The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • An impaired gateway

    An impaired gateway

    •The current closure of the only runway in Nigeria’s prime international airport reveals a grinding inertia

    THE very idea of effecting repairs on the runway of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja, Nigeria’s seat of power, would have won the Federal Government plaudits ordinarily. But on the contrary, it has brought misapprehension and loss of face because it has exposed the sheer lack of planning and strategic insight prevalent in the affairs of the government of the day. NAIA, which is the only international gateway to Nigeria’s capital city has only one runway, which meant that the airport was grounded during the cause of the repairs.

    The airport was closed for 30 hours between last Saturday evening and Monday morning in order to repair a section of the runway. Indeed, another complete shutdown for the same duration of time has been announced for this weekend in order to complete the rehabilitation work. According to an official release from the airport authority, “The runway of the NAIA, which was closed for 30 hours for rehabilitation on July 5, 2014, has been re-opened for flight operations …The second phase of the rehabilitation of the remaining section of the runway would take place for another 30 hours at the weekend between Saturday, July 12 and Monday, July 14, 2014.”

    It said further that the authority regretted the inconvenience the second closure of the runway, within one week, would cause passengers and other stakeholders, assuring that it was for the best as it would guarantee enhanced flight safety at the airport.

    But the complete shutdown of the airport did not only bring untold hardship and loss of revenue to airline operators and passengers alike, it caused quite a stir. Apart from the fact that about 60 local flights of airlines operating out of the airport were either cancelled or diverted, international carriers like KLM, Air France, British Airways and Ethiopian Airline suspended their flights in and out of Abuja for the duration. All this of course, is coming with huge revenue losses not to mention inconveniences to concerned stakeholders.

    Fortuitously, the Presidency was dragged into the fray when the runway closure almost marred an international conference on pension funds in Abuja at which President Goodluck Jonathan was the special guest of honour. The delegates arriving from across the world had to be taken to various airports near Abuja from where they were conveyed by road to the capital city. The matter was grave enough that the president in his opening address did not only apologise profusely to his guests, he ordered right before them, that a second runway must be built on the facility next year.

    Though it must be noted that some airports around the world have one or two runways, it is also noteworthy that airports in most capital cities have more than one runway. That the international airport in Nigeria’s federal capital city and seat of power has only one runway could only suggest, among other things, that we do not plan, that we mix up our priorities and that we are not perceptive about our strategic assets. First, if only for the sake of prestige and for security reasons, government would not have built in the first place, a capital city airport with just one runway.

    Second, an international airport is a strategic national asset that requires utmost attention from the seat of power. We have seen power outages at our international gateways; we witnessed poor crowd control and all manner of security lapses, among others. This time it is a complete shutdown of an international hub for a day and half. This should never be. President Jonathan did not need the impetus of a nearly botched international conference to order a second runway for an airport of this magnitude and importance.

    We urge the Federal Government to show more perception and rigour in running the affairs of state and more especially, matters of critical national importance.

  • U.S. should aid those who fight terror, not abet human rights abuses

    U.S. should aid those who fight terror, not abet human rights abuses

    IN HIS recent address at West Point, President Obama doubled down on his administration’s strategy of combating terrorism and other security threats through “partnerships” with other armies. Describing the strategy as an alternative to “invading every country that harbors terrorist networks,” the president said he would ask Congress to appropriate $5 billion for a Counterterrorism Partnerships Fund to “train, build capacity and facilitate partner countries on the front lines.”

    There’s nothing particularly new about Mr. Obama’s initiative: 158 countries were already recipients of U.S. military training in 2012, and about $15 billion has been spent annually in recent years on security assistance through the State and Defense departments. Nor is the strategy much in question; stronger local forces are essential to countering the proliferating affiliates of al-Qaeda. But the president’s request, which was sent to Congress at the end of last month, nevertheless raises some disturbing questions.

    One is what to do when local armies are not up to the task of defeating al-Qaeda, even with U.S. training and help. That was the case in Mali, where a U.S.-trained officer led a coup against a democratic government and U.S.-supplied and -drilled army units crumbled in the face of an offensive by ethnic and Islamist insurgents. Now Iraq’s U.S.-trained forces have allowed much of the country to be overrun by al-Qaeda and Sunni tribal fighters and appear to lack the firepower to prevent the consolidation of a terrorist-ruled state.

    The capture of Mali’s capital by al-Qaeda was averted only by a quick deployment of French troops in early 2013. Mr. Obama’s strategy doesn’t make clear how similar threats can be managed. If the new al-Qaeda state in Iraq and Syria cannot be defeated by local forces, will the United States allow it to remain?

    A related problem concerns the behavior of foreign units that receive U.S. training and funding. If U.S.-backed forces commit human rights abuses, the damage is twofold: The fight against insurgents is compromised, and so is support for alliance with the United States.

    Congress sought to deal with this problem in 1997 by passing the Leahy amendment, a provision named after Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) that prohibits aid to units and individuals thought to be involved in gross human rights violations. The legislation has had a far-reaching effect: In 2011, aid was withheld from 1,766 individuals or units in 46 countries, and State Department staff vetted some 200,000 individuals and units, according to the New York Times. Senior U.S. military officials have told Congress that the restrictions helped improve major U.S. aid programs in Colombia and Afghanistan. Some countries, such as Bangladesh, have taken steps to punish offenders in order to win a restoration of aid.

    Such vetting ought to be built into the new partnership program. But the administration is seeking to neuter the Leahy amendment by giving the defense secretary the authority to disregard it by asserting that “it is in the national security interest to do so.” In fact, allowing aid to flow to foreign military units that commit major human rights crimes cannot be in the U.S. interest in any circumstances. Congress should reject the ­exemption.

     

    – Washington Post

     

  • Digital television

    Digital television

    •Whether or not Nigeria is ready would depend on the parameters at play, even if digital television is desirable on many fronts

    In its simplest form, digital is different from analogue television because whereas a digital television receiver needs a decoder (or set-up box) to function, an analogue television receiver does not. The decoder ensures the receiver can beam much more channels, much clearer pictures and far richer sounds than analogue television.

    The flip side however is cost. Whereas about everyone with a television set now has access to analogue television, since it is basically free-to-air, the few who have access to digital television do so through pay-TV. So, to access digital television, the consumer must not only afford acquiring a television set, he must also afford pay-TV.

    So, is Nigeria ready for whole migration from analogue to digital? That again would depend on the criteria at play. Suffice it to say, however, that the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has proposed a deadline of June 2015, just as Nigeria’s Federal Government has set a target of January 1, 2015.

    How realistic are these targets, the Federal Government’s being less than six months away? To start with, a segment of the population, particularly in the urban settings, already enjoy digital television. It is true that cost of monthly tariffs often throws the poorest segments of the pay-TV market in and out of that viewing bracket. Still, for the richer segment, the deadline means nothing, for they are already there.

    Still, to meet the January 1, 2015 deadline, the government needs to roll out operating and investment-friendly policies. Migrating into digital television costs money. Yet, though statistics trotted out by government sources suggest the Nigerian economy is looking up, the stark reality on the ground suggests otherwise. Therefore, if the government is really serious on its deadline, it might need to consider putting in place cheap credit for investors.

    Then, operational guidelines.  Now, as earlier stated, the most visible difference between analogue and digital TV is that analogue consumers watch their TV free; digital consumers pay for theirs. Also, analogue TV is most times government-powered, since TV viewing is considered a social service, in which government must invest to beam its message and offer some entertainment, which viewers need not pay for. On the other hand, digital TV is basically private sector-driven, with a near-monopoly right now milking the market.

    If Nigeria were to mass migrate, therefore, new operating rules would have to be put in place. Will the government-owned stations still run free-to-air? If they do, will they also supply their viewers with free decoders? If they do, how would the extra costs impact on the provision of other social amenities?

    In the private sector, already into the business, a much more stringent regulation regime would have to be applied — not to stifle and harass investors and operators, but to ensure, unlike now, their subscription delivers value for money.

    Of course, there is also the power conundrum. If tele-viewing operating costs were not to spiral out of control, with fatal consequences for the bottom-line, electricity supply must be regularly available. Regular electricity would make available cheaper power, keep tariffs relatively low and aim at a mass market that can deliver profit for the investors and pleasure for the consumer.

    But it is in the area of content that the advent of digital television becomes so tantalising.  With the ready pool of paying viewers, investors would boast a reasonable chest for investments in content: soap opera, full feature films, short flicks, documentaries, musical shows, etc.

    With local production of decoders providing jobs for local artisans, technicians and engineers, content would provide jobs for performing artists, songwriters and musicians (for sound tracks), theatre artists and allied skilled professionals.

    Conceived and implemented well, therefore, digital TV has the prospect of further deepening the entertainment sub-sector of the economy and providing gainful jobs for millions of Nigerian youths.

     

  • American help

    American help

    • What happened to the great optimism the United States gave us about the Chibok girls?

    The recent reaffirmation by the United States of America that they still don’t know where the kidnapped Chibok girls are, weeks after their intervention, further exacerbate the tension over the fate of the 219 girls who have been in Boko Haram’s captivity for about three months . Considering that America is renowned for her technical know-how, not to talk of the hope invested in their support by the government and people of Nigeria, their admittance of failure may deal the hope of a reunion by the girls with their families a deadly blow. Going forward, the Nigerian government must always appreciate that it is her primary responsibility to resolve this kidnap saga.

    For the public, they may never know what is going on behind the official-speak, with respect to the much celebrated collaboration between Nigeria and the United States and other countries, to resolve the Chibok kidnap. After all, President Goodluck Jonathan and Nigerians were very hopeful when the U.S. and other countries offered help to find the girls and to rescue them from captivity. Even sounding boastful, and for some demeaning, some U.S. officials like Senator John McCain, had boasted that his country didn’t need President Jonathan’s approval to sprout her superior military might to rescue the girls on humanitarian grounds.

    So, what happened to that great expectation? Is it that the U.S. is lacking the capacity in resources to resolve this saga, or is it that she has refused to deploy same?  Could it be that the government of the United States has made unconscionable demands, against the security and territorial integrity of Nigeria, before it can help her? On the part of Nigeria, could it be that our government is so unreasonable or incapable of negotiating a reasonable understanding with the government of the United States on this matter?

    Yet again, could it be that Nigeria’s standing as an important member of the international community has gone so low, that it cannot exert diplomatic influence to compel America and other countries to come to her aid over this matter? For sure, without official clarification as to the reasons for this apparent failure of the international community on the Chibok saga, Nigerians are entitled to speculate.

    But, while we are at that, what happened to the boast by the Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Alex Badeh, not long ago, that the Nigerian military knows where the Chibok girls are? Ordinarily, if there is official collaboration between Nigeria  and the United States, then if Nigeria’ s military officials know where the Chibok girls are, such information should be shared with the U.S. officials who have come to help. If that information is shared, then the effort of the military officials of the two countries and indeed others that have come to help would be how to get the girls back to safety.

    We hope that our military is doing all that is reasonable to collaborate with those that have offered to help the country resolve this humanitarian tragedy.

    Even where the international help is waning, the government of Nigeria owes the parents of the Chibok girls and indeed every Nigerian, the responsibility to safely bring back the girls, and also several others who have reportedly been kidnapped by the Boko Haram sect. No resource or effort is too high to bring back these girls. We also hope that those who have one form of influence or another over the sect will also push them to recant their murderous tactics. Indeed, every effort, local and international, should be geared to end this national trauma.

     

  • Killing BDCs?

    Killing BDCs?

    Expectedly, the new leadership of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is leaving no one in doubt about its intention to make indelible imprints on the nation’s financial system. And its newly unfurled guidelines on the operations of the Foreign Exchange Market (FOREX) seem to be a pointer in that regard. But the guidelines are generating serious systemic hullabaloo because of some of the provisions, seen as stern in some quarters.

    These include the stipulation of a minimum capital requirement of N35million for Bureau de Change (BDC) operation in the country. Hitherto, the minimum capital was N10 million. Also, under the new regime, the mandatory cautionary deposit which was N3million has been increased to N35million for each BDC and this is expected to be deposited in a non-interest-yielding account in the CBN, upon the grant of an approval-in-principle.

    This development is a strict departure from the past when anyone with just $20,000 deposit with the CBN could operate a BDC. The new rules, among others, further require payment of a BDC licence application fee of N100, 000; another licensing fee of N1million and an annual renewal fee of N250, 000. The guidelines frown at ownership of multiple BDCs and also at the avalanche of rent-seeking operators in the forex market that are merely motivated by profit margin, regardless of prevailing official and inter-bank rates. The guidelines become operational from July15.

    We do hope that the guidelines, ostensibly meant to sanitise the parallel market, would go a long way in ridding it of crooked elements as there is need to check its current inefficiency and sharp practices. There have been several reports of some BDC operators who deployed purchased foreign exchange to fund unauthorised transactions, depleting the nation’s foreign reserves in the process.

    For instance, we are aware that the CBN recently revoked the licences of 101 BDC companies because of their inability to provide satisfactory evidence of the purchase and utilisation of autonomous foreign exchange.  About 17 others were fined N2 million each for alleged infractions of the BDC guidelines, even though they allegedly adduced satisfactory evidence of their utilisation of the autonomous foreign exchange allocated to them. Also, last year, the CBN reportedly revoked the licences of 20 BDCs over foreign exchange malpractices.

    No doubt the market in its present state is rowdy and the need to streamline it is long overdue. The CBN record, for example, reportedly shows that there are about 3,208 officially registered BDCs by the apex bank, with an additional 1,417 awaiting approval. If the last batch of approval seekers scales the hurdle, the total number of BDCs would eventually rise to 4,625. This is without prejudice to the fact that more applications might still be filed. Each of these BDCs is entitled to $50, 000 from the CBN every week, which translates to about $12billion forex per annum. However we may look at it, this is still a vast drain on the nation’s foreign reserves; hence, the new regime seeks to reduce each BDC’s entitlement to $15,000 per week.

    Without doubt, an effective management of the guidelines might, over time, avail the country the opportunity of combating awkward financial outflows. All said, we call on the CBN to have another look at the apprehensions of the public as exemplified through members of the House of Representatives over the issue because of its implications on employment generation drive that is at its lowest ebb at the moment, and institutional building process of that sector. By the new policy, most BDCs would simply close shop, with a sizeable number of people, sadly, joining the unemployment market.

    The CBN definitely needs to strengthen foreign exchange transactions. But in  achieving this, we expect it to concentrate more on institutional development rather than pecuniary and punitive sanctions. The apex bank should, henceforth, saddle its competent professionals with the task of coming up with better ways of ridding the market of unscrupulous elements .

     

  • Cameroun’s onslaught

    Cameroun’s onslaught

    •Arrest of 50 suspected Boko Haram sponsors shows it is proactive in its anti-terror war

    Reports that Cameroun’s military authorities have arrested 50 Nigerian businessmen for allegedly collaborating with the Boko Haram insurgents in its attacks on Nigeria, are heart-warming. Yes, we can argue that no prima facia case has been proved against the businessmen since the matter is still in the realm of allegation, the point is that it shows the Camerounians have now woken up to the sad reality of the dangers posed not only to Nigeria but also to their own country as well, by the Boko Haram.

    This point is more vividly reinforced when taken alongside the killing of 10 insurgents by the Camerounian soldiers. According to the Voice of America (VOA), the killings took place in Mora, along the Cameroun border with Nigeria. The soldiers also seized vehicles and a large number of weapons from the insurgents.

    Obviously, as confirmed by the spokesman of Cameroun’s military, Chioka Pierre, who spoke with the VOA,  the businessmen’s arrests and the killing of the insurgents were the result of sweeps conducted as part of an intensified crackdown on persons suspected to be involved in violent incidents in Cameroun, and believed to be connected to Boko Haram. About three weeks ago, Cameroun’s soldiers also detained 40 suspected Boko Haram militants in Maroua, and sealed off a market where they suspected terrorist could be hiding arms.

    These actions, on the part of Cameroun are proactive, given that Boko Haram has not become a major threat to that country. But the signs are manifesting that it could be, so it is better to keep the insurgents in check before they become a malignant tumour or a festering sore in Cameroun.

    The first question that comes to mind from the Camerounian onslaught against the insurgents is why is it that it was Cameroun, and not Nigeria, that arrested the businessmen? After all, Boko Haram has its roots here in Nigeria where it had wreaked unquantifiable havoc. So, Nigeria should naturally be the major country pursuing the bandits.

    From Pierre’s account, locals have been of tremendous help to the Camerounian soldiers in fishing out the insurgents. It is the locals that have been reporting the strange faces in their communities to the authorities, thereby facilitating arrests. It would appear things went out of hands in Nigeria’s war with terror because locals and the government were hardly on the same page. The locals did not trust the government; that is if they ever believed it was serving their interest.

    Another point to note from the developments in Cameroun is the fact that the country recognised that it is vulnerable to terror attacks because of the widespread unemployment in the country. “We are seeing most of our graduates every year having no jobs. Tell me, if somebody comes and proposes a high sum of money to join this organisation, most youths are desperate, they will be forced to do everything to get into these extremist activities,” Bipong Dennis, a Camerounian said.

    These are issues we have raised in several editorials on Boko Haram – the need to carry the locals along in the terror war; and the need to provide a conducive environment for business.

    Also, the point has been severally made that Boko Haram cannot be defeated by Nigeria without the active participation of its immediate neighbours, particularly Cameroun. The Camerounian onslaught has proved just that.

    We commend Cameroun for these efforts. Indeed, it should probe the arrested businessmen thoroughly and thereafter unmask them. We need to know those funding the terror group and block the sources of funding. When this is done, it is only a question of time before it dies. It is in the mutual interest of both counties that Boko Haram is exterminated and this is why we plead with Cameroun to do more by way of assistance to stamp out the sect.

     

  • Rich country, poor citizens

    Rich country, poor citizens

    • Nigeria earns N39trn in four years; yet misery remains prevalent in the country!

    NOTHING symbolises the poor governance quality in Nigeria than the bewildering irony of a polity that is awash with cash, yet rich only in misery. It is a forlorn metaphor that has dogged the Nigerian state since the days of the oil boom in the 1970s and it seems to earn reinforcement today more than before.

    The current report by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) for 2007 to 2011 corroborates this point. NEITI, which seems to be the most up-and-doing fiscal reporting agency has revealed that Nigeria earned N30.09 trillion in the four-year period under review, yet there is hardly a visible impact on the wellbeing of the citizenry and social infrastructure.

    Presenting its audit report titled: “2007 – 2011 Fiscal Allocation and Statutory Disbursement Audit,” NEITI noted that the total sum was made up of remittances from mineral, non-oil and value-added-tax (VAT) revenues. NEITI chairman, Ledum Mitee, however, pointed out that high recurrent expenditure and diversion of funds were reasons why poverty still ravaged the land despite huge earnings. For instance, in the past decade, recurrent expenditure component of the budget has continued to bloat, peaking at about 75 per cent a few years ago. Efforts by the current government to work it down have yielded only marginal results of a mere one or two percentage points.

    There are also about 500 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of government, many of them having overlapping functions while quite a number have no direct impact on the economy or welfare of the people. A recent attempt to prune the MDAs through mergers and outright scrapping has been futile as the Goodluck Jonathan administration has been unable to muster the political will to carry out such radical change. The result is that what is supposed to be annual budget is mere annual binging on Nigeria’s commonwealth by a handful of the population.

    If the nation were only plagued by excessive recurrent expenditure, there may not have been such ruinous negative impact. But the report also highlights various methods that successive governments have deployed MDAs as veritable conduits for ‘slush funds’ used for financing extra-budgetary projects. These include setting up of dedicated and specialised funds whose proceeds are never applied for the purpose for which they were set up.

    The report mentioned quite a number of such funds which includes the Natural Resources Development Fund (NRDF). Going by the name, the need for this fund is explicit but over the years, NRDF became a loose source of funds for everything else but the development of natural resources. There is also the Ecological Fund designed to ameliorate various environmental conditions plaguing the nation, like erosion and desertification.

    However, the report notes that: “Disbursements from it were made to beneficiaries outside of the purpose for which the fund was set up… and that only 36 out of 139 projects undertaken by the fund were completed between 2007 and 2009.” The Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF) and the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) are two other honey-pots cited by the NEITI report which suffer gross official abuse and through which the huge resources accruing to the country are misappropriated, stolen or simply frittered away. The level of untrammelled graft and wastages that go on unchecked in the Nigerian system would relentlessly stunt the country’s development.

    Though Nigeria has a number of anti-corruption agencies, they have become overwhelmed or suborned, thus are now part of the rot in the system. It is the same for the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation which ought to independently track and report government expenditure but has become a poor cousin of the MDAs.

    For the umpteenth time, we urge the Federal Government to lead by example and exhibit some fiscal rectitude. It must return to the path of prudence and growth by priming various anti-corruption and fiscal reporting agencies to work. Need we admonish that most of the social ills besetting our nation today have their roots in our financial recklessness. The people are acutely being pauperised; this is dangerous.

  • The new Pension Law

    The new Pension Law

    •We welcome the fundamental amendments, but …

    AS far as good intentions go, it is hard to fault the latest amendments to the pension law as signed by President Goodluck Jonathan on July 1. If anything, a good number of the provisions would appear to speak to identified lacuna in the old law – the Pension Reform Act, No.2, 2004 – now repealed.

    Among its many provisions, the new law increases contributions into the scheme. Whereas the old law mandates a minimum of 15 percent of basic pay – split evenly between the employer and the employee – the new law hikes contributions to 18 percent – but this time with employers and employees bearing differential burden of 10 and eight percent, respectively. This translates to additional benefits to workers at retirement, particularly their monthly pension benefits.

    Another provision is the lowering of the threshold of coverage for the private sector to three employees as against five under the old law.The idea here is to bring small and medium-scale operators into the pension net. It also expands the scope of utilisation of pension funds to cover the real sector, including infrastructure and housing development, with an eye on ensuring the safety of pension fund assets.

    The law comes with stricter penalties for Pension Fund Administrators (PFA) who fail to meet their obligations to the pension contributors as well as failure to comply with the provisions of the Act. Now, there is a 10-year jail term for persons found guilty of misappropriating pension funds, just as pension thieves are liable to disgorge three times the amount they stole.

    No less important is that the Nigerian Pension Commission (PenCom) can now, subject to the fiat of the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), institute criminal proceedings against employers who persistently fail to deduct and/or remit pension contributions of their employees within the stipulated time – a provision that was lacking in the 2004 Act.

    Ten years after the initial legislation, there is hardly any question that some of the changes have become inevitable. Given the nation’s experience of the criminal abuses by officials of pension funds in recent years, it is hard to argue for anything less than stricter laws to deal with them. Indeed, some of the earlier penal provisions would appear laughable if not entirely ridiculous, given the scale of heist that we have seen, particularly in the area of public pensions.

    The same of course goes with the general principles behind the tightening of the regulations to ensure that employers remit their workers’ contributions promptly. Here, if merely for the fact that benefits under the reformed pension law are strictly defined, it goes without saying that employers need to come to terms with the fact that they have the onerous burden to ensure that employees’ expectations are not jeopardised by failure to remit the funds to their custodians.

    As for the provision lowering the threshold for coverage to firms with a minimum of three employees, we must say that as desirable as it appears, the question is whether this can be decreed by legislation, given what we know of the generally poor climate of doing business in the country. We certainly wonder if this law would not be a sort of overkill because of the impregnable odds already faced by small and medium scale businesses.

    All said, we welcome the new thinking behind the proposal to channel a portion of the pension funds into the real sector. Although, it does not aspire to change much, it is still a step in the right direction. What we expect to see in due course is a fundamental rethinking of the current course in which the pension funds are locked up in low-yielding but relatively safe and secure instruments as against deploying it to moderate interest rates.

  • Israel vs. Hamas: Moving in the wrong direction again?

    Israel vs. Hamas: Moving in the wrong direction again?

    Is there anything sadder than the killing of children? Of course not, and no one should be surprised at the shock, distress and outrage in Israel after the bodies of three missing teenagers were found Monday. The boys, kidnapped more than two weeks ago, were apparently shot and then partially buried in an open field near the West Bank village of Halhul. What kind of world, what kind of politics, can possibly justify the abduction of teenagers in the name of ideology or nationalism or religion or whatever it turns out was the motivation for this gruesome act?

    The events of the last two weeks are a heartrending reminder of the high price of disengagement.

    If, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggests, the kidnappings were the work of Hamas, they should serve as a stark reminder that the militant Islamic organization has not changed its ways. Since its founding during the first intifada in 1987, Hamas has been responsible for countless civilian deaths, and its leaders — notwithstanding their recent reconciliation with the Palestinian Authority — have not evolved substantially since then. Hamas has not officially endorsed a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or promised to renounce violence or acknowledged Israel’s right to exist. It’s unclear as yet what its role was, if any, in these most recent events, but its top officials loudly celebrated the kidnappings. Hamas obviously cannot be a meaningful partner in the search for peace as long as it remains committed to violence and rejectionism.

    At the same time, the killing of the Israeli boys must not become a pretext for further withdrawal from the ailing peace process. If anything, the events of the last two weeks are a heartrending reminder of the high price of disengagement.

    “Hamas will pay,” Netanyahu vowed after the boys’ bodies were found, and indeed, the crackdown is already underway. But Israel must behave carefully and responsibly rather than emotionally. Of course it must defend its citizens against enemies. But Netanyahu must also display the evidence he says he has that Hamas orchestrated the killings. He must minimize civilian casualties and not engage in the collective punishment of people who have done no wrong. He must not undermine those Palestinian leaders, such as President Mahmoud Abbas, who say and do the right things. Israel — as well as the Palestinians — must find reasons to come back to the negotiating table rather than seeking excuses to walk away.

    This conflict, like other conflicts around the world, has killed many innocent children. Some are Israeli children who have died at the hands of terrorists. Others are Palestinian children who have become collateral damage in repeated Israeli assaults on Hamas and other groups. The tragedy for parents, for neighbors, for communities is real either way. The latest deaths must not become a justification for an escalation of violence, for the continued death of innocents or for yet another downward spiral in the depressing and destabilizing war that so often seems to be moving in exactly the wrong direction.

     

    – Los Angeles Times

     

  • Funding INEC

    Funding INEC

    The Federal Government has no excuse for underfunding the electoral commission barely seven months to elections

    The warning by the House of Representatives’ Committee on Electoral Matters that the capacity of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) could be compromised by poor funding deserves the serious attention of the Federal Government, the civil society and the general public.

    The committee’s chairman, Mr. Jerry Manwe, said that the committee found out that the electoral body would require N120 billion to conduct the 2015 elections, whereas all that has been made available to it is N45 billion. The huge difference, he explained, could precipitate logistics crisis if not resolved early enough.

    Manwe echoed the fears expressed by the INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega, in his earlier interface with the National Assembly. We find the alarm worrisome given the fact that the next general elections, including the presidential, governorship and legislative at federal and state levels are due in another seven months. The electoral commission ought to have the fund now to enable it prepare for the polls.

    Although the N120 billion appears huge, all the commission is required to do is convince the legislature that due diligence has been followed in its computation. It is curious that the House is crying out now after the Appropriation Bill had been passed. Mr. Manwe is calling for a supplementary bill before it is too late. While at this stage there appears to be no alternative, we are surprised that the House that had been interfacing with the commission did not deem it necessary to call the attention of the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Budget Office to the potential landmine during the defence of the budget by government agencies.

    It appears that the financial independence for INEC that Nigerians had fought for and won is being eroded so soon after the amendment to the Electoral Act in 2010.

    The ghosts of the heavily compromised 2007 elections are still haunting the process. Also, owing to late preparations, the first elections conducted in 2011 had to be aborted mid-stream. A repeat of these faux pas would be unacceptable in 2015. The electoral commission has been handed a mandate to improve on the recent Ekiti State governorship election; anything less would be unacceptable to Nigerians who are too eager to prove to the international community that they are capable of designing and conducting flawless elections.

    During the budget preparation, the House Committee on Police Affairs, too, had pointed out that poor funding of the police could hinder adequate security arrangement for the elections. The committee said, from the estimates submitted by the executive in a year leading to general elections, the budgetary provision for the police had decreased by more than N1 billion. It said this could precipitate a strike action when the men in uniform would be required to protect the integrity of the balloting process.

    We find it difficult to accept that the Federal Government needs prodding to appreciate these booby traps. While we acknowledge that we live in difficult times, when security challenges occasioned by the insurgency in the north east is causing so much pain and making a huge demand on scarce resources, it must be noted that deepening democracy is one of the most serious challenges of the moment. It would take sustenance of democracy to guarantee professionalism of the armed forces and safeguard the nation’s territorial integrity.

    The recent Ekiti election has also brought to the fore the need to strictly adhere to the constitutional provision investing in INEC the power to “organise, undertake and supervise all elections to the offices of the President, Vice President, the Governor and Deputy Governor of a state, and to the membership of the Senate, the House of Representatives and the House of Assembly of each state of the Federation.”

    We hold that this provision presupposes that INEC shall be in charge of all arrangements, including security, associated with the conduct of elections. The commission has a security department that ought to liaise with all the security agencies involved in deploying men for the elections. It ought to make request for the number of men required from each of the agencies. A situation where each security outfit decides the number and calibre of men deployed without the input and control of INEC is indefensible and unconstitutional. It was such a situation that led to the wanton abuse of power and privileges by the armed forces personnel deployed for electoral duty in Ekiti on June 21. The responsibility of the Inspector-General of Police and service chiefs should be limited to designating a very senior officer to work with the security department of the electoral body. This is the system that has served the electoral system in India so well.

    All that Nigerians want is the delivery of free, fair and credible elections that accord to international standards and show that progress has been made in the democratic march. This cannot be guaranteed in a situation where the electoral umpire is underfunded.