The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Agenda

  • Agenda for ‘Born Again’ JAMB and TETFUND

    Finally, the Buhari administration seems set to pay what appears a reasonable attention to the education sector with the recent appointment of new heads for no fewer than 17 agencies in the sector. This is one sector in which everyone directly or indirectly is a stakeholder.

    Most visible in the news today is the reality that the administrators of the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) have exhausted whatever was left of their creativity. I recall with nostalgia that this same board had been so efficient in the past that it even made us believe in the post office system in the country. At a time JAMB didn’t have an examination centre in my community, I wrote its examination way back in the early 1980s having to travel more than 20 kilometres. The scores were eventually released to different universities. There was no unpleasant story. The local mail man, as he had done with several ordinary mails in the past, strolled to our family house one morning to deliver my admission letter.

    As a university teacher and one that has also had the uncommon advantage of undertaking academic programmes in some high performing institutions with highly rated scholarship and fellowship awards, one cannot but feel for today’s children in schools.  What exactly are they made to get excited with? A couple of weeks back, a 300-level student of  mine had excused herself from one of the classes I teach  so she could go and process her admission letter which was yet to be released by JAMB!

    It is most disturbing that the hope of several ambitious children of this digital generation of a world with no boundaries again has been shattered by JAMB because some officials simply elected to be unduly callous and unpardonably out of tune with the trend in the sector. How do we explain the deployment of slow and low-performing computers for fate-deciding tests like Universities Matriculation Examinations that JAMB conducts?  The unpalatable consequence of this is that some unlucky candidates assigned such systems end up with scores below their real capability. Anyone who reads the interviews often conducted for first class graduates of some of our universities would readily recall that some of these students have had to write this examination more than once perhaps not because they didn’t deserve to pass at the first sitting.

    Added to the challenge of infrastructure now is the rather absurd confusion which JAMB is currently exhibiting with regards to deciding the parameters of candidates’ admission.  What has happened to the findings of studies conducted on these by our colleagues in the realm of test and measurement? What has happened to the easier option of consultation with relevant experts who may have conducted such studies in the first place? What is the trend in other parts of the world?

    It’s commendable that the Buhari administration announced that its crash employment programme for 500,000 graduates includes the most indispensable tool of this age of techno-literacy. Without further delay, it should, for now, initiate a strong collaboration with computer manufacturers for the setting up of computer laboratories for tertiary institutions.  This idea should serve the purposes of examination centres for JAMB candidates and even assorted recruitment and promotional examinations through which it could attract at least maintenance revenues.  It will as well function as training centres for relevant courses in the same institutions.  Computers still constitute scarce facilities in our tertiary institutions!

    Having been celebrated by his contemporaries globally, the new JAMB helmsman Prof. IshaqOloyede surely knows what to do with the human factor in JAMB being a most incorruptible academic and administrator of a most admirable standing.

    Not the least needed is the radical strategy to deal with the so-called special centres for JAMB examinations. How did we get here? A JAMB that will surrender its sovereignty to “private ownership” does not deserve taxpayers’ support.  It is shameful enough that the degeneracy that has befallen our public education system has given rise to unwieldy outside-of-school interventions to restore the hope of our ambitious youngsters.  To continue to sustain the extension of the conduct of JAMB examinations to private arena will be most indecent and unprofessional.

    For the Tertiary Education Trust Fund, TETFUND, it’s been comparable to what the renowned playwright, Ola Rotimi, calls “one slender body of joy” with a great measure of lethargy and territorialism injected into it. It, indeed today, functions as if it isn’t the outcome of the rigorous vision of members of the community it has been established to serve.  Be it known by the world that it is one of the many recommendations following the research efforts of some of our fine scholars to relieve the sector of some burdens.

    Today, a casual tour of a number of our academic institutions readily reveals conspicuous interventions of this fund. One cannot imagine what the state of the nation’s tertiary institutions could be without the support of this fund. The fund has indeed done well to also advance out invaluable support to institutions for personnel development. Some otherwise disoriented scholars have been purged of hopelessness. It is particularly commendable that under Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, the Fund published a list of some institutions that failed to retire some funds that they had collected. It is however not certain if the Fund still does this.

    An establishment like TETFUND with monumental resources has the capacity to accelerate Nigeria’s return to glory as envisioned by President Buhari and shared by a number of patriots. It is quite interesting that the accolade the University of Ilorin attracts to itself today also derives partly from TETFUND’s support. It will therefore not be out of place for TETFUND to learn from the tradition of high performers like the universities of Ibadan and Ilorin both of which ensure that certain dates are sacrosanct.  For instance, it is well known across all institutions that collaborate with TETFUND that there are deadlines for the submission of applications for conference grants to lecturers. On the other hand however, TETFUND does not seem to have control over specific dates when such grants may be released to the potential beneficiaries. The potential beneficiaries are made to wait pitiably without explanation. This becomes increasingly surprising in an age in which computerization has substantially demystified precision. TETFUND, the new head, Abdullahi Bichi Baffa, should realize, has competitors in local and international grant-making organizations from which their supposed beneficiaries also benefit without having to genuflect to suggest corruption.  Indeed, hoping the new head has experienced it, the various philanthropic organisations in town relate with their beneficiaries as partners and collaborators.

    The practice of whimsically cancelling programmes for which applications are sought by the fund is also most discourteous.  It is unimaginable that TETFUND will solicit applications in form of proposals from university lecturers, get professors to assess same only to summarily announce that it would no longer be in a position to support such without any apology to the professors who assessed the proposals nor the ‘perceived’ beggars who had sweated it out to submit the proposals.  Development work has zero tolerance for asymmetrical relationship between partners.  It is imperative to register one fact with TETFUND managers here.  TETFUND grants are not spectacularly outstanding.  Grants given by other charities for the same purposes are often fatter. They also need to check out the fact that the same brilliant minds they do not deem as deserving courtesy are most specially treasured by several other development and donor agencies. I recall with pride how, for a particular contract, DFID realizing I was a university teacher gave me the courtesy of the freedom to budget the specific measure of time I could spare for them as a consultant yet with a fantastic reward.

    Whatever level of transparency TETFUND currently lays claim to can also be improved upon in the spirit of the change mantra of the Buhari administration. For instance, it would not be out of place to publish its annual report and accounts in details.  One can imagine if TETFUND will not be answerable to its partners, how does it get to reckon with their input in conceptualizing plans?  Again, all credible grant makers publish annual reports and accounts, so this peculiarity of half measure approach to transparency by TETFUND is better revised immediately.

    For JAMB and TETFUND, tertiary education in Nigeria is a common denominator from which a lot is expected. Will they measure up this time with new heads to captain their ships?

     

    • Dr. Akanni, teaches journalism at the Lagos State University.

  • Is northernisation agenda real?

    SIR: Nigeria is currently facing a very big challenge with regards to its unity. It’s been long since this nation was this regionally, ethnically and religiously divided. Politicians have played a big part in making sure we are divided while they achieve their selfish goals. Apparently, CIA’s prediction of Nigeria breaking up in 2015 isn’t too far from being accurate. The “Biafrans” are calling for independence at the same time when the Niger Delta people feel they’ve been exploited for too long. But what has this government done to solve this issue?

    Being a Muslim from the North, I would be a hypocrite if I said I don’t like the fact that Buhari is my President. I was very excited when Buhari won. To us then, President Jonathan was the devil. He was responsible for Boko Haram, poverty, marginalization and all sorts of evil. It’s time to celebrate because we have our own. We now feel security not like before. We see our people appointed into various offices. These are the silver linings.

    I try imagining being from the South or East. I am probably an unemployed youth who didn’t vote for Buhari. I see the fall of the Naira. I see increased difficulty living. I see rise in price of food stuffs. I see fuel subsidy removal. I see the “respected” politicians from my region getting arrested or probed. Even the ones who are free don’t give away money anymore. Then ultimately, I see appointments made where seven out of 10 will be from the north. In such an atmosphere, you don’t need to be a professor in psychology to know that, it’s chaos waiting to be triggered.

    I don’t know if President Buhari has noticed, but there is a campaign to further disunite Nigeria and his actions are not helping matters. I am very disturbed by his appointments. Perhaps, when he said he wasn’t going to treat those who voted for him equally as to those who didn’t, he actually meant it. I thought “The Northernization Agenda” was just a conspiracy theory. But there are more facts to prove it now than to disprove it. I understand that President Buhari does whatever he feels is right. But he also needs to understand that we are in a democratic set-up. It’s not just about building Nigeria. It’s about building a united Nigeria. His actions don’t just affect his political image but the image of the region, ethnic group and religion he is from.

    Even as I write this, somewhere in me, I keep hoping that I got this all wrong. That maybe there is indeed fairness or maybe there are bigger reasons for these actions. Until then, I think it’s time President Buhari looks back and reconsider some of these actions.

     

    • Muhammad Karamba,

    Karamba08@gmail.com

  • Re: Agenda to restructure Nigeria

    SIR: I refer to the opinion piece by Col.  Azubike Nass, in The Nationof June 30, with the above title and couldn’t help but wonder aloud, that some people have really conquered self and are not parochial. That opinion piece was a masterpiece devoid of emotional and regional mawkishness that many analysts who are faustians bandy to deceive people with dull speculative resume.

    Academics, politicians (even a former VP but I wonder why his stance was not when he was in power), pundits have been powwowing about federalism as the silver bullet needed to solve all of our woes.

    People in Nigeria refer to America as a model of ‘true federalism’ where states are independent. But how independent when ‘teaching grit’ generates controversies and yet states in America aren’t allowed to have a separate educational policy away from the nationally set standard; even Alaska natives and native Indians still go on a crying jag about discrimination? Resources in many places are held in trust by the federal government.

    Indonesia, a unitary state was once ruled by brutal military dictators. In spite of that she has successfully diversified her economy to the level where oil and gas aren’t the mainstay of her economy. Her successes and turbulent history are all in the public domain. She is even the second largest economy in South East Asia.

    Need we remind anyone that she has the tenth largest economy in the world in terms of GDP? And she has over 20 manufacturing companies from pharmaceuticals to food (Indomie), etc doing business in Nigeria.

    They are over 270 million and with over 700 tribes, with an unfriendly terrain hard to navigate. A country of Islands, yet she manufactures products and services for export worldwide.

    Here is a country which wasn’t better than Nigeria in the 1960s but yet has grown her middle class to 70 million people while Nigeria sit shamefully and dismally in the Human Development Index.

    The prerequisite for the greatness of a modern country is not the system of government that it runs but on visionary leadership, available productive human capital, infrastructure, and technology.

    One may add that great countries must be able to provide security for her citizens and non-nationals without which there can never be investors.

    Would restructuring prevent some cudgel-wielding men from storming a party secretariat in Abuja or even stop politicians from going on expensive junkets around the world?

    Would it stop our judges from being harassed by politicians and some beaten? Would it allow for an effective freedom of information bill?

    Would restructuring make our leaders and elders tell our youths all sides of stories, good and bad and not engage in selective amnesia, myopia and hyperopia (apology EmekaOjukwu)?

    Would restructuring, equip our schools, make our laboratories in the universities work? Would we see government officials send their wards to well-equipped state run schools?

    Until we groom good people for elective office, people who are selfless, driven by a sense of mission, folks who understand the importance of  ”urgency for change, believe in community, do not wear their opinion on their sleeve, avoid flagging religious views in favour of egalitarianism and to stop putting their snout in the trough of the gravy train,  even if a Martian comes from Mars on a white horse with Marian ideas to transform Nigeria, we would never go above being the self-proclaimed “Giant of Africa.”

    Where is the spirit to restructure? I talk to many people older than me and the level of demagoguery is out of this world. All judgments are based on North and South. Many Faustians come pretending to be nationalists but are nothing more than apple-polishing ethnic Jingoists.

    Golda Meir once said: “All my country has is spirit. We don’t have petroleum dollars. We don’t have mines or great wealth in the ground. We don’t have the support of a worldwide public opinion that looks favourably on us. All Israel has is spirit of its people. And if the people lose their spirit even the United States of America cannot save us.”

    What Nigeria needs now is the provision of thoughtful leadership by visionary leaders. A country that is future-blind shouldn’t be engrossed with talks about restructuring polity for its sake.

     

    • Simon Abah,

    Port Harcourt.

  • Agenda to restructure Nigeria

    The call to restructure Nigerian polity is not new. But the loudest decibels of the currently intensified calls to restructure the nation come mostly from those whose preferred candidate lost in the March 28, 2015 presidential election. President Muhammadu Buhari in his presidential campaign before being voted into power never once promised to initiate the restructuring of the polity.  His three key campaign promises centered on fighting corruption, insecurity and economy.

    After his inauguration as President, Buhari spent about four months doing a systematic study of the key governance institutions (Ministries, Departments and Agencies) before appointing ministers and kick-starting his anti-corruption agenda which started netting some previously untouchable elites, investigating and prosecuting them in law courts. Once the anti-corruption agenda commenced, the decibel of calls to restructure the country intensified.

    It is quite curious why those whose preferred candidate clearly lost in the last presidential election would insist that the new President should drop his key campaign promises and implement their own agenda of ill-defined restructuring of the polity, otherwise they make the nation ungovernable for the new President. But that is not the ethos of democratic political system. Some other opportunistic elites have quickly keyed into the current calls to restructure for various personal motives. The cacophony of voices calling for immediate restructuring comes with variety of suggested models. While some want the President to immediately articulate a bill in tune with their preferred models, some others want, first, to convene a “sovereign” national conference (with an unclear modality for selecting participants), whose recommendations will be subjected to referendum.

    This writer is not opposed to restructuring, and is rather inclined to the model that would apply the existing six geopolitical zones of the country as the main administrative regions, with more devolution of power to the regions. My reasons for supporting restructuring do not however align with the commonly-bandied talks of how it would serve as magic bullet to kill all festering national problems. Nor do I hold the over-blown nostalgia that the defunct regional structure at Independence in 1960 was so glorious; I rather think that the fractious and nepotic politics of the leaders of that time, within and between the regions, laid the foundation for crises that subsequently followed and progressed to our present level of degeneration, with the younger generations outplaying the earlier ones in the macabre game. And the tradition had remained to always point accusing fingers outwards, and hardly ever inwards in seeking the root of the problems.

    I subscribe to restructuring the polity out of the believe that no existing structure is sacrosanct, and that in a situation where we (Nigerians) have collectively proven incapable of managing our affairs and abundant resources to improve the living condition of the masses of the society, we could yet try another model, even when we may not yet be able to predict the outcome. But most importantly, I am strongly convinced that, first, we need to fight and contain the outlandish pattern of corruption as a way to sanitize the society to an appreciable level, before other key issues could be genuinely addressed. The dumbfounding revelations of mind-boggling looting of our commonwealth by a handful of political, bureaucratic and business elites are more than an eye-opener to even the blind. Nigerian masses now see what had perpetually kept them impoverished and the nation poorly-developed, all in the midst of abundant endowment of resources.

    It is quite obvious to any averagely enlightened mind that the road to restructuring, as being canvassed, is littered with mines and obstacles that have to be navigated, and no one can yet predict how it may turn out. Many issues are involved. The previous presidents were well aware of it, and that is why President Jonathan tactfully avoided initiating any action, even after the report of the National Conference he belatedly set up in 2014 was submitted to him six months before the presidential election which he lost.

    Some well-acclaimed grandmasters of Nigerian politics who have lately been lending their suave voices to the call for immediate restructuring know more than most of us that President Buhari cannot restructure Nigeria as they want. The executive cannot do that. Only the legislature is invested with the power to make such law that would alter the extant constitution.

    The President is being much harried to prepare a bill to that effect and forward to the National Assembly. It is well known that bills to the legislature must not always come from the executive. Our legislature actually initiates far more number of bills than the executive and the general citizenry put together. And yet there has been no visible action by the arch-proponents of immediate restructuring to get their elected representatives in the National Assembly to initiate such a bill, process it, and send to the President for assent. And if the President refuses to assent, there is a procedure to over-ride his veto and pass the bill into law. And Nigeria will get restructured as ‘desired’, if really the loud clamour for immediate restructuring is very popular among Nigerian masses, as the arch-proponents make it look.

    It is important to note that in this orchestrated loud clamour for immediate restructuring, the two arms of National Assembly have maintained relative quietude.Ditto for the 36 states Houses of Assembly. And yet these are the institutions with the power to make constitution-altering laws. The 36 elected governors play studious observers to the debate, not revealing their position or possible game plan to any attempt to challenge or collapse their hard-won executive authorities into wider geopolitical units. Even as the call for creation of more states has not yet stopped. The 2014 National Conference recommended the creation of more than 15 new states from the existing 36 states.

    It is no secret that a good number of the prominent voices calling for restructuring have been longstanding beneficiaries of Nigerian decadent and corrupt system. They made their vast wealth and influence that way. And with the ongoing loot-recovery drive of Buhari administration, with its widening scope of investigation and prosecution of suspects, this group of elites are scared that some of their past dirty deals could be unearthed, and that could ‘strip them naked’ before the public. In addition, they have lost their longstanding patronage as godfathers who must be indulged and patronized by any government in making choice/juicy political appointments and contracts. They no longer receive accustomed privileges of their front companies cornering major government contracts.

    So the orchestrated calls for immediate restructuring of the polity being directed at President Buhari alone are attempts to compel him to decelerate his key campaign promises, particularly the anti-corruption agenda, and to drag him into a scheme littered with mines and obstacles, and that would provide a new talking point for criticisms and attacks that would distract from his set programme. As much as this group of elites applies their vast wealth and extensive media coverage to propagate their position as being of popular appeal, the truth is that to overwhelming majority of Nigerian masses, restructuring is not their top priority at moment.

    Samples: In the past 15 years, billions of dollars (trillions of naira) had been spent in the power (electricity) sector by the government. There is little or no improvement to show for it. The funds were simply looted and shared the Nigerian way. Privatization and sales of government assets where avenues through which a few well-placed fellows swindled the nation. The key beneficiaries of all these looting of our common patrimony are still around and enjoying their loot and influence in the same society. These are the people well-determined to do anything that can scuttle the ongoing loot-recovery drive which is an aspect of Buhari administration’s anti-corruption agenda. The cheated and impoverished Nigerian masses should put on their thinking cap and shine their eyes against being perpetually enslaved by some elders and grandmasters of Nigerian politics who equate their personal comfort interests with the interest of the nation.

     

    • Col. Nass (rtd), writes from Enugu.

  • Illusion of Biafran secessionist agenda

    The perception of uniting diverse political communities to form a national government is a primordial one, patented from the era of ancient Greeks, assembles to fortify national security and common objectives. In a federal political arrangement, multi-layered governance model becomes imperative to allow each level of government perform its statutory political functions in accordance with the constitutional provisions. Each level of government is empowered to design suitable political technique, depending on the nature of political environment; to incorporate diverse ethnic groups in the political structure while maintaining their socio-political identity. Federalism through regional distribution of economic and political power has been adopted to accelerate sustainable peace in a multi-ethnic society. Numerous countries of the world have espoused it as a magic wand to reconcile ethnic chauvinism in the political organism. Paradoxically, there are many challenges associated with the federal political arrangement. These include ethnic agitation for resource control, minority campaign for secession, political rivalry among others. In Nigeria, federalism has been hoodwinked and contrived by the political bourgeoisies. Thus, enlivening secession by the Biafran nation which is gaining momentum, animated towards addressing ethnic, religious, economic and political quandaries that permeated Nigerian political architecture in the tempestuous epoch of Nigerian burgeoning democracy. Conversely, a challenge associated with this type of political system is the pluralistic socio-political rhetoric that enforces ethnic agitation for political control at the centre. The ethnic hegemonic peculiarity to rule the centre and excessive fragmentation of convoluted political system usually threatening the corporate existence of the political union; the operationalization and synchronization of the political system enthrall unending rivalry among the diverse ethnic groups, which endangers the security, development and peace of the nation.

    True federalism cannot be measured on a platform of the current political arrangement in Nigeria. This is because the system has not been properly entrenched. It can be noted that federalism has been manipulated by the various successive regimes including autocratic and civilians; exploiting the system to foster ethnic and religious tension as well as personal gains.  The existing structure has been manipulated to centralize resources while starving the components units. Corroboratively, the endemic corruption that encircles Nigeria’s political system has destabilized a supposed functional federal political arrangement; thereby paving way for ethnic altercation to control the national government so as to be safe and secured within the political structure.

    The primacy of Biafra’s secessionists’ movement in Nigeria’s political history cannot be disregarded. The abortive secessionists’ struggle between 1967 and 1970 formed a crucial account of Nigeria’s political record. The then military President, General Yakubu Gowon described the war as a “tragic and painful conflict” and highlights that his objectives were to “crush the rebellion, maintain the territorial integrity of our nation, to assert the ability of the black man to build a strong, progressive and prosperous modern state and to ensure respect, dignity and equality in the comity of nations for our posterity”.

    However, despite all efforts to sign the peace treaty and bring back all the ethnic groups affected by the war into the political fold, the chronicles of the war are still lingering in the memories of the people of Biafran nation. Evidently, the resurgence of Biafra’s agitation under the democratic regime of President Muhammadu Buhari substantiates the perpetual reminiscences of the Biafra’s heroes who have fought to liberate their people under the rubric of self-determination. Nevertheless, the new paradigm of these secessionists is detrimental to the political good of the country especially for Nigerian nascent democracy. The cacophony of secession move is as a result of a shift in presidential power from the South to the North, ascribed in the 2015 electoral faceoff between former President Goodluck Jonathan and General Muhammadu Buhari. To avoid the resuscitation of another civil war in Nigeria, I therefore advocate for true federalism through a regional autonomous political configuration as an alternative strategy to quench the yearning and aspiration of secessionists in order to ensure sustainable peace in Nigeria. The rationale behind this system is to allow each region composed of homogenous ethnic group to exploit their resources for sustainable development. This opportunity will provide alternative political template to extinguish the ember of secession in Nigeria’s polity. The existing 36 states should be jettisoned by replacing the six geo-political zones to form regional governments by conceding autonomy to allow each region valve from their unexploited natural resources and reimburse the necessary approved revenue formulae to the national government.

    Over concentration on crude oil has been a major imbroglio while abandoning other untapped natural resources such as cocoa, palm-oil, groundnut, rubber and other agricultural products that are wasting away in other regions with no serious attention by the federal government contributes to the current economic predicament of the nation. It is important to note that there are many states that cannot survive to pay their staff salaries under the existing federal arrangement.

    Under the new arrangement, each regional government or geo-political zone should be allowed to manage its resources to foster development for the benefit of its people. To achieve regional breakthrough, total overhauling of Nigerian 1999 Constitution through a legitimate and genuine Sovereign National Conference is a sine-qua-non.

    Therefore, the outcomes of the conference should engender a people’s constitution for the sustenance of true federal political construction in Nigeria. The subterfuge behind this proposition is to make the centre unappealing to ethnic cronies, political elites and resolving incessant Biafra’s secessionists’ movement.

     

    • John is a student of School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds, UK
  • Ambode’s transformation agenda in Lagos

    Ambode’s transformation agenda in Lagos

    There was apprehensions after the change in baton in Lagos State, as to whether Governor Akinwunmi Ambode can perform like his predecessor, Babatunde Fashola, who rode on the megacity agenda of former Governor Bola Tinubu. Ten months down the line, the consensus of opinion is that the governor has not only matched the pace of his predecessors, he has also raised the bar in many respects. ENITAN SERIKI reports. 

    Stakeholders have hailed Akinwunmi Ambode’s performance in the last 10 months as the governor of Lagos State. They said ‘the consolidator’ has kept the flag of excellence flying. A series of armed robbery incidents that took place immediately after he assumed office had attracted negative publicity for the government. It took the governor’s prompt intervention, by provision of high definition security equipment to assist the police to combat crime, the rescue of abducted Babington Macauley Junior School students, among other things, to change the perception that criminals are free in the state.

    Analysts have hailed the silent and steady progresses achieved under the governor’s new agenda for a more prosperous and secure Lagos, through different programmes. For instance, under his watch, the state has taken a giant leap to cut the cost of governance through the merging of some ministries, departments and agencies.

    Ambode may have opted for a smaller cabinet, compared to that of his predecessor; he has scrapped the Ministry of Rural Development, Monitoring Office, Political and Legislative Powers Bureau, Office of the Special Adviser on Taxation and Revenue, as well as Debt Management Office. He has also merged the Office of Works and Office of Infrastructure; Office of Drainage Services and Office of Environmental Service for effective execution of government services.

    In the same vein, he has converted the Ministry of Home Affairs to Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture, which is saddled with responsibilities beyond home affairs alone. He has expanded the Ministry of Special Duties to accommodate Inter-governmental Relations, renaming it ministry of Special Duties and Inter-governmental relations while that of the Office of Transformation has been expanded and renamed the Office of Transformation, Creativity and Innovation. In addition, the responsibilities of the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs have been expanded to include Community Affairs, renaming it Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs.

    On assumption of office last year, Ambode pursued aggressively his ‘Operation Light up Lagos Project’, which has made driving at night a pleasurable experience. He also embarked on rehabilitation of roads.

    He has also made significant progress in the expansion of the existing waterway transportation system to ease road traffic since Lagos is blessed with abundant water resources by encouraging private participation in water transportation. Hitherto, the state was said to have the worst traffic in the world, which compelled Lagosians to remain locked up in traffic snarl, thereby wasting productive hours.

    The governor has received accolades for his commitment to the development plan of the state targeted on social development and security, infrastructural and economic development, as well as sustainable environment. In this regard, he awarded the contract for construction of Ikotun road, which has been in very bad shape for more than a decade now and work is currently on-going on the road. Furthermore, following his inspection of certain areas notorious for traffic congestions in the state, such as Dopemu junction, Abule-Egbe, Mile 2, Oworonshoki, Mile 12, Ipaja, Alimosho and Apapa, he has awarded the construction of pedestrian bridges at the designated points.

    Furthermore, Ambode has assured Lagosians that the light rail project from Orile to Lagos Island would be completed within 12 months. He has also embarked on the construction of more link and inner roads in the state. One of such is the on-going reconstruction of Creek road, Harold Wilson road and other major roads. The governor has also awarded the reconstruction of Brown Street and other major streets in Oshodi axis. On the other hand,

    Besides, Ambode recently assured Lagosians of his administration’s determination to complete the Mile 2-Badagry Road Expansion project in good time. The governor, who gave the assurance when he inspected the Mile 2-Badagry road construction works, which was being expanded to a 10-lane expressway, said the contractor working on the project has been mobilised to ensure that he delivers on schedule.

    He has equally commenced the building of a 1000-truck capacity park in Orile-Iganmu in order to resolve the perennial traffic gridlock in the commercial area of the city and also the daily loading of the tank trucks on the Apapa bridge by the tank farm owners has to be stopped to allow free flow of traffic on the bridge.

    To tackle the growing youth unemployment in the state, the governor established a N25 billion Employment Trust Fund and also established the Ministry of Wealth Creation and Employment to drive the government’s vision in that regard. “This specifically addresses the promise he made during his campaign on employment trust fund, labour exchange and entrepreneurship,” a politician who does not want to be named told The Nation.

    In line with his promise to attract investment and ease the difficulty of doing business in the state, the governor has set up the Office of Overseas Affairs and Investment (Lagos Global). Investors have been given the assurance that they can now fly into Lagos, start their business,  live, work and enjoy in the state.

    To exploit tourism potentials , Ambode has launched the tree-planting campaign, as well as the Deep Sea Port project in Badagry, covering about 1000 hectares of land area. This is expected to become the biggest in the African continent when completed.

    The governor has also fulfilled his promise of compensating the victims of the petroleum tanker explosion at Iyana-Ipaja and Idimu area Properties worth millions of naira were gutted when tankers laden with petroleum exploded. He donated N100,000 each to them to prove his deep concern for the welfare of the citizens. This token was given as palliative measures to cushion the losses incurred by the victims, as well as to enable them return to their normal lives prior to the outcome of the investigations into the cause of explosion.

    To identify with the Federal Government’s anti-corruption stance, he set up a special force and adopted strategic approaches in fighting the scourge. By operating a single bank account, a lot of cost has been saved in an effort to efficiently improve  revenue collection and accountability. He has blocked existing loopholes for looting and embezzlement of funds.

    In line with his campaign promises of running an inclusive government, he has appointed a non-indigene of Igbo extraction, Mr. Peter Nkedishuka Okonji, an an engineer, as the new General Manager of the State Electricity Board. Okonji succeeded Mrs. Damilola Ogunbiyi, who was appointed by the immediate past governor.

    Within few days in office, Ambode declared the second Lekki-Epe Expressway toll-free, saying that his major concern was ensuring the completion of the road and not in the toll fees levied on the road users.

    Ambode has responded to the call for the improvement in the quality of education in the state, by approving the recruitment of no fewer than 1300 teachers into public primary schools across the state. He has also approved the payment of the annual bursary awards for students in higher institution of learning across the country, stressing that his administration is determined to ensure that no child who seeks education is left behind. The governor has equally approved N188.5 million for the payment of 2014/2015 local scholarship and subsequent payments to students studying in various tertiary institutions across the country. About 886 students would benefit from the awards, which the governor had approved as part of efforts of the state government to reduce the financial burden of its citizenry.

     

    Retirees

    As part of efforts to enhance retirees’ welfare, Ambode has approved the payment of N2.2 billion to 658 retirees in the state who had retired from the state civil service, local governments and other parastatals. This Retirement Benefit Bond presentation, being the 18th consecutive one since the inception of the Contributory Pension Scheme, signifies the strong commitment of the State Government to the implementation and continued sustainability of the Contributory Pension Scheme.

     

    Reforms

    The state has embarked on local government reforms to make the 57 local councils more responsive to the needs of the people. He has rewarded self-help initiatives in local communities, by rewarding same though the provision of grants, assistance and other support through local governments and LCDAs.

     

    Agric

    To support the Federal Government’s bid to diversify the country’s economic base, Ambode has entered into an unprecedented food security and rice production pact with Kebbi State. Similarly, he has put in place strategies that would engender sustainable food production, especially in fishery, by creating enabling environment, facilitate capacity building and create ground for easy access to credit facility for fish farmers. This may reduce the cost of production and enhance profitability since more than 22 per cent of the entire land mass of Lagos is covered by water and about 180 km is a coastline.

     

    Health

    In the health sector, Ambode has commissioned 20 Mobile Intensive Care Units (MICU) and 26 Transport Ambulances, which were stationed at the 26 General hospitals in Lagos in his fulfillment of his administration’s commitment to bring quality healthcare service closer to the people. He has also approved the recruitment of more paramedic staff and special medical coordinators to ensure 24 hours service to the citizens. Alongside this, he has upgraded the General Hospitals within the state and constructed a Medical Park, while also ensuring the availability of Quality Drugs, new mobile x-ray machines and more hospitals.

  • ‘Civil Service critical to change agenda’

    The National Productivity Centre (NPC) Director-General (DG) Alhaji Kashim Akor has identified the civil service as critical to the actualisation of the present administration’s change agenda.

    The civil service, he said, could help reposition the other sectors through a productivity mindset and culture.

    Akor spoke at a productivity sensitisation lecture organised by the NPC for grade levels 07 to 12 workers of the Federal Character Commission (FCC) at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

    The lecture, according to the D-G, was to create productivity awareness and enhance civil servants’ capacities for efficient service delivery.

    He decried the poor attitude of workers to work. “The civil service must improve its productivity in order to achieve growth and revitalise the economy against the backdrop of accelerating globalisation and international competitiveness, exponential increase in the unemployment rate and the dwindling oil revenues,” he said.

  • Our agenda for Olubadan, by CCII

    Our agenda for Olubadan, by CCII

    The Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII) has revealed its two top agenda for the Olubadan of Ibadan, Oba Saliu Adetunji.

    The council president, Chief Wole Akinwande, who spoke to The Nation in Ibadan, listed completion of the N4 billion Olubadan palace complex and creation of Ibadan state as the council’s two topmost priorities.

    Akinwande added that CCII wanted new things to happen during Oba Adetunji’s reign.

    He said: “Our topmost priority is that the Olubadan moves to the new palace quickly and the creation of Ibadan state.

    “We want new things to happen during his reign and it will be so by God’s grace.”

    Oba Adetunji had called for the creation of Ibadan state in his speech after his installation as the 41st Olubadan.

    He directed the request to the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.

    CCII is the umbrella body of over 250 associations and groups of Ibadan indigenes.

    The N4billion palace complex was launched by the CCII about five years ago.

    Its first phase is almost ready for use.

    The project is aimed at stopping Olubadans from using their residences as palaces, due to the absence of a befitting central palace.

     

  • X-raying Ayade’s 14-Point agenda for 2016

    One of the distinguishing traits of quality leadership is the uncanny ability to set attainable goals- short, medium and long term. While some goals may be achievable within a short term, there are those that require medium term attainability as well as others whose attainment are long term.

    In his New Year message to the people, Cross River State governor, Senator Ben Ayade, outlined his strategic model that offered him the opportunity to go for what could be regarded as low hanging fruits. That is delivering on those aspect of developmental programmes or projects that do not require long term actualization.

    In an inspiring and galvanising message that heralded hope and confidence, Governor Ayade articulated a 14-point agenda that would be the prime focus of his administration in the current year.

    Christened “My 14-Point Agenda for 2016”, Ayade stated his resolve to give the necessary push that will ensure the concession of the Calabar-Itu Federal Highway, just as he is equally ready to provide the requisite economic and political backing to prospect for oil and gas deposits in the state.

    The governor who charged the people of the state to view 2016 as “another unique opportunity to open up a new chapter filled with captivating elixir of hope” noted that “in the days ahead, we will catalyze the tempo of multi-sectoral turnaround of our dear state in spite of dwindling allocation from the federal coffers.”

    Very much in a hurry to accomplish so much within so short a time, Ayade also hinted that the monorail and the garment factory would be completed and commissioned this year. When commissioned, and any moment soon, the Monorail, which would be the first in operation in Nigeria, is expected to trigger a quantum effect in the economy of the state as it will further add to the tourism offerings of the state. In the same vein, the commissioning of the garment factory will significantly address the monstrous army of unemployment.

    Other critical areas which governor Ayade said full attention would be focused on include the completion of the detailed design and preconstruction work of Calas Vegas, a new cosmopolitan city to be berthed out of Calabar as well as two others in the two other senatorial districts of the state. It is also expected that before the end of the year, completion of the de-bushing of the superhighway corridor and the completion of the detailed design and securing of approval from the Federal Executive Council for the construction of the Deep seaport would have been achieved.

    Other projects to be executed in 2016 are the creation of new urban forests for climate change, establishing of the state Microfinance Bank to provide soft loans for the youths, ensuring a substantial stabilization of power and water supply in Calabar, and commencement of dredging of the seaport.

    Reconstruction of the Health and Education system of the state, activation of the Green Police and the commencement of construction of 5000 housing units for the no-income and the low income earners in Cross River would also be the very important areas that the Ayade-led administration will be giving full attention this year.

    The creation of new urban forests for climate change, besides its financial value chain in terms of revenue generation, will bring about employment creation for the newly established Green Police.

    Urban forests will help in beautifying the city of Calabar and other major towns like Ogoja, Obudu, Ikom and Ugep in a pristine way.

    The activation of the Green Police will help to curtail the activities of illegal loggers, thereby ensuring that the state gets a great chunk of the funds set aside by the World Bank and the United Nations for Africa and the third world countries to battle climate change.

    There is no doubt that we have many young, vibrant and articulate Cross Riverians with the immense capacity and training to become cutting-edge entrepreneurs, but are incapacitated by paucity of fund and  lack of access to facilities and guarantors. The establishment of Cross River State Microfinance Bank to provide soft loans Cross Riverians would certainly be the panacea to turn things around in this regards.

    From Governor Ayade’s  New  Year message, it clear that he fully appreciates the import of a healthy citizenry as wealth-drivers of the economy, which is why he is demonstrating a strong commitment to the task of reconstruction of the health and education system of the state. The benefits of doing so are enormous, just as the consequences of are better imagined than real. Ayade understands this very well and wants to be in the right side of history.

    A governor whose soul is sold completely on improving the wellbeing of his people he cannot afford to delay the commencement of the construction of the 5000 units of houses for those without income and the low income of the state. Earlier, he had sworn never to see any Cross Riverian live in thatched houses, a scenario he considers subhuman and dehumanizing.

    There will be immeasurable benefits that will accrue to Cross River people from the concession for the Calabar-Itu Federal Highway is obtained by Governor Ayade- reduction in the number of man-hour, on the road, boosting of inter-state commerce.

    Despite the plunge in the global oil price, and the focus on alternative source of energy, Governor Ayade sees a future for the state in oil and gas, hence his desire to prospect for the black gold in 2016.

    Setting these lofty goals for 2016, Governor Ayade said he is not “unaware of the huge responsibility, skepticism and downright criticism”, when he decided to embark on the signature projects. There is no doubt that Governor Ayade is passionate and committed to pursuing with extreme vigour the 14-point agenda. Over time, he has proven that whatever he sets his mind on, he follows with his heart and head.

    It is on this note that the year 2106 promises to be an exhilarating one for Cross Riverians and   one in which dreams will be born, hopes fulfilled and confidence restored in the people that indeed, flowers can bloom among the thorns of life.

    Accordingly, he urged his people: “As we raise a toast to the new year with a sparkling in our eyes and the ‘jigida’ dance of hope and triumph, may the dreams we wish all come through and the days abound with richness and contentment”.

  • Surveyors set agenda for industry

    Surveyors set agenda for industry

    The tone of activities in the construction and built environment in the year may have been set quite early as stakeholders and practitioners at the close of last year, put forth suggestions on how to reshape in the industry.

    The Nigerian Institute of Quantity Surveying (NIQS), at its 26th Biennial Conference  in Lagos,  called for efforts by professionals in various fields to reshape the quality of policies. In specific terms, the NIQS charged professionals, especially those in the built environment, to get actively involved in politics and decision- making in the country.

    Under the theme, “Politics, policies and national development – The role of professionals,” the immediate past president of the institute, Mallam Murtala Aliyu, said the choice of the theme was informed by the way professionals disregard the consequences of ignoring politics, leaving the fundamental aspects of their survival in the hands of persons with little or no capacity to handle such sensitive enterprise.

    The conference afforded built environment professionals, both at home and the international community, the opportunities to discuss issues relating to politics generally, policy formulation and implementation that could enhance national development. There were technical and panel discussion sessions on policy making and economy, accountable politics, effects of regulations on politics of service, the role of professionals, professional bodies and experiences in the construction industry in other countries, such as South Africa, Ghana and Kenya.

    According to Aliyu, professionals should be mobilised to take their deserved position in redefining the direction of the development of the country.

    “The economic challenges facing the country, especially the fall in the price of oil further put pressure on the dwindling income of the country demanding the attention of all expertise in managing the nation’s resources,” he said.

    A former president of the institute, Mr. John Alufohai, noted that professionals could bring about national development when they engage in politics.

    At the end of the event, it was also recommended that Professional Bodies should establish a functional research arm in form of think tank and the outcome of the research made public; to ensure accountability, a central body of professionals should be set up that will monitor and make those in government accountable. The central body is expected to develop frameworks that will make government more accountable to the populace; there should also be the establishment of cost data bank with adequate dissemination of information to all stakeholders.

    Furthermore, the body recommended the adoption of international construction measurement standards , stating that this  would enhance the activities of the industry since Nigeria is said to be next to China in construction activities; that professional bodies should use their expertise to make policies that are feasible.

    In terms of investment, the NIQS recommended that good governance should entail investment locally, while investing abroad should only be in terms of surplus. To this end, it urged government to not only attract foreign direct investment, but should also retain it.

    The conference was attended by a large number of professionals from the Nigerian Built Environment and delegates from South Africa, Ghana, Kenya and Zambia, including Nigerian students. Others include Senator Ahmad Abubarkar (Adamawa South Senatorial Zone and Honourable Biodun Olasupo Adeola (Chairman, House Committee on Legislative Compliance); the past and presidents of the Association of Africa Quantity Surveyors (AAQS), Mr. Michael Frimpong and Prof Rob Pearl and  President of Commonwealth Association of Surveying and Land Economy, Mr. Segun Ajanlekoko.