The Nation Newspaper

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  • Ambode: Above the euphoria of megacity

    Where is no doubt that that megacities comes with some benefits, chief among which is a large population of over 10 million people, which can serve as a potential market for goods and services. Megacities are naturally metropolitan; it thus offers multiple options in terms of culture as well as creative and productive engagements for diverse population, thereby encouraging healthy competition.

    However, while there are benefits in having a large population, it equally comes with its attendant socio-economic challenges, such as unemployment, crime, over stretching of infrastructure, traffic congestion, environmental pollution, overcrowding and stimulation of emergence /growth of slums, amongst the poor, who may not be able to afford the cost of housing in the city and thus create slums in the suburbs.

    Consequently, a large population if not well managed, rather than a blessing, can become a liability.  Investors knows this much and thus stratify potential markets before taking decisions. Beyond the availability of basic infrastructure and an enabling environment  such as mass transportation facilities, power, potable water, security, law and order and political stability, amongst others, other factors considered before taking investment decisions includes; the financial capability of the population and availability of skilled and professional workforce. There is no point in investing in a city with a large population without a reasonable segment of the population having disposable income to purchase goods and services.

    Similarly, in the area of skilled and professional workforce, even if a foreign investor decides to bring in expatriate workforce, they will still require complimentary services from auxiliary companies and agencies.  For instance, there has been report of a potential investor who renounced the decision to invest in Nigeria to a smaller country in Africa with a lesser market for its product, because of the unprofessional conduct of officials at the airport.

    Equally important in enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of a megacity is the deployment of modern technology to make people’s lifestyle more comfortable, bolster security, enhance productivity and improve the ease of doing business.

    While a lot of people seems to be carried away with the elation of Lagos State being a megacity, it is gratifying that the governor, Akinwunmi Ambode is looking beyond the euphoria and striving towards engendering a smarter, functional and efficient megacity.  An area which is also being given priority and critical to the effectiveness of a megacity, but seems unnoticed, is the development of the human capital of the state.  Human capital development plays a crucial role in the functionality of a megacity.  The availability of skilled workforce in a particular area of interest could on its own attract investors, as amplified in August 2016 with the visit of the Founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg to ICT hub at Yaba, Lagos, to meet Nigerian technology start-ups, developers and entrepreneurs who have made a mark in the global ICT space.

    Some of Ambode’s efforts in the area of developing the human capital in the State includes; The Lagos Digital Library (www.educatelagos.com), which is aimed at providing unlimited access to knowledge, through the collection and curation of digital content on an online portal.  The content of the portal includes; Teacher Training Guides, Career Guides, Journals, Maps Encyclopaedias; Curriculum Approved Textbooks from publishers, soft skill training courses, e-test resources and archival facts of Lagos State, amongst others.  Plans are also underway to upload other contents such as research papers form tertiary institutions, vocational training videos and online courses on coding.  For the benefit of those who may not have easy access to the internet, free waivers are being provided in public places such as public parks.

    Another initiative on human capacity development is the CodeLagos, to position Lagos State as the technology frontier by training one million Lagos residents to code by 2019. Already, 171 CodeLagos facilitators have been trained.  This is expected to further challenge the entrepreneurial spirit and creativity of our youths in the area of ICT programme development.

    Furthermore, the state government, through IBILE Microfinance Bank  and the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund (ETF), as part of efforts towards creating new jobs and helping existing Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSMESs) expand their businesses, have so far provided a sum of N1.76 Billion for 1,401 MSMESs.  This is expected to encourage entrepreneurship, reduce unemployment and further grow the economy of the State.

    Similarly, government through the Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment and the Lagos State Technical and Education Board (LASTVEB) is retraining tradesmen and artisans in the state to enhance their productivity and upgrade their skills.  This training exposes them to modern trends and practice in their profession, thereby giving them a competitive edge. So far, 500 artisans have been retrained and certified. To complement this training, government is to provide an online portal for certified artisan and MSMES to serve as online market place for them and act as a platform for them to showcase their products and services to the world.

    In the area of engendering a smart city through technology, efforts are presently underway, to ensure that all Lagos residents are captured on the data bank through the Lagos State Residence Registration Agency (LASRRA). To achieve this, government is presently working towards the upgrade of LASSRA. The identification card to be issued to residents will also be enabled to pay for public transport services such as tolls and Bus Rapid Transit.  The availability of adequate data on residents aside from helping government in planning, will boost credit services, help track traffic offenders and criminals in general.

    Also, government is promoting e-governance through its Citizens Relations Management (CRM) initiative (www.citizensgate.Lagosstate.gov.ng), to facilitate interaction between government and the citizens and also provide some services to the public online without them having to come to the government offices. One of the automated government services which the public is yet to be making adequate use of is the e-planning permit system (e-pp). The platform (www.lagosepp.com.ng), allows members of the public to obtain building approval within 30 days at the comfort of their homes or offices. This development is expected to encourage compliance with planning regulation.

    A one-stop shop, the Office of Overseas Affairs and Investment has also been created to eliminate multi-agency interface and ensure prospective local and foreign investors have a memorable experience while setting up their businesses in Lagos State. The agency also has an After Care Directorate that helps existing businesses in thriving and expanding.

    Also, the importance of a stable power supply to drive technology and engender a smart city cannot be over-emphasized. To achieve this objective, the state government is presently looking beyond the hitherto captive power which has generated about 48 kilowatts for dedicated state government facilities, to embedded power in clusters. In this regard, a technical committee set up by the governor is working towards the delivery of 350MW off grid electricity by the first quarter of 2018, 1200MW by the third quarter of 2018, and an ultimate target of 3000MW by 2022, through the network of Eko and Ikeja Distribution companies.

    Governor Ambode has further demonstrated his authenticity, by not pretending to have all the answers to the challenges of governing a megacity and allowing the private sector to bring independent perspective to governance through various committees such as the Economic Advisory Committee and the Advisory Committee on Power, among others. Also, with the recent inauguration of the Lagos State Research and innovation Council, which will make available funds to translate research works and innovations into commercial activities, the private sector has been further challenged to engender a knowledge driven economy in Lagos State.

    So, while Lagos may not have the kind of resources of some affluent cities such as Tokyo and New York, it is at least gratifying that Governor Ambode is doing things differently and using the limited state resources judiciously, to build a more efficient and functional megacity.

     

    • Dina, a Public Relation Practitioner writes from Lagos.

  • PDP, old wine

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and by extension the political opposition in Nigeria are still basking in the euphoria of the legal victory against self at the Supreme Court.  PDP had power thrusted to it by benevolent spirit when the military shot itself in the foot by annulling the election that was adjudged as the most credible in our electoral history. The party had the rare opportunity of remaining in power for unbroken 16 years.  During this period, there was no conscious effort to improve the lot of the country and people; and not even the party.  Impunity was the name of the game as candidates for elective offices were anointed godsons chosen by a cabal who manipulate the electoral process. Internal democratic practices were lacking and party leaders were laws unto themselves.

    The founding fathers of the party were eminent Nigerians in their own right but could hardly be said to be with tested altruistic pan Nigeria agenda.  The party is made up of political merchants and journeymen who are in politics for bread and butter without more.  PDP was initially bank-rolled and chaperoned by its military overlords as merely a political machine for electoral victory with sole aim of capturing power.  This remained constant on their political voyage as a ruling party. This is the reason why the party had a militarized psyche with rapacious appetite ravaging the entire country with impunity eating up the seed and seedlings.

    The economic model of the PDP was thievery and brigandage which was carried to the level of rascality during the tenure of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan.   Nigerian people became disillusioned and disenchanted with the PDP and especially President Jonathan who in spite of his very good nature and humility was profoundly incompetent, losing grip of the government.

    President Jonathan became a victim of manipulation by his military chiefs and political hawks who took advantage of his naivety of the dynamics of Nigerian politics.  He failed to take advantage of the benefit of his political experience from the state to the federal level and was therefore a dumb rookie on a political chessboard.  This was the reason why PDP and the President were deserted during the 2015 Presidential election.

    The party, not being used to defeat was not able to manage their loss by going back to the drawing board in order to rebrand and rejig the party.  To their misfortune, rather than embarking on self critique and appraisal to reposition the party as a credible opposition by rebranding the party decided to shop for a freebooter and hireling who had a different agenda.   Ali Modu Sheriff was a creation of opportunistic political schism of the PDP gladiators that turned out as a monster that came to devour what was left of the party.

    The lacklustre performance of the APC-led government is not a conferment of credibility or acceptance by the Nigerian people.  It is true that under APC’s watch, infrastructure across the country have collapsed especially, road.  Electricity is in comatose.  These failures of the APC cannot breathe life into the fossil of PDP for electoral gains and victory any time soon.  We are still confronted daily with the heist of the PDP led government with the grand expose of the former Oil Minister, Deziani  Alison-Madueke, the goddess of waste and her minions.   We are confronted with the same old faces and characters who recklessly abused their offices and trust reposed in them as public officers.  They do not have the humility to show penitence and remorse and ask Nigerians for forgiveness rather, they are displaying vaunted arrogance that 1919 belongs to them.

    APC may have demonstrated so far that it is not a cohesive political party to entrust the destiny of this nation for any progressive change with its lacklustre performance which is ubiquitous, the spectre of 16 years of waste of PDP has refuse to go away as it haunts us from the grave. Whatever we are witnessing today as far as the opposition which is represented by PDP goes, it is the same old wine with its sour taste. As a people, we seem to be where we are by choice because we are the ones who choose these charlatans to be masters and lords over us even when it becomes obvious that they have loss the moral standing to preside over us we immerse ourselves in invocation of fatality and allow them to continue.  This is the reason why the National Assembly is appropriating and sequestrating the peoples power to recall a member who has carried himself in a manner that is odious and contrary to their expectation and representation.  We will remain in this blind alley as long as we deify rogues as political leaders.  No amount of restructuring will change anything if we continue to have the old wine put in a new wineskin.  We need a new crop of leaders with change of mentality and attitude before restructuring can transform us to a better future.

     

    • Kebonkwu Esq. is an Abuja-based attorney.

  • Let Ibadan technical varsity be

    The establishment of a technical university is supposed to be a welcome development in any society, especially in any state in technologically under-developed countries like Nigeria. Resulting from its massive population of about 200 million and decades of poor economic performance, Nigeria has the largest informal sector in Africa with an average national unemployment rate of 24.7 per cent in 2013 and poverty incidence of about 70 percent in 2010. It is a settled issue in development literature that a robust and dynamic informal sector can contribute significantly to the Gross Domestic Products (GDP), create employment and reduce poverty, only when practitioners are equipped with requisite technological skills. Technical university/education therefore remains a critical tool of empowerment for nations. This is because such venture has the tendency of raising the capability and expertise of the students and, as a consequence, increases the output and eventual developmental drive of such societies. It is on this prism that the raging debates about the propriety of a technical university in Oyo state are situated.

    For some reasons, some right, many other clearly incomprehensible and apparently politically-laden, there have been debates about whether or not Oyo State government should venture into establishing any type of university at all. Part of the arguments is the prevalence of economic recession affecting virtually all the states of the federation, except, perhaps Lagos, with the state owing its workers some month salaries, and with the LAUTECH debacle unresolved. Given the foregoing, some critics would not even want to hear of establishment of any capital project, which they consider a misplaced priority at this point in time. I have looked at some of the issues raised by critics of the establishment of the Technical University Ibadan (TUI) critically and come up with my views on why the establishment of the university is a laudable project for which kudos should be given to the governor for his foresight and his uncommon courage.

    First and foremost, the importance of education cannot be over-emphasised as it is the pinnacle of universal knowledge and a platform for global development. Indeed, one of the factors that indicate development in any society is the provision of access or avenue for universal knowledge. Thus, Oyo State, and in particular Ibadan, being the largest city in West Africa, undoubtedly deserves the establishment of its own university with prospects of not just access to indigenes and non-indigenes of the state to universal knowledge, but also the tendency for job opportunities for teaching and non-teaching staff alike.

    The issue of access to higher education has been particularly problematic in Nigeria year in year out. On the average, while about two million candidates seek admission to higher institutions annually, the total carrying capacity of all the universities combined is less than a quarter of admission seekers. This scenario becomes a big challenge especially in states without own university, forcing parents to seek alternative avenues for their children and wards, including private and foreign universities for those who can afford them.

    In addition, the newly established Technical University Ibadan is not just any university; it is a special type specialising in engineering, technology, applied science and natural sciences to solve societal problems. These special courses not readily available in the regular universities and which would be provided by the institution will give tulip to technological advancement at this period in the life of Nigeria. According to Governor Ajimobi, the university is founded on the “principle of unique innovation, research collaboration, exceptional service, integrity, excellence, and uplifting of the human condition, knowledge, skill, classroom, industry and theory and practical”. The university, he added, would provide succour for parents who often send their wards to neighbouring countries for higher education. As argued by the Pro-Chancellor of the university, Professor Oyewusi Ibidapo-Obe, the 12 programmes to be offered in the university are in line with tackling unemployment in the country, with teaching emphasis being on “building skills, aside from imparting knowledge”.

    Being one of the largest cities in Nigeria, Ibadan deserves more than the present number of tertiary institutions. The establishment of the technical university will, therefore, go a long way in addressing the problem of access to higher education by admission seekers in Oyo state.

    Findings suggest that the technical university Ibadan is established at almost a zero cost to the state government since it is largely on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement. The state government has already expressed its readiness to release 90 percent of the university’s shares to private investors while it would retain only 10 percent. Already, private investors have been indicating interest in partnering with state government of the noble venture. For instance, Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha has said that the university would be readily available for students of the Okorocha Foundation-owned secondary school in Ibadan.

    Perhaps the loudest criticism of the establishment of the university is from Oyo State chapter of Accord Party (AP), which has criticised the location, not the merit of establishing the university. The AP wants the state government to be sensitive to the geographical composition of the state by siting the newly created Technical University Ibadan (TUI) in Oke-Ogun zone, which has 40 per cent of the state’s landmass; 10 Local Government Areas and population next to Ibadan, the state capital. In truth, Oyo state is made up of five geo-political zones, namely Ibadan (11 LGAs), Oke-Ogun (10 LGAs), Ogbomoso (5 LGAs), Oyo (4 LGAs) and Ibarapa (3 LGAs). The party had argued that Ibadan and other towns jointly owned the state, hence there is need for fair and equitable distribution of projects in the state.

    It is noteworthy that Oyo is not the only state that has established its university at the state capital. Osun State University is located in Osogbo, the state capital, while the newly approved University Of Science and Technology in Ogun State is located at Abeokuta. Besides, does it conform to the principle of fairness that the only technical university, the state’s first ever, be established at a zone which does not have the largest population? Again, is it in the principle of fair play that Ibadan should be neglected for Oke-Ogun in this sense? Be that as it may, one may suggest that satellite campuses of the Technical University Ibadan be sited at other zones of the states, including Oke-Ogun in a bid to extend access to higher education to Oyo state students in these areas.

    It is my sincere wish that all stakeholders and lovers of Oyo state will have the necessary political will to rise above partisan politics and support the noble effort of Governor Ajimobi in the task of repositioning and restoring the lost glory of the pacesetter state. I am deeply convinced that what Nigeria needs at this time are institutions which could offer career development to the middle level needs in the field of technical knowledge. Such middle level technical know-how is necessary for the country to achieve inclusive development, tackle unemployment and conquer poverty. Nigeria can no longer totally depend on the traditional system of university education. It has served a good purpose, and it is still serving a purpose. But, in my view the immediate need is to diversify the tertiary education system with an emphasis on technical and vocational education, which is the focus of Technical University Ibadan. At a minimum, this effort should be supported by all and sundry.

    Technical education, like university education, should become an integral aspect of the development process in the country. Only an institute of this nature, with varied products of highly skilled labour, can respond to labour market demands in a country like ours. The reason is that such Institution can operate multi-disciplinary programmes in various technical fields and the TUI promises exactly that. I end this piece by quoting Albert Einstein to wit: “Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything learnt in school.”

     

    • Oladeji, PhD, a Senior Research Fellow, writes from NISER, Ibadan.

  • Mandela at times like this

    Last Tuesday, July 18 marked Nelson Mandela Day (NMD) as declared by United Nations. It was launched in 2009 with unanimous decision by the UN General Assembly. Madiba is the only global citizen to be so honored with an annual international day in furtherance of his historic achievements in working towards conflict resolution, democracy, human rights, peace, and reconciliation. He died at 95 in December 5, 2013. For 67 years Nelson Mandela devoted his life to the service of humanity of his 95 years on earth —” as a human rights lawyer, a prisoner of conscience, an international peacemaker and the first democratically elected president of a free South Africa”.

    On annual NMD, we are enjoined to spend minimum of 67 minutes to do something positive and tangible in the service of humanity. In 2008, “retiring from retirement” (his words), Mandela told those who listened that “It is in your hands to make of the world a better place”. Almost a decade after he tasked humanity in positive service continuity and four years after his death, is the world a better place according to the vision of Nelson Mandela?

    At times like this, what would be Mandela’s reactions to global developments from the alleged state capture by Zuma/Gupta family in South Africa, (his home country) to wholesale nation-capture manifesting in massive cash and properties seizures from public officials in Nigeria? What would be Mandela’s reaction to Donald Trump’s ascendancy in 2016 American controversial presidential election? What about the forgotten war of attrition in South Sudan? What would be Nelson Mandela’s thoughts on Nigeria, a respected former “frontline state” which tirelessly worked to liberate him and his country from apartheid atrocities, sliding into insularity led by new bigoted corrupt leaders misguiding the youths into divisions and violence? In a speech to an International Women’s Forum in 2003 on the eve of the second Gulf war, Mandela courageously damned both George Bush and Tony Blair with historic withering attack unapologetically implying the duo were racists bent on destroying Iraq in return for its oil. Witness   Mandela’s verdict on George Bush: “…a president who has no foresight and cannot think properly … wanting to plunge the world into a holocaust”. Witness him on Tony Blair: “He is the Foreign Minister of the United States; he is no longer Prime Minister of Britain”.

    Given the four years long America-Russian serial carpet bombings in Syria, at times like this, what would be Madiba’s quotable words on the iconic image of a stunned and bloodied Syrian boy pulled from rubble in Aleppo? The Nelson Mandela Foundation dedicated this year’s Mandela Day to Action Against Poverty, “honouring Nelson Mandela’s leadership and devotion to fighting poverty and promoting social justice for all; encouraging everyone to take action against poverty in a way that will bring about sustainable change”.

    In May this year, two  months before Nelson Mandela day, UK-based OXFAM international released  a report on Nigeria’s extreme inequalities in figures: “combined wealth of Nigeria’s five richest men – $29.9 billion – could end extreme poverty at a national level yet five million face hunger. More than 112 million people are living in poverty in Nigeria, yet the country’s richest man would have to spend $1 million a day for 42 years to exhaust his fortune”!

    Whence Mandela-like voice on this grim statistics which depicts private wealth side by side with common poverty, in place of common wealth? What then happened to our sensitivity on this Nigeria’s “great-wealth divide” after Nelson Mandela? In April this year, Donald Trump proudly announced the deployment of “mother of all bombs” (some nations do give births to bombs, not babies!) – “the largest conventional bomb it has ever used in combat…” striking a complex of tunnels and bunkers used by ISIS militants in Achin district in Nangarhar province killing some hundreds. Only Pope Francis commendably damned the US for the carnage, more importantly for daring to name the US military’s largest non-nuclear explosive (reportedly weighing some 21,600lb (9,800kg!),  ”the mother of all bombs”!

    Witness the people’s Pope: “I was ashamed when I heard the name…A mother gives life and this one gives death, and we call this device a mother. What is going on?” he asked. Pope refreshingly and almost singularly acted Mandela in an increasingly unipolar insensitive world. What “is going on” after Mandela’s death?  I had a singular privilege of spending my 2017 “Mandela Day 67 minutes” in Lagos. Many thanks to the wonderful  Oluwafunso identical twin brothers who had graciously  invited me as a Guest Speaker to the 25th year Anniversary of Pan African Arts Festival ( Panafest) Colloquium with the theme: “Leadership failure in Africa. Is it a culture?

    Ironically, the gathering of youths (in their 20s and 30s) were not conscious it was Nelson Mandela Day.  The theme further underscores the story of despair among the African youths. Things “are truly falling apart” (apology to Chinua Achebe). We are really in trouble; African youths are unconscious of historic African leadership success figures such as Nelson Mandela, Murtala Mohammed, Amical Cabral, Samora Michel, Micheal Imoudu, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikwe, Kwame Nkrumah, Sam Nujoma, Herbert Macaulay, Gambo Sawaba, Mallam Aminu Kano, Mrs Funmilayo Kuti. Things must just fall in place, starting with the return of history to schools. Thanks to Mandela Day, yours truly agonized for more than 67 minutes to explain that leadership success is also part of   African DNA. Who then leads like Nelson Mandela at times like this to impress on our youths that there is still a role model in leadership after all? Interestingly, Madiba leadership is not by big political issues alone. Or better still, Madiba with his globally acknowledged enviable sense of humour and jokes, ably conveyed sobering messages of conflict resolution, democracy, human rights, peace, and reconciliation. He was a witty wag with an eye on political impact! Mandela was also a dancer. But at times like this, Madiba as a dancer would have conceded graciously to Nigerian dancing senator, Ademola Adeleke representing Osun West Senatorial District in Nigeria. But on jokes, Mandela’s joke highlights can make a book. One joke is of profound relevance to Nigeria today. During the multiparty negotiations before the 1994 democratic election, it was reported that “he would often gently tease the leader of a rightwing Afrikaner party, Gen. Constant Viljoen, by saying, “We have to let the white man talk; after all, he is from the supreme race.” This joke helped to warm up often racially charged atmosphere during negotiations. Whence a Nelson Mandela today to help moderate  Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti on his serial unprovoked verbal darts at President Muhammad Buhari  (PMB) with some words like these; “ We have to let Governor Fayose keep on talking. After all he is the unopposed President-in-waiting of the Republic of comedians and jokers”!.

     

    • Aremu mni writes from Textile Workers House, Kaduna.

  •  Revisiting the state police debate

    The debate over the necessity for state police has been on for quite some time. Before now, the most vociferous advocates of state police have been members of the opposition as well as notable civil society activists. It is, however, crucial to stress that agitation for the creation of state police should not be viewed as a partisan or an anti-federal government crusade. Neither can it be said to be the handiwork of mischief-makers or rabble -rousers.

    State police is an important component of true federalism and emblem of authority of governance, since sovereignty is divided between the central authority and federating state authorities.  It is not a new concept in Nigeria, but is rather a clamour for modification to the colonial legacy of Native Authority Police which successfully worked alongside the Nigeria Police Force till the 1970s before it was abolished and integrated into a single Nigeria Police Force by the military oligarchy to achieve their unitary command system. The Native Authority police was very effective as a tool for combating crime and maintaining orderliness then, though with some excesses and abuses typical of the party politics as it was played at that time.

    Though the 1999 Constitution provides for a single federal police, this precludes states from taking charge of the protection of lives and properties of their people as Chief Security Officer and denied them the emblem of authority. If Nigeria is really a federation, this is a constitutional lacuna that must be addressed through constitution amendment to pave way for state police.

    Considering recent level of threat to public security across the country, taking recourse to state police seems a more attractive option. Without a doubt, the centralised policing system has not really been effective and it is only logical that we consider other plausible options.

    Aside the well accepted philosophy that that policing is essentially a local matter, every crime is local in nature. Hence, it is only rational to localize the police force. No matter its form, crime detection needs a local knowledge that state police can better provide.

    Perhaps more importantly, it is important that the governor who is the Chief Security Officer of his state has the control of the police command in same state. The current trend where the Police Commissioner in a state will have to take orders from Abuja concerning security issues in a state doesn’t look tidy.

    Ironically, almost all state governments in the country are investing heavily in the diverse security agencies in their respective states. In Lagos, for example, the state government has in the last 17 years invested billions of naira on public security. In –fact, the first Security Trust Fund to be established, by any government, in the country was initiated by the Lagos State government.

    Presently, the Lagos State government has rebranded and repositioned the state’s Rapid Response Squad. Within six months of its inauguration, the administration procured and handed over to RRS some equipment which included three helicopters, two patrol boats, 100 motorcycles, 13 BM power bikes, 60 ford salon cars, 55 Ford Rangers, 40 Toyota Land Cruiser SUVs, 31 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC) as well as police uniforms and other kits.

    This is in addition to the purchase of 100 new squad cars for a new initiative tagged Special Operation Service (SOS) which harmonizes community policing in partnership with the Rapid Response Squad (RRS). Similarly, an integrated security and emergency control platform that interface with all security networks in the state was set up.

    In-spite of this massive investment in public security, the Lagos State government did not rest on its oars as it again donated security equipment worth N4.7b to the state Police Command. As massive as this intervention is, the administration has continued to promote the course of public security in the state as it also made a presentation of additional security equipment at a cost of N1.85billion to security agencies in the state.

    The equipment, which was officially presented by the acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) was distributed to the RRS, 107 police stations and 13 Police Area Commands in Lagos State. Other beneficiaries include the Nigeria Customs, Immigration Services, the Nigeria Army, Air force, Navy, DSS, AIG Zone 2, Civil Defence, Federal Road Safety Corps, LASTMA, NDLEA, Lagos State Task Force and the Nigeria Prison Services. Provision of this equipment is a deliberate attempt to fast-track investigation, surveillance and intelligent information in the state.

    Now, will it not amount to double standard that a state government bears such a huge financial burden on his state police command, which in the first place should be the responsibility of the federal government, and yet has little or no control over such security organ?

    To properly address the security question in the country, we need to tackle the touchy issue of state police. No matter how much a state government spends on security, the reality is that it has no direct control over any of the national security organs. The current centralized police structure in the country will continue to limit the capacity of states to effectively address security issues.

    It has been argued severally that state police is nothing but a recipe for anarchy as it could lead to abuse of power. The reality, however, is that the present centralized policing arrangement has, over the years, equally been subjected to limitless abuse by the central authority.

    In-spite of all the arguments against state police, the fact is that Nigeria is too large and complex to be policed centrally. In an ideal federal system, the issue of state police should not be a contentious matter. If we are really serious about overcoming current security challenges in the polity, the time to embrace the option of state police is now.

    Let’s face the fact; Nigeria is too large and complex to be policed centrally. In an ideal federal system, the issue of state police should not be a contentious matter, after all, in the First Republic, there were regional police and local police existing side by side the federal police. If we are really serious about overcoming current security challenges in the country, we need to re-examine the issue state police more earnestly and objectively.

     

    • Ogunbiyi is of the Ministry of Information & Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos

  • Our pharmaceutical challenges

    Different countries have their own peculiarities; each with a sector that generates the most income for her. For several of them, the pharmaceutical industry plays a key role in their economies. This is not surprising as health is the most precious need of man; one necessity human beings can spend their last kobo seeking.

    Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product [GDP] is about US$400 billion to which the pharmaceutical industry contributes 0.25-0.30%, approximately US$1-US$1.2 billion. The GDP of China is US$12 trillion and its pharmaceutical industry contributes US$120-150 billion or 1-1.25%. In India, the pharmaceutical industry accounts for US$40 billion or some 2% of her US$2.3 trillion GDP. By comparison to Nigeria, the pharmaceutical industry in many other countries is major player in their economies.

    In the late 1980s to early 1990s, the pharmaceutical industry in Nigeria enjoyed robust activities in local manufacturing, dominated by such global operators as May & Baker, Pfizer, Glaxo, Wellcome, Hoechst, Bayer, SmithklineBeecham, Upjohn, Sandoz, Ciba-Geigy, and Parke Davies.

    In the wake of the downturn in the economy and devaluation of our currency, virtually all the multi-nationals exited the country, with local manufacturing firms taking over. Though they reasonably remained active, they could only cover some 20% of the nation’s pharmaceutical needs, with virtually all their raw materials imported. With such high-level import-dependency and a regime of scarce foreign exchange, the operating environment was stifling.

    To further illustrate the inadequate capacity of local manufacturers to meet the nation’s pharmaceutical needs, I will draw attention to two critical developments: The Global Initiative on Malaria and Vaccine Availability. When the Global Initiative on Malaria was launched in Nigeria, basic anti-malaria drugs that local manufacturers could produce were imported from WHO-pre-qualified factories.  On vaccines, way back in 1948, Nigeria owned a vaccine production laboratory that produced vaccines for small pox, yellow fever and rabies. It was shut down in 1980 supposedly for upgrade and to increase capacity; but alas, these never materialized even after expenditures of millions of US Dollars. One of the sophisticated equipment – procured in 1995 for the sum of US$1.2 million – is still in a crate in the premises of the Federal Vaccines Production Laboratory in Yaba, Lagos. Consequently, today, Nigeria is the world’s largest importer of vaccines. This has further rendered the country insecure and vulnerable to such threats as biological warfare.

    Countries stand to gain tremendously from active and thriving local industries. For example, if Nigeria has a robust pharmaceutical industry that produces a wide range of products, including vaccines, for local consumption and export, it would ensure regular supply of drugs and prompt responses to health emergencies like out-breaks of yellow fever and cerebro-spinal meningitis – thereby averting avoidable deaths. Local production will provide employment for Nigerians; and the capacity to export will not earn foreign exchange for the country, but save millions of foreign currencies that would have gone into importation and medical tourism. A thriving pharmaceutical industry will also ensure Nigerians’ participation in an industry at the cutting edge of science through technology acquisition and capacity building. In the area of vaccine production, for instance, it will stimulate research into all types of vaccine, including elements of thermos-stability, safety, efficacy evaluation and shelf-life.

    Today, most progressive economies are always exploring means of improving their industries. The competition is vigorous and a moment’s lapse will give other countries an edge.  In the midst of global challenges, it is my humble call on the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria to put on their thinking caps and examine their corporate existence and contributions to the building of a better Nigeria. As the saying goes: “An unexamined life of a person or corporate body is not worth living”.

    Even as we reflect on past failures and successes, we should not dwell so much on it, because it is gone. Dwelling on the past will only sap our energies to think and work for the future.  The world pharmaceutical market today is worth a trillion US Dollars, from which Nigerian manufacturers and businesses are completely shut out as we are not exporters. It is also revealing that India and China were once where we are in terms of importation, consequent on not manufacturing enough for their needs. Today, they are not only producers of raw materials and finished products sufficient for their own markets, but are major net exporters to the global markets, earning huge foreign exchange for their countries.

    The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria must urgently organize fora on how to reverse the situation. At present, local manufacturers account for only 20% of national needs. The society can set a target of 50% contribution to national needs in 10 years. By the year 2030 – when the Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs] will come to an end – we would have closed the gap. Towards attaining this, operators should generate local sources for their raw materials; commencing with pharmaceutical grade starch which, I understand, constitutes over 80% of white tablets. Nigeria has abundance of maize and potato to achieve this. They should also consider organic compounds derived from hydro-carbons.

    Appreciating the quantum leap by countries such as India and China, we have to study by what means they got there: What we can learn from them on what they did yesterday that brought them to where they are today? India, for example, is currently the third largest supplier of raw materials in the world, coming from being a net importer 30-40 years ago. When they decided to be self-sufficient in pharmaceutical raw materials, they did not have the competitive and comparative advantages they have today. They worked for it!

    Our nation must invest in acquisition of science and technology and other relevant skills. Though a pharmacist is a skilled person, there are other relevant skill sets to make a difference in our highly-competitive world.  We must invest in research and development aggressively in order to be able to come out with what is required to compete effectively. We must collaborate with one another, including through mergers, to be able to build facilities that will compete globally. Examples could abound in the banking industry.

    The last point I would like to leave you with is that pharmacists must not allow those who do not know better to make the decisions affecting the industry. You must be heard at fora where public policy is decided. Get involved in politics.

     

    • [Excerpts from Mr. Obi’s extempore speech entitled: Weathering the Storm of Economic Downturn: Now and Beyond, at the 2017 Annual Dinner of the Board of Fellows, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria at NICON Luxury Hotel, Abuja]
  • Memo to El-Rufai

    Memo to El-Rufai

    With the hoopla for restructuring amidst the misery ravaging ordinary Nigerians, the dominant faction of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) has reacted predictably. It has put the solution ‘in the pipeline’, by setting up a committee chaired by Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the Governor of Kaduna State to determine the nature of restructuring the party wants. Yet, few weeks previously, El-Rufai had made sarcastic remarks about the call for restructuring.

    Such a committee obviously is to buy time and give disillusioned Nigerians the impression that the party is doing something. But I doubt whether the party has the luxury to shadow-box. If the party continues to treat the threats facing our country in this cavalier manner, is the dominant faction not worried that it could lose the next general election? Is the faction not worried that the statistics are not looking up in the economy, infrastructure, cohesion, and even security of our country?

    Agreed that the government inherited a gang-raped nation as the war on corruption is showing, what measures has this government put in place to forestall a reoccurrence?  What measure has it taken to expand the nation’s resource base which the Minister for Finance Kemi Adeosun recently confessed is minuscule compared to the challenges facing our country, apart from the clamour for taxes? Does El-Rufai with all his brilliance not appreciate the urgent need to effectively create new economic centres across the country to harness the wasting energies of our teeming youths?

    Even the old Apapa and Tin can ports in Lagos, has remained virtually inaccessible in the past two years. Again, just like under the discredited previous governments, fuel is still hurled from Lagos ports to other parts of the country by road with all the dire consequences for the roads and travellers. With the nation surrendering to the Dangote refinery, what plans is being put in place for evacuation from that refinery?

    To show the huge challenges facing our country, a Bridge in Niger State recently collapsed and the entire north-western part of our country was cut off from the south-west and the sea-ports, necessitating the intervention of the acting President. While waiting for El-Rufai and company to determine the meaning of restructuring, I hope that the federal government realises the security implication that an attack on the bridge portends.

    Similar challenges face the south-east with respect to the Niger Bridge at Onitsha, not to talk about several highways across the country like the Port-Harcourt-Enugu highway, abandoned over a decade because of ‘lack of funds’. Yet, the federal authority through a dubious exclusive legislative list appropriates the majority of the nation’s resources, with the excess available for unprecedented grand larceny, as Diezani Alison-Madueke and company’s alleged acts show.

    When something as ordinary as the registration of a business name, not to talk about a company registration, is made a constitutional affair and is listed in the exclusive legislative list, anybody who says he does not understand the meaning and the urgency for restructuring is fundamentally duplicitous. In essence, before you engage in buying and selling of farm produce in Kafanchan with a business name, you must kow-tow to a federal bureaucracy, the Corporate Affairs Commission, with its head office in Abuja.

    Of course, the ownership of the more serious factor of modern production – electricity, is securely in the hands of a leviathan far removed from the farmer in Kafanchan. While Nigerians are asked to await the sagacity of El-Rufai and company to determine the meaning of restructuring, the same El-Rufai, with all his intellect, industry and perspicuity is prohibited from devoting his energy to solve the electricity needs of those that elected him.

    So, while El-Rufai is recruited by the party to devote his energy to do what he is not elected to do, he is estopped by the constitution which makes electricity the exclusive preserve of the federal government, from effectively serving the people of Kaduna State that elected him. Again, while he rakes in billions of naira every year from oil resources far removed from his territorial domain, for which he suffers no environmental challenges, he can’t use it to provide something as ordinary to modern life as electricity.

    Furthermore, while El-Rufai cannot mine the minerals in his state because he is not the statutory owner, the owner, federal government, is busy drinking the oil resources in the Niger Delta. Instead of being aggrieved at this anomaly, he has been recruited to obfuscate the call for return to sanity and common-sense. Even more debilitating is El-Rufai’s ‘helplessness’ in effecting the arrest and prosecution of those who from his state capital threatened the Igbos with mass expulsion, even when he had openly made the promise.

    Assuming El-Rufai was playing politics with bringing the so called Arewa Youths Coalition to account, is he not ashamed that he needs the intervention of the national army to bring to account, the perpetrators of the killings in southern Kaduna? Is he not worried by the structural incapacitation that renders him criminally negligent for the re-occurring killings of those who elected him into office?

    While El-Rufai and company are buying time defining restructuring, his failure and that of his colleagues to live up to the constitutional responsibility of ensuring the security of lives and property is defining their tenure. All cross the country, basic police responsibility has been appropriated by the military, while some states have resorted to quasi-police agencies, with all the limitations. Yet, El-Rufai and company accepts the ignoble responsibility to engage in subterfuge, instead of offering solutions to a nation bleeding profusely.

    Under the watch of President Umaru Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan, the Boko Haram crisis assumed a frightful dimension, with the country forced to fight wars to reclaim its constituent parts. While President Muhammadu Buhari has successfully degraded the insurgency it inherited, it has succeeded in creating new tension centres, particularly in the south-east and south-south. Whether it is poor governance models or opposition methodology that is responsible, the fact is that our national cohesion is again dishevelled.

    Some commentators erroneously equate the clamour for Biafra by a sizeable number of disillusioned people of old Eastern Nigeria, particularly the younger generation, with the success or failure of Nnamdi Kanu’s group, which bears the fanciful name of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB). While I believe the Igbos will thrive better in a restructured Nigeria, I am not misled that Biafra or similar agitations will die, without restructuring.

    How can Biafra or other variant symptoms of a dysfunctional federation die, when one beautiful lady and her consorts could under the guise of public serve garner for their personal use, humongous portions of our common resources, and our nation will rely on foreign intelligence to fully unravel the scam? How can insurgency die, when our duplicitous constitution gives the president and other federal officials untrammelled excessive powers? Of course Nero fiddled while Rome burned.

     

  • Aregbesola and road less travelled

    Aregbesola and road less travelled

    One of the variant axioms by George Santayana in his work, ‘Life of Reason’ says “those who forget the past are condemned to the future”. The saying perfectly finds its meaning in the governance of Osun State under the stewardship of Governor Rauf Aregbesola. Those who are familiar with Aregbesola’s campaign manifestoes prior to this governorship electioneering in 2007, 2010 and 2014 to date cannot but attest to the studious adherent to his pact with his people.

    Aregbesola had campaigned with an enthralling manifestoes contained in his unique and popular green book titled ‘My Pact with the People of Osun’. The book contained his Six Integral Action Plan: Banish poverty, banish hunger, create work and wealth, restore healthy living, promote functional education, and maintain communal peace and progress.

    For the record, Governor Rauf Aregbesola is the eighth governor of Osun State, counting from both the military era and the civilian governments. All the past governors, including the military administrators, have record of achievements, though fading out in the memory of the people of the state. But one could not compare the achievements of the civilian governors to that of military. There is a wide gap.

    Chief Bisi Akande, the first governor of Osun State in the fourth republic has an ending, unfading, laudable and unforgettable record of service. Among the legacies of Baba Akande is the Osun State Government Secretariat, Abere which was built for less that N2billion (including the Bola Ige House). The secretariat was built at a cost of N1.1bn while the Governor’s office (Bola Ige House) cost N870 million, according to records.

    The construction of standard and durable roads in both the urban and rural areas of the state is an incontrovertible project of the Asiwaju of Ila-Orangun. The construction of buildings and offices for the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) Teaching Hospital, Osogbo by Chief Akande’s administration is a story that tells itself. Those projects are living in good shape years after the exit of baba Akande, attesting to his principle of prudence, standard and patriotism. It is on record that Baba Akande won the award of ‘Most Economic and Transparent Governor’ during his tenure because of his passionate and purpose driving governance.

    Osun State University is a legacy of former Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola who took over from Chief Akande in 2003. The people of the state craved for infrastructural development during the seven-and-half years reign of Oyinlola. Some people argued that Osun was retard, inert and underdeveloped because there was dearth of infrastructural development after the undeserved exit of Chief Akande. Notwithstanding, there are tangible projects to be traced to Oyinlola’s administration.

    The emergence of Aregbesola from the progressives flank as the governor of Osun was to redirect the state on the path of development, started by Governor Akande whose austere leadership style opened up the state for positive governance. He has substantially proven to be the architect of the modern Osun State with his developmental project across the nook and cranny of the state. No part of the state could deny the existence of government presence in the area with one or two project. Principally, the construction of roads and drainages cut across everywhere in Osun State.

    Whether the opposition in the state or the media concerns which has chosen to blackout and dim the vision and mission of the governor like it or not, they cannot change the fact on ground or erase it from the mind of Osun people that Aregbesola is the governor who opened up rural communities through partnership with international agencies; reduced leakages in government through the application of technologies, constructed over 15km township roads each across the 30 LGAs, completely built hundreds of state-of-the-art schools and renovated many others across the 30 LGAs, feeding over 250,000 school pupils on a daily basis, sponsored stranded Uniosun medical students to Ukraine for completion of studies.

    Their opposition to the governor’s governance style or hatred for his believe system will not delete the ongoing construction of East Bye-pass road with attendant overhead bridges; the ongoing construction of Akoda/Gbongan dualized road with interchange bridge connecting Oyo State, the over 1,500 lives of accident victims who were saved through the establishment of O’Ambulance programme, the reduction in infant mortality rate through the provision of free healthcare services in state-owned hospitals, the overseas training of Osun indigenes in modern agriculture techniques, Information Communication Technologies and mechatronics, the constructed of Odi-Olowo/Olaiya road linking Jaleyemi area with beautification, the constructed of Olaiya/Oke-Fia road with parameter fencing, the relocated and the built new Army Remembrance Arena/Arcade, the over 123km of waterways dredged to avoid flooding in Osun.

    The notoriously oiled PDP’s propaganda machine cannot evaporate Aregbesola’s provision of well over 300 patrol vans to the security agency; 24 Armoured Personnel Carriers (APC), hundreds of thousands of security gadgets and an helicopters to ensure safety in Osun thereby reducing crime rate, his supports to farmers in form of free seedlings, interest-free loans, trainings (local and international) and partnership, the over 2,000km of roads constructed across the state, the right environment for investors in form of tax holidays, free-trade-zone, quick issuance of C of O (within 90-days) indication to influx of investors in the state, the free train service to Osun indigenes during festive periods, the recruited of over 48,000 O’YES cadets, the over 9,000 teachers recruited and 17,057 teaching and non-teaching personnel promoted across primary and secondary schools, the revived 17 years moribund Cocoa Processing Industry in Ede with extended capacity, the first to implement new minimum wage by increasing workers’ salaries, the prompt payment of compensation to owner of houses demolished in the course of development, the over N5billion micro-credit loan to artisan, market women/men and others.

    Neither can they remove the Opon-Imo, known as the tablet of knowledge distributed to students in the government-owned high (secondary) schools in the state, the built ultra-modern market with state-of-the-art facilities – Ayegbaju market; the peaceful conduct of election since assumption of office in 2010, the established computer accessories factory known as Adulawo Technology City in conjunction with a private company, the grant of autonomy to state-owned tertiary institutions in the state without interference, the payment of 13th month salaries to workers’ between 2010-2014, the construction of the first amusement park known as Mandela Freedom Park in Osun, the ongoing reconstruction of Rasco bridge with 90% completion to solve perennial flooding problems, the establishment of Omoluabi Savings and Garment Industry, the poultry rearing of 300,000 Broilers through outgrowers scheme, to mention just a few.

    The failure of prompt payment of workers’ wages which Aregbesola gets the highest and strangest criticism is not Osun-specific in the comity of states in Nigeria. Neither is Osun among the 10 most indebted states in the country. Majority of Niger Delta states with 13% Derivation as additional federal allocation are known to default in payments of workers’ salaries running into 20 months and above as a result of glut of crude which led to crashes of price in the global market since 2014.

    Aregbesola’s travail/agony in governance has been his penchant and resolve to plying the radical road less travelled; believing same to be true to his envisioned ideology through which egalitarian society of his dream will be actualized. His traducers have been giving rhetorical vent to their spleen and prejudice against him. They exaggerated his failures without considering the meagreness or dryness of the state’s treasury. When they are confronted and shown the records, their imagination become chilled and speak of wastages instead; most times unwarrantably. When their wrong judgment is truncated, they take the next cowardly step, called it a quit to return the next day.

     

  • Pension arrears: Open letter to acting President

    Without the slightest thought about the horrible implication of delayed payment of arrears of pensions and earned promotions to deserving but traumatized Nigerians, and especially senior citizens whose life span after retirement in this country is rather short as a result of the inhuman treatment of unnecessary delays and non-payment of their gratuities and pensions, the Honourable Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun came out with a bang that the Federal Government would issue promissory notes to pay contractors and other services rendered by some people.  Evidently, this is not our worry.  What is terrifying is the minister‘s proposed method of payment of pension arrears as well as arrears for earned promotions by public servants.  In her wisdom, she said that pensioners and employees would be paid not directly but by bonds.  Hear her: “Obligations owed to individuals (for example pensioners and employee benefit) will be paid and will be resolved through the issuance of bond instruments, phased over the next three years” (The Nation, July 13, p.6).  Now, one is greatly perturbed by this thinking.

    Ever since 2007 when I wrote an open letter to the late President Yar’Adua (of blessed memory) through this medium concerning the annual rituals of thousands of new retirees trooping to Abuja from different parts of the country for wicked verification, I have never given up writing on behalf of retirees.  I thought it was extreme wickedness arising from primitive thought of a people that new pensioners all over the country should converge on Abuja for such an inhuman and inhumane exercise.  It never occurred to people in the Nigerian government the hardship and danger of asking their senior citizens whom, in civilized countries, their government would strive to make comfortable, to find their ways to far away Abuja by road and at their own expenses.  In effect, many of these senior citizens would die from accident on their ways to Abuja, and those who landed in Abuja safely would be helpless as they have no place to stay other than under the bridges or uncompleted houses.

    As we all know, Abuja is a very expensive city to live in, and I don’t think any poor retiree can afford an hotel in Abuja even for one day!  I then asked why the Federal Government did not deem it fit to send a few officers to different locations in the country for the massive exercise.  Fortunately, after I wrote my letter to President Yar’Adua, the exercise in Abuja was cancelled all over the country.  I was one of the first beneficiaries of this cancellation as I did my verification that year, 2007, at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife while the same exercise was conducted at the OAU Teaching Hospital and the Federal Polytechnic, Ede.  Since then I had written more than six articles on pensions and pensioners including “Memo to President Jonathan on workers’ strike and pension arrears” ( The Nation, 18 November, 2010, p.19), “Pensions: Open Letter to the President” (The Nation, 24 January, 2014, p.21), “Okonjo-Iweala and Pensioners” (The Nation, 29 June, 2014, p,18); Governors,  workers, and salary arrears” (The Nation,  29 Sept, 2016, p. 18); “FG and pension arrears” (The Nation, 18 November, 2014, p.21), “Pensioners: Open letter to President Buhari” (The Nation on  Sunday, 13 November, 2016, p.18) being the last amongst others.  This last letter elicited a series of comments and responses, bordering on appreciation and prayers from pensioners all over the country mostly from the North and South-east, and many from South-south and South-west. Osinbajo should not allow the present be like the past”.

    Now, acting President, your Minister of Finance had flown what I believed must be a kite that arrears of pensions and promotion entitlements would be paid with bonds!  I say, please stop her, just as former President Obasanjo did when his Finance Minister made a similar sinister proposal.  Let me brief you by recounting one of my write-ups on this particular matter, viz, “FG and pension arrears”, November 18, 2014 above.  Excerpts:

    “Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, as president, showed a tremendous respect and sympathy for pensioners when in 2006 he blocked his Minister of Finance, Esther Nenadi Usman’s attempt to pay the arrears of pensioners with Federal Government bonds.  President Obasanjo was particularly unhappy with that arrangement when he asked his minister the crucial question ‘A 70 or  80 years old man, if you give him  pension arrears in bonds, and you say it is cashable in so, so number of years, how many more years did you think he has to live?’ (The Guardian, August 8, 2006).  The pension arrears were put at N75 billion.  President Obasanjo ordered the government, through its Minister of Finance, to release N75 billion immediately to clear all the arrears of pensions.  During the Yar’Adua administration, prompt attention was paid to payment of pensioners, known all over the world as senior citizens”.

    Unfortunately, the regime of President Jonathan was different.  Even when it appeared that the president wanted to act, his Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was always on hand to frustrate his effort.  For instance, when President Jonathan signed an approval for the payment of 53% increase from July 1, 2009 to 2014 as calculated by his technical committee, Okonjo-Iweala was alleged to have controversially insisted on cutting the 53% to 33% even after the Wages Commission and the NLC were said to have prepared 53% payment arrears for inclusion in the budget (see The Nation, January 24, 2014, p.21 and “Okonjo-Iweala and pensioners”(The Nation, June 29,  2014, p.18). We later heard that, after the payment of 33%, the military were gunning for the balance of 20% which we are made to understand the administration of President Buhari has promised to pay now. This kind gesture by the present administration which promised change from the pitfalls of President Jonathan’s administration must not be rubbished by a tacit return to the insensitive era of Okonjo-Iweala as Jonathan’s finance minister. Therefore, the acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, should take a cue from former President Obasanjo by ordering the present finance minister, Mrs. Adeosun, to reverse herself in line with the philosophy and good intention of Buhari/Osinbajo administration. Please note that pensioners have been cheated on two grounds. First, the value of their unpaid arrears since 2009 has diminished at the current rate of naira to the dollar.  Second, the interests on the arrears owed to these pensioners have been stolen by officers who usually fix the money for personal gains.  They should be paid their arrears with interest since 2009 or 2010.

    Since the finance minister cannot pretend that she is unaware that many pensioners die on a daily basis in this country owing to old age and government’s culture of delayed or non-payment of pensions and arrears of poor pensioners until death knocks at their doors, she must see to it that no more pensioners die as a result of delays or non-payment of pensions and arrears from now on, otherwise non-pensioners and even sympathetic observers from outside Nigeria may well say of those waiting in vain for their pensions in Nigeria: Ye Nigerian pensioners who are about to die, we salute but pity you.

    In order to wash its hands off the sinful and almost unpardonable act of wilful negligence, government must endeavour to pay arrears of pensioners, including the outstanding 20%, by the end of July or August latest,  and not deliberately wait for more deaths to be counted against them thereafter. That is how bad things are in our beloved country, Nigeria, where nothing works except hypocrisy, selfishness, greed and corruption of various descriptions.  Need we say more?

     

    • Prof Makinde, FNAL, JP is a retired Professor of Philosophy, Obafemi Awolowo University

    Ile-Ife.

  • Strongmen’s circus

    Symptoms of the strongmen syndrome are not exactly peculiar to Africa, but they are perhaps most acutely class-indicated on the continent. The syndrome is typically showed up in a political leader exerting overbearing, at times exclusive influence on the levers of state power to sustain his hegemony. Even where he submits to statutorily prescribed motions of electoral contests with other aspirants for the office, the outcomes are largely predetermined by virtue of the playing field being rigidly skewed against those challengers, or by the strongman’s outright manipulation of the electoral process through corrupt exploitation of state power. In either event, the results are effectively predisposed in the strongman’s favour to assure his perpetuity in power.

    It is notorious, of course, that Africa is endowed with a motley crowd of strongmen strutting the continent even as we speak. And it isn’t that elections are not being periodically scheduled and conducted in line with respective country’s laws. It is rather that most elections in Africa are heavily weighted against opposition contenders taking on strongmen who deign to subject themselves to the plebiscite.

    For instance, no fewer than four elections are pending in African democracies for the remainder of 2017, with three of those upcoming in the imminent month of August. Rwanda heads up with its election on 4th August and Kenya on 8th August, while Angola has scheduled 23rd August for its general election through which a new president is billed to emerge. Liberians will have their turn at the poll on October 10; and so will citizens of the Democratic republic of Congo (DRC) sometime before year-end if their president, Joseph Kabila, honours a gentleman’s agreement he reached with stakeholders in the wake of deadly protests that trailed his failure to bow out at the expiration of that country’s constitutionally prescribed limit of two terms on December 19, last year. And so, it surely isn’t that scheduled elections are in short supply, but the democracy content of some of those polls is just hugely specious.

    Rwanda’s President Paul Kagame is virtually mummified for a seismic ride to victory over two challengers left on the playing field after others were earlier blocked by the government. Yet he has been in government since 1994 when he frontguarded the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) rebel movement that took power in Kigali to end the 1994 genocide, and became president in 2003 in the country’s first multi-party poll.

    Kagame has done very well for his country though: he restored stability to the tiny nation of 12million people and is credited with transforming its landlocked economy, boosting youth employment and trade, staunching poverty and promoting technology as a tool for prosperity. The catch here is that rights groups accuse his government of abuses like muzzling the press, restricting free speech and silencing dissidents – in  some cases, even allegedly assassinating opponents.

    Having already served two seven-year terms as previously mandated by his country’s rulebook, Kagame’s eligibility for the impending poll is by way of a 2015 amendment that revised the constitutional tenure to three five-year terms accommodating Kagame – meaning he could well remain in power until 2034 if he pursues it. He has hinted though that he isn’t so disposed. Appropriating the bully pulpit at the launch of his electioneering in Kigali early this month, he boasted his victory, saying that much was signposted in 2015 when more than four million Rwandans petitioned parliament to change the constitution to allow him run again. But in his acceptance speech as RPF’s nominated candidate last year, he had suggested the 2017 poll would be his last because: “I do not think what we need is an eternal leader.”

    Unlike Rwanda, the field of play is more evenly weighted among contenders in Kenya as President Uhuru Kenyatta faces off with veteran opposition candidate and former prime minister, Raila Odinga. Not that there aren’t other candidates; but the race goes to the wire between these two who had wagered in a close race in 2013, with Kenyatta only edging marginally through to breast the tape ahead of Odinga. Governorships and ward representatives in the country’s 47 counties as well as seats in the 337-member National Assembly are also up for contest, but the jewel prize is the presidency.

    Kenyan elections are haunted by the spectre of violence. But that could well be because of the viable opposition, which then dictates the need for players to be good sportsmen. And so, while Kenyatta has some historical appeal for the top job, being a scion of the first president of independent Kenya, the late Jomo Kenyatta, the failings of his administration since 2013 and sundry corruption scandals have provided the energised opposition a resonant rallying point. Besides, Odinga is battle-tested in presidential races. He ran breathily close to Mwai Kibaki in the 2007 poll that triggered the deadly post-election violence of 2007/2008, and lost by only decimal percentage points to Kenyatta in 2013. That is one reason the sitting government can’t take victory at the impending poll for granted and must give convincing account of its stewardship to Kenyans to earn their support for another term.

    It is an open toss whether Kabila will call the election that is long overdue in his country so he could exit power as statutorily mandated. And Angola is effectively a one-party state where the candidate of the ruling People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) is pre-anointed to take over from President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, who late in 2016 served notice he had enough of direct control of power after ruling for 37 consecutive years. Even then, many suspect he would yet hold sway from the shadows with the massive power and wealth he has amassed for himself and family members over the last four decades.

    But Liberia is different oyster. The country is up for the taking by any of the political contenders after President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf steps down in October at the end of her country’s constitutionally prescribed maximum of two five-year terms. Actually, ex-footballer and former Ballon d’ór winner, George Weah, is being touted as the brightest prospect of a successor. Weah, currently a senator, is of the opposition  Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) and had run close races with Johnson-Sirleaf of the ruling Unity Party (UP) in both the 2005 and 2011 presidential elections. He is likely to face off with Vice President Joseph Boakai, who will be running on Johnson-Sirleaf’s legacy, as well as Jewel Howard-Taylor, ex-wife of former warlord Charles Taylor and twice-elected senator from Bong county. And if Weah makes that cut, Liberia will join Nigeria, Ghana and The Gambia in the sub-region to post erstwhile opposition parties in power.

    Democracy is generally healthier where opposition is strong. And that is because the reality of a viable alternative compels accountability by a ruling party and better locates the power of choice in the hands of voters. Nigeria, to my mind, must thus be deliberate in cultivating viability of opposition – even if for its nominal sake – to ensure a robust and accountable democracy.