The Nation Newspaper

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  • New lease of life in mining sector

    Nigeria was the centre of attraction at the African Down Under (ADU) international mining conference in Perth, Australia, last September for a number of reasons. First, the news of the discovery of nickel in an unusual large quantity and fine quality in Dangoma, a village in Kaduna State, Nigeria, by an Australian mining company, Comet Minerals, had just filtered into the global mining market a few days to the commencement of the conference. Expectedly, the news created some measures of excitement and renewed interest by international investors, operators and geoscientists about Nigeria’s rich minerals deposits. The second reason was that Nigeria’s mining sector has always been in the news for the right reasons since the beginning of the year when the diversification plan of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration took off with the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development driving the mining sector to actualise the job creation and revenue boosting tasks.  The third reason was that the minister of Mines and Steel Development, Dr Kayode Fayemi, was billed to make a presentation on the investment opportunities in the country’s mining sector to the august gathering and also make an official confirmation of the nickel discovery, which many in the international mining community considered the game changer.

    And for the four days the event lasted, Nigeria rode high-seen majorly as the place where the next big thing is happening. So, when the minister mounted the podium to confirm the nickel discovery and also went a step further to state the Federal Government’s offer of a three-year tax holiday for investors as well as duty free on importation of mining equipment, not a few of the participants admitted that the Buhari administration was serious on its diversification plan.

    About four foreign mining companies with significant investments in Nigeria, including Kogi Iron Limited, Comet Resources and Symbol Base Metals testified to the remarkable improvement in the conduct of business in the country’s mining sector at the conference. This further deepened investors’ interest in the country.

    A further confirmation of Nigeria’s seriousness to really push through with the reforms in the mining sector was when he Executive Council of the Federation (EXCOF)  ratified the presidential approval for the activation of the mining sector component of the National Resource Funds and okayed the immediate release of N30billion intervention fund to affirm its commitment. Industry watchers see this as a major step in the right direction that is capable of providing the right incentives to serious operators. They also applauded Fayemi’s position that the bulk of the money would go into geological prospectivity to further ascertain the extent of mineral assets in the country.

    While it is true that things had really gone bad in the Nigerian mining sector over the years with the neglect of the sector by successive administrations, the renewed vigour with which the current administration and leadership of the ministry are pursuing its reinvigoration has restored hope that realising the vision of making Nigeria move from a mineral-rich nation to a mining nation is a destination that is within reach. The current leadership has been able to get the buying in of renowned mining nations to provide technical partnership in some critical areas, while also encouraging local players to up their game. Aside working out equipment leasing for local operators, it is also working out an arrangement to ensure that informal or artisanal miners get better organised to contribute optimally to the sector , while operating in line with laid down environmental standards. Added to this is the attraction that the sector now enjoys such that a crop of young and educated miners are springing up, armed with youthful energy, education and a good grasp of the policy direction of the government, ready to make a living through the mines. Needless to say that this crop of young and forward -looking miners derive their boldness from two major factors: the improvement in the ease of doing business and the regulatory framework which protect their investments and position them for greater opportunities in the sector.

    No one can deny the fact that the country has very good mining laws. The Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act of 2007 and its provisions take care of so many aspects of mining investment and operations. However, what has remained the bane of mining in Nigeria is the enforcement of these laws. The effective implementation of these legal provisions by the current leadership of the ministry in the last one year is what makes the difference and has positioned the sector as a major force to reckon with in the country’s journey towards economic recovery.

    Upon resumption of duties on November 12, 2015, Fayemi, together with the Minister of State for the ministry, Hon Abubakar Bawa Bwari, had left no one in doubt as to their abilities to actualise the mandate given to them to turn the sector around for optimal goal, through thorough planning, transparency and the right regulatory framework. Under their watch, the ministry has continued to grow in leaps and bounds, with attendant increase in revenue generation and greater sanity in the sector.

    The first major step taken was to apply the “use or lose” clause in the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act 2007, by publishing the list of dormant mining licence with a deadline for revalidation of such. At the end of the exercise, many of the dormant licences were revoked while many rushed to revalidate theirs with the payment of appropriate fees which also shored up the revenue from the ministry. Also, the ministry, through collaboration with relevant security agencies took the issue of security of mines a step further. The collaboration has led to better security surveillance of mines and has helped to check some nefarious activities.

    The ministry also worked out a strategic partnership arrangement with the states, which encourages the states to also take advantage of mineral deposits in their states without violating any of the existing laws. Like the minister would say, there cannot be any meaningful mining without the active involvement of the states. The excitement generated by the state government, helps in no small way to resolve the age-long acrimony as to who owns what and where. As the state reserves the right over land administration, while the federal government is constitutionally empowered to manage mineral wealth found on the land.

    The mining roadmap designed by the ministry and approved by the Executive Council of the Federation has also helped in the upward movement of the sector. If dutifully implemented, the roadmap remains a sure guide to growth in the sector. One major highpoint of the roadmap is the establishment of a regulatory body that would oversee and regulate activities in the sector. The roadmap also spells out several other arrangements that would boost the sector. This includes the plan to coordinate informal miners that have hitherto constituted a menace to the industry.

    With a clearly defined destination and a well-articulated roadmap that would drive the process, there remains one major river to cross. The country still has weak mechanisms for gathering, disseminating and archiving critical geological data required by investors and policy makers. It is believed that insufficient data has created opaqueness about Nigerian mining which needs to be addressed. Tackling this hydra -headed monster of insufficient data remains a critical enabler of success. As succinctly put by the minister, Nigeria needs to know what it has and in what grades and quantities in order to plan more effectively.

    And if the goal of returning the sector to its glorious days and repositioning it to contribute between 5% – 7% over the next 10 – 15 years is to be achieved, then the data must be put in place even as more of government and private sector funding are still needed. Although many naysayers would readily predict that the current path being taken would soon be jettisoned as soon as the oil prices pick up at the international market.

     

    • Oyebode is Special Assistant on Media to the Minister

     

  • Anti-graft war: Who is afraid of Magu?

    Anti-graft war: Who is afraid of Magu?

    with the heightened frequency of astonishing disclosures of official graft, and its accompanying high-profile arrests, interrogations, detentions, recovery of looted funds, confiscation of property allegedly acquired fraudulently and prosecutions, no one is left in doubt that President Muhammadu Buhari is living up to his pre-election promise of making the fight against corruption at all levels a top priority of his government.

    Though no conviction of any momentous significance yet, one thing is clear: this government, in spite of its tendency to commit unforced errors at intervals, has so far demonstrated a rare political will which has given birth to a renewed zeal in the anti-graft agencies to deal with corruption in a more determined and forthright manner. It is, therefore, safe to predict that sooner rather than later, their efforts would begin to yield results that Nigerians would be happy about.

    But it should be placed on record that one institution is currently leading the way in ensuring this happens quickly enough and is undoubtedly unsurpassable in effecting the new momentum to tame the scourge of corruption in Nigeria. It is the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), led by Ibrahim Mustafa Magu, a Deputy Commissioner of Police. An incredibly focused, dogged officer with a take-no-prisoner attitude toward corruption, Magu has played an invaluable role in the remarkable success story of the agency from the glorious era of Nuhu Ribadu at the helm of affairs to this moment.

    When Ribadu was eventually forced out by a gang of corrupt and doughty politicians and a lack-lustre puppet regime was installed, Magu became a marked man whose subsequent serial victimization culminated in a redeployment instigated by the same die-hard politicians and retrograde insiders who removed Ribadu. But he was to later resume his day in the sun when Ibrahim Lamorde, as chairman, fully conscious of his striking pedigree as a consummate investigator and an unrepentant anti-corruption crusader, recalled him to EFCC.

    Magu’s return to the EFCC saw him more toughened and increasingly more determined to confront and crush the monster that has been fingered as having more or less brought Nigeria to her knees. Under Lamorde, he became even more visible as the nemesis of the perpetrators of corrupt acts; and as in the Ribadu years, significant gains made under this regime can be rightly attributed to him.

    Therefore, it didn’t come as a surprise when President Buhari appointed him acting chairman last November at the exit of Lamorde. Like those who have followed Magu’s professional trajectory, the President evidently seems persuaded by his glittering track record which, among other things, drips with towering accomplishments, exceptional courage and single-minded dedication.

    By any stretch of the imagination, President Buhari cannot be said to be mistaken in choosing Magu to lead EFCC to mercilessly wage a much needed war against corruption, for the appointee himself instantly betrayed his natural anti-corruption instincts by keying into the body language of the appointer as soon as he was named. And truth be told, Magu has acquitted himself so well that except for those driven by the cynical refusal to admit it, the chemistry between him and his boss has considerably evolved to the point of inspiring a temptation to conclude that in today’s Nigeria, Buhari and Magu sit in the front row of the very few public officers interested in and conscientiously fighting corruption.

    But it is obvious that the duo is up against a formidable army of agents of the reactionary cadre who are hell-bent on not only stopping the anti-corruption train on its tracks, but also truncating the ultimate goal of clearing the remnants of a regressive status quo and entrenching a new order in the polity. These agents, as one has observed in the past, are in every sector of the nation’s life, be it politics, the executive, legislature, judiciary, media, military, academia, private sector, civil society, etc.

    For these agents, President Buhari proves a hard nut to crack; they also know his arch ally, Magu, has similarly shown that he cannot be bought or manipulated to do their bidding, and so the only way to deal with him is by ensuring he does not become a substantive chairman of EFCC. That explains why almost four months after a letter requesting his confirmation as chairman was sent to the senate by then Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, and the letter read at plenary July 14 by Senate President, Bukola Saraki, Magu has yet to be invited for screening by the senate.

    In that letter Osinbajo had said, “I hope the screening will as usual be carried out expeditiously by the distinguished senate.” He must now be thoroughly scandalized that his expectation had been rubbished by the leadership of the upper chamber and its collaborators. Indeed, he would be more embarrassed to learn that the real masquerade behind Magu’s ordeal, and his own humiliation by the Senate, is a top staffer of the presidency who most times likes to position himself as the de facto vice president of Nigeria.

    For now, President Buhari must know who is responsible should Magu fail to be confirmed as the substantive chairman of EFCC. The president should also realize that once the perversely corrupt and reactionary forces have their way and Magu is blocked, the consequences on his anti-corruption fight will be heavy; for Magu’s exit would automatically mean that the president’s war against corruption is, as they say, dead on arrival.

    That is why the vast majority of Nigerians who are eager to see the big thieves in jail and this government succeed want the president to intervene, not only to save Magu, but to also ensure that his war against corruption remains on course.

    Now is also the time for the leadership of the Senate which had in the past mouthed not only its support for President Buhari’s efforts to tackle corruption but its commitment to the campaign against corruption to put its money where its mouth is! The Magu confirmation imbroglio will be a true test of that avowed commitment.

     

    • Godwin Onyeacholem is a journalist based in Abuja.

     

  • Buhari rethinking his strategy?

    The recent dialogue between President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) and some leaders of the Niger Delta should signal a change in strategy by the President if he wants his four years tenure not to end up as an inconsequential footnote in the history of Nigeria. While the challenges bedevilling our country are not principally the leader’s making, his strategy on assumption of office aggravated some of the fault lines. Being a General, he sought to court-martial our challenges and forward-match Nigerians to the nation of his dreams.

    That strategy has not worked partly because the President, in choosing his commanders, failed to show the necessary discipline, as he relied mainly on his old contacts, relations and friends to lead the battle, instead of creating pan-Nigerian paratroopers. Those who were making jest of those complaining against the concentration of Buhari’s principal officials around his relations and friends have seen that leading Nigeria successfully cannot be a family affair. To make matter worse, Buhari now stands accused of not just ignoring his political enemies, but biting the finger that fed him the noodles that helped him grow into the presidency.

    Those around him apparently feed him a portion of the fairy tale of Solomon Grundy, and left out the end part. They would have argued that the President has come of age, and should discard the midwives. I guess they are poor readers of the Nigerian history. With nearly two years of his presidency gone, and with the country worse off than when he took over, it is becoming inevitable that PMB needs a pan-Nigerian consensus to succeed. That may have informed the recent meeting with the leaders of the Niger Delta.

    Even as he is engaging in a fire-fight to regain the confidence of his original backers in the South-west, he may have to confront sooner than later the ignored discontentment in the South-east. I hope his men are not selling him the dummy that he could do a deal with the South-south and ignore the rest of the south. That old tactics I guess will not work, because as the 16 point demand of the Niger Delta leaders show, what they are asking for is nothing short of recourse to the famous Aburi accord.

    If they want a review of ownership of the oil blocks presently skewed unfairly in favour of Nigerians of northern extraction and also the much-feared fiscal federalism, they are invariably asking for the control of their natural resources, for which Nigeria went to war against the old eastern Nigeria. So, after all the rigmarole, the buck stops on resource control, which PMB’s northern backers will scoff at with all they have. As PMB will realise there is no short cut there.

    Yet, even if PMB gives a few of the old men a few of the oil blocks to bribe or divide their resolve, the young lads in the creeks who have learnt that it is easier to blackmail Nigeria to place as many of them as possible on salary without work than it is to find something to do in the blighted Niger Delta will not give up easily. With an environment completely despoiled, and with a nation without basic economic infrastructure, not to talk of political leaders who are worse than parasites, there would always be more than enough reason to justify any agitation in the region.

    In dealing with the South-east, PMB must confront the Biafra scarecrow now emblematised by Nnamdi Kanu and his so-called Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) movement. As Professor Charles Soludo recently postulated, the young man has successfully placed himself in such a position that he can only end up either as a hero or martyr. So, Nnamdi Kanu and his group of agitators have become like a bone stuck in the thoracic region, with all the discomfort. Part of the new strategy should include releasing the young man from detention, for he is gradually growing in stature from a mere irritant to a prisoner of conscience.

    The President must also gauge the Middle-Belt rightly, despite the watch and see attitude of its people, whose new leaders were elected on the Buhari whirlwind of 2015. There is enough malcontent spanning from Benue to Plateau to Kwara to Kogi that the President’s true friends ought to be very worried. Hopefully the blood-thirsty herdsmen who had worked hard to give the President’s ethnic group a bad name since he assumed the presidency may be realising that a time of reckoning may come quicker than they imagined if they don’t stop the killings.

    But even as PMB may be changing his tactics in confronting the political malcontent tearing the country apart, rigorously fighting corruption and successfully fending-off the terror machine of Boko Haram, his eventual undoing may be the flagging economy which has eroded his popularity all across the country. Finding solution to the economic crisis will go beyond gaining the confidence of the old men from the Niger Delta who recently visited the President and hoping they can persuade the militants to give peace a chance. Same with making peace with South-west and South-east.

    As has been rightly argued by several commentators, the Buhari presidency has not employed the right hands to chart the much needed economic renaissance, without which our country will go under. While rethinking his political strategies will help, PMB must call for more qualified hands to lead the economic restructuring sorely lacking. This column has written many times arguing for economic restructuring even if we cannot agree on political restructuring. Unless of course PMB doesn’t care about leaving a lasting legacy, the present structure cannot change our country for the better.

    PMB should push for regional economic integration even as he pushes for devolving more economic activities to the states. This column has argued that it makes no sense for states sitting on solid minerals to be hamstrung in exploiting them, because all our governments’ energies both at the federal and state levels are concentrated on sharing the proceeds from the oil resources of the Niger Delta. Again, while the federal ministry of transport concentrates on rebuilding the Port-Harcourt to Maiduguri rail line, the ministries of transport in Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Abia and Ebonyi for instance, should be encouraged to inter-connect their states by rail line, particularly along the agrarian belt.

    The economics of decentralization should also play out in the electricity sector. While the federal government is building the big dams and power plants, the states should be entitled to build smaller plants, or get private entrepreneurs to do same within its territory, and exclusively use whatever is generated. As Aliko Dangote reportedly argued, the recent privatisation exercise has not yielded the expected increase in the megawatts of electricity.

    The solution in my view lies in breaking the new oligopoly instead of forcing the investors out, and bringing another set who will need some time to also fail, if the same parameters like centralized and nationwide transmission line, is not decentralized. It is my earnest hope that President Buhari will adopt a new strategy to build a more prosperous and inclusive Nigeria, as time is running out on his first term in office.

  • MMA2: Clogs in the wheel

    MMA2: Clogs in the wheel

    It started with a fire incident, on May 10, 2000. The local wing of the Murtala Muhammed Airport was completely razed at a time when government could barely raise the funds needed for infrastructural development. The Federal Government decided to explore a Design, Build, Operate and Transfer (DBOT) scheme. On August 7, 2000, the Ministry of Aviation and the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) advertised for investors in the scheme. At the end of a competitive bidding process, the concession was granted to Sanderton Ventures. Twelve months later, Sanderton was unable to commence construction. And as provided for in the guidelines, Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL) was invited on board as the reserved bidder. The firm thus executed the concession agreement with the Federal Government and FAAN in April 2003.

    One part of the agreement, which has remained unresolved till date, is the ownership of the General Aviation Terminal (GAT). Despite the fact that FAAN issued a letter handing it over to Bi-Courtney, the agency held on to GAT, something the courts have frowned upon. The GAT matter remains a knotty issue, just as some other aspects of the concession agreement, such as the original design’s provision for hotel and conferencing facilities, a mono rail, fuel hydrant and power plant. BASL says these were stifled by FAAN. All these shortcomings led the judiciary to award N132bn against FAAN as damages payable to BASL up till 2012. FAAN is yet to pay the money, and interest continues to accrue.

    Despite these challenges, the MMA2 terminal remains, as former Aviation Minister Osita Chidoka attested, “the best terminal in Nigeria”. The then minister had hailed the terminal for its world class facilities, noting that: “MMA2 has offered the template about how government should go about the issue of the operation of airports in the country.”

    He said further: “We want to believe that the improvement in passenger’s experience in MMA2, the continuous quest for improvement, the continuous quest for excellence is sustained. This continuous improvement is something I would like other managers of airports in Nigeria to begin to mimic. If they cannot truly capture it – all they need to do is just ‘copy and paste’ since the template is already there.”

    The evidence is there for all to see. At MMA2, which BASL has operated for over eight years, passengers are offered the Common User Passenger Processing System (CUPPS) and other technology innovations which provide the best of travel experience. It is the only airport terminal in Nigeria to “have solely installed the latest version of a computer system that gives passengers and terminal users a fast, secure, safe and customer-friendly way to board a flight”. Neither the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, nor the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, has these services.

    Facilities such as e-check in, automatic e-gates and a full Baggage Reconciliation System, which Nigerians only enjoyed abroad, have been domesticated at MMA2. To achieve this, the airport had to change all the check-in counters and scales. It also increased their number from 31 to 45. The design and manufacturing was done by the same company servicing Amsterdam Schiphol and many other major international airports. The computers at the check-in desks were also changed and each computer is connected to a brand new boarding pass printer and a new baggage tag printer.

    To accelerate the check-in process, each airline operating from MMA2 has a ticket barcode scanner to call up tickets without any keyboard input.

    For passengers travelling without luggage, BASL installed four self-check-in kiosks. It also increased security features at MMA2 by installing e-gates before the security screening point, making it virtually impossible for an unauthorised person to enter the boarding zone. Each gate is equipped with a boarding pass scanner and brand new manifest printers.

    A technology known as PAXTRACK has also been installed.  With this, the airport can, among other things, analyse the peak periods and is thus better placed to plan. This facility also makes it easy to locate a passenger within the terminal and enable the boarding agent to have a better on-time performance.

    One major benefit of concession in the aviation sector is technology transfer. For the new facilities to be installed and operated successfully, BASL workers were sent abroad for training. The manufacturers also came to Lagos to train about 300 staffers of airlines, BASL and ground handlers. About 200 of the airport’s security staff have obtained ICAO Certificate in Aviation Security.

    Observers believe that the MMA2 story would have turned out even better had government complied with contractual agreements and court judgements, thus allowing MMA2 to continue its development and commence regional flights for which there is already approval.

    “We have an agreement on this issue and have spent a fortune in complying with the requirements,” said BASL.

    Now that the government is keen on concessioning four of its airports, the time to right the wrongs regarding the concession agreement with Bi-Courtney is certainly now. Doing otherwise would scare away those same investors government hopes to attract.

     

    • Odubena writes from Lagos.
  • Crunch line: Hillary will yet win

    Crunch line: Hillary will yet win

    In less than 48 hours, it would’ve been determined. The cliffhanger suspense over the United States presidential election would have tipped – throwing up either Hillary Clinton of the Democratic Party or rambunctious Donald Trump from the Republicans. Early voting that has been underway for a couple of weeks now will climax with Election Day tomorrow, and the final outcome conventionally shapes out once ballots are tallied in respective county, municipal and state centre. Losers typically concede defeat even before the final tally is called, but it is a toss if that would happen in this particular election that has been rated perhaps the nastiest in America’s modern electoral history.

    The presidential race in the final week before the November 8 poll was dead heated between the two major contenders. Hillary’s steady lead in opinion polls in preceding months rapidly gassed out, no thanks to an intervention by FBI Director James Comey who announced to congressional leaders upper weekend that the Bureau was scrutinizing more Clinton emails in a resurrected probe into her use of a private server when she was Secretary of State. The emails were uncovered as part of a separate probe of former Congress member Anthony Weiner, estranged husband of top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, who has come under security scrutiny for sending ‘sext’ messages to a 15-year-old girl. Abedin reportedly stored throngs of emails – from indications, including Clinton mails – on Weiner’s computer that was seized by the FBI after the ex-Congressman allegedly sent the illicit messages.

    The FBI had only in July pulled the curtain on its probe of Hillary’s emails, ruling that she broke no law even though she was reckless in her use of a private server as Secretary of State. Hence, Comey’s announcement penultimate Friday was a jolt, at best, or a downright ambush. And when you consider it, that announcement was quite curious: Comey notified Congress of the action before the FBI had even obtained a warrant to look at Abedin’s emails. The warrant was reportedly secured only after-the-fact over the weekend. Besides, Comey publicly commented on evidence in what many considered an ongoing inquiry, and that, just 11 days before the presidential election; whereas in October he had declined naming Russia as meddling in the U.S. election and investigating a potential link between Russia and the Trump campaign because he felt it was too close to Election Day.

    There are hints that Comey, who was appointed Deputy U.S. Attorney-General in 2003 by Republican President George W. Bush but named to the FBI directorship by Democrat President Barak Obama, is himself under the microscope for potentially violating a law that prohibits employees of the Executive arm from engaging in political activity. And it is difficult seeing his intervention, which ended up sending the presidential race to the wire, as anything otherwise. Just consider the effect: against the consistent run of the recent months, the meltdown of Trump’s candidacy was halted and literally rolled back. Opinion polls are reliably scientific indices of likely voting trends in American elections, and in an ABC/Washington Post poll last Tuesday, Trump rebounded to post a one-point lead over Clinton. The Democratic flagbearer also lost her edge in most other polls as the race tightened. The national average by mid-last week though still put her 1.9 points ahead, at 46.7 percent to her Republican rival’s 44.8 percent; but compared to her commanding lead over many weeks past, that was sheer pinpoint balance.

    The seismic potential of Comey’s intervention was by no means lost on anyone, least of all Mr. Trump. The Republican torchbearer, who had recently acknowledged the likelihood of a loss even though he threatened to unconventionally withhold conceding defeat, smelt blood in Clinton’s candidacy and sprinted in for the kill. On campaign trail, he drew a similarity between the Clinton mail probe and the sleaziest tide of American electoral history, the Watergate scandal. “Hillary Clinton’s corruption is on a scale we have never (seen before). We must not let her take her criminal scheme into the Oval Office…The news this morning is – this is bigger than Watergate,” he told supporters. Even Trump’s wife, Melania, who had dropped out of view for some while, hastened back to the hustings to join the ‘IndictHillary’ battle cry.

    On the other hand, the Clinton campaign was blindsided, sapped and left gasping for breath. The Democratic candidate accused the FBI boss of double standard, compared to his disposition only last month in a potential Russia-Trump campaign connection probe. “It’s pretty strange to put something like that out with such little information right before an election. In fact – in fact, it’s not just strange, it’s unprecedented. And it is deeply troubling, because voters deserve to get full and complete facts. And so, we’ve called on Director Comey to explain everything right away, put it all out on the table, right?,” she said.

    And it wasn’t as if Hillary was alone in taking issue with Comey’s intervention. A bipartisan group of former federal prosecutors were reported to have written an open letter in which they said, among others: “Many of us have worked with Director Comey; all of us respect him. But his unprecedented decision to publicly comment on evidence in what may be an ongoing inquiry, just eleven days before a presidential election, leaves us both astonished and perplexed.” Some notable Republicans also openly faulted the FBI chief. A former White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, Richard Painter, wrote early last week in The New York Times: “I never thought that the FBI could be dragged into a political circus surrounding one of its investigations. Until this week.”

    From the way America’s democracy reputedly works, even if Comey is proven down the line to have violated a law or service ethic by his intervention, the immediate effect of that intervention on the country’s electorate could well determine the outcome of the presidential race tomorrow. And it seems apparent enough that the global community, in rare unanimity, frets at the prospects of a Trump win. With his xenophobic bullying and arrogant swagger, there is little doubt he will upset the delicate balance of international relations if he makes it to the White House. Given the commanding role of the United States in global affairs therefore, the world – Nigeria not exempt – can’t be indifferent to how the American presidential race pans out.

    I hazarded saying in my column last week that the Republican candidate was headed for his waterloo. Even though the piece outed last Monday, it was penned a few hours before Comey butted in to dislocate the prevailing trend that informed such conclusion. Still, I dare say even now that it is far from being an open path home for a Trump victory.

    Informed commentaries on the race last week, following Comey’s meddling, showed that Hillary, though shaken up, remained on track to nail down the 270 electoral votes needed to win the race. And neither were her chances for popular votes badly dimmed. Actually, not a few pundits argued that while Clinton has multiple paths to victory, with wide manoeuvre room for misses, Trump must hit perfectly home on all projections to turn the turn the table. And things hardly work that way, particularly with the toss-up states. For instance, Clinton looks good for the presidency once she takes Florida, where she is dead heated with Trump. The same is likely for Ohio and North Carolina, but she could still win if she loses both states and instead takes Pennsylvania and one other state, like New Hampshire – two places where she has led the polls since July. Trump simply has no such manoeuvring room.

    Take my word, take a bet on it if you dare: Hillary Clinton will win the White House.

  • Let President and Mrs Buhari be

    I was quite reluctant to join the fray on the altercation between the President Muhammadu Buhari and his wife, Aisha. Even though I was, and still is, completely against the first lady’s recent outburst on her husband and his administration, I felt it were better to allow tempers to cool on both sides. Agreed, the issue(s) raised by Mrs. Buhari are national ones but I am still of the view that Mr. and Mrs. Buhari are first and foremost husband and wife before they became president and president’s wife (first lady). But even so, my view is that Nigerians over reacted to that development, that is, Mrs. Buhari’s comments in her BBC interview and the president’s subsequent responses. On the first lady, my sincere view is that she played into the hands of her husband’s critics, even those opposed to his administration.

    The shortcomings of the Buhari administration are well known and as such, did not require the first lady to rub them in. I laugh when people say she spoke the “truth” and I ask, which truth? Is it the truth we all already know? There is nothing in what Mrs.  Buhari said in her BBC interview that Nigerians did not already know and have been talking about. Some say it was coming from the “Horse’s mouth” but as far as I am concerned, Mrs. Buhari, not being elected by Nigerians or even holding a constitutionally recognized appointive office, cannot be the “horse’s mouth” on state matters. And I make bold to say that the only venue available for her to render such advice is right at her family home. Little wonder the President was talking about “the kitchen”, the “living room” and the “other room”. Those are the places the first lady can effectively render advice to her husband; beginning from the kitchen by preparing a good meal for him.

    Those women (and men) who jumped into frenzy upon hearing the word “kitchen” from the president were merely being exuberant. As far as I am concerned, the president’s allusion to the kitchen does not mean that he meant his wife, or indeed women generally, are condemned to the kitchen. But even so, the women making a song and dance of that are effectively repudiating the very essence of wifehood and by extension, motherhood. The first place where a wife and, therefore, a mother (under normal circumstances) should begin the assignment of building a home is in the kitchen. If the children, and if you like the husband, are not well fed, then that is the first failure for a woman. In a situation where the husband (typically the breadwinner) is unable to bring home enough, it is in the kitchen that the woman shows her natural gift of ensuring that the little that comes in is judiciously used. In my view, it is pretentious and vainglorious for any woman to get angry when she is associated with the kitchen. Fortunately, not all women are like that. We have come cross some who take pride in saying that no matter what they do, they still do kitchen work.

    Differently put, to interpret President Buhari’s allusion to the kitchen as meaning that he believes women are condemned to the kitchen, or even hates women, is at once naïve, a self indictment for the women who so believe and a mischief on the part of the men  folk who prod the latter on.  Personally, I quite appreciate the humour inherent in the President’s statement. I quite believe President Buahri merely wanted to humour his wife pending the time he would return home to say, “Aisha Na wetin na!”

    Those who took the President’s statement as amounting to a state policy on women are being mischievous and indeed doing a disservice to the collective integrity of Nigeria. Such a posturing is tantamount to trying to equate the nation’s image to the restlessness of a first lady who most probably failed to seek the correct advice before embarking on the BBC interview.

    In my view, it is a mark of lack of civilization or even timidity for a people to be clapping their hands because of an apparent misunderstanding between their president and his wife. In other words, Nigerians were wrong in taking sides on the mater. No matter which side was right, what should have happened should have been to down play it. But what we witnessed was that most Nigerians became more interested in the matter simply because it was made in the presence of a woman president – Chancellor Merkel of Germany

    And so what? If Chancellor Merkel does not go to the kitchen, how does that become a diplomatic issue between Nigeria and Germany, or detract from the fact that President Buhari is an African and a Muslim, both of which platforms have different perceptions on the issues of marriage, the kitchen or even first ladyship.

    As I noted at the beginning of this write-up, I was reluctant to join the debate on the first family imbroglio, first because I think is should have been down played and second because I believe that since both the president  and  first lady are human beings, they are subject to making mistakes. Thirdly, because of the positions they occupy in our collective existence, they deserve our prayer and support to weather the storm. However, I am not oblivious of the fact that some politicians and the president’s critics, including those in his party, saw the development as an opportunity to get even with him.

    The major high points of Mrs. Buhari’s BBC interview was the issue of a cabal hijacking the Buhari administration and that of some current office holders in the administration who were not part of the campaign that brought Buhari to power. Apart from that Nigerians have heard that before, it is evident, from the reactions of some politicians, especially of the APC stock, that there now exists an orchestrated plan to have some top functionaries of the administration out of the way. But the president should be very wary of this, to avoid falling to cheap propaganda. For example, I see the call about non card-carrying members of the APC holding offices as cheap and targeted at one or two persons.

    But I ask, when did membership of a ruling party become a criterion for holding appointive office in Nigeria? Was Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo –  Iweala a card-carrying member of the Peoples Democratic Party? Was Adeshina, erstwhile minister of Agriculture in the Goodluck Jonathan administration, a card-carrying member of the PDP? Yet, the two are seen to have performed so creditably well to the extent that there has been a clamour in some quarters for Okonjo-Iweala to be recalled to lend her expertise in managing our ailing economy. Of course, there are many more of such people since 1999 who have served (creditably) in top appointive positions but who were not party members at the time they were appointed.

    Even so, I also differ on the thinking that the only panacea to the current economic difficulties is for the President to sack some of his appointees, especially the ministers. The reason I differ is that I see the call mostly as self serving. Those making it fail to address the fundamental issues currently facing the national economy; which is the dwindling national revenue from oil resources as a result of continued militants’ action in the Niger Delta region. The legitimacy, propriety or otherwise of the militants’ action is outside the scope of this essay but whatever is the case, the fact is that their actions are having a toll on our collective existence. Yet, we wallow on ephemerals like trying to instigate a mass movement for the sacking of ministers. I ask: will the ministers of finance, budget and planning, for example, manufacture money to implement the budget; or inject into the economy. Or, can the minister of employment decree jobs over night?

    The only area I worry about Buhari’s cabinet is in its comprising people whom Nigerians believe should be facing corruption charges. But even as we grapple with that, I can state without any fear of contradiction that picking on one or two ministers is not the solution to our current economic woes. That does not in any way mean that the president cannot rework his cabinet but the way it is being canvassed is largely suggestive that it is for political reasons.

    If I were President Buhari, I would resist being stampeded into any cabinet reshuffle at this point in time because that will mean succumbing to pressure borne out emotions and sentiments rather than expediency. In my view, the earliest time the president should reshuffle his cabinet is after his second anniversary in May next year.

    From unconfirmed reports and indeed from the tone of those criticizing the president over his appointments, it is most likely that the targets also include some officials in the presidency. One Junaid Mohammed has been particular about the president’s chief adviser, Mamman Daura. In a recent interview with a national newspaper, Mohammed picked on Daura and a few others in a bid to buttress his allegation of nepotism against the president in appointing his personal aides. While reacting to Mrs. Buhari’s BBC interview, Mohammed even took on the first lady for failing to mention Daura’s name as one of those who were not card-caring members of the APC but who are now holding juicy positions in Buhari’s administration. How cheap.

    Even Buhari’s worst enemy would weep on learning that his wife could, either by design or default, lend credence to the wild and jaundiced allegations by Mohammed against her husband. It is for this reason that I insist that Mrs. Buhari should have been more cautious no matter how things have become for her husband.

    Still, I believe we should play down the matter, first because a protracted rift in the first family is not in the best interest of the nation and second because the problems facing our dear country today are too fundamental that preoccupying ourselves with matters of appointments would portray us as unserious. It is even surprising that quarrelling over appointments could take a center stage in an APC administration that set out to do things differently.

  • 135th IPU, economic recession and North East challenge

    For the National Assembly delegation to the just concluded 135th Intef-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Assembly in Geneva Switzerland, the international fora was another opportunity to rally more international support for the country’s efforts to urgently and effectively tackle the present economic recession and the humanitarian  crisis largely precipitated by the Boko Haram insurgents in the North East region of the country.

    Leading a delegation consisting members from the Senate and House of Representatives to the conference, Senate President, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, spared no efforts in all his engagements in highlighting the challenges and seeking solutions through mutual collaboration and cooperation. Apart from his vociferous debate which focused largely on making the world appreciate the enormity of the humanitarian crisis in the northeast, he also held series of bilateral meetings to garner the support of powerful nations for Nigeria’s diversification drive. Added to this was the interactive session he had with Nigerians living in Switzerland and neigbouring European countries where he argued that their scholarship, expertise and  international connections are needed back home to steady the ship of state, boost investment, create employment and above all, make life more meaningful for the people.

    In his lead debate on the theme, “Human Rights Abuses as Precursors of Conflict: Parliaments as Early Responders” Saraki told the world parliamentarians that the 8th National Assembly would continue to deliver on its legislative mandate, prioritise the welfare, interest and general well-being of Nigerians, enact legislations to support the policies and programmes of the executive aimed at surmounting the present economic recession and the humanitarian crisis bedeviling the North-East Region.

    “There are available laws addressing most of the human-rights related issues, the major problems are centered around non-implementation, poor oversight and lack of enforcement of these laws. We must however demonstrate courage, make sacrifices, be accountable, and stand up for the people we represent. We must speak out loudly when our laws are not obeyed and work in synergy with the other arms of government to ensure that human rights violation wherever it occurs is condemned and addressed,” Saraki said.

    He added: “The National Assembly of Nigeria will continue to be a people-centered institution, where the interest and welfare of every Nigerian is paramount. As duly elected representatives of the Nigerian people, we will continue to work closely with every stakeholder in the arduous task of building a prosperous, secured and egalitarian society, where everyone will have a sense of belonging. It is on this note that I wish to encourage this discourse and also throw the weight of the National Assembly of Nigeria behind the efforts of the IPU in ensuring early response on the part of Parliaments in checking human rights abuses in order to avoid needless conflict,” he said.

    He contended further that the National Assembly is working to reposition the Nigerian economy to effectively meet the challenges of the 21st Cenell as to reposition the Nigerian economy to effectively meet the challenges of the 21st Century, “by creating a business environment that would create more jobs and opportunities for the youth, promote and sustain domestic entrepreneurs and facilitate the economic inclusiveness and participation of all segments of society so that the overall standard of living and socio-economic wellbeing of all Nigerians will be raised. Specifically, since the beginning of the year, we are working to fast-track over 40 priority bills recommended by the National Assembly Business Environment Roundtable (NASSBER),” he stated.

    The Senate President insisted that it is key for the world parliamentarians to see the issue of human rights as a global problem “because it is only by working together and in synergy that we can truly agree on a resolve. The IPU is right by linking the pervasive lack of respect for human dignity as a source of conflict worldwide. Democracy cannot flourish in the midst of human rights abuses. These are often compounded by poor governance, resulting in injustice, whether real or perceived, national or global.

     “For example… “Conflict in the North-East region of Nigeria as a result of Boko Haram activities, have directly affected over 4.5 million families. More than 1 million people in the North East region are in danger of extreme malnutrition and have become internally displaced persons (IDPs) in their own country. According to UNICEF, 130 children die everyday as a result of lack of food. The UN estimates that about 7 million people need assistance especially food of which over 250,000 are under age 5”, he said.

    The Senate President insisted that Parliamentarians are the guardians of human rights as they work for the well-being of the people they represent and therefore, they must continue to develop legislative frameworks to ensure that various human right instruments are respected, implemented and properly over-sighted.

    “In Nigeria, our legislative agenda emphasized human right issues relating to peace and security, sexual harassment, workers welfare, violence against women and children, amongst others. To address these catastrophic realities, we have passed the Child Rights Act 2003 and the Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act 2015. In March 2016, we allocated N10bn to IDPs in the North East in recognition of the dire situation. Parliamentarians agreed on a personal-allocation of an individual contribution to alleviate the plight of IDPs. We have passed the North East Commission Act to ensure accountability and efficient structures for managing the nation’s humanitarian situation and providing special care for our IDPs,” he stated.

    The National Assembly delegation also utilizèd the opportunity to hold bilateral talks with other national delegates where they canvassed economic cooperation, mutual understanding, showcased investment opportunities in the country and called for their support in tackling the humanitarian  crisis of starvation, child malnutrition and homelessness of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). Some of the countries that had bilateral meetings with the Nigerian delegation at the sidelines of the IPU included Germany, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.

  • Afe Babalola: A Silent Pillar of Sports

    At about 86 years old, legal icon and educationist, Aare Afe Babalola (SAN) still sports the gait of an athlete.      Much younger employees in HIS private university, the AFe Babalola University Ado-EkitI (ABUAD) often strain to catch up with his pace, be it on the incredibly vast university farms or construction sites. Even as the founder/chancellor and president of the university, he is one of the first to report for work on campus and the last to retire, save for a short break he takes in the afternoon to take a nap and his mound of pounded yam lunch.

    Hung on prongs of a Masonia hanger in Babalola’s award- decorated office are assorted head dresses- bowler hats (for the farm) sports fez caps (which he wears to the sporting activities at the ultra-modern sports complex and safety helmets which he dons to the various construction sites, where physical development is still going on, on the campus.

    On reporting in the office in the morning, the old lawyer simply selects and puts on the one suited for his schedule for the day and out he goes, walking briskly and climbing stairs ahead of aides and workers trailing behind him.

    Where does the old warhorse get this energy and vigour?

    Babalola, in an interview, reveals that aside healthy diet, engaging in arduous physical tasks and sporting activities are the secrets of his apparently boundless strength.

    He has been a sportsman, he says, since his school days, when self deprecatingly he says: “As pupils, we played football without boots.”

    Babalola is a self-made man, who did not attend regular school beyond primary education, due to grinding poverty, but bagged two degrees in Economics and Law by private study.

    He mentioned his love for sports dated as far back as Ibadan City Academy where he was Sports Master in the early 60s.

    Despite his busy schedule and climb towards success in legal practice, Babalola’s passion for sports did not waver. He was for many years a patron and financier of the 3SC Football Club of Ibadan, had a female Football team, called “Afe Babes” and till today is the sponsor of the annual Olubadan Cup Football Competition for which he donated the trophy.

    In his university, apart from the College of Law, which understandably enjoyed a biased attention in terms of structure, equipment, books and journals, the other section of the Campus which received priority is the sports complex. The complex boasts of first rate sporting facilities including nine standard lawn tennis, volley ball, handball and badminton courts lush football pitch, with 1,000 seater pavilion, Olympic sized swimming pool and multi billion Naira Talent Development Centre, which houses 28 different indoor games.

    It is no surprise, therefore, that ABUAD has been selected as the centre for the Basic Olympic Opportunity Sports Training (BOOST) an initiative of the Mary Onyali-led Nigeria Olympic Fund (NOF) aimed at identifying and training of athletes for improved performance in future  Olympic Games.

    Aare Babalola was also overwhelmingly voted as the Chairman of the Governing Board of the BOOST.

    Onyali, at the Celebrity Endorsement to kick off the NOF recently in Ado Ekiti, said ABUAD and Babalola’s choice was in recognition of his antecedent as a great sports enthusiast and promoter, as well as the incredible five-star sporting facilities available on the campus.

    The former sprinter turned sports administrator extolled the ABUAD founder not only for his past investments as a pillar of sports, but also for supporting the initiative, which is geared at saving the nation from the embarrassment of the dismal performance witnessed at the recently concluded Olympics in Rio De Janairo, Brasil and indeed other continental and international tournaments, with N10 million.

    Babalola is the first to perform the celebrity endorsement targeted at 10, 000 celebrities and aimed at raising a formidable contingent to future Olympics.

     According to Onyali, 10 per cent of what accrues to the fund will go to the National Atheletes Welfare Fund to care for ageing former sportsmen and women; 30 per cent into NOC Solidarity Fund for sports federation to access, based on performance and 50 per cent into the BOOST project itself, while the balance of 10 per cent shall go into operational account to drive advocacy.

    The fund, she said, hoped to “bring one million children into sports in four years”, adding: “We have got the latent talents in this country. We shall recruit and keep the very best coaches, sports scientists and sports medics, refrees, umpires, volunteers and all.”

    Already, the former Olympiad and acclaimed queen of the tracks said, Ekiti State has been chosen for the pilot project, with six schools as from January 2017, while the elite athletes programme for Tokyo 2020 will begin in ABUAD.

    Reiterating his backing for the project, Aare Babalola regretted the dismal performance of the national team to the Rio Olympics. He blamed the poor outing on progressive degeneration, complacency, and poor funding and planning, which, he observed was borne out by the fact that Great Britain which, in 1996,was ranked  36th with one gold on the medal table,  finished 2nd overall this year, with 27 gold, 23 silver and 17 bronze, while Nigeria, which came 32nd then, ended up in the 78th position in Rio.

    He remarked that the dwindling fortunes of Nigerian sportsmen in global competitions should be a wakeup call to all lovers of sports and urged all to support sports development, as, he stressed, government could not do it alone.

    On his interest in BOOST and NOF, the renowned educationist and legal luminary has this to say: “Mary Onyali is a person I admire. She was the only one who won most medal awards for us as a nation in global competitions, especially the Olympics. We got a note from her that she wanted to visit our university last year. She came with other gold medallists and she was very impressed when she saw the sports facilities we have on our campus here, including Swimming Pool, Olympic standard Fields and Tracks, Indoor Games, etc . She told us that she intended to raise the standard of sports in this country. I said, well we would cooperate with her. But I was surprised when she came a week ago. She had written to us that she was coming with a new idea of how to boost the fund for Olympics. She came with the proposal, and gave us names of those who will sponsor her initiative in raising fund. She said that she wanted to make our university the training ground for her people. I agreed with her because we have all that is needed for training athletes. When I decided to build the University Sports Complex and the Talent Development Centre in such an ambitious manner, I didn’t envisage this would come. Today, ABUAD remains the hub for the development of sports in Nigeria. Mary Onyali said that she wanted me and three others to sponsor the project. Of course, I willingly and gladly accepts and endorse the Nigerian Olympic Funds (NOF).”

    • Emmanuel, wrote in from Lagos

  • Who is afraid of Magu?

    The question ought to be who is not afraid of Ibrahim Magu?  He is the acting Executive Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) whose name has since been forwarded to the Senate by President Muhammadu Buhari for confirmation. He is a crack investigator, who does not suffer fools easily and who does not play to the gallery.

    What ordinarily ought to be a mere formality is now taking too long and one has started seeing “monkey” hands in the delay in the confirmation of  Magu upon whom history and providence have thrust the mantle of leadership of the commission.

    No matter what anyone can say about him, even his harshest critics will confirm that his genetic has no shred of corruption. He is as firm and disciplined as he demands total retrieval of stolen funds and assets  no matter whose ox is gored.

    The administration of PMB is anchored on three pedestals, including the fight against insurgency, war against graft and unemployment. Depending on which side of the divide one sees these or who marks the scripts of the Buhari presidency, one cannot but score him excellent, especially on the first two agenda. Boko Haram insurgents have been fought to a standstill,  only a few remnants  come out  to attack soft targets.

    Already, 21 of the Chibok girls have been reunited with their families when only a few months back, we as a nation were told it was a lie! Who will forget the tirade and the infamous “diaris God o”?

    Yesterday, it was the Federal High Court complex in Lagos that was barricaded by hired hirelings to protest the investigation of ex-First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan. A fortnight ago, youths of Niger Delta converged on the Port Harcourt office of the EFCC that the commission should not investigate their ‘daughter’.

    The icing on this shameless macabre dance and crying more than the bereaved was when  one High Chief Rita .N. Onwuli  led about 100 women protesters, all women. Their grievances are: “EFCC, Release Patience Jonathan’s money”; “We Are Dying of Hunger”; ” No Job For The Youth”, among others. They said Patience Jonathan was dying; that she needed her money for medicare.

    How low can we further sink as a people and nation? These scheming and “monkey” hands that are causing the delay in confirming Magu should better note that Nigeria and Nigerians have moved on.

    Prior to the emergence of Magu, we never thought that soakaways will be turned to dollar vaults? The mightier they come, the greater their fall.

    Magu’s mantra is God’s first, Nigeria second and  the Rule of Law next. And since day one, he has not shifted his stand.

    On the confirmation,  indeed everything comes from God.  Whether they like it or  not, Allah will confirm him. What remains is people of good will across the divide to call their legislators to order to move and confirm Magu to complete what he started. Anything short of this is taking us to Egypt after we are in the Promised Land.

    • Ekanem, a public affairs commentator, wrote in from Abuja

  • Understanding Federal Government’s borrowing plan

    Perhaps, the most topical issue in the business and financial sectors of the nation’s economy today is the various shades of opinions over the plan by the current administration to borrow a sum of $29.9 billion for infrastructure projects.

    For obvious reasons, the opinions expressed so far have been divergent. From the camp of informed economic experts comes a robust support for the decision of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to take practical steps to borrow in the short run in order to return the nation’s economy to growth and drive additional revenues to fund debt burden.

    From the pockets of dissenting voices over the debt plan, one can see through the various publications and arguments raised in the broadcast media that the pessimism is largely being fuelled by a combination of lack of understanding of the nitty-gritty of the new financial plan on one hand, and the fear that Nigeria may unconsciously be drawn into another episode of debt burden, on the other hand.

    Before addressing the fears that the nation might be slipping back into a period of debt crisis, let me put it on record that the current economic recession has worsened Nigeria’s weak financial position at a period of low return from crude oil. An ailment can only get worse if left untreated.

    The question we should now ask is what are the options left for the Federal Government for it to access adequate resources needed to stem the tide of recession?

    The fact is that current low revenues and oil price outlook mean there are limited options to finance the capital expenditure needed to stimulate the economy and get out of recession.

    Interestingly, as the global economic community continues to grapple with the shortfall in oil revenue, government obligations to the citizens in their respective jurisdictions have not reduced. In Nigeria, for instance, fixed recurrent outgoings (despite efficiency and payroll savings) are still N200 billion per month while debt service consumes N120 billion.

    The severity of the present situation is better underscored by the realisation that the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) receipts to the Federal Government average N200 billion on a monthly basis while outlook projects N300 billion even at full production (due to cash call arrears that were inherited). The N420 billion FAAC of October 2016 contrasts with N1 trillion in October 2012.

    Informed economy watchers therefore argued that there is no alternative strategy to borrowing at this critical time because Nigeria had wasted the high oil revenues of the past six years and did not spend the funds on infrastructure. The nation cannot afford to wait for oil prices to rise again before it begins to fix infrastructure because Nigeria is already in recession and so ‘ do-nothing’ is not an option unless the nation is prepared to endure a prolonged recession.

     The proposed external borrowing plan is a three-year plan covering proposed projects for 2016 to 2018, which means that the borrowings will be phased over a three-year period.

    Again, the borrowings are highly concessional (non-commercial), with low interest rates and long tenors. The funding is being sought from multilateral institutions including the World Bank, Africa Development Bank (AfDB), Islamic Development Bank (IDB), Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) and China Exim Bank. The planned Eurobond issuance in the international capital markets is the only commercial source of funding

     A breakdown of the external borrowing plan showed that of the $29.96, 61.2 per cent would go towards infrastructure projects comprising the Mambila hydro-electric power plant – $4.8 billion; railway modernisation coastal project (Calabar-Port Harcourt-Onne Deep Seaport segment) – $3.5 billion; Abuja mass rail transit project (Phase 2) – $1.6 billion; Lagos-Kano railway modernisation project (Lagos-Ibadan segment double track) – $1.3 billion; Lagos-Kano railway modernisation project (Kano-Kaduna segment double track) – $1.1 billion; and others – $6 billion.

    Other than funds to be assigned to infrastructure projects, the federal government also intends to raise $4.5 billion through a Eurobond issue, but the document from the finance ministry was silent on what the funds raised from the issue will be used for.

    The federal government also intends to borrow $3.5 billion from foreign sources for budget support over the next three years. The document also showed that $2.2 billion would be dedicated to social projects in the health and education sectors, $1.2 billion in agriculture, while $200 million has been set aside for economic management and statistics.

    Of the $2.2 billion assigned to social projects, the federal government will account for the bulk of the projects amounting to $2.1 billion while the states will account for a measly $100 million.

    In the area of agriculture, the federal government will account for 75 per cent of the funds borrowed, or $900 million, while states will be expected to borrow $300 million.

    Certain commentators on the issue of borrowings have raised the fears that debt burden especially going by our experience before former President Olusegun Obasanjo mid-wifed the famous debt pardon.

    However, such fears have been taken care of in shaping the borrowing plans this time around. For instance, 75 per cent of the funds to be borrowed over the three-year period are at concessional terms with average interest rates of 1.5 per cent and tenures as long as 20 years. Only $4.5 billion is commercial Fixed rates Eurobonds. Currently much of the global markets have negative interest rates and there is appetite for Nigeria’s paper thus the Federal Government should be able to get a good deal for the nation.

     This differs from the Paris Club era because the crisis at the period was caused by the fact that Nigeria had taken loans at floating rates of interest tied to London Inter bank Offered Rate (LIBOR). When LIBOR moved the loans reprised and Nigeria could not pay its obligations. These proposed loans are all at fixed and largely concessional rates of interest. Nigeria no longer takes loans rather it issues Bonds at fixed rates of interest so the nation can plan its obligations.

    Nigeria no longer procures floating-rate loans. One of the reasons why the Paris and London Clubs debts became unsustainable was that in the 1970s and 1980s, Nigeria booked floating-rate loans when LIBOR was about four per cent, but when it eventually rose above 10 per cent, the country could no more service its debt.

    In terms of debt management, one can say that the current administration has learnt lessons from Nigeria’s past experience.

    For instance, before 2000, debt management functions were performed in various Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) – Federal Ministry of Finance, Central Bank of Nigeria, National Planning Commission, among others. There was then no focus of responsibility. But the Debt Management Office (DMO) is now responsible for managing the country’s debt – both domestic and external under the guidance of a single Minister, the Honourable Minister of Finance.

     There has been, in the last decade, new laws enacted to focus on public debt management in order to avoid mistakes of the past. These laws include the DMO Act 2003, Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007 and the Public Procurement Act, 2007.

    Under the new professionalised institutional arrangement, there are relevant technical analysis for advising on, monitoring and managing public debt. These include the annual Debt Sustainability Analysis (DSA) and Medium-Term Debt Management Strategy (MTDS), prepared by the DMO under the supervision of the Honourable Minister of Finance, in collaboration with other relevant MDAs – CBN, Federal Ministry Budget Office and National Planning, National Bureau of Statistics, Federal Ministry of Finance, Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, with technical support from West African Institute for Financial and Economic Management (WAIFEM).

    • Akanji is a Lagos-based public affairs analyst