The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • At last, Dangote refinery

    At last, Dangote refinery

    • This should be a win-win situation for Nigerians and the government as we won’t have to import fuel again

    Nigeria took the most decisive step yet, towards ending the nightmare at fuel stations and its associated disruptions with ex-President, Muhammadu Buhari, commissioning the multi-billion dollar Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Company in Lagos, Monday, last week. For many Nigerians who had wondered as to whether the fuel-import conundrum would ever be broken, the moment came as one of the fulfilment of the long anticipated dream.  

    A lot has been said about the uniqueness of the new refinery chief of which is that it is the largest single-refinery train in the world. Aside being one of Nigeria’s single largest investments, the complex has a 435-megawatt power station, deep seaport and fertilizer unit and comes with the expectation of meeting 100 per cent of the nation’s domestic needs with a projected surplus of each of these products for export. It is said to have been designed to process Nigerian crude with the ability to also process other crude oil.

    Without question, the man of the moment is Aliko Dangote. Nigerians will recall a man whose first foray into the refinery business via his Bluestar Consortium not only fell flat, but who actually came out of that experiment nearly bruised. Former President Olusegun Obasanjo had in one of his last minute deals in May 2007 sold two of the ailing refineries –Port Harcourt (210,000-barrels-per-day) and the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company (110,000-b/d) – to the Dangote-promoted consortium. As it turned out, Nigerians would rather hold on to an obsolete ‘patrimony’ than see it handed out to private hands for a turnaround. Particularly when this was done in circumstances dubbed controversial, hence they took up arms in protest. In the end, the process was aborted with his $800 million fee returned to the business mogul barely two months later.  

    However, whereas the Bluestar experiment was meant to be an entry point for the business mogul, the truth however is the nation’s journey to the liberalisation of the refining sub-sector actually predated the botched sale. In fact, the Obasanjo administration had much earlier, given out 18 licences to private investors – none of which did as much as turn the sod. And so with the Bluestar experiment failing spectacularly, the Dangote Group only needed to get back to the drawing board. 

    That is the background from which the 650,000 b/d Dangote Refinery and Petrochemical Company emerged. Thankfully, many more modular refineries have since come on stream in the country’s final push to end the spiral of fuel importation.

    Read Also: Dangote refinery: Should Nigerians roll out the drums?

    In the meantime, the cost of fuel imports to the nation’s treasury has over the course of time assumed catastrophic proportions. From N351bn spent in 2005 to subsidise fuel prices at the pump, we have seen the figure rise dramatically to N4.39 trillion by the end of 2022 –a dire lesson on the road not taken.

    The coming of the refinery is certainly deserving of celebration. Be that as it may, there are however, many battles still ahead. An outstanding one is the fuel price determination. While it seems fairly settled now that the current template with its in-built subsidy element is no longer sustainable, a key insistence of the organised labour –which we do not find disagreeable – is that any future contemplation of subsidy removal must be predicated on local refining. That obviously explains why the new governing legislation – the Petroleum Industry Act – was kept in abeyance, albeit temporarily. 

    Given that the terrain has changed, will the organised labour now be amenable to allowing the subsidy to go? Or would the same old obsession with destructive price regulation be allowed or condoned? It is something the new government should settle as quickly as possible, now that actual production by the new refinery is still some two months away.

    And if we may add: would it also be early in the day for the government to consider putting in place anti-trust legislation as a proactive measure to prevent one dominant player from becoming too big to the point of setting the rules and inevitably muscling out other potential entrants? 

    While the coming of the refinery is, unquestionably, a major step forward, what about the state of the ancillary infrastructure, particularly the roads under which the citizens currently groan without any respite in sight? Shouldn’t an immediate overhaul of the fuel distribution infrastructure, particularly the long-neglected network of pipelines also find a major place in the equation if only to relieve the pressure on the roads and with it the attendant carnage daily experienced on the highways? The government should also consider rail lines to link the refinery with the rail network so as to further lessen the burden on the overstretched roads and also ensure that the traffic snarl on the Apapa axis in Lagos due to the activities of fuel tankers is not transferred to the Dangote refinery axis.

    These are just a few of the concerns that the government will need to address urgently. 

  • It’s May 29 at last

    It’s May 29 at last

    • Efforts by five previous administrations to turn things round in the country have failed. Now, all eyes on Tinubu

    May 29 takes a new form in election years, especially when the baton changes hands from one President to another, or even one political party to another. With the situation of things in the country, tomorrow should not be a day for so much pomp and pageantry, wining and dining. It should indeed be a day for sober reflection on the state of the nation and the way forward.

    Few indices of development show that the country is making so much progress. Maternal mortality, infant mortality, multidimensional poverty, inflation, poor electricity supply and even social cohesion remain major challenges – in all, Nigeria has a poor record to the point of being rated the poverty capital of the world.

    It is good that the new President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has promised to hit the ground running. He is not oblivious of this fact. He said he fully understood the position of things. Governance in a presidential system reflects so much on the personality of the President – how prepared is he; how disciplined is he; how firm could he be and his philosophy of life.

    When the late Professor Chinua Achebe said the problem with Nigeria was leadership, he hit the nail on the head. The country has hardly been blessed with progressive, transformational leaders since independence. Most of the leaders have functioned more as dealers, and those who were not “fantastically corrupt” were unable to rein in their men.

    Indeed, when Achebe wrote the “Man of the People” after the First Republic to depict all-round corruption by leaders of that era, he had no idea what was coming in years ahead, both under the military and the civilian governments. Yet, no one has been able to trace the loot in the government then to the Prime Minister, Sir Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa. The same could be said of President Shehu Shagari of the Second Republic.

    The buck is now on the desk of President Tinubu, who has as first assignment the choice of men and women to assist him in running the ministries, departments and agencies of the Federal Government. He must locate people of unimpeachable character, who share his philosophy in setting the ship of state sailing. Then, having set his priorities, he has to once again sell his agenda to the people. 

    Then, he has a duty to tackle the insecurity that has almost done the state in. In the North East, insurgency subsists, even though tamed to a large extent. But in the North West states of Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara and even Kebbi states, banditry is the order of the day. The bandits raid homes and communities at will. Schools are regularly violated and the traditional institution has been compromised to the point that one, in Zamfara, turbaned a prominent member of the ‘club’. Soldiers and military officers are said to be supplying information to the men of the underworld.

    The new President has given insight into what he would do, including mass recruitment of men into the armed forces, reform and beefing up the number in the Nigeria Police Force and equipping all the security forces adequately. He has promised to leverage technology in fighting the war that has turned many to refugees in their own country. The war against brigands has not been limited to the far North. In the North Central, Niger, Nasarawa, Benue, Plateau and Kogi states have been regularly raided by these men with the state appearing helpless.

    In recent times, areas of the Federal Capital Territory bordering Niger State have not been spared. The criminals were so audacious that they sacked the Kuje Prison on July 5, 2022, to free their men awaiting trial for mass murder. Bloodletting in the land must stop if the confidence of the people in their government to secure their lives and property is to be restored.

    As James Carville said while advising former United States President Bill Clinton in 1992, we could use the phrase: “it’s the economy, stupid”. To say that the Nigerian economy is in the doldrums is an understatement. With the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), a state agency putting multidimensional poverty at about two-thirds of the people, the new President has his work cut out for him.

    He may not have a magic wand. He is not expected to come up with a miracle. All jaded policies of the Buhari administration such as the Conditional Cash Transfer by which a pittance of N5,000 handout is given some of the most vulnerable in the society, the market money and similar policies should be recalibrated to stimulate rather than stagnate the economy. In their place, a better-thought-out programme meant to move the mass of the people out of the poverty bracket must be put in place.

    It is good that he has already sounded the note that the subsidy on petroleum products, especially  Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) would be removed very soon despite the implication for the people. But what has to be done must be done in view of the fact that about N7 trillion would have been expended on the subsidy. What informed people await are the palliatives that would cushion the effect on the people and the sincerity that would attend the implementation. 

    It has also been pointed out that the multiple windows of foreign exchange leave room for manipulation and round-tripping. In the interest of the economy, this must stop. Even the industrialists who are touted major beneficiaries of the Import and Export windows have decried the policy as they had to fall back on the parallel market to purchase their raw materials.

    Then, there is the electricity supply. It is shameful that despite the promise by successive governments to ramp up generation, transmission and distribution, including the partial privatisation of the distribution and generation sectors, nothing positive has come out of it all; yet billions of dollars have been pumped into the sector. We still supply less than 5,000 megawatts to households of more than 200 million Nigerians, and industries. This, experts have said, must change if we are to give a boost to the economy, empower industries to employ the teeming unemployed youths who, of recent, have been finding their way out of the country in search of greener pastures.

    It’s not only about the economy. The President must find a way of connecting with the people. He has to regularly communicate with them and sell his government’s policies and programmes to them. The government must be transparent in all its dealings. 

    The new president has projected a track record during his stewardship of Nigeria’s flagship state of Lagos. Many expect him to show his acumen in running the country.

    We look forward to how long it would take him to make key appointments, restructure agencies of government and come up with a blueprint for general restructuring of the Nigerian federation to conform to the template adopted by other plural societies.

    Arise, Nigerian compatriots. Obey the clarion call of the country. It is a call on all to rally round the government, give it a chance to prove itself, in the interest of all. It is a country of great potential, but these potentials in mineral and human resources must be converted into actuality. It is the only way forward.

  • Subomi Balogun (1934 – 2023)

    Subomi Balogun (1934 – 2023)

    • A banker of note and reputable philanthropist goes home

    Remarkably, a major challenge he faced led to a turning point that set him on the path to glory in the country’s banking sector.  He had joined the Nigerian Industrial Development Bank (NIDB) as a lawyer, and was instrumental in the establishment of ICON Securities Ltd., a merchant banking company as a subsidiary of NIDB in 1973. He was director of operations at the subsidiary firm.

    When there was an opening at the top of the company, and he expected that he would be appointed to head the business, it didn’t happen. “My boss said to me, ‘You can’t be given the job, you’re only a lawyer,’” he recounted in an interview.

    He was struggling with the blow when, according to him, his then nine-year-old son gave him an idea: “He said, ‘Daddy, I pity you. Why don’t you set up your own bank?’”

    That was a defining moment for Otunba Michael Olasubomi Balogun, who died in London on May 18, at the age of 89.  He established City Securities Ltd., a stock broking and issuing house, in 1977. Five years later, he founded First City Merchant Bank (FCMB) and was granted a banking licence in August 1983. FCMB was reported to be the first bank established in Nigeria without government or foreign support, and earned Balogun immense respect, not only in the business community, but the country in general. It became First City Monument Bank Ltd. in 2001, following its transformation to a universal bank.   

    His story of how he and his wife carried out their plan to approach the then vice president of Nigeria, Alex Ekwueme, who was his friend, after a church service, to ask that he should intervene in his struggle to get a banking licence, gives a picture of his strong determination in the pursuit of his dream.

    Born in Ijebu-Ode, in present-day Ogun State, he attended Igbobi College, Lagos, and studied Law at the London School of Economics. In his final year as a law student, the government of the western region gave him a scholarship to be trained as a parliamentary draftsman.  

    He said: “Immediately I graduated, I was called to the English bar in December 1959 — I moved to the British parliament to be trained. I had the fortune of sitting in the official gallery when the Nigerian Independence Act was being passed in the British Houses of Commons and Lords. I was the first Nigerian to be trained as a legal draftsman.”

    After he returned to Nigeria, he became a Crown Counsel in the Ministry of Justice, Western Region, and was later a Parliamentary Counsel in the Federal Ministry of Justice. The January 1966 coup that resulted in military rule led to his move to NIDB, and the trajectory that took him to great heights in banking.  His stature was undiminished by the Central Bank of Nigeria’s sanction against him and his bank in a publicised case of unprofessionalism in 2001.  

    Interestingly, his parents were Muslims but he converted to Christianity in secondary school.  His religious involvement earned him a significant leadership title, Asiwaju of ljebu Christians. He was also the Olori Omo Oba Akile Ijebu, another leadership title that signified his royal roots. He was a recipient of the Nigerian national honour, Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON), which was a testimony to his contribution to the country’s development.   

    An affluent and flamboyant banker, he was noted for his philanthropic deeds, particularly in his hometown.  ”Anybody in Ijebu who would approach me for help, even though I’m not Father Christmas, I would at least do something. I won’t send anybody away,” he said.

    He made an exemplary statement on charity by building the N5bn Otunba Tunwase National Paediatric Centre in Ijebu-Ode, which, in 2021, he donated to the University of Ibadan and the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan.

  • Adieu, Sunday Mbang

    Adieu, Sunday Mbang

    • We commend his exemplary leadership at all levels that he served to other Christian leaders

    The death of His Eminence, Dr. Sunday Mbang, brings back fond reminiscences of his impactful life. Born on 26 August, 1936, in Idua Eket, Akwa Ibom State, Mbang was ordained a pastor and minister of the Methodist Church Nigeria in 1962. He rose through the ranks to become a Bishop in 1979, and was elevated to the position of a prelate, pastoral and administrative head of the Methodist Church in Nigeria in 1984. He took over after the turbulent years in the church, arising from the reforms initiated by his predecessor, Bolaji Idowu.

    Bishop Mbang steadied the church in Nigeria, and was later elected Vice and Chairperson of World Methodist Council. He became a national figure following his election as the National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN). Under his guide, CAN became a respected body whose words were taken seriously by government and leaders of other religions, even when they disagreed with his views. He was also an outstanding pioneer co-Chair of the Nigeria Inter-Religious Council (NIREC) which helped to deepen religious dialogue and eschew religious bigotry.

    His towering contributions to the association and Nigeria in general were captured in the tribute of the President of CAN, Archbishop Daniel Okoh. He said: “Dr. Mbang was one of the most forthright and courageous faith leaders of our time who meant well for his country, Nigeria; thus, dedicated his life to the service of God and humanity. His commitment to the gospel of Christ and his unwavering dedication to the unity of all Nigerians irrespective of our diverse reality as a people will always be remembered as a shining example to follow.”

    Mbang’s academic exposure and learning may have contributed immensely to his exemplary leadership as CAN president and head of the Methodist Christian faith. He was a teacher, an evangelist and administrator of repute. Mbang studied at Effoi Group School, Salvation Army School, Akai-Ubium, Government School, Eket, Methodist Boys’ High School, Oron, and Teacher’s College, Uzuakoli. He was also at the Trinity Theological College, Umuahia, the University of Ibadan, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, and the famous Harvard University, USA.

    Mbang’s time as CAN President and the years after were remarkably different. Some CAN leaders unfortunately engage in open political partisanship with its concomitant challenges. While we have no complaint about partisanship of church leaders in their private capacity, we are concerned when leaders use their position to cause division amongst the ordinary people. So, we commend Mbang’s time as CAN president. His era can be compared favourably with that of His Eminence, Cardinal John Onaiyekan, as CAN president.

    We hope other religious leaders across faith would learn from his exemplary life of service and commitment to harmonious relationship amongst Nigerians. His passage has been mourned by all and sundry. Both President Muhammadu Buhari and the President-elect Bola Tinubu have sent messages of condolence to his family and the Methodist Church. Needless to say that the church which he served nationally and worldwide has been in mourning. The body of Christ in Nigeria has been sending eulogies about his achievements as their leader and pastor in the Methodist Church.

    We join in the commendation of his life of service. We commiserate with his immediate family, the Methodist Church he pastored in Nigeria and worldwide, and all Christians who have lost a great leader. Our condolences also go the people of Idua Eket and Akwa Ibom State who have lost a great son. As rightly stated by the President of CAN, “His Eminence, Dr. Sunday Mbang will be greatly missed, but his life and legacy which we celebrate will continue to inspire us to work for the peace and unity of our nation and the world at large.”

  • Vote more than pray

    Vote more than pray

    • Zamfara unpaid civil servants do not need divine means to hold government to account

    It reads like a script for a comedy of errors play or the absurd. But that, at times, is the story of Nigeria. The news report that civil servants in Zamfara State turned spiritual in their quest to ferret out their unpaid salaries would have been comical if the spectacle was not real.

    The civil servants gathered at the Eid Mosque in the state capital, Gusau, for a solemn hour. They wanted the governor, head of service, members of the state house of assembly and other top government officials to yield to a divine call to redeem their pledge to serve the people. They received their salaries last in January this year, and have since been working without pay.

    “We have suffered enough on account of this struggle. Many lost their lives too and we want it no more. We have gathered in unison, devoid of religious affiliations to sincerely seek God’s intervention for all,” one of the civil servants who spoke on condition of anonymity was reported to have said.

    Bello Matawalle is the governor of the state, and he has kept mum in spite of the absurdity of the situation. He lost his re-election bid, and has been accused of not handing over any notes to his elected successor. He is said to be avoiding him as he has not been in the state for most of the time since he lost his bid to be governor for a second term.

    Perhaps such an attitude is responsible for his failure at the polls. But the people are at the receiving end of his incompetence. He, it must be noted, is not alone in the failure to remunerate workers. Many states are owing salaries and the chief executives are either continuing in office or are handing over to successors under the weight of unpaid wages.

    Some of them are paying part salaries, and others have lived with non-payment with a sense of resignation. The irony is that some of them have not upgraded to what we call new minimum wage, even though it has been in effect officially for a few years now.

    The debate still flares as to whether it is the failure of the imagination that some states pay handily and some struggle. Or is it the burden of a federal system that stifles freedom to experiment and invent?

    But a state like Zamfara is laden with gold. Rather than prosper, it is a terrain of bandits and brigandage. A Sahara Reporters’ investigation showed that Governor Matawalle spent billions of Naira to install governor lodges in all the local governments in the state. This is not only extravagance. It is cynical egotism.

    “The amount earmarked and released for each local government differs, and the projects were shared among different contractors for execution. There were full payments made in some cases and over 90 per cent of payments were made to some contractors without the corresponding projects on the ground. For instance, some projects were abandoned halfway through in some local government areas,” reported the online medium.

    This sort of ineptitude complicates the view that a skewed federalism is our bane. Wastefulness of this sort, corruption and an abuse of priorities expose many leaders. Voters punished Matawalle. And here lies the absurdity of the prayers. Prayers are good, especially for a religious society like ours. But the people have the power to force the hands of their elected officers with their greatest weapon: the ballot.

    We hope that the incoming administration will learn from the fate of Matawalle and oblige the voters. Yet we understand that the resort to prayers was less an appeal to heaven than a statement of impotence before their leaders. They have already exercised the power in the last vote. All they need is nurture it.

  • Bungled Abuja CCTV

    Bungled Abuja CCTV

    • Court says Federal Govt. must explain what happened to $460m Chinese loan

    Nigerians owe the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) a debt of gratitude for the serial progress being made in making governments accountable to Nigerians. The project has been tackling the government in this regard, which is a part of its core mandate. The latest of its success story has to do with the bungled $460m Abuja Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) project.

    SERAP had dragged the Federal Government to court  over the project that was supposed to be executed with a Chinese loan. According to the project, the Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Federal Government to “publish the total amount of money paid to Chinese and local companies and contractors and specific details of the names of the companies and contractors and status of the implementation of the project.” A statement released on Sunday by SERAP’s deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare said Justice Emeka Nwite made the orders while delivering judgment on a Freedom of Information suit, marked FHC/ABJ/CS/1447/2019, filed by SERAP against the government.

    The suit, according to him, was prompted by the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed’s disclosure that Nigeria was servicing the loan but she had no idea of the status of the project. “We are servicing the loan. I have no information on the status of the CCTV project,” she was quoted to have said.

    Justice Nwite found merit in the suit.

    He also averred that SERAP filed the suit as part of its core objectives of promoting human rights, transparency and accountability and anti-corruption in Nigeria. He agreed with SERAP: “there is a reasonable cause of action against the government. Accounting for the spending of the $460m Chinese loan is in the interest of the public. It will be inimical for the court to refuse SERAP’s application for judicial review of the government’s action.”

    The judge dismissed the Federal Government’s claim that it did not receive Exhibit OS2 through which the project requested for details on the CCTV project under the Freedom of Information Act from the finance minister. Apparently sensing mischief, Justice Nwite said a letter sent by post with evidence is deemed under the law to have been delivered. “Following this principle of law and relying on exhibit OS2, SERAP’s Freedom of Information request sent to Ms Ahmed is deemed to have delivered. Therefore, the averment by the government (through her) that they were not served with the letter is hereby discountenance. I so hold.”

    Not only that, Justice Nwite also ordered the Federal Government to provide the details on whether the N1.5bn allegedly paid for the contract meant to construct the headquarters of the Code of Conduct Bureau was part of another loan obtained from China.

    The judgment is a victory for the rule of law, transparency and accountability in government. All too often, government officials in this part of the world behave as if they are a law unto themselves. That is why many of them do so many things with impunity. That is why we have to commend SERAP for taking them to task and thereby helping majority of Nigerians who are fond of sleeping on their rights.

    The civil society group has become a thorn in the flesh of governments, particularly the Federal Government. Indeed, at a point in 2021, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, accused the organisation of engaging in what he described as publicity stunts through filing spurious litigations against President Muhammadu Buhari. He added that the group is little known and that it usually does not follow its allegations to a logical conclusion.

    This is far from being correct because we have had to comment on this page on some cases that SERAP had won against the government.

    With particular reference to the CCTV project, we dare say that but for this case filed by the civil society group, the matter would have been swept under the carpet. Nigerians have characteristically moved on despite the uproar that the project generated when the matter became public knowledge some years ago. We all know the importance of CCTV today, especially in a society with very serious security issues like ours.

    So, the government got a loan to have the Federal Capital Territory covered by CCTV and some people either embezzled or misappropriated the money. Meanwhile, the taxpayers are paying for a facility they are not enjoying as the finance minister said, that we are repaying the loan. This was our experience with many loans that the country obtained in the past.

    The court has ruled that the government owes Nigerians an explanation on how the loan was spent and the government must give the explanation. Where the Buhari government cannot get this done because it is on its way out, its successor must continue where the court stopped. Those saddled with the responsibility are not anonymous.  In or out of service, they must come to tell us what happened to the loan. Where they have no convincing story to tell, they should be arraigned in court with a view to getting those of them culpable convicted.

  • Finding Deborah’s killers

    Finding Deborah’s killers

    •This is a task that must be done, and urgently too

     It is a cause for concern that a year after the barbarous murder of Deborah Samuel Yakubu, which was greeted with public outrage, there is hardly any sign that justice will be done, and the perpetrators of the crime will be caught and punished.   

    The Police Public Relations Officer, Sokoto State Police Command, Abubakar Sanusi, in a report published on May 14, was quoted as saying “We’re still on the trail of some of the prime suspects in connection with the murder. However, we have made arrests, and we’ve charged all the arrested suspects to court since then.

    “The case is at the Chief Magistrate Court 1 in Sokoto, and the arraigned suspects were/are remanded at the Nigerian Correctional Service, Sokoto State Correctional Centre since 2022.”

    The police have a lot of explaining to do. Why is the case involving the said arraigned suspects still unresolved? Why have the police not arrested those the spokesperson referred to as “some of the prime suspects”?  The situation casts doubt on the efforts of the police to catch the killers and prosecute them.

    Deborah was a second-year Home Economics student at the Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto State, at the time she was callously murdered. She was 22, and was set ablaze on May 12, 2022, after she reportedly advised her classmates against posting religious messages on their department’s WhatsApp group platform which was created for academic purposes.

    Some suspected Muslim fanatics in the group took offence at her advice, and were said to have accused her of “saying unacceptable things.” She was a Christian, and they believed she was anti-Islam. 

    She was horrifically attacked by a mob, including some of her co-students. The police said the mob had “forcefully removed the victim from the security room where she was kept by the school authorities, killed her and burnt the building.”

    Viral videos of her being stoned, beaten with sticks and burned to death by the mob, drew widespread condemnation and demand for justice. Notably, some of her attackers filmed their participation in the attack, and there was even a clip showing a gloating assailant. So, they were identifiable. President Muhammadu Buhari, Governor Aminu Tambuwal, and the Inspector-General of Police, Usman Alkali Baba, assured the public that justice would be done.

    Read Also: Why I held Bible instead of bouquet, by Deborah Enenche

    Deborah’s murder attracted attention internationally. The American government, for instance, in August 2022, paid tribute to her during the US International Day Commemorating the Victims of Violence Based on Religion or Belief. The US Office of Religious Freedom, which promotes universal respect for freedom of religion or belief for all as a core objective of US foreign policy, described the incident as “an attack fuelled by hatred and blasphemy allegations.”

     About five days after the dark deed, the police arraigned Bilyaminu Aliyu and Aminu Hukunci, Deborah’s classmates, for allegedly “inciting breach of public peace.”

    In August 2022, the police spokesperson in the state was reported saying “Those ones we arrested then, though not the suspected killers, contributed to the violent riot.”  He added: “Concerning those suspected killers, we have circulated their pictures to media houses and sent our intelligence to every part of the state.

     “We are still on the lookout for them and we are confident of arresting them wherever they may be hiding. We will flush them out and arraign them before a competent court of law.’’

     The situation has not changed, nine months after this statement, and a year after her murder.  Indeed, there are no signs of progress in the investigation.   

    The delay in finding the suspected killers, arresting and prosecuting them, not only encourages the allegation that the authorities are partial to Muslims, but could also inspire similar crimes against other Chrsitians. It sends a wrong signal on religious freedom, and is ultimately bad for religious harmony.  

  • 37 new universities

    37 new universities

    • Govt responsibility for tertiary education is beyond approving private institutions.

    It appears strange, if not odd, that barely two weeks to its exiting power, the Buhari administration has approved the establishment of 37 new private universities. As the education minister explained while briefing journalists after an extraordinary meeting of the Federal Executive Council last week, the move was to satisfy the yearning of teeming secondary school leavers. It brings the.number of private universities licenced by the Buhari government to 74.

    This would ordinarily call for applause, but was it well thought out? Yes, they are private universities and would not be funded from public coffers. Yet, it is myopic to think that these private tertiary institutions could assuage the thirst of students for quality education at affordable price.

    It should be noted that the government had earlier licensed 37 such institutions;  20 of them came on board in 2021. The number of private universities in Nigeria stands at 148 today. However, about 90 per cent of university undergraduates are in the 49 federal and 57 state government-owned universities. This is an indication that it would amount to poor policy formulation to think that private schools could substitute for public institutions in a country that continues to sink into poverty daily.

    Besides, why the haste in granting the approval? Are there other reasons for quickly handing out the licenses before handover to a new administration? Otherwise, couldn’t the ministry have simply worked on the Memorandum, leave it on the table for a new minister to take to council? After all, in other circumstances,  it has been held correctly that government is a continuum, by which all liabilities and assets are passed down from administration to administration.

    The hydra headed, intractable challenges in the education sector cannot be treated cosmetically. The incoming Tinubu administration should realise that it requires serious attention at all levels, from pre-primary to tertiary. If Nigeria is to catch up with developed nations, it should be realised that quality education is the bedrock of development. Licensing new private schools that are unaffordable by the masses of Nigeria is simply not the way to go.

    Read Also: Fed Govt approves 37 new private universities

    We are not by any means advocating free university education. What is required is putting in place instruments by which the private sector is encouraged to participate actively in all facets of tertiary education, including both funding and governance, after all stretching out the begging bowl can only attract pittance from consumers of finished products from the schools.

    Despite federal intervention through the Education Trust Fund, not much has been achieved in giving the schools the needed face-lift. Lecture halls are very inadequate, laboratories lack reagents and other materials needed for practical teaching, audio-visual equipment are lacking, co-curricular materials are largely unavailable, large classes are not supplied with public address system that would get those seated at the back to follow the lecturers, and staff are poorly motivated.

    These are issues that should receive the attention of government, not simply abdicating responsibilities to  private universities primarily established to mine profit.

    The incoming government has a duty to urgently convoke a summit of all stakeholders in the sector, including leaders of education committees in the 10th National Assembly, to review the legal framework, international best practices and extant policies. State governments and corporate Nigeria have to be fully  involved if tangible and implementable results are to be recorded.

    Nigeria lags far behind the developed world in university education, whereas small countries like Singapore, Finland, Norway and Sweden fare better. Even in Africa, South African universities are ahead of Nigeria’s.

    No developing country can do well economically depending on private universities, while public institutions are left in ruins.

  • Last-minute contracts

    Last-minute contracts

    • Although government is a continuum, we can’t dismiss misgivings

    Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, and his water resources counterpart, Sulaiman Adamu, only said the expected in their reactions to the question asked by a reporter on why the Muhammadu Buhari administration kept awarding huge contracts on the eve of its departure. They both spoke after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja on Wednesday.

    According to Sambo, the government’s job started on  May 29, 2019, to terminate on May 29, 2023. He asked, rather rhetorically, “…Should we now stop functioning one month before the next appointment because we are coming to the end of the tenure”?

    He added: “This government must work. We expect the next government to also work until the very last day of their tenure.

    Adamu on his part dwelt more on the processes. “We had lots of submissions to Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) … to all the agencies involved in the procurement, and they have to get ready.

    “So, anytime they are ready, it is at that point that we have to submit…We do not control the process, but when it is completed and we are still in office, we are duty-bound to bring these memos to council for approval. Government is a continuum.”

    It is true that processes have to be followed in the award of contracts and that government is a continuum. But we do not think these are enough justifications for the government to go on contract-award- spree at a time it should be preparing its handover notes. How can a government that has spent close to eight years in power and is expected to leave on May 29 award contracts of about N3.7trn between March 20 and May 14? This is more than half of the 2016 budget.

    The contracts included the N453.9bn approved for the acquisition of rolling stock, operation and maintenance equipment for the Kano-Maradi standard gauge rail line, that is under construction; N5, 157, 265, 770 for the construction of 192 flats for officers and men of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) and $984.7m for the procurement of maintenance equipment for the Nigerian Railway Corporation, all at its March 23 FEC meeting.

    Barely a week later, the FEC also approved a series of contracts worth about N210bn. These included the ones for provision of various infrastructure like free internet services at 20 airports, 43 higher institutions and 20 markets; N95.98bn for various road projects and another N59.78bn for the continuation  of Ogoni cleanup. This is aside the N18.3bn contract for construction of a specialist hospital for the Ogoni people and another N41.4bn for construction of a centre of excellence for environmental restoration in Khana Local Government of Rivers State.

    There is also the N142bn e-Customs modernisation project awarded  by FEC on April 20 and another N11.93bn approved for Customs aircraft and zonal offices, among several other contracts. Contracts were similarly awarded for various projects in the Ministry of Niger Delta worth about N 129.8bn and on May 13, the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission announced N647.7bn for two power plants.

    The list seems endless.

    It is not only newsmen that are apprehensive. Many analysts have also wondered aloud why these contracts at this point in time, as if government would no longer exist after the present one?

    We share their sentiment. We also share the sentiment of people who believe that the contracts could make things difficult for the incoming government, especially against the backdrop of the over N70 trillion debt that the government is inheriting.

    We do not see the urgency in most of these contracts. They can wait for the incoming regime to handle, after all the government is going to hand over to people in the same ruling party. Morever, the government only attained about 84 per cent implementation once and at best about 50 per cent average in other years.

    The impression one gets from the ministers’ disclosures on the contract approving authorities is that they have a lot of work to do, hence, the long time between submission of contract details for vetting, and approval. These agencies must be strengthened. It is possible for them to deliver on their mandates of ensuring transparency and accountability without jeopardising the time factor.

    We applaud the government’s decision to continue with the projects that it inherited in 2015 despite the fact that it succeeded a different ruling party. This is the way it should be. New governments do not have to throw away the baby with the bath water simply because they do not like their predecessors. National interest should be the overriding interest.

    Going forward, we cannot dismiss the fear of Nigerians who feel most of the last-minute contracts were meant to siphone money. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that some last-minute appointments into very critical positions, including that of the Accountant-General of the Federation, were also made. Those who are not comfortable with these last-minute decisions could be speaking from experience.

    We therefore urge the incoming administration to scrutinise especially the contracts and its final decisions on them must be informed by the value they add to the lives of the people and the cost to the taxpayers.

  • Destination Top 100

    Destination Top 100

    • The best Nigerian university placing 1,172 out of the top Global 20,000 is not good enough 

    Making the top 2, 000, from a global university pool of 20, 531, would appear some achievement, in sheer statistical terms.  

    These Top 2, 000 universities belong to the “elite” class in the top 10% bracket of global rankings: Harvard University, USA as No. 1. The National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, India, No. 2000.

    That perhaps explains the upbeat headline by The Punch: “Breaking: UI, UNN, UNILAG shine in global varsity ranking” — all three (plus ABU, the fourth), incidentally Nigeria’s oldest four universities.

    By that list, published on website of the Centre for World University Rankings, the University of Ibadan, Nigeria’s best ranked, was 1, 172, the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN: 1, 775), the University of Lagos (UNILAG: 1, 924) and Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria (ABU: 1, 941).

    The ranking criteria were education, employability, faculty strength and research.

    In comparative terms, the ranking of the quad could indeed be a big deal, given the performance of some universities with perceived better global brands, even with all the tough challenges the Nigerian academy faces.  

    UI, at 1, 172, for instance, was ranked ahead of New York Medical College (1, 178), Howard University (1, 213), University of Bradford, UK (1, 294), University of South Africa (1, 302), Ontario Tech University, Canada (1, 481) and University of Wolverhampton, UK (1, 926), where a Nigerian biochemist,  Dr. Opeolu Ojo, just led a team of medical researchers to discover a putative cure for Type 2 diabetes. 

    In Africa, however, UI lags behind the likes of University of Cape Town, South Africa (270) — best ranked in Africa, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (484), Cairo University, Egypt (531), University of Pretoria, South Africa (555), University of Johannesburg (629) and Makerere University, Uganda (955).  It is however ahead of the University of Ghana, Legon (1, 266) — Ghana’s first and best,  University of South Africa (1, 302), University of Nairobi, Kenya (1,405).

    That suggests that the Nigerian academia might just have inherent strength, waiting to be boosted, if they benefit from better funding, far more stimulating and challenging academic environment and better linkages with peers globally, with routine exchange programmes and regular international scholar exchanges via sabbatical programmes.

    Still, in absolute terms, Nigeria is worrying metaphor for African universities as global laggards, even among the Top 2, 000.  The Top 5: Harvard University, USA, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA (MIT), Stanford University, USA, University of Cambridge, UK and University of Oxford, UK, reflect the traditional powerhouses of the global academy.  Like old wine, these grand old universities seem to get better with age.

    But it is within the Top 200 that Asian universities snapped the elite order.  The University of Tokyo (13) is ranked ahead of Cornell University, USA (14), Johns Hopkins University, USA (17), University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), USA (18), University of London, UK (19) and Duke University, USA (20).  The highest African ranked university is Cape Town (270).  Even the University of Malaya (391) again reinforces how Asia has better broken into the global university top league than Africa.

    The challenge before Nigeria, therefore, is that to really be among world beaters in sound education, research, discoveries and prime intellectual property tailored towards own local challenges, Nigerian universities must play, for starters, in the Top 100.   

    For now, that’s quite a gulf from UI’s ranking of 1, 172.  But with concerted efforts, bolstered by right policies and funding, it might not be such a steep hill to climb.  But the focus must be fierce.

    Here, the counsel of Dr. Nadin Mahassen, president of the Centre for World University Ranking, is helpful.

    “While it is encouraging to see Nigeria making gains in the rankings, funding to further promote the development and reputation of Nigeria’s higher education system is vital,” he told The Punch. “Efforts must be made to ensure that Nigeria attracts top academics and students, that increasing enrolment numbers at universities come alongside increases in teaching capacity; and that tertiary education expenditure, as a percentage of the national GDP steadily grows in the years to come.”

    That’s as much a golden primer on higher education as any to the in-coming Tinubu administration.