The Nation Newspaper

Tag: PMB

  • ONE YEAR OF SHOWBIZ UNDER PMB

    FOR over 20 years since the evolution of what today is called Nollywood, a home video phenomenon that kick-started another leg of the journey for the Nigerian motion picture industry; the fear of piracy, the monster that dealt a monumental ‘wreck’ on legendary comedian and filmmaker, Moses Olaiya, aka Baba Sala, has grown into an institution.

    But there appears to be a resolute resolve to tackle the menace head-on since Muhammadu Buhari took over as President of Nigeria on May 29, 2015. Thanks to the anti-corruption war of the present regime that has set the notorious Alaba market restless with the current prosecution of three suspected pirates.

    PMB had said on July 14, 2015, after receiving a briefing from the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Information, Dr. Folasade Yemi-Esan and her Directors that, “Nollywood is making progress. We should work with them. Unless they are backed, they will be ruined by pirates who want to reap where they have not sowed.” This was barely two months after he took over from former President Goodluck Jonathan.

    There appears to be a systematic approach towards the cleansing of the entertainment industry which has been lacking in structure and other aspects of harmony. To this end, the PMB administration, in line with global standard, brought the entertainment industry under the Culture Ministry, with Alhaji Lai Mohammed as Minster of Information, Culture and Tourism. This is a demand which entertainers had long been clamouring for and one which was considered to be partly responsible for the stunted growth of the sector. Before now, the motion picture was the only sector in art, culture and entertainment that was under the Federal Ministry of Information, causing major disconnect between the industry and other sectors in the art. This is just as only the Culture Ministry is empowered to sign international treaties which are very needed for the continued growth of the industry.

    Having overcome this lacuna, the Minister had on February 5, met Nollywood stakeholders at a roundtable in Lagos, attended the 2016 Kannywood Awards and other forums where he emphasised on plans to set up the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and establish the Motion Picture Council of Nigeria (MOPICON). But these cannot be achieved without calling for a draft bill and revisiting old ones for relevant areas of review.

    NEA, he said, will ensure sustainable funding for all the genre of the arts while MOPICON is expected to enhance professionalism and create a channel of intervention for government’s good promises in an accountable and sustainable manner.

    “We are forwarding a copy of the draft Bill on the establishment of the National Endowment for the Arts to the Ministry of Justice. My plan is to fast-track the realisation of the NEA in order to guarantee sustainable development of the creative sector,” said Lai Mohammed.

    On MOPICON, which will regulate motion picture practice in Nigeria, he had since inaugurated a 29-man review committee with a view to fast-tracking its passage into law and paving the way for the establishment of the council.

    Why all these gradual recreation of a foundation for a seeming dilapidating sector? This is because the entertainment industry and other creative non-oil sectors are cash cows, and in the spirit of diversifying the Nigerian economy from ‘absolute’ dependence on oil, they must not be allowed to die.

    Consequently, the Minister promised to work with the stakeholders in the movie industry to tackle challenges such as piracy, distribution and exhibition, funding, and the re-organisation of the regulatory agencies.

    Not stopping there, the Ministry put together a 3-day summit on the theme: Repositioning Culture and Tourism in a Diversified Economy. This took place in Abuja from April 27th to 29th. The communiqué from that summit has provided enough for the government to work with.

    There is no gainsaying that these forums with Lai Mohammed were not the usual tea party and money-driven rendezvous that used to attract a crowd of entertainers to government. It is interesting to know that entertainers who attended the Abuja summit footed their bills, while the MOPICON committee sat without allowance.

    This is a pace-setting regime, and knowing that a proper development is only sustainable on the right kind of structure, this indeed is progress in motion. And like my 15-year-old son would say; ‘quality takes time.’

    Welcome to another 365 Days of PMB, Lai Mohammed and the creative non-oil sector.

  • Three fights PMB must fight

    SIR: To say that Nigeria is a nation of hydra-headed developmental challenges is certainly an understatement. This is because virtually all the facets of the nation’s economy require unparallel developmental attention. But there is certainly no way there all can receive the required attention and be adequately catered for in a space of four years that the current administration of President Mohammadu Buhari (PMB) will last.

    Consequently, it is important to highlight some of the developmental fights the PMB administration must fight and win, if it intends to leave office with a measure of fulfillment and accomplishments.

    Consequently, the first fight this administration must fight is the fight against poverty in the land. One of the most verifiable occurrences in Nigeria today is the palpable hunger and poverty in the land. Orchestrated by some unplanned for economic misfortunes, especially in the area of the huge slump in the price of oil in the world market and the dearth of economic shock-absorbers for it, a vast majority of Nigerians are going through intense economic hardship displayed in the forms hunger and poverty. Nigerians are currently experiencing a situation where there’s a consistent increase in the prices of goods and services without a commensurate availability of funds to comfortably and conveniently make essential purchases for their livelihoods. There is no doubt that we are experiencing inflation (an increase in the general level of prices or in the cost of living which most times results from the excess circulation of money in the economy).

    But in the current case, there is no money circulating in the economy even when the inflationary rates of the prices of goods and services are extremely on the high side.

    The obvious truth is that the poverty in the land is going to bite even harder with the removal of subsidy on oil, continuous owing of workers salary by most governments of the federation, the unrepentant increase in foreign exchange (Naira-Dollar exchange rate – forex).

    Consequently, PMB and his team must begin to direct efforts towards ensuring that poverty in the land is greatly ameliorated. And this they must do by ensuring that measures are taken to cushion the effects of the subsidy removal by ensuring that our refineries are up and running, the forex market properly repositioned, workers’ arrears of wages paid and subsequent payments made as and when due, the economy properly diversified, and employment opportunities created for the unemployed. He must also create a convivial business environment for businesses to thrive in the nation, whilst the prices of goods and services are properly regulated. That said; the widening gap between the rich and poor must also be drastically bridged.

    The second fight PMB must fight, and fight to a standstill, is the fight against corruption. Whilst this seems to be one of the major thrust of his government, PMB must, however, ensure that he fights corruption head-on, dispassionately and, more importantly, transparently avoiding all forms of lopsidedness in the fight. The worst thing that can happen to his Government is to fight the fight against corruption, corruptly.

    This simply means that every person(s) genuinely found to have corruptly plundered the wealth of the nation, whether politicians (active or inactive), civil or public servants, businessmen or women, young or old, Christians or Muslims, etc, are brought to book; and such funds recovered and judiciously utilized in the nation’s development.

    The third fight PMB must fight and fight very well is the fight against insecurity in the land. In fact, the success or otherwise of the other two fights (poverty and corruption) is largely dependent on the success of the fight against insecurity. This is because no genuine development can ever take place in a place where lives and property are largely unsecured.

    For instance, that there is an indescribable poverty in the Northeastern part of the country is basically due to insecurity caused by the Boko Haram terrorist insurgency in that part of the country, which has led to the utter devastation and destabilisation of the area’s economy and its people.

    Insecurity situation in the country has been further escalated by the Fulani herdsmen incessant attacks on different communities of the nation. Militancy, oil bunkering and vandalism, kidnapping, arm robbing, etc are all resurfacing with added momentum. And all these are threats to any genuine developmental agenda by the PMB led government.

    Based on the foregoing, it quite apt to suggest that PMB uses the remaining three years of his stay in office to fight these tripartite fights of hunger in the land, corruption and insecurity if he intends to give Nigeria and, indeed, Nigerians the major face-lift and emancipation from the dungeons of economic misery and misfortune which they have long been yearning for.

    • Daniel Ndukwe Ekea,

    Umuahia, Abia State.

  • Beleaguared PMB needs our support

    IMF, ill-famed for creating instability in underdeveloped post-colonial states to mitigate effects of social dislocations in the western societies, is waging a silent war against Buhari following his rejection of its bitter pill designed to further impoverish Nigerians.  As it was in 1984 when he did not only reject its Greek-gift but questioned the veracity of claimed Nigeria’s indebtedness and in fact went on to commission Chase Bank to carry out a verification exercise, Buhari is once again under a coordinated attack by IMF, its agents and its foot soldiers.  Kemi Adeosun, his Minister of Finance told them in far away France that if the Nigerian economy is sick, we will find a local cure. Perhaps as part of the local remedy, she late last week, on ‘Sunrise Daily’, a Channels TV programme, presented a Buhari economic plan designed  to eliminate waste, fight corruption, and make savings (instead of borrowing money to pay salaries as it has been for years) and placate those keeping Nigerian stolen wealth to repatriate them.  But apparently, the only thing acceptable to IMF and its western patrons in custody of looted Nigeria funds which Femi Falana estimated to be in the neighbourhood of $200 billion is outright devaluation of the naira so that we will be forced to join other troubled economies such as Ghana, Kenya and Angola that have swallowed the IMF bait. But to Buhari, with inflation as high as 20.20% and Labour agitating for minimum wage of N55, 000 even when about 26 states of the federation have been unable to pay the  N18,000 minimum wage, devaluation is a one-way route to bankruptcy and an invitation to share the terrible fate that befell Greece.

    Unexpectedly, IMF has deployed its foot soldiers. Even after the CBN governor had announced the depreciation of the naira from N155 to N197, Lamido Sanusi insists the country is only postponing the evil day. Oby Ezekwesili says Buhari’s policy is ‘archaic and opaque’ because according to her, we are ‘moving away from one-digit inflation and six percent growth of the Jonathan era. But what they did not tell Nigerians is that it was growth without development, growth without investment in infrastructure, growth where Egbin station has only two of its six turbines functioning, growth where NNPC could not maintain the four aging refineries nor government owned fuel farm in Ikorodu, growth where our defence industry in Kaduna re-bags rice while its counterparts in South Africa manufacture fighter jets.

    As for Kalu Idika Kalu, another IMF alumni, what the minister of finance presented as economic plan is no plan because he cannot see macro-economic indices like market determined exchange rate, increase tariff and taxes that will create opportunity for Nigeria to have access to ‘lending institutions and commercial banks like KFW Group of Germany, UK Export Finance Bank, Coface Bank in France, World Bank with the capacity to give long term loans for capital projects’.  He cannot understand why the government is afraid of devaluation when according to him, we have gone beyond devaluation. But what he has not told Nigerians is the inevitability of reduction in consumption if we increase VAT from 5% to 15%. He was also silent on the consequences of devaluation in an economy where inflation is already as high as 20.20% and Labour’s agitation for N55, 000 minimum wage when 26 states are finding it difficult to pay a minimum wage of N18, 000.

    But Idika Kalu has since his first coming as finance minister (1985-86),  like his fellow apostle of market driven realistic exchange rate such as Chu Okongwu (1986-1999), Olu Falae (1990-1990) and Abubakar Alhaji (1990-1993) insisted on what he described as ‘the inevitability of large scale programme of devaluation’ in spite of  warnings back then by even some western economists such as Ricardo Fari of John Hopkins University and Jaime de Millo, then a world Bank official  that the wholesale devaluation of our naira will not help our situation. They dismissed Obasanjo who took the battle to Columbia University where he dared Nigeria creditors and apostles of  devaluation to start charity at home by adopting ‘law of demand and supply’ by jettisoning ‘protectionism’ against Japanese goods and subsidy on their agricultural produce’ as a ‘frustrated chicken farmer’.  Tragically, their  first-tier rate of N2.80 to $1 in November 13, 1986, had by 1991 nose dived to  N11.312 kobo to $1 prompting  a warning by Augustus Aikhomu the then military vice president that the  ‘the value of the naira cannot be left absolutely to the whims and caprices of the market economy”. Twenty six years after and with the battered naira  standing at about N350-$1, their search for market determined realistic naira value continues.

    It is fruitless reminding apostles of ‘market driven realistic exchange rate’ who do not believe globalization is another name for slavery that models that failed in the West where the laws  are no respecter of anyone will not work in our environment where laws for our lawmakers are a means to an end? {Even the current 8th Senate according to the police manipulated its rules to achieve a desired outcome).

    For our purpose, let us examine only one institution- the Bureau de change, widely believed to be owned by those that drafted the laws guiding its operation. The (CBN), revised minimum capital requirement for Bureau De Change (BDC) operations is N35million with another N35m mandatory cautionary deposit to be deposited in a non-interest yielding account in the CBN. Because it is widely believed they are fronting for powerful people who have made cheap money from government, they don’t have to explain the source of dollars they dispense.

    How can we then have a realistic market driven naira exchange rate when although dollar is not our legal tender currency, imperial governors collect allocations and channelled same through Bureau de Change? How can supply and demand law determine the realistic exchange rate of the naira when the travails of the naira is closely linked with the unwholesome activities going on in the Bureau de change? Here, unlike the west, Bureau de change owes no one explanation when they get directive from Dasuki who after collecting $2.1b directly from CBN vault in boxes direct them to pay party functionaries?

    Add this to the fact that some individual Nigerians and companies who have over $20b deposit in their now frozen domiciliary accounts are also said to be behind the agitation for a market driven realistic exchange rate of N301 to $1. This amounts to double jeopardy for all Nigerians because if we apply Professor Bolaji Akinyemi’s thesis, there is no Nigerian billionaire who can in all conscience claim he has not exploited the state.

    And finally for a realistic exchange rate, I don’t think Nigerians need to leave the battle only to Falana who in spite of sabotage by his professional colleagues, has threatened to sue an embattled Buhari if he settles for loans instead of retrieving looted funds.  Currently at war with IMF and its western patrons and its Nigeria foot soldiers, Bureau de change and their unpatriotic Nigerian patrons and the greedy $20b depositors who want a pound of flesh, Buhari needs our support in his deadly battle with vicious enemies and understanding while he continues his current banana-peel approach to decisively rein in enemies of our nation.

  • PMB: Return to the drawing table

    Today, most of us Nigerians live in poverty. About 70% of us are estimated to be living in “absolute poverty” – meaning that we are barely keeping alive with just about one U.S. dollar a day. The days are gone when parents who sacrifice to give their children education can hopefully wait for those children to graduate and come back to help. It is sad to watch bright young graduates roam the streets jobless endlessly and, in desperation, turn to crime or terrorism.

    But it has not always been like this in our country. When I was a boy in the 1950s, we youths lived in great hope. Commonly, as we were graduating, we had letters of employment in our pockets. Weeks later, we were usually able to borrow money to buy our first cars. We were then able to help our parents – and our younger brothers and sisters with their education. Life was orderly, predictable and filled with hope – and with determination to succeed in life, and to help others to succeed.

    All this life of certainty and hope was rooted in the circumstances created for us by our leaders and rulers. My Western Region, under Chief Awolowo’s leadership, was doing best in the country, but the Eastern and Northern Regions too (under Dr. Azikiwe and Sir Ahmadu Bello respectively) were doing well. Schools were springing up everywhere, and so were modern roads, water supply, and electricity supply. We did not have petroleum and its enormous revenues in those days, but region by region, local government area by local government area, our people were vibrantly engaged in a common push for progress and prosperity – and the results were showing everywhere.

    Unhappily, since 1962, and until now, we have gradually and foolishly thrown away all this hope-filled scenario. It all started when the politicians who controlled our federal government at independence decided that the regions were too independent and needed to be subdued under federal government’s control. Targeting the strongest of the regions, the Western Region, they embarked on their ill-advised crusade against the regions in 1962. They disrupted, subdued and broke up the Western Region. But the crisis they thus initiated spiraled out of hand, generating military coups, genocidal pogroms, an outright civil war, and federal administrations (military and civilian) hell-bent on federally micro-managing all the affairs and resources of our country. Petroleum began to pour out its revenue bonanza in these years, and that created, for the controllers of the federal government, an added incentive to seize control of all our country’s resources. To make the total federal control sustainable, the controllers of the federal government decided to begin to use part of the oil revenues to bribe, buy, subvert and emasculate the elite from all over Nigeria, to make the total federal control acceptable to them. Public corruption became an avowed tool of governance in our land.

    At three different times during this growth of insanity, sanity and hope tried to rear their heads. First, in 1975, a young military officer named Murtala Mohammed seized power and, surprisingly, launched into a spirited war to kill public corruption and the widespread indiscipline that accompanied it among our leaders and rulers. Some of his initial methods were hard and painful, but his sincerity was never in doubt – and the promised goal of return to orderliness, progress and prosperity was intoxicating, especially among Nigerian youths.  But the influential enemies of his kind of goal got him killed within months, and got him replaced with other kinds of military men whom they could trust.

    Then, secondly, in the years from 1976 to 1979, when these military rulers promised a return to elective civilian rule, the former leader and guide of the era of progress and prosperity in the former Western Region, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, pulled together a broadly national group of patriotic Nigerians which then designed very ambitious programmes for the renewal of Nigeria’s progress and prosperity. Their goal was to transform Nigeria into a country of educated and skilled working youths, bubbling enterprise, modern farms, crowded industries, a magnet for investments from all over the world, and the source of massive exportation of goods to the rest of Africa and the wider world. As background to all this, they proposed to restructure Nigeria into a rational federation, in order to diversify the bases of enterprise and progress again, and to enable the peoples and federating units of Nigeria to share in the new transformation in their own ways and thereby make their own contributions to the growth of Nigeria’s prosperity. These programmes immediately became considerably popular countrywide, and the group seemed very likely to produce the next civilian Federal Government of Nigeria as well as the governments of many states. Hope began to revive among Nigerians. But the military rulers became instantly incensed against this group, preferring the group that was organizing to elevate corruption as Nigeria’s system of governance – the group that was determined to give the Nigerian elite the best of chances to acquire huge personal bounties, through corruption, from Nigeria’s oil revenues. The rest of this story is well known – especially the final story of how the military rulers manipulated the 1979 presidential election for the group that they preferred. There then followed four years (1979-83) of blisteringly corrupt governance.

    Then, thirdly, sanity and hope suddenly intruded onto the scene again. A military officer named Muhammadu Buhari, assisted by a no-nonsense younger officer named Tunde Idiagbon, pushed the corrupt group out of the government and embarked on investigating and punishing the corrupt politicians. By then, however, the forces of corruption had become far too powerful. Buhari and Idiagbon were soon pushed out – and then replaced by the military officer who now holds the record as the master architect of corruption in Nigeria’s life. All that has followed since has kept along the path that he charted for our country. This is how we have become what we now are – namely, a country where public officials steal trillions of Naira, where some politicians pocket billions of Naira or even dollars in loot, where powerful citizens buy million-dollar houses for their concubines abroad, where governors and their cronies buy jet aircraft for personal use, where federal legislators earn more than the president of America, where more than 70% of citizens live in “absolute poverty”, where the lack of infrastructures massively discourages enterprise, where more than 70% of youths are unemployed, where crime has virtually destroyed all sense of security, etc.

    But, yet again, the same old Buhari is back – this time as an elected civilian president. He has launched a war against public corruption again. And, again, most Nigerians welcome it.

    Yes, it looks and sounds good, but what are Buhari’s chances of succeeding? Those like me who have seen this kind of welcome effort two times before cannot help being skeptical. As I watch Buhari, I am painfully convinced that he does not know what he needs to do to win this war. And people around him say that he does not know how to listen to other people and use their wisdom.  He seems to think that finding and punishing corrupt big men is all that is needed – but he is flatly wrong. Corruption is much more deep-seated than all that. As he is proceeding now, he is likely to keep chasing corrupt big men without real success, until his four-year term comes to an end – if they will leave him to keep chasing them around for that long.

    Buhari needs to return to the drawing table and, with his men, reconsider the approach to this mammoth problem.

    If he does that, I believe that he and his men will almost certainly find that the approach needs to be more comprehensive. One cannot leave in place, and revel in, the system that upholds corruption, and then hope to eliminate corruption. It will not work – and the effort will only frustrate and burn Buhari. If Buhari sincerely desires to set this country on the right path, then he must seriously embark on convincing Nigerians to come with him to restructure and reorder the country. He will need particularly to persuade the elite of his own Hausa-Fulani nation who have generally believed that they have a special stake in the system as it has been concocted. He will need to persuade all of us that we have all been losing egregiously and need to turn around. He can succeed if he sincerely tries. Otherwise, he is likely to fail – and, for Nigeria, that could be a terminal disaster.

  • As PMB goes to London

    President Muhammadu Buhari arrives in London tomorrow to join 50 other world leaders at a landmark international anti-corruption summit called by Prime Minister David Cameron. The “Anti-Corruption Summit London 2016” will bring together world leaders, business and civil society to agree a package of practical steps to: expose corruption so there is nowhere to hide; punish the perpetrators and support those affected by corruption; drive out the culture of corruption wherever it exists, and put in place infrastructure and tools that can be used by international organizations, countries and national institutions to fight corruption.

    In a remarkable recognition of his ongoing war against corruption, President Buhari will speak twice at this event, first as a keynote speaker at a pre-conference meeting called by the new Commonwealth Secretary-General, Baroness Patricia Scotland and the second for eight minutes allocated to each President or head of government at the main summit, giving the clearest indication that the President’s focus has become a template for the rest of the world.

    In London, President Buhari intends to share experiences with other leaders. He is of the strong conviction that increasing globalization has has made it difficult, if not impossible for stand-alone nations to combat corruption; that without global synergies against corruption, nations will fail in their efforts towards economic growth, maintaining  security, reducing  poverty and protecting the environment for their children. He will, in the light of this seek support for anti-corruption capacity for our national institutions and the citizenship.

    As his own contribution, the President has substantially aligned himself with major initiatives enunciated by the convener, Prime Minister David Cameron that seek to increase transparency and governance in several key areas.

    He has formulated a Nigerian position on how to end impunity for corruption and ensuring that those involved in grand corruption are brought to justice through the active enforcement of laws and restrictions. Equally in agreement with Cameron, he is making suggestions on ways of empowering those affected by corruption by ensuring that its proceeds are returned to those to those from whom they have been stolen.

    President Buhari will also join the world leaders in designing a global architecture and tools that can be used to by international organizations,countries and national  institutions to fight corruption.

    In an outline by the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami SAN, specific areas of interest to Nigeria which the President will put on the tables include the development of beneficial ownership information related to corporate ownership, procurement, and public contract. By this, Nigeria will seek the lifting of the veil on corporate ownerships in order to disclose the true owners of a corporate vehicle in contact bids and procurement processes. Beyond this, the corporate ownership profile may be shared with other countries or interested stakeholders.

    Already, there is a broad view among the participants that public contracting is a source of public corruption and must be tackled as such. Our officials recommend that contracts within a certain threshold should be published and those behind the companies bidding for the contract should be listed for public scrutiny both at national and state levels.

    To achieve this, Nigeria plans the enactment of a regulation that will authorize the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC to obtain information on beneficial ownership of foreign companies that can be held in a different database to be managed by the CAC.

    Nigeria will be demanding the strengthening of the supervisory responsibilities of financial and non-financial services regulators and provision of specific training on compliance requirements for these sectors and will seek the establishment of an inter-agency collaboration as a key element in improving the implementation of Financial Action Task Force, FATF standards (such as the money laundering laws, anti-corruption laws, and Financial Intelligence Centre Bill).

    As part of measures to enhance fiscal transparency which is required in enhancing economic growth, improved GDP and poverty reduction, officers working in budget offices as well as those responsible for approving public spending may henceforth  be properly scrutinized, monitored and required to declare assets on a regular basis.

    The Nigerian government has in fact set for itself the objective of signing the Open Government Partnership and Open Contracting Partnership.

    A major issue of interest is greater transparency in the extractive industry (oil, gas and solid mineral sectors). The U.K. Government and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD have identified 20 percent of international corruption and bribery as coming for this sector. Nigeria will argue for greater fiscal transparency and and the enforcement of anti-corruption laws to deal with the problem.

    The President is expected to give assurances that a lot of work will be done  on a set of laws that will improve enforcement of anti-corruption laws. Nigeria has already begun reviewing its anti-corruption laws enacted since 2000 to bring it in compliance with international developments. In addition, the country which has ratified the United Nations Convention Against Corruption UNCAC is currently reviewing the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention for possible ratification. The OECD convention is considered among the stringiest of measures against corruption in corporate governance.

    President Buhari has also forwarded the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Bill, 2016 to the National Assembly for enactment into law. When passed, it will enhance mutual assistance and  international cooperation between Nigeria and other countries. The President will also announce that a new Nigeria Financial Intelligence Centre Bill has been drafted for this purpose and would soon be forwarded to the National Assembly.

    The Nigerian government will also indicate support for the UK proposal on the development of the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre. This is to be based in London and will serve as a global forum.

    As part of contributions to the evolution of the global anti-corruption infrastructure, Nigeria will seek support for the hosting of an “International Summit on Assets Recovery “ in 2017 in Abuja and for the establishment and hosting of a “Forum on Assets Recovery in Africa” to be based in Abuja.

    This trip is important for both Nigeria and the international community which reposes a lot of hope on Muhammadu Buhari who is faced with the daunting task of reversing the the socio-economic and political mess in which the previous administration left the country. In addition to the anti-corruption summit, the visit will also focus on trade and investment between Nigeria and the U.K. President Buhari will welcome British investment in Nigeria.

    It is hoped that the bilateral discussions between the Prime Minister and our President will focus on issues of common interest and do everything to possible to take the relationship between the two countries to newer heights.

     

    • Shehu, is Senior Special Assistant to the President

    (Media and Publicity).

  • PMB: Ponder on the words of Atiku Abubakar

    Many Nigerians did not read, and most do not remember, the memo which former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar sent to the 2014 National Conference. That is a pity. I have re-read it, and I must urge all lovers of this country to read it. Coming from one of the most eminent personalities from Northern Nigeria, it deserves to be ranked as one of the most important, one of the most patriotic, documents in Nigeria’s recent history.

    In particular, President Buhari, whom we elected on his promise of CHANGE, should read this document carefully and thoughtfully, and then respond to it. He has stolidly refused to respond to the countless calls on him to consider some agenda for restructuring our federation. He cannot now continue to do so without risking the loss of his credibility. That does not mean that we do not appreciate his fight against corruption; but it does mean that his anti-corruption fight does not, and cannot, touch the roots of Nigeria’s failings as a country.  Any claim to be making change without attending to the need for properly restructuring this federation of many nations is flatly unconvincing. We who support Buhari care very much about his evolving image and heritage.

    The following are the significant sections of the Atiku memorandum. The words are entirely his – with only minor touching to save space or to highlight sections.

     

    “What We Can Agree On

    A major reason why Nigeria is not working is the way we have structured our country and governance, especially since the emergence of military rule in 1966. We can agree that the federal government is too big, too rich, and too strong relative to the federating states. We can agree that there is too much centralisation of resources and concentration of power at the federal level.

    Nigerians would not have been calling for a National Conference, sovereign or not, if we were meeting our people’s basic needs, including food, shelter, education, security, energy, and transportation infrastructure, if we were putting the country on the right path and every segment of the country feels equitably treated. And we would unlikely see people describing as a mistake the amalgamation of the northern and southern parts of Nigeria 100 years ago.

     

    Unitary Federalism

    Therefore, many of our challenges are governance issues which can be tackled by a serious government committed to uplifting our people. To me then, the National Conference should design a political and governmental system that empowers local authorities and gives them greater autonomy to address peculiar local issues, and enhances accountability, while contributing to the general good of the country.  Such a robust federal system would reduce the tensions that are built into our current over-centralised system.  While the relationships among Nigeria’s ethnic and religious groups are important, the National Conference cannot expect to create a federating structure that coheres with our ethnic identities.  Those identities are not only numerous but cross-cutting as well.

    Although our regional arrangement in the First Republic was not perfect – and did have its tensions – it certainly made for more local autonomy and better quality governance than what we have today. Our current structure, which can best be described as “unitary federalism” (a contradiction in terms), was created under our military regimes in the context of rising ethnic tensions and violence, an unfortunate civil war and the sudden rise in revenues from crude oil rents.

    As more power was concentrated in the centre, the federal government appropriated more resources and expanded its responsibilities. All of these were done in the name of promoting national unity. And the process was relatively easy as the unified command structure of the military ensured little opposition. Military governors/administrators in the states could not defend greater autonomy for their states against their commanders from the nation’s capital: they were merely on military posting.

     

    How to Fix Nigeria

    Therefore, fixing Nigeria, to me, will require reversing decades of over-centralisation of power and over-concentration of resources at the centre. That is, it requires federal retreat or a degree of retrenchment of the federal government. The features will include:

     

    1. Fiscal federalism (which allows the component states to keep their resources but allows the federal government taxing powers)
    2. Devolution of powers to states and local governments (e.g. state and local control of education, health, roads and other infrastructure)

    iii. State and local police to augment the federal police (with clearly defined roles and jurisdictions)

    1. Independence of key democratic institutions, security and anti-corruption agencies.

     

    Facts & Realities

    We need to eschew emotions and knee-jerk reactions and examine these issues critically.  As is to be expected, interests have been formed and entrenched so that calls for devolution and decentralisation (mostly from the south) have been met with very strident opposition (mostly from the north). It is as though the over-centralisation of power and concentration of resources in the federal government benefit the north more than the south. Nothing can be further from the truth. In my view, and the evidence is there for all to see, the excessive dominance of the federal government has been detrimental to the development aspirations of all sections of this country.  It is precisely why we now rely almost exclusively on oil revenues, which come mainly from a small section of the country. It is what has, by extension, killed our agriculture, local control of schools, and promoted corruption that has eroded the quality of our public and even private institutions.

    I come from the north, and I can tell you that government’s reliance on oil revenues has virtually destroyed the economy of the north, and no part of Nigeria has been left unaffected.  I readily acknowledge the role of oil revenues in expanding our infrastructure such as schools, roads and irrigation facilities. However, were oil prices to suddenly drop significantly, the country, every part of the country, will be in even more serious trouble than we are today.

    Yet this is a country which, while I was growing up, had federating units that were able to send their children to school, build roads, universities, ports, factories, farm settlements, etc.  I had all my formal education in northern Nigeria and it was the Native Authority and regional government that funded it, even paid me to go to school. Three of the first generation universities, UNN, ABU and OAU were built by the then regional governments.

    We must stop assuming that anyone calling for the restructuring of our federation is working for the breakup of the country.  And the notion that over-centralisation and an excessively powerful centre is equivalent to national unity is false.  If anything, it has made our unity more fragile and our government more unstable.  We must renegotiate our union in order to make it stronger.  Greater autonomy, power and resources for states and local authorities will unleash our people’s creative energies and spur more development. It will help with improving security. It will help give the federating units and the local governments greater freedom and flexibility to address local issues, priorities and peculiarities. It will promote healthy rivalries among the federating units and local authorities. It will help make us richer and stronger as a nation.

    Let us consider restructuring our federation on the basis of the current six geo-political zones as regions and the states as provinces.

    Let us look at our First Republic Constitution for guidance.  It is a constitution that resulted from hard bargaining among our leaders then, leaders whom no one would accuse of lacking in patriotism or developmental zeal.  Let us look at our history, for example the history of our education management and social provisioning in the First Republic and compare that with the current situation. Let us also look at other working federations around the world such as the United States, Canada, and India.  What we will learn from them is that states or provinces and local municipalities have greater autonomy over their resources, development choices, and wage structures, among other things. There is no reason for the governor of Lagos State to earn the same salary as the Governor of Kogi State or for a teacher in Mubi to earn the same salary as the one in Abuja or Port Harcourt, given the widely varying costs of living, productivity and revenue generating capacities across the country.

    In a nutshell, the national conference should produce proposals that enable us have a smaller, leaner federal government with reduced responsibilities, a tax-focused revenue base, and a true federal system with greater autonomy for the component states and localities to control their revenues and their development”.

  • PMB, beware of the ides of March

    PMB, beware of the ides of March

    SIR: I may not be able to convince die-hard APC members and sympathizers, but I need to remind the APC government that some of the reasons we voted them into political power are that we trusted  President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) can quickly resolve the following perennial problems:  fuel scarcity, electricity crisis, Boko Haram and reasonably reduce corruption. For 11 months now, the government has achieved only one: the decimation of Boko Haram. Now I buy fuel N350 per litre in Abuja, electric light is seen only on an average of three hours every two days (in the midst of Abuja’s terrible hot weather), and all we hear about corruption are streaming allegations on pages of newspapers from a very unserious and incompetent Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) who did practically nothing during ex-President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan’s (GEJ) regime; now the agency is rolling over itself with allegations of corruption that took place during that regime. Where was EFCC when these funds were allegedly stolen? Why should EFCC work only when they suspect the President abhors corruption? That means they have no business being there ab initio. What Nigerians need to hear are convictions and imprisonments. We are fed-up hearing of allegations alone.

    Also I thought that PMB with time will arrest the fast-steady falling social morality in Nigeria. Where is the so-called National Orientation Agency (NOA)? That agency is the most dysfunctional, non-working and unserious government agency in the land. If you sit down and consider the amount of damage being inflicted on Nigeria by immorality, you surely will weep for our country. The majestic reign of immorality has ushered in fathers having sexual relationship with their daughters; debasement of religious relationships; abundance of extreme social behaviours like cultic killings, kidnapping and raping; the shaming practice of girl-child wives; sharp unethical practices in schools, banks, telecom networks; complete lack of values in the homes; abandonment of children upbringing to deadly housemaids who made sure the children suffer infinitum; reckless and whimsical disrespect for elders by youths;  stealing of public funds by even military officers; payment of monthly electric bills without light; common presence of homosexuality even among primary school pupils; a well organized begging industry across the land; pornography and seductive behaviours as norms in female wears and dressings (that harass human psychological emotions daily) etc.

    Yes we expected too much from PMB, but that is not abnormal from a people down for too long. PMB knew we have been down for too long and that was why he stubbornly asked to lead us for four times. I thank and praise him for his doggedness. Having got there, we cannot afford to lose it. PMB can do best by dealing extraordinarily and summarily with the fuel and electricity wahalas within one year and his name will be written in gold. Otherwise, EFCC and NOA may be working to bring down PMB as a man of integrity. Time is PMB’s chief enemy here, and I believe Nigerians are his best friends. Patience is limited by the Ides of March.

     

    • Okachikwu Dibia

    Maitama, Abuja.

  • PMB’s will to conquer terrorism

    One can never forget the second bombing incident in Nigeria when a terrorist attempted to bring down the Louis Edet House, the headquarter of Nigeria Police Force in the nation’s capital city, Abuja. This was to be the first suicide mission in Nigeria and a new dimension in the activities of the terror group – the Boko Haram –  in its deadly operations in Nigeria.

    This incident opened the door for our country’s descent into despondency and a long running show of shame. It exposed Nigeria’s numerous weaknesses to the world as the other security agencies were forced to build siege walls with artificial barriers like blocks, stones and other instruments to barricade their complexes. Each security outfit became wary and were willing to do the ridiculous if only to avoid any embarrassment from Boko Haram and their suicide bombers.

    If the siege mentality in the nation’s capital was troubling, then the news from the war front in the North-east, the Boko Haram heartland was dismal. There were countless number of stories of soldiers fleeing battles, widespread desertion, horrendous casualty and a band of terrorists that took on invincibility. The situation was bad enough that constitutionally scheduled general elections were placed on hold for six weeks under the guise of fighting a group that had grown the capacity to attack any part of the country at will.

    The coming of President Muhammadu Buhari marked the beginning of the end of Boko Haram. The inauguration of President Buhari and subsequent appointment of Lt. General Tukur Yusuf Buratai remains that turning point in the war against the fanatical murderers. It marked the point when the commanders of the extremists, who decorated themselves without the sophistication and training of the Nigerian Army that was proudly rated as the best in Africa sequel to the evil ascendancy of Boko Haram being addressed as mere criminals.

    One can therefore not be blamed to have found the declaration by the Minister of Information, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, six months after the inception of the administration, that Boko Haram has been technically defeated. The Minister of Information, hitherto known for his persistent outspokenness during his days as the All Progressives Congress, APC spokesman demonstrated what he meant with a visit to Maiduguri. The city, until the exit of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan was the administrative headquarters of Boko Haram just like Washington DC is to the United States of America. Senior officials of the previous administration had technically declared the North-east a no go area, even for those who are originally from the place.

    It was adequately reported, quoting multiple intelligence sources and operational reports, that the terrorists were all coordinated from this town while Sambisa Forest served as their armoury and Bite as the spiritual headquarters from where all their Imams and Alfas coordinating prayers for their success against our army. Ironically, mere prayer warriors can only win battles when there is no army like the renewed Nigerian Army under President Buhari and his able chief, officers and soldiers have made us to understand today.

    Just as the Boko Haram black flag has been taken down and burnt in areas that were once their strongholds, making it possible for life to return to normal, the siege around military facilities and other national assets in Abujais being lifted. The barricades have disappeared from Agura Hotel and other barricades are disappearing from around other facilities. Institutions that still have barricades in place either are not in tune with the mood of the times.

    Those days when we hear the then Minister of Information, Labaran Maku of the Jonathan administration declare the defeat of Boko Haram, Nigerians run to Agura Hotel to confirm if the double lane, which was sealed off to protect military offices in the vicinity, has been reopened to traffic or not.

    It is on this note that must appreciate President Buhari’s right choice in appointing General Buratai as COAS. The events that followed showed that the General shared the same trait of decisiveness with the older General that appointed him. This explains why Buratai was able to bring on board leadership with a focus.

    As opposed to when Boko Haram was fought from the comfort of air-conditioned hotel suites and the lobby of expansive duplexes and well-stocked ballrooms, President Buhar’s directive as implemented by Buratai, who demonstrated a clear understanding of guerrilla warfare yielded the quick turnaround that ensured that all the prophets of doom are put to shame as their prediction of doom for Nigeria amounted to nought. With the introduction of motorbike battalion under his command, something that is comparatively cheaper but was never contemplated, soldiers are now able to move quickly to wherever the terrorists are before they can cause much havoc.

    That these feats were achieved can also be situated in the anti-corruption stance of President Buhari, which Buratai has dedicatedly implemented as he exhibited intolerance for corruption anywhere in the Army. It must be noted that this anti-corruption component goes beyond not diverting money meant for arms purchase and personnel welfare as it also include rebuilding values to engender germane qualities not seen in any military formations anywhere in Africa.

    With the benefit of hindsight, the current administration might not have made the required mark in other sectors in relation to citizens’ expectations, but the fact that we can now sleep with our eyes closed is commendable as an achievement that should make any objective assessor score President Muhammadu Buhari the required first class performance. We must salute his will and determination to return Nigeria to being a stable and peaceful country.

     

    • Suleiman writes from Jos Road, Bauchi State.

  • PMB: Don’t we need to tackle these corruption pillars right away?

    President Buhari’s War on Corruption is starting a revolution in our land. Of course, most Nigerians are still sceptical, but the President’s resoluteness is gradually building trust, and even excitement. It is becoming believable that large numbers of the leading citizens of our country are likely to hear the prison doors slam behind them – for abusing our people’s trust and brutalizing our country. Panic is growing among the most influential and most powerful men and women of our land, and the euphoria of owning enormous bank accounts (and cash warehouses) of stolen public money has turned into a nightmare.

    But how can the war against corruption be possibly won if certain factors in our practice of politics remain unchanged? I refer to the use of huge amounts of money by our politicians in all aspects of politics. We have reached a point where every politician must somehow bring incredible amounts of money into politics, and spend incredible amounts on politics on a daily basis, with the assurance of earning bountiful profits therefrom. Politics is no longer about serving the people and the country; it is about money – about being able to find the money to stay in the game, and about coming out at the end with indefensibly large fortunes.

    Things were not like this before – at least, until as recently as the last years of the 1990s. When my people sent for me to come home from University College Ibadan in 1964 to stand election to become their representative in the Nigerian House of Representatives, they knew that I was only a Graduate Student and that I had no money, and indeed no assets, anywhere (besides a used Volkswagen Beetle which I was using for my Ph.D. research).Yet, when I sent back home to say that I could not face an election because I had no money, they got angry with me – and they forgave only when I went home, penitently apologized, and surrendered to their will. They said I didn’t need any money – and I hardly spent any. Yet, I was winning the final contest very grandly until the party I belonged to decided that we should boycott the election because of the massive rigging going on in some other parts of Nigeria. In 1979, I won the election to the Nigerian Senate with almost no money. In 1999, one my young close friends won election to the position of governor upon only a meagre budget. These experiences were by no means unique; they were more or less general.

    Unhappily, things have changed totally in the past 15 years. The whole electoral process has become so viciously corrupted and monetized that no politician can now win his party’s nomination without vomiting a whole fortune, and every candidate for the final contest in any election must borrow or steal enormous fortunes to be competitive at all. One of my”sons” had to borrow N450 million to win a senatorial seat. Another worked through his businessman brother to raise N700 million, mostly by borrowing, to win a senatorial seat. One father in a South-west state is said to have sold his house to help his son win his party’s gubernatorial nomination. Unfortunately, his son lost to another candidate who could wield a larger arsenal of cash. These experiences are by no means unique; they are common in virtually all parts of Nigeria.

    The typical Nigerian elected public official (at federal, state or local government level) is therefore not a public servant at all. He is a greedy, money-grubbing, money-stealing, monster. He is desperately driven by the urgency to pay the debts he contractedfor gettinginto the position he occupies – and then return home stinking rich. This is his real full-time job; his duties as a legislator or executive public official are, quite often, entirely secondary. And this is a very major pillar of Nigeria’s public corruption. It is the reason why members of the Nigerian government at all levels go to great inventiveness to find ways to get big shares of public money. It is also the reason why they must give their subordinates and officials sumptuous accesses to public money. In effect, the Nigerian president, governor or local government chairman is a coordinator and purveyor of theft and corruption. Nigerian legislators must claim a phoney “sovereignty” for the legislative body they belong to – because they need to be able to corner off much of public money for sharing among them. It is in this way that corruption became the foundation of Nigeria’s culture of governance.

    But that is not all. As the widely impoverished Nigerian populace became aware of the great wealth being stolen by their public officials, they gradually became adepts at taking some share of the stolen money. Every public official is therefore forever confronted by his constituents for money and financial support – money for basic feeding of their families, for paying children’s school fees, for paying hospital bills, for meeting funeral expenses, wedding expenses, travel expenses, ritual expenses, etc. Among the impoverished elite, most have learned to live (and even to become rich) on “dignified” handouts by public officials. As for the impoverished masses of the people, there is no time or place for dignity – and their demands for money from their public officials can often be quite brutal. A local party dignitary forced his legislator to buy him a used car; four weeks later, he was furiously angry with the legislator – because the legislator had meanwhile not given him any money for four weeks! It is that brutish.

    Still, that is not all. Political meetings are the main vehicle of the democratic political process, and such meetings are supposed to be gatherings of independent citizens coming together to consider the affairs of their groups or parties, communities, districts, states or country. But in the sickening slush that Nigerian politics has become, political meetings have become big money affairs. The party or leader or representative that calls a meeting must now put up enormous amounts of money to underwrite it – in various handouts to each person who comes: travelling money, feeding money, lodging money (if the meeting spills from one day to the next), pocket money to return home with. Nigeria hardly ever experiences today the kind of political meetings that my generation of political activists knew –gatherings of independent and self-supporting citizens, proudly coming to hear, express their minds, and contribute. Even the smallest political meeting of today demands a mighty budget and puts a big financial burden on the politicians.

    So, each politician or elected public official spins constantly in a whirlwind of frenetic material and financial demands and, therefore, his need for stolen public money becomes larger and larger and more and more pressing. It is to be wondered how our present legislators are coping with the changed situation being created by the Buhari War on Corruption. These men and women entered, as usual, into huge debts to win elections in 2014 -15, hoping to have access as usual to vast amounts of stolen public money. But now the Buhari revolution is frightening people away from stealing and sharing public money. How will these men and women fare?

    In summary, the Buhari presidency must delve right-away into this problem of political monetization with a view to curbing it. Otherwise, it will be impossible to carry through with the War on Corruption. In many countries, there are laws controlling and limiting electoral expenses, and laws making it compulsory for electoral candidates to disclose to the electoral officials the money they have raised for elections (and the givers) as well as the accounts of their electoral expenses. In many countries also, the amount of money anybody can give to a politician or public official, or to an electoral candidate, is stated under the law. And in many countries, it is a crime for an electoral candidate to give any money or gift to potential voters. I am not necessarily advocating any particular law. All I say is that we cannot possibly leave our present situation unchanged while claiming to be fighting a War on Corruption. President Buhari needs, urgently, to act about these realities.

  • Our Girls; Hospitals; Fill Nigerian potholes pls; PMB: Direct NYSC to start Ward Youth Centres as CD!

    Our Girls; Hospitals; Fill Nigerian potholes pls; PMB: Direct NYSC to start Ward Youth Centres as CD!

    Our Girls are still missing since April 15, 2014 in spite of the spirited efforts of the support groups and the Federal Government. We pray for a solution soon.

    We have all nearly died in ‘common potholes’! It is not nuclear physics to fill potholes. The Lagos Ibadan Expressway as elsewhere claims lives and vehicles daily due to burst tyres. I saw five vehicles last Sunday including a burnt-out trailer costing N50+m without cargo! Nationwide CHANGE means LOCAL POTHOLE WATCH TEAMs!

    Cont: State General Hospitals are under-served in staffing and equipment. They should be the flagships of States but are poor in funding, equipment, motivated personnel, and continuous training. Mortuaries are poor accommodation for the dead. Hospital, clinic wards, toilets, theatres and labour wards are patient-unfriendly, disease ridden, dirty and unpainted. ‘Common’ annual painting is ignored! Why is dirt so synonymous with Nigerian hospitals? They always fail even the simple visual finger-dust ‘Clean Test’ my mother taught me let alone medical interrogation by microbiologists, so compulsory to prevent infection of newborns and operated patients. Even though our streets are littered with ‘labs’, one wonders when last ‘sterility’ cleaning and ‘microbiological’ studies occurred in any operating theatre and medical facility in Nigeria. Why do authorities get away with conveniently forgetting ‘Best Medical Practices’? More die from typhoid and hospital infections than Ebola and Lassa.

    Can Governors make their state hospitals flagships and as functional as federal hospitals, which are not much to write home about either? Even Local Government Areas in almost all 744 LGAs fail to offer adequate medical services except perhaps Etsako East LGA in Edo State which is worthy of award, reward, study and emulation.

    While awaiting the unfulfilled promises to the largely traumatized youth of Nigeria by serial failing federal governments, it is time for LGAs to guide the destiny of their local youth or at least give the neglecting federal government a helping hand. The LGAs can ‘rescue’ their youth easily and cheaply by building or renting or providing space for a single Youth Centre this month in each Ward -16,400 nationwide. A ward is the minimum political unit from where every politician, good or bad, starts his climb to fame, stolen fortune or perdition. Therefore the ward should become a socio-economic unit with adequate amenities for the local population which is 50%+ youth, so a Youth Centre is not too much to ask. If they had been provided 40 years ago even on a small scale, imagine what a strong safety net and magnificent network of development, unity, exchange and growth we would have now.

    NYSC can lead the charge as the skills and resources exist in every ward -teachers, retirees, morally sound motivated philanthropists, the young and ideas from the NYSC. The NYSC can rescue wards with targeted instructions to start, support, sustain and service WARD YOUTH INSPIRATION CENTRES. When I did my NYSC in 1975-6 in Jos and Lafia, we built a gutter on the main Lafia town road as our Thursday CD- Community Development. I wish we had built a Youth Centre.

    I believe that this government under President Buhari should directly order the NYSC to work out the modalities, for starting a grassroots WARD YOUTH CENTRE REVOLUTION by engaging the thousands of NYSC members, referred to as ‘Corpers’ in this massive ‘Young Human’ Development Agenda in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to bring SDG information to every ward immediately. Imagine 16,400, 20-40 year old Ward Youth Centres if we had the initiative in 1975 to start a Ward Youth Centre named after the ward, a landmark or local non-political hero or heroine. The modalities are not difficult.

    To do something useful with the rest of your life, please set up or support a Ward Youth Centre. You will be remembered positively and influence lives of the youth thus reducing crime and promoting peace. A Ward Youth Centre can start in a classroom, under a tree, in the Town Hall. Learn to provide space for the youth as their right and not as a favour from a foolish federation which has ignored the youth for 40 years. The modalities for Ward Youth Centre are not complex, expensive, time consuming or nuclear physics! We require commitment, a little cash, donations of books, newspapers, furniture, educational games and volunteer individuals and groups.  So simple that we should be ashamed as adults that we did not ‘Build For Our Youth’ years ago with the multi-billions stolen and misspent and Corporate Nigeria’s N5,000,000,000 fund for instant millionaires and money-wasting CSR activities!

    All adult Nigerians stand guilty as charged of ‘Neglecting the Youth’. The LGAs already get enough funds to kick-start Ward Youth Centres. Competitions for the Best or Most Active will quickly make them popular. Visit the Onikan PZ Youth Centre in Lagos or the PZC-Educare Trust Youth Centre in Ibadan! Corporate organization in each Ward can contribute to their growth by providing products, professional services and CSR funds for local programmes. With no federal and state money, this is the only way any ‘change’ can reach the local youth. The manpower exists in the NYSC and other local citizenry. It only requires a structure and direction to tap it voluntarily. The President can start this Ward Youth Centre Revolution without any budgetary changes. We May Not Change the World, But We Can Change Nigeria, One Ward At A Time!