The Nation Newspaper

Category: Special Report

  • Will Lagos-Ibadan Expressway ever be delivered?

    •Fed Govt throws N64.1b more at busiest highway

    Despite the Federal Government’s approval of additional N64.1 billion for new features in the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, the question many are asking is: will the road ever be delivered? ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE reports.

    THE Lagos-Ibadan Expressway has, more than any other highway, gained the attention of Nigerians and successive governments. Eighteen years on, the road has featured on the to-do-list of the Federal Government which continues to pump money into it to make it safe for road users.

    Fixing the road, which is gateway from Lagos to other parts of the country, is becoming expensive.

    Before Messrs Julius Berger Plc and Reynolds Construction Company (RCC) Plc were hired by the Government in 2013, the 127.6-kilometre highway was at best a deathtrap.  The contracts were awarded for N167 billion with a completion date of 2017.

    The two firms were hired following the failure of Bi-Courtney Highway Services Limited (BHSL) to fulfill the agreements it reached with the government on the project. The N91 billion contract awarded to BHSL was terminated on November 19, 2012.

    If the concessionary agreement the Federal Government signed with BHSL in 2009, had worked out, the company would have managed the highway for 25 years under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement.

    Bi-Courtney had a mandate to reconstruct and expand the expressway and recoup its investment through tolling and advertisement rights.

    The government said the action was taken because of the failure of Bi-Courtney.

    Since Julius Berger and RCC were mobilised by the former administration of Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, the contractors have been on and off the sections allocated to them, a development that made last year’s delivery date impossible.

    But the approval of additional N64.1 billion by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) at its weekly meeting week, the Muhammadu Buhari government seems poised to complete the reconstruction of the Segment  ‘A’ of the highway. The section from Lagos to Sagamu Interchange was initially awarded to Julius Berger for 70 billion.

    An analyst Deinde Ola, captured the unending rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts of successive governments on the road thus; “the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is like a road to eternity, it never ends.”

    Announcing the latest development, the Minister of Power, Works & Housing, Babatunde Fashola, said the new funds would address the changing nature of the road.

    According to the minister, the increased human activity on the corridor, especially the Lagos-Sagamu segment, occasioned by the mushrooming of religious institutions, factories, universities and farm settlements, informed the need to change the inherited design. He said the inherited design has become obsolete.

    The new approval, Fashola explained, is designed to modify the bitumen for the road in order to withstand pressure from heavy duty vehicles plying the road and to cover the construction of pedestrian bridges and toll plazas.

    He said: “The inherited design didn’t provide for all these at all. The second section – the 80-kilometre Sagamu-Ibadan segment – which is under Reynold Construction Company (RCC) is not captured in the variation. It may incorporate similar works, including drainage works, when the ministry completes procurements.”

    As at the time of filing this report, there was now news on when the Messrs Julius Berger should return to site. Neither has the government announced a new deadline for the completion of the project.

    The multi-billion naira project is stucked- no thanks to the inability of the Federal Government to adequately fund the project.

    After rewarding the project in 2013, the Jonathan administration pledged to release N50 billion. But instead, the government provided only a guarantee to the Infrastructure Bank to facilitate the release of N117 billion to Julius Berger and the RCC.

    The two construction were unable to get up to N10 billion, a development that forced the firms to withdraw their gangs from the road.

    The bank, it was learnt, was trying to limit its risk exposure because the BHSL had approached the court to challenge the termination of its contract.

    The case was determined in favour of the government in a Federal High Court on April 25, 2016.

    The Federal Controller of Works in Lagos, Mr. Fred Kuti, said a clearer picture of the details may not come until next month.

    Kuti said: “How these things works is that when the Federal Executive Council (FEC) comes up with its approvals, it takes about two weeks for the council to pass extracts of such approvals to the ministry and it is only when we get the extracts that we can formally write Messrs Julius Berger, the contractor.”

    For now, the only information at its disposal, the controller added, “is that additional N64.1 billion has been approved by the government in addition to the N70 billion currently being expended.”

    If the ministry will get the extract by mid-May, mobilising Julius Berger and returning to site may not be earlier than June.

    A transport expert, Dr. George Banjo, said the real issue is not when the project would resume, Nigerians are anxious to know when it would be delivered.

    The reason for this is not far-fetched. The road in its present state has become the nation’s most prominent death trap, claiming lives on a daily basis.

    Saluting the government for the new design going on the road, George, a former World Bank Consultant on Transportation, said the road’s upgrading is long overdue as the road used to be a rural motorway.

    He said: “With the heavy human activities along the corridor, especially the first segment, coupled with the vehicular pressure on the road, the need to upgrade the road into an urban motorway becomes imperative, because it is in response to the growing needs of the people.”

    George urged the government to put its overall plan on the road to the public domain.

    “Until such is done, it would be difficult to fault the government on this new initiative as it simply showed that it is not immune to those needs that might make it return to the project sooner, if it had delivered it because of the need to prevent lives of other road users as well as ensure the longevity of the road. For now, it is a step in the right direction,” George had said.

    Echoing him, another transport planning expert, Dr. Joseph Shojobi, called for the implementation of a new template to manage the nation’s basic commonwealth.

    According to him, a fundamental reform such as the return of all roads to the state governments must be undertaken, to take the shine away from the regular ritual of announcing hefty sums for the construction and rehabilitation of roads.

    He said: “This should be followed with the re-classification of the roads and the growth of dedicated funds by the reintroduction of the tolling regime to ensure regular maintenance of the roads.

    “We must make tolling part of our culture. It must be a consistent policy, if we are to ensure we have motorable road all year round.

    “Let the government come up with an agency or corporation to handle our roads. This agency must statutorily collect at least two percent of the cost of construction of any new road as well as fuel tax and tolls.

    “Everywhere in the world, the usage of the road is not free. We must get the tolling regime back and also get to introduce fuel consumption tax. Consumers must be able to pay between one or two percent tax on our daily fuel consumption. That is what obtains in the United Kingdom (UK), the United States (U.S.), Germany and other partsof Europe.

    “The beauty of such a fund is that the country would not have to wait for yearly allocations to fix any road because the special agency so created to warehouse the money would have enough to maintain all road networks and construct new ones across all the six geopolitical zones of the country.

    “When the taxpayers see that the money is being judiciously deployed, they would be willing to pay.”

    Shojobi, who recalled that the country was able to pay for the construction of the road in the 60s without recourse to the World Bank, said the country would not have gotten into the cesspool, if the government had cultivated the culture of tolling of its highways.

    To prevent the cankerworm of corruption from sinking its fangs into the agency, Shojobi called for the decentralisation of its operations and the use of professionals and consultants.

    Shojobi said: “If the same template used by the military government during the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF), is introduced, we would be able to sanitise the transportation ecosystem and ensure that money is available to fund the repair of construction of new roads across the country.”

    He said the new template would provide a new gust of wind into a sector that is exemplified by dilapidated infrastructure.

    The highway, according to Shojobi, “is a commonwealth for which a neutral agency is the needed catalyst to ensuring the proliferation of roads that would be mutually enjoyed by all as it would be able to ensure that everything is put in place to ensure that it is safe and secured for all classes of users.”

     

  • As Buhari navigates APC through the storm

    I would like to state prestissimo, and from the outset of this lucubration, that I do not doubt the capacity of President Muhammadu Buhari to take our beleaguered nation out of the woods into which successive civilian administrations from 1999 had led it until 2015.  Talking about 16 years of misrule by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has become fashionable for good reasons. Because the Augean stables had been unconscionably polluted by the praxis of sleazy and public treasury looting game, there is pomp that there is now a spartan Buhari in the saddle who has put his nose to the grindstone in a bid to halt the impunity and bring about national redemption.

    His anti-corruption and pro-discipline antecedents as former military Head of State from 1983 to 1985 were referenced in 2015 by the vast majority of Nigerians in their decision to invest in him their mandate as a moral compass and quintessential navigator through the vaudeville acts of corruption that had submerged the philosophical essence that provided the basis for the corpus that birthed the Nigerian nation state.  It is in this context that the return of Buhari as a patron saint is viewed and subjected to critical appreciation.

    But unlike the military vehicle of getting into power characterised and injudiciously tempered by authoritarianism, dictatorship and unitarianism in its modus operandi and modus vivendi, his current intervention made possible by partisan politics is actualised through the vehicle of the All Progressives Congress (APC).  His governance philosophy is thus essentially and logically preponderated by democratic tenets, constitutional circumscriptions and the reciprocal exertions in the interactions among the trinity of the executive, legislature and the judiciary.

    Indeed, beyond the confines of the trinity are the public space and tentative cosmos of political party engineering where he is the Chief Engineer as the national leader of the APC, which is the political machine with which to drive the essential theme of his administration’s philosophy in the arduous and urgent task of reconstructing the nation’s socio-economic and political defence walls and moderating the ramifications of the good action beyond 2019 and until 2023 when he will get to the terminus of his second term in office.  Therefore, all that the APC needs presently is to retool and restrategise to fit into the visionariness of the inimitable anti-corruption poster boy-President Buhari.

    The rationalisation supra finds anchorage in the writ-large commitment by Buhari to ensure a national renaissance. That commitment cannot be questioned regardless of some perceived failings of the administration.  I must state at this point that there is no perfect man; no perfect administration; no perfect political system and ideal anywhere in the world. Therefore, those who had expected so much from Buhari in a very short time within the complex Nigerian situation should have realised from the outset that he is human, shorn of the divine character of perfection and must operate in concert and dissonance with elements in the other arms of government.

    This perspective has become germane in the context of the urgency that Nigerians want to see in the responses of government to existential challenges and in the execution of policies, programmes and projects. Military regimes that operate by decrees are different from democratic administrations that operate by the observance of the rule of law and due process. Regardless of the inherent limitations, Buhari has committed himself to clearing the Augean stables of public funds misappropriation and allied vices in the management of our public finance.  The results may not be magical but they are steadily and incrementally manifesting.

    Indeed, those whose preoccupation it is to manipulate the financial system for pecuniary interests are feeling the heat.  They have been smoked out and are fighting back, even though feebly.  As they continuously buckle under the moral weight of transparent leadership exemplified by Buhari, we have begun to witness cornucopia of infrastructure projects across the length and breadth of the country, resulting in exciting talking points on development issues in the political economy.  It is only the naysayers in the opposition parties that would not agree that there is a great deal of difference between where the country was under the PDP rule and now.

    I am aware that Nigerians are experiencing pains in some areas of their existential living.  That is to be expected.  These pains are inevitable and temporal. They are analogous to the pains a pregnant woman experiences in the labour room.  Once she is delivered of her child, she begins to experience unspeakable joy of motherhood.  The present pains due to the on-going surgical operations on the economy and other social capitals will soon be over.

    We must all support the effort to rebuild our nation. The APC as a political vehicle through which Buhari got his job to attend to the bad health of the nation must double down his support for the president. Therefore, I believe that the move by the president to ensure that there is an elective national convention in June this year in line with the provisions of the APC constitution is in apple-pie order and should enjoy the backup of the NEC.  The move will certainly conduce to legal propriety that will mark out the party as the bastion of respect for the rule of law and due process. Besides, it will be salutary to the consolidation of internal democracy in the APC.

    This is the way to go and it is heartwarming that President Buhari is pointing in that direction.  Knowing how strong willed he is as a stickler for proper conduct in public and private lives, I am confident that he would not be swayed by the shenanigans and brinksmanship being adopted by some interests in the government, acting in concert with the current NEC, to possibly compromise and befuddle the president’s unambiguous position on the testy issue of tenure elongation for the NEC.

    The president had declared the decision by the NEC to extend its tenure till June 2019 illegal and I dare say, any recommendation by the Technical Committee that is not in pari materia with the president’s position, should be seen as disingenuous. Leaders of our party should not indulge in subjecting the President and his proactive intervention to the tensions of their parochial goals and objectives.

    All hands must be on deck to emplace a more vibrant NEC headed with a public space national chair that will be able to adumbrate on the policies of government to party members and Nigerians at large.  The president is understandably taciturn even if he is a man of action. The national chair of the party should make up for the president’s taciturnity and equanimity with his rambunctious and profound elucidation of the nitty-gritty of the president’s policy directions.  The search for such an appropriate personality for the job should be our sincere preoccupation presently and not the maneuvering to supplant the president’s good counsel.

    What is crystallizing in our great party is a warlike situation. As Peter Maurer was quoted to have once said, “They say that truth is the first casualty of war. But there is another casualty as well: trust. As conflict escalates, trust between people and political leaders crumbles away as surely as night follows day.” There should be restraint on the part of vested interests.  President Buhari’s truth should be safeguarded.  He should also be trusted to be able to pragmatically manage the fallout of the elective national convention in the praxis of fair accommodation of political interests.  I hope my intervention does not attract or suffer any form of logomachy. God bless President Buhari and the APC.

     

    • Obahiagbon, an APC chieftain, contributed this piece from Benin.

  • Tomorrow will judge today’s action

    ‘The clock is running’ wrote an American historian and author, Alice Morse Earle, ‘make the most of today, yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift and that is why it is called the present”. This is a sermon that captures the full essence of life. While the events of yesterday cannot be rewritten, what we do with our today is capable of writing the wrongs of yesterday and the seed sown today will surely germinate for tomorrow’s harvest, which can be either good or bad (Ecclesiastes 11:1; 12:13; Revelations 22:11-12)

    Many years ago, a very successful man who invented the dynamite woke up to find his Obituary in all the newspapers. He decided to use that very rare opportunity to find out people’s comments about him. The headline he saw among others was “Dynamite the king dies, and he was the merchant of death”. After seeing that headline he became downcast and thought to himself if that was all he meant to people and if that was how he was going to be remembered when death came calling eventually. The man never wanted to be remembered as “the merchant of death” hence he decided to rewrite the history of his life.

    Like the message of God through Prophet Haggai to Sennacherub and Joshua the high priest to consider their ways, the Dynamite man considered his ways; he redefined his values by deciding to henceforth embark on peaceful missions. That ‘King of dynamite’ was Alfred Nobel who is globally remembered today not as a merchant of death but for the great Nobel prizes being awarded. Quite unlike Alfred Nobel, many in the world today are agog with dissipation of energy on issues of life and things that won’t add up eventually when this world ends; and very assuredly, the world shall end with us one day (Matthew 24:38-39).

    A lot don’t realise that no one can stop death when it decides to come (Ecclesiastes 8:8). Death is certainly no respecter of persons. It doesn’t matter your age, educational qualification or status in the society, when death comes, everything will come to an abrupt end. Empires have come and been dumped in history books. Powerful politicians with great oratorial powers have come and been forgotten. Flamboyant preachers of the Gospel with claim of raising the dead have died and have not been raised. Political office holders that have embezzled public funds to the point of causing the nation great pains have expired without taking a dime with them. Your end too will come one day! Do you realize that that position which you are occupying that is making “your head to swell” and unaccountable to none was once occupied by another person and will not die with you? Haggai the Prophet is calling you at this time of Lent to “Consider your ways!”

    Regardless what you think about death, it will come to us all, sooner or later. So, the question must go out. Are you preparing for death? We are all closer to dying today than we were yesterday. It will be logical to also consider: what about the “hereafter?”. What about life after this one is over? Is this all there is? A few relatively short years on this earth and that is it? Surely not, because after death comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27). We shall all give account of our stewardship before God (Romans 14:10-12; Revelations 22:11-13). Then, it shall be a time for separation and reward (Matthew 25:31-46). Are you laying up treasures for yourself and not rich towards God? Consider your ways before it is too late!

    Beloved, we are pilgrims here. Whenever your time is up, at a time unknown, you shall be called home. How do you think you will be remembered when that time comes? What will be the genuine testimonies of people in your community, your place of work, your family members and members of your church about you? Will you be missed or will they say chorus ‘good riddance to bad rubbish’? More importantly, will heaven be happy to have you back or will it be a case of a failed life?

    The word of God to you at this time of lent is for you to reflect very deeply on how you have been living your life, to reconsider your ways, to come to Jesus Christ who came to deliver us from the pains of this world and regrets of life hereafter, to acknowledge that He is Lord and to ask Him to come to your life. You need to redefine your values like Alfred Nobel, repent of your past deeds, have a change of attitude, invest in the work of the kingdom today and be a person of love. As God lives, you shall testify here and not regret hereafter, in Jesus’ name.

    Prayers: Oh Lord, help me and don’t allow me use the temporal pleasures of this world to destroy the bliss of the eternal home, in Jesus’ name.

  • Doctor in trouble for allegedly raping, impregnating patient’s 16-yr-old daughter

    Doctor in trouble for allegedly raping, impregnating patient’s 16-yr-old daughter

    A medical doctor attached to the Federal Medical Center, Bida, Niger State, is at the centre of a rape scandal which resulted in the death of the victim. Sixteen-year-old Fatima Yusuf was said to have given up the ghost a spell after childbirth after she was repeatedly raped and impregnated by a medical doctor attached to the Federal Medical Centre, Bida, Niger State.

    The said doctor was said to have repeatedly raped the late Fatima while the latter was taking care of her mother while she was on admission in the hospital for a severe case of diabetes.

    A family source, who spoke with our correspondent, quoted Fatima as telling the family that it all began on a day the doctor invited her to his room while her mother was asleep. The doctor, the source said, pretended that he was trying to advise Fatima only to seize the opportunity to forcibly have carnal knowledge of her. The secret act, she said, continued until Fatima’s mother was discharged from the hospital.

    The family source, who pleaded not to be named because she was not qualified to speak for the family, said that when other family members discovered that Fatima was pregnant, they asked her who the father of the baby was and she fingered the said doctor, who vehemently denied having any sexual relationship with her.

    The case, however, became so serious that the Emir of Bida, Alhaji Abubakar Yahaya, had to intervene in it. The accused doctor, in the course of interrogation at the Emir’s palace, was said to have admitted that he only hugged Fatima and rubbed his body against hers, but did not have any sexual intercourse with her. The deceased girl, on the other hand, was said to have stood by her word that the doctor forcibly slept with her, and the act resulted in her pregnancy.

    The situation was said to have caused the Emir to order that a paternity test be conducted on the pregnancy. But while the Federal Medical Centre complied with the directive, it has been reluctant to release the result of the test, a situation that led to the decision to conduct another paternity test in a hospital outside the state.

    Unfortunately, while this was going on, Fatima died on Monday some time after she was delivered of a baby boy at the family house in Bida.

    Alarmed by the development, the Niger State Child Rights Agency was said to have taken over the case. The Director General of the agency, Barrister Mariam Kolo, who confirmed to our correspondent that the agency had taken up the case, said the agency’s attention was drawn to it because the victim was underage and because it was suspected that the management of the hospital was trying to cover up for the accused doctor.

    Kolo said that while Fatima might have died, the agency would go ahead with the case and see to its logical conclusion. If Dr. Seyi is found guilty, she said, he will not escape the wrath of the law.

    She said: “Even in the worst case scenario, a naive and underage girl like that cannot just accuse someone who is higher than her wrongly. If the man did not have carnal knowledge of her, she would not accuse him falsely. Why did she not accuse another doctor in the hospital? She even knew his office and how it looked like. Why did she stick to her story till she died in spite of pressures from all quarters?

    “The family is not asking for money. They are only asking the doctor to own up and take responsibility for what he did. We are waiting for the DNA result. When it comes out, we will know who the father is. Government cannot take responsibility of the child when the father is alive.”

    Kolo said the Federal Medical Centre, Bida, was trying to cover up the case, adding that the doctor was hiding under the guise that the result of the DNA test was not yet out and that he would not say anything until the test’s result was released.

    Fatima, according to Kolo, died from intense depression because of the horrendous act the doctor committed against her.

    “Although no autopsy was done, it was clear that she died out of intense depression,” she said.

    “Look at this: her mother is ill, a man raped and impregnated her and denied it, and they do not have money to feed. He put her under intense depression. It is one of the factors that led to her death. He contributed to her psychological state of mind.” determined to rid the state of predators who prey on innocent victims and molest them. “This is a very sensitive matter. If medical doctors are now harassing children, it leaves one to wonder if our children are safe. ”

    When contacted, the management of the Federal Medical Centre, Bida, acknowledged that a case of alleged sexual harassment was filed against one of its doctors, adding that the hospital was not covering up anybody.

    The hospital’s Head of Communication, Musa Ladan, who spoke with our correspondent, said that a high powered committee had been set up by the management of the hospital to investigate the allegation.

    Ladan said: “There is a case we are handling. It is not a case of cover-up by the hospital as it is being alleged in some quarters. The case is about a patient’s relation who accused one of our doctors of having carnal knowledge of her.

    “It was brought to our attention and we have set up a high powered committee to investigate it. We have even gone ahead to do a DNA test and we are currently awaiting the result, although while we were waiting, the lady in question died in her family house. ”

    On what was being done to the errant doctor, Ladan said that nothing was being done to him because the allegation had not been established.

    He said: “We have to establish the accusation. Everything is at accusation level now. We have not done anything to the doctor because we are waiting for the result of the DNA test. After the result, we will know the step to take.”

    He reiterated that there would be no cover-up as the hospital’s management had fully participated and supported all the investigations that were being done to establish the fact of the matter.

    The Nation, however, learnt that there were plans to take the case to court following the death of the victim.

  • ‘I slept with five men daily for four years in Tripoli’

    ‘I slept with five men daily for four years in Tripoli’

     

    Maryanne Uwadiae, 25, is a troubled woman. Six months ago, she got deported from Libya, where she spent four years moving from one prison to another. Within the period, she was held captive by Nigerian and Libyan traffickers, who forced her into prostitution and use of hard drugs.

    At 17, she was impregnated by Mike Onogedion, her boyfriend, a school dropout,  just about a year to the completion of her high school education in Esan, Edo State.

    Broken and disoriented, Maryanne abandoned her academic pursuit. She dropped out of school to face the pressure of a difficult pregnancy. By the time she had her baby at 18, Onogedion had travelled to Libya en route Italy unannounced, thus leaving her to the child’s upkeep.

    With no financial support from her boyfriend’s family, Maryanne struggled to cater for herself and the child with the little pocket money she got from her mother. Since it could not sustain her and the baby, she became desperate e for any kind of lifeline.

    Her desperation led her to consider travelling out of the country in search of greener pasture. Kelly, an acquaintance who regularly visited her neighbourhood, promised to help her achieve her oversea dreams if only she paid him N400,000 to facilitate the trip.

    “This was in 2013. I was 19 years old then. I was staying in my parents’ house in Ishan when Kelly came to our house and asked me if I was interested in travelling to Italy to work. I showed interest in the discussion because I was already planning to do that, at least to change my living condition. I had a baby I could not feed properly. I considered the offer without hesitation,” she explained.

    Weeks after she accepted Kelly’s offer, Maryanne couldn’t get money to pay for the trip. Hence she pleaded with Kelly to help her get the visa to Italy on credit. She promised to refund the money after she secures employment in Italy.

    Kelly reluctantly accepted the arrangement. He requested that Maryanne should get a travel passport. He pledged he would get Maryanne to Italy and also promised to get her a decent job.

    Weeks after she gave her passport to Kelly, he called Maryanne and informed her about her travel itinerary.

    It was too late for her to prepare for the trip thus she told her mother to look after her baby and left Nigeria in company of boys she had never met.

     

    The tortuous journey to Libya

    Maryanne left her base in Esan, Edo State through Kano State, where she joined another group of Libya-bound migrants with Kelly. At this juncture, she experienced her first trepidation in respect of the trip: when she got her passport back from Kelly, Maryanne was surprised to see that there was no visa on it. But it was not a time to ask questions hence she sat back to brave the ride as a rickety bus conveyed them to Niger Republic.

    She said: “I left my then two-year-old baby with my mother. I bade her farewell, hoping to speak to her when I get to Italy. When we got to Niger Republic, we spent two nights there before we proceeded to the next stop. We travelled a far distance through the desert to Zinder and to Agadez, from where we got to Tripoli.

    “We spent about seven days in Agadez. During this period, I did not eat anything. I felt sick and looked skinny by the time we arrived in Libya. In the course of the journey, Kelly was disturbing me for sex. He assaulted me several times, telling me he wanted to sleep with me in the desert. I rebuffed him on each occasion that he requested for sex. He told me that I was stubborn and told me I would regret my action by the time we get to Libya.”

    Unknown to Maryanne, Kelly had already sold her to traffickers before she left Nigeria. When she arrived in Tripoli, she was forced into prostitution to pay back the money paid to Kelly. By then, Kelly had left Libya and crossed the Mediterranean Sea to Italy.

    “It did not occur to me that Kelly had already sold me to human traffickers right from Nigeria. When we got to Libya, Kelly handed me over to some people and disappeared. I later discovered those people were traffickers. They took me to a large building with several rooms. It looked like a hostel. There, I saw many girls of different ages; some of them were underage, about 14 to 15 years old,” she said.

    According to Maryanne, men entered at interval and picked girls of their choice. “They would take them into the rooms. I was looking at them in surprise and I still did not know what I was there to do. Then, a lady approached me and said, ‘Hey, why are you standing like a novice? Can’t you hustle?’ I asked what kind of hustle it was and  she replied that those young girls being taken inside the rooms were my seniors and they were working hard to pay the boss.

    “She told me the boss had paid Kelly to bring me to Libya and that I needed to hustle to pay back the money. She also told me that I needed to hustle to get LYD 9,400 (N2.4 million) before I could be allowed to go. Then I knew I had been sold into prostitution. Some of the girls I met in the building had been held in that place for years without being allowed to go, even when some of them had already completed their bonds.

    “The only way we could be freed at that moment was if any man comes and says he likes any of us. The man would ask our boss how much we needed to pay before we could be freed. Then, they would pay and we would go with them. In reality, that was not freedom. The men who paid bond for girls also turned them to sex objects in their private houses,” she said.

     

    The road to prison

    Maryanne explained that her desperation to travel abroad in search of greener pasture was not to engage in prostitution but to work as a house help or factory hand, since she has no academic qualification.

    But she had been sold to prostitution and she needed money to pay for her freedom from the traffickers’ den. For weeks, Maryanne said she refused to ‘hustle.’

    She called her mother back home and explained her ordeal in Libya. But there was nothing her mother could do to salvage the situation. To negotiate her freedom, Maryanne’s mother was conditioned to pay N2.4 million into a Nigerian bank account. Since she could not get the money, she told her daughter to agree with the terms of freedom given to her by her boss.

    “When I told them I could not participate in prostitution, they asked me to pay LYD 9,400 which was the money paid to Kelly for selling me to them. I told the traffickers to look for Kelly and get back their money. They told me he had already used the money to pay for his trip to cross to Italy.

    “They said the only option I had to live in Libya was to hustle, so that I could pay back the money. When I declined, they locked me up in a room and beat me seriously. They threatened to kill me and dump my body in a latrine. I called my mother back home and explained what I was facing.

    “Since there was no means my mother and I could pay back the money, I succumbed to their wish. I started hustling and I was getting money daily to pay back the boss. I was sleeping with, at least, four men a day. Sometimes, if there were many clients, I could sleep with more than five men. We were given drugs and other substances to boost our sexual activities. This is what I was doing to for almost a year after I arrived in Tripoli.

    “When I almost completed the bond payment, my mother went to borrow N200,000 and sent to the boss, so that she could allow me to go. When this was done, they told me I still had a balance of LYD500 (N128,000) left.”

    When Kelly got to know about Maryanne’s ordeal, he called the traffickers from his base in Italy and requested to speak to her.

    “Kelly apologised for selling me into prostitution. He told me he needed the money at that time to cross to Italy through the Mediterranean Sea. He told me he would send LYD1,000 (N257,000) from Italy to the boss for my freedom. The woman deducted the balance I owed and gave me LYD500, telling me I was free to go. This was after about 11 months after I had been paying for the bond,” she said.

     

    Freedom to nowhere

    Released from the traffickers’ den, Maryanne dreamed of starting a new life. She contemplated moving to other parts of Libya to look for job as a house help in order to earn decent living. But the lure of crossing the Mediterranean to Italy set in once again.

    She said: “I went straight to the sea side, with the intention to cross to Italy by the ocean.” But unknown to her, she had been set up for arrest by the traffickers. As she attempted to join a group of migrants to the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, she was picked up by Libyan immigration officers.

    She said: “I was locked up in a prison, where I spent four months. I lost communication with my mother and child back home. They thought I had died in Libya since I could not be reached anymore.”

    Relief came for her when an Arab lady came to the prison to arrange for the bail of six Nigerian girls in the immigration’s detention facility.

    “I was one of the six girls she bailed out of detention. When she got us out of prison, the Arab woman promised to help us get factory work. She requested that we follow her to her private residence in Tripoli. When we got to her house, she locked us up in a car garage and said each of us must pay her LYD4,000 (N1,028,300). We were shocked,” Maryanne said.

    She added: “She called some Arab boys to beat us with all manners of materials. I got across to Kelly in Italy and told him my experience. Kelly spoke to the Arab woman and said he would pay the money on my behalf.”

    About a month late, Kelly did not send the money as promised. But, a Ghanaian national paid the Arab woman LYD 6,000 (N1.5 million) to free two girls, excluding Maryanne. The Arab woman, Maryanne said, held on to them and locked them up in a garage without bed.

     

    Freedom at last

    Maryanne and the three remaining captives eventually escaped from the garage at midnight, when they discovered the iron-gate was loosely shut.

    Maryanne said: “One of us got up at midnight and saw that the gate was not properly shut. She woke us up and said we needed to escape. As we ran out from the compound, the Arab woman woke up. She alerted some local militia members. They ran after us with vehicles and guns. We ran into an empty shop where we hid till the next day. We escaped from the area at dawn.”

    Maryanne said she had no choice order than to engage in prostitution to get money.

    “We were stranded and homeless. We needed to buy phones and clothes. I did not have any money with me. One of the girls with whom I escaped took us to Connection House (a parlance for brothel) owned by her Ghanaian boyfriend. We engaged in prostitution at the Connection House to raise money for our trip to Italy through the Mediterranean Sea,” she said.

    While working as commercial sex workers at the Connection House, Maryanne and her newfound friends made money without having to pay her boss. The only ‘tax’ they paid was given to the owner of the brothel, where they resided.

    However, when they thought their tribulations had ended, Maryanne and her fellow adventurers came under regular police and armed robbery attacks in the brothel. They were dispossessed and robbed of the money and other valuables during a night raid by the police.

    She said: “The police raid was fatal. After they collected our phones and money, they went to male section of the brothel and killed some of the boys, claiming that they were dealing in cocaine and hard drugs. They took all the money found in the rooms. They arrested the rest of us and took us to Abu Salim Prison. They asked us to bring LYD2,000 (N514,000) each to regain our freedom. I was there for months before a Nigerian man came and bailed four of us.”

     

    Back in captivity

    Two months later, Maryanne and five other girls were bailed out of the Abu Salim Prison in Tripoli by a Nigerian man simply identified as Alhaji, at the rate of LYD2,000 each, the latter promised to help them secure decent jobs and rebuild their lives. He took them to Abu Salim Rubbish, a slum close to the prison.

    “When we got to his house, Alhaji said we would need to pay him double of the money he paid for our bail. He told us not to bother about the work he promised. He said he purposely bailed us out of the prison to help us serve clients who usually look for Nigerian girls to sleep with.

    “He gave us rooms where men would sleep with us for a fee. We had no option but to agree to Alhaji’s terms. The clients would pay Alhaji directly and come in to have sex with us. We did not make enough money because Alhaji told the clients not to show any appreciation after having sex with us. But some of them would still give us money.

    “When I finished the repayment, I left Alhaji’s house and moved to another area called Garage. The slum is populated mostly by black Africans. I went there to start hustling, so that I could get money to pay my way to Italy.”

     

    Perilous cruise to Italy

    When she found out it would cost her LYD700 to travel to Italy by boat, Maryanne doubled her ‘hustle’. Having gone through hell in Tripoli, she was determined to risk anything in order to reach her dreamland and start a new life.

    She joined a herd of Mediterranean Sea-bound migrants to Italy. She said migrants were laid on the floor of the buses taking them through the Libyan border of Zuhara, from where they would join boats on a four-hour journey to the Italian shoreline through the high sea.

    It was not a free ride to the sea. The buses were stopped for inspections by the border police thus the migrants were expected to contribute money to bribe the policemen at the border for easy access to the sea.

    Each migrant paid LYD300 (N77,000) to the Libyan drivers who drove them to the Mediterranean Sea. The drivers gave kickbacks to the border police to allow them free passage.

    “When we got to the shoreline, all of us who were migrating to Italy came down and we were handed over to Gambian boat owners, who ferried us across the Mediterranean Sea to the Italian shoreline. We paid LYD700 each for the boat ride.

    If the boat owners were Libyans, the fare could be less because the Libyan border police were not allowed to collect from their citizens.

    “When we got close to the shoreline, we were asked to jump into the ocean with poorly inflated lifejackets and tubes. They said we should hide our mobile phones, because the Italian rescue team would turn back the boats to Libya if they discovered our phones. We were told to send distress signal to the Italian rescue team when we got to the shoreline.”

    Luck however, ran out on Maryanne when the boat she was in, was arrested by the Italian water patrol police. The boat was led back to Libya and the migrants fled to avoid being arrested by the Libyan police.

    Maryanne disclosed that desperate nursing mothers and pregnant women embarked on the dangerous journey regularly because Italian authorities considered pregnancy and infants as part of the conditions to fast-track issuance of legal permits to the refugees in Italy.

    Maryanne said it was common occurrence for migrant-laden boats to be attacked midstream by pirates. “They took the engines and watched the vessels capsize with migrants onboard.

    After her failed trip to Italy, Maryanne returned to Garage to continue hustling. But at that time, Libyans had started killing black Africans.

    “Many people were killed. It was God who saved me from being killed during the riot. It was there that I was arrested and taken to the deportation camp. I was deported back to Nigeria in May.”

     

    An odyssey of regrets

    The last time she set her eye on her daughter was in 2013 when she left Nigeria through Niger Republic. Her daughter is now six, but she barely recognised Maryanne. Yet she couldn’t go home after she was deported from Libya due to the shame of returning empty-handed.

    She said: “I had thought I would come back and take my baby when I eventually get to Italy and things become rosy for me. I regret ever embarking on the journey. Kelly told my mother he was taking me to Libya from where we would cross to Italy. This is why my mother allowed me to go with him.”

     

    ‘More pain, no gain’

    Maryanne, who is now working as a sales girl in a local restaurant in Lagos, still has the ambition to travel out of the country for greener pasture. But she wouldn’t reenact her Libyan experience.

    “I don’t want to go through what I experienced in Libya again in my life. I will tell you the truth about my plan. I still have ambition to travel out of this country. I don’t think I can make it in Nigeria because of the hardship I have been facing since I was a teenager. I don’t think I can stay in Nigeria. I will travel to Europe if I see the opportunity.”

     

     

     

     

  • Fed Govt, Chinese firms sign $5.8b Mambilla 3050mw contract

    The Federal Government and three Chinese firms have signed the contract for the 3,050 megawatts (mw) Mambilla hydropower project valued at $5.792 billion (about N2.096 trillion) in Mambilla, Sarduana Local Government Area of Taraba State.

    Speaking at the signing in Abuja, Power, Works & Housing Minister Babatunde Raji Fashola said the “Federal Executive Council ( FEC) on August 30, 2017, approved the award of the turnkey EPC contract of the project to Messrs CGGC- SINOHYDRO-CGOC joint venture in the sum of $5.792,497,062.00”.

    “The draft contract agreement was later cleared for signing by the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.”

    The minister said at a bilateral parley between President Muhammadu Buhari and People’s Republic of China on government to government cooperation to execute the project got a clear reaffirmation of Chinese financing using Chinese contractors.

    Fashola noted that following a series of negotiation, the joint venture revised its offer three times before final offer price of $5,792,497,062.00 exclusive of taxes and duties with completion period of 72 months.

    According to him, the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) has reviewed the ministry’s request and granted a Due Process of No Objection in the sum of $5,792,497,062.00 in favour of JV that includes compensation, land acquisition and resettlement.

    Fashola said that the Federal Government will provide 85 per cent ($4,923,622,502.70) out of the contract price of $868,874,556.30 as counterpart fund.

    He said the scope of the works include: four large dams (Nya Sumsum, Nghu and Api Weir), two underground power house of 12 units of 250mw each, two numbers of 330KV of 700km transmission lines to Makurdi and Jalingo, 120 kilometres access roads connecting the project site and nearby communities and resettlement of 100,000 impacted persons.

    The minister noted that the preliminary feasibility study was carried out by Moto Columbus in 1972.

    He added that between 1981 and 1985, Diyam Consultants with Binnie and partners carried out another preliminary study, where recommendation of 3960MW capacity was recommended.

    Fashola said in April 2005, Messrs Lahmeyer International of Germany carried out detailed bankable feasibility study and the report of 2006 recommended rate peak capacity of 2,600MW with an estimate generation of 4,600GWh per annum after review of the previous studies.

    According to him, in April 2007, following selective tender, FEC awarded the Engineering, Procurement and Construction of the civil works/hydraulics component of the project to Messrs CGGC/CGC.

    But, the minister noted that a dispute prevented the execution of CGGC/CGC contract.

    Thereafter, in December 2011, FEC awarded the consultancy services to Messrs Coyne et Bellier Decrwon/WADSCO JV consultants to further review the two previous studies based on new hydrology, geology investigation and recommended 3,050MW, which consists of four dams namely: Nya Sumsum, Nghu and Api Weir with annual generation of 5,391GWh to be implemented for six years plus defective lability period.

    Fashola signed the contracts agreement on behalf of the Federal Government. The representatives of the Chinese firms, who signed for their organisations include: Yong Jun for China Gezhouba Corporation, Gan Yongskiv for Sinohydro Corporation Ltd and Ye Shijing for CGOC Group Ltd.

  • Why oil revenue is not sustainable, by Adeosun

    Why oil revenue is not sustainable, by Adeosun

    To Finance Minister Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, it makes no sense to run the economy with its estimated 180 million population solely on oil. She says it is illogical to rank Nigeria among the traditional oil economies when the sector accounts for just 10 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). In her article, entitled: “All change!!! Nigeria is not an oil economy”, the minister explains the need to urgently mobilise revenue from other sources, including taxation.

    Descriptions of Nigeria’s economy often include such phrases as ‘Africa’s largest oil producer’ and ‘the oil rich African nation’ but oil economies are typically characterised by low population densities and abundant oil resources.

    Saudi Arabia, with 10 million barrels of oil per day and 30 million people, Kuwait, with 2.7 million barrels of oil per day and four million people and Qatar, with 1.5 million barrels of oil per day and 2.5 million people are typical of such.

    These economies pursued an economic model that was built around a large government dependent almost entirely on oil revenue for funding. Such economies could afford to have low, or in some cases, no domestic revenue mobilisation, in the form of taxes. Tax to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratios of less than 10 per cent against the OECD average of 34.6 per cent could be justified especially in the era of high oil prices.

    For over three decades, Nigeria pursued this model. But things are changing, with the election of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, who was propelled into office under the mantra of ‘Change’. That clamour for change, in the areas of governance, security and economy, coincided with the collapse of global oil prices and a consequent huge deficit in government revenues.

    These circumstances provided the ingredients for an overhaul of the entire economic model.  The first and rather numbing conclusion of that exercise was that Nigeria is not actually an ‘oil economy’. With just two million barrels of oil per day and over 180 million people, simple mathematics tells us that 90 Nigerians share a barrel of oil compared to three Saudis, 1.44 Kuwaitis and 1.69 Qataris. With oil at just 10 per cent of GDP, Nigeria simply does not fit into the mould of the traditional oil economies.

    Interestingly, even nations who did legitimately fit into this narrow mould of high oil revenues and low populations, are abandoning what is now considered to be a flawed model. Thus, the imperative for Nigeria was even more urgent. Nigeria recalibrated its target peer group from the oil economies to the ‘oil plus’ economies such as Mexico and Egypt. This new peer group has diversified economies and tax to GDP ratios of 20 per cent and 16 per cent respectively, compared to Nigeria’s six per cent.

    Consequently, the change mantra had to be urgently applied to revenue mobilisation. Analysis of the data suggests that revenue mobilisation is potentially the master key to unlocking Nigeria’s huge growth potential by funding its ailing infrastructure including roads, power and rail.

    A cursory look at the effective tax rates paid by the huge multinational and local operators, as well as the data on illicit financial flows, indicates a pattern of systematic tax evasion at all levels.

    Recent statistics released by the Federal Ministry of Finance showed that Nigeria has just 14 million active tax payers from an economically active base of 70 million. Over 95 per cent of these are salary earners in the formal sector, just 241 persons paid personal income taxes of N20m ($65,573.77) in 2016.

    Taxing the high net worth and Nigeria’s huge community of entrepreneurs constitutes a critical but yet attainable target. The statistics for corporate tax payment shows the debilitating effects of base erosion and profit shifting as well as abuse of an overly generous tax incentive and duty waiver system.

    The historical government apathy towards revenue mobilisation is one of the effects of the mistaken identity that saw Nigeria perceive itself as an oil economy.

    This administration is determined to correct this identity crisis and all its concomitant effects.

    In that spirit, we launched an ongoing and well received, tax amnesty, ‘The Voluntary Asset and Income Declaration Scheme’ (VAIDS) is affording a nine-month window for Nigerian tax payers (both corporate and individual), to regularise their tax status in exchange for a guarantee of no interest, penalties, tax investigation or further audit. This amnesty follows successful initiatives in a number of countries, where tax evasion is a problem, such as Indonesia, Argentina, South Africa and India.

    It has been programmed to end just as the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEoI), which will provide Nigerian tax authorities with unprecedented levels of information on offshore assets, becomes effective.

    The initial signs suggest that Nigerians are responding positively to the new revenue narrative. Despite the emergence from a recession, tax revenues are showing early signs of growth. The Value Added Tax (VAT) shows 18.97 per cent year-on-year improvement. Over 800,000 companies, including some government contractors, that have never paid taxes have already been identified and are being audited. This is an unprecedented initiative that entails cooperation between federal and state governments. The Federal Ministry of Finance has also commenced a database project that combines data from the various arms of government, including bank records, property and company ownership, and customs records to create accurate profiles of those liable to pay taxes. The ministry has also placed one of the world’s premier private investigation agencies on retainership to trace overseas assets.

    Changing the Nigerian economic psyche is not an easy task. By its nature, tax mobilisation risks the popularity of any government, but the present administration understands that the short-term lure of political expediency must give way to the long-term best interests of Africa’s largest economy. Her energetic, young and growing population are deserving of the chance to experience a truly transformed, sustainable and growing economy.

  • Lagos revokes NBC, NSE water treatment licenses

    Lagos revokes NBC, NSE water treatment licenses

    The Lagos State government has revoked the licenses of water and wastewater treatment plants of Nigerian Bottling Company (NBC) Plc, Agidingbi, Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), WEMA Bank Plc, Awolowo Way, Ikoyi and Ocean Parade Tower, Banana Island, Ikoyi.

    The Executive Secretary, Lagos State Water Regulatory Commission, Ahmed Kabiru Abdullahi, made this known during an endorsement to some of the service providers. Abdullahi said the licenses were revoked following the non-compliance with the state water law, noting that the rate at which untreated wastewater was being discharged into the drains and water bodies in the state must be brought under control.

    He said: “A situation where service providers will refuse to comply with regulations and continually operate boreholes illegally without boreholes permits, abstract water without relevant licenses and discharge untreated wastewater without certified wastewater facilities, would no longer be tolerated.

  • Behind the waning militant activities in Niger Delta

    Behind the waning militant activities in Niger Delta

    IT came first as a hint from the Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Mr. Nsima Ekere. He had told the gathering at an event at the corporate headquarters of the commission on Aba Road in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, that a self-styled General and former leader of one of the militant groups in the Niger Delta, Paul Eris a.k.a. Ogunboss had become a big time farmer and owner of a large rice farm in his Peremabiri community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, Bayelsa State.

    And that much would later be confirmed by Ogunboss himself who disclosed in an interview that he had become the Chief Executive Officer of Tanko’s Farms, an initiative he said was meant to create employment for the teeming population of jobless youths in the region, reduce violent crimes on the waterways of Bayelsa State and boost commercial rice production with an eye to making the nation self-reliant in terms of food.

    On account of this avowed mission, Ekere pledged the resolve of the NDDC to support Ognuboss and other people with similar initiatives in order to ensure the sustainable development of the oil-rich Niger Delta region and adequate empowerment of its people.

    But Ogunboss is not alone in the decision of former Niger Delta militants to jettison militancy and toe the path of responsible leadership. The leader of the Niger Delta Vigilance Movement, ‘General’ Ateke Tom, popularly called Godfather, who was at the forefront of militancy in the Niger Delta with his daring freedom fighters, recently became the the Amayanabo (king) of his Okochiri-Okrika community in Okrika LGA, Rivers State. His choice as community leader, it was gathered, was largely informed by his philanthropic gestures, peace-building efforts and empowerment of the youths in the area.

    Prior to his being declared wanted by the Federal Government for alleged fraud, another former militant leader in Delta State, High Chief Government Ekpemupolo a.k.a. Tompolo had also jettisoned militancy and was believed to be attracting development to his area and empowering many people, especially youths.

    A few years ago, a former leader of the Niger Delta People’s Volunteer Force (NDPVF) and former President of Ijaw Youth Council (IYC), Alhaji Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, an indigene of Buguma in Asari-Toru LGA of Rivers State, was at the forefront of militant activities in the Niger Delta region. He had taken over the creeks with his “boys” and confronted the Federal Government for refusing to develop the Niger Delta while Chief Olusegun Obasanjo held sway as the President of Nigeria, thereby reducing crude oil production and greatly inhibiting revenue generation.

    He was later arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) and detained in Abuja for many months. His arrest heightened tension and led to vandalization of more oil pipelines, increase in illegal bunkering and formation of the dreaded Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which was coordinating the activities of the militants.

    Asari was later released by the Federal Government, following which he decided to relocate to Benin Republic where he established a highbrow university.

    Many other ‘Generals’ were also involved in militancy in the Niger Delta, mainly to bring the plight of their people and underdevelopment in the region to the fore and attract development to the hitherto neglected part of the country.

    The Genesis

    Militancy in the Niger Delta began with agitations by the youths for resource control and commensurate development of the region. But it was later hijacked by criminals for pecuniary benefits, especially kidnapping for ransom and stealing crude oil in exchange for arms and ammunition with international collaborators across the Atlantic Ocean.

    The situation became so bad that five young boys with some locally-made guns would come together, establish a camp for militancy, appoint one of them as ‘General’ and start breaking pipelines and kidnapping expatriates for ransom. And when the militants could no longer see expatriates to kidnap, they started to seize Nigerians, demanding ridiculously high sums as ransom, thus making life unbearable for fellow citizens and causing them untold hardship.

    Simultaneously as ragtag militants harassed innocent citizens, the more coordinated “generals” continued to cause unrest and uncertainty in the Niger Delta and other parts of Nigeria.

    At the height of militancy about 10 years ago, the then militant leader, ‘General’ Ebikabowei Victor Ben a.k.a. Boyloaf, hosted some top Federal Government officials in his camp in the creek of Southern Ijaw LGA of Bayelsa State to discuss how peace could be restored in the Niger Delta. The reporter was part of the Federal Government’s entourage. But as they approached the militants’ camp in two speed boats, scores of gun-wielding warlords in army camouflage appeared in four speed boats with high-capacity engines and encircle the visitors, shooting sporadically in the air and into the river. It was only when one of Boyloaf’s commanders had identified the leaders of the team, a Bayelsan, that the shooting subsided.

    But there was a mild drama when they sighted a woman among the visitors. The militants did not only deny her access to the camp, they returned her in one of their speedboats to a nearby riverine community, where she waited till the end of the visit.

    The highly-fortified Boyloaf’s camp had many well-educated youths who went into militancy mainly because there were no employment opportunities even though some of them had master’s degrees.

    Right inside the expansive camp of Boyloaf was a big television set with direct satellite television facility to monitor events around the world and listen to news and monitor Nigerians who abused or insulted them. Brand new speed boat engines each costing about N500,000 and many AK-47 rifles, sub-machine guns and other sophisticated weapons were also on display in the camp.

    While waiting in Boyloaf’s living room in the camp as the Federal Government’s officials were having peace talks with the militant leader in another room, one of the hefty militants decided to point a sub-machine gun with a long chain of ammunition round his neck and body, to an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) in uniform (name withheld), who had accompanied the team. The senior police officer almost melted on his seat for fear of being killed.

    It took the intervention of one of Boyloaf’s senior commanders for the gun to be moved away from the head of the ACP, who was not comfortable throughout the visit to the camp while the few journalists who were part of the team and were accustomed to seeing the militants in action were in a relaxed mood.

     

    Ugly experience

    Visiting a militants’ camp is always a Herculean task. A trusted journalist on a visit to the creeks would have to receive instructions through his mobile phone on how to move or join various speedboats, before the “Generals” would eventually give directives to their commanders to grant access.

    The militants had threatened to inhibit the production of crude oil and gas if there was no commensurate development in the Niger Delta by the Federal Government and the multinational oil companies; a feat they accomplished with the bombing of pipelines, illegal bunkering, illegal refining and other criminal activities. The situation became unbearable when the late President Umaru Yar’Adua was at the helm of affairs, causing the administration to on June 25, 2009 proclaim a 60-day unconditional amnesty for militants in the Niger Delta.

    On the strength of the amnesty, many of the militants surrendered large cache of arms and ammunition, gunboats, speed boats, dynamites and other dangerous weapons. They also surrendered military and police uniforms as well as other items that were later destroyed.

    In return, the Federal Government pledged to institute programmes to help the ex-agitators’ disarmament, demobilisation and rehabilitation, and to provide reintegration assistance. It also said that the amnesty programme would contribute to security stabilisation in the Niger Delta.

    Most of the repentant militants are being trained in various skills, while many of them are given opportunities to further their studies in Nigeria and overseas, some of them graduating with First Class. The 30,000 repentant militants are also receiving monthly stipends, although with complaint that some of their leaders were short-changing them.

    A former Managing Director of NDDC, Chief Timi Alaibe, was appointed as the Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), and he tried his best to return peace to the region, leading to sudden increase in crude oil and gas production.

    Alaibe was succeeded by a former member of Ondo State House of Assembly, Kingsley Kuku, who is receiving medical attention overseas for an undisclosed ailment but has also been declared wanted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for alleged fraud.

    The current Special Adviser to the President on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, Brig.-Gen. Paul Boroh (rtd), recently revealed that more than 10,000 youths would be recruited to protect oil installations in the region.

    Boroh, who said the decision was a fall-out of recent interaction between the then Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, and leaders of the Pan Niger-Delta Forum (PANDEF), also disclosed that the Federal Government had invested huge sums in the programme.

    New peace efforts

    Considering the need for sustained peace in the Niger Delta for steady crude oil production, the Federal Government decided to begin quick impact projects, particularly in the creeks of the region. Boroh, while recently making the disclosure, named the oil-bearing communities of Gelegele and Gbaramatu Kingdom in Edo and Delta states respectively, as some of the immediate beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s programme.

    He also hinted that the presidential amnesty office had begun the training of no fewer than 200 youths at the Samson Siasia-run Sia One Academy, to extend the frontiers of peace in the region, through sporting activities like football, boxing, weightlifting and track events.

    The amnesty coordinator is also advocating a shift from crude oil to agriculture.

    He said: “As an officer in the army, I took to farming, believing that it is the future of the country and that on a personal level, I could better sustain my family. Our lands are so fertile that I did not need much fertiliser. The inputs were minimal and the yields were much. Our climate, by God’s grace, is predictable. It rains when it should rain and the sun shines when it should. So, why not take advantage of what nature has freely given us as Nigerians?

    “When in July 2015, His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, appointed me Special Adviser on Niger Delta and Coordinator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme, I had the primary responsibility of streamlining the programme and transforming it back on track, working for peace in the Niger Delta and sustainably reintegrating some 30,000 amnesty beneficiaries back into society.

    “Although, we have various integration programmes, which include education, vocational training, professional training in aviation and maritime, automobile engineering, entrepreneurial training and tourism and hospitality, I had no doubt that the best way to integrate such a huge number of beneficiaries quickly and sustainably, is through aquaculture and agriculture.”

    Boroh also believes that investment in agriculture would require a lot of planning and painstaking implementation, stressing that like other programmes, he and members of his team had to conceptualise, plant, culture and water the ideas to the germination and harvest stages.

    He said: “Agriculture creates mass sustainable jobs and empowerment. Advanced technology and high yield varieties ensure good harvest. Costs can be drastically reduced by building locally fabricated integrated feed mills, which rely entirely on local products. Our country of over 180 million people is a huge market in itself and additionally, the West African region provides a market that is more or less limitless.

    “Taking to agriculture, Nigeria is moving towards food self- sufficiency and security. I am happy at the level of enthusiasm for agriculture among amnesty beneficiaries. The Presidential Amnesty Office has trained and begun to empower amnesty beneficiaries in crop farming, fishery and poultry.

    “As at June, 2017, 1,000 amnesty beneficiaries across the nine oil producing states are being trained in agriculture and will be empowered to establish their own farms. The training in agriculture is designed as a full value chain, from farming, production, processing, packaging, marketing to agri-business management.

    “Some leaders of the amnesty beneficiaries have bought our argument that building houses is not sustainable, as they have to be serviced and maintained. But in contrast, taking to agriculture is a money-yielding venture. Many of them have been brought into the agriculture revolution.”

    The amnesty coordinator also described crude oil as a wasting asset, stressing that it might dry up in the foreseeable future. But he believes that agriculture would enrich all Nigerians, calling on the citizens to start with the basic policy of eating only what they grow and growing what they eat, and insisting that change should begin with each person.

    He admonished amnesty beneficiaries to take advantage of the Federal Government’s focus on agriculture, including the liberal loans like the Central Bank’s Anchor Borrowers Programme and those of the Bank of Industry.

    He said: “In spite of the financial challenges, the Amnesty Office in 2016 trained 208 beneficiaries in agriculture, 59 as pilots and aeronautical engineers, 120 in automobile, 70 in electronics and 80 in Plastic Technology, 146 beneficiaries were trained in Maritime, 36 in Scaffolding/Rigging, 25 in Transformer Repairs and Maintenance, 70 in ICT and 63 in Heavy Duty Equipment.

    “In education, a total of 1,135 amnesty beneficiaries graduated from foreign and local universities, with 34 of them graduating with First Class and 105 in Second Class Upper Division.”

    The special adviser on Niger Delta also lauded the people of the Niger Delta for keying into the peace and development programmes of President Buhari in the region.

    Only last week, 200 ex-militants graduated from the Innoson-Kiara Academy, Nnewi in Anambra State, as part of the Batch-B graduation, and they underwent nine months intensive course in automobile manufacturing, engineering and maintenance. The ex-agitators presented three vehicles: 18-seater bus, 4 x 4 wheel truck and a 32-seater bus, which they assembled from the scratch to the finish.

    Coordinator of the presidential amnesty programme, during the graduation of the former warlords, stated that they had made President Buhari and the Federal Government proud in their performance during the training.

    In 2016, the same academy trained 120 ex-militants in automobile technology and 80 others in plastic manufacturing, while the first batch manufactured a 32-seater bus and various plastic products as part of their coursework.

    In spite of the efforts of the Federal Government, through the Presidential Amnesty Office and other initiatives, however, some youths of the Niger Delta are still going into militancy, mostly for pecuniary benefits.

  • MIXED GRILL of kudos, knocks …as traders, artisans relive post-recession experience

    MIXED GRILL of kudos, knocks …as traders, artisans relive post-recession experience

    THE apathy that characterised the celebration of the nation’s independence celebration last year as a result of the economic situation and its concomitant effects on social life appear to have given way for a more vivacious celebration tomorrow. At this time last year, it was lamentation galore as exchange rate rose astronomically, causing many business concerns in the formal and informal sectors to prune down their staff or even close businesses completely. Prices of goods and services skyrocketed making it difficult for many breadwinners to put food on the table for their families. Consequently, feelings of hopelessness and despair enveloped the land, resulting in the heightening of anti-social activities.

    But after some time, the darkness and frustration that enveloped the land began to ebb as the naira gradually appreciated in value. The recession which pundits predicted would not abate until about a decade reduced significantly in less than a year. The dollar, which had exchanged for close to N500, fell to about N360. With this, the prices of goods and services began to come down. Electricity supply also witnessed significant improvement in many parts of the country, rising to all-time height of about 7,000 megawatts.

    Mrs. Adedun Toriola, a hair-dresser based in Egbeda area of Lagos, says she has had every cause to smile in the last one or two months because of improved power supply, which she says has helped her business to a certain extent.

    She said: “In the last one or two months, power supply has improved at least relatively. We now have light for hours in a day, which was not the case before. So, I use less of generator these days. Before now, I used to buy fuel every day. But now, I have discovered that the quantity of fuel I was using for a day could last for four or five days. Because of that, my business is stabilising and my customer base is rising by the day. I just pray that power continues to improve.

    Toriola implored the government to work on other areas of the economy like prices of foodstuffs.

    “We heard that we are already out of recession, but it is like some people are not helping the government. If the value of the naira has improved like we have seen in recent times, market women should reciprocate by bringing down the prices of foodstuffs such as beans, yam, and soup condiments. The price of rice has reduced, so also is that of garri. But they can still go down further,” she added.

    Her colleague on Aborisade Street, Lawanson, Lagos, Mrs. Bola Adewusi, also told The Nation that improvement supply of electricity had rubbed off positively on her business.

    She said: “I think ours is one of the areas in Lagos that are lucky to have good power supply. I no longer need to fuel my generators and my customers are now relaxed, knowing that they won’t have to pay extra fee unlike the time I depended entirely on generator to power the dryer and other machines. However, I still want to plead with our government to help us. The cost of weave-ons and relaxers is expensive. Now more people are going on natural hair and it is not good for our business.”

    Another respondent, a caterer based in the same area, Mrs. Olutoyin Aduloju, echoed the same line, saying that the relative improvement in the supply of electricity has had a positive effect on her catering business.

    “Before now,” she said, “I was spending an average of N4,000 daily to fuel my big generator. If you factor this to the cost of other inputs like flour, icing sugar, baking powder, yeast, egg, butter and others, you can see that the cost is much. And if we pass it to the customers, it will be unbearable. So, we bear a lot for the customers.

    “But now that power supply is improving, it is a lot of relief, the amount of money I used to spend to fuel my generator daily is what I spend weekly now. And if things improve, we will be happy.”

    A beer parlour operator in Isolo area of Lagos State, Tony Eluoha, said: As you can see, the whole place is filled. Recession does not seem to dampen the capacity of Nigerians to have a good time with the little they have. I know many have reduced the number of bottles of beer that they consume, but they still patronise us as you can see.

    “I am really happy with the improved power situation. It has generally reduced the cost of running this place. A large chunk of the money we spend to keep this place lively is on power. I know how much I spend daily on power. So, with the improved electricity generation, we have been able to reduce our expenditure. I pray this continues. Go round this area, many of these small businesses are experiencing some positives.”

    A mobile tailor, Abubakar Sanni, said he had witnessed a lot of improvement in his business in the last one year. According to him: “This year, after work, I usually have a reasonable amount of money with me. The cattle that I am rearing in the village are doing well. Even we humans are getting food and meat better than we did last year,” he said.

     

    Calls for price control in Ekiti

    Respondents in Ekiti State also expressed delight with the improvement in power supply brought about by the increase in the megawatts of electricity generated from the national grid. Ado-Ekiti and other towns and villages now enjoy steady electricity and this has rubbed off positively on businesses, economic and social activities.

    A welder in Ado-Ekiti, Mr. Femi Ogidan, said: “We thank God for the improved supply of power in the past few months. For about one and a half years or close to two years before now, power outages rendered me idle in my shop. I would open for business hoping to receive customers, but lack of electricity would render me idle and this made it difficult for me to feed my family and perform other responsibilities. But we want to thank God for the improved power supply that we enjoy now. My business has picked up and I am now making money because I am getting more jobs now.”

     

    Calls for price control in Ekiti

    A shop owner in Ikere-Ekiti, Miss Tolulope Adewumi, recalled that the recession period was very tough for her business. But she said that things were gradually picking up with improved power supply.

    She said: “You know business activities revolve around stable electricity and poor power supply really affected us, coupled with the irregular payment of workers’ salaries.

    “I sell beverages and other things that are kept in the refrigerator. If power is not regular, that is bad business. But we are getting over it and business is now improving.

    “I was happy when I heard in the news that Nigeria was getting out of recession. I believe that very soon, it will make prices of goods and services come to come down. I am hopeful that things will still get better than this.”

    A restaurant operator in Ado-Ekiti, Mrs. Dupe Omoniyi, while expressing joy on Nigeria’s exit from recession, tasked government to enforce strict price control in the markets, describing the Ekiti State capital as “one of the most expensive cities to live in.”

    Omoniyi said: “We have heard that Nigeria is out of recession, but we want the Federal Government to collaborate with the Ekiti State Government to set up a price control board.

    “I want them to go to our markets and bring down prices of commodities that have gone up so that they will reflect the trend of the times. Many of these market women here are merciless but they need government’s iron hand because Ado (Ado-Ekiti) is one of the most expensive places to live in,” she said.

    A barber, Ade Ologunja, was full of prayer for the Buhari-led administration. “May God bless President Muhammadu Buhari. The man is trying. We pray that God will give him wisdom to bring about the total and better change we are praying for.”

    On her part, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of First Royal Oil and chairperson of the female league of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Chief (Mrs) Rose Osipitan, said: “Well, I think the President is trying. He is really fighting corruption. Wherever there is corruption, everybody is bound to be corrupt. There is nothing you can do. But we all have to change. The change is for everybody. He as a person has tried. God will give him more strength to lead Nigeria. If I see him, I will tell him that he is trying.

    “You can see that it is getting better. The dollar was stronger than this before and the naira was in a very ridiculous situation. But things are getting better, and we pray God should give him the grace to take us to higher heights. When an economy goes bad, it affects all sectors. But I have the belief that as time goes on, things will improve.”

     

    Not yet uhuru

    In spite of the foregoing acknowledgement that of improvement in the nation’s economic fortunes, many other Nigerians believe that the Buhari government still has a long way to as far as improving the lots of Nigerians is concerned.

    One of such respondents, a barber in the Shogunle area of Lagos, who identified himself simply as Kenny Bee, believes that the pangs of economic recession have not abated.

    He said: “Although electricity has improved in my area, it has not got to that stage where it is predictable. Again, the prepaid meter that we are using is very costly for people to maintain. How can we say we are out of recession when cost of living is still high?

    “Things are more costly than they were before. Formerly with just N500, my fiancée would make a pot of soup. But that is no longer the case. Everything is now double the price. Definitely, the recession is still continuing.”

    Another artisan, Theresa Ikpe, lamented that the cost foodstuff was still on the high side.

    She said: “I took N1000 to the Arena Shopping Arcade in Oshodi (Lagos), but I could not get anything to buy. Before now, I could make a pot of okro soup with just N300, but that is no longer possible. It is Agege bread and beans that we are eating now.

    “Thank God for the Hausa people who are cultivating beans. Even garri is now expensive. It is the one with shaft that people buy and grind. Tell President Buhari that we are not out of recession. They should stop deceiving us.”

    Rume Abduliahi, a caterer, said: “As you can see, I am eating fufu and okro without meat or fish. Things are very expensive, in fact, beyond our imagination. The number of clients I used to have reduced unlike before. There is no improvement at all. We cannot eat electricity.”

     

    Transporters, hairdressers regret low patronage in Ondo

    The story is also not different in Ondo State. Artisans, commercial transporters, hairdressers and others who spoke to The Nationwere of the opinion that nothing has changed.

    According to a book seller at Old Garage, Akure, Mrs Beatrice Opeloyeru, the announcement that we are out of recession has had no impact on the masses.

    She said: “The status quo remains as it has been in the last two years of the present administration. Since schools resumed for new academic session in the state, our stationery business has remained stagnant because of paucity of funds for parents to purchase books for their wards.”

    An auto mechanic, Bisiriyu Alonge, said: “My brother, I don’t feel happy with the present situation in the country. Things are extremely bad. What are we even celebrating as independence? For me, the language of recession is not even clear to me. Life remains as it is. Prices of items continue to rise every day. I am fed up.”

    It was also a tale of woes for many people in Cross River State. An auto mechanic, Ndifereke Edo, said: “The recession is only over on paper and in the news. For Nigerians living and struggling to survive from day to day, nothing has really improved. We keep hearing that the naira is improving against the dollar, but until that translates into better life for us by the prices of things in the market coming down, it does not make any difference.

    “The price of foodstuff is still unreasonably high. I have a wife and a son, and I can tell you that before now, with N2,000, we would cook a very good pot of soup. Right now, that amount would barely get us anything reasonable. That amount now can only get you something just to pass through your throat and settle in your stomach just to stop hunger.

    “Customers are also not really coming for checks and repairs of their cars. For instance, when a customer hears a strange noise in his or her car, he would come to check it out and we make some money for ourselves. But now, until a car breaks down they will not come to you. Most times, they even park their vehicles and resort to public transport. In the end, people like us in this business suffer.

    “So now you can see that money is not coming in as it was coming in before, and prices are still very high in the market. You coming now to tell me that Nigeria is out of recession makes no sense. Which recession is that one?

    Edo’s view was shared by a trader who gave her name as Mrs. Augustina Obasi.

    Her words: Things are very much the way they were. Rice is still expensive. The price ranges from N100 to N120 in different places. Garri is the only food item that has come down. Garri now is seven cups for N200. Before now it was three cups for that same N200. Palm oil has gone up and is still up. Palm oil is now 450 per bottle from N350.

    “Chicken, which we used to buy for N1500, is now N1800. Even beef is very expensive now. Before now, you can get a sizeable piece for N300. To get that quantity now, you would spend N500 upwards. Generally, the price is still high and on the rise.

    “Even vegetable is now expensive. If they say recession has ended, I don’t know where it has ended. Because here in Calabar, I have not seen any sign that we are out of any recession. In fact, the only item whose price has come down is garri. And even at that, I would not say that six cups of garri for N200 is cheap.

    Artisans, farmers lament in Jos

    Artisans in Jos, the Plateau State capital, seemed to have a mindset of hopelessness in their respective trade and businesses. Paul Daman, an owner of a barbing salon in Zaramaganda, Jos, said: “I don’t always want to talk about Nigeria’s economy, because each time I think about it, I get angry. We were finding it difficult under the past administrations mainly because of lack of steady power supply. We keep lamenting every day in our meetings how availability of public electricity supply has put us at a disadvantage in this part of the country.

    “So, when in 2014 this very APC people started talking of change, promising that they know how to fix the country’s economy as fast as possible, we agreed that we were fed up with the old system. So we supported the change that was advocated by the APC. But when APC came to power through our votes, we enjoyed steady light for just four months. Since then, there was long period of no light.

    “The petrol we used to buy to run our generators was increased from N97 to N145. That was when our frustration began. There is no government electricity and we cannot afford fuel. We used to fill our small generator with less than N500 when the price of petrol used to be N97. But after the APC government increased it to N145, we will have N800 to buy four liters of fuel to fill our generator. At the end of the day, you burn the fuel without recovering even the running cost.

    Another respondent, Mathew Baba, said: “I’m regretting learning a work that requires the use of electricity or petrol. I would have been better off if I were a mechanic or an electrician. Who even told you that electricity supply has improved here in Jos?

    “By the way, I’m just hearing it from your mouth that recession is over. I don’t know what you mean by that. Public electricity is not be available. You can’t afford a litre of petrol. There are days I will come to shop and will not do anything from morning till night. I would wait for light to work but it would never come.

    “My colleagues who learnt other trades are faring better. I don’t like the economic programme of this government. Their style of administration has no room for the poor. If not, why did the Buhari government increase fuel from N97 to N145? If they are for the poor, why did they increase electricity bill? Why do they allow the private operators to oppress us with estimated billing?

    “Since I was born in this country close to 60 years ago, I never heard anything like recession until this ill-fated government. To me, recession is not over. If the government has any conscience at all, should they be lying over something that is real and practical?

    “Go to the market and tell the people that recession is over and see what will happen to you. In the last two years, the price of rice, beans, garri has remained the same, and somebody just woke up and told me recession is over. I don’t understand.

    A woman farmer in Bukuru, Jos South Local Government, Mary Dalyop, said: “Farmers are worse off under this administration. Fertilizer meant for farmers is only for the elite or for people identified as APC followers. There is still no access to fertiliser as a subsistent farmer like myself. We have our association, and the story is the same.

    “As a farmer, you can’t cultivate all the food you need to eat. I am not a rice farmer. If I want rice, I have to go to the market. Between 2015 and today, the price of rice has continued to increase. It started from N250 per measure, and to N600. We are now hearing the price has dropped to N500 per measure, and somebody is telling me recession is over. I will not accept that until the price returns to N250. That is when I will understand that there is no more recession.

    “Then if you come back home, we face the problems of electricity. It is this same government that increased electricity bill. It is the same government that increased the price of petrol. If government is saying recession is over, can they reduce the price of fuel to N40 as they promised us during campaign? Can government reduce the rate of electricity to where they met it? If they can’t do so, then, they are not serious by telling us recession is over. I get angry each time I hear this government telling us recession is over.”

     

    Kwara residents lament high prices

    Kwara State residents also decried what they described as worsening economic situation in the country. They argued that prices of goods and commodities were still on the high side, adding that only the price of garri had crashed.

    Speaking with The Nation in Ilorin, the state capital, a cybercafe operator, Juwon Medaiyese, said he had not seen any improvement, especially in the area of power supply.

    Medaiyese said: “I carry out my business every day using generator, and you know what that means. Indeed, the business environment in the last one year has been unfriendly in the country.”

    A petty trader in Ilorin, Rukayat Atoyebi, said prices foodstuff had yet to come down.

    “They said that Nigeria is getting out of recession and that naira has appreciated. But we have not felt the impact. We did not bargain for all this,” she said.

    An electrician, Abdulquadri Izegue, lamented the epileptic power supply in the country, saying: “I must tell you we don’t get jobs. We are not happy at all. People are hungry.”

    Also commenting, an auto mechanic, Johnson Ezekiel, said patronage had dwindled, adding that the appreciation in naira’s value had no impacted on the people. Ezekiel claimed the biting economic situation might not be unconnected with non-payment of workers’ salaries.

    “It is only when civil servants’ salaries are paid as and when due that artisans will get patronage,” he said.

     

    Hard times in Ogun

    An Abeokuta-based businessman, Abiodun Bademosi, said his life and business had not experienced any improvement as nothing had changed because of the recession.

    The 60-year-old Bademosi, a father of four who is into civil engineering and construction work in partnership with a friend, noted that the acclaimed exit of Nigeria from recession meant nothing to him and majority of Nigerians.

    He said: “I can’t remember handling any project in the last two years. No civil engineering projects. The Federal Government should look inward and make business people comfortable. I will implore the government to see into how the first and second Paris Club refunds were spent by the state governors, because it was not judiciously spent for the pensioners and salary earners.”