The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Managing IDPs

    •Laudable gesture from South Africa but…

    That the Federal Government has been lax in managing the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) is not in doubt. Reports emanating from a number of the camps have been that of misery, squalor and the most abject of human conditions.

    In shelters in Abuja and other parts of the north, basic amenities like kitchen, water, electricity, clinics and classroom blocks are almost non-existent. Some camps have been shown to be derelict and unfit for human habitation while food supply and security have posed serious challenges both for managers and inmates.

    We have had cause to raise some of these points here a number of times, calling for a more articulate and professional handling of the IDPs problem that has beset the country since the upsurge of the Boko Haram terror about five years ago. However, as the activities of the terrorists were intensified with more villages sacked early last year, the number of displaced people rose rapidly across the country.

    More camps were also hurriedly set up but without the requisite facilities and support services. We were not surprised however by the reports emanating from two camps in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) recently. Two bodies: the South African High Commission working in collaboration with the Nelson Mandela Institute (NMI) were apparently moved to intervene in the IDPs affairs.

    As part of the activities to mark the 2015 Nelson Mandela International Day, they had produced and distributed no fewer than 400 identity cards for the IDPs in Area 1 and New Kuchingoro camps of the FCT. Some of the details contained in the identity cards include name and photographs of the displaced persons. Other information include: state of origin, identity card number, signatures and location of the camp.

    Apart from procuring identity cards for IDPs, the team led by the South African High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Mnguni Lulu, also presented what they called support Booths which would serve as information-cum-administrative centre for each camp. These are intended to ease the administration of the IDPs camps as well as ensure effective dissemination of information. Essential items like generators and food stuff were presented by the South African team.

    The envoy noted that his country would continue to support Nigeria and her efforts to contain the Boko Haram menace. Their visit to the camp, according to him, was to improve the quality of lives of the displaced and to promote the legacy of Mandela. He promised that the embassy and the NMI would replicate the gesture in other camps within the FCT for the overall good of the displaced.

    This kind gesture of the South Africans is worthy of commendation and their especial courage to break diplomatic bounds and take needed help to hurting humanity is particularly worthy of note. We hope other countries would emulate this noble gesture and push through official barriers to ferry relief and succour to where they are sorely needed.

    On the other hand, we urge the Nigerian authorities, especially the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and all concerned in the affairs of the IDPs to wake up to the enormous task of managing compatriots who are caught in the crossfire of an insurgency. We wonder how the IDPs have been managed all these years without such basic tool as identification. If the ones camped in the FCT are lacking such basic requirement we shudder at the state of the camps in far-flung areas of the country.

    Apart from the funds voted for taking care of the IDPs, many kind-hearted Nigerians and international organisations would be willing to lend a hand if called upon and if they can observe a professional and accountable management of the problem.

    Lastly, it is common knowledge that no part of the country is still under the control of the insurgents. We therefore urge the handlers of the IDPs to begin to work towards resettling them back to their towns and villages from whence they were displaced. This is the next line of action and it should be done with utmost diligence.

  • Challenge before new service chiefs

    SIR: Now that President Buhari has finally parted ways with Jonathan’s men and has since approved the appointments of Major-General Babagana Mongunu (RTD) as National Security Adviser, Major-General Abayomi Olonisakin as Chief of Defence Staff, Major-General T.Y Buratai as Chief of Army Staff, Rear Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Iba as Chief of Naval Staff and Air Vice Marshal Morgan Riku as Head of Defence Intelligence, while Lawal Musa Daura has been appointed Director General of Directorate of State Security (DSS), with Abdulahi Gana Muhammadu appointed to man the NSCDC, the question on the lips of Nigerians is – could these be the long awaited “messiahs” that would finally do the needful that would effectively put a permanent end to the menace of Boko Haram in this country?

    One bears in mind that some of the problems that has hampered and slowed down the wheels of progress of Nigeria’s fight against insurgency also includes the activities of traitors and Boko Haram sympathizers within the rank and file of the military and para-military agencies, rivalry and lack of proper and elastic intelligence-sharing among the different security agencies, and human rights abuses and extra-judicial killings of innocent Nigerians by the military. Nigerians patiently and eagerly awaits how and what these new sets of service Chiefs would do differently, to bring BokoHaram to its knees.

    Corruption, indiscipline and fifth columnists are the issues which must first of all be “weeded” and effectively uprooted from the military if we are to make any meaningful headway in defeating Boko Haram. Systematic and intelligence measures should be put in place to identify and “fish out” Boko Haram informants and sympathizers. Cases of human rights abuses and extra-judicial killings must be properly investigated and perpetrators brought to book. The different security agencies must “pocket” their ego and needless rivalry and work together in intelligence-gathering and sharing to achieve a common aim of stamping out insurgency and other forms of violent crimes in the country. Whether the present administration or the new service chiefs knows this or not, the release of the Chibok girls and their subsequent reunion with their families and loved ones would be the high point of their success in the war against Boko Haram. The time to finally and permanently crush Boko Haram is now or never!

     

    • Hussain Obaro,

     Ilorin Kwara State

  • A bridge too far?

    A bridge too far?

    •After the campaign season, completing the 2nd Niger Bridge, and other crucial infrastructure nationwide is proving a forlorn hope

    The Second Niger Bridge is fast becoming the troubling symbol of electoral emptiness. Thrice — 2006, 2011 and 2015 — its promised completion had raised voter adrenalin and delivered a confetti of votes, particularly from Nigeria’s political South East.

    But as it was after those two previous electioneering seasons, it is now after the general elections of 2015: the politicians have reaped their votes. But the voters’ expectations on the bridge’s completion remain dashed.

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo first pulled the stunt in 2006, baiting Igbo votes for the 2007 elections. Goodluck Jonathan, Obasanjo’s protégé-turned-enemy, played the same card twice: 2011 and 2015. Although President Jonathan won in 2011, he didn’t deliver on the bridge. He lost in 2015, so he is in no position to do so. Meanwhile, the Second Niger Bridge idea was first mooted in 1979, which shows the bridge, as a vote-milking sop, dated back to the Second Republic (1979-1983)!

    President Muhammadu Buhari may not have anchored his campaign on the bridge; and labours under no burden to deliver on any promise. But that does not vitiate the importance of completing a second bridge across the Niger.

    For one, the present sole bridge is worse for wear. After its completion in 1965, and the repair on its damaged sections after the Civil War, expert opinion insists it may be past its prime. For another, it is a crucial link between Nigeria’s West and East — and that includes the eastern part of the South-South. It is therefore a critical socio-economic link.

    But even if President Buhari wanted to act, it would appear there is little he could do. This is clear from the paucity of funds, which has seen vital construction works across the country grind to a halt. Work too has stopped on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, which Jonathan presidency sources, at the heat of the election season, were trumpeting was moving ahead of schedule; and on the Shagamu-Ore-Benin Expressway.

    On the work sites of both the Second Niger Bridge and Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the work gang has been demobilised. At the bridge site at Asaba (Delta State) and Ogbaru (Anambra State), no less than 50 ad hoc workers have been laid off; and more may follow. Heavy equipment too have been moved, reportedly pending the time funding would resume. It is the same story at the two ends of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, where Julius Berger (Lagos end) and RCC (Ibadan end) were taking charge. The plant houses at both facilities have also been shut.

    Though President Jonathan said during the campaign that N10 billion had been spent on the Niger Bridge, thus underscoring his government’s resolve to complete it, the funding plan for the project had been unconvincing and rather controversial, particularly the bit about tolling the bridge. Many stakeholders had kicked against the plan, but were nevertheless upbeat that the dream was, at last, coming true. But alas!

    Even if Jonathan had won, given the present economic meltdown which arose from his government’s wanton waste, throttling corruption and collapse of crude price in the global oil market, it is doubtful if work would have continued. That tends to suggest an electoral hoax.

    That is squandering government’s social capital with the people. That explains the near-complete breakdown of trust between citizens and government. Such conduct must be condemned with all vehemence. A government that breaches the social contract only courts nothing but instability and eventual anarchy.

    That is why the Buhari presidency should move fast, stop the financial bleeding and re-mobilise to site on these vital works as soon as possible. That is the only way the Nigerian state can save face against a progressively sceptical — if not outright cynical — citizens.

    ‘The Buhari presidency should move fast, stop the financial bleeding and re-mobilise to site on these vital works as soon as possible. That is the only way the Nigerian state can save face against a progressively sceptical — if not outright cynical — citizens’

  • Naira’s free fall

    Naira’s free fall

    Eight months after the apex bank embarked on the latest roller-coaster ride of devaluation, Nigerians must wonder as to the fate of the national currency. In the latest wave of the battering, the naira hit a record low last week when it exchanged for N241 to the United States dollar at the parallel market. Officially, it traded at N199.150 to the US dollar.

    In November 2014, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had brought the foreign exchange official window from N155 to N168 to one US dollar. At the time, the move was seen as a deft one to halt the run on the foreign reserves. Six months after, precisely on June 23, the CBN introduced a new rule under which importers of 41 items were barred from accessing foreign exchange from the official window – a move that appears to have exacerbated the problem with the consequence of further widening the gap between the official and the parallel market.

    We agree to a point that there is nothing sacrosanct in the value of the naira – at least to the extent that the interplay of the variables seems stacked against it at the moment. First, we know that oil sales and prices have been going in negative direction with its implication for severe cutback in our foreign exchange earnings. At the same time, the absence of any significant export capacity means that we cannot take advantage of devaluation to boost exports and hence shore up foreign exchange earnings as would ordinarily be the case.

    To compound the problem, importers and perhaps currency traffickers have been relentless in their demand for forex for all manner of goods and purposes. Clearly, the consequence could not have been anything different from what we have seen of the fate of the naira. In an economy which relies almost wholesale on imports – whether of raw materials or finished goods –the omens can only be anything but good.

    Our worry however isn’t so much about the steady decline in the value of the naira per se but what we see as the virtual surrender by the apex bank to the parallel market. Only in November last year, the margin between the official and the parallel market was approximately N10. Today, the difference has grown in multiples. Indeed, since last month when the new forex rule became operational, the naira has fallen by 10.5 per cent from 218 to 241 against the greenback. For an apex bank that is ever too eager to make the point that it has sufficient forex in the official window for anyone who cared, the rise of the parallel market goes beyond merely illustrating the hollowness of its pretensions; the signs are of an institution not only entangled in the web of its own contradictions, but one clearly out of depth.

    We think that the situation demands new thinking. Clearly, we do not expect the apex bank to perform magic; but then, asking a class of importers to source for their forex from inter-bank market or wherever is part of that long tradition of living in denial of reality. In practical terms, the measure is akin to legitimising the parallel market segment. We must say that no country can afford to surrender so cynically to the band of invisible players. And in any case, where are the guarantees that what is sold in the official market will not end up in servicing the parallel market?

    The real challenge, in our view, is for stricter monitoring of financial transactions by relevant institutions of government. With too much money outside of the banking system, a chunk of which are easily proceeds of corruption and other forms of illicit activities, the task of tracking would not be an easy one. In all of these, the bureau de change operators have proven to be the weakest part of the chain. Yet, it is something that the apex bank and the Federal Government must find the will to take on.

    ‘Clearly, we do not expect the apex bank to perform magic; but then, asking a class of importers to source for their forex from inter-bank market or wherever is part of that long tradition of living in denial of reality. In practical terms, the measure is akin to legitimising the parallel market segment. We must say that no country can afford to surrender so cynically to the band of invisible players’

  • Presidential pay slash

    Presidential pay slash

    •What is more important is discipline and curbing extravagant lifestyle

    President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo recently declared their intention through an official memo with reference number PRES/81/SGF/17 to voluntarily slash their salaries by 50 per cent of what the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) statutorily allotted to their posts. This is to us a glib approach to an endemic problem of waste in public life.

    President Buhari’s current annual remuneration as approved by RMAFC is put at N14, 058,820.00. By halving his salary, Buhari will be earning in each year of his four-year administration tenure life span, the sum of N7m. The same applies to Osinbajo who earns N12,126,289.8 per year, which at half salary translates to N6,063,144.9 per year. Apart from these remunerations, the president and his deputy are entitled to various regular allowances like: hardship allowance which translates to 50 per cent of their basic salaries and consistency allowance which amounts to 250 per cent of same basic salaries.

    But the important question at this juncture is who determines whether the president/deputy is consistent in the discharge of their duties; and also what type of hardships are the president and his deputy faced with in the discharge of their duties? This is one fundamental dilemma faced by a country in search of a realistic remuneration package not only for her executive arm of government but the legislative and other appointive positions in the land.

    This season of salary slashing calls back to former President Goodluck Jonathan at a point during his administration when the price of crude oil slumped. He reduced his salary by 30 percent. This he did despite the fact that his administration witnessed the highest level of crude oil theft and other extreme corrupt practices without any known significant attempt to nip such in the bud. In the end, such publicity stunt stands for its symbolism and not substance because nothing really changed. Under the current dispensation, it is also on record that the governors of Abia, Kaduna and Kano states, amongst others, reduced their salaries but the public sees that as another publicity trick that would not positively impact on the lives of the common man.

    Sadly, the executive and the legislative arms of government are only able to maintain a greedy and ostentatious lifestyle of buying private jets and building grandiose houses of opulence and procurement of bullet-proof vehicles because of the odious slush funds at their disposal. What ought to be done is for them to slash the diverse allowances like security vote, hardship and consistency allowances, including travelling estacode, amongst others, such that the wage bills of the states and the centre government would drastically be brought down. So far, public officers’ allowances account for the bulk of their financial entitlements, creating in the process a heavy toll on public till.

    The RMAFC is statutorily empowered by Section 32 (d) of Part 1 of the Third Schedule of the Constitution to determine the appropriate remuneration for political office holders. Consequently, we call on this statutory body to come up with a pay package for all arms of government, which reflects the economic reality in the polity. We do not subscribe to perquisites of office that are adhoc or individualistic like the current executive/presidential salary cut initiatives. We want realistic meaningful salary structure for elective and appointive officers of state but we abhor remuneration excesses and ostentation that are insensitive to the prevailing economic realities. That is what RMAFC should curtail without further delay. The Buhari administration may mean well by the salary slash, but we need greater show of discipline in public life.

  • Money everywhere…

    Money everywhere…

    Each new day seems to dawn with revelations of sleaze and messy handling of the nation’s abundant resources , especially by the immediate past administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. Every department or agency that generates revenues seems to be roiled in mind-boggling corruption and a brazen thieving of public funds.

    For example, in the past week, the media have been awash with the exchange between Governor Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State and Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, immediate past Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy.

    Oshiomhole, speaking on behalf of the National Economic Council (NEC) pointed out that Excess Crude Account (ECA) of the federation which warehouses extra-budgetary earnings from crude oil sales, was unilaterally broached by Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala who depleted it by a hefty $2.1 billion.

    She put up a strong denial, first claiming she had no such powers and that only the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) could have authorised any such withdrawals. But when the FAAC members comprising the finance commissioners of the 36 states rebutted her claim, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala recanted, now taking shelter under her boss, President Jonathan.

    “Payments made were used for the paying for petroleum subsidies for the Nigerian people and were approved by Mr. President… therefore, there is no question of mismanaging any resources here,” Mrs Okonjo-Iweala said through her spokesperson.

    The foregoing dodgy narrative of the chief manager of former President Jonathan administration’s finances and economy is symptomatic of a blighted six years in Nigeria’s nationhood under a boisterous and unrepentant Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Not given to being sober and reflective, the flurry of sleaze breaking out like a plague from every government building would not deter the spokesman of the PDP. His insistence on his party, PDP taking the credit for the ‘bailout’ cash which the Muhammadu Buhari administration recently availed the states of the federation has only opened more cans of worms.

    In rebutting the PDP’s claims that the ‘bailout’ cash was a product of its prudence, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has alleged that on the contrary, the cash came from the post-Jonathan era dividends paid by the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited last month. The APC surmised that dividends totalling about $4.8 billion had been paid by the NLNG to the Federal Government since 2004, for which there is no trace.

    The APC noted further that its investigation revealed that another sum of $5.5 billion which the NLNG had paid the Federal Government just before the May 29 handover of government is nowhere to be traced.

    The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) too seems to have leaked like a sieve, especially these past few years. According to report, the honey-pot of the nation is said to have earned about N8.1 trillion during the Jonathan years but merely N4.3 trillion was reportedly remitted into the treasury.

    If most of these reports are true, what it means is that more than half of the nation’s resources are not accounted for and captured in the federation account. We therefore suggest that going forward, the Buhari administration must set up a system to follow the money to the last kobo. Every revenue-earning ministry, department and agency (MDA) must not only be compelled to remit every kobo to the treasury, they must also be mandated to produce and make public their statements of accounts.

    May we also suggest that as a result of the sheer magnitude of the malfeasance of the past administration, a comprehensive review of the operations of the MDAs in the last six years should be carried out with a view to retrieving at least some of the misappropriated funds.

    We believe that with a regime of accountability, Nigeria’s economy may not be in such dire straits as imagined.

    ‘If most of these reports are true, what it means is that more than half of the nation’s resources are not accounted for and captured in the federation account. We therefore suggest that going forward, the Buhari administration must set up a system to follow the money to the last kobo’

     

  • Beyond mushy religion

    SIR: The most corrupt administration in Nigeria’s democratic dispensation coincidentally happens to be the most religious.  They preached prosperity theology.  Unfortunately, the burden of sustaining their ideology fell on the back of suffering masses.  The poor seems to be gullible.  Uplifting words that raise hope of escaping the mud of wretchedness win their conscience.  However religion in Nigeria has leapt beyond the bound of ignorance and stupor to bounce at the pedestal of social mainstream.

    A stranger visiting various markets, especially those in Onitsha, Anambra State, stands a chance of being unduly delayed.  Shops are not opened on time on certain days of the week because members of the line observe prayer service.  This could take up to two hours in the morning.  Imagine that you are driving for an emergency and your tyre ruptures and you want to run into the market to buy another one.  Upon arrival, you find the shops are cordoned off for prayers during business hours.

    One could find patience in watching a group of energetic men shouting praises in worship of their God.  The ambience subdues the instinct to be irrational.  Till business opens, the same prayer warriors will turn into the most shrewd and crooked traders.  Not truly all of them but when you have been cheated and sold bad products twice too many, you tend to paint these businessmen with a broad stroke.  You come to realize that there are different forces at work among these people.  The desperation to make money is distinctly separated from the desire to gain salvation.  Or the prayer is solely a part of the quest to get rich. And they comfortably inhabit these two spirits without seeing any form of conflict.

    Religion is nothing new.  As such, it must have a strong hold that binds people to it.  There is no culture that existed that did not have a semblance of religion.  The ritual of conducting oneself in a disciplined order loosely constitutes a form of worship.  The zealousness to confuse decent order of living in the name of religion becomes problematic.  We are all wired differently by our Maker.  Left only to our animal nature, we will destroy ourselves.  Attributes of goodness exist in all human beings.  These virtues have been strengthened through enlightenment.

    Different strokes for different folks.  Whatever belief system that appeals to one’s sentiments is understandable to rule one’s life.  It is not civilized to impose an alien doctrine over one’s spirit.  The consequences of such brainwash could lead to behaviours that are inimical to a grounded existence.  Thus you hear stories of pastors who impregnate young girls during private religious studies.  They convinced themselves that their belief system overpowers the erotic force.

    Let us worship the God of our understanding in separation from the discipline that allows society to function in a uniform manner.  One should show decency before religion.

    • Pius Okaneme,

    Umuoji, Anambra State.

  • Funding the police

    Funding the police

    • More money has to be provided for the force to enhance internal security 

    The report that the Nigeria Police has not been recruiting since 2011, for lack of funds, is worrisome. Currently, Nigeria has about 400,000 police personnel, while our population is reputed to be more than 160 million. The grim statistics means that one police personnel caters for more than 400 persons. That perhaps partly explains the gross insecurity in the country. To make matters worse, a sizeable portion of the police are engaged in unlawful police duties. Among this group are those converted to private bodyguards, those on illegal sentry duties, and those perpetually at road corners, collecting illegal tolls from hapless citizens.

    Despite the low number, the last attempt to recruit in 2014, ended in a fiasco. According to a report, while the police had sought approval to recruit 30,000 personnel, only 10,000 was approved. Even then, this meagre number approved was never recruited. The reason was that the police management team had to convert the approved fund, towards the payment of salaries and other overheads. Even with such recourse, the police force was reported to have taken a bank loan to pay salaries in 2015, to avoid the threat of strike, before the general elections. Also, there are arrears of salaries owed personnel promoted since 2013.

    As the funding challenges of the police continue to aggravate, it is important that the federal and state governments agree on a model to solve the problem. Part of the solution should be the amendment of the constitution to allow for state police; after all, it is the states that now provide most of the logistics for the police commands within their territory. Even while recognising the current financial challenges facing the states, the constitutional amendment that would allow for state police should also reorder the sharing of national resources, and the ownership and exploitation of natural resources, to gift states more funding capacity.

    Interestingly, President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed his intention to return the internal security control of the country to the police. That explained his instruction that the army should be replaced by the police at the check-points, save in very volatile states. To realise this objective, the federal executive must in the interim, devise ways of appropriately taking care of the funding gap. Also, it is important that the abuse of turning our national police to private bodyguards and putting them to other illegal uses be stopped. Furthermore, the Federal Government should enforce accountability and discipline, and compel the police management to maximise available resources.

    There is also the need for the rank and file of the police to be reoriented. For many Nigerians, and this is based on their experiences, the police are the architect of many of their own challenges. It is a common belief that police leadership is complicit in the underfunding of the police; as funds for uniforms, barrack maintenance, personnel on transfers, and other sundry expenditure are regularly misappropriated. Also, the low-rank personnel are believed to have little respect for the uniform they wear, except for the authority it imbues in them, to intimidate and exploit the ordinary people.

    While awaiting improvement in budgetary allocation, it is important that the police management make adequate use of the available resources. For instance, the recent improvement made at the Police College in Ikeja, is already being undermined. It is also strange that detectives usually ask for bribes to conduct investigations. Again, many police barracks and offices are decrepit and smelly, obviously because of lack of common cleanliness. In the common interest, we urge the Federal Government to urgently seek ways to meet the budgetary requirements of the police. And where it suspects the money is being misappropriated, it should identify those involved and punish them accordingly.

  • Great breakthrough

    •Iran nuclear deal could spell new trend in international relations

    Last week’s successful conclusion to long-running negotiations between Iran and the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, the so-called P5+1, should be cautiously celebrated as heralding a possible movement away from quick resort to force in resolving international disputes.

    Like all truly important agreements, it was a long and tortuous journey, taking the better part of 12 years. What was in contention was the question of whether Iran’s nuclear development programme was peaceful, as Iran insisted it was, or geared towards the creation of nuclear weapons, as many of Iran’s adversaries contended. The issue was further complicated by Shi’ite Iran’s historical rivalry with Sunni Saudi Arabia, its active intervention in the Middle East, its status as the most uncompromising opponent of Israel, and its human rights record.

    The agreement involves the recognition of Iran’s right to engage in the peaceful development of nuclear energy, the institution of wide-ranging safeguards restricting its capacity to make nuclear weapons, a comprehensive regimen of inspections, and the re-imposition of sanctions if the country reneges on the treaty. In return, the crippling economic sanctions imposed on it by the US and the EU will be lifted, thereby enabling it to access the technology and services that would enhance its economic growth.

    The positive implications of this agreement cannot be over-emphasised. It demonstrates the capacity for bitter adversaries to overcome decades of hostility and suspicion, ignore temptations to abandon negotiations, and hammer out an agreement which substantially addresses the major issues. Given the volatility of the region, which has been made even worse by the Syrian conflict and the rise of Islamic State, the reduction of simmering tensions is only too welcome.

    If all the terms of the agreement are kept, it could head off the terrifying prospect of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. By curbing Iranian capacity to enrich uranium, reducing its stockpile of the material, and suspending the construction of heavy-water reactors for the next 15 years, all parties hope to reassure other nations, especially Israel and Saudi Arabia, that their fears of a nuclear-capable Iran are less justifiable.

    Iran’s resilience in the face of wide-ranging economic sanctions is commendable. By demonstrating that it cannot be cowed into submission, it has made a case for the superiority of negotiation over confrontation. However, it must now move away from the pattern of lying, deception and subterfuge which alarmed the world and entrenched the distrust of its enemies. As it enters into a post-sanctions era, it must seek to engage with the rest of the world on terms that do not include the sponsorship of militant and terrorist groups.

    For their part, the P5+1 must work to convince countries like Israel and Saudi Arabia to give the agreement time to work, regardless of their suspicions of Iranian intentions. The inclusion of so-called “snap back” provisions, which provide for the immediate restoration of sanctions in case of default, should be sufficiently reassuring.

    Even though it is not directly affected by the outcome, Nigeria should be alert to the wider implications of the nuclear deal. Iran is a major oil exporter; the removal of sanctions is very likely to enable it to increase its oil-production and export capacity. At the very least, the prospect of a sanctions-free Iran could further weaken already-low oil prices, thereby compounding the woes of a nation already struggling with sharply reduced revenues.

    Given the likelihood of this scenario, the Federal Government would do well to establish measures that would reduce any adverse effects to the barest minimum. It is essential that the current steps being taken to enhance local refining capacity are redoubled, as well as policies aimed at diversifying the economy and making it less dependent on oil.

  • Budgetary brigandage

    Budgetary brigandage

    The National Assembly should not be allowed to execute the contradiction of determining how much it spends

    Nigeria’s National Assembly, the legislature, is assigned a pivotal role in achieving good, accountable, transparent and effective governance under the country’s presidential system of government. Apart from its specialised function of law making in a tripartite separation of powers that sees the executive implementing laws and the judiciary adjudicating disputes, the National Assembly is given broad oversight functions over all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).

    Section 88 of the extant 1999 constitution invests the National Assembly with powers to conduct investigations as regards items in the concurrent and exclusive legislative lists. These wide ranging legislative powers include investigating any matter or thing with respect to which the National Assembly has power to make laws as well as the conduct of any person, authority, ministry or government department responsible for executing these laws and disbursing moneys appropriated by the National Assembly.

    It is only logical to expect a body charged with such high-minded and critical responsibilities, which are indispensable for the attainment of good governance, to be a model of institutional accountability and ethical integrity. This is, unfortunately, far from being so as the National Assembly has acquired notoriety for operating a budgetary system without precedence in the global democratic community in terms of opacity, sheer brigandage and shocking recklessness.

    The National Assembly’s annual budget of N150 billion is scrupulously shielded from public scrutiny, making its components one of the best kept secrets in the country. Not only does the National Assembly determine and approve its own budget, it also implements same with practically no independent oversight to guarantee transparency and accountability. It is a grand irony that a body that exercises oversight control over others is itself immune from oversight constraints. This surely cannot be the intention of the constitution.

    Knowledge of details of the National Assembly budget is reportedly limited to the Senate President, the Speaker of the House, their deputies, chairmen of services committees in both chambers as well as the Clerk of the National Assembly and a few powerful directors under his control. This unhealthy situation is responsible for such frivolous and fraudulent expenditure as the alleged spending of half a billion Naira annually on maintenance of generators alone, award of three contracts within four years for the installation or  rehabilitation of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras within the National Assembly complex at close to one billion Naira and the procurement of standard plasma television sets for each Senator, Representative and top National Assembly bureaucrats at about five times the market price. This, we learn, is only a tip of the iceberg in a patently criminal opaque budgetary system that only provides cover for an extensive contract awards racket with most of the contracts hardly ever advertised for competitive bidding as required by an assortment of relevant laws.

    Of course, there is merit in the argument for financial autonomy of the National Assembly to enhance its functional efficacy, extricate the legislature from the dominance and control of the executive and achieve the constitutional stipulation of separation of powers. However, this goal is already guaranteed by Section 81 of the 1999 constitution, which ensures that the National Assembly like the judiciary and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), directly receives its budgeted funds from the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF). However, the process through which the National Assembly arrives at the size and composition of its budget cannot continue to be shrouded in secrecy. It must be open to the citizenry who, in a democracy, exercise ultimate oversight responsibility over a government that derives its legitimacy from a popular mandate.

    True, agencies such as the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) are empowered to scrutinise the National Assembly’s budget and apply necessary legal sanctions against detected infractions. However, these agencies are probably impeded in this regard by the fact that they are also open to the National Assembly’s oversight scrutiny. We thus have a vicious cycle in which they turn a blind eye to the legislators’ budgetary brigandage and the latter are, in turn, morally incapacitated to undertake any serious oversight of the regulatory anti-graft agencies.

    The National Assembly’s opaque budgetary system is only one manifestation of a generalised chaotic and erratic budgetary process that has compounded the country’s economic woes. Recent revelations, for instance, indicate that critical national agencies like the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd (NNLG) and the Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC) run similar opaque budgets that are ill aligned to the national budget. It is not unlikely that is also the case with other cash cows such as the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) or the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA). A thorough audit and holistic overhauling of the country’s budgetary system at all levels is a necessary condition for the promised change of this new dispensation.