The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  •  Assault on toddler

     Assault on toddler

    • We condemn the harsh action by a teacher

    The recent viral video showing a teacher hitting a three-year-old pupil rightly caught the attention of Lagos State government officials, and the teacher was promptly arrested and is being prosecuted. The video showed the teacher, identified as Stella Nwadigbo, slapping the visibly traumatised pupil, Abayomi Michael, several times, during a numeracy class. Sadly, the teacher tried to justify her action on the premise that the child is her friend’s child and she was pushing him to perform a task.

    We hope there are laws in our books to deal with what happened at Christ-Mitos Primary School, in the Ikorodu area of Lagos State. If there are no adequate laws for such an incident, there is the urgent need to promulgate laws that regulate discipline and adequately protect the rights of the child in schools. Notably, because of the frequency of incidents involving sexual molestation of children, some states, including Lagos, rightly enacted laws to deal with that challenge. Perhaps the incident involving the three-year-old pupil is a wake-up call concerning an overlooked challenge.

    As the leader regarding the introduction of child protection laws in the country, the Lagos State government should enact appropriate legislation to regulate corporal punishment in schools. Every teacher in a school in Lagos must know the limits of what he or she can do to discipline a child. It should not be left to guess work. Schools, on their part, should establish a code of practice for teachers, using a model developed by the state. Such a code should be signed by the teachers and any breach must have appropriate consequences.

    We condemn the harsh treatment of the toddler, who may need counselling to feel safe in the classroom again. A classroom is supposed to be a nest for learning for children and not a place of fear and trepidation. If a teacher, in an effort to force a child to learn, becomes a bully, the child instead of learning, gets traumatised. Learning should be a pleasurable and enchanting exercise for a child. A traumatised child suffers retardation and progressively despises learning, whether formal or informal, and the society pays for it.

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    We urge all state governments in the country to ensure that only qualified individuals teach in pre-primary, primary and secondary schools, whether private or public. Teaching must not be a dumping ground for those frustrated by the lack of other job opportunities. Our teachers must be those who want to teach, not those who resort to teaching because the job they really want is not forthcoming. Teaching is not just a job, but a vocation. A person who lacks the passion to teach has no business teaching. Governments must also make teaching very attractive by ensuring enhanced welfare for teachers.

    Private schools must not be allowed to proliferate without meeting the standards set out by the regulatory authorities. The regulatory authorities should end the common trend of private schools ignoring standards, or employing just anybody as a teacher, or paying peanuts to teachers, who in turn visit their incompetence and/or frustration on the pupils they are employed to teach. Private schools which cannot maintain standards, including the payment of minimum wage, should close. An unqualified or frustrated teacher is a danger to the pupils and the public at large.

    We urge state governments to examine the curricula of faculties of education. Discipline as a course should be introduced in our schools, with a broad curriculum on teachers’ code of conduct and the ways to discipline a child. The regulatory authorities should encourage schools to organise seminars on discipline in schools and re-orientate teachers in public and private schools. The case of three-year-old Abayomi Michael should be a teachable learning curve for school administration, in Lagos State and across the country.

  • Getting set

    Getting set

    •The authorities must ensure that council autonomy is real

    The implementation of the Supreme Court judgment on local government financial autonomy is on course following the recent two-day Abuja meeting of the inter-ministerial committee set up by the Federal Government towards the enforcement of the apex court verdict.  The committee is chaired by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), George Akume.

    A member of the committee was quoted as saying the meeting was to finalise measures for achieving financial and administrative independence for the 774 councils, despite resistance by governors.

    In its July 11, 2024 judgement on funding of local government councils, the Supreme Court ushered in what is widely perceived as a potential new dawn in ensuring financial autonomy for the sub-national units of administration closest to the people at the grassroots. Ruling on the suit brought before it by the Federal Government, the apex court affirmed the financial autonomy of the local government councils by directing that they should henceforth receive their monthly allocations from the Federation Account directly from the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation. Before this, funds meant for the councils were disbursed through State/Local Government Joint Accounts controlled by the state governors.

    The court ruled that it was illegal for governors to receive and withhold funds allocated to councils in their states and that only democratically elected councils as provided for in the Constitution could receive funds from the Federation Account.

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    Local government chairmen had often grumbled, mostly in hushed tones over the years, that they had paltry funds to discharge their obligations as most of their allocations paid into the States/Local Government Joint Accounts were withheld by state governors and diverted to other purposes. This situation was blamed for the absence of meaningful development at the grassroots, especially as the local government chairmen and councillors felt emboldened to also utilise whatever funds available to them for their personal use without fear of being questioned by no less culpable governors.

    In some states, the governors have made moves to sidestep the Supreme Court judgment and ensure their continued control of local government funds. Although most states have complied with the requirement to conduct local government elections for the latter to qualify for statutory constitutional funding, State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) are usually puppets of state governors and conduct largely farcical local government elections in which ruling parties in the states often win all local government seats contested.

    In the circumstances, the new dawn that the Supreme Court judgment promises may well require further judicial decisions to consolidate present gains as well as clarify how the financial autonomy of the local councils can be realised and maintained in the context of the administrative control of the councils by the states. Also, there may well be a need for legislation by the National Assembly to strengthen the electoral process at the grassroots and enhance the credibility of local government elections.

    Although the Supreme Court judgment was supposed to go into immediate effect, the Federal Government, in a wise pragmatic move, set up a committee comprising requisite officials at federal, state and local government levels to work out modalities for the transition to the new local government funding model. In addition to setting up a new unit in the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation, to oversee the direct allocation of funds to local governments and ensure compliance with the Supreme Court judgment, the councils have been mandated to open accounts with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) before the end of this month so as to begin to directly receive their statutory disbursements from the Federation Account and Allocation Committee (FAAC).

    The substantial increase in the funds available to the local governments as a result of direct disbursements to them from the Federation Account also necessitates greater scrutiny of their expenditures to prevent corruption and ensure high standards of financial transparency and accountability.

    It is thus appropriate that in addition to the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) monitoring the utilisation of the funds by local government chairmen, a team of anti-corruption agents from the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been constituted to prosecute council chairmen and other officials who violate financial regulations.

  • 59 ‘hostages’

    59 ‘hostages’

    •The children intercepted in Abuja show we have to review the almajiri system

    The exploitation of children and teen boys has been a scourge of Nigerian society. It has been even more so in the last decade. The interception on January 6 of a vehicle conveying 59 children across the north only pays credence to this fact.

    According to the report, the 59 children ranged between four and 12 years old. The officer who led the interception at the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, said they were being ferried from the city of Kano to Nasarawa State. The driver of the van with vehicle number KMC 2832 CJ was Ali Ibrahim, and his assistant was Alhassan Ibrahim. But the kingpin was Idris Usman who resides in Nasarawa. They have been arrested.

    This is not the first time that arrests of this sort have been made. And not just in travels across the north. In the south, vehicles have been intercepted coming all the way from the north, and they were well into either the southwest or the southeast. The arrests have not thwarted such ambitions.

    The report did not disclose why Usman had arranged moving 59 children from the core north city of Kano all the way to Nasarawa in the north central. It was quite a journey, but the police, we expect, will investigate the motives and make them known to the public. All we know so far is that the 59 did not belong to one family but different families in Kano.

    We still need some questions addressed. One, how did he, Usman, spot and gather the children? What was the purpose of taking them away from their roots and carrying them faraway to a place they probably had never been and where they probably had no blood ties? Did the parents know about this mission, and if they did, what was the evidence of consent if, that is, there was any?

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    It is intriguing that the vehicle had moved many miles and through quite a few states without either detection or interception. Abuja is just next door to Nasarawa, and Usman and his plot was a hair’s breadth away from success. It is therefore kudos to Deputy Superintendent Sarki Umar and his team for saving scores of apparently impressionable and, we daresay, helpless children.

    Ordinarily, such children between four and 12 should be in school. They should be learning how to improve their minds and build their characters in a formal institution. But apparently, they were not. They draw attention to the failings of the almajiri system that has created two social problems. One, they have separated children, especially boys, from their parents, and handed them as wards to teachers, who are at the mercy of their whims and the wards at the mallams’ own mercy. Two, they are cut off from a society of social responsibility and meaningful engagement.

    What this means is that the teachers, known as mallams, can exploit their positions for selfish purposes. Hence the investigations are necessary.

    Children of that age bracket were exploited to protest hunger last year, even though they were not engaged in the economic life of the country, and their stake for decades had been as beggars who lived on the speculative generosity of their providers.

    In this era of banditry, kidnapping and killings, such impressionable young serve as recruiting boom for the hoodlums. This is a dangerous trend that is providing ready fuel for cynical men who see banditry as a path to prosperity while many families mourn, fear and run from ruin.

  • Ivory tower perversions

    Ivory tower perversions

    •It’s essential to ensure integrity of postgraduate education in Nigeria

    A report published in The Guardian of November 29, 2024 quoted the Director, Public Affairs, Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), Abdulmumin Oniyangi, as stating: “The Board of Trustees of Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) has approved the suspension of the foreign component of the TETFund Scholarship for Academic Staff (TSAS) intervention. The suspension, which is in response to the excessive cost of training in foreign institutions as well as the high rate of abscondment of foreign (trained) scholars is with effect from 1st January 2025. However, TETFund scholars, who have already enrolled in foreign institutions, would continue to draw down on their scholarships till the end of their programmes.” The natural consequence of this development is the increase in TETFund sponsorship for postgraduate studies in Nigerian universities.

    This places a lot of responsibility on these universities’ Postgraduate (PG) Boards, Managements, and the Committee of Provosts (of PG colleges or schools). Established around 1989/1990, the Committee’s vision is “to cultivate a vibrant academic community where excellence thrives, innovation flourishes, and every individual is empowered to reach their full potential.” Its mission is, correspondingly, “to champion academic excellence, foster inclusive learning environments, and advance transformative initiatives that elevate the quality of education and scholarship across our institutions.”

    Its core value is also defined as follows: “In essence, the committee is committed to advancing academic excellence, fostering inclusivity, promoting innovation, and maintaining accountability within the institutions.”

    In the spirit of maintaining accountability within the PG system, a set of allegations of unedifying conduct that has been trending on social media from around the middle of December 2024, in relation to PG supervision and oral defence involving external examiners, should be of interest to the Committee of Provosts. The allegations were made by current and former postgraduate students or their relatives or associates against supervisors and departments.

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    While granting that some of the allegations may have been exaggerated or even outrightly fabricated, the complaints include the following: “I decided I’d never have anything else to do with Nigerian universities, the day I saw people defending their master’s dissertation presenting coolers of rice, garden eggs and crates of drinks to their supervisors. I thought someone was getting married.”  (Bibian U.)

    “We were told we’d pay 60k each, for both entertainment and logistics of the external examiner/ supervisor.” (Chiamaka O.)

    “We spent the night prior to my mother’s defence at the University of Ilorin, cooking coolers of rice with assorted meat for the lecturers.” (Omekagu)

     Some other complaints: “We fed the whole department.

    Paid a prior fee of 2k. Still gave the supervisor a gift. This same supervisor then came on one of my Facebook posts to say how I’m too opinionated to get married. I blocked him for my peace of mind. I don’t have strength.”  (Sylvia E.)

    “My husband was so frustrated by his Uniuyo supervisor for this, that he abandoned his MBA and finally got it from a UK university without any sort of bribery.” (Uche N.)

    “The best thing I ever did for my life and mental health was to abandon my master’s programme halfway. My blood pressure was always high. They killed my zeal to study and do research. Nigerian universities? God forbid!”  (Ene P.)

     More complaints: “I abandoned my master’s programme because my supervisor wanted to have sex with me. I told him I’m a married woman. He said and I quote, ‘That’s even better! I like them married. If anything happens, we’ll both keep our mouths shut.’ No one listened to my report.” (Annie U.)

    “And postgraduate students do multiple defences – proposal, internal and faculty defence, then the very almighty external defence. Multiple seminars too.  And refreshment is served in ALL.  I swear, MSc/PhD in Nigeria was the most challenging thing I’ve done in my life so far.”

     The common thread running through the allegations is that PG students are being subjected to emotional and psychological pressure, financial exploitation and sexual harassment. This is despicable, and all relevant stakeholders need to make concerted efforts to investigate and report erring persons to the appropriate authorities for due sanctions in order to protect the students and create for them a conducive environment for optimal academic performance.

    With reference to the complaints of financial burden placed on students, the question arises: What do the different universities do with the school fees which the students pay? These fees are expected to be used to pay supervision allowance and meet the financial costs of external examiners’ travel, accommodation and examination allowance. So, how come students are made vulnerable to exploitative supervisors and departments?

    The National Universities Commision (NUC) has a key role to play in addressing the kind of complaints listed above to ensure and maintain the integrity of PG studies in Nigeria, instead of undermining university autonomy and usurping the powers of University Senates by imposing curricula on universities. It is time to reform PG education in Nigeria.

  • INEC’s reform proposals

    INEC’s reform proposals

    More work needed to boost public trust and reinvent political culture

    The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) recently presented a review report on the 2023 general election to the National Assembly (NASS) by which it proposed changes in the legal framework that would permit voting by Nigerians in the diaspora and inmates of correctional centres. If the proposals get adopted, persons engaged in essential services on election days like security operatives, journalists and electoral officials would also have the opportunity to cast their ballot during elections.

    Section 47(1) of the Electoral Act 2022 stipulates that: “A person intending to vote in an election shall present himself with his voter’s card to a presiding officer for accreditation at the polling unit in the constituency in which his name is registered.” By virtue of this provision, Nigerians abroad who are registered at home as voters must be physically present at polling units where they are registered if they hope to cast their vote, otherwise they’re precluded. Since there are no polling units in correctional centres, inmates do not get the opportunity to vote. As for essential workers, they are typically on duty at far-removed locations on election day and do not get the chance to exercise their franchise even when they’re registered as voters.

    INEC is seeking reforms in the legal framework to relax rules inhibiting diaspora residents and prison inmates from voting and allow essential workers to cast their ballots ahead of election day through early voting. The electoral body also requested NASS to hasten action on passing laws to enable it to cede some duties it routinely handles currently to specialised bodies – specifically an electoral offences commission and a political party registration and regulatory commission. It argues that a separate body to handle investigation and prosecution of electoral offenders as well as another saddled with registration and regulation of political parties would allow it focus on the core tasks of managing elections.

    These recommendations are contained in a 75-page INEC Report on the 2023 General Election prepared by a review committee and presented to the joint Senate and House of Representatives committee on electoral matters by the INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu. According to the electoral commission, some observations made during the review involving stakeholders – among them political party leaders, civil society organisations, the media, security agencies and INEC officials – pertained to interference in the electoral process by political actors, attitude of polling agents and conduct of election observers, deployment of technology for election, low voter turnout, and increased involvement of the political class in electoral violence.

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    Among other things, INEC in its recommendations proposed replacement of the permanent voter card (PVC) with temporary voter cards and e-cards to allow wider access to voting by Nigerians. It said Section 47(1) of the electoral act needed amendment to modify PVC use and introduce electronically downloadable cards.

    During his appearance before the NASS joint panel, Yakubu also lamented the high cost of elections, noting that Nigeria no longer has an electoral cycle as elections are now conducted all-year-round. He said the time had come to formulate a way to cut election costs, including streamlining schedules for conducting polls.

    INEC’s proposals obviously are aimed at expanding the democratic space, boost voter participation in elections and deepen citizen engagement with the process. These are noble and desirable objectives, provided the electoral culture on which the objectives would be rooted is also upgraded. Existing limitations in the electoral space and the high cost of elections are largely a function of low public trust in Nigerian elections, and the desperation of political actors indexing negative political culture.

    Much of the costs incurred on electoral logistics, for instance, owe to peculiarly negative political culture in our clime. Ballot papers are printed at currency quality and warehoused at the Central Bank at huge costs ahead of elections because of the low trust factor and desperation of political actors. Same explains the quantum deployment of security operatives, not to mention other electoral personnel – all at monstrous costs. Even the difficulty with diaspora voting is largely a function of trust deficit in the system by which it can be operationalised.

    Ultimately, it falls on INEC that is making proposals for reforms to work harder at deepening public trust in its processes, while holding desperate political actors firmly to account until other bodies get created to relieve it of that role.

  • Towards ranching

    Towards ranching

    • Modernising cattle business imperative

    The recent announcement by the National President of National Agricultural Mechanisation Cooperative of Nigeria (NAMCON), Dr Aliyu Waziri, concerning its plans to establish cattle ranches in the 774 local government areas across Nigeria raises critical questions.  He said this was part of efforts to modernise livestock production in the country and bolster value-addition, adding that it “will also greatly help in combating the recurring herder-farmer clashes in the country.”

    According to him, “These ranches will be fully equipped for both rainy and dry season farming activities for the sustained production of food as this is very crucial to boosting food security, jobs creation and poverty eradication.” He told journalists in Kaduna that the facilities would ensure herders and their livestock have no cause to migrate in search of food and water.

    It is unclear how the project would be funded and sustained. While the idea looks good on the surface, it is not certain to bring the desired solutions. For instance, has the cooperative studied the working models in other nations with more lucrative beef and other animal products production like milk? It is important to ensure that such a project is based on research into systems across the world that work.

    We believe that governments have been a little too permissive in allowing cattle herders to ride roughshod over farmers across the country. Many communities that rely on farming for sustenance have been displaced and many people killed or kidnapped. 

    Countries like Argentina, Netherlands and Brazil export beef products but without the chaotic situation in Nigeria because there is a structural system that allows each agricultural production to seamlessly thrive without causing issues. The so-called herder/farmer clashes that have taken lives and caused massive food and social insecurity highlights the failure of governments to do the right thing to revive and sustain the whole agricultural sector in the country.

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    We believe that governments seem to paper over the so-called clashes and a more comprehensive agricultural policy overhaul would be the real panacea to peace and productivity. There must be a functional and realistic agricultural sector revolution in ways that can lead to a more equitable and practicable solution that treats every business as an important part of the whole.

    In the last decade, the country has experienced unprecedented levels of socio-economic insecurity with the rise of non-state actors holding the country to ransom.  First was Boko Haram, and other insurgencies that interfered with agricultural processes.

    Security challenges have exacerbated food insecurity in the country. Nigeria seems not to have had a firm grasp of the value of the agricultural sector to the economy.  Modern economies take general security seriously; and this is dependent on the different tiers of government in the country introducing policies that engender good governance.

    Decades ago, different parts of the country were running sustainable economies while contributing to the national GDP. The former Eastern region was exporting palm products; the former Northern region was known for groundnut pyramids and agrarian economy; and the former Western region made money from cocoa and other agricultural products.

    In those days, cattle herding was still nomadic in nature but not much crisis arose from it as the herders then went about their duties across Nigeria with minimal reports of crisis with their hosts. However, with climate change and the increasing population, cattle herding in the Nigerian context became more of a political issue as governments, by omission or commission, failed to re-organise the cattle business in line with global best practices.

    We urge the authorities to pursue the implementation of modern approaches to the cattle business.  This is the way forward.

  • Banks USSD debt

    Banks USSD debt

    •Debtors should pay up

    Other than impunity, it’s hard to imagine a more fitting description of the failure by some banks to settle the outstanding invoices due to telecoms companies for the use of their Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) codes as a result of which the National Communications Commission (NCC) was last week forced to wield the big stick.

    The NCC notified members of the public that “it has granted approval to telecoms companies to disconnect USSD codes assigned by the commission to financial institutions that are indebted to the telecoms companies, if such institutions do not settle the outstanding invoices by Monday, January 27, 2025.”

    Surely, the measure is not without justification: Out of a total of 18 financial institutions, nine were said to have failed to comply significantly with the directives of the second joint circular of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the NCC, dated December 20, 2024 for the settlement of outstanding invoices due to telecoms companies since 2019.

    The nine offending banks are Fidelity Bank, First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Jaiz Bank, Polaris Bank, Sterling Bank, United Bank for Africa (UBA), Unity Bank, Wema Bank and Zenith Bank.

    The commission in the notice made clear that it will “recover such codes and may reassign them to other applicants in accordance with the applicable instruments” – adding that in fulfilment of its

    consumer protection mandate, consumers will from that date be unable to access the USSD platform of the affected banks.

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    Ordinarily, we would consider it unimaginable that any bank would choose to treat the issue of USSD short codes with such levity, merely by what it represents. And given that the USSD by their operation actually enables a segment of their numerous customers to carry out electronic transactions without the need for a smartphone and without the data for connectivity, its vital role in deepening financial services in an infrastructure-challenged environment ought to be self-evident.

    What makes the issue even more difficult to understand, at least to the discerning public, is that every single transaction carried out on the USSD platform is supposed to be charged to the account of the user and with it the expectation of onward remittance to the service providers based on prior agreement.

    That the banks will rather hold on to the fund accruing from the transactions, without lawful authority, which is essentially the issue at stake, makes it unfathomable.

    Of course, we find the resort by the NCC to the drastic measure perfectly justifiable even if mild going by the way and manner the banks in general are known to go after their so-called delinquent borrowers. However, the point here isn’t whether the recalcitrant banks should be allowed to suffer the consequences of their ignoble act; it is also not about whether or not they can whimsically dispense with the USSD services. Rather, it is whether the CBN can afford to endorse the brazen impunity under which the users of the code are taken out of the service for no fault of theirs.

    Recovering the codes, as necessary as it might seem in the circumstance, obviously settles nothing. It’s merely leaving the offender banks to their devices. What the justice of the situation demands is getting the banks to pay what they owe together with fines that the regulators might deem appropriate.

    This is what will best serve the interests of the telecoms companies, while also preserving the interests of the hapless bank customers who have come to rely on the codes for their daily transactions. To the extent that this is something within the powers of the regulators to do, it is precisely where the axe ought to have fallen.

  • Right track

    Right track

    •Increased deregulation will enhance available electricity

    News from the electricity front is exciting. One: “NERC transfers full electricity regulatory oversight to four states” (The Punch, January 14).  The other: “Nigeria: Breweries, varsities, permitted to generate own electricity” (ESI Africa e-newsletter).

    Both hit at the root of the near-perpetual crisis in the electricity market.  So, how well these initiatives are pushed, by effective monitoring, may well determine if electricity — the most critical spark of modernisation and development — here would ever get out of its morass.

    Still, the omens appear rather good — thanks to the Electricity Act of 2024, and its progressive and laudable implementation thus far.

    For starters, granting firms and academic institutions the right to generate captive power tackles one of the most critical challenges of the power market: scarcity.  If these bodies generate their own power for exclusive use, the demand on the national grid would decrease.  That solves a core supply problem.

    From the ESI Africa source, four plants of Nigerian Breweries, in different parts of the country, now have approval to generate own power: Aba (5.6 MW), Ibadan (7.2 MW), Ama-Eke Ngwo (10.59 MW) and Obingwa (7.9 MW).

    Also, seven campuses have similar approvals: University of Abuja (3 MW), University of Calabar and Teaching Hospital (7 MW), Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umetuke, Abia State (3 MW), University of Maiduguri and Teaching Hospital Main Campus (12 MW), Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (3 MW), Federal University, Gashuwa, Sabon Gari, Yobe State (1.5 MW) and Nigerian Defence Academy, Zaria (2.5 MW).

    Both firms and schools would generate a cumulative 63.36MW.  That’s a decent chunk, to make available to others, from the national grid.

    Beyond generating and consuming electricity is the imperative to impose sanity on the power market.  This the distribution companies (DisCos) have failed to do, since they are sub-monopolies, milking trading districts nationwide hitherto lumped under the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), the successor firm to that best-forgotten utility, the National Electricity Power Authority (NEPA).

    The states, regulating their own electricity market, chip away at the 11 DisCos’ territorial monopoly, thus offering exciting competition that could yank them from their complacency. 

    It could start with a basic return to civility.  If services are disrupted, the consumer must know why.  Also: far better metering could make a big difference.  Insisting on that could pressure DisCos to move away from the fraudulent estimated billing.

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    Already, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has handed regulatory rights to four states: Enugu, Ekiti, Ondo and Imo.  Waiting to receive their own mandates, after scouring their applications, are six others: Oyo, Edo, Kogi, Lagos, Ogun and Niger.

    Still, handing states rights to regulate the electricity markets is no open sesame, which guarantees instant and magical success.  For one, it’s a new path to travel and it’s yet untested.  That’s why the NERC must closely monitor these regulatory agencies, to ensure they operate strictly according to their approval protocols.

    For another, bad practices, if unchecked, often end as industry standards.  Again, the estimated billing system is notorious but living proof.  It’s NERC’s bounden duty to ensure such bad practices never take root among the new state regulators.  That’s the only way the market can thrive and post value.

    As for beneficiaries of captive power, the NERC must stay close to them on safety issues.  Electricity generation is no loose or flippant business.

    With these basics tackled, and revisited consistently via robust and effective monitoring, the Nigeria electricity market may yet actualise its full potential. 

  • Healing the health sector

    Healing the health sector

    • Presidential initiative promising

    It is interesting that things appear to be looking up in  the country’s  health sector as the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, laid out plans for the year.  The minister said the Presidential Initiative to unlock the Healthcare Value Chain is beginning to yield benefits.

    Last year, in the context of the general economic turmoil in the country, the pharmaceutical sector was badly hit. Prices of drugs, many of which are imported, reached for the roof, thus affecting many patients who were forced to pay from their pockets. It is commendable that President Bola Tinubu came up with the Executive Order meant to streamline things in the industry, attract foreign investors and protect local manufacturers. According to Pate, this is beginning to yield fruits.

    The news that the European Investment Bank and the African Export Import Bank (Afrexim) have shown great interest in supporting the Nigerian government initiative is gladdening. The pan-African investment bank, in particular, is said to have signed a Memorandum of Understanding towards encouraging manufacturing in the all-important sector of the society with one billion dollars pledged.

    President Tinubu deserves commendation for bringing in as minister the vastly experienced Pate who has worked in the private and public sectors and has international experience as well. This is beginning to encourage stakeholders to participate in government plans. We hope he will be able to get the federal civil service as well as the state governments to cooperate. This is very important as health is on the concurrent list of the constitution. Besides, the states are closer to the people and work more closely with the local governments. If all tiers work in synergy, the country would benefit, and initiatives and policies from the top would have more impact among the people.

     As Pate disclosed, more than 70 companies have already shown interest in establishing presence in the country, with promise to establish about 22 large-scale projects. This has implications for employment and driving down costs of medications. Already, the Executive Order signed by the President last August removing tariffs on active pharmaceutical ingredients is said to be yielding some results in terms of ramping up production of drugs at the domestic level, syringes, needles and rapid diagnostic kits. More is expected to be achieved before 2030.

    Nigeria has so much potential. The pulling out of some international giants like Glaxo SmithKline had set off an alarm in the industry and among the general public. It turned out that the companies were responding to the general inclement economic climate in Africa. If the country is to achieve much more, the Ministry of Health will have to work closely with the Ministries of Finance, Budget and Planning as well as Investment, Trade and Industry.

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    Agencies of government such as the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), National Agency for Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), and the Customs Service have to improve on their services so that foreign companies that have shown interest in coming into the country may be encouraged. The usual encumbrances at the ports of entry, and with obtaining necessary approvals have to be consciously combated. For so long, lip service has been paid to ease of doing business; officials in the presidency saddled with that responsibility must sit up, otherwise little would be achieved. 

    This plan is too important to be left to the executive arm of government alone. Lawmakers have a primary duty to represent their people and ensure that the executive arm does what is expected of it. So far, it is obvious that the legislators are hardly involved in actual monitoring of the actions of government departments and officials. On this programme, the committee on health and other relevant committees of the national and state legislatures should sit up and hold those saddled with implementation to account. While we are not advocating confrontation, progress can only be made when all arms and agencies of government live up to expectation.

     Pate should realise that his reputation is at stake. What he does in this respect could determine what the public thinks of him irrespective of how he has discharged other responsibilities. The COVID-19 epidemic exposed so much about the country’s health system. It was so bad Boss Mustapha, who was Secretary to the Government of the Federation, confessed that he did not appreciate how bad things were until he was confronted with the state of things, especially in the public hospitals.

    All funds coming in or being raised for this project must be fully monitored and accounted for. It is not enough that international funding banks or agencies rise in support of the project. There should be no viring of budgeted funds if the objective is to be achieved. Besides, allocations to the health sector have been paltry over the years. For 2025, the estimate is a paltry 5 percent, as against the 15 percent recommended by the 2001 Abuja Declaration.

    If Nigeria could get things right in the health sector, not only will sorely needed foreign exchange be conserved but patients from other African countries would be attracted. In considering improvement in medical consumables and drugs, the government should also encourage tertiary health institutions to ramp up training in medical engineering, even if some have to be sent abroad to achieve this. 

    This is a time of emergency in the medical sector generally, and pharmaceuticals in particular. All eyes are on Pate and his team.

  • Feat of engineering

    Feat of engineering

    •Nigerian Air Force deserves commendation

    It is commendable that Nigerian Air Force (NAF) engineers and technicians reactivated a Dornier DO-228 aircraft, which had been grounded for 23 years. The plane, “with only 1,081 flight hours since new,” was originally designated ‘5N-MPS’ and operated by the former Ministry of Mines, Power, and Steel. It had been grounded at the DANA facility in Kaduna since 2001, NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Vice Marshal Olusola Akinboyewa, said in a statement. 

    The reactivation of the aircraft followed a presidential directive that all Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs) should transfer “such grounded platforms to the NAF for evaluation and possible reactivation,” he explained, adding that the NAF considered the task “a unique opportunity to restore a valuable national asset.” 

    According to him, the reactivation of the grounded aircraft, redesignated ‘NAF-039,’ was carried out between June and September 2024, and involved “a crack team of five engineering officers and 40 technicians from the NAF 431 Engineering Group, Kaduna.”  The work required “the application of advanced engineering techniques and adherence to stringent aviation standards,” and the accomplishment is a testimony to the NAF’s “growing technical expertise,” he noted. The spokesperson also said apart from “enhancing the NAF’s fleet,” the success of the project demonstrated its “resolve to achieve self-reliance in aviation maintenance for operational effectiveness.”

    The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar, observed that the successful reactivation of the aircraft “is not just an operational gain; it is a statement of our capabilities and our commitment to self-reliance.”  He has been credited with providing the necessary support and conducive working environment for personnel to function effectively and achieve the force’s mission objectives, and solid commitment to ensuring quality aircraft maintenance in the NAF. His Command Philosophy is said to prioritise logistics support and strong maintenance culture.

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    Another noteworthy case demonstrating the engineering capacity of the NAF was in early 2024 when its engineers, for the first time, successfully conducted a 4800-hour Periodic Depot Maintenance (PDM) on a Dornier -228 (DO-228) aircraft. The 4800-hours inspection was the highest level of maintenance carried out on the DO-228 aircraft. This type of scheduled maintenance on the DO-228 aircraft, formerly performed by foreign Maintenance Repair Organisations (MROs), was completed at a significantly cheaper rate and with reduced aircraft downtime.

    In this case, the inspection of the aircraft, designated ‘NAF 031,’ began in May 2021. At a ceremony held to honour the engineers involved in the PDM, the Chief of Aircraft Engineering, Air Vice Marshal Pius Oahimire, commended the Unit Commander, Air Vice Marshal Olanrewaju Oyename, who was reported saying, “This is history… This is the first PDM on a NAF aircraft conducted entirely by NAF personnel in the First Engineering Unit of the NAF at the Premier NAF Base in Kaduna.” He stressed the importance of further specialist training to boost the maintenance team’s capabilities.

    These accomplishments by the NAF show that with the appropriate resources and support its engineers can reach greater heights. It is unclear if there are other grounded government aircraft needing the NAF’s evaluation and possible reactivation. If there are, the authorities should waste no time in ensuring that they are handed over to the air force engineering group.  

    These feats of engineering in the cases of NAF-039 and NAF 031 are laudable and should inspire engineers in the army and navy, the other arms of the Nigerian military. Apart from the cost-saving value of the availability of local engineering competence to handle such technical challenges in the armed forces, the consequent non-reliance on foreign expertise is a plus for national self-esteem.