The Nation Newspaper

Tag: policy

  • Review education policy to accommodate research, RMRDC urges

    The Raw Material Research and Development Council (RMRDC) has advocated for a review of Nigeria’s education policy to accommodate research and development.

    The Director, Chemicals and Materials Department, RMRDC, Dr Moses Omojola, made the on the sideline of a stakeholders’ interactive meeting on research and development held in Abuja, Tuesday this week.

    The theme of the meeting was ‘’Institutionalisation of Research and Development in Tertiary Institutions as a Launch Pad for Nigeria’s Technological Advancement.’’Omojola said researchers need a guideline on national focus instead of embarking on individualistic research. “We cannot continue doing what we have been doing 20 years ago; if there is a review, it should accommodate Research and Development (R&D),” he saidAccording to Omojola, focused R&D is critical to tackling societal challenges and bringing the much needed economic and industrial development. He said education policies should survive beyond government and that national interests should be paramount.

  • The new forex policy

    • Good move.  If well enforced, it holds the promise to sanitize the local economy and curb money laundering

    The new controls put in place to ensure better management and utilisation of foreign exchange has understandably set the financial system abuzz.

    Friday July 31, the news was everywhere that banks were no longer accepting foreign currency deposits into domiciliary accounts. Next day, Saturday August 1, the official confirmation came via a notice by one of the nation’s leading banks to its customers, that they would no longer accept foreign currency cash deposits.

    The statement read: “Please, be informed that due to the unavailability of outlets for managing foreign currency cash deposits, we have found it necessary to temporarily suspend receipts of foreign currency cash deposits into domiciliary accounts at all our branches nationwide from Monday, August 3, 2015. In addition, foreign currency cash deposits into domiciliary accounts made prior to this notice will not be eligible for outward electronic transfer and can only be withdrawn as cash”.

    The same day – the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), citing ‘a recent report by the Global Financial Integrity group, which ranks Nigeria as one of the 10 largest countries for illicit financial flows in the world’, noted and applauded the move stating that “in line with global best practice, Nigerian banks have started to curtail the acceptance of foreign currency cash deposits, much the same way as customers in other countries cannot just walk into banks and make foreign currency cash deposits without proper documentation’. The implication of the latter is that the banks, rather than the CBN, triggered the policy.

    Be that as it may, on August 5, the apex bank fired another memo effectively sounding the death knell for the operation of domiciliary accounts. It read “In its continued efforts to stop illicit flows in the Nigerian banking system which aligns with the anti-money laudering stance of the Federal Government, the CBN hereby prohibts from the date of this circular, the acceptance of foreign currency by the DMBs”.

    It gave the owners of the accounts the option of either to withdraw their deposits or collect the naira equivalent. It also advised individuals who wish to source foreign exchange for eleigible and legitimate purposes to do so through the recognised channels while assuring that their requirements would be met.

    As would be expected, what followed were torrents of diverse opinions on even before the full import of the measure was digested, with many suggesting that the measure was rather draconian and hasty.

    Perhaps so. But, even without the harsh economic climate forced by the decline in crude oil earnings and hence its curb on foreign exchange inflows, it would seem to us a matter of time before the old order – the laissez-faire system in which the so-called parallel market held sway – would give. We say this mindful of the growing sophistication of the banking sector in general, and the industry’s giant strides in the area of enhanced payment systems, even across national boundaries, through its adoption of latest information technology platforms in particular. This development, in our view, has more than rendered the domiciliary accounts, superfluous.

    We have not heard the argument – not at this time – in favour of having multiple currencies as the nation’s legal tender. Indeed, the move towards the dollarisation of our fragile, mono-export economy would seem one of such absurdities fuelled only by the illusion of petro-cash.  And if we may add – with perhaps the exception of Zimbabwe and nearly a dozen of countries at war, we cannot recall a country whose currency has suffered the steady displacement by major international currencies as the naira even in commonplace domestic transactions such as payment for rents and school fees.

    It goes without saying therefore that the defence of the value of the naira from the activities of currency speculators must be seen as a sacred duty to the monetary authorities. We therefore see the new policy as a positive step in this direction. We also agree on the need to curb illicit foreign exchange transfers through stricter foreign exchange controls which the apex bank advanced as another reason behind the measure. We find the CBN’s commitment to make foreign exchange available for all legitimate transactions reassuring.

    Finally, we know money laundering is the root and branch of the pervasive corruption currently gnawing away at the heart of the nation. Scrupulously enforced, the measure promises to instil some sanity to our international trade.

  • Expert praises JAMB’s new admission policy

    The President of the Association of Proprietors of Innovation and Vocational Institutions (APIVI), Dr. Andrews Jegede has faulted views of those who oppose the new policy by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), which seeks to redistribute successful candidates in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) whose scores are below the requirements of their universities of first choice to other universities whose requirements they met.

    Jegede, who spoke in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, explained that tertiary institutions in the country have turned post-UTME admission process into a money-making venture which they included as part of their major internally-generated revenue (IGR) drive.

    Of late, criticisms have continued to trail the new admission policy of the examination body, as students and parents protested at the University of Lagos (UNILAG).

    Explaining that the introduction of post-UTME as part of admission process by tertiary institutions had made the cost of tertiary admission highly exploitative and expensive at the expense of the poor Nigerian masses, he posited that “Nigeria is not the only country that has university admission regulatory body; it is in all over the world. Then, why should Nigerians interfere in the affairs of the country’s tertiary admission regulatory body saddled with the responsibility of conducting entrance examination for eligible candidates and place them into the university of their choices if he or she meets the university’s cut off mark?”

    He commended the board’s Registrar, Prof. Dibu Ojerinde for the introduction of the computer-based test (CBT); saying that the measure had reduced examination malpractices in the system. He noted that the CBT had rendered the Post-UTME test unnecessary in the tertiary admission process.

    His words: “Since the establishment of JAMB, there was never a time a decision was taken in isolation of other stakeholders in the system; the Vice-Chancellors, Registrars, rectors of polytechnics, Provosts of colleges of education and Heads of innovation institutions were always carried along. Before this became public, we all met at a roundtable in Abuja to take a decision on this year’s admission process.

    “When JAMB released this year’s cut-off point for admission, every university has its in-house admission standard, and that any student whose score does not fall within a particular university pass mark, JAMB has the statutory right to send his particulars to another institution where he or she could be considered. It could be polytechnic, college of education or private institution. So, also the candidate has the right to accept it, or re-apply to another one he or she wants.”

    He decried the protests, especially by the association of tutorial schools, saying that “what concerns tutorial centres with admission. These are people who would promise candidates high mark in examination in order to dupe them. If not that we waded in, many more people would have been victims. You cannot see any poster, promising candidate 320 over 400 in an examination that has not been done. If care is not taken, we will start buying admission from cybercafé.”

  • OYSG should rethink refuse policy

    SIR: At the beginning, the refuse collection and disposal exercise started well by the current government in Oyo State during its first term in office. Refuse containers were provided and placed at some strategic positions in Ibadan metropolis and it went smoothly. People complied fully as they dumped their refuse in the containers and were evacuated regularly by the workers in charge. One hardly saw refuse pile up along the roads. But all of a sudden towards the period of the last elections, there were no more regular clearing or evacuation of the refuse and the containers started overflowing. It used to take up to a month before the evacuation was done and at a point everything came to a halt. When residents were being disturbed by the bad odour of the refuse, they started setting them on fire which consequently destroyed some of the containers.

    This was the situation until the elections. With the elections over,  the government removed all the refuse containers while telling people not to  dump refuse anywhere in the city, but to go and get registered contractors who will be paid to carry out  the refuse collection and disposal for each household! And to enforce the order, people were being arrested on dumping of refuse at the so-called ‘prohibited’ places by the government.  Presently, people still bring and dump their refuse along the major roads and in the river paths as well as any open space and bushes around.

    Why should waste evacuation and disposal service become a problem for the government that clamours for clean environment or how much does it pay to the cleaners who do the work?  By now one expects that almost every 500 metre square in Ibadan would have waste containers so that nowhere will be found filthy but reverse is the case! Is the government to kill the poor people with all this pay-pay syndrome in this terrible economy or what else is the benefit of this democracy?  Please change your stance!

     

    • Ayoola Razaq

    Odogbo- Ibadan

     

  • Policy on commodity trading underway

    Policy on commodity trading underway

    The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Ambassador Abdulkadir Musa disclosed that the government has come up with a policy on the conduct of commodity trading both within and outside the country.

    The Permanent Secretary who was represented by the deputy director, Planning, Research and Statistics, Ajia Mahman disclosed this at the launching and presentation of certificates of registration to three new national commodity associations in Abuja.

    He said, The policy is to address the ugly development, by government setting up the export commodity coordinating committee to sanitise the system by organising the existing and yet to be established trade group into apex commodity association.

    “The main trust of the policy was to ensure orderliness in the conduct of commodity trading within and outside the country.

    “The policy trust of the present administration in ensuring the diversification of the economy is to reduce over dependence on crude oil export.

    “The intention of government is to create robust non oil export led economy by providing the enabling environment for achieving optimal result.

    “In this regard I wish to assure players in the commodity sector of government support on the conviction that it is a path towards the realization of the vision 20-2020.

    “The commodity sector has a myriad of challenges which must be addressed. You must ensure the competitiveness of your products in the market, through quality enhancement, improved yield, information gathering and exchange, increased land area.”

    Abdulkadir lamented the handicap in the subsector as inability to gainfully process most of these commodities to add value. This he said is a challenge if wealth must be created out of this viable economic potential.

  • Gas sector needs robust policy framework, says DPR

    The Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has said the gas sector needs robust and appropriate policy framework to enable the country harness the opportunities and benefits in its abundant gas resource.

    Its Deputy Director, Gas Monitoring and Regulation, Mr. Antigha Ekaluo who spoke in Lagos yesterday at the 2015 Business Forum and Annual General Meeting of the Nigeria Gas Association (NGA) said only a good policy could move the sector forward . The theme of this year’s Business Forum is Harnessing and monetising the potential of stranded gas fields.

    Ekaluo said effective gas sector policy will give Nigeria the ability to harness opportunities in the sector and will afford the country the opportunity to enjoy maximum value from its stranded gas resources. Nigeria, he said, is endowed with abundant gas resources and the sector holds huge potentials for unprecedented growth.

    He said: “The existing legal and regulatory framework, written primarily for oil does not provide robust technical and commercial framework for gas. There is therefore the need to pass the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) into law, which will underpin the ongoing sector reforms.

    The gas sector policies will provide Nigeria with the opportunity to harness and get maximum value from its stranded gas resources.”

    He said effective gas sector development remains a strong catalyst for growth of the economy. Besides, such growth will also have a multiplier effect on the Nigerian economy, he added.

    In harnessing and monetising stranded gas, Ekaluo said there is need to adopt new technologies, adding that government should also deepen market penetration, sustain demand growth and also vigorously pursue the completion of gas gathering and utilisation projects. He said there is urgent need to address gaps in regulatory and commercial frameworks across the gas value chain.

    The Chairman, Society of Petroleum Engineering (SPE), Nigeria Council, Mr. Emeka Ene said to achieve effective  strategy for monetising stranded gas, there is need to identify and secure country’s closest markets and develop an integrated flare-out model.

  • Kano set to review agric policy to boost earnings

    Kano State Commissioner for Information, Internal Affairs Youth Culture and Sports, Malam Mohammed Garba, has restated the commitment of the state government to review agric policy with a view to getting money to fund developmental projects in the state.

    Speaking to reporters in Kano, Garba said Kano was at liberty to exploit its abundant agricultural potentials, so as to ensure food security, adding that the administration is determined to exploit all viable avenues for economic survival.

    According to him, the revenue base of the government can be enhanced through the exploitation of the vast solid mineral resources, stressing that Kano has a comparative advantage in that direction.

    He however, disclosed that the state government is poised to use the 27 major dams, strategically located in some parts of the state for the purpose of irrigation farming, including production of hydro- electric power, affirming that the  government is left with no option than to exploit all the available resources at the disposal of Kano State.

    Furthermore, he revealed that for the enhancement and consolidation of the revenue base of the state, the commissioner revealed that a special committee has been established under the  chairmanship of Professor Isah Dandago, the state Commissioner of Finance  to work out a blueprint on how to generate additional revenue for Kano.

    Also, Garba, who briefed reporters on the outcome of the first meeting of the Kano State Executive Council meeting, said that the state government has approved the sum of N2 billion for the procurement of 50,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser and would be distributed to farmers for the 2015 rainy season through gross enhancement support scheme (GES).

  • Knocks for CBN forex policy

    Knocks for CBN forex policy

    Businessmen have rejected the recently-announced Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) foreign exchange (forex) policy.

    The Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) said the CBN approach to the management of the foreign exchange market, especially the directive on the exclusion of 41 products, was worrisome.

    LCCI President Remi Bello said yesterday that the directive, with its multidimensional implications, would  result in major disruptions, dislocations and panic among investors.

    He said many of the products on the list of the 41 are intermediate goods, which are critical inputs for many manufacturing firms and other critical sectors of the economy.

    “This development will put several investments at risk with implications for job losses, quality of loan assets in the banking system and the welfare of citizens,” he said.

    He listed some of the goods as iron rods, Cold Rolled sheets, wire rods, reinforcing Bars, Polypropylene granules, glass and glass ware. Construction, real estate, fabrications, housing, etc will be adversely affected, he added.

    He said: “A painstaking gap analysis to determine the domestic capacity for production vis a vis the demand should have preceded the policy decision by the CBN.

    “The list is prone to multiple definitions and discretionary interpretations by agencies and institutions responsible for implementation.

    “This discretionary interpretation would create room for corruption.”

    Yusuf said the alternative forex markets or the parallel market and the Bureaux de Change (BDCs) are not deep enough to meet the demand of the essential intermediate products on the exclusion list. Bello said the exclusion of the items from the forex market is as good as import prohibition.

    He alleged that the policy measure would lead to the widening of exchange differentials between the interbank markets and the parallel markets. The immediate consequence, he argued would be rampant round tripping of foreign exchange, which the CBN has limited capacity to curb.

    The LCCI boss said the CBN approach to forex allocation “appears administrative in nature, a system prone to abuse and considerable corruption. It could only be likened to the import licensing era of the early eighties,” he said.

    He added that the policy has far reaching implications for investors in fabrication, construction and real estate sectors.

    On the way forward, Bello suggested putting the policy on hold pending a proper study of the demand and supply gaps in the various sectors affected by this policy.

    He urged the CBN to focus more on the market fundamentals and as much as possible allow market mechanism to drive the allocation of foreign exchange. The closer the rate is to equilibrium, the better for the economy and less disruptive for investors, he said.

  • Buhari must resist policy ambush, says NLC faction

    Buhari must resist policy ambush, says NLC faction

    •‘No to fuel subsidy removal, naira devaluation’

    The Joe Ajaero-led faction of Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has advised the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to resist policy ambush as well as those pushing for oil subsidy removal and naira devaluation.

    The faction said oil subsidy removal and naira devaluation would amount to policy dictatorship contrary to the ruling party’s electoral promises.

    It spoke in a statement signed by its Deputy President and General Secretary of Textile Workers’ Union, Issa Aremu, in Kaduna yesterday.

    The faction cautioned the administration to be wary of some vested interests, who allegedly wanted to undermine his electoral promises.

    The statement reads: “NLC particularly rejects the call by the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of First Bank of Nigeria Limited, Mr. Bisi Onasanya, for further devaluation of the naira, which is already in a free-fall of 18 per cent against the dollar in the past year. Market operators like Mr. Onasanya should not usurp the legitimate functions of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as the regulator through unhelpful policy dictatorship.

    “We hereby support the recently announced bold measures of the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, in managing the scarce foreign reserve through foreign-exchange restrictions on some frivolous imports. CBN should reject the least resistance of unhelpful option of further naira devaluation.

    “The existing currency devaluation has further eroded  the wage income of millions of workers (many with unpaid monthly salaries). Devaluation has also increased the cost of domestic production, fuelled price inflation and undermined the competitiveness of locally surviving industry, leading to loss of the few existing jobs.

    “The CBN ban on importers from using the foreign-exchange market for some frivolous 40 items ranging from private jets to rice, wheelbarrows and Indian incense, Geisha (canned fish) and toothpicks, to even eggs is welcome and commendable.

    “Nigeria, more than any nation, currently suffers huge capital inadequacy, with its foreign-currency reserves sharply fallen by some 27 per cent to $29 billion since the end of last September.

    “CBN measures aimed at capital application and capital control in line with its statutory objective will definitely enhance domestic production in place of unhelpful luxury imports. It will also save the nation the current capital flight averaging some N1.3 trillion ($6.5 billion) a year, (almost half of national budget) on avoidable unnecessary job-killing imports.”

    The statement added: “Central banks worldwide ensure public control of capital for development without which capital on the loose can finance underdevelopment, cocaine growing as well as finance terrorism as America painfully came to realise in the wake of 9/11.

    “Indeed, CBN should include African prints textile materials in its foreign exchange restrictions. Nigeria has comparative advantage in production of African prints. It is bad enough to illegally lift the ban on its import, but it’s worse that we spend scarce foreign exchange on what we can and must produce locally.

    “What Nigerians look forward to are urgent fixing of the existing refineries, passage of PIB, reorganisation and repositioning of the NNPC, reinvention of the downstream infrastructure of fuel production and distribution, an end to crude oil theft and mass decent jobs, not outworn outcry of removal of so-called fuel subsidy.

    “As we have seen with good management of fertiliser subsidy in the last dispensation under former Agriculture Minister, Dr. Adeshina Akinwunmi, there is nothing inherently bad with subsidy. The challenge of today more than ever before is domestic production of petroleum, instead of unsustainable wasteful imports. The Buhari administration should reject one-cap fits all policy dictate. No substitute to good governance and employment generation.”

  • Buhari, policy and politics

    Buhari, policy and politics

    I am increasingly finding him to be one of the outstandingly perceptive, strategic and bold players on Nigeria’s contemporary political scene. It is not just the unique red cap of his teeming ‘Kwakinsaya’ fans in Kano that is unique; he can often offer fresh and brutally frank perspectives on political developments. I refer, of course, to former governor Rabiu Kwankwaso of Kano State who is now a Senator of the Federal Republic. Yes, Kwankwaso’s dexterity in political manoeuvring should not be surprising. The trained water engineer is no novice in the game. He was elected as the member representing Madobi Federal Constituency of Kano State in 1992 and later emerged Deputy Speaker of the House on the platform of the defunct Social Democratic Party in the lower legislative chamber.

    Kwankwaso was elected Governor of Kano State in 1999 on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) but lost his bid for re-election in 2003. Between then and his successful return to office as Kano State governor in 2011, Kwankwaso had served as Defence Minister in the administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo as well as peace envoy to the Sudan. Kwankwaso played a major role in thwarting former President Goodluck Jonathan’s attempt to intimidate and hijack the Nigeria Governor’s Forum (NGF) as well as the ruinous rebellion against the attempt to undemocratically impose Jonathan as presidential candidate of the PDP for the 2015 election.

    It is thus unsurprising that in a  characteristically brutally frank interview, one of the most analytical I have read so far on the emergence of Senator Bukola Saraki as President of the Senate through an alliance with the opposition against his own party, Kwankwaso came out literally spitting fire.

    As far as Kwankwaso, one of the G-5 governors that defected along with Senator Bukola Saraki from the PDP to the then fledgling All Progressives Congress (APC) is concerned, the latter’s alliance with the PDP to control the leadership of the Senate is a serious threat to the effectiveness and efficacy of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. In his words “You see, first of all, the President will face a lot of irritations in the sense that these people must be very angry with themselves, they must be very angry with Nigerians and, therefore, will do everything possible to put all kinds of hurdles on his way. I can always read their mind. I was one of them. I was part of them. I was part of the party but we had to leave the party because of this attitude”.

    Even after his emergence as Senate President in a deal with the PDP that saw the election of the latter’s Ike Ekweremadu as Deputy Senate President, Bukola Saraki claimed cynically that he can never go back to the PDP. From his words and stance, it seems that Kwankwaso is a man of firmer principle and less likely to go back on his words. Of course, I cannot claim the ability to read the minds of both men and so cannot swear that they are not already playing out even in the infancy of the Buhari presidency the politics of 2019 succession. But the reality is that, to all intents and purposes, Saraki is back in the PDP while Kwankwaso remains firmly in the APC.

    The ruthlessness with which Saraki pursued his Senate presidential ambition at the expense of his party shows an alarming gargantuan political appetite. Yes, this is no crime. But if a man can pursue his personal interest with such ferocity even at the expense of the cohesion of a platform he helped to build, is it illogical to assume that he will most likely harbour an even greater hunger for higher political office?

    If utilising the immense influence and resources of his powerful office as number three citizen to slow down the Buhari administration, weaken the APC and thus strengthen his own chances for election in 2019 on the platform of a rejuvenated PDP, will he resist the temptation? Can he not utilise the power of his office to mobilise the opposition PDP and other opportunistic APC members to achieve this purpose? Perhaps this is the danger Kwankwaso is referring to when he talks about the emergent ‘Tambulawisation’, of the National Assembly, which itself remains a moral burden for the former opposition party?

    Yet, I am not convinced by Kwankwaso’s lame defence of President Buhari’s role, even if inadvertent, in the setback suffered by the APC in the National Assembly leadership elections. According to Kwankwaso “I think that the position of Buhari was that the party should handle it. I don’t think that he wants to put his fingers there. I am not sure that his fingers are in it but what I know is that I am not sure if he is happy that members of our party could not be loyal to it…I am not sure if Buhari is a happy man even though he did not put his fingers but he was expecting that members of the party would be loyal to the party”.

    President Buhari has contested for the country’s apex position three previous times before his current triumph. He ought to be too experienced in politics and the intrigues of power by now to have taken such a disinterested stance on such a critical issue as his majority party’s control of the National Assembly leadership. Yes, he was absolutely right in declaring from the outset that he would be the president of everybody but nobody. That was rightly meant to send a clear message that he would not be beholden to special interests to the detriment of the common good.

    Yet, there is also a limit to which this admirable rhetoric can be pushed. President Buhari did not emerge in his present prestigious position from the moon. He contested on the platform of a party that campaigned and laboured for his victory. He promised to implement the manifesto of the party and is, first and foremost, beholden to his party. To do so effectively, he ought not to have washed his hands off the fidelity, commitment and loyalty of the party’s choice of key leaders of the National Assembly.

    Kwankwaso gave some cogent reasons why the APC failed so abysmally in its first test of producing the leaders of the National Assembly as the majority party in the legislature. This included the desire of the G-5/G-7 group to see one of them occupy any of the strategic positions, the perceived marginalisation of the n-PDP within the party and the ‘conspiracy’ against the National Leader of the party, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu by those who resented the perceived dominance of his tendency within the party.

    This contention of interests is not necessarily a negative development or situation. The President should simply have utilised the moral authority and unsurpassed influence of his office to ensure the emergence of an APC National Assembly leadership team that would be a ‘team of rivals’ and act as effective checks and balances among contending forces.

    In a way, it seems that President Muhammadu Buhari has not overcome his diffidence or seeming indifference to politics that characterized his first coming as military Head of State in 1983. At that time Buhari and his deputy, Brigadier General Tunde Idiagbon simply concentrated on the war against corrupt politicians, the War Against Indiscipline campaign and the attempt to address the economic crisis. They were completely indifferent to the political implications of their decisions. Their more politicised junior colleagues capitalised on the resultant disconnect with society to remove the regime from power and usher in an unprecedented era of corruption from which the country is yet to emerge.

    From all indications, President Buhari and his Vice – President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, are methodically and systematically working with competent experts   towards finding solutions to the country’s protracted problems. We should soon begin to see admirable results in terms of brilliant policy teams as well as effective policy implementation. But in the President’s preoccupation with policy, he cannot afford the kind of apathy to politics that characterised his attitude to the National Assembly elections. Brilliant policies must be complemented by luminous politics or the result could be abysmal failure.