The Nation Newspaper

Category: Opinion

  • Africa-China cooperation and prospects of a shared future

    Africa-China cooperation and prospects of a shared future

    By Olalekan A. Babatunde

    As responsible members of the global community, Africa and China have created a reliable path towards a shared future. It is in indeed in Africa that the Chinese concept of “a global community of shared future” is gaining a broader and deeper meaning, and setting a clearer goal and blueprint for the peoples of the continent. To have a common future where there is prosperity and people-to-people connectivity, the Chinese footprint has begun to be seen across much of socio-economic lives, infrastructure and technological modernization of the peoples through the China-Africa community of shared future.

    The idea of building a community of shared future came from President Xi Jinping when in Moscow in 2013, he proposed a new approach for international relations and new ideas for global governance and exchanges. It is a concept that holds that all countries share a common future, and envisions a world characterized by openness and inclusiveness, equity and justice, harmonious coexistence, diversity and mutual learning, unity and cooperation. That vision serves the common interests of both parties.

    Like a consensus decision, African countries quickly embraced the idea and took it up from there to build partnership based on equality, secure environment, promoting harmony and inclusive development, respect for diversity, and building green ecosystem. The two parties already shared some levels of history, cultures demographics, and external imperialism experience. Today, the two parties are forging steadily to concretize the idea that is defining the kind of world they think they need and to co-exist with other races. Trust and confidence is being built into the friendship. 

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    As a student of diplomacy and globalization, and an ardent follower of great power politics in Africa, I have come to the realization that Africa’s development, to a very large extent, is gradually bearing Chinese characteristics and China too, is tremendously benefiting from the continent’s rich resources and large market.  Through bilateral and multilateral frameworks across different human endeavours, African countries have found and pursuing common purpose and common destiny with China.

    For example, initiatives like the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Forum of China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) are building common prosperity in some African countries as clear evidence of win-win cooperation. This means that both the developed China and developing African countries are creating community of shared interests, responsibility and destiny, whose wellbeing and security are interrelated.  

    But come to think of it. We are all one human family, living in a shared earth, our only home. The only planet we have and the only one that is known to support life. It behoves on us to care for it and its future. Humanity, that is, all human beings collectively living in the earth should take responsibility in caring for its peace, security, health, happiness and sustainability. Africa too, is making attempt to strike harmony between humanity and nature. To get there, humanity must cooperate across every sector.

    Climate change, food security, debt management and pandemics are some of the areas where interdependence and interconnectivity of nations are needed to address them.

    Therefore, the call for altruistic support from outside to mitigate Africa’s challenges received attention from China. Many African countries are addressing poverty, diseases, illiteracy, violence and insecurity through trade and economic and security cooperation with China. While some are being solved, others are getting more complex and intractable in some African countries. Amid the great power rivalries in the region, Cold War mentality and the weakening global governance, the situations in Mali, Niger, Burkina Faso and DRC are giving way to alternate and responsible partners. For instance, Niger complained of the “condescending attitudes” of France and the western powers in negotiating with them to resolve the ongoing political impasse.

    On the other hand, China has demonstrated itself as a responsible partner to lift these countries out of economic and security challenges. No complaint of discrimination and domination. Also, the globalization’s benefits were shared more with Africa by China than any other advanced countries. The no-holds barred modernisation and revitalization many cities and towns are putting up in Africa in roads, bridges, rails, airports, dams, hospitals, fin-tech, and economic zones attest to mutually beneficial cooperation. There are good testimonies of these infrastructure initiatives from Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Ghana, Senegal, Morocco, Egypt and other places.

    Africa’s modes of production and services have significantly improved through Chinese technology and innovation. Information, communication, transportation, power, agriculture, defence and security and other management have received quality boost of China. Information technology advances such as the Internet, Big Data, quantum computing and Artificial Intelligence are providing development and employment opportunities to millions of African youth. Many of their peers have died en route to Europe.

    Africa’s connectivity and exchanges have become faster, deeper, broader and more extensive than ever before. In the past, telephone calls and even commercial air flights from most African countries to another were routed through Europe. From Tunisia to South Africa can be covered within eight hours by flight. To address trade barriers in the continent, the technology is also enhancing seamless trade among the countries through AfCFTA. This is enhancing economic growth and competitiveness. There are capital inflows into the continent from Beijing. For example, the outgoing Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Cui Jianchun outlined quite a lot of strategic initiatives achieved within his three-year mission in the country which included the Lekki Deep Sea Port, the Blue and Red Line rails, the Lagos-Ibadan and Abuja-Kaduna rail lines, the Zungeru Hydropower Plant, the Agricultural Technology Demonstration Centre in Bwari Abuja, 5G technology, and the airport expansions across the country.

    Envisioning a Nigeria-China symphony, he charted the next 50 years of the Nigeria-China relationship as one to be guided by the 5-Is (Infrastructure, ICT, Industry, Investment, Import and Export). Africa awaits the “New Qualitative Productive Forces” to engender new use of technology to drive progress and development.

    As the current lopsided international order has done disservice to the continent, the open, inclusive, clean and beautiful world that will foster lasting peace, common security and common prosperity are what Africa needs as the world poised for a new order. 

    • Dr. Babatunde is a Fellow at the Nigeria’s Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, Abuja.

  • Glitch money: One bad example from Ethiopia

    Glitch money: One bad example from Ethiopia

    By Zayd Ibn Isah

    Something quite unusual happened in Ethiopia recently that prompted many Nigerians on social media to raise the poser: “God, when?” The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, which is the largest in the country, experienced a technical glitch which allowed people to withdraw more money than what they actually had in their bank accounts. Even those who had no money in their accounts were able to withdraw and transfer substantial sums unhindered. In the end, some $40 million was lost during the period of this freakish glitch. And the glitch in question was caused by a routine system update inspection, according to news reports.

    There is a popular saying that mushrooms don’t grow for those who have teeth, which means that opportunities don’t often come for those who would utilize them well enough. If this sort of technical glitch were to ever happen in Nigeria, the figures would, most probably, run into billions of dollars. Indeed, there are many Nigerians, notably in the social media, mocking the Ethiopians for not looting enough, for not taking enormous advantage of such a “daily manna” from heaven. Interestingly, Ethiopian students were the biggest beneficiaries of the glitch as many of them took big slices of what they deemed as the national cake.

    The bank’s chief executive officer, Abe Sano, said efforts were being made to retrieve the stolen funds with about $10 million already recovered at the time of writing this.

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    What happened in Ethiopia merely goes to confirm what some of us have been saying, that the poor masses in Africa are not so different from the ruling class and other elites whom they routinely criticize as being corrupt and self-serving. H. G. Wells puts it succinctly when he said: “Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo.” Truth be told, many of the ‘oppressed are just waiting for the slightest opportunity to get into a position which would guarantee them a share of the proverbial national cake.

    This brings us back to what played out in Ethiopia, because immediately news of the technical glitch went viral, people trooped out in their numbers to the nearest ATMs. Even those with no bank accounts ventured out to partake in the theft. And how could anyone call it a crime when everyone was on the take? To most of those people, fortune had merely chosen to be quite generous to all, instead of favouring only a few. As such, anything resembling a voice of reason would have been drowned out in the cacophony of greed and depravity.

    It was really a saddening sight to behold, seeing young men and women standing in long queues, waiting to take what did not belong to them. Is this the future of Africa? Even parents who should have known better, and the elderly who were supposed to restrain the youths, were also scrambling to partake in the rush. It was a free-for-all, an orgy of chaos, an exercise in criminality, with total disregard for any sense of morality or responsibility, and minimal fear of repercussions and consequences. All in all, the Ethiopian fiasco snowballed into a microcosm of the moral decadence that has devoured traditional African society like a cankerworm.

    Imagine say, the Central Bank of Japan were to ever experience such a technical glitch; the authority would issue an official statement, apologizing for the inconvenience caused, while promising to resolve the problem as soon as possible. The statement would be issued knowing fully well that only a few Japanese or no one at all would take advantage of the situation. This is simply because the society they inhabit is guided by long-standing values which forbid and condemn such acts, and moreover, there is even a system in place to checkmate such acts, such that anyone found wanting would be severely dealt with.

    I read somewhere that in Japan, you could forget your money at a restaurant or anywhere and still come back to pick it up the next day. This cannot be said of most African countries, sadly. It is not that we don’t have honest people here, but that such individuals are a dismal minority. Often, I see how we celebrate individuals, especially tricycle riders who return items forgotten by passengers in their tricycles. There is often a tendency to see such people as unreal, as fabrications even. And even more troubling, there is usually a wave of derision and mockery aimed at such upstanding citizens, with many seeing them as fools or losers.

    Nearly ten years ago, on December 23, 2014, Josephine Ugwu, a cleaner at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, while going about her duty, found a misplaced sum of ₦3 million which she later returned to the rightful owner. Just four days later, she found ₦600,000 and just like before, returned it to the owner. And then, in 2015, the world would get to know of Josephine Ugwu. This was because she came upon a misplaced bag containing about $28,000 dollars (₦12 million at the time) which she, yet again, returned to the rightful owner. Although many people marvelled at Josephine’s rare sense of integrity at the time, a great percentage of Nigerians (in true Naija fashion of humour) took it upon themselves to make the woman the butt of vile jokes. She was called a fool, an idiot, a dull person. They said she was destined to be poor, and had unknowingly thrown away a divine opportunity to elevate her family from poverty.

    And it did seem, for a while, as if Josephine Ugwuʼs virtuous deeds would receive no recognition or reward beyond brief news interest. For years, her story was unheard until the year 2020, when she found and yet again returned a sum of ₦17 million. After this, she could not be ignored any longer, and President Muhammadu Buhari would thereafter honour Josephine with a distinguished ICPC Integrity Award, alongside a house and an over 90% salary increase in her workplace.

    Apart from the appalling level of disdain thrown at honest and upright individuals like Josephine Ugwu amongst us, we are wrong as a people for even complaining bitterly when good deeds do not attract mouth-watering rewards and benefits. This usually makes many people feel that there’s no gain in being upright, forgetting that virtue is its own reward. They forget the ability to sleep with peace of mind is an understated blessing, as opposed to constantly being on edge due to the fear of being exposed or harmed for being greedy and dishonest. With that being said, there is a need for a fundamental shift in cultural orientation, if only to instil values of integrity and accountability as the general rule within our society, rather than the exception.

    That may very well be the one thing that can save the soul of this country.

    • Zayd Ibn Isah can be reached at lawcadet1@gmail.com

  • Ending the menace of oil theft in Niger Delta

    Ending the menace of oil theft in Niger Delta

    By Braeyi Ekiye

    Standing up for justice and vocally too, is about standing up for each other. It is our duty to speak for the nation’s lingering ills to be corrected, particularly when others cannot speak up. That is the critical power of the voice for the reconstruction of the Nigerian State to attain the desired real nationhood.

    Former governor and now a senator representing Bayelsa West, Seriake Dickson recently stood up to be counted on a serious national issue; oil theft and its debilitating consequences on Nigeria’s economy and security.

    Answering questions on a programme at Channels Television recently, Dickson pointedly accused some very important personalities from Lagos and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja for being behind oil theft in the Niger Delta.

    Hear the Senator:” The Official system and oil companies are beneficiaries of oil theft in the Niger Delta”. Dickson bemoaned the absence of national values which he said, makes people to use the nation’s resources for selfish gains.

    “People from Abuja and Lagos are the masterminds and the official system is not ignorant and not innocent. The official security system, the official oil system, the official federal system, all of it in its entirety. It’s a powerful system,” he stated.

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    Dickson wondered why a country like Nigeria that has been producing oil, exporting oil for the past 70 years was unable to have scientific way of metering, recording what leaves, what is pumped, what is sold and what is not sold? He concluded that it was a deliberate attempt at bleeding the country of her financial and economic wealth through illegal bunkering, superintended by local, national and international oil theft collaborators.

    It is instructive that the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), had in November 6, 2023, through its Executive Secretary, Ogbonnaya Orji, said that oil theft was an emergency that posed serious threat to oil exploration and exploitation with huge negative consequences on economic growth, business projects and profit earnings by oil companies.

    Orji stated that as a result of NEITI being a member of the “Special Investigative Panel on Oil Theft and Losses”, the organisation was aware that: “Oil theft is perpetrated mainly through pipeline clamping, illegal connections and major pipeline exploitation of abandoned oil well heads, pipeline breakages and vandalism of key national assets to illegally siphon crude into waiting vessels stationed in strategic terminals”.

    NEITI maintained that it was a matter of fact that many members of the pipeline’s association were directly and indirectly involved in providing the skills and knowledge required to carry out oil theft.

    Orji therefore, condemned the association for failing to put in place stringent regulations and appropriate sanctions to check involvement of their members.

    While being hopeful that President Bola Tinubu’s leadership would spring a surprise to douse the fears, the apprehensions of critical Nigerian minds, like Senator Dickson, Ogbonnaya and many others, there is the compelling need for this administration to seriously interrogate this malignant ulcer on the nation’s oil industry. There is also the need to critically examine NEITI’s unsolicited solutions to the problems of oil theft that have held Nigeria’s economy prostrate and her developmental framework for accelerated growth in all facets stunted.

    NEITI in a report titled: “Nigeria’s Battle With Crude Oil Theft: A Total of 4,145 Cases Since May 2023,” published by Arise News on November 23, 2023, revealed a staggering number of highlights of the severity of the issue at hand.

    Also, in its weekly: “Energy & You” series aired on the NTA News Network, the NNPCL noted in Episode 7 that 344 crude oil theft incidents were recorded between January and April 2023. Meanwhile, by Episode 8 of the weekly NTA television series, NNPCL shared reports of crude oil theft incidents. A summation of crude oil theft incidents recorded between episode 8 (May 2023) and episode 30 (October 2023), revealed that a total of 4,145 crude oil theft incidents were recorded between May 2023 and the second week of October 2023.

    According to NNPCL records, some of the more active hotspots for crude oil theft in the Niger Delta include; Ohaji-Egbema, Oguta (Imo), Ogbia, Imiringi (Bayelsa), Obodo-Omadino, Ughelli (Delta), and Egorobiri creek, Gokana, Iba community, Emuoha, Rumuji, Degema (Rivers).

    Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser, had revealed in August 2023, that: “the country was losing 400,000 barrels of oil per day to crude oil thieves”. This led to commentators insisting that the persistence of crude oil theft in Nigeria lays bare the deep-rooted issues of corruption and severity of vulnerabilities in the country.

    That, Nigeria lost more than ₦4.3 trillion naira to oil theft in five years, stolen in 7,143 pipeline vandalism cases is not news. NEITI had revealed this startling loss at the Nigeria Interventional Security Conference in Abuja, with the theme: “Bolstering Regulations, Technology and Security for Growth”, way back in November 2023. The conference was organised by the Pipeline Professionals Association of Nigeria. In a presentation at the conference, NEITI, the federal government agency, revealed that oil theft and losses in Nigeria have become a national emergency, and shall I say, a monumental embarrassment to the country.

    Recently, Senator Munir Nwoko, representing Aniocha/Oshimili Senatorial Constituency shed more light on this disturbing matter. Nwoko said that certain security officials whose primary duty is to safeguard oil and gas assets, are actually complicit in this illegal trade. “They are driven by the financial gains associated with illegal activities”, the distinguished senator said.

    The crude oil theft network encompasses a broad spectrum of individuals and groups as Senator Dickson rightly pointed out at the Channels TV interview and corroborated by NEITI. It involves foreign oil traders, shippers, bankers, refiners, top-ranking politicians and even military officials.

    Providing data from the agency’s reports to back his claims, NEITI’s Orji, said: “NEITI in the last five years, 2017-2021, has found that Nigeria recorded 7,143 cases of pipeline breakages and deliberate pipeline vandalism resulting in crude theft and product losses of 208.639 million barrels valued at $12.74m or N4.325 trillion. NEITI reports also disclosed that during the same period, Nigeria spent ₦471.493 billion to either through repairs or maintenance of pipelines.

    The criminal exploits, NEITI said, takes place, ‘most times in atmosphere of communities’ complicity and conspiracy of silence. This, therefore, calls for the Tinubu administration to swiftly swing into action to put an end to this dastardly act, or at least, reduce it to the barest minimum. After all, the state security agencies for effecting a quick resolution of this matter are at the president’s beck and call.

    It would also be recalled that NEITI released empirical data of oil theft and losses way back 2009 and 2020 to the staggering figure of 619.7 million barrels of crude, valued at $46.16 billion or ₦16.25 trillion. In addition, Nigeria lost 4.2 billion litres of petroleum products from refineries, valued at $1.84 billion at the rate of 140, 000 barrels per day, from 2009 to 2018. Thus, the total value of crude losses between 2009 and 2020 is higher than the size of the country’s reserves and almost 10 times Nigeria’s oil savings in Excess Crude Account, NEITI said.

    So, how long shall Nigeria continue to condone these criminal activities? The country’s inability to proffer answers to these questions will continue to keep Nigeria in a state of coma in her overall developmental strides, including her peace, unity and security.

    • Ekiye writes from Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.

  • Lagos and the impending rains

    Lagos and the impending rains

    By Tayo Ogunbiyi

    As part of efforts to actualise its promise to sustain a flood-free state, the Lagos State government has intensified dredging/cleaning of major drainage channels and canals across the state.

    Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Tokunbo Wahab disclosed this when he led other top state officials on inspection tour to some parts of the state.

    He noted that the redesigning and reconstruction of the system 44 drainage channel after the removal of structures on the setback will prevent flooding in the Lekki axis when the rains commence.

    Addressing newsmen after the tour, Wahab described the system 44 drainage, which is about five kilometres, as a major channel that cuts across Lekki Scheme II, Gedegede Community, Ikota GRA, Cluster I/Ivy Homes and Megamond Estates. He, thus, stated that the system is being cleaned to ensure it functions properly throughout the year.

    He added that this is to ameliorate the difficulties encountered in the areas during the rainy season and also save lives and properties.

    The commissioner appealed to all residents to take ownership of public infrastructure provided by the government in their communities, ensure they protect the canals and drains from refuse dumping and do away with encroaching on canals and drainage right of way.

    Wahab and his team also inspected the ongoing enforcement action for the re-establishment of drainage setbacks in the PeleWura/Ladylak Collector drain,  Kofo Abayomi and Aerodrome Collector drain all in Apapa.

    The team also visited System 157, Orchard Road, Lekki where properties that fall within the approved metres setback of the channels were issued abatement notices before the commencement of enforcement action.

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    “We are cleaning up our infrastructure and making them more resilient and this will be done continuously all year round, manually and mechanically across the state”, he noted.

    The team also visited Ilabere Drainage Channel, off McPherson Road, Ikoyi where he directed immediate cleaning of the channels and serving of abatement notices to contractors who were in the habit of illegally placing their construction materials on the road thereby disrupting the free flow of traffic.

    He expressed satisfaction with the recent removal of shanties on the Coastal Road, Mayegun and Jakande Area of Lekki, reminding residents that no government is out to hurt its citizens, adding that what was done in Mayegun/Jakande is being done to override public interest.

    The team also visited Aunty Ayo Collector drain in Ikoyi where he expressed satisfaction with the ongoing cleaning of the drainage channels sounding a note of warning to residents who usually engage in unwholesome acts of indiscriminate refuse dumping to desist from such acts even as the rainy season is here.

    He hinted that following the expiration of relocation notices issued to all squatters occupying illegal shanties around the Lagos Coastal Road in Mayegun, Lekki area of Lagos, enforcement will commence fully.

    Wahab noted that the government is determined to find a realistic solution to the flooding issue across the state by embarking on all-year-round drainage cleaning measures to control flooding.

    He added that it is necessary for residents to also clean the tertiary drains that run across residences regularly, stressing that the ministry has been consistently de-silting and working on various linkages to the secondary and primary channels to enable them to discharge efficiently.

     The efforts of the government in taking calculated precautionary measures to mitigate the effects of rains would best be appreciated by the discerning residents, considering Lagos’ peculiar topography. For a coastal metropolis such as Lagos, once it rains constantly for a minimum of eight hours, there is bound to be a flash flood caused by the increasing inability of effectively discharge into the lagoon, which is brought about by a rise in the ocean level.

    This naturally leads to drainage obstruction and, until the water level goes down, the drainages would be unable to discharge. This is what happens in most global coastal cities, including those that have adopted the best of technological advancements to curtail flooding.

    Experts are of the view that while states like Ogun and Ekiti suffer from urban and river flooding, Lagos is at the receiving end of three types of flooding – coastal, urban and river flooding because of its unique location.

    It has, thus, become imperative for residents of low-lying areas that are contiguous to the Ogun River to be prepared for the possibility of their homes being flooded.

    As always, the government is committed to a cleaner environment and quality public health through the implementation of community-based solid waste management, flood control, vegetal control and high standards of home and personal hygiene, sanitation, control of environment pollution (air, water and noise), beautification and advertisement control.

    Consequently, its approach to tackling flooding is multi-faceted and multi-dimensional. It includes dredging, massive construction and expansion of drainage channels, desilting and excavation of silts to dumpsites, regular repair, clearing and cleaning of drainages, canals and collector drains across the state.

    Currently, the government is combining public enlightenment strategies to sensitize Lagosians on this development and has taken the time to proffer solutions so that the volume of rains being expected won’t have devastating effects on lives and property.

    Whenever it is observed that the intensity of the rains is much, people should vacate flood-prone areas. Equally, it is also important for the citizenry, especially children to stay indoors to reduce movement to the barest minimum.  If it could be avoided, it is better not to drive while it is raining heavily.  Similarly, residents should maintain strict personal and environmental hygiene at all times to avoid being victims of waterborne diseases.

    Since we now live in a hi-tech information age, it is also imperative that people listen to news reports and information on weather situations from various available credible mediums. This will aid in planning movements and avoiding flood-prone locations.

    Also, because of likely destructive thunder strikes that usually accompany windy rainfall, residents are strongly advised to always disconnect all electrical appliances whenever they want to sleep or go out. This will go a long way in checkmating rain induced electrical debacles. Similarly, children should be discouraged from touching electrical equipment when wet.

    In as much as it is beyond human powers to stop rain, being a natural phenomenon, we should, at least, do things that are in our powers to lessen the negative consequences of rain.

    Residents are enjoined to call 767 in case of emergency as well as report all cases of drainage blockages, and dumping of waste into canals and other unauthorized places to the appropriate authority. It is only in doing this that they would be complementing the government’s efforts on the environment.

    • Ogunbiyi is Director (Features), Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

  • New national minimum living wage for beginners

    New national minimum living wage for beginners

    By Issa Aremu

    “A just wage for the worker is the ultimate test of whether any economic system is functioning justly.” — Pope John Paul 11

    As the national tripartite negotiation is under way for a new national minimum wage, “Minimum Wage” (MW) has regrettably assumed notoriety as a frequently misused concept. The point cannot be overstated; minimum wage is a technical labour market concept. The International Labour Organization (ILO) is the oldest specialized agency of United Nations (UN). Established in 1919, ILO’s primary mandate is to “promote social justice and internationally recognized human and labour rights” in the world of work.

    It was not accidental that ILO was created exactly two years after the great 1917 Bolshevik socialist revolution in Russia led by Vladimir Lenin. ILO was established to curb the spectre of social upheavals as inevitable fall-outs of the ancient regimes of indecent work and slave labour. The goal is globalization of minimum labour standards that include minimum wage, minimum working age (there was once gruesome labour regime of child labour that oiled the mills of the first industrial revolution).

    ILO sought to moderate the hitherto primitive labour market which through primitive exploitation of workers and accumulation of capital invariably pushed labour into “dangerous” and “subversive” political ideas of revolutions. Hence ILO’s founding mission of promotion of labour peace through just and fair conditions of work as indispensable success factor for global prosperity.

    Since its formation, it has initiated a number of conventions and recommendations for its 187 member states on wages and wage administration. They include Protection of Wages Convention, 1949 (No. 95), Minimum Wage Fixing Convention, 1970 (Protection of Workers’ Claims (Employer’s Insolvency) Convention, 1992: Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 among others. 

    What then is minimum wage? The committee of experts of the governing body of ILO at its 168th session had concluded that the minimum wage “represents the lowest level of remuneration permitted, in law” paid hourly, daily or monthly. The subsisting National Minimum Wage Act of 2019, defines the minimum amount of money an employer of labour is required to pay the lowest paid worker monthly as N30,000. No other forms of wages are so legally protected, which differentiates minimum wage from any other wage awards or wage agreements.

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    Presidential wage award is NOT a national minimum wage precisely because it is not legally supported and not earned by all workers of the federation. National minimum wage is the legally permissible pay below which no private or public employer should pay or below which no private sector or public sector worker should earn.

    Of course employers can and (even encouraged) to pay above legally permissible minimum. Edo and Lagos states already pay as much as N42,000. Federal employees earn above the legal minimum while most private employers through collective bargaining for living (as distinct from minimum) pay already exceed the legal minimum. It is self-evident that, the purpose of minimum wage is to protect the most vulnerable workers, often in precarious work. 

    We are living in an (un)interesting  times of  economic crisis occasioned by collapse of the real economy and wholesale financialization in which, banks, some oil and gas companies, nonetheless still post huge profits amidst mass income poverty. Without legally permissible minimum wage, some of these employers would still pay slave wages anyway. Many employers still do have them: workers whose pay can hardly make them live basic subsistence lives! Hence the need for legally permissible minimum pay.

    National minimum wage is also a constitutional issue. Both 1979 and 1999 constitutions put labour, just like capital and financial matters, on the exclusive federal list. The 1999 constitution emphasizes that the state shall direct its policy towards ensuring “the promotion of a planned and balanced economic development; and that a reasonable national minimum living wage, old age care and pensions, and unemployment, sick benefits and welfare of the disabled are provided for all citizens”.

    Federal and state governments must therefore realize that they are not just employers of public employees, but they have the constitutional responsibility to protect the vulnerable workforce through enforcement of MW Act. It is unacceptable and clearly illegal that some state governments and private employers that employ not less than 50 workers default on the subsistence pay. Indeed prompt compliance and improvement on legally permissible must be a critical success factor for good governance. The hope is that the new tripartite negotiation will ensure effective monitoring and enforcement of the Minimum Wage Act with respect to sanctions for non-compliance.

    Indeed some progressive politicians of social democratic persuasion during the first and second republics had audaciously campaigned for decent work that involved minimum pay below which no worker would earn. Among them are the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the premier of the defunct Western region, late Abubakar Rimi and Balarabe Musa, Second Republic first democratically elected governors of Kano and Kaduna states respectively.  However the first national minimum wage as we know it today was in 1981 under the late President Shehu Shagari.

    The on-going tripartite National Minimum Wage negotiation is the sixth of such since independence. Apart from 1990 minimum wage adjustment under the military regime of Ibrahim Babangida, all NMW reviews took place under democratic governments using the time tested instrumentality of tripartism. Five Tripartite Committees on National Minimum Wage (TCNMCs) took place in democratic dispensations (1981 – President Shehu Shagari; 2000 – President Olusegun Obasanjo, and 2011 – President Goodluck Jonathan, 2018 –President Muhammadu Buhari and now 2024 – under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu).

    Minimum wage tripartite negotiations often involve bargaining, social dialogue and compromises on affordability and ability to pay by employers and employees alike. Negotiation is a democratic value that thrives where there’s constitutionalism, freedoms of association and assembly. Only democratic dispensation guarantees unfettered negotiations. Military dictatorships of various hues once repressed Nigeria’s labour market with respect to minimum wage through obnoxious wage freeze, wage deflation policies as subsidy removal and naira devaluation.

    Thus all tripartite stakeholders must reaffirm commitment to democracy for sustainable wage improvement through social dialogue, not arbitrary non- negotiated “wage awards”, or “wage reviews”. Minimum wage also assumes stable national macro-economics of secured employment, single digit inflation and stable exchange rate. Volatility in macro-economic variables, had long devalued minimum pay that is “high” in nominal terms but   miserable slave pay in real terms in the wake of Naira value collapse and stagflation.

    There was once a Nigeria in which MW once guaranteed minimum working and (even living) life given the macro-economic stability. N125 minimum wage of 1981 was some $250 dollars (N375,000). The current N30,000 in real terms sums up to paltry sum of $25. With January, headline inflation rate at  29.90% (the highest level of inflation recorded in 28 years!), food inflation at all time high of 39.54 percent, virtually all wage earners have lost purchasing power. The 2024 tripartite minimum wage committee faces the naughty task of passing the acid test of first restoring the collapsed minimum wage and at the same time ensure new rate that will make earners survive and live. The five year cycle negotiation is outdated in an era of volatility and uncertainty in macroeconomic variables.

    United Kingdom (UK) introduced minimum wage a decade after Nigeria started in 1981. But UK now parades a statutory Low Pay Commission (LPC) that adjusts minimum age every April 1 of the year. Effective April 1, 2024, for instance, Britain’s minimum wage for workers aged 21 and over rises to 11.44 pounds ($14.45) an hour “one of the highest among advanced economies”.

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should upgrade the existing National Salaries, Incomes, and Wages Commission (NSIWC) to an independent public body that should among others advise the government on the rates of the National Minimum Wage (NMW), including the National Living Wage (NLW). NSIWC should retain its independence and identity and not merged with any agency as being proposed in the Oronsanye report. At times like this, many working women and men can hardly afford three meals a day for selves, their spouses and children. Many trek to work, in the wake of transport fares hike, some even sleep at workplaces to augment transport, following fuel subsidy removal. Not few could pay for dignified abode, given prohibitive rent for the family of four. Treatments for basic ailments are unaffordable with little or nothing-out-of empty-pockets. Children are out of paying schools, no thanks to low pay. Millions of workers constitute the new working poor: workers who are getting poorer precisely because the pay for work done cannot meet their survival needs.

    Happily there are enough quotable quotes on minimum and living pay attributable to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu more than any president. At the town hall meeting with organized Labour in Abuja on December 19, 2023 ahead of the 2023 Presidential election, he was loud and clear to say his “…government has a cardinal responsibility to work not only with business but also with labour to ensure that all constituent parts of our society are afforded their fair share of rewards without taking on undue hardship”.

    In his 2023 May Day speech, Tinubu also disclosed that “In the Nigeria I shall have the honour and privilege to lead from May 29, workers will have more than a minimum wage. You will have a living wage to have a decent life and provide for your families.”

    Organized labour through social dialogue and collective bargaining has a worthy ally on President Tinubu for a new National Minimum Living wage.

    • Comrade Aremu mni is Director General, Michael Imoudu National Institute for Labour Studies (MINILS) Ilorin.

  • Make America blaspheme again

    Make America blaspheme again

    It’s election year in the United States and electioneering for the country’s presidency, touted as the most powerful office in the world, is coming to the wire. Former President Donald Trump, who is the presumptive Republican nominee, is throwing all aces in the ring for his square off with incumbent President Joe Biden of the Democrats. It is a rematch of the 2020 race that Trump grudgingly lost to Biden and he is apparently leaving nothing to chance to gain an edge this time. His latest card is patenting the Bible – a divinely authored and universal literature – for sale as America’s patriotism codebook and item of merchandise.

    The ex-president posted a video on his Truth Social network by which he urged his supporters to buy the ‘God Bless the USA Bible,’ named after a ballad by country singer Lee Greenwood alongside whom he’s appeared at events, and whose song he airs whenever he takes the stage at his rallies. The mercantilist motive underpinning  the venture seeped through in the choice of the Passion Week, a week highly significant in the Christian faith, for its outing. “Happy Holy Week! Let’s Make America Pray Again. As we lead into Good Friday and Easter, I encourage you to get a copy of the God Bless the USA Bible,” Trump wrote, directing his supporters to a website selling the Bibles for $59.99, inclusive of shipping and tax – a price tag higher than the average price of Bibles on American shelves.

    “All Americans need a Bible in their home, and I have many. It’s my favorite book,” the ex-president said in his video. “I’m proud to endorse and encourage you to get this Bible. Religion and Christianity are the biggest things missing from this country and we must make America pray again,” he added in obvious adaptation of his campaign slogan ‘Make America Great Again (MAGA). Billing itself as “the only Bible endorsed by President Trump!” the product’s website describes it as “easy-to-read, large print and slim design” that “invites you to explore God’s Word anywhere, any time.” It added: “This Bible has been designed so that it delivers an easy reading experience in the trusted King James Version translation. This large print Bible will be perfect to take to church, bible study, work, travel, etc.” Besides the KJV text of scripture that it contains, the product features a copy of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the Pledge of Allegiance, as well as handwritten chorus to the famous Greenwood song, ‘God Bless The USA.’

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    Money from the sale of the Bible is not being funneled to Trump’s campaign, according to the Bible’s website, but Trump did license the agreement, implying that he’s benefiting from it. The website states that the item is not political and has nothing to do with any political campaign – a statement that only underscores the mercantilist motivation: after all, it isn’t only Republicans who read the Bible in America and thus should be its intended buyers, Democrats and people of other political persuasions do as well. “GodBlessTheUSABible.com is not owned, managed or controlled by Donald J. Trump, The Trump Organization, CIC Ventures LLC or any of their respective principals or affiliates,” the website further states. But it also provides the explanation that “GodBlessTheUSABible.com uses Donald J. Trump’s name, likeness and image under paid license from CIC Ventures LLC, which license may be terminated or revoked according to its terms.” CIC Ventures LLC is a firm Trump reported owning in his 2023 financial disclosure, and thus while he may not be directly selling the Bible, he stands to draw royalties from purchases. Besides, he may already have drawn hefty cash for the “paid license.”

    The Bible sales pitch comes as Trump appears to be confronting significant financial squeeze amidst mounting legal fees as he fights four criminal cases and a slew of civil lawsuits. He began promoting the Bible on social media a day after a panel of state appeals judges in New York required him to post $175million as bond to stop enforcement of a $454million civil judgment for corporate fraud. That ruling came after he posted another $92million bond earlier in March to stave off enforcement of a verdict against him for defaming writer E. Jean Carroll, who accused the ex-president of raping her in a department store dressing room in the 1990s. Trump denied the claim, but a federal civil court jury found him liable for sexual assault.

    Bible merchandising is only the latest venture that Trump is promoting in his political and business careers. In February, he debuted a new line of Trump-branded sneakers on a venture platform that also sells other Trump-branded footwear, cologne and perfume. The ex-president was last year reported earning between $100,000 and $1million from a series of digital trading cards that portrayed him in cartoon-like images, including as an astronaut, a cowboy and a superhero. Indeed, there’s very little he hasn’t tried to license or brand with his name printed in massive golden letters. Before he ran for office, he famously hawked everything from frozen steaks to vodka, water, airline, casinos and a Trump University that was later sued for fraud. Now, at Easter, the Bible gets in the equation.

    The ex-president remains deeply popular with white evangelical Christians, who are among his most ardent supporters, although the thrice-married former reality Tv star has a behavioral reputation that fell at odds with teachings espoused by Jesus Christ, the central character of the scripture. Neither is he very familiar, at least from indications, with the content of the Bible that he calls his “favorite book” in the new sales pitch, even though he’s used the holy book as visual prop on outings. In a 2015 interview with Bloomberg, Trump was asked to share his favorite Bible verse and he demurred, saying: “I wouldn’t want to get into that. Because to me, that’s very personal. The Bible means a lot to me, but I don’t want to get into specifics.” During his electioneering for the presidency in 2016, he raised eyebrows at a university townhall when he cited “Two Corinthians” instead of the standard “Second Corinthians.” And during his presidency, law enforcement agents aggressively cleared racial justice protesters from a park close to the White House, allowing Trump to walk to nearby St. John’s Episcopal Church where he stood his ground and held aloft a Bible – apparently unwittingly, upside down! That manoeuvre was promptly berated by the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington.

    Trump’s seeming lack of touch with the Bible apart, there are many things wrong with his commercial venture with the holy book. Christians and non-Christians alike regard the Bible as a sacred literature that is divinely authored. No living human has a patent on it, and it isn’t exclusive to any people or nation; meaning that endorsing the Bible as a document of national patriotism is blasphemy writ large. And neither is the Bible a conventional item of merchandise. Price tags at sales points across the world usually reflect the cost of printing, value additions like commentaries, and allied logistics, but certainly not endorsement royalties. Licensing the Bible for merchandising  as Trump did, and the timing of introducing the product into the market darkly echoed the original text in the holy book where money changers and hawkers of religious items seized the occasion of the Passover to take over the temple with their wares during the first Passion Week, prompting Jesus to get a whip and drive them out saying they made the temple a den of thieves.

    The Bible as God’s word does not need any man’s endorsement to reinforce its appeal. Also, co-opting nationalistic documents and a favorite ballad into the package infringes its sanctity and universality. No, Trump’s Bible won’t make America pray again, it is making America desecrate the holy book.

    • Please join me on kayodeidowu.blogspot.be for conversation.   

  • Cardosonomics and return of common sense to central banking

    Cardosonomics and return of common sense to central banking

    • By Opeoluwa Dapo-Thomas

    After 9 years of Emefiele who conjured different ways and means to traumatize an entire generation, nous and prudence have been restored to the Apex bank at ​​Plot 33, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa Way, Central Business District, Abuja.

    Nigeria’s new Central Banker, Dr Olayemi Cardoso seems to be righting the wrongs of the embattled ex-Central Bank Governor of Nigeria, who oversaw an FX backlog of $7 billion, a 14.02 percent rise on inflation from 8.2% to 22.41% during his reign, reckless abuse of Ways and Means that contravened the CBN Act coupled with shoddy intervention financing, all of which made a mess of CBN’s balance sheet.

    In December 2023, the CBN issued a circular which was a thinly veiled dig at the previous management. “In furtherance of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s new policy thrust focusing on its core mandate of ensuring price and monetary stability, the Bank has commenced its pullback from direct development financing interventions – accordingly, the CBN would be moving into more limited policy advisory roles that support economic growth”.

    With a series of policy changes in the past quarter, communicated via Friday-released circulars, Nigeria is beginning to witness different reforms that seek to steady the nation’s ship.

    So far, remittances have been flowing in through the proper channels, portfolio investors have their interests piqued and market theorists seem to align with his methods in combating inflation with the monetary tools at the bank’s disposal.

    So do we still need an economist as CBN governor or do we just need someone who has common sense?  Do we need someone who would just focus on the apex bank’s objectives or someone who would gaslight Nigerians to queue under canopies to collect limited redesigned naira notes?

    Let’s examine what is the objective of the CBN. The CBN Act of 2007 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria charges the Bank with the overall control and administration of the monetary and financial sector policies of the Federal Government.

    The objectives of the CBN are as follows:

    ●Ensure monetary and price stability;

    ●Issue legal tender currency in Nigeria;

    ●Maintain external reserves to safeguard the international value of the legal tender currency;

    ●Promote a sound financial system in Nigeria; and

    ●Act as a banker and provide economic and financial advice to the Federal Government.

    Now, there were question marks on Dr Yemi Cardoso when he was appointed CBN governor. There were legitimate concerns over how his friendship with the current Nigerian president might affect the independence of the Central Bank. Their friendship began when he first met Tinubu, a Treasurer at Mobil while being a bank officer handling Oil accounts.

    There was also worry around Cardoso’s suitability for the role, with preference in some quarters for someone with a strong macroeconomic background, perhaps a Professor in economics who would have the gravitas to turn the tide. However, people largely forget that the CBN has a large army of Ph.D. economists that they can deploy to help guide policy decisions.

    “There had been a dislocation of monetary transmission mechanism, for quite some time, which rendered the MPC meetings largely ineffective” – Cardoso said in one of his speeches, as he said the Bank has reviewed the effectiveness of the Central Bank’s monetary policy tools and had spent time fixing the transmission mechanism to ensure the decisions of Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meetings resulted in desired objectives.

    Now he is doing the conventional work needed to battle against inflation which is his prerogative. He has tightened and aggressively hiked rates to an accumulated 600 basis points this quarter.  Yields on one-year Treasury Bills now flirt within the 19%-27% range. NAFEM has recorded its highest FX turnover since the beginning of this administration as Naira assets are beginning to look more attractive than holding dollars.

    The FX backlog has been cleared and Cardoso contracting Deloitte to work out the invalid claims of about $2.3 billion has proven shrewdness which his predecessor struggled to fathom.

    Two interesting things can be observed with his FX management. One, the approach to liberating the FX market with liquidity, and two, the attempt to achieve convergence of the official and parallel market exchange rates. In some developed and stable countries, black market premiums rarely exceed 5%. Black market premiums measure differences between NAFEM rates and the spot rates. At some point in Nigeria, black market premiums exceeded over 20%.

    Cynics argue that applauding Cardoso for the recent naira rally after taking the dollar at N700/$1 to the four-digit territory is a bit ironic. However, they forget that at the other end of a lower exchange rate was an ever-growing backlog which in the long run reduces investors’ confidence and stifles liquidity.

    Since March 2020, liquidity challenges in the Nigerian foreign exchange (FX) market have consistently affected the accessibility of its equity market, leading to capital repatriation concerns and a significant gap between the official and parallel exchange rates for the Nigerian Naira. This caused global institutional investors to face recurring challenges with index replicability and investability of the MSCI Nigeria Indexes and other indexes they are part of.

    Whatever it is, the unorthodoxy of using depleted reserves to heavily defend the currency while dishonoring FX commitments which saw Nigeria relegated to standalone markets with the likes of Argentina seems to be coming to an end.

    Cardoso has a lot to do going forward, but market participants see a man who knows what he is doing. He needs some help from the “fiscal side” in the fight against inflation and FX inflows as carry trade from portfolio investors could be evanescent. Crude oil receipts and non-oil export earnings need to come in to support the rates or build the FX reserves.

    Cardoso’s onerous task is to tame inflation, however month-on-month inflation has followed an upward trajectory and there’s no assurance it may peak in H1 of 2024. His deployment of monetary tools and FX management would be tested in the long run as without support from his bosom colleague Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance, he may not have enough wriggle room to emerge victorious.

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    One thing we are encouraged by is that he would not encourage the excesses of the FG and has said CBN will no longer grant loans to FG until the outstanding is paid. By also hiking rates, he has ignored the wishes of the President who prefers a low-interest rate environment to boost economic growth.

    For now, it appears there is an end to the days when the Central Bank failed to strictly adhere to the law. They would now limit advances under ways and means to 5 percent of the previous year’s revenue. FG now has to be creative in looking for alternative sources of financing.

    But there are a few concerns the CBN governor must begin to consider. How would the CBN resolve its monetary policy conundrums where high MPR is affecting Nigeria’s high growth and employment costs on the economy? 

    Can interest rates keep following inflation to where it is not known as food inflation and arbitrary price gouging as a result of FX volatility means there’s still some upside for inflation? How long will he hold on to the liquidity ratio with CRR going higher? What are the opportunity costs of liquidity management with yields at 27%?

    How does he reform the bank in a way that functionally separates its responsibilities for monetary policy and micro/macro-prudential policies? How does he disprove the Economist’s theory that the CBN is inexperienced in handling a managed float exchange rate system?

    When you open the website of the Bank of England, the first thing you see is the tagline “Promoting the good of the people of the United Kingdom by maintaining monetary and financial stability”, it is safe to say that Cardoso and the new Central Bank team is determined to promote the good of the people of Nigeria the same way.

  • Faye’s Senegal: Tempering optimism with caution

    Faye’s Senegal: Tempering optimism with caution

    By Charles Onunaiju

    In 1991, fiery trade unionist, Fredrick Jacob Chiluba then 47 years old, led  his party the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD) also known as New Hope MMD, formed only a year earlier in 1990, to power with 75% of total votes, ousting the veteran independence hero, Kenneth Kaunda in Zambia. Kenneth Kaunda and his United National Independence Party (UNIP) have held power since the country’s independence in 1964, ruling for an unbroken 27 years.

    Therefore, when the fiery trade unionist and his then, brand new party, the New Hope MMD showed up, Zambians rallied around, delivering not the only the presidency in a snub to their veteran founding father but gave the New Hope MMB, an absolute majority in the parliament.

    But the rule of Chiluba later to be dubbed “the chilling Chiluba” was controversial. Despite issues around his original birth place, he made strenuous effort to deport Kenneth Kaunda, claiming the veteran independence hero was a Malawian. Following attempted military coup in 1997, something unheard of, in the East African nation, Chiluba, swooped on opposition politician, especially those close to former President Kaunda and had them arrested.

    To add spice to the eccentricity of his governance, he divorced his second wife, who have had nine children for him and married his party’s women leader in her place. At the end of his rule, which delivered very little to the over-expectant Zambians, which showed no sign of shaking off poverty, he was charged along with his intelligence chief and other senior ministers with 168 counts of stealing public funds totalling more than $40 million.

    In May 2007, he was found guilty of embezzling $46 million in a civil case in the U.K. The presiding London judge, Peter Smith accused Chiluba of shamelessly defrauding his people from which he acquired expensive wardrobe of “stupendous proportions”.

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    The fairy story of Chiluba’s rise with his party gaining power just barely a year after it was founded, scooping 75% of total vote and gaining an absolute majority in parliamentary is even more historically momentous, than the victory of President Bassirou Diomaye Faye in Senegal, whose party, the African patriots of Senegal for Work, Ethics and Fraternity known by its French acronym PASTEF, formed in 2014, won with 54% of the vote.

    This is not in any way to downplay the historic significance of the momentous election in Senegal, not least because of the shenanigan of the out gone president, Macky Sall, who did everything in order to stay put in office. When he grudgingly conceded for the election, he put forward a crony and backed him with state resources. That the opposition triumphed amidst several excruciating political landmines laid on its path is a crucial watershed.

    George Weah, a former international footballer won the high office Liberia, West Africa’s oldest republic amidst high expectation after the lacklustre rule of former World Bank official and Africa’s first female president, Mrs. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.  Sirleaf electrified the whole of Africa when she became the first elected Africa leader in 2006. Her victory was momentous because she took office after the brutal civil war and lingering power struggles among the former war lords.

    But the governance record of the first elected female leader was less than salutary. Her son, Charles Sirleaf was charged with economic sabotage after he unlawfully printed the local currency to the value of $75 million. Earlier in October 2014, her justice minister resigned in protest accusing the president of interfering with the criminal investigating into the illegal seizure of money from Korean businessmen in a hotel raid.

    In 2017, review conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism cited Mrs. Sirleaf among list of politicians named in the Paradise Papers allegations. Liberia under Sirleaf did not record any appreciable mileage in economic growth and overall social development. Currently, Africa oldest republic rank among the poorest country in the world despite having elected an international football celebrity and a first female leader. George Weah whose party Congress for Democratic change (CDC) swept to power in 2017, winning 60% of the vote in the second run off was sworn as in 2018.

    Having attained office at the age 51 and a promise to “weed out the menace of corruption”, it was actually greed and graft that became the hallmark of his presidency. Just months into his presidency, the country’s media reported the alleged disappearance of about 96 million in banknotes, approximately 5% of the country’s gross domestic product.

    However, an inquiry by Kroll, US based firm in Philadelphia funded by the US government discovered that banknotes had not gone missing but had been illegally printed and that another $16.5 million which has been printed in excesses cannot be accounted for.

    In 2020, four auditors who tried to uncover the spate of scandals and corruption that besmirched Weah’s presidency died in just over week in suspicious circumstances. The death of the auditors in just over week sparked an outrage. In 2024, when the Liberians had a chance to interrogate the Weah’s presidency, they gave him a cold electoral shoulder and elected former 78-year old vice president, Joseph Bokai, unceremoniously terminating the political career of their football star.

    Whether it is a formerly persecuted opposition sweeping to power or a young political outsider riding on popular dissatisfaction of the old political establishment to gain power, or the women crashing the ceiling of gender barricade to assume highest office as in the case of Mrs. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf in Liberia or Mrs. Joyce Banda in Malawi, what ails Africa is certainly beyond the sit-tight of incumbents or the rapid electoral turnovers of incumbents and oppositions.

    The structural constraints of modern states in Africa largely from the consequence of its historic origin, nature and structure cannot be easily overcome, through the grandstanding of political bravado. It requires more than political affirmation and even determination.

    The nature of modem Africa states and the structure of her engagement with the rest of the world have played outsized roles, though considerably neglected or ignored in the current travails of the continent. There will be no need to reinvent the wheel or disband the existing state as that would be toil in absurdity. But clearly, Africa contemporary states can be realigned to the autonomous reality of the various states in the continent, taking into account the popular values through which people communicate, engage and address their concerns.

    The historic inquiry and interrogation of the facts about the living realities of the various people would generate a harvest of outcomes that inform genuine reforms of existing institutions and realign them to true public service. Whether it’s President Faye’s Senegal or Bola Tinubu’s Nigeria, William Ruto’s Kenya, Abiy Ahmed’s Ethiopia, or the two generals tearing Sudan apart, or Slyva Kirr’s South Sudan or the three strongmen in the Sahel – Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, the crises of the modern state in Africa and the consequence of socio-economic lethargy is beyond the type of rule but rather in the structure and nature of the state itself.

    It will be unfair to wave aside, the genuine determination and goodwill of the leaders in Africa to deliver on good governance and its expected outcome of a better society, but history has clearly and consistently shown that these efforts are more or less perpetually vitiated by the objective nature of the state and its existential constraints.

    This is not insurmountable obstacle. Many states in Asia, especially Southeast Asia, like Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Korea, Vietnam have made some appreciable progress, despite starting from the same point as Africa; colonial domination.

    The key to the modest and ongoing success is reinterpreting the inherited colonial state in the light of their then new reality and retooling their institutions to reflect and address concerns of their rediscovered social reality, which proceeded from a total understanding of their respective unique national conditions. The process refined and redefined their engagement with the rest of the world, giving them a reasonable handle in defining and projecting their priorities. Africa has the intellectual wherewithal, a repository and pedigree of historical renaissance to chart her own course in an increasing landscape of global disorder. The will to act could amount to sheer bravado and even the dissipation of energy in the wrong direction without adequate knowledge and understanding of what Amilcar Cabral, one of Africa’s foremost thinkers called our “weakness”. Therefore, the determination and the will to know is the essential prerequisite to any meaningful and purposeful action.

    • Onunaiju is research director of an Abuja based think tank.

  • Gombe’s budget of misplaced priorities

    Gombe’s budget of misplaced priorities

    By Muhammad Umar Shehu

    SIR: The recent budget allocation by Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State has sparked concerns among citizens, particularly regarding the disproportionate allocation of funds. While a significant portion of ₦43.130 billion is earmarked for the construction of a new governor’s residence, High Court, and House of Assembly complex, only ₦10 billion is allocated for road construction. This disparity raises questions about the state’s priorities and resource allocation strategy.

    It is disheartening to witness such a large sum allocated to ‘luxury’ infrastructure projects while essential infrastructure like roads receive comparatively meagre funding. This allocation pattern reflects a misplaced sense of priorities and neglect of critical needs in the state.

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    As responsible citizens, it is imperative for us to hold our leaders accountable and challenge decisions that do not align with the best interests of the people. We cannot afford to stand by idly while our state resources are mismanaged and squandered on unnecessary projects.

    The people of Gombe deserve transparency and accountability in governance. We must demand greater scrutiny of budgetary allocations and ensure that public funds are utilised effectively for the betterment of our communities.

    There is an urgent need for a reallocation of priorities to address pressing needs such as infrastructure development, healthcare, education, and poverty alleviation. Our leaders must be reminded of their duty to serve the people and prioritise projects that have a tangible impact on the lives of ordinary citizens.

    As concerned citizens, we must unite and advocate for a more equitable distribution of resources to meet the needs of all residents of Gombe State. Together, we can hold our leaders accountable and work towards a brighter future for our state.

    May Gombe State and Nigeria as a whole prosper and thrive.

    • Muhammad Umar Shehu, Gombe.

  • Omiyi: An industry veteran exits

    Omiyi: An industry veteran exits

    By Dan Aibangbe

    There are always things to say and memoirs to document, whenever a veteran military General is pulled out of service! Aside from the usual twenty-one gun salute and general funfair, there is the official handover notes to guide the new commanders as well as the polishing of medals and decorations won in the course of the retiring veteran’s meritorious service. These elements may seem mundane to the uninitiated, but are crucial for setting standards, upgrading protocols and motivating the new generation.

    The chequered history of how Seplat Energy emerged to become one of the foremost indigenous International Oil & Gas Companies (IOC) in Nigeria with bias for onshore assets is in public domain. How it came to embed itself in the premium board of the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) and simultaneously in the London Stock Exchange (LSE) after it successfully transmuted from Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc incorporated in 2009 to Seplat Energy Plc in May 2021, headquartered in Lagos, is also well known. The company also transitioned from the initial management board to the current board under the able hands of its out-gone chairman, the distinguished gentleman, Basil Efoise Omiyi, CON.

    The subject of this piece is Basil Omiyi, who has bowed out as non-executive chairman of Seplat after ascending into that position in May 2022. His emergence in succession to the erstwhile founding chairman was not without a protracted corporate wrestle (in which he eventually prevailed).

    Omiyi spent five decades of his illustrious career traversing the length and breadth of the oil and gas world. His chequered career is littered with success milestones in technical and leadership responsibilities. At the Royal Dutch Shell Group, he held various technical and leadership positions in Nigeria, the UK and the Netherlands. On return to Nigeria in 1992, Omiyi was again involved in leadership roles as Production Manager, Director of External Relations and Environment and later Country Production Director. He would later be appointed the Managing Director of The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd in 2004 thus becoming the first indigenous Managing Director of an International Oil Company in Nigeria and later, chairman of Royal Dutch Shell Companies in Nigeria until his retirement in 2009.

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    Omiyi who is also currently the Chairman of Stanbic IBTC Holding Plc, and TAF Nigeria Homes Ltd, is a Fellow of many professional bodies, including The Petroleum Institute, UK, FEI, The Nigerian Mining and Geoscience Society, FNMGS, The Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists, FNAPE, and The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators of Nigeria, FCIArb. Omiyi was awarded with national honour of Commander of the Order of the Niger, CON in 2011 in recognition of his pioneering role in Oil and Gas Industry leadership in Nigeria.

    At the earlier stage, Basil Omiyi studied at the University of Ibadan from 1965 to 1970 where he obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and a Post-graduate Diploma in Petroleum Technology in 1970 after which he joined the then Shell-BP Petroleum Ltd in 1970 as a Wellsite Petroleum Engineer.

    This veteran gained extensive insights and experience in the global oil and gas industry which particulars he brought on board to Seplat Energy. His detailed knowledge and understanding of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Sector, together with Senior Management expertise gained in the large-scale multinational organisation were quite invaluable. Without any iota of doubt, his wealth of experience will be sorely missed at Seplat, except the organisation contrives an ingenious way to make its executives tap from his wealth of experience as mentees.

    His tenure as chairman saw him achieve the key objectives of streamlining the Corporate Governance function, accentuating productivity by more than 80% within a two year span (with commensurate increase in dividends to shareholders), expertly riding the tidal waves of boardroom subterfuge and successfully weaning the company from the apron-strings of devourers. He also succeeded in fashioning out a smooth succession protocol in line with corporate best practices. Thus, he fully demonstrated his Crisis Management Skills with equanimity. Omiyi demonstrated zero-tolerance for corruption and corrupt practices and thus commands respect from friends and foes alike.

    As the ultimate father-figure and epitome of inspirational leadership, Omiyi is always interested in team bonding and capacity building towards bringing out the best in colleagues and subordinates alike. His tenure in Seplat witnessed unprecedented improvements to employee compensations and benefits in terms of welfare, remuneration, career development and growth opportunities, so much so that when senior officers retire, replacements were no longer sourced from outside the company! His simplicity, kindness and humility are unparalleled. He is completely detribalised and humane, an equal opportunity advocate. He advanced the lot of the female gender in Seplat under the aegis of Seplat Awesome Women.

    Right from his early school days, his alma mater at Esan (Ishan) Grammar School, Uromi could swear by his loyalty and total commitment to the common cause. Once he gets personally involved in any noble cause, Omiyi will neither relent nor look back to count the cost. He is the ultimate champion of the indigent.

    Engineer Basil Efoise Omiyi, born on January 17, 1946 a devout worshipper, just as his dear wife, May, together with him raised a vibrant family. Everywhere he went (home or abroad), his humility, gentility, advocacy, diplomacy, deep knowledge, dexterity, empathy, oozed effortlessly to pervade his entire milieu and wafted like a skilfully crafted kite that finds sail in a clement beachside wind. Most of Omiyi’s colleagues, contemporaries and subordinates would readily attest to his effortless leadership and mentorship.

    Basil Omiyi’s spirituality is given full expression in the comfort of the Catholic Mass environment, where he finds necessary solace. This is also complemented in his love for the keyboard, through which he follows the footprints of the Masters on the Piano. He is a well-practiced and skilful connoisseur of good pianist and one would not be surprised to find this demonstration one of these days.

    As the giant oak quietly steps aside, we are hoping his good works will continue to be watered by his successors, while we wish him many more years in good health and relevance to the society.

    • Aibangbe is a media and public relations consultant.