The Nation Newspaper

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  • Shippers Council and economic recovery

    For over four decades, the Nigerian economy has mostly depended on proceeds from the sale of crude oil. This is at the expense of other sectors such as the ports sector, which in so many developed climes, contribute significantly to national economy. It is an undeniable fact that the ports sector can play a pivotal role in the Buhari administration’s economic recovery efforts not only because of its capacity to help combat poverty through job creation but also because of its forward linkage with other critical sectors of the economy like the manufacturing sector.

    But most importantly, the ports sector could help alleviate some of the problems associated with the disturbing nature of the Nigerian economy that has for too long being vulnerable to fluctuations in global oil prices.

    Interestingly, the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), which regulates economic activities at the ports, is beginning to show signs that it can lead key stakeholders in the sector to raise non-oil revenue substantially from what obtains at the present.

    To do this, the Nigerian Shippers Council has put together the New Port Order, a frame work designed to check inefficiency, leakages at the ports and trade malpractices that include false declaration and under-declaration of imported goods, among others. At the heart of this initiative is the introduction of the advanced cargo information system otherwise known as Cargo Tracking Note (CTN), which is a bold attempt to end decades of trade malpractices in which government loses billions of revenue annually.

    That’s not all. The Nigerian Shippers Council is also vigorously pursuing the establishment of  Inland Container Depots (ICDs) otherwise known as Dry Ports , which is strictly meant for safe keeping of cargoes for owners before final take-over by consignees after payment of custom duties.

    An ICD is an equivalent of a seaport located in the hinterland. It receives container by rail from the seaport for examination and clearance by Nigeria Customs Service. It has all the loading and off-loading equipment needed to handle container and general cargo.

    The council believes that with Nigeria’s deep involvement in importation, in which the country is said to be importing almost 90 percent of products it consumes, it is important to build ICDs to address the obvious challenge posed by the limitation of seaport terminals’ space capacity.

    Already, construction of six ICDs by various companies, which have keyed into the initiative are in progress in various parts and geo-political zones of the country. In Kaduna, North-west, the ICD begun by Inland Container Nigeria Ltd (ICNL) is about to take off. In Jos, North-central, Duncan Maritime Services Ltd has started an ICD project and in Isiala Ngwa (Aba), South-east, the Eastgate Inland Container Terminal Ltd has begun another ICD project.

    Dala Inland Dry Port in Kano, North-west, now owns an ICD, with Migfo Nigeria Limited, Maiduguri taking care of the North-east. Catamaran Logistics Limited in Ibadan is expected to bridge up for the South-west, while Equatorial Marine Oil & Gas Limited Funtua has taken up the ICD initiative for the North-east.

    The collaborative seminar organized by the Nigerian Shippers Council and ICNL in Kaduna last week marked a turning point in the actualization of the initiative.

    From the Ministry of Transportation through the management of the Shippers Council to other stakeholders, there was unanimity of opinion that the project would provide stimulus to the economy of the states where the ICDs are sited and the country at large.

    Speaking at the event , NSC’s Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer, Hassan Bello said apart from assisting in decongesting the seaports and making them more user-friendly, the ICDs would bring shipping services to the door step of shippers across the nation. He emphasized the socio –economic significance of the ICDs to include reviving and modernizing the railway as a primary mode for the long distance haulage of cargo, as well as assisting in the reduction of overall cost of transit cargo to landlocked neighbouring countries. Establishment of customs clearance facility close to production and consumption centres; and improved container usage and reduction in the movement of empty containers, he said, have also been identified as key benefits of the ICDs.

    Harping more on the benefits of the ICDs, Bello explained: “The success of the ICD projects will definitely ensure greater efficiency of the terminals. This will in turn improve the turnaround time of ships thereby reducing demurrage and eliminating cases of pilferage”.

    To address the challenge of moving cargoes from the seaports to the hinterland, the Nigerian Shippers Council has taken further steps to initiate the construction of truck parks in the cities where the ICDs are being sited. With this development, there will be optimal use of surface transport and the decongestion of the sea ports; reduction in marine pollution activities around the seaport and easy and safe access to international shipping facilities in the hinterland giving a boost   to inland trading.

    There is therefore no gainsaying the fact that the success of the ICDs will also have a positive effect on the country’s agricultural development. Such an initiative can ensure revitalization of export agriculture leading to multi-product economy and provide employment opportunities, stemming urban-rural drift and increase in revenue to the government.

    With the present policy and the strategy it has embarked on, the NSC is prepared to work with the relevant agencies to ensure that Nigeria gets what is due her in revenue while the cost of doing business is reduced to the barest minimum.  The NSC has, as part of its strategy to ensure the smooth take off of the ICDs, reiterated its resolve to enforce regulation among all stakeholders so that they live to their individual and collective expectations at the dry ports as contained in the agreements. This will propel revenue generation and increased income for stakeholders.

    Riding on the new port order designed to check inefficiency, leakages in the harborages, and trade malpractices, and the support of the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, there is no doubt that the Nigerian Shippers Council is positioning itself to rescue the nation by raising non oil revenue to make up for the dwindling returns from oil.

  • Aregbesola and challenges of development in Osun

    Becoming governor was not, for Rauf Aregbesola, the fulfilment of an ambition. It was for him, the beginning of a mission: a mission to transform his beloved state, Osun. Prior to his assumption of office on November 27, 2010, the scandalous performance of successive governments, with the rare exception of the Bisi Akande administration is better imagined than real. As a result of poor governance by successive governments, the state infrastructures were in a terrible state of decay. The level of rot, particularly, the degree of moral decadence he met on ground was totally unacceptable to him. Consequently, he embarked on far –reaching reforms to make the state measure up to the standard of what a modern society should be and put it on the path of irreversible posterity. The arrested development of the state explains why Aregbesola was in a hurry to develop the 25 year old state when he came on board in 2010, and was consequently spending up to 80 percent of the state’s resources on capital projects.

    Corrupt public officials and beneficiaries of the old order were not happy with him, because after devoting such a humongous sum to the execution of capital projects, there was little or nothing to steal coupled with the fact that he also blocked all areas of leakages. The foregoing made him unpopular amongst the elites and thieving public officials who have been feasting like vultures on the meagre resources of the state. But to the commoners, the toiling masses and the vulnerable who are in the majority, the anti-corruption and attitudinal change crusade of Aregbesola is a welcome development. In any existing economic or political system, there are those who would naturally oppose the emergence of ideas formulated towards endowing a progressive society. These are those that have been recently uncovered and referred to as a “cabal” opposed to the provision of the people of the state of Osun with the right kind of leadership as symbolized in the pragmatic and quality style of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. They are those who have gone to town, with wild, despicable allegations and malicious propaganda to paint Ogbeni Aregbesola in bad light, cause mischief, misinform and disrupt the existing good relationship between Aregbesola and the appreciative people of Osun.  Like Winston Churchill, Aregbesola might be vilified for his principled position, but no one can fault the altruistic and patriotic motivations for his actions. Like the saying goes, “Diamonds are forever”. Changing global reality in our new world is making leaders that have vision look like narrow-minded, satanic, heartless and wicked while making those without vision look like saints.

    I have watched with a sense of bewilderment, the unrelenting smear campaign against Aregbesola administration and his person.  It is as if Osun is the only state in Nigeria owing its workers salary arrears due to dwindling allocation from the federation account. The opposition, a section of the media on its payroll and the “lynch mob” have found an opportunity in the current economic recession affecting the whole world to vent their spleen on the governor for the sole purpose of deflecting attention from their uncomplimentary activities of their days in power, partly responsible for our present economic woes.

    In just three years, Aregbesola has been able to prove that something good can, indeed come out of Nazareth. He has pulled Osun from the backwaters of underdevelopment, illiteracy, ignorance and disease, to a state that is on irreversible path to prosperity. To realize his vision, the governor had, on assuming office, initiated a strategy of building up reserve of funds with which it could leverage for the projects it has planned to do. His government did two things that nobody thought he could do. By November, 2010, when it assumed office, the state had borrowed a whopping N1 billion to pay salaries. Yet, this did not stop the new administration from recruiting 20,000 OYES members! It was that same period that the state paid bonus to its workers. The abiding question is: How did the Aregbesola do it? By March of the following year, Aregbesola had restructured the state finances to the extent that the state was no longer in any precarious financial condition. The state has stopped borrowing money to pay salaries; it never failed to pay N200 million monthly allowance to OYES volunteers. In less than three years of his first four year- tenure, chroniclers of history would establish Aregbesola’s massive interventions in hitherto rotten and neglected sectors such as education, environment, agriculture, infrastructure, tourism, health and security. From better –developed education system, to well- equipped hospitals, to empowered people; to policies geared towards empowerment, poverty alleviation and a social security programme that protects the vulnerable.

    The state of Osun’s experience in the spheres of infrastructure and human capital development is also worthy of commendation when compared to what the administration of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola met on ground and how he has been able to transform Osun in less than three years. The current economic recession affecting the state, nay Nigeria notwithstanding, Aregbesola has so far demonstrated that, with great determination, Osun State could become the envy of many and the pride of her citizens at home and in the Diaspora. Osun State infrastructural facilities, though yet to be completed due to the economic meltdown, is the symbolic representation of Aregbesola’s government’s  resolve to eradicate the decadence of the past and link the state and subsequently, the people with the future.

    Aregbesola’s efforts at repositioning Osun State have not gone unnoticed. The World back in conjunction with 14 states in Nigeria have replicated the OYES initiative in those states. Aregbesola was invited to address the UK parliament on the Schools Feeding Programme and on his innovative tablet of knowledge, “Opon Imo”. Even the Muhammadu Buhari-led APC federal government has incorporated some of his programme, especially the School Feeding Programme and the N5000 stipend for the unemployed graduates into its programme.

    Aregbesola has within three years in office pioneered changes geared towards the achievement, improvement and sustenance of good quality of life for the citizens of the state. He has within so short a time in office demonstrated that where there is a will, there is always a way. Surely, the good that Aregbesola has started in Osun State, though, temporarily hindered by the current economic recession, will outlast him; it will live long after he would have passed on. Since he meant well for the state, he deserves the support of people. In this historic battle of repositioning the state, he needs to be encouraged, not scared. And since this battle is collective, not personal, he deserves solidarity, not brickbats.

     

    • Aminu is National Coordinator, Oodua Youth for Good Governance .

  • Buhari: Dog barks, but the caravan marches on

    When President-elect Muhammadu Buhari was sworn in on May 29, 2015, his change mantra, anchored on a relentless anti-corruption war, warmed the hearts of many a Nigerian who had, for years, from the sidelines, watched helplessly how their standard of living had taken a merciless battering by the unpatriotic deeds of some greedy elements that had stolen 179 million people blind.

    There is still today this feeling that if Nigerians did not tackle corruption head-on, and kill it, then it should be expected that it would, in no distant future, kill Nigerians. President Buhari himself has said that much.

    The recent discovery of 23,000 ghost-workers, a fact thrown up by the Bank Verification Number (BVN) implementation drive, carried out in tandem with that of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), is a case in point, as to how seriously committed the Buhari-led administration is to the execution of its anti-corruption war, largely the reason it was elected.

    When it took the President a period of time that Nigerians were not accustomed to, as far as forming the cabinet was concerned, consideration was given to the need of getting round pegs to be put in round holes, according to him.

    It is against this background that the likes of former Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN); and ex-governor, Rivers State, Rt.-Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, among others, after successful Senate screening, got duly appointed as Minister of Power, Works and Housing; and Minister of Transport respectively.

    Prior to the victory of the President at the polls, in the run-up to the congress of the All Progressives Congress (APC), a run-away successful event that took place at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos, then APC Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, had stood the party, during its short, formative period, in good stead, through his edifying and conciliatory pronouncements that helped to fast-track cohesion.

    His appointment as Minister of Information and Culture did not come as a surprise, therefore, given his track record of transmitting press statements that threw light on various subjects of interest under consideration, devoid of acrimony or hindrance.

    From his inception, the minister had faced his job with seriousness, reflected in the palpable effervescence that his meetings with various stakeholders and visits to media houses, many of them the first of its kind by a sitting minister, have brought about. Wherever he went, be it to the office of Newspapers’ Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN) or that of Rariya Hausa newspaper, the reception had been cordial and the interaction on the way forward, useful.

    As for the war against the insurgency in the North-east geo-political zone, Alhaji Mohammed had visited the theatre of conflict, another first by a sitting Information Minister since the insurgency snowballed in 2009, and had returned with a message to Nigerians to lend support to the armed forces toward the successful execution of its war against Boko Haram insurgents that the government said, lately, had been handed a rout, technically speaking.

    The waning televised rhetoric and the desperate, cowardly suicide bombings in Internal Displaced Persons (IDP) camps by the Boko Haram speaks volume for a beleaguered hit-and-run fighting terrorists whose days are numbered.

    On the question of the 2016 Appropriation Bill, which has generated much heat, anybody expecting an APC government that had just taken over the reins of government to fashion a flawless document with a cabinet assembled about three months ago, is being unrealistic.

    With the benefit of hindsight, previous dispensations that over long years, were supposed to have garnered experience in budgetary proposal preparation and presentation hardly attained the 50% implementation mark when they held sway.

    It is no secret that the nation’s economy is in dire straits, and the reason for this is not far-fetched, given the narrative that far too many huge sums of money, denominated in local and foreign currency, accruing to the treasury, have either been corruptly misappropriated, or in a bare-faced stance, stolen brazenly.

    Because of the perilous exposure of the economy to the antics of self-styled, ‘patriotic’ sons-of-the-soil, along with their female counterparts, who take delight in dipping their long fingers into the till, and yet, are forever begged to represent their ‘people’, it is foolhardy to expect the President, and, by extension, his information and culture minister, to stop flogging the anti-corruption war rhetoric.

    Any Nigerian who has a case to answer, as regards the country’s stolen funds, must pluck the courage to get in touch with the appropriate authorities, and quickly return, in full, what he or she had illegally acquired and stashed away, with a view to making amends, and bringing to a close, retributive justice that might arise from chastisement by an unrelenting guilty conscience.

    As the first year anniversary of the APC draws near, it is expected that the 2016 Appropriation Bill would have scaled through Senate scrutiny before the end of March; foreign exchange rate would have stabilised at a manageable figure; the 500,000 teaching jobs for unemployed graduates would have been filled; and a significant number of IDPs would have returned home and taken advantage of the planting season.

    The transformation envisioned by APC is not restricted to its members alone and, therefore, needs to be embraced by every patriotic Nigerian who is seriously interested in joining hands with the government toward smoking out those who have looted our commonwealth, brazenly display it and, with impunity, resist being brought to book.

    Any patriotic citizen of this country who is sincerely interested in getting answers to burning questions agitating their minds, as regards the activities of the Buhari-led administration, has at his or her disposal unfettered access to the Minister of Information and Culture, via the Internet.

    Any resort to gossip, rumour-mongering and subterfuge orchestration of pull-him-down campaigns amounts to cheap blackmail, an ill-wind that blows nobody any good.

    Given the hallmarks of President Buhari that defines him as a statesman of candour who, in all seasons is his own man, it is futile for any individual or publication to pretend to be second-guessing his body-language, least of all, appointments.

    Because the President is a stickler for excellence, especially in the areas of probity, integrity, and discipline, he takes his time in drawing conclusions, and far more time, making pronouncements.

    What every patriotic Nigerian should be concerned with now is the success of the anti-corruption war; and a successful diversification of the mono-culture economy we have been saddled with for years.

    That the President chooses to reshuffle his cabinet is his prerogative but, with the benefit of hindsight, he can neither be stampeded into taking such an action by arm-chair critics that lay claim to an insider’s insights nor be cajoled by haters of anybody currently holding office at the President’s pleasure.

    Gone are the days when campaigns of calumny orchestrated by palace jesters resulted in the sacking of appointees whose contributions were not proved to be unworthy of their high offices.

    All we can wish the President and his cabinet is untainted success in the discharge of their daunting duties, as they do their level best toward putting corruption to death and, by so doing, bring the comatose economy back to life.

     

    • Amadi, a commentator on public affairs, writes from Lagos.

     

  • Supreme Court in the eye of the storm

    Addressing the Nigerian community in Ethiopia in Addis Ababa recently, President Muhammadu Buhari inter alia lamented that Nigeria’s judiciary is a major cog in the wheel of his administration’s anti-corruption fight. There is no doubt the President’s angst and displeasure derive from the numerous reported cases of the involvement of officials of the judicial branch of government in seedy and sleazy conducts. Thus, a number of magistrates and judges and justices have, at one time or the other, come under suspicion of corruptive miscarriage of justice. In fact, there have been some proven cases of the complicity of members of the bar and the bench in an unholy alliance and the peddling of undue influence leading to perversion and twisting of the law to achieve predetermined outcomes.

    Actually, this is really nothing new. Sadly, for a long time in the beleaguered history of Nigeria’s judiciary there have been cases of corruption of varied hues ranging from malfeasance through misfeasance to nonfeasance, all occasioning miscarriage of justice. One easily remembers the celebrated case of Justice Okoro-Udogu, who presided in the matter of the State versus Fela Anikulapo-Kuti on the charge of illegal exportation of foreign exchange in 1984, in which the Justice was said to have sought out the later in Maidugiri, Borno State to apologise for his wrongful imprisonment.

    For instance, in January 27, 2012 letter to former President Jonathan, Justice Dahiru Musdapher, a former CJN, admitted that the judiciary was “already integrity-deficient” and “bereft of public confidence” based on the perception of corruption and impunity and called for an urgent effort towards the “redemption of the image and credibility of the judiciary”.

    Another former CJN, Muhammadu Uwais, is also on record to have publicly spoken of the need to re-jig the structure and processes of the judiciary as an institution that like Caesar’s wife should be above suspicion “…in order to maintain the integrity of the judiciary and to assuage public feeling and restore confidence in both the bar and bench”.

    The respected Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, has also weighed in by cautioning on the dangers of denying the people justice, stating that “the country is being affected by the burden of untreated justice, and that social injustice could only thrive for a while; further admonishing that “where justice appears to be lost, a higher order of restitution takes over”. This is in line with the observation by John F. Kennedy that “Those who make peaceful change impossible make violent change inevitable.”

    Perhaps at no time in the history of the nation’s judiciary has the stock of the once revered institution come to the lowest nadir as since the slew of decisions concerning the governorship election petitions, especially since it made its bewildering pronouncements on the 2015 governorship elections in Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Abia states. In each of these elections, independent local and international election observers reported large scale electoral fraud. The respective legal teams provided overwhelming evidences of the electoral fraud, and marshalled compelling arguments and grounds. In each of the cases, the Court of Appeal upheld the petitions. But, hey presto! The apex court, the Supreme Court became the supreme kill-joy, hiding behind a transparent fig leaf of legal technicalities to the detriment of dispensing justice to the people.

    By its counter-intuitive decisions in each of these cases, the nation’s apex court, which had a good opportunity to restore its reputation and uphold a veneer of integrity as the ultimate refuge and last hope of the common man, has turned itself into a macabre monster that dashes the collective yearnings of the people in the affected states to effect peaceful change in their respective polities. It would be foolhardy for this court to think that it would sleep easy when the majority of the people feel cheated and believe that its judgments deny them of justice. For, no nation can thrive in peace and progress where there is no justice.

    By its putative injustice, the Supreme Court appears to be encouraging election riggers by putting out the message that you should “do everything you can to get INEC to return you as elected and go home to sleep as we will always affirm you as winner if you know your onions”. To fit this straight jacket, the Supreme Court through its serial insensate pronouncements that defy any shred of logic or rationality, is sowing the seed of ferment and the potential recourse of the people to seek change by other means.

    In the context of this recent happenings, the call during the 10th Gani Fawehinmi Lecture in Lagos sometime ago by Justice Ayo Salami, former President of the Court Appeal, for the scrapping of our present Criminal-Justice architecture in which the Chief Justice of Nigeria is also the chairman of the Nigerian Judicial Council (NJC), the body responsible for the appointment and discipline of judges begins to assume new importance and poignancy.

    Nigeria need not delay further in hearkening to the 2012 Uyo Call by Justice Dahiru Musdapher, during a roundtable organised by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) in conjunction with Royal Netherlands Embassy in Akwa Ibom State for drawing up of a new judicial code of ethics to reflect current realities and challenges to tackle judicial corruption in the country, so as to ensure that “judges and the judicial system remain politically neutral and rise up to safeguard our fledgling democracy, and to minimize the entire judicial system against all identified iniquities.”

    As has been eloquently argued elsewhere, tackling corruption in the justice sector is a pre-requisite for tackling corruption in the larger society, as this would make it more likely that corrupt persons in other sectors will be diligently prosecuted and punished. This would up the ante against corruption and discount the rewards derivable there from. In the same vein, tackling corruption in the electoral process is a sine qua non for the entrenchment of good governance as the choices of the people are then more likely to get elected in free and fair contests. There is, therefore, a need to tighten our statute books to make electoral offenders pay for their crimes and to not reward stealers of mandates with honorific titles. For instance, someone who rigged his way to become a governor should never addressed as “His Excellency” or referred to as “Former Governor”. In other words the period during which he held sway should be left blank in all public records.

    Is it not somewhat perplexing that despite the lip service that is paid to the fact that our democracy is built on the principle of “checks and balances”, that whilst the activities of the legislature are subject to scrutiny by the constituents (who have the power to recall an errant legislator) as well as the judiciary, and the  executive branch and the President are subject to oversight by the legislature and censure by the courts; the judiciary on the other hand and especially the CJN, apparently, is answerable to no one, since the NJC is ostensibly designed to check and “discipline all judicial officers” is under his purview? The million naira question is: “What is the recourse and relief available to the people if a CJN chooses to act appallingly?”

    Indeed, allowing an incumbent CJN to chair the NJC in situations such as the Supreme Court’s controversial judgments in respect of the governorship election petitions in Abia, Akwa Ibom and Rivers States has brought to the fore is akin to allowing the President to be the chairman of the body established for charging, investigating and impeaching the self-same President. Can any rational person expect the NJC to be effective in investigating and indicting a Supreme Court panel which he (the CJN) not only constituted but was also a member for any perceived judicial perfidy?

  • Ekeh, economist as entrepreneur

    Do economists make good entrepreneurs; or entrepreneurs great economists? This has been a puzzle through the ages. Many liken the economist to someone who only knows the way but can’t drive the car. Some have even chided the economist as a splendid theorist but never one to get the job done practically. Pauline Hanson, leader of One Nation, the Australian political party that prides itself as pro-people, to show her abhorrence for the economist after her assessment of the economic misfortunes that afflicted her country once said: “I may be only a fish and chip shop lady, but some of these economists need to get their heads out of the textbooks and get a job in the real world. I would not even let one of them handle my grocery shopping”.

    Yes, it really can be as bad as that, that humanity would feel a sense of insecurity in the hands of the economist. Nigeria for instance is going through the worst moment of her economic life. The mono-product economy is asphyxiating, desperately in need of salvation. The naira is getting hit by the day at the international market, crude oil price is see-sawing at the lowest curve of the graph, jobs are disappearing and a darkly silhouette trails the corporate world, the organized private sector especially the small businesses – the ultimate drivers of the economy. At this moment, you are tempted to ask: where are the economists?

    In times like these, also, nations of the world look to the private sector for the magic wand. One sector has always stood out as bulwark to economic misfortune particularly for countries who desire to recreate themselves. The information technology sector (ICT) has always held the key to unlocking the potentials of a people and unleashing the energies of the citizenry. The United States of America and the Asian Tigers are good examples of how sustainable wealth can be created using ICT. When Obama wanted to get ‘America back to work’, he looked to the Silicon Valley magnates for help.

    In retrospect, President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address in 2011sent out a clear message: his administration was working hard to win the future. That future is not in construction, huge crude oil reserves or textiles. It is in technology.  He wants to keep America at the cutting edge of global ICT and innovation. He followed it up with a private dinner with a group of Silicon Valley chief executives, among them Mark Zuckerberg, the co-founder of Facebook, and the late Steve Jobs of Apple.

    The closed-door meeting with 12 Silicon Valley gaffers was held at the home of John Doerr, a partner at the major Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The meeting also had in attendance Oracle founder Larry Ellison, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and Twitter’s Dick Costolo.  That meeting helped to get Americans back to work. The direct fallout was a rash of new jobs in innovation, research and ICT. Obama may not be popular with the GOP but he has mobilised Silicon Valley to invest more in research, development and innovation to create jobs for American youths. The growing number of ICT start-ups in the US and a new generation of knowledge millionaires and billionaires out of America underscore the utility of such a meeting and government partnership with the ICT mandarins.

    Since capitalism toppled communism, American leadership has never hidden its intent to keep Uncle Sam as the technology role model for the rest of the world. Asian countries and leaders have long borrowed from the American template. They, too, are working hard to win the future. In 2010, India raked $49.7 billion from software export with domestic software revenue standing at $14 billion for the same period. India has been creating new markets. This is aside sales from hardware. That’s a country that wants to win the future. Every year, the government of India strengthens its synergy with the private sector to help it innovate, create and build new products.

    In Nigeria what do we do? We play politics. Our leaders are themselves bereft of ideas such that even when they get to power, they don’t use it to win the future. They use it to ruin it. Globally, that’s how the world sees us. They see Nigeria as a trading outpost, in fact, as a night market where all sorts are sold for peanuts. This is why at this moment of dwindling receipts from crude oil, I salute the vision, exertions and tenacity of one Nigerian who has been working hard to build and win the future, at least for the sake of Nigerian youths. The Chairman of Zinox Group, Leo Stan Ekeh, who turned 60 yesterday, February 22, has as far back as the 80’s inclined himself to bridge the yawning digital divide between Nigeria and the developed world. He assembled a crop of young, intelligent Nigerians to build an integrated ICT conglomerate from a small computer solution office.

    Today, the Zinox range has become to Nigeria what Acer is to Taiwan, Mercer to South Africa, Lenovo to China and HP to US.  I recall Ekeh’s keynote titled “Building a True Indigenous Institution in Africa –the Zinox Experience” which he delivered at the 13th annual Africa Business Conference of the Africa Business Club in Harvard Business School on February 18, 2011. It centred on how Nigeria can win her future. Also salutary was the fact that the audience was not just a small crowd of Africans, it was a mix of Africans, Americans, Asians and the rest of the world.

    The audience was wowed to learn that in spite of the leadership travails that afflict Nigeria, the country still boasts oases of hope. Ekeh who said he would love to be remembered as the man who “computerised Nigeria and altered positively the destiny of many Africans through Digital Knowledge Democracy” advised African leaders to invest in technology, innovation and research as the surest way to guarantee the future of their citizens.

    As President Muhammadu Buhari begins to re-invent Nigeria economically, he would do well to partner with the likes of Ekeh and the crowd of Nigerian players in the ICT sector. They are the ones to create the jobs and get Nigerians back to work. Ekeh, the economist, risk manager and computer nerd has also answered the question: economists, especially Nigerian economists, make good entrepreneurs.

    The beauty of the Nigerian narrative is that the nation is never in short supply of men and women of knowledge and peerless cognitive intelligence. We have seen young Nigerians triumph on the global stage in medicine, sport, ICT and other aspects of human endeavour. At home, we have witnessed the successful entrepreneurial stories of persons who grew start-ups to conglomerates. It tells us that the solution to the challenges that stalk the nation lies within. The likes of Ekeh and a horde of others have demonstrated that in spite of the perennial low-rating of Nigeria on the ease-of-doing business index, Nigerians have the capacity to push through the brick walls of entrepreneurial encumbrance. This is reassuring and something worthy of acclamation.

    • Daramola , an economist, writes from Lagos.
  • Nigeria an orphan

    Nigeria an orphan

    Governments in Nigeria, over the years, have not been exemplary, to the majority of her citizens. Whether under the military or civilian regime, many regard exercise of public power at various levels more as oppression and meddlesomeness than protection and fair arbitration. So, the inclination of the average Nigerian, in any dispute involving the state or its agency, is either to stand askance, and hope that the agency’s meddlesomeness will be dealt with, or to treat the agency as an invader which all should hunt down. In fairness to my compatriots, for it would be unfair, to claim any high moral grounds here, the Nigerian state, since Independence, substantially abandoned the implicit doctrine in the famed social contract, upon which an affectionate relationship is built, between a state and her citizens.

    The unfolding drama, between the leading lights of the legal profession, the class of Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs), and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), in the matter of Nigeria vs. Rickey Tarfa (SAN) best epitomises this syndrome in the most recent time. According to media report, the learned silk, was arrested and eventually charged to court, allegedly, for wilfully obstructing the cause of justice, and for attempting to pervert the cause of justice. The second charge is for communicating with a judge handling a matter he is involved in, as a counsel. The learned counsel, stringently denied all the charges, and has sued EFCC for the breach of his fundamental human rights, and is seeking exemplary and punitive damages.

    My interest here, is not on the merit or demerit, of the charges, or the sufficiency or insufficiency of the grounds, for an action for breach, of the fundamental rights of the learned silk; after all, the matter is now sub-judice, and the courts are best suited to determine the rights of the parties or help them come to a settlement. So, my comment is restricted to the pre-action matters, particularly the instinctive reaction of the learned colleagues, of Rickey Tarfa. According to news report, immediately the news broke, that Mr Tarfa has been arrested, senior lawyers across the country, in near unanimity, came down hard on the EFCC, for having the temerity to lay their (filthy?) fingers, on their professional colleague.

    None of the lawyers, predictably, asked whether the state agency had any justification for her action. Those who didn’t want to comment, for one reason or another, kept their distance, watching. A follower of this column, called me, to vehemently protest this development, from my learned colleagues. The state was to suffer even a more telling abandonment as Tarfa predictably took the battle to the EFCC, by filing for the protection of his fundamental human rights, and seeking a humongous N2.5 billion, as damages. To file Tarfa’s suit in court, which could have been done by a litigation clerk, some of the best known lawyers in the country, mainly senior advocates, collectively filed to the court registry, to file the suit, in solidarity.

    The state, stood out as an orphan, when one compares the kind of solidarity shown to the learned silk, and that extended to the state, in pursuit of the famous rule of law. At Tarfa’s first appearance in court, to answer to the charge filed against him by the state, an intimidating array of Senior Advocates and other lawyers, which some report put at over 90, showed up to defend him. At that stage, if the trial was a popularity contest, or even a boxing bout, with 90 lawyers, collectively weighing on one side of the scale, and the EFCC’s lone lawyer, on the other, the judge would have been overwhelmed to quickly raise Tarfa’s hand, to declare him the winner against the state.

    My bet, considering that the EFCC needs the general support of the legal community to successfully perform their onerous responsibility in defence of our abused nation; and that the primary responsibility of a lawyer is to protect the inviolable integrity of the law, I hope the parties will quickly resolve their differences, in deference to the rule of law.

    Another notable case, in which Nigeria has been worsted in terms of the show of solidarity by yet another important segment of the state, is the suit between the Code of Conduct Bureau vs. Senate President Bukola Saraki. The case against the Senate President arose from allegations of false declaration of assets. At his first appearance, on September 22, 2015 before the Tribunal, after efforts to stall his arraignment failed, some reports put the number of senators that accompanied him to the tribunal, at over 50. The show of solidarity ballooned at the second visit, on October 21, to over 80 senators. The number was still impressive at his third outing, with about 35 senators reportedly in tow. With that number of senators in the Tribunal, many have argued that the intention was to stare down his accuses – the state, in the duel.

    Of course, on each visit, the hallowed chambers of the distinguished senators, remained hollow, as the senators found one plausible excuse, or another, to shut down plenary. Those who think that the senators would ask the senate president to step aside until he successfully defends the charges against him are clearly day-dreaming. According to the senate spokesperson, Aliyu Abdullahi, “From the beginning of the trial last September, we have declared that this case is not about any fight against corruption. It is simply a case of political vendetta”. He furthered, “Our position remains the same. We still believe that the case is politically motivated”. Of course, the rest of Nigerians are left to figure out those pursuing a vendetta on their behalf against their senate president.

    To put on notice those hoping that the completion of Saraki’s trial at the CCT, would be the end of the road, for the solidarity, I can guess this – should the judgment go against the senate president, the senate spokesman, Senator Abdullahi, informs them in advance, that the distinguished senate will go the whole hog, with their leader, as he added “we want to state categorically that there is no basis for the call on the Senate President to resign until after the matter is decided in that final judicial forum. Such a call at this time is premature, mischievous and unwarranted”. Of course, the final judicial forum being the Supreme Court, Nigerians, should brace up for more solidarity matches by her distinguished senators, in favour one of their own against the country.

    To help create a kinder country, and hopefully a more sympathetic country men and women, the government of President Muhammadu Buhar, should consider pursuing the deletion of the obnoxious, strange, oppressive and incompatible section 6(6)(c) of the 1999 constitution, to wit: The judicial powers vested in the courts, “shall not, expect as otherwise provided by this constitution, extend to any issue or question as to whether any act or omission … is in conformity with the Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of state policy …”

    Note: I erroneously referred to Udoma Udo Udoma CON as a SAN, in my last piece.

  • Problem with the anti-graft war

    The western world survives and thrives on institutions they have successfully erected. With these in place, any man is dispensable. A certain man might not be there and the system still works like a driverless car. So ‘big man’ has no bearing. A man commits an offence in a country, it is against the state not against the person of the president, not a personalized thing against the head of the executive arm of government. The president wants justice served just like the ordinary man but he has no direct personal interest in any case. He thus need not railroad the system to get conviction at all cost. There is no puerile argument not to grant bail to an accused because he might abscond. This institution of the people will pursue any offender to serve the people justice, regardless who is in power and even when a present occupant leaves and how long it takes.

    The position of anti-crime, anti-corruption head in civilized nations is not for a cop with a baton. Ever wonder why the West appoints bloody civilians to head their defence ministries and the CIA is headed by civilians? These most sensitive jobs are not about muscles. It is who can think best in that given field. It is about freshness of ideas. It is the gospel the current Nigerian police chief seems to be preaching. By the time his tenure is over, he might well have changed the Nigerian Police Force to the Nigerian Police Intelligence.

    The nation’s anti-corruption boss need be one that leaders of the West would enjoy greatly his company and just co-operate profusely because there is no chance of him going primitive in his modus operandi with sacred facts entrusted him. They can share strong intelligence with him on those involved in heist in his own country. And these might just well be high-ranking members of the executive, the legislature and their spouse. Those obscenely rich tax-fraudsters corporations operating in Nigeria; super bankers who know and have perfected the Machiavellian methods of defrauding the Nigerian nation especially through slush funds. Not just unreformed politicians. Being an institution of its own, deferring to no personality, the anti-corruption boss armed with these infallible facts, he swings into legal action.

    The institution like the judiciary has no need for cheap lousy media trials and sensationalism. Just do your job. It need not be accountable to a present administration nor the head of the executive arm. I wonder what Ibrahim Magu was doing twice one day recently at the Presidential Villa clutching files like a clerk, reportedly seeking audience with the President. For what?

    The head of the anti-corruption body is not the head of the APC anti-corruption wing. If, any new government will necessarily review his position and give him the Ribadu treatment.

    Sam Omatseye, chairman editorial board of The Nation might have titled his piece, To Catch A Thief, (The Nation, January 11,), An Open Letter To His Excellency, President Buhari. Omatseye was imploring the president to adopt an institutionalized form of fighting corruption. He reasoned that the real problem with the current effort is that it is the president’s personal thing. That by defying the courts, which is an institution safeguarding the constitution, the president risks a case of brazen impunity chasing alleged impunity.

    By taking this fight personally, the president risks by the time he leaves that office, the new man will have his own another personal script. Then the hens might just come home to roost.

    Nobody could go with a vengeance and purge against corruption like the late General Muhammed. But look at what the Second Republic that followed his mass cleansing efforts produced. So much for personalized war effort. If things are not institutionalized, it cannot become a movement thing. Just fleeting media entertainment and vendetta that learned but covetous SANs will stall and torpedo eventually. And those clapping to see Olisa Metuh in handcuffs today, might well be in leg irons in a next dispensation, just perhaps for the chunk of security vote they appropriated to themselves and were unaccountable for. What is corruption and fighting corruption thus becomes the whims of the particular person or party in charge.

    Magu in his visit to The Nation was quoted to have said, ‘’People arrogate things to themselves. They have taken our money and are bold enough to say they are not going to return it.’’

    Am not very comfortable with this. In a market club of roughnecks who are hired to collect debts, okay. But this is the 21st century head of anti-corruption. It sounds like he has a personal stake in this, a bile for those he is investigating. And this will necessarily lead to impunity. If there is an institution, Magu’s highly polished staff, will just assemble all the crack forensic facts. It is not his concern about whether anyone is bold to say he won’t return the money he took. Just ensure the man comes to court in his most fitting suit and be bold to tell the Judge he won’t return the funds. The man has every right to say he won’t return the money. He might well be suffering from bipolar disorder. Just let the courts handle that please. And should the court declare the accused not culpable, the head of the anti-corruption body need shed no tears about that. It is not his personal matter. He is only representing an institution of the state.

    When the accused is set free, the people have spoken. Period. And should the anti-corruption Czar see the freed accused later, say at the International airport, they should still shake hands with a smile. This is the mark of an evolved society. And should that freed accused end up later becoming the president of the nation, it might well happen, the head of the anti-corruption body will have no fears about losing his job or being sent to teach at a mosquitoes-infested Police School.

    Letting things becoming personalized will put us all at the mercy of Josef Stalin’s scrutinizing accusation from which no man came out free. Every last kobo wrongly spent by those lackeys of ex-President Goodluck Jonathan and by those who were fighting him yet looting their states’ treasury, will ultimately be gotten when the institution is allowed to work.

    Dror Moreh is an Israeli director of the Oscar-nominated documentary – The Gatekeepers. He alludes to facts that current Israeli prime minister with some extreme right-wing rabbis, played a part in creating the charged public atmosphere that led to the murder in 1995 of then Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin. Moreh said, ‘’There were many incidents of incitements against Rabin. Binyamin Netanyahu had a role in many of those incidents. Netanyahu made a speech in which a protester carried a coffin for Rabin and I am sure he saw it. He knew what was going on in these rallies that he led. Many called Rabin a Nazi collaborator’’.

    By the time Mr Amir pulled the trigger that ended Rabin, the media lynch war had already been waged and won against the man. He stood no chance.

    By the time all these media trials of suspected looters of the Nigerian treasury, all these top secret documents released for effects in the press war. By the times these accused are finally arraigned, if ever, won’t the ground dirty work already have been won against them? Would they be able to escape on any legal justification if any?

    Why not just let institutions be erected and let them thrive.

     

    • Barr Chima is a public affairs commentator.

  •  Nyako: Memories of Impunity and Waste

    It was a farce that was doomed ab initio. No bouquets, then, that a Court of Appeal sitting in Yola the upper week voided the impeachment and removal of Murtala Nyako as Adamawa State Governor in July 2014. Nyako was removed by the State House of Assembly after 17 legislators in the 25-member house adopted the report of a panel that was raised to investigate him for alleged gross financial misconduct. The panel found him guilty of motley allegations, for which he had been served an impeachment notice signed by 19 members of the state legislature. Deputy Governor Bala James Ngilari also got an impeachment notice along with his principal. But neither Nyako nor his deputy put in appearance to defend themselves before the investigative panel, which was widely perceived as predetermined to return a guilty verdict against the duo. Ngilari was subsequently alleged to have resigned as Deputy Governor, while the investigative panel, true to billing, found Nyako guilty of all counts against him. The assembly, barely 24 hours after the investigative panel turned in its report on 14th July 2014, summarily removed Nyako as Governor.

    The Court of Appeal, in its verdict penultimate Thursday, did not address the accusations against Nyako, but rather the propriety of the procedure by which he was removed from office. The panel of judges held that the removal was not done in accordance with the provisions of law, and that Nyako was not given a fair hearing in the impeachment proceedings, while his right was violated. Their lordships unanimously ruled the impeachment null and void, and ordered that Nyako be accorded all rights of the office of Governor and be paid all due entitlements for the duration of his tenure. They, however, declined restoring Nyako to office as he had sought because his tenure as Governor had elapsed.

    I believe that any objective analysis of the impeachment saga would not fail to reach the same conclusion that the legislative process was a kangaroo exercise and barefaced partisan circus. It was actually a turf battle between the All Progressives Congress (APC), to which Nyako belonged, and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDC) that wholly controlled the state legislature at the time. Many observers would cite Nyako’s open letter to former President Goodluck Jonathan earlier in 2014, accusing him of abetting the Boko Haram insurgency and fomenting genocide in the Northeast, as the trigger point of his battle with the Adamawa legislators, who left no one in doubt of their party loyalty in those heady days leading up to the 2015 general election. But no one would deny either that the seed of discord was sown in 2013 when the former Governor defected from then ruling PDP to the opposition APC. By the impeachment project, the Adamawa lawmakers were not just on a vendetta mission against a perceived turncoat, they wanted to recover the governorship for their party by plain crook.

    A Yola high court had in June 2014 granted a couple of injunctions restraining the assembly from proceeding with its inquisition against Nyako. The assembly ignored those injunctions, which the Court of Appeal cited penultimate Thursday in blaming the legislature for “impunity and arrogance” in how it went about the impeachment. Nyako too, in desperation for survival while the process lasted, took the exercise of executive powers to reckless heights. He fled the state and left governance on autopilot to evade service of the impeachment notice by the house. Then, he arbitrarily declared Monday, 07th July, and Tuesday, 08th July 2014, as work free days in his state avowedly to “enable the people…to reflect on current happenings in the country and to use the period to offer special prayers for peace in the state and the country.” In reality though, the work-free declaration was a preemptive strike by the embattled Governor to stall the impeachment proceedings against him. Another court had just given a verdict compelling the state’s Acting Chief Judge to raise an investigate panel as the legislature had wanted, and it was widely expected that the panel would be inaugurated on 07th July and would commence sitting immediately. The work-free declaration was obviously to derail all that.

    A most unruly tack by the legislature, which another court subsequently invalidated, was its declaration that Ngilari had quit as Deputy Governor to avoid impeachment. His purported letter of resignation was read on the floor of the assembly and approved by members just before the purported impeachment of Nyako. This had paved the way for House Speaker Umaru Fintiri to take office as Acting Governor. Ngilari’s letter of resignation was apparently extorted from him, and it was addressed to the Speaker of the house, contrary to the provisions of Section 306 of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution requiring that such letter be addressed to the Governor. Fintiri thereafter had his time in the saddle as Acting Governor, and subsequently secured nomination as his party’s candidate for a by-election that was scheduled by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in line with statutory requirement that a vacancy in the governorship must be filled within 90 days of the office being declared vacant. Ngilari, meanwhile, had filed a suit in court to deny that he resigned, and to demand that he be sworn in as Governor in place of the ‘impeached’ Nyako. He succeeded in convincing the Federal High Court, Abuja, which on 08th October 2014 pronounced that Ngilari did not resign from office as Adamawa’s Deputy Governor and should therefore be sworn in as Nyako’s successor. The court also restrained INEC from conducting any by-election to fill the office of Governor.

    INEC had fixed the governorship by-election for 11th October 2014, and had fully mobilised and deployed in readiness when the Abuja court halted the process. I happened to be in the electoral commission at the time and witnessed first hand the sheer waste that this entailed. The commission typically held a location stakeholder meeting ahead of every governorship poll, and it was on the morning of such a meeting that the judgment was delivered. INEC Chairman at the time, Professor Attahiru Jega, was in Yola with many senior officials for the crucial parley. Few hours to its commencement, chieftains of registered political parties, governorship candidates and other stakeholders were seated at the venue. Many domestic and foreign election observers were in town and had joined in for the meeting. The INEC boss was set to preside over the meeting, and was only awaiting the arrival of then Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Suleiman Abba, who was already airborne from Abuja en route to Yola.

    By the time the IGP landed in Yola, judgment had been delivered stopping the by-election, and the police chief had to make a swift return to Abuja. The commission called off the stakeholder meeting, with its officials frantically reaching out to stop already mobilised poll personnel from getting to Adamawa State if they were not already inland. Many personnel that were in transit were turned back en route, while those yet to leave their base were directed to remain where they were: huge sums were already expended on logistical operations regarding the poll, but whatever could yet be salvaged was worth the effort.

    Later that day, the commission issued a statement suspending the by-election. Personnel and materials that had been mobilised had to be demobilised, nearly at the same cost of their mobilisation. It was a still-birthed project that never should have been conceived in the first place. But when politicians play their games, INEC gets caught in the middle, and scarce resources of the country get needlessly wasted.

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

    • Continued from last Sunday

    Meanwhile, Bauchi State Governor, Mohammed Abubakar, has warned that efforts to rebuild the areas devastated by the activities of Boko Haram in the North-East will fail unless the underlying problems of poverty and ignorance are adequately addressed.

    Abubakar gave the warning yesterday when he received the 12-member Assessment Team of the European Union (EU), United Nations (UN) and World Bank (WB) on insurgency devastated areas in the North East to Bauchi.

    The team was led by AlhajiWakilAdamu from the office of the Vice-President on a courtesy call to him at Government House, Bauchi in company with officials of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the State Emergency Management Agency, UNICEF, among others.

    The governor said the mission of the team was a welcome and timely one in view of the devastation of Boko Haram has unleashed on Nigerians because of its multiple effects particularly among those residing in the North-East.

    According to him, “Rebuilding infrastructure is important in rebuilding the areas but addressing the underlying factor of the insurgency is much more important because the North-East is seriously affected by poverty and ignorance.

    “If poverty and ignorance are not properly addressed, they could provide grounds for the rise of another crazy group if Boko Haram is taken care of.  We are running a risk if poverty is not addressed.”

    He explained that Bauchi State has played host to an influx of internally displaced persons (IDPs) since 2004 following ethno-religious crises in Kaduna, Plateau and some parts of Bauchi long before the Boko Haram crisis that broke out in 1999.

    Abubakar explained that the state has been hospitable to millions of displaced persons that have escaped crisis in other parts of the region saying several communities have sprang up as a result of the incidents.  He said although most of them have resettled in Bauchi they are psychologically displaced and urged the team to take their plight into consideration.”

    Lt-General T.Y. Danjuma did not add:

    “Murtala Mohammed must be turning in his grave.”

    Also, our current Head of State, President MuhammaduBuhari, who served as Petroleum Minister under the MurtalaMuhammed/Obasanjo regime, delivered his own verdict when he visited Abeokuta, Ogun State last week:

    “During my tenure as Petroleum Minister and later Head of State, there was no need to import fuel.  We built three refineries and were even exporting petroleum products.  Sadly, this is no longer the case.”

    He too did not add :Murtala Mohammed must be turning in his grave.

    It was left to Dr. Walter Carrington, the former Ambassador of the United States of America to intercede on behalf of Nigeria.

    Front page headline:                 “The Nation” newspaper of October 22, 2015.

    “NIGERIA IS SUFFERING FROM “DUTCH DISEASE” SAYS CARRINGTON.

    • Buhari can turn things around

    “Former United States Ambassador to Nigeria Walter Carrington has urged the country try to diversify its economy to reduce its reliance on petroleum in the face of failing oil prices.

    Carrington said the country, like many other highly endowed extractive natural resource nations, suffers from what economists call ‘Dutch disease’.

    Dutch disease is the negative impact on an economy of anything that gives rise to a sharp inflow of foreign currency, such as the discovery of large oil reserves.  The currency inflows lead to currency appreciation, making the country’s other products less price competitive on the export market.

    He, however, expressed confidence in President MuhammaduBuhari, saying he has the honesty and dedication to turn things around for good.

    Speaking at the University of Benin’s First Eminent Lecture Series, the diplomat said Nigeria was experiencing what he called a contradiction of development economics – “growth without development”.

    He spoke on the theme: Nigeria and Future of the Black World.

    ‘Dutch disease’, Carrington said, is where other economic sectors such as agriculture and manufacturing are relatively ignored.

    The result, according to him is that Nigeria’s overall unemployment rate rose from 6.4 per cent in 2006 to 24.20 per cent this year.

    The figure, Carrington said, represents about half of the rate for young people between the ages of 15 and 34.

    “That Nigeria has had one of the strongest growth rates in Africa is encouraging.  However, its sustainability is in doubt because of the near collapse worldwide in oil prices.

    “The country must do what so many OPEC members are doing – diversify its economy to lessen the dependence on petroleum, which provides an outsized portion of the national budget.

    Members of my generation remember the days before the oil boom.  We remember that at the time of independence in 1960, Nigeria’s annual agricultural crop yields were higher than those of Indonesia and Malaysia.  Today, they have dwindled by half as much.

    The fact that Nigeria’s current yield per hectare is less than 50 per cent of that of comparable developing countries demonstrates how much Nigeria has abandoned its once promising agricultural sector.

    Until Nigeria is able to rely less on capital intensive sectors of the economy and more on labour intensive ones, it will be difficult to see how it will meet its ambitious goals to make the country one of the world’s 20 most important economies.

    Diversification is urgently needed to make the economy less vulnerable to downswings in petroleum prices,” Carrington said.

    The former U.S. ambassador said some people identified Nigeria as the great hope of the Black World.

    He said although many dismissed Africa as a continent of nations, whose leaders were too venal to govern on their people’s behalf, Nigeria can prove them wrong.

    “I feel confident that in President Buhari you have a leader who is honest, dedicated and tough enough to turn this country around.  I have always admired his record of public probity and his lack of private flamboyance.

    As a private citizen, he has lived modestly and since taking on the duties of head of state, he has set a refreshing example of financial transparency, which all public officials should and must emulate,”he said.

    Carrington’s wife, Arese, an international public health consultant, who gave the second lecture with the theme: “The female imperative in the new Africa”, emphasised the need for proper education.

    “With an education, no one can pull the wool over our eyes.  Education gives us the ability to think for ourselves and analyse things critically.  An uneducated population is a population in bondage,”

    When CBS went to town with the front page report of “ThisDay”newspaper of October 21, 2015, it made no mention of General Murtala Mohammed turning in his grave.

    Headline:  “WITNESS: HOW EX-GOVERNOR OHAHIM PAID N270 MILLION CASH FOR ABUJA PROPERTY.”

    “Proceedings in the trial of former Imo State governor, IkediOhahim, before Justice AdeniyiAdemola of the Federal High Court, Abuja resumed yesterday, with the prosecution witness giving a blow-by-blow account of how the former governor  allegedly made a cash payment of $2.29 million (N270 million) for a piece of land at Plot 1098 Cadastral Zone A04, Asokoro District, otherwise known as No. 60, Kwame Nkrumah Street, Asokoro, Abuja.

    Justice Ademola had admitted Ohahim bail on July 9, 2015, following his arraignment the day before by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a three-count charge bordering on money laundering.

    At yesterday’s hearing, prosecution witness, IshayaDauda, said investigation into the alleged offence began in 2010 after the commission received petitions coupled with intelligence reports.

    Led in evidence by the prosecution counsel, Mr. Festus Keyamo, Dauda, a Senior Detective Superintendent (SDS) with the EFCC, said the accused person who served as Imo State governor between 2007 and 2011, was invited to the EFCC office in 2013.

    “I gave him the petitions to go through and asked him if he would be willing to volunteer a statement or not and he answered in the affirmative, I then administered the word of caution and EFCC statement form on him.  I also asked him whether he understood the word of caution and he said yes; then, he signed the form, indicating that he understood the word of caution,” he told the court.

    According to him, the accused person was given the EFCC asset declaration form to fill, in addition to his statements that were obtained five times between 2013 and 2015.

    Copies of the five statements, which were obtained on January 25, 2013; January 31, 2013, June 18, 2015, June 22, 2015 and June 29, 2015, were tendered and admitted in evidence as exhibits EFCC one to five.

    Giving further evidence, Dauda said the accused person made copious statements regarding the said property.

    “Working on the intelligence reports at our disposal, after the accused person had declared his assets, it was discovered that there was no banking transaction for the purchase of the property.

    We found out that only a cash payment was made in respect of the property.  So we took the accused person to the property.  When we brought him back to our office, we asked him who owns the property and he said he rented the property through one Abu Sule, Managing Director, Tweeenex Consociate H.D. Limited,” the detective averred.

    However, the prosecution witness said Abu Sule, who initially denied ownership of the property during interrogation by the EFCC, said the accused person gave him $2.2 million, which was equivalent of N270 million as at that time, in one payment.

    “Abu Sule said he bought the property from one AlhajiIsahMuntairMaidabino.  He also said after receiving the money from the accused person at the Imo State Government House in Asokoro, Abuja on a certain night, he made the cash payment to AlhajiIssaMuntair-Maidabino,” he added.

     

    • To be continued next Sunday

  • Rethinking Airport Management Format in Nigeria

    The prospects of building and maintaining a thriving, secure and sustainable airport business in Nigeria looks much brighter today than at any time in the history of airport development in the country. This might appear to be a very ostentatious assertion and may even be considered by observers of the airport business as stretching the imagination beyond the realms of reality.

    However, the assertion is not a product of a fertile imagination but a result of the juxtaposition of existing human and material resources available in airport management and to airport managers within the country. The airport sub-sector of the aviation industry is so richly endowed and can possible be a key driver of economic development for Nigeria especially for the current administration. A little mix of creativity and innovation will produce astounding outcomes with the facilities available to the airport authority.

    The Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has an impressive collection of choice real estates and vast amount of landed properties in almost every state across the country. These properties, many of which are at various stages of development provides handsome returns on investment to the authority and will continue to improve in value as more of the development and expansion projects are duly implemented. The runways are a veritable source of income for the airport. The runways provide services that have positioned the airport as the market place of the aviation industry.

    Beside the bountiful financial harvest and the large accruals from the properties through available shops, offices and space rentals, revenue are also derived from advertisements within the airport as well as a host of other creative income channels like sponsorship or partnership from large corporations using airport facilities for promotion, commercials and campaigns. This array of income stream from the airport complements what is earned from owners and operators of aircraft as they fly into or out and especially when the aircraft is at rest.

    There is also the added volume of business transacted by passengers using the airports across Nigeria. It is a never ending traffic that continues throughout the day, the night and all year round except for issues of extreme weather conditions, accidents or other forces of nature that may interfere with flight schedules. The passenger is central to the activities of the airport. The passenger makes an airport one of the most unique meeting points in the world. Passengers’ movement is likely to spike in at least the five new major international airports that are expected to open this year in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and Enugu.

    The Authority is aspiring to be counted among the best in Africa and to provide services that are measurable with internationally acceptable standards. This ambitious project which has a completion time of the last quarter of 2016 will see the Authority process about sixty two million passengers annually through the five airports. The Lagos international airport fondly referred to as the MMA will see an increase in passengers from seven million to twenty five million. The Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, will take care of eleven million more passengers than the current capacity of five million while Kano, Enugu and Port Harcourt will process seven million passengers each every year. In monetary terms that would be a lot of money flowing into the coffers of the authority to further consolidate development in airports, meet obligations to the staff and contribute to national development programmes.

    An airport anywhere in the world is a complex network of relationships not just among a diverse group of staff of different tongues but also of a varied background of professionals. It is a mix of different temperaments, characters, attributes, responses and reactions under different situations. Throw into the mix the usual delays in outbound or incoming flights the atmosphere is charged enough to explode. The airport including those in Nigeria is usually a blend of business and leisure. The bottom line for both engagements is money for providing the facilities to make both happen at different time or together.

    The airport is also a melting pot of some sort because on a daily basis people from different social and cultural backgrounds interact more often on this platform than in other places. Sometimes, these cultures meet on very friendly and calm circumstances while at other times they may clash explosively and requiring resolutions that might just be pacification or the extreme of arbitration. The airport is a venue that acts as leveler for a lot of people. From the suave and urbane to the roughnecks and from dignitaries to the not too dignifying in the crowd.

    It is instructive to note that of the entire nation’s means of transportation including road, rail and waterways that derives some form of financial allocation from the Federal government and into which it is still investing, it is only the airport that is worth the pains of investment. All others are in the cusp of transition or are in their twilight. The national carrier has gone in the way of the railway which is moving in fits and starts while the waterway transport system drowned in its own inefficiency. It is only the airport that is still viable and can guarantee holding its ground and even guarantee employment to so many Nigerians.

    Clearly, from the above, it is certain that a well managed airport can contribute immensely toward the nation’s development drive. Airport development is linked to national development. Economic development is facilitated both in short and long term by having a quick gateway in and out of a country or a state. This enhances the movement of human, good and services and give rise to a chain of other economic activities. Movement of goods becomes very easy, commerce is stimulated and wastages which is a recurring decimal especially in the movement of produce and raw materials in Nigeria will drastically be reduced.

    Airports are critical contributors to economic growth and revenue generation around the world especially for low income countries with huge land and rail infrastructure deficits like Nigeria. The airport is a strategic point for our domestic revenue mobilization. The airport has a way of encouraging related services like hotels, restaurants, courier companies, and security, fuel and transportation companies. The aggregate financial and social benefit of the airport to the place where it is located is sufficient to ensure that this administration should rethink the management format that has been used in this country to manage infrastructure that are of potentially beneficial to the entire country.

    It is a well documented fact that revenue elasticity and labor elasticity can be developed from commercial airport activities. Both values of elasticity will indicate how the direct economic impact of an airport, using data such as passenger numbers and local economic conditions will show how well the airport has impacted not just the community but the country’s finances. There is a linkage between the increase in passenger traffic to direct employment and direct income. The ongoing developments of new airports are contributing to the labour forces of those five cities and whatever increase in passengers may result in future will also have a direct impact on not just the local economy but that of the nation.

    What can be derived from the above is that to successfully manage an airport with all of the complexities of the forces of nature, human egos and sensibilities requires the depth of the knowledge of men and the facilities that is needed to carry out assignments at the airport with as little errors as possible. The tempo of work needs a man or woman with the presence of mind that can be calm when everyone around is heating up and ready to explode. It demands a man or a woman with great attention to details, sense of integrity and a love for excellence. He must have the attitude to take on the pressure that comes with working with the kind of precision that makes airport all over the world run almost like clock-work. At the moment, the only man who fits that description is Engr. Saleh Dunomah, M.D of FAAN.

    The suggestion is that for the airports to maximize their social and economic contribution and even assist to drive the Gross Domestic Product of Nigeria at a time when all sources for income generation should tapped, it will require tested manager to direct the affairs of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria. There is already a well orchestrated, well oiled and properly serviced campaign designed to shake the current Managing Director of FAAN, Engr. Saleh Dunomah out of office. In a sector where human factor is consider very highly as making the difference between safety and a catastrophic outcome, it is important to consider leaving the job of running FAAN in the few years to come in the hands of the current helmsman.