The Nation Newspaper

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  • ‘Waiting for Godot’

    It should be obvious that the title for this piece is borrowed from Irish author Samuel Beckett’s two-act tragic-comedy that goes by the same title. But we do not intend to discourse here on the endless wait by Beckett’s protagonists in the 20th Century absurdist classic, Vladimir and Estragon, for the arrival of a phantom figure named Godot, who really never came. The burning issue for most Nigerians at this time has been the gruelling scarcity of fuel across this country, with the attendant hardships on citizens, and the earnest expectation by all of us for quick restoration of enduring normalcy in supply levels.

    I live on‘Main Street’ with ‘fellow Nigerians’ and can relate experiences from there. The long-drawn fuel crisis has made life‘nasty, brutish and short’ for many – in the fullest sense of that Hobbesian phraseology. The experiences are diverse and already widely reported, but we can do with recounting some here. Not a few of us have had to sleep overnight in filling stations, or leave our vehicles there, many times in vain expectation of getting some fuel to buy. Sometimes you needed to leave your house before dawn to get a good location on the queue for a long day of waiting in line ahead to get fuel.Where independent marketers managed to dispense the product, they did so at rates more than 100 per cent higher than the official price, and buyers had to do some calculation to know how much they really were to pay because marketers left their pump indicator at the official N86. 50 per litre. You didn’t have to be a savvy analyst to know it was a rip-off, but buyers were too glad to oblige because NNPC petrol stations that were expected to honour the official price regime hardly had product supply. The long and chaotic queues at many filling stations across the country witnessed mutually transferred aggression by embattled citizens, and there were reports of some killings in the desperation to get fuel.

    Some motorists found it easier to abandon the convenience of their vehicles and commute on public transportation, where available; and where not available, they simply trekked the long distances to their destinations. Operators of public means of commutation themselves – including tricyclists and motorcyclists –had gone through the fleece in getting fuel to operate, and expectedly must recoup their investment maximally in monetary and other value terms. And so, commuters paid through the nose for their services. But then, those operators didn’t have a monopoly on passing on the burden. Other than salary earners whose income was fixed, sundry players in the street economy simply raised their charges to defray their costs. It was basically a cannibalistic order, and there were really no regulating influences.

    With the crisis prolonged, the number of vehicles having fuel to move on the roads progressively thinned out by the day, such that by early last week in Lagos, you could well assume that there was some public holiday declared, as a result of which many motorists stayed back at home. Black marketers of petrol, of course, smelt gold and besieged the highways and street shoulders with the precious commodity in jerry cans – naturally at murderously extortionate rates. In many cases, the fuel they offered for sale had been adulterated and hazardous to the vehicles of buyers. But you only got to realise this after you had bought from them in desperation to keep your vehicle on the road. And you could not help but wonder how the black marketers were getting their own supply anyway, when there were so few outlets dispensing the product to motorists.

    Air travel was not spared the dysfunction, as flights were willy-nilly cancelled or rescheduled owing to the inability of operators to get aviation fuel for their operations. And the hardships were not limited to the outdoors: life at home had become an unrelieved ordeal owing to uninterrupted failure of public supply of electricity and the lack of fuel to power local generating sets. The parlance of greetings among many Nigerians readily formed around the general ordeal, with acquaintances swapping mutual enquiries, laced with a tinge of wonder, as to how you were surviving the fuel crisis. Meanwhile, the inflationary effect of the meltdown on the general cost of living has utterly gone off the hinge.

    That we lived through these experiences without dislocations to social harmony is a testimony to the resilience of Nigerians, which if properly harnessed by leadership, should be a sure ingredient for the country’s greatness. But that isn’t to say the crisis has been a funfest for citizens. Disruptions in fuel supply are certainly not new and have been a historical phenomenon in our country, but that fact did not in anyway lessen the brutality of the latest incident.

    Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, promised that the fuel crisis would end in Lagos and Abuja by Thursday, last week, and in other parts of the country in the following days. He earlier made the promise to the Senate when he was summoned over the fuel crisis, and again last week when he told journalists: “Hopefully, by tomorrow, Thursday, the fuel queues in Abuja should be over. Hopefully, the same thing should happen in Lagos and, thereafter, by the weekend, we should see same in Kano, Katsina, Sokoto, Port Harcourt and a few other states.” Well, from where I stand, that hope as at the weekend was a forlorn hope. If you went in search of fuel around Lagos on Thursday, especially on the mainland, you would find that there were truly no queues in many filling stations – but only because they had no fuel to dispense. Those that had fuel for sale recorded huge and chaotic queues of desperate motorists.

    The ministerial promise seemed unrealistic ab initio as any ever could be. And the reason is this: Even if supply levels at filling stations were to suddenly outstrip the estimated 38million litres of daily petrol consumption by Nigerians (which evidently they have not), there has been so much drought of the product in the land over a prolonged period, such that it would require repeated surpluses in supply to meet panic demands before the queues can be expected to disappear. And if Lagos and Abuja were to have such surpluses, these would not immediately avail for residents because motorists in need of fuel in surrounding centres would travel over to source the product where it is immediately available. Really, not many people believed that fuel queues would disappear in Lagos and Abuja by last Thursday. The minimum expectation, however, was that fuel supply would stabilise, such that motorists could hope to get the commodity to buy, even if that would be after some queuing at filling stations.

    The experiences that have attended the prolonged scarcity of fuel have been excruciating for Nigerians, and our concern in this piece is limited to sharing a participant-account with those in whose hands it lies to provide swift succour. There have been fine and technically persuasive narratives on the concert of measures being pursued by government to guarantee long-term stability in fuel supply across the country. But on ‘Main Street,’ the recent experiences have been so life demeaning that the urgent expectation is for an immediate and sustained relief. We earnestly wait to see if the coming days would meet that expectation.

  • Understanding constitutional presidentialism

    Possibly, one could argue that the American presidential system is not a prerogative ideology or a dogma without which there cannot be stability in the constitutional politics of the nation where it is practiced. Besides, it is more possible that adopting or copying all the structural definitions in the system is not necessary for the social, economic and political development of the society that opts for it. This argument is only tenable due to the disparity in the environment; different cultures and the aspirations of different peoples and places in the world. Truly speaking, every nation has its’ own peculiarity which calls for unique application of political method that is equally suitable for its nature.

    That is why nobody would expect Nigeria to adopt every article in the constitution of the USA.   In any case, there are exceptions. Apart from the unalterable dichotomy in the separation of powers, there are quite a number of sacred areas that cannot be toyed with. Or else, the system would be stymied. One of such is the Legislature and its’ conventional ethics. First, let me use this medium to remind the erudite public that the executive branch of government is not supreme to the legislature, by no means. This is because both the efficacy and legitimacy of power to rule derive from the legislature. Whereas as a result of that corollary, the legislator is the master and the executive is the servant of the state.

     Due to the fact that the president is the head of government business as the chief executive of the state erroneously arrogates superiority of the executive council over the legislature. This is very wrong.  It is absolutely wrong when the doctrine of the separation of powers (Isaac Montesquieu) is implied. This is because the office of the president cannot be separated from his role as the chief legislative officer of the state where both the role of the head of state and that of the chief executive are vested in the office of the president.  As number one citizen, he presides over all the spheres of government, including the Upper House (the Senate, as it is in Nigeria) where the proceedings of the Lower House (the House of Representatives) are reviewed and assented to. He is not only the chief executive but also the head of state.

    This can be clearly observed from the British Parliamentary government. From the time of Magna Cartar, the order of the Westminster system, though an unwritten constitution, provides for the members of the executive council to be elected first as legislators. This means that both the legislative and the executive arms of government are in the lower chamber of the parliament. In addition, having a monarch as head of state is another colour that beautifies the institution of government in the UK. It means the king or queen is head of the upper chamber of the legislature – the House of Lords.  Such heads of state are usually nominal or ceremonial and they are obtainable in many other countries. Remember that was the system Nigeria had in 1960 before the military coup of 1966.

    The Nigerian presidential constitution which was supposed to be copied from the American system is a travesty of the analogy above. Today, Senator Saraki who is standing trial for false declaration of assets at the CCT is the Senate president. He took a chequered solo risk to secure the top job without the support of his party machinery. For this reason, things have fallen apart between him and the party since he assumed the position. Be it so or not, on the whole, when carefully examined, the issue is a systemic defect arising from breach of traditional ethos of the political system.  He did it at a time when his party {APC} is championing in Nigeria ethical revolution particularly among the top echelons of the state – under the watchful eyes of Buhari’s regime. Unlike what obtained in Jonathan’s climes when Tambuwal manipulated his way through to be Speaker of The House of Representative and got away with it. He should have waited for his party caucus in the Senate to set the process of electing their boss in motion before taking his bid.

    The unfolding development is very interesting to know as all the courts have refused to grant Saraki’s prayers. False declaration of assets was treated with levity in the past in Nigeria.  To think of someone going to court for this offence in Nigeria was unimaginable. Let alone, to nail to the dock both hands and feet of the scion of Dr Sarakis’ dynasty who is equally the no. 3 in the nation’s order of precedence as Senate President. This is ominous. It is beyond the limit of political deprecation. It is not impossible that a lot of pressure must have been mounted on every lobby post to shelve the prosecution without success. In any case, let’s leave the issue to the verdict of the courts where the matter is currently pending. We pray the matter be sooner resolved to pave way for the resolution of more important national issues in the Senate. Without prejudice or sentiments, the maxim of the change mantra is regardless of whose ox is gorged as its’ victims are usually sacred cows. The travails or the present predicament of Saraki is not the focus of this text which is about the norms of the US constitutional prototype and how it has been bungled in Nigeria.

     Right from inception, civilian government has been practiced in aberration of the spirit of the law and the philosophy of the constitutional system that was supposed to guide it in Nigeria.  In 1999 when Obasanjo took over the reins of power from the military, he tried to direct the statecraft the way it should go. But, he was resisted by the legislators. They saw his actions as infringement on their constitutional rights and freedoms to do whatever they wanted to do in the National Assembly. The ensuing political feud reached a crescendo of incessant impeachment threat against the ex president. Having understood the awesome powers he was presiding over, and by the enigma of executive muzzles, he manoeuvred and survived by turning the impeachment siege against the House. So that each time a Senate President was appointed he was impeached, since Obasanjo was not allowed to have his way in the Senate to propose the candidate. This phenomenon has reopened again in Buhari’s time. But, unfortunately, the stage is set for a more consequential scenario – a dimension that might be worse than Obasanjo’s mere intolerance.

    Therefore, in order to avoid the persistence of this kind of antagonism between the executive and the legislature in Nigeria, the appointment of the Senate President should be made incumbent on the executive capacity as a presidential prerogative. This would help to make the legislature more responsible and deferent to the good governance initiatives of the chief executive of the state. This is proffered against the background of what has happened in the country recently. There is a school of thought that believes that the CCT prosecution of the Senate President made it possible for the early screening of the ministers without the Senators being lobbied. This precedent is dangerous for the wellbeing of democracy in Nigeria. Sooner or later, there would be political ties and logjams in issues that would have been resolved with minimum lobby efforts instead of fighting over who will have the vantage edge between the two branches of government. Probably, create problems for the country by mudslinging and painting the whole regime as a house of scandals.

    This proposal, if adopted would reduce the cost of running presidential system in Nigeria and save the nation from unnecessary delays in legislative procedures. If it requires constitutional amendment, it should be done fast without red tapism. It is obvious that constitutional amendment is topmost priority of this regime. As such, they need a friendly environment and not a hostile legislature – to put their acts together.   The cardinal point in all these things is national interest.  All public functionaries must have this in the back of their minds before accepting to serve in positions of responsibility rather than private individual interests. If this objective is pursued with the spirit of selflessness and nationalism. It would be easily achieved without wasting time and other resources. Truly speaking, there had been two attempts to review the constitution since 1999 to date. All were inconclusive and unfinished business. Why don’t we take advantage of the opportunity offered by the corrective regime of Buhari’s administration now to conclude the entire work. As it is said, make haste while the sun shines.

    • Godwin Momodu, a veteran journalist, writes from Benin

  • Nigerian leaders must take tough decisions to grow economy

    Despite boasting the biggest economy in Africa, Nigeria’s economy remains largely undiversified with crude oil sales accounting for over 90% of total revenue. As a result, our economy is always vulnerable to volatilities in the international oil market coupled with the impact of many years of corruption and wastages. This is the reason for our present economic nightmare.

    It is very unfortunate that we wasted the golden opportunity to deploy the trillions of dollars earned from our oil exports to develop the critical sectors of the economy including power, agriculture, industries, solid minerals, transportation infrastructure among others.  No doubt, if we had done the right thing as some other oil producing countries did, keeping in mind that crude oil is a finite resource, we would not be experiencing the devastating effect of oil price crash on the scale we are experiencing it now.

    We are now being forced to do, with pains, what we should have done with ease years ago. The task of charting a new direction for the economy is notgoing to be a tea party.  Various policy options mustbe identified and assessed on the basis of our current situation and needs.  Moving our economy forward requires thinking outside the box and doing things differently. We need creativity, innovation and the courage to take difficult and tough decisions.

    The leadership of the country at national and state levels must have the courage to take tough decisions and make sacrifices in the near term which will, in the long run, make our economy stronger and sustainable and, consequently result in prosperity across all regions of Nigeria.

    One way to revive our economy will be to explore and expand inter-State relations, strengthen regional competitiveness by maximising economies of scale, regional optimisation of assets and endowments and mitigation of afflictions and natural disasters. Other potential areas for inter-State collaboration include transport infrastructure to facilitate market linkages, education, market development, human capacity building, securityand intelligence sharing, among others.

    However, this idea is not an entirely uncharted territory for Nigeria. Prior to the oil boom era, Agriculture was the mainstay of Nigeria’s economy and contributed about 65% to the country’s GDP and represented close to 70% of total exports. Through farming, Nigeria was able to feed its population while major cash crops were exported to earn foreign exchange. From the cocoa and rubber plantations in the West, the groundnut pyramids and cotton in the north, to palm oil in theeast; each region was identified by its economic areas of comparative advantage which were collectively harnessed towards ensuring food security and inclusive growth across the country.

    Given our current economic challenge, I believe it is time we take a cue from our old ‘playbook’ for a viable ‘game plan’ to revive our national economy. States and regions must once again begin to leverage on their respective areas of comparative advantage by establishing partnerships towards establishing inter-State or inter-regional commodity value chain. We must re-startinter-state/regionalcooperation.

    It was in realization of this that Lagos and Kebbi States signed a Memorandum of Understanding a few weeks ago.Kebbi Stateis the largest producer of rice in Nigeriawhile Lagos state, the most populous state in Africa, consumes rice, mostly imported rice, worth N135b annually. With this partnership, which covers food production, processing and distribution, Lagos State and Kebbi State have taken steps to explore our areas ofcomparative advantages to achieve food security for Nigeriaand save our foreign exchange. In specific terms, this collaboration will produce 70% of Nigeria’s rice demand.  The multiplier effect of this collaboration will be felt in the areas of job creation, the development ofancillary industries, the strengthening of our local currency against the Dollar and other major international currencies.

    I believe more of this inter-state collaboration should be encouraged as a major driving force for the diversification of the economy.  There are manymore areas of collaboration to be explored in thenation. The political leadership must develop the will to make this initiative work, to achieve food security and promote backward integration for industrial growth.

    Lagos State has always embraced inter-state cooperation as a strategy to fast-track economic growth and development. Prior to the agreement with Kebbi State in the Northwestern Nigeria, Lagos State has collaborated with States from within the western region in the areas of comparative advantage for the partner States.

    Lagos State currently has 84 hectares of land in Osogbo, Osun State, out of which 20 hectares is used for palm produce, while others are used for rice farming, cassava and maize. Lagos State also acquired additional 1,000 hectares of land in Osun, 500 hectares in Ogun and Oyo each and 50 hectares in Abuja to support farming. In addition, all granite used in construction in Lagos State are being sourced from quarries located in Ogun State. These relationships have proved especially beneficial for Lagos State given its low land mass and the rapid urbanisation and industrialisation in the State.

    It must however be noted that for regional or inter-state cooperation to yield the desired result in terms of enhanced inclusive growth, we must put in place a functional modern rail and water transportation system. The movement of goods, materials and people by road is not only inefficient but fraught with risks, safety hazards and detrimental to our roads.

    The Lagos/Kebbi initiative for example will involve movement of thousands of tons of paddy rice to Lagos for processing in the mills. This can only be achieved more efficiently through a modern rail system which at present remains largely undeveloped.

    We must brace ourselves, take the tough but right decisions, individually and collectively, so that we can have a better tomorrow.

    • Ambode, the governor of Lagos State delivered this address at the Nation’s Ist national forum on the economy at Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja, on Thursday, April 7.
  • Why preaching law is a must for Kaduna

    Why preaching law is a must for Kaduna

    Kaduna State is in the cusps of an economic, social, ethical and political renaissance. It is a mission that the governor, Mallam Nasir El Rufai is fervently and feverishly committed to; and in less than one year in office, he is at the verge of meeting the set targets. But Kaduna State is a peculiar state: sentiments, particularly religious sentiments are easily amplified and often blown out of proportion, leading to very damning consequences. This is hardly surprising given the rather generous population of adherents of both Islam and Christianity in the state. This diversity, ordinarily ought to be a blessing and a strength that could easily be harnessed for the greatest good of all. However, over the years, zealots, religious contractors, extremists, crisis profiteers and unscrupulous political and community leaders have for pecuniary or political reasons, perfected the nefarious act of using religion to unnecessarily destabilize Kaduna State.

    As a child of the 70s, I recall ever so vividly growing up in both Zaria and Kaduna metro with the trauma of the several extremely acrimonious and destructive religious upheavals in our dear state. Between 1980 and 2011 alone, over 25 avoidable religious or ethnic-inspired crises led to the unfortunate loss of thousands of lives, destruction of properties worth several billions of Naira.  Some of the most unfortunate previous crises include the Kafachan riots of 1987, the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria riots of 1992, the Kaduna North/Kaduna South and Kafachan crisis of 1999, the so-called Sharia riots of 2000, another Zaria Crisis of 2001, the aborted Miss Nigeria riot of 2002 and of course the post-election riots of 2011 to name but just a few. Sadly, the ordinarily boisterous and welcoming Kaduna State eventually gained notoriety as a hotbed of sorts of religious and ethnic crises. This of course had telling effects on the economic, social and ethical well-being of the state and its long-suffering people.

    Successive administrations in Kaduna State who had contended with bloody and destructive religious riotshad at one point or the other resorted to legislations to rein in religious extremism in the state. So far, the most far reaching of the legislations remains the Regulation of Religious Preaching Edict No. 7 of 1984, which has been amended twice – in 1987 and 1996. The original 1984 Edict was promulgated by the then Military Governor of Kaduna State, Air-Commodore UsmanMuazu, on July 17, 1984 following the Maitatsine riots in some parts of Northern Nigeria at the time. The Edict provided for the mandatory licensing of preachers. It also restricted the playing of religious cassettes to homes, banned the use of abusive language against any person or religious organisation or religious leader. The Edict expressly banned the use of loudspeakers for religious purposes other than in a Church or Mosque, the abuse of religious books and the use of such expressions as “infidels,” “non-Islamic,” or “pagans” in describing other religious groups.

    The penalty for violating the 1984 Edict was two years’ imprisonment with an option of fine.

    On March 9, 1987 the then Military Governor of Kaduna State, Lt. Col. Abubakar Umar, amended the 1984 Edict and expunged the option of fine and extended the term of imprisonment upon conviction to five years.

    On November 25, 1996, Lt. Col. Hamid Ibrahim Ali, the Military Administrator of the state at the time, further amended the 1984 Edict by limiting the validity of a preaching license in Section 7 (c) of the Edict to a period not exceeding six months subject to revocation at any time.

    For the avoidance of doubt, the Religious Preaching Regulation Bill that is currently before the Kaduna State House of Assembly is just a slightly amended version of the same law that has been in existence since 1984. So, why are certain persons going about creating the wrong impression that Governor Nasir el Rufai is introducing a new religious preaching law in Kaduna State?

    Contrary to the impression some political jobbers and enemies of the state are currently creating, in revisiting this law, the Government of Kaduna State under Mallam el Rufai is not only responding to current realities in most states in northern Nigeria but also proactively nipping in the bud the possibility of Kaduna State returning to its destructive ugly past. The truth is that in spite of the dogged efforts by critics and mischievous politicians to tar Governor El Rufai with the wicked brush of religious extremism, this lie is just refusing to stick especially given that Islamic clerics have opposed the bill much more than Christian leaders. It is indeed an open secret that religious zealotry is not one of weaknesses of Nasir El Rufai.

    I have extensively studied the bill and have consulted with lawyers, my clear take on the amended Kaduna State Religious Preaching Regulation Bill is that it does not in any way abridge, threaten to abridge or violate the freedom of worship as enshrined in the constitution of our great country. On the contrary, the bill, if passed into law will establish Kaduna State as a bastion of peace and tranquility in northern Nigeria. I can attest to the fact that Mallam Nasir el Rufai, whom I have worked closely with for more than two decades, will never be part of any scheme, plot, programme or legislation targeted at abolishing, abridging or derogating the freedom of religion and religious beliefs as enshrined in the constitution of our great country.

    Mention has been repeatedly made of the supposed opposition of religious leaders in the state to this bill. The initial apprehension about the law by the clerics were largely informed by the fact that enough information was not made available to them on time. Political opponents of the governor were quick to go to town with the falsehood that a new law that would emasculate religion was in the offing. All too easily, but expectedly though, our highly regarded Islamic and Christian leaders believed this crass misinformation by ill-intentioned political jobbers and panicked. However after due explanations and with several of our religious leaders now availed of copies of the bill, they now have a better understanding. They are now aware that it is not a new law; that the bill does not in any way seek to negate or infringe on the freedom of worship; they are now aware that this law is basically aimed at deepening safety and security in Kaduna State and they are well aware that a peaceful Kaduna State would unleash the huge and enviable economic and other potentials of our great state.

    For the records, salient features of the proposed law include the establishment of an inter-faith ministerial committee to regulate the practice of the two main religions  in  the  state,  Christianity  and  Islam.  The law provides for the establishment of  a  committee of the  Jama’atu Nasril  Islam  (JNI) with equal  representation  of  the  Izala  and  Darika  religious  groups,  for  Muslims  and  another  committee  by  the  Christian  Association  of  Nigeria  (CAN). The inter-faith ministerial committee  is  expected  to  exercise  supervisory  control  over  JNI  and  CAN with a view to stemming provocative or public hate preaching hence the restriction on  the  playing  or  blaring  of  religious  recordings  outside  churches  and  mosques. Indeed under the law, a preacher may  be  jailed  for  a  period  not  exceeding  two  years  if  he  preaches  without  a  valid  licence  or  engages  in  inciting  religious  teachings  and  uses  derogatory  terms  in  describing  any  religion.  The law also stipulates that a preacher visiting  Kaduna  from  outside  the  state  is  expected  to  obtain  a  permit  to  cover  the  period  of  his  stay.  For preachers who are resident in Kaduna State, the  licence  to  preach  has  a  life  span  of  one  year  which  may  be  renewed. If the truth must be told, incessant hate and inciting preaching have for years been the main cause of religious upheaval in Kaduna State. Equally damaging has been the inciting statements credited to  some overzealous or extremist  preachers.  Indeed the matter of hateful or provocative preaching was robustly addressed during the  JNI’s  2015  annual  pre-Ramadan  conference  in June 2015  in  Kaduna  when  it  noted  that  in  spite  of  repeated  calls  by  the  Muslim  leadership,  some  scholars  still  employed divisive  comments  during  their  Tafsir  preaching  in  the  month  of  Ramadan.  According to the JNI,   “there is a growing trend of mystic doctrines expressed by some unguided extremists which are completely contradictory to  the  Islamic  faith  and  principles”. The JNI leadership was also of the view that several of the media houses that air Tafsir during Ramadan do not care to censor statements capable of destabilizing the Ummah. It was also the view of the JNI at this very important conference that negative conducts contrary to the established creed of the Islamic faith were being exhibited by some scholars in  their Tafsir  sessions.

    Indeed the JNI insists that “the  (Muslim)  leadership  should  regulate  the  conduct  of  Tafsir,  to  control  erring  commentators  and  make  it  mandatory  for  any  Mufassir  to  be  screened  and  be  given  permission  by  the  JNI  or  any  authorized  body  before  he  can  be  allowed  to  venture  into  Tafsir.”

    The position of the JNI tallies with the resolve of governor that Kaduna State should not and will no longer be the hotbed of needless religious acrimony or riots. The state seeks to harness the beauty in its diversity to strengthen social ties and bolster its economy and eventually restore the glory of the state is a bastion of peace and a pacesetter in northern Nigeria.

     

    • Sani is Special Adviser t

  • Refinery outsourcing as solution to fuel scarcity

    There are no ways to spin it; it is undeniable shame that in an oil-producing country as big as ours, in Nigeria, fuel scarcity is a perennial problem. The recurring sighting of long queues at our filling stations should disturb any thoughtful mind and make one ask why this situation has remained so till now, after many years of supposed management in this sector of our national life.

    I believe it simply requires thinking beyond the surface to proffer a lasting solution to the recurrent ill. Now that the present crude oil price has fallen, the federal government can solve this problem of fuel scarcity by outsourcing the processing and refining of out crude oil, and afterwards bring back the refined product for distribution and sale, at 50% off the present cost.

    Since we produce crude oil, it only makes sense that we shouldn’t continue to have persistent fuel scarcity; it makes us a laughing stock in the comity of nations. We shouldn’t be starved of what we have the ability to produce in abundant measures.

    It isn’t rocket science to understand that a decision by the country’s NNPC/PPMC, to simply employ or contract the refining of our crude offshore, and just pay only for the cost of that refining, will help allay this current unpalatable situation

    With this arrangement, the price of refined product would not be more than N30/litre. This will not only solve the fuel scarcity, it will also deflate the economy, thus, reduce the cost  of creating energy, cost of generating electricity, cost of transportation, and the cost of running industries,  etc.

    The overall effect of this is a favourable and drastic reduction in the cost of products and services, making general livelihood better.

    It is only when this is done, that is, employing the wisdom of outsourcing crude oil refining for both short term and long term benefit that the country can then talk about practical developmental ideals of industrialization, incentive-driven attraction of foreign investment, and the development and encouragement of entrepreneurship.

    We will remain in this awkward and strange situation that leaves us a mere laughing stock, if we refuse this idea of outsourcing and leave the fate of the whole country in the hands of few cartels who control the production and distribution of Petroleum products.

    The Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, should be ready to take necessary steps to encourage this move that will not only ensure fuel flows readily, but also at half the present pump price.

    It only takes careful thought to know that if we were selling PMS at N97/litre when the price of crude oil was $140/barrel, how much should we now be selling PMS when the crude oil price is at an average $35 per barrel? From this, it takes mere elementary mathematics to decipher that the pump price of fuel shouldn’t be more than even N20 per litre.

    Added to outsourcing, the federal government should also remove the present restrictions on the importation of fuel, and make it open, while the job of the NNPC in this regard would be just to regulate this unrestricted access to importation via monitoring and assessment of quality. The present draconian system, where only the NNPC and very few licensed people import, has continuously proven not to be sufficient enough to handle the demand of our giant population. With this restriction, it seems like tying both the hands and legs of the people. I mean, when it is consistently clear that a few licensed importers cannot meet the demand of the huge population, why not remove restrictions and grant open access to importation to enterprising Nigerians, and give incentives to Nigerian entrepreneurs to set up refineries in the country by giving them crude oil lifting permit with the intent of using the profit for part take-off for the refineries? Why not?? This will do a lot to complement fuel availability and supply.

    For the sake of installing human value into our policies, this present progressive government should be honest enough to abandon the mundane and archaic way of doing things, unlike the past administration, if we truly desire progress for the people. This present archaic style of policy management in the petroleum sector favours corruption at the expense of the people, many small scale businesses are on the death row because of it and it dislocates the economic realities of our people as they are forced to pay for their livelihood at extremely inflated rates.

    We must be quite honest with ourselves and get very open to the benefit of outsourcing and the removal of oil importation restrictions; we must forget economic diplomacy in this regard in order to take advantage of the present fall in oil prices to diversify the economy.

    We can sensibly manage the situation to get productive results instead of constantly being perennial victims that live the shame of recurring fuel scarcity and grueling queues.

     

    • Dr. Abraham, a Chartered Engineer, is governorship aspirant of the All Progressive Congress in the Ondo 2016 election.

  • Ondo: When imposition is not imposition

    Elections anywhere in Nigeria have never been routine and seamless endeavours. Nigerians have these eerie feelings of not knowing what to expect whenever elections draw near in the nation most specifically in some states such as Ekiti and Ondo. This collective unease may have had its roots in the murder and mayhem that characterized the 1982 governorship election in Ondo State that comprised the present Ekiti State. It was the state’s governorship election which resulted into a socio-political conflagration that consequently consumed the Second Republic. Nigerians’ worldview that these two states are probably the most recalcitrant in the nation as well as the most troublesome in the South-west may have been revalidated with the deployment of an unprecedented, mind-boggling rigging formula now known as Ekitigate that crystalized into Ayo Fayose’s second coming. With these states, the more things change the more they remain the same. You never know what will happen when it comes to elections. There seems to be something fundamentally disturbing in the stars of these two states that predisposes them to stunted growth when their sister states in the region are doing just fine in accordance with the time-tested progressive political agendas of the region’s progenitor. They’re light years behind their ‘siblings’ in many facets of development despite their relatively higher human capital endowment, no thanks to the “two whitlows” that presently rule the roost in the region that had applied the brakes on the developments of these states.

    The governorship election in Ondo State scheduled for November 26 has made virtually every happenstance in the state to be newsworthy. In an election that promises to be a straight fight between the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), the usual claims to the governorship throne and its associated grandstanding by sub-ethnic groups within the state has never been louder. Perhaps the loudest claim to the Alagbaka Government House is supposedly from the Akure indigenes whose ancient city is ironically where the governorship seat is constitutionally situated. And this clamour for the governorship throne is being championed by none other than our paramount ruler, Oba Aladetoyinbo Aladelusi, the Deji of Akure. As an Akure indigene who not only believes that how much a group gets in the distribution of political appointments must be proportional to the group’s voting strength and the deployment of same for electoral victory, but also that there has been a deliberate disenfranchisement of Akure indigenes in the state’s political scheme of things, an outcry for a governor from Akure at this particular juncture is a misguided proposition.

    There seems to be something eerily sinister about this whole clamour from The Deji when one juxtaposes his emergence to the traditional throne, which could not have been possible without the support of Governor Olusegun Mimiko, with the political IOU that must of necessity be redeemed by a Machiavellian political operative of no mean repute with evil proclivity to boot. Mimiko is a deft political operative who’s acutely aware that his party stands no chance if Akure people should give their votes en bloc to the opposition. It’s therefore not inconceivable that one of the governor’s calculations is to arouse the emotions of the Akure people in order to split their vote right down the middle. Once he’s rest assured about this split, the governor, known to be ruthless in extracting electoral victory by any means necessary, can always deploy the tested rigging template of Rivers and Bayelsa states that includes murder and mayhem into the mostly riverine areas of the South Senatorial district where elections are always challenging because of the terrain.

    Granted that Akure indigenes have largely been deliberately shut out of the state’s main power equation for so long, our seeming insistence that our son/daughter must become the governor in the next political dispensation or nothing is counter-intuitive, if not counter-productive. For Akure to allow itself to be deceptively cajoled by the governor through his Akure surrogates should PDP lose would be the equivalent of committing a collective political hara-kiri that may take a long time to bring us back from the ‘dead’. Akure people cannot afford to seriously split their votes at this defining moment to allow the Peoples Democratic Party that has proved beyond measure that its only interest in power is to steal – to win. It is bad enough that Ekiti State may have to live down another four years of arrested development being presided over by Ayo Fayose.

    Nigeria is presently at a critical juncture in her socio-economic and political adventures where she must clearly break with the past for the attainment of her destiny with the progressive political agendas that are carefully and meticulously being laid by President Muhammadu Buhari of which the South-west is particularly at the epicentre. It’s therefore counter-intuitive for any state in the South-west from this point to revert to the past that has not only stunted its growth for decades but a past that is glaringly in disrepute. More importantly, the South-west regional economic integration is a unique developmental paradigm that only the political cohesion of the region can bring to fruition in a relatively short time.

    The recent announcement by the Ondo State Chairman of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) Isaac Kekemeke that “there is no room for the imposition of an anointed candidate in the party” is a double-edged sword that may have negative unintended consequences depending on how the ‘sword’ is handled. As much as this statement cannot be faulted in a representative democracy, it’s inconceivable not to expect that a party trying to position itself as a serious political platform with an identifiable political ideology as its core, more so when evidence abound that it had been badly, and still being bruised and trampled upon by many of its own members because they were left to their own devices in attaining power, should not be interested in who emerges to carry the party to lofty heights in accordance with its ideology and manifesto. While this position should not be misconstrued as supporting the type of imposition that was prevalent in the past, the fact remains that piloting the process for a candidate to emerge out of its preferred aspirants by the South-west leadership of the All Progressives Congress is, and should be inevitable.

    In a primitive political environment that must of necessity give birth to a weak political architecture such as we have in the country –and the Southwest is no exception –in which both the political class and the electorate, for the most part, have mercantilist predisposition in how electoral decisions are made regardless of the negative consequences for them in the near future, it is necessary to begin the evolvement of a new political culture.

    For instance, how can the party and the electorate be better served with an APC governor who has not only ‘slept’ with every political parties that ever existed and had demonstrated that party supremacy and cohesion makes no sense to him, but had also bought his way into victory through monetization of the delegates when there’re others such as Segun Abraham, Rotimi Akeredolu, Jumoke Anifowoshe, Ajayi Boroffice, Comrade Shola Iji, among others, who has been consistent in the progressive movement and had sacrificed their material and moral resources for the enhancement of party? Loyalty should have its privileges. While the imposition of an “anointed candidate” by a single individual must be jettisoned forthwith, the leadership of a party that has brought into fruition an alliance that some of its detractors became cocksure would not work –based on historical antecedents – that they had asked to be called bastards, vowed to change their names or go into voluntary exiles if it did, not to talk of the high achievers it had thrown up as governors in the geo-political region, should reserve the right to decide the right candidate to fly its flag within the framework of a free, fair and credible election primary that may not necessarily be for all aspirants. Those aspirants whose original mission is to cause disaffection in the party, thereby reducing its positive standing before the electorates will still shout imposition regardless. It’s a typical case of damn if you do and damn if you don’t.

     

    • Odere is a media practitioner. He can be reached at femiodere@gmail.com
  • President Zuma not above the law

    President Zuma not above the law

    Last week, President Jacob Zuma was forced to eat the humble pie after months of braggadocio orchestrated through his subordinates. The development should serve as an impetus to our public officials in the discharge of their duties, and a lesson to those imbued with responsibilities of high office that there is only one sovereign – the constitution. The message from the Constitutional Court (Concourt) is simple: nobody is above the law, even the President. The learned Justices of the court, held that the President is bound by a report made by the Public Protector indicting him for unlawful expenses from the public purse to redevelop his private Nkandla home, asking him to make a refund to the state.

    But it took an outpouring of public rage, and calls for his impeachment for the President to succumb. Initially, as an African big man, Zuma’s spokesman had said, the President will “reflect” on the judgment, and “take appropriate action”. Reflect? Over a judgment that is clear and unequivocal? The Chief Justice of Concourt had held: “Consistent with this constitutional injunction, an order will thus be made that the President’s failure to comply with the remedial action taken against him by the Public Protector is inconsistent with his obligations to uphold, defend and respect the Constitution as the supreme law of the Republic; to comply with the remedial action taken by the Public Protector; and the duty to assist and protect the office of the Public Protector to ensure its independence, impartiality, dignity and effectiveness.”

    Of note, the application against Zuma was a public interest action by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and later the Democratic Alliance (DA) urging the apex court to review the powers of the Public Protector, Thuli Mdonsela, who had ruled that the President must refund a reasonable percentage of the cost expanded on non-security upgrades carried out on his Nkandla home. If it were in Nigeria, our courts could have used a narrow interpretation of the doctrine of locus standi to strike down the action. In Adesanya v President F.R.N. & ors, Obaseki JSC, had held: “The mere fact that an act of the Executive or Legislature is unconstitutional, without any allegation of infraction of its adverse effect on one’s civil rights and obligations, poses no question to be settled between the appellant and the respondents as to the civil rights and obligations of the appellant”.

    But the success recorded against Zuma didn’t come easy. Like his brother African politicians would do, his men tried all the tricks possible to frustrate the Public Protector from exercising her constitutional responsibility. Even while the matter was before the Concourt, his lawyers tried to inveigle the apex court to treat the matter as a family affair as the departed Peoples Democratic Party would have done. The state Advocate, Jeremy Gauntlett, pleaded: “this is a delicate time in a dangerous year”. Accordingly, he argued that it would wrong, for “this court to be inveigled into a position of making some of wide, condemnatory order, which will be used effectively for an impeachment in the parliament”.

    That line of argument would resonate well in Nigeria in the on-going trial of Bukola Saraki, by the Code of Conduct Tribunal for instance. In Saraki’s case, there are growing calls for extra-judicial intervention. Last week, a group which calls itself, Maja Elders Forum led by one Alhaji Kayode Yusuf reportedly argued: “we are taken aback by the recent developments in the nation’s political circle where Saraki seems to be the only politician that should be investigated by the anti-graft agencies in Nigeria…. We want Mr. President to use his good offices to call the operators of these anti-graft bodies to order in the interest of peace”.

    Indeed, if there is a constitutional provision for an authority to examine to what uses public fund is put to, many of our public office holders would be found guilty. A pointer is the charges against most of the politically exposed persons by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Some of them were accused of directly taking money from the public purse and using it for a private business. Indeed, one former Governor was accused of transferring a huge sum of money to his newspaper, while another used state resources to build a radio station, school and several other investments. One of the former governors, simply asked that cheques made out for the state coffers, from sale of state shares, be paid into a private account, without any qualms. Organising private parties, weddings, burials and such expenses, with state resources, is the standard instead of an aberration.

    The exposure from Dasukigate, the latest corruption scandal in Nigeria, would mock this application against President Zuma. Under President Goodluck Jonathan, state resources were reportedly procured directly from the Central Bank and shared like a family inheritance. Billions were admittedly expended, on procuring prayer merchants, for the presidential election. More billions of dollars belonging to the state were paid out to launder the image of the former President and his party. Furthermore, money meant for arms were used to build private hospitals, buy mansions for the kids, and pay for stocks and shares.

    Such absence of distinction, as to what uses a public official can put public resources without qualms takes place even in comparatively lowly local councils. Here, yesterday’s ordinary men, appointed to head local government areas, within months build state of art mansions to the applause of the people, but in South Africa, the President has been brought to account, for renovating his home – adding a swimming pool here, and an enclosure for cattle and rams there. In Nigeria, ministry of works officials, or state paid contractors would unabashedly relocate to the governor’s or local council’s chairman’s private residence, reporting there daily, until such improvements are completed.

    Also, the judgment of the Concourt condemned the legislature for abdicating their constitutional responsibility of oversight of the executive. In the unanimous judgment of the 11 Justices written and read by the Chief Justice, Mogoeng Mogoeng, the learned jurist held: “Similarly, the failure by the National Assembly to hold the President accountable by ensuring that he complies with the remedial action taken against him, is inconsistent with its obligations to scrutinise and oversee executive action and to maintain oversight of the exercise of executive powers by the President.” The court also asked Zuma, to reprimand his wayward and sycophantic ministers, involved in the upgrades.

    It is refreshing that President Zuma quickly ate the humble pie once the court ruled against him. In a state broadcast, to placate his country men and women, President Zuma said: “I welcome the judgment of the constitutional court unreservedly. The judgment has underscored the values that underpin our hard-won freedom and democracy, such as the rule of law and the accountability of public office bearers….”

    As Zuma fights the backlash, the example from South African, should serve our legislators, the executive and the judiciary, well. A system that lacks the capacity to bring those in charge of public treasury to account is nothing but a joke and a mockery, of our so called constitutional government. To help nurture our fledgling democracy, our court should define locus standi more liberally.

     

     

     

  • OAU NASU/SSANU and misrepresentation of facts

    It is with a heavy heart that I write in response to the open letter jointly written to President Muhammadu Buhari by the Non-Academic Staff Union of Educational and Associated Institutions (NASU) and the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities (SSANU), Obafemi Awolowo University branch. The referred advertorial, signed by the branch chairmen and secretaries, was published in the March 24, edition of The Nation. The crux of the misconceived article is the call on President Buhari to dissolve the Governing Council of Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) on the invented pretext of ‘deliberate and irreparable violation of the statue and laws for the appointment of a new Vice-Chancellor’ in a bid to enable the outgoing VC’s successor to cover up the former’s ‘numerous allegations of corruption, vindictiveness, non-transparency …’.

    Any discerning mind who reads that boondoggle will not fail to note that the authors are out to distort fact, in fact, project bald falsity as concrete truth all in an attempt to mislead the public. For the avoidance of doubt, the ongoing process for the selection of a new VC to succeed Prof. Bamitale Omole whose five-year single-term tenure ends on June 23, conforms thoroughly with the OAU Statue 6, Sections 3a to e. Whatever NASU/SSANU perceive as violation is at best a figment of their fevered and febrile imaginations.

    As stated in Statue 6, Subsection 3a, it is the responsibility of the Governing Council to advertise the vacancy, outline the qualities of the applicants for the post, and ‘thereafter draw up a short-list of suitable candidates for the post for consideration’. But rather than stick to their claim that the Governing Council has adhered to the stipulations of that statue, they descend willingly into the abyss of specious reasoning by claiming that that highest ruling organ of the university drew up another criteria other than the advertised one to assess the applicants for the position of the VC.

    Except the OAU NASU and SSANU, every other group on campus, and, indeed, keen followers of the country’s universities’ affairs know that the teaching experience, international exposure, publication, ability to attract funds, years of being on the professorial cadre, supervision, and referees of the candidates vying for the post of a VC are exceedingly important. They constitute vital components of the eligibility criteria. Therefore, it is absurd that some groups, which should be in the vanguard of championing the emergence of competent administrator through an excellently rigorous process, view this as an infraction of the law. Since in the current process the OAU Governing Council operates within the ambit of Statue 6, it is entirely out of place for NASU and SSANU to dictate or insist on different course of action.

    It is against the foregoing backdrop that the call by those bodies for the dissolution of the OAU Governing Council comes clearly as misplaced and ill-conceived. That OAU NASU and SSANU are comfortably inured to unlawful processes also manifests vividly in their request to President Buhari to violate the law by dissolving a lawfully constituted Governing Council. To argue that those two bodies are unaware of the recent apologies and reversal of the Federal Government’s decision on the sacking of some universities’ governing councils is to excuse their calcified penchant for reckless mischief, wounding misinformation, and bizarre illogic. Those bodies would do anything, including having the federal government undermine the integrity of the university autonomy agreement, in order to both misinform the general public and project themselves as conscientious watchdogs that they lack the character to become. The university autonomy agreement, which the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) laboured mightily to wrench from the federal government, makes it impossible for the Visitor to dissolve the governing councils of any federal university. It also invests the governing councils with the power to hire and fire VCs. But ask the OAU NASU and SSANU, they will tell you it is right to throw out the baby together with the bath water.

    Additionally, given their stance on serving falsehood as sacred fact, both the OAU NASU and SSANU have decided to see the continuing process of appointing a new VC for the institution as flawed. It is remarkable to reveal that about two weeks ago, the OAU branch of ASUU expressed deep satisfaction with the selection by the Governing Council of six out of the 11 candidates for the position of the VC. While NASU and SSANU are flailing about concocting grand untruths, ASUU is adding value to the selection process by organising an interactive session with the six contenders. The committee to see to that laudable initiative is supervised by Professor Sat Obiyan.

    Again, the myopic and puckish minds of the OAU NASU and SSANU apparatchiks must be tutored and attuned to the fact that allegation of corruption on the pages of newspapers can never conduce to hard, irrefutable evidence. Rather than the inaudible calls by the imaginary ‘staff and students of the university for investigation by the EFCC’ to willy-nilly find the outgoing VC guilty of misappropriation of funds, NASU and SSANU will do well to compile a dossier detailing the VC’s acts of corruption and dispatch it to the EFCC for action. It is insulting and maligning for these unions to insinuate that the ongoing appointment process is being done to deliberately violate existing laws so as to throw up a successor that will conceal and wipe off the misdeeds of his predecessor. If, as it has been explained in this piece, the OAU NASU and SSANU are wrong in their claim that the OAU Governing Council is violating the law, it is pointless to further contend that they are insincere and reckless in howling that ‘The Vice-Chancellor is allegedly working together with the Pro-Chancellor to manipulate Council and ensure imposition of a successor, who would cover up his atrocities and continue on his track to the detriment of OAU’.

    It worries the mind that entities who advertise themselves as being ‘highly responsible unions’ feel no qualms and are happily at peace baking the bread of disinformation for the unsuspecting public. Unable to contribute sensibly to the appointment process of a new VC for the school, those amalgams infested by certain characters of oily manners deliriously choose to fire the darts of fantastic untruths, thinking inanely that their constructed edifice of distortion and perversion will take on the hue of truth and sense. The OAU NASU and SSANU must gravely note that just as it cannot convince any serious minds except theirs with misinformation on the smoothly-going process, so also will they become unhelpful in the efforts towards the development of this lighthouse of learning as a truly modern emporium of significant human capacity enrichment.

     

    • Alawode, a public affairs analyst, writes from Ile-Ife, Osun State

  • Agricultural revolutionaries

    This is the first time in the history of Nigeria that two states are collaborating to develop their agricultural potential,” Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode declared at the March 23 signing of a Memorandumý of Understanding between Lagos and Kebbi states toward a much-needed agricultural revolution in the country. This magical moment in Lagos may well represent a revolutionary activation of the country’s agricultural progress.

    The record-setting deal is a powerful example that should influence the powerful people that are well placed to make things happen agriculturally across the country. Kebbi State Governor Atiku Bagudu correctly captured the significance of the occasion and the vision of the collaboration: “What we are doing is that we are pioneering a collaboration that will bring other states on board later and we believe that our potential is enormous and we must have pacesetters to start that process of joint collaboration for our collective good.”

    This partnership of pacesetters reflects forward-looking gubernatorial thinking, and Bagudu significantly noted that it mirrors President Muhammadu Buhari’s aspiration to de-emphasise the country’s oil dependence.

    The logic of this agricultural partnership and how it will enable national food sufficiency and food security, apart from its employment-generation possibilities, is not only compelling but also commendable.

    Ambode painted a picture that impressively showed how the collaboration would create commodity value chains and boost food processing, production, and distribution. He said: “Lagos State is the largest consumer of food commodities in Nigeria by virtue of our state population. We have the market, with the required purchasing power also. Lagos State has an estimated consumption of over 798,000 metric tonnes of milled rice per year which is equivalent to 15.96 million of 50kg bags, with a value of N135 billion per annum.” He also stated that the state currently consumed 6,000 cattle daily, which may increase to 8,000 in the next five years.

    Ambode continued: “Lagos State is one of the largest producers of poultry and thus has a large demand for maize for livestock feed production. The state also houses most of the industrial users of wheat and sorghum; mostly flour mills, bakeries, breweries, and food manufacturersý. Kebbi State, on the other hand, is blessed with a vast arable land characterised by very large flood plains, lowland swamps and gentle slopes. In the 2014/2015 wet season, over 600,000 hectares of land was deployed for rice cultivation in the three senatorial areas of the state.”

    The beauty of this joint venture is its formalisation to the extent that it  will be implemented using a Special Purpose Vehicle called LASKEB Agricultural Production and Marketing Company (LAPMCO), which will focus on rice, wheat, groundnut, onions, maize, sorghum, and beef.

    The concentration on rice is particularly noteworthy, considering its status as a staple food in the country. Nigeria reportedly ranks among the world’s top 12 rice-consuming countries, but its rice-consumption level is dependent on rice importation. It is a testimony to Nigerians’ taste for rice that the country is reportedly “the second largest importer of rice in the world and the largest net importer in Africa”.  A recent report said: “Nigeria spends an estimated N356 billion on importation of rice annually, the bulk of which comes from Thailand.”

    It is striking that Ambode made an ambitious assertion in respect of rice importation. He said: “The era of imported rice is gone…We have the economic prowess to produce rice locally. The reality is for all of us to embrace the consumption of local foodstuff and commodities.” He added: “Our traders can become key employers of labour as distributors of ‘Ibile Rice’. We can also brand and package rice in the names of our distributors and traders. As a state, we shall adopt our local rice as a state dish in all ramifications.”

    According to Ambode, “The people of Kebbi are traditionally rice farmers with average land holding of about 10 hectares. Presently, Kebbi has over 50,000 metric tonnes of paddy in store produced from the last two planting seasons.” Interestingly, Bagudu projected that the partnership would provide 60 to 70 percent of the country’s rice demand.

    It is obvious that local rice production is still a far cry from the demand of local rice consumption. As long as a colossal gap exists between production and consumption, so long will a colossal problem exist. However, it is observable that the problem may not be about production per se. More problematic is the production standard as well as the standard of the product. Concerning acceptability and acceptance, there is no question that the production and the product will need to meet certain consumer standards. In other words, marketing local rice to local consumers must start with getting the rice right in production terms. Then it will be easier to get consumers to listen to promotional talk about locally produced rice.

    One big event recently highlighted the bigness of the country’s agricultural challenge. It may be considered a reflection of big agricultural thinking in the country’s power circle that the 8th Annual Bola Tinubu Colloquium focused on Agriculture. Appropriately, the catchwords of the March 29 event in Abuja were: Action; Work; Revolution. It is significant that the Federal Government took advantage of the platform to further clarify its agricultural vision.  Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Audu Ogbeh, who was the keynote speaker, said at the forum through Minister of State Heineken Lokpobiri: “We intend to achieve self-sufficiency in tomato paste by the end of this year and in rice, maize and soya beans by the end of 2018 as well as wheat by 2019.”

    There is no question that targets and target-setting are useful, but the question is whether the targets would be pursued with performance-mentality and result-mentality. It is easy to pay lip service to agricultural development without developing agriculture.

    Food is a hierarch in the hierarchy of needs. It is so primary and so pivotal that human survival and human society depend on it. This is so self-evident that it requires no emphasis. It is high time the country’s structures of power structured its agricultural growth.

    Lagos and Kebbi states, through Ambode and Bagudu, have demonstrated action and are set to work for the desired agricultural revolution. The revolution requires revolutionary thinking and more revolutionaries are needed.

  • Kidnap redefined

    Kidnap redefined

    The murder of Colonel Inusa brings a macabre new dimension to abduction

    Then news broke the previous weekend that a colonel in the Nigerian Army had been kidnapped, it registered in most minds only as a departure from the kind of abduction that has become a staple of the news, different only in the identity of the victim.

    News of the abduction of schoolgirls, influential persons and their spouses and children, political officials, journalists, entertainers, even police officers, punctuate almost every news cycle, in a trajectory that has become painfully familiar.

    First comes the stark report of the abduction. Then follows a period, sometimes stretching into several days, during which nothing is heard about the victim or from the kidnappers.

    For the victims’ families, this is a time of excruciating agony. What has become of their loved ones? Why were they seized in the first place? Under what conditions are they being held?  Will they be released unharmed? Are they even still alive? The beleaguered families have no clues.

    Nor do the law enforcement agencies. They announce the kidnapping matter-of-factly, assure the public they are investigating, and solicit information that could lead to the rescue of the abductee or to the apprehension of the abductors.

    The kidnappers use the lull to weigh the balance of forces and to perfect their strategy for maximum extortion with minimum risk of capture. That settled, they stake their demands.

    Discreet negotiations begin; a ransom is agreed, the terms of which are sealed. The prisoner is released to lick his or her wounds, and the kidnappers vanish to enjoy their pernicious wages and to plot the next abduction.

    The reported kidnapping of Colonel Samaila Inusa, chief instructor at the Nigerian Army School of Infantry, Jaji, near Kaduna, was brazen, to be sure. He was plucked from his car at gunpoint between his base and Kaduna. The abductors dropped off his wife who was riding with him, and reportedly drove off with him as if heading to Abuja.

    The expectation was that the kidnapping would follow the same trajectory and end on a happy note as most kidnappings in Nigeria have ended, and that at the very least, those who live by kidnapping would learn that they cannot assail members of the armed forces with impunity.

    Tragically, this one has turned out to be a different kind of kidnapping. Col Inusa’s captors had murder on their minds, not ransom. The condition in which his body was found four days after he was seized suggests that he was killed moments after he was plucked from his car.

    This does not appear to be a random murder.

    There is reason for suspecting that Col Inusa was targeted; that this was an inside job; that his killers or their proxies had trailed him from his base, and that they knew he would not have the kind of protection usually available to an officer of his rank even off duty.

    Why did he not avail himself of that facility? Was he privy to some secrets that his killers wanted to suppress? Why did it take four crucial days to locate his body after he went missing not far from his base, along a busy highway linking some of the nation’s most strategic military formations?

    Nearly one week after Col Inusa’s body was found, no arrests have been reported. This raises questions about the vigour and expertise with which the investigation is being pursued. The Nigeria Army needs to reassure its own rank and file that it is capable of protecting them and bringing to swift justice those who would seek to inflict gratuitous harm on them.

    The on-going menace of Boko Haram suicide-bombers and “Fulani cattle herders” and persons engaged in ritual killings has rendered the average Nigerian jumpy, despite appearances to the contrary. With the murder of Col Inusa, the public might well be asking: If a senior military officer who in a remarkable career had the distinction of serving as aide-de-camp to the Vice President of Sierra Leone can be seized not far from his military base and murdered just like that, who is safe?

    The military authorities must apprehend the perpetrators of this heinous crime quickly and bring them to justice.