The Nation Newspaper

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  • Celebrating a ‘digital’ governor

    Born into relative obscurity and depressing abjection 48 years ago, Governor Ben Ayade is tellingly one part of the portrait described by Malvolio in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” about ‘some who are born great, some who achieve greatness and some who have greatness thrust upon them’. For Ayade, he falls into the second part.

    Against the background of the anonymity of birth, the then little Ayade was under no illusion that to achieve greatness, he required a combination of education, determination and a dint of hard work, for he was not afraid of greatness.

    Born with neither silver nor wooden spoon, his future was no doubt uncharted and therefore, he would have to map it out himself.

    Undaunted by the chequered circumstance of his birth, little Ayade knew that to dream lofty dreams, dare mighty things, win glorious triumphs, he must not allow himself be ranked with poor spirits who neither enjoyed nor suffered much because they lived in the gray twilights that knew neither victories nor defeats.

    Taking his destiny in his own hands, he surmounted all the odds and obstacles by pulling down every hill and mountain that fate put in his way to achieve greatness. One lethal key, which he needed desperately was education. But it proved something of a luxury.

    By refusing to be held hostage by the financial incapacitation that afflicted his parents, he embarked on a desperate search for knowledge in order to improve his human condition as well as that of his society.

    For a man who literally clawed his way out of the jaws of poverty, there was no doubt that his narrative will form the plank of his vision for Cross River State, serving as a galvanizing tonic to turn the state into a success story, as he inched his way then into the exalted office of the governor in 2015.

    Since assuming office on May 29, 2015, he has brought his vision, passion, humanity, pedigree, and above all, his nimble and Midas touch to bear on governance and the state’s socio-economic landscape. Across the 18 local government areas of the state, everyone is agreed that he was the right choice.

    Widely known with the sobriquet, the ‘Digital’ Governor, Professor Ayade cuts a special appeal. Variedly, he embodies different themes with an inimitable message of hope. For the poor, he represents meekness and philanthropy, for the aged, he symbolizes compassion, he appeals to the youth on account of his swashbuckling and zestful swag. Youths and students adore him for his intellect and bombast. And like nectar to butterflies, so is he to investors, alluringly seductive, an attraction that has continued to appeal to a vast network of global investors surging and pouring into the state.

    From the inception of his administration, governor Ayade had set his mind on staying focused on running government with a human face and ensuring that the middle class was resurrected and given the needed oxygen to find anchor for their roots; while guaranteeing that every Cross Riverian finds independence and pride for his work.

    Seemingly restless and very much in a hurry to deliver, as part of catalyzing and crystalizing this his dream for the state, Governor Ayade has his eyes on the ball and his leg firmly stamped on the pedal to harness new ideas and technology geared towards recalibrating and repositioning the state to its rightful place as the fastest growing in the country.

    While trying to give the state a first-class infrastructure such as the construction of a superhighway and a deep seaport, he is not unmindful of striking a delicate balance, or harmony, if you like between providing infrastructure and building human capacity.

    It was this creative thinking that actuated his declaration on his inauguration to make prompt payment of civil servants’ salaries one of the cardinal policies of his administration, with the insistence that a labourer deserves his wages.

    It is no longer secret that while most states in the country are grappling with or literally  asphyxiated by the pangs of payment of salaries, Governor Ayade has ensured that his civil servants are paid as early as between 25th and 26th of every month.

    This gesture has no doubt endeared him to the state’s workforce, a development they describe as rather uncommon.

    In absolute fidelity to his words that the wages of honest labour shall liberate families from the clutches of hardship and hunger, Governor Ayade, barely two months in office passed into law tax exemption bill for state workers earning below N30,000 a month as well as the exemption of levies for artisans, petty traders operating in the state.

    While this gesture has roundly been applauded and commended as governance with a human face, the real import of the concession is that it has allowed this category of workers with more disposable income to play with and by implication, leading to more empowerment for the people.

    In a bid to expand opportunities, energize the already shrinking state’s civil service, as well as chase the wolves out of the doors of many of the citizenry, the governor, after a careful consultation and deliberation with the various stakeholders in the state, took the initiative to lift the 23-year-old embargo on employment into the state civil service.

    His decision to expand government in other to reach out to as many as are desperately hopeless bears testimony to Ayade as an apostle of renowned English economist and one of the most influential economists of the 20th century, John Maynard Keynes, whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of modern macroeconomics and the economic policies of government in the 1930s.

    As part of his own sacrifice, the governor decided to shave off 80 percent from his salary in other to accommodate more people in government.

    In his determination to ramp up the economy of the state, the governor’s vast investment trips overseas have begun to yield dividends with the signing of various memorandum of understandings (MoU) with foreign investors.

    Already, a Thai Africa Consortium, which is into rice production has commenced site clearing for the construction of Africa’s first Rice City right opposite the Calabar garment factory site which is nearing completion. Similarly, an Irish property investors, Affordable Modular Homes Limited, has concluded agreement to construct 5000 modular housing units to be spread across the three senatorial zones of the state for the non-income and low-income earners in the state.

    What more can the people ask for! Following immediately on the heels of this, was the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Cavenco of Spain for the establishment of an US$18million automated poultry and dairy plant with capacity for 100,000 birds per day. The initiative is to boost animal and dairy production in the state.

    Currently site clearing is also at a fever pitch for the proposed Calabar Pharmaceutical Company, among other investors scrambling for a space in the already charged investment climate of the state.

    As he clocked 48 yesterday, a lot can still be learnt from Ayade’s narrative. A retelling of countless stories from his life of humility and philanthropy, offering generous inspirational material to draw from.

     

    • Obogo is Media aide to Governor Ayade

  • National Assembly made abroad

    Our National Assembly is like Janus, the Roman god that has two faces, facing in opposite directions. How? Of recent, the upper chamber has engaged in a new fad, the rhetoric of promoting made-in-Nigeria goods as their contribution to buoy our sagging national economy. Yet, the same National Assembly, has unabashedly and unlawfully budgeted for over N120 billion this fiscal year for its exclusive use, in clear violation of the provisions of the 1999 constitution. Again, the same made-in-Nigeria promoters, ostensibly in pursuit of a new national culture of prudence, has appropriated humongous car loans to all members; even as they also illegally plan, to buyexotic,foreign-made SUVs, for all members, for their so-called committee work.

    To successfully champion a new made-in-Nigeria culture, members of the 8th National Assembly must first purge themselves of a life style that is completely alien to our local economic reality. They cannot be selling to Nigerians the need to cut their coat according to their clothes by making do with what we produce locally, and at the same time, work to approve a budget deficit of nearly N2 trillion to be funded from borrowed funds; a portion of which will be used to fund their taste for big cars and bloated lifestyle. In case our Janus at the National Assembly do not know, the joke is on them, on their new found fad.

    If, for whatever reason, our legislators however wish to change to become honest, made-in-Nigeria, patriotic-nation-serving, lawmakers, they must first acquiesce to live within the contemplation of the 1999 constitution with respect to their remuneration. Here, I refer to the mandatory order of the Third Schedule, Part 1, Paragraph 32(d), of the constitution, which provides: The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission shall have power to “determine the remuneration appropriate for political office holders, including the President, Vice President, Governors, Deputy Governors, Ministers, Commissioners, Special Advisers, Legislators and the holders of the offices mentioned in section 84 and 124of this constitution”. Currently, the National Assembly run an opaque welfare state, exclusively for their members.

    To help our country start on the part of sustainable development, the National Assembly owes our country enormous responsibility. Like I did in this column some time ago, for President Muhammadu Buhari, I earnestly recommend to members of the National Assembly, a reading of Lee Kuan Yew: From Third World to First: The Singapore Story: 1965 – 2000. My favourite quote from the book, comes from chapter 15, aptly sub-titled: Conductor of an Orchestra. There at page 199, Lee, wrote: “Running a government is not unlike conducting an orchestra. No prime minister can achieve much without an able team. While he himself need not be a great player, he has to know enough of the principal instruments from the violin to the cello to the French horn and the flute, or he will not know what he can expect from each of them”.

    The National Assembly must come to terms with the fact that running a nation needs synchronization between words and action. They should know that the way and manner they run their affairs is more important than mere sloganeering. They cannot behave like the Biblical Scribes and Pharisees, whom Jesus Christ chastised thus: “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers” (Matthew 23:4, KJV). For a fair and just society, Lee, on page 212, also admonished: “Law and order provide the framework for stability and development. Trained in the law, I had imbibed the principle of equality of all before the law for the functioning of a society”.

    In making unlawful and unconscionable appropriation for themselves, the National Assembly break the law, and in turn undermine the society. As posited by Lord Alfred Denning MR, in Gouriet v Union of Post Office Workers: “To every subject in this land, no matter how powerful, I would use Thomas Fuller’s words over 300 years ago: ‘Be you never so high, the law is above you.’” As the Supreme Court of the United States, also held: “If the government becomes a law breaker; it breeds contempt for the law; it invites everyman to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy”. The National Assembly which preaches that Nigerians should patronize made-in-Nigeria goods, while billions of taxpayers’ money are budgeted to fete their appetite for foreign goods and exotic life styles, invites anarchy, not development.

    Instead of spending valuable legislative time pursuing the passage of a frivolous bill on anti-social media practice, the National Assembly, if it is sincere about promoting made-in-Nigeria goods, should concentrate its efforts on making the business environment a lot friendlier. A sincere effort on making laws and providing other legislative support, for the development of a robust infrastructure for the country, should be their priority. Their concern should be, for instance, what the National Assembly can do to increase electricity infrastructure in the country.They can start by conducting a public debate, on the performance of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act, of 2005? Have they considered regionalising electricity production and distribution, to supplement the inadequate and burdened national grid?

    On road infrastructure, what national legislative model are they working on, considering the paucity of funds and the national emergency in that sector? They should brainstorm on how legislation can be used to attract international funding, to develop major superhighways to link the six regions of the country. Are members of our National Assembly not aware that if there are efficient and fair legislations in place, for a profitable public-private-partnership, private capital will be attracted to begin to develop the needed infrastructure for the production of made-in-Nigeria goods? With the present road infrastructure, can made-in-Nigeria goods, truly compete with cheap imports from Asia?

    To honestly promote made-in-Nigeria goods, shouldn’t the National Assembly show more interest in our railways? If they are sincere, they can use legislation to help the executive find the needed capital to modernise our rail lines. Has the National Assembly thought of the need to encourage the states and regional clusters, through legislation, to consider developing intra-state and inter-state rail lines? With the inland waterways under the control of the federal government, can’t the National Assembly use legislation to enforce the dredging of Rivers Niger and Benue to make movement of people and goods more affordable?

    With the national economy in dire straits, our country could do with substantial direct foreign investment, to achieve a quantum leap, in infrastructural development. For that to happen, the federal and state legislatures have to first put their houses in order. As stated by Lee Kuan Yew, in his book: “The government played a key role in attracting foreign investment; we built the infrastructure and provided well-planned industrial estates, equity participation in industries, fiscal incentives, and export promotion. Most important, we established good labour relations and sound macroeconomic policies, the fundamentals that enable private enterprise to operate successfully”.

    Sloganeering, by our National Assembly on the need to patronize made-in-Nigeria goods, without backing it up with appropriate legislation and leadership by example, is nothing, but institutional deceit. The National Assembly should truly enhance national productivity, using legislation.

  • Cyber- terrorism: Need of new kind of army

    Cyber- terrorism: Need of new kind of army

    The jury is still out on whether Nigeria has technically or tactically won the war against the Boko Haram insurgents. The government is also in frantic in its efforts to recover money approved for arms purchase but was allegedly diverted to other uses. While our budget for bomber jets, guns, bombs and other military hardware are on an upward swing, it is necessary to state that the warfare of the 21st century is going from hardware to software.

    As the harsh economic realities become more biting, unemployment is growing, racial and religious pejoratives becoming more pronounced so also would the dimensions of conflict, terror and brigandage become more unpredictable. These conclusions do not come from a cryptic globe reader, but the prophecies of tomorrow are in the history books already.

    The nation has creditably developed capacity for conventional warfare, so also are disgruntled elements developing capacity and deploying unconventional tactics to hamstring the government. This is possible because of the boundless intellectual capacity and growing angst of the average Nigerian youth. In a cyber-based subversive attack, borders need not be crossed, no need to throw bombs, no hostage needs to be kidnapped and terrorists do not need to be blown to shreds. Cyber terrorism targets critical national information infrastructure to cripple economy, cause massive deaths and create a sense of siege. This is the potential of a cyber-terrorist attack.

    Cyber terrorism is a conglomeration of cybernetics and terrorism. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in a 2004 report, defined cyber terrorism as the premeditated, politically motivated attack against information, computer systems, computer programs and data which result in violence against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups and clandestine agents. Statutory definition of cyber terrorism in Nigeria can be gotten by a combined reading of Section 18. (1) of the Cybercrimes Act 2015  and section 1(2) of the Terrorism Prevention Act of 2011.

    Section 18. (1) of the Cybercrimes Act 2015  says- Any person that accesses or causes to be accessed any computer or computer system or network for purposes of terrorism, commits an offence and is liable on conviction to life imprisonment.

    Section 1(2) of the Terrorism Prevention Act of 2011 is rendered thus-

    (2) In this section, “act of terrorism” means an act which is deliberately done with malice, aforethought and which: 

    (a) may seriously harm or damage a country or an international organization;  (b) is intended or can reasonably be regarded as having been intended to— 

    (i) unduly compel a government or international organization to perform or abstain from performing any act;  (ii)seriously intimidate a population;  (iii)seriously destabilize or destroy the fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social structures of a country or an international organization; or  (iv)otherwise influence such government or international organization by intimidation or coercion…

    From the foregoing, I define cyber terrorism as the illegal use of computer or computer network to deliberately harm, damage, unduly compel, seriously intimidate, destabilise or coerce a government or international organisation to do or refrain from doing a particular thing in furtherance of the terrorists soci0-economic, political or religious agenda.

    Cyber warfare incidents against countries started gaining prominence after Estonia attack in 2007, Georgia in 2008 and the most prominent being the Stuxnet attack on the Iranian Nuclear reactor complex in 2010. The software, with more than 4 000 functions, was developed to focus on computer systems running software that is usually used to control critical infrastructure. The attack almost succeeded in ending the Iranian Uranium enrichment program. Fingers have been pointed at the United State’s CIA and Israel’s MOSSAD as the brain behind the virus, however, no investigative report has given a categorical answer to who was behind the attack.

    It is necessary to understand the implication and ramification of Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII). Section 3 (1) of the Cybercrime Act empowers the President, on the recommendation of the National Security Adviser to designate certain computer systems, and/or networks, whether physical or virtual, and/or the computer programmes, computer data and/or traffic data vital in Nigeria, that the incapacity or destruction of or interference with such system and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national or economic security, national public health and safety, or any combination of those matters as constituting Critical National Information Infrastructure. This designation takes effect only upon being gazetted.

    The nature of a CNII according to the above provision includes-

    1. a) Computer systems, cyber networks or traffic data;
    2. b) The infrastructure is vital to Nigeria;
    3. c) Incapacity or destruction of the CNII would affect security, public health and safety or any of its combination.

    Permit me to suggest some information infrastructure we can consider critical to our nation today – Nigcomsat control centre, Galaxy Backbone, NITEL and private telecoms operators infrastructure, Transmission Company of Nigeria control centre and base stations, internet service stations etc.

    Our cyber security preparedness is undoubtedly at the lowest ebb; however, we must now fast-forward to cover sufficient grounds. The first issue to be addressed is the designation of critical national infrastructure. This is not a walk-in-the-park assignment that could be dictated by a smart administrator ensconced in his cosy office. It takes a lot of technical, legal and administrative input from all stakeholders. To designate infrastructure as critical to the nation, it is best to identify our most critical sectors. The European Union identified 11 sectors it considers critical. They are: i) Energy; ii) Information, Communication Technologies (ICT); iii) Water; iv) Food; v. Health; vi) Financial; vii) Public & Legal Order and Safety; viii) Civil Administration; ix) Transport; x) Chemical and Nuclear Industry; xi) Space and Research.

    The European recommended list is not even accepted by all EU members as it varies according to national priorities. For example, apart from dreamy notions by some academics and politicians, Nigeria has no nuclear industry, so that may not be a critical sector to be protected at the moment.

    Imagine the gory prospect of some hot-headed separatist insurgents who write software to hijack the air control system of our major airports during a major international football tournament. Imagine aircrafts crashing into another, fire engines whirling and confused people running around, it is an unpleasant picture indeed. Consider another possibility of a, Manitoba, the consultants engaged to manage the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), recruiting a computer analyst who doubles as  an insurgent, with access to the control room, using a flash drive which automatically installed a deadly virus that succeeded in shutting down power transmission. The effect of this would be loss of hundreds of lives, billions of naira among many others.

    What the nation does in the light of these realities is what would make it a true giant of Africa or an over-bloated balloon structure. Since the National Security Adviser is charged with coordinating our cyber response, that office should prioritise the designation of critical national information infrastructure. Furthermore, at least 20,000 computer savvy youths should be recruited from the large pool of talented white-hat and black-hat operators to monitor our cyberspace and act as our cyber army. The Police and other security agencies should be retrained and retooled to be cyber-crime and cyber-warfare ready.

    The question is not if it would happen, it’s when it would.

    • Daniel is the author of Introduction to Computer Law in Nigeria

     

  • Open letter to President Buhari

    A few days ago I came across an article in The Economist – The Secrets of Scandinavian Countries’ Success. The article focused on two main areas: Welfare and Pragmatism

    It was no surprise to me that a nation with a good welfare system as its foundation is more likely than not to be a prosperous and successful one.

    Why? Because a government governs best with its people in tow and in support; and a nation prospers most when its’ people and its’ government are in unison in ideology, desire, and implementation.

    If I were to score the performance of your government so far I would give it 25% – a score based entirely on your desire to build a new nation in which the less privileged are well catered for. I passionately agree with this desire, but unfortunately I’m not able to support your policies because as yet there don’t seem to be any.

    Has your government actually studied the principles of a welfare state? More importantly, are the members of your government fully in support of a welfare state? The unfortunate still-birth of your first budget suggests there are many within this government – both the executive and legislature – that couldn’t care less about the less privileged.

    Furthermore does the public you serve understand your vision? And the policies / strategies you intend to utilise in achieving it? Surely the support of your government and the people that voted you in is key to your success?!

    There’s something political leaders of developed nations have learned to do with such aplomb; and that is winning the support and backing of the public in order to enforce the support of your administration. Power is addictive. Once ministers and policy makers recognise that failing to toe the line can lead to an angry response from the electorate, and thereby a loss of their seat, they tend to behave themselves.

    But unfortunately we the public have absolutely no idea what your vision is and even less an idea of your policies. After nine months in office, not once have you addressed the nation -the very people that voted you in – to explain your socio-economic policies. A nation is built on the attitude of its people. The attitude of the people is often determined by the ideology, policies, and attitude of the government. The two are intertwined; hence the saying ‘you get the government you deserve’.

    We have no idea what you desire and how you want to achieve it. All we know is that you dislike corruption. We also dislike corruption; but surely there comes a time when anti-corruption news for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is no longer enough for our well-being!

    At some point we need to start believing in something else as well – such as a well structured economic policy. What really concerns me is that the statement many have been making for several months, but which I refused to accept is now starting to ring a little too true for comfort; and that is the grim possibility that your government doesn’t actually have an economic blueprint. Please tell me these statements are gravely misguided.

    The longer your administration remains silent on the direction we’re heading, the less we believe you know what you’re doing.

    Another prominent feature of successful nations is the ability of their governments to be practical.

    Surely it’s time to be practical regarding the exchange rate! I’m as passionate about self-sufficiency as anyone can be, but I also recognise that we cannot be an island. Allowing foreign investments to dry up completely (which is what leaving things as they are will inevitably lead to) is tantamount to economic suicide!

    Before going any further, I believe it is important for me to point out that I’m not speaking on behalf of the elite few. How could I be when my station in life is so very far from them? I’m speaking on behalf of millions and millions of ordinary, hard-working Nigerians.

    If you refuse to be practical then at least explain to us why you insist on not devaluing the exchange rate. Is there a cunning plan that will somehow make everything better? Or is this a case of sit tight and hope for the best?

    History tells us that no matter how long you sit tight for, you will eventually have to agree to officially devalue the naira. The parallel market has now become the official market as with all the restrictions and rationing, this is where most businesses buy their foreign exchange from. Goods with import content are now being priced against the parallel market rate, and the lucky few who are still getting N199:1$ are making wide profit margins. By the end of March the naira to dollar exchange rate will most likely have reached NGN500 to US1, if not more!

    Your Excellency, even your government, state governments, and their employees are presently reeling from the adverse effects of your refusal to devalue the naira. Their share of oil revenues is still being converted at 199:1; and as a result most of the states cannot afford to pay salaries. Furthermore the inevitable inability to balance your budget will naturally subject future generations to a debt burden once again. The words ‘a vicious cycle’ come to mind.

    I fully sympathise with your desire to cater for the masses, even if it means it is at the expense of the well to do. But the irony of your present stance is that the people who will be most severely affected are the masses. After-all, a large percentage of the masses are employed by the middle class. The middle class are the people that drive the small /medium sized business sector. Small /medium sized businesses drive the economy.

    I do wonder whether we the electorate are presently behaving like the Israelites did in the wilderness after God delivered them from captivity in Egypt. They grumbled on a daily basis; wondering whether it would have been better to remain in Egypt where they at least had a routine and knew when they would eat. However their situation was fairly different. They knew they were being taken to the promised land.

    Does the average Nigerian know where you’re taking him/her?

    Mr. President, the nation’s economy is in a critical state. Corporations are laying people off by the second, small businesses are barely existing, most people are struggling to make ends meet, government is not paying employees or contractors, and to make matters worse nobody has any idea where we’re going.

    I recall getting up at 6.00am on Saturday, March 28, 2015   to vote for you. Despite the knowledge of an impending 6km walk to my polling booth, the fervent hope of the better future your government of change would bring made it seem more like a 100 metre dash. A government focused on the welfare of the people; a government for the people, and by the people!

    I put my trust in you.

    We all put our trust in you by voting for you.

    It’s time for you to return that trust by telling us where we’re going, and how you intend to get us there. Kindly reciprocate the trust we put in you by respectfully explaining your plan for the next three years to us – in person, and not through your media spokesman.

    We deserve that much.

     

    • Akande is Managing Director, SBA Interactive and Founder of Arise Africa Foundation

  • Moro’s Fate and Matters Arising

    First, a quick caveat: We won’t be presumptuous to discourse here on the substance of charges being preferred in court against former Interior Minister Abba Moro, along with some others, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). It is obviously the court’s prerogative to interrogate those. We will be restricted, therefore, to re-examining the circumstance of the 2014 Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment tragedy, and the embedded morals for our nationhood experience.

    Just when it seemed that justice was foreclosed for some 700,000 hapless applicants that were pooled into frenetic crowds at NIS job recruitment centres across the country on 15th March 2014, the EFCC last week said it was set to make Moro and four others answer for charges of fraud and money laundering relating to the botched exercise. This calling to account was long in coming, but nonetheless welcome that it is here. Moro was the minister that had supervision of the Immigration Service at the time of the recruitment under former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, and he certainly needs to answer for his role alongside alleged accomplices – including the private consultancy firm that conducted the exercise, Drexel Tech Nigeria Ltd.

    The handling of the 2014 Immigration Service recruitment ranked easily as the height of government insincerity and dysfunction, as well as the ultimate signpost of the crisis of youth unemployment in this country. Hundreds of thousands of job seekers (some accounts put the figure at 710,110) had applied for barely 4,000 openings that were said to be available in NIS at the time, and were indiscriminately drawn to recruitment centres where there was scant evidence of any prior preparation to receive and administer such mammoth crowds. Even though they were just yet seeking employment to earn some income, each applicant was required to pay N1,000 fee through an online platform administered by Drexel. By the close of the disorderly exercise held simultaneously nationwide, 19 applicants were reported trampled to death or choked lifeless in crowd stampedes at the different centres. It was one incident that left the nation grief-stricken and scandalised with shame all at once.

    At the time the tragedy occurred, partisan angling for the 2015 general election was already intense, and it is unclear whether the government in power genuinely wanted to absorb new recruits to the Service then or was just up to some chicanery for electoral advantage; or worse, whether the Presidency had lost accountability for individual initiatives of its functionaries. I would not know what else explains the fact that less than a month to the recruitment, then Comptroller-General of the Immigration Service, David Parradang, made clear to the Senate Committee on Interior that there was no budgetary provision for the recruitment, and neither any to underwrite the emoluments of some 4,000 new intakes being proposed for the Service that year. Appearing before the Senate committee on 19th February to defend NIS budget proposals for 2014, Parradang said: “We had started the process of reconciliation when the Board (of the Immigration Service, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence, Prisons and the Fire Service) announced that we got approval to recruit 4,000 and above. But there is no budgetary provision for funding of that process. If we recruit the people, there will be no salaries for them; so we have approached the Budget Office. They said it was late and that they could not make available that amount of money, and we calculated that N4billion would be needed to pay those officers that are expected to be recruited for the year 2014.”

    EFCC’s charge sheet against Moro and the others in the impending litigation confirms that budgetary provision was really never made for the exercise, hence it is difficult to rationalise that there was sincere intention by government to take new recruits in for the NIS. Now, I dare say it was beastly in the extreme and a grievous crime against humanity if the government then in power plotted that Immigration recruitment as a stunt just to score political points, especially with the misadventure having claimed so many hapless lives. Moro’s testimony in court in the coming days will be useful in showing if there are issues in this matter to refer to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for consideration.

    But even if the government had genuine intention to recruit, there was sufficient evidence of acute internal dysfunction, as Moro apparently sidelined the board and management of NIS and enlisted a private consultancy firm to conduct the exercise. Following the disastrous outing, the Immigration board was vocal in repudiating the exercise. At a hearing by the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts in the week that followed the tragedy, for instance, members said only Moro and his team could explain how they came about the ill-fated exercise. Sylvanus Tapgun, who led the delegation to the House committee session in Abuja, said: “Theý Interior Minister and the consultant he engaged for the exercise are the ones that can tell Nigerians exactly what happened. Even the Comptroller-General of Immigration was not involved, he was not part of the recruitment at all and there was no board resolution to recruit anybody. When we, members of the board, learnt about the recruitment, we wrote the minister that we are not in support of engaging the services of a third party to conduct recruitment for the Immigration Service; but he ignored our letter and went ahead to engage the consultant. The consultant fixed everything, including the N1,000 fee that they claimed was administrative charge.”

    Moro acknowledged the alienation of NIS leadership when, on the heels of the botched exercise, he accused Parradang of irresponsibility. He told the Senate Committee on Interior: “If I prevented Mr. Parradang from carrying out the recruitment as Minister of Interior, did I go with his sense of responsibility of knowing how not to conduct employment without budgetary provision and in utter disregard for extant rules? Yes, I wrote to the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice to seek clarification to guide the board when I discovered that the presidential committee assisting the board had assumed a life of its own and was conducting the recruitment rather than assisting the board. What value was Parradang adding to the work of the presidential committee when, on 15th March 2014, he abandoned his duty to provide leadership for the conduct of the recruitment to attend birthday parties in Jos?”

    People familiar with the dynamics of recruitment into government agencies say the process, in many cases, was ridden with political patronage and quota concessions to ‘stakeholders’. That may partly account for Moro’s appropriation of the Immigration recruitment project and eventual alienation of the board and management of the Service. By the same token, ‘non-connected’ applicants usually were in the wild, no matter their qualification for the job. That could partly explain the disorderly conduct of the ill-fated 2014 exercise. The point to be strongly made here is that we can no longer have government and its processes, including recruitment, run on such model in this country. Moro and his alleged accomplices will have their day in court to answer for the financials of the botched Immigration recruitment. I suspect, though, that there will yet be ethical questions that will haunt all the role players for some time to come.

  • A major leap

    A major leap

    Lagos State signposts a forensic lab to tackle crime in the 21st century

    Nigeria needs a functional forensic science laboratory. And why is this too difficult for the Federal Government to establish? We don’t have a single functional forensic science laboratory in this country.” This picture of inexcusable inadequacy was painted by the Chief Medical Examiner of Lagos State and Consultant Forensic Pathologist, Prof. John Obafunwa, when a South African team, including military, forensic and autopsy personnel, came to Nigeria to collect the bodies of compatriots who died following the September 12, 2014, building collapse at the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) in Ikotun, Lagos.

    In this tragedy, DNA testing was necessary to determine the identities of the dead victims, and it had to be done abroad because of the limitation identified by Obafunwa.

    It is worth noting that all these happened before the incumbent Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode took office in May last year. There were lessons to be learned by the Nigerian side. Importantly, less than two years after the tragedy that further exposed the country’s shortcoming, the Lagos State Government is set to demonstrate that lessons were indeed learned.

    It is a welcome development that the Lagos State Government is to establish a DNA forensic laboratory within 12 months. According to the state Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem, who unveiled the plan, the lab – the Lagos State DNA Forensics Centre – would fill a vacuum in the area of DNA profiling, which is an advanced forensic technique that has been embraced globally.  DNA profiling involves extraction of DNA from body fluids, semen, nails, hair and other generic sources.

    Kazeem shed light on the lab: “This facility, which will be driven by the Ministry of Justice, will focus on DNA analysis to support the justice sector in diverse areas such as collection and preserving of reference and evidentiary DNA, which can later be used in identifying criminals; decoding familial relationships of individuals; and identifying victims and remains after natural and man-made calamities.”

    He said: “Even though the role of DNA in forensics, law enforcement and the justice sector is well known globally, a high-powered DNA analysis centre is not available in Nigeria. This means that most, if not all the DNA testing needs, are performed outside Nigeria.”

    This is stating the obvious. For instance, the existing void has been particularly highlighted in plane crashes within the country that required DNA testing for the dead victims, which had to be done overseas.

    Of course, the advantages of the planned centre go beyond its usefulness in death-related cases. It would also aid investigation of rape cases, and help resolve paternity disputes. Indeed, the range of its utility includes helping in evidence of alibi and confirming physical presence of suspects at the scene of a crime. It is relevant to note that Kazeem reportedly said the centre would be deployed in investigation to identify suspects with accuracy and exonerate those mistakenly accused or convicted of crimes.

    There is no doubt that the establishment of the centre would further emphasise the commitment of the Ambode administration to crime-fighting. Coming after the state government’s impressive funding of security-related requirements for the police force, to the tune of over N4 billion, the centre will reinforce its standpoint of zero-tolerance for crime.

    Parenthetically, it should be mentioned that projects like this one spotlight governmental failure at the federal level, which Obafunwa drew attention to while bemoaning the non-existence of a “functional forensic laboratory” in the country. He is worth quoting again: “When we talk about Nigeria being the giant of Africa, I think we are just fooling ourselves,”

    This put-down was connected with the disaster refrigerated vans flown in by the South Africans in connection with the Ikotun disaster. Obafunwa said: “It is puzzling that Nigeria can conveniently provide 10 to 20 of this, yet none is in existence. I don’t see any reason why each state cannot provide its own disaster refrigerated vans. It is highly useful in the scene of mass disaster. One doesn’t need to take in a body into a building; but with this disaster refrigerated vans one can carry out forensic analyses.”

    The Lagos DNA centre project is understandably colossal and, to the credit of the state, it is projected that the facility would be built to international standard. When operational, the centre is expected not only to serve the DNA needs of the state, but also be available for the use of other states in the country, the security agencies, the general public, and even neighbouring countries.

    It is expected that the project has been well-thought-out. Apart from personnel requirements, especially in the area of training and capacity-building, there is the important consideration of facility maintenance. It is not enough to build the centre to global standard. The state government must be prepared to run the centre by global standards.

    The beauty of the Ambode administration’s proposed DNA forensic centre is that it is conceived by a state government within the federation, which reflects a correct interpretation of how a true federal system should operate. In a significant sense, Lagos State, with this project, has made a statement not only on the imperfections of the country’s federalism but also on the possibilities of perfecting the operation of federalism. It is a major leap by Lagos State.

  • Rekindling hope and revolution in oil sector

    The appointment of Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, first as the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and thereafter as the Minister of State for Petroleum by President Muhammadu Buhari, has unarguably brought an elixir of hope to the oil sector.

    To say that a major silent revolution is sweeping through the oil sector, courtesy of Kachikwu, is like stating the obvious.

    For a sector, which is Nigeria’s biggest revenue earner and previously ravaged by sharp practices and unprecedented corruption that has invariably shortchanged the country, Kachikwu’s coming on board has predictably ignited a renewed hope among Nigerians that the sector, would in the next few years, set a new template for increased revenue, transparency and accountability, which have been lacking over the years.

    The lack of transparency and accountability that has dogged the sector until the present administration took charge last year had resulted in unprecedented corruption and sharp practices perpetrated by unscrupulous Nigerians in active connivance with top government officials, a development that has resulted in the sector failing to achieve its true potentials in comparison with its counterparts in major oil producing countries of the world.

    These unflattering narrative Kachikwu immediately set out to change immediately on assumption of office by initiating a series of far reaching reforms in the sector.

    The reforms, according to the minister, is encapsulated in what is called the “20-fixes” with which the government hopes to reform NNPC’s operations, guarantee profitability and ensure a transparent national oil company.

    NNPC through the “20-fixes,” embedded in five cardinal business objectives that it intends to pursue, plans to, amongst other initiatives, attain zero tolerance for corruption, restructure its major subsidiaries, as well as enhance probity in its operations across board.

    Contained in its monthly financial and operational reports for the month of August, the corporation’s “20-fixes” also include its intentions to restructure Joint Venture (JV) funding and reduce cash call demands; improve retail profitability; deploy and attract focused investments; expand crude oil marketing and generate electricity profitably.

    Also to be done within the initiative are reduction and audit of running costs; restructuring of corporate centres and staff; renegotiation of existing contracts, including Production Sharing Contracts (PSC); streamlining of subsidy management and improving security of the country’s critical petroleum pipelines.

    The reforms also indicated that three of the corporation’s subsidiaries, the Nigerian Gas Company (NGC); Pipeline and Products Marketing Company (PPMC) and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) would either be unbundled or re-kitted.

    The corporation has also embarked on the restructuring of its refining business; improve on its use of information technology for its businesses and demand for topnotch service performance from its staff.

    Perhaps the most fundamental of the ongoing reforms is the recent termination of the Offshore Processing Agreement (OPA) and crude swap deals for refined oil products between the NNPC and oil traders.

    The contract which was initiated by the immediate past administration was aimed at dedicating 210,000 barrels per day of crude to swap for products.

    The crude-oil-swap deals were designed to supply petrol to Nigeria, which relies on imports for the bulk of its domestic consumption, due to the poor functioning of its four refineries that produce below capacity. The country allocated 210,000 barrels per day of crude to swap for products in 2015.

    Traders involved in the transactions, include Trafigura, Vitol, Aiteo Energy Resources, Mercuria, Glencore, Taleveras Group Nigeria Limited, Sahara Energy Limited, Etena Oil and Gas Limited, Ontario Oil and Gas and Rahmaniya Oil and Gas.

    The termination of the controversial offshore dispensation and oil swap agreements is expected to save the country an average of 230,000 barrels a day. At a market price of an average of $30 per barrel, the country would be saving about $7.8 million of crude oil daily.

    NNPC data show that the corporation allocated just over 79 million barrels (or roughly 218,000 barrels a day) to swaps in 2011 alone. This accounted for nearly half of the Domestic Crude Allocation (DCA) and around a tenth of the country’s average daily production.

    The sweetener to this deal is the recovery of $277 million during a review of crude oil swap deals.  Though the assessment is still in progress, but so far $420 million is confirmed as the total amount due to Nigeria. Under the Kachikwu-led management, NNPC has also begun the process of recuperating over $7bn in over-deducted tax benefits from oil companies.

    To achieve this objective, a reputable international accounting firm has been engaged by the NNPC to determine the exact amount due to the government on the Strategic Alliance Contracts entered by NPDC, where up to $2.46 billion of government money is to be recovered.

    Furthermore, $420 million has so far been reconciled in favour of NNPC and is now due for recovery from the legacy OPA/SWAP contracts. Out of the reconciled amount, $277 million has been recovered in lieu of products, while the recovery efforts are still ongoing.

    When fully implemented, these measures, amongst many others embarked upon by Kachikwu to sanitise the hitherto mismanaged sector, would in the next few years, restore the lost glory of the NNPC and indeed gladden the hearts of the founding fathers of the corporation.

    • Ibikunle writes from Abuja

  • Murtala Muhammed and 500 years of Nigeria’s history ( III )

    Both the accused person and Abu Sule were said to have entered into a tenancy agreement so as to give the impression that the former had rented the property from Tweeenex Consociate H.D. Limited.

    He added: “Abu Sule also said the accused person issued a Fidelity Bank Cheque for N20 million as rent for two years.  He however, said that he used the money to renovate the property and another property in Asokoro.”

    Daudafurther told the court that MuntairMaidabino, during interrogation, confirmed receipt of cash payment to the tune of $2.2 million from Sule.

    According to him, when the accused person was confronted with the disclosure by Sule, he owned up to the ownership of the property.

    He said both the accused person and Sule were later invited to the EFCC’s office, where they disagreed on the mode of payment.  While the accused person claimed he made the payment in instalments, Sule debunked that statement, saying that he (the accused person) made cash payment to him.

    Justice Ademola fixed November 12 and 13, 2015 for cross-examination and further hearing.”

    It was left to Al-Jazeera and Fox News to alert the entire world regarding what has become of Murtala Mohammed’s legacy.

    Front page headline:                 “Sunday Vanguard” newspaper of December 13, 2015.

    “BLEAK CHRISTMAS AHEAD: BANKRUPTCY FEAR HITS STATE

    ………..one pays 97% of allocation to service debt.

    v            Cash crunch worsens on the heels of Naira’s free fall.

    “Amid deepening cash crunch, there is the fear that many states across the county are increasingly finding it difficult to meet their financial obligations.

    Bogged down by huge debts for which the bulk of the allocations from the Federation Account is deducted to service them the situation has eroded the ability of the states to pay workers’ salaries.

    The bailout package initiated by the Federal Government for the state and local governments to enable them pay the backlog of salaries, it was learnt, provided little respite.

    Analysts feared, at the weekend, that many workers across the country may face bleak Christmas as their state governments may be unable to pay salaries ahead of the Yuletide due to the cash crunch.

    Salary payment in several states remain in arrears for many months.  The huge debts of some of the states were blamed on the sliding Naira as they were denominated in dollars at the time the states took foreign loans, and the fate of the Naira at the forex market was under control.

    Today, the Naira exchanges for over 240 to the dollar.  In July 2014, N630.32bn was allocated to the three tiers of government – federal, states and local governments – from the Federation Account.  Later in August of the same years, N601.65bn was allocated to the states.  For September 2015, the figures just released indicate that N389.936 was shared by all the tiers of government; representing drops of 35% and 38% from the August and July 2014 allocations.  Yet, N601bn in August represented a sharp decline from the previous months in 2014.  At the moment, the three tiers of government are sharing less than half of what was available in January 2014.

    At the end of December, analysts believe states will be extremely lucky to collect half of what they now receive.  The implication is that many states are on the verge of bankruptcy.  The consequences, according to the analysts, may be difficult to imagine.

    In 2013, we had published that states may not be able to pay salaries by 2015.  Earlier in 2014, we published a warning on the drop in aggregate revenue and its consequences.  Then we predicted that the economy will no longer grow at six per cent or more.  Finally, we told investors to get out of the NSE (Nigerian Stock Exchange).

    The governors of many states want to re-negotiate the minimum wage agreement with labour.  That is only the symptom of the dire financial straits in which the states, analysts believe, find themselves.  Even the inevitable mass retrenchment of workers, they say, will not totally get them out of the woods.  “Debt and contractual obligations, which will gulp an increasing percentage of their revenue, will finish them first.  For some, the calamity will set in by the end of the first quarter of 2016.   Unfortunately, most of the states are APC controlled.  They will damage Buhari’s political position – if care is not taken,” one of the analysts told Sunday Vanguard.  Today, we focus attention on two issues which will determine the fate of our states.  The first is the deduction from source, that is, Abuja.  Many state governors, since 1999, have been reckless with public funds.  Even those who have proved to be clever in shielding their recklessness from detection were/are as unpatriotic as those who were careless to be caught.

    Below is table derived from the Distribution of Revenue Allocation To State Governments For September 2015.  Instead of listing them in alphabetical order, they have been grouped into three based on gross revenue expected to be collected from Abuja.  Also listed are the gross deductions from each state’s revenue allocations.  Those deductions are expected to continue indefinitely.

    When states took on huge debt burden, sometimes spent on unsustainable programmes, they little realized that a sharp decline in revenue will doom their states economically.

    Being a product of the military, General Murtala Mohammed would have great difficulty comprehending what has become of the military.  SKY News has opened the Pandora box with its special report based on the headline of “The Nation” newspapers of Friday 4, 2016.

    “EFCC TRACES HUGE CASH TO MILITARY CHIEF’s WIVES, KIDS

    “Some of the U.S.2.1 billion phoney arms deal have been traced to the accounts of wives and children of some former and serving military chiefs, The Nation has learnt.

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), which is probing how the money was spent, may restrict access to all the identified accounts “this week”, a source said yesterday.

    Also yesterday, a former Chief of Defence Staff, Air Chief Marshal Alex Badeh, reported to the EFCC.

    But his invitation was rescheduled for Monday “because of operational reasons”.

    It was learnt that the EFCC may interrogate Air Chief Marshal Badeh alongside some military officers who have also been invited.  A source close to the investigation said some of the former and serving officers under investigation acquired properties  in the names of their wives, children and relations “to hide their loot”

    The source said: “Our investigations have uncovered that some of these military officers under probe stashed their shares of the $2.1billion arms cash in the accounts of their relations, especially wives and children.

    “We have traced such slush funds and we may freeze these accounts until we have screened the inflows and expenditures.  The legitimately operated accounts will be freed after thorough screening.”

    Besides, some houses belonging to the children and relations of some military chiefs have been identified as products of proceeds of financial crimes.  “We have already marked the properties of one of the children of a top military brass.  We have invoked Temporary Assets Forfeiture Clause in EFCC Act,” the source said.

    “It is obvious that some of the arms cash were laundered through proxies, relations and phony companies.  Some even registered companies in the names of their spouses or families.”

    Responding to a question, the source added: “We have done enough ground work to interrogate some of these former and serving military chiefs.”

    Air Chief Marshal Badeh appeared briefly at the EFCC but his interrogation was shifted to Monday.

    “We have also summoned most of the former and serving military officers referred to EFCC for probe,” another source said.

    Attempts to get Air Chief Marshal Badeh last night were unsuccessful.

    Apart from the former CDS, others under investigation are Chief of Air Staff, Air Marshal M.D. Umar; a former National Security Adviser, Col. SamboDasuki; Col. N. Ashinze, who was the Special Military Assistant to the ex-NSA; and a former Chief of Air Staff, A.N. Amosu; the most senior Air Force officer, AVM A.M. Mamu (the Chief of Administration); AVM O.T. Oguntoyinbo (former Director of Production, Defence Headquarters); AVM R.A. Ojuawo (Air Officer Tactical Air Command, Makurdi; AVM J.B. Adigun (former Chief of Accounts and Budgeting in NAF); and AVM J.A.Kayode-Beckley (Director, Armament Research in Air Force Research and Development Centre); AVM T. Omenyi (MD, NAF Holdings) four top officers at the Defence Headquarters (DHQ), Air Cdre A.O. Ogunjobi; Air Cdre GMD Gwani; Air Cdre S.O. Makinde; and Air Cdre A.Y. Lassa.

    Some of the areas of investigation are:

    • How 10 contracts totalling $930,500,690.00 were awarded
    • Payment of N4,402,687,569.41 for unexecuted contracts.
    • Procurement of two used Mi-24V Helicopters instead of the recommended Mi-35M series at $136,944,000.00.
    • 4 used Alpha-Jets for the NAF at US$7,180,000.00 funded by ONSA.
    • Cannibalization of engines from NAF fleet to justify procurement of jets.
    • Excessive pricing of 36D6 Low Level Air Defence Radar at $33m instead of $6m each.
    • Delivery of radars without vital component of Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) that distinguishes between own and adversary aircraft.
    • Strange transfer of $2m to Mono Marine Corporation Nigeria Limited owned by some Air Force officers.
    • N15bn lavished on the maintenance of its Alpha-Jets, C-130H aircraft and Mi-24V/35P helicopters.
    • N2.5 billion contracts awarded to Syrius Technologies (Ukrainian company) not registered in Nigeria.
    • Award of 7 contracts worth N599,118,000.00 contracts to Defence Industry Corporation of Nigeria (DICON) but two delivered”.

    • Bashorun J.K. Randle is a former

     President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and former Chairman of KPMG Nigeria and Africa Region.  He is currently the Chairman, JK Randle Professional Services.

    Email:   jkrandleintuk@gmail.com

  • APC, Oshiomhole and the worthy successor

    Governance, like most human activities, is governed, itself, by seen and, unseen factors that may combine positively for the Success Indices it may represent, or negatively for the failure it is noted for.

    Governance is a relay race. No government can completely exist in vacuum or be able to accomplish all its set goals within deliberately-contemplated time-brackets. The craze and haste to abandon those long-term policies, programmes and projects by successor-governments, without examining whether they can be adapted, reviewed or adopted wholesale, often leads to the wastage of scarce resources and a new cycle of abandoned policies, programmes and projects at the expiry of such governments’ mandate.

    It has become the norm and established ritual for most successor-governments in Africa to tend to rubbish, abandon or totally obliterate the strides, contributions and achievements of their predecessors through jaundiced commentaries or outright selective amnesia, all in the name and practice of politics.

    In Edo State, the cardinal area which encapsulates the dreams, hopes and aspiration of the average Edolite, is the unprecedented reformation drive in infrastructure and human capital development that has tied the state’s future viability and sustenance with the diligent pursuance and execution of government’s policies, programmes and projects that will set the stage for industrialisation and commercialisation at the expiry of Oshiomhole’s government in November 2016.

    It is conventional wisdom that a good leader, with strong visionary disposition, should pursue that mission to project, plan and engender those programmes, policies and projects that will ensure a seamless and painless transition from heavy dependence on oil revenues to other lucrative alternatives (such as internally-generated revenue) by using the massive earnings from petroleum as a fulcrum for future development in agriculture, commerce and industry etc.

    It is significant to note that Engineer Christopher Aigbovbiosa Ogiemwonyi has keyed in into this novel and visionary concept of a re-engineered and re-focused Edo State, championed by the mercurial Comrade Adams Oshiomhole in the last seven years. In reality, the Comrade Governor has gone beyond rhetoric, grandstanding and self-serving platitudes to give holistic interpretation to sustainable development of the state through the proper utilisation of its present oil revenue earnings.

    As one of the frontrunners in the race for the governorship of Edo State in 2016, Engineer Ogiemwonyi stands out of the crowd of aspirants in his out-of-the-ordinary pre-disposition to adopting and sustaining those programmes, policies and projects of the Oshiomhole predecessor government, if elected for the benefit of all Edolites, post November 12, 2016.

    A consummate technocrat, he has through his people-focused Call To Service identified the critical areas of intervention in the affairs of Edo State to include infrastructure development; human capital development; agriculture development with emphasis on the provision of agro-based raw materials for production purposes; provision of clean, affordable and reliable energy and water supply; housing development; youth and women empowerment; increased resource allocation to education and social services; reduction in child mortality rates and improved maternal health; containment of HIV and AIDS, malaria and other endemic diseases and proactive actions and preparations for pandemic ones like Ebola Virus Disease, Dengue Fever, Haemorrhoidal Fever, Lassa Fever etc; environment protection; rural based micro industries; the establishment and construction of specialised macro-economic free-trade zones, industrial parks, clusters and co-operatives, preferably in mutually-beneficial partnerships with the Organised Private Sector – local or foreign; solid minerals; eco-tourism, etc.

    Engineer Ogiemwonyi shares Comrade Oshiomhole’s long-term vision that the concept of Edo State’s future micro and macro-economic development should be pursued form two angles: (a) By prudently utilising revenue from the petroleum sector to develop other core and key sectors of the state’s economy and (b) By diversifying the internally-generated revenue base of the state with probable earning from agriculture; tourism; free trade zones, industrial parks etc; small and medium-scale enterprises etc.

    This will only be possible if there is no break in the chain either through a deliberate jettisoning of the concept by a new administration or a feeble or marginal implementation process that will not benefit the people of Edo State.

    The relativity of a flawless and fluid changeover during any relay race define the human factor in the core area of synergy between time, space and movement that is not borne out of a chance-happening or the uncoordinated interplay of efforts of those who are just “fulfilling all righteousness” in running their various legs!

    Good governance and bad governance are like most relay races. They are either sequentially-planned to succeed and thrive or visionless and rudderless in concept and administration.

    Good governance that elicits success and attainment is like a good relay race where one plays a key role attaining giant strides, achieving successes or leaving legacies behind for future generations to savour.

    Eight years on, there is no gainsaying the fact that Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole is primed to leave behind a catalogue of lasting legacies that can only be sustained by a worthy successor on November 12, 2016.

     

    • Casmir Osolase a Public Affairs Analyst based in Abuja

  • Coming in Nicodemously…

    This is the first article in my new column of speaking to our country under the title of  Building Our Nation wherein I hope to engage our most serious and relevant concerns about our irritating but beloved country while we speak pleasantly and reason together. Hopefully we might even enjoy the interactions, learn something while we share some knowledge. A Yoruba proverb says pointedly for our attention here: Nibi ere lati  nmo ooto oro  that could translate into: It is in the midst of play that we discover or perceive the truth. I am sure we can find other adaptations of this adage in our variegatedly beautiful African continent and surely in other human collectivities.

    In that spirit of play, I use the word nicodemously in my title to describe my entry into public commentary. In Ghana, you will hear the word timeously. Doing something timeously meant doing it in time. In the South of our country, Nigeria, I encountered ‘nicodemously’ when I was welcomed. I was told I could not come into the country nicodemously. Many of us might remember the anxious, physically height-challenged but committed listener to Jesus who went to Him in the dead of night to enquire, to ask close questions. Such an admirable trait in those who wish not only to know but also do follow-up research! Making up such a word based on the name of Nicodemus also impressed me with its natural genius of Africans for humour, especially in Pidgin and Nigerian English that are now two internationally and academically recognized forms of the English language.

    Our responsibility as users of the two languages is only to recognize the characters of the Pidgin and Nigerian English while we differentiate them from Standard English that is the language of a native first language speaker of English, agreed upon by the educated members of his/her society as standard and correct. We, therefore, have several forms of first language English such as the British, the American, the Australian, and the New Zealander etc.

    Then come the second to tenth or more language speakers of English. I was impressed by the linguistic genius of some Ghanaians who quietly and easily speak at least several indigenous languages at once in addition to foreign English. Such gifts must exist here too with our oh so smart! Nigerians. In Accra, the capital, you might find a person speaking easily four indigenous languages or more, for example: Twi, Ewe, Sabarumo and Ga. I met a Gonjan, of the people of Goja who speaks six Ghanaian languages so he would be a seventh language speaker of English. Then we have forms of English that are not native to a country but are correct and nationally accepted by the country as standard for educated speakers of the language. These are called Nigerian English, Indian English, Spanish English and so forth. So what is the point of all this? I am gently moving towards what behoves us as users of human languages which is to be aware of when we are speaking each type of English and be faithful to the rules, formulations and beauty or ugliness of each form. We should also know and respect the various venues and situations when we can appropriately use the forms. You will not go to a bank interview, for instance, and address the panel in pidgin, would you? Nor would you speak bad grammar in a speech to welcome the governor or president, hopefully.

    Simply put, we should learn to recognize the appropriate venues and moments where we use each form of English while we can be creative in such usages too. Where linguistic laziness overrules either, we might find ourselves harming ourselves as ambassadors of our country and educators of our children. Educating our children and our communities will be one of the main and pressing concerns of this column. As the education of a country is not a mean task, there will be a series on that subject in this column.

    Pidgin for me is loaded with humour and rhetorical cleverness as you find on some of our radio stations that give the news in Pidgin. Some linguistic teachers of English bemoan such newscasts, however, for interfering with and retarding their main task of teaching to Nigerians correct Standard English that we must use internationally and in the world of business, global politics and education. Sometimes, I wonder whether the newscaster is not running away with his focus on his own ingenuity at creating pidgin terms rather than telling us the news. One wonders whether the news is not partially lost in the web of imaginative rhetorical creations over and above the news. Nonetheless we could enjoy our cultural gift of humour as an aspect of our genius when we listen to that version of the news for we do have genius which unfortunately often translates into many warped attitudes and actions as we shall discuss later. Yet without humour, would we survive the lives we lead or are forced to lead in our country?

    I keep speaking of ‘country’ above, if you notice, rather than nation for good reason because several questions are and remain pertinent. Do we have a nation? Are we a nation? Such questions have occupied many Nigerians before me and not nicodemously either. If we do not have a nation, then the title of this column becomes very arguable as we must then apply our energies and intelligences to building one. Do we have to? We might ask. We might then consider that some established and current assertions that political formations are beyond nationhood   or should be; that we live in a borderless global economic and political “village,” (perish that cliché), making it depasse to even speak of building a nation. Yet deliberation on the concept of nation becomes most necessary these days in Nigeria when it seems the rage to speak of breaking up and rejecting the structure of the country as it is now, which may not be an indefensible and unnecessary objective. We, however, have to do more thinking, more pondering and analysis than simple and mere emotional and ethnic, even personal interest reactions to such grave matters.

    We could begin with some basic questions: how are nations built (without yet speaking of ‘great nations’ as we like to think of ourselves for no cogent reason with respect to the rest of Africa as ‘the big brother’), how do nations become great? What are our definitions of greatness as we must choose and construct our own versions of nation and greatness rather than imitate as we love to do? A foreign politician recently called our elite lazy? If so, can they be entrusted with building a nation? We shall take these matters up next week.