Category: Editorial

The nativity nonsense started at the University of Ibadan (UI) Nigeria’s premier university.  Ibadan dons there declared it was time their town produced the university’s helmsman. They didn’t have their way beyond an acting vice-chancellor — and just as well.  Prof. Kayode Adebowale, who got the job on October 13, 2021, hails from Ijebu-Igbo, in Ogun State.

This takes repeating: dons in UI — or any other university for that matter — are esteemed members of that community not because of their nativity but because of their scholarship and sundry acuity.  So, were any Ibadan native to become vice-chancellor, it would be on personal merit; not by accident of birth.

That same logic shreds the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, absurdity, staged by obvious touts that branded themselves “traditionalists”.  They savaged the university community with violence and assorted charms — condemnable acts that give Yoruba traditional faith a very bad name.

Remove the veneer of culture and tradition: those that stormed the Ife campus, visited the security staff at the gate with violence, laid siege to the place are guilty of unruly conduct.  They should be seriously punished.

So, the police must thoroughly investigate the ugly incident, arrest everyone involved and trot them to the court for prompt but fair trial.  Aside from the unruly band, their sponsors too should be found and given a similar treatment.

Whoever these sponsors are — native Ife OAU dons or any sympathiser from outside — the point must be made and made good: such loutish conduct cannot and must not be tolerated at OAU — a 61-year-old academic citadel, which has shaped the lives of many eminent Nigerians, including Governor Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, of Ondo State, who was thoroughly riled by — and has slammed — the affront.

That an Ife indigene’s failed bid to become vice-chancellor sparked the protest is very provocative.  At the end of the exercise, the OAU Governing Council had announced Prof. Adebayo Banire, a Professor of Agriculture, as vice-chancellor-designate.

But no sooner had that happened than supporters of Prof. Rufus Adedoyin, an Ife indigene, started protesting and asking for a summary reversal in favour of Prof. Adedoyin, a Professor of Physiotherapy.  The pro-Adedoyin lobbies included the Ife Academia, the Ife First Advocate and sundry Ife nativists.

Yet, by the OAU Governing Council results, Prof. Adedoyin was not even among the top three: Profs. Rasaq Kalilu (a Professor of Art) and Kayode Ijadunola (Professor of Public Health and Community Medicine) came second and third, respectively, after Banire.

So, on what basis might they hang their push, beyond that Adedoyin is a son of the soil?  — an outrage Oluwasegun Agbogunleri, one of the protesters as reported by Premium Times, shamelessly peddled, quoting alleged cases of UI, University of Calabar and University of Ilorin, where he claimed indigenes had been bossing the show as VCs.

But if indigeneship — not merit — were to drive a vice-chancellor’s appointment, what happens to the universality of universities, that very cosmopolitan ethos on which the global university tradition is rooted?

True, it’s no anathema were an indigene to become vice-chancellor.  If (s)he did, it wouldn’t be because of any closed birth but because of rich and open minds — the very same criteria that qualify everyone in there as proud members of the academic community; and which also sustain them all through their career.

Nor should there be suggestions that the result of any exercise is so sacrosanct it can’t be challenged.  But legitimate protest is one thing.  Subverting a process, because it didn’t favour your cause, is another.

Now, add affray like threats and blackmail; alleged vandalisation of security posts and rough-handling of students and security staff, atavistic bullying via charms and flaunting of “traditional” powers, and raining of curses on “enemies of Ile-Ife”!

Indeed, all those involved in that show of shame must bury their heads in shame.

Prof. Wole Soyinka dismissed the Ife nativist excitement as “crazy”.  On that, our own WS is spot on.  It must be extra-painful for him that two universities — UI and OAU — which academic fame and universalist culture his fecund mind had helped to shape, are bogged down by this nativity and atavistic nonsense.

But then, the decay of the Town just invaded the Gown.  It is exceedingly ugly in our eyes!

After initial denials that any such plan was in the offing, the management of the Nigerian Police finally swung into a last-ditch effort to douse the angst of the rank and file over the tardiness in paying their enhanced salary package. Last week, the zonal hierarchy of the police went on charm offensive to dissuade their officers from embarking on a planned strike.

In the Southeast, Isaac Akinmoyede, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in-charge of Zone 9, visited police formations in the zone with a call on the policemen not to embark on strike and to remain committed to their duties. He told the men in one of the stops that the Inspector-General of Police, Alkali Baba, has since ordered the computation of the new salary structure and its immediate payment. His southwest counterpart, Deputy Inspector-General of Police (DIG) Johnson Kokumo has also been on a similar frantic shuttle. Saying the government was ready to provide all the requirements needed for them to carry out their duties professionally, he appealed to the men under his zone to shelve their planned strike. None of the tours ended without reminders about the applicable service rules and dire consequences of what was dubbed a potential ‘mutinous act’ should it take place.

It’s been three months since the government announced the new enhanced pay for the police rank and file. Three months, given the typical tardiness associated with the bureaucracy, would seem a relatively short period to implement the proposed review. Moreover, much as some might want to argue that the review has been long overdue, it certainly didn’t come about as a result of any in-house clamour within the police itself but rather, as one of the ‘dividends’ of the #EndSARS protests of October 2020. That the government is at least seen to be pushing to give practical effect to one of the topmost demands of the protesters – an improvement in the working conditions of the men of the Nigerian Police – would seem not only deserving of commendation but equally of the benefit of the doubt. The resort to the desperate measure of a strike would in the circumstance, smack of a dangerous overkill.

We do not by this suggest that the restiveness is entirely without justification. Having been serially betrayed, not only by the government but also their bosses at the police hierarchy in the past, the personnel apparently know better than put their trust in public statements made by them. Perhaps more than other classes of operatives in the Nigerian system, they know that reviews such as the latest one, after the fanfare of their announcement, can either come to nothing in the end, or at best an interminable wait as corrupt officials devise ingenious ways to deny them the fruits of their toil.

In an environment where the government tends to act deaf and dumb, perhaps such agitations are inevitable. We recall that in 2002, police officers actually embarked on strike on similar bread and butter issues of conditions of service – an action that led to the sack of the then Inspector-General, Musiliu Smith, and other top police management team. The underlying element, both then and now, is the lack of trust by the men and women in the leadership of their organisation, and by extension, the government.

Now that the IGP has given his assurances that the review will be treated expeditiously, we call for utmost restraint on the part of the police rank and file, particularly as the country is on the edge in matters of security. Nigerians, surely, will hold the IGP to his word. But more than the assurances on his part, we expect conscious efforts on the part of the police management to rebuild trust between them and their personnel. A sure way to do this is for them to show greater transparency in the utilisation of funds and materiel entrusted to them.

We must state however that the planned enhanced welfare, to truly make sense, must be holistic. It must address the dehumanising conditions of the police barracks, the extremely inhospitable environment of work, and the hopelessly inadequate logistics that have been the lot of the police establishment. All of the aforementioned continue to leave citizens in wonder as to how any serious business of policing can be undertaken in such environments.

The results of the 2022 – first series West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for private candidates, recently released by the West African Examination Council (WAEC), has raised concerns. The acting head public relations of the examination body Mrs Moyosoloa Adeyegbe said that 1,886 candidates, representing 26.32 per cent obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English and Mathematics. Compared to the previous years’ result in the private candidates’ category, there is a decrease in performance, and compared to the secondary school candidates’ result of last year, the result can be termed woeful.

The public relations officer stated: “Of this number, 917, which represents 48.62 per cent were male candidates, while 969, representing 51.38 per cent were female candidates. The percentage of candidates in this category in the WASSCE for private candidates, 2020 and 2021, that is, those who obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics, were 32.23 per cent and 30.11 per cent respectively. Thus, there is a marginal decrease of 3.79 per cent in performance in this regard.”

Mrs Adeyegbe further said that over 2,830 candidates representing 39.56 per cent obtained credit and above in a minimum of five subjects, with or without English Language and/or Mathematics. She also said the results of 347 candidates (4.84 per cent) were being withheld for various reported cases of examination malpractice. Also, that 7,334 candidates (4.85 per cent decline, when compared with the 2021 entry figure) entered for the examination, while 7,166 candidates sat for the examination at 237 centres spread nationwide.

From the above data, with 2,830 candidates obtaining five credits with or without English and/or Mathematics out of 7,334 candidates, only about 39.56 per cent passed the examination. Compared to the 2020/21 May/June WASSCE school examination, the difference is quite significant. In the school examination, according to the Head of National Office (HNO), Patrick Areghan, “a total of 1,003,668 candidates, representing 65.24% of the total number of candidates that sat for the exam, obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language and Mathematics.”

A throw back shows that a total number of 923,486 school candidates, out of 1,559,162 who sat for the 2017 West African Senior School Certificate Examination obtained credit passes in Mathematics and English. According to WAEC, the figure, which represents 59.22 per cent, is an improvement on the percentage of school candidates who obtained credit passes in Mathematics and English in the 2015 and 2016 diets of the examination. The data showed that while 38.68 per cent obtained credit passes in Maths and English in 2015, the percentage for 2016 was 52.97 per cent.

So, compared to school certificate examinations, the private candidates do poorly. While the responsibility of preparing for the examination is that of the private candidates, it is still important for education bodies to understudy the reasons for the poor performance. We recall that before the recent improvement in school examinations, the performance was very poor, resulting in public outcry. While complaining about the private candidates is not to encourage the reduction in the quality of the examinations, it however helps to bring the trend to the notice of stakeholders.

There is also the trend for students of SS2 in secondary schools to take private candidates examination, when they have not covered the WAEC syllabus. Perhaps such trend contributes to the poor performance of the students in the private examination. There is also the unsubstantiated claim that the private examinations are tougher than the school candidates’ examination. While we do not expect WAEC to scale down their syllabus for the private candidates, we urge them to research the trend and causes.

The discrepancies between private and school candidates reflects a social trend in the nation’s exam profile. The private candidate is less likely to undergo proper grooming for the examinations, and they are often not ready for it since they are in SS2 and using it as dress rehearsal for the real one. Some who take part in it do not undergo the normal rigour and discipline of a school in preparing for an examination.

Consequently, the percentage will fall in comparison to the school candidates and give a false impression of the state of students performance and brilliance at that level of the examinations. Some older students who have left school for a while and gone to work may return without the agility of mind expected for the examinations.

It is a problem that requires proper study, and it is time to give it another look.

The joint effort by the Federal Competition Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to rid the country of illegal digital loan companies is a welcome development. Sadly, while many Nigerians have fallen victim to the nefarious activities of these charlatans who use digital technology to operate with neither license nor borders, it is not too late to rein in the operators and save Nigerians who are already assailed by harsh economic conditions.

Speaking to newsmen after a raid on the offices of some illegal digital loan companies, the FCCPC boss, Babatunde Irukera, said: “We found out that most of these companies operate from the same place. We also found out that many of them are actually operated by the same person. They are not Nigerian companies, they don’t have an address in Nigeria and they are not registered in Nigeria with the Corporate Affairs Commission and they do not have any licence to do their business”

Mr Irukera noted that the agencies in partnership have been on the trail of these companies operating illegally since 2020. According to him, “This information started quite a while ago. Some time ago, when the country was on lockdown in 2020 due to the pandemic, we started seeing the rise in money lenders.” Of course, the laws of our country recognise the business of money lenders, but there are laws and regulations guiding their operations, unlike the companies described by the FCCPC boss.

The list of companies accused of the alleged unethical practices include, GoCash, OKash, EasyCredit, Kashkash, Speedy Choice, Easy Moni, and Sokoloan. They all operate online, on Apple and Google Play Store, with physical offices in Lagos. According to the FCCPC boss, the list is not exhaustive of those engaged in the practice and he urges the public to be vigilant. In one of the media reports, there is also a claim that the officers who raided the companies received bribes and allowed the companies to return to their nefarious activities.

Apart from being allegedly illegal, the companies also engage in unethical practices. The commonest of their shenanigans is their recovery tactics. Those who have borrowed money from them usually have horrible tales to tell. One of their strong arm tactics is to harass and intimidate relations, friends or even strangers remotely connected to their defaulters. Even when their victims may not be aware of the loan given to the defaulters, they usually send very uncomplimentary messages about the defaulters to them, inundating them to pay the loans they gave to the defaulters.

Apart from shredding the reputation of their customers in their effort to recover the outstanding loans, they make life miserable for third-parties who they claim to be guarantors of the outstanding loan facility. In many instances, those who are called to pay the loan are persons who are not even aware of the loan facility, how much more being guarantors of it. Since the companies are operating remotely, they freely engage in harassment, cyberbullying and other sundry abuses, without consequences.

We hope the combined efforts of the Federal Government agencies would be sustained and expanded to rid the society of the illegal operators. Of course, having quick access to cash can be lifesaving, but it must be regulated. We also appreciate that severe economic challenges have contributed to the rise in the activities of these providers, and the resort to them by members of the society when in need.

All said, since the services they provide are useful to the society, government should regulate their activities and ensure that they operate in accordance with the laws of the land.

There is no doubt that seven decades after its establishment in 1952, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has had a memorable and reasonably successful journey in the ongoing fulfillment of its founding vision “To be a world-class examination body, adding value to the educational goals of its stakeholders”. The 70th annual council meeting of the body, which took place in Abuja last week, was certainly justified to engage in self-congratulations that WAEC has largely met its three-fold mission of “maintaining internationally accepted procedures, keep providing qualitative and reliable educational assessment as well as keep promoting sustainable human resources development, mutual understanding and international cooperation”. In discharging its legal mandate of determining the examinations required in the public interest in the Anglophone countries of West Africa, namely Ghana, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Liberia and The Gambia, conducting the examinations and to award certificates comparable to those of equivalent examining authorities internationally, WAEC has commendably maintained its institutional integrity as an institution as well as the credibility and reputability of its examinations and certificates.

Millions of young people over the years have passed through the portals of WAEC examinations in English-speaking West African countries to fulfill their professional aspirations in life. Very few bodies in the region have attained WAEC’s level of longevity while retaining its stability, cohesion and effectiveness. This is partly due to the rigorous work that went into laying a solid foundation for the body at its inception. The result was the establishment of an organisational structural solidity predicated on five committees- the administrative and finance committee, school examinations committee, public service examinations committee, professional, technical and commercial examinations committee and the local committee. These are in turn organised around the international committees which handle matters affecting all members and harmonisation of national views as regards the council’s policies as a whole, national committees which coordinate issues relating to specific member countries and sub committees, which work on various aspects of the council’s activities. It is thus not surprising that WAEC has been able to successfully handle the complexities of its multinational mandate.

Of course, WAEC has had its own share naturally of failings and shortcomings. For instance, it experienced an examination leakage scandal in the 1970s widely known as the ‘Owosho scandal’. Again, it had to deal with an even wider examination fraud in 1977 popularly termed EXPO ’77 and in 1982 it faced allegations that some of its examination papers were sold. Even then, given the number and magnitude of the examinations under its purview, WAEC has performed quite well on this score. Some of the examinations handled by WAEC include WASSCE for private candidates, first series (January to February), WASSCE for school candidates (March to May), WASSCE for private candidates, main GCE, (September to October) in addition to national examinations taken in individual countries.

Again, WAEC coordinates examinations in collaboration with some reputable examination bodies namely City and Guilds of London Institute, Royal Society of Arts and the WAEC Research Institute. Furthermore, the council conducts examinations in West Africa on behalf of international examinations bodies such as University of London GCE, JAMB examinations in countries outside Nigeria and Scholastic Aptitude Test and Graduate Record Examinations for Educational Testing Service, Princeton, USA. WAEC evidently takes seriously the demand of its establishment ordinance which empowers the body to conduct examinations and award certificates provided that these are qualitatively at par with equivalent certificates of examination authorities in the UK.

When it clocked 30 in 1982, WAEC inaugurated an endowment fund to promote educational development aimed at improving education at the international level and also give prizes to overall outstanding candidates in its examinations.

Critics have pointed out that WAEC must urgently update its curriculum to reflect advances in technology and best global practices. We agree. Others have also blamed the council for youths in West Africa reportedly performing below the level of their colleagues in western countries and their other subcontinental counterparts. This is however debatable as West African students are known to record impressive academic performances in the best higher institutions abroad. Other multinational organisations in other spheres in West Africa surely have a lot to learn from WAEC, particularly the consistently high quality of its leadership over the years.

It was a testy session at the House of Representatives on March 22, when Minister of Power Abubakar Aliyu came under fire for the loss of electricity around the country, especially in the past two months.

It was bad enough that the minister did not show up at the session. It was worse that his representative, a permanent secretary, reflected a total surrender to the darkness that Nigerians have been subjected to at home and businesses, and the consequences for personal comfort, health and the nation’s fortunes.

“There is nothing to show in this presentation that you are trying to resolve the problems; it is mere speech and thesis,” said Mogaji Da’u Aliyu, chairman of the House Committee on Power in response to the excuses for the darkness from the lips of the permanent secretary, Nebolisa Anoka.

The reasons advanced for the electricity paralysis included low gas supply, low hydro levels, high cost of gas, disequilibrium between power generation, transmission and distribution. While these excuses are nothing new, the low of power in homes and businesses is hitting rock bottom. It is not acceptable.

The power story in Nigeria is now bogged down in excuses. The prospect of solution seems far-fetched. Apart from the tensions between the three arms of power, we are seeing an unprecedented breakdown of the national grid. When it is not the shortage of gas, it is the shortage of water. Ironically, Nigeria is neither a desert, nor lacking in natural supply of gas. The power crisis is the crisis of governance and a scandal at the very top that has percolated through the country.

We have seen countries in dry climates that never complain of dry seasons as excuse for power shortages and countries without the gift of gas that never witness a wink of power outage. But every time, we hear of the complaints from the Generating Companies (GenCos) that that they have had to shut down because they lack spare parts, foreign exchange and are owed in the trillions because the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading (NBET) Plc has failed to pay them for what is called unutilised capacity.

NBET has said the reports of the GenCos are opaque, implying that the GenCOs may be exaggerating their debt profiles. There is also a clash between the GenCos and the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) because the latter says it is responsible for the collapse of its grid. They have been asked to shut down their units for 365 times in a year when the engines cannot abide more than 20 times. The pressure has led to stresses and breakdowns. For instance, 14 gas-powered generating stations are either not generating or suffer limited generation. Power generating stations in this category include: Omotosho units 5 & 6, Olorunsogo units 3, 4 & 6, Omoku units 3 & 6, Omotosho NIPP units 3 & 4, Delta units 15, 17 & 18, Afam VI units 11 & 12, Olorunsogo NIPP unit 3, Ihovbor NIPP unit 2, Sapele Steam unit 3, Sapele NIPP unit 1, Odukpani NIPP units 1 & 3, and Okpai units 11, 12 & 18. Also, Jebba Hydro and Shiroro Power Stations are either paralysed or gasping for life.

All of these reflect a serious danger ahead. Most Nigerian businesses have to pay more for diesel, which now sells for well over N700 per litre. The spinoff is painful for inflation, cost of living and the general health of the economy.

We also know that the industry suffers from lack of due diligence. One arm can make claims that the other cannot verify, and the absence of facts only shows why the centralisation of power is not a workable formula.

The nation must federalise energy, and that means an entire overhaul of that central aspect of Nigerian life. Hence the intervention of the House of Representatives must be commended as a first step.

For manufacturers who have been groaning under high cost of production, the steady rise, in recent times, of the price of diesel is definitely one too many. Indeed, the rising prices have been further exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine war which started on February 24. As at January, diesel sold for between N400 and N420 per litre. Today, it is dispensed at about N720-N730 per litre. This is a dilemma for Nigerian manufacturers who had hitherto been operating under a most inclement business climate. Indeed, this is the essence of the manufacturers’ plea to government for help.

The Chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo branches, Mr Lanre Popoola, succinctly made the point in Ibadan on March 13, while speaking on the increase of prices of petroleum products and lack of power supply. According to him, “It is a difficult thing ensuring production at this time, as diesel has gone up to N720 and N730 per litre.

“It is getting extremely difficult to produce and I don’t know how we are going to cope because 70 per cent of industries are running on diesel, there is no light.

“There is no power supply, we are having 30 per cent of what it used to be, whereas the disposable income of people is not increasing and the cost of products are going up”, Mr Popoola lamented. On a personal note, he said his company now runs a shift instead of three shifts of eight hours each, even as other businesses are also running limited hours on diesel because they cannot afford to use generator all day. The rising price of diesel is particularly problematic for companies that have cut off from the national grid because of the irregular public power supply, relying solely on generators 24/7.

To worsen matters, diesel suppliers no longer grant the companies the usual credit facility because of the unpredictability of the market; it could sell for N630 per litre this week only for the price to jump to N730 next week. Where do the suppliers get the difference to restock?

However, Mr Popoola hit the nail on the head when he said Nigeria would not have been so badly affected if we were producing diesel locally. Unfortunately, we are not. “So the more the international prices of petroleum products go up, the higher the prices of what we are going to get from them,” he said.

This is true. As a matter of fact, the rising price of crude oil in the international market should have been a thing of joy for the country as a major crude producing nation. But it is not because Nigeria imports virtually all its fuel needs. it is therefore double whammy for it, irrespective of whether crude prices are rising or falling. While the falling price of crude means less revenue for the country, rising crude prices would have translated to more foreign exchange in the government’s coffers, but it would also mean paying more subsidy because the economy is powered with imported fuel.

In essence, the high price we are paying for diesel now is the cost of not fixing our refineries.

We agree with the MAN chief that there is need for government’s intervention to cushion the effect of the  rising price of diesel as well as other factors militating against local production. Unfortunately we are not sure how ready the government is in this regard. Fixing the country’s moribund refineries is key to reducing the cost of production. Likewise, the unreliable power situation. The Muhammadu Buhari government has been in power for over six years and has no clear plan to resuscitate them. We do not know what it can do in less than 14 months to leave office to have a dent on the challenges. Indeed, the cavalier manner the government has been operating is evident in the report that the president has approved that those responsible for the importation of off-spec petrol into the country last month be sanctioned. The president reportedly said the same thing when the fuel crisis began about four weeks ago. That we are still at the level of threats when the culprits ought to have been sanctioned shows the government’s lackadaisical approach to issues, including the energy sector, the cash cow. If the government is yet to punish those who threw the national economy into crisis that it has not fully recovered from over such a grievous matter more than three weeks after, we wonder when that would be done, or whether it would ever be done.

Yet, things cannot continue like this. Rising cost of production amidst dwindling disposable income is unsustainable. It is an open invitation to social unrest and its attendant consequences.

No one should deny Ezra Yakusak, executive director of the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), his deserved crow.  At an export-promoting seminar in Owerri, Imo State, Dr. Yakusak rolled out the sweet export stats.

Nigeria, he crooned, speaking through a representative, exported non-oil produce and products worth US$ 3.455 billion in 2021, up from US$ 2.210 billion in 2020 — a net rise of US$ 1.245 billion.

An enthused Dr. Yakusak said Nigerian crops as palm kernel shells, breadfruit, cashew nuts, bitter kola, egusi, ogbono, oha, ogiri, uziza ofor and crayfish had “gone international” — thanks to NEPC’s “export for survival” mantra, pushed under the export facilitator’s one-state-one-product comparative advantage strategy.

The NEPC boss, apparently pushing for value-added before export, also extolled local manufacturers in Imo State who, between 2016 and 2021, had exported products worth over US$ 2.3 million non-oil manufactured goods to Poland, USA, Dubai (United Arab Emirates), Italy and Australia.

Dr. Yakusak’s celebration would fall within an agricultural push, between 2015 and now, that has levitated Nigeria to be Africa’s No. 1 producer of rice and world’s No. 1 cultivator of yam tubers.

Still, the not-so-good story is that the agricultural boom has not been met with a processing boom, which should have turned the country into an agro-processing dynamo: from rice mills, to cashew processing cottage plants, to cassava processed into industrial starch.  That should have fed the export market, earned the much needed forex and boosted the parity of our struggling Naira.

That that has not happened has shown a huge deficit in non-oil column, in Nigeria’s export account ledger, despite the NEPC decent strides that Dr. Yakusak enthused.  Until agricultural processing becomes routine and mainstream therefore, it can’t be uhuru for NEPC or for the country.

Indeed, at no time than now is agro-processing better placed to seize the commanding heights of Nigeria’s international trade.  Yet, it has done pretty little towards that end.  If you doubt, check comparative stats for Q4 2021, which the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) just released.

Crude oil, even with a shrink of -8.06 per cent, still posted a thunderous N4.269 trillion earning, netting 70.04 per cent of total exports — just for the fourth quarter of 2021.  Now, compare and contrast this figure to the US$ 3.455 billion, (N1.4 trillion, at the Naira/Dollar exchange of N415.971/US$ 1) for the entire 2021 that NEPC celebrates, it is clear that agriculture is still punching very much below its weight.

Still on the NBS statistics: next to crude oil, other top exports were natural gas (N573.85 billion, or 9.95 per cent of total exports; and urea: a key oil and gas derivative  to manufacture fertiliser (N208.05 billion: 3.61 per cent).

What is more?  Durum wheat (wheat grown in arid regions that yield flour used to manufacture pista), one of the Q4 imports, could easily have gone the opposite direction: export from Nigeria instead of import into the country.  Had that happened, perhaps Nigeria’s fourth quarter 2021 posting of a N173.96 billion trade deficit could have been a trade surplus — or at worst, a healthy trade balance.

The simple moral from all of this is that agriculture — processed agriculture — holds the ace for Nigeria in terms of exports.  In this sector, Nigeria holds a robust comparative advantage.  With progressive disinvestment in global fossil fuels, Nigeria should start positioning processed agriculture to take the place of oil, if not gas, as the centrepiece of Nigeria’s exports.

So, as NEPC continues efforts to make non-oil exports easier and seamless, using the instrumentality of the African Continental Free Trade Area ( ACFTA) and other international trade protocols, the Nigerian government should make solid efforts to add value to agricultural produce, to boost these commodities’ export value.

That will also expand local manufacturing and create millions of jobs.  That is the way to go though it could be a bridge too far without better and reliant electricity.

After the initial commercial collaboration by Dana Air and Ibom Air, Nigeria’s domestic aviation entered a new era on March 9, with six airlines forming the Spring Alliance: Air Peace, Azman Air, Arik Air, Aero Contractors, United Nigeria and Max Air.

“In the aviation world, we have so many alliances that airlines key into …” noted Allen Onyema, chairman of Air Peace.  ”Airlines decide to key into those alliances for the benefit of both the passengers and the airlines themselves.”  True.

Indeed, global aviation boasts three alliances: Star Alliance, Sky Team and One World.

Star Alliance, first to debut in 1997, remains the biggest. Formed by Air Canada, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines (SAS), Thai Airways and United Airlines, it now has 26 carrier-members.  Star Alliance has members from every continent of the world, with Egypt Air and South African Airways being its African members.

One World, formed in 1998, was the second though smallest of the three with 14 members.  However, it has two members — American Airlines and Alaska Airlines — from America, the busiest civil airspace in global aviation.  Its founding carriers were American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas. Royal Air Maroc of Morocco, from Africa, is also a member.

Sky Team, founded in 2000 is the newest alliance, though its 19 members are bigger than One World’s 14.  The founding carriers were Aeromexico, Air France, Delta Air Lines and Korean Air.  Its 19 members include KLM, the Dutch airline, Aerofloat of Russia and Saudia of Saudi Arabia.  It also has Kenya Airways from Africa.

This background clearly shows a Nigerian equivalent of these global air partnerships should have come much earlier, given the many challenges of domestic aviation.  The poor Naira forex parity is a key challenge.   Domestic airlines post their cost in dollars but earn revenue in the Naira.  That puts great pressure on every aspect of the business.

But now that Spring Alliance has come, it should be commended — so long as the six airlines birth a more efficient, cost-effective and passenger-sensitive market.  That can’t be taken as given, except the collaborating carriers have re-tooled their internal operations; and have established and imposed, on their cartel, a sound technical capability.

That, if so, would blend hitherto jarring marketing and operational practices into a new winning and collective culture that would inspire fresh customer confidence; and draw a bigger quantum of passengers.  That would take some doing.  But until all these areas are sorted out, Nigerian local aviation would not exit its crushing challenges.

From individual airline challenges, we move to the health and competitiveness of the industry.

Despite the celebrated successes of the international air alliances, The Economist, London’s ultra-right weekly, dismissed the alliances as “price-fixing cartels”, arguing that even the famed alliance boons had come at higher pan-carrier fares; insisting that such alliances, like other cartels, only reduce, if not outright subvert, competition.

Could that thinking have made some other big global players, like Emirates, Virgin Atlantic, Etihad and Virgin Australia, to shun the obvious economy of scale benefits of such alliances?  Has it made them to stick with the micro benefits that come with operational flexibility that could translate into lower fares, which draw more passengers?

Applying that to the emerging Nigerian situation: might this new cartel be a tool to muscle smaller domestic players out of the market?  If so, that would be cartelising crass inefficiencies, which continue to rip off passengers.  The industry regulators must ensure that never happens.  If it does, the market would only shrink and it would be lose-lose for all.

All things considered, however, Spring Alliance has the prospects of breathing fresh life into local aviation fast turning comatose.

“Safety is the number one priority and this is what we stand for,” quipped Captain Abdullahi Mahmood, managing director of Aero Contractors.  ”All these flight delays are caused by problems that passengers do not know … It is a challenging situation that we find ourselves.”

Now, the Aero Contractors boss put his fingers on the growing notoriety among local carriers: utter contempt for scheduled flights.  He also betrayed the annoying paternalism with which airlines treat their stranded passengers — silence, instead of reasoned explanations.  Shouldn’t airlines always level with their passengers?

Safety and flight promptitude are the twin-soul of airline business. The two must go together or you go bust.  If Spring Alliance somewhat manages to guarantee both, it would force a new and exciting dawn.  If it doesn’t, it would only cartelise operational slothfulness and inefficiency.

Either way, the new air partners have their job clearly cut out for them!