The Nation Newspaper

Tag: The Nation newspaper

  • Proposed VAT hike: Weak manufacturing base puts OPS on edge

    The Federal Government, Organised Private Sector (OPS) members and Labour have agreed on the need for a diversification strategy to halt the economy’s high dependence on oil. However, achieving this via fiscal diversification, which involves increasing the tax revenue, such as the proposed upward review of the Value Added Tax (VAT), has never gone down well with the OPS and Labour. Their grouse is that the nation’s weak manufacturing base has rendered the economy unproductive and can’t support VAT or any tax increase. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA examines the fears of the private sector and their push for increasing the tax net, instead

    It’s a fiscal policy whose time has come. Though still in the works, the Federal Government’s proposed upward review of the Value Added Tax (VAT), from five to 7.5 per cent, came at a time the payment of more taxes has become imperative to mitigate the country’s  fiscal challenges and generate enough cash to finance her capital and recurrent expenditures.

    Indeed, this has been the case, particularly, since the economic downturn triggered by the crippling impacts of revenue drop caused by crashing oil prices in the international market.The sharp revenue drop from the Federation Account has since forced a strategic rethink in favour of fiscal diversification, which involves increasing tax revenues, including an upward review of the VAT.

    Besides, Nigeria’s VAT rate, according to experts, is not only among the lowest in the world, but also well below VAT rates in other countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director, Ms. Christine Lagarde, who drew attention to this in 2016, therefore, advocated a boost of the country’s revenue base by increasing the VAT on goods and services.

    Lagarde’s counsel may have hit the right chord with the country’s economic managers and tax authorities. For instance, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, said the proposed VAT increase to 7.5 per cent is low compared to other countries. In fact, he said with this increase, Nigeria still has the lowest VAT rate in the world.

    Emefiele, who spoke to reporters after the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting held in Abuja, said: “If the government can meet its obligation through this increment, it should be supported.”

    He appealed to Nigerians to show understanding and support the government’s policies, as it had the responsibility to fend for its citizens by providing basic infrastructure like roads, electricity and hospitals, among others.

    However, the Federal Government’s latest push to bring Nigeria’s VAT rate at par with its peers has been met with stiff resistance by members of the Organised Private Sector (OPS), the Labour movement and, indeed, some Nigerians critical of the administration’s fiscal reforms.

    The OPS, including Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), National Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) and even the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC), among others, have continued to kick their heels, insisting that the move would not be in the interest of the economy and Nigerians.

    At the core of the agitation by the OPS is the weak or fragile manufacturing base, which, according to them, has continued to render the economy unproductive and can’t support increasing the VAT or any form of tax.

    Labour, on its part, fears that if and when implemented, an increased VAT will erode the gains of the new N30,000 National Minimum Wage. The payment of the new wage earlier approved by the National Assembly has begun, according to Minister of Labour and Productivity Chris Ngige. But, Labour fears that a VAT increase will hurt workers, particularly the low income ones.

    The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, explained that the proposed VAT increase followed the recommendation of the Presidential Technical Advisory Committee. She said the increase would possibly take effect in 2020 after consultations with states and local government areas, other stakeholders and the approval of the National Assembly and amendment of the VAT Act.

    But there are indications that the consultations ahead of the take off of a new VAT rate may not enjoy a smooth sail. For instance, even before the consultations begin, MAN had described the timing of the proposed VAT increase as inappropriate. It added that it would also spur spontaneous increase in inflation rate occasioned by increased prices of goods and services.

    MAN said although it appreciates the need for the government to generate more revenue to fund its developmental initiatives amid declining revenue from oil, increasing VAT at this time was inappropriate, especially when the minimum wage of N30,000 was just agreed upon.

    MAN Director-General Segun Ajayi-Kadir put the association’s grouse in perspective when he said the increase could send a wrong signal that the government is not sensitive to the plight of the low- and middle-income earners, who are clearly in the majority.  He said it is a typical case of government taking back what was given with the right hand through the National Minimum Wage with the left hand through the increase in VAT.

    More importantly, perhaps, the implications of the economy’s fragility for the proposed VAT increase are not lost on MAN, with Ajayi-Kadir noting, for instance, that the economy just recently exited a debilitating recession, with a fragile growth rate of less than two per cent recorded  last year, which should be delicately managed.

    He pointed out that Nigeria’s precarious macro-economic condition requires palliatives that would improve investment and not higher tax burden. “The prevailing high lending rate, double digit inflation, low per capita income, high unemployment rate and a low 1.91 per cent growth rate amid 2.6 per cent population growth rate that are already cumulatively limiting competitiveness could be further worsened,” he warned.

    The MAN DG said, undoubtedly, the burden of the VAT increase, when implemented, would be shifted to consumers who ware struggling, and the economy will certainly experience demand crunch, while inventory of unsold items would soar. The profitability of manufacturing concerns will also be negatively impacted, while many factories will witness serious downturn or wind down operations.

    “This will also worsen the already high unemployment position of the country, which is above 23 per cent, as Nigerians employed by manufacturing concerns and other businesses may join the reserved army of unemployed and further bloat the unemployment rate in the country,” Ajayi-Kadir warned.

    The MAN DG recommended that rather than increase the VAT rate, government should widen the tax net to meet the growing need for more revenue to address the development objective of the country.

    “There is also the need to harmonise taxes/levies/fees payable by businesses in the country  to attract more investment that would translate to higher productivity and more tax revenue for the government in the medium and long term,” he also counselled.

    NECA also threw its weight behind the need to increase the tax net instead jerking up VAT, which, according to it, would definitely lead to an increase in the cost of doing business, and would likely be passed to the consumers whose purchasing power, is already weak.

    Its Director-General, Mr. Timothy Olawale, recommended that the government should widen the tax net to generate more revenue and ensure effective collection of taxes from non-compliant citizens or defaulters.

    He said more individual and corporate entities should be captured in the tax net paying VAT, adding that if the government must increase VAT against the will of the people, “It should be limited to luxury or ostentatious goods only.”

    The NECA DG also faulted the comparison of VAT rates with other countries, describing it as irrelevant. According to him, business operating conditions in those climes are more clement than what obtains in Nigeria.

    Ajayi-Kadir aligns with him, noting that an ideal tax policy should be such that takes into cognizance the status of the economy. His words: “An ideal VAT policy for Nigeria should take into account the current profiles of Nigeria’s Per Capita Income (PCI), National Minimum Wage (NMW); and Global Competitiveness.

    “PCI and NMW will help highlight what will be the implication of upward review of VAT on the already depleted wellbeing of majority of Nigerians, while global competitiveness will present insight on the impact of such review on the real sector, particularly the manufacturing sector.”

    Although the MAN chief admitted that “There is no doubt that VAT is an important revenue source to the government,” he, however, said “The principle of a good tax system is predicated on payment convenience, otherwise it could boomerang, leading to crowding out of businesses; more misery to the citizens and even lesser revenue to the government.”

    The LCCI also said the new increase in VAT would put more pressure on businesses and could also affect consumer purchasing power. Its President, Mr. Babatunde Ruwase, who spoke during the weekend, at the fifth Presidential Policy Dialogue, organised by the LCCI, said Nigerians had been paying so much money without getting value.

    “There are so many levies, but no accountability of such levies. That is why the average Nigerian does not believe he should pay more. If we can see result, see what the government is doing with the money, Nigerians would be ready to pay. But the situation is that there is mistrust by Nigerians. We are not ready to pay more because the one we paid we can’t see what it was used for,” Ruwase said.

    Indeed, past attempts by the authorities to turn to tax sources to broaden the nation’s revenue base were often met with stiff resistance by not a few Nigerians.

    Many of them cite entrenched corruption in Nigeria’s tax administration, which makes it  difficult for successive governments at various levels to make judicious use of tax revenue to improve on social and physical infrastructure. As a result, many of them shun payment of taxes.

    The Nation learnt that the underlying factor responsible for the groundswell of opposition against the proposed VAT increase is that the economy is unproductive. The thinking is that raising VAT to cushion the crippling effects of the revenue shortfall caused by sliding oil prices would not work because the masses are already impoverished by the economy’s unproductiveness.

    The harsh environment caused by the nation’s huge infrastructure gap, particularly electricity supply, has also not helped matters. The situation has rendered the real sector, including manufacturing and agriculture, unproductive and uncompetitive.

    Apart from economic reasons, which, according to experts, pose serious hurdles to the use of tax revenue to revamp the economy, alleged corruption in the tax administration system remains a sore point.

    The truth is that most Nigerians are unwilling to pay tax unless they are compelled. And they hinge their refusal on the belief that government’s officials will embezzle any money they pay.

    The thinking, and rightly so, is that Nigeria’s tax system allows for compromises, which tax officials have exploited to defraud the government of its revenue. This is why despite the fact that tax is the most reliable source of revenue for government all over the world, the rate of tax evasion in Nigeria is very high.

    While such public perception of the nation’s tax system may take time to change, experts say that it is important to work on the economy’s unproductiveness, which is believed to be largely responsible for the nation’s narrow tax base.

  • Delta stops new approvals of private schools

    Delta State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Patrick Ukah, has banned granting of provisional approvals to persons who want to establish private schools.

    Ukah said that the decision was based on the abuse of process by proprietors.

    Speaking when leaders of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Delta State chapter, visited him, the Commissioner bemoaned a situation where private school owners do nothing to improve their facilities.

    According to him, the Inspectorate Department of the ministry would clampdown on private schools that have not completed the processes of getting their full approval and those that are not approved at all.

    Ukah said that the exercise should not be seen as a revenue drive of sthe state government, but an exercise aimed at ensuring that approved standards are met in all private schools.

    He told the leaders of the body to encourage their members to complete the approval process to avoid having their schools shut.

    The Commissioner reminded proprietors that sports is now compulsory in all primary and secondary schools in the state and urged them to key into the policy that part of Thursdays should become a sports day.

    Ukah reminded them of the need to register for the 2019/2020 Zenith Bank Delta Principals’ Cup Football Competition billed to kick off on September 30, as mouthwatering prizes would be won at various stages of the competition.

    Earlier in his address, the Delta State NAPPS Chairman, Monday Ifoghere, appealed to the Commissioner to look into some of the problems facing members, especially the issue of multiple taxation by different departments and agencies of the state government.

  • Group to Buhari: curb loss in steel sector

    A Non-Governmental Organisation, Social Integrity Network (SINET), has advised President Muhammadu Buhari to devise an effective monitoring policy to reduce the loss in the iron and steel sector.

    The group lamented that Nigeria has lost about one million tonnes of steel manufacturing products and about 30,000 jobs, from 2017 to date due to high rates of smuggling and importation of substandard products.

    Other reasons it adduced to the losses include alleged high conspiracy and connivance among Customs officers, perpetrators of illegal acts, as well as wrong declarations of goods.

    SINET, however, advised the president to issue an Executive Order compelling the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) to fish out corrupt officers who have been allegedly assisting importers to clear goods illegally.

    The group’s National Coordinator, Mallam Ibrahim Isah, stated this in a statement on Tuesday. He noted that the remark of President Buhari on border closure being a blessing to Nigeria was commendable.

    The president made the remark last week when he received a delegation of the Nigerian Association for Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA), Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FEWACCI) and representatives of the Organised Private Sector (OPS).

    He said: “We cannot fold our arms and allow smuggling to take over our economy thereby subjecting us to high economic risk and massive downsizing of industrial workers.

    “Many local industries have collapsed due to high rate of importation of substandard products such as coloured corrugated roofing sheets, aluminium roofing sheets as well as galvanised corrugated roofing sheets.

    “It is saddening to note that while the nation is gradually winning the war against smuggling through the closure of inland borders, no attention is given to seaports where containers are checked into the country without adequate inspection thereby paving ways for substandard goods as well as dangerous weapons into the nation.

    Isah said there can’t be significant success without paying attention to the seaports and the creeks. “Despite the hues and cries of Nigerians on the influx of smuggled goods, the NCS is yet to make any public arrest of economic saboteurs thereby confirming the fact that there is strong conspiracy within the system,” he said.

    He said although the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has played significant role of shutting down some warehouses with substandard roofing sheets in Imo and Anambra states, “We want the President to set ‘Eagle Eyes’ on the seaports for effective monitoring.”

    Isah appealed to the Federal Government to enact a strong national policy that would further protect the economic interest of the local manufacturers as well as reduce revenue evasion rate, which has made Nigerian Customs to be losing a minimum of N1bilion to smugglers weekly.

    “If Buhari must triumph in his fight against corruption and insurgency, he must take bold steps towards sanitising the NCS and prevent the persisting massive smuggling activities. This is to further demonstrate his strong political will of promoting local content and safeguarding the future of over 200 million Nigerians,” SINET stated.

  • An exclusive village for abandoned old people (2)

    THIS column broke through the banks last Thursday. Restrained within it’s marks, the conclusion which  advocates a housing estate of sort of settlement for love sick, abandoned old Nigerians, had to be consigned for today’s edition. With more leg room today for the  legs, I believe we can do well with more case stories of abandoned old people who may enjoy the rest of their  lives better than they otherwise would have if younger people shower them with some time and love. This is in the  recognition that they, too, are growing old and may arrive at this “bus-stop” some day.

    Case one

    There used to be a big and popular hospital somewhere in Lagos, set up by a medical doctor in his forties when my generation was in it’s mid-twenties or their thirties. No member of his family was in the medical profession by the time he decided to retire and head home to rest his bones. By this time, his children had all gone abroad. Old age differences with his wife led to her migration abroad. A huge mansion in which they lived became cold and lifeless for him. Almost every one who surrounded him to bring help and succour appeared to have come with long  knives to make mince meat of a fallen elephant. He tried many women to find love, but found them all unworthy for his dream. Here was a doctor we young people reverred when we were growing up lying prostate before unpolished and unlettered street women. His sin appears to be that he was too serious minded for his environment. The last of the women I learned he tried out to fill the emotional gap in his life was one he would never have tolerated near him in his hey days. The woman who  told me this story is herself long gone now. She, too, had opposite-gender emotional gaps in her life through the maze of which she single- handedly raised three children from just before 25 years. I cannot call the woman in reference her friend because, normally, they were universes apart. This other woman had four children, each one for a different man, and lived with her parents. After falling out with the septugenerian doctor, she made go for another man who had  left his wife and four children. Together,  they would hire an apartment and, she would get pregnant for  child number five on either side. The story of this woman opened my eyes to the story of another such  woman and to the story that the marriage or romance industry had ballooned or expanded well beyond the traditional confines of my generation. On the new playing grounds are to be found all sorts of women who have lost their bearing in such matters and who, like chemical free radical molecles, look for love sick old men to devour. This one began to pay week-end visits to this retired medical doctor who lavished her with money and gifts. From her, my acquintance, who  was my client, learnef that the condition for marriage that she gave the doctor was that he sell the hospital and give her a quarter of the proceed. She turned elsewhere when he became feet dragging, unable to swallow the pill. When I heard the story, I wished I was close enough to the doctor at this turning point of his life to advise him to consider using his wealth to found a mini-settlement for abandoned men and women who are brow beaten by emotions, living and functioning in joyful activities among them in a service worthier than casting his pearls before the swine. Who knows why this experince thrust itself upon him? Was it a debt he had to settle through experiencing? Was this it? I thought of him again last Saturday when I heard a Moslem early morning sermon on Radio Lagos. The preacher said our material possessions were meant to be spent in three ways. We were to eat nourishing food and look after the health of our bodies. Second, we were to adorn our bodies with beautiful clothes and ornarments. He backed them both up with a Yoruba proverb… OHUN EIYE BA JE LEIYE MA GBE FO (the  bird flies off with whatever it ate).

    The moral is that: Do not be miserly to your being… enjoy the earthly fruits of your earthly labour …you cannot enjoy them elsewhere or even in the grave. Then, finally, the preacher said that from the left over, the family should be well looked after and the poor should not be forgotten. Whatever is given to the needy to bring them up in their existence, he said, is treasure the giver is stock pilling for his enjoyment in the after-life.

    Case two

    In my higher school (HSC) days between 1969 and 1970,  I knew one of my maternal relations we called UNCLE MAJEK. He was estranged from his father who, according to the story his mother told him, rejected his paternity. But even a fool at forty saw and knew they were such look-alikes that another man could not have been Uncle Majek’s father. Uncle Majek’s father became old and destitude in a single room tenancy. Uncle Majek spared him no thought that many people knew off. He was struck with glaucoma and became blind. When one of his cousins saw his plight, he saved him from eviction by the landlord over mounting rent arrears.

    So, Uncle Majek’s father came to live in the property of his benevolent older cousin. From Igbobi College where I was schooling then, I would sneak into town at weekends to eat home food”at my maternal grandmother’s. She lived in the property beside the one in which Uncle Majek’s father lived. I loved to spend some time with old people because they told so many useful family stories and, so, couldn’t have missed being with the old man once in a while. Sometimes, l helped him with cooking in his one room apartment. But there was one aspect of his lifestyle I could not stand… he evacuated his bowls in a plastic bowl which, covered, he carried  to the toilet through a long corridor in the property which separated facing rooms in which other tenants lived. Sometimes, he would miss the  water closet  and mess the floor. Sometimes, he would splash the toilet seat with poop.  Sometimes, he would  bring the bowl back with poop reminants. His fellow tenants would abuse and even curse him, for they would have to clean off the mess. I always woundered why his children did not hire a house keeper for him to make his old age more interesting for him. What sin did he commit against them that they could not forgive? Where they not Christians?  Did Christians not always ask the Lord to forgive their sins againt Him as they did tresspasses?  If these children did not overlook the failure of their father, did they expect the Lord to  overlook theirs? Why did children drag themselves into the battles of their parents? At that time, I little realised that  there was no “accident”in our earthly experiences. We are drawn into circumstances where certain events are unfolding from which we must learn certain lessons. We may profit from such lessons then or in future if we accept those experiences in humility, that is in good faith, however bitter they are, and apply them appropriately when the time to use them arises in our lives.

    When we ignore a blind man, for example,  are we weaving blindness into our Karma or carpet of fate? Will the love we  show a blind man release us from such fate? When we feed or help the poor, are we weaving the way for our release from such condition  which may lie somewhere ahead in our  carpet of  fate?

    To cut a long story short, Uncle Majek’s father died one day. And, soon after, the stately cars of  those days poured into the street where he lived and into the adjourning streets. It was his F_U-N- E-R-A-L . Uncle Majek was there. I  watched the proceedings from the balcony of my grandmother’s house. Young as I was, I realised inwardly I should not participate in the revelry or stretch out my hand for the food they were serving, however delicious, or for the drinks. Was this life? I asked  myself. And as if this question was answered, years after, there came the news that Uncle Majek was struck with blindness from glaucoma.

    When I began to concern myself with spiritual life, I always hoped Uncle Majek’s father would forgive Uncle Majek for abandoning him, even though he, too, abandoned Uncle Majek as a child. Otherwise, they may have become spiritually linked, and the old man may return to his son as a child and the genetic problem of blindness would recur all over, until each person freed himself or herself from this generational cobwebs of  Karma through expressing love and genuine forgiveness.

    When I make public speeches about love and forgiveness, strive to paint a picture when we do not walk away from unhealthy relationships, even if doing so would cost us all the treasure of the earth, we may become linked and bonded to people we are relating with in such circumstances. Imagine two birds tied together at the wings, I would say neither of them is any longer as free as an unbonded bird to fly around. If you are spiritually bonded to someone, you may share in unwholesome forces and experiences approaching him or her and tormenting his life. If this person is bonded to, say, a thousand others, and you, too, are similarly bonded. These are the forces which hold many people down and prevent their ascent from the earth when their time to return “home” arrives. Haven’t you heard about earth-bound souls which haunt homes, property, farmlands? Haven’t you been seeing in dreams people who passed away long, long ago who are still looking very much  around the earth? Haven’t we heard of stories of people who were reported to have died in one part of the earth and were seen in another? What about the ABIKUs and the OGBANJEs? What about the forces of PRINCIPALITIES? The traditional religion of Yorubaland believes the trouble with many people is no more than their suffocation in daily life by their  ELEGBEs (cosmic fraternities) which still hold them down. Don’t the church claim to free such people through deliverance services?

    Ladies and gentlemen, the key to this malaise is love. The proposal of an exlusive Village for  love-sick, abandoned old people may very well provide an opportunity for this. Above all is the need to walk away without conditionalities from all tresspasses against us, without holding any thing against the offender (s) so that we will not link or bond to them. We must free ourselves of all ties, and attach ourselves firmly only to GOD, Who is LOVE. For whenever we love, we are linked directly to him. The Lord Jesus, His Envoy, not only taught us the Lord’s prayer. He suggested we feel offended only when the tresspesser had tresspassed against us  seven x seven x seven times in one day. Who can offend you these many times in one day? Prophet Mohammed, the humble servant of  Allah (may the peace of Allah be upon him and us, too), said that if a new sun rise finds in our heart offences  from a previous sun rise, we would not parttake in blessings brought by the new sun rise.  That means we are cut off from the blessings of Allah untill we purge the soul of the contamination.

    When a baby is abandoned where ever, we feel pain in the heart and try to help him or her. But, somehow, we seem  not to appreciate the fact that old people, too, can be abandoned and, like abandoned babies, cry out for help and love. I discovered this when, in my fifties, I  was privileged to give health lectures at an old people’s gathering in Lagos every Saturday morning. One of the regulars was a former principal of African Church Teacher Training College on College Road, near Iju Road, in Lagos after his retirement.

    The concept of an OLD PEOPLES HOME in Nigeria today is a match-box-size idea, where as the need has arisen for a serious upgrade. It is comparable to the walking of cattle over thousands of kilometres in thick forest instead of settling them in ranches. Whenever I hear that Nigeria’s former military President, Gen. Ibrahim  Babangida ( rtd), lives in a 50-room fortress, all the rooms en-suite, I wonder what use his children would put this property to  after his departure from the earth.

    Honestly, I am not one  of those people who wonder why people build five-star hotel types of homes, if they do so with legitimate income. For we build not only for today but for tomorrow.  We are meant to be beautiful in our thoughts and being, to make our earth beautiful. Some times, I find myself in my dreams in houses of such indescribably beauty I would love to build here on earth if I had the means. Who knows, there may even  be forces beyond us which want to use the houses we build today for purposes tomorrow that are larger than us and our vision. Wouldn’t it be a good idea to keep about 100 old people, two  in  a room, in Gen. Babangida’s fortress after he has gone? I sometimes think.

    Currently, an old people home is not bigger than a bungalow or storey building which houses few people and does not serve the needs of the time. The village setting that would appear more appropriate is a settlement like a mini housing estate with recreational grounds, traffic-free walkways, places of worship, shops, refectories, hospitals and the likes of them. Housing would not be dormitory type. It has to have the  semblance of a home. People who can comfortably live together would be grouped in rooms. Social  workers would attend to their needs. Young people from the corporate world should be free to visit this village to put smiles on the faces of the residents.

    So should their relations who may make token  monetary contributions towards the upkeep of the settlement or village. I love fund-raising work.  And I doff my hat for fund raisers who do not tear the contributor’s pockets with large  chunks of periodic donations.

    In Lagos State, such fund raisers should be able to mobilise about one million residents to contribute not more than N100 (yes, N100) each every  month. That would  amount to 100 million every month, almost  huge enough to provide food, medication, electricity, water, social work e.t.c. At about the age of 18, I participated in high school for the raising of funds for a BAPTIST UNIVERSITY proposed at that time in the 1960s.  I was a member of the MINISTERIAL  SOCIETY which went to village Baptist churches around  Oyo Town to preach  the  Gospel and put in  a few words for  widow’s mite donations for the university. I sometimes wonder why public relations departments of Nigerian universities cannot do this and the universities cry to the government every year. Every year, they produce thousands of  graduates. In 10 years, some may have 100,000 graduates on their hands. If each graduate  remits N 100 every month by Standing Order on his or her bank account, that is about N120 million a year.

    The law of Motion governs our life along side other laws of Nature. Old people should not be static people in this village. Once in a while, they can be taken in groups on town or city visits. I  recall driving some of my old uncles who could not go out on their own on sight-seeing on some Sundays when the traffic was better than on work days. They were shocked to see how the city was transforming. The felt a part of it, felt warmer, happier, better and healthier after the town or city cruises.

    Space is not enough to make other suggestions. This is just an idea which can be expanded, that is improved upon.

    Old people who can no longer properly look after themselves need love and care. Children and young people should be reminded they, too, would grow up and old some days. We were taught something akin to this at Igbobi College, Lagos, in the days of a part had in South Africa. When  we saw photographs of children like us who were suffering in their own land, we  made contributions to a South Africa Fund from our meagre pocket money. We can galvanise the country ( market women, traders, school children, workers etc) to look after old people.

  • British school unveils online A-Level study

    Without leaving Nigeria, teenagers can now take A Level programmes of Harrow School, United Kingdom (UK) online.

    The 447-year-old British secondary school, launched its digital programme last week to international students across the world.

    Harrow School Online, will accept students aged 16 and above with strong English skills for its rigorous programme from September 2020.

    Harrow School Online will teach the British curriculum and international A-Levels to Nigerian students via a digital platform.

    The students will be able to study virtually for the Pearson Edexcel international A-Level examinations.  The programme initially feature only STEM subjects like Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Further Mathematics and Economics.

    Harrows is partnering with Pearson, a leading company in provision of learning material, to provide the technology that underpins the online school via a platform that is already used by more than 75,000 virtual school students around the world.

    Using the digital platform, students will take part in one-to-one academic tutorials, live online lessons with a teacher and other students, self-study lessons completed at a time and pace to suit the individual student, and regular coaching sessions that will provide them with personalised support and feedback. Besides its focus on academic excellence, the school will also aim to mirror the ethos of Harrow School in England as much as possible through a virtual house system, the opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities (such as a chess club and a student newspaper) and the chance to attend a summer course at Harrow School in England.

  • UNILORIN wins N120m equipment grant

    The Department of Chemistry, University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) has attracted N120 million worth of seeding laboratory equipment from a US-based non-governmental organisation.

    Secretary of the Seeding Labs Grant Committee, Dr. O. Atolani of the Department of Chemistry, said the equipment include a Mass Spectrometer, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), High-Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), consumables and some others.

    He said it would improve the quality of research output from the university.

    “The equipment will improve the department’s research productivity while enhancing the training of both our undergraduate and postgraduate students,” he said.

    Principal Investigator, Prof. E.O. Odebunmi, said the department won the grant based on two research proposals on Cancer and Cosmeceuticals it submitted to the organisation, Seeding Labs, which helps scientists make discoveries that improve life and the planet. The grant was funded under Seeding Labs’ instrumental access programme, which is focused on removing barriers to research and science teaching by making laboratory equipment available to universities in low and middle-income countries.

    Atolani said the university was inspired to apply for the grant when it learnt that a private university, Redeemer’s University, got the grant.

    However, he said the department’s first application for the grant in 2016 was unsuccessful.

    The lessons learnt from the attempt, as well as the support from the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Sulyman Age Abdulkareem, Dean and others helped the team get the grant this time around.

    “The first trial was a lost out but lessons and experiences were gathered. We then reapplied in the 2017/2018 session. Adjustment of the previous application was improved and looked into,” he said.

    Atolani, a Medical Chemist, said the equipment had already arrived the Lagos Sea Port.

    With the equipment, he said researchers, postgraduate and undergraduate students would no longer need to send their samples outside for analysis at a great cost.

  • Waning strength of government

    Two recent governance events underlined the waning strength of government in our democracy.  Contextually, the waning strength of government is unrelated to the capacity to defend the nation; but instead, refers to the diminution of democratic institutions, the very pedestal on which any democracy is built. In a democracy, the three arms of government – executive, legislative and judiciary – are constitutionally considered separate but equal. Yet Nigeria’s executive branch, in show superiority, has been muzzling the legislature and judiciary. The optics is bad, as the ruling APC controls the executive and legislative arms.

    By way of a backgrounder, in 1968 McGeorge Bundy, published a book titled, The Strength of Government.  His concern then was that the democratically elected national government in the U.S. was tacitly shirking its responsibilities. His contention was that the “national government is dangerously weak…too weak for the job assigned to it, let alone the new tasks brought by explosive change.” Bundy also advocated ways of improving governance in the executive branch, by strengthening democratic institutions and “reconciling strong political authority with widespread political participation.” Therein, lies a lesson for Nigeria.

    The strength of government is also not about military capacity or use of force; but about the rule of law, consolidating democratic institutions and entrenching the social contract between the government and the governed. As such, the waning strength of government is not reflective of the absence of hard power, but encapsulates the deployment of soft power to accomplish set institutional goals. Of these, the responsibility to protect -a task embedded in national defence obligations- remains the most vital of the basic duties of any government. That explains why defence and security matters tend to elicit broad bipartisanship.

    Astoundingly, the first of the recent events upended the rule, which holds that in established democracies, the doctrine of civilian control of the military is an established and accepted norm. Hence, it is commonly accepted in matters of national security that the “ultimate responsibility for a country’s strategic decision-making is placed in the hands of the civilian political leadership, rather than professional military officers.” On September 20, Nigerians became privy to a countervailing scenario, when the National Assembly invited the Joint Chiefs of Staff (Chief of Defence Staff, Chiefs of Staff of the Army, Air Force and Navy), along with Inspector General of Police, and other heads of other National Security outfits – Immigration, Customs, and DSS – to a closed-meeting on the security situation in Borno State.

    The invitation at the instance of the Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, Speaker of House of Representatives, was to discuss a ‘sensitive’ motion by Honourable Ifeanyi Momah, titled, “Review of the Military Strategy of ‘Super Camps’ in the Fight against Boko Haram in the North East Zone.” The various invitees were in attendance except the Service Chiefs, who delegated ranking senior military officers as proxies, to the chagrin of the House members. This drew the ire of the Speaker, who  remarked, “I do not think this happens anywhere; [in] any parliament in the world, where the head of parliament will call the Service Chiefs for a nagging problem on how to resolve it and they will not come.” What is most ironical and perplexing, is that both the executive and legislative branches are controlled by the ruling APC.  What is most disconcerting is the incremental disregard by senior officials of the executive branch for the National Assembly and the judiciary, in responding to statutory legal or oversight summons.

    The second event, relates to the presumably leaked National Judicial Council (NJC) shortlist of nominees to the Supreme Court dated September 18, now circulating on the social media.  The veracity of the shortlist is yet to be refuted by the federal government. Barring that list being confirmed as fake news, it has vast implications for our democracy. It affirms the waning of strength of government. It may well be coincidental, that three judges reportedly on that list had also served and rendered judgment on the recently concluded Presidential Election Petition Tribunal (PEPT).  Even so, where there is continuity-in-governance (CoG); where the strength of government is not waning; and inter-governmental liaison is not dysfunctional, judges who are by virtue of seniority on career-track roster for  imminent elevation to the Supreme Court, should not have been assigned to the PEPT for obvious reasons. The topmost is possible conflict of interest. Second, is to avoid the perception of impropriety. It may well be that the three judges, were ab initio being considered for elevation strictly on merit. Having served on the PEPT, they have unwittingly been placed at risk of accusations of personal gratification- be it aforethought, instantaneous, or ex-post facto.

    The two events raised herein may well be aberrations.  Yet two points are clear.  The Senate and the House of Representatives as statutory oversight bodies with powers to confirm budgets,  appointments and issue summons, must work in tandem in wielding the big stick and in setting partisanship aside. Secondly, the NJC, whose primary function is “to protect the Nigerian judiciary from the whims and caprices of the executive branch,” should have foreseen the probable perception of conflict of interest in the nomination of judges who served on the PEPT. Two choices were open to the NJC; appoint to the PEPT those judges not on the seniority tracks to the Supreme Court; or hold off on conducting interviews to the Supreme Court until well after the presidential election petition is disposed of by the Supreme Court.

    Waning strength of government gains impetus in three ways; by inaction, wilful action or both. Whereas in theory and codification, constitutional dictates and statutes are extant; in reality and practice, precepts dominate. Where the waning strength of government manifests fears of the existence of a ‘deep state’ tends to arise.  Promoting democracy requires constant shielding of its sustaining institutions. That’s moral and strategic imperative. The expedient practice of mixing accepted international democratic norms, with self-serving precepts should always be eschewed. That’s another moral and strategic imperative.

     

    • Obaze is MD/CEO, Selonnes Consult – a policy, governance and management consulting firm in Awka.

  • The gods are to blame!

    IT sounds incredible, but it is real. It is unlike one of those tales told by people who also heard it from people that also heard it from people and so on and so forth. You may have heard such incredulous stories of a woman turning into a bird in broad daylight from people who will swear heaven and earth about the authenticity of their tales. But asked for proof, they will become tongue tied.

    They will start hemming and hawing and biting their lips in their attempt to make you believe them. I have never believed such tales. I thought it was one of such tales again when on Sunday the social media was awash with the story of the 36 cows struck dead by thunder at Oke Owa in Ijare, Ondo State.

    It was a story like no other story. It was not the stuff of partners getting stuck together during an illicit affair; it was not one of disappearing manhood after an handshake nor was it that of a boy turning into a fowl after picking money on the floor. This was the real thing – a true life story of the gods dealing instantly with an offender, even when the offender is not human.

    The story has been the talk of town since it broke on Sunday. The incident happened on Saturday night when some herdsmen took their cows to graze on the Oke Owa mountain, which is described as sacred. It is not a mountain that you visit anyhow; it is a no-go area even for those who hail from the place. Their tradition forbids them from going to the sacred grove. It is the exclusive preserve of their king to enter the grove and perform some rites as and when occasion demands. Virgins are the only other persons allowed into the place.

    It was not time for such rites last Saturday when the herders took their cows to graze at the Owa cave.The hilly cave looks frightening from afar. Climbing it is no child’s play, according to the Ondo State Radio Corporation (OSRC) correspondent, who visited the place in the wake of the incident. According to him, it takes “an hour to go from the foot to the top of the hill”. How then did the cows climb the mountain? That is as mysterious as their death.

    To the people of Ijare, the cows’ fate is the consequence of their action – invasion of a sacred place. To traditionalists, the power of the gods is potent and there is no escaping it if they are angry. Was it that the gods were angry with the cows for desecrating their shrine? Is the incident a subtle way of reminding us of the awesome powers of these gods? If there is anything it has done, the incident has succeeded in opening the eyes of many to the much touted powers of the gods, which were well celebrated in the past.

    These powers are now, again being celebrated by the people of Ijare, following the incident. People are also trooping to the town to see things for themselves. Do the gods really have such powers to fight for themselves when their territory is invaded? It all depends on where one stands on matters like this. The people of Ijare and other core traditionalists believe that the gods fought for themselves, pointing out that  they did so in the past and will still do so in future.

    Going down memory lane, prime minister of Ijare Wemimo Olaniran told OSRC that people who desecrated the hill in the past were killed by thunder. He said the Olujare stays in the innermost part of the cave for a day while in seclusion, explaining that the place is out of bounds to other people. Were the herders aware of that? Or did they deliberately take their cows there to test the will of the gods? Why didn’t the thunder also strike the herders?

    What now happens to the carcasses of the cows? Will they be offered to the gods? Is there a sacrifice to be performed before they are removed from those hallowed grounds? To the people of Ijare, life goes on, with Olaniran saying: ‘’what has happened has happened and at our own end, we regard it as an act of God for which nobody can be queried’’. Ondo State police spokesman Femi Joseph spoke in the same vein. ‘’It was a natural disaster and there is nothing anyone can do about it. It is very unfortunate’’, he said.

    May we not incur the wrath of the gods.

  • College worries over 9,000 uncollected certificates

    The Governing Council of the Niger State College of Education (COE), Minna is worried that many graduates of the college have failed to collect their certificates many years after graduation.

    Provost of the college, Prof Yakubu Auna, said over 9,000 certificates remain unclaimed from 1995 to date, describing the situation as worrisome.

    Speaking to reporters in Minna, Auna said that despite massive sensitisation and appeal by the management, graduates have still not come forward to claim their certificates.

    He said: “The owners have failed to claim their certificates despite appeals to do so by the College’s management through various media. Some of the unclaimed certificates stretch back to a period of over 20 years.

    “We have used various media platforms to announce that the owners of the certificates should come and claim their results but they have failed to show up,” he said.

    The Provost said the institution had to write to the state government to mandate its employees who attended the institution to submit their original certificates.

    “The management had to take drastic measures by writing to the state government requesting that those who secured employment into the state and local government service with a statement of results from the institution should be made to submit their original certificates.

    “How can somebody graduate for over 10 years from an institution and such a person does not care about a certificate he or she spent years and resources to acquire?”, he wondered.

    Auna also raised alarm about forgery of results, urging the state government to put in a mechanism to check this trend.

    “We have received the disturbing reports of some civil servants and other individuals parading themselves with forged results which bear our logo but we are liaising with the state government with a view to checking the trend,” he said.

  • Dangerous beauty trends amongst ladies

    We live in a world where a woman’s skin and her body shape define her beauty and fate; a  world where you’re being judged by how you look, your skin colour and body curves. A world where beauty and body become a criteria for women to obtain a good job, a criteria to attract people get likes on social media and be respected.

    Newsweek columnist, Jessica Bennett, once said: “ In this economy, looking good isn’t just vanity, it’s economic survival. Then it is not surprising and only natural that women try to obtain that criteria and fit into that world for economic survival.”

    However, what’s shocking is what most women do to fit into that world and its injurious effects.

    Women resort to different methods and ways to look good and fit perfectly into the ideal world of pretty women with charming body curves. Due to the pressure on women on the need to look good and the requirements of our contemporary society for a beautiful woman, many have subjected themselves to dangerous procedures, barbaric and expensive means just to obtain and maintain the so-called right body and face. Most women go through series of heart wrenching pains to achieve pretty looks and the most shocking is the adverse effects that come with it or follow after.

    Face is one of those parts that the world believes makes a beautiful woman, and that’s why women go the extra length to make their face beautiful either by bleaching, make-up, piercing of the ears, eyes, nose and lips, and worse still undergoing surgery, among others.

    However, bleaching, surgery and make-up seem to be the most widely used. There are lots of materials seen to be used in reaching their desired dream, such as bleaching soap, bleaching cream. Most women use to tone their skin colour, especially those who believe being black isn’t beautiful. There are also different types of cosmetic surgery many women undergo to improve their facial appearances despite the risk and high cost, Such cosmetic surgery includes: botox (to conceal wrinkles), cheek lift, chin surgery, aleph atop pasty (eyelid surgery), face-lift, neck lift, otoplasty (ear surgery), and rhinoplasty (nose surgery). Also, the most widely used is make-up, which is predominant among female Nigerians, such as foundation for different skin tone, concealer, eye pencil, lipstick, face powder, eye liner, mascara, eye lashes, have been prioritised and socially uplifted.

    Another criteria used is the woman’s body shape and parts, the curve which has been proclaimed as figure 8, the breasts, the butt, shaped midsection, straight legs and wide hips. It is a general belief, in Nigeria, that a woman with a fit body and curve attracts men more, and also has a higher chance of getting job opportunities. I guess that’s why most women subjected themselves to different painful exercises and means such as; using waist trainers, padded bra, cosmetic surgery, body enhancer cream, hip enhancer, stretch marks removal cream, butt enhancer, breast enhancer, flat tummy balm etc. Some women engage themselves in various cosmetic surgery in pursuit of admirable curve. Abdomen reduction/ tummy tuck, arm lift, liposuction, belt lipectomy, and inner thigh lift are all sorts of surgery recorded.

    Women also go through the pain of fixing nails, using hair extensions, drawing tattoos, wearing high-heeled shoes. Nevertheless, it is shocking that women still troop in to fit into all stated above despite the adverse effects.

    Yes! Beauty is pain, but at what expense? Most of these things we do in the name of beauty come with unfavourable effects that are injurious to health. Cosmetic surgery including face and body cosmetic carry greater risk. These risks include: Infection at the site of incision; which may worsen scarring and required additional surgery, Fluid buildup under skin, skin breakdown, nerve damage, high probability of varieties of cancer; and even death in some situation. Besides, it comes with a high cost and complicated procedures such as:stable weight for six months to a year; not chewing tobacco; gums or lozenges for four to six weeks before and after surgery, and signing of consent form in case things go wrong, among others.

    Bleaching creams are also known to contain harmful ingredients such as hydroquinone, mercury, tretinoin, serotonin etc. Tretinoin also known as trans retinoic acid is used mainly for skin discoloration. Using it makes the skin more sensitive to ultraviolet rays therefore the need to avoid sunlight.

    Now, the question is: Is the beauty really worth all these pains? Do you really have to fit into the world idea of a pretty woman at the expense of your life? I mean even if you want to, there are safer ways to do it by using natural remedies, eating right and staying happy instead of resorting to methods that could cost you your life and health.

    And to women, I believe we’re strong enough to accept ourself for who we are. Be proud of who you are. You don’t have to give up your health, life and freedom in order to fit into the world’s idea of a good looking woman.

    Yes! It’s nice to look good, but do it in a safe way. Facial beauty attracts people but not for long. Nobody cares about a pretty corpse. If you’re so worried about how your lover and the world will look at you, then what happens when the beauty fades.

    Women deserve to be happy, Yes, We deserve that!!!

    • Owolabi Khadijah is a 200level student of Law, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto.