The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • A jinx broken

    A jinx broken

    12 years after, Tinubu dusts up Oronsaye report for implementation to save cost

    Twelve years after the Presidential Committee on Restructuring and Rationalisation of Federal Government Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies, under the leadership of former Head of Service of the Federation, Mr Stephen Oronsaye, submitted its report to the Federal Government, President Bola Tinubu last Monday authorised the immediate implementation of its far-reaching recommendations. For some inexplicable reason, neither the President Goodluck Jonathan administration, which set up the committee in 2011, nor the succeeding President Muhammadu Buhari administration took any steps to implement its proposals. And this was despite the fact that, after the submission of the report to President Jonathan in 2012, a committee was set up to produce a White Paper on its implementation and it also submitted its report. Again, President Buhari, in 2021, set in motion the process for the actualisation of the report through the review of the White Paper on it. Still, the implementation of the report never took off.

    There is no doubt that influential vested interests who felt they would be negatively affected by the proposed substantial streamlining of federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) must have successfully pulled strings to frustrate the implementation of the report till now. It is certainly in the national interest that President Tinubu has now broken the jinx and directed that decisive action be taken on the report. This once again demonstrates the President’s ability to take tough decisions, which may have painful consequences in the short run, but will be for the ultimate good of the country. He exhibited this trait, for instance, through the removal of fuel subsidy and the merger of the official and parallel exchange rate markets on his resumption of office as necessary steps towards a fundamental restructuring and strengthening of the economy. The approval for the implementation of the Oransaye report is no less momentous.

    To ensure timely Implementation of the report, the President set up a 12-man committee headed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, with a 12-week timeframe to effect necessary changes as advocated in the report. In its 800-page report, the Oransaye panel had identified the existence of 541 parastatals, commissions and agencies of the Federal Government. Many of these performed identical and overlapping functions; some had fulfilled the purpose for their establishment and had thus outlived their functional utility, while some others were obviously set up for reasons that were less than altruistic. It had become obvious that, as the country’s protracted economic crisis worsened and her revenue earnings plummeted, the existence of such an expansive and essentially wasteful bureaucracy at national and sub-national levels was no longer feasible or sustainable.

    The committee set up to actualise the contents of the report surely has its job cut out for it. It has a task that is truly arduous but attainable with the necessary determination, commitment and sense of purpose. Among the recommendations of the Oransaye panel, which is now being put into effect are the slashing of 263 agencies to 161, merger of 52 agencies, the downgrading of 14 agencies to departments in ministries and the scrapping of 38 agencies. It has been estimated that the Federal Government is likely to save about N250 billion if these reforms are diligently and efficiently carried out.

    It is certainly difficult to fault the recommendations of the report as regards the agencies to be scrapped, merged or subsumed as departments within ministries. Some of the agencies are also being relocated to new ministries where it is believed they will function with greater efficacy and impact. Giving an insight into the list of agencies, commissions and parastatals to be streamlined, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination, Hajiya Hadiza Bala Usman, disclosed that the National Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS will be merged with the Centre for Disease Control in the Federal Ministry of Health, the National Commission for Refugees Migration and Internally Displaced Persons will be merged with the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Directorate of Technical Cooperation in Africa is to be merged with the Directorate of Technical Aid and will function as a department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs while the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission will be merged with the Bureau for Public Enterprises.

    Other bodies to be affected by the reorganisation include the Public Complaints Commission which is to be subsumed under the National Human Rights Commission, the Nigerian Institute for Triparnosomiasia to be subsumed under the Institute for Veterinary Research, the National Medicine Development Agency to be subsumed under the National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development as well as the Voice of Nigeria which is to be merged with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria (FRCN). Bala-Usman also named agencies which will be located to different ministries as including the Nigerian Diaspora Commission which is to be converted into an agency under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Blood Service which will be converted into an agency under the Federal Ministry of Health, as well as the National Agricultural Land Development Agency which is to be relocated to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.

    These few examples vividly illustrate the desirability and imperative of this exercise as overlapping and duplication of functions among these agencies lead to avoidable turf wars, wasteful depletion of scarce public resources and have negative impact on the efficiency of most of the affected agencies.

    In carrying out its charge, the committee on the implementation of the report must pay attention to reconciling and integrating the diverse organisational cultures of the affected agencies so that the emergent new entities can function with the necessary harmony and synergy. Again, the committee must be sensitive to the issue of the career trajectory of affected personnel in the affected agencies and the leadership structure of the merged or subsumed agencies. The inclusion of the two Senior Special Assistants to the President on the National Assembly on the committee is necessary and commendable. This is because the support and buy-in of the National Assembly is key, especially as there will need to be the repeal of the laws setting up many of the affected establishments and the enactment of new laws to give legal backing to the new entities.

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    During the briefing with newsmen on the President’s directive as regards the Oransaye report, Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mr Mohamned Idris, gave the assurance that no jobs will be lost in the process of carrying out this reorganisation. We agree that as much as possible, everything should be done to protect jobs, as sending more people into the unemployment market at a time of excruciating economic pains like this will be counterproductive. It will be the challenge of the committee to identify areas where affected officers can be deployed to in the light of their qualifications and experience, and where they can be maximally productive. Even if no jobs are lost, the implementation of the report can still lead to more efficient and effective use of public resources through considerable reduction in administrative and associated costs, as well as elimination of wasteful expenditure on agencies performing the same functions.

    The implementation of the Oransaye report is a vindication of sorts for the former Head of Service of the Federation and his team who did a very thorough job in handling their assignment. They must feel fulfilled that their efforts have, after all, not been in vain.

  • Whodunit?

    Whodunit?

    • We need to know who killed Dele Giwa, others

    Assassinated Nigerian journalist Dele Giwa has grabbed the headlines yet again, 38 years after his death, following the order of the Federal High Court, Abuja, on February 16, directing the Federal Government to “investigate, prosecute and punish perpetrators of all attacks against journalists and other media practitioners, and ensure that all victims of attacks against journalists have access to effective remedies.”

    Justice Inyang Ekwo also made an order directing the Federal Government to “take measures to prevent attacks on journalists and other media practitioners.”

    This judgment was the outcome of the suit instituted by Media Rights Agenda (MRA), a non-governmental organisation, in 2021, seeking to enforce the fundamental rights of journalists to safety as stipulated in the Nigerian Constitution, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

    The NGO had listed journalists in the country who were killed extrajudicially, including Giwa. Others were Bolade Fasisi of the National Association of Women Journalists, killed in March 1998; Edward Olalekan of Daily Times, killed in June 1999; Omololu Falobi of The Punch, murdered in October 2006; Godwin Agbroko of Thisday, December 1999; Abayomi Ogundeji of Thisday, August 2008; and Edo Sule-Ugbagwu of The Nation, April 2010.

    The judge noted that the Federal Government “neither denied that these killings have taken place nor that these persons were not journalists or media practitioners.”

    Predictably, reports of the court judgment highlighted Giwa’s murder because it was a unique case and perhaps the most devastating of the unresolved cases of journalists murdered in the country. The colourful, high-profile journalist and founding Editor-in-Chief of Newswatch died from injuries inflicted by a parcel bomb he received while having breakfast in his residence in Ikeja, Lagos, on October 19, 1986. He was 39.

    In 2015, 29 years after Giwa was killed, a former Deputy Inspector-General of Police who investigated the murder, Chris Omeben, was reported saying his efforts to interrogate a “principal suspect” failed due to interference from “high places.” He was in charge of the Research Department of the Police CID when Giwa was murdered.

    The gruesome murder happened under the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida military regime, which was accused of the killing in some quarters. In 2001, Babangida rigidly refused to appear before the Human Rights Violations Commission, popularly known as the Oputa Panel, concerning the Giwa murder. He demonstrated desperation for silence by going to court. Babangida,  Col. Haliru Akilu (retd) of the Directorate of Military Intelligence (DMI) in his regime, and Lt. Col. A.K Togun (retd), who was the Deputy Director of the State Security Service (SSS), obtained an order barring the commission from summoning them to appear before it.

    An astounding travesty of justice followed as the commission’s chairman was reported saying while it had powers to issue arrest warrants for the trio, it decided against such a move “in the overall interest of national reconciliation.”

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    The campaign for justice for Giwa has been relentless. The other listed media victims of extra-judicial killings deserve justice as well. According to a 2021 report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 278 journalists were killed in Nigeria in the 10 years prior to the report. It is unclear whether any of these cases was resolved.

    The court order directing the authorities to reopen the unresolved murder cases involving journalists is a strong legal and moral statement.

    It is said that there is no perfect murder. The failure of the authorities to bring the perpetrators of the stated extra-judicial killings to justice amounts to a failure of law enforcement and a contradiction of that assertion. 

    The Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi, and the Inspector- General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, must carry out the court order by reopening the unresolved cases of extrajudicial killing involving journalists, particularly the ones listed by MRA, and pursue justice for the victims. The momentous judgment demands nothing less.

  • 2023 private WASSCE results 

    2023 private WASSCE results 

    • Students must be ready to study hard to pass exams

    On a cursory examination, details of the results of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for private candidates just released by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) indicate that the performance was below average and unimpressive. Out of a total of 80,904 candidates that sat for the examination in 568 centres across the country, 35,830 candidates representing 44.29% obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.

    The total number of candidates who had credits in five subjects, with or without English Language and Mathematics, was 46,267 representing 57.19%. This is significant because tertiary institutions across the country require that students secure credits in a minimum of five relevant subjects, including English Language and Mathematics for virtually all courses of study.

     Also, a total of 7,192 candidates representing 8.89% of the candidates had their results withheld for various infractions.

    However, the results of the WASSCE for school candidates in 2023, which was released by WAEC in August, last year, gives a more complete picture of the students’ performance in that year. Out of a total of 1,361, 608 candidates that sat for the examination, 84.38% obtained credits in a minimum of five subjects with or without English Language and Mathematics. On the other hand, 1, 287, 920 candidates representing 79.81% obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics. For the year 2022, 1,601,047 school candidates who sat for the examination obtained credits and above in five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.

    The trend would thus appear to be that WASSCE school candidates tend to perform better overall than those who write the examination as private candidates.

     On the other hand, however, the incidence of suspected examination malpractices leading to withholding of results of affected candidates is higher among school candidates than private ones. For 2023, among 1,613,733 school candidates who wrote the examination, the results of 262,803 candidates were withheld for various malpractices. And in 2022, 22.83% of the candidates that sat the examinations had their results withheld.

    It is thus evident that the incidence of examination malpractices continues to be a disturbing menace in the WASSCE. Perhaps WAEC can learn a number of valuable lessons from the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), which has been widely commended for cleaning up its examination processes and generally enhancing its operational efficiency. The Head of Nigeria’s Office (HNO) of WAEC, Mr Patrick Areghan, identifies an attitudinal problem contributory to examination malpractices and poor performance on the part of a large number of students when he said that “Candidates are no longer ready to study, they lack self-confidence and preparations for examinations are poor. There is over-reliance on the so-called ‘expo’ which is non-existent”.

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    WAEC, however, deserves commendation for making adequate preparations for candidates with special needs in its examinations. Among the private candidates in the 2023 WASSCE, 211 were with varying degrees of special needs. These included 33 who were visually impaired, 21 with impaired hearing and 30 albinos. In the schools candidates category, 79,794 had diverse special needs. Among these, 109 were visually impaired, 386 had impaired hearing, 33 were spastic cum mentally challenged and 34 were physically challenged. All of these were provided the necessary amenities to write the examinations. WAEC should not rest on its oars but strive to continue to improve in this regard.

    It is troubling that a significant number of those who pass the WASSCE with requisite credits in the relevant subjects fail to get admission into tertiary institutions due to insufficient spaces. Students who are unable to gain admission into public institutions, which are relatively more affordable, and whose parents cannot afford to send them to schools abroad or very expensive private institutions at home are thus left in the lurch, seeking admission from year to year.

  • Ruth Gottesman’s gift

    Ruth Gottesman’s gift

    • A worthy example for our politicians, pastors, etc. with deep pockets

    Amidst the global economic gloom occasioned by post-COVID issues, exacerbated by the Israeli-Hamas, Russia-Ukraine wars, immigration crises and other issues, a glimmer of hope for humanity made headlines. Ruth Gottesman, a former Clinical Professor

    Emerita of Pediatrics at Albert  Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York, has donated $1billion to cover tuition for all future medical students in the college. All current fourth year students at the college will also have their Spring 2024 tuition reimbursed.

    Ruth Gottesman is the widow of Wall Street investor David Gottesman (Sandy), who left her a fortune with the instruction to “do whatever you think is right with it”. Current and future students at the medical school will receive free tuition, thanks to this donation, the largest education donation so far in the United States of America.

    Her husband, David “Sandy” Gottesman, died in 2022 – 72 years after their marriage. He was an early investor in Warren Buffet’s multinational conglomerate and sat on the company’s board. The donation would, if well managed, last forever because interests would continue to grow.

    Tuition for medical students is about $60,000- $80,000 a year in the United States. This is why most students and prospective students are scared of paying student loans long after graduation. It’s gratifying to note that 59% of first year students in the college are women and about 18% described as being underrepresented in medicine.

    We commend this outstanding philanthropic gesture which is as significant as it is inspirational to our world. The field of medicine is one that not many have the passion for, or the finances to pay the tuition. So, most dreams die with their dreamers. For those who would be lucky to get admitted into the college, tuition would not be a problem. That means many dreams would be realised without breaking the bank or being burdened by student loans.

    A very vivid impact of the value of the donation can be gleaned from the interview by first-year student Samuel Woo who told the Associated Press he “will now be able to pursue his dream of providing medical services to homeless people, rather than going into the more lucrative field of cardiology to pay off his student debt”. There are many like Samuel whose dreams can now be realised.

    This philanthropic gesture should inspire more people that have the money, especially in third world countries, with virtually no social security, student loan scheme or much disposable income to invest in education rather than splurging on exhibitionist luxury items or buying real estate abroad that are of no economic value either to them or the country of their birth.

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    The new Pentecostal church owners can be more socially responsible by investing in education, especially when most of them have primary, secondary and tertiary institutions where some of their members send their children at very high costs while majority cannot even afford to send their children there. Education is the best legacy to the future generations. Donating to education and research is a good investment in human advancement.

    In a country like Nigeria, few rich individuals have for the past two decades invested through establishing schools, but not necessarily giving donations for the education of students except for Chief Afe Babalola that donated money to his UK alma mater and Dr. Gamaliel Onosode and Dr Philip Ozuah who each donated $1million to University College, Ibadan, his alma mater too. Others like Gabriel Osawaru Igbinedion,  Michael Ade-Ojo, Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, Atiku Abubakar, Bola Ajibola, Michael and Cecilia Ibru, Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida all have commercially viable institutions.

    One unique aspect of Ruth Gottesman’s donation is the total altruism in requesting that the school should not change its name to hers as is done in most cases to reflect the name of a big donor.  She is also on the board of the school.  Some people do such gestures for the expediencies of building monuments. It seems to us Ruth values the monuments in people’s hearts across generations…that is immortality.

    In today’s food emergency, we wish our politicians, pastors and rich individuals with deep pockets can understand those who are hungry. Posterity would not remember their private jets, mansions and other material possessions. Their names would also remain for eternity when they redirect their investments away from political sponsorships to valued sectors like education.  Educating individuals is the greatest investment in our humanity and governments and rich individuals must take the Ruth Gottesman example.

  • APC’s primary in Edo

    APC’s primary in Edo

    • The party should learn from its past losses due to irregular primaries

    It was a long-drawn fight for Senator Monday Okpebholo who has been eventually declared winner of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primary election in Edo State. At a point, it appeared that it would be a fight to the finish, with different factions and chieftains of the party projecting different aspirants as winners.

    When the election was primarily held on February 17, the Hope Uzodinma Committee set up by the National Working Committee (NWC) declared Dennis Idahosa, a member of the House of Representatives, winner, while the returning officer announced Monday Okpebholo the flag bearer.  By the following day, a strange group by name Body of Local Government Returning Officers threw up another candidate, Anamero Dekeri. It was confusion galore.

    It was characteristic chaos, giving the impression that the ruling party at the federal level could not put its house in order.

    But, swiftly, the Abdullahi Ganduje NWC declared all the announcements unacceptable and called for fresh primary election. In addressing protests from the aspirants, the national leadership cleverly removed Governor Uzodinma from the process and

    appointed his deputy and Cross River State Governor Bassey Otu, to organise the fresh poll. That process has since returned Senator Okpebholo as the authentic candidate of the party.

    Given the shenanigans that attended the 2023 General Elections, Nigerians had thought our politicians had learnt enough lessons. But, the APC leaders in Edo State showed they were willing to throw guidelines and legal framework out of the window to ensure that their preferred candidates were declared winners. While Adams Oshiomhole, former governor of the state and incumbent Senator representing Edo North backed Idahosa, the state working committee did everything to ensure Okpebholo who represents the Central District in the Senate obtained the ticket.

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    It is obvious that Nigerian politicians are yet to learn lessons that have turned judges into deciders of electoral contests, starting from internal party contests that are shamelessly manipulated in favour of proteges of godfathers.

    The APC, in particular, should learn from needless losses they suffered in the past. In 2019, the party lost a resounding victory in Zamfara State as the judiciary adjudged the primary election held there as illegal. Therefore it lost not only the governorship seat, but all the legislative seats. The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) that was rejected at the polls became the beneficiary. In the forthcoming Edo State September 21 gubernatorial election, three political parties, the APC, PDP and Labour Party have the chance to pick the crown. Any party that disregards the electorate in such a competitive political environment will lose in a free and fair election.

    Nigeria ought to have outgrown electoral brigandage, 24 years after resumption of democratic governance. Edo is one of the states that stand the chance of pulling Nigeria ahead. All the leaders have a duty to reconcile before the election. The same applies to the PDP where the deputy governor, Phillip Shuaibu, remains at loggerheads with the official candidate, Asue Ighodalo. In the Labour Party, the factionalisation heat that has dogged the party since last year’s General Election is affecting an otherwise seamless poll that returned former Nigerian Bar Association  (NBA) President, Mr. Olumide Akpata.

    It must be noted that without justice and unity, there cannot be peace in the state. Nigeria and all its parts need peace for development.

  • AEDC’s questionable N47b debt

    AEDC’s questionable N47b debt

    • But it is shocking that the State House and big MDAs are among the debtors

    Last week, Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) threatened to cut off power supply to the State House, the Ministry of Power, and 84 other ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of the government over a N47 billion debt due as of December 2023.

    State House was said to be owing about N923m.

    The DisCo said attempts to make the debtor-agencies pay up failed and gave them a 10-day notice due to expire today, to pay up or risk disconnection.

    According to AEDC, the chief of defence staff, barracks and military formations topped the debtors’  list with a staggering N12 billion debt, followed by the Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), with N7.5 billion, Federal Ministry of Finance had an outstanding balance of N5.4 billion. Other big time debtors included the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Federal Ministry of Education, governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Federal Ministry of Budget and Planning, Federal Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Ministry of Interior, Head ECOWAS and Federal Ministry of Transport.

    It is gladdening that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was sufficiently worried that the State House was listed among the debtors and immediately directed the management to promptly reconcile the figures with the AEDC and settle the confirmed outstanding.

    But it is shocking that contrary to the N923m that the State House was said to be owing, the figure dropped to about N342m after reconciliation. This is a difference of a whopping N581m. The question now is: from where did this creep in?

    Without doubt, we should worry that the State House debt was allowed to get this high in the first place. This is the seat of government and it should lead by example. If the State House would not pay its utility bills promptly, what moral right does it have to urge or compel other public utility debtors to pay?

    Apparently, some people in charge of utilities must have been derelict in their duties for this to have happened. Such persons must shape up or ship out. We cannot tolerate such laxity that gives a negative image to the State House.

    Beyond that however is the ‘crazy billing’ menace that has also been discovered in the huge difference between what the State House was said to be owing and its actual debt. There is no gainsaying that such discrepancies would have occurred in the case of the other debtors. We therefore urge proper reconciliation of all the accounts to determine the actual debts owed by the MDAs. Payment should only be made for goods purchased or services rendered.

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    It is good that electricity customers like the State House and other notable MDAs have a taste of over-billing that has become the lot of millions of hapless electricity consumers who bear such injustice in silence, in the absence of prepaid meters. Several discrepancies arising from over-billing would have been avoided if prepaid meters had been provided. We urge the government to lay more emphasis on all electricity consumers being provided prepaid meters. This is the only way to ensure fairness for both the DisCos and their customers.

    All said, the Federal Government must, moving forward, ensure that MDAs pay for services that they enjoy as and when due. They all have budgets for these utilities, so, it is only corruption or laxity, or both, that would make them accumulate utility debts until they run into billions.

    If it is convenient for the service providers, which we also doubt, it should not be for the government and its MDAs. Businesses thrive when customers pay promptly for goods and services. We cannot insist on improved power supply if consumers do not pay for such services. The DisCos are not father Christmas. So, much as they should not be allowed to fleece Nigerians, Nigerians too must fulfill their own part of the bargain.

  • Bizarre kidnap

    Bizarre kidnap

    • No rest even for the dead as abductors hold both corpse and mourners for ransom

    Stories emanating from different parts of Nigeria get ever more bizarre by the day such that, many times, real life seems stranger than fiction. We have in recent times had reported in the media tales of youngsters killing and harvesting vital organs of their purported loved ones for ritual purposes. We’ve heard the story of a young man who killed his girlfriend and slept with her corpse for seven days on the directive of a herbalist in a quest to get rich quick. We have also read the story of some family members arranging the kidnap of their relatives and demanding hefty ransoms.

    As a matter of fact, there have even been cases of individuals arranging their own kidnap, in cahoots with others, again in a cynical desire to make money. Of course, cases of kidnapping across the country have become a routine affair to the extent that many Nigerians are becoming desensitised to the severity and venality of this crime.

    In a recent incident, the criminals kidnapped a couple and still had the temerity to demand ransom payment for the release of the wife after killing the husband.

    However, a recent kidnap case which occurred in Enugu State is particularly bizarre because, among the victim this time around was a corpse. According to media reports, the deceased, Ugwanyi Israel, from Ameze Owerre, in Umabor community of Nsukka Local Government Area of the state, was being conveyed home for burial when the kidnappers struck around Umoka Audi Local Government Area of the state. The corpse, driver and some others in the vehicle were whisked away by the kidnappers who later called members of the family and demanded a ransom of N50 million before their release. Although wicked and unjustifiable, the kidnap of the living can still be analysed and rationalised. But what do we make of the abduction of a corpse and the demand for payment for its release?

    From all indications, this was an insider job organised by those with some degree of intimate knowledge of the sorrowing family. Hence, the abductors knew the movement and plans for the burial, enabling them to successfully actualise their evil plan. The abductors of the corpse and grieving family members were obviously playing on the sentimental and emotional attachment by people in most Nigerian communities to giving their departed loved ones what they perceive to be a befitting burial. This is a duty the living believe they owe the dead, and many families spend humongous amounts of money in organising elaborate burial ceremonies for their dead.

    It is an indication of the ever- worsening heartlessness, cynicism and sadism in our society that criminals inflict this kind of emotional trauma on families of their victims. They are aware that family members derive a measure of emotional fulfillment from being able to point to where the remains of their loved ones are buried, and prey on this.

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    Underlying the near daily acts of kidnapping for ransom and assorted cases of ritual killings for wealth in the country is the craze for material acquisition at all cost.

    This perverse desire is also fuelled by the extravagant lifestyle of many who have accumulated stupendous wealth without necessarily engaging in any discernible productive activities. It is incumbent not just on government but also families, community leaders, schools, religious bodies, the media, traditional rulers and other stakeholders to contribute their quota towards a fundamental change in our scale of values as a people.

    The astronomical surge in criminality in contemporary Nigeria can also not be dissociated from the pervasive and continually deepening mass poverty, even as a tiny minority exhibit conspicuous wealth. It is impossible for the poverty that fuels crime to be eradicated when humongous funds that are supposed to be expended on achieving this objective are criminally appropriated by a conscienceless minority.

    But it remains a mystery that kidnappers all over the country can negotiate freely on their telephones for ransom payments by family members without being tracked and nabbed, despite the availability of modern technology to do so.

  • The cement question

    The cement question

    • A justified price hike? Or few producers bandying together to flare prices?

    On the cement quandary — a product that sources its raw materials locally but which price always hits the roof — the government must ask penetrating questions, much deeper than claims by industry players.

    That way, the Federal Government would independently interrogate the entire cement production chain, factored in the impact of its own policies, and emerge with a fair cost profile, that either justifies or nullifies the current claims by cement companies.

    That would be a fresh start to x-raying the cement conundrum.  The yo-yo in the market has endured for too long.  Yet, cement is crucial to any infrastructural upscale — road, rail, housing, et al — so imperative to expand the infrastructure stock to grow the economy.

    All these queries have become necessary, with the high drama on the cement front these past few days.

    First, there was a meeting between two ministers, David Umahi (Works), Mrs. Doris Uzoka-Anite (Industry, Trade and Investment) and cement manufacturers, to figure out how to arrest the always flaring prices of cement, now selling for between N13, 000 and N15, 000 for a 50 kg bag.

    That meeting agreed on a tentative price regime between N7, 000 and N8, 000, depending on where the customer is buying, within Nigeria’s far-flung territory.  The meeting agreed to meet 30 days later to review things. 

    But apparently not impressed with the new agreement, another infrastructure minister,  Ahmed Musa Dangiwa (Housing and Urban Development), read a seeming riot act: if the cement players play hard ball in hard times, the Federal Government might re-think importing cement.  That has not happened since 2012, when Nigeria was adjudged to have developed the capacity in cement self-sufficiency.  Still, how can self-sufficiency equate constantly soaring prices?

    Besides, the agreed prices were subject to some conditions: the government must tweak some policies negatively impacting the cost profile of cement, while the manufacturers would launch an inter-industry monitor to sanction any erring company or profiteering distributor. Fair enough.

    Still, late in 2023, the BUA Group — only next to Dangote cement in market share — pledged itself to a N3, 500-a-50 Kg bag, with a possible roll-out from January 2024.  Yet, the same BUA agreed to the new pan-industry prices of between N7, 000 and N8, 000. 

    If BUA could solo promise a N3, 500 price tag — and it’s not a charity organisation — would it not be logical thinking to assume that the newly agreed prices could still be far in excess of fair pricing?  Seven thousand Naira is the double of N3, 500.  Eight thousand Naira is even a clear N1, 000 added to that double! 

    So, if BUA could sell a bag for half of the newly agreed price, why can’t other players: operating in the same market, sourcing the same local raw materials and subjected to the same “smuggling” into neighbouring countries to attract high prices, do same?

    Could the high price of cement then be some oligopolistic conspiracy: a few players determined to sell at any price they damn well want, let the heavens fall? 

    Though BUA pledged to infuse an additional six million tonnes into the market, perhaps to drive down prices, why didn’t BUA insist on its voluntary pledge to sell at N3, 500 and see how the other players will react? 

    Was it earlier playing to the gallery?  It wanted to start a price war?  Or it just took easy comfort in the new price regime, knowing that either way, it would still make a kill while the consumers flinch; and the economy, which needs urgent core infrastructure to grow and provide jobs, continues to stagnate?

    None of these queries proves or even presumes any bad faith.  But they show why the government should address the umpteenth cement riddle with a more rigorous mind, if Nigeria must root out any oligopoly plot.  Cement, just as steel, is strategic to national development.

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    That brings the matter to the manufacturers’ conditions to deliver on the agreed prices: high cost of gas, high import duty on cement-producing machinery, smuggling and bad roads subjecting cement manufacturers to wanton wastes: as trucks stumble and products perish; and of course, the naira floatation, which had led to its over-undervaluation, sparking inflation.

    The government must move fast to influence a more pocket-friendly gas pricing.  It can also address high import duty of cement machinery, thus treating the sector as strategic.  As for naira parity, that is at best a medium-run challenge.  But again, even that calls for periodic tweaking, to arrive at a fair and realistic exchange rate.

    However, the other conditions would appear cement makers stacking their cards.  Smuggling is certainly overplayed.  Being a bulk product, there is a limit to which cement can be smuggled.  Only plants close to the border can do that, but even then, the cost and strain are humongous.  Still, the government can act, with intel from players, to reduce such to the barest minimum.

    But instead of pointing fingers at bad roads, cement makers can offer selves as  proud and patriotic partners to fix that challenge.  Works minister Umahi is passionate about concrete roads.  That means not only more market for cement makers, better roads pave a far better future operating atmosphere for their business.  Yet, hardly anyone has heard the cement industry own that policy as their own.

    These are hard times.  But with good conscience and patriotism, that pang can be neutered.  The right questions asked, it would appear cement can still sell for far below N7, 000 or N8, 000. 

    It is, therefore, left to the Federal Government to do its due diligence  and do the needful.  The success of its ambitious infrastructure projects may well depend on that.

  • Commendable probe

    Commendable probe

    • We should know how N30trn Ways and Means was spent

    We commend the decision by the senate to probe the controversial N30tn Ways and Means loans granted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari. Far from being an attempt to open wounds as some are won’t to tag the exercise, it seems, in the circumstances in which the country has found itself, utterly unthinkable that those charged with the public duty of calling such behaviours into account, will pass off the egregious violations of the era without doing violence to their own integrity as an institution. Nigerians would readily recall the many controversies that trailed the issue of the reckless loans to the immediate past administration. The high point of that sordid era was President Muhammadu Buhari’s January 2023 letter to the National Assembly requesting that the N22.7trn Ways and Means loan be converted to a 40-year bond with a moratorium of three years. Whereas the House of Representatives acceded to the request, the 9th Senate would be thrown into a chaotic session after some lawmakers opposed to the request demanded the details of the expenditures. Amidst strident objections by some members who had insisted that the approval would run foul of the law, the then senate president Ahmad Lawan had rammed the request through.

    With last Tuesday resolution by the senate to proceed with a probe, the wheels would appear to have turned full circle. But then, the development is itself a logical sequel to the recommendation of its Joint Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Finance, National Planning, Agriculture and Appropriation on State of the Economy, on the matter. The body had held interactive sessions with the Federal Government’s economic management team on the issue, following which it recommended that a probe had become necessary. Here is the broad stroke of the committee’s observation as captured in its report: “One of the main drivers of inflation in Nigeria today is the volume of money in circulation. As at December 2023, the country recorded an unprecedented money supply of N78.74tn, and a 51 per cent year-on-year increase when compared to money supply as at December 2022. One of the driving forces of this significant increase in money supply was the N30tn Ways and Means or the direct financing extended by the CBN to the Federal Government which has only weakened the balance sheet of the central  bank. In addition to the inflationary pressures, the country is also battling with acute shortages of food items.”

    Now, the Godswill Akpabio-led senate wants the entire affair probed: ‘A thorough probe must be carried out on the N22.7tn Ways and Means approved in May 2023 by the 9th Senate which later increased to N30trn, with the passage of the N7.2trn accrued interest forwarded to the senate for passage last December…The details of the spending, he insisted ‘must be submitted for required scrutiny and possible remedies…’

    With due respect to the former Senate President under whose watch those controversial activities took place, and who in the course of the deliberations last week, would urge his colleagues to consign the development to the past to enable the body focus on the present, we do believe that this senate, unlike the one in which he held sway, is very much in order. His call, if we may put it bluntly, seems to us as utterly irresponsible.

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    To start with, the country would not have been in this mess had the 9th senate done the due diligence of requesting for the detailed breakdown of how the N30 trillion went. As if that was not bad enough, the same senate would take to the ‘sleep mode’ and so failed to sound the alarm even when the signs were there all along that the apex bank had not only violated the relevant provisions of the CBN Act 2007, but had in moments of an assumed national exigency, conveniently overstepped its traditional boundaries of monetary policy management.

    It may be that Nigerians have grown weary of probes that in the end up as mere charades. What is undeniable is that the latest one is not just at sync with the demands of public accounting, it is a public duty imposed on the senate. In any case, it is in accord with the citizens’ right to know. This is even more so now that the proverbial chicken has come home to roost; with the mind-boggling revelations of outlawry and subversion of the foremost national institution by its irresponsible leadership. The probe seems to us the surest path to a definitive closure of that sordid chapter.

  • Paying ASUU

    Paying ASUU

    • Stakeholders must learn from past mistakes in the interest of varsity education.

    It is cheering news that the Federal Government has paid four months of withheld salaries to members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) who embarked on an eight-month-long strike in 2022. On May 30, 2023, the National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) ruled that the withholding of the salaries was legal. All the same, as a measure of goodwill, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu decided to pay four months out of the withheld salaries. This decision is a commendable act of magnanimity.  From the strike and its aftermath, there are different lessons to learn by different stakeholders in the Nigerian university system.

    First, ASUU cannot continue to subscribe to the mantra that “strike is the only language government understands.” Considering the very wide range of scholars and professionals, including psychologists, sociologists, political scientists, linguists and communication experts, among others, that are in their membership, to claim that they cannot find any alternative to largely ineffective and mutually-damaging strike actions is an admission of failure to justify the huge investments of the nation in them.

    During the 2022 ASUU strike, the front page of the November 26, 1981 issue of ‘Daily Sketch’ was circulating widely on social media. It had the headline “ASUU may call off strike.” If the strike option had been sufficiently effective in all those four or so decades, things would have become so good in the university system that another strike would not have been contemplated in 2022.

    Second, ASUU needs a critical review of the timing and duration of its strikes. In 2000, ASUU declared the commencement of a nationwide strike at the onset of the fearsome COVID-19 lockdown. That was ill-advised and amounted to an attempt to aggravate rather than ameliorate the trepidation of the nation. That was a time when all the intellectual resources of the country needed to have been mobilised to confront a novel scourge.

    Going on strike for the whole of eight months at a stretch was also unedifying and self-defeating. A labour union is not an enemy force, and must not conduct itself as one. The devastation of any aspect of national life should therefore never be the express or ostensive goal of any union, whatever the circumstances.

    Third, ASUU has not been adequately reflective in the communication of its strike actions. For example, the union stated that the 2022 strike would be “comprehensive, total and indefinite.” However, when the government invoked the “No work, no pay” provision of the labour law, the union launched into semantic gymnastics by arguing that it was only teaching that members were not doing during the strike, but that they were carrying out the other two major duties of a lecturer – research and community service. It bears noting here that teaching is the primary duty of a lecturer, and research and community service are ancillary activities. 

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    Fourth, the government should endeavour at all times to agree to only the demands of ASUU which it can reasonably fulfill, and strive creditably to fulfill the agreements it has signed with the union.

    Fifth, the Federal Government needs to shed its ambivalent attitude towards lecturers’ strikes. In this regard, the government has treated the members of the Congress of University Academics (CONUA), who were not part of the 2022 strike, the same way it has treated ASUU members who were on strike. So, the salaries of members of CONUA were withheld for the period of the ASUU strike, and only four months of their salaries have been paid along with the payments to ASUU.   This has the tendency to give the impression that the government does not really appreciate adopting measures other than strikes to pursue workers’ demands.

    Going forward, all stakeholders within the Nigerian university system should work in harmony to make the system globally-competitive and functionally-relevant at all times, and especially in moments of national challenge.