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  • Pertinent issues on Edo governorship poll

    Pertinent issues on Edo governorship poll

    By Ehi Braimah

    On Saturday September 21, Edo State voters will have another opportunity to elect their governor who would be sworn in into office on November 12 for a term of four years in the first instance. The campaign season is on, and the frontline candidates jostling for prominence are Asue Ighodalo of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP); Monday Okpebholo of the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Olumide Akpata of the Labour party (LP).

    The winner of the election will take the leadership baton from the incumbent governor, Godwin Obaseki, who has been in charge for two terms of eight years – first, on the platform of APC for his first term, and PDP for his second term.

    So which of the three candidates has the capacity, competence, wide network, goodwill, global appeal and experience to build a first-world economy for Edo State? Who is the best fit for the job? Who can Edo people – both at home and in the diaspora – trust to lead them for the next four years?

    Edo people who have been engaged in nuanced conversations on this matter, are very discerning and enlightened. I am confident they will make the right choice by voting for the candidate who will make their lives better.

    Historically, Edo State has been under PDP leadership until Senator Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole became the governor as APC candidate in 2008 after a court process upheld his electoral victory. However, as Edo people cast their votes on September 21, they must look before they leap. They should shine their eyes!

    In 24 years since 1999, the political leadership in Edo State had been shared between Edo North and Edo South regions. Oshiomhole (from the Edo North region) was governor for eight years while Edo South produced two governors (Lucky Igbinedion and Godwin Obaseki) for 16 years.

    In their own wisdom, some of the political leaders believed that political power should shift to the Edo Central region in 2024. But Oshiomhole spearheaded a campaign for Dennis Idahosa – his favourite from Edo South – to be the candidate of APC, thereby ignoring Esan people. But the plan backfired. Clearly, Oshiomhole did not support the idea initially for the Esan Central region to produce the next governor of Edo State. Esan people have not forgotten that slight.

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    President Bola Tinubu had to intervene for peace to reign in the party. A second primary, after a stakeholders’ meeting with President Tinubu in Abuja, was conducted in Benin City which produced Senator Okpebholo as the party’s candidate. Idahosa who was initially declared the winner of the primaries before the peace meeting in Abuja, was picked as his running mate. It was a necessary compromise to pacify Idahosa.

    I have provided this backstory to prove that Senator Oshiomhole cannot be trusted: he is neither helping his party nor their candidate with his unguarded public utterances. Should the senator representing Edo North Senatorial District be the one to tell the whole world that Betsy, the wife of Governor Obaseki, is childless?

    Can you just imagine how a man who was a leader of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC); former governor of Edo State and now serving senator would descend to the level of gutter politics. To prove what point? Oshiomhole’s reckless and perfidious statement set the social media on fire, and I hope he is able to quench the fire. He actually owes Godwin Obaseki and his wife a public apology.

    Betsy did not mention anyone by name when she said Ighodalo, the PDP candidate, is the only one who has a wife. Betsy made the comment when she introduced Ifeyinwa Ighodalo, the wife of Ighodalo, during a campaign rally at Ubiaja.

    But trust Oshiomhole who has become the spokesman of Okpebholo to step forward to defend him. Why can’t Okpebholo speak for himself? At this rate, we do not even know who the APC governorship candidate is: Okpebholo or Oshiomhole?

    Oshiomhole has been pitching Okpebholo to Edo people as the best man for the job of governor. Is he? I don’t think so. I respect his rights to vie for any political office. Since Oshiomhole is more or less the face of his campaign, Okpebholo would really have to work hard with less than three weeks to the election to convince Edo people to vote for him.

    I have watched Asue Ighodalo and Olumide Akpata on television explaining their plans for Edo people, but I have not seen Senator Monday Okpebholo on any TV channel. What could be the problem?

    If Senator Okpebholo is not ready to appear on a TV show to explain his manifesto, how is he going to talk to Edo people as governor? How can he be taken seriously? Will Oshiomhole or the other surrogates be the ones speaking for him? Although politics is a game of numbers, optics, perception management, messaging and nuance are also critical factors. I struggle to see Okpebholo speak on the floor of the Senate.

    Olumide Akpata of the Labour Party brought a breath of fresh air in his political communication and engagement style, but we cannot run away from the fact that PDP and APC are still the dominant political parties in view of their legacies, spending power, political engineering experience and voting blocs. LP is still new to the game.

    The power of incumbency will also be a strong factor in the political and power calculus in the upcoming election and Edo people know where the pendulum will swing to.

    A dip-stick survey by an independent group revealed that Edo people are concerned primarily about their well-being which has been seriously affected by the current economic hardship. They cited increasing hunger amid the rising cost of goods and services, insecurity, development of infrastructure, job opportunities, and access to quality healthcare.

    Edo people also want a strong leader that they can trust to build a vibrant economy. One way the local economy can grow is through destination marketing. For example, Wimbledon, Berlin Marathon, Rio Carnival, Dubai World Cup, Monaco Grand Prix, Paris-Dakar rally and the Lagos Marathon are globally recognised elements of destination marketing and city branding.

    In Edo State, Ogbe Hard Court, the famous international tennis tournament, can be revived. Other initiatives such as the Edo Cycling Tour – similar to the Tour de France in concept and execution – can also be launched. Apart from its rich cultural heritage, Edo State has important sites and landmarks that can boost tourism. For example, the Ososo Carnival in Akoko Edo LGA can be turned into a huge touristic showcase, capable of attracting hordes of visitors.

    In a previous article, I explained that revenue can be generated by state governments from the assets that they host (rental income), in addition to significant commercial opportunities in music, film and entertainment, arts and culture, real estate development, hospitality, aviation, ground transportation, clothing and foot wear, furniture, agriculture, and technology by building ICT hubs for our vibrant youth population.

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has its job well cut out. I expect them to rise up to the occasion. I am also banking on the security agencies to be vigilant and ensure that electoral violence and malpractices such as ballot-box snatching are checkmated.   

    •Braimah is a communications strategist and publisher.

  • Sovereign steeze and shame of steezeless state

    Sovereign steeze and shame of steezeless state

    By Ekpa Stanley Ekpa

     In the global arena, sovereign states ‘hustle’ really hard to be ‘very demure, very mindful’, very value driven in their exchanges with other states, and are expected to maintain a dignifying degree of productive steeze.

    To be globally relevant, every sovereign state needs distinct systems and defining qualities in every human endeavour. The recent recreation of the hip-hop slang of the 1980s that combines the words ‘style and ease’, gives Gen Zs a woke sense of slick, cool and effortless way of carrying themselves.

    But how do countries position themselves to evolve and carry themselves with distinct styles, culture and efficiency that match emerging generations’ demands, and define their sovereign essence?

    The answer lies in the deliberateness of a state to develop and productively prosper.

    A sovereign state’s distinctive steeze and composure stems from the ability of the state to organize power domestically, and to accumulate power internationally. Every state is judged by its ability to exercise the monopoly of legitimate use of physical force in enforcing law and order, as the basis of the unwritten contract between individuals and the state; and the state’s ability to secure its productive interests within the global system. A state has safety steeze when every inch of its territory is governed and is relatively safe for citizens’ industrious interactions; Germany, Japan among others have engineering steeze because other countries drive their cars around the world; despite being at war, Ukraine has sovereign steeze because the Ukrainian government can still afford to donate 25,000 tons of wheat grain to Nigeria in order to alleviate the hunger crisis in a Nigeria that is not at war; when the Buckingham Palace announced that the 75-year-old Sovereign, King Charles III, was been diagnosed with cancer and was to undergo treatment in a London hospital, and not in any hospital in any other country, it was apparent that the UK has the bragging steeze of a truly sovereign state; and the fact that some colonized countries like Singapore, India, Malaysia and even territories like Hong Kong could develop on their own terms, shows that development is deliberate.

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    While the world’s states with steeze are busy building emerging technologies that will change the way we live and help avert climate disasters, steezeless states are busy investing in powerful prayers and clinging unto religiosity as an alternative to mainstreaming meritocracy, hard work and measurable excellence; leaders of states with steeze regard and treat their citizens with respect as human beings, while leaders of steezeless states see their citizens as objects of exploitation and oppression; leaders of states with steeze harness and manage the resources of the state in such a manner as to secure the maximum welfare, freedom and happiness of every citizen on the basis of social justice, rule of law and equal opportunities, while leaders of steezeless states plunder, steal and shamelessly parade themselves as ‘untouchable, rich and powerful’; states with sovereign steeze build conducive environment for their citizens and for the world’s benefit, while the elite of steezeless states prefer to patronize developed countries, at the expense of their own country; in a steezeless state like Nigeria, citizens pay more than “N1.04 billion ransom to kidnappers in just one year” as reported by Daily Trust, yet the defence sector receives the highest budget item line in the budget.

    It is a shame for a state’s political elite and public officials to take pride and preference for foreign services instead of investing and building such services in their own countries; it is a shame for a president of a state with more than 200 hundred million sovereign people to sneak into another sovereign state for medical care. Imagine a president of other serious-minded countries coming into Nigeria, without the Nigerian government even noticing that such president is within Nigeria for days. A president of a country is a reflection of the country’s sovereign identity and prestige, and cannot afford to disrespect his or her country by entering into another country without recognition, honour and mutual sovereign respect.

    To reclaim Nigeria’s steeze, we need a country of equal opportunities for everyone, a country of consequences for our collective actions and inactions, a country of rule of law, a country that offers hope, a country where power truly resides with the people, a country where leaders are ashamed of themselves whenever they fail in their duties, a country where majority of Nigerians are safe, a country with efficient service delivery systems, a system that rewards excellence in service, honours creativity, and help deter future bad behaviour.

    Our country, Nigeria, needs human agents that are cultured and disciplined enough to enforce our law and can stand strongly against powerful forces that constantly seek to undermine our collective good. A country where political leaders must stand for something more important to the state than just re-elections. As Nigerians, we owe it to ourselves to do our best whenever an opportunity to serve Nigeria arises, because this shelter called Nigeria deserves and is worthy of our best. Our country demands nonstop sacrifices, commitments and an appreciable degree of sincerity in service to the country and to the people.

    As Jools Lebron tells us of her dressing, our leaders must learn to cloth our country with works that dignify us, hard and real works that “has a little chi-chi out’ and not just the “cho-cho” of cheap talks, and our leaders must learn to respect us by stopping the ineptitude and incompetence that come with inferior services, poorly executed infrastructure and the accompanying over quoted procurement contracts. It is time for our country to grasp the gravity of underdevelopment and the shame of being at the tail end of global affairs; we must urgently draw a line and work to turn the tide in our favour as a state. Fortunately, no state has a permanent monopoly of sovereign steeze, any state can develop at any time, provided all variables of social change are meticulously followed. 

    God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria to become a state with sustained steeze.

    •Ekpa, a lawyer and leadership consultant wrote via ekpastanleyekpa@gmail.com

  • Huge numbers of young people have no jobs, the wrong skills and little hope

    Huge numbers of young people have no jobs, the wrong skills and little hope

    By Moina Spooner

    By 2050, one in every three young people on earth will be of African origin, according to the 2024 International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Global Employment Trends for Youth report. Africa’s young people will be key players in the direction of future global consumption, culture and even stability.

    It’s estimated that by 2050, about 72.6 million new jobs for sub-Saharan Africa’s young people will be needed. The ILO report warns of an African “youthquake” unless the continent creates new jobs. Recent countrywide protests in Kenya provide a glimpse into the scale and energy that these quakes may have.

    But, worryingly, many African countries aren’t actually producing enough secure jobs that can help young people meet their needs and have a good quality of life.

    Youth unemployment

    As highlighted in the ILO report, sub-Saharan Africa already shows a youth unemployment rate of 8.9%, and only a small minority of young adults get what would qualify as a “decent job”.

    Youth unemployment is a major issue in South Africa – the unemployment rate is 49% for young people aged 15-24. As inequality scholar Imraan Valodia explains, the drivers of these rates can be global (such as changing employment patterns) or specific to South Africa (such as the legacy of the country’s apartheid past).

    Skills mismatch is one of the main reasons given by economist Stephen Onyeiwu for Nigeria’s high youth unemployment rate. Youth unemployment in Nigeria stood at 15.3% in 2019. Onyeiwu argues that these official statistics often underestimate the severity of the problem. For example, they don’t account for the fact that over 80% of Nigerians with primary education (or more) who are regarded as employed are grossly under-employed in low-productivity informal-sector work.

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    Skills mismatch is also a problem in Kenya. A group of management scholars argues that it’s one of the drivers of youth unemployment in Kenya: graduates don’t have the skills needed by the job market. Young people make up at least 80% of the unemployed population in Kenya. Despite being educated, significant numbers of young people remain unemployed or underemployed.

    Insecure work

    As highlighted in the ILO report, without many options, Africa’s young people are turning to insecure work. Nearly three in four working young adults in sub-Saharan Africa are in insecure work; one in three paid workers earns less than the median wage.

    There are various types of work and strategies that young people will engage in. For instance, researcher Hannah J. Dawson reveals that young South Africans will run car wash ventures, fix cars (as informal mechanics), and rent back rooms or shacks. They might also wire illegal electricity connections for a fee or street-side gamble.

    These informal strategies to make a living can be stressful and frustrating. Researcher Laurent Fourchard reviewed Daniel E. Agbiboa’s book They Eat Our Sweat: Transport Labor, Corruption, and Everyday Survival in Urban Nigeria, which explores the world of drivers of minibuses (danfo) and motorcycles (okada) in Lagos. Like many informal workers, these transport operators have no fixed income, no days off and no social protection.

    Anthropologist Peter Lockwood shows just how difficult this precarious situation can be. He shares insights from the diaries of young Kenyans in Nairobi which reveal lives of joblessness and endless searching for money, all punctuated by substance use.

    Ways forward

    What can be done about this situation?

    Each country will need a different approach. As economists Derek Yu and Christie Swanepoel explain, it’s important to understand the different categories of the “unemployed” even within countries in order to create more effective policies.

    For instance, their study found that nearly 43% of unemployed South Africans fell into a transitory category. Those without a job throughout the whole seven-year study period represented just 4.33%. Their policy suggestions therefore related to improving the quality of education and ensuring labour skills meet the needs of the labour markets. They also emphasised the importance of better industrial policies which allowed for labour-intensive employment, combined with hiring people with lower levels of education. Manufacturing, in particular, was highlighted as the sector that’s best placed to absorb unskilled or semi-skilled workers.

    The need for jobs across the continent is critical. And good policies for job creation require good data.

    Data scientist Katharina Fenz is part of a team that launched the Africa Youth Employment Clock. This provides real-time insights into the employment status of individuals aged 15-35 across the continent. Employment numbers are always changing, showing new predictions every day. In this article, Fenz reveals how the clock works. She also flags some interesting trends – like a decline in agricultural employment across all countries on the continent, indicating a shift in employment patterns towards industry and services.

    •Spooner is Assistant Editor, The Conversation. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. https://theconversation.com/africas-youthquake-huge-numbers-of-young-people-have-no-jobs-the-wrong-skills-and-little-hope-236604”

  • Hostage situation

    Hostage situation

    • By Mike Kebonkwu

    The educational system in Nigeria has been under crises and badly mismanaged and supervised.  Now the system is holding young adults of school age under hostage of yet to be properly articulated federal government policy on age limit of entry.  The Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman in the midst of more serious problems in the industry is pushing for enforcement of age limit of 18 years as minimum requirement for enrolments into tertiary institutions and writing of both West African Examination Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) as well as the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examinations. This is a policy without a clear cut objective and benefits on any empirical basis for both the educational system and development of children of school age. Pegging the age of entry into tertiary institutions or age of writing WAEC, NECO, and JAMB at 18 years is taking our children hostages and distorting the academic development of the country. Many pupils currently in senior secondary three (SS3) who are billed to write these examinations for qualifying into tertiary institution are between ages 14 and 15 years; so what happens to them? 

    If it is an existing policy, it is out of tune with human capital development index in this 21st Century.  Is the problem that young people of 14 to 17 years lack the capacity to grasp with intellectual or academic requirement or pursuit to study in the university?  The human species has a fully developed mental acumen and capacity to undertake any course of study at a young age.  Young people like children are like tabula rasa and open to any information available to them and therefore it is necessary to fill them with the right information before they get into adolescent distraction of youthful fancies. 

    Educationists and psychologists have not come out to tell us why young adults at age 15 or 16 should not be enrolled in the university.  Whatever reason any person may have could also apply equally to adults of 18 years and above. The policy is ill conceived and will not serve any good other than complete the destruction of the school system and plunge young people and parents into greater misery.  Our educational system has been virtually destroyed by poor funding and neglect and the Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman who is incidentally a professor of law is determined to take it to the next level by disrupting the academic careers of children and young people by insisting that universities should not admit any candidate below 18 years under the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) conducted by JAMB.

    It is an empirical fact that the intellectual and creative energies of human beings are unleashed in formative years and not when they begin to get distractions of youthful and adolescence fancies; catch them young!  Why peg age of entry to the university at 18 years, are the children going to warfare as combat soldiers or enlistment into the military that you put the age of entry at 18 years and above?  Government should not be seen to deliberately slow down the human capital development of children through such a backward educational policy.  

    This is the same country where we do not have problem marrying off a child of 14 years to become a mother even with the attendant health implications, and you do not want another child to enter the university at 15 or 16 years. In this same country, the labour law allows a child of 13 and 14 to be apprenticed to learn any trade or vocation and children that same age cannot engage in academic activity at tertiary level!

    Why stop children with capacity for academic pursuit from pursuing their dream?   We watch Japanese, Korean and Chinese children with creative geniuses developing apps (software) and other electronic devices in factories which they ship to us and generate foreign exchange and income to their economy and you are here legislating for stagnation of your own children and future of this country.  Every critical stakeholder in the education industry should speak up; parents and school administrators.  The National Association of Nigeria Students (NANS) should see this as a noble course to fight and one also challenge the Academic Staff Unions of  Universities (ASUU) not to look the other way against this retrogressive policy just to be politically correct. 

    Where did we get the research findings that a young person age 16 cannot carry the academic workload of studies in the university when in other climes, young people as early as age 22 are bagging their PhD in Science and Humanities.  I challenged a professor friend of mine at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife to provide me with empirical study or finding why young people under 18 years should be suspended from proceeding to university.  I did not get more than the cant which some scholars in education as a branch of knowledge bandy as psychomotive and cognitive development, which is not more than natural growth and development of human being mental and physical. Translated to education, it does not say that a young person of 15 or 16 does not have mental or physical capacity for pursuit of education at a higher level.  This current campaign is against the child’s right to education, and it is contrary to justice equity and good conscience. 

    Just as one’s head was running riot on this confusion about our school administrators, someone posted the story of a certain Dorothy Jean Tillman a 17 year old girl that bagged a PhD in the United States.  The government probably thinks that making people to go to school late will reduce the number of graduate unemployment by raising the bar and age, and therefore reduce pressure on it to provide employment.  This is poverty of logic and thought.  At home if you do not watch over your children, they will be wayward just the say way they will be wayward even in old age at school when the schools do not provide the right curriculum to engage them. 

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    What does the Counselling Unit of universities do if they cannot take care of the needs of young people in the universities assuming it becomes an issue of concern?  The life span of average Nigerian was put at about 52 years in 2021, which with the poverty level, hunger and insecurity would have plummeted  and so you want someone to enrol in the university when he is close to his grave!  We should not allow people without critical reasoning and low mentality to kill the creative energies in children and young people to get knowledge. 

    We expect the minister of education to engage critical stakeholders to develop academic model that will put our school system on the same pedestal as you have in the Ivy League universities in the world.  He should think out of the box and look for novel ways of funding education rather than stagnate our school system through ill-informed policies that he is thoughtlessly pursuing without logic. Let us stop praying for Nigeria to succeed; God will not hear us; let us start putting the right things and right people to drive the country. Should the young children be left on the street on sabbatical begging for alms while they wait to be 18 years old to enter the university? 

    Does the record show that young people in the universities are not performing; what is the problem?   We should resist this age limit policy and save the educational system and young people from this hostage situation! 

    • Kebonkwu, an attorney, writes from Abuja.
  • Nigeria can achieve trillion dollar economy by 2030

    Nigeria can achieve trillion dollar economy by 2030

    SIR: There are divergent views about Nigeria’s ability to attain a $1 trillion economy by 2030. I am still optimistic, as it is too early to conclude that it won’t be achievable. Nigeria’s economy has shown signs of improvement and potential for more growth. President Tinubú’s economic policies are gradually paying off despite not having any significant positive impact on the standard of living of Nigerians at the moment. To achieve its target, the federal government, must remain focused, and adopt an agile approach as today’s world is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA).

    According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product grew by 3.19% in the second quarter of 2024 (on a year-on-year basis) which is higher than the 2.51% recorded in the second quarter of 2023 and the 2.98% recorded in the first quarter of 2024. With Nigeria’s GDP standing at $384 billion, a GDP growth rate of 3.19% is seemingly too low if Nigeria is to attain a $1 trillion GDP by 2030. However, the National Bureau of Statistics is in the process of rebasing Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product. When the last rebasing exercise was done in 2014, Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product moved from $270 billion to $510 billion, an increase of 89%. We can only keep our fingers crossed while we await the conclusion of the current rebasing exercise.

    It is no longer news that Nigeria’s headline inflation on a year-to-year basis decreased in July, for the first time since December 2022. It dropped to 33.40% from 34.19% in June. Also, on a month-on-month headline inflation has been on the decline consistently since March, with June being an exception. However, the government needs to monitor the situation closely, as the recent fluctuation in the value of the Naira may undermine this progress.

    Nigeria’s debt service-to-revenue ratio dropped from 97% to under 70% under the watch of the current administration. There is still a lot of work to be done, as it is far higher than the 22.5% prescribed by the World Bank. However, it has freed up resources for the government to invest more in infrastructure, healthcare, education, security, and other sectors of the economy. These investments will increase the growth of Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product.

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    As part of efforts to reach a $1 trillion economy, Nigeria targets an oil production of two million barrels per day by 2025 and is intensifying its efforts to diversify the economy. With the Port Harcourt, Warri, and Kaduna refineries yet to recommence operations, the Dangote refinery will boost the Nigerian economy when it becomes fully operational due to the positive multiplier effect it will have. The refinery projects a turnover of $30 billion in the next two years. More domestic refineries are expected to become operational before 2030.

    The implementation of the new national minimum wage will stimulate consumer spending. Household consumption shrunk as a result of the devaluation of the Naira. The demand for non-essential goods and services dropped significantly. Companies experienced declining revenues, and some downsized staff strength to remain afloat. Also, better wages lead to more innovation, productivity, less staff turnover, and reduced brain drain as a result of “Japa,” leading to increased GDP in the long run.

    Using the rebasing exercise conducted in 2014, which led Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product to jump from $270 billion to $510 billion, as a precedent, one should be optimistic about the outcome of the current rebasing exercise by the National Bureau of Statistics. Furthermore, there are positive signs of increased economic growth, namely’; increased oil production, diversification of the economy, multiplier effect of the implementation of the new national minimum wage and self-sufficiency in refining of crude oil, etc. The government must be agile and remain steadfast in its economic reforms if Nigeria is to achieve a $1 trillion economy by 2030.

    • Kenechukwu Aguolu   FCA, Kenerek1@gmail.com
  • How commodity associations can help stem the food crisis

    How commodity associations can help stem the food crisis

    SIR: Today, Nigerians and the Nigerian government are alarmed by the food crisis the country is facing. According to a report, over 31.8 million Nigerians are suffering from acute food insecurity.

    Reflecting back, how did Nigeria manage to avoid a food crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic?

    What saved Nigeria and Nigerians from a food crisis during COVID-19 were the efforts of commodity associations through the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP).

    Commodity associations play a crucial role in organizing and representing the interests of stakeholders in specific agricultural sectors. These associations are typically formed by producers, processors, marketers, and other stakeholders within a particular commodity value chain, such as rice, maize, cassava, cocoa, and palm oil. They advocate for better policies, provide training and support, and contribute to the overall development of their respective sectors.

    Commodity associations engage with government bodies and policymakers to advocate for favourable policies, subsidies, and regulations that benefit their members. They work to ensure that government interventions, such as subsidies or support programs, are effectively implemented.

    These associations also provide training and capacity-building opportunities for their members, helping them adopt modern farming techniques, improve yields, and enhance product quality. Furthermore, they help their members gain better access to markets by facilitating connections with buyers, processors, and exporters. They also assist in negotiating better prices and terms of trade for their members.

    Some commodity associations are involved in the bulk purchase and distribution of essential inputs like seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides to their members at subsidized rates. They often collaborate with research institutions to develop and promote improved crop varieties, pest control methods, and farming techniques. Additionally, commodity associations act as mediators between their members and other stakeholders.

    On the other hand, the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme (ABP) is an agricultural initiative launched by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in November 2015. It is designed to provide farm inputs, such as seeds, fertilizers, and pesticides, to smallholder farmers to boost agricultural production. The program also facilitates access to credit, ensuring that farmers have the financial support needed to grow their crops.

    Through participating financial institutions, the CBN disburses loans to farmers. The loans are often given in the form of farm inputs rather than cash, ensuring that funds are used for their intended purpose. Farmers are required to repay the loans in kind after harvesting their produce. The repayment is typically in the form of harvested produce, which is then sold by the CBN or designated agents to recover the loan value. The program targets a variety of crops, including rice, maize, and wheat.

    During the COVID-19 pandemic, commodity associations in Nigeria united large interest groups, including individual farmers, to create synergies that achieved the common goal of ensuring the Nigerian commodity market was flooded with affordable food. As a result, during that period, Nigeria did not face any food scarcity. The commodity associations also made significant efforts to sustain information provision, quality assurance, food export management, food traceability, and environmental management.

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    Nigeria has numerous commodity associations across various sectors. Some of the key ones are, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Rice Farmers Association of Nigeria (RIFAN), National Palm Produce Association of Nigeria (NPPAN), Cassava Growers Association of Nigeria, Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN), Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN) and Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN). There are also the National Cotton Association of Nigeria (NACOTAN), the Fisheries Society of Nigeria (FISON) and Nigeria Yam Farmers, Processors, and Marketers Association.

    These and many other smaller commodity associations are vital for Nigeria’s current efforts to address food shortages and high prices. The government can tap into the wealth of knowledge and resources they offer.

    • Zayyad I. Muhammad, Abuja.
  • Still on the kidnapping menace

    Still on the kidnapping menace

    SIR: Ten years ago, I wrote about the scourge of kidnapping in Nigeria, warning that the country was on the verge of becoming the kidnap capital of the world. Unfortunately, my prophecy has come to pass. Today, kidnapping for ransom has become the new oil well for bandits, with the economy of organized crime thriving on the suffering of innocent Nigerians.

    According to recent statistics, in the last year alone, over N10 billion was paid to kidnappers as ransom. This figure is staggering, and it’s a clear indication that the kidnapping business is booming. The more ransom is paid, the more criminals are emboldened to unleash mayhem on vulnerable populations across the country.

    The statistics are alarming. And depending on whose statistics you believe, last year a total of 3,420 people were kidnapped, with the highest number of cases recorded in the Northwest. The Nigerian Police Force reported that it rescued 2,317 victims, but many more remain in captivity. The kidnappers’ demands are becoming increasingly brazen, with some asking for as much as N100 million for a single victim and going as far as killing even after ransom has been paid; another notch higher is asking for ransom to release the corpse of their victims.

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    The government’s response to the crisis has been inadequate. But it’s not just the government that’s failing. We, as a society, have also failed. We’ve lost our sense of feelings, our ability to display deep distress. We’re not truly sad, we can’t feel sad, be miserable, or be despondent. We can’t despair, or see the suffering, and ache because we’re too comfortable in our own lives.

    It’s time for us to take responsibility. We can’t just leave it to the government to solve the problem. We need to come together, as a society, to find solutions. We need to support the victims, to comfort them, to give them hope. We need to work together to create a safer Nigeria, a Nigeria where our children can go to school without fear of being kidnapped.

    The kidnapping scourge is a symptom of a larger problem – a problem of inequality, of injustice, of corruption. We need to address these underlying issues if we want to tackle the kidnapping problem. We need to create jobs, to provide opportunities, to give our young people a sense of purpose.

    Addressing these underlying issues is crucial.

    • Prince Charles Dickson, <pcdbooks@gmail.com>
  • Is Biya staying on?

    Is Biya staying on?

    Cameroonian President Paul Biya is 91 years of age and has been at the helm of his country for 42 years. He holds a dubious record as the world’s oldest head of state, the second longest-ruling president in Africa after Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea who has been in power for 45 years, and the longest consecutively serving current non-royal national leader in the world. And news is that he isn’t done. He is reported to have thrown his hat in the ring for re-election next year to an eighth presidential term of seven years that will last till he is 100 years old if he runs out the tenure. He will be the oldest candidate in electoral history anywhere when he stands in the poll, as he’s reported set upon.

    The number of years that the old man has been in commanding heights of power in a non-monarchical setting has no equal if you add to his 42 years of presidency the seven years he served as prime minister under his country’s first president, Alhaji Ahmadou Ahidjo, from 1975 to 1982. He is the second president Cameroon ever had, and he has won all presidential elections in the country since the return of multiparty politics in 1990 – elections that the country’s opposition and external observers adjudged mostly fraudulent while his government insisted they were free and fair. He won his current term – the seventh – at the last presidential poll held in 2018 and is said to be eyeing the eighth term. A recent report by The East African news outlet that has been echoed by multiple sources said the Cameroonian leader had confirmed he would be seeking another term in office. “Cameroon is due to hold its next presidential election in 2025. Longtime President Paul Biya will be 93 and he has confirmed that he will contest,” the report said.

    To be clear, Biya has not himself spoken out on the prospects of his running again for office, but that fits with his familiar style of making a formal announcement of his plan only a couple of months away from a scheduled election. The next presidential poll in Cameroon is expected in October 2025. In his New Year message last January, he made no mention of plans to seek re-election and his silence on such possibility inspired the country’s opposition to mobilise towards rallying behind a single candidate who would stand against whoever is fielded by ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement (CPDM) as potential successor to the aged president. Leaders of the main opposition party, Cameroon Renaissance Movement (CRM), said at the time that they were negotiating with more than 30 opposition leaders to present a single candidate in the next election should the president be incapacitated by ill health. The bane of opposition in Cameroonian politics has been its extreme fragmentation, with scores of political parties taking different pitches in challenging the Biya incumbency rather than joining forces. So far, they’ve failed to pose any serious challenge to the president’s staying power.

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    But if Biya has not led up with a statement about his running again, he did not lack the tribe of sycophantic cheerleaders found everywhere who’ve urged him on, saying he was the only one who could sustain peace and development in the country. These persuaders from the ruling party have called on him to run in the 2025 presidential poll and thereby extend his more than four-decade rule. The likely reason for this advocacy isn’t far-fetched. It was Biya who formed the CPDM out of the Cameroon National Union (CNU), the platform on which Ahidjo had led him to hold power, in 1985 – three years after the predecessor stepped down owing to ill health and handed over power to him. He has been the party’s leader since its inception. Biya had needed a new platform of his own because he fell out with Ahidjo, forcing the latter to flee into exile in France from where he publicly accused Biya of abuse of power and paranoia about plots against him. Biya’s government, in 1984, put Ahidjo on trial in absentia for alleged involvement in a 1983 coup plot and he was sentenced to death, although Biya eventually commuted the sentence to life imprisonment.

    During CPDM’s 39th anniversary commemoration in March, this year, the party’s officials organised rallies in Cameroonian towns to solicit support for Biya as their candidate in the 2025 elections. The rally in Yaounde, the country’s capital, featured a throng of people who also called on the old man to accept CPDM’s nomination. A senior official of the party was reported touting Biya as the party’s natural candidate because, according to him, there has been peace, unity and economic growth in the country under his leadership. The official described Biya at 91 years as strong and healthy. “We think that you don’t change a winning team,” he said, adding: “If there is any challenger, let him come up. But we have not seen any challenger who can beat our candidate, so we all rely on him and call on him to continue to rule and bring our country to emergence as that is his vision.” If truly he is running again, Biya could say it is such calls he graciously accepted to continue in office.

    Under its laws, Cameroon is a country blighted by chronic gerontocracy. The country’s constitution provides that if Biya dies, resigns or becomes incapacitated, the presiding officer in the upper house of parliament who currently is an 89-year-old man would take power and organise elections for a new president within 120 days. It was at the instance of Biya and a pliant national legislature that the country did away with term limits to begin with. After he was re-elected in 2004, Biya had been barred from running again for president by a two-term limit stipulated in Cameroon’s 1996 Constitution. But he pushed for a review of the law, saying it was undemocratic to limit the people’s choice. The proposed removal of term limits was among grievances cited by some Cameroonians during violent protests in February 2008. Still, in April of same year, the national assembly voted to remove term limits among other amendments, which included a provision for the president to enjoy immunity from prosecution for his actions as president after leaving office.

    Cameroon’s current population is estimated at some 30million. But the country’s electoral body ELECAM was lately cited saying those who registered as voters ahead of the August 31 deadline for the exercise were 7.9million people. Analysts argued that the number represents barely 50 percent of persons eligible to vote in the country and signposts reluctance by citizens to register owing to fears that the election wouldn’t be free, fair and transparent. Such fears were heightened when Biya controversially postponed the nation’s parliamentary and municipal polls till 2026, citing security concerns in Anglophone areas of the country where separatist conflict has raged since 2016. The conflict began as protests against perceived marginalisation by the Francophone-dominated government, but has since escalated into a full-blown insurgency by armed groups demanding independence for the English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions.

    Biya follows in the steps of the late President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe who in 2017, at 93 years, insisted on contesting his country’s presidential election due the following year, saying he wanted to live till 100 years and planned to rule for life. He is another potentate in the pantheon of power leeches that plague Africa and makes the continent a laughing stock. A 93-year-old standing for president (for a seven-year term) and primed to win against all odds! In a country with a large youth population, where some 55 percent are aged between 15 and 64 years, nonagenarian Biya and his club of gerontocrats are making no plans for generational succession.

    United States President Joe Biden is 81 years, but he did not get his way to run for a customary second term in his country because Americans couldn’t trust his cognitive grit to oversee their affairs in a volatile world that requires leadership alacrity and mental clarity to engage. Not so in Africa where leaders who have entered into near-vegetative state yet hold fort, though in reality as fronts for ambitious associates who hitch their own political wagons onto their tired engine heads. But you never get the best of leadership that way. And that is perhaps why much of Africa wastes.

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

  • Some cautionary thoughts about reforming Nigeria’s judiciary

    Some cautionary thoughts about reforming Nigeria’s judiciary

    By Chidi Anselm Odinkalu

    Seven years after he emerged as Nigeria’s military Head of State, in the third quarter of 1974, General Yakubu Gowon placed a telephone call to the then Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Teslim Elias. The subject matter of the call, according to Atanda Fatayi Williams, himself then a Justice of the Supreme Court (and future CJN) with whom the Chief Justice discussed the matter, was a complaint by the Head of State “about the manner in which the courts in the country were being used for the indiscriminate swearing of affidavits in which allegations of corruption were made against public functionaries.”

    General Gowon’s agonistes had their origins in events in his home state, Benue-Plateau (as it was then known). First, he had been forced to let go of a trusted minister from his state, Joseph Tarka, after one Godwin Daboh Adzuana deposed to an affidavit with quite damaging allegations of corruption against the minister. Gowon’s call to the CJN followed in the wake of another affidavit sworn to this time by Aper Aku (who later became the first elected governor of Benue State in 1979) accusing the then military governor of Benue-Plateau State and Gowon’s relation, Joseph Gomwalk, of what Fatayi Williams later described as “corruption on a vast scale.”

    Rather than address the allegations of corruption, the General sought the help of his Chief Justice to shut down the disclosures. In the then incumbent, Gowon found a Chief Justice who was willing to go beyond the call of the law to fulfil the importuning of his Chief of State. Following consultations with his peers at the Supreme Court, CJN Elias convened a meeting of the Advisory Judicial Committee (AJC), as the apex mechanism for judicial governance was then called. Led by the CJN, the membership of the AJC included the Attorney-General of the Federation, all the Chief Justices (as they were then called) and Grand Khadis of the States; as well as the President of the Federal Revenue Court.

    This high judicial conclave decided unanimously that “except in connection with proceedings already pending, the courts would no longer allow affidavits to be sworn in court by aggrieved citizens”. Public reaction was immediate and understandably visceral to a decision which was unconcealed in its design to instrumentalise the judiciary in order to hide inconvenient facts on behalf of the regime in power. To make matters worse, the AJC could not cite any legal authority or basis for their decision. They were collectively the highest judicial figures in the country and their word represented the law, or so they thought. It was abuse of judicial power on a colossal scale. Judicial authority was shot and it is arguable that it never recovered.

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    When a new military regime overthrew General Gowon in July 1975, their narrative and rationale harked back to the corruption allegations and the desperation of the regime to procure a cover-up with the ex-cathedra assistance of the judiciary high command. An early casualty of the new regime was Chief Justice Elias whom they forced to abdicate. They also took the hacksaw to judicial tenure, retiring senior judges compulsorily.

    Then as now the judiciary in Nigeria was the author of its own defenestration. The real scandal then was that the decision to foreclose disclosure of inconvenient facts in affidavits occurred without dissent among the AJC. It showed the regimental and cloistered tendencies of the herd at their finest, even one comprising people claiming to be learned.

    The best that can be said of the immediate past Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola, is that he well and truly defanged the judiciary.

    Monday Phillips Ekpe writes delicately that the judiciary that Olukayode Ariwoola left behind made a habit of “rubbishing its own touted image” with “embarrassing and rampant unpredictability of judgements.” Onikekpo Braithwaite complains less delicately of a judiciary overcome by “mounting allegations of corruption, as well as the menace of conflicting judgements.”

    On the back of this chastening diagnosis, many senior lawyers have stepped in with a rich and telling bouquet of recommendations for the new CJN, running the gamut from the platitudinous to the patronizing and everything in between. Former president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Olisa Agbakoba, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), desires reforms that are both “transformational and radical.” As part of that menu, one of his later successors, Augustine Alegeh (SAN), wants attention to “delays in the dispensation of justice and the uncertainty of the judgements of our courts.”

    These references to “uncertainty” in or “conflicting” judgements are coinages deployed by lawyers to avoid saying that some judgements are corrupt on their face. That, sadly, is the state of the courts that the new Chief Justice inherits. Indeed, a panel of the Court of Appeal has recently been constrained to describe as “scandalous” a High Court shielding former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, from criminal proceedings.

    But that is only a tip of the proverbial iceberg. In this state of transition in the highest judicial office in the land, three words of caution are useful.

    First, a CJN in search of a legacy needs clear priorities. Many of the suggestions to the new Chief Justice focus on institutional or administrative re-design. In reality, however, the principal problem that ails Nigeria’s judicial system is that the guardrails and incentives for ethical judicial service have been destroyed by a concert of senior judicial figures, senior lawyers and senior politicians. Reversing this needs a new coalition for public good in the judiciary. Without a re-engineering of the incentive structure, every effort at institutional re-design is bound to collapse. That begins with attention to appointment, preferment, accountability and discipline. Restoring consequences for judicial malfeasance will be key.

    Second, a reverse engineering of the political capture of the Nigerian judicial system is essential. Evidence of this political capture is seen daily in the implausible decisions and improbable orders that issue in most cases of partisan political salience; in the speed with which such cases are assigned priority to the exclusion of the regular judicial docket; and in the improbable consistency in the line-up of judicial actors involved in these judicial concatenations. If politicians find themselves regularly before courts that are no longer beholden to their blandishments, they may be forced to rethink their approach to politics.

    Third, a CJN who desires a constructive legacy must know whom to avoid. With some exceptions – such as the aforementioned Olisa Agbakoba and Augustine Alegeh – many senior lawyers who are now crawling out of the wood works were nowhere to be seen or heard from when the immediate past CJN was busy wreaking havoc. If anything, some of them could be described with some justification as having been part of his enablers. Much of what emanates from these kinds of sources at this time could be at best self-serving. A CJN who desires to succeed needs to seriously avoid occupational intimacy with these kinds.

    A Chief Justice who seeks to accomplish any of these will encounter challenges. One who desires to accomplish all may even struggle to survive in office. Such could be the extent of the political push-back. But that is why the task of reforming Nigeria’s judicial system is now clearly well beyond the technocratic or professional incest of lawyers and judges. It is now political and only a Chief Justice willing to enlist citizens in that urgent task can scratch the surface.

    •A lawyer and a teacher, Odinkalu can be reached at chidi.odinkalu@tufts.edu

  • On the expected impact of $500m domestic bond on the economy

    On the expected impact of $500m domestic bond on the economy

    By Jude Obi

    It is trite to say that President Bola Tinubu assumed office over one year ago at a time Nigeria was in the intensive care unit – literally on life support – from an economic point of view. What the president has been trying to do, since then, is akin to reviving a patient that had been in a coma to achieve a reasonable level of stabilization that would enable the latter to respond properly to treatment in order to attain full recovery and sound health.

    The two key policies Tinubu put in place to stabilize the economy and bring about a revival of the economy are the removal of subsidy on petroleum products and floating of the exchange rate. The policies have had some unpleasant outcomes, as everyone knows and the government has admitted. The prices of basic needs like food, transportation and healthcare have gone through the roof. These outcomes, as the government has tried to explain, were unintended.

    It is obvious a great majority of Nigerians are not on the same page with the government as to whether or not the policies are working, as far as achieving their objectives are concerned. To the generality of Nigerians, the success of the policies can only been seen on the prices of food items in the market, as well as imported products on supermarket shelves. While the government acknowledges the pains Nigerians are going through, it likens it to labour pain that must precede the arrival of a new baby, the National Council of States appears to have agreed with the government on this, the reason it passed a vote of confidence on Tinubu during its first meeting under the present administration. The latest inflation figure of 33.4 per cent for July, a marginal drop from the 34.19 recorded in June, appears to support the position of the government that things are beginning to look up.

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    The reason Nigerians have yet to feel the immediate impact of the reforms of the government cannot be removed from the fact that the country operates a mono-economy, with exports in the non-oil sector that are too insignificant to impact on the exchange rate and, by extension, the economy. The overdependence on oil has created a situation whereby the country’s economy is permanently tied to the vagaries of the international oil market.

    In the face of all these difficulties, the Tinubu administration has ensured that the economic ship remains on course through adoption of various measures that would enable it to arrive safely at its destination – economic recovery, growth and prosperity for all Nigerians. These measures include monetary and fiscal policies that have seen a steady increase in foreign portfolio investments (FPIs) over the last eight months, as well as foreign direct investments (FDI), especially in the oil and gas industry. Included in the mix are the contributions of multilateral organizations that have bought into the reform agenda of the government. The latest of the measures to stabilize the exchange rate – a key driver of economic growth – and increase the country’s external reserves is the $500 million Domestic Bond the government issued on Monday, August 19.

    As Wale Edun, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy explained at a hybrid roadshow for the bond in Lagos, the exercise has the twin-objective of a rapid enhancement of the country’s external reserves and stabilization of the exchange rate, with the trickle-down overall objective of reducing inflation and interest rates, thereby opening windows for borrowing for investments, increasing productivity, creating jobs and reducing poverty. It is also a veritable source for funding of key sectors such as education, healthcare and infrastructure, the latter of which is necessary for reducing the infrastructure deficit that has stunted growth in virtually all sectors of the national life over the years. All these would come about with the expected inflow of more foreign exchange into the economy through FPI, FDI and the dollar-denominated bond.

    A major advantage of the current bond lies in the fact that it is, unarguably, the best alternative to borrowing (whether foreign or local) to fund developmental projects and programs, with no financial obligations on the government. The expected foreign exchange is going to have a direct impact on the economy in a manner that would positively affect the standard of living of Nigerians. This is a part of the larger picture the government is seeing in its current economic reforms, a picture the greater majority of Nigerians do not seem to see, understandably so, because of the current hardship in the country. There have been cases of similar foreign currency denominated bonds contributing to the economic recovery and growth of developing countries.

    The expected positive outcome of the FGN dollar bond is not only for the government, even if Nigerians are going to be the ultimate beneficiaries in terms of access to healthcare and education, as well as critical infrastructure, which would improve their living conditions. There are immediate and direct opportunities for Nigerians as individuals, as well. It is an opportunity for Nigerians in the Diaspora with foreign savings; foreigners resident in Nigeria, as well as Nigerians with domiciliary accounts, to invest in the bond which is as low as $10,000, with 9.75 per cent return. What’s more? Its safety is guaranteed by the fact that it is to be listed on the FMDQ and the Nigerian Exchange Limited.

    •Obi, a public affairs analyst, lives in Lagos.