The Nation Newspaper

Tag: growing

  • Concerns over growing despotism

    Concerns over growing despotism

    There are fears that the country is gradually sliding back into dictatorship, with the recent antics of the military in dealing with the media and members of the All Progressive Congress (APC). Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN examines the implications of the military meddlesomeness in civil matters.

    Nigerians are becoming apprehensive over what appears to be the blossoming of the Goodluck Jonathan Administration into a full-fledged dictatorship. They are worried that the Presidency is steadily descending into despotism with assault on the freedom of expression and the press, and the use of national institutions against perceived enemies.

    A number of steps taken by the military in recent times are reminiscent of the dark days of military dictatorship.

    For instance, Governors Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State and Adams Oshiomhole of Edo State were prevented from travelling to Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, to attend a political rally organised by their party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), two days to the June 21 governorship election in that state. Amaechi’s plane was allowed to land in Akure, but his convoy was intercepted at the boundary  between Ekiti and Ondo states by soldiers who claimed to be acting on orders from above. His aircraft was also later prevented from flying out of Akure.

    His Edo State counterpart suffered a similar fate. His chopper was stopped from flying out of Benin Airport by the military officials, who were also reportedly acting on orders from above. The jet that took the national leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to Akure was equally grounded by the security officials for similar reasons. He was not allowed to travel back to Lagos with it. On the eve of the Ekiti governorship election, no fewer than 20 APC chieftains were arrested and detained in their country homes in Ekiti by the military for no reasons other than carrying out instructions from above. Few days to election, a police officer threatened to shoot Governor Kayode Fayemi.

    Even the Speaker, House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, tasted the bitter pill of military assault. Tambuwal, who had once accused President Jonathan of encouraging corruption with his body language, was shabbily treated at the venue of a security seminar in Kaduna, Kaduna State. Although other dignitaries were allowed free entry, the soldiers on duty insisted that Tambuwal’s official car must be searched, thereby forcing him to disembark and trek to the venue. The soldiers also said they were acting on orders from above.

    The print media was not spared. Soldiers detained delivery vans and confiscated newspaper copies across the country, saying they were searching for bomb or materials for making bombs. Besides, soldiers invaded the vendor’s distribution centre in Abuja and stopped circulation of newspapers in the Federal Capital Territory.

    To analysts, this growing intolerance and impunity of the Presidency pose a major threat to our hard-earned democracy. Former Kwara State Governor, Dr. Bukola Saraki, a lawyer, Akin Ogundeji, civil rights activist, Ken Ogbulafor and a youth activist, Sule Danyaro called on Nigerians to rise up against the dictatorial tendencies of the present administration in order to save the country’s democracy.

    Ogundeji said these acts of interdiction by the government are unconstitutional. He cited Section 41 of the 1999 Constitution, which guarantees freedom of movement to every Nigerian and concluded that the illegalities are a sign of the growing intolerance of the Jonathan administration.

    Ogundeji stated that not even in the worst days of the military dictatorship were things done this brazenly, with citizens being denied their fundamental rights of free movement, free assembly and free expression of their views in the manner the administration has done.

    His words: “My concern is that if highly-placed Nigerians can have their movement curtailed, then ordinary citizens would become easy prey for the overzealous soldiers and police officers. Even more disquieting is the fact that President Jonathan has failed to speak out against the acts of civil rights infraction being committed by the military. He seems unconcerned as Nigeria under his administration slides into a Gestapo state.

    “We are talking of the same police and security forces, who have failed to rein in the dreaded Boko Haram and under whose nose Nigerians daily lose their lives in regular acts of criminality. Under their very eyes over 200 girls disappeared, and several weeks after, their whereabouts is still unknown. Yet, they are being used by the Federal Government to harass and intimidate law abiding citizens”.

    He called on the labour movement, civil society and indeed all Nigerians with  conscience to condemn the brutal assault. “This is crucial because this development, taken together with all the previous undemocratic actions taken by this government, clearly shows that President Jonathan anti-poor government is fast turning into a vicious civilian dictatorship,” he emphasised.

    Ogbulafor agreed with Ogundeji’s position when he said in a democratic society, these illegalities must not be treated lightly. Therefore, he urged all lovers of freedom to rise up against this growing reign of impunity that has become the trade mark of the Jonathan administration.

    He said  Jonathan’s silence over the matter  confirmed the suspicion that he had a hand in the gale of repression being carried out by the military. He recalled that last year five opposition governors, who were on a solidarity visit to Amaechi in Port Harcourt were hounded by armed thug, while the police looked the other way. The vehicles of the visiting governors were damaged.  a senator from Rivers State, Magnus Abe was attacked by thugs and injured by police teargas at a  rally in support of Amaechi.

    Ogbulafor called on lovers of democracy  to speak out before things get out of hand. “If democratically-elected governors could be so shabbily treated, despite the high office they occupy, what will happen to ordinary Nigerians in the hands of an increasingly-fascist government,” he asked.

    Senator Saraki condemned the infringement on the freedom of movement and association by the armed forces. To him, the prevention of Amaechi and Oshiomhole from attending the Ado-Ekiti rally is an indication of the Federal Government’s desperation.

    “This is the first time I am hearing of governors going for a rally being stopped. I can’t even recollect such a thing during the military era. Even Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo  didn’t do such a thing,” Saraki said.

    He added: “The heavy presence of military in Ekiti State was uncalled for. There was no state of emergency in Ekiti; it does not have a history of tendency for violence. I was even told there were as many soldiers as voters in the state. It’s unnecessary and the law is clear on this. The law says that no armed security men should be at any polling booth, which means they are to just patrol the streets.

    “Democracy is definitely in danger, let’s be honest. What we are saying is, allow people to go and vote. By bringing this level of force, you are intimidating the voters, and by that they cannot express their rights as individuals. To me, it’s not good for the democracy.”

    Youth activist Malam Danyaro observed that the Goodluck Jonathan-led Admini-stration was steadily descending into despotism, with a brazen assault on the freedom of expression and the press and the use of national institutions against perceived enemies.

    Danyaro is of the view that if the President is not prevailed upon to change course, Nigeria may be in for another season of anomie, reminiscent of the days of the maximum ruler who took the country to the brink before his sudden demise.

    He said the way President Jonathan was handling his political disagreement with the members of the opposition party had portrayed him as a leader who was willing to jettison democratic ideals and principles on the altar of personal ambition. He wondered why national institutions had to be bastardised and compromised just to get at a political enemy.

    But an official in the Presidency who spoke on condition of anonymity dismissed the allegation that President Jonathan was descending into despotism. Rather, he said under his watch, Nigeria’s democracy has been consolidated; the scope of human freedoms has been further expanded and there is respect for due process and the rule of law. Ordinary Nigerians appreciate the fact they have a President who is humane, disciplined and focused, he remarked.

    He said: “The paradox is that those who do not allow freedom and equality in their own party or backyard, those who are well known as self-proclaimed godfathers and closet despots are the same ones who are accusing others of despotism. The opposition party and their sympathisers should start by removing the log in their eyes. President Jonathan is not a despot.”

    Ogundeji also expressed concern at the growing propensity of the Jonathan administration to stifle the freedom of Nigerians. He cited the report by a Geneva, Switzerland-based media rights group, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) as a testimony to the worsening situation of human rights in the country.

    According to the CPJ, Nigeria has become one of the worst countries for deadly, unpunished violence against the press. Nigeria and Somalia are also the only African nations listed on the CPJ’s 2013 impunity ranking. Yet, the government has not relented in its attacks against the media. The report cited Gestapo-style arrest of Leadership newspaper’s correspondents; fines slammed on Liberty radio in Kaduna over a listener’s opinion on the so-called Good Governance Tour; arrest of two journalists of the Kaduna-based Al-Mizan newspaper; and the ban on a documentary on poverty in Nigeria.

    He  also criticised the ferocity with which the Jonathan administration went after the former Minister of Education, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili, for saying that President Jonathan frittered away the $67 billion  foreign reserves which she said former President  Olusegun Obasanjo left behind in 2007; and the fate that befell the spokesman of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), Yushau Shuaib, for daring to criticise the lopsided appointments in parastatals under the Ministry of Finance. These are glaring actions of an administration that is bent on stifling freedom of expression, he said.

    Ogundeji said in a different clime, the level of repression being witnessed under  Jonathan was enough ground for his impeachment. He urged  civil society groups and other patriotic Nigerians, especially members of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), not to sit on the fence when  democracy is being desecrated.

  • Growing rural food businesses

    Growing rural food businesses

    Many people living in cities depend on rural areas for food. About 80 per cent of food is produced on rural farms. For stakeholders, transforming the rural areas is crucial to economic growth given that agriculture employs over 70 per cent of the population. Daniel Essiet reports

    Itoikin, Idena Epe, in Epe Local Government area of Lagos State appeals to rice farmers. It is an ideal place for rice planting, offering earnings to peasant growers and protecting rice cultivation. Rice planting, control, harvesting and primary processing have given employment to residents.

    Mr Abdul-Ghaniyy Alabi-Ojolowo is a member of Rice 4 Job Commercial Cooperative in Lagos. He has a rice farm in Itoikin, Idena Epe. He is enthusiastic about the native rice called ofada. He has adopted practices that have contributed to raising productivity. He plants early, hiring young people to help him with planting and weeding in a timely manner, and he puts aside money to buy fertiliser.

    For him, his rice processing business has benefitted so many farmers living around it.

    Speaking on the importance of transforming the rural areas and increase productivity, Alabi-Ojolowo said he is a beneficiary of the Commercial Agriculture Development Project (CADP) in Lagos State.

    According to him, projects such as Commercial Agriculture Development Project (CADP) has helped sustained rural communities and transform them into places where a new generation of farmers, fishers and small business owners want to live. He started with two hectares of farm land. He has extended to 10 hectares.

    He operates with a cluster of farmers around Itoikin, Ise, Igbogun. They do businesses under the umbrella known as Resofam. Through Lagos State government support, they have been able to buy equipment. He and other rice farmers have been able to expand their businesses, create jobs, and stimulate rural growth in Epe Local Government area.

    For watchers, the rural agricultural base provides the opportunity to produce dependable supplies of wholesome foods for families and a more stable lifestyle for thousands of Nigerians. A lot can be grown in the rural area ,including greens, peppers, onions, cabbage, pears, carrots, cucumbers, strawberries, garlic, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, watermelon and lettuce — both leaf and head.

    A rebound in rural food manufacturing also will bring a sense of hope and optimism to rebuilding rural manufacturing base.

    Alabi-Ojolowo urged the government to support rural agro enterprises .

    According to him, government projects should seek to improve farming techniques, build new roads, increase access to finance and revive the sector.

    All these, he said would help villagers rebuild their lives and pursue a more prosperous future.

    Because of lack of infrastructure,rural communities have lost too many grocery stores, butchers, locker plants, bakeries, breweries, and every other imaginable type of local food processing. The diminished commerce in food and the consequent loss of jobs, income, and quality of life are starkest, ironically, in the very places where much of the nation’s agricultural production occurs.

    Many communities face many challenges, including abandoned farmhouses.

    Speaking with The Nation, the Head of the Department of Agriculture, University of Uyo, Prof Ini Akpabio said the country was still facing major challenges. These include deep poverty, particularly in rural areas, high levels of unemployment and inadequate infrastructure.

    According to him, funding the establishment of new rural enterprises will support the government’s priority of reducing poverty through agriculture and rural development.

    Transforming the rural areas, Akpabio said ,was crucial to the nation’s economic growth, given that agriculture employs over 70 per cent of the population.

    To this end, he said the government needs to empower farmers in rural area to increase their productivity.

    Akpabio said if the government made a priority of investing in rural farmers’ entrepreneurship and microenterprise assistance, it could help rebuild rural food systems, then there would be a lot more people in rural Nigeria.

    While emphasising that growing the local food system was the best path toward economic recovery, the don urged the government to turn rural areas into commercially viable zones.

    He said called on the government to facilitate the establishment of rural food industries to create vibrant, inclusive communities that are self-sustaining, with a range of self-starting options for decent employment.

    The President Lagos Apex Fadama Community Association, Abiodun Oyenekan, said FADAMA programme has created an example of how to bring life to rural areas, giving jobs to people and boosting the economy.

    He said farmers have benefited from learning better techniques for cultivation and land preparation.

    He said rural residents have been motivated to return to cultivating their land. Through extension help, they have gotten new seeds that have raised yields.

    According to him, it has created an economy where there was none, and now there are communities sustained by the impact of the project. The community-driven nature of the programme has been a key element in its success.

    Financing start-ups and newly formed agro businesses, he maintained, are a particularly important way of generating economic growth.

    He urged stakeholders in to find ways of providing tenure security for communal farmers, to increase support for emerging farmers, and to consider a new approach to land reform in the country.

    To achieve further success, Oyenekan said small farmers require a comprehensive agribusi-nesses support package, including favourable commodity pricing, access to finance, provision of technical expertise and mentorship, and contracted markets.

    He called on the government to support rural agro entrepreneurs to access technical assistance and business and financial services to help them develop profitable businesses that will also serve their communities.

  • Nigeria’s growing economic relations with China

    Nigeria’s growing economic relations with China

    President Jonathan has just concluded a five-day official visit to China. The highlight of his visit was the signing of a Chinese loan of $1.5 billion for the development of infrastructure in Nigeria, including the expansion of four airports at Lagos, Kano, Abuja, and Port Harcourt. The official visit was reportedly marked by a lot of conviviality and cordiality on both sides with the large Nigerian official delegation been treated to the fabled Chinese hospitality and excellent cuisine.

    Sino-Nigerian relations have developed rather slowly over the years. It is now gathering some momentum. It was General Gowon who, as military head of state, first paid an official visit to China in 1972 shortly after the Nigerian civil war. When his brutal military regime faced international criticism and isolation General Abacha also decided to go to China for support. This was in the wake of the crackdown in Tiananmen Square in Beijing that led to China’s international isolation as well. In 1997, the Chinese premier, Li Peng, visited Nigeria too to boost China’s renewed interest in Africa, aimed at reversing the decline in China’s trade with Africa. Nigeria’s trade with China actually fell from $57 million in 1980 to only $7 million in 1985, recovering somewhat to $35 million in 1989. Thereafter, Nigeria-China trade grew from $35 million to $97 million in 1993, and reached $327 million by 1997. It is currently estimated at $13 billion.

    President Jonathan’s visit to China is significant as it underlines Nigeria’s growing economic relations with China. From the Nigerian perspective, closer economic ties with China have become imperative. The new Chinese loan of $1.5billion brings to a total of nearly $15 billion China’s investments and loans to Nigeria in recent years, including the $2.5billion investment in the newly refurbished Lagos-Kano rail line. Nigeria’s share of Chinese investment in Africa has increased to over 30 per cent. In 2012, total Chinese investment in Nigeria was $13.3 billion. In contrast total US FDI in Nigeria was $8 billion. To counter the growing economic relations between China and Africa, President Obama announced during his recent hurried visit to Africa an offer of $7 billion infrastructure loan to Africa. Some cynics will consider this offer as too late and too little. Financial commitments by the World Bank and the IMF are far less than Chinese loans to Nigeria. African countries are turning increasingly to China as an alternative source for infrastructure loans badly needed.

    Both countries now realise the importance of economic cooperation between them. China, the most populous country in the world, with the fastest global economic growth in the last three decades, averaging 10 percent annually, has emerged a leading player in the global economy. Its national economy is now bigger than that of Japan, or the EU countries combined. Within a few decades, China has lifted some 300 million of its people from abject poverty, a feat without any precedent in the annals of economic development. Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa, with vast reserves of oil and gas, needs China’s financial and technical assistance in the development of its decaying infrastructure. China too needs Nigeria’s oil and gas to fuel its growing industry. In addition, Nigeria is, potentially, the largest market for China’s industrial products in Africa. Nigeria’s imports from China account for over a third of its total trade with West Africa.

    As President Jonathan was reported as saying in Beijing, the increasing exploitation of shale gas and other energy alternatives by the US and other Western states has made the need for the diversification of the Nigerian economy away from oil more urgent. Increasing Chinese oil imports will make up for the slack in oil exports to the US. In 2005, China accounted for 40 per cent of the global demand for oil. Over 30 per cent of China’s oil supply is imported, with the country becoming the world’s second largest consumer of oil after the US. So, closer economic co-operation is in the mutual interest of both countries. But there is a pitfall here which Nigeria has to watch very closely. There is a chronic and growing trade imbalance between the two countries in favour of China. Nigeria should seek to reduce this vast trade imbalance by increasing its non-oil exports to China. China’s exports to Nigeria are currently estimated at $3 billion, while Nigeria’s exports are estimated at only $1 billion, a trade gap of $2 billion. This trade deficit, a concern to Nigerian leaders and its private sector, is being discussed by the Nigeria-China Joint Planning Commission. Nigeria should be wary of being used by China as a dumping ground for cheap Chinese exports, particularly textiles, as this will increase the existing trade imbalance between the two countries in favour of China and lead to more job losses for Nigeria. For instance, in 2006, South Africa imposed two-year import restrictions on some Chinese textiles. In this regard, the Nigerian authorities are beginning to take some limited action against cheap and fake Chinese exports. In 2006, NAFDAC banned pharmaceutical imports from some Chinese and Indian companies.

    China has the largest foreign exchange reserves in the world some of which is being invested in Africa where growth prospects are becoming increasingly attractive. Nigeria is eager to diversify its trade relations by reducing its trade dependence on the Western industrial countries. China, with its horde of foreign reserves, is one of the few countries in the world today that can assist Nigeria with its huge financing gap, particularly for infrastructure development, in such critical sectors as roads, the railways, bridges, airports, and public transportation in which Nigeria is hugely deficient. Nigeria will not achieve its huge economic potential unless it modernises its infrastructure. China can offer Nigeria such assistance with loans and investments in the critical sectors of the Nigerian economy. In April 2006, President Obasanjo observed, while addressing the visiting Chinese President, Hu Jintao, in Lagos, that “This 21st century is the century for China to lead the world. And when you are leading the world, we (meaning Nigeria) want to be close behind you.” It was the most effusive compliment to China by a Nigerian leader and demonstrated Nigeria’s eagerness to expand its economic relations with China.

    Until recently, relations between the two countries were tepid and took some time to develop. At its independence in 1960, Nigerian leaders knew very little about Communist China, a remote country, with its turbulent political history and frequent upheavals. Western influence in Nigeria was very strong and the Western media gave Communist China a bad press all over Africa, decrying its lack of respect for human rights and its authoritarian -style of government. Culturally, the Communist style of government had little or no appeal for African leaders. In fact, like many other states in Africa, Nigeria refused to even recognise the existence of China and did not enter into diplomatic relations with her until after the Nigerian civil war in 1970. At the UN Nigeria voted routinely along with the Western powers to deny China admission to the UN. Instead, Taiwan, which the Chinese regard as a ‘renegade’ province of China, was given China’s seat at the UN. China was badly isolated globally. During the years of the Cultural Revolution China turned its back on the rest of the world, including Africa. Before then, during the cold war era, it had tried unsuccessfully to get a foothold in Africa but it encountered strong opposition from the West as well as the Soviet Union with which it had fallen out. Its interests then in Africa were basically strategic and consisted mainly of challenging both Soviet and Western dominance in Africa during the cold war.

    To counter Western influence China encouraged wars of liberation in Africa and was supporting armed anti-colonial struggles in some 24 African countries, including South Africa. China’s main aim was to reduce Africa’s economic dependence on the West by offering long-term low interest loans to Africa and promoting the so-called ‘benevolent trade’ such as by buying up large coffee and tobacco surpluses from Tanzania. By 1976, China was already giving Africa more aid than the Soviet Union. It achieved a major breakthrough in Africa by financing and constructing the Tanzam railway that gave it access and some limited political influence in central Africa. Beijing’s involvement in the African liberation wars paid off when many African governments, including Nigeria, provided critical support on the UN General Assembly resolution admitting China as a member in October, 1971, and replacing Taiwan. Relations between Nigeria and China also began to improve dramatically. China had supported the secessionists during the Nigerian civil war and is believed to have sent Biafra some limited arms through Tanzania. The secessionist leader, Ojukwu, actually wrote Chairman Mao, seeking Chinese assistance ‘in our struggle against Anglo-American imperialism and Soviet revisionism to achieve a socialist revolution in Biafra’ and Africa. But China secured Nigeria’s recognition in October 1971, after which the two states began building modest bilateral ties based on terms of co-operation agreed between them in 1972 during Gowon’s official visit to Beijing.

    Predictably, the growing economic relations between China and Africa have caused some concerns in the Western countries, particularly in the US. In 2005, during a Congressional hearing in Washington, the chairman of the Africa sub-committee warned that ‘China is playing an increasingly influential role in Africa, and that the Chinese intend to aid and abet African dictators, gain a stranglehold on precious African natural resources, and undo much of the progress that has been made on democracy and governance in the last 15 years’. There were complaints from the US as well when a satellite launch deal was signed in 2005 by Nigeria and the China Great Wall Industry Corporation. But Africa needs to develop rapidly and, if necessary, will engage other powers to achieve its economic and technological goals. Africa cannot remain the economic preserve of the Western powers alone. It must diversify its economic relations in line with the process of economic globalisation. It is not China that is responsible for dictatorships in Africa, but the Western powers that, for long, supported African dictators, and refused to support liberation wars in Africa. There is no real danger of the Chinese exporting Communism to Africa. The Soviets did not succeed in doing so. If they tried, it is less likely that the Chinese would succeed where the Soviets failed.

    The Chinese have no interest in exporting their Communist ideology to Africa. Like Africa, China was, for centuries, the victim of invasion and colonialism by the Western countries. It has no colonial past or imperialist ambitions in Africa that can stand in the way of increasing economic co-operation between the two. China has no military bases in Africa or anywhere else outside its own territory. It is unlikely to use force to advance its economic interests in Africa What China wants, like any other foreign power, is access to Africa’s huge natural resources, particularly its oil, and new markets for its industrial products. Africa is more mature now and should ignore unjustified foreign concerns about its new economic relations with China. In its economic engagement with China, it should, collectively, be able to protect its own economic interests.

  • Growing up was tough but it made me even tougher —Funmi Fiberesima

    Growing up was tough but it made me even tougher —Funmi Fiberesima

    Actress and one-time on-air-personality, Funmi Fiberesima, has joined the league of Nollywood producers and is gearing up to premiere her debut movie titled Onikola. Funmi started her foray into the world of make-believe on stage with the Rivers State Art and Culture group. She went on to star in soaps before she moved on to radio and TV production. The lead character in Dotun Taylor’s Egberun Maili, in this interview with MERCY MICHAEL, opens up on her endeavours in the arts. She also speaks on family, growing up and her relationship.

    YOU came into the industry, and after sometime you left. Your foray into the industry was quite short. Why?

    I don’t think it was short-lived. Like you know, I started from the stage. I was on stage from 1991-2003. And from 2003, I was the Assistant Coordinator of the Guild of Nigerian Actors, Enugu State Chapter. But I went back to school to do communication. But I never really left acting because every now and then I still got to help out students in the Theatre Art class with their costume work, worked behind the stage and all. But it’s just that communication helped me to make a transition from acting into producing. When I started working in the communications industry, I was more of a producer. I got a job in 2009 or 2010 there about with TVC.

    They just started at that time. I was a producer. It was in TVC I got trained to be a producer. I was a producer on TV and I was also a producer on radio, Radio Continental 102.3. I kind of find my work on radio the nitty-gritty of the job. And so things just developed. I still am a consultant for African Radio Drama Association. So it’s not like I left the industry, but the industry is very, very divided, divided in the sense that the industry has pockets of other components that come together to make it one big tree. It’s not just acting, it’s not just producing, it’s not just directing; it’s a whole lot that comes together to make one big tree.

    Can you refresh our minds on the soaps you featured in before you took some sort of break?

    I’ve done a couple of soaps on TV. Before I took the break, I began to write programmes. I met Sam Dede who was directing the soap House of Abraham, here in Port-Harcourt. And because I was on the soap and he was the director, I had a relationship with him, just like a mentor-mentee kind of relationship.

    He introduced me to the producer and the producer was like let’s see how we can work together. So when I’m not on set and the producer has other things to do I go to the location with him, just to watch and generally assimilate by association. So it was more like Sam Dede taught me. After that, in Lagos, while I was working with TVC, I was doing a soap, No Where to be Found. Yes, I think it was No Where to be found. I’ve always been acting but I never was really pursuing it, but it was while I was at TVC that I also did this Dotun Taylor’s movie, Egberun Maili.

    Really?

    Yes, I starred in Egberun Maili. I was the lead character in the movie.

    Was that your first Nollywood movie, so to speak?

    Let me say that was my first time to star in a movie.

    And was that the movie that gave you your break?

    Acting wise? I wouldn’t say it gave me much of the break. It’s more than one role that gives you a break. You have to keep at it, but I wasn’t willing to keep at it.

    Why?

    Yes, because there are pretty much so many things that I could do, and like I said, acting was not the only thing that was intriguing to me anymore. There was just something that I was looking for and I think it was to be able to make my own film, berth my own ideas.

    So, if anything, I did Onikola, my film that I just recently produced. I hope this one will give me the break I’m looking for because in this one I was able to be a producer and I was also able to act in it. I tried to like find a balance for myself. I was not just wearing a producer’s hat, I was also wearing an actor’s hat. I don’t think I want to direct because that is a talent that I think you have to be born with.

    So I don’t think I want to direct. But someday I may direct .There’re just so many things in the art I want do. The art is like a river. You cannot tell it where to flow. You just find fulfillment in expressing everything that’s in you. So, with Onikola, I was able to express more than one talent that I find in me. I feel it’s easier for people who know they can act, they know they are fantastic actors and are not interested in anything else. For me, I see myself as one with multiple talents.

    I’m interested in a whole lot of other things. I see myself as somebody with so much more talent so I don’t get satisfied just doing one thing. If in one project I’m able to wear more than one hat and I’m able to wear it well, it is fantastic. In Onikola, I loved the experience of wearing all the hats together. And I think it’s something I want to do all over and over again. That is why my publicist says that, I’m a little Tyler Perry in the making because he’s able to, like, do everything at one time. I’m hoping I would be able to get to that level.

    Do you think that you will get a favourable feedback with Onikola, being your first?

    I hope it will be able to give me the feedback that I need because ultimately you are producing for the audience hoping that they will be able to find their meaning in the expression of art that you have chosen. This is just me growing.

    Right now, virtually everyone in Nollywood is an actor, producer, and this, in a way, has fostered competition in the industry. What do you intend to bring to the table?

    First and foremost I would like to say, a lot of the actors that are producers now, it has been like a natural progression for them. They’ve been in the entertainment industry long enough. I think it takes a lot of guts. It’s takes a lot of courage. Haven said that, you will agree with me that Nollywood won’t have been where it is today if people like Uche Jombo and the rest did not take the bull by the horns.

    How can I forget Kunle Afolayan? If people like him did not take the bull by the horns we still would have been doing those wishy-washy films. You understand what I’m saying. So they began to bring the spark and the quality that was not there before. They have moved Nollywood further and that in itself is something commendable. Then, speaking on what I am bringing to the table. I am hoping to be able to tell stories that will appeal to probably the international audience, doing quality stories, something better or as good as what actors that have now become producers are doing because what they are doing is something worthy of emulation if you ask me.

    I’m hoping that I will be able to mirror the traditional Nigerian spirit, to showcase the indomitable spirit of the Nigerian woman and child. To tell stories that can probably change or influence policies, stories that touch on the fabric of the Nigerian society. If I’m able to do that I will be very grateful to God.

    So this is me saying that I want to be creative. I want to tell stories that are part of our everyday life. I’m going to be telling a lot of stories that have to do with my life because I’ve had quite a journey myself. I’m not going to limit myself. I’m going to be very creative.

    Would it be right to say your come-back is going to be more of producing than acting?

    It’s going to be a lot of me doing everything. Don’t be surprised if you see a film production, Funmilayo Cameraman. It’s going to be me doing everything but producing is something that has been in my heart. I didn’t know it at a time, but doing it I know it’s something that my heart has longed for, for a long time. When I was unsatisfied with acting that was probably what I was looking for but I didn’t know it at the time.

    Can you describe the mind of a producer?

    The mind of a producer is eternally creative. The mind of the producer is like the womb of a mother. The child now is your story and then the process of writing it and producing it could be likened to the process of delivery the mother goes through. And when you now produce and you premiere it it’s like naming ceremony. It’s like the womb of a mother; and the mind of the producer knows what is best for the production.

    It is intriguing to me that you would decide to produce your first movie in Yoruba language. What informed that?

    My mother is Yoruba and I was born in Lagos. Yoruba is my first language. My mother is from Ogun State. She’s from Okunola, less than two hours’ drive from Abeokuta. But my father is Rivers. Now that I’ve done something from my mother side you should be expecting something from my father’s side soon. But one thing that I think influences the way I see life is that I had an identity crisis.

    To my mother’s side, we were those Igbo children and to the father’s side we were those Yoruba children. You are never really, really accepted so much. I felt a lot of acceptance among strangers than I did at home, among my extended families. To my aunties and uncles I’m just always a Rivers girl, in fact they call me Omo Ajeokuta ma mumi, and to my Rivers’ aunties and uncle I’m just always a Yoruba girl. My father’s title is that man with Yoruba children because my mum passed on a long time. We are just Yoruba to them. Yoruba people don’t accept us, River people don’t accept us.

    Somehow it kind of allowed me the luxury of being attached to both cultures from an outsider point. I like to see myself as a blessed Yoruba girl that was blessed to have an extremely close relationship with the Rivers people. And then, I’m a blessed Rivers girl that was blessed to have extremely close relationship with the Yoruba people. So like Jesus would say, I’m neither Yoruba nor Rivers but I am Yoruba and Rivers.

    How old were you when your mother passed on?

    I was 15 going on 16. She had breast cancer.

    What was it like learning to be a woman by yourself and not from your mother?

    It made me value her presence more. My relationship with my mum was the type that you didn’t know her value until she was gone because I was always feeling like why won’t this woman just get off my case? And all of sudden there is nobody on your case and it was like where do I go? What do I do? When she passed on we relocated finally to Port-Harcourt. There, I was as free as a bird. I pretty much learnt everything I know by the grace of God.

    You must have made a lot of mistakes in your teens?

    Yes, I did. I made loads and loads of mistakes but let me say God found me. It could have been worse but it wasn’t. And I thank God am still alive today. But even in that freedom it wasn’t like there was no one to tell me anything but it was more like with the Yoruba, when they give you instruction and you say no, they will beat you until you say yes, but with the Rivers people it’s not like that.

    They give you instruction and you say no, they are like’ you are on your own’. Do your thing, no problem. It was more like I experimented with not having any kind of authority, later my father put his foot down, shipped me to my grandma place to go and stay. Imagine me, I don’t understand Okrika, my grandma doesn’t understand English; she only understands Okrika, so there was communication crisis and once I say anything she doesn’t understand, she starts to cry, accusing me of abusing her. It wasn’t funny. Every night when my dad comes back she reports me and he beats me, but one day my dad witnessed that scenario, that was when he now believed me. I pretty much had to learn my language.

    How did your childhood prepare you for this path, your endeavours?

    Not having real acceptance at home, I think that translated to my social life as a child because I never felt like I was in with the crowd. I was more of a tomboyish, trouble maker type. And all that made me like my own company more. But I didn’t like my own company when I was small because everybody had best friends and cool girls that the guys wanted to be with but I was just this ‘type’ of person. I wanted to fit in. I tried to fit in but I never did fit in. I began to like myself the day I stopped trying to fit in, and then I accepted that maybe you’ll never fit in. It kind of like made me to watch people from the outside.

    Your first relationship and not having your mother there to share with…

    It wasn’t so much fun. It happened when I came to Port-Harcourt. Everyone just thought I would be a bad girl for one reason because I had gotten to the point that I wasn’t interested in mixing. So they just generally felt I must be a very bad girl. I chose my friend by myself. Having a relationship, I didn’t learn so much from people’s experiences because I didn’t have people who would share theirs with me. I kind of like made my mistakes and then learnt from them.

    I would say that the situation made me kind of prayerful because God became my friend and the person I can talk to. Like the Bible says, everything kind of worked together for my good at the end. Growing up was tough but it made me tougher.

    Have you experienced battering in your relationship before?

    Yeah, I still have a broken shoulder to show for it. But the way I got back was that I stayed in the relationship and worked on myself until I didn’t love him again. It was a decision that I’m not going to love this person anymore.

    When I would say I got my revenge was when I woke up one morning and decided the relationship was over. The guy was like what! He begged for one year but I didn’t feel sorry for him. Every now and again, I get long ‘am sorry’ text messages. I don’t even read it.

    Do you believe in love?

    I believe in love but I believe that love is good when you find somebody that loves himself. Any man that loves himself is capable of being a good man to love.

    Why did you do a film on circumcision?

    Onikola is a film about female circumcision and it’s a film everybody should know about, watch and do something about. We took it seriously for a while and a lot of communities stopped it, but until no child is being circumcised I don’t think we should rest.

  • Growing row over 2013 budget

    Growing row over 2013 budget

    The Senate has promised to pass the 2013 Budget before the end of this month. But, unresolved differences between the legislature and the executive may frustrate the bid. Assistant Editor ONYEDI OJIABOR reports moves being made to achieve the feat.

    The Senate is determined to pass the 2013 Appropriation Bill on or before December 20, 2012 when it is expected to go on the Christmas break.. If the lawmakers succeed, the feat will mark a major shift from the awkward practice of the annual budget being repeatedly passed in the following fiscal year.

    The 2012 Appropriation Bill, for instance, was embarrassingly passed in March by the Parliament and signed into law in April. It has to be stated, however, that the late passage of the Appropriation Bill is not entirely the fault of the National Assembly.

    Late presentation of the bill by the executive arm of government has been largely blamed for the inability of the Parliament to endorse the fiscal document on time.

    This year, if the optimism of the Senate President, David Mark, is anything to go by, the trend of late passage of the budget will become history.

    Mark has already given the matching order to standing committees of the Senate to submit the reports of budget defence by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to the joint Senate Committee on Appropriation and Finance for compilation and presentation to the Senate.

    The matching order was not without a warning, apparently, to drive home the need for compliance. Mark warned that the joint Senate Committee on Appropriation and Finance is at liberty to adopt spending estimates submitted by the executive if any committee fails to submit its report.

    Good as early passage of the Appropriation Bill may be, National Assembly watchers are worried that Nigerians may never know to what extent the parliament has been able to scrutinize government spending estimates over the years.

    Some of the observers believe that it is possible that the lawmakers have never examined government spending proposals as closely as the law empowers them to do.

    Some blame the anomaly on limited time available to the parliament to perform this all important duty while others lay the blame on increasing size of government and its MDAs.

    Yet another group say the problem should be attributed to lack of fiscal expertise, skill, proficiency and capacity to conduct in-depth forensic examination of government spending proposals.

    Although a number of the senate committees showed signs of seriousness in the examination of the fiscal estimates of MDAs under their supervision, others glossed over the exercise.

    Some of the committees even held their budget defence in camera creating the impression of a hidden agenda in an exercise that should have been conducted in the open.

    The business as usual attitude of some committees in the consideration of the budget proposal left desperate MDAs with disproportionate and obviously bloated budget figures.

    Some MDAs that were obviously not prepared to defend their budgets simply appeared in the Senate to fulfil all righteousness.

    Some MDAs also deliberately denied parliamentarians valuable facts that would have assisted them to do a thorough examination of the proposals.

    As if that is not serious enough, most of the revenue yielding agencies did not appear before the Senate Committees to defend their budget as stipulated by law.

    The refusal of the agencies to present their spending plans before the parliament for scrutiny may have underscored the widely held view that “a government that is less and less accountable to parliament, is hardly able to account at all.”

    The worrisome situation re-enforces the perception by most Nigerians that their elected representatives may never know how much accrues to government in any fiscal year.

    It should also be said that the refusal of some revenue yielding agencies to present their budgets for examination is part of the persisting culture of impunity in the country.

    Section 80(4) of the Constitution clearly stated that “No moneys shall be withdrawn from the Consolidated Revenue Fund or any other public fund of the Federation, except in the manner prescribed by the National Assembly.”

    While some government agencies have consistently paid no attention to the constitutional provision, others hide under nebulous justification to flout the provision.

    That may explain why pervasive corrupt tendencies are prevalent in most of the agencies.

    The idea that over the years budget defence by MDAs has been largely reduced to a jamboree or at best an annual budgetary ritual may also explain why the federal government has not really been bothered about budget implementation.

    The unhealthy situation of poor budget implementation is not helped by instances of failure of oversight.

    What the MPs did with the 2012 spending plans was more or less “garbage in garbage out” as the National Assembly virtually returned the budget estimate as presented by the Executive.

    The MPs claimed that the decision to adopt the budget proposal as presented by the Executive was to avoid being accused of “padding” the budget.

    If the measure was meant to engender improved implementation of the budget, that was not to be.

    The level of implementation of the 2012 budget has remained a source of friction between members of the National Assembly and the Presidency.

    Those in the know say that the level of implementation of the budget is no more than “35 per cent”.

    The Presidency faulted the claim saying that the budget achieved over 69 per cent implementation as at September.

    The House of Representatives, particularly, cried blue murder and threatened not to have any thing to do with the 2013 budget until the Executive showed sufficient reason why it failed to implement the 2012 spending plans.

    Though the House later soft-pedalled after several entreaties by some influential Nigerians, the perception that the Executive arm of government may not be interested in implementing the budget has subsisted.

    In the Senate one of the agencies that received several knocks over its activities is the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P).

    The joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on Petroleum (downstream), which examined the spending plans of the SURE-P asked the government to scrap the agency for allegedly spending huge sums of money on moribund projects.

    For some members of the joint committee, SURE-P has failed to impact on the lives of Nigerians through clear cut infrastructural provision.

    But the Dr. Christopher Kolade led agency disagreed with the lawmakers.

    A member of the Committee, Hon. Peter Akpatason (Akoko-Edo Federal Constituency) felt that all the interventions made by the SURE-P fell into existing projects of the Federal Government being handled by relevant agencies.

    Akpatason said, “Our belief is that road projects, the most prominent like the East-West road, is the responsibility of the government. East-West road has been there over the years and funds have been appropriated for its construction. Why is it that it is the same thing the ministries have been doing that SURE-P is putting money into? What is the job of the ministries? If the ministries were efficient, why are we having this backlog of uncompleted projects?

    “We are of the opinion that the SURE-P should be fully responsible for identifying new projects and participating in the procurement phase to the extent of awarding contracts and financing such projects. But if SURE-P is to continue to finance portions of projects that ministries have been responsible for, then there is no need for it to continue to exist.”

    For Senator Danjuma Goje, the existence of SURE-P is an indication that the Federal Government has lost confidence in the ability of the ministries to carry out their mandates.

    The former Gombe State governor insisted that the money given to SURE-P ought to have been given to the ministries.

    “I see confusion and duplication of functions some where in all these. It is either you give the money to the ministries or you give SURE-P the money. It is not neat for one person to award a contract and another person pays for it,” Goje said.

    The lawmakers saw SURE-P as another avenue to spend money on overhead even with the growing concern that overhead is taking a large chunk of the national budget.

    Kolade told the lawmakers that N135 billion accrued to the agency in 2012 as Federal government share of the partial deregulation petroleum downstream of the oil industry.

    He listed some projects where the funds have been applied to include social safety nets like maternal and child health, public works for youths, mass transit, vocational training centres and culture and tourism (capacity building) which he said gulped N16.7billion.

    Kolade also told the committee that the agency augmented the construction of the East West Road, Lokoja-Abuja Road, Benin-Ore-Shagamu Road, Kano-Maiduguri road, Port Harcourt-Enugu-Onitsha Road and the second Niger Bridge (counterpart funding) to the tune of N27.34billion.

    He added that the sum of N9.276billion has been spent on the Lagos-Kano, Port Harcourt – Maiduguri, and Kano – Abuja rail project while the agency spent N299million on consultancy and logistics. He also gave the committee’s breakdown of expenditure.

    Observers say that it is interesting that the MPs may pass the budget before the end of the year. A feat, they say, has never happened since the return of democracy in 1999.

    But what is of more interest, they declared, is that the parliamentarians should learn to do the needful – track expenditure of appropriated funds by MDAs through purposeful oversight.

     

  • Africa’s economy fast growing, says scholar

    Africa’s economy fast growing, says scholar

    Africa’s economy is fast growing, an international scholar said at the weekend. Research Professor and Director in Global Governance and Human Security, University of Massachusetts, USA, Timothy Shaw, spoke at a lecture to mark the 10th anniversary of the Centre for Constitutionalism and Demilitarisation (CENCOD). The event at the Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, attracted the academics and civil society groups.

    Shaw, who was the guest lecturer, in paper entitled: African Agency versus Dependency: From Fragile to Developmental States in the 21st Century, noted that half of the dozen of the fastest growing countries identified in the Economist’s World in 2011 were African countries, with Ghana the best example of democratic development and Angola the new oil giant.

    He said African countries have entered and taken their seats in the multilateral arena, while regional integration has experienced a new drive.

    Said he: “Given such miracles after a rather lacklustre first half century, in the second decade of the new century, a variety of forms of regional agency is thriving and may continue to blossom on the African continent.”

    Shaw added that African economies have recovered from the crisis better than expected. “This unprecedented courageous departure from the discredited and disappearing ‘Washington Consensus’ has been followed up by a 2012 United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) reports.”

    The research scholar, who believed that Africa has generated series of innovation no matter how problematic, reiterated that its efforts at trans-national governance and ability to articulate its African Mining Vision (AMV) in response to dramatic changes underscored the progress made so far.

    The Chairman of the lecture, Prof. Adebayo Williams, who narrowed his opening remarks to the home front, expressed misgivings about governance in Nigeria.

    He said: “It is sad to observe that we seem to have moved from a situation of great hope and expectation to one of utter dejection and despondency.

    “What seems to be going on at the moment is a demonisation and demystification of democracy as the best system governance, ever devised by the human political imagination. Nigerians, particularly some sections of the political class, are bent on giving democracy a bad name to hang it.”

    Prof. Williams urged people to be vigilant because forces whose pastime was to undermine the political process were at work.

    “If the political class is bent on committing political suicide, Nigerians have a right to retrieve their country from it before it pushes it over the cliff.”

    Describing the rot in the polity as abysmal, he said what the nation was passing through did not begin with the present administration, but it had contributed its quota where it could be argued that President Jonathan had inherited an unlucky conjuncture.