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Tag: forward

  • Looking forward, backward

    Looking forward, backward

     It is a new year, and as individuals, institutions and nations, we have started to map out plans for it, just as we take stock of the outgone one. Many things and issues shaped 2023, and they will also certainly be at play in 2024.

    2024 may not be a transition year, as 2023 was, but off-cycle governorship elections will hold in the year. Edo and Ondo states will go to the polls to elect new governors. For the race, Governor Lucky Orimisan Aiyedatiwa (the man with three magical names) of Ondo, who assumed office just last week after the death of his predecessor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, seems to have a headstart.

    He will be vying for the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket as a sitting governor and not as a ‘disloyal’ deputy, who did not wish his now late predecessor well. If he gets it, he will run for the election as an incumbent. His chances look bright, but in politics, especially electoral contests, two plus two is not always four. The Edo contest will be keen. The state can go either the way of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) or the opposition APC, which is the government at the centre.

    Govermor Godwin Obaseki is no longer eligible to run having done so on two previous occasions as constitutionally allowed. But he wants to determine who succeeds him and he is said to have settled for boardroom guru Asue Ighodalo. How he will do that without being called a godfather, a tag which he loathes and made him to part ways with his successor, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, waits to be seen.

    There will be by-elections to fill vacant National and Houses of Assembly seats too. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) may not be that stretched and stressed in organising these polls as they do with general elections, but they come at enormous cost in terms of logistics, funding, staffing (both regular and ad hoc) and security. The umpire should be able to cope and also use the exercises as a test-run for the 2027 general elections in three years time.

    Who will be at its helm then? Only the President can say as he has the constitutional power to appoint or remove the INEC Chair, no matter the noise being made to the contrary in certain quarters. Until the 1999 Constitution (as amended) is amended, there is nothing anybody can do about that. As it has been in the past 14 years, the issue of security will remain on the front burner. Terrorists, bandits and kidnappers continue to wreak havoc across the country.

    Read Also: Courts bars PDP, INEC from stopping 27 Rivers lawmakers

    The Yuletide carnage on the Plateau was a rude awakening to us as a nation that we are still a long way away from bottling the insecurity genie. As this reporter asked and answered in this space last week: “Why have these attacks become frequent?” “Can the attacks still be reduced to the farmers/herders clashes?” “These incessant attacks have gone beyond that”. Governors of the North central states spoke in the same vein on Tuesday.

    During a solidarity visit to their colleague, Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau, they said the attacks had nothing to do with herders/farmers skirmishes. According to them, they were purely banditry and terrorism and drew a distinction between those two  and kidnapping. The carnage is heartrending. An account of it given by Senator Abdul Ningi in the hallowed chamber of the Senate is blood chilling.

    “What happened in Bokkos was unprecedented. The attack was by a group of bandits, over 400 of them moving at a go… First, there was a rumour of this attack. Second, the governor tried to make this information available, but they didn’t take him seriously. What was discovered is that these marauding bandits were not moving with weapons. Those weapons were domiciled in certain locations”, Ningi said. Then he asked: “Who are these people and why are they doing it?” It is a question which resonates with what was written here last week, to wit: “Only the attackers can say what they want”.

    In 2024, the government must step up the war against terrorism and banditry. It should hasten action on the prosecution of those held for these crimes so as to assure the nation that it is not handling the matter with kid-glove. The huge vote for security in this year’s budget will amount to nothing if these mindless attacks persist.

    Insecurity is an ill wind that blows no good. It destroys everything in its trail, including the economy. We are already seeing results of its destructive nature in the killing of the real sector. No matter what it takes, insecurity must he tamed in 2024 in order to revive the sector for the good of  the country.

  • Art is the way forward, experts say

    Experts have converged on The Wheatbaker Hotel, Ikoyi, Lagos to discuss the rising commercial values of art and how to explore its opportunities. The seminar titled: Art as an alternative investment, was organised by Omenka Gallery in collaboration with FROT Foundation, Chinyere Elizabeth Okoroafor reports.  

    EXPERTS have met in Lagos to discuss the rising value of Nigerian art at international auctions.

    A speaker, Oliver Enwonwu, said research had shown that art is an attractive investment for portfolio diversification, adding that it has a low correlation with other financial assets.

    Other discussants included the Director and Head of Modern & Contemporary African Art at Sotheby’s London, Hannah O’ Leary; founder, OmoobaYemisi Adedoyin Shyllon Art Foundation, Prince Yemisi Shyllon; Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Zenith Capital Limited, Jubril Enakele; and Director, Foundation for Contemporary & Modern Visual Arts, Mr. Jess Castellote.

    In her keynote address, O’ Leary expressed delight at the growing value of art as well as the increase in the major outlets for sale of art on the continent.

    “We are seeing more art fairs, art museums and galleries on the continent, which is a good thing,” she said.

    She described Sotheby as a commercial auction house that drives  the value of art as well as showcasing international Nigerian bestsellers, such as El Anatsui, whose work Paths to the Okro Farm sold for $1,445,000 at Sotheby’s New York; Njideka Akunyili Crosby, whose painting Bush Babies sold for $3,375,000 at Sotheby’s New York; Yinka Shonibare’s work Crash Willy, which sold for $290,149 at Sotheby’s London and a painting by the iconic artist Ben Enwonwu titled: Africa Dances, which sold at Sotheby’s London for $264,568.

    Comparing the Western art market to that of Africa, Enakele observed that Africa still remains a virgin terrain.

    In his presentation Nigerian art financing: Overview, challenges and opportunities, he noted that the global art market was worth $63 billion with a 12 percent yearly increase.

    “The share of the US in this market, he added, is 42 percent, while those of the UK and Asia are 18 and 23 percent. Meanwhile, Africa’s share in this huge market is below 0.0 percent,” he said.

    According to Enakele, the prevailing conditions in the art industry might not be appealing to lending institutions. But, he saw these apparent gaps in the ‘art ecosystem’ as ‘opportunities for new players: noting that Nigeria’s art market is growing and it’s a matter of time before supporting infrastructure is in place.

    Oliver, who spoke on A brief history of art in Nigeria, educated possible collectors on the history of Nigerian art for a better understanding of the Nigerian art.

    The impact of the late renowned Ben Enwonwu and the spectacular performances of artists at international auctions only indicate a more promising future for the local art scene. He said: “The future is indeed bright for Nigerian artists,’’ adding that this was the right time for investment.

    Reflecting on the historical journey of art from the pre-colonial traditional art till date, he identified the Nok terracotta heads of 500 BC, 12th to 15th century life-size Ife heads and masks, 15th century Benin bronze sculptures and the relatively recent 19th century wood carvings as some of the major treasures of Nigeria.

    Nonetheless, his exposé on the Modern and Contemporary Art were concise enough as a crash course for any aspiring collector of Nigerian art. However, it was a contribution to educate the local art public rather on the potentials of quality art.

    In his presentation titled: Legal implications of collecting art, Prince Shyllon, one of Africa’s top art collectors,said that there are a lot of statutory provisions, which have not been tested by Nigerian local laws. The first, he said, is the Hague Convention of 1954, which was followed up by the 1970 UNESCO Convention in Paris, which focused on the ‘Protection of Cultural Properties’. According to him, the latter convention sought ‘to fortify the protection and transfer of ownership of cultural properties and illegal exports,’ adding that these conventions fell short of expectations and this necessitated the 1995 UNIDROIT convention, which was convened to fortify and tackle its defects.

    On the protection of the illegal export of art works, Shyllon disclosed that the ‘issue is extensively covered by the provisions of the 1977 National Commission for Museums and Monuments Act of Nigeria as amended by the 2004 laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.’

    “Section 21 of the act makes provision for the buying and selling of antiquities. The operative word “antiquities” is interpreted in the Section 32 of the act as works of archaeological interest or relic of human settlement or craft of indigenous origin as well as ‘any of such objects made or fashioned before  1918 or any artistic work of historical or scientific interest or has been used at any time in the performance of any traditional ceremony,” he said.

    He, therefore, decried the abuse of the provisions of the act by the agents of the NCMM, who insist that every exporter of art works from Nigeria must present clearance certificate on any piece whether modern or contemporary.

    Perhaps, more pertinent to the artists in the audience is the Nigerian Copyright Act Cap 28 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 2004, which ostensibly protects all original artistic works. “The law however behooves on artists the responsibility to register a notification of their right with the Nigeria Copyright Commission,” he said.

    But, Spanish-born Castellotedescribed art as more valuable than money, saying great investors make a lot of money. Great collectors create a lot of collections…There are things that are more valuable than money. Art is one of them.”

    Castellote’s presentation, titled: The making of a collector: Guiding Principles and collecting strategies offered consolatory words to those venturing into art collecting.

    According to him, a great collector has to be passionate. An ignorant collector cannot put up a great collection. He added that a collector must be informed enough to understand why it is important to part with so much of his hard-earned money to acquire an artist’s work.  In addition, he must be thorough, prudent, organised as well as adhere to much of the safeguards laid down by Enakele in his presentation. These include education and research, legal services, acquaintance with secondary markets as well as storage and insurance of artworks.

  • Forward march to the past

    •Asking electricity consumers ‘willing’ to pay for meters to do so is a sad reminder of our past 

    Abdication of responsibility: this simply is what the Federal Government has done by saying it would not oppose the wish of any electricity consumer that is willing to pay for meter based on agreement between such consumer and the distribution company (DISCO), and as endorsed by the power sector regulator, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).

    Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who made the new government’s position known at the 18th monthly power sector meeting in Abuja, last week, said: “Please recall that government had in the past attempted to intervene in meter supply through CAPMI (Credited Advanced Payment Metering Implementation) which ultimately I decided we should wind down because of the distrust and disaffection it was creating between consumers and DISCOs, with government caught in the middle with numerous petitions by customers who paid for meters that were not delivered within the approved time.”

    He added: “Some DISCOs have come back to say that their customers still want to pay for meters and they can reach agreements with them on how to pay for it. Government will not stand in the way of such an agreement. It is consistent with the intent of privatisation envisioned by the Electric Power Sector Reform Act or at least it does not violate the Act.”

    We wonder what would have informed the volte-face. While we agree that pragmatism should be brought into governance, particularly in resolving the power sector crisis, the government’s new position is pragmatism in reverse. How can the government in one breath say it is the responsibility of DISCOs to provide prepaid meters and at the same time ask electricity consumers who are willing to pay for them to do so, based on some so-called agreement with the DISCOs?

    It is not the business of the DISCOs to tell the government that some of their customers are willing to pay for prepaid meters. Rather, it is their business to invest in the provision of meters as part of their obligation to their customers. The meters are the property of the DISCOs, why should the consumers pay for them? Did the Federal Government make any independent enquiry on the claim by the DISCOs? This claim is not likely to be true. And if it is true, it is because such consumers see themselves as helpless as the government in making the DISCOs  provide the meters.

    It is the frustration with the system that could have led to such demand by the hapless electricity consumers. Much as the DISCOs continue to claim that they do not have meters to go round, reports have it that some people who are willing to grease palms are getting the meters whereas those who paid for them many years back are yet to be supplied. Nigeria is one of the few places where a farmer would go to the market without implements only to get there and be asking his customers to pay to enable him get the farming tools.

    We will continue to insist on things being done the right way, especially in the power sector, because our entire lives depend on it. If we do not get power supply right, we can never get anything else right. Our economic survival depends on it; even our well-being is dependent largely on the amount of stable electricity we have. Therefore, the Federal Government should not be seen to be pandering to the wishes of a few powerful persons who bought electricity firms only to be giving excuses, either after failing to do their due diligence or simply because they never envisaged a situation where they would be told to do business as it should be done.

    Nigerians, as electricity consumers, are customers and we are all familiar with the maxim: the customer is king. The Federal Government should not be seen to be dethroning electricity consumers from their kingship position to be the underdog in the power sector. Something must be wrong for consumers to plead with electricity firms to buy meters that they ordinarily should be provided free. When they do that, it is because they have been pushed to the wall by the outrageous and indefensible bills that are slammed on them by DISCOs.

    Rather than succumb to pressure or cheap blackmail from the electricity firms, the government should insist on a business model that can take us out of the woods, not one that can only continue to pamper electricity firms that are not ready to do business the way it should be done in a civilised environment. The government’s new stand on meters is a way to deepen corruption in the provision of meters to power-starved Nigerians.

  • The leap forward

    Nigeria international Kelechi Iheanacho must be ruing how he got it all wrong with his move to Europe. He will be looking for who to blame for his transfer crises. He won’t consider himself as his biggest problem because he had people to guide him, but he was carried away by the rave reviews he got from the international media.

    Iheanacho was a star everyone saw shortly before the U-17 World Cup, following his incredible skills at the Africa U-17 Championships. It was easy to guess that he would run the unholy path of former Golden Eaglets after he emerged the best player and highest goal scorer with six goals at the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The Eaglets won the trophy. Iheanacho became the star every club wanted.

    Smart agents lured Iheanacho into several deals. He started receiving calls from scouts from European clubs he wanted to handle his move out of Nigeria. He should have asked questions, but didn’t know who to speak with. I won’t blame him or his father, who later stepped in when things started going awry. They were inexperienced to handle some of the intricacies of European clubs’ contracts. They were seeing some of the agents for the first time and wouldn’t have known who to deal with.

    Ordinarily, such exceptional stars’ future should be handled by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). I recall that the Nigerian government has always tagged winning Golden Eaglets’ squads as government properties. Sadly, our players have chosen to carry their crosses, only to seek the face of the government and the NFF when they are stuck in their movement out of the country.

    Will our budding talents learn to trust the NFF? I don’t think so, with the Federation’s image battered by unfounded tales. I say so because no NFF chief has been jailed for any wrongdoing. Or is it that no one can say that the federation’s chiefs have been corrupt? It is the players whose careers have been truncated by shylock agents who hold the wrong end of the stick. Nigeria is worse off because boys who should have blossomed to be world stars retire from the game in penury, even as their agents smiling to the bank.

    Transfer rules are sacrosanct. They have been operated by the 211 countries affiliated to FIFA, Nigeria inclusive. One of the rules specifies the layers of authority, beginning from the football academies, youth clubs, clubs and the federation, leading to such players’ transfer to Europe. The importance of these layers of authority is to ensure that the player gets his dues. It also ensures credible documentation where any aggrieved party can exploit all the channels of seeking redress. If unsatisfied, such a player could head for the courts, if he suspects any foul play.

    Iheanacho was Under-17 when he hit the limelight. It isn’t right for an underage to sign a document on his future, simply because he is talented. Such documents shouldn’t be given to young boys in academies since most of them hardly pay the boys any form of remuneration. These kids enjoy playing the game. Their parents aren’t too worried because playing soccer takes them off societal vices.

    Why should academies ask for cash on boys they didn’t pay salaries? What happens to FIFA’s provision for academies when such players get deals in Europe? What image right does an under-aged player have? Such breaches exist because some coaches and NFF members are fronting for European clubs. They break the rules, which lead to large scale sharps practices when it comes to international transfer of players. Or is it not only the NFF that can issue ITC to players to play outside the country?

    The way forward is for the NFF board to get its international department to computerise its operations, such that it would be easy to capture movement of players. The board’s members should institute a law which forbids academies from inviting foreigners into the country to do football business without NFF’s approval. There should be a list of approved agents, scouts, managers, as it is on FIFA’s on their website to guide players and their parents.

    It smacks of a gross aberration for academies to unilaterally take players out of the country for football business. Such academies must be proscribed and their matter taken to FIFA. This flaw in NFF’s international department is responsible for all the falsification of players’ documents. Such sharp practices in the international department explains why players would easily ask if you want the football ages or their real ages, if you try to find out their dates of births.

    What will it cost NFF to alert FIFA about the illegal routes through which unscrupulous agents take our budding talents to Europe, Asia and the Diaspora? Any transfer without NFF’s seal of authorisation is illegal, using FIFA’s rule book. How come ours is different? Or does the NFF’s competitions department not have the data of these talents? If yes, how about those who have played for the country?

    We cannot continue to be the laughing stock over issues that can be resolved using FIFA rules. 

     

    National Sports Festivals

    Sportsmen and women looked forward to the biannual National Sports Festival with one goal – to excel by winning medals for their states, which ultimately guarantees them the path to represent Nigeria at international sporting competitions. Indeed, states ensure that competitions are held at the grassroots, largely through catch-them-young programmes and the traditional sports tournaments.

    Sports thrived in the past through the synergy between the states’ ministry of education and the sports ministry. After all budding stars abound in the 774 local government areas.

    The states’ Sports Council coaches are drafted to those areas to fish out talents, after getting offices and accommodation for those assigned to discover new talents. These new kids on the block were invited to camp to prepare for the National Sports Festivals.

    The festival was a spectacle because the venues were fixed – inside the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos. No stories. Most governors or administrators of yore, ensured that athletes’ welfare and remunerations were top priority. Some went to the extent of training with them and eating their meals. This relationship emboldened the athletes to give their best. Of course, those who excelled were adequately rewarded with certificates signed by the governors and cash. Those who wanted to combine schooling with sports were given scholarships.

    I wonder what the governors discuss at their meetings beyond looking for cash to run their campaign programmes. I wish some of the governors realised that sports is the biggest public relations tool that they need to mobilise the people. I wonder if governors know that it is their duty to ensure that the people can use sport to improve on their health.

    The governors should reinvent the industry in the states to convince investors to key into the business of sports. The National Sports Festival was tagged Nigeria’s Olympic Games and it attracted our best athletes and new ones to compete. The National Stadium and other centres were filled to capacity.

    Many people in the nooks and crannies of the country who partook looked forward to visiting Lagos as it afforded the opportunity of seeing structures that were not in the states. Inside the bus, we looked downwards to see vehicular movement while we were cruising on the flyover bridges. Those of us who had cameras took memorable pictures. We prided ourselves as having been to the country’s commercial nerve centre and capital in the 1970s.

    All that glamour and camaraderie is gone. The National Sports Festival was held in 2012, interestingly in Lagos – courtesy of the interest of former Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola.

    Since that time, it has been tales of the unexpected, with Cross Rivers Government offering all kinds of reasons why the sports fiesta is on its knees. The athletes have been training since 2012 till date, with no word from the owners of the event, the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

    The importance of the festival is best appreciated by the need to build new facilities around the country. States which hosted the event in the past are still benefitting from some of the facilities built, although most of them are derelict, no thanks to the dearth of competitions.

    I’m sure that if the governors prioritise the festival, it will hold biannually even if the owners of the event don’t know what to do. One of the things that the private sector needs to splash their cash on the festival is the concern of government. And, of course, what they stand to gain from investing in it. Tax relief to sports friendly firms is one of the ways to get them to key into the sporting industry.

    It hurts when Nigeria rushes to convince Nigeria-born athletes to represent us. It amounts to a slap on our faces when such Nigeria-born stars who shunned us in their prime, accept our offer in the twilight of their careers.

  • Time to move Africa forward

    Title: How Africans Vandalise Africa (Focusing Nigeria)
    Author: Adaobi Whyte
    Publishers: Self published
    No of Pages: 407
    Reviewer : Yetunde Oladeinde

    The book by a female who is a social crusader, politician, designer and horticulturist tries to expose the challenges Africans are passing through in spite of the potential and opportunities in the country. It laments the destiny, slave mentality and wickedness of the black man, hypocrisy and fanatism.

    In the prelude titled , “The black man and racism,” the writer looks at the mindset of the enemy by referring to an Englishman , Professor Hugh Trevor Roper of Oxford University, to set the tone for the discussion about the black man. The author talks about the arguments of Methma Mohammed, an Arab slave trader , who lived in the 18th century and how it relates to the things happening today in the African continent.

    “ These Black creatures were born to be in perpetual servitude and were ordained by God to be our slaves forever. They are lazy, greedy, stupid, godless, dirty and most of them are cowards. When you put the whip to them and line them up, they will do anything for you. They and their African brothers who sold them to us have no sense of collective purpose and they think nothing of killing and selling their own kinsmen for a pittance.”

    To buttress her point, she refers to a speech by the former South African President P.W. Botha. “Where is the Blackman appreciated? England discriminates against its Blacks, and their ‘SUS’ law is out to discipline the Blacks, Canada, France, Russia and Japan all play their discrimination too.”

    The writer then moves on to talk about the situation in Nigeria this way.” Instead of Nigerian political and religious leaders killing us in infancy like Botha planned, they are starving us to death, and their security forces attack the people when they protest like apartheid Police.”

    One other area that bothers the writer are the many abandoned projects across the country. ‘ The abandoned projects in Nigeria could make some meaning to the development of the nation. But our political leaders have vandalised all the money for those projects like jungle men.”

    Whyte opines that  this is time for stock taking in order to move to the next level. “When I was a young girl, in my typical African village, Ndoni on the eastern bank of the river Niger, our family elders told us stories of animal kingdom . In one story, we were told that there was a kingdom of thieves . Once the king lost his life where he fed his gang to go for robbery at night. A stocktaking from the time of independence has proved that Nigeria is a country of thieves.”

    The crux of the matter is the damage being done by the political class. “We  rejected the words of our elders to search for the black goat when there is light. Today, darkness has overtaken us. When our political leaders started to vandalise government funds, we laughed  that it was ‘national cake’, and joked that they took 100% of project funds.”

    She adds that “These politicians lived among the people in their villages and some in the cities . Many of them could not afford the basic necessities of life. But within that period of first four years, they had built castles and mansions that look as if they had fallen from heaven. The political parties became the clubs for criminals to vandalise the nations funds.”

    Whyte also x-rays the challenges in the film industry, terrorism, African leaders and corruption as well as innovations made by social media giants like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates who are giving billions of dollars in aid to charity.”The world has been taken over by terrorists, including Nigeria’s Boko Haram. The United Nations should organise a religious reconciliation conference, which will deal with the jealousy that originated from the household of Abraham.

  • Youths and the way forward

    The Nigerian youths are worried by three things I have been able to distil into three categories as:

    Wrong mentality/identity/personality: The youths of today have myopic perspectives towards life issues. Such is their wrong definition of success, hustling and leadership. To them success means money, hustling means fraud and leadership means being top of the food chain in politics.

    Abuse of strength and talents: The problem is not in discovering their talents or recognising their strengths, but what do they use it for? Most youths have channelled their strengths and talents towards fruitless activities.

    Love for extravagance and frivolities: “I want to wear designers, use iPhones, ride in expensive cars and club all day,” has filled up the head of most youths and blinded them to the consciousness of real opportunities.

    It’d not be enough to mention the problems without providing solutions. The solutions I’ll proffer are words ending with ION. In chemistry, ion is an atom that has lost an electron and is unstable, such are our youths but if the government reactivates their energy and provide the missing electron, they’d become stable.

    Firstly, Identification. It’s highly imperative to identify the ready minds as they would be the tools to be used in changing others. Also, Education. The identified ones must be thoroughly educated with the essential information and imbibed with knowledge borne out of experience.

    Furthermore, Questions. Education comes before question because their mentality has to be set aright before they can be used. Questions of what should be more paramount to identify their needs and be met adequately.

    In addition, Provision. This has to be done to ensure the aforementioned processes won’t go into dustbin. Provisions have to be made for transition and successful passing of the baton to them.

    Conclusively, Supervision. No chef places food on fire and goes to sleep. They have to be supervised to ensure the right thing is being done and they have to be motivated at each point or the other.

    If all are perfectly executed, it will sure provide a safe transition to good governance by youths.

    • By Odetokun Elijah Olasunkanmi

    odetokunelijah8@gmail.com

     

  • Moving forward with governors

    Few can doubt that President Muhammadu Buhari’s desire and passion is to gow the country.

    That much was clear even from the electioneering days.

    Now in the saddle directing the ship of state, he does not want any part of the country to be left behind as he projects and plans.

    His focus is beyond governance at the federal level as he tries to carry every state government along towards ensuring total and even development and progress across Nigeria.

    He is putting the opportunities for economic growth he has seen at the centre at the doorsteps of state governments.

    To this end, President Buhari last Tuesday created a forum through the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) at the old Banquet Hall of the State House, Abuja for all the 36 state governors to experience reawakening that will place their states on a path of genuine economic growth.

    The ultimate aim of the session is to boost internally generated revenues of state governments and make them less dependent on the centre.

    The state governors, during the session, were briefed by many federal government agencies and international organizations which enlightened them on the various opportunities available to them and how to run an efficient economy at the state level.

    Their eyes were opened to some developmental funds they could easily access from world bodies and potentially rewarding partnerships they could go into with some federal government agencies and international organizations.

    During the session, for instance, the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Health briefed the governors on how to access $500 million human development fund from the World Bank. The fund had always been there untapped by the state governments.

    On the novel initiative by the President, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari said:  “Today, this meeting was with heads of so many agencies which made presentations to us. Some of them were ordered by Mr. President to do the presentation so as to make us understand where they are and what they are up to.

    “We were supposed to take eight but because of the time constraints, we were only able to take three. We have taken United Nations Population Fund, we have taken the World Bank in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health on human development.

    “And we have also taken the GMD NNPC. By November we would take those that we are not able to take such as National Mathematical Centre and the Nigeria Communication Commission on the issue of digitalization and also NASENI. This is for the betterment of Nigeria. They have briefed us about the way forward.

    “We are going to continue with other departments so that we can understand and see how to move the nation forward.” He said

    Also commending the President for the initiative, Oyo State Governor, Abiola Ajimobi said: “I think that for the first time in the history of my being a governor, this is a very commendable effort.

    “First and foremost, we now discover that many states can partner with the NNPC. We are having dwindling resources, can we not expand our resource net to be able to bring in money?

    “For instance, each state can now partner with the NNPC in the area of downstream business activities, even to some extent, distribution activities and refining activities.

    “The Ministry of Health also made presentation. We discovered also that state governments can partner with the ministry.

    “In all, we are taking about nine stakeholders and development partners who are exposing the opportunities available for the states to leverage upon. I think it is commendable.” He said

     

    Living with terror

     

    Last week Monday, former President Olusegun Obasanjo was on one of his rare visits to the seat of power.

    His visit, on that day, was for two reasons. One of the reasons was to lead Colombia experts to President Muhammadu Buhari.

    Their coming was to make presentation to the President with a view to learning how the Colombians live with and survived insurgency for more than fifty years and why Colombia failed three times in its effort to seek peace.

    Obasanjo said: “I brought a delegation of those of us who visited Colombia last year under the auspices of a foundation which I am the chairman.

    “We went to Colombia to see how all the Colombian authorities were handling the issue of insurgency which had been with them for more than 50 years.

    “As a result of that visit and the experience we had, a book was produced and I said to them that it will be interesting for us in Nigeria to learn as much as we can learn from the experience of Colombia.

    “The specific thing is that they have been fighting insurgency for 50 years. They celebrated their 50 years in existence in May last year, in fact, we went there in June.

    “So, we want to see what has kept them going, what has kept insurgency going? What has made the government of Colombia to make three attempts to seek peace, to end the war and insurgency and they failed. What is the new efforts that they are making? How likely are those new efforts going to succeed?” He said

    From the visit, it is clear that Nigeria will try to learn from Colombia how to ensure peace by quickly crushing Boko Haram, and if that fails, how to live with insurgency with minimal damages to lives and property and keeping Nigeria one like Colombia.

    Two days after the presentation was made to him, President Buhari was optimistic that Boko Haram will be defeated latest by December this year.

    Speaking in an audience with the Commander of United States Africa Command, Gen David Rodriguez, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Buhari said: “”We must thank the United States of America for sending training teams and equipment to us. The positive results of our collaboration are evident.

    “Structured attacks by the insurgents have reduced and by the end of the year, we should see the final routing of Boko Haram as an organized fighting force.” He said

    That, definitely, is the option majority of Nigerians want as they want to be able to live in their country without any element of fear or threat to their lives.

     

  • The way forward

    The way forward

    As far as the ongoing war against Boko Haram is concerned, there is no other news that could be cheering news to Nigerians and the international community as the release the more than 200 schoolgirls, who were abducted from their dormitory in Chibok, Borno State, in April last year. Having waited for more than sixteen months, the world seems to have grown impatient, as everyone appears to be waiting with baited breath to receive the news about the girls’ return from the ‘Valley of the shadow of death.’ Even if the  military and allied forces spring a surprise, experts believe that there is still a high hurdle to scale before Nigeria and its neighbours can be rid of terrorism.

      And the reasons adduced for this are legion.

    All odds weigh against the Nigerian troops because the armed forces are mainly trained for conventional warfare and peacekeeping operations. Thus, asking the troops to contain an unconventional war is like looking for a needle in the haystack, one military expert said. Although, the new leaderships of the military, with the Service chiefs as the arrowheads, have been giving the insurgency war their all, having organised ad hoc trainings for some of its cadets in counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency operations in a bid to live up to new exigencies, military experts say it is still a dicey situation.

    Erswhile Chief of Defence of Staff (CDS) Gen. Martin Luther Agwai, expressed doubts if the military force alone can eliminate the deadly Boko Haram group.

    “You can never solve any of these problems with military solutions… It is a political issue; it is a social issue; it is an economic issue, and until these issues are addressed, the military can never give you a solution,” he warned.

      Long before the insurgency crisis snowballed into a national and regional migraine, former President Olusegun Obasanjo, himself a retired general, had expressed similar sentiments about how to resolve the terror imbroglio.  A vocal critic of the last administration, the former President recommended a carrot and stick solution.

    Also doubtful of a quick end to the terror war is Prof Osita Agbu of the Nigerian Institute for International Affairs (NIIA), who said with a tinge of gloom that “terrorism is hardly defeatable in reality, while armed insurgency is.”

    But unfortunately, the Boko Haram challenge to Nigeria’s national security is a mix of both terrorism and insurgency, added the erudite scholar. “The Boko Haram phenomenon is the culmination of our lackadaisical attitude to serious matters in the country. For several years in the country, we have had unwarranted jungle and barbaric killings in certain parts of the country, but more especially in the North and the various governments, which had the authority and instruments of coercion either ignored or did very little to stop these violent uprisings and send out a strong message that in a multi-ethnic society such as ours, we cannot allow this to happen too frequently. Well, the situation has now gone beyond this, and we are now responding, but it is already too late… I hope we can recover from this,” he said.

    Like other analysts, Gabriel Adetunji Ajayi, a soldier who retired as a colonel after 30 years in service, expects Nigerians to be more patient with efforts to tame Boko Haram, believing that there may not be a quick fix.

    His words: “The only thing is that one should not allow insurgency to start. Once it starts, it is very difficult to end because there is no front line, there is no rear, no boundary or any forward edge, no battle area and there is no man’s land.

    “There is no control area, the insurgence can come anywhere. They mix with the people like a fish in the water. There is no uniform; there is no code of conduct and there is no law guiding them. They only believe in a principle and a doctrine guiding them, that if they die, they will go to heaven. How do you what to arrest a suicide bomber who is ready to die?”

      Does it mean all hope is lost? Not so, said Prof Agbu, who explained that though the military option may not necessarily win the war in the long term, it is the appropriate response required at this point in time. “While the carrot and stick approach is desirable, in a situation in which we strongly suspect that Boko Haram has significant external funding, we should not hesitate to use as much force as possible to stop the senseless killings. After that, we can continue the dialogue. With superior intelligence, technology and firepower, we can overcome the insurgency in no distant time. The angry and dissident lone terrorist with Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) may be more difficult to completely stop, but at least, the mass senseless killings of unarmed civilians in remote villages can be stopped,” he opined.

    • Additional reports by Sina Fadare and Precious Igbonwelundu

  • 50-year uneconomic legacy – The way forward

    Are we seriously ready to sail through our present scenario of more than half a century old uneconomic legacy?  Or are we going to excel in the myriad of flowing excuses we roll out for our disappointing state of economic affairs?

    ‘Corruption is the bane of our underdevelopment.’ ‘Lack of power is an obstacle to our economic growth.’ ‘Underfunding of our health and education sectors is a serious drag on our development.’ ‘Without infrastructural investment we cannot make progress.’ Yet, in these dire straits of a society as depressingly laid out, foreigners can set up various agricultural and agro-allied firms able to make something meaningful out of our country.  It is the level of disorganisation, ineptitude and visionless outlook in the midst of aplenty that leaves one speechless without any national sense of achievement.

    A foreigner once stated that his company grows and processes agricultural products in Nigeria before sending to Asia for further processing before onward shipment to Europe.  Guess which country gets the more juicy part of the return on investment?

    Another foreign company recently acquired a five hundred million naira machine in a suburb of Lagos as part of their expansion plan.  This was bought during the height of our political tension with the accompanying downward spiral of the Naira.  But it did not stop their growth.

    In this unending list are another foreigner and Nigerian who were each given loans of, coincidentally, five hundred million naira.  Within three years, the foreigner’s company expanded into a two billion naira company.  The Nigerian, a well-known social philanthropist, never paid back the loan. With both of them living within the same environment, would this be financial corruption or bankruptcy of ideas? You decide.

    Not to bore readers with all these examples, all these organisations are making it big and expanding here, but what are our excuses? – lack of enabling environment, power challenges, corruption, inadequate road and railway infrastructure, low educational standards, insecurity issues, blah…blah…blah.

    The country needs a holistic approach to economic development especially at the socio-political level to involve three critical groups of people – governors, religious spokespersons and traditional rulers. They are the reasons for our lack of focus and without them being reoriented to rural growth values we are hardly going anywhere.  Governors need entrepreneurial approaches to state governance and not merely resource administrators.  It is almost impossible to point to any entrepreneurial governor since the regional premiers of the First Republic.  We have had excellent administrators but finding governors able to wean themselves off Abuja goodies is like a pipe dream.

    Same extends to the religious leaders who need to accord priority to the nation’s growth and image and not on JMR – Jerusalem, Mecca or Rome. Your national achievements in agriculture, industrialisation, national research and development, educational standards, etc., determine the respect we get abroad than our religio-spiritual endeavours. No amount of vigils or fasting would ever reduce the embarrassment and insults our green passports confer on us abroad.  Keying in the religious leaders to this, to which we might have to call on the divine, is an obstacle that really needs to be surmounted.

    Ditto our traditional rulers who are the best representatives to spur rural growth and development as it affects the up-and-coming towns and villages nationwide.

    These three groups of people can effect changes through the relevant government establishments and their absence hamper local governance in being able to address rural developmental issues.

    If we complement this at the federal level, we can consolidate what is available by developing easy large scale start-ups, reduce blockages to the financial system in all sectors, divert available power to identified priority sectors of the economy and apply same to the refineries.

    A classic example of easy large scale start up or expansion would be the furniture cane weaving artisans in Mende, Maryland, Lagos, the Panteke fabricating market in Kaduna, the tie-and-dye ‘Adire’ textile market in Abeokuta or the Aba/Onitsha fledging industrial enclaves .

    Imagine the cane weaving village being given a ten-hectare land with subsidised rates or leased by the relevant land authorities with government administrators spearheading the planning and layout. The economic village can display a museum or show rooms for commercial tourism, fashion design centres and technical-vocational institutes attached or partnering with it, car parking services and eateries sprouting from it, distribution network and transportation, business centres for branding, advertising and sales,  visits from all academic institutions to key in the education sector, security provision, estate maintenance, banking, insurance and other financial services, revenue generation offices, and you would practically have a cane weaving economic hub – corruption or no corruption.  The bonus of these kinds of places is the need for minimal power compared to the power consuming industrial outlays, large employment of labour, real reduction in rural-urban migration and one of the sources of real economic diversification on ground.  Replicating this in every local government would not only ensure a leap in economic growth but would contribute significantly to both our Gross Domestic Product, GDP, and Gross National Product, GNP, handled for Nigeria by Nigerians not by foreigners which is what presently dominates our GDP biggest-in-Africa economic activities.

    Without making civil servants proactive in orientation as opposed to sitting in offices and aligning remuneration allowances to the fate of their establishments’ results, then this is a non-starter.  This extends especially to local government personnel mostly with no clue about their roles in rural or local development.

    Revenue yielding ventures precedes infrastructural development and welfare spending.  This is majorly why our administrator governors are busy constructing roads and other infrastructure, building fantastic stadiums on borrowed money or inadequate IGR, sponsoring pilgrimages earning no money while straining our foreign exchange, building schools and hospitals on a grand scale with a minimally productive population, all classic examples of misplaced priorities no matter the best of intentions.  The result is an able-bodied population as demonstrated by the miasma of street hawkers nationwide and a fairly educated population seen annually at Immigration recruitment. They are however cheap enough to be in abundance and well-exploited by the smart foreign companies forever expanding within our midst.

    There is financial corruption and also corruption of ideas.   It is best to leave us to decide which one is drawing us back or is worthy of tackling.

    The time is NOW to shift focus away from problems or passing blame and move towards solutions and opportunities. Looking inwards, there is enough intellectual capacity – local and foreign-based – to tackle the national and international development challenges affecting Nigeria.  Are you one of such professionals? Are you willing to contribute Talent/Competences; Time/Effort and Treasure/Money (1, 2 or all 3) towards transforming the Nigerian society? Are you willing to work as a TEAM (Together Each Achieve More) with like minds to arrange a better benefit together? If yes, please send email to addresses below in not more than 250 words describing the contribution you are willing and able to make towards rebuilding Nigeria.

     

    • Dele Owolowo, Author ‘Nigeria’s Odyssey…’, is an Educationist, Trainer and Rural Entrepreneur with widely travelled background. owolowo.dele@gmail.com and Lanre Rotimi – Director NEHAP, nehap.initiative@yahoo.co.uk
  • ‘Deregulation the way forward’

    ‘Deregulation the way forward’

    Members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS) are insisting that deregulating the oil and gas sector is the best way to go in view of present economic realities in the country. They also lamenting the negative effect of incessant fuel scarcity and poor electricity on businesses, insisting that the new administration should prioritise its policy and deal with the twin problem of electricity and inadequate fuel supply.

    Speaking to The Nation in Lagos, Director General, Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Mr. Muda Yusuf, cautioned against half-measures and “fire brigade” approach at arriving at solutions, noting that for the first time telecommunication companies threatened to shut down their services if the fuel scarcity continued.

    He berated the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) for speaking against calls for deregulation, accusing them of not being in tandem with current economic realities. He reiterated his earlier position that subsidy payment is for the rich and not for the poor as erroneously believed.

    Yusuf advised that the huge subsidy cost, which reportedly runs into trillions of naira, should be used in the provision of infrastructure such as good roads, water, electricity, hospitals and schools that will directly impact on the poor who are in the majority. He said Labour should have a re-think except they are not fighting for majority of their members and the poor in the society.

    On the reforms in the power sector, the LCCI boss regretted that the much touted reforms have not made the much needed impact in the economy, asking that the perimeters be studied and possibly redesigned.

    LCCI Vice President, Chief Micheal Olawale-Cole, said he does not see the fuel scarcity and other related problems easing very soon until the refineries are fixed and subsidy payment regime discontinued.

    He said the current administration may not fight corruption effectively without sorting out the issue of fuel subsidy, as the process is riddled with corruption. His words: “The current administration should revitalize our refineries; look at the short, medium and long term solutions. The medium term solution must be the discontinuation of importation especially by fuel marketers.

    “If any person must import fuel it has to be the government doing it themselves unlike the fraud currently dubbed fuel subsidy. I have always believed that the way out is by encouraging the establishment of modular refineries, which will eventually aggregate to what we need as a country in terms of fuel production.”