The Nation Newspaper

Tag: LAW

  • ERA/FoEN criticises proposed Lagos environment law

    ERA/FoEN criticises proposed Lagos environment law

    The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN) has described the proposed Bill to Provide for the Management, Protection and Sustainable Development of the Environment in Lagos State as a document laden with ambiguities to mask its privatisation plans in the water sector.

    At a Public Hearing by the Lagos House Committee for Environment at the House of Assembly Complex in Alausa, Ikeja, ERA/FoEN faulted sections of the proposal, which it viewed as attempts to sneak public-private partnership (PPP) into the water sector. The sections include: Allocation of Fund and Guarantees, Sinking of Borehole Hydraulic and other Structures, Maintenance of Water Bodies, Functions of the Office and Powers to Make Regulations.

    ERA/FoEN Deputy Executive Director Akinbode Oluwafemi said: “We are shell-shocked at the proposed law as it is fraught with deliberate loopholes that will open the door for the corporate take-over of Lagos water, the sanitation sector and, ultimately, the state.”

    Oluwafemi frowned at the provisions of the “Allocation of Fund and Guarantees,” saying it is scandalous for the state government to contemplate securing payment for contracted services and concessions for long-term infrastructure investments as first line of preference from internally-generated revenue. This he interpreted to mean that government must pay corporate entities before spending on roads, schools, hospitals, and water.

    He condemned the aspect of the bill which says: “in the event that the state’s IGR is insufficient or unavailable to discharge its obligations, it will apply monies due to it from the monthly allocations from the federal account to secure its payment obligation to the contractors and concessionaires”.

    The ERA/FoEN memorandum also carpets the clause on the composition of members of “The Trust Fund Board” to be set up. Going by the clause, the body will have six members, two of which will be from the Ministry of Environment, and the Commissioner for Environment being its chair. It noted that the commissioner would have too many powers under the law as he would also be tasked with making regulations.

    In the provision that criminalises “Sinking of Borehole Hydraulic and other Structures” with recommendation of prison terms and fines for defaulters, the group said Lagos residents using these means to access water were only victims of a failed system that failed to provide them a basic human need.

    “What logic justifies banning people from using streams or helping their neighbours who cannot access safe water due to inadequate investment from the state government for decades? Yet, this obnoxious provision is in the law,” Oluwafemi said.

    The ERA/ FoEN chief explained that if these measures were not challenged, they would further burden Lagosians at a time that the government has no plan to fix the public water system. He added: “Our fear is that this pressure on Lagos citizens could be the guise to introduce the PPP in the water sector which Lagosians have roundly condemned.’’

    ERA/FoEN also provided copies of the document titled:  “Lagos Water Crisis: Alternative Roadmap for the Water Sector” which it launched last October, as solution to the water crisis in Lagos.

  • A pastor and the law

    From time immemorial, the state and the church have always been in a contest for power. The church has the power of the word and the state has the force of coercion. The church appeals to the minds of the people, the state coerce them to do its will. In this contest for power and supremacy, the people have always been at the receiving end. Yet, they claim to be working for the people. The church has an edge because it is closer to the people. This closeness is as a result of the relationship between the pastor and his flock.

    A pastor, who is a good shepherd in the biblical sense of the word, looks out for his sheep. He does not make too much demands on them, rather he ministers to their needs, whether spiritually or materially. A shepherd who sees his sheep as cows to be milked misses his calling. The scripture puts it succinctly : ‘’Woe be to the shepherds…that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flock? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed : but ye feed not the flock…neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost, but with force and cruelty have ye ruled them’’.

    The job of a pastor is not only to feed his congregation with words, he is also to cater to their needs to enable them stand firm and not to backslide. Unfortunately, the reverse is the case today. Pastors ride exotic cars, live in mansions, while their flock live in abject penury. Their God, they are quick to say, is not a God of poverty. Is it the God of their sheep that is poor then? Beyond their flock, pastors owe society a duty to speak truth to power and also pray for those in authority. ‘’Exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty’’, says the scripture.

    This divine mandate is to ensure that the society progresses as it should for the betterment of all. A society where the fear of God reigns will surely be peaceful. This is why pastors are to act as checks on leaders so that they do not derail. In discharging this obligation, the men of God are not expected to overreach themselves. Though they are ministers in the temple of God, they are not above the law. A pastor who oversteps his bounds is courting trouble and when the consequences come, his flock may not be able to save him. In correcting the leadership of their countries, pastors are not expected to be quarrelsome. They must discharge this god-given responsibility with decency and not play to the gallery.

    A pastor must not criticise the government of the day in order to score cheap political point. By his calling, he must be apolitical in order not to incur the wrath of government. Reason : if he supports the Pharaoh that is in power today, what will happen if there comes a Pharaoh that does not know Joseph. He would have exposed himself for what he truly is. Pastors must tread gingerly because anything they do or say are usually monitored by the public that can easily discern where they stand from the positions they take. The church and the state appear to be on a collision since the failed attempt by the Federal Reporting Council of Nigeria (FRC) to regulate not-for-profit organisations, such as churches, mosques and civil society organisations. The FRC set a tenure limit for general overseers, which forced the respected G.O of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG) to step down for Pastor Joseph Obayemi. Obayemi is now the national overseer for Nigeria.

    The churches did not find this funny and they rose stoutly to condemn the code of corporate governance fashioned by the former Executive Secretary of FRC, Jim Obazee, who was fired in the aftermath of Pastor Adeboye’s  decision to quit as RCCG’s leader in Nigeria. Living Faith Church Worldwide aka Winners Chapel founder Pastor David Oyedepo did not hide his anger over the issue. In a message that went viral, he said unequivocally that the country could not remain under the shackles of one region. Nigeria, he said, belongs to all Nigerians, noting that nobody should be treated as a second class citizen in his fatherland because of his faith.

    Apparently taking a cue from his fellow pastor, Apostle Johnson Suleiman of the Omega Fire Ministries (OFM), at a crusade in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, last week, touched on the vexed issue of herdsmen’s killings in some parts of the country. He condemned the dastardly act, calling on Christians across the country to defend themselves, if the need arises. He was quoted as saying that if any herdsman comes near Christians, they should kill him. His statement ruffled the feathers of the Department of State Security (DSS), which went for him in his hotel room. The pastor quickly called Governor Ayo Fayose, who rushed to his aid before the security men could pick him up.

    The herdsmen matter has become something else because of the seeming silence of the government on how they have been wreaking havoc in some parts of the country. Are they Fulani herdsmen or where are they from? The DSS will do well to ascertain who these herdsmen are if it is really interested in getting to the root of how they have been killing, maiming and raping women in some states. Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai in whose domain the herdsmen struck last December, leaving death and destruction in their trail, said they were from outside the country. The governor must have had certain information at his disposal to have spoken like that. But has he availed the security agencies of that information?

    Apostle Suleiman’s message got the DSS worried. And since the agency could not get him in Ado Ekiti, it invited him to Abuja last Monday. We do not know yet what actually transpired at that meeting, but it is certain the apostle would have been grilled on the message he preached in Ado Ekiti. Was it a call to arms by Christians, he would have been asked. The apostle has since clarified what he said in Ado Ekiti. Shortly before going to keep his appointment with DSS, he told reporters that his statement was based on information from a reliable source that herdsmen were coming to attack him. ‘’I was talking in my personal capacity on information from a reliable source that certain people in the capacity of herdsmen were coming to attack me and I told the people around me that if it happens they should defend themselves’’.

    Everybody, not only pastors, should be concerned about the atrocities of these herdsmen. If it takes the message of a pastor to wake us up to their menace, so be it. The pastor may have made what the DSS perceives as inciting statement, but did the agency leave him with any option? Indeed, has it left Nigerians, especially those attacked, any option over this issue? The herdsmen have been allowed to be on the loose for too long. It is high time the DSS and other security agencies upped their game and fished out the culprits. The pastor may have spoken as one pained by what is happening to those he considers his shepherd, but that does not mean that he should take liberty for licence.

    Our governors too should be mindful of how they interfere in security matters. They do not have the power to stop the security agencies from doing their jobs.  No matter how strong  they feel about an issue, obstructing security agencies in the line of duty is not the way to go. If care is not taken, this may create more trouble than it is meant to solve.

  • Troops in The Gambia: What the law says

    SIR: Section 5 sub section 4 of 1999 Constitution as amended states that, “(a) the President shall not declare a state of war between the federation and other country except with the sanction of a resolution of both Houses of National Assembly sitting in a joint session, and (b) except with the prior approval of the Senate, no member of the Nigeria armed forces should be deployed outside the country for a combat mission. From the above, the President is under obligation to seek approval before the deployment of Nigeria Armed men for internal or external armed combat, war or conflict as the case maybe.

    However, there is a rider to section 5 which read thus, “notwithstanding the provision of section 5 subsection 4 of this section, the President in consultation with the National Defence Council, may deploy members of the armed forces of the country on a limited combat duty outside Nigeria if he is satisfied that the national security is under threat or danger: provided that the President shall within 7 days of actual combat engagement, seek the consent of the Senate and the Senate shall within 14 days thereafter give or refuse the consent”.

    Now, from the community reading of the above provisions, it is clear that the approval of the National Assembly may be sought proactively or retroactively. In other words, the President is at liberty to seek such approval before or after deployment of army, provided he suspects that there is a threat to national security.

    Another angle to the issue is to examine the rationale or reason for the deployment of the army inside or outside the country. Is the deployment for “combat”, “war” or “peace keeping”? If the rationale for deployment is for war or combat, then the above provisions will always apply. No doubt about that. If it is for “peace keeping”, then it does not seem that the President would need the approval of the National Assembly. It can be argued therefore that the President may only need the approval of the National Assembly where he has declared a combat mission or war internally or externally. In that case, it would seem that any deployment for peace keeping such as under the ECOMOG, UN or AU mandate may not require the approval of National Assembly. This is more so that there are extant bilateral or multi-lateral agreements ratified by Nigeria for such joint military action either at regional or global level. By such extant agreements of which the ECOMOG under the ECOWAS Treaty Of 1975 is one, it would seem that the President already has a blank cheque for deployment from time to time. The only exception here may be where such foreign intervention is a sole Nigeria expedition.

    Finally, the President Muhammadu Buhari is under every obligation to respect any treaty, bilateral or multilateral, to which Nigeria is a signatory. Nigeria’s going to Gambia is a creation of ECOWAS treaty. Its goal is purely for peace keeping not for combat.

     

    • Otimkpu Paschal Chizoba,

    Awka, Anambra State.

  • Building above the law?

    Building above the law?

    Can a developer build above the specified height for an area? This is the question  in Surulere,  Lagos Mainland.  Considering the seeming power game surrounding the issue, MUYIWA LUCAS reports that the answer to this question will serve as a litmus test for the state’s building regulatory agencies and the government’s development masterplan.

    Town planning, especially in an emerging Mega City such as Lagos, is taken seriously in many climes due to its importance on the society.

    Before and after independence, Lagos State had a well-structured town planning model that ensured a well-laid out society.

    However, following the neglect of this important aspect of societal development, various structures began to spring up, leading to unplanned structures and communities as people built with impunity. This singular act, experts said, led to the birth of shanties and slums, for which the state has over 100.

    The case of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is still surprising to many. Experts in town planning have maintained that the rushed movement, rather than phased movement, to the city, of all Federal Government ministries and parastatals by the administration of General Ibrahim Babangida (rtd) shortly after the failed coup attempt of the late Major Gideon Orka in 1990, led to the sorry state of the FCT.

    Experts insist that the FCT was not ready, structurally, for the sudden population explosion it experienced at the time; hence shanties and slums sprang up within the city as the high demand for shelter swelled.

    The cost of returning a distorted city to a well planned city however comes with its implications for both citizens and government. For the citizens, it is that of traumatic pains-emotional and psychological, and monetary loss, while for government, it is that of hatred by the people, huge financial burden to rebuild, among others. This is why contravening the provisions of town planning should be viewed with all seriousness.

    It was therefore instructive when the members of Pilot Crescent Residents Association (PCRA), Surulere, opted to preserve the masterplan of its area, which is presently being threatened by a construction work.

    The Crescent, an estate established by the Federal Government some years back, was planned and developed with a height restriction for buildings in the scheme. It was  pegged at bungalow level. The crescent is a low, densely populated area specifically designed for bungalows.

    That masterplan is now being violated following the reconstruction work now going on on Plot 36 and 34A. In what began as a bungalow redevelopment, residents of Pilot Crescent were surprised to see that the structures were decked and taken to first floor level.

    According to Mr. Wole Oladoye, a resident, and whose house sits just beside the construction site, the residents met with the property owner after her identity was hidden for a while, with the aim of explaining to her why she cannot violate the masterplan. Oladoye identified the owner simply as Mrs. Fadahunsi, whom he said also owns and resides in a flat in the other wing of the estate.

    “That was the first peace move I tried to make. But she insulted me, claiming I had interest in her property. Her basis for acquisition remains frivolous because by law, I know that an individual should not own more than one apartment in any government scheme,” he explained.

    On September 9, last year, the Games Village Community Development Association (CDA), the umberella body for the residents association in the community, wrote a petition to the Lagos State Building Control Agency (LASBCA). Subsequently, the premises were sealed by agencies.

    The Chairman of PCRA, Mr. Ayo Olagunju, however, told The Nation that Mrs. Fadahusi and her representatives, broke the seal few hours after the inspection team from the government left and continued work on site. They do this usually at nights till the early hours of the mornings. By December 22 last year, the PCRA sent another petition to LASBCA, reminding the agency of the situation on ground and the need for its intervention.

    A visit to the site by this reporter showed that the Pilot Crescent showed that while the other construction site (Plot 34 A) still had the seal around it, with no trace of continued work, there were active workmen on the construction site of Plot 36. On this plot, which measures about 300 square meters, is a two-wing, two-floor structure (ground and first floor) being erected.

    Checks on the construction also showed that the mandatory requirements for building have not been adhered to. For instance, given the size of the structure, it occupies more than 60 per cent of the land as against an approved 40 per cent space. Besides, it also exceeded the set back rule approved for houses.

    Francis Onaekan, another resident, lamented that Mrs. Fadahunsi  failed to listen to all appeals to her, and has remained arrogant, boasting that nobody can stop her from completing the building.

    He explained that perhaps, her arrogance drives from her membership of the Presidential Implementation Committee on the Alienation of Federal Government properties. She is also said to be a retired Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.

     

    Terms of C of O for estate

    The PCRA is worried that certain parts of the certificate of occupancy (C of O) given to residents have been violated with the ongoing construction. For instance, item 10 on the C of O agreement specified that “the allottee shall not be permitted to do or use any part of the land, building or appurtenances thereon which shall be noxious, illegal, noisy or offensive or be of any inconvenience or of annoyance to tenants or occupiers of adjourning premises of any other tenant.”

    Item 11 made it clear that owners will conform to all rules from time to time in regrad to location of building and that of town planning regulations.

    In item 12 of the C of O, an allottee shall not “erect, or build or permit to be erected or build on the said premises any building other than those covenanted  to be erected by virtue of this C of O and not make or permit to be made any alteration or addition to the building plans and specification as approved by the president and any other officer.”

     

    Mrs. Fadahunsi’s position

    When The Nation contacted Mrs. Fadahunsi, she said there was nothing she had to say on the matter. Pressed further and asked if she had approval for the construction, she only managed to control her anger. “You journalists don’t know what you are doing. You like to write any rubbish you like. Look, even if the Nigerian President asks me anything on this matter, I will not answer him. I know the people behind all these and they will fail; I bought my property from the Federal Government and nobody can stop me to do what I want to do with it,” she said.

    Asked if she has approval for such structure in the Crescent, her response was not different. “Look, why don’t you go and ask those that sold the property to me if they gave me approval or not. It is Federal Government’s property and (there is) nothing (the) Lagos State can do in this matter. Nobody can stop me,” she boasted.

     

    Legal opinion

    This reporter sought the opinion of legal experts on the matter, especially since it is a Federal Government estate. A lawyer, Mr. Anjola Abegunde, explained that Mrs. Fadahunsi’s claims that Lagos State could not do anything in the matter could not be defended. He explained that based on the Land Use Act, the control of land, approval and anything that has to do with with same, has been vested in the Chief Executive Officer of the  state. Therefore, he  said the Lagos State government needed to give approval to the developer.

    He recalled that the inability of the owner of the old Federal Secretariat Complex to make use of the property after buying same from the Federal Government was because the Lagos State government  refused to give the requisite approval to commence work on the property.

     

    LASBCA responds

    In a chat with the General Manager of LASBCA, Dotun Lasoju, he confirmed that the agency has been in talks with the property owner and that there has been correspondences between both parties.

    He said there had been a stop work order on the site, while the owner had been told to reverse the structure to the acceptable and stipulated height size for the area. He said he was sure that there had been a compliance.

    Lasoju’s response was indicative that there was no follow up on the situation given that when this reporter visited the site on Saturday, the workers were working. He however assured that the agency would take decisive steps if there was no compliance.

    “LASBCA has told the woman in question to comply. We have equally told her that if after the new year she does not reverse the building to the acceptable height, then we will have no choice but to demolish it. But the modalities for this I cannot disclose to you for strategic reasons,” Lasoju said.

     

    Is LASBCA weak?

    The PCRA admits that while Lasoju has tried in the matter, it is however surprised that since September, the construction has not stopped, especially given that the owner of the building had the effrontery to break government’s seal. They are surprised that LASBCA, and the  state government, have left her to continue the impunity. This, they claim, sends wrong signal to other law abiding citizens.

    “LASBCA and indeed the state government should know that its integrity is at stake on this matter. Is it when the building is fully completed that they want to act? I hope they are not sending the wrong message to the public,” Olagunju said.

     

    Security risk / privacy invasion

    The association is worried that their privacy is now being compromised owing to the height of the building which makes it possible for easy view of other homes when standing in the building. Besides, residents complained that they are  recording cases of theft which never used to be. They claim that in one of the theft incidents, the suspect was traced to the uncompleted building.

    For now, while the community waits on the state government to act, they claim that they are considering other options to ensure that the impunity is reversed.

  • Killing the new pension law

    Killing the new pension law

    PenCom must come up with solution to non-remittance of funds

    If we had thought that the country was rid of the virus of corporate and institutional indiscipline which marred the old pension scheme with the coming of the Contributory Pension Scheme a little over 10 years ago, latest developments in the sector would seem to suggest that the virus has merely mutated. Proof of that is the widespread report of non-remittance of deductions of workers’ pension dues by employers, both in the private and public sectors.

    By the provisions of the Pension Reform Act, 2004, employers were mandated to deduct 7.5 per cent of workers’ monthly emolument and augment with same amount to make a total of 15 per cent to be transferred to the Retirement Savings Account (RSA) with the Pension Funds Administrator (PFA) of the workers’ choice. This law was later amended and replaced with the Pension Reform Act, 2014 to reflect the trends in the economy.

    The new law hikes the contributions of the employee and employers to eight per cent and 10 per cent, respectively, putting the total contribution at 18 per cent instead of the previous 15 per cent. The expectation is that with the funds thus pooled and invested in the RSA, workers could then look forward to a blissful life in retirement. The story now is that this provision is being observed in the breach by many employers.

    To start with, only an individual unfamiliar with the pains and sufferings of the former pension scheme with its so-called defined benefits would not recoil at the prospects of a relapse into that terrible era under which employers and employees assumed that funds would be available at the workers’ point of exit  –  only to find that it was a mirage. Whereas corruption, fiscal indiscipline and an inept bureaucracy conspired to make nonsense of that old pension scheme, the fact that the scheme was technically unfunded would appear to have rendered it simply unsustainable. Nigerians would recall the regime of endless verifications, humiliation and sometimes deaths of many senior citizens on pension queues among the vestiges of that dark era.

    The new scheme had sought to remedy those defects through contributions from employers and employees alike. The idea being that the deducted funds would be invested for the future benefit of the worker. That the funds, for which at least nominal deductions have been made, are not remitted to the PFAs obviously represent a direct throwback to that old era of throwing retirees to the hounds. The development should alarm not just the workers but the various industrial unions as well.

    We understand that some of the problems are linked to the current crisis in the economy. After all, it is a notorious fact that some 27 state governments are in different states of arrears of their workers’ salaries. The private sector is probably worse, with a good number forced to shed their workforce, unable to pay severance packages to disengaged staff several months after. So, left to make a choice between salaries and pension obligations in the atmosphere of limited funds, most workers would readily settle for their wages. Of course, it is a Catch-22 situation: an uneasy trade-off between current welfare provision and future rest of mind. It is an unfortunate situation to be in.

    Much as we sympathise with employers, the point remains that the remittance is not only mandatory; a breach is actually a crime punishable by law. Oftentimes, the problem with some employers is their inclination to treat the issue of pensions as least in their pecking order of priority. A ready proof of that is the huge pension liabilities currently threatening the scheme. To allow the trend to continue would inevitably lead to the collapse of the scheme. The National Pension Commission (PenCom) should come up with a strategy to address the problem. One way to go is for it to come up with a directory on the current status of those signed on to the scheme. To the extent that such a directory would put offending employers on the spot, it would no doubt minimise incidences of default. Over all, the objective is to get the employers to clear the huge backlog.

     

  • KEMI LEWIS – I abandoned law for natural hair care

    KEMI LEWIS – I abandoned law for natural hair care

    Kemi Lewis is the CEO of KLs Natural, an outfit that specialises in natural hair growth products and services for women. Interestingly, her first love was law and she had big dreams after graduation. Unfortunately, those dreams crumbled when she combed everywhere for a job but didn’t find one. In this interview with YETUNDE OLADEINDE, she recounts how she found an alternative career and how it has made life more fulfilling for her.

    What motivated the creation of KLs Naturals?

    KL’s Naturals was created in 2013. A combination of factors and play of circumstances led to its creation. I had recently moved back to the country and was trying to find my feet work wise. As a lawyer, I had tried to find work but for some reason no matter how many interviews I had gone to, it didn’t seem to be happening. I also had a desire to start my own business which seemed to burn brighter with each passing day. Around this time, a friend of mine had just started her own business, so I went to visit in order to bounce ideas off her and also to get some sort of motivation and direction. After telling her my ideas and sharing my frustration of not finding any salons that could cater to my natural hair, she said to me, ‘Kemi, why don’t you open a natural hair salon? You have natural hair, you’ve always known how to style hair and you would instinctively know what to do.’

    It was a lightbulb moment for me. I went home and started to write out a plan of what I would do – the more I wrote, the more excited I became, so I knew I was on to something.

    This was in March of 2013. By August of the same year, we had opened up our Dolphin Salon.

    What were the initial challenges?

    Initial challenges were finding staff members that bought into my vision of a purely natural hair salon; getting the word out about what we were doing and power supply.

    How did you overcome these challenges?

    Reinforcing to my staff the reasons why my vision would not change or bend to accommodate them. In order to get the word out about our work I would style my hair and go to supermarkets or the mall armed with flyers – I would give them to anyone who approached me to admire my hair or any lady with natural hair I saw. People started to hear about us and also our clients always strongly referred us – lending a strong stamp of authenticity to the quality of our work.

    As an SME, is it easy sourcing fund?

    Luckily, I was able to start my business with what was left of my savings. I also had to cash in my life insurance policy to have extra cash. In recent times I have had cause to go to my bank to talk to them about what available funding there is for SMEs as we have started to think about expansion and it was not an encouraging conversation.

    Is there anything you would like government to do to improve the economy?

    Articulating that now seems almost futile seeing as the country is broke and we are where we are due to the lack of timely and effective decisions. However, I would say a diversification of the revenue base of the country would be a good starting point.

    There are so many ways we could earn forex, and further develop the economy; agriculture and solid minerals readily come to mind. As individuals, we know and understand that the way to building wealth is in having multiple streams of income. So as a country, it’s heartbreaking that the keys to unlock all these doors to various income streams are staring us in the face but the government seems unwilling to take the decisive steps in moving us in the direction of economic independence.

    If you had to advise young entrepreneurs, what would you tell them?

    Be focused. Be deliberate. Be intentional. Work your skill till you are perfect. Work harder than any staff you have. If you’re acting as ‘oga’ and strolling in at noon every day, no one is going to take you or your business seriously.

    Personnel is always an issue for many, what is your experience?

    My experience has been interesting, to say the least. I have found that finding people with a good attitude and making sure you are constantly training and developing personnel, makes a world of difference.

    Let’s talk about some of your role models and mentors

    Definitely, Tara Fela Durotoye. I love what she has done and how she has defined herself and set herself apart within the beauty industry. I deeply admire Mrs. Ibukun Awosika and hearing her talk about how she has come this far, her perseverance, foresight and unwavering faith in God encourage and totally inspire me.

    What gives you inspiration?

    My desire to work out every seed God has put in me is what gives me inspiration. I want to walk in my purpose and work my purpose till I become all I was made to be.

    What were you doing before this?

    Believe it or not I am a lawyer. Called to the bar in January 2001, got my masters in international business transactions in 2004, got qualified as a chartered secretary in 2007 and worked as a company secretary for five years.

    What other things occupy your time?

    My business occupies my time mostly. There is so much that I want to achieve and create. When I’m not doing that, I love to read and listen to music.

    How would you assess the performance of SMEs in the country today?

    SMEs in any country play a crucial role in their economy in terms of their contribution to employment, wealth creation and poverty reduction. However, the peculiar Nigerian economy especially in recent times has seen SMEs unable to rise up and play this important role. High interest rates mean they are unable to access funds; poor infrastructure means they become mini local governments, spending more and more funds on overheads; an economic over dependence on the oil sector means there is a lack (or epileptic supply of) raw materials and a declining education system means the quality of employable personnel is on a rapid decline.

  • Review this pension law please!

    SIR: Some unemployed Nigerian youths like me who lost their jobs some years ago need to have access to their full pensions since the economy is in recession. This would enable us revive and resuscitate our private business in the midst of this recession. After working about three years in an organization, I have about one million naira (N1m) in my pension account yet I cannot have significant access to it until I am 50. I was disengaged about seven years ago at the age of 30 before our office was liquidated. Now am 37 years old, my private business is in comatose and need revival.  Where do I source significant funds to do such? My pregnant wife and two kids have relocated to the village this term. Today, I have eaten my last meal not knowing when 25 per cent of the pension would be released to me or where my next meal would come from. Yet the capitalists in the pension industry are trading with my money, enjoying its dividends, sending their children to the best schools while I starve, and my pregnant wife with 2 kids are now in the village.

    With no money/job for even my healthcare, how sure am I to live up to 50 years? The Nigeria pension law seems archaic and outdated for the present day Nigerian youths. I appeal to President Buhari for an urgent repeal of Nigeria Pension Law so Nigerian youths would have 100 per cent access to their pension upon disengagement. The reason we voted for President Buhari is ‘CHANGE’.

    The current pension law allows next of kin to withdraw the fund upon death whereas a beneficiary like me without a job/means of livelihood/healthcare/starvation/comatose business is as good as ‘dead’.  I am a son of a late palm-fruit cutter and was neither born into a royal/wealthy family nor with a silver spoon.

     

    • Onuoha Samuel,

    onuohasamuel@gmail.com.

  • Body of senior advocates want Bar, Bench to confess their sins

    A senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Mr Gbenga Awomolo  has called on the Bar and the Bench to humble themselves.

    Awomolo spoke on behalf of the  body of the senior advocates of Nigeria at the 2016/2017 new legal year in Abuja on Tuesday.

    According to him, this is not the time for blame games but a time for humble reflection.

    “This is the time to humble ourselves and confess our sins and turn to the Lord for forgiveness.

    “This is the time to plead with those senior advocates who claimed that they know those who are corrupt.

    “They should name them, our judges should play above ‘god ‘ in their decisions for allegations of corruption are so severe,

    “How can we clear the bar and the bench from this mess that  have brought  it so low before the eyes of the public.

    Earlier, Mr Abubakar Malami,(SAN), the Attorney General of the Federation, promised that the executive would bring to the courts cases of cogent nature and of substance.

    He said every citizen in the FCT should be given court services irrespective of religion or tribe and that the judiciary should place value in the discharge of their duties.

    Also, FCT Chief Judge, Justice Ishaq Bello, admitted that the judiciary was going through a trying time and they FCT judiciary was trying to be seen as an exemplary one.

    “These are indeed trying times for the judiciary of this country. I am bold to say that the judiciary is determined to eradicate corruption within its fold and it seeks the support of relevant agencies,

    “However this should be within legal limits and in line with laid down rules and procedure “he said (NAN)

  • Judges’ arrest: ‘DSS fully complied with the law’

    Judges’ arrest: ‘DSS fully complied with the law’

    The arrest of two Supreme Court Justices and others last week by the Department of State Services (DSS) complied with the law, a top government source said yesterday.

    According the source, after a high level legal review of DSS’ actions, it was found that the agency acted in accordance with the extant laws and in line with its policing powers.

    The report followed a critical examination of the extant laws with regards to raids, sting operations, issuance of search warrants, arrests and the provisions of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) 2015 and the powers of the National Judicial Council (NJC), among others.

    After the review, it was found that “the actions of the DSS in the arrest and search of the premises of judges and justices can be placed firmly within the ambit of the law, sentimental and emotional considerations notwithstanding.”

    The team of legal experts, the source said, concluded that Nigeria is not the first country to investigate and prosecute judges suspected of committing crime.

    “The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States of America (a body similar to DSS) has at various times, prominently in January 2013, May 2014, and November 2015 arrested a number of judges for bribery, corruption and other similar offences; subjected the Judges to trial at the end of which the convicted judges were imprisoned. Nearer to home, neighbours like Ghana and Kenya had also cleansed their respective judiciaries through investigation and prosecution of Judges suspected of commission of corruption,” the team said.

    The source, a member of the team, said while a particular federal judge had alleged that he complied at gunpoint, the judge was not arrested until his lawyer came on the scene on his request and affirmed that the search warrants were in order.

    Besides, the source added that while some of the judges in their statements said the foreign currencies found on them were from their unspent estacode, a claim said to be untenable considering the sums of money involved, another judge was said to have explained the huge sums of money away as proceeds of his rice selling business.

    According to the source, it was discovered that the DSS followed sections 148 of the ACJA, which states: “A search warrant may be issued and executed at any time on any day, including a Sunday and public holiday.

    Section 149 (1) (2) ACJA states: “Where any building or other thing or place liable to search is closed, a person residing in or being in charge of the building, thing or place shall, on demand of the police officer or other person executing the search warrant, allow him free and unhindered access to it and afford all reasonable facilities for its search.

    “Where access into the building, thing or place cannot be so obtained, the police officer or other person executing the search warrant may proceed in the manner prescribed by sections 9, 10, 12 and 13 of this Act.”

    The provisions, said the source, are similar to sections 7 and 112 of the Criminal Procedure Law and followed by the DSS.

    “By section 111 of the Criminal Procedure Law, a search warrant may be issued and executed on any day including a Sunday or public holiday. It shall however be executed between the hours of five (5) o’clock in the forenoon and eight (8) o’clock at night but the court may, in its discretion, authorise by the warrant the execution of the warrant at any hour.

    “Where the court authorises the execution of a search warrant at any hour other than between the hours of 5 o’clock in the forenoon and 8 o’clock at night, such authorisation may be contained in the warrant at the time of issue or may be endorsed thereon by any magistrate at any time thereafter prior to its execution.”

    On who can execute search and arrest warrants, the source said section 4 of the Police Act 1967, which outlines the general duties of the Police to include “the prevention and detection of crime, the apprehension of offenders,” did not preclude other agencies.

    “Whereas Section 2 of the Police Act defines a Police Officer as ‘any member of the Force,’ the ACJA defines a police officer to include ‘any member of the Nigeria Police established by the Police Act or where the context so admits, shall include any officer of any law enforcement agency established by an Act of the National Assembly.’

    “The bone of contention in the public discourse hinge on whether the DSS has the power to undertake the operations it undertook in relation to the arrested judges/justices. To determine whether the action of the DSS was intra or ultra-vires, it is important to consider the mandate of the DSS as enshrined under the law.

    “By section 2 (3) of the National Security Agencies Act 1986, Cap. 278 LFN 1990, the State Security Service is charged with responsibility for: (a) the prevention and detection within Nigeria of any crime against the internal security of Nigeria; (b) the protection and preservation of all non-military classified matters concerning the internal security of Nigeria; and (c) such other responsibilities affecting internal security within Nigeria as the National Assembly or the President, as the case may be, may deem necessary.”

    The source said the experts found that “in the discharge of their responsibilities as they relate to searches and arrests, staff of DSS are conferred with the powers of Superior Police Officers.”

    According to the source, it was also found that in the conduct of searches and arrests, staff of DSS are conferred with the powers of Superior Police Officers, as reference to police officers in any law in Nigeria, in relation to searches and arrests, also refers to DSS staff.

    On who should issue a warrant of arrest, the source said it was found that by ection 36 (1) (c) ACJA, a warrant of arrest is issued by a Judge or a Magistrate on any day.

    The team of experts said the judges, unlike governors, were not conferred with immunity from arrest, adding that the National Judicial Council (NJC) “is not a court or a law enforcement agency.”

  • Law and disorder

    Law and disorder

    Something new always comes out of Nigeria. For a country that has turned ethical brinksmanship and flirtation with suicide into higher art, the current mass arrest and detention of judges from the uppermost echelons of the judiciary must be all in a day’s work. But the international world is aghast.  There is no comparative experience in the history of the civilized world.

    How can things turn to this sorry and sad pass in a country that has produced some of the most prodigiously endowed lawyers of the past century, a country that often farms out its judicial excellence to other countries? Where else in the world are judges, including Supreme Court justices, subjected to this kind of public humiliation and opprobrium?  Is this the country of Sapara-Williams and that long line of legal avatars stretching back to the mid-nineteenth century?

    Often, the international community sees farther than the local community. It sees what we don’t see and knows what we don’t know. It knows when a country is on the brink of anomie and when it has crossed the threshold of legal and judicial sanity and radical anarchy beckons. Like a wise elder, it knows how and where the tree would fall and the earth shaking nature of the impact when youths are engaged in tree-felling.

    But let us get legal niceties out of the way. The nocturnal visitation to the sacred domains of their Lordships may be regrettable but so far there has been no legal authority to challenge the powers of the DSS to arrest anybody threatening or undermining national security in all its ramifications. The interpretation of these ramifications, be it political sabotage, economic adversity, spiritual aggression, armed intimidation and even judicial terrorism in aid of the electoral subversion of the will of the nation as expressed by the electorate, is the sole responsibility of the security agencies.

    To be sure, it could not have been the intendment of the framers of the constitution that the law would one day go after its most sacred protectors in such a shabby manner. Nobody could have imagined a situation in which state functionaries would hurl top judges and lawyers into detention on the suspicion of engaging in manifest and manifold acts of illegality bordering on state subversion.

    If the international community is alarmed by the state assault on the judiciary, many Nigerians are also traumatized by the astonishing revelations and the scale of judicial sleaze. Many citizens are horrified by the outlandish nature of judicial thievery and the in your face nature of the acquisitions. No constitution could have foreseen this judicial obscenity from the leading lights of the bench. By aiding the law to abet social disorder, our lordships have thrown up an intriguing dimension of social justice as part of the National Question. This is institutional suicide by any other name.

    But since it is merely an accessory after the notorious fact, the judiciary will not go down alone. In every human society, the ruling law is the law of the ruling class. The law is expected to uphold and valorize social order as seen and as conceptualized by the ruling class for the benefit of the entire society. But when and where the law and its enforcing agents act in a way that undermines and subverts social order, it is an invitation to social anomie  which often compels a drastic retribution from forces acting—or thinking they are acting—on behalf of the old status quo.

    Like gluttonous rodents set upon a sugarcane plantation, the Nigerian judiciary is too far gone to save or redeem itself through internal reform. In the past thirty years or so, every attempt to reform the judiciary either through external intervention or internal purge has been spurned or treated with abrasive contempt or met with outright stonewalling.

    The confrontation with Buhari’s Law and Order administration is inevitable. For law to thrive there must be order. For order to be sustained there must be law. It may well turn out that by stepping in with force and drama, the Buhari government may yet save the Nigerian judiciary from itself or from more ruinous consequences.

    The law loses its badge of authority and force of legitimacy when nobody believes in it, when the public holds every judicial pronouncement in contempt and when its leading lights are subject of public ridicule and open disdain. It will take radical surgery within the context of revolutionary stirring in the society to redeem both legal system and public order.

    But in a situation where essentially conservative social forces are locked in contention, it may be naïve and simplistic to expect a radical emancipation of the nation from the clutches of a medieval social order as the immediate outcome. Despite his heroic probity and open abhorrence for injustice, there is no evidence that General Buhari fancies a structured and programmatic approach to the crisis of the Nigerian state and its judiciary.

    Indeed it may well be that what is playing out is a convergence of private animosity and public misgiving. General Buhari himself has been a serial victim of judicial delinquency and is known to have the memory of an elephant. If his private anger and indignation are allowed to shape public developments, if his personal sentiments and preferences are allowed to determine the fate of the judiciary, the outcome may not be as altruistic and patriotic as one might be led to expect.

    Having learnt to lower one’s sights about the ideological and political direction of the Buhari administration, having learnt not to raise the bar of hope higher than the limits and limitations of its principal actors, perhaps the most scientific way to look at the judicial palaver is to see it as the dialectical interplay of hostile and antagonistic forces which may result in the mutual ruination of contending forces. The judiciary cannot hope to win this, but neither will anybody trying to rework the nation away from the modernist template of a true nation-state.

    As usual with a country at the mercy of bitterly centrifugal forces, Nigerians have been split down the line over this one as well. Class, ethnic and regional solidarities have rent the elite asunder while the masses are braying for blood. Where you expect solidarity along the lines of superior national interest, you have what can only be described as competing tribalismsor the ethnicizationof equity with justice viewed from the prism of primordial interest.

    For example, those who watched quietly when top judges were receiving humongous gratification for perverting the course of justice and for delivering judgement in conflict with common sense are now charging the government with highhandedness and a descent into tyranny; those who kept quiet when Jonathan stoutly and stubbornly refused to reinstate Justice Ayo Salami based on the recommendation of the NJC have now found their voice, screaming from the rooftop that General Buhari has turned the nation into a Banana Republic.Some banana indeed.

    What can one say about a country in which the political elite find it difficult to unite behind a common cause or coalesce behind a pan-Nigerian conception of justice based on equity and fair play for all? What does the future portend for such a country with an irredeemably fractured ruling class?

    The Nigerian judiciary has had it coming for a long time. Something was bound to give eventually. Like an old nemesis, it has taken the return of General Buhari to earn it divine retribution. But by a tragic irony, the unravelling of the law may also trigger the second comeuppance of the man from Daura himself, if the counter-accusations coming from the judicial council are to be believed. History is a cruel task master indeed.

    At the end of Buhari’s first tenure, the Nigerian political class was so bitterly divided and so badly polarized by what appeared to be the lopsided nature of justice meted out to the political offenders of the Second Republic and what was widely considered to be the religious, regional and primordial prejudices of the Buhari administration that a section of the political elite were openly mooting the idea of secession. Two civil war heroes from the west gave interviews where they canvassed a con-federal arrangement for the federation.

    After Buhari’s ouster, his successor and former Chief of Army Staff, Ibrahim Babangida, was forced to shop for willing and compliant judges to reverse most of the draconian convictions of the military tribunals in order to placate some sections of the political class. It was from that moment on that majoritysectors of the judiciary became willing tools of the executive as long as the price is right.

    Thirty years after his dethronement, Buhari has come back to confront the Aegean stable with the same contradictions and his own personal failings obviously in place. The nation is back to unfinished business. If General Buhari continues to leave his political flanks exposed just as he did the first time around, if an important segment of the political class feels badly bruised and alienated by the looming confrontation, if he is unable to summon the Nigerian masses to his ensign, the outcome may not be different.

    General Buhari should count himself lucky. It is very rare and unusual for history to set the same exam for the same historical personage thirty years apart and in seemingly dissimilar circumstances. If he flunks it this time around, it is all but certain that neither the general nor the country will have a third chance doing the same thing and repeating the same error all over again. Nigeria is suffering from failure fatigue. That is the surest symptom of social disorder.