Category: Editorial

SIR: Let me use the opportunity to congratulate the president-elect on his recent victory at the poll. His tenacity and perseverance has indeed paid off; his victory it is hoped, will indeed offer Nigerians the opportunity to enjoy his robust programmes, which he has over the years sought to implement if given the opportunity to govern the country. That opportunity has finally presented itself.

Power, plays a fundamental role in the life of every nation. Due to its importance, countries of the world invest heavily in the sector. According to a 2012 report, countries like Uruguay, Mauritius, Costa Rica and South Africa, were the largest investors in renewable energy. South Africa generates close to 40,000 MW, 98% of which is from coal.  In Mauritius, a workable plan between the government have seen the Island enjoying stable electricity. In 2013, 2,575 MW was generated, representing an increase of 3.2% when compared with the year 2012. The country’s electricity consumption for that period was less than 1000 MW. Eighty percent of the electricity in Mauritius is generated from thermal plants, while the remaining 20% is from hydro-power. The government has a 15-year plan, which hopes to see power generation increase steadily. In Uruguay, power generation has increased from 2500 MW to 2900 MW, between 2009 and 2013. Sixty-three percent of the generated electricity is

derived from hydro-power. These are countries that have invested greatly in the power sector, and they have been reaping the benefits that come with stable electricity.

In Nigeria however, the opposite is the case. Electricity generation is at a disappointing level. Despite the huge investment in the sector, darkness remains prevalent in the country. Corruption has destroyed the power sector; the high level of corruption in the power sector, makes a ridicule of the huge investments in the sector.  For instance, according to a 2013 report, the government of Nigeria has invested $31.45 billion, from 1999 to 2013, and all that was generated within that 14-year period is just 2500 MW; thus taking the total electricity generation in Nigeria to around 4500 MW. This is a far cry when compared with the output by other countries within the same 14 year period. Brazil invested $58 billion in its power sector between 1994 and 2008, while its power generation is about 100,000 MW! With the amount invested in the sector thus far, Nigeria and Nigerians deserve more in terms of power generation.

The incoming government therefore, has a job to do; and it must start with the power sector. That it must provide stable electricity for Nigerians is non-negotiable.  It must show us that it is different and must get things right. One expects a complete overhaul of the entire sector, and putting mechanisms in place in order to get the desired results. A situation where billions of naira is invested with little result to show for it must stop. The privatization of the sector has yielded little or no result. Nigerians are paying more for electricity they hardly use or consume. This must change!

There should also be a diversification of the means of power generation. The countries mentioned above do not have oil. Yet, they have been able to provide a steady power for their people. It is therefore shameful that despite the huge deposit of resources in Nigeria, the country is still lagging behind in terms of electricity generation.

• Frank Ijege

  frankijege@yahoo.com

•Ondo deputy governor’s impeachment is a conclave of defectors ganging up to remove another, in wilful contempt of the Constitution

The impeachment of the Ondo Deputy Governor, Alhaji Alli Olanusi, from office by the state House of Assembly, is another indication that impunity and disregard for the due process still reign in different parts of the country. It is unfortunate that those elected to make laws for order and good governance could be so contemptuous of the spirit and letters of the constitution they swore to uphold at all times.

Section 188 clearly spells out the procedure to be adopted in impeaching and removing a President, Vice President, Governor or Deputy Governor from office. It is deliberately made stiff to ensure that pettiness does not override the general interest.

Our concern here is not as much about Alhaji Olanusi, his defection to the All Progressives Congress (APC), which seems to have motivated his removal and the power play in the state. We are rather at a loss over the haste with which the process was handled and the violence done to the underlying principles behind the impeachment procedure outlined in the supreme law of the country. Indeed, we are particularly concerned about whether the law makers who impeached Alhaji Olanusi themselves have the locus standi to do so, given the Supreme Court judgment that said a law maker can only defect if the political party that he belongs to is in crisis at the national level. 

What are the facts? Alhaji Olanusi was a member of the PDP, indeed the state chairman of the party, during the reign of the late Dr. Olusegun Agagu. When Dr. Olusegun Mimiko who had defected from the Ade Adefarati administration that he served as health commissioner in 2003, it was Olanusi, who received him into the PDP. Mimiko thereafter served as Secretary to the State Government under Dr. Agagu, before moving to the centre to join the Obasanjo administration.

Again, he chose to quit the PDP just before the 2007 election when, as was the case in the AD, he could not secure the governorship ticket. He joined the Labour Party with a horde of PDP leaders who were equally disaffected with Governor Agagu. Alhaji Olanusi was one of those who shifted base with Mimiko. He was Dr. Mimiko’s running mate in that election and they won. The governor did not find fulfilment in the Labour Party and, again, decided to relocate to the PDP. Olanusi joined him.

But, the music changed on March 26 when the deputy governor felt he had had enough of the PDP and switched camp to the APC. And that was the beginning of trouble for the removed deputy governor. No sooner did the governor consolidate his hold on the House of Assembly after the state elections of April 11 than he chose to effect a change of his deputy.

It is bad enough that pettiness is the cause of impeachments in the country, but it is worse that we have seen state after state how systems, processes and mechanisms are subverted for cheap personal gains at the expense of the governed. The impeachment notice was moved and passed, allegedly served; motion to set up panel moved and passed, the Chief Judge mandated to constitute the seven-member panel to investigate the seven grounds of impeachment, report submitted and removal effected — all within two weeks.

In the undue haste, the fundamental principle of fair hearing was disregarded as Alhaji Olanusi had to travel for medical check-up. Until he left the country, he denied being duly served the impeachment notice. The panel had up to three months to investigate the grounds of impeachment but chose to do so in days even without hearing for the accused. It submitted its report to the Speaker on Monday and the motion for removal was passed same day, a new deputy governor nominated, screened and sworn in same day.

It is interesting that this drama was playing out in Ondo State where a House of Representatives member had just lost his seat by the decision of the Supreme Court over defection without compliance with the constitution. Dr. Mimiko who masterminded the impeachment is a serial defector, the majority of the PDP members who acted the play joined Labour Party only last year and Labour was absolutely in no crisis then.  It was rather Mimiko’s sole decision to shift political allegiance – a case of an individual collapsing a party into another!  Where then is the moral right for the indignation at Olanusi’s act?

It is also worrisome that an Akure High Court ruling last week that the status quo ante be maintained, until the disposal of a case filed to forestall the removal, was disregarded by those who should be protecting the sanctity of state institutions.

Alhaji Olanusi should approach the courts for nullification of the apparently vexatious act of the lawmakers. All lovers of democracy have a duty to insist that the due process be followed always. And that officials of state act in good faith.

‘Mimiko who master-minded the impeachment is a serial defector, the majority of the PDP members who acted the play joined Labour Party only last year and Labour was absolutely in no crisis then’

•The spigot of insane spending marred, rather than made, Election 2015

We are appalled by the stupendous amount of money that was spent on the 2015 general elections which has made many people say it was the costliest in Nigeria’s political history. Perhaps Professor Wole Soyinka, the nation’s foremost literary icon and Nobel laureate, in his expression of utmost disgust aptly captures the election campaign spending to wit: “Most expensive, most prodigal, wasteful, senseless, I mean really insensitive in terms of what people live on in this country. This was the real naira-dollar extravaganza, spent on just subverting, shall we say, the natural choices of people. Just money instead of argument, instead of position statements.”

 A graphic picture of the grisly election campaign spending shows, through a recent report, that President Goodluck Jonathan disbursed for the presidential election alone N2trillion. This awesome amount, he reportedly shared out to his campaign coordinators, ministers, special advisers, close aides, friends, support groups and traditional rulers for onward transmission to voters. At this critical point of financial crunch in the land, some powerful ministers and special advisers purportedly got scandalous amounts each to prosecute the campaign in their states. The men of God were not spared of this spending jamboree as some of them were reportedly bribed to canvass for votes for the president. Although President Jonathan has debunked the claim that he spent N2trn on the elections, he did not tell us how much specifically went into the project.

Of course, the abhorrent campaign spending could not be limited to the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP); other political parties must have spent quite a lot of money on the elections. It is just that the scandalous spending was more rampant and daring in the PDP; perhaps because it had the largest stakes in the polls. The president and his friends launched an odious campaign funds event where N21.27billion was raised contrary to provision of the constitution. The 1999 Constitution in Section 221 provides: “No association, other than a political party, shall canvass for votes for any candidate at any election or contribute to the funds of any political party or to the election expenses of any candidate at an election.”

 What could be gleaned from the way and manner money was spent during the last election is lack of respect by the political parties for the rule of law. For example, the amended Electoral Act, 2010 under Section 91 provides for maximum election expenses to be incurred by a candidate in a presidential election which must not exceed N1 billion. For governorship election, the ceiling is N200 million; Senate and the House of Representatives’ polls expenses are pegged at N40 million and N20 million, respectively. No individual donation, according to the law, should exceed N1 million.

The need for adherence to the law on campaign funds limit could only be meaningful if only the political parties embrace a less mercantilist approach towards elections. The current trend shows that from the stage of expression of interest to final nomination, till the last day of election, a lot of money is involved. This has to stop; otherwise, candidates would continue to see electioneering as a business venture, which is detrimental to transparency and good governance. The truth; costly electioneering would not do the nation any good and this must be addressed in future elections!

And, it is not as if there are no sanctions for campaign fund breaches, the problem, sadly, is that they are never enforced. For a presidential campaign limit breach, the law stipulates 12-month jail term or N1billion in fines, or both. For governorship campaign breaches – N800 million or nine months in jail, or both. Yet, candidates of political parties still spend campaign money exceeding these limits. To worsen the situation, the system has not held anyone accountable for such glaring legal infractions. This, indeed, is the crux of the matter.

‘Wole Soyinka: Most expensive, most prodigal, wasteful, senseless, I mean really insensitive in terms of what people live on in this country’

•Citizen caution is advised while scientists probe the root

The report of unknown epidemic which hit Ondo and killed 12 people has attracted as much of public attention as it has created fears in the minds of inhabitants of Ode-Irele, a serene community in Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State. Curiously enough, the state commissioner for health, Dr. Dayo Adeyanju, who reported the epidemic to journalists, did not know the cause, neither could he say when nor how the disease was first noticed in the community. But he knew that four persons with fresh symptoms of the disease had been isolated at the General Hospital, Ode-Irele.

All that is known about this disease are its symptoms. According to Adeyanju, preliminary reports showed that all the victims who died of the disease “complained of headaches and later lost their sight before dying”. The commissioner explained that the symptoms of the epidemic were unlike those of Ebola Virus Disease which are diarrhoea, vomiting and haemorrhage. It is all well and good that the commissioner has assured that everything possible would be done to prevent the disease from spreading and that the state government had already sought the aid of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other partners, including the Federal Ministry of Health.

On his part, however, the Chief Executive Officer of Ebola Alert, Professor Bakare Lawal, said that examples obtained from the victims were being analysed “to enable experts to determine whether the disease was bacterial or viral infections”. But an online search vide the healthline.com revealed that the symptoms of this “unknown” disease “mimic those of temporal arteritis”. The portal has advised that, “although the exact cause of the condition is unknown, there may be a link with the body’s auto-immune response. In addition, “excessive dose of antibiotics and certain severe infections have been linked to temporal arteries which supply blood to the head and brain, become inflated or damaged. It is also known as cranial arteritis or giant cell arteritis”. The portal advises that although the exact cause condition is unknown, there may be a link with the body’s auto-immune response.

All these notwithstanding, the speculation tracing the epidemic to consumption of illicit gin brewed locally in the community has been widely spread. We therefore support the warning to people not to patronise the illicit gin, also known as ogogoro, suspected to be the culprit, at least for now, although this seems a remote possibility given that the local gin has been consumed for ages without such epidemic. Whilst not necessarily supporting the consumption of the local gin, we must look beyond it for the cause of the epidemic.

It is a pity, even if it is not surprising, that the epidemic had killed 12 people, as we live in a country where all kinds of drinks like the one called sobo and its like pass for soft drinks, and are readily consumed without verification from authentic quarters, like the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), as to their safety for human consumption. What this tells us is that people should be mindful of what they drink.

The Ondo State Government should investigate the matter to find out the source or sources of the production of illicit gins and also see to it that other things sold as drinkables, like ‘pure water’, should be made to pass NAFDAC test. Should handling of the epidemic be beyond the scope of the state government, it should follow up its calls on the relevant Federal Government and WHO to jointly look into the matter with a view to finding a lasting solution to it. The Federal Government particularly should show interest in the Ondo epidemic before it spreads to other states of the federation. A stitch in time saves nine.  

‘Should handling of the epidemic be beyond the scope of the state government, it should follow up its calls on the relevant Federal Government and WHO to jointly look into the matter with a view to finding a lasting solution to it’

•Other state governments have a lot to learn from the state paradigm 

WITH most states in the federation struggling to meet their recurrent bills courtesy of the shrunk federal distributive pool, the story of how Lagos State managed to turn the tide of its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), aside re-affirming the historic primacy of taxation in the development matrix, has merely driven further home the point about its place as foundation pillar of public finance. It  deserves the attention of any serious government.

Only last week, Tunde Fowler, chairman, Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), announced that the state’s average monthly IGR increased from N20 billion in 2013 to N23 billion last year. While disclosing that the number of voluntary taxpayers also increased from 3.8million in 2013 to 4.5million last year, his insights are particularly instructive: “In 2013, we had approximately N236 billion while in 2014 it was N276 billion…we went from an average of N20 billion in 2013 to an average of N23 billion. And that was one of the things that have kept the state working.”

Obviously, the Lagos example has gone beyond merely being a model of how tax revenue should drive development; in a more specific sense, the development is a stinging rebuke to the warped fiscalism under which states converge monthly in Abuja for their share of oil revenue – a reminder of how far the states are from weaning themselves off dependency on the federal pie.

At this time, it seems easy to forget that prior to 1999, the entire machinery of tax collection in the state could barely rake in N600 million a month. Perhaps, fewer would even recall that the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration took off with this lowly figure to a whopping N10 billion – a feat at the time.  To celebrate the quantum leap from that N10 billion to the current average of N23 billion – all within a space of eight years – is merely to acknowledge the efforts of the successive administrations in this regard.

Agreed, a lot could be said about how the state has been helped in part by its huge population, the number of industries and finance and commercial houses all of which represent a huge tax base. But then, the same tax base more or less existed pre-1999. The main difference was that the state was blessed with a leadership that not only saw the need to re-engineer the state’s finances, but actually took concrete steps to harness its tax revenue as part of an overall strategy to wean itself off reliance on the federation account.

Beyond investing in technology and human capital, we saw successive administrations in Lagos go the extra mile to educate the citizens on their tax obligations, with emphasis on voluntary compliance, while imposing stiff penalties whenever it became necessary. Those initial but critical steps are what have since translated into the results that we see today – and which we commend to other states.

We are sad to note that with perhaps few exceptions, most states in the federation have done little else than whine about the dip in their finances attendant to the slump in global oil prices. If there was ever a time the state authorities needed to put on their thinking caps, the time would be now. While it is admitted that tax bases would differ across state boundaries, it is also a known fact that a number of the states,  perhaps hung on the forlorn hope that oil prices would somehow rebound, have not even started on the idea of looking at the possibilities.

Such attitudes, which are at the heart of the current crisis, must give way to one in which citizens see themselves as active partners in the development process through the performance of their tax obligations.

SIR: At the height of the rebellion waged by the G-7 Governors under the aegis of the nPDP, Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso in his characteristic, witty political oratory described Jigawa State Governor Sule Lamido as the equivalent of a political Field Marshal. Kwankwaso contended that with ‘Field Marshal Sule Lamido and other political Generals’ in the nPDP, the days of the mainstream PDP were numbered. And, so it prophetically come to pass on March 28 and April 11. But it did so without or rather in spite of the venerable Field Marshal, Gov Sule Lamido!

The Field Marshal, It could be recalled, along with a ‘General’ called Babangida Aliyu made a volte face by retracing his steps back to the main PDP. And, he fought the war on that side firing deadly salvos at his old comrades in the nPDP and especially personally targeting their ‘chief commandant’ General Muhammadu Buhari. But, all along, the Field Marshal appeared to be solely propelled by and confident in winning the war on the basis of his side’s ‘superior weapons’ or ‘war chest’ as it has usually been the case, ignoring all other endogenous and exogenous variables determining victory on the electoral battlefield.

As ‘warring’ parties went to the first round of the war led by commandants of both camps on March 28, ‘Field Marshal’ Sule Lamido literally lost his two legs and an arm in the battle. All three PDP senators he handpicked in Jigawa fell flat on their faces before the painstaking forces of APC led by Gen Buhari. The General carried the day in Jigawa by inflicting a death toll of 885,988 people against 142,904 fatalities on his side.

On April 11, when the ‘war’ entered its second stage, the Field Marshal still managed to coordinate and command the war but again to no avail and with disastrous outcome! He lost his remaining lone arm and suffered heavy fatalities inflicted by the rampaging APC forces who sacked all that they came across with the exception of only four House of Assembly members. The Field Marshal and his platoon got the walloping of their lives on that day! How the Field Marshal and his forces have fallen with such a bang, my God!?

The Field Marshal might have reasoned that having performed excellently in Jigawa for the last eight years, he could safely run with the hare and hunt with the hound. In this case, he must have completely ruled out any negative boomeranging effect his gamble with the unpopular PDP presidential candidate will have on his grip on Jigawa politics; after all, he might have been totally sure or assured that the least grateful the people of Jigawa could be was to pay him back by at least voting his anointed gubernatorial candidate. Thus, heads or tails, Field Marshal must have concluded that he is ultimately going to be a winner since the least he could be left with is the power to anoint his successor which he took for granted! Bus alas, the Field Marshal mis-calculated by under-estimating the people’s fury with the government’s incompetent at taming a murderous group waging the most heartless and barbaric terror campaign! He must have underrated people’s natural human instincts and propensity to value, to cling onto and to prefer the law/prospect of self-preservation first to any other material considerations such as development projects like an airport, roads and culverts or a university. People need first to be alive to ply the roads, board planes and go to the universities to study! Isn’t it as simple as that?

• Ibrahim Muhammed Sani Hadejia,

NOUN Gusau Study Centre, Zamfara State

• His successor and others have lessons to learn from his experience

For the immediate past Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Mr. Suleiman Abba, the concept ‘lame duck’ would continue to resonate for a long time to come. President Goodluck Jonathan proved to the IGP that it is not over until it is over by relieving him of his appointment on April 21, barely five weeks to the end of the Jonathan presidency on May 29. The statement announcing Abba’s retirement after more than 30 years in the police force was signed by Dr Reuben Abati, the president’s special adviser on media and publicity.

It is unfortunate that Mr Abba’s service in the police force came to such an unceremonious end about four years to his retirement on March 22, 2019. But his abrupt exit from the police force should serve as admonition to his successor/s that the noblest way to serve the country is by being diligent and professional in their assignments. Mr Abba sure deserves what he got if only for the involvement of the police under him in partisan politics. Indeed, many people had expected he should be preparing to exit with President Jonathan as a result of this.

At least three examples of his partisan policing will do. First, the Osun State governorship election of last year, in which the police and some other security forces illegally arrested about 700 members of the All Progressives Congress (APC), including some electoral officers suspected to be sympathetic to the party’s cause, as a way to intimidate them and take them out of circulation for the duration of the polls. Then the activities of the controversial Mr. Joseph Mbu, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police then in charge of Zone 7, who banned the #bringbackourgirls campaigners’ rallies. Mr Abba’s sin here was his inability to call Mr Mbu to order.

Again, the role of Mr Abba himself in the persecution of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, following his defection from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC, last year. Abba said by the defection the speaker had lost his membership of the House since he was elected on the platform of the PDP. He withdrew Tambuwal’s security detail which was only restored after it became obvious that the APC looked set to win the presidential election.

Having made himself available for biased causes for President Jonathan and the PDP so far, the president and his party would have expected that Mr Abba would not depart from that path till the end. But what did we have? As soon as it was becoming clear that Gen. Buhari was likely to win the presidential election, Mr Abba’s police force became ‘born again’ and began to relax his anti-APC posture, a thing he should have done ab initio as a professional police boss.  Although no reasons were given for Mr Abba’s sack, many people had speculated that it could not have been unconnected with this newfound favour towards the opposition.

Mr. Abba, 56, had served the police in several capacities. He was an Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Zone 7 since May 25, 2012, before he was promoted Acting IGP on August 1, 2014. He also served as aide de camp (ADC) to Mrs Maryam Abacha, wife of former military Head of State, General Sani Abacha. He was confirmed substantive IGP on November 4, 2014.

All said however, whatever sections of our laws that allow the president to single-handedly sack people in certain positions, including the IGP, have to be revisited. Otherwise, we would continue to have a vicious cycle of premature retirements because even if President Jonathan had not sacked Mr Abba, the incoming government is not likely to retain him because of the unprofessional manner he did his job.

Moreover, such officers over whom the president had the power of life and death would continue to see themselves as personal employees of the president.  And, as they say, “he who pays the piper dictates the tune”. Those laws are not in the country’s interest; they must be reviewed to make others, like the National Assembly, have input into such crucial decisions.