The Nation Newspaper

Tag: counter-productive

  • Demonising NASS counter-productive

    For some time now, the National Assembly and its members have again come under strident public criticism over various charges, ranging from bloated salaries, appropriated constituency projects, defections, and being anti presidency. The occasional drama, including the snatching of the mace, is latched on as unacceptable shenanigans by the members. It got to a point that some were even questioning the relevance of the National Assembly. It would seem that ignorance and mischief on the role of the National Assembly in a democracy rule the land, particularly among vocal commentators who have seized the pubic communication platform. The very thought of the National Assembly, the legislative   arm of government, being dispensable is the height of paranoia and delusion.

    It is worth emphasizing the established fact that without the National Assembly, there cannot be democracy. It differentiates it from other forms of government which all have the executive and the judiciary. What is playing out is basically the inherent conflict embedded in democracy under its doctrine of separation of powers, checks and balances. But that doctrine is a myth because in practice, the executive arm is primus inter pares – first among equals – and universally tries to subjugate the legislative arm, with varying degrees of success, hence the perpetual tussle between the two. This is what is playing out but with the dice loaded against the National Assembly.

    Let us begin with the latest face-off between the executive and the National Assembly over the approval of the supplementary budget, including budget for Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).  Should the executive have delayed presentation of INEC budget this late, barely six months to the 2019 general elections knowing that it has to undergo processes necessary for lawmakers’ approval?  As explained by spokespersons of the senate president and speaker of the house, relevant committees of both chambers of the National Assembly have to work on the estimates,  meet in joint committee sessions before final presentation to plenary for approval. These processes will have to be concluded before reconvening the plenary session.  So, is the executive intent on short-circuiting these processes and stampeding the National Assembly into approving INEC budget without proper scrutiny? This cannot be in the national interest.  With regard to the snatching of the mace, the blame cannot be on the senate but rather on the security agencies. For some people to burst into the senate chamber, snatch the mace and still exit the National Assembly complex where police personnel are expected to be fully on ground, makes a mockery of policing in the country. It explains why violent criminals are having a field day.

    Before now, the salaries, emoluments and constituency projects of National Assembly members brought them into public condemnation. There were comparisons with earnings of parliamentarians in other democratic countries. These comparisons are out of context, given the peculiarities of the Nigerian situation. Unlike other climes where constituents contribute to campaign funds of candidates, in Nigeria, constituents turn candidates and elected members into ATM machines for endless cash calls. Elected representatives are the closest to the grassroots and subject to intense pressure to provide dividends of democracy. This pressure   justifies constituency projects being implemented directly by legislators as proof of their contribution to their constituencies’ development. A federal lawmaker established a health facility in my village, Ijebu-Isiwo in Ijebu-Ode local government area of Ogun state, to the gratitude of the people. It would seem that the executive leadership at state and federal levels do not want legislators to claim provision of such facilities so as to project the governor or the president as the sole fountain of democracy dividends. The amount of money appropriated for constituency projects is therefore a non-issue, but rather their judicious application. In this regard, the increasingly sensitized constituents use provision of constituency projects as one of the considerations in re-election of incumbents.

    The National Assembly should ordinarily be mobilized as an ally of President Muhammadu Buhari’s very laudable anti-corruption campaign through its oversight function in making sure monies appropriated are expended as prescribed.  But here again, legislators come under undeserved criticism being labeled as witch-hunting when they expose  financial frauds in Ministries, Departments and  Agencies (MDAs) or alternatively lampooned as bribe takers where they give clean bills of financial prudence. So, head or tail, they lose. On corruption, it is instructive to note that revelations of unimaginable looting of the public treasury, so far, revolved mainly around people in executive positions, security agencies and MDAs, not legislators.

    The weapon of impeachment by the legislative arm of government is a potent one. Of course, it is not expected to be deployed frivolously but can compel sobriety in governors and presidents to take needful steps in situations of critical crisis. Every one cries today about the grave state of insecurity in the land – with violent criminals holding sway. The president has come under virulent criticism, especially with regard to the murderous onslaught of herdsmen across several states in the country and rampaging bandits. Isn’t it just possible that an impeachment threat against the president on failure to adequately tackle insecurity may have the salutary effect of jolting him to take necessary measures to stop the carnage to the relief of us all ? But then the strategic value of such a move to nudge the president to action station in combating insecurity will be lost on hypocrite, do-gooder sympathisers of the executive who will descend on National Assembly members as enemies of the nation! The illogic stance will be: How dare them?  It is unfortunate that a soldier, General Olusegun Obasanjo, was foisted on the nation as president on return to democratic governance in 1999. He deployed jackboot strategy to overrun the party of which he was a late joiner, and crushed the National Assembly by indiscriminately changing the leadership of both institutions.  He emasculated these institutions and ran an imperial presidency, the legacy of which is the continued demonization of the National Assembly. It is an approach to governance in a democracy that is counter-productive and cannot serve the public good.

     

    • Dr. Olawunmi, a public affairs analysts, is former Washington Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and Fellow, Nigerian Guild of Editors.
  • EPA is counter-productive, says ex-Tanzanian President

    EPA is counter-productive, says ex-Tanzanian President

    Former Tanzanian President Mr. Benjamin Mkapa has advised Nigeria to resist pressure to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU) because, according to him, such contract is counterproductive.

    Mkapa sounded this warning as guest speaker at a forum organised by the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN). He warned the Nigerian Government and other African leaders not to touch EPA as he likened it to a poisoned chalice.

    He wondered how the continent can be asked to allow finished goods from advanced economies. He said such agreements are not in line with the aspirations of African countries.

    Mkapa noted that African leaders should imbibe home-grown solution to address some of the developmental needs facing the continent especially in industrialisation.

    He lamented a situation where African countries are encouraged to export primary products instead of adding value to them, which in turn are sent back to Africa as finished products at a higher cost. He said this can only be likened to modern day slavery.

    “We should not follow global trend but rather work on where we have comparative advantage. Unfortunately globalisation has made it almost impossible for national concept and value chain to prosper. African leaders must come to terms with what is good for their people and pursue it,” Mkapa said.

    He also advised that African leaders should desist from following the options presented by the Europeans, but rather look to China in terms of development and adaptation.

    He said adopting the Chinese model is not only cheaper, but can easily lead to technology transfer and faster development judging from the growth of the Chinese economy in a short space of time.

    Consequently, Mkapa encouraged African countries to “undertake some degree of industrialisation to add value to their agricultural and primary products and natural resources and ultimately increase government revenue.”

    MAN President, Dr. Frank Udemba Jacobs said his association sees the EU’s EPA suggestion supposedly ‘appetizing carrot’ as a dagger directed at the heart of Nigeria’s industrial sector.

    He explained that they have advised government that signing the agreement in its present form would impact negatively on local manufacturing and result in shutdown of industries with heavy job losses, because of the unfair competition that will evolve.

    “Nigeria’s manufacturers are obviously unimpressed by the promised EU package of about $9 billion to the 15 members of ECOWAS, over a five year period, as MAN estimates that the Nigerian treasury could lose over $1.3 trillion revenue from a significant reduction in import duties if the EPA is also endorsed in its present state,” Udemba said.

  • Return of post-UTME counter-productive

    SIR: It is saddening that the Nigerian government, after so many years, has still not been able to get its tertiary education policy right. Successive governments have only engaged in what can be likened to ‘trial and error’. The recent directive by the Minister of Education that universities should conduct Post-UTME screenings lends credence to the view above. Without a doubt, these haphazard measures and policy somersaults won’t help the educational sector of the country. I am of the firm view that Post-UTME has no real benefit whatsoever!

    First, Post-UTME doesn’t correct, in any way, the lapses identified in the UTME organised by JAMB. This is for the simple reason that the ‘system’ that made it impossible for the UTME to be ‘perfect’ will also make it impossible for the Post-UTME to be  plague free. To that end, we only put our young people and families through unnecessary stress when we insist on Post-UTME. As I see it, it is just about the money these institutions can make and which they often don’t account for.

    Secondly, Post-UTME doesn’t improve the quality of instruction in the universities. It also doesn’t improve the quality of graduates that are churned out of our universities yearly. For instance, in the last 12 years, have our graduates been better than those before them? Well, more persons will be inclined to argue that the reverse is actually the case. It is contended that quality investment in education with particular emphasis on imaginative thinking is what does the trick! Since that is absent, for as long as we can remember, tertiary education in Nigeria has been on a downward trend. So, why the deceit with the suggestion that Post-UTME will help to check the quality of students being admitted and help to improve the system down the line?

    Poignantly, the majority of universities in Europe and North America don’t set examinations before they admit students. Instructively, representatives from these universities come to Nigeria and they offer on the spot admission to Nigerians by just sighting their ordinary level results. And yet, it is very easy to argue that our best universities cannot compete with those universities under any guise!

    To be fair, Post-UTME might have been conceived with the best of intentions. However, as it has been made to operate, it is a tool handed to the university authorities with which to patronise themselves and also perpetrate mind numbing graft!

    It would have been easy to overlook if not that it is really a tragedy. This is especially as tertiary education holds the key to the long sought after transformation of our largely crude society. Even if we cannot convoke a conference to articulate the way forward for (tertiary) education in Nigeria, we can at least copy from societies with workable systems! This is why I propose that Post-UTME should be scrapped forthwith. I also propose that JAMB’s UTME should be done away with.

    • O. D. Nengim, Esq.

    Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

  • Return of post-UTME counter-productive

    SIR: It is saddening that the Nigerian government, after so many years, has still not been able to get its tertiary education policy right. Successive governments have only engaged in what can be likened to ‘trial and error’. The recent directive by the Minister of Education that universities should conduct Post-UTME screenings lends credence to the view above. Without a doubt, these haphazard measures and policy somersaults won’t help the educational sector of the country. I am of the firm view that Post-UTME has no real benefit whatsoever!

    First, Post-UTME doesn’t correct, in any way, the lapses identified in the UTME organised by JAMB. This is for the simple reason that the ‘system’ that made it impossible for the UTME to be ‘perfect’ will also make it impossible for the Post-UTME to be  plague free. To that end, we only put our young people and families through unnecessary stress when we insist on Post-UTME. As I see it, it is just about the money these institutions can make and which they often don’t account for.

    Secondly, Post-UTME doesn’t improve the quality of instruction in the universities. It also doesn’t improve the quality of graduates that are churned out of our universities yearly. For instance, in the last 12 years, have our graduates been better than those before them? Well, more persons will be inclined to argue that the reverse is actually the case. It is contended that quality investment in education with particular emphasis on imaginative thinking is what does the trick! Since that is absent, for as long as we can remember, tertiary education in Nigeria has been on a downward trend. So, why the deceit with the suggestion that Post-UTME will help to check the quality of students being admitted and help to improve the system down the line?

    Poignantly, the majority of universities in Europe and North America don’t set examinations before they admit students. Instructively, representatives from these universities come to Nigeria and they offer on the spot admission to Nigerians by just sighting their ordinary level results. And yet, it is very easy to argue that our best universities cannot compete with those universities under any guise!

    To be fair, Post-UTME might have been conceived with the best of intentions. However, as it has been made to operate, it is a tool handed to the university authorities with which to patronise themselves and also perpetrate mind numbing graft!

    It would have been easy to overlook if not that it is really a tragedy. This is especially as tertiary education holds the key to the long sought after transformation of our largely crude society. Even if we cannot convoke a conference to articulate the way forward for (tertiary) education in Nigeria, we can at least copy from societies with workable systems! This is why I propose that Post-UTME should be scrapped forthwith. I also propose that JAMB’s UTME should be done away with.

     

    • O. D. Nengim, Esq.

    Port Harcourt, Rivers State.