The Nation Newspaper

Category: Special Report

  • Revealed: New methods of examination malpractices

    Public examinations in the country are being plagued by malpractices of various hues. In this report, Shehu Olayinka goes behind the headlines to expose the tactics of the fraudsters

    ON April 23, 2018, a certain Mrs Bamidele Olateju, on her Facebook page wrote: “Let’s shutdown these websites”. The websites she was referring to were those which had allegedly posted on their sites questions and answers to the then ongoing West Africa Examinations Council School Certificate Exams (WASCE).

    The websites include: Naijaclass.com, Examcrown.com, Exponet.com, examsort.com, Gurus.com, examloaded.com. However, further scouring of other websites by our reporter revealed that these were not the only culpable ones. Others include examwide.com, easyrunz.com, waecexpo.com, examclass.net, realbase.net, guruswapaz.com, codedclass.com, Jambito.com.

    The mode of operation is not restricted to the social media platform alone. They use mobile phone text message, too.

    In carrying out their activities, they use both payments through banks or exchange of recharge cards. For instance, to get ‘expo’ on nine subjects, interested students are told what to do. Those who want to receive the ‘expo’ by SMS are charged N6500, whilst Whatsapp is N5000 and to get a password link to log into the website open-ended is N3500, depending on the websites.

    Patrons of Examcrown are charged N800 per subject for SMS/Direct. Payments are made through purchase of recharge cards. English Language, Mathematics, Further Maths go for N1000, while practicals are N600per subject.

    Grid screenshots charges charged to patrons

    In fact, Examcrown has mastered the techniques of marketing so as to get the attention of interested students. This is done through testimonies of success stories from successful candidates. These are principally done to sway students to enrol.

    On all these websites mobile numbers are listed with instructions on how to contact them.

    On a first visit to Examcrown website, visitors are met with a homepage notifying them of what to expect on the website: JAMB EXPO RUNZ, WAEC EXPO RUNZ, NECO EXPO RUNS, WAEC GCE RUNZ. This is followed by a phone number +2347032581573, for calls and messages.

    Using the social media

    Their preferred social media platform is Whatsapp. After perusing through some websites, it was discovered that Examcrown and Naijaclass (9jaclass) have the highest volume of traffic and activities than the others.

    On April 24, when Examcrown was contacted on Whatsapp by the reporter for a chat, a terse response of “no time to talk, what do you want?” was all he got.

    Preferred social media platform is Whatsapp

    The reporter responded that he needed answers for NECO 2018 exam. He immediately got a response detailing prices, processes and how to apply. The reporter didn’t respond. On May13, perhaps after noticing the silence from the reporter’s end during the WAEC exam and sensing the reporter’s distrust, a boastful message was sent to him stating that the operators of the ring have stronger connections with NECO than WAEC!

    The Whatsapp message reads, “The NECO exam answers will come earlier than WAEC. We have more people in NECO than WAEC and answers will be sent three to four hours before the start of NECO while WAEC is between one or two hours late on exam days, that won’t be repeated in NECO, we will be fast in sending our answers.”

    https://www.facebook.com/thenationng/videos/1890219611045168/

    It continued, “Our NECO runz (answers) is going to be the best. We have made contacts with our NECO officials for the question papers to be delivered on time, so as to make sure everything works perfectly.”

    On May 25, Exacrown sent the specimens for Biology, Agric, Chemistry, Physics, and Animal husbandry Practicals.

    True to their word, Theory and Objective questions for Government subject exam of May 31, was sent. Examcrown, sent the front page cover, with page 12 and 14 to the undercover reporter at 1:00pm, notifying him of having gotten the question and promising to send answers shortly. The paper was billed to start at 2:30pm – 4:40pm, according to the NECO timetable.

    Grid Screenshots of leaked NECO questions

    The front page cover of the Physics Practical to be held on June 5 at 10:00am was sent at 1:00am, which is nine hours before the examination began!

    In the same vein, the front page of NECO Economics, which was meant to start at 2:30pm and end at 5:30pm was sent to the undercover reporter at 1:34am, a clear 14 hours before the examination!!

    Chemistry Practical which was to be held on June 6 by 10:00am and end at 6:33am, was made available three hours 27 minutes before the start of the exam. This was followed by page 7, 6:35am, page 2 at 6:37am, page 3 at 6:43am and page 6 by 6:41am after sending the front cover, also with solved question answers snapped and sent at 8:24am.

    Grid Screenshots of leaked NECO questions

    Also another website operator observed and engaged was 9jaclass, which makes use of a Whatsapp business account to communicate with interested students.

    Investigation of Naijaclass using Google map, discovered that it’s based around Gwarinpa General Hospital, Abuja and using a pseudo name of Avon Nicole to perpetrate the crime.

    Its handlers location according to his leaked location is around the vicinity of  Gwarinpa General Hospital, Abuja. It is a 13 min (9.7 km) drive via ShehuYar’adua Way to NECO Abuja office, Opposite National Gallery of Arts, Usman Street, District, Utako, Abuja, FCT, Mabushi, Abuja.

    Leaked Map of Naijaclass handler location in Abuja. (google)

    On June 6, 9jaclass was notified of the reporter’s intention of wanting answers to the English question paper. A one thousand naira recharge card was sent on that date for English Language Essay, Objectives and Test of Orals.

    On June 6, Naijaclass at 6:06am replied through a text message to the reporter of the successful completion of his registration, after which on June 7, the answers to the questions were sent in a sequential order.

    Further findings revealed  that the Sim cards used by the perpetrators are always newly registered and have none of their data online, thereby making it hard for them to be traced.

    Grid screenshots from their websites

    The NYSC connection

    Further findings revealed that some perpetrators have perfected means of connecting with the coordinators of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in local government areas. They use the corps members to ease the process of cheating in some of the schools.

    According to a corps member who served in Kogi State in 2016, “The heads of schools (private and public) either Headmasters or Headmistress request for candidates, especially science teachers from NYSC. It should be noted that not all of those who request for these teachers use the corps members to perpetrate malpractices, but few are culpable,” he said.

    He added, “Though sending of specialised teachers to some schools isn’t illegal, but where I will blame NYSC is the non-supervisory roles of the Service. Truth be told, we were categorically told before leaving camp not to engage in any form of malpractice, but we were not told on how to go about it if we were accosted or who to report to if the situation arose. What they do is to have NYSC members who are good, majorly in science subjects to help candidates out by either writing for them or writing on the board. All these, happening in connivance with the examination invigilators.”

    The former corps member continued, “In my school, the proprietor was even writing for some students. You get people coming from different parts of the country to register here, because it is believed that it is a free-cheating area, far and secluded from the eyes of the examination body.

    “Who would want to go and invigilate in rural areas without good access roads and security? For registration in these kinds of areas, you pay as high as N40,000. Some schools even go higher and people pay it because it is ‘guaranteed success’.”

    Asked how much the school paid NYSC members who engaged in this act, our source said it depends on the school.

    “The kind of pay you get depends on your school. Some pay as higher as N50,000 for the whole subjects, whilst some get below that depending on the number of people who register at the school.”

    Another ex-corps member who served in one of the northern states also told our reporter of how schools use corps members to perpetrate malpractice.

    “During my service year, I was approached to help with Chemistry and Physics. That’s what goes on in these schools, especially those far from the capital. It happens everywhere across the country, because I had friends informing me of the same thing happening in their places of primary assignments.”

    Appearance and non-appearance

    Another form of examination malpractice which is commonly used is known as “appearance and non-appearance” method.

    This method is mostly used by those who are not students of a particular school or those who are in need of a clean sweep of subjects.

    An ex-perpetrator of “non-appearance” examination, who sat in three external papers for candidates, said the process is one of the best ways of examination malpractice. The culprit, whose identity is shielded because of fear of victimisation from his former colleagues and employers said, “In Zaria (Kaduna State) where I am based, there is “appearance and non-appearance” arrangements. Each has its own method of payment. In the “appearance” method the candidate sits for the examination, but he does not in case of “non-appearance”. It works as the name connotes. Though, the “non-appearance” comes with a higher charge” he said.

    “It goes for as high as N50,000 upwards for non-appearance, while appearance is not up to that amount. There is nothing serious in it, I sat three times for different candidates and it was successful,” he boasted.

    “We usually do it in the office of the examination officer, with the full knowledge and approval of the principal in public schools and heads or directors in private schools. This is what is obtain able in almost all schools in Zaria; it is not something that’s hidden.

    “During my examination year in 2006, in my hall, I saw someone with text-book who was allowed to write without being questioned, but a text-book was seized from another candidate in the same hall because he had not settled them,” he concluded.

    While Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, (JAMB) has in recent years been dealing with cases of examination malpractice, the introduction of Computer Based Test (CBT), has reduced drastically cases of examination malpractice in its exams held across the country.

    Examcrown, Naijaclass and other perpetrators boast of also having answers for JAMB questions, though JAMB Registrar, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede in an interview with reporters in Benin City on May 29, 2018, admitted to some attempts by alleged hackers in trying to breach its systems, but refuted claims that the board’s security system was breached and examination leaked.

    He said the examination body has put proactive measures in place to arrest anybody attempting to hack into its system.

    “I have not found any case of a breakthrough. No matter how clever they think they are, we are ahead of them. One of the rea sons why I led a delegation here myself is to see whether there is any evidence of breakthrough. You can ask any of the security agencies handling the matter, they will tell you.

    “We have not been able to find one case of success. What we are treating are attempts. And because we are proactive, that is why we are picking their attempts when people try to break into our BVN. They did not get any questions because our questions were not there. They were able to break into a decoy that we created and they were not able to do anything.”

    Prof. Oloyede added: “That is why we keep on promising them that if you can get us one question of ours that is genuine, we will pay you a lot. So, because we believe that we must be proactive that is why we are dealing with any attempt and once an attempt is made, we do not leave it as an attempt, we go after them and when we go after them, we arrest them.”

    NECO speaks, WAEC keeps mum

    While NECO Head of Information and Public Relations, Alhaji Azeez Sani, admitted to the malaise in a telephone interview with this reporter, all effort to get management of WAEC’s reaction to the story proved abortive.

    The reporter visited WAEC office in Yaba on June 25, 2018 to get an official reaction from it, but Demianus Ojijeogu, Head, Public Affairs, WAEC Nigeria, was said not to be around by a lady staff of the examination body.

    However, when Ojijeogu was reached through his mobile number the next day, the reporter explained his mission to him. He was asked to send his questions to Ojijeogu’s official email. This was promptly done. But nine days after, he had still not replied to the reporter’s questions (up till the point of this publication).

    On his part, the NECO PRO, Azeez said “If you go through the questions published online, you will notice it’s fake. What they normally do is to collate question papers that had been used before and post it on the internet for unsuspecting and gullible students who want easy way to success. We have been able to discover that. The way we dispatch our question papers it will be pretty difficult for anyone to say he or she has it before the commencement of the examination.”

    He added that three years ago, some fraudsters hawking fake question papers were arrested by the police, insisting that most of the questions posted online were fake.

    Azeez added, “It’s pertinent to note that the rate at which malpractice is being condoned in conducted examinations in Nigeria is alarming, shameful, embarrassing and an act that will surely meet us as nemesis in the future. Presently, companies are complaining of half-baked graduates. Surely they are all candidates and products of exam malpractices conducted in the past.”

    While the police on June 1 paraded four arrested suspects for operating illegal websites and defrauding candidates sitting for the WAEC exams, nothing has been heard of the case while other perpetrators still continue with their nefarious business.

    CSP Jimoh Moshood, the spokesman of the Police Headquarters, while parading the suspects in Abuja, said the suspects received N70,000; N90,000; N40,000 and N120,000 from people.

    The suspects included; Chijoke Modestus, Samuel Onwurah, Patrick Nwodo and Okon Joseph who operated separate syndicates. They were arrested at different locations across the country.

    Mooshod had said, “The suspects were arrested by police operatives following a petition from WAEC authorities. They had setup websites soliciting candidates sitting for the examination to pay money into their bank accounts, in exchange for the provision of worked solutions/answers to questions. They usually charged N400, for answers to subjects being taken on any particular day as the examination was in progress.”

    He added that “They lured their victims by promising to send worked solutions and answers via WhatsApp at about 20 or 30 minutes after the commencement of each paper in the process they have fraudulently and dubiously dispossessed their unsuspecting victims of their hard-earned money.”

  • I&E Forex Window: Still the game changer in forex market

    With $53.9 billion turnover in 15 months, the Investors’ and Exporters’ (I&E) Forex Window launched by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in April, last year, has surpassed stakeholders’ expectation. The window is not only a boost to forex liquidity, but to the recovery in the manufacturing sector. The June Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) report showed an upbeat in productive activities as manufacturers get more access to foreign exchange, writes COLLINS NWEZE.

    Not many investors – local and international – gave it any chance to succeed when it was introduced. But, 15 months after, the Investors’ and Exporters’ (I&E) Forex window was launched by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has attracted $53.9 billion to the economy.

    A report by FSDH Research, said that prior to the I&E Forex window introduction in April last year, the market and exchange rates were in turmoil. However, in a dramatic turn of events, the acute shortage of forex, which businesses and individuals grappled with, witnessed an unprecedented improvement, with banks and Bureaux de Change (BDCs) now desperately looking for forex buyers.

    The FSDH Research Monthly Economic and Financial Market Outlook, said  the  positive  domestic  and  external  environment  will  further lead  to  external  reserves accretion  in  the  short-term, a development the report predicted will further stabilise  the foreign exchange rate.

    It said the 30-day moving average external reserves increased by 0.36 per cent up from $47.49 billion at end-April to $47.66 billion at May 28. The month-on-month growth rate recorded in the external reserves was the lowest level since July 2017.  The pressure on demand from foreign investors  was  mainly  responsible for the low growth in the external reserves.

    “The total turnover at the Investors’ and Exporters’ FX Window (I&E Window) between April 2017 and May 2018 stood at $50.73 billion. The highest amount was recorded in January 2018. Our analysis between August 2017 and May 2018 shows that Nigeria recorded the lowest foreign exchange inflows through the I&E Window in May 2018,” the report said.

    According to the report, the  value  of  the  naira depreciated  further  at  the  inter-bank  and  parallel  markets  in May, compared with April. The demand pressure at the I&E Window occasioned by foreign  investors’  repatriation  of  their  matured  fixed  income  investments  was  largely responsible for the depreciation of the naira.

    So inclement was the business environment before the I&E Forex Window that investors were relocating to more investment-friendly environment. The development was triggered by the crash in crude oil prices that worsened the woes of the local currency.

    Besides, the local equities market and the foreign exchange (forex) market were in shambles.  The All Share Index (ALSI) was continuously shrinking and the naira weakened against other currencies, especially the dollar.

    The I&E window has become the attraction, making many of the business concerns to take another look at their exit from the country.

    The introduction of the window was followed by continuous interventions by the CBN which enabled banks and BDC operators to meet forex demand at the retail end of the market. Thus, the window has become a life-saving pill for the domestic economy as it has attracted over $20 billion into the market, enhanced transparency and made forex available to the end-users.

    The operations of companies, especially manufacturing, has been on the upward swing with an improvement in inflation figures as well as equities market performance.

    According to the CBN Director in charge of Financial Markets, Alvan Ikoku, the “Investors’ & Exporters’ FX Window” is boosting liquidity in the forex market and ensuring timely execution and settlement for eligible transactions by all parties.

    Before the stability in the forex market and naira, the economy witnessed a depressed Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, which culminated in a recession in 2016.

    “There was also rising inflation, which peaked at almost 19 per cent in January 2017 and a persistently rising unemployment rate to 14.23 per cent in 2016 fourth quarter from 6.41 per cent as at 2014 fourth quarter. There was also a significant depreciation of the exchange rate, reaching N525 to $1 in February 2017 and witnessed a fast depletion of the reserves which was drained down from about $23.6 billion in October 2016 from as high as $40 billion in January 2014.

    “The I&E Forex window, seen as a ‘willing buyer, willing-seller window’, allows foreign investors to bring in dollars into the economy at any price of their choice, provided they could find buyers at such rate. The figure at the window has also impacted positively on the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).”

    A Lagos-based economist and Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Bismarck Rewane, described the introduction of the I&E forex window as the best policy implemented by the CBN in 2017.

    Rewane noted that the naira traded flat at the forex market at N362/$ and that the CBN forex intervention in June, surpassing May by 53.8 per cent to $2.2 billion while external reserves pushed lower in June to $47.63 billion.

    He said: “Prior to this, investors were of the view that the naira was overvalued and not at a market-determined level. The I&E FX window, higher oil prices and production, and the CBN’s consistent intervention in the forex market are the main drivers of the stability and the convergence of exchange rates in Nigeria today.”

    The Global Markets Group Head at Access Bank Plc, Dapo Olagunju, said the window allows investors to sell dollars at any rate they choose and is expected to help bring investors’ confidence into the market.

    He said: “Investors/Exporters FX Window helps participants execute deals as based on their own market agreement. Today, both the dollar demand and supply sides are beginning to talk to each other and there is likely to be rate convergence soon.”

    A report by Exotic Capital, an investment and research firm, titled: ‘Fragile Recovery, Positive Outlook’, said that Nigeria’s forex regime, although still far from ideal, has begun to stabilise.

    It said: “A multiple currency regime evolved after the oil price fall in 2014 and the June 2016 devaluation of the naira, which led to a widening divergence between the official and parallel markets (the parallel market premium reached 100 per cent in January 2017.

    “The current regime has shown a vast improvement this year with the introduction of the I&E Forex window last April.”

    It said the parallel rate for the naira, in the range of N360 to N365, is nearly identical to the I&E Forex window rate, used for international investors as well as importers and exporters, and has seen close to $20 billion in cumulative transactions since its introduction.

    Commenting on the issue at the Access Bank forex seminar, Rewane stated that the creation of the this window was a good move on the part of the CBN as it will lead closer to the emergence of a Real Effective Exchange Rate (REER) for the country.

    His words: “Any measure that increases the supply of forex and the number of suppliers will help to reduce the dominance of the CBN as the major supplier of forex in the market and move us closer to the emergence of a REER. This will attract more investors and lead us closer to a perfect market.”

    Barely a month after trading at the window commenced, international credit rating agency, Fitch Ratings, released a report, stating that the establishment of the I&E Forex window had led to an improvement in banks’ forex liquidity situation.

    The naira has been stable at the official and parallel markets, with the foreign exchange (forex) reserves standing at $47.6 billion, a report by Exotic Capital, an investment and research firm, has said.

    The report said although the level of reserves was still below the record high of $64 billion realised in August 2008, it has nearly doubled the $24 billion recorded in October 2016, increasing by more than $22 billion in 17 months.

    The economy benefited from increased forex supply with over $20 billion inflow to the I&E window since inception.

    “We have written extensively on Nigeria’s multiple exchange rate system and will abstain from further discussion at present, suffice to say that a fairly valued naira at 360 to the dollar combined with high domestic rates has led to a tremendous increase in the level of gross foreign reserves held at the CBN,” the report said.

    A similar report by FBN Capital, entitled: “Towards the $50 billion threshold, and counting”, said the rapid accumulation of $15.96 billion over 12 months was due to two sizeable Eurobond launches, a small diaspora bond issue, the recovery in oil export revenues (through the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation’s share of production and, more recently, the steady bid by the CBN at the I&E Forex window.

    The FBN Capital report said: “We should stress that the data are gross and mask the swap transactions the CBN has entered into with local banks. The steady bid by the CBN has been seen variously as a response to the softening of demand for forex by importers and other economic actors, and as a move to contain naira appreciation.

    “The CBN will be pleased with the healthy signals from I&E Forex window where the weekly average has now settled above $1 billion.”

    Speaking on the issue, CBN’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor, reiterated the bank’s commitment to ensure adequate forex supply to genuine customers to achieve the goal of forex rates convergence.

    Managing Director, Afrinvest West Africa Plc, Ike Chioke, said the window has won the confidence of foreign investors. He said the window attracted foreign investors’ appetite for Nigerian assets leading to impressive appreciation in the equities market and stabilising the naira.

    Before the introduction of the window, foreign investors’ appetite for local assets waned significantly on the back of currency crisis which in turn fundamentally weakened macroeconomic performance, dragged corporate earnings and also impacted on equities market viability.

    According to the CBN spokesman, forex supply to the window shall be through portfolio investors, exporters, authorised dealers and other parties with foreign currency to exchange to naira. The apex bank is a market participant at the window to promote liquidity and professional market conduct.

    He said that the apex bank assured that the exchange rates of the transactions would be as agreed between authorised dealers and their counterparties.

    Besides, he said the regulator reserved the right to intervene as a buyer or seller, as it deems fit, in the window, even as information on transactions between authorized dealers is reported to the CBN on a daily basis. Manufacturers and other foreign exchange (forex) end-users also seem to be having a great time over the coming of the window.

    The improved access forex by local manufacturers is positively impacting on the economy as the manufacturing sector, which was in comatose for nearly two years, has been upbeat in the last four months.

    Manufacturing picks up

    The Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) of June stood at 57.0 index points, indicating expansion in the manufacturing sector for the 15th consecutive month, a CBN survey shows.

    The Manufacturing and Non-Manufacturing PMI Report on businesses is based on survey responses, indicating the changes in the level of business activities in the current month compared with the previous month.

    A composite PMI above 50 points indicates that the manufacturing/non-manufacturing economy is generally expanding, 50 points indicates no change and below 50 points indicates that it is generally contracting.

    The CBN report showed that the index grew faster in June when compared to the index in the  previous  month.

    It said:  “Of  the 14 subsectors surveyed,  10 reported growth in the review month in the following order: paper  products; furniture  &  related products; printing  &  related  support activities; food,  beverage  &  tobacco products; plastics & rubber products; electrical equipment; textile, apparel, leather & footwear; chemical & pharmaceutical products; petroleum & coal products and nonmetallic   mineral   products.

    It added: “The transportation equipment; fabricated metal products; primary metal; and cement subsectors declined in the review month.”

    The CBN report explained that at 59.2 points, the production   level index for the manufacturing sector grew for the 16th consecutive month in June. The index indicated a faster growth in   the   current   month, when compared to its level in the preceding month.

    “Ten of   the 14 manufacturing subsectors recorded increase in production level, one remained unchanged, while the    remaining three recorded declines in the production level in the month under review. At 56.2 points, the new orders index grew    for the 15th consecutive month, indicating increase in new orders in June,” it added.

    Continuing, it said eight sub-sectors reported growth, two remained unchanged while four were contracted in the review  month.

    “The manufacturing supplier delivery time index stood at 56.5 points in June, indicating slower supplier delivery time    for the thirteenth consecutive month. Eight subsectors recorded improved suppliers’ delivery time, while six remained unchanged,” it said.

    Also, the manufacturing sector inventories index grew for the 15 consecutive month in June 2018.   At 57.7 points, the index grew at a slower rate when compared to its level in the previous   month. Eleven of the 14 subsectors recorded growth, two remained unchanged while one recorded decline in raw material inventories.

    “The composite PMI for the non-manufacturing sector stood    at 57.5 points in June 2018, indicating expansion in the non-manufacturing PMI for the fourteenth consecutive month. The index grew at a faster rate when compared to that in May. Fourteen of the 17 subsectors recorded growth in the following order: repair, maintenance/washing of motor vehicles; agriculture; information & communication; professional, scientific, & technical services; finance and insurance; utilities; water  supply, sewage & waste  management; health  care  &  social  assistance; real  estate  rental  & leasing; electricity,  gas,  steam  &  air  conditioning  supply; wholesale/retail  trade; construction; management of companies; and transportation and warehousing,” it said.

    The arts, entertainment & recreation subsector remained unchanged, while   the accommodation & food   services; and educational services subsectors recorded contraction during  the period under review.

     

  • Going! Going!! Going!!! – Ikogosi hot spring project must not die

    It was conceived as a cash cow for willing investors. But the state government and other shareholders are yet to get any dividend on their investments on Ikogosi Spring Water Company. One of the shareholders, Aare Afe Babalola feels stakeholders must spare nothing to keep the dream alive. The founder of the Afe Babalola University Ado-Ekiti (ABUAD) is suggesting how to revitalize the company.

    Before the advent of the missionaries in Ekiti, we were told stories of the mythical goddess of Ikogosi where hot and cold water ooze out from the same source and at the same time. The natives worshipped the presumed goddess of Ikogosi warm spring. Pregnant women flocked Ikogosi where they applied the mysterious water to cure pregnancy problems. The warm water was used to cure guinea worms, a prevalent disease at that time. It was also used to cure eye problems, sores, body ache, stomach pain and different skin diseases.

    When the Baptist missionaries from Europe came to Ekiti some 100 years ago, they constructed two swimming pools one for warm water and the other for cold water. Ikogosi became instant tourist attraction and holiday resort, mostly for white men.

    One of the first Nigerians to appreciate the enormous potentials of Ikogosi warm springs was the famous billionaire at that time, Chief E. A. Ashamu. In 1986, Chief Asamu addressed a letter to Nigerian Tourist Board for permission to develop Ikogosi Warm Springs into a tourist centre. In my capacity as his solicitor, we also approached the Government of Ondo State.

    As a follow up to our discussion, we travelled to Belgium where we saw what government did to make the Spa an international tourist centre. We later went to Sidel of France and discussed joint venture agreement on Ikogosi Spring Water project.

    The company planned to build a helipad, establish therapeutic treatment centre, manufacture soft drink of all types and manufacture saline and drip water and battery water. We also planned to establish a mini zoo, hot and cold water swimming pools, modern mart, kiddies’ wonderland, modern motorway and electricity.

    While working on the actualisation of Chief Ashamu’s vision, the military government in Ondo State attempted to hijack the company from Chief Ashamu. This led to a series of court cases which I filed against Ondo State Government (seven in all) from High Court, Akure, to Court of Appeal in Benin. Before the conclusion of the cases, Ekiti State was created and the Ikogosi natural endowments were saved for Ekiti State. Thanks to the cases instituted by Chief Asamu.

    In response to persistent agitations for the creation of more states in Nigeria, General Abacha set up the Mbanefo Panel on the creation of new states. I presented and defended the memorandum for the creation of the state before the Nbanefo panel in Akure. I recalled with nostalgia when the panel asked me whether Ekiti as a state would be viable. My answer was in the affirmative. I hinged my submission on the fact that Ekiti is endowed with highly educated and dynamic people, tropical climate, fertile land and of course, Ikogosi Warm Springs. I submitted that if properly managed, the income from Ikogosi Warm Spring as a tourist centre and relevant industries would earn the country millions of dollars annually.

    Unfortunately, when Ekiti State was created, the Ikogosi warm water project started on a wrong footing. In countries like Belgium which are blessed with the rare gift of warm spring, people are made to understand the uniqueness of warm spring water before going to market. A bottle of warm spring water costs more than a bottle of ordinary water. However, before the Ikogosi warm water was released for sale, no effort was made to make the people appreciate the uniqueness of the bottled warm water.

    Worse still, the Ikogosi Warm Springs Water Company was made a subsidiary of Swan water Nigeria in the North which manufactures and bottles ordinary water.

    Consequently, right from the beginning, Ikogosi warm springs water lost its special status which it could have enjoyed over and above all the other bottled waters in the country and beyond.

    For instance, the warm water from Spa of Belgium cannot be found on the shelve. In England and other countries, Spa water is only available on order. The demand for it is so much that the water is sent by badge to America and by air to Saudi Arabia.

    In addition to other destabilising factors, it was a matter of time that Ikogosi warm springs water company would fold up. Indeed, by 2014, the company had to close down production due to poor returns on the sale of the Ikogosi bottled water. To make it worse for the bottling company, all the access roads to Ikogosi are so bad that most of the haulage vehicles carrying the heavy finished products broke down. The factory was disconnected from public power supply since 2014 due to outstanding debt of N37 million. The State Government and other shareholders, including my humble self, have not been paid any dividend on our shares. None of the shareholders has been paid any dividend.

     

    Move to wind up the company

     

    Faced with all these seemingly insurmountable problems, the company had no alternative but to commence court action to liquidate the company. In an advertisement published in the Punch of June 22, 2018, the liquidator invited interested persons to bid for the purchase of the assets of the company. Indeed Ikogosi warm springs water project is going, going, going. The question is: Should we fold our arms and allow the project to die?

     

    Way out

     

    Firstly, the water bottling project must not be seen as the only project that can be profitably established at Ikogosi. There are many ancillary and profitable industries which are connected with the warm spring and which can be established at Ikogosi. They include: therapeutic treatment industries; soft drinks of all types; saline or drip water; battery water; mini-zoo; hot and cold swimming pools; first-class hotel with warm water piped into each room for therapeutic treatment and for relaxation for tourists as it is done in Spa of Belgium.

    If properly managed, Ikogosi Spring Waters can become a world class tourist destination for both Ekiti State and the Federal Government from which both can earn hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

     

    Short-term solution

     

    Now that the Ikogosi Spring Water had filed an action in court praying for winding-up. I understand that UACN, the major shareholder is not interested in injecting more funds. To avoid the liquidation of the company, a meeting of the founding fathers of Ekiti State, Obas, present and past governors, legislators at all levels, businessmen and university dons, among others, to save the project from dying by injecting more funds into the company by one or group of people, or by outright purchase of the company or by increasing the share capital to accommodate more funds.

     

    Long-term solution

     

    Ikogosi warm spring international should be upgraded as a tourist centre for the whole of Nigeria.

    Ikogosi can only become an international tourist destination if necessary infrastructures are put in place. These include; constant electricity, modernised and motorable roads, railway and airport. To achieve these lofty goals, the conference of Ekiti indigenes which I have suggested, should appeal to the Federal Government, particularly the minister for Tourism, to revisit the airport approved by Federal Government for Ekiti on Ijan Road and start immediate work on the airport.  After all, the other three airports which were approved at the same time namely: Gombe, Bayelsa and Asaba have been completed. It is common knowledge that comfortable transportation to any state or country is the key to development whether economic or otherwise. The federal and state governments should be advised to construct a modern motorway from the airport to Ikogosi which is about 17 miles, thereby ensuring comfortable access to Ikogosi both to encourage tourism and also for conveyance of Ikogosi products.

    Above all, the conference should appeal to both the federal and state governments to secure the motorway roads from armed robbers and kidnappers as no investor would be attracted to Ikogosi unless he is sure that their investment would be secure. This is a new phenomenon which must be addressed as we plan for economic development of Ekiti State.

     

  • On demand: A language of non-capitulation, non-appeasement!

    To Nobel laureate Prof Wole Soyinka, “it’s time of far-reaching, yet, immediate decision” to stop the killings by itinerant herdsmen. The literary icon says there is no sense for false pride in a nation that is dying.

    Land grab will be reversed!”  This is the first governance pronouncement, the first pertinent proclamation from the presidency since the herdsmen national affliction began. Catastrophically belated, it has finally emerged from the constricted throat of a government that seemed unaware that its very corporate existence was under strangulation.

    Many, in this nation, have had bitter cause to conclude that governance had indeed expired, its elected head in a trance. It is not that long ago when I demanded that this declaration of intent – the reversal of land expropriation through mass murder – be made, and that the triumphalist beneficiaries of such obscene occupation agenda be openly given a deadline to self-evacuate, or be forcefully evicted.

    However, a commitment is now firmly in hand, but enforcement is all, so is the tempo of enforcement. Statements of outrage, humane sentiment, empathy, even visitations to afflicted areas are natural expectations from government, and perfectly in order. They are essential indications of concern and solidarity, even of admissions of lapses. They offer glimmerings of eventual measures of equity and restitution – of which we must never lose sight – else, community sinks into despair, or enters the interminable spiral of reprisals.

    Visible pragmatic measures additionally assist in bolstering the optimism of victims, enable them to feel that they have not been abandoned.  Such are the relocation of security commands to vulnerable zones, deployment of Special Forces and attack helicopters etc. etc. – yes – all these are mandatory measures, it is their absence that constitute unpardonable negligence. Long term propositions, such as establishment of ranches, restriction of cattle movements, cultivation of fast growth grasses and so on – they all indicate far-sighted planning. They deserve approbation, but they are not exclusively remedial.

    Certain unconscionable events have taken place, and cannot be ignored. Entire communities have been erased from the national landscape. Thousands of family units are in mourning, survivors scarred and traumatised beyond measure. Famine looms in many areas, even in those lodged in acknowledged bread baskets of the nation. Impunity, gleeful and prideful impunity substitutes for decent self-distancing from once unthinkable crimes – let us not even speak of expressions of remorse and human empathy. The instigators, increasingly fingered as directors of human carnage are strutting around, defiant, justifying the unspeakable, daring a nation – there is no other word for it – daring governments and nation to attempt to reverse their categorisation of communities as culpable, sentenced and deserving of some of the most revolting, onslaughts of ethnic cleansing that this nation has ever undergone.

    Once, when we spoke of internal colonialism, we referred merely to the military seizure of a people’s political will. Today, that phrase has taken on a bruising physicality – seizures of a people’s land patrimony and the abrogation of their centuries old resource of material survival.

    What is the ultimate destination of these new imperators? The answer is unambiguous: Land. The seizure of land, either for seasonal grazing, for the lordly passage of cattle, or for permanent settlement. The rights of passage, no matter the cost. This is what makes noteworthy this new language of objective appraisal, one that is indicative of remedial action.

    When President Buhari complains – see today’s (June 27) media report, that it is unjust for the public to accuse him of being silent on the killer herdsmen, that is exactly to what they referred – the erstwhile language of complacency and accommodativeness in the face of unmerited brutalisation. Buhari had yet to speak in the language that these murdering herdsmen understand – simply, that forceful seizure of land will not be tolerated in any part of a federation under his governance. That the temporary acquisition of weapons of mass elimination by any bunch of psychopaths and anachronistic feudal mentality will not translate into subjugation of a people and a savaging of their communities; that any such gains are illusory and temporary and will be reversed. The plaint of ‘injustice’ is a misjudgment of the injustice done directly to the victims, and vicariously to the rest of us who turn to the news with dread every day, wondering what new stomach-churning accounts of the gory agenda on their humanity will replace the normal concourse of humanity.

    That language, A to Z – Adamawa to Zamfara – symbolises and encompasses the Nigerian alphabet of a new language, and it is anyone’s guess whose lettering will next scorch the minds even of far distanced strangers. And, if I may confess a personal note, we are not all outsiders to this geography of collective being, and its alphabet.  B – for Barkin Ladi – for instance, a serene, hospitable town was one of the favourite way stops of my research days across the nation at the very time that the nation took her early faltering steps into independence – in the early sixties.  Distanced by time, Barkin Ladi nevertheless remains part of a personal, fond, formative family. Is it that same Barkin Ladi that has been put to the torch after the slaughter of her people? My people? If I visit Barkin Ladi tomorrow, will I recognise any landmark of my knowledge seeking trajectory?

    Quickly, let it be stressed, this sense of violation is anything but personal. Till now, the language of governance has been constructed from the mangled alphabetism of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) who earlier dismissed creeping genocide as neighbourhood clashes. It has been thrust into the curriculum by a Minister of Defence, Mansur Mohammed Dan-Ali – now minister of an undeclared adult educational re-orientation – who, again and again, savages already ravaged sensibilities with his distortion of a national catastrophe as a deserving consequence of a state’s legislative answer to an already manifested outrage.  If ever an individual qualified to be the guinea-pig for testing the outrageous hate bill speech contemplated by our legislators, it is the unedifying pronoucements of that minister of Defence, who continues to defend the indefensible through his arrogant, provocative dismissals of an agenda of ethnic cleansing, dehumanising the victims anew, and camouflaging the failure of government by his gratuitous blame-passing.

    The language of the Dan-Ali, a Brig.-Gen. of the Nigerian Armed Forces, is a language that is now being contradicted by the meaning of “Land grabbing shall be reversed”. So, which is the true heart speak of this government? That question is now catapulted to the fore even by this long avoided, and pro-active newspeak of government. The answer will be in the act, and its tempo. It will be judged also in the continued retention of such an unreformable enemy of democracy, sense and justice, one who gives joy to proven killers, who flaunts temerity to order state governments to abrogate their own rights to enact laws for the protection of their citizens!

    The urgency is oppressive. It was revealed to me only last week that the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Olu Falae, whose ordeal of being kidnapped by these same marauders is still fresh in the nation’s mind, is still under siege by the same forces. Neither he, nor his workers can routinely attend to Falae’s farms, being under constant harassment by herdsmen. How could this happen, be happening, to us after the learning spell of the yet unfinished business of Boko Haram? In these matters, need I stress? – timing is all, and that timing translates in that ancient language of – ‘a stitch in time’! An aggressor who sniffs, however faintly, the permissive air of immunity, is near totally beyond recall. Only the stern language of reprimand, manifested in act, will deter him. The price of desultoriness is serial forfeiture of more than lives, hence the agony into which Nigerians have been repeatedly plunged. The leaders of Myetti Allah are self-vaunting instigators in the nation’s herder colonisation. Going by their utterances alone, their ultimatum to state governors to reverse their grazing laws or else – it is clearly not cows that need to be fenced, but Myetti to be caged. We are speaking of a recent human body count of close to two hundred, and the Myetti gang’s retort that three hundred of their cows have been rustled. Do I need to repeat here my earlier commentary on the Myetti and its allies, an assessment daily reinforced by that demonic breed. I think it is necessary, since the same language is being promoted by the minister of Defence on behalf of his government.

    “Repeal this law, they demand, we shall settle for nothing less! They defy such laws, then proceed to demonise the affected state governments by twisting the order of events: the killing happens, they claim, because of what was put in place – in response to killing! Did you ever encounter a more cynical rendition of the sequence of cause-and-effect? A nation has been placed on the defensive…… I am not aware that that Myetti demagogue, the upside-down historian of first settlers and the antiquated logic of conquest, that illiterate mouther so filled with his sense of power and confidence of impunity – I am not aware that he has ever been called for questioning.”

    Mr. President, do you know what I strongly believe? This recent planned massacre had a numerical target. The latest killing spree is the formal annunciation of a new law. From now on, for every missing, maimed, even legally seized cow – perhaps for trespassing and damage – one human being shall die, and commensurate land shall be forfeited. Make no mistake, that is the message!

    Berom or Ondo, Tiv or Efik. Egba or Igalla – it makes no difference – this is the language, and if your government does not understand it yet, we, whose field is language, both spoken and symbolic, must decode it for you. Myetti Allah has spoken. It has inscribed this new law across the landscape in bloody lettering.

    Add to this, a study in complementarity: the five young men recently sentenced to death by a High court of sorts in Zamfara – for allegedly killing a herdsman. We do not condone murder in any cause – let that be stated clearly – neither in any cause nor by anyone, and will always uphold the course of justice which, we equally insist, must remain transparent and impartial. The agitating question then is this: since this rampage began, has even one herdsman been brought up before those same courts on a charge of murder, much less sentenced to death at such lightning speed? Shall we wake up and find that they have been hanged? Yet, Zamfara has lost hundreds to the homicidal orgy of these same herdsmen. There is a skewed application of justiciable proceeding here that baffles many, this writer among them.

    And now, we learn that the survivors of overwhelmed, fireballed communities, and their apprehensive neighbours, are being deprived of even their paltry defensive weapons by army units sent to zones of carnage. When I visited the governor of Benue State some weeks ago, he bitterly lamented that security agencies have even ordered his communities to surrender even the very machetes of routine use in farming. The logic of this eludes one. The JTF – the so-called Junior Task Force, made up of civilians – has been working hand in hand with the Nigerian army in the liberation of communities overrun by Boko Haram, complementing overstretched military capabilities. Their operations have gone beyond even self-defence and include aggressive pursuit of their aggressors. Like the army, they have bravely taken losses. So, why are these victims of cattle overlords not encouraged, even assisted to defend themselves?  Community policing is a basic right of society and, where needed with whatever weaponry is available to them‘ The community knows itself, the members know one another, and all know their terrain. Could the military save Barkin Ladi? More pertinently, can the military protect every village in the fast-expanding territory of cattlemen terror? When can Olu Falae resume the simple, ruminant existence of a former civil servant who has opted for an imagined conflict-free existence?

    The Danjuma thesis – defend yourselves! – is neither new nor strange, it is simply a restatement of the logicality of human response in the face of aggression, and one is grateful for the authoritativeness of military experience that is behind it, and a trained on-the-spot capability for assessment from within. Yes, the land-grab must be reversed, but the restored will still require to be defended, and aggressors also served a lasting lesson both from the manifested responsibility of governance, and the resistant will of the people.

    Accounting for crimes is also part of that responsibility, and such criminality must not be seen to be rewarded through idealistic solutions that paper over crimes against humanity. For that is the present actuality. Crimes against our humanity have been committed, and restitution must be made. Nothing less will restore confidence in a government, and reassure the people of its integrity, its commitment to equity in internal relationships and the rightful custodianship of ancient resources.

    It is a time of far-reaching, yet immediate decisions. The nation is dying. The time for false pride is over. If this nation lacks the necessary technical resources, then, there remains only one blameless, overdue recourse: “Get Help, Mr. President!”

     

  • No security vote for State House in 2018, says Udoma

    •N13.28bn EEG tax credit to support export

    Contrary to a claim by Amnesty International (AI) that the Presidency has widened its security votes’ net, there is no line item classified as Security Vote in the State House budget in the N9.1 trillion 2018 Appropriation Act. The international watchdog got its facts wrong, Budget & National Planning Minister Udoma Udo Udoma, said during the budget breakdown in Abuja yesterday, reports Nduka Chiejina.

    There is no provision for Presidential Villa securityin this year’s budget, the Budget and National Planning Minister Udoma Udo Udoma  said yesterday.

    Addressing reporters during the breakdown of the 2018 Budget after President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Appropriation Bill into law on Wednesday, Senator Udoma denied claims that the Presidency was siphoning money out of the system using security votes.

    “Owing to the growing number of internal security issues, a provision of N75 billion was made for these exercises in the Service-wide votes, not State House vote, in 2018,” Udoma said.

    The minister denied an Amnesty International (AI) report titled “Camouflaged cash: How ‘Security Votes’ fuel corruption in Nigeria”, which ”indicated, in part, that the Presidency is not only appropriating but “has increased the number of security votes tucked into the Federal Budget in the last two years.”

    In a response to reporters’ questions during the briefing in Abuja, the minister said: “There is no line item as Security vote in the State House Budget.”

    According to him, “provisions for security-related matters are contained in the detailed Budgets of the Ministry of Defence, Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), Department of State Security (DSS) etc.”

    “There are also provisions for military interventions in the Northeast (insurgency) – Operation Lafiya Dole, as well as other specific operations of the Armed forces such as Operation Python Dance, Operation Crocodile Smile and very recently and Operation Cat Race, among others”, Udoma said.

    AI defines security votes as “budgeted funds provided to certain federal, state and local government officials to spend at their discretion.. They are budgeted separately from planned security expenditures, such as personnel salaries, allowances, equipment, training and operational expenses.”

    Commenting on other aspects of the budget, Udoma stated that the government was “in a hurry to implement the N9.1 trillion 2018 Budget”.

    He also maintained that the “President Muhammadu Buhari administration would work hard to realise the N7.165 trillion revenue projection”.

    The minister revealed that the N1.5 trillion deficit contained in the budget “would be financed through borrowing from both domestic and international capital markets”.

    “The Federal Government”, he said, “has set up a commitee on the divestment of its  assets in the oil industry as a measure of increasing the administration’s revenue profile.

    “The revenue boosting measures to be employed by the governemnt in the 2018 fiscal year from the oil sector  include: New funding mechanism for JV operations, allowing for Cost Recovery in lieu of previous cash call arrangement; additional oil-related revenue, including royalty recovery, new/marginal field licences, early licensing renewals; and review of the fiscal regime for Oil Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs).

    “Besides, government plans to restructure its equity in JV oil assets, with proceeds to be reinvested in other assets, to improve efficiencies in the operations of the JVs and position them for better revenue performance in the future.

    “Other revenue sources being pursued by the government are planned increases  in excise duty rates on alcohol and tobacco; tax administration improvement initiatives to positively affect collection efficiencies across various tax categories, e.g., Tax amnesty programme.”

    The government, Udoma said, has taken on-board some key reform initiatives contained in the Economic Recovery & Growth Plan (ERGP) in the budget, such as the deployment of new technology to improve revenue collection; upward review of tariffs and tax rates where appropriate; stronger enforcement; action against tax defaulters; improving government-owned Enterprises (GOEs’) revenue performance by reviewing their operational efficiency and cost-to-income ratios and generally ensuring they operate in more fiscally responsible manner.

    The distribution of expected Federal Government revenue for 2018  are as follows: Oil Revenue  (41.7 per cent)  CIT (9.2 per cent); VAT (2.9 per cent); Customs (4.5 per cent); Independent Revenue (11.8 per cent); Recoveries (7.2 per cent); Tax Amnesty (1.2 per cent); Signature Bonus (1.6 per cent); JV Equity Restructuring (9.9 per cent);  Grants and Donor Funding ( 2.8 per cent); and Others ( 7.2 per cent).

    Some projects to be executed  in the Appropriation Act include:

     

    Transport

    • N162.28 billion Counterpart funding for Railway projects including: • Lagos-Kano (ongoing) • Calabar-Lagos (ongoing) • Ajaokuta-Itakpe-Aladja (Warri ) (ongoing) • Port Harcourt – Maiduguri (new) • Kano-Katsina-Jibiya-Maradi in Niger Republic (new) • Abuja-Itakpe and Aladja (Warri)-Warri Port and Refinery including Warri New Harbour (new) • N530.8 million construction of terminal building at Enugu Airport • N8.32 billion Construction of second runway of Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja

     

    Power

    • N9.4 billion set aside as counterpart fund for the Mambilla hydro power project • N9.7 billion counterpart funding for earmarked transmission lines and substations. • N2.2 billion construction of 215MW LPFO/ gas power station Kaduna. • N3.4 billion Kashimbilla Transmission. • N14.2 billion Fast Power Programme Accelerated Gas and Solar Power Generation.

     

    Housing

    • N26.7 billion Federal Government National Housing Programme

     

    Works

    • About N344 billion for the construction and rehabilitation of several roads nationwide, including: • Lagos-Sagamu-Ibadan Dual Carriageway • Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa-Bokani Road • Abuja-Abaji Road, • Kano-Maiduguri Road • Enugu-Port-Harcourt Dual Carriageway • Odupkani-Itu-Ikot Ekpene Road • Sokoto-Tambuwal-Jega-Kontagora-Makera Road, • Dualisation of Obajana Junction to Benin, • Calabar-Ugep-Kastina Ala Road, • Onitsha-Enugu Dual Carriageway, • Abuja-Kaduna-Zaria-Kano Dual Carriageway, • Benin-Ofosu-Ore-Ajebandele-Sagamu Expressway Phase lll • Kotangora – Bangi Road.
    • About N344 billion for the construction and rehabilitation of several roads nationwide: • Bodo-Bonny Road with a bridge across the Opobo channel. In Rivers State. • Apapa – Oshodi express way in Lagos (Phase II Sections I & II) • Nnenwe-Oduma-Mpu (Enugu State) -Uburu (Ebonyi State) • Ningi -Yadagungume- Fuskar Mata Road Phase II In Bauchi State, • Oju/Loko – Oweto Bridge to link Loko And Oweto with approach Roads • Otuocha – Anam- Nzam- Innoma – Iheaka- Ibaji Section of Otuocha – Ibaji – Odulu -Ajegwu In Anambra / Kogi States, • Oba – Nnewi Road Section II in Anambra State • Ogrute (Enugu State) – Akpanya – Odolu (Kogi State) Road Section II with extension to Obollo Afor. • Tamawa – Gulu Road at Rimin Gado LGA in Kano State • Jalingo – Kona – Lau – Karim Road Phase I in Taraba State, etc.

     

    Health

    • N55.15 billion Provisioned for the implementation of the National Health Act • N2.4 billion to match grant from UNFPA, USAID, UNICEF; • N1.3 billion for Strategic Joint Venture Investments in selected Tertiary Health Institutions with Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) • N8.9 billion for procurement of RI vaccines and devices, • N3 billion for Counterpart funding including global fund, health, and GAVI • N300 million for Health Emergencies & Contagious Diseases Outbreaks (E.g Meningitis, measles, yellow fever, monkey pox, etc) • N200 million for Midwives Service Scheme, • N1.2 billion Polio Eradication Initiative, • N1. billion Training/central procurement of 300,000 dialysis consumables.

     

    Water Resources

    • N1.8 billion Zobe Water Supply Project – Phase I & II • N1 billion for Partnership for Expanded Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (PEWASH) • N1 billion for Special Intervention for North East and IDPs – Potable of Portable Water • Over N53 billion for water supply, rehabilitation of dams, and irrigation projects nationwide.

     

    Agriculture & Rural Development

    • N4.2 billion for Rural Roads and Water Sanitation programme; • Over N25.1 billion for Promotion and Development of Value Chain across in more than 30 different commodities, • N5.30 billion for National Grazing Reserve Development • N3.53 billion for Agribusiness and Market Development • N4.08 billion for Food and Strategic Reserves, • N2 billion for Supply, Installation & Commissioning of Water Rigs Nationwide, • N1.13 billion for FGN Support for Youths in Agribusiness, • N2 billion for Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprise (LIFE) Programme

     

    Mines & Steel Development

    • N644 million for the establishment of minning regulatory agency for the sector, • N450 million for the reclamation of abandoned mines sites.

     

    Industry, Trade & Investment

    Special Economic Zone Projects. N44.2 billion for ongoing and planned Special Economic Zone Projects across the geopolitical zones to drive manufacturing / exports. Completion of feasibility Studies, Master Planning, Engineering Design, EIA and other pre-development Costs in Enugu, Gombe, Nnewi, Kwara, Abuja, Bauchi, Rivers/Bayelsa, Edo/Delta, Taraba/Adamawa, Benue/Plateau, Sokoto/Kebbi. Completion of Lekki Model Textile and Garment Industrial Park. FGN investment in Enyimba Industrial Park, and Ibom Deep Sea Port and City.

     

    Export-Expansion Grant (EEG)

    N13.28 billion in the form of tax credit to support export via the Export Expansion Grant; Recapitalisation of Bank of Industry (BOI) and Bank of Agriculture (BoA); N15 billion provisioned to support these development finance institutions to support Micro, Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs).

     

    Education

    N3.4 billion provisioned as Take-off Grant for Maritime University; N1.8 billion for Payment of 5000 Federal Teachers Scheme Allowance; N417 million for Construction of National Library of Nigeria; N9.2 billion for various Scholarship allowances.

     

    Niger Delta

    N20.29 billion for various sections of the East-West Road; N2.38 billion for Section III from Port-Harcourt Eleme Junction to Onne Port Junction.

     

    Regional Interventions:

    N65 billion for reintegration of transformed ex-militants under the Presidential Amnesty Programme. N45 billion for Federal Initiative for North-East (Pilot Counterpart funding contribution).

     

    SDGs

    N11.3 billion for SDGs Intervention Programmes, N36.4 billion for other SDGs Projects

     

    Special Intervention Programme

    N500 billion for FGN Special Intervention Programme (including Home Grown; School Feeding Programme, Government Economic Empowerment Programme, and N-Power Job Creation Programme, Conditional Cash Transfers etc).

  • How to eliminate executive/legislative friction

    Experts have recommended harmonious working relationship between the executive and legislative to eliminate the recurring friction and delay in the passage of budgets.

    Two economists spoke on the controversy triggered by President Muhammadu Buhari’s allegation that the National Assembly tinkered with the estimates he forwarded to them for scrutiny and passage.

    The duo – Prof Uche Uwaleke of the Nasarawa State University and Odilim Enwegbara, an economic analyst, told The Nation that cooperation between both arms of government remains the safest way to an acrimony free budget process.

    Enwegbara, who serves as Chairman/CEO at Pan Africa Development Corporate Company (PADCC), said: “the executive will be better off involving strategic committees the National Assembly at earlier and every other stages of designing the budget so that once it comes to the lawmakers it becomes easy to sell, having participated in making important inputs at all the stages of its designing.”

    Enwegbara said he completely sympathizes “with the President, given his current frustration that our federal lawmakers have introduced projects that have not been fully given cost/benefit analysis, including procurement and implementation planning.

    “But then, I also believe that given the President’s politics that lacks broad national interest that presents all Nigerians as his equal constituents, it is understandable why our federal lawmakers have taken away from the President the allocation of projects in a way that it would be just and fair to all Nigerians.”

    Prof Uwaleke, Head of Department, Banking and Finance of the Nasarawa State University said: “There is no doubt that bringing them (legislators) in at an early stage will help solve this problem. Last year, the National Assembly increased the budget, the year before the last, the same thing happened leading to allegations of padding.

    “The important thing is that both arms have to work together. Right now, the fate of the 2018 Budget hangs in the balance it is starting late, elections are around the corner, by February (next year) we’ll have elections, this is June it means it is going to extend up June 2019 and the first term will end by May 29, we have lost a lot of ground already but let’s see how much can be gained”.

    Uwaleke, who is the first professor of Capital Market, told The Nation that he was “happy that the President, in spite of the concerns that he raised, agreed to accent to the Appropriation Bill and also promised to work with the National Assembly to ensure that the budget goes back to the January-December cycle.”

    He, however, lamented that the “implementation of the budget has been negatively affected by the delays over the years. Particularly for this one, it’s more like an ill wind that won’t blow the economy any good.

    “Every sector has been feeling the pinch, the stock market has been bleeding since January partly on the account of the budget delay because when you delay passing the budget, investors don’t have a clear direction of where the government is headed so many of them sit on the fence until a clear direction is provided by the budget document.

    “The budget document he said is a tool of government for delivering on priorities, so that direction needs to be clear before investors can take a position, that’s part of the reason why the market experienced downward trend compared to what we had in January.”

    The professor, who he did not see any justification for the cuts to critical capital elements of the 2018 budget by the National Assembly, said it was proper to hear from the National Assembly.

    He said: “We are yet to hear from them, I don’t think it is proper for the National Assembly to tinker with capital project of strategic national importance.

    “The buck stops at the table of the President, the executive formulates these policies. So, if the policies are in line with the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) of the Federal Government, the National Assembly is supposed to key into it and help the president to realise his objectives. So, I am not in support of the cuts that they made.

    “Whatever the case is, whether or not they are carried along, there is no justification for cutting capital projects. What I expected them to have done is, there is projected increase in revenue, you go ahead and increase your own constituency projects because the National Assembly is entitled to being used as a vehicle for delivering dividends of democracy not just the executive arm.

    “Because when we elected them, even though their functions are well spelt out, the reality is that the people don’t assess them based on these functions. When you go there (National Assemble) and spend eight years and you have not done anything for your people they won’t happy about it.”

    Enwegbara also argued that Nigerians should “not forget that this being an election season, lawmakers being the true grassroots representatives of the Nigerian people are bound to showcase federal projects they have brought to their constituents, the same people who may or not reelect them come February 2019.

    He cautioned the executive arm of government to let this be a lesson to the executive that it’ll be better off involving strategic committees of the National Assembly earlier and at every other stage of designing the budget so that once it comes to the lawmakers it becomes easy to sell, having participated in making important inputs at all the stages of its designing.”

     

  • “At age 15, I can stab you o” – drug abuse survivor recounts ordeal

    Drug abuse survivor telling her story during the youth empowerment phase of MTN Nigeria’s 21 Days Of Y’ello Care Campaign

    Tanioluwa, (real name withheld) is less than five feet tall with an almost childlike face and mien. Yet you could see it in the depth of her brown eyes, she had seen the rigours of life… and survived it.

    She shook a bit as she took the microphone, “I did not know that I will be nervous.” She clutched the microphone, standing in the hall at Community Senior College, Wasimi, Maryland, Lagos – to speak on Drug abuse. She seemed so young….

    Cross-section of students and MTN Nigeria staff at the Community Senior College, Wasimi, Maryland, Lagos during the youth empowerment phase of MTN Nigeria’s 21 Days Of Y’ello Care Campaign

    But when she opened her mouth, she recounted a sordid past that gripped us to our bones. She was a 20 year old young woman whose young life had been plagued by drugs, alcohol and more. She had become a notorious user at a tender age and she explained that there was no drug she hadn’t used – including the cough syrups that have become a depraved must-have.

    Her need to ‘belong’ with friends had pushed her to limits unexpected. And by the time she travelled to Abuja, she was beyond saving. She said that she could stab anyone; had fear for no one and she been to the police station numerous times to write statements to attest to the fact that if people died because of  her violent statements she would be held responsible for the death.

    At seventeen she had boyfriends of thirty to fifty years. She deteriorated, “I didn’t eat, bathe or sleep.” She spoke of one day realizing that she had to stop and that was the beginning for her…

    She shook for a few minutes towards the end of her talk. Regret was very apparent in her voice. The students of Community Senor College, Wasimi, Maryland, Lagos (where MTN Nigeria had brought the young girl to explain her experience with drugs) were engrossed in the ups and downs of her story. She warned them strongly not to try any form of harmful substance. That that was going to be the end of them.

    Cross-section of students and MTN Nigeria staff at the Community Senior College, Wasimi, Maryland, Lagos during the youth empowerment phase of MTN Nigeria’s 21 Days Of Y’ello Care Campaign

    A few people were too stunned to join in the rousing applause that ended her talk. You could see their questions, “She’s so young, can this be true?”

    Cross-section of students, MTN Nigeria staff and members of the Rhesus Solutions Initiative at the Community Senior College, Wasimi, Maryland, Lagos during the youth empowerment phase of MTN Nigeria’s 21 Days Of Y’ello Care Campaign.

  • Fed Govt to build 94 ranches in 10 states

    •NEC okays N179b for 10-year plan

    Ninety-four ranches are on the way in 10 states prone to herdsmen/farmers clashes.

    The National Economic Council (NEC) chaired by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has approved a 10-year National Livestock Plan which will cost about N179 billion. All 36 state governors are members of the NEC.

    About N70 billion of the budget will disbursed between now and the expiration of  President Muhammadu Buhari’s first four-year tenure next year.

    The project is expected to take off in Benue and Nasarawa states any time from now.

    These disclosures were made by NEC representatives, including Governor Samuel Ortom, Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Audu Ogbe, and the Coordinator of the plan, Dr. Andrew Kwasari, at a session with editors in Abuja.

    The session was facilitated by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) – a non-government organisation.

    Ogbe, who said “open grazing is no longer viable”, said cattle rearers would be the greatest beneficiaries in the next few years.

    He also said the Federal Government has no intention of seizing anybody’s land by force.

    A technical presentation of the NEC-approved plan, including the enumeration of the six key pillars on which the plan is built, was made by Kwasari.

    He said: “In addition to loss of human lives, it is estimated that Nigeria loses about $14 billion (N5.04 trillion) annually to herdsmen-farmers’ conflicts.

    “Domestic annual milk production in Nigeria is only 400 million litres, resulting in supply

    gap of about 700 million litres.

    “To fill these growing gaps, Nigeria spends a large amount of its scarce foreign exchange resource to import livestock products, with average of $480.6 million (N173.3 billion) worth of milk imports alone per year.

    “The National Livestock Implementation Plan is a mediation plan stemming from meetings and recommendations of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and the National Economic Council (NEC) in 2017 as regards state interventions following the incessant pastoralist-farmer conflicts.

    “We are going to have 94 ranches in 10 states. We have received 21 gazetted grazing reserves from seven states. Plan focuses on pilot intervention in the frontline states Adamawa, Benue, Edo, Ebonyi,  Kaduna,  Nasarawa, Oyo, Plateau, Taraba, and Zamfara.

    “A Ranch Design Plan has also been proposed in models of various sizes clustered in 94 locations in the 10 pilot states. We will have clusters  of 30, 60, 150, and 300 cow ranch models in a location within the donated and gazetted grazing reserves.

    “The total spending for the 10-year period is slightly in excess of N179 billion. Funding for the first three years of the pilot phase is about N70 billion.

    “The ranch is also designed as an integrated business which makes provision for (a) the development of commercial crop production to support livestock through the supply of quality fodder and other feed materials, (b) the formation of producers into clusters to create viable ranch herd sizes, and (c) creation of cooperatives to facilitate improved access to inputs, infrastructure, finance, markets, and support services.”

    The minister said there was no going back on the creation of ranches, dismissing the insinuation that the government planned to seize land from owners or communities.

    He said the conflicts between herdsmen and farmers were not about anti-open grazing laws.

    His words: “So the conflict didn’t begin because the laws were passed. No, the conflict has been brewing but the laws were enacted in desperation by a state. Farmers went to the governor and complained, ‘they are killing us’, so the governor says, ‘let me pass a law’. If we did what we are doing now 20 years ago, we will not be where we are now.

    “The truth is that open grazing is no longer viable. We may not end it in one day, but it has to end and government has to help. This conflict is not peculiar to Nigeria alone; it’s happening in Argentina; it happened in  the U.S . in the 19th century, in Pakistan and others. So, this is what we should have started doing 20 years ago. We didn’t and that’s why we are where we are.

    “Lastly, the government has no intention of seizing anybody’s land. So, the idea that somebody is going to forcefully take the land is not true. In Fashola’s farm , there are Fulani residents there who speak Yoruba fluently.

    “One of them said, ‘we have found peace here’. They produce fresh milk for Friesland Capina. If you see the turnover of Friesland Capina during their annual turnover, you will be amazed. These are the issues.

    “The ECOWAS Treaty says free movement of human, animals and goods. We had a meeting with the ECOWAS ministers here. We are going to have another. We will tell them, ‘you must do what Nigerians want’. Roaming around is no longer an answer. We may have to shut our borders. How large is the Nigerian border space? 4037 square kilometres is the landmass from Sokoto to Badagry and from Borno to Calabar. Added up it’s plus 830 kilometres of coastline. Half of our borders are open . Should we build a wall? People wander in and out. So it is a very complex thing.

    “When we implement this thing, how do we prevent cows from West Africa marching in when they like with no respect for our tradition and cultures? These are the problems we face.

    In these ranches, we can then say nomadic education can work, the Fulani are in clusters. By 5am, they milk their cows and sell to the milk processing plants which will be installed there. They begin to realise that it pays to stay.

    “There is an experiment we did in Kano. The firm tried to settle a number of herdsmen in a location and they gave scholarship to their children. If your male child is in school, they buy your milk for N120 per litre but if your girl child is in school, they buy it for N140 per litre and believe me, every morning Fulani send their children to school while they milk their cows. They have to be in one place. So a lot of incentives will come and we will use the cow dungs to generate electricity.”

    Benue State Governor  Samuel Ortom said over 180,000 internally displaced persons were in eight camps in the state.

    He said:  “We have over 180,000 IDPs in eight camps and over 5,000 people living with relatives. We have had massive support from all over the world and this is attributed to the media, and I commend this.

    “ I believe that after this interaction, there will be more to do. The Presidency is not sleeping. They have devised various ways in giving us additional information to help us shape our opinions and also express our opinions on how best this challenge can be surmounted.

    “A committee had earlier been set up, headed by my colleague from Ebonyi and, unfortunately, he is not here. He and members of his committee visited Benue, Nasarawa, Taraba, Adamawa, and Zamfara states. Of course, they came back with a report, which was considered and far-reaching decisions were taken as to how they will summon this challenge.

    “I’d like to appreciate the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo for his able leadership and for helping us to come this far. People say from where I come that ignorance is darker than the night and so when you’re informed, you’re in a better position to represent issues properly.

    “For me, as the governor of Benue State and someone who has been affected by recent challenges of farmers and herdsmen, I must commend the media in Nigeria. You have done very well, and maybe for other states that have been affected as well, you have represented the issues well.”

    General Manager of Capital FM Mercy Njoku, said the engagement was  designed to enable the media to understand the herdsmen-farmers conflicts.

    She said: “It is important for the press to have a clear understanding of what is happening.

    “I know every media person wants peace, stability and development.

    We want a country where there will be peace, security and economic boom.”

  • How to achieve good governance, by Kolade

    Beyond casting their ballot, Nigerians muts be actively involved to ensure good governance, Nigeria’s former High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (UK) has said. In a paper entitled: “Christians and governance”, delivererd under the auspices of Christ the Redeemer’s Friends International (CRFI), Dr. Kolade cautions elective office holders against constitutional abuse.

    It is often appropriate to start with definitions, especially because both terms – Christianity and governance – have been used in so many contexts that we need to avoid any possible confusion by ensuring true clarity in the usage that we are adopting for this discussion.

    Take the word ‘governance’, for instance, a short definition, often seen in some United Nations (UN) documentation, sees governance as “the process of decision-making and the process by which decisions are implemented (or not implemented).” Some have gone from that statement to assume that governance (decision-making and implementation), being activities frequently carried out by governments, should be synonymous with government.

    However, as soon as we accept the reality that decisions are taken and implemented at multiple levels of the society, we have to agree that ‘governance’ is broader than ‘government’ because other sectors of society are included in it.

    These include non-governmental organisations, businesses, professional associations, civil society movements, and religious organisations, to name only a few. Wherever we can identify a group that sometimes exercises some influence on the crafting of public policy or its implementation, that group is asserting its relevance to, and active participation in, governance.

    Indeed, all of us, as citizens, sometimes elect or appoint individuals into roles in government, in which they volunteer to take the responsibility for leading the governance endeavour, it is also true that society needs the active participation of all its members in ensuring the success of the governance plans and policies, not only today, but all the way into the future.

     

    Purpose of governance

     

    Therefore, rather than seek a definition of governance, we may do well to ask the question – What is governance for?  In other words, what is the purpose of governance? Why do we practise governance, and what does it help us to achieve?  Once we adopt this approach, it is reasonable for us to conclude that any governance that fulfils its purpose with sustainable success would qualify to be described as, and this immediately allows us to consider the possibility that Christianity – or, indeed, any other philosophy that extols noble values and high standards – can have a beneficial influence on the quality of governance in which its adherents participate.

    We must also acknowledge that governance is a responsibility, since it is designed to achieve important outcomes for everyone in the society. It should not only ensure welfare, peace and security; it should also enable every citizen to be the best he can be through his productivity and adherence to the laws of the country.

    We may also ask, at this point, what or who is a Christian, and what role should he or she play in governance?  If we are true Christians, this means that we have chosen to follow Jesus Christ, not just when it is convenient or unavoidable, but, indeed, in everything, and at all times.  It means that we have chosen Christianity as our way of life, a way of life to which we are committed, and which should reflect in everything we say or do.

    So, considering what we have already said about the need for all members of the society to participate in governance, we should have no problem in agreeing that, when we do so as Christians, all our decisions and actions should be an accurate reflection of our Christianity.

    One of the ways in which the Christian brings Christ into governance is to follow the example of Jesus Christ, especially when He had to deal with situations involving human considerations and preferences.  We take note of the fact that He would usually go to the word of God in order to establish the validity of the position He was taking.  He chased greedy tradesmen out of the temple because they were turning the place that God’s word described as a house of prayer into a “den of thieves”.

    Again, when Jesus Christ was tested by the devil at the start of His ministry, He answered every test by quoting the Word, thus effectively disposing of each assault. The Christian in governance – and this means everybody – can do no better than to take refuge in the word of God, where experience has shown us that there is always an effective answer to every question that we may raise in any situation.

    With specific reference to the governance responsibility, the true follower of Jesus Christ actually stands in a place of distinct advantage.  We have already mentioned the fact that the word of God can provide an effective answer to every challenge that the Christian may encounter. In addition to that powerful resource, the Christian also has the teachings and example of our Lord Himself when He lived as a man here on earth.  His teachings have given the Christian the noblest values and highest standards that should be applied in all situations.  Then, on top of all that, Jesus Christ has fulfilled His promise that the Holy Spirit would come to live in Christians and guide them to all truth.  When this first happened openly to the disciples, Peter was quick to remind everyone that the promise of empowerment by the Holy Spirit was available to “all whom the Lord our God will call” (Acts 2:39).  This gives us, the Christians of 21st century Nigeria, the confidence that, indeed, “we can do all things, through Christ who gives us strength.” (Philippians 4:13)

    The essence of all this is that Christians today are able to address their governance responsibility, not only by showing themselves to be practitioners of good governance, but also by standing firm to defend their Christian values and standards whenever they come under attack by people who are inclined to violate them.

     

    What is good governance?

     

    As we observed earlier, it is often helpful, in this kind of discussion, to try to understand a concept by its purpose, and by the outcomes that take place as a result of applying the concept. We have also suggested that the word of God offers enormous help in answering the questions that we confront as we pass through life.

    When we study the Bible at the 29th chapter of the Book of Proverbs, we are given a number of instructive pointers, which I quote here in the Contemporary English Version of the Holy Bible:

    Verse 2: “When justice rules a nation, everyone is glad; when injustice rules, everyone groans.

    Verse 4: “An honest ruler makes the nation strong; a ruler who takes bribes will bring it to ruin.

    Verse 7: “The wicked don’t care about the rights of the poor, but good people do.

    Verse 12: “A ruler who listens to lies will have corrupt officials.

    Verse 14: “Kings who are fair to the poor will rule forever.

    Verse 16: “Crime increases when crooks are in power, but law-abiding citizens will see them fall.

    Verse 18: “Without guidance from God law and order disappear, but God blesses everyone who obeys his law.

    Verse 26: “Many try to make friends with a ruler, but justice comes from the Lord.

    Verse 27: Good people and criminals can’t stand each other.

    In a paper by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), published in 1997, we are also offered the following as the characteristics of good governance – the factors that we should look for in order to be sure that good governance is actually happening:

    An institutional set-up that ensures good governance usually has the following features:

    Participation: All men and women should have a voice in decision-making, either directly or through legitimate intermediate institutions that represent their interests. Such broad participation is built on freedom of association and speech, as well as capacities to participate constructively.

     

    Rule of Law: Legal frameworks should be fair and enforced impartially, particularly laws on human rights.

     

    Transparency: Transparency is built on the free flow of information. Processes, institutions, and information are directly accessible to those concerned with them, and enough information is provided to understand and monitor them.

     

    Responsiveness: Institutions and processes try to serve all stakeholders.

     

    Consensus Orientation: Good governance mediates differing interests to reach a broad consensus on what is in the best interests of the group and where possible, on policies and procedures.

     

    Equity: All men and women have opportunities to improve or maintain their well-being.

     

    Effectiveness and Efficiency: Processes and institutions produce results that make the best use of resources.

     

    Accountability: Decision-makers in government and civil society organisations are accountable to the public, as well as to the institutional stakeholders. This accountability differs depending on the organization and whether the decision is internal or external to an organisation.

     

    Strategic Vision: Leaders and the public have a broad and long-term perspective on good governance and human development, along with a sense of their rights and duties. There is also an understanding of the historical, cultural and social complexities in which that perspective is grounded.

     

    Best practice in governance

     

    If we place the UNDP list alongside the statements in Proverbs, Chapter 29, we easily see that the proposed values that should underpin good governance performance are very similar. Both passages make repeated allusions to truth, justice, equity, transparency, inclusiveness.

    In both passages, we also receive the information that those who follow best practice are most likely to succeed in governance.  Again we can find important help to confirm this in the word of God.

    Take the example of Joseph who went from the position of a slave to the role of prime minister in Egypt.  Consider also the important governance role that Daniel earned while in exile in Babylon.  In the New Testament, we also have the example of Stephen and his group of seven who were chosen for governance responsibility in Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 6.  All three references provide examples of best practice in governance, and the one attribute that they all shared was that they were driven by the Spirit and wisdom of God.  The same is what Jesus Christ promises His followers – if they keep His commandments.  And He expects them to keep His commandments because they love Him.

     

    The Nigerian Christian

    and governance

     

    The final question that this paper wants to pose is one that people ask me on many occasions when we engage one another in these discussions.  In the light of all that keeps happening in our country, people ask if it is possible for the Christian – indeed, for anyone – to be an apostle of best practice in governance in present-day Nigeria. My answer, always, is that it is not only possible, but indeed easy, if the Christian is in a functioning relationship with Jesus Christ, and if, with help from the Lord Himself, the Christian in governance is determined to be totally faithful to the Constitution of our country, and to the declarations that we make in our National Anthem and National Pledge. The third commandment warns that God will not overlook the guilt of all those who take His name in vain!

    Too often, our Christian identity withers in the face of any challenge that threatens our comfort, our love of money, or our yearning for personal importance and power.  In the end, the kind of best practice that produces good governance is determined by Christ’s expectation of those who claim to be His followers.  His values, His standards, and His unrelenting discipline are laid upon Christians in His own clear declaration – If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. (Luke 9:23)

    But Jesus Christ also extends the invitation to us to enjoy the benefit of His help and care:

    Matt 11:28-30

    28: Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

    29: Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

    30: For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

     

  • Makoko: Beyond fishing!

    For Victoria Oga, life has always been challenging and hard. The 19 year-old girl dropped out of school at age nine after her parent couldn’t continue sponsoring her education.

    Oga just like many female teenagers in Makoko dropped out of school before reaching age 13.

    Whilst parent try to get their child past nursery and primary, few get lucky crossing to secondary.

    Most parents would prefer they learn trade, tailoring or join them in the old family business of fishing.

    “I dropped out of school at a tender age. Initially I stayed at home for some years and also join my mum in the fish business, but three years ago I was brought here to learn tailoring,” Oga said.

    Marshaling through the murky water leading to the community in a canoe paddled by young boy, the smell from excretes and the dirty water pervades the airwaves, as this reporter ventured into Makoko, a Lagos suburban area.

    Entrance to the community

    Meandering through the community on a hot Thursday morning, a child was spotted atop a makeshift shack toilet, with an old woman across calmly sitting at the frontage of a celestial church which views welcomes visitor, surrounded by children in an attentive manner to the tales of the woman.

    With a population now estimated to be 250,000, Makoko according to World Population Review, detailing World Bank statistics, is said to be amongst identified 9 of the largest slum in Lagos.

    With Education at its lowest ebb in Nigeria, Makoko is not immune from the alarming number of out-school children in the country, with non-availability of government schools in the community contributing to the problem.

    Located in Lagos mainland Lagos, the waterfront part of the community is largely harboured by the Egun people who migrated from Badagry and Republic of Benin and whose main occupation is fishing

    Mostly known as Makoko to outsiders, it is a six separated villages spread across land and water: Oko Agbon, Adogbo, Migbewhe, Yanshiwhe, Sogunro and Apollo. The first four are the floating communities, known as Makoko waterfront; the rest are based on land.

    The Lagos State Government and both local and international NGOs epithet is Makoko-Iwaya Waterfront. Both united by the water, upon which a larger percentage of the community population depend for livelihood, as well as the Yoruba language, which serves as a lingua franca in a settlement where multiple languages are spoken: French, English, Yoruba and Egun.

    In 2012 under the administration of Babatunde Fashola, the State government declared Makoko illegal and unsuccessfully tried to evict its residents in order to raze the entire slum, arguing that the living conditions were unsanitary and that it violated environmental legislation.

    Education in Nigeria

    According to the UNICEF, Nigeria has 10.5 million out-of-school children-the world’s highest number. Sixty per cent of those children are in northern Nigeria.

    About 60 per cent of out-of-school children are girls. Many of those who  enrol drop out early. Low perceptions of the value of education for girls and early marriages are among the reasons. Some northern States have laws requiring education of girls and prohibiting their withdrawal from school. Girls’ primary school attendance has been improving, but this has not been the case for girls from the poorest households.

    With children under 15 years of age accounting for 45 per cent of the 171 million populations, the burden on education has become overwhelming for the nation currently facing numerous social challenges.

    Many of those who struggle to enrol in school, drop out early, UNESCO says.

    Education in Makoko

    The riverine community boast of no government schools, but have some poorly run private schools across the community.

    The only outside school ever to be situated in the area, was the now collapsed Makoko Floating School. A steep three-storey with a triangular roof, built and designed by Nigerian architect Kunle Adeyemi of NLE Works – in partnership with organisation including the Heinrich Boll Foundation, United Nation Development Project (UNDP), the Federal Ministry of Environment Africa Adaptation Programme, Yaba Local Council Development Area (LCDA) and the Makoko waterfront.

    A makeshift private primary school visited by this correspondent, houses more than 100 pupils. The school, crammed in the midst of residential houses, is situated in an obscure area, boast of three badly built slum-shack classes.

    Pupils are being taught in French

    When asked why the pupils are being taught French in an Anglophone country, Vice-Principal John Abraham said paucity of funds is reason they haven’t been able to employ an English teacher to teach the pupils.

    The school

    Also adjoining schools situated in the community are poorly built, understaffed and having half-lettered teachers with a school having not more than three five teachers or three teachers sharing more than 8 subjects amongst themselves.

    The situation in the community goes beyond lack of quality education, as cases of child abuses are also rampant with some becoming the breadwinners of their family instead of being in school.

    A 13-year-old canoe paddler, Dudu Ebince told The Nation that he could not remember if he ever attended school.

    Dudu, who upon sighting this reporter, with four of his co-young canoe paddlers rushed to his side in the little English language they could mustered asked with faint smile on their faces, the reporters’ destination.

    “I may have gone to school when i was little, but I can’t remember. I am a canoe paddler, I ferry people from this bank to anywhere they want to go inside Makoko and make between N1000 and N1500 per-day depending on the day” Dudu said to the reporter conveying him to his destination in his rickety licking canoe.

    Dudu

    “While on market day, I make a lot money transporting people who come here for business purpose”.

    Effect

    While the community has a communal system of administration and management with local chiefs and community leaders, Makoko underdevelopment has greatly affected the community.

    45-year-old Avleci Gerard, a community leader who owns a tailoring shop training dropout students on clothes sowing in his main-shack slum building relayed with graphic details of how lack of proper education and healthcare has been affecting Makoko.

    Avleci who speaks no English or the Yoruba, the official language of his host community, spoke with The Nation correspondent in Egun and translated to the reporter by, a High School dropout now under the care of Avleci.

    “We don’t have government presence in this community. There are no government school in this area and we don’t have government hospitals either. Government should know that we are Nigerians and not outsiders. Saying those in waterfront are not Lagosians is wrong. We have been here for more than 100 years and people currently here where born here and not as if they were brought from somewhere to inhabit this place’’ he said.

    “We are suffering here; our major source of livelihood is fishing, which was passed down to us from our fathers and forefathers. We have been here for years and have nowhere to go”.

    “They want use to relocate from this area to dry land, but to where exactly and they are asking us to leave. We are only here because we are fishermen and we must feed our family. Our business, everything about us is connected to this place and not just that were just living here for living sake”.

    Gerard Avleci

    “That’s why you that are closer to government should leave us and not chase us away from here. We feed through the meagre we get from fishing. Because of no hospital here, we have lost so many people to different ailments that could have been easily treated, if we have had a functioning hospital. We want you to help us”.

    “Family here without any means of livelihood that depend on the fish business also are also facing eviction from government. You could see small children also engaging in canoe paddling as a means of making money, some use it to even feed their family”.

    Avleci on his cloth sowing business said he started it as means to help school dropout so that they don’t fall into wrong hands.

    “I started tailoring business 10 years ago and I have trained more than 60 people and in those ten years, I have really not made anything. I only use it to help those children, so that they too can have something doing, it’s not as if I make money from it, but as I just have to do it, it’s my own way of contributing to this community and their life. I also lecture them in our local dialect and we have someone who comes over here to teach them little English and other subjects.

    Abu Bukola, a community teacher told The Nation what the community needs is government assistance and not eviction

    “What we need is government assistance in our community. What we have here as a houses are slum shack and something that’s good. We all know that a foundation that is not strong crumbles easily”.  Those are the kind of houses we have here are part of Lagos and Nigeria and deserve better from the government” he said.

    Bukola, Community teacher

    “What I think government can do is to assist people here by maybe establishing businesses for them with an agreement on how they would pay back and maybe also to construct a small building for them. People here just need small government assistance. They are not lazy, but hard working and if government is will to help, I believe they will really appreciate and best use of any assistance rendered”.

     

    Cases of teenage pregnancies also are rampant and getting out of control, with a close direct observation seeing many teenagers in Makoko with children.

    A mother with her child

    Apart from Victoria, more than 15 teenagers are also under the care of Gerard, with more female than boys as all thrive to make meaning of their life and community.

    Esther Moses who is billed to finish in August is thinking of prolonging her stay as she has no means setting up her own business.

    “I don’t think I will be leaving here. I don’t have money and my parents also don’t have money to even buy me machine not to talk about getting a shop. So I may stay here for a while and maybe when I get money, I will pay for my graduation, get a machine and also shop” she said.

    Otodo Gbeme eviction

    Avleci during his interview with The Nation said the Otodo Gbame eviction by the Lagos State government in 2017 was one of the trying times in the community, as most those evicted migrated to Makoko with their properties and families.

    The Lagos State government between November 2016 and April 2017, Lagos State authorities forcibly and violently evicted more than 30,000 residents from the Otodo-Gbame community on the outskirts of Lagos city.

    In a report by Amnesty International, ‘The Human Cost of a Megacity: Forced Evictions of the Urban Poor in Lagos’ released in November 14 2017, the human right agency details the repeated forced evictions of the Otodo-Gbame and Ilubirin communities carried out since March 2016 without any consultation, adequate notice, compensation or alternative housing being offered to those affected”.

    Accusing the government of Inconsistent government response, lack of safeguards and a need for investigation.

    The report also documents at least three occasions between 9 November 2016 and 9 April 2017, when the residents of Otodo-Gbame were attacked by armed men who they identified as being from the neighbouring Ikate Elegushi community. At least 15 people sustained varying degrees of injuries, while one person died during these attacks. Also, on 16 February 2015, Ilubrin community was attacked by armed men, and two children went missing (bringing the total number of people reported missing by the two communities to 17).

    Some evictees drowned as they fled police gunfire, while at least one was shot dead.

    “These ruthless forced evictions are just the most recent examples of a practice that has been going on in Nigeria for over a decade in complete defiance of international law,” said Osai Ojigho, Amnesty International Nigeria’s Country Director.

    “For the residents of these deprived communities, many of whom rely on their daily fish catch to make a living, the waterfront represents home, work and survival. Forced evictions mean they lose everything – their livelihoods, their possessions and in some cases their lives.

    “The Lagos state authorities must halt these attacks on poor communities who are being punished for the state’s urban planning failures. The instability and uncertainty created by forced evictions is making their lives a misery as they are left completely destitute.”

    Amnesty International spoke to 97 evicted people as part of its research, all of whom told a similar story of being made homeless and losing almost all their possessions.

    Communities under attack

    Between November 2016 and April 2017, Lagos state authorities forcibly and violently evicted more than 30,000 residents from the Otodo-Gbame community on the outskirts of Lagos city.

    In the first eviction, at midnight on November 9, police and unidentified armed men chased out residents with gunfire and teargas, setting homes on fire as bulldozers demolished them.

    Panicked residents tried to run to safety amid the chaos, with eyewitnesses reporting that some drowned in the nearby lagoon as they ran from gunfire.

    Evictee Celestine Ahinsu told Amnesty International: “After a couple of days we started seeing the bodies floating. I saw three – a man with a backpack and a pregnant woman with a baby on her back. The community youths brought the bodies from the water. The relatives of the pregnant woman and child came to take their bodies.”

    Nine people are believed to have drowned during the eviction and another 15 remain unaccounted for.

    Of the 4,700 residents who remained in Otodo-Gbame after the eviction, some slept in canoes or out in the open, covering themselves with plastic sheets when it rained.

    Four months later, in March 2017, state security forces backed up by unidentified men armed with machetes, guns and axes forcibly evicted residents who had remained.

    When residents protested, they came under attack from police. One man, father of two Daniel Aya, was shot in the neck and killed.

    The forced evictions were carried out in direct violation of court orders issued on 7 November 2016 and 26 January 2017. In some cases, residents were evicted while they showed police a copy of the court order that was supposed to prevent the government from demolishing their homes.

    Meanwhile, 823 residents of the nearby Ilubirin community were forcibly evicted between 19 March 2016 and 22 April 2017.

    After being given just 12 days’ written notice of eviction, Lagos state government officials and dozens of police officers chased residents out of their homes, and demolished all the structures in the community using fire and wood cutting tools.

    Evictees subsequently returned to the area and rebuilt their structures, but these were demolished six months later with just two days’ oral notice and no consultation.

    What happened in Otomo Gbeme is what we don’t want here. That’s why we want to give our children proper education so that they won’t face what we have been facing from government. We have lost a lot of people, Avleci told The Nation with a worried expression on his face.

    Out of school children engage in canoe transport business to fend for themselves
    A teenage girl canoe paddler search for customers
    Some engage in selling to people