The Nation Newspaper

Tag: governance

  • 100 days: Minister promises better governance

    The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has reiterated its plan and determination to make life better for residents of the Territory through  programmes that will fast-track the development.

    Making the reassurance during a media parley to mark the 100 days of Muhammad Musa Bello in office as the 16th Minister of the FCT, the communication management team of the FCTA comprising the Director, Information and Communications FCTA, Mrs. Stella Ojeme, Special Assistant to the FCT Minister on Media, Abubakar Sani, the Chief Press Secretary to the Minister, Muhammad Sule, and Head Call Centre, Mrs. Jumai Ahmadu, said the administration has prioritised people-oriented programmes.

    According to the team, as part of efforts to encourage hygienic environment and the well-being of the residents, the Minister flagged off an intensive community and neighbourhood environmental sanitation scheme across the six area councils of the FCT.

    To maintain the cleanliness of the city however, the FCTA said it intends to reactivate its environmental mobile courts place to deal with offenders under the purview of the law.

    On the nasty traffic gridlock on the Nyanya-Mararaba axis, the administration said that the construction of the prolonged Karshi-Apo-Ara Road would soon start, as funds have been made available and approved for the projects, aimed at ease the traffic congestion.

    Meanwhile, the FCTA expressed deep concern over the huge work force in the area councils, especially those engaged in Local Education Authority (LEA), disclosing plans to conduct biometrics exercise, to ascertain the actual number of staff in the councils especially teachers, who are about 4,000 in numbers.

    Also, the administration insisted that the ban on okada and tricycle riders’ activities within the city centre still stands as violators will not only be arrested, but henceforth prosecuted accordingly in special mobile courts.

    Abuja Review recalled that Bello took over the mantle of leadership of the FCT as the 16th FCT on November, 11 2015, with a promise to build on his predecessors’ achievements.

    Concerned by the plight of workers at the Area Councils in the FCT, the FCT Administration has revealed it has concluded plans to provide financial bail out to the Councils to enable them pay staff salary arrears.

    Area Council staff are owed three months salary arrears and their cries have been heard by the FCT Minister, Mallam Muhammad Musa Bello who has promised that his Administration would bail them out by paying two months, while the Councils should pay the remaining one month salary arrears.

     

  • NDIC and good governance

    In Business Insider of India, Amy Cuddy, a professor at Harvard Business School published a report based on first impressions. In the study she conducted over 15 years with two colleagues, she discovered patterns in interpersonal interactions. Also in her new book Presence, published last December, Cuddy says people quickly answer two questions when they first meet you: Can I trust this person? Can I respect this person? Psychologists refer to these dimensions as warmth and competence, and ideally we all want to be perceived as having both.

    Interestingly, Cuddy observed that most people, especially in a professional context, believe that competence is the more important factor because they want to prove that they are talented enough to handle your business. But, in fact, she says, warmth or trustworthiness is the most important factor in how people evaluate you. Cuddy gives her reason: “it is more crucial to our survival to know whether a person deserves our trust.” For example, she says, it makes sense when you consider that in cavemen days it was more important to figure out if your fellow man was going to murder you and steal all your possessions than if he was competent enough to build a good fire.

    Apply this to corporate organizations and it matches perfectly. When stakeholders deal with corporate organizations, they are looking for answers to those two questions about trust and competence. And in the corporate world, this realization —that corporations need to comply with set of codes and framework that will guarantee trustworthiness and competence — came in the hard way. It came in the wake of the collapse of corporations like Enron and WorldCom in the early 2000s and the global financial meltdown of the 2008, which were all attributed to enforceable frameworks that guide how corporations are governed. And since then measures in the form of codes have been issued to corporations by the regulators all in an efforts to address the quest for trust and competence in the way corporate organizations are governed. Those measures are today enshrined in the mantra called good Corporate Governance not only in Nigeria but across the world.

    So what is corporate governance? It is variously defined as both the processes and structures by which the business and affairs of an organization are directed and managed in order to improve long-term shareholder values by enhancing corporate performance and accountability, while taking into account the interests of other stakeholders.

    Good corporate governance seeks to address several issues all dealing with the governance of an organization from the responsibilities of its board to its composition and from the board’s structure to issues to do with risk management, financial disclosure and audit committees, etc.

    In Nigeria, the foremost formal corporate governance code could be traced to the Code of Corporate Governance for Banks and Other Financial Institutions in Nigeria which was issued by the Bankers’ Committee in August 2003. This code was the outcome of the work of the Bankers’ Committee’s Sub-Committee on Corporate Governance. It was initiated in response to the financial crises in Nigeria in the early 1990s and in the realization that poor corporate governance was one of the major factors in virtually all known instances of financial sector distress in the country.

    But because it was not issued by a regulator – having been issued by a voluntary association of the chief executives of the banks in Nigeria, otherwise known as Bankers’ Committee – not much is known about the code. However, today there a number of regulatory bodies issuing corporate governance codes to organizations in the sphere of influence. They include: Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC), the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) and Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC).

    It is the mandate of these regulatory bodies not only to issue the codes but to ensure compliance. In line with this oversight function, we saw how recently Fiscal Responsibility Commission had cause to commend the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) for its compliance with good corporate governance.

    Following the submission of its 2014 External Audit report of its financial statements and annual report to the Fiscal Responsibility Commission (FRC), the commission reviewed the report and gave the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC)  high commendation for prompt remittance of sum due to the Consolidated Revenue Account of the Federation in line with the provision of the extant law applicable in Section 21 – 23 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) 2007 especially the submission of Audited Financial Statements and payment of 80% of its operating surplus to the Federal Government.

    Remarkably also, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) had examined the NDIC’s 2014 Annual submission of Audited Financial Statements and Report where it was declared that the Corporation was managed in line with sound corporate governance with its complete and well above average compliance with the sections of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) 2007. It further commended the corporation for compliance with all applicable guidelines on the establishment of a General Reserve Fund (GRF) wherein 20% of its operating surplus is retained in accordance with the provisions of section 21(1) of FRA 2007.

    Part of the commendation read as follows: “It is quite commendable that NDIC is one of the few corporations that have fully adopted IFRS which has greatly improved financial reporting of the activities of the agency.”

    It went further to reiterate that “The accounts were generally of high standard and depict compliance with the international best practice. The corporation’s record keeping is commendable while the integrity of its Financial Reporting is enhanced with the adoption of   International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)”.

    The report also declared that the NDIC has also been consistent with the payment of 25% of Gross Revenue to Consolidated Revenue Account of the Federation in line with the Federal Minister of Finance circular to all affected agency of Federal Government. The FRC report noted with satisfaction that the contribution of the NDIC has undoubtedly increased the revenue base of the Federal Government. The FRC report also enjoined the management to continue to consolidate on its laudable achievements in compliance with section 23(3) of FRA 2007 and in pursuit of high standard in terms of financial discipline, governance.

    Such exemplary compliance with good corporate governance by bodies like NDIC that also regulate deposit-taking banks will go a long way in assuring its stakeholders that corporation is both trustworthy and respectful or, to borrow Cuddy’s terms, it is evidence of both warmth and competence. Every stakeholder will feel safe dealing with NDIC.

    Needless to say that the banking business, which NDIC regulates to large extent, is based on trust and public confidence and, as such, it is important to enthrone good corporate governance practices in the industry; for, as the saying goes, charity always begins at home.

    Thus, effective corporate governance practices are essential in achieving and maintaining public trust and confidence in the banking sector. This is even more so because of its role in the mobilization of funds, the advancing of credits to the various sectors of the economy, the payment and settlement system, and the implementation of monetary and insurance policies.

    Ensuring compliance with corporate governance is the surest way to winning the war on corruption, which the federal government has embarked upon, as a matter of national priority, to attract foreign direct investment. If we are to meet the challenge of diversification of our foreign exchange earning sources, there couldn’t be a more urgent imperative.

    • Hassan is a business and financial analyst based in Abuja.

  • Ugwuanyi’s long walk to good governance

    There is no doubt that the recent alarm by the Monetary Policy Committee of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that hard times await Nigerians following its projection that low oil revenue will linger for a long period, has set a new agenda and dimmed the hope of Nigerians towards a possible viable economy that would impact positively on their lives and enhance the pace of development.

    It is quite unfortunate that today’s crop of leaders are witnessing the worst economic depression in the annals of the country. Most economic indices keep pointing to the fact that diversification of the economy remains the only viable option for the nation’s economic recovery, as the mantra has changed from excess crude to bailout fund.

    But the consolation lies on fact that a handful of leaders had taken the bull by the horns and swung into action through their steadfastness, commitment and wide-range of visionary and innovative approach towards exploiting other avenues of revenue generation to tackle the needs of their people.

    In Enugu State for instance, where Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi holds sway, the present economic realities characterized by paucity of revenue in the midst of avalanche of demands have not dampened the detemination of the governor to advance good governance.

    Apart from the fact that Gov. Ugwuanyi’s administration has continued to pay workers’ salaries promptly despite the economic meltdown, it has also maintained a harmonious working relationship with the organized labour in the state.

    It is on record that Governor Ugwuanyi in his desire to ensure delivery of quality jobs within stipulated contract period, had, through the chairman of the Enugu State Urban Renewal Committee, Arc. Chris Offor, ordered contractors handling various road projects in the state to speed up work, on the grounds that the government was in a hurry to deliver on its promises to the people despite the drastic effects of the economic meltdown.

    It is also on record that the state Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Engr. Patrick Ikpenwa, had on several occasions during his routine inspection visits to sites, told contractors to stick to work specification, ensure that standards are maintained and work to ensure that the projects are completed within the specified period.  He added that the state government will not tolerate any form of laxity that could undermine its estimated time lag for the completion of the projects.

    In the Nike Lake Road project for instance, which is being undertaken by Setraco Construction Company, one is impressed to observe that work has reached the advanced stage of asphalts placement in the first one kilometre of the road. Also, in the Udenu Ring Road project, being handled by Ferotex Construction Company, progress report shows that drainages, culverts and earthworks are on-going. In the Amaeke- Nsude – 9th mile by-pass road project, being handled by CCC Nig. Ltd, earthworks have been completed; culverts are on-going while stone-base is 50% completed.

    In the Opi-Nsukka dual carriage road project, being done by RCC Nig. Ltd, clearing, earthworks, drainages and culverts are in progress while relocation of utilities is almost completed for the first seven kilometers of the road.  In the Amangwo- Amaeke-NBL junction road project, being handled by Tomando Nig. Ltd, clearing, relocation and earthworks are seriously on-going. In Emene – Adoration Ministry praying ground road project, being handled by Coys Construction Company, clearing, earthworks, drainages and relocation of utilities are equally on-going. The same can be said for other on-going road projects in the state.

    It also worthy of note that the governor, through the Ministry of Works and Infrastructure, had successfully repaired most potholes in Enugu metropolis including the popular 9th mile corner roads, under the Operation Zero Pothole (OZP) programme initiated for aggressive maintenance of all the existing roads in line with his principle of seamless continuity and consolidation.

    All these landmark achievements and numerous remarkable feats recorded in other sectors of development, such as in the areas of education, health, agriculture, housing, etc, have left many to wonder about the secret behind the governor’s success story and long walk to good governance in Enugu State.

    Recently, the governor and his team were in Dublin, Ireland as part of investment drive, in keeping with his campaign promises to navigate the state through the current economic crunch and exploit other avenues of revenue generation for development.

    One appreciates the fruitfulness of the trip which led to the signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Enugu State Government and the authorities of Dublin City University on how to promote and develop education in the state as one of the focal points of the government’s development initiatives.

    The visit also recorded other remarkable successes in shopping for investors and donor agencies that would key freely into the new phase of development in Enugu State. It is strongly believed that the fruitful discussions and other fallout of the investment trip would be felt by the people of the state in no distant time.

    Still on the governor’s long walk to good governance, Ugwuanyi has in recent times spent more time on the field than in the office in his bid to address the needs and problems of the people of the state.

    Within a space of three days, the governor made appreciable interventionist moves towards brokering peace between the two warring communities of Umuodo and Oruku in Nkanu East Local Government Area of the state through unscheduled peace mission visits and meeting with stakeholders of the two communities.

    He also embarked on a long trip through the communities of Amechi-Idodo, Amuzam and Amagunze in Nkanu East Local Government Area to inspect the mind-boggling dilapidated Uzam/Amechi Idodo/Inyaba/ Umunevo/Amagunze Inter-Community wooden bridge which has effectively cut the people of the areas off from other neighboring villages.

    After taking a long walk on the bridge during the inspection, he promised that his administration will do its best in spite of the economic meltdown to construct the bridge. The excitement that followed his promise was electrifying, as the villagers could not stop thanking him for the kind gesture and his prime honour as the first governor of the state to visit the site.

    The governor who made a brief stopover at Uzam Community Primary School, Amechi-idodo on his way to the bridge, to appreciate pupils of the school who lined up on the road in large numbers to welcome him, after identifying the needs of the school promised to improve on the learning condition of the pupils.

    In all, there is no doubt that Ugwuanyi  has through his absolute faith in God continued to maintain his promise to the people of Enugu State, “to deploy government services to create fair and equal opportunity for every willing citizen to make a living and create wealth, educate our children and enjoy life in a peaceful and secure environment”.

    These, he has pursued vigorously with all sense of commitment, vision, steadfastness and passion in spite of all the present economic tribulations.  It is, therefore, the responsibility of the people to continue to encourage and give his administration the maximum support it deserves to successfully drive the wheels of governance in this moment of economic depression.

    • Amokewritesfrom Enugu.

  • Give away governance

    •Cross Rivers should grow its economy, not its advisers

    Despite their protestations to the contrary, far too many of Nigeria’s governors appear to have learnt nothing and forgotten nothing. The latest manifestation of this disturbing trait comes from Cross River State, whose governor, Professor Ben Ayade, sent a list of 30 additional advisers to the state House of Assembly.

    If it is approved, the governor’s request will bring the total number of advisers working with him to 65. This figure excludes the state’s 28 commissioners, as well as the numerous senior special assistants, special assistants and other aides domiciled in the Governor’s Office.

    The move is apparently causing disquiet in the assembly, as some members worry about the implications for the state’s already-hefty wage bill. Some of the governor’s previous appointees are yet to get appointment letters or receive salaries.

    There can be no justification for continuing this practice in a nation where oil revenues have plummeted by more than 50 per cent, where at least 70 per cent of state funds are committed to recurrent expenditures, and where governors loudly protest their inability to pay salaries.

    In June last year, the Central Bank of Nigeria estimated that total statutory allocations to the states fell by 30 per cent between April 2014 and April 2015. With the exception of Lagos and Rivers, very few states have substantial internally-generated revenues (IGR). To further compound matters, many states are heavily indebted and are thus compelled to endure deductions from already-inadequate allocations.

    The mass employment of advisers does little to improve the economic performance of Cross River State. It does not necessarily improve policy implementation, which is the forte of the state’s civil service. It often duplicates functions that are already being carried out by commissioners and other political appointees. It interferes with the business of government, as lobbyists and cronies swarm Government House in search of jobs.

    Perhaps worst of all, it distracts government from focusing on the pursuit of those economic strategies which would actually increase employment by expanding economic activity. Ayade plans to increase the state’s monthly IGR from N1.2 billion to N2 billion, and is embarking on an ambitious plan of economic diversification in order to achieve this goal.

    Appointing battalions of advisers will do nothing to advance this laudable aim. Lagos has the smallest executive arm in relation to its overall population, but that has not stopped it from attaining new records in budget implementation, infrastructural development, social welfare and employment generation.

    At the federal level, President Muhammadu Buhari has drastically reduced the number of ministries, and ministers have been directed to obtain the bulk of their advisers from civil servants within their ministries.

    These are worthy examples for Cross River to follow if it is truly interested in making life better for all its citizens, as opposed to a select few.

    The recruitment of advisers is a tool that must be wielded like a scalpel rather than a bludgeon. Ayade’s plans for asset assessment, agricultural expansion, foreign investment and the development of state-owned companies are more likely to be enhanced by purposeful collaboration with the private sector rather than the employment of glorified yes-men.

    Advisers are far less likely to be interested in the successful outcome of government economic policies than investors who are desirous of turning a profit; advisers’ salaries and entitlements are guaranteed, no matter what happens.

    As Cross River State seeks to overcome the economic difficulties it is currently encountering, the state government would do well to remember that the needless bloating of government is unlikely to help it to attain its goals.

  • Bakare urges govts to reduce cost of governance

    Bakare urges govts to reduce cost of governance

    •Cleric advises Buhari to adopt conference report

    LAGOS preacher Pastor Tunde Bakare has advised governments to cut cost by reducing political appointees and what they earn.

    The Overseer of Latter Rain Assembly, in his State of the Nation broadcast during yesterday’s church service, said: “If we are serious about sound financial management, a more significant reduction in the size and cost of running government will be required than this administration has been able to effect.

    “The government re-sizing process has been hampered by structural anomalies and constitutional constraints.  For instance, of what use is a bloated legislature that could potentially gulp 25 per cent of the national recurrent budget?  Of what use is a profligate governmental structure characterised by minuscule but treasury-draining federating units? Of what use is a constitutional provision for the appointment of 36 ministers even when we have no need for so many?

    “As for the state governments, care must be taken not to provoke the rage of poorly paid civil servants by reducing the minimum wage of impoverished workers. What they should do is devise a reasonable policy direction that will lead to a reduction in the salaries of politicians and political appointees, reduce security votes, trim the size and cost of governance, and embark on revenue mobilisation strategies.”

    To rise out of the financial conundrum, Bakare suggested that President Muhammadu Buhari should pursue true federalism, empowering the geopolitical regions to develop economically as in the past.

    The cleric urged the President to consider the report of the 2014 National Conference, which he said reflected the pre-election promises of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    He said: “I appeal to Mr. President not to ignore the report of the 2014 National Conference! God went ahead of you to provide a navigational map with which you can begin to steer the ship of state to a safe destination.

    “The APC may have refused to participate in the 2014 National Conference, but the report of that Conference is in tandem with the promise of the APC manifesto. The APC manifesto and the report of the 2014 National Conference are a tag team in waiting, not a thesis and antithesis.

    “Just as this government adopted the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS), the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) and the Treasury Single Account (TSA) , which were conceived by the Goodluck Jonathan administration, the Buhari-led government should embrace the report of the 2014 National Conference. That report may have been produced under a PDP government but it is not a PDP document. It is a Nigerian people’s document. Delegates to the 2014 National Conference, East, West, North and South endorsed the report without a single vote on any issue.”

    In addition to Buhari’s efforts on deregulation and diversification, Bakare advised him to add devolution, which would involve reviewing the structure forms of government.

  • Petroleum mode and pork barrel governance (3)

    Petroleum mode and pork barrel governance (3)

    There is no better illustration of the political programme of waste and senseless consumption than the creation of 36 states and 774 local governments out of the four pre-coup regions under a federal system inherited by the first military government.

    • Initiate action to amend our Constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties and responsibilities to states and local governments in order to entrench true Federalism and the Federal spirit;
    • Restructure government for a leaner, more efficient and adequately compensated public service;
    • Balance across regions by the creation of 6 new Regional Economic Development Agencies (REDAs) to act as champions of sub-regional competitiveness;
    • Put in place a N300 billion regional growth fund (average of N50bn in each geo-political region) to be managed by the REDAs, encourage private sector enterprise and support to help places currently reliant on the public sector —FROM Buhari/APC MANIFESTO

    Last week, we posited that military dictators in control of Nigeria between 1966 and 1999 responded to the rising flow of revenue from petroleum the way a toddler would respond to gifts from Santa Claus: excitement without an awareness of life beyond gift-giving at Christmas. Civilians brought to power through elections supervised by military dictators all continued the adoption of an expenditure culture that took the disconnected the polity from productive economy. From extravagant compensation of political officers and public servants to proliferation of government ministries and agencies, military dictators chose the style of lottery winners to spend national revenue with little attention to economic development of the country for citizens’ welfare. Civilian governments birthed by military dictators through dubious elections also mimicked their military mentors in sustaining a political economy driven principally by the country’s non-renewable money spinner.

    There is no better illustration of the political programme of waste and senseless consumption than the creation of 36 states and 774 local governments out of the four pre-coup regions under a federal system inherited by the first military government.  Many folk commentators are already saying that President Buhari has been elected to come and deal with the nemesis of military distortion of Nigeria’s federal system and the creation of a wasteful centralist governance and over 100 sub-national administrative bureaucracies that function more as sites for distribution of pork or benefits of power than as units for development to enrich citizens’ lives. On the positive side, some opinion leaders believe that, given the mythology about Buhari’s strength of character and sincerity of purpose, the president stands a good chance of changing the country well enough to atone for the failure of military intervention in the polity.

    Instructively, General Buhari’s election manifesto acknowledging that the 1999 Constitution needs to be revisited and renewed, with the hope of entrenching “true Federalism and the Federal spirit” signals the determination of his administration to go back to the drawing board on how to make Nigeria achieve its full potential. Making the entrenchment (or re-entrenchment?) of true federalism the first item in his 90-item menu of initiatives indicates the readiness on the part of the president and his ruling party to move from using the revenue from petroleum or any other finite resource for that matter to service facile unity and use such finite resources to nurture a country that can advance through economic development and unity of purpose.

    Unlike many countries that used fossil energy to add significant value to the lives of citizens, such as Norway, Mexico, Brazil, Nigeria after 57 years of sale of petroleum, which could have been an economic rescuer of the country, today stands hobbled by the failure of past leaders (mostly military rulers) to use revenue from petroleum to advance the country with respect to the economy, polity, and even culture. The four regions that stood tall and proud as leaders in agriculture and light manufacturing in the 1960s are now about 100 subnational administrative units carrying bowls to a central government that waits nervously for the latest news about price of petroleum in the international market. Electricity, the sine quanon of modernity and modernisation, virtually disappeared in the country as citizens hear more about the fall and rise of megawatts rather than having electricity to run their factories or preserve their food. Instead of investing in infrastructure development and citizens’ convenience, military designers of post-colonial Nigeria used revenue from petroleum to ‘service’ political appointees and bureaucrats in 36 states and 774 local governments designed to beg for monthly running costs. While states and local governments are obliged to pay thousands of public workers virtually on sinecures, political leaders at all levels of governments plunder the country with impunity, on the strength of a constitutionally backed immunity for the top echelon of rulers.

    At the time that President Buhari starts his administration, the states and local governments created to use the revenue from petroleum are not only unable to pay workers’ salaries and pensions on time, they are also crying out loud about their lack of capacity to pay N18,000 minimum wage. This is despite the fact that individuals on executive and legislative lines of duty across the nation receive outsize salaries and allowances; fly jets or helicopters to visit their constituencies; and are provided with policemen and women who lack access to modern healthcare and have to use prayer warriors in place of gynaecologists and paediatricians for their dependants. The more money flows into the country’s purse from oil, the more inequality festers in all manifestations. The tension generated by inequality has become obvious to rulers to the extent that they hire image makers to frame public discourse along the narrative of national unity for its own sake, rather than for any political, economic, or cultural purpose, the rationale for all modern democracies.

    To advance the cause of national unity, development, and stability, none of the 90 items in Buhari’s manifesto should be adjudged superior to the other. Removing the flaws in the structure of government and constitution, already acknowledged in Buhari’s manifesto, is as crucial for peace, stability, development, and unity as the fight against corruption at the hands of a venal elite. As unenviable as the challenges before President Buhari in a country that has been degraded for decades by poor policies that include deliberate dismantling of Nigeria’s federal system may be, the bitter truth for Buhari to face is that past mistakes need to be rectified not excused. The current constitution is a graphic illustration of such mistakes.

    It is instructive that President Buhari has vowed to engage all militant groups that threaten the survival of united Nigeria: Boko Haram and Indigenous People of Biafra, for example. But the president must not lose sight of the fact that not all nationalities or regions complaining about marginalisation and inefficient and ineffective governance are interested in seceding from Nigeria. Many nationalities and regions are calling for restoration of federalism, rather than mobilising for disintegration. As the president focuses on ending Boko Haram terrorism and recovering the country’s stolen funds from thieves of state, he should give attention to establishing an inclusive process of re-crafting a federal constitution.

    Such process must not be mechanical as efforts in the past by both military and civilian rulers had been, even if establishing a constitutional review process has to take more time than the quick-fix that had characterised all the national conferences in the past. President Buhari needs to mobilise all regions to participate in the process of creating a people’s constitution through their duly elected representatives for the purpose of identifying needed changes to the polity and the fiscal culture. None of the national conferences in the past should be taken as having completed the thinking needed to restructure the country for peace, stability, and development while none of the ideas in previous conferences should be dismissed without proper consideration by those elected by their communities to participate in constitutional review. Citizens should be given a free hand to decide whether they want regional cluster of states that create development through fiscal autonomy or another federal bureaucracy (called in Buhari’s manifesto Regional Economic Development Agencies (REDA)) that is to administer development.

    It will be simple-minded and over-sanguine to continue to look for revenue to continue the tradition of waste and extravagancy that led Nigeria to its current backwardness in spite of huge revenue from oil in the past. President Buhari should avoid one dimensionality in his diagnosis of the country’s problem. Corruption is certainly a cause of underdevelopment, so is the use of revenue to create and sustain fiefdoms for politicians an important factor in the country’s underdevelopment.  Citizens appear to have seen through all the stratagems in the last fifty years to deceive and distract them from coming to terms with the determination of a band of rulers-military or civilian-to exploit and dominate them. This is the right moment to demilitarise the polity, and Buhari is in the best position to do this, having been a major player in the era of what Abubakar Umar once called the mistakes of military rule.

  • Petroleum mode and pork barrel governance (2)

    Just as the new minister of power has set out to look for the root cause of decades of epileptic power supply in the country, so do the president and his team need to look for the root cause of the country’s under-development, in spite of half a century of over $500 billion revenue to the country from petroleum.

    • Initiate action to amend our Constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties and responsibilities to states and local governments in order to entrench true Federalism and the Federal spirit;
    • Prevent abuse of executive, legislative and public offices through greater accountability, transparency and strict enforcement of anti-corruption laws whilst strengthening the EFCC and ICPC;
    • Amend the Constitution to remove immunity from prosecution for elected officers in criminal cases;
    • Restructure government for a leaner, more efficient and adequately compensated public service;
    • Balance across regions by the creation of 6 new Regional Economic Development Agencies (REDAs) to act as champions of sub-regional competitiveness;
    • Put in place a N300 billion regional growth fund (average of N50bn in each geo-political region) to be managed by the REDAs, encourage private sector enterprise and support to help places currently reliant on the public sector;
    • Initiate policies to ensure that Nigerians are free to live and work in any part of the country by removing state of origin, tribe, ethnic and religious affiliations and replace those with state of residence. –FROM Buhari/APC MANIFESTO

    By way of summary, last week’s piece emphasised the negative impact of a false feeling of affluence from steady flow of revenue from petroleum on the structure, content, and style of governance in the country in the last 50 years. More specifically, we argued that the belief of military rulers that “money is not Nigeria’s problem but how to spend it” influenced military dictators between the civil war and the exit of military dictatorship in 1999 to create 36 mini-states and 774 local governments that turned the country into multiple sites of compulsive consumption and very little production. It also spawned a culture of profligacy in compensation of political office holders in a country where over 70% of the population live below poverty line, while also giving birth to innumerable agencies to do what other layers of government are constitutionally designed to do. We also added that citizens were alienated from government by being largely released from paying taxes, just as they were excluded by military dictators and their civilian successors from the process of creating the current constitution that is to drive governance under President Buhari, also  a one-time military dictator.

    Today’s focus is to elaborate on the thesis of last week: the need to take advantage of huge decline in revenue from petroleum to redesign the structure, content, and style of governance, including response by the government and citizens to the need to finally use the spirit and ideology of change promised by President Buhari and the All Progressives Congress to re-invent the country with the goal of enlarging the space of freedom;  strengthening the architecture of security; enforcing transparency in governance; re-designing the architecture of governance; and transforming states into centers of productivity rather of parasitism on revenue from petroleum or other non-renewable mineral resources-solid or liquid.

    In contrast to the regional model inherited from the British colonial master at independence, military dictators became too unrealistic about the abundance of petroleum, to the extent that they felt emboldened to re-conceptualise Nigeria. Instead of continuing the tradition of a system of three or four regions that compete in terms of economic activities and cooperate by ensuring the survival of the country as a political or territorial unit, military dictators misread the significance of petroleum by viewing it as the sole driver and sustainer of unity. Abundance of petroleum spawned a culture of profligacy; killed economic production in the states under military rule and after; encouraged military rulers to create mini-states as administrative units to guzzle the revenue from oil; and also created a political class addicted to exorbitant personal emoluments, despite having immense opportunities to rob the state. Sixteen years after the exit of military rulers, retired General Buhari and the APC realised that the country needed to be mended through changing the modus operandi of running the country.

    Despite the existence of 36 states with sizable bureaucracy, oversize pay packets for political office holders, and easy access to unwholesome hands of political leaders in the country’s treasury, the social statistics remain depressing. 62 million Nigerians are illiterate; 70% of Nigerians live below poverty line; Nigeria has between 3,000 and 4,000 megawatts of electricity for 170 million citizens; Nigerian manufacturers have to run to Ghana and even Benin Republic to do light manufacturing; more women die at childbirth in the country than any other country in the sub-region; infant mortality in the country remains one of the highest in the world; over 160 million Nigerians are transported daily by mini buses and motor cycles; etc.

    It was therefore not surprising that General Buhari and his party chose the path of change when they crafted the manifesto for the 2015 presidential and state elections. It is still not surprising that after winning the presidency, President Buhari and his party are singing, as enthusiastically as ever, about the imperative of change. Since the election, many pundits have blamed the failure of the country in the last five decades on poor quality of leadership or on the existence of ethnic and religious diversity. Others pontificate on the web about the reluctance of Nigerians to evolve into new post-colonial personas that choose cultural amnesia by demonising their cultural past. Such pundits blame the inability of citizens to undo the diversity that served them well in the years before independence and that has the potential of making them create one of the world’s most developed countries with cultural diversity.

    Many public commentators have complained about lack of a grand vision conveyed in a grand narrative of Buhari presidency’s pre-figuring of the Nigeria he wants to leave behind at the end of his tenure. However, the manifesto with which he negotiated for votes is full of episodic narratives that can add up to a grand vision, if the objectives of such episodic stories are met sincerely and realistically. It is reassuring to note in the manifesto (part of which the bullets overleaf represent) that the president and his party did not just choose the path of escaping from the country’s cultural diversity into cultural homogeneity through individuals’ efforts to re-invent themselves culturally. In a list of what to do that include food self-sufficiency through agriculture and revenue generation through solid minerals, passing N5,000 from the national purse to 25 million poor citizens; free education, free meal in school, improvement of power and other infrastructure; fighting Boko Haram terrorism and political and bureaucratic corruption; the president clearly promised in the first line of his manifesto the need for a new design of the polity bequeathed by military dictators. He has pledged to use his presidency to: initiate action to amend our Constitution with a view to devolving powers, duties and responsibilities to states and local governments in order to entrench true Federalism and the Federal spirit. He and his party also seem to have recognised the need to return to regional economic planning and development: Balance across regions by the creation of 6 new Regional Economic Development Agencies (REDAs) to act as champions of sub-regional competitiveness.

    Details of what to do “to entrench true Federalism and the Federal spirit,” are missing in the episodic narrative of change in the nation. But what to do to promote “regional economic planning and development” shows the impishness (birthed by the philosophy and sociology of spending petrodollars) of throwing money at problems by creating bureaucracies to administer, rather than solve problems. The pledge of Buhari and the APC to re-craft the 1999 Constitution with the aim of re-federalising the country needs be addressed with as much speed and enthusiasm as doing everything else on the manifesto.

    Just as the new minister of power has set out to look for the root cause of decades of epileptic power supply in the country, so do the president and his team need to look for the root cause of the country’s under-development, in spite of half a century of over $500 billion revenue to the country from petroleum.

    – To be continued

     

  • ‘Why youths should be in governance’

    THE founder of Youth Capacity Development Organisation, Osunlakin Akinola, has called for strong inclusion of young Nigerians in governance.

    He lamented that youths have been marginalised at all levels of government, saying the situation was counter-productive.

    Akinola said: “In Nigeria of today youth are rarely found in leadership positions in government. Young men and women are marginalized.

    “The political vacuums are being filled by the pre-independence generation: Born before 1960 and the early post-independence generation: Born 1961-1975.”

    He called on President Muhammadu Buhari to redress the situation because the youth segment contributed a lot to his emergence.

    He said only youths can tackle the challenges facing their generation, saying their inclusion in governance will help government to address the issues.

    On the way forward, the youth activist advised: “Several countries have recognized the importance of youth participation in governance and have taken measures to ensure that enough opportunities are given to them.

    “Positions in local and national level have been created to allow young people to have firsthand experience in governance.

    “These government positions can serve as a perfect training ground for youth to prepare them for leadership and policy-making.”

     

  • ‘Youths must participate in governance’

    ‘Youths must participate in governance’

    The need for the youths to step up their involvement in national affairs was the focus of discussion at a Students’ Independence Summit organised by a Youth and Leadership Development Platform in Lead City University in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital.

    President of the Lead City Voices, Mr Tobiloba Ogunleye, in his remarks, noted that the challenges facing the nation would be overcome easily if the youth got involved in politics and became agents of change.

    Speaking on Risk of change, Mr. Kobah Koate, the keynote lecturer, expressed concern on the inability of youths to contribute intellectually to the process of nation building. Youths, he said, must be the agents of the change they craved.

    He said true revolution would begin if young people change their mindset and challenge the elite intellectually. He said youths must be willing to pay the price for positive change if they want to have a better country.

    The event featured a panel of discussion during which the participants engaged speakers on how to become change agents. The session had a journalist, Mr Dan Ikpoyi, and Head of Department of Politics and International Relations, Dr Tunde Oseni, as speakers. They charged the youths to rise above their personal challenges and bring out opportunities from the current national problems.

    The participants pointed out that the youths had been denied opportunity to play their roles in governance and were only being used for selfish political gains. They urged the leaders to do away with laws restricting youth involvement in nation building and create a better environment for young people to succeed in business.

    The convener of the summit, Dotun Ojon, reminded the participants that the essence of living was to make positive impact, urging them to break barriers holding them back. He advised the participants to take advantage of their age to pursue the dreams.

     

  • ‘jigawa ’ll reduce cost of governance’

    ‘jigawa ’ll reduce cost of governance’

    Jigawa State Governor Muhammadu Abubakar, in this interview with Ahmed Rufa’I, speaks on the benefits of his recent trip to China to woo foreign investors and other issues.

    What was the purpose of your recent trip to China? 

    All praise be to the Almighty Allah. I made it clear during my inaugural speech that supporting agriculture and its value chain will be one of the cardinal points of my government, because that is what will enhance the economic life of our people.

    The main objective of my trip to China is to identify and source the cost-effective and modern technology for agricultural value chain development.

    I kept talking of competitiveness in agriculture because our farmers today produce, but end up losing their money or making little profit because they do not produce competitively. So, the mission is to see how best to enhance competitiveness through the use of technology to maximize production at lower cost. The state would benefits a lot from this trip. The trip was made for the state and its people be cause we know the existence new innovation which, we need to bring to the state for our people to benefit.

    I traveled with almost 20 people, which include farmers, business people, medical expert, official of state’s chamber of commers and civil servant. My reason is to expose the state to the world and see the new modern technologies and techniques in Agriculture and industrialization. To espose our potential resources and business opportunities  to investors in China would woo the prospective investors to Jigawa State, especially with the current China policy for economic investment diversification which has emphasis to Africa. Among what people and Jigawa to benefits from this trip are modern technologies in agriculture where agricultural production made in large quantity and in less cost, to showcase livestoke and hide and skin traid. We also used the oppoturnity to discuss and invite foreign investors to come and invest in the state. We also saw modern medical facilities and government purched direcly from the producers in a low prices. During the trip, we visited some China medical universities, discussed and agreed on sending our students to study there in China.

    So, what are the benefits to the state and the people?

    By the grace of Allah Almighty, very soon, people would see the result, because during the trip we have an opportunity and visit Gonzi province we met with Lee group of companies and inspected some their factories in china part of the factoried visited includes their suger company where we indicated much interest and discussed visibility and all agreed to establish $120 million suger company here in Jigawa and “we agreed to sited the factory at Kijawal in Ringim local government while we proposed 5000 hectre for sugarcane plantation in Gagarawa local government areas.

    Another thing we agreed to establish with the Lee Group of Company is foil paper, though what they told us that its the production required so much water. We selected some places that have plenty water to site the foil paper company. The same team would also take the sample of our Tyhper grass to analyse the content of fibre to see the possibility of using it in paper mills projects, if it eventually fits the project. This would help us in clearing the grass from our waters  ways.

    We also discussed the possibility of establishing phamerceutical and organic fertiliser company by using our Neems tree. With regard to the expansion of the existing plastic factory in Jigawa, they assured us of the completion and commission of the project in April, next year. The company would employ between 400 and 600 people.

    The Lee Group also intend to establish vocational and technical training school because of the perceive  industrialisation coming up in Jigawa state with view to use the centre in training our youth how to use modern industrial machines and also build their managerial capacity.

    A team of expert from the two companies, that is, the suger and foil paper, would arrive the state this week to inspect the site and other technical issues with regard to the establishment of the two companies. When the two factories are established and they commence productions, thousands of job opportunties would be provived and the economy would largely expanded.. One good thing in this is that little money is needed. What we need is the enabling environment such as land, security and government commitment to encourage them. We will do it, because it in our benefits. Also, the classroom furniture factory, which would also to be establish jointly by the state government and a Chanese company will reduce the high cost of purchasing class room furnitures by the state government. Because every year, Jigawa State government is spending N350 – N400 million on class room furnitures of the learning institutions across the state.

    Our plan is to reduce the cost and have a quality furnitures in the less cost while at the same time produce and sales to other interesting state. Its did not stop there there is also a plan for the establishment of Mango joice factory, Marble and granite factory sesame processing factory all by the Chinese national. I have instructed the ministries and agencies to provide all necessary needed, in terms of lands and other thing to enabling enviroment for the speedy of the projects.

    You said medical training and facilities are parts of the trip. How?

    The Commissioner for Health was among my entourage and we had an opportunity to enter into an agreement with three Chinese medical training institutions and agreed to offer admission to the state’s indigens students. Three medical tertiary university would give admissions to our student to study different couses in medical profession. The schools are Shanyen medical college, Yuney medical university and Zainhun medical university. The commissioner of health, Dr Abba Zakari Umar, is left behind to discuss more and formalizes the agreement with the universities, and the agreement would take effect within shortage period of time. During the discuss we discovered the studying medical in China is cheaper by 60 percent to study medicine here in Nigeria and the countries that the state government sending students to study medicine. So what we intends to do is after securing admission to our students to study medicine here, we will sent the remaining whom did not have vacancy here to China. And you know China; it does not compromise in quality when coming to the issue of training, especially in the health sector. So, this will give us more medical students, at a cheaper price.

    Specifically, what is the time frame for the projects you are planning in collaboration with foreign investors?

    Each of these projects has its own time line. For example, the plastic project will be commissioned by April 2016 and the expansion will continue till the next 12 months. For the sugar factory and the estate, we have done compensation survey and now we are doing out- growers’ analysis, as well as water analyses, trail of sugar- cane species to see which type will fit our soil for high yield and competitiveness.

    I believe that, by the end of next year, you will start seeing sugarcane plantation and factory arrangements. On mango, they are waiting for us to give them land to mobilise to site as this is not a huge project. So, between now and next one and half years, we are hoping to achieve much of these projects.

    Looking at the financial status of some of the farmers, do you have any plan to build their financial capacity to meet with the planned industrialisation?

    We are all aware of the N1billion to N2 billion fund set aside by the CBN for our farmers. So, we deliberately delayed the accessing of the loan until we identify the competitiveness of our farmers, their group, crop potentiality and profitability. If we establish these, we can than access and distribute the loan to them. So, the fund to support the farmers is not a problem.

    Essentially, what we are doing is to make them competitive. For example, our dry season farmers spend between N30, 000 and 40,000 on fuel each season. So, we committed some manufacturers to look into the possibility of moving from diesel to solar powered water pump generator to minimise cost of production. Such are the little things we are considering. We are also committed to getting improved seeds that can provide high yield for our farmers.

    Can we say the Ministry of Commerce and Industry may take lion shares in next year’s budget?

    As I said, wooing investor to the state does not require money. What you need to do is to provide enabling environment for the businesses. Where we may probably invest money is in agriculture for the provision of fertiliser, modern farm implements, research and procurement of high breed seeds to our farmers.

    Why agriculture?

    This is the area where we have a lot of potentials and advantages. In past years, Jigawa received between N6 and N8 billon as monthly allocation. Today, we are receiving only N2 to N3billion monthly due to the sharp drop in oil prices. And there is no hope of improvement in global oil market any time soon. Currently, Nigeria has over 19 million barrel of crude oil in the market looking for customers.

    So, in such a situation, we must go the extra mile to diversify and strengthen other sources of income, and by supporting agriculture and agro-allied industries, we empower our people and also generate income for the sustenance of government for the discharge of our responsibilities.