The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Inaugurate the boards

    Inaugurate the boards

    •President Tinubu should correct the anomaly of agencies running without them

    When will the boards of federal agencies and parastatals be constituted? This is a  question on the lips of many Nigerians, and it is a valid question, given that many of such bodies have been functioning without board members for several months. Even one or two that their boards have been constituted are yet to be inaugurated, months after.

    This is not good enough.

    Governing boards play a key role in an organisation’s success. They   make decisions, set direction and ensure compliance with laws and regulations.

    It is therefore surprising that in spite of these crucial roles, many of the federal agencies have been without board members.

    The present administration came on board on May 29, last year. It has had cause to dissolve some of the boards, like the contraptions that the former Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, hurriedly inaugurated in the aviation sector at the tail end of his eight-year tenure, last year.

    While we cannot query this, especially against the backdrop of how the governing boards came into being, it is bad that these agencies have not had governing boards since then.

    Thus, we have very important agencies like the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) and the Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET), without functional boards.

    In the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, too, there are no functional boards. Yet, the ministry, like aviation and aerospace development, is home to what could pass for giants like the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Shippers’ Council (NSC) and National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA).

    Read Also: FG asks ICC to stop unfair probe of Nigeria’s military 

    Other federal agencies without boards include: Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Nigerian Upstream Regulatory Commission, National Pension Commission (PENCOM), Oil and Gas Free Zones Authority (OGFZA), Nigeria Export Processing Zone Authority (NEPZA), National Orientation Agency (NOA) and Industrial Training Fund (ITF), among others. 

    There is even a peculiar case where both the chairman and managing director of an agency were named the same day. While the MD has since resumed, the other members of the board are yet to be named, not to talk of being inaugurated. That was months ago.

    Many of these agencies are of national importance either due to the services they render to the country or their financial contributions to the national purse.

    They therefore need the guidance and direction that board members are supposed to give. In the absence of governing boards, close supervision of the activities of their management is hindered even as their approvals are not properly scrutinised. This leaves room for arbitrariness and corruption.

    To continue to let these agencies run without boards is like diminishing the crucial role that the boards are supposed to play.

    Beyond that is the fact that running those bodies in the absence of governing boards is a gross violation of the Acts of parliament that established them, which provide for the appointment of boards that would work with the management teams in their operations.

    Various industry groups like the Aviation Round Table Safety Initiative in the aviation sector, for instance, have been calling for constitution and inauguration of the boards in the sector. So are the stakeholders in other sectors too.

    We align with their position.

    This impunity of running government parastatals without boards  has not been the usual pattern; it only gained currency in the Muhammadu Buhari years. We do not want to believe that it is this template that the present government wants to adopt.

    We therefore urge President Bola Tinubu to give this matter the desired attention. These board appointments are tenured jobs. This has implications for board members that have been appointed but not inaugurated because, one; when does their term begin to count: the time of appointment or inauguration?

    Moreover, whatever actions such board members take could become subjects of litigation on account of their not being inaugurated.

  • Fair call

    Fair call

    DisCos bristle at raising their capital to N500 bn. But it’s in their best interest to do so

    Nigeria’s electricity distribution companies (DisCos) have reacted with bluff and bluster, mounting some funny media filibustering, to the House of Representatives’ resolution that they should recapitalise to the tune of N500 billion. Whichever cannot drops out of the market.

    That, the House reasoned – and logically so – should get them enough cash to run the business; and secure their revenue, instead of acting as parasites on their customers.  They would have enough capital to get customers meters; and therefore, abolish the highly unfair estimated billing system, which, without meters to gauge accurate power consumption, has led to the hideous fleecing of customers.

    The House call is fair and logical.  Common sense – even if that is not so common – attests it’s the best way for the DisCos to sustain the business and drive profit.  But the way they have reacted, one would have thought it was the most unreasonable proposition.  It is not.  The earlier the DisCos reconciled themselves to that reality, the better for them, the better for the industry value chain and the better for Nigeria’s energy security, for a country gunning for a US$ 1 trillion economy by 2030.

    Indeed, Sunday Oduntan, executive director, Research and Advocacy, Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) and general spokesperson for the DisCo cartel, turned it into some counter-threat against the government, which still owns 40 per cent of all the 11 DisCos.

    “N500 billion – fantastic!  We will look for 60 per cent, the government should bring in the remaining 40 per cent.  If the government does not bring its 40 per cent,” he warned, “we will not pay our 60 per cent.  Talk is cheap!”

    Oduntan forgot the many financial interventions that the Federal Government has rendered to the DisCos.

    Read Also: Senate, NUC advocate for more universities in Nigeria

    Anyway, it’s not the equity in Oduntan’s proposition that is galling – fair is fair!  If the government holds 40 per cent equity, it logically follows that it should pitch in its own share of equity capital.  It’s rather the insufferable arrogance of DisCos – which Oduntan’s terrible diction epitomised – that are just too used to riding roughshod over the market that sustains them.  Such should not be tolerated.

    Another industry voice, though unnamed and speaking with ‘The Punch’, was no less cavalier.  “The National Assembly is not our regulator,” he chaffed.  “We take orders from NERC (Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission), not the House of Representatives.  When NERC talks about it, then we will know the next thing to do.  NERC will tell us what to do, not the National Assembly.”

    But maybe NERC should read the riot act and talk to DisCos in the language they understand!  NERC itself would appear complicit in the DisCos’ arrant misbehaviour.  But for the strong warning from the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Agency (FCCPA), from which NERC took a cue and joined, perhaps the DisCos would have forced hapless customers to pay for outdated meters – property of the DisCos! – instead of automatically replacing them.  Again, such gangling abuse should no longer be tolerated.

    Which is why the House of Representatives should move beyond a resolution, and work in tandem with the Federal Ministry of Power, to work on the requisite amendments to the law, which should compel NERC to implement the new policy.  It’s just as well that Adebayo Adelabu, the power minister, had hinted at such recapitalisation.  It’s time to seriously walk that talk.

    DisCos emerged from the hazy environment of crony capitalism, in which the old Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) was generally parcelled to investors that seemed deficient in both technical and monetary capital.  That explains why they cannot even supply meters that should secure their revenue, but instead rely on estimated billing to fleece people.  That must stop.

    The House should also push its idea to treat recalcitrant DisCos as non-state actors that wilfully involve themselves in economic terrorism against citizens and the Nigerian state.  That emergency should push the DisCos to reset their suspect business models.

  • At last, up and running

    At last, up and running

    •The return of Port Harcourt Refinery is worth celebrating

    Tuesday November 26, Nigerians woke up to the news that the 60,000 barrels per day capacity Port Harcourt Refinery was finally back in business.

    “Today marks a monumental achievement for Nigeria as the Port Harcourt Refinery officially commences crude oil processing,” –a terse statement from Femi Soneye, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd’s (NNPCL) Chief Corporate Communications Officer, read.

    He also added: “Together, we are reshaping Nigeria’s energy future!”

    “We are working tirelessly to bring the Warri Refinery back online soon.”

    Discounting the subtle hyperbole, the news is certainly one that Nigerians had longed to hear. After all, it is not for nothing that Nigerians have grown disillusioned, if not cynical, over any prospects of the return of the refineries to business, following several years of failed promises.

    In 1999, former president, Olusegun Obasanjo, who although met the nation’s four refineries in a coma, would claim to know everything that was needed to be done to turn things around. Yet, he would fail to initiate any concrete action to get them up and running. Indeed, outside of the administration’s pretences, policy flip-flops, nothing actually changed in the whole of his eight years in office despite spending an estimated $800 million on them. His controversial last-minute sale of one of the refineries in Port Harcourt and Kaduna to Bluestar Consortium would later be aborted by his successor, the late president, Umaru Yar’Adua.

    Under Goodluck Jonathan, all manner of deadlines were set for the complete rehabilitation of the refineries in Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Warri. Indeed, a deadline was, at some point, set for March 2013. Like those made by the administrations before it, even that one came to naught. In fact, in all of its 16 years in power, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) administration achieved practically nothing – outside of the regime that turned fuel importation and its crushing subsidies into a national bazaar.

    That is perhaps the context in which an elated President Bola Tinubu could not have only congratulated NNPCL on the feat, but gave the credit to President Muhammadu Buhari under whose watch the rehabilitation actually commenced in May 2021.

    Still, the process has certainly come a long way from when the former administration took a $1.5 billion loan towards the refineries’ rehabilitation, with a promise to deliver them in 18 months. It has equally suffered serial fits and starts to become wearisome.

    Notably, Nigerians would recall Mele Kyari, shortly after his appointment as Group Managing Director of the NNPC in July 2019, making a solemn promise: “We will deliver all our four refineries within the life of President Buhari’s administration. We shall seek strategic partnerships to ensure Nigeria becomes a net exporter of petroleum products”.

    That like others before it, the promise also went unfulfilled. Same with his ‘Christmas Gift’ of ‘mechanical completion’ of phase one by December 2023. With no products coming as Nigerians had expected, the sense of disillusionment was exacerbated. In fact, with no fewer than seven promised dates coming without fulfilment, Nigerians’ disillusionment became not only palpable but understandable.

    But a snag must be noted. The refineries, as has now been revealed, has suffered serial acts of sabotage, and these might have been responsible for its failure to launch on schedule. In fact, a few months ago, the gaskets blew mysteriously, and it led to distrust of some of the staff, including the security. The Directorate of State Security had to come to the rescue.

    Last Tuesday’s reopening could therefore be seen as a redemptive moment for the NNPCL. It also shows that the blame lay less with Kyari as with the pevious administration. Kyari had to follow the urgency of his bosses. It is to Tinubu’s credit that he brought the best out of the NNPCL chief. It has proven beyond doubt, that the refineries, given the political will, are salvageable. This is why the moment, modest as it might seem, deserves to be celebrated.

    Surely, not even the fact that the refinery (60,0000 bpd) is the smaller and older (started operations in 1965) of the two refineries in Port Harcourt. (The other, commissioned in 1989 is 150,000bpd). Certainly not the fact that it will initially operate at 70% capacity can detract from the import of the moment.

    Whichever angle anyone might choose to look at the development, its coming at this time is significant; a milestone of sorts in the nation’s journey towards energy security and socio-economic stability.

    At this point, the expectation of every Nigerian is an expeditious delivery of the remaining three refineries. It seems to us the surest way to restore public trust and credibility to the NNPCL. The issue of sabotage may have undermined the capacity to keep Nigerians updated on the state of the return of the refineries in an atmosphere of civic doubts at every government move.

    Read Also: Southwest NIN agents protest over two-year unpaid commissions, license revocation

    Next to this issue is the broader operational environment. Agreed, the refineries are a major part of the domestic supply equation; however, their long-term impact on the lives of the citizens will certainly depend on other factors, particularly the existence of an efficient distribution and logistical infrastructure, which in current time, have, just like the refineries, collapsed.

    It bears stating that aside the tragic story of moribund refineries, the other part of Nigeria’s fuel supply/distribution story, just as tragic and well known, is the collapse of the sprawling network of pipelines and depot infrastructure criss-crossing the country and one on which movements of fuel not only once depended but ran seamlessly. For while Nigerians, and to a lesser extent, the NNPCL appears fixated on the issue of the refineries and their rehabilitation, they have thus far, not to paid as much attention to this aspect of this critical sector’s value chain on which everything may either rise or fall. The pipes are long, sinuous and many, and the NNPCL has said quite a few times how arduous it will be to fix them. The neglect in the oil sector has taken very long. If now is time to address that important gap, it will have to take a gradual strategy. The refineries are top priority.

    Now that the first leg of the rehabilitation has been completed, perhaps it might be time for the NNPCL to begin to consider the future of the refineries, particularly its ownership structure itself. This is not a matter for NNPCL alone. It has bureaucratic and political aspects.

    The point here is that the current structure of government’s sole ownership has neither served the company nor Nigerians well. Some have suggested the option that has proven not only workable but profitable. It is  the NLNG model in which the government holds a minority stake. It is something that the NNPCL should give serious thought, particularly at this time.    

  • A bad example

    A bad example

    • CCT boss Umar deserves to go, but the President and National Assembly should follow due process in removing him

    The sacked Chairman of the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT), Danladi Umar, turned a tragicomedy while in office, instead of being the nation’s conscience in corporate governance. Arguably, the laws establishing the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) and the CCT, are confusing.  While the CCB is listed in Section 153 of the constitution as an executive body, the CCT, on the other hand, is a judicial body, listed in Paragraph 15 of the Fifth Schedule to the 1999 Constitution.

    Since the two are treated interchangeably, the Chairman of the CCB, who is also the Chairman of the CCT, sits astride the executive and judicial arms of the government concurrently. Interestingly, despite being notorious, Mr Umar’s removal from the office, which he had allegedly serially abused, has sparked controversy on whether legal due process was followed by the President and the Senate.

    Every fair-minded person would agree that Mr Umar had become gangrene on the two key agencies he headed, but since we are in a democratic dispensation, due process must be followed to sack him. The confusion led the Senate to wrongly invoke section 157(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) to sack Mr Umar as Chairman of the tribunal, which is a judicial body, when the section only mentioned CCB, which is an executive body.  The section provides that the Senate can remove a member of the bureau without recourse to the House of Representatives.

    Conversely, the chairman of the tribunal can only be removed under Paragraph 15(3) of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution. By that provision, the President will act on “an address supported by two-thirds majority of each House of the National Assembly praying that he be so removed for inability to discharge the function of the office in question (whether arising from infirmity of mind or body) or for misconduct or contravention of this Code.”  Indeed, Mr Umar was a cat with two lives, and he exploited it.

    Even the President originally fell into that error when, by an executive fiat, he sought to appoint Abdullahi Usma Bello as the new chairman of the tribunal, an appointment changed to reflect him as the chairman of the bureau. Thankfully, the Senate and the House of Representatives are harmonising their position to effectively kill the infectious worm. Clearly, the allegations against Mr Umar are legion, and it showed, as 84 senators across party lines and regions, signed to remove him from office.

    Read Also: Tinubu swears in CCB Chairman Bello

    According to the Senate Leader, Bamidele Opeyemi: “The Code of Conduct Tribunal, as a statutory institution is expected to uphold virtues of integrity, probity, and accountability.” He added: “However, Mr. Yakubu Danladi Umar’s conduct has fallen short of these requisite standards for a public officer entrusted with such responsibilities.” Earlier in 2018, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, had filed a bribery and judicial racketeering case against Mr Umar, as Chairman of the CCT.

    The commission accused him of receiving N1.8 million out of an alleged N10 million he demanded from one Rasheed Taiwo, in 2012. To his credit, the then Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, SAN, withdrew the case for “lack of merit”, and Justice Yusuf Halilu of the Abuja High Court, subsequently struck out the case. In 2021, a video went viral, which showed Mr Umar assaulting a 22-year-old security guard, one Mr Clement Sargwak. The security man had tried to ensure that Mr Umar’s car was properly parked in a parking lot.

    While Mr Sargwak, through his lawyers, and non-governmental organisations wrote several petitions against Mr Umar, his office accused the security man of being rude to Mr Umar. The effort by the 9th Senate to hold Mr Umar to account yielded nothing. Despite several invitations, following petitions, Mr Umar appeared only once before the Senate Committee on Ethics, Privileges and Public Petition. Also in 2022, some staff of the CCT accused Mr Umar of fraud, corruption, nepotism and marginalisation.

    He was also accused of fraudulently awarding contracts without recourse to procedure and due process. The staff further accused him of blocking their annual training, amongst several other infractions. In the discharge of his duties, the sacked CCT chairman made very controversial decisions. The most controversial being the trial and conviction of former Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Walter Onnoghen, for alleged false assets declaration, instead of recourse to the National Judicial Commission (NJC). He ordered that Justice Onnoghen be removed by President Muhammadu Buhari, and his bank accounts frozen.

    It is a mark of our fractious democracy that Mr Umar survived these controversies this long. Yet, the CCT and CCB are two fundamental institutions that can deepen transparency and accountability in governance. With its enormous powers to oversight a wide range of public officers, including the legislators, the Presidency, the judiciary, the army, amongst others, the occupier of that office must be a person of unimpeachable character. Mr Danladi Umar fell short of that highest standard.

    We urge the National Assembly and the Presidency to make sure that due process is followed, to ensure a final interment of his scary ghost.

  • The case for investing in Nigeria

    The case for investing in Nigeria

    • By Bola Ahmed Tinubu

    We see France as worthy partner in Nigeria’s effort to build a productive national economy as well as to advance the noble causes of economic development, parity among nations, peace and an end to extremist violence and destructive successionists movements in the West African region.

    3.We have serious socio and economic challenges to confront in our region. We seek partners to help combat poverty  hunger and lack of growth. What we do not need are actors coming from far and distant places to use the land and people of West Africa as pawns in a game of power  and influence unrelated to the welfare and wellbeing of our people.

    France can be a positive and genuine factor in creating this new chapter for West Africa. We welcome and seek that productive and healthy role for your nation.

    4.This storied  and leading Republic  in Europe and our large and growing Republic in Africa can do much working together in order to overcome the imbalances of the past to create a better and brighter future for our two nations and for the relationship between our two continents.

    ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL COOPERATION:

    5.Relations between Nigeria and France date back to the Independence era, and these go a long way in shaping the strategic partnership between our two countries.

    Trade and investment have been integral to this partnership. As Nigeria has grown and evolved , the texture of the economic cooperation and other relations have also adjusted and accordingly evolved. This flexibility and ability to adapt to emerging political and economic realities is emblematic of a durable relationship based on mutual respect when our interests converge as well as when our interests diverge.

    6. This vital business Forum should continue to function in similar spirit. Indeed, the dynamic partnership we already share must be deepened yet constantly refined given the everchanging global environment in which we now exist.

    7. Here, I ask your indulgence to allow me to give a few key numbers regarding the Nigerian economy. But most importantly, I want to offer you my vision of economy that Nigeria should and must become not only for the sake of its population of roughly 250 million souls but as a driving force for a new era prosperity and stability throughout the west African region.

    We have embarked on key fiscal and monetary policies in order to create a foundation that will allow for greater and more sustained growth in the future. Integral to that future shall be Foreign Direct Investments (FDI).

    Read Also: ‘Economic Recovery and Growth Plan means investing in Nigerians’

    Already, there are signs that our economy is turning the corner and is starting to positively respond to the reforms thus far enacted.

    Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 3.46% (year-on-year) in real terms in Q3 2024.  This rate is higher than the 2.54% recorded in the same quarter last year  and also higher than the 3.19 percent recorded in the prior quarter of this year. Equally, Nigeria’s GDP for Q3 2024 stood at N71.13 trillion, with a year-on-year increase of 17.26 per cent from N60.66 trillion in Q3 2023

    We believe the best interests of Nigeria are best protected as we continue to correct the fundamentals and institute policies that create wealth and bring meaningful jobs to our people.

    8.You see, my vision for the Nigerian economy is not one simply defined by improving GDP numbers. Ultimately, our economy must bring a better standard of living to the vast majority of our people. This means we must grow more food such that no parent will have to send a child to bed hungry or the next morning render them to school without having being fed. That farm incomes will be such as to encourage not discourage greater production.

    9.That our growing urban population will have access to good jobs and will be possessed with the skills to do those jobs. Although night must come, darkness shall not befall Nigeria because we will produce sufficient power to light our households and power a growing industrial base 24 hours a day.

    That Nigeria will hum with the sound of productive activity calling forth a greater quantum of goods manufactured by and for our people.

    In short, my vision for Nigeria is one where we take the the monumental steps necessary to make Nigeria the industrial and agricultural powerhouse our population and resource endowment call us to be. 

    10.Thus, the timing of this Business Forum is auspicious. It avails us the opportunity to present some of the growth indicators of our economy and explore diverse areas of opportunities and partnerships in Key Sectors.

    I am happy to note that the key sectors for our deliberations include Agri-Food, Oil and Gas, Logistics, Banking, Energy, ICT, and Infrastructure. This, indeed, will further boost existing relations between the two countries.

    8-POINTS AGENDA:

    11.As you are aware, my administration is anchored on an 8-Points Agenda, namely: Diversification of the economy, Education, Healthcare, National Security, Anti-corruption and Good Governance, Infrastructural Development.

    12.My administration has created an enabling environment to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the critical sectors of the economy: Infrastructure, Oil and gas, Agriculture, Renewable energy, Solid minerals development, and Trade and investment. Thus, I wish to confirm that the hand of partnership is extended to prospective investors from your great country to take advantage of this opportunity to promote private sector engagements, particularly in critical sectors of the economy.

    EASE OF DOING BUSINESS REFORMS:

    13.The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) has continued to implement key reforms with the removal of bureaucratic and legislative constraints aimed at attracting investments with the improved business climate in Nigeria. These reforms include automating regulatory processes, enhancing transparency and streamlining port and trade operations.

    .INVESTMENT INCENTIVES:

    14.Primarily through our investment promotion commission, Nigeria offers various incentives to attract investments such as tax holidays, capital allowances, and investment deductions for certain industries; as well as export expansion grants for non-oil exporters.

    15.In addition, we offer Tax-Free periods, Duty-Free Imports for priority projects, Credit Guarantees and Free Trade Zones to stimulate economic growth through investment.

    16.Your Excellencies, Captains of industries and business operators, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, permit me to once again to state that Nigeria – a country of over 200 million people – Africa’s largest market, massive natural resources, a robust and skilled youth population and the most hospitable people in Africa is a place of destiny and greater economic import.

    17.I do not have to ask you to invest in Nigeria. The facts have already stated the case. What I can tell you is that my government will do everything reasonably possible to make any such investment of mutual and enduring benefit.

    20. thank you for your attention.

    • Excerpts from speech by President Bola Tinubu at the Nigeria France Business Forum held in Paris, France, recently.   
  • Tragic revenue collection

    Tragic revenue collection

    •Anambra officials have to review the mechanism to minimise avoidable incidents

    Three deaths in Onitsha further highlighted the issue of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) collection in Anambra State, and why the state government needs to review its methods. Two alleged IGR collection agents of the Governor Chukwuma Soludo administration were burned alive by a mob. A viral video showed the mob hitting the alleged state revenue collectors with different objects before setting them ablaze. The shocking incident happened at Old Market Road in the commercial city.

    According to an eye-witness account, six “revenue collectors” were chasing a tipper driver “over a certain amount they asked him to pay.” Some of them tried to seize the steering and take control of the vehicle, which led to a struggle. “In the process,” he said, “the tipper driver lost control and rammed into a bystander, killing him instantly. Immediately the revenue collectors saw the damage they had caused, they tried to flee the scene.” The death of the innocent bystander was avoidable.

    The witness said an angry mob “set two of the revenue officials ablaze while four others managed to escape.” He added: “It was one death too many as this had been going on in Anambra in the last two years. The person the tipper driver rammed into is a known person. We cannot continue like this anymore. These revenue touts of the state government have killed more Ndi Anambra than non-state actors who are disturbing the peace.” 

    But the mob went too far. It is condemnable that they took the law into their own hands and took the lives of the alleged state revenue collectors. 

    However, a government official was reported saying they were not government agents. So, who were they? Spokesman for the state police command Tochukwu Ikenga said they “responded swiftly” on receiving the news of the incident, adding, “We are already working with the relevant authorities to ascertain what happened.” The police must urgently investigate the incident and find out whether those who had tried to collect money from the tipper driver were actually government agents or impersonators.  

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    Notably, residents of the state were reported to have complained about the activities of revenue collection agents working for the state government, particularly their aggressive methods. The Soludo administration, which allegedly failed to pay attention to public complaints about its revenue collectors, should look into the accusation and take action to ensure that they do their work without aggression.

    In March, Soludo, while speaking about his achievements two years after he became governor, said the state’s IGR was “N1.4bn to N1.5bn a month” at the beginning of his governorship but “now, we are getting to a little under N3bn.” He added: “Our target this year is to be able to exceed N4bn, and Anambra has the potential to get up to N10bn on a monthly basis.”

    The governor also stated that his administration was not collecting IGR indiscriminately. He explained that, for example, they stopped taxes and levies on petty traders, hawkers, people whose capital was less than N100,000, truck and barrow pushers and others “so that the poor can not only breathe but also walk and run.” He listed the benefits the people were enjoying based on the state’s improved IGR, including free basic education, free antenatal, delivery, and caesarean operation in all public hospitals.

    Indeed, the state government needs improved revenue to improve socio-economic conditions in the state. This requires the cooperation of the people. But improving the state’s IGR should not involve high-handedness by its revenue collectors. It is condemnable that three lives were lost in this IGR-related incident. 

    The Anambra State government must ensure that its IGR collection agents are trained to carry out their work without high-handedness.

  • Due reward

    Due reward

    •Landmark judgment against the Police redresses injustice against constables

    The National Industrial Court of Nigeria, last week, delivered a verdict by which more than 22,000 police constables in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are to be absorbed and remunerated as regular personnel by the Nigeria Police. The court ordered the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) and the Police Service Commission (PSC) to issue them letters of employment and pay them salary arrears that accumulated over four years, stretching back to 2021.

    Special police constables were recruited under the former Muhammadu Buhari presidency to fight insecurity at the grassroots and pilot the community policing initiative of government. They were recruited from local communities, trained by the police, and assigned within communities to help with intelligence gathering and community relations type of duties; with some accompanying conventional police officers on security operations. They aren’t too different from regular police in their appearance, only they do not bear arms like regular police.

     But the force has treated them like volunteers, forcing many to rely on bribes to scrape a living.The industrial court ordered immediate regularisation of the constables’ engagement by the police and their proper remuneration. Justice Rakiya Haastrup delivered the verdict in a case filed by the constables against the IGP and the PSC, and also ordered payment of arrears owed them. The suit in which Sebastine Hon, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), represented the constables aimed to address the long-standing issue of unpaid salaries.

    The plaintiffs (constables) had through their lawyer sued the police for refusing to pay them monthly stipends despite making them serve the nation for the past four years.

    Read Also: Tinubu, Macron foster economic ties at Nigerian-France Business Council in Paris

    Refuting the police’s claim that they were volunteers, the special constables tendered documents showing that, at the time they were engaged, the police had agreed to pay them monthly stipends commensurate with the basic allowance of a regular constable in the force. They argued that the police’s recourse to not paying them the stipends was not just unlawful, but had put their lives in jeopardy as they could not meet up with the basic necessities of life. The constables, therefore, urged the court that having been lawfully engaged by the police, they were entitled to monthly stipends to enable them to perform their duties effectively and diligently. They noted that due to the hazardous nature of their job, seven of their members had died.

    In her judgment, Justice Haastrup agreed with the plaintiffs’ counsel that they established a contractual agreement of employment relationship between them and the police. She held that “based on the agreement, the plaintiffs were entitled to monthly stipends for their job.” While observing that the exact amount to be paid as stipends was not fixed by the police, the judge held that the plaintiffs were entitled to a basic allowance of N54,655 per month from January 2021 to May 2024 pending when the IGP fixes their monthly allowance. She ordered the police boss to fix the amount due to the plaintiffs within two months of delivery of her judgment.

    Beyond payment of outstanding salaries, Justice Haastrup ordered that the special constables be “issued with letters of appointment, having trained them, equipped them, issued them with uniforms and identity cards and deployed them in states of the federation and the FCT.

    ”The work condition of the special constables until now has not only been a hazard to themselves, but also a jeopardy to society. About mid-last year, some representatives of the constables were reported bemoaning the neglect by the police to pay them stipends or salaries since they were recruited in 2020, saying despite their commitment to service of their respective community they were not recognised and appreciated.

    Meanwhile, their reported misconduct by routinely extorting bribes from members of the public became such an embarrassment to the police establishment that former PSC Chairman Solomon Arase, a retired IGP, once called for an overhaul, disbandment or, at the minimum, introduction of a different uniform for the constabulary personnel because, according to him, they are notorious for unethical acts that tarnish the reputation of the entire force.

    We think it is unconscionable that the police force has been making the constables work for zero pay while risking their lives at the job, and the industrial court verdict goes a long way in redressing such injustice.

  • Good intervention

    Good intervention

    • Validation of anti-graft bodies by the Supreme Court is commendable

    When 19 states, before three withdrew their participation, chose to approach the Supreme Court to declare the major anti-corruption agencies illegal, many Nigerians would have dismissed it as a frivolous move. But, anything that is dragged before a court of law, especially the highest court of the land, and filed by attorneys-general of so many states of the federation should not be treated with such levity.

    However, the verdict by their lordships has put the case to rest. All the points raised by the states were dismissed.

    On the contention that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC) (Establishment) Act of 2002 grew out of a United Nations Commission and thus needed to travel round the states for concurrence, the apex court dismissed the prayer because the National Assembly has the power to so act. To insist that such a law should be referred to the states’ Houses of Assembly for passage is to elevate the sub-nationals to the same level as the federal legislature.

    We quite agree with the Supreme Court on this, as we have seen in recent times attempts by some states to make themselves cogs in the wheel of national progress. The constitution is clear as to what body has the right to make laws for the good governance of the country. The fight against corruption is a major one that the country has to wage if we are to regain the momentum of accelerated progress.

     When President Olusegun Obasanjo

    established the EFCC in 2003, while the states contended that the EFCC Act was in violation of section 12 of the Constitution, the Attorney-General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), hinged his own argument seeking invalidation of the states’ plea on section 15(5).

    The earlier all Nigerians realised that the task of building a solid country that would drive African development is for all, the better. While this would mean that the Federal Government should carry all along, the states should not be pulling in a different direction. The procedure for law making is well spelt out in the constitution. There is a committee stage at which there is a public hearing to which critical stakeholders are usually invited. States are not forbidden from submitting memoranda at the stage.

    To come up more than 20 years later challenging the Act does not speak well of the states, especially their ministries of justice. It was also untidy that states started withdrawing their appearance after the matter had been called. The governor of Benue State even suspended his attorney-general and commissioner for justice for unilaterally taking such a decision without the backing of the executive council.

    Leakages from the treasury is one of the reasons why poverty has become so endemic in the land and Nigeria is now touted the poverty capital of the world. States had argued that power to curb corruption should not be exclusive to the federal legislature, that states, too, could establish their own agencies to fight the menace.

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    On the surface, this would appear logical, but their further averments that only such state agencies should be legally allowed to probe and prosecute fleece at state level betray their motive. In any case, the matter had been laid to rest in Olafisoye v FRN where the Supreme Court held that the federal anti- graft agencies should have the unfettered power to fight all forms of corruption at the federal level and all parts of the federation.

    The Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) was particularly challenged by three states on its powers to limit how much could be withdrawn in cash by states from their accounts. This, too, was struck down by the apex court on account of the inherent powers of the unit.

    There is a need to further strengthen the laws, not whittle them down. This verdict by the Supreme Court should be seized by the National Assembly to look into ways of amending the relevant Acts. Where executive action is needed in terms of forwarding executive bills, this should be don without delay. All arms and institutions of government at all levels should come up with subsidiary legislations to get all those who have held the country down to face the fury of the law.

  • Idle UBEC funds

    Idle UBEC funds

    • State govts don’t seem to appreciate its essence

    The Universal Basic Education Programme was introduced in 1999 by the Federal Government as a reform programme aimed at providing greater access to, and ensuring quality of basic education throughout Nigeria. Paradoxically, Nigeria, as at 2024, is sadly a global leader in the number of out-of-school children, with a conservative estimate of more than 20 million. This is heartbreaking in a twenty-first century world of phenomenal advancement and innovations in technology and artificial intelligence (AI).

    Nigeria is equally referred to as the poverty capital of the world, with more than 133 million citizens living in multi-dimensional poverty. There is no doubt that poverty and general underdevelopment are closely linked to illiteracy and lack of visionary leadership.

    Nigeria is a signatory to the Acts and Treaties of the United Nations. However, the country has not really in recent times lived up to its obligations in the education of its people.

    There is a UN benchmark of 26 per cent of annual budgetary allocation to education. Nigeria has always under- performed in this area because, in most cases, the allocation to the education sector does not even come in double digits. This is a clear case of an unserious country when education is on the table.

    There was therefore a sigh of relief when in 1999, the then civilian government of Olusegun Obasanjo introduced the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Programme aimed at earmarking a certain fund for the states to assist in the funding of at least basic education. Procedurally, the various states were expected to provide ‘counterpart funding’ to make the UBEC funds fully functional in the basic education sector.

    Sadly, not much impact has been made in this regard. Reports often indicate that most governors have over the years either ignored or mismanaged the UBEC funds.

     The use of the funds over the years has been impacted by widespread corruption and lack of proper accountability.

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    Many education experts have made varied suggestions on how to make the programme functional. Some suggest that governors must, on assuming office, be educated properly on the value, not just of UBEC funds but of education as the bedrock of development.

    Many have suggested that the education ministries in the states organise conferences and workshops to educate the UBEC and SUBEC staff not just in management but also on the value of the programmes. We suggest also that the process be made more flexible in ways that each state can operate within its own realities, given that there is no one-size-fits-all in the whole system. Abuse of the process can be prevented with good and adequate supervisory roles by governors and excellent monitoring by the federal education ministry.

    Education in Nigeria, beyond the issues of UBEC, must be an emergency because the cancer of ignorance spreads fast and we cannot afford to continually lag behind and raise children that cannot fit into the 21st century world ruled by ideas and AI.

    Beyond education for its own sake, it must be noted that countries that have incorporated school-lunch programme have significantly increased enthusiasm of the young in education as the very nutritious lunch packs steadily improved their development and general emotional stability.

    Nigeria, with the increasing feeding insecurity might be on the verge of another calamity –that of raising not only physically but mentally retarded generation of children whose state of health cannot support any form of development, let alone progress. Child mortality in Nigeria is very high and most are linked to poor nutrition and hygiene. There seems to be little attention to child welfare in general and practical terms.

    Generational illiteracy can neither grow nor develop any nation. Child marriage negatively impacts the raising and nurturing of children; the main reason crass malnutrition is rife in regions of the country with high cases of child marriage. 

    Beyond addressing the idle UBEC funds and improving modes of implementation, plans must be made to improve the nutrition of the children the country intends to give the basic education leap through the UBEC and SUBEC programmes.

  • Accountability deficit

    Accountability deficit

    •NASS, AuGF must work more towards improving management of funds by MDAs.

    Even as the Federal Government continues to battle the country’s economic challenges, it is depressing that large-scale fraud, pervasive corruption and disregard for financial regulations remain prevalent in the management of public funds by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government. This much was revealed by the Audit Report of Non-compliance/Internal Control Weaknesses in the MDAs submitted by the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation, (AuGF) to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly for the financial year ending December 31, 2021.

    The report indicated that various forms of fraud and financial infringement to the tune of N3.4 trillion were uncovered in several MDAs between 2020 and 2021.

    One major malpractice perpetrated by at least 32 MDAs as encapsulated in the report was irregularities in the award of contracts valued at N7.39 billion in violation of financial regulations which stipulate open competitive bidding for all procurement processes. It was also reported that the sum of N167.59 billion was paid for contracts that were not executed at all or only partially executed, in contravention of the legal stipulation that payments cannot be made for goods or services not yet delivered.

     At least 24 MDAs failed to strictly adhere to the requirement for procurement plans and mandatory approvals before contract awards in projects estimated at N20.33 billion.

     In a similar vein, a total sum of N2.41 billion was allegedly paid by some MDAs for contracts above stipulated financial thresholds without obtaining the mandatory ‘Certificate of No Objection’ from the Bureau of Public Procurement.

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    Other violations reported by the Office of the AuGF include denial of access to documents with expenditure amounting to N21,480,891, 930.17 by 11 MDAs; unretired cash advances in 30 MDAs amounting to N1,300,643,209.41 and payment without vouchers amounting to N1,135,025,464.67.

    The MDAs indicted for these infractions include the Rural Electrification Agency, Abuja; the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company PLC; the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, Abuja; Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital, Zaria; the Federal Medical Centre, Bida, and the Corporate Affairs Commission, among others.

    Although the Office of the AuGF deserves commendation for a thorough job in the audit report as well as its courage in passing on its findings to the PAC of the National Assembly, it is difficult to understand why the audit report for 2021 is just being made available at the tail end of 2024. This time lag in compiling and submitting up- to-date audit reports creates undue delays in correcting identified lapses, punishing culpable officials, retrieving misappropriated funds and may encourage continuation of corrupt practices.

    The National Assembly can certainly not escape blame for not insisting on the preparation and submission of up-to -date audit reports as part of its oversight role over the Office of the AuGF. It is not impossible that the auditors lack the necessary manpower, materials and other resources to be more effective and efficient in discharging their responsibilities; this should be urgently remedied if such is the case.

    The report gives an insight, once again, into the level of corruption and impunity in the management of resources in the public sector, as well as the absence of the requisite checks and balances, and functional internal control mechanisms responsible for the prevention of infractions.

     It is also disturbing that even where this kind of revealing audit reports had been submitted to the National Assembly in the past, there were hardly any follow-up reports on investigation and prosecution of indicted officers in accordance with the law to deter future occurrences.

    But, beyond reacting to violation of financial regulations after the deed had been done and humongous amounts of funds lost, proactive measures must be put in place to prevent the infractions from being committed.