The Nation Newspaper

Tag: strategy

  • No strategy still

    •Nigeria still earns most of her revenues from crude oil and uses same on imported refined products

    It is time for a serious brainstorming on the long-term strategies needed for Nigeria’s energy and energy sector. But no such thought seems to be in the horizon if the body language and verbal reports emanating from government are anything to go by.

    Three recent reports corroborate our assertion about lack of a roadmap from government as well as confirm our clarion call for an urgent and coordinated fresh thinking.

    The first report was mid-September when the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, told the world that in 10 years’ time, crude oil would cease to be an income earning resource. It was during a session on “His outlook for the Commodity in 2018”.

    He told his audience that though next year would record improvements in crude oil sales in terms of pricing as there would be slight upward movement in price of crude oil but was quick to point out that many high end consumers of the commodity are already perfecting alternative energy.

    “In 10 years’ time, I’d be very surprised if any country that hasn’t diversified enough is counting really seriously on oil,” Kachikwu said.

    In another vein, even though numerous developed economies are aggressively working their way out of dependence on crude oil, a recent investigation reveals that oil still accounts for a chunky 92 per cent of Nigeria’s total export revenue earnings.

    According to the foreign trade statistics emanating from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), out of a total export earning of N3.1 trillion for the second quarter, 2017, oil and gas accounted for N2.43 trillion while non-oil sector accounted for the balance of N670 billion. What this betokens is that very little diversification has been achieved in terms of solid minerals export, agro-industrial raw materials and even processed petroleum products.

    The third and last point comes from the Society of Petroleum Engineers, (SPE). Mr. Saka Matemilola, chairman of SPE speaking recently, noted that Nigeria spends about $10 million (about N3.6 billion) daily on fuel import. This is alarming.

    “…Why are the companies that lift crude oil from this country not establishing refineries in the country? It’s because they find it easier to bring out the crude and go and sell.”

    The foregoing episodes only buttress the fact that there is an urgent need for a meeting of minds between the Federal Government and stakeholders in the Nigerian oil sector to chart the way forward. In a stark scenario in which nearly 100 per cent of Nigeria’s foreign earnings depends on crude oil export and the earnings are in turn, ‘repatriated’ back abroad through the massive importation of refined petroleum products; then the country is simply locked in a vicious cycle of underdevelopment.

    When we add to this broth, the dire prospect of the developed countries finding viable alternatives to hydrocarbons, then the need for new strategies becomes urgent and inescapable. It is common knowledge that Nigeria has largely mismanaged her vast crude oil deposit which she has mined in the last 60 years.

    Through these years, she has neither been able to master the skills needed for extracting this rich deposit of wealth nor has she been able to take advantage of the enormous earnings she has enjoyed from her natural bequeathal.

    Nigeria has remained largely under-developed while the cheap earnings from crude export had impeded her ability to diversify and develop other latent sources of revenues. While she has worked herself into being a mono-economy, even the oil industry has remained stunted and unsustainable unlike other oil rich countries namely: Algeria, Libya, Brazil and Mexico which have managed to deploy oil wealth to huge infrastructural impacts.

    We urge Minister Kachikwu to go beyond alerting us on the dangers ahead in 10 years’ time; he should tell us the strategies his ministry is putting in place to mitigate the looming disaster.

    This is his bounden duty to do.

  • Back to school: Parents devise new strategy

    Back to school: Parents devise new strategy

    At this time of every year, back-to-school shopping is the in-thing. But with the recession, parents are devising new means to equip their wards for school resumption. This is taking a toll on sales, as school shopping is on a sharp decline compared to last year, TONIA ‘DIYAN reports.

    Shopping for school children is still an expensive proposition, but this year, parents are planning to trim their spending and focus on necessities.?

    Roughly eight out of 10 shoppers whether buying for primary, secondary or higher levels of education , say they’ll adjust their spending plans to deal with the economy.

    As they continue to grapple with the impact of the persistent recession, people will look to cut corners where they can, but will buy what their kids need.?

    Parents who can manage to shop for school-age children at this time of recession had an early start, with 15. 9percent of such families saying they already scouring book racks and nosing through supermarkets shelves since June. These  few early birds have been launching their back-to-school preparations since June.

    More than a third of parents say they plan to do more comparative shopping online. Four out of 10 shoppers say they’ll hit the Internet for their retail needs

    Back to school is not only the second-largest shopping period after Christmas  holidays, but it’s one when many conventional physical stores are competing against the surge of online competition.

    Although e- commerce is fast growing. analysts say that children and their parents still like visiting stores to purchase items on their back-to-school lists .

    Online shopping came third, when consumers were asked to name all the places they were planning to do their Back to school buying. Almost 16percent of those surveyed said they would do some online shopping, showing the strong growth of e-commerce.

    On the other hand, 68percent of shoppers said they don’t envision buying all of their school supplies online, they always want to see, touch and interact with products

    For many youngsters and their parents, the store visits are as important as the convenience of e-commerce. It’s one thing for kids to give their parents a holiday wish list and hope for the best, and quite another for kids to demand a select type of notebook, backpack or apparel after they’ve looked them over on the Internet . Online is used more to do research than to actually pull the trigger and buy.

    The Nation Shopping spoke with a parent at Balogun market . She said another reason people visit physical stores is the need to make last-minute purchases, and she confessed she is in that group.

    “Every year, I wait till it’s two days before the start of school before visiting the market to purchase school supplies,” she said. “You’re almost forced to visit a brick-and-mortar store rather than waiting for a shipment from online because it’s  late already .”

    Experts have said beyond the immediate sales Back to school shopping generates, the season is crucial for retailers to make brisk sales.

    Back-to-school season is a key marketing tool for retailers because the level of their service, prices and convenience will determine whether customers return in four months for the Christmas season.

    They’re focused on this season being a great platform to expose to the consumer what they can offer.

     

  • Oil & gas fiscal strategy: still a long road

    Oil & gas fiscal strategy: still a long road

    Despite the passage of the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), stakeholders still feel that the main issues in the industry have not be tackled. To them, the real issues in the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) and the fiscal reforms remain unaddressed, and unless something is done, the industry will not move forward. EMEKA UGWUANYI reports.

    There was a flicker of hope in the oil and gas industry when the Senate passed the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill (PIGB), part of a larger industry document that has lingered in its chambers for about 17 years.

    The action of the Senate was greeted with mixed reactions by stakeholders. While some welcomed it as a positive sign for the industry, others thought the passage of the PIGB without the PIB was a waste of time and that the National Assembly was not sincere about reforms in the sector.

    To the President of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE), Mr. Abiodun Adesanya, the passage of the PIGB will refocus the oil and gas industry and boost investor confidence.

    “It is a welcome development. We appreciate them (present members of the National Assembly) for doing what they should be doing for the fact that past Assemblies lacked the courage to do it. The passage of the PIGB will strengthen and refocus the oil and gas industry – the upstream, midstream and downstream value chains. It will make room for better management because governance structure will be in place. We hope that part two and three will also be given speedy passage.

    “It will clarify a lot of issues in terms of investment decision. Investors will take decision based on reliable rules and guidelines. Strict enforcement of the regulations and structures will make the industry vibrant and attractive to investors. The passage of the Bill will create level playing ground for all players, remove ambiguities and bottlenecks that had plagued the industry,” Adesanya said.

    The Head of Energy Desk, Ecobank, Mr. Dolapo Oni,  disagreed with him in some areas. He said as much as the passage of the PIGB was welcome, the knotty part of the PIB that has kept the bill on the table has not been tackled.

    To some other stakeholders, signals from the regulatory landscape have been quite unclear given government’s inability or unwillingness to make bold reforms. Amidst the volatility of oil prices and political uncertainties, the continued delay in straightening out key policy areas in the oil and gas sector has to a large extent delayed foreign direct investment. They believe that government’s desire for growth of the oil and gas sector may remain a dream for a long time considering the delays in passing all the parts of the petroleum industry bill.

    At the fiscal level, recent moves by the government has rekindled hope in the possibility of at least short term sustainability in the oil and gas operations. The renewed effort by the Ministry of Petroleum Resources at reforming the oil and gas industry has included the launching of a roadmap tagged “7 Big Wins” for the petroleum industry last year.

    The roadmap, according to the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Dr. Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, is aimed at addressing specific issues of policy and regulation, business environment, investment, security, transparency and efficiency in the oil and gas sector.

    Other initiatives by the government to boost growth in the industry include the renaming of the PIB to Petroleum Industry Reform Bill (PIRB). The PIRB was further broken into two to reduce its bulkiness and enable quick passage.

    The Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources in its bid to strengthen the fiscal aspects of the industry recently released the draft National Petroleum Fiscal Policy (NPFP) a document many believe if sanctioned and well implemented could spur growth in the sector.

    The Policy, according to energy analysts, covers all sectors of the petroleum industry – upstream, midstream and downstream, and includes oil and gas products.

    Economic and energy experts believe that putting the right policies (regulatory and fiscal) in place for the industry would serve as a catalyst for growth.

    According to Johnson Chukwu, an economic expert, “We have had a long period of low investment in the oil and gas because of the absence of a fiscal legal framework. So, when the government comes up with a fiscal legal framework, it will catalyse the whole system. Good a thing the Senate has passed the PIGB. When the whole bill is passed, it will create a level of certainty for investors,” he said.

    However, those familiar with the PIB believe the NPFP and the PIB are similar in many aspects. According to PricewaterCoopers (PwC), a tax and audit consulting firm, “The previous version of the PIB introduced a resource tax called the Nigerian Hydrocarbon Tax, (NHT), which was to be levied on the chargeable profits of upstream companies at the rate of 50 per cent for onshore and shallow waters, and 25 per cent for bitumen, frontier acreages and deep water areas. While the (NPFP) retains the NHT, it has tweaked the rates by amending it to 40 per cent for onshore areas, 30 per cent for shallow waters and 20 per cnet for deep water areas. Like the PIB, all upstream companies will also be liable to Companies Income Tax (CIT). For both regimes (PIB and NPFP), the Petroleum Profits Tax (PPT) currently in existence will be no more. Meaning from a maximum tax rate of 85 per cnet, the revised maximum tax rate will now be 70 per cent (40 per cent NHT plus 30 per cent CIT) of chargeable profits,” it stated.

    In addition, the proposed new legislation also seeks to increase the capital gains tax (CGT) in respect of asset based transactions from 10 per cent to 30 per cent.

    Analysts have noted that when compared to the Petroleum Profit Tax Act (PPTA), which allows exploration and production companies who have not fully expense their pre-production expenditure to be taxed at 65.75 per cent for the first five years of commencement of commercial sales of crude oil, the NPFP does not provide for such lower or preferential tax rate, suggesting that the tax burden may be relatively higher for upstream companies.

    For the extractive policy, most analysts believe the draft bill is placing too much emphasis on increasing government revenue without paying attention to the interest of investors. According to PwC, the motive of the policy is to increase government revenue especially in deep water. The firm, however, said there was need for government to strike a balance between more revenue for government and attracting or retaining investment in the sector.  Stakeholders believe while the NPFP seeks to remove or reduce incentives, there must be deliberate effort to tackle disincentives in the sector. This balance is paramount given a shrinking economy and growing need for foreign direct investment.

    The multiplicity of taxes and other operational issues have forced players to cut back on their investment. However, despite the unstable policy environment, some IOCs have continued to make significant investments in the sector.

    Last year, ExxonMobil announced a massive oil find in Owowo field, a significant morale booster for the industry, especially as Nigeria’s reserve replacement ratio has been going down. The field, which is projected to hold over onebillion barrels of crude oil reserves, has the capacity to generate over $50 billion revenue for the country, according to the oil firm.

    Also, Erha North Phase II project has delivered additional 165 million barrels per day of crude to Nigeria with a peak production of 65,000 barrels per day. There appears to be a consensus in the industry that if given the right fiscal and regulatory environment oil firms could do more.

    Similarly, Total E&P Nigeria Limited has demonstrated its commitment to developing not only the  economy but also to safeguarding its environment. The completion of the Ofon II gas flare-out project has enhanced gas utilisation. On the other hand, with its zero gas flare, the project has made considerable contribution towards a cleaner environment. These are investments that have significantly improved lives as well as government revenue.

    Analysts believe that heavy taxation of oil companies has its own demerits. It is capable of dissuading potential investors from the sector. On the other hand, existing players who are weighed down by the tax burden would seek for ways to cut cost to stay in business. One of such ways is reduction of the workforce. Alternatively oil firms may also decide to cut corners with severe consequences on lives and the environment.

    However, according to the provisions of the policy, payment of royalties will be on the same basis as taxes.The new policy says payment of royalty based on acreage depth will be replaced with royalty payments based on volume and price of crude oil. In its analysis, Deloitte, a tax consultancy firm, said: “This will nearly eliminate the payment of a minor fraction of revenue as royalty by companies operating deep offshore”.

    The draft policy provides for royalty to be paid in kind or cash. Analysts said the draft policy could be a catalyst to the development of the oil and gas sector if well implemented as it seeks to streamline hitherto contentious issues in the sector. Industry experts believe a quick passage of relevant legislation would enhance the effectiveness of the policy.

     

  • IE: Billing darkness as winning strategy

    Have you seen the Okota district head office of Ikeja Electric (IE) on Okota Road, lately?  It reminds you of that old song: “She’s beautiful, she’s lovely, she takes your breath away …!”

    Meeehnnn, IE is totally rebranded out there!  It glows, just as its electricity market is swamped in total darkness!  Simply intimidating!

    Indeed, that intimidation reminds you of good — well, more of bad — old Poke Tolo, the fictional anti-hero of James Hadley Chase’s novel, Want to Stay Alive?  Remember that fella?  That’s right — he who declared he had found the formula, fear, to prise the wallet of the rich!

    Well, as IE Okota is rebranding and preening and is bright and beautiful, its customers are progressively dull and grumpy, wallowing in pit darkness.

    But like the fictive Poke Toholo and his rich-and-the-spoilt victims, the very real life IE has probably patented a fear-driven primer, on how a DISCO (electricity distribution company) can mint a fortune drowning its customers in darkness, while at the same time threatening them with disconnection.

    In the Okota neighbourhood, IE has developed a grim routine. There would be a total blackout for days. Then, as if jerking awake, light would come streaming, for hours on end.

    At luckier seasons, it would be on for a whole day. Or even for a whole night, near uninterrupted, long enough for the refrigerators to buzz and the air conditioners to hum; and for the denizens to remember that alas, they were still residents of some 21st century city, where electricity should be routine; and not some antediluvian jungle, where it was alien.

    By chance or design, however, this “harvest” time always comes, when the all-mighty IE is readying to distribute new bills, bills not based on any metering but on the whims and caprices of its billing merchants.

    But just when the customers were conditioning themselves to their newfound fortune, the disconnecting gang came storming!

    Based on light for a few days, they insist you paid for the darkness all month long — or else!  It is the IE equivalent of the Poke Toholo fear theory!  Meanwhile, after all the excitement, status quo ante-bellum resumed, till another harvest time of rogue electricity and forced payment for darkness!

    The joker for the near-brazen fraud would appear IE’s apparent hesitation to supply most of its customers in the neighbourhood pre-paid electric meters.  More than one year ago, the IE managing director came visiting The Nation.  His pledge was clear: in the next two years, most of its customers would have pre-paid meters, free of charge, except those who didn’t want to await their turn.  Even then, those category of clients would eventually be reimbursed, one way or another.

    For a majority in this neighbourhood, that has not happened.  But wait, why should it?  In Achebe-speak: do you spew out nuts ground for you by benevolent spirits?

    Could IE then be hedging on pre-paid meters, because the pivot of its winning billing-for-darkness strategy depends on its criminally padded billing-by-estimates?

    That sounds too nihilistic to be believed.  Still, Power Minister, Babatunde Fashola, had better warn these smart-alecky DISCOs to play by the rules, before the malevolent spirits of inflamed customers confront their disconnection gangs in the streets!

  • Union reinforces strategy to strengthen performance

    The National President, Amalgamated Union of Public Corporation, Civil Service Technical and Recreational Services Employees (AUPCTRE), Comrade S. A. Adelegan, has declared that the extraordinary National Governing Council (NGC) meeting in Bauchi was an opportunity to analyse its strengths, challenges and proffer solutions.

    Speaking at the opening of the meeting, he said the union would  evaluate the government activities at all levels as they affect the union’s  membership, work and the citizens.

    AUPCTRE Bauchi chapter Chairman, Comrade Abdullahi Ibrahim, said the meeting was coming at a time workers were being faced with non-payment of their salaries.

    He noted that where the salaries were even paid, it did not satisfy half of the needs due to inflation.

    Governor Mohammed Abubakar promised to maintain a good relationship, saying that his administration had done much to sanitise the state’s civil service from its earlier state.

    He said he inherited a loaded civil service and a huge wage bill that could not be justified.

    “This necessitated us to set up various committees towards sanitising the system aimed at improving service delivery to the entire people of the state.

    “I am happy to say that the relationship between the government and the labour unions has been cordial since the inception of this administration. I assure you that we will maintain the cordial relationship so that we will continue to enjoy industrial harmony in the state,” he said.

  • Our anti-recession, growth battle strategy, by Buhari

    Our anti-recession, growth battle strategy, by Buhari

    President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday renewed his administration’s commitment to delivering on the electoral promises of the All Progressives Congress (APC), with the launch of the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).

    He said the rolling plan (2017 – 2020), which was unveiled at the Council Chamber of the Presidential Villa in Abuja, will not only take Nigeria out of recession but place the economy on the path of growth.

    According to him, his administration has recorded some  gains in the fight against corruption and national security.

    The President said: “As we all know, this administration inherited numerous challenges. Our political campaign was based on the recognition of the difficult situation Nigeria was in and the need to bring positive and enduring change. And we remain committed to our electoral promise to change our way of doing things and to change Nigeria for good.

    “We are committed to delivering on the three key areas that we promised – that is improving security, tackling corruption and revitalising the economy. Security in the Northeast and other parts of Nigeria is significantly better today than when we came in.

    “With regards to our fight against corruption, as you all know, our law enforcement agencies are prosecuting very many cases of corruption. Our successes in these two areas are clear for all to see.”

    Buhari assured all that his administration was handling the economic challenges with the same commitment demonstrated in the fight against corruption, against terrorism and militancy.

    “The ERGP,” he said, “brings together, in a single document, all sectoral plans for agriculture and food security, energy and transport infrastructure, industrialisation and social investments.

    “It builds on the Strategic Implementation Plan (SIP) and sets out an ambitious roadmap to return the economy to growth; and to achieve a seven per cent growth rate by 2020.

    “Our aim, simply put, is to optimise local content and empower local businesses. We seek not just to take the Nigerian economy out of recession but to place it on a path of sustained, inclusive and diversified growth.

    “We are determined to change Nigeria from an import-dependent country to a producing nation. We must become: A nation where we grow what we eat and consume what we produce. We must strive to have a strong Naira and productive economy.

    “The Plan I am launching today therefore sets out what we, as Government, are committed to do, to create the enabling environment for business to thrive.”

    According to him, state governments have critical roles to play to ensure the success of the plan, which he described as a national programme.

    He urged states to draw inspiration and strategic direction from the ERGP to articulate their economic programmes, particularly in the development of the real sector.

    The President urged Nigerians to support the administration to attain its objectives, pointing out that the ERGP contents were no longer alien to a cross-section of Nigerians because it was developed in consultation with stakeholders, including the National Assembly, state governments, the business community, labour unions, academia, civil society groups and development partners.

    “I am pleased to present this ERGP for use by the Nigerian people, our friends and partners and to guide our development efforts over the next four years”, Buhari stated.

    The Minister of Budget & National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma, said that the Plan has 60 interventions and initiatives to be implemented in the next four years.

    Udoma, however, said that the government would be focusing on five of the interventions.

    His words: “Right from when he (Buhari) was campaigning, he has shown single-minded commitment to change Nigeria in a fundamental way.

    “He promised three things – first, to restore security, particularly in the Northeast; second, to fight corruption, and third, to repair the broken economy. And the cabinet was sworn in in November, 2015, he gave us our marching orders.

    “This ERGP is therefore a fulfillment of his promise to re-invigorate the economy. Whilst the ERGP is being formally launched today, its implementation is not starting today.

    “This is because the plan puts together in one place, for easy access, all the sectoral plans that the government has been working on, from inception, including the Strategic Implementation Plan for the 2016 budget proposals which were submitted to the a National Assembly in December last year.

    “The broad objectives of the ERGP are to restore growth, invest in our people and build a globally competitive economy. As our President has repeatedly said, our hope is to build a self-reliant economy; a country in which we can grow what we eat, use what we make and produce what we consume.

    “…A country which embraces the world of technology; ideas and investment from everywhere but domesticates these ideas for the use of the people; a country which produces high quality goods, not just for our own consumption but enough to export to our neighbours, and, indeed, the world.

    “Our aim is to create a culture where Nigeria continuously seeks ways to add value to the resources we have been blessed with. In short, our aim is to change Nigeria, and change for good.

    “To achieve this, the plan articulates up to 60 interventions and initiatives, that must be executed and/or completed within the next four years to tackle, and to remove, impediments to growth; to make markets function better; and to leverage the power of the private sector.”

    He, however, said that it will be archived without compromising the core values of the nation, such as discipline, integrity, social justice, self-reliance and patriotism.

    “And, of course, all the initiatives in the plan will be implemented in such a manner as to continue to strengthen and promote national cohesion and social inclusion.”

    The minister listed five areas of priority as: stabilising the macroeconomic environment; achievement of agriculture and food security; expansion of energy infrastructure and driving industrialisation principally through local and small business enterprises.

    Delivering a goodwill message, the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and Zamfara State Governor, Abdulaziz Yari, said that the plan is not only important to the Federal Government, but also to the state governments because of its inclusive growth.

    He assured that governors would take ownership of the plan at the state level.

    Senate President Bukola Saraki said: “We must make it work, it has to work.”

    House of Representatives Speaker Yakubu Dogara, pledged the support of the lower chamber to the implementation of the plan.

    Dogara said: “I have no doubt that if successfully implemented, it will usher in the turnaround we all desire.”

  • Disruptive strategy to fighting corruption

    SIR: I reckon that about 90% of Nigerian institutions in the private and public sector have the words Integrity or Transparency listed as one of their corporate values, yet Nigeria is still listed among the most corrupt countries in the world. And if the recent statements of the President and the Vice President are anything to go by – we are very corrupt. I would therefore be stating the obvious to say that most people just put up those fancy value statements to fulfil all righteousness, tick boxes or perhaps to even create the false impression that they should be trusted.

    Another school of thought suggests that our values are not necessarily who we are just yet, but who we aspire to be, and that they refer to the things we are striving to live by. Regardless of whatever school of thought you belong too, something needs to be done urgently about the decaying values in our society, and I am not confident that the current “war” against corruption and the judicial structures that exist are enough, nor am I sure that the “change begins with me” campaign is exactly working for us right now. So, something more DISRUPTIVE needs to be done

    Some will argue that every society has their own corruption scandals and that perhaps fighting against corruption isn’t the issue. After all, many developed nations like Japan, South Korea, and Italy have had corruption scandals in the past, and therefore looking for a complete elimination of corruption is utopian and perhaps amounts to chasing the wind. Some have argued that corruption in Nigeria can only be dealt with when we give it the high prominence it deserves and when we acknowledge how pervasive it has been. Proponents of this school of thought argue that since corruption has become so pervasive, that every attempt to fight corruption will always have a political connotation – unless of course whoever is fighting is willing to cleanse the Augean stables of his own political party first – which in reality has never happened (and is unlikely to happen given our current electoral culture). Even when the military took over from civilians in 1983, it did not fight the corruption within the military with the same tenacity with which it fought the corrupt politicians, leading ostensibly to another coup in 1985 perpetrated by the corrupt elements that it had failed to flush out.

    So, if corruption has been that pervasive, then may be the right response to it will be to elevate it to the status of a national disease and deal with it the same way other national diseases have been dealt with in the past.  Perhaps rather than try to hunt down and persecute the seemingly never ending list of corrupt public officers and their private sector cronies and end up being accused of witch-hunting because they belong to the opposition, perhaps we should have a National Truth and Reconciliation Commission or Oputa Panel that exposes all the acts of corruption since Independence, gives perpetrators an opportunity to come forward and be forgiven after they have confessed to the public, returned the stolen fortunes and received the public humiliation they deserve. This will deliver a much bigger impact than the current cat and mouse approach that still ends up with plea bargains and plenty of “political” undertones that take away the credibility of the exercise, and still leaves us with a national psyche that is not yet ready to do away with corruption.

    As with all strategies, we can debate the pros and cons, and there are those that will argue that this “soft” approach may not work or yield the desired results. Unfortunately, we have gone beyond the years of military alacrity, and have embraced democracy with its inherent flaws, so at best we should be seeking the most genuinely democratic way of co-creating a culture of discipline in our country and killing the pervasive culture of corruption and indiscipline.

    Overall, I do not think that we should pretend that corruption doesn’t exist and just focus on fixing our economy. When the economy gets better, the canker worm of corruption will destroy it again. So, we have some choices, let’s be DISRUPTIVE about corruption and everything else.

     

    • Omagbitse Barrow, FCA

    Abuja.

  • Buhari rethinking his strategy?

    The recent dialogue between President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) and some leaders of the Niger Delta should signal a change in strategy by the President if he wants his four years tenure not to end up as an inconsequential footnote in the history of Nigeria. While the challenges bedevilling our country are not principally the leader’s making, his strategy on assumption of office aggravated some of the fault lines. Being a General, he sought to court-martial our challenges and forward-match Nigerians to the nation of his dreams.

    That strategy has not worked partly because the President, in choosing his commanders, failed to show the necessary discipline, as he relied mainly on his old contacts, relations and friends to lead the battle, instead of creating pan-Nigerian paratroopers. Those who were making jest of those complaining against the concentration of Buhari’s principal officials around his relations and friends have seen that leading Nigeria successfully cannot be a family affair. To make matter worse, Buhari now stands accused of not just ignoring his political enemies, but biting the finger that fed him the noodles that helped him grow into the presidency.

    Those around him apparently feed him a portion of the fairy tale of Solomon Grundy, and left out the end part. They would have argued that the President has come of age, and should discard the midwives. I guess they are poor readers of the Nigerian history. With nearly two years of his presidency gone, and with the country worse off than when he took over, it is becoming inevitable that PMB needs a pan-Nigerian consensus to succeed. That may have informed the recent meeting with the leaders of the Niger Delta.

    Even as he is engaging in a fire-fight to regain the confidence of his original backers in the South-west, he may have to confront sooner than later the ignored discontentment in the South-east. I hope his men are not selling him the dummy that he could do a deal with the South-south and ignore the rest of the south. That old tactics I guess will not work, because as the 16 point demand of the Niger Delta leaders show, what they are asking for is nothing short of recourse to the famous Aburi accord.

    If they want a review of ownership of the oil blocks presently skewed unfairly in favour of Nigerians of northern extraction and also the much-feared fiscal federalism, they are invariably asking for the control of their natural resources, for which Nigeria went to war against the old eastern Nigeria. So, after all the rigmarole, the buck stops on resource control, which PMB’s northern backers will scoff at with all they have. As PMB will realise there is no short cut there.

    Yet, even if PMB gives a few of the old men a few of the oil blocks to bribe or divide their resolve, the young lads in the creeks who have learnt that it is easier to blackmail Nigeria to place as many of them as possible on salary without work than it is to find something to do in the blighted Niger Delta will not give up easily. With an environment completely despoiled, and with a nation without basic economic infrastructure, not to talk of political leaders who are worse than parasites, there would always be more than enough reason to justify any agitation in the region.

    In dealing with the South-east, PMB must confront the Biafra scarecrow now emblematised by Nnamdi Kanu and his so-called Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) movement. As Professor Charles Soludo recently postulated, the young man has successfully placed himself in such a position that he can only end up either as a hero or martyr. So, Nnamdi Kanu and his group of agitators have become like a bone stuck in the thoracic region, with all the discomfort. Part of the new strategy should include releasing the young man from detention, for he is gradually growing in stature from a mere irritant to a prisoner of conscience.

    The President must also gauge the Middle-Belt rightly, despite the watch and see attitude of its people, whose new leaders were elected on the Buhari whirlwind of 2015. There is enough malcontent spanning from Benue to Plateau to Kwara to Kogi that the President’s true friends ought to be very worried. Hopefully the blood-thirsty herdsmen who had worked hard to give the President’s ethnic group a bad name since he assumed the presidency may be realising that a time of reckoning may come quicker than they imagined if they don’t stop the killings.

    But even as PMB may be changing his tactics in confronting the political malcontent tearing the country apart, rigorously fighting corruption and successfully fending-off the terror machine of Boko Haram, his eventual undoing may be the flagging economy which has eroded his popularity all across the country. Finding solution to the economic crisis will go beyond gaining the confidence of the old men from the Niger Delta who recently visited the President and hoping they can persuade the militants to give peace a chance. Same with making peace with South-west and South-east.

    As has been rightly argued by several commentators, the Buhari presidency has not employed the right hands to chart the much needed economic renaissance, without which our country will go under. While rethinking his political strategies will help, PMB must call for more qualified hands to lead the economic restructuring sorely lacking. This column has written many times arguing for economic restructuring even if we cannot agree on political restructuring. Unless of course PMB doesn’t care about leaving a lasting legacy, the present structure cannot change our country for the better.

    PMB should push for regional economic integration even as he pushes for devolving more economic activities to the states. This column has argued that it makes no sense for states sitting on solid minerals to be hamstrung in exploiting them, because all our governments’ energies both at the federal and state levels are concentrated on sharing the proceeds from the oil resources of the Niger Delta. Again, while the federal ministry of transport concentrates on rebuilding the Port-Harcourt to Maiduguri rail line, the ministries of transport in Enugu, Anambra, Imo, Abia and Ebonyi for instance, should be encouraged to inter-connect their states by rail line, particularly along the agrarian belt.

    The economics of decentralization should also play out in the electricity sector. While the federal government is building the big dams and power plants, the states should be entitled to build smaller plants, or get private entrepreneurs to do same within its territory, and exclusively use whatever is generated. As Aliko Dangote reportedly argued, the recent privatisation exercise has not yielded the expected increase in the megawatts of electricity.

    The solution in my view lies in breaking the new oligopoly instead of forcing the investors out, and bringing another set who will need some time to also fail, if the same parameters like centralized and nationwide transmission line, is not decentralized. It is my earnest hope that President Buhari will adopt a new strategy to build a more prosperous and inclusive Nigeria, as time is running out on his first term in office.

  • 193 UN member-nations okay strategy for sustainable cities

    The development of cities and towns across the world has received a boost. A new framework expected to set the world on a course of sustainable urban development has been adopted at the Habitat III in Quito, Ecuador.

    The Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, who led the country’s delegation to the conference, called for urgent action to sustain development of the growing urban population.

    Fashola, at the conference, explained that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, has demonstrated renewed political will to install a functioning urban system through the pursuance of efficient, transparent and accountable governance, including progressive economic reforms that are directed at creating jobs, reducing poverty and promoting stability. These are essential elements to sustain growth and development.

    “The National Housing and Urban Development Policies have been reviewed, with the incorporation of new development strategies for dealing with the pertinent issues of housing finance, climate change, resettlement, participatory governance, and better land management and administration,” he said.

    It was a memorable gathering for participating countries as the 24-page document, which took four months to negotiate before it was finalised in September, was not altered in Quito. The new urban agenda is a non-binding but global framework, which last month was agreed to by all 193- Member states of the United Nations.

    The agenda stressed that tackling air pollution in cities is good both for peoples’ health and for the planet and through it, leaders have committed to increase their use of renewable energy, provide better and greener public transport, and sustainably manage their natural resources.

    Among the key provisions are a call for equal opportunities for all; an end to discrimination; cleaner cities; strengthening resilience and reducing carbon emissions; fully respecting the rights of migrants and refugees regardless of their status; improving connectivity and green initiatives, and promoting “safe accessible and green public spaces.”

    In signing the declaration, UN Member States are committing to action over the next 20 years, to improve all areas of urban life through the Quito Implementation Plan, in support of the outcomes of Habitat III and the New Urban Agenda.

    “We have analysed and discussed the challenges that our cities are facing and have agreed on a common roadmap for the 20 years to come,” Joan Clos, the Executive Director of the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), told the closing plenary of the conference, which has drawn around 36,000 people from 167 different countries to the lush equatorial capital of Quito for the past six days.

    He said that the action-oriented outcome document, known as the New Urban Agenda, enshrined now in the ‘Quito Declaration on Sustainable Cities and Human Settlements for All,’ should be seen as an extension of the 2030 for Sustainable Development, agreed by 193 Member States of the UN in September 2015.

    “The New Urban Agenda is an ambitious agenda which aims at paving the way towards making cities and human settlements more inclusive,” said Mr. Clos, who also served as the Secretary-General of the conference, adding that it would ensure “everyone can benefit from urbanisation, paying particular attention to those in those in vulnerable situations.”

    Above all, he said, it was a “commitment that we will all together take the responsibility of one another and the direction of the development of our common urbanizing world.”

    Clos reminded the world gathering of national leaders; mayors, civil society representatives; non-governmental organisations (NGOs), urban development experts, and other stakeholders that “we will have to act for these commitments.”

  • Economic downturn: Labour urges new strategy

    •Kaigama returns as ASCSN President

    organised labour has urged the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to fashion a strategy that will turn the nation towards a new direction in view of the economic downturn.

    The Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria (ASCSN), at the opening of its Third Quadrennial Delegates’ Conference in Abeokuta, Ogun State, said it was obvious that the country is facing a hard time.

    ASCSN said the government needed to engage a think-tank of technocrats to chart the way forward.

    At the conference, incumbent President Bobboi Bala Kaigama, who was returned for a second term, said: “We, in the Association, believe very strongly that the time has come for our dear country to develop a new economic model that will take into consideration variables that are relevant and consistent with the Nigerian situation.”

    Kaigama, also the president of Trade Union Congress (TUC), noted that the welfare of workers should be paramount to states and Federal Government for the nation to achieve meaningful development.

    On the non-payment of workers’ salaries by many state governments, he said governors, despite owing workers still move around as if nothing is happening. He said the country has never  had it so bad.

    Kaigama said: “Many of our governors are guilty of massive looting of the treasury, thereby causing miseries in the process. There is no excuse that can be given to justify owing workers salaries for eight or nine months. It is nothing but sheer wickedness to pillage the treasury and leave workers to go home for months without salaries.”

    He charged the Federal Government to kickstart the process of paying workers at the federal level their entitlements.

    The Ogun State Governor, Senator IbikunleAmosun, pleaded with workers whom he described as the landlord to bear with the governors owing salaries, noting that the governors are not magicians, and could only pay with what is available.

    Amosun, who admitted that some states actually owe workers for several months, stressed that there is a need for the country to diversify the economy to meet the yearnings of workers.

    His words:“When things are not going well, it is appropriate for us to accept responsibility and we know that many states are having problems, which is why they cannot pay workers salaries. There is no governor that will not want to pay workers, but we have so many responsibilities on our hands.”

    Amosun said he always paid civil servants and teachers before settling other issues.

    “We spend over N4 billion monthly to pay the salaries of civil servants in the state. We also pay pensioners, and sweepers, and in doing this, I ration diesel in my office as the Governor, when there is no electricity supply,” he said.

    The National President of Construction and Civil Engineering Senior Staff Association (CCESSA ), Isaac Egbugara,  however, urged organised labour to end internal rift and intra-union crisis, stating that such often prevents the labour movement from exercising its right and carrying out its primary functions and objectives.

    He said: “As union leaders, we should understand that a house divided against itself cannot stand. We should learn and be determined to work and promote those values that unite us rather than the ones that divide us; to have strength to confront our common challenges, which are majorly how to improve on the condition of service of our members.

    “Unless there is unity of purpose and we shun internal squabbles and come together, trade union cannot pose a formidable opposition against the government and other employers of labour.”