The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Blood-soaked roads

    Blood-soaked roads

    • Auto crashes still claim too many lives

    “And the mother prayed, Child, may you never walk, when the road waits, famished” — that is from Wole Soyinka’s poem, ‘Death in the Dawn’, a 1967 poem that tackled the menace of auto crashes on Nigerian roads.

    The 1986 Nobel Winner for Literature would follow up that poetic concern with physical anti-crash road activism, which would later inspire the setting up of the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC). Though great awareness has been achieved on road safety, deaths on our roads are still too many.

    Still, the latest blood bath, ironically pre-dawn on a road in Kano, on July 1, gave a window into these wanton wastes of lives — a window that nonetheless has always been open, but with hardly anyone looking in.

    The crash happened, according to Ibrahim Abdullahi, the Kano State FRSC sector commander, at the Dangwaro International Market, on the outskirts of Kano city. It involved travellers from Maiduguri, Borno State, heading southwards in the country.

    “We received a call at about 03:15 am on July 1, 2024,” Abdullahi told ‘The Punch’. “On receiving the information, we quickly despatched our personnel to the scene of the victims at 03:30 am.”

    An over-speeding IVECO trailer, marked XA 311ZB, laden with cows, humans, motor bikes and sundry goods, smashed into another vehicle. The trailer reportedly somersaulted, throwing off its cargo of cows, humans and materials. When the dust cleared, 25 lay dead!

    Now, over-speeding almost always causes these crashes. But even with over-speeding, avoidable and reckless, would the causality have been that high had the travellers been in a conventional bus, instead of the open back of a trailer?

    Once upon a time, trucks and trailers were clearly marked “Goods only”. How did humans melt into trailers meant for cargo, so much so that that abnormality had become the new normal, at least among poor northern folks criss-crossing the country, and the road regulators — read the FRSC — have not raised the red flag; and clamped down on this virtual travel suicide?

    Aside risky travel modes, how much is night travel regulated? How is long-haul truck-driving regulated, so much so that the drivers do not doze off, as a result of fatigue? What protocols does the FRSC have, ordering the road haulage business?

    If the FRSC is all alive to rush to a road emergency at 03:15 am — for which they must be commended — why do they not invest equal (or even a higher level of) — alertness to prevent such emergencies: by ensuring the drivers and assistants are fresher, even if that means mandatorily breaking up the trip, after a fixed number of driving hours?

    Fatigue leads to another common habit among long-haul drivers: spiking their system with alcohol and sundry drugs just to go the extra mile. In many cases, however, that extra mile results in extra traveller graves, including many of these drivers themselves. Wanton deaths on roads, via needless crashes, can be curtailed if a rigorous standard is enforced to keep enhancing drugs off the motor parks.

    But returning to excessive speed: not long ago, FRSC launched a campaign for commercial motorists to install auto speed limiters. That way, aside from warning alerts at high speed, the limiter decelerates the vehicle, when it reaches the pre-set speed limit. Has the commission abandoned that campaign?

    Beyond bad driving habits, bad roads also cause many accidents. So, the government should continuously focus on improving the state of the highway arteries nationwide.

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    But strategic thinking on roads incorporates continual investment in rail. The more the rail network transports heavy bulk, dry or wet, the longer the roads are preserved, and the safer and better the driving experience, particularly over the long haul.

    At the end of the day, however, careless habits, which cause tragic human errors, are the key challenge. The same folks that grumble over bad roads often over-speed on smooth roads. The FRSC, therefore, cannot make the point enough: civil road behaviour, which stresses safe driving, is the ultimate check.

    While the FRSC must not be tired of constant advocacy — which it always does, in fairness — it should not hesitate to crack down on road outlaws. The roads are no slaughter slabs, where the wayward sacrifice wanton lives.

  • Blessing in disguise

    Blessing in disguise

    Without prejudice to the govt improving the business environment, multinationals’ exit should be opportunity for local investors

    Understandably, the recent exit of some multinational companies from Nigeria continues to raise concerns on the state of manufacturing in particular, as indeed the fate of the sector in the long term. Most recently, the Director-General of the umbrella body for employers – the Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Adewale Oyerinde, was quoted as saying that at least 15 multinationals, with combined value-chain staff strength of over 20,000 employees, have either divested or partially closed operations in the country in the last three years.

    He warned: “The consequences of these massive job losses across sectors will continue to create insecurity challenges, increase the occurrence of child labour (as children will be forced to become breadwinners), adversely affect the disposable income of families, erode the purchasing power of individuals and drastically reduce economy’s output”. 

    Particularly worrisome – to him – were the exit of companies like GSK, Sanofi, Procter & Gamble, Nampak, and others that had been doing business in Nigeria for decades, given the ripple effect on the broader business ecosystem.

    We agree that there can be no understating the reality let alone enormity of the problem. The resultant crisis stoked within the value chain, especially the consequential disruptions to the activities of the numerous enterprises acting as suppliers to these entities can only be described as regrettable.

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    What the NECA chieftain did not add is that the trend did not start yesterday. Or that the reasons for their exit are far more complex and perhaps far more nuanced than generally assumed.

    Understandably, government policies – past and perhaps the present – have been held up to blame. From the factors of hopelessly inadequate infrastructures of electricity and logistical/transportation (ports, roads and rail) that businesses – foreign and local – are forced to contend with, to issues of multiple taxation and such other inhospitable fiscal measures, not least the menace of smuggling – local businesses have long complained of as rendering them endangered.

    Interestingly, some of the cases presented as divestment are actually nothing of the sort, but rather cases of ownership changing hands. But then, the other undeniable truth is that some of the entities have had to exit for reasons other than those. As a matter of fact, some have presented their cases as one routine realignment of operations in the wider context of global developments, others for other strategic, national imperatives.

    Others still, (as we saw of portfolio investors) are known to have hit the exit gates at the sign of trouble as happened at the onset of the global financial crisis in 2007/8.

    Yet, many multinationals have remained, not necessarily because the challenges have at any time been less daunting but because they have had their sights trained on the boundless opportunities that the future presents and have, over time, wisely invested massively (some are still investing) in backward integration to guarantee sustainability. This they do by empowering local, small scale operators while deepening their roots in the local economy. Those are no doubt deserving of encouragement.

    But then, the truth is that it is only truly Nigerian entities that can be counted to stand up for her whenever the crunch comes to be.

    This is why we could not agree more with the Director-General of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Segun Ajayi-Kadir, when he avers that with proper government empowerment, the exit of some multinational companies ought to be seen as a golden opportunity for local manufacturers to fill the gap. To us, we see the call as going beyond merely taking over the assets but ensuring that tangible, long term values are delivered through active collaboration with, and the fostering of mutually beneficial relationships with every shade of actors within the supply chain. The government on its part needs to work more on those initiatives to make the ease of doing business better, particularly now that things are doubly challenging.

    We expect more partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to bring down the cost of funds, particularly for manufacturers and other business entities, more aggressive pursuit of infrastructural renewal, and an all out war on the smuggling menace that has proven to be a killer to domestic manufacturing efforts.

    Time also to find out why previous initiatives to incentivise backward integration by firms have either proven unworkable or subverted by foreign entities while our officials look away. Rather than the issue being about the exit of multinationals, it should be how to ensure that local businesses thrive.

  • Gwoza bombings

    Gwoza bombings

    •Security agents need to work more on intelligence

    Multiple suicide bombings in Gwoza, Borno State, brought back terrible memories and triggered fears. Female suicide bombers, on June 29, struck at a wedding, a hospital, and a funeral in the town, killing more than 30 people. More than 40 others were injured. The bomb attacks at three different spots on the same day, by different attackers, sent a signal that the country had not won the war on terror.

    Indeed, Nigeria has failed to put an end to terrorism, since 2009 when it became an issue in the country. After its beginning in the North-East, where Borno State is located, it has spread dangerously to the North-West and other parts of the country. Violent extremism has been more pronounced in the country since 2013. It was estimated that between 2009 and 2023, Nigeria suffered no less than 35,000 terrorism-related casualties.

    None of the main terrorist groups in the country, Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), claimed responsibility for the latest suicide bombings. But the bomb attacks were a familiar signature of terrorism.  It is noteworthy that Boko Haram terrorists had seized the town in 2014, but were dislodged by the Nigerian military in 2015.

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    Accounts showed that a lack of vigilance on the part of the locals and security agents contributed to the bombings. According to the state commissioner for local government and emirates affairs, Sugum Mai Mele, one of the suicide bombers was carrying a baby and begging for money.  “Suddenly, she just detonated the bomb,” he said.

    He also observed that the bombers “came in through the military gates,” and “were allowed in with the men that went to the farm,” which he described as “laxity on the part of the screening exercise.” He added: “I think there should be some seriousness in the screening exercise.”

    Since the terrorists tend to strategically use females as bombers, the people and security agents must pay greater attention to this aspect of terrorism.  

    Notably, the Senate blamed the bombings on failure of intelligence. Also, a group of opposition political parties, Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP), attributed the incidents to “the absence of creative ideas on the part of the government and the consistent failure of intelligence.”

    There is no question that the anti-terrorism war demands community vigilance as well as the alertness of protectors.  There should be cooperation between the locals and security agents, particularly concerning  intelligence sharing, towards putting a stop to the activities of terrorists.

    It is tragic that terrorism continues to claim the lives of many innocent people in the country, with the authorities seeming unable to do much about it. Sadly, suicide bombings, which happened frequently some years ago, seem to be returning. The authorities must not allow a resurgence of suicide bombing. 

    According to a report by the Counterterrorism Centre, between June 2014, when Boko Haram was said to have deployed its first female suicide bomber, and February 2018, about 468 women and girls were deployed or arrested in 240 suicide attacks, the most by any terrorist movement, killing about 1,200 and injuring about 3,000.

    It is commendable that the Federal Government, the Borno State government, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the state emergency management agency and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) intervened promptly to provide succour to the survivors of the Gwoza bombings.

    President Bola Tinubu, in a statement, said his administration would intensify its efforts “to ensure that those who trouble the nation, dispatching precious lives, and disrupting law and order are completely removed.”

    At his inauguration in May 2023, he had declared that security would be “the top priority” of his administration, saying the Federal Government would “reform our security doctrine and its architecture,” and invest more in security personnel by providing “better training, equipment, pay and firepower.”  The authorities need to translate these words into effective action.

  • Space flight

    Space flight

    • Nigeria’s planned participation is good provided it won’t drain the country’s resources.

    Apparently, it is only a matter of time before a Nigerian unprecedentedly participates in a space flight. The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) and the US-based Space Exploration and Research Agency (SERA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), in Abuja, to collaborate on human space flight missions.
    The Minister of Innovation, Science, and Technology, Uche Nnaji, said the country would make history in Africa by participating in a human space flight, and the collaboration would involve mission planning, astronaut training, and the creation of infrastructure necessary for sustained human presence in space. He added that the public-private partnership would inspire a new generation of scientists and engineers in the country.
    The minister observed that Nigeria’s first human space flight had been scheduled for 2018, which means that “we are six years behind schedule.” The National Space Policy and Programme (NSPP) approved by the Federal Government in 2001 lists human space flight as one of its three pillars. There is a 25-year road map approved in 2005 for the implementation of the NSPP, which includes a plan to launch a Nigerian astronaut in space and an indigenous satellite from Nigerian soil by 2025.
    The Director-General of NASRDA, Dr Matthew Adepoju, who described the agency as Africa’s premier space agency, said the partnership with SERA would help to realise the dream of sending the first Nigerian into space, an important objective of the NSPP. He said the collaboration “marks a significant milestone in Nigeria’s 25th anniversary of space exploration journey and opens new opportunities for scientific research and technological advancement.”

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    Co-founder of SERA Sam Hutchinson explained that the Human Space Flight Programme with NASRDA was part of a plan targeting six astronauts from different nations, who had never been to space. He said Nigeria was chosen for its strong interest in space exploration and its reputation as a nation of scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs.
    In March, the former NASRDA boss, Halilu Shaba, was reported saying Nigeria still had an operational satellite, NigeriaSat-2, in orbit and it was still providing imagery for the country.
    “The Nigerian people will choose the citizen to go to space, the process of application will be open to anybody who is over 18 years,” according to Hutchinson. The individual should be able to speak English. The people will initially vote to select four potential astronaut candidates, “as part of the democratic process,” before a final selection process. The selection process would be through SERA’s platform.
    Importantly, human space flight will be at no cost to the Federal Government, according to publicly available information. This is in line with SERA’s mission to “increase flight for citizens of countries with little or no space footprint.” The funding aspect would be an issue, if the country is expected to come up with funds for the programme in the face of pressing problems that require state funds. Much as the country’s participation in the programme may well be a plus, the authorities cannot afford to ignore the hierarchy of priorities.
    It is significant that the country was recognised for its interest in space exploration. There is a need to sustain this recognition by encouraging young people who are interested in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). In a world where there is increasing emphasis on science and technology for human advancement, Nigeria cannot afford to be seen as an outlier.
    There is no doubt that participation in the programme would boost the country’s image. Also, a trip to space by a Nigerian is expected to inspire young people in the country to dream big, and pursue major development projects for the country’s progress.
    However, the authorities need to clarify the question of funding for this programme, given public doubt about the information that it will cost the country nothing to participate in it. Finding solutions to the country’s urgent challenges should take precedence over a possibly financially costly involvement in the space flight programme.

  • Balancing act

    Balancing act

    • This is what CBN needs to check inflation as well as ensure reasonable interest rate

    The complaint by eminent industrialist, Aliko Dangote, that the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) high interest rate, at nearly 30 per cent, is impacting negatively on the nation’s economic growth and job creation, deserves the attention of all critical stakeholders. Speaking at a three-day summit organised by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), he said: “Nobody can create jobs with an interest rate of 30 per cent. No growth will happen.” The CBN needs to explain to the public the rationale for the increases in interest rate.
    The apex bank had in May raised interest rate by 150 basis points, from 24.75 per cent to 26.25 per cent, citing the need to curtail inflationary pressures. Earlier in February, the interest rate was raised by 400 basis points to 22.75 per cent from 18.75 per cent, and in March it was raised by 200 basis points to 24.75 per cent. Even though, ordinarily, monetary policies are used to tame soaring inflation, the CBN needs to explain its game plan to the people.
    Speaking as a manufacturer, Dangote was asking for favourable interest rate, to aid businesses, which is the avenue to grow the economy. Conversely, the CBN uses monetary policy to tame inflation, and that is its primary responsibility as the nation’s apex bank. The challenge for the CBN is how far should it go in raising the interest rate to curb the money supply in the system, which in turn will impact the inflationary pressure?
    For many economists, a runaway inflation has a worse impact on the national economy than slow growth, as a result of high interest rate. Perhaps, a case of, if the economy does not grow, let it not depreciate grossly, as a result of inflation. The food inflation, for example, is making life unbearable even for those in employment, as the value of the money they earn keeps depreciating daily.
    As has been rightly argued, the impact of the grave economic policies of the CBN under Godwin Emefiele, which saw the apex bank engaging in fiscal policies, through Ways and Means, of up to N22.7 trillion, and economic activities, like direct lending to the Anchor Borrowers, the power and textile sectors, distorted the monetary supply. Economists believe the excessive money supply by the CBN, at artificial exchange rates, is at the root of the galloping inflation ravaging the economy.

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    So, the dilemma facing the CBN should be how to curb the errors of the past, while not discouraging genuine economic activities that require financial support from the banks. The trajectory of the present administration seems to discourage the use of Ways and Means, liberalise the exchange rate, and create direct fiscal intervention policies, to stimulate productivity in various sectors of the economy. They have special intervention funds for manufacturers at lower interest rates.
    But how far is that impacting the economy? Interestingly, the Tinubu administration has inaugurated the Presidential Economic Co-ordination Council (PECC), made up of the regime’s economic management team and leading members of the private sector. The administration has also laid an ambitious accelerated stabilisation and advancement plan to stimulate the economy. According to the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, the plan “is a N2 trillion package involving N350 billion funding for health and social welfare, N500 billion funding for agriculture and food security, N500 billion for energy and power sector and general business support of about N65 billion.”
    Dangote, a prominent member of the PECC has praised the administration’s plans and enthused that the economy will rebound within months. The CBN, which is part of the coordinating economic team, must ensure a delicate balance, to rein in inflation, without pushing for excessive interest rate that could stifle economic growth.

  • Red flag!

    Red flag!

    The latest stats on HIV/AIDS are concerning

    That 2023 recorded 75, 000 new infections in HIV/AIDS cases, with 45, 000 HIV/AIDS-related deaths, are red flags that should sober up everyone; and rejig the battle against the virus. There is a global target for zero-HIV/AIDS by 2030 — six years hence.

    “It is disheartening to know that in 2023, we had as much as 75, 000 new infections and 45, 000 HIV-related deaths,” Dr. Temitope Ilori, the director-general of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), told a two-day National Prevention Technical Working Group (NPTWG) meeting, which NACA hosted in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    Not only that: NACA is also running behind in its target to eradicate mother-to-child-transmission (MTCT), a critical aspect of the HIV/AIDS control, tasked at ensuring that unborn babies don’t contact the virus from their pregnant mothers.

    Again, the dire testimony from Dr. Ilori: “We also know that even in our mother-to-child-transmission, we are just about 35 to 40 per cent, as against the 75 per cent target. So, we have a lot of work to do.”

    Quite. NACA and campaign allies, ranging from various local health service NGOs, to international donor agencies, complete with the UNAIDS, the UN Special Agency for HIV/AIDS Control, have a lot to do.

    Still, it’s not all doom and gloom, which nevertheless should beam cautious optimism, with this excellent framing of the emerging scenario by Dr. Leo Zekeng, UNAIDS country director and representative in Nigeria.

    “Despite remarkable progress, prevention of new HIV infections is still a challenge, as many countries, including Nigeria, are not on track to meeting the 2025 prevention target,” he told the meeting. “We are here as UNAIDS and UN system in support and solidarity with the government’s efforts to address HIV prevention; and appreciate the renewed and continued leadership of NACA on HIV prevention.”

    In other words, the 2023 dip in statistics is at best a tactical slip-up. How can NACA and allies reverse that trend, before it becomes a strategic reversal, thus risking laying to waste progress made in previous years? 

    That is what should engage everyone among the stakeholders, ranging from People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), the care givers, corroborating NGOs, health ministries: federal and states, and the communication experts that frame non-scary and people-friendly HIV/AIDS messages.

    By the way, might the current setback have resulted from the success of its own effective communications? HIV/AIDS was first projected as an instant killer virus, a classic skull-and-cross-bones tale, that put in everyone the hot fear of God!

    But subsequent virus messaging made a distinction between HIV (the initial contraction) and AIDS (the end-time ravaging, when opportunistic infections prey on the patient, after his or her bodily defence system has been thoroughly impaired). 

    That communication also stressed the role of good nutrition; and the imperative for the patient to follow a strict treatment regimen, an integral part of which is early diagnosis and clinical counselling; and the clinical counsellors’ introduction of the new patient to a PLWHA network, for social support and mutual encouragement.

    That helped to freeze the blind fears with new rays of hope. That the global donor community responded with cash and equipment that provide treatments, if not entirely free but heavily subsidised, led to lower contraction rates; and living testimonies that, with a little more discipline and counselling, patients can live with HIV, so long as they strictly follow their treatment regimen, which can reduce the viral load and eventually stop the HIV infection from leading to AIDS.

    Might this success then have given many a patient false hopes, leading not a few to thinking HIV is no big deal, luring many to reckless sex habits, or careless donation of blood without adequate sterilisation, or sharing shaving blades with family members, or using unsterilised clippers at the barber’s shop?

    If indeed HIV/AIDS messaging has led to some false assurances, then it should be tweaked right away. It’s true: HIV is no terminal ailment, if it doesn’t degenerate into AIDS. 

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    Still, no one can quantify the anxiety, discomfort or even naked fear, that contracting it sends through the spine of a new patient. That reality itself led to the primacy of counselling to drive down post-diagnosis shock. Where all of these lead is the old golden axiom: prevention is better than cure.

    Besides, no ill health, no matter how slight, is good or comfy — not even “common” headache, which could well be just a symptom for a deeper disease. So, HIV/AIDS messaging should be tweaked to sensitise the populace of its abiding danger, without hitting the old plumbs in scary messaging which, at the very initial stages, dubbed patients as “sufferers” or “victims”, aside from often stigmatising them sex perverts that cropped their immoral deserts. 

    It’s good such messages are gone — forever. But it’s high time mild alerts were inserted to drop healthy cautions. Besides, having been out of the front burner for much long, it’s high time some public health blitz returned to spur the anti-HIV/AIDS campaign.

    But beyond messaging is the bruising issue of corruption. As the rest of the donor globe splendidly rose to the HIV/AIDS challenge, not a few NGO hustlers sprang up to cynically mop up the funding, in condemnable sleaze and graft. That chilled the donor-funding ardour for a while. NACA, as the Nigerian HIV/AIDS sentinel agency, should go after NGOs found wanting; and put their sponsors through the harsh grind of the law.

    Still, beyond graft or sleaze, is the notoriety of the government to fall behind in their counterpart matching funds, which global donor agencies often insist on. Yes, there is a general scarcity in funding. Even then, HIV/AIDS is too crucial a public health risk to be starved of requisite funding. So, all the governments should do the needful.

    At the end of the day, surviving HIV/AIDS may well depend on demographics, even with access to care which, again, appears skewed against patients in the poor bracket.

     So, beyond HIV/AIDS as a strictly public health issue, it is also an economic one. The greater the opportunities to make ends meet, the greater the chances of better nutrition, and the better the chances of beating AIDS.

    So, let the government adopt policies that greatly reduce poverty and, en route to that, vigorously push robust safety nets among the society’s most vulnerable. That will be a sure boon to HIV patients, and can make a definitive difference between HIV survivors and AIDS succumbers.

  • Presidential initiative on food

    Presidential initiative on food

    •A laudable way to reduce hunger in the land

    In view of the high cost of food items in the country, it is obvious that the federal, state and local governments have to respond to the mass starvation staring the people in the face. Apart from rice that has defied all previous intervention schemes at the centre, other basic staple food like beans and even ‘gari’ have slipped out of the dining table of the common man.

    Last week, President Bola Tinubu joined the governors and other managers of the economy at the National Economic Council to rally all to combat the trend. His move is quite commendable as it is one year since he declared emergency on food security. He did that even before he constituted his executive council and chose members of his economic team, thus demonstrating an understanding of the seriousness of the situation.

    Thus far, what has been somehow visible in the efforts of the Federal Government is the distribution of food palliatives. The other promise of assistance to the vulnerable was halted following the alleged fraud in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and the consequent suspension of the minister, Dr. Beta Edu.

    To feed a country as large as Nigeria would take more than distributing grains to the poorest of the poor. The

    crisis is nationwide, with the middle class fast disappearing.

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    Jobs are hard to come by for even graduates. An all-encompassing economic plan, with timelines, has to be unveiled to rekindle people’s hope in the government.

    It is obvious that the Federal Government cannot do it alone, especially as land has been vested in the states by the Land Use Act.

    At the federal level, there is an urgent need to provide adequate security in areas that constitute the food basket of the country, especially in the North. Many farmers were chased away from their farms, and those unfortunate enough were kidnapped or slaughtered. In other parts where they are allowed access to their farmlands, they had to pay some form of tax.

    In the middle belt and southern parts of the country, the main impediment to food production has been the invasion of farms by killer herders. While government has made pronouncements and commitments, the trend has hardly abated.

    The security chiefs have to step up their game to save the farmers, their farmlands and ensure that mass starvation and famine is not the lot of Nigerians. This is even more urgent than the minimum wage struggle being waged mainly by workers. Government had declared last year that more than 26 million Nigerians would be food insecure this year. This is considered too conservative by economists and agronomists.

    Dairy and poultry products are scarce, too, as many poultries have been forced to shut down, owing to unaffordable cost of feeds. The government should brief the country on efforts already taken to implement the elaborate plans announced by Dr. Dele Alake, last year. The administration had promised to cultivate 500,000 hectares of arable land immediately, projecting that in the medium-to-long run, Nigeria would become an exporter of agricultural products. How far have we gone? How many hectares have been cultivated, where and when are we expected to begin to feel the impact in the market as some crops only take between three to six months to mature for harvest.

    All hands must be on deck to save the people from mass starvation. This should be stemmed now by a combination of a robust release of information by appropriate agencies, coupled with work being evidently done by the ministries of agriculture and water resources. The ‘giant of Africa’ must be saved from the implosion that could accompany mass starvation and loss of hope of a better future.

  • Rest in penury

    Rest in penury

    •Failure to fund accrued pension rights is how not to treat pensioners

    Retirement ideally should be a time of comfortable rest after long years of service to society. But for many government pensioners in Nigeria, it is rest in penury, with government reported to be owing a backlog running into many billions in accrued pension rights over the past 16 months. The imaginable financial deprivation that affected pensioners are being subjected gives cause for worry.

    Recent reports said the Federal Government had not released funds for payment of accrued pension rights in the first half of 2024 that ended last Sunday. This was against the backdrop of government having also failed to provide funding for accrued rights for the whole of 2023. Pension industry operators were cited saying funds released in the first quarter of 2023 were for outstanding 2022 payments, translating to a backlog of some N230billion for the past 16 months.

    Accrued pension rights refer to benefits that employees of government ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) are entitled over their years of service up to June, 2004 when the Pension Reform Act (PRA) that birthed the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) came into effect. According to a report by the National Pension Commission (PenCom), the Federal Government in 2021 released N100.29billion for payment of accrued rights, bringing the total amount it released from inception of the scheme to N980.18billion. In March 2022, government also released N14.92billion for payment of accrued rights. The Pension Fund Operators Association of Nigeria (PenOp) was as well reported saying government released funds up till February 2023, but these were for 2022 arrears, with no payment made ever since. The implication is that most of the Federal Government’s employees who retired in 2022 and 2023 have yet to be able to access their pensions till date.

    Amidst perennial challenges associated with pension payment to retirees, the former Olusegun Obasanjo administration in 2004 reformed the system into one by which workers and employers make monthly contributions into the pension pool managed by Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs). The system was expected to work seamlessly if all parties played their part timeously. But this hasn’t been the case.

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    Among industry operators reported to have raised the alarm over government’s failure to do the needful is the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian University Pension Management Company Limited (NUPEMCO), Mrs. Oluwakemi Ugwu, who said PFAs were unable to compute and pay retirement benefits immediately after retirement because of unpaid accrued rights of affected employees. “Despite the balances in the Retirement Savings Account (RSA) of the retirees, PFAs are unable to pay because of Section 2.3 of the Revised Regulation on the Administration of Retirement/Terminal Benefits.” The regulation, according to her, provides that the components of an RSA at retirement shall include accrued pension rights or pre-act benefits (if any) for employees who were in employment before the commencement of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).

    According to her, employer/employee pension contributions, returns on investment and the fixed portion of voluntary contributions (if any) must also be included. She noted that the purpose of the CPS is defeated if a worker retires and is not able to access his/her retirement benefits, adding: “This is giving bad publicity to the industry since retirees are not fully aware of Section 2.3. They assume the PFAs intentionally do not want to pay them.”

    Another industry operator cited is the Chief Executive of Stanbic IBTC Pension Managers Limited, Mr. Olumide Oyetan, who said the last time the Federal Government released funds for payment of accrued rights to retirees was in February 2023. “Funds were last released in February 2023. However, approval for March and April has been made but no money has been released,” Oyetan was reported saying.

    The non-release of funds for accrued pension rights compounds the shortchange of pensioners who, under statutory provisions, ought to get periodic increases on their entitlement. Section 173(3) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), for instance, states: “Pensions shall be reviewed every five years or together with any Federal Civil Service salary reviews, whichever is earlier.” Industry stakeholders noted that there has been no such review in the 15 years that the CPS has been in operation.

    We have always canvassed government attention to prompt payment of pensioners because we believe it is against natural justice that people who give their productive years to sustaining society end up neglected by society when it is their turn to be sustained. Such trend negates motivation for patriotic and committed service during those productive years. It is rather a motivation for corruption, because it could be an instigation to amass wealth by crook in the manner of making hay while the sun shines. That isn’t the kind of mindset that underlies successful nation-building.

    Meanwhile, it is worse that political office holders who spend just eight years or less in the offices, and who are overly provisioned with perks and privileges while in service, also make away with bogus severance packages on the heels of their leaving office. That is by no means equity and justice, and it shouldn’t be encouraged.

  • HND vs. First degree

    HND vs. First degree

    • For us, merit should be the issue

    It seems the dust is yet to settle on the dichotomy between the Higher National Diploma (HND) and university first degrees. The bill that was passed by the Ninth National Assembly in 2021 to end the dichotomy was not signed into law by the last administration of President Muhammadu Buhari which exited in May, 2023. Somehow, the National Assembly too did nothing after. The bill was therefore dead on arrival.

    The present administration would seem to be standing on the status quo, going by the affirmation of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Dr Folasade Yemi-Esan, that HND holders would still have to undergo one-year mandatory training before their conversion from Executive to Officers cadre.

    Dr Yemi-Esan made this position clear at a virtual interactive session with civil servants on June 22, at the occasion organised to commemorate the 2024 Civil Service Week. She spoke in response to a question that a Level 14 officer in the Federal Civil Service, Adebayo Hassan, asked about what the Federal Government was doing on the issue.

    According to her, “The curriculum for HND and B.Sc holders were not the same, hence, HND graduates would have to undergo mandatory one-year training before conversion from Executive to Officers’ cadre.”

    This idea of bridging the gap between HND and university degrees has remained a bone of contention between the National Universities Commission (NUC) and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) for long.

    The NBTE regulates technical and vocational education while NUC overseas the universities.

    But it would seem the NBTE bowed to pressure, with its introduction, last year, of what it described as a one-year top-up programme which offers a platform for HND holders to level up towards obtaining a bachelor’s degree. But the NUC swiftly disowned the programme, and asked the NBTE to concentrate on its core mandate.

    “The unsuspecting general public and all relevant ministries, departments, and agencies should note that the NUC is not a party to and, indeed, disavows the so-called top-up scheme, being concocted by the NBTE,” the commission said.

    Dr Yemi-Esan’s declaration would seem in alignment with the position of the NUC.

    But this would still be for the purpose of the Federal Civil Service alone.

    It is true that the curricular for HND and first degree differ. This is a natural consequence of their raison d’être.

    Polytechnics and sundry institutions were established to produce middle level manpower leading to the award of certificates, National Diploma, HND and Advanced Professional Diploma. University education, on the other hand, is meant to educate, train and provide the graduates with the relevant knowledge and skills for continuous learning and critical thinking.

    But then, while HND holders are better recognised in some countries because their training is hands-on and university graduates’ is essentially theoretical, it has not been so in Nigeria. This is due probably to the fact that the entry requirements into the universities are quite tougher than those for polytechnics. The belief, especially in university circles, is that polytechnic education is inferior to university education.

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    For us, however, that argument is neither here nor there. Mercifully, the dichotomy is more pronounced in the civil service. It is not so in the private sector where merit is the major criterion. We have seen many outstanding HND graduates who outperform their university counterparts in their workplaces.

    We would therefore wish to promote merit because, in the final analysis, that is what would make the workplaces, societies and ultimately the country, to excel. It is what would eventually drive development and growth. Not paper qualifications.

  • Rivers arms cache

    Rivers arms cache

    • The big people behind the contraband must be exposed and prosecuted

    Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Monday made public the huge arms cache its officers and men intercepted at the Onne Port in Rivers State. Bashir Adeniyi, its comptroller-general, told an apparently stunned nation how 844 units of assorted rifles, 112,500 pieces of live ammunition, among other contraband, were intercepted at the port.

    Mr Adeniyi said at a media briefing at Onne, Area 2 Command, organised to declare the seized items and hand them over to appropriate authority that “Based on intelligence sharing, a 40-footer container with No MAEU-165396 which originated from Turkey was tracked based on some risk factors associated with its importation.

    “The container laden with rifles and ammunition concealed in various items such as dolls, furniture and plumbing fittings was intercepted at a bonded terminal of the Onne Port on 21 June, 2024.”

    He is not done: “The intercepted container laden with rifles and ammunition has a duty paid value of more than N4 billion adding that three suspects are in their custody in connection with the seizure, after getting a detention warrant from a competent court of justice.

    If this was all that the customs boss disclosed, it was enough to cause Nigerians sleepless nights.

    But it was not all.

    The customs boss also disclosed that another 80 by 40 container laden with Tramadol, codeine and other illicit drugs with duty paid value of N9.6bn, as well as 720 bales of second hand clothing with duty paid value of N154million, was similarly intercepted by his men.

    We can therefore understand the presence of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, ably represented by Adamu Laka, a major-general and national coordinator, National Counter-Terrorism Centre, and the National Coordinator of Small Arms and Light Weapons, Johnson Kokumo, a retired deputy inspector- general of police, at the media briefing.

    We commend the NCS for these significant seizures. This shows the power of intelligence in security matters. We are impressed that the customs service was able to follow the cargo from its country of origin in Turkey to the point of interception in the country.

    We can only imagine the havoc that could have been wreaked on the nation if these arms and ammunition had managed to get into the wrong hands. There is no doubt that several other dangerous weapons which had escaped the customs and other security agencies form the bulk of arms in possession of all manner of criminals now terrorising the country.

    Of course the criminals do not rely only on arms; they also take hard substances to facilitate their illicit businesses. That the seizures in question came complete with the twin elements of terrorism — arms and drugs — should therefore not be surprising. The two are like the snail and its shell.

    Given the sheer size of the cache and the equally high duty paid on the consignments, about N14billion in all, it is clear that some powerful individuals must be behind the importation of these items.

    This is our worry.

    This is not the first time that security agencies would be making such huge seizures. Several others had been well dramatised publicly in the past that seemed to have died as there are no updates on them.

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    We cannot win the war on terror unless we get the influential persons behind these importations to account for their actions. It even demoralises the officers and men who do the patriotic duty of trailing the criminals only for them to get to a dead-end with the people causing their fellow citizens avoidable pains. It is sad that people who cannot use their wealth to better the lot of fellow Nigerians would be ready and willing to part with N14billion duty on destructive items like arms and drugs. This is aside the money spent to procure the contraband.

    We implore the Federal Government to ensure that those behind these seizures are exposed this time around, arrested and prosecuted, to serve as deterrent to others, that it is no longer business as usual.

    It is against this background that we also implore the NCS and indeed all security agencies to make significant progress on cases like this before going public, so that those involved would not run away before the long arm of the law catches up with them.