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  • Between presidential and parliamentary systems of govt

    Between presidential and parliamentary systems of govt

    Babatunde Fashola

    I will come back to the matter in some detail shortly.

    But let me preface my comments by asserting that the subliminal issue behind this request is the ongoing conversation about restructuring Nigeria. 

    This is a matter that I expressed some opinion about in my published speeches while in public service and some of it is captured in my recent book titled, “Nigerian Public Discourse: The Interplay of Empirical Evidence and Hyperbole”.

    The central theme of the book is intended to challenge our thoughts and invite rigour and evidence to some of the things we have said or proposed about the developmental challenges that our country faces.

    Some people have made fatalist and unsustainable claims and predictions about the future of Nigeria if there is no restructuring. They have, in my view, wrongly dropped the gauntlet and the door of each President since 1999, including the incumbent, that unless the president restructures Nigeria, nothing will work.

    The first question I ask is whether the President alone can restructure the country by way of constitutional amendment if the National Assembly and the 36 states do not pass a Constitutional Amendment Bill for his assent. The answer is No.

    The other point to make as I observed in another lecture is whether a constitutional amendment by itself will translate to accelerated national development. The answer again is No. As I observed, what the people really want is a better life, not a better document.

    If we interrogate some of the amendments that have been effected by the National Assembly and those that come by interpretation such as the Resource Control Case which gave more financial benefits to certain states, the jury will be out about whether they have delivered a better life to the greatest number of people. 

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    This raises the question whether we have been hyperbolic about the magnitude of the problem, and whether we have applied rigour to the evidence and facts in designing a solution.

     Put differently, is the problem the constitution or are we the problem?

    Another point to consider with the advocates of restructuring is to ask them what restructuring means to them.

     Of course, when the restructuring issues are interrogated, we are likely to find that they agitate more about how to get access to more power and resources rather than how to make existing power and resources more efficient.

    As I pointed out in my previous speeches, we must learn from the example of Brexit which was a catchphrase used by the UK politicians to get people to vote for the country’s exit from the European common market.

    It was only after the vote had been cast for the exit that the social and economic consequences hit their people with palpable regret.

    The result was a series of changes of leadership of their government heads in a manner that did not help political and economic stability. The cost of the vote is still counting adversely for their national development.

     So, while I am not opposed to restructuring, especially by constitutional amendment, and I wish to be clear about that, I think that this is the time for the application of rigour and evidence-based decision making.

    It is not enough therefore to keep harping on the restructuring as a catchphrase and silver bullet; for enacting a brand-new constitution to repeat and enact what I call standard clauses such as those that separate powers between the traditional three tiers of government.

    Rather, we will be better served if each state or geopolitical zone (that has informally but unconstitutionally become part of our lexicon) tables specific demands that would form the basis of negotiations and agreement for a better and inclusive federal union.

    With this lengthy preface for which I crave your sincere understanding. Let us proceed to the heart of the matter. 

    In doing so, let me share with you a very short story that perhaps reveals why I chose this topic.

    When I first read the report about the bid to amend the constitution to return Nigeria to parliamentary governance, I was curious and called a member of the House of Representatives to kindly oblige me with a copy of the proposed bill because I wanted to see the arguments in support of the proposal.

    This I might say is consistent with my argument for the application of rigour as distinct from emotion to the choices we make about our developmental challenges.

    My request was favourably responded to and I will summarise the reasons as follows:

    “1. One (single) Election- adopting a parliamentary system of Government means that there shall be one election conducted in one day to determine (i) councillors at ward level; (ii) State House of Assembly Members at Local Government Level; (iii) House of Representative Members at Constituency Level; and (iv) Senators at Senatorial District Levels. The impact of this is that the cost of conducting an election will significantly drop (N308 billion in 2023 vs N2.5 billion in 1999). It is expected that Nigeria will spend close to 1 trillion naira in the conduct of 3 more presidential elections (2027-2035). However, a switch to parliamentary system of government will see these numbers drop to significantly less than was spent in the 2023 elections. 

    2. Reduced Cost of Running Government- Nigeria currently spends between 6.8 trillion naira and 8.5 trillion naira as personnel cost in the running of MDAs headed by Ministers appointed by the President. In a parliamentary system of government, Ministers will be drawn from the Prime Minister’s cabinet. Salaries of ministers who are members of parliament will be harmonized, meaning that Members of Parliament who form cabinet, will receive their salaries as Parliamentarians. 

    3. Enhancement in the Rule of Law: a parliamentary system of government further improves the practice of the rule of law. This is achieved via parliamentary checkmate via opposition who are within parliament. While the Presidential system has so far seen abuse of the rule of law, a parliamentary system will enhance this rule of law. Enhancement in the rule of law will improve Nigeria’s economic viability to the global economy and community. 

    4. Representational Spread: Our version of a parliamentary system of government will ensure that the party to form government must have a representative member in at least 24 states of the country. Where a party is unable to achieve this, it must form a coalition with parties which have such and ensure that Cabinet allows for even representation. 

    5. Improved Economic Outcomes: according to McMaus and Okzan (2018) a parliamentary system is likely to have improved economic outcomes in the long run. Having looked at 119 systems of Government over a period (1950-2015) it was found that annual output growth was up to 1.2 percentage points higher (than a presidential system), inflation was less volatile and 6 percentage points lower, and income inequality was up to 20% lower in countries governed by parliamentary systems. In Nigeria, a parliamentary system of government will aid in improving the country’s current economic woes.

    6. Reduced Likelihood of Volatility:  While Nigeria had its first parliamentary system truncated by the Military (1960-1966) it is evident that that misadventure has led the country into dire financial and economic straits including a reduction in the quality of life of Nigerians and a reduction in Nigerian’s faith in government. While most Nigerians were unaware of the essence and value of a parliamentary system, it has become evident in countries which have adopted a parliamentary system of government that there is significant stability in the countries (see South Africa, Poland, Japan).

    7. Reduced corruption and better checks and balances (oversight)

    8. Greater confidence of the people as they know and understand government policies and programmes better since these will be reported and discussed in parliament before execution.

    9. Less cumbersome in implementation of government policies as the bureaucratic huddles (sic) are reduced.

    10. Less centralisation of powers in and (sic) individual (President).

    11. More responsive and responsible government as PM reports to parliament and answers questions in parliament on govt policies once a week.”

    As you all know, I will be 61 years old in June this year, which means that I was not born when Nigeria became independent and opted for the UK style parliamentary system, and I was 3 years old when the system collapsed, in violence, intolerance and of course when the civil war ensued, I was only 4 years old in 1967.

    Factually I was not cognitive of the facts at the time, but history has been kind and I have read many accounts, albeit sometimes differing about who was responsible, but nonetheless consistent about what happened.

    The first point to make is that a democracy founded on any type of governance, parliamentary or federal, requires a highly educated population to navigate its twists and turns. Even in some more advanced democracies, we are living witnesses to fisticuffs in parliament, when some people, often in minority and in opposition, cannot have their way.

    With very great respect to the proponents of this parliamentary arrangement, most of the reasons adduced such as cost of governance, rule of law, separation of powers, economic growth etc can be achieved under a federal arrangement if there is sincerity of purpose and an elite consensus.

    I must express my admiration for their courage in proposing the radical change, but with respect, they have not yet advanced a compelling reason why we must return to a system that catastrophically failed us.

    It is possible that all the arguments are not yet laid bare, but we must all understand that whether it is parliamentary or federal, liberal democracy is now globally proving a difficult vehicle for development. 

    The evidence before us shows that some of the countries delivering the best public goods to their citizens today are not liberal democracies, but I would still not trade the liberties of any democracy for any form of autocratic development.

    Let me also be clear, that I am not by any criticism of liberal democracy a supporter of any Afro-democracy of yet undefined measures. 

    The big challenge of democratic efficiency in my view is how to build consensus between the Executive, Legislative, and judicial Arms without compromising the best interest of citizens.

  • The protracted wait for a fresh census

    The protracted wait for a fresh census

    By Chekwube Nzomiwu

    Nigerians are waiting eagerly for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT) to make a proclamation on the new date for the rescheduled Digital National Population and Housing Census. The immediate past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari earlier scheduled the exercise to hold between May 3 and 7, 2023. However, in the course of the transition of power from the former to the new government, Buhari deemed it fit and proper to put the exercise on hold, to allow the incoming administration to make inputs and determine the date of the census.

    A year after taking over, President Tinubu is yet to announce a date for the exercise. Nigerians who know the importance of census are bothered by the delay in the announcement of the new date. They are more worried that no provision was made for it in the N27.5 trillion 2024 budget. Furthermore, information in public domain shows that prior to the rescheduling, the National Population Commission (NPC) had concluded the implementation of all the necessary preparatory activities. They include the Enumeration Area Demarcation (EAD), conduct of pre-test and trial census, recruitment and training of census field staff, procurement and configuration of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), and the establishment of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure across the country.

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    According to the NPC, all the processes of the census are going to be technology-driven. As the enumerators are getting information in the field using the PDA, it would be transmitted automatically from the system to the server. The use of technology would make the fresh census more credible, transparent and acceptable than previous censuses conducted in the country.     

    The commission equally conducted robust advocacy and publicity campaigns across the country, to sensitise Nigerians on the exercise. They were in the process of recruiting enumerators when the immediate past administration rescheduled the exercise. Given that Tinubu promised during the campaigns to continue where Buhari stopped, many Nigerians thought that the census would be handled with sense of urgency, considering its immense benefits to the country. So far, our expectations on the exercise have not been met.

    Conducting census is a very capital intensive exercise. There is no doubt about that. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) described the census as “the most expensive data collection activity a country can undertake, involving thousands of workers and millions of dollars of cost.” The process of conducting census involves many events and stages. However, in considering the cost and the rigorousness, we should also look at the numerous benefits. 

    The census is the spine of the national statistical system. For example, development planners need population information for all kinds of development work, including assessing demographic trends and analysing socio-economic trends and economic conditions. Similarly, data generated from the exercise are vital to budgeting and the implementation, monitoring, as well as evaluation of the effectiveness of government programmes and policies, including immunisation and Universal Basic Education (UBE) programmes. 

    Likewise, census data could be used for tracking the progress towards national and international agreed development plans, such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), designing evidence-based poverty reduction strategies and empowering local communities with information to enable them to participate in decision making.

    In the political sphere, census data are used for the creation of federal and state constituencies to enhance effective representation in government. Nigeria practices representative democracy and the constitution makes population a prerequisite for the creation of federal and state constituencies, which constitute a critical basis of representation in the country. The Senate and House of Representatives have passed resolutions, asking the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to carry out its mandate of creating new federal constituencies in line with Section 73 (1) of the constitution. The electoral umpire often used the prolonged non-conduct of population census as an excuse for refusing to do so.

    In addition, data generated from census could be used for academic research and feasibility studies by Research and Development (R&D) departments of companies and corporate organizations, for promotions, programmes and projects. These are to mention but a few.

    Regrettably, Nigeria, the widely acclaimed “Giant of Africa” has been deprived of these benefits for almost two decades, as a result of her inability to conduct census. The last population enumeration in the country took place in 2006. Since then, Nigeria has been planning based on population estimates and projections, using outdated data. We should also not lose sight of the fact that the last census was marred by controversies like previous ones. 

    By international convention, a census exercise should be held in a country at least once every 10 years. The United Nations recommends at least once every five years to guarantee better and more current data. Nigeria held its last census 18 years ago. If we should go by the UN recommendation, Nigeria ought to have held at least three censuses and should be preparing for the fourth one by now. We are, however, lagging behind our peers. South Africa conducted its most recent census in 2022. Ghana, Nigeria’s next door neighbour, conducted the same 2022. Kenya held in 2019. We pride ourselves as citizens of the most populous black nation on earth. Yet, we don’t know our population.

    The current administration should prioritise the conduct of the Digital National Population and Housing Census. If the Federal Government could afford to spend N6 trillion on infrastructure in the past one year, there is nothing wrong with spending N500 billion to conclude the rescheduled census. If you know the size, location and characteristics of the population, it will enable you to plan better.

    Thankfully, the president re-appointed a good number of the federal commissioners in the commission who have been part of the planning and execution of the preparatory activities over the years. Shortly after his assumption of office, he promised to support the NPC to conduct a credible and acceptable census for the country. The time has come for him to match his words with action by announcing the new date for the census and empowering NPC financially to conclude the process that was started many years ago.

    Luckily, on May 29, he told the Joint Session of the National Assembly to expect a supplementary budget soon. Nigerians expect that the funds for the conduct of the census will be part of the supplementary appropriation. If the president does the needful, he will take the glory as the man who broke the jinx of not conducting census in Nigeria for 18 years. This year (2024) has gone half way. We have six months left. The census is a five-day exercise. There is no need for further procrastination.

    •Nzomiwu, a policy analyst wrote from Awka, Anambra State.

  • Councils on life support

    Councils on life support

    All of a sudden, state governments are scampering to conduct elections into their respective local government system that has been under unelected caretakers for aeons (pardon the hyperbole). Few examples should serve:

    On Saturday, 8th June, Yobe State will be staging elections into its 17 council areas. The state rates relatively high in democratisation of the local government system, having held a previous election in 2021 in which the All Progressives Congress (APC), which controls Yobe, won all chairmanship and councillorship seats in the state’s 17 council areas. Later this year, on 21st September, Imo and Kwara states will be conducting polls into their own councils. The last local government election in Imo State was conducted in 2018 by the administration of former Governor Rochas Okorocha, with incumbent Governor Hope Uzodimma having been running the state’s 27 councils with interim caretaker committees since he took office in January 2020. In Kwara State, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has since 2019 been running the state’s 16 local government areas with Transition Implementation Committee (TIC) chairmen, the latest set of which were sacked penultimate weekend and the councils placed under civil servants pending the imminent poll.

    Further down the line, on 5th October, this year, Enugu State will conduct its own council poll. The state rates relatively high in council democratisation because it held an election in February 2022 in which the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which holds sway in the state, took all the 17 council areas. Katsina State will on 15th February, 2025, conduct a poll into its 34 council areas. The previous election in which ruling APC won all the council areas was held in April 2022, but that was seven years after the last elected councils were dissolved in 2015 for alleged financial misdealings. So also will Osun State, which served a one-year notice last February, be rolling out its local government elections on 22nd February, 2025. Incumbent Governor Ademola Adeleke sacked officials elected through polls in the closing months of ex-Governor Adegboyega Oyetola’s administration in 2022, in which Oyetola’s APC took all the councils. Adeleke is of the PDP.

    It as well rained council polls in recent history. Oyo and Gombe states, on 27th April, this year, respectively conducted local government elections – with ruling PDP in Oyo taking all the 33 councils while APC, which controls Gombe, made a clean sweep of all the 11 council areas. Edo State had on 2nd September, 2023 held its own elections in which ruling PDP took all the 18 council areas.

    Among the worst records of council democratisation and autonomy is the one held by Anambra State where local government election was last held in November 2014 under the Peter Obi administration. Incumbent Governor Chukwuma Soludo operates a curious model of running the state’s 21 council areas with transition committees that are reconstituted every three months: the governor has made such changes seven times since he took office in 2022.

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    Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution guarantees operation of the council system by “democratically elected local government councils,” and so, state governors in recent time have come under pressure to live up to provisions of the law by ensuring political and financial autonomy of the local government system in their respective jurisdiction. The National Assembly (NASS) plied the idea of withholding federation account funding to councils that are under caretakers and not elected officials, but that suggestion is hobbled by fears that citizens at the grassroots could thereby suffer needless deprivation. Recently, the Senate passed a resolution asking President Bola Tinubu to convene a multi-stakeholder dialogue on the roadmap to full local government autonomy in the country. Such dialogue, according to the red chamber, should involve state governors, state legislators, council officials, civil society organisations and community leaders, among others. During the plenary debate, some senators proposed amending Section 197 of the 1999 Constitution to transfer conduct of council polls from the State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) as presently prescribed to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

    Not that the executive arm at the federal level has itself laid back in pressing for autonomy of the local government system from suffocating control of state governors. Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Lateef Fagbemi recently instituted a suit against the 36 state governors at the Supreme Court, seeking an order to better guarantee the autonomy of the councils. Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has since argued that the state was erroneously included in the suit, considering its sterling record of council autonomy; but that could well because it is essentially a class suit that isn’t targeted at select states.

    By the suit, the Federal Government seeks an order prohibiting state governors from unilateral and arbitrary removal of democratically elected council officials. It also prayed the Supreme Court for an order permitting funds meant for local governments to be directly channelled to them from the federation account in line with constitutional provisions, and not through allegedly unlawful joint accounts created by governors. Other prayers include that the governors be stopped from constituting caretaker committees to administer the affairs of local governments; and that they, their agents and privies be restrained by an order of injunction from receiving, spending or tampering with funds released from the federation account for the benefits of local governments where no democratically elected local government system is in place in the states.

    But it isn’t the state governors solely who create problems for the local government system. SIECs, which are constitutional bodies but are mostly beholden to the governors, also do. Nobody should know this more profoundly than INEC Chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu, and he made the point pointedly at a recent parley with executive members of the Forum of State Independent Electoral Commissions (FOSIECOM). The INEC boss raised concerns about elections at council level being conducted across the country, which he ruled neither fair nor credible. “The conduct of local government elections in virtually all the states of the federation has become mere coronation of candidates of the ruling parties,” he said inter alia, urging that it was time to stop the coronations and conduct proper elections.

    The challenge, according to Yakubu, largely derives from state governors not allowing SIECs  to have capacity for independent action. “Many of the SIECs have no functional offices in the local government areas in their states and cannot recruit their own permanent staff. In some states, the SIECs are either not properly constituted, have no security of tenure, or their critical functions have been taken over by government officials,” he said, adding: “Some SIECs are only constituted on the eve of elections and dissolved thereafter. They are also severely under-resourced to the extent that some of them rely on INEC even for basic facilities such as ballot boxes and voting cubicles.”

    But there is nevertheless room for SIECs to demonstrate will power towards delivering credible local government elections, Yakubu as well argued, noting that the national electoral body is responsible for polls into the area councils of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and SIECs could take after its example. “It has been our earnest hope that the elections conducted by INEC in the FCT will provide a model for local government elections across the country. Despite the challenges encountered, there has been a progressive improvement in the conduct of area council elections in the FCT,” he said. “There is security of tenure for chairmen and councilors, which is now four years. There are no caretaker committees, as elections are held regularly. There is plurality in electoral outcomes as no single party has ever won elections in all the constituencies in the area councils,” he added.

    The INEC boss is right that SIECs are not helpless. The Electoral Act 2022 offers a model law that could shield them from the whims of state governors in the conduct of council polls. Section 150, for instance, prescribes that the procedures regulating conduct of elections into FCT area councils under the Act “shall be the same and apply with equal force” as procedures to be applied by SIECs in conducting council elections. The implication is that governors won’t be on good ground to press their own rules and standards for council polls when SIECs apply the electoral law.

    Unlike INEC, though, SIECs lack financial independence, and they need be weaned from governors’ largesse  if we would have credible council polls. The way INEC secured financial independence was by being placed on first line charge on the federal treasury in 2010. It is about time SIECs got placed on first line charge on state treasuries.

    • Please join me on kayodeidowu.blogspot.be for conversation.  
  • Lagos must think out of the box

    Lagos must think out of the box

    Quite honestly, I am going to leave my speech and speak to you from the heart. Having listened to the man from Singapore, Gregory Vijayendren, former President, Law Society of Singapore, I think if there is nothing else and if indeed we are serious and sincere about making change in this country, there is something we need to take away from here. Singapore, like he said, is a tiny dot on the world map; you hardly know where it is, but like he said it is a city state that has earned its place in the world. Lagos, by sheer coincidence, also is like a dot in the country; it’s less than 0.4 % of the size of this country.

    So, technically, it also can be a dot and of that 0.4 %, 1/3 (one third) of it is water. But, by sheer coincidence, it is the commercial, economic nerve centre of the country. Singapore holds its place too as a major economic hub worldwide today. Lagos is home to so many things – our international businesses, a lot of start-ups businesses that are all the best names we have in Africa today, all the unicorns, the creative industry, the entertainment industry; they are all sitting here in Lagos and, by some coincidence, we have also acknowledged that Lagos also is taking a lead in the judicial sector reforms and access to justice. But guess what, Singapore that is a tiny little country have also done so, but they have done it more. So, we have gotten good comment from the Honourable Attorney-General of the Federation. Everybody has spoken well about Lagos, but I am not satisfied yet. Lagos now needs to take this to an international scale. We cannot sit back and expect that because we are the best in our country that equates us to being one of the best in the world. Singapore is less than five million people, maybe six million today and we are 224 million.

    They don’t have two heads. They don’t have the kind of the minds and strength we have in this state and this country. The question is, what is wrong with us? The man said to us that the three big pictures are: the rule of law (there is no nation that wants to earn its beef anywhere and does not have rule of law as one of the beacons for deciding how it engages). They were small and there is a likelihood that they can get extinct. Guess what, Lagos is also small, Lagos indeed is very small and so we need to be able to think out of the box.

    They have no resources, we have no resources as well, but we have said we are the commercial, economic nerve centre, but we cannot sit back and hope that is the best we can do. Because in 1965, less than 60 years ago, the per capita of Singapore was about $500; now the man says it is $88,000. Where was Lagos and where are we now? Where is our country? Are we just going to be the giant of Africa for nothing? Do we just want to take that accolade that says we are the largest black nation; in what sphere? He mentioned to us that Singapore is what it is today because one: ease of doing business. You can register a business in less than 30 minutes. Maybe we have improved a little bit; it used to be like two-three months. Maybe we can do it in three days now in Nigeria. They clear a container in Singapore in seven hours. In Nigeria, it used to be three-four months. Now maybe it has reduced to a month or three weeks now, but we are not near where it should be.

    They have one seaport, we have two seaports; now we have a deep seaport, but they have several. And one of the other things they have also done, they ensure that the very best of their citizens work in the public service. All the best that go to Oxford, Harvard in Singapore find themselves in the Public Service. We also have a Public Service that we can be proud of in Lagos, but we need to be able to raise the bar, we need to be able to do a lot more than where we are today. Maybe the only thing that Singapore have over us, which they have the bragging right and we don’t is that they are a Sovereign State and we are a subnational. We are constricted and restricted by a bigger name called Nigeria and so maybe we cannot fly as high as we want to; so maybe we cannot walk as fast as we want to, maybe we cannot think as quick as we want to but that cannot be an excuse for us. And that is why when we come to summits like this we need to ask ourselves, “do we just want to make it a rhetoric or we want to change a life and the opportunity God has given to us for the better?”

    Leadership is all about what you put in your heart and the sense of purpose that you bring to it and by sheer coincidence this Government has given the opportunity, in less than five years I have appointed 24 new Justices into Lagos State Judiciary, the highest ever and, later in the week, we are going to add additional 13 to it. From 63, we are going to go to 76. It’s not the clap; it is how you use the opportunity that has been given to us; it is how we bake the cake to be big enough for everyone to share. Of course, there are issues; of course, there are challenges, but guess what, the man that we brought here to be the guest speaker has challenges. Singapore was just a fishing village.

    The colony of Lagos had been in existence in the 19th century. There was a tram in Lagos in the 19th century; there was a tram on Lagos Island. So, what is wrong with us? Maybe some people constricted us to reduce our level of growth, but that cannot be an excuse; that cannot be a reason for us not to be able to fly high, think out of the box, and do things quicker, faster and smarter. The man left us with a few actions; he said to us that Singapore has one of the best judicial systems in the world, a tiny country. They are respected internationally on issues around mediation and dispute resolutions. Yes, we have them; thankfully, we can clap for ourselves; we have Office of the Public Defender, Citizens Mediation Centre; we have Alternative Resolution. Yes we do; how well can it compete globally? As your governor, it is not just to be a local leader. They say he is a king in a country, city or community of the blind he who has one eye. But now our eyes are opened, we even have glasses. So, there are four that we have. We need to be able to think local but act global. The global space is available for us to pick. To my Lord Justices, it’s not about excuses; it’s about what are the core that we need to do here today? It’s about the bench and the bar. How do we collaborate? How do we ensure that the opportunity that this space has given to us, all of us are using it to the best of our capacity because I am not sure we are driving at that capacity well enough? And he left us with some unique features – there has to be collaboration with the government, which is where I stand; the Bench, the Bar; it’s not by lip service. We need to understand that there is a clear separation of power; we need to respect each other, but everybody has to bring something to the table. He says to us that we need to think fast; we need to move very quickly; we need to be able to tweak things; meaning we need to think out of the box, challenge the status quo and ask ourselves, “is this the best that we can get?”

     The best you can get does not necessarily have to be like my brother the President of the Nigerian Bar Association said in road construction and the rest of it. The best can be in our intellectual property, in our capacity to think and do things right. And, of course, he also said to us that technology is a strong enabler and yes, we also can pride ourselves that during that very difficult time of COVID, we were able to use Zoom like other people. Our cabinet was able to do a lot of things virtually. Yes, we have a lot of those things, but my take this morning is the fact that we have gone to a territory.

    Read Also: Lagos is digitizing registration processes for hospitality sector, says commissioner

    We’ve gone to a territory that needs to challenge us. Singapore is a tiny city State and that is why I am comparing it with Lagos, I don’t want to use Nigeria as a big excuse. I do like for like and we need to be able to raise the bar. And the things that we can do are not so far off. And that is why I am not touching the speech that the Attorney-General has prepared. We all know it, we are this and that; we are doing this, No! Constitutional things. We want State Police; we have been on this conversation for how long? Just as simple as what we all swore to, the protection of life and property. And how do we need to do it? What are the things that must be in place for us to do that? Decentralize these things, let us have State Police. We are still making politics about it; we are making it political; it is right, it is not right. Everybody is just being careful in today’s age, and you can curb all the criminal excesses that we see. It is not rocket science. And by the way, even when we get the State police, how prepared are we? How many correctional facilities do we have? How well have we also unbundled that to ensure that even the Justices and Milords that are working. I know that it is filled up. How well have we unbundled to ensure that we can actually build more correctional facilities; rehabilitation centres, because that’s a part of the rule of Law? If there is meant to be a punishment, there is need for a facility where it will be addressed. I am not learned so I will be very careful, just educated. I know too well that there is a wide difference between access to justice and implementation of it, but I know clearly that when we come to engagements like this, sessions like this, it shouldn’t just be talk shop; it should be an opportunity for us to challenge ourselves to speak truth to power, to push ourselves so we can make the best of it and we can leave here a lot better. As a government, what are the kind of things that we also are doing to see if we can catch up with the likes of Singapore?

    For example, we are planning to make Lagos an International Financial Centre, where Lagos can be a destination for investments, a safe haven for investments worldwide, but for us to do that we need a strong judicial system. That will be one of the strongest points that anybody will be looking for; that will be one of the strongest protection that will be required and will be needed. How well do we ensure that people who do not have access to justice still have a fair hearing and the belief that the Judiciary is the last hope; how well? And how well, even me as a leader, political leader or whatever it is that I am called, do I use my office to the best to ensure that the greatest good is always for the greatest number? This, for me, are the pertinent questions that we need to ask ourselves as a country. And this morning, the conversation is still about you, the Judiciary, like Mr. President said yesterday, “Oba di meji ni ilu kan”. I won’t talk much. Now everybody is waiting for a legal interpretation of who should be the Emir or not. The buck stops right at your desk again. Everybody will be pulling you here and there and that is why fairness, equity must come to play. And it is very interesting, because even in the news today, the Honourable Attorney- General of the Federation sued all the 36 States because we are not giving autonomy to the third tier of government. Though the only mistake is that some of us are in compliance. So, the Honourable Attorney-General’s Office should have done due diligence to know which States are not in compliance so that you don’t carry all the 36 States, and be able to show example that out of the 36 States, four, three, two are exempted; it’s 31 that I am taking to the Supreme Court, and that is part of the back work that we need to do. You can see that the conversation is about you today, Judiciary, because those are the two principal conversations that are out in the news today. You are the last hope of the poor man, middleman and rich man. Let’s use this engagement to really be able to reform this sector.

    • Lagos State Governor Sanwo-Olu spoke extempore at the Justice Reform Summit 2024 with the theme: “Enhancing the Administration of Justice for Growth, Investment Protection and Security in Lagos State” on May 27 at Marriott Hotel, Ikeja
    • Read In Touch on Page 28. It returns to this page next week.
  • Saving Nigerians from drug addiction

    Saving Nigerians from drug addiction

    SIR: Opioids, once hailed as a miracle solution for pain management, have become a deadly curse for millions worldwide. What began as a legitimate prescription for pain relief has quickly spiralled into a devastating addiction, ruining lives and tearing families apart. The alarming rise of opioid abuse has sparked a national crisis, with Nigeria not immune from its destructive grasp.

    The journey from prescription to addiction often starts innocently enough. A patient is prescribed opioids for chronic pain, surgery recovery or injury. Initially, the medication provides welcome relief, allowing them to function normally. However, the body quickly builds tolerance, requiring higher doses to achieve the same effect. Before long, the individual finds themselves dependent on the drug, experiencing withdrawal symptoms when it’s not present.

    The slippery slope to addiction is slick: opioids activate the brain’s reward centres, releasing feel-good effects that create a sense of euphoria. This can lead to misuse as individuals begin taking more than their prescribed dose or using someone else’s medication.

    The consequences are dire: overdose, respiratory failure or even death.

    According to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), opioid-related overdoses have skyrocketed in Nigeria, with many cases involving young people. The agency has seized millions of opioid pills and arrested numerous traffickers, but the problem persists.

    Just recently, in one of its press releases, NDLEA reported a seizure of 1, 890 ampoules of fentanyl, a lethal synthetic opioid weighing 11.753 kg, from drug trafficking syndicates at the popular Idumota market in Lagos Island.

    Also, in previous years, there had been a series of seizures, significantly involving N5 billion worth of opioids in a warehouse in Amuwo Odofin, Lagos, with millions of pills and bottles seized and two kingpins arrested. All these drugs, if allowed into circulation, will cause grave damages ranging from changes in pupil size to clammy skin, cyanosis, coma and respiratory failure, which leads to death.

    So, what’s driving this crisis? Over-prescription by healthcare providers, lack of education on safe usage and the illegal drug trade all play a role. The internet has also made it alarmingly easy for individuals to access opioids without a prescription.

    Read Also: ‘How to help children with drug addiction’

    Breaking the cycle of addiction requires a multi-faceted approach. Healthcare providers must adopt more cautious prescribing practices, while patients must be educated on the risks and warning signs of addiction. Law enforcement agencies must continue to disrupt the illegal drug supply chain and support services must be available for those struggling with addiction.

    The opioid epidemic is a ticking time bomb, waiting to claim its next victim. By understanding the dangers of opioids and working together to address this crisis, we can prevent further devastation and help those already trapped in the grip of addiction find a path to recovery.

    In conclusion, the fight against drug abuse, particularly the opioid epidemic, requires a collective and decisive response from the government, healthcare providers, law enforcement agencies and the general public. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration must prioritise this critical issue and provide unwavering support to the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and other stakeholders in the fight against drug abuse, like providing adequate funding for the NDLEA to enhance their operational capacity and effectiveness and strengthening legislation and enforcement to tackle drug trafficking and dealers.

    • Olufemi Fadahunsi, Ado-Ekiti.
  • On the reversion to the old national anthem

    On the reversion to the old national anthem

    SIR: The recently discarded anthem was a costly assumption that the defeat of Biafra eight years earlier meant the birth of a nation; hence the call for compatriots to “arise” and “obey”. Even a simpleton’s reading of the two stanzas would reveal an unintelligent attempt to feign ignorance of our fault lines and preference of the assumption that Nigeria had truly become a nation. On the contrary, the NIGERIA WE HAIL THEE anthem proudly admits that we are diverse and distinctive nations willing to forge an alliance that would birth a stronger nation by means of evolution.

    For 45 years, Nigeria elected, true to type, to live a lie. For 45 years, we chased shadows and sought to build castles in the sky. For 45 years, we shamelessly played the ostrich. For 45 years, we wore the wrong badge, a fraudulent identity and for 45 years, we deferred the commencement of the long journey to nationhood by claiming that we were a nation already – and I have never seen a nation built on the ashes of fiction!

    Rather than tasking our rulers to become leaders and quickly proceed to build on this historic anthem reversion with a view to decapitating the centrifugal forces in the land and artfully welding the different peoples and cultures into a nation properly so-called, the mob had since distorted the essence and manipulated public opinion to ridicule an otherwise commendable bold step.

    One thing that runs through the entire gamut of the raft of criticisms that has attended the anthem reversion, apart from their indisputable root in emotion and sentiment, is the unnecessary reductionist interpretation of it as lacking in any meaningful economic impact. This is most unfortunate. The major reason our economy has consistently grown from bad to worse is the very fact that Nigeria has been an orphan right from birth, a people in dispute and a society enmeshed in identity crisis. And it is the perennial failure of our rulers over the years to tackle this identity question that has almost turned Nigeria into the Corruption Tourism capital of the world! 

    Read Also: Ozekhome commends Tinubu, N/Assembly on readoption of old national anthem

    It is for the same “identity crisis” reason that religion and ethnicity have always been the major determinants of not only who rules Nigeria but who the ruler puts in charge of the economy; which, of course, inexorably leaves the economy vulnerable and national productivity imperilled. Worse still, it turns our commonwealth into a feast for vultures. But the mob wouldn’t see the glaring nexus between Nigeria being a country of nations and the truism that one can only force the horse to the stream but cannot force it to drink water.

    For me, what the government has done with the anthem reversion law is to set the tone for a broader conversation around the being of the Nigerian nation-state, the imperative of attaining a voluntary union, true integration and, ultimately, the founding of a nation properly so-called. And the least it deserves, on this score, is a pat on the back. However, it’s also thumbs-down to both the parliament and the executive for failing in elementary civic engagement. Ordinarily, such a remarkably bold law should have called for proactive steps to amass public buy-in and drown possible opposition whispers of objection.

    Sadly, this is what obtains in a society where intellectuals and thinkers take regular turns to go on sabbaticals. And I’m afraid, the tyranny of the mob might rob us of this great opportunity to give the ship of state a soul and redeem the future. Better late than never!

    • Chuks Akamadu Abuja.
  • Tinubu’s silent and unreported achievements

    Tinubu’s silent and unreported achievements

    By Tunde Rahman

      These achievements are by no means insignificant. They are so concrete and substantial that in some instances, they are ground-breaking, either laying or re-laying the foundation for growth and development in the country or resetting the sectors where they have occurred.

    It must be admitted, however, that some ministers have little to showcase in one year. This is evident enough in their presentations, which were drab and lack-luster in a number of cases. The ministerial presentations and inauguration of projects executed by the administration were the only approved activities organised to mark President Tinubu’s one-year anniversary. The president had ordered a low-key celebration.

    One defining feature of most of the achievements recorded in the various ministries is that they emerged from the vision or ideas President Tinubu espoused and developed overtime, and embodied in his Renewed Hope Agenda as eight priority areas. The President is reform-minded and, like Singapore’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, he is the Guardian Angel of those reforms and the achievements recorded thus far.

    It is pertinent to highlight some of these reforms and initiatives across the various sectors. Take, for instance, the laudable projects executed by the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Mr. Ezenwo Nyesome Wike, the catalyst for those monumental achievements in just one year, is the full autonomy granted FCT by President Tinubu over the resources accruing to the territory. By removing FCT from the Treasury Single Account, the FCT Administration’s resources were unlocked for Wike to deploy in addressing the developmental challenges of the city. Yet that singular action of the President remains unsung and perhaps unappreciated by many. Of course, there are more things done to recalibrate the governance structure of the FCT by the president, including approval for more Mandate Secretaries and its own Civil Service Commission.

    Read Also: Tinubu laying foundation for stable economic growth

    As a result of these presidential approvals, Minister Wike, away from the political turmoil in his native Rivers State where he has been fingered as a central figure, unleashed infrastructure on the FCT, opening up new districts with a network of roads and bridges, and resurfacing arterial roads. The minister has completed the construction of many bridges, refurbished the moribund metro line in Abuja and created access roads to the train stations, which had earlier rendered the stations inaccessible even when it was briefly operational. Around $15 million was expended on building the access roads to the various stations.

    The minister also restructured and completed the official residence of the Vice President, which had been abandoned since 2010. Some cynics may ask-how important is that residential project at this point in time? This question would be of no significance when it is realized that the project, valued at N7billion in 2010, could not be left to waste and to scoundrels at a time the FCT authorities are working hard to ward off kidnappers and other criminal elements.

    The Ministry of Power also has a remarkable story to share, though many would insist the sector has left much to be desired given its importance as an enabler of the economy. But believe it, a silent retooling, which promises to change the disastrous electricity situation in the country, is ongoing. Indeed, unbeknownst to many, power generation is gradually increasing. For instance, 5000MW of power was achieved this month for the first time in three years. “Precisely on May 3, 2024, we generated, transmitted, and distributed 5,003.45MW of power. This is expected to further rise to 6000MW by the end of this year,” the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, said in his presentation.

    President Tinubu did three important things, among others, to tackle the issues in the electricity supply value-chain and set the sector on the path to recovery and optimal performance. Number one, in June 2023, President Tinubu signed the 2023 Electricity Act into law, marking a significant milestone in the sector. The new law focuses on enhancing the regulation and management of the electricity value chain with the active participation of the sub-national governments. This, thus far, has resulted in the process of devolution of regulatory powers to three states – Enugu, Ekiti, and Ondo – to set up their electricity markets.

    Two, the President gave approval to defray legacy debts owed gas companies to allow efficient gas supply for the sector going forward and payment mechanism to address generation companies’ debts. This, according to Adelabu, will ensure necessary maintenance and evacuation capacity optimization.

    Third, there has also been a series of infrastructure upgrades in the last one year. The ongoing Siemens Power project under the Presidential Power Initiative was one of the programmes that ensured improvement of power assets in Nigeria. In December 2023, President Tinubu and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz witnessed the signing of an accelerated performance agreement aimed at expediting the implementation of the PPI to improve electricity supply in Nigeria.

    The Minister of Power also disclosed that the government had also put in place the required framework to achieve an injection of 3.5 million meters into the power sector – 1.5 million meters through the World Bank Distribution Support Recovery Program and 2 million meters through the Presidential Metering Initiative.

    In aviation, some developments are worthy of note, including the construction of the second Abuja runway, which had been stalled for many years as a result of law suits while a second runway in Lagos has been reactivated. Among other things, Minister of Aviation Festus Keyamo has facilitated the acquisition of aircraft by local operators under the dry lease agreement to support and empower the indigenous airlines to compete with international airlines on more lucrative international routes like the case of Air Peace on the Lagos-London route.

    Additionally, discussions have also reached an advanced stage with foreign investors to establish a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Centre in Nigeria through PPP. Ibom Air is almost through in their negotiations with Airbus.

    With respect to the food situation in the country, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development launched dry season farming involving 118, 651 hectares in 15 states, with Jigawa State alone getting 40,000 hectares. This intervention injected an estimated N309 billion into the economy, according to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Senator Abubakar Kyari. The ministry also supported a total of 107, 429 wheat farmers with inputs resulting in output of 474, 628 metric tonnes. It has also created about 60,000 jobs across the agric value chain within the first year.

    As the administration’s substantial investments in enhancing security across the country begin to post concrete yields, this will positively impact agricultural productivity going into the President’s second year in office.

    Also, the revenue accruing to the country from marine and blue economy is on the increase. Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, said the ministry, through its agencies, realised N242 billion within the first quarter of 2024, which represents 92% compared to the amount generated within the same period last year.

    Importantly, the nation’s budgeting system has also been rejuvenated to give proper attention to the government’s priorities. The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, who incidentally is also the Chairman of the Ministerial Sectoral Update Committee, said the 2024 budget has two remarkable features. “One is the determination, despite our challenges, to restore budget discipline by lowering the fiscal deficit. So, the 2024 budget targeted a reduction in deficits from 6.11% in 2023 to less than 4% in 2024 and an increase in capital expenditure relative to recurrent spending, which is 39% expenditure, the highest in the country’s history,” he said.

    In addition to innovative budgeting, N100 billion fund has been earmarked for Consumer Credit designed to mobilise the manufacturing sector to produce again, which would occur when the people can fund their purchases.

    There is also a mortgage fund to support the creation of mortgages. “So with consumer credit mobilising the manufacturing sector, mortgages re-energising the housing sector, and national agricultural development fund mobilising the agricultural sector, our youth and our productive economy will be mobilised. The N130 billion we provided for conversion, for transition to CNG, which is a cheaper form of energy than petroleum, is designed to restore energy competitiveness so that our manufacturing sector, our transport sector, and our economy will benefit from a cheaper form of energy that will support the economic reform,” Bagudu said.

    Under the Tinubu government, the projects and initiatives undertaken thus far did not emerge by happenstance or by luck. They are well thought-out and emerged from a vision to reengineer the country and put it on the path of economic recovery and prosperity. One of these landmark initiatives is the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Fund, aimed at revitalising Nigeria’s crumbling infrastructure. This fund has earmarked substantial investments for constructing and rehabilitating roads, bridges, and public amenities. The construction of the Lagos-Calabar coastal road connecting nine littoral states has already taken off.

    There is also the Students Loan Fund for indigent students in tertiary institutions, which registration portal opened about two weeks ago.

    The country may not be where it should be at present. There are still challenges; notable among them is the cost of living, which is still high. Food prices surged last month, with inflation rising to 33.69%, according to NBS. The Naira is also struggling to find its level against the Green Back, hovering around N1,400 to N1,500/1$ at the parallel market for a couple of weeks. However, on Wednesday, May 29, it recorded its biggest appreciation in four months to close at N1,173. 88/1$.

    The country is gradually turning the corner.

    Looking back at how far he has gone since he mounted the saddle, President Tinubu said the journey had been challenging and fulfilling. He promised that his administration would do all it takes for the average Nigerian to feel the impact of governance, stating that governance must be transformative and must address the critical needs of citizens.

    Speaking when he received a delegation of the Yoruba Leaders of Thought at the State House, Abuja on Friday May 24, President Tinubu added that the country is no longer “bleeding”, but moving gradually into prosperity.

    “It has been challenging. It has been fulfilling as well. We took over, and we have stopped the bleeding. I can say categorically now that Nigeria is no longer bleeding. And it will not bleed to death, but rather will now move to prosperity.

    “That is the promise that I made to you all, and it is also the charge that you gave to me. We are managing to swim through the pond. The current is not a good one. We will turn the tide. We are turning the bend. This I assure you. I am being very careful. The worst is over for Nigeria. We will prevail.

    “I thank the team who have been working really hard. All I can promise is that we will do whatever it takes. We are determined, and we will work so that all Nigerians can feel the impact of good governance.”

    •Rahman is a Senior Presidential Aide.

  • ECOWAS @49 struggling but hopeful

    ECOWAS @49 struggling but hopeful

    By Paul Ejime

    At 49, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) should be celebrating based on its past achievements as the foremost among Africa’s eight Regional Economic Community (RECs). However, the 15-nation regional economic bloc, once acclaimed as a trailblazer, is now fighting for survival and under serious threat of disintegration.

    Since its establishment on May 28, 1975, through the Treaty of Lagos, only Mauritania has pulled out of ECOWAS (in 2000) but is now seeking re-admission, while other countries, even outside the region, are also applying to join.

    However, rather than build on its solid foundation, things seem to be falling apart for ECOWAS. Four of its member states – Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger are under military rule, while the last three have served notice of their intention to withdraw from the regional organization, altogether.

    Granted, the times and circumstances are different between 1975 and the ecosystem/dynamics of the world today. There have been life-changing geopolitical and strategic shifts, characterized by emerging threats such as terrorism, violent extremism, economic recession, global pandemics, flaws of experimentation of democracy, environmental changes, high rates of unemployment, youth bulge, and technological advancements, particularly the invasion of social media, dis/misinformation, and fake news.

    Read Also: ‘How to transform Nigerian Army into highly-motivated force’

    But effective performance under challenging circumstances is what sets individuals and organisations apart. At a time when ECOWAS is expected to demonstrate visionary and dynamic leadership, it has been found wanting.

    Ironically, the leadership deficit has been most pronounced in the peace and security, conflict prevention, management, and resolution domain, where ECOWAS had been most effective.

    Whether by default or experimentation, ECOWAS leaders, mostly military officers at that time, could fashion effective tools such as the ECOWAS Ceasefire Monitoring Group (ECOMOG) created in 1990 that facilitated the end of the civil wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

    The strict application of regional instruments, such as the Authority’s Declaration on Political Principles in 1991, the ECOWAS Revised Treaty of 1993, the 1999 Protocol relating to the Mechanism for Conflict Prevention, Management, Resolution, Peacekeeping and Security (or The Mechanism), and the Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance adopted in 2001 as an integral part of The Mechanism, guided the construction of regional peace and security architecture.

    The 1999 instrument inspired the adoption of a similar mechanism by the African Union several years later.

    Also, apart from an early warning system, which facilitated collaboration with state and non-state actors and civil society to monitor and report threats to peace and security in the region, ECOWAS utilized its Mediation and Security Council and the Council of the Elders/Wise as additional tools for conflict prevention, mediation, and resolution towards consolidating peace and security.

    The Supplementary Protocol on Democracy and Good Governance set minimum constitutional convergence criteria for ECOWAS membership based on shared values of democracy and free market, separation of powers, popular participation, the democratic control of the armed forces, guarantees of fundamental freedoms, and especially ‘zero tolerance’ for power obtained or maintained by unconstitutional means.

    The ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework (ECPF), adopted in 2008 and the Monrovia Declaration of 2010 are other instruments adopted to strengthen the ECOWAS peace and security architecture, with emphasis on preventive diplomacy and proactive mediation responses.

    The organization has used a combination of the above-named instruments to resolve conflicts in member-states including in Cote d’Ivoire, Mali, Niger, Guinea Bissau, and The Gambia.

    The applied measures included suspension, imposition of sanctions on erring member-states or the refusal to send observers to Gambia’s 2011 presidential election, for lack of transparency under the regime of then-President Yahya Jammeh’s regime, now exiled in Equatorial Guinea. However, the political will and/or capacity to make tough decisions based on principles are now lacking at the national and regional levels of ECOWAS leadership.

    Political leaders/heads of states have hijacked control of ECOWAS institutions, particularly the Commission, thereby rendering the overstretched and capacity-challenged technocrats ineffective.

    Critics now see ECOWAS more as a “toothless organization,” where political leaders hold sway for their selfish interests, including by unilaterally changing their countries’ constitutions and electoral laws, rigging elections, suppressing opposition, and trampling on citizens’ human rights in clear violation of ECOWAS texts and instruments with impunity and without consequences.

    Meanwhile, the same leaders only become powerful in the condemnation and imposition of sanctions whenever the military seizes power from civilians. The military juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger cite this inconsistency by ECOWAS leaders as one of the reasons for their decision to pull out of the organization.

    Even so, military rule is not the solution to the myriad problems facing ECOWAS member states. If anything, the disposition of the juntas, especially their political transition programmes, may have revealed their real intentions, as opportunistic power grabbers on tenure elongation adventure, the same allegations they levelled against the civilian leaders.

    The global decline in multilateralism, compounded by the geopolitical games being played by the superpowers, reminiscent of the Cold War era, is also present in the ECOWAS and Sahel region. Centuries of imperialism and exploitation of Africa, especially by France in its former colonies, have combined with corruption and mismanagement by post-independence leaders to unleash poverty, inhumane conditions, deprivation, and bad governance on the long-suffering citizens.

    The anti-French sentiment expressed by the population in the Francophone countries is justified, but with the long periods of transition and a provision that junta leaders are eligible to participate in the post-transition elections in respective countries, the soldiers would appear to be riding on the wave of sentiment and a false sense of popularity to want to perpetuate themselves in power.

    Similarly, while sovereign states reserve the right to choose their bilateral partners, the juntas in Mali, Guinea, Burkina Faso, and Niger, are not helping their case by replacing one foreign power with another, and at the same time accusing ECOWAS of being tele-guided by external powers.

    ECOWAS faces existential threats due to acts of omission/commission by its leaders. Even so, the community of an estimated 400 million people can only achieve more in unity.

    Dr Omar Alieu Touray, President of the ECOWAS Commission, acknowledged this much in his message to mark ECOWAS’ 49th Anniversary.

    “As we celebrate our 49th anniversary, insecurity continues to threaten our region. Some of our member states are battling terrorist groups on a daily basis, and a large number of our population faces displacement and food insecurity,” he said. In the two-and-half-page message, where “unity” or “united” is mentioned seven times, Touray said: “It is clear that we must stay united if we want to be successful in the fight against insecurity. But it is our unity which now stands threatened.”

    Quoting Nigeria’s former Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, one of the founding fathers of ECOWAS, the commission president said: “Neither the generation of our founding fathers, ‘nor the present or future generations can understand or will be forgiving for the breakup of our community.’”

    In an interview that coincided with the ECOWAS anniversary, Ambassador Abdel-Fatau Musah, the Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace, and Security, quoting data from a survey by a non-profit Afrobarometer group, noted that despite the military incursions, and the weaknesses in the democratic practices, ECOWAS citizens were still positively disposed toward democracy.

    While Liberia and Senegal have shown some prospects following their recent transparent elections and successful transfer of power from sitting governments to the opposition, Togo has thrown up another challenge with its divisive and controversial legislative vote held under dubious constitutional changes in clear violation of the ECOWAS protocol.

    Other potential crisis points could be Guinea Bissau and Sierra Leone, with lingering post-election rumblings, and then the Gambia, Cote d’Ivoire, and Ghana with forthcoming elections.

    ECOWAS can still redeem itself. But it is all down to the courage in upholding its standard, the sincerity of regional leaders to stop corruption, respect national constitutions and the rule of law, stop rigging elections and providing citizens with the benefits of good governance.

    •Ejime is a global affairs analyst.

  • Reaffirming Nigeria’s ‘One China policy’

    Reaffirming Nigeria’s ‘One China policy’

    By Charles Onunaiju

    Whatever its internal differences, serious countries build consensus around its international relations, articulated in foreign policy framework as such, not only guarantees the respectability of the country but ensures that international partners view her institutions as stable, credible and reliable.

    Nigeria’s One China Policy is a key enduring line in the country foreign policy since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1971. 

    The ‘One China’ Nigeria Policy holds that the Taiwan region is inalienable part of China and the Taiwan question, a left-over of Chinese history, especially after its civil war in the 1940’s, when the Communist Party of China in a patriotic coalition of other parties, defeated the then ruling Kuomintang or Nationalist Party (KMT), whose top military and political leaders fled across the straits between the mainland and island of Taiwan region of China.

    Propped by the United States and other western powers, the Nationalist Party held on to the illusion of being the legitimate government of all Chinese people, and held the seat in the United Nations until the iconic resolution 2758, which expelled once and for all, the representatives of Chang Kai Sheik and readmitted the government of the Peoples of Republic of the China as the sole and legitimate government of all Chinese people. Nigeria was among the 26 African countries that voted for the historic resolution, which became a vital cornerstone of Nigeria-China diplomatic cooperation established earlier on the February, 1971, few months before the iconic UN resolution in October of the same year.

    Read Also: Nigeria, others set up councils to drive food targets

    An alleged parliamentary group in the House of Representatives which describes itself as Nigeria-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group recently circulated an invitation, notifying of its inauguration, thereby not only brazenly interfering in China’s internal affairs but flagrantly undermining the integrity of Nigeria’s unambiguous and explicit ‘One China’ foreign policy. Such affront to a historical key pillar of Nigeria’s foreign relations also dastardly stuck a knife at Nigeria’s viable diplomatic cooperation.

    The shockwave of the development to the friendly Chinese people, would be exactly the same here, should any such misguided element of Chinese parliament attempt to establish “A China-Biafra, or China-Yoruba Nation or even China-Boko Haram parliamentary group.

    In solving their national question as it relates to the Taiwan region, the two sides of the straits have established a “consensus” in 1992, which holds that the two sides of the straits belong to one and the same China, and can thereby actively work on a formula for reunion. As we have our few hot heads, who will settle at nothing except disintegration, the Taiwan separatist hot heads, urged on by the U.S, make a case for such extremity. The Taipei Trade Office in Nigeria since 1991 is not a diplomatic mission but a trade promotion centre, just as any Nigeria sub-national entity may choose to open a trade promotion centre anywhere in the world.

    Nigeria’s parliament is a key national state institution and cannot possibly contradict Nigeria’s vital foreign policy position.

    In early 2017, the federal government took a definitive stand in response to the Taiwan question of the People’s Republic of China and reaffirmed her long standing “One China policy” which leaves no ambiguity that there is only but One China in the world and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. Speaking at a joint press conference in Abuja then with the visiting Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, Nigeria’s then, Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama said Nigeria would take all necessary measures to maintain the integrity of its “One China Policy”.

    A joint statement issued after the press conference asserted the One –China Policy is at the core of strategic partnership between the two countries and further stated that “the government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria recognizes that there is only One China in the world, that the government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China, and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory,” and added the governments of China and Nigeria have mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

    Earlier, Nigeria’s government directed that the Taiwan trade office in Abuja which was re-designated Taipei Trade office immediately relocate to the Nigeria’s commercial capital, as the continued stay of the trade office in the Nigeria’s political capital has been used for activities inconsistent with its status of trade office. The government took the action of directing the trade office to relocate to Nigeria’s business and commercial hub, so as to leave no doubt about her strict and unequivocal “One China Policy”.

    Chinese government said then that it “affirms and greatly appreciates Nigeria’s support for the “One China Principle” and stated further “this thoroughly resolves an issue left over from history that influenced mutual political trust between China and Nigeria, and eliminates a political obstacle that interfered with the healthy development of bilateral relations”.

    Nigeria’s definitive stance is an integral part of global consensus, clearly affirmed by the iconic United Nations (UN) resolution 2758 mainstreamed to the core of international law, convention and standard practice. As a key member of the international community and regional power house, Nigeria’s principled measures to restore the integrity of her “One China Policy” aligns with the fundamental principle of state to state relations, in which a demonstration of unassailable sensitivity to each other’s core concerns is a standard norm.

    Despite the provocative visits of the former U.S House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi in 2022, the “One China Principle”, according to the white paper of the Chinese government released in 2022 “represents the Universal Consensus of the International community and is consistent with basic norms of international relations.

    Most countries in the world, including the United States have established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China on the basis of “One China Principle”.

    The white paper made reference to the China – U.S joint communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic relations, published in December 1978, which among other things stated that “the government of the United States of America acknowledges the Chinese position that there is only but One China and Taiwan is part of China”.

    It further states; “The United States of America recognizes the government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China. Within this context, the people of the United States will maintain cultural, commercial and other unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan”.

    The unambiguous framework of the Taiwan question as China’s internal affairs leaves no room for equivocations and meddling without undermining the critical pillars of the contemporary international system.

    Nigeria’s demonstration of clear sensitivity to China’s core national concerns especially on the matter of the Taiwan question has had clear effects on China – Africa cooperation, pointing clearly to the exemplary nature of China – Africa cooperation as a model of international partnership.

    With Taiwan separatist forces intensifying its provocation with active connivance of Washington, Nigeria’s institutions should stay clear from Washington’s perennial obsession to contain China through wanton interference in her internal affairs.

    •Onunaiju is research director of Abuja based Think-Tank.

  • Benue: One year of Governor Alia

    Benue: One year of Governor Alia

    By Solomon Semaka

    It    has been one year since Rev. Fr. Dr. Hyacinth Alia was inaugurated as the sixth elected governor of Benue State. The inauguration of Governor Alia was greeted with fanfare and jubilation for obvious reasons. The immediate past administration had performed poorly, leaving many citizens looking to the new administration with renewed hope. As a priest who had served in the Catholic Church for nearly three decades, Fr. Alia was seen by the electorate as a “saviour” poised to salvage the state after years of democratic decline.

    Governor Alia commenced his tenure on a strong note. Confronted with deteriorating infrastructure, he swiftly initiated the rehabilitation of township roads, many of which have now been completed to high standards. So far, 16 strategic roads within Makurdi metropolis have either been completed or are nearing completion. Additionally, the governor has embarked on the urban renewal of the state capital, including the construction of an underpass at High Level, which promises immediate and long-term benefits for traffic flow and aesthetics. Similar infrastructure projects are underway in Gboko, and rural road construction has begun in various parts of the state.

    The “Light-up Makurdi” streetlight project, which relies on solar power technology, has reached an advanced stage, giving the state capital an impressive facelift. This project aims to position Makurdi to compete with other reputable state capitals in the country.

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    Upon taking office, worker morale was at an all-time low due to inconsistent salary and pension payments. The previous administration left behind significant arrears, which weakened the purchasing power of workers and stifled the state economy. Governor Alia prioritized salaries, pensions, and gratuities, and began paying off the arrears, rekindling hope among workers and pensioners.

    To improve the work environment for civil servants, the administration undertook the rehabilitation of the Benue State Secretariat, built nearly 40 years ago by former governor, Aper Aku. The refurbished secretariat now boasts a modern look, providing a conducive environment for civil servants. The establishment of the Benue State Public Service Institute (BPSI) for training civil servants further underscores the administration’s commitment to optimal performance and support for government policies that benefit the populace.

    The Alia administration has also focused on the legislative environment by modernizing the Benue State House of Assembly complex and remodelling its clinic with state-of-the-art amenities. This ensures quality healthcare for members and staff.

    In healthcare, the administration has revitalized the Benue State University Teaching Hospital, which had been reduced to a mere consulting centre. The hospital now offers quality tertiary health services, supported by newly appointed medical and non-medical staff. The opening of the Muhammadu Buhari Mother and Child Hospital has further boosted the health system, aiming to reduce maternal mortality and provide prompt, nearly free services to women and children under five.

    Public education was in a dismal state when Governor Alia took office. The administration established the Bureau for Quality Assurance to address limitations and excesses in primary and post-primary institutions. This initiative has begun yielding results, with public school teachers now more accountable. The government’s decision to pay examination fees for all students in government-approved secondary schools for WAEC and NECO exams is a bold move to create a literate society poised for global achievements.

    The administration’s efforts in human capital development include ICT training for 10,000 Benue youths in collaboration with Google and Microsoft. This initiative aims to create local and global job opportunities for the state’s youth. Additionally, the newly established Entrepreneurship and Wealth Creation Bureau, along with the Benue State International Cooperation and Development Bureau, is expected to boost entrepreneurship and alleviate poverty.

    In the transport sector, the administration purchased 100 new buses for Benue Links to mitigate the effects of subsidy removal in the oil sector. These buses, operating on various routes, provide commercial services at subsidized rates, positively impacting the people and the state economy. The aesthetic improvement of Benue Links premises has also enhanced customer experience.

    Governor Alia has introduced fiscal discipline in government operations, curbing the reckless spending that characterized previous administrations. The administration is also tightening controls on the fiscal activities of ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) to close financial leakages.

    There is no doubt that Governor Alia’s administration has hit the ground running, instilling a sense of hope for Benue State. However, there are critical areas that require urgent attention in the coming years.

    First, the issue of insecurity has been persistent for over a decade, displacing thousands of people into internally displaced persons (IDP) camps. The government must act swiftly to provide necessary security measures to protect its citizens. Strengthening security in affected communities and enhancing intelligence gathering are also essential to consolidating on the relative peace in the state under the leadership of Governor Hycinth Alia.

    The state capital and other major towns lack potable water, which poses health risks. Despite being surrounded by major rivers, towns like Makurdi and Katsina Ala suffer from water scarcity. The greater Makurdi Water Works, completed over a decade ago, needs reticulation to benefit the people. The Alia administration should expedite this process so that facility could be put to use.

    Several state-owned companies have remained moribund. Revitalizing these through public-private partnerships could create employment opportunities and boost the state’s internal revenue and I have seen the governor is commitment to this trajectory.

    Political stability is another area of concern. Intra-party squabbles within the All Progressives Congress (APC) have resulted in factionalism occasioned by the overbearing influence of some leaders in the state. Governor Alia should continue to leverage his deep and rich background to initiate reconciliation processes to foster intra- and inter-party peace and unity, which is essential for stable governance and development. But above all, he should stand firm while looking for stability as that is the only guarantee to safeguard public trust.

    In conclusion, Governor Hyacinth Alia’s first year in office has been marked by significant strides in infrastructure, healthcare, education, and fiscal discipline, restoring hope among the people of Benue State. Addressing the identified challenges is a collective role of all stakeholders and citizens. Accepting individual responsibility will be crucial in the coming years. With continued dedication and strategic interventions, Governor Alia’s administration is set to restore Benue State on a path to sustainable development and prosperity.

    •Semaka, a public affairs commentator writes from Abuja.