The Nation Newspaper

Tag: bane

  • Bane of the budget

    SIR; The perennial gap between budgetary estimates and implementation is a growing concern and a contributory cause of poor economic development. Budget is variously regarded as a comprehensive document of estimates of government’s income and expenditure proposed for a specified period which is usually one year. In Nigeria, it is not unusual to hear of frequent low budget implementation, leaving one to wonder if our budgets are always designed to be partially implemented.

    Any student who scores less than average in exams cannot be deemed to have done well. If this universal measurement approach is applied to assess government performance on budget implementation, then citizens would objectively score their government based on how the budget performs. There is no how a government should feel it has performed well when it continues to score low on execution of its budgets.

    Late submission of budget proposals by the Presidency to the National Assembly and the unnecessary prolonged deliberations on the appropriation bill  by the legislators have been seen to be the major reasons for the ineffective implementation of the budget.

    Since the inception of the fourth republic, it has been observed that it takes an average of six months before a budget is ready for implementation and this sometimes close to the middle of the year. This affects fiscal planning in private and non-formal sectors of the economy whose projections are usually predicated on federal government allocation to its ministries and agencies. Also, the recurring less than 45 percent capital component in budget implementation is quite worrisome.

    Even if corruption is fought at all sectors of the economy, without beaming the  search light on the budget office to unravel and carefully scrutinize inputs from various ministries, departments, commissions, agencies and parastatals, the nation would continue to experience unclear budgetary directions and minimal implementation of projects captured in such budgets.

    Lagos State for instance has been found to have an improved performance of its budget to nearly 90 percent with an improved trajectory for a continuous increase in its IGR. The transparent budgetary processes of the state have no doubt demystified that system which many states and federal government are still struggling to grasp.

    When figures are unnecessarily tinkered with, many wonder what constitutes padding, others question who has the authority to decide which projects should be in the budget, we are indeed in a serious dilemma. The question we the citizens should ask is who do we hold responsible where our expectations are not met?  If the simple process of executive preparing and presenting the budget to the National Assembly for consideration becomes such a tedious process, then it is personal interest that has compounded otherwise seamless and simple process.

    • Itaobong Etim,

    Calabar.

  • The bane of the Igbo

    SIR: The bane of the Igbo is that unlike the other peoples of Nigeria, we seek redress for our grievances outside of Nigeria, in Biafra. Earlier, before we started seeking restitutions and remedies in Biafra, the Igbo were the most committed to Nigerian unity and then, we excelled in every spectrum of the Nigerian social life to the point that other Nigerians became jittery of “Igbo domination”. The January 1966 coup and its aftermath deeply and unappeasably enraged the Hausa/Fulani. Their rage found expression in murderous fanaticism; they murdered about 30,000 Igbo. Still, the mass-murder did not justify Igbo secession from Nigeria. But swayed by the oratorical flourishes and propagandistic exaggerations of a selfishly ambitious rabble-rouser, we, for the first time, looked for justice and restitution not in Nigeria but in a make-believe Utopia, Biafra. It was Ojukwu’s Biafranism that caused the war.

    The realities and consequences of war were cruelly different from the hopes raised by Biafra.  The war came with a tsunami of gloom: devastation, death, dispossession, etc. It dealt us a bludgeoning blow that has left us reeling for the past nearly 50 years. Above all, it dealt us a psychological blow that we may not recover from for hundreds of years. Without secession, the pogrom and all that were associated with it would have been a major drawback for the Igbo. But we would have, for the most part, retained most of our earlier successes and achievements in Nigeria.

    The majority of the Igbo are pro-one Nigeria because one Nigeria is most advantageous to the Igbo. Like earlier Igbo leaders, Alex Ekwueme, Sam Mbakwe and Chukwuemeka Ojukwu (evidently, he repented of his secessionist bent) among others dramatized their commitment to one Nigeria; they participated in the writing of the 1999 constitution which, like earlier constitutions, affirmed the indissolubility of Nigeria. The neo-Biafran activists are a renegade but vociferous few. Apart from disturbing the peace of the country, they cast the Igbo as perennial troublemakers, subversive elements and irredeemable rebels; nudging other Nigerians to suspect and antagonize us. The recent quit order notice to the Igbo in Northern Nigeria by northern youth movements was in direct reaction to neo-Biafranism; it is an incontestable evidence of the suspicion and animosity neo-Biafranism visits on the Igbo.

    It was Biafranism that wrecked the Igbo. The restoration of the Igbo will come from a total renunciation of Biafra; and seeking redress for our grievances and finding solutions to our problems in Nigeria, and not in a daydream wonderland, Biafra.

     

    • Tochukwu Ezukanma,

    Lagos.

  • Corruption, not restructuring is our bane

    SIR: There has been a renewed agitation for making the component states of the federation more productive by flipping the exclusive legislative lists in favour of the federating states. Proponents of this reform have suggested various nomenclatures such as restructuring, true federalism etc.

    One major derivative of that reform is the institution of state police.

    A major downside of restructuring with state policing as a derivative is that it is cast in the media as a zero-sum game.

    For instance, there seems to be a generic consensus that the topmost in the list of problems bedevilling the Nigerian nation is corruption yet proponents of restructuring cannot see any need to push various anti-corruption bills with the National Assembly through as an alternative to a swiping restructuring that may feed the incentive for civil war.

    The Police Reform Trust Fund Bill has been domiciled at the National Assembly (NASS) since 2008 yet the legislature is not in a hurry to pass the bill.

    A governor that can use his security details to physically prevent EFCC or DSS from performing their jobs cannot be entrusted with state police. The decibels resonating restructuring must be moderated with guarded introspection.

    What we forget is that what constrains any Nigerian president in turning the police to personal agent of vendetta is the oversight function of the NASS. This oversight restraint is absolutely absent at the state level where state Houses of Assembly are mere appendages of the executive.

    A social media clip where a legislator was kneeling down to beg a state governor for merely criticising the governor can attest to the master-servant relationships that exist between the executive and the legislature at the state level.

    It is trite to say that toothless state assemblies pose a veritable danger to the orchestrated true federalism particularly as it affects state police.

    Rather than pushing this nebulous restructuring that spells doom for the corporate existence of Nigeria with civil war as a proximate corollary, the NASS should progressively pass reformative bills pending with it.

    Nobody has articulated how restructuring will end corruption yet the more allocation various states of the federation get, the more impoverished the people become, the more governance is degraded and the more reckless governors become.

    Corruption and not restructuring deserves the greatest attention.

     

    • Bukola Ajisola,

    bukymany@yahoo.com

  • The bane of Nigerian politicians

    SIR: I visited Europe recently, Berlin to be precise. It was a lovely city, organized, well planned. I was impressed. Every evening, I would take a very long stroll along the street just to see the city and get a feeling of what Berlin is like – the city life, the people, and the culture.

    Every time I took these strolls, I could not help but to take my thoughts back home, comparing conditions back at home with what I was seeing here in this lovely city. Yes I know – an unfair comparison. But that was all I could think of while I spent time in this city; as I rode the buses, took the subway trains and walked the streets. I could not help to notice how different things were back at home compared to this city.

    Another thought troubled me while I was there. I kept thinking: why is my country not this way? Why can’t we have well-structured roads, proper transportation system, steady power supply? Why can’t we have cities like Berlin in Nigeria? These kinds of questions bogged my mind. I wondered how come Germany is able to build such a great city that is so accessible to most levels of the social class.

    After the Second World War, Germany suffered one of the worst recessions that any country could endure, and yet, with no oil, they still rose to become one of the most powerful and richest country in Europe. I could not help but wonder how this country was able to rise from economic hardship to becoming a prosperous country with a thriving economy. How did they build this country? How much money was spent on these superb infrastructures? How did they build beautiful cities that are accessible to all? This is a country without commercial quantity of oil, no precious minerals and a very terrible weather condition. How did these guys do it?

    These questions bothered me so much until, one day, I witnessed something amazing. It was a sunny afternoon, the rain had just stopped and the cool breeze began to ease in slowly. We had just finished a small meeting with the President of our organisation.

    While we waited outside, out came our President, who was obviously done for the day and ready to go home. As she waved us goodbye, she walked over to where bicycles were parked, unchained a bike from the metal rail, mounted her bike and off she went, cycling her way home. I could not believe my eyes. She did not have a Bentley with a chauffeur waiting for her outside – of which she could comfortably afford; she did not have an endless chain of personal assistants at her beck and call. In fact earlier that day she had lined up with the rest of us at the buffet, during lunch, to get food like everyone else.

    I was made to understand that the leadership in Germany is guided by an ideology that encourages conservation and condemns extravagance. The leaders here believe that democracy is about fairness and equal opportunity, and that development must be accessible to all and not just a privileged few. In this country as a public office holder you are forbidden to make financial profits with government money and projects. And to these people, this is not just another law but a code they live by.

    Now I began to understand why this country, perhaps, is the way it is. Then I thought about my own country and it dawned on me, as well, why Nigeria is so different from Germany and why true change in Nigeria is still far-fetched. People often say our leaders do not have ideology and I say that is not true. It’s just that most of the political leaders in our country do not have the right ideologies, the only kind of ideology that exists amongst most of them is how to stay in power for as long as possible and accumulate as much wealth as possible.

     

    • ChibuezeEbii

    ikenna_donald@yahoo.com

  • ‘Leadership gap bane of health sector’

    Where is an urgent need to expand the technical and leadership training in the curriculum of the PostGraduate Medical College, Lagos and related institutions nationwide.

    This, according to Minister of State for Health, Prof Osagie Enahire, will broker peace among these institutes and the government in the event of industrial crisis.

    Prof Osagie spoke at the investiture of Prof Ademola Olaitan as the 19th President of the National PostGraduate Medical College, Lagos. Osagie succeeded Prof Rasheed Arogundade, whose two-year tenure ended last December.

    Ehanire said the sector has become crisis prone, adding that a lot of the problems are due to lapses in governance.

    Ehanire cited last year’s doctors’strike  which lasted almost half of the year and the ongoing strike by doctors in Osun State.

    ”I want to urge management of medical hospitals to extend their training beyond technical training of its medical staff, to empowerment in leadership. This, I suggest, should be included in your curriculum,” Ehanire said.

    He continued: “It is so sad that in recent time, the medical sector has become crisis prone due to what we observed as departmental rivalry, poor relationship among staff as well as gaps in governance. So, if we must manage medical hospitals well, our approach to leadership must henceforth change.

    “Doctors’ nationwide strike claimed almost half of last year and grounded public healthcare system. There is another protracted strike among doctors and government in Osun State. This is lamentable,” he added.

    He also frowned at the over $1 billion that goes into medical tourism every year, saying that it is not supposed to be as the nation has some of the best hands in the medical field. This, Ehanire attributed to poor treatment or poor attention to medical staff, and thus necessitating the need for a reorientation of the public service.

    He continued: “Aside the financial loss of about I billion dollar into medical tourism every year, it is also a slap in the face because Nigeria has the resources and some of the best medical personnel. Aside, N1 billion is no child’s play considering the economic hardship

    “I have often asked those who often tell me that when they go abroad for treatment if they are better treated there unlike here where our medical staff would either ignore or give patients cold shoulder. So, there is a general loss of confidence in our healthcare system.  This calls for an urgent reorientation of the public service. Once we are able to restore that confidence through training and human capacity development, then we can begin to see a renewed mindset of those who prefer medical attention outside the country.”

    He said in line with the change mantra of the government, there is a plan by the government to concentrate on the primary healthcare to lessen the burden of  the tertiary healthcare.

    He said the government plans to establish a functional healthcare per ward nationwide.

    “We expect that when fully done, each of those primary healthcare should be able to operate 24 hours a day and therefore, reduce the pressure on the tertiary institutions, which handle large sessions of primary cases,” he said.

  • ‘Access to economic opportunities bane of businesses’

    ‘Access to economic opportunities bane of businesses’

    Irene Ochem studied Archaeology and History for first degree at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She also holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of London and a diploma in translation from the University of Trieste, Italy. After working in Europe for over two decades, she is back in Nigeria helping female entrepreneurs as CEO of the African Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum (AWIEF). In this interview with Yetunde Oladeinde, she talks about investing in women, new opportunities available, organising conferences across Africa and more.

    What inspired you to work with women?

    It all started from my upbringing. I was raised by a widowed mother. She struggled to train us and see us through our education. Then, I’ve lived in different countries and continents, and in all the places where I’ve lived and travelled to, I have also observed the lack of recognition of women’s contribution to the economic development of the society. Then there are the obstacles most of these women have to go through. Maybe the situation is not very bad in the west, but in Africa it is.

    Also, across the world, it has become a global agenda that women must be empowered economically. It makes good economic sense because women have a natural instinct to do certain things. If you empower a woman, she tends to invest her earnings into the household, into the education of her children, and they go out to contribute to their communities, the nation and the African continent. So, why not give women the same opportunities men have?

    Women in Africa encounter a lot of challenges trying to start a business. Access to finance is one major problem, but having access to economic opportunities is where it starts. Then there are cultural obstacles. For example, in some communities, a woman cannot source for a loan without acquiring the signature of either her husband or a male figure, even though the person is not bringing anything into that business. In some societies, women don’t have rights to land, even in the Igbo community I come from.

    Then, across Africa, there is a lot of economic growth. Everybody is talking about Africa rising, Africa growing and Africa moving on. The Global Entrepreneurship Summit just ended in Nairobi and Barrack Obama identified some of the problems. There, it was general entrepreneurship that they were talking about but he identified the problem in Africa that women represented 50 per cent of the population but they do not have access to equal opportunities. There he put it aptly that if half of your team is not playing, then you have a problem. So Africa is rising, Africa is the new investment frontier because you have people coming from China, America, Europe and all over the world wanting to grab a piece from what’s happening in Africa. So, why can’t we Africans do it ourselves or why not empower our women? So these are part of the motivation for me. I saw there was need to create awareness; there is need to make our government see the importance of economic empowerment. There is need to empower the African woman because she represents the potential for Africa’s socio-economic development.

    What are some of the things you learnt from your mother?

    My mother was widowed at a very tender age, and seeing how hard she had to work, juggling children and several jobs, in order to make sure we had food in the house, quality education. After finishing high school, I went to study at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. I graduated, did my youth service, taught, worked for one year in Nigeria, before leaving for Europe. That inspiration was good and being her only daughter, she instilled in me that as a woman, you make the difference.

    Who are your targets?

    We are bringing together established, successful businesswomen, and, also, young, emerging and aspiring female businesswomen. We are bringing together policymakers, the government, non-governmental organisations, and also the academia. Being a pan-Africa event, we are trying to create a platform for networking and learning across borders, and also for potential business partnerships and mentorship.

    There will be a small fee to pay. But we have two very high-level training workshops for delegates. One will be on leadership and ethics, and will be presented by Leap Africa, and the facilitators are top-notch. Then the second one will be presented by the Business School Netherlands, and this is a school people go to get their MBA.

    This is one of the reasons why we are looking for sponsorships. Because if we are able to raise enough sponsorships, then we will be able to make the participation free for all young and emerging entrepreneurs. So, we are working very hard to ensure that happens.

    Apart from the pre-conference workshop, there will be an exhibition. So, companies and industries can come to showcase their products, services, technology. Being an entrepreneur event, the exhibition is not sector-specific. So, any product a woman can consume is welcome.

    Most of the businesses owned by women are SMEs. How do you intend to empower them?

    A lot of the businesses we are talking about are MSMEs. Many of the female businesswomen entrepreneurs are operating in that arena. We also want to bring focus on the challenges faced by women in the rural area. We are not leaving them behind. We are bringing the grassroots to this conference, and to help us do this, we are partnering with the Quintessential Businesswomen Association. They have members in every local government in the country and they are empowering women in the agricultural sector, teaching them how to do things and manufacture local products like honey. So, we are bringing some of these women to participate.

    One of the problems female entrepreneurs face is access to credit. How can this be solved?

    We have a section dedicated to access to finance. We have experts who will make presentations on the topic. One of them is our speaker from Tanzania, Mrs. Sabeta Mawenja, who is the Director-General of the first purpose-built bank to empower women entrepreneurs. She’s coming to present a case-study on how we can innovate in the banking sector, just like they have done in Tanzania. Maybe after the event, a bank can come up and decide to open a bank dedicated for women. They’ve done the same in Ethiopia.

    Then we will have a panel discussion with experts from the banking and business sectors. They will help us explore the problem and find solutions.

    Oby Ezekwesili will be making a presentation titled Securing the Future: The Imperative of Girl-Child Education. So, we have to educate the girl-child, keep her safe; that’s where it all starts. That’s why you have low ratio of women participating in entrepreneurship schemes. We have been able to engage, at very high level, relevant stakeholders like social entrepreneurs like Leap Africa, nongovernmental organisations, the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs. So, our expectation is that, at the end of this conference, we would have created a more enhanced awareness and more informed approach to the challenges that women encounter in their businesses. Then we hope to be able to proffer solutions.

    What are some of the challenges encountered?

    Of course, I’m also an entrepreneur. There have been challenges with finance, finding a skilled workforce, and all the regular challenges. Putting up an initiative like this is far from simple, but when you are passionate about something, it appears seamless.

    What motivated you to start a business around conferences and events?

    I’ve a lot of experience with conferencing. My second university degree was as a translator. So, when I finished, instead of going to work as an interpreter, I went into conferencing. Why? The nearest opportunity was to work for the European Union, but I wasn’t an EU citizen at the time. So, I started organising conferences across Europe. From there, I joined UNIDO, where I worked for ten years. So, I’ve had to organise very high profile conferences. Then I worked in Cape Town, South Africa, as a research manager, before going to Ethiopia.

    My love for professional and international conferencing started in 1996 when I organised the 16th General Meeting of the European Grassland Federation (EGF 1996), September 15 – 19, in Grado, Italy. Not only was I employed to organise the conference, but it turned out that I was the only black head in the crowd during the event. Instead of being intimidated, I felt rather motivated to go on, and today I am glad I did.

    How many languages do you speak?

    I speak Igbo, English, Italian and French.

    You still look smart and fit. What is the secret?

    I eat healthy, do exercises, and practise yoga, essentially. That is what I do to unwind. Then I read a lot when I have the time.

    My family motivates me. I’m passionate about Africa. After working for decades in Europe, I realised that with all of our resources, Africa can be better. I’m one of those people who believe in Africa.

    What are some of your memorable moments in life?

    It’s connected to my family life. My marriage and the birth of my children.

    My husband is a retired scientist, Dr Alex Ochem.  We met in Nigeria while he was on holiday.

    If you had to advise female entrepreneurs, what would you tell them?

    They should stick in there. It’s not easy, but it’s worth trying. They shouldn’t give up.

  • Grillo: Auctions bane of younger artists

    Grillo: Auctions bane of younger artists

    Art auction is the dream of most visual artists because of fame and monetary gains. But 81-year-old former president of Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA) Prof Yusuf Grillo says auctions are more of a distraction than gains to younger artists, Assistant Editor (Arts) Ozolua Uhakheme reports

    Former Director School of Arts, Design and Printing of Yaba College of Technology, (YABATECH) Lagos Prof Yusuf Cameron Grillo, is one of Nigeria’s icons. His paintings are well ranked in art auctions in and outside the country. In 2010, his painting, Harvest, was sold for $30,500 at the Bonhams’ auction in London. Yet, he does not see auction adding  value to the art.

    “I have never been to any art auction even though some of my works have been sold at such auctions. Mind you, the works most times are offered for auction by collectors that bought the works. It has got to a stage that third year student artists are already thinking of getting their works into the auction in order to earn millions of naira. As a former art teacher, I don’t think that is okay,” he said.

    Grillo said verification of art works, how collectors purchased art works, valuing of art works, the artists’ profile, technicality involved in the production and size of art works are some of the responsibilities of the auctioneer. He noted that beyond these, auctioneers in the country don’t pay artists any percentage of sales of their works. This payment, he said, is a standard practice across the globe, which auctioneers in Nigeria don’t abide with.

    To him, auction derails younger artists and it has become all about money. “Money is the root of all evil. Personally, I believe strongly that art and money are not good brethren. Visual art is one of the creative aspects of mankind through which artists create from nothing. Only God is the one that makes all things to be. But artists are next,” he added. He said at the beginning of creation, art was used primarily for spiritual essence and not for serious monetary gains.

    Grillo who, studied art in Nigeria and the United Kingdom, is one of the leading masters in colour glass and mosaic works. He has handled many commissioned works for public and private buildings such as churches, universities and the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos.

    At 81, he still handles colour glass works, which he described as a specialised craft like stained glass. According to him, the process of producing colour glass works opened fresh windows of opportunities for him to engage both his old paintings and the colour glass works. “I paint slowly and sometimes it takes me up to a year to complete one painting. So, while doing colour glass work from my painting, it gave me another chance to revisit such painting,” he said.

    He said he accepts only commissioned colour glass works that can give him satisfaction from the point of view of the client that understands him. He however noted that such skill cannot be taught in Nigerian art schools because the schools will not be able to pick the cost.

    “In fact, it is not in the curriculum of art schools. We can’t teach colour glass and stained glass in our art schools because the budget is beyond the school. Even mosaic is not taught in art school. Many of these courses are taught outside the school during apprenticeship or internship.

    “For stained glass, it is a specialised craft that uses melting process to get impression on glass. Unfortunately, we don’t have the facility here. Even at Igun Street in Benin, Edo State, the bronze casters don’t have facility for large size sculptures,” he added.

    On past attempts at having such facility in the country, he said: “Soon after the FESTAC 77, the late Erhabor Emokpae and I dreamt of getting a big foundry to handle our works. We even founded a small company that will produce the craft. But it was not a small matter. We realised that only government or multinational companies could do that. If we can do it, we will attract patronage form across Africa. I did a stained glass once and it was done in Britain and the work is at the VIP lounge of National Theatre, Iganmu Lagos.”

    Asked if colour glass is under threat of   extinct, he said: “It is not like to die because younger artists are into it now. David Dale is also into colour glass and mosaic works. My sons in the art who do colour glass works are bout 6. And I always appraise their works each time they bring them to me for assessment. It is good as a learning process for the younger artists.

    The former President of Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA) recalled that time has changed for the art and artists to thrive as art markets and collectors have grown over the years. “When we started, there was nothing on ground in terms of promotion and marketing of art. The likes of the late Aina Onabolu, Akin Lasekan, Ben Enwonwu, were the first Nigerians to stray into art. At SNA, we started with nine members, he asked.”   Grillo, a pioneer member of the famous Zaria Rebels often avoids photographic realism in his painting. Instead, he stylizes and elongates the figures in his painting which are easily identified by their slimness, elegance and grace which, according to him, represent the contemporary ideal of beauty in an urban setting. His message for younger artists is that each artist should continue to work and criticise himself for development. “Once the artist does not relent, things will pick, it may be slow,” he said.

     

  • ‘Lack of plans bane of SMEs’ growth’

    ‘Lack of plans bane of SMEs’ growth’

    The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) sector has the capacity to transform Nigeria into a globally-competitive economy in the mould of China and other Asian Tigers if operators could come up with viable and robust business development plans, Registrar/Chief Executive Officer, Institute of Business Development (IBD), Mr. Paul Ikele, has said.

    According to him, most SME operators in Nigeria have no direction because of lack of business development plan.

    In an exclusive interview with The Nation, Ikele said: “SMEs need to come up with business development plans. Before a company is incorporated, that company should come out with a business development plan. Before you open an account for a limited liability company, you should submit a business development plan so that government will key into it and follow it up. If at any point that business does not achieve its objective, it is quietly withdrawn. By so doing government will be able to identify those people that are performing and those that are not performing.”

    Ikele, former managing director/chief executive officer, Noble Path Finance and Securities Limited and General Manager, Business Development, Olympia Insurance Limited,regretted that most people go into the SME sector because they don’t have an alternative.

    “I can assure you that if you are in SME and you know exactly what you are producing, you already have grown a market share in that particular business; you will be able to identify your key customers and focus on servicing them,” he said.

    He noted that this has not been the case with SME operators in Nigeria where “most SME operators are incompetent personalities, who just want to use it and do other things, and because they know how to get to the sources of that fund they get the money and before you know it they channel it to other areas.”

    He pointed out that most people, who are interested in SMEs are either incompetent or don’t have real intentions in that business. Rather, their intention, he said, is to use that money for other objectives.“This is why the Institute is insisting that every organisation should come out with a business development plan so that it will encourage them to submit at the end of the year the result of the evaluation of their operations,” he said.

    He said before setting up an SME, there was need to engage professionals to draw up the business plan. Also, there is need for an environmental scanning to determine whether that business would survive in that particular area.

    “Businesses that thrive in the south may not thrive in the north, but most SME operators will just go and copy a business plan thinking if you are selling pure water in Lagos, for instance, you can sell it in the north, after all north has a hot weather, he said, insisting that “before you do a business plans, you must do an environmental scanning.”

    The Registrar noted that in countries, such as China, where SMEs were properly directed, with good business development plans, they helped such economies to survive.

    He said Nigeria should borrow a leaf from China, which managed to grow her SME sector first by closing its wall to determine whether they want to survive or not.

    “They (China) live in a cottage system where they can buy and use what they can afford. And again, its better to start business small and grow big, identify your core market requirements within your environment and provide those needs and provide the products and services and ensure that people within that area are able to buy them. Nigeria can apply such model,” he said.

  • Visionless leaders bane of Nigeria –Tinubu

    Visionless leaders bane of Nigeria –Tinubu

    Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former Governor of Lagos State and National Leader, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), has again decried the ill-luck that has befallen the country.

    According to him, Nigeria has had the misfortune of being governed by leaders with no vision and who regard the country as a personal farm to plunder.

    He spoke yesterday at launch of the book Neither North nor South, East nor West: One Nigeria at the Shehu Musa Yar’Adua Centre, Abuja.

    The former governor said, “The present government and the direction it is leading the country is a repudiation of all that these great patriots lived and died for. Because they are reaping where they never sowed, they do not value the power they hold. Rather, they hold Nigerians hostage by their actions and inactions in full glare demonstration of their cluelessness and anti-people orientation.”

    He assured that Nigerians would “Soon enough take their country back. We must reflect on this because the times are challenging. Suddenly, Nigerians see each other as enemies because of the kind of policies and actions the current government has embarked upon. The tide rises high and beats roughly against us. But we must remember that we are not enemies. As a nation, we are each other’s extended family.”

    The former governor reiterated his call for unity, saying, “Families talk, resolve issues, and move on to better things. That is why Nigerians must unite to demand to be governed properly and responsibly by those they have elected. It is impossible that we agree on all things.”

    On the purpose of gathering, he said, “We can vow that the spirit of closeness and cordiality that permeates this hall shall not be left here when we go. That spirit serves no purpose in an empty venue. We must carry this with us.

    “In doing so, we best honour the life and legacy of Shehu Musa Yar ‘Adua. In doing so, turn the name of this book Neither North, Nor South, Nor East nor West from being just a clever title to becoming our national reality. With that thought in mind, I do hereby launch this excellent book and contribution to the civic education of our children.

    “We all know General Yar ‘Adua died for Nigeria. More importantly, he lived for Nigeria when most of us did not. Yet, he never became dispirited.

    “This man lived for Nigeria and he did so heroically, even to his last day. Here was a man born into the status and privilege of a noble family. If he simply focused on his own interests, democracy would not have any appeal to him. He did not need democracy.

    “Yet, he never looked at himself first. He looked at others and realised that they needed democracy. He looked at his people, the poor, the weak, the ones who searched for a champion yet seemed unable to find one. In him, they found what they were searching for. His moral conscience would not allow him to sit in comfort while the rest of his countrymen wandered the alleys of poverty and backwardness. Thus, he deposited all the private advantages and privileges he could have enjoyed into the public undertaking of cementing this nation into a unified, democratic whole.

    “It speaks to the measure of Shehu Musa Yar’Adua’s extraordinary greatness that a military general born of high social station would become one of our nation’s most revered democratic figures. In many ways, he is Nigeria’s parallel to America’s George Washington. He broke new grounds, engendered new political re-alignments between the North and the West and demonstrated to all that strategic thinking is the name of the game.

    “ Shehu Yar‘Adua was a brilliant political strategist and visionary. Founding the People’s Democratic Movement, he brought together like-minded democrats from all corners of Nigeria to fight for justice, for good governance, for the people’s right to determine who shall lead them.

    “The bonds that he built then, still live on today among so many key Nigerians. The spirit with which he carried himself enriched all who came near him. He mentored so many people, including me. What struck me most was that when he looked at a person, he did not place that person’s ethnicity, religion or region in the balance to weigh the person. He merely looked at the person’s character, abilities and commitment to the democratic cause.”

     

     

     

     

     

  • ‘ Food importation bane of agricultural sector’

    A Consultant to the World Bank, Prof. Abel Babalola Ogunwale, has said imporation of food is an obstacle to sustainable agricultural production and food security in the country.

    He spoke as a guest speaker at the Eighth Inaugural Lecture of the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso.

    The lecture is entitled: ‘Repositioning Agricultural Extension: The Umbilical Cord of Sustainable Local Food Production’.

    Ogunwale said the Federal Government has failed to make impact on small-scale farmers.

    Some of the problems, according to him, include poor and erratic funding, ineffective extension supervision, over-emphasis on export crops, duplication of organisations and services.

    He said: “The consequence is that Nigeria’s huge economic potential evidenced in the vast unexploited productive capacities is held down by institutional and infrastructural rigidities, as well as high cost of capital associated with many of these programmes.”

    “About N217 billion was spent on sugar importation and N97 billion on fish importation, despite the marine resources, rivers, lakes and creeks the nation is blessed with.”

    He said rice, the leading imported food, can be cultivated successfully in Benue, Kogi, Kano, Sokoto, Niger, Ebonyi, Enugu, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti and Lagos States.

    Ogunwale said root crops, such as cassava, yam and potatoes are in abundance in many states, while maize, millet, and sorghum, as well as leguminous crops can also be cultivated abuntantly.

    He said aquatic foods are readily available in Nigeria, in addition to a very rich forest belt in the southern parts.