The Nation Newspaper

Tag: come

  • Come straight   

    Come straight   

    • The rumpus in Kaduna should be resolved in the public interest

    If there is one word that could describe the political wrangling in Kaduna State, it is simple: shocking. There was no foreboding of what was in the offing in the months preceding the exchange of baton between Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, the former governor, and the incumbent Malam Uba Sani.

    They are both members of the same political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC); indeed, the new, as in many states, could even be described as a protégé of the old. To go to the Senate, Sani needed el-Rufai’s support. To pick up APC’s governorship ticket, the incumbent needed the adoption of Rufai who had emerged the godfather. The outgoing governor, wherever he went beamed with smiles, which sometimes grew into guffaw, enthusing that the state was safe in Governor Sani’s hands.

    Less than one year after,money has torn aside both men. And in place of one united ruling political movement, two deep-rooted tendencies have sprouted in the party in Kaduna State– the Sani and the el-Rufai factions. And both men are digging in. Ditto their supporters.

    The situation appears to be taking a turn for the worse, and this is troubling as Kaduna, the former administrative headquarters of Northern Nigeria means so much to the region and indeed the nation.

    When former Governor el-Rufai was presenting his score card, it appeared all stellar. True, as those sympathetic to him have pointed out, he did not hide the debt profile, but that moot point could be missed by his successor as other “facts” were reeled out. To those in and out of the state, the urban renewal scheme stood to el-Rufai’s eternal credit, and other states were invited to take a cue. Actually, the devil is in the details. In the rumpus following the disclosure that the external and internal debts bequeathed to the Uba Sani administration is choking, to the point that a state that once set the pace in salaries payment among Nigerian sub nationals has been struggling to meet up with such basic obligation. Governor Sani was obliged to unveil the details of the difficulties being faced by his government. The $585 million loan obtained by his predecessor, tied to the renewal of the urban towns has become a monster as the projects are said to be far from completion, yet the fund is exhausted. The locally generated revenue that could have come to the rescue is believed to have been mortgaged for repayment of another N20 billion loan from a commercial bank. There was another N185 billion earlier raised from the domestic market.

    Read Also: NLC, others lack powers to sack Abure led NWC, says Labour Party

    As economists have explained many times, loans are not on their own wrong. They could be agents of development when expended for the right purpose. In this case, it is unfortunate that the fund is believed to have been exhausted while the possibility of the projects that the loans were spent on becoming abandoned looms because they are yet to be completed. The state is servicing debts, unable to raise funds for the completion, and faced with a dire reality of meeting other basic obligations.

    We call on both sides to come clean on this matter even as it is supremely important for lives and livelihoods in the state. It is not a matter to be swept under the carpet. The former governor should respond to the allegations. It is not a time to keep silent; in this situation, silence is not golden. He should explain how the loans were expended. How did he expect to pay? If he is not really forthcoming, institutions of state should probe the expenditure.

    Whereas it is received wisdom that government is a continuum, and successive administrations inherit assets and liabilities, debilitating debts make it difficult for successors to fulfill purpose. In this case, an audit into the loans, compared to the extent of work on the projects to which they were tied would help, where necessary, to recover whatever might have been inappropriately expended.

    The trend is similar in other states. In Abia, for example, Governor Alex Otti has raised questions about the debts he inherited, and no full explanation has been offered. We only get to hear of negative developments when there is dispute between the successor and predecessor. The constitution should be amended to make audit mandatory at the point of handing over.

    Nigeria can only make progress when probity is enthroned at both the federal and state levels.

  • Shape of things to come

    Shape of things to come

    The real estate sector has severally been touted as one with huge potential to contribute to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). But with the economy in recession, stakeholders are of divergent views on what prospects the sector holds this year? MUYIWA LUCAS reports.

    Kayode Oyedele, an estate Mmanager, was shocked after going through the content of a correspondence he received from tenants in some estates he manages in Lagos and Abuja. After a meeting with representatives of the tenants last November, it was clear that a hard decision had to be taken.

    The tenants unanimously laid down their cards in clear terms before Oyedele: “Reduce your rent or we vacate your estate,” they said emphatically.

    Faced with this stark reality, Oyedele had no choice but to convince the property owners to take a 30 per cent cut in rent if they desired to still have the buildings occupied. He is concerned that the trend last year, which saw rents frozen while some tenants asked for reduction, needs to be carefully handled this year to curb a recurrence. Besides, he is sad that the situation, which led to many tenants defaulting in rent payments last year, may continue this year. Many houses remain vacant for very long time, especially in high rental areas of Ikoyi, Victoria Island and Lekki, as well as Abuja.

    This is why opinions are strongly divided on the outlook of this year in the real estate sector. While some built environment specialists do not see the light at the end of the tunnel yet, others are cautiously optimistic about the prospects the sector holds in the current fiscal year.

    However, the major thing going for the sector is the fact that the need for real estate across strata remains extremely strong; hence, opportunities will, continue to exist. Although the challenging times may pose difficulties for operators, yet they present opportunities for innovations which will ultimately benefit the sector.

    The Head, Property Management, SFS Capital Limited, Victoria Island, Lagos, Mr. Bolarinwa Odeyingbo, said the expectations for the property market this year will be dwarfed by the same problem of investors’ confidence experienced in the sector last year. “The biggest challenges in 2016 were investors’ confidence – local and international. It does not look like there will be increased confidence in 2017. If that remains, we will most likely witness an economy that will remain stagnated as in 2016 and may possibly perform worse,” Odeyingbo warned.

    He regretted that the property market recently suffered an unprecedented glut as thousands of properties across the country remain unsold, abandoned and uncompleted. The problems, he said, could be traced to the era of cumulative bad governance, endemic corruption, disruption in the oil industry, and the absence of any revolutionary economic blueprint. This is why mass homelessness is now a common feature in all metropolitan areas, and infrastructure problems continue to escalate.

    “This year  may even pose a worse outlook in that regard.  Although, it is believed that since a large chunk of allocation has been given to the Power, Works and Housing and Urban Development sector in the budget, this quantum of money, in real terms, amounts to little when you factor in inflation and devaluation of the naira. I foresee a situation where a lot of the dollar denominated commercial rents for the new ‘A’ Class developments will be further reduced by as much as 30 to 40 per cent as tenants with ability to pay for such will further shrink,” he said.

    Stakeholders in the industry, however, warned that efforts must be made to ensure that the real estate market does not crash further on the heels of the theory that Real Estate in the country is an industry built on price fixing and fraud.

    Likely hot properties

    Odeyingbo is optimistic that the retail sector will most likely drive the sector, including the mass medium income category on the Mainland part of Lagos State. He observed that areas such as Yaba and its environs, Surulere, Maryland, Magodo Phase 2 (Shangisha/ Ketu Ikosi axis), Gbagada, and some other central areas on the Lagos mainland, will experience a boost. In Abuja, Phase 3, comprising Galadimawa, Kabusa, Lokogoma down to Apo resettlement will experience a boost. Another segment with a glimmer of hope is the development of the malls, though may be at reduced rate and possibly undertaken in phases.

    Greater investment opportunities

    The rise in Nigeria’s middle class has been over-hyped in recent years; but it is still a genuine phenomenon that is generating huge commercial and political opportunities. It has been estimated that the Nigerian middle class has tripled in size over the past 14 years – and the boom is gathering speed. This is one reason why the country is one of the biggest economies in Africa, accounting for about half of sub-Saharan Africa’s population and GDP.

    These factors will ensure that Nigeria remains a strong haven for housing investment. A researcher on housing provision and the economy, Mr. Mayowa Sodipo, cautioned that there was a study that concluded that earlier estimates of the middle class were much exaggerated. He, however, said  there is still dramatic growth in the bracket from about 4.6 million households in 2000 to almost 15 million households today if the middle class and lower-middle-class categories are both included.  He, therefore, said, it was assumed that over the next 15 years, the growth will continue to gain momentum, and a further 25 million households will become middle class and lower-middle-class households.

    Also Nigeria is by far the biggest source of the new middle class in Africa, with a forecast that by 2030, there will be 12 million middle-class households in Nigeria alone. Sodipo said it was given that the medium income Real Estate investment would fare better.

    Prospect of rent-to-own scheme

    Stakeholders are optimistic that the Rent-To-Own schemes will do well this year, considering that the scheme has come to bridge the gap between the lack of supply and the demand for affordable housing.

    For instance, Natanel Folrens, whose forte is in the rent-to-own scheme, has started identifying existing properties or landowners willing to pledge their property title deeds to a trust created and managed by UBA Trustees Limited and Union Trustees Limited. The company has already launched the scheme in several estates in Lagos and expected to step up its game this year as it enters the second phase of the scheme. The rent-to-own did fairly well toward the Second half of last year, even as the Lagos State government stepped up its involvement in the scheme, as we saw a lot of subscribers, and it is likely to do better this year.

    Cost of building material

    The high cost of building materials in real estate construction for large/multiple buildings is one of the 15 major factors responsible for project delays and cost escalation in Nigeria as noted by a study of the Nigerian Construction Industry.

    The survey revealed price fluctuation of building materials as the most severe cause of project cost escalation, which is attributed to the limitation in exchange rate which in turn affects construction material prices and general price level. This is not likely to change this year, especially if the local currency continues to freely fall against other international currencies.

     Between Abuja and Lagos markets

    In order to fully harness the opportunities prevalent in these markets, it is better to classify them into segments. Odeyingbo explained that if focusing on the residential segment in the two cities, there is a need for classification, using price and location as parameters. This has given rise to different market categories: Upper Market (N100m above); Middle–Upper Market (N50m-100m); Middle Market (N20m-50m); Low–Middle Market (N5m-20m) and Low Market (N5m below).

    Majority of the upper market and middle market–upper, in Lagos falls within the island axis. Nevertheless, the mainland axis also possesses some strong contenders that easily price well in the upper and middle – upper markets. In Abuja, majority of the upper market and middle markets are Maitama, Asokoro, Jabi and a few other areas – while other areas such as Lugbe, Phase 3, Lokogoma, Galadimawa, Kabusa and Apo areas can be tagged within the middle upper market.

    Odeyingbo explained that in Lagos, a property bought for N35 million on the Island will earn N2.2 million averagely on rent, translating to about 6.8 per cent yield annually, while a property bought in Phase 3, Abuja for N10 million can earn N800,000 on rent, which is about eight per cent its annual yield.

    He, therefore, said from these illustrations, the Abuja market guaranteed better earnings on property annually, and also gives better appreciative value.

    But one common denominator among stakeholders is that the present glut will remain, especially in places such as the Lagos Island (Ikoyi, V.I and Lekki axis) and Abuja; even after the recession begins to clear out.

  • Mr. President, please come to our aid

    Dear President Muhammadu Buhari,

    We are Corps members serving in Southwestern part of the country and we hereby humbly address this letter to you on behalf of the entire participant in 2015 Batch “B” Stream II of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in reaction to a circular issued by the NYSC management, which extends our passing to November 4, 2016, instead of October 6.

    On September 14, 2016, we received a circular purported to have emanated from the NYSC Director-General and signed by one A.C Ani on behalf of the DG. Copies of the letter were sent to our respective Community Development Service (CDS) groups’ social media platforms by our Corpe’s’ Liaison Officer (CLO).

    The new development goes against what the information provided in our posting letters and our identification cards, which stipulated that the entire 2015 batch B Corps members shall pass out on October 6.

    At the initial stage when this circular was released, we thought the whole story was speculation until Batch B Stream II Corps members were prevented from taking part in the final clearance and the passing-out related activities NYSC staff at the Local Government levels.

    The NYSC management has not given cogent reason as to the cause of the sudden change in scheduled passing out, neither did anyone consider our plans before extending the passing out date. To us, this is disrespect on the part of the NYSC management.

    The NYSC leadership is aware that our contract with our employers in our respective places of primary assignment stands terminated on September 28, as boldly written in our posting letters and also, that our identification cards issued to us by the NYSC will become invalid after October 7. After October 6, all 2015 Batch B Stream II Corps members become impostors as far as National Youth Service is concerned.

    We could recall that a scenario when we negotiated the bail of two of our colleagues at a police station. The first thing the policemen asked the victims was to show was their ID cards. Immediately the victims showed their ID cards, they were released.  Assuming they had no valid identification cards, what could have been their fate?

    What baffles us, is that, it was the management of the NYSC that issued us our posting letters and our identification cards where it was conspicuously written that both the Stream 1 and II are to pass out on October 6. Why the sudden change of plan and are they going to issue us with a fresh identification cards and posting letters?

    The NYSC bye laws provided for terminal leave. The managements of the NYSC in their own wisdom decided to issue us a posting letters which provided that our terminal leave is inclusive of the date of our passing out ( that is, October 6). To make the 2015 Batch “B” Stream II Corps members to serve till November 4, will amount to the denial of our right to leave.

    The Stream 1 Corps members underwent their orientation course in October 2015 and left camp in November 2015, but they were made to return to their places of primary assignments on January 4 2016, the same date Stream two II started and left in December. We all were mobilised in October 2015 but were divided into streams as a matter of convenience and designed to pass out on the same date as we were firmly told by the NYSC management.

    If this extension is allowed, it would expose most of us to a grave danger and difficulties. The NYSC management is fully aware that 90 per cent of Corps members were not provided with accommodation by their employers and that most of us rented apartment for the duration of our service year as contain in our posting letters. The fortunate few that were given accommodation by their employers were so given for the duration of the service year.

    The question now is: what becomes of our fate as regards our personal plans and finances that may be incurred during the extension? What is more, NYSC stands to lose nothing if the two streams pass out the same day.

    We gathered from reliable sources that the certificates of all Corps members in Batch B have been prepared and are ready. What will it cost the management to pass out all. What will we be doing in the extended weeks?

    It is quite unfair to tell the entire Batch B Stream II Corps members to stay behind a few weeks more, considering the economic situation in the country. The negative effects of this unilateral decision of the NYSC management will be incalculable. Apart from the challenge which the invalid ID cards will bring after October 6, some of us have been offered jobs.

    Some are preparing to travel out for their Master’s degrees; some have scheduled their job interviews, while some have made both long term and short term plans including marriage plans just to mention but a few.

    It is upon these facts, Mr. President, that we address this letter to you and humbly plead that you to use your good office to intervene on our behalf and prevail on the NYSC management to rescind its decisions on passing out date for Stream II of the 2015 Batch B Corps members. We will be eternally grateful if these facts are considered and action is taken.

    Thanks you sir.

     

    • Kelvin Ezema and Ngwoke are Corps members serving in Southwest
  • ‘A dream come true’

    ‘A dream come true’

    Visiting Osogbo? You do not have to worry about where to stay. Aenon Suites and Hotel International Limited has opened in the Osun State capital. It promises to give customers and tourists to the Osun Osogbo Festival, value for their money. Ass

    Osun State tourism industry has received a boost with the opening of a multi-million naira hotel, Aenon Suites and Hotel International in Osogbo, the state capital.

    Located on two-and-a-half hectares of land in the Government Reservation Area (GRA), the 41-room  facility has not only changed the leisure and tourism landscape of the city, but has also lifted the quality of services in the industry.

    Its Chief Executive Officer, Ademola Adedapo, said he was inspired to embark on the project by his experience in 2012. While trying to get a good hotel in Osogbo, he recalled, he drove round the state capital for several hours.

    He said: “In 2012 during one of my visits to Osun State, it was difficult for me to get an ideal hotel to stay. I went to about eight hotels, yet none was okay for me. The search lasted from 6pm to 9pm. So, this challenged me to start the hotel project and my dream was to have a standard hotel in Osogbo. Today, it is a dream come true,” he said.

    Adedapo, an engineer, may not be in the hospitality business, but he has stayed in standard hotels across the globe. He has taste, knows what he wants and which hotel will deliver quality services. He said the hotel’s plan and its facilities show that “we are here for business, and I would have opened the hotel last year but wasn’t ready with quality.”

    According to him, the long-term plan is to spread to other parts of the country and possibly sell the franchise to the world.

    On what makes the hotel unique, Adedapo said he hired  managers with performance indices, who are tasked to keep the place as new as possible.

    “If you appreciate quality and standard, Aenon is the place to be. I insisted in thoroughness and I have a taste for excellence, which influenced what we have here.

    ‘’Yet, it is affordable, and it is here for guests and as such should be affordable… We picked ideas from different hotels to give what we have now. We tried to model the hotel after a famous hotel in China. The beddings are modelled after Sheraton Dubai,” he added.

    Apart from quality and standard of service, Aenon Suites is located in a serene environment where security is guaranteed. It is equipped with facilities, such as conference hall for seminars, bar, event centre, business centre, restaurant, gym, sauna bath, swimming pool tennis court and laundry services. At Aenon Suites, every worker is a marketing officer whose target includes Osogbo, Ekiti State, Ibadan and its environs.

    istant Editor (Arts) OZOLUA UHAKHEME reports. 

  • Come clean

    •The onus is on Gen. Buratai, CoAS, to come clean on Dubai houses

    These, certainly, are not the best of times for Muhammadu Buhari, President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The simple reason is that the very essence of his one-year-old administration is being shaken at its foundations. Anti-graft war, the most defining marker of his epoch stands the risk of being fatally damaged by the unfolding drama of what may be a ‘Burataigate’.

    We therefore urge that the presidency must act, and promptly too, in following the allegation to its logical conclusion and taking appropriate action in consonance with the anti-corruption ethos of his government. Nothing short of this will do.

    Now a synopsis of the story: an online investigative news portal, Sahara Reporters had broken the news early this week alleging that Lt. General Tukur Buratai, the serving Chief of Army Staff, owns two houses in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, worth about $1.5 million, among other grievous  allegations.

    In his initial reaction, the army chief had stated that the properties in question were real but that they belonged to him and his two wives.

    He also noted that he had acquired them through his savings in his years as a military officer.

    However, both the Federal Government and the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) have rallied to the support of the general. According to government, he had declared the houses in his assets papers and he has been investigated and found to have done nothing wrong.

    Justifying the general’s action further, the military authority explained that the nature of the offshore investment was based on the capital market principles of shareholding. According to a release by DHQ: “The government, after investigating the recent media report over the acquisition of property in Dubai, United Arab Emirates by General Buratai, discovered that he and his wives invested as “shareholders” like many other persons in the property mentioned in the publications and were not the sole owners.”

    However, speaking yesterday, Buratai provided what he termed clarification, describing his accusers as cyber-terrorists: “I am not supposed to comment on this but for clarity sake, my take on the issue is that we have already defeated the terrorists on land and they have already migrated to the cyberspace and internet, but I want to assure the Boko Haram… that we would follow them to the cyberspace and defeat them.” He was not deterred by what he called “campaign of calumny against” him.

    So many issues crop up in this allegation against General Buratai. First, it is a matter that must not be treated with levity by both the Presidency and the DHQ. Therefore, the talk of cyber-terrorists and campaign of calumny should never arise. Second and as has been noted above, it will not go away in a hurry and it will test the integrity and raison d’etre of this government to its very firmaments. Third, an environment where the military establishment has been found to be rotten and currently undergoing massive investigations and indeed, some of Buratai’s contemporaries have been shown to be wantonly corrupt, he must not only come clean but must be seen to be squeaky clean.

    And questions abound that all concerned must endeavour to answer for the good of the military establishment and the government.

    One, if the source of the funds in question is indeed from the savings of the general and his wives, have proper efforts been made to show this to Nigerians by cataloguing a detailed report of his earnings over the period in question?

    Two, is a top, serving military officer allowed to own such an investment abroad; is he allowed to ship such funds offshore? Are there no security implications?

    Questions abound indeed, tacky questions. Not the presidency, not DHQ will or can answer them satisfactorily; Buratai must get up and come clean on this matter.

    We ask that the general be stood down if by the slightest of chance he is found culpable. That is the right thing for the president to do.

  • Now change has come

    In this column last Monday, I wrote under the title “Beyond the elections”. The article which was put together days before the election and published before the results of the presidential and national assembly elections were released, had examined two possible scenarios that could play out after the elections.

    These were the likelihood that it may come out rancour free with the results accepted by all. The other simulated outcome was that of violence leading to breakdown of law and order in some parts of the country arising from a disputed outcome. The latter speculation was further given fillip by the foul political environment that arose in the desperation of politicians to control the minds of the electorate and threats of mayhem from sundry quarters should the election go in certain ways.

    We also took very serious note of the peace accords signed by both President Jonathan and General Buhari to maintain the peace during and after the polls. On the basis of these accords, we further contended that in a very peaceful election, the nation would have been on the threshold of history as all predictions of cataclysm that have instilled fear in the people leading to many fleeing to their ancestral homes, would have come to naught. So also would the prediction of doomsday for the corporate existence of Nigeria by some foreign interests.

    The column also examined the inevitability of change in this country. The main thesis of our presentation was that change was imminent in this country irrespective of which party comes into power as the consciousness of the people have been aroused to its dynamics. That was our summation of the heuristic value of some of the issues raised during the campaigns by the opposition and the possible reaction to them by the government in power if it succeeds in winning the election.

    That election has come and gone. It has also been lost and won with the emergence of Muhammad Buhari as the president-elect. Its outcome has been generally accepted though it had its own problems. The man at the helm of affairs, President Jonathan displayed a rare show of statesmanship by not only conceding defeat but went ahead to congratulate his opponent at the tension soaked election. That is a rare feat in this part of the world where leaders and sundry political contenders cling tenaciously to power irrespective of their unpopularity and the verdict of the people.

    Africa is replete with such leaders. And here at home, matters are not remedied by the inability of politicians to cultivate the culture of accepting defeat. Coming from an incumbent President, there is cause to celebrate. At last, we can beat our chests and say in unison that the peace accord did the miracle. There is a ray of hope in the horizon that we are on the path to parting ways with some of our ruinous political attitudes and orientations. So, we have been left with the first scenario.

    Even though subdued anger and disgust cannot be ruled out completely, everybody seems to be happy that peace has after all reigned supreme irrespective of these feelings. Everybody seems to be satisfied and reassured that Nigeria has been rescued from the precipice of disintegration to which it was irretrievably headed.

    With this also, predictions of doom and cataclysm of unimaginable proportion have come to naught, albeit for now. Those who fled their places of residence for fear that harm may come their way after the election may now return. Perhaps, the relative peace we are now savouring is because Jonathan lost and accepted his defeat in good faith. Matters would have taken a different dimension if he had disputed the election outcome. The situation may also have been different if Buhari had lost the election. These possibilities should not be ignored as we celebrate.

    In effect, there was the hand of God in all the events that brought about the current pass. And the gloomy atmosphere has given way to a very bright one. So, there is every reason for people to be happy especially the poor who bear the brunt of the inadequacies of those who superintend over the affairs of this country. They are the ones who would have suffered immeasurably had the elections degenerated into violence. Nobody died after all. Those who reportedly died met their fate while happily celebrating the victory of their preferred candidates. May their souls rest in peace.

    Now, the much-clamoured change has come with the successful election of General Muhammad Buhari to run this country for the next four years. Change has come with the defeat of the PDP, a party that has ruled this country for over 15 years and had boasted to rule ad infinitum. That boast is now history.  Change has also come from the ascendancy of the APC into power at the national level. Change has come for the first time in our history for an incumbent president to be defeated in an election. So change is all over the place especially since that mantra was the key campaign slogan of the APC.

     

    And if we still borrow from our article under reference; that will not be the end to it all. Soon Nigerians will begin to contend with the reality of the new dawn. They will soon begin to contend with the prospects of what this change holds for them. They will begin to look up to the new things to come in the way this country had hitherto been run. They will begin to look out for fundamental changes in the structure and organization of this country in such a way that can unleash the creative energies of the constituents to fasten the pace of development and give a new lease of life to the suffering masses.

    The consciousness of the ordinary people has been aroused to the inevitability of change in statecraft. Their minds have been attuned to different approaches in the running of affairs of the government. They desire real change. That change must permeate every strata of the nation’s social fabric. It must proceed beyond vote catching strategy to redirect the resources of this country for the overall public good.

    Change cannot take place in the face of the pervasive corruption that has over the years left our people hewers of wood and fetchers of water despite the immense resources nature has placed at our backyard. Change will turn an aberration if ethnic and primordial considerations, which took ascendancy to an all time high during the elections, become prime considerations in the distribution of public resources. Change will only endure when we build national institutions that will serve all Nigerians irrespective of who is in power and from which sections of the country he got the largest chunk of electoral support.

    Good a thing, Buhari has made the fight against corruption a cardinal objective of his regime. He says the fight counts most and he is determined to make the difference in this regard. He has said it all. But the challenge can be daunting. If he can achieve that for this country, he would have written his name in gold. But for him to do that successfully, he must be resolute and firm. There are entrenched interests here and there he will have to contend with.

    The fight against corruption should also be matched with institutionalisation of a new social order based on equity, justice and fairness; a new order that will consign to the dust bin of history vestiges of alienation and marginalization of the constituent units in this unity in diversity. Then, change would have endured with the country on a steady march to peace, progress and unhindered development.

  • Buhari, you do not come to us by chance

    Muhammadu Buhari, you do not come to us by chance. You who have drunk fresh water from an unnamed stream should make history.  I bet you curse providence now or thank it. I bet you wonder why it is that it must carve you so wickedly inwards the way the eclipse comes before that twist in the scenery we all love to talk about and dream about.

    Now you must find a path we both must travel; you must find that proverbial destination we all must arrive, henceforth. You must start a new vision to guarantee the attainment of the old ones laying spent in the doldrums of ineptness and all that conceit, and deceitfulness ever gave.

    Now that you know better, let every smile become the sneer you have learnt to loathe, let every sneer become such incense that would teach your heart to obsess at the crossroads where courage banters with success and progress.

    Today, our dreams are of discord and our talk is of chaos. The cowards that we are have chosen to prevaricate where remedy jostles with perversion for head-space, in the interest of our dying State. But we choose perversion. Would you too?

    Perhaps you have no inkling what turbulence you have been chosen to curtail; do you have any idea what tempests you must ride and conquer?  Perhaps you know not what madness your lot is to contend…the storm is astir Buhari, what can you do?

    Will you become the leader and messiah of our dreams? Will you become the spitting image of predators we have learnt to endure in power? Will you become the proverbial neophyte forever walking in the shadows of enfant terrible tin gods?

    Perhaps you understand not the heart of the matter Mr. Buhari; you do not come to us by chance. You come in the year when old promises stay broken and new promises founder with the breath that utters them.

    You come when the young expect nothing and the old endure forced recall and invocation of pleasures past. You come when we can charm neither logic nor wit to justify what had been taken, stolen and forsaken.

    You come when daylight jostles with our heart’s pulsed reassurance of twilight. You have become Number One citizen at scarcely our finest hour. You come when we perfect the art of decapitation of defenceless mothers, sons and daughters. You come when we master the ‘fine art’ of execution and ethnic genocide.

    You come when fear’s moon flower spreads within the clan. You come when debauchery and bloodlust colours our dawns into devious dusks of gruesomeness and slaughter. It’s a grievous weight you bear, General Buhari, I do not envy you. Given time perhaps I would wish I were you.

    But I do not now, for this brief that you accept confounds me and yet it behoves me to suggest that you remember our official histories of rancour, administrative plunder and death. Remember the histories that afflict our peace and burden our hearts; let them be your guide in your onerous task to hack memorable paths to your own narrative in the pursuit of fresh traceries and histories in the interest of our common good.

    If you can manage to achieve that, your records speak from the shelf a thousand and one years after destiny foisted your leadership upon us. And if you are a disaster like every other before you, your record shall speak from the shelf.

    Tell me, are you the disaster they say you would become. Show us; are you the effeminate struggling to pass as ‘man,’ as circumstances command? It was a brave thing that you did keeping faith in your dream even in the face of random acts of ridicule and violence hauled at you by subhuman elements like Fayose, Fani-Kayode, Faka and company.

    It was about time Buhari that you became our dream. It was about time you actualised our heartfelt wishes; Nigeria deserves more than the impotent wimps and court jesters at the helms of affairs. Now that you have become Mr. President-elect…now, what?

    I wonder if you will get carried away in the euphoria of the moment and so doing, substantiate the fears of wanton alarmists peddling calumny against your Excellency; please do not go the way of outgoing President Goodluck Jonathan and company.

    Please do not turn governance into a bazaar; Nigeria does not need more than 18 ministries to be precise. You know such grey slots I abhor, and our people detest, don’t you?

    Having committed yourself to such gallantry that excited our hearts to sing your praise, do not renounce plaudits we summon from the depths of our hearts.

    Mr. President-elect, you will have to desert the old ways…our corrupt ways. You must deviate from the path of those who played “puppet.”

    You are adjudged to be a man of better breed and character, please do not cross over to the dark side like Jonathan. You must learn from the sad fate of Jonathan; now that you have beaten him silly to the position of Head of State, his cunningness and desperate exploits amounts to nothing; the fortune-hunters that misled him have begun to desert him even after they gobbled the feed with the cart and the left-over. Its four years since 2011 when he took over and our people are passionately retracting heart-felt paternosters they made for his sake; it is only Jonathan out there, I assure you. Please do not go the way of outgoing President Jonathan.

    You have no one Buhari; it’s just you, your actions, inactions, and posterity.

    Mr President-elect Buhari, in a nation of 170 million or more, will you do better? Your first test will be in the appointments that you make; so doing, you will announce to the world what manner of leadership you have to offer. Do not go the way of the outgoing bunch of clueless toddlers who desperately sought to play ‘adult’ to our detriment.

    I hope you are man enough to take charge. I wish you would undo the unforgivable gaffe Jonathan committed foisting damaged policies and men unto our battered state. Shall expired drugs divest the heart of terminal cancer?

    Shall you now rise in high character to act unfettered? Shall you now act enabled by superior manhood to bridge the void that swallows and dampens our lives? Shall you now with calm heart and level head summon and excite the dawning perspective of human good in the interest of Nigeria’s poor, helpless citizenry?

    You see, there is some poetry to your emergence. It is your lot to re-enact the compulsive story of patriotism undiminished, bliss-stung. Shall you now summon and regurgitate that old anguishing virtuosity in the interest of State and those whose destinies listless men you defeated frustrate even as they leave?

    I wish you strength and formidable grace as you divest our fatherland of random vile and madness that became our lot in the wake of President Jonathan’s leadership. It’s never too late to divest our destiny of men and women forever maddened by lust for power and the spoils of phantom projects. I hope you find persons of private virtue, the old-fashioned…post-modern folk who would bow their heads to no blast, and stand unbending to every brute force in the world. And we know that such men and women are yet with us.

    Find them Buhari, if truly you intend to make history.

  • The sign of things to come

    The sign of things to come

    The release, last week, of Nigeria’s growth rates under the rebased Gross Domestic Product (GDP) revealed that growth is two percentage points lower. An analysis showed that telecom is a maturing and slower-growing sector. The growth sectors are manufacturing – particularly food, cement and textile – and real estate. Banks are expected to be major gainers during the spendings for 2015 elections. COLLINS NWEZE reports.

    The actual Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate for 2013 was last week brought down to 5.49 per cent from an estimated 7.41 per cent.

    The Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its latest GDP data, said the economic growth for 2012 was revised down to 4.21 per cent, from an estimated 6.5 per cent. Nigeria overtook South Africa as Africa’s largest economy in April, after a rebasing calculation almost doubled its gross domestic product to more than $500 billion.

    Chief Economist, Renaissance Capital (RenCap) Charles Robertson said in an emailed report that the downward growth revision, which was expected, is in part the result of better measurement of previously understated but fast-growing sectors, such as telecoms.

    Roberson said a moderate improvement in growth in 2014 to 5.7 per cent is expected, partly due to a boost from higher election-related fiscal spending, including potential wage hikes for civil servants. Some sectors that are likely to gain from a looser fiscal policy include trade, financial services and telecoms.

    Also, preliminary oil output numbers for the first half of the year suggest a slowdown in the decline of the oil and gas sector, which is positive for growth. “We expect growth to moderate in 2015, particularly in the second half of 2015 – as the largesse that typically surrounds elections dissipates. However, this time around, we expect any fiscal stimulus related to elections to be much more moderate than that of 2010/2011,” he said.

     

    Telecoms maturing

    He explained in the report titled: “Nigeria’s GDP: Bigger but slower Manufacturing is the growth engine” that under the new series, telecoms accounts for nine per cent of GDP and grew by 4.7 per cent in 2013. “The rebased growth numbers confirm that telecoms’ rapid growth is in the past and the sector has matured. The decline of oil and gas partly explains the lower growth, particularly in 2013 when the sector contracted by a sizeable 13 per cent and shaved 1.5 percentage points off total growth,” he said.

     

    Manufacturing sector

    On the manufacturing sector, Robertson said the sector  is a much bigger, faster-growing sector under the new series, with nine per cent of GDP as against four per cent previously. In 2013, it recorded substantial growth of 22 per cent as against 14 per cent in 2012, comprising one-third of total growth.

    Food, beverage and tobacco producers account for half of the manufacturing sector. The sub-sector’s growth accelerated to 12 per cent in 2013, against seven per cent in 2012.

    “We believe Nigeria’s large population of upwardly mobile consumers, particularly in the south-west, coupled with investments in power, implies the strong growth of manufacturers, including food producers and breweries, is sustainable,” he said.

     

    The cement market

    Several of the smaller manufacturing sub-sectors are growing even faster than food producers. Cement, which only comprises per cent of GDP, grew by a sizeable 39 per cent in 2013, up from a strong 14 per cent in 2012. This is consistent with a fast-growing construction sector 14.2 per cent in 2013, against 9.4 per cent in 2012 and real estate sector 12 per cent against 5.6 per cent.

    Nigeria’s cement stocks give exposure to strong expansion in the building material itself, as well as the construction, real estate and infrastructure sectors. Upside for finance given lower penetration, lower rates outlook. The trade and real estate sectors trumped agriculture and financial services in 2013, to become among the top three growth drivers, together with manufacturing. The decline in agriculture’s growth contribution in 2013 was partly due to the third quarter 2012 floods.

     

    Oil and gas sector decline

    The report said the oil and gas sector’s GDP share – 11 per cent – is more or less the same as it was under the previous series. Since the sector has been contracting since 2012, its GDP share has dropped by four percentage points under the rebased series, from 15 per cent of GDP in 2011.

    “The oil and gas sector contracted by an alarming 13 per cent in 2013 after a decline of five per cent in 2012. The decline in recent years of oil and gas’s importance as an economic sector is largely attributed to industrial-scale oil theft,” it said.

    It said that preliminary oil output data suggest that the rate of decline in the oil and gas sector has slowed in first half of this year. Output was at 2.15Mb/d in June, according to a Bloomberg survey of OPEC producers.

    However, output remains volatile and there has been little in the way of reforms to suggest that there will be a material increase in output over the medium term. The passage of the long-delayed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which we believe is not going to happen before the February 2015 elections, is seen by experts as a potential positive trigger for improved production.

    Head of Research, Standard Chartered, Razia Khan said the low weights given to rapidly growing sectors such as telecoms and financial services in previous GDP measures most likely mean that activity in these sectors is understated.

    She said the non-passage of the Petroleum Industry Bill and uncertainty over future fiscal terms mean that conditions will remain difficult for the oil sector. “Delays in the passage of the 2014 budget are an additional source of uncertainty,” she said.

    Khan explained that under Nigerian law, at least 50 per cent of the recurrent budget expenditure allocated in the previous fiscal year can be used for spending in the new year, without requiring a new budget to be passed. Also, should last year’s spending levels be maintained, this should be enough to see Nigeria through the first six months of this year.

    “With elections approaching in February 2015, few stand to benefit from a postponement of capital expenditure plans. Officially, the 2014 budget aims to reduce the budget deficit to 1.9 per cent of GDP (from 2.17 per cent in 2013). Our higher estimates reflect our doubts over whether the oil output levels assumed in the budget, of 2.39mn barrels per day, can be sustained.

    Augmentation of revenue, using windfall oil savings from the Excess Crude Account (ECA), is likely to be required. Ahead of an election, there is always a risk of further fiscal deterioration if spending plans are increased,” she said.

    Khan said revenue shocks arising from constrained oil output will cause the mix of recurrent to capital expenditure to fall short of plans in the medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) which aims to create more room for investment spending.

    Managing Director, CRC Credit Bureau, Babatunde Popoola said the rebasing has finally laid to rest, the controversy over the actual size and ranking of our economy.

    He said that from the rebased GDP, it makes sense to set out the fundamental implications of the new reality.  “Nigeria is the biggest economy in Africa with a GDP of US$510 billion. Our per capita income has moved up to $2,688, which still places us on 121st position. The per capita income position is an indication of an economy with low productivity,” he said.

    Popoola said the rebasing of the GDP has also provided Nigeria with the impetus and the stimulant to see herself as a big economy. “Hopefully, it also should be able to further improve the attraction of foreign directive investment provided we are able to put together the other important factors especially appropriate policy and conducive investment climate,” he said.

    The CRC boss said Nigeria is a country blessed not only with huge human resources but also with natural resources. Nigeria is the largest producer of crude oil in Africa and also has the seventh largest crude oil export in the world with a daily production capacity of over 2.5 million barrels per day.

    “We are the 28th largest gas producer in the world and may be the second fastest growing gas producer in the world. But as an oil dependent economy, substantial revenues of government are derived from oil and gas which also account for over 90 per cent of the country’s foreign exchange earnings. Apart from oil and gas, Nigeria has thirty-four other unexploited mineral resources,” he said.

    Continuing, he said: “With democracy and the pursuit of a free enterprise economy, we have given impetus to free ownership of means of production and equal opportunities to all who may wish to embark on their own private initiatives.

    “The size of the economy through its newly calculated GDP, the growth of the GDP over the last decade and the nature of our youthful demographic all provide a beautiful outlook for Nigeria.”

     

     

  • PDM to Baraje faction: Come and join us

    PDM to Baraje faction: Come and join us

    The newly registered Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) has thrown its doors open to the Abubakar Baraje-led breakaway faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The PDM’s invitation is coming on the heels of an appeal by PDP national chairman Bamanga Tukur to members of the faction to return to the fold.

    Deputy National Chairman of the PDM, Mr. Bode Ajewole, urged the factional members of the PDP to move to the PDM where they would be given a free hand to realise their political aspirations.

    According to him, many of the members of the PDP were founding members of the PDM in the military era before the movement was registered as a political party a few weeks ago.

    Ajewole said: “We are ready to accommodate them in PDM, although we have not initiated discussions with them yet. But we believe that the PDM is going to be their last political bus stop.

    “The PDM is the greatest and most successful political family force in Nigeria, dating back to 1987 and giving birth to many parties and successful politicians.

    “Our party is head and shoulders taller than others in terms of democratic equity, unity, development and the pursuance of good governance. We shall do well in 2015 polls.”

    He listed as members of the PDM “great politicians”, such as the late Senate President, Dr Chuba Okadigbo, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Alhaji Lai Mohammed and ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar among others.

    Tukur yesterday urged aggrieved PDP members to retrace their steps to the PDP.

    According to him, the breakaway members should come back to the party; otherwise the PDP train would move without them. Tukur spoke before a group of youths and women at the party’s secretariat in Abuja.

    He said: “What is going on in the PDP recently, is something of concern. If they come back, we can tell them ‘welcome back’. But also, it is something that can always happen in a family. But whatever happens should be resolved within the house but not outside.”

    He described members of the breakaway faction as “prodigal” sons, stressing that like the Biblical prodigal son, the party would be ready to accept them back if they desire to do so.

    Tukur said: “A prodigal son can be accepted back because the PDP will not disown its sons and daughters. But, of course, you will have to face the consequences of taking a wrong step. You have to reconnect and correct your wrong steps. If you don’t, the PDP train will move without you.”

    Commenting on the crisis in the party, PDP woman leader, Mrs. Kema Chikwe said: “The party is facing challenging times because of the morbid quest for power by unreasonable members of the party. PDP has done so much for Nigeria and has provides the ladder for many people politically and deserved to be protected.”

  • Ogun PDP: Has peace come at last?

    Ogun PDP: Has peace come at last?

    The national leadership of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has of late taken drastic steps to resolve the intricate crises bedevilling its Ogun State chapter. In this report, Assistant Editor, Dare Odufowokan, examines the development and wonders if peace has returned to the party.

    The Ogun State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is irked by a lack of generally accepted leadership that can unite its distraught followers and reposition the party as the strongest opposition party in the state that it ought to be.

    But following last week’s sweeping decisions by the national leadership of the party, which gave recognition to one of the warring factional state executives and sacked some National Working Committee members from the southwest in obeisance to a court order, analysts say it is possible that peace may have finally returned to the embattled party.

    The national leadership had withdrawn its recognition of the state executive led by Senator Dipo Odujinrin. In its stead, the Adebayo Dayo-led committee was pronounced the authentic leadership of the PDP in Ogun State. The action, according to some party chieftains, will help to douse the raging battle among the factions.

    Those sacked from office were the National Auditor, Chief Bode Mustapha, and the National Vice-Chairman (South-West) Mr. Segun Oni. While Mustapha was replaced with Fatai Adeyanju, the NWC set up a caretaker committee to replace Oni’s southwest executive committee.

    The decision to remove these officers were taken at the meeting held in Abuja on Thursday by members of the National Working Committee. The meeting was presided over by the National Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur.

    Citing the outcome of a series of suits filed on the last nationwide congress of the party, amongst which include FHC/L/CS/1248/2011, FHC/L/CS/282/2012 and FHC/L/CS/347/2012, the PDP said:

    “That the Executive Committee constituted for the PDP in Ogun State at congresses, conducted by the Bashorun Dayo Soremi-led harmonised executive committee for the wards, local governments and in the state in March 2012, are valid executive council of the party at the various levels in Ogun State and are entitled to their four-year  tenure.

    ‘That the PDP is to organise a fresh South-West Zonal Congress at which access is to be given to delegates elected at congresses conducted by or under the supervision of the Soremi-led Ogun State Executive and accept the candidacy, for offices zoned to Ogun State, of only the persons nominated at the said congresses for the said offices.

    ‘That the South-West Zonal Congress of the Peoples Democratic Party, conducted in March 2012, is nullified.’

    The party said it took the decisions after much deliberation on the various crises rocking the party in the southwest.

    ‘The decision is a good move and we are hoping that it will be the beginning of a new era in Ogun PDP. With the recognition of the authentic leadership as directed by the law court, I am optimistic that members of the party will now have a sense of direction and those on the other side will have no choice than to embrace the new era.

    “Respect for the rule of law is one major ingredient of democracy and I am sure these developments will really help us in Ogun PDP to find the much needed path to peace. There cannot be a better time for this to happen. I just want all our people to take advantage of this opportunity to return our great party to greatness,’ Pegba Otemolu, a chieftain of the party, said.

    But some chieftains of the party do not share Otemolu’s optimism. In fact, some argue that the development is an affront on certain leaders of the party and is bound to create more problems within the troubled party.

    Tunde Oladunjoye, deputy gubernatorial aspirant of the party in the 2011 governorship election in the state, sees the removal of the Odujinrin-led executive as a direct attack on the person of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    The former council boss, who made his opinion known in several posts he sent out through the social media immediately the announcement was made, posited that an end to the crisis rocking the party is nowhere in sight.

    Since the run up to the 2011 general election, the party has been struggling to enshrine some form of decorum and harmony amongst its many factions. Three major factions have been battling for the control of the party in the state. The fierce struggle among these contending forces has left the party worse off.

    While the Adebayo Dayo and Senator Dipo Odujinrin factional state executive committees have fought fiercely in and out of the courtrooms to determine which is the authentic leadership of the party in the state, another faction loyal to former governor Gbenga Daniel is daily adding to the confusion within the fold with its frantic effort to be allowed to return to the party it left way back in 2011.

    The Dayo faction, which all along is recognised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), is backed by bigwigs, including party financier Buruji Kashamu. The Odujirin-led faction, which before now enjoyed the support of the PDP headquarters, is alleged to be loyal to ex-President Olusegun Obasanjo.

    Both factions, which suspended each other recently, have expended more energy on the raging supremacy tussle than repositioning the party, following its woeful performance in the 2011 election. The consequence is that much effort was concentrated on crisis resolution within the party.

    The Daniel faction, which defected to the Peoples Party of Nigeria (PPN), wants to return to the PDP. The party is clearly divided over the matter. A section believes that the return of Daniel’s men may reduce the influence of certain party chieftains. But the national leadership of the party and the presidency is believed to be favourably disposed to Daniel’s return.

    While Jonathan and Tukur see the former governor as an asset that should be courted back into the party, the two warring factions in the state have maintained that the former governor worked against the party in the 2011 election and as such does not deserve an easy return to PDP in Ogun State.

    Speaking on the recognition of his faction and the way forward for the PDP in Ogun State, Dayo said with the replacement of imposition with justice and democracy by the national leadership of the party, the PDP in Ogun State is back on the path to greatness.

    ‘The situation is that for a very long time, dictatorship has been reigning in many areas, not only in our party but all over Nigeria. But this time around, our party sat down, we had a lot of deliberations and they decided that the only way out is to have a very clean party by following the rule of law.

    “So, the rule of law has prevailed. Our party does not want any imposition. We want to have a very clean internal democracy. That is what is happening now. What I can assure you is that once again, our party is back in the road to greatness,” he said.

    But will the other factional leaders close ranks with Dayo to accelerate the obviously very long walk to Ogun PDP’s return to political reckoning? Time, and only time will tell.