The Nation Newspaper

Category: Editorial

  • Heritage gloom

    Heritage gloom

    • NDIC, CBN must do more to stem depositors’ panic at Heritage Bank branches

    That the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has pledged it would promptly pay depositors with N5 million and below has not lowered the panic among depositors of the defunct Heritage Bank. 

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revoked the bank’s operating licence on June 3, after assuming its powers under Section 12 of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020. Under the same law, it appointed NDIC to liquidate the bank.

    The NDIC has since swung into action. Bello Hassan, NDIC managing director, told the media on June 5 that while Heritage Bank’s total deposits stood at N650 billion, its loan portfolio stood at slightly over N700 billion.

    “The NDIC put the total depositors of the bank at 2.3 million” he said “with 99 per cent of them having total balances less than N5 million.” The depositors are spread over the bank’s 116 branches nationwide.

    If depositors with N5 million and below indeed constitute 99 per cent, then there is little cause for panic. That shows that NDIC’s initial depositor payment of N5 million and below should cover the bulk of the depositors. Only one per cent would now wait until NDIC disposes of the bank’s assets and recovers its loans — before finally winding down the bank.

    “All depositors are currently being verified for onward payment of insured benefit of N5 million,” the NDIC boss added, “while depositors with insured deposits above N5 million will be paid upon the sale of the assets of the bank.” That is highly welcome. The importance of due diligence cannot be over-stressed. 

    Still, both NDIC and CBN should push out more reassuring news to calm depositor nerves and stem panic. Depositors too must panic less, listen more, and follow the payment processes and instructions, as laid down by NDIC. Blind panic won’t solve any problem. It will only lead to depositor headache. It’s the least they need right now.

    But even if this exercise attained a 100% success, nothing can pay for the initial shock of a bank failure and the sinking feeling that all the depositors’ — and even investors’ — money might have gone up in smoke! That is why everyone involved in the latest failure must be probed, tried and brought to book.

    Banks should not just be failing. This is one sector — the ultra-sensitive financial sector — that that old saying: “prevention is better than cure”, has an added, pressing and urgent meaning. 

    Read Also: Emefiele didn’t produce redesigned notes Buhari approved, says ex-CBN director

    Bank failures send a negative signal for the economy. So, CBN must be commended for its prompt intervention, after its failed efforts — by the CBN’s own communication — to help the bank back to life. The NDIC too deserves kudos for its early rally. But it would not fully earn that applause until it has walked its talk and ensured no legitimate depositor is excluded from the payment scheme.

    Still, the fundamental question remains — what went wrong? Bad loans? Insider trading? Poor corporate governance? Woeful due diligence on loans? 

    Then, the bank’s nativity: did Heritage Bank ever rise above the corporate governance crisis that led its ancestor, Societe Generale Bank (SOGEN) into a terminal coma — a coma that birthed Heritage Bank, though with a lowered regional licence? If it did not, what roles did the regulatory midwives play in this present meltdown?

    All these are not accusations. They are just legitimate questions that must be asked and answered, in the course of a rigorous post-mortem. 

    Heritage Bank is gone — and you just must feel for its sponsors and investors, aside from those whose criminal bent could have helped to kill the bank. But these questions must be answered, and grim lesson learned from them, if only to avert future bank failures.

    This is already one failure too many. Never again? Yes. But how sincerely we learn from this pitfall will determine that.

  • A messy affair

    A messy affair

    • Contradictory court orders over the Kano Emirate stool is shameful and must be probed

    President of the Nigerian Bar Association, (NBA), Yakubu Maikyau, SAN, was unsparing in his scathing attack on the judges and lawyers who participated in the contradictory orders from a Federal High Court, sitting in Kano, and a Kano State High Court, over the Kano emirate stool. He thundered “I must say, without any equivocation, that the conducts of counsel and the courts in the handling of the proceedings which culminated in the orders issued by the Federal High Court, the Kano State High Court and again the Federal High Court, in circus, have brought utter disgrace and shame to the profession – have exposed the entire legal profession in Nigeria to public ridicule and opprobrium.”

    He went on “The damage is one that would take the legal profession a long time to recover from. It is unfortunate and was totally uncalled-for.”

    We agree that the multiple and disparate orders emanating from courts of coordinate jurisdiction, over the same subject matter, amount to gross abuse of the judicial process, and those who erred should be brought to account.

    A few weeks ago, the Kano State House of Assembly dominated by the New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), hurriedly enacted a law which dissolved the five emirates created out of the Kano Emirate by the immediate past regime, dominated by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Going further back, the former Governor Abdullahi Ganduje-led administration had enacted the law balkanising the

     emirate, and subsequently deposing Emir Muhammadu Sanusi ll, for alleged insubordination. Five new emirs emerged, while Sanusi was sent into exile. But, with the emergence of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf of NNPP, who has sympathy for the deposed emir, he vowed to return Sanusi to the emirate. So, no sooner had the election petition trials and appeals ended than he set in motion the process to return Sanusi to power.

    In what the opposing camp described as hasty, the current state assembly within a legislative day, quickly passed the Kano Emirates Council Law (repeal law) 2024, which abolished the four newly added emirates. With that law in the bag, the governor, in what some have described as a frenzy, deposed Emir Aminu Ado Bayero, and reinstated Emir Muhammadu Sanusi ll, to the throne. One of the kingmakers who felt aggrieved over the process approached the Federal High Court, seeking interim order to stop the installation of Sanusi as the 16th Emir.

    The Federal High Court granted the interim order arresting the planned installation, but the governor claimed that the interim injunction was made in bad faith, and that the judge who made the order was outside the country.

    Read Also: Tinubu commends Tolaram Group for believing in Nigeria’s economy

    On their own part, those sympathetic to Sanusi approached a state high court, and sought for an interim order to remove the 15th Emir Bayero, who claimed that the order of the Federal High Court had stopped his deposition, pending the determination of the substantive case.

    Not wishing to be outdone by the state high court, which is a court of coordinate jurisdiction, the Federal High Court issued a similar order as the state high court, asking Emir Sanusi to vacate his seat. The state high court had asked the 15th emir to vacate his seat, and leave the state. 

    We agree that it is disgraceful for judges of coordinate jurisdiction to blatantly issue conflicting orders. Such action gives them out as partisans, which erode the confidence of citizens in the courts.

    Thankfully, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola, GCON, swiftly summoned the heads of the courts to appear before the National Judicial Council (NJC). The NBA President has also directed the Legal Practitioners Disciplinary Committee to investigate the lawyers involved, whether they breached the code of professional conduct. Nigerians earnestly await the findings of the respective bodies.

  • Tread cautiously

    Tread cautiously

    •NASS must be careful in its effort to amend CBN Act

    It is not for nothing that the proposed amendment to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Act of 2007, sponsored by the Tokunbo Abiru-led 41-member Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, have generated some firestorm in Nigeria’s financial circles and beyond. Although the sponsors of the bill have since denied that the amendment seeks to strip the apex bank of its powers to determine interest rates, but rather aimed at strengthening the bank to discharge its primary mandate of maintaining monetary and price stability in support of the government’s economic growth objectives, and to align its governance mechanisms with global best practices, those fearing the worst about the amendments cannot, in all fairness, be accused of crying wolf where there is none.

    We have no reasons to doubt the premises of the current move by the senate as being timely and necessary. We do agree that a lot of changes have taken place in the financial system as indeed the larger economy since 16 years ago when the law was passed to warrant a reconsideration of the entire letters and spirit of the apex bank’s operative law. But then, it must be done with careful attention to system stability while being particularly mindful of global best practices.

    Read Also: Aviation stakeholders to examine survivability, challenges at Lagos conference 

    Take the issue of the bank’s governance mechanism which the amendment touches upon. We recall the current Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, a former CBN deputy governor, first stoked the fire when he hinted at a “subtle oversight” by the Economic Management Team to interrogate the decisions of the CBN. His point of departure was the craven abuses that characterised the Godwin Emefiele era of the apex bank, particularly the issue of the controversial naira redesign exclusively undertaken by the CBN without due consultation with the finance ministry. The issue here are the changes which meet the current imperatives of corporate governance.

    Interestingly, the amendment being proposed seeks a single, six years non-renewal term for the governor and his deputies as against the current renewable five-year term “to reduce political influence on monetary policy decisions”. It further proposes that where a vacancy is created by the death or resignation of a CBN governor or deputy, the president can appoint an acting governor, pending the appointment of a substantive one. “Where a substantive appointment is made, such appointment will be for a fresh term rather than serving the tenure of the previous governor or deputy governor.” Any measure to strengthen the internal governance systems in the apex bank will certainly be in order.

    Beyond those, it is not unlikely that the bulk of the misgivings currently being expressed centre on what many consider as the need to safeguard the CBN autonomy. We say this because calls for intervention in matters within the apex bank’s remit are not new. 

    In August 2016, former Kaduna State governor, Nasir El Rufai, actually believed that such intervention to force down the MPC rates was long overdue: “I have said it before and I will repeat it again, unless the central bank and the banking system make a conscious decision to bring the interest rate down, one day we will legislate it”, he had said at a forum.

    Surely, the idea of a “Coordinating Committee for Monetary and Fiscal Policies” under the direction of the finance minister, whose functions shall include “setting internally consistent targets of monetary and fiscal policies that are conducive to controlling inflation and promoting financial conditions for sustainable economic growth”, would appear to pander to such sentiments.

    Would the amendment, if and when passed into law, not effectively circumscribe the autonomy of the apex bank on matters exclusively its remit? How would that fit into the MPC meetings and operations? And what will the so-called coordinating committee do differently from what the president’s economic management team – the administration’s supreme economic advisory body – is already doing?  We urge the National Assembly to tread softly on this element of the amendment.

  • An appeal for restraint

    An appeal for restraint

    •We plead that collateral damage be minimised in the course of fishing out criminals who attack our soldiers.

    Perhaps no incident in Nigeria’s civil/military relations has had more profound historical impact than the tragic Odi massacre that happened a few months after the country’s return to democracy in 1999. The Nigerian Armed Forces carried out what was obviously a reprisal attack on the predominantly Ijaw community of Odi in Bayelsa State. It was alleged that about 12 soldiers were ambushed and killed by some militant gangs in Odi, over some alleged oil and environmental pollution issues.

    The military had acted allegedly on the orders of the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, literally levelling the community, burning everything in sight except a bank, a church and a health centre. There is no exact figure of civilian casualties but there were estimates of tens of dozens of casualties. The survivors have been seeking justice since 1999.

    In 2001, barely two years after Odi, the

    Zaki Biam, Benue State, incident happened. It was the reported massacre of hundreds of Tiv civilians, following the killing of 19 soldiers in the community. Again, the then President Obasanjo had ordered that the culprits in the attack be fished out. There seems to have been no success in getting the culprits to face justice.

    In the more than a decade Boko Haram insurgency in the North East, tens of soldiers have been ambushed and killed. At some point, the attack on the military was taken to the presidency in 2022, as some members of the Presidential Guard, including a captain, a lieutenant and six soldiers were ambushed and killed, during the Buhari administration.

    Read Also: Experts: how Nigeria can gain from new maritime territory

    In Niger and Kaduna states, there have been attacks on military helicopters, with many casualties. 

    Civilian attacks on the military again surfaced in Okuama community in Delta State in March, 2024. Seventeen soldiers, including a Lieutenant-Colonel, two majors, one captain and other lower ranks were ambushed and killed. There was national outrage. The community was reportedly invaded by soldiers and most of the villagers ran away to the forests to save their lives. There have been mediations to bring truce back to the community but the memory of the slain soldiers and some civilian casualties linger.

    On May 30, 2024, five soldiers were reported killed at a military checkpoint at Obikabia junction, Ogbo Hill, Aba, in Abia State.  The military has vowed to avenge the killing of the soldiers. There have been mediations to pacify the military to avoid the Odi, Zaki Biam and Okuama experiences. Igbo leaders and community groups have been appealing for calm and insisting that efforts should rather be directed at fishing out the criminals that committed such heinous acts.

    We totally condemn the resort by criminal elements in various communities to demystify the military who sacrifice everything to keep the nation safe from internal and external attacks. Across the world, soldiers are treated with utmost respect and dignity because of their lives of sacrifice to save the rest of the people, including the petty-minded criminals who attack them on duty.

    It amounts to a total demystification of the military who in their international outings before and after independence have won accolades for their professionalism and diligence. Non-state actors must not be allowed to violate the dignity of our military.

     It is not acceptable that not much is heard after all the attacks from Odi to Aba. The security and intelligence agencies must pull all stops to bring the criminals to book as deterrent to future offenders.

    We understand the pain of the military but we plead for core professionalism in dealing with the situation.  There is a legal mantra that says that it is better to let 20 criminals escape than to kill one innocent  individual in the pursuit of the criminals. What this implies is that communities should not continue to pay the price of a few criminals who, in some cases might, after investigations, not even belong to such communities where the crimes were committed. Innocent civilians should not continue to pay the price.

    We recommend also that the military must be well equipped to have superior intelligence and equipment in a world where technology and AI are changing the face of conflicts. The political leaders must have the political will to go after the criminals in possession of small arms, as Nigeria is signatory to the UN treaties aimed at mopping up, possibly stopping the proliferation of small arms, especially in the West African sub region.

    There must be a deliberate attempt by government to disarm the non-state actors who often wield arms in public and threaten the peace of others.

    The military must be protected by the state as is done in other jurisdictions. We can’t continue to seemingly mock our military through state inertia. It is an ill wind that blows no one any good.

  • Abomination

    Abomination

    •Unless Labour leaders are fishing for something else, they must respect the sanctity of essential services during strike

    We had our reason for being particularly apprehensive when the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), led by Joe Ajaero, and the Trade Union Congress (TUC), led by Festus Osifo, issued an emergency ultimatum to the Federal Government to conclude their negotiations on a new minimum wage before May 31, or face a nationwide strike. We had always suspected the tendency to go beyond the permissible, especially on the part of the Labour leaders.

    We acknowledge that strike is an inalienable right of workers, but it must only be a last resort, when negotiations have failed. Even then, there are procedures to follow before workers can down tools.

    But, whether the strike called by organised Labour on June 3, in protest against the N60,000 offered by the Federal Government as the new minimum wage, as against the workers’ demand for N494,000, met the criteria for strike will continue to be a subject of debate, with people taking positions depending on which side of the divide they are. While the Labour leaders would insist they fulfilled all righteousness, the Federal Government felt otherwise. At least that much was clear from the statement credited to the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, who reminded the Labour leaders that their proposed strike was illegal as they needed to give the government a 15-day notice before embarking on strike. But we may never know who is right or wrong on this matter between both parties because such matters usually end with political solutions rather than get adjudicated upon by the courts.

    Read Also: Police kill three bandits in Katsina, rescue kidnap victims

    To be fair to Labour, though, the negotiations had been going back and forth over the months; while inflation has continued to erode workers’ pay. The Federal Government instituted a tripartite committee comprising the federal and state governments on one hand, and organised private sector (OPS) and Labour as the two other legs, to thrash out the issues and come up with an agreeable and sustainable minimum wage.

    To some extent, the government could be accused of tardiness in handling the matter as more often than not; it was almost after Labour had threatened industrial action that it would be jolted to action.

    But minimum wage issue is not one that the Federal Government alone can decide because it is not only the governments –federal and states –that are involved; the organised private sector (OPS) is germane to whatever conclusion would be arrived at. The OPS has more workers than all the governments at both the federal and state levels.

    So, minimum wage issues usually take time to conclude.

    The issue, this time around became a peculiar mess, with Labour demanding an upward review of the minimum wage from the present N30,0000 per month to a whopping N615,000, which was later scaled down to N494,000. From where does the government start negotiation? Even if the government could afford the hike, how about the OPS? How about state governments, with some of them still unable to pay the current N30,000? At any rate, can both the NLC and TUC pay that as minimum wage to their employees? Or, don’t they know that once there is an agreement, whatever is agreed upon becomes the irreducible minimum by law, below which they too cannot go?

    While almost every Nigerian knows and indeed has agreed that N30,000 cannot take even a family of two home in a month, given the spiralling inflation, neither the N615,000 nor N494,000 is realistic or sustainable. Even, assuming the money is there to pay, has Labour considered the impact of such bogus minimum wage on the economy? Should the country’s economy be so flagrantly dislocated to satisfy just a fraction of Nigerians that Labour claimed to be fighting for? Even the Guinness Book of Record would literally scream that what the eyes have not seen and ears have not heard has occurred in Nigeria if government ever acceded to either of Labour’s demands.

    This was the singular reason many people thought the Labour leaders were either unserious or had some other motives beyond agitating for improved pay for their members, in tune with the current economic realities. An organised Labour that wanted minimum wage jacked up from N30,000 monthly to N494,000  to alleviate the suffering of poor workers must  be pursuing other objective if it  now shuts down the national electricity grid with the attendant dire consequences

    Somehow, and sadly, the Labour leaders appeared to have played into the thoughts of people with this belief, wittingly or unwittingly, going by the way they conducted the strike.

    They went straight for what could pass for the nation’s jugular after crude oil — electricity. They shut down the national grid at about 2.02 a.m. on June 3 that the strike was supposed to begin. That was barely two hours into their D-Day! Meaning they actually began the strike with the premeditated intention of crippling not just the government but the country at large. This is unthinkable. It is unacceptable.

    Those who did such in the military era paid dearly for it. Plunging the country into darkness is not one of the things permissible even by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention.

    Granted that workers have a right to withdraw their services as a tool to force their employers to grant certain demands, there are certain services that are regarded as essential and therefore ‘no-go’ areas even during strike. Electricity supply is one. Even Nigerians in their blissful ignorance could not have believed that the national grid was going to be the first port of call for the impending strike. You can hardly blame them for this as no rational human being could have contemplated that lack of patriotism could sink that low.

    Ajaero is a former General Secretary/CEO of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE). Initial reports said workers at the grid were on duty before they were forced to shut down the place by ‘bouncers’’ that were enforcing compliance with the trade unions’ directive to their members to down tools, although this was later denied by the grid management.

    So, was the grid shut down in blind solidarity with the workers’ former boss? Was it shut down to protest for a new minimum wage? Or was it shut down to cause economic adversity to the country?

    The electricity sector was not the only essential service that was disrupted. For instance we also had the airports, hospitals, sea ports, schools, public examination, that were similarly affected by the strike. Banks, fire services, etc., too.

    None of these services or sectors should, under normal circumstances, be affected by strike.

    The Freedom of Association Committee of the Governing Body of the ILO defines “essential services” in its strict sense as “services the interruption of which would endanger the life, personal safety or health of the whole or part of the population.”

    The committee listed the following as essential services: the hospital sector; electricity services; water supply services; the telephone service; the police and armed forces; fire-fighting services; prison services; the provision of food for pupils of school age and the cleaning of schools; as well as traffic control.

    Coming home, the list of essential services, as contained in the First Schedule to the Trade Disputes Act 2005 as amended is too long to be reproduced verbatim here. However, Section 1 (a) of it specifically bars workers in the power sector from organising or participating in strike and workers in the sector cannot claim ignorance of this.

    Electricity is not classified as essential service for the fun of it.  It is pivotal to everything we do.

    Labour leaders have to understand that there are limits to everything. There is nothing like absolute freedom. Where someone’s freedom stops, another person’s begins. Essential services are recognised as such internationally and so their workers are not permitted to join strikes because of the harmful consequences for the society. In some cases, the consequences are irreversible.

    However, it is important that since the intention is not to deny workers in essential services the right to make demands like other workers; we need to make express provision for speedy conciliation and arbitration of disputes in essential services as obtained in most other jurisdictions.

    It is just that we are not a country that takes data serious; otherwise we would have compiled the list of casualties in hospitals and elsewhere as a result of the strike. It is beyond the calculation in monetary terms.

    We are constrained to write this editorial especially in view of the possibility of the strike resuming because there is no unanimity of opinion on the part of the different stakeholders. The state governments have said they cannot pay even the N60,000 that the Federal Government initially offered; the OPS has voiced an almost similar concern. Barring a shift of position, especially on the part of Labour, and should the strike resume, it must be noted that the power sector is a ‘no-go’ area.

    Going forward, government must be ready to apply sanctions on Labour leaders who attempt to go that far again, before such an unpatriotic act becomes part of our new way of life. We have had Labour leaders who did well without violating the sanctity of essential services. As a matter of fact, no Labour leader would be rated highly by the number of times he committed illegality by throwing the entire country into darkness, with the attendant negative consequences for the same people he claims to be fighting for. Rascality should never again be taken that far.

  • Why the undue haste?

    Why the undue haste?

    •The culture of commissioning uncompleted projects must stop

    The rate at which state and federal governments in Nigeria rush to commission projects at various stages of completion has become alarming. This is more noticeable towards the end of a chief executive’s tenure. It is a testimony to the vainglorious tendencies in political leaders. They are not men ready to share the stage with any other. It is not enough that there is already a plaque showing that the said project was flagged off during their administration, it must bear an announcement that it was completed even when that is palpably false.

    In the run-up to the change of baton at the state and federal levels last year, this tendency played out again. In some states, projects that had witnessed abandonment for years were swiftly dusted up, contractors mobilised to site and instructed to ensure they were somehow made ready for inauguration before May 29. Many of them being houses, bridges and roads, the integrity of the construction is subject of agitation among the people.

    Besides, in a country where successors are unwilling to complete uncompleted projects hurriedly commissioned by their predecessors, there are fears that the money expended on such projects could have been wasted.

    Read Also:NULGE continues push for autonomy, hails Tinubu

    We call for a stop to such nefarious activities. As it has been said many times, governance is a continuum. No single person or government is in position to meet all the social, political and economic needs of the people. Even in the highly industrialised societies, there are so many things that are not yet in place and could engage the attention of succeeding administrations..

    It is unfortunate that many of those who find themselves in leadership positions in Nigeria lack decency and integrity, which is the only explanation for such vanity. Henceforth, any government that fails to keep to the design and quality template for any project should be subject to prosecution. This may sound harsh, but has become inevitable in the interest of the country.

    Last year, as reality of departure from office dawned, many state governments, in total disregard for decorum, rushed to put their names on uncompleted projects. In Cross River State, where Professor Ben Ayade held sway, a signature project, the super highway that cuts across about three-quarters of the local government areas of the state, was one of those hurriedly and prematurely inaugurated projects. While, as the people, especially motorists attested, work had already gone a long way, it still had some way to go. But, the governor was in a haste to put his name on the project as the one who conceived and inaugurated it. The new government still has work to do to complete it.

    The situation in Kano State where Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was being succeeded by Governor Kabir Yusuf of New Nigerian Peoples Party (NNPP), was even more evident owing to the political disputation in the state. The Toga Hydro Power Project was one of those projects.

    The situation in Benue and Niger states was not different. In Taraba, former Governor Darius Ishaku would not be left out of the trend. A housing project located on Mutum Biyu Road in Jalingo had to be commissioned even though it still had a long way to go. The estate was named after the outgoing governor who is an architect. He did the same for a number of other projects in various parts of the state.

    The private sector was bitten by the same bug as the gigantic Dangote Refinery was commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari at the tail end of his administration. Yet, it took it months to start production. As a matter of fact, the refinery is still struggling to produce the premium motor spirit, more than a year after.

    This culture must stop in the country’s interest, and the media owes it to the society to dig out the full facts about any major project being commissioned towards the end of any government. If the government is embarrassed by the factual reports, others would think twice before indulging in such fanfare.

  • Niger mine collapse

    Niger mine collapse

    •There is need for strict regulations and enforcement to reduce mishaps

    Expectedly, the recent collapse of a gold mining site in Galadima Kogo, Shiroro Local Government Area (LGA) of Niger State, raised questions about mining operations in Nigeria. Officials attributed the incident to heavy rainfall, which softened the soil.

    Niger State Emergency Service Agency spokesman Hussaini Ibrahim said over 30 people were believed to have been trapped in the rubble, adding that it was impossible to give exact figures because “even those on site didn’t know.” According to him, “One person has been confirmed dead and six persons were rescued and rushed to the hospital.”

     A statement from the office of the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, said seven victims had been rescued, some with injuries, and rescue operations with excavators were ongoing. “The minister is actively monitoring the situation at the mining site operated by African Minerals and Logistics Ltd.,” the statement said, and declared that the Federal Government would investigate “the remote causes of the disaster” to prevent a recurrence.

    Sadly, rescue efforts were reported to be complicated by the high level of insecurity in the state, fuelled by the activities of bandits who kidnap people for ransom. Last year, for instance, mining operations were banned in the Shiroro area, where the recent mine collapse occurred, and neighbouring areas, due to security concerns.

    Indeed, it was reported that extra security had been provided following the incident, to ensure that rescue workers were not abducted. The authorities must do everything possible to save the lives of the victims of this accident. 

    Read Also: Nigeria’s first green superstore, Justrite, PV and Energy storage system officially launched

    Mining accidents do happen. But the question is whether there is strict regulation to ensure that such accidents are minimised. It is believed that many mining accidents are unreported in Nigeria, particularly those involving illegal miners. Proper regulation will go a long way towards reducing the occurrence of mining accidents in the country.

    Notably, in a move to minimise such accidents, the minister recently announced “a policy making remedial measures for mining pits mandatory as part of the criteria for applying for mining licenses,” his ministry observed. The novel Mining Marshal Corps, established by the minister to combat illegal mining, which is considered to constitute economic sabotage, is also relevant in this regard. However, the minister must ensure that these efforts to address safety issues in the mining sector are effective. 

    Also, when mining accidents happen, there should be an effective rescue service to prevent loss of lives. Well-trained and well-equipped personnel should be available in the event of such accidents. 

    Alake’s seven-point ‘Agenda for the Transformation of the Solid Minerals Sector for International Competitiveness and Domestic Prosperity’ shows reassuringly that he is aware of the importance of making the mines safe. Apart from ‘Minerals Surveillance Task Force and Mine Police,’ the plan includes ‘Creation of the Nigerian Solid Minerals Corporation,’ ‘Joint Ventures with Mining Multinationals,’ ‘Big Data on Specific Seven Priority Minerals and their deposits,’ ‘30-day grace for illegal miners to join artisanal cooperatives,’ ‘Comprehensive review of all mining licences,’ and ‘Creation of six mineral processing centres to focus on value-added products.’ It is work in progress, considering that he has not spent a year in office.  

    Nigeria is blessed with 44 different minerals, present in commercial quantities in about 500 locations in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. Mining these mineral resources should be done to maximally benefit the people, and not pose a threat to lives and the environment. The country’s mineral deposits are worth about $700b, according to the minister, who noted that the country loses about $9b annually to illegal mining, smuggling and other factors.

    Making the mining sector a major revenue earner for the country based on the President Bola Tinubu administration’s economic diversification policy is a positive objective. But it is necessary to enforce mining safety standards, among others, in order to achieve the aim.

  • Worrisome trend

    Worrisome trend

    • It’s time to tackle out-of-school children phenomenon

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently had a meeting with leaders from the North at which he described the increasing number of out-of-school children in the region as unacceptable. He said education was a tool against poverty that should be used to serve the interest of the people and improve their conditions.

    The president, who spoke at a parley with the leadership of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) in Abuja, noted the nexus between illiteracy, poverty and insecurity in the society. “We must develop the backbone of Nigeria’s economy, which is the education system. We will collaborate with you on this intensively,” he was reported telling the Arewa leaders in a statement by his Special Adviser on Media, Ajuri Ngelale. “We are still building Nigeria, and I am glad that you have emphasised the need for development. The infrastructure decay is unacceptable, and the level of poverty in the North is unacceptable. We must eliminate the source of these trends,” he added inter alia.

    President Tinubu’s comment came against the backdrop of data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) that estimated out-of-school children in Nigeria stood at about 20 million. A 2022 report by the global body, which is the latest of its kind till date, cited Nigeria among three countries in the world with the highest number of out-of-school children – the other two being India and Pakistan. According to UNESCO, Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children globally, with only 63 percent of primary school children regularly attending school. The body also noted that the estimated figure translated to higher than the overall population of many countries in Africa.

    Although UNESCO had not singled out any region of this country as fairing worse with the trend, northern governors recently owned up to that rating. At a meeting of the Northern States Governors Forum (NSGF) late April in Kaduna, forum members cited the out-of-school children phenomenon as one of the challenges plaguing the region. Gombe State Governor Muhammadu Yahaya, who is NSGF chair, argued that for the North to get out of perennial security challenges, it must develop economic and human capacity, and that a long-term economic development strategy is paramount to tackling insecurity in the region.

    “Northern Nigeria currently bears the burden of the highest number of out-of-school children in the world, which could compound the security challenges,” Governor Yahaya reportedly said. “Economic development is paramount to our region’s prosperity. We consider economic development as the long-term solution to our security challenge… Human capital development is very critical to the progress and prosperity of our region,” he also said inter alia, adding: “It is deeply troubling that Northern Nigeria currently bears the burden of the highest number of out-of-school children in the world. This is an unacceptable reality that we must urgently address. Every child deserves access to quality education and the opportunity to develop the skills necessary to succeed in today’s rapidly changing global economic landscape. As leaders, we have a moral obligation to invest massively in education and skills development, healthcare and social services to unlock the full potential of our youth and empower future generations.”

    The concern voiced by President Tinubu, though to ACF leadership, coincided with that also expressed by northern governors, who incidentally should be the primary target of the presidential comment because they are best positioned to address the challenge.

    Read Also: Court orders another forfeiture of N11b properties linked to Emefiele

    We applaud the president for speaking the blunt truth to the northern leadership, thereby plying moral pressure that should challenge those concerned to action. But simply voicing the concern may not be sufficient, and Mr. President may need to consider ways of nudging affected state governments into action, even if that is by way of supportive  intervention measures that do not negate the federalism principle underlying the Nigerian nationhood. 

    For their part, it isn’t enough for northern governors to lament the situation; they should go further to decisively pursue redress measures. Fortunately, education is squarely within their jurisdiction because it is on the concurrent, and not exclusive legislative list. Poverty, school infrastructure deficit and tradition are among major factors pushing many children out of school; and these are factors the governors can devote themselves to tackling. Nigeria is a signatory to Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which stipulates: “States parties recognise the right of the child to education and, with a view to achieving this right progressively and on the basis of equal opportunity, they shall, in particular:

     “Make primary education compulsory and available free to all; encourage the development of different forms of secondary education, including general and vocational education, make them available and accessible to every child, and take appropriate measures such as the introduction of free education and offering financial assistance in case of need.”

    These are mandates northern state governors should apply themselves to achieving.

  • Cost-cutting measure

    Cost-cutting measure

    • Keyamo’s idea on power at MMA is good for emulation

    Airports by their very nature are money guzzlers. They are very expensive to build and more so, to maintain. Governments spend a lot of money to make them attractive and conducive, especially to foreigners who begin to form their impression of a country from the point of entry that airports represent. Facilities have to be world-class, with modern aviation gadgets and other facilities that make air travels a delightful experience.

    But they are also money spinners, depending on how efficiently they are managed. Government makes a lot of money off the various stakeholders at the airports, including even travellers, which translate to substantial sums, cumulatively.

    That airports cost a fortune to run is exemplified by the statement credited to the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, that it costs the government N1 billion monthly to power the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA). The minister said this last week during the ministerial press briefing in Abuja, to mark President Bola Tinubu’s first year in office. The president was sworn in on May 29, last year. If only one airport in the country spends one billion Naira on public power supply monthly; we can only imagine how much it would cost it to maintain other services, including running of generators. 

    Keyamo regarded this situation as unacceptable and thought creatively of ways to reduce the bill. “We want to run our airports with solar and that will save us so much every month. Lagos airport alone, I was told we do N1bn every month, and I asked why. The first thing I said they should do is bypass the DisCos and go to the GenCos because we are eligible customers. Why do you pay a DisCo that will add profit when you are an eligible customer? Cut them off and go to the GenCos straight. We are doing that and they are protesting up and down to go and meet the president. By doing that, we are saving 30 per cent. When we are supposed to pay N1bn, we will pay N600m,” the minister stated.

    This would seem a creative way of reducing the amount spent on public power supply monthly. Saving about N400 million monthly from only one expenditure head is a lot. We wonder why Keyamo’s predecessors never reasoned along this line.

    Read Also: Minimum wage: Committee adjourns to allow Finance Minister meet deadline

     Moreover, it is a win-win situation for both the airport and the GenCos because the latter are likely to get their money faster from such eligible customers like the airports than having their money trapped in some DisCos, either because the DisCos are doing business with it, or because the electricity customers are not paying as at when due. 

    We also welcome the minister’s plan to explore solar energy, apparently in running certain operations of the airport. This is the way to go. Indeed, it is the practice by many private entities now. Only government businesses can be run the way Keyamo met the airports without the managers thinking creatively of how to cut costs.

    If MMA could be paying N1 billion monthly for public power supply, it would cost it more than that to run even on generators. At any rate, these days, generators are no longer seen as fashionable alternatives to public power supply because of the humongous cost of diesel. They can only serve as a stop-gap measure. Solar system is more viable because, apart from the initial cost, there are no serious investments for a long period once the solar is installed by experts; just periodic change of batteries.

    We commend the minister for being so imaginative. He should extend the same measure to other airports. Going solar would mean at least the essential areas and operations of the airport would still have power supply during some of the embarrassing moments when power supply suddenly goes off. Passengers and others would not be in complete darkness pending when electricity is restored. It would also not be a bad idea for the minister to conduct feasibility studies into other sources of power like wind, etc., to see which other combination would work well for his ministry.

    Other government establishments that are yet to think creatively on how to cut costs should take a cue from this.

  • Fed govt vs states

    Fed govt vs states

    •Supreme Court to decide fate of LGs

    Finally, the Federal Government’s suit against states’ handling of local government affairs and finances has been fixed for June 13. The apex court panel hearing the matter has instructed states to file all their processes, including counter-affidavits, within seven days, while the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) who urged the court to abridge time would have two days to respond. Then, the battle would have been fully joined.

    It is bad enough that 25 years after the 1999 Constitution has been in operation, no one knows exactly how the government closest to the people should be run. The constitution, in section 7, dictates that only democratically elected governance model is allowed at that level. But, in practice, state governors have been selecting leaders and dissolving the structure at will. Whereas every state has a law governing operations of the local governments, elections, or what is just some form of election, is only held at the behest of governors. In some states, elections of any description were not held for close to two decades. Rather, caretaker committees were put in place to handle affairs at that level.

    Read Also: How to bridge Nigeria’s electricity gap, by Schneider Electric

    At the heart of it, as the AGF, Prince Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, said in the processes he filed, is a bid to control the local governments’ finances. The constitution has spelt out how funds from the Federation Account should be shared among the three tiers of government, but eagle-eyed states were able to locate a lacuna in the supreme law of the country, as such money is meant to be paid into a Local Government- State Joint Account, with the second tier government paying some counterpart funding into the account.

    Besides, the fact that each state has a ministry of local government and chieftaincy affairs headed by a commissioner, and an elaborate body of laws to guide the operations is seen as a tacit endorsement of state control.

    There are two other ways of settling the matter. The National Assembly could set in motion amendment to the controversial sections of the grundnorm, deciding the limits to the power of the federal and state governments. The President could also, as some legislators have suggested, proclaim an Executive Order on the issue. However, going by the response of political/regional leaders, neither would be easily accepted, hence the resort to the judicial route.

     A solution will have to be found quickly in the interest of the people. Beyond the legal solution, there is the political. A third tier is meant to bring governance closer to the people and ensure that they have access to good life. It is a means of mobilising the people to support governments’ programmes and projects. In a country where things have been tough and there is dysfunctionality, galvanising the people is very important in order to build confidence for development.

    It is obvious that with regards to interpreting the law, referring the matter to the highest court of the land could help resolve the matter. But, the battle for the soul of the local governments would not end with this case. There is a more substantial issue of constitutional justice. If the Federal Government wins the case, it is seen to have been handed the prize of taking charge at the lower level, and where a different political party is in charge of the state government, the three tiers will remain at loggerheads. The government at the centre would be seen as an interloper in running affairs at the lower level. And, should the states win, the situation in which they have been shortchanging the people over the years would continue.

    As some senators suggested last week, there is an urgent need for the President to put on the toga of ‘Father of the Nation’ and rally round the people at all levels and of all sectors to deliberate on the matter. Whatever the situation, the people’s interest must prevail.