The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Hospital tariff subsidy

    Hospital tariff subsidy

    •A good idea but government must ensure it is not abused and as well honour its obligations promptly

    In line with its promise to reduce the burden of electricity tariffs on its hospitals and tertiary institution, the Federal Government has approved a 50 per cent subsidy for electricity consumed in the hospitals. They are to enjoy this privilege by virtue of their being development and social institutions that should be assisted to minimise their running costs, thereby lightening the financial burden on patients and making healthcare somewhat affordable for Nigerians.

    Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Tunji Alausa, announced this at the National Neo-Psychiatric Hospital in Barnawa, Kaduna, Kaduna State, when unveiling the electronic health records and an alternative power supply source at the Lawal Jafaru Isah Emergency Complex, and the solarisation project at the dialysis unit, which includes a solar-powered borehole.

    We welcome this development.

    These institutions truly need to be assisted, especially with the recent increases in electricity tariffs, especially for consumers on Band – A feeders, whose tariffs were increased from N61 to more than N200. Band-A electricity consumers are those enjoying power supply for at least 20 hours a day.

    The increases saw electricity bills of these institutions that are mainly on Band-A rise astronomically. For instance, the College of Medicine of the University of Lagos and Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idiaraba, Lagos, that used to pay, between them, about N100 million monthly were slammed with over N280 million bill in May, by Eko Electricity Distribution Company. Without government’s assistance, the institutions would have no choice but pass the increases on to their respective customers; that is students in the higher institutions and patients in the hospitals.

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    For the students this could trigger unrest on the campuses, a thing that would not augur well for the education sector, especially one that has long been held down by incessant strike by both academic and non-academic members of the staff over the years, with the attendant consequences.

    The case of the hospitals is no less dire. It may lead to more people embarking on medical tourism for those with the means, while those who don’t have the money would turn to quacks or religious houses for succour.

    But, what happens to private businesses on the university campuses and the hospital premises? Should they also benefit from the subsidy?

    They should’t; and we are glad that the minister made that abundantly clear.

    “We know they are development institutions, they are social institutions. But inside the health and educational institutions, private businesses are hiding under them. These people charge their customers commercially and they expect to be subsidised because they are located within the territories of these institutions,” Alausa said.

    He added: “We said no, go and do a proper search and meter everybody. For the ones that are properly health and education-related, we are ready to subsidise them, even if they are on Band A. We are compiling our data, DisCos will collect a certain amount and the government will pay the balance. But we must get the data right so that we are not subsidising a private business that is charging its customers commercially. That will be an abnormal profit and it is unfair.”

    We agree with the minister for the reason he advanced.

    Nigerians like freebies (subsidy) and if care is not taken, some of the owners of these businesses would want to take undue advantage of the subsidy.

    However, we recommend periodic and unannounced inspection of these private concerns to ensure that they are not reaping off Nigerians by collecting commercially determined prices with one hand only to turn round and collect subsidy with the other. Anyone found defrauding the state through this subsidy arrangement should be made to face the law.

    The government must however pay its part of the bills promptly. We would not want to see a situation where these bills would accumulate as experience with several government establishments have shown.

    Subsidising these institutions is a good idea but the subsidy should be enjoyed only by the intended beneficiaries.

  • Waning whistleblowing

    Waning whistleblowing

    •This policy needs to be strengthened in the national interest

    Perhaps the most critical outcome of a recent sensitisation workshop in Abuja on “The implementation of the Whistleblowing Policy in Nigeria: Issues, Challenges and Way Forward” is that the policy was enthusiastically received and enjoyed impressive success at the outset but later lost momentum and is in need of urgent revitalisation.

    The whistleblower policy was introduced by the immediate past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to encourage members of the public aware of acts of corrupt enrichment by pubic office holders to alert the appropriate anti-corruption and security agencies, to ensure recovery of such looted funds. Those who expose such criminal acts would not only be compensated with attractive financial rewards but were also promised that their information and identities would be treated with the strictest privacy to protect their safety.

    Speaking at the workshop, the Director, Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA), Ministry of Finance, Yusuf Sule, disclosed that, following the introduction of the policy, the sums of over N83 billion, $609 million and 5.4 million Euros in liquid assets were recovered between 2017 and 2023. To guarantee the security of such recovered funds and diminish the possibility of their being re-looted, the monies were lodged in the FGN Assets Recovery Account maintained by the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation under the control of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

    Citing instances of some of the earlier spectacular successes of the policy, Sule said, “Following a useful tip by a whistleblower in 2017, EFCC raided and successfully recovered the sums of $43.5 million, 27,800 pounds and N23.2 million in Flat 7B, No 16, Osborne Towers in Lagos”. Continuing, he said “As proof of whistleblowing success story, which is attributable to the cooperation from patriotic members of the society who volunteered useful information, the earlier celebrated case of whistleblowing in Nigeria led to the recovery of the sums of N70,925,225, 642.95, $9,777,439.99 and £21,500.00”.

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    These successes indicate how far the whistleblowing policy can go in helping to curb phenomenal public corruption which is a key contributory factor to the country’s continued pervasive poverty and underdevelopment despite her rich natural and resource endowments.

    Yet, in recent times, public support for the policy has reportedly waned, with public alerts on acts of corruption declining drastically despite evidence of astronomical increase of criminal private diversion of public resources by unscrupulous officials. One reason for this could be the public outcry at some point by some whistleblowers that their promised reward was not forthcoming even after they had fulfilled their own obligations of the bargain. Faithfully meeting up with pledged payments to credible whistleblowers who provide information leading to the recovery of stolen funds is imperative to make the policy a success.

    The argument has been made that patriotic citizens do not need promise of financial reward to report corrupt behaviour to the authorities. That view is unrealistic and idealistic. Compensating whistleblowers for disclosures that benefit society is an international best practice, with huge positive potential for helping to curb the humongous scale of corruption we experience here. In any case, the amount paid to whistleblowers amounts to only a minuscule proportion of the stolen funds recovered and in no way detracts from the overall beneficial impact of the policy.

    Another key aspect of the policy critical to ensuring its success is adherence to the principle of strictly safeguarding the confidentiality and anonymity of the whistleblower. There must be greater public confidence in the credibility, integrity and professionalism of the anti-graft and security agencies for such mutual trust to subsist. It is also important that potential whistleblowers see that the political authorities are not just paying lip service to the anti-corruption war but are serious about eradicating the evil or drastically minimising it.

    The vibrancy and effectiveness of the whistleblowing policy has also undoubtedly been undermined by the failure of the ninth National Assembly to pass its enabling legislation into law. We support reports of the plan to re-present the bill to the current National Assembly and urge both the executive and legislature to make its enactment into law a priority.

  • Let the oil flow

    Let the oil flow

    With NNPCL supplying crude oil to Dangote Refinery, fuel stations’ gridlock should come to an end

    Nigerians entered last weekend with both a sense of puzzle and suffering over the prospect of fuel supply and how much to obtain it. A series of events in that aspect of Nigerian life has been giddy, at once frightening and paralysing.

    It began with the admission by the oil giant, Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) that it was in a quandary on how to supply fuel to the Nigerian market because it has been carrying the load of the Nigerian economy, making it indebted to the tune of $6 billion.

    Not long after that, the announcement was cheering that Dangote Refinery (DR) will now stock the various depots with fuel, easing the burden on Nigerians and lightening the foreign exchange challenges.

    The NNPCL reflected one of the high virtues of corporate integrity by its confession. It shows that it has been an unthanked and uncongratulated buoy and helper of subsidy, paying it on behalf of the Federal Government. Yet, the company is a private concern and is being tasked to serve as the burden carrier of not only the government but also the country.

    Its ability to let the world know it has been our yoke bearer also raises a question about its framework to serve as a real company. It is therefore high time that the company be made to operate as a company that bears its own burden, even if it is connected with easing the pains of the oil market.

    However, the revelation explained why we have had in the past few weeks long lines at fuel stations. Commuters and car owners became like Samuel Beckett’s characters in his famous play who are waiting eternally for Godot. Fuel became, for many, a pie in the sky.

    When DR announced it was ready to supply, the relief and joy was palpable. But the company did not turn words into fuel as the queues remained and elongated with punishing consequences, not only for the individuals but also for the economy at large.

    This necessitated President Bola Tinubu, from faraway China, to direct the vice president, Kashim Shettima, to summon a meeting of top government officials and industry stakeholders, including the Minister of State for

    Petroleum Resources, Heineken Lokpobiri, National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu and the chief executive of NNPCL, Mele Kyari.

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    Oil minister Lokpobiri assured Nigerians that the availability of fuel will return to the oil stations in short order. This inevitably calls for patience in a long-suffering market. But the other issue is pricing, but before discussing it Nigerians have been told that it has to figure in the cost. Or else, it would return the country to the problem that led NNPCL to its huge indebtedness.

    The NNPCL has long told Nigerians that it was not selling fuel at its landing cost. It was even selling it at about half the landing cost. The company was paying the balance from its own purse. That business model is not sustainable. Its purse string could not be elastic forever.

    Hence the pass we have found ourselves today. It shows that we have to confront the problem in the economy. If oil is going to save us, we have to be transparent about it. How much fuel do we have, and how can we sustain making and selling it without enacting another stalemate?

    Hence the coming of DR will reveal a lot of things. First, DR is a private concern and its primary aim is profit. If the Federal Government can put a burden on NNPCL because it is a huge stakeholder in the company, the same cannot apply to DR.

    The NNPCL outcry will therefore apply in the distribution of DR fuel. Alhaji Aliko Dangote, chairman/CEO of the Dangote Group, has said that the distribution of the fuel will be executed by NNPCL but we now know that NNPCL will not be the off-taker.  One principal factor here is explained by Adedapo Segun, executive vice president, downstream, of the NNPCL. He said that the distribution must conform to the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) that compels pricing to be deregulated. In order words, it will follow market forces.

    Now, once DR takes off, it will determine the price. It will no longer be the responsibility of the NNPCL but Dangote and other private refineries will make their costs and fix their own prices.

    Hence, Lokpobiri said that prices will be uneven in different parts of the country before it can find its level. This is a tricky part. Dangote does not have to meet with the NNPCL top brass to know how much it costs to make a litre of fuel and what will make sense to sell it at.

    At stake here is not just the profit of the DR, but for the distributors.

    Deregulation does not and should not mean chaos. There must be order and regularity in spite of the worship of market forces. This calls for a deliberate thinking by both government and other stakeholders before the prices are determined. If Dangote and others fix their prices, it will not be the onus of the Federal Government to justify it. Yet, we must be wary of price gouging. Fuel prices will no longer be cheap, but it is no licence for profiteering. That is the aspect where regulation comes in.

    We welcome the coming of DR because it takes away great burden from the NNPCL and, especially from the nation’s foreign exchange stock. We have been spending over the years close to 40 percent of our foreign exchange earnings on importing fuel.

    But the other reality is the huge burden it will bring to the citizens because of its implication for inflation and cost of living, even before the President’s Eagle Square declaration that “subsidy is gone.” In the past few weeks, the fuel stations have been raising their prices, and this means the about N600 per litre price was, high as it was, arbitrary and did not reflect the real value of the cost. In some parts, it is selling over N800 per litre and others over N1,000 per litre. It is chilly comfort to tell our fellow citizens that it will be made available soon. We hanker after that hour. But that will be the beginning of sorrows. The hobgoblin of inflation will come with its fangs. Now that NNPCL can no longer play father Christmas or else it will go under, Nigerians will be coming to terms, in a bitter way, with the harsh reality of an unsubsidised lifestyle.

    The irony is that the poor and vulnerable Nigerians did not really enjoy a lot when it was subsidised. Now they will suffer more because of the official larceny and profligacy of a few. It is not time to muse over what might have been. That is, if we had followed the model of diesel deregulation in the past, things might have eased itself over time. With PMS regulation, we were only postponing the evil. That day seems to have come.

    In a country that has, in the past year, been grappling with the bequeathal of 97 percent debt and about N30 trillion in ways and means obligation, the future has come, and it is not kind.

    But this calls for imaginative leadership. The people cannot be allowed to groan. We therefore welcome efforts to start the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses. NNPCL has assured Nigerians that it is ramping it up with gears and accessible stations, and it should be a matter of emergency. It will cost far less than premium motor spirit (PMS). We also know that diesel has been deregulated for long, and most high-powered vehicles, including mass transit, are immune to the PMS price rise. That makes us wonder why it should raise prices of transportation. The smaller buses that use PMS should be prioritised for CNG.

    We also want the Federal Government to expedite importation of food to ease food inflation. We acknowledge the credit programme for traders and the scholarship schemes, which will ease education problems.

    The Federal Government should also monitor its distribution of food to the poor. It is unfortunate that politicians have resorted to a cynical acquisition of these palliatives for selfish purposes by hoarding them for their favourites. Some governors are guilty of this as well.

    We now know that we cannot borrow into prosperity. We have to become a productive society, and our political elite must abandon official permissiveness and lead by example.

    But first, the Federal Government should stop the gridlock at fuel stations and let the fuel flow.

  • Afokang as mirror

    Afokang as mirror

    Bleak tales from Calabar reflect the eternal woes from Nigerian cells, despite moving from penal holes to reformative centres

    A video posted on Facebook, alleging that inmates of Afokang Custodial Centre, in Calabar, Cross River State, are served poorly cooked beans for breakfast, aside living under terrible sanitary conditions, shocked Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo, Minister of the Interior, to the bone marrow.

    The minister, literally breaking out in cold sweat, has ordered a probe — and just as well. But from the public, the reaction may have been a virtual yawn: is that not the abiding story from these facilities, despite their new guiding philosophy?

    The Nigerian Correctional Service Act 2019 moved prisons from punitive cells to reformative centres. In fairness to the government, especially the interior ministry under which ambit are these prisons, a lot was done to promote their new dawn as havens of reformation. 

    Yet, the criminal-justice system, with its severe trinity of the police, the courts and the correctional centres, hardly moved at a pace fast enough to complement the new philosophy in real terms. 

    With criminal trials — at least for the poor — dragging on for as long as four years at the shortest, on the average; and the dysfunctional elite, with their ultra-smart lawyers stretching the system to spring themselves from clear holes, elite trials tend to last much longer. Even with the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) of 2015, earlier put in place to checkmate this elite abuse, the result has not been fantastic.

    If elite rascality spits at the law – and many times get away with it – the systemic and slow grinding of criminal trials birth an explosive number of

    awaiting trial in-mates (ATMs). ATMs are the most single manifestation of brazen injustice in Nigeria’s criminal-justice system. 

    Technically, ATMs are not in jail — no court has tried, not to talk of convicting them. Yet, ATMs often spend longer time than the actually convicted — with not a few dying from sundry prison infections.  

    That has caused the over-congestion of prison cells, which has had a devastating effect on food rations, aside a huge strain on sanitary facilities: the twin-havoc the FB video alleged of Afokang — but more on this point presently.

    Despite Minister Tunji-Ojo’s shock, Nigerian correctional centres images as virtual hell are all but firmly established. In his book, Clapping with One Hand — the first of his triad on the June 12, 1993 crisis after General Ibrahim Babangida annulled Bashorun MKO Abiola’s presidential mandate — Mr. Wale Oshun, Third Republic majority whip of the House of Representatives, spoke of the parlous state of the cells, while in detention at Ikoyi Prisons, in Lagos. 

    He also documented in sad and dark technicolor, how many young lives — many of them ATMs — were wasted in that virtual hell hole. That book was published in 1999 — 20 years before the Nigerian Correctional Service Act 2019.

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    In a piece, “Revamping Nigeria’s criminal justice system”, published in ‘ThisDay’ in 2021 — two years after the advent of prison reformation — Sonnie Ekwowusi, a Nigerian lawyer, spoke of his best-forgotten experience while visiting, as part of a Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) delegation, one of the correctional centres.

    “I saw for myself the hellish dungeons now called correctional centres. I interviewed about 24 prisoners, all of them victims of miscarriage of justice,” he recalled. “They had been dumped and forgotten in prison without bail, without arraignment, without trial. In case you don’t know,” he added, “about 70% of prisoners in Nigerian prisons are ATM.”

    Even if this statistics was a hyperbole — and it is doubtful if it is — but even if half of in-mates were ATMs, you can begin to see the harsh reality of the Afokang story, with just envisioning the sheer explosion of ATMs. Ekwowusi, in his piece, put the number of ATMs, “languishing” in various Nigerian prisons, at 28, 000. However, the NCoS spokesman put the total number of Awaiting Trial Inmates at 57,750, comprising 56,303 males and 1,447 females as of September 3, 2024.

    Are all of these ATMs budgeted for in prisoners’ food rations, now N1, 250, up from N750 a day, for a prisoner? Ridiculous? What quality single meal can N1, 250 buy in Nigeria today, with high headline food inflation? Even with the economies of scale that bulk buying attracts, N1, 250 for three meals — even two — is spreading credulity to the utmost limit.

    Yet, the Nigerian Correctional Service Act 2019 had a good view of the ATM crisis and how to manage — if not completely tackle– it. That was why it divided the Correctional Service into two areas: Custodial Service (CS) and Non-Custodial Service (NCS). While CS would take utmost care of inmates in its care and also process ATMs for fair and speedy trial, the NCS would manage non-custodial issues as community service sentencing, probation, parole, measures in restorative justice, as the courts may rule.

    Had these two pillars been strictly followed, the correctional system would not only, other things being equal, have resulted in an appreciable reduction of convicted inmates, it could also have driven down the number of ATMs that now choke custodial centres.

    These then are the structural problems to tackle, as not every accused person needs to be holed up in jail for the society to get justice. However, all these will continue to be exceptions to the rule, so long as cases drag on for too long in the courts.

    So, whatever the ministerial probe unearths, a cardinal part of it must be how to greatly cut down on ATMs. That is the most serious crisis facing our correctional centres today. If that challenge is surmounted, chances are those legally convicted and servicing terms would have a better deal all round.

    A country’s correctional centres are a gauge of its collective humanity and the depth of its compassion. Every second they remain in their current shambolic state chips away at our common humanity. Hate the crime but love the convict is a crucial key to unlocking reformation in our custodial centres.

  • Lere Paimo: To whom honour is due

    Lere Paimo: To whom honour is due

    • Tinubu, Sanwo-Olu, others to celebrate ‘Eda’, an icon of Yoruba movie industry

    Quintessential Yoruba actor, Chief Lere Paimo, whose stage name is ‘Eda Onile Ola’, or simply, ‘Eda’, will be celebrating his 85th birthday this month. Born on September 19, 1939, hailing from Ogbomoso and training as a teacher in Gold Coast (Ghana), ‘Eda’ is enjoying uncommon longevity in a country where life expectancy is set at around 56.05 years.

     According to Awa Bamiji, President-General of the Grand Council of Yoruba Youths, the September 23, 2024 Yoruba National Day Lecture at the University of Ibadan in Oyo State would be used to celebrate the icon of the Yoruba movie industry. The lecture is titled “National Unity and Agitation for Self-determination: The Way Forward for Nigeria”, and is to be delivered by the Governor of Lagos State, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and the First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu is the Special Guest of Honour.

    With an exquisite skill in modulating his voice magisterially, an imperial deployment of his visage, a commanding carriage, a dynamic overall body language, a notable prowess in reciting incantations and the remarkably engaging use of proverbs, ‘Eda’ has been hugely authentic as he has acted the different roles of king, chief and priest, among others, as he has been enlightening and dispensing joy to generations of individuals and homes, starting with his 1963 epic drama, “Ògbórí Elémòsó”. His performance authentically mirrors Yoruba culture in its ennobling and not so endearing forms, and he has become an actor of choice when it comes to Yoruba classics. 

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    His theatrical authenticity has been so huge that, according to him, “Often times, I get calls from people all over Nigeria asking me to consult the oracle for them. Whenever it happens like that, I explain to them that I am not a herbalist. Even after explaining to them that what they watch on television is just acting, some still don’t believe, offering to pay me huge sums of money.” This places ‘Eda’ in the class of the world famous British actor Robert Powell who acted the role of Jesus so authentically in the film “Jesus of Nazareth” that some people started deifying him and placing his photograph behind the altar in church. In a testament to his amazing theatrical talent and as a striking example of life imitating art, a video clip in which he acted as a high chief circulated widely on social media after a display of elite irritability in real life by Femi Fani-Kayode, a former Minister of Aviation. After Fani-Kayode, who was not holding any official position, had moved round promoting a number of state governors, a journalist asked him, “Who is bankrolling you?” The question drew the former Minister’s ire, and he launched into tirades and threats against the journalist. In a similar kind of situation, ‘Eda’ had lost his temper and issued threats when a journalist asked the high chiefs how they got the funds to buy a set of luxury cars at a time when some logging companies were attempting to exploit the community.

    ‘Eda’ has been around long enough to reap the fruits of longevity. Of particular note is the fact that, as the Development Agenda for Western Nigeria (DAWN) Commission puts it, “In 2005, former President Olusegun Obasanjo presented him with a national award of Member of the Federal Republic (MFR) in honour of his enormous contributions to the Nigerian film industry.”

    As ‘Eda Onile Ola’ continues to advance within the octogenarian class and continues to advance in his mythical and mystical standing among Yoruba actors, he deserves all the honour and celebration of talent he can get; and we wish him graceful aging. 

  • Injustice writ large  

    Injustice writ large  

    • Police authorities must punish their men who kept an innocent Nigerian in jail for 10 months

    Reported experiences of a 26-year-old photographer who spent 10 months in prison for resigning his job with a photography studio in Abuja through a text message illustrate abuses inherent in the Nigerian justice system.

    Peter Nicholas is a graduate of Mass Communication from Akwa Ibom State Polytechnic whose promising career was gridlocked by his 10-month incarceration at Keffi Correctional Centre, after he sent his resignation through a text message to the studio proprietor, Mike Oluwole, who is said to be a politician. The charges on which the young man was apprehended were that he insulted the proprietor and was also suspected of theft of a phone at the studio, which Nicholas denied because the phone was declared missing after he had quit the studio. The charges against him were later withdrawn by the litigant from the Upper Area Court in Mpape, Abuja, where Nicholas was arraigned, but he was yet held in prison because he could not raise the money to pay his bail. 

    Nicholas was working as a photographer and photo editor at the Abuja studio where he was placed on N70,000 monthly salary and a six-month probation before he resigned three months into the job, because of a better offer elsewhere and dissatisfaction with his boss’s human relations. He said he was not given a formal employment letter, and so did not consider it imperative to write in a formal resignation letter.

    On October 10, 2023, he sent in his resignation by a text message to the boss. He didn’t stop there, though. On October 14, he sent another text message advising the studio proprietor on leadership skills, which the proprietor found insulting. “The message I sent on October 10, 2023 stated that I was no longer interested in working with him. To further explain my reason for resigning, I sent another text on October 14, advising him to learn leadership and management skills because of how he humiliated a colleague who collected N125,000 from a client into his personal account since the customer couldn’t pay into the company’s account,” he said in a newspaper interview, adding: “The colleague was arrested, molested by the police, and eventually taken to their station despite reimbursing the company. After that, I lost interest in working at his studio. No staff member had ever stayed there for more than three months, though the customers weren’t aware.”

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    The proprietor got Nicholas arrested on October 15, 2023, and he was in jail until recently when a non-governmental organisation, Hope Behind Bars Africa Foundation, facilitated payment of the bail fee. Executive Director of the organisation, Funke Adeoye, announced in a post on X last week that Nicholas got freed two weeks earlier after an anonymous person paid his bail. “From spending two days in police detention, he ended up being charged for ‘intentional insult,’ locked up in a room with 189 other cell mates at a prison in Keffi because he could not afford the bail sum initially set at N100,000 and later N50,000,” he said. “He remained there even after the said boss, a politician in the current administration and owner of a popular photography studio in the FCT, wrote a letter to the court withdrawing the charge,” Adeoye added.

    In his interview with ‘The Punch’, Nicholas described his 10-month stay at Keffi Correctional Centre as harrowing and recounted how he slept on the floor, went without bathing for more than three months for lack of funds to purchase water, and shared a cell with inmates who included hardened criminals – “robbers, kidnappers, murderers, innocent inmates awaiting justice, and those without records; there was no (distinction) whatsoever.”

    Despite those harsh conditions, however, he found solace in playing the keyboard at the prison church, where the chaplain took interest in him. His break came after Hope Behind Bars learnt of his plight through a friend he had contacted from prison.

    We consider it sheer abuse of influence on Oluwole’s part to have dragged Nicholas to the police on account of his feeling insulted by his resignation messages. Libel is a violation under Nigerian law, but those messages certainly aren’t libelous since they were not published to a third party. And if the issue was the reported phone theft, why was the issue not provable in court and the matter subsequently withdrawn? The businessman apparently had some reach with the police that he wielded to tyrannise Nicholas. The police deserve a greater censure for finding the matter serious enough to engage their time in litigation and not referred to domestic arbitration. And after the case was withdrawn by Oluwole, on what basis was Nicholas yet held in prison custody to last 10 months?

    With the level of criminality in society that the police are hard pressed to tackle, this matter smacks of that local axiom about conniving at leprosy disease and running frantic to cure eczema. Police authorities should investigate their personnel who committed precious operational hours to such trite matter and sanction them accordingly.

    Nicholas’s experience indexes why Nigerian correctional centres are overly congested, with more than half of inmates yet to be tried or found guilty of any offence. This calls for drastic review of the justice system to keep potential innocents out of jail-hold with convicted criminals.

  • Reckless, unjustifiable

    Reckless, unjustifiable

    •It is incredible that only three of our airports are viable

    The revelation that only three airports in the country are viable calls for serious introspection by lawmakers and the executives at federal and state levels.

    The declaration of 19 airports in the country as unviable by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) shows the height of recklessness in public expenditure by governments at the various levels. Even federal airports are unviable despite the billions of Naira spent to ostensibly upgrade them. Only the airports in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt are adjudged viable, while even those dubbed international in Kano, Enugu and Ilorin are in the fold of the unprofitable.

    All state-owned airports have joined the league of the loss-making. This calls for serious examination of the motive for establishing the airports. In the South West, there are airports in Ibadan (federal), Akure (federal), and now Ekiti, Osun and Ogun states. They are more like prestige projects to massage the ego of the governors. This is totally unacceptable at a time like this when most Nigerians have been classified as multi-dimensionally poor by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS). What the time calls for are justifiable economic projects that would fetch jobs for the unemployed youths who are becoming restive. Twice now, they have shown

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    their anger and provided sop to the opposition to the government of the day.

    When genuine protests are organised, artisans and the unemployed are quick to join the line and show their disaffection; thus leading to riots and looting.

    Governments in the country have a duty to check the trend by ensuring that the people are carried along in the projects they embark on. The people must have an input to the budgeting process if the object of governance is to serve the general public. Most of the state-owned airports remain uncompleted because they have been reduced to white elephant projects, good only in gulping scarce resources without enhancing services.

    Unless there is a change of attitude among leaders and a change of philosophy in governance, the future would remain bleak. The N160 billion that the state governors, past and current, are said to have expended on airports is a cause for concern. It is an indictment of not only the executive, but the legislature, too. How did the budgets get approved by the various states’ Houses of Assembly without scrutiny and assurance that there had been feasibility studies conducted by the executive arm?

    How many professionals were consulted in the process of preparing the appropriation law? Were there studies of older airports like the Kaduna, Kano, Benin, Ibadan, Akure, Sokoto, Enugu and Calabar at the federal level, and Asaba, Ebonyi, Uyo, at the state level? New ones are still being constructed in Zamfara and Taraba.

    State governments should be warned that they did not sign for fancy competition, but serious business that would transform the country. Nigeria has lagged for far too long, and countries like Angola, Rwanda and even Ghana are already threatening to overtake the “giant of Africa” in the race to be regional leaders. That the Nigerian economy is in the doldrums is widely acknowledged; and it calls for leaders who could put on their thinking caps at a time like this. The task cannot be left for the Federal Government alone. The aviation sector is one that is central to promoting economic development. It should, therefore, be so treated and not reduced to toy in the hands of state governors. Any airport, state or federal-owned, that has remained unprofitable for so long should be downgraded to air strips or aerodromes. That way, the few remaining would have enough traffic to justify their existence. It’s time for leaders to wake up.

  • Emmanuel Ayoola (1933 – 2024)

    Emmanuel Ayoola (1933 – 2024)

    •Eminent jurist departs

    His appointment as Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), in 2005, spoke volumes about his background in Nigeria’s justice system and was an acknowledgement of his integrity. He was the second person to head the anti-graft agency established in 2000.

     In his five-year term as ICPC boss, Emmanuel Olayinka Ayoola, a retired Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria, helped to lay the foundation that has sustained the agency’s anti-corruption activities. His death on August 20, at the age of 90, put the spotlight on the ICPC and its performance.

    Enabled by the Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act 2000, the ICPC is involved in enforcement, prevention as well as education of the public in battling corruption. The commission is to receive complaints, investigate and prosecute offenders; and the law brings under its purview all Nigerians, in the private and public sectors, including public officers with constitutional immunity.

    The incumbent ICPC chairman, Dr Musa Adamu Aliyu, said Ayoola “left solid footprints in ICPC for his successors which I could describe as a good road map for waging war against corruption.” He described him as an “epitome of integrity and honour,” who “protected the rights of those accused of corruption,” and whose “selfless services championed not only the primary method of arrest and prosecution but also preventive mechanisms in the war against graft.”

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    Notably, in 2008, at the launch of a public enlightenment campaign against corruption, Ayoola proposed life imprisonment for saboteurs of the country’s anti-corruption crusade. His proposal underlined the country’s corruption status. In 1999, for instance, the Transparency International Corruption Perception Index rated Nigeria the second most corrupt nation in the world. In 2023, Nigeria ranked 145th among the 180 countries in the Index, with the first perceived to have the most honest public sector.

    Before his ICPC years, he had made a name for himself as a lawyer and judge. Born in Ilesha, in present-day Osun State, he earned a degree in law from the University of London in 1957, and was called to the English Bar at the Lincoln’s Inn, London, in 1958. He was admitted as barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 1959 and started private legal practice the same year.

    He was a legal practitioner for 17 years. Then he was appointed a judge of the High Court of Western Nigeria, and later became a judge of the High Court of Oyo State in 1976. His trajectory as a judge demonstrated his expertise and the recognition he enjoyed for his work. He served as Justice of the Court of Appeal of The Gambia from 1980 to 1983, and was Chief Justice of The Gambia from 1983 to 1992. He received the Gambian national honour, Commander of the Order of the Republic of The Gambia, in 1990.

    Also, he was Vice President of the World Judges Association in 1991. After serving as president of the Court of Appeal of Seychelles, and Justice of the Court of Appeal of Nigeria (1992–1998), he attained the position of Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria (1998–2003). He was chairman of the Working Committee on Law Revision of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2000.

    Justice Mohammed Uwais, a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, gave an insight into Ayoola’s performance at the Supreme Court, praising “his ability for calm and incisive analysis of the facts of a case and his percipience in identifying the legal principles, which were apposite to the resolution of the case.” He added that his judgements “illuminated the subject matter with which they dealt and gained currency amongst those practising and those teaching the law as enlightening and authoritative expositions.”

     A recipient of the Nigerian national honour, Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON), in 2003, he served as Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria from 2003 to 2005. The Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) appointed him president of the Appeals Chamber of the Special Court for Sierra Leone in 2004.

    His anti-corruption badge remains relevant as the country continues its long and tough fight against pervasive corruption.  

  • Balancing act

    Balancing act

    •While we agree that child prodigies should not be left in the cold, pupils need to be mature before starting formal education

    What is the appropriate age for young ones to be permitted to cross from the secondary to tertiary level of education in Nigeria? That is the poser at the centre of a national debate sparked by a recent announcement by Minister of Education, Professor Tahir Mamman, that the Federal Government would henceforth enforce 18 years as the minimum age limit for such transition.

    The minister said government would from the next academic year in 2025 strictly apply the stipulated age limit for candidates sitting for the secondary school leaving certificate and university matriculation examinations. That is to say pupils intending to sit for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination organised by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and the Senior School Certificate Examination organised by the National Examinations Council (NECO) must attain 18 years before they can qualify. And since these certificates are primary requirements for advancing to the tertiary level of education, any candidate sitting for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination conducted by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) must also be of that age.

    Speaking on national television programme early last week, Mamman noted that the age policy isn’t new, only that government has now resolved to enforce it. “Even basically, if you compute the number of years pupils and learners are supposed to be in school, the number you will end up with is 17 and a half – from early child care to primary school, to junior secondary school and then senior secondary school. You will end up with 17 and a half by the time they are ready for admission,” he said. “So, we are not coming up with a new policy, contrary to what some people are saying; we are simply reminding people of what is existing. In any case, NECO and WAEC, henceforth, will not be allowing underage children to write their examinations. In other words, if somebody has not spent the requisite number of years in that particular level of study, WAEC and NECO will not allow them to write the examination,” he added.

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    The minister’s analysis of the extant 6-3-3-4 policy is that early child care should last for the first five years after birth. Pupils are expected to begin primary one at age six and spend six years in primary school; move to junior secondary school at age 12 and spend three years; move to senior secondary school at age 15 and spend another three years before leaving for university at age 18.

     But some stakeholders have argued that the policy failed to take account of children being enrolled in crèches very early in life owing to economic pressures that force both parents to take up jobs outside of the home, and as a result of which many children begin primary education much earlier than age six.

    There is also the factor of child prodigies who pole-vault through the educational levels and conclude secondary schooling between ages 15 and 17. The critics ask what such children would be doing before they attain age 18 prescribed for seeking tertiary education.

    Moreover, some critics cite the disruptive nature of academic calendar in many universities – especially public ones – by which a four-year programme sometimes lasts beyond six years to conclude. Besides, there are age-sensitive international opportunities like scholarships, fellowships and job internships that could elude Nigerian candidates if they do not fulfill eligibility criteria that often include being in possession of an initial degree.

    Still, we argue that maturity of candidates is necessary for good health of this country’s tertiary education system. Early education syndrome has seen secondary schools populated by pupils barely above kindergarten age and universities by mid-teenagers, with all the tendencies associated with immaturity and childhood naivety characterising those systems. Psychologists would confirm there is a connection between cognitive level and behavioural tendencies like capacity to withstand peer pressure, respond to difficult tasks and cope with unforeseen challenges, among other things that characterise life of relative independence that university education entails.

    The question of age-sensitive international opportunities like scholarships, for instance, cannot be overstretched. In many countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, etc, formal schooling starts at about age five or six. So, the average age for admission into tertiary institutions is about 17 or 18 years.

    Perhaps the point that should worry us is that of child prodigies. They are not too many globally; otherwise, they would not qualify for being called geniuses. The society cannot therefore tilt its educational policy in their favour. However, while the minimum age requirement sounds appropriate, we recommend a bridging arrangement like the Sixth Form or some vocational training to productively engage such geniuses and other pupils who legitimately conclude secondary education before they get ripe for university admission so they are not left to idle.

  • Justice delayed

    Justice delayed

    •It is curious that Bamise Ayanwole’s alleged murderer-rapist has not come to justice

    It is approaching a thousand days but justice seems far away from Bamise Ayanwola, her brutal rape and murder still haunting the Nigerian judiciary.

    As the Committee for the Defence of Human Rights (CDHR) rightly says, the dead needs justice and the Lagos high court should stop foot-dragging on a matter that seems straightforward enough. On the night of February 26, 2022, Ayanwole was a passenger on the Lagos BRT bus with plate number 240257 heading for Sango- Ota from Ajah. She joined at the Chevron Bust Stop, and hoped to arrive home as any passenger would.

    But the bus driver, Andrew Nice Omonikoron, had another idea, lust in his eyes and murder in his heart. Ayanwole’s intuition anticipated the barbarism but had no time or space for escape and had no people for refuge. The predator took advantage, defiled the young woman and killed her to eradicate evidence. But he was wrong.

    He confessed he was the assailant. He later changed the story to insist that armed robbers perpetrated the felony. He was referring to four others still unidentified who entered the bus when he was riding the bus with the young woman as her lone passenger.

    After the incident, he fled but was caught by law enforcement agents. Indeed, the incident paralysed BRT services for a few days and engendered widespread uproar.

    Ayanwole was dumped at Carter Bridge, where she died. The details of her torture and death may not be fully known, but evidence from her body reveal enough that she was violated and tortured to death. If her life cannot be retrieved, at least her justice should.

    “The case has been in court since March 2022. CDHR has been monitoring the case and has, on many occasions, been present in court, but it is so sad that the case has continually suffered a series of unnecessary adjournments to date,” noted the CDHR.

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    The accused’s name has also come up in at least another accusation of rape in the course of duty, and this has led many to call for his four-count charge be expanded to include those he molested prior to the case now in the court.

    To underline the delay, the human rights body drew attention to cases that happened at about the time of Ayanwole’s murder.

    “We recall that in July 2022, a murder case took place at Obafemi Awolowo University (O.A.U.). A Master’s Degree student from Abuja was murdered in a hotel in Ife while writing examinations at Ile-Ife. As we speak, the Osun State Judiciary has been bold enough to deliver judgment,” emphasised the

    CDHR. It also referred to the case of Bolanle Raheem who was killed by a police officer at Ajah, not far from where Ayanwole met her tragic end. That matter, too, has been resolved in court.

    A number of unresolved questions remain.

    “The android phone belonging to late Miss Oluwabamise Ayanwole with which she was communicating and sending vital information to her friend while she was inside the BRT bus and sensing danger, the information which led to the arrest of the murder suspect, the BRT bus driver, should be produced.”

    The CDHR was right also to ask the court to produce the four men who witnessed or participated in the murder-rape. Who are they? What is the progress on the matter?

    The delay is curious. The accused is not a celebrity, nor a moneyed man nor a highflier in government or political class. He is a common citizen who has allegedly committed a great offence. Yet he is enjoying the privilege of a pampered villain. It is high time the court accelerated the matter.