The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Achieving

  • Achieving sustainable reform

    It is common for civil society organisations (CSOs) and groups campaigning for reforms to identify challenges with government systems and governance processes then suggest possible solutions. This can only bear fruit with governments willing to listen, and collaborate. Increasingly, such campaigns rarely achieve set goals as at when needed, consuming more time and resources in instances where any result is achieved.

    So do collaboration work? Can organisations and people advocating for change work collaboratively with government to achieve desired changes or reforms in line with the wishes of the larger population? I can say it is difficult when reform campaigners and civil society organisations begin trying to work with government, even though not an impossible undertaking. The difficulty is in part driven by the fear that the organisations’ credibility will be questioned by the very public they serve. There is also a problem if a lack of the capacity required to collaboratively work with government exists, as well as the moot point that governments change, more so with officials in selective posts who are changed at the whims of their principal.

    However, the challenges faced by the citizens leave no room for self-doubt or undue hesitation over these difficulties; we are required not only to speedily identify challenges and articulately suggest solutions, but to roll up our sleeves to put in the manual work towards reforming governments at all levels.

    Collaboration, in my experience, works best when government institutions are led by reform-conscious officials who will be more receptive when solutions are not merely mooted, but implementation frameworks and partnerships are simultaneously offered. It is that tangible leap from saying “this is the problem” to adding: “these are the exact steps we could take together to eradicate it” that puts the action in collaboration.

    For example, in 2015, BudgIT intentionally chose to broaden its adoption of this approach, working with the Kaduna State Government on Nigeria’s first Open Budget platform, with the Nigerian Police Force Intelligence Bureau on intelligence data gathering and analysis, as well as with several government agencies in the security sector (in partnership with Public and Private Development Centre as lead) on guidelines for classifying security information with respect to FOI and the Nigerian Police Headquarters on a mapping of Police Stations in Lagos.

    I am aware of the work that Public and Private Development Centre did with Open Contracting Data Standards using their recently built procurement tool www.budeshi.org which led to the recent announcement of government adoptionof Open Contracting Data Standards; and the collaboration between Right to Know Nigeria (R2K) and Bureau for Public Sector Reformto build an online FOI platformfor the bureau.

    For organisations looking to use these methods, it is critical to: identify a champion, ambassador or “face” within the government institution clearly looking to implement reforms; prove then communicate your clear and unbiased understanding of the solutions being proffered; evaluate your capacity to carry out the work and find the resources required to implement the ideas. Where capacity is lacking, it is important to find similarly-driven partners who can help. Collaboration is an opportunity to invest your resources, and it is advised that the only gain should be seeing tangible change take root.

    Reforming government through collaboration comes with organisational risks and is not — and should never be — an opportunity for financial gain from government. Regarding these risks, care must be taken to ensure that the values of the organisation are not compromised at any stage and the CSO must ensure it remains open about the collaboration at all stages of the project. Carrying the public along will ensure that their questions are answered, doubts cleared and the focus is persistently sharp, giving advocacy and reforms more bite.

    It is pertinent to seek donors; avoid the exchange of money, especially between governments and your organisation. This will ensure operational independence to implement relevant reforms to the best of your ability. Just as important is this: do not overstate what will be achieved. Rather, start with the simplest things to show what is possible, build trust and continue to improve on previous achievements, as project lifespans can be extended.

    Funding collaborations with government institutions can be challenging, so early planning during programme design with donors and funding partners is essential. Donors understandably always have ideas about what they want to fund and have restrictions on what their funds can be used for. Therefore, it must be reiterated that CSOs must carefully design programmes in such a way that it will meet donor conditions and simultaneously assist recipient organisations implement reform.

    This approach, of collaboration and working for the people with the right government champion can lead to positive and lasting reforms that outlive government officials. There is an assurance that is established once initial success is achieved. It wins over any individuals initially opposed to the reforms, opens the gate for more to be done, bags you a seat at the table and earns you a reputation as an organisation that gets things done.

    If there is one thing I must say from my experience of working on institutional engagement programmes it would be this: with collaboration, it is never about the CSO, but about the people they seek to represent.

    Therefore, in the name of democracy there can be no enemies when the goal is reform. If we must name one, then our collective enemy in the struggle for a better life for our fellow citizens should be: institutional opacity.

     

    • Achonucoordinates Open Alliance Nigeria – a group of CSOs working on Open Government Partnership. He writes from Lagos.
  • Achieving food and national security

    Achieving food and national security

    Before I begin, let me define food and security according to the Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary. Food is any substance that is or can be consumed by living organisms especially by eating, in order to sustain life.

    While security is the condition of not being threatened, especially physically, psychologically, emotionally or financially.

    To scientists, those are layman’s definitions of food and security. Scientifically, there is food security when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preference for an active and healthy life.

    Therefore, promoting food security should be a collective responsibility of every citizen of the world because nobody can do without food. However, to achieve surplus food, the challenges enumerated below must be prioritised and tackled.

    First is water shortage. There is no gainsaying the fact that 60 per cent of the food we eat comes through agricultural activity. Food crops such as cocoa, rice and cereal, which are agricultural products, need water to yield in large quantity. Today, how many farmers in Northern part of Nigeria, where most of the food we eat come from, have access to irrigation? This is one of the major challenges faced farmers and this must be solved to achieve nutritious food.

    Also, for many farmers, it has been a challenge, storing farm produce because of lack of electricity to preserve the food in storage facilities. This problem is a threat to food security. And it is a common problem for farmers in the rural areas, where there is no power supply. Sea food (fishes) and perishables are daily wasted because of lack of power supply. If food security must be feasible, government must provide electricity to the rural areas.

    Insecurity is another factor that tends to make food security a mirage. No farmer will go to farm if his security is not guaranteed. This  is mostly common in the North, where there is no love lost between farmers and Fulani herdsmen. The government must proffer a lasting solution to the farmer-herdsmen faceoff.

    Bad roads, dilapidated infrastructure and rickety vehicles are part of challenges that must be solved if food must be made available all times.

    Poverty is the major challenge against food security. Statistics have shown that majority of Nigerians live on an average of $1 per day, which is equivalent to about N160. With that little amount, food security is impossible.

    Over population, no doubt, affects availability of food negatively. The world population is increasing at an alarming rate, while a fraction of the population is engaged in food production. There is an inverse variation, which will make it difficult to produce enough food for the bourgeoning population. More people should be encouraged to go to farm for food production. Also, family planning should also be done to avoid unnecessary births.

    If all the problems listed above can be addressed, then food security is guaranteed. Places where food security is not feasible, there is bound to be malnutrition. Food security is not all about access to just any type of food; it entails access to food and in its right proportion (balanced diet).

    Starvation and death are the end results of food insecurity. An individual who has no access to food for days can starve to death.

    There is a saying that one should “pay one’s dietician more than the doctor”. The reason for this is not far-fetched. Most of the diseases and ailments human beings suffer are as a result of what we eat. We need dieticians who can instruct us on nutrients that can be derived from food. Through this, we can prevent some diseases. In other words, when there is access to food in its right proportion, malnutrition diseases such as kwashiorkor, goitre, scurvy and such like can be prevented. Good food makes us to be energetic.

    There are things that should be done by the government to boost food security. The government should subsidise or make affordable some good food necessary for body growth. The government should also promulgate Food Security Bill to protect what people consume as food.

    In conclusion, since we now understand the challenges of achieving food security and their consequences, we are now able to understand where the rain is beating us. If the measures are put in place, food security would be achieved.

    Uchechukwu, 200-Level Food Science and Technology, ABSU

  • Road to achieving zero new hiv infection in lagos

    When AIDS emerged from the shadows three decades ago, few people could predict how the epidemic would evolve, and fewer still could describe with any certainty the best ways of combating it. Today, we have passed the stage of conjecture. We know from experience that AIDS can knock decades off national development, widen the gulf between rich and poor nations and push already-stigmatised groups closer to the margins of society. Unlike time when the affliction of HIV/AIDS was considered by many as the Western World’s burden, the concern of everyone today is about the best way to tackle the spread of this killer disease.

    The AIDS epidemic is a global catastrophe responsible for over 20 million deaths world-wide, leaving tens of millions of children orphaned and some 33 million people living with the dreaded virus. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 25 million of these people and estimates from the joint United Nations AIDS programme (UNAIDS) revealed that not less than 3.14 million Nigerians were found living with HIV as at the end of 2011.

    Currently, Nigeria bears the second highest burden of HIV/AIDS in Africa, next to South Africa and third in the whole world after South Africa and India. It is estimated that approximately 220,000 people died of AIDS in Nigeria in 2009 and the disease has also been associated with Nigeria’s declining life expectancy which in 2010 was only 52 years. Since HIV is found in body fluids-such as blood, semen and vaginal secretions, it can be transmitted when fluid from an infected person enters the body of another person. Given this modes of transmission, everyone is at risk of contracting the virus. This can happen through sexual intercourse, during blood transfusion, when using unsterilised skin piercing instruments and from an infected mother to her baby during child birth or after birth through breastfeeding.

    Regarding HIV/AIDS, it is worrisome that the average Nigerian have turned knowledge is power into knowledge is death certificate. Despite the availability of many voluntary counseling and testing services in various hospitals/centers across the country, very few know their HIV status. For instance, in Lagos, there are currently over 57 free HCT sites run by government, civil societies and the private sector. There are 29 free PMTCT (prevention of mother to child) sites, 24 free ART (Anti-retroviral therapy) sites, 6 EID (early infant diagnosis) sites in secondary and tertiary health facilities across the state.

    Till date, the figures on HIV in Nigeria are still one obtained through surveys of women attending antenatal clinics. Yet, only few comprehend how to assess risk to HIV with behaviour and practices that increase risk of HIV infection still rampant among our people. The big question, of course, is can we get to zero new HIV infection? We can achieve zero new HIV infection by committing large sums of fund to prevention especially when it is a fact that HIV is largely a preventable infection. We can achieve it by first of all attaining zero discrimination. Persons living with HIV and AIDS require information, counseling, care and support and not discrimination.

    Given its strategic place and importance in Nigeria, Lagos State has been very proactive and in the forefront of the national response to the HIV and AIDS epidemic through strengthening of institutions, social mobilisation and enlightenment.

    In Lagos, the State Law for the Protection of persons living with HIV and AIDS was signed into law in 2007. To ensure full implementation of the law, a mechanism whereby PLWHA (People living with HIV and AIDS) who have had their rights infringed upon can seek legal advice at no cost was set up. This is in line with the views of Justice Michael Kirby of the High Court of Australia when he said: “paradoxically enough, the only way in which we can deal effectively with the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS is by respecting and protecting the rights of those already exposed to it and those most at risk”. How apt!

    A vital means of achieving zero new infection in the state is what is being done at the health facilities concerning encouraging all pregnant women to get tested for HIV and providing ARVs to all pregnant positive women. Over 80% of infections in children under 15 are acquired from their mothers. PMTCT interventions, when properly implemented, have been proven to reduce the risk of MTCT of HIV to less than 2% (from about 40% in the absence of any intervention). It is therefore obvious that one of the fundamental pillars of getting to zero would be to ensure increased uptake of PMTCT services. This is already being done at the 29 PMTCT sites located in secondary and tertiary institutions across the state.

    Another way is to provide care and support to PLWHA. People should be aware that AIDS is NOT a moral issue- it is a public health problem. The vicious circle of fear, prejudice and ignorance has not and cannot help our quest to eradicate the problem. This is high time people should stop imagining number of partners PLWHA must have slept with to be in the condition. Do we turn our back on thousands of children who are infected and are living with the virus due to circumcision by untrained health personnel? What of many who got infected through transfusion by unscreened blood? Do we also turn our back on millions of children who got infected by their positive parents? Ed Koch said: “if you turn your back on these people (PLWHA), you (yourself) are an animal. You may be a well-dressed animal, but you are never the less an animal.”

    The state government has also scaled up its counseling and testing. Beside the over 57 free HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT) sites, in marking last year World Aids Day; the Lagos State Government provided mobile HIV counseling and testing campaign in the five divisions of the state. The large attendance of Lagosians at the five centres gives hope that the journey is achievable. In 2013, the target of the state is to get 1.3 million people in the HCT net. Treatment as prevention is a new buzz phrase that is doing the round in the HIV and AIDS field. The raising of the CD4 threshold for treatment from 200 to 350 means more people are eligible for treatment and is expected to translate into fever new infections.

    But how do we get people on treatment if they do not know their status? HCT is the entry point to all services. People who tested negative would have had access to information which would hopefully influence their lifestyle. Positive people are referred to whatever service they need and can prevent progression to AIDS. One other way through which the government is working to achieve zero new infection is strengthening of prevention programs by targeting young people in and out of school. Reaching young people even before their sexual debut with information about HIV and other reproductive health issues would help to avert new infections. There is one British AIDS education slogan which could also be adopted in our schools. It goes thus: Every time you sleep with a boy you sleep with all his old girl friends.

    In Lagos State the availability of a screening test to detect HIV in donated blood has nearly eliminated blood transfusions as a possible source of infection. Other preventive efforts include education about safer sex practices, such as consistent condom use, and avoidance of needle sharing among people who inject drugs.

    It is hoped that with desired interest from all stakeholders, increase and expansion of interpersonal communication and community mobilisation approaches at the LGA level, the journey will become interesting and reaching the destination will become easier.

     

    Musbau is of Features Unit, Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja.

     

  • Achieving growth through Free Markets and Justice

    Achieving growth through Free Markets and Justice

    For African countries to achieve prosperity and economic growth, the concept of free market must be the cardinal point of their economic policies.

    This view is contained in a book presented, last week, by African Liberty Organisation (ALO) in conjunction with the Network for Free Society and Atlas Economic Research Foundation, a United States-based global network.

    The 129-page book, entitled Free Markets and Justice and forwarded by Nigeria’s former Minister of Solid Minerals and World Bank’s Vice President Mrs Obiageli Ezekwesili, was unveiled at Aduke-Thomas, Oshodi office of ALO. It is an African version of The Morality of Capitalism written by Dr Tom Palmer, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, which was geared towards educating students on benefits of capitalism.

    According to Mrs Ezekwesili, a World Bank research carried out in over 100 countries over the last 30 years showed that economic freedom, civil and political liberties are the reason some countries achieve and sustain better economic outcomes while others do not.

    She said freedom to produce, to trade or to consume goods or services that one acquired without the use of force, fraud or theft was one of the characteristics in African countries that achieved prosperity in recent times. She said failed policies that caused the famine in Somalia and governance challenges that created the precursor to the policies were similar in outcome to ones that engendered bad governance, corruption and armed conflict.

    Mrs Ezekwesili posited: “The freedom from regulation or other dictates from government or the authorities in economic matters make the capitalist system of economic freedom a means for efficient allocation of resources. Economic freedom helps countries to produce the right leadership and good governance. It helps to achieve inclusive growth and, above all, economic freedom helps citizens remain at the centre of every economic activity.”

    In his paper entitled Looking for Answers to Economic Growth, the publisher of the book and Director of Outreach, ALO, Mr Adedayo Thomas, noted that socialists often criticise the concepts of capitalism and free market as an amoral economic system because of the magnitude of prosperity individuals could achieve with their ability.

    Thomas said: “Far from being an amoral ideology, capitalism is highly structured by ethical norms and rules, which reject looting and grabbing of wealth common in socialism and communism.”

    He said most African countries including Nigeria practise “crony” capitalism, which was why there had not been any meaningful development in Africa. “In Nigeria today, if you know the president or governors, you will be given concession to manage any privatised government enterprise even if you are not competent; this is not capitalism, rather it is this kind of crony or phony capitalism that is putting capitalism in bad light,” Thomas said.

    He added that the book, which is divided into four sections with 13 chapters, contains workable solutions that could catapult many underdeveloped African nations from the realm of the third world to first world nations.

    Palmer noted that the market system referred not just to exchange of goods and services, which had been existing from time immemorial, but also to the system of innovation, wealth creation and social change that has brought to billions of people prosperity that was unimaginable to earlier generations.

    While reviewing the book, Alhaji Alowonle Jimoh, a US-based business man, said the book, apart from being a guide to political leaders, should be made available to students of Economics in secondary schools and higher institutions. The book was presented by Hon. Sunday Akinwale, a liberalism advocate.

    Participants at the programme included professionals from private organisations, government officials, business men, students and Corps members.