The Nation Newspaper

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  • Of international expatriate ‘tariffs’ and the Nigerian situation

    Of international expatriate ‘tariffs’ and the Nigerian situation

    • By Johnson Momodu

    Ongoing plan by the Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Ministry of Interior and the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), to roll out a policy to drag expatriates into its revenue-generation net has dominated the media space in the last two weeks.  According to sundry media reports, the plan would dovetail into a policy choice that is well-rooted in the economic imperative of widening the nation’s revenue base and, consequentially, bolstering the economy in terms of production and consumption of goods and services as well as the supply of money.

    The plan, understandably, requires some validations against the important question around its novelty. While the plan to capture expatriates in the proposed revenue net (not taxes) may be novel in Nigeria, the decision by the President Bola Tinubu administration to consummate the policy of ensuring that the working expatriate community in Nigeria becomes a veritable source of new revenue has obligatorily underscored the administration’s need to explore all reasonable avenues to generate income.

    In fact, the essential international contexts for comparative analyses between how and why the policy is practised in other countries and why it is not in Nigeria, validates the urgency that is needed to effectuate the policy in its entire ramifications. A good understanding of how other countries have placed special demands on their international expatriates leaves one with the impression that Nigeria has all along missed out in this critical area that has the potential to generate mega foreign exchange earnings for the country.  If the trend must be reversed, the federal government must take the bull by the horns and confront the existential challenges that may want to conspire to frustrate the coming on stream of the revenue source. 

    Indeed, it is remarkable to note that as part of the nationalization regulations to encourage hiring citizens over expatriates in G-20 countries, including Mauritania and many other countries, private sector entities are being charged monthly for each expatriate employee that exceeds the number of employees at the entities. This is in apple-pie order and in alignment with international best practices, and Nigerian can very well adopt it.

    This practice is a cosmopolitan reality in Germany, China, France, Czech Republic, Ireland, and in over 17 other countries, which are placing charges on the offshore earnings of expatriates.  The Tinubu administration will do well to replicate the same in Nigeria.

    In those countries, which are by all standards developed, they have not put an end to generating revenue.  A plethora of revenue sources is being constantly devised to meet the challenges of public finance, rising complexity in the ever-expanding infrastructure gap, especially in Nigeria, and funding of governments globally.  Growth and development in all sectors of their respective national economies become the normative order in the consideration and effectuation of policies, programmes, and projects that conduce towards the public good.

    Read Also: FIRS sets deadline for International Shipping Companies to ensure tax compliance

    The interplay between the wellbeing and security of the people underscores the primary purpose of government anywhere in the world. Significantly, these two essential ingredients of government and community cannot, suo motu, activate themselves, nor can sheer political will without any corresponding or concomitant actions do so.  The political will must crystallize in the nature and form of deliberate and aggressive funding, which is impossible if there is no cash backing.  Governments cannot spend the money they do not have. It is the responsibility of governments to run and coordinate their national economies, manage the relationship and tension between production and consumption as well as other financial or budgetary matters.

    It is therefore understandable when governments globally, including the federal government of Nigeria and the subnational governments embark on government-to- government, government-to-business and government-to-people interactions that result in generation of revenues, including Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) through taxes, royalties, fees, fines and sundry charges on both small and large scales.  It is in this context that the plan by the Tinubu administration to extend its revenue source to expatriates working in Nigeria finds justification.

    Indeed, the initiative to place extra demand on working expatriates in Nigeria is not dissimilar to what operates in China, for example, where the income of expatriates from employment is subject to Individual Income Tax (IIT). In that clime, taxable income from employment generally includes wages and salaries, bonuses, commissions, allowances and subsidies, taxes paid by the employer, stock options and any other income related to the individual’s position or employment.

    In the Czech Republic (CR), all employment-related incomes of expatriates (wages, salaries, overtime pay, bonuses, gratuities, perquisites, benefits, benefits from employees‘ stock options, etc.) are taxed. Mandatory health insurance and social security contributions paid are also regarded as employment income subject to tax (they enter a tax base and create a super gross salary). If a Czech employer has an expatriate working for them without a Czech employment contract, such expatriates are typically employed by a foreign company. In such cases, the deemed employer must act as a payroll agent and transfer the appropriate income tax advances to the tax office. This is basically about taxation. But what the Nigerian government is planning is not additional taxation on expatriates’ income.  It is a charge that derives from implementation of the terms and conditions of the expatriate quota given to companies that engage the services of expatriates.  It possibly operates at a minimum of two levels from my understanding of what is in the works, although greater details, according to media reports, would be announced at the launch of the policy soonest.

    The first level may entail a fixed charge on each expatriate working in Nigeria; then the second level may be charges imposed on companies for infractions or failure to absorb Nigerian professionals into jobs that are allotted to them. If any company that engages the services of expatriates gives jobs meant for Nigerians to expatriates, it should be ready to pay the prescribed penalty.  There may be other ancillary charges derivable from the overarching implementation of the new revenue measures, which Nigeria has not taken advantage of since 1960. It is not too late to begin to derive the requisite benefits in this area, which is why the beat is on.

    As the saying goes, it is better late than never. The time to cure the mischief of the past years is now. The initiative is expected to come on stream in a few weeks’ time.  Mega revenue will be generated from the expatriates, which current population is put at a little over 150,000. The plan by government is to deploy the revenue received from this source in massive investments in infrastructure development.  This is apart from the fact that more jobs will be provided or secured for Nigerians in companies that engage the services of expatriates to strike the obligatory balance or quota as agreed to by both parties. Overall, the Tinubu administration, which is struggling to raise money to drive the economy, has a historical opportunity to leverage this potential revenue source.  There are countries to reference to validate its new plan to impose some tariffs of sorts on working expatriates in Nigeria to generate the much-needed revenue for infrastructure development. Let us keep our fingers crossed as the federal government rolls out this policy soonest.

    • Momodu is a development journalist based in Abuja.
  • Ghost of 2023 presidential election

    Ghost of 2023 presidential election

    • By Mike Kebonkwu

    At last, the ghost of the 2023 Presidential election was laid to rest with the judgment by the panel of the Supreme Court Justices which reaffirmed the election of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. At least the social media lawyers and jaundiced partisan tribal analysts can as well take a break so that we can breathe; they have been part of the problem.   They created bitter acrimony amongst ethnic nationalities and social class and religious incendiary.  The 2023 presidential election was bitterly fought not so much on principle, competence and programme of the parties but on tribal and religious grounds; thus deepening our fault lines.   It has left the country more divided than ever before. 

     As the ruling party, the APC was as disoriented as the main opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that was consumed by self-created internal strife that became its albatross.  There was fractious internal schism and treachery with the party looking to snap.  Candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu had to literarily wrest the ticket from the party by sheer audacious tenacity because he was not anointed by the president and his cabal.  

    It therefore needed only a little coherence and coordination of the opposition to steal the show from the ruling party.

    During the electioneering campaign, the issues of moral integrity and honesty of contestants took the centre stage.   It is a known fact that an average Nigerian politician suffers from acute integrity deficit; you cannot take it to the bank. We did all the wrong things during the election but we are now bellyaching about the judiciary and justices of the Supreme Court.  We always find reasons to blame someone else and never examine ourselves and correct our failures and inadequacies.

    The outcome of 2023 presidential election was virtually determined at the primaries of the parties.  The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) prepared the ground for its failure when it entered into the election bickering and divided.  It lost it traditional support base in the Southeast with no chance in the Southwest, the home base of the ruling APC candidate.  There was not going to be a miracle for him in his supposed northern base where he was going to share the votes with New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) and the ruling APC with a formidable strength.  His vice presidential candidate from South-south had little electoral worth and it was not any surprise that the Labour Party had a better showing in the South-south.

    For the Labour Party, its emergence and influence came like a thunder. It was a protest against the status quo ante and it took the nation by storm.  However, its social media influencers hugely frittered away the goodwill of its emerging profile and growing popularity of its candidate of the Obidient Movement.  They mismanaged the ethnic and religious factors with indiscretion. They became toxic irritants in the extreme attacking everyone without discrimination and succeeded in demobilizing very significant voters population determined to turn the apple cart of the status.  However, they rocked and shook Lagos State while the party coasted leisurely to victory in Southeast, its stronghold.  It did not have significant networks in the entire north so it would have been an uphill task for it to make any impact in that region which it did not. 

    The election proper was marred by violence and ethnic stereotyping and attacks. Most people that voted did so in part on ethno-religious consideration without a unifying national interest of patriotism.  This is the bane of nation driven by tribesmen and regional loyalty. Elections are hardly free and fair in our homeland.  It is therefore not unusual that the result and outcome of elections are disputed and challenged.  Election litigations are mostly instigated by lawyers of good standing and reputation for pecuniary consideration. They do this through dubious and bogus analysis by advertising their knowledge in the media space in the form of ambulance chasing.  At the end of the day without evidence to support their claims, their case will fall flat on its face.  Not done yet, they instigate their politician clients and ignorant supporters to malign, lampoon, excoriate and blackmail the judiciary. 

    Sadly, the leadership of the electoral umpire appears timid, frightened and compromised and unable to do anything right. The huge investment in technology failed at the crucial time in what appears also like self-sabotage. The election itself was fought like civil war as supporters unleashed mayhem on people who do not support their candidates and political parties. The religious people took it upon themselves as an ecclesiastical battle of supremacy and number. The security agencies are not able to rein political brigands, hooligans and touts that snatch and hijack ballot boxes and kill political opponents. 

    Read Also: Tinubu’s meets Scholz for investment in power, rail

    Making the judiciary scapegoat is not forward looking. Where allegations are not supported with material evidence, no amount of blackmail can turn the verdict in your favour.  Justice Chukwudifu Oputa of blessed memory talking about the finality of the decision of the Supreme Court said, “we are not final because we are infallible; we are infallible because we are final”.  This is to demonstrate that the Supreme Court is capable of making mistake or committing judicial errors and they do, we should accept it with philosophical equanimity because it is the final bus stop in litigation rather than the umbrage and vituperation. 

    The greatest problem with the election litigation is that we have been misled by lawyers and learned men and women who are supposed to know better with some of them behaving like comedians giving bizarre interpretation to issues without facts, evidence and sound legal principles behind them.  On matters of judicial discretion, it was amazing that even senior lawyers expected justices of the Supreme Court to exercise discretion in line with their mind-sets and fixation contrary to settled principles of law.  The judicial principle is that if discretion is predictable, it ceases to be discretion. 

    The flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and his Labour Party (LP) counterpart have since addressed a world press conference on their take and perception of the judgment of the Presidential Electoral Commission Tribunal.  To them, the justices were biased and they were robbed of victory.  While one salutes their courage to seek redress in court, it is poor judgment to conclude that they were robbed.  Law is an art based on skill that is founded on empirical facts which are tested through the crucible of judicial process.  Technicality remains that aspect of skill that a lawyer must bring into play during trials.  Take away technicality, you rob the law of the beauty of advocacy.  The judex cannot take over the job of counsel in the name of substantive justice. 

    The future for the country does not look good enough when politicians and lawyers conspire to de-market the integrity of the judiciary when they are supposed to display ethical behaviour and professional diligence.  Even where the procedure and process appear apparently free and fair with some measure of integrity, politicians always disagree with election result when they lost the election as face saving measure.  We must agree that our leaders by their behaviours are not building a united Nigeria for the future but empires for themselves through sleaze and electoral malfeasance.  The judiciary may not have men of steel temper as in the past but within the toxic political climate we should be fair in our assessment of their performance.

    •Kebonkwu Esq is an Abuja-based attorney.

  • Flexible or rigid pavements for Nigerian roads?

    Flexible or rigid pavements for Nigerian roads?

    • By Odinaka Victor Okonkwo

    There have been several talks on the use of flexible or rigid pavements for Nigerian roads. The merits and demerits of both have been well noted. While rigid pavements are costlier, they can withstand heavier loading. The flexible pavement has a shorter lifespan and is easier to maintain. Interestingly these are based on statistics from other developed countries. To find out what is best for Nigeria we need to make decisions based on our own experience.

    While we can conclude that flexible pavements have a shorter lifespan of 15 to 20years, is that the reality in Nigeria? The answer is no. If our roads do last for that long the consideration for rigid pavements would not have started.

    To be able to propose an option for the country, there is need to briefly x-ray the various components of the road pavement and their functions. These are the subgrade – the natural surface upon which a road is built; the sub base – the layer of granular material (laterite) that receives the load from the base course and transfers it to the subgrade. It is also used as a fill material to establish the required slopes of the road; the base course – the layer consisting of mostly crushed stones that serves the purpose of receiving the concentrated loads (point loads) from vehicle wheels and distributes them (spreads them out) over a wider area enabling the sub-base material to carry them. It is the load bearing layer (stratum) in a road pavement; and the asphaltic layer – the final layer that provides a waterproof layer that protects the base course material from water. It also provides a wear-resistance surface that protects the base course from wears due to braking action and screeching of vehicle tires.

    Read Also: Tinubu’s meets Scholz for investment in power, rail

    The asphaltic layers and the base course are the two most importance components of the road pavement. While the base course material is more rigid and capable of carrying vehicular loads and spreading it over a larger area of the weaker subbase material, it is weak when exposed to water. It also has a low resistance to wear. If a vehicle on high speed suddenly brakes on top of a well laid base course, some of the materials of the base course are removed, raising dust. An asphaltic layer on the other hand is very resistant to wear. The screeching of tires on it rather wears off the tires and leaves the asphalt intact. The asphalt is also very resistant to water. Exposure to water does not cause it to lose strength. Asphalts are however not a high load bearing material like the base course. It is flexible and bends under load and so is not excellent at distributing loads over wider surface areas like the base course.

    The relationship between the base course and asphaltic layer is therefore symbiotic. The base course material carries the load while the asphaltic layer protects the base course material against wear and water.

    The rigid pavement

    A rigid pavement mainly varies from the flexible pavement because of the replacement of the asphalt layer with Portland cement concrete. This is a material that attempts to possess all the good qualities of the crushed stone base course and asphalt. It has very good mechanical properties and so can carry loads. It is resistant to water (does not disintegrate in water), the high grade versions of it is also resistant to wear. Its strength (load carrying capacity) can be increased with the addition of steel reinforcement bars. It appears to be the one final bus-stop with regards to road pavements. However its two major components (cement and reinforcement rods) are expensive. In standard rigid pavement designs, the Portland cement concrete replaces the asphaltic layer in a flexible pavement. To resist wears due to braking actions of vehicles it must be well prepared concrete of high grade (30 and above).

    While we propose a sudden shift from flexible pavements to rigid pavements, it is important to know why most of the flexible pavements do not achieve their envisaged lifespan in Nigeria. I think this hovers around quality control during road construction and increased axle loads from vehicles. The construction of flexible pavement requires some painstaking quality control measures which are increasingly harder to enforce. The sub-base is compacted to a required density (standard compaction) and tested at every specified distance (chainage) to ensure this quality is achieved. The same applies to the base course layer. The base course material must also be laid to a specified thickness. The priming of the base course surface is done with a cutback (diluted) bitumen, its quality is hard to enforce. The asphalt is laid at a high temperature and compacted at a specified temperature for it to retain the desired properties. These are hardly noted or enforced in today’s road construction in Nigeria. This is outside what happens in the asphalt plants and the fact that they are limited in number and most contractors have to patronize the ones close to the road construction site irrespective of the quality of their products.

    Why Portland cement concrete?

    Quality enforcement is way easier with Portland cement concrete than with asphaltic concrete. We just specify the mix ratios of the cement, fine and coarse aggregate by volume. The cement come in their finished forms in bags ready for use unlike bitumen that will have to be diluted (cut-back) and heated by the contractor often with little enforceable quality control measures. The actual mixing of the cement, water and aggregates is just a simple mechanical process requiring no heating hence most contractors can easily procure a concrete mixing machine unlike the asphalt plant which is more complex and expensive to operate. This is the primary reason why building construction appears to have succeeded more than road construction in Nigeria. Our buildings rely more on Portland cement concrete and we have seen a better percentage of our buildings achieve their expected lifespan unlike our roads.

    To achieve success in our road construction we must borrow a leaf from the successes of our building construction. We must design and build roads that require less hard-to-implement quality controls. When many contractors found it difficult to achieve concretes of grade 30 and above, our building construction teams began to rely on concrete grade 20. When getting steel bars of grade 460 was an issue, we began relying on grade 410 and 380. These were factored into the designs of our buildings leading to success.

     If we rely on high grade concrete for our roads to get a wear resistant surface, that will be the beginning of our failure in the implementation of rigid pavements.

    Reinforced concrete no doubt is a better load bearing layer than the compacted crushed rock base course. It requires little or no compaction to achieve this strength. It also requires little reinforcement to provide a tougher layer than the compacted crushed rock base course. We can replace the base course layer with a reinforced concrete layer. This is precisely what we do in most of our paved compounds. 

    A good asphaltic concrete (produced and laid following strict adherence to quality) will be flexible and impermeable even after many years. It bends without the development of cracks. It offers a surface highly resistant to wear. Hence it completely protects the base course layer from water and wear. When we compromise standards in asphalt production and placement, we have an asphaltic layer that develops small cracks under loads. These cracks allow water to percolate and make contact with the base course (compacted crushed stone) material. After some period of contact with water the base course material disintegrates, is eroded leading to the formation of potholes. Most of our poorly prepared asphalts have a higher resistance to wear than our cement concrete. Hence it can protect any material underneath it from wear.

    I propose a hybrid of flexible and rigid pavement. A low-grade reinforced concrete base course and a weak asphaltic finished layer will produce a strong and durable road pavement.

    The weak asphalt may allow some water percolation, but this will not damage the reinforced concrete base course as concrete is resistant to water. The weak concrete wears easily but is protected against contact from tires by the asphaltic layer. The weak reinforced concrete is more rigid than the compacted crushed stone base course layer and is therefore able to distribute loads effectively over a wider area of land. This enables the road to carry more loads. This is necessary at a time when a lot of heavy items are hauled using our roads.

    •Engr. Okonkwo Ph.D is of Department of Civil Engineering, Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, Anambra State.

  • Power flips in Liberia

    Power flips in Liberia

    Liberia recorded a power shift, last Friday, as former Vice-President Joseph Boakai emerged winner of the run-off poll held Tuesday. The 78-year-old managed to secure a narrow victory over incumbent President George Weah, polling 50.9 percent of the vote to Weah’s 49.1 percent with nearly all the votes counted.

    Read Also: Meet Liberia’s President-Elect Joseph Boakai

    The beauty was 57-year-old Weah’s concession speech even before the final tally. “The results announced tonight, though not final, indicate that (Boakai) is in a lead that we cannot surpass. A few moments ago, I spoke with President-elect Boakai to congratulate him on his victory,” Weah said in a national broadcast, adding: “The Liberian people have spoken and we have heard their voice.” He asked his supporters to “follow my example and accept the result of the election,” adding that “our time will come again” in 2029 when Boakai’s six-year term of office ends. That is the stuff political gladiators in Africa should be made of. 

  • Real estate, roadmap to economic recovery

    Real estate, roadmap to economic recovery

    • By Wale Aderibigbe

    The persisting economic and financial crisis in Nigeria has produced or exacerbated serious, wide-ranging impacts across the country. The crisis has meant that investment capital is difficult to obtain, a dispensation where business is conducted on international scale which involves the transfer of goods and services, technology, managerial knowledge and capital within the country and across national boundaries.

    Nigerian economy since the late 1960s has been based on and largely driven by the oil sector. Though we have recorded rapid economic growth in construction, manufacturing, transportation over the years, but at the same time it has been challenged by corruption and other vices across all the sectors of the economy. Following the pandemic-induced recession in 2020, the nation’s economic growth recovered, but macro-economic stability weakened, with inflation surging and pushing millions of Nigerians into extreme poverty, particularly women and children.

    Nigeria’s real estate sector has suffered reverses arising from the economic crisis, with a challenge that banks are becoming reluctant to advance credit to housing and real estate investors to complete their venture, leading to the abandonment of projects, limited bank financing to purchase properties as investors’ confidence is eroded. At the moment, property market is experiencing a slump in demand at the high end, and yield is also dropping because investors that have loan exposures on their real estate investments are being forced to sell. Banks are in a ‘recovery mode’ of outstanding debt and not ‘lending mode’ and as a result, real estate financing is highly squeezed as purchasing power is limited for transactions.

    One factor that is crystal clear is that the real estate sector is challenged. It is obvious that the housing sector requires urgent attention and government must make mass provision of housing a priority. Government should make housing provision for the common people a priority to bridge the over 21 million deficit and avoid a crisis situation. This makes government intervention in providing housing for the lower stratum of the society, who may never be able to afford housing without any intervention a necessity.

    Read Also: Real estate expert Oyedemi bags Professorship award

    Real estate industry in Nigeria is filled with lots of opportunities for profitability. It’s a reliable route to revamp the economy and it can drive growth and job creation if harnessed with the right enabling environment by the different levels of governments. It would play an integral part in the nation’s economy as it is in the United States of America where real estate business and investment provides a source of revenue for millions of people, provides housing for families and greatest source of wealth and savings for many Americans, creates jobs and spaces for retail, offices and manufacturing and contributes about 20% to GDP, unlike here where it contributes a ridiculous amount of about 5% to GDP.

    Government should address the critical challenges of the land tenure system, regulation around land use, ease of securing or transferring land title, physical planning laws and its enforcement, and these are fundamental in protecting values invested in real estate. The Land Use Act should be reviewed to make it more relevant and in tune with the needs and aspirations of Nigerians. Today, the Act is a damper to real estate investment and development. Tied closely to this is the provision of infrastructure that support the land use and population densities. Government should concentrate more on provision of infrastructure, ease the burden on property developers and ensure a more cost effective and affordable home development.

    There is no business that does not require real estate and there is no human being that does not require real estate. So the sector is very key, with huge potentials and opportunities, but we need the economy to be properly focused and properly managed by policy makers and the government so that all sectors, particularly the real estate can thrive. I am certain that there will be an uptrend in real estate investment and development with assurances of high return on investment as well as increase in real estate investment and moderate growth in the immediate years ahead.

    The sector is currently witnessing an emerging market characterized with investment in residential, hospitality and commercial properties, with private developers playing key roles. In other words, the real estate sector has seen increased investment interest with individual and institutional investors rising and deploying capital into the sector despite the slowdown in the economy.

    The first thing we expect from the government is to increase budgetary allocation to the housing sector. This is the first thing that will indicate whether the government wants to take part in that sector and make it the major driver of economic recovery.

    • Aderibigbe is an Estate Surveyor and Valuer based in Lagos
  • Labour’s clout and misuses

    Labour’s clout and misuses

    Organised labour pulled back on its nationwide strike last Wednesday, following intervention by the Federal Government through National Security Adviser (NSA) Nuhu Ribadu. That was after nearly 48 hours into the action it had threatened would be indefinite until government met its demands over brutalisation of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) President Joe Ajaero along with other labour leaders in Owerri on November 1. Ajaero had been in the Imo State capital to arrowhead a planned protest by state workers against Governor Hope Uzodinma over labour grievances that included outstanding salary arrears, allegedly unjust declaration of 11,000 state employees as ghost workers, unsettled gratuities, non-compliance by the state government with the N30,000 minimum wage act, and declaration of 10,000 pensioners as ghost retirees.

    Labour warriors including leaders from the other labour centre – the Trade Union Congress (TUC) – had gathered at the NLC state secretariat in Owerri to begin a scheduled protest when goons believed to represent the interest of Uzodinma, who is of the All Progressives Congress (APC), pounced  on Ajaero and his squad, battering them black and blue. The assailants reportedly smashed vehicles parked at the NLC office and inflicted injuries on the labour activists. Ajaero was arrested by the police, who said he was only taken into protective custody to rescue him from the assailants. He was later released upon intervention by NSA Ribadu.

    The wisdom of Ajaero dabbling in the Imo labour row at the time he did is highly questionable, considering it was less than two weeks from the state’s off-cycle governorship poll along with two others that held on November 11. Expectedly, that was a time when political emotions were at boiling point and every action viewed through the prism of partisanship. Worse is that the NLC leader is a native of Imo, and he leads an organisation perceived as habouring partisan support for Labour Party (LP). Even if there were genuine labour issues to be thrashed with the state government, expedience should have dictated that these be held on and taken up with Uzodinma if he returned as state governor – which he eventually did – or sorted out with whoever else emerged from the governorship race had he not returned. Ajaero plunged in the fray at an inauspicious time and with dubious objectivity, which apparently informed his manhandling by partisan goons.

    But it is by no means acceptable that people resorted to jungle conversation, presumably to ply their master’s interest, even if they deciphered partisan motive on Ajaero’s part. It is also curious that the police took the labour leader into ‘protective custody’ without apprehending any of his assailants. Ajaero was later to allege that police personnel also brutalised him while in their custody. Governor  Uzodinma along the line accused the labour leader of partisan meddling in the state’s politics, but he later offered apology  over his brutalisation because that happened in his (Uzodinma’s) state and under his watch.

    A famous creed of labour activism is ‘injury to one is injury to all,’ hence organised labour took the treatment meted out to Ajaero as a collective affront. TUC rallied to the side of NLC and together they rolled out a nationwide strike, one week after a localised strike called in Imo faltered. TUC President Festus Osifo, who spoke on behalf of the two labour centres, said the strike was to make government at all levels “wake up to their responsibilities.” Labour called its strike in defiance of an interim restraining order issued on November 10 by the National Industrial Court (NIC), with a charter of demands from government that included removal, arrest and prosecution of Imo administration and police officials alleged to have played some role in the attack on Ajaero. The labour centres also insisted on investigation and prosecution of former Imo State Police Commissioner Ahmed Barde, who Police Inspector-General Kayode Egbetokun had redeployed earlier on to defuse tension over the Ajaero attack. While the strike lasted, it paralysed activities in some states and sectors of the economy, but was spurned by workers in some states.

    Read Also: It is unwise for Labour Party to reject merger with PDP, says Reno Omokri

    Although other agents of government like Labour and Productivity Minister Simon Lalong and the National Assembly (NASS) leadership intervened to rein in labour’s anger, it was the  role of NSA Ribadu that saved the day. At the meeting with labour leaders last Wednesday, the NSA disclosed that some suspects of the assault on Ajaero had been arrested and would be investigated, and findings from the investigation made public soon as it is concluded. “As attested by the NLC leadership, the NSA immediately intervened upon learning about the travails of the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Comrade Joseph Ajaero, who was assaulted in Owerri, Imo State. The NSA regrets the incident and condemns it in its entirety as it was against the rule of law and the principles of freedom of association and expression subscribed to by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his administration,” a statement by Ribadu’s spokesperson, Zakari Mijinyawa, said.

    It was effectively on the strength of Ribadu’s intervention that organised labour eventually shelved its nationwide strike. In a statement he jointly signed with TUC Secretary-General Nuhu Toro, NLC General Secretary Emmanuel Ugboaja said: “The NEC in-session had a thorough review of the offers presented by the Federal Government through the National Security Adviser (NSA), Nuhu Ribadu. We found the offers credible and decided to reconsider our action.” He noted that the strike suspension was intended to facilitate further discussions after government had met labour’s crucial demands, adding: “We expect government to address the distressing abduction and brutalisation of…Ajaero and others.”

    But here are the issues: The NLC leader was widely accused of using the weapon of labour agitation in fighting a private battle – that is, his maltreatment in Imo State. And if you ponder on it, the only sense to make of the resolve and unity of the labour movement to fight alongside him is that the Owerri assault touched on a raw nerve in labour’s psyche, namely that harm to one member translates to a collective harm, especially when such harm is viewed as unjust. There is, however, also the question of propriety and proportion. The original grouse in the present matter was a localised labour grievance in Imo; and it is strange that workers in the state did not see a golden opportunity in the election looming at the time to make a statement on their displeasure with Uzodinma’s administration by voting against him, rather than plan a street action that portended being disruptive that same opportunity. The workers plunged the state into darkness by cutting off electricity supply, which was not restored through polling day and up till after the nationwide strike was called off last Wednesday. But the outcome showed the aggrieved workers as being of no consequence, because Uzodinma emerged victorious in all of Imo’s 27 council areas to win re-election and you would want to ask: where was Ajaero’s brigade?!

    To be clear, the NLC leader’s manhandling in Owerri was criminal and must be redressed with all the force of law. But labour upscaling the Imo dispute into a national action was grossly overreaching. The tragedy is that many Nigerians anchor their hope on the labour movement to ply their interest amidst ongoing economic reform of the Bola Tinubu presidency that has entailed enormous hardships for the citizenry. A weapon that will remain potent must be sparingly and speciously used, such that whenever it is wielded, the governing class shivers. The weapon of labour agitation is too strategic in Nigeria’s present circumstance to be so triflyl wielded.

    • Please join me on kayodeidowu.blogspot.be for conversation
  • Olanipekun: Man of uncommon accomplishments steps higher

    Olanipekun: Man of uncommon accomplishments steps higher

    • By Sunday Saanu

    With the recent successful defence of President Bola Tinubu at the presidential election petition court, Chief Oluwole Oladapo Olanipekun, Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) holds the distinction of a legal icon in the country who has defended the highest number of Nigerian Presidents in the court of law. He was a counsel to Presidents Umaru Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan, and Muhammad Buhari before the 2015 election. One should not even attempt to list the state governors he has used his legal knowledge and prowess to rescue from political oppression, cheating and intimidation.

         With his wiry frame, eel-like body dynamics depicting an eponymous figure; in addition to his awesome myth and meteoric greatness, Chief Olanipekun in the course of his professional journey that has earned him so much fame and fortunes, has smashed many cases to smithereens, almost effortlessly, with his opponents screaming like whose wounds have been stomped upon! He certainly knows the nuts and bolts of the profession like the back of his hand. Yet, remaining humble and harmless.

          An elder that he is, whose eyes have been made sunken by the troves of variegated sights he has witnessed, this iconic legal luminary who is 72 today is not only regal and resplendent, Chief Olanipekun is rich and righteous in Christ with excellent manners, sterling integrity,  just as he regularly comports himself with class and candour. Indeed, a perfect picture of geniality and civility.

           One-time President of Nigerian Bar Association, (NBA), immediate past Chairman, Body of Benchers, one-time Pro Chancellor and Chairman of Council, University of Ibadan, current Chairman, Board of Trustees, Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Chairman of this, Chairman of that, and Chairman of everything else, Chief Olanipekun is clearly a man in his own world without wishy-washy equivocation.

          But how can a man parade this kind of enviable credentials without enemies? He certainly has many enemies in different places! Why? You may ask. The answer is simple. People like success, but hate successful individuals. We are in a world of competition, a world full of envy, malice and treachery. The good news is Chief Olanipekun is not a malice bearer. In many of our conversations, he will say, “Sunday, I will never think of evil towards anyone. My Bible does not teach me to hate people and destroy fellow beings”

         On account of his prestigious reputation, he is ever restrained from provocation.   His reaction to many attacks he has faced has always been, “no reaction”  When he was admonishing me on a particular case and the way I handled it, hear what he told me, “Sunday, ta lo ko e logbon, ti ko ko e lomugo?” meaning who taught you wisdom but failed to teach you the usefulness of assumed foolishness? This has been his philosophy in life. He chooses his battles. He doesn’t react to everything. He stands for whatever that is noble and honourable, yet,  so committed to the healing of the ill

        However, what are the sterling qualities that set him apart? Hard work and discipline. To him, there is no honest alternative to hard work. Obviously, this is one of the reasons he has attained the dizzy heights of stardom in his profession. If he is not in court, he is either in his expansive office reading and preparing for various cases he has,  or in church to serve His God. Chief Olanipekun is not a personality you see at every loud social engagement, dancing and sweating. His is a story of decency and dignity. You will like his courage and you will admire his carriage.

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          At 72, age hasn’t removed the spring in his steps. There is no mistaking that jaunty walk. He still crisscrosses the length and breadth of the country, practising what he knows how to do best. It could only have been God. In his office, and around him, everyone is held up to the highest standards of character and virtues. From his sartorial preferences to leadership styles, this living legend stands pretty tall and far away from the archetypal lot, providing selfless and service to humanity.

          Saying that he is as rich as the legendary Croesus is to affirm the obvious. Without doubt,  he is a mighty man of means. Fantastic! But that is not the point per se! The question is how has his wealth benefited the poor who are in the majority? At least, it is on record that over 80 percent of Nigerians are in multi-dimensional poverty. In fairness to Chief Olanipekun, he has done so much to alleviate poverty in the land in his own little way. For instance, he has established Wole Olanipekun Scholarship Board with which he spends a lot of money on a yearly basis to give education to the intelligent but indigent students from primary school level through secondary school and the university level.

          The Board which has been running over 25 years now has enabled so many students who would have otherwise ended up as hewers of woods to become graduates of different disciplines. I have also benefited from the scheme. Details will be revealed later. Beyond that, Chief Olanipekun has empowered so many youth to be so useful to themselves and to the society. It is also on record that wherever he finds himself, he will ensure he leaves behind an enduring legacy. Before he left as University of Ibadan Council Chairman, he built a 350 capacity lecture theatre and donated to the institution.

    At Ajayi Crowther University Oyo where he was Council Chairman, and now Chairman of Board of Trustees, he singlehandedly built Vice Chancellor’s Lodge. In his Ikere Ekiti country home, he built a modern church, hospital, court complex among others. These are just synopses of his numerous altruistic kind gestures. Chief Olanipekun is a special breed whose philanthropic profile is beyond compare!

     In recognition of his contributions to the society however, he has received numerous awards and honours. He was given Officer of the Order of the Federal Republic (OFR) in 2001, the Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR) in 2014. These are in addition to his prestigious Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) title. Recently, Chief Olanipekun was inducted along with others including Chief Afe Babalola into Ekiti Elders Hall of Fame for their contributions to the betterment of humanity.

         As he marks his birthday today, one can only pray that God continually prolongs Chief Olanipekun’s life in peace and prosperity for the benefit of humanity. Born in Ikere Ekiti, Ekiti State on November 18, 1951,   Chief Olanipekun attended Amonye Grammar  School, Ikere Ekiti between 1965 and 1969 where he obtained the West African School Certificate (WASC). His academic brilliance informed his appointment as the Senior Prefect. He proceeded to Ilesa Grammar School in 1970 from where he obtained the Higher School Certificate (HSC) in 1971.

     At Ilesha Grammar School, the young Olanipekun manifested his innate leadership qualities, thus becoming the Editor-in-Chief of the school magazine (The Spike). He was also the chairman of, Students Representative Committee in 1971. In 1972, he gained admission into the University of Lagos where he bagged the Bachelor of Law degree in 1975. As light drawing moths, Olanipekun attracted many friends and admirers with his enchanting brilliancy which led to this election as the secretary-general of, Students’ Union between 1973 and 1974.

     He attended the Nigerian Law School, Lagos from 1975 and 1976 and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1976. He was a junior counsel in the Messrs Oniyangi & Co Ilorin between 1977 and 1979. A happy birthday, Chief.

    Saanu (08034073427) is with Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo  on sabbatical.

    ●Email: sundaysaanu@gmail.com

  • Decline of the Sunshine State

    Decline of the Sunshine State

    • By Olu Ayela

    Barrister Oluwarotimi Akeredolu is a household name. He is debonair, outspoken, and candid. At the Nigerian Bar Association where he was chairman, he was known for his incisive analyses, erudition and agility. When it came to discussing human rights, his place was on the front row. These clouts, no doubt, recommended him to the good people of Ondo State, the Sunshine State of Nigeria, when he canvassed for votes to be elected governor. The campaign was flawless, and when the election came, he was victorious. But little did the politically enlightened people of the state know that it was a pyrrhic victory and that they had shot themselves in the foot!

    For all who may care, Ondo State is blessed with both human and natural resources and should be one of the richest states in the country, if properly managed. Alas, mismanagement, avarice and calculated attempts to subjugate the people and the truth have turned a once growing state, and one of the privileged oil producing states in the country, into a Siberia, a state of extreme difficulties and lamentation, one in which civil servants are not sure of their wages at the end of the month. Thanks to Ogbeni Akeredolu and his cabal who, by their actions and inactions are destroying the state.

    Ondo State currently illustrates the potential risk philosophers predicted would befall a state if allowed to function without direction. It is a dictum that where there are no laws, there would be no sin. Philosophers had centuries ago foreseen that a state without a rudder would fall into anarchy. The laws of the land are there to guide those at the helm of affairs. Today, Ondo State presents an evidence of what those philosophers claimed.

    In fairness, only God is immune to sickness. Akeredolu, like all mortals, had fallen ill. He was in Germany for months, and during the period handed over to the deputy governor as dictated by the 1999 Constitution (as amended). But since he returned, the state has been without any one in particular governing it, yet he is one of the nation’s legal luminaries. Just when the Constitution would have vetoed that the deputy governor takes over the reins, Akeredolu was brought back to Nigeria, and bundled to Ibadan.

    No one has seen him near Ondo State since then. Surprisingly, his wife Betty Anyanwu Akeredolu and his son, and some selfish politicians have formed themselves into a cabal ruling the state. They are even eager to cite the case of Turayi Yar’Adua and Buhari as instances. Many appointees of Akeredolu have lost their sense of reasoning and do not see anything wrong in what is happening in the state.

    Imagine 31 of his appointees passing a vote of confidence in him, a man they have not seen at Government House, Akure, since his return from Germany; a man who has not called or presided over any Executive Council meeting since his return?. They say in a statement on November 17, 2023;

    “We unanimously declare our unflinching trust in Mr Governor and endorse his impactful leadership. As a united front, we remain steadfast in our support for Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, CON, and pledge to continue working collarboratively towards the advancement and prosperity of the state. We express our gratitude to Mr Governor for his selfless service and courageous leadership.”

    Its gratifiying that one of his commissioners disagreed with them. Mr Akinwumi Sowore, his commissioner for commerce, industry and cooperatives, faulted his colleagues’ claim

    “I don’t have any issue with the governor, and he is our governor in the state. Infact, they don’t allow the man to rest. There has been no exco meeting, the governor is far away in Ibadan and the deputy is embattled far away in Abuja. So, nobody to chair the executive council meeting in the state. Even if am around, I will not have signed because I’m supposed to tell them what they are supposed to do. No exco meeting had been held, except during the period the deputy governor was acting governor. But since the governor had resumed duty on 7th September, no exco meeting has been held.” Sowore said.

    The lawlessness going on in Ondo State is contrary to the social contract the citizens signed with Akeredolu. For a truth, Akeredolu is to blame for his shenanigans. When he was hauled back into the country without being  fit to perform his constitutional function as governor, as a learned gentleman, the right thing to do was to hand over to his deputy, but he refused. Truly, power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely. But the heat is now on him. The price of hanging on to power at the detriment of the people is higher than he ever thought. Whether he or his cabal likes it, as long as the state economy, infrastructure and security are not at acceptable level, Akeredolu’s surrogate cannot claim to be winning the peace, and of course, like Macbeth, they have murdered sleep.

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    Let it be emphasized here, that the battle for the right thing to be done in Ondo State is far beyond that of the deputy governor who has been castrated and treated like a leper when it comes to appurtenances of office by non-elective surrogates. It should also be recognized by all that the illegal occupation of the governor’s office by this so-called cabal is a threat to the survival of the state indigenes. The heavy groanings in the state about the absurdity are welcome but the indigenes should do more than lament. There is need for affirmative action; incidentally, history is on the side of the people. If you fold your arms and refuse to take a responsible course of action, those who had vowed to run Ondo State to the ground would continue in the subjugation of the state wide sovereign.

    It is no longer news that when you see a façade of governor’s entourage anywhere in the state be sure it is either Akeredolu’s wife or son racing about in state apparati, sucking it to the people, “we have come to suck you dry.” It was a bitter experience the other day, when the entourage swept past and we all thought the governor was back and raced after him, only to discover it was the governor’s son and his friends inspecting projects in the state capital. You begin to wonder how a young man with lively imagination and with a very short attention span can be regarded as possessing the qualities expected of a brilliant academic or law guru. The bravado and other schemes are just like using antibiotics to fight common cold; the people no doubt, will just be more resistant rather than being sympathetic.

    Go to any part of Ondo State now, what you see all are people who are downcast and people whose suffering is clearly visible in their faces. Their strange stares seem to ask why they were been so silly-beaten just for the error of voting the wrong person into the seat of power. A rhetorical question only Akeredolu and his cohorts could answer. More than ever, the misery sweeping through the state is unimaginable. The masses of the people are hitting their heads against pillars of corrupt politicians and posts erected by shameless state cows milking the poor citizens.

    The utter chaos Akeredolu’s wife and her cabal have turned Ondo State into is highly unbecoming. The question to ask is what is the role of the governor’s wife in the scheme of things in a peaceful state? What power has the governor’s wife to wrestle all the apparati of office from a sitting deputy governor? These anomalies  are only possible in Ondo State.

    What did the Constitution say about the office of the deputy governor and that of the wife of the governor and in the absence of a governor up to five months, how should power transit from him to the next line of authority? These are questions begging for answers in Ondo State.

    Unfortunately, the Ondo State House of Assembly seems to have sold its soul to the highest bidder. All sorts of stories are flying about with regards to what has handicapped the assembly from doing the right thing. Their job is very simple, if not blinded by poisonous gifts. Is there any clause arrogating the passage of governorship power to the wife or son of Ondo State governor, otherwise, who is benefitting from the current absence of power structure?

    It is high time All Progressive Congress leaders intervened to restore order and good governance. The constitution is the nation’s supreme law and most be obeyed. Enough of political bravado and rascality. Ondo people have suffered enough and in the words of Milton Obote’s opus, Cry My Beloved Ondo State for your agonies have reached the high heavens.

    In this regard, the advice of a group, Ondo State Patriots, based in Lagos which is aghast with the goings-on in the state is timely and should be heeded. President of the group, Chief Samuel Olanrenwaju who is a retired Assistant Inspector General of Police, has warned that the state must not be allowed to slide into anarchy as a result of the small mindedness of certain individuals. He urged the state assembly to thread the path of common sense, by installing immediately the Deputy Governor, to continue to act pending the time the governor would be fit to resume duties in Akure.  

    ●Olu Ayela, Veteran Journalist, based in Lagos

  • To Jackson Ude and co: Let Bala Mohammed breathe!

    To Jackson Ude and co: Let Bala Mohammed breathe!

    • By Kola Oyerinde

    In a recent Facebook post which appears to have been deleted, social media influencer Jackson Ude described the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) as “a failed assemblage of crooks, betrayers, opportunists and elements with no conscience”. In his words, “the party as presently constituted is a disgrace. It has failed to provide a vibrant opposition, it has failed to be a political party in tune with today’s realities”.

    Not yet done, the self-appointed watchdog hurled undeserved expletives at the Governor of Bauchi State, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed who also doubles as Chairman of the PDP Governors Forum. Ude attributed his umbrage to a photograph showing Governor Bala Mohammed with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu performing a religious rite.

    Aware that Ude provides media support to some high profile members of the PDP, his comment does not come as a surprise. What is surprising, to put it mildly, is his bellicose and scurrilous disposition that are neither supported by facts, commonsense nor logic. And he should not be allowed to escape with his bare-faced obscurantism, especially when he feigns ignorance of the genesis of the PDP crisis. If one may ask, where was Jackson Ude who had served as a special assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan, when, in 2013, the PDP was sent into its present tailspin by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who had led a rebellion against the sitting President Jonathan?

    Where was he when some desperate over-indulgent disgruntled PDP stalwarts led a renegade faction of the party under the banner of the n-PDP and, with some opposition elements, coalesced into the All People Progressive Congress (APC) to chase Jonathan out of power in 2015? If Ude is concerned about a weak PDP, let him tell the world if the party has recovered from that betrayal by characters whose impatience, deep sense of entitlement and obduracy explain what he now sees as the sorry state of the opposition in Nigeria today.

    What about 2023 when, against all entreaties to respect Nigeria’s plurality, the same group of people, ignoring the well thought-out power rotation principle of the party, hijacked both the PDP party machinery and the presidential ticket, thereby condemning the party to the dilemma of going into the presidential elections with a divided house? Has Ude forgotten so soon how, playing God, some PDP stalwarts, rather than toe the path of reconciliation and inclusiveness, arrogantly disclaimed and dismissed voices of reason within the party as nonentities who were incapable of stopping what they considered to be their imminent victory?

    If the PDP has indeed degenerated to the nadir characterized by Ude, those are the people to hold responsible, not Bala Mohammed or any other person. Before pontificating on the presumed speck in other people’s eyes, Ude and his co-travellers should first dislodge the gargantuan logs in their jaundiced political eyes.

    Ude probably belongs to the school of thought that sees political opponents as enemies; that subscribes to the characterization of politics as a zero-sum game where the winner takes all, in fact, a war where the actors remain at daggers drawn, where there can only be victors and vanquished. To such people, compromise, conciliation and collaboration are alien constructs that should be securely quarantined like a virus. That is pretty unfortunate to say the least.

    Irrespective of party or personal differences, we are bound to respect the fact that every argument about the presidential election ended with the Supreme Court decision affirming President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner. It does not matter whether we agree with the verdict or not. And within the context of inter-governmental relations, what anyone feels about President Bola Tinubu as a person is not important. It is within that context that Bala Mohammed’s involvement should be seen and understood, as respect for the rule of law and good governance.

    Besides, history should be our guide lest we make the mistakes of the past. Refusing to relate with President Bola Tinubu who is the sovereign authority is tantamount to an unintelligent throwback to the less than noble posture of some governors in the Second Republic who threw caution to the wind by denigrating the person of President Shehu Shagari.

    Some of us were witnesses to how some governors who, except for matters that were constitutionally binding, blatantly refused to co-operate with the easy-going Shagari on any issue. Indigenes of some states had to pay heavily for such unbridled partisanship when it became their lot to finance huge projects that the Shagari administration was ready to provide.

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    Is Jackson Ude recommending a relapse to that ignominious era? Or is he, with his co-travellers, surreptitiously agitating a derailment of this republic through unremitting crisis; akin to pulling down the roof of the house if one cannot get into the master bedroom?

    Rather than the bitter opposition that Ude and his paymasters prescribe, the country would gain more from constructive engagement by all stakeholders. Has Jackson Ude not heard that it is the grass that suffers when two elephants fight?

    Neither is Bala Mohammed stupid, nor is he one given to grandstanding. Years of exposure as a top civil servant, a Senator and a minister of the Federal Republic have equipped him with the political savvy to appreciate the dynamics of intergovernmental relations, the nuances that enable a Governor to leverage mutual collaboration with the presidency for the achievement of the legacy goals that have earned his administration deserved accolades and peer group compliments. There is no doubt that the Saudi trip is one of such engagements. If that to Ude is treachery, then anything would qualify to be so described.

    If associating with a President from another political party passes for treachery, obviously, Jackson Ude would either have been ensconced somewhere in outer space or perhaps in a state of incurable blankness when Atiku Abubakar, even while angling to succeed APC’s Buhari on the platform of the PDP, was conspicuously present and actively participated at the wedding of Buhari’s son in 2021. Did Ude not see photographs of the Waziri as he grinned from ear to ear at the event, despite the economy already being on its way to its now parlous state? If Ude did not see anything wrong with our highly revered Waziri indulging in that personal gratification with his opponents, it is curious that he would consider an official investment trip that promises to benefit the people of Bauchi State and by extension Nigeria, as a betrayal. At any rate, neither Ude nor any other person can choose friends or enemies for Bala Mohammed.

    It is instructive yet regrettable to note that in the aftermath of the 2023 presidential elections, several futile attempts have been made by some mischievous desperados to tar Bala Mohammed with the brush of a traitor. To their eternal disappointment, all such attempts will continue to crumble. Bala Mohammed has no regrets whatsoever being an unrepentant federalist, a consummate nationalist and a genuine patriot whose every political step is dictated by the loftiest nationalist considerations.

    Alluding to this, last month, at the closing of the retreat for top public officers and civil servants in Bauchi State, the Emir of Katagum recalled the controversies that trailed the much quoted Doctrine of Necessity, spearheaded by Bala Mohammed in the Senate in 2010, to clear the impediments that had tended to obstruct Jonathan’s ascendancy to the presidency. The emir who was a federal permanent secretary at the time, recalled how a prominent permanent secretary of northern extraction came to him in the middle of the night to ask if that “boy”, referring to Bala Mohammed, knew what he was doing; if he was not aware that his move was against the interest of the north.

    Such was the groundswell of opposition that greeted Bala Mohammed’s principled insistence on upholding the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. That is the essential Bala Mohammed who, at 65, can only calcify into a more unbreakable nationalist always holding the banner of inclusion aloft as the irreducible mantra of his political engagement, now or in the future.

    Had the Senate ably led by David Mark capitulated to the seething parochialism of the era and not endorsed the patriotic Bala Mohammed-inspired Doctrine of Necessity motion, chances are that the Niger Delta region would have seen the denial of Jonathan as a justification for throwing the country into a daunting security and economic nightmare.

    As Nigeria stands on the threshold of another major dilemma today, Jackson Ude and his ilk, nay his pay masters, should shed the political glaucoma that is beclouding their accurate reading of the Nigerian political landscape; it is incumbent on them to see Nigeria beyond their insatiable quest for power, what many now consider as their irritating sense of entitlement. It is not just about allowing Bala Mohammed to breathe.

    Back to the PDP. If those now shedding crocodile tears and pointing accusing fingers at everyone except themselves are sincere to themselves, they need no prodding to admit that had they listened to the voices of people like Bala Mohammed, chances are that they would have avoided the present state of regret and spared the nation, the spiral of serial political convulsions that has turned the country into a revolving nightmare.

    There is still a window of redemption: that window is squarely in the hands of President Tinubu. I expect the President to make inclusiveness, magnanimity, national as against particularistic hegemony, and the entrenchment of good governance in all facets of national life, the guiding principles of his administration.

    The magnanimity that Tinubu is already demonstrating, must be complemented by deepening democracy, rebuilding confidence in Government among the youth and giving every stakeholder group, particularly the minorities, a genuine sense of belonging.

    To succeed in these, President Tinubu needs the support of all those who profess genuine love for Nigeria, not the misguided and unjustified vendetta against the Governor of Bauchi State. Please, Jackson Ude and his co-travellers should let Bala Mohammed breathe!

  • Ogun: Abiodun’s renewed developmental agenda

    Ogun: Abiodun’s renewed developmental agenda

    • By Femi Ogbonnikan

    Little by little, Ogun State is soaring higher towards attainment of the second phase of the developmental agenda of the new administration of Governor Dapo Abiodun. It hasn’t been an easy cruising through, due to the limitation of the national and global economic challenges of the past four years. By and large, the state has remained afloat. In those turbulent times of the Covid-19 pandemic and its existential threat, every effort of government to reach the loft height of its objective of building a prosperous economy for the good of all had been punctuated by one crisis or the other. But the administration was never deterred. With courage, determination, and focused leadership, the state was able to wade through the vicissitudes of the time.

    Without a doubt, much still needs to be done. And in any case, development is forever a work in progress. But it goes without saying that the Abiodun has raised the threshold of good governance.

    To whom much is given, they say, much is expected”. Having overcome the past few months of distraction that followed the outcome of the last general elections, the Governor is now poised to deliver on its electoral promises. In this second term, there is a brighter hope on the horizon. With all the indices of the socio-economic development present in the state, one can say without any equivocation that the feat the administration has achieved is not by sudden flight. Rather, it is due to the forthright attitude of the man leading the charge, his dogged determination, and infinite forbearance even in the face of obvious distractions and other extraneous circumstances. All through human history, no development effort has ever recorded any reasonable level of success without some hiccups. It’s the ability to surmount those challenges and forge ahead with eagle eyes on the vision for a better tomorrow that leads to sustainable development.

    All of these have been factored into Abiodun’s working document as encapsulated in the ISEYA mantra of his administration. This is not to take it for granted, however, that the journey of the next four years will be absolutely hitch-free. Certainly, not. There will be hiccups that may come from either the known or the unknown circumstances. First, it is important to note that those who have constituted themselves as a clog in the wheel of progress are not going to relax in their efforts to cause one form of distraction or the other. But they are not powerful enough to pull back the hands of the clock. Secondly, the nation’s economy still remains largely challenged by the new regime of subsidy removal and high food inflation. Like the past experience, Governor Abiodun has assured on several occasions that no effort would be spared to mitigate the negative impact of it on the citizenry and development effort of the administration.   

    While recently regaling his audience with the policy direction of his new administration in a recent media interview, he further reiterated his commitment to the sustenance of the trajectory of economic growth through aggressive pursuit of infrastructure development, implementation of an integrated transportation master plan as well as industrial investment and improvement in agricultural value chains, among others.   

    This is in line with his aspiration to make Ogun State an investment destination as the centre-piece of his policy thrust. During the interview, he made it abundantly clear that he would consolidate on the foundation of success the government had achieved in its efforts to lead the state to the Eldorado. To achieve this, he promised to harness to the fullest the advantage of the geographical location of the State, its proximity to Lagos as well as its land size to nurture his vision to transform the economy into a leading industrial hub in the West Africa subregion.  

    In his narrative of the journey of the last four years, he had this to say: “Ogun State, without doubt, has become an investment destination of choice. And being the only neighbour Lagos State has, we are what I would describe as New Jersey of Nigeria. What New Jersey is to New York is what Ogun State is to Lagos State. So, we represent the overflow of Lagos. Ogun State is 16,000 Square kilometres in size. We are about four times the size of Lagos State. That in itself represents our comparative advantage over other states.

    “As an administration, when assumed office and looked at the combination of the geographical location, power, and land size, we said these should form our vision. That vision is the reason we focus on creating an enabling environment for Public-Private Partnership (PPP) because we believe it is fundamental to the economic growth of the state and the individual prosperity of our people.

    “We are leveraging our geographical location, and access to natural gas that we have to now see how we can create a further enabling environment for people to work and live in Ogun State. We decided that it was extremely important in whatever we do to take advantage of its proximity to Lagos to enjoy its full potential”.

    To ease the movement of people to and from Lagos and also stimulate the transport sector as a catalyst for industrial transformation, he disclosed that over 400 kilometres of highways had been constructed by the administration. Not surprisingly, a sizeable population of Ogun State residents now finds it convenient to work in Lagos, as it takes less than an hour to transit between the two states. “To date, in Ogun State, we have constructed over 400 kilometres of highways. We prioritise the highways that connect us with neighbouring states, particularly Lagos. Today, four years and a few months into our tenure, you can travel between Lagos and Ogun State in less than an hour. Before we assumed office, it would take you probably two or three hours or even more. So, more people are now coming to Ogun State to live, to work and to hold conferences, to play because we are easily accessible,” Governor Abiodun enthused. 

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    All this has been complemented by a transportation master plan focusing on an inherent connection between roads and rail, on the one hand, and air transport on the other hand. That is the vision that has culminated in the building of a world-class International Agro-Cargo Airport located somewhere in Ikenne Local Government between Ilishan and Iperu. Although the state government had secured the licence for the airport in 2006, it was the present administration that finally resolved the impasse arising from the contention about the choice of the location between his two predecessors. Though capital intensive, the Airport was built in a recording-breaking short period of two years, making it the fastest to be constructed ever in the history of this country. It recorded the first historic flight landing sometime last year. According to projections, all things being equal, it will commence full commercial operation before the end of this year. 

    “One exciting thing about it is the unique features that give it a competitive edge over others. Apart from the dual advantage of its access to two major highways-Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and Sagamu-Benin Expressway, it is also co-located in the special Agro-Processing zone. The idea behind the initiative is to create an enabler for easy evacuation of fresh agro-produce”.

    As the Governor already hinted,  some investors had already indicated interest in setting up vegetable farms in the special agro-processing zone and airlifting fresh vegetables on a daily basis.

    “Similarly, when finally completed, the ongoing industrial zone will create between 30,000 and 50,000 new jobs with multiplier effects on the state economy and the country at large. As a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement between the state government and private companies, the industrial zone has already been chosen as an economic hub with partnerships in different parts of the sub-region, Ivory Coast, Garbon, Togo, Benin Republic, and so on.

    “Therefore, the importance of the airport to the overall turnaround of the fortune of the state’s economy cannot be over-emphasized. According to statistics, Ogun State currently houses over 5,000 industries. Today, the state has the largest cement factories in Nigeria, producing the highest tons of cement. These include Lafarge, Dangote as well as others that are just springing up.

    “Other than cement factories, the state is also the home of industrial giants like Nestle, Cadbury, Unilever, May & Baker, International Breweries, Olams, Flour Mills, and a host of others.  

    “By the time the Cargo Airport commences full commercial operation, manufacturers will no longer need to go to the already congested ports in Lagos any more to export their containers when the airport commences full commercial operation”, said the Governor.

    That is the vision that drives the commitment of the Abiodun administration to build a world-class airport with the best standard facilities. At present, the Airport has the longest runway in Nigeria. It has the best-constructed terminals and apron in Nigeria. Precisely, the apron is 84,000 Square meters which is four or five times larger than the largest Cargo Airport in Nigeria.

    Governor Abiodun, in his brief outline of the vision of his new administration, stated thus:  “We must find a way of allowing our manufacturers who are exporting to be able to export their containers efficiently. We would be constructing our dry port and when the port is constructed which would be in Kajola, it means that, if you are shipping goods from anywhere in the world to Ogun State, you don’t need to go to Lagos anymore. You will ship in your goods and you will see “FOB Kajola Dry Port”.

    “The whole idea of co-locating the Airport in a special Agro-Processing zone is that all the entire value chains of agro-produce would be occurring in the zone where raw materials are coming from in different plantations that we have in Ogun State, be it cassava, cashew, oil palm, rubber, cotton, and so many others.

    “Our Apron is 84,000 Square meters which is four or five times larger than the largest Cargo Airport in Nigeria. These cargo-based companies have now decided that, once the Airport is ready they will now be flying their cargoes that are destined for Nigeria to that Airport.

    “Today, we have received unsolicited offers from those who are serious about taking over the Airport on concession. We are talking to them. We are still excited about the level of interest that we have seen. That’s why we built this Airport to a world-class standard.

    “We must find a way of allowing our manufacturers who will be exporting to export their containers efficiently. We would be constructing our dry port and when the port is constructed it would be in Kajola. It means that, if you are shipping goods from anywhere in the world to Ogun State, you don’t need to them to Lagos anymore. You will ship in your goods and you will see FOB Kajola Dry Port.

    “There will be no need for inefficiencies that are associated with trucks going in and out of Lagos ports and the congestion itself that has been associated with that in the past is no more. These are some of the things that reforms, policies, programmes that this administration has implemented to support the over 5,000 industries that have come to make Ogun State their home. By so doing, we would be fully implementing our vision which is to create an enabling environment for more people to come here to live, work, to play which in turn translates into individual prosperity of our people,” the governor stressed.

    ●Ogbonnikan writes from Abeokuta, Ogun State