The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Moving forward

  • Moving forward on digital switchover

    The digital switchover has become a global obsession and most modern state systems are anxious to embrace the option. Nigeria, not surprisingly, from early on, sought to optimally exploit the potentials of the digital switchover. However, until recently, its policy response has been uneven and frequently, a mixture of inertia and sudden bursts of change. Under President Muhammadu Buhari, the switchover policy appears to have enjoyed more clarity and stable patronage. This is a useful departure. It is also ideologically fitting. A proper digital deployment is consistent with Buhari‘s resolution to diversify the economy and create more jobs. It is widely recognized that a complete digital switchover such as Nigeria contemplates, is bound to have a decisive impact on the Nigerian economy.

    A digital switchover will make Nigeria the largest digital television market in Africa, and will also give an incredible leverage to film, music and drama productions. What Nigeria has on her hands in prospect, is a cultural explosion of revolutionary proportions.  And yet, this project, has until lately, continued to suffer from fecklessness. A deadline announced by the International Telecommunications Union, ITU for compliance with the digital switchover, was famously flouted by Nigeria. However we were in excellent company as several countries, many of them with excellent pedigree, also missed the deadline. At the end of the nine year switchover deadline, Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Rwanda had complied. Nigeria fell short!

    Funding has been a longstanding demon, and has often threatened to rubbish even the most illustrious of our national initiatives. The digital switchover project commenced in October 2008 with the launching of the Presidential Advisory Committee on the Transition from Analogue To Digital Broadcasting. But after presenting a report in June 2008, nothing was heard from the panel again, until 2012 when the federal government issued a white paper on the report. Government had earlier hinted at June 17, 2012 being the switchover deadline. This did not work nor did the ITU- sanctioned date of June 2015. However the first real push began with the inauguration of a 14-man panel headed by Engineer Edward Amana. Working with the National Broadcasting Corporation, there is now a new resolve to realize the digital switchover.

    In this new era of dynamism, considerable progress appears to have been made and the NBC is charging forward. It is good to know that the digital switchover has been launched in Abuja and also in the Jos area. Popular expectation is that phase by phase, the entire nation will ultimately be covered. An important element of this process is also the nomination of signal distributors. The understanding of the public is that one distributor emerged from the NTA with whom it has a historical association, while the other has emerged from a diligent bidding exercise. This has kicked up a bit of dust within and outside the National Broadcasting Commission. This should be expected, given the continental and corporate jealousies produced by the competition for digital patronage.

    There is already a growing concern that Nigerian airwaves are being increasingly dominated by expatriate entities. The inclusion of Pinnacle Communication as one of the signal distributors should reduce the anxieties of those who hanker after increased Nigerian participation in our economic life. But this should not produce needless sentimentality or a tolerance for non-optimal performance. It is therefore good that Pinnacle has rolled out in Abuja, Kaduna, Gombe and has deployed transmitters and equipment in 12 sites across the federation.

    We live now in a more liberal environment in which national economies encourage the indulgent presence of foreign entities and assets. But not so long ago, the governing orthodoxy was that Nigeria needed to control the commanding heights of the nation’s economy. This was the rallying cry behind General Gowon’s indigenisation decree of 1972. This put corporate discretion dominantly in the hands of indigenous Nigerians in the management of enterprises. This changed the face of corporate Nigeria significantly and placed control in Nigerian hands.

    We are not going back to the barricades to fight off expatriate domination but we require to be on our guard. And one of our endangered frontiers is the broadcast environment which now seems to be threatened by an armada of foreign programmes and foreign entities. We do not plead an indulgence of mediocrity or a reduction in standards. But it is becoming obvious that the Nigerian assertiveness in the digital switchover project is beginning to challenge the comfort of the expatriate lobby. They should be told to get off and seek solace elsewhere. The digital switchover is a huge project and contains even huger prospects for changing the national economy and creating employment. We have already lost enough time. Let us maintain a steady gaze now and follow the project to the end.

  • Sean Tizzle drops “Moving Forward” EP

    Sean Tizzle drops “Moving Forward” EP

    Last Friday, Nigerian singer Sean Tizzle finally released his much anticipated EP, ‘Moving Forward’.
    The extended play is a seven-tracker which contains guest appearances by Davido, Iceberg Slim and Dax Mpire.
    Before its release, a single, ‘Thank You’, was dropped off the ‘Moving Forward’ EP. It was accepted massively, as fans of the artiste have waited for months while he was off the music radar.
    However, the ‘S’ole’ crooner’s come-back single ‘Hit and Run’ which featured Canadian singer Tory Lanez was not included in the EP.

  • ‘I’m moving forward’

    ‘I’m moving forward’

    The remains of Bishop Fred Louis Menkiti, who owned Radiance Schools Group, have been buried in his Onitsha, Anambra State country home. NNEKA NWANERI was there. 

    Mrs Ify Menkiti plucked a fresh red rose from a bouquet as the procession moved to her husband’s final resting place. With her head bowed, she held on to the rose deep in thought. With her were her five sons, who bore their father’s remains.

    It was the funeral of her husband of 51 years, Bishop Fred Louis Menkiti, who died on May 29. He was 85.

    Bishop Menkiti’s body was in a white casket. His sons lowered the casket into the grave, performed the dust-to-dust rite and their mother tossed in the rose.

    Mrs Menkiti reeled backwards, with her sons supporting her as she turned around and made for the house. She controlled herself throughout three-hour funeral service, though her eyes were damp.

    The story of the life of the late Bishop Menkiti owned Radiance Schools Group, were relived.

    Many eulogised him at his funeral last Friday in his Onitsha, Anambra State hometown.

    The service of songs and wake held in Lagos the previous week.

    He was laid in state in a room in his Onitsha home where many filed round his body to pay their last respects.

    Even in death, the late Bishop Menkiti looked good. He was in a suit, tie and pair of glasses. Some cried; others folded their arms and shook their heads.

    Four tents were erected in the compound. The wife and sons sat around his remains. Her daughters-in-law sat with them in uniformed white native attires, with purple headgears and beaded ear and neck accessories.

    The choir led guests in singing solemn hymns.

    The late Menkiti’s third son, Oge, took the first Bible reading from Thessalonians 4:13-18.

    The Overseer of Region V of the Mountain of Fire and Miracles (MFM), Pastor Lanre Adekunle, urged guests to learn from daily happenings. He said though he never met the late Bishop Menkiti, he was touched by stories of his good deeds.

    He prayed for the bereaved family, urging them to continue with their father’s legacy.

    The MFM choir rendered two special songs before the first son, Chris, spoke of his father.

    Chris said: “He was very athletic in his younger days and that explained why he was fit, even in his old age. After he graduated from the University of Ibadan (UI) in 1963, he married my mother and they began life in a room apartment where I (Chris) was born.

    “He was chairman of many companies including the Nigerian Paper Mill, West African Distillers Ltd, Tafawa Balewa Management Committee and also ANAMCO, Nigerian assemblers of Mercedes vehicles.

    “As an educationist, he had a vision to teach children core values so with the experience my dad had as an administrator and my mum as a teacher, they used their savings to set up Radiance Schools 25 years ago.

    “His catch phrase was – I am moving forward. So let’s thank God for his life and let’s carry on.”

     

  • Kogi at 22: Moving forward

    At last, Kogi, a state blessed with agricultural, mining, industry and tourism potentials, yet rated among the poorest in the country, is on the verge of getting it right as an investors’ haven. Created August 27, 1991, Kogi is ranked 13th most populated in Nigeria. The state is richly endowed in natural and human resources and has the potentials of the food basket of the nation and also a tourist destination. According to a report published by the Federal Ministry of Mines and Steel Development in 2009, Nigeria has commercial deposits of a total of 37 minerals, up from 33 minerals in 2008.

    Kogi State has deposits of a total of 29 mineral resources available in commercial quantities. These include coal, dolomite, feldspar, bauxite, iron ore, tar, limestone, gold, tantalite etc. Each of the 21 councils in the state is said to have deposits of at least two minerals. The Okaba district of Ankpa Local Council alone holds reserves of 99 million tones of coal.

    The report states that Kogi State has enough deposits of coal to supply all of Nigeria with electricity for 400 years. Its limestone deposit would keep three giant-sized cement factories (with over 15m tons annual capacity) operational for an unbroken stretch of 99 years.

    The state capital, Lokoja hosts historical relics and geographical monuments, notably the museum of old European commercial activities and the confluence of River Niger and River Benue.

    Despite the amazing depth of human and mineral resource and tourism endowment, Kogi State had, over the years, placed last in all Nigeria’s social and economic indices.

    Determined to rewrite Kogi’s story, Governor Idris Wada, on assumption of office in January, 2012, raised a think-tank comprising illustrious sons and daughters of the state, to prepare a development blueprint for his government. While it has been tough adhering to the spirit and letter of the blueprint in the face of challenges, suffice it to say the administration is not too far away from the blueprint.

    Undaunted by the several months of election related litigations, Wada traversed Nigeria and foreign countries, while his deputy, Yomi Awoniyi ran errands on the domestic scene. Eighteen months in the saddle, there are sufficient signals to suggest that Wada has made haste slowly as the seeds of the benefits of his silent trips overseas and outside the shores of the state are beginning to germinate. Kogi is presently undergoing an agricultural and industrial transformation made possible through the influx of foreign investors. The result is that, Kogi now plays the role of a catalyst, culminating into the signing of about 12 memoranda of understanding running into billions of Naira.

    The attraction of foreign partners into the state’s economy is driven by the political will of Capt Wada to create an enabling environment for business to thrive. Leading the pack is a consortium of investors from Saudi Arabia, including the Alkatani Group, a Saudi family business with 73 years experiences in oil and gas, steel plant development and pipeline, led by its Vice Chairman, Sheik Sallah Alkatani.

    The partnership seeks dual advantage in terms of direct and indirect employment and to ensure that the lean funds accruing to the state from the federation account are channelled for other developmental purposes. The investors on their part are guaranteed healthy returns on their investments.

    In all of the MoUs signed by the state government, what it has done is to capitalize its land and its content in a “use it or loose it basis” under which the state is allotted a percentage of equity. Aside incentives as tax holidays, access to land with necessary titles, the state also facilitates exploration of minerals through the necessary federal agencies as support to investors.

    The creation of an Investment Promotion Desk by the state government, a one-stop shop for information and detailed discussions, serves as an investment maternity ward for the safe delivery of investment projects in the state.

    Towards ensuring the development of the state’s agriculture and industrial sector, the Wada-led administration, entered into partnership with Ostertrade Engineering and Manufacturing and DPP International APS to develop 6000 hectares of cassava farm and to process it to native and modified cassava starch. The project has an equity investment of US$650 million realisable within 18 months by all parties. The project also has a high net worth with a return on investment of 27 per cent and a pay back period of less than four years. It is also capable of generating thousands of employment in the area of its location.

    The partnership with Espera Global Limited in commercial agricultural and agro-industrial investments, which operates on a Project Model called Strategic Fast Tract Agricultural Development System, seeks to invest up to US$650 million on 25,000 hectares of land. Aside the backward integration advantage to the state, the state also enjoys 15 percent share of the project while employment would be created in agriculture infrastructure and social services.

    The Chelsea Group plans to establish agriculture and ethanol plant and other associated Industries in Ilama Community in Dekina Local Government Area. The project is a US$300 million investment. It has an equity structure of 85 percent and 15 percent for the partner and state government respectively and will occupy a land mass of 10,000 hectares.

    Favic Construction Company seeks to exploit the immense location of economic advantage of Kogi State as a transportation hub. On the average, vehicles from 22 states pass through the capital daily.

    A Mechanic and Spare Part Market in Lokoja, is to be sited on a minimum of 10 hectares of land. The facility which will have an international hotel, car park that will take at least 200 vehicles, a bank, Open Court Restaurants, and Rest Rooms is structured on the basis of 75 percent and 25 percent for the investor and the state, respectively.

    Towards providing mass housing scheme, the state entered into a partnership with Light House Financial Services Limited to build 1500 houses of various categories for it citizens to be located in Lokoja; those for other urban towns would be prosecuted in phases.

    The importance of power in driving socio-economic development of the state made the administration to sign a MoU with Good Earth Power Nig. Ltd and Astra Coal Nig. Ltd. The companies aside investing in housing, agriculture, infrastructure and power plants, would utilize the abundant coal deposits to generate the much needed electricity for the country.

    Astra Agriculture Resources Ltd intends to establish a rice farm and mill at Ibaji. Infrastructures such as health centres, schools, roads, water and electricity would be provided by the investor as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility.

    Through the Kogi investment and properties Limited, a joint agreement with Kiabo Engineering Group Holding Limited of Hong Kong to Design, Construct and Operate an -storey hotel and offices to be known as Kogi House is yet another brilliant initiative of the Capt Wada administration. The project which would be located in the central business area of Abuja would see the State enjoy 80 percent equity participation in the venture which spans a period of 30 years.

    With the future of the nation closely tied to agricultural promotion, the state massive investment in agriculture especially in sugar through the establishment of a 50 hectares cane sugar seed nursery, is geared towards enabling the planting of 1000 hectare of sugar cane in about a year, an investment anchored by BUA Sugar, Dangote Sugar and Unikem Sugar companies. The trio, planning to set up sugar plantation and refining facilities in the state, it is hoped, would help form the bulwark for the realization of the National Sugar Master Plan (NSMP).

    Without mincing words, the friendly environment created by the Idris Wada administration, the state’s abundant potentials in agriculture, mining, tourism, human capital development as well as its strategic location is making it to presently undergo an agricultural and industrial revolution.

    *Agbana and Abu are both media aides in the Governor’s Office, Lokoja.