The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Tuberculosis trouble

    Tuberculosis trouble

    • More funds required to curb the disease

    Nigeria’s tuberculosis (TB) burden is concerning. Associate Professor of Medicine, Consultant Pulmonologist and Chest Physician, Benue State University Teaching Hospital, Tsavyange Peter Mbaave, further drew attention to the troubling reality in a recent interview published in “The Sun.” He said: “There are 22 countries in the world that are referred to or classified as high burden countries. Nigeria ranks number six on that list, accounting for almost 4.6 percent of the worldwide or global tuberculosis burden.”

    Indeed, on this matter, the country ranks first in Africa, according to KNCV Nigeria, a non-profit organisation dedicated to the fight against TB and other diseases in the country.

    Mbaave added: “As of 2024, 400 new cases of tuberculosis were diagnosed in Nigeria just as 71,000 people died from TB. That is about an average of 268 deaths daily from tuberculosis… Averagely, for every 100,000 persons, we have about 219 cases of tuberculosis. That is the average or the burden of tuberculosis in Nigeria as it is currently.”

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) noted that over 361,000 TB cases were reported in Nigeria in 2023, nine percent of these in children. Overall, this marked a 26 percent increase in the number of cases compared with 2022.

    An air-borne infectious disease, TB is caused by a germ. Common symptoms include a persistent cough, coughing up blood or sputum, chest pain, fever, fatigue, night sweats, and unexplained weight loss.

    However, it is both preventable and treatable. It can affect anybody, but it is “a disease mainly of the poor in developing or underdeveloped countries in Africa, Asia and South America,” the medical expert noted. People with “compromised immune system” are particularly vulnerable as well as “people congregating in settings.”

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    He identified other factors responsible for the country’s TB burden, notably “poor healthcare facilities and low coverage,” lamenting “the lack of proper healthcare infrastructure and a healthcare system that can take care of cases of tuberculosis, detect and treat appropriately.” 

     This observation underscores the issue of long-standing insufficient government funding in the country’s health sector. For instance, KNCV Nigeria said only 31 percent of the $373 million needed for TB control in Nigeria in 2020 was available to all the implementers of TB control activities in the country – seven percent domestic, mainly for personnel, and 24 percent donor funds. This left a funding gap of 69 percent.

    Lamentably, most of the work done on tuberculosis in Nigeria is said to be sponsored by donor agencies. Dependence on donor agencies to fight TB in the country is a major criticism, which should be addressed by the authorities. “The country needs to close the funding gaps in healthcare, which lead to drugs being out of stock, lack of diagnostic equipment, reagents, etc.,” Mbaave said.

    Significantly, to intensify TB case-finding in the country, the National Tuberculosis, Buruli Ulcer and Leprosy Control Programme, and its collaborators, including WHO, were reported to have been involved in a TB drive across the 36 states and Federal Capital Territory. Also, in 2023 and early 2024, WHO, with support from The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, trained 242 health workers to improve TB case detection, reporting and treatment of patients across five states.

    Ending TB requires a multi-pronged approach, including greater funding for the country’s healthcare system. Prevention can be achieved through intensified public awareness and enlightenment campaigns, while effective case-finding and treatment require trained personnel and adequate facilities.

    It is disappointing that Nigeria has consistently failed to meet the standard of the Abuja Declaration. This is ironic, considering that the conference took place in the country.  In April 2001, heads of state of African Union countries met in Abuja and pledged to set a target of allocating at least 15 percent of their annual budget to improve the health sector in their respective countries.

    Given the scale of the country’s tuberculosis burden and other public health challenges, the Federal Government needs to substantially improve health funding. 

  • Diaspora BRIDGE

    Diaspora BRIDGE

    We welcome govt’s idea of linking Nigerian experts abroad with local tertiary institutions

    It is estimated that there are between 15 to 17 million Nigerians in the diaspora based in diverse countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, China and India, among several other locations across the globe.

    A substantial number of these Nigerians are highly qualified professionals, skilled technocrats or successful business entrepreneurs who are contributing positively to the development of their resident countries, although a disproportionate attention tends to be focused on those Nigerians who engage in disreputable activities abroad and tarnish the country’s image. Successive administrations in recent years have accorded priority to the diaspora population as a critical resource to tap both significant financial resources as well as technical expertise for national development.

    This new consciousness of the developmental potential of the country’s diaspora population was responsible for the establishment of the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) to facilitate a more robust and structured relationship between Nigeria’s diaspora communities and the country.

    It is a measure of how important the diaspora population has become to the Nigerian economy that remittances back to the country by Nigerians based abroad has become a key source of national revenue. In 2024, for instance, diaspora remittance inflows into Nigeria was $20.93 billion, which was 8.9% increase from 2023 when an inflow of $19.5 billion was recorded.

    The existence of NiDCOM has also enhanced the capacity and efficiency of the Nigerian government in responding to challenges and difficulties faced by Nigerian citizens resident outside the country.

    In pursuit of a component of its Renewed Hope Agenda, the President Bola Tinubu administration, through the Federal Ministry of Education, has launched a new initiative to further strengthen avenues for mutually beneficial interactions and collaborations between Nigerian professionals in the diaspora and tertiary as well as research centres in the country.

    Essentially technology-driven, the new platform labelled ‘BRIDGE’ is aimed at Bridging Research, Innovation, Development, and Global Engagement between local and diasporan expertise.

    Explaining the mode of operation of the new platform, the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, said it would provide a two-way match-making system linking Nigerian professionals abroad and local tertiary institutions. Thus, the former will be afforded an avenue to register their academic qualifications, areas of expertise, and preferred modes of contribution while the local tertiary institutions would register their areas of need.

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    The two parties will then be able to collaborate in different areas, including curriculum development, virtual learning, co-research and mentoring, as the local institutions are connected to relevant diaspora professionals with requisite knowledge and skills to help address their challenges.

    This is no doubt a major initiative with immense potential to contribute to national transformation, especially by helping to enhance the capacity of local tertiary institutions to be maximally productive through much needed manpower development.

    Although the large repository of skilled Nigerian professionals in the diaspora now constitute a useful source that can be tapped to support the country’s progress, Nigeria should continue to address those deplorable socio-economic, political, security and infrastructural deficits responsible for the exodus of skilled manpower in the first place.

    It is undesirable, for instance, that thousands of our highly trained medical personnel or academics will be contributing to the development of already advanced countries abroad when their services are sorely needed in a highly resource-endowed country like ours that remains grossly underdeveloped.

    If skilled Nigerians should relocate abroad, it should be due to the inevitable pull of globalisation that affects all countries and not because of a desperate desire to escape to safer, better governed countries.

  • No more anchor babies

    No more anchor babies

    U.S. policy against birth tourism is a call to positive action

    As part of its tightening immigration rules, the United States has pulled the brakes on Nigerians coming on its soil to give birth just so to get American citizenship for their babies. The United States Mission in Nigeria warned that any visa applicant found to be travelling primarily to give birth in the U.S. to secure citizenship for their child will be denied entry.

    In a post on its official X (formerly Twitter) handle @USinNigeria, hashtagged #VisaWiseTravelSmart and #USVisa, the mission advised that consular officials would deny visa applications if they suspect the applicant’s primary purpose of travel is to give birth in the United States.

     “Using your visa to travel for the primary purpose of giving birth in the United States so that your child will have U.S. citizenship is not permitted,” the post read. “Consular officers will deny your visa application if they have reason to believe this is your intent,” it added.

    The message was accompanied with an image graphically affirming the new policy: “We will deny you visa if we believe your primary purpose of travel is to give birth in the United States to get U.S. citizenship for your child. This is not permitted,” the post read. 

    Birth tourism is a pastime of the Nigerian elite whereby those who could afford it travel to the U.S. close to their expected delivery date to give birth on U.S. soil, so the babies are reckoned as American citizens.

    This is in light of the Fourteenth Amendment in the U.S. Constitution that grants citizenship to people born in the United States and territories “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” – including the 50 states, other designated territories and territorial waters, foreign ships in U.S. internal waters, airspace above U.S. land, internal waters and territorial seas.

    For more than a century, anyone born on U.S. soil has automatically been conferred citizenship at birth regardless of their parents’ immigration or citizenship status.

    The administration of incumbent President Donald Trump has, however, been cracking down on immigration and imposing stricter rules of citizenship and residency in the United States. It has slammed in travel bans, upscaled eligibility for visa access, jerked up visa fees and expanded checks on applicants’ social media profile.

    The administration voiced concern over exploitation of U.S. birthright citizenship law, saying such undermined the integrity of its immigration system.

    An obvious goal of the new policy announced by the U.S. mission is curbing birth tourism. Before the mission’s announcement, President Trump had given indication of his intention to scrap automatic citizenship for children born in the U.S. to parents who are neither citizens nor lawful permanent residents. But U.S. courts ruled that the policy direction violated the Fourteenth Amendment.

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    Meanwhile, the “big beautiful bill” recently enacted into law in the United States expanded hurdles facing Nigerians and citizens of other countries seeking entry into that country. Among other things, the legislation stipulates a $250 ‘visa integrity fee’ before foreigners are granted entry. This new fee is in addition to other charges, including the standard visa application fee fixed at over $160 in Nigeria.

    The fee is mandatory for all visitors requiring non-immigrant visas to enter the United States, including tourists, business travellers and international students.

    We argue that the American authorities are entirely within their lawful remit in imposing restrictions on entry into their country. They laboured to make their country into what it is, and people attracted by the comforts and privileges America offers have the challenge to build their own country into what they are hankering after by way of immigration or tourism.

    Birth tourism to the U.S. is actually a shameless practice on the part of the Nigerian elite and a sad commentary on the sorry state of our own healthcare system and the economic situation in the country.

    Many Nigerians, apart from the elite,  who travel to the U.S. to have babies do so to secure the future of their children because they consider the conditions at home too harsh and unreliable to guarantee that.

    So, however we look at it, we need to work more on our health care system and the economy generally to stop the trend. Otherwise, we would continue to suffer the kind of embarrassment that we are going through in search of a more conducive environment, either to give birth or to relocate.

    Thankfully, many in the class of Nigerian citizens affected by the new U.S. policy are also those in position to repair the local health system and fix the economy. Whether the new American policy will stoke the right indignation and motivate them accordingly remains to be seen.

  • New cancer centres

    New cancer centres

    • A bold attempt to address one of the country’s deadliest diseases

    “This is the most significant investment any Nigerian administration has ever made in cancer care, and it entails the largest chain of oncology and diagnostic centres in West Africa.” That was the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, speaking about the Federal Government’s inauguration of three new cancer centres at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Katsina; the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Nsukka; and the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Ugbowo, Benin.

    According to the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, “Each facility is fully equipped with advanced diagnostic and radiotherapy technology and is expected to serve over 2,000 cancer patients annually, while delivering diagnostic services to more than 350,000 Nigerians across the regions.”

    The three cancer centres are the first set, concretising “a bold national vision” to establish 10 oncology centres by 2026 “under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, which prioritises affordable, equitable, and accessible healthcare for all,” the ministry said in a statement.

    Seven more centres are underway and scheduled for inauguration on World Cancer Day 2026, including Maiduguri, Port Harcourt, Ilorin, Yola, the ministry added. The network of oncology and diagnostic centres will have the capacity to train up to 500 clinicians over three years.

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    Pate was quoted as saying, “This marks the end of a tragic era for Nigerians battling cancer.” The Federal Government’s cancer treatment project had been stalled for four years before President Tinubu revived it in 2024 after he assumed office. It is a welcome and commendable public health intervention.

    There is no doubt that cancer is a major public health issue in Nigeria, with rising incidence and mortality rates, mainly for breast, prostate, and cervical cancers. The disease is reported to be a leading cause of death in the country, with 127,000 cases and over 79, 000 deaths annually.

    Significantly, in June 2024, Nigeria declared cancer a notifiable disease, requiring both public and private healthcare institutions to report all diagnosed cases towards building a national cancer registry. Nigeria has a National Strategic Cancer Control Plan for 2023-2027, which aims to address the cancer problem through research, treatment, prevention, and control strategies.

    The inauguration of these centres is indeed a positive step. However, there is a need for sustained funding to ensure maintenance of the facilities and equipment, and continuous training and retention of skilled medical personnel.

    It is noteworthy that the Federal Government announced a cost-sharing scheme with the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to provide subsidies of up to N400,000 for radiotherapy for low-income patients. This is expected to make cancer care not only accessible but also affordable to many Nigerians.

    Also, the success of the cancer treatment project will depend on how well the cancer centres integrate with existing primary and secondary healthcare systems for referrals, awareness, and early screening. This is particularly critical because late presentation for treatment remains a major challenge.

    Since prevention is better than cure, the health authorities should intensify awareness and enlightenment campaigns, among other cancer prevention strategies. This is a long-term approach to cancer control that goes beyond just providing treatment infrastructure. Such campaigns can educate about risk factors, promote healthy lifestyles, dispel myths and superstitions surrounding cancer, encourage early symptom, recognition and seeking medical attention, and inform about available screening programmes.

    Such proactive public health measures are crucial for maximising the impact of the new cancer centres, and ultimately reducing the cancer burden in the country.

    Effective cancer control requires both preventive and curative approaches. The authorities must pay serious attention to both aspects to enhance the country’s cancer control capacity.

  • Tap into this gold mine

    Tap into this gold mine

    • Forest resources are waiting to be exploited to boost the economy and check climate change

    Nigeria is, indeed, a blessed country; blessed with so much crude oil that has been the mainstay of the country’s economy for decades, solid minerals that are largely exploited illegally by foreigners, quality human resources that are leaving the country in droves, arable land for cash crops exports, and forest resources.

    Revitalising forest resources was the focus of a conference held in Abuja, last week. As experts pointed out at the summit, tapping into these resources now call for urgent attention. The economic potential of the nation’s land mass was brought to the fore, with Vice President Kashim Shettima leading the charge. Experts pointed out that about 400,000 hectares of the forests are depleted yearly, thus further exposing the country to the danger of climate change as a result of deforestation.

    Already, Lake Chad has so shrunk that livelihoods of many have been adversely impacted. Those who depend on it for fishing and irrigation have been left with little or nothing to fend for the daily needs of their families, and alternatives are hard to come by.

    During his campaign in 2023, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who was the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) pledged that the lake would be recharged, but this may be difficult to achieve sustainably unless the rate at which the forests are disappearing is first checked.

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    In the First Republic, timber was a major economic resource of the Eastern and Mid-Western regions. This is no longer so as trees are felled indiscriminately without replacement. This indiscipline and recklessness must be checked if the potential of tapping into the resource is to be realised in the interest of the teeming masses that depend on it due to growing unemployment.

    Currently estimated at $2 billion, economic potential from the sector is expected to surpass $5 billion in the short term if governments do what experts have suggested.

    For years, successive administrations have paid lip service to diversification of the economy. Raising contribution from the forests to at least $5 billion would be a step in the right direction. The Tinubu administration owes the country a duty to invest in reforestation so that the country could catch up with countries like Brazil where exports of forest resources contribute about 15 per cent to her Gross Domestic Product; Singapore that raises no less than $15 billion from forest exports and Ethiopia that has succeeded in creating about 350,000 jobs from paying attention to the resource. This would be a good starting point.

    We agree with the vice president that “the treasure trove of biodiversity, timber and medicinal plants” hold so much promise that could be useful not only in revitalising our economy, but in contributing to Africa’s needs and global search for cheaper and alternative pharmaceutical products.

    Nigerians cannot continue to wallow in abject poverty when there is so much available to turn things around for them. It is demeaning that the most populous black nation is tagged with the appellation “poverty capital of the world.” The people, local government councils, sub nationals and the Federal Government should tap into the forest resources to fulfill Nigeria’s duty of lifting the African continent in the same way that China and Japan have impacted Asia.

    Even India has gained respectability on the global scene on account of what it has accomplished economically. Nigeria’s forests are a gold mine waiting to be exploited for the good of the people.

  • Power tariffs: Competition is the answer

    Power tariffs: Competition is the answer

    Time to think beyond the national grid and present structures in the value chain

    Hope seemed to be rising with the announcement by Enugu Electricity Regulatory Commission (EERC) that it was going to reduce the tariff paid by Band A power consumers in Enugu State from the current N209.5/ per kWh to N160/kWh, with effect from August 1, while keeping tariffs for Bands B, C, D and E frozen.

    EERC stirred the hornet’s nest on July 20 when, via its Order No. EERC/2025/003, to MainPower Electricity Distribution Limited, it announced its intention to review the tariff downward. The commission deemed the proposed tariff cost-reflective, with the subsidy paid by the Federal Government already embedded in it.

    EERC’s chairman, Chijioke Okonkwo, said the reduction in tariff became imperative following its review of MainPower’s tariff and licence applications as the new subsidiary of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company operating in Enugu State.

    Okonkwo clarified that the revised Band A tariff was the product of a thorough regulatory process that began over six months ago, shortly after the commission assumed full regulatory oversight of the electricity market in the state.

    “We have put out regulations that would guide the development of our own state-specific electricity market. One of our regulations happens to be the Tariff Methodology Regulation of 2024.

    “This work on tariff review started over six months ago when we assumed full regulatory oversight over our electricity space in Enugu State. And following that, we have since issued a number of regulations to guide the development of our own state-specific electricity market, including the Tariff Methodology Regulation of 2024,” he said.

    Okonkwo said the regulation mandates operators to calculate their tariffs using a transparent cost-based model, taking into account inflation, operating costs, planned capital expenditure, and estimated energy losses.

    MainPower, he said, submitted a detailed breakdown of its operating data, including customer numbers, losses, asset base, CAPEX projections, and expected service improvement plans. The tariff was then computed based on this information, using the state’s approved methodology.

    All of these explanations made sense to power-starved Nigerians who have for long been suffering in silence and in darkness. Hence, like a drowning man that would not mind clinging to a serpent for help, they embraced EERC’s new-found idea. They would be eternally grateful for anything that could take them off the slavish grip of the electricity distribution companies (DisCos). No one who is conversant with the power situation in the country would blame them. 

    Of course, some other state governments said they were also planning to review downward the electricity tariffs in their domains, taking after the EERC.

    For sure, this was going to more than rattle the power sector, particularly the DisCos, long used to being over-pampered.

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    But, just at about the time Nigerians were ruminating how the EERC arrangement would pan out, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), the sector’s regulator, came out with what could be regarded as a dampener: it said no state electricity regulatory agency has such a right. Why? According to the commission, this is because they have no jurisdiction over the national grid; as such, they have no power to deviate from the tariff set for energy supplied from the grid.

    Hear NERC: “As states do not have jurisdiction over the national grid and over electric power stations established under federal laws/operating under licences issued by the commission; they must holistically incorporate the wholesale costs of grid supply to their states without any qualification or deviation in their design of tariffs for end-use customers in order not to distort the dynamics of the market or be prepared to make a policy intervention by way (of) a subsidy for any deviation in the tariff structure that distorts the wholesale generation, transmission and legacy financing costs in NESI,” part of an advertorial by the commission stated.

    But it is not only NERC that is at logger-heads with EERC. Expectedly, the DisCos too have cautioned against the EERC’s decision.

    The umbrella body of the DisCos, the Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED), said in a statement on the issue that the move by EERC raises significant concerns for the stability and liquidity of the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI). The statement, signed by ANED’s chief executive, Sunday Oduntan, said “We note that one of the principles adopted by EERC is to place reliance on the policy of the Federal Government on electricity subsidies to enable them to crash Band A tariffs. While Discos are not opposed to subsidies in principle, we strongly emphasise that subsidies must be transparently structured and promptly funded.

    “Delayed or unfunded subsidies create cash-flow disruptions, undermine market confidence, and deepen the existing liquidity crisis across the electricity value chain. In a clear position, the Federal Government through the Minister of Power, Chief Bayo Adelabu, has stated that states slashing power tariff must be ready to pay subsidy, and be accountable for the financial implication.’’

    The debate is getting interesting. But it is significant to note that the very DisCos that flout several provisions of their agreements with the government are now fast to cling to the government and the Minister of Power, with this potential threat to the existence of the present decadence in the power value chain.

    But we have EERC to thank for its audacious announcement of its equally audacious intention. At least, it has woken us all to the reality that it is not yet freedom in the power sector, in spite of the Electricity Act of 2023 that both the Buhari and Tinubu administrations worked tenaciously to gift us. That act empowers state governments and other entities that may want to licence, generate, transmit and distribute power to do so.

    What we are saying is that state governments must start thinking of ways to bypass the national grid and other aspects of the power supply value chain that have held the nation captive power-wise, in spite of the liberalisation of the sector about 12 years ago. There are no two ways about it, if we are indeed desirous of getting out of the darkness quagmire.

    We have said it several times that the idea of a national grid in a country of over 200 million people has outlived its usefulness. We are all conversant with the axiom of not putting our eggs in one basket. By still talking of, and relying on a single grid, we have defied this natural axiom and it is one of the reasons we may perpetually be in darkness. National grid can only fit into the plans of military dictators who have this false sense of the country developing at the same pace. That is no longer tenable and it should be clear to us by now.   

    The way forward is for state governments in particular that are interested in making life meaningful for their citizens and at reasonable cost to begin to look in the direction of life without the national grid. It is not going to be easy but there are state governments that can do this in conjunction with private investors. The market is there and we have no doubt that Nigerians would pay for it as long as they get value for their money.

    We need more competition in all ramifications in the power sector. We saw a bit of what competition could do in the energy sector until a few months ago when the Port Harcourt refinery had to be shut down again, ostensibly for routine maintenance.

    This is the only way the Electricity Act 2023 can be meaningful.

  • Toxic imports

    Toxic imports

    •Govt must rein in importers endangering the lives of Nigerians

    A petition filed by one B. O. Alaka Esq., a lawyer, on behalf of a Nigerian businessman, Amuchi Obi (who acted on behalf of over 50 traders at Alaba International Market, Lagos), to the Interpol Unit of the Nigeria Police Force raises concern about the quality of imports into the country. In the petition to the Inspector-General of Police, it is alleged that the goods which arrived in nine cargoes contained solar panels that did not match the agreed specifications.

    The report also said the panels arrived in very poor condition, so the investors rejected the goods. The petitioner claimed the panels were purchased from Hebei-Kewang Import and Export Trading Co. Ltd, through its representatives, after an agreement on model, types and capacity specifications.

    The importers claimed they made payments through various bank accounts in Hong Kong and Singapore associated to the company. While the payments were acknowledged, the supplier allegedly shipped outdated products different from what the parties contracted, which are not fit for the intended purpose.

    The Commissioner of Police in-charge of Interpol in Lagos, Bode Ojajuni, confirmed that the case is under investigation.

    We hope the investigation will be able to verify the veracity of the claims and if it is true, be able to recover the costs expended by the investors.

    While the Interpol is verifying the circumstances of the alleged wrong export from China to Nigeria, it is important that adequate steps are taken to forestall the dumping of fake and substandard goods on Nigeria.

    We know that some dubious Nigerians connive with foreigners to bring into Nigeria goods that are substandard or even outrightly fake. Our nation’s experience is such that many importers take advantage of the corruption at the ports to import all manner of goods. Foreigners also take advantage of the poorly protected Nigeria’s import process to treat Nigeria as a dumping ground.

    This is what is alleged in the present instance and we hope the relevant authorities get to the root of this case in the larger interest of the country.

    We hope the nation’s gatekeepers understand the enormity of the challenge posed by the importation of electronic and similar synthetic wastes which are non-degradable.

    We urge the requisite authorities to show interest in what is imported into the country, especially the trash imported in the name of solar panels. Unless these things are regulated, we will end up with a lot of non-degradable wastes that would become a major concern on how to dispose.

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    We hope there is an agency with the technical know-how to determine the types of solar panel and similar electronic wastes that are good enough for the huge Nigerian market. If there is none, then the Federal Government may consider establishing one.

    We know there is the Standard Organization of Nigeria (SON), which is supposed to regulate the standard of things imported into Nigeria. If they have the requisite oversight capacity, so be it, but if they don’t, they should either be upgraded or a sector-specific agency established.

    We urge Nigerian importers to spare a thought for the future of the country when making their choices. While they may be in business to make profit, they must remember that the future of their children and the rest of Nigerians can be negatively affected by the choice of imports they make. If in seeking to earn as much profit as they can get they endanger lives, it would amount to gaining with one hand and losing with the other.

    They should bear in mind that life is more precious than profits, each time they place an order for goods to be imported into the country, especially those that could have far-reaching effects on the nation’s ecosystem. Those who are not amenable to common sense must be reined in through appropriate legislation and enforcement. The National Assembly should examine the legislation regulating the importation of certain types and grades of goods, and ensure that they are adequate.

    The case of the imported panels should provide an opportunity to ensure a fair bilateral agreement and reciprocal policy on what can be sent into Nigeria by foreign companies.

    We urge all relevant authorities to ensure that the allegations are thoroughly investigated and all parties fairly treated.

  • From France with love

    From France with love

    The National Universities Commission (NUC) just got a US$ 40 million facility to upscale the digital backbone of 10 Nigerian universities, spread across the six geo-political zones, under the Blueprint-ICT-Dev Project.

    The loan came from the Agence Francaise de Development (AFD). Its aim: to upgrade digital infrastructure in 10 Nigerian universities.

    The beneficiary universities: University of Calabar (South-South), University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka (South East), University of Ibadan, Ibadan, and Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife (South West), University of Jos, Jos, and Federal University of Technology, Minna (North Central), Muhammadu Buhari University, Maiduguri and Modibbo Adama University, Yola (North East) and Bayero University, Kano (North West).

    A further breakdown shows every geo-political zone has two universities, except two: North West and South-South that have one each: BUK (North West) and UNICAL (South-South). It would have been better if every zone had had the same number. Still, it might just be the start of a continual process. So, the imbalance should be corrected in the next phase.

    Despite this reservation, however, this policy direction, on human capital — a core, indeed prime, social infrastructure — is the path to tread. Even if a state must go to the debt market, accessing facilities like this one can’t go wrong, so long as the project is faithfully implemented.

    Indeed, Dr. Tunji Alausa, the Minister of Education, at the formal announcement of the facility in Abuja, said it all: “With the Blueprint-ICT-Dev Project,” he quipped, “we have a golden opportunity to enhance teacher training, improve content delivery through digital platforms, and enable continuous professional development.” Well said. Little, if any, to add.

    But there’s also a bonus. The minister said the Blueprint-ICT-Dev Project would integrate Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and entrepreneurial studies into the basic university curricula. That should, other things being equal, enhance research and drive Nigerian universities to better compete with their global peers. That’s praise-worthy.

    Besides, with the extant policy of free basic TVET (with free tuition and teen student stipends to boot), integrating TVET at a much higher level shows a laudable convergence of policy, at different levels, all driven by a doughtier though nimble digital infrastructure spine. That’s the way to modernise education.

    It shows a clear and deliberate vision to drive graduate jobs, in the immediate; but also a far better digital, technical and technological milieu, in the medium and long run. A boon to skilled human capital, powered by ICT, can only spur development, the surest harbinger of prosperity.

    Still, a few red flags — and these are not just red herring. It’s rather looking back into the past to ensure a better future.

    Major interventions as this one — across all sectors — are hardly novel. What’s commonplace is treading that path years later, and wondering if any investment ever took place. 

    That deep-seated corruption has birthed a lot of government distrust and handed the nay orchestra the oomph to proclaiming self-loathing as the most rational national philosophy, with glee shoot down near-every government project, and brag, even with some evidence to the contrary, that “nothing is happening”.

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    It’s about the big record of sleaze in the public space, more shockingly so in the academy and their once-upon-a-time revered administrators. This project, therefore, is a God-given opportunity to make a clean break from the seedy past. The NUC must ensure that, by paying to it the closest attention.

    Imagine a radical digital bounce from these 10 universities — and next phase picking another 10, until continual building, on and on, on that expanded platform, creates a techie hub Nigeria can leverage for food security, re-industrialisation and sundry economic boom?

    That’s certainly no magic. It’s rather a logical follow-up to good ethical investments, in every sector, with near-zero graft. That’s the way to go. This project is as good a re-start as any other.

  • Disinformation as threat to Civil Service function in Post-Truth World

    Disinformation as threat to Civil Service function in Post-Truth World

    Lately, and in keeping faith with my research commitments, I had posed for myself the research question: what is that one most significant threat to the government bureaucracy, whether you call it the civil service, public service or the public administration system; a threat to it as the veritable back-end engine room that governments rely on to deliver on their promises to the people and to fulfill development vision and programmes commitments in a democracy? That one threat that keeps recurring, based on my investigation, is significantly disinformation or misinformation a la fake news; the whole post-truth alacrity and the diminution of objective facts in favour sentimentalism and emotion, and its backdrop of expanding global populism in politics. Consequently and lately, I had been looking at such subjects as artificial intelligence, big data and data science as policy intelligence, decision science, open government partnership, freedom of information policy, privacy in the dynamics of internet and social media governance, the Gen Z prospects as the workforce in the public service emerging future frontiers, and I can go on and on.

    Indeed, it has become self-evident, according to Joseph Schumpeter, that the bureaucracy constitutes an inevitable complement to the success of democratic governance anywhere in the world. What is not evident is that there is a lot of conditions that intervene and interfere in the modern world in undermining the significant relationship that ought to hold between democratic governance and the bureaucracy. In other words, it is not automatic that the bureaucratic machineries and mechanisms of government will backstop the evolution of good governance. Indeed, many high-performing nations have witnessed significant transformation despite a not too remarkable, regarded, competent and a therefore heavily politicized civil service. Be that as it may, one key challenge that public administration system and the bureaucracy has always faced since its emergence in time is the increasing complexities of the human society arising from scientific and technological innovation and diversities of all types. For instance, the increasing trajectory of human population provided a complicated phenomenon that tasked the capacity of the bureaucracy to manage the dynamics of policy design and implementation that cater for the welfare of the citizens in government development planning and the national transformation process.

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    In contemporary times, the challenges have become even more complex and perplexing such that bureaucracies across the world are struggling to make sense of the events that are now shaping the world. Scholars of geopolitics and international affairs are now designating the world as a VUCA—vulnerable, uncertain, complex and ambiguous—environment that is assailed by polycrisis. A polycrisis refers to the capacity of a crisis to morph into a complex form that draws on various other contingent but problematic issues. Climate change is a good example of how a crisis could become aggravated into a polycrisis. As a crisis on its own, the climate change issue references how human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels, have undermined the ecological integrity of the earth. However, environmental degradation is not just that. It possesses the capacity to interconnect with and aggravate other critical issues to produce biodiversity loss, governance and infrastructural deficits, early warning failures, agricultural loss, pandemics, and finally civil unrests. This is the way a polycrisis manifests.

    And public bureaucracies are supposed to serve as the middle point of intervention between citizens and polycrisis like climate change, especially in terms of policy designs that are sufficiently forward-looking in ways that alleviate how these crises affect their lives. In other words, the public bureaucracies are supposed to serve as the government’s instrument for making democratic governance a reality despite the scourges of complex polycrisis. Unfortunately, even the democratic experiment has generated its own fundamental challenge that complicates the capacity of the bureaucracy to complement a democratic state and its capacity to deliver democratic governance. What I mean to say is that the unraveling of democracy in contemporary times is made more complicated by technological innovation and the revolution in telecommunication. The emergence of new technologies, digital dynamics and the new media have raised the challenges of the relationship between the government, citizens and policy dynamics.

    At the core of this challenge is the dynamics of the social media increasing dominant influence in shaping knowledge formation in society and the citizens expectations from governments in the information age. Or more precisely, social media serves as the mechanism that fuels the danger of post-truth—a contemporary manifestation where facts are manipulated in ways that undermine reason and promotes sentimental biases and political prejudices, especially in public opinion. At a most critical level, the social media constitutes a most fundamental mechanism by which the government, its apparatuses and the citizenry can facilitate and strengthen strategic communication that could consolidate democratic governance. Today, it is easy for the citizens to react in real time to government’s policies and decisions on issues that affect them. It is also easier for the government to reach the citizens and provide justifications for matters of state. Indeed, in an effort to modernize its governance processes, many governments across the world have deployed digital technologies and the social media to sign on to the open government initiative that is predicated on transparency and accountability in how governments relate the inner processes of policies to the citizens. This has gone a long way not only to open up the working of bureaucratic structures and processes to the democratic scrutiny of the citizens, but has also made governments more legitimate in the eyes of their citizens.

    However, the dynamics of information on social media is not as seamless as I have presented above. To the extent that information is crucial both for the dynamics of service delivery to the citizens and the management of democratic communication, the social media serves a most fundamental purpose that sustains political and democratic stability. Unfortunately, the social media is a double-edged sword. It cuts at the idea of the public good both ways, negatively and positively. At its best, social media offers the space and opportunity for the continuing adjustment of the social contract that promises betterment for all citizens. At its worst, it demonstrates the most terrible features of mass hysteria, especially in terms of lack of understanding and reflection on government policies and processes.