The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Tackling

  • Tackling rights violations

    Tackling rights violations

    By all standards, human rights violations are considered to be a crime against humanity.

    Human rights activists maintain that “a right is a freedom of some kind; it is something, to which you are entitled by virtue of being human.

    “Human rights are based on the principle of respect for the individual. The fundamental assumption is that each person is a moral and rational being who deserves to be treated with dignity.’’

    Human rights advocates, however, lament that 60 years after the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the preservation of human rights, all over the world, still appears to be more of an illusion than a reality.

    “This is because violations still exist in every part of the world, even as Amnesty International’s 2009 World Report shows that individuals are tortured or abused in at least 81 countries.

    “Individuals also face unfair trials in at least 54 countries and are restricted in their freedom of expression in at least 77 countries,” they add.

    Human rights activists say that the types of human rights violation include child trafficking, violence against women, sexual harassment, early marriage, child labour, rape, war crimes and insurgence, among others.

    For instance, Human Rights Watch’s World Report 2014 said that human rights abuses by insurgents in Northern Nigeria dominated Nigeria’s human rights landscape in 2013.

    “In 2013, more than 400 people died from violent inter-communal conflicts in Nigeria’s Middle-Belt states, and scores were rendered homeless from the clashes,” the report added.

    To part of efforts to draw global attention to such human rights violations, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly designated Dec. 10 as the Human Rights Day.

    “The Day is set aside to bring to the attention of the peoples of the world the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations,’’ the UN says.

    The theme for this year’s celebration, Human Rights 365, encapsulates the notion that every day of the year is Human Rights Day.

    “It celebrates the fundamental proposition in the Universal Declaration that each one of us, everywhere, at all times is entitled to the full range of human rights.

    “It also reminds us that human rights belong equally to each of us and bind us together as a global community with the same ideals and values,’’ the UN says.

    The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, therefore, calls on states to honour their obligations to protect human rights every day of the year.

    “I call on people to hold their governments to account and I call for special protections for the human rights defenders who courageously serve our collective cause,’’ Ban says.

    “Let us respond to the cries of the exploited, and uphold the right to human dignity for all,’’ he adds.

    Going from the general to the specifics, observers say that human rights violations still exist in all countries of the world, including Nigeria.

    For instance, Mr Sule Tajudeen, an Abuja-based civil servant, insists that security personnel often infringe on the people’s rights.

    “On many occasions, the police have harassed me when I never committed any crime,’’ he says, calling for the reorientation of country’s security personnel, as part of efforts to protect the citizens’ rights.

    Speaking on the forms of human rights violation, Mr Emmanuel Onwubiko, National Coordinator Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), says that rights violation includes the abuse of a person’s right to life.

    “In Nigeria, the most disturbing human rights violation is the abuse of the right to life and the activities of terrorists, who wantonly waste the lives of innocent and law-abiding Nigerians,’’ he says.

    Onwubiko also considers the high rate of extra-judicial killing of suspects in police custody as a serious breach of the people’s fundamental human rights.

    “Besides, the total lack of welfare packages for the poor in Nigeria can be described as human rights abuses, on the part of government at all levels,” he adds.

    Onwubiko claims that HURIWA was set up basically to enlighten Nigerians on their fundamental human rights.

    “We organise lectures annually and carry out vigorous advocacy campaigns to draw the attention of the relevant authorities to cases of human rights abuse across the country,’’ he says.

    He also says that his association partners with relevant organisations in its crusade to sensitise Nigerians to their rights, privileges and duties as citizens.

    The national coordinator, however, calls on all human rights groups to redouble their efforts in the fight against “gruesome human rights violations such as sexual violations and molestation of young girls’’.

    Nevertheless, Onwubiko underscores the need to retrain and reform the police, while equipping them with the wherewithal to establish functional anti-rape squads in all police formations and divisions across the country.

    “Above all, the Nigerian Human Rights Commission (NHRC) must be up and doing in efforts to protect and promote the human rights of Nigerians.

    “The Freedom of Information Act and the amendments of the enabling Act setting up the NHRC should be used as tools in efforts to facilitate a holistic change in the human rights profile of Nigeria, which is currently low,” he said.

    Sharing similar sentiments, Mrs Aver Gavar, Deputy Director (Legal) and Head of Focal Areas Unit, NHRC, says the UN initiated the Human Rights Day, as part of the campaign to ensure the protection of the people’s rights.

    “The Day is about knowing and living your rights every single day,” she adds.

    Gavar stresses that human rights violations include extra-judicial killings, displacement of people from their communities and places of abode, and loss of people’s right to education, shelter and health.

    “As a commission, we have observed the huge burden of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), who have complained of being despondent.

    “This situation could be viewed as a gap in governance, even as Nigeria is a party to the Kampala Convention, which places the primary responsibility of the care of IDPs on the government,’’ she says.

    The NHRC official says that in instances of human rights abuse, the commission often intervenes by seeking redress.

    She says that the redress could be in the form of compensation or by way of restitution.

    She expatiates that the restitution ensures the reinstatement of the original status quo of people whose rights have been violated or trampled upon.

    Gavar, however, notes that the amendment of the Nigerian Human Rights Commission Act in 2012 has increased the citizens’ confidence in the commission’s ability to handle complaints about human rights abuses.

    “The number of complaints brought before the commission, particularly from 2012 to date, has doubled.

    “We count this as an indicator of increased public confidence in the commision,” she says.

    Gavar says that the commission regularly receives complaints on public rights issues such as forced evictions and other matters of public interest.

    She says that while some of the complaints are dealt with internally — in the Protection and Investigation Department of NHRC — others that are more sensitive in nature (matters of public interest) are handled by the commission’s tribunal.

    “Decisions of the commission’s tribunal have a status that is akin to that of high court decisions. Appeals against the tribunal’s decisions can also be brought before the Court of Appeal,’’ she says.

    Gavar says that NHRC is collaborating with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and civil society organisations (CSOs), adding that a lot of the commission’s success can be attributed to such collaborative efforts.

    “We have met with certain NGOs to set up an agenda for the new Inspector General of Police, Mr Suleiman Abba,’’ she adds.

    The deputy director reiterates that the main mandate of NHRC is to create an enabling environment for the preservation of the citizens’ human rights.

    “We are proactive, and not just reactive, in our approach to human rights issues.

    “We create public awareness of human rights and we also embark on advocacy visits to decision-makers who are the people in government.

    “Such visits are made on the implementation of some of the laws as well as the international and regional instruments which Nigeria has ratified,’’ she adds.

    Gava believes that sustained efforts should be made to encourage the government to protect the citizens’ human rights, as part of the strategies put in place to promote a better society.

    All the same, human rights activists underscore the need for all countries of the world to initiate pragmatic measures to promote the fundamental rights of their citizens and guard against human rights violations.

     

    • Source: News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
  • Tackling poverty and unemployment

    Tackling poverty and unemployment

    The Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has partnered the directorate of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to train Corps members in entrepreneurship to make them self-reliant after the service year. BALIKIS MOYOSORE reports.

    To make them self-dreliant after the National Youth Service, the office of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the presidency has partnered with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to float War Against Poverty (WAP), an entrepreneurship scheme aimed at equipping outgoing Corps members with business and investment skills.

    The pilot scheme of the training was held on Tuesday in Abuja, where some outgoing Corps members were empowered with start-up loan between N200,000 and N300,000 to invest in agro-enterprise of their choice.

    At the launch of the scheme, the Director-General of the NYSC, Brigadier-General Johnson Olawunmi, said the organisation believed the youth were gifted in different business skills but said many of them lacked financial wherewithal to start up their dream businesses.

    He said the loan would keep the beneficiaries busy after their Youth Service, adding that the business they would establish with the loan would boost the nation’s economy.

    The Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on MDGs, Mrs Precious Gbeneol, who initiated the scheme, said the programme was aimed to engage Corps members in productive venture after Youth Service.

    She said the scheme would only be extended to Corps members passing out, saying they would be trained in small scale and agro-allied businesses. The interest-free loans given to the trainees, Gbeneol said, would enable them to generate jobs for others.

    She said the scheme was part of the poverty-eradication programme of the president. She said: “We have no doubt that the scheme would create wealth and boost agricultural productivity for food security. The beneficiaries are expected to train and mentor at least five youths in their host communities as well as use the platform of their agro-allied enterprise for community development activities.”

    Gbeneol said the scheme would be introduced across the state directorate of the NYSC, noting that any Corps member who wishes to be trained must express interest by completing the WAP Form of Intent in the state.

    The beneficiaries were trained in snailery, bee keeping, fish farming, animal husbandry, grasscutting farming, plantain multiplication and poultry farming.

    On completion of training, the Corps members were given relevant manuals and two copies of the Memorandum of Understanding, which they completed before the loans were made available to them.

    Oluwatosin Oke, a 26 year-old youth, who benefitted from the scheme, said he had made a resolution not to look for white-collar job since he was an undergraduate. While he may not have realised his dream to become self-dependent, Oluwatosin said the loan would give him an opportunity to achieve his aim.

    Marcus Olugbenga, who served in Bauchi State, described the scheme as “good youth development project”, saying it could bring down the rate of unemployment at the within a short period if it is sustained.

    A beneficiary, Gbenga Ogunmakinde, who served in Abuja, qualified for the scheme after he was adjudged the best youth entrepreneur in North Central zone at the maiden contest of Youth Enterprise With Innovation In Nigeria (YouWin), an entrepreneurial competition initiative established by the Federal Ministry of Finance.

    Seven beneficiaries of the scheme were among 22 youths selected after a rigorous business plan contest organised by African in Diaspora Programme in Entrepreneurship Development. They selected youths will be attending advanced entrepreneurial training at Barry University in Florida, United States.

  • Tackling terror

    •While condemning the bloody incidents, French society must address its racial and socio-economic alienation of immigrants

    Described as the worst assault in France for decades, the recent terrorist attacks on the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, and a Jewish supermarket both in Paris, by Islamic terrorists have sent shock waves within and beyond France. This murderous attack in which 17 persons died demonstrates once again how an act of terrorism anywhere can pose a threat to humanity everywhere.

    Rising in solidarity with France to show that terrorism cannot and will not be tolerated, over three million people, including President Francois Hollande and 39 other Heads of State, staged a march across France to protest the killings. This is highly commendable.

    Claiming they were acting in defence of Islam, the attack on Charlie Hebdo was executed to avenge satirical cartoons on Prophet Mohammed by the irreverent magazine. This must have also been the motive for the violent attack on the Jewish deli in a week of mindless violence in Paris.

    Questions have been raised in some quarters as regards the state of preparedness and alertness of the French security agencies. This is because all the key actors in the terrorism drama, the brothers, Cherif and Said Kouachi as well as Amedy Coulibaly and his wife, Hayet Boumeddine, were well known to the French security agencies, which had cause to place them under surveillance at different times.

    Even then the French security agencies rose to the occasion with admirable promptness and efficiency. Within days, the masterminds of the terrorist attacks had been traced and located. And in exchange of gunfire with the security agents in a bid to evade arrest, three of them were shot dead. The fourth suspect, 26-year-old Hayet Boumeddiene Coulibaly, has reportedly escaped from France but with the police hot on her trail.

    We condemn terrorism under whatever guise. This is another reason why we applaud the protest march by the French president and others a few days after the attacks. No respectable nation will bow to terror. We also commend the global response to the unfortunate incident.

    However, it is important to trace the root causes of deviant behaviour by the perpetrators of these violent acts. All the terrorists involved in the Paris tragedy were children of French immigrants. Perhaps, one of the key problems has to do with the alienation of immigrants in the mainstream of French society. Still influenced, subliminally, by the ideals of the 1789 Revolution, which espoused the values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, the French have historically sought to treat people of diverse races equally. Thus, through its ‘assimilation’ policy, France tried to transform its colonial subjects into respectable French citizens enjoying equal status with the colonial overlord.

    It is this promise of equality and fraternity for all irrespective of race that makes France an attractive destination for immigrants. Unfortunately, the reality is markedly different. A significant number of French immigrants live on the margins of society and are unable to participate reasonably, economically and culturally, in the benefits of a prosperous society. Some of them then become frustrated, alienated and vulnerable to being brain-washed into anti-social deviants.

    Across the western world, the problem is fundamentally the same despite its divergent manifestations. An aristocracy of race has been replaced by an aristocracy of class, which underpins gross inequalities between social classes that bodes serious danger to the society.

    In Nigeria and other parts of Africa, where diverse forms of religious extremism such as Boko Haram thrive, the problem is often one of absolute poverty that leaves millions of people trapped in a level of poverty that makes their current existence meaningless. A necessary condition for tackling the problem of terrorism at the roots is thus to address the problems of poverty and inequality, both within societies and at the global level of the international political economy.

  • Tackling expatriate quota abuse menace

    Tackling expatriate quota abuse menace

    The unbriddled influx of expatriate workers into the country is increasingly becoming worrisome. While it deprives qualified Nigerians opportunities to be gainfully employed, it also  promotes capital flight. TOBA AGBOOLA reports that all stakeholders must close rank and address the issue.

    The Federal Government, in an effort to ensure that the country keeps pace with the growing global competition in technology and economic development, had made provision for companies to hire expatriates to undertake jobs and responsibilities in areas where Nigerians lack the requisite skills and capacities, while making sure that Nigerians take up jobs they have competencies in.

    However, foreign companies have taken advantage of the weak policing and monitoring of this policy to bring as many of their nationals as possible under the guise that they will do the jobs  Nigerians lack capacity.

    The issue of expatriate quota abuse has become a major challenge to the government over the years. Some of the foreigners are alleged to have come into the country illegally having not gone through immigration processes.

    With this problem, experts have said   Federal Government’s effort to tackle unemployment may not yield the expected result if a major step is not taken to stop the abuse.

    Jobs and career experts said although there is advantage in allowing expatriates to handle some jobs in Nigeria but the undue abuse of that practice is now taking a toll on job seekers.

    According to them, foreigners now remain the preferred applicants in the labour market, with many of them now successfully claiming jobs that skilled and unskilled Nigerians should be doing.

    They pointed out that expatriate quota abuse is most noticeable in the manufacturing, oil and gas, and other sectors. They lamented that it has crept into other sectors of the nation’s economy, thereby compounding her unemployment woes.

    Some of the foreigners take advantage of Nigeria’s porous borders to make their way into the country, while others use official entry points under the guise of being expatriates with skills not available in Nigeria.

    The 1963 enabling Act of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) made provision for the employment of foreigners in areas where Nigerians are lacking the required skills. The NIS is empowered to issue business permit and expatriate quota and to monitor the quota granted in order to ensure effective transfer of technology to Nigerians and eventually indigenise the position occupied by the expatriates.

    But since 1963 when the law was made, there has been no monitoring and there has been no technology transferred to Nigeria in whatever form.

    In fact, the law has been abused as foreigners can now be seen at construction sites, factories, auto-sale outlets, telecommunications and maritime companies doing semi-skilled and even menial jobs that should have been reserved for Nigerians in order to reduce unemployment in the country.

    Asians are more in this category of foreigners with questionable entry into the country and abuse of the expatriate quota regime. Many of them can be found in sales outlets as attendants.

    Decrying expatriate quota abuse and blaming it largely for the unemployment crisis ravaging the country, the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), said it is concerned about the influx of foreigners and the unemployment challenges it produces.

    Its Director-General, Mr. Muda Yusuf, said the abuse is worse in the state where foreign workers have taken over jobs Nigerians have adequate competencies to do.

    He said the government needed to check the trend because many of the expatriates lacked the requisite qualifications to work in the country, adding it was even worse the foreign workers get higher wages.

    The LCCI boss lamented that government efforts at creating jobs would be in vain if the trend is allowed to continue unchecked.

    President, National Union of Civil Engineering, Construction, Furniture and Wood Workers (NUCECFWW) Comrade Amechi Asugwuni, said many foreigners, especially Asians and Chinese are in the country under the guise of being experts on the jobs that can be performed by Nigerians, which is against the Nigerian Content Development (NCD) Act.

    He said the implementation of the quota is not in tandem with the Nigerian Content Development Act, which states that Nigerians should be considered first in any employment before foreigners or expatriates.

    He said the union on several occasions, had urged the NIS and the Ministry of Labour and Productivity to establsih that there is actually the need for expatriates in any company before granting work permit to any foreigner, and that the government should step up efforts to check the influx of expatriates into the country.

    He explained that the Nigeria expatriate quota law be respected, while many of the companies should comply with the provisions of the Nigerian Content Development Act, as employment generation is one of the greatest problems facing the country.

    He said: “We call on the necessary organs of government to review the process of granting expatriate permit through proper synchronization as well as ensuring that expatriate quota are not abused.

    “We also demand for a properly reconstituted inter-ministerial department and agency committee that will co-opt labour unions in recommending and approving expatriate registration.

    The Executive Director, Human Resources, 7up Bottling Company Plc, Mr. Femi Mokikan,  gave reasons for the increasing number of expatriates in the country.

    He said: “I do not think there is any economy in the world that can say it does not use other nationalities. So, that one is not what anybody is talking about. I think the question people usually ask is; why should expatriates be taking on jobs that Nigerians can do?  I think our educational system in this country has not helped us too.

    “I am speaking as a Nigerian; I am also speaking as an employer of labour that is operating in an environment that is extremely competitive, an environment where technology changes as you blink your eyes. That is why such areas where we used to pride ourselves as being capable as Nigerians, we now have to ask ourselves, how well can Nigerians do this?

    “When investors bring in their money, they expect maximum returns. Even though it would cost a bit more, they would rather get an expatriate than a Nigerian who will give minimum returns. I think that is what is happening in the area of expatriates’ employment generally.”

    Minister of Labour and Productivity, Emeka Wogu, warned against the abuse of expatriate quota by employers, stating that it has become a source of concern for the government.

    Wogu who spoke at a forum organised by the Nigeria Employers Consultative Association (NECA), warned that the rights of Nigerian workers must be protected by their employers. He said: “The right of Nigerian workers to rise to any position in the workplace should be guaranteed and encouraged by all and sundry. This should minimise or alleviate the incessant grievances and conflicts in the workplace and should therefore curb the issue of impunity and abuse of rights by the expatriates.”

    The minister noted the importance of maintaining industrial harmony in the country curbing the menace of impunity and abuse of rights, adding that most protracted disputes and conflicts in the workplace stem from lack of mutual trust and understanding of shared interest.

    To tackle the challenge of expatriate quota abuse, technology transfer and sustainable indigenous skills and capacity development especially in the oil and gas industry, the Federal Government established the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), led by Engr. Ernest Nwapa.

    Two months into the establishment of the Board, Nwapa summoned a meeting of chief executive officers and managers of international oil companies (IOCs) to deliberate on how to streamline the guidelines for expatriate quota applications and deployment in the oil and gas industry.

    The meeting was a platform where the managers of oil firms were made to understand the guidelines for expatriate quota application and ensure full compliance with the provisions of the Nigerian Content Act.

    The meeting highlighted a section of the Act which gives the operator/project promoter room to retain a maximum of five percent of management positions, as may be approved by the Board, as expatriate positions to take care of investors’ interests.

    Nwapa also told them that the position of the government was that the guidelines were applicable to international operating companies and their service counterparts and warned that the Board would not take it lightly with any company that continued to use suppliers and contactors who flout these laws by bringing in expatriates without due approvals.

    The guidelines issued by NCDMB required that all companies applying for expatriate quotas must provide proof that the positions applied for have been advertised in at least four major Nigerian newspapers and two international newspapers, to establish that there is no qualified Nigerian that can do the job.

    Besides, those oil companies were also required to notify the NCDMB of the receipt of applications, planned interview dates, and results of the interviews for each vacancy advertised, as well as proof that no qualified Nigerian had been found fit to occupy the positions. Similar requirements are applicable on the extension of existing expatriate quotas operating companies in the industry with a warning that the Board would hold operators responsible for the failure or otherwise of their contractors to comply, and would not prequalify erring contractors and suppliers to continue providing services in the industry.

    Four years after the establishment of NCDMB, the Board through effective implementation of the Nigerian Content Act, has made many Nigerians become owners of midsized exploration and production companies, service companies, and crude marketing firms, with upstream assets outside Nigeria and competing effectively internationally.

    In IOCs, Nigerians are taking up challenging positions and responsibilities, which previously reserved for expatriates. Nigerians are handling fabrication and construction projects that were in the past five decades, were awarded to foreign firms and carried out overseas.

    To show how worrisome the issue of expatriate influx and their takeover of jobs that Nigerians can competently handle, the members of Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN, had about two years ago, directed that all its branches engage their managements over the unprecedented engagement of expatriates under various guises.

    The directive was given based on PENGASSAN’s discovery that oil companies have been undermining the Nigeria Content Act, where the number of expatriates working in Nigerian oil and gas sector was increasing by the day instead of decreasing.

    It said a report issued in October 2010, showed that expatriates constituted a third of the workforce in the oil and gas sector, which it said had increased by 2012.

    PENGASSAN lamented: “When a foreigner comes to a developing country such as Nigeria, he is called an expatriate irrespective of his professional standing, but when a Nigerian goes to Europe and America or a more developed country, he is called an immigrant. Immigrants are poorly paid. But expatriates enjoy unimaginable pay and dreamland privileges, which is very high even by the standard of their home country.”

    A report by the NCDMB showed that between January and March this year, out of 2,567 expatriate quota applications, only 1,032 were granted, while 1,113 were rejected.

    To determine the exact number of expatriates working in the country, the government is conducting a biometric data capture  of all the foreigners working in the country and as at the last count, 1,716 foreign workers have been captured.

    The Nigerian Petroleum Exchange Joint Qualification System live database, according to the report, currently has 20,587 individual records; 17 operator portal accounts (with only four active operators); and 5,480 service company portal accounts (with 888 active service companies).

    NCDMB said expatriates that work in the nation’s oil and gas industry are now required to undertake biometric registration. This is a requirement for obtaining expatriate quota approvals from the Board. The scheme started in July last year.

    In the power sector also, especially in the assets acquired or managed by Chinese, jobs such as tractor-driving, chefs and some menial jobs are done by the Chinese. For example, in Omotosho and Olorunsogo power plants, Chinese outnumber Nigerians and some of them carry out jobs that don’t require formal education and skills.

  • Tackling cassava farming challenges

    Tackling cassava farming challenges

    In the last two years, cassava has been the most talked about crop. Despite this, farmers are facing challenges  of poor returns on their investment at the end of every farming season, reports DANIEL ESSIET.

    Madam  Dorcas  Oduah (not  real name) should be  a happy  woman. A broad smile spreads across her face when she looks over her two plots of farmland in her local community in Enugu State. She has a passion for planting cassava but she   walks five kilometers to get to her farm everyday.

    Using the traditional hoe and cutlass as tools, she carefully tends her crops,  weeding and straightening the  tubers, while praying for rainfall which will be two weeks late. If rain fails to fall, she may not be able to harvest her cassava tubers which does not only support her family as food, but also serves as her source of income with which she trains her three kids in school. She will also use revenue earned from the sale of cassava to pick medical  bills should any member of the family ‘break down’.

    Over the last few years, cassava has become the crop with the potential to wipe out poverty. For one, it is grown in areas where many poor people live. And for another, it is grown by small farmers, who constitute majority of the population.      Globally, cassava production has expanded immensely to meet the rapidly rising demand from the livestock feed, starch, and bio fuel markets.

    In fact, market demand for cassava has become so strong that farmers who traditionally engaged only in subsistence farming, now also grow cassava as a cash crop. This has made cassava one of the most dynamic agricultural sectors, helping to drive industrial development while delivering higher incomes to smallholder farmers.  Interestingly, the sector,   has   not  recorded very  significant growth.  This is attributed to the snail speed of mechanisation which has not improved the  capacity of small and medium  enterprises, constituting the large number  of  investors.

    Most  of the  farmers carry out 70 per cent of the work manually; planting, weeding, harvesting, transporting cassava, peeling, soaking, bagging and selling while  there are  no specialised  machines designed  to undertake  land preparation, harvesting, transporting and grating on  a  cassava  farm. The only mechanisation involved along the chain might be the use of a mobile grater.  This has resulted  in   poor  returns  at the end of the farming  season.    Farmers are often at the mercy of volatile market forces and the elements.

    Oduah  and several farmers in her village could make more money from their efforts but in their community,  farmers sell cassava individually to traders, and are therefore unable to negotiate a better price for selling in bulk.

    Though  cassava has multiple uses and markets ranging from on-farm consumption as food or livestock feed to local wet or dry starch processing enterprises, the level  of  industrialisation has not led  to large scale   processing of cassava into higher value food and industrial products – from noodles, glucose, and maltose to textiles, pharmaceuticals, cardboard and glue.

    A  Senior  lecturer, School of  Science,  National Open University, Dr Grace Jokthan  said  cassava  has  not  taken a pivotal  position  within  the  sector  because  it is produced  primarily for food in the form of gari, lafun and fufu with little or no use in the agribusiness sector as an industrial raw material.

    Added to this, is the absence of special machines to process cassava to several value-added products to  prevent spoilage.  She explained that cassava  tubers consist of 60 to 70 per cent water and have a short shelf life. Once harvested, the tubers have to be processed or consumed immediately otherwise they will begin to deteriorate. For Oduah and  other  farmers, this is a major contraint.  She said there is need for processing mills to prepare the crop for storage purposes, thereby guaranteeing higher prices for farmers in the future.  As much as cassava require processing machines, the cost of acquiring the machines is prohibitive for poor farmers in the rural areas.

    Weekly, farmers transport fresh tubers from farm to processing sites.  They    spend a lot of money because the tubers have to move in time.  Any delay would   result in spoilage, loss of quality and overall production cost. As such transportation is a major cost component in cassava processing.  In some   villages, farmers    cultivate cassava to produce  fufu for weekly market days.

    As cheap as the process of getting  it done  may  appear, a lot of man hour is spent peeling roots, washing, soaking, wet sieving and copiously adding water before pressing. Averagely, fufu processing requires no less than 14  steps. On sale day, time would be spent grating and bagging. As a newcomer to the large commercial food processing sector, Mrs  Jokthan said there are concerns about cassava’s quality, not only as a household food item, but also as a raw material or additive in an industrial-based food handling enterprise.

    For  the expert and  other  stakeholders, the principal users of cassava are village-level garri processors that require limited quantities of fresh roots per day.  Large processing plants who need larger quantities are faced with high transaction costs, of collecting small amounts of cassava over a large area with bad roads.  The processing plants  operate below capacity while a significant percentage of farmers are left with unsold harvest.

    Above  all, majority of the   farmers have not benefited from initiatives and programmes aimed at improving farming techniques, better farm equipment, seeds, fertiliser, post-harvest technology, agricultural financing and so on.

    Some  of the farmers  have been affected by adverse weather conditions – and worries that farmers won’t be able to purchase inputs for the next season. As a result, the villagers feel they still need help. They also would like continued support and training, because they view this as a good source of income as well. The small-scale cassava wet starch processors are  not   pleased with some new varieties because though they gave better root yields and they  don’t  have  higher starch concentration.

    In  this  regard,  Mrs  Jokthan  said  research  institutes  need to recognise the potential for farmers to boost their income by growing the improved varieties.

    The other issue is the  shortages of yielding varieties, cassava roots which  some  farmers  find  it  difficult  to source.

    In most  cases, farmers  source them  from far  communities, thereby  increasing transport costs, and cutting down profits.

    For  her also, how much farmers benefit from cassava trade depends a lot on how well they are linked to markets.

    That is why, she   appreciates  several small-scale starch plants set everywhere,  decentralising processing opportunities further. Some  of the farmers  have   has been affected by adverse weather conditions – and worries that farmers won’t be able to purchase inputs for the next season.  They also would like continued support and training, because they view this as a good source of income as well. Mrs   Jokthan  said there is a   need  to empower  farmers to access to new cassava cultivars, product quality improvement and market expansion for sustainable enterprise.

    While the government is  supporting  cassava farmers to  improve their  farming techniques, most don’t have access to  good  roads to allow them reclaim precious farmlands.

    Consultant to the World Bank, Prof Abel Ogunwale  said  the government needs to build rural roads and irrigation systems to allow  farmers to open  hectares of new farmland. According to him, the impact would result to enormous returns for farmers.

    This is because  there are  times,the harvest is so big that the immediate market cannot absorb it all so they have to sell in other markets.The  process is  smooth where there are good connecting  roads.

    According  to him,  many  of the  farmers   use rudimentary agricultural techniques, use less  quality cassava and fertilizers. As a result, productivity has been extremely low and soil fertility has gradually declined. This further worsens the farmers’ situation and keeps them in a cycle of extreme poverty

    The   top priority,he  noted  is for  the government to develop carefully tailored rural financial services, adding that credit in rural areas is hard to come by and businesses cannot grow without finance.He maintained  that  funding is  a challenge  for established and new rural enterprises supporting  cassava  production.

    According to him, financing cassava businesses is a particularly important way of generating economic growth.

    Another side of the story is that in many cases, banks drive such a hard bargain that small producers barely make any profit.

    As any farming activity, cassava agriculture requires the management of risks such as soil degradation and price volatility. Farmers employ several adaptive and risk reducing strategies, for instance by diversifying cropping patterns to cope with risks of harvest failures, price slums or loss of market access, and by establishing cooperatives or using agricultural commodity exchanges.

    Cassava demand will be increasing over the next decades.

    For  watchers, the success of the cassava transformation depends  on the government  providing  adequate  inputs while strategies that ensure fair distribution of the resources be are implemented.

    Other challenges  that have to be addressed include lack of  enforcement of the 10 per cent  inclusion of cassava flour in bread flour that had in the past  left hundreds of small processors with unsold inventories and farmers with nowhere to sell their cassava harvest.

     

     

  • Tackling the cost of tractor hiring

    Tackling the cost of tractor hiring

    The Federal Government has  set up  programmes to reduce chronic hunger and poverty in the country.  One of the initiatives is the mechanisation scheme which  offers tractors to farmers. The private sector is getting involved. The result is that  the initiative allows farmers to increase production ,improve quality  and live better.   Daniel Essiet reports.

    Cocoa  farming  appeals to  farmers in the Southwest, Southeast and Southsouth parts of the country. It is a crop that offers extra earnings for growers and encourages  plantain cultivation. Its planting, control, harvesting and primary processing have created employment for men, women and landless labourers. Its industrial processing provides even more jobs.

    But to achieve success in cocoa farming requires between 10 and 20 hectares of land or more. That is why most cocoa farms are   in the hands of larger scale commercial farmers or a multitude of smallholders.  Farmers see farm size as a key determinant of productivity.  With this, they labour to obtain levels of productivity per unit area of land.

    While high crop productivity is associated with intensive use of farm inputs, yields can be increased through better land management.                  Farmers have also discovered that using farm machinery can facilitate weed and pest control too.

    This development is therefore giving boost to the national campaign to promote the use of tractors and farm machinery.

    The Secretary, Cocoa Association of Nigeria (CAN), Mr.Alagbada Adebola, told The Nation  that one of the major inhibitions to profitability is the age-old cocoa plantation practice, stressing that  efficient machinery is key to successful farming in the challenging environment.

    As a result, he said farmers are looking at a ways to access machines and deploy tools and modern inputs in increasing productivity.

    According to him, being well-equipped makes the business more efficient, with the latest kits offering greater output and economy cutting expensive downtime and repair costs.

    On the average, tractor service charges N8,000 a day  to clear a farmland. This will be a  loss for a farmer with less than four hectares. At the end of the day,it pays the large scale farmer paying that amount to clear six to nine hectares.

    To be profitable, Adebola said the more areas covered, the more attractive hire becomes.

    He  said it is cost-effective if one uses  one tractor to service combined 10 hectares or more,  adding  that  the smaller the farmland the more the losses incured.

    One benefit of tractors on the farm, he explained, is time use, or how much time farmers  spend on productive tasks.

    The Managing Director, Origin Automobile, Mr Samuel Johnson,   said sustainable agricultural intensification is still one of the major issues to meeting  the growing demand for food and making self-sufficiency.

    The challenge, he noted, however, remains in the development of pragmatic approaches and incentives that increase food production and profits and build the base towards sustainability in the near future.

    According to him, increased production and productivity stabilisation in all areas of agriculture are the main conduits for sustained income generation and food security.

    He explained that  increased use of  tractors would  lead to a rise in farm incomes and that  his organisation  was working  on a national tractorisation programme that would lead the country towards  achieving greater tonnes in  production.

    The  innovative tractor scheme is  designed to help private operators own tractors and increase farmers’ access to tractor services.

    The current market for tractors is dominated by the government, whose efforts to meet farmers’ demand for tractor services have largely failed.

    This scheme is an opportunity to prove that the private sector can really take responsibility for making the economy work without everybody having to sit back and wait for the government to do it right, he said.

    Part of the strategy is to work  with state and local governments, recruiting agricultural engineers  who  will  be offered tractors under his agric mechanisation entrepreneurs’ scheme.

    He said  agric engineers within a local government area will be given tractors to service  farmers.

    They are expected to repay the cost  of the  tractor within a certain period.

    Along the line, the company is in discussions with large farming enterprises about how they finance their tractors.

    The company would help a group of farmers who  can  raise the cost of buying  one tractor to do rather than hire it.

    In case of hire purchase, he said farmers would be given up to three years to repay.

    He explained also that the tractors on offer are of high quality.

    According to him, Origin Automobile would train farmers, service the tractors, and support them  to enhance as well as sustain the programme.

    As farmers’ incomes go up, Samuel said they would be able  to invest in better tractors.

    With small scale farmers in the majority, the uptake of smaller horsepower tractors is expected to increase in the coming years.

    For many small and marginal farmers, owning few acres of land, Origin Automobile   arranges them working through cooperatives to buy one tractor.

    Because of the high level of investment required to purchase a combine harvester, a machine used for just a few weeks, seems at odds with modern business thinking.

    According to him, farmers like the idea of short-term rental for a season, or a matter of months or weeks. He sees rental of tractors appealing to more businesses for its adaptability, particularly as acreages increase. Generally, hiring is also available for a single season, although this is not offered on new machines. And it comes with all the benefits of a purchase, including full operator training. The deal includes breakdown cover, with a replacement machine in the worst-case scenario.

    He expects farmers to shift from labour-intensive to capital-intensive methods of farming, which means buying tractors rather than hiring labourers.

    He said the strategy to open up vast native grasslands and establish native pasture for livestock grazing  requires  extensive use of machines and tractors.

    He said a small group of farmers  can combine resources to install a pipe and sprinkler to access water from the hills to irrigate their crops, saving countless difficult treks to bring the water to their fields by hand. Mulching is another example of a simple agricultural best practice that conserves water and reduces the number of times a crop needed to be irrigated.

    For farmers in particular, these technologies have benefits extending beyond increased productivity and income; when their labour burden is reduced, farmers have more time which in turn can help ensure the benefits of improved agriculture are shared more equally among women and men.

    The National President, Federation of Agricultural Commodity Associations of Nigeria (FACAN), Dr Victor Inyama, said the issue of increasing farm productivity  is very important.

    He identified lack of support to improve agric productivity and bringing innovation into the sector as one of the many factors responsible for youths’ poor participation in agriculture.

    Inyama stressed the need for government to take adequate steps to address infrastructural decay or lack of it completely in the rural areas including building farm settlements in rural communities to attract the youth and women who have the energy and time to sustain the sector.

    However, government  is  beginning to respond to the need  to improve mechanisation.

    To this end, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture  released N3.6 billion as an intervention scheme towards financing the establishment of the Agricultural Equipment Hiring Enterprise meant to encourage the poor to venture into mechanisation.

    The funds in the first phase will make available 400 units of tractors, 500 power tillers, and various harvest and post-harvest equipment to set up 80 centres, while Phase II will achieve similar results. Phase III will acquire 250 tractors through the partnership programme, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina said.

    He spoke through his representative,  the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Mrs. Ibukun Odusote, at an interactive session on mechanisation intervention programme.

  • Tackling environment abuse in Lagos

    These days, many people seem to have lost touch with the natural truism that the quality of our lives as human beings is substantially a reflection of the quality of the environment we inhabit. Most often, many still seem not to comprehend that the environment which we live in, is, simply put, life in itself because it is whatever we give to the environment that it gives back to us. Most cities of the world experience environmental abuse as a result of the ignorance of the people when it comes to issues to their environment. It is from this perspective that one really takes exception to various habits and activities of some Lagos residents that portend great danger to the environment. How, for instance, does one explain such despicable attitudes as defecating or urinating in public places, indiscriminate refuse dumping, drainage blockage, construction on waterways, throwing  of refuse into canals, urinating on flowers and turning of garden and parks into arena for environmentally unfriendly activities?

    In an age, when the Lagos State government and its private sector partners are providing public and mobile toilets at strategic locations, when almost all filling stations, banks, eateries, supermarkets, markets and public buildings in the city have conveniences for their customers and the public,  it is absolutely ridiculous and quite inexplicable that anyone would defecate or urinate in open places, under any circumstances and for whatever reasons.  As a people, we need to really come to terms with the significance of an improved environmental habit. When we deliberately choose to act in manners that could endanger the environment, we are the ones that would certainly bear the consequences of such actions. Hence,  we need to realize that the need to ensure a clean environment should be everybody’s responsibility. Research has shown that people who reside in filthy places are more prone to contracting  terrible diseases and as such easily vulnerable to avoidable deaths.

    It is in realisation of the need to protect the environment that the Fashola administration has made environmental regeneration a cardinal programme. Today, Lagos highways and streets are cleaner . Flowers and trees now adorn hitherto neglected and rejected spots. Cynics who had initially thought that this government initiative will not stand the test of time are beginning to have a second thought. Incorporated into the beautification project is the greening programme which in itself includes the planting and maintenance of trees and flowers. This is seen as a major way of tackling the challenge of global warming and climate change which is becoming a major threat to the world. So the greening programme is a partial response to the challenge posed by the global warming, as well as beautifying in order to improve the aesthetics of the environment. There are over 150 trucks that patrol the highways to collect bags of refuse that are collected all over Lagos.

    In order to inculcate the culture of environment cleanliness into the young ones, the state government has begun a school advocacy programme that is geared towards this direction. Today, there is no public school in the state that incinerates  or burns refuses as they have all been supplied waste bins .  Equally, over 500 waste sorting bins have been bought by the state government to teach the students how to sort their wastes. Through this, they are able to know what sort of waste goes into the different bins so that by the time they get home they will be able to impart positively on their environment. In order words, the main essence of the school advocacy programme is to bring about attitudinal change.

    One can go on listing many other achievements in the area of flood control with creation of such agencies like Emergency Abatement Gang (EFAG), Drain ducks, Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) and the concerted effort on climate change control through which major stakeholders are being carried along by the state government. With the aforementioned work, one is not deluded that everything has been achieved. Still it appears that a lot still needs to be done especially in terms of enforcement and enlightenment. This is due to the fact that behavioral change communication is a continuous thing. What is required to maintain sane and friendly environment is not just about what the government is doing but also about the people’s attitude.

    Environmental abuse is not justifiable in a state where the government is doing so much on environmental sanitation. It is, therefore, important that Lagosians support this government’s initiative by respecting trees, parks, garden, lawns and railings put in place across the state for our common use. They should not be abused. Parks should not be turned into market places, toilets, refuse dumps or places where animals graze. Failure to control animals or allowing  their defecation or engaging in an unhygienic use of fountains, pools or water in the parks, gardens and open spaces would be counter- productive and as such must be discouraged. People must, as a matter of policy, decide not to engage in attitudes as defecating in open places or urinating in public, as these are very demeaning and debase our human nature.

    With natural disasters occurring across the world, as a result of the abuse of the environment, this is the time for everyone to have a rethink about our attitude to the environment.  That we have not experienced monumental environmental tragedy should not be taken for granted as being immune from such. Thus, we must take our destiny into our hands and do all the needful to ward off avoidable natural calamities. Hence, the need for everyone to support the state government in protecting the environment.

    •  Ibirogba is Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Lagos State

  • Tackling Bayelsa’s infrastructure challenge

    Tackling Bayelsa’s infrastructure challenge

    Infrastructural development is one of the major components of economic growth of any developing nation. Leadership at all levels of government places premium on infrastructural development, as it creates the enabling environment to stimulate business and industrial activities which in turn enhances productivity, check undue rise in cost of operationa, employment generation and as well poverty reduction.

    Good governance to the average citizen of a developed or developing nation is all about provision of social amenities at affordable rates, meaningful and long lasting development. And, to achieve this, the leadership must be prepared to tackle the challenges of basic infrastructural needs of the citizenry.

    Some these basic amenities include efficient, stable and reliable power supply, safe and potable drinking water, functional public transportation system, effective communication system, functional and affordable healthcare and educational facilities.

    Irked by the age long infrastructural decay in the oil rich Bayelsa State, Governor Seriake Dickson on assumption of office on February 14, 2012 officially declared a State of Emergency in the educationand other critical sectors of the economy.

    Created in 1996, the issue of security in the state has been of great concern to successive administrations in the state. The Internally Generated Revenue of the State nose dived on daily basis, as efforts at attracting investors hardly produced the desired results, largely due to insecurity and the chaotic situation infrastructure in the state among others.

    Local and foreign investors never saw Bayelsa as a safe and viable investment destination. The state was always in the news for the wrong reasons. It was either rival cult wars, kidnapping of mainly expatriate workers of multi-national companies, illegal oil bunkering, financial fraud, and other related vices.

    In order to tackle this problem and make the state investment friendly, Governor Dickson, as a former security operative, put in place a security outfit code named: Operation Doo Akpor to checkmate the activities of criminals in and outside the state capital.

    This decision is paying off, as night life has gradually returned to Yenagoa, the state capital.

    The heatwarming news is that, investors, local and foreign are now jostling to invest in the state.

    The Special Adviser to the Governor on Security Matters, Colonel Bernard Kenebai (Rtd) said with the security gadgets and personnel put in place by the Dickson-led administration, the state is no longer the safe haven for criminals.

    In the last one year, the operatives of the security outfit”Operation Doo Akpor” have arrested over 600 suspects for criminal offences and handed them over to the appropriate security agency for further interrogation and prosecution in accordance with the law. Prior to the advent of the administration, there were high incidents of criminal activities in Urban and other metropolitan cities of the state. The waterways, then were not safe as there were reported cases of sea piracy and other related vices. The impact of a state of insecurity is quite obvious. Criminals were taking institutions of government in open confrontations. There were reported cases of kidnapping, assassinations and the activities of some purported amnesty agitators.

    However, with the installation of TETRA Trunk radio, the first of its kind in the West Africa sub region and purchase of over 85 patrol vehicles and 15 patrol boats, the residents of the state can now sleep with their two eyes closed.

    Also, as part of the security measures put in place, the government has built 13 emergency response centres in some designated areas of the state. The areas are: Oloibiri, Ogbia town, Opume, Otuabagi junction, Emeyal 1/Otuoke junction and Otuasega/Shell camp junction.

    Other areas are: Onuebum, Agbura, Okaki/Yenegwe junction, Igbogene/Okolobiri/Glory Drive round about, Okordia-Zarama market and Opokuma and Sagbama junctions.

    With the security measures put in place, Governor Dickson has turned the entire state to a massive construction site with work on 41 roads, 75 block-low cost Housing Estate, civil servant quarters, building of model secondary schools in the three senatorial zones, commencement of work on 500 bed hospital, world class referral centre, the three senatorial districts roads, Transparency building, the Five-Star hotel, the four secretariat annexes, Multi Door Court House, Governor’s Lodges in Yenagoa, Sagbama and Nembe.

    Conducting newsmen round some of the project sites, State Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure, Lawrence Ewrudjakpor said, ‘when we took over, there was nothing to write home about and that is why the governor was angry to develop the state. All the ongoing projects as well as the ones earmarked for construction would be completed within the tenure of the present administration.

    The government embarked on this massive construction of projects because the state is backwards in terms of physical development compared with its contemporaries, especialy in the southern part of the country.

    The target of the administration is to restore the lost glory of the state and put it on sound footing to be able to catch up with the rest.

    Also, the Government has invested over N4bn in rural electrification projects with the award of over 23 contracts. These include; Obunagha-Sagbama 33KVA line, extension to Ofoni community through Ebedebiri, Bolou Orua, Angiama and Toru Orua, 2 by 7.5 MVA injection sub-station; Agbere-Odoni, 1000KVA gas-fired CAT generating station including cabling, upgrading and modification of Angiama sub station to import electricity to communities in Southern Ijaw local government area among others.

    In the area of human capacity-building, a total number of 557 scholarships have been awarded in the last one year. Governor Dickson stated that his administration has made huge investments in the education sector because of its commitment to developing the human capacity of the state.

    According to him, Government made an initial provision of N1bn for the postgraduate scholarship scheme, but has since overshot that amount in view of the massive demands it got from Bayelsans.

    “The sums involved are quite staggering, but we believe it is a good investment. Because of our passion for human capacity development, we have since overshot the N1bn originally earmarked for the scheme.” Dickson explained.

    • Ajibola writes from Yenagoa

  • Tackling the challenge of Aba roads

    Tackling the challenge of Aba roads

    In the past, leaders in Nigeria have failed the people; too much promises, less action hence the average Nigerian hardly has any confidence in their leaders. But even at that, there are still leaders with integrity, who have made promises, kept them in the face of daunting challenges of leadership in the country today.

    One such leaders is the governor of Abia State, Chief Theodore Orji, a man who has consistently keep to his election promises since he was re-elected for second term in 2011. Today Abia State, hitherto a backward state on the development index in the country, has witnessed and is still witnessing uncommon transformation drive courtesy of legacy projects being executed by the present government. Anybody who has followed the politics of the state since 1999 would never believe that such progress could be made in the state within the short period of Governor Orji’s re-election. All these have been made possible, thanks to the successful and peaceful liberation of the state from the stranglehold of the former governor, Orji Uzor Kalu’s political dynasty.

    The successful execution of some legacy projects in the state among which are the new workers secretariat, International Conference Centre, Amaokwe Housing Estate, Judiciary Complex and others within a short period of Orji’s re-election is a clear testimony and evidence that his government was hijacked, delayed and distracted during his first term in office by his predecessor and now estranged and frustrated godfather. Now the people must have realized what they lost in terms of developments in the years of political godfatherism.

    That is why the planned probe of the ex-governor’s administration is very much supported and hailed by the people. This is because such probe will give an insight on how the collective resources of the state was mismanaged and cornered by a particular family for more than a decade with nothing for people. Truly, Governor Orji has shown that he is a better student of politics and governance than his predecessor, and the people of the state are already testifying and reciprocating it with the tremendous goodwill and support they have shown for his administration since his re-election.

    Not forgetting his election promises on tackling of infrastructural challenges in Aba, Governor Orji has built a pedestrian bridge in front of Abia State Polytecnic Aba along Aba/ Owerri to save the life of commuters especially students who had fell victims of road accident along the road in the past. His government has also constructed and rehabilitated many roads in the commercial city of Aba, including the long-abandoned Ukwummango road before the rainy season sets in.

    But with the torrents of rainfall coupled with heavy flooding in the city, government contractors working there left the sites to avoid wastages and shoddy jobs. But instead of understanding the true situation of things, some armchair critics especially the leadership of NBA in have since made themselves a pawn in the hand of Orji’s predecessor, to criticize and accuse Orji’s government of abandoning Aba roads.

    The criticisms should never be allowed to derail the administration’s vision and commitment in Aba, knowing full well that it is much easier to be critical than to be correct, especially when such criticisms are being sponsored and paid for to achieve selfish political aim.

    It was the British politician and author, Benjamin Disraeli who once said: “If you believe in what you are doing, then let nothing hold you up in your work. Much of the best work of the world has been done against seeming criticisms. The thing is to get the work done.”

    The above aphorism is Orji government’s philosophy in the face of sponsored criticisms and attacks at his government since he liberated the state from Kalu dynasty. As a man who lives and abides by his election promises to his people, Orji’s government has mobilized contractors and work has commenced on 16 roads that need serious attention in the city as the rainy season subsided. He had made it clear before now that contractors had been mobilized to commence work on the roads any moment, so that motorists and commuters could enjoy the roads during the yuletide celebration but the doubting Thomases did not believe him.

    The roads witnessing construction works which was flagged off by the governor recently include Azikiwe, Jubillee, Cemetery, Milverton Avenue, Eziukwu/Okigwe roundabout, Ama Ogbonna, Nwala by Faulks road to Brass Junction at Aba Owerri road, Ngwa road, Ohanku which is on-going; Emelogu Road completed but to be added drainage; Ehere, Omoba road, Umuola road, Ikot Ekpene road from Opobo junction to Bata, Amaogbonna/Omuma by ACCN, Nwigwe by Nwagba Avenue and Geometric Access road Aba.

    With these projects, it is clear that the present administration in the state had always meant well for the city and the residents, but faced with natural and financial challenges to take the city to the next level. That is why the state government has always called on private investors and federal government to partner with them in tackling the challenges in Aba for good.

    The present government in the state has never claimed repository of solutions and answers to the daunting environmental challenges in the city; rather than engage in blackmail or shifting-blame, it has continued to tackle them systematically and effectively since it came into office despite the paucity of funds.

    As the government has started the reconstruction of 16 roads in the city, what will armchair critics like the NBA leadership in the city and their paymaster do or say now? Will they applaud government efforts or continue to make mockery of themselves before the people in the name of criticisms against the state government?

    • Ofodu wrote from Abuja