The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Timely moratorium

    Timely moratorium

    •It is good that the Fed Govt has suspended establishment of federal varsities, etc

    A seven-year freeze was lately imposed on establishment of new federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education by the Federal Government, citing proliferation of under-utilised institutions, overstretched resources and a drop in academic quality. The decision was taken at last week’s Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja presided over by President Bola Tinubu, following a presentation by education minister, Dr. Tunji Maruf Alausa.

    Addressing State House correspondents on the decision, Alausa noted that the challenge with Nigeria’s tertiary education system was no longer access but inefficient duplication, poor infrastructure, inadequate staffing and dwindling enrolment in many existing institutions. “Several federal universities operate far below capacity, with some having fewer than 2,000 students. In one northern university, there are 1,200 staff serving fewer than 800 students. This is a waste of government resources,” he said.

    According to him, 199 universities received fewer than 100 applications through the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) last year, with 34 of these recording zero application.

    Of the 295 polytechnics nationwide, many had fewer than 99 applicants; while the 219 colleges of education also posted poor enrolment figures, including 64 that received no applications at all.

    The minister warned that unchecked proliferation of poorly subscribed institutions risked producing ill-prepared graduates, eroding the value of Nigerian degrees internationally and worsening unemployment.

    He explained that the moratorium would enable government to channel resources into upgrading facilities, hiring qualified staff and expanding the carrying capacity of existing institutions.

    Nigeria currently has 72 federal universities, 42 federal polytechnics and 28 federal colleges of education. There are more than 60 state universities and some 150 private universities, according to National Universities Commission (NUC) data.

    These are besides about 50 state-owned polytechnics and nearly 80 private ones, according to National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) data.

    There are said to be in excess of 70 federal and state-owned colleges of health sciences and 17  private ones, besides other specialised schools like colleges of agriculture.

    Meanwhile, there are bills for some 200 more tertiary institutions pending before the National Assembly (NASS). “If we want to improve quality and not be a laughing stock globally, the pragmatic step is to pause the establishment of new federal institutions,” Alausa said.

    Even with the freeze, the FEC approved nine new private universities whose applications the minister said had been pending for up to six years and had undergone full evaluation by the NUC. “When we assumed office, there were 551 applications for private universities. Many had been stuck due to inefficiencies at the NUC. We deactivated over 350 dormant applications and set new, stricter guidelines. Of the 79 active cases, nine met the criteria and were approved,” he explained, adding that billions of naira had already been invested in infrastructure for the approved institutions.

    Alausa made clear that government placed a freeze on new applications for private universities, polytechnics and colleges of education as well, with the exception of those that meet the new operational standards.

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    He lauded President Tinubu for supporting the reform that he described as a reset button for Nigeria’s tertiary education, saying: “Mr. President believes fervently in education and has given us the mandate to ensure every Nigerian has access to the highest quality of education comparable to anywhere in the world.”

    Both chambers of the NASS are brimming with proposals for new institutions mostly being promoted by members, who apparently seek political capital from getting such institutions established in their localities. This trend is clearly unsustainable, and the case made by the education minister reinforced that fact.

    University teachers themselves have for years been in the vanguard of advocacy against proliferation of new institutions and have rather solicited adequate funding of existing ones; they argued that existing institutions were poorly funded, with many hobbled by dearth of suitably qualified lecturers needed to properly run them.

    We applaud government’s courage in imposing a moratorium on new institutions. The downtime should allow for better resourcing of existing ones and expansion of their capacities to attract optimum subscription by students.

    We have always argued that this country cannot be establishing new institutions endlessly while old ones are dying off, because the fate that befell older institutions will sooner than later befall new ones without a paradigm shift in disposition to equipping them. Besides, new institutions will require personnel that are increasingly hard to come by because of massive brain drain. It is worse that most of those proposing new universities only want these for political gain and not in national interest or, indeed, the interest of would-be products.

    Government is therefore on the right track with the moratorium option. But it will account to history on how this window is maximised to upscale the quality of tertiary education in the coming years.

  • Loan for corps members

    Loan for corps members

    •This is a step in the right direction

    When he assumed office in 2023, President Bola Tinubu knew he had an onerous task of winning over the youth to his side. Beyond politicking, it was obvious that a country that continues to neglect 70 per cent of its population is doomed to collapse sooner than later. This must have informed various schemes put in place to empower the young ones, the latest of which is the introduction of  N200,000 loan for serving members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). The loan is meant to assist the young ones being paid N77,000 monthly stipend to settle down in their states of deployment.

    This is quite thoughtful of the Federal Government that has moved many of the corps members to far-flung areas for the national service.

    This is not the only innovative scheme for the youth. The National Education Loans Fund ((NELFUND) has been hailed by many Nigerians as one that has opened the door of quality education to the poor. By the fund, students of tertiary and technical schools are able to obtain loans for their turion fees and monthly stipend. More than 400,000 students are said to have already been enlisted from all parts of the country.

    The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) had earlier this year  put in place a N5 billion grant for student entrepreneurs. By the grant, young people in tertiary institutions who show promise of boosting national technological development are advanced funds to prove their mettle. If sustained, the scheme would boost  Nigeria’s position in the comity of nations, especially in Africa.

    It is obvious that given the level of awareness of the youth today, they would play critical roles in social, economic and political affairs in the country in the near future. It is equally in their own interest to get more involved in leadership positions as leaders of the future.

    Under the Buhari administration, the Not Too Young to Rule law was passed by the National Assembly with a view to initiating the younger ones to run for legislative and executive offices. However, this achieved very little in the 2023 general elections as most of them lacked the economic power to contest against more established politicians. It is expected that, with the support now being given by the Federal Government, more would be uplifted to be able to contest.

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    But, the Federal Government alone cannot bear the burden. States and local governments have a duty to support the scheme by encouraging the young ones economically and politically. Incentives to boost innovation and scholarships should be dispensed more generously across board, including from the private sector.

    Nigeria is lagging behind in many facets of life; it has been said that we are largely a consumption nation, rather than  a productive one. This must change.

    As countries in East and Southern Africa and other countries classified as underdeveloped in the Global South are beginning to export to the North, little goes out of Nigeria. And where we export, it is crude oil and unprocessed products.

    In a technological age, our public schools are still rooted in the stone age-classrooms that are over- crowded, teachers are ill-equipped to groom those who could compete with students of other countries, many are yet to be exposed to the use of computers. These are monumental tasks before the government.

    President Tinubu has taken steps worthy of applause. He must be encouraged to do much more as Africa looks up to Nigeria to play its part as the ‘giant of Africa’ in the same way that China and Japan are lifting Asia.

  • Damning report

    Damning report

    With metering and billing complaints topping the list of power consumer grievances, the Fed Govt has to put in more effort to rescue Nigerians from arbitrary billing by DisCos

    If there is need for proof that the electricity distribution companies (DisCos) are not operating according to good corporate practices, the latest report by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), is it. The report said the DisCos received a total of 1,183,198 complaints against them from electricity consumers in 2024.

    Of these, metering, billing, and service interruptions were the most common complaint issues, accounting for 72.33 per cent (855,757) of the 1,183,198 complaints.

    Similarly, NERC says it got a total of 8,351 active appeals (7,575 new appeals and 776 pending appeals) across all forum offices in 2024 and the forum offices held 308 sittings and resolved 83.06 per cent (6,936) of the total active appeals. Again, billing and metering were the most prevalent of the appeals, accounting for 52.81 per cent and 29.77 per cent, respectively, of the total.

    This report is by no means surprising.

    The trend was the same even for the first quarter of this year when the DisCos received 254,404 customer complaints. Although this represented a 7.72 per cent drop from the 275,681 complaints received in the previous quarter, the grievances centred mainly on the same issues of faulty metering, inaccurate billing and service interruptions.

    While Port Harcourt DisCo received the highest number of complaints (57,843), representing 22.74 per cent of total complaints received, Yola DisCo received the least, 2,495, representing 0.98 per cent of total complaints.

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    “Six DisCos recorded declines in the number of customer complaints received in 2025/Q1 compared to 2024/Q4. Abuja (-74.02 per cent), Benin (-30.17 per cent), and Jos (-29.16 per cent) DisCos recorded the most reductions. Kano (+86.12 per cent), Kaduna (+37.33 per cent), Yola (+30.15 per cent), Aba Power (+17.16 per cent), Ikeja (+9.98 per cent) and Port Harcourt (+5.78 per cent) DisCos on the other hand recorded increases in the number of customer complaints received between 2024/Q4 and 2025/Q1”, NERC said.

    It is significant that Port Harcourt and Ikeja DisCos had the highest billing-related complaints recorded at the NERC Customer Complaints Unit (NERC CCU) during the period.

    Metering and billing issues are somewhat intertwined. If power consumers have functional meters, the chances of billing them through rule of thumb are eliminated; meaning they will only pay for the power they consume.

    But, in the absence of meters, as largely in the present circumstance, guess work with indefensible principles are applied, leading expectedly to consumer dissatisfaction and sometimes anger.

    As a matter of fact, the issue of metering has become like a festering sore for long in the sector. Nigerians had hoped that the privatisation of the sector in 2013 would substantially address that problem. It is unfortunate that that hope has not materialised.

    Perhaps sadder still is the fact that it may never materialise, given the unreadiness of the DisCos to make it happen.

    And this is despite spirited efforts by successive governments to bridge the metering gap, which, by NERC’s own admission, is huge.

    “As of 31 December 2024, only 6,288,642 (46.57%) of the registered 13,503,342 customers in the NESI were metered. DisCos installed 572,055 enduse customer meters in 2024 using the different metering framework.”

    Yet, it is not that government has not made some attempts to solve the metering challenge. We have had all kinds of initiatives toward solving the problem.

    The Tinubu government is not left out in the quest to let Nigerian power consumers pay only for the electricity they enjoy. For instance, in 2023 it came up with the Presidential Metering Initiative (PMI) as part of its broader energy reforms, with the aim of addressing systemic inefficiencies in power supply and billing.

    Full rollout of free electricity meters under the scheme is expected to commence by the fourth quarter of this year. The initiative is expected to deliver over six million meters to end-users at no cost.

    Eriye Onagoruwa, a representative of the Special Adviser to the President on Energy, provided an update on the scheme at the Day 2 Session of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry Stakeholders Meeting held in Lagos, in June.

    “Over six million meters are planned from multiple sources, including DISREP, (Distribution Sector Recovery Programme) Federation Account, and the Meter Asset Fund. Key priorities include streamlining installer certification, deploying meters to high-consumption areas (starting with Band A customers), and ensuring robust communication infrastructure.”

    A good idea. But so had schemes before it that looked good at the level of policy formulation only to end up delivering little at implementation stage.

    For instance, the immediate past administration of Muhammadu Buhari also embarked on free metering scheme for power consumers. That we are yet to hit even the 50 per cent mark in spite of these fanciful schemes should tell us that something is wrong somewhere.

    We observed that the meters that were supposed to be given out free under the Buhari government were rolled out simultaneously with those of the DisCos that were sold. With the kind of DisCos that we have, our guess is as good as yours on what could have happened with the free meters.

    We don’t know if proper auditing has been done to see how many of those government meters were actually given free, especially as they were issued to power consumers simultaneously with the ones being sold.

    We therefore urge the Tinubu government to avoid such pitfalls.

    We would have done better in terms of bridging the metering gap if only the DisCos had been more cooperative in the last 13 years.

    And it is unlikely they can ever change their attitude in this regard because of the free billing they do monthly by guess work, just allocating whatever amount they like to their hapless customers as bills.

    It speaks volumes that the DisCos themselves reported that they received a whopping 1,183, 198 complaints from their about 13,503,342 customers, most bothering on billing and metering. We can assume that is for those who know about such avenue for redress. There are millions of other power consumers who are not aware or are even aware but they never got the right attention from the DisCos.

    We commend NERC for the yeoman’s job of overseeing these difficult entities.

    We also note that its 31 forum offices across Nigeria that handle consumer appeals related to electricity are grossly inadequate considering the general unwillingness of the DisCos to meter electricity consumers.

    NERC should continue to sanction recalcitrant DisCos over various infractions and sharp practices. That is the only way the planned rollout of the six million meters promised under this government can make significant impact. When that happens and DisCos no longer have cause to bill consumers arbitrarily, they will know that the era of unearned revenue is over for good and thus settle down to do business the way their counterparts in other serious parts of the world do it.

  • Audu Ogbe (1947 – 2025)

    Audu Ogbe (1947 – 2025)

    Neither flamboyant nor charismatic, he, nonetheless, was a self-respecting gentleman

    He was not the most flamboyant, colourful or charismatic of politicians. Indeed, Mr Audu Ogbe, who died on August 9, 2025, at the age of 78, had a political career that many would describe as routine and unremarkable but there was at least an instance in his public life when he demonstrated rare courage and boldness in speaking truth to power that is etched in our national memory. He belonged to the class of politicians whose contributions to public discourse were often elevated and reflective of a keen mind and transcending the pedestrian, vulgar and bellicose.

    An indigene of Otukpo in Idoma land of Benue State, Ogbe ‘s sound educational foundation was laid at St. Francis Primary School and St. Michael’s secondary school, Aliade, Benue State, after which he proceeded to the competitive Kings College in Lagos, where he received higher education from 1967- 1968, an indication of his brilliance.

    Thereafter, he attended the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, from 1969 to 1972 and the University of Toulouse, France, from 1973- 1974. Before his foray into politics he worked as a lecturer at the Institute of Administration, ABU, from 1972 to 1976, and was Head of the Department of Humanities at the Murtala College of Arts, Science and Technology (MUCAST), Makurdi, Benue State, from 1972 to 1976.

    His entry into politics as a young man in the Second Republic, (1979 – 1983), was on the platform of the National Party of Nigeria (NPN). He was elected as a member of the Benue State House of Assembly in 1979 and became Deputy Speaker of the house in 1982. He served first as Minister of Communications in the President Shehu Shagari administration and later Minister of Steel Development until the military intervention that disrupted democratic governance in 1983.

    It is noteworthy that despite the pervasive corruption of that era leading to the trial by anti-corruption tribunals set up by the succeeding Buhari- Idiagbon military government, and the conviction as well as sentencing to jail of several leading politicians for long terms, Ogbe was not indicted. 

    In this dispensation, he served as Special Adviser on Agriculture in the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and later Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development from 2015-2019 in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari having become a member of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    It is difficult to ascertain what developmental impact he made in the various public offices he occupied. However, the highlight of his political career was his appointment as National Chairman of the PDP, a position he occupied from 2001 to 2005.

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    When asked how he would manage the relationship between the party and the Obasanjo administration, Ogbe said, “I do have views of my own and most people who know me know that I have never cheaply compromised on those views. I do not intend to bully the President and the Vice President but I intend to reason with them and I believe between all of them, at one time or the other, they will bow to superior argument”.

    In demonstration of this independence of mind, Ogbe, in December 2004, wrote a scathing open letter to President Obasanjo criticising his handling of the abduction and attempted forced removal from office of the Anambra State governor, Dr Chris Ngige, by politicians in the state perceived to be close to the President.

    The following month, Ogbe resigned from office as chairman claiming to have done so voluntarily and in the interest of the party, but the dominant public view was that he was actually forced to hand in his resignation. There has been no other example of the chairman of a party trying to stand up to an immensely powerful elected President of the country.

    His participation in politics did not distract Ogbe from his private vocation as a farmer. He was the Chairman and Managing Director of his extensive Efugo Farms, Makurdi, which ventured into diverse areas of agriculture. He was also a playwright with five published plays and one of them, ‘The Epitaph of Simon Kisulu’ staged at the Muson Centre, Lagos, in 2002.

    He was a decent, self-respecting gentleman and this was reflected in his life and politics. May Audu Ogbe’s soul Rest in Peace.

  • Breast is best

    Breast is best

    •We need more enlightenment on the values of breast-feeding

    Breast-feeding of babies is globally seen as the first out of the womb bonding of mother and child. It is as old as humanity itself. Mothers are advised to breast-feed their babies immediately after birth, both by traditional birth attendants who were or are mostly illiterates, to modern doctors, especially gynaecologists, obstetricians and pediatricians.

    Breast milk is the most valuable nutrition for newborn babies because of its many advantages. Nutritionists and scientists have observed that the first yellowish milk otherwise known as colostrum is effectively nature’s first vaccine for babies, so mothers are advised to make sure the baby is fed immediately after birth with it.

    Mothers in the past breastfed their babies for up to two years or more because there were no substitutes like baby milk made from cows and other packaged plant-based baby foods which often make babies ill. Mothers weaned their babies off breast milk with mashed adult food that is healthy and affordable.

    With development and technology, most young mothers now choose not to breastfeed for some puerile reasons connected to their physiology. Even with the very wide campaigns by the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) about the values of exclusive beast-feeding in the first six months of a baby’s life, its recent research shows that just one in three babies in Nigeria is exclusively breastfed.

    While the statistics for exclusive breast-feeding is low, many mothers are choosing not to even breast-feed at all. The consequences of this failure are dire.

    Breast milk is nature’s nutrition and medical requirement for babies. It fortifies babies against childhood diseases like diarrhea, respiratory infections like pneumonia and whooping cough. These are in addition to the social values of mother-child bonding.

    Breast-feeding sooths the baby as medical professionals believe that it contains some natural morphines that often help babies sleep off. Beyond the baby benefits is the fact that it helps the mother lower the risk of postpartum depression and there are findings that it can help in family planning.

    We commend UNICEF for its role in the global welfare of children since its inception in 1946. This recent research result released during this year’s Breastfeeding Week (August 1-7) draws more attention to the failure of mothers to see value in exclusive breast-feeding.

    We however understand too that the socio-economic situation in the country over the years has impacted women’s ability to do exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of the baby’s life.

    Moreover, there has been a shift in women’s roles as home-keepers. Many women are out working to add to the home earnings and many public offices and companies have no crèches and maternity leave often remain at three months. The economic power of most mothers cannot afford modern gadgets used to express breast milk to be fed their babies in their absence and they often lack electricity for preservation, even if they can afford to extract their own milk.

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    The health and education sectors must do more in creating awareness about the values of breast-feeding babies exclusively for six months. Mothers must be made to realise that breast sagging is a natural process of ageing and not basically due to breast-feeding.

    Even women that never got pregnant in life don’t have their breast the same way as when they were teenagers. The value of breastfeeding far outweighs any assumed physiological or cosmetic qualities.

    The National Orientation Agency (NOA) must wade into this issue in ways that women understand the message and the value of breast-feeding babies exclusively for the first six months of life. Professionals in the field have found that breastfed babies are often stronger and more intelligent than those not breastfed.

    It is also economically cheaper and contains all the child needs. However, the mothers must be taught how to manage their own diet for successful breast-feeding. In many countries, pregnant and breastfeeding mothers get free or subsidised nutritious foods like eggs and dairy products. It is seen as investment in the future generations.

    While we believe mothers must do the right thing like exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, the government can help them cushion the financial effects of welcoming a new baby that actually ultimately belongs to the state. Many countries give up to 12 months maternity leave with full pay as an incentive for women to have more babies and nurture them well, seeing that most countries are dealing with the effects of ageing population.

    Nigeria must plan for the long term because today it is breastfeeding, tomorrow it might be young ladies refusing to even bear children for whatever reason; a problem that some other countries seem to be dealing with, giving rise to incentives to encourage migration from poorer countries. We must not get to that stage before doing something.

  • Rebuilding basic education

    Rebuilding basic education

    Drawing funds from the UBEC Fund should be made easier and in good time

    The state of education in Nigeria has come under intense public scrutiny of recent. Experts and managers of the system are agreed that the problem has to be tackled from the root. Despite Nigeria being a federation, the 1999 Universal Basic Education Commission Act, grants the Federal Government a prime role in supervising and monitoring education in the first nine years of schooling.

    While the Federal Government makes a contribution into a central pool of funds for the purpose, states are expected to make their counterpart contribution before they could draw from the money. However, in the past 26 years, the act has been observed more in the breach.

    Given very stringent conditions for accessing the fund, many states have been unable to draw from the amount standing to their credit due to inability to meet the prerequisites. This has been the situation over the years.

    But, of recent, some have been drawing from the fund by paying the counterpart fund. Yet, reports now indicate that N250 billion drawn recently still sit in the coffers of the state governments. In the first six months of this year, alone, about 25 states and the Federal Capital Territory had received N92 billion with little to show for it.

    This was brought to public attention in July by the Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr Aisha Garba, who disclosed that the only way forward was a review of the conditions for drawing the money and utilising it.

    This, in fact, is long overdue. What the commission must do now is not only to work towards a consensus among stakeholders, but sensitisation of the general public to the reality. This could rein in recalcitrant states and ensure that the objectives of establishing the body are achieved.

    One point that must be noted is that, in this case, one size cannot fit all. States differ, what is suitable for Lagos in revamping its basic education system might be different from Borno’s plans for its people. As a plural society with vastly different cultures, religion and socio-economic circumstances, it would be wrong to concentrate all things at the centre as if the country runs a command structure as in communist societies.

    The decision by the founding fathers to settle for the federal system should inform whatever is done in education as it is in health, agriculture and others.

    At another parley on July 30, the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Suwaiba Ahmad, gave indication that a new blueprint on the issue would soon be released. Foot-dragging is not allowed in this case. At a time when focus is on the lapses that have been observed in the sector through glitches in the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the West African Examinations Council-conducted Senior Secondary Schools Examination, the rebuilding of the sector must start immediately.

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    President Bola Tinubu must take charge of the process and see it as one legacy he could leave for coming generations. Educationists have pointed out that the only way forward is to get all tiers of government involved in this assignment.

    This is 26 years since the commission was established and it is as if the purpose is being defeated. The National Assembly should get involved. Today, the assembly is largely seen as selfish, with members mainly concerned about their welfare. This is one opportunity for redemption by coordinating efforts towards achieving the commission’s purpose.

    There are already indications that 2026 would be a year for politicking and legislators may not be able to concentrate on core legislative functions. Civil society organisations and other stakeholders should therefore work hard towards ensuring that this task is concluded this year.

  • e-fiscal system rollout

    e-fiscal system rollout

    It is already yielding result; we hope companies that are yet to key in will do so soon

    On August 1, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) rolled out the Electronic Fiscal System, EFS, in what signalled the next major push to modernise the country’s tax administration system, curb evasion, and enhance transparency in revenue collection.

    This is coming after a successful pilot phase that began in November, 2024. The EFS, said to incorporate an electronic invoicing solution known as the Merchant-Buyer Model (MBM), is, according to FIRS, designed to make tax compliance easier, faster, and more transparent for taxpayers.

    It is being implemented in collaboration with the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), with approved service providers on-boarded to act as system integrators and access point providers for taxpayers. These partners, according to FIRS, will support on-boarding, integration, and invoice transmission. The goal is to enable real-time visibility into commercial transactions by the FIRS, while ensuring the authenticity, accuracy, and completeness of invoices.

    This phase, being the first, is said to target large companies with an annual turnover of N5bn and above, while medium-sized and emerging businesses are expected to follow later.

    According to the FIRS spokesman Dare Adekanmbi, at least 1,000 companies, representing 20 per cent of the more than 5,000 eligible firms, have signed on to the system and begun integrating with the FIRS-MBS platform barely two weeks after its launch. The remaining large taxpayers have until November 1 to complete their on-boarding and integration.

    We must commend the steady progress by the FIRS in the long journey to modernise the tax administration system. Just as remarkable is the willingness of the big corporate players to collaborate with it to ensure seamless transition to the new regime.

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    That the revenue agency actually singled out MTN Nigeria, which it said became the first taxpayer to transmit live electronic invoices to the FIRS, officially ushering in the e-invoicing regime, and Huawei Nigeria and IHS Nigeria – both of which, it also said, have concluded test transmissions and thus set to go live in the coming days, is equally significant. It is a major step forward.

    Eight months after, the various players in the journey can look back with pride that at last, the country has not only been availed a tax system that is truly modern but one that is, thus far, being enthusiastically embraced by citizens.

    What remains is for the FIRS to rev up the momentum, to ensure that the November target date for the other big players is not missed, and then to brace up to the task of removing whatever impediments still remaining in its implementation. Here, the expectation is that the agency will not only be putting the lessons learnt in the nearly eight months of the pilot phase into good use, but also fine-tuning those aspects of the implementation plan necessary to ensure seamless delivery whenever the process eventually goes full throttle.

    No less worthy of commendation is the on-going stakeholder engagements which have featured webinars, workshops, and town hall meetings by its e-Invoicing Implementation Team. This should be sustained. However, the agency as indeed the Federal Government, while at it, should not lose sight of the bigger universe: the nurturing of a new tax-compliant culture through a programme of mass education and public enlightenment, without which current efforts will end up delivering sub optimal results.

    And even as Nigerians expect that cutting edge technologies will be deployed to drive the implementation; a robust mechanism for timely resolution of consumer complaints must also be given its pride of place under the new dispensation. In fact, as the agency readies to transit from its old name – the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) to the new, the Nigeria Revenue Service (NRS), an inextricable component of the rite of transition must be a keener awareness of not just the imperative of service but the commitment to its essence.

  • EFCC’s OOPL raid

    EFCC’s OOPL raid

    • Neither person nor institution can stop due process

    To be clear: in civil settlement of disputes, as opposed to barbaric self-help, every party has the right of recourse to the courts, for remedies against legitimate injuries.

    But that right is injured, or at least suspect, when a party tries to wield justice as some satanic blackmail — from the way it structured its case, sounding as if the system were male-fisted, and forged to punish one side, to the detriment of the other.  That’s false.  Sound justice is an equal-opportunity system.

    In the wee hours of August 10, reportedly following credible intelligence, 50 armed operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the Nigeria Police, staged a sting operation at the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library (OOPL) complex, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

    After the sting, at a poolside party in the complex, 93 suspects were arrested, with vehicles and sundry IT gadgets.  After an initial profiling, according to an EFCC press release, almost all of the suspects were indicted for alleged impersonation, identity and Internet fraud. 

    From the EFCC initial findings, they would appear alleged 419 fraudsters, celebrating after an alleged kill, and thinking OOPL was a safe haven that could shield them from the law. 

    But to push the right to due process, EFCC, in the same release, said 23 of the suspects would, on August 15, be arraigned before Justice D. Dipeolu, of the Federal High Court, in Ikoyi, Lagos.

    That is how it should be.  Suspicion is no automatic guilt.  The court would decide, either way, after the suspects must have had their day in court.  Due process.

    But the OOPL management, chafing at the sheer haul of suspects from their facility, have reacted rather angrily, demanding within seven days, a comprehensive apology and seeking N3.5 billion in damages, for what they called an “invasion”.  Otherwise, they would sue EFCC.  Again, it’s within their constitutional right to seek legal redress.  What is not, is to turn that right into cheap bluff and bluster, that border on illicit threat.

    But perhaps the OOPL release should speak for itself.

    Vitalis Ortese, the OOPL managing director, claimed: “We are fully persuaded that the acts are not only aggravated, unconstitutional, oppressive, capricious and arbitrary; the actions are also clearly actuated by malice against the institution of OOPL and also of its chief promoter, HE Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, GCFR, who was Head of State (1976-1979) and President of Nigeria (1999-2007).”

    With all due respect to the OOPL managing director, there is little evidence, beyond ruffled proprietor pride and anger, to justify the tumbling adjectives that impute bad faith by the EFCC sting.

    Besides, linking OOPL with Chief Obasanjo is at best illiterate, at worst reckless. More so, it’s utterly disrespectful to any civilised order.  Unfortunately, in his ardour to stack his cards and appeal to the fallacy of force and threat, Mr. Ortese brought in Chief Obasanjo, in a matter that concerns only the OOPL, a corporate citizen, and not Obasanjo himself — except, of course, he was hinting at illicit influence: the No. 1 blight to legal due process and basic societal decorum.

    That is utterly condemnable.

    Still, here is a riposte to Mr. Ortese’s supposition.  That Gen. Obasanjo was military Head of State or Chief Obasanjo was elected President of the Federal Republic, does not elevate him above the law.  Let that be very clear.  Also, by the stretch of that illicit sentiment, it doesn’t elevate any business he is associated with above the routine laws of the land, which order the operational behaviour of all corporate citizens.

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    For emphasis, if EFCC and allied security agencies are empowered to do sting operations to prevent the commission of crime, or arrest an ongoing crime, which credible intelligence at their disposal suggests, then the question of the alleged “invasion” of OOPL is ludicrous — except of course, OOPL can prove that it’s different from, or is indeed elevated above, other hotels and public fun facilities, promoted by private concerns for legitimate profit. 

    In truth, any supposition that OOPL is superior to similar businesses, in the eye of the law, is corporate conceit and organisational hubris pushed too far.

    To be clear: that very day law enforcement agencies start giving OOPL preference, because it’s linked to the Obasanjo name, that very day, Nigeria plumbs from a Federal Republic under the rule of law, to a banana republic, under whims and caprices.  OOPL was not the first, and certainly won’t be the last, public space security agencies would raid, under heavy suspicion, to curtail the commission of crime.

    It’s quite understandable: the OOPL management were rightly embarrassed at the haul of arrests.  Almost 100 financial crime suspects didn’t quite add any sheen to their facility’s image. The optics, to be sincere, were also decidedly ugly, at least for a future clientele.  In addressing that however, the managing director went into another strange bluster.

    Hear him: “We, therefore, demand a comprehensive investigation be undertaken by all relevant security agencies with their reports openly published,” he held, “especially regarding the brutalisation of our patrons, being citizens who had apparently done nothing wrong nor apparently infringed on any law other than engaging in a party, as allowed under the law.”

    To be sure, this claim can’t be summarily dismissed. Perhaps, from their robust documentation, the OOPL management can prove this glut of sentimental claims, on their patrons, who EFCC has now arrested and tagged suspects?  If OOPL has such extenuating documents, let them please share with the public.

    Anything short of that would be pandering to bubbly emotions.  “Brutalisation” of patrons would appear a high play on emotions, except OOPL can prove the EFCC and the police, on that mission, abused their arms.  That the suspects are “citizens who had apparently done nothing wrong” beyond “engaging in a party, as allowed by the law” is again another sweet sentiment OOPL is in no position to prove — except it has access to EFCC’s intel; and can conclusively prove it is phony.  Anything other than that is just blowing hot steam.

    The way the OOPL management are going, they might end up setting themselves up for a fair charge of aiding and abetting the commission of an alleged crime.  If it’s not the first time a pool party was held there, and no law agent ever raided the place, why this hurried imputation of bad faith? What a responsible corporate citizen should do is cooperate fully with security agencies, when crimes are alleged in their facilities. 

    Though its image might get soiled a little by such accusations, demonstrating own good faith and total cooperation to crack the crime helps to shore up innocence; and proven non-involvement chimes with public goodwill.  The present OOPL tack is the diametric opposite, with the delusion they can illicitly profit by the Obasanjo name. That won’t — in any case, shouldn’t — happen, if Nigeria must keep its soul as a lawful republic.  OOPL should change that tack — and the earlier, the better.

    Still, the OOPL management was right on one score: let there be a thorough and open investigation into the sting operation, starting with the genuineness or otherwise of the EFCC intel. If the EFCC had indeed abused its powers by the sting, the operatives must bear the full brunt of the law.  This is less to confirm OOPL’s imputation of malice — rather wild, to be honest — but to restate that EFCC itself, a creation of the law, can’t afford the hubris of towering above its creator.  Besides, with proven malice, OOPL can rightly sue.

    Still, EFCC has started well with the phased arraignment of the suspects.  Twenty-three, out of 93 suspects, is a near-drop in the ocean, though.  So, without jeopardising robust investigation, the commission should speed up its arraignment processes, and let everyone have their day in court, as quickly as possible. 

    Justice delayed is justice denied.

  • Gov Kefas must act now

    Gov Kefas must act now

    • We understand the governor’s compassion and understanding, but his deputy cannot be on sick leave forever

    It is a road we have travelled several times, especially since the return to democracy in May, 1999. Yet, whenever we get there, it becomes like a crossroads at which we seem to get lost and unable to navigate our way forward.

    We are here talking about how to deal with ailments, especially as they affect our elected chief executives, whether at the state or federal level.

    The latest example of such a crossroads is the deputy governor of Taraba State, Alhaji Aminu Abdullahi Alkali, who has been out of his seat since January because he is indisposed.

    The Taraba incident is of a peculiar nature in that it is the governor, Agbu Kefas, his boss, that seems to be shielding his deputy. He is so protective of him unlike what happens in many other states where the governor and deputy governor do not see eye to eye. In fact, the animosity is such that people would start wondering whether the two of them were strange bedfellows or they were elected on a joint ticket.

    From the comments of both the Taraba State Commissioner for Information, Zainab Jalingo, and special adviser to the governor on politics, Professor Josiah Sabo Kente, it is clear the state governor is not in any way ready to initiate any process towards the deputy governor’s replacement. Although the government admitted that the deputy governor was ill, it said he was not incapacitated, adding that he was responding to treatment. According to Jalingo, the deputy governor was only away on sick leave and would be back.

    Kente said the deputy governor had not committed any offence to warrant his replacement. “This issue is very simple. It is very explicit in Section 89, Sub-section B on the procedures for the removal of a governor or the deputy governor. For the avoidance of doubt, it stipulates clearly that it is either the governor or the deputy governor is incapacitated or by death or impeachment.

    “In this case, the deputy governor has not been removed from office. His ailment does not place him within the category of incapacitation. No medical team has been set up to ascertain if he is incapacitated or not. So, what is the essence of all the clamour?

    We commend the camaraderie between the governor and his deputy. It is not usually so in our clime.

    However, beyond the demonstration of compassion and understanding on the part of the governor and the state government is the overarching issue of governance in the state.

    Interestingly, this would not be the first time we would be having this kind of experience in Taraba State. The state witnessed an almost similar experience with the ailment of the then Governor Danbaba Suntai who, for more than two years after injuries he sustained in a private plane crash in 2012, could no longer function in office. Yet, some of the governor’s relations and associates were presenting the picture of a governor that was fit to govern. It even got to the ridiculous extent of the governor being shown in a minute video which, rather than affirm the position of the associates, clearly showed the governor was not fit to continue in office.

    At a point the governor issued an immediate notification to the house of assembly signalling his preparedness to resume work. But the house members insisted he had to address them before they would accede to his request. He never did because that would expose what his associates were covering. The governor did not recover from the ailment until the 2015 elections were held and he was succeeded by Darius Ishaku of the same Peoples Democratic Party, like him, who was elected and sworn in as governor.

    Before Suntai’s case was President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua who was flown to a hospital in Saudi Arabia on November 23, 2009, due to an ailment. On November 26, presidential doctors said he had pericarditis – inflammation of the heart lining. He was away for three months and the cabinet then issued a statement saying Yar’Adua was “not incapable” of running the country. Some even said he could run the country’s affairs from anywhere, while a federal high court said in January 2010 that there was no need for formal transfer of power.

    The then Minister of Information, Dora Akunyili, would appear the odd cabinet member as she insisted the president was no longer capable to rule and that power should be transferred to the then Vice President Goodluck Jonathan. As with other such mischiefs, Yar’Adua was even made to address a press conference in Saudi Arabia as part of proof that he was healthy. To resolve the impasse, the National Assembly invoked the doctrine of necessity on February 9, 2010, appointing Jonathan as Acting President. About three months later, precisely on May 5, 2010, Yar’Adua died.

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    We also have the case of the immediate past governor of Ondo State, Arakunrin Rotimi Akeredolu. Akeredolu had been undergoing treatment for leukemia and prostate cancer since January 2023 and had taken medical leave of absence. He eventually died on December 27, 2023, barely 15 days after transferring power to his deputy, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, now the incumbent governor of the state. Needless to say we had all kinds of shenanigans too trying to demonstrate that Akeredolu was fit to continue in government until death brought a closure to the matter.

    In the case of the former President Yar’Adua, it took only three months for the National Assembly to put an end to the shenanigans of his handlers who wanted to continue ruling the country by proxy, hence the pretensions that he was able to govern even when it was obvious he wasn’t. Suntai never returned to power more than two years after his hospitalisation. In the instant case of the deputy governor, he has been off duty for about seven months.

    In our view, this is long enough period to effect a change. We acknowledge that we are all human beings and can fall sick at any time. But then, the affairs of state cannot wait forever for a sick man to recover because we are talking of the lives of millions of people to be impacted by governance.

    Even if we do not have a court pronouncement on such issues yet, common sense and morality should inform our reasoning. This is much more so in a situation where we do not know the diagnosis of the deputy governor’s ailment. How can we determine its prognosis? It is unfortunate that in our country, people value position more than service. Otherwise, why should people be compelled to carry things that are beyond their capacity?

    Section 189 of the 1999 constitution (as amended) is clear on the matter: “The Governor or Deputy Governor of a state shall cease to hold office if: by a resolution passed by two-thirds majority of all members of the executive council of the State, it is declared that the Governor or Deputy Governor is incapable of discharging the functions of his office”.

    So, let Governor Kefas and the state house of assembly trigger the necessary processes to replace Alkali. Deputy governors might have been turned to ‘spare tyres’ in our clime, spare tyres, nonetheless, like a bad child, have their good days.

  • Technology transfer

    Technology transfer

    • We need to find out why policies toward this objective are not working and adjust them appropriately

    The assertion by Mrs. Kofowora Akinkugbe, Managing Director of SecureID Limited that Nigeria loses billions of naira to capital flight due to lack of technology transfer has once again raised the need for concerted effort to redeem the situation. Speaking to a national newspaper, Mrs Akinkugbe said: “We are now at a point where we must decide whether Nigeria will continue to be a buyer of ideas and innovative solutions or create them by ourselves for future enhancements as enablers of sustainable development and growth.”

    Her statement should resonate with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, considering the far reaching structural economic adjustments the government has embarked upon. Of course, we are aware the Federal Government has a number of agencies and programmes to pursue technology transfer.

    They include the Coastal and Inland Shipping (Cabotage) Act, 2003, to encourage domestic participation in Maritime and Blue Economy, the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, 2010, in the Oil and Gas sector, and the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC) Act, 2014, to regulate development in the automotive industry, among others.

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    If the lamentation of Mrs Akinkugbe reflects the current state of affairs, then the authorities must review why the policies are not yielding the desired results. In her words: “Let’s be honest, our manufacturing sector is not where it should be. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, 2024 manufacturing contributed just 8.4 per cent to Nigeria’s GDP last year, down from 10 per cent five years ago.” Even with the recent increase in the nation’s GDP, that number is low.

    Drawing a comparative analysis with other countries, Akinkugbe challenged African countries to do better. She said: “Meanwhile, countries like Vietnam have crossed 25 per cent and of course, we know China sits comfortably above 28 per cent and then we were told yesterday from the statistic that Africa as a whole contributes just 1.9 per cent to global manufacturing outputs, despite having nearly 20 per cent of the world’s population, this gap, as far as I’m concerned, represents a missed opportunity, but it’s a crisis that we must urgently address, but it’s not all bad news.”

    Her argument resonates, more so as Nigeria has the enormous potential to do much better than she is doing currently. Mrs Akinkugbe said: “There has been some achievements in the manufacturing sector …, through the entrepreneurial spirit of our Nigerian industrialists and the collaborative support of government over the years, but there is clearly room for improvement, and it will be my pleasure to see us discuss it and see how we can make Nigeria fully industrialised and not just partially industrialised.”

     Nigeria can learn from other countries which have become industrialised within a few decades. Countries like China, India, Brazil, Singapore, Malaysia and many others were in the same boat as Nigeria in the 1960s, but today, they are highly industrialised. We should find out what they did, and then copy it.

    We know that at the root of industrialisation is proficiency in Mathematics and Sciences. What is the outcome of the special science schools established to nurture such competences? We also know that some countries send their best and brightest to the best universities in the world to gain proficiency and return home to help their fatherland.

    We urge the Federal Government and the various agencies established for the purpose of industrialisation and technology transfer to engage in conscious efforts to achieve their mandate. The necessary human and material resources needed to help Nigeria make a quantum leap to industrialisation should be put in place. Nigeria should be a beacon of hope for the rest of Africa, more so as one in every five African is a Nigerian.