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  • How Buhari’s victory will affect governorship, Assembly polls

    How Buhari’s victory will affect governorship, Assembly polls

    In nine days, Nigerians will return to their polling units to elect governors and  lawmakers. Expectedly, the April 11 governorship and Houses of Assembly elections will have more local appeal than last Saturday’s  presidential and National Assembly elections.

    Political parties have put the outcome of the March 28 behind them even as the winners bask in the euphoria of their victories and the bruised, lick their wounds. That notwithstanding, the parties and their candidates are back on the campaign fields, marketing their manifestoes ahead of the polls.

    One thing seems certain. It is the fact that the victory of Gen. Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at last Saturday’s election will shape the elections on April 11 and effectively determine where the political pendulum swings.

    Historically, in Nigeria, where the central remains very strong than the federating units, once a president emerges, any election conducted afterwards is a fait accompli. The voters are often gripped by the fear of being in the opposition.

    The Buhari/Osinbajo ticket fetched the opposition APC 15,424,921 votes from 21 states, cutting across the Southwest, Northwest, Northcentral and Northeast to dislodge incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan and his duputy, Namadi Sambo, whose Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) polled 12, 853,162 votes from 15 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The PDP won all the 11 states in the Southsouth and the Southeast, three in the Northcentral and one in the Southwest.

    Bandwagon effect

    Going by elections’ historical trends, a shift is expected in the voting pattern of states that were won by the ruling party on April 11 as the factors that accounted for the PDP victory will no longer be there.

    For instance, the five states in the Southeast – Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo and Enugu – gave block votes to the PDP and the six Southsouth states of Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Edo, Delta, Cross River and Rivers gave it to the ruling party, believing that President Jonathan would win the election and that the ruling party will form the next government.

    With the overall results in favour of the APC, the states may be in the opposition beginning from May, should they retain that voting pattern at the April 11 polls. Looking at the map of Nigeria, Ekiti is the only state in the Southwest geo-political zone that may be in the opposition in the next political dispensation.

    In 1983, the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) re-ordered the election timetable. The Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) as the Independent National Electoral Commision (INEC) was then known, began with the Presidential election and it was a moon’s slide victory for the ruling (NPN). The National Assembly, governorship and House of Assembly elections that followed were mere walkover for the ruling party.

    The main opposition party – the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) lost its grip on the states that were under its control since 1979. The states were: the old Oyo and the old Bendel

    The Nigerian Peoples Party (NPP) lost the old Anambra to the ruling party which also dislodged the Great Nigeria Peoples Party (GNPP) from the old Borno and the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) from Kaduna.

    But the moon’s slide victory of the NPN was short-circuited as the military struck on the eve of 1983 to abort the Second Republic. The military intervention was to prevent anarchy as the NPN victory sparked protests in some parts of the country, especially in the West, where the people believed the polls were skewed in favour of the ruling party.

    Twenty years after, the election timetable was again reordered and once the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) won the presidential and majority seats in the National Assembly elections, the governorship and House of Assembly elections were straight wins for the PDP. The ruling party defeated the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in its Southwest stronghold. All the six states in the zone, except Lagos, fell to the PDP. The All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP) suffered similar fate in the North.

    History beckons

    Since Independence, the Southwest has been indifferent to the government at the central. The people in the zone have always pitched tent with the progressives, and ironically, the progressives never had the opportunity of winning the presidency until last Saturday. The primary concern of the Southwest has been to elect leaders who will develop the region.  The desire to belong to the party at the federal largely accounted for the victory of the PDP in Ekiti State. Now that the progressives have won the presidency, analysts believe the people will detest being the lone voice in the wilderness. They hope the outcome of the April 11 polls will be a departure from what they were on June 21, 2014 and March 28.

    In the Southsouth and the Southeast, where almost all the PDP governors will be completing their two-term tenure next month, the desire to guarantee soft-landing will shape the voting pattern. Besides, the fact that some of the governors are on their way out of power, the voters may decide to take their fate into their own hands to chose who they want as the governors and representatives in the Houses of Assembly.

    It is an indisputable fact that both the Southsouth and the Southeast have always showed their hatred for being in the opposition. They have, since 1960, forged alliances with the North, a region that has always maintained a hold on the central. The defeat of President Jonathan, their preferred candidate, and the need to avoid unnecessary friction with the Federal Government will shape the voting pattern in the zones on April 11.

    Federal might

    Despite the deployment of federal might in the states, especially those under the PDP control, the results of last Saturday’s elections clearly showed that the wish of Nigerians for change was not subverted.  So, it is unlikely that a ruling party that has lost steam and its bearing will wield still enormous influence on the people.

    Militarisation of election

    If the complaints of Governors Adams Oshiomhole (Edo) and Rotimi Amaechi (Rivers), are anything to go by, the security operatives deployed in those two Southsouth states compromised their oath of office by being partial to one of the parties. The military is yet to learn from the mistakes of Brig-Gen Aliyu Momoh, who allegedly took orders from PDP chieftains to compromise the integrity of the June 21 governorship election in Ekiti State. The soldiers and senior police officers who were on election duty allegedly colluded with the ruling party to ensure that the political climate was inclement for the opposition to participate.

    In Edo State for instance, a senior military personnel was allegedly detained for refusing to do the biddings of a PDP chieftain. Governor Oshomhole expressed frustrations after his attempts to get across to the police commissioner for intervention failed. He claimed that a promoter of a private television station stormed the state with full military protection and allowed to move about during the elections.

    The reasonable thing for any officer deployed in those states is to maintain neutrality and create a level playing ground for all parties on April 11. Any officer on duty will henceforth be cautious in their conduct and they will not hesitate to rein in any overzealous subordinate.

    Resident Electoral Commissioners.

    Despite the unbiased position of Prof Attahiru Jega, the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), some high-ranking officials of the body are yet to shed the toga of partisanship. They still compromise their positions. But with change of baton, such officers will be more careful and carry out their duties without partiality.

    In Akwa Ibom, the INEC officials took orders from Governor Godswill Akpabio on how to conduct the elections. After accreditation of voters, the expectation was that voting would commence, but there was nothing like that. Rather, the INEC officials relocated from the polling stations and thumb printed the ballot at an undisclosed location believed to have been provided by the state government. They filled the result sheets only to return to the units to read the results.

    After meeting with the President yesterday, Akpabio told State House reporters that the PDP will maintain its lead and retain the states under its control after the April 11 polls.

    But APC leaders accused him of relying on rigging. They said Akpabio was banking on manipulation and wondered how a governor, who failed to win a senatorial district will deliver a whole state.

    As it was in Akwa Ibom, so also was it in Rivers State where the residents are insisting that voting never took place in the state. The governorship candidate of the APC, Dr. Peterside Dakuku and Senator Magnus Abe echoed the peoples complaints in their protest at the INEC office, where the police gave protection for the collation of results of elections that never took place. Governor Rotimi Amaechi was told he had no right to demand for the result sheets. The INEC officer said it was wrong of any voter to ask for such document, especially when he was not a party agent and when balloting had not even started.

    The question to ask is: Will the electoral officers and the police chiefs be so brazen on April 11, when Nigerians return to choose governors and assemblymen?

  • ‘How diseases affect reproductive ability’

    ‘How diseases affect reproductive ability’

    Diseases, disorders and conditions that affect reproductive health at different stages of life continue to generate controversy all over the world. Answers to some of these questions were answered recently at a lecture titled: Reproductive Health of Women and Men: A Biochemist’s Perspective. Yetunde Oladeinde was at the event and she reports

    THE lecturer, Professor Olubunmi Magbagbeola, kicked off her presentation with findings in her academic and research works in the last three decades. The event which took place at the 13th Inaugural Lecture of the University of Lagos was presided over by the Vice-Chancellor of the university, Professor Rahamon A. Bello, FAEng, and there were a number of distinguished scholars in the gathering. First, she began by tracing some of the challenges encountered, prospects as well as how to make use of the potential available. Interestingly, she also revealed that some of her research projects in collaboration with other researchers culminated in the removal of some drugs from the Nigerian market due to their biochemical effects; identification of certain compounds from Nigeria medicinal plants that have the ability to inhibit topoisomerase1 enzyme in cervical cancer, hence inhibiting proliferation of the cells; and production of several products including two Prebiotic infant weaning foods of high nutrient density. The biochemist focused on four major areas of reproductive health of women and men. “In discussing food, we must deal with the question of quality and the preparative techniques. The quality is the nutritive value and it is of prime importance to nutrition. If the food is to be regarded as of suitable quality, it must contain protein, carbohydrate, fats, vitamins and mineral salts. However, no matter how good the quality or adequate quantity, its nutritive value will be greatly impaired by poor preparation.“

    She added: “Good nutritional status is essential for normal organ development and function, for optimum activity, working efficiency, for resistance to infection and for the ability to repair bodily damage or injury. Poor nutritional status exists when a person is deprived of an adequate amount of the essential nutrients over an extended period of time.”

    Magbagbeola then traced how her research contributed to the area of nutritional biochemistry. “I developed interest in Nutritional Biochemistry at the university in my fourth year. As a graduate student at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, my supervisors directed that my research topic should be ‘Effect of Cooking on the Nutritive value of some traditional foods of the Hausas in Northern Nigeria.’ This is the foundation of my research in Nutritional Biochemistry and it covered the period from 1976 to 1985.”

    In the process, studies were carried out on three staple meals of the Hausas, namely koko and kosai, normally taken as breakfast, danwake for lunch and tuwo da miya kuka for dinner. “The method used involved inviting six Hausa women to the laboratory. One meal was prepared by each woman using the traditional cooking method. The weighing and cooking was repeated by each woman. The mean of these weights for all the materials were computed. Analyses for their proximate composition, vitamin content, mineral elements, amino acid composition, and calorie value were carried out. All the meals were found to be inadequate in protein on an average level of intake,” Magbagbeola disclosed.

    She continued thus: “The standard meals and market meals were adequate in mineral elements although cooking was found to cause losses of minerals and vitamins. All the meals were deficient in sulphur amino and marginal tryptophan. Lysine was low in tuwodawa and kuka soup and koko and kosai. Attempts were made to establish the biological value of these meals by carrying out feeding experiments using albino rats. None of the meals could support optimum growth of rats as compared with balanced diet.”

    Protein quality evaluation of locally processed and some imported weaning formula available in Nigeria was also carried out. “Protein quality in terms of ability to support growth and development of infants of three different infant weaning formulas available in Nigerian markets at the time of study were compared. The parameters measured included protein efficiency ratio, net protein ratio, protein retention efficiency, coefficient of digestibility, biological value, blood urea, blood and urine creatinine, urine non protein nitrogen using weanling albino rats.”

    For the advancement of knowledge and the development of the society, she recommended that there should be more collaboration between health care providers and basic research scientists to improve the health of people. In addition, she stressed the need to build capacity and interest in basic science research by professionals.

    Magbagbeola said: “Drugs prescribed by clinicians should take cognisance of their side effects (e.g biochemical effects) on people. The Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) should join hands with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) to control and rid Nigeria’s markets of already banned drugs and substandard products in other developed countries being imported into the country.”

    •             The don also stressed that in industrialised countries, conventional drugs are being gradually relegated because they are becoming more ineffective owing to multiple drug resistance, adverse side effects and high cost of production. “The use of medicinal plants remedies is gaining prominence, for example Chinese traditional medicines have almost taken over indigenous medicine in form of packaged medicinal products imported into the country. Cheap, efficacious and non-toxic medicinal plants can also be produced and packaged in Nigeria. This will reduce economic loss by importation. The federal government should put in place policies that will encourage production and packaging of these products and discourage the importation of such products.”

    Professor Magbagbeola started her academic career as a Graduate Assistant/Demonstrator in the Department of Biochemistry at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria from 1977 to 1979. She was later employed as a Junior Research Fellow in the Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Idi-Araba in March 1979. She rose through the ranks and took up the Chair of Biochemistry on October 1, 2001.

  • Shale oil won’t affect Brass LNG, says Obaseki

    Shale oil won’t affect Brass LNG, says Obaseki

    The Chairman, Brass LNG, Dr. Jackson Gaius-Obaseki, has assured stakeholders that the emergence of Shale oil in the United States (U.S.) will not affect the firm’s market.

    Gaius-Obaseki who is the former Group Managing Director, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) boss spoke when he led-delegation of the gas firm on a courtesy visit to the NNPC in Abuja yesterday.

    U.S. had exit the Nigerian oil import list following its Shale oil, having a negative impact on the nation’s market.

    According to Gaius-Obaseki, the firm is only re-strategising since it remains viable even in the face of Shale oil.

    Gaius-Obaseki said: “The reasons for conceiving that project are still relevant today; the market is still there, that is one of the things Shale gas or no Shale gas, the market is still there with a large appetite.”

    He argued that the firm had already diverted all it’s products from the U.S. before the advent of Shale oil.

    He however added that the Brass LNG will be impervious by the  Shale oil impact because Shale oil is different from Shale gas.

    Gaius-Obaseki said: “The Shale  oil is  different from the Shale gas. They also have domestic issues with their. But even when this came out, we had diverted all our products from the U.S. anywhere.”

    The Brass LNG boss, who said he was confident about the market stressed that he was not speculating but basing his submission on data fundamentals.

    “Shale or no Shale: I don’t speculate, and I work with data fundamentals,” said Gaius-Obaseki.

    He however said plans were underway for the  Brass LNG to change its technology, stressing that the “cascade technology” which the company had adopted belonged to  ConocoPhilips, one of its partners, who withdrew its interest from the firm.

    “When Conocophilips  exited, the remaining shareholders then sat down and said: well if you had problem where do you go to and the decision was then taken that we should change technology since Conocophilips has left with their technology and that is the reason, nothing more than that,”he added.

    He added that upon the withdrawal of ConocoPhilips from Brass LNG, the remaining shareholders are now NNPC, ENI and Total, who immediately  took over the shares of Conocophips.

    The chairman said aside  Conocophilips, no other buyer has left the company.

    Commenting on when the company would take its Final Investment Decision (FID), Gaius-Obaseki said the firm has not signed a purchase agreement which it would seal with the FID.

    He said: “ You are building plant, for you to build a plan, you must have the off-taker- people who will take the LNG from you. Conoco is left. As we speak today, there is no single buyer that has withdrawn. We have MoU with all of them . We have not signed a purchase agreement because we said we will do that at FID.”

  • Criticisms won’t affect my actions, says Abe

    Criticisms won’t affect my actions, says Abe

    •300 indigent students get support

    The lawmaker representing Rivers Southeast in the National Assembly, Senator Magnus Abe, has said criticisms would not affect his actions, particularly the empowerment initiatives in the senatorial district.

    He presented bank draft to 300 beneficiaries of his annual school fee support scheme.

    Nine hundred indigent final year students in institutions of higher learning drawn from the seven local governments of the Rivers Southeast, which include Andoni, Eleme, Gokana, Khana, Opobo/Nkoro,Oyigbo and Tai have benefitted from the exercise, which started in 2012.

    Abe, who spoke while presenting the support to the students at his constituency office, Bori, headquarters of Khana Local Government, said the empowerment initiatives he introduced, some of which were designed to provide employment and build capacity in the senatorial district were not part of his constituency project.

    “What I do is between me and my God. I don’t effect actions to expect praise, whatever I do is based on my conviction; it is about my relationship with my people and not about what people will say or not,” the Senate Committee Chairman on Petroleum (Downstream) said.

    He said the scholarship scheme among others was initiated in line with his commitment to invest in the people, encourage educational excellence and competition, adding that a society without competition produces people who know everybody, but know nothing.

    “Among us here are people from different background and political belief. What qualifies you for this exercise is merit. The reason we insist on merit is that any society that does not base its values on merit will be full of people who know everybody but know nothing. We want to build a society full of people who know something even if they don’t know anybody.

    “There are people whose stock-in-trade is to condemn others; their attitude cannot stop us from doing what we think is right or God’s intention for us. If we buy wrappers for the women of the district as part of our appreciation strategy outside the constituency projects; what is wrong with that,” the senator opined.

    The facilitator of the scheme, Kadilo Kabari, President, National Union of Oyigbo Students, Nwankwo Chijioke; that of Andoni, Timi Mbaba, and their Opobo/Nkoro counterpart, Solomon Tamunotonye, vowed that students from the senatorial district would continue to support Abe in whatever he aspired for politically.

     

  • My exit won’t affect chance to succeed Sanusi, says Lemo

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Deputy Governor, Operations, Tunde Lemo said his exit from office won’t affect his chances of possibly succeeding Governor Lamido Sanusi.

    Lemo, 54, will leave the bank today after having served the maximum two, five-year terms, he told Bloomberg.

    Sanusi, 52, said last year he won’t renew his contract when it expires in June. While President Goodluck Jonathan hasn’t given any indication yet of who will be the next governor. Lagos-based Vetiva Capital Management Limited said in an October 28 report that potential candidates include Lemo and Sanusi’s other three deputies.

    Lemo said his departure “doesn’t affect that speculation,” citing a previous case where a retired deputy governor became Nigeria’s central bank governor. “But one doesn’t want to preempt authorities,” he said.

    A statement from the CBN said Lemo’s retirement is with effect from today, “he is expected to be pulled out of service on Friday, being the last working day before his retirement date.”

    Prior to his appointment as a Deputy Governor in 2003, Mr. Lemo was the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Wema Bank Nigeria, Plc between 2000 and 2003.

    Lemo was born in 1959, and he attended Lisabi Grammar School, Ogun State and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, where he emerged as the Best Overall graduating student in the Faculty of Social Sciences with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accountancy (First Class Division) in 1984.

    Lemo is said to have attended Advanced Management Programme (AMP) at the Wharton College, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, U.S.A in 2002 as well as executive training programmes in world class institutions including Harvard University, INSEAD, Fontainbleau, France, Brandies University, Boston.

    The retiring Deputy Governor is credited with playing a key role in the implementation of the Banking Sector Consolidation resulting in the 24 stronger and well capaitalised banks with combined equity of over N1.6 trillion from 89 largely weak banks, formulation and implementation of the Microfinance Policy and Supervisory Framework both under the supervision of the Governor.

  • ‘Revenue shortfall may affect governance’

    ‘Revenue shortfall may affect governance’

    A group, the Coalition for Good Governance and Economic

    Justice in Africa, has called on the government to brace up for a shorthfall in revenue, which could impact negatively on governance and the welfare of the opeople.

    The group said that, if this year’s budget and the oil benchmark is not realistically projected, the shortage of funds may cripple governance.

    Its Southwest Executive Director, Mr. Dada Akpeji, warned in a statement against over-dependence on oil as the source of income.

    He said: “We have monitored closely the presentation of budgets by the various states in the country and the controversy surrounding the crude oil benchmark, the Federal Government’s unwillingness to agree to a new revenue formula and lack of remittance of revenue to the coffers of the Federal Government by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and come to the conclusion that a cash crunch is imminent, especially in states and local government areas”.

    Akpeji urged other states emulate Edo State, which, he said, has anticipated this emergency by proposing an action plan capable of reducing its effects.

    He said: Governor Adams Oshiomhole’s realistic action plan is the pivot to the success of his administration. The an analysis of his 2014 Appropriation Bill showed a thorough allocation of scarce resources. The N159.213 billion estimates before the House of Assembly Assembly will spur economic growth, create more profitable businesses and jobs and drive the economy more faster.” Akpeji warned that, “there is likely to be financial quagmire across the country as the federal allocation, which is the main source of budget financing, could no longer be relied on.”

    He added: “Indications from the monthly Federal Accounts Allocation Committee meetings in Abuja last year portends fears of insolvency. Besides, the federal government’s lack of interest and unenthusiastic disposition to the proposed new revenue allocation formula is also capable of hampering budget execution.

    “Furthermore, in view of the significance of crude to our revenue profile, crude price and output benchmarks must be realistically projected by the federal government, otherwise, the states and the third tier of government may not be able to meet their financial obligations in the pre-electioneering year.

    “In addition to this is the non-remittance of revenue to the coffers of the Federal Government by the NNPC. If these trends continue in the pre-2015 election year, it will affect all aspects of cash flow such as salaries and wages, contractual agreements and obligations, handling of security challenges and smooth running of government at all levels.”

    Akpeji said that Lagos and Rivers states may survive the cash crunch because of their strong internally generated revenue base.

    He said: The good news however, is that, in Edo state, there is a governor who has always ensured prudent management of state resources, tightening leakages in the system, shoring up the state internally generated revenue, introducting of ICT, adequate planing , strategic thinking and instilling fiscal discipline in the system; this is the panacea for good governance and sustainable development.”