The Nation Newspaper

Category: Sunday Interview

  • ‘We are pursuing basic healthcare through PHCs’

    ‘We are pursuing basic healthcare through PHCs’

    The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, spoke with select reporters in Ibadan, and talks about how the ministry is pursuing a comprehensive health project to revamp a minimum of one Primary Health Centre in every political ward across the country. Bisi Oladele was there

    HEALTHCARE delivery looks poor in this country. What is your ministry doing to revamp, particularly about the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs)?

    I think we should start by saying upfront that primary health or primary care is not direct responsibility of federal government. But as I have said often and often, our job is to look at the entire healthcare architecture and make sure that we get it right. What we have today is a situation whereby the primary health care is dysfunctional and the secondary is begging for help. The only one that is actually doing good work is the tertiary. People now abandon primary and secondary and work straight to tertiary and this is why we have the problem we have on ground – a situation in which a large majority of our people visit tertiary care is not good. So, what we are trying to do, because we are in charge of policy, is to reverse this unfortunate and unacceptable trend by making sure that we reposition the healthcare system in a way that 85 per cent of our people would go to primary health care rather than going to a teaching hospital and that’s why we have taken the initiative to flag off the programme of revitalization of PHCs and it has become a cardinal programme of this administration.

    There was a time primary education was also in total crisis and the federal government came up with an idea that up till today, teachers were rescued. Is it not possible for the Federal Ministry of Health to also come up with that kind of idea that will rescue primary health care because that is the closet hospitals to the people?

    That is exactly the same reason that necessitated our focusing on PHCs. It has become the cardinal programme of Mr. President and he personally flagged off the Kuchingoro model PHC on January 10 to really demonstrate his commitment to revitalizing PHCs. PHC is the healthcare facility that is the closest to the people. And if you look at the All Progressives Congress’ (APC) manifesto, it identifies healthcare system that is affordable, accessible and of good quality and within 3-5 kilometres to the people and that is why we are focusing on PHCs. And we looked at what we have on ground. We have about 30, 000 PHCs for now but only about 20 per cent of them are working. So we said if we can make one in every political ward function, we would reach about 100 million people. Each political ward has about 10,000 people. So, if we have about 10,000 PHCs we would reach about 100 million people. The National Health Act passed in 2014 has given the Ministry of Health the authority to define what basic healthcare is all about. And for me, the basic healthcare package includes ante-natal care, delivery, treating malaria, checking blood pressure, giving vaccines to young ones and treating other basic problems, testing them for HIV and TB.

    You mentioned affordable healthcare as being part of the APC manifesto. But today, if we go to tertiary health institutions, because of shortage of funds, they look inward to generate additional revenue to plug short fall in their expenses and the implication is that they pass on a lot of expenses to poor patients. Don’t you think that this is contrary to the promise to offer affordable health?

    Well, let me assure you that good care and affordable care do not necessarily imply free care. There is nowhere in the manifesto of APC where we talked about free health care but what I can assure you is that when we say it is affordable, that means those who can afford will pay and then we pay for those who cannot. And that is why we are promoting health insurance, encouraging states to set up health or contributing scheme and we are also looking into setting up a National Health Insurance Commission that will make health insurance compulsory and universal in the country. When you have that, you will be able to put together resources to take care of health. Anywhere health is free, some people must be paying for it. In the United Kingdom (UK), the National Health Service depends on taxation. So what we are currently looking into in the context of Nigeria is how can we put resources together that will afford us the opportunity to take care of health? And one basic provision in the national health care is the prescription giving at least one per cent of the consolidated revenue fund to health to fund basic healthcare and that money will go straight to primary health care. For the first time the PHCs will get money direct from the federal. If we get that right, then this country has actually arrived at what we call a comfortable stage where we can deliver basic healthcare to our people. For now, we have not succeeded. We are talking to our colleagues in the Ministry of Budget and Planning and that of Finance and I have also approached Mr. President to ensure that we put the one per cent in it. We have assurances from the National Assembly that if the Executive contributes that one per cent, they will protect it. So we are quite optimistic that very soon we would have that one per cent. But pending the time that we would have the one per cent, we are doing what we call a scale-up project in three states: Abia, Niger and Osun where we would pilot basic healthcare provision fund, where money directly will flow from central to each of the PHCs. We would open account at the local facility and also engender ownership because the people must own it. We don’t want a situation where federal government will own the facility. It must belong to the people. We would then partner with the states to set up a state primary healthcare development board and a ward development committee so that the people can own the facility.

    The Chief medical Director (CMD) of University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Prof. Temitope Alonge, recently suggested the idea that the federal government can make an arrangement for tertiary health institutions to adopt a number of PHCs within their locality to be able to mentor them since they have enough manpower and better facilities. Why can’t this happen?

    We are on the same page with the CMD. I have discussed with him how we can get this done. It is actually a two-phased process. The first thing is to partner with the state to also support their secondary facility. We have more than enough human resources in our teaching hospitals. For example, you get to Sokoto Teaching Hospital there are over 500 doctors there. But if you go to the state hospital, I am sure they have less than 100. Zamfara is a case in point with 122 doctors in the Federal Medical Centre in Gusau. But here are less than 24 doctors in the state hospitals. So, one of the things we are trying to build is a partnership between federal and the states so that they can oversee. In the example in Sokoto, the teaching hospital will also oversee the local government and if we do that, each of our teaching hospitals or medical centres will then supervise the PHCs and it will be good for them for training. It will be good in terms of supervision and we can ensure that the people get good healthcare. The federal system will also be strengthened because if a case cannot be managed at a PHC, that case will immediately leave the PHC. We expect that normal delivery should take place at PHC but if we have complications, hypertensions, convulsion, and baby lying across in the tummy, multiple pregnancy, baby coming by the buttock; those cases should moved to a higher level because we don’t want to risk the lives of women at that level.

    Sir, in medical practice generally or health sector generally, it is believed that prevention is actually better than cure. Do you think government is doing enough in running campaigns to help people embrace practices that prevent sickness?

    This is where we all got it wrong. Health is on the concurrent list. One of the things we want to do is change the perception that the federal government must do everything. That is where we got it wrong. Federal government took over everything; that was okay when we had enough resources. Now that we do not have enough resources we need to share the resources with the states. We are only in charge of policy. States must take care of the people in their states. We cannot have cholera in Kwara and say federal should come and look after them. No, that is the responsibility of Kwara State Government. Kwara must provide water for the citizens because water is what you need to prevent cholera and also ensure that we mange waste properly so that they will not defecate along streams that people will drink. What we are doing at the federal is to change the way and manner we allocate resources. Before we came on board, 80 per cent of the resources at federal level were into curative care. The first we have done now is to change the allocation to preventive care. If you look at the 2016/2017 budget, a large chunk of our capital allocation now is into preventive. We have also given approval for the National Centre for Disease Control that is out to work with states. The disease control centres have trained surveillance officers; these are disease detectives. We have posted them to all the states; we are working with the states so that if there is an outbreak we can quickly nip it in the bud.

    Before now we use to think that VVF is a thing that is restricted to the northern states but now we are talking of VVF in the Southwest and other places…

    There are many southerners who also share that wrong impression or perspective. When we flagged off the VVF repair at Wesley Hill Hospital Ilesa, Osun Sate, the Deputy Governor came and was shocked. In fact, I did not realize why she was asking for the name of the patient we operated on. In one week, we operated about 25 patients. And the Deputy Governor said what is your name? Where are you from? And they said Ikire, Lagos, Osogbo, she was shocked. She said I thought VVF was confined to the North and I said that VVF is all over Nigeria. But what we are doing now is to set up more VVF hospitals, train more people, increase awareness, actively campaign against child marriage and also promote ante-natal care and supervise delivery. Both must work together. If a girl of seven years old gets pregnant and is managed properly, that girl won’t develop VVF. So, we need to combine good care with advocacy and education.

    How would you rate the advocacy of VVF from your ministry so far?

    We are doing well and as I told you, we are not only working alone, we are working with states and we are being supported by the United States government. The USAID has a good programme to engender health working together to improve advocacy. We are working with the Ministry of Women Affairs to improve education of young girls, delay marriage and also make sure that where you get pregnant you go for ante-natal care and supervised delivery.

    As the Minister of Health, what is that one thing that will make you feel fulfilled if your ministry is able to push through today?

    The basic healthcare provision fund.

    What is it about?

    It is one per cent of the consolidated revenue funds going to PHCs because that is the only thing that will make the PHCs survive.

    What is your ministry doing to address this huge shortage of fund for tertiary health institutions?

    Well, I think we must look at the situation from two perspectives. The first thing is to move patients away from the tertiary and that’s why taking care of primary healthcare is good. When I trained in the UCH, you can’t just walk in to the UCH and say I have fever, cough. No. You must come with a referral. If you fail to come with a referral they will send you to the Out-patient Department where someone will see you and may send you back to state hospital or treat you there and say ‘Go away’ or ‘this is a complex case, go and see a consultant.’ When you do that, the consultants in UCH will have more time for those complex cases. There will be enough materials for them, and no one will complain. So that is why it is important to make sure the PHC and secondary healthcare are working. Secondly, we need to put more resources in the tertiary. No doubt about that. We need to upgrade the condition, make sure their water and electricity are efficient, upgrade their equipment and upgrade the skills of the health professionals working there. That is the only thing we can do correctly to stop people from going out and we can save a lot of money. We estimate that we can save up to $1 billion a year if we upgrade our tertiary care centres and government is committed to doing that. In our 2017 budget appropriation, we have money allocated for that strategic investment in tertiary hospitals. We are going to upgrade eight of our facilities – one in each geo-political zone, including the National Hospital, Abuja and LUTH.

  • ‘Monkey pox is self-limiting’

    ‘Monkey pox is self-limiting’

    Bayo Onajole, a Professor of Community Medicine and Public Health, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), is a Consultant and Head, Faculty of Public Health and Community Medicine at the National Post Graduate Medical College, in this interview with Omolara Akintoye, he talks about how to prevent monkey pox.

    WHAT is monkey pox all about? Monkey pox comes from the same family as chicken pox and small pox, it all belong to the same generic, but it tends to affect monkeys, when you have a transmission from monkey to man, then it is called Zoolosis (it’s a disease associated with animals but occasionally get transmitted to man otherwise called Zoolotic infections such as rabies, anthrax etc). Monkey pox is a viral infection that get transmitted from monkey to man. The features are almost the same, starts with fever, body weakness; at this stage you can diagnose any disease. But after three days, some characteristics symptoms of monkey pox start to occur like body rashes, swellings and many others set in.

    Can it be treated?

    For most viral infections they are self limiting, that is you only treat the signs and symptoms that are associated with it: Give the person drugs to reduce the itching, drugs to reduce the temperature, rehydrate as a result of loss of fluid. So technically when you talk about treatable, certain treatments can apply but whether those treatments are specific for the virus, absolutely no, they are just to treat the symptoms arising from the virus. So the disease can lead to death. But it is not really as severe as the small pox of those days but it can lead to death. Monkey pox is not a disease of man, so for now, there is no vaccination for it. Monkey is not a pet or animals that are reared domestically in large numbers unlike other animals like cow which vaccines was developed for them. But basically because monkey pox, chicken pox and cow pox belong to the family, vaccination against small pox or cow pox may have a cross protection against monkey pox. But unfortunately, we no longer have vaccines against small pox because small pox by the World Health Organization (WHO) is supposed to have been eradicated since 1978/79.The vaccines can no longer be found all over the place except in small research laboratories where they are kept very safe.

    Is there any effort on the part of government to make vaccines available?

    Vaccines are not developed overnight, it takes a lot of processes, but like I said, monkey pox like most viral infections are self limiting (that is they get infected and then get blocked out except before it is eliminated from the body system it is been transmitted to another person)  if you can limit all the signs and symptoms. The same also happened during the outbreak of Ebola, I was the National Director for Communication and Mobilization during the Ebola outbreak then,  it was not really like we had any new drug for Ebola then, but we were able to manage the early features, signs and symptoms of the disease and a lot of people recovered. People died then because when they had the symptoms such as fluid loss and sometimes bleeding into the organs, once it gets to that stage, then death is inevitable.

    How do you manage viral infections?

    One major thing in the management of viral infections is early. If you can take those early signs off very early, you can start maintaining the body system in terms of fluid replacement, curbing fever, reducing pain, so that the person don’t get to the state of having organ shutdown.

    The incubation period for monkey pox is between 1-21 days. (3 weeks). The general principles being used in managing viruses such as Ebola, Lassa fever and others are to maintain Universal Safety Precaution i.e. trying to maintain the following: Good personal hygiene, good environmental hygiene, washing hands regularly with soap and water if you’ve come in contact with any equipment or instrument.

    A lot of times you touch certain things that are contaminated you take it to either your mouth, eyes, in short the hands tends to move around a lot. Some of these infections are also airborne. So, one should also avoid overcrowding, so if someone who has the virus is in a crowded place, he can spread it fast. The most dangerous part of the spread is between 1-5 days because the characters features are not visible, by the time it is visible, everybody is aware of it and are staying away from such people but when it is not visible he can easily mingle with people and spread the virus. A major characteristic of managing this disease condition is early diagnosis, which put the index on individuals, families, communities and health institutions to have a very high index of suspicion and report to appropriate authority this can help in the reduction of the spread of the organism.

    One of the appropriate measures that will be put in place is that individuals who have characteristics symptoms will be nursed in isolation. The health workers that will also take care of such person will also put up protective clothing and ensure standard safety precaution in nursing the person. If you nurse them over a period of time, once they recover, they’ve developed immunity. Those people who have recovered are the safest people you can relate with because they now have a level of immunity. We are also having the outbreak now because monkey pox, chickenpox, cowpox all belong to the same family.

    Possibly in the past, when we get immunized against small pox, the level of immunity cut across and protects us from all these things. But immunizations against smallpox have been stopped for almost 30 years now and what is called the “HERD” Immunity (the level of immunity of a community) will be reduced if they are no longer exposed to the antigen under consideration. Moreover, monkeys had always been there coupled with the fact that we are now in a global village where travel and communication is faster. Someone could be in Bayelsa this morning and by afternoon be in Lagos or Sokoto, if such a person already has the characteristic symptoms, he could spread the virus.

    Is it true that the virus can be gotten through the consumption of bush meat?

    I did mention that monkey pox is Zoolosis, yes, any animal that harbours any disease condition and human beings get close to them, he can contract the virus. Even in abattoirs you see veterinary doctors inspecting cows on ground. So people are advised to reduce as much as possible contact with animals and avoid the consumption of bush meat because they might be harbouring the disease agent.

    What step is Lagos State government taking to curtail the spread of monkey pox?

    Lagos State government has a proper organized system which to a large extent is working quite well. Lagos State has a good notification system and a good surveillance system on ground even to the local level. In each of the local government areas and the development areas of the state, we have the Disease Surveillance Officers who if there is any reported case, investigate, and get information and also appropriately inform the state. The state in turn has a standing team that looks at them.

    The state also has Isolation Centres where such patients are being taken to. The state doesn’t make noise about it because it creates issues of stigmatization. When trying to control this kind of issue you must also look at the social, community and economic effects. So individual hygiene, family hygiene and community hygiene is very important in curbing the spread of the virus.

    How prepared are health workers for this outbreak because some of them who are affected are also under surveillance?

    Health workers who refuse to maintain Universal Safety Precaution might get infected. As part of training in the health sector, there are basic curriculum that teaches you on Universal Safety Precautions. The health facilities are likened to a disease palace or disease supermarkets, you can always have any kind of disease, it is only when you make the diagnosis that you can be able to say it is disease A or B. When patients come into our health facilities, most times you don’t know the type of disease he/she has and care is not taken such an health worker can purchase out of the disease. Most times when I lecture them I warn them not to be part of statistics of those that died. So the onus is on them to be proactive to maintain safety precautions. Even if management has not made provision for some of these things, but their life comes first. So one of the key things being given to health workers is training and re-training is very important and Lagos State government is doing a lot of that. Maintaining a basic process that protect the health workers knowing that he/she works in a disease supermarket and on a daily basis, different disease condition will keep on coming in.

    Lastly, what can government do generally to prevent the outbreaks of these viruses?

    The truth is that the viruses also want to survive just like the way human beings want to multiply. If you solve some disease conditions now, another disease condition will also come up. The truth of the matter is that it’s part of the ecosystem, that is why we will continue to have new emerging diseases, so we cannot have a sterile home, sterile community or a sterile nation, it is not possible. What we need to do is to maintain equilibrium between man and the environment meaning that individuals must play their part; families also play their part by keeping the environment clean. We must also have a controlled urbanization i.e. reducing the rate at which people come from the rural to urban cities for people going into the forest either for hobby or occupation must wear appropriate clothing so that when they come in contact with these animals, it reduces the transmission. But morbidity and mortality is not as bad as it used to be because there are proactive processes on ground unlike in the past.

  • Victor Banjo’s daughter: Ojukwu betrayed my father by killing him

    Victor Banjo’s daughter: Ojukwu betrayed my father by killing him

    Fifty years ago, the late Lt. Col Victor Banjo, the 16th Nigerian to be commissioned into the Nigerian Army, was publicly executed reportedly on the orders of the late Ikemba Nnewi, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, who was then the Military Head of the secessionist Biafra Republic. He was an Ijebu from Ogun State but died fighting on the Biafran side during the Nigerian civil war.
    Banjo was before his death, in detention on allegations that he took part in the January 1966 coup, was released by Ojukwu when the war broke out and convinced to lead part of the Liberation Army, which went on the offensive against the Nigerian Army and got as far as Benin, in present day Edo State. Banjo was to declare another republic upon having Benin under his control.
    In this interview with Dare Odufowokan, Assistant Editor, his daughter, Mrs. Olayinka Omigbodun, a Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Ibadan, recalls how Banjo’s young family was thrown into disarray upon his arrest and detention. She also lamented what she described as the unjust treatment meted out to her father while explaining why she thinks Ojukwu killed his friend, her father.

    How does it feel remembering the events that led to the reported execution of your father (Lt. Col.  Victor Banjo)?

    First and foremost, I must express gratitude to God for keeping us alive and well all these years. Despite the fact that we lost our father while still so young, God has kept us to see this day. We are four children, two boys, two girls. I am the third. We’ve all been able to go through school and acquire degrees. All of us are alive and healthy.

    I thank God for the kind of parents he gave me. Our father died 50 years ago and our mum 20 years ago. She was a widow for 30 years before she also went to be with the Lord. I am proud of them. It was 30 years of struggle and difficulty, but with our late mother determined to fulfil her promise to our dad, we made it.

    My mum was a Creole from Sierra Leone. She gave us the best possible life any child can ask for. We didn’t have money growing up but we had love and security in abundance. However, I still feel that pain that 50 years after my dad’s death, we do not have any official notification about his death from his employers.

    I also feel pained that my father has been treated very unjustly by the people who arrested him, people who kept him in prison, who took his things and had not returned those things even up till now. And by those who treated his immediate family so unjustly by denying us so much while keeping our father unjustly in prison.

    But I still believe in this nation. I had the choice of staying elsewhere than coming to live and work in Nigeria. I spent years in the United States and the United Kingdom training and schooling. I have had the opportunity to lead international organizations abroad. I’ve been severally offered opportunities to apply for international jobs. But I am a firm believer in Nigeria. And people close to me will tell you that I am passionate about this country. I am actively involved in nation building irrespective of what the country did to my father.

    How easy was it for your mum to train four of you after your father’s incarceration and eventual death?

    It wasn’t in anyway easy. It was rough for her. She bore the brunt of the brutality of this nation. She went through the harrowing experience of living in an unjust society. She got no widow’s pension. She got no help. In fact, all my father’s things were taken away from her. She struggled for help and received none. But God was there for her. She focused on the task of raising her children and God helped her.

    At the end of her sojourn here on earth, she had practically nothing. But she had raised four secured children. And I think that is the greatest legacy anybody could leave behind.

    Many reasons have been given for what Ojukwu did to your father. But as his child, why do you think your father was executed by his erstwhile bosom friend?

    I never had the opportunity to meet one on one with Ojukwu before he died. But from my father’s letters which he wrote to us from prison and from what my mum told us, Ojukwu was my father’s friend. They were one of the very few graduates in the Nigerian army at the time, so they were close. I really don’t know why he decided to kill his friend.

    But from what I gathered like I said from my dad’s letters and the many things I read about the incident, my father was a patriot who meant well for this country. He also meant well for the Igbo. In fact, from some of his letters to my mother back then, he spoke out clearly against the massacre of the Igbo back then. His letter of November 14, 1966, which is on page 128 of the book I published for him, he lamented the killings going on in the east.

    He said he would not change the principles he lived for. He said justice and fairness to all should be the basis on which the country should be based on. He said he cannot fail to condemn what he described as the vindictive and vengeful killings of Easterners. He warned that unless the killing stops, the bloodshed will be prolonged for a longer time. He warned the Yoruba of the West not to keep quiet on the killings saying they must not think that they are temporarily safe.

    So, I will say, just like my brother said in one of his write-ups on the social media, Ojukwu used my father as a scapegoat. That is the only imaginable reason why he wasted such a fine soldier and loving father. In September 1967, the Liberation Army, which my father led, had retreated to Enugu and Ojukwu needed to explain the defeats he was suffering to the people of Biafra.

    Why do you think he did that to his friend?

    He conveniently blamed Banjo and three other men. Lt. Col Ifeajuna, Alele and one other for sabotaging the Biafran efforts. He needed to tell the people who were losing faith in him something new as a reason for the defeats. His fear about the imminent fall of Enugu was also driving him to do something. So, on trumped up charges, my father and three other men were tried by a Kangaroo court and killed by firing squad in 1967.

    The trial did not reveal any evidence linking Banjo with any act of treason against Ojukwu or the Biafran government. In fact, it took a second military tribunal to convict Banjo because the first tribunal stated that the evidence presented to it was insufficient to prove Banjo’s guilt in the case. Unsatisfied and not ready to let my father off the hook, Ojukwu constituted another tribunal speedily.

    Apparently, it was a clear case of sacrificing someone as a scapegoat because while my father was looking forward to assisting Ojukwu further with the Biafran war in spite of the huge risk and sacrifice involved for him as a person, Ojukwu was looking for a way of implicating him for sabotage so as to retain the control of the region. Ojukwu betrayed my father by killing him.

    It was clear from his letters that my father has been assisting Ojukwu even while he did not believe in the secession. His idea, based on the letters he wrote to my mother, was to fight against, and remove the northern domination of other parts of the country and ensure a free, fair and equitable country where no arm is dominating the others.

    And you don’t think his not agreeing in the secession was a reason he got into trouble with Ojukwu?

    Well, they were friends and friends disagree. They probably must have disagreed on that before then because my father never hid his patriotism. But again, I was told that hours after the execution, Enugu fell.  I am a Professor. Human beings are very fickle. We are wont to always look for excuses. For scapegoats; so, my father was simply the sacrifice.

    He knew my father was up for one Nigeria. Even before drafting him into the war on his side, he knew my father was a patriot who wanted one united Nigeria. After the war we left Nigeria for Sierra Leone but my mother brought us back because my father, in his letters, had insisted we must be raised as Nigerians. So, his patriotism was never in doubt. Ojukwu merely executed him to cover up his own failures as a leader of the war.

    What memories do you have of your late father?

    I have very little in terms of direct memory of him. My father was arrested even before I was three. Although we got to meet him when I was four years old when he was under house arrest in Enugu sometimes in March 1967. But my mother spoke a lot about him. And then, one of the greatest legacies my father left behind were his letters to my mum. Through these letters, I got to know who he was. His letters are rich and deep. Some of them are even in French.

    He spoke on many issues in his letters to my mum. He spoke of deep affection; loyalty; adoration to his family and wife’s anguish at the situation in the country etc. He was a very deep and brilliant man. He was a talent wasted. The memories I have are all mixed up. These are memories of what my mother said and the ones I had of him as a child. And then what I have read from his letters. Above all, he is somebody I have grown to be very proud of.

    Was your father really part of a coup for which he was arrested?

    My father was a solid patriot who will not be a coup plotter. He did not know of, and did not participate in the January 1966 coup for which he was arrested and imprisoned. And it is painful that up till now, nothing has been done to exonerate him of this allegation in spite of the fact that those who participated had severally said publicly that Lt. Col. Banjo was not part of them.

    I was travelling and I sat beside a man. And immediately he knew I was Banjo’s daughter, he said I know him. The man who participated in the 1966 coup. My father was not party to the coup. The authorities know this. Ex Head of State Gen Yakubu Gowon knows this. He is still alive and able to say the truth if he cares about saying the truth for posterity’s sake.

    In a letter he wrote to gen Gowon from prison on June 19, 1967, my father said very clearly that it was obvious that the then leadership didn’t want him out of prison so as to contribute his quota to national development. He pointedly accused Gowon and his other colleagues of plotting against him by keeping him in jail even when they were aware of his innocence. Gowon is still around to deny this if I am lying.

    Then there is Major Adewale Ademoyega, one of those who planned the coup, who wrote in his book, Why We Struck, that; “also in detention were Lt. Col. Banjo and Major Aganya, both of whom had not taken part in the revolution.” Those were the exact words of Ademoyega in his book. Gowon and others were aware of this long before Ademoyega wrote.

    But Gowon later became the Head of State. Why didn’t he release your dad?

    After Gowon was installed as Head of State, my father made several overtures to him for his release. But Gen. Gowon refused to release him even though he knew he was not part of the coup. The only concession he gave was that Banjo could be transferred to a prison in Lagos if he so wished. My father rejected the offer.

    Even when my father wrote Ironsi from prison in Ikot Ekpene, on June 1, 1966, he was wondering what on earth he did to warrant being imprisoned. He faulted the way he was being treated and asked for justice, fairness and loyalty from Ironsi as a loyal officer. He saw his detention as a grievous crime against him. He pleaded his innocence and asked to be released. There is really no basis for tagging him as a ‘coupist’. I sincerely think setting the records straight is one of the things Nigeria, and the likes of Gen. Gowon, owe us as his family and children.

    It is very painful for us not knowing how he ended really. Not knowing where his remains are. Not even the exact date of his death. We only read in the book of a foreign journalist who had witnessed his execution of the date and circumstances. Beyond that, there is little or nothing to prove how he ended. This is very sad.

    We need a closure of some sort. You know when someone dies and he is committed to mother earth that is some closure. But for us as young children back then, we were not sure whether he was dead or still coming back. And 50 years after, we still don’t have a closure. That is really very painful and unbearable in a way. It is still bad that there is no notification about his death. I don’t feel that is right

    When Ojukwu released him, why didn’t he leave the country instead of joining the Biafran Army?

    He made effort. But his papers were with gen. Gowon which he refused to give him. And I read somewhere that Ojukwu, who wanted someone that will be counselling him, convinced him to stay. He must have really been in conflict at that time whether to stay or join us abroad. He loved his country, so I am not surprised he chose to stay. Ojukwu was his friend, don’t forget.

    It was tough like I said growing up without him. Though my mother ensured we survived the tough times, there was a big drop in our social standing and our finances. I remember being in school and some children were served milk while we couldn’t afford it. We just watched while others drank the milk. Looking back now, I could imagine what it was like. We had to live on the meagre resources my mum could garner. This is why we are saying the authorities should do the right thing by correcting the impression about our father, we need an official statement on him. He is N16, meaning he was the 16th officer commissioned into the Nigerian Army. He deserved to be better treated.

    All we knew and still know is that he was arrested on Monday, January 17, 1966 when he went to work. My mother and I were sad to watch the heroic reception given Ojukwu, the man who killed my father in 1982 when he returned from exile.  He also got a state burial upon his death in 2011. We couldn’t understand what manner of country this is.

    How did your mother cope with the situation back then?

    My mother died 20 years ago, but before her death, she made some requests and those remains our request even today. These requests are in a letter my mother wrote to Gen Yakubu Gowon on May 31, 1972, two years after the civil war ended. Gen. Gowon was then the Head of State. She requested the return of my father’s safe, removed personally by Gen. Gowon from 21B Cooper Road Ikoyi on Monday, January 17, 1976. In the safe were some vital documents and belongings of my father and his immediate family. We want that back because it will go a long way in helping us catch up on those times.

    She also asked for the return of some land papers and money as well as my father’s cars namely a Mercedez Benz WAL 720 and another car. She wrote the number too. She also asked for the death certificate of my father. So, we call on the authorities to help out with these so we can have these things to cherish about our dear father who was unjustly sacrificed by this country.

    And personally, I have a lot of unanswered questions. Why is my father still being tied up with the January 1966 coup? Why was my father arrested at all? Even when it was clear to the then Head of State, that my father wasn’t part of the coup, why did he choose to leave my father in prison? Gen. Gowon took the steel cabinet from our home, why hasn’t he returned the cabinet? When exactly did my father die? Where are his remains? I seek answers to these questions. And someone like Gen Gowon is still around to help out with answers to these questions and many more.

  • ‘Senators, Reps are sucking us dry with their jumbo salary’

    ‘Senators, Reps are sucking us dry with their jumbo salary’

    Prof Itse Sagay (SAN), Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC) chairman, is as tough as they come. An activist to the core, he is frank and down-to-earth and for this, he has incurred the Senate’s wrath. But he is not perturbed. He tells Joseph Jibueze, in this interview, that he is always ready for the Senate. Sagay also speaks on corruption in the judiciary, restructuring, former Petroleum Resource Minister Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke and sundry issues. 

    THE Senators accused you of making hate speeches and using abusive language against them. Have you apologised to them?  On the contrary, they should apologise to me, because if you saw their statement, if I had not become thick-skinned because of my two-year chairmanship of this committee, I’d have been very upset. I’m a bit thick-skinned now. I’ve been insulted left, right and centre. Even those that I’m hoping would benefit from our work  young ones whose patrimony is being wasted away  some of them are rented to insult us. So, there was nothing they (Senators) didn’t say about me  that I was ranting, I was over-excited, I talk anyhow, there’s no name they didn’t call me. I said two things. One, that they’re not committed to Nigeria, that they’re there for themselves alone and simply consuming all the national assets and leaving poor Nigerians to waste away and the country under-developed. And I provided the figures. I know that worse exists, which has not been detected. I didn’t say what the minority leader, majority leader, deputy Senate president and Senate president get as extras. They run into hundreds of millions. What I said at that lecture is a tip of the iceberg. We’re going to do further thorough research on this matter, and we’re still going to come out with figures. What we’re aiming for is for the National Assembly to admit that they’re frittering away our national assets and funds and therefore preventing them from being used for the other vital sectors, to create more employment, to fix our infrastructure. If you recall, the former Governor of Central Bank said they were consuming virtually one quarter, 25 per cent of our budget. They didn’t deny it.

    Why are you against their allowances?

    There’s one more thing I need to stress. If you look at the allowances, Nigerians need to ask themselves questions. Should we be the ones clothing Senators? Should my tax be used in hanging Agbada on a Senator? The press has not taken it up, but this is serious. How many times have government provided clothes for you, and yet you’re clothed? But these men who are overpaid, who are absorbing the largest share of our resources are still asking us to clothe them, as if they arrived in Abuja naked. It’s not acceptable. These same people are collecting huge sums, claiming that they’re suffering hardship by doing their job. If you go to the Senate chambers, you will see the luxurious furnishing, fully air-conditioned; you’ll see staff running around, attending to every little thing they need, serving them, hand and foot  that is hardship. What about the man who is earning N18,000 a month, who’s carrying machinery, working in a factory, cutting grass on the road, cleaning the roads, sweating with hard labour. Nobody is paying them hardship allowance. But the people are paid hardship allowance for living in tremendous luxury. They’re claiming utility allowance. In other words, if we don’t give them money, they don’t have cutlery, tablecloth, plates and saucepans. We have to provide those for them. The list goes on. It is criminal. It is unconscionable. It is wicked for people who are so highly privileged, who are the wealthiest people in the country to still be sucking our blood dry by collecting these things which they don’t need and depriving others of them.

    Do you agree with suggestions that we should do away with the bi-cameral legislature to save cost?

    In fact I was just coming to that. If we’re going to keep the bi-cameral type of National Assembly, we must do something. And that is: We must make it part time, as we had in the First Republic. They would legislate for two months, and then everybody would go back. To save this country from this tremendous cost that is bending our back, we need to turn the National Assembly into part time operation, so that any member who is there is someone comfortably having a profession somewhere else. In those days, teachers, professors, local government chairmen, emirs and so forth, they all came. They were only paid sitting allowance and were housed. They had their professions. They were not looters who had come to make a fortune in the National Assembly. We must go back to that, make it part time and pay them only sitting allowances.

    The Senate said you did not get your facts right in claiming they have not passed any bill to aid the anti-corruption war. Is that so?

    There’s passing and there’s passing. Let’s take the Financial Intelligence Agency Bill as an example. The bill they passed is just pure vendetta. There are other financial intelligence unit that are located within other anti-corruption agencies all over the world. What is important is the level of their independence within where they’re located. But these people want to take it out of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) because they want to smack the Acting Chairman Ibrahim Magu in the eye. That’s all. So I don’t count that as an achievement. When you do something based on hatred, it’s not an achievement.

    What about the Whistleb-blower Bill which they passed?

    We were already operating the Whistle-blower policy before it went to them. And I’m not aware that the Bill has been signed into law. But, the policy was already in operation.

    They also said they passed the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Bill, contrary to your claim…

    I am even surprised government took that bill to the National Assembly. If we have stolen property abroad, mutual legal assistance enables that government to cooperate with us for the return of our assets. It gives us access to properties located within foreign territories. You don’t need legislation for that. It’s just something between two heads of state.

    So, which laws were you referring to?

    The Special Criminal Court Bill, which will create a court specifically for cases on corruption, narcotics, kidnapping, with main emphasis on corruption cases. They are sitting on that.

    Is that all?

    There is the Proceeds of Crime Bill, which automatically will put anybody whose assets is seized on the defence, to prove ownership. The burden of proof will be reversed. He has to establish that he’s the owner. There are little clauses under various laws but we want to put them under one head where a prosecutor can zero in and use it. They have not passed that.

    Let’s move to the issue of loss of high profile cases. What is being done to reverse this trend?

    A lot is being done. There is a manual for prosecution. We noticed the weaknesses in the existing system. It guides the anti-corruption agencies in prosecuting cases to be effective, successful and fast. It proposes that it is not an investigator alone who should be involved in investigation. It must involve a potential prosecutor, because it is the lawyer who knows the ingredients that constitute the offence. So, if the policeman is veering off into irrelevant things, he can stop him and say no. Second, there is a committee made up of top members of the anti-corruption agency, before whom a progress report is brought, who would then look at what has been brought, the evidence that has been found and look at the offence. So there’s a vetting committee. By the time an investigation report passes through the prosecutor who is working with the investigator, and then passes through a committee made up of about five or six people who are professionals in various areas including law, then there is likelihood that what will come before the court will be something substantive.

    Special Assistant to the President on Prosecution Mr Okoi Obono-Obla recently said some cases he filed at the Supreme Court were yet to be heard nearly 10 years after. Have you had a similar experience?

    He’s very right. The cases before the Supreme Court are a cause of major frustration. I have a private case which has been sitting there. The registrar told us: ‘For the next five years you won’t hear anything’. So it’s a very major problem. I don’t blame the Supreme Court too much because under our present procedural system, anything goes to the Supreme Court, anything  interlocutory matters that will still come back to the High Court, which should have been disposed of finally. So they’re overloaded. We need to come together, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) and others, first to amend the Constitution, so that we totally eliminate interlocutory matters. Second, there is no need for commercial cases to go to the Supreme Court. They can be resolved at the Court of Appeal level where you have three justices. Leave constitutional cases, criminal cases, things concerning administration of government, human rights  just about five things for the Supreme Court.

    Do you support the idea of regional Supreme Courts?

    We had that before. The Western region and the western state had a Western Court of Appeal, but when they gave their judgment, they still went to the Supreme Court. If you’re going to have that, then it has to be made in such a way that appeals end there. So it’s true (that cases last up to 10 years), but it’s not the fault of the Supreme Court.

    Some have called for the reform of the National Judicial Council (NJC), saying the CJN should not be NJC chairman to prevent conflict of interest. What is your take?

    I think that retired justices should be introduced into the system. I feel that the head of the NJC should be a retired judge. Why? Because they will not have an axe to grind. There are dangers of self-interest and lack of objectivity in some of the activities of the NJC. If you see some of the judges being prosecuted now, their cases went before the NJC, and they said they didn’t find them liable, they should go back. So there’s a lot of esprit de corps, lack of objectivity, protection of wrong self interests. Again, Nigeria is a very difficult country. Not all retired judges are good. I know of some retired judges whose job is to carry bribe, because the people who are there now are their junior colleagues, so they go and influence them with money from Senior Advocates. In Nigeria, we have not yet established a system of checking the background and records of people before appointing them. We’re not sufficiently ruthless in saying: ‘No, you’re unfit. Period.’ It doesn’t matter that you’ve not been found guilty. The fact that there is suspicion against you is sufficient. A judge, like Caesar’s wife, must be above suspicion. He absolutely has to be above suspicion. There must not be a breath of misconduct about him. If that happens, certainly he’s not fit to hold an important position.

    The Senate has refused to confirm Acting EFCC chairman. For how long can Magu remain in acting capacity?

    Indefinitely. The Senate, in my view, doesn’t even have jurisdiction in this matter. It is the President who has jurisdiction because of Section 171 of the Constitution where he is empowered to appoint him directly as chairman. This government is being a bit too careful, gentle, not wanting to ruffle feathers. It’s okay. Maybe that’s why they’re politicians and in government. If people like me who are not politicians were there, these people (Senators) would have heard a different message. I’d have rammed things through and damned them to go and do whatever they like, and let’s see who would come on top, because I believe that ultimately, righteousness, a good cause, a belief in principle will prevail. We’re dealing with people who are undergoing all sorts of investigations; they cannot face a righteous man. So, it’s a kind, gentle government, and I think they’re lucky that people like me are not there.

    Some people have wondered: What exactly does PACAC do?

    We have done a lot  workshops, not only for prosecutors, but for judges in all the zones. We’ve taken them through the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act, how to tackle corruption cases. For Justices of the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, we even brought people from abroad, so they would not say it’s infradig for locals to be taking them through a workshop. We brought people from England, from Canada, the Chief Judge of Ghana, those who are experienced in handling corruption cases. It was a very hot, intensive session. We have prepared several manuals. PACAC is an advisory body, a sort of think-tank. We do our workshops, our symposia; we do research and make them available to government with recommendations of what they should do. We’re still going to continue to do that even though it’s not everything that we recommended that has been carried out. We’re sometimes disappointed. They have not really rejected anything out of hand. It’s like: ‘Well, this is not the time.’ That sort of thing.

    Courts are resuming for the new legal year. What are your expectations?

    We are concerned about the judiciary. Without the judiciary, let us kiss the anti-corruption war goodbye. We must have a committed judiciary; otherwise they will keep messing up any case that comes. It’s so easy to give a reason, which will appear to be reasonable, and the public will say oh, the anti-corruption agencies have not done their homework. It’s not so. Quite a number of the judges are deliberately taking decisions which I’d say indicate their hostility to the anti-corruption war. There are judges who are hostile. There are judges who in fact interfere when such cases are going on; using their position to ensure that government loses. Government is aware of all this. They’re aware of so many things. It’s just as well that some of us are not in a position to take decisions. People who should be stopped are slipping through and still being relevant when in fact they should be pushed aside into retirement where they will not interfere in the anti-corruption struggle. I want particularly the CJN who is the leader of the judiciary to study his men very carefully. There are reports on these judges, some by the Department of State Services (DSS) and from other sources. He knows a lot of what is happening. I feel that judges who are showing they are not committed to the eradication of corruption should be eased out of the system.

    Why is PACAC pushing for special courts?

    If we could only get the National Assembly to pass the Criminal Court Bill to become an Act, the court will be set up in such a way that only selected judges with established reputation, integrity, honour and honesty  established, not guess work, from record  only they would be appointed judges of the court. We know them. There are some of them, well known, and they will be the only ones to man the court. Those are the only ones you cannot approach. These are people with the spirit of Eso, Aniagolu, Oputa. There are still young judges who have that spirit. We know them. We’ll select them. They’ll be put there. You dare not carry money to their chambers. You will come out in chains if you do it. We have people like that. We want that bill to be passed so they can operate on that basis. Those are some of the changes we want.

    There have been so many recoveries from former Petroleum Minister Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke. What is being done towards extraditing her?

    So many recoveries have been made  half of our budget. What is recovered is just a tip of the iceberg. She’ll come back eventually, but already the British are investigating her for alleged money laundering. She allegedly has many buildings in Britain. She has bank accounts. She’s being investigated. I don’t think they’re going to release her, because they’ll have the first go. After she has been tried, then we can look at what we have against her. If it’s not the same thing for which she is tried there, we can still try her here on her return. I don’t see the need for a hurry to rush her down here. The British are compiling evidence. I know that some evidence from here have been sent there to support what the British are doing, because basically it is a case of money laundering transferring money to Britain to launder by building houses, buying furniture, putting them in bank accounts and so on. If you know the British, you will know that any attempt to bring her before they’ve done their own will not be possible.

    What is your view on calls for restructuring?

    I am a strong supporter of restructuring. Nigeria is a very difficult country, that’s why there are different views on restructuring. Left to me, I’ll say we should go back to the 1963 Constitution and then modify it to suit the present circumstances. What we want to create are viable federating units. The only viable one in Nigeria now is Lagos. All the others are not viable.

    Should states be collapsed?

    It’s not very realistic to say states should be collapsed, because people who have established interests, whose whole life is oriented towards state activity, will object. Some people are even saying we should have 18 more states, which is a very laughable idea. So, I won’t insist that you should collapse states completely, but I think we can reduce what they’re doing, transfer more to the regional government, reduce public service, cut down on cost, and let them do some basic things which will give some emotional satisfaction to those in favour of states.

    Are you calling for some kind of regional authority?

    O yes. There will be election and a leader will emerge. Think of how it used to be when we had four regions. I’m not saying it must be four now. It was the regions that supported the Federal Government. Every region contributed 20 per cent of its earnings to the Federal Government. It kept 50 per cent for itself. The remaining 30 per cent went into a distributable pool meant for most disadvantaged regions. So the North was the most disadvantaged because of the size and the resources could not cope, so they were getting 41 per cent of that 30 per cent contributed by all regions. Eastern region got almost 30 per cent. Then West got about 18 per cent because it was well endowed. And then Midwest got six per cent. That’s why when the Northerners are so frightened of restructuring, I say No. There’s nothing to be afraid of. There’s still going to be a pool that will support you against difficulties. But it’ll not be enough to make you do nothing as you’re doing now, just going cap in hand to collect money every month from Abuja, spend it, go back the next month. That will end. There’ll be support, but you also have to be productive. And there’ll be competition, because there will be larger entities. There was a lot of competition in those days. The Western region introduced free education, everyone introduced it. It introduced television, everyone introduced it. It built a stadium, everybody built stadia. Then they all competed and had universities. And we were growing fast, faster than Singapore and all these other places at that time. So, we could have regions and still leave some limited power to the states to take of those who have some interests in those states. Otherwise, I’m being realistic, the debate will be very hard if we say ‘abolish all states’.

    What do you make of the declaration of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) as a terrorist organisation?

    Whilst I’m not sure of the legal parameters of that declaration, in practice, yes. If you look at it, we’re very lucky that this thing did not get out of hand. They (IPOB) were coming in their thousands, establishing road blocks, and all that. If that is allowed, then the country is finished. Then they burned down a police station, killed a policeman. For Christ’s sake, even if you want Biafra, you don’t have to be violent. If you look at the words that Kanu uses on the social media, how he has described our President and the rest of us as living in a zoo  abusive, violent, intemperate words  all those in my view constitute in totality acts of terrorism in which they can push undiscerning youths into rage and violence which can be destructive. I just thank God that the North is showing some maturity and some sense of restraint while this thing is being curbed. But we really need to curb IPOB otherwise they will turn this country into a tinderbox.

    The Senate has asked the President to call you to order. The All Progressives Congress (APC) also cautioned you against comments capable of creating tension between the executive and the legislature. So, if the President asks you to stop speaking, will you comply?

    Yes, he is my employer. If he tells me to stop talking, I’ll stop talking. But I have certain rights too that I can exercise in addition to that, because I’m not going to be in a position where I am impotent. So, I must obey him, but I can go beyond that and obey myself too. That’s it. As for the leadership of the APC, I think they are the most unprincipled group of people. They are lily-livered, weak, and cannot run any organisation. The whole party is collapsing under them. They cannot control anybody. Because they cannot control anybody, they’re now in fact encouraging and accepting ‘rogues’. When I say rogues, I don’t mean stealing.  In literature, when you say someone is a rogue elephant, it means people who are running riot and destroying the party. They’re pampering them, saying: ‘Let’s not annoy them too much’, but they’re destroying the APC house. So, I think the APC leadership is weak, is too compromising and is certainly a failure as far as I’m concerned.

  • ‘There’s no crisis in the House of Oduduwa’

    ‘There’s no crisis in the House of Oduduwa’

    Since he ascended the throne over a year ago, Ooni of Ife Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi, has pursued the unity of the Yoruba race with vigour. In this interview with Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, in his palace, he speaks on his role as the custodian of Yoruba culture and tradition, who should not quarrel with his fellow monarchs. Ile-Ife, as custodian of the collective patrimony of the Yoruba race, he says, belongs not only to the indigenes of the town, but to all Yoruba people across the world. Excerpts.

    YOU recently spoke about the place of Ile-Ife in the history of the Yoruba race and described yourself and all indigenes of Ife as custodians of some sort. Can you shed light on this?

    Yes, I am a custodian. All Ife people are custodians. Ile-Ife is owned by the entire Yoruba race. Our Yoruba brothers and sisters scattered all over the world are offspring of our forefathers who left Ile-Ife back then for one reason or the other. They are the owners of Ile-Ife. This is the cradle of the entire Yoruba race. So, those of us who were lucky to be left behind here are not in any way better than them, we are all indigenes and owners of Ile Ife.

    As the Ooni of Ife, I am the custodian, along with all other Ife indigenes, of all the things left behind in Ife by our forefathers who had to move out of Ife and establish other towns and cities across the world. I am the chief custodian. We are all stakeholders in Ife. The Yoruba race is the House of Oduduwa and Ile-Ife is the cradle. There is no crisis whatsoever about that. The House of Oduduwa is one and united irrespective of our differences.

    How has this realisation helped you in curbing incessant superiority tussles among Yoruba Oba since your ascension to the throne?

    I need to reiterate here that my becoming the Ooni of Ife was ordained by God almighty. I am not here just because I desire to be here or just because the people of Ife desired to have me. It is more than that. God almighty planned my coming to the throne of my forefathers. He has a special assignment for me to do in this position. Therefore, as a matter of personal principle and determination, I resolved, right from the very first day of my ascending the throne of my forefathers, not to engage any other monarch in a battle for supremacy, since it is not in doubt that Ile-Ife is the source of the Yoruba race. Since all Yoruba people the world over sees Ife as a collective patrimony. Since I see myself as the custodian of Yoruba culture and tradition, I should not be seen to be at loggerhead with any Yoruba Oba. That is why I insist we have no crisis amongst ourselves. What we need to work on is unity.

    All we need to do urgently now is to come together as one strong happy family. We need to be united now more than ever. Luckily, there is nothing to divide us any longer. It is in unity that we will have strength.  We need not to put supremacy battle in front. There is no basis for anything like that because the Yoruba race belongs to everybody.

    My name is Enitan. It is significant and important. It is God’s divine arrangement that I will become the Ooni. It is not a mere occurrence or an accident. It is ordained for me to come here and carry out some important task for the House of Oduduwa and the entire Yoruba race. That is why God is making it possible for me to revive a lot of things since I became the Ooni.

    •Ooni of Ife

    Since coming to the throne, you’ve been going around, locally and internationally talking about reviving some cultures and traditions. What is the motive behind this?

    One of my cardinal programmes is aimed at reviving the many forgotten cultures of the Yoruba race. Wherever I go, I enjoin all well meaning sons and daughters of the race to join me in adding value to the culture and tradition of our forefathers. Like I always say, the Yoruba culture is one of the richest in the world.

    As Yourba, we boast of very ancient ways of life spanning thousands of years before western civilizations. There are proofs of various artefacts and monuments for these claims. All we need to do is add values to glorious past of ours. That is why I am propagating a rebirth of our culture and tradition all over the world.

    Just today, I received a delegation from Lagos State and their coming really lifted my spirit. Their mission further confirmed my belief that God sent me here for a divine purpose which is to lead a renaissance and reposition the Yoruba race worldwide. The group, led by the Opomulero of Ikorodu Kingdom, Chief Bolanle Agunbiade, came in search of knowledge about the Asa, a popular masquerade in their Ikorodu area.

    The Ikorodu Rebirth Project (IREP) has gone round gathering information and documents about Asa, believing it is just a masquerade lke the Eyo of Lagos. But when they got here, I was able to let them know that Asa is actually a deity with its origin here in Ile-Ife. Yes, here in Ile-Ife, it is a highly respected deity with a rich history and background.

    During our discussion together, we were able to see that the entire Yoruba race is one indivisible family. Imagine something of such importance in Ikorodu having its source and history here in Ile Ife. I told them the story behind the Asa and also asked my aides to take them to Iremo quarters, where we have the Alasa compound till date. They also visited the shrine of the deity for further clarifications. Like the Remo people, the Ikorodu people are from Iremo quarters here in Ife.

    What then is the relationship between the people of Ikorodu and the people of Remo?

    They are one. They are family. They are father and son. They are from the same lineage. The people of Remoland, as led by the Akarigbo are from Ife here. They are the people of Iremo, a quarter here in Ife. They are the custodians of the Asa deity. The people of Ikorodu too are from there because they are from Remo too. The place of Asa in Ikorodu today and its importance here in Ife till date is another proof of our oneness.

    Therefore, the decision of Agunbiade and his team to embark on cultural revival mission is very commendable. It is for this reason I promised them my total support. It is my desire to have more persons and groups willing to work with me in my quest to ensure that the numerous rich cultures of the Yoruba race are preserved.

    I am always happy and pleased whenever I am discussing things like this. When I talk about how the children of Oduduwa are related to one another, or I help our brothers in Diaspora to locate their origin here in Yorubaland, I am always elated because that is what God brought me here to do. God speaks with me every day on this move to unite the Yoruba nations and I can say that God is leading me through this unity move.

    I want other traditional rulers and leaders of Yoruba race to join in these efforts and also mobilise other prominent Yoruba sons and daughters. Yoruba will develop if united and if Ife is peaceful, every Yoruba part of land will be peaceful. I have God’s mandate to work towards uniting Yoruba race and position it for better deal among ethnic groups in the country and with the disposition of many traditional rulers and other illustrious sons and daughters of Yorubaland, my job is being made easy.

    What is the Asa project about?

    They are writing a book on Asa. They are planning a carnival. I have accepted to write the foreword of the book. I have also promised to grace the event whenever they are ready. I am pleased with them. I am happy at things like this. It is our culture that unites us as a race. All over the world, Yoruba people are identified by their unique culture and tradition. So, we need to revive the things that unite us and do away with the things that divide us. Yoruba are all over the world. We have a country of mainly people of Yoruba origin in the Caribbean. Ours is a great race.

    The Yoruba race is number one in the world in many areas. History has recorded our place in the world as leaders of other races. We had the first cocoa tree, the first banana and the first palm tree. Most plants grew here first before they were spread around by wind pollination across the world. It has been archeologically confirmed that there was Ife before the Greek and Roman empires.

    You spoke about a Yoruba country in the Caribbean. Where is this?

    We are not just working here at home. The cultural heritage of the race is being revived even in the Diaspora under my leadership. Let me cite the example of a country in the Caribbean, St. Kitts and Nevis. The predominant population of the tiny country is made up of offspring of freed Yoruba people taken into slavery thousands of years ago.

    Saint Kitts and Nevis is a dual-island nation situated between the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. It’s known for cloud-shrouded mountains and beaches. Many of its former sugar plantations are now inns or atmospheric ruins. The larger of the two islands, Saint Kitts, is dominated by the dormant Mount Liamuiga volcano, home to a Crater Lake, green velvet monkeys and rainforest crisscrossed with hiking trails.

    They learnt that any stream that forgets its source must surely run dry. So, they came in search of their source. It is only proper for us to know where we are coming from, in order for us to be able to determine where we are going to. They are proud to be black people and they came looking for their ancestry. We have everything but do not put it to good use. Our forefathers have bequeathed so many traditional legacies to make life easy for us. Let us put them to good use.

    How did you find out about St.Kitts and Nevis?

    We are happy with what God is doing through us, not only here in Nigeria but even abroad. We have gladly played host to our siblings from a country in the Caribbean, St. Kitts and Nevis. They came here in search of their roots and we were able to establish the fact that they are Yoruba. This was made possible by a cursory look at their cultural belief and tradition.

    In spite of the fact that their forefathers were taken away from here thousands of years ago, they have managed to preserve some of the ancient traditions of their fathers. That made it possible for us to identify them as our brothers and sisters. But for the cultural identity we saw in them, it may be difficult to tell where they are from. But today, they are happy knowing their roots.

    They went back to their country happily. They got there and immediately started introducing policies that will help them to further trace their history back home as well as preserve their culture. They are promoting the Yoruba language and culture nationally as part of such efforts. I got an invitation from their President and I will be there to rejoice with them soon.

    What were the things that helped in your discovery of these people?

    We discovered that they also have Asa. They preserved it and it was one of the things that helped them to know where to search when it became necessary for them to find their roots. Through that, we were able to trace their ancestry to Iremo and then Remoland. It really gladdens my heart to see how God is using me to do these things.

    This is why I always say that there’s nothing demonic about ancient traditional religion. I can tell you categorically that there’s nothing demonic about our ancient religion. Our culture is not evil in any way and the religion of our fathers is not demonic at all. In fact, all religions are one. I go to the mosque to pray, I attend church services. Yes I am a traditionalist as well.

    The throne of the Ooni is not just like any other throne. The Ooni of Ife is not just any other monarch. If I tell you that God speaks to me, I mean it. If I tell you that God gives me instructions, I am not joking. The Ooni is a King with a difference. He sees the deities and converse with them. That is why I am being used to bring about all these changes in the House of Oduduwa.

    It is what we make of ourselves that the world will see us as. It is now in our hands to change our story and propagate the good sides of our culture. Our ways of life is great. We are not evil. Black people are not backward. Our culture is not archaic. It is unique and special in many ways. If you doubt this, ask the people of St. Kitts and Nevis.

  • It’ll take time to feel Buhari’s impact, says Minister

    It’ll take time to feel Buhari’s impact, says Minister

    Minister of Communication, Adebayo Shittu, was in his element when he spoke in Lagos with Sunday Oguntola on proposed reforms in his ministry, misconceptions about his person and his 2019 governorship ambition. Excerpts: 

    CLOSE to two years on the saddle as a Minister, how has it been?         We thank God because I came in as a complete novice in the ICT sector because I have been a lawyer and politician. I didn’t know anything about ICT. It is instructive also that the stakeholders in the industry actually protested my appointment because they felt the sector required someone who had knowledge about it and who could head the sector and provide leadership professionally and otherwise.

    But I thank God that the President had confidence in my ability and in the fact that I learn very fast. I started by convoking a retreat where about 400 specialists came to interact with me and reviewed where the sector was coming from and where we were and should be heading to.

    After a week, we got all the ideas and set up a committee to formulate them into what has become the Ministry of Communication’s ICT Roadmap 2017-2020. It’s a three-year plan that the Federal Executive Council has adopted. About two months ago, the same operators who protested my appointment gave me a fellowship of Nigeria Computer Society.

    What changed their minds?

    Of course, my performance within the period did. One, I have provided leadership in the right perspectives. I do attend all programmes of the sector within and outside the country. I can say that I have attended about 15 foreign conferences.

    Within the country, I have also initiated reforms. I have inaugurated the Broad Band Council. I have inaugurated the Digital Council. I have ensured that the Nigerian Communications Council (NCC) is put on its toes with regards to ensuring that the rights of subscribers in the telecommunications sector are protected so that the operators do not take undue advantage of them.

    I have also initiated reforms in Nigeria Communication Satellite (NICOMSAT), which is one of the agencies under the Ministry. NICOMSAT had just one satellite orbit but we have made efforts to ensure we have two or three more. With that, we would be able to ensure that no Nigerian companies patronize foreign satellite firms in the storage of their data.

    We are working on cable laying across the country to connect all Federal Government’s agencies in the project. As at now, the project is 80 percent completed. I have ensured FEC approved the second phase to cover the entire country. I have also initiated an ICT University aimed at providing a skilled gap assessment and training facility for Nigerians. As of today because of the inadequacies in the training of computer science students, when people graduate from our universities, they go to India to retrain and get professional certifications and correct skills.

    ICT changes by the day but most of what our universities have as syllabus are 20-30 years old. They don’t meet with the ever-changing nature of the ICT sector. So, the ICT University will stop our graduates from going to India, Korea or China for retraining.

    How soon will the university take off?

    We are hoping the university takes off before the end of September in six campuses across the country. There would be one in each of the six geo-political zones.

    On NIPOST, we have a number of reforms that will introduce five new companies to the activities of NIPOST. Remember that the NIPOST is known for transmitting postal materials within and outside the country. It is as old as Nigeria itself. But with the coming of GSM, emails and other ICT, people didn’t need NIPOST again.

    Yet, the facilities, personnel and infrastructure are still there unused and untapped. So, I thought that we could use the inadequacies of NIPOST to resolve the problem of financial non-inclusiveness for the rural dwellers. Banks exist in less than 50 percent of the 774 local governments in the country.

    Majority of Nigerians live in rural areas, meaning they are financially excluded from services. They cannot save money, take credit and transfer financially. So, we are introducing what we call the NIPOST Bank using the existing postal agencies and infrastructure across the nation.

    We would also have NIPOST Property and Development Company aimed at ensuring that all the excess lands in post offices across the nation are leased out to private developers for office complexes, shopping malls and residential apartments as well as garages. That will bring in a lot of monies for government.

    We are also working on establishment of a NIPOST Transport and Logistics Company. Currently, we have fleet of vehicles used to transmit postal materials which are either grounded or wasting away. So, we think we can commercialise this fleet of vehicles to provide transport services.

    If you live in Saki, where I come from and you need to come to Lagos to buy merchandise. You come to the post office and they are transported to your village for settlement with ease. We would have NIPOST e-commerce services because if you live in Ibadan and need something in Kano, you just communicate online and the merchandise is sent to you wherever you are.

    Also, we are bringing reforms for NIPOST e-government services. Today, we know international passports are acquired in Immigration offices only in capital cities. What it means is if you leave 200metres away from the capital, you have to travel down. The transport costs, risks of armed robberies, accidents waste of real-time are too much to bear.

    With NIPOST e-government services, you simply go to the nearest post office and process your passport application online, pay online and it will be transmitted through the post to you. You don’t need to appear physically because everything is online. It is the same with driving license, financial passports and others.

    We are working on the establishment of an ICT Development Bank. You will recall we have Bank of Industry (BOI), Bank of Agriculture (BOA) and all others not any to cater for the ICT sector. There is no bank for the specialized ICT sector, which has become the latest enabler of life, businesses and governments. If you are a software developer, you need time and resources for it to mature. The current banking interest regime is not suitable for the growth and development of ICT sector.

    So, we have decided to have a specialized bank to help the sector grow without the current banking challenges we have. We are establishing technological hubs across the nation and encouraging private investors to be part of it.

    Generally, my role is to provide leadership for the industry and make enabling environment available. I am happy to note that for the first time in the history of this country, telecoms alone has provided more than 10 percent to the GDP. It has never happened before.

    In the area of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), we have attracted more than $40billion. As at today, the ICT sector engages more Nigerians than the oil sector, which has been hit by economic recession over the years.

    How were you able to acquaint yourself so quickly with the industry in less than two years?

    The paramount thing is to have a universal education and I am proud to say that I am a product of the then University of Ife now Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife. I read Law and have always been in practice and politics. I have a worldview of life and I mix very well with people. I am not boxed in one corner and I read extensively.

    So, for me, it has become something within my DNA to understand what is involved and provide the right leadership. Of course, I must also thank officials of my ministry for giving me the support to learn very quickly and provide the right leadership.

    At first, the Oyo State Government protested your appointment and stakeholders in the ICT industry joined when you were assigned your portfolio. What’s it about you that makes people fight you everywhere?

    I think there are two different perspectives. One is political and the other is professional. Protest against my nomination was politically motivated perhaps some people felt if I distinguish myself, they would be in trouble. But God has had his ways and I am happy that I have the opportunity to serve as Minister.

    For me, it is more of a training ground for higher political office. As regards the protest by the stakeholders, I would say it was an innocent protest because they could not have been mischievous. They feared the industry would require appropriate leadership and enabling environment for advancement. I am happy that they have seen what I can do and God has performed wonders in my life.

    One of the earliest controversies that faced you was the fine brouhaha of MTN Nigeria. Nigerians still believe the firm was not appropriately sanctioned…

    … I am surprised that Nigerians still feel that way. There is no arbitrariness in governance. The issue of MTN was something that the law had made provisions for. MTN committed an infraction and all government had to do was to look at what the law said.

    Of course, it became clear to MTN that if it had to pay that fine in its totality, it was most likely going to go bankrupt. So, it appealed to the Presidency for leniency. Even in the court process, if you are fined and it becomes impossible for you to pay, you can apply for review, which is akin to what MTN did to Mr. President.

    Mr. President, in the interest of this country, because if he had stood his ground that he was going to have his pound of flesh, there was the possibility that MTN would have packed out of Nigeria.

    The wrong signals would have been sent to the international investing community and banks would have collapsed because all their investments in the sector would have been withdrawn. Thirdly, Nigerians working there would have suffered directly and indirectly. They would have been thrown to the labour market and where are the jobs you want to give to these people?

    These were the issues the Federal Government considered and decided to reduce the fine. We also agreed to spread the remaining balance for payment over a period of three years as they requested. Recall that the first thing they had to do was payment of N50 billion. I call this free money because it was not an anticipated income. We didn’t work for it but it added a lot of value to our ability to provide services for Nigerians.

    So far, I am aware they have paid up to N80 billion and over the next two years, they will pay up the entire N330billion.

    In Oyo State where you hail from, people have said it is the turn of Oyo North to produce the next governor. Do you align with that?

    First, let me say that I am a very objective person. I want to look at it from various perspectives. Oyo has linguistically speaking about four zones. It has the Ibadan, Ogbomoso, Oyo and Oke-Ogun with the Ibarapa as the fifth. Ibadan has 11 local government areas. Oke-Ogun has 10, Ogbomoso has five, Oyo has four while Ibarapa has three.

    Over the years, particularly after the late Bola Ige, most governors have come from Ibadan. It was by accident of fate that an Ogbomoso became governor once. So, a lot of people feel that there must rotation and since the Ibadan have done it about three times, it should go to the next zone in terms of size of the number of local government areas.

    Of course, you must also realise that in terms of quantum of votes, Ibadan has always produced 52 percent. Oke-Ogun produces 18 percent and you see the wide difference. But it is a good argument, which got a lot of fillips recently because the Ibadan didn’t vote for APC candidate only but also Ladoja of Accord Party.

    It was the votes of Oke-Ogun that saved the day for APC and Governor Abiola Ajimobi. That is why even the governor said, for once, it should be the turn of Oke-Ogun because of what the zone did.

    But some people believe the governor is just talking tongue-in-cheek…

    … Well, the fact is that he said it and it can be referred to. Whether it is true or not does not matter. But the truth also is, for me, as a person since I am one of the front-liners from the zone, I don’t want to become governor only for Oke-Ogun.

    That would be demeaning to my status as the most experienced and connected among the aspirants. I am also the oldest politician among the aspirants. For me, I feel that for once Oke-Ogun now has somebody who is more capable and qualified than any other person. I believe I will easily beat others during the primaries.

    So, for me it is not about where I hail from but bridges one has built over the years. I have always boasted about my robust relationship with the Ibadan people over the last 38 years.

    But they never voted for you in the last two attempts to govern the state

    Well, the fact that they didn’t vote for me then is not conclusive they won’t vote for me now. I mean people change a lot. Initially people were saying Omo Ibadan ni e je o se (Only an Ibadan indigene should govern) but now in Ibadan they are saying Ajumobi o’kan tanu (Kindness has nothing to do with kinship).

    But the aspirants from Oke-Ogun appear to be many. Don’t you think that will affect the region?

    It is not a strange thing because everybody wants something good. There are always aspirants, claimants, pretenders and all that but then when the chips are down; we would separate the chaffs from the wheat. There are so many people that have never held any political post or office yet they want to be governors. They have never been council chairmen, member of the State Assembly, Commissioner or Minister yet they are laying claims to the governor’s seat.

    You won’t deny them the freedom to make claims to that which they may not have the competence or capacity to do. That is why we would have a primary election at the appropriate time and people would be allowed to choose the most competent person as candidate.

    At the last Oke-Ogun Youth summit, one of the prominent monarchs from the region said he would neither vote nor support a stingy politician who is a religious fundamentalist. Most people believe he was referring to you. Can you react to that?

    Of course, I knew he was referring to me, which was why I replied appropriately. Two, we have since reconciled. We are mutual friends and have reconciled. But most importantly, I am not stingy. But I am not a stupid spender to satisfy anybody.

    I believe in sustainable projects, which is why when I became a Minister, I took the decision to construct three boreholes in each of the 33 local government areas. It is my money. I don’t have security votes or constituency allowance.

    So far, of the 99 boreholes, I have only done 12. A stingy man would not put his money in such project that would not give him anything in return. I have also purchased two buses for the State Executives of the party with the plan to purchase, as money comes in, a bus for each local government branch of our party.

    I cannot say how many people I support financially for school fees, medical bills, house rents and so on. So we have reconciled and I am not stingy at all.

    As for the case of fundamentalism, it is a case of calling a dog a bad name to hang it. When I was being screened in the Senate this same allegation came up. And I challenged the Upper Chamber to bring evidence of one single action of mine that amounts to religious fundamentalism in the last 38 years of my life in politics. Till tomorrow, nobody has been able to provide one.

    A lot of people cannot believe that you could be as educated as I am and yet as religious I am. That I don’t do some of the funny things that some other people who are not serious with their God do makes people look at me with amazement. So, they turn around to say I am a fanatic.

    So, you believe it’s your turn to win Oyo 2019 governorship poll?

    In fact, when people ask me if I am contesting, I get pissed off. If you have a child that went to Primary School and did so well, move to Secondary school and did so well, will you ask if he will go to the University? Among all the aspirants, I am the only one who qualified as a lawyer in 1979. I became a member of the Oyo House of Assembly from 1979-1983 where I was the most dynamic and visible.

    In 1983, I became Commissioner for Home Affairs, Information and Culture. In 2007, I became Attorney General for the State. In 2011 and 2015, I contested the governorship and today I am a Minister. Who other person has one quarter of what I have?

    So I don’t see how the competition will be a tough one really by the grace of God.

    Are you in support of agitations for the creation of Oke-Ogun State?

    Honestly, I don’t want to waste time on calls for creation of Oke-Ogun State because I know that no civilian administration is capable of doing that. And I don’t believe in deceiving myself. If you are talking of state creation, only a military regime can do it by unilateral actions, not through the democratic process.

    That is because easily if you leave it to the vagaries of democratic process, you are going to have more than 100 States in the Federation. We have 36 States, most of which are insolvent. India with a population of 1.3 billion has only 22 States. In the Western Region days, the cry then was the Ijebu were marginalizing us. So, they created Ogun, Oyo and Osun. When we were in the Old Oyo State, the cry became the Ijesha were shortchanging us. When Osun left, it became the Ibadan are cheating us. If you create Oke-Ogun, it would be Saki or Oyo are cheating us.

    So, I don’t believe in state creation but offering right leadership. And I want to believe, if by the grace of God, I become governor people would forget about marginalization because I would be governor of all and be fair to all.

    There are many Nigerians feeling the pang of hunger and saying they don’t have as much money as before…

    …Well they won’t have because the era of profligacy ended with the Jonathan’s administration.

    But they say they are also hungry…

    …Again they would be hungry because we have had 16 years of mismanagement of our economy. In the last years of Jonathan, petrol which is the main stay of our economy was selling for $140 per barrel. By the time Buhari came on board, it dropped to $38. That is more than 70 percent loss.

    If in the era of $140 per barrel, the administration then utilised the money to invest in capital infrastructure such as roads, railways, schools and saved for the rainy days, we would not be in economic quagmire that we are.

    Is it true you and Governor Ajimobi are not on good terms?

    I know that Governor Ajimobi and I have come a long way since 2007. We have been brothers and will remain so. Of course, in every relationship, there would be conflicts.

    I think appeared like a case of our discordance is the fact that we are coming from two different political backgrounds. He is from defunct ACN while I came from the defunct CPC. So, we had disagreements as to the composition of the party’s state executives then.

    For me, I don’t hold grudges against anybody. He is my governor and leader of our party in the state. I am expecting to take over from him. So, we cannot afford not to be friends.

  • ‘Why looters are beating EFCC hands down’

    ‘Why looters are beating EFCC hands down’

    In this conclusion of the interview with Sunday Oguntola, former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief Olisa Agbakoba (SAN), sheds light on why the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will keep losing corruption cases. Excerpts: 

    The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has been accusing the judiciary of frustrating the anti-corruption war, especially successful prosecution of looters. What’s lacking in the agency’s effort?

    The EFCC is just an agency. I did constitutional studies and have studied over 50 anti-corruption models. Corruption is fought well when the President leads it. When the late Murtala Muhammed came to power and wanted to fight corruption, he went on TV and told the people what he had stolen. So, he set an example and inspired confidence from people. Then, he went to war.

    But we don’t see that with this current administration. The suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal was accused of fiddling with the contract monies for North east recovery programme. What happened to him? Nothing.

    The monies recovered from Ikoyi flat, what’s happening? Nothing. Immediately when there is selective application of anti-corruption parameters, the whole thing goes to pieces. People will raise dusts. You are accusing Diezani Alison-Madueke of looting but she would raise pro-Diezani groups because she feels others are not hounded like her.

    So, the mistake is an absence of clear commitment on the part of the President that anyone caught in corruption would be severely dealt with. When that happens, it would empower EFCC to function better. It would create the energy for the judiciary to add bite to the war. That is what is missing. That critical, strategic commitment of the President that he is fighting corruption, wherever it is found.

    In the Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) conference, one of the things that came out is that the Indian President is succeeding with anti-corruption because he is fighting corruption even in-house. He also uses the best hands as ministers. If he wants a Minister of Mining, he would get the best brain in that field to serve as Minister. In Singapore, virtually all the Ministers are PhD holders. So corruption is not just about stealing money, it is also nepotism. It is about putting only people from a particular section in offices when there are better qualified ones from other sections. You will now make them look inferior and unqualified.

    So the President needs to rise to the level where he is completely neutral and he takes no prisoners of corruption whether it is from his family, party or hometown. If anyone makes a mistake that goes against the rules, he cuts you down. But that is not the case now. He may not know it. It may not be deliberate. But it is not that now.

    I don’t think it is deliberate because he makes the right noises about Nigeria. Look at his last broadcast you could see he was bent on enforcing the sovereignty of Nigeria. If he could do that with the same determination across the board, Nigeria will change.  He won’t tolerate any incompetent ministers. How many of our ministers are competent? That’s why Nigeria is what it is. When I go abroad, my friends wonder what I mean I have to dig my own borehole for water. They cannot understand the concept of boreholes. I have ten generators for personal use and you want me to pay tax. How will I?

    In other countries, tax revenue accounts for over 50 percent. But who will pay tax here when I provide my water, security, power and everything? Everyday PHCN is damaging my electronics when there is a surge. The other day I had to install a solar panel for N1million to protect the gadgets. The next day, PHCN burnt the surge regulator.

    Going to Apapa is a war. We have to drive on gutters sometimes to get there. Who will bring money and investments with the road in that state?

    The EFCC has been crying lawyers like you are helping looters to escape prosecution…

    …How

    …The agency says the looters are getting injunctions with the help of lawyers…

    …But that’s the way it is. That is precisely the work of a lawyer. What we should be asking is: how come the EFCC has poor charges that lawyers are able to get injunctions against them? How come the agency goes to the wrong courts many times for prosecution?

    They are the ones strengthening the lawyers and allowing them to get injunctions because of poor prosecution. Lawyers are by ethics expected to accept briefs from anybody. A person is entitled to be fairly heard no matter the offence you commit. You must have a fair court hearing before conviction. Therefore, you are bound to be defended and the defence is based on the competences of the lawyers-the prosecutors and defence counsels.

    How can you have an anti-corruption strategy and you don’t have lawyers and prosecutors? Rotimi Jacobs is busy going around the country alone. How can he handle all the cases? I told Abubakar Malami (The Minister of Justice), who is my friend, what you need to do is to have top advocates to prosecute cases.

    You can’t fight corruption with penny-penny lawyers. The looters have stolen trillions and you think you will be paying lawyers peanuts and they will beat us who are paid in millions? So, those are part of the problems with the anti-corruption war.

    The President has to make it clear this is his commitment with the Attorney leading the war. EFCC needs resources to work well. I hope you know they don’t have resources to work with. If you go to their office in Ikoyi, you will be shocked with what they have. In fairness to them, they are doing more than they are paid. They are overworked, overburdened and overused. They don’t have forensics or any skills. So, they prepare their cases terribly badly. In fact, if you see a typical EFCC charge, you will almost weep. I don’t know who gave them the idea that their charges must be in hundreds.

    You just need one or two charges to make it easy. You remember people criticised a Federal High Court Judge for freeing Ibori. I took pains to read the judgment and realised the Judge was right because the allegation was by Nuhu Ribadu. He said there was a $15million given by Ibori. The very man who alleged was not called as a witness. So, how can the judge convict without the man who alleged called? J.B. Daodu just made an application and the judge threw away the case. But people don’t know all these.

    When cases go wrong, they start shouting not knowing the cases are badly framed, poorly investigated and badly prosecuted. That’s why cases are thrown out and we shout lawyers and judges. I am not saying judges are saints because we have seen many of them caught in corruption issues.

    But again the rule of laws dictates you don’t denigrate an institution in order to win a battle. You don’t have to go in the middle of the night to break into their residences. You know these guys. You can arrest them or even invite them. They can’t run because you know them well.

    Going after them in that way splits the Bar like I am against it and we now forget the issues to discuss how. The problem is the EFCC thinks it is above the laws, which is not true. That is why the anti-corruption war is not going well and needs to be corrected. Fighting corruption is the simplest thing. It is not as difficult as we are making it. Most of the guys have their hands everywhere. It is easy to track them. The evidence is always there. It is the framework that is lacking as well as motivation for prosecuting lawyers. They are not even enlisting the support of NBA. They believe they have Presidential mandate, which is above the rule of laws.

    That is very wrong because you are not fighting with the rule of law yet you want the rule of law to assist you deal with looters. It is not going to work. The judges will be against you. They have their discretions to rule on your cases. You cannot force them to convict any person. You must bring the accused before them and if you have already antagonised the judges, how do you want to get prosecutions?

    They won’t be sympathetic to you because the judges also have their challenges. I know Judges who have not been paid for months. My sister-in-law is a Judge. She was not been paid from January-June. She is a federal Judge. So, how can she survive?

    It comes back to we must empower institutions. At a point I was in the NJC, I made a point that the NJC is not an agency of the executive. It should draw up and submit its budget to the National Assembly. But the NJC has been very conservative and reactionary. So, I went to court and I won. I asked them to implement the case I won, they were not interested.

    Rather, they are content with working without resources. Most of them have no houses, some have no cars. I am talking about senior federal Judges. They have got absolutely nothing. The conditions under which they work are shockingly poor. Some of their offices have nothing. They have illiterate, uneducated and unskilled staff.

    You know in most cases, judges slow down their works. They must write their reports in three months. So, if you have a judge that is fast and has delivered 60 cases, he or she is dead. They have to write as much reports. They have no support unlike abroad where the judges have like 10 researchers and backroom staff. After dealing with a case, they discuss with the clerks and they give him the reports. So his main work is to sit in court, take evidence. There is a backroom support that you won’t see. Here, there is none. So, when we talk about the judiciary being slow, we have to understand why.

    Many have no offices. Many have to wait for judges to deliver judgments before going to sit. That’s the problem. All these go back to building strong institutions. And this is something African about our underdevelopment. There is no black nation that is successfully run. Look at Jacob Zuma, he’s destroyed the country. Look at Museveni (Uganda). He started very well but has stayed for over 30 years. Look at Mugabe (Zimbabwe). He is over 90 but wants to die in office. But look at the developed countries. Macron is 39, Theodore is 41. These are energetic people. Our President is 74. Look, once you cross 60, the energy is not there again.

    I remember when I was young, I can drink my beer before going to court. Now I cannot again except in the evenings. So, I know the difference between being 40 and 64, not to talk of 74 and carry Nigeria’s wahala on your head. You have to be strong to survive. We need young people who can absorb pressure and thrive.

    What’s happening to CLO, which you founded because these days one is not hearing about it again?

    CLO was created as a human rights organisation to fight for prisoners’ right and all that. In the course of that, we found that our missions required a democratic environment to thrive. So, we expanded our mandate to enthronement of democracy, which we have done. So, our mandate has expired.

    Really?

    Yes, it has expired. We were the opposition then with the Military as ruling class. But now, we are neither APC nor PDP. We cannot do anything again. That’s why I insist only leaders of the ethnic nationalities can rescue this nation because the new game in town is not the enthronement of democracy but fight for a new Nigeria. It is the owners of Nigeria that can rescue us. Human rights groups can only contribute their points.

    Former President Olusegun Obasanjo wrote you last week…

    No, I wrote to him and he only replied. That letter was because of the frustration I feel within for Nigeria. I merely went back to military strategy, that if you agree you are weak, look for an alliance that can assist you. I realised that Obasanjo is a man that can push any course he takes on. I wrote him to help us to create a generational shift. He responded that while he agreed generally, even the youths that have taken power… Anyway, we have opened the conversations that he would give more thoughts. The charge to him was to bring a young man that can take over.

    But he said you have sat on the fence for too long…

    … But where do I start from? I am a lawyer and my resources are limited. I cannot mobilise even in my town. People like Chris Uba with their billions can move everyone away from my presence. So, where do I jump to from the fence? Into fire? So, I cannot do anything. That’s why I appealed to him that since we are in a trap, only someone like him that belongs to the ruling class can drop down the ladder to raise us up. I can name five politicians that can buy up the entire country.

    So, where do you start from if you don’t have resources? How do you fund a party? You know the late Gani Fawehinmi actually thought he would win the presidential race. When he lost, he put mud on his face. He was so distraught and I told him Nigerians love him but we lacked the political organisation.

    In 1998, the space was opened when we the civil societies were invited to participate in the then emerging democracy. But in our meeting in Gani’s house, my motion for participation was defeated because they insisted we must have Sovereign National Government and Government of National Unity.

    I said those things were theoretical and we should enter the space to make changes. I regret that decision would have changed things today. By 2003 when we realised the error, the space had been closed. If Gani had run in 1998, he would have won. It didn’t require money at all then.

    On the aircraft, they would not allow me pay for tickets. Doctors treated me free because they said we were the ones who fought for democracy. The national flavour was still there and people were uncorrupted. That momentum would have taken us in. Even former President Thambo Mbeki came to appeal to us but we shunned him.

    The older part of the Human Rights Movement led by the late Senator Adesanya and co saw the opportunity and took it. They left us behind while we continued to shout and make noise. In four years, the space closed. That was what formed my appeal to Obasanjo.

    So, if a political party asks you to contest, you will take it now?

    Yes. That is part of the appeal to Obasanjo. I cannot on my own offer myself for service because how do I start? It is not easy. Nigeria’s situation is one of the worst in the world where the exclusion is total and the excluded have no voice.

    Instead of fighting their oppressors, they are fighting themselves. The poverty level is horrendous. The level of illiteracy in the north is terribly poor yet the almajiri worship their political heroes who impoverish them in the first place. So, the country needs to be rescued by a visionary person.

    So, Nigeria is not beyond redemption?

    It is a difficult question to answer because Nigeria is touch-and-go. It can go down any moment. We are on the precipice looking at all the indices. We are one of the most fragile states in the world. We are top there. We are at the bottom of any positive rating. All these can lead to a volcanic eruption anytime.

    So, we need a Messiah from the elites who is not self-proclaimed. That, for me, is what we need now.

    As the former President of NBA, why is it not as vibrant as it used to be?

    The political elite have penetrated everything and everyone. There was a time the NBA, NMA, ASUU and others were strong but not anymore. The politicians have infiltrated them because they don’t work. All they do day and night is plotting how to have access to power and treasury.

    Some of them can stay six or seven years without power but when they get it, they don’t stop. Take Diezani for example. What would such a pretty, elegant, classy woman need so much money for? Why would she steal that much?

    That’s the problem. To sustain this politics, this means set up deliberate rules that ensure their power is not threatened. Our politicians can cross any party because the purpose of the party is to have access to power. That is the only philosophy on which our parties run.

    Out of every N1 Nigeria makes, they steal as much as 90k. The system has completely collapsed. The States are just there. The governors just wait till the end of the month, send their commissioners to bring cheques from Abuja and then start distributing to people. That is all they do now. Our local government chairmen only work from when they get their allocations and distribute. After then, they become free. So, the entire governmental system has collapsed. Local governments are gone. States are gone. Only the federal government exists and is overloaded.

  • ‘Restructuring is not the answer to our problems’

    ‘Restructuring is not the answer to our problems’

    Former President of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Chief Olisa Agbakoba, last week in his law chambers, Ikoyi, Lagos, cuts the picture of a frustrated patriot. In this interview with Sunday Oguntola, he talks on why restructuring will not work, how the political elite have imprisoned Nigeria and why the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) will keep losing corruption charges among other issues. Excerpts: 

    EVERYONE seems to be in love with the latest fad in town -restructuring. But how come you believe that Nigeria’s challenges are beyond restructuring?

    I think we would start with the fact that Nigeria is challenged-economically and politically. There is no doubt about that. I remember the late Chief Bola Ige said there are two questions we must ask if Nigeria must move forward: do we want to remain together? If yes, how?

    Those questions have not been answered till date. As you know, Nigeria is a product of the amalgamation of the colonials in 1914. By 1960, the colonials also instigated a political contraption with the constitution. Then the military took over and did their own up till the Abdulsalami’s constitution in 1998 through Decree 24.

    So, Nigerians have never really participated in the process of determining how the country should be run. That is why we are in this difficulty. That is the cause of the Biafra war in 1967 and everything wrong with this nation.

    Unfortunately, I don’t understand why all our leaders and Presidents, including Babangida, Abacha and others who had constitutional conferences, failed to realise they can’t govern in peace unless they carry the people along.  I remember the challenge the late MKO Abiola threw to Abacha in those days. He said ‘if you know you are more popular than me, let’s walk down Broad Street.’ People look up to their leaders because their leaders, in turn, look after them. That is the basic thing. As head of my family, if I don’t provide for my children, they won’t look up to me.

    That is the basic of the restructuring debate. You see any political arrangement requires consensus to succeed. So, we must accept the North doesn’t want the word ‘restructuring’. It is a popular concept in the South but the North doesn’t like it. They don’t like it for many reasons.  Generally, the North likes big government so if restructuring means reducing governance, they immediately get concerned. I don’t also like the word restructuring…

    …Why?

    That is because you need the consensus of the North. You can’t do it by yourself. The South cannot by itself restructure Nigeria. In fact, the North has more representatives in the National Assembly. They will naturally kill it. That was why they killed the Devolution of Power Bill.

    So, any sensible and pragmatic person will look to see what is the middle ground. The middle ground would be how to make the states more engaged in the process of development. Restructuring would be the ultimate, ideal goal but the first way to go that all the State Governors will agree is to give them more monies and powers.

    For example, what is the federal government doing issuing driver’s licenses? Give it to the local governments. What is the federal government doing issuing birth and death certificates? Why can’t the local government areas do that? What’s the federal government doing registering marriages? There are too many trivial things the federal government is getting involved in.

    Unfortunately, the restructuring argument has become so politicised that we forget there are many basic, technical things that can be focused on that will not threaten anybody. There are things like health, agriculture and education that will not frighten anybody.

    When we now get the confidence of the North and they realise that’s the way to go, we can move to more technical issues. You know the federal government controls 98 items of power. Under the devolution process, they will give up maybe 30 items to the States and in turn reduce its allocation from 58 percent to maybe 30 percent, making the States have more money and better engaged.

    That will make States not to run to Abuja every month to get money. When you move like that, no governor will oppose it. That is what I would recommend. Restructuring will cause mayhem.

    Really? You believe so?

    …I know so. Listen I was in the National Constitutional Conference organized by former President Goodluck Jonathan. The Northern perspective of restructuring is break-up of the nation. That’s what the President (Buhari) thinks and sees it, too. IPOB is threatening to break away and you say restructuring. The Northerners will interpret it to mean you support calls for disintegration of the nation. If you realise there is no way in your approach, you go another way. Devolution of Powers means you devolve powers to the existing organs while restructuring means you have to create new organs, then devolve powers to them. So, why don’t we start with devolving until everybody becomes comfortable with restructuring?

    But there are people who believe more monies to States means the Governors, who are more or less operating as Emperors already, will become so powerful they can even contend with the federal government…

    … What’s wrong with that? The fact is that scenario will reduce the concentration of power in Abuja. The truth is people are prepared to kill to be President. It is that obvious. Even a layman will attempt to be President if he can get there. But if you have 36 mini-presidents, then people can clamour less for the centre. I, for example, can say if I cannot be President, I can be Governor with the means to transform my state. Look at Lagos State, for instance, what is the federal government doing owning Ikoyi?  Why is the federal government owning Apapa? Look at the mess in Apapa, our main port. Why is the federal government owning the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos or the one in Owerri? That’s not their job. There are enough more to do. So, the trick is for us to move forward, the President must lead a crusade to determine what government does what. That, for me, is what to work on. If we get that sorted, then we can move on to other processes where Nigeria can become balanced.

    Issues of fiscal federalism cannot happen today. The North will oppose it and fight it to the last because you are telling them they will lose oil. Even States in the South will fight it. It was very clear in the last National Conference that fiscal federalism will not work at all. But if we have constructed this scenario that I talk about and States begin to raise revenues from different sources to the point that oil is no more dominant, nobody will bother about oil again. I just came from Italy. Nobody is talking about oil even though they have it.

    Italy, India, Britain, Singapore are not talking about oil. They rely on agriculture. So, when we have put this process in place and created new revenue sources with oil reduced to the background, you can talk about fiscal federalism then and the guys will understand it.

    If agriculture brings in 40 percent of GDP, the North will not bother about oil money again because they are the most arable part of the nation. They can produce cotton, groundnuts, yams, apples and all sorts of agricultural produce with sound agricultural policies in place. They will tell you to go away with your oil money.

    For me, as a political tactician, I have to meander my way around the complexity that we have. Otherwise, if you come back to me in the next 40 years for this interview, we would be discussing the same issues. If we want to make progress, we must adopt the principles of compromise and consensus. The North has to sign for Nigeria to be restructured. So, we have to look at what to give up for them to come on board.

    We give up restructuring and take up devolution of power until they understand what we are talking about. The question on whether governors will abuse their powers, for me, is not the issue. I feel theoretically, if resources are closer to the people, the process of monitoring the governors will be narrower.

    I don’t think any governor with more powers will steal what those at the federal level are stealing. I am from Anambra State. I would rather my governor steals and I see the benefits than the federal guys steal without seeing anything.

    People romanticise restructuring as if it is an almighty formula that once applied will fix Nigeria head-on. But you believe it has been politicised. How do you mean?

    What I mean is nobody tells us how we would restructure. They are making it look like once you restructure, you have fixed Nigeria automatically. But it is not true. It is the conspiracy of the political elites. They will still gather in their political enclaves and do the same things we have now. They would just be like, ‘you asked for restructuring and we have done it.’ Restructuring is not the answer to our problems. The answer is to find new ways of governing Nigeria with the consent of the people. Nigerians must be part of the process of creating a new Nigeria. The politicians lead the way by finding a neutral language that the South and North agree it. Then, we can move on to build institutions and economic governance. Otherwise the devolution itself will not work.

    Federal lawmakers always argue there is no need for consensus outside of them because they are the duly elected representatives of the people. How then can such people’s consensus you spoke about come to be?

     The National Assembly has the power to alter and amend the Constitution but they do not have the powers to make a new Constitution. There are two different things. They need our authority to change it.

    Look at Brexit. Britons wanted out from the European Union (EU) and they voted for it. That gave Prime Minister Theresa May the authority to push forward and force the Labour Party to follow it through. But if the Prime Minister had gone to the EU and announced Britain was opting out, there would have been turmoil in the UK.

    Unfortunately, you and I fail to understand that there is something called the Office of the Citizens of the Federal Republic. Nigeria is like a multinational company. You have some shares while I have too. Everybody has shares but the problem is that our shares have been stolen by the political elites with our knowledge. If I call a street protest now, nobody will show up. I have never seen a situation like this that Nigerians are completely nonchalant. That has played to the advantage of the political elite. They love it. There is no country in the world that this kind of situation exists and nothing is happening. The political elite can get away with anything. The National Assembly can say anything and nobody will care.

    The President can go away for medical vacation for almost four months and return to his office and it has been taken over by rats and rodents. Does that mean nobody was entering the office? They have reduced us to mere onlookers. There is no place in Nigeria where any political activity takes place except in Abuja. They can sit back in Abuja and throw crumbs occasionally to a few dissidents. States can no longer pay salaries. Everything has collapsed. Nigeria is technically insolvent. Yet, we are doing nothing about it. That’s the challenge.

    Unfortunately, all of the critical elements and institutions of the nation have been crushed. The civil society is gone. The religious community has collapsed. The trade unions, student unions and professional unions have been decimated. There is hunger in the land because hungry people are only interested in feeding, not political arrangements.

    So, we must be very careful in changing the music that is playing to the advantage of political elites. We have to be strategic. If I have a say, I will say don’t frighten the north but take them along on their own terms so that will form the basis of a new Nigeria. Once that is done, the National Assembly will be choked.

    Why is it that there seems to be nobody that can mobilise Nigerians for nationwide protests to get government to act like people like you did in the days of the military?

    In the military days, we had a clear enemy. The lines were clear. It was us versus the soldiers. That is not the case now. There are no more lines. If you do anything, they will say he is an Igbo man. You see the political elite know what they are doing. They have penetrated everywhere.  There is no institution they have not penetrated. They have broken them up. They create pseudo civil society groups and fund them to counter the real ones. I tried to call for a national rally but nobody was interested.

    It was a no-go area except money would be bought. In the old days, you didn’t need money. You just call people and they would show up. That is gone. In the religious movements, there are several leaders who mobilise five million to meetings. Why are they not telling their followers to speak up? Why are they not challenging the status quo? They have been accommodated and would not speak up. The private sector too will not speak up because they are making a hell of money with the ways things are. So, we need to have very ingenious ways to get out of the morass that we find ourselves.

    As a politician and tactician, first of all, I acknowledge the challenges of the Nigerian populace. We are at a disadvantage. But that does not mean we shouldn’t do anything about it. We need ethnic nationalities like Arewa, Afenifere and Ohaneze to speak up and insist on what Nigerians want. Parts of the reports of the last conference can be taken up with the President by the ethnic nationalities.

    The Buhari’s administration has dismissed the National Conference as a ‘come-and-chop’ talk shop. Is it true former President Goodluck Jonathan doled out money to the delegates?

    Yes, he paid but I didn’t take because my daughter called me and asked if I would take the money. So, I was paying my way. Only Tunde Bakare and I didn’t take the money.

    We knew about that of Bakare, how come you didn’t talk about this then?

    I did talk about it. The papers even reported it. I refused the N12million we were offered. I didn’t take it but I wanted to go and contribute to a new Nigeria. So that excited my daughter when I told her I would attend without being paid. She was rest assured I wouldn’t take blood money. Honestly, I thought that Jonathan was sincere. But on hindsight, I realised he just used the Conference to divert attention and win support of the South West, particularly. What made the Conference popular was the fact that civil societies had talked about it for over 30 years and politically astute groups like Afenifere picked it up.

    Jonathan thought Afenifere’s participation was the game-changer. They were the main drivers of the Conference. So, he wanted to use the group to win the South West and nothing more because when the reports reached his table, he did nothing about it. He could have put it into effect and we would have been saved the troubles. That again is the problem. It is when they come out of power that they start talking. When Babangida, Jonathan and others were there, what did they do? That’s the problem.

    So, we have that possibility of dealing with our problems if we can find common grounds with these ethnic nationalities. To be honest with you, Nigeria is a geographical expression of sub-nationalities. It is, in my view, those nationalities that can engage government in meaningful discussions on the way forward. It is not civil societies because only the nationalities can rally their own people.

    CLO cannot rally anybody because the CLO of those days is different from the CLO of today. It is different because the issues are different. Then, every Nigerian agreed we needed democracy and CLO rose on that consensus. Now, not everybody agrees we need political restructuring or a different political path. The only way is to find the relevant constituencies that can lead this.

  • ‘Our mission is to make agriculture attractive’

    ‘Our mission is to make agriculture attractive’

    Kabir Ibrahim is the Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of Agriculture. In this interview with Olugbenga Adanikin, he shares the vision of the bank and ongoing plans to recapitalize it and the newly created credit facilities designed to support rural farmers and youths interested in agribusiness. Excerpts:

    TO what extent have you realized the vision of BOA to be the foremost self-sustaining finance institution in Africa?  The processes we have started are tailored towards attaining that vision. First, we are focusing on incremental growth in the database of our customers. In two years, we want to register nothing less than 20 million in our database. Aside, we are working on Information Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure. Agribusiness is now automated because of the numbers and also the clusters of farmers you have to manage. It cannot be managed manually. We are on that. Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that owns 40 per cent of the bank is highly supportive in this regard. We decide that there are other development partners that can also provide us with the needed capacity in IT. Also, we are working on fund sources to power our programmes. Prior to this time, we totally relied on the federal government for funds. We are key player in the facilitation of the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) of the CBN. We are collaborating with the African Development Bank (AfDB), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Islamic Development Bank, Rabo Bank just to mention a few, all to see how we can source funding instead of totally relying on federal government. Our ability to also deliver in the expected funding to the farmers is another area. Prior to this time, farmers do come to our offices to seek funding support but going forward, we want to be there for the customers. We are looking at the Agric Bank of Morocco to build our capacity on extension services. We are also diversifying our services beyond smallholder farmers but commercial agriculture such as the agro-allied industry. We are doing a lot to realize that vision. Internally, we are doing a lot to change the mindset of our workers to begin to think that the services we are rendering are not just traditional but to help change farmers orientation that agriculture is also a business. We are a business organization rendering commercial services for profitability and sustainability.

    With the various pronouncements by automobile manufacturing companies to phase out petrol and diesel engines between 2019 and 2040, Nigeria, a crude oil reliant country seems destined for serious economic meltdown; do you think agriculture is well positioned to take over as the nation’s export sector?

    The issue of revenue from oil export for the economy is something federal government should have thought about long ago by investing in alternative revenue sources and that alternative is agriculture. It is not late but this is the time. At least we have started facing the challenges of dwindling oil revenue due to low prices and production outputs.  Agriculture is the only sector that has tremendous opportunities from the farmers to the market. In the whole gamut of value-chain, there are lots of activities that can provide employment opportunities, revenue to government in terms of taxes, revenues in terms of exports and foster economic development. When you grant credit to the farmer, many things go into the credit such as input suppliers. People that supply fertilizers, pesticides, pumps among others. There is an area of processing of raw agriculture commodities which is capable of addressing post-harvest losses. The losses are revenue which would have accrued to the government but because we lack processing infrastructure, all those went as waste. So by the time we start investment by lending money to develop processing aspect of agriculture, you have provided more employment and opportunities for those who want to add extra value to our agriculture. Beyond that, there is transportation. Railway for instance, you can see that the traffic is very high, talk less of moving agricultural produce from one part of the country to another. In Benue State, there is a major roundabout where if you stand there from 6am to 9am, you will see the number of trucks that come out of Zakibiam among other locations transporting yam, fruits to the South, North and other places. By the time you go there to ask the number of trailers that move out daily, you realize that you need to book ahead for their services. At times, you have to wait for two weeks to get the exact truck that will move your commodities from one location to another. That is another opportunity and it’s lucrative. In the area of marketing, there are people, who essentially identify markets for clients both locally and internationally for agricultural produce, there is abundant opportunities there before the exact market where commercial activities take place. Like I said, the value chains in agriculture are endless and the opportunities are there. Once we are able to focus on them, rightly invest in the value-chains, believe me sincerely we are out of the woods because most of the advanced countries largely rely on agriculture than oil.

    The federal government has repeatedly disclosed plans to recapitalize the BOA. What will you say is responsible for the delay and how much is considered suitable for the recapitalization?

    When you talk of capital needs of any organization, it will depend on the challenges at hand. The operational challenges that must be addressed before you can become responsive and it will also depend on your work plan and what you intend to achieve within a timeframe. So when you put together all those things in totality, you come up with a budget but in agriculture, it will be difficult to know exactly this is the cost needed. From our forecast, in the next five years, we require N600 billion to start with. It will enable us recapitalize the bank. That will enable us to improve on the IT infrastructure. Like I told you, the driving force in agriculture is now IT. Once you don’t have IT, you are not there. Farmers don’t have to come to the bank to apply because cooperatives do applications for them. Customers do not need to visit the bank for loan repayment.  They can do that through the phone. They have what is called an e-wallet. So everything is simplified that the moment you tap on the data of a particular farmer, you will be able to see the account number, picture, address, farm coordinates as well as the various stages of farming activities in that area. You can as well monitor the account on how much is disbursed, the amount utilized and the outstanding. So you will be able to see the credit history and so many things about the farmer that will make it easier for you, even if your eyes are closed to grant a credit facility. Mobility is also important because you need to be moving to nooks and crannies of various farmlands. The extension workers cannot do it alone. Recently, we bought over 200 motorcycles to extension workers to meet-up with farmers in the rural villages. All these things require money. Even the development partners we are trying to approach will rely on our books and financials. If our financials show that the bank is under-capitalized, there won’t be any attraction so also if the bank is not well funded including numbers of registered farmers, if they are not many, they may not be attracted. If the non-performing loans ratio is high, they will not be attracted. So a lot of these things have to do with funding. Once we are able to do these, the sky is the limit and there won’t be any problem.

    What programmes does Bank of Agric have on ground towards getting Nigeria back on track as an agriculture export country?

    What we have done essentially is to introduce hybrid quality seeds for cash crops for farmers to have better capacity in terms of yields, identifying foreign markets for those crops and providing the funding that will enable us to meet the world standard. For instance, there are some preferred crops in Nigeria compared to others but because the standard is low in terms of grading such as cotton. Cotton has different grades. If a buyer says he wanted a particular grade and you lack the capacity to produce that grade, it becomes a problem. If you now export with different grades put together, certainly the contract will not be honoured and that applies to other crops as well. Beside that we are also packaging training programmes for the farmers so that they can learn from other successful countries. In some cases, we facilitate some of the farmers unions through their cooperatives to go abroad in areas where they have recorded successes in different types of farming. For instance, the crisis between the herdsmen and farmers causing so much problems for the country is something simple. We are currently in the process of facilitating pastoralists to travel to South Africa and Canada on a study tour to see how the countries have harnessed opportunities in agriculture. Some will go in the month of September while that of South Africa will follow suit. We have received quiet a number of people who are interested in the workshop and we are currently processing their visas, by September we will take-off together with them. This is important because if you look at cattle rearing in Nigeria, how much milk does a cattle produce? There, their cattle are ranched in one location. They are paired and taken care of in one location. The milk yield is unprecedented. The meat is extremely good and the skin you will get has market all over so you can see, they are big opportunities. There is need to change the parochial thinking that for one to rear cattle, you have to move about. You know it is archaic because the world is now advanced. There is need for local investors to be serious about the issue rather than talking rhetoric. Pass a law here and there. If you prevent, what alternative do you have in place, nothing so cattle rearing has a big opportunity in agribusiness that people have so much money and I think it is good for state governments to start collaborating with us. We have experienced people that can help in the products we have developed overtime to establish these cattle ranches in different locations across the country. We can even improve the living standards of the herdsmen instead of them, roaming around not attending schools, losing out among others, you can have them in one location and provide every amenity required such as education. I read recently that the current minister of education in France was a cattle herder 25 years ago in Morocco but because of their mechanized farming method, she was able to go to school and today, she is a minister. That is the dream we have to revolutionalise the country completely.

    Nigeria was a major exporter of cocoa, cotton, groundnut and the likes but we relinquished our position as leading exporter. What can we do to reclaim this position?

    All these issues revolve around money. How much do I make from a business? If you remember, Nigerians are good at copying. When the era of filling stations started, people were making good money and you find filling stations all over the place. When the era of transportation started, there was a boom and everyone wanted to start business. This is the era of agriculture. We are talking about sufficiency in food production, how to increase government earnings through export among others. Now that I have listed those opportunities in export, what we are doing is to create market for the various crops. Once we do that, we enter into various agreements and next is funding. Most of the countries that need these crops are always pledging to fund research ventures. Once we have those two together, the next thing is to see how we can improve on the seeds, i.e quality of seeds that can give better yields and harvests. Once we achieve that, we can come out with ways to process, package and meet international standard markets that require research from us. You know, what is killing the sector is the interest rate. If we get funding below five per cent, then we can continuously lend at below nine per cent, making a spread between five and seven per cent on any deal. Once finance is there, access to finance is easy and all the inputs required are there and we monitored and ensure that the funds are invested in agriculture, we will regain our former place and even exceed expectations.

    There have been a lot of efforts on rice, with pronouncements on self sustenance, and even export as early as next year, how feasible is this?

    The Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) is a national scheme that covers all crops across the country. What happened on rice was just a pilot scheme because rice is the most staple food that every Nigerian wants. It is because of that I think CBN started with rice but we are replicating it on other crops such as cocoa, palm oil, gum Arabic, soya, palm oil and the rest and we are collaborating with state governments to key into the programme and then we take-off.

    Just last week, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh met with Vice Chancellors of Agric Universities and instructed that the graduates must have farms to become potential professional farmers. Do you have credit window for this large group of youths?

    We have products that are targeted at women and youths to empower them in agriculture. If you remember, in the olden days, every primary and secondary school have a farmland likewise the universities and National Youth Service Corps members. That was referred to as community development. Mostly, youths engaged in farming activities, a week in every month during the service year.  All those values have gradually eroded. It is now that the ministry is going through the federal universities of agriculture to revive that effort so that people can appreciate agriculture from the formative stage of life up to adulthood. It is something that we as a bank will like to support and there is credit access for that.

    Are you sure there won’t be stringent repayment measures and collaterals before they can access the credit?

    Let me tell you, credit in banking has nothing to do with collaterals. Collateral actually is the last issue. It is when integrity is compromised, when people are not honest and the legal framework is such that when people default in credit relationships and they are not sanctioned, that is when you talk about collaterals. So when the worst comes to the worst, I have something to rely on. As much as possible in the ABP, there is nothing called collateral. Most importantly, we want to identify the farmland, map the farmland, and get the coordinate of the farmland. What is important is that the facility the farmers have taken is invested in the land.

    What is the current percentage of Nigeria’s budget for agriculture and do you think this can take us to the promise land?

    I don’t think so, but I feel it is something gradual. It is just like farming. When you are entering newly, you have to start small, just like a pilot project. When you do the first, you will be confronted with challenges and identify the problems. In the second stage is when you increase resources, identify the size of land  you want to cover and even increase the number of crops you plant and so on. Maybe it is just a starting point but we need to do more. Agriculture, like I told you, the opportunities in the value-chains are endless. You cannot be talking about billions but trillions of Naira to finance the sector. What is important is that once the money is invested, what is the impact of that money on the society? The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the employment created and so on and so forth. By the time you do that, because these are social problems that are embedded within the society. So instead of investing so much in abstract activity, once you do it in agriculture, you can easily see the impact in the society. Youth restiveness will reduce, all these agitations will reduce.

    Do you have a figure/percentage of agric export’s contribution to the nation’s GDP?

    If you take agric as it were, you will know that its contribution is more than 20 per cent compared to others but wait until end of this year. You will see a remarkable improvement. Like I told you, in the first year of the ABP, the statistics are there. By the time we go into the second year, we have already started preparing for the dry season, once that is done, by the end of the year, you will see the remarkable growth in the GDP and other economic indicators.

    What are your words of advice for youths who might be interested in agriculture?

    Well, the youths unfortunately want to enjoy without making any efforts. They don’t understand life does not go that way. Life is about determining what you want to be, creating that vision as an individual and making efforts towards attaining that vision. My advice is for them to embrace farming as an occupation. Recently, I spoke with a group of youths from the South-south and they told me, a number of senior colleagues that graduated before them, for four years, they were not doing anything, waiting for office jobs in oil companies or federal government works and nothing was forthcoming.  They now decided that they should go into aquaculture and with support of their various state governors within the region, we were able to empower them. We train them on fishing. The state government provided lands. After the training, they took over and started on their own. Some of them will tell you that from their very first year of operation, they realized that if given further support, they will never think about white collar jobs.

  • Boko Haram: Air Force working to aid displaced persons

    Boko Haram: Air Force working to aid displaced persons

    The Director of Public Relations and Information of the Nigerian Air Force, (NAF) Air Commodore Olatokunbo Adesanya, in this interview with Assistant Editor, Blessing Olaifa, talks about some issues regarding the humanitarian activities of the Air Force in the Northeast and the challenges of routing out remnants of the Boko Haram terrorists. Excerpts:

    WHAT can you tell us about the Nigerian Air Force (NAF) humanitarian intervention in the Northeast?

    Thank you for coming to seek some clarifications on what the Nigerian Air Force is doing in the northeast especially in the area of humanitarian intervention.  I will like to start by stating that it is not just starting now, one of the first step we took was as far back as 2015 when we established the first camp, the first hospital in an Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) Camp. And also in 2016, we established another one. So within this period, one was in Bama and another one was in Dalori, Borno State. These were the emergency hospitals in the IDP Camps. This has always being an integral part of our operations.

    The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Sadique Abubakar, is very passionate about the plight of IDPs. We believe that it is not enough to just go to the northeast and focus only on military campaigns. We believe that beyond that we should be able to touch the lives of the IDPs  in that region and you also know that that is what they called winning the hearts and minds of the people.

    The Nigerian Air Force of course has to potentially benefit from there because once somebody is friendly with you, you are likely to get more information from him. But the primary reason is the plight of the people.  One of the most encouraging examples of what we did was sometimes ago when the Chief of Air Staff saw a five year old child in the IDP Camp. The baby was severely malnourished and was virtually given up.  However, because we have such a programme on the ground, we don’t just treat them but we also nourished them back to health. This child was taken to one of our Care Centres in Bauchi and as I speak today, he has fully recovered.

    Would you say that all the parties involved in this humanitarian issue are up and doing in their assigned responsibilities?

    I believe everybody is doing their best. One thing you must acknowledge is that it is an enormous task. We had an upsurge in the number of internally displaced persons in Nigeria.  A few years ago nobody would have been thinking that Nigeria would be a place where you have such a large number of IDPs arising from conflicts. As at the last count the figure being bandied around is close to two million. So it is not going to be an easy task managing such huge number. The federal government is obviously doing its best.  Several committees have been set up and we also have international humanitarian organizations and some non-governmental organizations, all doing their best towards solving this problem.

    Like I said the task is huge, but the resources are limited and that is why the Air Force believe that as part of its own Corporate Social Responsibility it could contribute. So what the Air Force is doing is virtually contributing to support the efforts of the federal government, the state and other humanitarian organizations.

    How is the commitment on humanitarian services affecting your finances?

    I may not be able to give you exert figures in terms of financial commitment on monthly basis. I am not in a position to do so. However, one of the interesting things is that there are some corporate organizations who have also witnessed what the Air Force is doing now.  The non-relenting efforts of the Force in providing those humanitarian supports are noticeable.

    What the NGOs have also done is to support us and that goes on and on. One of such is the recent donation of 4,000 cartoons of Indomie Noodles worth over N10 million to us by a corporate organization. It has been airlifted by our C130 to Maiduguri for the benefit of the IDPs in the northeast. That is just one, you also know that as part of efforts to strengthen our commitment there, the Chief of Air Staff instituted an arrangement whereby personnel of the Nigerian Air Force, both Officers, Airmen and others are encouraged on a quarterly basis to make voluntary donations in cash and also material items towards alleviating the plights of the IDPs.

    Sir, what is your take on the comments of some US Senators to the effect that they would work against the Nigerian government from procuring arms from the US government based on allegations of human rights violation in the fight against terrorism?

    I am aware that two Senators were said to be pushing for something like that. You also know that the US has a system in place, and we respect their system and of course the Senators will make their inputs and there are more than two Senators in the US government.  There would be difference of opinions. What is important to us as a Service at the end of the day is what is communicated to us by the US government with respect to our own plans, not necessarily the internal politics within the United States Government.  It is on record that the US government has been an allied of the Nigerian Air Force in the current campaign through training and other areas and we believe the support will continue.

    In other words no, cause for alarm on the matter?

    To the best of my knowledge, No.

    Tell us more about the recent rehabilitation of some NAF aircrafts?

    The primary reason for rehabilitating any aircraft at any time is the need for it, especially because the resources are limited. And it is highly resource intensive. It is always on the basis of needs that we rehabilitate them. The moment they are rehabilitated, they are put into use. All aircrafts are for different roles, some of the latest that we rehabilitated are the Dornier 228 aircraft. It is what they called a light transport aircraft. The plan for this one is to be used for courier service by the Air Force.  That was the case in the past, but when things became worse, that has to be stopped.

    The courier service was within the Nigerian Air Force so that we don’t have unnecessary delay in movement of mails. When I said mails, I am not necessarily talking of documents or letters, or things you cannot send via emails and the rest. It involves movements of our personnel within the Commands. Another one that has been rehabilitated is the ATR 42 aircraft.

    What are your immediate challenges in the northeast?

    In terms of challenges in the northeast, the Nigerian Air Force as a service is to project air power.  Air power has what they call inherent limitations and irrespective of whichever Air Force.  We are also facing these challenges, and one of them is the issue of weather. It is such that as a Pilot, one is unable to operate the way one wants to operate. And then to keep our aircraft in the air it is not an easy task.

    That is why I must commend the federal government. This present government has been very supportive of the NAF.  The credit to the successes recorded by the NAF should go to the FGN. In recent time, the FG has ensured timely release of resources to train the pilots, train technicians, train other ground crew and to buy spare for our aircrafts and other requirement needed to keep the aircraft flying.

    There are delays in supplying the spare.  Then one of the things we do is to anticipate, and work ahead to make early provisions. But beyond this, the Nigerian Air Force is also intensifying efforts towards developing our own local capabilities.

    Again, there are some spares that hitherto we are only bringing from overseas, but now we have them. We have patented some. I gave an example recently of a spare part called hydraulic accumulator diaphragm. This diaphragm of course can only work for a limited number of hours as prescribed by the original manufacturers of the equipment after which its failure become imminent.

    But then it is a very expensive item.  We always have to import and sometimes there will be delays in importing. What the Nigerian Air Force did was to look at the material and then commissioned our own personnel and then working with some other stakeholders. So after series of experiments we have now been able to come up with our own. And the interesting thing is that the cost is several times less than what we were bringing from outside.  It is easily available now and the icing on the cake is that it is much more durable and original. That is just one, there are quite a number of other examples.

    What are your observations viz a viz media relations with military institutions?

    You just touched on an area which is very dear to me. I wouldn’t know if you have noted it, I write some articles regularly published in newspapers. The first one I wrote was actually on the role of the media in the counter insurgency operations. What are the expectations? To a large extent some media practitioners are not actually aware of their full role whenever a country is at war.  What is going on is actually a war and because one of the things that should be done is what we call media campaign or some form of information strategy in which the media play a significant role.

    I have always said that the media should assist to as much as possible project the news of our success, of our victories and to a large extent de-emphasize our perceived failure. Because when you do that you find out that the morale of our troops becomes higher. They are emboldened to fight. And they believe the nation is behind them, because the media in a way represents the voice of the nation. When they know that the nation is behind them, they are emboldened and they have a cause to fight.

    One of the most motivating factors, speaking from the view point of somebody who has been in war front, I was in Liberia and Sierra Leone from 1997 to 1999 as part of the ECOMOG operations as an aircraft engineer on the alpha jet aircraft, which we are using now to fight this insurgency.

    Believe me, the most motivation thing for a soldier in the battle field is not money, it is knowing that he is fighting for a good cause, and one of the ways he knows that he is fighting for a good cause is when the people he represents are happy that he is there. So, the media represents the people; that is why we always urge the media to encourage our troops and de-emphasize our failures.

    One of the things that the Nigerian Air Force has done is to make its door wide open.  I am the gate way to the Nigerian Air Force in terms of communications and you will agree with me that I have tried my bit to be as responsive as possible.

    The whole idea is to encourage the media to seek clarification, because we see the media as partners.  However, the way some media practitioners go about it is as if there is a declared battle against the military. If it were in the far past, maybe they might have a reason.  But not now that we leave our doors open, and they can always ask questions the narratives should be different.

    So, on a daily basis we actually push out information on our activities. Because we believe we are accountable to the people, and we do that through the media. Sometimes the media do not do us justice. I will give an example, some days ago I got a call from a correspondent.  He said there was this news going round that the Nigerian Air Force has some new airmen.  That the Chief of Air Staff smuggled in additional people and that 80 percent of those people recruited are core northerners and the rest.

    I said these mischief makers are at it again, number one, the recruitment is still ongoing, if the recruitment is on-going, how then did you determine that 80 percent are northerners? I said the standard fact is that once the recruitment is done the Nigerian Air Force will publish it in a minimum of two national dailies and also on its website and every other possible public means available stating the people who have been recruited, with all other necessary information.

    I must also commend the media because I only gave a bad example, and I think it will not be fair to report that also on a more significant rote. The media has been very supportive in our current campaign, and you know one of the ways is reporting our activities. The media has been up to speed in that regard, so we commend the media. While those mischievous and unpatriotic ones, I will just encourage that they should have a larger picture, the larger picture at the end of the day is Nigeria, not the Nigerian Air Force not an individual, the larger picture, at the end of the day is Nigeria.

    How would you relate this to the Osun State University issue?

    On the Osun issue, it is another incident again that I felt the media did not do well because despite having stated the fact that my doors are always open. I just saw online, “Nigerian Air Force invades university of Osun”, without anyone seeking to find out from me if it is true. It was not the Nigerian Air Force that invaded Osun University.

    There is a difference between the Nigerian Air Force and personnel of the Nigerian Air Force. People should always try to draw a distinction, an organization exists as an entity, individuals of the organization also exist as an entity, the organization are not perfect, the individuals are not perfect.

    Our founding fathers envisaged this and that is why there are laws in place in the military and in the civil society, we are subject to the law.

    There are laws in place to guide our behaviour and to mete out punishments to those found guilty. We know that individuals will always misbehave, sometimes due to mistake and sometimes due to negligence of order. When you say Nigerian Air Force invades, that connotes organizational endorsement, which is not the case. We are talking about some personnel who were alleged to have invaded. I will expect that somebody will call the Nigerian Air Force to ask if it is true, so that they will be able to give a balanced story, nobody called.

    Based on our own philosophy to be responsive and proactive, I immediately put out a statement assuring them that I heard the report and of course the moment I saw the report I informed the Chief of Air Staff who immediately directed that a formal enquiry should commence and that was done. It was made clear that any Air Force personnel found guilty will be dealt with in accordance with our applicable laws and that process is on-going. The process in the military is such that, when an incident that involves both civilian and military occurs, it behoves that Board of Enquiry that is sitting to invite all parties. To get the military people is not really a problem but for the civilians. You need to write letters, and you need to wait for their response and you need to pray that they are cooperative and it’s taking a while. And I can mention that because I also called the unit commanders, so I know that to a large extent, many of the civilians allegedly involved came and gave their own version.

    So that unit is under what we call the special operations command. So they have to send that report to special operation command. The command will review it and find out are there gaps? Are there things not covered? Are there things not properly explained? That is their responsibility as a Command. So any time the military comes out with a report, it has to be thorough. The Command will do it before it is sent to the Nigerian Air Force Headquarters. Then it will be subjected to critical review.

    We will also do fence mending. I have held meetings with leaders of the University, the community people and other stakeholders. It was not the NAF that invaded the school.

    And regarding the case of the airman that allegedly shot his girl friend; you know people wondered for a long time nothing seems to be happening. We are following our process. It is a thorough process. And of course at the right time, a court martial was convened after going through some streams of processes. One of the processes is the Board of Investigation, after that summary of evidence, etc, and the trial is on-going. One of the things NAF holds in high esteem is integrity, integrity of our words. And NAF is a highly professional service and we do not condone indiscipline anywhere.