The Nation Newspaper

Category: Special Report

  • Telcos explore renewables to lower cost, cut carbon emission

    Telcos explore renewables to lower cost, cut carbon emission

    Hit by the suffocating cost of energy, which accounts for between 40 and 50 per cent of their Operating Expenditure (OPEX), telecom operators have turned to alternative energy sources to power their infrastructure, especially Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) and ultimately, lower their cost of operation and reduce carbon emission. However, much as their investments in technologies such as renewable energy could be the tonic to fast-track Nigeria’s Net Zero transition, they are not without challenges. LUCAS AJANAKU reports.

    Telecom operators appear to be in dire straits, no thanks to the ever-increasing energy cost. The Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo never misses any opportunity to raise the alarm over the rising cost of doing business in the country and the need to adjust end-user tariffs to reflect this cruel reality.

     But, Adebayo seemed to have won a new convert in the person of the Executive Vice-Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Prof. Garba Dambatta on this issue.

    At a public function in Lagos, the chief telecom sector regulator openly admitted that the operators were indeed, going through rough times.

     “For the first time, the operators are posting losses,” Prof. Dambatta quipped, adding that he has drawn the attention of the Minister of Communication, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani to the development with a view to possibly implement a marginal tariff hike.

     The prevailing high energy cost is taking a huge toll on the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).

    For instance, available records show that energy cost accounts for between 40 and 50 per cent of MNOs’ Operating Expenditure (OPEX), with the industry regulator NCC indicating, in its 2022 Subscriber/Network Data Annual Report, that telecom operators’ energy cost increased from N1,658,235,000,000 in 2021 to N1,996,659,000,000 at the end of last year.

     The report, which was prepared by NCC’s Policy Competition and Economic Analysis Department, and accessed by The Nation said the figure indicated an increase of 20.41 per cent from the figure reported in 2021.

    The Commission’s data also showed that as of December last year, the total number of Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) owned by MNOs increased to 127, 294 from 114,412 in December 2021 across the country; representing an increase of 11.25 per cent from the previous year.

     As a result of the comatose state of the power sector which makes the 24 electricity generating companies (GenCos) hardly supply 4,000 megawatts (Mw) to the national grid, MNOs, like other businesses, have to rely wholly on fossil fuels as a major energy source while public power supply remains a backup.

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     Now, the snag is that the fossil fuel used to fire these BTS is mostly Automotive Gas Oil (AGO), otherwise known as diesel. The average retail price paid by consumers for AGO increased by 2.60 per cent on a year-on-year basis from a lower cost of N774. 38 per litre recorded in the corresponding month of last year to a higher cost of N794. 48 per litre in July 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) report.

     The price is even projected to hit N867 per litre in Lagos State and N875 in the Southwest region in the foreseeable future, a situation, oil marketers, acting under the aegis of the Major Oil Marketers’ Association of Nigeria (MOMAN) blame on fluctuations on the product’s ex-depot prices.

    The Head of Operations, ALTON, Gbolahan Awonuga said the rising cost of AGO remained a major concern for the MNOs which consume no fewer than 40 million litres per month.

     This has pushed telecom operators into panic mode, forcing them to turn to alternative energy sources to remain in business by investing hugely in technologies such as renewable energy, and in doing so the MNOs may have, inadvertently taken the driver’s seat of Nigeria’s Net- Zero transition, which essentially targets to significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions.

     For instance, with a market leadership that boasts 84, 663, 653 subscribers, representing 38. 52 per cent market share, MTN Nigeria has since thrown its hat in the search for alternative energy sources.

     The MNO said it is investing in clean energy technologies as part of its efforts to get around the choking cost of energy to run its operations and also reduce emissions, thereby contributing to helping Nigeria achieve its net-zero commitments.

     In its 2023 Climate Change Report, the ICT company shared insights into how it is partnering with renewable energy, Independent Power Producer (IPP) programme to deploy a Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) power plan to supply both its corporate office, MTN Plaza and main data centre in Ikoyi Lagos.

     MTN said, for instance, that its use of three 1.1 megawatt (Mw) gas generators has significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions and lowered energy costs by more than N570 million.

     That’s not all. MTN Nigeria has also installed motion light sensors in buildings and switching centres to optimise power consumption. In addition, it installed a 56-kilowatt proof-of-concept solar project, delivering more than 4, 000 kilowatt hours of clean electricity each month.

     The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola put the company’s investments in this direction in perspective when he said: “Our commitment to Nigeria goes beyond connectivity. We recognise the environmental challenges our country faces, and we’re dedicated to being part of the solution. Our investments in sustainable energy and infrastructure are not just good for business; they’re essential for the future of Nigeria.”

     The Nation learnt that MTN Nigeria’s Net-Zero emissions target is part of MTN Group’s Project Zero, which focuses on decreasing greenhouse gas emissions across its footprints, thus enhancing operational efficiency.

    The company aims to do this by reducing energy usage, substituting non-green energy sources and investing in certified climate protection projects with high environmental and social standards to offset the emissions that cannot be avoided.

    In order not to be left behind in the race to cut costs and achieve Net-Zero objectives across its operations, Airtel Nigeria announced a deal with WATT Renewable Corporation (WATT) to power parts of its operation via renewables.

     The Director of Corporate Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Airtel Nigeria, Femi Adeniran said the involvement of Airtel Nigeria with WATT was limited to only 30 sites as a proof of concept (PoC) of WATT’s Energy-as-a-Service offering. Of the 30 sites inaugurated, 18 are currently up and running.

     He added that it was not a nationwide contract with WATT Renewable Corporation.

     “Airtel Nigeria is, indeed, committed to its sustainability goals and continues to pursue its Net-Zero objectives across its operations. As we progress in our path towards achieving these, we will keep the public updated,” he said, insisting that the company did not award a contract to WATT to deliver over 32megawatt (Mw) installed capacity of solar PV and storage across 600 cell sites across Nigeria.

    Telecom operator, 9Mobile is also not left out in the race for alternative energy sources designed to lower the cost of operation and at the same time reduce carbon emissions.

     Despite having 12.8 million subscribers, representing 6.18 per cent market share, which makes it the smallest MNO, the Manager of Field Operations, 9Mobile, Okechukwu Nzeduba lamented that energy cost, maintenance and other associated costs account for 86 per cent of the company’s network OPEX.

     Nzeduba, who spoke at a roundtable with the academia, industry and other stakeholders organised by the NCC in Lagos said getting a clean AGO has been a herculean task; noting that it is also expensive to run the generators on fake or off-spec diesel.

     According to him, fossil fuel costs are so high, even as he added that people didn’t know that household cooking gas, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) could be used to power generators until the government removed fuel subsidies.

     At the said roundtable, operators, experts and other stakeholders in the telecoms sector lamented the lack of access to electricity in sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria and the huge cost of powering telecommunication base stations with diesel.

     According to them, investing in renewable energy would help telecom operators to save costs. They identified some of the clean energy sources operators could invest in to power their base stations including solar, hydro and wind turbines.

     Prof. Danbatta said unequivocally that alternative clean energy would address the paucity of energy in the telecoms sector. According to him, the telecom sector, like many other sectors, has a significant role to play in transitioning to a sustainable energy future.

     The NCC boss, who was represented by the Executive Commissioner of Technical Services at the NCC, Ubale Maska emphasised that the Commission’s goal was to safeguard the environment for consumers and other users of telecom services while also contributing to the achievement of net-zero emissions.

     Net-zero emissions are achieved when more carbon dioxide is absorbed from the atmosphere each year than is emitted.

     According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), the term net zero applies to a situation where global greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are in balance with emissions reductions.

     At net zero, carbon dioxide emissions are still generated, but an equal amount of carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere as it is released into it, resulting in an increase in net emissions. Reaching net zero on a global scale is a central part of efforts to prevent global warming exceeding the 1.5C climate target.

     According to the WEF, global action to combat climate change has prompted a wave of national commitments to reach net zero. The US and many others are targeting 2050, with countries such as China and India decades later.

     For instance, the Manager of Power Planning, MTN Nigeria, Gideon Shedrack said renewable energy is part of the company’s carbon emission strategy targeting net zero by 2040.

     He said although the company planned to extend its deployment to all of its operations, the cost of switching to alternative energy is high, adding that space constraint was another issue to contend with.

     Shedrack also lamented that there are hardly any good batteries in the market. According to him, the battery design life span is supposed to be between 10 and 15 years, but temperature shortens the battery life span to only three years. He insisted that batteries remained a major challenge to the success of the switching and achieving net-zero emission.

     Nzeduba of 9Mobile could not agree less. He said the theft of batteries and vandalism remained daunting challenges.

     According to him, some people have discovered that batteries could be used to provide lighting to their homes and have, accordingly, resorted to stealing or vandalising the same. Besides, solar panels, he said, must be cleaned once or twice a year. He, however, urged the NCC on the regulation of batteries.

     While noting that investment in renewable energy as an alternative to the prevailing high energy cost is, indeed, capital-intensive, the 9Mobile chief, however, admitted that Return on Investment (RoI) in the long- term makes it a worthwhile venture.

     Apparently, to cut costs, he said the MNO is currently limiting its renewables to the provision of electricity to outdoors such as switches. According to him, hybrids play an important role in BTS but limit batteries to site solutions that don’t require a high volume of electricity. 9Mobile, he also said, is veering off from providing passive services to third parties. He urged the NCC to look toward the passive provision of infrastructure too to help the industry.

     It has been estimated that about a third of the world’s population has unreliable power supplies —or no access to electricity at all.

     For Nigeria, the stats are really frightening as the country has the lowest access to electricity globally with about 92 million people out of the country’s 200 million population lacking access to power.

     Power paralysis has remained a perennial problem in the country, stifling industrial growth, limiting business expansion and profitability and fuelling rural and urban unemployment. The problem has manifested through unstable supply and lack of access to the grid, a reason for the establishment of the Rural Electrification Agency (REA) in 2005 with the sole aim of taking electricity to the rural and unserved communities.

     According to the Energy Progress Report 2022 released by Tracking SDG 7, Nigeria’s 92 million population without electricity was followed by the Democratic Republic of Congo’s 72 million, Ethiopia’s 56 million and Pakistan’s 54 million access deficits.

     The report was produced in conjunction with the International Energy Agency (IEA), the International Renewable Energy Agency, the United Nations Statistics Division, the World Bank and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

    The report, which covered the year 2020, noted that access to electricity in Nigeria remained poor because electrification provision failed to keep pace with the population explosion. This was in contrast with Kenya and Uganda’s fastest progress in electrification due to their annualised increases of more than three per cent points between 2010 and 2020.

     “The 20 countries with the largest access deficits were home to 76 per cent of the global population living without access to electricity (or 560 million people) in 2020. Most of the top 20 deficit countries are in Sub-Saharan Africa.

    “The largest unserved populations are in Nigeria (92 million people), the Democratic Republic of Congo (72 million) and Ethiopia (56 million). The gains in the electrified population outpaced population growth in Ethiopia between 2010 and 2020; the same cannot be said of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria, where electrification advances failed to keep pace with population growth.”

     The report noted that between 2010 and 2020, electrification proceeded slowly in Nigeria but that as population growth outpaced gains in access, the number of people without electricity grew by three million a year. It attributed this to fragility, underdevelopment and conflict.

     With the rising number of phone users, BTS have to be powered by such means as diesel-driven generators.

     However, as diesel prices rise and network infrastructure spreads to more remote areas, other alternatives are required, not only in order to save money, but also to help combat climate change.

     Worried by the rising cost of diesel, in September 2008, the GSM Association (GSMA) launched a programme called Green Power for Mobile to promote the use of renewable energy sources by the mobile phone industry.

     Its goal was to see 118, 000 new and existing off-grid base stations powered in this way by 2012. It said this would save up to 2.5 billion litres of diesel a year cut annual greenhouse-gas emissions by up to 6.8 million tons and give a boost to the provision of mobile phone services in places that cannot yet use them.

     GSMA carried out a survey of operators, vendors, green power suppliers and financiers to evaluate the market and technical landscape. Its report, published in March 2009, said of the estimated 300, 000 BTS that will be built in developing countries up to the end of 2012, some 75,000 will not be connected to electricity supply grids. It pointed out that extending the grid to such sites would be enormously expensive. Reliability is another problem, in both rural and urban areas.

     As alternatives to diesel, GSMA analysed the viability of other sources of power for mobile base stations: solar, wind, biodiesel, pico-hydro (very small hydroelectric systems) and fuel cells.

     On solar power, GSMA noted that there is often an abundance of sunlight in rural areas of developing countries, and this, together with the increasing availability of solar equipment and its relatively low running cost, makes solar power a popular choice for sites that need up to 2 kW of power. Solar solutions are less economically attractive for larger sites, the report said, but it foresees that the price of installing solar power is likely to fall in the coming years.

     Another alternative is wind. The equipment to trap wind energy is cheaper than for solar-powered stations that have standard load requirements.

     GSMA then estimated the costs to be between 10 and 11 US cents per kWh to produce electricity at small wind-powered stations. A study by the American Wind Energy Association projected it to drop to 7 US cents within five years.

     However, wind power is only viable in such areas as coastal and mountainous regions, where wind blows sufficiently strongly and frequently. In other places, hybrid solutions may be used that combine wind and solar power.

     Biodiesel fuel (derived from vegetable oils or animal fats) can be used as a direct replacement for conventional diesel in base station generators, but it is not necessarily a universal solution. Among the factors that must be considered are local access to supplies of biodiesel, and how its production could affect agriculture.

     Similarly, fuel cells or batteries are mainly used as backup electricity supplies for base stations that have limited power requirements. So far, the commercial viability of using fuel cells as the prime power source has not been greatly tested.

  • How MDAs circumvent Federal Character rules on employment

    How MDAs circumvent Federal Character rules on employment

    Sections 14 and 15 of the Federal Character Commission Establishment Act provide punishment for those who fail to abide by the procedure set out for the recruitment of people into the public service of the federal, state and local governments as well as government-owned companies. One of the provisions is that such existing vacancies must be compiled and advertised in, at least, two national newspapers. But, this provision has been applied in breach, using waiver as subterfuge, TONY AKOWE reports

    For years, the Federal Government’s embargo on employment has resulted in youths being jobless.  As a result, the public service is depleted yearly because of retirement and resignation of some personnel, either because they have reached the mandatory number of years in the service or to take up other jobs.

     The excuse by heads of ministries, departments and agencies of government has always been that there is an embargo on employment. But, while that is on, new people are being employed by these MDAs as replacements.

    More often, one learns of jobs being sold in these MDAs for as high as N2 million for levels seven or 8 jobs. Desperate Nigerians go out of their way to source the money which they pay to secure such jobs.

     The Nation’s investigation revealed that, in a particular agency, several workers who probably paid for jobs were sent home after two years on the job on the excuse that their employment was not legal.

     This led to several complaints which necessitated a motion on the floor of the House of Representatives for an investigation on what has been regarded in the House as job racketeering.

    In the motion, Oluwole Oke (PDP, Osun) alleged mismanagement of personnel recruitment, employment racketeering and gross mismanagement of the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) by ministries, departments and agencies of government. He accused MDAs of fraud in the management of the IPPIS and devised methods of inserting ghost workers into the payroll and get payments through back-door channels.

      Oke further alleged that, as a result of the illegal activities in the various MDAs, the government loses billions of naira annually.

     He said: “The Federal Government has numerous Ministries, Departments, Agencies, Parastatals, Institutions and others. Currently, they represent the biggest employers of labour in Nigeria. The overhead of these public institutions constitutes a major component of the Budget of the Federal Government.

    Notwithstanding this near-sacred role being played by the Federal Government, the process of recruiting and employment into the civil service has become one that is fraught with endemic corruption.

     “Public institutions have since stopped the process of advertising for jobs and vacancies. Even in the few instances where adverts are published, the slots are already commoditised and available for the highest bidders.

     “In other words, most public institutions now sell employment positions, notwithstanding the qualification of the applicant and the ability of the applicant to perform optimally on the job. This poses a major risk and has, indeed, constituted itself into a channel for the underperformance of the public service.

    “Historically, from 1960 to the 1990s, Nigeria boasted of one of the best crops of public servants in the world and service delivery was at the highest level of professionalism.”

     Continuing, he said: “This situation has since changed, largely because of the method of recruitment and the quality of recruitment into these public institutions, which are driven by fraud, abuse, corruption and pecuniary considerations.

     “In spite of the introduction of these reforms, most Ministries, Departments and Agencies, in collusion with the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning have devised methods to insert ghost workers and get payments through back-door channels.

     “They have also crafted methods that are being used to circumvent the BVN technology.

     “If steps are not taken to investigate these challenges, the morale of most civil servants will be completely dampened. The Federal Government will continue to lose billions in monthly payments to ghost workers and illegal payments and the country will continue to be serviced by unqualified workers in the employ of various sectors within the Federal Civil Service.”

     Revelations at the investigation headed by the Chairman of the House Committee on Navy, Yusuf Adamu Gagdi appear to have proved right the assertions contained in the motion. All MDAs have admitted to their failure to advertise existing vacancies in total disregard for extant laws and regulations.

     Instead, they now prefer to apply for waiver not to advertise the job openings even when they have to mass employ. Procedures for recruitment into the service are contained both in the public service rules and the Federal Character Commission handbook which contained its enabling laws and other subsidiary legislations.

     The Commission is one of the 14 independent federal executive bodies established by Section 153 of the 1999 Constitution as amended. The agency, however, predates the Constitution as it was set up through degree 34 of 1996 which is now an act of the National Assembly.

     The Establishment Act mandates the commission to promote, monitor and enforce compliance with the principles of proportional sharing in all bureaucratic, economic, media and political posts at all levels of government.

     One of the key mandates of the Commission is to ensure that there is even spread in employment for all Nigerians. that Nigerians from the 36 states of the federation and the FCT are well represented in government agencies.

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     Also, Section 6 (c) of the regulations which is still in force and signed by the former Executive Chairman, Prof. Shuaibu Oba AbdulRaheem provides punishment for disregarding to the provision in line with the laws establishing the commission.

     The sitting of the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee to investigate job racketeering in ministries, departments and agencies has brought to the fore the behind-the-scene dealings in employment racketeering across all government agencies, leading to constant requests for waiver by the MDAs.

     The Nation gathered that with the agencies employing workers without an adequate budget, the MDAs often overdraw their personnel budget, exhausting what is meant for them in the budget before the end of the year, thereby leading to such agencies owing salaries and allowances of workers.

    In a circular from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, dated July 11, 2017, the government frowned at such practice which it said is putting pressure on the government’s annual budget. The circular Ref. No. 58775/II/T/358 was signed by the then Acting Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Dr. (Mrs) Habiba M. Lawal and titled “Streamlining Procedures for Recruitment into Federal Agencies.”

     The SGF said the habit of recruiting workers indiscriminately has not only created ghost workers in the payroll who receive fraudulent and erroneous salaries but has also perpetuated nepotism and regional imbalances in the Public Service.”

     It warned that “if these practices continue unabated without reference to budgetary provisions and due process, the country stands the risk of unpaid salaries to workers, claims of budget shortfalls and the need for virement which would increase the payroll cost now already over 40 per cent of total government expenditure. Besides, the current ongoing reforms aimed at providing a high-level assurance on the integrity of the payroll and control personnel cost would be jeopardised.”

     The circular, however, gave a way out of the situation, giving specific guidelines to be followed before such recruitment should be carried out. It said: “The government has, therefore, seen the need to take drastic step/action to arrest the situation in view of the current economic situation facing the country.

     “Consequently, the government has decided to streamline the processes and procedures for recruitment and appointment into the Public Service. The MDAs are expected to adhere to Manpower Budget for their proposed recruitments, which must be approved by the supervising Ministry or Agency; obtain a waiver to Recruit from the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation (OHCSF); there must be appropriate budgetary provisions to accommodate the proposed recruitments; while a letter of clearance must be obtained from the Director-General of the Budget Office of the Federation to confirm budgetary provision for the proposed recruitment.

    Allegations of gross violations have not gone down well with the members of the Ad hoc committee as they continued to notice severe imbalances in recruitment by these agencies.

    For example, while the Nigeria Food Science and Technology Council had permission and waiver to recruit 65 members of staff, only two of the six geopolitical zones in the country were represented in members of staff employed by the council.

     This forced Wole Oke to call for the validation of the exercise. He observed that the employment of the 65 members of staff failed to take into consideration the provisions of the Federal Character as contained in the 1999 Constitution as amended.

     Oke said: “This agency recruited members of staff without obeying the provision of the Federal Character Commission which is a constitutional requirement and the Federal Character Commission gave them a certificate of compliance.

     “On what basis was the certificate issued when they failed to comply with the provisions of the Constitution? We have to take this matter seriously. This recruitment should be validated because it violates extant laws.”

     The Chairman of the Committee, Gagdi expressed sadness that the waiver which was supposed to be used in an emergency situation was being abused and being used to deny qualified Nigerians opportunities to get jobs. Gagdi said: “Why did you choose to apply for a waiver when you are recruiting 300 and the law says only if the number is below 100? Why did you use a waiver for the recruitment of over 300 members of staff? That is against the law. It short-changed millions of Nigerians that should be given equal opportunity in terms of the employment process.”

     The Nation observed that one of the agencies that appeared before the investigative committee applied for a waiver to carry out recruitment two years after it had conducted the exercise.

    It was also observed that while the agency recruited about 120 members of staff in 2015, without advertisement as stipulated in the extant regulations, it applied to the Head of Service and the Federal Character Commission for waiver in 2017 and got approval. It was also observed that the recruitment took place one year after the circular from the Federal Character Commission making it mandatory for agencies to advertise vacancies in at least two daily newspapers circulating throughout the country.

     But one question that lawmakers have continued to ask all agencies that appeared before it is why the preference for waiver rather than advertising existing vacancies for all interested Nigerians to apply. They also asked how the agencies generated the list of applicants who participated in the recruitment exercise.

      In the course of this investigation, The Nation was informed that those who want to get a job in one of the paramilitary agencies are asked to part with about two million naira on the excuse that their salaries will soon be increased.

     The Director-General of the Directorate for Technical Cooperation in Africa (DTCA), Ambassador Rabiu Dagari believe that the government agencies now resort to waiver for recruitment as a way of cutting corners and avoiding doing the right thing. He said even though his agency had applied for a waiver in the past, he would not follow that part as head of the agency as it denies the government the opportunity to harness the best for available jobs.

     Dagari explained that the use of waiver was denying the government the opportunity to employ some of the best hands-to-man strategic positions in the service.

     The practice of obtaining waivers for recruitment has also encouraged extortion. A former member of staff of the Federal Character Commission, Haruna Kolo admitted before the House of Representatives ad hoc Committee investigating job racketeering that he served as a front to collect money from job seekers on behalf of the Chairman of the Commission. Haruna admitted collecting between N1 million and N1.5 million from about 25 job seekers to give them an appointment into the Commission.

     But the Chairman of the Commission, Muheeba Dankaka swore by a copy of the Holy Quran that she never collected any money from Haruna Kolo, neither has she ever asked him to collect money from job seekers on her behalf. But Kolo said the Chairman directed him to liaise with one Yishua Gambo, who is the driver and Personal Assistant to the Commissioner from Taraba and collect money from the applicants. However,  two of the victims of job racketeering gave a bird’s eye view of what Nigerian job seekers may be passing through. The two victims, Abdulmalik Isa Ahmed and Ali Mohammed Yaro told the committee how they paid the sum of N1million and two million each for appointment letters without being posted or assigned any specific responsibility.

    He claimed to have been enrolled on the IPPIS platform and has been receiving his monthly salaries without being posted to any department even though Kolo had given him assurances. Even though he was given an employment letter as a member of staff of the Federal Character Commission and has been collecting salaries, he has never been assigned any specific duty.

     He said: “All I want is this committee to ensure that I get my job back. I paid money to get the job and I only wanted to be posted.”

     Now, he appeared to have lost the job as the Commission has retrieved the appointment letter earlier issued to them. The same applies to Ali Mohammed Yaro who said after his graduation 11 years ago without a job; he saw an opportunity to secure one with the Federal Character Commission.

     He claimed that Haruna Kolo told him that the money was for the Chairman and that I would be captured on the IPPIS platform.  He brought the appointment letter and some documents for me to fill.

     “In August 2022, Jallo took me to the Treasury House where Kolo Haruna met me, took me into the IPPIS office and I was captured. They told me that my posting letter would be ready within two weeks and I got my first salary in January 2023, five months after my enrolment in IPPIS.

     “In July, we got a message from the Human Resources Department to come with our credentials for a meeting on Monday, July 17 2023. Upon arrival, we faced a committee that investigated us collected the original appointment letters and said that we would be issued another one within one week.

     “The Secretary told us that they don’t sell appointments in the commission and that they were going to conduct an investigation into the issue, retrieve our money and regularise our appointment.”

     Several government agencies now prefer to obtain waivers and carry out backyard recruitment in the name of replacement which many, however, admit may not be giving the service the needed expertise and the best qualified for the job.

  • Unending renovation of the hallowed chambers

    Unending renovation of the hallowed chambers

    The renovation of the National Assembly Complex, whose contract was awarded by the Federal Capital Development Authority was supposed to be completed on August 18, 2023. With the commencement of the renovation work, the Senate and the House of Representatives could not use their chambers. They had to resort to using a temporary chamber for their plenary activities. The inauguration of the 10th Assembly also took place in the makeshift chambers. While the Senate is accommodated in one room, the House of Representatives has to make do with two spaces because of their number. A month after the scheduled completion date, there are no signs that the lawmakers will commence plenary in their chambers when they resume from break. SANNI ONOGU, TONY AKOWE and NICHOLAS KALU report.

    The members of the 10th National Assembly, who are currently observing their first annual vacation, are expected to resume plenary on Tuesday, September 26.

    However, just before the National Assembly went on recess in August, a mild drama played out during plenary on the floor of the House of Representatives. There was uproar as new members of the House protested and stormed out of the upper floor serving as their second chamber. They all besieged the ground floor chamber where the presiding officer could see and hear all. Their grievance was that they were kept in a place where they could not be heard.

    This was because the chamber that members of the House of Representatives use is a makeshift space because the main chamber had been closed since April 2022. Its closure was to enable comprehensive reconfiguration and renovation works to be carried out. The makeshift plenary space in the House of Representatives is located on two floors which used to serve as the main conference rooms of the House. These are Hearing Rooms 018 and 231.

    Since all the lawmakers could not be accommodated in the main hall where the presiding officer sits, some lawmakers had to spill over to the second hall, a floor after the first, to enable them to participate in the proceedings.

    The same applies to the Senate where Hearing Room 022 has been converted to a makeshift plenary chamber since April 2022. It was also used for the inauguration of the 10th National Assembly due to rehabilitation works.

    While 109 Senators conducted their plenary in Hearing Room 022 in the Senate’s new building, 360 members of the House of Representatives had to combine halls on two floors due to their number.

    The difficulty of being in the second hall is that all lawmakers on the second floor have to follow proceedings of plenary sittings from a television screen as if they are “observers.”

    The attention of the presiding officer is often not on them; hence those sitting there hardly contribute to debates, support motions or raise a point of order.

    As a result of this, first-term lawmakers who occupy the upper floor felt they were being unduly undermined and shut out of the proceedings because, in their thinking, they are ‘fresher.’

    However, the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, who presided on that day, assured that the challenge would soon be over when members of the House resume sitting in the main Chamber after their annual vacation.

     The problem of a cramped space is just one of many challenges that have arisen due to the renovation of Phase One (White House Wing) of the National Assembly.

    A leaking parliament

    Before the commencement of the renovation work, members of the House are, literally speaking, drenched whenever it rains. Nigerians were treated to the shameful spectacle of a flooded National Assembly foyer and adjoining offices as cleaners worked frantically with mops, packers and buckets to salvage the situation.

     Respite only came when the downpour ceased. The situation had sometimes disrupted legislative activities. The chambers are not often spared. In addition to the leakages, the cooling system in the chambers packed up, forcing lawmakers to use papers to fan themselves.

     The National Assembly Complex is a magnificent building. It evokes a sense of grandeur whenever it is approached through its spacious ceremonial foreground. But, such feelings begin to dissipate as one enters its expansive foyer.

     As one steps into the lobby before the renovation commenced, the first sign of a lack of proper maintenance of the grand edifice was the cobwebs that perennially hung in the dome overhead. Besides, other embarrassing sights as the one created by water leakages during a downpour only emphasised how urgently the structure needed repair work.

     Many offices in the complex kept standby buckets to collect rainwater oozing out of crevices whenever it drizzled. Even the hallowed chambers were not spared due to excessive heat that assailed lawmakers due to a dysfunctional central cooling system. Most of the walls within the building had been defaced as a result of water leakages.

     The leadership of the National Assembly had consistently pointed out that the maintenance of the complex is the responsibility of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA).

    The controversy

    In the 2020 budget, N37 billion was allocated for the renovation of the complex. However, the amount generated public outrage. The amount was, however, not applied as the project did not commence partly due to the lockdown occasioned by the Coronavirus pandemic. The amount was eventually slashed to N9 billion following a review of the budget of that year.

    The President of the 9th Senate, Ahmad Lawan and the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila had, upon resumption of office in 2019, conducted an on-the-spot assessment of the building and saw the level of dilapidation. He said it was based on this that the budget of N37 billion was arrived at and sent to the Presidency for necessary approval for the rehabilitation of the complex. Lawan said that though the money was reduced to N9 billion, it was yet to be released.

     The then Senate’s spokesman, Surajudeen Ajibola Basiru, who is the current National Secretary of the All Progressives Congress, had also said the complex had not witnessed any major maintenance since it was constructed. He also claimed that even with the reduction of the proposed N37 billion to N9 billion for the rehabilitation of the structure, the money was yet to be released.

    Basiru had also stressed that the National Assembly administration and its leadership are not responsible for the maintenance and renovation of the complex as wrongly believed in many quarters. This, he also pointed out, was the responsibility of the FCDA.

    On its part, the FCDA had attributed the delay in awarding a contract for rehabilitation of the roof of the complex to the Federal Executive Council.

    The FCDA statement by its Public Relations Officer, Richard Nduul said: “The attention of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) has been drawn to the recent flooding of the lobby of the National Assembly Complex, Abuja resulting from leakages from the roof. Our findings indicate that the leakages are traceable to blockages of drainage leading to seepage of water through expansion joints in the roof slab.

    “Full waterproofing of the roof of the White House building is a major aspect of the proposed renovation of the National Assembly Complex.

     The management of the National Assembly approached the FCDA in 2019 for a total rehabilitation and upgrading of the complex to bring it in tune with parliamentary buildings around the world.

     “The contract is currently undergoing a procurement process in line with the Procurement Act of 2007 and will, therefore, be awarded as soon as it is concluded in conformity with the requirements of the Act and also considering all other relevant parameters.

    “The FCDA, therefore, assures that when the time comes, this project will be executed meticulously in order to ensure that the country gets value for the funds that will be expended; as this has been the tradition with every other assignment which the Authority has undertaken.”

    The scope of work and cost of the project

    During the official handing over of the project to the contractor in April 2022, the Executive Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA), Shehu Hadi Ahmad, represented by the Acting Director of Public Buildings, Adebowale Ademo listed the scope of work to be carried out during the renovation.

     Adebowale said: “The renovation will comprise the two plenary chambers of the National Assembly as well as the office buildings housing the office accommodation for the Senators and members of the House of Representatives.

     “The scope of what is to be done in this phase one of the works entails making the roof watertight. There have been several inconveniences of roof leakages experienced in the past and one of the major areas of attention is to redress the roof leakages and make the entire roof of the White House water-tight.

    Read Also: Enang assures Eno, A’Ibom House Assembly of collaboration

     “Next is the cooling system. Some of the Committee Rooms and central lobbies have faced challenges of temperature regulation because some of the chillers are out of service.

     “The contract entails the replacement of some of the chillers and rehabilitation of those that are in good condition to make them work properly.

     “We also have, as part of the scope, the replacement of lifts that are inoperable in the White House as well as in the House of Representatives and in the new Senate Wing.                                                                                                                                                                                “Beyond that, work will be done in the toilet areas to ensure the plumbing and the equipment and fittings are in proper condition. In addition, work will be done to address challenges of the extra low voltage equipment, the public address system and the fire safety installations.

     “These works will entail rehabilitation and upgrading to make them state of the art and ready for use looking at today’s technology.

     “Most critical of all, is the reconfiguration and the upgrading of the two chambers of the National Assembly.

     “The reconfiguration works involve extending the sitting terraces to provide more comfortable sitting and also provide a worktop where the legislators can sit and work in a very comfortable manner.

    “Beyond that, the entire ambience of the space is going to be transformed. We are hopeful that, at the end of the works, we will have a new and very efficient working environment for our Senators as well as the members of the House of Representatives.

     “This covers the essential scope of what needs to be done and what is going to be done during this renovation work.

     “As I said earlier, it is a major intervention. It is comprehensive and the intention is to restore the building to its original status and also to upgrade it so that the facilities and equipment therein will match any in any parliament in the world.”

     Expectations

    The Clerk to the National Assembly, Ojo Olatunde Amos, who was represented by the Secretary of Estate and Works, Bashir Yero said the National Assembly Complex will remain a place to be in terms of legislators’ comfort after the renovation.

     He said the renovation of the National Assembly was long overdue. The complex, when completed, will give a physiological boost to lawmakers, members of staff and visitors, including Parliamentary reporters.

     Yero said: “We believe by the time this project is completed, the National Assembly will certainly be a place to be in terms and our legislators will be more than happy to have an enhanced environment, especially the chambers.”

     The Managing Director of the firm handling the renovation, Messrs. Visible Construction Company Nigeria Limited, Olalekan Adebiyi said the work would be done speedily.

     Adebiyi said: “We are ready to move with good speed. We are ready to work day and night because we know the challenges ahead.

     “Everything we have to do, we have to do fast considering the fact that the legislators have to vacate the main chambers to a temporary place for us to work.

     “So, we know what it is and we are ready to face the challenge and do whatever we have to do very fast so that we can deliver in a good time.”

     Ultimately, the renovation of the National Assembly Complex is expected to bring about some major changes which include:

     Improved infrastructure: The renovation work is expected to improve the infrastructure of the National Assembly Complex, making it more conducive to legislative activities.

     Enhanced security: It is also expected to enhance the security of the National Assembly Complex, making it safer for lawmakers, members of staff and visitors.

     Modern facilities: The renovation work is expected to provide modern facilities within the complex such as state-of-the-art audio-visual equipment to enhance the legislative process and enhance workspaces inside the main chambers.

    Improved aesthetics: It is expected to improve the aesthetics of the National Assembly Complex, making it more visually appealing.

     Increased comfort: The renovation work is expected to increase the comfort of lawmakers, members of staff and visitors to the complex, by providing better ventilation, lighting and seating arrangements for lawmakers.

    Cost of the project and scope of work

    The immediate past Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Malam Muhammad Bello on Thursday, July 21 2022 said the ongoing rehabilitation of the National Assembly Complex would cost N30 billion.

     Bello made the revelation while addressing Senators during an oversight function by the Senate Committee on the FCT, in Abuja. The former minister noted that, out of the N30, 229, 290,830.35 contract sum meant to carry out the rehabilitation, N9.2 billion had been paid to the contractor; leaving an outstanding balance of N21.029 billion.

     He said the National Assembly Phase II popularly known as “the White House” was maintained from 1996 to 1999 by ITB Nigeria Limited.

     “The commencement date was April 16, 2022, and it is expected to be completed on August 15, 2023,” Bello said.

    Rehabilitation work commences

    The rehabilitation work on the complex began around the middle of 2022 with an August 2023 completion date.

     The former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila who is now the Chief of Staff to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, during an inspection in August last year, urged the contractors handling the project to ensure it was done in record time. But this has not been the case. He had warned that the quality of work must not be compromised.

     “This work started in August, a few weeks behind schedule, but for a good reason. So far, between August and now, giant strides have been made; you can see the whole chamber has been ripped apart and the innovations are going to be state-of-the-art,” Gbajabiamila had said.

    Problems arise

    In July this year, after the rehabilitation work had reached an advanced stage with the expectation of the August deadline, it was realised that the problem of leakage still persisted.

     The contractor claimed it was working hard to ensure that the leakage of the National Assembly dome ceased. The firm said this in a statement in July 2023 in Abuja by its Project Engineer, Tajudeen Olanipekun.

    Challenges

    Five major challenges that have militated against the completion of the job, according to findings by our correspondents include: 

    Funding: Work on the project has been plagued by poor funding, which has slowed down the pace of work. A source close to the Contractors said, that apart from the N9.2 billion advanced to the firm last year, nothing substantial has been accessed from the outstanding balance of N21.029 billion.

     Again, the widening gap between the exchange rate of the Naira and the Dollar is said to be a major challenge to the firm as the quoted sum is no longer sufficient to complete the project. The contractor was said to have approached the FCDA authorities several times for an upward review of the cost in view of current realities. This is yet to be granted.

     Design changes: There have been several design changes during the renovation project, which have led to delays and additional costs.

     Weather conditions: The rainy season has also slowed down the pace of work, as construction work is difficult to be carried out during heavy rainfall. These challenges have continued to militate against the completion of the renovation project.

    No known date of completion

    It is not clear what percentage of the rehabilitation has been done. The exterior of the three domes of the chambers has been worked on while the entire exterior and interior of the White House Complex is being repainted with its traditional white colour. Several elevators which were hitherto moribund are undergoing refurbishment and replacement. The carpet grasses in some parts have been removed and fresh ones planted while varieties of flowers have been introduced. Besides, new Closed Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV) are visible both within and in the surroundings of the White House complex.

    However, it is apparent, according to the contractors; a completion date is unknown as the rains are still on.

     As the lawmakers are expected to resume on Tuesday, September 26, 2023, it is obvious that members would still have to make do with the makeshift plenary spaces they have been using since inauguration.

     One hopes that the renovation will be completed as soon as possible so that life at the complex will return to normal. Nigerians do not wish that completion of the project would become indefinite as many Federal Government projects.

  • Delays, controversies over Auditor-General appointment

    Delays, controversies over Auditor-General appointment

    Almost one year after the retirement of the Auditor-General for the Federation (AGF), Adolphus Aghughu, appointing a replacement has not been possible due to acrimony among directors. The appointment of one of the directors in the interim has not gone down well with some stakeholders, who claim the process contravened public service rules, reports TONY AKOWE.

    The retirement of the immediate past Auditor-General for the Federation (AGF), Adolphus Aghughu threw up an intense competition among directors in the office for the coveted seat.

     Prior to his retirement, there have been moves to outdo one another by some of the directors with claims and counter-claims of who is senior among them who can oversee the office.

     Aghughu’s exit in September 2022 paved the way for the appointment of Andrew Onwudili to oversee the office, even though records show that he was not the most senior director; having been employed two years after three of the directors, making him the fourth in line.

     Before the emergence of Onwudili, the Federal Civil Service Commission had commenced the process for the appointment of a new Auditor-General with an in-house advertisement.

     The Nation learnt that the initial idea was to get the Auditor-General from among the directors in the agency. But one year after the process began, there appears to be a deadlock as the commission has not been able to come up with a candidate who will be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

     Section 86 sub-section 1 to 3 of the 1999 Constitution as amended provides modalities for the appointment of the AGF.

    The section states that “the Auditor-General for the Federation shall be appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Federal Civil Service Commission subject to confirmation by the Senate. (2) The power to appoint persons to act in the office of the Auditor-General shall vest in the President and (3) except with the sanction of a resolution of the Senate, no person shall act in the office of the Auditor-General for a period exceeding six months.”

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    But the process has been bogged down by controversy regarding seniority among some of the directors in the agency. While some of them have been involved in the selection process, two others have been excluded.

    The Nation observed that the struggle for the position appeared to have started long before the occupant of the office vacated it as five of the Directors started struggling for seniority despite the provisions of Public Service on seniority in the public service.

    A letter from the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation dated February 9 2021, with reference number HCSF/PSO/152/II/150 addressed to the Director of Audit overseeing the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation tried to set the records straight about seniority among the directors.

     The letter drew attention to the provisions of the Public Service Rule 020106 which states that “seniority in any department shall be determined by the entry/the assumption of duty certified by an authorised officer as reflected in the appropriate register.”

     In line with the provision, the letter which was signed by Babura in the USA, the Director in charge of Employee Mobility in the OHCSF listed the officers in accordance with their seniority level as Isiuku Julius Michael, Mrs Ogundowo Addition Oluseyi, Mrs Ugwu Ngozi Eucharia, Onwudili Ogochukwu and Gbayan Shirts Gabriel. It also stated that “with the above clarification, this matter would be laid to rest and allow for a good and harmonious working relationship devoid of rancour among the directors and other members of staff in the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation.

      The letter from the Head of Service was prompted by a letter from the Office of Auditor-General seeking intervention on the determination of seniority among the directors.

     The letter reads: “I am directed to request your kind intervention on the resolution of the seniority challenge encountered by the under-listed directors in the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation. The Human Resources Department had received complaints that they were not placed properly on the office nominal roll. Efforts to internally address the issue seem not to be satisfactory. Accordingly, it will be appreciated if the OHCSF can intervene to resolve the matter.”

     However, in another letter reference with reference number HCSF/ALSO/ODD/E&WP/64421/166 dated July 18, 2022, and signed by the Director, Organisation, Design and Development in the OHCSF, B. O. C. Omogo, the earlier list was completely turned round. The letter reads: “I am directed to refer to your letter ref no GEN/EMAD//CORR/2020/55 dated March 28, 2022, on the above subject and convey the reviewed seniority list among the five directors in your office as follows: Andrew Ogochukwu Onwudili, Shirts Gabriel Gbayan, Adeoti Oluseyi Ogundowo, Ngozi Eucharia Ugwu and Julius Michael Isiuku.

    “In arriving at the reviewed list, the parameters outlined below were taken into consideration. (a) date of present appointment; (b) career progression; (c) date of assumption of duty and (d) date of first appointment.

     “This letter, therefore, supersedes our earlier letter ref. UCSF/PSO/152/II/15 and dated February 9 2021 on the subject.”

    A look at the Public Service Rules revealed that the only criterion for determining seniority in service is the date of employment and assumption of duty.

     However, the nominal roll of the office of the Auditor-General for April 2021 sighted by The Nation revealed that while Mrs Ogundawo was first employed in the service on September 26, 1990, and confirmed two years later, the Director overseeing the Office of the Auditor-General, Andrew Onwudili was employed on July 27, 1992, and confirmed two years later. Also, another director in the OAUGF, who was excluded from the process of appointing a new Auditor-General, Mrs Eucharia Ngozi Ugwu was employed on November 11 1990 and confirmed two years later.

     Also, Shirwa Gabriel Gbayan was captured in the nominal roll as having been employed into the service on August 24, 1992, and confirmed two years later in 1994; while Julius Isiuku (he retired from service in December 2022) was employed on January 13 1989 and confirmed two years later.

    The Nation also sighted two different memos from the Federal Civil Service Commission on the list of directors qualified to participate in the selection process for the position of Auditor-General with the names of the two women missing.

    It was also learnt that, in its last days in the 9th Assembly, the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives invited the Head of Service of the Federation, Folashade Esan to explain why it should issue two separate letters on the same issue.

      Although the meeting between the Committee and the Head of Service took place, Oke, who headed the committee, said the best thing to do was to interface with the Minister of Justice and the Attorney-General of the Federation regarding the lingering controversy surrounding the seniority of top officials on the director cadre in the OAGF. Oke had said at the meeting with the Head of Service who was represented by a Director that “there is no provision for the office of the Auditor-General of the Federation to be run by a Director. It is illegal. The Director currently occupying that office cannot fulfil the constitutional roles of the Auditor-General of the Federation.

     “We have a backlog of audited accounts of the Federation for the years 2020, 2021 and 2022, which are yet to be laid before the National Assembly due to the absence of a substantive Auditor-General of the Federation to sign them.”

     In a petition to the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Representatives, dated February 3, 2023, Mrs Ogundowo alerted that her name was omitted from the list of eligible directors to be considered for accreditation exercise for appointment as Auditor-General for the Federation.

     She said the omission of her name was based on an unsubstantiated report of the EFCC.

     She said: “I humbly write to draw the attention of the PAC Committee to the process undertaken by the Federal Civil Service Commission midwifing the appointment of the next Auditor-General of the Federation. Having been screened by the DSS, and ICPC, it is shocking to note that the Commission (the EFCC) made an incorrect allegation on my account of income flowing into the account from a business “Satisqua Table Water Enterprises” on which I was not invited to explain but reported upon. For this kind of screening held in high esteem, it would be fair and just for the Commission to be specific on the income inflow traced to my account and seek further clarifications before drawing conclusions.

    “It is against this background that I am here seeking clarification and clearance from the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), copy of the registered business name is attached to this application. Your prompt intervention on this would be highly appreciated, please.”

    She also wrote to the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation seeking intervention “in a case of serious misconduct levelled against me by the Auditor-General for the Federation, Adolphus Aghughu.”

     The letter was dated June 28 2022, a few weeks before Aghughu retired as Auditor-General.

    According to her, she was accused of contravention of the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation’s Communication Policy; Falsification of Records; Unauthorised disclosure of official information; and any other act unbecoming of a public officer. According to her, issues raised in the query were in respect of seniority of Directors of Audit which she said started in 2020 but laid to rest in line with Public Service Rules (PSR) 020106, vide letter no. HCSE/PSO/152/150 dated February 9 2021.

     In the petition, she said that “at an emergency top management meeting held on June 17 2022, the AGF presented a version of the seniority list different from the one approved by the OHCSF. This he had shared on the WhatsApp Platform of the Colleges of Directors and also acknowledged to have approved.

     It is on this same Platform that I shared a copy of the seniority list I came across, particularly when the AGF had become inaccessible to most of his lieutenants (we the directors).

     This is supported by the fact that he shouted at me and instructed his security personnel to walk me out of his office in March 2021. The WhatsApp Platform for the Colleges of Directors was created to disseminate information among the directors and also for interaction as is applicable in other MDAs.

     Contrary to an allegation of circulating a fake nominal roll to the National Assembly, I wish to state that I am not aware of the existence of such in the National Assembly or any other government agency. It may interest the HCSF to note that one of the ‘fake’ nominal rolls, as alleged by the AGF was placed on the official notice board by the AGF himself.

     The HCSF may also wish to note that many versions of the fake nominal roll are in circulation and that all these versions, which are at variance with what was approved by the OHCSF, placed Mr Onwudili Andrew Ogochukwu, a Director of Audit, ahead of me as my senior, even though this is far from the truth.

     I assumed duty on September 26 1990, while he assumed duty on July 27 1992.  Both of us attained our present post of Director of Audit on January 1, 2017. 

    Mrs Ogundowo alleged in the petition that “there is a plot to disenfranchise me from participating in the selection process for appointment of a new AGF, which is why I am being victimised. This, I believe, is to enable Mr Onwydili to take over after the exit of Mr Aghughu who will be exiting the service on September 7 2022 since the most senior Director of Audit, Mr Isiuku Julius Michael, will also exit the service in December, 2022.”

     She made reference to the fact that the ground for Onwudili to take over as the most senior director may have been laid for him earlier when he was placed above her during their promotion exercise.

    She said: “My claim above is further supported by the fact that, upon our promotion to the post of directors in 201 7, Mr Onwudili was placed on SGL 17 step 10 and my good self on SGL 17 Step 8. We were both on the same step (GL 16 before our promotion to the post of Director).

     I wonder why he was given accelerated incremental steps. It is on the strength of this that I am inclined to conclude that there is a conscious attempt to prevent and disqualify me from aspiring for the post of the AGF, which I am entitled to, just like any other Director of Audit in the Federal Civil Service.”

     Continuing, she claimed that “in my 32 years of active and dedicated service (now 33), I have not received any warning or query. I am a loyal and committed civil servant with a high premium on value addition in the discharge of my official duties or any responsibilities assigned to me.”

     The Association of Retired Staff of the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation have tried to intervene and ensure that justice is done to all those concerned. The association writes two separate petitions to the House of Representatives and the Federal Civil Service Commission.

      In the letters signed by the Chairman and Coordinator, Alhaji Taiwo Lawal, the association said though some of the actions taken since August 11, 2022, were found to be just, fair and acceptable, the Commission suddenly tainted the process “with the unjust removal of the two topmost Directors of Audit from the list of qualified Directors of Audit for accreditation exercise despite the fact that these female Directors of Audit met all the required conditions laid down by the commission.”

     In the letter to the House of Representatives, the Association said its desire was to see a level playing ground for all the Directors of Audit in all the processes for the appointment of the next Auditor-General for the Federation.

     It added that “Mrs Adeoti Oluseyi Ogundowo and Mrs E. N. Ugwu were both promoted Directors of Audit on January 1 2017, but the FCC dropped their names from the list of aspiring Directors of Audit for accreditation exercise that was hurriedly fixed for Friday, January 20 2023.”

     In the second petition to the Civil Service Commission, the association said that “being a critical stakeholder in the growth and development of our former office has been keenly watching and observing the process undertaken by the Federal Civil Service Commission in the appointment of Auditor-General for the Federation.”

      According to them, following the retirement of the former Auditor-General, the association supported the idea of not leaving a vacuum and having someone from within the office emerging as a replacement. It said it felt elated when the commission issued an internal advertisement and also circular requesting qualified directors to submit relevant briefs through the Human Resources Department.

     According to the Chairman, on January 13 2023, the Federal Civil Service Commission, through its circular with ref. no FCSC/CHMN/RAG/023/1I/126 and signed by Ogaba Ede (Director of Appointment and Recruitment) on behalf of the Chairman requested 10 Directors of Audit that have a minimum of one year and above before retirement to re-submit their CVs, briefs, certificates, personal and confidential files, and others to the Commission on or before January 17 2023.

    With the reduction of minimum years to retirement to one year and above, the Commission had widened the space and extended participation to earlier screened-out Directors of Audit.

    However, the Association observed that three names of suitably qualified Directors of Audit that were earlier screened and met all the requirements, including more than two years and above before retirement, were not included.

     The Directors of Audit are Mrs Adeoti Oluseyi Ocundowo FCNA. — promoted in 2017, Mrs Eucharia Ngozi Ugwu FCNA, mni. – promoted in 2017 and Mr Shakaar Chira Kantiyor FCNA promoted in 2021.

      The omission did not provide reason(s) for the non-inclusion of their names on the list. This Association was of the opinion that these three Directors of Audit must have been screened and hence there shouldn’t be a need to re-screen them for accreditation.”

     The association also said that “on January 18 2023, the Federal Civil Service Commission, through its Circular no. FCSC/CHMN/RAG/023/II/127 and signed on behalf of the Chairman by Ogaba Ede (Director of Appointment and Recruitment) released list of 11 Directors of Audit for accreditation exercise fixed then for January 20 2023.”

      It further said that “this Association was founded to protect the interest of serving and retired members of staff of Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation at all times and in all places. Consequently, the Association is not happy to confirm that, the two topmost female Directors of Audit that seem to have met all necessary requirements for accreditation were dropped.

     “Also of note was the inclusion of one of the three serving Directors of Audit (Mr Shaakaar Kantiyor Chira FCNA) —promoted to Director of Audit on January 1 2021, that was among three earlier screened but not added to the list requested for as per letter Ref. no. FCSC/CHMN/023/1/126 of January 13 2023.”

     It asked the Commission to be “gender-sensitive by bringing these two experienced female directors that were promoted in January 2017 up to the accreditation list and allow them to partake fully in the remaining exercise for the appointment of Auditor-General for the Federation.” They also want the two female Directors of Audit to be officially told the justifiable reason why their names were not included in the accreditation list.

     In a letter dated May 31 2023, the immediate past Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Public Accounts, Oluwole Oke informed President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the infractions existing in the agency which is supposed to audit all government assets and accounts and present reports to the National Assembly.

    Incidentally, by the provisions of section 85 of the 1999 Constitution as amended, all audited reports are to be submitted only to the National Assembly.

      Oke, whose committee has oversight function over the agency for four years, drew the attention to developments within the Office of the Auditor-General for the Federation bothering on constitutional infractions on the appointment of a substantive Auditor-General of the Federation.

     He accused the Office of the Civil Service of the Federation and the Federal Civil Service Commission of ignoring the provisions of the public service rules by appointing a junior director to oversee the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation. This decision also contravened the provisions of section 86(3) which requires a resolution of the Senate for anybody to act in the Office of the Auditor-General of the Federation.

     In a petition with reference no HR/ PAC/SC05/9NASS/66/206, Oke said the Head of Service contravened the provisions of the Constitution which states that no one should occupy an office in acting capacity for more than six months. As a result of the development, he said, several annual audited reports of MDAs have not been submitted to the National Assembly because the person acting as the Auditor-General lacks the power to sign the reports.

     The Nation investigation revealed that the last audited report of the government expenditure submitted to the National Assembly is the 2019 report, while the 2021 and 2022 annual reports are still pending. He said the working of the Public Accounts Committees in the National Assembly has been hampered by such delays.

     He said: “The position of the Auditor-General of the Federation became vacant on September 7 2022 after the retirement of the then substantive Auditor-General of the Federation, Mr Aghughu Adolphus.

     Contrary to the practice within the Public Service, which is that the most senior official is required to assume the role of the Head of the Institution in an acting capacity, the number three director (Mr Andrew Onwudili) with less than two years to serve was imposed on the Office and designated as the “Director Overseeing the Office” by the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation.

     This practically upturned the seniority nominal roll of the Office and created severe animosity and apathy within the Office. In addition to the above, Section 86(3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended) requires that a public official heading a position can act only for six months and another person can be appointed in an acting capacity.

     However, the Director  Overseeing the Office has acted beyond the required six months, which is a gross violation of the Constitution. The implication of this is that actions taken by him are both illegal and unconstitutional.

     In addition, the Annual Audit Report “for various ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) which is due for “submission to the National Assembly, has not been signed and cannot be laid before the National Assembly.

      The Director Overseeing the Office lacks the constitutional capacity to sign these reports; hence, it has created a backlog, which is affecting the performance of Committees within the National Assembly.”

     Oke further said that “based on my personal inquiry and review of the situation, I noticed that one Mrs Oluseyi Ogundowo is the most senior director within the office and should have assumed the role of Acting Auditor-General.

  • Dust over relocation of foreign airlines

    Dust over relocation of foreign airlines

    The relocation of over a dozen foreign airlines from the dilapidated old terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) to the new facility at the Lagos Airport is not boding well for passengers processing their flights from the nation’s premier gateway. Aside the inconvenience of leaving their homes at least three hours before the scheduled time for departure, overburdened conveyor belts, succumbing to unprecendented surge in passenger numbers and uncoordinated procedures by aeronautical authorities, travelling through the new international terminal is becoming nightmarish, writes KELVIN OSA OKUNBOR.

    These are not the best of times for passengers processing flights out of the country through the new terminal of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport  (MMIA), Lagos.

    Reason: Airlines, passengers and other airport users are having a raw deal adjusting to the pains in the hurried relocation of processing flights from the new facility.

    Though the Federal Government had given up to October 1 for the foreign airlines operating from the over four decade-old facility to move to the new infrastructure,  a recent fire outbreak from the basement of the MMIA has altered the narrative.

    Only last week, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria  (FAAN) effected an accelerated implementation of the Federal Government’s directive forcing dozens of carriers to commence processing of passenger flight procedures from the new facility.

    But, the hurried arrangement  has not been without the anticipated hiccups as passengers continue to lament harrowing experiences using the new facility.

    FAAN had in a notice informed passengers that flights precessing had moved from the old terminal to the new facility, urging them to leave their places of abode at least three hours before their departure time to complete check-in and other procedures in  time.

    This arrangement has not gone down well with many passengers, who have raised concerns over the failure of the airport to ramp up its facilities ahead of the anticipated surge.

    Before the recalibrated passenger facilitation procedure, only six  carriers – Air Peace,  Qatar Airways,  ASKY Airlines,  South African Airways and African World Airlines  (AWA) – were processing flights from the new terminal.

    The new terminal has not been put to optimal use because of inadequate space to construct avio-bridges that could accommodate bigger aircraft.

    Despite the obvious error in construction design in putting in place such a modern facility without consideration for avio- bridges for wide-body aircraft, the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development Mr Festus Keyamo said plans were afoot to procure shuttle buses that would convey passengers from the new facility to board at the airside.

    The Minister recently said: “We have to find a way to use the new terminal. Like in many other countries, we have to get emergency procurement to buy big buses and move passengers to where the big planes can stop for both arrivals and departures so that Nigerians can have some form of comfort.

    “The long-term plan is that, we are going to find a way to build avio-bridges for the big aircraft coming in and that means some of those private hangars will have to go for public purpose, we have to relocate them so that we can have a beautiful, functional gateway to Nigeria.”

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    To drive this however, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways, KLM/Air France,  Lufthansa German Airlines,  Ethiopian Airlines, Egypt Air. Royal Air Maroc, Air Cote D’Ivoire, Rwand Air, Delta Airlines and others last week commenced processing of passenger at the new terminal.

    While many industry watchers described the relocation as good,  others said the government needed to put some things in place before implementing the directive.

     The former President, Aviation Safety Round Table Initiative  (ASRTI), Dr Gbenga Olowo commended the Federal Government for the development,  but urged the Federal Government to move regional flights from the Murtala Muhammed International Airport to the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two  (MMA2).

    Olowo said Keyamo’s directive was appropriate.

    But an industry player, who pleaded not to named in print, said the absence of buses to connect passengers from the local to the international terminal could stall the proposal.

    Worried over the development, the Federal Government set up a task force to address challenges arising from the relocation.

    To lead the task force, the government selected Hassan Musa, a retired permanent secretary and former Director, Air Transport Management; Adebayo Oladipo, the General Manager, Aerodrome, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA);   three Special Assistants to the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, namely, Mr. Collins Mukoro, Mrs. Uyoyou Edhekpo, and Mr. Henry Agbebire.

    It would be recalled that during Minister’s inspection of the Lagos Airport last week, he had given October 1 as deadline for the movement.

    However, the management of FAAN altered it when the fire broke out. It, however, pleaded for the public’s understanding of the situation.

     “The statement reads: “We urge passengers and other stakeholders to be patient and bear with us as the inconvenience caused will soon be resolved. Your understanding plays a vital role in making this transition smoother for everyone involved.

    “The primary objective of this task force is threefold, namely, to resolve passenger Concerns. The task force will work diligently towards resolving all concerns raised by passengers regarding congestion, discomfort, and related issues stemming from terminal relocation.

     “We are committed to ensuring that every passenger’s voice is heard and addressed promptly.

     The task force is also to work minimise discomfort: Our focus dwells on minimising any form of discomfort during this transition period. Efforts will be made in streamlining processes at both terminals while closely monitoring operations 24/7. Measures such as enhanced signage, dedicated support staff, improved communication channels will be implemented proactively.

     “Effective Public Communication: We pledge transparency throughout this process by providing regular updates on progress made in addressing concerns arising from airline relocations. FAAN aims at improving public relations strategies through various channels including online platforms and customer service helplines so that you stay informed about developments firsthand.

     “The Minister, however, extends his deepest regrets over the inconvenience caused and assures all travellers that we are fully committed to resolving these concerns promptly.

     “We pledge our commitment to passenger comfort, safety, and overall satisfaction during this transitional period.”

      There have been complaints of passengers missing their flights because of hitches in check-in, among others.

     Investigations indicate that many passengers missed their connection flights as the majority of the airlines left Lagos late, including British Airways, Air France KLM and Qatar Airways, which left four hours beyond their schedule.

     An airline official described the situation as chaotic because the new terminal had not seen  such upsurge in passenger movement to the extent that travellers found it difficult to identify the check-in counters of their airlines.

    There was also baggage belt malfunctions at the new terminal, which exacerbated the challenge.Though  the new terminal has state-of-the-art facilities, it is smaller than the old terminal tiriggering congestion, forcing passengers to spill outside the terminal. Travellers with big luggage found it difficult to move their luggage to the checking, a source said.

    Also, the facility has only one main entrance gate and passengers have to use escalator to climb to departures, which made movement sluggish, especially during peak hours.

    An official of the airport authority said: “The airlines actually knew what to do but the terminal was small compared to the old one and that is  what made passenger processing difficult, as check in took longer time and some passengers found it difficult to locate their airlines.

     “It was difficult for passengers that have many luggage because they have to wait for the lift but those with lighter bags use the elevator. But things got better at getting better, we hope it will continue to improve.”

    An official of a foreign carrier,  who declined to named in print, called on the Federal Government to address the challenges emanating from the use of the new terminal comprehensively.

     The official said: “The main issues are:  space constraint. The terminal does not have the capacity to accommodate the number of passengers that they’re forcing into space.”

  • Growing concerns over declining rice production

    Growing concerns over declining rice production

    Food security is essentially defined as the state in which all essential food staples, particularly rice, are accessible and affordable. Rice used to be the cheapest dietary staple, often labelled as the sustenance of the masses. However, in recent times, the cost of rice has soared to an extent where it’s no longer associated with just the poor, as general scarcity of food has become widespread. This crisis is exacerbated by various detrimental factors affecting the agricultural sector, including stiff competition from inexpensive imports, adverse impacts of climate change, and lack of mechanised farming. Rice yields remain notably low while its supply chain faces a fresh threat from perennial shortage of paddy, DANIEL ESSIET reports

    There are rising concerns over the inability of Nigeria to retain its position as Africa’s largest rice producer. This is because farmers struggle to produce enough to meet the needs of Nigerians. According to research by Statista, rice production in Nigeria amounted to around 8.3 million metric tons in 2021, making the country the leading rice producer in Africa. 

    Indeed, the industry has experienced rounds of good planting and harvesting from quite a lot of paddies in the past years, with attractive market prices encouraging farmers to increase rice acreage. Following this, rice production in Nigeria increased from 325,000 tons in 1969 to 5.1 million metric tons in 2019; growing at an average annual rate of 8.76 per cent. This is according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). In spite of this, rice prices have soared in almost 23 years as a result of insecurity and dry weather that threaten production. The combined effects of climate change, conflicts and economic shocks have pushed rice prices upwards, leaving millions of people extremely vulnerable as a result of low purchasing power. The consequences of surging rice prices have made it become a daily struggle to put enough nutritious food on the table.

    Timeline of increment in rice prices

    There has been a massive rise in the price of rice from about N8,500 per bag of 50 kilogrammes in 2015 to roughly N45,000 per bag this year. Analysts are already predicting that a bag of rice could hit N60,000 next month. In 2000, a 50kg bag of rice averaged ?2,500. In 2014, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, a 50kg bag of rice averaged ?10,000. At the end of June 2020, a 50kg bag of rice cost ?26,000.

     Ordinarily, the rising price should get more farmers to expand planting areas to make more money. However, the President of the Young Rice Farmers’ Association of Nigeria, Rotimi Williams, told The Nation that, while higher grain prices should encourage rice producers, the costs of key inputs to boost rice yields have been on the rise. This is besides extreme weather that has affected cropping patterns. Williams has had to spend thousands on different fertiliser, diesel and water, among others to produce rice on a paddy.

     Sometimes, he and other rice farmers have been constrained by droughts and heavy rains which flood the fields. His concern is that the threat to rice production also comes at a time when the country is already grappling with soaring food costs. The Flour Milling Association of Nigeria Agronomist, Ahmed Tijani, said farmers in the Northern Nigeria were experiencing unprecedented changes in rainfall patterns, droughts and extreme heat. According to analysts, increased demand and supply gaps can lead to high rice prices in the medium and long-term periods.

     According to the President of the Federation of Agricultural Commodity Association of Nigeria (FACAN), Dr. Victor Iyama, there ought to be multiple strategies introduced to achieve specific self-sufficiency targets.  This, he indicated, should prompt the re-evaluation of existing policies to provide high priority for the development of the agricultural sector, especially rice and other staple foods. Therefore, the government should continue to strengthen the rice sector through various initiatives and strategies, where the key focus is on the improvement of research and development of existing infrastructure to boost rice yield.

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    Stakeholders proffer solutions

    The Group Chief Executive of AFEX Commodities Limited and past Chairman of Smallholder and Agri-SME Finance and Investment Network (SAFIN), Ayodeji Balogun, believes that only increased private sector engagement in rice farming and staple foods reserve systems can support the government effort to ensure food supply chains. According to him, the introduction of the warehouse receipts system, which his organisation is driving, would help to mitigate the shortage of working capital loans faced by rice processors, wholesalers and retailers.

     Nigeria now accounts for 70 per cent of Africa’s milled rice production growth over the past decade. Milled rice production was estimated at five million metric tons last year. Analysts expected it to grow at 10 per cent by 2025. This notwithstanding, the quantity of unprocessed rice produced outnumbered that of milled rice. As elsewhere, the persistently high cost of transportation has pushed up production expenses beyond expectations. Farmers attributed the price hike to an increase in transportation costs after the removal of the fuel subsidy on May 29 2023; coupled with the escalating expenses associated with acquiring foreign exchange.

     Explaining the increase in rice price, the President of the All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Ibrahim Kabiru, said the high price of inputs such as seed, fertilisers and other chemical inputs such as herbicides, labour and transportation costs for moving the commodity from the farm to the processing mills have been some of the major challenges responsible for hike in price. Due to transportation hikes along the production routes, smallholder farmers have struggled to increase production in a cost-effective manner with the key inputs continuing to rise. The result is a shortage of rice, even for rice processors and millers.

     The impact has been massive with stakeholders identifying insufficient supply of rice as the major factor responsible for the high cost of local rice. Another contributing factor to the hike in prices of rice is insecurity; local producers have been scaling down production while local traders are holding onto their stocks. This coincides with the lean months of July and August when there were less harvest. Stakeholders have also identified insufficient paddy rice and poor irrigation as another factor hindering all-year-round farming. Rice millers have attributed the hike in rice prices to the scarcity of paddy in the open market.

     The report reveals that many rice mills have been forced to shut down operations due to paddy scarcity and the high cost of production. In response to this, the Chairman of the Northern Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Alhaji Dalhatu Abubakar, alerted that scarcity of raw materials is forcing millers to shut down operations. He explained that the implication of scarcity of paddy was the current increase in the price of parboiled rice, which, he noted, would further increase the activities of smugglers. He expressed his fear that food insecurity might reach its worst level in the country if the scarcity of paddy, a major raw material for the production of finished rice persists. Abubakar stressed that several millers had cut down production hours from 24 to 12, even as they sacked factory workers.

     Williams also attributed the scarcity to insecurity issues that have been forcing many farmers to abandon their farmlands. He further linked the scarcity to the coup in the Niger Republic, which, he noted, had put a halt to the importation of paddy from countries within the West African sub-region. Sadly, the report said mills have been receiving wet paddy to enable them to meet up with market demands.

    Interested parties express fear about food crisis

    While rice-producing states such as Kebbi and Jigawa have become beehives of activities as millers were rushing to access paddy, the price has jumped to more than N450,000 per ton for the paddy with moisture. A ton in early June 2023 was sold at N330,000. Analysts fear a possible food crisis as a bunch of problems threaten to disrupt the supply of paddy.

    Experts say that if Nigeria fails to introduce a proper action plan to tackle the paddy shortage, the situation could become disastrous. The low output, according to them, may cause further upward pressure on inflation and downward pressure on the economy. As rice is one of the country’s staple foods, it points to further pressure on a country already struggling with its worst economic crisis in modern times, including runaway inflation and growing levels of malnutrition. Analysts are worried that a drop in rice production will complicate the country’s inflation fight.

     Following the Federal Government’s ban on importation of rice in 2019, the Republic of Niger has banned the re-­exportation of rice from the country. The Nigerian government closed some of its borders to prevent the smuggling of banned goods into the country. This, however, didn’t stop traders from neighbouring countries from using the Niger Border to smuggle imported white and parboiled rice into Nigeria. The closure of the border months ago was a mixed fortune for the smugglers who smuggle rice and other items into Nigeria.

    Eko Rice as elixir?

     Lagos State invested in the construction of a 32-metric-ton-per-hour rice mill, with the hope that it will produce 115,200 metric tons of milled rice yearly. At the beginning of the year, the state launched Eko Rice in various sizes, including 50kg bags. So far, the supply of paddy has affected the rice processing at the facility.

     On why there is scarcity of Eko Rice, the immediate Special Adviser to the Governor on Agriculture and Rice Mill Initiative, Mr Oluwarotimi Fashola, said: “The problem now is the challenge of paddy supply. Everybody knows that there is no paddy in the market. Eko Rice has been in the market since January. It has been sold in commercial quantities since the beginning of the year. We are in August; it has been in the market since January.”

     Early this year, the Lagos State Government said it would need about N100 billion annually to purchase paddy for the Imota Rice Mill in the Ikorodu area of the metropolis. Fashola said this huge amount of money might not be taken from the government’s coffers because of other items begging for attention, but the capital market would be a good avenue to source such funds. According to him, this is why the state government has agreed to partner with the Lagos Commodities and Future Exchange (LCFE) and other key capital market operators to provide sustainable finance to the commodities ecosystem through the generation of tradable financial instruments.

     Fashola said: “Imota Mill will require over 200,000 tons of paddies annually. It is not cheap. In Nigeria as of today, that is going into almost N100 billion, and N100billion of taxpayers’ money being taken from the government funds will not be the easiest to do in any financial year. However, with the partnership with the commodities exchange, we can maintain the flow of paddy to the mill. If the mill continues to run, we have a comparative advantage of having a good price, and at the same time, the finished rice becomes available in the market.”

     According to analysts, one of the key challenges the mill will be grappling with is raw material, paddy rice to service the mill. Without enough supply of paddy to feed it, analysts believe the facility is going to be underutilised, which will lead to waste. They urged Lagos to concentrate more on how to directly get the raw materials, not contracting it to other states, which have their own problems. They cited the logistics to bring the paddy rice to Lagos from other states which will push up the cost.

     In response, the government has empowered about 800 rice farmers to grow more paddy rice. The immediate State Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms Abisola Olusanya, explained that the state government’s strategic intervention was informed by the need to boost activities of rice farmers in the state. “It is expected that if these farming techniques are adopted by the farmers in the next planting season, it will result in an increase in paddy production to an expected average yield of four tons per hour,” she said.

    Continuing, she said: “Due to the fact that the state has limited agricultural cultivable land area, and with the increasing rate of small and large-scale rice mills across the country, there is a strain on the state getting a constant supply of paddy to feed the mill. The government has trained rice farmers in Ikorodu, Epe, Badagry, Gboyinbo, Idena, Obada, ItoIkin, and Ise to bridge the rice demand deficit of residents and the Federal Government’s current ban on rice importation.”

    The threat of drought

    Any prolonged drought may lead to a shortage in rice supply if adaptation methods to raise production are not taken. Several state governments have initiated plans to introduce drought-resistant seeds. However, the seeds can be costly for poor farmers to access. Internationally, several factors are contributing to the steep rise in rice prices. These include drought and other bad weather. Many rice farmers are turning to more lucrative cash crops; hence reducing the quantity of land devoted to production of the grain.

  • Niger coup: Jigawa, Katsina border towns grapple with starvation, stagnation

    Niger coup: Jigawa, Katsina border towns grapple with starvation, stagnation

    Several communities on the Nigeria-Niger Republic border are currently gripped by uncertainty and fear of imminent war, with unbridled starvation and deprivation staring the residents in the face. In this report, AUGUSTINE OKEZIE and AHMED RUFA’I examine the dire situations in some of these communities

    Already, the border communities have begun to experience severe hardships because of the economic sanctions imposed on the Niger junta by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) leaders. Movements across the borders and within the communities have remained grounded to a halt, even as socio-economic activities and Cross-border trades, among others have been paralysed; with trade and commerce the worst hit.

     Our correspondent who visited the border towns of Magama Jibia, Dankama and so on, reports that the people living in those areas are perpetually in fear of the unknown, and are experiencing starvation as well as crippled economic activities. Disenchanted by the development, residents of the Jibia-Magama Border Community in Katsina State have decried the decision of ECOWAS leaders to invade Niger to restore democracy.

     According to them, the shutdown of the border has crippled their socio-economic activities in the area, making the youth jobless and encouraging street begging as the best option to survive the hardship. The resolution by the ECOWAS leaders has affected the livelihood of the Jibia-Magama Border communities; with many of them living in doubt of what may happen in future.

     The Nation also observed that the Jibia-Magama Border has been shut down and that no vehicular movement is allowed in or out of the area, while several trucks were seen parked along the roads. According to our correspondent, individuals were seen on foot crossing to a nearby town to attend a local market in Dan Isah Community in the Nigerien territory. Also, local traders have devised means to manoeuvre their way into local markets to buy and sell just to survive the hardship caused by the border closure and fuel subsidy removal that has skyrocketed prices of commodities.

     Although security operatives have mounted roadblocks on some of the illegal routes to check the excess of such movement, people still find their way into the communities and hinterlands because they can’t withstand the indescribable hardship. Alhaji Abubakar Magama, a resident in the local hinterlands told The Nation that they are not happy with the decision to close the border, which has rendered their youths jobless and terrified, causing hatred between them and the neighbouring Nigerien citizens.

    He said: “We don’t know anything about subsidy before except now. All we knew then was that Nigeria had available cheap foodstuff, but the reverse is the case. No Nigeria can boast of eating one square meal a day or feed a visitor because of the hardship we face.

    “The closure of the border has made things more difficult for us. We want the government to tell us if we are part of Nigeria or Niger Republic?”

     Currently, a dark cloud of war is gathering over the Niger Republic. This followed growing chances that the armies of the ECOWAS member states might invade the Niger Republic soon. The current situation is sending shivers down the spines of many Nigerians living in communities along the Niger border. They are, indeed, apprehensive that if ECOWAS goes ahead to declare war on Niger, they too would be gravely affected.

     According to them, going to war against Niger is needless; even as they maintained that Nigeriens are not just their neighbours, but also their brothers. Therefore, any war in Niger, they said, is akin to war against them because they share not only boundaries with them but also cultural and socio-economic ties. Instead, they advised ECOWAS  to employ dialogue in resolving whatever issues they had with the junta that ousted President Bazoum.

     The Niger challenge began on July 26, 2023, when the world woke up to the news of a military takeover led by a certain Abdourahamane Tchiani. The Army General sacked the country’s constitutionally elected President, Bazoum, and has placed him under house arrest since then. Since the Niger crisis began, ECOWAS, under the chairmanship of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been voicing its displeasure at the development, stating that it would have none of the coup plotters’ acts. It wants Gen. Tchiani to stand down and hand power back to Bazoum.

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     But that is a tale the Tchiani team and a cross-section of Nigeriens don’t want to listen to. So, they have remained unyielding. Left to them, ECOWAS’ demands were merely gaseous. Therefore, at the moment, the Nigerien coup plotters are resisting ECOWAS and calling their bluff. They have even called out the vocal ones among them to first remove the timber in their own eyes before turning to Niger.

     Earlier, the ultimatum ECOWAS handed down to the new Nigerien military authorities to hand over power had ended without any impact. “They are calling on the governments of ECOWAS member states to avoid war between the Niger Republic and ECOWAS which will have detrimental effects on both sides who are brothers.”

     Nigeria Customs and border communities

    The Nation recalled that at a recent visit to Jibia Magma Border Town in Katsina State, the Acting Comptroller General of Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Bashiru Adewale Adeniyi vowed to enforce the official directive of President Tinubu regarding the closure of Nigeria–Niger Border in compliance with ECOWAS mandate. Adeniyi, who began the unscheduled visit at Illela in Sokoto State and arrived at the Customs Border Station, Magama – Jibia, Katsina State, told reporters at a stakeholders’ meeting at the event that his men will comply with the Federal Government’s directive on the total blockade of Niger Border with an unwavering mission in mind which is to help secure peace, security, trade and good governance across the African sub–region. The Customs boss further vowed in a speech that the operatives of the Customs and other sister agencies would keep the Nigeria–Niger Border closed down as ECOWAS and other world leaders push for the return of democratic governance in the French-speaking neighbouring country.

     In an impassioned address made against the backdrop of Tinubu’s recent emergence as ECOWAS Chairman barely weeks after his inauguration as Nigerian President, Adeniyi described Tinubu as not only an asset to ECOWAS’ quest for free movement of goods, trade and people across the sub–regional body but also a testament to the ECOWAS leader’s enduring commitment to trade and commerce. The Acting CGC, after addressing members of Jibia stakeholders and reporters further commended the total blockade of all border posts and other entry or exit points in the affected states until another directive to reopen the border is given.

     He was accompanied on the tour by top brass of the service, including the Katsina Customs Area Comptroller, Mohammed Nurudeen Musa. The major impediment to the enforcement of the Presidential directive however, as envisaged by opinion moulders in the state remains the perennial misunderstandings and clashes between men of the Nigerian Customs Service and their host communities at the border areas which had often hindered the implementation of government economic policies and programmes.

     Most political and economic watchers in Katsina State strongly believe that the successful enforcement of the Federal Government’s directives and policies, including the present one, requires cordial bipartisan relationship among the Nigerian Customs Services, the host communities and the businessmen that ply the routes. Meanwhile, the Katsina State Governor, Mallam Dikko Radda has expressed concern over the poor relationship between personnel of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Jibia business community. He urged them to harmonise their economic partnership for economic growth in the border area.

     At a town hall meeting with the Jibia business community and Nigerian Customs to renew efforts in ensuring sustainable peace in the area, the governor urged the Customs Service to ensure more surveillance on the border between the Magamar Jibiya-Niger, instead of focusing on Katsina-Jibia Road where the movement of goods is mainly for local consumption. The governor also pleaded with traditional rulers, members of the business community as well and security personnel in the area to work together to ensure peace and harmonious co-existence in Jibia and its environment. Jibia has been a border town between Nigeria and Niger Republic and it has experienced a series of misunderstandings between the Nigeria Customs and the business community that often resulted in loss of lives while chasing smugglers along the area.

    Customs boss seeks cooperation of border communities during visit to Katsina

    The Acting CGC assured that the decision to close the borders was a temporary measure taken in response to current events in Niger. He emphasised that the closure affects multiple borders within the ECOWAS region and that the Nigeria Customs Service will work to sensitise the affected communities to the reasons behind the decision. Responding, the Katsina State Deputy Governor, Farouk Lawal expressed his support and congratulated the Acting CGC on his appointment, wishing him a successful tenure.

     During the visit, the Acting CGC also assessed the level of compliance with the border closure order at the Customs Katsina-Jibia Outstation. He interacted with the residents of the border area and stakeholders, urging officers to sensitise the communities to the rationale behind the closure. The stakeholders present at the meeting assured the CGC of their compliance and support throughout his tenure, as they understand the importance of maintaining a stable and secure atmosphere for meaningful economic development in the country.

    Katsina residents condemn war with Niger

    In Katsina State, Nigeria shares two prominent border posts with the Niger Republic, namely Jibia in Jibia Local Government Area and Kongalam in Mai’Adua Local Government Area. The two border posts exclude several other illegal routes designated through which residents of the border communities conduct their social and economic activities.

     Several Nigerians living at the borders do not envisage any ECOWAS war with the Niger Republic. “There isn’t going to be any war,” Umar Sale, a resident of Jibia told The Nation during a chat. This is because we are brothers and sisters with our neighbours in Niger Republic.”

    Apprehension among residents of Dan Isa, Jibia

    Despite the aura of mixed optimism in Katsina, not a few residents of Dan Isa, a semi-urban settlement near Jibia have remained apprehensive several weeks after the military putsch in Niger Republic as well as the threats of an imminent war. Most shops in the area have been shut, businesses grounded for lack of goods because of the closure of the borders.

     “If there is war, we are likely going to suffer some of the effects,” Saidu Mohammed, a resident said. Mohammed also feared that “this is a border town which Nigerian troops will go through to prosecute the war. And the ones from Niger Republic will also come here; then we will be caught in the middle.”

    ‘Nothing can separate us from the Nigeriens’

    However, despite that economic activities are grinding to a halt along the Nigeria-Niger Republic border due to the sanctions imposed on the military junta by ECOWAS, smuggling activities have surged at an alarming rate. This illicit trade involves numerous parties from both the formal and informal sectors. The situation in the border communities of Jigawa State, situated between Nigeria and Niger, is particularly dire. Virtually no one has been spared from the adverse consequences of the border closure and the sanctions imposed on Niger Republic as a result of the military coup in the country.

     Women, children, youth, and men are already experiencing the repercussions of these sanctions, with hundreds of them losing their jobs and sources of livelihood. The Niger military junta has significantly bolstered security along their border, preparing for any potential ground attack from ECOWAS and aiming to prevent any crossings into their country. Meanwhile, Nigerian security forces have closed the main border entry points and conducted round-the-clock patrols on pedestrian routes to ensure that neither goods nor people pass through.

    The border communities around Maigatari and Babura in Jigawa State view the sanctions on Niger as a collective punishment, as they consider the people of Niger to be their blood brothers, business associates, and good neighbours. They have also voiced strong opposition to ECOWAS’s threat of using military force to reinstate a constitutional government in Niger, deeming it illogical and unnecessary. “If ECOWAS used military force against the juntas, it would be a single action with too many unending consequences and we would be the first casualties,” said border communities.

    The local population is deeply concerned about the potential prolongation of the situation, fearing it could lead to an increase in criminal and terrorist activities in the area. They are particularly worried about their young men, who, due to losing their businesses as a result of the sanctions, might be tempted to join such groups. There’s also apprehension about the influx of weapons, akin to what occurred in Libya and Afghanistan. The imagined border between Nigeria and Niger is incredibly porous. These communities share virtually everything in common, including farmlands, markets, intermarriage, culture, tribe, and religion. Some communities even have their graveyards on the Niger side, and vice-versa.

     As the situation intensifies, it has become apparent that the local population is increasingly involved in smuggling activities. The secretary of the association of cattle sellers Maigatari Market, Alhaji Muhammad Duwa said the removal of fuel subsidy has affected their business and now with this crisis and the subsequent sanction imposed on Niger Republic, everything has been crippled in their market and the area.

     “Today we are no longer what we were in the past; the sanction has disconnected us from our main business partners. Niger people brought livestock to our market and in retune they buy foodstuffs and other essential commodities from us, but the sanction has completely cut off the transaction. We are all in a critical situation. Anything affecting Niger affects Nigeria; they are suffering from sanctions as it is biting harder on us. We are calling on the Nigerian President to put the interest of Nigeria first before that of ECOWAS. He should not allow the use of military power, because Nigeria will suffer the consequences more than any other West African country. What the Niger military did is wrong, and I am sure they have no peace of mind now; so let us not repeat the same mistakes by using military force to crash them. This will not solve the problems,” Duwa stated.

     Ali Dan’uku, a commercial truck driver residing in Maigatari Town in Maigatari Local Government Area of Jigawa State revealed that he and his four children relied on the truck as their primary source of livelihood. However, with the sanctions imposed on Niger Republic, they have all become redundant, and the routes they have traversed for over 15 years are now closed. He explained, “I have only ever visited Kano and Kaduna states in Nigeria, but there isn’t a single state in Niger Republic where I haven’t delivered goods. Our border communities have stronger commercial ties with Niger than with Nigeria.

     In Babura, the hometown of the Defence Minister, Alhaji Mohammed Badaru Abubakar, the local people expressed concerns about the actions of the federal government. They called on the federal government to reconsider its decision without further delay. Those who spoke to our reporter emphasised that they did not support the military junta in Niger, but they were more concerned about their social and economic lives, as well as the well-being of ordinary people in the Niger Republic who were also suffering due to the sanctions. Reports from the area indicate that smuggling activities are on the rise, with many people engaging in this illegal trade either because their legitimate businesses were affected by the sanctions or because smuggling has become more lucrative.

     Another individual, one of the motorcyclists involved in the smuggling operation, volunteered to speak to our reporter but requested not to have his name or picture published. He said: “Frankly speaking, we are pleased with the current situation. It has relieved us of the hardships we endured due to the fuel subsidy removal, which caused serious difficulties. Before this, many of us couldn’t afford to eat three meals a day. Sometimes, not even one meal every day, and we barely made ends meet. With the current development, we are now able to buy enough food for our families and even save some.”

  • Malnutrition: Stakeholders call for more robust food fortification laws

    Malnutrition: Stakeholders call for more robust food fortification laws

    Nutrition plays a pivotal role in bolstering productivity and fostering economic prosperity. Nevertheless, the escalating rates of malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies within Nigeria are raising concerns about their potential to undermine productivity and jeopardise the nation’s economy. In response to these concerns, a collaborative roundtable event hosted by the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Center (CISLAC), the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG), and E-Health Africa convened stakeholders. Their collective call to action implored the government to vigorously enforce food fortification policies through legislation, with the aim of reversing this troubling trend. Associate Editor ADEKUNLE YUSUF reports

    As far as public gatherings go, this particular meeting stood out as a resounding success in terms of attendance. All attendees, evidently impassioned, echoed a singular sentiment: bolstering nutrition holds the key to lowering the societal disease burden. An equally pressing need was underscored – the imperative of disseminating awareness regarding the significance of food fortification, a catalyst that could stimulate demand for fortified food products to the advantage of the entire populace.

    Convened as a follow-up to a recent event on the issue, this meeting drew assembly of key stakeholders. Among the participants were representatives from health and food regulatory bodies, legislators, nutrition experts, prominent food producers, civil society organisations, and a cadre of journalists hailing from diverse media outlets who dissected the issues under the theme, “Fortifying Nigeria’s Future: Interface Session with Stakeholders (State and Non-state Actors) Towards Promoting Fortification Compliance and Workforce Nutrition.” The venue was the Mariott Hotel, nestled in the heart of Ikeja, the capital of Lagos State, where stakeholders undertook a comprehensive evaluation of the progress achieved thus far, identified the prevailing challenges, and collectively crafted a comprehensive communiqué delineating their observations and recommendations.

    Fueled by a growing concern over malnutrition’s debilitating impact on Nigerians, particularly the youth and the nation as a whole, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), in collaboration with the Nigerian Economic Summit Group (NESG) and e-Health Africa, organised the roundtable to sound a wake-up call to Nigeria’s policymakers about the country’s deteriorating malnutrition crisis. According to organisers of the event, the primary objective was to heighten awareness surrounding the imperative of fortification compliance and bolstering workforce nutrition in Nigeria. It was driven by a shared belief between the organisers and the media that endorsing healthier dietary practices can play a pivotal role in shaping public opinion and catalysing policy transformations conducive to food fortification and enhanced nutrition standards in Nigeria.

    In his inaugural address, the Executive Director of CISLAC, Auwal Musa Rafsanjani, emphasised that Nigeria currently grapples with a severe nutrition crisis. This crisis forms the backdrop against which the organisers’ intervention must be understood, as they advocate for food fortification as a potent means to elevate nutrition standards, invigorate public health, and enhance the nation’s overall prosperity. In his address, Rafsanjani revisited a concern he had expressed back in May this year by drawing the participants’ attention to the persistent and severe nutrition crisis that Nigeria, as a nation, continues to grapple with. This crisis, he stressed, underscored the urgent need for the intervention advocated by the organisers: the adoption of food fortification as a proven strategy for enhancing not only nutrition and health but also the nation’s overall prosperity.

    Read Also: Nigeria recorded surge in malnutrition cases in last five years, says USAID

    Citing data from the National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) for 2022, Rafsanjani highlighted some alarming statistics. He noted that 44.1% of children under the age of 5 in Nigeria were stunted, signifying chronic malnutrition. Although this figure represented a slight decrease from 46.0% in 2018, it remained unacceptably high and raised concerns about long-term health and developmental repercussions. Additionally, he pointed out that 20.3% of children under 5 were wasted, indicating acute malnutrition—a life-threatening condition. Furthermore, the NDHS reported that 18.7% of Nigerian adults were overweight, with 4.4% classified as obese. These rates had increased from 17.4% and 3.4%, respectively, in 2018. Rafsanjani emphasised that overweight and obesity were significant risk factors for chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and certain types of cancer. He asserted that addressing these health challenges necessitated effective and sustainable food fortification compliance and workforce nutrition initiatives in Nigeria.

     Rafsanjani underscored the importance of organisations taking workforce nutrition seriously to enhance their employees’ productivity through the implementation of relevant measures. He advocated for food fortification as the established path forward, characterising it as a simple, cost-effective intervention for incorporating essential nutrients into commonly consumed foods among large populations. He also pointed out that the Nigerian government had developed regulations and mandatory food fortification policies in 2009 and 2019, respectively. These policies aimed to promote food fortification and were overseen by three key agencies—NAFDAC, FCCPC, and SON— all represented at the event. Rafsanjani acknowledged the agencies’ efforts in implementing and monitoring compliance with these policies, highlighting that more progress needs to be made.

     According to him, food fortification is a proven way to improve nutrition and health as it prevents micronutrient deficiencies, such as anemia, vitamin A deficiency, and iodine deficiency. Although adults spend more than half of their active hours of the day at work, the workforce is vulnerable to malnutrition, he added. “Workers who are not getting the nutrients they need are more likely to be sick, less productive.  This can have a significant impact on the economy. To ensure a healthy workforce, he suggested that employers should provide their workers with the nutrients they need, as fortification can help to reduce absenteeism, increase productivity, and improve safety.”

     He appealed to the media to help in raising awareness of the importance of food fortification and workforce nutrition as the media plays a critical role in shaping public opinion and influencing policies, adding that by focusing on the issue, the media could attract the attention of policymakers to it and save millions of Nigerian children from the pangs and pains of malnutrition. Given the persistent challenge of malnutrition, the interface session became essential for organisers and participants to collectively brainstorm on further steps. This was despite the government’s endeavours to achieve a well-nourished population through regulatory and mandatory food fortification policies. In closing, Rafsanjani issued a rallying cry: “We need to work together to ensure that all mandatory food vehicles (local and imported) sold in Nigeria are fortified with essential vitamins and minerals. We have a number of challenges to overcome, but I am confident that we can achieve this goal if we work together.”

     During the Interface Session facilitated by Senator Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe, Health System Consultant and immediate Past Chairman Senate Committee on Health, various speakers and stakeholders addressed critical issues related to food fortification and workforce nutrition. Goodwill messages were delivered by Mr. Laoye Jaiyeola, the CEO of NESG; Dr. Michael Ojo, Country Director of GAIN; House of Representatives members Dennis Idahosa and Amos Magaji; and Mr. John Uruakpa from the Federal Ministry of Health. Presentations centered on the monitoring of compliance, the status of food fortification, and challenges faced by regulators. Representatives from key agencies such as the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) shared their insights. In addition, Toju Ogele, the Programme Manager of E-Health Africa, delivered a presentation on data from other studies regarding the status of fortification compliance.

     Senator Oloriegbe highlighted the direct relationship between proper nutrition and optimal productivity, asserting that the nation’s economic prosperity hinged on addressing this issue. He called on the media to fulfill its role as an “opinion moulder” by actively seeking information and knowledge on nutrition, advocating for improved nutrition practices, and disseminating information to the public. He defined nutrition as the science of food in relation to health and malnutrition as the absence of proper nutrition. He underscored that the nation had reached a crucial juncture where enacting a law to enforce compliance with food fortification policies and urging companies in the sector to prioritise effective workforce nutrition programs was imperative.

     He further explained, “You may have food but cannot eat, and you can eat but have no food to eat. If you consume food that your body cannot process, it is essentially equivalent to being susceptible to malnutrition. We need legislation that obliges nutritional companies to provide nutrition for their workforce because currently, it is optional. Such a law should mandate compliance with food fortification and the promotion of workforce nutrition in Nigeria.”

    Oloriegbe stressed the interconnectedness of various aspects of nutrition, including the health of pregnant women and infants, and the well-being of the workforce. He expressed concern over the more than two million malnourished children under the age of five in Nigeria and called for swift action from the government and all stakeholders in the food and fortification sector to address this issue. He also advocated for the right to proper food intake among workers in the food and fortification industry, emphasising that individuals without access to good nutrition were more prone to illness and unproductivity.

     In his address, Magaji, Chairman of the House of Reps Committee on Health Institutions, emphasised the importance of political will in enforcing food fortification and workforce nutrition policies. He advocated for legislation to ensure compliance and urged authorities to prioritise the health of the Nigerian population and the nation’s economic development; while Idahosa, Chairman of the House of Reps Committee on Healthcare Services, stressed the need to raise awareness about food fortification and its benefits, with a focus on generating demand for fortified food products. He highlighted that the challenge was not a lack of work plans or laws but the need to strengthen regulations for enforcement.

     For Uruakpa, Director of Micronutrient Deficiency Control at the Federal Ministry of Health, there is compliance at the regulatory level, but issues usually arise when products reach the market. He noted that some industries cut corners, and effective monitoring and enforcement were essential. Mr. Jaiyeola, CEO of NESG, emphasised the importance of nutrition-sensitive policies and programs to address malnutrition’s underlying determinants, including poverty and food insecurity. He stressed the need to improve access to high-quality diets, such as fortified food products, to enhance immune functions and cognitive skills.

     The Country Director of GAIN, Dr. Ojo, discussed the organisation’s efforts over its 21-year history to combat malnutrition, acknowledging the existence of a comprehensive national food fortification programme but noted that it could be more effective in delivering micronutrients to vulnerable populations. He highlighted that the programme could be improved to the point where consumers do not need to question whether their food is fortified. If all commonly consumed foods are fortified as required, the system will naturally deliver the necessary micronutrients to the population.

     “We have inspired wider national and global action by influencing government policies with evidence and learning from practice. We have catalysed alliances and facilitated public and private sector engagements and investments in the transformation of food systems so that they deliver healthier diets, especially for the most vulnerable. GAIN has evolved its work in Nigeria over the years. We started life in Nigeria firmly focussed on Large-scale Food Fortification (LSFF) – a proven, cost-effective, and scalable intervention to deliver essential nutrients to people through commonly consumed staples and condiments.

     “However, as our understanding of the drivers of malnutrition evolved, we have engaged more and more with tackling the root cause of all forms of malnutrition – diets (or unhealthy diets) – by focussing on food systems and how they can be transformed. In spite of that evolution, LSFF still remains a significant part of our work in Nigeria. We have a comprehensive and mature national food fortification programme that is subscribed to by the private sector, largely understood by the population, with established regulatory structures and oversight with SON, NAFDAC and FCCPC.

     “But there is a gap. The programme is not as effective as we would expect to be in delivering micronutrients to vulnerable population. The good thing about LSFF, if done properly, is that people don’t even need to think about whether the food is fortified. These are foods that people commonly consume (wheat, maize, oil, salt, sugar, etc). If all food is fortified as they should, the system simply delivers the micronutrients! We have done fantastically well with iodine deficiency. But we know that deficiencies of vitamin A, B-vitamins, zinc and iron remain at alarming levels in some of the critical populations – children under 5, adolescents and Women of Reproductive Age (WRA).

     “We have a few beacon companies performing extremely well. There are many others however who are not complying, and by so doing, securing undue advantage over those that comply but more importantly shortchanging Nigerians by delivering supposedly fortified foods without the fortification or at lower levels than required. Another reason is that regulatory oversight is not as rigorous as it should be, just as there are unnecessary overlaps in responsibilities, which places undue burdens on business and reduces the overall effectiveness of regulation.”

  • Tinubu: Tackling challenges of first 100 days

    Tinubu: Tackling challenges of first 100 days

    Much was expected of President Bola Tinubu, following his inauguration on May 29. How has he been able to grapple with the mounting challenges? Deputy Editor EMMANUEL OLADESU examines the steps taken so far by the administration to fulfil its campaign promises in the last 100 days.

    The first 100 days have been devoted to laying a strong, solid and sound foundation by President Bola Tinubu,  who is conscious of the enormity of challenges and weight of responsibility on the shoulder of his young administration.

    Nigerians are in a hurry. They want quick solutions to pressing issues that have confronted the country for decades. They want magic from the three-month old administration. Thus, there is gap between expectation and reality.

    It has been a learning process for an outstanding politician and statesman, whose last outing as an elected public officer at the cenre was 30 years ago, when he was just settling down as a senator.

    Certain right steps have been taken to advance the cause of democracy and good governance by the President. Not unexpectedly, some avoidable mistakes may have been made. But, generally, the administration has been bold and courageous to take decisive steps, thereby stepping on some toes.

    Power did not land on the palm of Asiwaju Tinubu on a platter of gold. Neither did he inherit an economically buoyant country. He had inherited a country on the edge, which should be pulled from the brink it had been boxed by some inactions of preceding regimes and unresolved challenges of insecurity, economic quagmire, depleting foreign reserve, soaring national debt, outstanding labour disputes and disunity in the country.

    In a bid to bridge the loopholes and checkmate revenue loss due to fuel subsidy, the Federal Government drew the curtains on the regime of subsidy. The measure, which was grossly misunderstood, has unleashed temporarily hardship which the umbrella labour union, the representative of less than 10 percent of the entire population, has amplified as a prelude to an unwarranted strike.

    The highlights of activities in the first 100 days include the inauguration of the President, where he reiterated in his inaugural speech his patriotic duty of fostering national unity, salvaging the economy and restoring security.

    The President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Tinubu, took the mantle from his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, at the Eagle Square in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), on May 29.

    It was an impressive ceremony witnessed by statesmen, diplomats and other world figures. But the euphoria quickly gave way for serious work.

    Obviously, President Tinubu applied for a tedious job, which has taxed his competence and experience as a patriot, democrat and strategist.

    Read Also: I will not fail Nigerians – Tinubu

    Adorning his characteristic national outlook, the president assured the people of inclusiveness. “I will be president of all,” he said, adding: “Whether from the winding creeks of the Niger Delta, the vastness of the northern savannah, the boardrooms of Lagos, the bustling capital of Abuja, or the busy markets of Onitsha, you are all my people. As your president, I shall serve with prejudice toward none, but compassion and amity towards all.”

    Consistent with his campaign promises, Tinubu laid out some programmes he would pursue in the maiden address to the nation. He spoke on his plans for the economy; business and foreign exchange; agriculture, jobs, power supply, security and, the matter of the moment -fuel subsidy removal.

    The president, in the speech titled: ‘A new deal for Nigeria,’ described the peaceful transfer of power as an evidence of political stability, which he would build upon. He paid tribute to his predecessor, Buhari, saying that history will be kind to him.

    Conscious of the nature of Nigeria, particularly its cleavages, he promised to unify. The country is big and there are peculiarities dictated by its ethnic composition. Therefore, in utter sensitivity to these differences, Tinubu promised to consult widely, mend fences, pursue a healing process, and foster good governance based on the rule of law.

    Shortly after the change of baton, it was reported that intense bargain-hunting for Nigerian equity rallied the stock market to a net capital gain of N1.51 trillion, its highest in a day in two and half years. The Naira was also said to have recorded a marginal gain while the benchmark index for the stock market, the All Share Index (ASI), posted an average return of 5.23 per cent, its highest gain since November, last year. It has paled into artificial growth.

    During the campaigns, Tinubu, like his rivals-Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Peter Obi of the Labour Party(LP)-had alerted Nigerians that his administration will halt fuel subsidy. In fact, Buhari had set May as the terminal date for the regime of subsidy that had only benefitted few rich Nigerians. Reiterating his determination to do away with subsidy, Tinubu said “subsidy is gone.”

    Mixed reactions have trailed the announcement. It provoked a national debate. Some stakeholders were not comfortable with the manner of announcement. Others said there was nothing wrong with the emphasis, so that Nigerians could embrace the reality.

    The president received the applause of economic experts. But, the pronouncement was trailed by uproar among workers and the masses. The attempt to resist the removal began instantly. Unpatriotic petrol dealers deliberately hoarded fuel to inflict pain on innocent Nigerians. Loading of product temporarily stopped at depots. The price of fuel also went up. Many feared the impact on vulnerable members of the society.

    Today, petrol pump price is between N573,000 and N600,000. It has led to high cost of living

     But, justifying the removal, Tinubu said fuel subsidy has increasingly favoured the rich more than the poor, adding that it can no longer justify its ever-increasing costs in the wake of drying resources.”

    On the gains of subsidy removal, which all and not few will enjoy, the president said: “We shall instead re-channel the funds into better investment in public infrastructure, education, health care and jobs that will materially improve the lives of millions.”

    Unlike his predecessors, Tinubu broke with the tradition of instant announcements of appointments, particularly of immediate aides, including the Chief of Staff, Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), and media aides. The delayed appointments gave room for speculations. Some people invaded the unregulated social media with fake news, lying that certain persons had been appointed as aides.

    Also, analysts chided the president, saying that he could not really hit the ground running.

    But the effect was felt. As the controversy over fuel subsidy persisted, there was no official aide on ground until Tinubu’s Special Adviser during the campaigns, Mr. Dele Alake, who later became Special Adviser on Information,  Strategy and Special Duties, and much later, Minister of Solid Minerals Development, came on air to make certain clarifications. Later, Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) explained to reporters in Abuja that the removal was non-negotiable, if Nigeria was to be pulled back from bankruptcy. He said the Federal Government owed NNPCL N2.8 trillion – being money spent on subsidy.

    On Friday June 3, President Tinubu made some appointments.  In a statement by the Director of Information, Aso Villa, Abiodun Oladunjoye, he appointed House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila as Chief of Staff, Senator Hassan Hadejia, former Deputy Governor of Jigawa State, as Deputy Chief of Staff, and George Akume, former Minister of Special Duties and governor of Benue State as Secretary to Government of the Federation.

    Later, the list of some aides were leaked to the media. However, the announcement of a chief media aide was delayed. Much later, Ajuri Ngelale was named Special Adviser to President on Information and Strategy.

    A day after his inauguration, Tinubu resumed office in Aso Villa. Vice President Shettima, who had resumed earlier on that day, led the Villa Staff and security men to welcome him.

    During the first week, the presided waded into the face-off between the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Department of State Services (DSS) over the disputed Ikoyi office. He instantly directed DSS operatives to vacate the disputed office immediately.

    On Thursday of his first week in office, the president met with the Progressive Governors’s Forum, led by Imo State Governor Hope Uzodinma. It was at the meeting that concensus was proposed for the election of National Assembly presiding and principal officers.

    On Friday, three prominent PDP stalwarts, Oyo State Governor Makinde, former Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, and ex-Delta State Governor, James Ibori, visited the president. Details of their discussion were unknown.

    As the president settled down, the case arising from the February 25 poll began at the tribunal. It is noteworthy that the litigation has not been a distraction. The counsel to Tinubu is led by Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN). In the court of public opinion, the president has also condistently defended himself, insisting that he won in a poll that was substantially free and fair.

    But, President Tinubu has had to contend with threats of strike by Labour over the high cost of fuel due to subsidy removal. The patten of threats paled, in part, to war mongering and underscored the style of current union leadership, particularly its aloofness to regular dialogue and inclination towards showmanship. On June 5, reason prevailed and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) suspended its strike. This week, the nation has another warning strike to contend with on the same vexed issue.

    Tinubu, who is national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has not abandoned party affairs. In the interest of proper synergy between the Executive and Legislature, the party brokered a deal for consensus candidacy for National Assembly presiding and principal officers. That led to the emergence of Chief Godswill Akpabio as Senate President and Tajudeen Abbas as House of Representatives Speaker. So far, relations between the two organs of government have been cordial. There is collaboration that is not targeted at tampering with the principle of separation of powers and its accompanying checks and balances.

    Also, following consultations with the APC governors, the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the party approved the nomination of Alhaji Abdullahi Ganduje and Senator Ajibola Basiru as national chairman and national secretary, following the resignation of Senator Abdullahi Adamu and Senator Iyiola Omisore.

    On June 8, President Tinubu met with governors and emphasised that they should work together to promote federalism and national unity. This is significant. He acted from the vantage point of experience, having been oppressed before by federal might when he was governor of Lagos State.

    On June 10, Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele was suspended by the president. He is currently facing charges for alleged money laundering and terror financing. His deputy, Folasodun Sonubi, was appointed as acting governor.

    In his first June 12 message to the nation, President Tinubu, a chieftain of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), urged Nigerians to rise in defense of democracy. He also promised judicial reforms.

    The presidential searchlight was beamed on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Its chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa was detained after his indefinite suspension. Many Nigerians have criticised his continued detention without trial.

    In June, the Federal Government put the proposed census on hold, saying that it is not feasible this year.

    Critical appointments made by the President included those of Mallam Nuhu Ribadu(National Security Adviser), Kayode Egbetokun (Police Inspector General), Gen. Taoreed Lagbaja (Chief of Army Staff), Real Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla (Chief of Naval Staff), and Air Vice Marshall Hassan Abubakar.

    For tertiary students, the president unfolded student loans aimed at aiding indigent students. It is not grant, but money that will be paid once they start working. But, academic unions look forward to the resolution of issues that have led to the disruption of the academic calendar.

    President Tinubu’s handling of foreign relations has been commended, although observers expressed reservation about his hasty proposal of military action for the resolution of the Niger mess.

    As Chairman of the Authority of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), he has become a curator for democracy. But it is gratifying that the Senate rejected the Federal Government’s plan for military action and called for a political solution. The dialogue process is still on.

    The President was at New Global Financing Pact Summit in Paris, France in June. When he returned to Nigeria, he headed to Lagos, his cradle, where he met leaders of the APC family. Hosted by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu,  his predecessors-Babatunde Fashola and Akinwunmi Ambode-were present.

    The following week, the Federal Government directed that the plan for electricity tariff hike should be postponed.

    The report of the 50-member European Union Observer Group on the 2023 poll was rejected. Many Nigerians believe that 50 observers were inadequate to really monitor the exercise across 36 states and Federal Capital Territory (CT).

    The economy has received greater attention. To ease hardship, regimes of tax were suspended in critical sectors, including telecommunications. Also, the Federal Government announced subsidy palliatives-12 million poor households are to get $800 million cash, and N8,000 per family for six months.

    More relief packages were released to cushion subsidy pain. These include N75 billion for 75 big enterprises, N225 billion for medium and small scale enterprises and 200,000 metric tonnes of grains to households across 36 states.

    Many have hailed the administration over the reforms aimed at ending the yearly loss of N20 trillion to tax evasion and weavers.

    The disclosure of N1.83 trillion as subsidy windfall in two months has also elicited commendation.

    If the loopholes are bridged and more money saved, government will have more resources for great capital projects.

    President Tinubu went to Kenya for the fifth African Union mid-year coordination meeting in Nairob, where he urged African leaders to uphold democracy and stand firm against coups.

    On July 19, N1.959 trillion allocation was shared to federal, states and local governments by the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

    On July 28, Tinubu announced the appointment of the first batch of ministers. Before the announcement, he had hired special advisers, few of who later made the ministerial list. The second list of ministers was released on August 3.

    The ministerial list met the criteria of gender balance and youth inclusion, geographical spread, religious and ethnic balancing. It was a blend of politicians and technocrats. The ministers parade intimidating credentials.

    That Gbajabiamila, Olubunmi Tunji-Ojo and Dave Umahi, who were members of the National Assembly, have moved to the executive organ means that the electoral commission will later conduct by-election to fill the vacancies.

    Before their swearing in, portfolios were assigned to the nominees after the screening hurdles. But, some critics complained that it took Tinubu almost three months to appoint ministers, despite his promise to hit the ground running.

    But, certain processes were not tidy. Strange names appeared on the ministerial list. It caused commotion in Kano, where former Governor Ganduje, said the woman picked from the state was not a popular choice. She was eventually dropped after she had passed through screening.

    Due diligence was also absent in the nomination of Mallam Nosiru El-Rufai and Mrs Stella Okotete, who were not confirmed by the Senate.

    Appointments could have been more tidier. The reversals conveyed an impression of non-acclamatisation.

    Criticisms trailed the reassignment of portfolios to ministers, barely a week. To some, the president may have approved the swap to avert some future problems. To others, the reversal meant that the president did not do his scrutiny of some of the nominees very well. There were allegations of undue manipulation and shoddy politics surrounding the inclusion of certain nominees on the list. It is debatable.

    The controversy over whether a youth corps member, Hannatu Musawa, can be Arts and Culture minister has fizzled out.

    But, last week, there was a row over the composition of Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) board. Following protests, two names were dropped.

  • History as Metro line Train takes off in Lagos

    History as Metro line Train takes off in Lagos

    Forty years after it was cancelled by the military, Lagos, will today, begin a new journey with the commercial operation of the Blue Line Train flagged off by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu yesterday, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE.

    When the Lagos metro line rolled out at the Marina Train Station at 9:07 a.m. yesterday, it had, as Tour Manager, the state’s number one citizen–Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, who dressed to fit the part in a sky blue long-sleeve shirt, a Fez cap and Navy blue trouser.

    It was a duty he gleefully fulfilled. Who wouldn’t? Not after the project had escaped three of his predecessors and he is now delivering the project as a worthy gift to the visioner, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who marked his 100 days in office.

     He was received by the Managing Director of the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) Mrs Abimbola Akinajo, who sat on the project and saw it delivered after 17 years of waiting.

     Instructively, the project is coming to life 40 years after the first metro line idea was midwifed by the state’s first civilian Governor, the late Lateef Jakande was aborted and, undoubtedly, it has gone through several learning curves since 2006.

     The formal announcement of its construction was first made in December 2003, with initial cost of $135 million. The project was then known as part of the Greater Lagos Urban Transportation Project (GLUTP) to be implemented by LAMATA, the World Bank-backed special purpose vehicle (SPV) established to coordinate mass transit initiatives for the urban city-state of Lagos.

     In the same year, LAMATA came up with a 10-year State Transport Master Plan (STMP) which provided for six rail lines, one monorail, 14 bus rapid transit routes, 485 Independent Bus Routes, and over 20 water terminals with regular updates every 10 years to accommodate the changing population and urban dynamics in the state.

    In April 2008, LAMATA commenced the urban rail project with the Blue Line proposed to connect Okokomaiko to Marina when the government approved N70 billion for the project and set a 2011 deadline.

     To meet the deadline, the project was scaled down to phases I and II, with one being from Marina to Mile 2, a 13km length, while the second, which is 14km long, is to take off from Mile 2 to Okokomaiko.

    The deadline was, however, shifted to 2013, but that too was not to be as the government lamented the paucity of funds.

    The project was said to be about 70 per cent completed and two train sets to run the corridor had already been purchased.

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    The Babatunde Fashola government again shifted the goal post from 2013 to 2015, which was not met. His successor, Governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, after a tour of the project a few months after taking over, had promised to inaugurate the project in 2016, and in Q4 of the year, he moved the completion date again to December 2019. He blamed the delays on the paucity of funds.

     His successor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, after inspecting the project on December 17, 2019, had promised he would deliver the project in 2020. He never did despite describing it as a top priority for his government.

     The immediate past Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederic Oladeinde, at the 2020 ministerial press briefing marking the first year of the government in office, had announced that the government had reset the completion date to 2022.

     Governor Sanwo-Olu was to re-echo this commitment in September 2021, and on January 3, 2022, he began what was to be a quarterly project tour signalling greater commitment to the project.

    On December 23, 2022, the governor celebrated the completion of civil works on the project; paving the way for the inauguration of the project by former President Muhammadu Buhari, the same man, who, as military Head of State, cancelled the project in 1983.

     At a press conference on the take-off of the project on August 30, Mrs Abimbola Akinajo acknowledged the several curves the project had passed through and assured that Lagos is ready this time to be the first sub-national government in Nigeria and West Africa to run an electric metro line for mass transit.

     She said the electric-propelled 13km blue line is expected to cater for about 175,000 passengers daily, and a “moderate fare of N750 has been set from Marina to Mile 2.

     However, the 50 per cent rebate ordered by the governor on all public transport systems would also be on the train throughout the period of the palliative.

    At the weekend, LAMATA came up with a fare range between stations, of between N200–500 depending on the distance. However, the train will only wait for 90 seconds at each station, and passengers would be expected to be on the platform at least a minute before the train’s arrival for interested passengers to board.

     She explained that for the next two weeks, operations would be during peak periods: morning and evenings, to get Lagosians to familiarise themselves with the metro train and to synchronise the electric component with the rolling stock.

     Full operations, she said, commences from 6:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. for the morning peak and from 4:00 to 10:00 p.m. during the evening peak.

     When the operation eventually goes into full swing, operations will begin at 5:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., while the evening peak will begin at 4:00 p.m. and run till 11:00 p.m.

     Mrs Akinajo said the service will continue to run in order to ensure the synchronisation of the electrified corridor. After two weeks, the service frequency, she added, will be increased and would be graduated, until it gets to the projected 76 trips per day.

    She said in line with LAMATA’s feasibility studies, the three trains would be able to achieve the projection before the year ends.

     “We are starting with 12 trips for two weeks, ramping up to 76 trips per day and one’ll be able to board the train using one’s Cowry Card,” Mrs Akinajo said.

     Sanwo-Olu in a tweet has urged Lagosians to take ownership of the project.

    “Lagos, this is your project. Take ownership and treat it with decency as you would treat anything that belongs to you. Any altercation or disturbance on the train will not be tolerated. It goes without saying that vandalism also will not be tolerated,” he said.

    The governor said he is committed to ensuring that the Blue train is adequately protected.

    The train is propelled by an electric conductor covered with a Yellow insulator called the Third Rail. This component enables the train to run on electricity and it carries 750 volts DC, which is about 250 per cent higher than the domestic volt. The result is extreme fatality for any trespassers. That’s why LAMATA has gone ahead and posted warning notices at all the stations and on the entire route to ensure that people are warned of the impending danger once the electrified line is activated.

     Akinajo said adequate protection has been put in place to ensure that people are prevented from coming in contact with the tracks, adding that on no account should anyone attempt to dash across the train tracks as such people risk instant electrocution.

     For security, she assured that over 300 CCTV cameras are installed on the entire corridor, with over 30 cameras, including body scanners that have been installed at the stations where command and control centres have also been created to monitor the tracks from end-to-end.

     This, the LAMATA chief said, is besides plain clothes policemen and men of the NSCDC that would be on the train to complement those on the ground at all the stations. The five stations are at Marina, National Theatre, Iganmu, Alaba and Mile 2.

     “The train would continue to work until full integration of the energy and the rolling stock is attained and until members of the public are adequately familiarised with the workings of the electric metro train system.

    She said the train would strictly keep to its timetable for arrivals and departures, adding that it would only stop at each station for about 90 seconds and anyone wishing to board the train would be expected to be at the platform by a minute before the train’s arrival.

     According to her, to promote sanitation, LAMATA will not condone anyone eating or drinking on the train, adding that passengers are expected to finish whatever they are eating or drinking before entering the train. Guards would be on the ground in the train to ensure strict compliance, and anyone engaging in any altercation would be handed over to the police.

     Akinajo said the train service has been fully integrated with the Cowry Card operational on the state-controlled transport system, adding that anyone who wished to board the train must have the card and top it with credit, as no paper tickets would be printed. She said the card would be slid on the face of the mounted gates to gain access to the paid section that leads to the platform.

     On the operations, Akinajo said though the train would be powered by electricity, it would initially run on diesel to ensure that members of the public are familiarised with it before it would be safer to sync it fully with the independent electrified system dedicated to power its operation.

     Because the tracks will, however, remain energised, Akinajo urged passengers to resist crossing the tracks to avoid electrocution.