The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Resource

  • Infrastructure, resource management crucial for educational development, says Babalakin

    Having served as Pro-Chancellor of some federal universities, Dr Bolanle Olawale Babalakin has an idea of what can make them run effectively. He shared his thoughts with some reporters. Kofoworola Belo-Osagie was there.

    Pro-Chancellor of the University of Lagos, Dr Bolanle Olawale Babalakin is one person who believes that a well-managed education system would take Nigeria to a place of pride in the comity of nations.

    However, he said this would not happen without investment in infrastructure and judicious management of resources.

    In an interview with journalists in Gbongan, his hometown, he shared how his interest in education has led him to make investments in improving infrastructure and show example of how available scarce resources could be better utilised.

    He said he supports President Muhammadu Buhari’s recent call for accountability by managers in the utilisation of the resources provided to tertiary institutions.

    As Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Governing Council University of Maiduguri, Babalakin said the institution gained 42 new structures under his watch with its resources.

    He said: “In Maiduguri, in four years we executed and completed not less than 42 projects, including the College of Medicine, a new college of pharmacy, a new college of education; we even went as far as building a 57-bedroom hotel on the land allocated to the university since 1978 which nobody was able to do anything about – that is the El Kanemi Suites in Abuja today, which has become very popular.  And we did this just managing our very scarce resources. We did not borrow a dime.

    “We also found an ingenious way of providing electricity on the campus for 20 hours a day.  I may not be able to reveal the tactics because we intend to use on the national platform sometime. If you speak to the vice chancellor and all the members, they will tell you that we came and we served. And it is also on record that for four years we did not collect any sitting allowance, any personal allowance, any travel allowance and we did not participate in whatsoever any commercial activity.  It was full time charity.

    “At the University of Lagos, we have been there for a year.  We are putting up a system that we believe will work; we are putting up a system that we believe will, ultimately, impact on the university very positively.”

    Outside his Pro-Chancellor role, Babalakin said he is still pursuing his love for education.  He said this influenced the construction of a 4,000 capacity auditorium in Gbongan, which he said would strictly be used for programmes that advance the course of knowledge.

    The facility, which boasts of 18 adjoining seminar rooms, was used for the first time on Tuesday last week for the Policy meeting of Tertiary Institutions in Nigeria organised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).

    Its premises also housed many of the participants in 60 one-bedroom suites.

    Babalakin said the plan is to add a hotel and other facilities – all aimed at enhancing intellectual discourse.

    “The size of the project shows that it is not designed for minor gatherings.  It is designed for major gatherings. The emphasis is pursuit of knowledge. We will not use it for general things no matter how attractive they are.  If what you want to do will not enhance knowledge, it will not fit in to the dream of those who put this in place,” he said.

    Babalakin spoke of a possibility of the conversion of the facility into a university.

    “Everybody that has visited this place has encouraged us to turn it into a university.  But from where I am coming from, I know what is like to run a university. I have a fair idea and I believe that universities must be properly run. If we decide to convert this it a university, it is because we believe we can make it a university. But as of today, our options are open,” he said.

    To advance educationally, Babalakin said Nigeria must take its tertiary institutions seriously.  He said just as the Oxford and Cambridge universities stand out as examples for other institutions in the United Kingdom, there should be shining examples in Nigeria for others to follow.

    Babalakin said: “All the countries that have developed rapidly have taken their institutions very seriously. England has Oxford and Cambridge.These universities have been there since 10th, 11th century – and they have kept the standard.  They have not weakened Oxford and Cambridge. What they have done is to make Oxford and Cambridge the standard and encourage other universities to aspire to be like Oxford and Cambridge. And in the process, some universities have emerged.  Today, an engineering qualification from the Imperial College, London, is comparable to a degree in Oxford and Cambridge

    “What we have done in Nigeria was that we had five universities.  Rather than tell the other universities to emulate the five universities, what we did was to reduce the standard of the university so that everybody could now claim to have a university when really they were not contributing anything major to the educational system. “

  • Your challenge is a resource

    My pen feels heavy writing this piece. As a student of the University of Life, I’m presently writing an examination. Challenge 111 is a compulsory course not an elective and every student of life is often tested. Those who pass are promoted and others have to repeat. A challenge is simply a difficult task that tests your ability and skill. I make bold to say that challenges are normal to living. Does that sound negative? Well, that’s a fact of life and the earlier you embrace it, the better for you. I’m confident I will get through my exam because I see my challenge as a Volcano! I remember my basic Geography class.

    Volcanoes both terrify and inspire. The terrifying eruptions are the result of magma from beneath the Earth being pushed up to the surface where it erupts as lava, ash and rock. Magma is a hot liquid that has natural buoyancy which causes it to migrate upwards. Do you know that magma is also a resource? Some countries like Iceland now drill hot rocks to magma to tap geothermal energy. Therefore, I posit using this analogy, that magma is such as the untapped inner resources in every human being. When exposed to intense pressure, it can erupt, and launch you into higher realm of creativity. Also, as volcanoes are just a natural way that the Earth releases internal heat and pressure, so also challenges are potent ways, Professor Life, uses to teach us how to release our untapped inner resources and thereby grow.

    In essence, see your challenge, be it financial, health, emotional ..as a resource with an intrinsic value that can enrich you. It takes a grateful heart to see this, little wonder grateful people are resourceful but the ungrateful choose to remain beggars.  Overtime, I have observed that sometimes the challenge we face is nothing but an imagination or self imposed limitations. It’s not unusual to feel inadequate especially when given a new task. Have you observed that remarkable works come forth when you do what you need to do despite all odds?  I had an experience in my secondary school days. My Art teacher, a disciplinarian, whom my class nicknamed ‘Dankoboko’ came to class and announced that an Art competition for all schools in Lagos state will hold at the prestigious University of Lagos. He emphasised that it was compulsory for everyone in my class to submit at least an art work for participation in the competition. I felt that was totally unfair, because some students were obviously very good in Art and I never considered myself as one. At home, I pleaded with my elder brother to help me out and save me from the impending ‘koboko’ (horse-whip) from Dankoboko, but he bluntly refused. I was all at sea. With torrents of tears pouring from my eyes, I took my pencil and started to draw, out of desperation to meet the deadline which was the following day. I drew what I saw in my mind- “A Cultural Festival”. Guess what? I won the first prize in pencil drawing! I got many beautiful gifts and even a handshake from the renowned Nigerian artist, Dr. Dele Jegede. Thanks to Dankoboko!

    Today, many are unaware of the great opportunities that come with challenges. Do you know that the loss of a loved one can be an opportunity for you to be closer to God and focus on your purpose? When you are in deep financial crisis, it could be an opportunity for you to discover your gifts/talents and trade with them. An embarrassing moment can be an opening for you to learn humility and failure can be an opportunity to strategize better. Someone said failure is not the opposite of success rather it’s part of success. It cannot be overemphasised that the lessons our challenges teach us are more profound and enduring.

    Life is not fair! Need I say that life never presents to you what you feel you ought to have rather it gives what you demand of it. To make a demand, you need to learn the skills of negotiation and the power of excellent bargaining. It is really pathetic that many in life do not know what truly belongs to them. Life shines on the dealers not the feelers! Often dealers count the cost of being comfortable and stagnant as more gruesome than facing a tough situation, yet making progress, but feelers never count the cost, rather they prefer to remain on the same spot as long as no opposition arises. Know this, ease is a greater threat to your success than challenges. Much more, dealers maximize the opportunities inherent in challenges to reap their expected gains.

    Opportunities don’t always present themselves in pleasant packages. Sometimes, opportunity might come as a big assignment that requires a lot of extra time without pay. Do you know that opportunities can come in the form of a career setback or demotion? Early in her career, the famous Oprah Winfrey, was considered too emotional for hard news stories and the management of the TV station took her off the six o’clock news and relegated her to a morning talk show to tactfully get rid of her. Unlike most people will choose to react to such setback, Oprah was elated after the first morning show was over. In her words ‘‘Thank God, I’ve found what I was meant to do, it’s like breathing to me.’’ The new opportunity that looked like a demotion helped her unlock her potential.  Overtime, the morning show evolved into ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’. Great opportunities are wrapped in great challenges. Be wise to stay off temptations masquerading themselves as opportunities. Do you want a big opportunity? Resolve to crack big challenges. I encourage you today not to breakdown before the brick wall, rather take a break, and with every strength in you, launch out and breakthrough! Remember a right attitude wins always.

    Please send your comments to segilola2012@gmail.com.

    Listen in to Mindscope with Segilola every Monday on Eko89.7Fm at 1:10pm.

  • Akwa Ibom rides the ‘Resource Curse’

    A couple of years back, precisely in 2010, when he was Chairman of the Nigerian Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI), Professor Asisi Asobie gave some damning and damaging statistics on the state of the nation’s oil and gas sector. Damning because it indexed the wastefulness and lack of vision among managers of the nation’s resources in years past; and damaging because it speaks volume of the rot in the sector that has over the years remained the goose that lays the proverbial golden egg. The occasion was the All Nigeria Editors’ Conference hosted by the Rivers State government.

    Here are a few of the statistics. Between 1999 and 2005 (six years), the Nigerian federation realised $109 billion (N15.67 trillion) from the oil sector 42.2 percent ($46 billion) of which was from taxes, royalty etc while 57.8 percent or $63bn was from export and domestic crude sales. Out of this, $21 billion was invested by way of Joint Venture cash calls. Gross revenue realized for the federation was $140bn (N19.6 trillion). These amounts, said Asobie, were based on NEITI’s audit findings. They were strictly oil-sector specific flows plus non-oil sector specific flows from oil companies. They do not include income tax from other sources, customs revenues, VAT, etc; meaning receipts into the federation account for the period far exceeded the afore-stated figures when you compute earnings from other non-oil sources.

    To effectively get a handle on how the money was spent, let’s look at how the various tiers of government and in fact the different zones benefited from this huge volume. For the period under review (1999 – 2005), a total of N15.8 trillion was paid into the federation account if you add revenue from other sources including customs duties, VAT et al from the oil companies. Out of this, the federal government got N5.138 trillion representing 32.5 percent; states shared N10.671trillion or 67.5 percent. Let’s break it down further according to zones. During the period, the South-south zone got a hefty N1.259 trillion; North-west, N627.888bn; South-west, N550.526bn; North-east N458.195bn; North-central N425.398bn, and bringing up the rear was the South-east with N374.503bn.

    Again, reflect on this. Approximately 80 percent of the oil revenue is concentrated in the hands of one percent of the population; and 70 percent of Nigeria’s private wealth is held abroad. In fact, the guest lecturer at the conference and then Executive Secretary of the Local Content Development Commission, Ernest Nwapa, drove the nail deeper into the psyche of the editors when he said that out of every $100 made from oil and gas, only $5 is retained in Nigeria while $95 is stashed away overseas. This is beyond capital flight. This was sheer robbery by the oil ‘super-majors’ with of course connivance with corrupt public office holders in the country.

    Nigeria, truly, is a victim of the “Dutch Disease” as well as the “resource curse”. Both are symptomatic of monoculture economies where the nation relies heavily if not solely on crude cash. Whereas the ‘Disease’ leads to poverty in the midst of plenty, the ‘Curse’ tends to make a people lazy, uninventive and largely unresourceful.  “The ‘disease’ kills agriculture and the primary industry; the ‘curse’ makes the people docile”, Asobie postulated.

    So, why are Nigerians suffering when their country is rich? Why are her teeming youths wandering the streets in hopeless swagger as they endure the yoke of unemployment? The answer is corruption.  In addition to that is a clear lack of vision from the leadership.

    This is the context in which one is enthralled by the new push coming from Akwa Ibom State, one of the major oil-producing states of the nation. At a time receipts from crude oil sales are dipping, the governor is envisioning a new Akwa Ibom anchored not on the props of oil money but underpinned by industrialization, wealth creation, agriculture and hospitality.  The governor, Udom Emmanuel, never ceases to voice his admiration for nations which became successful through the application of knowledge to create an oasis of productive knowledge economy. He talks with passion about the exploits of China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, among others.  These are countries that pulled through the ruins of war, poverty and despoliation to become world industrial powers. They became industrial hubs because at a point in time, their leadership re-engineered the people’s psyche, making their citizens understand that sustainable development does not come from importing food, drinks and just about everything but from building a strong industrial base powered and propelled by knowledge as the chief resource.

    The governor launched the Dakkada (rise up) value creed, first to redefine the identity of the people and second, to rekindle a new thrust of hope and self-belief among his people. Then, he turned to the youths to make them believe that they are the change they want to see; not just with rhetorical stimulation but pragmatic empowerment with contemporary tools. Last year, he commissioned Oracle Database Administration training in the state. Today, Akwa Ibom is host of the globally recognized Pearson VUE e-Testing Centre, meaning Nigerians and indeed Akwa Ibom youths need not travel far to acquire relevant ICT certifications. Already, the first batch of Oracle Database Administration trainees has graduated from the centre and Governor Emmanuel has armed each one of them with a brand new laptop.

    This gesture may be lost on some of the youths; but what the governor is saying to them is ‘create your own future’. No man can create his future except he is empowered with the relevant skill set. The average Akwa Ibom youth, especially those Oracle graduates kitted with a laptop, has been set on the path to wealth creation. The likes of Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle Corporation in 1977, Michael Dell of Dell Computers and even Bill Gates of Microsoft did not have such opportunity yet they forged ahead, broke through the ceiling of convention to beget to humanity ICT monuments.  Today, they are the change we know. We all live in the tomorrow they created yesterday.

    This is why Governor Emmanuel’s style of governance that seeks to teach the people how to fish rather than feed them with fish crumbs is admirable and a template worthy of replication across the country. Besides, the governor has dispatched 200 youths to Israel for training in agriculture and another 200 for capacity-building in power engineering and management.

    All of this point to his overall vision for the state: industrialization. In just 12 months, scores of memoranda of understanding (MoUs) have been signed with strategic investors and partners. Not one to stop a vision at mere scribbling on paper, Governor Emmanuel has ensured that the investors have taken practical steps to set up shops in his state.  The automobile assembly plant, electric meter manufacturing plant and the fertilizer blending conglomerate to mention but a few are the emblems of a state on the path to industrialization.

    Yet, in spite of these accomplishments, the governor has remained shy of public attention and would not engage in self-adulation, either. Instead, he chooses to let his works speak for him. This is the stuff of good leadership. In the midst of scarce resources, Governor Emmanuel is building hope and a future for his people. Reed Markham, the cerebral author and writer once said: “Successful leaders see the opportunities in every difficulty rather than the difficulty in every opportunity.” This is what Governor Emmanuel epitomizes: turning the difficulties of the moment to oases of opportunities.

     

    • Olali writes from Uyo
  • ‘In Bonny, we suffer the resource curse of the Niger Delta’

    ‘In Bonny, we suffer the resource curse of the Niger Delta’

    Mr Simeon Wilcox, a lawyer, is the youth leader of Bonny Kingdom and spokesman of Joint Niger Delta Youth Movement (JNDYM). In this exclusive interview with Precious Dikewoha, he examines  the  activities of the  multinationals in the oil rich Bonny Kingdom and the Niger Delta region and also speaks on the burdens that come with it, the needs to engage the youths and so on.   

     

    Will you say the rich environment is a blessing or curse to the Bonny people?

    A professor wrote a book and titled it “The Resource Curse”; what he meant is that having everything you need under your table by nature makes you lazy. Having everything you need under your table removes that aspect of life that makes you struggle because by implication it gives you that impression that after all you are the owner so what are you fighting for. I will not deny the fact that the resource curse in the Niger Delta and particularly in Bonny kingdom is the biggest challenge the nature has brought for us. It is a blessing having the resources but what you do with it is what determines if it will be a curse or a blessing.
    In our own case we have everything we need and everything we pray to have but we don’t have the benefits therein. Our people are still unemployed, largely unskilled. The social cultural activities don’t show the presence of the multinationals that are there. Something has got to be done, which is the right management of the resources that we have. And in terms of developing new frameworks to work with the communities and these multinationals and at the end of the day there has to be a meeting point for the benefit of the region.

    The multinational companies operating in the region have always complained that our youths are unskilled do you agree to that?

    Far from that, the Amnesty programme is a programme that started based on the perception that the Niger Delta youths are not skilled. If you think back, you will realize that the youths were trained, they got scholarships but when these scholarships comes up the non-indigenes will be the ones to benefit. Before the Amnesty Programme, vacancies were being announced secretly and before it gets to the knowledge of the host communities they’ve already brought those that will be employed. So that was how the youths started agitating against such method of neo-colonialism. While these youths were agitating they took them to Abuja for negotiation, Amnesty was given but has it changed anything. The only thing I know is that they know now that we have the capacity to resist them and win the war. But as to the number of persons that have been trained, I will give kudos to former President, Goodluck Jonathan and late President Yar’Adua because the Niger Delta region is not as it uses to be. We have a lot of trained youths, the Amnesty Programme trained quiet a large number of people like pilots, pipe welders, Engineers and so on. Now the level of skill development in the Niger Delta region has increased.
    The next question is, is it matching the number of jobs being created? The companies operating in the region cannot be giving the same excuses of yesteryears that the people are not qualified. It is not true; we have lots of qualified youths in the region. I know quite a number of people that the Federal government trained that are still looking for jobs. Let me narrow it down to Bonny that has NLNG base, the NLNG trained some persons but they still say the youths are unskilled. We gave them a list of persons to employ but when they got there they deliberately failed them and the next minute they brought in their own people. There has to be a meeting point, the Federal government has to come in. We can’t keep these things the way it has always being, it won’t work that way.

    With many multinational companies operating in Bonny, one would have expected the area to be will developed

    Bonny is the third highest revenue producer in Rivers State, NLNG gives the Federal government N7 billion annually, now they are building more facilities they are going to employ more people. I know the state government is only responsible for income tax; Shell is in charge of 35 percent of Nigeria’s crude oil. In all these Bonny has no roads; it has no Federal government presence. The only Federal government presence is the Federal Polytechnics of Oil and Gas. NNDC approved contract to link Bonny roads together but till today that project has been abandoned, in fact they have squandered the money. We had a press conference and we gave an ultimatum but till today nobody has reacted. Bonny is the only community that produces so much yet has little. If you want to travel to Bonny you need to prepare for one hour rough riding on the sea and get attacked by pirates. If you travel to Bonny and you don’t go with NLNG boat or a private boat mounted with securities then you are not safe how then do you expect us to be happy? NLNG has 1,200 staff only 90 are from Bonny and out of that 90 we have people who are not staffs. Bonny people are getting blind because of the constant gas flaring, our shores are washing off, our youths are unemployed Shell pays N37 million as rent while NLNG pays N140 million to state government.

    From when oil was discovered in the Niger Delta region till date what different does it make to the people?

    Without oil Niger Delta region would have been also developed. It might not be as accelerated as oil has made it to be. Places without oil still have some scanty development because nothing remains static in life. But the development in Bonny is not commensurate. If you put it on a scale of 100 it is not up to 10. Before they started NLNG they took my people to Bintu in Mali and showed them how it is properly organized and promised them that Bonny will be like Bintu, a paradise on earth but guess what 20 years after that Bonny is still a shanty town. The light they gave to us is fading away they even want to privatize it. The light you hear about in Bonny is not free, we still pay bills and tariffs it’s just that they subsidized it. The Bonny master plan has failed; it was only last year they tried to revive it through the Amayanabo of Bonny. Although they have contributed to the development of the area but as an oil producing area it is not commensurate, a place where Nigeria has its resources, those that don’t have oil are far more developed than us.

  • Commissioner challenges resource persons on impact assessment

    Commissioner challenges resource persons on impact assessment

    Ondo State Commissioner for Community Development and Cooperative Services, Mr. Clement Faboyede has challenged over 90 resource persons who are to carry out impact assessment on the projects executed by the state government through the ministry to be proactive and carry out the job with high sense of responsibility.

    Faboyede, who gave the charge while addressing the resource persons during a seminar organised for them on impact assessment of the projects of the ministry in the last four years said the assessment was in the interest of sustainable development of state.

    He pointed out that data collected during the assignment will be useful in the task of transforming the entire state, as it will enable the government to know the challenges facing the projects and proffer solution to them before executing more of such developmental projects that will improve the living status of the residents of the state.

    His words: “Thank God, some of our change agents are here, Ministry’s Supervising Officials and the other external experts to measure the level of impact of our projects on the people especially in the grassroots where our projects were built based on the demand of the people. After their findings, they will come up with recommendations and advice on how it has affected the community either generally or individually.

    “We want to use this medium to encourage all of you to carry out your duties diligently so as to get the accurate results. I hereby appeal to the residents of the communities to cooperate with our people to get the correct feedback and data that would help in taking Ondo State to the next level of development.

    “Data collection and assessment is the work of the technocrat but we the politicians make use of these assessments for the progress of the state, the more Mr. Governor has this information the more he will develop the state to attract more developmental partner”.

    Faboyede enumerated the achievements of Dr Olusegun Mimiko through the Ministry of Community Development and Cooperative Services and appreciated God for the remarkable achievements recorded over a period of four years in about 600 communities spread across the state.

    While educating the participants on the 3 ‘Is’ initiative of the ministry, the Permanent Secretary Mrs. Funmilayo Osundolire said the state government has done greatly in the area of infrastructure and institution adding that industry which the third ‘I’ stood for will be embarked on soon.

    According to her, Change agents will move round to ask question on the homogeneous raw materials in those community where micro industry which is the third ‘I’ would be established to make the state the commercial hub of South West and Nigeria.

    “Before now, developmental projects were being imposed on the people. Often times, what they needed was different from what was being given to them. But today, the reverse is the case. The Mimiko-led administration brought in new innovation whereby change agents were engaged by the ministry to interact with the people and carry out need assessment thereby knowing their project priorities before government execute it for them,” she said.

    Mrs.Osundolire said impact assessment is important to have interface with the grassroots people and consolidate on the good works of government in those areas which she said will go a long way to check rural-urban drift.

    Some of the consultants to the project drawn from different organisations include, Mr. Dele Akinyemi, Mr. Justin Okwuofu from Programme Coordinator PRO-NATURA Int’l (Nigeria).

    Some of them who spoke at the occasion pointed out that impact assessment is one of the aspects of development that government needed to pay quality attention to for sustainable development and all encompassing participation for the purpose of considerable progress in the society.

    One of the resource persons Taiwo Omojola said that the training had opened his eyes to proper data collection and filling of questionnaires by their potential target audience and that they would help those who did not know how to read and write for the purpose of precision.

  • Fed Govt to establish national children’s resource centre

    THE Federal Government will establish a National Children Resource Centre next year for the development and welfare of children, Akwa Ibom State Governor Godswill Akpabio has said.

    The governor broke the news yesterday in Uyo, the state capital, at this year’s Children’s Day celebration.

    He said the government has also provided funds for the establishment of a National Modern Child Development Centre in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to provide vocational skills for street, school and out-of-school children.

    Advising governments at all levels to invest adequately in children to guarantee their future, Akpabio said he was happy that of the 22 states that have passed the Child Rights Act, Akwa Ibom is among the first to have achieved the feat.

    Represented by his deputy, Mrs. Valerie Ebe, the governor said his administration would constantly mobilise resources to address the educational, psychological, social and morals needs of children.

    He said: “Our actions should be guided and motivated in the best interest of the child. Children play a cardinal role in the development of every society. They are the backbone of our today, our hope for tomorrow and faith in the future.”

  • The resource control furore: one more word

    The resource control furore: one more word

    Three weeks or so ago today after my two-part piece on the onshore/offshore dichotomy on allocation of the country’s oil revenue, the issue seems to have returned to the front pages of our newspapers.

    First it was President Goodluck Jonathan himself who, through his spokesperson, Dr. Reuben Abati, pronounced the 2004 Act abrogating the dichotomy a closed issue. Shortly thereafter, his Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohammed Adoke, followed suit. Then six days ago, the new president of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr Okey Wali, announced that the NBA “fully endorses” the position of the Attorney-General. Wali, it may be recalled, was a one time attorney-general of Rivers State, a leading oil producing state.

    “We,” he said, “agree with the AGF that this matter has been settled by the highest court of the land, the Supreme Court in AG Adamawa State and 22 others versus the AG Federation and eight others…we condemn any attempt by some politicians and their sympathisers to deliberately over-heat the polity by resurrecting the matter.”

    With due respect, Wali, Adoke and his principal are guilty of, at best, playing politics with the law, and, at worse, downright lying with it, akin to the subterfuge of lying with statistics.

    To begin with, as the three gentlemen know all too well, Supreme Court judgments are not cast in stone; all over the world apex courts have been known to reverse themselves when the need arises. Second, if the word of Supreme Courts is final and irreversible why did many of the most vociferous objectors of the re-opening of the 2004 Act even more vociferously reject our own apex court’s April 2002 judgment upholding the onshore/offshore dichotomy as untenable, to the extent that they even threatened to secede from the country? Why did they insist that beyond the court’s judgment there has to be a political solution?

    However, the issue here is not only that Supreme Courts can reverse themselves. It is also not only that these latter-day the-word-of-supreme-courts-is-final advocates are being inconsistent. More importantly, the issue is also that the Supreme Court never dismissed the case of AG Adamawa State and 22 others versus the AG Federation and eight others on its own merit, as Wali would want the world to believe.

    True, the court unanimously dismissed the case of the 22 states that sought the nullification of the 2004 Act which abrogated the onshore/offshore dichotomy for the purposes of revenue allocation among states. But the judges also differed among themselves on the merit of the case. For example, whereas Justice Oguntade said he did not see “anything intrinsic or extrinsic” in the law which was contrary to “the letter and spirit of the 1999 Constitution”, Justice Kutigi dismissed it only on the grounds that the plaintiffs went about their case the wrong way.

    “It is,” he said, “doubtless that this action seeks to challenge the validity and effect of the 2004 Act. But the plaintiffs had chosen to go about it the wrong way…Unfortunately, the plaintiffs have not asked this court for any interpretation of the relevant provisions of the Constitution or of the 2004 Act itself. They therefore committed a blunder!”

    Justice Oguntade might as well have been right. But then he was talking merely about the abstract principle of the letter and spirit of our supreme law of the land. The story might have been different if the principle were tested against some specific issues.

    In any case, the fact that not all the Supreme Court judges agreed that the case lacked merit left enough room for a re-examination of the case.

    So for our President to say the case should not be re-opened because it has been pronounced upon by the Supreme Court is simply untenable. Worse, it betrays an attitude that he is the President, not of all Nigerians, but of a section of it – specifically the section he comes from which seems implacably opposed to the re-opening of the issue.

    Feedback

    Newswatch: sad end to a great news magazine

    My piece last on the sad putative demise of Newswatch elicited 41 texts and a couple of emails. Nearly a dozen of the reactions corrected the date I said Dele Giwa, one of its four founders, died on; October 19, 1986, not in 1985 as I said. The majority of them were angrier with the top management, led by Ray Ekpu, for apparently allowing themselves to be suckered by Chief Jimoh Ibrahim than with the chief for killing the magazine in effect.

    One of the reactions also corrected the date I said Newbreed made its debut. This correction is published below along with some of the more interesting ones.

    Sir,

    I enjoy your column every week for the quality of efforts evident in it but do not always agree with your conclusions. Just a minor information: Newbreed came on stream in 1972 not 1976. I remember this clearly because myself and Chris Okolie were charged for seditious publication over my article “Rivers State as I see it” published in its April 1974 edition.

    Joe Agbro. +2348051821777

    Sir,

    It is surprising that the founding editors of Newswatch will sell one per cent to Jimoh Ibrahim without checking his antecedent. This man is Nigeria’s Mitt Romney. He buys troubled companies not to revive them but to sell off the assets and make profits. I have no tears for them.

    +2348023049640

    Sir,

    As usual your piece on Newswatch was a master piece. However, you should have mentioned the fat millions collected by the squad. They sold their rights of ownership of the magazine to a Smart Alec. Please advise them to use the millions to run for seats in the National Assembly where there is free money. No crocodile tears from them. Dele (RIP), whom I knew very well at Brooklyn College, (New York), would have done the same or worse.

    Rest in Peace Newswatch.

    D.M. Badamosi fmngs +2348037044586

    Sir,

    One is not surprised you remembered Obasanjo’s ban on Newbreed in the 70s but can’t remember that it was your Nupe brother, Ibrahim Babangida, who was responsible for the ban Newswatch suffered. By now your articles should reflect the views of a nationalist not a tribalist. It is too early to forget the deeds of Obasanjo and Babangida.

    +2348038358461

    Sir,

    I agree with your commentary today on the rise and fall of Newswatch magazine. As a student, there was no week I did not buy Newswatch magazine at N1.50. Similar magazines now sell for N500 and this is a good measure of how much the Naira has crashed over the years.

    It is very sad indeed because the magazine as an idea and now a brand should have been sustained, no matter the circumstance.  Nigeria is also failing today because we do not know how to build institutions.

    Kind regards.

    Ehi Braimah

    (08033017348)

    Dear Sir,

    I have read and followed your writings since my school days. I am in my late 40s now. So I have read you a long time.

    What some people do and we call it business turnaround in Nigeria is simply hostile take-over and asset stripping. Your catalogue of our dear Chief’s escapades bears me witness.

    Only a fool with means and connections will not have gone for those companies he went for. NICON with all those houses and what not was a sitting duck. Nigeria Airways had more landed property than planes. So if a Corporate Undertaker shows up? Hide the assets list.

    Sir, I write today, not because I have qualifications in Literature, Entrepreneurship and Business turnaround but because Newswatch’s murder could have been prevented. We have this knack of taking our own counsel in this country. The tendency is to rate size, intelligence or connections over diligence.

    I am saddened because these were men I respect so much, and who back then, wanted me to work with them before life took me on a different route. Their error of judgement and lack of care in signing the papers is at best infantile.

    Who was their financial adviser? I am sure they had none.

    •Otherwise there would be no need for these shares nonsense.

    •How come they signed off the company without receiving the promised capital injection. At least they should have followed BPE’s Nitel saga.

    •How did Chief succeed in opening an account in the name of a company he is yet to acquire and be the sole signatory?

    Sir, I am sure you see the point now? Newswatch was acquired for nothing.

    He opened the account, transferred money into it and is spending the money himself.

    Let them talk to a good business lawyer who is versed in mergers and acquisitions. This is not a journalistic battle, it is a business war. You don’t carry a gun to fight a man in a tank; you stay far and shell him with anti-tank missiles.

    Babafemi Oduyingbo

     

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