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Tag: economic

  • Cassava as driver of economic growth

    Cassava as driver of economic growth

    Given the increase in its production to meet rising demand from operators in the livestock feed, starch and bio fuel markets, cassava is gradually becoming a major cash crop and driver of industrial development. DANIEL ESSIET writes.

    A Few decades ago, cassava was not a major cash crop. But today, the story has changed. The crop is being transformed from a humble root crop into a money spinner of sort for farmers and a prized industrial input. Much of the turnaround in the fortunes of the crop is driven by increasing production and rising demand from the livestock feed, starch, and bio-fuel markets.

      The Nation learnt that because of the intervention on cassava under the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) of the government, demand for cassava has grown so strong that those who traditionally engaged only in subsistence farming  grow cassava as a cash crop. This made cassava a dynamic cash crop, helping to drive industrial development while delivering higher incomes to small holder farmers.

    Addressing a Cassava Adding Value for Africa Stakeholders forum in Lagos, the Coordinator, Cassava Value Chain, ), Regional Hub for East Africa, International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Tanzania, Dr. Adebayo Abass, said cassava has multiple uses and markets, ranging from on-farm consumption as food or livestock feed to local wet or dry starch processing enterprises and large-scale commercial operations. Besides, wet starch extraction and transformation has been the business of cassava trading clusters.

    Abass said there was a tremendous opportunity for the industry to create 30 million jobs across Africa. These opportunities, he said, arise from demand for cassava starch and chips, which are likely to increase strongly in local and international markets, signaling a bright future for the domestic cassava industry. He said cassava has a huge potential and could turn from ‘a poor people’s food into a 21st century crop’ if grown according to a new environment-friendly farming model.

    According to him, cassava yields have increased due to the planting of new high-yielding varieties and the adoption of more sustainable production practices across the continent and many factories have invested in the upgrade of their production technology. With tremendous support coming from the government, he predicts that demand for cassava would continue to increase, adding that the domestic market would also see high demand for cassava by-products as raw material for enterprises. He noted that cassava farming is a great business and that there is a huge market for the commodity, which could be grown in all parts of the country.

    The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr Akinwumi Adesina, said the cassava transformation project seeks to create a new generation of cassava farmers oriented towards commercial production and farming as a business. H said the plan was to link them up to reliable demand either from processors or a guaranteed minimum price scheme of the government.

    Represented by the Technical Adviser (Cassava Value Chain), Mrs. Toyin Adetunji, the Minister said the overall strategy of the cassava transformation is to turn the cassava sector in Nigeria into a major player in local and international starch, sweeteners, ethanol, High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF), and dried chips industries by adopting improved production and processing technologies, and organising producers and processors into efficient value-added chains. To  boost  domestic  production of  cassava bread, the minister  said  the  Federal Government has given the Bank of Industry (BoI) the mandate  to manage the N4.3 billion Cassava Bread Development Fund to support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), master bakers and large industrial cassava flour mills.

    He further said the fund would also be used to support research and development efforts on cassava bread, training of master bakers, and support for master bakers for the acquisition of new equipment for production.

    The Minister earlier said in another forum that the Federal Government was to provide machines for the cultivation of 29,500 cassava farms. This would be funded from the Cassava Bread Development Fund managed by BoA.

    Adesina said cultivating the farms would cost N915 million. He said the government would supply 1,770,000 bundles of planting materials to the owners of the farms at the cost of N708 million. In addition, the government would supply 118,000 bags of cassava-specific fertiliser at N708million and 88,500 litres of herbicides at N88.5 million to the farmers.

    According to him, the farmers are to produce 59,000 metric tonnes of cassava roots in line with the transformation plan. Adesina said the ministry was facilitating the procurement of 22 medium-scale high quality plants of 60 metric tonnes capacity to meet the annual demand for high quality flour. He said the ministry was carrying out the enumeration of all farmers, including the cassava farmers with their bio-data for input into a database. The objective, he explained, is to have a baseline upon which levels of intervention could be measured in terms of outreach and impact. In 2012, he said 21,059 farmers benefitted from free 315,898 bundles of cassava stems, while in 2013, 1,546,720 bundles of improved stems were distributed to 64,000 cassava farmers for 25,779 hectares expected to yield 644,475 metric tonnes of roots.

    He reiterated government’s commitment to building robust fresh roots supply chains for cassava processing plants; supporting large/medium HQCF mills, SMEs producing HQCF and master bakers who use 20 per cent of HQCF in bread production. According to him, HQCF can be used as an alternative for starch and wheat flour in a variety of industries. These include raw materials for the production of glucose syrups, industrial alcohol, bakery products, and in the production of adhesives, as an extender for plywood glues and as a source of starch in textile sizing. He said efforts have been made to develope a simple and appropriate process for producing HQCF that is suitable for baking. This was tested in the baking and confectionary industries; it was found successful and the cost implications were favorable.

    For the Minister, the introduction of cassava starch in the food and non-food industries has transformed the cassava utilisation industry. This is because it is used as an ingredient in manufactured foods (infant foods, confectionary, glucose, alcohol) and in non- food industries (glues, oil well drilling, adhesives, paper sizing and bonding, textile sizing and strengthening).

    He  said  Nigeria  is  one of the leading  production  of  cassava in the  world  and that  production has witnessed a tremendous increase  following  the introduction of high-yielding, disease-resistant varieties.

    The Country Manager, Cassava Adding Value for Africa, and President, Nigerian Institute of Food Science and Technology (NIFST), Prof. Lateef Sanni, called on the government to pass the bill regulating the institute to guarantee food safety. Cassava, he  noted, is used as food, dried chips for feed, alcohol, and starch, and for industrial uses and is the staple food crop of the nation’s population. Under CAVA, he said there is a roadmap to increase the national average yield per hectare, taking cognizance of the bright financial prospect being offered by the cassava sector.

    The Project Director, CAVA 11, Dr Kola Adebayo, said Africa has shown remarkable success in cassava processing. This followed the introduction of machines for most unit operations to ease the labour-intensiveness of the trade. He said there are processors involved in producing traditional foods or intermediate products, such as chips, high quality cassava flour and starch.

    According to him, there are some exclusive cassava-based products being traded in countries served by CAVA project. Adebayo said the project  has  worked  to  encourage  local fabricators  in processing technology, adding  that  farmers  can  now  have  access to locally fabricated mechanized and high-capacity equipment to get involved in the  business. The project gives farmers the opportunity needed to develop and test an integrated approach that keeps the benefits of cassava production and processing in rural communities. For him, cassava trade is expanding quickly, particularly in response to burgeoning exports of dried cassava chips and starch to China.

    Experts believe the cassava boom largely depended on local processing of cassava into wet and dry starch, which is then transformed into higher value food and industrial products – from noodles, glucose, and maltose to textiles, pharmaceuticals, cardboard and glue. Also, crop varieties were tested along with improved production, soil erosion control practices – specifically better use of fertiliser.

    The new cassava varieties from IITA’s collaborative breeding efforts have been grown on   cassava areas where they have doubled average crop yields. Shortages of cassava roots is however still a challenge though the higher yielding varieties and cassava roots are sourced from IITA and other research institutes.

    Experts, however, said how much farmers benefit from increased cassava trade depends a lot on two things: how well they are linked to markets and how well they manage their crop.

  • Economic sabotage

    Economic sabotage

    •That oil majors can short-change us is an indictment of our regulatory agencies

    THE report that President Goodluck Jonathan has ordered the recovery of $7.8 billion allegedly owed in unpaid taxes and rents by Shell, Chevron, Total, Mobil and other oil companies is something of grave concern. If truly these oil companies owe such humongous sum to Nigeria, then we condemn their undue economic exploitation of our country. Also, the report that Total is believed to be fleecing the country through the inflation of contracts in Ofon 2 Oil project, if true, must be deprecated. Such conducts amount to economic sabotage against Nigeria and is also an indictment of our national institutions responsible for protecting our national assets.

    But President Jonathan must also go beyond starring down the oil majors, for tax evasion and inflation of contracts, if he wants to be taken serious on corruption plaguing the country. He must also be bold to seek the recovery of the over $10 billion dollars which the local oil giant, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) is accused of unlawfully withholding from the federation account.

    The attempt by President Jonathan to use the suspension of the former Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, to deflate that serious indictment of his administration on corrupt practices, falls flat on its face. If he wants the world to see him as waking up to his responsibility as the protector of the Nigerian economic heritage, then he must immediately start to clean the Augean Stables around him, even as he ensures that institutions that should make international economic saboteurs pay for their actions do their job.

    President Jonathan must indeed realise that any indictment of the exploitative economic activities of the oil majors is also an indictment of his administration. After all, while the oil companies are expected to exhibit international best practices in their business in Nigeria, we have executive institutions, that owe Nigeria the primary responsibility of protecting her from untoward economic exploitation. Here we refer particularly to the NNPC, the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), and the Directorate of Petroleum Resources (DPR). Unfortunately, it is public knowledge that the NNPC and DPR have, despite the huge resources at their disposal and their many years of operation failed to develop the required skill to effectively man our oil industry.

    So, if President Jonathan honestly wants to fight the opacity in the oil industry, then he should read the riot act to the local institutions that he controls. It is a shame that it is the major oil companies that have the capacity to determine what quantity of oil we export, instead of the local regulatory agencies. It is also disreputable that it is the oil majors that have the capacity to determine the cost of high-tech contracts that they execute, as the operators of the joint venture agreement in our oil industry.

    The result of this anomaly is at the root of the disagreement over the taxes owed or the costs of contracts. Of course but for corruption and self-inflicted lack of capacity, the NNPC, DPR and indeed the FIRS should be the ones demanding outstanding taxes and ensuring value for money for Nigeria.

    For, as it happens in other climes, if any tax payer defaults, or if any corporate organisation corruptly inflates any contract, the culprit is immediately indicted and made to pay penalties. Indeed, where there is undue delay to pay taxes or actions to criminally fleece the economy, the officials of such corporate organisation risk going to jail. As far as we know, such economic crimes are never an opportunity for a country’s political leader to turn to a tax collector. It is also not something to wring the hands in utter helplessness by state actors.

  • Investment flows shaping economic growth

    Power, consumer and industrial goods, and the oil and gas sectors need substantial investments to thrive and galvanise activities in the economy. Investment inflows, banks’ asset-mix  are creating hope for renewed economic growth. Analysts spoke during the launch of Meritrade, an on-line stock trading platform by Meristem Securities Limited, in Lagos. COLLINS NWEZE reports.

    Reforms in the power sector are expected to trigger an influx of investments both locally and internationally, Managing Director, Meristem Securities, Oluwole Abegunde has said.

    He said the World Bank has indicated its interest to invest $1 billion in the power sector. International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank, is set to mobilise funds for one of the power generation firms and to support about three power distribution firms.

    In addition, the Federal Government has signed an agreement with Chinese firms to build $1.3 billion power plants in the country. Also, General Electric (GE) okayed a $1 billion deal with the Federal Government, starting with $250 million with the balance spread over five years in a multi-model service and manufacturing facility in Rivers State, thus making Nigeria a hub for servicing GE turbine generating machines in Africa.

    MTN Nigeria has also obtained $3 billion syndicated loan deal involving 17 Nigerian and seven foreign banks, as part of efforts to enhance its infrastructure and service delivery across the country. Abegunde said with the quantum of investments coming into the country, the impact on GDP from last year will be sizeable and should contribute to shifting the growth curve outwards.

    Abegunde said government remains the biggest spender in almost all global economies, and Nigeria is not an exception. For him, the level of spending recorded during the 2011 election would be repeated in the 2015 election year. He said such spending creates huge impact on the money and capital markets, which discerning investors can leverage on.

    He explained that from government spending, equities market activities, banking transactions and naira positions are critical in raising the level of activities in the economy.

    Govt spending will keep rising

    Analysts said government spending would rise ahead of the election year. For instance, the Federal Government consumption expenditure accounted for 26.8 per cent while private consumption expenditure and other components accounted for 50.5 per cent and 22.7 per cent in 2012.

    Also, government capital expenditure contributed 2.16 per cent to GDP while the recurrent expenditure contributed 8.2 per cent. The level of the government expenditure has grown by 6.87 per cent over the past five years (2008 to 2012) as against GDP growth of 6.27 per cent over the same period.

    “Assessing expenditure figures in 2010 and 2011 (pre-election and election years), we noted increased contribution of government’s expenditure to GDP. In second quarter of 2010, the government’s expenditure contribution to GDP increased by 30.29 per cent on a quarter on quarter basis and 22.55 per cent year-on year,” Abegunde said.

    Also, the fourth quarter of 2010 and first quarter of 2011 witnessed significant year-on-year increase of 31.74 per cent and 24.14 per cent as against the usual average year-on-year rise of 0.21 per cent (pre-election period from first quarter of 2009 to first quarter of 2010) and an average year-on-year decrease of -11 per cent (post-election period from fourth quarter of 2011 to fourth quarter of 2012), he said.

    Explaining further, he said in second quarter of 2010 and second quarter of 2011, the government expenditure contributed 35.88 per cent and 36.76 per cent to GDP quarterly was 31.48 per cent in pre-election period, 33.03 per cent in election period and 28.09 per cent in post-election period.

    He explained that with the imminent 2015 presidential and gubernatorial elections, the same impact will play out in the year as pre-election fiscal releases emerge.

    “In proposing a ‘winning’ strategy that delivers alpha, our strategy considers the potential risk inherent within the economic and financial landscape in Nigeria in years ahead owing to the uncertainties around the polity amongst other headwinds,” he said.

    Equities market expectations

    He said the equities market posted 47.19 per cent, which is the second highest returns in Africa, after Ghana’s 78.9 per cent. Major thrusts of this robust return include strong, though moderate corporate earnings and benefits, strengthened outlook on emerging and global economies as well as news flow on the United States quantitative easing tapering.

    He said the sector, consumer goods, industrial goods and oil and gas retained dominance in terms of returns and activities.

    He said with recovery in the global economy in sight, attractiveness of the domestic economy and expectation for sustained foreign portfolio investment inflow, with pockets of domestic political concerns and modest equities valuation, “we expect 6.56 per cent return for equities in 2014”.

    Abegunde also said myriad of factors, including reduced interest income and increasing operating costs last year, saw the sector record slower earnings growth which stood at 18 per cent as at September, last year, compared to the previous year when earnings growth averaged 100 per cent.

    “In our view, we expect banks’ asset-mix to tilt towards treasuries with the burgeoning infrastructure and power sector,” he said.

    Abegunde said last year was bad for the agricultural sector when compared with its 2012 performance, as declining commodities’ prices and insecurity in the north affected revenues.

    However, he said firms in the sector have made significant strides in cost efficiency projects, which are expected to yield in the year, even as commodities prices are expected to remain moderate. Also, the increased capacity by firms has led to new business lines which should also drive business performance in the year.

    Meritrade trading platform

    The Meritrade on-line platform with mobile apps will serve as a virtual stockbroking platform, helping users to trade on stocks on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) from anywhere.

    Abegunde said the innovation will offer investors control and convenience over their investments. According to him, “the Meritrade app will give users a unique experience, convenience and control over their investments. Our customers can n trade and manage their investments 24 hours daily, with their mobile devices without having to come to our office.’

    Abegunde explained that the portal is a do-it-yourself module that allows investors fill and submit account opening forms online and fund their accounts through their internet banking model or designated banks.

    He said the investors will monitor their investments online and can invest in shares and fixed income (bonds) even as they can also make withdrawal requests from their stock broking account online.

    At the launch, Mr. Oscar Onyema, Chief Executive Officer, NSE endorsed the Meritrade app as a reliable and convenient mode of trading on equities.

    He described it as an innovation, noting that it will encourage people from all walks of life, particularly the youth, including students, first- time employees and civil servants to invest in stocks.

    Onyema said: “In June 2013, while discussing technology and some of the NSE’s pillar for growth, I mentioned Mobile and Online trading as part of the next wave in our business development efforts. This position is rooted on the NSE’s realisation that the securities industry is largely driven by technology.

    “Speed, accessibility and robustness of technology systems are critical success factors of modern trading and the Meritrade platform has been demonstrated as one that provides the aforementioned.”

    Presenting the product’s overview, Mrs Gbadunola Sokunbi, the Divisional Head, Stockbroking, Meristem Securities, said the app will allow investors trade in shares and bonds from as low as N50,000. She explained that “to be eligible, interested people should have access to internet, e-mail address, an operational bank account, a moderate understanding of the stock market and a stockbroking account with Meristem Securities.’

    Coordinator, Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria (ISAN) Sir Sunny Nwosu said investors were glad about the seamless nature of the portal. He said steps taken by Meritem Securities Limited will make it possible for investors to take quick investment decisions and earn better returns on their investments.

    Demography-backed growth

    Report by Meristem said wholesale and retail trade in Nigeria have been majorly driven by operations in the retail sector, which consists of packaged foods, mobile phones, clothing items, and other consumer goods. The sector is one of the major beneficiaries of the changing demography in Nigeria. It said Nigeria’s 170 million population is mainly composed of young people with median age estimated at 19.2 years.

    “With the introduction of the Structural Adjustment Programme in 1980 came the significant shrinking of the middle class as well as major supermarkets. However, since 2011, Nigeria has witnessed an expanding middle income population with channels for wholesale and retail distribution simultaneously rising to cater for their needs,” it said.

    Macro indicators

    The investment and research firm said key global and domestic macro indicators are set to be the pillars of our growth outlook for the year and in the medium-term.

    “While major indicators suggest a positive investment environment in 2014, we note the likely impacts of political tensions in the country as the 2015 elections draw closer. Notwithstanding, these macro factors support our optimistic case for Nigeria as a choice investment destination in 2014,” it said.

     

    Naira role in investment drive

    The report said given the sustained commitment of the CBN to defend the naira, the naira/dollar maintained a relatively stable rate of N156 at the official market for most part of 2013. The interbank and parallel markets opened the year at 0.3 per cent and two per cent premiums respectively to the official rate but closed at wider premiums of four per cent and 12 per cent.

    “Given pockets of observable inefficiencies in the system in 2013, CBN met most of these with stern policy actions. However, given the outlook on the global economy, the possible flow reversal and fiscal environment, the CBN is expected to maintain the current monetary stance for most of June -2014, but there are possible indications that exchange rate will trend up by December 2014,” it said.

    MPR was retained at 12 per cent last year as the CBN maintained its tight policy stance, given the political and fiscal environment. The apex bank has restated its intention to further tighten MPR. Based on the above and impact of policy action in the economy, MPR is expected to be retained for most of the year, or raised. However, uncertainties surrounding the successor of the acting CBN governor remain a concern.

    “Also, domestic output in 2014 is expected to expand by 6.65±0.2 per cent. This GDP growth is to be driven by increased consumer spending buoyed by higher urbanisation rate as well as rising middle class; increased government expenditure from pre-election fiscal spending; and increased FDI as well as local investment arising from favourable economic conditions in the country,” it said.

    Continuing, it said: “The political environment in the country is getting tenser by the day. Continued internal rancour within the ruling party coupled with the strengthening of the main opposition and the continued re-shuffling of the political game cards makes judgment about the political terrain in 2014 a premature and weighty one.”

     

     

  • Compendium of Nigerian Laws on corruption, economic, financial crimes

    Compendium of Nigerian Laws on corruption, economic, financial crimes

    This authoritative, attractively packaged and well-researched work titled: “Compendium of Nigerian Laws on Corruption, Economic & Financial Crimes” is authored by Mr. Chuma C. Chinye, who is eminently qualified by virtue of his antecedents, profile and pedigree to write on the subject matter.

    Currently serving as the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry in Rivers State and having previously served at the Federal level in such capacities as the Special Assistant to the Attorney-General of the Federation, legal adviser and member, Board of Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Chinye is qualified to write on the subject matter.

    Chinye was also the legal adviser to the joint Tax Board; Senior Special Assistant to the National President of the Association of the Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) and project adviser to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission on “Fix Nigeria Project”. He has nearly 25 years post-call experience and a record of impressive association with leading law firms in Nigeria.

    Chinye in writing the book sought to achieve far-reaching objectives. First, the need to inform and sensitise the citizenry on the applicable laws on corruption, economic and financial crimes to forestall ignorance; Secondly, the need to assemble all laws on the subject together; Thirdly, the need to develop the jurisprudence on corruption, economic and financial crimes; Fourthly, the need to make available traceable case law within Nigeria and other jurisdictions on the subject matter; Fifthly, the need to deepen discourse on the subject matter in order to promote intense analysis and consciousness, which is the bedrock of intellectualism; lastly, the need to improve the study and practice of law on corruption, economic and financial crimes across disciplines particularly in our universities.

    Analysis of Text:

    The work is in two volumes (Volumes 1 and 2). Both volumes of the compendium contain a wide array of legislations that impact on the subject matter laced “with comments, case law and cross-references”.

    Volume 1 running into 646 pages and terminating with the profile of the author covers eleven (11) chapters each of which examine different legislations. Volume 1 also contains about two hundred and sixty one (261) reported cases.

    Volume 2 containing chapter 12 to chapter 27 (16 chapters) examines other statutory legislations on the subject matter coupled with a consideration of two hundred and sixty four (264) reported cases all decided at various courts in Nigeria and abroad and is proof that indeed the Nigerian judiciary has indeed been very active in fighting Corruption, Economic and Financial Crimes . The book is also very rich in statutes, relevant rules and valuable materials on the subject matter of great jurisprudential value – a factor that may have impacted greatly on its quality outcome. In addition, this work is loaded in terms of types and weight of authority. It is a unique resource material in that being a compendium of Nigerian laws on Corruption, Economic and Financial Crimes, it no doubt constitutes primary authority on the subject. Fully loaded with comments, case law and cross references, it also alludes to secondary authority, both of which are of mandatory and persuasive import to the researcher and other users of the book.

    Altogether, the book examined 27 different legislations – an indication that indeed the author and his editorial team may have covered the field extensively on the subject matter.

    The book is also arranged in chapters for clarity with each chapter devoted to a consideration of a major statutory provision that impacts on corruption, economic and financial crimes. Chapter 1 discusses the Advance Fee Fraud and other fraud related Offences Act 2006 with the referred chapter enriched by introductory comment, commentaries on each of the provisions enacted including copious use of cross references, case laws, general and concluding commentaries on the salient provisions.

    Chapter 1 discusses the Provisions of Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related offences act 2006. Bank Employees, etc. (Declaration of Assets) Act No 24 of 1986 which is the subject matter of chapter 2 examines detailed provisions “…for the declaration of assets by employees of banks operating in Nigeria and to empower the president to extend its application to other categories of persons”. Chapter 3 examines code of Conduct Bureau and Tribunal Act 1989 dealing “…with complaints of corruption by public servants for the breaches of its provisions”. Chapter 4 discusses Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act, 2003 the legislation designed “…to prohibit and prescribe punishment for corrupt practices; and other related offences and to establish Anti-Corruption Commission”. Chapter 5 covers Counterfeit and Fake Drugs and Unwholesome Processed Foods (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1999 detailing provisions “for the prohibition of sale and distribution of counterfeit, adulterated, banned or fake, substandard or expired drug or unwholesome processed food; and of sale, of drugs or poisons in certain premises or places”. Chapter 6 examines Counterfeit Currency (Special Provision) Act No. 22 of 1984 providing “…for penalties of counterfeiting in currency and other ancillary matters”.

    Chapter 7 discusses Criminal Code Act. Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004. Chapter 8 covers Currency Offences Act, No. 14 of 1920 which is designed “…to prohibit certain acts tending to depreciate currency” . Chapter 9 discusses the Dishonoured Cheque (Offences) Act, No 44 of 1977 making it “…an offence for any person anywhere in Nigeria to induce the delivery of any property or to purport to settle a lawful obligation by means of a cheque which when presented within a reasonable time is dishonoured on the grounds that no funds or insufficient funds were standing to the credit of the drawer of the cheque, and for matters connected therewith”.

    Chapter 10 covers Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (Establishment) Act, 2004 enacted to curb the menace of Economic and Financial Crimes. Chapter 11 discusses Examination Malpractices Act, No. 33 of 1999 and creates “… offences relating to examination malpractices and to prescribe penalties for such offences” with a view to addressing the incidence of examination malpractices in the country. Chapter 12 discusses Failed Banks (Recovery of Debts) and Financial Malpractices in Banks Act 1994 with a view to providing a mechanism “… for the recovery of debts owed to failed banks and for the Trial of Offences relating to Financial Malpractices in Banks and other Financial Institutions” .

    Chapter 13 discusses the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 to ensure “… prudent management of the Nation’s Resources, ensure Long-Term Macro-Economic stability of the National Economy, secure greater accountability and transparency in Fiscal operations within the Medium Term Fiscal Policy Framework, and the establishment of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission to ensure the promotion and enforcement of the Nation’s Economic objectives; and for related matters” Chapter 14 dealing with Foreign Exchange (Monitoring and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1995 strives “…to establish an Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market and to provide for the monitoring and supervision of the transactions conducted in the market and for matters connected therewith”. Chapter 15 discusses Freedom of Information Act 2011 designed “ …to make public records and information more freely available, provide for public access to public records and information, protect public records and information to the extent consistent with the public interest and the protection of personal privacy, protect serving public officers from adverse consequences of disclosing certain kinds of official information without authorization and establish procedures for the achievement of those purposes and ; for related matters” .

    Chapter 16 discusses Miscellaneous Offences Act 1984 which created “… a number of miscellaneous offences with stiff penalties and for the trial of such offenders”. Chapter 17 examines Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act 2011 to check the menace of money laundering offences. Chapter 18 discusses National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control Act 1993 which establishes “… the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control with the functions, among others, to regulate and control the importation, exportation, manufacture, advertisement, distribution, sale and use of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, bottled water and chemicals”.

    Chapter 19 discusses the National Drug Law Enforcement Act 1989 which established “…the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency to enforce laws against the cultivation, processing, sale, trafficking and use of hard drugs and to empower the agency to investigate persons suspected to have dealings in drugs and other related matters”. Chapter 20 discusses Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Act 2007, a legislation providing “…for the establishment of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) charged with the responsibility, among other things, for the development of a framework for transparency and accountability in the reporting and disclosure by all extractive industry companies of revenue due to or paid to the Federal Government”. Chapter 21 covers the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation Act 1988 which established “…the Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation for the purpose of insuring all deposit liabilities of licensed banks and other financial institutions”. Chapter 22 deals with the Penal Code (Northern States) Federal Provisions Act 1960 designed “…to supplement the Penal Code of the Northern States in respect of matters within the exclusive legislative competence of the National Assembly, and for purposes ancillary thereto”. Chapter 23 discusses Public Accounts Committee Act 1987 “…to establish the Public Accounts Committee to examine the audited accounts of all offices and courts of the Federation and the Auditor-General’s report thereon and other detailed matters”. Chapter 24 discusses the Public Complaints Commission Act 1975 which established “…the Public Complaints Commission with wide powers to inquire into complaints by members of the public concerning the administrative action of any public authority and companies or their officials, and other matters ancillary thereto”.. Chapter 25 relates to Public Procurement Act 2007 enacted “…to establish the National Council on Public Procurement and the Bureau of Public Procurement as the regulatory authorities responsible for the monitoring and oversight of Public Procurement, harmonizing the existing government policies and practices by regulating, setting standards and developing the legal framework and professional capacity for public procurement in Nigeria, and for related matters”.

    Chapter 26 discusses the Recovery of Public Property (Special Provisions) Act 1984 which makes “…provisions for the Investigation of the Assets of any Public Officer who is alleged to have been engaged in corrupt practices, unjust enrichment of himself or any other person who has abused his office or has in any way breached the Code of Conduct for Public Officers contained in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.

    The final chapter, Chapter 27 deals with Trade Malpractices (Miscellaneous Offences) Act 1992 creating “…certain offences relating to trade malpractices”. The book terminates with the rich brief profile of the author who is currently engaged in public service.

    These chapters examine holistically, the legislations in detail, their jurisdiction, and the penalty provisions including mechanism for enforcement. Each of the chapters is also laced with case law, cross-references and authoritative commentary on the statutory provisions considered drawing comparative analysis and case law materials from within and outside jurisdictions to enrich the subject matter.

    The comments of the author at the end of each of the chapters are useful commentary on the law providing a refreshing perspective on the analysis of the legislation being considered. These commentaries constitute secondary authority to the legal mind that are quite useful in legal research because the analysis can help the reader or researcher understand complex legal issues and also refer the researcher to primary authority of comparative jurisprudential value. Consequently the book is unique in that it takes the reader on an excursion of detailed examination of the legislations considered through the cases giving the reader a twin advantage of appreciating the salient statutory provisions contained in each of the legislations as well as judicial interpretations of those provisions through the cases. Thus, the practitioner, the adjudicator, the researcher, the student and the reader will find it handy and authoritative indeed.

    Strengths and Uniqueness of the Book:

    A compelling attraction of the book is the weight of commentaries either as introductory comment, at the end of each section of the statutory provisions examined, by way of cross-references or through the mechanism of general comment and finally by way of concluding comment at the end of the statutory provisions being considered.

    “The number “419” was derived from the Criminal Code Act which provides for the offence of “obtaining goods by false pretence” under section 419. Other sections dealing with fraud and involving false pretence under the criminal code include: sections 19A, 19B and 20. False pretence is defined under section 418 of the Criminal Code Act.”(See page 5, chapter 1).

    The author also makes effective use of cross reference in explaining the meaning of false pretence in section 20 of the Advance fee fraud and other related offences Act when he writes:

    “For the definition of “False Pretence” see section 20 of the Act; also see section 418 of the Criminal Code Act, Cap C38 LFN, 2004.”

    The further strengths of the book lie in the fact that the source materials are current and the force of the commentaries are quite authoritative. Reference to case law materials and effective use of cross references including comparative analysis of the jurisprudence of the subject matter of corruption, economic and financial crimes make the book a compelling research material for all stakeholders in the administration of justice.

    Indeed this book is a must read for all those who are interested in the subject matter of corruption, economic and financial crimes including how these offences impact on the developmental process. It is also useful for those interested in determining the ingredients of the offences that constitute corruption, economic and financial crimes and how those ingredients may be established for successful prosecutions of culprits. Prosecutors of these offences bordering on corruption, economic and financial crimes and defence lawyers would also find the book very useful. The wide diversity and dimension covered by corruption, economic and financial crimes are also fully illustrated with statutory and case law authorities for the guidance of all stakeholders in the administration of justice. The simplicity of style and language deployed by the author in writing the book also offers the general reader the opportunity of following the submissions and arguments raised in the book without difficulties.

     

    Concluding Remarks:

    Obviously impressed by the brilliance, experience, exposure and contribution of the author to legal knowledge including the strength of this work, the author narrated the seeming disappointment of the distinguished Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, who wrote the Foreword to the book, at the digression of the author from legal practice owing to public service– a factor which the distinguished senator attributed to the non-recognition presently of the author as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). Given the strength of this powerful work, I am in complete agreement with the sentiments on the author expressed by the distinguished senator who is also a Senior Advocate of Nigeria.

    Notwithstanding, the author need not worry any further at the prospect of attaining this exalted rank very soon, for he has written a very useful book impactful on legal scholarship, development and law practice generally.

    This masterpiece is authoritative. The author has distinguished himself by writing this book which will no doubt make substantial contributions to the practice of law and legal commentaries that will no doubt become a major source of reference by legal practitioners, judges, law teachers and law students.

    The conclusion that can be reached without any fear of contradiction is that the author has greatly succeeded in writing a very useful book that would impact positively on the subject matter of corruption, economic and financial crimes.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Consequently, I have no hesitation whatsoever in recommending this book to all stakeholders in the administration of justice.

    I therefore strongly recommend the book to all particularly all those interested in interrogating the subject of corruption, economic and financial crimes.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Limitations of the Book:

     

    The book is no doubt an assemblage of most of the relevant laws on the subject matter of corruption, economic and financial crimes. One surprising element, however, of this authoritative research material is that the author inspite of his busy schedule as a serving public officer has written a very useful book which may have sent a very powerful message to serving public officials not to use the excuse of public service to shy away from the intellectual empowerment of the society.

    Notwithstanding, since this is a review and no work is perfect without flaws, one may allude to few limitations of this highly resourceful material.

    The book itself is a print research tool and thus has the disadvantage of providing the easiest and most efficient means of accessing the information needed. The limitation however, which is common to print sources, is making sure the information is current. Most print sources of legal materials constitute books made with hard cover which makes it difficult to update them when the law changes. Since law is dynamic and thus susceptible to change, this new book may be out of date shortly, given the fact that our parliament is busy daily tinkering with these laws as new realities emerge. The author is therefore advised to bear in mind that he would regularly keep the book updated with soft cover pamphlets containing new information that will enable this compendium remain a relevant primary and secondary source research material.

    The author should also ensure that this book is available in electronic format and also on the internet, given the advance in technology.

    It is also important to note that this work focuses mainly on Federal Statutes. There is a growing literature/jurisprudence of legislative materials in the states impacting greatly on corruption, economic and financial crimes which the author ought to consider in subsequent editions of the book. This is based on the need to promote our state legislations in order to encourage practitioners to practice across the states of the federation.

    The author may also not have covered the entire field regarding relevant Federal Legislations on Corruption, Economic and Financial Crimes. Two of these readily come to mind. The first is the Allocation of Revenue (Federation Account etc.) Act 1982 prescribing “…the basis for distribution of revenue accruing to the Federation Account between the Federal and State Governments and the Local Government Councils in the States; the formula for distribution amongst the States inter se; the proportion of the total revenue of each State to be contributed to the State Joint Local Government Account; and for other purposes connected therewith”

    The second legislation not considered is The Finance (Control and Management) Act 1958 with detailed provisions “…for the control and management of the public finances of the Federation and for matters connected therewith”.

    Notwithstanding these limitations, the book can be a very useful source for researching federal statutes in Nigeria that deal with Corruption, Economic and Financial Crimes.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Kidnapping: A lethal trade booms

    Kidnapping: A lethal trade booms

    He is just two years old. He was being taken to school that fateful morning of January 21 when suddenly, four hooded men abducted him after firing several gunshots.

    That began little Emmanuel Alonge’s journey to the kidnappers’ den. He was released after a N5 million ransom was allegedly paid to his abductors in Lagos.

    His kidnappers initially demanded N150 million, but when the tot’s parents could not afford it, the ransom was negotiated down to N5 million.

    Upon his release, the little boy was dumped at a Bus Stop by 3am for his parents to pick him up.

    Although the kid may not have understood he was kidnapped or in danger, being in the midst of strangers for six days must have been horrifying.

    The todler’s abductors struck in the morning on his street.

    Activist-lawyer Chief Mike Ozekhome (SAN) was kidnapped about 3pm on the Benin-Auchi Expressway in Edo State, while he was going to his village. It was not late at night or during the wee hours.

    He was also not profiled. The hoodlums operated randomly and swooped on him, just like they did five other people across the state that same day. Like Alonge, Ozekhome’s abductors demanded N150 million initially. As his family was still negotiating his freedom, his son, Ilugbekhai and head of chamber, Dominick Ezerioha were also abducted by the same gang.

    Having spent three weeks in the dungeon, Ozekhome and his wards were released after about N15 million was allegedly parted with.

    Similarly, wife of a Supreme Court Justice Mrs. Adedoyin Rhodes-Vivour, a lawyer, was abducted along with her daughter and driver in Edo State. They were kidnapped barely a few months after her son was whisked away by kidnappers in Laagos. He was released after an alleged N25 million ransom was paid to his abductors.

    They were held for more than 10 days before they regained their freedom.

     

    High profile kidnap cases

    recorded

    Among the recorded cases of kidnapped victims are a Benin traditional ruler, Patrick Igbinidu, who was abducted on September 11 at his palace at Udo in Edo State; Anglican Bishop, Rev. Ignatius Kattey; Benin-based activist, Athanatius Ugbome, kidnapped on August 23 in Edo State; father of Nigerian footballer, John Obi Mikel and mother of the Finance Minister, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala in Delta.

    Also kidnapped were wife of former Edo State Attorney-General, Dr. Osagie Obayuwana, Florence; Chairman of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area, Lagos State, Kehinde Bamigbetan; elder statesman Shettima Monguno in Maiduguri and elder brother of Super Eagles Defender Joseph Yobo, Nornu.

    Others include footballer Christian Obodo; the Chief Medical Director of the Federal Psychiatric Hospital, Benin, Olabisi Ihenyen, and her husband, Lionel; as well as Nollywood artistes, Pete Edochie, Nkem Owoh, Nkiru Sylvanus and John Okafor. The list is endless.

     

    How it started

    From the abduction of oil workers by Niger Delta militants in the early 2000s to draw attention to the region’s marginalisation and under development, kidnapping became a tactic used by politicians against their perceived enemies.

    Although it is a natural law that whatever goes up must come down, the reverse has been the case with kidnapping across the country as the last decade has witnessed the menace blossoming into a full scale and organised business.

    In 2007, Nigeria was ranked third behind Columbia and Mexico as kidnappers’ haven.

    Kidnapping, no doubt, affects the tourism potential as well as foreign investment of countries. Recently, some multi-nationals that were operating in the country moved out to neighbouring nations as a result of the menace, which in turn, worsens unemployment.

    The targets have geometrically progressed from certain profiled individuals who were either sent warning notices or fingered by their relations to just anyone including grandparents and toddlers.

    As a result of the thriving nature of the business, kidnappers now ply the streets and major roads in search of victims, a situation which has generated grave security concerns.

    There have been instances where market women, hawkers, pedestrians and even people sitting in the comfort of their homes have been whisked away by armed men. While some regained their freedom after money exchanged hands, some are yet to be seen by their families, and others were killed in the process.

    In most cases, kidnap victims are usually locked up with little or no attention paid to their physical needs or hygiene. It has also been found out that treatments meted out to victims vary. Sometimes kidnappers are harsh and hostile to their victims while at other times they are courteous and unusually kind. Sadly, many victims have to cope with post-kidnap trauma even years after being released.

     

    Why kidnapping thrives

    From the testimonies of many kidnap victims, it could be said that the motives behind kidnapping include poverty, high rate of unemployment, ‘get-rich-quick’ syndrome, porous and inadequate security or intelligence gathering, greed and erosion of value system.

    According to a lawyer, Joseph Nwobike (SAN), kidnapping thrives because of the ease with which ransom is negotiated and paid, not because of principles or agitations.

    Observers are of the view that the upsurge in kidnapping cannot be divorced from the inadequacies of the policing system.

    It is believed that low level of security and lack of modern tools to contain crime have made arrest of kidnappers difficult.

    Moreover, that only few of those arrested have been prosecuted and punished, seem to have made matters worse.

    Also pointed out is the issue of connivance by security operatives, who observers believe give out names of ‘influential individuals’ or their families to kidnappers, at the end of which they share the proceeds with the hoodlums.

     

    A losing battle?

    Several measures have been put in place to combat kidnapping, but it has only blossomed. The anti-kidnapping laws have been amended by both the National Assembly and many states, some even making it a capital offence.

    In Abia, Akwa Ibom, Anambra, Bayelsa, among others, kidnapping attracts death sentence upon conviction. Some other states have a sentence of 14 to 21 years in prison for conspiracy to kidnap.

    Moreover, various task-forces have been set up with most state governments especially in the Niger Delta, providing tracking devices to security agencies to enhance their performance.

    Unfortunately, most of these efforts, including the training of security agents and additional funding by state governments have yielded little or no result.

    Observers have questioned the workability of the death sentence as a solution to kidnapping, bearing in mind that since the enactment of the Firearms and Armed Robbery Act, which prescribes death penalty for kidnapping and other offences, the crimes have increased.

    Ozekhome’s revelation after his release on Thursday on why security agencies are unable to track kidnappers is a pointer that the perpetrators are on top of their game.

    He had disclosed that the hoodlums cannot be tracked because they do not make contacts with relatives of their victims in the states they are held.

    According to him, in most cases, the kidnappers go as far as five states from the camp where their hostages are held.

    The lawyer, like several other victims, acknowledged that these hoodlums speak impeccable English and are very intelligent youths, who claim to have taken up arms against the state as a result of unemployment and poverty.

    While narrating his ordeal to reporters in Lagos after spending three weeks in kidnapper’s den, Ozekhome disclosed that the kidnappers had cells and units across the country and operated with very sophisticated weapons.

    To him, the Federal Government should grant amnesty to kidnappers as a matter of urgency; amend the constitution to enthrone state policing; make policies that will ensure better welfare for Nigerians and create jobs for the populace.

    He advised the government to immediately declare a State of Emergency in education and capacity building, security, youth unemployment and infrastructure; as well as organise a national dialogue to quell the menace.

     

    Is amnesty the way out?

    Analysts are of the view that there is no justification for amnesty to be granted kidnappers.

    Lawyers believe that kidnappers are criminals and should be treated as such. Offering amnesty to them amounts to holding the state captive, they said.

    They argue that kidnappers, no matter how they try to justify their reasons for criminality, are fighting no cause and should not enjoy the privileges granted ex-militants.

    To them, amnesty can never be the solution, just as they advised the government to concentrate efforts on providing good governance and dividends of democracy.

    They said that Ozekhome might have still been overwhelmed and in trauma having gone through a terrible experience to make such recommendation.

     

    Lawyers speak

    Former Nigerian Bar Association, NBA Presidents, Chief Wole Olanipekun(SAN), and Oliseh Agbakoba (SAN); Professor of law, Itse Sagay (SAN); Chair, NBA-Section on Legal Practice (SBL) Mrs. Funke Adekoya (SAN); constitutional lawyer, Dr. Fred Agbaje and Lagos lawyer Ikechukwu Ikeji spoke on the issue.

    To Olanipekun, kidnapping has assumed a consuming dimension in which no one is spared- whether rich or poor, middle class or upper class people.

    He faulted the constitutional provisions that allow only one police force, describing same as a deceit. He also blamed unemployment for the spate of kidnapping.

    He said Nigeria’s configuration promotes crimes of different categories.

    “We do not want to be honest and reasonable enough to admit that our Constitution itself is a primary cause of crimes in the land.

    “It is a Constitution which by Section 214 (1) imperially asserts that there shall be only one Nigeria Police Force in the country. This is negatively peculiar to Nigeria. It is a constitutional aberration.

    “We are deceiving ourselves by assuming that the Nigeria Police can effectively cope with and checkmate the wave of crimes in Nigeria.

    “State governments and even cities that can afford it should be allowed to have their own police formations…Nigeria is too big for this constitutional deceit.”

    He called on governments at various levels to checkmate and substantially reduce the increasing rate of unemployment in Nigeria, which he noted had not made any serious issue by the three tiers of government in Nigeria.

    “Our over-bloated anti-corruption agencies do not have the courage and teeth to ask questions about the sources of wealth of the new arrivals into the super rich clubs.

    “We must re-enact a true Constitution that would reflect good ideas and ideals, not in the way and manner the National Assembly is going about its periodical constitutional review exercises, but in a practical and realistic manner that would take care of all sundry issues and also make the provisions of Fundamental Objectives and Directive Principles of State policy in the present Constitution justiciable,” Olanipekun said.

    Sagay objected to amnesty for kidnappers. He insisted that unlike the Niger Delta militants who had a cause, kidnappers are mere criminals and should be treated as such.

    He said: “They are sheer criminals who have no value for the society and have no cause for what they are doing.

    “They are looking for easy ways to make quick money not minding the misery they inflict on innocent people.

    “So, they are just terrible criminals and certainly do not deserve any amnesty. What will be the basis for the amnesty?

    “I think Mike (Ozekhome) was just overwhelmed by what he has just been through. After he has spent some time at home and has recovered, I think he will withdraw that recommendation.

    “Why should criminals be rewarded? Then everybody will take to crime. I certainly do not support that.

    “To solve this problem, there have to be adequate security. Mike suggested it. As things stand now, we, ordinary Nigerians can no longer go about our businesses.

    “Only the politicians who are the course of the problem can move around because they are guarded by well armed Mobile Policemen.

    “So, we must have a different orientation towards governance, in which the masses are catered for; employment policy for youths and better managed economy.”

    Agbakoba said the solution is not and cannot be amnesty, just as he called on politicians to be honest and sincere towards national course. He noted that massive unemployment was behing the misery, as youths have been forced to look for easy way out of poverty.

    He said all those stealing the common wealth of the nation must be stopped and good governance enthroned in order to secure employment for over 40 million jobless youths in the country.

    Adekoya said the solution is the provision of enabling environment for self employment, just as she noted that there must be conscientious investigation and prosecution of kidnappers.

    She said: “I do not agree that granting amnesty or extending the amnesty programme to kidnappers will solve the problem of kidnapping in the country. At best it is a ‘quick fix’ solution that does not address the underlying problems which have given rise to this malaise.

    “An amnesty programme means that rather than have the ransomed pay as and when victims are taken, the government will pay the kidnappers under some guise or the other on a monthly basis. The kidnappers have then held the government to ransom!

    “Like any other crime, kidnapping is on the increase because it goes unpunished and is seen as a means to quick wealth. The National Orientation Agency has job to do in focusing the minds of Nigerians that ‘getting rich quick’ should not be an acceptable method of behaviour.

    “Some 20 to 30 years ago, unexplained wealth, corruption and criminal records was a source of shame in the family, but that is all gone now. The nation worships wealth, no matter how it is acquired, as we do not interrogate the nouveau riche as to the source of their wealth, rather we honour them with awards and chieftaincy titles.

    “The solution to kidnapping is firstly economic empowerment of the citizens by providing the proper enabling environment for prosperous self employment; secondly conscientious investigation and prosecution of kidnappers to remove the sense of impunity with which they currently operate, and finally putting action into the zero-tolerance stand of the government as regards corruption, to show that getting rich quick is not a viable option.

    “The funds for any amnesty programme should be committed to these three aspects of a holistic solution to kidnapping.”

    Agbaje held that only tackling corruption and providing good welfare aggressively, can solve the problem of kidnapping.

    “I say no to amnesty to kidnappers. Otherwise, when will this so-called amnesty to hardened criminals stop? Has amnesty totally worked even in the Niger Delta?

    “The menace of kidnapping and other banditry can only be tackled if and only if the problem of welfare, particularly youth unemployment is aggressively addressed and corruption by our political leaders frontally tackled.

    “Our political leaders are too self centred to give a hoot about the suffering masses and our security agents lacks the required professional zeal and d wherewithal to match the enffontery of the hoodlums.

    “Also, if the police are provided with the required wherewithdals, will corruption and connivance with the criminals not blur police operational vision?” Agbaje queried.

    Ikeji said the proliferation of small arms and ammunition, which are smuggled into Nigeria under the watchful eyes of security agencies should be checked.

    He said as long as the present socio-economic imbalance continued, it will amount to wishful thinking to expect an end to the present spate of kidnappings.

    “No matter the level of policing you put in place against kidnapping, whether a task force or specialized unit, it is bound to fail because the kidnappers will always develop strategies to remain a step ahead of the law enforcement agencies.

    “If Nigeria can achieve the minimal level of income disparity especially as regards opportunities available to all without discrimination, there will be a natural reduction in crime rate and, by extension, kidnapping.

    “Amnesty is also not a solution because that could lead it to becoming an all-comers affair where everybody rushes into kidnapping knowing that amnesty awaits them at the end of the day.

    “The solution lies with our leaders giving us good governance. There is no alternative to good governance and a corruption-free Nigeria, which can only be given to us by good leadership in consistent terms,” Ikeji said.

     

  • Build strong economic ties, RMAFC tells North-East

    THE Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) has challenged states in the North-East region to build strong economic ties through collaborations.

    Its chairman, Engr. Elias Mbam, made the call while speaking with reporters at the weekend ahead of the Zonal Advocacy Workshop from 19-20 August in Gombe with the theme “Economic diversification for sustainable development”.

    He tasked the states to explore areas of comparative advantage and develop infrastructure while enhancing security to boost economic activities.

    According to Mbam: “The governments in the zone should strengthen all necessary legal, regulatory and institutional frameworks to provide the enabling environment to attract local investors and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) that would boost the non-oil sectors”.

    He also advised critical stakeholders in the region to shift attention to the real sectors, especially agriculture, solid minerals, manufacturing and tourism that have greatly declined over the years.

    These, he said, “are capable of generating substantial revenue earnings to reduce the deficit budgeting and financial challenges being faced by all tiers of government.”

    He noted that states in the region “have high potentials in agriculture, solid minerals, tourism and industrial development waiting to be harnessed.

    “We must diversify the productive base of the economy to ensure sustainable means of funding our national development and reduce the over-dependence on revenue from oil and gas”.

     

  • President calls for improved economic relations with Argentina, Sri Lanka

    President calls for improved economic relations with Argentina, Sri Lanka

    President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday called for improved economic relations to deepen bilateral ties with Argentina and Sri Lanka.

    The President spoke in Abuja when he received letters of credence from the new Ambassador of Argentina to Nigeria, Mr. Gustavo Alejandro Dzugala, and the new High Commissioner of Sri Lanka to Nigeria, Mr. Panagoda Don Prince Solomon Anura Liyanage.

    Jonathan met the envoys on different separate occurrance at the State House.

    The President noted that while Nigeria had good diplomatic ties with the countries, the economic relations needed to be strengthened.

    “The economic linkages are weak and we must do everything necessary to boost economic ties,” he said.

    Dzugala said Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was seeking improved relations with Nigeria and had approved the building of a permanent embassy in Abuja to show the commitment.

    He said a high-level trade delegation from Argentina would soon visit Nigeria.

    During his meeting with Liyanage, the President expressed appreciation to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa for promising to support Nigeria’s quest for a non-permanent seat at the United Nations (UN) Security Council.

    Liyanage said the President of Sri Lanka looked forward to welcoming Dr Jonathan at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), to be hosted by Sri Lanka in November.

  • Democracy and socio-economic imbalance in Nigeria: The role of law

    Democracy and socio-economic imbalance in Nigeria: The role of law

    Non-justiciable Nature of Socio-Economic Rights

    Socio-economic rights are

    required for democracy to

    thrive in any country (thus giving it socio-economic balance). These rights are only present on paper in Nigeria and are, thus at best, ineffectual.  This is because of the provisions of section 6 (6) (c) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (As amended). Chapter II of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (As Amended) covers sections 13 to 24 and deals with socio-economic rights. In this Chapter, the duties and obligations of the Nigerian Government are clearly stated. For instance, Section 14 (1) and (2) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (As Amended) state thus:

    “14. The Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a State based on the principles of democracy and social justice.

    It is hereby, accordingly, declared that:

    (a) sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this Constitution derives all its powers and authority;

    (b) the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government: and

    (c) the participation by the people in their government shall be ensured in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution.

    I feel particularly compelled to refer to Section 18 which states thus:

    18. Government shall direct its policy towards ensuring that there are equal and adequate educational  opportunities at all levels.

    Government shall promote science and technology

    Government shall strive to eradicate illiteracy; and to this end Government shall as and when    practicable provide

    (a) free, compulsory and universal primary education;

    (b) free secondary education

    (c) free university education; and

    (d) free adult literacy programme.

    By reason of the non-justiciable nature of these rights, Nigerians have been tacitly deprived of socio-economic rights. If Section 14 states that sovereignty belongs to the people but the same section is declared non-justiciable, should we really begin to wonder why there is socio-economic imbalance in Nigeria? The truth is that the non-justiciability of socio-economic rights absolves the government of its responsibility to the Nigerian populace. These rights are of course guaranteed by democracy but in the absence of an express and effective provision giving life to them, they merely serve aesthetic and cosmetic purposes. In the absence of any concrete provision therefore, illiteracy, poverty, unemployment and other vices continue to reign unchecked because the government cannot be sued either for its part in creating them or for its inability to curb their advent. We must borrow a leaf from either South Africa, India or Pakistan.  In South Africa, socio-economic rights are justiciable while in India and Pakistan the courts have given such provisions very liberal interpretations and they are therefore justiciable.  Civil and political rights cannot be realized in isolation of economic, social and cultural rights. Indeed, these rights form the basis upon which all other rights are predicated. What we need in Nigeria is public interest litigation and the review of the issue of locus standi.  In the case of the first generation of rights (fundamental human rights) the Rules of court have relaxed the requirement of standing.

     

    (d) Corruption:

    Corruption is a common word in the vocabulary of most Nigerian citizens. Almost all levels of Nigerian society have been perverted by corruption. It has been described as being endemic and a sub-culture in Nigeria. Section 98 of the Criminal Code has defined corruption as: “the receiving or offering of some benefits, rewards or inducement to sway or deflect a person employed in the public service from the honest and impartial discharge of his duties”.

    However in real application corruption applies to both public and private sectors.

    In Nigeria, a major cause of corruption is ethnicity otherwise called tribalism in Nigeria. Friends and kinsmen seeking favors from officials may impose difficult strains on the ethical disposition of the official. Many Nigerians having a kinsman as a government official may see such a government official as holding necessary avenues for their personal gain10. Corruption is one of the major causes of socio-economic imbalance as well as the political problems besetting Nigeria. It is a sickness difficult to cure once it infects. It is an evil that spreads terror amongst citizens who are its victims and comforts those who use it as a means to acquire wealth.

    Despite the government’s concerted efforts to combat corruption through the establishment of various anti-corruption agencies e.g Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), this endemic problem still persists. Lack of continuity and change in policy framework, lack of political will, low level of public enlightenment and the politicization of policies are some of the factors why most of the anti-corruption agencies can not completely eradicate or reduce the level of corruption.

    Noteworthy also is the socio-cultural constraint towards the fight against corruption. Some communities traditionally encourage gratification and this affects the members of such communities in discharging their functions in bureaucratic organizations. Without the eradication of corruption, the future is bleak. Any country with a high level of corruption cannot attain socio-economic balance. Though corruption is a universal problem, other countries afflicted by it have been able to attain development because they have adequate punitive structures/measures in place. One proposed solution to this endemic problem is for an overall social re-orientation through public enlightenment programmes and campaigns to build up a national consciousness against corruption in the minds of every Nigerian citizen.

    The Role of Law in the fight against corruption cannot be over-emphasized. The Independence of the Judiciary, Supremacy of judicial pronouncements, equality of citizens before the law and the subjection of all social norms to judicial interpretation will be steps in the right direction. There should be a determined approach towards the elimination of institutional weaknesses that promote corruption in the public sector. Professionalism is an avenue where professional associations can effectively discipline their members by the withdrawal of practising licences. The fear of withdrawal of licences will not allow professionals employed by organizations to engage in corrupt practices.

     

    3.     Socio-economic imbalance in Nigeria; effects.

     

    The current socio-economic problems being experienced in the country could be linked to the long years of military rule, but this is fast becoming a lazy man’s argument. Since the advent of uninterrupted democratic governance in Nigeria in 1999, Nigeria has not fared as well as experts believe it should, economically or socially and this is not entirely the fault of the military; the civilian governments should shoulder their fair share of the blame as well. The effects of socio-economic imbalance are self-evident. They include the following;

     

    (a)  Illiteracy.

     

    The value of education, in any society, cannot be over-emphasized. It is no secret that the countries with the highest number of educated individuals take the lead in every major organization from the European Union to the United Nations Organisation. In Nigeria, education which is an important factor in economic growth and development8 and which was one of the platforms upon which such a promising country was built, has lost its glamour due to inadequate funding, lack of planning, poor management, lack of infrastructure and poor quality of teachers at all levels, among others, thus leading to the creation of a new group of educated illiterates. It does not help that more and more Nigerians seem inclined to taking the short-cut to success, instead of the patient build-up that education demands.

    Formulations and implementation of educational policies in Nigeria Dayo Odukoya, Ph.D Education & Development Consultant ERNWACA, University of Lagos, Nigeria

    This has further worsened the already fragile security situation in the country. Ethnic, economic and religious militia now hold sway in some parts of the country and while we may not have an ‘Arab Spring’ anytime soon, there is certainly a growing discontent, particularly among our misinformed youth, some of whom pay less attention to education these days, but many of whom could not even afford basic education, if they were to pay attention to it. Free public education means that knowledge is widely diffused among the people and would go a long way in clearing the ignorance that today’s youth suffer from. Unfortunately, however the rising cost of education in Nigeria, and the non-availability of free education in most parts of Nigeria have combined to ensure that the astronomical number of uneducated Nigerians will not be significantly reduced anytime soon. The increasing number of uneducated and unemployed Nigerians is alarming and should be a major cause for worry. About 56 million Nigerians are believed to be illiterate9. In the North in particular, the situation is critical and the region lags behind the rest of Nigeria in this regard. What does an uneducated, unemployed person think about? I am afraid we are starting to find out.

     

    (b)  High Rate of Unemployment

     

    It is rather ironic that while Nigeria continues to post impressive financial figures, majority of its citizens live in abject poverty. To cut a long story short, Nigeria has grown richer without making majority of Nigerians any richer. Jobs have suddenly become scarce or totally unavailable. Unemployed people quite naturally flirt with poverty and it does not take too long for a life of crime to beckon. It appears as though the Nigerian population is growing at a rate much faster than the country’s ability to create jobs. When illiteracy and unemployment marry as in the case of husband and wife, the children they gave birth to will certainly include but not limited to poverty, riots, insurgencies and kidnapping.

     

    (c)  Poverty

     

    Poverty is every government’s greatest fear. It is a situation in which an individual lives on less than $1.00 (One dollar) per day. A dollar as we know exchanges for N160.00 (One Hundred and Sixty Naira). The horrors of such a state are best imagined. In Nigeria, about 51.6% of the population live on less than a dollar per day10. This however is the lot of many Nigerians.

    The challenges of mass illiteracy in Nigeria- BEN ADOGA, Nigerian Pilot, Thursday, June 20, 2013

    Press briefing by the statistician-general of the federation/Chief Executive, National Bureau of Statistics, Dr. Yemi Kale held at the conference room, 5th floor, Nbs Headquarters, Central Business District, Abuja on Monday, 13th February, 2012.

    Poverty more than any other factor is the greatest effect of socio-economic imbalance as it breeds angry groups of individuals who are more than ready to do great harm to others.

     

    (d) Insurgency

     

    This is a logical consequence of socio-economic imbalance in any country. The ‘have-nots’ mobilize against the ‘haves’, who are represented by the government and other affluent personalities. Insurgency is said to occur when individuals take up arms against the state. This has occurred in quite a number of countries like Libya and Egypt with tragic consequences. It nearly occurred in England as well but was unsuccessful due to the fact that impoverished individuals constitute the minority. In a country like Nigeria where the “have-nots” far outnumber the “haves”, coordinated insurgencies have proved to be quite damaging. The activities of the Boko Haram sect as well as the Niger-Delta Militants not too long ago have given us a glimpse of what we would experience if all uneducated, unemployed and impoverished Nigerians were to take up arms against the government. Grappling with the sectional insurgents has been tasking enough for the government with lots of collateral damage in-between. This is a major effect of socio-economic imbalance. There was a placard at a riot some years back which read: Very soon the poor shall have nothing to eat except the rich. I hope it never comes to that.

     

    (e)  Criminality

     

    Another inevitable fall-out of socio-economic imbalance is criminality. For individuals who are unemployed, illiterate and poor and who are unwilling to create jobs for themselves, a life of crime offers succour, because an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. It is in this life of crime that they can harass and inflict terror on the affluent minority, while keeping body and soul together. As far back as 2006, our crime rates were shocking with a healthy population in prisons11. The activities of criminals in turn, lead to insecurity12 and commercial stagnation (most business ventures close on time for fear of armed robbers). Criminality is certainly the scariest of the effects of socio-economic imbalance.

     

    (f)   International embarrassment

     

    Countries suffering from socio-economic imbalance are regularly at the fore-front of embarrassing international incidents. This is because of the inadvertent exportation of their socio-economic imbalance to other countries.

    International Centre for Prison Studies – World Prison Brief.

    12 Rising crime wave in Nigeria: US laments poor security response. Vanguard Newspaper March 15, 2013.

     

     

    The socio-economic imbalance is prevalent when a few Nigerians flaunt their wealth recklessly abroad while others struggle to survive (working in bakeries, working as night soil men and joining neighbourhood gangs) just to survive. Recently, two British citizens of Nigerian origin allegedly murdered a British soldier in Woolwich, Southern London. One of them, Michael Adebolajo had been a member of a Somali-dominated gang (Southern London is rumoured to be full of such gangs, their ranks filled with misguided, intoxicated Nigerians). While one may argue that the boys were British citizens, born and bred in Britain, their Nigerian connection cannot be severed. Their parents migrated from Nigeria in the 80s, quite possibly as part of the “brain drain” earlier mentioned. Some years back, a Nigerian was also hanged in Singapore for drug trafficking while Nigerians are deported on a regular basis from Europe and the U.S.A. In international circles, Nigeria regularly makes the news for the wrong reasons. Corruption, fraud “419”, and drug-dealing are fast becoming a Nigerian forte abroad with tighter immigration checks on those with green passports. With the socio-economic imbalance showing no signs of improving, and with Nigerians emigrating on a regular basis, we may have to brace ourselves for such embarrassing occurrences in future.

     

    (g) Weak Democracy

     

    Socio-economic imbalance invariably leads to a weak democracy. The reason for this is not far-fetched. The reason individuals submit to democracy is because they believe their rights will be guaranteed. Democracy is also expected to protect socio-economic rights. When this does not happen, the people lose confidence in the democratic government and may resort to other means to remove that government. This may include violent change of government. It is important to note that socio-economic imbalance is also responsible for the ‘politics of money’ that operates in Nigeria as against ‘politics of issues’.

     

    This is because Politics is the allocation of resources and if a country cannot operate a system that satisfactorily (to the satisfaction of the vast majority) allocates resources without rancour, then the plan is faulty from its substratum. There is a belief by some that the country is unable to organize elections acceptable by everyone as free and fair. Free and fair elections constitute the bedrock of democracy, the accepted form of government in most countries. When the majority of the populace believe that a country’s democracy cannot guarantee their rights, the basis for that democracy can be said to have been destroyed

     

    4.     Attaining Socio-Economic Balance in Nigeria Through Democracy; the Role of Law.

     

    It will be recalled that at the commencement of democratic practice in May 1999, two of the laws that challenged the level of corruption and economic crimes were the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) Act and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Act.  Despite the protests by some states that ‘corruption’ was not in the exclusive legislative list, the provisions in Chapter Two of the Constitution proscribing the abolition of corruption and the powers of the National Assembly to enforce these provisions were the authority for the passage of the ICPC Act. The body that sprang from this Act, the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) has been very active since its establishment.  It is therefore baffling that the government utilizes the provisions of Chapter II of the Constitution only when those provisions suit it. If the said Chapter can serve as the platform for the establishment of the ICPC, then there is no reason that Nigerians cannot benefit from all the provisions under the said chapter.

     

    In Nigeria, several legal instruments and policies have been used to address socio-economic imbalance.  For example, although some people may argue that the Federal Character Commission Act appears unconstitutional as it discriminates, this law has been used to address imbalance at the Federal level in terms of access to opportunities and positions. This is because Nigeria is a multi-cultural country with over 300 ethnic groups and languages. The moment there is socio-economic imbalance in the sense that one or more ethnic groups feel left out or marginalized, the embers of discontent and insurgency are fanned.

     

    The establishment of the Niger Delta Development Commission and the Hydro Power Development Commission in the year 2000 and 2010 respectively through their enabling laws, Niger Delta Development Commission Act13 and the Hydro Power Development Commission Act14  is part of the efforts of government to correct the socio-economic imbalance in Nigeria using the law as a catalyst. Section 1(3) of the NDDC Act 2000 clearly states that the head office of the Niger-Delta Development Commission shall be in Port Harcourt, Rivers State. The provision states thus;

     

    13 2000.

    14 2010.

     

     

    “The Commission shall have its head office in Port Harcourt, Rivers State   and shall establish an office in each member state of the Commission”

     

    Its functions are as contained in section 7 of the Act which states thus:

     

    (1)

    (a)     formulate policies and guidelines for the development of the Niger-Delta, area;

    (b)     conceive, plan and implement, in accordance with the set rules and regulations, projects and programmes for the sustainable development of the Niger-Delta area in the filed of transportation including roads, jetties and waterways, health, education, employment, industrialisation, agriculture and fisheries, housing land urban development, water supply, electricity and telecommunications;

    (c)     cause the Niger-Delta area to be surveyed in order to ascertain measures which are necessary to promote in physical and socio-economic development;

    (d)     prepare master plans and schemes designed to promote the physical development of the Niger-Delta area and the estimates of the costs of implementing such master plans and schemes.

    (e)     implement all the measures approved for the development of the Niger-Delta area by the Federal Government and the member States of the Commission.

    (f)      identify factors inhibiting the development of the Niger-Delta area and assist the member States in the formulation and implementation of pollicies to ensure sound and efficient management of the resources of the Niger-Delta area;

    (g)     assess and report on any project being funded or carried out in the Niger-Delta area by oil and gas producing companies and any other company including non-governmental organisations land ensure that funds released for such projects are properly utilised;

    (h)     tackle ecological and environmental problems that arise from the exploration of oil mineral in the Niger-Delta area and advise the Federal Government and the member States on the prevention and control of oil spillages, gas flaring and environmental pollution;

    (i)      liaise with the various oil mineral and gas prospecting and producing companies on all matters of pollution prevention and control;

    (j)      executive such other works and perform such other functions which, in the opinion of the Commission, are required for the sustainable development of the Niger-Delta area and its peoples; and…….

     

    (2)      In exercising its functions and powers under this section, the Commission shall have regard to the varied and specific contributions of each Member State of the Commission to the total national production of oil and gas.

     

    (3)     The Commission shall be subject to the direction, control or supervision in the performance of its functions under this Act by the President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

     

    The location of the Commission in an oil producing state from the South-south region was ostensibly in recognition of the region’s production of the oil relied upon by all Nigerians. Due to the oil exploration and mining that goes on in the oil producing states of Nigeria, a lot of environmental degradation, at the hands of explorers and miners has occurred on their lands although they receive a percentage of the proceeds of crude oil sales. Their natural resources have been hard hit as their lands, natural source of water and wildlife have been steadily destroyed while the other regions benefit from the proceeds of crude oil sales without having to contend with the environmental degradation suffered by the oil producing states. The law of balance therefore necessitated that the region be adequately compensated in that regard.

     

    Like the NDDC Act, the HYYPADEC ACT seeks to achieve some semblance of socio-economic balance by situating the head office of the Commission in one of the Hydro- power producing states of the Federation (in the Northern part of Nigeria). Its membership comprises hydro-power producing states just like the Niger Delta Development Commission comprises oil producing states of the Federation. The Bill was sponsored to address the following issues raised by the communities in the hydro-power producing states;

     

    ·        Access to electricity for the communities;

    ·        Environmental degradation – loss of biodiversity etc.;

    ·        Flooding of the communities;

    ·        Poverty due to loss of livelihoods by the communities

    ·        Resettlement of communities

    ·        Provision of access to strategic commercial centres in order to revive the economy of these communities.

     

    Both Commissions seek to achieve socio-economic balance by ensuring that a larger part of the revenue derived from resources they produce for the country, is given back to them. One has its head office in the South, the other in the North. While this may further glorify the much maligned quota system, it is necessary if socio-economic balance is to be achieved. This is one of the ways through which the concept of law can aid in a country’s socio-economic balance.

    The role of law in attaining socio-economic balance in Nigeria therefore, cannot be overemphasized. As earlier stated, it is law that legitimizes a government. Law protects democracy. It is the presence of, and respect for law that preserves a country’s democracy. Similarly, it is only through the social engineering provided by Law that the socio-economic imbalance in the country can be addressed and corrected. It is Law that states how the state is to be governed and it is in this light that we seek to examine the role of law in respect of Nigeria’s nascent democracy, vis-à-vis the socio-economic imbalance experienced in the country.

     

    In discussing the role of law, I must refer again to the non-justiciability of Chapter II of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria (As Amended) where most of the socio-economic rights are found. It goes without saying that most of the socio-economic rights enjoyed by Nigerians are “hand-outs” by the government and not what we would term “entitlements” legally speaking. The National Assembly might want to take another look at that particular conundrum. Nigerians would do wonders if they were afforded free water, free education etc, and the country would attain the levels of the likes of America where although education is not free, there is a high level of literacy and citizens are entitled to social security if they have no means of livelihood. If America is too far gone, then we might want to pattern our social-security program after Ghana or South-Africa (Nigerians have emigrated to these countries so they must be doing something right).There is the need for Nigeria’s legal system to pick up the gauntlet and address the country’s socio-economic problems. Law would play several roles in this instance and ensure the following:

     

     

    ·        The Rule of Law. This is self-explanatory. The Law reigns supreme.

     

    ·        Periodic Popular Elections. Elections are held as at when due.

     

     

    ·        A Legal Framework for the attainment of Socio-Economic Balance. This could also include some form of social security. We could take a look at the American Social Security system for guidance. In America, social security compasses several social welfare and social insurance programs15.

     

    ·        Tougher immigration laws. While this may present a bit of a problem due to our ECOWAS commitments which render it unnecessary for citizens of ECOWAS member states to obtain visas before visiting other member states, certain checks can still be made at the point of entry to ensure that aspiring visitors do not intend to rely on public funds. This ensures that the security system benefits Nigerians only and not Chadians and Nigeriens.

     

    ·        Constitutionalism. This simply connotes that the Constitution is followed to the last letter.

     

    ·        Separation of Powers16. There must be explicit constitutional limits, or checks, on concentrated power and those checks will only remain effective where there is some countervailing power to enforce them. Thus every concentrated power should be balanced by some other concentrated power in order to prevent any particular part of the government system from grasping excessive power and nullifying the constitutional checks.

     

    ·        The amendment of section 6 (6) (c) of the 1999 Constitution (As amended) to ensure that matters under Chapter II of the Constitution are made justiciable.

     

     

     

     

    15 ^ [42 USC 7] “US Code—Title 42—The Public Health and Welfare”. Archived from the original on October 12, 2006. Retrieved November 8, 2006

     

     

    16 Democracy: A Social Power Analysis By Dr. John S. Atlee, with Tom Atlee

     

    Law has been described as a means of social engineering by Dean Roscoe Pound and in no other instance is this definition more apt. By preparing a legal framework for the attainment of socio-economic balance, the Government would have nipped the growing insecurity in the country in the bud. Socio-economic rights would become justiciable and the government would feel obligated to address issues like poverty, unemployment and illiteracy as it could be sued for its part in creating them. Issues like resource control would be better addressed and no individual or group of individuals would feel deprived. No expenses should be spared here. A poor country may not be able to afford a good legal system, but without a good legal system, it may never become rich enough to afford such a system. Law is the glue that holds society together and the responsibility therefore falls on this much vaunted concept to somehow restore some balance to the Nigerian Socio-economic landscape.

     

    5.     Conclusion

     

    Domestic challenges, continue to undermine Nigeria’s constitutional democracy and its potential as a major economic and diplomatic power. Such challenges—insecurity, poverty, unemployment and low quality education —must be addressed if Nigeria’s democracy is to survive the test of time. In the meantime, Nigeria trudges along, socio-economically, like a drunken giant on the legs of a mosquito and is in need of a massive re-engineering.

     

    I have no doubt that our country is destined for great things as long as there is strict adherence to the rule of law and contradictory provisions in our laws are amended so as to eradicate illiteracy, poverty and criminality. The eradication of illiteracy, discrimination, poverty and criminality is what determines if a country is socio-economically balanced but this does not imply that these vices are totally absent in a fully developed society (after all, some misguided individuals in Woolwich, London, recently killed a serving soldier despite the existence of some semblance of socio-economic balance in the United Kingdom and there have been recent riots in Sweden and Turkey), it simply means they have been substantially curtailed. That way, insurgency, which is a consequence of socio-economic imbalance becomes a rare exception and not the norm. This is the aim of the law; to act as a catalyst for socio-economic balance.  It is hoped that when all is said and done, we would be able to say that we have attained socio-economic balance in Nigeria using the Constitution and legal instruments as catalysts.

     

    Thank you and God bless.

     

    Chief Joe-Kyari Gadzama, MFR, SAN, FCIArb. (UK).

    Honorary Bencher/Barrister at Lincoln’s Inn.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    NBA did not call for dissolution of Governors’ Forum.

    By Emeka Obegolu

     

    Following the critique and misrepresentations that trailed the  by  the NBA president, Okey Wali (SAN) for the Nigerian Governors Forun (NGF) to dissolve itself if it cannot resolve its crises and face the challenges of governance, the General Secretary of the Nigerian Bar Associatrion (NBA) Emeka J’ P. Obegolu in this piece, examines the circumstances and true import of the NBA Presidents speech.

     

    Recently, Nigerian Newspapers, online publications and faceless bulk text messages have been awash with grave misrepresentation of the position of the  National Executive Committee (NEC) of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) on the crises rocking the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF). The reading public have been “informed” that the NBA President, Okey Wali, SAN called for the proscription/banning/de-registration  or the scrapping of the Nigerian Governors’ Forum if they could not put their house in order. Nothing can be farther from the truth.

     

    Perhaps a brief narrative of the background of the proceedings at the NBA NEC Meeting held in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State will suffice to throw more light and enlighten readers on the factual basis for the position that will be adopted by this writer. Let me also state that as the General Secretary of the NBA with the duty to record and keep records of the proceedings of NEC, I feel a sense of responsibility to set the records straight and afford our members, and indeed Nigerians the factual records for all of us to make our deductions there from.

     

    The NBA President, Okey Wali SAN, whilst making the traditional President’s speech to the NBA NEC traced the history of the Governors’ Forum to the United States of America (USA), where he identified the vision of the National Governors’ Association of the USA as a body formed to identify priority issues and deal with matters of Public Policy and Governance at both National and State levels. He listed the NGA’s interventionist schemes through working committees and special committees, all designed to raise the bar of good governance  for  the benefit of Americans.

     

    Coming home, the NBA President noted that the Nigerian Governors Forum has failed to model itself after the NGA where the whole idea derives from. He opined that the existence of such a body should be for altruistic reasons and as such in the best interest of the nation, Nigeria.

     

    Okey Wali, SAN concluded thus “The NBA calls on our Governors to quickly resolve their crisis and get on with the business of governance which was why they have been elected Governors. If they cannot resolve their crisis very quickly, and face delivery of democracy dividends to their electorates, they must dissolve the body and stop this distraction as sooner than later, Nigerians will call on them, in or out of Government to give account of their stewardship.”

    Page 7, of the Presidential address.

     

    The NBA NEC thereafter adopted this presidential speech as a NEC resolution. By the adoption, the call became the NBA’s call to the NGF and no longer Okey Wali SAN’s call.

     

    Now, the underlined portion of the statement is instructive for the purpose of the argument – “Whether Okey Wali/NBA has become undemocratic, unlawful, anti-constitution or anti-masses” The allegations differ depending on the person making the allegation and the interest he or she wishes to serve.

     

    The call by the NBA is for the NGF to self-dissolve where the forum finds it difficult to live up to its own expectations and objectives. Self-dissolution of Associations registered by Trustee is provided under the Companies and Allied Matters Act, specifically, Section 608.

     

    The NBA President also mentioned his inability to comment on the NGF Electoral dispute due to the pendency of a suit before a court of competent jurisdiction where the election is a subject matter, thereby reiterating the time honoured doctrine of ‘lis pendis’ that protects the sanity of courts and its processes.

     

    NBA acknowledges the freedom of association as enshrined in our constitution and cannot call on an external body to dissolve the NGF, as that would be unconstitutional.

     

    We therefore urge very senior lawyers and commentators to always read speeches of NBA president as the chief spokesperson of the NBA before attempting to critique it and even then appropriate channels of critique and/or dissent should be followed to avoid dragging our profession into the political arena and inviting opprobrium to our Association.

     

     

     

     

     

    Part of cover

    Judicial corruption is  a cancer that every society must strive to eliminate.

     

    Mr. Desmond U. M. Yamah is the chairman of the Abuja branch of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA). In this interview, he bares his mind on the challenges of Bar leadership, welfare of lawyers, fighting corruption in the Judiciary and sundry national issues. Legal Editor, JOHN AUSTIN UNACHUKWU, met him. Excerpts:

    You have been the chairman of the NBA Abuja branch for six months now, what has  been the challenges of this office?

    The office of the chairman of NBA Abuja branch is tasking and quite challenging. This is a branch that has about 10,000 members and with that kind of number, we are trying to reach out to make every member feel the impact and importance of the NBA in the personal lives and professional lives also.

    How are you going about this?

    We have embarked on a series of trainings for the branch in order to build the capacity of members in various fields  of law practice, for instance legislative advocacy. We are trying to acquire  basic knowledge in the art of drafting ,the idea of this is to ensure that  many of our members to take advantage of the knowledge and skills to do work for members of the National Assembly in terms of initiating  and proposing bills for members and even private member bills. We are also working on the areas of human rights because human rights violations are quite rampant in Abuja. A lot of the rights of the people are being violated, especially by the security agencies and some other organisations. We are trying to streghten the capacity of our human rights committee to be able to deal with these challenges. W e are also looking at the area of improving the judiciary and also trying very hard to acquire  a Bar Centre  for the branch. These are some of the key priority areas that we are looking at and in some of these  areas, the structures have been put in place, we are looking at the next six months to be able to have tangible achievements from the administration.

    The Chief Justice of Nigeria,  Justice Aloma Miriam  Mukhtar  has taken some bold steps to rid the judiciary of corruption, what is your reaction to this?

    The fight against corruption in the judiciary by the CJN is a welcome development. Every lawyer, every sane human being knows that any jurisdiction where the judiciary is corrupt, it is as dangerous as having a mad man with a loaded AK 47 loose on the streets. Judicial corruption is such a cancer that every society must strive to eliminate.  We support the fight against corruption by the CJN and if you look at events of the recent past, some people may seem to misunderstand our position.

    What has been your position?

    Our position has been  that where there have been established cases of judicial corruption,  such judicial officers must be  brought to justice because they destroy the lives of people, the destroy the rights of people, they destroy the interest of [people, they destroy the wealth of people  by making pronouncement  that are not in accord with the sense of justice. In as much as we support the fight against corruption, our position has always been that, the fight should be done in such a way as not to destroy the institution. Judicial corruption is like eroding  public confidence in the judicial system.

     

    How do we go about this?

    For instance today, many lawyers and their clients, litigants prefer to explore option of petition as against  appeal when they loose  cases.  No matter how clever a judge wants to be, when giving judgements for which he has been compromised, every average lawyer will know that the judgement is not in accord with established precedents. The law requires that a judge does not give judgement at his whims and caprices, not the way he feels or desires, no.  A judge gives judgement   based on established precedents and rule of law and every decisions reached by a judge, he must give reasons as to why he reached that decisions or conclusions. And when these reasons are weighed against the facts of the case, it is always very easy to know whether a judge has perverted judgement or not.  Now, a situation where people decide to write frivolous petitions against judges is unfair because it distracts judges from doing their jobs. This is not acceptable in a civilised judicial system. A situation where judges are intimidated, when they give judgements in line with what they think the people will say as against what they believe is the justice of the case, is not also acceptable.

     

    What is your suggestion about this?

    A judge must be courageous, this  is one of the major attributes of a good judge.  Judge must be fair, the judge must be principled,  he must be fearless in applying the law  and in reaching the decisions that he makes. But today, the judiciary is highly intimidated, we now have an instance where a judge of the Federal High Court, openly said in the open court, I do not know the ruling that I should give now, whichever ruling I give now, I am likely to be taken to the National Judicial Council (NJC). When we have a scenario like this, then the institution is seriously threatened and we cannot destroy the institution we seek to protect eliminating corrupt judges. So, there must be established guidelines, the must be established principles of bringing to justice judges that are corrupt. The trend now is that when lawyers loose a case, instead of going  on appeal, they write an appeal against a judge, for giving judgement against me, I will destroy him. We now have a situation where litigants openly threaten judges, most people make frivolous allegations against judges even there in the court.

    How do we resolve this?

    My advice on this is, let fight this cause in such a  way that corrupt judges are eliminated from the system and judges who are not corrupt, are also protected  against destructive allegations that threaten his career.

    It is widely believed that the standard of legal education in the country has fallen abysmally, consequently, people have called for law to be made a second degree programme, what is your reaction to this?

    Well, it depends on how you look at it. Law is a profession  like  wine that  gets better  with age. Now, looking at law, looking at the standard of education generally in the country, and looking at what you presume to be falling standards, a lot of factors are responsible for this. What are the conditions of our universities today, what are the conditions of the faculties of law in the universities, what are the qualifications of the lecturers that you have in these  faculties. Now, in arriving at that conclusion that the standard of  legal education is falling, you take a number of these factors into consideration, the educational sector has been thoroughly neglected by the government. Recently, I had a cause to visit the secondary school which I left in 1990, when I got there, the science laboratory which we used there then is no longer in existence, the school library is no longer in existence,  this is a Federal Government College, then how do you expect the pupils to read and become great scholars. Consequently, if you go to some law faculties today, you cannot find ordinary internet facilities.  Online research facilities are not there, the average lawyer cannot do research on the internet, how do expect rising standards of legal education in this circumstance?

    What is your advice in this circumstance?

    My thinking is that it is not making it a second or third degree programme that will improve the standard, you can have a first degree in a university that is not  properly equipped  and you come out worse than somebody the graduated from a well equipped secondary school. Consequently, you can take law as a first degree course in an academic environment that is properly equipped and you come out better than somebody who has practised law for more than 10 years. What we need to address, is the state of infrastructures in our universities and in our Law School. We need to look at the quality of lecturers that we have in those institutions, this underscores the need for us to have Law Faculties that are properly equipped with state of the art facilities where you have  regular supplies  of current editions of Law Reports, legal textbooks and high quality teachers as lecturers, who are properly and well remunerated, teachers who are encouraged and who are committed to the course of legal education. Where  teachers are not well paid, where adequate facilities are not provided for them to teach, where students do not have access to quality legal materials to enhance their study, we will continue to have these  challenges even  if  you make law a third degree  programme.  So, it is not making law a second degree course that will improve the standards of legal education,  but the quality of our tertiary  institutions and the preparedness of the institutions in turning out good students.

    Alternative Disputes Resolution Mechanisms (ADR) has been described as a faster mode of resolving commercial disputes, how come that we still have a lot of commercial disputes in our courts in spite  of the high level  of ADR practice in the country?

    Well, ADR is a very important component  of the judicial process in commercial  disputes resolution, because it helps the parties to reconcile and erode all forms of bitterness. It helps to reduce the workloads  in the court system, Many people will say that it is fast, many people will also say that it has a lot of advantages, but for any society to enjoy the advantages of ADR, the practitioners of ADR need to have quality education in the fields of ADR, I have seen so many situations where people  who have gone for ADR with the intention of speedy resolution of their disputes regretted ever going there because the panel members  failed or deliberately refused to write and deliver their awards after sitting and sometimes you find out that because  they  are not directly liable  to anybody,  they hand out awards that are perverse. I have seen a situation where an award that was given by an ADR panel was a big disappointment. Now, the challenge or disadvantage here is that you have to back to the court system again to seek to set aside the award, this is like going back to the drawing board.

    How do we resolve this?

    I want to appeal to the Institutes to exercise major control over their members, some of them are not giving the Institutes very good names. The concept is a good one, the advantages are numerous but the practice in Nigeria today is undergoing a lot of challenges. I always believe that there is always room for improvements, once we have credible members of the institutes who deliver credible awards in line with the provisions of the law and their conscience,  I think ADR is a wonderful alternative.

     

     

     

  • Revisiting the economic battle (ahead)

    Revisiting the economic battle (ahead)

    Economic Policy is made by the rich and done to the poor

    I write this from the United States. My brief visit here has been instructive. Despite those who say American power now swoons, Washington remains the world’s most influential capital. The mindset controlling Washington eventually colours other nations. The world has become a discordant rush partly because an increasingly plutocratic America remains the closest thing the dismal orchestra has to a conductor. Yet, a conductor who insists all things must be done to place him in maximum fettle, is one incapable of directing us toward music of greater harmony and equity.

    American society moves with a foul mood. Claims that the economy is improving seem to be merely that: Claims. People stew in uncertainty. This alleged land of plenty is the abode of plenty of new poverty. Income inequality has reached a peak last witnessed before the Great Depression nine decades ago. High numbers of people remain unemployed. Most new jobs are described by low wages and abbreviated hours.

    Black people are doubly compressed by the hard times. A young Black man has as much of a chance to be on the streets jobless or incarcerated for petty crime as he has to be employed or enrolled in higher education. Detroit, the once proud capital of the American car industry and of soul music, no longer hums with the sound of machinery of car manufacturing. This once fine city had been a symbol of Black progress; it now does nothing but sing the blues. The city is bankrupt and at the prey of creditors seeking public assets on the cheap. The Black population in Detroit is shell-shocked like an ill-equipped platoon finding itself suddenly on a battlefield. Once robust neighbourhoods are blighted by vacant and ramshackle houses. The scene evokes the feeling that a plague has swept the place, consuming people as well as savaging brick, mortar, building and even the spirit of those who remain behind in the desolate town.

    Against this backdrop, President Obama toured several cities touting his plans to revive the American economy by protecting the endangered middle class. Although not a great admirer of the President, I hoped this signaled he would hew a different course.

    His tour produced high-sounding speeches before enthusiastic, often cheering crowds. The purportedly liberal corporate media lauded his every word. For my part, I dropped my head, wept dry tears and cried a silent cry.

    First, the President pulled from the mothballs his threadbare plan for 50 billion dollars on infrastructural improvements. To the average person, the amount seems so vast as to impress. To those more knowledgeable, the amount is so paltry as to insult. America’s ruling crowd has become so selfish that it channels the bulk of the national wealth down its collective gullet. Because of lack of investment, the world’s greatest national infrastructural grid 40 years ago is now the worst among developed nations.

    Obama’s 50 billion dollar scheme is a complete feign. It is akin to adorning a Chihuahua with a horse’s saddle then insisting the ill-fitted combination is primed to compete in a thoroughbred race. It is all farce but one the public’s ignorance and media’s connivance have given a hero’s welcome. The leading organisation of America’s civil engineers estimated the nation must spend over one trillion dollars to place its vital infrastructure in respectable order.

    The White House knows this. Its policy statement was empty theatre, the slick tossing of saccharine but hollow words at a populace too ignorant to realise the speaker ridicules rather than respects them. The fund President Obama seeks will minimally improve the overall state of the nation’s infrastructure. It will be like giving a pedicure to a tuberculin patient. However, it presents a golden opportunity for a few large construction firms to make a real fortune based on expenditures giving the public false hope. Welcome to the feast where only the fat can eat their fill. It gets worse.

    President Obama also unveiled a mortgage reform policy. Again, he declared the reform had the middle class in mind. If that were the case, he then has the mind of a prowler. His plan abolishes the two government-sponsored agencies responsible for broadening the mortgage market so middle and working-class people could own homes over the past several decades. With a broad smile, shut the door to future home ownership for many average people. He claimed this was required to allow the private sector and free market to work their magic. Someone forgot to tell the man the agencies were established because the unfettered, unregulated mortgage market had ill-served the nation’s needs even when working class wages were rising and the overall economy was robust. If such agencies were needed when the economy brimmed with vitality, they are of vital utility during the current period of economic flaccidity.

    The two corporations are to be replaced by a curious scheme. Private firms engaged in melding individual mortgages together to form bundles of financial instruments secured by the real estate underlying the mortgages can now buy a government guarantee of repayment of these financial instruments. What he has taken from the common man, the president gives to the financial speculator in multiple portion. Valuation of these financial instruments is so subjective as to be more conjecture than precision. Enacting this policy will grant investors the open door to pay a nominal fee guaranteeing these instruments then claim outrageous values for the assets. If the market works, the investor gets paid via the market. If the market falters, he collects on the guarantee. Either way, he gets paid, meaning his reward comes not for taking a risk but simply because he had money in the first instance. The common man must fight life’s vicissitudes to earn his quotidian bread and keep. Meanwhile, the rich are protected on all sides; their bounty is promised and secured by the sweat of the poor.

    In all of this, President Obama either is devoid of an economic bone in his body or he is as cynical as a man can be. I cannot believe he is so naïve as not to apprehend the ramifications of what he advocates. Thus, I am left to conclude he remains the loyal steward of deeply-pocketed interests who have little interest in the average person.

    We approach the crux of this tale. We must be careful about the leaven we eat. The yeast of understanding is in a sparse plate on a small table. On the other side is the feast of fools. It is served in large, open halls upon wide, ample tables. The latest Obama escapades are instructive in that they reveal what is to come to much of the rest of the world. Just as there seems to be a dictator’s manual that authoritarians religiously apply to thwart democracy, there is a financialist handbook the economic elite applies to keep people poor.

    Given the imperfection of our social arrangements, some poverty is unavoidable. However, due again to the flaws of the human character, the larger portion of human misery is the unnecessary byproduct of man’s greed. We live in an age of rank elite conservatism as virulent as any time in the past four centuries. Today’s elite believe they are entitled to life in the fullest; this entails owning and possessing as much as possible, including people. For this to occur, they need people to grow poorer so they can purchase more of them, more cheaply.

    Knowing we know little economics, they hire honey-throated mouthpieces like Obama to tell us all is being done for our welfare. In fact, what they have in mind will harm us. However, we believe them and thus keeping playing the roles set for us, little realising the hard work we do will gain us little more than a victim’s status. We become dumb accomplices in setting our lifetime trap of penury, struggle and debt.

    They tell us to look at economics as a collaborative venture where all parties cooperate to maximise output and production. They demand we believe what they know to be a lie. He who believes that this is the nature of economics is a charter citizen in a fool’s paradise balances on the edge of calamity. They need us to think this way so that we blind ourselves from seeing who they truly are and how they actually think.

    They see economics as competition. If too many average people have all they need, the rich are afraid that the people will no longer work extra hard and will drive up wages. If masses don’t place their nose to the grindstone, there will be insufficient surplus and too much wealth among the common people to give the elite the lavish wealth upon which they have come to rely. They must keep you poor, grasping and so afraid that you willingly work your fingers to the bare bone in order for them to luxuriate at their desired level. In the current system, the average person works to indebt himself to an elite whom his work has already profanely enriched.

    This is how capitalism was born. In 18th century England, architects of economic thought and policy lamented how the rural farmer and peasant were too happy for their own good. Because these people had small plots of land and recourse to common land to graze small herds, they were mostly self-sufficient in their bucolic simplicity. The aggressive captains of industry bristled at this waste of human fodder. They needed people to work their factories. To fuel their new way of life, they instituted legislation that would bar the theretofore self sufficient, life of the peasant. They willfully killed an entire social structure and imposed misery on the unwitting farmer and bumpkin just so their capitalist elite could reap the benefits of the forced labor.

    Laws were enacted dispossessing small farmers of their meager holdings. Common pasture land was abolished. Effectively chased from the land and their means of livelihood, the peasant drifted to the city. They formed a pool of surplus labor competing against each other for the meager wages of nonstop work amidst a dreary, wretched urban poverty as has ever existed.

    This is how capitalism was born. Clearly, the global economy has expanded and evolved. It is more sophisticated and nuanced but its basic nature remains unchanged. The cardinal principle upon which this edifice is built remains that the vast majority of the people must run the ceaseless treadmill so they have little time to question things or fight to change them.

    In initial years of capitalism, people were dispossessed of their lands. Today, the people can now own land their ancestors once freely walked. However, they must now pay a high price. Given their low wages, paying such a price consigns them to a lifetime of debt. By nature of the obligation hovering over him, a debtor is willing to work for a wage below what he is due. In this perverted system, to strive to own a home is to acquire a debt that forces you to accept unjust wages which makes it more difficult to redeem the debt.

    In the formative stage of capitalism, only landed wealthy men held the political franchise. Now, everyone can vote but voting matters little. Today, big money decides the candidates of the major parties. The average person votes but his franchise is of no avail. Money Power presents its choice of candidates from which he must select. Usually, all this does is present to the people a choice between bad and worse.

    Africa, you have suffered greatly because of this. Led by America, Western nations suppress the bulk of their populations in order to meet elite demands. If Western nations willingly turn their own people into modern indentured servants, they have no compulsion about keeping African states and their peoples in a place of economic weakness. A vital instrument abetting this unfairness is the nature of many of the continent’s governmental structures. Too many nations have kept the warped values and ways that characterised the colonial political economy. In a profound way, Africa suffers under the weight of excessive capitalist practice shorn even of the false regard the Western elite must feign for its citizens. As such, colonialism bequeathed to Africa a political economy described as rawest form of exploitative capitalism accentuated by racism.

    More than the populations of Western nations, the people of Africa have their work cut out for them. Most of today’s African leaders belong to the same elitist club as President Obama. They talk sweetly but act sourly toward the people’s interests. Instead of being genuine leaders of the people, many leaders are emissaries of the global elite to the people. Thus, instead of demanding from the global elite what Africa needs, these leaders are more apt to instruct the people about what the world says they should sacrifice or forfeit to maintain a good credit rating.

    Breaking this age-old bondage falls on the people themselves. First, we must earnestly begin to learn more about economics and finance. The more you know is the less you can be fooled. The most important point to remember is that economic policy is rarely a completely collaborative venture. Few policies are class neutral. Policy is a subjective determination of who benefits and who losses in relative and absolute measure. Policy is the balancing of competing interests. You must know enough about your interests and those of other economic classes within your nation and of other nations so that you protect and promote what is vital to you.

    Most importantly, we must envision a world free from the exploitation inherent to classical and now modern capitalism. There is a better road available. Adhering to this new path first starts with asking ourselves do we strive for a more just, equitable society for all or do we labor to win the individual lottery – that slim, desperate chance to escape the terse, bare confines of average existence so that we may join the lush elite. If we strive for the former, there is a chance. If all we do is individually labour for the latter, then our children and their children shall be the hand servants of a global system that seeks their harm.

     

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  • Economic summit coming

    The President , Odu’a Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (ODU’ACCIMMA), Mrs Alaba Lawson, said the Chambers would host an economic summit before the end of the year.

    Speaking at this at the Third Annual General Meeting of the group in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, said: “We are organising an economic summit before the end of the year that will focus on agriculture where the stakeholders will brainstorm.”.

    Mrs Lawson said the aim of the chamber was to actualise the vision of its forefathers in regaining the region’s lost economic glory.

    She said the event would help in returning the region to economic buoyancy through agriculture.

    The industrialist said the event would engender strategies aimed at repositioning the Southwest.

    Mrs Lawson recalled how the region recorded unparalleled achievements in commerce and agriculture when the Southwest was the food basket of the nation.