The Nation Newspaper

Tag: governance

  • ‘Odu’a run on corporate governance’

    Odu’a Investment Company Ltd Board Chairman Chief Segun Ojo has said the company’s activities are guided by corporate governance.

    Ex-Chairman of the board Chief Isaac Akintade, in an advertorial published in this newspaper, alleged that the company was being run contrary to corporate governance.

    In a letter to the six-owner-state governments, Ojo said the allegations by Akintade against the Group Managing Director (GMD), Mr. Adewale Raji, were not true.

    Ojo lamented that the former chairman, who served the company for seven years; four as director and three as chairman, could mislead the public with non-existent information.

    He said Akintade’s grouse about the GMD started the moment he (Akintade) was withdrawn as chairman of Odu’a Board of Directors following a March 22, 2017 letter directing his withdrawal by the Ondo State government.

    Ojo said: “The standard practice and procedure for appointment and withdrawal of directors in Odu’a is for the owner-states to nominate or notify of the withdrawal of a director through a letter to Odu’a after which Odu’a through the group managing director will issue a letter of appointment or withdrawal to the director.”

    He said since Akintade was formally notified of his withdrawal, it would be illegal for him to attend and preside as the board’s chairman.

    On the allegation of approval for payment of N65million to Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC), Ojo said the process began with a plan to admit Lagos State into Odu’a Group. He said the board engaged the services of any of the top five consulting firms in the country to work out details of the process of admission of the state.

    He said Akintade’s claim that the management sought the payment of N65million to PwC for a job that had neither been discussed nor approved by the management committee, board committee and the whole board was spurious.

    Ojo added that consultants with specialised skills, such as KPMG, PwC and others were engaged to perform specialised services for the company, contrary to suggestions by Akintade that individual consultants, which he could influence, should be engaged.

    The board chairman, however, said under Akintade  the group witnessed challenges and losses. He listed factories that were shut down as Cocoa Industries Limited (2010), Nigeria Wire and Cables, Ibadan, Epe Plywood (2012), Askar Paints, Ibadan (2013), among others.

    On the N20billion forecast turnover in five years, Ojo said the initial efforts to recruit strategic talents to jump-start the actualisation of the plan in 2015 were frustrated by Akintade and others.

    The board dismissed the allegation that Raji used convoys with siren.

  • Inequality and fiscal governance

    SIR: Inequality is an unfair situation in a society whereby some people have more opportunities, wealth and access to social amenities than others. Societies with huge gap between the haves and the have-nots are somehow going wrong and the impact of this is often felt in the form of real effects on health, life expectancy, standard of living and the overall number of people living below the poverty line. A study by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) found that higher inequality rate hurts a country’s economic growth while reducing the gap between the rich and the poor helps economies grow. It follows therefore that reducing inequality is not only a moral imperative, but it is good economics as well.

    Inequality does not just happen. It is a product of years of policy choices and decisions that have unfortunately not mainstreamed equality concerns in fiscal governance. The budget as we know is a powerful fiscal tool with which redistribution of wealth could be done. It is also a medium through which the government can improve the lives of the people especially the lower class of the society through embarking on projects that will empower them and/or build their capacity to earn gainful living. But the budgeting process in Nigeria today is something short of ideal to properly address inequality.

    What do I mean?

    Most line items in the federal budgets for example, do not speak to the needs of the common man. Some projects deemed as capital projects are acquisition of Hilux trucks, SUVs, computers and computer accessories which have become more of a yearly ritual and begs the question – what happened to the ones bought the previous year? These happen with insufficient sums budgeted for basic health care provision and education and are not in keeping with the 1% Consolidated Revenue Funding stipulated by the National Health Act and the 26% UNESCO guideline the country has agreed to respectively.

    The end of the 2016 fiscal year is around the corner and the 2017 budget is yet to become law. What this means is that any federal expenditure in the name of budget implementation by May 6, without the 2017 budget being signed into law will be unconstitutional. Assuming that there are sufficient empowerment projects in the 2017 budget, the poor masses are the ones to bear the brunt of the looming fiscal standstill no thanks to the perennial executive and the legislature bickering. This has gone on for so long in this country that they both seem to be forgetful of the fact that they were voted into power by the very same people whom they hold to ransom by their inability to come up with a budget by January 1 of every year as stipulated by the Fiscal Responsibility Act. Sovereignty lies with the people and leaders and public office holders in Nigeria should acknowledge the fact that they are called to serve!

    With a more even society, Nigeria stands a better chance of a sustained economic growth and the federal government of Nigeria should ensure that fit and best fiscal practices which are enshrined in our laws like passing the budget on time are adhered to. It is only through this way that there will be enough time for developmental projects which are designed to improve the lives of the poor could be executed properly within a fiscal year.

     

    • Fidelis Toochukwu Onyejegbu,

    Centre for Social Justice, Abuja.

  • ‘Why Obaseki can’t seperate politics from governance’

    ‘Why Obaseki can’t seperate politics from governance’

    Hon Samson Osagie is a former Minority Whip of the House of Representatives. The All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain spoke with Osagie Otabor on the face-off between the Presidency and the National Assembly and the crisis rocking the ruling party in Edo State.

    What is your opinion on the face-off between the National Assembly and the Executive?

    The face-off between the National Assembly and the Presidency is not unusual. The public and the media will like to call it a face-off, but we regard it as the normal intercourse that has come to characterise our young democratic experience as a nation where, first and foremost, each organ of government tries to assume power and over step its boundary and the other organ tries to do same. At the end of the day, in the ensuing muscle flexing, you now have open confrontation, open disagreement between the legislature and the executive. Curiously, these two organs of government cannot do without each other. I think it is the media that gives so much hype to those disagreement because behind close doors, there are constant meetings, consultations on issues, deliberations on issues of governance between the two organs of government. Unfortunately, some official of both sides tend not to understand that this relationship must be symbiotic and not a one sided affair. I like President Buhari’s approach to the issue by asking the Vice president to look at the issues involved. That underscores the that fact he recognises the importance of the organ of government for smooth operations as the driver of the governance of the country. It is not abnormal. In Nigeria, everybody wants to take sides with the executive against the legislature. The president has the power of appointment, but out of mutual respect, the president may say let me stop this circus of rejection and look for another person. But, I am not aware there is any law stopping the nomination of the same person.

    Was Prof. Itsey Sagay right to say he will not honour the summons of the Senate?

    Those are part of the issues I am talking about. It is a clear lack of appreciation and respect for the National Assembly because the constitution gives power to the National Assembly to invite anybody and get evidence from anybody for the purpose of enabling it to make law, even though that should not extend inviting every dick and harry over any issue. I believe once you get an invitation from the parliament, if you have nothing to lose, you stand every opportunity of explaining to them what the issues are. It is part of the way to heat up the polity by unnecessary flexing of muscles to say I will not heed the call of an institution of government.

    Some persons are of the opinion that the problems persisted because President Buhari is not playing politics….

    I do not know if that is correct because governance of any society in a presidential democracy involves politics. What politics will he play? Is it the politics of trying to pocket the National Assembly? Since 1999, the National Assembly has demonstrated a lot of independence. He cannot be seen to be meddling in the affairs of the legislature. He will create more problem for the system.

    Do you think your party is leading the country in the right direction?

    I believe the party has very laudable programmes for this country to be resuscitated economically. The challenges facing the government and the party at the moment probably are far more than what was contemplated. The revelations we are now getting, it is unlikely that the solutions that are being applied will yield the immediate and fast results that are required in the short run. To say that the party has no clear cut policies to take the nation beyond where it was so that Nigerians can begin to live a realistic lifestyle and not the false lifestyle that we used to live. Because we depend on one source of revenue, you can seal those revenue at will at the detriment of the people, it is an unfortunate assumption. Given the mindboggling pilfering of public treasury that we have seen in the last administration from which this government is trying to buckle up, coupled with the fall in price of oil prices and, of course, lack of adequate revenue, this government inherited a problem it didn’t bargain for. You cannot question the integrity of this government compared to the last administration. That is why I believe that in spite, of the gloomy economic situation in the country, the APC stands a greater chance of removing the nation from the clutches of corruption, indiscipline and the free for all way that this country used to be run in the past.

    Reports indicate that the APC is broke….

    Those are speculation. It is true that the recession is affecting every organ of government, including the party. That is not to say it cannot hold national convention because of lack of fund. It is not possible.

    Governor Obaseki wants to separate governance from politics. Will it grow the APC in Edo?

    I see a challenge there. There can be no difference between the government of a state and the party that brought the government to power. If there exist a gulf, strictly speaking, it can create a political problem for the governor and I pray that he does not allow that to happen. What will happen is that some persons will use that opportunity to use the party as an instrument for fighting political opponents, for personal aggrandizement, whether or not those persons are capable of holding the state together politically. A governor cannot ride on the platform of a party to governance and totally neglect or run away in the running of the affairs of the party. There are dire political consequences for that action because those he will leave it to will create political problem for him. They will use the party to take political decision that can create instability for his government. Governance that is party based cannot be separated midway. It will be my advice for him not to allow people to create confusion for his government because that can affect the performance of his administration.

    Will you say Obaseki has performed in the last four months?

    You can see that the government has a clear cut focus on delivery on the promises he made during the campaign. Not because the previous government did not performed but you will notice difference in approach in the way and manner he is delivery. Even without much advertisement, people know he is working. He is interested in so many areas, creating job opportunities, industrializing the state and of course continuing with infrastructure development of the state. We are not in doubt he is going to do a lot more.

    You and others were recently suspended from the APC. What can you say about that?

    It is unfortunate. It looks like Governor Obaseki does not seem to be interested in the running of the affairs of the party and that can have political consequence. It is a clear display of arrogance. If you suspend all these persons, who are you recruiting to replace them? Can you even replace them? I think the suspension was not a healthy thing to do. The PDP went this way in the past when it deregister a retinue of people from the party because it wants to secure power in 2007. At the end of the day, the APC took power from. I do not think anything that happens in the party, the first step to take is suspension. That should be the last resort after thorough investigation has been conducted and it is clear that the person or persons involved actually committed the offence as spelt out in article 21 of the party’s constitution. A situation where crude method are used track down political opponents, hurt their feelings rather than building the party, you are dismembering it. To dismember a body is easier than to build. It is quite unfortunate that it is happening at this stage. Thank God Comrade Adams Oshiomhole is the Leader of the State Caucus of the party. He will be able to intervene and halt the gale of suspension across board because you can imagine that in the last six months, we are witnessing the gale of suspension that was never witnessed as at the time Oshiomhole held sway. It is because these persons are capitalizing on the policy of the governor to concentrate on governance rather than partisan politics. They are exploiting what looks like a gap. If you go down the records, the people behind this are almost political liabilities who cannot produce results during election periods. In order to sustain their hold on party politics and party position, they have resorted to suspending people they believed are threat to their local positions. What is my business being a leader of a local government. Is that the position I want to aspire to? Leaders evolved. You don’t appoint leaders in a community, you don’t appoint leaders in an organizations. People come around to say you are their leader. At less than 50, I have had the rare privilege of being an officer in the National Assembly.

     

    With age on my side, my ambition cannot be to be a local government leader. It is tantamount to be a chairman of a local council. People are feeling threatened by my stand on certain issues before now. They are calling me various names because they believe I am a threat to their position. There is nothing they can do about that unless they kill me that is when I cannot continue to show interest in politics. A man who has been elected five times to represent his people, do you want to say he is a nobody? If you go through the local government, I have projects tied to my name. Some of these leaders do not have such legacies. They are holding on to the little positions which they believe is their last bus stop. I think the governor should watch out for them so that they don’t create unnecessary crisis for his government.

    Obaseki said he plans to take party politics to the grassroots which was why he asked the party to nominate political appointees?

    In conception yes but in practice, these same leaders who have become lords in their respective areas did not follow the rules. They still hijack the system. The conception and idea is good from the governor but these people who have constituted themselves did not follow the procedure. If the governor were to screen all the nominations that came except in a few areas, those procedures were not followed. They were done and written in the bedroom of one of two leaders. That is why Obaseki needs carefully do an understudy and take positions on these issues in order not to allow people close to him create serious political upheaval within the polity.

  • Good governance in Kogi

    SIR: In these past 13 months, the Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, and his team have tried to build and lay solid foundation that would guarantee that the flight of the state whose take-off had suffered years of man-made delay, takes off without further delay.

    We have seen the governor deliver on his electoral promises, especially in key areas of education, healthcare, infrastructure, youth and women empowerment, civil service and pension reforms.

    The administration has commenced the construction of roads in several communities across the state. Interestingly, the road projects are evenly spread across the three senatorial districts. It would also be interesting to note that the administration in its determination to ensure that all roads in the state are made motorable, promised to undertake the Egbe-Kabba Road which is a federal road. Lokoja, the state capital, is now wearing a befitting look as roads in the ancient town are receiving due attention with solar street lights and traffic light being fixed accordingly. The Ankpa township road and the long neglected Umomi-Idah Road are not left out. So are other roads critical to the socio-economic development of the state receiving attention.

    In the health sector, the state is simply going through a revolution as efforts are on to upgrade several state-owned health facilities with new ones also being contemplated. Equipment, including ambulances and personnel, are also being provided to boost healthcare delivery in the state.

    Security is one key area that has been accorded enormous support. It started with the procurement of over 100 well-equipped vehicles and several motorcycles that were distributed to security agencies in the state. The administration also ensures regular helicopter surveillance over the state to track down criminals. Recently, the governor gave a bite to the law on kidnapping as he led a team to pull down structures that harbour criminals. For once, the state is being made too hot for criminals and that way, the socio-economic prosperity of the state is being guaranteed.

    Yahaya Bello has been able to introduce a number of empowerment programmes aimed at ensuring that food is put on the table of many families. For instance, engaging corporate outfits to ensure that the state is kept clean is one of several initiatives as hundreds of unemployed youths have been engaged. The government has also employed agriculture to economically empower many.

    In the area of internally generated revenue, the administration has recorded landmark success. The IGR has really gone up and to sustain and improve on this, a number of youths have been recruited and an architectural masterpiece is now standing at the heart of the state capital as Revenue House.

    If there is single action that would ensure that posterity is fair to the governor, it is the ongoing reform in the civil service and pension matters.

    In its resolve to curb wastage in government and reduce cost of governance, the governor has kept a slim government. In all, the administration does not have up to 70 political appointees on its payroll.

    These past months, Alhaji Yahaya Bello has proved beyond doubt that he embodies the key essentials of a remarkable leader. He is decisive in taking tough decisions, has empathy guiding subordinates through challenges, he is focused; always planning ahead and, most importantly, his unquestionable commitment to changing the fortunes of his dear Kogi State. Obviously, there are going to be challenges. Each step the governor has taken so far has been reassuring and, of course, daring.

     

    • Ahmed Ododo,

    Kogi State Auditor-General for Local Government

  • ‘Omisore has no understanding of governance’

    ‘Omisore has no understanding of governance’

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Osun State has described the purported transfer of power from Governor Rauf Aregbesola to Senator Iyiola Omisare as “an eclipse of the sun”.
    This followed Omisore’s statement that he was in the 2018 governorship race to “free the state from bad governance”.
    In a statement yesterday, the party said: “Omisore has no practical experience in governance worthy of respect to give the people.
    “He was disgraced from office, impeached within two years when he was deputy governor.
    “Omisore’s pedigree of disloyalty and inordinate ambition has lived with him since then till now, and nothing significant has changed in his political mold.
    “Omisore ‘s participation in the last governorship election is obscene and characterised by violence.
    ‘To worsen matters, he has no restraint in lying against his opponents, about events and his political worth.
    ‘It is the reason the PDP chieftain can neither understand the dynamics of governance nor the tragic consequences of the economic downturn in Nigeria and how it has impacted Osun.
    ‘This is why we will not waste time and energy responding to the details of his wishy washy criticisms of the APC government.”

  • Amaechi’s passion for good governance

    Good governance involves well-intentioned people who bring their ideas, experience, professionalism and preferences and other human strengths and short comings to the policy–making table. When those who championed and enthroned democracy speak one would not but nod in the affirmative.

    The forgoing assertions have become imperative to consider when one reflects on the leadership style of Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi as the then Rivers State Governor and his present activities as a Transportation Minister.

    A case study of the scenario of good governance can be best cited when Amaechi served as the Rivers State Governor from 2007 to 2015.

    The monumental achievements were unprecedented. Such passion for building massive infrastructures and manpower development within eight years in the twenty three local government areas of the state was ‘magical’ and uncommon among men in Nigeria political circle.

    It is a public knowledge that before Amaechi ascended to the position of the Governor in Rivers State, development was at its lowest ebb. Amaechi came on board and without delay rebuilt a new Rivers State before he left office in 2015.

    One will not forget in a hurry how Infrastructural development in terms of construction of roads, building of schools, hospitals etc became visible in all parts of the state in Amaechi’s era.

    As at the time his administration ended in May 2015, Rivers people were satisfied that Amaechi revolutionised the state from mess to glory.

    Amaechi’s intervention in the health sector was prompted due to the high level of mortality and maternity rates. Amaechi embarked on what he code named, “project 60-60-60”, meaning that the Government under him would hand over sixty completed and equipped ultra modern health centres to sixty communities in sixty days.

    These health centres had Resident Doctors and Matrons each in addition to other supporting health workers. Each of Amaechi’s Health Centres had furnished Doctors and Matrons’ quarters including pharmaceutical departments, stand by ambulances as well as other relevant sections just for the purpose of providing optimal health care delivery system.

    Amaechi’s Dental and Maxillofacial hospital standing tall around the Garrison junction of Port Harcourt was built to solve problems related with the tooth, mouth and other parts of the face.

    The hospital is well equipped and rated as the best in Africa in the category of Dental and Maxillofacial hospitals. The edifice is a must see for all including tourists. The foregoing is just a tip of the ice- berg in Amaechi’s health revolution and good governance in his home, Rivers State.

    The project “60-60-60” was also deployed in the education sector where Sixty Model Primary Schools were handed over to Sixty Communities in Sixty days.

    Amaechi targeted building 750 Model Primary Schools; he completed about five hundred of it and equipped them to standard. Each of the Schools had twenty classrooms equipped with ICT facilities, Modern Library, Science Lab, Football Pitch and Basketball Pitch as well as Volley Ball and Nursery play grounds.

    Amaechi’s Model Primary Schools were built to International standard of United Nations recommendation obtainable in developed world. The same was for Model Secondary Schools which were likened to Universities.

    The model secondary schools have recreational and boarding facilities including housing for teachers. The abysmal state of education in the state also propelled Amaechi to declare state of emergency in the sector.

    The successes recorded in the education sector left Amaechi’s education commissioner, Dame Alice Lawrence Nemi with a ThisDay Newspaper award as the best education commissioner in the country.The award is just one of the numerous awards won by the smart, simple, intelligent, incorruptible and most friendly commissioner at the time.

    Amaechi also tackled the hydra-headed problem of gangsterism, cultism, armed robbery and kidnapping  as orchestrated by enemies of the state. These crimes were completely brought under stern control within his first one hundred days in office.

    In all, Amaechi successfully restored glory and breath of fresh air all over the state.The State was later nicknamed Rivers of Possibilities in Amaechi’s tenure.

    Amaechi’s passion for enthroning good governance dates back history as the then Speaker of the State House of Assembly. Amaechi loves delivering good governance in style just like he speaks about good governance with passion wherever he goes,Amaechi loves doing good.

    In a lecture he delivered last week at the Osun College of Education, titled “Good Governance and Sustainability of Democracy in Nigeria; Panacea for Nation Building”, Amaechi picked good governance and sustainable democracy as essentials and pre-conditions for nation building.

    Amaechi believes that for a nation foundation to be solid, good governance and sustainable democracy must be in place.

    For Amaechi, nation building is all about building a political entity, based on generally accepted rules, norms and principles. He believes that good governance is also about development and strengthening of independent state institutions like the Security agencies, Judiciary etc.

    Amaechi explained that effort must be made to ensure that Government institutions function properly and optimally with or without the human actor.

    According to Amaechi, “When government institutions are firmly established and devoid of political control and manipulation they guarantee the regularity of human conduct and how the system will respond in a given situation”.

    Amaechi identified some characteristics of good governance namely; participatory, consensus oriented, accountability, transparency, effectiveness, efficiency, equality, responsiveness and the rule of law.

    “Good governance is responsive to the present and future needs of the nation, exercises prudence in policy-setting and decision-making,and above all puts the best interests of all stakeholders into consideration”.

    For Amaechi, when Democracy which is the Government of the people, for the people and by the people is truly practiced in a nation and sustained, all the sectors of the nation varying from economic, political, social etc will appreciate and the nation would definitely grow.

    • Okpara, an aide of the transportation minister, sent this piece from Abuja

  • A call for citizens’ participation in governance

    SIR: The bane of under-development in Africa is explicitly traceable to poor leadership across all levels of governance. According to Chinua Achebe, “The problem with Nigeria is failure of leadership.”

    A few weeks ago, a member of the political class and former President of Nigeria, Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo, crawled out of his cocoon and released a bomb that validated Achebe’s long-standing position: “One problem that must be corrected is the problem of leadership. This is because our leaders lack focus, commitment, continuity and sometimes proper knowledge about economic and development issues; hence we have not been able to achieve meaningful result.”

    Citizens Participation in governance is a key factor and the sole reason why Africa is buffeted by bad and poor leadership.

    It can, therefore, be said that the citizenry of any nation is the final arbiter in governmental decision-making process of their various countries, as they hold the power to make or mar the leadership of these countries, through strong and robust participation in governance.

    In awakening citizens’ consciousness on this central and invaluable position they occupy in the society, Harold Lasky, a French political philosopher, declared: “exclusion from power is an exclusion from the benefits of power.”

    Unfortunately, citizens’ inclusion or participation in governance in these parts  is discouraged by the leaders’ attitudinal disposition and the manner political activities are run and handled.

    Largely, in Africa, elections into government offices have turned “survival of the fittest;” leaving governance in the hands of mediocrities and cronies of major political actors, as against meritocracy.

    Campaigns and elections here have become tainted with blood, kidnappings of major actors, and malpractices of all sorts, giving governance itself ‘an-integrity-muddled-status’ as well as decorating the leaders who engineer these asinine things with ‘Devil-like images.’It is on this premise that politics and governance are mostly labelled “dirty games;” requiring no decency by many citizens.

    But be that as it may, citizens’ participation in governance remains the panacea for bad and poor governmental representation in Africa and anywhere else. Democracy is “government of the people, by the people and for the people.”

    So, without equivocation and ambiguity, one can boldly say the profits of citizens’ participation in governance cannot be overemphasised, as it has proven to be one of the strongest tools in turning the tide any time the people are treated with levity.

     

    • Gwiyi Solomon,

    Abuja

  • Social media and the era of digital governance

    The advent of technology and social media has brought about new thinking in governance and service delivery. In the past 16 years, nobody  knew it would be possible for people to directly liaise and engage their representatives in government beyond the traditional style of meeting which used to bring leaders and citizens together for discussion at the town hall.

    In this age of digital technology, the town hall meetings have collapsed and a new approach of digital governance has replaced the old practice. Leaders and citizens now meet on social media to engage in discussions that border on collective good and development.

    One of the greatest achievements of digital governance in Nigeria is the boundless opportunities it offers the citizens to contribute to fiscal appropriation process and make inputs to decisions and policies of the government.

    Now, it is becoming a norm for government officials to engage the people through the social media; having knowledge on how social media works now seems to be part of the skills of our representatives in government.

    This perhaps was the thought of the National Assembly (NASS) leadership under the chairmanship of Senate President Bukola Saraki, who announced in November 2015 that announced that federal lawmakers and their aides would be ‘schooled’ on how to use Facebook and other social media platforms.

    By sheer ignorance, many people lampooned the NASS leadership for proposing an inconsequential exercise. After the announcement, the social media was in buzz, as more than 16 million Facebook users joined about seven million Nigerians on Twitter to lampoon the NASS leaders, days and nights.

    But still, Saraki insisted his colleagues must receive the digital education. We should ask why the Senate President stuck to his guns. Beyond the criticism that greeted the announcement, I see liberalisation of governance process which would bring more transparency in the way Nigeria is governed.

    Before now, the proceedings in the National Assembly used to be shrouded in secrecy. Nigerians did not have opportunities to contribute to budgeting process despite public hearings usually held before budgets got passed.

    It appears Senate President was convinced that a digital approach is the only way to productively engage people in governance process and build a citizen-legislature nexus where the people would remain abreast of the ‘official’ dealings in the legislative body.

    After the NASS members were trained on the use of social media on November 16, 2015, the developments that followed showed that the digital governance approach adopted by the NASS leadership is yielding good fruits.

    If asked, I would say there is more to social media than posting pictures and irrelevant things. Aside the insights into how Facebook played key roles in the emergence of erstwhile President Barack Obama as the first black man in the White House. The whole gist about digital governance is that the NASS is creating a sustainable paradigm for participatory democracy and digital governance through the social media.

    A new era has beckoned on the Nigeria’s parliament in terms of the efforts to make process of lawmaking open and engaging. There is now a breath-taking pace of how information is disseminated and accessed. The Nigerian Senate Facebook live streaming gets an average view of four million unique clicks, monthly. On the other hand, the instantaneousness of the live tweets from the Senate’s Twitter handle (@NGRSenate) is another landmark that has received global plaudit.

    From the foregoing, it is good to note that digital governance is gaining momentum in Nigeria. Transparency is the bedrock of democracy.

    From the NASS and beyond, the rise of the digital media is a clear indication that the Nigerian political landscape is fast transforming, despite the tides of the present challenges. As it is, it is noteworthy that the new trend has sharply decreased the entrenched marginalisation of any group in governance and civic engagements.

    But yet, we can do better. We would be more proud when the parliament fully sets another record of e-parliament and disclosure of budget details.

  • ‘Poor corporate governance to blame for airlines failure’

    ‘Poor corporate governance to blame for airlines failure’

    Sam Adurogboye is the General Manager, Public Relations, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the apex regulatory body overseeing airlines in the country. In this interview with Ibrahim Apekhade Yusuf he gives a bird’s eye view of the challenges besetting airlines and proffers the way forward. Excerpts:

    What is the true state of the airlines in Nigeria?

    Going by the records in the defunct Federal Civil Aviation Authority (FCAA), what we inherited was over 150 airlines. But by the time we went for audit in 2006, many had gone under. When we were clearing our register we discovered that all these 150 airlines said to be operating at one time or the other were no more there. Nobody blamed the FCAA for that. The question now is, for those airlines that went under the US did anybody blamed it on the FAA? No. Every business has free entry and free exit. As we speak, there are just about nine airlines that are functional and among the domestic operators, there are those that pick up bills that have never owed us. There are new airlines that are making profit despite the tcredit crunch in the economy. The fact is, if you do this business the way it should be run, you can break even. But if you do it by ‘Myself, Family and Nigeria Limited,’ without recourse to good corporate governance it’s a recipe for failure. For instance, there is a case of  an MD of an airline coming in and asking his staff how much did you make today and he goes away with the money even the one that ought to have been ploughed back for the business to pay insurance, for maintenance and all that is not being taken care of. There is no way such an airline can succeed. That has been the experience thus far.

    What is the role of the NCAA in all of this?

    Unfortunately, some stakeholders both within and outside the airline industry have been blaming the NCAA for the misfortune of some of these airlines. NCAA is a regulating agency for the industry and by law both within our domesticated statutes and universal law, it’s forbidden for a Civil Aviation Authority to run an airline or get involve in any commercial venture.  The only reason the NCAA exists is to ensure the safety of the aircraft and make sure it’s airworthy at all times. We oversight the operators, that is those who work on the aircraft including the pilots, the engineers and every other person that works with the aircraft. We use our certificates to regulate the industry. Now, the aircraft operates in an environment which is the airport, so we oversight the airport too. The aircraft flies through a space, which is a flight path, the airspace and that is being managed in Nigeria by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA). Then of course, people work in an aircraft and we try to find out where they are trained from. To do that we oversight the institution that trains the personnel as well. So the totality of everything we do revolves around the aircraft just for it to continue to be safe for air travellers. That’s the only reason why we exist.

    What are the requirements for setting up an airline?

    Now, if somebody is going to set up an airline, there are requirements. If you go to our website, it’s all laid out there in black and white. There are categories of aircrafts you can buy whether as a corporate body or as an individual or for third party use. There is a requirement if you want to buy commercial airline different from the one you want to use for yourself and so on and so forth. Now aside that requirements, there is an aspect security will come in, which we equally need and it will get to us confidentially about the source of the money, your antecedent, in order to give us your profile. The idea is to make sure the money was not stolen and things like that.

    Then we also ensure your capabilities in the area of safe operations. We have to see the aircrafts, your rented office, you must also have insured the aircraft, and you must have employed staff.  Of course, you must have done your own feasibility study and the business model you want to adopt.

    What will you say of the multiple charges and levies being paid by the operators?

    In aviation business whether in Nigeria, Ghana, Canada, Singapore, there are universal charges. So there is no question of multiple charges at all. It’s all part of statutory requirements. You can’t operate in an airport and you won’t pay for landing. Each time you bounce the aircraft on the runway, it is required to be maintained. You can’t operate an aircraft and refuse to have an office. You want to operate from one point and the other and you don’t want to pay navigational charges? Every plane that is flying follows a path. You don’t go to London and you find your way to Owerri. Why are you not on the way to Owerri? It’s because there is aid, the airspace is charted, and everybody follows a path. Navigational instruments are installed on routes to guide you. Somebody is in touch with you from the Tower, who hands you over to the next airspace manager if you move outside of their airspace and the other sides picks it up to guide you. Personnel and equipment being used cost money and this has to be catered for. It’s the same charges being paid here that is paid elsewhere. So it’s not any different. Insurance is dollarized. The cost of fuel is high. All these are not within the control of the NCAA. So you can’t blame this on the NCAA. We don’t joke with maintenance, aircraft must be 100% fit at all times. The maintenance is fixed.  If you move the aircraft from one point, you must carry out an A check and when you fly for some hours you go for a B check and another fix hours you go for C check, which is a little bit comprehensive and most C checks are not done in Nigeria, they’re done abroad and you don’t do it anywhere you like you have to do it at where we approve. Meaning that wherever you’re going to service your aircraft, we must be involved as long as you’re in our register. And when you’re even doing the servicing, we have to send our personnel there to monitor the process to ensure that things are done in line with the standard procedure. That’s how painstaking we’re.

    Can you clarify the issue of airline operators paying 5% surcharge to NCAA?

    Our only source of revenue is 5% of ticket handling and it’s  in the Civil Aviation Act of 2006. NCAA is run and sustained by passengers because we exist for the safety of the passengers. When I fly now, I buy a ticket and become a passenger as well. The 5% is added to the airfare paid by the passengers to the airline for a one hour flight. The airline only collects this on behalf of the NCAA to remit to us later. So it’s not a surcharge to the airline in the first place. No. Even the idea of collecting on our behalf was a decision taken by the airlines at a Civil Aviation Committee Review because our officers use to collect it. But the Committee said rather than us  having our officers at the counters, let’s collect on your behalf and remit later. So how does it now become a surcharge? That is deliberate propaganda and lies against the NCAA by those out to deceive the uninformed publics. There is also hue and cry about NAMA charging navigational fees. All these are standard procedures done abroad nothing is arbitrary here.

    Does this charges applies to foreign airlines operating in the country as well?

    Of course, the foreign airlines operating in Nigeria are also paying and they pay it in dollars too. But the local operators who pay in naira just don’t want to pay. Are you saying the foreign airlines are not facing recession too? Nobody is immune from it,  not even the U.S. There are more mergers of airlines in America than anywhere else in the world. As we speak, bigger carriers are merging. There is  no airline that doesn’t belong to one alliance or the other. British Airways, for instance, belongs to Star Alliance, One World; etc. Everybody is pairing up because they know they can’t do it alone in view of the prevailing economic situation afflicting most countries. What I expect from local operators is to sit down and look at how to get over the worrying economic situation rather than resort to the blame game.

  • Osun: Savouring the fruits of innovative governance

    Osun: Savouring the fruits of innovative governance

    As South Western Nigerian leaders of thought, policy implementors and technocrats converge at the ancient city of Abeokuta for the Southwest  governance innovations summit, I am moved to recall two past incidents;  the one, a historic meeting which started at about 6pm and rounded up just before 6am sometime in December 2010.

    The venue was the “situation room” at the Bourdillion Road, Ikoyi residence of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. A new Governor had just been sworn in, a week prior, after three and half years of protracted litigation to regain a misappropriated mandate. That Governor is Rauf Aregbesola.

    The purpose of the meeting was to share thoughts with the core leadership of the then Action Congress and a handful of key elements who served in the Lagos cabinet when  Asiwaju Tinubu held sway as the Chief Executive, on the policy thrusts and the direction in which the new government in Osun was going to drive the implementation of its electoral promises. Seated at the long table were the party chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, the National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola, and, as I recall vividly, also present were Prof Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, Yemi Cardoso, Dele Alake, Leke Pitan,   Dr. Charles Diji Akinola,  the Osun Deputy Governor, Mrs Titilayo Laoye- Tomori , this writer, and a couple of other associates from Osun.

    At this meeting, those of us close associates of the new governor who were key architects of the Osun renewal took turns to unfold the vision and invited those with cognate experience to critique our game plan and how we were going to execute the “PACT” of Rauf Aregbesola with the people of Osun. The conversations were robust, and centred around the narrative of “Government unusual.” This new governor was going to demystify the office and get really down to the task of serving. Key radical reforms were going to be put in place in vital areas of massive food  production, roads, infrastructure, functional education, youth empowerment, communal security, affordable healthcare delivery, restoring the status of Osogbo as a vital commercial hub, and engendering socio- economic inclusion.

    During the course of the night, we addressed the issue of the declining economic fortunes of the country insofar as it continued to rely only on oil as its main revenue base, and came to the conclusion that something drastic had to be done to address the humongous cost of governance occasioned largely by an over bloated bureaucracy, as it was not sustainable. We told the audience that our principal was going to make a stab at pruning down the number of MDAs and collapsing them into efficient and manageable units with appropriate nomenclature.

    Recalling the glorious days of the old West with nostalgia, the necessity to harness individual strategic strengths of the  sub-region’s components was not lost on anybody around that long table. We therefore agreed that impetus was to be given to the on-going endeavour efforts to  institutionalize the peer review mechanism that would allow the weak to benefit from the experience of the strong through cross border replication of success stories with a view to better the lot of our peoples  and create sustainable even development.

    One key point that stood out is Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola’s declaration that there was going to be a Ministry of Regional Integration and Special duties that would institutionalise  the interface with other states in the region and that other Governors in the South West were to be encouraged to establish similar structure in their respective states.

    The other incident; sometime in 2011, I had a one-on-one discussion with a Southwest governor in his private study which, again, drew far into the night during which the Governor lamented with regret: “ Papa Awo (Chief Obafemi Awolowo) had no business trying to rule at the centre.”

    According to him, he had it very well made and the old West was notches ahead of the pack at a pace which, if sustained, would have engendered unprecedented growth and development. The forays into national politics, in his view, truncated the rapid economic growth of our people. I couldn’t agree with him more. Six years on, current trends in the polity has reinforced my conviction that this error has now become a conundrum which the Southwest  must quickly disembark from.

    Although the  “error” seemed an unending dialogue, akin only to the conversations on Nigeria’s proverbial “potentials” , yet some people were not going to just sit down and moan.

    Not surprisingly, a community of interests and tendencies had arisen, working tenaciously parallel to the self-determination, restructuring and diverse agendas, to ensure that the economic emancipation and therefore the developmental growth agenda of the South-west was to be rigorously pursued. And how better to do this than to create a United  common platform for the actualization of the noble task of reversing the diminished opportunities of the South-west for advancement and developmental growth.

    It soon began to dawn (pun intended) on Yoruba thinkers that the future portends grave danger for any component of our federation tying its economic fortunes to handouts from the centre which, itself depends on a failing international commodity.

    It was time to be creative and innovative. And those elements eventually found a round peg for this round hole, in the person of Oladipo Famakinwa. A new platform was formally launched  and called Development Agenda  for Western  Nigeria.( DAWN) with this dynamic young man as the first Director General. This is not an attempt to rewrite the DAWN story. Indeed it has been, and continues to be written by the appropriate authority through the plethora of initiatives and activities it has undertaken so far in pursuance of its mandate either suo motu, or in collaboration with other agencies.

    Perhaps, one Governor who personified innovation in governance is Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola. He hit the ground running in 2010 and in a matter of days he embarked on the rebranding project which saw Osun having an Armorial bearing (a replica of the Old Western Nigeria coat of Arms), a state anthem, flag, the components of which, when interpreted, speak to the struggle, rich historical, socio-economic and cultural heritage of Yorubaland. Then of course was the flagship Osun Youth Employment Scheme (OYES), through which the governor had promised 20,000 jobs in the first 100 days – a promise that was actually delivered in 97 days!

    What followed was a comprehensive package of radical reforms in the Education sector; notably, the introduction of the Educational Learning Aid (Opon Imo), an unprecedented schools infrastructure project, and, perhaps, the largest volume of road construction projects ever embarked upon by any government in Nigeria. But he didn’t stop there. He wanted an OMBUDSMAN and due process office that would put all policy implementers on their toes, in order to achieve maximum delivery.

    And this brings to mind the remarks of Ban Ki- Moon, the then UN Secretary General in his remarks to the Council on Timor- Leste on December 19 2009:

    “…as we all know, infrastructure is not just a matter of roads, schools and power grids. It is equally a question of strengthening democratic governance and the rule of law. Without accountability, not only of the government to its people but of the people to each other, there is no hope for a viable democratic state. .”

    This statement aptly describes the mission of the Bureau of Social Services (BOSS). Having been involved in the design, incubation and execution of this pioneering initiative, I am moved to congratulate Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola for the success stories that Osun has brought to the table during the just concluded Southwest Governance Innovation Summit 2017.

    Ogbeni’s reforms in good governance through radical interventions are too numerous to be mentioned here, but permit me to single out three particular polices reforms which have been selected by DAWN and deemed worthy of replication by other states. The first is the Agricultural Land Holding and Development Authority Bill, which, though yet to be passed by the State of Osun House of Assembly, however,the Executive Order has has been signed by the Governor in order to meet current exigencies. This Law is designed to mitigate hardships occasioned by the Land Use Act militating against agricultural land ownership by small holder farmers and cooperatives.

    The second is (O-Meal) the elementary School Lunch programme which received high acclaim and concerning which the governor had course to address a session before a committee of the British House of Commons.

    The third one is the establishment of the Bureau of Social Services (BOSS), an OMBUDSMAN agency with overarching powers to ensure accountability and public value delivery across the parameters of Programs, Policies, and Projects.

    Innovation has thousands of differently documented definitions. There are diverse interdisciplinary perspectives to defining this word the simplest of which is to be found in WIKKIPEDIA:  ”innovation is a new idea, device, or method”. In the domain of practical economic analysis, and I daresay, governance, innovation can generally be considered to be the result of a process that brings together novel ideals in a way that they affect society. (Still quoting Wikkipedia), innovation drives idea to value. Creativity is the capacity to generate novel and pragmatic ideas, but unless applied, it remains just an idea.

    Innovation therefore can safely, in my view, be described as Applied Creativity.

    What Ogbeni has done in Osun is not only to bring creativity to designing his ‘government unusual’, but also to apply that creativity in the delivery of public value. It certainly gives one a sense of pride to be part of that effort.

     

    • Ifaturoti is the Director General, Bureau of Social Services, Osun State.