The Nation Newspaper

Category: Comments

  • Economy: Perspective from the diaspora

    The Nigerian economy has been in a state of decline for a long time. It has been dependent on oil and the price we get for oil is not within Nigeria’s control. The problems we are experiencing today have been in incubation and are merely being made manifest at this time. It is tough, as most Nigerians struggle to live day to day. But Nigerians must take comfort in the knowledge that the fortunes of Nigeria can be turned around in a relatively short time. The reason is that Nigeria has a special appeal; Nigeria’s demographics make Nigeria a market that cannot be ignored. We have a government that is capable. We have a President that has made a stand against corruption; a President that stands for transparency. What the President stands for is what we need to build the business community. Generating more business opportunity within Nigeria will lift the economic fortunes of the country. That can be done and there are strategies for achieving that objective.

    The details of the investment strategy remain to be seen. The government seems to have the right objectives. The Minister of Finance has stated in recent public speeches that the government was committed to diversifying the economy to reduce the dependence on oil, investing in infrastructure and improving the business environment. The business environment is key. The next step for the government is to set out how these steps are to be achieved.

    The structure of the Nigerian government is what we have and whether it is appropriate or not, we must address the economic problems we have today. The Minister of Finance comes across as capable and as one who understands the issues. She should be asked to provide a blueprint for achieving the government’s declared objectives. In particular, she must specify where the money will come from to investing in infrastructure? What is the plan for building the business environment? Such detail will give the Nigerian public hope that things will get better. The situation can get better. As an example of how the situation can change, there is the case of a Chinese investor who came to Nigeria in December 2012 to establish a ceramics factory. It started operations in 2013 and in just about three years, the company has built a N30 million turnover business that employs 2,000 Nigerians, buys 95% of their raw materials from Nigeria and has become the largest ceramics tiles producer in Nigeria and probably in Africa. President Buhari should put his ministers to task. He should ask what made that investor come to Nigeria? What has been the experience of the investor in Nigeria? What challenges are they having? If that investor is happy, their recommendation will attract 20 more investors. If however the investor is unhappy and wishes to leave Nigeria then we will lose more investors. Another example id the announcement made in April that a USD 1 billion pharmaceutical park was to be established in Nigeria. That investor is now concerned about investing in Nigeria.

    The issues are lack of transparency, lack of respect for contracts, lack of predictability in our systems. If we fix these issues and start to create transparent and predictable procedures whereby investors can make their plans in the knowledge that their agreements with be honoured, the business will grow. The government’s fight against corruption should be commended. Corruption lies at the heart of Nigeria’s problems today and fixing it holds the key to our redemption.

    Nigeria’s problem is complex. The root of the problem is corruption. Unfortunately it is endemic. Corruption is serious and goes beyond government officials putting cash belonging to the public. Corruption robs us of our dignity and sets limits on what we can achieve. There two aspects to fighting corruption – a backward looking and forward looking aspect to the fight. The backward aspect involves catching those who have been corrupt, punishing them in order to deter others from being corrupt. The forward looking aspect is about creating systems that allow Nigerians to operate without corruption and allows wealth to be generated in Nigeria. It is the forward looking part of the fight that needs more focus. For instance, the President should look at the systems around him and ask whether they are transparent – is there a way for an individual to get the attention of the President without having to know the right people? Is there a procedure specified to be followed which will indeed yield the required results? The fight against corruption requires us to provide transparent and predictable systems in and around government. Within our communities and networks, we should come up with solutions which we should then pass on to the government.

    We must be careful not to neutralise the strength and attraction of Nigeria which is in its size. Whatever problems we have in Nigeria today will remain even if Nigeria is split into smaller units. The problem with Nigeria remains – the absence of transparent and predictable systems.

    It is an indictment of Nigerian society if our young people who should be full of hope are willing to abandon the country flee across North Africa and then to Europe on open boats. This is the reason that Nigerians must hold the government to account. If the government is failing, the people of Nigeria should take responsibility for that as well. Ask the government for answers in a supportive way.

    The government must focus on encouraging more investment into Nigeria. It must find ways to attract more foreign investors, it must not lose one foreign investor already in Nigeria and encourage Nigerians in diaspora to invest in Nigeria. The government must create the environment for such investments to thrive.

     

    • Uwaifo is a Solicitor specialising in supporting investors in Africa.

  • Of corruption and impunity

    Conventional morality is absolute: a thief is a thief, and an outlaw to boot. There are very few mitigating circumstances to make a thief into a hero, as in the mould of British folklore legend, Robin Hood, who robbed the rich aggressively just to provide for the needy poor. If a thief is duly proven to be one, he justifiably becomes the butt of society’s rage and opprobrium. He stands condemned and consigned to the thresher of societal amorality.

    But justice requires that a thief be sufficiently proven as one, to be rightly condemned and crucified – metaphorically, I mean. Short of discharging the burden of proof, condemning and crucifying a purported thief could be tantamount to the notorious witch-hunts of early Modern Europe when all it required to literally burn an adversary – even an innocent one – at the stakes was to publicly accuse him or her of sorcery, and consequently instigate mob hysteria and moral outrage in the public that would see such a one haplessly through to being frantically lighted up on erected stakes, with scant opportunity allowed for being heard in self-defence.

    Corruption is a reprehensible violation of societal moral ethic, and a particularly destructive cancer in the history of the Nigerian nationhood. But while we mustn’t countenance indulging this insidious violation, care must be taken as well not to idly savage reputations as would amount to modern-day witch-hunts in our quest for justice. Perhaps that is why the provisions of contemporary law presume innocence, sometimes assly so, even for obvious rogues until they are proven guilty.

    Unfortunately, the issue of judges lately accused of corruption in the Nigerian judiciary seems to me rapidly unfolding as a mutual witch-hunt between the accused persons on the one hand and their accuser, the Muhammadu Buhari administration, on the other. The judges’ homes were raided some fortnight ago by operatives of the Department of State Security (DSS), who eventually afforded the public a rare insight into veritable cash vaults that their Lordships’ homes had become. In carrying out their mission, the DSS operatives struck Gestapo-style in the dead of night, broke down walls and pulled doors off their hinges to execute search warrants that were to uncover mind-boggling cash piles in local and foreign currencies, among other things, before they hauled eight judges off into detention. Among those arrested were two Supreme Court justices. The security operatives were alleged to have also terrorized family members of the targeted judges.

    There have been furious questions about the propriety of the procedure adopted by DSS operatives in executing their mission, especially in view of constitutional stipulation of separation of powers between the different arms of government and the dispensational context, namely a democracy. Let me be very clear here: I raise those questions strongly myself. Civil liberty is endangered when arms-wielding security agents invade homes of unarmed citizens in the dead of night and haul them into detention on mere suspicion that those citizens were involved in whatever crime. This is not a martial state. Whatever happened to statutory presumption of innocence until guilt is proven? Some have argued that a good number of citizens had been victims of lawless security culture, and judges who have corruption cases to answer should not be treated any different. But democratization of lawlessness does not make the lawless act lawful, neither does compounding impunity relieve the aberration against collective morality. Everyone as they say is equal before the law, not necessarily so before a travesty of the law.

    Few persons would, however, dispute the urgent imperative of tackling the cancer of corruption in the Nigerian Judiciary. Citizens are largely agreed that there are corrupt judges in that hallowed institution, a reality that recommends drastic remedial intervention. And it seems fairly in consensus that the National Judicial Council (NJC), which is empowered by law to discipline erring judges, is notoriously lame in doing just that. Some persons would argue that the NJC’s feebleness is by conscious design, though it well seems a case of genuine inadequacy of the council’s enabling statutes. Whichever it is, public frustration with the NJC appears fairly widespread, and so, not a few cheered the desecration of the Judiciary by impudent security operatives when they raided the judges’ home and herded them into detention.

    Here, for me, is the catch though: more than two weeks after, the factors involved in the crackdown against accused judges seem rather hazy. There has been a good dose of recriminations between the Judiciary and the DSS ever since, but the accused judges have been proven neither guilty nor innocent. They were allowed back home on administrative bail many hours after their arrest, and they are yet to be arraigned for prosecution on clearly articulated charges. You would think the DSS already had its cases wrapped up for prosecution when it moved against the judges, only we now hear investigations are still ongoing and specific charges yet being unraveled. So, on what ground was the crackdown?

    But the state of indeterminacy has not constrained character arsonists, leading Justice officials of the Executive arm among them, from preemptive media trial of the judges and strident calls for their pre-trial sanction. The accused judges, for their part, have shaken off the time-honoured tradition of reticence and are bandying counter-accusations against the Executive, ranging from alleged persecution for duly considered verdicts that did not favour the government, to victimization for outright rebuff of brazen overtures to bribe their Lordships. They are invoking specific names, including that of Mr. President, and suggesting corroboration by named actors including the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN). See the mutual witch-hunt?

    My guess is that the government delays in dragging the accused judges before the law partly because the DSS took a blind leap with its bullish raid on the judges’ homes two weeks ago. I have been informed by senior lawyers, who should know, that the DSS is not a prosecuting agency like the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), for instance. Many Nigerians have questioned whether the mandate of the DSS, as spelt out by its enabling law, includes waging civil anti-graft operations. And I dare say it is worse that the Department undertook a solo crackdown against accused judges that it has no statutory powers to prosecute, yet it did not take enabled prosecuting agencies like the EFCC on board. Apparently, the government must now devise a peculiar arrangement outside the DSS to take the accused judges before the law. And that, obviously, requires some time.

    Another factor is that the ground on which to push the judges’ prosecution seems effectively shifty, as the collectively indicted Judiciary is also the official adjudicator in the impending cases. There is the time-honoured sanctity of professional ethic of judicial practice, and I am not suggesting that the institution would throw such ethic overboard just because some of its own are in the dock. But where is the neutrality that should inform the dispassion of the arbiter?

    That is the reason I consider it awkward that many of their Lordships who have been accused of corruption remain on the Bench, while their investigation and eventual prosecution pend and they are only out on administrative bail. Only last week, one of the judges presided over a number of suits and later stood down when the case involving former National Security Adviser (NSA) Sambo Dasuki, who is being prosecuted by the EFCC but is held in defiance of court orders by the DSS, came up for hearing. I just wonder: how does it feel for an accused person to stand before a judge who himself is an accused person only out on bail? Even if the NJC would not suspend them, personal honour and professional integrity demand that their Lordships step down from the Bench until the allegations against them are proven one way or the other.

  • Lagos shanties of horror

    All over the world, shanties in cities is a natural concomitant of urbanisation. In world’s most populous cities such as Bombay, Hong Kong, London and Singapore, the problem of shanties is a recurring decimal which governments in these countries have battled to solve for ages. The cause varies from rural urban migration, illegal immigrants syndrome in capitals like London and Washington DC, to  poverty and insufficient and unaffordable accommodation. Coupled with this is the fact that the urban population in the world is rising generally.

    Lagos, a mega city with an estimated population of 22 million inhabitants is not an exception in the menace of shanties and this has been on for ages. The only exception is that Lagos shanties are becoming that of horror where illegal migrants like kidnappers and militants have made their comfort zones, from where they make use of the waterways to ferry their victims to another location.

    Recently, Governor Ambode ordered that all shanties in Ilubirin and along all creeks, waterways and under high tension cables be demolished while the illegal occupants should be evicted. This may sound harsh in the face of the present economic situation, but the fact remains that the action is necessary in order to protect lives and property of about 22 million Lagosians. Building of illegal structures under high tension cables is without doubt, an accident waiting to happen which no responsible government would condone.

    The history of the Ilubinrin shanties especially, reveals that the present illegal occupants moved in and erected illegal structures by cashing in on the time lag created by the redesigning of the Ilubinrin housing project which was started by former Governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu about ten years ago with the reclamation of the lagoon while the fishermen who were there at that time were resettled at Badore.

    The housing units which was initially expected  to accommodate 1,254 housing units started in 2013, while the scheme was reviewed and redesigned by the administration of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to accommodate  1,500 families and make the place a live, work and play environment, with the partnership of a private investor. However, the illegal settlers moved into Illubirin waterfront during the process of redesigning the scheme and erected shanties. It is also noteworthy that all quit notices to the illegal occupants have been ignored up till the time that the illegal structures were demolished.

    It is not in doubt that shanties all over the world have always provided a safe haven for all sorts of criminals. In Lagos, shanties, especially those along the coastal areas have become the base of kidnappers as witnessed in Arepo, though in Ogun State, the kidnappers who are suspected militants operated in Lagos and even kidnapped a monarch, Oba Goriola Oseni, the Oniba  of Iba. It took the aerial bombardment of the Arepo shanties by the Nigerian Airforce to reduce the once operational base of the kidnappers to rubbles and this has restored relative peace in the area.

    The recent case of kidnap of students and teachers of Lagos Senior and Junior Model College,Igbonla-Epe,  on Thursday in their school and who are still in captivity, once again brought to the fore the dangers inherent in allowing these shanties to fester in the state. Before the Epe kidnapping incident, in March 2016, 3 female students of Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary, Ikorodu Lagos, were also abducted and were only rescued six days after, through the prompt intervention of the Lagos State Government.

    With the above incidents, the Governor could hardly be faulted for ordering the demolition of all shanties along creeks and waterways. Apart from the security of lives and property of millions of Lagosians which is the primary responsibility of any government, the move would enhance the government’s pursuit of its policy on cleaner environment and restoration of master plans through the removal of all environmental infractions and nuisances across the state. No investor would bring his money to a city where his life, that of his family and property are not safe.

    While the plight of the urban poor most of who migrated to the city to have a better live must be considered as many of us including Governor Ambode are from humble backgrounds, this does not mean that  government should fail in its duty to educate the people on the need to refrain from constructing any structure on river banks, because the safety of about 22 million residents of the State cannot be allowed to be jeopardised by few.

    Not a few people will agree with the obvious fact stated by the state government that,  “It is quite worrisome that ramshackle structures, sheds, canopies and shanties, especially along shorelines have turned to the abode of miscreants/street urchins, rapists, kidnappers, touts, street traders and hawkers who often vandalise public utilities and attack innocent citizens”. Apart from the above, lives of the illegal occupants of these shanties are at risk of flooding and other health hazards like cholera and other communicable diseases as a result of poor hygienic conditions of the shanties.

    Just like any other city in the world, the concentration of economic development in a city like Lagos has largely accounted for population boom in very short periods of time which has severely stretched  the coping capacity of city governments.  One of the most visible outcomes of rapid urbanisation is therefore Urban Slum Formation. The most pragmatic solution to this is that the Lagos state government taking a cue from other developing nations with city slums, is focussing on the effective link established between planned economic development, uban growth and housing.

    This is why Governor Ambode’ s assurance to Lagosians that a lot of houses would be rolled out in the next few months is a  cheering news. It is equally heart warming that the private investor will move into the Ilubinrin housing project site with an investment of a whopping $500m anytime from now.

    Boxer and politician Manny Pacquiao, built over 1,000 houses for poor Philippinos in his home town. The multi-millionaire boxing champion, who is also a congressman, and a born-again Christian said,  “As faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms, each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others. I’m so happy giving this houses free to my constituents in Sarangani Province from my own pocket more than thousand families are the beneficiaries.”

     I know we may not have another Pacquiao in Nigeria even though we have many religious organisations richer than many state governments, but let such individuals and organisations compliment the effort of government by assisting the poor to have access to decent but affordable accommodation. If they cannot offer the houses free like Pacquaio, they can at least make it so cheap that there will be no need for the urban poor to erect shanties that would later become a safe haven for criminals with the attendant health risks to the inhabitants, especially hapless women and children.

    It is high time the Lagos state government demolish all shanties of horror which has become the abode of kidnappers of our school children while reviewing the law against kidnapping to make it a capital punishment as obtained in other states in Nigeria.

     

    – Akintunde, a development economist, wrote from Lagos.

  • Tribute: A father like no other

    With my years of experience of being a journalist, I have always believed that writing about anything can’t be difficult for me. So I thought, until recently when I had to write the final tributes to my late father, Chief Adebisi Japheth Otufodunrin, who was buried on October 14 in our village, Imagbon, Ogun State.

    It was my task to collate the tributes by my siblings, family members and other well wishers. I got virtually everyone to write theirs, but each time I tried to write mine, I could not easily come up with the right words to capture what our father meant to me and my siblings.

    I was not worried about overstating his accomplishments, but I was concerned about understating his legacies, virtues and all he did in his own little way to leave an imprint on the sand of times.

    Perhaps the writers’ block I was experiencing in writing the tribute was due to the fact that my father meant so much to me that I was finding it difficult to accept that he is indeed no more.

    With the deadline for submitting the content for the burial programme staring me in the face, I finally managed to write what I considered just a passage tribute.

    “Our consolation has been the sacrificial life you lived not only for us, your family, relatives and friends, but virtually everyone you had the opportunity of being with,” I stated.

    Talk of a man of the people who was accommodating of all he could provide for in any way he could. Not only did he take adequate care of his nuclear and extended family, beneficiaries of his benevolence are too numerous to recount.

    Like one of my uncles recounted at the wake keep, my father’s generosity was not due to any wealth that could be ascribed to him, but his willingness to help as many people as possible.

    “He doesn’t have more than one house, but he has helped many who have built mansions. That is the kind of person my brother is,” Pastor Yomi Odubote said.

    I also noted in my tribute that my siblings and I are what we are today by the grace of God and the crucial role my father played at every stage of our development. “We are grateful and proud of you being a father like no other. Your commitment particularly to our education remains a legacy we will always cherish,” I added.

    Though my father did not make it to a higher institution, he insisted that all his children must have university education and eleven out of twelve of us did.

    But for him, some of my siblings and I would have opted for lesser education. But he would have none of that.

    He said he wanted a Dr Otufodunrin and he got one of us to become a medical doctor. Like he would always say, the greatest legacy a father can leave for his children is get them educated to the highest level they can. We are all taking after our father producing another generation of well-educated, creative and innovative Otufodunrin linage.

    I concluded my tribute with the following two paragraphs:

    “The peace, unity and love that prevail in our immediate and extended families are a tribute to the exemplary leadership, support and fatherly care you provided in your lifetime.

    “We will miss you in too many ways we can express. We will miss your calls, advice, suggestions, encouragement and many more. I will miss being asked why I didn’t write my weekly column whenever I failed to do so.

    “We love you, but God loves you more. Sleep well our dear father, sleep well Iba Lekan.”

    My sincere appreciation for all the best wishes, prayers and support for our father’s burial. We will all live to survive our aged ones.

  • Short lifespan of a lie

    Short lifespan of a lie

    Governor Samuel Ortom became the first governorship candidate of an opposition party in Benue State to defeat the candidate of the ruling party. As his victory was received, celebrated and he was settling down for the business of governance, so did a monster rise from the dark corners of the state to stage a vociferous campaign of falsehood to discredit anything and everything his administration would do. The campaign of lies has been anchored by the main opposition party in the last one year and four months of the Ortom administration.

    But the determination of the Governor and his team to do the right things has exposed each lie told about the government for what the falsehood is – a mere lie.

    Below is a checklist of some instances of the victory of truth over falsehood in Benue State under the Ortom administration. The Short Lifespan of a Lie.

    • Governor Ortom made a pronouncement in his inaugural address that he will cut down the number of commissioners and special advisers. The opposition quickly described the Governor’s statement as pretence, that it won’t happen. It came to pass that the size of the cabinet was reduced – from 17 commissioners to 13 and 28 advisers to 20.
    • Governor Ortom also declared amnesty for armed persons. The opposition discredited the programme and doubted the number of weapons the government said it had recovered until last week when the armoury was open for the world to see the over 600 weapons of destruction.
    • The Government said it inherited an empty and deficit treasury and the debt profile of the state as left by the previous administration was over N100 billion. Again, the opposition said this was a lie until records were published to confirm the position of government.
    • The Governor promised to probe the previous administration. The opposition described him as ‘a toothless bulldog’ who could bark but not bite. When the Elizabeth Kpojime Commission of Inquiry was put in place, the noise died.
    • The Ortom administration raised alarm that the previous administration had sold many assets of the state including its shares in major companies. The opposition denied and described this as a false claim until EFCC and other anti-graft agencies stepped in and the truth began to emanate with several arrrests of fraud suspects made in a bid to recover over N107 billion looted funds.
    • Governor Ortom promised to run a transparent government where he will declare to the state the precise income and expenditure. He also promised to involve the labour unions in the disbursement of funds. The opposition again said the policy won’t be feasible. Today, the policy is in operation and labour unions are carried along every month. The people know precisely what comes into the coffers of the state and how the funds are utilized.
    • The Governor introduced the anti-corruption mantra ‘If you chop money, money will chop you’, but the opposition brandished stories that he was paying lip service to the anti-graft war. When he asked his special adviser and political ally to resign following his indictment on alleged funds diversion, the opposition went mute again.
    • The opposition published several false stories about the payment of backlog of salaries the previous administration left. The Ortom administration set up a verification panel to handle complaints by those who felt that they were shortchanged in the bailout payment. Three months later, the complaints faded away and the lies disappeared.
    • The Ortom administration announced that it will mobilise contractors back to the sites of 11 roads abandoned by the Suswam administration in different parts of the state. The opposition came out and swiftly claimed that the previous administration completed all its road projects. Now that the contractors have actually gone back to site and evidence of work going on is published on daily basis, the denial and the lies have gone mute.
    • Governor Ortom promised the state that under his administration, accreditation requirements of College of Health Sciences and BSU Teaching Hospital will be achieved and the first ever set of medical students will graduate from the university after 12 years of stagnation. The opposition again described this as a wild goose chase. The Governor’s promise was fulfilled and the BSU School of Health Sciences has now graduated four sets of medical students since the breakthrough.
    • The Governor assured the people of the state that his administration will revive and reposition the Schools of Nursing and Midwifery to enable the institutions recover their lost accreditation. As usual, a number of opposition fingers rented the air calling the move a waste of resources. They said trying to resuscitate the two abandoned health institutions was tantamount to pouring water in a dry hole. In fact, they accused the Governor of looking for ways to enrich himself. But today, not only has the accreditation of the two schools been restored, world class facilities are in place for use.
    • Governor Ortom again promised to start the process of construction and rehabilitation of primary and secondary schools which had been abandoned across the state. The government announced that it was collaborating with UBEC with N7.6 billion available for the projects. As it is in their DNA, the opposition waved aside the promise. Today, 740 primaries are being renovated in the 23 local government areas of Benue State while plans have been concluded to commence the facelift of 64 post-primary schools.
    • The Governor promised to reform taxation and introduce Point of Sale, POS, devices for Internally Generated Revenue, IGR of the state. The opposition described the move as impossible and impracticable in Benue. The POS device was eventually launched and the pessimism from the opposition camp disappeared.
    • The Ortom administration announced that it had made history as the first state in the country to meet requirements for accessing the 2015 Round of MDGs/SDGs Conditional Grants as well as the first state to mainstream the SDGs in the state development plan. The opposition again disputed the feat until Governor Ortom was invited to address one of the side events at the United Nations General Assembly in New York where his achievements in SDGs projects received global spotlight.
    • The opposition also attempted to doubt the release of N500million for construction and equipping of laboratory at the Akperan Orshi College of Agriculture, Yandev, and rehabilitation of Agric Training centres in Mbatie and Otobi until work commenced in the institutions.
    • Also contended by the opposition were the decision of the State Government to evolve a new policy for procurement of fertilizer at 38% subsidised rate to farmers and the facilitation of N2 loan to farmers. The opposing voices lowered earlier this week when the Bank of Industry, BOI visited the state and signed the MOU for the agriculture loans.
    • The Ortom administration released N100 million for 116 water projects in Oju, Tarka, Konshisha and Ogbadibo Local Government Areas under the Benue State Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency, BERWASSA

    It also ensured the restoration of water supply in Otukpo and Katsina-Ala with the payment of N900 million to the contractors. These were described by the opposition as fiction until the projects indeed commenced.

    • Governor Ortom promised to send a bill to the State House of Assembly for a law to prohibit open grazing of cattle in the state. The opposition went berserk with unfounded allegations that the Governor was only pretending. When the bill was indeed sent to the state legislature, the nay saying subsided.
    • Similarly, the opposition said the state’s chieftaincy law won’t see the light of day. Now that the law has been passed, signed and new traditional rulers are soon to emerge, we no longer hear the voices of antagonism.

    • Akase is Chief Press Secretary to the Benue State Governor.
  • Towards a better waste management regime in Lagos

    Towards a better waste management regime in Lagos

    Waste management or waste disposal has been a challenge for the Lagos State government for decades.

    The government has adopted several strategies to manage the whopping 15,000 tonnes of garbage generated daily in the over-crowded city-state that receives immigrants almost on a daily basis from other parts of the country and beyond.

    Thorough the responsible agency, the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), government had in the past explored several measures such as the use of private sector players (PSP), which are facing stiff competition from the infamous but somewhat preferred cart pushers.

    In a bid to achieve better results, LAWMA has also attempted managing waste through characterisation, improved technology and partnering with other nations.

    However, only limited success has been achieved. Indeed, health hazards due to the activities of the PSPs, the ageing equipment they deploy, sharp practices by cart pushers, and the sorry state of the waste dump sites have all colluded to put the situation in a state of desperation.

    The need for an urgent action to turn around the conditions cannot be over-emphasised.

    In fact, there is the need for an elaborate and standardised regulation of the environment of Lagos State, in line with international best practices, while taking cue from locations such as the United Arab Emirates, Tanzania, Kenya, Namibia, and New York City in the United States.

    Lagos and New York City, for instance, are two mega cities that mean the same in terms of entertainment, commerce and global trends. While Lagos has a population of 21 million with an estimated population density of 13,405/sq.km, New York City has a population of 23 million with a population density of 10,833/sq.km.

    In fact, while New York with its huge population has been able to successfully handle the massive amount of waste generated daily, Lagos, on the other hand, is struggling with storage, collection and disposal of her waste.

    New York has about 120 landfills sites while Lagos has only six landfills, with only three of the six functioning. This is grossly inadequate for the Lagos metropolis, considering that she generates approximately the same amount of waste as New York does, even so, a huge percentage of this is solid waste.

    Aside struggling with disposal of the enormous amount of waste generated daily, Lagos has not been able to effectively collect her waste. This is exemplified as waste littering roadsides, waste being disposed into drainages, and overflowing public bins, among several others. There is a huge gap in collection and the PSP operators obviously struggle with the huge amount of waste they have to collect.

    New York has successfully been able to collect her waste through several methods including government-regulated commercial waste systems in which they have over 250 commercial waste haulers, as well as dispose effectively through recycling methods and landfills. In that part of the world, waste is wealth. In Nigeria, and Lagos to be precise, waste is a curse rather than a blessing – it’s simply a disaster waiting to happen.

    It has been shown that only 60% of the daily wastes collected in New York go to the landfills compared to about 95% in Lagos.

    Lagos must, as a matter of urgency, start recycling as an alternative to landfilling. It has been seen that the heavy reliance on landfills has brought about environmental pollution and several health hazards to residents around the sites as seen in the Olusosun landfill, which today remains the largest landfill site in the country.

    The Olusosun dump site is nothing but as a disaster waiting to happen and the need for a quick action from government is long overdue. The dump site at Isolo also requires an urgent intervention from the authorities.

    There is likewise the need to allow for a coordinated and effective private sector participation in the management of the environment, as well as the provision for an organised judicial framework for the administration of environmental laws in Lagos State in other to make this happen.

    Similarly, there is the need to explore newer methods of collection to help effectively handle the waste generated. Other collection agencies need to be employed as it is obvious that the PSP operators alone can’t handle the massive amount of waste.

    The Akinwunmi Ambode administration should tackle this hydra-headed problem without minding whose ox is gored. The speed and enthusiasm with which the present administration tackled the Light-up Lagos initiative should be deployed to combat this age long problem that has now grown to become a monster.

    The recent clean up exercise embarked upon in highbrow areas of Lagos like Victoria Island, Lekki and Ikoyi should be extended to the waste management sector.

    Government must, as a matter of urgency, seek help from those who have managed waste in mega cities around the world, while bearing in mind the nation’s – and the state’s – peculiar solid waste generation status.

     

    • Samuel, an Environmental rights activist sent this piece from Lagos.

  • Recession: Beyond the tragedy and pain

    In the 1960s, thinkers coined the word “Knowledge Economy” to announce a radical shift from traditional economies. It was an extraordinary gift by intellectuals of that era to a world that some people thought had become sluggish, uncreative and desperately in need of ideas.

    Today, more than 50 years after that intellectual uprising, many countries still drive their economic policies with huge emphasis on the power of knowledge and human imagination.  For these countries, there is a strong belief that any system of production and consumption that is not based on intellectual capital will fail.

    I decided to present this background because Nigeria at present reminds one of the pre 1960s knowledge revolution and the deficit of awareness.

    Nothing captures our nation’s knowledge paucity of ideas today like the controversial debate on the sale of our nation’s physical assets. But the question is: what exactly are we really selling? Where is the place of fixed and physical assets in today’s changing world that is governed by ideas and brainpower? And why would the sale of physical assets that are here today and gone tomorrow determine our economic direction? And if we sell now and recession continues, what happens?

    What I enjoyed most about the debate was the cacophony of voices that argued endlessly. Again, the arguments reinforced the benefits of public discourse which everybody agrees is missing in our country today.

    But this piece is not about public dialogue and its benefits. It is essentially about wealth from knowledge and intellectual property, which to my mind is the ultimate asset. There is no doubt that the world is undergoing tremendous change. And we are already witnesses to the transformation affecting production, distribution, trade, employment and life generally.

    Once upon a time, that was during the agricultural economy, land was everything. Also, during the industrial era, natural resource like coal and labour were the main issues. Today, all that has changed because in a knowledge economy, knowledge is the resource and not oil or solid minerals. But I hasten to add that from time immemorial, knowledge has always played a part, no matter how small in every economic activity. What is new today however is that there is now a phenomenal dose of knowledge and information that is fused into economic activity by individuals and governments.

    So when we make sale of national assets a talking point in a recession, we highlight our confusion, pain and misery. It also shows that not much of good thinking is going on at the right places. But we must not despair or even give a thought to the falsehood that the sale of national assets essentially brings about boom. Nigerians must look inwards and face squarely, this demon called recession.

    Anytime I remember Steve Jobs, Apple Computer’s famous co-founder, I also remember the hundred hopeless Nigerian versions of this great American inventor roaming our streets. The difference between Jobs and these hapless Nigerians is essentially environment.

    Therefore in this season of economic decline, everything must be deployed into saving our country and its future. And for me, young people should be the starting point. In line with our case for a knowledge economy, Nigeria must urgently take steps towards revamping education. Our schools must return to centres of excellence in learning and research. Technical and vocational studies should be reintroduced and strengthened for optimum results. And we must encourage and remind the youth once more on the virtues of hard work, fair play, principles and patriotism.

    I think it is imperative for Nigeria as a country to learn from the tragedies of other nations. But as I said earlier, there is hope. Recently, I watched with keen interest in Lagos, an event on October 1 as speaker after speaker, spoke on the colossal waste recurrent in running government. The optimism for me is that young people were enjoined at that event driven by a non-government organisation to be active and to question the actions of their political leaders. I agree with the speakers because the future belongs to the young and they must take the moment.

    For politicians, I am afraid that they may not have anything more to say in 2019 if living conditions today do not improve. Things must just get better or we will all have ourselves to blame. I am in agreement with those who insist that infrastructural decay must be urgently addressed. I also want the government of the day to create jobs and provide the enablement that would encourage entrepreneurship. In another breath, I support those who speak against the prevailing atmosphere of fear which naturally encourages capital flight and discourages investment.

    As citizens, we must continually be conscious of the fact that knowledge must be used for economic benefits. And for us to achieve the needed results, we must align with knowledge and technology because both are friends for growth and development. If we do nothing and pretend, then we will be deceiving ourselves because economy is already globalised. This is already evident as we have all seen that even our cottage industry is currently at the mercy of the dollar. This is the way to go and we must brace up and face the reality.

     

    • Lawani, former Deputy Governor of Benue State is an industrialist and philanthropist.

  • Why Northern Governors are in Washington 

    When I arrived at the entrance of the United States Institute of Peace a short while ago, I recalled the last time I was here in March 2014, when the Institute organized a security symposium for members of our forum. Since my last visit here, I can point to many benefits that my primary constituents –the people of Borno State –have derived, since they sponsored my trip here. The 2014 symposium was dominated by issues of security and the Boko Haram insurgency, of which Borno State was the epicentre.

    The discussions we had then must have contributed in many different ways to the commitment and responses of the United States government and the international community in helping Nigeria to fight the insurgency. Our visit here in 2014 proved to be highly beneficial in the fight against Boko Haram, which affected Borno State the most but also had a destabilizing effect on nearly every other state in Northern Nigeria and the country at large.

    Soon after that symposium, the United States government increased humanitarian and development support for Borno State through the United States Agency for International Development, USAID.  But then, my visit today for the 2016 symposium is not just about Borno State. My colleagues and I are here to seek benefits that should accrue to all the 19 Northern States of Nigeria.  We look forward to many more benefits that will accrue to our region after this important symposium.

    Ongoing economic recession in Nigeria has made life very challenging for our citizens but the federal and state governments are tackling it in many different ways. As you would shortly see in a 14-minute documentary, the North of Nigeria is grappling with all kinds of problems.

    Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, by the time we wake up tomorrow, print, online and broadcast media houses in Nigeria would have screaming headlines, that “Ten Northern Governors storm Washington” in the midst of economic recession, when our national currency, the Naira, has sharply depreciated against the U.S Dollar. Majority of our citizens will quickly conclude that we are here on a jamboree. Well, leadership isn’t only about popular decisions; leadership is about doing what is right at a time that is right.

    Our visit to Washington is an opportunity to re-engage with our American partners on the most vital issues that can help us to quickly make transition from volatility to a phase of peace and development in the Northern States of Nigeria. Over the past few years, we have realized that the indices of development in our region have not only been some of the most damning in our country, they have also been the background against which the problems in our region have manifested. These range from the deepening problems of Boko Haram, rural banditry, spontaneous religious and inter-tribal violence, deadly clashes between pastoralists and farmers, cattle rustling as well as the Mother of them all, which is pervasive poverty that gives birth to the many forms of crime.   The emergence or the re-surfacing of insurgencies are not episodic events. They manifest through lingering processes which eventually symptomatize into aprons like Boko Haram and ISIS.

    We have the greatest respect and admiration for the American government and we hold the United States Institute of Peace in very high esteem due to its track record. It is for these reasons that even though we anticipate criticism at home for this visit, we came here with high expectations. We believe that our hosts, USIP and officials of the U.S government will work with us with the utmost sincerity of purpose to guarantee quick benefits that will improve the living conditions of our people. As governors of the 19 northern states, we hope to secure tangible benefits that we can point to our people as proof, that our visit here is not a jamboree as they would assume.

    We in the Northern States Governors Forum recognize that our partnership with USIP is strategic. Some of the benefits we derive from this partnership include deepening cooperation towards eliminating conflicts. We may not be able to point this benefit tangibly to our people but we know for instance, that the United States is the world’s pre-eminent agricultural power and the number one food exporter. On the other hand, No land in the world is better suited for agricultural cooperation than Northern Nigeria.

    Your highly adored and respected first lady Mrs. Michelle Obama has a programme for intervention on girl-child education in Africa. We eagerly look forward to benefit from this programme as well as many other areas in which we can partner with our American friends to tackle our under-development and weak infrastructure. What is needed is the will and I can assure you that all the governors of the northern states here and those at home, are irrevocably committed to these partnerships in the service of our people. The Northern Nigeria provides a good eco-system for all developments and development partners. What we need is sincere will from our development partners and I am sure that our development partners have the will.

    Finally, on behalf of my colleagues, let me express our profound gratitude to the American government, to the Board and officials of the United States Institute of Peace, to the United States Agency for International Development, to the European Union and to all partners who have stood in solidarity with us through development support in different parts of Northern Nigeria. We are also grateful to USIP for organizing this symposium that once again, brings the underdevelopment in Northern Nigeria to the front burner of discussion. But even as we discuss, we cannot ignore the fact that the outcome of the U.S election in 21 days to come, may affect the full implementation of our goals after this symposium. Favourably, our country is not as close as Mexico for us to worry about a ‘wall’ that could come between our forum and the United States after January 20.

    Ladies and gentlemen, what works in today’s world is coming together with sincerity because like the American Henry Ford said, COMING TOGETHER IS A BEGINNING, KEEPING TOGETHER IS PROGRESS AND WORKING TOGETHER IS SUCCESS.

    We look forward to successful partnerships.

     

    • Shettima, Governor of Borno State and chairman of Northern States Governors’ Forum, delivered these remarks on Tuesday, October 18, at the opening of a three-day symposium hosted by the United States Institute of Peace in Washington.

     

  • The unaired part of Mrs Buhari’s interview

    At the heat of the intense pressure mounted on the BBC to stop airing the remaining part of the controversial Aisha Buhari interview a few days ago, I had the privilege of listening to the interview before it was fully aired. My good friend, the Head of the Abuja Bureau of the BBC, Naziru Mikailu, invited me to his office for comment on the interview, and directed that it be played to me before recording my comment.

    Listening to the president’s wife passionately expressing herself on how her husband runs Nigeria left me cringing. Reading between the lines, I realized Mrs. Buhari was sending SOS to Nigerians to save her husband from the clutches of the Aso Rock witches, popularly known as “Aso cabal”.

    Aisha Buhari might have pitched the nation a curve ball, but her interview is actually a deafening echo of what we’ve saying for ages about her husband. When I first raised alarm on the dangers of the influence of numero uno of the cabal, Mamman Daura, on the Buhari administration barely three weeks after Buhari took oath of office, I received all manner of insults and invective. Today a lot of my predictions have come to reality.

    But if actually the Mamman Daura cabal is the one running this country, then it appears to be a lot whose mastery does not go beyond the art of nepotism and crafts of plagiarism.

    This cabal has kept both the nation and the president under spell, leaving the economy to slide into recession, our currency to crash beyond salvation and impunity to reign supreme. This cabal suffocated a mega political party Nigerians from all regions laboured and united to build.

    It always saddens me to realize that our president has been turned into a puppet, managed by some half-witted puppeteers, who are majorly dextrose at swinging his legs to Europe, America and Asia, stretching his hand to perpetuate nepotism or opening his mouth to goof.

    From ministers to the heads of agencies, there is either portfolio misplacement or elevation of incompetence by this cabal right from the outset of the present administration. This very same cabal gave plum appointments to the progeny of the famous Kaduna mafia, some of whom even served the immediate-past administration or openly campaigned for the PDP.

    A leading member of the cabal, who is the present Chief of Staff to the president, Abba Kyari, was appointed by former President Goodluck Jonathan as member of the Ribadu-led Petroleum Revenue Task Force in 2012. A year earlier, Kyari had turned down Buhari’s offer to serve as the secretary of one of CPC presidential campaign committees – perhaps because Buhari had little chance of winning.

    Take the case of Sokoto ministerial nominee for instance. Any loyal party man will not be happy to see the daughter of the late Kaduna mafia Alhaji Abubakar Alhaji, Aisha Abubakar appointed minister from Sokoto State. Aisha openly campaigned for the PDP governorship candidate in Sokoto State and her brother, Aminu Abubakar Alhaji, who unsuccessfully vied for Tambuwal/Kebbe Federal Constituency ticket on the platform of PDP.

    Again, no one who wishes the APC well will be happy to see Zainab Shamsuna Ahmed, the daughter of another Kaduna mafia, Yahaya Hamza, appointed minister from Kaduna State. Zainab headed NEITI under Jonathan and contributed to the PDP during election.

    Any card carrying member of the APC will be saddened to see Mohammed Bello, the son of Mamman Daura’s friend, Musa Bello, appointed minister from Adamawa State. Mohammed Bello headed the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria under Jonathan but was given the plum FCT ministry by the Aso cabal. I believe if he had gone against PDP, he would have been removed immediately after Jonathan lost election.

    But look at how the cabal dumped loyal party members in Enugu like Osita Okechukwu to appoint Geoffrey Enyeama, who had hitherto never met Buhari nor worked for the APC, as minister of Foreign Affairs.

    Or, will any APC politician be happy with Senator Ita Enang, a top Jonathan campaigner, as Senior Special Assistant to the president on National Assembly (Senate) or Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, also a top Jonathan campaigner, as chairman of the almighty Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, while loyal party men like Senator Magnus Abe were kicked to backstage. Senator Abe was even shot by the police during election in Rivers.

    Aisha Buhari might have been wondering where were loyal Buhari campaigners like Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora, Faruq Adamu Aliyu, Dele Alake, Barrister Ismail Ahmed, Architect Waziri Bulama, Yusuf Tuga, Yakubu Lame, Dr. Hassan Lawan, Dr. Hakeem Baba-Ahmed, Umaru Dembo, Ubale Hashim, Umar Dangiwa, among others?

    The president’s wife and party supporters will also be incensed to see appointees of the past government still heading a number of agencies and departments. The cabal should know that party men are piqued that the 12 agencies of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources are still headed by the appointees of the past government as well as a minister, Engr Sulaiman Adamu, appointed not for his political contributions to the success of Buhari but close family ties.

    Now take a cursory look at the reappointment of Umaru Ibrahim as managing director of NDIC. Ibrahim was appointed in December 2010 by Jonathan but was reappointed by Buhari to serve another five years as if there were no competent persons within the party fold. One still wonders why the Director-General of PenCom, Mrs Chinelo Anohu-Amazu, is retained despite the fact that her appointment was initially done in violation of law. Does Buhari think his party is happy that Malam Sani Sidi, a protege of former Vice President Namadi Sambo, is still the head of National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA?

    Whoever wishes the president and APC well must feel strongly about this. As someone who stood by her husband during election, Aisha Buhari has rights to complain when some forces took over her husband or when things go wrong in the party. I still believe she loves her husband more than those that are insulting or mocking her. She is still the highest authority on the president’s mental and socio-physical state.

    One basic fact a lot of fanatical supporters of Buhari forget is that he rode on a saddle of political party to power. The fortunes of the party are diminishing and those who laboured to build the party and ensured the emergence of Buhari as candidate are relegated, while political ambulance chasers take the centre stage. APC’s growth is inorganic, and so needs some therapies to strengthen its fragility.

    There is concern about the political future of Buhari and APC. As it stands today, barring any miracle, Buhari could either be the first incumbent Nigerian president to lose a party ticket at the primaries or the second president to lose re-election in Nigeria’s political history.

     

    • Jaafar is an Abuja-based journalist.

  • Edo: New Oba, new governor

    Today, Thursday October 20, the ancient kingdom of Benin and indeed the good people of Edo State are making history. A new dawn beckons as the 39th Oba of Benin is being crowned. Twenty-one days from now, that is on November 12, a new governor, elected after a fierce gubernatorial election of September 28 will be inaugurated to steer the ship of the state for the next four years.

    By any standards, the two events, with their promises of new beginning, are historic as they are auspicious. While both Prince Ehenede Erediauwa and Godwin Obaseki come to office in the atmosphere of great expectations, the good news of course is that both, young in age and at heart, possess not just the vitality, but come fully prepared for the burden of service to the good people of Edo State. It is truly a new dawn for the people of the state.

    Talk of answers to prayer, the emergence of Godwin Obaseki as governor-elect, could only have come as personal testimony to the countless prayers offered by the new monarch to his ancestors –prayers for a peaceful poll, and the emergence of a credible individual to pilot the affairs of the state in the next four years. In the heat of the tension that enveloped the governorship election, one recalled the Oba as saying: “We all went down to our knees…We prayed harder and honestly, our ancestors and God Almighty answered all we prayed, that He should give us a peaceful election and a governor that will keep food on the table for our people and respect the traditional institution”.

    Today, it is unlikely that anyone will still doubt that the prayer has been answered hence the Oba is thankful to “God and our ancestors for hearing the fervent prayers we prayed before the election and for bringing out somebody that will uplift our people and respect the tradition”.

    Never one to miss the import of the mandate and the burden it carries, the Oba would not fail to admonish the governor-elect: “I will tell the governor-elect, keep to your promises, keep your words, put food on the table of our people, respect the traditional institution and ensure you build on what Oshiomhole has done”.

    In this, the Oba of Benin is not alone; it was the same refrain from other traditional rulers from Edo Central and Edo North who, aside offering their unanimous in the support for Godwin Obaseki have also expressed their willingness to partner with the government, to safeguard investment that will improve on the economy and well-being of their subjects.

    Not that Obaseki’s loyalty to the royal family and the Benin tradition is ever in doubt. For guidance and advice, Obaseki has stated that he would be counting on the Oba to succeed just as the governor-elect has spoken of his vision of Edo State where the famous cultures and traditions will be reinvigorated as part of economic growth strategy and harnessed to the greater benefit of our people.

    Said Obaseki, “I see an Edo state where our people will leave in peace, equanimity and where social justice, equity and fairness shall prevail at all times”.

    On a day like this, the two great men not only have reasons to celebrate each other. Together with the entire people of Edo State, they have enough reasons to be proud of the new dawn. For Obaseki in particular, it must come as something of pride not only to witness the milestone in the Great Benin Kingdom, but as a major participant. Moreover, the import of the partnership between the palace and the in-coming government can only forebode greater strides in a state ordinarily hungry for development.  For the good people of Edo State, it is time to tap into Obaseki’s formidable personal and leadership skills garnered in the course of a sterling career in private and public life – a factor which has now propelled him to become the first banker to be governor in the state. Surely, the people cannot wait to see him deploy these managerial skills to end the socio-economic gridlock that the opposition PDP has plunged the country to build a better, prosperous and economically sustainable Edo State based on cultural cohesion and ethical values.

    Little wonder  the mood, across the state today, is one of great excitement. The city centre and its environs are wearing a new look while all traders and drivers carrying out commercial activities around the Urhokpota Hall have been found a new arena for their business are they welcome their new monarch. Visible on the horizon is the huge tent – the temporary abode for the Crown Prince erected at the Urhokpota hall premises – the place called Eko-Ohae (bachelors’ camp) where Prince Erediauwa is expected to stay for three days immediately he leaves his Palace at Uselu.

    Once again, Edo people have shown that we can never be more hopeful about our future; indeed, we’ve never been more hopeful about Edo State and the progressive government and virile traditional institution as we are about to experience. And this hope, Edo people will sustain under our new Oba and our new governor.

     

    • Mayaki writes from Benin City.