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Tag: paradigm shift

  • Paradigm shift

    Paradigm shift

    • Gov. Mbah’s proposed 1,000MW coal-power generation is refreshingly different

    If all Enugu State is getting from the country’s national grid now is a paltry 70MW, then there is nothing wrong in describing the state government’s proposed target of 1,000MW as ambitious. This is 300MW over and above the 700MW that the government had in mind as at last year.

    But that was then. The dream is even bigger today, with the state government eyeing about 1,000MW generation capacity.

    What is more? The proposed 1,000MW is expected to be powered with coal, a mineral resource that the state has not only in abundance, but also of a high quality.

    Governor Peter Mbah disclosed the new plan as guest of the Nigerian-British Chamber of Commerce (NBCC) “Meet The Governor Series,” where he presented a business case for investing in Enugu State. The event held in Lagos on September 25.

    “Our target is to see how we can use our coal to generate at least 1,000 megawatts of power. We do have technology today that makes coal utilisation less adverse to the environment. Essentially, that is the direction for us”, the governor said at the forum.

    Enugu State may not be the first state in the country to take advantage of the further liberalisation of the power sector by the immediate past Muhammadu Buhari administration, and consolidated with the Bola Tinubu government’s Electricity Amendment Bill.

    But the state, particularly under the Mbah administration, has shown so much enthusiasm in the power sector.

    One critical factor that the state government wants to leverage on is its abundant coal deposits. This is significant in two ways: one, it speaks to the diversification of the source of power supply in the country, a thing many power consumers have always craved for.

    Second, it puts into use a nearly-forgotten mineral resource that the south eastern part of the country was renowned for: coal. And the governor has rightly noted that they would no longer treat the resource as a “stranded asset” without adequate compensation.

    We are happy to note Gov. Mba’s efforts to get his state off the national grid which has become antiquated and inadequate to cope with the demands of a power-starved country like ours.

    It was this passion that drove the Enugu State Electricity Regulatory Commission (EERC) to come up with its own template on power tariffs, a thing which led to brickbats between the agency and, by extension, the state government, on one hand, and the generating and distribution companies, on the other.

    The two entities disagreed with the EERC tariff template on the basis that the agency could not determine the price of power it does not generate.

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    This would sound a reasonable argument but it does not wholly explain the situation. Not a few Nigerians see exploitation, incompetence, corruption and bad faith in the modus operandi of the present players in the power sector, all of which Nigerian consumers are fated to pay for.

    So, it would not be a bad idea for people who want genuine transformation in the power sector and are indeed desirous of determining the tariff, to go into actual power generation.

    This is part of the beauty in the Mbah 1,000MW proposal.

    Enugu State government should press on with the proposal. Indeed, power generation should be a major component to consider by any investor who truly wants to be in charge in the power sector.

    We have said it several times; and it bears restating that Nigeria cannot go far with its ambitious programmes if things are left entirely in the hands of the present players in the sector. If 13 years after the so-called liberalisation of the sector we are where we are, we need no expert to tell us to change tactics.

    We can understand Gov. Mbah’s plight: he has ambitious programmes to grow the state’s economy from $4.4 billion to $30 billion in eight years. Here, power supply is key.

    The governor needs all the support and encouragement. Others should emulate him.

  • Paradigm shift in Oyo legislative politics

    Sir: No doubt, the last elections have created a paradigm shift in the politics of Oyo state. The people have decided to go for a change in power and party. Congratulations to Governor Oluseyi Makinde. I have a firm belief in his ability to make great things happen in the state.

    For us to have a robust development there must be a synergy between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. Therefore, one of the questions to be answered as we move forward is; who becomes Speaker of the House of Assembly that is head of the legislative arm?

    To find an answer to this, we must first understand that three interests are to be served. First, the interest of the people; second is the interest of the state; and third, the interest of the party with the majority in the house.

    PDP has an overwhelming majority with 26 out of 32 members. Meanwhile, only one of them is a returning lawmaker. This high ranking member is Hon. Adebo Ogundoyin, the current member representing Ibarapa East at the House of Assembly.

    The people of Oyo state are interested in having a Speaker who can provide visionary leadership for the house; a young, strong, versatile, and intelligent speaker. Debo Ogundoyin fits into this in its entirety. Among all the PDP elected members,  Debo is the only one with legislative experience at the state level. He is 32 years old and Oyo state has always been known to be a pacesetter state. A speaker at 32 will reinforce the state’s pacesetter status in Nigeria.

    There are five political zones in Oyo state namely, Ibadan, Ibarapa, Ogbomosho, Oke-Ogun and Oyo. Ibarapa zone where Hon. Debo Ogundoyin comes from remains one of the main strongholds of PDP in the state today and this is self-evident. Ibarapa is the only zone in Oyo state where PDP won every post from top to bottom. The PDP won the presidential, Senate, House of Representatives, Governorship and State assembly elections in Ibarapa. The party did not achieve such feat in any other zone in the state.

    Meanwhile, Ibadan and Oke-Ogun zones have the governor and deputy governor respectively. It makes sense to have the number 3 citizen in Oyo state from Ibarapa more so that the only ranking member in PDP is from the zone. This will enable the party to maintain its strong state in Ibarapa.

    Lest we forget, the people of Ibarapa stood with PDP during the 2018 House rerun election. And the party’s victory at the rerun clearly set the pace for the success at the general elections. Therefore, I urge PDP leaders to get it right by supporting the candidate who represents the will of the people to have a total paradigm shift in the state.

     

    • Jamiu Esho writes from Eruwa, Oyo state, idowuesojamiu@gmail.com.

  • Stakeholders seek paradigm shift

    The National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) must enforce discipline on recalcitrant firms and promoteMarket Development and Restructuring Initiative (MDRI), among others, to ensure the growth of the sector this year, Omobola Tolu-Kusimo writes.

    With the desperate need for paradigm shift in insurance business, the regulator,  National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) and operators are at crossroads on what to do.

    They are at a dilemma on how to grow the sector, deepen its penetration, promote and protect policy holders. They are also at a loss on how to facilitate access to insurance and growth strategy that identifies and develops new market segments for products, targeting non-buying customers in targeted segments, as well as new segments with the aim of growing the sector’s premium generation; and enhance its contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    This is coming on the heels of the cancellation of the two major policies, the Tier-Based Minimum Solvency Capital (TBMSC) and the State Insurance Producer (SIP) by NAICOM. The polices ARE aimed at growing the sector.

    There are divergent views on how to push the industry to, at least, N1trillion sector, a goal they have pursued with the Market Development and Restructuring Initiative (MDRI)  initiative since 2009.

    A key goal of NAICOM’s financial inclusion strategy is to increase insurance penetration to 40 per cent by 2020, however, insurance penetration and density have remained low.

    Industry observers are, therefore, wondering what can happen in the sector this year to make a difference.

    On the other hand, experts said cognitive steps should be taken by NAICOM and individual operators.

    For them, there must be a shift from how businesses are done by operators and how the regulator handles the industry.

    Experts’ views

    A major stakeholder in the sector has advised NAICOM to focus its energy on discipline as it is a major tool needed to bring the industry to the right path.

    He urged the regulator to live up to its responsibility and withdraw licenses of firms  not paying genuine claims in the industry.

    He described the cancelled recapitalisation exercise as a waste of time, noting that if the commission ask insurers to recapitalise 10 times, some will still not pay claims.

    NAICOM, he said, should also renew its focus on other initiatives of the industry, especially the MDRI and enforce the policy.

    He noted that the regulator and operators should come together and promote the six compulsory insurance products, which include Motor Third Party, Group Life, Professional Indemnity, Builders’/Occupiers’ Liability and Public Building Liability Insurances, pointing out that they should also promote micro insurance, Takaful insurance products and industry rebranding, among others.

    The industry, according to him, has been plagued by a negative image among consumers due to an impression that insurers do not pay claims, low levels of awareness, and lack of tailored products, adding that the regulator should highlight them as key concerns and work towards improving consumer confidence and curb malpractices in the industry.

    He said: “The regulator should eliminate unethical practices and withdraw licenses of recalcitrant companies. The cancelled recapitalisation exercise is a waste of time. If the commission ask insurers to recapitalise 10 times, those who will not pay claims will not pay.

    “So why not take actions by suspending their licenses. If you suspend some of them, others will sit up. There is need for NAICOM to change its strategy. No company want its name mentioned in the news as an errant company and they will do anything to avoid it from happening.

    “The problem of the industry is failure of insurance companies to settle claims, unhealthy competition among operators, low awareness, low level of financial literacy, among others.”

    Deputy Commissioner for Insurance, Sunday Thomas lamented the unhealthy and unethical practices among operators. He spoke during a workshop on “End of Year Sector Review/Projection 2019”, organised by NAICOM for Insurance and Pension Corespondents in Lagos.

    According to him, rate cutting is a development that is hurting the industry as it affects premium income. “Rate cutting is a regrettable act that must be addressed to increase insurance contribution to the GDP. There was a point in this market when 10 per cent for comprehensive insurance was sacrosanct, but later, it came down to five per cent and that became the standard. But it got to a point that some operators were charging as low as one per cent. Also, there was a point that third party was N5, 000 and it also came to a point where people were charging N1,000 and the market was producing N200 million premium income from this business. If they decide to charge N5000, what is the market likely to produce?

    “This challenge must be addressed by insurers to increase the stake of the industry to pay genuine claims as and when due because when a risk is underpriced, it affects the ability to promptly pay claims,” he said.

    The Nigerian Insurers Association (NIA) Chairman, Mr. Tope Smart said the nation’s economy has been projected to expand by about 2.5 per cent in 2019, promising that insurance industry will take advantage of this expected growth.

    “We have figures of the growth of about 20 per cent when you compare the figure for 2017 and 2018 and I hope 2019 will be better. By the time we have the end of the year result, we will be having what I call a very positive result. The industry will continue to pioritise claims settlement and both regulator and operators are working together to put insurance companies on their toes to pay genuine claims through NIA and NAICOM complaint bureaus,” Smart, who is also NEM Insurance Plc Managing Director/CEO, pointed out.

    NSIA Insurance Limited Managing Director, Mrs. Ebelechukwu Nwachukwu said insurance in 2018 grew significantly in terms of the quality of products insurers rolled out, the quality of channels of distribution, the quality of people they engaged and the commitment of insurers to grow the people, thereby, increasing insurance penetration in the country.

    She said: “If we can push all of these over and over in 2019, I have no doubt at all that penetration will increase and premium will rise also. Today, the industry is paying better salary and so, people are better; operators study more than any other industry I have engaged with, they are dedicated to writing examinations, attending seminars, conferences and workshops. They want to be heard and an insurance person wants to be heard intelligently.

    “It is important for the average Nigerians or even the so called below average families to insure their risks with insurance companies.”

    Industry performance

    The Commissioner for Insurance, Mohammed Kari said the industry has a total premium value of N376 billion in 2017 with less than 1 per cent of Nigerians under insurance cover.

    “In the second quarter of 2018, the insurance sector recorded growth by 6.07 per cent. The sector grew by 3.49 per cent in nominal terms year on year, with a growth rate for the financial sector at 3.01 per cent for the period.

    “Insurance sector contribution to Nigeria’s GDP is 0.4 per cent. Also, the contribution of finance and insurance sector to the real GDP totaled 3.31 per cent, lower slightly than the contribution of 3.32 per cent recorded in the second quarter of 2017, and lower than 3.55 per cent recorded in the preceding quarter.”

    Industry’s initiatives and their downsides MDRI

    The Commission introduced the MDRI in 2009, among other initiatives, to change the industry’s narratives. It was expected that at the end of the implementation of the MDRI’s first phase, which was to end in 2012, the following would have been achieved: Gross Premium Income (GPI) would have grown from N164.50 billion to N1 trillion; Insurance contribution to GDP would have grown from 0.72 per cent to 3.0 per cent; Premium per capita, from N825.00 to N7,500 and; Insurance gap would be reduced from 94 per cent to seven per cent.

    Ten years after, the industry has not achieved the MDRI goals and it is, indeed, far from being achieved.

    Compulsory insurance

    Kari said NAICOM launched the first phase of MDRI in 2009 to among others create awareness on the existence of these classes of insurance and educate the public on the benefits of compulsory insurance to the individual and the Nigerian economy. The Commission did so much in this regard across the six geo-political zones in the country.

    He said not much could have be achieved in the area of enforcement by officers and men of relevant Federal agencies.

    “The various organs to drive the enforcement are not knowledgeable of the products or laws they are meant to enforce. On the other hand, enforcement would become easier if individuals and entities meant to consume these products are made aware of the benefits inherent in the consumption of these products. There is no doubt that compliance with the laws on compulsory insurance will go a long way to mitigate the adverse exposure to disaster by individuals with access to public places.

    “The beneficial importance of compulsory insurance is evident in all sphere of live as it guarantees a form of protection and compensation to victims, provided that they are insured, hence they do not have to bear huge financial burden.  It also serves as a form of social assistance for the vulnerable people in the society. To the economy, the government would not have to bear the burden alone during catastrophic events such as natural disaster, fire accident thereby saving the government money which can be channeled to augmenting the needs of the citizenry, providing infrastructures and creating employment, among others.

    “But the level of compliance with compulsory insurance in the country is still very low. We are working on how to enforce these products towards the attainment of a higher level of compliance.”

    Takaful insurance

    The Commissioner stressed that Takaful is both ethical financing and cooperative risk protection methods that are superior alternatives, because they reinvigorate human capital, solidarity, emphasise dignity, community self-help and economic self-development, to generate manifold benefits, which appeal not only to Muslims but all. “I encourage the people of Kano to embrace it for their protection against risks,” he said.

    The Takaful insurance initiative by NAICOM, he explained, was to complement the efforts of the Financial System Strategy 2020 (FSS2020) as part of the Financial Inclusion initiative aimed at reaching the larger percentage of Nigerians that are unreached and financially excluded.

  • Paradigm shift?

    •It seems ex-militants are now getting concerned about how derivation is being spent

    It is gratifying that, at last, former militants who have over the years accused the Federal Government of being an enemy of the Niger Delta are beginning to look inward. They now want the Federal Government to probe how the derivation fund paid to state governments in the region since 2000 has been spent.

    This is a welcome development and a possible indication that the people are now willing to hold their leaders accountable. According to the Niger Delta Mandate, the region should not merely specialise in bemoaning an alleged marginalisation; it should insist that the governors spend resources made available to them for development judiciously. The group pointed out that about N7tr had been allocated to the states, using the principle enshrined in section 162 of the 1999 constitution.

    We agree with the former militants, many of whom have undergone rehabilitation and have been empowered after surrendering their arms and ammunition to the security forces. It is obvious that the way forward is not only in strictly working towards the attainment of fiscal federalism, but also judicious use of resources by all tiers of government. The road to development and harmony in all parts of Nigeria is ensuring justice, probity and accountability at all times.

    The Niger Delta as the oil bearing region has been subjected to environmental degradation, but conscious efforts to address this through the establishment of intervention agencies like the Oil Mineral Producing Areas Development Commission (OMPADEC) under the military; and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) under the current dispensation, as well as the 13 per cent derivation fund meant to address the peculiar human and environmental challenges of the area have not yielded adequate dividends.

    A probe of the funds presents its own challenges such as what tier of government or agency should undertake it without undermining a fundamental principle of federalism. Each tier of government is deemed autonomous within its sphere of authority, and the militants’ call on the Federal Government to institute the probe may thus be problematic. The constitution vests the power to oversee government business in the states on the houses of assembly. It could therefore amount to usurpation of such power if agents of the Federal Government should undertake such responsibility. Besides, within the context of partisan politics, especially where different political parties control the levers of governance at the centre and the states, it could easily be mired in controversy.

    Hitherto, state legislatures have failed. The bane of Nigeria’s development is corruption. Much of appropriated public fund is diverted. Ostentatious living, obviously beyond the earning of public officials is the order of the day, yet, the state appears helpless. This recklessness and impunity must stop if efficient and judicious application of fund is to be ensured.

    No corrupt official should go unpunished. And, if this is to be so, institutions must rise up to their responsibility. Agencies of the three arms of government must begin to ask questions and pursue probity in public life.

    States now have a duty to take up the challenge thrown at them by the former militants. Even though we do not think the 21-day ultimatum is well advised, it is one end that must be pursued by all. We all owe the Nigerian society a duty of challenging governments in the land to raise the bar of public morality and enthronement of standards and best practices. Nigeria earns enough to guarantee good life for the majority if only leakages could be blocked.

    No one should think the days of  anarchy in the Niger Delta that greatly aided the slide to recession are permanently over. If we must recover fully, the national interest must take precedence in all things, at all times. The restive youth in the region that bears the national wealth van only be pacified when they see that public fund is applied to achieve public ends.

  • 2019: Time for a new paradigm shift

    The politics of today is so partisan that it is bereft of the nationalistic sentiments that would augur well for a nation. Nigeria is at the cusp, and we must come up with a philosophy that is antithetical and diametrically opposed to what we have done in the past. The constitution of the country is moribund, retrogressive and subversive to the Nigerian cause. We need to restructure, and no extant or subsisting party can address this issue, due to sentimental affiliations. Nigeria has come to a point where the only way forward is to have an interim government and it will be obvious as time goes on. At the presidential level, there will be difficulties that will not be surmountable except we submit to another paradigm.

    The prognosis concerning any venture that one is mandated to undertake is not usually given by God. What He does is to give a command and expect faith to be exercised in relation to that command, albeit there is no palpable feasibility for the actualization of that mandate. There is a plethora of instances in the Bible when people were called by God to carry out specific responsibilities, and it can be unequivocally stated that victory was dependent on their level of obedience. We all know we are currently embattled with these quandaries and in light of this, I refer to myself as a consensus remedial facilitator, with the mandate to establish a system of government which I have christened Government of Reconciliation and Reconstruction. It is an ad hoc concept to address the situation we have in this country, after which we may go back to the status quo ante.

    I am neither asking to be a part of the PDP or the APC, nor am I asking to be their candidate in the 2019 presidential election. I am asking both parties and other political parties not to field presidential candidates in the forthcoming election but they should subscribe their support to a model that I have advocated, which is to set up an Interim National Government. The mandate to restructure Nigeria shall deal with fundamental issues that beset us as a nation in order to prevent a catastrophe. However, irrespective of the parties’ agreement to my proposal, I will definitely pursue it because it is not dependent on them. It’s a divine mandate from God, which is why I have maintained the same stance all these years. There is a lot of scepticism in the world itself, even in the church. Remember, Moses went before Pharaoh several times before he yielded, and it wasn’t because God didn’t send him from the outset. This has never been an issue for me because delay is not denial. I’m a man on a mission.

    I have been working with a group of men and women who are of like minds; people that can be trusted and be seen as the symbol of national unity. The enormity of the task itself is apparent for all to see; but with God, all things are possible. What I know is that God loves Nigeria and what is ahead is not a regular sequence of events that we are conversant with in election cycles. Without a doubt in my mind, there will be those who are opposed to it. Even the Lord Jesus, while He was here, had opposition. But I’m saying that the prevailing circumstance at that time would make it mandatory. I’m persuaded that there are patriots within these parties who have a clear vision of present realities and the time will come when there would be a convergence. These negotiations would be based on consensus, as it would be decided among ourselves how long it would take and what the interim government would address.

    There is a high level of resentment present in the nation today which is unprecedented. We must find a solution while our people are still willing to dialogue: a practical pragmatism which is necessary to engender a state where Nigerians are willing to continue in this entity that we call our nation. We have never had people this vocal in their condemnation of the things going on in government. A drastic event would occur that would change the course of this nation. This change would lead to the renaissance of the Nigerian state. Regardless, God has a hand in the destiny of this nation. I believe that He has given us another opportunity and we must grab it with both hands, with all the tenacity that we can muster.

    • Rev. Okotie is the Pastor of the Household of God Church and Presidential Candidate of the FRESH Democratic Party (FRESH).

  • Kwankwaso pledges paradigm shift at declaration

    Senator Rabiu Kwankwaso yesterday in Abuja declared his intention to contest the 2019 presidential election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    Addressing a large crowd of supporters at the Chida Hotel venue of the event, he bemoaned what he described as collective disillusionment, disappointment and the pervasive air of hopelessness “in our country.”

    Kwankwaso said: “I stand on my honour to offer a paradigm shift in leadership. There is no gainsaying that all is not well with the polity. It is also clear that the same mindset that created and escalated the problems cannot be used in resolving the ongoing crises in our nationhood and national development.

    “I offer positive change. Change has again become inevitable. To live is to witness changes because change is an inseparable part of living. In May 2019, the narrative of helplessness, buck-passing, division, poverty, insecurity and hopelessness must change for a new dawn of confidence in building a one well restructured Nigeria.

    “I assure you that while I do not have the prophetic power to predict the future, we certainly have in us the ability to create the future that we want.”

    He promised to offer a value based leadership anchored on national ethics, discipline, integrity, dignity of labour, social justice, religious tolerance, self- reliance and patriotism.

    “I will provide a leadership where everybody is free and equal; where Nigerians see themselves as Nigerians first and as Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, ljaw, lbibio, Fulani, etc.

    “Where citizens are self-assured and self-assertive; where they are confident and competent, where they want to do what is right no matter whose ox is gored. I want to lead a Nigeria where people are educated and exposed beyond the confines of their tribe, religion, linguistic group or place of birth.

    “l want to lead a Nigeria where citizens respect their leaders and leaders lead and forge a team to promote and protect the interest of all Nigerians.

    “I want to lead a Nigeria where all are comfortable anywhere and on any positive issue, can compete fairly with their peers without favour or discrimination. That is the kind of Nigeria we envision. We will abandon the failed relics of the past. We have all it takes to make Nigeria good and made for all,” Kwakwaso added.

    The former Kano governor decried what he described as the constant misuse of security apparatus and called for an immediate stop to it.

    He harped on the need to strengthen all democratic institutions in the country and promised to create an all-inclusive mechanism for effective intelligence gathering that involved all stakeholders if elected.

    The lawmaker observed that the nation’s security agencies were overstretched, ill equipped, unmotivated and deprived, saying they could not give maximum performance under the circumstance.

    He said: “We shall motivate all affected communities; the military and the police to put an end to all killings. There is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for killings by Boko Haram insurgents, herdsmen, crop farmers, kidnappers, human traffickers and abductors. We will provide an atmosphere where there will be security, safety, serenity and sanity.”

    The presidential aspirant decried what he called weak economic performance, due to tight economic policies and failed institutional supervision.

    He identified tight monetary rates, exchange rate fluctuations, inflation and unemployment to be the dominant factors hindering the growth and survival of businesses.

    “Therefore, our focus shall be on sound economic policies that will ensure a new regime of exchange rate stability, low interest rates and reduction in the country’s rising burden of domestic and foreign loans.

    “In the past three years, poverty and unemployment have become more visible, challenging Nigeria’s economic prosperity. Existing policies and economic programmes for alleviating the poverty incidence in the country have obviously failed.

    “Our non-negotiable goal will, therefore, be the eradication of poverty through sustainable wealth creation and a coordinated and effective micro small and medium enterprises development.

    “We shall promote policies that boost our foreign reserves and lower interest rate to ensure that the unsustainable debt treadmill profile is tamed.

    “Locally, we shall diversify the economy through industrialisation and manufacturing, aggressive promotion of agribusiness; and develop the mining sector and entrepreneurship to make us self-sufficient and export oriented. The oil and gas sector must cease to be a verifiable source of corruption and inefficiency”.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Time for paradigm shift

    There is a paradigm shift underway in Nigeria. What it requires is a political template. The paradigm shift has to do with contemporary history. The closing years of the 20th century provided the transition from military rule to civilian rule. By definition, the first kind of rule is undemocratic. But it does not follow that civilian rule will be democratic by default. What does follow is that popular sentiments will want civilian leaders to be democratic, to deliver the economic and social goods that enable citizens to participate as equal stakeholders in a common national future.

    Those expectations need a political template in order to be fulfilled. They need a political leader who believes what the people believe, who respects their right to agree to disagree with even him, who is willing to see himself as a product of national history and not as its producer,

    The paradigm shift in Nigeria has an opportunity to find that template in the presidential election to be held next year. The key question is the team which Nigerians can trust to continue their progress towards a nation that can say, in all humility, that it is a thought-leader in Africa. For that to occur, Nigerians need a leader who can stand in the tradition of the great leaders who brought Africa out of the disappearing shadows of colonialism into the realm of sovereign modernity.

    Kenneth Kaunda, Jomo Kenyatta, Patrice Lumumba, Samora Machel, Kwame Nkrumah and Julius Nyerere are among the names that gave decolonised Africa its insurgent political geography. Its boundaries reached the limits of their expansion in Nelson Mandela, who is more of a global moral identity than just an African legend. For all their differences of nationality, political strategy and personal temperament, figures such as them united Africans around a sense of the persistence of their past. Africa was a great continent before the arrival of colonialism, and it would be great again if it could make the most of decolonisation. That is what the African masters sought to do.

    However, the tragedy of decolonisation is not that it did not occur. The tragedy is that too little changes after it did. In Africa, the tragedy of post-colonial civilian rule is that the new rulers behave like the junta even without the benefit of uniforms derived from the colonial past.

    It is that unwanted continuity which Nigeria must destroy in 2019 if it is to break with a stymied political system in which civilian rule did not lead to true democracy.

    It takes one generation to overtake the political footsteps of the preceding one. Why change is possible in Nigeria today is that the generation defined by civilian rule, but no more than that, has produced the subsequent one, a generation of young Nigerians who will settle for nothing less than the advent of genuine democracy.

    Nigeria’s population has reached a demographic tipping point. More than half its people are under the age of 30. In other words, young Nigerians constitute a political generation. They do not think and will not vote like their parents. What was progress to their parents is unfulfilled achievement to them. Hence, they will venture where a previous generation would have thought it foolish to tread. They will change Nigeria.

    There could be false turns on the road ahead. The denominator of Nigerian regression is ethnicity, as it is in many other Third World nations. The colonial dismemberment of Africa’s lived habitat of traditional loyalties, carried out through the arbitrary construction of national borders, created a peculiar form of dissatisfied tribalism: the fetishism of political ethnicity. Ethnicity became a form of politics, a defensive mechanism deployed against the artificial African nation-state created by colonial Europe in its historical image.

    The good news is that was then, and this is now. Ethnic allegiances have been losing political salience over time. Young Nigerians are much less likely to judge a potential leader by her or his tribe or religion or region than by that leader’s ability to inaugurate a common Nigerian ecosystem in which individual talent and ambition can flourish in the ambient environment of a protective collective good.

    Indeed, the nation-state of Nigeria is coming into its political own through gradual dissociation with every vestige of colonialism. Young Nigerians are re-inventing their desired nation within inherited borders. They cannot change history, but they seek to make the future their own.

    That requires a leader with vision.

    Among many, Donald Duke would be such a leader. In the emerging three-horse electoral race that includes incumbent Muhammadu Buhari and former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, he stands out as a glimmer of hope for Nigeria.

    In his two terms as Governor of Cross River State, he has shown what good governance can do. Breaking with political lethargy and bureaucratic inertia, he galvanized the administration and brought it closer to the people. He was popular but not populist, the difference being that he promised only what he could deliver, not what would make him a cult figure.

    Indeed, Duke does not like cults and the way in which they elevate people to political immortals. In a recent interview, he spoke about his misgivings regarding the seeming omnipotence of the presidency itself and of the danger of deifying a person who is a mortal after all. Instead, he had three requirements for the job. “Mentally, you must have the vision for the job; spiritually, you must be strong, you must be of good faith, regardless of what your faith is; and physically, you must have the will, the desire to make it happen because you’re going to be constantly swimming against a wave,” he said.

    Those three skills are the very same yardsticks by which Africans would judge the political greats mentioned earlier.

    Young Nigerians, in particular, deserve to show the rest of Africa and the world that democracy is more than just a departure from military rule. True democracy means the arrival of a leader through whom an entire nation can speak of itself to itself.

     

    • Nwokeukwu LLB (Wales), BL, LLM (Derby) is an attorney at Law.

  • A paradigm shift

    •With direct primaries, APC broaches a brave new world for Nigerian party democracy

    IF democracy is touted to be government by the people, how come most of the people do not have an idea how their elected leaders are often thrown up? All over the world and across ages, man has continued to be trumped by the very act of choosing the right caliber of people – from the horde – to lead him.

    The world would have been an easier place at least, (if not better), were it possible to conjure up genius leaders out of thin air or make them in the laboratory. But that is not so, not just yet; so mankind still has to live with the tough proposition of choosing its own leaders one way or the other. It is no mean task, to put it mildly because the world is made up of two classes of people: the leaders and the led.

    Nigeria is no exception in the eternal quest to solve leadership selection puzzle. Since the beginning of the current democratic dispensation in 1999, political parties have been stuck with the well-worn path of indirect party primary election. This means that party delegates are selected across board who would then gather to choose a flag bearer from the array of aspirants.

    This indirect method has been found to be inadequate, first for not representing the wish and will of the people in most cases for the simple reason that too few a sample of party members are involved in the selection.

    Second, these delegates are easily manipulated by party big wigs and indeed any moneybag who ensured their emergence in the first place. Third and most crucially, holding all the aces, by the D-day of primary election, the delegates would become the issue and the cause célèbre. It then always ends up as a question of how many delegates an aspirant can buy over. At the end of the day, it often boils down to a game of the highest bidder.

    Every party in the land has gone this route in the past nearly two decades to the utter dismay of both the parties and the generality of Nigerians. The result is that a few people have been selecting and recycling the critical leadership of the country across board. There is no doubt that this has impacted on the quality of leadership Nigeria has produced over this period and conversely, the kind of leadership a country produces successively reflects on her rate of growth and development.

    It is this template that the ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) wishes to change. After a meeting of its National Working Committee on Monday, party chairman, Adams Oshiomhole, had announced the resolution to adopt the direct primary election in the forthcoming governorship election in Osun State.

    Oshiomhole said: “We have decided that in order to ensure popular participation, and to deepen democracy in Osun State, in line with the provisions of our party constitution which allows for either direct or indirect primary; we have resolved that the governorship election primary in Osun State will be conducted on the basis of the direct primary.

    “What that means is that every card-carrying member of our party will participate in the process of nominating the candidate of the party.”

    Of course no other party has considered the option of a direct primary since 1999 and the reasons are not far-fetched. It is cumbersome harvesting all the party members across polling units and wards up to local governments, state and federal constituencies. The process of getting all card-carrying members to vote would amount to running huge costs, not to mention the logistical feat it would pose.

    But what may seem most trying would be how vested interests would figure in this new approach. As we have witnessed in nearly two decades, most incumbents have always insisted on picking their successors. The example of Ekiti State last weekend is still fresh. It appeared as if the incumbent Governor Ayo Fayose was the contestant as the candidate was relegated to the background.

    We ask: would incumbents no longer care who succeeds them? Would party leaders, bigwigs and financiers allow an open process without interference? These should be challenged when and if they occur.

    While it would be interesting to see how this new approach by APC plays out, we urge the party leaders to take a few more noble steps further. We suggest a holistic re-organisation of the party by increasingly allowing equal stake-holding through nominal dues and duration of membership. Transparency, especially in terms of donations and contributions by members as well as structuring and benchmarking the party in line with best practices in other democracies would be in order.

    It may not be easy initially, but it is the way of true democracy. So, APC chairman Oshiomhole and his party’s National Working Committee deserve accolades, however cautious, for introducing an egalitarian fresh air into our politics.

  • ‘There is paradigm shift in tourism’

    Nigerian Tourism Development Corporation (NTDC) Director-General Mr Folorunso Coker speaks with Assistant Editor (Arts) Ozolua Uhakheme on the critical areas of tourism and the need to appreciate tourism as a business, among other issues.

    Before you were appointed NTDC director-general a year ago, you were in the tourism, arts and culture ministry in Lagos State. What is the experience like on both fronts?

    The experience at the federal level is a lot more intense than at the state level. As you must understand, their scope of responsibilities and size of jurisdiction is a lot more exciting because you learn to do so many things in so many regions rather than just in one state.

    What are the critical areas you want the government to address to reposition tourism?

    If you remember at the beginning, I launched the shift plan. First of all, there is need for a shift in thinking. Tourism is a business; it is not arts, not culture, not cultural dancing and not buba and sokoto.It’s a business so we need to address it as a business. It’s a business of transportation, hospitality and entertainment. The government needs to know that, number one, it is a corporate governance and regulation that has to do with tourism. What are the laws at the federal, the state and local government level? How are they affecting tourism? Are they best practices or not? They will also need to look at the human capital, are they trained? What kind of training they have? What kind of equipment they have to use in that training work? Whatare the welfare packages? If all these are not looked at, it is difficult for you to expect the best out of the people that you have employed to do whatever it is that they were employed for. You got to look at infrastructure inthe tourism industry because I know that every penny the government spends is for the betterment of the life of Nigerians.But it is also spent for the enjoyment of the lives of tourists who come to Nigeria. Also, there is need to put in place the tourism settler account, which the minister have already started working on. Equally, infrastructure in the form of digital technologies that are required to engage the global audience cannot be ignored. We cannot use paper anymore to do marketing of tourism activities. Finally, we have to look at the event because people are too tired of the cultural dancers, the heritage designation that we have been over flogged and no improvement.  People will rather go to Shoprite than go to Olumo rock for a day. You know people demand Wi-Fiand so much more. But, we need to create our event and create it from end to end and market them in a digital manner that everybody can see what we are talking about from the globe.

    Again, the issue of financing will always be a problem. Tourism industry facessingle digit funding to be able to actually do meaningful things within tourism industry.

    What is the update on the NTDC bill before the Senate?

    The bill has passed through the Senate and it is in the House of Representative since October, last year, for concunrrence. So, we are waiting for them to concur.

    How much of incentives is the government offering investors as attraction to grow the tourism industry?

    These include improvements in the lives of Nigerians, that ease of doing business, visa on arrival and all others. All those things make life easier for a Nigerian, but doesn’t make it easier for a foreigner and I believe that is being handled by the office of the vice president and I believe that as we are improving ease of doing business ranking by 23 states, I believe year on year new policies will be brought up to make life easier for both visitorsto Nigeria and Nigeria as a whole. So I believe that is something I cannot predict but that is coming from vice president’s office.

    Last November, NTDC workers protested against your style of administration, among other allegations. What is the relationship with them?

    Well, four months ago you saw the placards they carried. And in a 360 degrees recently too, you saw the placards they carried. I think the placards speak for themselves and we have a cordial respectful relationship. They needed to know me and I needed to know them. But you know as in all relationship, we don’t get a lot of time and understanding, we don’t get to know each other and I think we are in good phase now.

    How much incentives do we need in promoting domestic tourism?

     I think we don’t have a choice. Nigerians have cheapest holiday. If we don’t take Nigeria seriouslyas a cheapest holiday we will just be transferring a hard earned naira into dollars to go out there. We don’t need a visa to go on holiday in Nigeria, you don’t need a foreign exchange, and you don’t need to roam your phones. We have so many advantages. So, we got to look inward while the US dollar is currently angry with our naira. We have to focus inward and drive our money through the establishment ofinstitutions that make up Nigeria tourism. We understand that tourism is simple as it already exists.

    The transportation, the hospitality and entertainment already exist. It is a question of marketing it in different ways and that is how we can harness it. It is not like manufacturing where you have to go and buy the machines, train many staff and do so many things. It is not like agriculture where you have to weed, plant, grow, harvest and take it to market. All the assets are already there if we look at the new medium of culture and expression that God blessed us with through game, food, music, fashion, sport, arts and religion. So, if we can add that to what we already have with the population, I think the soup is ready just for somebody to light it and boil a little and we are ready to go.

     

  • Judiciary and anti-graft war call for paradigm shift

    Judiciary and anti-graft war call for paradigm shift

    UNTIL President Muhammadu Buhari develops and adopts a new and more effective paradigm to prosecute the anti-graft war, the frictions between him and the judiciary will continue, and perhaps worsen. At the international workshop on the judiciary and the fight against corruption held in Abuja on Monday, the president once again bemoaned what he described as the slow pace of justice delivery in the anti-graft war. That delay, as he put it, could be both discouraging and mortifying. He had said: “Critically important also, is the sacred duty of the judiciary to ensure that criminal justice administration is not delayed. I am worried that the expectation of the public is yet to be met by the judiciary with regard to the removal of delay and the toleration of delay tactics by lawyers. When cases are not concluded the negative impression is given that crime pays. So far, the corruption cases filed by government are not progressing as speedily as they should be despite of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act of 2015 (ACJA) essentially because the courts allow some lawyers to frustrate the reforms introduced by law. Thus, we cannot expect to make any gains in the war against corruption in our society when the judiciary is seen as being distant from the crusade…”

    It is apparent that the president believes that with ACJA, there should be no reason at all for delay of justice. And if there is, he seems to argue, it is because lawyers and judges want and will it. This was probably why all he managed to do at the workshop was complain against and indict lawyers and judges. He made no concrete suggestion of a different approach the judiciary could take in remedying the problems hamstringing justice delivery. This is typical. Barely a few months after his assumption of office, he had expected the judiciary, despite the weakness of existing laws and terrible and undeniable bureaucratic strictures, to fall in line with his pace of anti-graft war. The war had not even taken shape, and the suspects had been subjected only to superficial investigations; but seizing upon a few clear cases of judicial malfeasance, the presidency focused attention on the judiciary and accused them of collusion. The accusations, however, told only a part of the story.

    If the president thought only a few judicial officers were involved in the alleged delay tactics, it is unlikely he would make complaint against that arm of government a constant refrain. So, it is not entirely misplaced to believe that the president thinks judicial shenanigans are widespread. He may be right to urge the judiciary to purge its ranks of slothful judicial officers, and punish lawyers and judges who pervert the cause of justice. But given the slow rate of progress, he must begin to ponder a shift in his paradigm. Rather than limit himself to complaints and fault-finding, it may be time for him to see what his government could do to speed up the administration of justice. ACJA is nothing but a starting point.

    Among other things, President Buhari probably had Senate President Bukola Saraki and former National Security Adviser (NSA) Sambo Dasuki’s cases in mind when he complained of lawyers’ insatiable hunger for adjournments. As worrisome as Senator Saraki’s lawyers’ clever tricks are, the cases against him cannot be intractable. Politically charged cases are by nature open to many jaundiced interpretations, and those who sit in judgement over them often come under tremendous pressure. Even the judges trying Senator Saraki’s cases have themselves been sorely tested. A little more patience will, therefore, not be out of place. Nonetheless, the president’s complaint is a clarion call to the Nigerian Bar Association (NJC) and the National Judicial Council (NJC) to plug identified loopholes, for evidently, some judicial officers have not always behaved exemplarily.

    More crucially, instead of limiting himself to complaints, it is time the president expanded his horizon over the slow pace of administration of justice. Had the president taken a holistic look at the judiciary and identified why corruption exists in that sector and why justice is often delayed, he would have begun his tenure and the anti-graft war on a different slate, with a new paradigm, and a healthy, agreeable impetus. He would have examined whether ACJA 2015 was far-reaching enough or not, and if not, see what else could be done. Perhaps he would have set up tribunals manned by qualified law officers for faster dispensation of justice. He would also have recognised the enormity of work involved in tackling the cankerworm and not fail to take into cognisance how the war must be fought.

    Unlike the impression he gives now and still continues to give, the president should have recognised that the criminal justice system does not begin with lawyers and end with judges, but also includes very importantly investigating authorities under executive control such as the police, anti-graft bodies, the secret service and the Justice ministry. It also includes the detention facilities, especially the prisons, which must have the wherewithal to produce suspects timeously on demand. He must not forget that prosecutors should also be top of the range. By focusing on self-employed lawyers and overwhelmed judges almost exclusively, the president misses the point badly, and could even be accused of inflaming passion and instigating judicial disobedience and anarchy. This incendiary proclivity for instigating the public could reach fever pitch as the economy worsens and Nigerians search for scapegoats.

    Indeed, rather than accuse judges of delaying justice and pay lip service to cooperating with the judiciary, the president must begin to tackle the observable lapses and collusions in the third arm of government by adequately funding and equipping the judiciary. For the past five years, the allocation to the judiciary, which was never substantial enough to modernise the courtrooms in the first instance, had been declining, from N95bn in 2010 to N85bn in 2011, and then N75bn in 2012 and N67bn in 2013. In President Buhari’s first budget, the allocation to the judiciary has been cut to N70bn from a request of N143bn. The implication is that the president may actually be expecting a miracle in the justice system. But that miracle will not come, because, as the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Mahmud Mohammed, said at the Abuja workshop, corruption in Nigeria is a complex and many-sided problem. Worse, it is also clear that the president has no holistic and well-conceived plan to speed up the dispensation of justice. No plan whatsoever. Until he conceives a great and impressive plan, equip and fund the judiciary well, and pay close attention to the entire rubric of the criminal justice system, the anti-graft war will proceed very slowly and engender a lot of bad blood.

    But it is dangerous to leave the problem of delayed justice unattended to. As the president knows, the public is grumbling about delay, and many commentators are foolishly asking for the suspension of the rule of law. Even his EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Magu, recently unwisely asked for human rights to be de-emphasised so that the anti-graft war could continue apace. He did not, however, indicate which part of human rights he would wish suspended, especially because he is already detaining suspects before completing investigation, a practice an Abuja High Court early last week denounced in very strong language in the case of Ekiti State governor’s ally, Abiodun Agbele. Nor did Mr Magu examine his agency’s investigation prowess to see what else he could do to improve the system.

    There are many factors involved in the slow pace of justice delivery. Rather than single out lawyers and judges, it is the responsibility of the president to find out all the key reasons for the malady. It is only then, and armed with a paradigm shift, that the president can make steady progress in the anti-graft war. He must be less accusatory, less inclined to diminishing his nation’s judiciary before international audiences as he is wont, and more concerned with involving himself very deeply in finding solutions to problems that are already fairly commonplace. Turkey’s style of castrating the judiciary and de-emphasising human rights will only turn the country into a pressure pot destined to explode sooner or later. The choice before President Buhari is clear, even if his frustrations are understandable. Instead of moaning, let him be proactive.