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Tag: Nigeria

  • Nigeria eyes $1.99tr world services exports

    Nigeria eyes $1.99tr world services exports

    Nigeria is eyeing a huge chunk  of  the  global services exports estimated at $1.99 trillion at the end of the third quarter of last year.

    Leading exporters in the third quarter of last year included China, India, Singapore, Germany, Turkey, Thailand, Philippines, Mexico and Brazil.

    The value of services exports during April-February 2022-23 was $296.94 billion, up 30.5 per cent yearly, while imports were up 24.5per cent at $164 billion.

    The African Centre for Supply’s Director-General, Dr. Obiora Madu, said the expansion of the services sector is a vital driver of trade, employment, and economic growth and that it is essential to the economy’s competitiveness.

    Madu, the author of “Services Export in Practice,” pointed out that there was a great deal of room for service trade to expand and promote growth in Nigeria.

    His words: “Services such as financial services, consulting and transportation will remain significant contribut Least developed countries are increasingly planning to improve their roles in services.

    “Investments in sectors such as information technology, telecoms, financial services and professional services sector can contribute to Nigeria’s services export growth. I believe the growth of the Nigerian services export potential will be influenced by domestic reforms.’’   

      He said: “It is aimed at diversifying the economy from oil dependence. It will also depend on improving the infrastructure regulatory environment and the ease of doing business to enhance Nigeria’s competitiveness in the next five years.’’

    He pointed out that Nigeria would not be able to make use of its comparative edge in many services industries without a comprehensive export policy.

    Madu added: “This will result in mixed opportunities. It will  impact on the ability of the country to grow the economy and create the necessary jobs and generate revenue.”

    Read Also: 2027: Obi, Obidients are not our concern now, we are busy with governing Nigeria – Onanuga

    The strategy, according to him, should be to focus on identifying key services sectors with export potential, addressing trade barriers and also enhancing competitiveness. “This is key. The other thing that I recommend is the investment in infrastructure and technology. This will go a long way.”

    He stated that in the face of ongoing uncertainties in global trade and economy, it was  imperative that Nigeria’s exports be made more appealing.

     He also stated that geopolitical tensions pose downside risks to growth through supply chain interruptions and increased logistical costs.

    He emphasised how critical and essential it was to figure out how to make the country’s exports more appealing and competitive.

    He acknowledged that the existence of inadequate infrastructure, bureaucratic red tape, security worries, and unstable macroeconomic conditions may impede the country’s progress.

    He placed a strong focus on capacity building programmes meant to introduce more Nigerians to the prospects in services exports.

    In his view, it was imperative to bring together the government and private sector to enact policies that would increase the competitiveness of the country’s services industry.

  • Getting Nigeria back on track a collective responsibility – First Lady

    Getting Nigeria back on track a collective responsibility – First Lady

    First Lady Oluremi Tinubu has described the task of getting the nation fully back on track as a collective responsibility.

    First Lady Tinubu who stated this Friday night during a Ramadan Iftar she hosted at the State House, Abuja, also expressed optimism that the nation will be greater.

    According to a statement issued by her Senior Special Assistant on Media, Busola Kukoyi, the First Lady said: “Mr. President will do all it takes to make the nation better, that even when we live here, we will go back to a better Nigeria. We all have tasks to do to get this nation back on track”.

    Senator Tinubu noted that the various programs by the President are all on track and the results are beginning to be evident.

    Speaking earlier, wife of the Vice President, Hajia Nana Shettima, urged all women to be one another’s keeper.

    Towing  the line of the First Lady, the wife of the Vice President pointed out that governance is a collective responsibility. She urged women to remember the nation in their prayers, especially in these last 10 days of Ramadan.

    Read Also: I haven’t borrowed any money since my inauguration, says Gov Alia

    Guest lecturer at the Iftar, Professor Rafatu  Abdul’Hammed of the University of Abuja, advised women not to forget all they learnt during the Ramadan, and continue in that line.

    She said, living in love, piety, humility and tolerance will enhance the lives of Nigerians.

    Prayers were offered for the nation, the President and the world.

    Those in attendance include Former First Ladies of the federal republic of Nigeria, female justices, wives of governors, female ministers, wives of ministers and wives of service chiefs.

  • Is Nigeria developing?

    Is Nigeria developing?

    This week, President Bola Tinubu held his maiden meeting with members of his newly constituted Economic Advisory Committee (EAC) at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. In its editorial on this issue, a national newspaper insinuated that the President took too long to constitute the committee since he has been in office for approximately nine months. But there is a scant empirical or logical basis for arriving at such a conclusion.

    For one, in constituting the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and appointing heads of other key agencies of government, President Tinubu had already brought in accomplished technocrats to help him chart the course of the ship of state out of current turbulent waters to a safe harbour of peace, prosperity, and stability.

    These include the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Mr Wale Edun Minister for Budget and Economic Planning; Mr Olayemi Cardoso as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); and Mr. Zach Adedeji as Head of the Federal Internal Revenue Service. And it should not be forgotten that the Vice President, Mr. Kashim Shettima, statutorily heads the National Economic Council (NEC) which comprises all state governors and the CBN governor and has the constitutional responsibility “to advise the President concerning the economic affairs of the Federation, and in particular on measures necessary for the coordination of the economic planning efforts or economic programmes of the various Governments of the Federation.”

    Thus, there has been no vacuum in governance or management of the economy since Tinubu assumed office. However, the composition of the new EAC has the potential to help the administration in achieving its key objectives of diversifying the economy, strengthening the national currency relative to foreign currencies, enhancing agricultural productivity, boosting manufacture, substantially improving power supply, generating jobs for the teeming number of idle youths and translating millions of Nigerians from inexcusable poverty to prosperity.

    Read Also; FULL LIST: African presidents, Heads of State below 50 years of age

    Indeed, the idea of a tripartite EAC comprising members from the federal government, the sub-national governments, and members from the Organized Private Sector is an innovative one. It reinforces the view that governance in a federal system like ours must necessarily be a collaborative enterprise among different levels and arms of government as well as the private sector.

    The heavyweights of the OPS represented on the committee – Aliko Dangote, Abdul Samad Rabiu, Tony Elumelu, Wale Tinubu, Bismarck Rewane, and Segun Ajayi-Kadiri – have considerable clout and could be great assets in the Tinubu administration’s relentless striving for massive foreign and local investment. It could be argued that since they have themselves become stupendously wealthy in this system, they must thoroughly understand its dynamics and can help translate their individual success stories into helping to lay the foundation for a successful, stable, secure, and prosperous Nigeria.

    Of course, one is aware of the obverse side to the argument and this is that many of those who have accumulated humongous wealth allegedly did so by manipulating loopholes in the system. Will such people be willing to support requisite changes in the same system that made them who they are today? Time will tell. But we should, in my view, eschew such instinctual cynicism towards our country and our leaders.

    One of the governors on the committee, Prince Dapo Abiodun, had a rich entrepreneurial track record investing in diverse spheres of the private sector and achieving tremendous success before opting to go into public life. There is no doubt that his vast private sector experience coupled with his ongoing saga of quiet but systematic implementation of his developmental agenda in Ogun State will make him an invaluable asset on the President’s economic team.

    The other governor on the team, Professor Chukwuma Soludo, Anambra State governor, is undoubtedly eminently cerebral. He can be quite charismatic when he passionately expounds his theoretical economic postulations in his charismatic and arresting baritone voice. But there are also those who believe that the former CBN governor’s eloquence in articulating theories has not been matched by a comparable capacity to perform and redeem his campaign promises in Anambra. Only the people of Anambra can declaim authoritatively on this. But his sound academic credentials and his career trajectory over the last two decades, in my view, make Soludo eminently qualified to be on the team.

    However, it is this column’s view that President Tinubu’s Economic advisory team should be more diverse, particularly in terms of ideological orientation. If virtually all members of the EAC have the same neoliberal dispositions, then its meetings will most likely be dull, drab, and manifestly unproductive. It is only through intense debates at this kind of Think-thank, which the ECA is, that the best policy decisions can be reached in the interest of the teeming masses of Nigeria.

    In addition to the brilliant, largely neoliberal economists on the team of the  EAC, it is my view that there is also a need for sound political economists on the economic advisory team. These could come from academia or even from the ranks of intellectuals of the Labour movement. For instance, an economist like Dr. Peter Ozo-Ezon of the Department of Economics, University of Jos, is one of Labour’s intellectual resource persons.

    Even though I have never met him but I have seen and heard Dr. Ozo-Ezon dilate on issues affecting the NLC and the economy on television and you cannot be but impressed by his erudition and grasp of the rather obscurantist outlook of contemporary neoliberal economists. A sound progressive economist representing Labour on the EAC, will help to some extent to improve the relationship between the Tinubu administration and Labour.

    The title of this piece is not original to me. It is a chapter in a book, ‘Path to Nigerian Development’ edited by Professor Okwudiba Nnoli then of the University of Nigeria,  Nsukka. Nnoli has three enthralling chapters in the book that throw light on the root causes of the country’s protracted economic crisis as well as worsening underdevelopment. His views are still relevant and remain quite pertinent today even though it was published in the late 1970s.

    One of Nnoli’s chapters in this book is titled ‘Development/Underdevelopment: Is Nigeria Developing??’ One of his arguments was that, contrary to the claims by mainstream pro-establishment economists that the country is indeed developing, there is a wide gulf between that view and the pathetic situation of substantial numbers of Nigerians living in abject poverty.

    He contended that continuing to equate development with growth is wrong and misleading just as the mere accumulation of modern artifacts such as luxury vehicles, imported modern furniture, imported electronics, airports and airplanes, high-heeled shoes, lipsticks,  etc, cannot be described as constituting development.

    In Nnoli’s words, “In fact, it may not even matter if these artifacts are procured from or created here for us by foreigners. It is considered only practical for them to provide the goods and services since we do not have the capacity for ourselves. And we need these products!“

    Given this heavy external dependency and psychological disposition to dysfunctional consumption habits, Nnoli submits that “The inevitable consequence is our powerlessness to use our own resources to transform our internal and external environments in the ways we need and desire.”

    He avers that the accumulation of these artifacts of modernity which we often mistake for development, “reflect development only when they are the end-product of the efforts of the population to apply their creative energy to transformation of the local physical, biological and sociology-cultural environments”.

    Continuing, the eminent political scientist said “This is the situation in the advanced Western and Eastern countries. They cease to mirror development when they are provided by foreigners. In the latter case, the local population is merely acquiring the products of others’ development. This has been the experience of Nigeria.”

    Even as the EAC sets out to work with the requisite Ministries and Agencies to urgently address the hardships being endured by millions of Nigerians as a result of the protracted economic crises, it must not lose sight of the fact that there is a more fundamental and deep-rooted challenge of underdevelopment which must also be addressed. In other words, it is easy to achieve better stability and enhanced value for the Naira in due course, stabilize interest rates, curtail inflation and achieve rapid economic growth while still remaining pathetically underdeveloped.

    • The article was first published on March 2, 2024

  • Don’t condemn, curse Nigeria, Tinubu urges clerics

    Don’t condemn, curse Nigeria, Tinubu urges clerics

    • President hosts monarchs, religious leaders

    Refrain from condemning and cursing Nigeria in your sermons, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu told clerics yesterday.

    He urged them to tell their congregations Nigeria is the only country they have, a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, said.

    Speaking during Ramadan Iftar with monarchs and religious leaders at the State House in Abuja, the President emphasised the important role of religious leaders in shaping public opinion and fostering a sense of unity among citizens.

    The President also urged the leaders to be more constructive in their criticism of holders of elective positions.

    He restated  his administration’s determination to turn Nigeria’s challenges into prosperity.

    Pointing out that no terrorist can defeat the collective will of Nigerians , he called on the  traditional and religious leaders to  support   the government to defeat terrorism, banditry, kidnapping  and other forms of criminality in the country.

    His words: ‘”Yesterday (Wednesday) in Abuja, I attended the burial of 17 officers and men  of the Nigerian Army  killed in action at Okuama, Delta State. I saw their pregnant wives and little kids.  

    “The love of the nation is in your hands. Pray for our country. Educate our children. The sermons we preach to the members of our churches and mosques are important.

    “Do not condemn your own nation. As a Yoruba man,   our fathers will say, ‘no matter how slippery the bottom of your child is, you must leave the beads there.’

    “Leave the beads there. This is your country; do not condemn it in sermons, do not abuse the nation. Leadership is meant for changes.

    “Yes, this leader is bad, fine. Wait until the next election to change him  but do not condemn your country. Do not curse Nigeria. This is a beautiful land.”

    On the  challenges facing the nation , the President said   there is no nation across the world today that is free.

    He, however, assured them that if the nation works together as one, the current challenges will be gone and the desired nation will be achieved.

    The President added: “We are challenged, that is true, no nation that is not currently challenged, one way or the other, but it is with God-given talents and resolve of all of us to say that we will overcome the challenges and turn it to prosperity. By the grace of God we will, we will turn it around. There’s a very bright light at the end of the tunnel.

    “I believe it also that somewhere in the eye of the storm, is some corner of calmness and joy for those who will serve with faith and determination.

    “We’ve seen the challenges of insecurity, yes many nations go through it. Some of those prosperous nations today, if they look back, they will find in history of their nations, blood on their snow. They fought battles to be what they are.

    “Maybe our beautiful weather, our rich land, our loving parents have spoiled us. They didn’t wean us early enough from breast feeding, so every minute we have to cry of hunger. We didn’t forget our childhood. But we will believe in the prosperity and the love and care of that woman, the mother, Nigeria.

    “So, I’m with you, no matter the degree of the lamentation, my own is don’t give up. As long as we are determined to change our country, it is our own to change. Nobody, all these America, Britain France and others, they can’t love us better than ourselves.

    “We can drive on good roads like they have in their infrastructure, we can have first class education. We give you the assurance, as a government that you will be our priority, but not because of you, but because of your children. Who do we hand over to”, he said. 

    The President, who acknowledged the birthday wishes and goodwill extended to him on the occasion, reminded the leaders that the anniversary of his birthday today falls on  Good Friday.

    ‘”I have earned the honour of having my birthday fall on Good Friday, and I pray that on this Maundy Thursday, you all shall return to your homes safely. May God guide and keep you and your families in good health, and lift your spirits,” the President prayed.

    Different speakers at the dinner expressed gratitude for the opportunity to come together in the spirit of Ramadan to share a meal with the President and renew the bonds of friendship that unite the nation.

    Vice President Kashim Shettima emphasised the pivotal roles of religious and traditional rulers in promoting peace and unity, urging them to continue to “build bridges that transcend ethnic and religious divides.”

    Shettima  expressed delight that the nation’s economy was on a rebound, noting the strengthening of the naira against the dollar.

    “The President means well for the nation, and he has continued to redefine the meaning and concept of modern leadership.

    Read Also: Tinubu, grand master of progressive politics, says Speaker Abbas

    “‘For many years, fuel subsidy was an albatross. The President took a bold decision from day one, and he hit the ground running. Now the economy is turning the corner,” the vice president said.

       Ooni of Ife  Adeyeye Ogunwusi, who spoke for the monarchs,  assured the President of the unwavering support of traditional rulers.

    He commended  government’s efforts to address the hike in food prices and the security challenges.

    “You are not alone, Mr. President. The prices of food items and goods are gradually coming down. You are doing your best on security, and we cannot allow you to do it alone. We will join hands to support your vision to the betterment of our nation,” the Ooni said. 

    Ambassador Ahmed Nuhu Bamalli, Emir of Zazzau, who spoke  on behalf of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (NSCIA), highlighted the significance of Ramadan as a period of reflection, empathy, and unity.

    The Sultan of Sokoto and President General, NSCIA, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar, expressed optimism that the country would  return to peace and stability.

    He was represented by the Emir of Zazzau, Ambassador Ahmed Nuhu Bamalli.

    The emir said: “I am happy to see representatives of Muslim and Christian communities in this room. I pray God Almighty blesses the President for him to do more to take the country to the Promised Land,”  he said.

    Apostle Samson Fatokun, General Secretary of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), noted that the Ramadan dinner with religious and traditional leaders, coincided with Maundy Thursday, the Thursday before Easter, observed in commemoration of   Christ’s institution of the Eucharist during the Last Supper.

    Fatokun, who represented CAN President, Archbishop Daniel Okoh, commended President Tinubu for fostering a harmonious relationship between the state and the church.

  • Nigeria gets 72 vehicles, diagnostic equipment to fight killer-diseases

    Nigeria gets 72 vehicles, diagnostic equipment to fight killer-diseases

    The Federal Government has received 72 Toyota Hilux vehicles and laboratory diagnostic equipment from Global Fund to combat HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.

    The organisation, through the Family Health International (FHI360) handed over the materials through a Global Fund Grant and delivered to the Federal Central Medical Stores in Oshodi, Lagos State.

    Project Director, Global Fund Impact Project and Family Health International (FHI360), Christiana Laniyan said: “FHI360 is open to ensuring that we make the dollars work for the people of Nigeria.”

    Head of Grant Management at Global Fund, Mark Edington, said the deployment of Hilux vans across Nigeria serves as a logistical imperative to augment the efficiency of healthcare delivery in the battle against these three diseases.

    Edington said: “The vehicles, valued at approximately $2,880,000, have been strategically acquired to fortify the HIV/TB collaboration, with all 72 units successfully delivered to the Federal Central Medical Stores in Oshodi, Lagos.

    “The investment encompasses the procurement of 333 Quatre TrueNat Machines, facilitating nationwide deployment to bridge diagnostic gaps in tuberculosis management. This technology is capable of conducting 40 to 48 tests within eight hours, contributing significantly to timely and accurate diagnosis.

    Read Also: Tinubu appoints Usman Bello as new CCB Chairman

    “The unveiling and handover of this equipment, allocated under the GC6 grants by Global Fund Investments, was held under the thematic banner of ‘Making Global Funds Investment Work for Nigeria’. The vehicles were accompanied by a range of sophisticated equipment such as the Quatre True Machine, TB Lamp, Portable Digital X-Ray Machine, Mobile Chest X-Ray Vans of the EasyDR type, and Facility-Based Artificial Intelligence (AI)-Enabled Digital Chest X-Ray Machines, alongside Biological Safety Cabinet Class B2 for 45 Bidirectional Testing Health Facilities.

    “The deployment of the Truelab Real-Time quantitative micro-PCR system from Molbio Diagnostics underscores a revolutionary stride in bringing PCR technology to the point-of-care.

    “The portable system, operational across various healthcare settings, empowers frontline healthcare workers with the capability to diagnose a wide spectrum of infectious diseases promptly and accurately, facilitating timely treatment initiation.”

    Minister of Health Muhammad Ali Pate, represented by the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Tunji Alausa, lauded the role of Global Fund as a principal partner in Nigeria’s healthcare delivery.

    “Over the past decade, the Global Fund’s support, totaling $4.6 million, coupled with Nigeria’s substantial commitment exceeding $40 million, has significantly fortified the nation’s healthcare landscape,” he noted.

    He emphasised the essence of strengthening healthcare infrastructure and augmenting human resources to safeguard the populace effectively.

  • Patriotism, surest path to surmounting Nigeria’s challenges

    Patriotism, surest path to surmounting Nigeria’s challenges

    • By Lanre Atere

    Sir: Our beloved Nigeria is facing unprecedented economic, social and political upheaval. We are at one of our most challenging crossroads as a nation.

    Yet, the most needed commodities in these trying times – patriotism, truth and honesty – are in the shortest supply. Unpatriotic, self-serving political, religious, ethnic and social-cultural leaders are using the state of the nation to feather their nests. Added to the above deadly mix are unpatriotic youths willing to sell their souls and the nation for their pecuniary gains.

    No doubt, politicians have failed the country over the years through irresponsive and irresponsible conduct. The masses have also been most wicked to themselves; greed and get-rich-by-all-means antics have eaten into the fabric of society and we have stopped being our brothers’ keepers.

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu inherited a divided country, a mismanaged economy, perhaps worse than he envisaged, and a country ravaged by widespread insecurity. He won an election despite disruptive politicking by his opponents, whose unguided utterances and desperation for power heated the polity, pitted Nigerians against each other, and further polarised the country on many fault lines.

    His demand from Nigerians was understanding and not pity. He has made painful decisions while urging Nigerians to trust in his policies and bear the brunt of the fleeting pain for a glorious future. His posture welcomes criticism and ideas, yet most of the criticisms have come from tribal jingoists.

    It is indeed sad that at a time when the country needs nationalists, the loudest voices have been those of divisive regional, tribal and religious leaders pandering to tribal and regional sentiment, despite the president’s altruistic zeal.

    It is naïve and simplistic for us to think that reversing the ugly trend of our recent history can be done with a magic wand. Our leaders over the last three decades shied from the crucial surgery to remove the cancer that is eating our country. We cannot do the same thing and expect a different result. Hence, the ongoing reforms to unshackle, plug all leakages, make our country an investment destination and deliver the Nigeria we yearn for.

    Nigerian poor cannot truly breathe without removing the cankerworm of corruption, bad governance, ineptitude, insecurity, and ethnic and religious menace and insecurity that have plunged our country into the current abyss. The onerous task requires joint efforts.

    Over the last eight months since the removal of subsidies on petroleum products, and deregulation of the economy, we have seen allocations to states and local government rising to levels unseen in our nation’s history. Delta and other oil-producing states are swimming in billions without commensurate growth in infrastructure or the standard of living of their people. Recent figures released by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) showed that states received N10.143trillion from the Federation Account as statutory revenue in 2013, which is N1.934 trillion (23.56%) increase over the N8.2trillion of the previous year.

    Read Also: Tinubu appoints Usman Bello as new CCB Chairman

    The N402.26 billion received by Delta State is about what the entire five states of the Southeast got during the period, yet the state remains grossly underdeveloped, and its indigenes are firmly under the grip of debilitating poverty.

    Our political leaders must act responsibly and responsively in their dealings and conduct to gain the trust of the disenchanted people.

    Across the globe, citizens are empowered to interrogate, scrutinise, and criticise the actions or inactions of their political leaders. This must be done with decorum, and criticism must be constructive, not a means of settling personal scores. Constructive criticism is not a leeway for misguided folks to malign and disparage the country and its leaders as is currently being done by people who mount the podium daily to pour invectives on the president and ‘demarket’ the country.

    The negative emotions and energy dissipated on pessimisms about Nigeria should henceforth be channelled towards beneficial use to the country because our fate is tied to our country.

    Our political, religious, traditional and community leaders must begin to be responsible for the needs and yearnings of the Nigerian people in their various positions of responsibility in a patriotic manner, particularly in this difficult time in the nation’s history. Our leaders must be prudent with our resources, be transparent, and sincere, and provide good leadership. This will engender patriotism.  

    •Lanre Atere,

    United Kingdom.

  • Nigeria and the fetish of money

    Nigeria and the fetish of money

    • By Chike F. Okolocha

    In Nigeria, money is assumed to have an autonomous existence from human beings on account of which it is eternally reified, glorified and worshipped. This is a manifestation of the triumph of financial capital over productive capital. Money is the king! This is why we are carried away by the whiff of money.

    Individuals dressed in flowing robes and driving expensive cars are immediately assumed to have a lot of money and are hailed. Chances are that if such persons are not already chiefs, they will be made so sooner than later, irrespective of their means of livelihood. These “big” men always attract hangers-on and praise-singers who just want money, nothing else.

    As a matter of fact, nobody wants to know howsoever money is acquired and any objection is smothered with money. We do everything, even kill, kidnap or sell ourselves to get more money. The end justifies the means and achievement is a function of the quantum of money spent! In this process, our traditional institutions have aided and abetted the amoral glorification of money over honour. Those who acquire their wealth “overnight” are particularly wont to seek social approval by acquiring status symbols such as big cars and heavy jewellery. They are also engulfed in conspicuous spending while taking chieftaincy titles, marrying new wives and throwing lavish parties to celebrate birthdays and open or “warm” their new houses.

    As a nation, we mistake having more money with being wealthier, happier, more productive, developed and modern. On this count, Nigeria is said to be a rich country, blessed with natural and non-natural resources including petroleum and all manners of liquid, molten and solid minerals, cash crops, a huge population base, etc. But we are mute on the fallouts of Nigeria’s proverbial wealth and portentous endowments. For example, we seem to be oblivious that our achievement of being Africa’s biggest economy is counterbalanced by the burden of having the highest number of multi-dimensionally poor people in the world.

    How do we justify so much poverty surrounded by so much wealth? Unfortunately, many state governments are emulating the “success” of the federal government in growing their economies amidst worsening infrastructure, poverty and unemployment.

    Similarly, on account of their unimaginable, super-sized annual profits, Nigerian banks are said to rank among the most profitable global institutions, with bankers and former bankers strutting the world as nouveau riche billionaires. Some of these own private universities and lope about in private jets. Yet, in comparative terms, Nigerian banks render some of the worst services in the world. In spite of their alleged deployment of technology, they will probably score highest in any Customer Suffering Index, if constructed. The long-suffering bank customers are obligated to wait forever for services, pay for anything and everything including money transfer from personal accounts, emails, bank alerts, debit cards, etc. Well, the customer does not matter as long as the banks are making money, the Nigerian god.          

    In our quest for money, we forget Nwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere, the founding president of the United Republic of Tanzania, who famously admonished poor countries not to depend on money, a scarce resource, for national development. His logic was very simple: you are trapped in poverty once you depend on what you do not have (that is, money) to get out of poverty. His recipe was equally logical: the way out of underdevelopment was for poor countries to depend on people, the principal resource they have in great abundance. You may recall that James Chambers (a certain Jamaican musician popularly known as Jimmy Cliff) once advocated in a song released in 1974 that “Money Won’t Save You”. While I do not disagree with Jimmy Cliff that “only truth and righteousness” can save, there is little doubt that people are the key to success, not money.

    One best way of focussing on Nigeria’s abundant human endowment is education. South Korea which was roughly at the same level of development with Nigeria in the early 1960s, caught up with and joined the OECD nations in 1996 largely because of its dynamic and successful educational policy, ranking as one of the countries with the best educated workforce in the world. Similarly, Cuba’s survival despite American stranglehold re-imposed during the presidency of Donald Trump, is owed almost entirely to her robust and flourishing educational system which has been commended by UNESCO. In the interest of the future of Nigeria and her massive population, the country needs stop the free fall in her educational system.  

    Our new conception of money has transformed it from being a symbol of purchasing power to a symbol of power; from a means to an end to an end in itself. We therefore conceptualise our problems and their solutions in terms of money. For example, in the early years of the current Fourth Republic, Nigeria spent a whopping US$16 billion to improve electricity supply but nothing changed. Now, nobody talks about that thumping expenditure. To bury the matter, government launched a new Electricity Road Map which shifted responsibilities away from it. And suddenly, in a move without any precedent in the world, we were informed that Nigeria paid the sum of US$12 billion in one fell swoop to its foreign lenders in order to secure a forgiveness of the balance loan sum of US$18 billion. Government praised itself for pulling off this spectacular stunt but failed to explain the purpose of the loans or how they were disbursed. Anyway, the money was spent and that is what is important.

    Read Also: Bad governance rendered Nigeria a weak African giant- Tinubu

    Those with a sense of history may trace the sovereignty of the money over Nigerians back to the First Republic when politicians and public officials colluded with businesspersons to corner 10 percent of the sum of government contracts. Ever since, the focus has geometrically shifted to money, not contracts. In one instance, US$2.8 billion worth of oil revenues vanished while government reportedly wasted a total of US$500 billion from the self-same oil revenues between 1999 and 2015. It is also alleged that a humongous sum of N10 trillion was paid out as subsidies to marketers of petroleum products between 2008 and 2020 even as the professed recipients deny receiving anything.

    Alas, money has become the raison d’etre of Nigerians, and we have all become alienated from the naira and its real functions. We are now only concerned about how much money is voted for projects, not how many kilometres of roads or how many classrooms are built. As government continues to yield to market forces and withdraw from public space, citizen welfare becomes more deprecated and NEMA now calculates its services in terms of money spent, not lives saved. Due to pervasive financialisation circumscribed by supposedly free market forces, Nigerians have lost the real value of the naira as tomato and pepper retailers now hinge prices on prevailing dollar exchange rate. Recently, while many Nigerians were in the streets protesting poverty, inflation and high costs of living, government abruptly announced that foreign reserves have grown to US$34 billion and raised interest rates to 22.75% while inflation had climbed to 30%. Everything is about money and we have increasingly lost confidence in our human power as creators of money. The fetishism of money is a delusion that needs to be urgently exorcised.     

    • Professor Okolocha writes from the University of Benin.      
  • Nigeria and the satellite education

    Nigeria and the satellite education

    By Ganiu Bamgbose, PhD

    SIR: Nigerian education can be described as a typical reflection of how not to be educated. Call this claim a sweeping statement or generalisation, and I will prove to you too that whatever you think is just an exception from the norm that I posit.

    From the “holy status” of English as the language of instruction, to the depiction of the indigenous languages as vernacular, Nigeria is certainly not ready for the education that will bring about liberation. With soon-to-be-adult children who make no sense of proverbs and adages and for whom English has become a mother tongue, our education is as good as being an extended colonisation.

    Shall we talk about curricular that are not in tandem with the street circular? The ones with which we produce graduates who do not know how exactly they fit into the national equation? Have you heard Nigerian graduates say they want to proceed for postgraduate degrees to better their chances of employment? That says something. It says to us that we have not recovered from the education of the industrial revolution where people are exposed and their intelligence built just to the extent to which they can be useful to grow industries.

    The Nigerian education experiments whatever Europeans and Americans are done or almost done using. When they wanted us to believe school was the most important thing, they succeeded at it and that was the age parents might curse their children who decided to do anything else aside going to school.

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    You can’t be a musician. You can’t be a footballer. You can’t be an actor. Just go to school. Education is the best legacy. Only deviants would do otherwise then. That was the age young Yoruba singers were referred to as “alagbe” (the noisemakers). With a saturated population of the “schooled” who are now too many for the industries, the deviants are now the new standard. Even if we still live with the archaic mind-set of education as the best legacy, people are now more comfortable with wanting to produce the next Osimhen, the next WizKid, the next Funke Akindele and maybe the next Mr Macaroni.

    And oh okay, we are also pushed towards technology now. Tech is the new realm of the billionaires. If you wish to be among the emerging Bill Gates, Elon Musks and Mark Zuckerbergs of this world who had left school at the time we were still talking about education as the best legacy, yes, try tech.

    This satellite education that tries to find where the world network is will at best produce successful people but cannot engender national development. An educational system that will bring about national development and transformation will take the peculiarities and realities of the nation into cognizance. Such education will not push its values into extinction. A functional education will enlighten and accustom its citizenry with the indigenous values and resources that can be leveraged for national development.

    Until it was publicised this year that King Charles was going to be drinking herbs as opposed to having chemotherapy, many supposedly educated Nigerians think lowly of herbs; a natural gift that could have been factored into our education. It bothers no one that we can make a video call to someone on our mobile phones. That’s clearly technology. But we do not wish to have a conversation around how someone can be summoned from a pot in Nigeria. It is not strange to travel from Lagos to any part of Europe in airplane in six hours. That’s the power of invention. But we cannot make anything out of the natural disappearing power that is available in the natural science of the Yoruba and other Nigerian tribes. The story of  Onesimus, an African man who was instrumental in the mitigation of the impact of a smallpox outbreak in Boston, Massachusetts resulting in the variolation method of inoculation, should be an inspiration into how what we possess as Nigerians can form the basis of our true education and liberate us.

    Like the Yoruba proverb which says what is being looked for in Sokoto (State) is right in the ṣòkòtò (pocket), Nigerian educationists and policy makers must look inward to design curricular that will reflect us, suit us and develop us as a country.

    • Ganiu Bamgbose, PhD – Lagos State University, Ojo.

  • Freed children! Stop Nigeria’s ‘Failure to Perform’

    Freed children! Stop Nigeria’s ‘Failure to Perform’

    Hurray for the release of the Kuriga, Kaduna State children and teachers. There were nationwide tears of joy, including mine. Congratulations to the president, government, the armed forces, the governor of Kaduna State and others responsible. 

    We must memorialise the valiant murdered vigilante with family support and an honour, e.g. school named after him.

    May the terrorists, their spies, promoters, defenders, mouthpieces, promoters,  supporters and bankers be arrested, tried and punished. May this be the last attack. Amen. Do not trivialise terrorism.

     The kidnap video shows the school’s state, similar to Chibok School of (little or no) science! Not an inviting learning environment to return to.

    Why is Nigeria financially disadvantaged with millions working hard lifelong?

    Nigeria has missed dedicated decisive developmental leadership, supervised monitored and the disciplined followership required to become a 2024 Sustainable Development Goals equal partner country. Instead, and despite adequate resources thrown at us by oil, shipping, airport, mining, banking and educational earnings, Nigeria stagnates, a shadow if its projected self.

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    Nigeria has chronically suffered political self-serving mediocrity manifesting as ‘developmental impotence’ and a ‘political failure to perform’. If Nigeria is the beautiful bride, the political class is just raping us, financially, leaving us with physical scars. This is recently manifest by the ‘off the mic’ or recent financial scandal in Senate raising forensic financial questions in the latest stinking and disgraceful ‘Constitutional Projects Scandal’. Read past EFCC investigation reports.  

    Past political impotence and rape have resulted in massive backlogs of unpaid pensions and salaries, electricity and water bills, genuine contractor fees and even, and quite unforgivably, unpaid  counterpart funds for Basic Primary Education Board jeopardising brain development, future career choice and earning ability.

    This massively incompetent and impotent pathetic but politically widespread approach has not only been detrimental and actually stagnated development nationwide. There is no proper supervision to make sure everyone at each point in government is doing the correct job in time and as-and-when-due or maintaining and improving standards.

    So now instead of multiplying, the water taps in homes and streets in the 1960s have dried up for years. Instead of 60-100Kw power, we have 2-5Kw and every home is condemned to an environmentally murderous generator. School libraries are mostly a memory of grandparents, not even parents. School sports are mostly theoretical.

    Without pensions and salaries, the famed Nigerian Extended Family, the real traditional and historically first bank in Nigeria, has been murdered. This has destroyed the financial, social and moral fabric of the Nigerian extended family. Youth sneer at, disrespect and disobey un-providing parents and grandparents who, salary and pension-less, cannot even buy sweets for them.

    This greed-driven approach has allowed those impotent and corrupt leaders, and their followers to identify a lot to steal in 100s of billions of naira. If that money had been properly disbursed, remitted and spent as-and-when-due, monthly, there would never have been any single  steal-able mountain of N100m, N500m, N1,000,000,000, N100,000,000,000 i.e. N100b  scattered throughout Nigerians MDAs and banks. Even presidential ticket forms and then copycat kidnap demands are now N100m.

    If they did everything right according to their sworn obligation to the General Orders of government schedule imposed on the citizenry, the money would have been spent correctly and there would have been nothing to steal. 

    If bills and debts are unpaid by the leadership as-and-when-due, all defaulters will automatically run into trouble. This is the golden rule of fortune and misfortune in life and government budgets. How dare government agencies owe years of electricity bills? EFCC must charge past defaulting office holders for dereliction of fiscal duty.

     Nigeria’s financial woes started long ago. The political class’s greedy sense of ‘assets entitlement’ not ‘assets management and maximum service delivery’ changed them from custodians of public funds and day-to-day government running, into corrupt criminal monstrous  ‘masters of our money’.  

    ‘WHAT CAN I DO FOR MYSELF? 

    ‘SELF(ISH) DEVELOPMENT’ cannot lead to the ‘DEVELOPMENT OF ALL OTHERS’ which is the only key to developmental success. They deliberately dismantled, diverted and disabled many essential maintenance schemes inherited from the colonialists. Their failure to perform, a form of impotence, resulted in the ‘systematic deterioration’ in our infrastructure. 

    This failure to perform was manifest first by the politician’s greedy nature demanding generators and fuel forever, borehole water, police security and several allowances and money for mansion(s). Every family subsequently became a Local Government. The political class rejected denigrated professional advice on maintenance and needed infrastructural expansion to empower the development agenda. This destruction of first-class civil service and private sector culture of maintenance resulted in countrywide destruction of road, rail, water, electricity and building infrastructure. The maintenance money disappeared as did our dream of a Great Nigeria.

    Simply by not being on seat to sign payment vouchers, evil persons can accumulate billions in banks which pay huge finders fees and the same money can be delayed, diverted and ‘disappeared’.  Of course, Nigeria had and has honest leaders and followers. But one thieving person or politician who withholds a cheque and boldly gets away with it, or is promoted after stealing, inspires others.

    A stolen N100b ruins millions, cripples and disgraces governments and reverses development.

    To recover quickly, requires politicians, officials, banks, indeed all Nigerians to stop stealing in 2024.

    Remember Nigeria’s money, especially in budget 2024, is insufficient for the needs of service delivery and also the greed of political democrazy stealing.

     Just stop!

  • Nigeria is in God’s hands, says Bishop

    Nigeria is in God’s hands, says Bishop

    The Bishop of Ibadan North Anglican Diocese, Rt. Reverend Williams Aladekugbe have called on Nigerians to walk with God to overcome the current hardship.

    The cleric gave the charge during the Diocesan Board Meeting at the Conference Hall, Diocesan Headquarters, Moyede, Ibadan.

    According to the Bishop, God is in full control of Nigeria’s situations and ready to answer prayers “if we play our own part by being economically productive, serve God with holiness and purity of heart, be selfless, incorruptible, make simplicity our watchword and above all, be disciplined in all our ways.,”

    The cleric further admonished Nigerians to abstain from giving excuses when they go astray but obey God. 

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    He appealed to Nigerians especially Christians to be their brothers and sisters keepers and come to the aid of the needy in the society to reduce untimely death occurring on daily basis as a result of poverty and insecurity.

    He commiserated with the people of Ibadan and Oyo State in general on the death of Olubadan of Ibadanland, Oba Lekan Balogun. 

    He congratulated the Olubadan-Designate, Oba Owolabi Olakulehin.