The Nation Newspaper

Tag: realistic

  • Nigeria Air: Is December date realistic?

    The name and logo of the new national carrier, ‘Nigeria Air’ was recently unveiled at a colourful ceremony at the Farnborough Air Show in London, with assurances by the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika that the airline will come on stream later in December 2018.

    But this blessed assurance is being taken with a pinch of salt by stakeholders who are following the trend in the sector.

    Expectedly they argued that there nothing concrete to show government’s readiness for the operation of the new national carrier.

    Road to national carrier

    During the political hustings, President Muhammadu Buhari had promised to revive the ailing Nigeria Airways.

    In keeping with the campaign promises, in September 2015, the federal government had empannelled a 13-member committee to work out the modalities for setting up a new national carrier. To underscore its seriousness, the government in May 2017 hired a consortia of six firms, which included Lufthansa – the German national carrier – with $4.99 million for advisory services.

    The above amongst others was part of the terms of reference of the 2015 panel, chaired by a former Managing Director of Discovery Airlines, Mohammed Abdulsalam.

    Welter of criticisms against Nigeria Air

    Like all things under the administration, the planned national carrier project has faced public scrutiny with many raising their voices above the din in castigating the government for what they argue is another white elephant project.

    The President of the Aviation Round Table (ART), Mr. Gbenga Olowo, in a statement, said that there was need to know the procedures and processes being used in bringing back the new national carrier.

    According to him, ART has given its recommendations to the government on the way forward since September 2015.

    “Nonetheless, we have passed that stage now since Transaction Advisers have been appointed. The TA should now roll out the details for implementation.

    “I wonder whose decision it is on choice of aircraft types, lease/purchase aircraft acquisition, partnership, etc, without a Board and Management.

    “If the company were to be 100 per cent private sector, I hope government is not already placing the cat before the horse by taking such decisions,’’ Olowo said.

    Another expert, Group Capt. John Ojikutu, said the government must be careful not to be too involved in the new national carrier, else it may go the way of the defunct Nigerian Airways.

    He said: “Let them not make it a government airline because I have seen the sign with a crest, and it looks to me like it is a government airline we are trying to build up again.

    “It will improve the national economy if it is well managed because out of about 70 bilateral air service agreements (BASAs), only about 30 are working.”

    Nigerians, including the former Managing Director of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), Chike Obi, and Lagos lawyer and senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana have also criticised the project.

    According to Mr. Obi, it was baffling that 5 per cent of a start-up airline would cost $300million, whereas Air France/KLM paid $286 million for 31 per cent of Virgin Atlantic recently.

    In a statement by the spokesperson of the opposition party, Kola Ologbondiyan, he dscribed as laughable the “Unveiling’ drawings of an airplane, name, logo and imaginary routes of a nonexistent fleet, as our national carrier, in faraway London. What President Buhari and his handlers fail to understand is that Nigerians can see through their fraud and lies. Apart from drawings of airplanes, there are no structures to indicate that a new airline, billed to commence operation in December this year, is being set up; there are no offices, no recruitment of personnel and no form of ground activity anywhere in the country.”

    In a related development, a group under the aegis of the Socialist party of Nigeria (SPN) clearly has a different view as far the national carrier is concerned.

    In a statement signed by Abiodun Bamigboye and Chinedu Bosah, the acting National chairperson and National Secretary of the group respectively, they said the newly launched Nigeria Airway is another pro-rich experiment that is bound to fail. Public funded airline under democratic management of workers and consumers is the way out, they further insisted.

    The recently launched Nigeria Air came with a lot of fanfare!  SPN sees the fanfare to be too early and unnecessary. This is partly because the ownership and management of the new airline itself is under a dubious arrangement that will be dominated by private partners. According to the Minister of State for Aviation, Senator Hadi Sirika, the government will control a maximum of 5% shares and will raise the startup capital for operations to commence in December.

    According to the SPN, the Nigeria aviation sector is underserved, its facilities and infrastructure are backward, the airplanes are inadequate with no hanger or repair facilities, delay and cancelled flights are normal etc. “Despite several government bailouts to some of the domestic airlines running into more than N300billion and yet the sector is in bad shape with frequent flights delays and cancelations. We have witnessed private interventions through privatisation, deregulation etc., in the maritime sector, power sector, education, health, housing etc., and the results have been monumental failure.”

    The SPN holds the view and strongly too that the collapse of Nigeria Airways was not because it was publicly owned but because it was managed undemocratically by a gang of rampaging bureaucrats installed by self-serving ruling elite that sees public corporations as a means to feather their nest. Afterall, the biggest and the most vibrant airline on the continent of Africa is Ethiopia Airline that is 100% publicly owned.

    Thumbs up

    For Mr. Illitrus Ahmadu, President, Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) the government appears committed to the national carrier project.

    Ahmadu said that Nigeria needed a carrier since no Nigerian airline was flying more than four to six hours.

    “As we speak, no airline is going to South Africa, North Africa, East Africa, not to talk of Europe and North America. There is none since Arik Air and Medview suspended their international operations.

    “For me, it is a welcome development and I just pray that whatever model the government is adopting will be to the good of the industry,’’ he said.

    According to him, the new national carrier, apart from filling the gap created by other domestic airlines, will also provide employment opportunities for Nigerians in the sector.

    Minister’s tact response

    At a public forum recently, the Minister ruled out government’s interference in the recruitment and operations of new national carrier, Nigeria Air.

    He explained that the airline was unveiled in London for visibility but that investors in the company would decide the running of the airline.

    “There will be no management control whatsoever. But I want to warn you that the people who are going to do recruitment ab initio will be a company that is world-class,” he said.

    Sirika said that Nigeria Air would be different from the grounded Nigeria airways. “The ownership is different. It is different because it is private sector-driven. Government will own minority share of less than five per cent. Nigeria Airways died due to so many reasons, including governance issues and also that of finance. Nigeria Airways was owned by the government of Nigeria and over time it lost track and lost funding and someone, therefore, decided to shut it down and it died,” he added.

    Meanwhile, in an interview with our correspondent at the weekend, James Odaudu, Chief Press Secretary to minister, said the fears being expressed by

    “Nigerian Air is not an offshoot of the defunct Nigerian Airways. Nigeria Air is a separate entity from the new national carrier,” he maintained.

    Raising some posers, he queried, “At what point have the ex-workers complained? I’m not sure if there is any complain now concerning the salaries of those workers. Because if there is anybody that has been concerned about their acceptable, it should be the minister and they are all understand.”

    On the controversy surrounding the outrageously high amount spent on registering domain names and logo, Odaudu further queried, “How much did they say government spent? There should be a figure. I cannot respond on mere speculation. If there is a figure that people said government used to procure a logo, I can react to it.”

    History of national carriers

    Historically, national airlines have evolved through different era. The first airline that operated in Nigeria was the West African Airways Corporation (WAAC) that was created in 1946 and served Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia and Sierra Leon. It later became WAAC Nigeria in 1958 and was renamed Nigeria Airways in 1971 and operated as such until its funeral was conducted by the capitalist ruling class in 2003 after decades of mismanagement by the notorious and monstrous bureaucracy that only served the interest of the ruling class. The dissolution of the then Nigerian Airways in 2003 was to prepare the way for a fully owned private airlines with the emergence of Virgin Atlantic Airline owned by Richard Branson in 2004 that only lasted for about three years due to conflicts of profit interest between the Branson and sections of the ruling elite. The airline was later rebranded Nigerian Eagle and later Air Nigeria whose experiments were dominated by private interest, yet it could not find the wings to fly.

    Experience in other climes

    The ownership structure of airlines operating in developing is strictly private-run. Take the UK for instance, since 1987 the British Airways along with the airports have managed by private sector. The Air France and KLM merged in 2004 just as Lufthansa’s ownership transferred to private hands with 88.52 per cent equity holding, while three per cent went to its members of staff.

    As the December takeoff date draws near, the question on many peoples’ lip is whether this date would be a reality or not. But time will tell.

  • ‘To end hunger in 2020 not realistic’

    ‘To end hunger in 2020 not realistic’

    Hopes of eradicating hunger in the country may be delayed much longer. This is because the structures and parameters for expanding food production are not adequate yet, says the Registrar and Chief Executive, Nigeria Institute of Animal Science (NIAS), Prof. Eustace Iyayi. The Institute was established by the National Assembly Act No. 26 of 2007, under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture. In this interview with DANIEL ESSIET, Iyayi speaks on issues affecting the agricultural sector in Nigeria.

    Are we prepared to feed 250 million people in 2020?

    We certainly will have to feed them. But now is the time to prepare for that huge task because 2020 is just three years from now.

    Inadequate funding, poor rural infrastructure, neglected agricultural research and adverse effects of climate change have led to the nation experiencing some challenges in exploiting its potential to increase food and agricultural production. Can we end hunger and half poverty by 2020?

    Looking at what is on ground, ending hunger and halving poverty by 2020 (only three years from now) does not seem realistic. The structures that we need to expand food production to a level of eliminating hunger are either not there or that the few available are not effectively utilised.

    What role does agriculture play in the overall economic development of the country?

    Agriculture contributes about 30-40 per cent to the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). It generates employment; it is a foreign exchange earner. It is a means of diversifying the nation’s economy. It is a veritable tool for food and nutrition security. Agriculture provides raw materials for the industries.

    How is the current economic situation affecting food production?

    The current situation is affecting food production through the difficulty in accessing inputs, majority of which are imported. Access to loans from the bank has also become more difficult and the twin problem of interest and limited accessibility to loans have also heightened. Farmers have also had it very rough finding internal markets for some commodities due to the fact that the disposable income of many people has significantly reduced. Poultry farmers for example have been seriously hit. Many of them have not been able to sell their eggs due to artificial glut and inability to find markets across the borders.

    At an African Union summit in Malabo in 2014, heads of governments agreed to allocate 10 per cent of their budgets to agriculture. Why has this not been effected? And what do you think can be done about it?

    The reason is mainly due to the lack of priority being placed on agriculture. Recall that agriculture before now, was the mainstay of our economy until oil was discovered. As long as oil was there, developing our agriculture was relegated to the background and we took to importation of nearly everything. We are only now just returning to agriculture because of the fall in price of oil in the last couple of years. As long as we think that we have an alternative source of national income, we will not embrace the Maputo and Malabo declarations. We may eventually do so when we have nowhere else to turn to. What to do about it is simply to give agriculture the first place priority. Until we attain food and nutrition security and have enough to export and to feed our industries, economic development will be far-fetched.

    The state of our slaughter slabs and abattoirs are appalling. What is your institute doing about it?

    Our abattoirs and slaughter slabs are not in good shape. Operations there are not in accordance with best practices for  meat processing. The Institute has been doing a lot of advocacy to educate our abattoir operators on the need to adhere to minimum operating procedure. The facilities in them are far from adequate. Some don’t have good water supply. The Institute is currently working on a model to collaborate with our veterinary colleagues and the state governments where the abattoirs and slaughter slabs are located on the provision of facilities, training, capacity building and enforcement of regulations.

    How do we address the challenges small holders face in scaling up and commercialising their operations?

    The rural infrastructure has to be given much attention. Rural roads have to be created and existing ones maintained for easy evacuation of farm produce. For some commodities, on-farm processing and farm gate off-take have to be expanded. This model was suggested for cassava some years ago for the production of ethanol from cassava, after the Brazilian practice. But it was never pursued to take off. We also need rural electrification. This will help small businesses to grow. Our non-functional dams have to be rehabilitated for all-year food production. Agricultural lending institutions should ensure that increased efficiencies are realised at every step. There should be provision of a system through which small farmers can improve efficiencies in all areas, including accessing inputs, improving yields, marking linkages, infrastructure development and skills transfer. Information needs of farmers is very important as farmers can improve agricultural productivity and ensure food security when up-to-date information is provided, using appropriate languages and formats and delivered through proper communication channels. Extension agents need to intensify their efforts in educating farmers to increase their level of awareness. Of all the existing channels of agricultural communication, farmers rank extension highest in terms of providing credible information and advice, especially on agricultural technology.

    Agricultural financing is risk-ladden. There are poor agricultural value chain development, lack of credit worthiness by the smallholder farmers and many more. What model do you suggest to improve agricultural financing in Nigeria?

    This claim is no longer so. The value chains for the different agricultural commodities have been developed during the Agricultural Transformation Agenda. This is currently being built upon in the Agricultural Promotion Policy of the present government. Every business comes with risks. And risk is part of entrepreneurship. Agricultural investments come with risks, but they also come with their benefits that transform into income.

    What sort of credit products do you think can solve farmers’ access to finance challenges?

    Any credit product that will reduce the interest rate

    Aside from micro-enterprise and revolving credit facility, what kind of financing framework will enable key players such as agri-input suppliers, post-harvest facility providers and processors, integrators and consolidators, valuable access to financing?

    The Bank of Agriculture should be adequately recapitalised and reorganised to function properly. The Bank of Industry should be strengthened to build on its present achievements.

    Antibiotics are under increasing criticism and feed additives can play a role in their replacement. What is your take on that?

    I agree with this view. Long and uncontrolled use of antibiotics can lead to residual amounts of them in meat, milk and other animal products. When passed to humans through consumption, this can lead to resistance of pathogens to antibiotics administration. There are probiotics, prebiotics and symbiotics, which are not antibiotics, but have the ability to modify the internal environment in animals such that the harmful bacteria, which will eliminate antibiotics with are competitively excluded. That way, the animal is spared the effect of the harmful bacteria without the use of antibiotics. Another way is to use feed-grade organic acid, which are able to attack the bacteria directly and leave no harmful residual compounds in the animal products.

    Your institute actively engages in variety of public policy issues that directly affect the sector. What recommendations has the institute made towards strengthening the nation’s agriculture?

    We are mainly a regulatory Agency. Our mandate is to regulate activities in the Livestock Industry, higher institutions of learning where Animal Science is offered and our members to ensure that they discharge their duties in a professional manner.

    We also engage in social advocacy to let our people know that it is their right to have access to good quality animal protein products. Regulation to ensure standards when adhered to leads to safe and quality products. This leads to sustainability of the business and eventually, expansion. Ensuring that production is done according to international best practices can also lead to access of international markets. This is because products from such systems become internationally compliant and competitive. All these help to sustain production locally, while having a foothold on the global market for foreign exchange earnings.

    What brought about your institute and what was the reason for its establishment?

    My Institute came into existence by an Act of the National Assembly, Act No 26 of 2007 as Amended in 2015. The Institute is a regulatory agency under the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development with powers to regulate all issues pertaining to animal husbandry in Nigeria. The Animal Science Association of Nigeria saw the need for the professionalisation of animal science and the greater need to regulate the animal husbandry industry in the country. The Association approached the National Assembly with the Bill and it was passed and enacted into law.

    Who are those to benefit from the Institute?

    Every Nigerian and eventually the global community. Though we have a national mandate, our activity is gradually spreading to the global sphere.

    What lessons have you learnt so far from this effort? What has worked for the institute and what has not?

    The lesson I have learnt so far is the necessity of vision for creation. Anything borne out of genuine vision is sustained and benefits mankind. As to what works or does not work, it depends on the boundary you set for yourself and how much you want to be limited. All things good should work.

    How has the role of agric businesses changed over the years and where has the greatest adjustments occurred?

    Agribusiness has always been there. It thrived in the years before oil was discovered, but almost died because of the discovery of oil. But it is gradually coming back as the government is taking diversification of the economy serious. The consciousness of agriculture as business has woken up in most people. There is the awareness of income generation potential from agricultural commodities along the value chain of any of them.

    What role do agric cooperatives play in the modern value chains?

    They serve as clusters of entrepreneurs of like passion and same business goal either for input receivables, production and market. They play a major role, especially in accessing finance and extension services. They are stabilising factors in the drive for organised small scale production and in the scale-up of the small scale producers to big time commercial enterprises.

    What do you consider as the most significant challenges agricultural cooperatives will face in the future?

    Access to finance, sustainable input supply and markets for their products.

    Young people are seen as  agents of change in the industry what  can be done to invest in the youth, who are so uniquely equipped, to turn the  industry  vision into reality?

    All that can be done to encourage the young ones to embrace agribusiness must be done. The future of the country actually is in their hands. They are about one-third of our estimated 180 million, which is about 60 million critical mass of workforce. The country must harness not only the energy, but the intellect in these young ones. By the year 2050 Nigerian population is estimated to hit 450 million. We will be the third most populous country in the world after  China and India. Our food need will be more than double. Who will feed this huge population? The system that will feed us in future must be laid down today and the youths of today have a great part to play because they are the ones, who will be around at that future date.

    How do we inspire a new generation in agriculture?

    We can inspire by making people see the income generating capability from agriculture along the value chain for any of the commodities. When people know that they can derive their livelihood from agriculture and see that what they do contributes to national development, they will be inspired to join and sustain what they do. We can also inspire them by assisting them to build their capacity in their chosen field of agriculture.

    How will the development transport infrastructure help Nigeria to become an agricultural exporter?

    Among agricultural infrastructure, road plays a very significant role in accelerating agricultural production. Rural roads connectivity is one of the key components for agricultural development, as it promotes access to economic and social services, generating increased agricultural income and productive employment as well as export. Access roads and rail transportation provide the means to bring the rural population to the main stream. A good road and rail network reduce transport cost, accelerates efficient delivery of farm inputs and enhance special agricultural production, distribution and export.

    A good network of roads and rail will expand the distribution of agricultural goods as well as open up additional opportunities for agricultural trade. Good road and rail infrastructure lead to expansion of markets, economies of scale and improvement in factor market operations. It also opens up the rural economy to greater competition. This may take the form of cheaper products from lower-cost sources of supply, new or improved products that may displace some locally produced items. Infrastructure investment has a strong impact on rural incomes and especially, on small holders. This helps to drive export on the long run. Improved rail, road and air transportation can enhance entrepreneurship activity.

    How do you think Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) can help Nigeria move up the livestock value chain?

    Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is generally believed to propel economic growth in developing countries as it makes significant contributions to the host country’s development process, especially through easing of the constraints of low levels of domestic savings and investment as well as foreign exchange shortages. Furthermore, FDI can increase the GDP and generate a stream of real incomes in the country. The increased productivity in the livestock value chain due to FDI can benefit local income groups through higher wages and expanded employment, lower product prices paid by consumers, rent to local resource owners, and high tax revenue or royalties to the government.

    Determined to move in tandem with the urgent dictates of the deplorable state of the nations infrastructural needs, Nigeria plans to attract $600 billion in Foreign Direct Investment by the threshold year of 2020 to deal with the mammoth infrastructure deficit, including those in the livestock sector of the economy. Research shows that Nigeria is not even in the top 10 of FDI destination.

    According to Goldman Sachs, the bulk of FDI inflows has gone to the oil and gas sector. The livestock sector with a huge potential to contribute significantly to the nation’s economy can benefit from FDI in the areas of input supply, development of infrastructure, new technologies for production, processing and packaging of livestock products and creation of markets.

    Are there any policy challenges?

    There are policy challenges not in the lack of it, but in implementation. If successive governments can follow an existing blue print that has been adjudged as workable, the livestock sector will record significant development. Often time, policy changes lead to reduced impact in several ways among the different value chains.

     

     

     

     

    What is the Institute doing in relation to building the capacity of the various value chain actors?

    The Institute is building capacity through direct training and re-training of the operators. For example, the Institute is the Secretariat for the International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) of the FAO. The Institute also represents the country at the annual International Feed Regulators’ meeting where issues relating to the Feed Industry are discussed on a global scale. We are the only body mandated by the IFIF to train operators in the Feed Industry on Good Manufacturing Practice and we have done this across the 6 geo-political regions of the country. Through the efforts of the Institute the country has moved from the 51st position to the 40th position in the Altec Global rating of feed producing countries. We plan to improve on this. We are also building the capacity of farm operators. In collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, we have developed Minimum Operating Procedure in the poultry and other livestock value chains. We are in collaboration with the National Board for Technical Education for training as Quality Assurance Assessors for building the capacity of middle level manpower in the livestock production sector. We have working MoU with other bodies, e.g. the OFFER Center in Iwo, Osun State for the training of Youths and Women in livestock production. We carry out advocacy programs to educate abattoir operators. We also regulate the practice of Animal Science in higher Institutions. The goal of our intervention measures and regulatory activities is to ensure that best international practices are adhered to in all operations in livestock production.

    What opportunities are there in the livestock sector?

    There are several opportunities along all the value chains. For a population of over 180 million gaps still exist in the production of food animals to meet the protein needs of the populace and for export. So there are opportunities in production, in processing, in creating markets (national, regional and international), in logistics, in communication, in supply of inputs, in financing, in training and capacity building.

    The formal daily milk sector constitutes only about 5 to 10%, the rest is informal. Have you found this to be attractive to foreign investors? There are a number of European investors coming into the nation’s a

    The dairy sector is attractive to foreign investors. Our current milk production stands at 700,000MT while the consumption demand is 1.3 million MT. The huge deficit is bridged by importation, which costs the government about $1.3 billion. The duty on dairy products is only about 10 per cent, which allows for massive importation of dairy products into the country, thereby killing local production. To help local production rise, duty on imported dairy products should be increased to between 55-60 per cent. The Honourable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh announced that 42 foreign investors from European countries were expected in the country last year as a result of a previous visit of President Buhari to Germany and Rome. According to the Honourable Minister, a good number of the investments will be in agriculture and food processing. Friesland Campina WAMCO has been investing in the dairy industry in Nigeria. They have also developed a local content with the help of its DDP scheme across different parts of Oyo State. Promasidor has also made some investments in the sector. But this is not enough. Following bilateral talks with the government of Denmark in 2016, Arla Foods of Denmark was also to invest in the development of the dairy industry in Nigeria. It was announced last year that Alhaji Aliko Dangote plans to invest $800 million in the dairy sector to breed 500,000 cows in 2018, which will produce 500 million litres of milk a year starting from 2019. There is enough room for investment by both foreign and local investors.

     

     

     

  • ‘Mortgage critical to realistic housing policy’

    ‘Mortgage critical to realistic housing policy’

    Nigeria’s mortgage system currently cannot support a housing policy that will deliver affordable houses to Nigerians. This was the submission of a speaker at the recently concluded 2017 National Built Environment Conference (NABECON), which held at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State. The theme of the conference was Positioning the Construction Industry in Nigeria for National Economic Growth.

    While delivering his lecture titled Housing for all Nigerians: The Big Vision Test, at the conference, the Managing Partner, Costec Consultants, Mr. John Agele Alufohai, making reference to researches conducted by the Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), noted that high mortgage rates, which is usually given at short tenures; a difficult business environment, high inflation, and unstable policies, all combine to hampered the growth of the housing sector in the country. This, he further explained, is why there is an estimated deficit of 18 million housing units in the country. The research also revealed that the country needs to build 720, 000 housing units per annum at an annual cost of N56 trillion to bridge this gap.

    Explaining the link between what he called a “transformational” housing policy and the economy, Alufohai noted that a housing policy that works for all Nigerians – the rich, the poor, civil servants, small business people, artisans, informal sector workers and entrepreneurs, young graduates, young people with limited formal education, banks, construction companies etc. – will boost construction activities and make a significant contribution to economic development.

    He, therefore, suggested that the country should adopt the mortgage system of other countries that have delivered housing for both the rich and poor.

    “The most efficient focus of housing policy is for the government to assist millions of Nigerians obtain lower-interest mortgages; this is how most citizens are helped to acquire houses in many countries with successful housing policy such as Singapore, South Africa and Malaysia,”  Alufohai argued.

    Alufohai, a former president of the Nigeria Institute of Quantity Surveyors (NIQS) also noted that because a house is the single biggest investment for an overwhelming majority of people, an efficient mortgage system is critical to providing accommodation for most Nigerians. He revealed that less than three percent of Nigerians acquire their homes through mortgages, just as many others invest in building houses of different costs and quality without any help whatsoever from the government.

    He, therefore, proposed a modeling of Nigeria’s mortgage system after that of Singapore, whose citizens obtain 20 to 30-year low interest mortgages through a pool of funds into which all workers must contribute 20 percent of their salary to acquire houses

    Said he: “The clear solution to me is the Singapore model – creating a pool of funds into which everybody contributes monthly and from which everybody borrows to buy a flat or house. The Federal Government ‘tops up’ contributions into this remodeled National Housing Fund (NHF) with at least N10 billion every year and it’s perfectly alright if it spends every kobo on its intervention in housing on this”.

    Singapore, he further revealed, was once a once poor island in Southeast Asia, which evolved from a third to first world economy between 1965 (when it gained independence from the British) and 2000. Under Lee Kuan Yew, the country’s first Prime Minister, the government transformed huge swathes of urban sprawls and slums into well-planned cities that spurred economic dynamism and growth.

    He said although the country’s NHF attempted the Singapore model, but it failed. “One of the key reasons for the failure is contributors couldn’t access the loans because they couldn’t afford the deposit for the houses,” said Alufohai, adding that the NHF also failed because of the high interest rates charged on mortgage loans. He noted that a non-inflationary fiscal policy, flexible, sustainable exchange rates and hence, low interest rates are important to attaining a mortgage system that will also attract foreign investment into mortgage market.

    On the role of government in the remodeled system he said, “it could provide a subsidy on the interest on mortgage loans by investing or contributing funds into this pool of ‘forced savings’ – this would have been an excellent use of the petrol subsidy.”

    The chairman of the organising committee, Prof Ikem Mbamali, said the conference brought together scholars, industry professionals/practitioners and senior public service officials/administrators, exploring current developments and advances in the re-organisation of the construction industry for effective contribution to national economic growth.

  • APC: Nigerians back govt’s desire for a realistic budget

    APC: Nigerians back govt’s desire for a realistic budget

    All Progressives Congress (APC) National Secretary Alhaji Maimala Buni has said the support Nigerians are giving President Muhammadu Buhari in his quest for a realistic budget reflect the people’s faith in the administration.

    Maimala, who spoke in Damaturu, said Nigerians understood the desire of government to have a workable document, which implementation would improve their lives.

    “It is evident that there is trust in government now and, Nigeria’s image has greatly improved before the international community, with an increased interest by foreign investors to invest in the country.

    “Every country is looking forward to doing business with Nigeria because we now have a President, who is transparent, committed, incorruptible and trusted by Nigerians and the international community,” he said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    The party secretary said Nigerians’ belief in the APC government was further demonstrated by the large turnout of voters in the Saturday by-election in Yobe.

    Maimala said: “The large turnout in yesterday’s election and APC’s victory at the polls has consolidated the people’s faith in the party and President Buhari to improve their lives.

    “In spite of the hardships suffered by the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), they came out massively to elect APC because of their strong faith in the party and the leadership.”

    The secretary hailed the President for supporting the security forces in the fight against insurgency.

    He added that the security situation in the Northeast had improved significantly.

  • Being realistic about Nigeria Part 2

    Last week, I wrote on the topic, ‘Being Realistic About Nigeria’. I concluded with the following paragraph:  “While trying to find explanations (to Nigeria’s stubborn and irreversible crookedness, decline and failure), I must reject the explanation often proposed by those who despise the Blackman in the world – the explanation that Nigeria’s decline and failure are the product of inherent or genetic faults in Black people, and in us Nigerians.  We are not inherently or genetically incompetent or crooked peoples.  The builders of our various precolonial civilizations and states were by no means incompetent or crooked. The trouble, I believe, is most probably from the nature and making of the country which was forced upon us. Being together in one county like Nigeria does not seem to be the way we really wish to live. Doesn’t our dignity as humans demand that we should realistically consider this?”

    I have read and re-read that troubling conclusion many times in the past many days. In particular, I have read and re-read it in comparison with other things that I am reading about other peoples or nationalities in our world. And the comparison has led me to fearful questions about us Nigerians, and about all the Black peoples of Africa – since what we see in Nigeria is true also of all Black African countries. .

    Here are some of the things that the whole world is reading today – about some other peoples and nationalities of the world. By nationality is meant a human group with its own culture, ancestral homeland, language, etc – like the Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Edo, Ijaw, Kanuri, Tiv, etc.

    First, about the different nationalities that make up the country called Great Britain. (We Nigerians know Britain very well. Britain is the country that used force to push all of our nationalities together in 1914 and gave us together the name Nigeria. For many hundreds of years, Britain has been made up of the English nationality of England, the Scottish nationality of Scotland, the Irish nationality of Ireland, and the Welsh nationality of Wales). But most of these nationalities or peoples have been saying more and more in recent times that they want separate countries of their own; that they do not want to continue to be parts of Britain; that, as separate nationalities, their true destiny is to have separate countries of their own and rule themselves according to their own unique national cultures and ways.

    These agitations started only a few years after Britain forced our nationalities together to create Nigeria. The Irish people were so insistent that they were allowed to go on and hold a referendum in 1921 to determine whether they really wanted a separate country. The Irish people voted massively that they did want their own separate country. And so they were allowed to have their separate country – the Republic of Ireland.

    The Scotts and Welsh have also increasingly demanded their own separate countries. In fact, for some years, some Scottish youths resorted to violence and terrorism to push their demand. However, the violence has long been given up, and the Scotts have persistently used open, peaceful and democratic methods to advance their demand. Now, they are close to their goal. Next month (specifically on Thursday, September 18), they will hold their “independence referendum”. Of course, no big country wants to lose any part of its territory and citizens, and the British government has been very busy trying to persuade Scottish people to vote ‘No’ and reject independence. But the voices of the Scottish nationalists have been much stronger and louder, and they appear set for a great victory for independence for Scotland on September 18.  Note that Scotland’s total population is only 5.3 million.

    The Welsh nationalists are moving too, though not as fast as the Scottish nationalists. For years now, they have set up a commission to work on developing their native Welsh language as the language of their future independent country. They are also busy working on developing their city of Cardiff as the future capital city of their future independent Wales. And they are saying that they too will soon be ready for their own independence referendum. Note that the total population of Wales is only three million.

    Secondly, here is what the world is reading today about the peoples that make up Spain, another leading European country. Spain is made up of three nationalities – the Spaniards of native Spain (who constitute the large majority people in Spain), the Catalans of Catalonia in North-eastern Spain, and the Basques of Northern Spain. Catalans and Basques, led by Catalan and Basque nationalist movements respectively, are strongly demanding separate countries of their own. For some years, some Basque nationalists resorted to violence and terrorism, but they have given up violence in recent years, and the Basque nationalist leaders now confidently say that they expect to have their own separate country soon.

    As for the Catalans, they intend to hold their independence referendum on November 9 this year. The Spanish government is trying to stop them from holding their referendum, but the Catalan branches of all of Span’s political parties have joined ranks to announce that they will go on with the referendum as planned. (That is like if the APC, PDP, Labour and all other parties in the Yoruba Southwest were to suspend their rivalries and join hands to decide to hold a Yoruba independence referendum). The outcome of this referendum is a foregone conclusion. Spain is likely to lose Catalonia before the end of this year.

    The huge question then is this: Why can’t we the nationalities of Nigeria have nationalist movements that are as focused and determined as the Scottish, Welsh, Catalan and Basque nationalist movements? Our political leaders, once elected into public office (or even when only seeking election into office) all keep far away from any talk of national independence and avoid their national countrymen who are nationalists. Why is this so? One answer is sure: It is not because these politicians are satisfied with the way Nigeria is brutalizing and destroying their various nationalities. Join any group of prominent Yoruba or Igbo or Ijaw folks, etc, at any gathering, in Nigeria or abroad, and you will find everybody to be talking of the terribly destructive effects of being part of Nigeria on their various nationalities. Why then don’t we have really strong nationalist movements openly and resolutely demanding separate countries out of Nigeria? Why do we as peoples, young and old, educated and not so educated, prefer to suffer in a monstrous country like Nigeria, and only complain and grumble, rather than strike boldly out to try and have separate countries of our own?

    Why are we, as nationalities in Nigeria, like this? Among the British who forced all our nationalities together into Nigeria, various nationalities have now realized that every nationality should live in a sovereign country of its own, are demanding separate countries, and are breaking up their Britain into separate countries. And they are using open, democratic and peaceful means to do it. Why are we not seeing the same in Nigeria? What is wrong with us?

  • Being realistic about Nigeria

    Most old folks of my age don’t surf the internet, mostly because we don’t know how to do it. I am one of those who don’t know how to do it. But occasionally I stumble upon some things that have been said on the internet concerning my Gbogun Gboro column.  Recently, I stumbled on this that someone wrote: This Gbogun Gboro must be an old Yoruba person who is very knowledgeable about the Yoruba nation, about other Nigerian nations, and about Nigeria. Concerning Nigeria, his is often the most realistic voice out there. I appreciate that comment. I prefer it to the comment by another writer who wrote that Gbogun Gboro doesn’t ever seem to see good things about Nigeria.

    Sure, I see good things about Nigeria. I have known a lot of good things about Nigeria. When I went to school as a young boy, our Nigeria, just over 30 years old at that time, was the great excitement that ran through all our school learning. Nigeria made us dizzyingly proud. Children tend to create childish myths, and we created many about our Nigeria. For instance, we “knew” that our Nigerian football team was the best in the world, and that some members of that team were so good shooters that they could rip goal-keepers apart with their shots. We even had stories of how, during a tour of England, our national team simply terrified English teams. There was a litany which we used to recite proudly: Nigeria is the largest producer of groundnuts in the world; Nigeria is the largest producer of palm oil in the world; Nigeria is the largest producer of cocoa in the world; Nigeria is the largest producer of tin in the world. We were sure that our Nigeria was going to become the greatest country in the world – and we were eager to get ready to serve her with all our might. Nigeria was an intoxicating possession.

    For the most part, the dream and the pride grew as we rose higher and higher in the educational system. In my secondary school years, Chief Awolowo’s generation of leaders in the Western Region turned on an incredibly bright leadership light, and made our region “first in Africa” in most areas of development and enterprise. We could only think that the rest of our Nigeria would catch up soon, and that that was the direction our country was destined to go. Later, at the University College, Ibadan (UCI), the peak of the educational system, we students lived, learned, dreamed, and walked the earth like on-coming servants of one of the greatest countries of the immediate future of the world. If any among us did or said something shoddy or unbecoming, we politely chastised him with, “Arise, gentleman”. Shakespeare wrote in one of his sonnets that it is at “heaven’s gate” that the lark sings; we students of UCI lived in the confident hope that it was on top of the world’s highest mountains that Nigeria and Nigerians would soar.

    In those wonderful years in the life of our country, I had the privilege of representing UCI and Nigerian students in a number of international conferences – in Africa and other parts of the world. Again and again, I had the awesome experience of standing face to face with important leaders of the world as they said, “Young Nigerian, we hope that you Nigerians are aware that your country holds the key to Africa’s future”. We Nigerian student leaders made it the rule among us to be humble and cautious in our statements before the word; but even so, one of our most senior student leaders once allowed himself to say in a conference in Switzerland, “It is whithersoever my country Nigeria goes that Africa will go”. Though we later rebuked him in private for his gaff, we nevertheless believed (nay, we knew) that he was right.

    Unhappily, very unhappily, virtually none of the great dreams of Nigeria has had fulfilment. Since independence, our Nigeria has declined relentlessly. From the enormous wealth of our country’s resources, we have succeeded in producing very sordid poverty for our people. Even our federal government admits that about 70% of Nigerians live in the awful condition classified as “absolute poverty”, and that the percentage continues to increase. Some estimates have it that some 78% of Nigeria’s youths are unemployed, and that that percentage continues to increase. For decades, Nigeria has been classified, year after year, as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. As a result of violent crimes, Nigeria is classified as one of the most unsafe counties in peace time in the world. Year in, year out, countless thousands of Nigerians die as a result of inter-ethnic conflicts.  Year in, year out also, countless thousands of Nigerians die from religious conflicts. Today, a most extreme Islamic fundamentalist sect holds a whole region of Nigeria in its grip, accounting in the past five years for some 12,000 violent deaths, according to official estimates. Nigeria has become the home of hopelessness, crookedness and unrelieved vileness in human and group relationships.

    A recently held National Conference will place its report before our President today. Many of us are congratulating ourselves for some of its fairly reasonable decisions. However, some of its other decisions – like the decision to splinter our federation into 54 states – certainly will doom the more reasonable decisions to failure. And the heavy issues that the conference did not touch represent a preservation of a devastating part of the status quo. The conference does not touch such issues as corruption, poverty, unemployment, crimes, spreading inter-ethnic hostility and conflicts, and religious terrorism. It tells a horrible story that this is the best we can produce from a National Conference. And that horrible story gives a hard new emphasis to the question, “Should we continue to insist on being one country, or should we consider other paths to our future?”

    These are the reasons why it is hard for me to be otherwise than toughly realistic about Nigeria. I have seen Nigeria flying to the gates of heaven, only to see her turn around and plunge down to the gates of hell. It is perhaps permissible for younger Nigerians, who did not see the beauty and pride that used to belong to Nigeria, to accept today’s wretchedness and even continued decline. I, in contrast, cannot resist trying to find the true explanation – and that is where my being realistic comes from.

    While trying to find explanations, I must reject the explanation often proposed by those who despise the Blackman in the world – the explanation that Nigeria’s decline and failure are the product of inherent or genetic faults in Black people and in us Nigerians. We are not inherently or genetically incompetent or crooked peoples. The builders of our various civilizations and states were by no means incompetent or crooked. The trouble, I believe, is most probably from the nature and making of the country which was forced upon us. Being together in one county like Nigeria does not seem to be the way we really wish to live. Doesn’t our dignity as humans demand that we should realistically consider this?

  • Lawmaker seek ‘realistic budget’

    A lawmaker representing Eti-Osa II Constituency at the Lagos State House of Assembly, Gbolahan Yishau, has called for ‘a realistic budget’ to grow the economy. He made the suggestion in a chat with reporters in Lagos, saying a balanced budget that meets expected projection should address the economy’s challenges rather than indiscriminate borrowing.

    According to him, instead of borrowing from abroad the policy should be tilted in favour of borrowing from within the system. He said: “We can, for instance, borrow from the pension fund. With this, we can easily manage the system by ourselves. This current borrowing is a waste. We need to borrow intelligently and ensure that it is tailored to meet the projection.”

    The monetary policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN), he said, must be revisited, noting that a situation where investors are expected to borrow at 32 per cent would not improve the real sector.

    He added that high interest rate was generating market for other countries at the detriment of local businesses.

    “Small scale industries are not encouraged, we are rather transferring market to other countries,” he said.

    On voters’ apathy, Yishau argued that votes count contrary to the general belief that ”the powers-that-be” have already decided who gets into offices through the back door.

  • Lawmaker tasks Nigerians on realistic budget

    A lawmaker at the Lagos State House of Assembly representing Eti-Osa II Constituency, Hon. Gbolahan Yishawu, has advocated for a realistic budget to grow the Nigerian economy rather than borrowing indiscriminately.

    The lawmaker, who made this observation during a chat with newsmen at the Assembly, noted that a balanced budget that meets expected projection should be the norm to address the current challenges in the nation’s economy.

    He reiterated that instead of finding a way out to meet satisfactory budget performance annually, the country should make a realistic budget in line with expected revenue, saying instead of struggling “why don’t you have 60 percent projection ab initio.”

    Yishawu reasoned that instead of borrowing from outside the country, the policy should be tilted in favour of borrowing within the system. He said: “we can borrow for instance from the pension fund. With this, we can easily manage the system within ourselves.”

     

  • Igbo leaders should be realistic

    Igbo leaders should be realistic

    SIR: More often than not human beings are what they make themselves; vision and planning are indispensable for success. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, an Igbo, was a foremost leader in Africa. In the First Republic, he agreed to be the ceremonial President, while Tafawa Balewa, a northerner, got the Prime Minister position, which was where the real power reposed. In the Second Republic, Dr. Alex Ekwueme, another Igbo, agreed to be the Vice President to Alhaji Shehu Shagari from the North.

    Where were the Ohanaeze Ndigbo (the Igbo leadership council), when Chief Obafemi Awolowo offered to support Azikiwe to become President in 1979, instead of Shagari? And why did the Igbo leaders abandon their Arewa friends when it mattered most in 2011? It was because Jonathan’s middle name is Azikiwe, and he made the Igbo leaders happy in several ways, including juicy appointments to Igbo citizens, women in particular.

    If the North-west were allowaed to serve its eight years, as the South-west was allowed to do, it would be naturally absurd for the North to aspire to be President again in2015. Reasonable Nigerians and the international community would have been at a loss why the North would want to cheat the South on the topmost leadership position. Is that not the reason no serious Yoruba has aspired to be President since General Olusegun Obasanjo spent eight straight years as Nigeria’s President? But the Igbo leaders chose to support their Azikiwe. Fine, eat your cake and have it.

    Igbo leaders should go for a systematic plan and sustainable political vision that would eliminate marginalization of any zone and ethnic nationality in Nigeria. Survival of the fittest, arbitrary seizing of power and opportunism cannot stabilize Nigeria; only a considerate resolution of power devolution can do that. Well-meaning Igbo leaders should team-up with the opposition political parties to enthrone General Muhammadu Buhari in 2015, to serve a single term. That will complete the second term of the North-west.

    After that, the coast will be clear for the South-east zone to produce the next President, since Jonathan (from the South-south) has spent eight straight years in the presidency, as Vice President/President (2007-2011), and as President (2011-2015).

    Jonathan represents the cabal that will never allow the petroleum refineries to function; are the Igbo and South-south leaders concerned about that? The Yoruba Council of Elders and the Arewa Consultative Forum are not concerned either. The bodies have compromised, but some opposition political parties have not compromised. So, support the latter, towards a genuine transformation of Nigeria, end to mass misery and insecurity.

    • Pius Oyeniran Abioje, Ph. D,

    University of Ilorin.