio. The Federal government already has too much on its neck to contend with. The recent revelation through a special broadcast by Channels Television on the sorry state of the Nigeria Police College, Ikeja, is a strong indication that the Federal Government needs to share some of its responsibilities with the state governments to achieve optimal results. The Nigerian Police, as it is presently constituted, is inadequately funded and lack the required capacity to effectively train its officers.

    Nigeria can successfully and efficiently operate state police alongside the Nigerian Police, given the required political will and genuine concern for the security of lives and property. We can start by giving state police some limited operational responsibilities and create the institutional watch dog to monitor their excesses and abuses.

     

    • Ojo Tope Stephen

    Ministry of Physical Planning and Urban Development, Alausa, Ikeja.

  • Re: Okorocha and the limits of ambition

    Re: Okorocha and the limits of ambition

    SIR: After reading the article with the above caption in The Nation of Friday February 8, it was crystal clear to me that it is either the writer, Ogbonna Eze is totally ignorant of happenings in Imo State, or he is a member of the liability political party that was beaten mercilessly by Governor Rochas Okorocha and his APGA in 2011.

    It is shocking because for the first time in Imo State, we are seeing free education; we are also seeing infrastructural leap after a long time. Salaries and pensions are paid promptly, students are even paid for going to school, yet an individual is asking where Okorocha is spending his allocation.

    Eze also committed another blunder when he inferred that Okorocha rode on the back of Ojukwu to become governor. This is another wrong but deliberate assumption. While not trying to undermine the influence of late Dim Ojukwu, it will be in order to point out here that Ojukwu was seriously hospitalised abroad during the time of Okorocha’s electioneering campaign. As a result, Ojukwu did not show up in Imo during that period, even though he sent his goodwill through his wife Bianca.

    As at 1999, Rochas won governorship primaries in Imo State; so he is not a green horn in Imo politics. Their political party candidate who was beaten mercilessly in the last election, also jumped from party to party. He started off in PDP, then he moved to AD in furtherance of his guber ambition; he later came back to PDP only to run off again to PPA from where he was “announced governor”. Then he came back to PDP even as a sitting governor and then failed woefully at the 2011 elections.

    It is good to set the records straight.

    •Uzo Iwuala,

    Owerri.