The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Ooni Ogunwusi at 50

    Ooni Ogunwusi at 50

    • He has done a lot in terms of development, unity, etc. With age on his side, the sky is the limit

    His transition from prince to king in 2015 marked the beginning of a uniquely important chapter of his life. His 50th birthday on October 17 was also a significant milestone as he looks forward to his 10th coronation anniversary as the Ooni of Ife next year.

    Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi (Ojaja II) was 41 when he was crowned the 51st Ooni of Ife, in Osun State.  Following his emergence as the traditional ruler of Ile-Ife, he announced an agenda that reflected his sense of responsibility as well as his sense of purpose. He said in a statement at the time: “The Ile-Ife of ‘my dream’ will be strategically positioned to empower its people socially, economically and culturally, to bring about the desired developments…there is a huge possibility for Ile-Ife to experience tremendous growth through industrialisation and developmental projects.”

    Ile-Ife’s recognition as the ancestral and spiritual home of the Yoruba race imposes a burden on its traditional ruler to be of exemplary conduct.  Regarded as the spiritual head of the ethnic group and a custodian of its values, Oba Ogunwusi has commendably projected its Omoluwabi ethos, which emphasises the importance of a positive character in the social environment.

    He has shown himself to be an ambassador of peace and unity. For instance, in 2016, he made the headlines with his historic self-initiated visit to the then Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III, in the pursuit of peace between the occupants of perhaps the two most prominent and culturally significant Yoruba thrones. A long and bitter rivalry had existed between Oba Adeyemi and Ooni Sijuwade, Oba Ogunwusi’s predecessor.

    It is a measure of his sense of mission that he has also taken concrete steps to resolve the age-long antagonism between Ife and Modakeke.  He set up the House of Oduduwa Development Trust Fund to reconstruct buildings damaged in communal clashes between the two communities. He remarkably continues to pursue Yoruba unity.

    However, he is also a major player in the sphere of traditional rulership nationally. As a co-chairman of the National Council of Traditional Rulers of Nigeria and the Southern Nigeria Traditional Rulers Council, he is in the forefront of advocates of an official role for traditional rulers in governance.

    The role of royalty in a democratic polity remains a subject of debate. It is a testimony to his creative leadership that, despite the circumscription of royal power by democratic institutions, and the associated diminution of its developmental capacity, he has been able to record development-related successes.

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    His age when he became king held a generational promise, and he was expected to bring modern thinking and methods to an ancient office. After studying Accountancy at The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo State, he chose the path of business. He is the founder of Gran Imperio Group, which has interests in real estate and construction, manufacturing, facilities management, leisure and tourism.

    Notably, as part of his 50th birthday celebrations, he unveiled the OJAJA Hostel, a 2.7-kilometre road and a pavilion named after Nigeria’s First Lady, Remi Tinubu, at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.  He said these “reflect our shared commitment to progress for our community and nation.”

    True to his frank style of calling for good governance, he took the opportunity to “urge all leaders to serve Nigeria with integrity, compassion, and patriotism,” adding, “Our nation requires socio-economic initiatives that reach all corners, and it is our duty to be sources of hope and strength in shaping Nigeria’s future.”

    As the founder of Ojaja University, Ilorin, Kwara State, he demonstrated his passion for education and human development. He described the institution as “a structure that will allow us to produce valuable innovators who will not only be academically and morally sound but also globally great innovators.”

    A recipient of the Nigerian national honour, Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic (CFR), in 2022, he brought radiance to his throne, remains culturally relevant and continues to exhibit respectable leadership.

    He is a modernising agent who has age on his side. His performance is work in progress. We congratulate him on his golden jubilee.

  • Our leaders to blame

    Our leaders to blame

    It is not Russians’ fault that young African ladies make themselves available for questionable recruitment to build drones

    The more than two-year war between Vladimir Putin’s Russia and Volodymyr  Zelenskyy’s Ukraine keeps expanding its global impact. The recent report about the Kremlin recruiting African, Asian, and South American women aged 18-22  to fill an urgent labour shortage  in wartime Russia raised eyebrows and must be of serious concern not just for the developing countries involved in Africa like Uganda, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Sudan, but to the global community.

    This comes at a time when immigration, either as a national border issue, nationalistic populist political issue or socio-economic movement of distressed citizens of the underdeveloped world, has become a topical issue. The International Labour Organization (ILO) has many laws meant to protect world citizens from exploitations through flawed and dubious employment processes.

    The fact that about 200 young African women at the zenith of their productive lives were dubiously recruited to work along Russian vocational students in a plant about 1,000 kilometres east of Moscow must worry both individual African countries and the continental body, the African Union (AU), the sub regional bodies  —  the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the South African Development Community (SADC) and many others; they must wake up and smell the coffee, literally.

    We understand that the age of adulthood is 18 and none of the recruited Africans is a minor. However, the process must matter. There are allegations that the social media adverts used to trap the young African women were utterly couched in dubiety. There were promises of ‘free plane tickets, money and a far-away adventure in Europe’. The incentive was, ‘just complete a computer game and a 100-word Russian vocabulary test’.

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    However, instead of a work-study programme in sectors of productive interests like hospitality, care-giving and catering, most of the recruited women were herded into drone factories in Russia’s Tatarstan region, in a field they had neither passion for nor expertise in – making weapons of war, assembling thousands of Iranian-designed attack drones for use against Ukrainian targets.

    We condemn what obviously comes off as human trafficking, given the seeming deception involved in the recruitment process. The alleged restriction of their movements might be conceded as the right of every nation to protect its territorial integrity, but there are global labour laws that ought to be obeyed, both nationally and internationally. Recruitment for labour services must not be under any socio-economic subterfuge.

    While we condemn Russia and her agents for running what seems like false labour recruitment process and deceiving young women from Africa and other developing countries, we must hold African and other leaderships accountable. Economic migration has become the albatross of many developing and poor countries decades after independence. It is a huge paradox that a continent blessed with enormous human and material resources has been unable to functionally develop.

    Economic migration happens when the most productive demographic decide to move out of their birth countries in search of the proverbial ‘greener grass’, that is fundamentally a product of the African ‘un-watered grass’, a euphemism for the ineffectual leadership in Africa that has failed the people. The sad part is that economic migration by young Africans now seems so attractive that a country like Nigeria has even developed a vocabulary for the process. ‘Japa’, is a word in Yoruba language that depicts ‘moving out’.

    Development is about empowering the people and maximising the resources available. African countries have continued to be the contradiction of being a continent so blessed that the west continually exploits its raw materials and human resources for its own development. In some weird way, Africa seems not to have weaned herself from the vestiges of slavery and colonialism, the processes that were, ab initio, for the benefits of the continents that engaged in the two human vices. Today, human trafficking is a global problem but Africa has a huge problem of doing nothing to completely minimise its impact on the African work force and resources.

    This incident has come to light because of the advantages of technology. Information and communication now rule the world, but only work maximally for nations that tap into the unlimited benefits they bring. The African Union, ECOWAS, SADC and other continental and regional bodies must be more about development and collaboration for the African countries. We hope that actions can be taken to repatriate the young ladies in this sad case, and the agents prosecuted.

  • Dearth of heart surgeons

    Dearth of heart surgeons

    Govt must provide conducive environment for them to function

    In a recently published interview, the President of the Association of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgeons of Nigeria (ACTSON), Prof. Anietimfon Etiuma, drew attention to the lamentable dearth of heart surgeons in the country. “Currently, we have only about 80 cardiac and thoracic surgeons in the country, which is grossly inadequate. Some states have fewer than two surgeons, and some have none at all,” he said. He also said “About one-third of all deaths in the country are cardiovascular-related.”

    He attributed the shortage of cardiothoracic surgeons to few individuals showing interest in undergoing training and the exodus of “all categories of medical practitioners” from the country. ACTSON should do more to encourage more people to train as heart surgeons.

    However, according to him, “Some of the surgeons who were trained had to go abroad to practice, while others who trained outside refused to return. Those who come back often found themselves unable to perform heart surgeries due to a lack of equipment.”

    He added: “This year, two of our renowned experienced surgeons returned to the diaspora to continue their practice, highlighting a significant issue: when cardiovascular and thoracic surgeons complete their training and return to their institutions, they often find they cannot operate due to insufficient resources.” For instance, the centres equipped to provide accurate diagnoses are few in Nigeria, he observed. There is a need for more equipped diagnostic centres in the country.

    Apart from inadequate heart surgeons, he also mentioned the shortage of other medical professionals required for cardiac surgeries, including anaesthetists, cardiologists, intensive care specialists, bedside nurses, biomedical engineers, physiotherapists, and perfusionists.

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    The result is that, according to him, “regular heart surgeries” are done only in Lagos, Ife and Abuja. In other parts of the country, facilities “may operate only once a month, every two or three months, or even just as part of a mission, with some hospitals only performing heart surgeries once or twice a year, despite the high demand from patients.”

    Related to the dearth of heart surgeons, and indeed other health professionals in the country, Nigerians spent about $2.38m on medical tourism from January to June 2024, based on a report from the Central Bank of Nigeria on the amount spent on health-related and social services under the sectoral utilisation of foreign exchange.

    It is concerning that Nigerians spent such a huge amount on medical tourism in six months. The reported escalating exodus of medical practitioners has not helped matters in the country’s health sector.  The alarming flight has been blamed on poor leadership, corruption, poor remuneration and toxic work experience. For instance, more than 700 medical doctors trained in Nigeria were said to have relocated to the UK from December 2021 to May 2022, a period of six months.  According to the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Nigeria-trained doctors are leaving in droves for Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

    The situation calls for urgent intervention by the authorities. The country cannot afford to continue losing its healthcare experts by failing to provide an enabling environment for their work.

    Part of the solution to the dearth of cardiothoracic surgeons, said ACTSON’s president, is for the Federal Government to “incorporate heart surgery into the National Health Insurance Authority coverage.” The exclusion of heart surgeries, he observed, means that many Nigerians will be unable to afford such surgeries, and many will die as a result.

    He said: “We are calling for a special intervention fund dedicated to heart surgeries. In Nigeria, most cardiac surgeries are performed by foreign practitioners and non-governmental organisations. Once they finish their work, they return home, resulting in poor follow-up care and limited operations, primarily focusing on simpler cases while avoiding more complex ones that require long-term management.”

    The issue of inadequate heart surgeons further highlights the greater problem of inadequate healthcare professionals in the country. These deficiencies are bad for the country’s well-being.

  • Worthy savings

    Worthy savings

    But govt should reduce the people’s pains with the money made from subsidy removal and forex round- tripping

    The report that Nigeria lost $15 billion to fuel subsidy and forex round-tripping reinforces the argument in support of removal of fuel subsidy and floating of the exchange rate of our currency. It does not make sense for the managers of our nation to allow the economy to continue to hemorrhage, while the citizens suffer multi-dimensional poverty. So, the unpopular but economically wise decision to remove the subsidy, and the incentive for round-tripping of the naira by the Tinubu administration, deserves commendation.

    Of course, we do not discountenance the excruciating economic challenges faced by Nigerians arising principally from the inflationary pressure on goods and services, especially food items. The answer to these challenges lies in using the savings realised by governments at all levels, from the economic reforms, to solve the attendant fallouts of the policy implementation.

    According to Mr. Taiwo Oyedele, chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, during a panel session at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s 2024 Economic Outlook and Budget Analysis, the savings is humongous. He said: “The Nigerian people made sacrifices as a result of the fuel subsidy removal of the government; that is N4tn savings a year. We did naira floatation. It is not perfect. We are also saving another N4tn. So, we are having about roughly N8tn transferred from the private pockets of the people to the government”.

    He said: “Can we be intentional in spending this N8tn to make sure that it impacts the people most positively? Starting with the multidimensional poverty.” The argument by some that the subsidy should remain, while government borrows money to execute its programmes as well as fight the economic saboteurs hemorrhaging the economy, is tenuous. Such policy would have further strangulated the economy, which was already overstressed from excessive borrowing and massive infrastructure deficit.

    Again, there are good people, as well as bad people in government; so, allowing multiple exchange platforms would leave a loophole for the bad people to exploit. And such vulnerable policy discourages foreign investors. Of note, nearly all the top government officials in the Tinubu administration have given the assurance that the government’s economic reform would yield prosperity. Many of the administration’s protagonists are also of the view that the administration needs to engage in massive economic palliatives to tame the multidimensional outcome of the economic reforms.

    We urge that the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs be revitalised with the appointment of a substantive minister, if the suspended minister has been relieved of her duties. The present uncoordinated distribution of palliatives

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    does not have a dent on the economic hardship faced by millions of the poor. States and local governments whose monthly federal allocations have increased because of the removal of subsidy must also contribute their quota to the fallout of that policy. The seemingly nonchalant attitude of some governors does not show that they understand the challenges facing the majority of their compatriots.

    Speaking a few days ago at the 30th Nigerian Economic Summit, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, said if the country can sustain the present economic reforms, Nigeria would be the envy of many nations. He identified taming inflation as key to that stability.

    Also, the Vice President, Kashim Shettima, said the Federal Government will implement the recommendations of the summit.

    We can’t agree less with the CBN governor over the overarching impact of inflation on the nation’s economy. We hope that having identified the scourge making life very difficult for ordinary Nigerians and businesses, all hands would be on deck to deal the monster a deadly blow.

     If the country is raking in billions of dollars from the removal of fuel subsidy and floating of the naira, the people should feel the benefits of the policies.

  • Why not?

    Why not?

    There is nothing wrong with testing politicians for drugs

    Politicians are at their best when arguing over either nothing or something. When especially in the legislative houses, they huff and puff, either to gain attention or give the impression that they are friends of the people they represent, with a view to winning the next election.

    The debate over enacting an act to establish a National Institute for Drug Awareness and Rehabilitation offered such an opportunity in the Senate as it sparked a row over it that was desirable. While Senator Rufa’i Hanga who sponsored it,  and Senator Sumaila Kawu who spoke in support argued vociferously that the institute had become imperative, given the alleged prevalence of substance abuse in the country among some politicians, those opposed to it also found time to object to the substance of the bill.

    We quite agree that the rate of hard drug abuse, promotion and peddling in the country now calls for taking another

    look at the legal framework for tackling the menace that is strongly linked to the growing rate of crime in the country. It is an open secret that the views expressed in the chamber by Senator Kawu to the effect that politicians promote the growing use of hard drugs in the country is not new. However, the fact that it came from one of their own is quite significant.

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    The senator who represents Kano South said, “As I am speaking now, most of our offices in our constituencies, most of our political offices, most of our houses when you go there, you will find a mountain of drugs. There are drug dealers in our offices and houses – in all our houses.” It was shocking to his colleagues who thought it was a sweeping statement, but he was speaking from a position of knowledge and threw a challenge that he was ready to lead a search to substantiate his claims. It is easy to get it all settled in the now familiar mode of killing the move without thoroughly examining what provoked it in the public interest, even though it passed the second reading test; we, the informed and critical stakeholders following the development should ensure that such an important piece of legislation lives to sanitise the society.

    We agree with Senator Adams Oshiomhole who argues that there should be no more proliferation of agencies in the country and such an end could still be achieved by strengthening and expanding the scope of the lead institution for fighting infestation of drug abuse, the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA). There is also the National Orientation Agency (NOA) that could be made more functional and enabled to establish a desk for promoting awareness of the menace and its implication.

    But, it is frightening that the country’s leaders could be implicated in such a horrendous crime. As the senators promoting the bill explained, rough necks recruited during elections to fight opponents are usually armed with drugs and weapons. Such become hooked on it and they become serious terror to the society.

     The trial of the Offa armed robbers established this as politicians were mentioned as sponsors of the criminals whose cases were decided in September.

    Nigeria must find an urgent solution to the festering danger to national security. The NDLEA has said no less than 15 per cent of citizens are hooked on drugs. In the same way that tertiary institutions’ students are being proposed to be made to undergo drug test at admission, politicians who are being empowered to run the state should do the same. It is time to put in place measures to have leaders who are above board.

  • From Blue to Red

    From Blue to Red

    • Lagos forges ahead with transformation of its transportation system

    On October 15, Lagos State took another giant leap in the radical modernisation of its transportation landscape when Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu launched the first phase of the Lagos Red Line mass transit scheme. The facility, which will move commuters from Oyingbo Station to Agbado, is serviced by state-of-the-art stations located at Yaba, Mushin, Oshodi, Ikeja, Agege and Iju, and is expected to move between 100,000 and 150,000 passengers daily on what is one of the busiest transit routes in the Lagos metropolis.

    That the Sanwo-Olu administration, to facilitate the commencement and operation of the Red Line, had constructed five T-shaped flyover bridges at Mushin, Yaba, Oyingbo, Ikeja and Agege to prevent vehicular obstruction of the rail routes, is an indication of the project’s multifaceted contribution to the expansion of road infrastructure in Lagos.

    Another noteworthy feature of the Red Line project is the Intergovernmental cooperation between the federal and Lagos State governments in its operations, as it shares the tracks of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) on the section from Agbado to Ebute-Metta.

    The phenomenal import of the continuing systematic uplifting of transportation modes and facilities in Lagos is better appreciated against the backdrop that Sanwo-Olu had, on September 4, 2023, inaugurated the first phase of the Lagos Blue Line Light Rail project which covers 13 kilometers and runs from Lagos Marina to Mile 2. The immense capacity of rail transportation to move people on a mass scale, which is one of its advantages, is illustrated by the fact that the first phase of the Blue Line is meant to move at least 250,000 persons per day.

    On its maiden pilot trip which had the governor, some state officials, invited dignitaries and members of the public on board, the Red Line train’s movement from Oyingbo to Ikeja took 34 minutes and it was in Agbado within one hour. To move from the same route by road from Oyingbo to Agbado would require a  travel time of no less than two and a half hours. The faster transportation time will help reduce wasted man hours with positive impact on economic productivity.

    Apart from the greater convenience and safety testified to by those who had patronised the rail services, the Lagos light rail project is also reasonably more affordable compared to road transportation, especially when the quality of the facilities and services rendered are considered. For instance, a trip from Oyingbo to Agbado costs N1,200 and N500 from Oyingbo to Ikeja. Although we can’t put figures to these for road transportation because the fares vary depending on the time of the day, it is still far cheaper by rail.

    We commend Governor Sanwo-Olu for meticulously pursuing and actualising these projects which had been envisioned and commenced by his predecessors, notably former governors Bola Tinubu and Babatunde Fashola. The path breaking projects are testimonies to the virtues of visionary thinking and continuity in the implementation of policies by successive governments. This is unlike the case of Cross River State, to cite just one example, where former Governor Donald Duke’s ambitious Tinapa tourism project on which humongous amounts had been expended, was abandoned and allowed to go to waste by his successors.

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    It is remarkable that the idea of a metro line project for Lagos was first conceived as far back as in the Second Republic (1979-1983) by the governor at the time, Alhaji Lateef Jakande. The project, which had commenced with advance payments made by the state government was however inexplicably cancelled by the succeeding military administration of General Muhammadu Buhari, with the country paying huge amounts in compensation to the affected contractors for breach of legal agreements. There can be no better example of why accountable elected governments are infinitely preferable to arbitrary military regimes.

    However, the greatest challenge of the Sanwo-Olu administration is to ensure the widely commended high quality of the light rail facilities and services are maintained. We urge the public to heed the governor’s admonition that these facilities belong to them and they must play their role in protecting them from abuse and vandalisation.

    The governor must now set his sights on the second phase of the Red Line which runs from Oyingbo to Marina and that of the Blue Line from Mile 2 to Okokomaiko.

  • Amalgamation at 110

    Amalgamation at 110

    • Still divided as ever

    One hundred and ten years ago, on  January 1, 1914, British colonial hegemons welded together the deeply disparate Southern and Northern Protectorates and Lagos into a socio-culturally and socio-politically complex entity called the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria. The amalgamation was effected by Lord Fredrick Lugard who was the Colonial Governor of the erstwhile protectorates. It is widely believed that the amalgamation was a cynical colonial convenience “not intended to help Nigerians” in any major way.  

    In fact, to the question “How has social interaction evolved in Nigeria from 1914 to 1960?”, SciSpace (an online information service) replied: “Social interaction in Nigeria underwent significant changes from 1914 to 1960. During this period, there was an acceleration of contacts between Nigerians and the wider world, leading to the emergence of new ideas, languages, and relationships.”

     However, unable to shed the sectional, cultural and religious influences of their origins in different parts of Nigeria, the new local elite engaged in fierce regional, ethnic and religious contestations. 

    Justifying the secession of the Igbo part of Nigeria arising from these conflicts, the Biafra war leader Chukwuemeka Odumegu Ojukwu said, around four months into the civil war which started on July 6, 1967: “Over the years, our erstwhile compatriots have made it clear, in unmistakable terms, that they did not want us in the federation… Furthermore, the experience of the three harrowing waves of remorseless genocide in 1945, 1953, and especially in 1966, involving a total of nearly 40,000 dead and countless others maimed or destitute provided an object lesson which could not but be taken seriously… And it is this that has compelled the harassed and persecuted people of Eastern Nigeria to seek refuge in their own home and amongst their kindred.”

    In the 1945 Jos riots, which led to deaths and the destruction of property, fighting broke out, mainly between the Hausa-Fulani and the Igbo, due to ethnic, political, economic and religious tensions. Moreover, the 1953 Kano riots and the Araba (or secession) threat by the North arising from disagreements on whether self-rule should be granted from 1956 (as Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s Action Group proposed) or “as soon as practicable” (as Sir Ahmadu Bello’s Northern Peoples Congress preferred) also recorded heavy casualties. Controversies also trailed the 1959 elections which were to lead to independence from Britain in 1960, with some people believing that the elections were manipulated by the British to give ascendancy to Northern Nigeria over the South.

    Intra-regional conflicts in the Western Region arising from the 1962 elections were also an unsavoury carryover from the 1959 elections. 

    Lingering ethnic, regional and religious mistrust which can be traced to post-amalgamation and pre-independence Nigeria led to the January 1966 coup which many believe was an Igbo coup, and the coup of July 1966 which is widely believed to be a retaliatory Hausa-Fulani coup. These coups led to the civil war of  July 6, 1967 to January 15, 1970, that followed the declaration of the Igbo-dominated Eastern Region as the independent nation of Biafra on May 30, 1967. Millions of lives were lost in the war.

    The legacy of the 1914 amalgamation has as such largely been one of war, death and destruction for Nigeria. Deep divisions and mistrust continue even till today. This manifested in, for example, the formation of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) seeking the breakaway of Igboland from the Nigerian federation and Yoruba Nation agitators seeking the creation of a separate Yoruba entity. Even Northern groups also join the fray as they did on June 6, 2017, when they asked Igbos to leave the North within three months.

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    Some are of the view that the amalgamation of 1914 was carried out with the proviso that after 100 years, if the amalgamated parts of the country believed that it was no longer worthwhile, the union could be dissolved. There was therefore palpable anticipation of the break-up of Nigeria in 2014, just as there was in 1966. In fact, an August 12 , 1966, article of TIME magazine ominously titled, “Nigeria: Toward Disintegration?”, cited this December 1964 entreaty by President Nnamdi Azikiwe: “If Nigeria must disintegrate, then in the name of God, let the operation be short and painless. It is better that we disintegrate in peace and not in pieces.”

    The foregoing raise the questions: “What have we done that have made such dispiriting sentiments to remain strong, in spite of the complex and growing web of social interrelationships through inter-ethnic marriages, intimate inter-ethnic personal friendships and cross-ethnic business relationships? And what do we need to do to end the simmering ethnic and religious distrust? Would fixing the economy and reconfiguring the Nigerian federation to allow for more socio-cultural expression help?” Providing the right answers to these questions would lead Nigeria to fulfill its destiny.      

  • Long overdue

    Long overdue

    •Government’ s decision to revamp oil pipelines is welcome, but …

    Last week, it was yet again time for our officials to lament the virtual collapse of the country’s fuel distribution pipelines and the incalculable harm that the use of tankers to transport fuel has done to the people and the economy. This time around, it was Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Oil), Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, bemoaning to the visiting Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Shehu Mohammed, the recurring petrol tanker explosions that have caused significant loss of lives and property across the country.

    He reportedly told his visitor: “Ordinarily, petroleum products should be transported through pipelines to depots closer to consumers, but many of our pipelines have exceeded their lifespan…” The situation, he noted, is what has forced the industry to rely primarily on road transport for distributing petrol and other petroleum products.

    He spoke of how the absence of an enabling legislation had, until the coming of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA), crippled any prospects of investment in the sector and how things are changing. Finally, the minister spoke of ongoing discussions aimed at ensuring an efficient distribution system in the downstream sector, which would include the use of technology to safeguard pipelines from vandalism.

    “We are determined to prevent further loss of lives and property by creating a safer, more efficient petroleum distribution system,” he reportedly told his visitor.

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    We welcome the government’s decision to revamp the depots as indeed the ancillary pipelines infrastructure. It is certainly a grave matter that the country’s massive investments in those depots and other notable infrastructure, particularly the vast and sprawling network of pipelines, have been laid to waste through criminal indifference and collusion by officials. We are talking here of 21 depots, nine in the North and 12 in the South, that once served disparate parts of the country. Nigerians will in particular recall the beehive of activities in such prominent depots such as Ejigbo (Lagos), Mosinmi (Ogun) Ibadan, Ilorin and Suleija in the western axis; those of Benin, Port Harcourt, Aba, Enugu, Calabar, Makurdi on the eastern flank, as indeed those in Kano, Gombe and Maiduguri and other far northern states – all of them belonging to the Pipelines and Products Marketing Company Limited (PPMC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Nigerian National Petroleum Company Ltd  (NNPCL). 

    That these vital assets, procured at humongous costs to the treasury, currently lie in ruins and their sites overgrown with weeds following their abandonment by the NNPCL, with the latter yielding the space to private depot owners, is testament to the infinite capacity of our officials to mismanage a public trust. The story of the pipelines network which serves them and thus saved the country of the daily nightmares of haulage of products through the inadequate but equally ill-maintained roads is even worse. That they have all been vandalised, leaving the country at the mercy of fuel tankers and with it the dire consequences in the not-too-infrequent tanker accidents and their associated deaths and destruction, speaks to our legendary propensity for self-harm.

    No doubt, the minister has made the right call. That would certainly save the country money – lots of it – in distribution and other logistical costs, aside the safety issues and the preservation of the roads. In fact, this newspaper has long before now made the same call about revamping the fuel pipelines infrastructure as holding the key to turning, not just the face of fuel distribution around, but also of its efficiency and sustainability.

    What remains to be seen is how far the removal of the so-called legislative impediment – which the minister admitted – will go to address the problem. For, as always, the problem is often the government that makes so much song about letting the NNPCL play as an entity worthy of its name, but baulks when it comes to allowing it to make its decisions as a truly commercial entity.

    This time around, we can only hope that the government will finally walk its talk.

  • Tax reforms

    Tax reforms

    •Using regressive and progressive tools to reach fairer taxation is good thinking

    The most startling, from the proposed tax reforms, might well be the announcement that whoever earns N1.5 million a month — and below — would pay less tax, regressing from the cap of N1.5 million, to the very base of N70, 000: the new national minimum wage.

    The in-built egalitarianism in that thinking is laudable.  But that is not the news.  The news is that the N1 million to N1.5 million bracket — a month — hitherto represented the elite tax-paying class.  That bracket should have come under progressive taxation.

    So, why is it now regressive?  That is perhaps the government’s own realisation of the havoc Naira devaluation is wreaking on the economy.  For all the hankering after the dollar, the government itself might be realising that the Naira is getting undervalued.  It will therefore do well to think out some balancing act, for a better equilibrium.

    Another thing: with N70, 000 as national minimum wage, it’s a moot point how many in the public sector earn over N1.5 million a month, even with the consequential adjustments on the salary scale.  So, if the majority of public servants pay regressive tax — less tax, in real terms than at present — where is the revenue harvest, which the tax reforms are targeting, coming from?

    Before going public on these proposals, Taiwo Oyedele, chair of the Presidential Committee on Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms and his committee members, must have done their homework; and probably now boast a tax data base to support this current thinking. 

    Perhaps that base has been widened enough to capture much of the huge informal market, which clearly drives this economy but which pays little or no tax — in any case, not anything near its volume, spread and depth?  We wouldn’t know for sure, until the Oyedele Committee throws more information into the public space.

    But even with limited information, it would appear a new dawn in Nigerian taxation, with the government combining both progressive and regressive tools to strike a sensible balance.  This concept is not new per se.  But an aggressive implementation may make all the difference.

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    While the N1.5 million cap for “low earners” headlines the regressive leg of the tax proposal, N100 million-a-month headlines the progressive segment of it.  Hitherto, tax on that bracket — and above — was capped at 19 per cent.  By the new proposals, the tax is up by six per cent to berth at 25 per cent. 

    So, everyone in that group would pay 25 kobo from every N1 they have accumulated, up from 19 kobo.  We can’t say, with certitude, what awaits even higher earners, in the range of N500 million a month and above.  But by the principle of progressive taxation, those — very few, though — should pay higher than the 25 per cent threshold.

    “If you earn N1.5 million a month or less, your personal income tax bill will go down,” Oyedele explained. “But if you earn more than that amount, you see it going up incrementally up to 25 per cent.”

    That is good news for advocates of tax as effective tool of wealth re-distribution, particularly if the extra cash is splashed on social and physical infrastructure that enhance citizens’ quality of living.  Arch-capitalists may demur however, claiming — not altogether unjustified — that high percentage of tax on income, paid by the rich class, is a disincentive to industry, innovation and productivity.

    Still, across the board, these proposals are progressive in thinking, corrective by philosophy and equitable by fiscal policy goal.  That is praise-worthy. 

    By the ugly present, low income earners seem to carry the heavier bulk of taxation.  In any case, they are “trapped” in pay-as-you-earn (PAYE), a form of withholding tax. Their employers, public or private sector, “withhold” their tax, pay the workers their net salaries, but send their tax dues to the tax authorities. 

    Though that appears to capture everyone in the pay system, those below have little or no powers to tweak the process and pay less. That unfortunately can’t be said of those above, with a ringing culture of sundry abuse in the system — as other Nigerian systems.

    The tax proposals also thrust a new Value-Added Tax (VAT) basket of policies — again primed at stimulating small-scale ventures.  It proposes, for instance, to fully refund businesses the VAT they had paid on assets and services.  In these times of spiralling energy and sundry costs, that’s cheery news.  The reduced costs could also help to tamp down inflation.

    Another leg of the proposals is a new withholding tax policy that exempts small businesses and manufacturers, excludes food and transport from taxes — another fiscal strategy to tame inflation — and introduces tax identification for workers in the financial services sector.

    Since these proposals are incorporated into 10 new bills already before the National Assembly — bills seeking to ring constitutional changes in Nigeria’s tax laws — we suggest that the National Assembly give those bills accelerated treatments.

  • Al Abraq ‘war’

    Al Abraq ‘war’

    • Libya should receive a stiff penalty for maltreating visiting Nigeria

    The Confederation of African Football (CAF), while formally postponing the October 15 Libya-Nigeria match, pushed out this fitting release:

    “CAF views the disturbing and unacceptable experiences of the Nigerian national football team (‘Super Eagles’) at an airport in Libya in a very serious light,” it said, “CAF has been in contact with the Libyan and Nigerian authorities after it was informed that the Super Eagles and their technical team were stranded in distressing conditions for several hours at an airport they were allegedly instructed to land by the Libyan authorities”

    This release is a fair start.  It accurately sketched the odyssey of the Nigerian team — cruelly billeted inside Libya’s Al Abraq Airport, as a virtual prison yard, for no less than 14 hours, without food, water, internet connectivity; or even basic civilities from their supposed hosts!

    Now, CAF should follow up with a stiff sanction, after a thorough investigation, as it hinted in that same release:  “The matter has been referred to the CAF Disciplinary Board for investigation; and appropriate action will be taken against those who violated the CAF Statutes and Regulations.”  About time!

    Though the Al Abraq event was football-related, limiting it to football alone plays down its savagery.  How, in the 21st century, Libya would turn a routine qualification match, for the 2015 African Cup of Nations (AFCON), into a near-death experience, beggars belief.

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    So, who diverted the Eagles’ airplane from Benghazi to Al Abraq Airport, even when the pilot warned he might run out of fuel?  Whoever did also knew it was late and the airport did not have requisite navigational aids in the dark, beyond the pilot’s professional instincts.

    What was the motive behind this twin-call? — premeditated mass murder?  What if the plane had run out of fuel as the pilot had warned?  What if, due to bad navigational aids, the plane had crash landed with serious, if not outright fatal consequences?

    Even after landing, who ordered that only the Tunisian pilot — not his Nigerian crew — could check into a hotel?  The pilot refused this discrimination, so they all slept inside the parked plane.  Why that brazen Arab-African racism, though?  Who bottled in the travelling party inside the airport — virtual prisoners at the mercy of hostile guards?

    What if the delegation had been attacked, by whatever gang, given Libya’s precarious security situation, with two factional governments?

    Who gave this chain of evil orders?  The government in Tripoli?  The rival East government in Benghazi? Rogue elements of the Libya Football Federation (LFF) in cahoots with rogue elements of Libya’s airspace and security forces?

    Meanwhile the LFF, with clear and gaping motive for mischief, appears adept at implausible deniability.  The more it denies involvement in these sordid schemes, the more it hides behind a finger!

    But back to basic football.  The inordinate plot by Libya to win that match, at all cost, was clear, after losing all three points at the first leg in Uyo, the capital of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria, despite its blatantly negative on-pitch theatrics.

    In truth, hardly any African country is immune from sundry tricks to weaken the will of visiting teams, before gaming them on the pitch.  Libya also had alleged that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) had shabbily treated its team and officials before the first leg, allegedly keeping them at the airport for an hour or more.

    But the NFF had countered this allegation, claiming the Libyans were secretive about their travel plans, landing in Port Harcourt, instead of at Uyo, where the NFF welcoming party was waiting.  CAF should look into both allegations with forwarded proofs.

    Still, getting delayed for an hour or two, at an airport in Nigeria, is hardly the same as what appears a willful diversion of the Nigerians’ flight to Al Abraq Airport — three hours drive to Banghazi — when the visitors’ plane was already descending to touch down at the Benghazi Airport.  Also, the Libyan visitors have not claimed the Nigerian aerospace authorities diverted their flight; or countered that they made a secret of their travel plans.

    Besides, despite the Libyans’ own “ordeal” in Nigeria, the visitors could not deny NFF support services, as expected of hosts of any international sports event.  They couldn’t claim to have been locked inside Port Harcourt Airport for 14 hours, as the Nigerian team and officials were at Al Abraq.

    Certainly, they were not forced to sleep on airport arrival hall chairs and benches, in their track suits and boots, in sundry sitting and lying positions, as naked pictures showed the Nigerian delegates in clear discomfort.  Neither were they without food and water, some 48 hours to a crucial match.

    These are facts the CAF Disciplinary Committee must collate and swiftly act upon, on the strength of evidence provided by either party.

    Still, the first blame may well land pat on CAF’s table.  How on earth does CAF allow Libya to host international matches — a country that doesn’t even have a united government?  Is CAF taking the safety and security of African elite footballers for granted?  This Libya show of shame should be an eye-opener.

    Libya’s murderous desperation is scandalous, in 21st century African football.  It’s a ringing shame that makes African football a global laughing stock. No country must be allowed to treat its visitors the way Libya treated Nigeria.

    The added insult is that Libya, with infantile denials, shows hardly any remorse for its caveman’s behaviour.  Which is why CAF must punish this one and punish it hard!  That’s the only way to discourage others from such future rascality.