The Nation Newspaper

Tag: time

  • Time for economic team

    •It’s high time the government constituted one

    Nine months into the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, the need for an economic team to give verve and direction to the economy has never been more urgent. With barely 38 months left of its 48 months tenure, the apprehension – if not frustration – of citizens about the snail pace of governance, and the lack of coherent economic direction is as palpable as the clock ticks.

    Today, the economy is in dire straits with no discernible path out of the woods. The price of oil, the major source of revenue, continues on the path of free-fall, leaving the economy virtually on hold. As for manufacturing, the story has been one of perennial decline with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) reporting capacity utilisation as decreasing from 59.50 percent in the second quarter of 2015 to 54.90 percent in the third quarter. The operating environment continues to be as harsh, with very little done to address the stifling policies that have rendered manufacturing a nightmare.

    Only last week, the nation’s foreign reserve hit a new low of $27.8 billion –with signs that things might even get worse in the absence of real capacity to produce for export to earn foreign exchange. To compound the situation, the naira last week hit the nadir at N400 to the United States dollar at the parallel market – no thanks to the currency speculators who have settled on making fortunes from betting on the currency.  Presently, so dire is the infrastructure situation that it would require an annual outlay of $15bn to bring it up to scratch.

    Meanwhile, unemployment – particularly of youths – has reached a crisis point with the latter believed to be close to 50 percent –the highest ever. The same is true of corruption that has grown into cancerous proportions.

    Thursday last week, Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, called on President Buhari to convene an emergency economic conference to enable experts brainstorm on the way forward and the future of the economy.

    His words: ‘‘I agree with those who say the economy is bad. It is obvious and it is so bad. We really need an emergency economic conference, bringing experts together to march the nation forward. I think the economy is not encouraging. Quite frankly, I think most economists will agree with this”.

    The eminent Laureate merely stated the obvious; the Nigerian economy requires fresh ideas to move things forward. It requires fresh hands on deck to get things moving. With due respect to the individual qualities of the members of the federal cabinet and the activism witnessed in some sectors of late, we are hard put to see the kind of bold initiatives on which the envisaged future prosperity can be firmly anchored.

    Without question, the CBN has done a fairly good job of mobilising and channelling funds to the real sector, bridging the perceived gaps as well as helping to reduce the cost of lending. Again, on its part, the Federal Government has done a commendable job of tackling corruption headlong, streamlining the processes of governance and cutting avenues of wastes. These are certainly laudable steps.

    Yet, as laudable as they are, the same real sector continues to complain of lack of access to credit; of being ill-served by the restrictive policies of the apex bank; of lingering uncertainties and inhibitions in the economic environment; the unfriendly government policies, etc.

    These issues deserve to be put on the front burner. Without doubt, the economic crisis cannot be blamed on the Buhari administration because things were in a mess as at May 29 last year when it took over. We also agree there cannot be a quick fix, but at least there should be a think tank working for the government that is trying to put together policies towards addressing the economic challenges.

    Indeed, a competent economic management team that will put ideas to work has become a sine qua non. It is the least that the administration can bring about.

     

     

  • Time to look inward

    Time to look inward

    Whether for education, medical care or what
    have you, let’s think Nigeria

    Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) reversal of the earlier decision of the Bankers Committee which had met in Abuja and decided to place restrictions on allocation of foreign exchange for school fees abroad and medical tourism is only postponing the doomsday. If, as the Bankers Committee said we commit about 15 percent of our forex to serve these two purposes, then there is danger ahead because the country is unlikely to be in a position to afford that forever as things are.

    As a matter of fact, to underscore the urgency and seriousness attached to the matter, some of those who had lost hope of getting forex allocation for their children abroad started receiving alerts from their banks, asking them to turn in their papers after the CBN’s decision. I agree though that it would be unfair to deny those already abroad the opportunity of finishing their programmes; but those thinking of joining them should begin to think twice because, if things continue like this with our forex situation, a time might come when the country would find it difficult to meet such obligations. Even if things get better with the country’s finances, it is still not good to continue on the present destructive path which only guarantees jobs for people abroad at the expense of Nigerians at home.

    What I am saying is that, our current quagmire should nudge us into reviewing the way we do some things. Whether as individual Nigerians, or as governments, or as a country, it is time to change from this foreign dependence on virtually anything imaginable. Nigerians should start rethinking this idea that everything Nigerian is bad; or that everything foreign is good.

    Please get me right; it is not that studying abroad is inherently bad, or that it is something novel. Even in those days when the premier university in the country, the University College, Ibadan, now University of Ibadan, and a few of the first generation universities around were still in good shape, turning out quality graduates, some Nigerians were still going abroad to study. But what we have today is a complete departure from what obtained then. Many of those studying abroad now are there either for status symbol or because they could not find space in the local universities. With standard perennially falling in many of the local universities, parents who can afford it prefer sending their children abroad to study, instead of staying in overcrowded lecture theatres where some half-baked teachers would also stuff into their brains what they are not paid to stuff there. Or, where for the better part of the academic year, the schools would remain shut due to one industrial crisis or the other.

    There is no doubt that the existing universities in the country are inadequate to cater to the admission needs of the multitude of candidates seeking admission into the universities annually. With about two million candidates scrambling for admission into the about 128 universities (public and private) around with a total capacity of about 550,000, it becomes imperative that many may be called, but only a few can be chosen. Since this has become an annual thing, what we always end up having is a ballooning of the figure of those who cannot find admission in a particular year added to the following year’s list. It was partly in an effort to fill this yawning gap that some institutions established private universities, to at least reduce the number of qualified youths that cannot find space in the public universities. Still, hundreds of thousands are left in the lurch. The implication is that more and more people would naturally look elsewhere for university education. This cannot be a crime.

    But studying abroad does not come cheap; it comes at humongous costs that, unfortunately, the nation is going to find difficult to afford, especially at this point in time. Nigerian students abroad are said to be costing the country about N1.6trillion per annum. Ghana alone gets N160 billion of the funds, while Nigerians spend over N80 billion on education in the United Kingdom. According to Vanguard, “… In 2014, about 75,000 Nigerians were said to be studying in Ghana, paying about US$1 billion annually as tuition fees and upkeep, as against the annual budget of US$751 million for all federal universities. The amount was about 70 per cent of the total allocation in 2008 to all federal universities. In 2011, there were 17,585 Nigerians studying in UK universities, about 1,000 more than the 16,680 registered in the 2009/10 academic session, making Nigeria’s student population the third largest from non-European Union countries, trailing 39,090 recorded for India and 67,325 for China, according to statistics provided by UK Council for International Student Affairs”.

    Of course there are Nigerian students in other places, with the United States of America and Canada as the most popular choices, and also Central and Eastern Europe, where the tuition fees and living costs are low.

    What has become the lot of the country’s educational sector is, also, sadly the same with the health sector, as indeed with every sector of the economy. When in December 1983 the military struck and put an end to the Second Republic, part of the reasons cited for the coup was the state of our hospitals, which were then described as ‘mere consulting clinics’. In spite of the billions of petro-dollars the country has made over the years, even since then, things have only worsened in the sector. There are fewer consultants in the hospitals today as many of them have left our shores for greener pastures abroad.

    The experience with medical tourism is such that there is virtually no ailment that our rich do not take abroad for treatment, from radiculopathy to cancer, to knee injury. Even when they want to indulge themselves, they travel out for tummy tuck. As with education, medical tourism comes with its own cost. According to the Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority, Uche Orji, about 30,000 Nigerians spend $1 billion on medical tourism annually. Apart from the UK, USA, Germany, France that many of our elites go for treatment, many Nigerians also find places like India useful for certain ailments, all of which represent a drain on our foreign exchange. Although $1billion may look conservative as what Nigerians spend on medical tourism, but when added to the N1.6trillion that the country spends on its students abroad, then we can appreciate what the Bankers Committee was talking about. This is about two-thirds of this year’s budget.

    We can go on and on citing examples and quoting statistics but this would not help our situation. It is only the uninitiated that would want this state of affairs to continue. Collectively, therefore, we must do something to change the situation so that something will not do us. The government must show the way.  It should go beyond the usual lip service but take practical measures to get our schools and hospitals working. This may take some years; but we must start immediately to make the difference. With better standards in our educational institutions and hospitals, some Nigerians would begin to see the light and the need to stay at home to study, even as some others would also not feel that they would end up in the morgue after attending our public hospitals. The government can even ban public officials from seeking medical treatment abroad for ailments that can be treated at home for a start. Of course the private citizens who can afford it could still be allowed but that would be for some time. Eventually when people develop confidence in the system, more and more Nigerians would embrace our schools and hospitals.

    Ultimately, however, a change of attitude is what is required to achieve the aim of conserving foreign exchange for the country. Without this, all the hopes on diversification of the economy would amount to naught. Even if we make all the foreign exchange after diversifying the economy and the new nouveau riche still continue in the old ways of their predecessors by not checking their insatiable appetite for foreign goods, or by extending the frontiers, say, by making marrying of whites abroad their own new fad, we would still end up in square one again. A change of attitude has become inevitable. We have got to the point where we must ask, as Tokunbo Martins, CBN’s Director, Banking Supervision, asked during the Bankers Committee meeting in Abuja: “If you think about it, the pressure on forex now – from school fees abroad – is significant. At what point should we begin to look inwards? The pressure on medicals is significant. At what point should we begin to look inwards?”

    I ask too, at what point? At what point?

  • Time for social housing

    SIR: On July 31, 2014, the Federal Government, launched the first 10,000 mortgages for affordable homes scheme. The then coordinating minister for the economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, stated that the mortgage scheme was inspired by President Goodluck Jonathan’s pledge on January 16, 2014 when he launched the Nigerian Mortgage Refinancing Company (NMRC) with a view to making mortgage accessible to Nigerians to enable them purchase and own their own homes.

    Nigerians were assured of being pre-qualified for 10,000 mortgages to be provided by lenders most of whom were present at the launch. The NMRC was set up as a re-financing vehicle to provide mortgage lending institutions with increased access to liquidity and long-term funds, since the ability of banks to deliver mortgage services is limited by the fact that 80 per cent of all banks’ deposits are for 30 days only. Housing has a longer gestation period than commercial loans can accommodate. The NMRC, in ensuring greater access to finance for tenure of up to 20 years, was to accelerate the growth of the mortgage market for all income levels. The 10,000 mortgages scheme has been derailed by inconsistency of government policies in Nigeria.

    In a country with over 80 percent of people within the poverty threshold, housing cannot be viewed as an economic good only. It is equally a social good. Housing is a right and several local and international covenants guarantee the right of people to social protection that will help to eliminate the worst manifestations of poverty. The right to housing is founded, deeply rooted and recognised under international laws.

    Recent plans by the federal authorities of President Muhammadu Buhari  to adopt sustainable housing programme, promote alternative energy in projects, stimulate jobs for the low income earners and partner state governments in the process of housing provision is laudable. With the new housing policy, the federal government plans to employ Lagos housing model (Laghoms) by constructing 40 blocks of housing in each state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Each state is expected to provide land of between 5-10 hectares for a start, with title documents, and access roads or in lieu of access roads, a commitment that they will build the access roads by the time the houses are completed.

    This exercise will lead to potential delivery of 12 flats per block and 480 flats per state, and 17,760 flats nationwide. Human beings, generally by their nature, exhibit multi-territoriality. This means that the beneficiaries are definitely going to be those with one or two houses before. The number of flats to be delivered is also negligible and will not affect the graph of housing demand versus provision in Nigeria. Also, the Shehu Shagari-era federal housing experience shows that some states may decide to donate disused and inaccessible land to make the scheme unpopular considering the adversarial relations between states and federal governments in some areas. Most states are finding it difficult now to cope with infrastructure provision, especially payment of salaries and pension. They may therefore, not be able to provide infrastructures in the estates.

    Government has no excuses for abdicating its duty of care for the downtrodden and the vulnerable in Nigeria. Oil subsidy can be eradicated and in its place should be social housing development and agricultural grants. It will go a long way if the governments can declare state of emergency in housing and provide minimum of 500,000 houses every year as social housing for the poor in our major cities.

     

    • Olufemi A. Oyedele,

    Osogbo, Osun State.

  • No time for buck-passing

    SIR: The saying “the buck stops here” derives from the expression “pass the buck” which means passing the responsibility on to someone else. The sign “The Buck Stops Here” was on President Harry Truman’s desk in his White House office to announce he is responsible for everything.

    The All Progressives Congress (APC) must do better than wrapping cloak of blame around the past Peoples Democratic Party-led administration. Already they should know that Nigerians can write an encyclopaedia on the maladministration that characterized the Goodluck Ebele Jonathan government.

    It is indeed on record that the immediate past administration, amnesty international had to move their personnel from other countries to Nigeria to monitor the abysmal financial recklessness in the country. But we must not be bogged down by the loathful, wasteful past to score points. That approach only obliquely belittles strides of the incumbent president.

    The point therefore is for a marshal plan to be unveiled alongside the giant strides of recovering looted funds, consolidation of workable initiatives and projections into areas where gaps are evident. The public image managers of the present administration should therefore stop living in the past where they were in trenches as politicians in the opposition. They are now in charge.

    Buhari may be adjudged slow, may be bandied about as a junketer, may be seen as ethno-religious based leader, but the truth is, the task of patching the country battered by gluttonous politicians cannot be done hastily, cannot be seen free of sentiments and must be executed by building broken international relations.

    It therefore means Buhari is the custodian of the “buck”, where players in the past couldn’t manage the game to a win. Now insurgency/security malaise, economic back-turn, secessionist agitations are his inheritance, which we all know are estates left behind by systemic leadership failure in the past.

    The implication of passing the buck for those managing Buhari’s image is to tell the world he is struggling to get beyond the mire of past rottenness. Soon, the past will fight back once Nigerians realize the much needed change government is hiding behind a curtain of blame game.

    Fight against corruption is people based and pro-economic recovery but too much attention must not be showered at it. Meaning, those involved shouldn’t be honoured with media spotlight. It is important to note that any publicity is good publicity. There is no telling which person or group of persons are sympathetic even to the most insane thief based on the unnecessary attention.

    The war against corruption must however be total no matter whose ox is gored. The result of the entire process, the monetary value of recovered loot, quantum of punishment dished out and the effective economic utilization of recovered funds should be systemically handled to give credence to the whole exercise.

    The incumbent must move carefully on the planned invitation of former President Goodluck Jonathan to answer to allegations regarding arms deal. Many Nigerians are already claiming there are gaps in the fight against corruption, many are waiting for wrong moves like perceived selective probe. It is indeed instructive to state that the ongoing secessionist agitation is partly fuelled by the defeat of former President Jonathan. Those known as the wailing wailers will leverage on any identified gap to cause trouble.

    Seven months after taking power in a very popular and most democratic process, the Buhari administration should be harping on projections that will cover the gaps created by the constant fall in crude pricing. Finding alternative to our present ‘oily economy’ and preparing for a better future for Nigerians.

    Now is the time to take responsibility, no more frivolous blames. If there must be probe, then its must extend beyond Jonathan’s administration. Leadership ineptitude in the past has been a baton passed on to the immediate past president. If past leaders must account for their mistakes, the dragnet must be wide enough to pick many before Jonathan.

     

    • Israel A. Ebije,

    ebijeisrael@yahoo.com.

  • Long Time No See!

    Have you ever met a friend or relative you have not seen for a while, and within less than three minutes, he or she has asked you where you are currently, what you are doing, how long you’ve been doing it, where each of your siblings are and what they are doing? I don’t know about you but I see that around a lot. That is definitely not the best way to carry on a nice conversation. In fact, instead of you feeling good to see such a person again, you tend to feel so uncomfortable.

    Well, for people who have a lot to share about their achievements, it may be the opportunity they need to blow their own trumpets, after all, they were asked. However, most people wouldn’t like answering all those questions about their lives. Of course, the people asking the questions create the impression of simply being ‘interested’ in your welfare, but in most cases, they simply want to compare your life with theirs. If you are not as accomplished as they are, then get ready for the next phase- they will start to answer all those questions about themselves without you asking. If that happens, then believe me, they just want a psychological satisfaction of being better than someone else.

    Now, not all the people who ask such questions have that intension, but it just tells you that it is not the best way to carry on a conversation. Of course, there can be an exception when we are talking about two people who have been quite cordial in the past and who trust each other; then they wouldn’t be suspicious about sharing their information.

    Some people would even ask you the same question they asked you last week and the week before. It’s a clear indication that they were not listening in the first place. All of these and several others are things to avoid in conversations. So what exactly should you do in a conversation? Let’s check out a few points:

    • Exchange pleasantries: whether you are meeting someone for the first time, you are meeting an old friend or it’s simply someone you see every day, the first thing you do is to exchange pleasantries. I don’t want to sound legalistic so I won’t go into details of what you should say. Since a conversation is an art, it is dynamic. So, leave room for flexibility. If you are meeting an individual for the first time, the pleasantries should be formal (depending on the nature of relationship you hope to have with him/her), at least until you consider each other familiar enough to be semi-formal or informal. You will do more of introducing yourselves; you do this so as to find a common ground for your communication. The more things you have in common the better.
    • Addressing each other: it is wise that you are cautious in the way you address your partner. If you are meeting each other for the first time, you may want to address him/her formally until you are given the permission to use the first name. Don’t assume that he/she wouldn’t mind being called by name, it can be costly. Although this rule may not strictly apply to someone you see every day (since you would have already established a pattern of communication), it may apply to people you haven’t seen in a long while, no matter how close you were. If for instance they are now married, you may try addressing them formally at first. Here’s the trick, jokingly address them formally and watch their reactions. If they tell you to drop the formalities or they jokingly use it in return for you, you are on safe ground; you can drop it after the initial pleasantries. However, if they are the first to address you formally and you don’t detect any form of humour, or if you use formalities and they seem to like it, you better stick with it.
    • Catch up on old times: of course, this only applies to old friends or relatives. Don’t start by asking questions about what they are up to now. Simply return to the last experience you had together (which I hope was pleasant. In case it was not, please avoid it). After sharing memories of old fun times, you would have settled into a comfortable friendship. Now is the time to talk about what has happened between the last time you saw them and now. Remember, don’t pry; whatever information they are not willing to give should be left alone. Once you notice that anytime you ask about something, they change the topic, you, as a conversationist, should realise that it is not a comfortable zone. And since conversation is all about comfort, you will do well to drop the topic.
  • Subsidy: Time to let go

    Subsidy: Time to let go

    The fuel queues are back – as if you didn’t know that already. The tragedy isn’t just that OPEC’s one-time sixth largest exporter of crude has again suffered another crushing relapse of the familiar plague of dry pumps – no thanks to the feud between fuel importers and the finance ministry – it’s like the nation has come under a spell of some ancestral curses!

    Trust Nigerians for their inventiveness, guess they have since moved on; while we are back to the same old wearisome arguments about whether or not the subsidy exists, our go-go nature appears to have gotten the better of us. Majority – call it the silent ones if you like – it would appear, could no longer be bothered with either the economics or even the semantics of fuel subsidies, they have since swallowed the full pill of deregulation – this time through the back door. Scarcity or not, I know for a fact that you could purchase fuel in some stations in Lagos without as much as breaking a sweat – so long as you are willing to part with N140 for a litre in the deregulated market downtown! Seems one moment when Nigerians wouldn’t mind to cut their noses – even if temporarily – to get going!

    Truly, the subject of fuel subsidy never ceases to fascinate. As in the round leather game of football, it is one subject that every Kasali, Chinedu and Usman would claim, with some air of certainty, some degree of knowledge if not expertise. You know why? Everybody is involved – from the jerry-can clutching vulcanizer to the barber next door; what about the welder or even the ubiquitous taxi driver all of whom the liquid gold has come to mean the difference between life and death?

    Yes, everyone is involved.

    Agreed, subsidy is a touchy subject. I have seen otherwise brilliant minds relapse into some wild, witless garbage when the subject is fuel subsidy. Many would rather be politically correct rather than risk ruffling feathers. And so argument persists that simply because oil is of nature’s finest gift to us, we can continue to dispense with the niceties of economics!

    To be sure, I have looked at the contending arguments; it seems to me that the difference between the most vociferous proponents of fuel subsidy removal and their opponents is actually more shadow than real substance! Forget what the marketers and their hordes of middlemen say; the truth is that they want the subsidy regime to continue; it is their surest route to unearned wealth. What about the bureaucrats, the men and women wielding awesome powers over our lives? It is their surest guarantee of raw, invisible power – without control. As one would imagine, the politicians want it for a different purpose; for them, it is a fascinating subject for politricking any day.

    Did I hear the “ogas at the top” describe the subsidy regime as “unsustainable”? What their lucre-addicted lordships meant to say is that they could do with more of freshly-minted wads in the piggy bank to do as they please.

    The irony of course is that a section of the hoi polloi actually believes the lie that the petrol and kerosene subsidy – together with its impregnable infrastructure of graft that services it – actually comes close to their share of the proverbial national cake! That for me is the most tragic part of the raging debate.

    Is there really a subsidy? I have heard the question over and over again. To the question I say – we wouldn’t be who we are if we are not found debating whether or not the weekend May 14 Platts reference price of $718.49 per metric tonne (that is N105.55 per litre) is real! Note that this is not yet reflective of distribution costs as well as the marketers’ margins!  With petrol price officially pegged at N87 per litre, the above should ordinarily solve the arithmetic.

    Next question – why can’t the federal government build new refineries? Or its variant – why can’t the government compel the International Companies (IOCs) to build refineries in the country? Or still, get the private sector to build new refineries? Good question – all of them!

    Let me proceed from the known to the unknown. Again, as if we don’t know, the reality is that OPEC’s leading crude oil exporter refines only a miniscule fraction of its domestic fuel needs. Daily requirement for petrol is said to range from 40-45 million litres daily of which the four refineries combined is said to deliver a miserable 10-15 percent. To bridge the gap, we rely on imports at deleterious costs to our foreign reserves and the larger national economy. From an ordinarily hefty subsidy bill of barely N250 billion in 2011; the nation has since the literally broken the banks – spending close to a trillion on kerosene and petrol alone annually!

    So why can’t the government build new refineries? The answer: the same reason the government is unable to bring back the national carrier; it’s the same argument about government’s inability to fix the multiplicity of our roads; the reason the power sector is considered as jinxed! I daresay here that the old cliché about the government not being good at business is true only to the extent that our government lacks both the means and the discipline to run a modern enterprise! The tiny Island country of Singapore is a living exception to that rule!

    As for getting the IOCs to build new refineries, it seems rather too easy to overlook the terrible effects of government’s meddlesomeness on the downstream sector. Does anyone still remember that the first refinery in the country was actually built not by government but by Shell? It seems aeons ago when the motorist in Lagos bought fuel at a different price from his compatriot in Maiduguri! That was when market ruled – long before our leaders pronounced that money was not our problem but how to spend it!

    To my main point. There comes a time in the life of a nation when citizens just have to make hard choices. The current season would appear such a time. The simple truth is that the nation cannot afford, even if it wants, to sustain the current regime of price support called subsidy. Something simply has to give. Moreover, I have stated elsewhere that the subsidy regime is unfair to the extent that the burden is regressive. In short, it is time to let go! Agreed, it is not the end; it’s one sure step on the path to dismantling the infrastructure of fraud currently sapping the nation’s vital juices. That done, with supporting policies, the goal of local refining might actually be closer than many would dare to imagine. I rise!

    The above was first published on May 19 this year.

    Kogi: The law can’t be an ass!

    Yours sincerely joins the rest of the good people of Kogi to mourn the unfortunate demise of Prince Abubakar Audu, the flamboyant All Progressives Congress candidate in weekend’s gubernatorial election. It seems one of the cruel ironies of life that the good people of Kogi are now left to rue over the possibilities in his planned return to the Lugard House complex 12 years after.

    I am not entirely surprised at the myths being spawned in the aftermath of his death. Since when have we stopped being superstitious?

    Or the permutations and the frenzy of varied interpretations as to what should be the way forward. It is not entirely surprising that emergency lawyers and road-side activists appear to have hijacked the debate in the full blown laissez-faire season of unreason! Reminds me of the African saying that all manners of knives are to be seen at the death of an elephant!

    In Kogi, the issue of the limits of the law comes to the fore. So is the majesty of public policy. Now, it seems so easy to forget that 21 parties contested in all with 42 candidates and their running mates – on the ballot. We are talking of an election that was practically concluded except in some odd 91 polling units spread accross 18 local government areas in which the entire number of registered voters is a mere 49,953 and which the voters had left no one in doubt about their choice! Yes, the All Progressives Congress of Prince Audu Abubakar scored 240,867 as against the Peoples Democratic Party of Idris Wada with 199,514 votes.

    And now because INEC deems fit to fulfil all righteousness in given that the difference between the leading candidate and the runner up is some 41,000 votes, some people have gone as far as to suggest that the exercise be aborted because the candidate of the leading party died mid-stream! Did the law not envisage this possibility when it made provision for running mates? And would anyone have dared to make the same argument if it was another candidate but the leading one that died?

    We have not reached the point where the law is deemed stupid – or have we?

     

     

  • A time to dance in Imo

    A time to dance in Imo

    The Supreme Court ruling validating Governor Chekwas Okorocha’s election was not only his to savour. Residents also took to the streets to celebrate. OKODILI NDIDI reports

    The entire state erupted into jubilation shortly after the news of Governor Rochas Okorocha’s Supreme Court victory filtered in. Women, youths, politicians and clergymen alike, took to the street, singing and dancing.

    The reason for the wild jubilation may not be unconnected to the suspense that had trailed the suit brought against the state Governor’s victory by the People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) candidate, Chief Emeka Ihedioha.

    Right from the moment the petition was filed at the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, sitting in Owerri, the Imo State capital, PDP supporters had openly told whoever cared to listen that the governor’s victory will only last for as long as it takes the Tribunal to give its ruling.

    But after the Tribunal and the Appeal Court threw out the petition on technical grounds, the battle ground was shifted to the Supreme Court, where it was to be decided if the petition will be returned to the Tribunal for hearing, thus the Governor’s supporters waited with berthed breath for the judgment.

    Leading the jubilant women on the victory dance, Mrs. Gertrude Oduka said that the Supreme Court judgment has affirmed the people’s mandate and put to rest the distractions the PDP’s petition had caused the state government and the entire people of the state.

    She noted that the people voted massively for the governor in the last election because of his unprecedented achievements, adding that the women are now relaxed and optimistic that with the “petition now laid to rest,” the governor will concentrate on his Rescue Mission Agenda for the state.

    Mrs. Oduka who is also the Chairman of the Imo State Universal Basic Education Board (IMSUBEB), said that the large turnout of women and youths who gathered to celebrate the Supreme Court judgment was an indication that it affirmed the people’s mandate.

    Meanwhile the governor acknowledged Court judgement with gladness.

    A statement signed by the governor’s Chief Press Secretary Sam Onwuemeodo said, “With this remarkable judgment of the Supreme Court, Chief Ihedioha had exhausted all his legal entitlements with regard to the 2015 gubernatorial election. And since he was the only governorship candidate who challenged Governor Okorocha’s victory at the Court, and with the Supreme Court judgment, the legal chapter of the 2015 governorship poll in the state has been finally closed and for better too.

    “The Rescue Mission government in the state has highly commended the Supreme Court for respecting and endorsing the electoral and civic rights of Imo people to choose who would govern them. We have always held the judiciary in high esteem and shall continue to do so because that arm of government has continued to earn the confidence of Imo people.

    “And for Chief Ihedioha, we would only advise him and his PDP supporters to now give peace a chance in the state. Time has come for them to drop the toga of war which they had put on since the 2015 election and all through the time they were in court against Governor Okorocha.

    “It is on record that when the election petition tribunal that sat in Owerri gave its judgment dismissing the petition of Chief Ihedioha against the victory of governor Okorocha, we pleaded with him with every sense of responsibility to allow the matter end at that level and to join hands with Governor Okorocha to work for the progress of the state and her people. But that passionate appeal was neither acknowledged nor heeded to.”

    The statement continued: “Again when Chief Ihedioha proceeded to the Court of Appeal in absolute disregard of our earlier entreaty to allow the sleeping dog lie and at the end of the day, the Court of Appeal also threw away his case by upholding the judgment of the election petition tribunal, we equally pleaded with him again to stop the matter at that stage in the interest of the state and her people. He also did not consider that candid appeal, and went to the Supreme Court.

    “Now, having lost at the Supreme Court, we would only call on him to give peace a chance and advise his PDP supporters who have continued to threaten the peace of the state with their actions and utterances to also know that the matter is over, and they should now decide to be partners in progress.

    “The governor thanks Imo people for all their support and prayers that had seen him victorious from the tribunal to the Supreme Court. The governor, as a matter of fact, would remain thankful to God almighty and to Imo people in general”.

    Reacting to the judgment, Ihedioha, said, “Today the apex Court of our nation’s judicial system, the Supreme Court of Nigeria delivered judgement striking out my legal challenge of the declaration of His Excellency, Chief Ethelbert Anayo Okorocha OON, as Governor elect by the INEC following the 2015 Governorship election in our dear Imo State.

    “Having been privileged to preside over an arm of our national legislature and being a firm believer in the trinity of the arms of our democratic governance and constitutionalism, I accept the outcome of the matter and restate that the contest which was never personal is now over.

    “I must reiterate that although the factual complaints we made over the irregularities that bedevilled the governorship election were never heard or determined on the merits by any level of the Court’s hierarchy, our matter was struck out on technical grounds, I hold no grudges”.

    He continued that, “I consequently express my heartfelt appreciation to the teeming Imo citizens who supported our project and desire to “rebuild Imo together” Let us all be reassured that by the grace of Almighty God in whichever circumstance or capacity, I remain committed to putting our dear Imo State first and contributing my quota to achieving the hope of an Imo State of our collective dream.

    “I wish therefore to thank the leadership, membership of our great party, the PDP and her teeming supporters in the state for their continued support and prayers especially those unsung heroes of our team who toiled day and night while promoting our vision and candidacy.

    “Finally, I wish Governor Okorocha well, while urging him to take into account the apparently dwindling fortunes of Imo State and the avoidable economic hardship confronting our people under his watch.”

     

  • No time for remorse

    No time for remorse

    We are in a state of suspended animation. The phrase, once used to acclaim by Wole Soyinka here, actually originated in the 19th century. Samuel Coleridge, author of the popular poem Rime of the Ancient Mariners, also popularised it in the era of the Romantic poets. But the phrase came out of the loins of the Royal Humane Society to describe the state of a drowning man.

    The drowning man is neither dead nor alive. He inhabits that never-realm of paralysis. It is that place between conception and birth, between night and day, between sleep and vigil, between silence and sound.

    As President Buhari jetted out to India, he brought to the fore a significant knowledge of our state of paralysis. He said we are broke. We cannot pay salaries. Some ministers will merely sit in council. We cannot speak of infrastructure renewal. We have been both morally and “materially vandalised.” Nice phrase. But not words of inspiration. They are platforms for remorse.

    Added to that is that fear of a collapse to recession. The CBN chief once warned we are on the cusp of recession. Then he ate his words, perhaps after realising he embarrassed Aso Rock and himself. But Freudian slip is important because the truth just escaped into the wind.

    Amidst all these, a prominent Yoruba politician’s kidnap ignited separatist impulse within a section of the Yoruba elite. The North lashed back in denial, seeing it as isolated criminality. In the North, the army collides in a war of truth with Borno State Governor Kashim Shettima over the successes in the war against terror. Meanwhile, the Washington Post writes a scathing editorial over what it sees as our army operating as barbarous hordes in contempt of human rights.

    In the Southeast, the Biafra spirit haunts like a baleful ghost. Arrests and protests reify questions fundamental to democracy. When does free expression become treason? In the Southwest, some jingoists are taking a federal state for granted and installing Ezes and fantasizing about them when they cannot allow them in their own yards back home.

    If the zest for Biafra reawakened is farcical, are the agitators for imperialist Ezes not even more terrible. The Nation columnist Professor Jide Osuntokun wrote brilliantly on this subject titled: “A Republic of Thousand kings.”

    At the bottom of this, the economy reels. Many are going out of jobs. We crave discipline but the child of the priest pants for bread. When does the country make the distinction between good forex policy and good international trade? When is IMF fulmination neo-colonial and when is our resistance self-destructive nationalism? Businesses are supposed to work in a state of purity but all around them are men in suitcases who cart billions out of the country, in spite of the rigidity of the forex policy.

    All of these remind me of Professor Sheldon Wolin, the theorists who rescued politics and democracy from the so-called behaviourists who looked at democracy from cold data. The Harvard Professor, who died recently at 93, proved in his opus Politics and Vision, and Democracy Inc., the limits of democracy. He announced that elections can easily be an illusion after an era of change is ushered in. He said democracy can be what he termed “inverted totalitarianism” in which a powerful few or cabal lose touch with the mass and still use the concept of popular sovereignty to hold on to the reins of power.

    So, now that change has come, the problems should not be allowed to go out of reach. When Lenin took over power in the Soviet Union, he doused concerns of a flagging zeal by inaugurating what he termed “permanent revolution,” even though some political scientists have said he was a counter-revolutionist with his New Economic Policy.

    If the President says we have been materially vandalised, it is no new wisdom. If a lot of our money has been stolen, what is the progress in getting them back? We need the money. We don’t want a President who will lament. We want one who will implement. If we want ministers, they should be given jobs.

    The cabinet is not a talk shop, but a brewery of ideas that the brewers themselves turn into frothy fulfilment on the people’s dinner table. It is still early days for Buhari, but this is the time to inspire, not give a sense of soporific retirement.

    He has done well with the effect of his body language. Power has improved, a sense of probity grips government agencies, etc. But like a suitor whose perfume soon loses fragrance, he will learn that concrete actions will be needed to win the bride.

    If we do not have money to do infrastructure and revive entrepreneurship, he can learn from Japan, the United States and Europe. They used what economists call quantitative easing. In simple language, the CBN uses its powers to circulate more money in order to galvanise the economy. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has hinted at a $25 billion stimulus. If that is true, the president should not utter such uninspired words. Unless the $25 billion is a hope and not a plan. The point of a chief executive is to do, not moan.

    Given his austere and disciplined profile, we expect him to bring his moral stature to bear on all the social issues pulsing from the Northeast to the Southeast to the West. The presidency has been silent on the cattle rustlers. The president knows it is a hot button, and he should intervene.

    The state of suspended animation calls for action. So we do not look like French novelist Emile Zola’s Therese Raquin who falls into self-doubt and turmoil after getting rid of the common enemy with her lover: her husband. We have victory but then we have remorse. That is the worst form of triumphal spirit. Like Roman General Pyrrhus who said, “Another victory like this and we are done.”

    What the leadership needs is an audacity of vision. If Coleridge lamented a state of suspended animation, he basked in a better spirit: “suspension of disbelief.” That calls for courage to rise above illusion to overcome the problem of the day. Over to you, PMB.

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  • VC counsels new students on time management

    Newly-admitted students of Elizade University, Ilara-Mokin, Ondo State have been advised to use their time wisely to fulfill their purpose of study.

    Vice-Chancellor (VC) of the University, Prof. Kunle Oloyede, gave the advice while addressing the students at an orientation programme organised by the Student Affairs Unit.

    He cautioned that if they failed to use their time judiciously, they would find it difficult to achieve academic excellence.

    Oloyede urged them to think creatively, plan and implement with the guidance of their lecturers and other members of staff ready to assist them.

    The VC, who described them as drivers of their destiny, enjoined them to drop any “passenger” that would not allow them to arrive at their desired destinations.

    Also speaking, the Registrar, Mr. Omololu Adegbenro, advised the students to always adhere to school rules and regulations. He warned that the University would not hesitate to sanction any student found wanting in morals.

    Adegbenro encouraged them to always seek advice from their mentors and the Counseling Unit of the university on matters bordering on their academic and personal lives.

     

  • Time to regulate CSOs

    SIR: All over the world, the role of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) is essentially in three coordinate parts namely: to facilitate the design of strategies for development; to act as service providers under the aegis of community and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs); and lastly, to be watchdogs in order to make government accountable for its commitments.

    Perhaps the description of Connor is more succinct and explanatory: “Civil society is composed of autonomous associations which develop a dense, diverse and pluralistic network. As it develops, civil society will consist of a range of local groups, specialized organizations and linkages between them to amplify the corrective voices of civil society as a partner in governance and the market” (Connor, 1999). In effect, CSOs should promote transparency, and sustainable growth of the economy either in partnership with government agencies or as independent groups. In additionto providing leadership in the strategic areas mentioned above, CSOs are key players in the area of poverty reduction, debt relief and, of course, the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in their locations.

    The emergence of CSOs in the mid-90s was largely driven by the quest to open up the space for players outside government and other established sectors and at the same time promote efficiency in service delivery and ensure that projects meant for the people have significant bearing on their lives. CSOs also came about in relation to managing the fallouts of the several reforms including the structural adjustment programmes propagated by international funding agencies and development partners.

    An upshot of the foregoing is that CSOs are supposed to be the engine rooms for the enthronement of democracy, accountability, personal liberties and good governance. They have been largely successful in other climes because by their enabling nature, they are supposed to be leaner, adjustable, tighter and driven.

    How have the CSOs fared in Nigeria? Have their activities touched the lives of the people? Have they been true to their mandate? Have they done justice to their primary objectives? A critical evaluation of their activities will show that at best it’s been a case of mixed blessings. Whilst it is gratifying to note that some of the CSOs may have been people-oriented, progressive in nature and have stuck to their founding mandate, the same cannot be said of others. Rather than see the government as partners in making the country better, the latter group seem to antagonize everything from that direction. Even where there are opportunities to re-create and turn things around for the better, they seem fixated with the ‘business as usual’ approach of the past because of the pecuniary gains to be appropriated by them. Unfortunately, their activities have diminished the good works undertaken by those who have conscientiously pursued the primary objectives of the organizations. Clearly, they have lost track having traded their sacred raison detre for ephemeral things. Like a virus, the level of proliferation of this insidious group have multiplied exponentially and one only hopes that the sector has not been infiltrated by mindless zealots

    I am therefore asking that for the country to get the best from the sector, it is about time to regulate their activities and in the course of this exercise, the country will be in a position to remove the grain from the chaff. This is calling on the Buhari administration to sanitize the civil society organizations. The time to act is now.

    • Shehu Adamu,

    Jos, Plateau State.