The Nation Newspaper

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  • Ambode’s quest for foreign direct investment laudable

    The quest for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by the Governor of Lagos State, Mr. Akinwumi Ambode is part of the larger plan to make the Lagos megacity a functional one. Lagos State, with a projected population of over 21million people, is a destination of choice to majority of Nigerians.

    It is seen as a state of unlimited opportunities and as such movement of young adults to the state in search of greener pastures is a daily occurrence. The collapse of the economy, especially the closure of manufacturing industries over time due largely to the absence of power and unfavourable investment climate, has had adverse effects on the security of lives and property of the people.

    The first responsibility of the government, as we all know, is to ensure the security of its people and their welfare. The most paramount need of man is food and nothing is too much a sacrifice to put food on the table of the people. After that, secondary issues that are likely to arise from the decision taken or being contemplated can be addressed.

    The reception which Governor Ambode accorded the Walmart delegation and a promise to create enabling environment for their business was borne out of the zeal to seek job opportunities for our young men and women, literates and illiterates. There is no gainsaying that our youth have become vulnerable to being lured into various types of anti-social activities hitherto alien to our culture.

    From high-degree human and drug trafficking, prostitution both at home and abroad, kidnapping, armed robbery, cyber fraud and drug addiction to mention but a few, our country has become a fertile recruitment ground for terrorist organisations. As the popular saying goes, “an idle mind is a devil’s workshop”. This is a frontline problem that must be tackled headlong and a multifarious approach must be employed to achieve desired result.

    I hold this position against the background of the piece titled “As Ambode lusts after Wal-Mart” authored by Abimbola Adelakun and published in the Punch of Thursday August 13, 2015. The writer, to my mind, sought to advise the governor to “err on the side of caution”.

    Yes, good advice, we need to be circumspect and weigh all options properly so that we don’t further impoverish the people we sought to lift from poverty. However, some of the assertions or reasons adduced to buttress the seeming disadvantages are not the same with the conditions in the United States used as the country of comparison.

    To begin with, the Venezuelan Ambassador to Nigeria, Enrique FernandoArundell, might have told the late Mrs. Dora Akinyuli the home truth by saying that we should look inward and build our country rather than wait for others to do it for us. Statement of fact, but a Yoruba adage says “you can’t in face of starvation continue to say you won’t eat from the pot of your enemy when your friends have no food to offer you”.

    True, we have many stupendously rich Nigerians who stack their billions in foreign accounts or prefer to invest outside Nigeria for God knows why. But can we reasonably close our eyes to foreigners who have resources to invest in the country to create the much needed job opportunities and grow the economy just because some of our people refuse to invest in her? I don’t think so.

    Walmart may be a retail outfit like Shoprite but its investment in Nigeria can only be a blessing to the nation and the particular location at this crucial time. There are not many retail outlets in the format of these giants in Nigeria that may go under in the face of competition. Our trading activities still largely take place in the various local markets where the traders ply their trade in one or two commodities.  The patronage of supermarkets as we know them is largely by the elites and the middle class that form a minute sector of the population. The larger majority still prefer the local haggling system.

    The population of Lagos State stands it in good stead to host the world-renowned retail outlet as its population is well stratified such that all contending forces will consistently find their share of the market without posing threat to others. After all, with all the boutiques in the state, big and small, the Okrika (fairly used clothes) vendors still smile to the banks; the Gutter Ariyofabric market still booms despite the fact that large a group of the elite wear English dresses during the week.

    Those of us who know what StrabagYard, the place where Ikeja Mall is located today used to be will not agree that Walmart will be a disservice to Lagos. The Ikeja Mall is of world standard, the jobs created in the course of construction and those in the employment of the various organisations operating therein and the multiplier effect on the economy cannot be overemphasised. To have the likes of Walmart to compete with Shoprite can only make it more efficient and people- friendly.

    Of major interest is the fact that Walmart is just one of the many investors being wooed. Manufacturing industries that will return Lagos to the position of industrial hub of the nation, employ large number of people, boost creation and development of many Small and Medium Scale industries are the prime targets and will berth in good time to reverse the trend of our unemployment and the attendant negative consequences.

    • Ogundeji wrote in from Alausa-Ikeja, Lagos

  • Comments

    ‘Re: Perennial failure in Mathematics and English Language is due to a lot of factors among these are poor staffing of schools, i.e. no Mathematics and English teachers, uncontrolled quest for money by students, insincerity of the few teachers for selfishness of the leaders, cutting corners syndrome that engulfed our society, poor supervision by the school authorities and absence of thorough teaching of Mathematics and English in many schools etc. From Obafemi Iwaraja, Osun state’

    For  Segun Gbedegesin

     

    On NASS cut in salaries -That the Senate is rejecting the report set up to review their salaries is a pointer that they are after money not service. These money mongers spend 181 days in a year for wasteful legislation. Many of them attend session to collect their pay; equally many of them are jobless beings before getting to National Assembly. We need patriotic Nigerians not hungry greedy legislators.the labour movement should come together to fight these profitles beings.   wardrobe/constituency allowances etc must be scrapped. The last house passed over 40 useless bills in 10 minutes. They are the worst world legislator. The public must wage war on these corrupt and selfish beings. They are not prepared for change. From Odunmbak 

    Thank you sir, l praise God for your life and what you have been doing for the progress of Nigeria as a whole. Really to me, I see Buhari just as any other Nigerian leader; a man of purpose and I will continue pray for him. Thank you. From Pastor Aromasodu.

    Owing to your passion for President Buhari and your faith in him to rescue Nigeria from economic doldrum based on your understanding of his vision and his past service; The Nation August 14. Enunciate to Nigerians his impact on his Katsina State beside his achieved presidential ambition. Thank you. From Emmanuel Enyi.

    Your commentary was very objective, but I wished to state just like you have mentioned that whatever height/status a Nation may have rose to at any point of her socio-economic and political history is a function of effective leadership and this is primarily what Nigeria lacks as a sovereign nation. From Moses, Uyo.

    Where Singapore is today in economic transformation, PMB will take Nigeria there before the end of his first tenure despite the insecurity and empty treasury he inherited from past government. PMB has what it takes to make Nigeria a better place for everybody. PMB  need time. From Gordon Chika Nnorom, Umukabia     

    What transformational leadership can do. Thank you for your excellent article. Singapore was privileged to have great men as leaders hence their ability to achieve so much in spite of the very challenging circumstances. While they could galvanise four races, we have not been able to manage one race. From Owen- Browne.

    I enjoy your piece titled ‘what transformational leadership can do’. I have this unwavering confidence in President Buhari that a day to the presidential election, I sent an SMS to some friends, challenging God to take my life after five days if General Buhari lost in the election. And that if they wanted me to live, they should vote for General Buhari. By the time President Buhari does eight years, the achievement of Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore will be a child’s play. God has given this nation a man that will take us to the promised land. God bless President Buhari. From Sam Emiowei.

    I believe in the project Nigeria and in PMB to make Nigeria great. He won against all odds having attempted three times before. Senator Saraki should be ashamed of himself. From Lucky.

    Re: What transformational leadership can do. I always appreciate Gbadegesin for his researches. He wrote that  Singaporean leader Lee Kuan Yew did not succumb to fear of the unknown. Just as it is festering in our unpatriotic NASS now. Leadership in democracy is a team -work. Transformation is complete change in somebody and in something being driven by somebody. Coming near Singapore requires transformation of our elected representatives now. Until we change, nothing changes. International Conferences/Workshops are hosted in Singapore to generate revenue , but here we host them to expend resources and corner funds. Transformation begins with self-renewal of the mind (Rom.12:2). Irrespective political affiliation, our  members of NASS need transformation. If not, may the Lord help Mr. President and sustain Tinubu with fresh wisdom. Nigeria shall survive and outlive our over-ambitious and confused NASS members. From Ladipo O. David, Gwagwalada.

    Prof Gbadegesin, Please, help us tell the Election Peace Committee to get off the stage; they are becoming an irritant. To put it mildly, the elections are over, we voted for Buhari and APC ! Anonymous

     

    For Prof. Olatunji Dare

     

    Kudos to you sir, in fact you are a talented writer and avid researcher. But sir, an unending mess like that of Gogi needs an instantaneous attention and urgent action of Mr President and all who can restore peace in the land. Because in every abnormal situation, a normal solution is needed. Surveyor Amidu Saheed, Ifo.

    Your article ‘ Between ‘national icon’ and iconographer’ is a master piece. I have asked many people of like minds to read it. You wrote as if you read my mind when I read the advert.  I felt it can only happen in Nigeria, considering the icon and iconographer. I am also a pertinacious consumer of The Nation newspaper. Thank God for you and the ambassadors of change. From Titi  Bamgbose

    What makes Kabba a more appropriate place for a Federal university than Lokoja? Anonymous.

    Bravo for your insightful piece at back page of The Nation of Tuesday,  Augst 11, 2015.That illustrates the tragedy of our beloved country. God be with you. From Ekata.

     

    For Gbenga Omotoso

     

    Re Fanks WAEC, have you also observed that undergraduates now converse in pidgin English. You will think all of them were raised in Warri. Whose fault? Parents. Parents. Parents. From Lola Hajala.

    Sir, your piece today is diligently objective in capturing the degree of the rot in our academic system and the shallow knowledge of the Nigerian replacement generation (the youth) and their abysmal handling of the lingual franca.

    A time divinely revealed and globally adjudged that there shall be and now is when knowledge has increased. Sir! The question is has the knowledge increments (digital advancements) of the 21st century become the greatest undoing, nightmare of the Nigerian youths? From Okeiyi Duke. Barrister in equity.

    I have been enjoying your articles every now and then. I am happy you didn’t disappoint today, at least we are privileged to have an idea of what Baba discussed with PMB! Keep on the good work, more ink into your pen. From Sunday Adebiyi, Abuja

    Good afternoon. Bless you for the “Fanks WAEC” write up. I read it and agree with you totally. I guess parents are to be blamed, the reason being that some parents condone their children writing to them in short form. If it were short hand, I understand but short form, HELL NO! I have warned my children never to send text messages to me in short forms. If they do, they are punished for it. Thank God, they don’t. Even children of nowadays hardly read novels. Kindly let parents know they need to get things very right. Thanks. Anonymous.

    Fanks WAEC is a thought provoking piece for a discerning mind. How I wish that various schools regulate the use of social media by the students. Our children in the village are having upper hand reading-wise. Please check out. From Tunde Alao.

    Re: Fanks WAEC. Yours made an interesting read in The Nation of Thursday, August 13, 2015. Pray the authorities in charge of education at both Federal and State levels will read, reflect and respond proactively to arrest this ugly trend among our teenagers and youths in this seemingly corrupt digital age! Thanks for publishing. From Dr Ekundayo,  JMO, Lagos

    Re-Buhari hosts Obasanjo. It was a good and lengthy conversation by two good jolly fellows of OBJ and PMB. However, let PMB go ahead and kill the corruption, first! Other things like power stability, judicial improvement and discipline, will follow. From Lanre Oseni.

    Your installment today, “Buhari hosts Obasanjo”; witty as it gets, could crack a rib or two. Cheers! From Imade

    WAEC is neither the problem nor the teachers. Children spend 33 per cent of time with parents at home. That’s when they are glued to computer games, films and music. From Prof Femi

    Obasanjo should not distract PMB leadership over his recent visits to see PMB in Aso rock. All former head of states should allow PMB to kick start his plan to probe corrupt politicians that looted treasury.PMB wants to recover all looted funds for infrastructural development and other sundry. From Gordon Chika Nnorom

    Good evening. Your article ’fanks W A E C” made very interesting reading. I laughed despite seriousness of the issue raised. It’s write- up of the month in my estimation. Keep it up sir. From Benedicta, Benin.

    Re:Buhari host Obasanjo. A hilarious master piece! However I wish you had written more on the super conman-Goodluck Ebele Jonathan! From Idowu Ogedengbe, Abuja.

    Re : Franks WAEC. Queen Primer  is  an  Ancient  books that  I  recommend  for my  Students  ( some  senior class)who  cannot  read. Reading  before  writing WAEC- children need role models and the first they see to imitate is their parents. Parents are to blame for this, your children are the products of your deposits “time, money, effort and prayers”. From Olaide.

    Thanks for your piece published in The Nation newspaper dated August 13, 2015. Methinks kids should leave Facebook and face their books. From Utibe

    Re: Perennial failure in Mathematics and English Language is due to a lot of factors among these are poor staffing of schools, i.e. no Mathematics and English teachers, uncontrolled quest for money by students, insincerity of the few teachers for selfishness of the leaders, cutting corners syndrome that engulfed our society, poor supervision by the school authorities and absence of thorough teaching of Mathematics and English in many schools etc. From Obafemi Iwaraja, Osun state

    Your write up on Fanks WAEC of  August 13 is straight to the point on the poor performance on English and Mathematics. Our students today are too lazy to learn. The parents also share the blame most students have no text books If the tuition is free according to our government what about other things that make learning easy and effective. Its share laziness on book work but concentrate on profitable things. From Mrs Olusanya

     

  • Buhari and his August visitors

    As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know.”

    —Donald Rumsfeld, former US Secretary of Defence during a news briefing on February 12, 2002 about the lack of evidence linking Iraq’s Saddam Hussein with the supply of WMD to terrorist groups.

    Former president OlusegunObasanjo’s visit to President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday, August 8, 2015 was promptly reported by the nation’s media. It was almost instantaneously reported by the various social media platforms. But Nigerians did not know that the immediate past president of the republic, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, had gone to also see his successor on Thursday, the day before Obasanjo’s visit. Jonathan’s visit to Aso Rock, reportedly made at night, was also reported to have been facilitated by former Head of State Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar who is the chairman of the 2015 Elections Peace Committee. News reports also had it that Jonathan’s attempt to see his successor was not particularly smooth-sailing as Abubakar himself had to rally other arrowheads in the nation’s power centres to intervene for the former president before the Aso Rock gate could be opened. If true, it shows the ultimate futility of power. As if given a report that the visits of the godfather and his godson (now estranged) may not have yielded the result(s) they expected, the following Tuesday, members of the 2015 Elections Peace Committee ‘invaded’ The Villa to meet with President Buhari. In what can now be referred to as a stampede, in less than five working days, Buhari had received three former Chiefs of State either individually or within a group, including the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’adAbubakar III, who is also the spiritual leader of the nation’s Muslim faithful and other high profile individuals in the committee. Although it may not have been expressly and officially stated, Nigerians do not need to be told that the rush to The Villa was on account of Buhari’s vow to kill corruption before it ‘kills’ Nigeria.

    Perhaps the best way to look at the sprints of these major power centres to Aso Rock is to situate their convergence on the ‘Rock’ (in quick succession) within the context of the epigraph above. The epigraph encapsulates the relationships (mostly convoluted) that exist between the various power centres that these people represent on the one hand, and the relationship between President Buhari and these power centres on the other. The ‘third hand’ is the relationship between the Nigerian electorate yearning for change as an emergent power centre—represented by Buhari—and the entrenched, elite power centres in the country responsible for the sorry state of the country and her people. Buhari’s emergence through the democratic process has revealed the gory state of the nation, and the debilitating, suffocating stench in which Nigerians are mired, no thanks to the most vicious corruption that the world probably has never known, that Buhari himself may be wondering by now if Nigeria has not already been ‘killed’ by it now that there are things he knows that the visitors to the ‘Rock’ now knows he knows. These are the “known knowns.”

    It would have been foolish on the part of these power centres not to have sought audience with a man who, not only deliberately, unrepentantly and unapologetically stands apart from these power formations in which they are either individually or collectively a part of (a man who has also long been suspected that he may one day be their nemesis), but a man known for his pathological disdain for corruption that some of them deliberately fed, nurtured and injected with massive dosage of steroids that mutated the monster into a “HYDRAPUS” (a hydra-headed monster and octopus combined) as aptly coined by WS. They do not need to be told that the “shit has hit the roof” when a president of the most populous country in Africa blurted, and in exasperation in far-away United States, that the monies in the accounts of these corrupt elements in our midst was “mind-boggling.” For Buhari, whose country is already known in the international community to have taken corruption as a way of life to have made this damning declaration must have sent serious shock waves to the corrupt but very powerful class in the polity, hence the marathon race to The Villa because the things they believed Buhari did not know—the “known unknowns”—have become the “known knowns.” Thanks to Buhari, the hapless Nigerian public now also knows that a minister carted away more than $6 billion within four years.

    Buhari must be reminded that the power centres’ ‘pilgrimage’ to the ‘Rock,’ most probably to wrest concession from him not to go the whole hog, or at least give some people, if not some on the entourage, some slack in his war against corruption, are among a group of very powerful people that tried in his previous attempts—even in the last presidential election—everything humanly possible to shut him out of the presidency even by foul means.

    Jonathan’s reply when Buhari unveiled some of the earth-shaking corruption that took place under his watch – which he claimed he was hearing about  ”for the first time” – was the most irresponsible statement to have been made by a former president. Hardly did he realize that the statement, in itself, was a serious indictment on his leadership. But we are relieved that Buhari was reported to have also told the former president in no unmistakable terms that “all looted funds must be returned to the nation’s coffers.”Just as that statement was another testament to the fact that Jonathan’s thoughts and utterances, if not his approach to governance, were far below the office he was saddled with, one is not fooled that what was inherent in the statement was his intentional refusal to acknowledge what he knew; the “unknown knowns”, that psychoanalytic philosopher SlavojZizek says is the fourth category of Rumsfeld’s declaration that he either deliberately left out or wasn’t aware of.

    ‘Thanks to Buhari, the hapless Nigerian public now also knows that a minister carted away more than $6 billion within four years’

    Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah’s statement in the aftermath of the 2015 Elections Peace Committee’s meeting with President Buhari that they “are concerned about [the] process” because the Buhari administration “is no longer a military regime” was most insidious and a dead give-away that the meeting with the Nigerian president had nothing to do with Nigerians’ collective desire to stamp out corruption after all. One may want to ask the Bishop if Buhari had arrested anyone on account of what he now knows—from the fool-proof evidence supplied by the international community—about these corrupt elements. He should also be asked if the president had thrown anyone in jail without any trial. One then wonders what would have warranted this unfortunate comment if not to intimidate and/or blackmail the Nigerian president. A committee imbued with strong moral values should not have allowed some of its members, most especially Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor, to attend the meeting with the president on account of his passive involvement in a morally despicable and illegal attempted gun-running with the use of his private jet. The Buhari presidency represents the very first time in the nation’s democratic history that Nigerians have a government of the people and for the people. But the sad and unfolding irony is that the “by the people” component that gives democracy its name and meaning is what seems to be the reason why the battle line is slowly but surely being drawn to prevent this component from happening. This phenomenon has further been exemplified by this recent rush to Aso Rock just as the war of attrition currently underway at the National Assembly, most especially in the Senate, is another testimony. Buhari can use all the support he can get from those Nigerians whose future had long been mortgaged by these corrupt elements who are ready to fight with all the ‘weapons’ at their disposal. It’s now time to be vigilant more than ever.

     

    • Femi Odere is a media practitioner. He can be reached at femiodere@gmail.com

     

     

  • Was Okiro crucified?

    After a long wait, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) recently emerged like a lion that regurgitates its prey, a prey many had thought it would masticate and pass out as a distasteful waste. The man in the eye of the storm, former Inspector General of Police Mike Okiro, is not really new to such trials. He had gone through battles with spurious allegations before. His career would have been torpedoed in the past but his strong character and record always saw him through.

    When the petition from a staff member of his Police Service Commission against him landed on the table of the ICPC Chairman, many did not give him a chance. Today, after 80 days of

    “thorough investigation” by ICPC, the verdict of the investigators clearly exonerated Okiro from any untoward criminal offence but was directed to correct some administrative lapses that had made many to queue behind the petitioner waiting to hear that Okiro is sanctioned and probably prosecuted.  ICPC noted in its two page verdict that “the investigation has not revealed any criminal infraction against the person of Okiro”. It is the criminal aspect of the investigation that really appeals to Nigerians, knowing the mood in the country today, where every Tom, Dick and Harry is posing as the righteous one while only those in leadership positions are the evil ones in the society.

    Okiro as a leader,  like many others like him and those coming up, should bear the brunt of such unfortunate ordeal whenever it comes their way and should not be deterred or discouraged from offering themselves for  service.   Such stone throwing at leaders is expected; but it is becoming rampant in our society and must be checked. I was just wondering if an allegation would not emerge against the ICPC chairman one of these days for not turning in the verdict of guilty that some accusers expect any time they throw empty allegations at people in top positions. This is what the society is gradually turning into, breeding evil whistle blowers. In this particular case, the petitioner had alleged that Okiro squandered all the  N350 million vote approved by the Presidency for the purpose of monitoring the 2015  general elections, by  staffers of the Police Service Commission.

    The petitioner did not stop at that but further alleged that an approved foreign trip for Okiro was not even embarked on and that he pocketed the entire flight ticket money and allowances.  A critical look at the ICPC report that took 80 days to write clearly shows that even the ICPC was surprised at their findings. They too must have thought that Okiro would be nailed by the weight of the allegation by his staff.

    But there are worrisome aspects of the ICPC handling of the Okiro case. It is unfortunate, for example, that the report of ICPC on the matter only got to Okiro after it had been circulated to the media. Then, the ICPC report, having concluded that there was no criminal infraction against the person of Okiro still directed the former IGP to “refund” the said balance of N133, 413,845.99 which the report said is domiciled within FCMB, noting that it should be remitted to the Federal Treasury through the ICPC recovery account number. The question to be asked is:  which money is ICPC talking about? The same money that Okiro in his submission during interrogation disclosed that the balance was handed over to the Police Service Commission Accountant and was deposited in the Commission’s account with FCMB, or is it any other money embezzled?

    It is surprising that ICPC could not inform the public that the said FCMB account it directed Okiro in its report to remit the balance of the money to is the same FCMB account operated by the Police Service Commission and that the money ICPC is directing Okiro to pay into FCMB is the same money Okiro had earlier directed PSC accountant to deposit at the same bank. If this clarification had been made, the confusion that Okiro is to refund money would not have arisen in the first place. Is it that the writer of the report got confused or was it deliberate mischief? The word “refund” connotes that the person being addressed was in possession of the alleged  stolen money which therefore means that he is to remit the money in  his possession by handing  it over. Since the ICPC must have gone through the whole documents and exonerated Okiro of doing any wrong as he directed the Accountant of the PSC to pay the balance of the approved money into the FCMB account of the Commission, what does it mean to say that he should remit the same money in question into the same account where the money already is? Is this not confusion? See why the Oresanya report said the ICPC is a deliberate creation to cause confusion and should either be scrapped or merged with the EFCC.

    ‘The question now is:  what should be done to sanction people who throw baseless allegations against top public servants simply because the mood in Nigeria at the moment is that of dealing with corrupt public officers?’

    In truth,  Okiro spent out of the total money for the purpose it was approved for , but also directed the Police Service Commission accountant to lodge the balance of the money with the Commission’s official bank which is the same FCMB that ICPC is referring to. That being the situation, since ICPC was sure that Okiro did not tamper with the balance of the money, why was the Commission not forthcoming in the way it explained the outcome of its investigation?

    In the report, the Commission noted that Okiro was investigated for alleged “corruption, abuse of office and fraudulent act of swindling the Police Service Commission to the tune of N275, 525,000”.  It is very unfortunate that after coming to the conclusion that “the investigation did not reveal any act of criminal infraction”, the petitioner who set out to tarnish the image of such a top public servant will be left to quietly go home without any sanction. It is obvious that Okiro has proved to be a man of integrity. Many of those wishing that he be crucified would have misappropriated the balance of the money, if they were in Okiro’s shoes. It is interesting to look at the issue of air ticket that was not utilised, which the petitioner also tried to make an issue of. Here, there are two foreign trips; one to Dublin and the next to Florida for the purpose of attending security conferences approved by the Presidency. It is on record that the petitioner had alleged that Okiro never attended any of the conferences, but the ICPC was shocked when it saw Okiro in clips from NTA that covered the Dublin conference. As for the Florida trip, he had tendered cogent reasons why he could not immediately attend and the Commission noted in its report that it would cross check “if the presidency approves of the application by the Chairman to utilise the Florida ticket later “. Even at this point, it is clear that the whole petition is another mischief targeted at dealing with a top public office holder to settle scores. The question now is not whether at the end Okiro was crucified, because he was not crucified. The question now is:  what should be done to sanction people who throw baseless allegations against top public servants simply because the mood in Nigeria at the moment is that of dealing with corrupt public officers?  What should be done to false accusers of public office holders as in the case of the petitioner against Okiro? The Police not only frown at false informants; the law provides for their prosecution too.

    • Igbozuruike wrote in from Abuja.

  • EFCC and anti- corruption war

    In all honesty, President Muhammad Buhari’s determined drive to frontally tackle the monster of crass corruption in high places and bring it to its begging knees deserves commendation. Indeed, it takes uncommon courage for any leader to set in motion pragmatic mechanisms to rein in the twin evils of corruption and impunity which have enjoyed a free rein in Nigeria for decades and made us a laughing stock in the comity of nations. Little wonder that such moves have attracted national and global acclaim.

    And deservedly so, because no nation ever achieves sustainable socio-economic growth when corruption assumes the dangerous dimension of a rampaging cancer spreading within its body polity and nothing is done to contain it. With the sweeping broom to cleanse the Augean stable, the president’s action is largely viewed as patriotic since we are all victims.

    It is against this bright backdrop that one would view the recent resurgence of the anti-graft Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate those alleged to have soiled their hands with filthy lucre especially since Buhari became the new president. The fact that the searchlight is being beamed on the high and mighty makes it more credible. Within the short span of two months for instance, the former governor of Jigawa state, Alhaji Lamido and his two sons, Aminu and Mustapha along with some others have been facing prosecution. They are to answer questions on 28-count charges related to N1.35 bn fraud.

    In a similar vein, the EFCC invited Toyin Saraki, wife to the former Kwara State governor and currently the Senate President, for questioning. She has to explain the execution of several contracts traced to her while her husband held sway as the state’s helmsman. On her part, Mrs. Zaina Dangigari, the daughter of late President Umaru Yar’ Adua and wife to the ex-governor of Kebbi State, is being quizzed for alleged misappropriation of N2bn state funds.

    Not done, the agency has also grilled Baraka Sanni, who was the Senior Special Assistant to former president Goodluck Jonathan on Schools and Agricultural Programmes. She has to defend herself against weighty allegations of diversion of funds earmarked for her office.

    President Buhari is also taking a closer look into the operations of the NNPC, allegedly responsible for monumental fraud, not excluding massive oil theft. One cannot but align with such moves to reposition the nation’s economy for impactful growth.

    The truth, however, is that as one praises EFCC’s salutary efforts, it must be able separate the wheat from the chaff , so that some Nigerians  won’t  capitalize on the wave of allegations to raise false alarm and perhaps settle scores. Only such would not distract well-meaning, focused public servants who are passionate about deploying their energy and intellectual skills for the best of their country.

    The recent invitation of the much-respected Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr.Paul Orhii, by the EFCC readily comes to mind. Even while he willingly obliged the invitation out of his own volition, the sensational and screaming headlines crafted by some section of the media had the intention to paint the suspect guilty, even before investigations started. People became jumpy, getting into hasty conclusions that not only undermine the image of the suspects but ultimately that of the agency in question.

    Is it not curious that one Mr. Ademola Magbojuri, the erstwhile Director, Finance and Account made allegations of acts bodering on financial impropriety on the part of Orhii only after he was redeployed to NAFDAC Training Institute at Kaduna? It is ridiculous that a public officer who has exhibited an act of insubordination would turn round to cook up cock and bull stories against his boss. That is pure mischief.

    What has he been doing all the while, even as media reports claim that he has all along been presiding over the meetings of the same fund disbursement he is accusing Orhii of? This, in my humble opinion shows that the former finance director has ulterior motives. Such vindictive people, out on a mission of vendetta, should not be allowed to distract the Buhari administration from its anti-graft war which is not meant to witch-hunt any citizen.

    Having read and investigated with apt interest Orhii’s giant steps since assumption of office, there is ample evidence that he has taken NAFDAC notches higher even if has chosen to be on the quiet side and allows his achievements to speak for themselves. What with, for instance, the construction of new laboratories, upgrading them to international standards, the use of cutting-edge technology against counterfeit drugs, to mention but a few. Anyone in doubt should pay a visit to the new edifice at Isolo, Lagos. In fact, for a world-renowned medical practitioner, lawyer and expert on drug-related matters to have chosen to return to serve his country shows the trait of a patriot. Should we pay him back in bad coins? While one is not advocating that he should not be investigated, that should be done with utmost caution. The EFCC has to differentiate between the motive of the petitioners and the method it adopts in carrying out its investigations, especially under the current tense political situation.

     

    • Obalola, a public affairs analyst, wrote from Lagos.

  • Away with this Peace Committee

    I think what we are concerned about is the process. It is no longer a military regime and under our existing laws, everybody is innocent until proven guilty.” This is a statement credited to the Catholic Bishop of Sokoto Dioceses, Bishop Hassan Kukah, when The Peace Committee for 2015 general elections led by former Head of State General Abdulsalami Abubakar visited President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday August 11, 2015. As it were, I found nothing wrong in the Peace Committee visiting the President because any credible group is free to visit the President since the President is for everybody and for nobody in particular. What I am worried about is the timing and the motive of the visit. I am deeply worried about the purpose of this visit. Is it to shield some people from the investigations on corruption going in almost every critical sector of our economy? Is it to try to circumvent a clinical process being put in place to put things in order in Nigeria? Is it to try to slow down President Buharis’s agenda to rid Nigeria of corruption? Is it an attempt to intimidate the President to slow down and let the corrupt who pillaged and plundered our common patrimony to go scot free? Is it a blackmail to render nugatory APC’s agenda to bring the change it promised Nigerians? Are the Peace Committee members not aware of the sordid roles some members of the committee played during President Jonathan’s tenure? Why these crude interventions at a time like this? Is the Peace Committee working to protect Jonathan and his cronies and shield them from facing the jury? When has it become an offence to investigate past leaders and bring them to book if necessary? What is the meaning of this dangerous mediation at a time like this? A friend tells me that the rampancy of corruption in Nigeria is a function of low Intelligence Quotient (IQ) on the part of all of us. Can the members of the Peace Committee be exonerated?

    Please listen to Bishop Kukah’s second sentence: “Again, our commitment is not to intimidate or fight anybody, the former President’s commitment and what he did still remains spectacular and I think that President Buhari himself appreciates that. So our effort really is to make sure that the right thing is done.” Now, what is this spectacular thing that the former president Jonathan did, to preside over a corrupt empire never known in the history of Nigeria, to decimate and desecrate the political decision to rotate power between the North and South and consequently put the nation in danger, to accept that he blew billions of dollars and pounds in an election he was bound to lose because the figures were not in his favour. He did something spectacular by accepting defeat in an election he lost fair and square? He did something spectacular by allowing every Dick and Harry including his wife to declare war on our national till?

    Let the truth be told, former president Jonathan was defeated black and blue, left and right, front and back and up and down. Eleven small states in the South-South and South- East would not have defeated 25 states from the South-West, North-West, North-East and North-Central. There was no way two small zones would have defeated four big zones in that crucial elections. Therefore, there was nothing spectacular about accepting defeat. He had no choice than to hand over and bow out. Former president Jonathan’s ambition to rule Nigeria for 10 years plus OBJ’s eight years put Nigeria in great danger. In fact it put a knife on things that have held us together. It divided the country, and it was a threat to national unity.

    It is therefore worrisome and unacceptable for the members of the Peace Committee to try to blackmail and intimidate APC and President Buhari in their strong desire and determination to fulfill what the party promised Nigerians. APC promised to fight corruption, impunity and lawlessness. APC promised to restore sanity and progress in the land. APC promised to do things differently and change the way we think, the way we reason, the way we act, the way we plan and the way we work. APC promised to plug all the loop holes and stop all the leakages within the system. APC promised to stop the oil thieves and chase the saboteurs away from the power sector and NNPC. APC cannot achieve all this without the required political will, courage and strong leadership. The task of rebuilding and repositioning Nigeria is a task that must be done and the president must be encouraged to go the whole hog. Have we suddenly forgotten what President Buhari went through in the course of the campaign? Have we forgotten all the hate campaigns against candidate Buhari? Have we forgotten the Certificate issue, his health issue, and his age issue? What did the Peace Committee do? They said Buhari will not rule Nigeria. They said he is brain dead. They said he has no certificate. They said he is not electable. They said he will die in office. They abused his family. They said APC will not survive till October 2014. They said Nigeria will be set on fire if Jonathan loses.

    Now that God has made Buhari president, please let us allow him to work. There are some faces I saw in the Peace Committee that send strong signals to me that it is former president Jonathan’s show. An evil spirit visited the house in the night and the child died in the morning. We know better. President Buhari should be allowed to do the work God wants him to do. God brought this president in the saddle to do what he is doing now. They did everything humanly possible to stop him but he defeated them all. I know that the election losers are still very angry, and are yet to come to terms with what hit them but it is a mission accomplished. I am told that old ways will not open new doors. PDP posed an existential threat to Nigeria while the bazaar lasted. Now we have a new order. This is a new Nigeria. Please allow President Buhari to fight corruption and restore sanity in the land.

     

    • Joe Igbokwe wrote from Lagos
  • Africa should demand reparation not bailout

    Africa should demand reparation not bailout

    The anti -colonial movements that swept across Africa and Asia transformed world politics, creating a new Third World the emergent countries. At that time, a radical mind was vehemently critical of the colonial powers. In his book, The Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon exposed the economic and psychological degradation of imperialism and pointed the way forward by violence that would ultimately lead to socialism. He recognized that colonial domination is total and tends to over- simplify, very soon manages to disrupt in spectacular fashion the cultural life of a conquered people. This cultural obliteration is made possible by negation of national reality by new legal relations introduced by the occupying power and banishment of the natives and their customs to the outlying districts by colonial society.

    By appropriation and by the systematic enslaving of men and women, this thought provoking historical analysis of colonialism given by one of African revolutionary minds; gives us a peep into the chequered history of Africa. The plight of African continent can be traced down time line; the slave era. Although slavery was one of the admixtures of productive labour relations practised in many nations in Africa long before the adventure of Arabs slave merchants and subsequently their European counterparts. The lust for black skin by these two slave merchants race signalled the precursor of what became the Trans-Atlantic slave trade that lasted over four centuries. More than four centuries of dehumanizing any human race was enough to truncate and stagnant its natural evolution in all ramification. As slave trade came under scathing castigation by the capitalist in the early stage of industrial revolution, they used the church to propagate its moral burden on nations trading in slaves. The frontier of dehumanization was systematically extended to encompass acquisition of colonial territories outside the mother countries. This was another phase of domination by ruling the freed people in their own continent.

    This phase saw the scramble for African continent by European nations. The unfair balance of economic, military and technology might was always in favour of the conquerors against the conquered people. As the conquering nations grow richer and more powerful due to their new mode of production, they seek foreign markets and also natural resources to feed their industries. The capitalist had to look no further than where their fore-bears looked (Africa) to get their needed resources. Their grandfathers came to buy or catch black skins; they too came to expropriate the riches in Africa’s soil. Pockets of resistance by angry, humiliated and dehumanized Africans were met by brute force made possible by the use of superior fire arms.

    According to Frantz Fanon, the colony’s economy was organised in order to complement the economy of the different mother countries. Colonialism hardly ever exploits the whole of the country. It contents itself with bringing to light the natural resources, which it extracts and exports to meet the need of the mother country’s industries. There by allowing certain sectors of the colony to become relatively rich while the rest of the colony follows its path of underdevelopment and poverty or sink into it more deeply.

    Immediately after independence, the people who live in the more prosperous regions realise their good luck and show a primary and profound reaction in refusing to feed the other people. African unity, that vague formula, yet one to which the man and woman of Africa were passionately attached and whose operative value serve to bring immense pressure to bear on colonialism takes off the mask and crumbles into regionalism inside the hollow shell of nationality itself. The national bourgeoisie, since it is strung up to defend its immediate interests and sees no farther than the end of its nose, reveals itself incapable of simply bringing national unity into being or of building up the nation on a stable and productive basis. The national front which has forced colonialism to withdraw cracks up and wastes the victory it has gained.

    Not long ago Nazism transformed the whole of Europe into veritable colony. The government of the various European nations called for reparations and demanded the restitution in kind and money of the wealth which had been stolen from them. Cultural treasures, pictures, sculptures and stained glasses have been given back to their owners. There was only one slogan in the mouths of the Europeans on the eve of the 1945 V-day; Germany must pay.

    In the same way, we may say that the imperialist state would make a great mistake and commit an unspeakable injustice if they contented themselves with withdrawing from our soil the military cohorts, the administrative and managerial services whose function it was to discover the wealth of the country, to export it and sent it off to the mother countries. We are not blinded by the moral reparation of national independence, nor are we fed by it. The wealth of the imperial countries is our wealth too. Europe has stuffed herself inordinately with the gold and raw materials of the colonial countries. Latin America, China and Africa from all these continents under whose eyes Europe today raise up her tower of opulence, there has flowed out for centuries towards that same Europe. Europe is literally the creation of the third world, the wealth which smothers her is that which was stolen from the underdeveloped peoples. The ports of Holland and docks of Bordeaux and Liverpool were specialised in Negro slave trade and owe their renown to millions of deported slaves. So when we hear the head of a European state declare with his hands on his chest that he must come to the help of the poor underdeveloped peoples, we do not tremble with gratitude. Quite the contrary; we say to ourselves; it is our just reparation which will be paid to us. Nor will we acquiesce in the help for underdeveloped countries being a programme of sisters of charity. This help should be the ratification of a double racialization. The realization by colonized peoples that it is their due, and the realization by the capitalist powers that in fact they must pay for it through lack of intelligence the capitalist countries refuse to pay, then the relentless dialectic of their own system will smother them. It is a fact that young nations do not attract much private capital. There are many reasons which explain and render legitimate this reserve on the part of the monopoly.

    As soon as the capitalists know that their government is getting ready to decolonize, they hasten to withdraw all their capital from the colony in question. The spectacular flight of capital is one of the most constant phenomena of decolonization.

    This distillation of Fanon’s narrative and the historical trajectory of western capitalist exploit in underdeveloped nations of the world in general and Africa in particular gives an insight into what obtains today. From the epoch of conquest and slave trade to colonial domination and imperialism, they keep perfecting their art of domination and control. Great African leaders like; Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela, Thomas Sankara, Patrick Lumumba, Amilcar  Calbra, Samora Machel, Julius Nyerere, and others  would be shuddering in their graves if they were to witness the plunder that has ripped Africa to bits, thanks to the convenience of leaders whom transnational corporations, ventures philanthropists and international financial advisers have led by the nose. Sankara illustrated the African spirit needed to realign the continent away from economic and political poverty and towards liberating ideas and people’s sovereignty. According to award winning activist Nnimmo Bassey in his book; ‘To cook a continent’ ‘some people think Sankara was an idealist and thus left his flank open to deadly bullets from guns wielded by friends.’

    The western powers in their Machiavellian control of world economy are adept in the use of blackmail, deception, intimidation, agent provocateur, conflict and crisis instigation and wars to maintain stranglehold on underdeveloped nations of the world. Today, carbon trading has crept into the socio-economic relations in international politics. As usual, African continent has been targeted to bear the burden of climate changed caused by industrial nations of Europe.

    This among other forms of control and domination is what we in the progressive left term second slavery era. We must align with present day activists and others spread across underdeveloped countries of the world to resist any form of neo-liberalism which is new era of imperialism. The imperialists have carted away uncountable able bodied black Africans. They came back for her rich soil resources and plundered it. Now, they are back to uproot Africans through wars and terrorism. Their corporations despoiled and degraded our rich eco system through oil and mineral explorations. They are buying our forest now in their bid to grab our lands in the name of a phoney carbon trading deals. Just like in the days of slavery, our greedy self-centred and unpatriotic leaders always connive with them as accomplice in all the dehumanizing trade relations. Renowned revolutionary writers like; Walter Rodney, Frantz Fanon, and Afro beat legend Fela Anikulapo Kuti have pointed the way forward. It is left for us in this generation to fulfil their patriotic aspirations and rescue Africa from being  a sleeping giant.

     

    • Ameh is the Founder of Generation for Change in Africa and Organising Secretary, Socialist Workers League Abuja branch.

  • Hunger and the Nigerian journalist

    I recently read an article titled ‘Bailout for debtor media houses?’ by Idowu Sowunmi, a media consultant. On the third paragraph of that article, he highlighted the names of media houses that owe workers salaries from as ‘little’ as four months to 18 months. As I scanned through the list of the who-is-who in the Fourth Estate of the realm that have ‘turned workers in these media houses to beautiful slaves of some sort’, I remembered that in 2009, I had had cause to write an article like Mr. Sowunmi’s. In it I had wondered at how a journalist who had not been paid his salary for eight, nine or ten months could take care of his rent, fuel his car, provide for his nuclear and extended families and still remain in a sound frame of mind to report on state governors who had not paid salaries of workers for as long as seven months as well. That article was serialized in the Daily Independent newspaper, and titled ‘Nigerian Journalism Heal thyself’. There were several reactions to that article and the one that I vividly remember was one by a journalist who misread my theme and upbraided me for daring to discuss a topic so wrapped in awe and discussed in hushed tones. But I came off from that discussion with the journalist with an awkward feeling in my gut: how long are we going to pretend that journalists are not being enslaved, subjected to hunger in their minds, souls and bodies, and that the only way some survive is to go a-borrowing and ‘marketing’ since the regularity of the ‘brown envelope’ is seemingly irregular?

    The other day I called up a colleague with whom I had had informal and professional dealings. All I wanted of him was the name and email of the editor in charge of a certain page of his newspaper.  I was stunned that he asked me to pay a fee for that ‘service’ and I told him so. He told me off as well, insisting that there was no way in hell that I was going to be able to reach that editor. ‘Even if you reach him, your article will only end up in his junk of his email. You will have to pay for me so that I can tell the editor to publish your article’, he said. He was right – even though I had sent some articles to that paper, none has ever seen the light of day. I cannot say that this is the same attitude of editors at ThisDay, Daily Independent, The Guardian, The Punch and The Nation Newspapers have exhibited – I have never met anyone of them personally, yet they subject my articles to the fire of objectivity and fairness and publish if my articles met their high standards.

    Therefore, I cannot be in a hurry to point fingers at whom or what is responsible for the mess the media is in today.  A colleague demanding for and asking to be paid for doing a job for which he is not being paid is probably just being human. The only problem there is at this stage is that the journalist is asking for his wages from source(s) from which he shouldn’t be expecting to be paid. Human beings have real and tangible needs, and these needs have to be met whether you like it or not. But human beings are the problems of human beings. Our journalists are no less trained than other professionals in other fields of human endeavour who do a decent job and who earn a decent wage.

    Let me explain: most of Europe and the Americas do not employ you to be a journalist simply because you can write or simply because you have a BA in Mass Communications. They employ you based on your track record in your chosen profession – architect, economist, sociologist or that you are a marine biologist who will be able to bring the full weight of your professional capacity to bear on information dissemination. The assumption is that a marine biologist would be better trained to understand, dissect and distil information before it gets to the public. If a media house in Europe and America were to employ a lawyer or an accountant, they would have to pay him, else they would have no option but to close shop.

    Another thing that makes the practice of journalism in the modern world much more interesting and exciting than what obtains in some media houses in Nigeria is that the media houses themselves have flexible professional affiliations with journalists. Most will not employ large members of staff if they know that they cannot afford to pay them. They know that keeping a large number of journalists translates to a huge wage bill not just in terms of monthly salaries but welfare packages and emoluments as well. So what they do is that they keep a large number of stringers –  professional journalists who work freelance and only get paid if they have a story that sells – and yes, stories sell like hot cake in that part of the world. A journalist who has a good story can sell it to as many mediums as possible. He doesn’t have to be employed and sit at a desk from Monday to Sunday, without holidays and with no pay.

    But that is not all – journalists in the modern world do other things apart from just sitting at a desk. They multitask – they teach, blog, write books, take pictures and engage on speaking tasks that rake in a nice income. If a Nigerian journalist were to do this, the wrath of his employers would probably fall on him and the fear of losing a job for which he is not even paid or paid well is so great.

    And it is at this point that I would part ways with the author of ‘Bail out for media houses?’ who seeks government intervention for the inability of media to pay its workers. The minute government intervenes and gives newspaper houses a bailout, they would become rubber stamps and news agencies of government. I would prefer to have a medium struggling to pay its workers salaries than having one on the payroll or bailout or one that has collected dole from government. The very essence of journalism is in being able to speak truth to power and hold government accountable. How many journalists on the entourage of a governor or a minister actually do hard investigations on government expenditure in spite of their proximity to that government official?

    Consequently, I would recommend that media houses that are unable to pay salaries should democratize,  ‘rebrand’ or re-strategize – they should use more freelancers, bloggers, reporters and syndicated columnists who have a job elsewhere but who are interested in earning something extra. The current practice where a journalist’s ID card is a meal-ticket is an embarrassment to Nigeria, and which stunts the growth and development of democracy.

    Etemiku is Communications Manager with the Africa Network for Environment and Economic Justice, ANEEJ.

  • Nigeria has always been within the grasp of terror

    Long before the emergence of Boko Haram, the Nigerian Muslim population-especially those in the northern part-has always craved for a unifying leader. A leader that would lead based on the Sharia system. The amalgamation of the Southern and Northern Protectorates in 1914 saw to the end of the last vestiges of the Uthman Dan Fodio Caliphate. Ever since, abjuration of this Caliphate legacy has proved difficult for the Muslims to come to terms with. They have strived to find a replacement to it.

    The Amalgamation gave rise to series of constitutional amendments, and eventually Independence in 1960. The twin impacts of the amalgamation and independence reduced the former Caliphate to a mere fragmented states within nations (Niger, Cameroun and Nigeria). To the Muslims in the north of Nigeria, it was a re-ordering on a scale never envisaged. Hence, the held notion that human rights and democracy are western manifestations must be debunked and resisted. Senegal, unlike Nigeria, had that unifying leader before and after Independence in person of Sheikh Ibrahim Niass in the early and late 20th century. Even after his death in 1975, he is still being held as a source of inspiration and guidance to not only by the Senegalese, but also to a large number of Muslims in West Africa. By this sheer fate, Senegal would build the most enduring democracy in the region with little or no sectarian strife, or without any flirtation with the ever divisive and unstable Arab world. Essentially, they aren’t torn between the Sunni-Shia conflicts that have come to define Islam. The Tijjaniyya Islam which Sheikh Ibrahim Niass propagated has so far proved to be the safety valve, and most importantly as a hedge against radical Islam in Senegal.

    Nigeria, on the other hand, has been searching in the wilderness for such a leader as Senegal had. This saw the Muslims in Nigeria journeying far afield in search of this. In the 1970s when Muammar Ghaddafi declared Libya a Jamhuriyya (a republic), it was common place to see male children named after him. Fast forward to the 1990s, the Gulf War to be precise. Male children were named after Saddam Hussein. The one personality with the most devastating impact was Osama bin Laden, who exploited one of the major ideological issues uniting the Muslim world: the statehood and sovereignty of Israel. This ideological sentiment that the leader of Al Qaeda used to coalesce an army of followers around the globe found ready enthusiasts in Nigeria. These factors further radicalised the Muslim population, and to some certain degree steeled them to great feats of endurance with the ultimate aim of re-establishing a pax Islamica. The clerical parvenu that was created, politically speaking, by above factors and personalities mentioned, considers the re-establishment of the Sharia system as an elemental necessity-a precondition for justice and fair play. And the radical characters in this clerical assemblage conceived themselves as a divine will. This movement is at cross purposes with the Westphalia style of governance or international order where citizens are expected to obey a sovereign power other than God in return for security and protection.

    A 21st century Nigeria finally bowed to terror. But something is missing in this gradual radicalisation of Muslims in Nigeria in the 21st century. In as much as a more extreme form of Islamic terror has replaced Al Qaeda, that is ISIS. We are yet to see parents naming their male children as Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi or even Abubakar Shekau-the leader of Boko Haram. So, what has changed?

    Truth is; ISIS and Boko Haram have the same ideology, which is the total annihilation of any form of a secular society or government. The positive here is that, Nigerians have come to understand, first hand, what religious extremism is. The same way the Afghans and Pakistanis have come to the realisation that this cannot be the proper way to pursue a cause. This shift is what I prefer to call the positive, and governments around the world must seize it. Yes. They must make Islam and democracy as compatible opposites. Not even the case of Charlie Hebdo could reverse this positive trend in Nigeria. There were no rioting, instead adherents of the Islamic faith took to the media (electronic and print) to register their grouse with the Charlie Hebdo magazine. We must understand that terror groups latch on such rifts and divisions to loom large. Another salient positive is the issue of conventional banking that deals in interest. Muslims around the globe have always desired to have a banking system that incorporates ethical products. This feat was achieved not by war but by a simple democratic legislation in Nigeria. These positives have increasingly made the prospect of having an extreme individual or group as the fidei defensor diminished in the future.

    However, the smooth elections of March and April 2015, and the now seamless transition process have denied these elements of terror what would have been their own opposite version of “The Miracle House of the Brandenburg”, if we have had a chaotic election.

    In a nutshell, the war on terror cannot be about bullets alone, but above all, enlightenment on how far the world has become very much interdependent. Hence, the notion of universality of any one system must be aligned to work in tandem with an interdependent world shaped by what is unanimously agreed upon as a legit partnership.

    Othman sent this piece through nuhuothman@gmail.com

  • Reviving Nigeria’s ailing textile industry

    President Muhammadu Buhari’s good resolve to create three million new jobs in the textile industry is a positive development that deserves the support of all well-meaning and patriotic Nigerians. As a stakeholder in the Cotton, Textile and Garment (CTG) sub-sector of the economy, I am assuring fellow Nigerians that the CTG sub-sector alone is capable of creating more than one million new jobs if all the right things are put in place, especially if there is political will on the part of both the executive and legislative arms of governments at all levels as well as the determination, sincerity, patience and commitment of all stakeholders.

    I want to advance some measures that can be applied to achieve desired goals. To ensure the success of President Buhari’s motives within a short period, institutions such as the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigeria Immigration Service, Central Bank of Nigeria, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission should forge a formidable team to promote and protect the sub sector the same way a mother guards and protects her child. A team work on the part of aforementioned institutions will ensure elimination of faulty documentations, money laundering, dumping of sub-standard textile materials as well as foreigners doing business in Nigeria with visiting visas or with fake entry documents.

    Also, the Presidency should pursue the principles of African Growth Opportunity Act of the United States with vigour. Opportunities abound for Nigeria in AGOA regarding garment production, which can guarantee employment of more tailors and continued patronage of students in departments of tailoring and fashion design in our tertiary institutions. This can equally bring about an increase in the establishment of small and medium scale industries such as zip making, buttons production, elastic and packaging industries, among others. Patronage of state governments to the sector will mean the same as above as well as increase in competitiveness in schools sports programmes and ensure local products are patronised.

    For the desired result to meaningful, the President will need to declare a National Textile Day. This will be a once a week, non-ceremonial, but action packed day whereby all political office holders, appointees and other public office holders in the country will dress in home-made textile attires that are culturally popular and patronized in their section of the country.

    If this noble gesture is backed with a legislation that bans the importation of all categories of ready-made clothes on commercial basis, it will make our tailors to perfect and be competitive in production of garments at international standard, thereby ensuring self-reliance in garments as well as conserving foreign exchange. This will attract foreign investors to the sector and bring about financial control, development and strengthening of the sector. The proposed legislation should promote, develop and protect the sector by limiting the importation of textile fabrics that could not be produced in Nigeria now to 70% and production of 30% by Nigerian textile manufacturers. The legislation for importation of textile materials should require presidential approval and only from countries willing to invest in Nigeria’s textile sector. Part of the legislation to patronize made-in-Nigeria textiles and garments by all private and public institutions should be extended to school uniforms, sports wears, school house vests, hotel toiletries, bathroom napkins, towels, hospitals cotton wools, bed sheets, mosquito nets and blankets. All these can be sourced locally if the political leadership is willing to walk the talk. As an incentive, black oil allocation (LPFO) should be made directly to textile manufacturers at affordable price.

    I also propose that one spinning and ginning plant be established in each of the six geo-political zones i.e. Funtua in the North-west, Gombe in the North-east, Nassarawa in North-central, Oyo in South-west, Asaba in the South-south and Aba in the South-east to serve as a springboard or back up project for the success of cotton, textile and garment development projects. This is also to ensure that medium scale textiles and garment factories spring up across the nation with easy availability of yarn, since spinning industry is highly capital intensive, and it is the backbone of any textile fabric. This is realisable with the constitution of a new CTG revival committee that will be peopled with real stakeholders who will be responsible for designing the revival, production, marketing and sound planning for the CTG sub sector. A good way to start is for the committee to draw its membership from the Nigerian Textile Technologists Association, Nigerian Textile Manufacturers Association, representatives of Garment Manufacturers, Cotton Farmers and Merchants, the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Raw Materials Research Council, among others.

    Finally, there is the need to have a thriving textile council whose main task is to oversee the registration and accreditation of bodies for the training of textile professionals in the country. A textile competency centre should also be established in the National Research Institute of Chemical Technology (NARICT) ABU Zaria, for the continual training of the professionals. And tertiary institutions that have programmes in textile science, engineering, technology and art should be adequately funded and consulted on issues affecting the industry. If all these are given prompt and adequate attention, I have no doubt in my mind that Nigeria’s ailing textile industry will be revived within a very short time so that it can unleash further opportunities for millions of Nigerians.

     

    • Adhama (MFR, FTTN) is founder of Adhama Textiles and Garment Industry, Kano.