The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Gospel truth

    Gospel truth

    • Africa’s path to prosperity is re-industrialisation

    Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, outgoing president of the African Development Bank (AfDB), put it all so well, if stark: “When you export raw materials, that’s the door to poverty.” That’s most of Africa’s unfortunate reality.

    Indeed, for Nigeria, it’s sheer scandal that till September 2024, when the local refining of crude oil rebounded after decades, we had wilfully wasted the logical value-added to our oil-driven economy. Instead, we exported crude cheap; but imported the refined products at a premium. 

    But the waste of scarce foreign exchange, with its imported inflation, just told a tiny part of the story. The main bad deal was frittering away opportunities to create quality, high-paying jobs, at the midstream and downstream of the petroleum value chain, develop our local science and technology and create adjunct industries to really become a global power house, among the oil-propelled economies of the world.

    Adesina’s words will continue to haunt Nigeria and the rest of Africa, for a long time to come. This is why his advisory could not have come at a better time. The rallying cry, to policy makers, should be change tack or die — and that is no hyperbole!

    A fuller version of what Dr. Adesina told BBC: “If you want to create more jobs, build industries; when you export a raw material, that’s the door to poverty.” True.

    Yet, industrialisation can’t be just open sesame: to be conjured with a magical wand! There must be a serious, consistent and deliberate policy framework to bring it to fruition. 

    Re-industrialisation is even trickier, when palates treacherously yoked to foreign tastes, as Nigeria’s pathetic case, have to be re-wired before home industries, having a rebirth, can thrive. We still grapple with the sweet-sour of Nigerian rice. Yet, there is no other way.

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    Still, for sure industrialisation, power is the first battle to win. A lot is going on, on the power front. Aside the Nigeria/Germany government-to-government Siemens transmission upgrade, there are also talks of private capital, via local banks and sundry investors, going into power transmission. That’s welcome news! 

    But the urgency of the situation must be borne in mind. With the current power situation, re-industrialisation, on a massive scale, is nothing but a pipe dream. But that could change immediately the power equation changes, other things being equal.

    Still, even with improved power, there must be in place an industrial investment policy suited for the times. Gone are those days when the government directly built industries, though a few government-led strategic industries still abound — as the Lagos rice mill at Imota, near Ikorodu, Lagos State.

    But the bulk of the investments would have to be private capital; and the core of such, given the reality on the ground, should be agro-processing. Agriculture had a pride of place under President Muhammadu Buhari. President Tinubu is taking that revival a notch higher, with his government’s big plans for vast mechanisation of farming — and ranching, its animal husbandry cousin. Agriculture should make a thundering return, if these plans succeed — and why not?

    But again, speed is of the essence, with the requisite policy frameworks. Indeed, there is a current Bank of Industry-administered facility, from which small businesses could access single-digit loans at nine per cent interest. That same facility can extend up to N1 billion to big industrial players. At the lowest rung of that facility, are N50, 000 grants to qualified micro-businesses.

    Without prejudice to agro-processing investors tapping into this scheme, the Bank of Agriculture could also facilitate similar facilities, to support different scales of agro-processing, with investable funds.

    If well done, the chances are that processing would shrink a lot of post-harvest wastage, since these investments would also scale up the capacity for storage. Then, rural and suburban jobs should shoot up, leaving the city centres much less congested.

    What Dr. Adesina suggested is not just adding value to raw produce before export. It’s birthing a brand new economy which could well be a game-changer for African states. There is no reason the idea should not be embraced.

  • Pope Francis (1936 – 2025)

    Pope Francis (1936 – 2025)

    In his 12 years in the saddle, he lived a simple, godly life despite the influence of his office

    What a time to depart! Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, could not have died at a more symbolic time. After a period of poor health that had kept the world in suspense, he left the stage on the morning of Easter Monday, April 21, at the age of 88.

    He had delivered his final Easter address on Easter Sunday, April 20, at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Considered the most important Christian festival, Easter marks the Resurrection of Jesus Christ three days after his crucifixion.

    In a statement, the Roman Catholic Church said: “The Bishop of Rome, Francis, returned to the house of the Father. His entire life was dedicated to the service of the Lord and of His Church. He taught us to live the values of the gospel with fidelity, courage, and universal love, especially in favour of the poorest and most marginalised.”

    Indeed, as the Roman Pontiff, he presented himself as a pastor and disciple of Christ and not a powerful person of this world, despite the power and influence of the office. The Catholic Church is the largest Christian Church, with about 1.4 billion members as of 2024.

    The first pope from the Society of Jesus (the Jesuit Order), he was also the first Latin American and the first from the Americas to head the Catholic Church. Jesuits are taught to help others and seek God in all things.

    Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio to a family of Italian origin, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, he officially became a Jesuit in March 1960 after his novitiate. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1969, and became the Archbishop of Buenos Aires in 1998. He was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 2001, making him eligible to be elected pope. His elevation to cardinal led to his eventual election as pope in March 2013, at the age of 76.

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    His papacy began on a note of change. He received congratulations from the cardinals who had elected him while standing, rather than sitting on the papal throne. Also, after his election, he rode in a bus with the cardinals rather than using the papal car. He also chose to live outside the official papal residence, the first pope to do so since Pope Pius X who died in 1914.

    Stressing that the church’s shepherds must have the “smell of the sheep” and stay close to the faithful, he reinvented the clerical culture away from what he named “clericalism,” which focused on priestly status and authority.

    This philosophy inspired his choice of the name “Francis” as his official papal name, in honour of Saint Francis of Asisi, who was known to have had a special empathy for the poor. It was the first time that a pope had been named “Francis.” He said St. Francis had “brought to Christianity an idea of poverty against the luxury, pride, vanity of the civil and ecclesiastical powers of the time. He changed history.”

    Pope Francis was internationally visible, had an impact on history, and was noted for his empathy for refugees, migrants, and the poor. He said the protection of migrants was a “duty of civilisation,” and condemned anti-immigration politics, including the example of the United States under President Donald Trump. He said of Trump: “A person who only thinks about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian.”

    He was especially critical of the wars in Ukraine, Sudan, Gaza, DR Congo, and Myanmar, preaching the need for peace in the world. Notably, he encouraged peace between Israel and Palestinians, and signed the Vatican’s first treaty with the State of Palestine. He helped to restore full diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba. As part of his international diplomacy, he reached out to China and Africa.

    He was also a voice against right-wing populism. He criticised trickle-down economics, consumerism, and overdevelopment; and embraced climate change activism.

    He opposed the death penalty and abortion, supported the decriminalisation of homosexuality, and believed the Catholic Church should treat LGBTQ+ people with greater sympathy.

    He pursued religious harmony across faiths.  He also encouraged Christians to “dialogue together, to shorten the distance between us, to strengthen our bonds of brotherhood.”

    In December 2013, ‘Time’ magazine named him as its “Person of the Year.” His number one ranking on ‘Fortune’ magazine’s list of 50 greatest leaders, and his inclusion in Forbes’ lists of the world’s most powerful people in 2014 and 2016, underscored his global influence.

    In his first long interview after becoming pope, he made statements that demonstrated his belief in the reality of God across the ages. “God is to be encountered in the world of today” and “God manifests himself in historical revelation, in history,” he said.

    He appointed more than 80 percent of the cardinals that will choose his successor. This may ultimately determine if the progressive changes during his 12-year papacy will be sustained.

    His examples of “recognisable humanity” and humility at the helm are lessons for leaders in both religious and secular contexts.  

  • Japa ghost workers

    Japa ghost workers

    Presidential audit should be done expeditiously with a view to identifying and punishing culprits

    The report that some Nigerians who travelled out of the country in search of greener pastures, commonly referred to as ‘Japa’, may still be on the payroll of the Federal Government’s ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), is reprehensible.

    In recent years, the younger generation has jumped on the wave of relocating abroad as the solution to their problems. Some even sold their family inheritance to satiate the hunger to relocate, sadly, on the jejune premise that Nigeria is irredeemable.

    We admonish young Nigerians to be patient while our country is undergoing economic realignment and stop running to other countries. It is even more unfair when those employed and trained by the MDAs relocate with all they have gained from our system, to enrich nations more endowed than ours.

    But, while relocating abroad is every individual’s prerogative, doing so while still on the government’s payroll is criminal and must be punished. 

    That is why the directive by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in 2023, for an audit of the Federal Government’s staff payroll should be done very thoroughly and without further delay. The internal memo in furtherance of that directive signed by the Director of Administration, OAGF, Dauda Abdulhamid, should be pursued vigorously.

    It said: “Following the Service-wide Nominal Roll Update for officers under the pool of the OAGF, and in line with the Accountant-General’s commitment to establishing a standardised and reliable personnel record, the AGF has approved the conduct of a Personnel Audit Exercise across the headquarters, Federal Pay Offices, and all MDAs under the pool of the OAGF.” The audit should not only eliminate those who have travelled out of the country, it should also remove other ghost workers included in the payrolls by those in charge of preparing them, for illicit personal gains.

    To achieve that, the Federal Government should rely on technology. We recall a similar exercise in Lagos State, when President Tinubu was the governor. The state had used the Oracle technology to automate its payroll system and the exercise was adjudged so successful that many states across the federation copied it.

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    President Tinubu made reference to that success when the Global Vice President of Oracle, Mr Andres Garcia Arroyo, visited him, last September. The President told Mr Arroyo: “I have tested Oracle and it has worked for our success. In Lagos State, what we did in effective collaboration with you has been copied across the states of the federation. We can only build our institutions with accurate data and cutting edge data management capabilities that are reliable and effective.”

    He went on: “We can create an end-to-end solution for public administration that will rid our service of its worst tendencies in favour of effectiveness and reliability.”

    No doubt, times are hard in the country, and many are tempted to think that it is all rosy abroad. But many who jumped into the train moving out of the country have been shocked with their inability to adjust into the foreign working environment. Some who have skillset that are not adaptable to their new country of abode have found it excruciating to survive. Those who have the courage have returned home to lick their wounds. There are those of them who live on the streets abroad because they have no work and the resources to rent an accommodation.    

    We hope the audit payroll will be done swiftly and efficiently without disrupting the payment of salaries. The old practice where the audit of payroll is used as an excuse to delay payment of salaries should not be the case with this directive.

    As for those engaged in the fraud of receiving salaries while living abroad, we urge them to save themselves the shame associated with being caught red-handed.

  • Admission for sale

    Admission for sale

    Unfortunate. When the Federal Government Colleges were first established in 1966, the objectives were noble. Apart from an urge to bring together the best children in the common entrance examinations and expose them to the best teaching environment available, it was expected that they would promote unity in the country.

    However, parents of children in the unity colleges are protesting that the admission process has been corrupted, with parents required to pay up to N600,000 to secure a place in the highly-rated schools, irrespective of their scores in the entrance examination.

    It is even the more unfortunate, if not ironical, that the colleges really at the centre of the alleged scam are located in Lagos, a state dubbed the ‘Centre of Excellence’. The Kings and Queens colleges, Federal Science and Technical College,Yaba, and Federal Government College, Ijanikin, Lagos, are those mostly besieged by desperate parents intent on forcing their children and wards in.

    Now that petitions have been forwarded to the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, the buck is at his desk to sanitise the process and ensure probity in the schools.

    Besides the admission process, parents/teachers forums are believed to have taken over the running of the schools, deciding how much extra the parents must pay, and in some cases, not rendering account.

    The minister, on a visit to Lagos recently, personally made the observation and promised to do something about it. It is said to be so bad that parents who will be offered seats while around on visiting days, are charged N200 each. This is odious.

    While the ministry is said to have pegged the maximum amount that could be charged per student to support the management in smooth running of the schools at N12,000, some of the parents teachers forums are said to have raised it to N21,000, in utter defiance of the directive.

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    It is understandable that parents who want the best for their children, and could not pay the prohibitive fees being charged by elite private schools could be desperate to secure places in the federal colleges, but there could be no justification for the slack in monitoring by the inspectorate division of the supervising ministry. The probe should not stop at the level of the schools and their managements, officials of the education ministry who apparently colluded with them should receive stiff punishment. It is time the government showed that it could not just bark, but bite.

    It should be noted, too, that scarcity played some part in this. If there are enough good public secondary schools at the federal and state levels, the desperation to force children into the few unity schools would not be so much. It is a challenge for the state governments that own most of the schools at the basic and secondary levels to upgrade quality and consequently win the confidence of the general public.

    As the minister had earlier observed, the practice of relying on parents to engage teachers who are not on the school payroll must be curbed. He said some of them have been so exploited for as long as 27 years on a salary of N50,000. This is really sad. How did the practice gain so much ground for so long? Why would the Federal Government not adequately staff its schools? It is worse that many of such teachers are poorly educated and report to the parents forum leaders. This weakens the control by the management and affects the quality of education in the schools.

    Dr Alausa should not stop at lamenting the situation. He should overhaul the system. If the situation calls for the involvement of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), he should not hesitate to invite the institution. We have tolerated rot in the educational system for too long. It is time to show that Nigeria would not accept underhand dealings any more, especially where the young ones are involved.

  • New refinery licences

    New refinery licences

    • From experience, it is not about licensing, it is about their starting operation

    Given the critical role that oil plays in the nation, the report that the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA) had issued 47 licences for the construction of new refineries within the next one year could not but attract keen interest.

    This important information was accompanied by the twin report that fuel import into the country had dropped from 44.6 million litres a day in August 2024 to 14.7 million by April 13, 2025. This roughly translates to a fall of 30 million litres or 67 per cent during the period. This is cause to cheer.

    When the new refineries have been constructed, it is expected that they would increase domestic supply, further decrease importation and increase exportation. Hopefully, this will reduce pressure on the nation’s foreign reserve, increase the value of the naira and reduce inflation.

    However, these positive expectations need to be tempered by the fact that this is not the first time additional refinery licences would be issued, with a significant number of them not seeing the light of day. This cautionary note is not meant as a dampener, but as a pointer to issues the authorities need to pay attention to if the hope in the newly-licenced refineries is not to be in vain.

    Fortunately, the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 and policies of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration such as the removal of fuel subsidy and the floating of the naira are designed to relax restrictions in the downstream sector and encourage private sector investment in the oil industry.

    We cannot talk about impactful investors without mentioning the Dangote Petroleum Refinery. Its entry into the downstream oil sector has increased competition, leading to appreciable stabilisation of products availability and pump prices. This has in turn resulted in appropriate response to market-determined forces. In turn, consumers are getting used to such dynamics as they affect pump price fluctuation.

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    The Deputy Regional Director, South East, for the Dangote Group, Ayirioritse Okerentie, remarked: “Our recent flagship project, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, has exported refined petroleum products such as aviation fuel, Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), automotive gas oil, naphtha to many African, European, American and Asian markets. These products conform to the Euro V specifications.”

    He was reported to have further observed: “The Dangote Petrochemical Complex has kicked off the production of polypropylene, a major raw material used in the textile, plastic, furniture and pharmaceutical sectors. According to the Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN), the country imports 90 per cent of its annual polypropylene requirements (amounting to 250,000 metric tonnes) but will now become a net exporter, generating foreign exchange to strengthen the economy. We are optimistic that many new manufacturing outfits will emerge relying on both the products and by-products of the petroleum complex as feedstock in their production processes.”

    Though it is to be noted that generally-speaking, the series of government’s oil-related policies are beginning to yield notable benefits to the nation and product pricing is becoming increasingly more realistic, especially from the perspective of the investors, pricing has not been significantly positively affected with respect to consumers. As far as consumers are concerned, the most significant index of the value of the policies would be in cheaper product pricing which would be expected to reduce inflationary pressure in a sustainable manner.

    This is expected to be facilitated with the involvement of more investors in the downstream sector. The issuing of the licences for new refineries is therefore a commendable initiative, and the beneficiaries should be optimally monitored and encouraged to bring the vision to fruition.

  • Pay the  GenCos

    Pay the  GenCos

    • While appreciating govt’s effort to gradually settle the debt, we urge that it should not allow such accumulation of arrears in future

    With about N4trn debt owed to the power generating companies in the country, it is a miracle that the companies are still able to supply power to their teeming consumers. Chairman of the GenCos Board of Trustees (BoT), Col. Sani Bello (rtd), voiced their concern in a statement.

    According to Bello, “GenCos are currently owed about N2trillion-N4 trillion for 2024 and N1.9 trillion in legacy debts. No possible solutions, including cash payments, financial instruments, and debt swaps is in sight.”

    Bello added that ‘’no one is under pressure to ensure GenCos invoices are fully settled. The implication of this is that GenCos only get paid a portion of their invoices — nine per cent, 11 per cent, from whatever amount is left.’’

    Against this backdrop, the GenCos have every cause to be apprehensive. That a paltry N900bn is all that was provided for in the budget for them this year compounds their fears.

    We are equally alarmed.

    It is however gratifying that the Federal Government has assured that about N2trn of it would have been settled by the end of the year.

    The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, who made this known during the sixth edition of the 2025 Ministerial Press Briefing Series in Abuja said about half of the debts were legacy debts; i.e. they were inherited from the previous administration.

    “We have sub-budgetary provisions which will facilitate cash payment while we are discussing with generating companies to give them guaranteed debt instruments like a promissory note, which we will give to them to pay them or defray some of these debts.

    “These promissory notes will be liquid enough for them to be taken to the banks for discounting if they need immediate cash injections. So, it is the combination of cash payment and promissory notes. And I can tell you that between now and the end of the year, we are going to pay close to N2tn out of this N4tn’’, Adelabu added.

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    He said he had discussed the issue with the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun, who has promised that they working on the promissory note and that cash payments would be made immediately budget releases were effected.

    Reassuring as this might be, we would rather the government prioritised the payment of the GenCos’s debts so that never again would we have this kind of arrears concerning them. The fact of the matter is that, by December when the government promised to have liquidated at least half of the debts, more bills would have accumulated, unless the government settles current bills from the GenCos from now till December, simultaneously. If the government alone is owing GenCos this much, we wonder how much the electricity distribution companies (DisCos) too are owing them. Meanwhile, the DisCos too are being owed by both private and corporate customers. Ikeja Electric alone said it is being owed about N4bn by consumers at the Sam Ethnan Air Force Base in Ikeja, Lagos, alone. It is still fresh in memory that air personnel of the base descended on the headquarters of the DisCo sometime last month.

    So, we have a case of debts begetting debts.  All of these debts would not augur well for electricity generation and distribution, especially considering the huge responsibilities the stakeholders in the power sector shoulder.

    While we would continue to advocate for provision of meter to every power consumer as a way out of the DisCos’/customers imbroglio, it is only fit and proper for the government to play its own part of the game well too. Otherwise, how does it get the moral courage to enforce its own laws against power sector debtors?

    GenCos deserve utmost priority by way of prompt settlement of their bills to enable them produce sufficient electricity for the country’s development. We can then handle distribution and other aspects of the value chain.

  • When scholarship pays

    When scholarship pays

    •Lagos State promotes scholarship with good reward for excellence

    It is common among some youths in Nigeria to hear that education is scam. This is not, of course, as extreme as the “education is Haram (or an abomination)” as espoused by the terrorist group, Boko Haram ravaging the North and spilling blood of the innocent mindlessly. That group has violated the sanctity of schools at will and carted away hundreds of students.

    The “education is scam” group, found mainly among educated young southerners, is a result of frustration following years of unemployment or neglect by the governments. Unlike the days of yore when the certificate was a guarantee of good living and life, this is no longer so. Even when students who have distinguished themselves in various disciplines are rewarded, they are given amounts so paltry that it only attracts contempt by the awardees and their colleagues.

    It is therefore commendable that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu deemed it necessary to raise the stock in young graduates by rewarding the latest overall best graduating student of the Lagos State University (LASU) with a hefty N10 million. This is as much a morale booster for Isioma Nwosu who capped her academic attainment in Biochemistry with 4.93 Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA). We expect this to stimulate other students to work towards the mark of excellence for the acclaim and due reward.

    This might not be enough in showing that the society truly values excellence, especially in educational pursuit. We expect that the private sector would complement efforts of the state government in this wise.

    To boost the capacity of students in theory and practice, the corporate world needs to step into the arena by endowing chairs, rewarding exceptional students not only at convocation but through the years. The task of reforming and refurbishing the education system that it may serve as the foundation for a new Nigeria is for all. Banks and telecommunication giants continue to declare billions of naira as profit, with very little ploughed into education. This should change, with the governments leading the way. The federal, states and local governments should get involved in this onerous task of arresting the rot in the sector. The alumni associations also should get involved, targeting the best from various departments from their first year in order to propel them in the right direction all through their pursuit.

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    It is not only in academic excellence that students should be rewarded. Those who show great skills in entrepreneurship and innovation that could serve as the engine for spinning growth and development of the society should also be identified and encouraged early enough. The university is the bedrock of modern development and civilisation.This point should not be lost also on philanthropists and others who could give scholarships to as many students as possible.

    Recently, the Oyo State government gave bursary awards to final year students from the state in higher institutions. As we observed then, this is worthy of emulation by other stakeholders in the country who could choose whom to encourage. Nigeria is at a point when it must do all that is required to lift its people and assure the youth that they count in the scheme of things.

    Nwosu who had her day on the stage as the valedictorian is not new to the role. As she said in an interview, she performed the responsibility when leaving the secondary school. Yet, she had her first introduction to frustration that could come one’s way in the school of life when she narrowly missed her desire to pursue a degree in medicine at the University of Ibadan. The following year, she tried to make the mark at LASU, but again fell short, and had to be handed Biochemistry as consolation, a course that she said she had not heard of before then. That decision led her to the stage of glory at the convocation where she achieved distinction among the 8,711 who bagged the first degree. This is lesson for students who find themselves in her shoes — many ways lead to achieving goals. It only takes dedication and hard work as the state governor admonished all at the ceremony.

    Congratulations, Isioma. Resting on your oars is not an option.

  • Flood alert

    Flood alert

    •Govts should heed the warnings in the interest of all

    The world has always lived with the ravages of nature like earthquakes, volcanoes, wildfires, flooding and other natural disasters. The incidents have very huge effects on humanity and the environment, and invariably involves the socio-economic lives of citizens even beyond the affected zones. Human lives are often lost, properties destroyed and environments devastated.

    The impact of climate change across the world has been documented in ways that are as realistically scary as they have been either nominated for or even won the prestigious Nobel Peace prizes. The ones won Wangari Maathai of Kenya and former United States Vice President, Al gore, in 2007, readily come to mind.

    The effects of global warming on the human environment is so huge that both global agencies and most governments have been investing in measures  not just to control the impact across the globe but for sustainable efforts to save human lives, preserve natural habitats and the environment.

    Individual countries take measures and invest in research and awareness creation to control the consequences of climate change and global warming. Even though researches have shown that the world’s most industrialised nations contribute a greater percentage of the effects of global warming in the world, developing countries equally have their fair share.

    In Nigeria, environmental pollution is making havoc. especially in the Niger Delta. Oil exploration, exploitation, deforestation, wild fires, erosion and flooding have cost lives and properties, including food insecurity in the last few years in the country. Normally, the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) issues warnings to the citizens about impending weather-induced alterations in the environment. But more often than not, those warnings are obeyed in the breach.

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    For 2025, the prognosis for the impending rainy season seems grim and scary. The Minister of Water Resources and Sanitation, Prof. Joseph Utsev,  has warned that about 30 of Nigeria’s 36 states would experience severe flooding that would devastate about 1,249 communities across the 30 states, including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, between April and November.

    According to reports, some state governments have begun implementing preventive measures through public awareness campaigns, dredging water channels and relocating vulnerable communities from river banks and flood plains.

    We commend the states that are taking valid steps to prevent the impact of the impending flooding. We however equally know that there are cynics in the system who sadly love the ‘gains’ of emergency management opportunities because of the gains of procurement. The damage of flooding on food security and human lives must not be underrated.

    We equally know that urban Nigeria has a record of poor environmental hygiene. This continues to impact lives in various ways as the sanitary officers that ought to enforce the positive habits seem to be a thing of the past, especially during the colonial era. With population explosion and increased rural-urban migration, we witness the effects of lack of environmental consciousness. Even Lagos, with its waste management agencies and street sweepers cleaning drainages periodically, citizen-compliance is too low given the poor waste disposal attitudes. The gutters are almost always filled with non-bio-degradable junks like plastics. This cannot aid water flow.

    Conversely though, states like Akwa Ibom and Cross River seem to be exceptions with their level of dedication and adherence to environmental cleanliness. These two model states should be emulated by other states in the country by adopting the preventive measures being advocated by the Nigerian Hydrological Services Agency. There are no rooms for negligence or laxity. A lot is at stake if these measures are ignored by the states on the red alert information.

    Reports and records show that ignoring most of the early warnings in the past had severe consequences on human and material resources. Most farmlands with almost due-to be-harvested crops had been destroyed by the floods and lives lost.

    While we believe that nature can be unkind sometimes, the pristine Nigerian society was more conscious of the preservation of the environment than the modern people.

    Governments must be very proactive by making sure that its agencies are actively taking steps to manage the impending weather effects.  As the popular saying goes, ‘prevention is better than cure’. Nowhere else needs this more than those in the water sector. The dams must be seen to be optimally functional, including those linked to bordering countries like Cameroun, niger and Chad.   

  • Return Rivers N300m

    Return Rivers N300m

    This is the least the NBA can do in the circumstance

    The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), under Mazi Afam Osigwe SAN, got itself entangled in an avoidable embarrassment, by accepting a tainted gift from the government of Rivers State, under the suspended Governor Siminalayi Fubara. The NBA, which should be the guardian angel of the rule of law in our democracy, should not have been carousing a governor whom the apex temple of justice, the Supreme Court, described as a dictator, who in flagrant disobedience to the 1999 constitution (as amended) abolished the legislative arm of government.

    To compound its missteps, the body, which should be the watchdog of all democratic institutions, sought for and received N300 million from the state government. The money which the NBA calls a gift, but which the government of Rivers State, now under a sole administrator, calls money for hosting right, has become a Sword of Damocles hanging on the integrity of the association. Whether it was a gift or money for hosting, the NBA should return the money since it has moved the conference to Enugu State.The claim by the chairman of the organising committee, Emeka Obegolu SAN, that the money is a gift unattached to any

    condition is hogwash. If it was not given as a hosting state, NBA should disclose which other state government gave it money for the 2025 Annual General Conference.

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    The Rivers State government has argued that hosting the conference would have brought beneficial economic activity to the state, and since it has been denied that opportunity, the money given in anticipation of the benefits must be returned. But, if we may ask, was that money given when Governor Fubara was running the state with four law makers, in a state

    assembly consisting of 32 members? If it was, then the NBA may have received money which it ought to know was procured by unlawful means. As a body of eminent lawyers, it ought to know that the gang of four which Governor Fubara operated as a state legislature, could not have passed a legitimate budget, to justify such an expenditure. Or is it that the money was not “budgeted for”, and was an underhand dealing through and through?

    The NBA should come clean on how much it has received from the government of Enugu State, before it moved the conference to that state. Indeed, it should disclose all monies it has received from sponsors of the event. Such disclosure would help members determine what they should pay to attend the conference. That disclosure would help members know whether the organisers are ripping them off. As many are now asking, could that money have influenced the unalloyed support for Governor Fubara by the NBA leadership, and the trenchant condemnation of the state of emergency in Rivers State, even when the Supreme Court held that democracy has been abolished by the suspended governor?

    We ask, if the suspended governor had abolished an arm of democratic government in the state, shouldn’t the NBA be urging for steps to bring the governor to constitutional order? We

    hope that bodies like the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) and others have learnt lessons from the travails of the NBA. While such bodies are entitled to seek for sponsors for their programmes, they must stay away from seeking support from institutions they oversight. When they receive such so- called gifts from such institutions, they lack moral authority to call the bodies to order when the need arises.

    We urge the NBA to quickly return to Rivers State the money it collected from it, since it has moved its conference to another state. To continue to keep the money is to attract odium and disrespect to its members. The body cannot approbate and reprobate at the same time.

  • Here to stay

    Here to stay

    Fed. Govt.’s decision to retain the Naira-for-crude policy is a step in the right direction

    It is a welcome development that the Federal Government has finally rested the contentions over the status of the Naira-for-crude deal between the government and the local refiners. At the end of the meeting conveyed by the Technical Sub-Committee on the Crude and Refined Product Sales in Naira initiative to review progress and address ongoing implementation matters, the stakeholders not only reaffirmed the government’s continued commitment to the full implementation of the strategic initiative, as directed by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), it also made clear that the initiative “is not a temporary or time-bound intervention, but a key policy directive designed to support sustainable local refining, bolster energy security, and reduce reliance on foreign exchange in the domestic petroleum market”. It noted in particular: “As with any major policy shift, the committee acknowledges that implementation challenges may arise from time to time. However, such issues are being actively addressed through coordinated efforts among all parties”.

    Unfortunately, the clarification, though necessary and reassuring, could not be said to have been timely to fully reflect the urgency, let alone the strategic import of the issues at stake.

    To begin with, even if we concede to the ‘implementation challenges’ as being a major factor in the deal as the committee is wont to put it, the point remains that none of these could be said to have sprung up overnight; in fact, we would have thought that the last six months (October 1, 2024 and March 1), when the initial deal operated, would have provided the committee sufficient time to make adjustments without the apprehensions that would later take root.

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    That the main parties – the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and Dangote Refinery and Petrochemicals did practically little to advance discussions outside of fulsome, but unproductive self-justifications and denials, mostly in the media, is disappointing enough. But even more so is the apparent inertia of the committee itself.

    Yet, bad and unacceptable as the above ordinarily appears, the other imperative, which makes the ensuing tardiness confounding, is the apparent failure to anticipate its dramatic impacts, not just on the fuel pricing situation, but also on the exchange rate, together with the added pressure it brought on our foreign reserves. We say this because the very idea behind Naira-for-crude was not so much a matter of choice but an existential one. Here was a country which was hitherto bled to the tune of an approximately 40 percent of its entire crude revenue on fuel imports. Now, with the local refiner, Dangote Refinery finally on board, thus offering the country the golden chance to drastically cut down on its forex needs through the deal, and with it the additional guarantee of stable domestic fuel prices; that neither the committee nor the parties could seem to appreciate this emergency life-saver for what it is, thus allowing for the falling apart of what could have been a most promising deal, is worse than tragic. Now that the deal is said to be firmly back on track, our expectation is that the committee will act swiftly to remove all remaining encumbrances in the way. It is after all, the nation’s strategic interests that are at stake, particularly the welfare of the citizens and the health of the economy in the long term. Surely, this is not the time for the

    parties to indulge in mind games for short-term advantages. If our understanding about initial deal being good for the country and the parties is any correct, it is hard to see how any further attempt to build on it would deliver anything less than a win-win for all. All that is required from the parties are good faith and utmost transparency.