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Tag: national

  • Wema Bank secures national banking licence

    Wema Bank secures national banking licence

    • Capital base hits N43.8b

    Wema Bank Plc has been granted a national banking licence by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to enable the lender deepen its business reach across the country.

    The bank, which before the approval, was operating with regionalbanking authorisation, got the uplift after complying with the CBN’s requirements.

    “The Central Bank of Nigeria has granted a final approval to Wema Bank Plc to convert its banking license from a regional bank to a national bank,” the lender said in a statement released yesterday.

    The bank was in 2010, downscaled to operate only within its core areas of business – Southsouth, Southwest and Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.

    The lender, which operates with a capital base of N43.8 billion has met the regulatory requirements for the national banking license as stipulated by the apex bank. “This historic event has made Wema Bank the first bank to be granted a National Banking License having previously operated with a Regional License,” the statement said.

    The bank’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Segun Oloketuyi, said: “This approval represents a milestone for the bank in the delivery of its Project LEAP commitments. Six years ago, we took a decision to refocus the bank’s operations on its areas of strength and build a sustainable institution.

    “We took advantage of the new licencing regime and applied for a Regional authorisation with a pledge to expand in the near future, once the turnaround project was completed. The bank’s transformation was implemented in three phases; first to stabilise the bank, second to prepare the building blocks for growth and third to go for growth. We are now within the third phase of the transformation project.”

    Oloketuyi  said the new licence has created opportunities to scale up growth, helping the lender to strategically select its business locations across the country with focus on areas where return on investment will be maximized, and shareholders’ value enhanced over the medium to long term.

    “To ensure that this approval is leveraged appropriately, we are already in the process of raising $100 million in Tier 2 capital and would commence a Tier 1 capital raise in the first quarter of 2016. This will further position the bank to pursue its growth strategy. The Bank remains on course in its turnaround programme as evidenced by its robust balance sheet and sustained profitability, which would be maintained through its national authorisation.”

    He expressed gratitude to the bank’s stakeholders, stating that the lender’s transformation project has succeeded largely due to the great support received from customers and shareholders. “Our priority remains delivering delightful and memorable service to our customers,” he said.

  • Urgent need for national logistics policy

    Responding To Global Logistics Trends with a National Logistics Strategy

     

    Logistics and supply chain management play a big role in any economy and are critical contributors to the competitiveness of a country. The demand for products can only be satisfied through the proper and cost-effective delivery of goods and services. Nigeria’s main economic activity is the Agricultural sector and on logistics has had a great effect on costs. In addition, most of the freight in the country is transported by road. Furthermore, for Nigeria to grow its market share of various products in the global market, the supply chains need to be world class to ensure effective delivery of goods. These and other aspects of the logistics environment in Nigeria will be presented and major issues affecting logistics costs will be discussed. In addition, reference is made to the recent World Bank report on logistics competitiveness, and comparisons are made other nations on logistics performance.

    The importance of logistics and supply chain management to a country’s economy has been highlighted time and again in the recent past. A report by the Bureau of Transport Economics of Australia (BTE 2001) states that the performance of the logistics system has a major impact on the Australian economy: “It affects the cost structures and revenues of Australian producers, their competitiveness in areas such as delivery times and product quality, and the responsiveness of producers to consumer requirements.” In addition, Tseng, Yue and Taylor (2005) state that due to the trend of nationalization and globalization in recent decades, the importance of logistics management has been growing in various areas. Similarly, Rodrigue, Comtois and Slack (2006) affirm that an increase in freight flows has been a fundamental component of contemporary changes in economic systems on a global, regional and local scale.

    More recently a World Bank report on logistics performance states that a competitive network of global logistics is the backbone of international trade and the importance of efficient logistics for trade and growth is now widely acknowledged: “Better logistics performance is strongly associated with trade expansion, export diversification, ability to attract foreign direct investments, and economic growth. In other words, trade logistics matter” (World Bank 2010). Similarly, the 6th Annual State of Logistics TM survey for South Africa (CSIR 2010) indicates that the global competitiveness of South Africa is dependent on the performance of the logistics and supply chain sector and that the value that logistics adds to the country should be greater than the costs.

     

    The world’s logistics

    industry is experiencing great changes

     

    Markets: Rapid expansion of international trade in most regions, and particularly in Asia: many supply chains are now truly global

    Expectations: Global competition in product and service markets is driving higher standards and lower costs in logistics supplier markets

    Competition: Despite some industry concentration (eg ports) the freeing of transport markets is creating greater contestability in logistics services and sub-markets

    Technology: All modes of transport are investing to obtain more efficient, usually larger vessels/vehicles and improved traffic dispatching, monitoring and control capability

    Inter-modality: Both standard and specialized containerisation continues to grow, facilitating inter-modal transit and multi-modal allocation of traffic

    Energy: The expectation of perpetually cheap energy is waning due both to declining fossils fuel stocks and expectation of higher energy taxes in response to global warming

    Security: Higher standards of security in freight transport are being sought in all modes, but particularly in international shipping and aviation

    Bottlenecks: Logistics services depend heavily on public infrastructure in roads, railways, ports, airports, shipping channels etc:  capacity increments are not matching world freight volume growth

     

    Why national logistics strategy?

    The industry is of national importance to trade & development

    Logistics and supply chain management play a big role in any economy and is a critical contributor to the competitiveness of a country. The demand for products can only be satisfied through the proper and cost- effective delivery of goods and services. Nigeria’s main economic activity is Oil and Gas and Agriculture and logistics costs impacts heavily of these key industries. In addition, most of the freight in the country is transported by road. Furthermore for Nigeria to grow its market share of various products in the global market, the supply chains need to be world class to ensure effective delivery of goods.

     

    The external impacts are significant

    The World Bank Logistics Performance Indicators LPI summarizes the performance of countries in the following six areas which capture the most important aspects of the current logistics environment:

    o Efficiency of the customs clearance process;

    o Quality of trade and transport-related infrastructure;

    o Ease of arranging competitively priced shipments;

    o Competence and quality of logistics services;

    o Ability to track and trace consignments; and

    o Frequency with which shipments reach the consignee

     

    Domestic Logistics

    Performance Index

    The Domestic LPI looks in detail at the logistics environments in 116 countries.

    • For this measure, surveyed logistics professionals assess the logistics environments in their own countries.

    This domestic evaluation contains more detailed information on:

    • Countries’ logistics environments, processes and institutions
    • Logistics performance time and cost
    • It uses five major determinants of overall logistics performance to evaluate the logistics
    • environment and institutions and to measure logistics performance time and cost:
    • a. Level of fees and charges
    • b. Quality of Infrastructure
    • c. Competence and quality of services
    • d. Efficiency of services
    • e. Sources of mayor delays (timeliness)

     

    International score card

     

    The international score uses six key dimensions to benchmark countries’ performance and also displays the derived overall LPI index. The scorecard allows comparisons with the world on the six indicators and the overall LPI index.

    The logistics performance (LPI) is the weighted average of the country scores on the six key dimensions:

    • 1) Efficiency of the clearance process (i.e., speed, simplicity and predictability of formalities) by border control agencies, including customs;
    • 2) Quality of trade and transport related infrastructure (e.g., ports, railroads, roads, information technology);
    • 3) Ease of arranging competitively priced shipments;
    • 4) Competence and quality of logistics services (e.g., transport operators, customs brokers);
    • 5) Ability to track and trace consignments;

    6) Timeliness of shipments in reaching destination within the scheduled or expected delivery time.

     

    The industry depends on public infrastructure for its success

    Infrastructure is defined as part of a structure; material or economic base of a society or an organisation.  Therefore, infrastructure can be seen as the basic structure that fosters the good performance of cities’, states’ or countries’ essential services.  In this sense, for a country to have a good logistics infrastructure system in the different modes of transportation, constant investments from both public and private sectors are needed.

    Infrastructure is a critical enabler to economic growth. Logistics infrastructure is the backbone on which the nation marches on. Although the urgency to develop Nigeria’s logistics infrastructure has been realized in the past decade, the task at hand is daunting. Nigeria’s logistics infrastructure is insufficient, ill-equipped and ill designed to support the expected growth.

    Organizations, especially in a competitive and globalised world, require infrastructure compatible with their needs and demands, in order to transmit their products and services to different producers and demand centres in different parts of the globe.

     

    Government policy and administration responsibilities are fragmented

    There is need for coordination. We need a Mega Transportation Ministry which has to absorb the aviation ministry. At a time the world is going for integration, we cannot afford to be disorganized. I am also aware that the ministry of transport has been thinking of a National Transport Commission but I think that what we need is a National Logistics Commission. This will give the commission the breath required to look at all the issues beyond transportation alone.

    For our country to continue leading in the 21st Century economy, we need a 21st Century Government.  We need a Government that is lean, efficient, and continuously striving to do more with less, ensuring that every taxpayer dollar is used wisely and to the maximum effect.  And we need a Government that is responsive to the needs of its citizens and businesses, and is willing to embrace the rapid pace of technological innovation underway, ensuring that we remain globally competitive.

    Over the years, the Federal Government has become increasingly complex, as agencies have been assigned new missions and duties in their service to the Nigerian people.  At times, this has resulted in agencies with duplicative and overlapping responsibilities that have wasted taxpayer resources and made it harder for the public to navigate their Government. This Administration has to work hard to reduce duplication and fragmentation challenges over the next four years.

     

    What should National

    Logistics Strategy try to achieve?

    A national logistics strategy must on a general target higher customer service which should include: Customer responsiveness, Geographic coverage, Delivery time and Reliability of delivery time. It should also consider Frequency of delivery, Safety and security of goods, Protection of corporate image and Value-adding services

    In the area of cost, Lower service cost is also a major issue because availability of these infrastructures at unaffordable cost will amount to no impacts. Things to consider include: Transport & storage tariffs, Inventory holding costs, Product damage or deterioration, Pilferage losses, Insurance costs. Other issues that require attention include, Customs and other clearances, Bribes and malicious delays, Social & environmental costs

     

    Logistics strategy should encourage private

    enterprise and competition

    By comparison with transport services, the arguments for either public or private provision of transport infrastructure are less clear-cut. The concerns about the impacts of state – ownership on efficiency also apply to infrastructure. But other issues can arise which may counterbalance these concerns, for example: whereas most transport services can beneficially be made competitive or contestable, much transport infrastructure either has attributes of natural monopoly (such as rail and waterway networks) or, by virtue of locational advantage, creates significant market power for those who control the prime site in some cases, such as roads, it is more difficult to recover infrastructure cost directly from user charges than it is to charge for transport services (though in many cases such as ports, airports, airspace, etc., the infrastructure can be a strong foreign exchange earner); its financial returns are often very longterm and, therefore, risky. These risks are often not attractive to private investors without some public funding or public risk-taking, or government policy guarantees.

    Where transport infrastructure costs are not recovered directly, there are distributive consequences which may be politically significant and transport infrastructure sometimes involves major planning, environmental, safety or social issues, which some governments (rightly or wrongly) believe warrants the level of public control that ownership can provide. In many countries such concerns have reinforced a deeply held perception of transport infrastructure as a part of the public estate which should be provided for the common good, and not as a business for commercial gain. But, whether based on a reasoned policy trade-off or founded on this more intuitive cultural perception, it is the case that the public sector (including national and local government) should own and operate most of the basic transport infrastructure in most parts of the world.

     

    What should be in a national logistics strategy?

    Logistics policy principles

    • Public policy objectives
    • Roles of public and private sectors
    • Roles of markets and of regulations
    • Roles of central and local governments
    • Principles of industry access/licensing

     

    Audit of current performance

    • Benchmarking of service performance
    • Benchmarking of cost performance
    • Benchmarking government functions (for example, customs performance)
    • Research into customer perceptions
    • Problems and bottlenecks

    Legal and regulatory changes

    • New legislation/regulations if necessary
    • Amendments to existing legislation or regulations
    • Changes to administrative structures to implement logistics strategy

    Stakeholder participation process

    • Customers of transport & logistics
    • Private suppliers of logistics services
    • Public infrastructure suppliers
    • Government services suppliers (e.g. customs)
    • Local government authorities
    • Key policy departments

    Public infrastructure framework

    • Finance and management
    • Access rights to public infrastructure
    • Pricing and cost recovery policies
    • Public infra. investment priorities
    • Land-use planning (e.g. for transport corridors or logistics centers)

    Monitoring and review mechanism

    • Measurable objectives
    • Timetable and milestones
    • Clear responsibility and accountability
    • Public transparency and reporting
    • Periodic updating

    Credit is given to World Bank for some of the materials used for this article

    Dr. Madu, a recipient of the 2014 National Productivity Order of Merit Award and CEO, Multimix Academy can be reached via ceo@multimix-academy.com

     

     

  • Secondus to run as PDP national chairman

    Secondus to run as PDP national chairman

    Acting National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Prince Uche Secondus, is being tipped to assume the position in a substantive capacity, sources have disclosed. The controversy that ensued over proposed election of a new national chairman of the party following the resignation of Alhaji Adamu Muazu a few months ago, had forced the party leadership to put the exercise on hold, but fresh facts indicate that Secondus is highly favoured by influential stakeholders of the party to run the affairs of the party ahead the 2019 general elections. But that would however not rule out other interested aspirants in the race from the South-West, South-East and South-South from competing for the seat following the zoning of the party’s 2019 presidential ticket to the North.

  • Girl child education, key to national development

    The Executive Director, Women Protection Organisation (WOPO), Mrs Oluwatoyin Towobola, has called for the education of the girl child, saying, this is crucial to national development.

    Speaking at a programme organised by WOPO in conjunction with Schools Based Management Committee (SBMC), Mrs Towobola said there is need for more sensitisation and enlightenment programmes to educate the public on the need to give priority to girl child education. A nation that neglects the education of the girl child is heading for peril, Towobola warned.

    She called on all to see the education of the girl child as a priority, saying there is need to work more against their violence.

    “Education is very important because when you train a child, you have trained a nation. We also believe that training a child will boost the economy of the nation,” she said.

    While praising governments’ effort at giving the girl child the right to education, Mrs Towobola noted that government alone cannot do it hence the reason for her organisation’s decision to come in to assist.

    “The government is trying but it is obvious that they cannot do it alone; that is why we took it upon ourselves to help. We also call on well-meaning Nigerians to come to our aid in the struggle to give the girl child the right education,” she said.

    Director of Community Engagement Unit Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Mrs Adebodun Dosunmu, said girl child education is not negotiable, adding the girl as the pillar of the society.

    “It is the girl that develops into a woman, so there is need for her to be taken care of and given proper education. When this happens she will be able to take care of herself and the society at large,” she said.

    Dosunmu called on the community to take precise actions when any child is abused in their communities and report such case to the appropriate authority.

    The guest speaker, President, Old Students Association Methodist Girls High School Yaba, Mrs Yomi Afolabi, said education is not limited to school work.

    “Education is not limited to school work; it is about what they (girls) can know and what they should know about how to protect themselves against abuse,” she said.

    She blamed the violence and abuse of young girls on parents’s lack of attention to the victims’ plights and partly on the girl for lack of knowledge on how to defend herself.

    “Negligence from the parents is one of the major causes of abuse on the girl; it is also from the girls because they lack the knowledge of what to do in the face of abuse and violence,” she said.

     

  • Why we visited National Assembly, by students

    Why we visited National Assembly, by students

    Members of Students’ Representative Council (SRC) of the Students’ Union Government (SUG) of Adekunle Ajasin University at Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) in Ondo State have gone on two-day excursion to the Federal Capital Territory.

    During the tour, the students visited the National Assembly in Abuja to observe the Senate and the House of Representatives at work.

    The union Speaker, Joseph Akinkuotu, said the aim of the tour was to expose members of the legislative arm to core legislative business to improve their participation in the union. He said the visit was worthwhile, stressing that it would add values to the SRC members’ intellectualism and enhance their activities.

    Recounting his experience, Femi Adewole, a member from English and Literary Studies Department, said the visit was educative. “I learnt things I was ignorant of in the business of legislature. I learnt how the House of Representatives and the Senate are being run,” he said.

    He said the reception at the National Assembly was pleasant, adding: “When we were led into the Green Chamber, the House of Representatives Speaker recognised us before they started plenary session.”

    The students held an interactive session with lawmakers from Ondo State during the tour. Kolawole Folarin, a member from Sociology Department, said the visit broadened his knowledge in legislation. He urged the management to sustain the excursion and ensure members of the SUG go on such trips to enable them become responsible.

    Joseph praised the management for financing the trip, describing it as rare privilege. He said: “We are grateful to the management for this rare privilege bestow on us and also for believing in us. This visit to the National Assembly would create an enabling atmosphere for students to get exposed to the practice of legislature beyond the campus.”

  • Lawmaker seeks selfless leaders to drive national growth

    A member of the House of Representatives, Mike Omogbehin has urged the country’s leaders to be selfless in order to drive national growth.

    Omogbehin, who spoke with reporters in Akure, the Ondo State capital, said what Nigeria needed was selfless leadership.

    According to him, this time calls for a sober reflection and at the same time, a stock-taking to examine where we were in the past and where we are now in order to chart a new course for the future.

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) lawmaker said the development of the nation must be a collective agenda by all and sundry, irrespective of our political inclination and background. He also said Nigerians must continue to put Nigeria ahead of other agenda in our daily activities.

    He said:”It is only through our beliefs and determination to fast-track the

    development of Nigeria that we can achieve a reasonable and even

    development of our dream as a nation; hence the need for all hands to be on deck to build a virile society.”

    Omogbehin praised the ex-Nigerian leaders who had contributed their own

    quota to the development and unity of the nation, especially President Goodluck Jonathan for handing over power freely to the present administration after the last general elections.

    The lawmaker said ex-President Jonathan’s sacrifice in this regard needed to be appreciated at all times and the development also worthy of emulation by the present and future Nigerian leaders for a continued existence of the nation.

    Omogbehin urged Nigerians to always pray for their leaders to lead aright.

    He commended various religious leaders across the country for their fervent prayers for the peace and unity in the country.

     

  • Fed Govt to start publishing yearly National Accounts

    The Federal Government is working on a policy that will dovetail to publishing the nation’s yearly accounts as part of its efforts to fight corruption.

    The Accountant-General of the Federation, Mr Ahmed Idris who spoke in Abuja yesterday said: “To satisfy public awareness, we have made it a point of duty to publish monthly allocation of funds to the three tiers of government from the federation accounts and the OAGF  (Office of the Accountant General of the Federation) is working to make it a deliberate policy to make public, annual national accounts of the country.”

    He said doing this would be in line with the current administration’s philosophy of accountability and transparency.

    Idris spoke when he paid  courtesy visit on the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), yesterday in Abuja.

    To curb corruption, revamp the accounting and reporting of governments’ financial transactions and deepen transparency in the management of public funds, the Federal Government will also adopt International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS) accrual-based accounting standards by January next year.

    IPSAS are a set of accounting standards issued by its Board for use by public sector entities globally for the preparation of financial statements. These standards are based on the dictates of the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).

    By adopting and implementing  IPSAS, Nigeria will join the rest of the world in  the preparation and presentation of accounts for public enterprises.

    Ahmed said the first stage of IPSAS, which is the cash basis of accounting, was already being implemented with success and appealed to the SGF for support to make the IPSAS accrual-based accounting standards policy a success.

    Ahmed told the SGF that he has “vigorously pursued the implementation of the TSA as part of Federal Government’s policy to have a firm grip on the financial position and efficient allocation and utilisation of resources.”

    To determine the level of implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), Idris said a technical support team had been commissioned to carry out diagnostic review of its implementation and performance.

    In his response, the SGF, Mr Babachir Lawal said the Integrated Personnel and Payroll Information System (IPPIS) and the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFIMS) are central to the success of the current administration.

    He said:“We believe that these are the best ways to block leakages in the public sector and ensure that funds are adequately accounted for so that government can have enough to meet its obligations.

    “The government is also concerned about the people in charge of all this, because a system is only as good as its operators. That is why we are watching the accountants in all the MDAs closely.’’

  • ‘Buhari and the national question’

    ‘Buhari and the national question’

    Contemporary history is replete with the rise of men of impeccable integrity and patriotism, who arrived on the scene at the time of greatest need to lift their nations to greatness. In this article, public affairs analyst Gboyega Amoboye takes a look at the antecedents of President Muhammadu Buhari and concludes that he may be the messiah that would resolve the challenges of poverty, unemployment and insecurity.  

    At different times in world history, God has raised credible statesmen to lead their people from despair and hopelessness to prosperity and greatness. We have heard of the “Iron Chancellor”, Otto Von Bismarck, architect of German unity and prosperity, Giuseppe Garibaldi noted for the unification of Italy, Winston Churchill, war time Prime Minister of Britain who mobilised his people to snatch  victory  from Germany in the second world war,  exploits of General Charles De Gaulle of France during the same war and nearer home Nelson Mandela of South Africa who chose to spend 29 years in jail for the freedom of his people from apartheid rule, etc. These are men of impeccable patriotisms and integrity, gifted with the power of oratory to mobilize people for national duty. There is no pretence in their statesmanship as men of virtues and impeccable moral chastity.

    In 1866 Bismarck as the Prussian finance and foreign affairs minister appeared before Prussian Reichstag (parliament) to defend his position for a strong budget for the military during which he made his famous “iron and blood” speech, lifted from the internet that “:…the position of Prussia in Germany will not be determined by its liberalism but by its power…Prussia must concentrate on its strength and hold it for the favourable moment, which has come and already gone several times. Since the treaty of Vienna, our frontiers have been ill for a healthy body politics. Not by through speeches and majority vote’s decision will the great questions of the day be decided. That was the mistakes of 1848 and 1847, but by iron and blood.”By this Bismarck simply means the military must be empowered and iron industries be developed to speed up manufacture of arms and ammunitions in preparation for imminent wars and prosperity.

    While Germany was on the rampage and marching on Britain having over run her greatest ally, France in the Second World War in 1945, Winston Churchill rose to the occasion with his famous “speech  on the beach”, with which he spurred the British army   and citizens to resist the invaders. “… We shall fight on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight in the seas and oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall never surrender…”

    Today, Nigeria is at war — war against insecurity, poverty, corruption, massive youth unemployment, hunger, squalor, greed and avarice by the privileged class. Chief ObafemiAwolowo had warned shortly after the civil war in 1970 that: “we have won the war, yes indeed. But to win the peace, we must recognise the real enemies otherwise; all our efforts would be totally misdirected and dissipated. As far as I can discern, the aggressions against peace and stability in Nigeria are abject poverty, hunger, disease, squalor and ignorance. They are more devastating in their ravages, more thorough, more insidious and more resistant in their operations than any armed rebellion. They are the enemies which must be crushed and crushed ruthlessly” Perhaps, he emphasized,” It is not generally realized that in all history, the root causes of rebellion and violent discontents are the evils which I have enumerated,”

    But, where are the Garibaldi’s, the Winston Churchill’s, the Charles De Gaulle, and the Nelson Mandela’s of Nigeria to take up these challenges?  We have heard of Operation Feed the Nation, Ethical  Revolution and even our today’s food and yesterday’s plate but all in the language of  Shakespeare, were mere “sound and furry, …”- no food, no plate but corruption.  The civil societies have gone bananas and with the labour, “no longer at ease.”

    God is angry in heaven. God is not happy with Nigeria. But the country is fortunate. While God could not find a single righteous man for whose sake He could have saved Sodom And Gomorrah, in Nigeria it appears He has found one in President MuhammaduBuhari for whose sake the country might be saved provided like Lot’s wife,  Buhari does not look back in God’s mission  to redeem the country.

    God can never be wrong; today Nigeria needs a man that is an embodiment of virtues, a “Bonaparte” in Buhari who has since pronounced his mission statement which is- “to move Nigeria forward to become a strong, strategic and pro-active state through a deliberate, pragmatic and productivity conscious programme of action. We want to rebuild Nigeria into a competitive, virile, strong and productive economy, a state whose citizens are creative, innovative, responsive, accountable, incorruptible, patriotic and diligent.”Hitting the ground running, the President has in he past three months been proving that for Nigerians to enjoy the fruits of our God given land, it shall no longer be business as usual. “All dead bones have started rising,” pointing to a better tomorrow.

    According to Awolowo, experience from the management of the war economy has proved that, “it is not Nigeria that needs to be strong economically; she is potentially an economic giant already. It is we her sons and daughters that need to enlarge our outlook and thinking and widen our scope of planning to match her gianthood. He said: “if our proposed iron and steel complex had been in production, we would have been able to produce all small arms and ammunitions needed by us  at the Nigerian Defence Industries.” Just as forseen by Awolowo and like Bismarck, President Buhari has understood the importance of “iron and blood” policy and therefore, ordered the Defence Industries back to production line. Hitherto the industries had been credited with furniture manufacturing unlike its contemporary in India that produces weaponry.

    Those who might be expecting the President to devalue the currency may need to check his antecedent as Head of State in 1984/5. Rather than do so as asked by the IMF, Buhari resulted to counter trade and effective management of the little available. He embarked on strongly enforced fiscal discipline, banished parallel market and pegged maximum BTA at N100 worth of foreign currency. My passport confirmed that I bought at 70k to a dollar when visiting North Korea in 1985.  To prove that he meant business, he changed the currency over night before those trading in it, who were largely northerners, could outmanoeuvre the system thereby sending many of them out of business. This is one of the grievances some northern elites allegedly hold against him besides the detention of AlhajiShehuShagari after the change of his government in 1983. The late CiromaKeffi, Alhaji Hassan Mohammed had told me that Shagari was for many months in self exile in his house, at  Keffi, Nassarawa State.

    Also Buhari closed down private jetties in his war against smuggling. I happened to be in his team on inspection of private jetties in 1984 as a Port correspondent for the National Concord. He had arrived Tin Can Island Port unannounced and was taken round by the Port Manager. I could recollect how he turned down a plea by the late Chief S.B Bakare that his jetty should be spared. Seeing Buhari uncompromising, drug pushers and barons abandoned the country for him.

    The question may be asked on how  Awolowo was able to keep exchange rate at almost at per with the British Sterling until the end of the war in 1970, Buhari at 70k to a dollar till the end of his government in 1985 and Abacha  about N80/Dollar till his death in 1998? In a lecture given at University of Ibadan on financing the civil war (John West publications), the sage said he made it clear to Britain when she devalued the Sterling in 1967 that Nigeria had no cause to devalue her currency because despite the war, our economy was still very strong more so that the country was not owing any country and was able to finance all her imports. Triumphantly, Awolowo said he got a concession from Britain never to devalue her currency without first putting Nigeria into confidence.  The late Professor Sam Aluko told me in an interview in the 90s that what the World Bank wanted was a devaluation of the Naira to N250/Dollar but he as the Economic Adviser to Abacha insisted that the late Head of State should not yield to their demand because “the real value of the Naira is four to a dollar.”

    It has become obvious from the above that what the World Bank/IMF could not achieve with our currency and economies under strong leaders, they were able to do under lesser ones.  Otherwise, could it had been by mere coincidence that the World Bank coordinated our economy for the 16 years of the PDP rule? Could it had been by mere coincidence that a World Bank Managing Director/Minister of Finance failed in Nigeria where Joseph a slave boy that never attended primary school succeeded in Egypt when that country was confronted with “seven years of bounty harvest and another seven years of famine like ours?”

    What the moment called for from all of us are dedication, patriotism and cooperation with President Buhari to solve the national question of poverty, unemployment, insecurity etc.”I want to rebuild Nigeria”, the President has declared. In the language of Charles Albert in 1948 when Italy was faced with a similar problem, we must resolve that we can rescue our country. Like Italy, we too can do it. “Nigeria far a da se” Nigeria has called, we must obey.

  • Ministry of National Re-orientation?

    SIR: Nigeria has remained undeveloped not because she does not have institutions and resources and some measure of capacity, it is because of mismanagement of the people’s resources. The parent of that mismanagement is indiscipline. Corruption is a direct child of indiscipline. Indiscipline has grandchildren, great grandchildren etc. But Corruption is the most progressive and flamboyant child of indiscipline.

    There is need for the creation of a Ministry of National Re-Orientation (MNR). The creation of such a ministry is borne of the need to sustain the fight against indiscipline. If this is not done, who will continue this all important social fight after Buhari has left office?

    It will be the continuous responsibility of the ministry to insist that Nigerians do the right things in the right ways. We recall that in the 2015 elections, Nigerians agreed that corruption had eaten too deep into our blood and institutional systems and that it was time to check it. There is therefore every need to flush corruption out of our blood and institutional systems. In this regard, it will be the duty of the ministry to design subtle ways and means to make Nigerians hate and avoid corruption without coercion. It will also be its responsibility to regularly enlighten Nigerians on government’s policies, programmes and decisions. Such enlightenment should be to explain to the public the reasons and means of achieving government policies. Through this means, government will be able to provide detailed political, social and economic explanation for its actions. Presidential Media Advisers may not be able to do this.

    With the ministry on board, what happens to the existing National Orientation Agency (NOA)? NOA and all such similar government-owned agencies should be dissolved and absorbed by the ministry. Given what Nigeria has suffered to  indiscipline, a Ministry of National Re-Orientation should be the most important ministry.

    I therefore do not have any doubt that if it is created and it does well, even after Buhari, indiscipline and all its tentacles would have been uprooted from their strongholds in Nigeria so that the country will have strong relief. That will be the forerunner for change and true progress.

     

    • Okachikwu Dibia

    Abuja.

  • Olaopa and merit of National Productivity award

    Having watched Dr. Tunji Olaopa labour quietly in the trenches in the last decade without an expectation of being rewarded, I held back tears when a colleague gave me the news that President Muhammadu Buhari was going to confer on him the National Productivity Order of Merit Award (NPOM) for all that it is worth, at long last.

    Tunji Olaopa does not cut the picture of a classroom academic but very few scholars have influenced discourses on public administration and the general public space like he has done within the past two decades. I had a singular opportunity of reading over two dozens of his publications and can conveniently distil two themes in his intellectual adventure; namely, his treatise on public administration, and his intellectual interventions in public discourse and good governance in Nigeria. Evidently, Olaopa‘s seminal arguments on public administration are emanations from his doctoral thesis, his general experiences as a career civil servant and his stint with the bureau of public service reforms, an agency which he conceptualised in 2003 and which raison d’être was to provide technical backstopping to the re-engineering of  the nation’s public service.

    A cursory glance through his works reveals an uncanny passion for public service. These include dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles and monographs such as Public Administration And Civil Service Reforms In Nigeria (2008), Innovation And Best Practices In Public Sector Reforms (2009), Public Service Reforms In Africa (2010), Managing Complex Reforms: A Public Sector Perspective (2011) and the Nigerian Civil Service of the Future (2014) and The Joy of Learning, the life and times of Professor Ojetunji Aboyade.

    On the civil service, Olaopa traced the history of the Nigerian civil service to the colonial service which was in force during the early years of Nigeria‘s independence. A potpourri of indigenous officers and expatriates, the colonial model civil service was designed as a mere secretariat of government business, but the need to expand its scope and replace the expatriates with local workforce gave rise to series of reforms and challenges. According to Olaopa, the height of this disarticulation in the nation‘s service occurred during the almost four decades of military rule. The regimented mentality and the customary command-and-control style of the military severely rubbed off on the psyche and operations of the civil service. The noticeable manifestations of systemic weakness were over-expansion of the service, unification of erstwhile regional services, nepotism, corruption etc.

    The colonial model started well in Nigeria and flourished up to the early post- independence years when the system opted for the replacement of expatriates under the Nigerianization scheme.  Although the expatriates were known for dedication and professionalism and even inspired the pioneer Nigerians who took over from them, the service was to witness a steady decline in quality service delivery and professionalism especially from the middle of the 1970s due to unhealthy inter-service rivalries for managerial talent and spurious promotions.  The dynamics of manpower utilization which hitherto relied on planning, forecasting, budgeting and control broke down as even job designs, description and performance were determined by nepotism and other shady factors.  In fact, such critical condiments of the public service such as officer deployments, job classification grading and posting became manipulated by politicians and senior service officials. The practice was for some unscrupulous officials to attach an occupational classification to a staff just to get the staff graded far beyond his mates. The author opines that it was this “character of the state” that dampened the competence and efficiency of the public service.

    Every succeeding regime grappled with reforms to ensure the much-needed transformation of the Nigerian civil service from merely ‘administrative to managerial culture’ to ensure optimal productivity.

    He offered strategies to plug the yawning gaps that have short-circuited the reform trajectory of the civil service. These gaps include: policy gaps, capacity gaps, process gaps, performance gaps and resource gaps.

    The depth of his arguments reveals him as an expert-insider; his works interrogate the dynamics of the reform of the civil service in Nigeria and calibrate the very essentials that would reinvigorate this all important institution of the government which is plagued by corruption, disarticulation and systemic weakness.

    On his adventure in public discourse, Olaopa upped the scale above typical Nigerian public commentators; he is not an armchair critic, but a purveyor of facts and solutions. Various writers have appropriated social criticism as a vehicle to protest those elements of the society they feel ineffective, dysfunctional or corrupt. Areas such as bureaucracy voyeurism, big government, racism and human rights often take centre stage in such essays. In recent times, such writers captivate the reader with not only their lamentations on societal problems but take care to convincingly demonstrate solutions to such problems and attempt to refine the people’s feelings about the society in which they live. The mindset of social critics in Nigeria can be understood as they are irked that the country has potential for greatness if only things are done the right way. The expectations which drive such critics to protest can be captured in the lamentations of Chukwudifu Oputa when he submitted that “Nigeria is great in size, great in population, handsomely blessed and richly endowed by a kind and prodigal providence with almost unlimited natural resources. The challenge is for all of us to make her even greater than nature portend…but if, and only if we are disciplined”

    With the array of his research works, Olaopa‘s contribution to the pool of knowledge on public administration is not in doubt. No comprehensive research or reading can be achieved on the Nigerian public service without a footnote on him. It is intriguing that this feat was achieved by a supposedly busy permanent secretary in the nation‘s civil service. Winston Churchill once said in his famous epitaph on Joseph Chamberlain that one mark of a great man is the power of making lasting impressions on the people he meets. Another is to have handled matters during his life that the course of after-events is continually affected by what he did. Here, one is wont to see the portrait of Tunji Olaopa squarely in this description.

    It is these uncommon traits and his propensity to contribute more to the uplift of the Nigerian public service that inspired his recognition for the coveted National Productivity Order of Merit Award for 2015.

    Although this one comes as an addition to the numerous feathers in our subject’s cap, the person giving the award this time around is President Buhari – the no-nonsense, austere Nigerian leader who is credited with integrity and a focus on merit. He has been called by history to clean up Nigeria. The quintessential Buhari would not say well done unless one merits it. He is not known for frivolities. He must have noticed a man who combines excellent service with turnkey research output to re-engineer and strengthen the public service.

     

     

    • Dr Afaha is a lecturer in the Dept of History and Diplomatic Studies, UNIABUJA