Category: Editorial

There is an avoidable complication in the 2023 budget approval process concerning the Federal Ministry of Defence, which further highlights an enduring issue in the relations between the legislative and executive arms of the Federal Government.

The Senate Committee on Defence has refused to consider the ministry’s 2023 budget proposal, claiming that the Minister of Defence, Maj. Gen. Bashir Magashi (retd), had snubbed the Senate ad hoc committee on the resuscitation of the Nigerian Navy ship, NNS Aradu.

Senator Yahaya Abdullahi (Kebbi North) had raised the matter of Magashi’s alleged non-cooperation with the ad hoc committee, saying he failed to honour three invitations to appear before the body in the last three months. He said the Senate had set up the ad hoc committee chaired by him, in February, to interact with the minister towards getting the naval ship back in operation.

In December 2021, the Senate had considered a motion reported to have been co-sponsored by 15 senators on the “urgent need to resuscitate the Nigerian Navy Flagship NNS Aradu.”  According to Senator George Thompson Sekibo (Rivers East), who gave reasons for the motion, the ship, in 1994, “experienced degradation of machinery and equipment post-refit trials and was assessed as Beyond Economical Repair in 1995.”

He said the situation had arisen following “the transfer of the ship from the Presidency to the Nigerian Navy for maintenance, which could not afford to keep it afloat properly due to the envelope budget system.” He described the ship as “the equivalent of Air Force One in the presidential air fleet.” The senator had observed that Nigeria had no flagship because the NNS Aradu was inoperative, and the situation was unbefitting.

At the time, Senator Sekibo had explained that the ship could be “refitted either locally or internationally, or both, to give her 25 years extended life span or more.” Refitting the ship, he said, “may require over $200 million (N82 billion) at current exchange rate, while replacing the same will require more than $700 million (N287 billion).”

The Senate had urged the Federal Government to take over the naval ship as a presidential asset and resuscitate it for “national security, safety and pride.” This led to the formation of the ad hoc committee headed by Senator Abdullahi, which allegedly invited Magashi to discuss how to resuscitate the ship.

It is unclear why the minister allegedly failed to honour the ad hoc committee’s invitations.  He surely has a lot of explaining to do if he indeed shunned the said invitations.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Defence, Senator Aliu Wamakko, was reported to have asked the minister to clear himself with the ad hoc committee first before his ministry’s budget proposal could be considered.

This conflict was preventable. The country’s bicameral National Assembly, comprising the Senate and the House of Representatives, is an important arm of the Federal Government with defined constitutional responsibilities, including broad oversight functions.

The separation of powers is a cardinal principle regarding the operations of the legislature, executive, and judiciary under the country’s constitution. This is why the Senate, the House of Representatives, and their committees, can lawfully invite, or summon, government officials in connection with government affairs. And it is unacceptable when such officials snub the legislature, which happens too frequently. In this particular case, if the Minister of Defence accepts the role of the Senate in approving his ministry’s budget proposal, he should also accept the upper chamber’s role in finding a solution to the problem of NNS Aradu.

When government officials disrespect government institutions, it can lead to negative outcomes. The Senate committee’s suspension of the consideration of the budget proposal of the Ministry of Defence is an undesirable hitch in the budget approval process.

But if that is what is needed to get the Minister of Defence to honour the legislature’s invitation concerning a serious national issue, then the decision is understandable. Magashi should behave responsibly, and cooperate with the Senate on the NNS Aradu issue.

With the predominant news from our universities, particularly the federal and state- owned universities, being that of incessant strike, poor staff motivation, distracted students, poor infrastructure and debilitating bureaucratic in-fighting, it has become normal not to expect any cheering reports from these institutions. The recent return to work of academics in mostly federal universities after an eight-month strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is one of those now routine incidences that give Nigerian universities a negative image.

In a globalised world where universities must meet stipulated standards that can make them compete internationally and attract students of a diverse and cosmopolitan nature, as well as staff with global academic acclaim, it is no surprise that the country’s universities have generally tended to perform below par as regards rankings with their peers worldwide.

But things have not always been like this. In an earlier era, fondly regarded as the golden age of Nigerian universities, first and second generation of universities such as the University of Ibadan (UI), Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) Ile-Ife, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Lagos, University of Nigeria (UNN) Nsukka, Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, University of Benin (UNIBEN), Benin City, University of Jos (UNIJOS), Jos, and the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Ilorin, had staff who were highly respected and produced students whose academic grounding was solid and indisputable. But, sadly, like other sectors of our national life, the universities have witnessed a drastic decline in standards, with some of the very best of lecturers seeking greener pastures abroad, and students attending them forced to cope with the collapse of social services on campuses, inadequacy of infrastructure, the frustrations of demotivated staff and the perennial disruptive industrial disputes by academic and non-academic staff unions.

In spite of the dismal scenario, it is still not out of place to say that there is indeed ‘brightness visible’ at the end of the dark tunnel that Nigerian public universities have gone through over the last three decades. An indication to this effect was the announcement, last week, by the Chairman of the Nigerian Universities Ranking Advisory Committee (NURAC), Professor Peter Okebukola, of the impressive performance of Nigerian universities in the Times Higher Education (THE) 2023 Subject Rankings which were released on October 25. Widely regarded as the largest and most diverse university ranking worldwide, the THE university rankings cut across 99 countries and territories covering over 1,600 universities. A member of the Board of the THE university ranking body himself, Professor Okebukola, stated that rankings are carefully calibrated and rigorously applied to at least four areas of an institution’s performance, namely, teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook.

Although there is a commendable improvement in the performance of Nigerian universities in the rankings between the 2022 and 2023 rankings, there is no doubt that Nigeria can do much better, given better funding of these institutions and higher commitment to work by both the academic and non-academic staff who must function in synergy for a university to thrive and flourish in actualising its mandate. According to Professor Okebukola, in the 2022 rankings, only five Nigerian universities featured in four subject rankings. For the 2023 rankings, however, 48 Nigerian universities are listed as being among the world’s best in 11 subject/disciplines namely arts and humanities; business and economics; education; law; social sciences; computer science; engineering; clinical and health education; physical sciences and psychology.

It is noteworthy, as Professor Okebukola stated, that no state university is on the league tables while Covenant University (CU), Ota, is the only private institution on the  table, posting impressive performances in business and economics, social sciences, computer science, engineering and physical sciences. The federal universities with impressive rankings include the UNN, UI, UNILAG, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUAA), UNILORIN, OAU, Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Ado Bayero University, Kano and UNIBEN.

A breakdown of the performances of some of the institutions shows that UNN excelled in the Arts and Humanities; CU, UNILAG, OAU and UNN in Business and Economics; UI and UNILAG in Law; UI and UNN in Education; CU, UNILAG, UI, UNN, UNILORIN, OAU, in Social Sciences; CU in Computer Science; CU, FUTA, UNILORIN, UI, UNILAG, UNN, UNIBEN and Bayero University in Clinical and Health Sciences as well as UNILORIN, FUAA, FUTA, UI, UNILAG, UNN and OAU in the Life Sciences. CU, FUTA, UNILORIN, Bayero University, FUAA and UNILAG also shone brightly in the Physical Sciences while OAU posted a brilliant performance in Psychology.

Professor Okebukola attributed the universities’ improvement in performance partly to the setting up of NURAC and we join him in commending the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, and the Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC) for this initiative.

It is our hope that lapses noted by Professor Okebukola as causes of past poor performance in global rankings by our universities such as low investment in the research enterprise, institutional and human research capacity deficits as well as organisational inefficiencies are being effectively tackled by the ongoing implementation of the Blueprint for the Rapid Revitalisation of University Education in Nigeria so that his optimism that “the days of consigning Nigerian universities to the group of non-performers will soon be over” can be justified. This, of course, is a challenge which must be approached with all dedication and commitment. For, as Okebukola himself notes, “Universities are ranked by several indicators of academic or research performance, including alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields’ Medals, highly cited researchers, papers published in Nature and Science, papers indexed in major citation indices and the per capita academic performance of an institution”.

All these mean that Nigeria can waste no further time in completely overhauling and renewing current paradigms for university funding as it is obvious that these institutions can no longer survive on ever decreasing revenue availability to the state, with so many competing sectors dependent on government funding. Academic researchers should aim at greater originality in their work as there are many global problems that can benefit from the outcome of local research, thus making the universities more attractive magnets for investment, both from the local private sector as well as international research and development agencies.

The state government- owned and private universities which have not featured well enough in the rankings as much as they have the potential to do should also do everything to step up their game, and this is particularly with respect to the private universities where students pay humongous amounts to study.

When you look at the mouth of an elder, you will wonder if it ever suckled. Such can be said of the First Republic aviation minister, Chief Mbazuliki Amaechi, who passed on on November 1, at the age of 93. Chief Amaechi died as an elder statesman, and in his later years, he was a proponent of a peaceful resolution of the challenges of nationhood. While not betraying his Igbo consciousness, he advised against the radicalism of such groups as the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB).

But we recall that as a young man, Chief Amaechi was a trade unionist and belonged to the Zikist Movement, which was a radical stump of the campaigners for Nigeria’s independence. He joined the Zikist Movement as a secondary school student. Passionate about Nigeria’s independence, each member of the movement swore an oath never to get married until Nigeria gained her independence from Britain. They also swore not to plead for leniency or show any sign of regret should they be arrested and charged for demanding independence for their fatherland.

Founded as a radical political group in February 1946 by young enthusiastic Nigerian nationalists, it had as founding members Nduka Eze, Kola Balogun, Abiodun Aloba, G. Onyeagbula, M.C.K. Ajuluchukwu, M. Aina, G. Ebo, J. Inoma, and S. Aderibigbe. There were other members like Ogedengbe Macaulay (son of Sir Herbert Macaulay), Raji Abdallah, Ikenna Nzimiro (later Prof. Nzimiro), Magaret Ekpo, Zana Bukar Dipcharima, Fred Anyiam, and Osita Agwuna. Such was the gush of patriotism that Nigerians from diverse ethnic backgrounds were members of the movement.

As a trade unionist Chief Amaechi organised a trade protest when 18 workers of the Nigerian Coal Corporation were killed on November 18, 1949 while they were participating in a strike for just pay, in Enugu. He was at that time the General Secretary of Armels Transport Union, Secretary of Benin Council of Labour and Assistant Secretary of Benin and Warri Districts of the Zikist Movement. He became a leading member of the National Council of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC).

Chief Amaechi was elected member of the House of Representatives on the platform of NCNC in 1959. By 1962, he was appointed Minister of Aviation and Transport. He retained the position until the first military coup in Nigeria on January 15, 1966. Over the years, Chief Amaechi became a sage, and he never shied away from speaking truth to power on national issues. He would usually remind his interviewers that as a young man he was never afraid of suffering, when speaking up for the progress of Nigeria.

In his last outing, he went to plead with President Muhammadu Buhari to release Nnamdi Kanu, the leader of IPOB to him, promising that he would speak the language of peace to the young man, and ensure that he stopped the rhetoric of war and balkanisation of the country. Though well received by the President, his request was not acceded to until his death, earlier this week. While like many, he was frustrated by the lack of national progress and cohesion after 60 years of independence, he never resorted to tribalism as the answer to the problems.

Until his death, Chief Amaechi was the only surviving minister of the First Republic, and perhaps one of the few surviving members of the Zikist Movement. His death has robbed Nigeria of his wise counsel, and Nigerians from all walks of life are mourning his passage. He hailed from Umu Mmara kindred of Amihe Ukpor in Nnewi South Local Government of Anambra State. We join other Nigerians to bid the distinguished octogenarian farewell. May his soul rest in peace.

It’s not new.  On “UNICEF civil society partnerships” on its website, the UN body declares: “Reaching every child requires trusted partners on the ground.”  That suggests — indeed, it is — a global network of UNICEF and private sector and NGO partners, looking out for the world’s most vulnerable of children.

Still, the call by Celine Lafoucriere, chief field officer for UNICEF Nigeria, for non-government players to invest in Nigerian youths, is sound reasoning.  She was addressing the inaugural meeting of the International Business Group in Lagos.

She said such partnerships would aid the successful implementation of the sustainable development goals (SDGs): no poverty, zero hunger, good health and wellbeing, quality education, gender equality, clean water, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry innovation and infrastructure, and reduced inequality, among others.

Specifically, Ms Lafoucriere seeks public-private sector partnerships not only to “bridge the gap for children in underserved communities”, but also boost youths, in poor communities, in workplace readiness skills, livelihood opportunities, access to mobile data and institutional support to express their opinions and needs.

These areas may well pass for an informal yet very essential youth charter, in these days of acute alienation and near-hopelessness, translating into avoidable tension.

These are all the reasons Nigeria’s private sector players, profit or not-for-profit, should embrace this charter and enter into youth development partnership with governments at all levels: federal, state and local government.

It would be in their enlightened self-interest to do so.  These youths, across all demographics, are the nursery from which companies recruit their work force.  If left to rot, that same nursery could breed putative criminals, clear and present danger to  business health.

Still, on the government’s part, it’s not as if the basic policy thrusts are not there.  Nigeria, as the rest of global governments, rolled out the latest SDGs in 2015.  Like other governments, it is also essaying their implementation, subject to resource and budget pressures.

Besides, as at today, there is, for Nigerian children, free and compulsory education for the first nine years of schooling: six years of primary school and three years of junior secondary school (JSS), under the 6-3-3-4 curriculum.

Still, the policy could be better implemented though implementation successes or failures range from geo-political zones to zones, with the North generally lagging behind.

Such lags are a function of adversarial cultures and harmful faith practices, which somewhat embolden parents and guardians to shun these opportunities but unleash poor, helpless and needy children on the streets as beggars and street traders.

Even for those children in schools, public schools would appear the lowest matrix of education, with general underfunding which many times borders on de-humanization.  The school environment tends to be sub-human, with both teacher and pupils stressed beyond limit.

With the re-advent of democracy from 1999, it is true some states have taken special measures to fix these problems: Kaduna and Borno (despite its Boko Haram challenge); Lagos and Osun, as well as Akwa Ibom.

Indeed, in Akwa Ibom, former Governor Godswill Akpabio once declared his education policy was geered towards weaning Akwa Ibom youths, from poor homes, from “house boy and house girl” syndrome in Nigeria’s urban centres.  That programme worked very well and the state would appear far better on that account today.

Still, all is hardly enough.  Funding is acutely limited.  With an estimated 20 million Nigerian children out of school — most of them from penurious homes and communities — the government can use support funding from private sector partners.  That is why everyone should buy into this UNICEF not-so-new dreams.

The pitch for workplace readiness skills, livelihood opportunities and access to mobile data is especially pleasing.  Workplace readiness skills are so vital today.

At its very base, the government and its partners could invest in training schools to produce skilful artisans (masons, mechanics, electricians, vulcanizers, etc) fitting them afterwards with modern tools.  Even tertiary graduates could do with specific entrepreneurial skills, to found ventures and cope with today’s workplace rigour.

Access to mobile data speaks to a generational competitive advantage. Unlike the so-called “old school”, the youths today, almost across all demographics, are much more nimble at IT.  A deliberate investment in this sector could unleash stupendous energy and economic boom in new employment.

UNICEF has shown the way.  Let all the relevant stakeholders follow.  That “charter” could well be the path that leads to socio-economic salvation via youth empowerment.

• The respite provided by suspension of ASUU strike should be used to find lasting solution to perennial crises in the institutions

The universities are beginning to bubble again following the return of teachers to the classrooms after an eight-month industrial action. Students and parents have started heaving a sigh of relief, believing that the storm is over. However, both the Federal Government and the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) still have many rivers to cross.

At a meeting with the House of Representatives on October 24, the union’s national president,  Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, said the action was suspended in deference to Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila’s sincere intervention. What the ASUU president did not say was that it had little option in view of the October 7 Court of Appeal order suspending the lecturers’ strike.

Whatever the reason, this respite is too tentative to elicit the kind of optimism in the land. Both parties should study the progression carefully to learn necessary lessons, if they are not to return to the trenches in no time.

The lecturers cannot afford to be so truculent without introspection. President Muhammadu Buhari recently alleged that corruption is rife in the institutions, and must be tamed if stakeholders are to derive maximum benefits from government’s investments. This seems to have been corroborated by the Tertiary Trust Fund (TETfund) that has alleged 36 higher institutions where it is undertaking various projects have failed the transparency test. Of the 787 projects in the schools, 77 were said to have fallen short of audit requirements,  while 36 are yet to respond to queries. Universities have governing organs to ensure that they are models of integrity and transparency. The  lecturers are expected to ensure that the senate and governing councils meet international standards in managing human and material resources. Only when they have done so could they legitimately put pressure on government to play its part.

To maintain peace on the campuses and make them catalysts for national growth and development, there is a need for an alternative mode of funding. The current model has failed,  and has been the cause of crises over the years. It’s even worse now that there’s a steep decline in federal collectible revenue. As the practice in other climes, it has become imperative that students be made to pay fees that would support the value of education. The erosion of standards in our universities could be traced largely to poor funding, and, if this is to be arrested, the current full reliance on government allocations has to be jettisoned. While the TETfund Act of 1993, as amended in 1998 and 2011,  has ben  very useful in providing some facilities, it has proved to be inadequate. 

One per cent of corporate tax in a country where the informal sector is predominant cannot cope with demands of 43 federal and 59 state universities. Thus, private and foreign institutions have been the main beneficiaries. A report by the  Central Bank of Nigeria indicates that foreign education fees gulped $221 million between December 2021 and February 2022, while private universities keep smiling to the bank at the expense of public institutions, owing to poor facilities and incessant disruption of the calendar.

Education is too important to be handled carelessly by parents and government.  Having sent their children and wards to fee-paying private primary and secondary schools, parents should not expect that university education would cost them nothing.  The practice globally is to ensure that those who could pay the requisite fees are made to do so, while the vulnerable are taken care of through scholarship and bursary schemes, loans, sponsorship by corporate organisations, foundatiions and philanthropists. If government could mobilise the groups to tackle COVID-19, there is no reason why it would not work for the universities.

Unless we tackle the rot in the education sector by upgrading facilities, promoting research, boosting the morale of teachers, ensuring that our universities are paragons of prudent spending of public fund, the future may remain bleak. The universities should be autonomous, subject only to acts that established them and audit requirements for funds granted and donated.

•If they are truly illegal, then, they should be stopped from harassing motorists on the roads

Following a series of complaints about their excesses, the Lagos State government banned local councils and their officials from controlling or engaging in traffic duties in 2017. Indeed, the then acting commissioner for transportation, Mr Anofiu Elegushi, made this abundantly clear when he said: “There are traffic units in all the 57 local councils and local council development areas (LCDAs). However, this is not the responsibility for the third tier of government. We have reported instances of illegal arrest, extortion, and general impunity on the part of the council operatives.

“It is then appropriate to disband all the units and outfits parading as local council traffic units. This has been communicated to all the agencies.”

For clarity, Elegushi added that  ”only the Nigerian  Police, the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), the Taskforce on Special Offences and the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) can perform traffic duties” in the state. 

One would think this was a ban simple enough to understand. But no. Till date, the ban is observed mainly in the breach. We still have all manner of persons serving as local government traffic squads on Lagos roads, harassing and extorting motorists. Their modus operandi is crude and barbaric. They pounce on unsuspecting motorists at will and in the least expected places. Even where there is no ‘no parking’ sign, they jump into vehicles of motorists who merely pull over to make or answer call. After illegally arresting them, they take them to the local government secretariat or any of its annexes where negotiations begin on how much they would pay. Depending on his or her bargaining powers, the motorist could part with as low as N5,000 or as high as N30,000. It is only in rare cases when the motorist refuses to fall for their antics that he is left off the hook.

Vincent Akanmode, a deputy editor of the weekend titles of The Nation is one such lucky persons who insisted on his right and was allowed to go after parking his vehicle on their premises and was on his way to the gate. His intention was to leave the car there. But another journalist from this stable, Sam Anokam, was not. This paper reported his ordeal on June 11, 2022. His vehicle was impounded at Ilasamaja area of Lagos, ostensibly for wrong parking. He was asked to pay N40,000. He settled for N6,500 but was given receipt for N5,000. This was despite introducing himself as a journalist.

While age is not an excuse to break the law, one would expect that people on illegal mission would at least accord it some respect. But not these people who care about nothing but the illegal money they want to collect. That was why they held Pa Matthew Akinrefon, a 74-year-old pensioner at Igando. According to him, he merely dropped his wife to buy plantain and was trying to move forward in search of a parking space when he was accosted by the council officials. It was only after the intervention of a senior member of the staff of the  local council development area that he was left off the hook after parting with N12,000.

There is nothing under the sun that they cannot charge motorists with. As a matter of fact, in the case of Akanmode, his sin was that he was responding to a text message close to a cemetery! Meanwhile, he pulled over so as not to get arrested for using his mobile phone while driving. And this in a place without a ‘No parking’ sign. Oftentimes, these officials hide in some corners waiting for motorists that would contravene traffic rules. They then emerge from hiding, pounce on the motorist and ask him or her to drive to the local government secretariat. This shows the ridiculous extent that they sometimes go just to get money illegally. How does making phone call or responding to a text message near a cemetery constitute a traffic offence? Even if they have the authority to arrest traffic offenders, is that a crime for which someone should be harassed? 

It is high time the Lagos State government put a stop to the illegal activities of these traffic squads. If it had banned their activities, it should be so seen by Lagosians. There is no reason whatsoever why they would still be constituting a menace on the roads. That they do this in broad daylight and in very conspicuous places in the metropolis tends to confirm that they have support from some highly placed individuals in the local governments. No individual should be above the state government. The roads should be monitored to ensure their vestiges are completely removed. If possible, the state government should embark on vigorous enlightenment campaign that would make it impossible for people in all manner of uniforms to pounce on law-abiding citizens wrongly in the name of enforcing traffic rules; a duty they have neither the competence nor decorum to engage in.