The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Nigeria’s dilemma

    Nigeria’s dilemma

    •Govt must move to check the humongous amount we spend on raw material import

    Nigeria may have long earned global notoriety for importing goods that it can readily produce; nothing however better captures the failure of its backward integration policy than the humongous amounts it continues to spend on raw material imports. According to the Foreign Trade in Goods Statistics for Q3’22 released by the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, the country, in the third quarter ended September 30, 2022, spent N649.21 billion on raw material imports – a 23.9 percent year-on-year (Y/Y) increase against the N523.97 billion spent in the corresponding period in 2021. In all, the total amount spent on raw material imports is said to represent 11.5 percent of total import, which stood at N5.664 trillion within the review period.

    The preceding years figures, going by the data supplied by Statista, an online platform which specialises in market and consumer data, is just as interesting:  from raw materials import bill of N1.126 trillion in 2018, things jumped to N1.342 trillion in 2019 and then to N1.4 trillion ($3.4 billion) in 2020 and finally to over N1.9 trillion ($4.6 billion) in 2021.

    More than mere confirmation of the already notorious fact about the import-dependent nature of the national economy, the statistics casts a grim light on the nation’s import-substitution strategy as it is its industrial policy as a whole.

    The underlying tragedy is that a number of the raw materials on which the country currently expends humongous amounts of foreign exchange could actually be sourced locally. That things are the way they are could be blamed on the somewhat lackadaisical government which although, routinely mouths backward integration but continues to shirk in its responsibility of providing effective, cutting edge leadership to actualise that quest.

    Most Nigerians are only too aware of how bad things are. So bad that a leading oil-producing country not only imports fuel – whether industrial or domestic – for its domestic consumption, but has over time, wilfully denied itself the benefits of a thriving petrochemical industry on the basis of which a meaningful industrial strategy could have been firmly anchored. From simple industrial packaging to other industrial and pharmaceutical derivatives, not only does the country continue to lack appreciable industrial capacity, a discernible pathway out of the morass would appear to have become something of a rocket science to the managers of the continent’s self-acclaimed biggest economy. The result is that the country continues to spend billions of dollars on such raw materials in which it is heavily resourced.

    As it is in the petrochemicals, so it is in the agricultural front. For instance, data from the United States Department of Agriculture shows that Nigeria spent $710.25 million on agricultural products from the U.S. in 2021, with two products – wheat and ethanol – topping the list. These are items that could ordinarily be produced in the country. In fact, until very recently, palm oil, which Nigeria enjoyed a historic advantage in its production, was actually imported by the nation’s manufacturers to produce soap and margarine for Nigerians.

    The matter goes beyond the country’s pretence to being an industrial society status being laid bare to the world. We are dealing with something that comes at great cost to the treasury in scarce foreign exchange, the underdevelopment of the industrial and agricultural capacity and growing unemployment and, by extension, the fostering of that same old vicious, dependency cycle which has led the country to this point and with it the perennial whining by manufacturers for scarce foreign exchange.

    The situation obviously calls for a re-evaluation of the import-substitution strategy as indeed the industrial policy of the Federal Government as a whole. It is now obvious that import-substitution will not happen without the government providing the required leadership. At this time, the country can do with renewed energy and new milestones while setting things on course. The private sector must be seen as an active partner in this regard and so deserve every support that they require (matching incentives) to cut down on their raw material imports. The operators on their part must commit to a programme to wean their operations from raw material import-dependency.

  • Misplaced priority

    Misplaced priority

    • Oloibiri needs development, not an expensive museum in an ugly environment

    News of the Federal Government’s approval of N117bn for the construction of a museum and research centre at Oloibiri, Bayelsa State, where crude oil was first discovered in Nigeria raised eyebrows.

    It is not only that the project cost is fantastically huge. Also, building such a costly facility in a place that is famously underdeveloped raises questions about the government’s priorities. It would make more sense to pursue development of the area generally than to erect a beautiful monument in an ugly environment.

    The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Timipre Sylva, on February 8, announced that the Federal Government had awarded the Phase-1 Engineering, Procurement and Construction contract for Oloibiri Oil Museum and Research Centre to Julius Berger Nigeria Plc. Construction of the facility will commence in March, and it is expected to be completed in 30 months.

    The four development partners involved in the project are the Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF), Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria (SPDC) and the Bayelsa State Government.   

     According to the Senior Special Assistant to Bayelsa State Governor on Tourism, Dr Piriye Kiyaramo, “The Museum is expected to highlight the inner workings of Bayelsa State’s pioneering petroleum industry through interactive displays, videos, working models, games, photographs, restored gas station memorabilia, and an authentic turn-of-the-century drilling technology.”  This does not fully explain the staggering project cost, which should be clarified.

    He likened the project to “Drake’s Oil Well in Pennsylvania, being the first commercial oil well in the United States,” and others such as the Norwegian Petroleum Museum in Norway, Oman Oil and Gas Exhibition Centre in Oman, the Texas Petroleum Museum, California Oil Museum and the Oklahoma Oil and Gas Museum which, he said, “rake in millions of dollars to the host states and communities.”

    It is unrealistic to foresee possible tourism benefits of the project without the enabling infrastructural facilities necessary for tourism promotion.

    The discovery of crude oil in commercial quantities at Oloibiri by Shell D’Arcy, in 1956, was a turning point for the country. It marked the beginning of Nigeria’s oil wealth. Today, Bayelsa is among the oil-producing states in the country’s oil-rich Niger Delta region, and crude oil is Nigeria’s main export.  

    Lamentably, more than six decades after production began at the first oil field in Oloibiri in 1958, the underdevelopment of oil communities in the Niger Delta remains a sad reality. Nigeria is a major producer of oil in Africa and the world, but many communities in the region that produces the country’s oil wealth are noted for alarming underdevelopment, and also environmental degradation attributed to oil exploration and production.

    The intervention of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), established in 2000 under the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, has not achieved the desired impact.   

    In 2019, for instance, President Muhammadu Buhari observed that during his visit to the oil-rich region, people in oil-producing communities “were asking for schools, hospitals and potable water.”   “I scooped water from the pond that the people drink. It was smeared with crude oil,” he lamented. 

    Such a picture of underdevelopment and pollution highlights an urgent need for remediation, which should be holistic and beyond the construction of a museum facility.  

    Notably, the Oloibiri oilfield was reported to have produced more than 20 million barrels of oil in 20 years, before oil production was stopped there in 1978. The community has been described as “used and dumped.”

    The idea of building a monument in the historic town goes back to the 1980s. The resurrection of the plan puts the cart before the horse, and can be described as a misplaced priority, given the neglect of the community by the authorities over the years, and the general underdevelopment of oil communities in the Niger Delta. 

  • Leadership bloom

    Leadership bloom

    • The Lateef Jakande Academy will deepen governance and the political bureaucracy 

    Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande (1929-2021), first elected governor of Lagos State, died on February 11, 2021.  To mark the second anniversary of his passage, the Lagos State government just launched the Lateef Jakande Leadership Academy Fellowship Programme.

    On February 15, the academy’s pioneer fellows, numbering 30, started their rigorous one-year training and internship.  The programme ends on January 15, 2024, after which the pioneer fellows would yield space for fresh interns.  The interns — by the programme’s dictates — are 35 years and below: not older.

    Alhaji Jakande’s legacy in governance and democracy is mixed.  He was a visionary, passionate and people-oriented governor, well acclaimed all through the short-lived 2nd Republic (1979-1983).  

    But his democratic credentials were badly knocked by his involvement, as works and housing minister, in the Sani Abacha regime, during the crisis of the June 12, 1993 presidential election which Gen. Ibrahim Babangida annulled, after Basorun Moshood Abiola had won the poll.

    On the balance, however, Jakande’s stellar contribution to public good was solid and indisputable.  That would logically explain why Lagos is immortalising him with this leadership academy.  LKJ, as governor, was the epitome of good leadership, after Jeremy Bentham’s philosophy of the greatest happiness of the greatest number.

    “We established the Lateef Jakande Academy to fulfil two visions: the first is a vision to institutionalise the public sector leadership pipeline in Lagos State,” said Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the fellows’ inauguration, “and the second is our vision to immortalise the name of the first civilian governor of Lagos State, Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande…”

    The governor continued: “Leadership is so crucial at all levels within the society.  Our goal is to provide a platform that will give invaluable exposure, purposeful leadership preparation that will positively Impact our youth to cultivate a shared vision that will lead to active citizenship and nation building.”

    These are indeed clear and laudable goals, particularly in firmly mentoring the listless youth, who often grumble against being sidelined in governance, to mould them into future elite conceptualisers and implementors of public sector policies, while climbing through the ranks.  

    The programme’s curriculum include “job-shadowing Lagos State cabinet members (in which interns would serve as special assistants in Lagos ministries, departments and agencies), a whole gamut of leadership training, community volunteering by embarking on high-impact community projects that must be completed within the one-year fellowship period, fellowship network — a logical futuristic follow-up: a vibrant network of well trained and highly motivated young policy Turks raring to go!”

    If the scheme goes well — and from the vigorous recruitment of the pioneering fellows and the academy’s solid curriculum, there is no reason it shouldn’t — the Lagos political bureaucracy (as distinct from the classical civil service) would be deeply enriched.  

    Not only that.  Perhaps for the first time in this political dispensation, a government is making a deliberate and conscious effort to groom heirs to conceive and implement its future policies and programmes.  That is a fitting lesson in sustainable quality governance that other states should learn from — and possibly adopt.

    Some reportage from the academy’s programme launch suggests the academy would offer “life-changing, non-partisan and meritocratic opportunities to young Nigerians who desire to impact their generation through public service.”

    True, there is no partisanship in merit and positive impact.  The people would take both with thanks, no matter what party delivers it — and reward such in future elections, other things being equal.

    Still, every sane polity must be driven by definable tenets, the canon of basic principles and grand philosophies that drives their policies and programmes.   Indeed, LKJ was a palladium of progressive politics and governance — and so has been every succeeding elected government of Lagos, perhaps with the exception of the Michael  Otedola government (January 1992-November 1993).

     So, aside from the programmed conveyor belt of future leaders, the Jakande Leadership Academy should spark a challenge among Nigerian differing ideological blocs — progressive, conservative and centrist — to set up academies to inculcate their governing philosophies in their members, from a very young age.

    Indeed, the grand irony of Nigerian politicking today is that about anyone could run on the platform of Labour Party (LP), ideology be damned!  Yet, LP, by its Labour affiliation, is supposed to be left or, at the very least, left of centre.

    The flagrant LP abuse, at every election cycle, is a symptom of a deeper dystopia in Nigerian contemporary politics — vacuum politics that balks at any defining principles.

    Following the Lateef Jakande Academy, similar institutes, along ideological lines, could well fix that flaw.  That can only fire the politics of conviction and deepen good governance.

  • No more sanctuary

    No more sanctuary

    • Citizens take on Supreme Court over controversial verdicts

    It is unusual for the Supreme Court to speak out, let alone trade words with critics of its decisions. But, the court, like any other institution run by men, is not infallible. It should therefore expect that scholars, litigants and some opinion moulders would sometimes join issues with it on some of its decisions considered unsavoury and, perhaps, unhelpful for the society.

    But, quite against this tradition, the Supreme Court of Nigeria released a statement attacking those who had criticised the trend that they considered dangerous of recent.

    In a statement signed by the Director of Public Affairs, Dr. Festus Akande, the court said: “Even in a state of emotional disequilibrium, we should be reasonable enough to make a good choice of decent words.” He came down harder on them by describing them as “individuals and groups of persons who ought to know better and even assume revered positions of role models to a larger proportion of citizens now…flagrantly displaying ignorance and infantilism in the course of defending the indefensible.”

    The court was particularly aghast that its critics had insinuated that the justices were bought over, rather arguing that their lordships adjudicated on the matters brought before them judiciously, not being Father Christmas.

    But, in arguing that “it is a thing that we are used to” in the political season, the court was expressing the reason why the outburst from it was unexpected and might be difficult to justify. These are difficult times for all, no doubt. It is one basis why all segments of the society should keep calm and allow the violent wind blowing across the country to settle shortly. The judiciary, at the apex of which we have the Supreme Court should equally take the lead in the charge to help the country ride over the storm.

    It is true that the acerbic, outlandish comments by some radical or fringe elements might have gone overboard, but that is the more reason why the apex court should not have helped publicise such opinions by its unprecedented manner of sending out a public statement.

    However, the public, too, need make a distinction between making damning, uncorroborated assertions about their lordships, spewing allegations that could rubbish their reputation, and criticising elements of their judgments and processes allowed in the course of arriving at such conclusions. Even at that, leaders of opinion in the society should be careful not to inflame passion in expressing their views. All of us have a stake in preserving the society irrespective of differences in schools of thought, political camps and ideologies. Views must be constructive, not destructive.

    With regard to the controversial judgments that elicited the reactions, it would appear that the Supreme Court justices did not do enough to examine the substance of the cases in the Machina vs. Lawan case concerning the Yobe North Senatorial District in which the judgments of the two lower courts were upturned. Lawan, president of the upper legislative chamber, was an aspirant in the All Progressives Congress (APC), strangely turned around to claim victory in another primary election held for spurious reasons.

    Therefore, Machina who had earlier won a well conducted primary witnessed by the Independent National Electoral Commission spurned the new contest at which Lawan was declared winner. Even their lordships at the Supreme Court found it difficult to lay bare reasons for recognising the latter primary. Many critics, especially the level- headed, had therefore come to the conclusion that the verdicts delivered by the Supreme Court ran contrary to precedents, bowing rather to strange technicalities. It was therefore not difficult for unbiased critics to reason that the conclusion was odd.

    In the case of Akwa Ibom North-West Senatorial District between Senator Godswill Akpabio and Udom Ekpoudom wrestling to represent the zone in the Senate, the Supreme Court gave victory to Akpabio, a former Minister of the Niger Delta in a similarly rather queer circumstance. Akpabio had lost at the Court of Appeal in a well-reasoned judgment that drew applause from the critical mass even outside the state.

    Nigeria remains a delicate, fragile nation that is still far from being the Republic envisaged at independence by the leaders and the people; we all must therefore take part in putting together the building blocks. Almost 23 years after returning to civil rule, we ought to have imbibed democratic culture that would protect the judiciary as an important arm of government, and the judicial lords, too, especially at the apex court, should have realised the import of their position. The Judiciary too, as the arm of government that was not dismantled in the years of military intervention in governance should have developed a more suave response to developments and individuals in the society.

  • Respect Supreme Court

    Respect Supreme Court

    • President Buhari’s broadcast defied the constitution by disobeying our top court

    President Muhammadu Buhari’s broadcast to the nation was long overdue, but even after that, it was a hopeless anti-climax. With what came across as a barely voiced sympathy for the sufferings of hundreds of millions of citizens on his watch, his broadcast was large on self-righteousness and short on understanding of the pains and groanings of Nigerians.

    Against the background of street eruptions of rage and frustrations in parts of the country, the broadcast came late. But even at that, the broadcast pitted itself against the rule of law. He gave the speech hours after the Supreme Court restated its earlier interim order directing the Federal Government and its agencies to retain the use of the old naira notes, that is the 200, 500 and 1000 bills.

    The governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, did not heed the apex court. Rather, he defied it, aligning with the view of fissiparous elements who said the order applied only to the Federal Government. They cited the CBN’s independence. But Emefiele shut his eyes to the pecking order of government that makes the CBN an agency of the Federal Government. So, when state governors returned to the halls of the Supreme Court, after a chaos the defiance triggered across the country, to complain over non-compliance with the court order, the top court reiterated its instruction that its order was for the Federal Government and its agencies. The CBN cannot deny that.

    Many Nigerians expected the president, being the custodian of the people’s mandate, to show deference to the constitution. If he did, he would have bowed to the call to allow the old notes of 200, 500, 1000 to circulate until the Supreme Court’s definitive verdict.

    The president overruled the Supreme Court by disallowing the 500 and 1000 bank notes. This is a misnomer in a democracy. It bodes danger for the operation of a republic in the 21st century. The concept of the rule of law has suffered so many violations since the beginning of this republic, and the Buhari administration has been asked many times to defrock itself of its hubris and subject itself to the dynamic of law.

    But this time, it has shown its contempt with a serenity of indifference. The theory of the division of powers calls for the judiciary to be removed from the lawmaker and executive manned often by politicians. Once courts make orders, no one has a right to disobey them. A court judgment is not an aesthetic choice. It is not like beauty that depends on the eye of the beholder. It is irrevocable until appealed to a higher court. The final stop is the Supreme Court. Whatever the Supreme Court rules is law. The Supreme Court tells the nation what the grundnorm says. So, when anyone, including the president, issues an order or engenders an action that runs counter to it, it is a recipe for anarchy. It subordinates the constitution to the whims or calculations of a man or a group of people. It means the society has veered from a democracy to an autocracy.

    So, when President Buhari disregarded the ruling of the Supreme Court, it lofted himself above not only the judiciary but above the law. He has questioned and sullied the rule of law.

    This is not what we expect in a nation coming to grips with the rudiments of a democratic culture. Meanwhile, it is not clear how this new policy will play out in the coming days.

    Prior to the decision, the Kaduna State Governor, Malam Nasir El Rufai, said some persons in the Federal Government had hinted him ahead of the president’s speech that they wanted the governors to accept only N200 old notes and that the CBN had made a bonfire of the N500 and N1000 notes.

    Whatever happens, we want the president to respect the constitution and obey the Supreme Court order.

  • Three sisters

    Three sisters

    • Ladies lead the way on an important code of conduct

    Scotland’s first minister and Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon stepped down last Wednesday in a shock move that left her country stupefied and groping for new direction. She said she knew by instinct that it was the right time to step down. She is the second female leader to quit unexpectedly this year while at relative position of strength in their leadership. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern resigned in January. And that was in the wake of  preemptive resignation in October, last year, by former British Prime Minister Liz Truss.

    The longest-serving first minister (i.e. head of government) of Scotland and first woman to hold the position announced her decision at a hastily-arranged news event in Edinburgh. She said while it had been a “privilege beyond measure” to serve in the role, she recognised since the very first moment on the job “that part of serving well would be to know, almost instinctively, when the time is right to make way for someone else; and when that time came, to have the courage to do so, even if many across the country and in my party might feel it (is) too soon.” She added: “In my head and in my heart I know that time is now. That it is right for me, for my party and for the country.”

    Sturgeon became Scotland’s first minister in 2014 and though she’s experienced rough patches in office like every other leader, she made clear that wasn’t the reason she was stepping down. “If this was just a question of my ability or my resilience to get through the latest period of pressure, I wouldn’t be standing here today. But it’s not. This decision comes from a deeper and longer-term assessment… Essentially, I’ve been trying to answer two questions: is carrying on right for me? And more importantly, is me carrying on right for the country, for my party and for the independence cause I have devoted my life to?”

    The Scottish leader’s manner of exit echoed her New Zealand counterpart’s shock resignation in January. Jacinda Ardern, at the first caucus meeting of her country’s ruling party for the year, said she “no longer had enough in the tank” to do the job and it was time to go. Ardern became the world’s youngest female head of government when she was elected prime minister in 2017 at age 37, and she led New Zealand through the COVID-19 pandemic and a series of disasters including the terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, and the White Island volcanic eruption. In five momentous years, she became New Zealand’s most reputed postwar prime minister. But in announcing her exit, she said: “I’m leaving, because with such a privileged role comes responsibility – the responsibility to know when you are the right person to lead and also when you are not. I know what this job takes. And I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. It’s that simple.”

    United Kingdom’s Liz Truss did not quit entirely on her volition, but even she knew when to leave. Her premiership ran into storm very early on account of a so-called mini-budget introduced by her first Chancellor of the Exchequer (finance minister) Kwasi Kwarteng, which ignited a turbulent period for that country’s bond markets as they balked at debt-funded tax cuts he put forward. Most of Kwarteng’s policies were reversed three weeks later by the second Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt. But that wasn’t before Truss’s leadership had been mortally damaged by a rebellion within her Conservative Party and a looming threat of no-confidence vote that she preempted with her resignation after just 44 days in office, making her the shortest-serving prime minister in British history.

    These ladies teach an important lesson in leadership, namely knowing the right time to quit the stage. Leadership the world over is dominated by the menfolk, and this trait incidentally happens to be rare. This is even more so in Africa where there is a power bug of life presidency satirised by Nobel laureate Professor Wole Soyinka in his work, A Play of Giants. Amidst the Paul Biyas, Nguema Mbasogos and Yoweri Musevenis of this world among many others, the ladies’ club offer a role model in leadership that is most worthy of emulation by all.

  • Two tragedies

    Two tragedies

    • Two parents trusted their children in the care of strangers. Two persons died

    The stories of tragedy reflect the increasing impunity in the Nigerian society and how, sometimes, the law and even law enforcement capabilities run short. The one is about Frederick Olorunfemi who died in a scuffle with the rapist of his seven-year-old daughter.

    The other story is about the daughter of Korshima-Achirkpi whose daughter was beaten to death by one Ujunwa for whom she was working as a maid. She covered the alleged murder with a clever and elaborate deception until she had to confess.

    Olorunfemi’s case involved his daughter who was always taken to and fro school in the school bus driven by Jacob. The driver was always taking her to his home in Ogun State before bringing her to the parent’s home.

    When the father learned of the secret, he lunged at him at the school and Jacob pushed him to his death. Jacob has fled.

    The case of Precious Korshima, daughter of Korshima-Achirkpi, also touches the heart. Ujunwa was feeding her daughter, a newborn, at night when Precious had already slept. She woke her up and beat Precious until she lost her life.

    According to her own confession, Ujunwa took the girl to a hospital in Enugu where she resided, and a doctor certified her dead. She dumped the body in a refuse area, and wove an elaborate hoax about a kidnap in which the perpetrators wanted a N20 million ransom. After that, she said both had been released but the kidnappers shot the girl.

    However, it turned out that the body had started to decompose and a village head ordered the youths in the area to incinerate it.

    “It feels like my heart has been ripped out of my body. I feel very empty. Precious just clocked nine a few months ago. She was too smart for her age. She didn’t deserve to die,” Korshima-Achirkpi said amid sobs.”

     ”The investigation revealed that the suspect confessed to have, during the night hours of November 8, 2022, beaten and caused the death of the minor, who was her house-help, in her residence at Fidelity Estate, Enugu.

    “Thereafter, in the morning hours of the following day, she took the lifeless body of the child to the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Ituku-Ozalla, for medical attention.”

    The story breaks the heart but it makes more evil intrigue when the father says the New Haven Divisional Police Officer foot-dragged on the matter. He also alleged that some police officers demanded a N200,000 bribe to expedite it.

    “My child was killed and he is saying it was a dispute? I haven’t even seen her corpse. What kind of settlement was he talking about? I want to see my daughter’s corpse. I want justice for my daughter,” he cried.

    The matter is already in court and we urge the court to bring the case to an end.

    Both stories reflect the cunning of crime. We are not even sure if Ujunwa did not respond to a post-partum affliction. She was alone at home with Precious while her husband was not in the country and beside her to nurse the newborn.

    Olorunfemi’s narrative is sad for the trust that he and his wife placed on a driver. Jacob was at large at the time of writing this piece. We urge also the police to track him down and bring him to justice.

    Yet, neither justice for Ujunwa and Jacob can retrieve the precious ones that departed because of moments of savagery.

    It means parents should pay more attention to whoever takes care of their child. Trust is a diminishing value in an increasingly urban and broken society. It was too much trust that cost both lives, but we need more trust in the ability to be parents.

  • Wrong mindset

    Wrong mindset

    • We can’t make progress if Fed. Govt continues to pick holes in TI’s rating of our anti-corruption efforts

    It’s not surprising that the Transparency International (TI) report for 2022 indicates that Nigeria remains one of the most corrupt countries in the world. The country is rated 150 of the 180 countries surveyed.  Our country was scored 24 per cent, showing that there has been no improvement over the years.

    As in previous years, the Federal Government dismissed the report as contrary to the reality on ground. Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,  said the government has done a lot in the fight against corruption and suggested that Transparency International should check the parameters it is using to score the nations. Incidentally, the words used by the Obasanjo and other preceding administrations were similar. 

    At the inception of the Fourth Republic in 1999, whereas there were only 99 countries surveyed,  Nigeria was ranked 98. The excuse then was that the report was a reflection of the corruption situation under the military government.  It was, however, shocking that by the end of the first term of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s government, Nigeria remained above only Bangladesh as the most corrupt countries. 

    Successive administrations have only paid lip service to fighting the monster that has been sucking resources that would have helped in enhancing national growth and development. Today, no thanks to the monster, the country is rated the second poorest country in the world. Open defecation is still rife, even in our cities, and the National Bureau of Statistics  (NBS) came out last year with an embarrassing report that 139 million are in the multi-dimensional poverty net.

    Nigerians were so expectant that the Muhammadu Buhari administration was best placed to save them from the clutches of corruption, given his military background,  his War Against Indiscipline as military Head of State and the campaign rhetoric of sweeping the nation clean within his first term.  The current government has tried but its efforts in just eight years cannot wash the country clean of sleaze.

    The forthcoming change of government by the ballot box is another opportunity to cleanse the public sector and save the citizens of the embarrassment of being portrayed as corrupt by other countries. The electorate has a duty to scrutinise contenders for executive and legislative offices closely to determine those who may be selfless.

    Chairmen and operatives of the two main anti-corruption agencies owe it a duty to this and the next generations of Nigerians to change the narrative. Abdulrasheed Bawa of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices And Other Related Offences Commission  (ICPC), should think of the legacy they will bequeath to the nation.

    There is a lot going for Nigeria. –  the most populous black country in the world, a country blessed with abundant natural resources, the largest economy in Africa and well exposed human resources.

    All hands must be on deck by the next administration. The legislature, working with the judiciary and the Nigerian Bar Association, should take a critical look at the legal framework and judicial processes to ensure that offenders are speedily brought to justice. The President as Chief Executive should be resolved to appoint persons of impeccable integrity to offices. Besides, anyone found to have compromised his office should be removed immediately and prosecuted where necessary. This is the way forward instead of blaming Transparency International which former President Obasanjo was its co-founder.

  • Cancer challenge

    Cancer challenge

    • Cancer, finding increasing home in Africa, is a stiff public health threat

    Zimbabwe, the first African country on cancer’s global incidence, occupies number 67: with 194.7 cases in every 100, 000.  Denmark tops that table with 334.9 cases in every 100, 000.  With 108.1 cases per 100, 000, Nigeria is number 150 on that global cancer table.

    But this picture, courtesy of the World Research Fund International (WRFI), is cold comfort — and this direct quote from that study is why: “With the burden growing in almost every country, preventing cancer is a significant public health challenge.”

    But the same report added with a redemptive hue: “Around 40% of cancer cases could be prevented by taking risk factors relating to diet, nutrition and physical activity.”

    That two out of every five cancer cases could be prevented by better diets,  healthier nutrition and more physical activity is good news.  Still, when did “prevention is better than cure” become a mantra adopted by the majority?

    Indeed, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization (WHO) Africa regional director, outed with rather grim news, while marking the World Cancer Day for 2023: approximately 1.1 million new cancer cases occur in Africa each year.  From these cases have accrued no less than 700, 000 deaths — that is no less than seven deaths in every 11 cases!  That’s rather high!

    But it’s hardly surprising, given the general poor state of hospitals and health management.  Cancer, after all, is a disease that needs specialised care.

    In the run-up to 2050, the WHO statistical projection is even direr: Africa could account for nearly half of global childhood cancer by 2050!   Right now, childhood cancer incidence in sub-Saharan Africa is put at 56.3 per one million people — not too alarming.  But this could change, if rigorous steps are not taken at prevention.

    Common cancers, among adults in Africa, are no relief either, going by WHO stats: breast cancer (16.5% of all cases), cervical (13.1%), prostate (9.4%), colorectal (6.5%) and liver (4.6%) — all accounting for nearly half of new cancer cases in the region.

    Cervical cancer (endemic in African women) and prostate cancer (endemic in African men) should really challenge African medical scientists.  African governments and foundations should fund researches into the specific environmental causes of these cancers, and work towards enduring cures.  But perhaps more importantly, figure out vigorous preventive practices.  After all, prevention is still better and far cheaper than cure!  

    But again, the stress here is funding.  Without adequate funding, vigorous cancer research would be a pipe dream.  African countries must therefore develop the political will to pour cash into this research, aside from seeking partnership and collaboration with other regions of the world.

    Still, with research lagging behind cases, treatment and cure, prevention offers the most pragmatic way of fighting cancer.  Strong prevention techniques could be as “easy” as changing ruinous habits and lifestyles.  Though changing fixed habits may not appear that easy, with adequate enlightenment, it is not impossible.

    Cancer research has come up with simple preventive tips: basically in diet, healthier nutrition and physical exercises.  For starters, work towards a healthier weight.  That can be done by right diets and regular exercises.

    The diet regime recommends whole grains, vegetables, fruits and beans as dominant foods. It also advises a radical cut-down on processed foods which have high fats, starch and sugar components.  Intake of red meat: beef, pork, veal, mutton and lamb, excess of which could cause colorectal cancer, should also be severely reduced.

    It also calls for serious cuts in sugar, sweetened and allied processed drinks.  All these are known to spike blood glucose and insulin, which could trigger endometrial cancer.  Also, as much as possible, alcohol should be off limits.  Excessive alcohol is known to cause cancers of the liver and kidney.  Of course, smoking is a no-no.

    Still, lifestyle is so difficult to change because it comes with the so-called “modernity” or “civilisation”.  Selling a “new” life or living is a welter of advertisement messaging, blaring the benefits of the product, but far less forthcoming on its hazards.  Hazards, however, could come with the territory.  The good is a product of factory processing.

    So, the government should adopt a public health policy that makes it mandatory for commerce and industry to be more forthright on possible product hazards, instead of burying all in the glamour and razzmatazz of advertising.  

    If authorities have succeeded in health warnings on tobacco and alcohol products, the new cancer challenge calls for no less vigour on sugar and sweetened products.

    With African public health facilities less primed to tackle cancer, vigorous public health education and enlightenment can step up to fill the void; and halt this fearful advance.

  • Attracting investments

    Attracting investments

    • NIPC, others must cooperate while govt takes care of security and infrastructure for optimal results

    Last week, a team of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC)  led by the executive secretary/chief executive officer, Hajiya Saratu Umar, met with the media, with the sole aim of briefing the editors on the activities of the commission and soliciting their support. Hajiya Umar, at the parley read out a number of activities that the commission has outlined, aimed at opening up more space for new investors, both foreign and local, as well as retain those already in the system. She spoke on the need to promote the country’s investment potential by putting up a marketing/branding strategy while stressing the role of NIPC in the task.

    Her words: “The central and strategic role of the NIPC in the coordination of investment promotion should be activated to ensure Nigeria’s investment promotion drive is given traction to on-board investments into the different sectors of the economy in a bid to facilitate economic growth and national development, including job creation, import substitution, foreign exchange generation and reduction of our reliance on debt, amongst others”.

    She also alluded to a “National Investment Coordination Framework being evolved by the NIPC (that) will provide a clear strategy for a seamless collaboration and coordination of the investment ecosystem as well as usher in a robust and effective stakeholder communication and engagement”.

    For an agency that was set up by the Nigerian Investment Promotion Act Chapter N117 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, to encourage, promote and co-ordinate investments in the Nigerian economy, one should naturally wonder why it has taken it this long to articulate such a programme, almost 20 years after its establishment. When should Nigerians be expected to see those deliverables in concrete terms?

    Howbeit, we do understand that the issue of investment promotion is not only multi-disciplinary but multi-sectoral which means that there is really very little one agency alone can do to turn the current tide. That perhaps explains the plethora of multiple agencies purporting to be doing nearly, if not exactly the same thing the NIPC seeks to do. In fact, one flagship entity of the current administration, the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) was set up in July 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari to “remove bureaucratic constraints to doing business in Nigeria and make the country a progressively easier place to start and grow a business”. That rather expansive body, with membership comprising 10 ministers, the Head of Civil Service of the Federation, the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, representatives of Lagos  and Kano State governments, the National Assembly and the private sector is chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

    There is also the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, (NEPC), among others.

    Much as we can see some overlap in the activities of some of these agencies, it cannot be said that NIPC, by its very nomenclature, has gone outside of its mandate in seeking collaboration with the other agencies through the National Investment Coordination Framework being evolved by it.

    If this is coming late, it is better late than never. Lest we forget; the commission has had more than its fair share of internal wrangling which must have robbed it of the mileage it would have covered if such had not occurred. It has to guard against a recurrence of this.

    There is no doubt that the Nigerian economy is in dire need of both local and foreign investments to come out of the woods and every effort made in this regard should be supported. More investments would mean more development, more job opportunities, more revenue for governments. This also has the potential of checking the country’s appetite for foreign loans.

    We must however, warn that it is sheer day-dreaming for the NIPC or any of the other agencies to think their activities alone can attract the needed foreign or local investors. Government has a huge role to play to facilitate any kind of investment. Investors want a secure and peaceful atmosphere. They need uninterrupted power supply, the tax structure has to be streamlined to avoid multiplicity of taxes, they also need stable and predictable government policies, among others. These are all indispensable for investments, local or foreign.

    As Hajiya Umar noted, some of these shortcomings should provide opportunities for investment (for instance lack of public power supply could attract investors to provide power supply), but security is still largely the business of government. The government must work towards making the country secure. This, at least, is the irreducible minimum that can facilitate the realisation of the objectives of the NIPC and other agencies that were set up for the purpose of attracting investments.