The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • The anarchist

    The anarchist

    • 2023 poll: Ex-President Obasanjo’s proposition has no basis in law or morality

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo seems unable to stay out of controversy. He stirred the hornets’ nest again early last week with a gratuitous proposal that the 2023 presidential election, results of which at the time were being collated by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), should be upturned and another poll conducted under circumstances that at best would be arbitrary. He cited as reason for his proposal alleged discrepancies that needed correction in results of the election held on February 25. But the remedial steps he canvassed  could have led this country into a constitutional crisis.

    In an open letter to Nigerians, but by which he pointedly addressed President Muhammadu Buhari while sharing some word of counsel with INEC chairman Professor Mahmood Yakubu, the ex-president unleashed expansive claims that he made no effort whatsoever to substantiate. Among others, he alleged that the Bi-modal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) device that INEC used for the election and its results transmission server were manipulated, that the electoral body’s field personnel were compromised and the election process corrupted, and that results emerging from collation were erroneous because they had not been uploaded through the results transmission server of INEC. He threw in incendiary allusions to purported schemes to destabilise the country, but anyone could see through those as coded metaphors to inflame passions against the ongoing electoral process. His ultimate recommendation was as spurious as it was curious: “Your Excellency, President Buhari Muhammadu, tension is building up and please let all elections that do not pass the credibility and transparency test be cancelled and be brought back with areas where elections were disrupted for next Saturday, March 4, 2023, and BVAS and server officials be changed,” he said.

    The former president was not by any means dispassionate in the matter, having previously endorsed Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, against who the tide of the election results collation was running. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) emerged victorious in the keenly-contested poll and has since been declared president-elect by the electoral commission. Even then, Obasanjo as former president is an elder statesman and expected to offer counsel rooted in statutory provisions and in the best interest of the country he once watched over. But that wasn’t the case with his letter. His proposal that President Buhari should interrupt and cancel elections that, in his words, “do not pass the credibility and transparency test” has no basis in Nigerian law. Neither is his recommendation that a panel comprising INEC personnel, representatives of the four major political parties and the chair of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) be constituted to “look into what must be done to have hitch-free elections next Saturday (4th March).” We could ask the former president: what would be the legal status of such a panel?

    Moreover, Obasanjo didn’t seem mindful of national history. It was the suspension of the collation of June 12, 1993 presidential election results that led to eventual annulment of that poll by the Ibrahim Babangida junta and the monumental crisis into which it plunged the country. That experience possibly informed why INEC under the present republic has been wary of throwing the spanners in collation and declaration of election results, pending resolution of complaints by partisans. The commission resisted that pressure in 2011 and 2015, and lately when Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) agent Dino Melaye plied a riotous objection against delayed uploading of 2023 election results onto INEC Results Viewing (IReV) portal that the commission had earlier on acknowledged and moved to redress.

    Most egregious of all is Obasanjo’s lack of moral standing to crusade for election sanctity. As former president, he watched over the 2003 and 2007 elections that are reckoned among the most crooked in Nigeria’s history. The 2007 poll was so blatantly disreputable that the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, who was the major beneficiary, acknowledged in his inauguration address that the poll was flawed and committed himself to electoral reforms, which made him constitute the Justice Mohammed Uwais panel that re-drew Nigeria’s electoral process map.

    Lest we forget, the same Obasanjo it was who tried to get third term as president, when the law stipulates a maximum of eight years.

    And it wasn’t that Obasanjo ever showed respect in personal capacity for due process – even in private elections. In August 2004, he unilaterally overruled and tore up the election result sheet for selection of a new Olowu of Owu, Abeokuta. The action of President Obasanjo, who is the Balogun of Owu, was said to be in protest of the outcome of the selection that did not favour his preferred candidate. There’s, perhaps, no better way of surmising the ex-president’s latest intervention than how information and culture minister Lai Mohammed rejoined to him, saying: “As the whole nation waits with bated breath for the result of (the) national elections amid unnecessary tension created by professional complainants and political jesters, what is expected from a self-respecting elder statesman are words and actions that douse tension and serve as a soothing balm. Instead, former President Obasanjo used his unsolicited letter to insinuate, or perhaps wish for, inconclusive elections and descent into anarchy.” What dubious statesmanship!

  • Mother tongue education

    Mother tongue education

    • This has undeniable merits, especially if begun at the primary school level. But implementation is key to its success

    This year’s International Mother Language Day (February 21), organised by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), focused on the theme ‘Multilingual education – a necessity to transform education.’ The event was a continuation of UNESCO’s campaign for “the mainstreaming of multilingual education based on mother tongue.”

    The international agency promotes a concept of multilingual education that makes it possible to teach school children in their mother tongue during their early schooling years. “We know it works, because there is empirical evidence to prove it helps children learn,” the organisation said.

     UNESCO’s World Inequality Database on Education shows that, globally, children taught in a language they speak at home are 30 per cent more likely to read with understanding by the end of primary school than those who do not speak the language of instruction. Also, according to the body, there is evidence that learning in a first language, or mother tongue education, improves children’s social skills.

    A report on the subject pointed out that “When children are taught in languages they do not speak at home, this hinders their acquisition of critically important early literacy and numeracy skills, with a detrimental effect on their learning in general and, indeed, their opportunities in life. It is for governments, civil society organisations and all concerned stakeholders to ensure that all learners can savour and enjoy their right to education in their mother language.”

    It is noteworthy that the outcome of an experiment in mother tongue education carried out by the late Prof. Babs Fafunwa in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, in the 1970s, corroborated the value of the approach.  Fafunwa’s Ife Primary Education Research Project produced pupils, taught in Yoruba, who performed better in all the subjects than those taught in the English language.

    However, the authorities failed to exploit the positive result of the experiment, and mother tongue education was not formalised in the country.

    Strikingly, the Nigerian government, in November 2022, had an awakening and joined the movement to advance mother tongue education.  The Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, announced that the Federal Executive Council (FEC) had approved a National Language Policy.

    “One of the highlights,” he said, “is that the government has agreed now that henceforth, instruction in primary schools, the first six years of learning will be in the mother tongue.”

    He added that “the use of mother tongue is exclusive but we need time to develop the material, get the teachers and so on.” He also said: “Since the first six years of school should be in the mother tongue… the language of the host community is what will be used.”

    Adamu noted that the country had “625 languages at the last count,” adding that “the objective of this policy is to promote, and enhance the cultivation and use of all Nigerian languages.”  It has been established that languages that are given a place in education systems and the public domain, and used in the digital world, have more chances of survival as the world evolves.

    The minister stated that “the details will be given later by the ministry.” It is unclear when that will happen. Such an important policy should have been well thought out and the implementation stages spelt out from the beginning.  His comment that the policy had started “theoretically” the day it was announced, without supplying the necessary details, exposed poor preparation. This is not the way to introduce a policy of such consequence. Merely announcing that the Federal Government had approved the policy does not put it into operation.

    Critical considerations regarding the implementation of the policy include training of teachers, provision of textbooks and instructional materials, and availability of adequate equipment and infrastructure.

    Implementing mother tongue education in Nigeria is complicated by the number of local languages, said to be more than 600. If, according to the minister, “the language of the host community is what will be used,” it is obvious that such an approach will create complications. 

    Another major challenge, observed Prof. Samuel Odewumi of Lagos State University (LASU), is that “several of these hundreds of tongues have not been well documented for parallel terms interpretation, especially in science and mathematics. Therefore, there are no local equivalents for most of the terms with which to teach the children that is part of their daily living experience that ought to make it easier to grasp.”

    From all indications, it is a long road indeed to the implementation of the National Language Policy. In a country where policy somersault is a regular feature of governance, it is uncertain if the policy announced by the current administration, which is nearing its end, would outlive the government that initiated it.  The uncertainty is particularly notable because the policy itself is undeveloped.

    In the final analysis, it is a question of political will. It has been proven that mother tongue education has undeniable merits. It is commendable that the Federal Government has launched a policy to introduce the approach.   But implementing it is easier said than done. That is the ultimate challenge the authorities must overcome to make the policy work.

  • Destitution as creeping decay

    Destitution as creeping decay

    • Rampant teenage pregnancies and pregnant girls roaming the streets is a window into collapsing governance

    News of late, from oil-rich Bayelsa State, especially on the girl child, is rather dreary.  That should worry the governing authorities over there before it becomes a crisis.

    On February 14, Vanguard reported that a lobby declared itself alarmed at the rampant cases of teenage pregnancies among Bayelsa girls.  That lobby, the organisers of the Face of Ijaw Pageantry, reportedly took enlightenment campaigns to rural Bayelsa, educating girls and young women on the consequences of early and unprotected sex.

    On February 28, the same newspaper reported the rather depressing news of grave  girl destitution: some 100 pregnant and destitute girls roaming Bayelsa streets. 

    But this very depressing sight of helpless and homeless girls appears a symptom of a much grander problem: the increased snapping of family, community and general society’s safety nets; and a lax, if ever existing, government welfare policy.

    That is dire.  The Bayelsa State government must do everything — and fast — to arrest this ugly trend.

    That it so much affects the girl-child is even more worrying, without suggesting it would have been tolerable or acceptable, were it to affect more the boy-child.  Still, the female gender has a special place in the future of any community. 

    Girls become wives, who become mothers that superintend family care, nurture the children and tend the home.  Any community that neglects its girls and young women practically abandons its future — with very grave consequences.

    It’s even a puzzle that Bayelsa, an oil-rich state with a rather small population, is caught in this youth-neglect warp.   It’s a state of 1,704,515 people in eight local governments, a fair quantum of its land, wetlands. 

    For its puny population, however, it grosses much from the federation account, Nigeria’s federal revenue pool.  As the fourth oil-producing state behind Delta, Akwa Ibom and Rivers, it grosses the fourth highest from the account.  As at June 2022, it had collected N95.1 billion, in comparison to Delta (N123 bn), Akwa Ibom (N104.1 bn) and Rivers (101.5 bn).

    By December 2022, by the figures of BudgiT, a revenue-tracking NGO, Bayelsa had earned N196.5 bn from the federation account.  Its problem, however, is that its federation account grossing makes up 90.30 % of its entire revenue, put at N217.6 bn for the entire 2022.

    To be sure, Bayelsa has a lot of challenges in oil-mining despoliation and creek contamination, which may have been soaking up a fair chunk of its revenue.  But the fact that it has failed to grow its internally generated revenue (IGR) has condemned it to just feeding off its crude oil takings from Abuja, without adding much local value.

    That failure must have constrained its safety nets in poverty reduction policies.  The Bayelsa State government must therefore work on this critical problem.  A more productive local Bayelsa would make more IGR, post higher tax receipts, reduce poverty, produce higher employment opportunities for youths and, most likely, logically stem this growing trend of girl destitution and early pregnancy.

    But beyond government revenues and poverty challenge, the Bayelsa social and moral fabrics are worth vigorous interrogations.  How come so many teenage girls not only get pregnant but are so visible they merit media reportage?

    For every girl in the news, how many are left unreported?  Are the girls the true gauge of Bayelsa’s luxuriating poverty? Who are these girls’ parents?  Who put them in the family way and why are they not taking responsibility?  What homes were the girls living before and how come they can’t go back there?

    Are Bayelsa welfare agencies aware of this crisis and what has been their response?  Has family mores so broken down that traditional checks on early sex has all but vanished? 

    What’s the future of Bayelsa if the girls to tend and shape its future families are now in a fix of unwanted pregnancies?  What about the very vital issue of youth education, training and future opportunities — indices that could make or mar the state’s future?

    These are troubling questions the Bayelsa State government must answer and answer fast.  It should revamp its local economy to boost IGR.  With increased revenue from that, it should boost its youth welfare programmes.

    If it does all of these — and well — it may yet escape a needless future of tumult. An oil-rich Bayelsa, with a lean population, should not be home to a band of destitute girls. 

    That, in itself, should be a contradiction in terms.  Yet, all too vividly, it appears a rich window into its creeping decay and collapsing governance.  The time to act is now!

  • Visa reciprocity

    Visa reciprocity

    • Five-year renewal tenure for various categories are a big relief to Nigerians

    Since Nigeria got independence in 1960, it has maintained bilateral relations with other countries, in the spirit of international relations and diplomatic alliances. In a globalised world, no one nation can exist in isolation. This explains the use of sanctions through multilateral institutions like the United Nations, the Commonwealth, the African Union, the European Union and other continental and sub-continental organisations, to correct nations that distort world peace.

    Nigeria established bilateral relations with the United States of America after it got its independence from Britain in 1960. It is worthy of note that democracy in Nigeria is fashioned after the American model, even if in real practice there are systemic differences, possibly owing to the age of the Nigerian nation.

    As the most populous black nation in the world, the relationship between the United States and Nigeria has had far-reaching effects on the development of both countries in all sectors. The United States is the largest foreign investor in Nigeria. With significant investments in the petroleum/mining sectors, Nigeria is the second largest U.S export destination in sub-Saharan Africa. The benefits of these bilateral relations have cemented the alliances between the two countries.

    The political, socio-cultural, educational, entertainment, sports and economic collaborations between U.S and Nigeria imply that there must be movements between citizens of both countries. This is why the issuance of visas of various and varying categories are issued by both countries to citizens to facilitate travels to both countries. In a world with increasing and shared needs for development, fight against terrorism, trade relations and other types of interactive relationships, ease of movement is very vital.

    We therefore commend our Ministry of Internal Affairs for its move to extract the diplomatic reciprocity in visa duration from the United States. For a long time, the visa to the United States for Nigerians travelling on the B1/B2 tourist/business visas had only a two-year duration. However, a few days ago, in the spirit of diplomatic reciprocity, the United States announced that from March 1, 2023, the duration would be upgraded to a five-year duration. The new visa regime would also extend to diplomats and government officials.

    We commend this recognition of the sovereignty and bilateral relations value of both countries. Equity is the soul of any bilateral or multilateral relationship. The U.S. mission also emphasised that the visa fee remains the same. This move is a welcome development as many Nigerians are seemingly frustrated, having to return to the American Embassy every two years for visa renewal. The money, time and energy spent can now be saved.

    On the part of the United States, this measure would reduce the number of applications to its office. This action equally comes on the heels of the re-introduction of the Drop-Box system for visa processing that enables frequent visitors to the US to have a visa interview waiver. Before the recent extension to 48 months, it was formally for those whose visas had expired in the last 24 months.

    From all indications, the governments of the two nations seem to rightly appreciate the value of an improved and more productive bilateral relations. Nigerians make up a very sizeable number of African immigrants in the United States. In fact, Nigerians are known to be the most highly educated immigrants in the United States. What this means is an expanded root in the American society. Families are growing and with that comes businesses and expansion in other areas. Recently, some Nigerians won elective posts in the legislative elections across America and President Joe Biden appointed some Nigeria-Americans into his cabinet.

    Nigerians in the diaspora are contributing their quota to the development of the Nigerian and American societies. In fact, reports have it that remittances from the diaspora Nigerians, many of whom are in the United States,  run into billions of naira annually.  Beyond political and economic collaborations in sports and entertainment, many Nigerians have benefitted over the decades and pushing up the frontiers of sports and entertainment as tools of engagement.

    The relationship between our two countries are mutually beneficial in several fronts and more reciprocal actions can further improve the relations in a fast changing world.

  • The audacity of hope

    The audacity of hope

    •It is paradoxical that terrorised people could still negotiate with terrorists to allow them vote

    Nigeria might have  a political class that is not very famous for caring for the people, given the socio-economic situation that Nigerians have faced over the years. To have a population of 133 million Nigerians living under multi-dimensional poverty in 2023 is an eloquent testimony to the dire straits the people are in. However, despite the inconveniences, the average Nigerian still has hope in the democratic system of government.

    As Nigeria prepared for the much awaited 2023 general elections, the people were all prepared to use their votes to speak. They started by collecting or dusting their Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs). The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) reported that more than 90 million Nigerians registered to vote and more than 87 million eligible voters collected their PVCs, which in a way is a ticket to vote. So, on the part of the electorate, most of them took the necessary steps to qualify them to vote, thereby having a say in who governs them from the state to the federal levels.

    For the people of Birnin-Gwari community in Kaduna State, their sense of citizenship and patriotism inspired their negotiating with terrorist gangs that have terrorised their communities  in the last few years. Most of them have lost their farm lands, most of them have lost their relations, some have been maimed or even killed.  At some point, there were reports that the terror gangs demanded payments from the largely agrarian community for them to farm on their lands. Some were even forced to work for the terrorists as slave labourers just to be spared from either being kidnapped or killed.

    In what we see as government’s failure in its fundamental duty to the citizens, that of caring for the welfare of the people and protection of their property, the people of Birnin-Gwari, having been inundated with threats of no election in their communities by the criminal gangs had to negotiate with them so that they (the terrorists) could allow them to vote during the 2023 elections.  Chairman of Birnin-Gwari Emirate Progressive Union (BEPU), said that their  11 political wards  had been facing terrorist attacks but they are determined to exercise their civic responsibility on election days. The security challenges they had faced have affected all sectors of their lives, and displaced about 50,000 of them.

    We see their move as not just a survivalist strategy but also as a vote of no confidence in the country’s security agencies and the various tiers of governments. This must be a wakeup call to our security agencies and governments to expand the levers of protection to the people around the country who have been suffering security challenges for a very long time.

    We find it revealing and ironic that a community can decide to go into negotiations with terrorists. What this means is that the terrorists are identifiable and a communication channel can be opened. It is also an open secret that these bandits have citizens who supply them ammunition and other survivalist items like food and groceries. There had also been arrests of some syndicates that traffic women of easy virtue to them. If truly our security agencies are serious, these transactions can provide baits and clues for the arrest and prosecution of these outlaws terrorising law-abiding citizens.

    The people of Birnin-Gwari must be commended not because their choice of action is morally or legally right but for still showing loyalty to a nation that seems to have let them down over the years. They still seem to have hope in the system and believe that their civic responsibility of voting can usher in a government they feel can make their lives better. The paradox here is very poignant. Even though they have cause to be defiant, they have chosen to negotiate with their enemies so that they can choose leaders they believe can offer them what they presently lack. Their choice, illegal or immoral as it might appear, shows an unusual sense of hope and belief in a system that might have been unfair to them. It is the audacity of hope.

  • Combating bandits

    Combating bandits

    •Warning Katsina traders not to supply bandits new Naira notes is good but not enough

    Banditry is one of the major crises Nigeria is faced with today. It has become more deadly and widespread since the insurgents in the North East have found it more difficult to have a free reign. In the North West that is now their main theatre, they kidnap children, students, women and farmers, with the attendant social and economic dislocations, thus keeping governments of the zone unhappy as lives and property are regularly lost.

    One of the states most affected by the wave of criminality is Katsina. President Muhammadu Buhari’s home state has been so ravaged by the menace that Governor Aminu Masari is at his wit’s end on how to combat it. He has adopted different strategies to no avail. The audacity of the men was well advertised when they ambushed the President’s security convoy in the state in July, last year. They gave the security men a bloody nose as they had to scamper in various directions. Governor Masari, accompanied by the commissioner of police, had held peace meetings with them in their camps. He had allegedly offered them money to keep the peace and, at some point, he shut down markets and fuel stations to force them to drop their arms. None worked.

    Last week,  the governor summoned traders for a parley at the Government House where he warned against supplying the enemies of state new naira notes that would appear like giving them economic lifeline.

    We agree with the governor that following that path would make the traders accomplices to the crime. Besides, one of the reasons Central Bank of Nigeria’s Governor Godwin Emefiele gave for the currency redesign is to combat terrorism by starving both insurgents and bandits of funds to perpetrate their nefarious activities. Whoever is caught encouraging the evil after Governor Masari’s warning should be treated as the economic saboteur that he or she is.

    However, we hope the governor is working with the security and intelligence community to ensure that the traders are not being compelled or threatened by the bandits to supply them the new Naira notes. If this were the case, it would amount to punishing the victims, so, other methods of curbing the crime would have to be devised. If the President’s home state and convoy could be so rattled, who really is safe in this country?

    Governor Masari and his colleagues in the major theatre of the war in the North West and North Central states should harmonise their efforts and strategies to win the war. Individual actions cannot go far enough as it is easy for the bandits to relocate, regroup and launch fresh attacks.

    The people of Zamfara, Kebbi, Sokoto, Kano, Jigawa, Kaduna, as well as Katsina states deserve the respite needed to flourish.  We refuse to accept that the enemies are better trained or superior to the Nigerian Police,  our Armed Forces and Department of State Services.  With adequate logistics and moral support by the government and people of the states, it should be easier to achieve victory. It is embarrassing that it has taken so long to defeat the bandits. It wasn’t too long, in the Second Republic,  when Maitatsine religious sectarian uprising was speedily quelled. 

    The current leaders of the military should consult past commanders with a view to devising better strategies. The federal and state governments should encourage and facilitate this. The task of combating this drain on national resources that could have gone into boosting economic development has to stop now. President Buhari not only promised to defeat the enemy when his administration was being inaugurated in 2015, but repeated last year that he would overcome the security challenge before handing over to his successor. We hope he would deliver on this promise.

    The military cannot do it alone, nor could the state governments. There must be synergy and the people should be more involved. It is a task that must be accomplished with the cooperation of all.

  • Suicidal debt

    Suicidal debt

    • We have to ponder why someone would commit suicide over N70,000 loan

    It is easy for some people to be wondering why someone would set herself ablaze just because of her inability to offset a N70,000 loan. But the debtor knows best because there are creditors and there are creditors. Some of them would not give their debtors any breather once they default in repayment. Perhaps it was her self-pride and inability to take the possible embarrassment from her creditor that made the woman who burnt herself to death in her apartment at Oke-Keesi, Itoko area of Abeokuta, Ogun State, on February 18, to do that.

    The woman, simply identified as Mama Dada, according to the secretary of the community development association in the area, Ade Babawale, “was owing the sum of N70,000. Because she was unable to meet up with the payment, she then sent her last born to buy fuel and also used style (sic) to discharge the small boy and she locked herself up inside the room and wet everywhere with petrol, including herself, and set the whole place on fire.” .

    One Mrs Adeogun who said she is a former member of the community bank’s group that Mama Dada was allegedly indebted somewhat corroborated this: “If you refuse to pay them back at the set date, you will be treated like trash, you will be embarrassed in a big way, in a manner that your children will forever be ashamed of. I know what I am saying; I used to be a member”. She said one must be a committed member before he or she would be entitled to a reasonable sum of money as loan.

    “What they do is that you will join the group and start making thrift with them, it is the evidence of this thrift through your card that will qualify you for a loan which you must either pay back outright or in batches. She added that woe betides whoever defaults in repayment on the due date.

    Mama Dada, rather than live to blame herself, chose to die and save herself and her children the embarrassment.

    It is rather sad that someone with dependants would choose to die the way she did over what some of us would consider a paltry N70,000 loan. Indeed, it is possible for her to have been saved if someone with means ever thought she could go to such extreme. But that this could happen in Nigeria today is not only an indication of how bad things are but also the need to monitor more closely the activities of some of these micro-finance houses.

    We do not have enough details  on this matter, though. For instance, it would have been interesting to know how much loan the woman took, when and how she had been repaying and whether she was a first time borrower. What was her previous record like if she had been given loans by the bank before, and so on. These are germane questions that would have helped in thoroughly analysing the story.

    But, such stories are negative public relations for affected institutions, irrespective of whether the debtor is innocent or guilty. That explained why a very prominent micro-finance house, LAPO, which some people speculated was the one that gave Mama Dada the loan quickly came out to say the woman was not its customer. LAPO’s acting Head of Communications and Branding, Abel Ovenseri, said in a statement that “Contrary to the allegation in a trending video on social media and reported in some newspapers, the woman in Ogun State who reportedly took her life over her inability to pay back a loan was not a customer of LAPO Microfinance Bank Limited.”

    It is unfortunate that the name of the micro-finance bank in question was not mentioned in the news reports. Granted that loans are meant to be repaid because those giving them are not Father Christmas, and so that others can benefit for economic development, the point too is that the terms must be flexible and considerate enough. This is especially so in our kind environment that is so unpredictable and therefore in-conducive for businesses to thrive. What with all manner of encumbrances, even by the government which should be doing everything to assist businesses. Take the current cash crunch in the country that has dislocated many homes and destroyed many businesses. No one ever thought of this about three months ago.

    While we appreciate the fact that it is not all borrowers that borrow with the intention of repaying, the point must be made too that the repayment terms must not be such that would make suicide the first line of action in the event of default.

    There is also a lesson for our political leaders: amounts that they consider chicken change could be life-changing for many of their compatriots. So, when next they want to appeal for patience over some of their economic policies, they should bear this in mind. Who knows, the current experience in the country could have contributed to Mama Dada’s hopelessness. If so, she was not the first person to commit suicide over such hopelessness. We hope she would be the last.

  • Retooling the NDE

    Retooling the NDE

    • If well run, the agency can help reduce unemployment

    One of the most critical fallouts of the protracted economic crisis which the country has been battling over the last two decades is the high rate of unemployment, particularly among the country’s  teeming youths. Indeed, the substantial number of jobless persons among our citizenry is a key factor in the constant characterisation of Nigeria as one of the worst hit areas by poverty in the world. The high unemployment level is, in turn, substantially contributory to the various social ills such as kidnapping, drug addiction, prostitution, among others, that plague the society since, as it is often said, an idle mind is the devil’s workshop.

    Against this background, the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), one of the agencies established to facilitate and create job opportunities for Nigerians, is no doubt one of the most critical organisations that has an important role to play in the recovery of the economy through the stimulation of significant number of new jobs.

    It is thus heartwarming that the Director-General of the NDE, Mallam Abubakar Nuhu-Fikpo, recently spoke to the media about ongoing efforts to rejuvenate the agency to deliver more effectively on its mandate. According to him, the NDE has restructured and re-launched its website to enable it provide in-depth information of its activities and the services, as well as opportunities it provides to the generality of the public. Reiterating the agency’s renewed commitment to confronting the menace of unemployment headlong, the DG said the site, www.nde.gov.ng, is designed to enable Nigerians access its programmes, products and schemes that will be of benefit to, and meet the needs of citizens in quest of employment.

    Operating under the aegis of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, the NDE has as its mandate, among several others, designing and implementing programmes to address the problem of massive unemployment, articulating policies aimed at developing work programmes with labour intensive potential and maintaining a data bank on employment and vacancies, with a view to providing information on job vacancies to employment seekers, in collaboration with other government agencies. Other aspects of the agency’s mandate include promoting rural employment programmes to cater for unemployed Nigerians who are interested in agricultural activities, facilitate access to credit for graduates and non-graduates interested in going into small businesses, as well as undertake vocational skills programme, with a spectrum of 48 trades from which prospective participants are able to choose. The NDE is expected to plan for jobs for elderly, retired Nigerians who are still productive, in addition to catering for the employment needs of citizens, irrespective of their educational background.

    The relaunching of NDE’s website to better communicate its policies and programmes to the people is most timely because most people are unaware of the various services it can render. However, it must go beyond this to communicate its messages through radio and television, in addition to online channels, to reach more of its target audiences. Again, given the critical importance of its mandate, the NDE is one agency that must be given priority in funding by the Federal Government, even in the face of the fiscal crisis facing the country. The agency’s leadership must also consider more efficient ways of linking different categories of jobless persons to available vacancies in the job market. It should be able to utilise the fact that it reportedly has offices in the 774 local government areas of the country to link up with unemployed persons at the grassroots who need its services. 

    There is no reason why the laws establishing the NDE cannot be modified and strengthened to enable it raise funds from the private sector in a way similar to the way Lagos State Employment Trust Fund operates, in conjunction with the private sector.

    It is important to stress, however, that how far the NDE can go in terms of job creation will depend on how well the economy is doing. So, the Federal Government has a responsibility to grow the economy in order to facilitate the assignments of agencies like the NDE.

  • Flood forecasts

    Flood forecasts

    • We would know whether lessons had been learnt from last year’s experience when the rains start

    With the rains approaching, and last year’s disastrous floods fresh in the minds of many Nigerians, it is important to pay serious attention to the official flood forecasts for this year. The disturbing forecasts underline the need for urgent action to avoid a repeat of last year’s devastation and its consequences.    

    According to the Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu, “The forecasts for 2023 show that 178 local government areas (LGAs) in 32 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) fall within the high flood risk areas.”

    He said: “224 LGAs in 35 states, including FCT, fall within the moderate flood risk areas. The remaining 372 LGAs fall within the low flood risk areas.”

    The minister painted this concerning picture while presenting the Federal Government’s 2023 Annual Flood Outlook (AFO) on February 17.  He listed the high flood risk states: Adamawa, Abia, Akwa-Ibom, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross-River, Delta, Ebonyi, Ekiti, Edo, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara, and the Federal Capital Territory.

    This year’s rains are expected to begin in April and end in November, he said, adding that the level of floods in the first category “is expected to be high in terms of impact on the population, agriculture, livelihood, livestock and infrastructure.”

    It is unclear if the concerned authorities across the country are adequately prepared for the predicted floods. Lack of preparation was an issue last year, as floods described as the worst since 2012 devastated many parts of the country. Reports said the floods affected 33 of Nigeria’s 36 states. Official figures indicated that the floods displaced more than two million people, killed more than 600 and injured more than 3,000.

    In addition, flooding destroyed vast agricultural land, disrupted fuel supplies, and caused food price increases. Also, it caused contamination of water sources that led to a cholera outbreak in the northeast of the country, which took more than 60 lives.   

    The Federal Government had blamed the disaster on unusually heavy rains and climate change, suggesting that the main contributory factors were beyond human control.  But that didn’t tell the whole story.

     The Federal Government’s non-completion of the Dasin Hausa Dam in Adamawa State had aggravated the flooding. Nigerian authorities had an agreement with the Cameroonian government to build the dam in order to contain the overflows resulting from the recurrent release of water from the Lagdo Dam in Cameroon.

     The construction of the Lagdo Dam started in 1977 and was completed in 1982.  More than 40 years later, the Dasin Hausa Dam remains uncompleted.  The Federal Government should be blamed for such an inexcusable delay that worsened flooding in Kogi, Benue and other states in the northeast last year. The situation means that history may repeat itself this year.

    Other identified problems that exacerbated the flooding last year were arbitrary construction on natural flood plains and storm water paths, and poor drainage systems, which were compounded by weak enforcement of environmental regulations.

    The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, was reported saying “there was enough warning and information about the 2022 flood,” and alleged that local governments, states, and communities failed to act on the warnings.

    Also, last year, the Director-General of National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Mustapha Habib Ahmed, had stressed the need for every state to set up a State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA) and local emergency committees, and fund them adequately. In 2016, NEMA had said there were no emergency management agencies in 11 states. It is unclear if the situation has changed positively. 

    After last year’s devastating floods, the federal, state, and local governments should have worked towards improving flood control in the country before the next rains. Whether or not that happened will be known during the rainy season. Flood management is crucial because the rains come and go.

  • Ports’ concessioning

    Ports’ concessioning

    • Renewal should be based on financial muscle and technical capacity to deliver

    Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, obviously desired a new impetus to the on-going port reforms when he handed out some guidelines to companies seeking renewal of ports concessions. “The companies”, the minister told the executives of the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), “must show satisfactory evidence of performance and meet key performance indicators and other obligations incumbent on them’”. Port reforms, he added, as if to remind them, were meant to achieve efficiency in ports operations, increase cargo traffic and improve revenue, hence these would count foremost in the renewal considerations.

    His charge to NSC was unequivocal: “Get the ports concession agreements that were signed in 2006, identify all key performance indicators for each terminal due for renewal. Look at their performance in terms of meeting these key KPIs, including development plans, cargo traffic, revenues and other obligations that were incumbent on them’”.

    Fair enough.

    However, with due respect to the minister, those guidelines would appear to be coming a bit late in the day. We have certainly been on this route long enough to wonder when things will begin to happen in a sector said to hold the key to unlocking the nation’s vast treasures. Before now, we have heard the chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Ports, Harbours and Waterways, Patrick Asadu, expressing the view that the agreements, signed some 17 years ago were no longer tenable, particularly as he claimed that they were done in the personal interest of people that signed them. Even the president of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents, NCMDLCA, Lucky Amiwero, had at some point decried the lease agreements, which he insisted went against the law establishing the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, as the law does not allow for a lease agreement that is more than five years. Only last year, the NPA management was on record as bemoaning not just the decaying infrastructure at the entities but the inability of the operators to turn the situation around.

    Last year, NPA’s Managing Director, Mohammed Bello-Koko, gave the operators a six-month grace to fulfil all conditions for renewal or risk severe penalties – a period that has since expired. Nigerians can only wonder if anything has been done by the NPA since then to get things straightened out.

    The point is – there are already sufficient grounds on which the so-called agreements had become not only indefensible but quite frankly, anachronistic.

    As Nigerians very well know, the story of the concessioning, just like that of our ports system itself, has become another tragic story of failed dreams and misplaced expectations. If Nigerians expected better service outcomes post-concessioning, the turnout has been terribly disappointing. Aside falling miserably short in the area of facility development, the operators would appear to have stopped at the point of those promises made in their MoUs, hence the poor state of those facilities and, by extension, the below par service they render. The situation explains the continuing attraction to neighbouring ports by our importers.

    The issue at stake in the circumstance appears quite simple and straight-forward. To the extent that most of the current concessionaires have not, in the past 17 years, proven their mettle in terms of delivering the world-class services expected of them, the focus now should be about throwing the process open to more serious players that have both the financial muscle and the technical proficiency to deliver world-class services. And, while those among the current crop of players are free to apply, only a rule-based, truly competitive process can ensure that only those bringing values to the table are brought on board. The earlier the process is kicked off, the better it would be for the sector and the country as a whole.