The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Chris Alli (1944 – 2023)

    Chris Alli (1944 – 2023)

    • Appropriately described both as “The people’s general” and “hero of democracy”

    An uncommon former Nigerian Army major-general and Chief of Army Staff (COAS), who was pro-democracy under military rule, made the dictatorship uncomfortable, and was consequently removed from his high military office. That sums up the image of Mohammed Chris Alli, who died on November 19, aged 78.  

     The Coalition of Pro-Democracy Groups for a Better Nigeria, in a posthumous tribute, described him as a “hero of democracy” and “The People’s General,” adding that he risked his position in the army by “supporting civil societies’ collective struggles for the actualisation of the June 12, 1993 presidential election won by late Chief MKO Abiola.”  

    He was one of the few pro-democracy voices among the military top brass at the time. As the professional head of the army, and a beneficiary of military rule, he was expected to be loyal to the power circle at the expense of democracy. But he rose above such parochialism, and demonstrated his sense of professionalism, and his correct understanding of the place of the military in modern society.  

    Born in Kotonkarfe, in present-day Kogi State, he had his military training at Fhiegehorst Isaufboren, West Germany, and the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) in 1967. He attended the “Platoon Commander’s” course in Westminster, UK, in 1971, and the “Unit Commander’s” training in Pakistan, in 1975. He also attended the Command and Staff College, Jaji, Kaduna State, in 1978, and the National Defence College (NDC), India, in 1990. He got a master’s degree from the University of Allahabad, Pakistan.

    He was investigated for alleged involvement in the coup attempt that resulted in the assassination of the then head of state, Gen. Murtala Muhammed, in 1976, but was eventually exonerated.  

    Alli served as military governor of Plateau State from 1985 to 1986, under the Gen. Ibrahim Babangida regime. He was commander of the 3rd Infantry Brigade in Kano when the attempted coup against Babangida happened in 1990, and ensured that several other army commanders remained loyal to the regime, which contributed to the failure of the coup attempt.

     The high points of his army years included commanding a battalion during the Nigerian Civil War (1967 – 1970), serving as Nigeria’s defence attache to Zimbabwe, Director of Military Intelligence (DMI), and General Officer Commanding (GOC), One Mechanised Division of the Nigerian Army, Kaduna.

    He reached the pinnacle of his military career when he was appointed COAS and elevated to major- general under the Gen. Sani Abacha regime, following the November 1993 palace coup against the Interim National Government (ING) headed by Ernest Shonekan.

    Read Also: Tinubu mourns former Chief of General Staff Chris Alli

    His pro-democracy stance, which contradicted Babangida’s annulment of the presidential election won by Abiola, and the perpetuation of military rule by Abacha, led to his removal as COAS in August 1994, less than a year after he was appointed. Another high-profile casualty was Allison Madueke, a Rear Admiral and Chief of Naval Staff (CNS). They had notably lent their voices to the call for the release of political detainees under Abacha.  

    Ten years later, in a democratic setting, Alli, then a retired soldier, was considered the man for the job of restoring peace to Plateau State, which in 2004 was facing ethno-religious crises reported to have consumed more than 50,000 people. He was named administrator of the state he once governed as a military officer, after the then president, Olusegun Obasanjo, declared emergency rule in the state and suspended democratic institutions.

    To his credit, Alli succeeded in calming the storm. He introduced the Plateau Peace Programme, among other peace measures. He handed the baton back to the democratically elected authorities in November 2004, about seven months after his intervention.

    His book, ‘The Federal Republic of Nigerian Army: The Siege of a Nation’, published in 2001, reflects the mind of a professional soldier, patriot and progressive thinker. He described the book as “an articulation of the ecstasy, the fears, the constrictions of a nation in turmoil, a nation pulling itself apart.” It remains food for thought.

  • A familiar ban

    A familiar ban

    • Again, police ordered to withdraw personnel from VIPs

    President Bola Tinubu’s directive to the police high command  to withdraw about 100,000 police personnel from VIP security duties, and in its stead develop a community policing strategy, is a welcome idea that must be followed through.  Minister of Police Affairs, Imaan Suleiman-Ibrahim, revealed this at a two-day management retreat at the Ministry of Police Affairs.

    The directive followed the deluge of  requests for policemen by some influential Nigerians. The force has begun the process of recruiting the next batch of policemen.

    Nigeria is one of the most under-policed countries in the world. Ironically, in the last 10 years, the country has also become one of the most insecure, as a result of the activities of Boko Haram, ISWAP, bandits, kidnappers, murderous herdsmen and all sorts of social miscreants that have made the country insecure. As a result of their nefarious activities, some foreign governments have issued warnings to their citizens to limit their movements in the country or avoid visiting certain states entirely.

    But the directive to withdraw police personnel from VIPs is not new. 

     After his inauguration in 2015, former President Muhammadu Buhari  instructed that policemen attached to VIPs be withdrawn. Sunday Arase was the then Inspector-General of Police (IGP). Later, Ibrahim Idris made the same call in 2018. In 2020, Mohammed Adamu, the then IGP also gave the same order shortly after the #EndSARS incident.  In 2021, IGP Baba Alkali Usman gave the same order.

    None of the past instructions worked. This then makes us assume that the latest directive might end up a mere routine. 

    But we do not have to go through this route because there is an urgent need for errors of the past to be corrected.  Maintenance of law and order is one good prerequisite for a functional democracy. The idea that VIPs that are supposed to serve the people are so scared of their own security to demand and pay for extra security at the expense of the general population should be unacceptable.  The people have been shortchanged by those who they elect as leaders but who turn around to monopolise the services of the police personnel, leaving them vulnerable to the social ills that the elected ought to work at fighting.

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    The sad part of the whole process of police personnel being attached to VIPs is the image that brings to the force. At some point, there were videos of such personnel carrying handbags for some women or holding umbrellas for men, making them more of domestic servants than law enforcement officers.  Some incidents of such police personnel being physically assaulted by their employers have also been reported and this is definitely bad for the image of the police.

    The police must be the police of every citizen and not just policemen for those who can afford to pay extra for their services. It makes better strategic and tactical sense to police communities rather than  allow some citizens monopolise the services of policemen. It even gives a very bad optics that police personnel hang around VIPs in public, and man their houses to the exclusion of the general public. There is probably nowhere else where there is as much abuse of the services of policemen as is seen in Nigeria.

    There must be a structural reorganisation of the system such that people who access power at any level would be made to be responsible enough not to have a sense of exclusive entitlement  to policing.  There must be an urgent solution to make the country more functional to reduce crimes which overstretch police duties. The people are as important as the VIPs that demand exclusive protection from a police force that is not even up to the UN benchmark for policing ratio.

    We commend the fact that the force is planning to recruit more personnel but training them takes time and as such, the already trained ones must be maximally deployed to work for every citizen. Monopolising the police by VIPs  fuels impunity and devalues the police force. The essence of government is the protection of lives and property, and the police force is crucial in achieving these objectives.

  • Kokori’s lamentations

    Kokori’s lamentations

    In what can appropriately pass for lamentations of a former powerful General Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG), especially during the June 12, 1993 political crisis in Nigeria, Chief Frank Kokori, a major face of that struggle, is today in pains. He cannot understand how a man like him, whose word was law in that dark era of the nation’s history could have been left or abandoned to his own device at a time he so badly needs the nation.

    Kokori, who has been sick for a while was hospitalised in Warri, Delta State, over kidney-related ailment.

    The elder statesman had told journalists that he was dying, having been abandoned on his hospital bed in a ‘third class’ health facility.

    The septuagenarian chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) told the journalists that they should announce to the world that he had died and risen. 

    “I have something to tell this country, please. Please, do your best. Tell the world that Kokori is dead and risen. The only man in Warri that can handle kidney problems is Horeb Hospital, Warri,” Kokori said. He added: “But I am facing other challenges. The air conditioner is not working…What a country! Mobilise yourselves. I have something to tell this country, please. Please, do your best.”

    Chief Kokori is particularly irked with NUPENG. “I’ve called on NUPENG that this is what they’ve done to their leaders. That NUPENG could not even take care of me. It’s sad. God bless everybody,” he concluded the ‘press briefing’.

    Without doubt, Chief Kokori’s contribution to the exit of soldiers from our political life cannot be denied; not even by those who may not like his face or his guts. When NUPENG sneezed in the course of the June 12 struggle, even the then military rulers caught cold. The late head of state, General Sani Abacha, in particular would not forget Kokori in a hurry if only the dead could see. Several times Kokori called out the powerful NUPENG out on strike and several times did he succeed. Without petroleum products that were NUPENG’s source of strength, it was a matter of time for socio-economic activities to be paralysed nationwide whenever Kokori barked. 

    As a matter of fact, the military rulers at some point began to see him as an irritant and pollutant that should be kept out of circulation in their interest. 

    Read Also: How Tinubu is fighting insecurity, by Gbajabiamila

    For a man who did so much to enthrone democratic rule that we are enjoying today, is Kokori asking for too much?

    The answer is neither here nor there. While some may see his statement as an unwarranted sense of entitlement, others are likely to see it as normal, especially in our kind of clime that does not often reward diligence and hard work. The fact is; many people are working in Nigeria today, but how many earn salaries that can actually take them home? It is only people who earn living wage that can talk of saving for the future. 

    Save for some of our athletes who are generally rewarded either by the government, corporate organisations or philanthropic individuals, many others have nothing to fall back on even after working for years. Hence, their resort to appeals to whoever might have been led in the spirit to help them in their hour of need.

    But such ‘indecent’ begging would have been unnecessary if only there are safety valves. These are generally lacking in the country, whether for the old or young; the able or the physically challenged. 

    We commend Delta State Governor Sheriff Oborevwori who transcended partisan walls to visit and pay his bills. Not even his APC chieftains in the state or on the federal level has woken up to his emergency.

    Septuagenarians like Kokori can no longer fend for themselves. They should be taken care of by the government. This is where a thing like health insurance comes in. While those in paid employment contribute a certain percentage of their salaries to this scheme, and can therefore access medical care at affordable charges, the aged should be fully taken care of by the government.

    We are aware that some help has reached Chief Kokori, probably after he cried out over his plight. Commendable as this is; it is not enough. We need institutional frameworks to take care of a case like this.

  • Raw talent

    Raw talent

    • The ‘Genius of Gombe’ is a national asset that mustn’t go to waste

    A 70-year-old man who never had formal education has been conferred with an honorary doctorate degree by the Gombe State University, Gombe, 

    where he is also employed as a lecturer. Hadi Usman has no fewer than 78 technological inventions under his collar, and it was on the strength of these that the Gombe university engaged him as a lecturer to teach electronics and satellite installation, and also awarded him a honorary doctorate in Science and Innovation. His is a case of raw talent being harnessed for systemised higher education in a manner of harmonising ‘the town’ and ‘the gown’ for humanity’s benefit.

    In an interview with The Punch newspaper, Usman, who was born in Bauchi but has lived most of his life in Gombe, said he had a background in Qur’anic education and cultivated ability in Western literacy only through self-development. “I never attended a primary school, but I give lectures in English and I also speak English because, in science and electronic innovation, there is no way one can function without reading… I received Western education at home as well as through friends and acquaintances,” he explained, adding: “I also read many science books written by inventors like Michael Faraday, and Guglielmo Marconi who invented the wireless transmitter. All these were written not in Hausa but in English. The reason I said I did not have formal or Western education is because I did not go to school and sit in a classroom to be taught.”

    The septuagenarian said he began inventing things in 1971. He stated that his inventions were mainly electronic items, including a systems control platform that, according to him, has more than a hundred functions. But his major break came with his invention of a cooking stove that uses water as fuel to produce heat energy. Usman said he spent three years researching on the product, and the outcome was what caught Gombe varsity’s attention. He recalled that there was an event in Abuja to which people were invited to showcase their inventions, and where he picked an award for the best invention with his stove that generates flames for cooking from water pressure. The university, according to him, carried out its investigation on some of his inventions and invited him to a screening panel. “After that, I was offered appointment as a lecturer in the field of entrepreneurship at the university. Within six months, I trained 30 students – 10 in the field of electronics, 10 in electrical electronics and 10 in installation. That was what qualified me to become a full lecturer in the university,” he said.

    Read Also: Gombe’s transformative journey andInuwa’s strategic engagements in Abuja

    Usman lamented, however, that he has not been able to commercialise his inventions owing to challenges with patenting them against  piracy: “Each time I invent something and produce 20 or more units and take them to the market for sale to determine their costs before the products are sold, I discover about 50 to 100 (units) in the market. Some people just buy one and dismantle it to know how it was constructed and then they construct their own, thereby rendering all my research, resources, time and hard work useless and non-beneficial to me.” He said it was for that reason he had not released the water-powered stove into the market, “until I get a patent for it in such a way that even when you buy and dismantle it to know the components, you will not be able to reproduce it.”

    Gombe university authorities deserve applause for recognising and tapping the raw genius of Usman in training their students. But there is much more to do to maximise his potential. For one, being without formal education and hence theoretical underpinnings of his inventions, relevant members of the university academia need to work with him to polish the inventions for patenting and marketing for industrial-scale production – that, without robbing him of his creative right over the items. Nigeria is blessed with many raw talents who are not properly harnessed and are wasting away, with only a lucky few catching the eye of foreign institutions and have drawn them away to base countries. It isn’t

     unlikely that Usman’s advanced age has kept him from being likewise brain-drained.

    Besides, at 70 years, Usman can’t be in his most productive elements. He needs institutional-based squad of assistants to work closely with, and be mentored by him; such that as he grows older in years, he would reproduce himself in these mentees and rely on them to do the heavy liftings while he gives more of oversight. This, to be clear, goes beyond training students in course curricula.

    And there is room for the university to further bridge ‘the town’ and ‘the gown’ by pitching Usman’s inventions to, not just industry players but also government through its science and technology minders. In his interview, the septuagenarian said companies from countries like China and Australia showed interest in his water stove when it was exhibited in Abuja. If there are bilateral issues involved, it falls on government to facilitate – not just for the benefit of the inventor, but also for Nigeria’s balance of trade. And locally, Usman’s water stove could just be the answer to prevailing exorbitant energy costs for domestic cooking. 

  • A route not taken

    A route not taken

    • Qualified lawyers and academics as appellate court judges will enrich our jurisprudence 

    The list of 22 Justices of the Court of Appeal nominated by the Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC) to the National Judicial Council (NJC) for appointment to the Supreme Court shows resistance to the suggestion to nominate academicians and legal practitioners for consideration. Currently, there are 10 justices of the court, well below the 21 provided for by section 230(2)(b) of the 1999 constitution, as amended.

     President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, represented by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, recently urged the NJC to consider qualified lawyers for appointment to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court benches.

    We support the president’s call to enrich the bench with intellectuals and legal practitioners who have distinguished themselves in the legal profession. Both the appeal court and Supreme Court would be the richer for it, if academicians in various fields of law and forensic advocates are nominated to the courts. If that is done, our legal jurisprudence and judgments would be enriched with intellectual and practice experiences, respectively. 

    Of course, such introduction should not be at the detriment of justices of the Court of Appeal and judges of the high court who rose through the bench.

    What is being proposed is a blend of theory and practice, to enrich our jurisprudence and judgments. Like every change, there are those who will resist the proposal, and insist on relying on the present template of using performance as judges and justices to select those to be elevated. Such criterion will automatically exclude non-judicial officers, since they have no such experience. To win such persons over, a robust dissection of the pros and cons of such introduction may help members of the NJC to allow the change. 

    Justice Taslim Elias was a good example of such historical transitions. Elias served as the first Nigeria Attorney-General and Minister of Justice from 1960-1966. With a doctorate degree he was appointed Professor and Dean of Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, in 1966. He subsequently served as the Chief Justice of Nigeria from 1972 to 1975, and later President of the International Criminal Court (ICC) from 1982 to 1985, where he became a judge since 1976. Highly regarded in the legal community, he was the longest serving judge of the ICC.  

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    In other jurisdictions, like the United States, Justices of the Supreme Court are selected from universities, the bar, and public service. Such variety of experiences and legal background help the Supreme Court bring multidimensional savvy to the judgments of the courts. No doubt, the Supreme Court, while primarily an interpreter of law, is also a law maker in a constructive sense because the finality of its decision has profound impact on the society, and such responsibility is onerous and far- reaching.

    What is far more important is that only men and women of impeccable character are selected as judges and justices. Some of the current challenges faced by the judiciary arose because of the quality of persons elevated to the bench. Relying on base sentiments in the selection process has far-reaching consequences for the society. The process must also wean itself of  those with corrupt tendencies. 

    For, whenever the judiciary, which should be the bastion for all, is corrupt, the society decays and eventually collapses.

    President Tinubu, speaking through Mr. Fagbemi, correctly posited: “some of the challenges as identified by the National Judicial Council include; inefficiency and gaps within the process of appointment of judicial officers; lack of transparency and accountability in judicial process and administration of justice.” So, those to occupy the highest judicial position in our country must be the best our country can offer.

  • An overreach

    An overreach

    • That is what FRC’s template on states’ borrowing amounts to. CBN must do its job

    Worried by state governments’ indiscriminate borrowing vis-à-vis the banks’ blatant disregard for established guidelines in granting the loans, the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), is reported to have devised a template and guidelines for such borrowing. While the FRC expects the template to mitigate the risks by ensuring that banks have all the information they need before making a lending decision, the guidelines are also meant to ensure that banks comply with all the necessary requirements before lending money to states. 

    In furtherance to this, the FRC also made known its plan to request that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) issue new guidelines to banks on how to lend to states – guidelines expected to provide details on the requirements that banks must meet, such as proof of compliance with the Fiscal Responsibility Act. 

    The goal, according to FRC, is to protect both banks and states from financial problems, as, in the words of FRC’s Head of Directorate of Legal, Investigation and Enforcement, Charles Abana: “most banks in the country lure state governments into securing loans that eventually add up to the nation’s total debt stock.”  The FRC, he further stated, decided to issue the template and guidelines after a meeting with banks in Lagos revealed that “bank officials often swoop on state governors as soon as they constitute their cabinets, with mouth-watering offers to lure them into borrowing”.

    That the financial system is in dire need of robust template and guideline for credit administration is certainly beyond question. This newspaper will be surprised if no template and guidelines currently exist. 

    Yes, it is also true that most of the states cannot claim to be oblivious of the express provisions of the FRC Act, particularly section 12 which prescribes that government only borrow for capital expenditure and human development. 

    That this laudable provision is observed more in the breach is not necessarily on account of the absence of guidelines; it is rather a measure of the collective failures of the different agencies and institutions in following the rules. Most notorious here are the pliant legislatures, most of which are only too eager to please rather than check the excesses of the executive branch. To these we might add the credit administrators at the banks, who for the filthy lucre and fearing no consequences would not hesitate to bend the rules in flagrant violation of the established guidelines; then the regulators under whose watch those infractions are condoned.

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    It may well be that the states are guilty as charged; it seems however doubtful that FRC can stop them. In any case, beyond the penchant for labelling and stereotyping, the states are certainly no more sinning than those corporate titans, politically exposed persons, sundry businessmen and the Federal Government itself – all of whom at various times are known to have taken advantage of the lax rules to abuse the financial system.

    While the focus on the states borrowing might seem in order, we do however believe that a more generalised approach is the best way to go. After all, lending is lending – and it does not matter whether the beneficiary is a farmer, manufacturer or a state government. What is critical is that the guidelines as set out are scrupulously followed, or, better still, enforced. 

    Assuming police powers or taking on the lead agency role as the FRC is wont to do in the situation is not only unhelpful, but smacks of an overreach. The FRC, after all, does not control the lenders, neither are the latter answerable to it in any operational sense. The CBN does and so should be the one calling the shots. Asking the CBN to issue new guidelines to banks on how to lend to states seems to us a case of putting the cart before the horse.

  • Tact and balance

    Tact and balance

    • Both Presidency and Parliament must hug productive partnership and mutual respect

    It’s fair — the call by the National Assembly for President Bola Tinubu to severely sanction heads of federal ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) that shun parliamentary summons.  

    Yet, democratic practices are hardly deepened by presidential muscle-flexing, when the Constitution has empowered the National Assembly to enforce its rules, if it meets any obstacle in doing its work.

    So, what is required is tact and balance on both sides, built on mutual respect, fired by a patriotic zeal to deliver value for citizens, the principal investors and majority shareholders in any democracy.

    Still, to build strong democratic institutions, in a growing democracy, there can be no controversy over the call that the President should sanction executive heads that get tardy with parliamentary summons, particularly with money bills, as the yearly budget.

    At the opening of public hearing on the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and Fiscal Strategy Paper (FSP), a clearly miffed Senate President Godswill Akpabio let out his pique.

    “Any serious appointee or any head of any agency that is interested in the success of President Bola Tinubu’s administration ought to be here,” he said.  “Any head of agency that sends representation here is not a serious person.  Therefore, the President must take a second look at such a person’s appointment. It is not a threat but the truth.”

    That some MDA heads hug the conceit of sending aides to honour parliamentary summons, if it wasn’t an emergency, should be frowned upon.  Under the presidential system, such heads are no more than presidential hirelings, no matter how rich their resumes are.  The National Assembly deals with the President.  So, every appointee should relate with the legislature with civility, a grace parliament too should return.

    In the House of Representatives too, James Faleke, chairman, House Committee on Finance, was also riled that many MDAs summoned over their finances stayed away.  The National Assembly is starting work on MTEF/FSP, a prelude to baking the 2024 Appropriation Bill, due for passage, latest by December 31.

    Indeed, MDAs’ inputs are critical to affirm or adjust the MTEF/FSP, as sound basis for the budget: crude oil price pegged at US$ 73.96; exchange rate: N700/US$; oil production: 1.78 million barrels-a-day; debt service: N8.25 trillion; inflation: 21%; GDP growth: 3.76%.  

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    Given the race against time to deliver the budget, the National Assembly needs prompt MDA response, in the final allocation of scarce funds.  In theory, it could shut out the tardy agencies, if they don’t come defending their finances to get their estimates approved.  But who will “zero allocation” benefit?  That justifies the call on the President to tweak the ears of his appointees.

    Indeed, there should be no controversy over that call. Oversight, which nurtures checks and balances, is fundamental to democracy.  So, the President should rally MDAs to treat legislative summons as top priority.  Indeed, such promptitude should be routine in executive-legislative interactions.  The polity can only be better for it.

    In due course, however, the National Assembly should garner enough institutional awe to enforce the power the Constitution has given it: issue a bench warrant against any official of state that treats its summons with levity.  At that juncture, it wouldn’t need the President’s help to force through its legitimate demands, whether on money bills or other parliamentary businesses.

    But the key word here is “awe” — deep respect, more potent than naked fear.  The National Assembly can earn that only if it abhors frivolities by its summons; and shuns abuse of its powers.  It’s more than a whispering campaign that some, if not many of the so-called “summonses” are euphemism for brazen abuse of power, toward a nefarious end, which is no way parliamentary.

    In the final analysis, healthy checks and balances flow from tact and mutual legislative-executive respect.  That is the golden threshold both arms should attain for sane governance.

  • Foreign travel advisory

    Foreign travel advisory

    • This should be done fairly and without undue sensationalism

    It is perhaps understandable that issuing of travel advisories by sovereign states to guide the movement of their citizens in foreign countries and safeguard their safety has become a regular feature of international relations practice in an ever increasingly insecure and volatile world. The travel advisory and security alert issued by the United States government to its citizens in Nigeria on November 3, was in line with this routine tradition. In it, US citizens in Nigeria had been warned of an elevated threat to major hotels in the country’s larger cities. 

    Obviously actuated by the then pending governorship elections in Nigeria’s Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states on November 11, the advisory, citing ‘credible information’, advised US citizens to “exercise vigilance” and “consider avoiding major hotels altogether in the days leading up to and during the elections”.

    On November 4, the United Kingdom followed suit when that country’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) issued a travel advisory advising its citizens against all but essential travels to Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states. But, going even further, the FCDO equally admonished UK citizens against all travels to Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Gombe, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara and the riverine areas of Delta, Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom and Cross River states.

    One problem with the over- generalisation involved in this kind of security alert is that even when one or two instances of violence have been witnessed in a given state, seldom do whole states in their entirety collapse into anarchy, violence and insecurity. It would thus be expected that travel advisories offer their citizens more specific and scientific derived information.

    Again, a number of states listed in the FCDO advisory have not witnessed any spectacular or extraordinary incidences of violence for some time now and it is difficult to decipher what criteria informed their listing in the first place. In any case, no human community across time and space has ever been completely crime free as they have routinely been vulnerable to varying levels of insecurity. Even those countries issuing the advisories are not devoid of their own security challenges. It would be wrong and unfair, for instance, to rely on the not uncommon incidences of deranged lone gunmen shooting and murdering scores of innocent citizens in schools and other public places in some American cities to brand that entire country as unsafe and insecure in an arbitrary manner.

    These considerations most likely informed the response of the Federal Government to the latest US advisory, with the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Alhaji Mohammed Idris Magaji, at a media parley in Abuja, describing as unwarranted and one likely to create needless panic and undermine efforts by the current administration to attract investors to Nigeria. In the words of the minister, “We understand the concerns raised by the US government in their recent travel advisory but believe that it is imperative we do not generalise isolated incidents across the entire hospitality industry”.

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    Stressing that the administration has prioritised the safety and well-being of visitors to the country, Alhaji Magaji cited some of the measures taken by the government to improve security, including enhanced intelligence gathering, acquisition and deployment of additional platforms, training and retraining of personnel and increased cooperation with international law enforcement agencies.

    In reality, this kind of response to such foreign travel advisories is unlikely to serve much useful purpose. Rather, government should see the advisories as a wake- up call to redouble its efforts to enhance and guarantee the safety and security of citizens and visitors across Nigeria. As we have always advocated, the security agencies can make much better and more efficient use of intelligence gathering and advanced information and communication technology to improve their operational performance and substantially improve the overall security situation in Nigeria.

    As for those countries which habitually issue publicised travel advisories to their citizens in the country, they should also consider according as much priority to proactively sharing whatever information they have with the country’s authorities in a non-sensational manner so that timely steps can be taken to nip anticipated dangers in the bud. 

    It is also not out of place for the country’s security agencies to issue their own security alerts and advisories to guide both citizens and visitors in cases of the existence of established credible threats.

  • More than a hub

    More than a hub

    • Rasaq Okoya’s call for 37 integrated business cities nationwide is spot on 

    From the Lagos International Trade Fair, on November 9, came a call from Chief Rasaq Okoya, chairman of Eleganza Group of Companies.

    “The picture in my mind places all 36 states and FCT as industrial hubs, varying in speciality” he suggested, “where Nigerian citizens should be able to live, work, shop, have access to healthcare and other conveniences, like recreational and worship facilities, all without leaving their state of origin.”

    Industrial hubs are not new. Indeed, pooling critical infrastructure — road, rail, water, and power — at the service of industrial estates is now routine. Indeed, the in-built economy of scale, that drives down unit costs, makes eminent sense.

    But building wholesale industrial cities, that cater for not only the business but the socio-cultural wellness of the entrepreneurs and workers in-situ, is sheer genius. That’s what recommends the Okoya call, beyond the conventional industrial estate.

    Such integrated business cities could begin to alter economic migrations from one part of the country to another. Besides, such cities, well serviced, may turn many of our states, hitherto cost centres (read the so-called “civil service” states) into profit centres, bubbling with job opportunities.

    Still, on profit centres: these projects could help states to retain most of their active workforce; thus boosting their internally generated revenue (IGR) from taxes. It could also stanch rural-urban movement, since workers, mostly homers, can work, play and worship, and their children go to school, within that industrial precinct.  

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    That way, work place is also home. So, the inhabitants need not travel too far from their hometowns or villages to access jobs and drive their daily living. That could also help to preserve (not rupture) the rural ecology — and economy.

    Besides, the idea also flows into one of the core re-industrialisation strategies of the Bola Tinubu administration: creating industrial hubs in each of the 36 states of the country.

    These hubs are to focus on agro-allied processing. Again, agro-allied processing is not new. Indeed, Nigeria’s earliest factories, particularly in the old Western Region, under Chief Obafemi Awolowo, did agro-processing: raw cocoa to beverages, natural rubber to tyres, etc. That led to industrial estates in Ikeja and other coastal cities, close to the Lagos Port, to also service possible exports.

    But the new industrial hubs, as conceived, are no less strategic. The Awolowo-era estates were Nigeria’s earliest romance with industrialisation — at least by a home government, as distinct from colonial firms. These new hubs are to re-industrialise — and create jobs for millions of Nigerian youths — after the mass de-industrialisation of the structural adjustment programme (SAP) years.

    SAP, and its focus on imports, took away thousands of factory jobs. Imports pay foreign Labour but kill industries at home. That, over the years, has triggered mass joblessness. So, agro-hubs can re-birth thousands of these factory jobs — and power back a vibrant local real sector, without which the economy cannot really expand.

    The Okoya suggestion, therefore, dovetails into this strategy. But beyond recreating the old times, it might also mould a more integrated work-living culture: a new era of self-sufficient industrial cities, boasting factories, workers’ homes, recreation centres, schools and hospitals.

    Still, it is all about core infrastructure: road, rail, power, water. For market connectivity, rail is also critical. The hallmark of every industry, light or heavy, is bulk. Rail is best for bulk and volume transport. It drives down cost, making products both affordable and very competitive.

    So, the new hubs should be developed with a special eye for rail, as indeed the old ones were. The Ikeja Industrial Estate had rail penetration, though now disused.

    The Federal Government, developing these core infrastructure, will open the spigot of private sector investment-activities: the building of factory houses proper, office complexes, and warehouses; while real estate developers could also move in to build workers’ homes, hospitals, churches and mosques, sports facilities and sundry recreation centres.

    The 37 hubs cannot spring up at the same time. But a phased implementation is possible, with the central government rewarding, with adequate incentives, states that provide early land. The Federal Government can also develop own Federal Capital Territory (FCT) hub, preferably along the Okoya model.

  • Diaspora voting

    Diaspora voting

    A desirable endpoint, but there are rivers to cross 

    Hope has revived on the prospects of diaspora voting, with the processing of the Diaspora Voting Bill, by the 10th National Assembly (NASS). Senate Leader Opeyemi Bamidele gave his word that the red chamber would sign off on the bill and send it to the House of Representatives for concurrence, after which it would be transmitted to state legislatures for endorsement by at least two-thirds of houses of assembly in the 36 states of the federation.

    The ninth NASS had, in March 2022, dumped the voting bill that seeks to tweak the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to allow Nigerians living outside of the country to participate in the electoral process by voting and being voted for. Senator Bamidele said that was the right way to go and a global best practice. Addressing Nigerians in the diaspora at a virtual dialogue lately, he noted that participation in the electoral process is a right and not a favour to be done diaspora citizens.

    “When you talk about diaspora voting, it is a right; if anybody is granting you that right, it is not as if they are grating you any favour. It is your right. The essence of this fight is just to make sure that the right is recognised in our constitution, because the constitution is the basis upon which every other thing rests,” he said, adding: “The constitution is the operational manual for both the government and the governed in our country. It is a right that must be recognised by our law as enshrined in the constitution. Whatever I’m doing with you is not new. I’m trying to build on efforts – genuine efforts – people made in the past and which they are still making.”

    According to the Senate chieftain, diaspora Nigerians deserve to enjoy voting right in view of huge contributions they make to the home economy. His words: “Nigerian citizens in the diaspora…make considerable contributions to the economy through huge financial remittances to the country. Diaspora voting is consistent with global best practices. We will do our best to make sure that this time around, we achieve your desire in this regard.”

    Bamidele recalled that the voting bill had scaled the first reading on the Senate floor and was slated for the second reading this past week. He said with that done, the bill would be referred to the Senate’s Constitution Review Committee, chaired by the Deputy Senate President and of which he, Senate Leader, is the vice-chair.

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    “I am very much with you in this effort because I see this fight as a generational fight. It’s not just (about) the constitution recognising your right to vote in the diaspora – your children and grandchildren and generations coming after us. It is also about ensuring greater inclusion in our process. We cannot just be interested in benefits coming from the Nigerian diaspora community while denying what is supposed to be your constitutional right,” he stated.

    Whereas the Senate Leader said the correct things about the necessity of diaspora voting, there are issues of details to be sorted out. The hinderance until now is not just the legal framework, but issues of logistics and political culture in our country, among others.

    After diaspora voting is legally provisioned for by way of amending both the 1999 Constitution (as amended), and the Electoral Act 2022 (as amended) – for instance, Section 50 of the Act that prescribes physical procedures for conducting election – the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) will need to work out the implementation logistics; and also be accordingly equipped to carry through.

    A most likely option is for the electoral body to roll out electronic voting system to enable members of the Nigerian diaspora to vote. But it would seem the commission has been struggling with this option for some while. In May 2020, INEC announced that it would pilot electronic voting machines “at the earliest possible time … but work towards full introduction of electronic voting in major elections starting from 2021.”

    It has been unable to make good on that projection, though, and this may be for funding challenges in the main. Cost factor has been a major challenge hobbling Nigerian elections amidst flailing strength of the country’s economy. Procuring electronic voting machines on a widespread scale, in the short run, would require such huge capital outlay.  That may be an onerous task for the national economy in its present shape to absorb.

    A greater challenge, by a long stretch, is the prevailing political culture in this country, characterised by acute desperation of political actors that undermines credibility of the system. When INEC acquires electronic facilities to enable diasporans to vote, it will be a tough call for the electoral body to determine how to locate such facilities, as could negate the trust deficit in the electoral system occasioned by negative political culture.

    Where, for instance, will the voting facilities be located to assuage all doubts about impartiality of the operators? If you locate those facilities in Nigerian embassies abroad, you could bet some political actors would argue that embassy staff are government employees and, for that reason, can’t be trusted not to compromise the facilities to disadvantage opposition players.

    Even if INEC sets up its own offices abroad, it will most likely be within the embassies. As it were, the commission already fights a tough battle at every turn to acquit itself of allegations of non-dispassion and partisanship in political contests. This battle would get considerably tougher when it has to answer for conduct of polls from satellite locations abroad not under its total control.

    Most countries where diaspora voting works are those that have weaned their systems substantially from baseless trust-deficit. A country like the United States uses postal balloting system, but even that country in recent history faced challenges with that aspect of her electoral system. And postal balloting is a non-starter for Nigeria because this country’s postal system is far from being up to speed for such use, amidst pervasive threats of ballot hijacking as we frequently experience.

    It might, therefore, be a good idea for us to first work at sanitising the electoral culture at home; and also build robust trust in the electoral system, before extending the scope to the diaspora – at least, not with the challenges presently faced.

    But it will be helpful, of course, to have necessary amendments effected in the legal framework. That would shift the onus to INEC to work out modalities for implementation and, simultaneously, strengthen its hand to raise needed resources and also vigorously take political players to task on remedying debilitating ills in the political culture.

    In other words, amendment to the legal framework may not by itself hit the bull’s eye of diaspora voting, but it surely would be a helpful spinoff towards hitting the eye.