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Tag: Nigerian

Which way Nigeria?

Browsing through the internet these days throws up interesting news stories from the educative to the bizarre ones, depending on which of these stories tickle your fancy. For this writer, stories on sports excite me with particular interests in football and cricket. A few times tennis, especially when the Williams sisters (Venus and Serena not forgetting their father), held court in the women’s game. One of my younger brothers introduced golf to me and I’ve taken an interest in watching the elite game with plenty of differences and a lot to cheer about, only if you know the rules.

For soccer lovers, we are thrilled with fallouts from scenes not captured by the human eye, but which make for interesting reading for readers, with more videos to show how the game can be made beautiful with proper planning. Stories and pictures capturing how winners emerged and the losers made to rue their misfortunes during the 2023/2024 football season litter the internet.

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Watching football being played the proper way albeit the Manchester City style can be entertaining. It can also be fascinating with the Cityzens having 83 % possession against West Ham’s 17 % at the Etihad Stadium, with some delusionary Gunners’ fans wishing that such a game could cause severe pain to the hosts. No way. As they say in pidgin English ”monkey no dey jump go back.”

Watching soccer on television can be educative through live commentaries where we were told that since the 1889s we witnessed two teams qualify for the finals of the English FA Cup consecutively when it became apparent that Manchester City had won the Premier League diadem four times consecutively. Manchester City’s FA Cup final against Manchester United enters the annals of the English game at dusk inside the magnificent Wembley Stadium in England.

No clash in dates with any other domestic games nor was there any postponement because one of the venues had been earmarked at short notice for non-football competitions. Dates, venues, and other logistics towards making the biggest two soccer competitions in England a spectacle to behold had been programmed since last season. Need I state here that the two competitions’ commencement dates and when they end have already been known? No club alters the timetable of the English game except in very rare cases. Even at that new dates are announced quickly and the postponed games are played as agreed. No club takes the game to the equivalent of a Sports Minister in England to adjudicate. Never. A clear case of government interference. Not so in Nigeria where we are experts in peddling influence.

It is the reason the Premier League runs its calendar from the first week of August to the middle of May the following year religiously. The import of this adherence to the competition’s calendar is that it affords the players ample time to rest their limbs and treat nagging injuries that require urgent surgery before the new season begins. It is also the reason there are two transfer windows for European clubs to strengthen their squads by buying good players bearing in mind the pitfalls of the PPF rules.

In Nigeria, we pay lip service to such adherence to the stipulated calendar, making the Nigeria Premier League perhaps the only domestic league in the world still in session, though the Spanish La Liga ends this weekend with Real Madrid proud winners for the 36th time.

Back to the English game. Tottenham’s manager Ange Postecoglou was stunned to his bone marrow listening to Spurs’ fans urging their players to lose a crucial home game to the eventual Premier League winners. The manager couldn’t stomach the crass madness exhibited by the fans, he walked towards them to express his utter disbelief and disgust over the unsportsmanlike conduct.

“That’s probably the worst experience I’ve had as a football manager in a game,” Postecoglou said.

“Once I realised I’d got it wrong in terms of what the atmosphere was going to be like and what people felt, I got a real anxiety within me of, ‘What happens if Man City, the best team in the world, who were disposing of teams quite easily in the lead-up, what if we play as well as we can but they beat us 5-0?’

“I got cold sweats thinking about people questioning my integrity and the people I work with. Even watching the game back, there was a comment on the commentary, ‘Oh, Tottenham are having a real go here’.

The pomp and ceremony associated with the events around the last day of the league explains why the corporate world fall over each other to associate their brands and services with the beautiful game in England. The last day of the EPL was such that Arsenal could dethrone the eventual winners Manchester City if the defending champions didn’t beat West Ham at the Etihad. Pundits had correctly tipped Arsenal to beat Everton at the Emirates Stadium in the same way as the champions.

But Arsenal fans prayed fervently for Man City to slip off with many people wishing that Arsenal dethrones the champions. As the parlance goes ”if wishes were horses, beggars would ride.” It didn’t happen. Arsenal and Man City won their last games. Yet, what struck this writer, not for the first time, was the ease with which the organisers prepared themselves for the trophy presentation to the eventual winners. It didn’t matter if the two matches were played in different cities. This was a spectacle that was worthy to behold as the two games in Manchester and London had their twists and turns for 98 minutes, extra time inclusive.

Man City players enjoyed the ambiance around the stadium while celebrating with the trophy. Of course, sponsors of the league enjoyed more than a fair share of exposures from the telecast of the game and pictures and visuals captured by photographers and television cameras folks present at the stadium last Sunday.

What stood the English game out on Sunday was the ease with which fans at one venue followed happenings at venues whose results affected the fortunes positively or negatively. In fact watching the Man City game against the Hammers, you could see if and when a goal was scored at the stadium where Gunners at a time the game were trailing by a deflected goal. Most fans were glued to their phones or other communication gadgets streaming the games of their interest.

One wonders how NFF chieftains sell the domestic league to intended firms when matches are not live on match day or could be streamed online to be abreast with the trends and results anywhere in the world. The interconnectivity during such periods is massive and companies would want to leverage their goods and services on such platforms. Imagine the figures companies would be willing to splash for such global exposure of their products to their targeted audience – the masses.

Not so in Nigeria because of parochial interests. Playing the league without television coverage amounts to winking in the dark. Perhaps, the NFF could instruct all the teams to record their matches and submit a copy of the tapes to the NFF’s secretariat for them to watch and give judgment where there is the need for such an action. The NFF President Ibrahim Gusau

could reach out to all the parties to arrive at a workable template for television rights that would take cognisance of the interests of the true owners of the business. Court!

May 25, 2024
Nigerian universe entrapped in crisis
- By Oluwole Ogundele
It is time to begin the exercise of re-engineering our fragile country, Nigeria. This is a geo-polity closely intertwined with maximalism and minimalism. In this connection, maximalism means negative foreign influences, while minimalism is an encapsulation of local challenges arising largely from a poor leadership culture. Such a poor governance system is devoid of patriotism and/or sophisticated, critical philosophies. Nigeria is in dire need of a knowledge-based leadership system that respects the feelings, sensitivities, and aspirations of the people. This is a pre-condition for sustainable development. By this token, erudition and sound judgement of the political class matter a great deal. Power belongs to the people!

Maximalism, in my opinion, can be significantly tamed in the face of profound service to humanity at the local level. Nobody is in doubt about the fact, that the West and parts of Asia especially China are basically interested in cheaply tapping the natural resources of Nigeria. This exploitative, reactionary ideology hereby christened, neo-colonial paternalism, is yet to be seriously addressed by the Nigerian political leaders, from the eve of independence to the ethnographic present. This makes sustainable economic development an impossibility. I do not think that this should be an insurmountable problem, in the face of some strong determination and drive to break away from the ugly political past.

Nigerian political class members must begin to ask themselves fundamental questions bordering on the purpose of governance, within the sphere of fine-grained humanity and by extension, godliness. Healthy humanity is anchored to a high level of idealism as opposed to materialism. Wisdom is what separates us from the lower animals. But unfortunately, most Nigerian politicians and their business associates believe that idealism amounts to stupidity. Consequently, they continue to have a fetish about exotic vehicles and luxury mansions as well as other ephemeral pleasures. These things happen at the expense of the workers (private and public), the unsung producers of the national wealth, being voraciously consumed by a few Nigerians, masquerading as leaders.

Today, the political class members have graduated from stealing millions to billions of naira and even trillions. According to an article written by Chatham House, which was published in the Economist in October 2019, more than $1 billion seized from Sani Abacha’s bank accounts, had been re-stolen, not by ghosts but some Nigerian politicians. This is just a tip of the iceberg! Indeed, a former UK Prime Minister- David Cameron described Nigeria in 2016, as a fantastically corrupt geo-polity. Cameron was not an idle talker.

It is on record, that approximately $582 billion had been stolen from Nigeria since 1960. Painfully, the raping of beautiful mother Nigeria goes on unabated. In fact, EFCC said that $20 trillion or thereabouts had been looted from our national treasury by the political class between 1960 and 2005. Chatham House was of the opinion, that $1.3 trillion public funds were laundered between 2011 and 2015. Corruption has become a popular tradition in this country. The political class members do not care a hoot about the feelings or sensitivities of the led.

It is important to mention here, that Nigeria has the lowest budgets for education in the West African sub-region. While other West African countries are having education budgets ranging between 15 and 32 percent, Nigeria despite its abundant natural resources and robust human capital, has between 4.5 and 7 percent allocations for education.

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My humble advice to PBAT is that governmental priorities must be right. Corruption has to be fought with all the seriousness it deserves. Government should disengage from pilgrimage affairs. Former President Muhammadu Buhari abolished the practice of dollar concession in 2017. In the process, government was able to save about N75 billion. What is government’s business with religious tourism, especially in today’s Nigeria defined and ruled by unprecedented, aggravated material poverty? Nigeria can no longer afford this luxury. What is the justification for constructing fly-overs and repainting residential quarters of some top government officials with billions of naira?

This is a country where retirees are shabbily treated as they wait endlessly for their gratuities and monthly pensions. In fact, some states are yet to pay the gratuities of 2018 retirees. Retirement is gradually becoming a death sentence in the country. Why are the leaders so detached from the led who voted them into power? Demons are let loose!

The future of Nigeria is bleak because the youth are growing up in a rotten, smelly social environment, where looting of public treasury has become an acceptable tradition. Nigeria, despite the showmanship of our leaders, has failed to evolve from savagery into civilisation.

Therefore, I’m using this medium to plead with President Bola Tinubu, not to spend some of the accruals from pension schemes to do governmental projects. More of the stolen public funds can be recovered and used for governmental operations. The Nigerian system, over the years, has not been treating retirees with dignity. This is most worrying! Government cannot convince the ordinary people that this new policy will work in Nigeria, given its socio-political and economic peculiarities. Nigeria is different from the US and Europe, where there is a great deal of confidence between the leaders and the led. The dynamics are dissimilar. We should stop deceiving ourselves. This administration needs to exhibit the highest ethical standards, before the people can naturally begin to trust the leadership. Failed promises by past administrations were/are an encumbrance to trust worthiness. The led are not moronic.

This government should focus much more on people-sensitive projects and programmes. Nigerian leaders down the ages are known for treating the citizens with contempt. This is a reflection of monumental savagery. PBAT has to change this ugly scenario in the interest of posterity. Despite the current economic hardships, the Nigerian lawmakers are still talking about creating new states. Why should we be creating more states now, as if that is the panacea for socio-economic development in Nigeria? Additional states would certainly mean more stresses and strains for the already beleaguered economy. The led would continue to groan as the political elite group loots the public treasury. Again, we have to stop the establishment of more caricatured higher institutions. Politicisation of education is at variance with robust knowledge productions. The Ministry of Education with a special emphasis on the National Universities Commission (NUC) needs to strengthen the old institutions in order to achieve high standards. Stop making a mockery of higher education! Be patriotic!

PBAT inherited a thoroughly troubled geo-polity. But he has started the process of creating a new Nigeria of our dreams. However, those around him (especially the ministers and members of the National Assembly) should not subtly or otherwise sabotage his efforts. He needs to navigate the ship in the ocean of maximalism and of course, minimalism, with some considerable amount of sophistication. PBAT cannot do it alone! He has to stop imposing more taxes on the citizens. Nigerians have made enough sacrifices. Mr. President should recover some of the stolen monies, and spend them on projects that would positively enrich the hearts and souls of the people. This is accomplishable!

•Prof Ogundele is of Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Ibadan.
May 24, 2024
Milnapath wins Bayelsa, Abuja & Lagos…Live Pure returns

Whether an economy is livid, languid, tumultuous, famishing or azure, lively, healthy, peaceful, uplifting and up-building, whoever will drown or float in it will do. It is not a question of the wickedness or of the friendliness of an economy. It is the degree of the heaviness or of the lightness or the player in it. Heavy persons tend to see no way out of harm’s way, whereas every way is an escape route from trouble for light persons. From this premise, I want to tell two stories today. One of them appears to still be legally immature and, therefore, unsafe to tell. So, about it I say… Hush! The other concerns a Nigerian company which has successfully replaced many foreign herbal medicinal supplements with local ones in Bayelsa State and, from that humble beginning in Nigeria’s choking economy, has made a brave go for Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory (FCT), and Lagos, Nigeria’s economic and commercial nerve centre. That smacks of the proverbial mortal man fearlessly treading over where angels fear to fly. It is still about heaviness or denseness, that is sinking or drowning and lightness or floating and soaring and fluttering like a butterfly. Something is prompting me to tell a third story, to compensate for the first one which flew out of the window.

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The second story is about Milnapath. The compensatory story is about Live Pure, a food supplement company from the United States, which had been here before, but, proverbially, put worms and maggots in the stomach of many of its affiliate distributors, threw them away like dirty, old socks or bras, and went back to America, only to indirectly return to Nigeria for business through Ghana, thereby making Ghanaians business bosses of Nigerians!

MILNAPATH

Milnapath recently got my attention in Abuja, where it had just celebrated one successful year in business, handing brand new cars to key players in its multi-level marketing business. Car gifts may dazzle new market players, they do not turn the heads which have voyaged on many lagoons and oceans. Business durability is what matters to old cargoes. Milnapath’s success wasn’t surprising to me. Its products are made from local raw materials and were, therefore, not intensely dollarised, making them cheaper than pharmaceutical products which were costing about 10 times more than they did a few months ago. Besides, many of the pharmaceutical products are now fake. Already, the authorities have shut down more than 300 patent medicine stores and pharmacies in Jos, the Plateau State capital, over this syndrome.

Neither the climate nor the weather is faring well for the foreign herbs and food supplements’ sky-line. I could never have believed that Neprinol, the tumour breaker, which cost between N20,000 and N30,000 last year, would hit more than N200,000 this month. Only last year, my favourite tea, the world’s first Alkaline Coffee made by Nature’s Way in the United States and marketed worldwide by Alliance in Motion Global (AIM GLOBAL or ALLIANCE) from the Philippines cost N6,000.But today, it goes for more than N20,000. What about Ubiquinol which rose from about N40,000 for 90 soft gels to more than N100,000? If I may describe as “shylock” economic forces behind Neprinol and Ubiquinol of today, I would describe as “prodigal” the directors of the once-thriving foreign company, Live Pure, who are trying to stage a return to the Nigerian market they once bastardised.

MILNAPATH

The plant medicines from Bayelsa State made by a company named Milnapath, an acronym (Milellum Nature Path) is said by the company to be a “new way to nature’s abundance”.

There are seven medicinal proprietary blends/products in its kitty, namely:

GYNOCARE…

For…”Female hormone balance, yeast infection and irregular menstruation”.

NAKOM OIL…

For…” Asthma therapy and to dissolve ovarian cyst”.

DETOX PLUS

For…”Body cleansing”.

GLUCO CARE….”To keep pancreas active, to increase metabolism, for heart care and blood glucose level”.

REJUVENATE STEM CELL

For …”Wrinkles and stress, mental clarity, fight cancer, immune boosting, weight loss and to relieve arthritis pain”.

CARDRDIO CARE

For…” Brain health, blood circulation, Parkinson’s disease and seizures, heart attack and stroke and for cardio issues”.

D-MAN

For…”To boost sperm count, libido, handles impotence and arrests premature ejaculation”.

I hope that, sooner than later, it would be possible to review contents of these products, for the hood does not make the monk. In natural medicines, it is the content, not just the name, which tells us what a medicine may be up to.

FOREIGN SUPPLEMENTS

We should not deceive ourselves. Foreign food supplements companies are in Nigeria for enlightened self interest, not on charity or on humanitarian grounds. They price their products well above market values at about N2,000 to the U.S. Dollar, pay their affiliate marketers bonuses rated at about N1000 to the USD, instead of about N1,400 or more on this publication date of May 23, 2024, keep the balance for re-orders or future import budget, thereby making no additional investment to keep the business running. When there is going to be a hitch, they quietly leave the market as Live Pure did about one or two years ago. That is why the products are scarce and shelf prices are outrageous today. The trend was predicted towards the end of the 1990s, when I began my newspaper reports promoting multi-level marketing (MLM), a job creator for a growing army of unemployed Nigerians. We had been dependent on government and multi-national companies for jobs which were no longer forthcoming. Now, we had to learn to become independent workers. Many MLM companies trooped in from abroad. Among them were G.N.L.D, Tianshi, Forever Living Products (FLP), Tasly, Green World, Nutri Health, Kedi, Fohow, Longrich, Norland, Edmark, Tahitian Noni, Dynapharm, Nature’s Gift For Life (NG4), and Eternal, among others. Some of them, like Tiansh, sold small dosages for the price of larger dosages. I still recall my shock at discovering that I had to swallow 12 tablets of Tianshi Zinc for only 15mg of this mineral whereas Nature’s Way, a direct sales company from the U.S. sold one 50mg of zinc capsule or tablet for a price much less than Tianshi’s 15mg. Alliance products were often no more than 10 capsules per blister pack at prices that, equated to 90 capsules or softgels for one month’s order, far exceeded the prices of standard packaging.

My defence of such anomalies then was that we had to pay a price to learn, to grow and to become our own masters. I gained this insight from my first visit to Europe in 1979. I was lucky to visit the site of a stone storey building where Bethoven was said to have written his music and directed his orchestra. I visited, also, another building where Handel was said to have written and directed The Messiah between August 22nd 1741 and September 17th 1801. These were great classical musicians. I thought about the state of housing in my village then. Had the missionaries not come, would we have been able to live in the types of houses in which we live today? In Lagos today, there are houses better than Buckingham Palace, home of the King and Queen of England, and 10 Downing Street, official residence of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. I was privileged to live on Femoy Street, London, where two bedrooms shared an only bathroom and water closet. I haven’t lived in such a house since 1990! There is no doubt forces of religion, business, and politics exploited the civilising mission of the envangelising missionaries and fighters of slave trade such as William Wilberforce. The bottom line, nevertheless, shows a profit balance in the ledgers of our people.

That was how I foresaw the onslaught of MLM in Nigeria of the 1990s. It taught us to remember our traditional medicines and to build our own MLM around them. It took me almost one week to register with Katine Communications under the bridge at Ikeja, Lagos, to sell cosmetic products called Carrot, which were made from Diatomaceous Earth (DE or Diatom). Katine Communications, a previous recharge card selling business, took Carrot products all over Nigeria, selling a million units of the products every day, before differences with the producing company killed the business. After Katine and Carrot came several others, including Friends of Nature which was domiciled at Gowon Estate, near Ipaja, Lagos. The CEO killed the promising business in my view, by reneging on agreements. One of them was that a distributor could earn the moon, even the sun, with the personal purchase of only one product every month.

One of the affiliate distributors, Edith Njoku, had no marketing gift but was a great organiser for recruiting marketers…. She disappeared as it were to the Southeastern states and to Port Harcourt in the Southsouth and grew down-lines by the thousands. When the cheque for her bonus was written and the CEO discovered she bought a product valued at only N200 for the month, he developed cold feet about paying her almost half a million naira. I remember him asking if anyone had heard of N200 yielding N500,000 anywhere on earth. The woman, a house girl all her young life, became agitated, tampered with some computers, and the police were called to take her away for a few days. All the affiliate marketers quit in protest, and the company failed.

MILNAPATH HOPE

My hope is that Milnapath will not let us down. Nigeria is a huge traditional and alternative medicine market. There are many plant medicines in the bushes, thickets and forests than we can identify for generations. Diatom is abundant in Bayelsa State and in the Southeast. It is not purified before it is eaten, and that is dangerous. It is called Nzu. In the days of the Goodluck Jonathan administration, this column suggested this would be a great gift he would give his people if he helped them to set up factories to conveniently mine and purify Nzu, which could then be marketed world-wide. At that time, the Canadians wished to sell theirs in Nigeria. I declined to be a party to that. All that we lack in order to seize the initiative is technology. Money is abundant. The only trouble is that politicians who are afraid to invest in Nigeria, money that they stole from Nigeria, believe other thieves like them will consume their investment. I once toyed with the idea of a small freeze drying machine in the U.K. It cost about €3 million then. With it, anything can be turned into powder with long shelf life and marketed everywhere. Name them – orange, orange peels, plantain, plantain peels, tomato, corn, okra, carrot, garden eggs, yam, mushroom, bitter leaf, ewedu (jute mallow), vegetables, peppers, cassava, nuts, etc. Are the governors listening?

Live Pure returns

Live Pure never really came to Nigeria, although it was in this country and did business with us. It ran on a business model which many MLM companies employ to minimise cost and maximise profit, The Independent Business Developer (IBD). This fellow is like the ‘Property Developer’ we are familiar with. He develops your property, shares the rent with you for a while and then goes his way when his purse is well stuffed. Ben Peter may have been an IBD for Live Pure in Nigeria.

An IBD in Nigeria protects the business owners far away against capital risks in an unknown terrain. He sets up the “company” with his own money. He is not a stupid fellow though. He appoints stockists of his products among Nigerians. These are the fellows who really fund operations. He gives them mouth-watering commissions for interfacing as wholesalers between him (and the company abroad) and the retailers (independent marketers or distributors). The IBD receives commission on every item sold in the country. He may lower business terms to speedily achieve his goal or, hand the business over to his principal and move on to open newer national markets. In Nigeria, the Live Pure IBD omitted Annual Subsciption in the terms of business to quickly grow the business. The subscription is compulsory in many Euro- American MLM businesses. At the end of the business year, the independent distributors “drop something” as we say in Nigeria, to continue to be in business with the company for another year. This may be as little as $100 USD. It may be a little drop of water in the U.S. where many of them make a “mighty profit ocean” but it is a big deal in a poor country. Imagine a company with one million distributors worldwide. $100 a year will amount to $100 million or N1,400,000,000,000 at Nigeria’s current exchange rate of about N1,400 to one USD. This is “profit after profit “or second-level profit.

Live Pure IBD let go annual subscription in the business to encourage business growth and hammered it into the business when the “cooking” was done with. It was a third major blow for independent Nigerian distributors before the company crashed out of business in this country. The first major blow was the abandonment of foreign tours for high flyers among them. The IBD did not envisage rapid business growth. About three times more distributors than were anticipated qualified. Happily, for the IBD, this was in COVID 19 season which was an opportunity to down scale foreign trips of the value of more than N5 million per person in cash or travel expense to about N500,000 per person. “Hungry” Nigerians jubilated nevertheless and enjoyed the crumbs. The next major blow was the abandonment of the STtockist business model. I am aware of a stockist who invested about N10 million on Live Pure warehousing. Imagine about 1,000 of such persons nation-wide. That must have meant about N10,000,000,000. That may have amounted to N10 billion cheap business capital provided the IBD by stockists.

Suddenly, the IBD abrogated the stockists’ position to directly interface with the market on an electronic platform backed with a grandiose motor bike courier delivery logistics programme. Stockists were stuck with stocks that could expire in their warehouses should they not drop prices. On top of all those financial problems for stockists, the IBD suddenly packed bag and baggage, and was gone. The Live Pure business in Nigeria collapsed. Surprisingly, the IBD tried, but failed, to introduce to Nigeria new products from another company believed to be theirs.

Now, the Live Pure business is on a rebound, however, from Ghana. It is possible the IBD has gone to open the Ghanaian market which is expected, through remote control, to drive the much bigger Nigerian market and make commission on every Live Pure product brought into Nigeria. This would also make Ghanaian up lines of Nigerians who would have to reregister under Ghanaians to do Live Pure business in Nigeria. Worst still for Nigerians, Ghanaians, buying and selling less in Ghana, would now earn biggers bonuses from the labour of Nigerians. In order words, Nigerians are going to be financial slaves of Ghanaians. This will be one of the drains on Nigeria’s U.S. Dollar earnings and push down the value of the Naira. As of today, the old-time Nigerian stockists are heading to Ghana to stock up Live Pureproducts from Ghanaian stockists, making the head become the foot, as we are wont to say in a YORUBA adage.

LOCAL PRODUCTS

It is against a background such as this that I found exciting the information that a sprouting of local Nigerian food supplements has erupted again, with MILNAPATH appearing to take the lead. I asked my wife, who lives in Abuja, to watch many of them, and give me an idea of what is happening up there.

She reports:

1) The Spice House Ltd, Olive Estate, Satellite Town, Lagos:

•Bay Leaves •Ceylon Cinnamon •Moringa Leaves Powder

2) GOTEA, Ilupeju Industrial Estate: •Cholesterol Reducing Tea •Immunity Tea •Eyebright Herbal Tea •Arthritis Herbal Tea

•Blood Sugar Balance Tea

3) Jamdah Worldwide Ltd, Sharada Phase 2, Industrial Area, Kano: •DAHIR Curry Powder •Black Seed Powder

4) Off Abacha Rd, Nasarawa State: •DIOGO Pure Soya

5) Rice Mill Rd, Gboko, Benue State: •Turmeric Powder

6) National Technology Incubation Centre, Farm Centre, Tarai LGA, Kano State: •Thyme

7) Toa Agro Allied Services Ltd, Dawanau Mkt, Katsina Rd, Kano: •Black Pepper Powder

8) Little Mayfield, Jos: •GOTEA-Antidiabetic Tea •Organic Kidney Tea

9) Vital Quest Nigeria Ltd, Yusuf Doma St, Kaduna: •Premium Black Tea

10) Home Affairs Organic Products, Mbubu Industrial Area, Imo State: •Mistletoe Tea

For this column, I thank my wife for linking me up with Zainab Ademola who works with Milnapath in Abuja. Zainab is herself a distributor of the products. This is indeed a critical time, hopefully, for an opportunity to monitor the growth of these new Nigerian plant medicines MLM company at a time we seriously need many of them in the economy. We should encourage them.

May 23, 2024
Nigerian scapegoat pepper-soup

Sir: In many societies, the “blame game” is a prevalent phenomenon where individuals and groups deflect responsibility for societal problems onto others. This tendency is particularly pronounced in Nigeria, where political, economic, and social issues are often attributed to a myriad of scapegoats rather than being addressed through constructive solutions.

A politician starts out in PDP, joins APC, and then blames PDP, he leaves and moves to LP and blames both PDP and APC, along the line he goes back to PDP and says that he has gone back to where his heart!

That’s why blamers like the former vice president and his once upon a time running mate and presidential candidate of the LP are stopping the blame to plan a game.

Nigeria’s colonial history has left deep scars, with the artificial creation of the Nigerian state leading to persistent ethnic and regional divisions. These divisions have been exploited by politicians, fostering a culture of blame rather than unity.

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Another fact is widespread corruption and ineffective governance which has eroded public trust in institutions. Politicians and public officials often shift blame to avoid accountability for their failures, perpetuating a cycle of corruption and inefficiency.

Moreover, Nigeria’s wealth is unevenly distributed, leading to significant economic disparities. This inequality fuels resentment and finger-pointing, with different groups blaming each other for their economic woes. I listened only recently to a governor in the south-south (another aberration resulting from the blame game) crying foul about how oil wealth is shared by all but no one sees the mineral wealth of the north. In this blame game, no one is held accountable for the wealth waste.

Nigerian politicians frequently engage in identity politics, using ethnicity, religion, and regionalism to deflect blame and rally support. This manipulation deepens societal divisions and distracts from addressing core issues.

The blame game has several detrimental consequences for Nigeria:

The focus on blame rather than solutions hampers progress. Critical issues such as infrastructure development, education, and healthcare are neglected as leaders and citizens engage in finger-pointing.

Persistent blame-shifting erodes trust in institutions and leadership. When leaders fail to take responsibility, public confidence in governance diminishes, leading to apathy and disengagement. The blame game exacerbates social divisions, deepening ethnic, religious, and regional cleavages. This fragmentation undermines national cohesion and makes collective action more challenging.

By deflecting blame, corrupt individuals and institutions evade accountability. This perpetuates a culture of impunity, where corrupt practices go unchecked and unpunished.

Addressing the blame game in Nigeria requires a multifaceted approach.

Strengthening institutions to hold leaders accountable is crucial. This includes enhancing the judiciary, anti-corruption agencies, and oversight bodies to ensure that public officials are answerable for their actions. Efforts to promote national unity and reduce ethnic and religious tensions are essential. This can be achieved through inclusive governance, equitable resource distribution, and initiatives that foster intergroup dialogue and understanding.

Political leaders must be encouraged to focus on solutions rather than blame. This involves cultivating a culture of responsibility and service, where leaders prioritize the common good over personal or partisan interests.

Educating and empowering citizens to engage in the political process can reduce the tendency to blame. An informed and active citizenry can hold leaders accountable and demand better governance.

Media and public commentators should prioritize constructive dialogue over sensationalism. Responsible journalism and public discourse can shift the focus from blame to solutions, fostering a more productive national conversation.

The blame game in Nigeria is a pervasive and deeply ingrained phenomenon that hinders progress and perpetuates division. Addressing it requires a concerted effort to promote accountability, foster unity, encourage responsible leadership, empower citizens, and improve public discourse. By moving beyond the blame game, Nigeria can unlock its potential and build a more cohesive, prosperous, and just society.

•Prince Charles Dickson,

<pcdbooks@gmail.com>

May 20, 2024
I have faith in Nigerian project–Ex-Imo First Lady

A former First Lady of Imo State and Founder of the ‘She Needs A Root’” programme, Dr. Nneoma Nkechi Okorocha has called on Nigerians to have faith in their country despite the challenges it faces.

Reiterating her love and faith in the Nigerian project, Mrs. Okorocha encouraged all Nigerians to believe in their country. “I have faith in Nigeria and the Nigerian project. We must submit to God, remain prayerful, and embrace peace and love for one another,” she said.

Speaking to newsmen at her residence in Owerri, Imo State capital, Mrs. Okorocha emphasized the importance of mutual tolerance, peace, and understanding, regardless of tribal, ethnic, or religious background. “Nothing positive can thrive without peace,” she stressed.

When asked about her political ambitions, Mrs. Okorocha denied having any current plans, but left room for the future, saying, “I am not God, and only He knows what tomorrow holds.”

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She also dismissed the notion that politics is a dirty game, emphasizing that it should be about serving the people and making a positive impact on their lives.

Reflecting on her time in office, Mrs. Okorocha expressed no regrets, stating that she focused on addressing the challenges faced by women and children at the grassroots level without interfering in governance.

Expressing gratitude to God for guiding her husband’s tenure as governor, Mrs. Okorocha advised serving first ladies to understand the challenges of their husbands’ office to enable them to succeed.

She said that since leaving office five years ago, she has continued to support indigent women through her programme, SNARP.

May 12, 2024
Nigerians’ nightmare

It’s been a little more than a week since Nigeria’s old nightmare crept upon us again. Never mind the usual rationalisations much of which range from plain asinine to the heinous about why OPEC’s leading producer of crude can’t get petrol to buy, it has become, for most citizens, a familiar window into the morass to which the country has fallen. For if Nigerians are by now familiar with the utter cluelessness of that rentier entity that once prided itself as strategic national institution, the joke out there now is how that old leopard has refused to change either in essence or in character long after the name change.

Yes; even Nigerians with their infinite capacity to tolerate even the most heinous alibis must be asking themselves if indeed anything has changed between the past and the present. I am here referring to the transition of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to the so-called NNPC Ltd. For whereas Nigerians may have long complained to end about the old contraption –NNPC –its legendary corruption, opacity and lack of strategic focus; it is increasingly apparent that the successor-entity, NNPC Limited, with the same old cocktail of excuses, is proving to be no better.

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It could actually be said to be – in many respects – proving to be worse with some of the old vices mutating into new, perhaps more malignant ones! Imagine; NNPC Ltd treating Nigerians to the same old refrain about their need not to panic only because it claims it has some 1.5 billion litres of petroleum products available, enough to last for at least 30 days! Is that the issue? What of the question of how the system was overnight thrown into such degree of spasm and disequilibrium as currently being experienced across the country? Would that be too inconveniencing or self-indicting for comfort?

Most probably in the NNPC Ltd book, Nigerians are expected to accept the situation as some chance occurrence over which the corporation had little or no control! Does anyone still ask whether anything has changed?

Of course, the story out there is more complex than the NNPC Ltd has managed to put out. Surely, the number one problem is inadequate supply. As the sole importer of fuel at this time, it bears huge chunk, if not the principal responsibility for the current crisis. The fuel marketers in their emphatic push-back on the NNPC Ltd claims have since addressed the issue as forcibly as they could – which is that the country presently does not have enough fuel to go round. Outside of that, a source actually told me last week that the other factor, which no one wants to talk about, is that the NNPC Ltd, for reasons best known to it, decided to use private depots to service the system rather than its own depot for its fuel imports. The source claims that the NNPC depot would have been more robust, equitable and hence would have benefitted the system more! And so in opting for the private depots which is in fact not free, the few, mostly private but favoured outlets (with limited distribution spread) are able to access the quantity available to their heart’s delight while the others not so favoured have to pay premium to access what is on offer! In other words, a return to the same old racket where cronyism – as against market rules – rules!

See where the problem lies?

Yes, the NNPC Ltd may even have 1.5 billion litres of products or more. This, in itself, does not guarantee that the products will go round. To the extent that the distribution is still based on its preferred but curious model, the pressure is unlikely to ease anytime soon! Little wonder why the so-called black market for fuel has been thriving. Yes; yours truly bought a litre of fuel at Omu-Aran, Kwara State for N1,500 penultimate Sunday! Don’t ask me if I had a choice! I wish I had!

Now, so much for the corporation’s quest for believability; Tuesday last week, its spokesperson, Femi Soneye, had assured that the current shortage would abate by May 1. Well, that has not happened. Remember that the same corporation had sometime last year promised the December 2023 delivery date for the Port Harcourt refinery. That, too, didn’t happen. Last month, it again promised that loading by marketers from that refinery would begin. Again, Nigerians are still waiting for that to happen. Now, don’t ask me whether the other Port Harcourt refinery – the older one that is – will ever see the light of day; or the one in Warri or even Kaduna – all of which the NNPC Ltd had promised would soon come on-stream! Your guess is as good as mine!

Which of course pops up the question – why are our officials so hungry for the klieg light, even when nothing substantive are on ground to suggest a new dawn for the corporation? Hasn’t the country been sold a proverbial pig in the poke?

Someone once ask yours truly about the role of the regulator – the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA in all of these. I wish I knew! The much I know is that whereas its predecessor, the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) was once upon a time described as toothless; NMDPRA seems to have chosen to remain in the sleep mode since its establishment – leaving Nigerians to wonder if the industry’s governance framework – the Petroleum Industry Act – as sold – isn’t exactly a hoax!

That is the situation – the sum total of the unfolding national tragedy.

As for the Nigerian nightmare; don’t ask me if it will ever end. If I may put matters simply, there is, presently, no end in sight! Not with the NNPC Ltd as confused as ever about its essence! Imagine a corporation that has had a whole of its lifetime playing at the margins suddenly wanting to be everything in the industry – from upstream, midstream and downstream – all at the same time!

Even if we indulge the corporation with its fancy dream of seeking to take on the world, shouldn’t its charity rather begin with the basics – like for instance, fixing its obsolete products pipeline network so critical to its business and the industry – without which the sector will continue to limp?

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has no doubt taken a significant step to reset the industry. What is doubtful is that the current leadership actually possess the fire to give the industry not just the verve but the strategic direction that is needed at this time. Clearly, if rewards and sanctions are to have meaning in these parts, a shock therapy – from the president – may not be out of place given all that has happened in the last few days.

May 7, 2024
Nigerian Breweries to raise N600b new equity from shareholders

Nigerian Breweries (NB) Plc plans to raise N600 billion in new equity funds from existing shareholders to restructure its balance sheet and reduce its huge indebtedness.

In a regulatory filing yesterday at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX), the board of the company stated that it would request shareholders to approve a rights issue of up to N600 billion at the annual general meeting (AGM) later this month.

The board attributed the new capital raising to “the negative impact of the devaluation of the naira and the high cost of funds on the company’s capital structure, especially on the company’s debts”

According to the company, the net proceeds from the rights issue would help to reduce the huge debt burden arising from the loans and foreign exchange (forex) losses, leading to a healthier balance sheet.

“Coupled with ongoing cost savings and other operational efficiency efforts, the board is optimistic about steering the company back to the path of sustainable profitability in the near future,” the board stated.

The board has also resolved to recommend to shareholders at the AGM the increase in the company’s share capital to take care of the new shares to be allotted under the rights issue.

This move comes after the company recorded a net loss of approximately N106 billion in its 2023 full year results. The loss followed a combination of challenging economic factors ranging from heightened operational costs, continued pressure on consumer disposable income, escalating inflation rates, forex volatility, and high cost of debts, amongst others.

Managing Director, Nigerian Breweries Plc, Hans Essaadi described the rights issue as the first of its actions in its strategic recovery plan for business continuity and future growth, in the face of a persistently challenging operating environment.

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“Despite taking significant mitigating actions, the recent acceleration of the devaluation of the naira, the lack of access to hard currency, and high interest rates has led to significant pressure on the net profit of Nigerian Breweries. This is not sustainable and now is the appropriate time to repair the balance sheet by using the proceeds of the rights issue to reduce the company’s debt.

“This rights issue will allow Nigerian Breweries to deliver on its strategic objectives in line with our recovery plan, and give all our shareholders a unique opportunity to increase the number of shares they hold,” Essaadi said.

He added that the process is part of the company’s recovery plan to sustain value for its stakeholders and return the business to profitability.

“We have been here in Nigeria for more than 77 years and, while it has been challenging in recent times for many Nigerian businesses, we believe in the long-term growth of the Nigerian market as evidenced by our decision to offer this rights issue.

“We remain wholly committed to having a positive impact on our host communities and our consumers; leveraging our strong supply chain footprint; excellent execution of our route to market strategy; and our rich portfolio of longstanding and innovative beverage brands across the lager, stout, non-alcoholic malt, soft drinks, and energy drinks categories, catering to the varied preferences of our esteemed consumers,” Essaadi said.

It would be recalled that Nigerian Breweries recently added to its broad portfolio with the acquisition of an 80 per cent business stake in Distell Wines and Spirits Limited, a local business in the wines and spirits category, as a demonstration of its resilient and forward-thinking strategy to deliver long-term value creation for its shareholders and other stakeholders.

April 4, 2024
How to be a Nigerian…
- By Prince Charles Dickson
Sir: On an average, Nigeria is good; her people are a bunch of good bananas. Only a few rotten gives the whole bunch a bad look and that particular rotten smell. Nigeria ideally is one of the best places to live in. It is not a police state like so-called Western democracies…

There have been reports upon reports that if properly handled would have made Nigeria number one in most things if not everything; because if, despite all the ills of our society, we are still there as the happiest and most religious in the world…then there is a problem.

In recent times, I have watched us be reminded of the successes of Malaysia, a success that was championed and achieved simply because of purposeful leadership, leadership that had the confidence of the governed. That leadership brought about economic prosperity, industrial strength, intellectual pride and dynamism. We have discussed Singapore and for us the only thing that has poured is how our best brains and not so best have become caregivers in the UK and pouring into Canada and other places that were nowhere in the map of economic discussion only two/three decades earlier.

It was only expected that when a nation barely commits one percent of its GDP on education, we would have a collapsed Unity School set up, a crazy university system. We all weep at the situation but no one really thinks how we can have national competitiveness when the level of investment in human capital is abysmally low.

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A new Nigeria cannot unfold, with fast-paced infrastructural development, rapid push in human resource development, healthcare delivery, when universities and polytechnics enrol almost two million students yearly and graduate around 600,000, of which barely 5% has a chance of a job, the remaining 95% an unemployable bunch with redundant qualifications and there is no plan to put a halt to this. We are breeding terrorists, frustrated young men, sad mothers, senior citizens that daily curse the nation because we have refused to give them their dues.

Isn’t it intriguing and excitingly Nigerian, that this is Nigeria, the rich, poor, and everybody cries and laughs almost at the same time; the difference is the swing of the pendulum.

How can one understand the Nigerian and want to be one, when in power he loves affluence and will do anything to stay-put?

In religious matters, he will fake it; in business, his cheques will bounce. In the civil service, forget the noise of ‘Servicom’, your files will miss and only reappear at the right price. In Nigeria, you need to understand how a complainant can suddenly become a suspect and in the end a witness, yet still land in jail for a crime that was committed against him.

• Prince Charles Dickson, PhD

<pcdbooks@gmail.com>
April 4, 2024
Nigerian capital market entering a new era of global relevance, says Africa Prudential
- Shareholders get N900m dividends
Nigerian capital market is increasingly becoming a vibrant hub for domestic and global companies, opening up opportunities for the economy.

Managing Director, Africa Prudential Plc, Catherine Nwosu, said the Nigerian capital market is undergoing a significant shift, emerging as a vibrant hub for companies seeking to raise capital globally.

According to her, initiatives such as the commodities exchanges, clearing and settlement of exchange-traded derivative instruments, and the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) mark the beginning of a new era in Nigerian market’s evolution. “These changes signify increased opportunities for companies to access the funding necessary for growth and success. Our active participation in these groundbreaking initiatives showcases not only our adaptability but also our strategic expansion to reach more clients and establish a stronger market presence,” Nwosu, who leads Nigeria’s only publicly quoted share registration company, said.

Speaking at the company’s annual general meeting, which was held virtually, Nwosu said Africa Prudential has have made good progress with its ambition by actively pursuing strategic partnerships and collaborations to expand its market reach and offerings.

“We are also forging alliances with leading institutions and industry stakeholders; the company has been able to leverage synergies to access new opportunities across diverse sectors,” Nwosu said.

Shareholders at the meeting approved the distribution of N900 million as cash dividends for the 2023 business year, representing a dividend per share of 45 kobo.

The meeting was conducted virtually in accordance with Section 11 of the Business Facilitation Act, which permits public companies to hold AGMs electronically.
March 29, 2024
A Nigerian in America

Within the Nigerian community in Houston-Texas, Shola Adeoye is well-known. Through his platforms, he has helped to revive dying homes and he has helped to link people who want companions. Some days ago, the pastor-cum-medical doctor sparked a thought in me. It all started when he posted a picture of himself devouring a Nigerian dish complete with the notorious ponmo and he wrote a caption expressing his love for being a Nigerian: “Jesu, I beg you next time make sure I come back a Nigerian. I like this Naija life way you dash me so.”

A comment from one of his hordes of followers, however, made him expatiate that his preference was to be a Nigerian in America and not a Nigerian at home.

“Nigerian in America ni oooo,” he stressed.

Behind this sentiment is his love for Nigerian dishes but a vote of no confidence in Nigeria, which two-time Booker Prize finalist Chigozie Obioma described thus: “The land of lack, of man-pass-man, the land in which a man’s greatest enemies are members of his household; a land of kidnappers, of ritual killers; of policemen who bully those they encounter on the road and shoot those who don’t bribe them; of leaders who treat those they lead with contempt and rob them of their commonwealth; of frequent riots and crisis; of long strikes; of petrol shortages; of joblessness; of clogged gutters; of potholed roads…and of constant power outages.”

I am sure many Nigerians in the Diaspora won’t mind being Nigerians in Nigeria provided things work. What is the attraction outside if our country becomes the land of surplus, the land of equal opportunity, the land of where kidnappers have no place, the land where ritual killers are no more, the land where policemen are truly our friends, the land where leaders no longer rob us of our commonwealth, the land where riots are rarity, the land where long strikes and petrol shortages aren’t the norm, the land where unemployment rate is next to nothing, the land where drainage channels aren’t clogged, the land where our road networks are free from holes and a land where electricity supply isn’t epileptic?

We need to reenact those years when graduates were offered jobs with housing and car allowances. Can we get back those years when university students ate free meals? What is wrong with our country being so alluring that most people abroad for schooling will return home to start new lives even when they are given tempting offers?

Like in the years gone past, our tertiary health centres need to be global in every ramification. They need to attract the best from all over the world and be able to offer unparalleled services. Our doctors need to have the best tools to work with, and the era of them running private practice to get by should be a thing of the past.

We need to reverse the dire situation that makes our citizens ready to die trying to get to Europe through the Sahara deserts. We shouldn’t be the nation where one in three of its citizens live in poverty, which represents thirty-two per cent of the population. Thirty-seven per cent of children shouldn’t suffer from malnutrition. Half of the Nigerian population should not use unsafe or unimproved sanitation, and our position on the sustainable development goal index should be good. This situation is why a Nigerian will prefer to be a Nigerian abroad.

Nigeria is no hell, it is not. It is also not a shithole. The sense of community that we have at home is missing overseas. In this nation of my birth, people support one another. Old people have their children and members of their extended families taking care of them. Abroad, old people largely end up in old people’s people. Siblings rescue one another to pay rent and sort out other bills. Abroad, it is to your tent o Israel! Bills are crazy. What is paid as rent abroad in a year can serve as 10-year rent in Nigeria.

The loneliness abroad can sometimes be overwhelming. Not a few of our people abroad are battling depression, serious one for that matter. The individualistic approach to life overseas encourages poor mental health.

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There is something instructive we all need to know: Award-winning novelist Dr. Maik Nwosu said: “At a certain point, you will realise that no matter how long you live in America, you will always be a Nigerian. And when you come back to Nigeria, people will say that you have been away for too long. So you are no longer fully Nigerian. Before you know it, you will begin to have an in-between existence that is neither entirely Nigerian nor entirely American.” This is one of the reasons why our country has to work and work well.

As Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) ex-Deputy Governor Kingsley Muoghalu noted recently, the last decade witnessed significant devastation, characterised by a swarm of challenges such as fiscal mismanagement, unproductive external borrowing, needless budget deficits, the CBN engaging in illicit Ways & Means lending amounting to N30 trillion, and an unprecedented level of corruption. He added that misguided responses to oil price shocks, coupled with an ineffective attempt to stabilize the exchange rate, led to two recessions within seven years.

These issues, he argued, were exacerbated by a successful political assault on the central bank’s independence, resulting in the relinquishment of control to those with dubious intentions. All these must be corrected for us to have a country that can rival any other in the world.

My final take: We are tired of being a Third World country. Nigeria has all it takes to be a developed nation. We have wasted so much time developing. Now, we need to quadruple our strides.

March 15, 2024