The Nation Newspaper

Tag: poor

  • Poor turnout at Lagos placement test

    The turnout at the last Saturday’s re-sit for Placement Test into JSS1 classes in Lagos State public schools was poor.

    Chairman of the state Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Mrs. Gbolahan Daodu, attributed it to lack of appreciation for valuable things that come free.

    Mrs Daodu, who monitored the re-sit examination that took place in 24 centres across the state,  said the examination was conducted for about four per cent of pupils who failed the earlier examination which held on July 5.

    Blaming parents for the low turnout and lateness of some pupils, she said there was adequate publicity about the examination since the result of the first placement test was released.

    She said: “It is really disappointing what we are witnessing here today, especially in this particular school, Immaculate Heart Junior Secondary School.  We are expected to have at least 300 pupils, but as at the last count they are not up to 150 and some of them came late.

    “I wouldn’t know what could be the reason for this, but for the past months we have been on air announcing. We have done all the needful to inform the concern parents.

    “This poor turnout is definitely because they are having it free; because if they had paid for this examination, a lot of them would have been here by now. A lot of money and effort had gone into the examination. If they have actually paid, there is no reason why their children would not be here except that those children might have gained admission into private schools.”

    To redeem the situation, Mrs Daodu said the government needs to focus more on adult education for parents to be more alert to their responsibilities.

    “What this means essentially, is that we need to focus more on adult education. There are some of us that have seen the four walls of the university, but we are not really educated.  We take things with levity. We don’t want to follow rules and regulations, and we want to buy our ways of doing things. Reasons for the poor outing are unexplainable,” she added.

  • ‘Poor customer relations bane of public transport’

    Poor customer relations remains a major challenge with public transportation as customers and service providers have continued to have brushes on a daily basis.

    Speaking with a cross-section of passengers who daily patronise some of these commuter busses, especially the BRT busses across Lagos metropolis and its environs, they confided in The Nation that their experiences have been anything but palatable.

    Although many of the respondents acknowledged the fact that the busses have helped to ameliorate the stress of public transportation to a reasonable extent across the state, the unruly behaviour of the officials remains a sore point for many.

    In recent times, there have been allegations of incivility and bad behaviour against the officials of the BRT, many of whom were accused of undermining the good intentions of the state government.

    In a chat with The Nation, some passengers, observed that one of the issues that set passengers and officials on a collision course is the problem of scarcity of change after collection of fares from prospective passengers.

    Sharing his experience, a passenger, who simply gave his mane as Steve, recalled that he once requested his change from BRT official but the latter flared up cursing him under his breath.

    “The unruly behaviour of these BRT officials is most unbecoming of supposed service providers serving the public.”

    Corroborating Steve, some passengers also complained that most of the BRT ticketers are morally bankrupt, a situation which may have been responsible for their bad manners.

    Buttressing his point with a vivid example, a respondent who identified himself as Mr Jide, a regular passenger on board BRT, said “These ticketers, I believe, are touts who the Lagbus is trying to culture but it is not just working. I can only urge the authorities of Lagbus to keep trying to change their orientation. That’s all. Or if possible, change all of them because the bad in their midst can further corrupt the others.”

    However, speaking with some of the drivers and ticketers at different designated busstops, they punctured most of the arguments being canvassed by some of the passengers.

    In the assertion of Mr. Abdulaho Oyewole, a BRT driver, he said most of the passengers lack decorum and are not civil in their manners as well.

     

  • Ex-ASUU boss bemoans poor education

    A former Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) boss has said the educational system is dysfunctional to make the nation a forerunner in the global education system.

    The ex-president of the union and Chairman of the Local Organising Committee of the National Education Summit, organised by the four unions in the universities, Dr. Dipo Fashina, spoke in Ibadan at the weekend while briefing reporters on the coming summit holding in Abuja between October 27 and November 1.

    Fashina said the summit would review the educational system with a view to restructuring it to liberate Nigerians.

    According to the former ASUU leader, the educational system is one sided, promoting the interests of the world’s powers, who colonised Africa, making the need to develop an educational system, which can serve the interests of Nigerians a necessity.

    He said: “The four main unions in tertiary institutions are organising a national education summit, the purpose of which is to look for what will be a liberating educational system in the country.

    “We want to look at the educational system, whether it is universities, colleges of education, education teaching institutes, polytechnics, primary and secondary schools.”

    Fashina noted that Nigerians need an empowerment through an educational system, which can make them live a decent life.

    He lamented that the ruling class toyed with education by only emphasising profit-making and entrepreneurship and not quality service.

    The ex-ASUU chief said for the country to be a stakeholder in the global system, it must restructure its educational system to promote development.

    “There is a way in which social scientists talk about education. They talk in terms of functionalism. Education in Nigeria is dysfunctional. It is one sided in the sense that it promotes the interests of the powers in the world, who have ruled Africa since slavery and after slavery. It has only functioned to reinforce the colonial rule. This means we do not have an educational system that can serve Nigerians.

    “What do Nigerians want? They want to live a decent life, good food, jobs, shelter, medical facilities, etc. This is where education is essential. For any sphere of life, we are thinking about, health, agriculture, even things that seem obvious, which keep the family going.

  • N99m work tools for the poor in Yobe

    As part of government’s efforts to alleviate the suffering of the citizens of Yobe State, Governor Ibrahim Gaidam has distributed poverty alleviation materials to some of the needy, most of who were either affected by the activities of Boko Haram insurgents or retired civil servants.

    Adamu Maisaje, a tailor and one of the beneficiaries of the programme, lost his shop to string of attacks on communities in Yobe State by the insurgents. He received a new sewing machine. He praised Governor Gaidam for renewing his life.

    He told our correspondent that the sewing machine he received as part of government’s poverty alleviation programmes, will go a long way in making life meaningful for him again.

    He said: “My shop was destroyed in one of the attacks by Boko Haram. But with what I have received today, my life is back on track.”

    Shehu Abubakar, a retired civil servant and one of the beneficiaries of the poverty alleviation programme, received a block-molding machine. Praising Governor Gaidam, he said the gesture will change his life for good as a retiree.

    “We retired with nothing but with this block-molding machine given to me, I believe my life and that of my entire family will change. All thanks to Ibrahim Gaidam for this wonderful initiative. May he live long in order to help others too,” Abubakar said.

    Maisaje and Abubakar are two among many others who benefited from the distribution of poverty alleviation materials to small-scale entrepreneurs (SME’s), community-based organisations (CBO) and retired civil servants at a subsidised rate of 50 per cent.

    While distributing the materials at Government House, Damaturu the state capital, Governor Gaidam said abject poverty and unemployment among youths were serious challenges which the state is experiencing, adding that his administration is committed to reversing the awful situation.

    Continuing, he said: “The increasing number of unemployed youths roaming the streets in search of jobs has made them become frustrated and take to other dubious activities that are inimical to the well-being of our society. It is therefore our responsibility as government to do something concrete to address this situation by intervening with various measures that will alleviate poverty and unemployment.”

    Governor Gaidam called for partnership with philanthropic individuals and wealthy citizens of the state to complement government’s efforts in the fight against poverty by creating more job opportunities and provision of basic social services for the teeming population.

    Explaining why government is subsidising the items, he said: “The gesture is in line with the usual deliberate step by government to further assist the beneficiaries of this loan scheme; and appreciate efforts being made to improve their living conditions.”

    The items distributed to the beneficiaries included 80 vulcanising machines, 30 block molding machines, 80 grinding machines, 40 sets of carpentry tools and equipment, 30 rice/millet milling machines, 35 units of sewing machines and power generating sets.

    While congratulating the beneficiaries, Governor Gaidam urged them to make judicious use of the materials so as to derive maximum benefits, even as he advised them to ensure prompt repayment of the loan to enable others benefit from the poverty alleviation scheme.

    He directed the Ministry of Commerce and Small and Medium-Scale Board to evolve a mechanism for repayment; and ensure that the proceeds are directly remitted into a dedicated account in order to sustain the poverty alleviation scheme.

  • BUK’s VC decries poor funding

    BUK’s VC decries poor funding

    Vice Chancellor of Bayero University, Kano (BUK) Prof. Abubakar Adamu Rasheed has said poor funding, over-crowding and decayed facilities are the most disturbing issues in the public university system.

    Prof Rasheed spoke at the weekend at the foundation-laying ceremony of the senate building complex of the Jigawa State University in Kafin Hausa.

    He said the over-crowding is as a result of shortage of facilities and poor funding.

    Professor Rasheed, who chaired the occasion, said of 129 universities in Nigeria, 39 were owned by states and 50 by private individuals.

    This, he said, “is inadequate owing to over-crowding in the public universities”.

    The vice chancellor said the establishment of more private or public universities is desirable to discourage over-crowding in the public university system.

    He said the country wastes so much resource on trivial issues and spends little on the education sector.

    “It pays to invest on education, as it is the tested tool for economic development. Jigawa has taken a step in its future”.

    Education Commissioner Prof. Haruna Wakili said the university would take off with three faculties, nine departments and 15 programmes.

  • Why I offer free reconstruction surgery for the poor, by Modupe Ozolua

    Why I offer free reconstruction surgery for the poor, by Modupe Ozolua

    Thirteen years ago, when Modupe Ozolua ventured into the world of beauty enhancement therapy, many Nigerians were quick to dismiss her projects. But years after, with many body reconstruction and humanitarian activities, Ozolua is set to move into the next phase. Seun Akioye reports.

    There is something that glows about Modupe Ozolua, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Body Enhancement Limited and Founder, Body Enhancement Foundation.

    It also leaves one with conflicting emotions about her identity and personality. At least that was the consensus in 2001 when she appeared on the social scene and announced that her company would be involved in helping women enhance their bodies, especially the breasts.

    There were as many Nigerians that dismissed the gorgeous Ozolua as there were that embraced her body enhancement therapy. She held on to the belief that women who are not satisfied with their bodies deserve a second chance at looking young and beautiful.

    In the years following the opening of her cosmetic surgery centre, her clientele grew in leaps and bounds, many of them society women and business tycoons who wanted the anti-ageing therapy that Ozolua offers.

    But two years after opening the first cosmetic surgery centre in Nigeria and West Africa, she jolted her critics by doing the unusual: she founded the Body Enhancement Annual Reconstructive Surgery (BEARS), a charity organisation which specialised in helping the indigent in need of life-saving body reconstruction.

    Ozolua’s charity endeared her to many Nigerians who began to see her in another light. Her motive, she said, was to help the poor and the needy regain their lost body features.

    In the 11 years that BEARS existed, the organisation helped many indigent children and adult reconstruct either the face or other body parts. It was like regaining their humanity, pride and life. Using modern day medical technology, technique and skills to safely perform reconstructive surgical procedures to restore the lives of thousands of underprivileged people suffering from various types of physical congenital, developmental deformities, such as Vesico Vagina Fistula (VVF), cleft lip, cleft palate, burns and lacerations, cataract extractions, hernias, removal of tumors, cysts and fibroid.

    BEARS was also engaged in other humanitarian activities outside surgery, such as provision of relief materials and donation of food and clothes.

    This year, Ozolua again changed her strategy by changing the name of her highly successful humanitarian organisation from BEARS to Body Enhancement Foundation to better reflect the connection to her body enhancement company.

    “There isn’t a better time to draw people’s attention to what BEARS Foundation actually stood for. The acronym BEARS represented Body Enhancement Annual Reconstructive Surgery. Many people didn’t realise it was the charity arm of Body Enhancement Ltd, the company that pioneered cosmetic surgery in Nigeria, 13 years ago,” Ozolua said.

    But she insisted that the group did not change its name but only shortened it. She said: “When you look at what the acronym BEARS stood for, you will realise the name did not actually change, but has been shortened to Body Enhancement Foundation. In addition, as we conduct various types of humanitarian activities outside of surgeries, such as donations of items, exchange of skills, etc., and these are done more than once a year; it makes sense for the change.”

    The organisation has had its hands full in its 11 years of operation, especially from those in need of one body reconstruction or the other who can’t afford to pay for the usually expensive operation. Using volunteer doctors and funds from her other businesses, Ozolua has immersed herself in this life-saving venture, giving hope and life back to the poor and the needy.

    Her foundation is not only involved in free reconstructive surgeries, but also in helping other organisations cater for the poor and the needy. She said: “In the last few years, we have been quietly supporting other non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in their causes by donating money, books, toys and clothing to them. We also send money to different parts of the country to pay the hospital bills of patients who can’t afford to pay them. This year is no different. Our dedication to helping the underprivileged in our society still remains the primary focus of this foundation.”

    The beauty therapist also has a consideration for the victims of bomb blasts and her organisation is open not only to treat them but to feed them. “We come in and identify those who can benefit from us and try to impact their lives as positively as we can. Not just surgical, but means of feeding too. After all, a bed ridden person cannot go to work and earn an income.”

    Ozolua has memories of some of her clients. There was baby Funmi who had a cleft lip, Jude, a young boy with severe burns all over his body and Sulaiman who had a terrible and unusual growth at the back of his head. They all came and were restored. Operations like these, Ozolua said, give her happiness.

    But an experience with a particular patient had stuck with her for a long time. She was only a little girl with cleft palate problems which had been operated on several times.

    ”She must have been about eight years old when we did her surgery. About three years later, her mother brought her to visit me in the office. I will never forget how beautifully dressed she was and how big she had grown. I thought she wouldn’t recognise me as the woman who had been part of the team that restored her body to wholeness and who was in the operating room with her; but as soon as she saw me, she ran straight into my arms and held me tightly,” she recollected.

    Ozolua also held on to her tightly and to confirm she recognised her, the child said: “You are Aunty Modupe who did my surgery.” Such experiences, she said, were clear reminder that though many people may not appreciate her efforts, but for the little girl, for Jude and Sulaiman, ”all effort and sacrifices on our part is worth it”.

    Also in addition to the name change, the Foundation has a new Board of Trustees, which include the Director-General, National Agency for Food Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Dr Paul Orhii; Minister of Special Duties, Kabiru Turaki (SAN); the Adviser, World Bank, Edith Jubunoh and Prince Oluwaseun Ozolua.

    Archbishop Desmond Tutu is the patron of the Foundation. The new website address is: www.b-efoundation.org.

    Ozolua said her foundation is open for business of saving lives and restoring pride to the poor. “We will soon start publicised advertisement of our treatments,” she said.

  • Poor budget culture

    AT the graduation of King’s College, Lagos, penultimate week, the audience was shocked when the principal, Otunba Dele Olapeju said so far, the Federal Government had released only N3,950,993.00 (representing five per cent) of the N75,693,143 appropriated to the school for this year.

    He said the school has been able to meet some of its obligations through Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR) and support from the PTA, alumni and private endowments.  Were King’s College to be Loyola Jesuit, he said the N75 million would have represented only the fees of 75 pupils.  But at King’s College, the money is used to take care of a total of 3,058 pupils – their feeding, accommodation, instructional materials, maintenance, and other educational needs.

    Last year, the budget appropriated was N70,000,000; but the amount released was N28,888,773.  In 2012, N42.9 million was appropriated, N24.36 million was released.  In 2011, amount appropriated was N53.04 million, while N35.62 million was released; In 2010, N65.66 million was appropriated, but only N42.51 million was released.

    Mrs Abike Dabiri-Erewa, a lawmaker in the House of Representatives, who was guest speaker at the event, was surprised that the school was so poorly funded.  She said the money had been appropriated by the National Assembly and wondered why it had not been paid to the school.

    I wonder too.  The statistics provided by the principal showed a steady reduction in the percentage of the appropriated budget released since 2011.  How can such practice continue yearly?  What happens to the balance at the end of the budget year?

    But of greater concern should be how do the schools cope?  How can a school that is supposed to get N75 million for this year be forced to survive on N3.9 million up to the seventh month of the year?  The principal said they have been creative in making use of Internally-Generated Revenue (IGR).  But how far can their IGR go?  How much is it?  Is it enough to address the needs of 3,058 pupils?  Powering the generators alone runs into millions each month.  What about feeding, water supply, instructional materials and other costs?  How do they meet such needs?  If king’s college, one of most highly populated of the 104 unity schools does not get up to half of its budget yearly, what about the others?  What about the universities, polytechnic and colleges of education?

    Like Mrs Dabiri-Erewa rightly concluded that day, our government is toying dangerously with the future of the country by treating education with levity.  We know that there are so many loopholes through which funds meant for the general good find their way into private pockets.  But if we continue such practice, we only do so to our detriment.

    The new Education Minister, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, has his work cut out for him.  There are many areas of challenge.  We know it is one thing to have funds and another to use it judiciously.  However, releasing five per cent of the budget is very poor.  We should not expect any meaningful progress from such  promptly so our education sector can be managed effectively.

     

  • Poor officiating cost us Enyimba game -Adeleye

    Media officer of Nembe City FC Gbenga Adeleye has attributed his team’s ouster in the Round of 16 of the Federation Cup in the hands of Enyimba to poor officiating at the Akure Sports Complex.
    Adeleye in a chat with SportingLife after the game stated that he was surprised with the level of officiating from the Ondo-based centre referee.
    “We came here with a purpose but the centre referee made things difficult for us. We dont like complaining about officiating as a professional side. I am disappointed but credit must go to my side for putting up a good performance. We have to put this behind us and focus on the league considering our position on the log,” Adeleye said.

     

  • Govt workers, projects bear brunt of poor cash flow

    Govt workers, projects bear brunt of poor cash flow

    The Federal Government’s inability to improve the Federation Account has continued to affect state governments negatively. It has affected salaries’ payment in some and slowed down implementation of projects in others 

    It started last year. Not many expected it will last this long. But, the way things are, state governments may have to devise new means of meeting their financial needs. There are no signs that the Federation Account is going to improve any time soon.

    The effects of the sorry state of the Federation Account, which has been blamed on oil theft and illegal bunkering, are diverse, depending on each state’s cushioning capacity. In some states, it has affected prompt payment of salaries and other emoluments. In others, it has affected projects’ implementation.

    The situation is bad in Benue State, where workers are being owed two months salaries as at the time of this report. Investigation by The Nation revealed that why some ministries have paid, others are still waiting for their salaries.

    A staff of the ministry of   Agriculture, Peter Aondona, told The Nation that of the two months salaries (May and June), he received bank alert for May salary last week.

    Another staff of Government House, Makurdi, Ukeyima Uma said even though he works in the Governor’s Office getting his monthly salary is difficult. He said it has been so since last year.

    The Commissioner of Finance, Omadachi Oklobia and the Special Adviser on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Prince Solomon Wombo, attributed the delay to what they called shortfalls from the Federation Account.

    Wombo told The Nation that government cannot borrow to pay salaries and has resorted to rotating payment among ministries.

    For workers in Cross River State in the employ of the state and local governments, these are not best of times. Findings revealed that though they get paid, it is usually towards the end of the following month.

    The situation is actually a departure from what they are used to. Salaries before now used to be paid before the end of the month or, at worst, the first couple of days into the next.

    A source at the office of the Attorney-General with a wage bill of about N1.8 billion and an inflow of approximately N3 billion, the state is not finding things easy.

    The source, who begged not to be named, admitted that the dwindling inflow from the Federation Account has worsened.

    He said: “All I can tell you that the drop in the past couple of months is substantial and it is affecting us in no little way. As I am talking to you, we have not been able to pay salaries.

    “Despite the fact that the Federation Account has been dwindling, we started having our problems before the recent dwindling of the inflow. Our problems actually started when Bakassi was taken from us. We have found it difficult to be breaking even, especially given the number of capital projects the state government had embarked on due to the inflow it had at that time. Contractual obligations became difficult but we cannot revoke what we started halfway.

    “The IGR has increased but cannot meet the drop in Federal Allocation. We are facing a lot of challenges. Projects are not going on the way they are supposed to be going on. Only the ones loans have been taken for are on-going, but the ones that are not on loan are suffering. Payment is not going on as supposed to be. We even owe gratuity. For pensions we are paying as soon as we pay salaries.

    “Besides our wage bill, we have subvention to the Cross River University of technology to the tune of about N170 million, State Universal Education Board (SUBEB) to about 30miliion and Local government Pension board to about 25miliion. Even then, this is not enough for them. These are all difficult for us now.

    “It is going to be tough from what we are seeing with the drop in the inflow. With debts being deducted from the statutory monthly allocation to the state from the federations account it is not easy for us.”

    For a state like Cross River where every sector mostly depends on the government, the situation has taken its toll on almost every facet of life.

    A teacher in a government secondary school in Akpabuyo, Mr Fidelis Odey, said the situation has been hellish for him.

    “Even when they were paying on time, the money was barely enough to take care of myself and my family, but now that they owe us almost to the end of the next month, life has been hell. To be honest, sometimes I don’t even have transport to go to the school. As I’m talking to you now, I am up to my neck in debt and I don’t even know where to go again. I pray something gets done urgently, before the situation becomes something else,” Odey said.

    A trader at the Watt Market, who gave his name as Obinna, said business has been poor in the past month.

    “My brother, our business has dropped. We are no more making sales as we used to and we understand it has to do with government that has not paid workers. Please something should be done. It is really affecting us badly,” he said.

    Acting chairman of the State Internal Revenue Service, Dr Peter Oti, said there has been an improvement in the IGR.

    Oti, who doubles as the Special Adviser on Budget, said: “There has been some improvement but we are not satisfied with what we have. We have not been able to meet set targets but we are trying our best.”

    Oti, in the presentation of a budget breakdown in Calabar, said the IGR target for this fiscal year is N30.9 billion, which represents an 18 per cent increase above the 2013 target of N26.3 billion.

    In Kogi, local government workers seem to be the ones bearing the brunt more. Governor Idris Wada last week had to order local government chairmen to pay their workers.

    Workers in the 21 local government areas of the state have been on half-salary or less as a result of shortfall in statutory allocation.

    While some of the councils workers are being owed over nine months’ salary, workers in some other councils have had to do with as low as 30 per cent salary payment. Workers in Kabba/Bunu for example are being owed over nine months’ salary arrears

    Wada gave the directive in Ogori-Magongo Local Government Area, during a thank-you visit to the people of the area.

    The governor said federal allocation to the state for the July is more than what was received in previous months and ordered council chairmen to pay full salary for July.

    His words: “Let me tell you that the federal allocation to the state has been increased and what will come in July will be okay to meet workers’ salary.”

    State government workers are lucky.  Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Strategy, Mr. Jacob Edi, said no civil servant is being owed salary.

    His words: “No Kogi civil servant is owed salary. In fact, they have paid the salary of June already and they did not pay it in July, it was paid in June. To the best of my knowledge, salaries are paid as at when due.”

    A source close to the Government House said: “I  have already received my salary alert. That was yesterday (1st July). It is some of the banks that may be delaying in distribution of such, but by first week of the following month latest, workers are paid their salary. As of today, government is not owing any workers’ salary.”

    Jigawa State has been able to pay all categories of workers. Its Commissioner of Finance, Alhaji Nasiru Umar Roni, said the drop in federal allocation did not affect salaries and wages.

    Umar said: “I don’t know other states. I only know my state. Here in Jigawa, we have a mandatory arrangement of reserving our workers salary in any previous month.

    “At times, we used to have two months’ salaries in advance. You are in this state, you know it yourself that we have already paid our workers since last week. Since the inception of Governor Sule Lamido in 2007, there is not a month that salaries are not paid.”

    The Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Suleman Adamu Kiyawa, said: “As far as we are concerned, we don’t know there is shortfall or not. Our concern is that our entitlement is taken cared of. Frankly, we appreciate the state government’s effort for paying our members at when due.”

    Anambra State has also found a way around the shortfall. The State chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Patrick Obianyo, told the Nation that the government pays them before the end of each month.

    However, a level 10 officer at the Government House, Awka said: “We have not experienced that since Obiano assumed Office, rather, what happens is that they pay us late instead of at the end of the month. As we are talking now, the June salary has not come and we do not know when it will come, and that of May was paid to us in mid-June.”

    The Nation could not speak with the Commissioner for Finance, Greg Obi, and his local government colleague, Lady Azuka Enemo. Obi’s phone was switched off. Mrs Enemo refused to answer her call.

    The situation in Rivers State seems to be the same as Anambra. Many of the civil servants, who spoke to The Nation on grounds of anonymity, said the state government does not owe them salaries.

    The only thing they complained of is that “of recent, the salary comes late. This started just a few months ago. Like that of May was paid about three weeks ago. But as we speak the government is not owing workers’ salaries.”

    The Nation also gathered from some of the civil servants that as of July 2 “ we have started receiving alert for June salary.”

    With its huge Internally Generated Revenue (IGR), Lagos State should not be affected by the fall in the Federation Account. Unfortunately, it is not. While the situation has not affected the payment of salaries of workers, it has resulted in projects’ funding.

    Lagos State Commissioner for Economic Planning and Budget Mr. Ben Akabueze, who spoke with The Nation, said considering the burden that the state bears, resources, both IGR and federal transfers, are not adequate to meet the demand for development.

    “Therefore, any shortfall in our revenue whether it is Federal transfer or Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) will affect our programmes, especially this year that we have not made provision for net funding from debt in our budget,” he said.

    The commissioner said the situation was worrisome considering that oil prices continue to rise above the budget reference for the year. He said there was no clear reason for the shortfall.

    He said: “If there was a clear and discernable reason for the shortfall in revenue everybody will understand, but what make this painful is the fact that oil prices are  keeping strong above the budget reference  from what we gathered, even adjusting from crude oil theft, production is also growing. But when we look our national reserve and external reserve are not growing and we are not seeing revenue being distributed equally. So, the question is what exactly is happening.”

    Also, the Special Adviser to Governor Babatunde Fashola on Information and Strategy, Mr. Lateef Raji, who also spoke on the development, said the situation did not affect payment of staff salary because the government places priority on the welfare of its workers.

    According to him, “Many bills due to be paid to contractors have not been paid but the government has not allowed it to affect payment of workers’ salaries.  Generally, like every state is affected, we are affected but we have been able to manage it because of our diligence; that is why many people have not noticed the situation in the state. What is happening to Federation Account is mismanagement of funds, and it’s quite unfortunate.”

    In Ogun State, Governor Ibikunle Amosun said despite the progressive dwindling allocations from the Federal Government, his administration has been paying civil servants salaries regularly.

    Amosun said since May 29, 2011, the government has not owed any of its staff salary arrears.

    The governor, who spoke at the Oba Complex, Oke-Mosan Governor’s Office, Abeokuta, while inaugurating the Chairman of the state’s Council of Obas, the Akarigbo of Remoland, Oba Adeniyi Sonarinwo, last Monday, ascribed that feat to the “financial ingenuity” of his team which led to a significantly improved Internally Generated Revenue (IGR).

    According to him, whatever salary arrears and allowances being complained of by some people, especially those in the state-owned educational institutions were part of the crippling debt burden left by the previous administration.

    He said the state received about N4billion from federal allocation in June, of which Irrevocable Payment Order signed by the previous administration with creditors ensured that about substantial amount is deducted from the source, leaving the state with little above N3billion.

    He said the state also generated about N4.6 billion in June as IGR, expressing confidence that soon, Ogun State would not have to wait for what comes from Abuja before paying salaries or carrying out its projects.

    Amosun said: “Despite the dwindling allocation from the federal, purse, we have been ingenious in making sure that we turned the finances of our state around. And we thank God that we have good report to say that today in Ogun, we are moving to that threshold where we’ll tell you confidently that we do not need to waite for whatever comes from Abuja.

    “And that is the only way to go. It may be a difficult task, but that must be the way. People are accusing me that I owe them backlog of salaries arrears, some say 13 months, 26 months, 29 month and others 32 months. They are what someone left behind, but I have been clearing it. They accused me of defaulting with pension and I said which pension?

    “Somebody squandered about N11 billion pension and you want me to pay it in one day but I have cleared over N5billion of it. Since I have been on board, I have not owed anybody; no civil servant is being owed even for one month.

    “Since we came on board, we have been used to being paid as at when due. I told them that on my honour I will not owe. All of a sudden, what we were expecting from Abuja dropped. When we came on board, we were number twenty eight in terms of what we generate internally and what we get from Abuja.

    “Today, we are second to Lagos; we are now two states in Nigeria that generate more than what we collect from the Federal Government. We received about N3.9 billion to N4 billion last month.”

     

     •Reports by Miriam Ekene-Okoro, Clarice Azuatalam, Port Harcourt, Nwanosike Onu, Awka, Ahmed Rufa’I, Dutse, James Azania, Lokoja, Ernest Nwokolo, Abeokuta, Uja Emmanuel, Makurdi and Nicholas Kalu, Calabar

  • The beautiful game is not in the stadium this world cup

    The beautiful game is not in the stadium this world cup

    The Poor become irrepressible upon discovering they have everything to gain. They become invincible upon discovering they have nothing to lose 

    The World Cup started roughly 10 days ago. Around the world, most people will focus on the games played within the precise white lines painted on the lush greenery of the stadia floors. Viewers will be guaranteed a fine spectacle as the world’s best footballers battle to obtain their sport’s sacred prize. There also will be another game afoot (forgive the pun). For the socially conscious, this latter game is the most beautiful and significant of the matches to be played. It is a unique one such that, by merely playing, those who initiated it have achieved something profound. This game is the collective street demonstrations against the World Cup and its clumsy local architects, an insensitive and spendthrift government, for having spent so much on a sporting lark while devoting so little to the ways and means of the poor and the poorer.

    Many of us will be irked by the protests. We want to view the games unencumbered by Brazil’s stark, harsh economic realities. For the rest of us, the World Cup is the utmost sport’s fantasy. It is a dream-like break from the diurnal grind and gruel. However, nothing is free, not even dreams. This particular one is being paid in real coin by the Brazilian rank and file. Because we are not in Brazil, we lack empathy for the demonstrators. Their hurt is too distant for us to feel. Thus, many see the protesters as interlopers in their own land. People will hope that they are removed so the games continue unimpeded and without the mist of injustice the demonstrations cast on the event. Too many of us feel not the people’s plight and are disinterested in their causes. We are perturbed that they interrupt the glamorous sport we expect to see on our televisions. Their demonstrations turn the atmosphere around the beautiful game into one more closely associated with a society that nurses its people from the bitterest cup.

    Government and business leaders downplay the protests, claiming them the work of an extreme few.  While acknowledging the high costs of hosting the Cup, the country’s elite asserts the exercise is a worthwhile matter of “national pride.” At such dear expense, wisdom says that pride becomes a luxury ill-afforded by a nation with a teeming population of outcast poor. Pride is a fine contemplation by the properly fed, well housed and adequately clad. However, the type of pride of which the wealthy think has little place among the poor and humble. Pride does not clad or protect the bared foot that must tread the hard road of impoverished life. Pride puts neither onion nor chicken in the cooking pot. Pride does not keep the rain from leaking through a hovel’s shattered roof.

    Talk of national pride from those who taste and enjoy things of material excess is the waste water from the hogwash. Four years ago, such propaganda dazzled the average South African and much of Africa. Africans were ecstatic that one of their nations was selected to host the expensive affair. For the elite it was a true honour. For the poor, it would become a surreptitious burden. The nation paid a princely sum to win the purported honour.  It would pay a thousand king’s ransoms to make the world’s most elaborate soccer match occur. Africans beamed proudly that South Africa proved able to build the large stadia and infrastructure essential to the games. Yet, that outburst of pride was disappointingly jejune. A stupefying racial inferiority had crept into the space that historic perspective and racial confidence should have occupied. Looking at the Pyramids, one would be reminded Africans have been constructing large buildings for some time. The South African construction challenge would be met. However, it would be with costs aplenty.

    The most charitable objective measure would show that the World Cup had a negligible positive economic effect, at best.  Most other accurate measures would say it did more economic harm than good when looking at its effect on the urban poor. The funds used would have had greater benefit if used to enhance social services. Instead, money was spent on stadia many of which are rarely used and falling into disrepair. Jobs were created during the construction binge. But the tasks were transient. The employment exited as soon as the footballers came.

    Tourist money came but mostly went to the high-end local and international hoteliers and official vendors that support events like the World Cup. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of poor shanty dwellers and squatters were uprooted to make room for the construction or simply because they were eyesores the South African government wanted to hide. They hoped to give the impression South Africa had conquered apartheid. To accomplish this public relations feat, they simply removed the unsightly poor from vision. If you don’t see the poor, they do not exist was the logic. Poor South Africans would remain mum to the ill treatment for they had been promised that they too would profit from the games if they only exercised patience. It was only after the competition had ended, did the South African poor realise the game had been mostly played on their backs. They had been conned into believing they would sip the nectar, only to realise the intention was always to have the chalice pass over them. By the time they realised they had been inveigled, the parade had left. It had left them behind to sweep up the detritus of the great event and its numerous revelers.

    Having seen the Cup’s ill-effects on South Africa, socially-conscious Brazilians would not sit quietly as their government planned a repeat of the sordid economic injustice committed in South Africa. They took to the streets, this time not to carnival but to canvass against the waste of the event. Because of this, the most important game played now in the samba nation will not be found in any stadium.  This game pits the will and mood of the people against the business-as-usual approach of a government that appears not to sense the mood of the people it claims to lead.

    Many people view Brazil as the official home of football. Yet, 61 percent of the nation opposes hosting the World Cup or, at least, the high price tag (11.3 billion dollar) associated with the rollicking affair. This is a nation known for its zest for music, carnival and sand and sport. Its people are thought of as being serious at taking nothing seriously. The protests destroy that stereotype, bringing us closer to the reality of these people. It is good to view another person’s reality. In doing so, at times, you get a better hold of your own.

    Brazil is a charter member of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), that exclusive club of large, middle-income nations of growing international economic clout. Despite this fine status, Brazil is home to some of the most wretched neighborhoods imaginable. The social and economic topography of the city of Rio de Janeiro reverses the normal trend. In most cities, the rich occupy the hills and high ground while the poor huddle below. In Rio, poor favelas litter the hills as the rich occupy the choice coastal ground. Life in the favelas is not for the squeamish. It is a hard and violent maelstrom of poverty, despair, illicit activity, sickness and premature death. You don’t flourish in these neighborhoods; you merely survive them. This is the life of tens of millions of Brazilians, and these Brazilians represent billions of people around the world.

    They like football; but, they are considerably fonder of their families. They don’t dream of the chance of seeing another beautifully-played game brought to them at the costs of billions of dollars. They dream of living a beautiful life. This is not to belittle the social utility of sports.

    There is something about sporting events that help the human psyche cope with what confronts it. However, that respite comes attached to trenchant opportunity costs. Paying for the World Cup means government foregoing something else. As in South Africa, while the construction was ongoing, jobs were created. They are now gone.  Some service jobs will increase during the games but they too will vanish at the final whistle. Infrastructural improvements were made that will help even after the games. However, these projects were geared to serve the logistical requirements of the games. Thus, this new infrastructure will not be optimal once things return to normal. It will be of reduced inefficiency over the long-term, a good investment poorly made. Put more bluntly, the long-term utility of the projects does not equal the expense of the things. This especially applies to the high-cost stadia. After the games, these expensive structures will be of little value. They will become inactive and then start to decay.

    The World Cup is a spectacular event. We all love to watch it, except those uninitiated to the game. Even they are coming to embrace it. However, not every nation should host such a thing. For nations with large percentages of poor people to spend money on this escapade is a noisome decision revealing either an ignorance of the economic consequences of the games or a cold indifference to the lives of the poor and broken in society. The people of Brazil have seen a great pile of money tossed into games that will avail them little. They wonder why more funds can’t be targeted to services and activities that would avail their lives much.  Thus, many have taken to the streets.

    What they do will not halt the games; but, what they do should remind us that no game is more important than the people’s welfare. Their protests will mar the glamour of the event. In a way that is sad. But what they do is of greater value than the glamour of the event. This is because their efforts speak to the humanitarian spirit. They are like poor relatives coming to the rich man’s party to remind him the money he stole had paid for the lavish affair. They seek recompense. The confrontation is awkward to see, but necessary to occur. Justice demands such confrontations so that we remember who is the true giver and taker, who is right and who is wrong.

    Making established powers uncomfortable and exposing their injustice is how progress is attained. In real life, this is the beautiful game. As you watch your favorite team pursue the World Cup, remember that all that is at stake in this arena is a shiny cup. The greater game is being outside the stadia because it will determine whether more quality will be injected into the lives of the average Brazilian.  This is the real people’s game, even if many people seem oblivious to it. No matter the immediate outcome of the protests, the people have already won something just by demonstrating against an elite event once politically unassailable because the people held it in rapt awe. The Brazilians now demonstrate that at least in one nation the people are no longer to be distracted from their unjust reality no matter how beautiful the game used to beguile them.

    08060340825 (sms only)