The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • Nigeria 2016-2019: The tasks ahead

    President Muhamadu Buhari may not altogether be a Messiah, but by the grace of our ancestors, he appears destined to lead the long-suffering people of Nigeria out of the desert and the wilderness to a point from where they will be able catch sight of the promised land in the far distance. It will then be up to a generation of young and dynamic patriots to lead our people further forward into a land of sunshine and abundance…

    Therefore, one of the first tasks to which Buhari MUST apply himself is to lay strong foundations for the future leadership of Nigeria to operate from in the decades to come. Quite rightly, he has begun by embarking on a through exercise of internal cleansing, whereby the main traitors who have been looting our nation’s wealth on an unprecedented scale for decades now are being flushed out into the open and brought to trial.

    No matter what anyone says, President Buhari must NOT allow himself to be distracted by the crocodile tears and fake howls of indignation of those insincere individuals within and outside Nigeria who claim to be preoccupied by the “hooomanraights” of the felons on whom the searchlight of justice is now being beamed.

    The so called “hooomanraights” about which these jokers are shouting concerning wicked, heartless criminals who were about to destroy the Nigerian nation in such a manner that future generations would necessarily have had to toil for many centuries to come as slaves to foreign masters is nothing but nonsense and rubbish, as my dear beloved mother was wont to say whenever she ran out of adjectives to describe something particularly heinous and difficult to comprehend…

    Why didn’t these ugly folks take the human rights of their fellow Nigerians and of the generations of Nigerians to come into consideration when they were busy stealing monumental sums of money that they could never have hoped to finish spending, even if they were to live for another two or three hundred years?

    Do the “hooomanraights” crocodile tear drunkard crowd who are busy shouting themselves hoarse for these folks to be released not know that all those billions of stolen dollars and nairas represent so many hundreds of thousands of Nigerians who died a miserable and painful death because hospitals were not built and filled with drugs because there were no funds, not to speak of express highways that were never built or repaired that could have saved the lives of so many victims of road accidents as well as save rural populations from starvation and death by providing a readily available means for farm products to be transported to urban centres and abroad for sale?

    WHAT ARE THESE FAKE “HOOOMANRAIGHTS” SHAMELESS  FIFTH COLUMNISTS TALKING ABOUT?

    Interestingly enough, one young joker who claims to be a Senior Advocate of Nigeria recently applied in broad daylight to a judge to grant bail to his client, who stands accused of heartlessly robbing the people of Nigeria of at least EIGHT BILLION NAIRA, to be granted bail because the said individual had invited guests from all over the world to attend the wedding of his children in mid-December 2015 and should therefore be released from custody to celebrate the wedding of his children and entertain his foreign guests…

    What a monumental provocation!

    If possible, judges who are fond of granting unconditional bail and nonsensical perpetual injunctions to looters of our national treasury should henceforth be thoroughly investigated and made to face trial if they are found to have been bribed with some of the looted funds.

    In addition, some of the glaring miscarriages of justice whereby major looters of public funds have been discharged on so-called “technical grounds” as a result of evil conspiracies involving insincere investigators, chop-chop prosecutors and corrupt judges should forthwith be reopened and properly investigated. One such glaring case involves a self-proclaimed pastor/banker who was supposed to be tried for misappropriation of monumental sums of money, only for him to be allowed to dance away joyously from the law courtsin complete freedom because the prosecutors had allegedly filed the charges against him before the “wrong jurisdiction” under allegedly “erroneous headings”…!

    NA WABO!

    I GO DIE O!

    Far from granting bail to all the self-pitying criminal jokers who suddenly claim to develop fictitious illnesses as soon as they are asked to stand trial for theirheinous crimes, the accused looters should be held tightly in prison custody until they name all their local and international accomplices and agree to return as much of the looted funds as can be recovered. If necessary, stern legislation should be enacted to send some of the worst offenders before firing squads if they should prove obdurate and unrepentant.

    Ironically, it would even appear that some of the alleged looters have ended up deploying acting skills that would win them prizes in international film festivals. Thus, a former Petroleum Minister is suspected of having gone underground for a while to have plastic surgery and top level movie make up applied to her features in order to buttress her claims of being terminally ill with cancer!

    Unfortunately, the dead give-away in this case lay of course in the fact that it was one single highly doctored photograph that kept being circulated in various publications with the assistance of hungry odd-jobbers like the ubiquitous Dele Momodu of “Ovation” fame…

    Another obvious give-away was that the person who piteously claimed to be dying of cancer was at the same time busy applying to the Dominican Republic to work for that country free of charge as a globe-trotting “trade representative” in exchange for Dominican nationality, which would presumably have conferred immunity from prosecution in Nigeria or Britain to our fallen angel…

    Was she planning to carry out her duties as “trade representative” from the shadow of St. Peter’s throne in the other world, or what?

    Also, Nigerians with retentive memories will certainly recall that in the days before she suddenly discovered that she was afflicted with a very serious case of backyard cancer, our elegantly attired amazon amazed the whole nation by outsprinting Usseini Bolt on the tarmac of the Murtala International airport some months ago, leaving her much younger collaborators of both sexes far, far behind, in a bid to board the same plane as President-elect MohammaduBuhari in order to try her fading charms and captivating million dollar perfumes and thick mascara beauty queen make-up on the poor man…

    NA WA O!

    On a more serious note, President Buhari should immediately discard the rigmarole of annual budget presentationsto the National Assembly in favour of a well thought-out three year development plan to cover the remaining years of his presidency.

    In any case, what is the sense of going to present a budget to a body that is virtually two thirds filled with assorted idle jokers, odd jobbers, drug barons and hardened criminals?

    FOR WHAT?

    Rather, President Buhari should save his breath and concentrate on the task of governance, leaving the so called assembly members to purchase sleek armoured SUVs and party to their heart’s content. After all, isn’t that what they were “elected” to do? Why waste their time asking them to approve budgets that they cannot be bothered to even read? The President should be merciful to our dear “legislooters” and leave them to enjoy their hard-earned prerogatives in peace!

    On an even more serious note, President Buhari MUST disabuse himself of the fallacious notion that he belongs to no one and to everyone. This might be a neat turn of phrase for speech-making purposes, but it certainly does not belong in the realm of reality.

    MohammaduBuhari DOES belong to someone!

    He belongs to the teeming millions of oppressed Nigerians who voted for him in the hope that he would help deliver them from hunger, disease, unemployment, and despair…

    He certainly does NOT belong to the tiny minority of Nigerians who are currently busy building skyscrapers and shopping malls all over the place, for the greater glory of the holy trinity of dollar, euro, and naira. Let them build to their heart’s content! Nemesis is not far off!

    Only fools would not know that the phenomenon known as climate change will eventually sweep the mad project known as Eko city or whatever into the ocean within the next decade at the most!

    Also, only unsuspecting innocents would elect tolive high above ground in skyscrapers that have been built in Nigerian cities that are afflicted with frequent power surges from defective public electricity supplies, poor communication and virtually NO fire services… The recent New Year eve fire in one of Dubai’s tallest buildings in the course of which a monumental catastrophe was only narrowly averted should prove an eye-opener to besotted over-rich Nigerian inhabitants of tall skyscrapers: Let them pay their abundant dollars and eurosfor the privilege of living very close to the heavens in every sense of the word!

    Most importantly, President Buhari should swallow false pride and seek to work closely with Ashiwaju Bola Tinubu, whose doggedness, astute strategizing and clever moves were key contributory factors to the collapse of the Jonathan monumental misgovernment enterprise, and whom the President still needs in his vicinity to guard his back…

    Quite obviously, Buhari’s near-miraculous emergence as Nigerian Head of State will prove to be a hollow Pyrrhic victory if fifth columnists are allowed to regroup and mount counter attacks against the nascent Nigerian reborn nation. After all, was it not Buhari’s vainglorious claim that he was supposed to stand aloof from the affairs of the Senate that allowed an odd-jobber like Saraki to plot his way to the Senate Presidency with hidden support from the fast-ageing apprentice MaradonnaAtikuAbubakar, who apparently still dreams of dribbling his way into becoming President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the not so distant future…?

    NA WA O!

    Obviously, Saraki is forgetful of the nursery rhyme about Humpty Dumpty’s great fall from the wall… Will his own jagged pieces ever be put together again when he inevitably tumbles down from the rickety wall that he has so wilfully climbed on? When the time comes from the great fall, is it Dino Melaye who will step forward to glue the pieces from Saraki’s artificial shell together again, or will that singular honour fall to Prince BurujiKasumu of the multiple identities?

    NA WA O!

    EVERYBODY SAY YEHYEH!

    I GO DIE O!

    In any case, some of President Buhari’s cabinet appointments are puzzling, to say the least. What could be the justification for appointing an empty egomaniac like UdoUdoma to man the National Planning portfolio, when this gentleman obviously knows nothing whatsoever about economics and cannot even be said to know much law, unlike his late father, the distinguished legal luminary UdoUdoma, who stood shoulder to shoulder with some of the best jurists in the world during his lifetime?

    NA WA O!

    Talking of the law, President Buhari should be reminded that it is not enough to prosecute those who were caught stealing crudely in broad daylight, but that the searchlight should also be beamed on the way in which some of our oilfields have been given away in the past to undeserving individuals by past Heads of State like Ibrahim Babangida and SanniAbacha.

    In particular, many Nigerians may have noted that a certain lady who was only known as a seamstress in the past suddenly began to be described as ‘the richest woman in Africa” by capitalist mouthpieces like ‘Forbes’ magazines, which also managed to pocket an undisclosed amount of hard currency for awarding our erstwhile Petroleum Minister with a fabulous merit award…

    Does this lady own any banks or industries?

    Did her father or grandfather own any oil wells?

    How come then that some of Nigeria’s choicest oil wells, which rightly belong to the people of Nigeria and their children, are alleged to have ended up in her possession?

    QUESTION GO SOON JAM ANSWER!

    There is also the case of a retired top General, who came out openly a few years ago to declare that he had so much money that he “no longer knew what to do with all that wealth”…

    NA WA O!

    Did this gentleman go into frying and selling akara balls for great profit after retiring from the Nigerian army, or has he been scooping a different kind of oil that should rightly belong to the poor oppressed people of Nigeria?

    Interestingly enough, a British judge was recently allegedly quoted as stating in open court that a certain code name in the Dan Ettete mastermindedMalabu mess appeared to designate a former Nigerian Head of State who once regaled us with stories about having attended secondary school in bare-footed attire…

    What will be the reaction of the Federal Government if the British judicial authorities were to present an extradition request for the former bare-footed school boy to stand trial in Britain?

    Will there be a plea of Presidential immunity?

    Many lawyers must no doubt be waiting to dance merrily all the way to the bank on this one, following on the footsteps of the “cunny-cunny” learned gentleman who declared to gullible Federal Govt officials that taking the Bakassi case to the World Courtfor adjudication would lead to a slam-dunk victory for the Nigerian Government (Obasanjo dixit!), only for the said learned person to ride in glory to the bank carrying a few million dollars in fees in his sokoto pocket after the Federal Government lost the case, leading to the takeover of the Bakassi peninsula by Cameroun…

    Should the people of Nigeria not be entitled, at the very least, to a small part of the interest from the fee that our learned advocate earned from losing this high profile case that he is alleged to have pressed a naive OlusegunObasanjo to take to the World Court? (Details of his successful lobbying efforts are contained in Obasanjo’s recent three part autobiography)

    I BEG O!

    In the case of our oil wells.if the individuals who have benefitted from patent cases of “pen robbery” do not spontaneously come forward to restore the nation’s oil wells to the people of our country, rigorous steps should forthwith be taken to unmask such individuals and make them return both their illegally acquired oil wells and the proceeds arising from the exploitation of the said oil wells to the citizens of Nigeria and their descendants.

    Hopefully, when the time comes, such folks will refrain from subjecting us to the boring repetitive routine of the sudden onslaught of bouts of backyardOnitsha market illnesses whenever they are required to appear before the law courts…

    NA WA O!

    On a more serious note, following the Israeli example of operating as a permanently mobilized nation, preparations should henceforth begin for all able-bodied male and female Nigerian citizens between the ages of 18 and 30 with secondary school level education to undergo a compulsory six month military training course.

    The fact is that Nigeria is currently a nation at war!

    In times of pressing national danger, military operations are too serious a matter to be left to professional soldiers alone : All able-bodied citizens of our nation must be prepared to fight and, if need be, die bravely for the greater glory of Nigeria tomorrow.

    An army composed of individuals who have signed into the military in the hope of earning salaries and gaining meaningless ribbon decorations and ranks is of no use to the Nigerian nation, even though we need some folks with in-depth professional military training to fight alongside patriotic citizen volunteers who are prepared to march forward to confront the nation’s enemies resolutely, unafraid to die if that will ensure the victory of the Nigerian nation as a whole…

    Obviously, it is by the sacrifice of a few that the interests of the totality of citizens can be assured!

    It is because of the heroic bravery of the generality of Burkinabe citizens, who recently dared the renegade putschists led by Gilbert Guingere to shoot as many of them as they cared to kill that led to the collapse of the recent attempt to take away the freedom of the Burkinabe people.

    How can the imperialists and their local stooges and collaborators ever prevail against us if we are each prepared to die, rather than yield ground and allow our future descendants to be enslaved under the whip lashes of World Bank and IMF plantation supervisors? Can they manage to kill off one hundred million determined Nigerian heroes?

    Any free born Nigerian who prefers slavery to the proud status of an emancipated Nigerian should be encouraged to emigrate to the land of his or her choice, with provision of free one-way passage on cargo boats sailing to their chosen destinations, so that they can learn at first hand if they will be welcomed with open arms by the “hooomanraights” propagandists of the western world…

    It would be a case of good riddance to bad rubbish!

    With determination and patriotic leadership, Nigeria can rise to the ranks of China, India, and other nations that have managed to emancipate themselves from the tyranny of western imperialism withina few decades.

    Let our future descendants reap abundantly where we shall sow, for the greater glory of the black African race!

    ARISE O BEAUTIFUL RACE OF AFRICANS!

    ARISE, YE DESCENDANTS OF THE BUILDERS OF THE PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT AND NUBIA!

    ARISE, YE DESCENDANTS OF JABECISSE, SUNDIATA KEITA, SONNI ALI BER, AND CHAKA ZULU!

    LISTEN TO THE WORDS OF WISDOM OF MARCUS GARVEY, MALCOLM X,,OSAGYEFO DR. KWAME NKRUMAH, PATRICE LUMUMBA AND STEVE BIKO, SCINTILLATING NEVER-TO-BE-FORGOTTEN PATRIOTS OF THE AFRICAN RACE WHO FREELY GAVE THEIR LIVES SO THAT FUTURE GENERATIONS OF AFRICANS AND AFRICAN DESCENDANTS WILL GROW TO LIVE AS FREE-BORN CITIZENS OF THE WORLD!

    ARISE!

    FOLLOW IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF THESE GREAT IMMORTALS!

    Over and out.

  • Why Buhari is entering 2016 with high support

    “If the Nigerians who have fled their homes because of Boko Haram attacks were a country, they would be Africa’s 42nd largest nation”

    As Nigeria rings in 2016, the ever-present threat of violence by Boko Haram hangs heavy over Africa’s most populous country, despite official claims that the battle against the Islamist group has been “technically” won.

    After setting a December 31 deadline to rid his country of Boko Haram, President Muhammadu Buhari told the BBC: “I think technically we have won the war because people are going back into their neighbourhoods.”

    In his New Year message to the nation, Buhari commended the military for “significantly curtailing the insurgency” but acknowledged there was “still a lot of work to be done in the area of security”.

    “This government will not consider the matter concluded until the terrorists have been completely routed and normality restored to all parts of the country that have been adversely affected by the Boko Haram insurgency,” he said.

    Fear still stalks cities

    But despite the official assurances, violence and fear continue to stalk several major cities in Nigeria’s troubled northeast.

    Late last month, more than 50 people were killed in a 48-hour wave of attacks in the mainly Muslim region that were blamed on the jihadists.

    Boko Haram has resorted to suicide bombers-many of them young children-to wage its war for an independent Islamic state in the country.

    The extremist group has also spread its bombing campaign to neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

    “Boko Haram is still a big threat despite the government’s claim that the group has been weakened,” said Ibrahim Kulo, 47, a resident of the violence-wracked northeastern city of Maiduguri.

    “One cannot venture 10 kilometres (six miles) outside the city without the fear of Boko Haram ambush. We live in real danger of Boko Haram,” he told AFP.

    Sanusi Ahmad, 33, voiced similar fears.

    “Boko Haram remains a threat. I don’t believe it when the government says they have defeated Boko Haram,” said the resident of the northern city of Kano.

    “I agree that the military has made substantial progress in the fight against the group,” he told AFP.

    “But the fact that Boko Haram can still carry out attacks like the ones… last week is an indication that they are still a serious threat. Although there has been a lull in attacks in Kano, the threat still remains.”

    “We don’t know when and where the next attack will occur.”

    Change of strategy

    The latest attacks “underscore the difficulty of dealing comprehensively with such a group,” Nigerian political analyst Chris Ngwodo told AFP.

    “The president said some days ago that Boko Haram had been technically defeated. What they meant to say was that the group’s ability to stage attacks has been seriously degraded,” Ngwodo added.

    But despite the deadline passing, Ngwodo said Buhari still enjoys the backing of most Nigerians in the fight against Boko Haram.

    “A lot of people felt that the previous administration (of President Goodluck Jonathan) was simply at sea. Indeed, they were incompetent when it came to dealing with security threats,” Ngwodo said.

    But he said Buhari should seek to change his strategy to end the insurgency, which has claimed more than 17,000 lives since it began in 2009.

    The extremist insurgency has forced over 2.5 million people-just over the population of Paris – to flee from their homes, according to a December report issued by USAID, a United States government humanitarian agency.

    If that number of displaced Nigerians were a country, they would be Africa’s 42nd largest nation, bigger even than Namibia, Botswana, and The Gambia.

    In a possible sign of this tactical change, Buhari said on Wednesday his government was “prepared to negotiate” with the Boko Haram leadership “without precondition” over the release of 219 kidnapped schoolgirls from Chibok once “credible” leaders were identified for talks.

    He also hinted he could ban the wearing of hijabs or other headwear by Muslim women if insurgents continued to use veiled women to carry out suicide attacks.

    Source: mgafrica.com

     

  • Nigeria in 2016: Looking back, looking forward

    “2016 might become a year that enhances opportunities amid challenges. While we recognise the challenges, including the stress in the foreign exchange market, we should not fail to embrace the opportunities, and support the efforts of the government to reflate the economy.”
     

    The economics of what didn’t happen is not always appreciated; its value is also often disputed. Be that as it may, the country cannot be denied the sense of progress in 2015, in that we avoided a much-feared crisis aftermath to the general elections that held in the earlier part of the year. President Muhammadu Buhari has been magnanimous in acknowledging the role of his predecessor in this, and we have continued to see the President make determined efforts to salvage the country from the precarious economic situation.

    We could hardly celebrate the peaceful transition of government, although the first transition of power from an incumbent candidate to the opposition candidate marked an important milestone in the development of the country’s democracy. Substantial drop in government revenue, on account of the sharp decline in the price of crude oil, imposed a harsh reality. This reality persists even as oil prices have fallen further since May 29th.

    Oil revenue, which accounts for 70 per cent of government revenue and 90 per cent of exports, had tumbled from $110 per barrel in July 2014 to $50 in December that year; and it fell further to $36 at the end of 2015. This price shock has had greater severity than the oil price plunge in 2009 during the global financial crisis, and it is set to be the most persistent in decades. The fiscal dislocations attendant to the current oil price debacle is proving very serious for oil producing countries, more so where foreign reserves levels are low.

    I have in the past three years focused my contributions to public economic policy discussions on how the country can complement oil revenue, especially foreign exchange income, by developing the non-oil sectors and their export potentials. This was not necessarily in anticipation of the substantial decline in the price of oil, or the oil wells drying up. In spite of its predictability, though, and over one year of downward trending, the fallen oil prices remain a rude awakening for producers across the spectrum of the market. This remains true, even if the responses we have seen from some of the producing countries are intensifying the supply glut which has been putting downward pressure on prices.

    My view was informed by two mutually reinforcing realities. I lead an important state institution whose primary statutory responsibility is to promote Nigeria’s external trade by supporting export production. Nigerian Export – Import Bank (NEXIM Bank) is also officially designated as the Trade Policy Bank of the Federal Government. And on my job, my vision of the Nigerian economy that is so much larger than oil, both in revenue and aggregate production capacity, is continually magnified, either by discoveries from our market research efforts or the proposals that come to my desk.

    Nigeria has one of the world’s richest reserves of arable land resources, huge unharnessed potentials for manufacturing, a wide range of solid mineralsdeposits in commercial quantity, and a large youthful population, whose innovation and dynamism can drive prosperity in the services sector. The question has been how do we translate the huge potentials into value-added domestic production and also serve the export markets.

    One of the propositions I made was strong leadership. The topmost political leadership is important in creating an environment where government and market policies would be effective. Apart from the leadership role in effective resource governance, there is a body of evidence from emerging markets on how political governance was the turning point in economic performance. Chinese state-owned-enterprises have been functioning well even in international markets as an extension of a more effective state.

    Whatever the imperfection that effective leadership accommodates, like human right violation and residual corruption challenges that some people allege with China, it does not nullify the capacity to bring about positive change, progressively. President Buhari provides the country a chance in both institutional and market transformation. The huge fiscal challenges the country faces may unduly influence public perception for now. Even at that, it is clear that the narrative on Nigeria about festering corruption is in the past; fiscal governance that is accountable and aims at welfare improvement is the present.

    I have also shared the idea of fiscal and monetary interventions that are targeted at Small and Medium Scale Enterprises. SMEs are recognised as the engine for economic growth. They also provide the promise of innovations and adaptability that can harness export markets. NEXIM Bank, on its part, mainly supports SME manufacturers with potentials for export. Our aspiration is to grow our interventions to the scale of the foremost emerging market export credit agency. For instance, the EXIM Bank of India has been functioning as a quasi-sovereign lender to African countries, in efforts at opening foreign markets to Indian firms.

    The importance of SMEs is also in the fact that they provide immense opportunities for job creation. As a percentage of output, SMEs create more jobs. SMEs account for 60 to 90 per cent of jobs in most OECD countries, including Japan and Spain. Even in the context of export production, the jobs are created locally. The mantra for US EXIM Bank is to finance U.S. export-related transactions in order to support U.S. jobs. But in terms of which sectors Nigeria can scale up productivity, exports and job creation  over the longer term, NEXIM Bank has held up Manufacturing, Agro-processing, Solid Minerals and Services as encapsulated in our “MASS Agenda.”

    Since assuming office, President Buhari has repeatedly recognised the agriculture value chain and the solid minerals sectors for direct intervention. This is quite astute. The most effective instrument for intervening in these sectors, based on their rudimentary levels of market development, is fiscal policy; and that is in the grasp of the Administration. Manufacturing and services should thrive on good policies that support market frameworks, including financing.

    The current oil price slump might be a good psychological therapy for accelerating the pace of economic and export diversification for the country. But we are dealing with an issue that has long been identified. The solutions are in the most not new, as well. But this time around, a higher level of discipline and determination is required for us to achieve success, as the current circumstances are more challenging.

    NEXIM Bank interacts with SMEs in these sectors all the time. They are the target of our export advisory services and risk-bearing facilities. We have recently been active in food processing where our interventions have financed over $100 million worth of exports in the last three years. However, at country level, the total financing support to SMEs has struggled to keep pace with the growing requirements of new enterprises and existing businesses needing the next round of growth funding. This explains why the various interventions have not made much leap in the aggregate impacts.

    To address this conundrum, I more recently advised that the Development Finance Institutions should be co-opted on a larger scale. Africa’s regional DFIs – African Development Bank and African Export – Import Bank – can help scale up resources. Working with the national DFIs including NEXIM Bank, the critical channels for the transmission of financing interventions for SMEs growth would open wider. DFIs are specifically mandated to support enterprise development, focusing on the real sectors, and in the case of NEXIM Bank, export market development for the longer term. Commercial banks don’t necessarily have this orientation because of their capital structure and opportunities that deliver returns in the short-term.

    The Central Bank of Nigeria is now more intent in addressing this channel issue. Its November Monetary Policy Committee meeting decided to incentivise real sector lending by releasing additional liquidity to banks who are willing to participate. Indications are that the national DFIs would also be more resourced.

    So what is the big picture that is expected in 2016? I think 2016 can be the best year for SMEs in Nigeria. Their role would be better recognised, and their operations would be better supported. A key frontier of the support is the fiscal plan the government has unfolded in the 2016 budget. Part of it involves the much bigger capital expenditure which will increase business activities around infrastructure projects, including housing. A seemingly less appreciated part is how the poverty alleviation initiatives that puts money in the hands of the poor can boost patronage for SMEs.

    2016 might become a year that enhances opportunities amid challenges. While we recognise the challenges, including the stress in the foreign exchange market, we should not fail to embrace the opportunities, and support the efforts of the government to reflate the economy. Here is wishing you all happy and prosperous 2016.

    • Orya is Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Nigerian Export – Import Bank. He is also the Honorary President, Global Network of Exim Banks and Development Finance Institutions (G-NEXID).   

  • Media chat, a win-win move

    In the aftermath of the Presidential Media Chat by the President Muhammadu Buhari, the first since the decisive mandate of 2015, a mandate based on expectations of change, analysts of various hue have taken over the space presenting their own views on what he said, what he could have said and what he didn’t.

    Feedback from the Social Media indicates that the programme was widely followed by Nigerians at home and abroad.

    Tweet Trends at the end of the programme showed that there were more than 300,000 tweets and feedbacks from TV viewers and radio listeners using the hashtags #presidentialmediachat, #PMBmediachat and #ASKBuhari. Given 30 minutes to take questions from Twitter, Channel TV’s erudite Presenter, Kayode Akintemi said that he had over 1,000 questions to pick from.  It was not all praises through.  As to be expected, the president got some knocks on the issues of Nnamdi Kanu of Biafra and ex-National Security Adviser Colonel Sambo Dasuki. There were attacks also on government policy on the use of Naira Mastercard abroad and the Hijab.

    The Hijab issue in particular has been taken completely out of context with attention-Imams swearing and shouting at the President for merely contemplating the need to consider what to do about a national security problem, not that a decision is reached.

    But on the whole and overall, the President come out shining, out of what turned out to be a very dramatic evening.  In one word, the outing erased many doubts of the President’s articulation and his cohence of thinking. A Twitterer asked this question at one point: “Is this the one they said was brain-dead?” When President Buhari spoke, it was ram rod and straight talk, which many believe is   what is needed to clean up the decadent status-quo and the Augean stable. Many said they liked his hang on Biafra and the accusations of the marginalization of the South-East states.

    He was unpretentious throughout.  This alone had the effect of reinforcing his reputation for candor.  But he also showed a softer side of himself. He joked, he laughed and showed flashes of frustration and he was characteristically himself: calm, self-confident, composed and not for a moment did he try to being someone other than himself.  The important take-away from my point of view is, beyond there being  a “New Sheriff in Town” in the president as Commander-In- Chief, the President used the occasion to go over the heads of the editors to engage the millions of viewers, forcefully driving home his sometimes bitter points of view on a wide variety of issues. He put up a brave presence and a brave defense  on key issues of the day –security, corruption, economy  and the indivisibility of the country.

    For instance he offered a rare opportunity to undo the impasse over the missing Chibok girls by agreeing to  unconditional talks to a credible Boko Harm leadership (If any will come forward).He said anyone that embarrasses his government on the issue of corruption will be shown the way out. Not only that, they will be prosecuted.

    Addressing the issue of Biafran agitations, the president drew lessons from history on the strategic consequences of failing to act with firmness and great wisdom.  His economic review presented a sobering picture not only for the government, but for the general public to heed the warning signal.

    On the other hand many understand his comments regarding the bail for Col Dasuki and Nnamdi Kanu to mean that government would use all avenues in the legal system to ensure that they are made to face trials. Under the constitution, no one can stop the courts from doing their jobs and it is matter the President keeps going back to given his much-cherished, newly-acquired democratic beliefs.

    On any given day in court, lawyers argue the pros and cons of given issues. As writers and commentators in the media, this is what we do always. The one who argues for bail and the one who argues against it are both entitled to their views.

    It is  harsh of anyone to deny the President an opinion on these matters when all of us are freely commenting upon them. Muhammadu Buhari is first a citizen before becoming a President. He is entitled to hold views as you and I are under the constitution.

    What will be wrong is when he tries to impose those views on the courts or on anyone, and this not anything he has done, and is will not do as the elected president of Nigeria.

    Some quotes from the #Presidentialmediachat read as follow:

    War on corruption will take years, we are appealing to some countries to cooperate with us, Nigeria on its knees -PMB

    Under the military, you were guilty and you had to prove yourself Innocent. But under democracy, you are innocent until proven otherwise-@MBuhari

    I have declared my assets four times, mentioned which banks I took money from and how many cows I have” -@MBuhari.

    The body in charge of my asset declarations should not browbeat the media, they should release my assets declarations.

    I have not taken anyone into my cabinet who is being prosecuted for corruption, consciously I have not -@MBuhari.

    I don’t think I picked anybody that I think will embarrass my govt, or who has got a corruption case. Name one.-@MBuhari.

    If anyone in my cabinet is involved in corruption, I’ll not only sack the person , I’ll ensure they are prosecuted

    On Chibok Girls #BringBackOurGirls we will negotiate with Boko Haram without precondition to return the missing girls.

    Some G7 countries have sent training teams and given military hard/software to Nigeria -PMB.

    #BringBackOurGirls The Nigerian security doesn’t have intelligence as to whereabouts and status of the Chibok girls.

    ….. “President of Iran spoke to me about the attack on Shiites by the Nigerian military” – PMB

    On Shiites, I expect a judicial commission of inquiry by the @GovKaduna state, I’ll rather wait for the report – PMB

    When I say the war has been technically won, I meant their capacity to carry out conventional attack has weakened-PMB

    ”Personally I don’t want to support devaluation of the Naira” –PMB

    ”@NNPCgroup has 45 accounts, the military- Army, Navy, Airforce, Police had 70 accounts until we introduced TSA” -PMB

    ”I need to be convinced before I can approve the devaluation of the Naira” -PMB

    ”We have stopped 43 items from being imported including toothpicks” – PMB

    ”By the end of next quarter we won’t be talking about subsidy because  cost of refined product will be so low. There’ll be no need for subsidy.”

    I was only told of N700million for vehicles for the Presidency & as  for the National Assembly, I hope they’ve not bought them.

    ”27 out of the 36 states couldn’t pay salaries when we came in” -PMB

    ”The federal gov’t will not touch minimum wage”-PMB

    “Nnamdi Kanu has two passports, British and Nigerian. But he entered this country with none of the two passports.”

    Talking about condour, it is very rare that when asked a question, the leader of a country will say I don’t have the answer, I will seek explanation from so, so or that I will instruct the Central Bank to issue a statement on that. This is why when he speaks, the public believes him because he does so with an aura sincerity. This is something that helps public perception.  A leader who knows it all by himself is not what a country needs.

    Since assuming power in May, 2015, the President has sent very clear signals to the media of his non-interference with their freedom.  As the leader of this large and diverse country, he had an important message for them he kept for the last: he wants the media to rise above speculations, do a lot of research and investigation to produce credible articles. In his view, they need to do this to ramp up their credibility. Should they fail to do this, they will risk dragging down their  reputable institution from the high pedestal it occupies. The self –regulating arms of the industry will be doing a disservice to both the media and the nation if they ignore this freely-offered advice.

    From my own partisan, but certainly not jaundiced view, the first of the quarterly Media Chats was a win-win move. It served both sides well, with the media carrying out their constitutional duty of (scrupulously) auditing the administration and the President having  a useful platform to reach millions of citizens who harbor a lot of love and admiration for him and between them, a shared expectation of change.

  • Towards the economic liberation of nigeria: Bala usman’s enduring relevance

    Towards the economic liberation of nigeria: Bala usman’s enduring relevance

     We gather today in deep respect and appreciation. This nation owes an unredeemable debt to DR. YUSUFU BALA USMAN.  His love for Nigeria had no exception.

    He cared for us all, the great and the lowly, the rich and the modest, the arrogant and the humble, those from the North, South, East and West. Moslem and Christian.

    The beam of his keenintellect was only equalled by the glow of his humanity.

    1. It has been a decade since the great teacher, researcher, thinker, writer, polemicist, nationalist and pan-Africanist left us to enter into eternity on September 24, 2005.

    Yet, the light of his incandescent life continues to shine brightly, showing present and future generations the path to personal and national greatness.

    This unique and distinguished institution, the Centre for Democratic Development, Research and Training (CEDDERT) founded by Dr. Bala Usman is an enduring testament to his rare spirit and vision.

    I commend the management and staff of CEDDERT for holding aloft Bala Usman’s banner of commitment to truth, equity, human nobility and justice.

    1. I thank the organisers of this event for considering me worthy to deliver this keynote address. It is an unalloyed honour.

    Let me say that Dr. Bala Usman was no stranger to me.

    I recall with nostalgia how hard he worked and how we joined hands in common purpose to help achieve the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola’s emphatic victory in the historic June 12, 1993, Presidential election.

    So committed was Bala Usman to democratic restoration in Nigeria that he translated Chief Abiola’s manifesto, ‘Farewell to Poverty”, into Fulfude.

    4.Reflecting upon that momentous election which might have changed the course of our history had it been allowed to hold, I must sound a caution for our times.

    Bala Usman would have been pleased by the result of this year’s contest. It presents a chance for Nigeria to renew its march toward progress based on the ideals Usman espoused.

    This change requires more than a change in policies; it requires a change in politics; it requires a change of heart.

    5.While we have put forth a new government, too many of us who should be allied in changing the prospects of this nation have failed to put forth a new politics.

    They remain mired in the broken ways of yesterday, placing every conceivable personal interest above the national concern.

    Had we allowed such blindness to rule us, we never would have accomplished the historic merger that led to election victory and this opportunity for progressive change.

    What we accomplished was based on a matrix of sacrifice and cooperation. I have sacrificed much for this day to come to pass.Thus, I want this day to endure.

    I have done so by placing the welfare of Nigeria above my own advancement. I have done so because it is a lesson Bala Usman taught us every day of his life.

    Those who consider themselves his students should do so not only while reading his books but also in our actions.  The proof of our collective endeavour is not to be found in the word but in the deed.

    We must remain united in cause – the development of this nation — and must do so from beginning to end.

    6.You see,  Dr. Yusufu Bala Usman was an intellectual not for the sake of intellectualism. He was an intellectual because he understood knowledge was the most vital weapon a besieged nation and its people could acquire.

    Knowledge dismisses the fetters of poverty that many people come to mistake for the natural order of things.

    His love of people and wisdom led him to see the economy we were given was not the economy intended for us.

    We had become the victims of an unfair economic architecture arising from an unjust history.

    1. Bala Usman accepted a profound, unique mission. He sought to emancipate us from the yoke of the past, all the time warning that old forms of oppression would give birth to new forms of the inhumane contest for dominion of man over man, nation over nation.

    Colonialists might leave; but the injustice they spawned would reshape itself into the imperfections of an independence nominally gained but superficially evolved.

    Nigeria was declared a nation. But of nationhood, little was to be found.

    We were an independent country but our economy remained the appendage of others. We lived in the shadows of global forces that mocked our economic freedom and democracy.

    The nation trembled and stumbled because we were always unsure, afraid or both.

    We never knew whether the shadows were our own harmless reflection or that of a force with motives and means sinister to our development.

    8.The title of this address, “Towards the Economic Liberation of Nigeria: Bala Usman’s Enduring Relevance”, is patterned on Bala Usman’s 1980 landmark publication ‘For the Liberation of Nigeria’.

    In that book, he wrote: “Whatever specific issue or subject they may deal with all these lectures and articles have a single and common engagement.

    They are all about the liberation of the people of Nigeria from western imperialist domination at the national and international levels.”

    Dr. Bala Usman’s activities as an academic and activist were motivated by his ardent commitment to the complete political and economic liberation of Nigeria as the precursor for the emancipation of Africa and the black man everywhere.

    1. Ideas he espoused over the decades apply with ever-greater force today. Here I give clear warning.

    I do not aim to pay gentle tribute to man so that you may politely applaud once I sit down. Then we all depart upon our merry way as if nothing profound awaits our economic future.

    Or, worse, as if the works of Bala Usman are intellectually stimulating but have no practical application to the situation at hand. I reject that notion.

    The truth always has relevance. Meanwhile there are many great untruths this nation must erase before they turn our desire for a better Nigeria into something counterfeit.

    Unless we embrace the truths that shaped the prescriptions of Bala Usman, Nigeria will remain a land of false mirrors, where we look at ourselves but see something else, a land of past potential but with its future gone astray.

    Look, we have expended much too much money to purchase the poverty we now endure. Poverty should be much cheaper than what we suffered to pay for it.

    10.Whether his thoughts on the Economic Crisis facing Nigeria, or the Manipulation of Religion for political advantage or his analysis against foreign economic oppression as espoused in his stance against the IMF loan in 1985,

    Bala Usman traded only in truth and honesty at a time when neither honesty nor truth was the expected currency of our political discourse.

    For decades, Nigeria has danced in close confines with economic disaster. In the past, higher oil prices allowed us to dodge the worst.

    We have survived but not thrived. Improvised but not planned. Spent but not invested. Laughed, drank and feasted but did not build, construct or maintain.

    Now, Nigeria has collided into a wall, merciless and immovable.  The present downturn in oil prices may be more than a slump in the business cycle.

    Global economic, geopolitical and technological currents suggest the price drop may be a long-lasting secular development.

    11.To maintain market share and influence on the global market, Saudi Arabia keeps production high and prices low.

    Should Saudi Arabia slacken production in a material way, North American production may escalate and even seek to capture a share of the export market from Saudi and Russia.

    We also note that China is investing considerably in domestic and renewable energy sources. All this means that oil supply is high while demand has flat-lined due to flaccid global economic activity. We will be collateral damage in all of this. However, to us, the damage will not feel collateral. It will be central and it will be hard.

    Even during the best of times and high oil prices, the economic model upon which Nigeria is based has poorly served us. That model has precluded broadly-shared development.

    The only things its continuity promises are perpetual poverty for most Nigerians and the forfeiture of the best of our economic promise.

    Nigeria needs economic liberation.

    Before we can free our economy, we must free ourselves of the economic myths consigning us to our current predicament.

    To achieve this objective we must return to Dr. Bala Usman. Confronted by the harsh realities of dwindling national revenue occasioned by crashing oil prices, saddled with collapsed infrastructure and an abused and wary citizenry, Nigeria demands a new paradigm.

    Here, I must give the Nigerian people their just due.  They had a stark and important choice to make during the 2015 election.  They could have re-elected the government in place. This would have been the easier thing to do.

    Yet, in matters of state and governance, the easiest thing is rarely the right one.  Re-electing that administration would have lowered the curtain on our future.

    The last government had become threadbare of ideas. They intended to handcuff the people to the mast of austerity, then command that we ride out the storm. Their hope was that the storm would quickly pass.

    They forget that economic storms are mostly man-made. Thus, it takes man to unmake them.

    12.President Buhari is an earnest leader who seeks to give Nigerians the lives we deserve by giving us a the vibrant economy and uncompromised security.  My faith in his commitment to help the people is deep and abiding.  He is on the right path and I have faith that he will continue to follow it.

    That said, the task before us, is grave and daunting.  With oil prices having declined so steeply, the question becomes how must the federal government shape fiscal policy so that we achieve optimal economic production and employment under the given circumstance?

    Last year, I published an open letter to then President Jonathan. My critique of his economic policies was informed by the fact that the Nigerian economy had entered a critical stage.

    His government was set to foist austerity on the people.  This equated to pulverizing their already bruised economic circumstance.

    Although, we were in the throes of an election, I thought it is vital that we offer even our opponent the best advice we could give.

    He was our president at the time and our overall welfare was in the balance.  His failure would be our deepening poverty. Today because he didn’t heed the genuine advice we are faced with a threatening depression.

    Let me recall my opening statement.

    “No matter who is in power, we must do whatever is in our capacity to do, to steer the nation away from economic woes. The people have suffered too much hardship already”.

    I submitted that Nigeria’s economy was indistinguishable from one in the state of a chronic depression.

    1. The contours of the economic challenge facing government must be clearly postulated so that we see the vastness between where we are and where we should be.

    The first order of business is fiscal in nature. Do we continue to peg our naira expenditures to our dollar intake or do we affix our domestic expenditure to a measure more apt to grow the economy?

    To continue to link the government’s naira expenditure to dollar intake is to allow the decisions of foreign actors to hold undue influence over our fiscal policy. There is no logical necessity that foreigners’ taste for oil must determine our fiscal expenditures.

    While no economy is completely independent, this linkage amounts to servitude so restrictive that it is as if the colonial tether was never severed.

    Some will say the dollar linkage is fiscal prudent or they defend the practice by asserting this is the way we have always done it. But haven’t we also always fallen short?

    This is not prudence. It is the strange vocation of being pennywise yet pound foolish. Perpetuating this linkage will confine us to the single-commodity economic model in such a manner making us further delude ourselves that we must adhere to this linkage even more. All the while, our national privation will become our main growth industry.

    The second order of business has to do with the extent to which government helps direct and encourage private sectors activity. Do we allow ourselves to be slaves to the forces of the market even though we know that the market itself is not free?

    Or do we engage in some level of national industrial, infrastructure and employment planning, as has every large and important nation that has ever achieved prosperity – from England, to the United States to China?

    Regarding fiscal policy, I advocate the close dollar linkage be explicitly broken. The last I looked, Nigeria operates a Naira-based economy, not a dollar-based one.

    The last I looked, the federal government has the sole power and sovereign right to issue naira or financial guarantees based thereon. It does not need the approval of the American Federal Reserve, the Bank of England or of the host of global oil buyers.

    There is no innate legal or moral restriction strictly limiting the amount of Naira or the value of Naira-denominated guarantees placed in the system to spawn employment to match the amount of dollars collected via oil sales.

    Oil is a passive asset in the ground. When cash-strapped yet in need of more revenue presently, a nation should also consider issuing guarantees on the future oil shipments on a price certain paid now; or selling a portion of its equity in the joint ventures.

    Some may call this a variant of an oil futures. Whatever it is called, it should be considered particularly as a measure to improve our foreign currency position.

     

  • Still on Abia tribunal judgment

    Many commentators, especially legal experts have continued to air their views regarding some of the judgments delivered by both the Houses of Assembly/National Assembly and the governorship tribunals that sat in Umuahia, Abia State recently.

    It is normal for people, both experts and laymen to try to scrutinize election tribunal judgments because they have alot to do with our democracy and leadership which centre on ensuring the well-being of the people.

    It would be recalled that while the governorship case was pending at the tribunal, the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and her candidate Alex Otti who were challenging the victory of the Peoples Democratic Party’s candidate Okezie Ikpeazu, filed a motion to inspect the materials used in one of the contentious LGAs of Obingwa. Their request was granted by the tribunal, and after series of delay and frustration by INEC, they agreed to grant APGA legal team and forensic experts access to the materials. Unfortunately this legitimate order was flouted as thugs suspected to be working for the PDP assaulted the APGA legal team, and prevented them from assessing those sensitive materials needed.

    This development no doubt frustrated APGA as they were forced to return to the tribunal to seek another order compelling INEC to bring the materials to the tribunal premises for inspection. Unfortunately, less than 24 hours to the time the order was to be carried out, some arsonists stormed the INEC office in broad day light and set the place ablaze.

    APGA and her candidate were left with the option of requesting for materials of the other LGAs which were later brought for inspection after PDP and some INEC staff were said to have connived and mixed up the materials to frustrate the inspection.

    Having suffered avoidable delays as a result of INEC and PDPs unwillingness to obey the orders of the tribunal on time, APGA and her candidate, prayed for time extension to bring more witnesses. Shockingly, this motion was turned down by the tribunal under the pretence that the parties were granted  seven days each to present their witnesses, and that having exhausted theirs, APGA would not be given additional time.

    The tribunal took such a terrible decision without first of all considering that by the provisions of the electoral act, each of the parties was entitled to 14 days for presentation of witnesses.  Again, the tribunal denied the extension of time without recourse to the delay tactics applied by INEC and the defence team who were never punished for their disobedience and lack of diligence.

    The tribunal did not also reason that the petitioner’s legal team was given only seven days to face the three joined parties of Okezie Ikpeazu, PDP, and INEC  who were allocated separate number of days during the presentation of witnesses.

    Surprisingly, the tribunal that claimed it was running out of time added extra four days to the date earlier agreed for adoption of written addresses, after claiming that Abia judiciary wanted to use the tribunal complex for a certain activities that ought not to have interfered with the tribunal time table; the same tribunal that denied APGA time extension.

    To climax what could be described as an absurdity of legal proceedings, the tribunal repeatedly used the word “re-run” against APGA while delivering it’s judgement, when it was obvious that no re-run took place in Abia.

    The tribunal refused to align with APGA and her candidate in the case of Osisoma LGA where it was proven beyond reasonable doubt that the PDP L.G collation agent and their House of Assembly candidate signed the results of the entire 10 wards of the LGA instead of the ward collation agent as prescribed by the Electoral Act, the tribunal did not just give their blessing on the grievous electoral crime, but also accepted the lies of the LGA and ward collation  agents of PDP who were caught  red-handed lying under oath.

    The over 80,000 votes fraudulently allocated to PDP and her candidate is one result that should alarm any unbiased mind even without going through the details of the election considering the pattern of voting and election results in the last election across the country, let alone the LGA in question, Obingwa LGA.

    As expected during the tribunal proceedings, the result from Obingwa was exposed to the world as fake when a staff of INEC from Abuja appeared before the tribunal and tendered a gazzetted INEC document in evidence which clearly contradicted and indicted the result earlier declared.

    Unfortunately the same tribunal that accepted and never disputed the content of the document ignored its undisputed facts while delivering its judgment.

    In the case of Chief NnamdiIro Orji, the APGA candidate for Arochukwu/Ohafia constituency, the National Assembly tribunal shocked everyone when it rejected the pink copies of the election results tendered by APGA showing the original results as earlier given by the INEC presiding officers before the fraudulaent results were announced by Senior INEC Officers in the state.

    Again, in one of the INEC result sheets that bore a report written by the INEC officer in charge, it clearly listed details of votes as scored by the individual political parties and clearly showed that APGA won in all the polling units of the areas in question. The INEC staff also detailed how some agents of the PDP came and snatched the result sheets, and subsequently entered fraudulently figures which contradicted the genuine results, as the scores in figure differed in words. She subsequently used asterisk to differentiate the fake result from the original; unfortunately, the tribunal used her discretion in the most unfair manner to accept the ones marked as fake.

    In another interesting case involving the APGA candidate for Aba North State Constituency in the Abia House of Assembly, the tribunal said that it established a case of certificate forgery against the Aba candidate and thus nullified his election, ordered for fresh elections in some polling units, and subsequently barred APGA from taking part in the would be rerun election.

    However, in what looked like a selective justice and bizarre contradiction, the same tribunal  established a case of double registration and forgery against the PDP candidate for Bende North State Constituency, but did not nullify his election on that basis, rather recommended  him for trial in a regular court? Two pre-election election matters, two parties but different judgments.

    The appropriate authorities and institutions charged with ensuring justice and sanity in situations like this need to urgently look into what transpired in Abia so that a very dangerous precedent would not be set at the expense of the suffering masses. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere-so says Martin Luther King Jnr.

    • Ekeoma, a social commentator, writes from Abia State

     

  • Restoring hope to displaced persons

    It is often said that when two elephants fight, the grass suffers. This is absolutely true in a war or conflict situation as vulnerable members of the society – the women, aged and the children- usually bear the impacts. These groups of people are dislodged from their homes, often made to put up with harsh and unhygienic living conditions. Aside from the unfriendly weather and insanitary environment, there is also the issue of psychological trauma the internally displaced face on a daily basis. The emotional distress stems from the fact that they have to wait on their fellow beings before they can get essential and basic necessities of life such as feeding, clothing and shelter.

    Long before the activities of the Boko Haram insurgents became pronounced in the North-east, inter- communal clashes had contributed immensely to the proliferation of internally displaced people in the country. Escalating communal clashes in different parts of the country resulted in many people fleeing their homes and properties. Clashes between farmers and herdsmen over grazing lands in states such as Benue, Taraba, Zamfara and parts of Kaduna left a bloody trail, with its attendant destruction of properties, farmlands and whole communities.  Earlier this year, the fishing and farming communities of Ologba and Egba in Agatu local government of Benue State, had a conflict over rights to fishing in a pond. This clash left scores of people dead, while many fled their homes.

    Also, many of the victims of flooding caused by heavy rainfall across the country are yet to be provided permanent place of residence. Flooding in the year 2012 alone displaced over two million people according to NEMA. With more than 3.3 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), Nigeria has the largest population of persons displaced by conflict in Africa and 10% of Internally Displaced Persons in the world.

    But by far the worst culprit responsible for the continuous growth in the army of the internally displaced in the country is the activities of the insurgents. Since 2009 when the insurgents started rearing their heads, a large number of people have been killed, maimed, abducted, displaced, raped and forcibly recruited. Raids were carried out in communities and able-bodied men were killed, young women and girls abducted, while children and old people were left homeless after their homes were razed.

    According to the United Nation’s office for the coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (UNOCHA), 30,000 people in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states- 70 percent of them women and children- have fled their homes since early 2013. And in March 2014, residents of Mafa village in Borno State fled their homes after receiving letters from the insurgents warning them of impending attacks. And true to their threat, they attacked the village, but met only the aged and those too weak to flee. In that year alone, thousands of civilians were murdered in cold blood, while taking over some homes and turning same to their hide-outs or arm depots.

    Another factor responsible for the increase in the number of the internally displaced is violent clashes between government forces and armed groups in the north which have triggered large waves of displacement. More than half a million civilians were internally displaced in 2014, while others have sought safety in neighbouring Cameroon, Chad and Niger. This heavy-handed counter insurgency operations as well as reprisal attacks on communities accused of sheltering the insurgents by the armed forces have contributed in no small measure to the increase in number of the displaced persons in the country.

    The humanitarian crisis resulting from this internal conflict shows no sign of abating and it had been carried over to 2015. Therefore, in the face of the myriad of challenges facing these groups of people, it is of utmost importance that we show good neighbourliness and empathy towards integrating them back into normal life.

    Viewing insurgency and natural disasters as hardships that leave traumatic experiences on the victims, the Lagos State Government recently donated a sum of N50 million each to Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states to assist them in the rehabilitation of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the North-east. While commiserating with the three states and sharing in the pains and discomforts of the affected people, the state governor, Akinwunmi Ambode stated that the gesture demonstrates the resolve of the state government and compassion to the plight of the people of North-east, not minding the hard times resulting from the current economic situation in the country.

    In the same vein, the Australian Government acknowledged the difficult conditions faced by persons forced to leave their homes as a result of the on-going instability in the North-east and has in the past year alone provided over ¦ 19.5 million to a number of projects across the country to assist those in need. One of such projects called the “Humanitarian Aid for Boko Haram Internally Displaced People in New Kuchingoro” was organised in partnership with the Society for Africa Education, Economic and Social Cultural Development and the Bridge Initiative for African Development (BIFAD). This project brought to the camp four new toilets, solar powered lighting and signage, an upgrade of existing borehole machinery to solar power and the construction of semi-permanent classroom structures for 240 children, as well as supplying them with the exercise books, uniforms, desks and chairs needed for the pupils to learn effectively.

    It is as a result of the aforementioned and other sundry gestures that the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, implored governments of the states affected to disburse the funds earmarked for the welfare and rehabilitation of the victims of violence judiciously. As a show of solidarity,  Olisa Metuh, the national secretary of the People’s Democratic Party, recently celebrated his birthday with the internally displaced persons. This is another step that can be taken to give the latter a sense of belonging.

    While commending the President’s renewed commitment to bringing the activities of the insurgents to an end by the end of the year, it is imperative that all hands be on deck to bring into fruition, this all important order. We must not also fail to commend various security agencies for their sacrifice, courage and gallantry in ensuring that the directives of the President and indeed the wishes of all Nigerians are achieved. Machinery must be put in place to make it a reality through effective intelligence gathering, provision of state- of – the – art fighting equipments as well as collaborations with other countries, since terrorism has become a global concern.

    • Bakare is of the Features Unit, Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

     

  • Change mantra and matters arising

    There is a new government in place. For the first time since the return of democracy in 1999, the behemoth Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) took a drubbing from the opposition Rainbow coalition, the All Progressives Congress (APC), in the May, general election. The APC rode to power on the change mantra; a supposedly genuine desire to offer the people new hope and give direction to a rudderless nation ready to hit the rocks.  But ironically, more than six months in the saddle, the APC is yet to fashion out policies that will drive the change Nigerians voted for.

    Rather, what is witnessed as shadows of change are the maturation of programmes and policies of the erstwhile PDP government, such as gains of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), a semblance of improved power supply (being gains from the privatisation of the power sector), etc.

    The real change seems to be eluding us, such as the rescue of the Chibok girls, eradication of Boko Haram, improved power supply, improved road infrastructure, availability of petroleum products, and reduced crime rates, a true democratic and inclusive government, among others.

    For change to occur there must be movement, either physically or otherwise from one position to another.  Nigeria, at the inception of the present administration was, and still is in dire need of true change.

    First and foremost, Nigeria requires change in its administrative structure.  The late Chief Tony Enahoro, within the NADECO structure almost shouted his voice hoarse in proposing a government that recognises multiple nations making up Nigeria.  Many public commentators/analyst proposed regional autonomy as the panacea to Nigerian’s myriad of problems.  And lately, and at the twilight of the PDP administration,  former President Goodluck Jonathan convened  a National Conference that hinged most of its recommendations on a regional autonomy.  The report of that conference is gathering dust in the shelf.  The National Conference came into being through a legitimate government.  The resources of this country were incurred in prosecuting the National Conference for about four months.  It is important, therefore, that resources employed in that process, both human and financial, should not be allowed to waste due to the unwillingness of a succeeding government to implement the report put together as representative of the views of Nigerians.  If the present administration is truly committed to bringing about a change, its first call is to alter the political/administrative structure of the country in line with recommendations of the National Conference.  We cannot continue to do things the old way and expect new results.  The administrative structure of Nigeria today is of the command structure inherited from the military.  If Nigeria is truly to develop, there must be true democratic governance and regional autonomy where various geo-political zones are given a breath of fresh air, enabling them to look inward and generate resources to develop their states/zones at their pace.  The 2011 Constitution (as amended) is purely cosmetic.  It was not people-driven.  Change does not come easy; the theme of change as defined by the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary is ‘Become/Make different’.  To this end, the APC must reconstruct Nigeria so that at the end of its tenure in office, we should see a changed political/administrative structure in Nigeria.  Adopting and implementing the report of the last National Conference would make the job easier for the APC-led administration in this regard.

    Another fundamental area of change is the fight against corruption.  The present administration has so far shown seemingly clear vision of what to do in this regard but lacking in consistency.  A situation where persons indicted of corruption by a judicial panel or under EFCC investigation are being rewarded with ministerial nomination and party tickets does not display sincerity of purpose.  The present administration with its agenda of change must adopt a systematic approach to the fight against corruption; create and strengthen the kind of institutions and policies to usher in a more egalitarian society that will diminish corruption in the short term and in the long term.  A bravado kind of approach towards hewing down perceived political enemies and double standards would certainly not yield the desired result.

    Change is a continuum and a people will continually yearn for change.  But from the perspective of the APC government, Nigerians will truly experience change in their daily lives if they have stable power supply in their houses and motorable roads.  Muhammadu Buhari’s administration seemingly have appropriately articulated these challenges by investing the mantle of leadership in the key sectors of Power, Works and Housing in Babatunde Fashola, the energetic, dynamic and tested past governor of Lagos State.  It is only hoped that those who have elected him for this challenging task would give him the required support and the enabling environment to enable him midwife positive change in these sectors.

    Another major area desiring change in the way things are done is in the petroleum sector.  This nation is endowed with huge deposits of crude. For several decades after its first discovery in Oloibiri in June, 1956, in the present Bayelsa State, nothing positive have been done by successive administrations to add value to the crude being extracted from our soil.  The technology for its extraction is largely in foreign hands.  The four –refineries are comatose.  Today, the price of crude in the world market has tumbled and the economy, which is tied to petrodollar, is in stitches.  It is a thing of shame that Nigeria cannot refine its crude into petroleum and other by-products to meet consumption at home and for export.  What about our huge gas resources?  We must find ways of refining our crude oil at home to meet our domestic consumption as well as for export.  The drive for solid minerals is good, but crude oil has been around for decades and we need to optimise its gains!  We are reeling under the bondage of petroleum subsidy that has grown into trillions.  The time for lip service is fast ticking out.  We must refine our crude oil into petrol, kerosene and other by-products to generate employment and create wealth for the nation.  Nigeria has no business being broke!  The illegal refineries being destroyed in the Creeks of the Niger Delta are established by Nigerians, who are hardly literate.  This administration should assemble our petroleum engineers and organise them into co-operative groups to commence the refining of our petroleum products on the basis of modular refineries established everywhere across the nation.  This should serve as an interim measure until we get our refineries working at full capacity and establish new ones.

    The APC government must move beyond adopting change as a mere mantra.  It should use the opportunity offered it by the electorate, which gave it its mandate for the next four years to bring about real change in the way government business is conducted.  The conduct of government business should no longer be stereotype; every action of government must be geared towards bringing about development.

     

    • Oyiborhoro (KSM) is a public affairs analyst based in Sapele, Delta State

     

  • As EFCC finds its teeth, again

    If there is one thing that ushered in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari and gave it the overwhelming mandate of Nigerians, it is the campaign rhetoric of dealing with the monster stunting the growth of Nigeria – corruption. It was a campaign tool that hinged on the most critical issue of the moment, after the raging wave of insecurity. Though Nigerians have not seen it as clearly as from what has been revealed in the past few weeks, the haemorrhage suffered by the country was discernible. The audacious display of wealth by a section of the high society, and the increasing gulf between the haves and the have-nots were too glaring to ignore. Those were manifestations of corruption.

    That rhetoric of fighting corruption Nigerians bought from the then All Progressives Congress, (APC) candidate is now being translated into real action. Since its inauguration, the government has demonstrated readiness in strangling the goats, to use the social media parlance, into vomiting the yam they savoured under the last dispensation and beyond.

    The first sign of things to come was the constitution of a powerful committee by the National Security Adviser (NSA) Major General Babagana Munguno (rtd). The committee, which is charged with investigating arms purchase deals from 2007 to date, is made up of seasoned retired and serving military brass. However, it has an exception. It has one non-military personnel as member. That is Ibrahim Magu, the recently appointed acting chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC).

    News report had it that Magu’s outstanding performance as a member of that committee propelled him as one that can give life to this government’s anticorruption crusade. Thus, he was appointed to head what has become a rather moribund anti-graft agency. Suddenly, EFCC is back to life. The commission is back on the front burner and personalities that are otherwise sacred cows have been bundled into its detention facilities.

    The fear that there is repercussion for feasting on the public purse is quickly creeping back. There are jitters in the land especially among the people that had engaged in questionable activities to defraud the country. This is needed. In fact, for me, it is more important than jailing culprits when it comes to fight against corruption. It is absence of feelings like this breeds impunity, the precursor to anarchy. When offenders feel that there is one watching over them and no one will do anything to reprimand them for their offence, chaos sets in. It is in this context that one would have to view the happenings within the anti-corruption space in recent times.

    In the last one month, Nigerians have heard series of revelations on the plundering of our commonwealth, in what can be best described as man’s inhumanity to man. We heard of how funds meant to procure arms to fight the menace of Boko Haram insurgency were diverted and converted into campaign slush funds. Instead of arms purchase, we learnt, the sum of $2.1 billion served as avenue of dispensing political patronage either by way of unexplainable payments or funny ones like the N4 billion paid a politician for the purpose of conducting prayer!

    But in all these, the succour is that the new man at the EFCC has evidently come with some gravitas and vigour to tackle the mess. From the way EFCC has become a beehive of activities overnight, it is evident that Magu is coming on the job prepared to take on the issues head on. In doing this, the man, we are told, is on a familiar terrain. His reputation as a fearless and thoroughbred investigator since the formative days of the EFCC has come to bear on him now that he has the proverbial horse and the pitch at his bay.

    In the arms purchase scandal alone, the EFCC has arrested no less than 10 persons. This is in addition to other high profile investigations going on, notably the Malabu oil scandal involving senior officials of the previous administration. The intriguing Malabu scandal is something akin to the Halliburton scandal of yore. Like the Halliburton, the Malabu deal involved many highly placed personalities. But in terms of brazenness, the Malabu deal would go down as legendary considering that it was a case of direct stealing – selling off a public asset and diverting the proceeds to accounts of individuals.

    However, arrest and interrogation are not the beginning and end of a corruption case. They are the starting points. It is heart-warming that EFCC has already started filing charges against those accused of eating the poisoned pie. But the greater work is ahead and it is going to be determined by both internal and external factors. Internally, the commission has to work on the cases thoroughly and build on strong cases.

    Only last Wednesday, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was reported as lamenting poor handling of cases by EFCC often ending in dismissal of the cases. Some of these hindrances are sometimes caused by internal sabotage as the virus of corruption is rearing itself into some undesirable elements within.

    The good news however is Magu’s last assignment at the EFCC was in the internal affairs unit which is in charge of monitoring staff conduct. He has also already sounded the warning that internal cleansing would be given a premium by his leadership of the agency.

    External factors often mitigating the anticorruption war are the duo of corruption in the judiciary and interference by the political leadership. Magu is lucky to have a President who is roundly believed to have zero tolerance for corruption and since the president is not expected to plead for anyone, no one should gag the EFCC in the name of the president. As for the judiciary, the era of granting baseless orders to shield the corrupt should be put behind us, nor should there be throwing out cases on frivolous grounds of mere technicalities.

    The new man at the EFCC has come with zeal and seriousness. He is fast restoring the confidence Nigerians had in the commission. He should be left to practicalize the government’s anticorruption mantra. Let the war begin!

     

     

    • Balogun writes from Katempe Estate, Abuja.

     

  • Al-makura and Nasarawa airport

    After years of careful planning, Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura announced that Nasarawa State will commence the building of an airport in the state capital Lafia, from December. This move has generated mixed reactions among interest groups in the state.

    Some who criticize the idea opine that the Lafia airport will be a drain on the taxpayers’ money and the airport once started will not be able to pay its way to successful completion! Others insist that the airport will only be used by the rich and not farmers as popularly touted, while some labour leaders hurriedly rose from a meeting in Lafia, calling on Governor Tanko Al-Makura to re-think the plan to build the cargo airport in Lafia saying that money to be spent on the proposed airport can best be utilized to revive the state road transport service, buy new buses and build a new modern motor park.

    These comments do not seem informed or well founded as facts show that the economic benefits of an airport include the jobs, wages, and expenditures that take place at the airport and also include the effects of these expenditures in moving from hand to hand through the community, enhancing economic activity far from the airport itself. Given the central location of Nasarawa State, an airport in Lafia will automatically allow passengers to connect the eastern and western regions of Nigeria and easily get to the middle of the country. Lafia airport will open up an artery of access routes for the distribution of perishable cargo not only to the growth markets within the bread or food basket of Nigeria, but will also place citizens at the closest proximity to the nation’s capital city of Abuja.

    All facts considered, airports make major contributions to local, state and national economies as critical transport infrastructure asset, employment locations and as commercial activity centres. Whether cargo or commercial by orientation, all airports offer diverse range of employment in outer suburban areas experiencing strong population growth and employment opportunities. An airport is also an important facilitator of imports and exports for local businesses, especially the cargo airport, which by definition, is a money-making venture and not a drain pipe. The main purpose of building a cargo airport as the one being proposed by Governor Umaru Tanko Al-makura is to freight (or transport) economic goods from Nasarawa State to other parts of the country and to international markets quickly.

    Nasarawa State is located within “the food basket of Nigeria” and because of its agricultural endowments, solid minerals and proximity to the Federal Capital Territory, flight and travel times can be cut by hours and made easier for the international investor, local trader and even tourists by the availability of the Lafia Airport. For those seeking to establish business and make a living, Nasarawa State offers a smaller burden with respect to taxes and costs of acquiring land in comparison to the FCT. If a businessman takes up large scale mechanized farming or sets up operations in Nasarawa State, his company will profit from the close proximity to Lafia cargo airport, Karu international market and to leading business, science associations, federal ministries and foreign embassies in Abuja.

    Additionally, the Nasarawa State government is not using its meagre resources to build the planned Lafia airport as some critics have suggested, because a Chinese private investor HYPAC will provide 75 per cent of the funds to build the airport, while Nasarawa government will only provide 25 per cent of the required funding. It is evident that the intention of Governor Al-makura to construct Lafia Airport is borne of far-sighted futuristic planning and astute business acumen because of the way and manner he has placed some critical infrastructure.

    In locating the airport at Lafia, Governor Al-makura decided to first tackle the menace of traffic gridlock along the Nyanya-Karu axis so as to free up a multiplicity of access routes for passengers, investors and large scale distributors of agricultural farm produce who may wish to get to and from the airport on time. Al-makura has designed and is beginning the construction of three alternate roads to ensure easy access into the FCT.

    The first road will run through Abattoir Bridge in Karu and connect the five-kilometre Kabaye road which will link Gurku and emerge in Abuja, while the second road will rise from Keffi and pass through Orozo before emerging in Apo within the FCT. The third major road will begin in Lafia and pass through Doma local government and tactically avoid the busy Akwanga-Keffi traffic before emerging right in the heart of the FCT. While these huge service lanes will convey people into FCT in record time, the governor has specifically created two connecting highways that will transport perishable cargo from Karu International Market straight to Lafia Airport. First is the 5.7 km Anguwan Hashimu road which will start from Mararaban Gurku and run straight into Karu International Market. The road will totally avoid the traffic gridlock along Keffi-Abuja highway and link the Mararaba orange market to the international market so as to serve as an authorized route for trailers and traders who wish to connect the service lane into Karu International Market.

    As an agrarian state with over 80% of citizens involved in farming, farm produce will no longer get spoilt before they are transported from faraway farms to the market and major cities. The Lafia airport will help hardworking farmers by quickly transporting their huge farm produce like yams, Irish potatoes, fresh vegetables, and fruits from Nasarawa to other parts of Nigeria and international markets. For small scale farmers, they can easily get their perishable farm produce such as fruits—carrots, pineapples, oranges, and pawpaw, onions and vegetables to Abuja on a daily basis without getting spoilt on the way. They can even “fly” their own produce to Lagos and even Saudi Arabia or London on a daily basis through the Lafia cargo airport! Many farmers from neighboring states such as Taraba, Yobe, Bauchi even Benue will also send their agricultural produce to Lafia to be transported by air. It is noteworthy that Nigeria produces 3.5 million tonnes of rice but imports 1.5 million tonnes of rice to compliment the local need for rice in our country. The government of President Muhammadu Buhari has resolved to ban the importation of rice in two years, i.e. by 2017. But we need to find an effective way to feed our people by meeting the local need and target of five million tonnes! Nasarawa State has Olam farms in Doma which is the highest rice producer in Nigeria. The cargo airport will be perfect to help export and transport rice around and outside the country in a timely fashion that meets with our country’s need for food security.

    Truly, the proposed Lafia airport would be a blessing to Nasarawa State and Governor Al-makura is a sincere leader who means well for his people. Although the focus of Lafia airport is cargo it will also undertake commercial flights such that it can serve as an alternative transit airport for the North-central states of Benue, Plateau, Taraba and Niger and also as the “perfect alternative” and most suitable decoy to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International airport in times of unplanned emergencies and security exigencies, as well as for passengers destined for the federal capital.

     

    • Lamai is Senior Special Assistant, Public Affairs & Media Strategy to Governor Al-makura.