The Nation Newspaper

Category: Special Report

  • How herdsmen killed my husband, two kids, turned me into childless widow

    How herdsmen killed my husband, two kids, turned me into childless widow

    • Nasarawa woman laments fate from attack that claimed 38 other lives

    May 12, 2023 was indeed a black Friday for the inhabitants of Takalafia and Gwanja communities in Karu Local Government Area, Nasarawa State, particularly the immediate family of Mrs Janet Aliko.

    It was a day that scores of residents of the two communities were brutally murdered by some blood- thirsty herdsmen who invaded the two communities very early in the morning.

    By the time the dust raised by the invasion settled, no fewer than 41 lives were dispatched into early graves. Among them were Janet’s husband, Aliko, and their only two children.

    It was learnt that as the gunmen stormed the area, shooting sporadically and setting houses ablaze, the late Aliko had prayed to God to accept his soul even before opening the door to the house where he was shot dead.

    Their innocent kids were also not spared by the invaders while their mother escaped death only because she travelled to Port Harcourt to sell yam and returned a few minutes after the incident to find her husband and two kids in pools of blood.

    The attack, It was gathered, had resulted from a disagreement between the farmers and herders in the area over the latter’s alleged encroachment into the farmlands of the former.

    The ensuing face-off, our correspondent gathered, resulted in a clash that claimed the life of a herdsman, following which his fellow herdsmen regrouped to launch a massive attack on the two communities.

    Janet, who has yet to come to terms with becoming a widow when she spoke with our correspondent, said she could not believe that all the hope that she and her husband had nursed about success in life had been dashed by his sudden death.

    Narrating the circumstances that surrounded the death of her husband and two children,  Janet said: “I was actually not around. I would have been dead too if I was, but my husband sent me to go sell yams in Port Harcourt

    “We were in touch up until yesterday night. So, I could not believe that the incident was real untill I saw the lifeless bodies of my husband and kids lying in pools of blood.

    “I didn’t know I  that would never see them again.  My life is ruined and there is no hope for me again

    “The herdsmen have finished me. Killing my husband and two kids is too much to bear.”

    Janet, who claimed that her husband sacrificed his life for the community, added that life has not been the same since he died together with their kids.

    She said: “We could not achieve our dreams together. Death snatched him from me unannounced.

    “I wept bitterly because of the enormous things we still wanted to do together. I am depressed because of the incident.

    “The killer herdsmen have deprived me of peace of mind. The killing of my husband and only two kids was a devastating blow. I have been waking up in the middle of the night to weep bitterly since my husband and kids died.”

    The communities that are currently under siege have cried out for help after a mass burial was was organised for the  dead. The victims were mostly of Gwandara, Mada and Yeskwa tribes.

    The  41 people given mass burial were mostly women and children killed by the suspected  herdsmen in Takalafia and Gwanja.

    The Deputy Governor of Nasarawa State, Dr. Emmanuel Akabe, who led a government delegation to witness the mass burial, condemned what he described as senseless killings and wanton destruction of property estimated at millions of naira.

    The deputy governor, who expressed shock at the level of destruction and killings, said government was alarmed with the situation at the time it was doing everything to ensure that peace reigns in the state.

    Akabe said: “Government will not continue to fold its arms and watch the lives of innocent people cut short.

    “Government will not leave any stone unturned to get to the causes of the attacks and bring the perpetrators to book where the law will be allowed to take it cause.”

    Akabe assured that the state government would provide relief materials to the displaced victims as he also encouraged the communities to give credible information to the relevant authorities to fish out the brains behind the crisis.

    It will be recalled that the Pastor in-Charge of Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA), Rev. Daniel Danbeki and others were gruesomely murdered by the suspected killers during the attack.

    The council Chairman,  Karu Local Government Area, James Thomas, who visited the affected  communities prior to the mass burial, also  condemned the attack 

    Represented by his deputy, Lawal Yakubu Karshi, he appealed for calm and also vowed to ensure that the perpetrators  were arrested and made to face the wrath of the law.

    A member of the community, Audi Fura, said “government should assist us. The herdsmen should let us have peace of mind on our land.

    “We don’t want them again on our land. They are threats to peace and security of lives and property.”

    He informed our correspondent that the attack was the result of a disagreement between the  farmers and herdsmen who grazed on the farmlands of the locals, destroying crops (groundnut and maize) belonging to the farmers in the area.

    According to him, “disagreement ensued when the farmers approached the suspected herdsmen to take their animals out of their farmlands when one of the suspected herders brought out his cutlass and started fighting the farmers.

    He claimed that the  farmer overpowered the Fulani, snatched his cutlass and fought back, leading to the death of the herdsman instantly.

    It was further gathered that the incident occured  in Gwanja community near Takalafiya two weeks ago, and the authority of Karu Local Government Area intervened and the matter was settled amicably, only for the suspected  herders to regroup and attack Gwanja community.

    A youth leader in the area, Timothy Veil, claimed that the herdsmen, on discovering  that some residents of Gwanja community had fled to Takalafiya, allegedly launched another  attack on the community and killed more  people on Friday, 12th May, 2023.

    “In the early hours of Friday, around 4am,  the people of the community were thrown into  panic when they discovered a strange dog roaming the streets of Takalafiya with huge charms round its neck. The community mobilised  and killed the dog.

    “After they succeeded in killing the dog and they clustered around the dog wondering where it came from, the herdsmen started shooting sporadically around the community, leading to the killing of many people,” the source said.

    Meanwhile, the state police command has confirmed the incident, saying that “at about 2200hrs, information was received that one Jibo Alhaji Ali, 18yrs and Fulani by tribe was attacked by unidentified persons while on his way to Kwaja village, Gitata”.

    The police command, in a statement by its public Relations Officer DSP Ramham Nansel,  explained that upon receipt of the information, police operatives attached to Gitata Division raced to the scene and rushed the victim with machete cut on his head to Na-Allah private hospital, Gitata where he died while receiving treatment.

    “Sequel to the above, information was received that Tarkalafia and Kwaja village were attacked.

    Reacting to the above, the Commissioner of Police, CP Maiyaki Baba, deployed police operatives comprising of mobile police personnel, counter-terrorism unit and the military to the area where the corpses were recovered and taken to the hospital and subsequently buried.

    “The Commissioner of Police hereby condoles with all those who lost their loved ones and has ordered discreet investigation to unravel the faces behind the attack, assuring that anyone found culpable will be dealt with according to the law.”

  • The unfinished infrastructure battle

    The unfinished infrastructure battle

    How will the generality of Nigerians rate the Muhammadu Buhari administration in the provision of road infrastructure these eight years? In this special report, ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE writes that though the administration has done much in road repair and reconstruction, Nigeria still wallows in transport infrastructure deficit

    One sore fact that Nigerians have come to accept as the reality of the Muhammadu Buhari years as the President of Africa’s most populous country is the relativity of his performance rating. How people assess his administration depends largely on where they stand, which probably impacts what they are seeing from their standpoint. While government officials – and many private individuals alike – insist the administration has set an unbeatable record, many citizens may disagree with such a rating.

     Ask citizens living along the Lagos-Ogun border communities, or travelers and regular users of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway for instance, none would mince words that they would have prayed for a better deal than the nightmare they have been sentenced to by a government that once vowed to tackle the road infrastructure deficit between six months or maximum one year period. The question on their lips as the administration winds down in less than two weeks’ time is: Just how many years will it take to fix the 127.6km Lagos-Ibadan expressway? Many disappointed Nigerians still feel bad that even when the repair of Lagos-Ibadan expressway was split into two sections, it is taking Nigeria 24 years (taken cumulatively) or 10 years (the Goodluck Jonathan administration took it off the concessionaire, Bi-Courtney) to reconstruct its busiest and perhaps the most strategic highway.

     Earlier in the year, the Minister for Works and Housing, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN), had vowed that the Lagos-Ibadan expressway would be one of the critical projects President Buhari would love to sign off on. The minister first promised April 30; then, it became May. Recently, fielding questions from reporters, he said the contractor had left the busiest part of the project, which is the Lagos end (from OPIC to Berger) for the last. For him, it is hard for the contractor to complete the project on schedule with the multiple human impact and other challenges being encountered on the ever-busy road. For many citizens, especially those in the southern parts of Nigeria, it is an embarrassing excuse that the fate of the all-important Lagos-Ibadan expressway still remains uncertain, as the advent of torrential rain makes it more unlikely for the contractor to finish the reconstruction before May 29 handover date.

     Under Buhari, like his predecessors, the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Nigeria’s busiest road with a carriage capacity for over 450,000 vehicles per day, has become an Abiku, which in the late Prof. J.P Clarke’s poem, has suffered repeated rebirths for several seasons. But if the administration’s performance in road infrastructure in the Southwest is adjudged by critics to be below par, same cannot be said in the Southeast where President Buhari deserves veneration for eventually delivering the Second Niger Bridge, which has been on the nation’s surgical table for over 35 years. Conceived in the second republic by the late President Shehu Shagari, the Second Niger Bridge was started by military President Ibrahim Babangida before it suffered fits of abandonment for decades.

     What remains on the Second Niger Bridge, from information gleaned from Fashola, is the completion of all the connecting roads: the 4km interchange road at the Asaba end, and 2km out of a 7km link road at the Onitsha end. Last Christmas, travellers had a taste of the pudding, and were informed it would be one of the projects President Buhari would be glad to sign off with, as curtains fall on his administration.

    Nigeria’s total road network

     The total network of roads and highways in Nigeria is 195,000 km. For a population of over 200 million, this, according to worlddata.info, amounts to 0.91 metres per population. This puts Nigeria in 210th place on global ranking. According to Statista, a global statistics and research website, Nigeria has a total of 36,000kms of federal government roads (otherwise called Trunk A) as at 2018. The size and magnitude of the nation’s roads notwithstanding, Nigerians have always clamoured – and deservedly too – for more motorable roads. Incidentally, it would seem it was the Trunk A roads constructed before and shortly after independence that had weathered the wear and tear of use, as many others constructed in the 70s, 80s and 90s had become deathtraps.

     Buhari’s commitment to making a difference and delivering an improved national road network has, however, remained far and in-between, despite the huge holes financing such ambitious national transport infrastructure has dealt on Nigeria’s purse. At the last count, the Debt Management Office said the Buhari administration might be leaving with a total debt stock of N77 trillion; it also projected Nigeria may hit the N80 trillion mark by year end. Incidentally, over 70 per cent of these debts were borrowed to fix the arterial roads, called federal roads across all the six geopolitical zones.

     To stop perceived sleaze and trim down its expenditure on its roads, the Federal Government stopped all sub-national (state) governments from taking any remedial actions, insisting that no refunds would be made on any federal roads worked upon by any state government. Fashola (who, at some point in the life of this government, handled three composite ministries), once said Nigeria would require about N3 trillion yearly to fix its roads deficit. For a government that inherited roads rehabilitation obligations, it not only lacked the capacity to muster this kind of funds; it also had to face humongous debts from failed obligations to local contractors handling its projects.

     However, it has not been all gloom on the roads front. In the last eight years, the administration has tried to wriggle out of the infrastructure deficit by tackling issues of road construction and repair creatively. It established the Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria (InfraCorp), in February 2021, with an initial capital of N1trillion, provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) and the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC). InfraCorp’s goal is to attract investment into Nigeria’s infrastructure sector, with a core focus on roads.

     A year before, the federal government established the Presidential Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF), with a N14 trillion of debt capital. The PIDF, in 2020, invested over a $1 billion in three flagship projects: Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Second Niger Bridge (both of which are slated to be completed this month), and the Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Expressway (with two of the three sections slated to be completed in May 2023). The year before, precisely January 25 2019, Buhari, vide Executive Order No7 of 2019, established the Road Infrastructure Development and Refurbishment Investment Tax Credit Scheme (RIDRITCS) with complete focus on meeting Nigeria’s motorable road needs. The scheme allows companies that are willing and are able to spend their own funds on constructing critical roads to recover their construction costs by paying reduced taxes over a period of time. Under this scheme, Fashola had announced some federal roads may be tolled to assist the federal government and its private sector partners recover their investments, but largely, the attraction is on tax cut for willing companies and emphasis had been on constructing more rigid roads that would justify the intendments of tax relief for public works carried out by such business concerns.

     The Buhari administration said it was able to mobilise about N3 trillion committed by some companies for road projects across the six geo-political zones. Under the Executive Order 7, companies such as Dangote Group (which fixed Ojota-Oworonshoki-Oshodi-Apapa), MTN Plc (which is to fix Lagos-Abeokuta Expressway), BUA Group, NLNG, and NNPC Limited, had opted to mobilise resources to help fix some critical roads for tax cuts. These initiatives are apart from the public-private partnership initiative that the administration came up with under the Highway Development and Management Initiative (HDMI), which mobilised over N1 trillion of private investment into the development and maintenance of 12 roads amounting to 1,963km in length. This is further buoyed by more than N600 billion worth of Sukuk Bond raised since 2017 for more than 40 critical road projects connecting 10 states in five geo-political zones of the country.

     Fashola, at a recent performance report, said the Sukuk has helped greatly in funding road construction across the country, lamenting more strides could have been achieved had the previous government not avoided it as an Islamic-oriented funding with negative consequences. According to the minister, “the sukuk is used to fund section II of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and the Second Niger Bridge, which has been completed.” Explaining further, the minister said; “the first thing we did when we came into power was to expand the budget on road infrastructure, and sought alternative sources of funding through Sukuk, and the Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme.”

     Fashola listed the achievements of his ministry under Buhari’s government to include the completion and inauguration of 12 road projects covering about 896km, explaining that the government is executing 83 road rehabilitation projects in federal tertiary institutions across the country with 66 projects completed and 46 inaugurated. Celebrating the strides of his principal during the nation’s 60th anniversary, Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Malam Garba Shehu, had said the Buhari administration has attempted remedial work on 600 critical federal roads since 2015. For him, within the same space of time, the administration has done more than most of his predecessors despite other competing infrastructural funding needs. The administration’s overwhelming presence is everywhere and in all the six geopolitical zones, he insisted.

     For an administration that desires to tackle all of the nation’s numerous challenges and achieve economic self-reliance and increased domestic output, the Buhari administration devised economically sound fiscal strategies to fund the redevelopment of various federal highways, including those nearing completion. A quality road network being the most critical component of a national multimodal transportation plan is the foundation of a thriving economy. Experts readily averred that good roads link up especially on the national socio-economic arteries, urban centres and hubs are enablers for citizens to move from one point to the other and perform everyday activities that would lead to the country’s prosperity. It is by the road that people earn a living, farm, or access other transportation modes like rail, air, and water. Essential social services such as education, healthcare, hospitality, community integration, neighbourhood security, religious and private interactions are majorly accessed by roads. A quality road network is, therefore, the mainstay of any thriving economy.

     Nigeria’s surface roads, put at 195,000kms of which those categorised as federal roads make up 32,000km or 18 per cent, had steadily deteriorated in the years preceding the Buhari administration through a combination of official neglect, poor maintenance culture, and perhaps more fundamentally, the absence of a legal and policy framework for private sector participation in funding, management and maintenance of federal highways. Despite the recent drop in revenues due to lower oil prices and the aftershock of the COVID-19 shutdown, experts believe Nigeria’s economic potentials are still enormous.

     Although the Buhari administration has often said that it is mindful of the pains the average Nigerian is passing through due to recession and the ravages of the global Coronavirus pandemic, it has nonetheless been resolute in continuing with its economic recovery plans, which have as a key component the rebuilding of national transport infrastructure. Many stakeholders commend the ceaseless fiscal and administrative stimulus that the administration has put into the timely completion of major roads and bridges across the six geopolitical zones of the country to stimulate economic growth.

    Inside the ambitious 600 federal roads project

     Some of the 600 on-going federal road projects whose completion will immediately impact economic activities include the Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonshoki Expressway, which is being reconstructed as a concrete road, for the first time since it was built 40 years ago, and awarded to Dangote Group for a tax cut. This vital economic gateway, which opens to Apapa Ports, can be likened to the nation’s spinal cord, the backbone of its import and export business. When this road is choked and vehicular traffic snarls envelope the metropolis, as it often does, the economy of Nigeria and, indeed that of the entire West African region, is effectively paralysed.

     The Buhari administration is committed to reconstructing the Expressway to benefit national and regional economic development. Both the Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonshoki Expressway and the Bodo-Bonny Bridges and Road, (which was conceived in the 1980s, but actual construction started in 2017), were executed under the Executive Order 7 projects. Other projects being funded under PIDF include the Second Niger Bridge. Main construction for this vital gateway into the South-South and South East regions started in 2018, and completion is scheduled for 2023. There is also the reconstruction of the 375km Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Expressway and its transformation to a six-lane configuration; reconstruction of the Benin–Ofusu–Ore–Ajebandele–Sagamu Expressway; the Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway, and the Kano-Maiduguri Expressways. The Loko-Oweto Bridge, linking Benue and Nasarawa states, an important interstate project started by the Jonathan administration, is being completed by President Buhari.

     In 2017, the Buhari administration identified and marked out 63 roads across the country, including 44 federal highways. These roads, which linked up trade, commerce, port, and agricultural centres across the six geopolitical zones of the country, were classified under Critical Economic Routes and Agricultural Routes, and accorded budgetary priority. The roads include the Apapa/Tincan Port, NNPC Depot (Atlas Cove) to Mile 2 Accessed Road, Apapa-Oshodi Road, Third Mainland Bridge, Apapa/Tincan Island Port-NNPC Depot Access Road, Benin-Ofosu-Ore Ajebandele-Shagamu Road, Obajana Junction-Benin Road Phase 2: (Sections i-iv), Sapele-Ewu Road Sections 1&11, Second Niger Bridge, Onitsha-Enugu Expressway (Amansea-Enugu State Border), Yenegoa Road Junction-Kolo-Otueke-Bayelsa Palm and Bodo-Bonny Road with Bridge.

     Also included are the Abuja-Lokoja Road Sections I & IV; Suleja-Minna Road Section 11; Kaduna Eastern Bypass; Kano-Maiduguri Road Section 1-1V; Hadejia-Nguru-Gashua-Bayamari Road and Kano Western Bypass; Odukpani-Itu-(Spur Ididep-Itam)-Ikot Ekpene Federal Highway Sections 1&11; Ikom Bridge; Enugu-Port Harcourt Dual Carriageway Sections i-iv; Calabar-Ugep-Katsina-Ala Road; Vandeikya-Obudu-Obudu Cattle Ranch Road; Oshegbudu-Oweto Road; Oju/Loko-Oweto Bridge with approach roads; and the Nassarawa-Loko Road. Others are the Kano-Katsina Road (Phase 1: Kano Town at Dawanau Roundabout to Katsina State Border); Sokoto-Tambuwal-Jega-Yauri Road; Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa-Bokani Road; Ilorin-Kabba-Obajana Road (Sections 1&11); Ibadan-Ilorin Road, Section11 (Oyo-Ogbomosho); Lagos-Shagamu-Ibadan Dual Carriageway, Sections 1&11, and Lagos-Otta Road.

     Others are the Zaria-Kano Road, Abuja-Lokoja Road (Sections i-iv), Ilorin-Jebba-Bokani Road, Ibadan-Ilorin Road (Sections `1&11), Lagos-Shagamu-Ibadan Road (Sections1&11), Benin-Ofosu-Ore-Ajebandele-Shagamu Road, and Obajana-Benin Road (Sections i-iv). The Kaduna-Zaria Road, Otukpo Township Road, Kaduna-Katsina Road, Onitsha-Enugu Road (Section 1&11), Enugu-Port Harcourt Road (Sections i-iv), Calabar-Odukpani-Itu Road (Section 1), Calabar-Ugep-Katsina-Ala Road (Sections 1&11), Alesi-Ugup (Iyamoyung-Ugup) Road, Ogoja(Mbok Junction) Abuochichie Road, Kano-Maiduguri Road(Sections i-v), among others, were also among those listed. There is no doubt the completion of the reconstruction of these roads will heighten the tempo of national economic recovery and achieve one of the cardinal objectives of the Muhammadu Buhari Administration.

     With a government determined to provide smooth and motorable roads, it is the hope that Nigeria will eventually achieve a mitigation of the wear and tear of vehicles, enhance the country’s socio-economic development, improve road safety, ensure smooth traffic, reduce travel time and traffic congestion, make for better connectivity in and around the federation. The movement of people and goods is also improving substantially, even if gradually. In this regard, Fashola said over 700 kilometres of roads spreading across 11 states in the country would be delivered to Nigerians.

     Mr Fashola said NNPCL is committing N1.5 trillion to road projects located in Edo, Delta, Kano, Kaduna, Borno and Adamawa states. “The Federal Executive Council gave approval for the construction and rehabilitation of 11 roads totalling 737.242 kilometres in the sum of N1, 535, 154, 247, 234.48 under phase II of the NNPC tax credit scheme. Recall that in January this year, the council approved a memo for the NNPC to invest N1.9 trillion on our roads. That amount was then about 44 roads that had been awarded and the balance of those roads that had to go through procurement between then and now are the 11 that have now been approved by the council,” Mr Fashola said.

     Fashola, said his mandate in the Buhari’s government is to help the government spend its funds judiciously on public infrastructure. Though he would claim he has done that to the best of his capacity, there still exists a huge gap across all the six geo-political zones that could keep the incoming administration very busy. But like in all sectors, the Buhari administration seems to have put in place structures to make rehabilitation, reconstruction and expansion of road infrastructure a lot easier than he met it.

  • Tales from six Nigerian authors in the Diaspora

    Tales from six Nigerian authors in the Diaspora

    From five and six-figure deals to other kind of international book and screen-writing deals, Nigerian authors in Sweden, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom are breaking barriers, telling spellbinding tales and receiving well-deserved accolades, writes United States Bureau Chief OLUKOREDE YISHAU

    Yarima Lalo had twice been killed, the first time was during the onset of the Nigerian civil war and the second time was during one of the many riots in the early 80s Kafanchan. Now, in his third coming, a visit to a train station brings back flashes from these previous gruesome ends. Unlike Lalo, Nani has no such history. She is a woman who has to endure pain so raw it can be touched.

    And in the case of Owoicho, he loses his wife and three of their four children on the day their plan to relocate to Canada is approved. And wait for this: Kemi and two other women experience what it means to be black women in Sweden. Yarima Lalo is the man Abubakar Adam Ibrahim built his new novel, ‘When We Were Fireflies’ around, Nani is Chika Unigwe’s creation in her new novel, The Middle Daughter, Owoicho is the main character in Nigerian-Canadian novelist Michael Afenfia’s ‘Leave My Bones in Saskatoon’ and Kemi is one of the three women through which Lola Akinmade Åkerström continues her exposition on Sweden in ‘Everything Is Not Enough’, the follow-up to her debut ‘In Every Mirror She is Black.’ ‘Everything is not enough’, and another book, known now as ‘Deepest Well’, now have dual deals in the United Kingdom and the United States. The U.S. deal is in six figures and the UK one is five figures. 

    Breaking barriers

      Publishers in Sweden, where Åkerström calls home, have refused to publish her novels because the racism she tackles is an issue the country sweeps under the carpet. “Some gatekeepers wanted me to water down my message before they would consider publishing my work but I declined. This work feels so much larger than my personal desires. I usually don’t like the phrase “giving a voice to the voiceless” because I believe we all have our own voices. But what I do believe in is using your platform to elevate the voices of others who are marginalised and aren’t being listened to because of all the metaphoric noise in various rooms. That’s what my debut novel IN EVERY MIRROR SHE’S BLACK was about,” she said.

     Chimeka Garricks, Nigerian-Irish writer and author of ‘A Broken People’s Playlist’, which recently got published in the United States and the United Kingdom by publishing giant HarperCollins, told The Nation that there were elements of luck in how the book initially published in Nigeria by Masobe Books got the big deals. “I hoped it would get into the international market, so after I wrote it, I prepared the best I could (for instance, I negotiated a publishing deal that kept an open route to the international market if the chance came). In a way, I bet on myself. 

     “But honestly, almost all of it (i.e., the fortuitous encounters and connections, unexpected support, a big slice of luck or God’s favour if you will) was out of my control,” he told The Nation. His collection of stories contains fascinating stories about broken people. “The stories were inspired by music and named after the stories that inspired them.”

     United States-based Ukamaka Olisakwe, the author of ‘Ogadinma’, has broken a new ground with writing for television. Olisakwe told The Nation: “TV writing is quite nerve-wracking. Unlike with fiction or nonfiction or poetry, where you write for yourself until you are ready to share your work with editors and readers, here your work is assessed not just by your colleagues or the creators or producers, but also by the company funding it, the streamers, their readers, executives. There are so many levels to the assessment that is quite tortuous. You receive lots of notes and you rewrite and revisit, and tweak and polish, until that work has passed all the checks.

     “Will I do it again? Absolutely. It is tortuous, but the team you work with make all the different. The creators are the most beautiful, the kindest, the most amazing people I’ve worked with. Jude (Idada), too. It’s such an honour to work on this project with that brilliant man.”

    Language

    These authors, though overseas, fill their works with Nigerian nuances. The language of The Middle Daughter is English, but with a peculiar Nigerian cadence. Unigwe admitted that she was trying to achieve Chinua Achebe’s desire for African writers to do with English language what the owners didn’t dream of?  “The family at the heart of the novel is an Igbo family who speak Igbo at home; so it makes sense that in transcribing their world, that I find a way to maintain the Igboness of it. One of the reasons I love writing in English is its malleability. You can stretch it and bend it and force it to do what you will regardless of how the original speaker meant for it to be used. See how we use ‘swallow’ to refer to fufu in Nigeria. We have ‘nounized’ the verb “to swallow” and given it a new meaning in the process,” the 2012 winner of The Nigeria Prize for Literature said.

    ‘A Broken People’s Playlist’ is written in English that is unapologetically Nigerian. Do not have a heart attack if you see words such as ‘ajebuttered.’ Garricks is only exercising his poetic licence.

    Tackling challenging subjects

    Iowa-based Ibrahim, whose book examines the controversial topic of reincarnation, told The Nation he doesn’t necessarily believe in reincarnation. “I am fascinated by the idea of it and what it means for the people who believe, or through a series of events, are made to believe it. I have read accounts of people whose stories lend credence to this discourse. Like Omm Sety and others, controversial as those others have been. What has always been important to me is how our cultures, especially here in Nigeria, have grappled with the concept, of how new-borns are given the names of deceased relatives because they are thought of as returning souls of deceased loved ones. For me as a writer, this is a fertile field of imagination to be explored and that is what I did in this story,” he said.

     Atlanta-based Unigwe said she was haunted for years to write Nani’s story. “I’ve always disliked that Persephone never gets completely free of Hades, that her abduction is whitewashed and I love seeing ways in which stories cross cultures and times,” she said. For Afenfia, his new novel was compelled by the need to highlight “the fact that for many people, especially Nigerians – young, middle-aged and old – as we see in the novel, leaving their homeland for Europe or the Americas is existential”.

     Garricks tackles subjects such as extra-judicial killings, corruption, and other ills in Nigeria.

     Sweden’s racism gets called out in ‘In Every Mirror She is Black’ and its sequel, ‘Everything Is Not Enough.’ Åkerström loves the bloom in much more contemporary fiction “where Black women are given space to not be perfect, make mistakes, and fail spectacularly too.” She added that Black women don’t have to always be strong or work twice as hard for what others get so freely.

      “I love that literature is deeply individualising and humanising our stories, and giving us a wide range of emotions and genres. My work is about pushing us from a space of always surviving to thriving against all odds,” Åkerström said.

     Olisakwe, whose young adult novel, ‘Don’t Answer When They Call Your Name’, has just been published by Masobe Books, described the work as “a playful, rebellious idea that emerged from a conversation with my family, about this girl who wrestles with a god.” The founder of literary magazine, Isele, said: “The idea was ridiculous and lovely because I was rebellious as a child. I was the girl who did everything good girls weren’t supposed to do. And so it was interesting, to attempt writing about the things I could have done as a child, the kind of adventure I would have gone on—that interesting phase of my life was bright and shiny, before puberty set in and adulthood dimmed my lightbulbs.”

    Exile and the muse

     Unigwe, who is a faculty member with the Georgia College and State University’s MFA in Creative Writing, doesn’t believe living abroad should rob a writer of the inspiration to write. “The muse is like home, it’s in the heart. It follows you everywhere,” she said. Afenfia, who has published two books since moving to Canada, said living in one county and relocating to another can be drastic and harsh for anyone. “I do not believe that writers come with a special absorber or skill set that make them more adaptive to the culture shock you experience when you move to a new country so I think that a writer can lose the will or inspiration to write just from having to find work, worrying about bills and utilities, challenges with language and all the other barriers a newcomer to any country might face. I do not know how I didn’t lose mine, but because I didn’t doesn’t mean that it might not be challenging for other writers,” Afenfia said.

     Dublin-born Garricks said he already had writing fatigue in Nigeria. “I can’t tell the difference really. But even with fatigue, God dey: we go still run am,” he said.

    Better support system

     Afenfia said the government and community here in Saskatoon is supportive of creatives, including immigrant creatives and writers “because they want to support and promote diversity and representation so that also helped me a lot.” Olisakwe, who compares moving to America as an adult to learning to use the left hand at an old age, said access to books and journals and archives not available at home, has made her a better writer.

  • Our ugly encounters with ocean surge, by Bayelsa, Ondo communities

    Our ugly encounters with ocean surge, by Bayelsa, Ondo communities

    • Victims develop terminal ailments as disaster destroys homes, displaces dwellers

    • Abandoned multi-billion naira projects compound woes

    Sangana and Ayetoro communities in Bayelsa and Ondo states have in the past few weeks suffered massive losses occasioned by furious ocean surge that hit their communities like a thunderbolt. Hundreds of houses were destroyed in the incident leaving hordes of the victims displaced and disoriented.  The menace remains unabated, especially in Ayetoro where multi-million contracts meant to address the challenge were abandoned after mobilisation fees were paid, INNOCENT DURU reports.

    Emmanuel Aralu, a resident of Ayetoro, a popular community in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State, took to barbing business after a fruitless search for a white collar job years after he graduated from the university. With the money he realised from the business, he was able to put food on the table for his family and also attend to other needs.

    But all that was gone when an ocean surge swept through the area penultimate Sunday, wreaking monumental havoc on the community founded in 1947.

    Speaking in an emotion laden voice, Aralu said: “The incident consumed my means of livelihood. I had a barbing shop which was pulled down. I lost a good part of my valuables. It has greatly affected my means of livelihood.

    “I am a graduate, and since I couldn’t get a white collar job, I resorted to barbing business. I am living on nothing now.”

    Besides his personal loss, Aralu said, “many others too have been crippled economically here in Ayetoro.”

    The incident, according to him, has been recurrent. “It is a huge challenge that is beyond the capacity of Ayetoro community. If not, we won’t be crying out as we are doing,” he said.

    Aralu noted that the latest incident occurred two Sundays ago while they were in the church.

    He said: “Between 1:30 and 2 pm when we closed, we discovered that the broad street had been over flooded. The surge took a more menacing dimension the following day, which was a Monday.

    “The surge was about six to seven  feet high. The waves were destructive. It pulled down everything that stood as a hindrance to its flow. 

    “Here in Ayetoro, we are under  the sea level as we speak. In the past, we were above sea level, but the situation right now has put us below the sea level.

    “This gives the waves the power of rolling, and that is what it uses as a weapon to destroy and pull down anything, no matter how strong or big.

    “It comes with full force and barges at anything it comes across, then drags those things back into the ocean.

    “That explains why many of our people lost all their valuables. The challenge lasted about six to seven days.”

    With many people rendered homeless by the incident, Aralu  wondered how they would be able to have a roof over their heads again, considering the high cost of building in the riverine area.

    He said: “The cost of building houses here in Ayetoro is three or four times higher than it costs to a build house upland.

    “Recently, we did a quotation for a makeshift building, and by the time we completed the estimate, we arrived at N6,933,740 for a small bungalow.

    “Imagine someone wanting a complete building.”

    Iretiolu Ajinde, another member of the community, was visibly ruffled as he spoke with our correspondent. His day had been turned into night by the incident and there appeared to be no light at the end of the tunnel. 

    His words: “My father’s house was destroyed alongside other buildings. We have lost between 500 and 600 houses to the incident.

    “Our people are physically, psychologically and emotionally traumatised. People who were healthy before the incident have become sick.

    “There are some of them that we cannot pinpoint what is wrong with them. We only know that such people are not physically fit again. 

    “Rheumatism is very rampant here now. This has been affecting our people a great deal.

    “Many of the victims have become homeless. They have resorted to living in tents, which expose them to other challenges.”

    Ajinde’s remarks were corroborated by Beremoye Adedoyin whose father’s house was also destroyed by the surge.

    He said: “My father’s building has been destroyed by the sea surge. The one built by my mother has also been pulled down by the menace.

    “My family and I are just living a life that is not meaningful because of  the level of destruction we have suffered

    “Many elderly people in the community have become sickly because they have been rendered homeless by the challenge.

    “They had houses before but the menace has destroyed the buildings.

    “The rising health challenges among our people have led many  into their early grave.”

    Adedoyin lamented that “all that our forefathers put in place when they founded the community in1947 have been destroyed. All our schools, both primary and secondary, hospitals and religious houses have been destroyed.

    “All the industries established by them have been destroyed by ocean surge. Our condition has moved from bad to worse to the point that we are finding it extremely difficult to feed in the community.”

    The embattled young man berated the government for abandoning them in the trying times, saying: “There is no form of help from the government. The government should come and assist us in these trying times. 

    “Our intrinsic values as human beings have been eroded. It doesn’t appear as if it is human beings that are living here anymore.

    “The grave destruction of the great efforts that our forefathers made to develop the community hurts us a great deal.

    “We cannot earn a living from the sea anymore. 

    “High blood pressure has been on the rise since the incident occurred. Even younger people who are not supposed to have high blood pressure are having it.

    “This has been leading to stroke or partial stroke in some cases.  Ailments that did hitherto not exist here have begun to manifest since the incident happened.”

    Billion of naira wasted on shore protection contract

    Findings made by our correspondent revealed that there had been efforts by the federal government to tackle the threat posed by the sea incursion in the community but it all was fruitless.

    Investigation revealed that the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) on December 15, 2004 awarded a contract for shore protection in the community to the tune of N2.4 billion while about N600 million was released for the contract. When hopes were high that an end to the problem was in sight, the contract was abandoned.

    Five years after the job was abandoned, the contract was re-awarded in 2009 to the tune of N6.2 billion, N930 million of which was paid as mobilization fee. But the project was again abandoned, leaving the people at the mercy of natural calamities.

    A report by International Centre for Investigative Report (ICIR) said the total amount spent on the shore protection work after it was awarded twice stood at N3,300,000,000 yet the project remained uncompleted.

    Shore protection is a measure aimed at protecting, preserving or restoring the shore and the dynamic coastal landscape as well as protecting against coastline retreat to the extent possible.

    Community demands revisit of contract

    Members of the embattled community have raised eyebrows against the ritual of bringing palliatives to them each time they suffer losses as a result of the sea incursion.

    In place of palliatives, they are asking the federal and state governments to revisit the shore protection contracts earlier awarded by the NDDC.

    The Public Relations Officer of Ayetoro Community Youth Congress, Thompson Akingboye, said: “Various government agencies  are bringing relief materials to the community but what we need now is the shore protection and not palliatives.

    “We have food that we can eat. Our problem is not about bringing food to us, although bringing it could cushion the ravaging effects of the sea incursion on our people.

    “But that is not what we really need. What we need is the shore  protection.”

    Going down memory lane, he said: “In 2004, NDDC awarded a contract for shoreline protection, but the money was looted and siphoned by some people in the corridors of power. 

    “The contract that was awarded then was about N3 billion. In 2009, the contract was re-awarded but the same fate befell it. The contract has not been executed till now.”

    Ayetoro people, he said, are passing through hell.  “The community is at the mercy of sea now. That is why we are appealing to all relevant government agencies like NEMA, Ministry of Disaster and Humanitarian Affairs, the Ministry of Environment to come to our aid so that the community will not go into extinction.

    “Over 2,000 people have been displaced. A good number of them are squatting in different places.”

    He regretfully noted that hundreds of houses were destroyed by the sea incursion. “I am also affected. My father’s house was also washed away,” he said.

    “That of my maternal grandmother has also been destroyed by the ravaging sea surge. I am squatting with a friend together with my family.

    “Our people are living in abject poverty now as our means of livelihood have been destroyed. Even the broad street where other minor streets were linked to has been submerged by the ravaging sea surge.

    “Even the economic activities of the people have been paralysed. People are relocating on a daily basis. The condition we have found ourselves in Ayetoro is very painful.

    “We have lost property worth billions of naira. This ocean surge has been wreaking havoc on the community for the past 20 years now.”

    Asked if the challenge in any way affected the education of the children, he said: “We have relocated the schools that we built about three times. We have kept relocating the schools.

    “The first one that was built in 1977 has been washed away. We thereafter built another one which was also destroyed by sea incursion. 

    “The third one was built where we found a piece of land. We did all that so that our children will not be loitering around the neighbourhood.

    “That also has been destroyed by the same problem. It is the one built by SUBEB that they are using now.

    “Each time there is this kind of problem, the children may not go to school for a month.”

    Like Ayetoro, like Sangana

    The pains and losses recorded in Ayetoro are similar to what is experienced in Sangana, a fishing community in Bayelsa State.

    In the last one month, the community has witnessed an unprecedented devastation at the hands of the sea from which they earn their living.

    One of the victims, Amambebe Aaron, a retired policeman, said he lost his house, which he built with his retirement benefits, to the incident.

    He said: “My building was washed away. I lost everything in the incident. I have nowhere to go.

    “I moved my family to Yenagoa after the incident. The government should come and help us because we don’t want to run away from our village.

    “Sangana is a God-blessed community. We have the longest bridge in the whole of Bayelsa State, and the moment the encroachment gets to it, the whole  of Sangana is gone.

    “As I am speaking with you now, we are going through terrible suffering, yet we have oil companies all around us. The state government should come and help us.”

    When Shagari became president in 1983, Amambebe said, “he came to Sangana the second day he assumed office. He looked at the environmental devastation and wondered why we were suffering.

    “He asked the then governor to sand fill Sangana but the system they used wasn’t able to put an end to the erosion. Everything they did was washed away.

    “In a day, we lost about 60 houses. We have lost more than four schools, three churches.”

    Another victim, Pama Martins, said: “I have been rendered homeless. I am now living in a school building. I built the house in 2012 and never imagined that I would one day become homeless again in my life.

    “I built the house hoping that my children would have a roof over their heads in the future, but now everything has been washed away.  My family is in the school building with me.

    “The state government has not come to assist us in any way.”

    Also reliving his experience, DicksonTekeyu, whose  house was also affected by the surge, said: “I am also staying in a school for now. The school is not conducive for me as a family man. I am not happy living there.

    “I don’t have money to build another house. We need help. Feeding has become a huge problem for me.”

    We’re attending to victims – Ondo commissioner

    Ondo State Commissioner for the Environment, Funso Esan, said the state and federal government agencies have been giving the necessary attention to the people of Ayetoro.

    He said: “Today, the executive director, Project in NDDC is in Ayetoro as I am talking to you now.  Yesterday, they took some palliatives to them from NDDC.

    “The state government is attending to them too. The sea incursion is a difficult thing, but they are being attended to.

    “They are thinking of relocating them but people will not want to leave their ancestral homes. The government is trying to plead with them that before anything is done they should relocate.

    “That is where we are now. But by tomorrow if you ask them they will tell you that we have brought some relief materials to all of them.

    On what the state government is doing to make sure that the abandoned contract is executed, he said: “The contract that was given by the NDDC twice, it’s a long time.

    “The contractors could not do it. There were issues. It is either the contractor has no capacity or to take the materials there was very difficult.

    “When you get to a town called Egbonla, there is no road except if you go through a canoe. It has been a challenge to transport materials to that side.

    “I think they are finding a solution now. They are carrying out studies and where they can be able to get sand and stone. It is a tough task.

     “But that is not the reason why the contractor has not done the job. The World Bank, through new map, carried out studies again and approved that study, yet nothing  was done.”

    The commissioner said the project would consume a lot of resources and “the state government hasn’t got enough money to do that.

    “It should be a combined efforts by the NDDC, the federal government, the state government and so on. They have to pull resources together in order to do it.”

    Bayelsa State Commissioner for the Environment Iselema Gbaranbiri did not respond to our calls seeking his reaction to the plight of the Sangana people.

    When contacted, the spokesperson of NDDC, Ibitoye Abosede, confirmed that the commission was already on ground in Ayetoro.

    He was, however, yet to respond to our enquiries about what was being done about the abandoned shore protection in the Ondo community.  

  • Excitement in Ogun border communities as youths abandon smuggling for new vocations

    Excitement in Ogun border communities as youths abandon smuggling for new vocations

    Over the years, many residents of Yewa North, Imeko/Afon and Ipokia local governments have seen smuggling as a legal economic activity. Consequently, nearly everyone in the aforementioned areas engages in one smuggling activity or the other. But the narrative is changing as the youths in the areas rolled up their sleeves to embrace new innovation brought about by the federal government, DANIEL ADELEYE, who visited the area, reports.

    • Mathematics, Economics graduates embrace plumbing, bricklaying

    They are a determined people. They are ambitious and persistent, and would do whatever it takes to achieve success. Having suffered abandonment by the government over the years, they embraced smuggling as a way out of grinding poverty.

    With frequent clashes between them and men of the Nigeria Customs Services (NCS), their communities turned to a battle field of some sort, with many from both parties turned into widows, widowers and orphans. Many parents are bereaved of their innocent children as a result of stray bullets.

    On a sunny Tuesday a few days before Christmas when this reporter visited Omidokun Hall in Ayetoro, the headquarters of Yewa North Local Government area, Ogun state many concerned youths gathered with infectious enthusiasm to receive a training that would change the narrative of smuggling and Okada (commercial motorcycle) operation among them.

    The Federal Government through the Ministry of Education had in August2021 launched a youth empowerment programme tagged T-max. It is a Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) framework designed to equip Nigerians with technical and vocational skills.

    First to speak with The Nation at the event was 54-year-old Adeniyi Aliyu, who in spite of his age strove to acquire training to explore another area of entrepreneurship. He expressed his belief that anyone that stops learning is dead. To him, age is just a number that should not be an impediment to learning.

    Aliyu said he enrolled for plumbing in the programme in order to contribute his own quota to the government’s effort to end open defecation as about 46 million Nigerians still defecate in the open. He said although as a farmer he knows the importance of farming to a nation for food security, plumbing is also important to maintain high level of hygiene in the society.

    Noting that plumbing is a lucrative vocation that can take someone to anywhere in the world to practise, he eulogised the Nigerian government for bringing such a life changing project to their locality. He berated the activities of smugglers in the area, saying apart from lack of contentment and laziness which led many to engage in such dangerous activities, they also lack deep wisdom and understanding.

    “What can help a man to succeed is handiwork. That is what he can use to become a proud husband and father,” he noted.

    Adelakun Adebare said he initially took the project without any sense of seriousness until a friend told him more about it. To his surprise, he got a call that his name was among those of the successful applicants few weeks after he registered online.

    The 38-year old recharge cards seller encouraged youths in his locality to keep themselves abreast of the latest happenings in the media, saying information is power. Anticipating a brighter future at the completion of the programme, he pleaded with the federal government to bring more empowerment projects to their locality.

    An excited Adebare, who also applauded the Chairman of Yewa North Local Government Council, Hon. Gabriel Ogunyomi, for his support and encouragement, attributed smuggling among his fellow youths in the area to unemployment.

    He said: “There is a certificate that will be awarded to us at the completion of the training, which we can use to work anywhere in the world. This will expose me to more connections and enlightenment which in return would turn around my fortune.”

    Emmanuel Afolabi was delighted when he learned about the T-max project and gladly put in for plumbing, which has been his dream vocation over the years. The graduate of Integrated Biology from the Federal College of Education, Abeokuta believes that a handiwork is needed in addition to paper qualification to navigate the murky waters of the current economic downturn.

    The 30-year-old said the meagre salary he earns from his teaching job in a private school cannot meet his personal needs, not to talk of lending a helping hand to the people around him. An enthusiastic Afolabi gave kudos to the Buhari administration for the training programme, saying he rebuffed his elder brother’s persuasion to learn a vocation during his NCE days but has now realised that handiwork is important and rewarding.

    “Nigerian universities churn out thousands of graduates on yearly basis. Where are all the graduates going to work?” he wondered.

    “We need to think outside the box as youths,” Afolabi added.

    Echoing his colleagues, Oladele Akinbode noted that handiwork or vocation is necessary to scale through the current economic storm in Nigeria and even in the world. The Mathematics graduate of the University of Ibadan took a swipe at the youths who are leaving the shores of Nigeria without a vocation or career to pursue abroad.

    The 33-year-old commended the federal government for the initiative, saying he had been looking for an opportunity to learn electrical and electronics as a vocation because of his passion for it. He said despite his background in physics during his school days, T-max project has widened his knowledge on what he had learnt in school theoretically.

    He said: “The youths in Yewa North Local Government appreciate the Buhari-led federal government for this brilliant idea. Like Oliver Twist, our eyes have been opened to many things that we can impact the society with.

    “We want government to also assist us with funds to start our career after the training.”

    In his own remarks, Adeyemo Sefiu Olabisi, the elect-elect tutor, who described the empowerment programme as superb, lauded the federal government for coming to the aid of youths in the area.

    Adeyemo, who noted the enthusiasm among the trainees in his department, said apart from the training programme curbing the menace of unemployment among the locals on account of which many of them resorted to smuggling it would also impact on the economic fortunes of the area.

    Adeyemo expressed worries on foreign artisans coming to do what Nigerian youths ought to be doing, adding that government should bring more of such empowerment programmes to the rural areas.

    Like Aliyu, Adeyemo blamed smuggling among youths in the border communities on excitement for social life.

    He said: “Almost every time, we wake up to the saddening news of men of Nigerian Customs Services killing our youths who engage in smuggling. Stray bullets have killed many innocent people. I am happy that government is doing this for our youths. It will reduce the killings we are talking about.”

    Speaking with The Nation, the executive director of Shelter Watch Initiative, Segun Olutade, whose organisation has been training and retraining building artisans for about two decades, noted that the interests being shown by the youths in the rural areas in acquiring and attaining competency in the construction sector is more encouraging as than the ‘hide and seek’ played by the youths in urban centres.

    The journalist turned building expert applauded the Buhari administration, which he said has been doing wonderfully well in the area of empowering the youths since 2015 when the administration came to power.

    Olutade noted that the Buhari government is fully aware of the potentials in the construction sector and has been taking steps to ensure the sector constitutes a good alternative means of livelihood for the teeming population of unemployed graduates and non-educated people in the country.

    He said advancement in technology and invention of modern tools which are now being used to carry out some energy sapping tasks on sites should be a motivation and encouragement for youths to take over from the ageing artisans who build with obsolete tools.

    To curb building collapse, which has become a recurring decimal in Nigeria, Olutade said his organisation has retrained the artisans of Lagos State Property Development Corporation (LSPDC) and those of Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Aro, Abeokuta.

    The expert lamented the massive fraud sabotaging youth empowerment programmes in the country, which he said has prevented government efforts from yielding the desired results.

    Olutade said: “Youths in the rural areas don’t have option. So we looked at how we can make an impact and we picked a rural area, which is Yewa North, and collaborated with the local government.

    “They provided the centre, a town hall, which they decided not to rent out for social engagement anymore but to use to empower their youths. We moved our hand and power tools to the place.

    “We also realised that it’s much easier when you have the power tools to move to any part of the country to train.

    “The major challenge we have in the country is most of the training centres are still training youths with obsolete tools; tools that were given to us in the 50sand 60s, and they are tied down.

    “Most bricklayers don’t even know what vibrator looks like and meanwhile vibrator is what they need to prevent collapse of building. Vibrator is needed to make a concrete solid.

    “Once you’re doing the concreting, you need the vibrator around you to make it solid. But we just do the concreting and go.

    “These are little things they don’t know and that is what we are giving to the youths.”

    He encouraged youths to come into the construction industry, saying those things that make the sector an energy sapping in the past are now done with power tools.

    “I have an example of a young man who read economics from OAU and now doing wonderfully well with bricklaying. Today, a bricklayer charge N5,000 per day on site while his counterparts in the white collar job takes home N40,000 in a month. It will only take a bricklayer eight working days to make that N40000,” he stressed.

    Another expert, Samuel Alabi Salawu, a retired principal of Government Technical College, Ijebu-Ode, who has been involved in training of technicians for more than three decades, noted that the idea of entrepreneurship is to reduce the rate of unemployment among the school leavers.

    He said entrepreneurship is an innovation of the government which came into focus when they realised that paper qualification is no longer enough for employment.

    Salawu bemoaned the low quality bedeviling the education sector in Nigeria, noting that many graduates cannot defend the certificates they obtained from their schools.

    In response to the shortage of technical manpower as a major constraint towards the execution of the development plan, the Yakubu Gowon led Federal Government in 1972, established the then National Science and Technology Development Agency (which later metamorphosed to Federal Ministry of Science and Technology).

  • Appraising the basket of losses, gains of ‘costly’ naira redesign

    Appraising the basket of losses, gains of ‘costly’ naira redesign

    President Muhammadu Buhari’s naira redesign policy implementation hit families, businesses and the economy like a thunderbolt. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) redesign of N200, N500 and N1,000 notes and withdrawal of N2.1 trillion old notes from circulation created a huge cash gap in the economy. As the crisis persisted, public outrage degenerated to violent protests in some cities, with incidents of vandalism and arson at several banks’ facilities – and Point of Sale (PoS) outlets. To speedup economic recovery and prevent another round of naira scarcity, Assistant Business Editor COLLINS NWEZE writes that the way forward is for the CBN to print and circulate more redesigned naira notes ahead of the December 31 sunset for old notes

    Bernard Thompson, a computer software developer, was one of the millions of Nigerians that rejected cashless banking due to several risks associated with it. For him, digital payment has little or no place in his business given the rising volume and value of e-frauds emanating from it. That view became more pronounced after he lost N1million to e-fraudsters, who cloned his Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card and made away with his money.

    Thompson is one of the cardholders that, according to Nigeria Electronic Fraud Forum (NeFF), lost over N12.8 billion annually to e-fraudsters for using internet banking, mobile banking, Point of Sale (PoS), Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), web payment, Nigeria Quick Response (NQR) code, among other e-payment channels. Another victim, Michael Abiodun, a Lagos-based vehicle tyre retailer, also got a shocker from the e-fraudsters. Nothing forewarned him of the problem he would soon face on that fateful Saturday.  A customer, who bought goods worth N150,000 from him, said he had no cash and requested Abiodun’s account details to transfer the fund.

    He disclosed how he was defrauded: “The customer who was buying three new vehicle tyres typed my account number on his phone and within few minutes, I got transaction alert from my bank. The fake alert showed that N150, 000 had been credited to my account. So, the fraudulent customer took the goods and went away. The next working day, which was Monday, I went to my bank to withdraw the money but it was not there. My account officer showed me my last transaction detail, and informed me that the alert on my phone was not from the bank and that it was a fraud. That was how I lost the money and all efforts to trace the fraudster failed.”

    Abiodun said he released the goods because the fake alert captured his previous account balance and the new deposit by the customer. That, he said, was an indication that the fraudster was collaborating with an insider from the bank. “Up till today, I have not recovered that money,” he disclosed.

    That experience, Abiodun noted, made him to dump cashless banking and only release his goods after payment confirmation from his bank. Today, Thompson and Abiodun have fully returned to the use of digital banking platforms after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) introduced the naira redesign policy implemented alongside the cash withdrawal limit regime.  Both policies were meant to give substantial backing to the cashless banking and drastically reduce cash use in the economy.

    While the naira redesign policy looks great on the surface, especially after  President Mohammadu Buhari and the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, spoke glowingly about its benefits to the payment system and economy, its implementation has exposed the fragility of the e-payment system, brought a lot of hardships to the people, crumbled several small and medium-sized businesses and put the economy on speedy decline.

    Understanding the

    naira redesign policy

    The naira redesign policy was announced on October 25, 2022-three months and three weeks before the general elections. Under the policy, the CBN introduced new N1,000, N500 and N200 denominations and withdrew the old notes from circulation. But a March 3 Supreme Court verdict on a suit spearheaded by Kaduna, Kogi and Zamfara state governments forced the CBN to reintroduce the rested notes.

    In its judgment, the apex court directed the CBN and the Federal Government to allow the old and the new naira notes to co-exist till December 31. Emefiele said the introduction of new naira banknotes was a deliberate step by government to check corruption and is backed by its key function as enshrined in Section 2 (b) of the CBN Act 2007. “In recent years, the CBN has recorded significantly higher rates of counterfeiting especially at the higher denominations of  N500 and N1,000 banknotes. Although global best practice is for central banks to redesign, produce and circulate new local legal tender every five to eight years, the naira has not been redesigned in the last 17 years,” he said.

    Businesses, economy quake

    The hardest hit by the policy have been the most vulnerable members of the population (the poor, the unbanked and the rural dwellers).  Given the low levels of education and exposure of a significant number of Nigerians in this category, many of whom live in rural areas with inadequate or non-existent telecommunications infrastructure, a quick and seamless transition to digital payment channels was always unlikely.

    The result of the cash crunch has been a significant loss of man-hours, logistics constraints to many businesses and individuals as cash became commoditised, hoarded by many and commanded outrageous premiums of up to 20 to 30 per cent at PoS outlets. For instance, Michael Osondu, an Abuja-based entrepreneur, said he paid  N15,000 to get N10,000 cash from PoS outlet, even as many commercial banks rationed cash to their customers.

    This was worsened by the cash withdrawal limit policy. Under the updated regime, the CBN said effective January 9, 2023, individuals and corporate entities can withdraw a maximum of N500,000 and N5 million, respectively, away from N100,000 and N500,000, respectively, which was previously announced on December 6, 2022. The ensued cash constraint and persistent scarcity of the redesigned naira notes, compelled consumers to prioritise spending on necessities, leaving many businesses, particularly small businesses, with decreased sales and heightened credit risks.

    At present, many small business operators, customers and bank customers said they have not seen or even received the new naira notes for months. Mary Okonkwo, a Lagos-based entrepreneur said all the cash receipts for goods she sold came in old naira notes. “All the cash I received for goods sold were in old naira notes and bank transfers. Sometimes, I wonder where the new notes are. This has affected our turnover, worsened cash crunch crisis and made payment for goods very cumbersome,” she said.

    Another bank customer, Michael Adebayo, said low cash position in many families made it difficult for them to buy food, clothing, and provisions, among others. “We have seen many families cut their expenditure because of low cash positions. We hope that the situation will improve when the CBN releases more new notes into the economy,” he said.

    Among the most vulnerable groups hit by cash scarcity were roadside businesses and hawkers. They expressed anxiety and frustrations over low customer traffic and patronage. Rose Okere, who sales roasted yam and plantain at the Magodo junction, Ketu, Lagos, said her sales volume dropped by over 80 per cent at the peak of the naira scarcity in February. “I incurred a lot of losses during the peak period of the naira scarcity. Many customers who usually spend N1,000 and N1,200 spent less than N400. They asked me to get a PoS machine for my business, but the cost is far beyond the capacity of my business,” she lamented.

    At the Eleko market, in Ibeju-Lekki, Lagos, many small business operators also complained about drop in sales volume. Abubakar Umaru, who sells fruits and vegetables in the market, expressed anxiety over what became of his business in the cashless banking era. “I have seen drop in volume of sales because  my customers said they do not have enough cash to spend. I had several customers who left because they could not make bank transfers because of bad network. They all left and made their purchases at a nearby supermarket where they can use their debit cards on PoS machine,” Umaru lamented.

    Cash swap limitations

    As part of the move to make naira redesign policy implementation seamless, the CBN unveiled a cash swap programme in partnership with Super Agents & Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to enable those in rural areas or with limited access to formal financial services to exchange old naira notes for redesigned notes. CBN’s Director of Banking Supervision, Haruna Mustafa, explained that each agent was authorised to exchange a maximum of N10,000 per person. Amounts above N10,000 was treated as cash-in deposits into wallets or bank accounts in line with the cashless policy.

    However, the Association of Mobile Money and Bank Agents in Nigeria (AMMBAN) had described the programme as ineffective, insisting that participation by stakeholders was minimal. AMMBAN National Publicity Officer, Oluwasegun Elegbade, said the programme has not been really effective as it should. “The CBN only set up a monitoring team in less than five states. Overall, it wasn’t an effective initiative,” he said.

    Uptick in cashless transactions

    The policy implementation has led to significant rise in cashless banking and return of many customers who abandoned the mode of banking to guarantee safety of their funds. In a report titled: Redesign gone wrong? Agusto & Co., a rating agency, said that for context, in the five years leading up to 2021, electronic payment surged by 386 per cent to N272 trillion, accounting for over 94 per cent of the entire value of transactions in Nigeria’s banking system.

    Financial institutions also responded accordingly, by upscaling digital infrastructure to support the increasing adoption of electronic banking. The Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) reported a spike in the value of total cashless transactions in Nigeria to N39.58 trillion in January 2023 – a year-on-year increase of 45.41 per cent – largely on the back of the CBN’s redesign and cash withdrawal limit policy.

    “Nevertheless, on evidence, the abrupt shift to electronic payments, which the current cash shortage has necessitated, has overwhelmed the banking industry’s digital payments infrastructure. Nigerians are currently grappling with an unprecedented rate of electronic transaction failures. To further complicate matters, many transactions have not only failed, but refunds are taking days, even weeks in some instances, leaving many stranded and constraining commercial activity,” the rating agency said.

    Fintechs make inroads into e-payment space   The biggest beneficiaries of the current lapses in electronic transactions are Fintechs like Opay, Moniepoint, Paga, and Kuda, amongst others, which are reportedly far less prone to glitches and charge significantly lower transfer fees. For instance, Chief Executive Officer of Moniepoint, Tosin Eniolorunda, said the company processed $43 billion transactions for business in first quarter of this year. It has also grown its global headcount from 64 to over 1000 between 2018 and 2023. “Our operations are built on  targeting demographics previously excluded from financial systems and giving them easy access to the financial services ecosystem,” Eniolorunda said.

    The Agusto & Co. report explained that whether the upsurge in the number of people making payments through Fintechs is due to lower transaction volumes than what traditional banks charge or the capacity of their digital infrastructure, or both, remains unclear. “However, getting traditional banks to invest in expanding their digital infrastructure in a period of rapid currency depreciation (most of the required infrastructure is imported) and, just as crucially, enhancing their cybersecurity will be crucial in convincing Nigerians to go cashless. Some of the Tier-1 banks spent an average of 5.4 per cent of their operating expenses on Information Technology (IT) and related expenses annually,” it said.

    It added that raising this expense in the face of shrinking margins would become increasingly difficult, as it is likely to further impinge on profitability. However, Managing Director, SystemSpecs Technology Services Limited, Demola Igbalajobi, said there is no country that practices 100 per cent use of digital payment in settling its transactions, without a measure of cash deployment. He made case for seamless e-payment ecosystem involving banks, telcos and switches collaborating for efficiency and security of transactions.

    He said that aside switches, telcos and banks also have roles to play in seamless payment system, and believed that poor connectivity is a major challenge, which stakeholders needed to tackle. Managing Director, Remita, ‘Deremi Atanda, said currency redesign policy of the  CBN would accelerate digital payment journey for the country and help stimulate cash-less adoption. He emphasised the importance of the e-payment policy in promoting financial inclusion, reducing the cost of currency management, and enhancing the efficiency of the payment system. He warned that the policy cannot succeed without a significant upgrade of Nigeria’s infrastructure, tackling poor network connectivity and and low levels of literacy.

    Views from stakeholders

    Former statistician-general of the federation, Oyeyemi Kale, said Nigeria’s GDP would contract in the first quarter of 2023, due to the naira redesign policy. Kale, who is now Chief Economist at KPMG Nigeria, projected that the country’s GDP would reduce by about N10 trillion to N15 trillion due to the CBN currency redesign policy, which led to a nationwide cash scarcity.

    Member, Presidential Economic Advisory Council, Bismarck Rewane, said the CBN printed approximately N400 billion new naira notes following the currency redesign programme and N2.1 trillion old naira notes withdrawn from circulation.  According to Rewane, who is and economist and Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, three of the eight naira denominations- N200, N500 and N1,000 make up 90 per cent total cash in circulation.

    Also speaking on the development, an economist and CEO, Economic Associates, Dr. Ayo Teriba explained what is playing out. He said a breakdown of the N400 billion new notes printed showed that about 700 million pieces of new notes are in circulation at present. He said the volume of the new notes, falls drastically below the 9.75 billion pieces naira notes circulating before naira reforms. He said: “The naira notes have attracted global attention at the turn of 2023 for the wrong reasons. The currency redesign policy was a needless exercise that turned out to be a chaotic wild goose chase, until the Supreme Court suspended it on legal grounds. The Supreme Court Ruling has however not completely taken the issue off the table as the N200, N500, and N1,000 currency notes may still cease to be legal tender by 31 December 2023.”

    Teriba said the policy choice Nigeria must make is whether to replace the old notes with new ones of the same face values or with new notes of larger face values.  He suggested that instead of wasting resources to print and replace every old naira notes, the 9.75 billion pieces of naira notes   can be drastically reduced by introducing larger denominations notes. Teriba said it is very unlikely that the CBN will print over nine billion pieces of new notes to totally replace the old notes by December 31.

    President, Bank Customers’ Association of Nigeria (BCAN), Dr. Uju Ogubunka, said it was very worrisome that the new notes are not available to the ordinary people on the streets. “You can occasionally see the new notes with politicians and top business executives who maintain huge account balances in banks. We have read stories of banks calling their top customers to come and take new notes. If third party intervention is needed for Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company to print the notes, let them request for such support,” he suggested.

    Ogubunka, who was former Register/Chief Executive Officer, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria (CIBN) said the Domestic Operations at the CBN owes Nigeria explanations on what is keeping the new notes out of reach of the people. “I know that a lot of security measures are involved in new notes printing. But whatever it is, by now, the old notes should be passing out. But what we have is that the old notes have remained the dominant means of transaction. If care is not taken, we will have another round of crises by December 31, when the old notes will cease to be a legal tender,” he said.

    Emefiele equally admitted the hiccups in the implementation of the policy. He said the apex bank was addressing “pressure areas” by redeploying cash where there are excesses. The governor dismissed the challenges as transient, promising that the issues would be overcome soon. He urged Nigerians to embrace alternative payment channels. On the scarcity, he said: “CBN is aware of the difficulty being faced by Nigerians in accessing the new currency at this initial stages of its issue and circulation but wishes to plead with all to please show some understanding as everything is being done to correct some of the observed lapses in the implementation of this ambitious programme.”

  • Tackling e-payment fraud with technology

    Tackling e-payment fraud with technology

    Banks have continued to deploy diverse products and services to tackle e-payment frauds and keep their customers’ transactions safe. To ensure security of customers’ transactions, Access Bank Plc has deployed a tech-tool that allows its customers to deactivate Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) profile automatically and lock out fraudsters from their accounts. COLLINS NWEZE captures the bank’s commitment to providing e-payment channels that are safe and secured for its customers’ transactions.

    As the world switched to social distancing and remote working, learning, shopping and electronic financial transactions, more opportunities have opened up for cyber criminals to prey on unsuspecting citizens and businesses.

    Banks have therefore come to realise that  more people will adopt e-payment channels that are safe and secured for their transactions.

    That explains why many lenders are prioritizing bank account protection and provision of right information to customers for the safety of their  transactions.

    Banks are also making more investments in technology and replacing e-payment users’ fears on adopting digital channels with confidence in their products and services.

    Access Bank Plc is therefore seeking best-in-class ways to safeguard the resources of its customers and sustain their confidence in its operations.

    To achieve this, the bank has introduced the *901*911# USSD code, a solution that allows customers act swiftly to prevent fraudulent activities on their accounts.

    According to the bank, the service allows customers of all account types to deactivate a USSD profile simply by dialing *901*911# from any phone, inputting the registered phone number for the account to be protected and this automatically locks out fraudsters from the individual’s account.

    Besides, over the years, Access Bank has remained committed to educating its customers, informing and protecting them from fraudsters.

    “We have created dedicated pages on our official website that constantly update customers on the schemes fraudsters employ to defraud them while bringing to public notice the quickest platforms to access help in the event of any suspected fraud case. In our promise to offer customers more than banking, we have not wavered in our drive to not only deliver speedy services but also security for all, the bank assured.

    Besides, Access Bank’s customers can report any suspected fraudulent activity immediately to the bank’s dedicated fraud desk or by calling  its helpline.

    Group Managing Director/CEO Access Bank Plc, Herbert Wigwe said the lender would continue to reposition its operations and payment platforms  to  serve more customers in Nigeria and across Africa.

    He said the Access Bank Group has over time, delivered growth and created value to its customers. The bank has  large customer base in Africa, with a significant share of digitally active clients.

    “The bank is becoming an aggregator in Africa by building a global payments gateway, offering holistic trade finance support and offering correspondent banking services.

    It is also focusing on key markets to support regional trade by targeting new opportunity markets and positioning as a trade and payments gateway to the world,” he said.

    More lending opportunities for SMEs

    Access Bank said it is providing more access to credit to SMEs.

    In an emailed note to customers, the bank disclosed that it understands challenges SMEs face in accessing finance at a favourable interest rate and repayment period.

    The bank is working on the intervention fund support for healthcare sector created by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, to ameliorate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.

    It has also partnered with CBN, Lagos State, and other institutions to show commitment to giving SMEs the best advantage to grow.

    The bank said that aside its digital lending platform it created for customers’ convenience, it also offers loans at a favourable interest rate, flexible repayment period with no collateral.

    “This year, we are committed to providing finance to over 6,000 SMEs in Nigeria worth over N12 billion via the  the Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI)  which  is an intervention fund from the CBN for creative businesses (Music, Fashion, Information Technology and Film) at five per cent (all interest and fees inclusive) with a repayment period of up to 10 years,” the bank said.

    The bank is also working with the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund  to provide access to discounted financing, capacity building for Women SMEs operating in Lagos State.

    The Access Bank W Power Loan is specially designed to provide financial support for female-owned businesses at a discounted rate with a flexible collateral structure while its Instant Business Loans provides finance of up to N5 million for SMEs via the Quickbucks app at a rate of three per cent with no collateral.

    Likewise, the Access Bank cashflow loans provides finance for SMEs and new to bank customers via the cashflow portal at a favourable rate with no collateral.

    Energising technology with partnership

    The African Fintech Foundry (AFF), an initiative of Access Bank, has continued to promote Nigerian startups to attract new investors.

    The AFF and Access Bank’s ‘W’ Initiative recently hosted  a fireside chat for ‘Women in Tech’ with theme ‘Women in Tech: Driving diversity in the African tech industry’.

    Head of the African Fintech Foundry, Daniel Awe, said: “The African Fintech Foundry has always been committed to leading disruptions in the fintech ecosystem by leveraging digital transformations across board. As a result, championing a cause that focuses on inclusion and diversity in the technology industry is, for us, a necessity.

    “The current trajectory of the technology industry shows that a non-proactive approach to gender diversity will lead to a reduction in the number of women involved in the tech space 10 years from now. This is why African Fintech Foundry has decided to host ‘Women in Tech’ to encourage more female participation in this sector.’’

    The Group Head/Coordinator, “W” Initiative, Access Bank, Ayona Trimnell, added: “Gender diversity and inclusion has improved in many industries but tech is still lagging behind in this regard. Considering the crucial role technological innovation will play in most sectors of the economy, the prolonged underrepresentation of women in tech will present a major challenge to the economy if left unaddressed. Hence, partnering with the African Fintech Foundry to increase the participation of women in the technology industry is timely and we are excited about the prospects this event presents.”

    Awe said the AFF runs an Accelerator Programme, which helps young and budding business enterprises form and nurture promising startups.

    He listed some companies that have gone through the Accelerator Programme.

    “We have Paystack Payment Limited, which is a company of about $200 million. For some reasons, Paystack started with Access Bank before they got to where they are. We have Flutterwave, which is valued at about $300 million,” he said.

    He continued: “It is an environment where we pick an idea, where we pick startups and put them in an Accelerator Programme of about  17 weeks, depending on what model they want to run and teach them how to run a successful business.

    Oluwaseun Babatunde of Rentgage, one of the companies that made presentations at the event, said the intention of the company was to create a company that will help people in the country and Africa as a continent to be able to afford ideal housing units.

    “We are coming with a financial solution. Instead of people finding it hard to get ideal housing units, we will help get affordable housing units where they will pay not annually but at piecemeal and at their convenience with a negligible interest”, Babatunde said.

    Love Udoma of Farm Delite, who also made a presentation, said her company, a networking platform for agriculturists, “connects all the players in the agricultural value chain from production to distribution to consumption using technology. So, you can trace what you eat right from the farmer to your table. You can trace the condition it was planted”.

    Value addition to customers

    Access bank Plc, has successfully commissioned and empowered 74,000 Access Closa agents to provide financial services to customers across Nigeria.

    This aligns with its mission to deliver superior value to its customers and provide innovative solutions for the markets and communities it serves.

    The bank in a statement stated that these Access Closa Agents are spread across the 774 Local Government Areas in the country, the bank has significantly grown access to finance and banking services to Millions of previously underbanked Nigerians, provided alternate streams of income for MSMEs, promoted financially literacy and also advanced its ambition to bank one in every two Nigerians by 2025.

    Senior Banking Advisor, Retail, Access Bank plc, Robert Giles said the bank’s agent network was part of the its promise to ensure easier and safer access to financial services for every Nigerian.

    He said: “As a bank driven by innovation, we must deliver better outcomes for customers in terms of speed, security and service to enhance customer experience in all the locations that we operate. With the recent mapping of over 70,000 Access Closa Agents, customers and non-customers of the Bank who are travelling for Business, events or to visit loved ones in any location in Nigeria will continue to enjoy uninterrupted banking services as our Closa agents are available in several rural and semi-urban locations across the country.

    “They can also access financial services from a Closa agent near them, by simply searching for “Access Closa Agent” on Google Map instead of walking long distances in search of a branch.”  Head, Agency Banking, Access Bank Plc, Tolulope Oyeyipo, said: “The Access Closa agent network is a bespoke channel through which Access Bank expresses her passion and commitment to broadening the opportunities and access to financial services for every Nigerian and African, irrespective of where they might be.”

    With over 70,000 agent locations spread across every neighborhood in the country, we are making sure our customers and indeed customers of other banks can enjoy seamless banking services close to where they live and work, in a safe and convenient manner. By offering basic financial services such as cash withdrawal, cash deposit, bill payments and account opening, our continuously growing agent network is increasingly making the need to visit a bank branch unnecessary for everyone. We are committed to being at the forefront of providing digital financial services in Nigeria,” Tolulope concluded.

    State of the industry

    Cyber-related risks have been a systemic concern for stakeholders since the turn of the century. The deepening integration of digital technologies into almost every facet of people’s lives has transformed the way they communicate, socialise, learn do business and conduct financial transactions.

    With over 50 per cent of the world’s population online and about one million joining each day, these risk exposures can only better be imagined.

    The CBN data showed that internet/online-banking and automated teller machine/card-related fraud-types reported constituted 92.68 per cent of all the reported cases worth N15 billion yearly.

    Other miscellaneous crimes such as fraudulent transfers/withdrawals, cash suppression, unauthorised credits, fraudulent conversion of cheques, diversion of customer deposits, diversion of bank charges, presentation of forged or stolen-cheques, among others, also made the list of malpractices.

    Despite these challenges, the CBN said it was committed to strengthening its regulatory and supervisory framework to boost the resilience of the financial system against cybercrime.

    The apex bank issued a Risk-Based Cyber Security Framework for deposit money banks and payment service providers, which among others, prescribes yearly cyber resilience self-assessments for proactive identification and remediation of weaknesses and mandatory incident reporting to normalise sharing of best practices across the industry.

  • Appraising health sector’s basket of gains, unmet expectations (3)

    Appraising health sector’s basket of gains, unmet expectations (3)

    Despite several unmet expectations that are still adversely affecting the country’s healthcare delivery system, there are monumental achievements in some key areas, especially in the hitherto jettisoned herbal or alternative medicine development, promotion and regulation ecosystem. Associate Editor ADEKUNLE YUSUF writes on the gains recorded in the alternative medicine sector that may redefine the fortune of the ailing sector

    Last year December, many stakeholders in the healthcare delivery system heaved a sigh of relief when Prof Mojisola Adeyeye was re-appointed as the Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC). Immediately after Adeyeye’s tenure came to an end, precisely on November 3, an Acting D-G in the person of Dr Monica Eimunjeze, Director of Drug Registration and Regulatory Affairs Directorate of NAFDAC, had taken over the headship of the agency.

     However, weeks later, the federal government announced the approval of renewal of Adeyeye’s appointment – perhaps as a show of recognition of her immeasurable contributions and tremendous services in the all-important agency in the last five years. Besides, under her watch, local and international stakeholders in the pharmaceutical industry were united in their belief that the agency under Adeyeye’s watch achieved so much in terms of safeguarding public health and enthroning strong regulatory frameworks, which ultimately earned Nigeria the much-needed World Health Organisation (WHO) certifications and recognitions that some experts said were hitherto impossible. 

     During her tenure, NAFDAC was able to safeguard public health and strengthen the industry by waging a strategic war against banned and counterfeit drug peddlers, confiscation of unwholesome goods – both consumables and non-consumables – and testing and authorising of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic period. It also played a pivotal role in the growth of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), enthroned Quality Management System (QMS), and achieved the WHO’s Maturity level 3 global benchmarking for top ranking regulatory authorities, among others.

     Positively for Nigeria, a similar feat is being quietly achieved in the traditional medicine sub-sector where Dr Samuel Etatuvie has held sway in the last eight years. As the DG of the Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA),  Etatuvie, a pharmacist, has used his wealth of experience and competent leadership abilities to help develop and redefine the country’s herbal medicine practice and put Nigeria’s traditional medicine on a higher pedestal in a manner that is unprecedented in the country’s history. Established in 1997 to enable Nigeria, through the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, to actualise its critical and strategic mandate to research, develop, document, preserve and promote its enormous resources in natural medicines and assist in facilitating their integration into the national healthcare delivery system, NNMDA has ably helped Nigeria to think towards an alternative healthcare delivery opportunity presented by its rich herbal medicine resources.  

    ISO-certified laboratory at NNMDA – an incalculable boost for herbal medicine

    In February this year, it was a great day for Nigeria when NNMDA unveiled the much-awaited ISO-certified research laboratory complex, sited in the premises of agency’s headquarters in Victoria Island, Lagos. Stakeholders were not just ecstatic, they enthused that herbal medicines practice and production in Nigeria is about to witness a huge turnaround – a development that can facilitate global best practices among traditional medicine practitioners (TMPs) in the country.

     According to the Minister for Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr Olorunnimbe Mamora, the international certification will also enhance empirical data generation for academic and industrial research in the field of natural medicine.  A medical doctor, Mamora, who spoke passionately at length about benefits of herbal medicine, disclosed that the laboratory was specifically designed with state-of-the-art equipment to support herbal medicine research and development, improve the export potential of drug raw materials, active pharmaceutical ingredients, and also support the general quality health infrastructure in the country.

     Recalling how the NNMDA laboratory project commenced in 2017, with the aim of resolving the barrage of health challenges bedevilling most nations of the world including Nigeria, Mamora expressed satisfaction with the completion of the laboratory with ISO17025-2017 certification on critical foods and drugs’ product line qualification. Other critical purposes the research lab will serve including “development of ethno medicines/herbal medicines and products; assurance of the quality and standardisation of developed herbal medicines and products. Generation of the needed scientific data to show the potentials of every developed herbal medicines/products brought to the laboratory for evaluation; a platform for collaborative research from different institutions interested in ethno medicine; and a place for the evaluation of herbal medicines/products imported into the country.”

     Also speaking at the event, Chairman, Governing Board, NNMDA, Pharm. Victor Terah Patrick, toed the line of Mamora on the need to harness indigenous medicines to the benefits of Nigerians. He urged the staff of the agency on adequate maintenance of the facility for sustainability and efficiency. Patrick also commended the NNMDA Director-General, Dr Sam Etatuvie, for his visionary leadership and efforts in repositioning the agency to perform its statutory duty of expanding the frontiers of natural medicine practice and enhancing global best practices in the field of natural medicine.

     “We must leverage global recognition and return to the use of natural medicine. Let us harness its use to prevent, manage and treat diseases and enhance health/wellness, thus promoting the activities of the agency as well as generate interest and stimulate investment in natural/traditional medicine, which is our pride and heritage. I call on the entire staff of the agency to ensure that this General Laboratory Complex is well maintained, and deployed to serve the interest of the public. I believe this complex will improve the agency’s internally generated revenue and enhance its visibility.”

     While appreciating everyone that contributed to the success recorded so far in the alternative medicine development in the country, Dr Etatuvie expressed his delight in seeing his dream for NNMDA come true with the unveiling of the research laboratory. With the ISO 17025-2017 Certification, he stated that natural medicine practice in the country can now compete favourably with those in the global landscape. The NNMDA boss also sent a patronage invitation to all practitioners in Nigeria to seize the opportunity of a standardised research laboratory in refining their local products to be viable both in local and internationally markets. “The vision of this laboratory has been on my mind since 2017; so I thank God for bringing it to fruition today. The attainment of ISO Certification is a big leap for natural medicine development in the country. I know many labs in our country, but to successfully complete and commission such a standardised laboratory is not a common feat. I think it is a very big achievement for the agency.

     “We want to encourage all natural medicine producers, all pharma manufacturers, to start to patronise the lab. We have well-trained consultants working in the lab. So you can conduct any type of laboratory test to provide data for the safety or efficacy of whatever medical or traditional therapy, useful for our people. Like the minister said, this is a very virgin land that this country must pay attention to. A lot of research has been done from the universities to other research institutes, but we need verification. If you claim that this is possible, we need a laboratory to gather the data that will convince the clinicians to be able to say yes, I’m confident that this product found the results the manufacturer claims it has got,” he said.

    ‘Explore natural medicine to improve quality of life, economy’

    Now the face of herbal medicine promotion and development in the country, Dr. Etatuvie has never missed any opportunity – either on the local or global stage – to preach the gospel of alternative medicine to anyone who cares to lend his or her ears. The governments at all levels should never be shy to explore and exploit the value chains of natural medicine knowledge for the improvement of the quality of life of the people and national economic growth, he often admonishes.

     Speaking recently, Dr Etatuvie said natural medicine has huge benefits and utility to the people and, if properly harnessed, can improve the economy, assist the health systems to deliver better services and provide employment to the bourgeoning tribe of unemployed Nigerians. As far as he is concerned, natural medicine knowledge, with its associated bio-resources, is a strategic sector for the overall development of the country, starting from the natural improvement of health, simulation of small and medium scale agro-business, small scale product industries in health, raw materials and a feedstock to the global knowledge economy in research and product development.

     While explaining that the resources of natural medicine are of particular interest due to the fact that, at each point, their value chains constitute a major feedstock to economic activities, Etatuvie admonishes that natural medicine is the heritage of the people of Nigeria and, therefore, their hope for a healthier future. He stressed that traditional medicine is the best thing that happened to mankind and has remained one of the pillars of our health and economic development, adding that government is interested in developing the sector. He also listed the monumental challenges that are impeding the development of the sector: near absence of documentation of practice outcomes and bio-resources, issues of secrecy and fear of loss of intellectual property and benefit-sharing, the needed clinical research data to validate traditional medicine knowledge products and technology necessary to transform these resources into innovative and commercialisable products with wide acceptance by clinicians and the public.

     Etatuvie observed that NNMDA, in its bid to pursue its mandate to research, develop and promote Nigeria’s natural medicine, has through various research, produced simple, safe, quality and affordable natural products for the prevention and management of various diseases affecting Nigerian people and livestock, like Amarus Herbal Tea for prevention and management of malaria, herbal mosquito repellant, Dual Action indoor residual spray and air freshener formulated as an insecticide and air freshener, as well as Ocimum Herbal Tea for management of diabetes among others.

    Resuscitation of College of Natural Medicine and Technology – NNMDA’s training arm

    The renowned pharmacist is, however, optimistic that the agency is well-positioned to play its strategic role in ensuring that the country maximises the huge potential of the natural medicine sector of the nation’s economy. One of the ways to achieve this mission was recently made possible by the government’s approval to resuscitate the College of Natural Medicine and Technology (CNMT), an institution the NNMDA had worked tirelessly to birth by collaborating with the National Board for Technical Education to ensure its accreditation as an institution that awards a National Innovation Diploma (NID) in Natural Medicine Technology (NMT) in Nigeria.

     The National Innovation Diploma courses on natural, traditional medicines’ research, products and development will enhance the professional study of natural medicines and products development, which Etatuvie said has the immeasurable potential to increase the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country, if well harnessed. While insisting that the country is overdue in studying natural medicines, he said: “Knowledge is power and in natural medicine practice today, it has the potential to increase the GDP of Nigeria looking at the knowledge-based economy. Looking at some of our products, they came from ideas, research, sharing of experience and people that have used the products.

     “With respect to the practice of natural medicine across the nation, we are looking at boosting our GDP because we have lots of natural medicine schools coming up. NNMDA has been given an approval to run Nigeria Natural Medicine College of Technology where we will be having Diploma programmes on natural medicines. The NBTE approved Natural Medicine Technology and Business Informatics in August 2022,” an elated Etatuvie said.

     If things work according to plan, the new college would serve as a platform where traditional medicine knowledge seekers would attend for professional training both for the product development and practice. Etatuvie believes that the knowledge-based economy aspect in natural medicine is too big a market that Nigeria cannot afford to ignore. ”There is the existence of practitioners in tertiary institutions lecturing both locally and internationally. We are now exporting knowledge of natural medicine that we have here and it is a form of income to the country because there will be funds transfer.’’

     The new courses in traditional medicine will also help in integrating natural medicine knowledge into the country’s health care practice, since part of NNMDA’s mandate is to facilitate the integration of natural medicine practice into Nigeria’s health care delivery system – in the people’s overall best interest. He stated that the agency had developed 14 products while five had been listed by the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC). The NNMDA boss said, “With some of our products, they will process them, convert them to capsules, tablets and syrups for easy consumption by patients. We are also working on the acceptability by the orthodox system; we are looking forward to seeing our products in community pharmacies, in hospitals being prescribed by healthcare practitioners. This is our own; nobody can do it for us. We are doing it for the country and we believe that the entire healthcare system will benefit from what NNMDA is doing,’ Etatuvie said.

    14 newly-developed herbal products waiting for patronage

    To fully achieve its mission to succeed in the collation, documentation, preservation and maintenance of botanical samples collected from different localities and ecology at various seasons for proper plants identification, taxonomy, floristic work and others, the agency has developed a herbarium, a collection of preserved plant specimens that have been stored appropriately, databased and arranged systematically to ensure quick access to students, researchers and the general public for scientific research and education. In the field traditional medicine, herbarium specimens are used to document the plant diversity of a particular geographic area, as a reference for identification, as a source of information about plant species (such as the habitats where they occur, when they flower and what chemicals they contain), as a validation or documentation of scientific research and education. It remains the only dedicated medicinal, aromatic and pesticidal plants herbarium in the country.

     Other achievements in the field of research and development (R&D) include focusing research efforts on the development of various safe, quality, effective and affordable herbal therapies for the prevention and management of common topical diseases, with many of these herbal products at various stages of NAFDAC listing and patent acquisition process for possible commercialisation – an ambitious dream to help Nigeria promote local production of standardised, affordable, safe and efficacious highly essential herbal remedies that would enable her play active part in the over USD100 global herbal products business; while reducing the importation of similar products to the country. From USD 151.91 billion in 2021 and USD 164.66 in 2022, the global herbal medicine market size is projected to grow to USD 347.50 billion by 2029, exhibiting a CAGR of 11.16 per cent during the forecast period.

    The 4 products are tea-based therapy to effectively reduce parasitemia, associated fever and increase the appetite of persons suffering from malaria; cream-based mosquito repellant to reduce man-mosquito contact, a product fortified with six hours repellence period and is specially formulated for use at home as well as outdoor, making it highly recommended specifically for use in the IDPs, for the armed forces and others working in the fields where mosquitoes are in charge. There is also dual action (indoor residual spray) and air fresher that kills both flying and crawling insects including mosquitoe; a s well as Larvicide outdoor spray, which controls the breeding of mosquitoes through inhibition of their reproductive stages in stagnant waters, thereby reducing malaria infestation. Many experts believe that the products, if properly commercialised and promoted, are potential changers in a continent where only four African countries accounted for just over half of all malaria deaths worldwide: Nigeria (31.9%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (13.2%), United Republic of Tanzania (4.1%) and Mozambique (3.8%).

     Distressed by findings that revealed that most of the mortality attributable to diabetes mellitus is as a result of poor management practices, leading to persistently high glucose levels, which often results in acute and chronic microvascular and macrovascular complications, NNMDA has formulated an anti-diabetic product. The common complications associated with the disease include cardiovascular disease (CVD), blindness, kidney failure, and lower-limb amputation. In Nigeria, the general management of diabetes mellitus is reported to be suboptimal. To this end, the Ocimum Herbal Tea was formulated to reduce the hyperglycaemic crises by adequately controlling blood sugar in the system.

     For men suffering from erectile dysfunction, NNMDA has also offered ways to manage the crisis. Erectile dysfunction is defined as the persistent inability to achieve and maintain an erection sufficiently to permit satisfactory sexual intercourse. Erectile dysfunction is currently one of the most common sexual dysfunctions in men worldwide – a crisis that is a common medical problem affecting approximately 15 per cent of men each year. Over 150 million men worldwide were estimated to have been affected by erectile dysfunction in 1995, and this is projected to rise to 320 million by 2025. In this regard, the agency has developed three variant herbal therapies for the management of erectile dysfunction.

     It is has been proved that the human skin is a rich environment for microbes, with around 1,000 species of bacteria from 19 bacterial phyla found. Most come from only four phyla: Actinobacteria (51.8%), Firmicutes (24.4%), Proteobacteria (16.5%), and Bacteroidetes (6.3%). Propionibacteria and Staphylococci species are the main species in sebaceous areas. It has been estimated that the number of individual bacteria on the surface of one square inch (6.5 square cm) of human skin is about 50 million. In Africa, skin infection is very common among children.

     According to research, cancer estimates of the incidence of mortality and prevalence from major types of cancer are projected that there will be 26 million new cancer cases and 17 million cancer death per year and 70% of which will be from developing countries by 2030.  Over the years, as the problem evolved in magnitude, attempts have been made to proffer solutions to the perceived health, social and economic problems posed by cancer disease in the country, since Nigeria has a rich cultural heritage of herbals and herbal extracts reputed for controlling various health conditions. In Nigeria, cancer leads to over 70 000 deaths per annum (28, 414 for male and 41, 913 for female) and is estimated that breast cancer with 25.7%, cervix uteri by 14.6% and prostate cancer by 12.8% are leading causes cancer deaths in Nigeria. To this end, the agency’s home-grown cancer solutions were formulated to effectively manage breast and prostate cancer.

  • Appraising health sector’s basket of gains, unmet expectations (1)

    Appraising health sector’s basket of gains, unmet expectations (1)

    Despite unfulfilled expectations that adversely affected the country’s healthcare delivery system, there are monumental achievements in some key areas that may ultimately redefine the fortune of the ailing sector. In this special report, BOLAJI OGUNDELE writes that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration will leave behind a world-class State House Medical Centre that has a new VIP wing equipped with state-of-the-art facilities

    One outstanding episode in the eight-year rule of President Muhammadu Buhari, to many who has taken time to record it, is definitely that period when vicissitudes of nature forced the him to take a compulsory leave of absence for about three months in 2017 – a turbulent period that tested the strength of the Nigerian Presidency. Though the nature of the President’s ailment still remains a mystery, everyone knew back then that the number citizen was actually out in London to attend to his health.

     On his return after the extended medical vacation, he once said in an engagement that the nature of his ailment had to do with hearing difficulty, which he had managed for a long time. This explanation has not been able to vacate a narration claiming the ailment was as a result of poisoning – through the President has also confessed that that period was one of the most difficult times he has ever had to go through in his life; to the point that he feared for his life at some point.

     It is believed, however, that some life-threatening experiences are often the elixirs that spur strong men to embark on some unusual decisions. While this might not have exactly been the case with the decision of President Buhari, his administration is going to bequeath to the incoming administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu a world-class medical facility right within the premises of the State House in Abuja, Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

     While the unforgettable episode of the President’s medical ailment was midway into his first term in office, he has consistently been keeping dates with his foreign doctors. Yet, President Buhari is a man who has consistently been averse to frittering the nation’s meagre resources on foreign goods and services. This contradiction (the frugal Buhari, champion of ‘matching production with consumption,’ having to condone consistent foreign medical trips) must have weighed heavily on his conscience all along. Therefore, when his administration decided to bring something comparable to the White House Medical Unit or the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in the United States, it was hardly surprising to many keen watchers of events in Nigeria.

     However, it must first be established that whatever brought the idea of upscaling the State House Clinic from what it was to a Medical Center, with a newly constructed VIP wing within the Presidential Villa, could not have self-serving. The thought of building a state-of-the-art facility for the sole care of the President, Vice President and their immediate families became manifest in November 2021, with the groundbreaking ceremony of the VIP wing. The project, which was scheduled to have become operational by December 2022, though completed with world-class medical equipment, is yet to be inaugurated. This is despite having just a few days to the end of the Buhari administration that conceived and built it.

    The VIP wing of the State House Medical Center

      This implies that there is yet a wing that is not designated as VIP. Prior to the recent decision to upscale the medical facility a medical center, there has always been the State House Clinic, which is located opposite the Mambilla Barracks, within the Asokoro District of Abuja. It runs a normal hospital system, but still believed not to be standard enough for the care of the number one and two citizens. This, it was believed, was reason for the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan to conceive the idea of a VIP wing in 2012.

     The new facility, which will continue to be regarded as one of President Buhari’s touches on infrastructure in the country but particularly around the vicinities of the seat of power, is a 14-bed world-class hospital that sits on a 2,700 square meters area, situated within the approaches of the main State House Complex. Describing the then-dream facilities to the Senate Committee on Federal Character and Intergovernmental Affairs during a budget defense pitch in October 2021, the Permanent Secretary of the State House, Tijjani Umar, said a N21 billion budget had been earmarked and that the construction and equipment had been assigned to the same firm that constructed and had been maintaining the Aso Rock Presidential Villa since 1991, Julius Berger Nigeria (JBN) Plc.

     Umar took time to paint a mental picture of the planned facility to the senators. According to him, it was designed to have underground facilities, first floor, two operating theatres, two executive suites, two VIP sections, two isolation areas and one of six-bed isolation area in the building. He further said the design included a laboratory, a healing garden, a pharmacy and X-ray facilities.

     “The project was conceived in 2012 by previous administration and the brief was produced. It was estimated at about N21 billion and the facility contains 14-bed space without total area of 2,700 square metres. There will be underground and first floor. Two number operating theatre, two number executive suites, two VIP, two isolation rooms and one number of six-bed isolation areas. Most of the preliminary work has been concluded. Mr. President has approved the project. We have gone to the Bureau of Public Procurement to get Certificate of No Objection,” he had told the Committee then, adding that the facility’s importance extends beyond just caring for the President, Vice President and their families; it will also serve the purposes of reversing or discouraging medical tourism. According to him, it will be opened to leaders from other African countries, as it is a world-class hospital.

     Now, the facility is completed, equipped and just a few more dotting of ‘I’s and crossing of ‘T’s being undertaken. The Permanent Secretary Umar has updated on the works when he took the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, and the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Clem Agba, round the facility, showing off a completed, tastefully equipped facility. He also used the occasion to assure that the inauguration will soon hold and that Buhari will do the honours, explaining why the initial December delivery date was not achieved. He also used the occasion to announce the President’s decision to properly re-designate the facility as a medical centre.

    “I think we are putting everything that needs to be put in place, including the instrument and the equipment that have been calibrated and tested and then there’s the training of personnel that is going on here. It’s absolutely important that it’s hands on, and that when the facility is commissioned by Mr. President, it is not going to stop working. So, I think it’s really important, we’re taking the time to do that. By the time that is done, the training is concluded, and the calibration and testing of equipment is also concluded and that is going to be also on time because what is sure is that Mr. President will commission this project very soon.

     “Finally, he has just approved that, before now in 2018, he had given approval that the State House Clinic, Medical Center then, there in the other part of Asokoro, that had challenges about equipment, about aging, issues, resources, funding everything. It was scaled down from Medical Center to a State House Medical Clinic. Now he has approved with everything that has been improved in the other place and with this state-of-the-art facility, we can no longer operate this as a clinic. It is now State House Medical Center. He has just granted the approval,” Umar revealed.

     Right there and then, the facility received its first accolades and validation as both the guests (Mustapha, Ahmed and Agba) and the tour guides (the State House Staff, led by Permanent Secretary Umar) could not high their delight and showering praises on what they were seeing. To the SGF, it was a moment of nostalgia, recalling what the old clinic in Asokoro had become before approvals for its upscaling. “For me, it’s with a great sense of fulfillment that I am seeing within the period of two years this edifice standing today. Those of you that were part of the coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, when it involved the entire nation in 2020, you will notice that we have inspected health facilities in and around Abuja, particularly the State House Clinic, in Asokoro. My impression coming out of that inspection deepened my desire to see that we have a standard world-class facility, which has basically produced this with a lot of satisfaction and great joy I’m seeing this standing today. So, this money is well spent, and it will be for the good and betterment of our country,” Mustapha said.

     Continuing, Mustapha explained that the facility will address the frequency of the country’s Presidents traveling abroad to seek medical treatment. “It would to a large extent deal with it. This is a clinic; I believe that all procedures can be conducted here, if need be through modern sciences. Telemedicine now is very common; somebody can be sitting in his office in Germany, or in the United States directing diagnosis and prescriptions, and also even procedures on a patient in this place.

     “The other thing that this facility will do for us is that we receive visiting heads of state, heads of government; peradventure there is an emergency, we need a facility that will provide the kind of care that is internationally acknowledged and recognised and a standard kind of care before even that particular head of state or government is evacuated out of the country. And this facility provides for that. We have ageing former presidents; I believe that they will have access to this facility. The sitting President will have access to it, and other top government functionaries as may be prescribed by the administrative structure that will be put in place. I believe that this is money well spent,” he said.

     Also expressing her delight, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Ahmed expressed delight over the quality of work on the facility, adding that “we have supported this process in terms of making sure that the funding is provided on time. This is a project that has been delivered dead on time and on budget. So there has been no overrun and the facilities here are world class. We’re looking forward to the commissioning very soon and to put the facility to full use,” she said.

     Continuing, Ahmed expressed willingness to make herself available to be used for testing some of the equipment in the facility whenever the need arises, saying “I have donated myself as one of the people that can be tried in this facility. On test runs, I’m willing to come and do a medical here to testify that anything you can see here is what you can see anywhere you go in the world.”

     Buhari came in 2015, after a hard-fought election, promised a lot and did as much as he could, like he will usually put it, “with available resources”. In a matter of days he will be on his way out of the office of the President of Nigeria, leaving the seat for another to occupy. No one can say with an exact certainty that when he was promising, building a new hospital, with a particular intent of ending medical tourism for Nigerian leaders, was one of the things he had in mind. He came and ensured he is leaving a footprint within the precincts of the sprawling facility he lived and worked for eight years.

     Years back, precisely in October 2017, Aisha, the wife of President Buhari, followed the footsteps of her daughter, Zahra, by criticising the management of Aso Rock Clinic. Zahra Buhari had earlier taken to her Instagram page to criticise the Permanent Secretary of the State House, Jalal Arabi, for his inability to provide even Paracetamol tablets to the clinic despite a budget of N3 billion for the provision of drugs to the hospital. Mrs. Buhari said then that she recently fell ill and was advised to travel to London for treatment, but she refused.

     “I called the Aso Clinic to find out if they have an X-Ray machine; they said it’s not working. In the end, I had to go to a hospital owned and operated by foreigners 100 per cent. There is a budget for the hospital and if you go there now, you will see a number of constructions going on but they don’t have a single syringe there. What is the purpose of the buildings if there are no equipment there to work with? You can imagine what happens across the states to governors’ wives if this will happen to me in Abuja,” she said.

     The complaint then by the Aso Rock Clinic management was that the hospital was short of funds for major projects and purchases, which would necessitate the commercialisation of the clinic’s operations for efficiency. Hopefully, all this would be a thing of the past when the new VIP health facility comes on stream soon.

  • Appraising the security sector’s gains, pains (3)

    Appraising the security sector’s gains, pains (3)

    There is a recent spike in piracy incidents on the Gulf of Guinea (GoG) and, if not quickly curbed, may erode the feats recorded so far in the maritime security sector during the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari. As the Nigerian Navy battles to sustain zero piracy record amidst new threats, MUSA UMAR BOLOGI looks at cases of piracy in the last five years and the successes so far

    It was a celebratory affair in March 2022 when Nigeria was delisted from piracy-prone countries by the International Maritime Bureau (IMB). The delisting led to removal of war risk premium and reduction in the cost of insurance from $5,000 to $960 for Merchant Ships coming to Nigeria.

     The IMB’s report titled, “Piracy and armed robbery against ship,” indicated that of the 58 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships recorded globally, 12 were reported in the Gulf of Guinea, but none occurred in Nigerian waters. The report chronicles any illegal act of violence or detention or any act of depredation, or threat committed for private ends and directed against a ship or against persons or property on board such a ship, within a country’s internal waters, archipelagic waters and territorial sea.

     The reports, which include among other things, the names and a description of ships attacked, position and date/time of incidents, consequences to the crew, ship or cargo, and actions taken by the crew and coastal authorities, are circulated monthly, followed by a comprehensive annual report, published at the beginning of the second quarter of the subsequent year. The delisting makes Nigeria the country with the least cases of piracy globally. The 2022 record is also the least Nigeria has had over a long period of time – in thirty years, as revealed by local and international data on maritime security.

     But while the country and stakeholders in the maritime sector were about to celebrate this achievement, two unfortunate incidents occurred within the Gulf of Guinea in the last three five weeks – a crisis that is threatening to rubbish the new feat attained by Nigeria.

    Pirate attacks in Nigerian waters in five years

    The IMB piracy index showed that Nigeria recorded 31 cases of piracy and armed robbery in 2018 out of 107 cases that were reported across international waters in the first six months of the year, and 201 cases globally at the end of the year – an increase of 87 per cent. In the following year, less cases of piracy were recorded globally, and this also affected the cases recorded on Nigeria’s waters.  Hence, the country recorded 21 cases of vessel attacks within its waters out of the 78 cases of global maritime piracy and armed robbery incidents reported to IMB from January to June and 162 cases globally at the end of 2019.

     However, in 2020 there was a global rise in piracy attacks and this equally affected incidents on Nigeria’s water.  In that year, Nigeria recorded 41 cases of piracy and sea robbery out of the 98 cases that were reported globally in the first half of the year, and 195 cases that were recorded at the end of the year, at 98.97 percent increase. But by the same time in 2021, the incidents reduced again globally, and out of the 68 cases of piracy incidents reported between January to June 2021 on international waters, only 4 incidents of the attack happened in Nigeria within the first half of the year, and 132 cases at the end of the year.

    While 2021 was good news for maritime security globally, 2022 was even better, as there was drastic reduction of cases of piracy and armed robbery on international waters. The year was also a good year for Nigeria. According to the IMB report for the year, out of 58 incidents of global piracy recorded from January to 30 June, 12 were reported in the GoG, and 10 cases were classified as armed robbery and the remaining two were referred to as “piracy attacks,” with none of them occurring in Nigerian waters.

     In a broad range of operations to increase capability and capacity to respond, check piracy, illicit trafficking and other maritime threats in the Gulf of Guinea, Nigerian Special Forces have lately taken the fight to the criminals upsetting maritime security and business activities.  Experts believe the fight against piracy being championed by the Nigerian government is already yielding positive results, as attested to by the report of the IMB), which revealed that pirate attacks in the Gulf of Guinea dropped drastically in the first ten months of 2022, indicating the lowest recorded figure in three decades.

     IMB, in its third quarter 2022 piracy report, said it received just 13 reports from the Gulf of Guinea in 2022, compared to 27 in 2021 and 46 in 2020. It stated: “Global piracy and armed robbery incidents in the maritime industry are at their lowest level in decades continuing patterns that emerged over the past two years.” However, the organisation, which tracks piracy and coordinates the reporting of incidents to the authorities, warned against complacency by calling for regional and international players to sustain their efforts to prevent piracy incidents. It also acknowledged the declining spate of attacks in the Gulf of Guinea, saying “local initiatives combined with an increased international presence contributed to a continuing decline of reports from the Gulf of Guinea expanding on a two-year trend in the region.”

     It also reported a significant decline in the number of reported incidents in the region of West Africa, which had “emerged as the world’s biggest piracy hotspot in recent years.” The IMB Director, Michael Howlett, said: “We commend the efforts of the coastal authorities of the Gulf of Guinea. While the decline is welcome, sustained and continued efforts of the coastal authorities and the presence of the international navies remain essential to safeguard seafarers and long-term regional and international shipping and trade.”

     IMB added that “while the Gulf of Guinea has seen a continuing decline in reports, incidents in the Singapore Straits are increasing, up by nearly 50 per cent so far in 2022 versus last year.” The IMB data showed that 31 vessels were boarded up from 21 in 2021. Generally, ICC IMB’s latest global quarterly piracy report detailed 90 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships in the first nine months of 2022, which reached their lowest levels since 1992. Reported incidents were down a further seven per cent versus the first nine months of 2021 when the IMB received a total of 97 reports from ships, the report said.

    However, highlighting the need for further action, the number of vessels boarded remained the same at 85 in 2022 versus 2021. In 2022, the pirates were successful in gaining access to the vessels in 95 per cent of the reported incidents. The number of the crew taken hostage increased to 27 in 2022 versus eight in 2021, but in 2021, additional crew of 51 crew members were also taken hostage versus none in 2020. The danger for the crew was nearly equal between ships at anchor (40 incidents) versus that underway (37 incidents). The fewest reports (13) came from berthed vessels. Bulkers are the most vulnerable type of vessel suffered nearly half of the reported attacks (40) this year. Tankers reported the second greatest number of attacks (23) with the least number of reports (10) on containerships. “While these are so far considered low-level opportunistic crimes, with no crew kidnappings or vessel hijackings, littoral states are requested to increase patrols in what is a strategically important waterway for the shipping industry and for global trade,” Howlett said

    New threats to Nigeria’s latest feat

    The first incident involved the hijack of Motor Tanker (MT) MONJASA REFORMER by pirates on 25 March 2023 at a location 144 nautical mile (nm) West-South West (WSW) of Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo, with 12 crew members on board. The Dane-owned vessel registered in Liberia with IMO number 9255878, which had been in the Gulf of Guinea waters since February 14 for petroleum products-related trade, was later rescued by the Nigerian Navy adrift the Island of Principe on 31 March 2023, but the pirates had already abducted six of the crew members.

     The second piracy incident involved the hijacking of MT SUCCESS-9, with 20 crew members, about 306 nm SW of Abidjan Fairway Buoy (FWB), Côte d’Ivoire on 10 April 2023. The Singapore-registered tanker was hijacked midday local time on Monday, 10 April 2023, in the Gulf of Guinea, approximately 300 nautical miles south of Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire. The oil vessel was rescued, with all 20 crew members safe, on 14 April 2023, reportedly 65 nm SE of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, and was taken to Abidjan the same day.

     However, to some experts in maritime security, the incidents didn’t come as a surprise because, even before they occurred, the IMB had warned in its report that Nigeria might have had no-incident record on its waters, but all waters in/off it remain highly risky, because “incidents have also been reported up to about 212 nautical miles from Nigeria’s coast.” Not to be taken off-guard, the world maritime body, therefore, urged seafarers to increase their vigilance in protecting their vessels, stating that many hijacking incidents during the year may potentially have gone undetected, and that may be one of the reasons Nigeria had no case in 2022.

    No attack will occur on Nigeria’s water, by Navy

    Spokesperson of the Nigerian Navy, Commodore Adedotun Ayo-Vaughan told The Nation that the Navy has taken steps to address the current spike. He said aside sustaining the presence of her capital ships at sea, the Navy has also directed all operation bases to enhance their efforts to dominate their areas of operations. Ayo-Vaughan also said the Navy has equally employed her surveillance infrastructure to monitor shipping activities within the Nigerian Maritime Environment (NME), and exploit intelligence to track activities of criminals in order to maintain the sanctity of the NME.

     “We are confident that our continued presence and dominance at the sea will stop any attack on our waters,” he said. While noting that since no incident of piracy has occurred within NME within the last 12 months, the area is safe for maritime and economic activities; he enjoined seafarers to continue to carry out their legitimate businesses without fear, even as he assured that the Navy would continue to sustain credible presence to deter any form of criminality. He appreciated the efforts of other players including international partners under the Coordinated Maritime Presence arrangement and other maritime stakeholders in securing the NME and GoG in general.

    Navy presence at sea not enough, says security expert

    However, Nengi James, a security expert in Niger Delta, said the dominance of the Nigerian Navy ships alone on the country’s waters cannot stop or reduce piracy, since many factors are responsible for the achievement recorded last year. “The Navy has always dominated our waters, but that didn’t stop piracy. The reason piracy has reduced in Nigeria water was because the criminals that are involved in piracy have now shifted to oil bunkering. It is the same people that are involved in the illicit activities. They have shifted to bunkering because they found it less risky at this time, and that is why it looks as if piracy has reduced. So, progress recorded is just temporary.”

     He berated security agents for aiding and abetting insecurity in the maritime environment. “The bunkering is striving now because it is in connivance with some security agents. If it is not in connivance with security agents, how do you explain the scenario that some meters to the illegal bunkering sites, there is heavy security by our security men? I believe that if our security agents begin to do what is right, oil bunkering and piracy will stop,” James added.

     Whether the Navy’s efforts at the sea will ward-off piracy and sea robbery on the country’s waters as well as sustain the record achieved in 2022 will be revealed when the IMB publishes its annual report by the end of 2023.