The Nation Newspaper

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  • Kachikwu and his leaked letter

    There have been arguments on the propriety or otherwise of the letter alleging improper conduct against NNPC’s group managing director, Dr Baru to President Buhari being leaked to the Press.

    The leak could be traced to one of two sources. It could have been from the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ike Kachikwu’s source, ostensibly to force the President’s hands to expeditiously deal with the matter and sanction the NNPC big man. If this is the position, whoever leaked the confidential letter has not done the minister a favour. Rather it has rendered the minister vulnerable, with a safe inference that the minister meant to embarrass not only his GMD but President Buhari as well. My little knowledge of bureaucracy hints of government not taking a dim view of such infraction.

    On the other hand, the letter could also have been leaked to the media by Baru’s agents in the Presidency, with a view to portraying the minister as the bad guy and get him into the black book of the President. Again, if this guess is correct, I think it has backfired, as not just the minister that is embarrassed now but the President as well. As it stands, the points raised in the minister’s letter are so weighty that the public is now entitled to know what the President’s reaction to them will be. It is in his own best interest, as a man with impressive morality credentials, to distance himself from the subtle charge that he might have been complicit in the trillion-dollar infractions; and act accordingly.

    Oil has been spilled on the floor in this matter and it waits to be seen who will be consumed in the inferno that may soon break out of this spillage.

  • Airports: Concession not the way to go

    After the experiences of government concerns like the defunct Nigerian National Shipping Lines (NNSL) and Nigeria Airways, to mention just a few, workers of government’s establishments about to be privatized (or concessioned) have a cause to worry. Many of them are likely to lose their jobs as those to whom the establishments are concessioned may not be pleased carrying on with the same number of workers, particularly as they are likely to be seen as the reason for the failure of the companies. If the firms were doing well, the government would probably not want to concession them, so the new managers would reason. As we will see shortly, this is fallacious.

    However, it is against the experiences of some public agencies’ workers with concession, privatisation etc. that workers in the aviation agencies are protesting the planned concessioning of four airports. These are the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, Port Harcourt International Airport, Port Harcourt, and Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport, Kano. These are the biggest and obviously the most lucrative airlines in the country.  Government’s excuse is that they will be better managed under concession agreements. In other words, they are not doing well simply because they are government-owned.

    But recent developments in the country with the record remittances by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) have shown that government agencies can be made more responsible and transparent with regard to public funds. While JAMB has remitted about N5billion in less than one year, with a promise to remit N3billion more, NIMASA on its part has paid in more than N9.975 billion and $37,272,12.12 million to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).  These are the highest remittances in the history of both organisations.

    What these tell us is that the problem is not necessarily with the workers of government agencies or the fact that the agencies are government-owned; it is more of the perception of the incumbent government on corruption and corrupt practices. Irrespective of its shortcomings, real or perceived, the Muhammadu Buhari government still has its anti-corruption mantra going for it. This could be part of the reasons we are seeing such huge remittances now, as compared with the past when most ministries, departments and parastatals ensured that they spent whatever was allocated to them on all kinds of purchases and inflating the costs. The goal was to exhaust the year’s allocation at all cost to justify asking for more in the next year.

    The warning by the Federal Government to probe the activities of the past administrators of JAMB and NIMASA, as well as other establishments, is in order. When the heads of these agencies know that someone will look into their books someday, they are likely to sit right and curb their appetite for unnecessary expenses and diversion or mismanagement of public funds. It is almost certain that more government establishments will henceforth turn in more money into the government’s coffers, following in the JAMB and NIMASA examples.

    One problem with us is that we always like to make reference to what obtain in developed parts of the world as best practice. If airports in some countries are concessioned or privatised, that should not necessarily make us toe the same line. Why can’t Nigeria be a reference point when successful government enterprises are the issue? Why? Again, take the case of the defunct Nigeria Airways for example; it was doing well until corruption got in its way. And when I say corruption, I used it loosely to cover even the so-called government interference in its operations, because that is also corruption of sort. The fault is not necessarily in the workers but in the country’s leadership as well as those of these organisations. We were told of a particular managing director of Nigeria Airways who on one occasion delayed a particular flight for close to an hour just to pick his girlfriend. The bonafide passengers who had paid for the flight were shocked when they saw that it was an otherwise inconsequential lady that had kept them waiting. When the workers of such an establishment see such example from their leaders, they too are likely to breach their work code and it becomes difficult for discipline to be maintained. If there is any reason why the private sector seems the best investor, it is because of the discipline that is upheld in the firms. While infractions are punished when detected, in government, it is not usually so as a lot of other extraneous considerations come into play. To the extent that many of the government agencies were once profitable even as public entities, we need not necessarily look for solution to their present maladies by concessioning them.

    Look at the Bi-Courtney debacle. This is another typical example of a failed concession. The company had undertaken to construct a five-storey hotel at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, under a concession agreement with the Obasanjo administration. But a certain Minister of Aviation objected to the idea under the guise that it would constitute a security risk at the airport and that it would be a hindrance to take-off and landing of aircraft. Babalakin’s company went to court and won all the way to the Supreme Court; yet, he was not allowed to build the hotel and his financiers eventually backed out.  The company suffered a similar fate with regard to the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway that it also was supposed to construct under another concession agreement.

    Again, look at the power sector. How far have we gone despite its privatisation about four years ago? Electricity supply is as epileptic as ever. Yet, once upon a time, the (then) Electricity Corporation of Nigeria (ECN) was successfully run a few decades ago by government. It was the neglect of the power sector by the government for more than two decades, coupled with corruption that replaced light with darkness in the country.

    There is no argument in favour of concession of the airports that cannot be faulted. If you say they require massive infrastructural development that a few countries (if any) can bear, this is not correct per se. Just like some other public enterprises, a time there was when the Federal Government ran the airports successfully. The massive investment cannot be a problem if they are well run because the business will generate the money to take care of its costs and even leave room for profit.

    What is required in our airports is not necessarily concessioning but a change of attitude on the part of the government itself, which would naturally percolate down when the leadership at the airports see that it is no longer business as usual even at the very top. Government cannot be and should not be throwing up its hands in frustration and abandoning its responsibilities. Government woke up overnight to pull down toll gates nationwide because those running them were not faithful in their remittances. There were no sanctions and those who helped themselves with public funds went away happily with their loot. That is the way we run the country; it is because people are not sanctioned for crimes committed against the state that others are encouraged to follow the same unfaithful path.

    Mercifully, the agencies at the airports usually organise quarterly management lectures at which issues affecting the industry can be brainstormed on with a view to solving them and improving on their performance. The most recent of these was held on September 27, 2017 at the FAAN Training Centre, Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, where the Chairman of the Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered), Aviation Chapter, Dr Olatunmibi Omisore delivered a speech on recession, corruption on the part of the individual and in the workplace, among other salient issues.

    Vice President Yemi Osinbajo also, while acting for President Muhammadu Buhari had issued an executive order aimed at improving service delivery at our airports. This is good; but what is needed is for the government to ensure compliance. If the order is complied with, there is no reason why we should concession our airports.

    Part of the problem is that most of the drivers of the airports cannot look the government in the face and tell it that concession is not the way to go because it cannot work, especially in Nigeria. The kind of security that the airports require can only be provided by the government. In some of the other countries where concession has worked, they have gone far in terms of security. We are yet to get even the rudiments right. The oil and gas sector in countries like Indonesia and Malaysia is run by government and they are doing fine. What we need to take away from the airports is corruption in all ramifications, not necessarily the government.

     

    • Mr. Babatunde wrote in from Lagos.

  • Get on the dance floor!

    Julia Child, the famous American chef, author and TV personality once said, “Nothing is too much trouble if it turns out the way it should.” I believe the joy and fulfillment that accompanies the achievement makes the trouble worth the while. With many awards to her credit, Julia further said, “The measure of achievement is not winning awards, it’s doing something you appreciate, something you believe is worthwhile”. I opine that sometimes winning awards can be a yardstick for measuring success. It can be a veritable feedback, a reward fiesta crowning you as an influencer. Are you desirous of winning awards? Get on the dance floor!

    My experience is so dramatic. It was the end of the year party for the regional staff of ‘XYZ’ bank and as the cash officer of my branch, I had to make out time to be there. After the usual party rhetoric came the moment everyone was expecting. The anchor was announcing the winners for each award category, meanwhile I was wiling away time, playing games on my phone anxiously anticipating the end of the party. I was already craving for the Christmas holiday. Suddenly, from the rear I heard “And the winner of the best dressed female staff is Oluwatoyin Segilola Awolesi” My name echoed through the audience. Surprisingly, I was numb for a few seconds, the clapping ovation from the audience helped me recover from the shock and I ran to the podium to receive my award. What an exhilarating experience! While standing on the podium, my mind raced back to the beginning of the year when it started- The job interview.

    It was a bright sunny day, and I was dressed in my best shirt and trousers for the job interview. A few weeks back, I got an invitation letter for a job interview from a famous bank. All attempts to get a suitable jacket was frustrated. I had no money to buy one and none of my friends had my size but I summoned courage to dress appropriately. As soon as I stepped into the venue, I shivered …ohhh…everyone was dressed in well tailored suits. My heart began to pant, feeling insecure.  I was tempted to run out of the hall and quit the stage. It was a moment of truth for me, then I remembered the cliché; winners don’t quit and quitters don’t win.”  A surge of strength came into me to face the music. Opportunity came as I connected with two ladies within the hall, discussing the possible questions. Within a few seconds, the three of us had become a team and consciously I sought a jacket and pair of shoes. In a team’s spirit, I confided in them and they gladly obliged to help out. Fortunately, my number was ahead, so I borrowed a jacket from one and a pair of shoes from the other. The jacket was my perfect size but the shoes a bit bigger, common sense made-up. To cut the long story short, I went to the interview room with regained confidence and impressed the panel, in fact I got a standing ovation from the panel of judges and proudly received my letter of employment! Guess what happened to the two ladies? One got a letter of employment and the other a letter of rejection. I comforted her with the words ‘try again’. She later did and got hers the following year. Imagine this, from a state of borrowing a jacket and pair of shoes to a state of receiving an award as the best dressed female staff of a branch; isn’t that a clear reflection of the cliché; From grass to grace? Wouldn’t you like to grow from grass to grace? If your answer is yes, then get on the dance floor.

    Literally, dancing is a sport, an activity, not an easy thing to do. It takes more than a pretty face.  The best dancers in the world are not only great dancers because of their skills but because they are very passionate about it. They are so passionate that they decided to work hard, dedicate themselves, and go through much pain so that they could stand out. In other words, It’s one thing to make the move and seek relevance, however it’s another thing to have what it takes to be relevant. And of course, you can’t give what you don’t have, also you can’t have what you don’t respect! Respect is reciprocal. When you have respect for excellence then excellence becomes your lot.

    Another tip about great dancers is that they never just dance the steps, they get into the song and put feelings into it. If it’s an upbeat or happy dance, they smile, make big, sharp movements, and smile! If it’s a sad or emotional dance, they make each move slower and use their facial expression to guide their bodies, that makes every performance a lot better. The principle is that success in any life endeavor comes with its own beats. The sequence of success melody is predicated by authenticity. You need to throw yourself into the rhythm, enjoy the melody and flow with the beats. Be real, no make-up; Start to feel comfortable in your own skin. The truth is that people are attracted to the authentic you. Unless our ideas of who we are and our aspirations for who we want to become are coherent, we experience unease and fear, and begin to feel lost in the web of life. Research shows that knowing and using our top strengths makes us feel authentic and provides us with a sense of fulfillment. It also connects us to our passions and gets us into moments of flow. Remember the dance floor can only accommodate those who are ready to dig- it and strive for the best possible version of themselves. So get on the dance floor, and perform on the stage of life.

  • Taraba: INEC’s ill-motivated staff re-deployment

    Evil political seeds are being sown by enemies of Taraba State ahead of the 2019 elections in the state. The youth wing of the Christians Association of Nigeria, CAN, in Taraba State recently uncovered the plot and raised the alarm. The group has established, to the surprise and consternation of all peace-loving people of Taraba, cases of ill-motivated re-deployment of many officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, who are Christians in many Local Government Areas of the state. All the re-deployed staff were replaced by Muslims, according to the group’s findings.

    At a well attended news conference addressed in Jalingo, September 22, 2017, Pastor Ephraim Kwanchi, chairman of the CAN youth wing, said the re-deployments were part of a grand plan being masterminded by some religious bigots in and outside Taraba State to manipulate “the on-going processes of producing the updated voters register nationwide by the national electoral body.” The plot, the group said, “is aimed at disenfranchising Christians in Taraba State and possibly inflating the number of prospective Muslim voters through the registration of under-aged persons. The entire plot is aimed at influencing the outcome of future elections in the state in favour of Muslim candidates.

    The group quoted statistics on past and recent deployments of INEC electoral officials in the state to support its allegation of bias and injustice against Christians. It said that during the 2015 general elections, “only three out of the 16 electoral officers were Christians. The remaining were Muslims. But following the post election review carried out which saw to the reshuffling of electoral officers nationwide, 12 out of the 16 officers posted to or retained in Taraba State were Christians while the remaining four were Muslims.”

    The group observed that the most recent re-deployments of six out of the 12 Christians who have now been replaced with Muslims now brings the number of Muslim electoral officers to 10 leaving six Christian officers. It then asked a pertinent question: “Why is INEC removing six Christian electoral officers now and replacing them with Muslim electoral officers when it did not deem it necessary to do same during the 2015 general election when there were 13 Muslim electoral officers and only three Christian electoral officers?” The group said it found it curious that the six affected electoral officers were deployed only two months after they were posted to the Local Government Areas affected by the recent postings.

    The development, according to the group, is worrisome because of the potential threat it poses to peace and security in the state. “It is very clear to us that the motive behind this unacceptable action of INEC is for these Muslim electoral officers to ensure that non-Muslims are denied the opportunity of registration and the permanent voters card. We suspect that this is part of the grand design to manipulate the outcome of major future elections. This is unacceptable to the Christian community in Taraba State.” It condemned these deployments as an attempt by religious bigots to manipulate the voters registration exercise and the entire electoral process and warned those behind it to retrace their steps.

    In case INEC leaders in Jalingo and Abuja do not know, the CAN youth wing that addressed the press on this sensitive issue spoke the minds of millions of Christians in the state. They demonstrated a huge amount of courage and patriotism by taking the bold, mature and legitimate steps they have taken to draw the attention of INEC authorities to this highly explosive issue. They deserve commendation for their choice of this very mature approach of channelling their complaints. Some other groups would take to the streets in protest and in the process cause mayhem. It is now left for INEC to heed the advice the group has voluntarily offered on this issue. It must act fast in nullifying the suspicious re-deployments and halt further similar actions that are suggestive of religious bias.

    There are two lessons to be learnt from the patriotic action of the CAN youth wing in Taraba on this issue. One is that, Nigeria is a religiously sensitive country. Taraba State is no exception. Any important institutional arrangement such as elections must not exhibit any form of bias against any of the two main religious persuasions – Christianity and Islam. What INEC has done with the clearly ill-motivated re-deployment of INEC officials in Wukari, Kurmi, Karim Lamido, Ussa, Ibi and Jalingo amounts to sowing the seeds of political discord that is destined to lead to bitter and regrettable consequences in future. We all must thank God that these youths chose the mature path of drawing attention to this political landmine in good time.

    Election, as members of the group observed in the press statement they read at the press conference, is the major ingredient for the sustenance of democracy. It is also the best means of political recruitment for service to the people. If election is flawed, democracy will be gravely hampered. Therefore, nothing must be done to put the electoral process in jeopardy. The deliberate advantage that the replacement of re-deployed Christian INEC officers by their Muslim counterparts seeks to  guarantee Muslim candidates in future elections is a clear attempt to bastardise the electoral process in the state. It amounts to rigging the elections right from the voters registration stages. Tarabans are not as politically naive as those behind this unfortunate rigging plot probably think.

    The second lesson is the need to avoid anything that will threaten peace and security which the Governor Ishaku administration has achieved for the state through hard work. There cannot be peace if there is no justice. This obviously biased re-deployment of INEC electoral officers is one clear case of injustice done against the Christian community in the state. It has evoked impassioned sentiments which, if not promptly and properly redressed, could threaten peace and stability in the state.

    The issue is now at the door-steps of INEC. What it does with the points raised by these patriotic young Christians will go a long way in determining the peaceful conduct and the legitimacy or otherwise of the election of 2019. It will also determine whether the people will go into the elections in peace or in crisis fuelled by injustice and mutual suspicion. The choice is INEC’s to make. And it must do so quickly by nullifying the controversial re-deployments and resist further attempts to be cajoled into making unfair decisions capable to inducing tension and crisis in the polity.

     

    • Agada writes from Jalingo, Taraba State.

  • Unveiling Unilorin’s VC-designate

    In the run-up to the August 28, appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor, members of the University of Ilorin community waited with bated breath and palpable anxiety as news filtered through the campus that the Governing Council was about to take a major decision that would invariably chart the direction the University would tread in the next five years. On that day, the council, led by Dr. Abdullah Jibril Oyekan, met to, among other businesses, consider the report of its Selection Board on the appointment of a new vice-chancellor.

    This anxiety was not restricted to the university community, as even members of the general public were also on tenterhooks as to who would emerge the new helmsman of the university currently making waves across the country, and even beyond, as Nigeria’s number one citadel of learning by all objective standards.

    And the mass media were not left out in this pervasive aura of tensile anticipation. Indeed, members of the Fourth Estate of the Realm inadvertently, or, in some cases consciously, fuelled the general anxiety over what should ordinarily be strictly an internal affair of the university with all sorts of speculative news stories on the likely candidate for the plum job!

    And after about four hours of brainstorming, Oyekan, tailed by other council members, emerged from the hallowed Council Chamber and headed straight to the more spacious old Senate Chamber, where a bevy of anxious pressmen were waiting in the wings. So, it was understandable when a pin-drop silence immediately enveloped the Senate Chamber as the Council Chairman and other members of his entourage settled into their seats.

    “Gentlemen of the press”, the Council Chairman began, barely waiting for a short introduction by the university spokesman, yours sincerely, to end, “Noting that the tenure of the Vice-Chancellor, Professor AbdulGaniyu Ambali, OON, will come to an end on 15th October, 2017, council commenced the process for the appointment of a new vice-chancellor by announcing the vacancy in two national newspapers…on Friday, 14th April, 2017.  The advertisement was also placed on the university website and the University’s Weekly Bulletin”.

    Dr. Oyekan then launched into the details of the selection process that culminated in the Council meeting. And finally, he said, “At its meeting on Monday, 28th August, 2017, council, in accordance with the University Act and the provisions of the Universities (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Amendment) Act 2003, considered the recommendation of the Selection Board and I am happy to announce that council approved the appointment of Professor Sulyman Age Abdulkareem as the 10th Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin.  The appointment is to take effect from 16th October, 2017”.

    And so the erudite Professor of Chemical Engineering and inventor of an anti-oil spillage substance, the Unilor Oil Sorbing Wafers, among other inventions, was named the university’s new vice-chancellor.

    A specialist in Heterogeneous Catalysis/Reactional Engineering and consummate researcher as well as patent owner of several ground-breaking inventions, Prof. Abdulkareem joined the services of the University of Ilorin as Senior Lecturer in 1996, becoming a Professor in 2005. He is the immediate past Vice-Chancellor of Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin.

    The vice-chancellor-designate was born on January 21, 1954 at Oro town, Irepodun Local Government area of Kwara State.  He attended the Government Secondary School, Ilorin, for both his secondary school education and the Higher School Certificate (HSC) from 1968 to 1974, which he undertook with a Kwara State Government Scholarship.  He later got the federal government scholarship for his university education at the University of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. between 1975 and 1980.  At the end of the course, he came out in flying colours and was awarded the MChE, BChE (Chemical Engineering) specializing in Heterogeneous Catalysis/Reaction Engineering.

    From 1985 to 1988, this high-flying intellectual was awarded the United States of America National Science Foundation Fellowship for his PhD programme in Chemical Engineering at the University of Louisville, USA.  He also completed his PhD in flying colours and obtained the Engineer-In-Training Certificate of the State of Minnesota, USA in 1991.  He became a registered Engineer of the Nigerian Society of Engineers in 2002 and a COREN Registered Engineer in 2004.

    Prof. Abdulkareem was a lecturer, engaged by the Detroit Board of Education Detroit, Michigan, USA from August 1984 to August 1985; and a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Louisville, Kentucky, from September 1985 to August 1988.  He joined the services of the University of Ilorin as a Senior Lecturer in 1996 and rose to become a Professor in September 2005, the same year he discovered and fabricated a substance that could be used to rescue the environment of the oil producing areas from the menace of oil spillage and save their waters from perennial pollution.

    A consummate researcher and thorough-bred academic, he has a lot of inventions and has many Patents to his credit.

    The Vice-Chancellor-designate has held many important positions in the university, among which are: Director, SIWES (2000 – 2008); Head, University Admissions Unit (2006 – 2009); Dean, Student Affairs (2008 – 2010); and Director, Laboratory-To-Product (LABTOP) Centre (September 2015 to date). He is happily married with children.

    From the general mood of obvious satisfaction that has pervaded the campus since the announcement of Prof. Abdulkareem’s appointment, with torrents of congratulatory messages pouring in from members of Senate and the leadership of the various staff unions in the university, it is safe to say that the University of Ilorin is in for another glorious era, a sustenance of the excellence for which the institution has been known for years.

    There is no doubt that the vice-chancellor-designate’s appointment is a call to national service and many people believe that by his pre-eminent antecedent, he is well-equipped to take the University of Ilorin to greater heights.

    Not only has he served in a similar capacity in a sister university before, available records have also shown that Prof. Abdulkareem discharged himself creditably in his former duty post, making ground-breaking achievements that are yet unsurpassed. Moreover, his intimidating credentials are a source of joy, pride and assurance to every Unilorite that the university is indeed lucky to have him take over from a great achiever in the person of Prof. Ambali. Generally acknowledged to be a very principled, open-minded, fair and incorruptible administrator wherever he has been privileged to serve in the past, Prof. Abdulkareem will surely be bringing all these sterling attributes to bear on his administrative style at the university. This is necessary not only because of the need to keep his well-known integrity intact but also because of the need to sustain the lofty heights that the University of Ilorin has attained over the years, and also hopefully take this a notch higher!

    And as Prof. Ambali said at a forum few days after Prof. Abdulkareem’s emergence, “I am happy that I am handing over to a man who will not let the university down”.

    To be sure, only the very best is good enough for Unilorin.

     

    • Akogun is the Head, Corporate Affairs, University of Ilorin.

  • Ugwuanyi: Fruits of investment drive

    Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi’s administration in a recent business engagement with a Chinese Investment Company, Lion Business Park Limited, recorded a major breakthrough in its spirited efforts to attract direct foreign investments to the state for economic recovery and diversification.

    The company, is partnering the state government under a Public Private Partnership (PPA) initiative to build an industrial market on a 2000 hectares of land located in the proximity of the Enugu Industrial Park – FTZ ( ENPOWER  Free Trade Zone) at the 9th Mile Corner, Enugu, to be known as Lion Business Park, modelled after the Dragon Market in Dubai.

    It is interesting to note that the new business investment was a fallout of the first ever Enugu State Investment Summit, tagged “Oganiru Enugu”, organized by the Ugwuanyi administration in April 2016, to showcase the economic potentials of the state in line with its promise to vigorously promote investment and pursue the diversification of the state’s economy.

    The Lion Business Park project is, therefore, a bold initiative of the present administration designed to establish an integrated manufacturing industrial hub that will facilitate Chinese manufacturers’ entry into the state to feed the Nigerian and African market through the existing sales channels in Nigeria and the West African Sub-region in partnership with Nigerian business organizations.

    It was strategically initiated to leverage on the thriving trade cooperation between Nigerian Business structures and their foreign counterparts, especially from China, for the purpose of furthering their mutual interests in a more profitable, affordable and convenient setting.

    Displaying maximum commitment to the course of the business initiative, the Enugu State government recently facilitated the formal presentation of N300 million worth of cheque to three communities of Ogwofia Owa, Enugu Eke and Akama Oghe by the company as agreed compensation for the economic items, on the acquired land for the development of the project. The cheque presentation was not only a pivotal step towards the commencement and actualization of the project, but also gave credence to the governor’s  promise to proactively promote and attract private investment to the state through policies and programmes that would generate employment as well as boost the state’s economy for sustainable development.

    It would be recalled that Governor Ugwuanyi had in his inaugural address promised that his administration “will drive with full force investment promotion…” and “provide the necessary legal and policy framework to make investment thrive” in the state.  The governor also promised to give attention to the 9th Mile Corner, “a long overlooked economic hub” to harness its potentials to enjoy the full benefits of its newly acquired status as a Free Trade Zone. He noted that the initiatives will speed up urban development, generate employment, create fresh economic opportunities and reduce pressure on Enugu metropolis.

    It is pertinent to note that during the cheque presentation ceremony, the governor, who was represented by his deputy, Cecilia Ezeilo, highlighted the massive benefits the project will bring to the economy of the state. He stated that such an enduring business venture was apt and will “stimulate investment inflow in diverse sectors of the economy and create a huge economic value chain that would engender employment as well as production and availability of much needed goods and services”.

    Declaring that “Enugu State is ready and open for business”, Governor Ugwuanyi reassured all foreign partners and potential investors of his administration’s resolve to sustain the business-friendly environment that exists in the state. In the Memorandum of Understanding for the Lion Business Park, it was agreed that “the investors shall among other benefits, pay compensation for economic items on the land to the host communities through the state government”.

    While appreciating the state’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry, indigenes of the three host communities, members of the land acquisition steering committee and others who contributed to the successful acquisition of the land, the governor equally commended the company for the prompt fulfilment of “this very important term of the MOU”.

    Expressing gratitude, the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Sam Ogbu-Nwobodo, applauded Governor Ugwuanyi for his dexterity, vision, innovation, fiscal discipline, transparency, good governance and other structural and institutional initiatives aimed at driving massive investment inflow into the state’s economy.  The visibly elated commissioner noted that the event was a major breakthrough geared towards the full actualization of the investment vision of the present administration in Enugu State, disclosing that the state has “witnessed a sustained high level of investment inflow”, as a consequence of the governor’s tenacious commitment to investment promotion.

    The commissioner stated that the state government’s vision “is to create a conducive and profitable environment for Chinese companies to produce in Nigeria ahead of other countries and to enhance strong and enduring bi-lateral ties between the Peoples Republic of China and the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.

    While presenting the cheque to the host communities, the chairman of Lion Business Park Limited, Dr. Okechukwu Mbonu also commended Governor Ugwuanyi for his “great vision in making Enugu State a West African industrial hub”, saying that the company is only complementing what his administration has already started in the state.

    Appreciating how committed and desirous the governor was to have the project come to fruition, Mbonu assured him of the foreign partners’ determination to actualize their mandate in a record time and went further to thank the host communities for their support, sacrifices and understanding.

    Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Air Peace Limited, Chief Allen Onyema, had during a recent meeting with Governor Ugwuanyi  on the economic development of the South East region, described the governor as “a visionary and forward thinking governor who has assembled technocrats to think about what to do for his people”. The Air Peace boss, who disclosed the company’s vision to use the Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu, as the economic hub of Africa, to enable the nation play its leading role in the continent, also affirmed that the decision to establish businesses in Enugu was based on his company’s assessment of the governor’s leadership qualities, positive impacts in governance and commitment to investment promotion.

    “We have in Governor Ugwuanyi, the best governor in the South-east. He is very visionary; he has brought many technocrats together to think about what he will do for his people. So, we want to align ourselves with his dreams and that is why we decided to choose Enugu International Airport among all the airports in Nigeria for our business investment”, Onyema said.

    As Governor Ugwuanyi has taken the lead to make the coal city state the ultimate destination for tourism and business investments, the onus is, therefore, on the public to support this brave initiative as well as the concerted effort of his administration towards improving the living standard of the people of the state – the true heroes of democracy, for Enugu State is truly in the hands of God.

     

    • Amoke writes from Enugu State.

  • Marginality and crisis in Nigeria

    Nigeria emerged as a geo-polity in 1914 with the amalgamation of the Northern and Southern protectorates by the British colonial government. But before this development, the broad territory was never completely cut off from the crosscurrents of cultural flows and interconnections or history. Such factors as trade and intermarriages united them. Relics of these can be seen in the Nigerian arts, crafts and linguistic heritage among others. Ethnicities like Yoruba, Igbo, Edo, Urhobo, Itsekiri, Igala, Hausa, Idoma and Ebira were not strange bedfellows. However, each kingdom had its own leadership structure and social organization long before mid-15th century A.D when our encounters or entanglements with Europe began. The only major change has to do with the idea of common leadership structure designed and executed to boost the British economy.

    It is now left for Nigerians themselves to significantly domesticate the foreign ideology they inherited in view of contemporary challenges, problems, expectations and sensitivities. Nigerians have a lot to gain by ensuring that the country remains indivisible at all costs. The country is enormous in size and human population. It has uncommonly sophisticated arts and crafts of considerable antiquity. Again, Nigeria is voluminous in production of their manufactures even despite huge infrastructural challenges. The country is a big market by anyone’s definition. This underscores the reason why everybody must protect its unity. However, this is not going to materialize just by the rhetoric of political slogans. In this regard, certain immediate and long–term measures have to be taken so that we can engage our tomorrows in pragmatic and robust ways.

    Restructuring or regional autonomy is sacrosanct. Nigeria had it before, until it was rubbished by the rampaging military oligarchs in 1966 in order to pave the way for sustainable development. Our delayed socio-political and economic progress in Nigeria today, stems from over-centralization of power or governance with all its inefficiencies and rampant corruption. Nevertheless, restructuring which has gained wide currency recently all over Nigeria is not the automatic magic bullet, capable of mowing down our common enemy-corruption and underdevelopment. Recently, former President Olusegun Obasanjo said that he did not believe in restructuring in terms of regional autonomy. That was his personal opinion and nobody can challenge his authority in this connection. But he donated a huge, vibrant concept to Nigeria and Nigerians which must not be glossed over. That is, ‘restructuring of the mind’.

    He could not have said it better, given the alarming rate at which political office holders are looting our commonwealth on daily basis. Politicians today (with a few exceptions) do not believe in the philosophy of selfless service to their fatherland. They are in politics to grab and grab while the remaining Nigerians go about miserably due to non-payment of salaries as of when due. They are ugly gluttons.

    Today, politics is a lucrative business and not unexpectedly, most people want to be governors, senators, members of the House of Representatives and ministers among others. This scenario leads to political assassination and thuggery – two maladies that define and afflict modern-day Nigeria. It is a surprise, that several noble Nigerians are avoiding politics like a plague. If you cannot brandish an AK-47 rifle and a cutlass (like a lunatic) during political rallies, then you are hereby advised to keep off from the contemporary political landscape. Given this situation, restructuring of the mind or attitudinal change must come before embracing regionalism. Ignoring this reality will likely amount to getting out of the frying pan into fire. Nigerians are still waiting for the members of the National Assembly to tell them how much they earn monthly as salaries.

    If the story recently narrated by Prof. Itse Sagay – chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) was true, then Nigerians must methodically agitate. These politicians are some of the people marginalizing ordinary Nigerians. In an ailing economy like ours, how can a senator be earning N29million monthly? Painfully enough, many Nigerians are still celebrating those who are impoverishing them and keeping their graduate children at home without jobs. It never ceases amazing me what some governors  or emperors can do or have done with the bailout funds given them to settle the debts they owe/owed their workers and pensioners. You and I know why they are doing that to the Nigerian people who are suffering from the culture of silence. Only a few political leaders or governors are free from this primordial culture of unfettered hedonism including self-indulgence. This is the fiercest form of marginality-the roots of the several agitations across the country today.

    People have become highly irritable and therefore can easily engage in crimes and criminality. Maximum material poverty has thoroughly dehumanized them. Poverty especially on a monumental scale is a disease. This ‘disease’ is ravaging Nigeria. The situation has made it possible for Nnamdi Kanu who never witnessed the Nigeria/Biafran war (1967-1970) to easily get a huge followership. His claim was that the Igbo ethnicity was/is being marginalized and he wanted to redress the issue. But unfortunately, Kanu lacked/lacks the intellectual capacity to lead such a revolution. Intellectuality remains the cornerstone of such a vision. He ought to have used a non-violent approach. Mahatma Mohandas Ghandi of India had non-violent protests against the British colonial overloads in the 1930s and 1940s. He even went on several hunger strikes which finally enabled him to unite the people of his country until India became independent on August 15, 1947. This was an intellectual warfare against political oppression and exploitation.

    Those who are surreptitiously or otherwise supporting the violent methodology of IPOB are either very naïve or selfish. They must utterly transform their thinking about perceived marginality and crisis vis-à-vis the contemporary reality so that posterity would not condemn them. The Igbo need to engage their local leaders first about how allocations to the south-eastern region were/are being used before naively condemning the federal government. This applies also to other geopolitical zones in the country. It would have pained most Nigerians a great deal, if the recent face-off in Abia State had not been quickly addressed by some of the key stakeholders across the country. This was because innocent lives and their huge investments would have been destroyed on both sides of the divide and the Igbo would have suffered heavier casualties.

    In actuality, almost everywhere in Nigeria have terrible roads. Even some settlements near Abuja are not motorable. One finds the same thing in the South-west. The road from Ibadan to Akure in Ondo State is a nightmare. It is on record that the Yoruba were politically relegated to the background during the administration of President Jonathan. But they never threatened to blow up Nigeria. Pettiness and primordial ethnic sentiments should not occupy the front burner of national discourse in 21st century Nigeria. IPOB has a right to agitate, but this must be done within the confines of the law and common sense.

    The current political leadership under President Muhammadu Buhari needs to do much more than hitherto about socio-political engineering. This is a pre-condition for the unity and survival of Nigeria. Conflict resolution cannot be reduced to the level of military force. It was amusing when I read a newspaper report in The Nation of September 17 on how the Lagos chapter of National Orientation Agency (NOA) wanted to reduce the rising spate of hate speeches in Lagos State via public enlightenment programmes on the radio and television. What a huge joke and waste of scarce public resources? It is like a medical doctor prescribing paracetamol tablets for a patient who complains about a headache, without checking his blood pressure level. The headache may be symptomatic of a more serious health challenge. Hate speeches in a myriad of ways, will continue because ontologically, agitations and disagreements whether crudely packaged or intellectually articulated, are symptomatic of tensions, stresses, frustrations and material poverty. Although no leader or person likes to be criticized, hot speeches, protests and sometimes industrial strike actions by workers are to a large extent, a form of checks and balances. Without these, a political leadership can easily doze off, at the expense of the toiling masses.

    President Buhari as the father of Nigeria today, must do more self-appraisal. Every part of Nigeria needs him. He needs to pay more visits to South-south, South-east and South-west among others, so as to avoid the danger of northern insularity. Inclusive political engineering is a necessity as opposed to an option. This is the best way to fight for justice, equity and democracy in our ailing country.

     

    • Prof Ogundele is of Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan.
  • President Buhari and Nigeria’s unity

    President Buhari and Nigeria’s unity

    The presidency announced at the end of last week that President Buhari is not opposed to the restructuring of the Nigerian federation! Now, that is a great piece of positive news. The countless millions of Nigerians who want our federation to be restructured in the interest of all Nigerian peoples and citizens have been labouring under the heavy feeling that the president of their country is strongly and resolutely opposed to restructuring, no matter how desperately needful restructuring may be. His words and general body language have provoked that feeling. Now, however, we have the assurance that this is not so – that President Buhari does not intend to set himself unreasonably against the wishes of the majority of his countrymen. Certainly, President Buhari deserves our thanks for that assurance.

    Moreover, we must be fair too to President Buhari over something he has repeatedly said in the restructuring debate. He has said again and again that the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable. In all fairness, we should grant that he could not be saying otherwise. It is inconceivable that any man who occupies the position of ruler of his country would say anything other than that the unity of that country is sacrosanct. Concerning the unity of Nigeria, President Buhari is saying what a man in his position should say.

    But if he really desires to preserve the unity of Nigeria, it is critically important that he should correctly identify the things that truly promote or threaten the unity of Nigeria. If he seems to be making a mistake in identifying these, we citizens have the duty of helping him and pointing him in the right direction. From the way he has been speaking, President Buhari seems to think that restructuring will destroy the unity of Nigeria – or that those who are advocating restructuring want to break up Nigeria. If that is what he thinks, then he is wrong, grossly wrong.

    Here is what is true. In the increasingly loud debate over restructuring, three positions have roughly crystallized among Nigerians – first, those who oppose restructuring at all costs and who hold stubbornly to the existing status quo and all its imbalances, inequalities and consequent poverty; second, those who tirelessly advocate restructuring in order to return Nigeria to harmony, productivity and progress; and third, those who have become totally alienated by the multiple inequalities and inequities of the status quo and who want their peoples to separate or secede from Nigeria immediately. The first threaten the unity of Nigeria by rejecting any attempt to redress imbalances and inequalities in our country, and by insisting that aggrieved peoples in Nigeria should simply surrender to suffering and poverty. The third are so tired of inequalities and injustices that they no longer want their various peoples to continue to be part of Nigeria. Only the second propose the restructuring and changes that can keep Nigeria together on the basis of justice, and in harmony, peace and progress.

    While all these three deserve statesmanlike and respectful attention from Nigeria’s president, it is the second group demanding restructuring that should win the ears and heart of a Nigerian president who is sincerely and patriotically dedicated to preserving Nigeria’s unity. Restructuring does not hurt, and cannot hurt, any section of Nigeria. It seeks to remove the structural monstrosities that succeeding military dictatorships foisted upon our country between 1966 and 1998. In the words of the Sultan of Sokoto, it aims to “redress imbalances in power and wealth” in Nigeria. It promises to revive development initiatives and enhance productivity in all sections of our country, and redirect our country from the path of poverty, deprivation and conflict back to the path of expanding opportunities and harmony.

    It is time we round off this debate on restructuring. To guide us Nigerians to work concretely on restructuring, our federal government is the agency that can and must lead us now beyond generalized debating. Various options are open to our president. He could resuscitate the 2014 National Conference Report and let us work on it; or call another national conference or a constituent assembly, or set up a national commission to place a report before our federal government for further action (as Prime Minister Nehru did for India in similar circumstances in 1953). Whichever option he chooses, he must see to it that restructuring is all completed before the 2019 elections, so that we may vote in the context of the restructured federation. That will pre-empt a probable hurricane of socio-political troubles and violence around the elections.

    To find further things that threaten the unity of our country, President Buhari only needs to look around him. If he does, he will easily see a number of dangerous things that he needs to oppose immediately. One is the huge terrorism which Fulani herdsmen have generated in almost all parts of our country. For three years now, these Fulani herdsmen terrorists have been destroying farms, killing farmers and farmers’ families, destroying villages, and causing fear, outcries and reprisals across our country. They operate like the Janjaweed terrorists of Darfur Province of the Republic of Sudan. And they seem to be above the law – as they carry military-grade weapons even in the presence of law enforcement officers as they kill and destroy with impunity without any fear of arrest. This terrorism has caused more trouble on a wider scale than Boko Haram terrorism, and its negative impact on Nigeria’s unity is incalculable. President Buhari must abandon his silence over this danger. He must now begin to direct the power of Nigeria against it. We Nigerians know that he can stop it if he chooses to – indeed that he is the only person who can stop it. In the interest of the unity of our country, he needs to choose to stop it – and stop it.

    Another serious danger to Nigeria’s unity is the excessive use which President Buhari is now making of the military in the affairs of Nigeria. President Buhari is obviously making the mistake which the Balewa federal government made in 1962-5 – the mistake of gradually and imperceptibly abdicating power to the military in the tackling of essentially civilian situations. Having disrupted the peace of the Western Region, Prime Minister Balewa depended more and more on the military to control things for him – until, in the end, elements in the military felt confident to take over from him. Buhari is making the same mistake right now – and he is making it in circumstances in which a military coup can be much more damaging to Nigeria’s unity than the January 1966 coup. Military rule has become so profoundly discredited in Africa in general, and Nigerians have become so aware, that most Nigerian peoples are very unlikely to surrender to yet another military coup and another military dictator. In short, a coup in the circumstances of today could spark a sudden and complete dissolution of Nigeria, just as happened in the Soviet Union in 1990. President Buhari’s acceptance of the advice to send Operation Python Dance to the South-east and prepare Operation Crocodile Smile for the South-south and the South-west (where there is no threat to security beyond police capabilities) is a terrible mistake. He needs to reverse direction.

    In summary, if President Buhari means sincerely to preserve Nigeria’s unity, if his saying that ‘Nigeria’s unity is not negotiable’ is a sincere declaration of intent, then he needs to attend seriously and urgently to these things that threaten Nigeria’s unity. Corruption, which he is fighting, threatens Nigeria’s unity too, and he has millions of allies and friends in the fight. He stands a good chance of also mobilizing millions of allies, friends and supporters if he would start a serious struggle against other things that threaten to break up our country.

    At the General Assembly of the United Nations some days ago, President Buhari said that “The frontiers of good governance, democracy…and enthronement of the rule of law, are expanding everywhere, especially in Africa”. That is an elegant statement. But we Nigerians are sure that our president knows that it is not true of Africa. Because of poor governance, rulers’ resolute pursuit of sectional, religious or personal interests, and disrespect for the rule of law, most African countries are experiencing turmoil, and some are even near disintegration. We Nigerians would be forever grateful if President Buhari would start now to strive to make Nigeria different in Africa in these things. By doing that he could earn for himself, and we all could join hands to help him earn, a great stature in the modern history of Africa. The choice is his. He needs to choose right now.

     

  • Tackling TB scourge the Ogun way

    Tuberculosis, or TB, as it is commonly called, is a contagious infection that usually attacks the lungs. It can also spread to other parts of the body, like the brain and spine. A type of bacteria called mycobacterium tuberculosis causes it. It is spread through the air, just like a cold or the flu. When someone who is sick coughs, sneezes, talks, laughs, or sings, tiny droplets that contain the germs are released. If you breathe in these nasty germs, you get infected.

    TB is contagious, but it is not easy to catch. The germs grow slowly. You usually have to spend a lot of time around a person who has it. That is why it is often spread among co-workers, friends, and family members.

    According to figures released by the United State Agency for International Development (USAID) KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation and Challenge TB, globally, there were an estimated 10.4 million new cases of TB in 2015, out of which 5.9 million (56%) were among men aged 15 years; 3.5 million (34%) were among women aged 15 years; 1.0 million (10%) were among children aged 15 years.

    In 2015, there were an estimated 1.2 million new HIV positive TB cases (11% of all TB cases). Sadly enough, 1.4 million TB patients out of the 10.4 million new cases of TB died from TB in 2015.

    The USAID also made it known that Nigeria is a high burden country for TB, DR-TB and HIV associated TB. It said that in 2015, Nigeria had the fourth highest incidence of TB (after India, Indonesia and China) among the 22 high burden countries in the world and the first highest incidence of TB in Africa.

    In 2015, there were said to be an estimated 90,584 TB cases in Nigeria, out of which 100,000 (17.5%) were infected with HIV.

    It is inexcusable that hundreds of thousands of Nigerians die every year due to this disease.

    To ensure that no Nigerian should die of TB anymore, the federal and Ogun State governments, recently launched a health initiative tagged “Wellness On Wheels” (WOW) to boost the detection and treatment of TB in the state.

    The initiative is designed to offer free TB testing service on wheel in different communities in the state in conjunction with the USAID, KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation and Challenge TB.

    At the launch of the scheme in Abeokuta on September 29, the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, said the initiative was in line with the President Muhammadu Buhari’s government agenda in bringing healthcare delivery to the door step of every Nigerian through a specialized mobile clinic. He said Ogun is the first among the 36 states to key into the scheme. He therefore called for urgent and concerted efforts by governments at all levels to end the life-threatening scourge.

    Assuring that TB would soon become a thing of the past in the country, Adewole said tests as well as treatments for the ailment were free, advising the people not to stigmatise anyone infected by the disease since it was curable.

    The health minister was optimistic that the “Wellness on Wheels” initiative would drastically reduce the treatment period of TB from its usual 20 months to two months.

    While describing the initiative as a unique collaborative project, he conferred the title of “Health Ambassador of Nigeria” on Governor Amosun for his laudable achievements in the area of efficient health care delivery. He thanked the governor for ensuring improved health care delivery services to the citizenry through the upgrade of medical facilities across the state.

    Governor Amosun, on his part, pledged his administration’s commitment at ensuring that TB was brought to zero prevalence rates in the state, charging the state’s health workers to properly maintain the mobile clinic facilities so as to serve its purpose. Amosun also assured that the state would procure the TB Mobile Truck in order to take the campaign and treatment of TB to all the 20 Local Governments and 37 Local Council Development Areas of the state.

    While appreciating the federal government for the confidence reposed in the state to pilot the initiative, Governor Amosun pledged to take the campaign to the Nigeria Governors’ Forum for his colleagues to key into the Wellness On Wheels initiative.

    The Challenge TB Nigeria, with funding from the USAID is introducing the innovative TB mobile truck. The truck, which is a one-stop-shop for the diagnosis and treatment of TB, will not only provide a state of the art efficient TB screening, but services through the truck will bring health care to the door steps of the people of Ogun State.

    The 20 feet lead container is equipped with an X-ray machine and two GeneXpert machines. The truck has two separate compartments; the X-ray room for screening of clients with chest X-ray and a GeneXpert laboratory for the diagnosis of TB among persons presumed to have TB.

    These mobile diagnostic units will improve access to TB services by bringing TB screening and diagnosis to the door step of clients as a one-stop-shop. This will ensure early diagnosis and early treatment of TB and contribute to halting the transmission of TB in the entire Ogun State. It will also improve the health seeking behaviour of the people through the health messages provided in the course of the campaigns.

    The Wellness On Wheels campaigns should be carried out in other parts of the country. Ogun State is purchasing one of the only two TB mobile trucks in Nigeria, while the second truck will begin its campaign in Nasarawa State in a couple of weeks.

    Nigerians should be knowledgeable about TB diagnosis, treatment and drugs, so that we can successfully reduce the number of deaths each year and hopefully eliminate the disease for good.

     

    • Durojaiye is Special Adviser (Information &Strategy), to the Ogun State Governor.

  • FG/Sokoto model in healthcare financing

    Few days ago, the federal government, through the Federal Ministry of Health, announced a collaborative effort with Sokoto government that will see to the deployment of overstaffed workers of Usmanu Danfodio University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH) to state-owned hospitals so as to expand access to quality healthcare delivery to generality of the citizenry.

    UDUTH is a tertiary health facility owned by the federal government and located in Sokoto. Established in 1989, the hospital has more than 100 consultants, 400 resident doctors, 1000 nurses and other health professionals. The combined strength of workers at the teaching hospital is almost double the number obtained in primary and secondary health facilities owned by the state government.

    So in order to fully utilise the expertise of the workers, the Sokoto State government proposed a working arrangement where the workers would be deployed to state hospitals and primary healthcare centres for a fee, while at the same time, they continue their primary assignment with the teaching hospital.

    The arrangement is more like a fusion of the two health systems and has 10 thematic areas which include medical services, seminar/clinical presentations, ward rounds and theatre services. Others include residency training, employment of consultants, outreach services, accident and emergency response, centralised ambulance service and deployment of nurses. The rest are rural posting of resident doctors and consultants, integrated referral system and establishment of state-owned medical school and teaching hospital.

    Speaking on the significance of the collaboration, UDUTH’s Chief Medical Director (CMD), Dr. Yakubu Ahmed, said the new agreement will see health workers at the Federal Teaching Hospital in Sokoto deployed to any other public hospital. He said the agreement comes amidst concern that health workers are over-concentrated at the teaching hospital, the only one of its kind in Sokoto.

    “If you compare us with the state, we have a large number concentrated staff in the hospital. So in this arrangement, involving six general hospitals— two from each senatorial district —are part of the deployment agreement. Resident doctors at the teaching hospital would be deployed to rural communities in the state, and they would be supervised by consultants from the hospital. At the moment, the teaching hospital sees many referrals because of its huge concentration of experts,” the CMD added.

    Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole called the agreement a “great feat” and one of the best things to happen to Nigeria’s health system. He said he had tried to achieve the feat when he was Provost, College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, but the effort was thwarted by “doctors on the state side.”

    “It is not only peculiar to Sokoto State. I was in Zamfara. At the FMC in Zamfara, there are about 120 doctors, and the whole state has less than 40 doctors in the entire state, in fact 23 or so at the last count to manage 24 hospitals,” said Adewole.

    “So, it is a matter of one doctor per hospital. And, yet, one hospital has about 120. To me, that is inequality, inequity and must not persist in our country. This is because those who are not benefiting are also Nigerians. It is our duty to address these things and also ensure we offer our people good care. What this agreement will do is to transfer quality services from the teaching hospital to the communities. Highly trained specialists will offer services that support the state and the local governments. And, it is something that other state governors should emulate,” Adewole said.

    Sokoto Governor, Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and his health commissioner, Dr. Balarabe Shehu Kakale, said so far, there’s scarcity of professionals in the state health sector. They said by bringing the two systems together, the federal and Sokoto State governments will be overcoming a challenge bedevilling their two governments.

    In Nigeria, we’ve lately heard much about intergovernmental cooperation. Cooperation between federal and state governments, and among 36 states of the federation, has now taken many forms, ranging from simply reviewing and understanding ordinances to formal arrangements creating new authorities to provide specific services. While many state governments would benefit from a more cooperative spirit, actual cooperative ventures require each unit to carefully weigh the needs of their citizens, the responsibilities they have for operating their territory, and the benefits of the cooperative effort.

    The arrangement between federal and Sokoto State governments has now created a new vista of opportunity whose ultimate beneficiaries would be members of the public. This effort is a great example of how governments can work together to achieve common goals. Apart from making it easy for people to enjoy quality service from the federal government-trained professionals, it allows Sokoto government to enjoy the service at a minimal cost, thereby saving funds and channelling the saved funds to other useful ventures.

    Abuja and Sokoto have now created a model whose benefit will be felt by millions of citizens. By agreeing to pool resources, the two sides are now set to provide better quality, more effective services than they could by themselves. Other states can cue in for the overall benefit of their citizens, and the nation as a whole.

     

    • Imam is spokesman to Governor Tambuwal of Sokoto State.