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  • ‘Why new pension scheme won’t fail’

    ‘Why new pension scheme won’t fail’

    Mr. Bayo Yusuf is Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, UBA Pension Custodians. In this interview with Assistant Editor, Nduka Chiejina, he speaks on the prospects, challenges of the revamped pension scheme and what it bodes for the economy. Excerpts: 

    How will describe the Nigerian pension industry as currently constituted?

    Nigeria’s pension industry is positively growing, in the sense that this is the first time we are having a well structured, well regulated formal pension industry in the last decade. Before the 2004 Pension Act, the only seeming regulator we had was the Joint Tax Board (JTB), the private sectors have one scheme or the other and they go into it because of the tax benefits they get. Everybody tried to meet up with the requirements of the Joint Tax Board because of the tax benefit when they are rendering their account at the end of the year. For the public sector, it has always been Pay-As-You-Go, so the Head of Service was in charge of regulation there. So there was no formal structure or regulation, so to say, prior to 2004 we had a seemingly well regulated pension industry and clearly defined operators and those who they are managing the scheme for.

    Unlike where we had the public sector taken care of by the government, private sector left in the hands of the employers and the only thing the government did at the time was to say ok if there is no formal scheme for the private sector then the NSITF which used to be NPF that was the only saving grace for the private sector. But since the 2004 pension reform, we have a formal, well-regulated, structured pension industry and we can all see the benefit today with N4.21 trillion in accretion of capital to be used for the economy.

    What is your take on the newly amended Pension Reform Act (2014)?

    It’s a welcome development in the sense that it addresses many issues from the employee, the employer and the government. The complaint from the employees has been that what they get is not commensurate and how do we increase this amount? That has been addressed by increasing what the employer puts into the account of the employee from 7.5 per cent to 10 per cent. And also on the employee side their own contribution has to go up to from 7.5 per cent to 8 per cent. This, for me, is a welcome development because you are running a scheme based on what you are able to accumulate over time and what returns on investment. So, this, for me, is going to improve what will be in the purse of the employee at retirement.

    ICT in pension administration was a topical issue at the World Pension Summit, how do you hope to integrate ICT with pension administration?

    The success of this industry is hinged on ICT because it’s a retail market and in the retail market a lot of data passes from the employee to the employer and to the operators and also the regulator. So, if there is no good, robust ICT, then there will be a major challenge we all know the era we are in now, the swoosh media, information goes left and right. At the beginning of 2004 pension system, the level of information technology was inadequate. The law says we should collect on behalf of the PFAs with no restriction, yes the requirement to be a custodian is that you must be a subsidiary of a bank with a very large branch network, UBA, for example, has over 700 branches; that does not mean we have to now select that as an employer you must go to X branch, no you can go to any branch of UBA and make your payment, you can go to any branch of UBA to make your lodgements. At the beginning, electronic payment was not popular, so employers to the branches submit cheques, in some cases accompanying schedules are not included so there were a whole lot issues at the beginning. We also had money deposited which employer we did not know. For example, you send an employee to make lodgements, this employee puts his name as the depositor and when the teller captures it he captures the personal name; it becomes an issue to identify who made the lodgements and when you identify who made the lodgements finding the schedule becomes an issue again.

    So, you need technology in collection. At the initial stage, we had a whole lot of money taking us time to track down but what we have done over time now is that in the last two to three years with the advent of electronic banking and the support of the CBN, with a directive that all public sector organisations must make their payments electronically. This put an end to cheque writing and this was another challenge as money was trooping in in large volumes and there was no industry standard to say when you are paying electronically.

    These are the basic information that must accompany the payment from the receiving bank to the sending bank so we see a lot of money coming in via different channels without proper narration and identification. So, the question of how to address this came since this the era of electronic banking, things have to change we now had to come up with a system that will capture this fully, as technology is improving, we need to also use technology to drive the collection which is the number one assignment of the custodian.

    So, we came up with a platform which is being driven by holistic needs by using the platform called Electronics Pension Collection System. With this system, an employer, after running a payroll for the month, all he needs to do is to log on to the platform, upload the schedule, irrespective of the employers, employees and the PFAs, the pension generated from your payroll application and you upload it on this system, this system will break it down to respective PFAs and respective custodians. Immediately you finish that, there is an automatic payment system; if you have an internet banking, from there on, you will just transfer the money.

    As you upload the system, the schedule of pension into that platform, turns into the respective PFAs, so the PFA gets an alert that XYZ employer has uploaded and awaiting payment and immediately the employer makes payment, alert is sent that payment has been made, so that enables us to have what we call security processing of collection. This is a system that we are testing now which we believe as an industry is going to go a long way to reduce the number one challenge of the industry today as a custodian. Collection is our number one challenge.

    We are doing the testing of the application now, it is an industry initiative which the custodian is playing a major role in driving and ensuring that it comes to light and as soon as this is done, it takes off the collection challenge that the industry is facing. So, when employers deduct your money that 24 hours specified in the Act will now be seen because as we speak, it is very difficult to achieve in that 24 hours. We cannot have a smooth pension system without ICT but the number is growing. Right now, we are just six million and we are talking of bringing in the informal sector into it. The informal sector is another area entirely in the sense that they are not all experienced individual and we know that so we are working with the banks, specifically UBA, to come up with a product that will enable the informal sector use their phone to remit their pension contribution, they don’t need to go to the bank. So, technology is a major game changer and also it is going to be a differentiating factor in few years to come. So, we cannot do without the ICT in pension landscape, especially administration.

    The President and Minister of Finance hinted that they were targeting a $100billion pension asset in 20 years, do you see this as being feasible in the next 20 years or do you see it coming a lot earlier?

    I see it coming a lot earlier. I was sharing statistics with you before and I said, there are 17.6million employers in the informal sector and these employers have employed 43million as of march 2014. Total Retirement Savings Account opened is just 6.2million, so, you can see the gap. Now, the new Act makes provision for a minimum of three and above and when you look at the figures of 16.7 million and 43million, you can see that there is minimum employment figure by the SME. So, it is just for the operator to hit the market. I can assure you, in a couple of years, twenty years is very far. With the rate of growth that we have been having at 30 percent annual growth contribution, I can assure you, in the next two years, the rate of growth will be more than this even with the fact that we have a new set of people. The main challenge for us is to have the mechanism, the framework. We know that in whatever we do, we need to domesticate it.

    We know the average informal sector employer, the financial education is very limited. They believe in what they can get back in the immediate and pension is a long term thing and when you look at the demography of the majority of the people in the informal sector; secondary school leavers, ONDs, these are people in their twenties. So, in coming up with a framework for the informal sector, there is need for us to have a portion of their accumulation that they can have access to at any point in time.

    What I mean is 100 per cent of your contribution will not be locked down till retirement. A provision says 20 per cent of your contribution, you can have access to it at anytime. That is you are domesticating it. A fashion designer, for example, if you run into problem or see a new machine to buy, you cannot tell her that she cannot access the money, that it is tied down until retirement age, even a professional can have access to 20 per cent of his or her money. So, it is not until you get to retirement before you begin to see the benefit of my contribution, I should be able to benefit from it while I am working, not when I retire. The panel was discussing that the people should see the direct impact of their contribution.

    We have a situation where government changes every four years. What if government changes and the new one says this road should no longer be tolled and the proceeds of pension would already have been used to finance the project and then they did not recoup either the principal or the profit, how do you strike a balance between these two?

    Government will not just come and say, stop collecting toll from this land. If government says that, then it is saying, yes, I will pay because that project, the hundred percent fund was not provided by the government. The people that put their money must be paid before it can say, no, we are not going to toll this road again. So, there is going to be a strategy for the people that put their money in this project. I did not fund this project hundred percent, I funded 40 per cent and a counterpart funded the remaining 60 per cent and I am saying as government, because I have a responsibility to the people, I’m saying, I am going to fund this project hundred percent, so, what is the cost of the balancing in financing this project? It will be difficult for government to say, no, the project I did not finance hundred percent, I am stopping it and the counterpart that participated in the financing of the project, I am not going to pay them their money. So it is not every project that is bankable and it is not every project that you should throw your money at. You should look at the project, if it is bankable, people will bring finance. So, pension fund will not say because they have money, they should throw it into any project, no. No pension fund will do that.

    How much has been paid out to retirees so far?

    We are pension fund custodians and we have specific rules entrenched in the Act. Number one is collection on behalf of PFAs that sign us up. We are custodians to 10 of the 27 PFAs; we have 27 PFAs and of these 10 are our clients. On a monthly basis, we collect between N17billion and N18billion in terms of collections spread across the federation. Two, settlement of transactions on behalf of PFA, the administrative part of investment is being handled by the custodian.

    So, we settle transaction on behalf of our PFAs and when we settle, we collect instrument representing investment. Also, income collection, the income accrued in all of these investments like the dividends on equity, interest on placement. Also, the payment of benefit to retirees, every month, for those that are on programme withdrawals, we make payment on behalf of our PFAs. We have 25,000 retirees that we pay on a monthly basis and we pay in the excess of N3.5 billion. These are some of the things we do aside other value added services. We are basically servicing the PFAs; we don’t have a direct relationship with the employees. We were appointed by the PFAs and that is why you cannot see us in the newspapers everyday because the people we are servicing are just 27.

  • ‘We want new master plan for Aba’

    ‘We want new master plan for Aba’

    When town planners gathered in Aba, Abia State, only one thing was on their minds: how to make the Enyimba City one to adore. SUNNY NWANKWO reports

    What do you not know about Aba? Home of creativity and showpiece of local technology, where virtually everything made can be re-produced.

    But what do Aba people think of their famous vibrant city? They want a new face, one with beauty and allure. They want the commercial hub of Abia State restored to the master plan and beautified.

    Once a farmers’ town, Aba has grown into an economic giant in the Southeast, serving as a gateway to some Southeast and Southsouth states.

    This growth has overstretched its amenities, building pattern and distorted the colonial master plan. People now build on every available space including waterways, leading to flooding during torrential rains.

    The distortion of the original master plan has not only contributed in defacing the city, it has equally affected the aesthetics of the eastern commercial pride.

    It will be recalled that the state governor Theodore Orji in 2012 during a press briefing, threatened to pull down 1,800 buildings allegedly built on sewer lanes which were obstructing free flow of water through the canals.

    Orji said that efforts he had made to build the city had been stalled by flooding, which resulted from the blocking of drains and sewer lanes, alleging that those whose houses were built on drainages did not get approvals before erecting such structures.

    The state governor, did not stop at making such policy statement, he went further to constitute a taskforce on environment and allied matters headed by Rtd. Capt. Awa Udensi whose legal framework or mandate was to demolish all manner of illegal structures in the state, including houses or structures built on waterways which are still ongoing.

    Apparently worried by the ugly sight and reported cases of economic loss associated with occasioned flooding Town Planning Practitioners who are trained in the science and art of spatial ordering of land use for the purpose of creating a well ordered, beautiful and functional environment in the state initiated annual luncheon to brainstorm and foster ways of assisting the government in making the state habitable and conducive for its citizenry.

    In a lecture “Urban Planning in Nigerian Cities” delivered at the event by Dr. Kingsley Chijioke Ogboi of the department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Nigeria Enugu Campus, he examined the overwhelming challenges of urban planning in Nigeria and the consequences of planlessness, mirroring Abia State situation.

    According to Ogboi, the situation in Aba reflects vividly the environmental conditions in many Nigerian cities which has led to “wild” sprawl and disorderly urban growth in many Nigerian cities despite the existence of urban laws, he attributed to poor infrastructure (or lack of them), uncontrolled housing developments and land uses.

    Ogboi, listing disorderliness and chaotic urban settlements, poor sanitary condition, urban congestion compounded with traffic gridlocks, crime and urban violence, threat of disease outbreaks due to squalor conditions, environmental degradation among others as some of the consequences of planlessness and poor urban development said that Aba as a city that has laid its foundation on commerce and with huge potentials including population and development, it needed to improve on its business environment and city management, develop adequate infrastructure.

    According to the guest speaker, cities like London, Paris, Frankfurt, Dublin etc have been able to stand the taste of time because they are well planned and effectively managed, adding that the more a city improves in planning and basic infrastructure and amenities, the more it will continue to attract investment that will in turn accelerate the growth of that city.

    He expressed hope that a joint partnership of private sector experts/entrepreneurs and government in planning and would help to meet the challenges posed by urban development.

    The chairman House of Representatives Committee on Climate Change, Hon. Eziuche Ubani and chairman of the occasion lauded the group for such initiative, adding that the event has provided room for intellectually-stimulated discussions that could turn around the fortunes of the city.

    Hon. Ubani in a paper titled “Mainstreaming Climate Change Response in Urban Planning”, recalled “Going back in time, we can say, in relation to the question, we can say that urbanization proceeded in a deliberate and orderly manner in the 1940s. Early patterns of development in Aba for example, indicate that the chaos in spatial management was not envisaged by colonial administrators as clear roles and powers were given to planning professionals by extant ordinances and statutes. The crisis we have in urban management cannot be divorced from the general crises of growth and development of Nigeria, where decay hugs development in equal intensity.”

    The lawmaker who noted that the issue of climate change could be addressed through a planned housing system or arrangement called on town planning practitioners to use more techniques of planning human settlements and land use practices to address issues of climate change in the country.

    Abia State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Renewal, Elder Godwin Nna, represented by the permanent secretary, Elder Bernard Ogbonna however expressed the desire of the state government to partner with stakeholders/professionals in the planning and development of cities to tackle the challenges of physical planning in the state and the country at large.

    Elder Ogbonna, the permanent secretary of the ministry stated that it has become imperative for government to synergize with individuals in the private sector to bring development into the state.

    “All the years, physical planning and implementation of plans in this country have been left in the hands of successive governments, coupled with total loss of political will to plan, and lack of proper awareness of the public on the gains of physical planning have left a yawning gap between urbanization and committed efforts to arrest its challenges.

    “Involvement of the private sector and collaboration among stakeholders in the practice of the physical planning will inject new impetus towards catching up with the demands of the livability of our settlements. This approach will undeniably, capture the whole essence of physical planning which is to create human settlements that are orderly, functionally efficient, economically viable and esthetically pleasant for living, working recreating and circulation.

    “It will also lay credence to the necessity of a comprehensive approach to tackling the challenges of physical planning development in the state and perhaps in the country as a whole.”

    In an interview the chairman Local Organizing Committee, Elder Nelson Nwaosu said that the choice for the theme “Consequences of planlessness in our cities” was to “beam our searchlight on the implications of absence of not having planned cities and its resultant effects on economic and physical development.”

    The LOC chairman said that in line with the vision of NITP, “we  remain committed to our vision, which is provide aesthetically pleasing and very functional cities, as to create employment, draw investors that will usher in improved economic status of the state in particular and the country in general.”

    Earlier in an address, NITP Abia State chapter chairman Mr. Lekwa Ezutah listed four cardinal functions of town planners as people trained to arbitrate between activities and space, deal with the physical layout of communities; make proposals and initiate policies designed to make life comfortable, enjoyable and profitable, project future space needs and accommodate them to ensure the environment created today will meet the demands of tomorrow and people that places public interest over individual interest with respect to location of various land uses.

    Ezutah however expressed hope that the luncheon would provide the needed platform for planning professionals to brain storm and interact well on how to develop a planned physical environment and also to see the need to protect same.

    In a unanimous resolution at the end of the event, they agreed as thus; that the city of Aba can be improved to its former glory that will attract investors, be security friendly and as such, orderly planned if all the stakeholders join hands with government and town planners to make it achievable.

    It was also agreed that master plan is the pre-requisite of orderly development of major towns in the world; Aba in Abia State inclusive, adding that the old master plan by the colonial masters is no longer dependable because it has been overtaken by the present population.

    According to them, the old Aba master plan cannot cope with the population which has been swallowed by the number of people that settled in Aba and as a result overstretches social amenities.

    “We are asking and requesting for completely fresh and new Aba master plan that will take recognizance of the present population of Aba as to provide the required facilities.

    “When the master plan is operational, we will upgrade some the areas that presently exist without adequate access road and facilities. So that they will be upgraded and of course those that cannot be upgraded completely can now be relocated to a more appropriate place.

    “It is presently being done in Abuja today whose suburbs were not completely planned before people overwhelmly entered to settle their. So what FCDA are doing today is to upgrade, that is what we may do to those areas that are presently built without proper plan.

    “We are not going to embark on the demolition of peoples’ houses because they built ignorantly, we are rather going to upgrade; upgrading means, if you don’t have access road around your area, access road will be provided for to the best of the ability of the environment,” a spokesman of the group stated.

  • Spurs hand new deals to Nigeria trio

    Spurs hand new deals to Nigeria trio

    English Premier League (EPL) side, Tottenham Hotspur, have extended deals for three Anglo-Nigerians from their Academy.

    The trio of Nathan Oduwa, Daniel Akindayini and Emmanuel Sonupe were among the nine players offered new deals by the team’s hierarchy.

    As members of the Under 18 side last season, the team won the Southern Section of the Barclays U-18 Premier League before losing to Everton in the play-offs at Goodison Park.

    At the moment big things are expected of Daniel Akindayini who was top scorer last season for the Under-18.

    However, Nathan Oduwa is the only one among the trio who has expressed his desire to play for the Nigeria senior national team after representing England at Under 17 level.

    The powerful attacking player was born and raised in central London and made six appearances for the U-18s, scoring in his first three matches against West Brom, Stoke City and West Ham United, while he also netted in the NextGen Series against Sporting Lisbon.

    Emmanuel Sonupe born to Nigerian parents in London is a midfielder who likes to operate down the flanks and is equally at home on either side of the midfield.

    He made five starts and four substitute appearances for the Under-18s last term, his debut coming against West Ham United in January. He’ll be looking to push on and figure more prominently in 2013-14.

  • UNILORIN appoints new DVCs

    The University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) has appointed Prof. Gabriel Olatunji of the Department of Industrial Chemistry and Prof Nike Ijaiya of the Department of Educational Management as Deputy Vice Chancellors for the next two years.

    Olatunji will serve as DVC, Research, Technology and Innovation, while Prof Ijaiya is the DVC, Academic.

    The DVC-designates, who were elected at the 240th Special Meeting of the University Senate Tuesday last week, take over from Prof. Raheem Adebayo Lawal (Academic) and Prof. Felix Oladele (Research, Technology and Innovation), whose two-year tenure ended on June 18.

    The appointments are based on the University’s Miscellaneous Provision of Decree No. 11, Section 5(a) of 1993 as amended by Decree No. 25 of 1996.

    Also, a new Provost has been elected for the UNILORIN College of Health Sciences, Prof. Wahab Johnson.  The former Dean, Faculty of Clinical Sciences takes over from Prof. A. B. O. Omotoso, on July 31.

     

  • Pupils honoured at school anniversary

    Three excelling pupils of Government Day Secondary School, Wuse, Abuja have been honoured with prizes.

    The trio distinguished themselves in a literary and debating competition tagged “Role of Students in Nation Building, Patriotism and Leadership”.

    They were honoured at the 10th anniversary of the school.

    The ceremony was organised by the school management in partnership with Accurate Pattern Global Concept.

    The event started at 1pm. The students and guests were thrilled with jokes and comedy. It was an anniversary filled with music, drama and cultural display.

    Mercy Kelebe, overall winner of the quiz competition, emphasised the significant role the youth should play in nation-building. Kelebe, an SSS1 student of Art Department and two others aspire to be a lawyer.

    Speaking on the topic, she said with good parental upbringing and excellent teaching at preliminary academic levels, students can choose to be agents of change and good ambassadors of virtues.

    Miss Kelebe was excited after being told that she had won the top prize.

    Highlighting her experience, she said: “It was just God that did it. Even when I heard the topic, I went home, never discussed with anyone and I did research on the topic through Google. I never knew I would win.”

    She said: “Students have many roles to play in the nation. For instance, the present terrorism in the country is caused by students and students are the youths. If you start training them on how to avoid usage of arms and those who use them to make money, when they grow or gain admission to higher institutions, where youths form the habit of cultism, they can actually decide not to join the group.”

    She advised her colleagues to grab any of such opportunity that may likely come their way in the future and participate actively.

    Miss Jessica Babatunde, also SSS 1 student of GDSS lauded the initiative which, according to her, brought out the best in her. She was the second-best student in the competition.

    She said she did not know she would be among the successful contestants.  Babatunde who prayed to be a lawyer, expressed optimism that with good teacher to student orientation, youths could transform the nation through exceptional leadership qualities they enjoyed during early stages of education.

    She likened students to good seeds which ought to produce wonderful yields.

    “We students are good seeds; a good seed brings forth a good tree and a good tree produces good fruits. So we as students, if we play our role very well, we turn out to be good leaders. Those that are interested in politics can contest for election and when eventually elected, they can make the nation a better place.”

    Explaining her experience, Miss Babatunde said: “When our teacher told me about the competition, I told her I would participate because I can stand a crowd. I will not fidget because I’m used to it. So I worked on the topic, studied it and presented it to my teacher which she approved.

    “When I got there, I saw my mate and I said to myself, I want to be one of the best because I want to make history in my school when I leave. So I did my best but I never knew I will emerge one of the best in this competition.”

    Miss Mercy Otia, the 2nd Runner-Up identified need to have outstanding qualities such as boldness, being intelligent as well as the ability to discern good from evil. She outlined patriotism among other virtues as imperative to driving desired change the country hopes for.

    ”As a student, before you become a leader, you must be patriotic. You must love your country but being patriotic does not mean you must always criticize your government; it is about making an impact, a positive impact that will gain national recognition,” she said.

    Asked what prompted the initiative, the idealist, Mr. Adewumi Adesida observed that corruption, bad leadership and unpatriotic spirit have remained habitual of people and some leaders in the country, which needs urgent attention for the nation to witness genuine transformation. He identified the need for practical changes. According to him, it must start with the younger generation which is addressed as leaders of tomorrow.

    “What we do is to train young people for leadership, we inculcate into them inward development. We want them to understand that they are change agents and thus, contributors to whatever occurrence that is happening in this nation.

    “President of this nation, the government cannot do it all alone. With our present level, we have to partner with these present leaders to bring out the desire change we hope to see. That is why i went to the secondary school to start educating them on their role by looking inward to the growth and development of this nation,” Adesida said.

    He lauded the Secondary School Education Board for its support towards promoting vision of the organisation. According to him, representative of the Press Club was the overall winner, representatives of Sales and Entrepreneur Club and the Integrity Club won the second and third positions respectively.

    Adesida unfolded plans to organise a 3-day maiden conference for all secondary schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The conference, where every school will be representing each local council in the territory, will provide opportunity for students to contribute their views towards nation building.

    “We want to go to every area council exercising the student on how to believe in the nation, Nigeria and how they can contribute to the nation. They are going to present a paper after going round the six area councils. Then we will pick a representative from each area secondary school during a three days conference. They will thereafter present that paper which could be used to form necessary policy.” He however, appealed for sponsors to help promote the programme.

    Earlier, the Principal, GDSC, Mrs. Ilenre Irene described the school as a “learning infantry” after 10 years of its humble beginning. To her, it’s been accolades and successes as the school has recorded great academic achievements where her students have gone to represent the country in international competition in Brazil.

    ”We can say much of the achievements on a yearly basis. The school has come a long way. For instance, we had the best West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) result in 2011-2012, apart from some of our students who went on arts and craft competition, some went to Brazil, to represent Nigeria in a science competition where they won the overall best.

    “It has been so wonderful.”

     

  • Group empowers 225 youths

    The President of National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarding (NAGAFF),Mr Eugene Nweke, said the association had empowered 225 youths on freight forwarding in Katsina State.

    Nweke disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Lagos.

    He said that the youths were undergoing training in freight forwarding to enhance their capacity in the profession.

    Nweke also said that some youths had also been re-enrolled in the state owned-institutions for further professional exposure.

    He said that the association would open more branches in states in the North to empower youths in freight forwarding.

    “NAGAFF is already in Kano and Abuja and the association will continue to expand on this,” he said.

    Nweke said that some youths in Jibia in Kastina were also furthering their education on freight forwarding.

    He said that the association would partner with other government agencies to empower the youths.

     

  • A New Nigerian nation

    A New Nigerian nation

    President Goodluck Jonathan has in the last two weeks, been speaking on his vision for Nigeria this year. Apart from making lofty promises on development projects that will usher in employment and create wealth, he also touched on other non-tangible variables upon which real progress of this country will ultimately predicate.

    This was encapsulated in his new vision of Nigeria where everybody will be involved in the task of nation building. For him, Nigerians should brace up for the task of nation-building as the task of developing the country should not be left to the government alone. He would want us to celebrate the New Year with higher emphasis on national unity, peace, stability and progress above other considerations.

    Though this exhortation is not entirely new, it touched on some of the irreducible decimals for our continued survival as a nation. We can therefore ignore the central thesis of this presentation at a great peril. This is especially so at this stage of our national life where fissiparous and centrifugal tendencies have increasingly posed the greatest obstacles to development.

    There is a consensus that we must vigorously address the debilitating challenges of our national development for us to survive as a people. The fact that we have continued to trail on the ladder of development indicators despite the enormous resources at our disposal suggests that there are certain issues of our national existence we are yet to get right. And until we meaningfully and realistically identify and address them, this country will continue to falter.

    It is not enough to be a naturally endowed country. It is also not sufficient that we are an oil producing country reaping bountifully from its competitive price in the international market. These are not sufficient to launch us into the orbit of greatness. After all, there are countries doing pretty well in terms of development even without such a comparative advantage.

    That seems to be the central issue thrown up by Jonathan when he urged every Nigerian to be involved in the task of nation building and not to leave it for the government alone. It must be stated that nation building and national development do not essentially connote the same meanings. Whereas national development is a more embracing terminology that even encapsulates nation building, the latter involves the psychological reorientation of the citizens to inculcate in them, a sense of common national identity. It seeks to construct a common sense of belonging, cohesion and identity from the disparate, centrifugal and plural interests that compete for the loyalty of the citizens. In our case, it seeks to build a Nigerian out of the various ethnic and religious groups that have been the greatest sources of national disloyalty. When we achieve that, we will no longer see ourselves as Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba or Ijaw. We will begin to identify ourselves as Nigerians; the same way an American sees himself as an America wherever he finds himself.

    It is our inability to forge this common sense of national identity that has in the main, been the greatest obstacle to our national growth and development. Jonathan’s call on all to be involved in the daunting task of nation building is an admission of the inherent difficulty in achieving national development without forging a common sense of national unity and identity. That has been the greatest undoing of this country and its manifestations are palpable in all aspects of our national life. That is why successes in great national endeavors are usually appraised along the confines of how best they satisfied primordial and sectional predilections.

    That is why today, ethnic and religious cleavages rather than waning have further reinforced with greater ferocity, posing the greatest threat to the very foundation of this country. It is the same reason that has been largely responsible for the bitter competition for political power at the center. Today, politics is all about what accrues to the various ethnic groups through their elected members. Religion and ethnicity are in constant struggle with the state for the loyalty of the citizens.

    There is no way meaningful development can be achieved with such disorientation among the citizenry. That is why some sections of the country are talking of regional development and integration. The propelling force of this thinking is rooted in the loss of faith in the capacity of the Nigerian state as presently constituted, to fast-track even and balanced development of the constituent units.

    Incidentally, certain policies of our federal order such as skewed federal structure and residency factor have not helped matters. They have variously worked in the direction of alienating the people from that common sense of national identity direly needed for national progress. Curiously, the elite are the greatest purveyors of these destabilizing tendencies. Tribalism or ethnicity manifest as soon as there are spoils of our common patrimony to be shared. It is an elite commodity that most often does not tally with the feelings of the common people at the grassroots. But the elite take quick resort to it in their quest to gain undue advantage over others. Any genuine effort at nation building must start by whittling down the overbearing influence of ethnicity and religion in the nation’s body politic.

    It is the same trend that accounts for the devious successes the Boko Haram religious sect has been recording in its self-assigned militant agenda. It is difficult to talk of nation building in the face of the obstacle to it which that sect represents. Jonathan was right in arguing that nation building should involve all Nigerians.

    But there are structural changes that must be effected for quick progress to be recorded in this direction. Our defective federal structure is one. Residency factor is another. A situation the federal government literally controls life and death in this country through the excessive powers at its disposal is an obvious obstacle to nation building. Devolution will go a long way in reducing the acrimony that go with power struggles at the centre. With it, the constituent units will be more creative and focus more of their creative talents on how to elevate the living standards of their people through harnessing resources of comparative advantage.

    It is also a discredit to nation building that we are yet to settle the controversy surrounding the residency factor. A country that discriminates in employment matters and the enjoyments of the rights that go with citizenship because of state of origin cannot hope to forge a common sense of identity from it. Today many states prefer to employ foreigners instead of skilled Nigerians from other states. In some others those that were employed several years back have been sacked for no justifiable reason than they hailed from other states. And we want to build a nation out of this ruinous practice.

    These and other inequities of our federal structure are matters to be addressed for Jonathan to approximate nation building of his dream. Good enough some of the identified challenges are currently before the national assembly for possible amendment. Jonathan should identify with such amendments if he is serious on the matter.

  • AHEAD 2013 AFCON NEW HAIR-DO FOR IDEYE

    AHEAD 2013 AFCON NEW HAIR-DO FOR IDEYE

    Dumps mohawk

    SUPER EAGLES forward, Brown Ideye has jettisoned the famous Mohawk hairstyle for a clean shave ahead of the 2013 AFCON in South Africa next January.

    The Nigeria international who scored a brace, his 12th Ukraine Premier League goal in Dynamo Kiev’s 4-0 win over Arsenal Kiev last weekend, told SportingLife that he was looking forward to better performance on the pitch.

    “Hopefully, I hope to do more with this new look. Thank God for giving me two more goals last Sunday. Definitely, we are course of meeting the goals target for the season. However, I look forward to keep giving my best for both club and country in the months ahead,” Ideye said.

    The former Sochaux and Ocean Boys ace also alerted his followers on social networks through his Twitter account, @Ideyebrown11 regarding his looks before his brace over the weekend.

    “New look!! What a wonderful day to start a week,” tweeted Ideye, who is fondly called ‘Eshin’ by fans and admirers.

  • Eagles get new kits

    Eagles get new kits

    Top Nigeria officials are in Europe to approve a new set of kits the Eagles will wear at next year’s AFCON.

    President of Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Aminu Maigari, and the chairman of the technical Committee, Chris Green, will meet with Eagles’ kit sponsors adidas on a totally new set of kits for the national team.

    “The federation would love to use a totally new design of jersey for AFCON and they have gone to discuss it,” a top official informed MTNFootball.com

    “The kit sponsors already have designs on ground and all they have to do is to see the one that’s suitable and the one that will best portray Nigeria very well.”

    The top officials are expected back in the country on Saturday.

  • NAFDAC’s new anti-counterfeiting strategies

    NAFDAC’s new anti-counterfeiting strategies

    The menace of counterfeit and substandard drugs is no doubt one that has been on the front burner of national discourse as far as the safety of the health of Nigerians is concerned. This led to the setting up of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) by the Federal Government in 1993 with a clear mandate of safeguarding the health of the nation through the provision of effective regulation of the food, drug and chemical sector of the economy. While NAFDAC’s mandate covers the food and chemical industry, it is the drug market that draws the most attention, no doubt because of the pivotal role the sector plays in the health of the nation and because of the lucrativeness of the sector which makes it attractive to unscrupulous counterfeiters out to profit at the expense of the safety of Nigerians.

    Over the years, successive Directors-General of the Agency have come up with different strategies to curb the menace of fake drugs and each in his or her own way has helped to significantly address the problems working together with officers of the Agency. According to studies conducted by NAFDAC from 2001 to 2012, there is a positive trend in the progressive decline in the incidence of counterfeit medicines in Nigeria. In 2001, counterfeits stood at 40% due largely to the indefatigable effort of the NAFDAC team under the then Director-General, Prof. Dora Akunyuli, this was reduced to 16.7% in 2005. Shortly before she left the agency, however, there were threats of resurgence of the incidence as counterfeiters too have not rested and have also continued to come up with novel ways of evading detection by NAFDAC and other law enforcement agencies. A study carried out in 2008 shortly before the arrival of the current Director-General of the agency, Dr. Paul Orhii, on the Quality of Anti- Malarials in Sub-Saharan Africa (QAMSA) puts the incidence of the faking of anti-malarial drugs at 64%, which led the new DG declaring a zero tolerance war on counterfeits shortly after assuming office.

    In the past, a common strategy adopted by NAFDAC is the use of NAFDAC registration number on packages to be able to detect fake drugs. But drug counterfeiters taking, advantage of the growing access and sophistication in printing technology now manufacture fake drugs affixed with fake NAFDAC registration number and package them in such a way that they closely resemble the original registered by NAFDAC, thereby circumventing the checks put in place by the Agency.

    It is in realization of this fact that the current administration of Dr. Paul Orhii came up with a strategy that is not just only effective but one that is also guaranteed to place the agency many steps ahead of the counterfeiters in such a way that every of their move is anticipated, checked and thwarted by the agency. One such strategy is the introduction of cutting-edge technology by Dr. Orhii that has provided a more profound method of detecting counterfeits on the spot. Technology like the TRUSCAN machine, for example, have been deployed by the agency at the ports and entry points of the nation to carry out on the-spot-check of drugs before they are cleared into the country. The Agency’s officers have also gone to the 36 states of the federation and the FCT with the TRUSCAN machine, paying unscheduled visits to medicine outlets to fish out counterfeit drugs and destroy them. NAFDAC, as the first medicine regulatory agency in the world ever to deploy the technology and its effectiveness in curbing the menace of fake drugs has not only drawn the attention of international medicine regulatory agencies, but has also made the agency’s DG, Dr. Orhii the toast of the moment among foreign governments and in the industry.

    Other technologies deployed by the agency to fight counterfeiters are the text messaging system (Mobile Authentication System) that puts the power of drug detection into the hands of the consumers who can send a direct message using the code on the drug they are about to purchase to verify whether it is genuine or fake. There are also other additional technologies like the black eye and the Radio Frequency System technology introduced by the agency to help in the detection of fake drugs.

    The result speak for itself: three and a half years after Dr. Orhii came on board, the incidence of counterfeiting has been reduced drastically by the Agency. A national survey on quality of medicines using TRUSCAN device was conducted by NAFDAC across the 36 states and the FCT between January 2010 and April 2012. The result of the survey showed that the incidence of counterfeiting has been reduced to 6.4%. Another survey on the quality of medicines was conducted in Lagos State in May, 2012, using the TRUSCAN device. Tests carried out on medicines comprising anti-malarial, anti-biotics, anti-diabetes and anti-inflammatories showed that counterfeiting was at 3.8% in the state which is significantly less than the national average. Lagos is less than the national average in this regard because of the emphasis placed by NAFDAC on the state as it is the main transmitting line to the nation. In addition, the agency’s enforcement directorate is domiciled in Lagos, a factor which has increased the level of surveillance, the level of awareness and enforcement efforts.

    These results in so short a period has drawn the attention of regulatory agencies in Kenya and Sierra Leone who have sent people to study NAFDAC’s success in the use of cutting-edge technologies. Dr. Orhii has been invited three times by the Council of Foreign Relations in America to explain how NAFDAC is winning the war using cutting-edge technology. Interestingly, part of the DG’s lecture was used by the Council of Foreign Relations in its report to President Obama which also formed part of the US President’s submission at the G8 Summit in May this year.

    Another strategy introduced by NAFDAC is the WHO-Pre-qualification pursued by the agency for Nigerian pharmaceutical companies. This is a paradigm shift introduced by Dr. Orhii who felt that it is just not enough condemning China and India for the importation of fake drugs into the country, but for national security reasons also, Nigeria must increase its self-sufficiency in the availability of drugs. This new approach signals NAFDAC’s shift from just merely acting the policeman, to an agency that is a catalyst for national development. NAFDAC hopes through the granting of WHO-Pre-qualification to Nigerian pharmaceutical companies to increase the acceptability of Nigerian drug exports abroad so as to increase their revenue generating capacity and provide prospects for the employment of researchers, laboratory technologists etc by the industry to drive the development of the industry at home. So far, WHO has visited Nigeria three times and six pharmaceutical companies have the prospects of getting WHO-Pre-qualification for some of their products.

    To further increase the chances of as many pharmaceutical companies as possible to meet the requirement of WHO for Prequalification, NAFDAC has been at the forefront of pushing for a 200 billion naira intervention fund for the pharmaceutical industry that would enable the industry to put in place all the needed infrastructure that would help them meet the best global standards. All these are further predicated on the need to enable Nigerian pharmaceutical companies to meet local demands for quality drugs which in the long run will help to effectively eradicate counterfeit drugs imported into the country.

    Knowing full well that the fight against fake drugs cannot be left for one person alone to wage, Dr. Orhii had, when coming on board as NAFDAC DG, solicited the support of Nigerians in winning the war against fake drugs. Thus, the agency’s doors are open to those who have ideas to contribute that would help in the successful eradication of the incidence of fake drugs in the country. NAFDAC, under Dr. Orhii, is not only keen on eradicating fake drugs, but is also keen on taking the agency to a higher level, making it not only the foremost regulatory agency in Africa, but also one to be reckoned with in the world. As the counterfeiters are striving hard, NAFDAC is also striving harder to get ahead of them.

     

    •Durojaiye Olumuyiwa is a Public Affairs Analyst