The Nation Newspaper

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  • World’s central banks launch green bonds fund

    Central bankers have launched an investment scheme or mutual fund to aggregate investments in green bonds.

    The new global green bond fund came as Nigeria made commitments to issue more green bonds to finance its climate change initiatives.

    The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) launched the open-ended fund for central bank investments in green bonds in response to a growing demand for climate-friendly investments among official institutions.

    Established in 1930, BIS is owned by 60 central banks, representing countries from around the world that together account for about 95 per cent of world’s gross domestic products (GDP). BIS offers financial services to a broad client base comprising some 140 central banks, monetary authorities and international organisations worldwide.

    The BIS’s green bond fund initiative helps central banks to incorporate environmental sustainability objectives in the management of their reserves.

    The open-ended fund, denominated in United States dollars, is structured according to Swiss law and belongs to the BIS Investment Pool (BISIP) family, a format commonly used by BIS Asset Management for its fixed income investment products. It is managed in-house by BIS Asset Management. Eligible bonds have a minimum rating of A– and comply with the International Capital Market Association’s Green Bond Principles and/or the Climate Bond Standard published by the Climate Bonds Initiative.

    With the support of an advisory committee drawn from a global group of central banks, the fund pools BIS client assets to promote green finance through sizeable climate-friendly investments and support the adoption of best market practices to deepen the green bond market.

    “The initiative is part of the BIS’s broader commitment to supporting environmentally responsible finance and investment practices, in line with the Bank’s participation in the Central Banks and Supervisors Network for Greening the Financial System,” BIS stated.

    Head of the BIS Banking Department, Peter Zöllner, said the global green bond fund would help to promote and develop the green bond market.

    “We are confident that, by aggregating the investment power of central banks, we can influence the behaviour of market participants and have some impact on how green investment standards develop,” Zöllner said.

    President Muhammadu Buhari unfolded planned initiatives under Nigeria’s climate change programme during a United Nations General Assembly session including plans for more sectorial action plan and expansion of the scope of Nigeria’s sovereign green bonds.

    According to him, Nigeria will issue a green bond for irrigation and construct multi-purpose dams for power, irrigation and water supply.

    The Federal Government had in December 2017 launched Nigeria’s maiden sovereign green bond as part of efforts to diversify government revenue and deepen the domestic capital market. Nigeria’s first sovereign green bond was oversubscribed by about N100 million as investors staked N10.791 billion on the N10.69 billion maiden bond. The Debt Management Office (DMO), which oversees government’s debt issues, in July 2018, listed the maiden N10.69 billion green bond on the stock market. The five-year bond carries a coupon rate of 13.48 per cent.

    The issuance of the green bond and listing were sequel to Nigeria’s endorsement of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change on September 21, 2016. The Paris Agreement aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change.

    The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) subsequently launched Green Bonds Issuance Rules, including rules and regulations on green bond issuance and management in the capital market regulatory framework.

    The green bond regulatory framework defined a green bond as any type of debt instrument, the proceeds of which would be exclusively applied to finance or re-finance in part or in full new and or existing projects that have positive environmental impact.

    The rules indicated that green bonds would be used exclusively to finance renewable and sustainable energy, clean transportation, sustainable water management, climate change adaptation, energy efficiency, sustainable waste management, sustainable land use, biodiversity conservation and any other categories as may be approved by SEC from time to time.

    The regulations highlighted some special conditions that any issuer of green bond must fulfill in addition to the general registration requirements for debt issuances as stated in the Rules and Regulations of the Commission for states, local governments, corporate and supranational agencies.

    According to the rules, an issuer of a green bond shall also file a feasibility study and report stating clearly, the measurable benefits of the proposed green project or assets such as green house gas reduction, reduction of water use and reduction of harmful emissions.

    The issuer must also file a prospectus which shall include project categories, project selection criteria, decision-making procedures, environmental benefits, use and management of the proceeds as well as a letter from the issuer committing to invest proceeds of the bond in green projects or assets.

    The issuer must also provide an independent assessment or certification issued by a professional certification authority or person approved or recognised by the Commission in addition to any other documents that may be required by the Commission.

  • Don alerts on trans-border diseases

    A former Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Prof Abiodun Adeloye, has warned that African Swine Fever (ASF) and other  trans- boundary animal diseases (TADs) pose health risks.

    He urged the government to be vigilant in the inspection of cross border trade of animal products.

    Pests and animal diseases cause yearly loss of more than 40 per cent in the global food supply, causing an impact in the agricultural sector, compromising seriously food security, according to intechopen.com.

    With herdsmen travelling with cattle across the country, Adeloye said  diseases could move through animals and cause  economic harm.

    Adeloye called for an end to illegal  movement of animals into the country following the closure of the nation’s borders  as the  impact goes far beyond animal health and welfare, as it causes severe production and economic losses and threatens food security.

  • Osinbajo and the hounds

    Sir: You can accuse Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo of being ‘’down-to-earth’’, considering his pint-size. You can also accuse him of intellectual exuberance, but you cannot tack corruption to him. It will not stick.

    Over the years, the maelstrom of anger against Osinbajo has widened. The reason for this, perhaps, is the perception by some Nigerians that he is not standing up enough for his own – the Christian fold and the south – when it matters. Another reason is the amplification of this perception by some members of the opposition who deploy propaganda to ‘’divisive finale’’.

    As matter of fact, the vice-president often appears to be singled out for remonstrance for the lapses and controversial policies of the administration.

    For example, in June, the vice-president was reported to have told Nigerians in New York that Nigeria had about 112.7million people living in extreme poverty as of 2010 – this was in response to reports of the country becoming the world poverty capital under Buhari.

    One of those who drew blood from Osinbajo on account of this was Reno Omokri.

    Really, social media has made it facile to sculpt perceptions. All it takes is for a stentorian voice, with a strong capacity for babble, to make pronouncements on an issue or an individual, and the mob, which operates without the ‘’encephalon’’, go to town and bleat.

    It is understandable that there are high expectations of Osinbajo being a man of the robe. But the tendency to diminish him for standing in support of the administration he serves is an act of sanctimony.

    I think, by being a strong support to Buhari, Osinbajo is giving to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. Also, before the Ruga programme was pigeonholed, Osinbajo took much of the obloquy for the controversial initiative, even though he had nothing to do with it; he was already working on the National Livestock Transformation Plan with the governors of the 36 states.

    The vice-president, eventually, had to issue a statement dissociating himself from Ruga to get the hounds off.

    In addition, there is the perception that he is not doing enough or not exerting enough pressure on the administration to secure the release of Leah Sharibu, a Christian girl in Boko Haram captivity.

    It is characteristic of our brand of politics, for political actors to casually tag other actors as corrupt even when there is no evidence. Nigeria’s politics is where good and competent men and women get into, and become sectioned as part of the vacuous, predatory corrupt class. The reason most Nigerians with the aptitude for leadership do not go into politics is for fear of the ‘’tag’’.

    Even the principled Oby Ezekwesili was not spared of scandals after bravely stepping into the molten magna that is Nigeria’s politics. Allegations of diverting N153 million campaign funds rippled when she decided to back out of the 2019 presidential contest.

    One thing is certain; the hawks are hovering over Osinbajo in Aso Rock.  He himself admitted that there are saboteurs working against the government. These recent allegations may be a furtherance of the artifice of those hawks.

    • Fredrick Nwabufo, fredricknwabufo@yahoo.com>

  • Making ACJA work

    • This is a task that must be done by judges and lawyers, to save their profession

    The excitement that greeted the emergence of the Administration of Criminal Justice Act (ACJA) has dampened because of its limited success in ensuring speedy trial of cases. An investigation conducted by this paper  showed that one case has lasted for 829 working days, without a final judgment. This is despite the several provisions in the ACJA to ensure trials don’t last for more than few months.

    One of such provisions is section 396(3) of the ACJA which provides: “upon arraignment the trial of the defendant shall proceed from day-to-day until the conclusion of the trial.” Sub-section 4 provides: “where day-to-day trial is impracticable after arraignment, no party shall be entitled to more than five adjournments from arraignment to final judgment; provided always that the interval between each adjournment shall not exceed 14 working days.”

    There are other provisions geared towards ensuring that our criminal justice system operates in accordance with world best practice. Unfortunately, despite these laudable provisions, the criminal justice system is still steeped in embarrassing delays. So, what could be the cause of this negation of the laudable objects of the ACJA? According to some commentators, the judges and lawyers are responsible for the delays. Others are however of the opinion that the provisions are impracticable, even as some called for increase in the number of judges to reduce the number of cases a judge handles.

    While all of the adduced reasons may be responsible for the crisis in the criminal justice sector, we urge the legislature, the executive and the judiciary to find answers to the challenges facing our criminal justice system. After all, it is commonly agreed that ‘justice delayed is justice denied’. Of course, it must be appreciated that in a criminal trial, justice is three-pronged: to the victim, to the state and to the accused person. So, all parties, we guess, lose when a trial is perennially prolonged.

    But of all the parties, it is the society that loses most. Among those accused of causing the delay, it is the judges and lawyers that owe the responsibility to the society to ensure that criminal trials are expeditiously carried out. After all, the courts are their primary place of business, and if the society should lose faith in the sanctity of the courts, they stand to lose more than any other group. They also stand in the best stead to ensure obedience to the letter and spirit of the law. Of course, they are primarily in charge of affairs in the court, and are responsible for the procedure therein.

    Between them, they can ensure that the delays become a thing of the past. On their part, the legislators can look out for the loopholes in the law that are being exploited and block them. They can enact laws to sanction judges and lawyers who flout any of the important provisions of the act. They can also ensure that judges are well remunerated, and if necessary provide the resources to ensure that more judges are appointed, so that courts are not overcrowded with cases.

    The Chief Justice of Nigeria has just lamented that the judiciary is not independent with regards to the resources needed. Clearly, the solution lies with the executive and the legislature, after all, while one appropriates, the other dispenses. The conference of judges and the Nigerian Bar Association should also weigh in to improve the ACJA. They can recommend necessary amendments that can curb the current abuses. As we stated earlier, apart from the general society, the two stand to lose most if the judicial system collapses.

  • Saham Unitrust unveils online travel insurance

    Saham Unitrust Insurance Nigeria Limited has made its travel insurance solution available online to enable customers  get their travel insurance policies from around the world.

    The Managing Director, John Ijerheime, said this was part of its efforts to be innovative and continue to make insurance more accessible to the public, saying the company has continued to improve on its services as part of its bid to remain competitive in the ever-dynamic business world and meet the needs of the insuring public.

    He stated that policy cover serves the travelers better, reduces operational costs and improves professional efficiencies.

    He said: “Unlike the current system where every transaction is typed on individual workstations and stored in multiplicity of places, the new solution is designed to run on an enterprise database platform that would allow all transactions to be generated at the click of a button.

    “The company is in partnership arrangement with Swan International Assistance to provide travel insurance for intending travelers for all Schengen countries and worldwide coverage, against emergency medical assistance, Repatriation and evacuation, urgent medical expenses; repatriation of mortal remains; Emergency dental coverage; trip cancelation; Sea and Mountain Search & Rescue; Loss of baggage and loss of passport.

  • Better seeds could help African farmers grow far more

    An air of Malthusian gloom hangs over smallhold farmers in Sironko, in eastern Uganda. In the old days, they say, their parents reaped plentiful harvests from fields fed with manure. Now the soil needs to be coaxed into life with chemical fertilisers they cannot afford. As the population grows, farmers squeeze onto shrinking plots of land. The weather has become erratic: the growing season might begin with a week of downpours followed by drought. The rain and the sun no longer balance, complains one farmer, Zaituni Mudondo, banging a maize cob on the ground.

    So there is something unusual about Ruth Akello, who lives just down the road. Her house is sturdier than the rest, with a solar panel outside. She is also building another home in a nearby town. Asked about maize-Uganda’s most ubiquitous crop, which accounts for about 20% of people’s overall calorie intake-she pulls out a record book and phones her husband to check the numbers. The couple have grown 100 bags this year (about ten tonnes) and sold almost all of it. Her neighbours use old-fashioned methods of farming, she explains. “But me, I use the modern way.”

    One crucial difference between Ms Akello and her neighbours is the seed she uses. Whereas most smallholders keep some of the previous year’s crop to plant, as they have done for generations, she buys improved hybrid seeds. Her plot hints at the huge difference that modern seeds can make to the lives of Africa’s hundreds of millions of farmers. It also raises a question: why don’t more people plant them?

    The green revolution began with seeds. By the early 1960s scientists had created dwarf varieties of rice and wheat, which put more of their energy into edible bits and did not topple over when fed with fertiliser. Agricultural productivity duly took off in Asia and Latin America, making everybody richer. Douglas Gollin, an economist at Oxford University, and others estimated last year that a 10% increase in the share of land planted with high-yielding crops by the year 2000 is associated with 10-15% growth in gdp per head. Maize, which is easier to hybridise than many crops, has steadily become more productive in countries such as America and China (see chart).

    Sub-Saharan Africa is decades behind. Some of its poorest countries, such as Chad and the Democratic Republic of Congo, scarcely have seed markets. Uganda has several seed producers and a president, Yoweri Museveni, who exhorts the wananchi (“common people”) to adopt modern farming practices. But it has a long way to go. Surveys five years ago revealed that only 21% of maize farmers and 15% of all crop farmers in the country used hybrid seeds.

    Uganda’s wealthier neighbour, Kenya, ought to be doing much better. Hybrid maize seeds have been widely available there since the 1970s, and about three-quarters of farmers use them, according to the Tegemeo Institute in Nairobi, which conducts surveys. Kenya is also a leader in research. On a 200-hectare farm in Kiboko, south-east of Nairobi, cimmyt, an international institute, tests new strains in deliberately tough conditions. Thanks to a technique known as doubled haploid breeding, it can churn out new varieties quickly.

    Yet Kenya is no Eden either. As its population has grown, crop farmers have moved onto parched soils that used to be seen as fit only for cattle ranching. Climate change may also be having an impact: three out of the past five years have been poor for maize. Farmers are now being assailed by fall armyworm, a hungry caterpillar. Gradual improvements in farming methods have not been enough to overcome these challenges. Like Uganda, Kenya awaits a proper green revolution.

    In Kenya and many African countries supposedly high-yielding seeds do not always work. Emilia Tjernstrom of the University of Wisconsin in America has tested seeds bought from local dealers. On average only 76% of the seeds germinated and in some samples none did. Fake hybrid seed is widespread, says Mary Wangeci, an agricultural supplier in Machakos, near Nairobi. Clued-up farmers are gradually learning to scan the bar codes on seed packets with their phones to see if the product is genuine. Unfortunately, the neediest farmers are not so savvy.

    And the commercial seeds on the market do not always produce bountiful harvests. Because scientists are always working on maize, new hybrids are generally better than old ones. Plants also need to be appropriate for local conditions, which vary more in Africa than in other parts of the world. But Kenya’s bestselling maize seed, known as 614, was released in 1986. And although it grows well in the rainy highlands, it fares poorly in the hotter, drier parts of the country.

    Maize 614 is produced by a state-controlled outfit, the Kenya Seed Company, which dominates the market. It is cheaper than seeds produced by rival companies, partly because the government holds down its price. Launching a competitor is difficult for other reasons. Getting approval is expensive and takes five years-“if you’re really sharp, four years”, says Saleem Esmael, who runs the Western Seed Company. The stringent trials that the government insists upon are supposed to protect small farmers, but the result is old, inferior seeds on the market. Stephen Mugo of cimmyt compares the system to a bicycle with 100 padlocks-safe, but not useful.

    Uganda has a less cumbersome approval process and a more open seed market. But its government still finds ways to meddle unhelpfully. In 2013 Mr Museveni launched “Operation Wealth Creation”, which involved troops distributing seeds, fruit trees and cows. By 2017 private companies were selling half of their maize seed to the government. It typically takes three seasons, or 18 months, to ramp up production; reputable growers could not keep up with the sudden surge in demand. Seeds reached farmers late, or grew badly. The government then cut its purchases just as suddenly as it had started them. Companies were left with warehouses of seed they could not sell.

    Under tight security at the research station in Kiboko, which includes a man who shoots inquisitive monkeys with a catapult, some unusual maize plants are growing. Created by multinational companies, these are genetically modified to resist another pest, the stem borer. So far, the trial has been a success: the modified plants have hardly been touched, while nearby control plants are shredded. But farmers are unlikely to be able to plant the new maize soon, since both Kenya and Uganda ban genetically modified crops. Few sights are more frustrating.

  • Old Mutual rewards customers

    Old Mutual General Insurance Company, a subsidiary of Old Mutual Limited and Premium African Financial Services Group, has launched Double Awoof campaign on its Comprehensive Motor Insurance policy in furtherance of its resolve to deepen market penetration and reward its loyal customers,

    The company’s ‘Double Awoof’ loyalty programme, which began on August 27, 2019, will last till November 8, 2019. The loyalty programme rewards policyholders by slashing the cost of procuring comprehensive motor insurance cover to 2.5 per cent on vehicles and doubles the reward with an instant gift of a Total Service Station’s fuel voucher of up to N30,000.

    The Executive Head, Marketing, Old Mutual, Alero Ladipo, who made this known in a statement explained that for a vehicle owner whose car is valued at N2 million, the instant fuel voucher is N5,000 to keep the vehicle moving during the ember months.

    This, according to her, is an addition to the 25 per cent discount of the premium.

    She said: “The brand’s move to reward its growing customer base was borne out of the firm commitment to the Nigerian insurance market. We understand the importance of comprehensive car insurance to Nigerians especially during the last quarter of the year, when there is a spike in travel activities, heightened insecurity and other associated risks.

    “While we believe that it is critical for everyone to buy an insurance policy for their cars, we also consider it thoughtful to give back to policyholders who buy our Comprehensive Motor Insurance policy. So, it is really about buying a great product at a discount and getting rewarded at the same time,” she said.

  • Nigeria: Groping in the dark

    SIR: Today, Nigeria is stuck in the mud of underdevelopment because it hasn’t been led by its best politicians since it became a independent country. A country’s development is intrinsically linked to the quality of leadership provided to the citizens by its national leader. The economies of Malaysia, Singapore, and other great Asian countries had been leapfrogged to a dizzying great height because their leaders possess ideologies, moral probity, and leadership qualities. A good political leader, who is a visionary, imagines the type of country he wants, and works assiduously and patriotically to build that country.

    So, during President Muhammadu Buhari’s first coming as civilian president, millions of Nigerians thought him to be the Messiah, who would revamp our economy, evolve our own technological culture ,which will be predicated on functional educational system, and entrench peace and unity in the country. And not a few Nigerians felt that his leadership of Nigeria would be a departure from Dr Goodluck Jonathan’s clueless, tardy, uninspiring, and corrupt administration. We believed him to be the political leader, who would root out corruption in Nigeria and bring sanity to our systems of doing things given his ascetic nature and distaste for corruption.

    However, President Buhari’s occupation of the highest political office has led to his demystification. Under his watch and guidance, Nigeria is steadily and progressively going to the dogs. In his first term, Nigeria’s economy slipped into recession. It came out of it soon after, however. Nigeria, as a country, which has oil resources and humongous population, has not witnessed rapid economic progress and technological transformation under the leadership of President Buhari.

    The worsening economic situation in the country has made millions of Nigerians become vulnerable to joining terrorist groups like the Boko Haram and others. Aren’t we aware that the unresolved Boko Haram incubus poses a great threat to our continued existence as one indivisible country?

    President Buhari should up his game in order to improve the people’s living condition and ignite the rapid economic and technological growth of Nigeria. He should wean himself off ethnocentric proclivities and religious bias and initiate pragmatic pan-Nigerian policies, the implementation of which will transform Nigeria into a developed nation-state and assure us that he is not a sectional leader and divisive figure.

    Until President Buhari starts doing the right things, Nigeria will continue to grope in the dark for national redemption and salvation from the debilitating forces of national disunity and underdevelopment.

    • Chiedu Uche Okoye, Uruowulu-Obosi, Anambra State.

  • The worship of an unknown ‘god’

    It was the Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the Premier University – Ibadan – John Ayoade, as far back as February 10, 1982 at a special seminar held at the Institute of African Studies, when he described federalism in Nigeria as worshipping an unknown ‘god’. This is quite akin to the attitudes of both the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers including men of the ancient Athens, that Apostle Paul noted that they were very religious. In the words of Paul ‘as I was walking along I saw your many altars; and one of them had this inscription on it – ‘to an Unknown God’ (Acts 17:22, 23). Paul observed that they were worshipping ‘god’ they never knew!

    What a replica of contemporary federalism in Nigeria.

    Though, federalism was introduced by the 1954 Lyttleton Constitution which laid the foundation of classical federation for the country, ever since the polity keep on observing the tenets and canons of the system in breach. While the choice of federalism was almost automatic in 1954 but it was clear that the choice was based on a wrong premise.

    In the words of Ayoade, in that old perceptive seminar paper, the choice has always been determined by a unitarist concept of federalism in two ways. Firstly, and quite erroneously, federalism is thought of as a univalent term and secondly, Nigerian federalists are known to suffer from a mismatching of goals and means to the extent that what are normally unitary goals are expected from federal means.

    The bone of contention rather than boon of contentment is the Rural Grazing Area (RUGA) polemic of recent. The idea of RUGA by federal government simply put, was acquisition of massive expanse of land primarily for cattle grazing in all the states of the federation including the federal capital territory (FCT), to checkmate the frequent clashes between the Fulani herdsmen and farmers across the country. On paper, most especially going by the volume of money to be committed to the project, the policy look quite good but far from being pragmatic.

    Going by the Land Use Decree signed by the Olusegun Obasanjo military junta, federal government has no inch of land not even plot(s) of land anywhere in the federation. The decree vested land ownership in state governors who hold same in trust for the citizenry. It is incumbent on the federal government to make request for land in fact for whatever purpose and subject to the approval of the state governor. Where a governor declines for whatever reason(s), the federal government has no legal right or power to lord it over the number one citizen of that state. It is absurd that in some states, sign posts were erected showing land acquisition for RUGA! This is indeed ludicrous.

    The reality of the situation is that they (federating states) are ‘concurrent regimes with overlapping jurisdictions’. It is, therefore, a non-hierarchical political system. Whereas, the disposition of our leaders most especially governors is the mentality of hierarchy. The relationship between a governor and the president is not superior/subordinate one. The likes of Ambrose Alli (of blessed memory) of the old Bendel State and Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Lagos State then typify ideal governors in a federal state. While we desire cooperative federalism for development, governors don’t need to kow-tow and operate like a subordinate to the president. Despite the fact that federal government has been having the commanding height of socio-economic policies like the ill-fated RUGA, the truth is that federal arrangement makes is imperative for governors to assert their power within their areas of competence.

    Nevertheless, the idea of RUGA is a misnomer in a federal state. You don’t go all out to acquire land to promote the economic interest of an ethnic group all over the country and make it a condition for peace. The perception of an average Nigerian, which is correct anyway, is that such policy must have been intended to achieve local colonialism by the ‘Fulanis’. Some assume that it is nothing but land grabbing agenda cum territorial expansion by disguise if not ‘Islamisation’.  All these fears were aggravated by the position of President Muhammadu Buhari asking the citizens of Benue State to tolerate their brothers who allegedly massacred them in thousands! Perhaps the height of insensitivity is the rationalisation of the Fulani onslaught on hapless Nigerians by the spokesman of the president, Femi Adesina, that people should surrender their lands instead of dying. This is nothing but hypocrisy as land is a natural resource that nowhere in the world are people ready to easily forego their property.  People are even more passionate about landed property usually an inheritance in Africa than other parts of the world.

    It is high time we enlightened ourselves that the genesis of herdsmen/farmers conflict is not unconnected with the fact that Nigeria is a ‘weak state’ where laws are made but either not enforced or selectively enforced. In most cases the state is too weak to enforce laws. Since the time herdsmen became a nuisance, not many have been arrested, prosecuted and convicted. Even where arrests were made the punishments are not usually commensurate with the heinous crime committed by them.

    Rather than RUGA which is not the way to go, all tiers of government should take it upon themselves first to strengthen the law enforcement machineries irrespective of whose horse is gored. A Fulani man, Tiv, Ibo, Yoruba or Hausa that commits crime must be punished. It is not about criminalising an ethnic stock. This is where Nigerians expect the president who is a Fulani man to come out and decry the nefarious activities of the rampaging herdsmen who may even not be Nigerians anyway.

    The recent call for state police makes sense in contemporary Nigeria. The over centralized police establishment cannot be efficient in fighting crime. The police needs to be decentralized while governors should see themselves as the chief security officers of their respective states. Not only that, it is high time too that we take adequate cognizance of the techno-economic structure of the country.

    A country that is technologically deficient cannot fight crime successfully. It is ludicrous that in this century, soldiers could be ambushed, trapped and killed by insurgents. It means our soldiers don’t have the required gadgets to see few kilometres away to know whether enemies are lucking around or not! The strength of an army is not about the number of soldiers but rather the weapon and technology available to them. This is where the issue of brazen corruption that has eaten deep into the marrows of an average Nigerian comes in. With fat budgetary allocations to both the military and police establishments every year, how do we know whether such monies are released to them, in what magnitude or released in good time or not? The story of an officer who deserted the military and went away with hundreds of millions is a sad tale.

    Finally, to get the federal arrangement working is to inject the spirit of justice and equity into the system. Nigerians desire that the system works but the governing elite are too hypocritical. They have been making mess of the whole essence of national integration. You found a northerner selling ‘suya’ in every nooks and crannies of the country without any harassment or intimidation. But top elite foment trouble with their inciting statements putting on the toga of ethnic jingoism. RUGA is not the way to go, but pragmatic federal arrangement. Nigerians should stop worshipping ‘an unknown god’.

    • Dr. Ojo is an associate professor of Comparative Politics, UNILORIN.

  • Abiodun: Development for the forgotten ones

    A major affliction that has hit the 36 states since the return to civil rule in 1999 is governance without vision.

    While some, admittedly few and far between, have put in valiant efforts, it is a fact that in most cases, a significant portion of the states has rotted under ungoverned governors. The implication: what has been labelled development has been no more than the mere window dressing of the state capitals.

    The rule seems to have been: site visible projects in the state capitals and one or two major cities that travelers will no doubt come in contact with, and then a second term of office is a done deal. But, then, even the development in the state capitals is circumscribed by location, meaning that the state capitals inevitably present two worlds: the new areas enjoying government patronage and the traditional slums still in full communion with degradation, poverty and want. In this connection, the point just cannot be ignored that Ogun, a state most contiguous to the country’s economic capital, Lagos, is happily presenting a new paradigm, one that promises to bring the ‘dividends of democracy’ to the forgotten neighbourhoods, the abandoned populations, hapless citizens who have been for ages no more than statistical incidentals in government agencies. For the first time in a life time, many ancient communities are seeing good roads, hospitals, schools and other facilities springing up before their very eyes, places that politicians only remembered during campaigns—places, let us remember, that have never mattered to government until now.

    Through the direct labour agency, roads are now being cleared that were hitherto a nightmare to motorists, and this is being done simultaneously in all the local government areas of the state. For the first time since 1999, the point is being made, in practical terms, that development cannot be limited to major towns like Ijebu-Ode and Abeokuta; that every part of the state must feel government presence. A technology hub has been set up to rejig ICT across the state and enhance the ease of doing business, and two more to follow shortly.

    Surely, Governor Dapo Abiodun’s identifification of 236 schools across the state, one per ward for complete rehabilitation, will address the monumental rot in Ogun public schools, and it is ennobling that after this exercise, a new set of schools will enjoy the same treatment. The long and short of this is that there will be no ward without government’s educational presence. And with the approval of the years 2016 and 2017 promotion of 10,000 teachers, resolution of the MAPOLY crisis and its re-accreditation, implementation of the recommendations of the visitation panel on the Tai Solarin College of Education (TASCE) and the establishment of a Government Delivery Unit for Education, education in the state will begin to get back on track.

    As in education, so in health: dilapidated hospitals are being given a facelift and more resident doctors employed to serve in the hitherto forgotten habitations. Primary health centres are being set up per ward so that people can enjoy health services without travelling miles away from home. At the Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, the recruitment process for all categories and cadres of healthcare professionals (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, lab scientists, radiographers, etc) has already commenced, as has the rehabilitation of the State Hospital Ilaro.

    The government has already organised free medical outreach at Ilishan, Odeda and Ilaro, addressing polio, diabetes, malaria, eyes, malaria, typhoid and other issues. There is the anchor borrowers scheme with several hectares of land acquired and distributed to agropreneurs, a project for which N1.5 billion is being accessed from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). The initial 2000 agro-preneurs  have been allocated 1ha of land each. It must be music to the ears of Ogun citizens that their governor wants to take advantage of land resources to build agriculture and provide food for people through a project that attracts a zero digit interest rate; one which has  a mechanism for tracking efficiency.

    Again, about 120,000 citizens are already registered on the job portal created by the state government, the essence being to know who to employ when vacancies arise in government. And if there are companies interested in Ogun State, they will place their adverts on the job portal and applications can then be received through it.

    It certainly not fortuitous that appropriate legislation and executive orders have been put in place to ensure accountability and prudence in the management of government resources, including the implementation of the medium term expenditure framework for budget preparation, establishment of the Fiscal Responsibility Commission for prudent financial management of state resources; efficient allocation of public expenditure, revenue and debt management; long-term economic stability of the state. Nor can the establishment of public Private Partnership (PPP) Office, implementation of staff biometrics and payroll audit and treasury management solution for single view and efficiency in treasury and payment processing and  the establishment of the Bureau of Public Procurement Council be less development-oriented.

    The state is actively pursuing investment initiatives, and has already undertaken an amendment of the Investment Promotion Agency (IPA) / Ogun Invest Bill to actualise this objective. It has held a business roundtable with CEOs and business executives in the private sector and established the Ogun State Business Environment Council to improve and streamline the state’s internal processes towards achieving better scores in the ease of doing business ranking, as well as the Enterprise Development Agency (EDA) for capacity building and facilitation of financing access to support the MSMEs sector.

    In this regard, the executive order for the Ogun State Economic Transformation Project Implementation Structures, as part of the requirements for the establishment of Project Steering Committee (PSC), Project Implementation Unit (PIU) for the $250m World Bank loan, is a step in the right direction. It has initiated a creative arts and entertainment hub in conjunction with Shared Agent Network Expansion Facility Limited (SANEF) to further deepen development at the grass roots.

    The foregoing, though, should leave no one with the impression that Abiodun wants to abandon the state capital and the major towns. He has already commenced 50 units of housing development at Hilltop Estate Abeokuta, and there is the 200 low income, mass housing units project at Ibara Abeokuta. In any case, if the etablishment of the Ogun Sports Commission is geared towards youth development, issues of social welfare are encapsulated in the empowerment of 1000 Widows by the wife of the Governor, launching of ‘Okowo Dapo’ loan programme with 2000 initial beneficiaries of N10,000 each.

    There is of course the overarching issue of security, where the procurement of 100 pick-up patrol vehicles, 200 motor bikes for the state law enforcement agencies, sourcing of Helicopter from the Presidency for aerial surveillance and the amendment of the Security Trust Fund (STF) Law and the inauguration of the STF Board are all expected to enhance governance objectives. Not a few Nigerians would hope that the informal sector enumeration and resident registration, centralisation and automation of the administration and management of key revenue toll points, will drive revenue, along with the commencement of the energy sector reforms. For a government that has in just three months given the Ijebu Ode Stadium a facelift and established the Ogun State Public Works Agency, Ogun State Waste Management Agency and Government Delivery Unit for Infrastructure, the best is certainly yet to come.