Category: Editorial

The headline went a bit overboard: “… wicked Nigerians donate expired products to Abuja orphanage”.  That suggested the bad food items must have been wilfully donated, in a fit of meanness, when charity ought to guide such matters.

That would appear a tad contrary to reason, as Janice, a 19-year-old orphan, resident of Honoured Ground Home, Abuja, the orphanage in question, beautifully reasoned: “To them, they might think it is good for consumption but we pray God still blesses them.  We also hope,” she added, “that they realise the things they donated were not good; and they decide to change their ways.”

Well reasoned.  But the notorious fact is that expired foodstuffs got donated to the orphanage; and the children and youths in there got sick after consuming the foods.  Mrs. Blessing Ijenwa, head of the orphanage, spoke at the donation of yet another batch of food items, by the Fire Officers Wives Association (FOWA).

“These children cry and feel sad when they receive expired or bad food items from well-meaning Nigerians.  It’s heart-breaking,” she confessed.

So, it is.  But how do you put a check on such unwholesome practices before they become an epidemic that could lead to avoidable deaths of the beneficiaries?

It is rude, the English caution, to look a gift horse in the mouth.  That underscores gratitude for charitable causes, no matter how humble or modest.  For orphanages, this is a doubly sensitive code.

First, the donors are practically virtual parents come from nowhere, to share their little munificence with parent-less children they did not know from Adam.  That could be the apex of empathy, in a difficult socio-economic milieu where about everyone struggles.

Then, as beneficiaries: both the managers and children of the orphanages are often so overjoyed at the donors’ benevolence that it becomes outrageous to begin to interrogate the donors’ motives, not to talk of question them.  That would be looking a gift horse in the mouth!

Mrs. Ijenwa perhaps put it better than anyone: “We show them love,” she said of the tender orphanage occupants, “but it is important for people to visit and express love towards the children also.  This will make them feel like they are not alone but with parents, because the society is their family.”

Well said!  Still, with the food scare at that orphanage, it has become clear that we cannot take everyone’s motive for granted — even if cases of malevolent donations could be rare.  Malevolent donations!  That appears a violent contradiction in terms!  Donations are voluntary gifts from benevolent souls.  They ordinarily should never be malevolent.

But those expired foods and materials could well be cases of honest mistakes.  Some of them might even have expired after they had been donated: some, because the expiry time was close but the donor did not notice; others, because the items had lingered too long in the orphanage’s pantry.

Whatever the case, a more systematic check system is called for.  Even if it appears to offend donor sensibilities, orphanages should put in place rigorous checks and screens, such that any sub-par donation is detected and rejected.

To make things easier and less offensive, each orphanage should come up with a list of criteria, which every single donated item must meet — and make such public information, on their notice boards or even websites, so that each intending donor is well aware of these criteria, before embarking on shopping for such materials.

Such criteria could be expiry dates of donated items not less than one year at the time of donation, adequate NAFDAC number on drinks and other processed foods, NIS certification of other non-food items: tyres, electric bulbs, etc”.

Such rigorous donor processes could be incorporated into the Federal Capital Territory Orphanage (Registration and Regulatory) Agency Bill 2020, which passed its second reading on April 11, 2022.  Though the Bill as presently framed focuses on regulating orphanages to avoid abuses like “baby factories”, such strict safety criteria would only make it stronger.

States too could adopt the legislation, when finally passed, to strengthen orphanage regulation in their jurisdictions.

Ranked as the richest person in Africa, Alhaji Aliko Dangote is a marvel whose name has become a byword for stupendous riches. Remarkably, he is the continent’s richest person for the 11th consecutive year, worth an estimated $13.9bn, according to the 2022 edition of Forbes Africa’s billionaires list.

Importantly, the magazine said his wealth grew from $12.1bn in 2021 following a 30 per cent increase in the stock price of Dangote Cement, his main asset, said to be Africa’s largest cement producer, producing about 45.6 million metric tons annually in 10 countries on the continent.

This shows that his wealth can be explained, which is a plus for his image. Born in Kano, in present-day Kano State, he turned 65 on April 10, and has been active in business for about 45 years. He started as a small trader, with a loan from his uncle, but is today a giant industrialist, and chairman and CEO of Dangote Group, one of the largest conglomerates in Africa, operating in Nigeria, Ghana, Republic of Benin, Togo and Zambia, among others.

He has a degree in business studies and administration from Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt, and his business empire includes cement manufacturing, food processing and freight, and he also has major investments in real estate, banking, textiles, oil and gas.

His ambitious oil refinery project, valued at more than $7bn, demonstrates not only his prosperity but also the magnitude of his business sense. The Dangote oil refinery, under construction in Lekki, Lagos, will have the capacity to process about 650,000 barrels of crude oil per day, making it the largest single-train refinery in the world.

This refinery is expected to be able to meet Nigeria’s domestic fuel demand and also export refined products. It has been described as a “game-changing initiative,” which should ultimately enable Nigeria to stop importing petroleum products, a situation that is an embarrassment to the country as a major oil producer. It is a gigantic project, and all eyes are on Dangote to deliver.

Yet another business move demonstrated his entrepreneurial energy. This year, he launched Dangote Peugeot Automobiles Nigeria Limited (DPAN) factory, based in Kaduna. The Peugeot assembling facility is the result of his partnership with Stellantis Group, the parent company of Peugeot, and the governments of Kano and Kaduna states.   The business commenced operations with the roll-out of Peugeot 301, Peugeot 5008, 3008, 508 and Land Trek.

Explaining his investment choices, he said in an interview:  ”First, I only enter a business that I can fully understand. I never enter a business that is not clear to me. The second principle is that I have to be able to become number one or, at worst, number two in that business.”

It is striking that the man of plenty has an awareness of lack. In 2018, for instance, the Aliko Dangote Foundation inaugurated the Dangote Village, built for Internally Displaced Persons in Maiduguri, Borno State, and valued at N2bn.  Dangote was quoted as saying the foundation had donated about N7bn to support displaced persons affected by the Boko Haram crisis in the country’s northeast geopolitical zone.

There are other instances that show his philanthropic side. In 2014, the Nigerian government said he had donated N150m to halt the spread of Ebola. In 2020, he donated N200m towards the fight against the spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria. He also donated money to the country’s sports ministry to renovate the National Stadium, Abuja.

His success story has attracted widespread recognition.  He received Nigeria’s second highest honour, the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCON), in 2011.  In 2014, Time magazine listed him among its 100 most influential people in the world. In 2015, Bloomberg Markets listed him among its 50 most influential individuals in the world.

As he grapples with the challenge of giving back, which is the burden of the super-rich, we wish Dangote greater success and more years of service to society.

It happens every year as we should expect from a coastal city. The Lagos State government has put the residents on notice. Expect rainfalls, heavy ones and they will come with all the features and discomfort of a seething sky.

It is not new for the most populous state to expect and witness rainfall.

Lagos State Commissioner for the Environment, Tunji Bello, made this known while asking citizens not to panic.

“However, the Seasonal Climate Prediction for Lagos State generally signifies that the onset dates range between March 17 in earliest and April 6, 2022 at the latest while the cessation dates range between November 30 and December 5, 2022, while the Maximum Annual Rainfall amount is predicted to be 1,750mm.”

The volume of downpour is not only because Lagos State is on the coastline but also that the encroachments of climate change are taking their toll. This is not going to be a Lagos State matter alone. We expect this to be the story across the country in varying degrees in such coastal abodes as Warri and Port Harcourt, as well as in states like Ogun, Oyo, Akwa Ibom, Cross River and Bayelsa.

Lagos State has taken the lead in anticipating a blustery year and striking a note of guided optimism. “We call for caution as strong winds are expected during the onset and cessation of every rainfall just as envisaged harmattan are predicted which may cause reduction in visibility and bring about flight disruptions and loss of revenue due to delays and cancellations in the aviation sector,” Bello added.

There are evidence of indulgent lifestyles among citizens that should be restrained. One of such is the habit of tossing wastes like “pure water” sachets, leftover food items, and other sorts of bottles, cups, stationery on roadsides drains, street corners and other open areas. When the rain falls, they become baggage that clog the flow of water and the result is flood.

Flood is not just a flow of huge volumes of water. It is a death trap. It is an economic disruptor for evil. It breaks down communications and, in a modern world and a modern city, it is fatal to progress.

Bello knows Lagos residents will suffer if disaster happens. But water recognises no political boundaries, and that explains why the Lagos State government is working with its neighbours, especially Ogun State, to streamline their efforts to shoo off any depredations from the skies and the blind-eyed onslaughts of floods.

“Therefore, the low-lying areas and neighbourhoods of Agiliti, Agboyi, Itowolo and Ajegunle communities in Lagos State are being closely monitored with respect to the likelihood of Ogun River flooding as well as all other river basins in the state. These places may also be highly vulnerable to heavy flooding this year,” noted Bello.

It is also not just lifestyles that exacerbate the problems. In a city ringed by water, the lagoon in its turbulent moment could spell much danger. Hear Bello: “Anytime there is high tidal movement, it may lock up the discharge points of drainage channels and until it recedes, there will be no discharge.” It can engender backflows and disturb the predictability of life on the neighbourhoods.

Telecom masts are soft targets of a water tide, and only one mast knocked out can set an area back for a long time.

We commend the Lagos State government for looking ahead, safeguarding drainage points and also working on its early warning mechanisms so that residents can know ahead of the downpours what to expect and how to stave off disasters.

Upending the life of a city is one of the trap falls of rainfalls. Giving the residents a warning is a win.

One of the consequences of modern warfare is the proliferation of explosive land mine devices, which continue to wreak havoc in the theatre of conflict, even long after the cessation of battle. According to the Mines Advisory Group (MAG), a global humanitarian and advocacy organisation that finds, removes and destroys land mines, cluster munitions and unexplored bombs from places affected by conflict, “Mines are indiscriminate or dumb weapons. They cannot distinguish between legitimate military targets and civilians. They keep functioning long after conflict has ended”.

The 2022 International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, which was observed on April 4, had as its theme “Safe Ground, Safe Steps, Safe Home”. This theme was informed by the commitment to “turning minefields into playing fields”, drawing attention to the dangers that residents in conflict-prone areas face when they move about without knowing if there are lethal explosives on their path and restoring the personal security of individuals and communities in terrains of conflict.

Given the protracted Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, which has lasted for over a decade now, it is not surprising that three states in the region, Borno, Adamawa and Yobe, are reported to be vulnerable to land mines, putting the lives and limbs of at least 1.2 million people at risk. According to the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Nigeria, Mr Mathias Schmale, explosive ordnance in their different forms constitute “immediate, grave and additional threat to already suffering populations in Northeast Nigeria”. He stated that the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) collated 1,532 incidents in the region involving explosive hazards from January, 2016, to January, 2022, with over 10,000 casualties. This report was corroborated by the MAG, which uncovered 1,052 casualties from 697 accidents involving land mines and unexplored bombs between January 2016, and August 2020, while noting that the number could be much higher due to underreporting of cases.

The United Nations must be commended for its efforts to help check and mitigate the menace of land mine explosives in conflict-prone areas of the country. Mr Schmale reported, for instance, that in January, 2019, mine action organisations provided critical life-saving information to mitigate the risk of explosive ordnance by educating more than 1.2 million Nigerians in conflict-affected communities. He said that the focus of the UN is to help deliver life-saving assistance to affected populations and encourage the development of a nationally-owned and coordinated response to reinforce Nigerian capacities. Towards this end, UNMAS conducted Improved Explosives Ordnance Disposal Training for 26 Explosives Ordnance Department Operators in Borno State.

Furthermore, over 300 frontline  officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) in Borno State were trained by UNMAS in first aid and emergency trauma bag handling for the benefit of national security service providers. In 2022, it is envisaged that 12 personnel of the police will become Improvised Explosive Devices (IED) trainers and another 12 first aid trainers as well as 80 personnel of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and states emergency management agencies would have completed a training of trainers course on Explosive Ordnance Risk Education, courtesy of the UN.

Ultimately, however, the responsibility for protecting her citizens from the dangers posed by land mines and other IEDs rests with the Nigerian authorities at the federal and state levels. The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management as well as the national and state emergency management agencies must be at the forefront, particularly of enlightening residents of conflict-affected areas on the features, characteristics and dangers of these devices and how to handle them. The MAG, for instance, notes that these devices present “a particularly lethal threat to girls and boys, who often mistake them as household items or toys while playing outside”. There is, thus, the need for closer collaboration between mine action organisations and local authorities acting in concert, to prevent further loss of lives and limbs as a result of land mines.

Although Nigeria is a signatory to the Anti-Land Mine Convention sponsored by the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines, which has been negotiated and signed by 164 countries since 1997, it is difficult to enforce such treaties since war itself is a phenomenon that indicates a total breakdown of law and order, as well as a disavowal of stipulated rules and regulations. It thus behoves all sovereign nations such as Nigeria to summon all efforts to protect their people from such dangers as land mines in a world in which conflict has become a part and parcel of human existence.

After about two years in detention, from April 2020, without charges or trial, Mubarak Bala, 37, atheist and president of the Humanist Association of Nigeria, was convicted in curious circumstances on April 5.  He faced an 18-count charge including blasphemy, incitement, contempt of religion and breach of public peace at the Kano State High Court.

The prosecution said he made a blasphemous post on his Facebook page on April 28, 2020, adding that it was against Allah and Prophet Muhammad and had caused public outrage in Kano, Bala’s hometown. He was arrested at his residence in Kaduna State and taken to Kano State. The prosecution also argued that he contravened sections 114 and 210 of the state’s penal code.

Justice Farouk Lawan sentenced him to 24 years in prison after he unexpectedly pleaded guilty. It was reported that Bala had refused to reconsider his guilty plea when the judge asked him whether he understood the consequences.

It is unclear why he pleaded guilty, considering that after he had spent about eight months in detention, in December 2020 the High Court in Abuja ruled that his detention violated his rights to personal freedom, fair hearing, freedom of thought and expression.

The Abuja judge declared his detention illegal and ordered his immediate release following a “fundamental rights” petition describing how he had been detained without charge for more than seven months, and denied access to lawyers for five months. The court awarded him N250, 000 in damages. The authorities disregarded the court ruling.

His long detention without charges attracted international attention, and campaigners for his freedom regarded him as a Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) victim.

Significantly, a group of seven United Nations (UN) human rights experts issued a statement in April 2021, after Bala had been detained for a year, which highlighted the violation of his fundamental freedoms and supported the Abuja court ruling. “The government must take action to ensure that the responsible authorities respect the due process and enforce the judicial ruling,” they said.

The Kano State High Court that convicted him did not view the charges against him as a violation of his rights to freedom of thought and expression as the Abuja High Court did. The principle that courts of concurrent jurisdiction are not bound by each other’s decisions possibly explains this.

But it is puzzling that a secular court convicted Bala of blasphemy in contradiction to the country’s secular constitution, which is supreme. How can blasphemy be a crime in a secular country? It is strange that he was convicted under a state penal code that contradicts the constitution and its supremacy.

There is no question that his conviction violates some of his fundamental rights under the country’s constitution, especially his rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and freedom of expression.

It is noteworthy that his vocal atheism is offensive to many people in the country’s Muslim-dominated northern region. Indeed, those who petitioned the police leading to his arrest had accused him of posting things on Facebook that were “provocative and annoying to Muslims.”

The allegation of blasphemy evokes Islamic law, also known as Sharia, which operates in 12 Muslim-majority states in the northern part of the country alongside a secular justice system. Sharia has been controversial in the country since its introduction in 1999. There are fundamental problems about the operation of Sharia in a multi-religious but secular country such as Nigeria.

Even under the controversial Islamic system of justice, the accusation of blasphemy stands in contradiction to the country’s secular constitution, which is supreme.

Bala’s conviction for blasphemy is wrongful and preposterous because it essentially goes against the constitution. Importantly, his guilty plea is of no consequence because the blasphemy charge against him has no basis under the constitution.

Ultimately, his conviction is a travesty of justice that should not be allowed to stand.

Pastor Enoch Adeboye, General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) is not given to frivolities. Therefore, he should be taken seriously when he added his voice to those alleging that about 80 per cent of the country’s oil is being stolen and that 90 per cent of revenues from the balance of 20 per cent is used to service the country’s debt. Adeboye made his views known in his message at the church’s monthly thanksgiving service held at the Throne of Grace, Surulere, Lagos, on April 3.

Pastor Adeboye said his message was in reaction to the criticisms against the church’s creation of a Politics Directorate as well as its instruction to its members to get actively involved in politics, preparatory to the 2023 general elections.

According to the revered cleric, “It is in the news and nobody has denied it that as of now, more than 80 percent of the total oil we are producing is being stolen. It came from the government.

“That leads me to several questions, (1) Who is the one stealing the oil (2) Where is the money going to? I mean, 80 percent of what should have been the income of a nation is going into the hands of some people, that is a lot of money (3) What do they want to do with the money? (4) Who are the foreign nations buying this stolen oil? (5) How many of these nations of the world are your friends?”

These are quite germane questions but they are likely to end up as rhetorical questions, characteristic of the Buhari administration.

Crude oil was discovered in Oloibiri, Niger Delta, in 1956. In which case we should have gone far in understanding how things work in the energy sector if we were a serious country. Unfortunately, we keep complaining of rudimentary things which we do not hear of in other oil-producing countries. Where we are not whining over pipeline vandalisation, we are perpetually complaining about illegal bunkering. Ours is probably the only crude oil producer that also imports fuel.

The question of who the oil thieves are is also pertinent. A former head of state was once reported to have said if terrorism festers over a long period, then we should begin to look in the direction of the incumbent government. Likewise, stealing of oil is not a job for minions; it is the high and mighty that are behind such illegality. That explains why the government has not been able to rein in the practice. Even if arrests are made, we hardly hear updates as the cases are usually buried because of the caliber of those behind the suspects.

But it is incredible that such massive scale of stealing of an essential national asset has been going on for years, even under a government that rode into power on the change mantra and as an anti-corruption crusader. As Pastor Adeboye wondered, if 80 per cent of what is supposed to go into the country’s coffers ends up in private pockets, it means a paltry 20 per cent is what eventually accrues to the nation. Even then, 90 per cent of this goes into debt servicing. This explains, at least in part, the infrastructural deficit we suffer. To worsen matters, the country is unable to meet its quota of crude production stipulated by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The prognosis is scary, indeed.

With the Nigeria borrowing as if borrowing is going out of fashion, the country is treading on the path of bankruptcy. In which case we would end up bequeathing to our children and the coming generations a lot of debt.

Adeboye asked us to pray that “…the Almighty God will expose those stealing our oil. That God will have mercy on our nation, and that He should help us deal with our debt.”

Much as we agree that the nation needs prayers, the question of asking God to expose those behind the crude theft is something within the reach of the government. While the clerics may focus on praying and fasting for the country, it is the responsibility of governments to think through problems or challenges. Nigeria is not the only country producing crude oil. But we don’t get to hear of the kind of devastating news from our energy sector elsewhere. So, how are they doing it? This is what should concern those in charge of the sector in the country. They attend international conferences and other engagements on the sector abroad. If they, and by extension, the Federal Government are truly desirous of putting an end to crude theft, it would be a thing of the past in a matter of months, if not weeks.

In this wise, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd. (NNPC) has its job cut out for it. It must strengthen its collaboration with the Joint Security Task Force and other stakeholders. It must also be ready to deploy technology to check the trend. Moreover, those who want to do business in the upstream sector should contact the regulatory authorities for guidance and the necessary permits.

Above all, it is the government’s political will that matters most in checking the activities of the crude thieves. The government must halt this hemorrhage and national embarrassment.

The National Pension Commission (PenCom) has released a ‘revised regulation on the administration of retirement benefits’, in other to make pension fund administration more efficient. Amongst the new regulations is that “a PFA that fails, neglects or refuses to enlighten the retiree on the features of Programmed Withdrawal and Retiree Life Annuity to enable the retiree to make an informed decision shall be liable for an administrative sanction of N500,000”.

The concern raised by the commission is a welcome development, as some of the Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs) are becoming tardy in their responsibilities to pensioners. So, every legitimate step should be taken to ensure that the contributory pension scheme does not regress into distress like the erstwhile government pension scheme. It was the inability to pay pensions to retirees that culminated in the reforms that threw up the PFAs, under which pensioners and their employees save in advance of retirement.

Having saved for the restful period, it is unacceptable that poor management of the savings is allowed to generate restlessness in old age. The PFAs must be made to realise that the pension funds in their custody are private savings, and not government money, which tragically is treated with carefree attitude by public officials. So, there should be no excuse for the delays that are being experienced in the payment of entitlements to pensioners.

The commission listed sanctions against delays in the submission of request to the commission for payment of benefits to retirees beyond 10 working days. There is also penalty where an administrator pays a benefit without first obtaining a no-objection from the commission, or the administrator pays an amount either lower or higher than the sum on the no-objection approval by the commission. Furthermore, any PFA that negligently submits a request with incorrect information that may deplete the RSA balance of a retiree, will pay an administrative fine.

The commission also listed various sums as penalty for the infringements, and provided that “any violation of any provision of this regulation for which no sanction has been prescribed shall attract an administrative sanction of not more than N2m.” It also stated that “all sanctions in this regulation shall be charged to the operator’s profit and loss account and the burden shall not be transferred to the employees of the operators.”

We commend the commission for the pro-active measures it has put in place to check-mate the unacceptable practices by some PFAs in the payment of pensions to beneficiaries. We hope the various penalties put in place will deter the PFAs showing tardiness in dealing with requests from their customers. Of course, not all PFAs have been tardy in their operations, as some are living up to the idea behind the pension scheme.

We therefore urge PenCom to separate the wheat from the chaff, so that prospective  pensioners would know which PFAs are safe for their investment. It will be a monumental tragedy for a pensioner to wake up at the vulnerable time of his/her life, and be told that he cannot access his savings for one reason or another. It was bad when federal and state governments blamed the lack of resources to pay pensions, and we note that such heartless treatment of the aged contributes to corrupt practices.

Now that pensions are saved monies, there should be no reason why saved pensions should be allowed to stymie in such mess as the old pension scheme. If the commission does not live up to its responsibility, the relevant government agencies should apply due process to deal with the creeping decay. Nothing should be spared to ensure that pensions in the custody of PFAs are safe and available to the beneficiaries when they fall due.

The findings were sensational enough to grab the headlines: Nigerians spend larger chunks of their earnings on utility bills than any other people in the world, bar Pakistan. Daily Trust, quoting the result of a study by Utility Bidder, a British firm that offers professional advice on utility rates, reported that Nigerian households spend 67.7 per cent of their income on utilities — almost N7 out of every N10 earned.

In a study that examined utility spends in 51 countries, Nigeria only played second fiddle to Pakistan, which households reportedly spend 82.9 per cent of their income on utilities.  The Philippines followed Nigeria with 61.5 per cent to form the top three.

Utilities are common, inescapable daily spends for modern, comfortable living: electricity, fuel, water, rent, telephone (voice calls) and its Siamese twin: data — which power the whole gamut of value-added services: WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc, collectively grouped as “social media”.

Utility Bidder, from its study, found that Nigerians pay one of the highest monthly bills for Internet broadband: on the average, more than half their monthly income for Internet broadband, which powers the social media.

That could well be true for some, given the explosion in the use of cellphones and sundry tablets; powering apps like Instagram (celebrities’ bastion), websites for online news media, Twitter, Tik-Tok and Facebook, the biggest global interactive app for now.

For many users of these channels, it is just business and livelihood — even with Instagram, on which celebrities project their trivia to further secure their popularity or notoriety, to raise their perceived ratings and further guarantee their livelihood.

But pushing that as a general rule would appear a bridge too far, as some local experts have noted, while questioning that leg of the study findings.  The utilities gulping household money appear more real than virtual: electricity bills, galloping rents, fuelling cost, especially with the current soar in diesel and aviation fuel pump prices.  How soaring fuelling costs impact mass transport and trigger cost-push inflation is very clear.

So, the spend-tale of Aliyu Shuaibu, an Abuja worker who reportedly earns around N350, 000 a month, as quoted by Daily Trust, probably gives a more realistic picture. Hear Shuaibu: “Every month I pay N30, 000 for electricity; N20, 000 for cooking gas, N18, 000 for data and more than N20, 000 for calls.  I give N100, 000 to my wife for upkeep and to buy perishables.  On the other hand, I buy the grains we use.  I fuel my car and the family utility car.  So, the truth is that the whole salary is not even enough for utilities.”

Even if you give room for understandable hyperboles in matters like these, it is clear most of Shuaibu’s salary is spent on food and utilities.  He is by no means a low-income earner.  Yet, outside the raw basics (food and rent) and basic comfort (utilities) little or nothing is left of the salary.

If this is the reality of a mid-income salary earner, what then is the fate of the so-called low-income earner; and the large army of Nigerian youths underemployed and grossly underpaid for the skills their certificates and proficiency claim?  Is the Nigerian — salary owners and self-employed — now structured to poverty, in view of high utility bills?

That is the sobering point policy makers must take away.  A saying quips that “the mass of men live the life of quiet desperation.”  Is that the reality of contemporary Nigeria?  If it is, what can we do to ease the situation; and break the cycle of structured poverty (no matter how high you earn) for a path to development and prosperity?

Breton Woods orthodoxy seems to have given subsidy a bad name.  But if utility bills are this high — particularly of electricity, gas and other household cooking fuels — now is the time to consider subsidies for utilities.  That would make immediate impacts, other things being equal: it would ram down inflation.  Lower inflation should push the capacity of every kobo to buy more goods and services.  That should bolster economic growth.

Still, how do you subsidise electricity when you can hardly trust the electricity distribution companies (DisCos) to play by the books?  With that, how do you wean these DisCos from ogling fraudulent estimated billing to embracing pre-paid meters that guarantee their earnings and business survival in the long term?

If we can get rid of structured corruption (as DisCos’, by estimated billing, would appear a prime example), then subsidy on electricity is not a bad idea.  That should tie over citizens until the economy improves, salaries and earnings are enhanced, and everyone can pay their way.

The scourge of COVID-19 and its attendant ravages that have thrown the Nigerian economy into a spasm in the last two years apart, one other issue that the managers of the economy must increasingly worry about is how foreign investors have also been shunning the local economy. Here, we refer to the latest Nigerian Capital Importation report of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showing that the value of capital importation shrunk by a whopping 30.78 percent – from $9.68 billion in 2020 to $6.7 billion in 2021.

Far more revealing however is the situation in the states. Of the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, 24 had nothing to show by way of capital importation. The states are Adamawa, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Ebonyi, Edo, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Nasarawa, Niger, Ondo, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara. Of these, 10 failed to attract foreign investments in the last three years. These are Bayelsa, Ebonyi, Gombe, Jigawa, Kebbi, Kogi, Plateau, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara states.

Although the Kaduna State government has faulted the report with the claim that the state attracted Zipline, a United States-based medical drone supply company within the year in reference, we dare state that the report largely approximates the reality across the states – the situation of which most are only a little more than leeches on the federally-distributive pool.

By and large, we must state that the report reflects not just the quality of governance, but the lack of any real interest in making the states investment-friendly by successive administrations that have presided over their affairs. And the situation has persisted mainly because there is the free oil money to go round. Now that a new reality of shrinking oil revenues has finally dawned on all, the future, particularly for the states, can only be imagined.

Yet, it bears stating that the trend, which underlies a lack of conscious effort to diversify states’ revenue bases, have always been there, and this long before the onset of the current insecurity across the federation. Rather than the hard decisions to stimulate local economic activities, most state authorities have over time chosen to do no more than whine about low accruals into the allocation pool; not for them the necessity to create the enabling environment for businesses – local and foreign – on which future diversification and revenue could be assured. The corollary to this of course is the relatively low level economic activities with corresponding high unemployment, mass poverty and poor internally generated revenue that have been their lot over the years.

Foreign capital inflow or not, the issue is that the states need all the help they can get even more so now that oil revenues are shrinking. They need a thriving private sector to help absorb the army of the unemployed; they need their taxes to shore up their internally generated revenue just as the social impact of their operations can make a lot of difference in their domains.

To say that there are boundless opportunities available is merely to restate the obvious; from agriculture to agribusiness; from solid minerals to manufacturing and related industrial activities; all that is required to turn things around is for any serious state government to put on its thinking cap, enlist the partnership of interested investors in the shared mutually-beneficial goal of wealth creation.

We expect the states so named to take the report seriously.

For us, the task before them as indeed the others is a relatively simple one; make the states more investment-friendly and opportunities will come knocking. The other quest is to push for peace with greater vigour. Although the quest for peace – as an enabler and a critical pillar on which any quest for societal development could be anchored – has remained a tall order at this time, it remains a goal worth pursuing by all, citizens and governments alike.

In case anyone is still in doubt, gone finally is that era when the states could afford to fold their hands and expect manna to fall from heaven.