The Nation Newspaper

Category: Commentaries

  • Gov Obi: What could be wrong with borrowing?

    Gov Obi: What could be wrong with borrowing?

    SIR: That is the question for Gov. Peter Obi of Anambra State. As a student of Finance and

    Investment, I can remember the principle of Investment Analysis. Basically, a corporation borrows money from a bank or other financial institution to undertake a business transaction. When the operation is duly effected, the corporation pays back the money to the bank or the institution with the revenue collected from the satisfied customers. The bank is happy, the investor is happy and the consumers are happy.

    This approach seems to be a win-win situation and one can see the brilliant applications of it in public administration by Gov. Raji Fashola of Lagos State and Gov. Rotimi Amaechi of River State. Gov. Obi, on the other hand, prides himself as the only governor in Nigeria who has not borrowed money to run his administration. One wonders if this aversion for borrowing makes fiscal policy sense or if it is a consequence of small-mindedness. Anambra State is underdeveloped and needs a serious injection of fund to stimulate its economy. The governor’s choice of not borrowing to boast development is a leadership shortcoming that is bearing down on the progress of Anambra State.

    One is not disputing that the governor has done some work in Anambra State by applying a tight string on the state’s purse. One questions the wisdom of one sitting on top of the ocean and watching one’s hand with spittle. The governor, like other state governors in Nigeria, has access to development loans. He declines to utilize such an opportunity that stands to better the life of the people of Anambra State. Frugality may have its place in one’s personal business but broader vision is required to institute the right programs for the growth of the society. Anambra State is highly commercialized and therefore has the propensity to tolerate risk. It is baffling to understand why the governor is shy to borrow money for development. This is not to say that stories do not abound of governors who abused such privileges but Gov. Obi seems to intend well for Anambra State. The governor must have a better explanation why he should be proud of this business anomaly.

     

    Pius Okaneme

    Umuoji, Anambra State.

     

  • S/East governors, Second Niger Bridge and Security

    S/East governors, Second Niger Bridge and Security

    SIR: For the past 15 years, commuters passing through the famous Niger Bridge, one of the longest bridges in Nigeria especially during the festive periods have suffered untold hardships and excruciating pains. In these painful 15 years, it has been difficult if not impossible to quantify the losses in both human and material resources. Many of our people see it as a deliberate punishment to the South-east for losing Nigeria/Biafra war simply because the victors are still celebrating and you cannot blame the victims. My friends tell me that if after 43 years the victors of the infamous Nigerian civil war are still celebrating then it would mean that we are running a nation without conscience.

    What the commuters suffered in 15 years put together cannot be equal to what we saw from mid-December 2012 to mid-January 2013. Those coming from Lagos were stuck in Asaba and those coming from Aba, Owerri, Enugu, etc were held in Onitsha. My children who left Nnewi for Lagos on Jan 7, by 6:00 am could not access the Niger Bridge until about 11 am. Nnewi to Onitsha is about 15 kilometres.

    Assurances and pronouncements have been made by the powers that be in the past 10 years and all to no avail. It has been all noise and no substance. Nigerian leaders especially at the federal level have no conscience. I suggest that the South-east governors take their destinies in their hands. South-east governors have the capacity and the resources to build the second Nigeria Bridge federal or no federal government intervention or support.

    Political, economic and social activities in the South-east cannot be complete without the second Niger Bridge. Historians used to say that Egypt cannot exist without River Nile. In the same vein, no second Niger Bridge, no economy in the South-east.

    Another very big problem facing the South-east is security. From December 20, 2012 to January 15, 2013 when I left Nnewi for Lagos, I noticed that every prominent person goes about with three or four policemen. Judging from number of security personnel I saw in the South-east I kept on wondering if we still have policemen left to protect other sections of the country.

    Again, let it be known that the South-east governments can effectively handle all security issues in their domain to save the economy from collapsing. The governors must reverse this frightening trend of prominent Igbos travelling to other lands during festivities instead of returning home. Travelling home during Christmas, Easter and New Yam festival is a culture in Igbo land and the governors must know this. Good governance demands that the governors know this and consequently create an enabling environment for their citizens. Anything short of this is a failure of leadership. Let the South-east governors organize a summit on security. Let the governors pull resources together to protect their citizens. Securing lives and properties should be the number one priority if they must succeed.

    The primitive idea of going to Abuja for every single problem must cease.

    South-east governors can build the Second Niger Bridge and make investment in security to secure the economy of their zone.

    • Joe Igbokwe

    Lagos

  • Jonathan needs a new team

    Jonathan needs a new team

    SIR: Nigeria is a very populous country, and one out of every five black person is a Nigerian. Beneath its large landmass lie such natural resources as limestone, tin-ore, columbite, crude oil and others. It has equable climatic conditions and fertile soil: these are incentives that boost agriculture and food production in the country. More so, Nigeria has big rivers, which can play prime role in the generation and distribution of electricity in the country. Steady supply of electricity is critical to the national development and industrialization of a country. But, sadly, for all our human and material resources, Nigeria is at the rear on the global ladder of development. Our country is rated as one of the worst places to be born on earth. This is an indictment on the current and past political leaderships in the country.

    We are not unconscious of the stark fact that inept and corrupt leadership is at the root of our national problems. Imposition of national leaders, which is a feature of our political system, had always thrown up people who failed to tackle effectively our national problems. Right from 1960, and till now, Nigeria hasn’t been led by its best citizens, who possess integrity and leadership qualities. Now, our freedom fighters may have become poltergeists owing to the parlous state of Nigeria.

    President Goodluck Jonathan owes his ascendency to power to divine intervention. His success story bears the imprints of God and fate. His name is Goodluck, and there are ample instances of manifestation of good luck in his life. From being an obscure and nondescript lecturer in one of the universities in the marshy creek of the Niger-Delta, he became the President of Nigeria after serving as the governor of Bayelsa State.

    But, does President Goodluck Jonathan still remember his difficult past when he was toiling and praying for success in his endeavours? If he is a people-oriented President, he ought to be initiating policies that will reduce poverty and high rate of unemployment in the country. Sadly, since his assumption of power, things have not looked up in the country. As a result, millions of Nigerians have became disillusioned and disenchanted with the leaders.

    President Goodluck Jonathan may have good intentions for the country, but some members of his cabinet constitute stumbling block to his achieving his leadership objectives. These people are just square pegs in round holes.

    President Jonathan’s executive cabinet is long overdue for re-jigging. He should remove the incompetent ministers, and infuse new blood and experienced technocrats into his team. What Nigeria needs now is a winning team that consists of patriotic technocrats and politicians without moral blemish.

    We can’t realize our potentials as a nation if we continue to run our country with our third eleven while leaving the best people suitable for the ministerial jobs out of the power loop and equation.

     

    • Chiedu Uche Okoye

    Uruowulu – Obosi,

    Anambra State.

    __._,_.___

  • Capital Market: When bad behaviour pays

    Capital Market: When bad behaviour pays

    It is important to lend additional voice and question the rationale behind the federal government N22.6 billion bail-out of some capital market operators. It is tantamount to rewarding bad behaviour and excessive risk-taking at public expense. For the stock broking firms that will benefit from this largesse, if their investments have been profitable and they made a kill in the capital market, they would not have shared their profit with the public. The action of government is therefore tantamount to endorsing the privatization of profits and the socialization of losses if you have the lobby and the political connection to dump your losses on the Nigerian people.

    By setting this precedent, the government has further ossified the moral hazard problem in our financial system. If an investor taking an investment risk knows that he can appropriate his gains but can pass his losses to another party, he will take excessive unreasonable risk as he has nothing to lose. This moral hazard problem was at the heart of the misbehaviour of investment bankers in the recent global financial crisis, when they could make huge bonuses if their bets worked out but pass the loss to shareholders if it didn’t. This coupled with the implicit guarantee of their risk by the public especially if they were “too big to fail, essentially a public subsidy of their risk, further compounded their bad behaviour. They created a tower of complex financial instruments that had little bearing to their underlying assets, played roulette and casino at public expense, made initial huge gains which they pocketed until their financial derivative instruments fell like a pack of cards.

    Where these investment banking businesses shared a common capital base with retail banking as one organic financial institution, essentially leveraging public deposits in their banks to trade, they created assets that wiped off the bank’s capital and public retail deposits in their institutions. Where they were big banks, sometimes with a century of public retail deposits, the financial system was put at systemic risk of collapse and the state had had to intervene to bail them out largely to protect public deposits. This experience has fuelled calls for the full organic separation of investment and retail banking in the financial system. It is difficult to understand how this logic of bail-out applies to the stock brokers who will enjoy N23 billion government largesse. A public bail out of a financial institution is justified only if they pose a systemic risk to the financial system should they fail. A systemic risk is the risk that the entire financial system will fail and collapse and it is different from the risk of financial failure of an individual or group within the financial system.

    The first question to ask is whether the failure of the selected stock-broking firms being offered this government largesse can pull down the entire financial system or pose a systemic risk. Certainly not! These stock broking firms are not banks and their size relative to the whole financial ecosystem poses no fundamental systemic risk. What then is the rationale for the bail out?

    Two fundamental conditions must exist for the public bail out of financial institutions. They must either be either be “too big to fail – the TBTF test – or, must be “too interconnected to fail” – the TICTF test. The TCITF test measures whether a group of institutions represent critical connected dependencies with no existing market alternative in size and function such that their failure will pull down the financial system. The public bail-out of a financial institution or a group of financial institutions must pass these two tests to justify the test of a systemic risk. It is difficult to see how the group of stock-brokers who will enjoy these N23b public largesse could pass the “too big to fail” or the “too interconnected to fail” test. Their collective size does not pose significant systemic risk to the financial system. In the last three years, since these firms have had to deal with their margin loan challenges, the financial system has carried on. The capital market measured by the Nigeria Stock Exchange All Share Index has witnessed a year to date gain of more than 25 percent. This is because there are alternative market transaction agents whose collective size moderate any potential “too interconnected to fail” effect of the stock-broking firms being bailed-out by government. Whither then is the logic of government action?

    Capital market operators, specifically stock-broking firms’ operators are no banks. They are capital market transaction agents. They do not warehouse public assets or owe public liability like the banks that hold public deposits that could create a collapse of the financial system if a critical number of them fail. The stock asset that the public buy is not warehoused by the stock-broker but by the public themselves directly and the company from whom the stock was bought with a clearing system maintained by the independent Central Security Clearing System (CSCS). Stock sales are transactions between the company, the stock seller and the stock buyer with the stock-broker acting as intermediary, a broker and a transaction agent. It is the same relationship as that of a real estate agent who collects a fee brokering a deal between a house seller and a house buyer. The real estate agent, just like the stock-broker should ordinarily not warehouse housing-stock unless he decides to use his market knowledge for additional private gain and become an investor, acquiring his own housing stock. Would it be right to use state fund to bail out or forebear the loans of a group of real estate agents who took a bank loans to buy houses and kept, hoping to make a kill when the house stock appreciates, and unfortunately house prices fell?

    If the state does that, should the same logic and largesse not be extended to every citizen investor who bought housing stock when house prices fell? Therefore apart from rewarding bad behaviour, the action of government also raises public equity and fairness issues. For the ordinary retail investor who also lost money on the capital market like the stock-broking firms who took margin loans, where and what will be his own bail-out or loan forbearance? What is good for the goose must also be good for the gander.

    There have been attempts to justify the bailout of the stock-broking firms as a special intervention in the capital market as it has been done recently in aviation and agriculture. Special sector intervention funds in Nigeria have largely not delivered tangible results as they work against market logic. Have we seen yet the tangible and visible gains of the recent special intervention funds in agriculture and aviation? Such intervention funds have largely festered a regime of crony capitalism with all its attendant ills, where you get access to funds below market rate if you are connected to government and can even divert them to other more profitable sectors outside the intervention fund. The market punishment of bad investment decisions is critical to the effective functioning of markets. Special intervention funds where there are no proven market failures, where it cannot be proven that markets lack the mechanism to self-correct and cleanse itself in its organic cycle of bulls and bears that ensure that resources are efficiently allocated to those who will best utilize them, can only but lead to more imperfect market outcomes.

    Government has done very well by intervening and bailing out the banks whose failure truly posed a systemic risk to the financial system. It has however overreached itself in the N23 billion bail-out of selected stock broking firms. The logic and rationale of its decision fail public interest, fairness and social equity tests. If the concern of government is about the liquidity of the capital market, it cannot be addressed by rewarding excessive risk behaviour that could further jeopardize the future health of the financial system..

    • Akanmu, a company executive writes from Lagos

  • Dickson: 365 days after

    Dickson: 365 days after

    It is now almost a year since Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson took the oath of office as the fourth elected Governor of Bayelsa State. Yet, it gladdens the heart that within this short period, substantial achievements have been recorded in actively reforming and transforming the apparatus of government and institutions to an acceptable standard and in fulfillment of the Restoration Agenda.Admittedly, the last one year has been mixed within the context of unforeseen natural disaster but it is assuring that the government has also been quite pro-active in managing the situation and delivering on its promises to the people. Of course, it has helped that the Dickson administration had a clear agenda and understanding of what needed to be done to get the state out of the messy past. The myriad of problems confronting the state are being tackled headlong and the people can now see visible results.  Government has been forthcoming in promoting basic human rights while also creating and enforcing basic laws and implementing policies and programmes needed to deliver on its campaign promises. Quality services are now the rights of the people because government believes it is the people’s entitlements in a democracy.  Today in Bayelsa State, many people can attest to the fact that a new and rising paradigm has taken root. Indeed, if there is anything this administration is known and appreciated for, it is that it is dreaming big dreams, sometimes far beyond what its resources can accommodate in the short run. For this noble objective, some critics have accused the administration of taking on too many projects but the good thing here is that we are breaking new grounds with lasting footprints. The huge strides undertaken by the administration in the last one year effectively strikes a chord with the essentials of Governor Dickson’s leadership vision: an ambitious template which would ensure an impressive stewardship that satisfies the basic, broad interests of the people of Bayelsa State, creating great economic opportunities as well as making a beautiful statement in infrastructural development. The various policies and programmes now being implemented across the state come with great benefits to the people who are equally thumping applauses in appreciation. Of note is this administration’s feat in the area of security. The dizzying pace with which it was able to turn around Bayelsa State from a haven of cultism and violence and criminality to a situation now where the state is clearly adjudged as one of the most peaceful and secured states in Nigeria is amazing to behold. Even more salutary is this administration’s ability to ensure that the ingredients of good governance are firmly in place – formidable institutions, transparency, accountability, popular participation and consensus-building. It is worth recalling that Governor Dickson spent the better part of his first 100 days in office laying the foundation for good governance. Now, we have in place some sets of policies which are products of courageous and progressive decisions that have further institutionalized the concept of good governance necessary to run an integrated agenda which truly works for the common good. A critical offshoot of this concept of good governance is transparency, accountability and prudence. Without fail in the last one year, every month, Governor Dickson has kept faith with his promise to engage the people of Bayelsa State to brief them on the income and expenditure of government in line with the law which makes it obligatory for all tiers of government to publicly declare all revenues that accrue to them as well as a summary of expenditures. It is on record that major construction firms such as Julius Berger, Setraco and Chinese Civil Engineering and Construction Company (CCEC) have all been mobilized and are currently on site working round the clock to deliver the roads and bridges that will open up the state for improved investments.   As at now, the Dickson-led administration, given its commitment to delivery and action in all matters, has contracted out the construction of over 275 km of roads across the state, in addition to 18 bridges and two flyovers – all under construction in its first year in office. More road contracts were also recently awarded and the contractors duly mobilized to begin work in earnest.  Recently awarded to CCEC with due mobilization is the road from Yenagoa to Oporoma that was abandoned several years ago. The contract has also been awarded for the construction of Sagbama-Ekeremor road and clearing of that road is in progress. This administration within the last one year also took the decision to review the road from Nembe to Brass. As a result of the flood disaster, government decided, with the advice of very competent technical team, to raise the height of roads in the state to seven metres. With a difficult terrain, the cost of construction is about four times of what one will ordinarily get in most states outside of the Niger Delta, yet this government is wholly committed to keeping to its promise and the mandate of restoration. Conceivably, the airport project clearly stands out as a notable developmental stride undertaken by this administration within the last one year.  The Dickson-led administration is seriously partnering with the Federal Government to construct an airport of international standard in Yenagoa within the next two to three years. Meanwhile, the Dickson administration took the initiative to award Dantata and Sawoe, the contract to construct an airstrip that would be ready for use within a year pending when the bigger airport will be ready.  Governor Dickson surely in the last one year has left no one in doubt that he is fully in charge.  His approach has been to adopt a stern and unremitting administrative policy of living within the state’s means and income. This was one of the reasons which informed his decision to launch a stringent regime of fiscal policy as well as the need to institutionalize a savings culture. This ultimately led to the opening of two separate strategic bank accounts. The first is the Bayelsa State Strategic Development Account, which today has a balance of N24.5billion. This account has since been put to use to fund strategic investments in infrastructural development, agriculture, tourism, education, health and security.The built up reserves of the Strategic Development Account placed the state in a vantage position to award various road contracts as stated earlier and it is in compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which requires that contractual commitments by government should have adequate funding provided. Even with the payments issued to contractors for the all the roads, schools, hotels, airport, hospitals and other public infrastructure currently under construction, the credit balance left in this account stands at N17.5 billion to date. The second account is the Bayelsa State Strategic Reserve and Savings Account – an interest yielding account dedicated to providing savings for the rainy day. This account readily became handy during the flood disaster, as the sum of N1.5billion was immediately approved by the State House of Assembly which was released to the State Emergency Flood Relief Committee to address the immediate challenges posed by the flood.  It is to the credit of the Dickson-led administration, for its ingenuity in creating this account to serve as a form of stabilization for the state’s economy in the event of unforeseen shock as was the case with the flood.

  • Education now on the path of progress in Ekiti State

    Education now on the path of progress in Ekiti State

    SIR: I wish to commend the progressive effort being made by the Ekiti State government to restore education to its pride of place in the state.

    In the days of yore it was a pride to all Ekiti indigenes that education was the number one industry. But that is not the case today as the rate of failure in public examinations show that decline and rot have taken over the sector.

    The statistics is appalling: in the last two years in Christ’s School Ado Ekiti, the flagship secondary school in the state, it has been a harvest of failure in the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSSCE) conducted by the West African Examination Council (WAEC). It recorded 9% and 20% pass respectively in English and Mathematics. Similarly, in Christ School in the state capital, it was 0% pass as none of the students had credit pass in both English and Mathematics in the same examination last academic session.

    Following this the state government took the bull by the horn and organized an education summit in which teachers, pupils, parents, academicians and other stakeholders participated. The forum was chaired by the late Professor Sam Aluko and far reaching decisions were taken with a view to finding lasting solution to the lingering problems of education in the state.

    It is heartwarming that the recommendations of the forum are now being implemented. For instance, efforts are now geared towards improving educational standards in the state as generous funds have been allocated to upgrading infrastructure and service conditions of personnel in the sector.

    Bursary and scholarship schemes have been resuscitated such that indigent students in the state are not denied of education because of their circumstances.

    Similarly, teachers in the state are now being motivated more than ever before to be proud of their profession and increase their productivity.

    In the area of infrastructure, schools that have not been given any facelift since they were built several years ago are now being rehabilitated in all the 16 local government areas of the state.

    With these concerted efforts on the part of the Dr. Kayode Fayemi’s administration, it is hoped that within a not too distant future education will climb back to the position of pride in Ekiti State.

    • Wale Akanbi,

    Ado-Ekiti

  • A template for youth empowerment

    A template for youth empowerment

    In the 21st Century, the measuring stick for literacy is no longer the ability to read and write. It is the ability to interrogate knowledge using the computer. Modern literacy is a measure of information communication technology (ICT) competencies and internet presence. Institutions (universities, polytechnics etc) are ranked on the basis of their deployment of the basic tools of ICT for operations, teaching and administration.

    One of the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is to propagate the culture of computer literacy among the young. The most effective vehicle to propagate this ICT culture is the e-library project. Global initiatives for e-learning deploy the e-library concept to engage in ICT evangelism. Institutions like the World Bank, World Health Organisation (WHO) and universities across the world have their respective e-libraries as a tool for imparting and disseminating ICT knowledge.

    In Nigeria, the concept of e-library in its pure form is yet to gain ascendancy. This is most unfortunate. The few that dot the landscape make a mockery of what e-library should be. However, a recent visit to the Akwa Ibom e-library in Uyo raised hope that at least, the nation can point to a fully-fledged e-library complete with all the digital appendages of a knowledge ecosystem. It seems essentially designed to address the needs of the youths, lecturers, children and researchers. It mirrors other e-libraries in the world, namely: the South Africa Rural e-Libraries Program, National e-Library of Serbia, National e-Library of Singapore, Bridgewater State College e-Library USA, National University of Malaysia e-Library and the Lima State e-Library in Peru.

    Though similar to other e-library projects in Africa, its uniqueness in terms of volume of interactive e-content, volume of resources, adaptability and ease of customisation to suit specific needs for all categories of persons stands it out. Critical security measures guarantee protection of users from assault by online crooks including paedophiles.

    Officials of the Akwa Ibom e-library said it has digital collections of over 16 million e-documents all accessible simultaneously by all users. Again, it will be the first public library in Africa to offer the world’s largest collection of downloadable electronic books and audio files in MP3 format. It is said to offer users the opportunity to download over two million electronic books in full-text without restrictions. It has over 14.5 million electronic research e-journal articles full-text viewable without restrictions.

    Its interactive e-content resources include 1,260 Educational Games to develop children skills, about 1,000 Simulations and Math Practice tool to build Sciences Proficiency,80,000 Questions and Answer Tertiary Exams Practice Tool, WIKI collaborative e-content development tool and Interactive social blogging and forums. This is a delight for science students, budding engineers, teachers at all levels and professionals.

    Core features of the library’s web portal include customized graphic designed web portal to convey the values of a “state-of-the-art” world-class library, search capabilities with events calendars management tools, blogs for general library information (separate ones for kids, teens, and seniors). RSS (Rich Site Summary) Feeds Aggregation to provide summary of content and updates of associated libraries. Others include video conference facilities, built-in electronic whiteboard to support online tutoring, unlimited chat rooms for users, authors, publishers and librarians and many more.

    For a state with its own university, a federal university and other tertiary institutions, the Akwa Ibom e-library is very strategic for the honing of ICT skill set and moulding a generation of ICT-savvy youths. Bill Gates and Paul Allen did not have the benefit of e-library before they made a success of Microsoft. Ditto for other successful techies who individually and collectively re-defined informatics. Except of course for Mark Zuckerberg, the latter day ICT billionaire who maximised the internet resource to engineer Facebook, most of the billionaire techies who dominated the digital space including Steve Jobs of Apple and Michael Dell of Dell Computers never had as much exposure to computers and internet before they created their respective products.

    It means that the youths of this age including this writer are better privileged. In Nigeria, going by statistics from the National Population Commission, there is a significant youth portion of the 167 million citizens. They are in every state; they are in the universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and other institutions of learning. Some are even out of school with no jobs and worse yet with little skills. These youths are hungry for knowledge. But how much of this knowledge are they getting and at what expense? A nation with an active youth population of over 50 million (far more than the population of many countries) should be a super power if those youths are digitally equipped for the age they find themselves.

    These youths must be given the right sense of digital orientation. Globally, there is a digital shift. Nations are empowering their youths both for leadership and for competitiveness in a highly dynamic and demanding global knowledge economy. It is in response to this challenge of harnessing the rich potentials of youths globally that the United Nations launched the Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development (GAID), initiative in 2006. One of the objectives of the initiative is to muster global awareness on the need to use ICT for development via well thought through youth-based initiatives across the world. GAID was conceived to engender collaboration and cooperation among countries and institutions. It is premised on the belief “that a people-centred and knowledge-based information society is essential for achieving better life for all”.

    Many countries in the UN family have since keyed into the GAID initiative. Not much is being done in Nigeria in this regard, that is, to evolve schemes that would drive youth development using ICT. Most of our graduates are largely analogue. Those who are ICT-savvy do so at great cost. They spend so much in private ICT institutions while in school to get as much ICT knowledge as they would require post-graduation. In an ideal situation, every graduate irrespective of your course of study should be ICT-literate. The India model should engage our leaders.

    India curriculum is numerate-driven. Irrespective of course of study, an average graduate in India is expected to acquire basic computer and numeracy skills. Little wonder India is today the outsourcing capital of the world and a super power in software engineering. Nigerian governments at every level must begin to think in this direction. What we have in Akwa Ibom e-library comes closest to the Indian model. By availing the student, research and academic communities in the state of the limitless resources in the e-library, the state is on its way to producing the next generation of inventive techies and digital masterminds.

    • Ugbechie studies Physics Electronics/IT Applications at Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State.

  • Still on the phones for farmers

    Still on the phones for farmers

    Officials of the Ministry of Agriculture obviously still don’t appreciate just how bad their phones-for-farmers policy is. Rather than back down and take criticisms in good faith, they have sought to modify the policy and resell it to a wary public dissatisfied with government insensitivity and profligacy. Originally, according to the ministry’s permanent secretary, Mrs Ibukun Odusote, some 10 million phones costing between N40bn and N60bn were to be procured and distributed to farmers in order to integrate them into modernised agricultural management. The firestorm that greeted the plan forced the minister himself, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, to wade into the controversy in an attempt to set records straight. There was no N60bn set aside anywhere, he said, and no one, not least himself, was interested in lining anyone’s pocket with filthy lucre. Apparently, he believed that those who denounced the plan suspected ministry officials were eager to embezzle government funds.

    But Adesina did not stop at reiterating his bona fides. First he flaunted his credentials, in particular how he contributed to the agricultural revolution in Malawi and Kenya; and then second he gave details of why the phones were important in integrating farmers into the government’s agricultural plans and programmes. Said he: “The government will provide a subsidy to the farmer through the voucher to buy the phone. The farmer takes the voucher to the local mobile phone operator and pays the balance, which is the difference between the value of the voucher and the cost of the phone. Once a farmer buys a phone and a SIM card, his new phone number will be updated on the e-wallet database and he will be able to receive his e-wallet voucher, which will entitle him to purchase fertiliser and seeds at subsidised rates.” The minister still misses the point. Whether subsidised or not, critics are saying farmers are able to buy their own phones, and the government need not be involved through any subsidy programme.

    Not satisfied with simply debunking public perceptions of the issues surrounding the phone project, the minister unwisely followed up with a delicately wrought faux pas. Said he: “I will not be distracted. We will rebuild the broken walls of Nigeria’s agriculture and unlock wealth and opportunities for our farmers. For those calling for my crucifixion, let me say that when Jesus was before Pilate, they had accused him falsely. Pilate, after listening to his case, found no cause for condemning him. Nonetheless, should anyone still want me crucified, let me say this, along my faith: ‘I am crucified with Christ already. Nevertheless, I live, and the life that I live, I live by the grace of the son of God who died for me.’” Nobody doubts his religious credentials. Though the rather emotive minister seems inclined to equate himself with the phone project, what is actually being crucified is not him but his phone policy. And it certainly does not seem there is any biblical or literary quotation he might fling at his critics that can mitigate their desire to kill the superfluous project.

    The Agriculture minister is apparently a man of wide experience and great learning, a fact that is obviously not lost on the president who appointed him, and on the president’s spokesman, Dr Reuben Abati, who enthuses about his stellar performance. Critics also respect his judgement and give him the benefit of the doubt concerning his motives in putting together the phone project. But his moralisations, apart from being fulsome, again miss the point. Hear him: “I have stolen no man’s silver, nor demanded any man’s gold, and will continue to drive bold innovation and reforms to fully modernise and transform the agricultural sector. That is my remit from the president and that is exactly what we will do, as I continue to serve my nation with the highest level of vision, passion, personal integrity and dedication.” Let Adesina keep his virtues. But the remit he will get from the public is that while his bold reforms are desirable, the ministry has no business spending a kobo, directly or indirectly, on phones for farmers.

    It is a sad commentary on modern Nigeria that the Goodluck Jonathan cabinet is brimming with experimenters, such as the highly fecund Aviation minister with her considerable and convoluted boondoggles. Worse, it is a government that has cruelly and consistently refused to heed public dissatisfaction with and reservations about government programmes. If Adesina is as brilliant as Abati lets out with perfect conviction, he will appreciate the public’s reluctance to endorse his new project on phones for farmers, and quietly and sensibly shelve it.

  • Missing-in-action governors

    Missing-in-action governors

    SIR: Many years ago, I read a work of fiction about a governor in Nigeria who was kidnapped. There was confusion everywhere and the Head of State ordered that he must be found either dead or alive. The book has become somehow prophetic because how can one explain the sudden disappearance of the governors of Enugu,Taraba and Cross River states? The only difference is that there seems to be quietness in high places giving a semblance that all is well.

    Nobody has seen or heard from the Enugu State Governor Sullivan Chime for close to six months. He wrote a letter to the House of Assembly intimating them of his intention to go on accumulated leave for three months and mandated his deputy Sunday Onyebuchi to act on his behalf. Now six months down the line we have not heard or seen him with rumours that he is in India or as some say, London. The ship of state is gradually grinding to a halt with the acting governor afraid to carry out his responsibilities while the Chief of Staff is running the show behind the scene. This is reminiscent of the Yar’adua era. The ghost of Yar adua lives on.

    Taraba State Governor Danbaba Suntai was involved in a plane crash with his private jet near Yola, Adamawa State. He has since been flown to Germany for medical treatment but since then nothing has been heard from him. Two photos of him were released recently but instead of quelling rumours that he is brain dead and might be an invalid for life, they seem to reinforce it. In those pictures, he is expressionless and seems not to recognise those he took the pictures with. They include his wife and children as well as his fellow governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State. His deputy who is now the Acting Governor has since taken charge but he is also afraid of carrying out his responsibilities. In fact on the day of the crash,a certain senator in the state mobilized thugs to chase him from the government house to prevent him from becoming governor.

    In Cross River State, the governor has also been gone for a long time allegedly for medical treatment. Nobody has seen or heard from him and the statement by the Senate Leader Victor Ndoma Egba that he was with him in the US and that he is hale and hearty looks more like a political talk.

    Many people have commended the Kogi State Governor Idris Wada for seeking medical treatment in Nigeria instead of abroad after he was involved in a fatal car crash. But he did that to preserve his office not because of patriotism. The fear of his enemies is the beginning of wisdom.

    The only reason our political office holders prefer to die in office is because of filthy lucre. Even when they are sick and want to handover or tell Nigerians their true medical state, they often face opposition from political aides, associates and hangers on whose source of livelihood depends on the political office holder whether legitimately or not.

    My advice to deputy governors in Enugu,Taraba and Cross River is that they should be patriotic and rule courageously irrespective of whose ox is gored. After all, their principals are second term governors. They therefore have nothing to lose.

     

    • Peter Ovie Akus,

    University of Port Harcourt.

  • Wake-up call on Isoko nation

    Wake-up call on Isoko nation

    SIR: Isoko nation is the third largest ethnic group in Delta State and second in the South-south region to discover oil and gas in 1958 after oil was first discovered in commercial quantity in Nigeria in 1956 near Oloibiri, Rivers State. Yet the region has been totally relegated to the background.

    One of the problems confronting Isoko is inability for government to organize youth enlightenment programmes to build intellectual structure to counter the sponsored violence by unscrupulous and devious politicians in the land.

    Isoko nation only has two local governments, Isoko south and Isoko North with population of about three million people with 19 clans and over 40 villages. There is no presence of development in the region. Some Isoko communities are fast becoming troubled areas due to oil and gas business that some community leaders and elders now see as political business and nothing else.

    Since Isoko division was created in 1963 out of then Western region, and Delta State in 1991, it is totally marginalized by powers that be. Over 100 oil wells and gas flaring stations are sited in Isoko region, yet some unscrupulous politicians and individuals have decided to take the region to the cleaners through their sponsored violence in the region. Uzere community has been in conflict over leadership tussle among traditional rulers and others. Isoko community is into farming, fishing and trading while its land space is 1724 kilometers square and located in upland. Isoko people are industrious to the core. Though Delta State is one entity, unity is not binded as a result of ethnic conflagration in the region over the years.

    No Isoko man or woman has held sensitive political position in the federal level except in the state where Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan appointed some Isoko sons and daughters in key position of his administration.

    Even the Anioma people are strongly agitating for governorship in 2015 and their own state while Isoko region still waiting for Uduaghan’s government to fix Isoko leadership for them and the Urohobo nation is not left out in terms of political agitation for state governorship in 2015 too.Urohobo people are more enlightened and has the highest local government in the state out of the 25.

    It is time for Isoko nation to wake up from slumber and not to play second fiddle in Delta politics in 2015. Isoko politicians sponsoring thugs to abolish their political opponents should deviate from such acts and embrace unity in the region.

    • Godday Odidi

    Ajegunle, Apapa-Lagos