The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • On the same page

    On the same page

    The notes of warning from the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) Justice Olukayode Ariwoola and the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Professor Mahmuood Yakubu on the 2023 general elections are timely. The CJN warned that he would not take any act of recklessness or abuse of power and public trust from judicial officers appointed to preside over election petitions. On his part, Professor Yakubu lamented that the commission is already grappling with over 600 cases arising from the primaries and nomination of candidates for the election, calling for caution.

    For us, the fears expressed by the CJN and INEC Chiefs are borne out of prevalent gross indiscipline amongst politicians, lawyers, electoral and judicial officers. The CJN should be aware that some judicial officials have turned presiding at election petitions into a cesspool of corrupt enrichment. He must have noticed that some who made the coveted list lobbied extensively to be appointed. In the past, he must have seen some who presided over election petitions turn to multi-millionaires after participating in the exercise.

    So, his warning is timely, but he must be ready to go beyond platitudes. He must be ready to make scapegoat of any judicial officer caught abusing his judicial office and public trust. His Lordship captured the enormity of the responsibility thus: “Your lordships should count yourselves worthy to be so entrusted with this humongous responsibility of deciding the fate of those that would be contesting elections into various political offices in the country in 2023.”

    He went further: “Even though I rejoice with you on this very important appointment, I still sympathise with you for the many troubles, inconveniences, verbal assaults, and all sorts of uncomplimentary remarks that will be made about you by various litigants.” Justice Ariwoola is right about the humongous responsibility placed in the hands of the justices. He is also right about the troubles and inconveniences accompanying it. While we sympathise with the justices over the challenges, we admonish them not to succumb to the temptation to trade on the humongous responsibilities.

    While some of the litigants would be bold enough to approach the justices, they must watch out for lawyers who appear before them. Some of them receive gratifications on their behalf, and then appear before the courts to make impossible applications. Some justices also recruit the lawyers who have election petitions before them or even their colleagues as conduits for bribes, so they can engage in the abuse of power and public trust, which the CJN warned against.

    The challenge of 600 cases that INEC is grappling with is partly because election petitions have become conduits for appropriating enormous public resources, without offending the law. There is the fear that corrupt electoral body officials and their conniving lawyers have turned election petition litigation to a ‘safe way’ to misappropriate public resources. That is also predominant among public officers who use public funds in their care to pay for private legal services rendered to them while in  office. We are happy to note that INEC has been punishing some of its men involved in election malpractices; it should do more.

    While enjoining the judiciary and INEC to live up to their oaths of office and public morality, politicians must eschew the do-or-die attitude to power. The law enforcement procedure must be strengthened to deal decisively with those who ride roughshod over our laws, regardless of how highly placed. The criminal justice system must develop the resilience to rigorously pursue corruption in our electoral process, no matter how long it takes.

    We join the CJN to admonish: “All eyes are on your Lordships (and also INEC officials) and always remember that your conducts will be publicly dissected and thoroughly scrutinised. Do what is right in our law books and you will have your names etched in gold. Do what is at variance with your conscience and you will get a scar that will terminally dent your ascension to higher height in life.”

  • Data blues

    Data blues

    On November 8, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) announced the imminence of the new Nigeria Living Standard Survey 2022/2023, to extract discrete data on the poor — as well as other demographics — for easier and more adequate government planning.

    Prince Adeyemi Adeniran, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NBS and Statistician-General of the Federation, declared at an event in Ibadan, Oyo State, to flag off the training of enumerators for the survey:

    “Before now, we usually had logistics and funding problems, which made us wait up to 10 years or more before conducting a new round.  ”But with the support of the government and the World Bank, we are able to kickstart another round within a period of five years, which is the standard all over the world.”

    Indeed, this newfound funding has ensured a quick follow-up to the last NLSS, conducted in 2018/2019 but released in 2020.  That has yielded the last tranche of poverty-related stats, which the government has since been using for planning.

    The NLSS, Prince Adeniran affirmed, would include more detailed modules on the poor and society’s most vulnerable.  The data, coalesced into workable and logical information, other things being equal, should strengthen the hands of the government to plot counter-strategies, programmes and policies: plotting safety nets; and eventually creating opportunities to get the poor off the dole, on their own.

    Still, the most priceless bit from the statistician-general’s disclosure is why Nigeria’s data gathering almost always lags behind planning, so much so that government policies, at the three tiers, are often powered by “guess-timates”, rather than sound and specific data — or at best some omnibus figures from international agencies, which mischievous TV show anchors often blandish to cudgel and embarrass defensive government officials.  Yet, the accuracy of these figures can in no way be guaranteed.

    If NBS can sustain its access to funding to conduct such discrete surveys with a five-year period, it would be a welcome relief indeed.

    The government would have access to current data.  Policies and programmes would spring from sound data, not wild, if not blind, guesses.  Policy success rates would likely improve.

    Even news coverage and sundry analyses would be driven by scientific facts and figures, not base sentiments that most often assume the worst, based on some unverifiable hunch.  Such, when they gather traction as they often do, often suggest irredeemable hopelessness which frankly doesn’t help anyone.  All these are needless noise a serious planning environment can do without.

    Still, this question bears urgent asking: might Nigeria over the years be so poor as to not have budgetary provisions to fund timely, periodic and adequate surveys?  Even a slight supposition of that appears to show how wide we had strayed from the needful and wildly embraced the needless.

    Kudos to the World Bank which has supported the Nigerian government to fund logistics for NLSS 2022/2023.  But this should mark a turning point.  Even without external help, Nigeria should be able to prioritise its needs, so much so that funds for planning surveys must always be available.

    If there is no fund for planning, what else would there be funds for, for a deliberate and purposeful government?  Indeed, discrete data, as envisaged by NLSS 2022/2023, ought to be routine and given.  That such is not just shows how far government business has derailed.  It is high time it was re-tracked.

    An especial thing to cheer is that the new survey would target the poor, look at root causes of mass poverty and, from its findings, plot an antidote in new anti-poverty policies and programmes.

    That alone is exciting — particularly for pulling 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next eight years by 2030, as the present policy hopes.  But Nigeria can pull off such an ambitious project only if the planning is meticulous, precise and thorough.

    Still, carefully modelling data capture to crack poverty suggests such careful design is the hallmark of the entire survey, across all demographics: rich or poor, old or young, urban or rural.  Such a carefully designed survey, with enumerators well trained to get the results, could eliminate Nigeria’s data blues.  If repeated regularly every five years, diligent planning may well take root — as routine in other climes.

    That is why everyone should cooperate with the NBS and its enumerators as they go about this very vital survey.  Nigeria’s planning sanity may well depend on it.

  • Condoning high crime

    Condoning high crime

    One of twenty-first century’s most notorious cybercriminals to have come out of Nigeria, Ramon Abbas (aka Hushpuppi) who had been found guilty of laundering proceeds of a school financing scam, business email compromise and other cybercrimes was on Monday handed an 11 years and three months jail sentence.  He was equally ordered to pay two of his fraud victims $1.7m in restitution.

    His arrest in Dubai, the United Arab Emirate, and extradition to the United States in June 2020 at the peak of COVID-19 pandemic by the Federal Bureau of Investigation made global headlines. His arrest had somewhat  shocked many as he had hitherto been described as an ‘instagram sensation and influencer ‘ whose ostentatious lifestyle had been followed by more than two million people who might have believed he was a honest businessman that fortune had smiled on.

    His arrest and extradition to the United States and subsequent trial seem to have burst the bubble he had lived in for years while flaunting his ill-acquired wealth. During his trial, he had pleaded guilty to most of the charges and as such, his conviction and sentencing does not come as a surprise to those that have followed his case.

    To us, his arrest, extradition and conviction is not just a regular conviction of a criminal. His story has exposed a lot in the Nigerian society and in some way comes with lessons about what criminal justice system and Interpol collaboration can do for any country that wants to take advantage of multilateral collaboration, especially in the fight against cybercrimes that have been on the increase globally. The United Arab Emirate and the United States handled the case with dispatch and transparency. A crime in one nation affects all of humanity.

    We find it curious and very revealing that a once celebrated ‘super cop’ who was an Assistant Commissioner of Police, Abba Kyari, was alleged to have been connected to the now jailed Hushpuppi. He is presently being detained over allegations of his involvement with some drug barons.  When the story of the arrest of Hushpuppi broke and allegations were made about the connection, he quickly provided what looks like a laughable alibi. He claimed to have been making clothes for the now convict, Hushpuppi. Not many people found that incredulously laughable.

    Many analysts had expected that Kyari ought to have been extradited to the US to face charges but his arrest by the National Drug Law Enforcement  Agency  (NDLEA) some months back seems to have stalled the calls for his extradition. Many believe that he ought to be allowed to have his day in court as justice must always be seen to be done in such global cases.

    The somewhat speedy conviction of Hushpuppi again shows how serious US takes issues of criminal justice as against the number of years it takes in Nigeria to dispose of cases, especially high profile cases. Law and order enhances rule of law and democracy. There are in Nigerian jails thousands of awaiting trial cases of alleged criminals that ought to get justice not only for them and the society, but for their victims too.

    Read Also: Between crime and poverty

    The reports that Hushpuppi’s wife, Regina Manneh, and two Imams, Rasaq Olopede of Imisi-Oluwa Mosque  in Lagos, and Hudu Abdulrasak of Madrasatul Ahlul-Bait Islamiya in Maiduguri, Bornu State, all wrote letters to the United States Court pleading for leniency for a self-confessed fraudster shows how low  some individuals’ values seem to have sunk. The excuse of the two Imams who are supposed to be religious beacons to the young people that Hushpuppi is a great philanthropist tastes very sour in the mouth.

    The imams, as clerics, ought to have understood that using criminal proceeds for philanthropy does not negate the criminal import of the crime. Religious teachings that cut across all religions are those of love, peace, justice and fairness. How can the imams justify defrauding other humans, most of who might have in despair died,  committed suicide or gone into all kinds of depression and other mental illnesses just to give to mosques and orphans as a noble act?

    It is understandable that the criminal himself while pleading for leniency promised to pay restitutions to his victims in his letter to the judge. It is within his human right to do that. It is a survivalist strategy. It therefore beggars belief that religious leaders whose mantra ought to be good behaviour and the upholding of religious tenets would plead for a self-confessed criminal to be released based on some warped philanthropy. We also find such inanity in churches where most pastors receive tithes and other monetary gifts from obvious criminals. We condemn this religious chicanery.

    Such acceptance fits into the psychology of guilty fatten in gifts from crime. They salve their conscience by begging and even lionizing those who corrupt them or whose claim corrupt acts the condone and even glamorize.

    Hushpuppi’s conviction again stands as an eternal lesson to the young people who tend to follow those who flaunt wealth on social media. To have had more than two million followers on Instagram shows the number of people that were admiring his lifestyle without knowing his source of income. We feel his conviction must stand as lesson for the young people whose activities on the internet seem to be about crime and criminality that, in the local parlance is called ‘yahoo yahoo’, obviously in reference to one of the first internet mailing platforms, Yahoo.com. Cybercrime does not pay. A day of reckoning will always come.

    The resort by Hushpuppi to pseudo-philanthropy again mirrors the societal attitude where most of those involved in criminal activities like politicians, civil servants, oil thieves, traditional rulers and other types of criminals against the state and the people resort to taking a minute percentage to do philanthropic activities like awarding scholarships, building schools, roads, hospitals, helping orphans, etc. with the hope of buying the conscience of the people.

    Hushpuppi possibly understood that in the society such acts often tend to be good ways of laundering soiled images. Unfortunately, his prison term in America must be a lesson to Nigerian society that if people must do the crime, they must do the time. The greatest act of philanthropy is respecting what belongs to individuals and the state. Crime in any language and in any clime is bad. How each society treats criminals defines how progressive and just it is. We hope lessons are being learnt.

     

  • Airborne sisters

    Airborne sisters

    •Maintaining a family tradition  is a feat in a male-dominated sector

    It is striking that three sisters who are pilots, and took after their dad in that regard, are billed to participate in the 2022 Lagos Women Run on November 12.  

    This year, the 10 km road race “will be going on a loop starting from TBS, towards Awolowo Road, Falomo Bridge through Olusola down and finishing at Onikan,” according to Tayo Popoola, the coordinator of the event. “We are expecting about 25,000 runners in the categories of the elites and the fun runners,’’ she said.

    The event, which has a one-million-naira prize money for the winner, transcends sports. The organisers say it provides a platform for the advancement of women in society, and describe it as one of its kind among global races. Support from the Lagos State government underlines the significance of the race.    

    The participation of the Makinde pilot sisters, Mopelola, Oluwaseun and Oluwafunmilayo, is good for the women’s cause. As female pilots, they will be helping to send a strong message to encourage women, and especially girls, who continue to face challenges related to negative gender stereotypes in a male-dominated environment.

     ”As much as I want people to learn from me, that’s me pouring out. I also want to learn from others… I am looking forward to meeting other women in other sectors to also learn from them,” Oluwafunmilayo Makinde-Marcus, a corporate pilot, said. Other women whose careers can inspire womenfolk are expected to enrich the event.    Perhaps the beauty of this unique road race is its power to empower females by inspiring them to soar above gender-based limitations created by the male-controlled society.   

    Read Also: Pastor’s wife, two kids, sisters found dead in Enugu community

    Female pilots are still rare, especially in Africa. In 2021, only six percent of pilots globally were women, according to the Ninety Nines International Organisation of Women Pilots, the oldest group of women pilots with about 6,000 members from 44 countries worldwide.  

    This shows why the pilot sisters are special. Oluwafunmilayo, in particular, is different. She is a fixed-wing pilot. Her father and two sisters are helicopter pilots. She is the youngest of her parents’ seven children who are all females.   

    “I would run out of the house when I heard the sound of a plane… it was so beautiful to behold,” she said in an interview. That’s how the dream started, “to be a pilot of planes specifically.” Her biggest inspiration was her mother who “encouraged me not to give up on my dream despite the odds.”

    After earning a first degree in Computer Science at Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State, she had a stint in the Fin Tech/ Technology sector before deciding on a career switch. She was relatively comfortable, she said, and many people who knew her were surprised, partly because she chose to move to the aviation sector.  ”But a dream is a dream, and passion is passion,” she stressed. She went to flying school, and became a pilot. 

    Factors that contributed to her success include parental support, education, passion, determination, courage, and self-belief. This may well be true of her two sisters who are also pilots. Their stories are inspirational, and teach positive lessons.  

    The importance of education in the mix needs to be emphasised. On the International Day of the Girl Child on October 11, the United Nations notably observed that “Girls around the world continue to face unprecedented challenges to their education.” The situation is grave in Nigeria, which is said to account for more than one in five out-of-school children anywhere in the world.

    The international body advocates engagement with government officials, policymakers and stakeholders ”to make more targeted investments that tackle inequalities experienced by girls.” It also calls for engagement with “key female influencers across industries to be the face of change we want girls to see as possible.” 

    The three pilot sisters can be seen as positive role models. It is commendable that they are playing a noteworthy role in advancing the women’s cause in Nigeria. 

  • Endangered  species

    Endangered  species

    •The state should hearken to Marwa on how to bolster his NDLEA braves

    The advent of Brig-General Buba Marwa (Rtd), as chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), has breathed fresh air into that agency.  

    But it has been near-absolute peril for drug barons and their alleged official colluders and enforcers, including a former high-flying police officer, now awaiting trial for drug charges.

    Aside from arrest of alleged top drug traffickers, as different from the cheap mules who nabbed seem to be singing like excitable canaries, there have been at least two drug busts: one at Ikorodu, a suburb of Lagos; the other, at Lekki, the bastion of the rich and the well-heeled.

    The Ikorodu bust, at 6, Olubukuola Crescent, Solebo Estate, Ikorodu, had a warehouse teeming with 1.8 tonnes (1,855 kg) of illicit drugs, worth almost US$ 279 million; almost N195 billion in street value.  Just imagine how many lives such a huge consignment would have wreaked!

    Nabbed was what appeared an-all Nigeria ensemble, spanning ethnic groups, with a Jamaican to boot, to give the ring an international flavour!  NDLEA said after that it had been trailing the nabbed since 2018.

    Another famous bust was at the Victoria Garden City (VGC), the doyen of the rich at the fast-growing Lekki real estate corridor.  There, NDLEA seized some 13, 451, 466 pills of tramadol, worth N8.860 billion in street value, from a mansion owned by one Ugochukwu Nsofor Chukwukadibia.

    Chukwukadibia’s nabbing, according to a report in This Day, followed on the heels of that of Chris Emeka Nzewi, in that same estate, with Sunday Ukah, reportedly a chemist that allegedly “cooked” the drugs for Nzewi.  These are among the many NDLEA triumphs since Marwa hit the NDLEA blocks, sprinting.

    Read Also: Nigeria has over 10,000 species of traditional medicinal plants, says Mamora

    But it would appear these successes are taking a fatal toll on some NDLEA operatives, in alleged targeted assassinations by drug barons.  He told the House of Representatives Committee on Drugs and Narcotics, while there to defend his agency’s 2023 budget proposals, that drug barons were picking pot shots at his poor operatives with, for now, little or no safety valve.

    He made a special case for NDLEA barracks to further secure his men.

    “The barracks issue is very critical to us because as we know, the NDLEA is very aggressive now against drug traffickers and the drug barons and when you arrest and prosecute them and send them to jail, they are not happy,” he told the committee.  ”So, they come after our personnel and with our personnel living in the town and cities among them, we have been recording casualties and assassinations against them.”

    That’s dire news which should jog the parliamentary committee to do whatever it could to help the NDLEA cause, on account of its good results.  Especially depressing is Marwa’s revelation that whereas N24 billion was voted for the NDLEA barracks projects — in Abuja, Lagos and an unnamed city in Adamawa, for which the agency had already acquired plots of land — N13 billion was provided for in the 2023 budget estimates: slashed almost by half.

    Marwa did not disclose how much was released in 2022 from the barracks’ N24 billion estimate.  But this is again why the committee should step in on both jacking up the provisions for 2023 and also ensuring adequate cash backing for this core project.

    Of course, completing the barracks is not NDLEA’s sole demand.  No less crucial is boosting the agency’s fire power, to shock and awe any non-state actors planning any funny assassination attempts.  Superior — indeed, supreme — fire power is imperative, if these NDLEA gains were not to be frittered away.

    Since many of these barons now have deep roots in deep forests, there is certainly a convergence of interest in NDLEA’s operations and the insecurity question.  

    Kidnappers and terrorists have annexed the forests for their nefarious hustles.  So, a boost for NDLEA anti-drug operations is a boost for the anti-terror squads in both the police and the armed forces.  Besides, it takes no genius to figure out the link between hard drugs, terrorism and kidnapping.

    While all of these steps would take care of prevention — which is always better than cure — the NDLEA should take comprehensive life assurance policy for its operatives.  It probably already has this but now is the time to make it very comprehensive.  

    The Nigerian state should take full and prompt care of the families of NDLEA operatives that fall in the line of duty. A good insurance policy should take good care of that.

  • Mambilla mirage

    Mambilla mirage

    •A more serious country would have completed this project a long time ago

    It is not for nothing that the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Senator Gabriel Suswan, described the Mambilla Power Project as a mirage. There cannot be a better way to refer to a project the first preliminary feasibility study of which was carried out in 1972 but which continues to remain on the drawing board 50 years after. It is a 3,050MW hydroelectric power project that at completion should be the largest power station in the country and one of the largest in Africa. The power generated by it is to be sold to the Transmission Company of Nigeria, which will transmit it to two locations, where it will be integrated into the Nigerian electricity grid.

    After several fits and starts, fresh attempts were made to start its construction in November 2017. This however could not be as a result of various constraints, including landslides and a lawsuit at the International Court of Arbitration. Since the resolution of this in 2020, there have been moves to resume construction, expected to last seven years, to no avail.

    The Mambilla Power Project is indeed a fitting metaphor for many other projects in Nigeria. A well conceived idea but which has suffered several setbacks due largely to the country’s indifference in handling such sensitive projects. This is a project that should perpetually be at the front burner of national discourse and action, given the centrality of power supply to national development. It is unfortunate that decades after its conception, there is nothing on ground to indicate any serious effort to see the project through. Yet, money is being allocated to it in the country’s budgets. Suswan confirmed that much: “Mambilla Power Project has become a mirage to us at the National Assembly and to Nigerians. Monies are provided year in, year out, but nothing is certain about Mambilla.

    “The initial scope of the project was slightly about 3,000 megawatts. There were issues and we were told that it was going to be resolved.

     “In essence, it means that there is no project that is on ground like Mambilla. It’s all about talks and lip service. That is why we are concerned about the money that is provided for consultancy and the money used for the training of staff that was  supposed to be utilised if Mambilla was in place,” Suswan said.

    But that is Nigeria for you. It is the same way we keep spending on refineries even when the country is not getting value for the expenses. The same way we have many drivers to drive a few vehicles in some ministries, departments and parastatals.

    Mambilla Power Project, like some other landmark projects in the country has also been a subject of litigations. We wonder why this is always so. Recall that another legacy project, the Ajaokuta Steel Company, also suffered similar fate of litigations, inexorably delaying its takeoff. The Minister of  Power,  Abubakar Aliyu, mentioned the legal challenges on the power project when he appeared before the Joint National Assembly Committee on Power to defend the ministry’s 2023 budget, after Suswan raised concern over the situation of the project.

    “Regarding the Mambilla Project, we have met with stakeholders and we are resolving the situation. It has something to do with litigation, there is nothing going on as regarding moving to site.”

    Perhaps the good news is that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has waded into the matter. “EFCC has stepped into the matter and we have given them information about it, we have given them history of the power project, our lawyers have interfaced with the anti-graft agency, unless we are able to pull out of litigation, we can’t do anything”, the minister said.

    We implore the anti-graft agency to dig deep into the matter, particularly the monies allocated to the project when it is obvious there is nothing on site to show that work is ongoing there. How much has so far been allocated? Who collected what? What did they do with it? These are germane riddles the EFCC must resolve and feed Nigerians back on the outcome of its investigations.

    But, nothing should stand between the country and the Mambilla Power Project. A power-famished country like ours ought to accord such project the necessary priority if we are to make progress. What we currently generate is a far cry from the national requirement. Yet, we do not have the capacity to distribute the little we generate.

    Mambilla must be seen through because of the many other promises it holds. Among others, it is projected that the project would lead to the creation of about 50,000 jobs. This is a lot in a country with many able-bodied youths roaming the streets in search of non-existent jobs. If the US$5.8 billion project is to take at least seven years to complete, it’s high time we started.

  • Inflexible demands

    Inflexible demands

    •Miyetti Allah can be more considerate in its quest for peace with its neighbours

    Recently, the leadership of the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore, the socio-cultural association of Fulani herdsmen, rose from its National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Abuja listing conditions and demands to be met for the attainment of enduring peace among herders and farmers in troubled communities across the country. Frequent clashes between both groups have been a major cause of violence and instability in several parts of the country, resulting in large scale loss of lives, destruction of property and displacement of persons, with severe negative implications for the economy, particularly as regards agricultural productivity.

    While the farming communities have complained of incessant destruction of their farmlands and livelihoods by nomadic herdsmen in search of pasture for their cattle, the latter have equally alleged continuous rustling of their cattle and extra-judicial murder of Fulani pastoralists in some states, such as Taraba. The protracted nature of these conflicts do no one any good and any step towards restoring peace, including proposing solutions for areas of disagreement by contending groups, should be welcome.

    It is, however, unfortunate that the Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore framed its communique listing its conditions for peace in terms of threats and absolute, inflexible demands which do not reflect a spirit of dialogue to resolve the challenges. For instance, the association warned of its adopting imminent self-help option if the Inspector-General of Police, (IGP), does not constitute a panel to unmask those it alleged are responsible for genocidal massacre of Fulani pastoralists in Taraba and bringing them to justice. It is on record that the association had on a number of times publicly claimed responsibility for revenge killings on some farming communities for alleged rustling of cattle and murder of herdsmen, with no legal consequences.

    We are surprised that the IGP has not strongly reacted to this threat when no group has the right to take the law in its hands, to be both accuser and judge in its own case. If crimes are committed, aggrieved persons have the right to report to the relevant security agencies which have the responsibility to investigate and prosecute indicted persons. When the latter, particularly the police, are derelict in this respect, aggrieved groups resort to self-help with dire consequences.

    Again, the association called for an end to the alleged continuous profiling of Fulani herdsmen. It specifically mentioned the Benue State governor, Mr Samuel Ortom, in this regard, condemning the state’s anti-grazing law which it alleges has been used to confiscate and auction millions of cattle belonging to Fulanis in Benue-Nasarawa and Benue-Taraba border communities.

    We agree that no group should be unfairly profiled in a decent society. However, the anti-grazing law in Benue State is a binding legislation duly passed by the state legislature in accordance with the constitution. It is not a personal diktat of the governor. Those who violate the law cannot expect not to face the consequences. Indeed, several other states have also passed anti-grazing laws and the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) has been unanimous in expressing opposition to open cattle grazing in this age and several times stressing the imperative of the country embracing modern animal husbandry practices such as cattle ranching, which have proven more hygienic and healthier for both the cattle and their herders, and more economically productive, overall.

    The association’s communique further states that the immediate designation, gazetting and development of all 415 grazing reserves across the states of the federation is the only strategic measure in addressing the challenges confronting Fulani herders in Nigeria. But then, Nigeria is a federal, not a unitary state. Constitutionally, control of all land across the country is vested in the state governors, with the exception of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. It is impossible to impose uniform animal husbandry practices on the entire country within the context of democracy and federalism. However, Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore and other aggrieved groups can resolve their differences through dialogue and compromise, utilising the various institutions and processes provided for in the constitution for conflict resolution.

  • CBN error

    CBN error

    •Mopping up the naira without counting the cost is going to cost us more than we know

    The decision to mop up the Nigerian currency may, on the surface, tickle a populist instinct. But at bottom, it is not only bad economics but also dangerous for all. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) governor unearthed the policy to a storm. First, the finance minister dissociated herself from it. We are not sure if this was out of institutional pride or ideological difference. But one thing is certain: Godwin Emefiele, the CBN governor, being the chieftain of the monetary side of the economy, was not in sync with the fiscal region. This is the same problem we headlined when the Kuje Prison attack happened, and we pointed out the lack of coherence among the security agencies.

    If the President approved the CBN idea, he probably did it out of a good heart. But economics is not about charity, it is about what is and not necessarily what ought to be. What ought to be becomes more conjectural and speculative, and it is a risk that must be calculated before a plunge.

    The apparent reasons for the step are, one, we have a lot of money outside the formal financial system. Two, politicians are believed to hoard our currencies because they acquired them through illicit means. Three, terrorists operate their blackmail cash outside the banking halls.

    Read Also: More knocks for naira redesign as Adeboye, others flay policy

    But there are questions that the CBN needs to address. One, it says an estimated three trillion naira is in the informal sector. Granted it is right, what is the percentage of this in the hands of politicians, in the hands of bandits and in the normal informal sector? There are no clear or even estimated numbers to tell this story and, therefore, inform the decision.

    That explains why we believe that the step was precipitous.

    The president should have consulted widely and taken steps, once the implantation got under way, to anticipate and minimise the after-effects or shock. The President has an economic team. Nothing in the form of a proper consultation took place. The consequence has not been cheering. The fiscal side of the economy has to come to terms with the earthquake of the monetary folly.

    One of the results is the free fall of the naira. The value has dropped by about 100 naira since the decision, and there is no telling where this might end. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has swooped on operators of bureaux de change. It is hard to see where the operators have violated the law. They are a product of the law and they are being apprehended for doing the right thing. It is obvious that the government is blaming a scapegoat for its own failures to rein in the volatility of our currency.

    Mopping up the naira has been done in quite a few countries, especially to delegitimise counterfeit currencies. It occurs often in the formal sector. So, it is easier to track, and dross can be flushed out.

    We have witnessed some bring the “errant” money back into the system but at what cost? We are chasing trillions of naira with trillions of naira. It obviates the goal of stemming inflation. If the lack of inflation will be achieved in the long run, the CBN forgets that the new currency will return to where the old one inhabited: outside the banking vault. This is because the policy punishes but does not reform. The behaviour of those who keep money outside will not stop once they know the new notes can always operate again outside the banking sector. The policy also does not count the huge populations displaced by fear and banditry, and this affects 22 states in the country. They will find it hard to access banks. This may even undermine the January 31 deadline.

    It is a wrong decision, if not wrong-headed.

  • Pest-induced hunger? 

    Pest-induced hunger? 

    • It is incredible that pests could destroy 80 per cent of our crop yields in this age

    Perhaps no time in a post-independent Nigeria can be as bleak as the coming harvest season for Nigerian farmers. For a country reeling from a series of socio-economic problems, ranging from insecurity to natural disasters like desertification and flooding, the report from the National Agricultural Extension and Research Services (NAERS) that Nigeria lost 80 percent crop yield to pests in 2022 is one of the worst news of the year.

    Post COVID-19 economic woes, the activities of bandits, violent herdsmen, kidnappers and all sorts of terrorist activities have already brought most Nigerian farmers to their knees. Most do not go to their farms for fear of being kidnapped. Some have had their farmlands totally taken over by bandits who a recent report indicated have taken over the arable lands and recruited the indigenes as free labourers. So, for the agricultural sector in Nigeria, the prognosis is dire.

    The story of the effects of pests consuming up to 80 percent of agricultural products like maize, rice, sorghum, millet, soybean, cowpea, and groundnut seems to be the death knell on food availability in the country. Given the global economic recession, Nigeria must as a matter of urgency take steps to reverse this ugly trend to avert an imminent famine.

    Besides the loss of farm yields to farmers, there are still reports that some female farmers in the country’s north central states of Kogi, Nasarawa, Benue, etc., have been affected by some toxic pesticides, some of which have been banned in the developed countries with high safety standards.

    We feel highly alarmed by all these sad news around food production in a country that is still largely dependent on subsistent farming. This degree of loss when combined with other factors like climate change and insecurity puts the country as populous as Nigeria in a very precarious situation. We suggest that governments at all levels must rise to the occasion by acting with dispatch to find solutions to the problems on ground. 

    Read Also: Hunger knows no tribe, says Mr P

    Given the lingering war between Russia and Ukraine, the global grains market and other agricultural items usually imported from that axis are presently facing challenges. What this means is that each nation is looking inwards to produce enough for its own citizens. Nigeria cannot afford to subject its huge population to food insecurity based on preventable issues like pest control.

    Governments in the country must realise that agriculture and its varied value chain provides sustainability to a huge number of citizens beyond feeding the nation. There must be investment in research and technology in the field of agriculture. Modern agriculture has gone beyond the cutlass and hoe model. Countries are investing money in research for better seedlings and pest-resistant seeds. We hope that the ministries of agriculture all over the federation are up to date with modern technology and not just concerned with merely sharing fertilisers.

    We also suggest that there must be thorough investigation on the reasons why pests can damage as much as 80 percent of farm yields in a single year. Don’t we have agencies whose job it is to prevent such losses? Beyond the impending food insecurity, how would the farmers, most of who might have borrowed money from banks be compensated? It is a chain effect because if their crops are destroyed by pests, it means they would not only lose money but also the seedlings they would have preserved for next planting season.

    Food security is one of the most important issues any government must guarantee. The odds are seriously against farmers in Nigeria and this has gone on for years. The level of losses tends to point to a lethargic inaction from governments. If the few farmers that can either brave the state of insecurity to farm or are lucky enough not to have been attacked can suffer huge losses to pests in a twenty-first century world with varied new techniques and improved farming methods, then the country’s huge population is facing starvation.

    Our governments must realise that national interests come before aids and multilateralism. This means that governments at all levels must sit up and plan to feed Nigerians because a post-COVID 19 global economy cannot sustain a starving Nigeria. Agriculture, rather than oil that the country seems to have lost grip of must be made viable and sustainable. There is no free lunch anywhere. 

  • Abominable pay

    Abominable pay

    The economy continues to bleed as a few feast on national resources. While experts have said the size of the economy is too small for a country Nigeria’s size, it is obvious that distribution is a major problem. The news is that a few members of the political class, including the president, vice president, governors, deputy governors, legislators at the federal and state levels, and senior appointees are to be paid N63 billion as severance allowance at the end of their tour of duty next year. This is a heavy toll on the treasury at a time when most state governments are unable to promptly pay their workers’ salaries.

    Many state governments have reverted to the old minimum wage of N18,000 on account of poor revenue inflow. As leaders of the Nigerian Union of Pensioners have said, retirees in most parts of the country wallow in abject poverty, unable to take good care of their health and are living in slums. Those living in rented apartments have been evicted, all because their employers while in public service have failed in the responsibility of caring for them in old age.

    All over the world, senior citizens are specially catered for. In Africa, they are regarded as repositories of wisdom and knowledge, thus well respected. But, in Nigeria today, they have been reduced to destitute. This narrative must change if the crave to steal from the common purse must be reversed. But, the more political office holders and top bureaucrats appropriate the common wealth to themselves, the less available for the people.

    A system that venerates a 30-year-old appointed senior special assistant or commissioner and left office at 34 above a civil servant recruited at 25 and served for 35 years is patently unjust and is incapable of eliciting patriotism and nationalism. It is bad enough that legislators and executive officials find ways of padding their remuneration through jumbo allowances unknown to the law while in office, to carry the same into retirement is a call to crisis.

    It is also patently unjust to budget N13.8 billion for maintaining previous presidents, vice presidents, chiefs of general staff, heads of service, permanent secretaries and heads of federal parastatals in 2023. It is in the country’s interest at this point to get the National Salaries and Wages Commission, as well as the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to review bogus payments being made to lawmakers and executive officials.

    There are so many things calling for urgent attention in the land. University lecturers and resident doctors are far from being pacified. Unless urgent actions are taken, industrial harmony cannot be guaranteed next year. It is already two years since the Federal Government announced special package for primary and secondary school teachers, the special scale promised is yet to be implemented, while all federal workers are already expectant following the promise of review of their wages by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment. Yet, the deficit component of the N20 trillion 2023 budget is more than 50 per cent. Everyone should appreciate that it is a time to make sacrifice.

    While awaiting implementation of recommendations by the Oronsaye committee, the government has a duty to demonstrate good faith by trimming the remuneration that has made political office the shortest route to incredible wealth. Nigeria must be freed to fly.