The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Banks and development

    Banks and development

    LESS than four years after the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi’s axe fell, wiping in one fell swoop, the careers of dozens of top bankers, opinions expectedly remain divided on the overall impact of the exercise on the industry. At the heart of the debate is whether appropriate lessons have been learnt, given the N3 trillion cost of the clean-up. This amount includes the initial N620 billion injected to bail out the initial eight banks, the N1.725 trillion spent by the Asset Management Corporation, (AMCON) to acquire the non-performing loans of banks, and the N679 billion also expended to recapitalise the three Bridge Banks.

    Today, financial stability has no doubt returned to the industry just as the path of profitability seems pretty assured. Naturally, there are those who would argue that the outlandish figures of banks profitability being declared mean nothing in an economy where poverty and unemployment rule, and where the phenomenon of de-industrialisation is a grim, distressing reality. While the point is unquestionably a valid one, it merely highlights the yawning gap between what is expected of the banks as catalyst to the economy and what it is doing at the moment. There can be no questioning the fact that the banks have a long way to go.

    The rosy picture of an industry on steady growth path is however a partial one. The humongous cost of the bailout aside, the real sector remains ill-served both in terms of access to credit and cost of funds – about four years after. Credit, the lifeblood of business remains a sticky issue. Where available, it is only to a few privileged class; not necessarily those who need them the most, at least, not the small and the medium scale industries that have impossible requirements to contend with. And then of course is the prohibitive cost – the result of which our traditionally non-competitive firms are rendered even more so.

    We wish we could vouchsafe that the factors which precipitated the crisis are no longer with us. We refer to the problems of fraud, corruption and mismanagement in the environment of poor corporate governance culture and ineffectual leadership. These were to manifest in sundry abuses of credit guidelines, the jettisoning of the extant industry’s financial controls, and in extreme cases, outright theft of depositors’ funds.

    We recall the once upon a time when bank executives took heavy bets with depositors’ funds; when they lived large and chased after luxuries that money can buy at a time the real economy headed south; when bumper profits, which rather than reflect the grim actually reflected the creative book-keeping of the era, were cited as proof of financial soundness. We wish we could state that these belonged in the past; the truth however is that it is far from being the case. The men who ravaged the industry and brought it to near ruin are very much around still; those who took bad credit decisions for personal gains are walking in freedom; their accomplices – the chronic, pathological debtors whose portfolio debts nearly took the economy down have since gone back to business despite the so-called naming and shaming of barely four years ago.

    Several cases on the matter presently linger in various courts for want of diligent prosecution. As for those convicted of grievous economic crimes, they have since been asked to go and sin no more. The atmosphere of impunity has all but returned – sadly a few years after the last crisis. A variant of the same malignancy of institutional corruption which although has been with us, has not only gone full bloom, it has since metastasised. In its more serious form, it comes in the billions of public funds misappropriated, stolen and laundered by officials through banks’ vaults. A most recent example is the alleged scam in the police pension’s office running into hundreds of billions of naira. We have also seen milder forms of the same malfeasance in the countless reported cases of officials putting funds meant for paying salaries and other emoluments of workers in interest-bearing accounts for private gain. Yet another example is the phenomenon of ghost workers that has come to characterise the public service.

    To cite a specific example – a recent staff audit involving 153,019 Federal Government employees. The exercise reportedly yielded 45,000 ghost workers said to involve a net loss of N100 billion to the treasury. Who collected the money? Of course, the ghosts were not paid through the relevant ministries’ cash offices but through the banks. Whatever happened to the Know Your Customer (KYC) rule which requires banks to keep basic data of their customers?So pervasive is the menace that nearly all the states have at one time or the other reported ‘shock finds’ of ghosts in their work force. The verification in Bayelsa State for instance, is said to have yielded a net saving of N2.5 billion in the wage bill – from N6 billion to N3.5billion in one year. That of Rivers is said to have yielded 8,000 ghosts; Delta 7,000; and Kebbi 9, 300. If the amounts involved are mind-boggling; the frequency is even more benumbing. Their prevalence raises questions on the efficacy of existing financial intelligence regulations and the willingness of bank executives to comply with them. And if we may add that these workers are ghosts only to the extent that the top officials prefer to make the individuals unknown, and to the extent that the officials of the banks through which these payments are made would shield them for their pecuniary benefits.

    The point here is that banks have a huge role to play in providing muscle without which the economy will not lift. They have stayed far too long in their comfort zones of conservatism when their creative interventions are sorely required. They need to address the issue of access to credit by the small and medium scale industry; ditto the issue of prohibitive cost of lending. It is high time the bankers committee did something about the high cost of funds.

    We believe that the banks have a big role to play in fighting corruption. We do not think that the banks have done enough to assist the anti-graft bodies to fight the menace neither have they done enough to purge their ranks of same. Rather than new regulations, we believe that existing regulations, scrupulously observed, will go a long way to tame the scourge. It seems about time also the CBN made good its threat of zero tolerance for violations of financial regulations.

  • Waging war on war

    Waging war on war

    After seven years of negotiation, the UN General Assembly has approved a treaty that regulates trade in conventional arms. It is the first of its kind. While nuclear and biological weapons have long been subject to international law, there is no global framework for monitoring the import and export of military equipment such as tanks and missiles.

    Countries opting to sign and ratify the treaty will have to ensure that the arms they trade are not used for acts of genocide, war crimes or terrorism. This is an important step. The flood of weapons into some of the most vulnerable countries in the world has fuelled civil wars, costing lives and obstructing economic development. Governments from across the globe have a moral obligation to intervene.

    Signatories will also be obliged to make public any information over arms imports, exports and transfers. Violators will be named and shamed by a newly created international entity. This pressure will make it harder for governments to close their eyes to morally questionable deals.

    Of course, there are limits to the impact of the agreement. Given the large backing it received on Tuesday, it is almost certain that 50 nations will ratify it. This is a precondition for the treaty to go into effect. Yet Russia and China, two of the world’s largest arms exporters, are unlikely to sign it. US President Obama changed his country’s stance on the initiative and chose to back it. Yet, regrettably, more than 50 US senators have already signalled that they will oppose its ratification.

    The treaty, as currently structured, lacks teeth. First, it does not include military aid. Signatories will be able to exploit this loophole to help friendly regimes in acts of civil repression. Most importantly, there is no specific enforcement mechanism. The UN will have no concrete powers to sanction violators.

    Yet realism over what the treaty can achieve is no good reason to oppose it. Governments across the world should swiftly sign it and ratify it. Once the agreement is in place, it can be tightened, for example by broadening its scope so that it includes military gifts. Since only those that have ratified the treaty will be able to amend it, large countries such as the US have an interest in doing so in order to be able to influence the negotiations. The backing of big powers would also give the treaty greater legitimacy, which is essential for it to become relevant.

    – Financial Times

  • Just another distraction?

    Just another distraction?

    Involving NIPSS in teaching political parties proper conduct needs rigorous thinking

    Should the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, Nigeria’s apex strategic think-tank, be involved in training political parties in democratic culture, as being suggested by an NGO, Democratic Governance for Development Project (DGDP) and other partners?

    Before an appropriate answer is given, an examination of the NIPSS Act of 1 January 1979 is necessary.

    Section 3(1) of the Act, stating NIPSS’s objectives and functions, is omnibus enough: “The Institute shall serve as a high-level centre of reflection, research, and dialogue, where academics of intellectual excellence, policy initiators and executors and other citizens with high level of practical experience and wisdom drawn from different sectors of national life in Nigeria would meet, to reflect and exchange ideas on the great issues of society, particularly as they relate to Nigeria and Africa, in the context of the dynamics of a constantly changing world.”

    Section 3(2)(c), which states NIPSS’s training obligations to the polity is even more explicit: “To conduct seminars, workshops and other action-oriented programmes, whether on a continuing or ad hoc basis, for leaders in the public services (including the armed forces and other disciplined forces), the private sector, political organisations, professional and other groups, with a view to promoting and defining, and enhancing appreciation for, long-range national plans and objectives.”

    That “political organisations” were mentioned in the NIPSS law, among those key national institutions deserving of its intellectual expertise, shows there is nothing basically wrong with the proposal to involve NIPSS in political party training and socialisation.

    But if NIPSS had this mandate since 1979, why did the Ibrahim Babangida government in October 1989 set up another body, the Centre for Democratic Studies (CDS), with a similar mandate of x-raying anti-democratic attitudes, beliefs and behaviours among Nigerians?

    Did Babangida feel NIPSS was too rarefied as a policy think-tank to descend to the level of political party training and mentoring, particularly as that government was imposing its own twin political parties, National Republican Convention (NRC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP)?

    Even more telling, why did the DGDP and its partner NGOs approach NIPSS, and not CDS, for institutional cooperation in this ordinarily laudable objective of deepening democracy in Nigeria’s notoriously undemocratic political parties? Did they think CDS, rooted in the grand political deceit of the Babangida years, was too soiled as a training platform that only NIPSS’s towering heights would do?

    To the extent that every organisation has a right to partner with any other to realise legitimate goals, the DGDP is entitled to its choice. It is left for it to approach. It is also left for the approached partner to accept or reject. In this case, DGDP and partners have approached; and NIPSS has accepted. Fine enough.

    Chief Olu Falae, veteran politician and All People’s Party/Alliance for Democracy joint candidate in the 1999 presidential election, as a representative of political party leadership, has hailed the proposed training programmes as imperative to professionalise both politics and the running of political parties. Fair enough, too.

    Still, there are quite legitimate basis to feel that, as crucial as evolving a more democratic political culture is, involving NIPSS is introducing banality to solving a pressing national problem. Purists on NIPSS policy and strategy mandate have insisted that Nigeria’s apex policy think-tank was set up for more rigorous policy and research stuff, not to start messing around with what well-organised political parties should take care of.

    If that argument is valid, then the result could well be double – and tragic – distraction: NIPSS would be distracted from focusing on the rigorous stuff it was founded to tackle; and political parties too would lose vital lead time in squaring up to a problem, which is essentially theirs and theirs only to solve, if a democratic polity is not to collapse on its undemocratic operators.

    Though calling NIPSS to the rescue cannot be mutually exclusive to political parties reforming themselves, it is a notorious fact that the crisis in Nigeria’s political party system today emanated from Gen. Babangida’s failed “new breed” experiment. So, in contrast to the ideological, drilled or at least structurally sound political parties of the First and Second Republics, what are around now are pathetic caricatures that mock their claim to political parties.

    Therefore, the long-term solution is going back to proper political parties grounded in shared ideology and teeming with disciplined and committed cadres, who collectively fund their parties and live by the ethos. That would be a clear and welcome relief from the election-time mercenaries who now foul up the political party space.

    So, perhaps NIPSS and its partners’ help is needed, to use the language of economics, in the very short run: long enough to infuse new democratic spirit in cadres but short enough to realise that only proper and structured political parties could succeed in infusing their own ethos in their own members.

    There in then lies the rigorous thinking needed to make this intervention a success.

  • Theatre of the absurd

    Theatre of the absurd

    •This is what government’s plan to turn National Theatre into hotel is

    What precisely is the Federal Government’s design for the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, a cultural monument with a revered history and a significant attraction in the mega city? The alarming news that Minister of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation, Edem Duke, has issued a two-week quit notice to culture-related government agencies at the 37-year-old arts centre has, ironically, came at a time the administration is planning another monument, the highly publicised Abuja Centenary City, to commemorate the 100th year of the 1914 amalgamation of the country’s Northern and Southern protectorates by the British colonial government.

    The National Arts Theatre is home to National Council of Arts and Culture, Nigeria Gallery of Arts and National Troupe of Nigeria.

    It is apt to wonder whether, given the disturbing development at the National Arts Theatre, the administration is indeed motivated by a positive sense of history, and whether the proposed $40 billion commemorative city in the federal capital will not end up as a monument to visionless profligacy. For, there is no doubt that it takes a genuinely history-conscious administration not only to preserve historical legacies but also to build monuments that have historical merit.

    The planned expansion will be carried out under a “Public-Private Partnership”, Duke said, and asked the agencies to relocate their offices “within two weeks to an alternative location”. He explained, “This relocation is temporary as the structures that will eventually provide accommodation for your operations are being envisaged under the new arrangement.” Further, Duke argued that these “infrastructural facilities” will be “complementary to the National Theatre, as it is with other theatres in other parts of the world”, and boasted that the project “will be a thing of pride when completed.”

    Of course, the minister is entitled to his starry-eyed projection, but seems not to see the gray areas that make the entire project highly suspicious. Why the unfair and disruptive haste to get the agencies out of the place within two weeks? If the intention is truly to build “complementary “structures on the land without touching the theatre complex, why eject the agencies? What is responsible for the sudden and impulsive attention to alleged details of the master plan? How long will it take to complete the expansion, before the agencies will presumably be allowed to return to the land? Will the envisaged business facilities that will be privately run boost the cultural essence of the theatre, or shift focus from it?

    It is noteworthy that the National Arts Theatre has, in recent times, been in dire need of rehabilitation and, as a solution, there were moves by the then President Olusegun Obasanjo administration to privatise the facility which failed, following intense public outcry. The truth is that the people have a sentimental attachment to the architectural masterpiece well known as the venue of the 1977 2nd World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC). It remains the country’s pre-eminent cultural event centre despite its unfortunate neglect over the years, and there can be no excuse for sacrificing its soul for commercial interests. Besides, there is the important issue of whether the expansion of the theatre will amount to its use for purposes other than what it was approved for, a situation that would create a conflict with the Lagos State government, which by law is the approving authority.

    There will always be room for culture in society despite the Philistine imagination of structures of power, which is what Duke’s move sadly represents. It is pertinent to ask why the National Arts Theatre cannot be, for instance, like the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts in Washington, USA. The centre, which represents a public-private partnership, was opened in September 1971, and is the busiest performing arts facility in the United States. It receives federal funding each year to pay for the maintenance and operation of the building, and generates revenue through ticket sales and gifts from individuals, corporations and private foundations. The underlying lesson of this example is: the job of government is to run things, and not to run things down.

  • Here we go again

    Here we go again

    Is the President’s wife ill again or is she not?

    Again, we seem to be waddling down a familiar road and singing the same ribald tunes. Is the wife of the president, Dame Patience Jonathan ill and needing medical attention in a German hospital, or are we about to go through the same embarrassing hide and seek games played out to its most comical end last year by Nigeria’s first family?

    The media, including some online news platforms had reported that Mrs. Jonathan who recently returned from a medical trip abroad may have suffered a relapse and had been flown abroad once again. The reports though unconfirmed, noted that she shuttled between Spain and Germany but eventually settled for a German hospital. They stated that there may be an option of also seeking medical treatment in the United States. Speculations as to her condition were stoked by her conspicuous absence during the Easter holiday celebrations, including not being available for the Good Friday church service held in the Aso Rock Villa Chapel. She is also said to have travelled without her usual retinue.

    However, the Presidency last Monday, debunked all insinuations of ill health by the first lady in a news release signed by its spokesman, Mr. Ayo Osinlu. Yes, she would be out of the country for about two weeks but she certainly is not on a medical trip.

    The statement reads in part: “For the avoidance of doubts and ambiguities, I wish to state that Her Excellency had travelled to participate in the 1st Green Women Conference in Paris, France on March 17, where she received the Global Women Leaders’ Award for Peace, 2013.

    “Thereafter, the First Lady called on ‘Mama Sisi’ (her foster mother) who is currently receiving medical attention. It was in her normal plan to spend some time overseeing the management of the foster mother’s condition.

    “The First Lady also seized the opportunity to spend some time in the company of Mama’s children before they return to school. Dame Patience Jonathan is expected in the country next week.”

    While we have no intention to lend any credence to the rumour mill, we are troubled by a strong sense of déjà vu. We loath to remind that it was under exactly the same circumstance that she left the country last year and news broke that she had been admitted in a German hospital. Then, as he is doing now, Mr. Osinlu had described the news as malicious rumour, insisting that his boss had proceeded on vacation after the tedium of hosting African First Ladies Forum in Nigeria. Even senior spokes persons in the presidency had lent their voice to denying the report about Mrs. Jonathan’s hospitalisation.

    Dame Jonathan, upon her return after several weeks, had equally denounced the report and berated the purveyors as mischief makers who did not wish her well. However, in a most confounding volte-face mid February, during an elaborate thanksgiving service in the Aso Rock Villa, Mrs. Jonathan had admitted to her large audience that she was indeed suffering a terrible health condition. She was not only hospitalised in Germany, she made it known that she went under the surgical knife about nine times. “I was dead for about seven days,” she confessed to Nigerians.

    It was a moment of truth as well as a suffocating admixture of national anguish and exasperation. Nigerians were pained that they would not be allowed to share in the pains of the first lady, and upset that they had been lied to so glibly by the first family.

    While we will give the presidency the benefit of the doubt in this matter once again, we wish to restate our take on the ethics and economics of presidential health challenges. First, the first family is public property by virtue of the office the president occupies. He is not entitled to privacy and anything that befalls the family – good or ill – befalls the entire nation; thus, the people need to know as a matter of right. Second, the president is not to be perceived to lie to the people and lastly, the president is spending public funds.

    On these counts, we expect the president to at all times (but especially so in matters of health) be upfront and truthful to Nigerians. If the first lady is ill and requires medical attention abroad, that is what it is. The Nigerian is sure to show more empathy and understanding if he knows the truth.

  • A promising and difficult plan to end polio

    A promising and difficult plan to end polio

    THE WORLD witnessed only 223 polio cases last year, the lowest level in history and an impressive advance from the hundreds of thousands of children afflicted as recently as the 1980s. However, the eradication quest is not over, and the next steps look difficult. The Global Polio Eradication Initiative, an umbrella group, has unveiled a promising strategy over the next five years to reach zero cases, the elusive goal first set a quarter-century ago.

    The polio virus is highly contagious, can spread rapidly and remains endemic in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. In Pakistan, 15 health workers in the anti-polio campaign have been killed since July, and a World Health Organization official estimated that 240,000 children have missed vaccinations in the tribal areas because of security concerns. In Nigeria, nine workers have been killed this year. In both countries, the workers were killed by militants who hold wrongheaded notions that vaccinations are some kind of Western plot. In fact, the danger is not in the vaccination but in the virus, which affects the nervous system and can lead to paralysis, largely among children age 5 and younger. Any effort to conquer polio is going to have to fully protect those carrying out the vaccination campaigns.

    Wiping out a disease is an extraordinary accomplishment; it has been done only once before, with smallpox. Yet as polio case numbers plunge, the task of complete eradication grows harder. The oral polio vaccine, which contains a live, weakened virus, has been key to the dramatic progress in reducing cases. But on very rare occasions, the virus strain in the oral vaccine has reverted to a paralytic one and begun to circulate. Earlier, it was a tolerable risk, but now it must be stopped. The new global strategy involves a switch to an inactivated vaccine that can attack the circulating virus. This requires a shot, not just an oral drop. While the oral dose costs about 20 cents apiece, the inactivated one costs a dollar or more. The switch to the inactivated virus is an important firewall against a further outbreak, but it won’t be easy and must go hand in hand with strong, routine immunization to prevent the virus from returning.

    The five-year strategy is estimated to cost $5.5 billion from varied sources, according to the eradication initiative, a partnership spearheaded by the WHO, Rotary International, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and UNICEF with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Instead of trying to raise money year to year, the new strategy calls for gathering up the total at the outset. This will be difficult in an era of budget austerity, but there have been some promising new private sources of funds, including $100 million recently pledged by New York Mayor and publishing magnate Michael Bloomberg.

    Hopes for wiping out polio globally have been raised by the achievement of India, now free of the virus. But success is not assured and demands a fight to the finish.

    – Washington Post

  • Robbery against workers

    Robbery against workers

    MDA  heads should be held accountable for trading with workers’ salaries 

    The depraved chasm creeping into the nation’s public service is awfully disturbing. The situation reportedly moved to a level where accounting officers in Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) notoriously collude with bank officials in the infamous criminal practice of withholding civil servants’ salaries in fixed deposit accounts to yield interests, before belatedly releasing the money to the workers. The ill-gotten proceeds are wantonly shared among beneficiaries believed to be top notch of such branches of government that included some permanent secretaries and heads of parastatals.

    This scenario that has become a malignant tumour came to the fore when some incensed civil servants stormed the venue of the monthly Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) meeting to protest and ascertain whether indeed the delay in the release of their monthly pay emanated from the FAAC. The workers’ protest has exposed another festering sore in the unfortunate chapter of endemic corruption that has widely become the hallmark in public institutions across the country.

    The regrettable thing is that there is no ray of hope in sight for workers whose salaries top government functionaries have been illegally trading with. We say so because even the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation (OAGF), reportedly admitted to having heard of delays in workers’ salaries without taking any necessary action to unfurl the rational behind the delays, or to penalise those involved, in accordance with the rules. Of what essence then is OAGF’s laughable claim of remitting workers’ salaries within two days of getting FAAC’s Authority to Incur Expenditure (AIE) to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for onward remittance to the various accounts, to the system?

    Unbelievably too, the CBN reportedly treated such payments with alacrity by transferring them to designated banks that will in turn credit the accounts of accredited workers. Of equal significance here is the reported order purportedly given by Olusegun Aganga, erstwhile Minister of Finance, that workers’ salaries should be paid latest by the 20th of every month. Why has nobody been queried by the OAGF for flouting this ministerial order?

    This act has become a recurring decimal despite the official introduction of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and the Integrated Personnel Payroll Information System (IPPIS) that were designed to tackle the problem. The ineffectiveness of these antidotes might be due mainly to the fact that those that are meant to ensure they work well have been compromised or are neck deep in the practice.

    We call for an absolute stoppage of this immorally criminal act that has serious implication on the wellbeing of workers in the public service. Unfortunately, the cankerworm is having contagious effect on the society. It is reportedly spreading among governors, ministers and local government chairmen, most of whom are ingrained in the act of reaping illegal profits on workers’ remunerations. To us, salaries and wages are a consequence of contractual agreement between the government and civil servants. On no account should such contractual obligations be breached. Governments and their representatives must comply by promptly paying salaries/wages when due.

    The advice civil servants give to government is suspect because they probably mislead governments so as to enrich their pockets. We are cocksure that keeping billions of naira of public workers’ salaries in periodic fixed deposit accounts would have been impossible without the connivance of top civil servants that act against their own. The fact that this illicit act has been on for years without it being noticed, stopped or leading to the apprehension of those involved underscores the degree of rot in the public service. This robbery in public service must be treated with utmost concern by the necessary authorities.

  • Adieu, ‘Motor Park Economist’

    Ashikiwe Adione-Egom was a brilliant public intellectual worthy of national accolade

    On March 22, another bright star who exited Nigeria’s literary and academic firmament on March 3 was buried. Even if his departure did not elicit the kind of attention devoted in this country to the death of political heavy weights, wealthy moguls or social celebrities, the late Mr Peter Alexander AshikiweAdione-Egom, was a truly great and remarkable Nigerian. Born in 1943, Mr. Peter Adione-Egom had a solid education at various institutions, including King’s College, Lagos and later Cambridge College in the United Kingdom, where he studied Social Anthropology and Economics.

    Not only did he distinguish himself in academics, this indigene of UkalaOkpumor in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State was also an outstanding athlete in his youth. A restless and uncommon spirit as well as widely travelled man, Adione-Egom lived for some time in Denmark before moving to Tanzania in the early 1970s. In Tanzania, he not only taught economics at the University of Dar-es-Salam, his intellect was recognised at the highest level when he was appointed Financial Adviser to the government of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere.

    It was no doubt in the fields of journalism, book publishing and public intellectual advocacy that Peter Adione-Egom made his most memorable and enduring contributions to the country’s development. He forcefully registered his presence in the public consciousness of Nigerians when he became one of the leading columnists of The Guardian newspaper in the early 1980s as a member of the publication’s Editorial Board.

    Writing under the rubric of the ‘Motor Park Economist’, Adione-Egom had a unique and unconventional approach to economic analysis that sought to break down complex issues for the illumination and enlightenment of the ordinary reader. Despite his attempts to demystify economic issues in line with his ‘Motor Park’ sobriquet, Adione–Egom’s writings could sometimes be obscure and impenetrable, even to the most erudite experts in the field. In 1985, he was moved to The African Guardian as Economic Editor.

    In 1987, Adione-Egom joined the founder of Business in ECOWAS magazine, the late Fred Brume, as a partner, with responsibility for the editorial aspects of the business. He continued his adventures in journalism when he founded and ran his own publications – the Financial Post and Commodity Post – between 1988 and 1992. Between 2003 and 2005, he was a member of the Editorial Board of the Daily Trust newspaper.

    Ever restless to explore new frontiers, Adione-Egom began to investigate a new area of specialisation known as Economic Theology. He carried out, in this regard, extensive research at the Ibru Ecumenical Centre, Delta State, between 1999 and 2000, and at the Pope John Paul 1 Catholic Social Centre, Abuja, from 2001 to 2003. Adione-Egom served as Consultant/Publisher at the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos, between 2004 and 2011.

    It was obvious with time that Adione-Egom’s mind had begun to acquire a more religious orientation when he established the Foundation for Christian Economic Evangelism (FORCEE). His intellectual fecundity and ingenuity was underscored by his adoption of a unique economic model, which he called the Joseph Economics for Social Reconciliation (JESOR). This foundation articulated the view that all can genuinely become citizens and non-subjects in any nation that adopts interest-free and debt-free equity money.

    In a bid to familiarise the public with these rather abstract and abstruse ideas, he authored about 10 books in his life time. Adione-Egom’s brilliance, humanity, originality, sense of humour, innocent capacity for mischief and large- heartedness made a deep impression on all those who came across him. He was highly regarded by his peers, even if he did not get the kind of recognition he deserved from the Nigerian state and wider society. We commiserate with his loved ones and pray that his soul rest in eternal peace.

  • Pyongyang must be kept talking

    Pyongyang must be kept talking

    • Lines of communication have to be left open to avert war

    North Korea has a long tradition of bellicose rhetoric. The threats of nuclear attacks emanating from Pyongyang in recent weeks fit into a pattern of sabre-rattling that is usually aimed at pushing its demands up the US political agenda. The difference this time is that the drums have been beating louder and longer than usual. This heightens the chances of a deadly miscalculation, whether by Pyongyang, Seoul or their allies.

    A number of unrelated events are exacerbating tensions. A new generation has taken power in North and South Korea. In normal circumstances this might offer a chance to pursue new avenues for dialogue. Yet there is a danger that communications could break down as new leaders flex their muscles for the home audience. Kim Jong-eun succeeded his father, Kim Jong-il, just over a year ago. He still has much to prove in a country where the military takes precedence over a starving population. To the south, Park Geun-hye, the newly elected president, has authorised the military to respond to North Korean aggression without recourse to “political considerations”. If Pyongyang’s attacks have not led to full-scale war in the past, this is in part because Seoul has restrained a military itching for retribution.

    North Korea’s increasingly strident proclamations come as the US and South Korean military conduct annual drills around the peninsula. This is where accidental clashes could indeed spark grave regional conflict. The exercises are necessary to guarantee South Korea’s security. But there are certain parts of the Yellow Sea where they could become acts of dangerous brinkmanship.

    There is an urgent need to decrease the tension on all sides. The young Mr Kim may believe that he is sticking to the traditional rule book by threatening US cities and military bases. But he is setting a dangerous tempo. China, as Pyongyang’s main ally, has finally backed stronger sanctions. But Beijing also has to implement them. In return, Washington has to reassure Beijing that, should it withdraw support and the Kims fall, the peninsula would not become a long-term base for US forces in the region.

    The most important step towards defusing the current tensions, however, would be to promote dialogue with Pyongyang. Of course, it should be made clear that any attacks will be met with a firm response. But talks, even on minor issues, will lessen the threat of conflict. This may mean that the US and South Korea have to drop the precondition that Pyongyang denuclearise. Though this should still be the aim, few experts believe that this will be forthcoming. Distasteful though it may be to build a relationship with this rogue state, the only hope for peace is to keep lines of communication open.

    – Financial Times

  • Protecting the workers

    Protecting the workers

    • Proposed law to curb late payment of salaries deserves support

    It is a welcome relief that a Bill seeking an end to exploitation of workers by their employers has passed the second reading in the House of Representatives. Irked that millions of Nigerians in employment usually go without salaries and other emoluments for months, the Minority Leader, Femi Gbajabiamila, said there was the need to punish those employers who adopt a flamboyant lifestyle and globe-trotting, while denying their employees their legitimate incomes.

    The Workman (Unpaid Wages Prohibition) Bill states that: “An employer shall not hold onto the salary, wage, pension and any other benefit and emolument of any workman for a period of seven days and above from the day the payment of such salary, wage, pension and any other benefit and emolument falls due save in the event of any force majeure.”

    Those who fail to settle the wage bill within seven days are to be fined 10 per cent of the total wage bill, while delay for more than seven, but below 30 days would attract 20 per cent surcharge. Employers who seize employees’ pay for more than 30 days but less than two months are to pay 30 per cent to government coffers, while those who hold on to the emoluments of staff for more than two months are due to be fined 30 per cent plus an imprisonment term of one month.

    If passed, the law would introduce sanity in the labour market, both in the public and private sectors. The practice is now rife for employers in the private sector and the authorities in the public sector to collude with bank officials to deny workmen their rights, in a bid to make money off deposits that would be kept at commercial rates in the finance houses.

    Hiding under the guise of a poor economic environment, employers and personnel managers turn deaf ears to the cries of workers who are further pauperised by such unholy acts. The plight of pensioners who sometimes die on long queues contrived by the greed of officials to trade with their money is now well advertised. Many senior citizens are known to have died as they turned up at centres where they were meant to have turned up for screening. Governments are known to have introduced hurdles on the way of such pensioners ostensibly to weed out ghosts and locate the dead. Every year, new measures are introduced despite previous capturing of biometric data.

    We are not unmindful of the distress in the work place. Many textile firms, for example, have closed shop in the past years. The current spate of terror attacks, too, has made many firms, especially in the North, unhealthy. But, there are standard practices to handle such developments. In some climes, corporate organisations are known to file for bankruptcy whenever they are unable to meet obligations to their staff and customers. Here, the workers bear the brunt.

    As the Bill is remitted to the relevant committees to consider, we urge the lawmakers to grant the employers a 30-day period of grace to sort out cash flow troubles and other unforeseen developments that may not fall under the “force majeure” proviso in the Bill.

    It is gratifying that the proposed law provides that, in the case of public and private limited liability companies, the directors shall be liable to the punishment due employers who might have defaulted for more than two months.

    It is hoped that the public hearing to be organised by the committees would enable labour unions and employers make their contributions. The fact that the Bill still has to pass the Senate test would help ensure that all shades of opinions are taken into consideration.

    However, nothing should be done to scuttle the proposed law. Heartless employers who owe their Nigerian employees, only to ensure prompt payment of workers in subsidiaries abroad, deserve to be punished. It must be remembered that every labourer deserves his wages.