The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Towards

  • Towards a cleaner Lagos

    Sir: I would like to comment on the general state of the environment in Lagos and also suggest the way forward towards achieving a cleaner, healthier and liveable Lagos of our dream.

    Lagos, like every cosmopolitan city, is grappling with the problem of urbanization. Hundreds of people migrate to the city on a daily basis thereby causing an increase in the metric tonnes of wastes generated.

    However, for a state that has attained a megacity status and aspiring to become a smart city, the present state of the environment is most worrisome and unacceptable.

    The problem is largely human. Unfortunately, most offenders go scot-free because the government has not shown enough political will to stop this menace by enforcing our environmental sanitation laws.

    Most of our public drains are either heavily-silted or filled with all sorts of debris, our road median covered with overgrown vegetation, our roads, streets, walkways, pedestrian bridges and other public places are usually littered with all sorts of solid wastes, especially water sachets, table water plastics as well as sand deposits.

    Open urination and defecation by most Lagosians is steadily degrading our environment. This is so because of inadequate public toilet facilities across the state.

    Even though, we have road sweepers employed by LAWMA and LAMATA to sweep these roads ion a daily basis, still, the desired impact is yet to the felt, the road sweepers are trying their best, but in my own view, they are usually overwhelmed by the enormity of work to be done and they are grossly inadequate in number for effective coverage.

    For any visitor coming to the city for the first time, the state of the environment tells a lot about the place and her people. No amount of money is too much to be spent in order to have a sustainable environment.

    It is gratifying to note that the Cleaner Lagos Initiative of the present administration has started in earnest. Visionscape is now working round the clock to ensure that the mounting refuse noticeable across the state are promptly evacuated. Also, we have seen in action in some LGAs Cleaner Lagos Initiative Sanitation Corps.

    I would like to advise the government to immediately embark on aggressive public enlightenment and sensitization of Lagosians through the relevant agencies for at least three months, on the need to fully embrace this latest attempt aimed at making the city more attractive to all and sundry.

    During this period, the government must strive to put certain things in place prior to the renewed enforcement of the state’s environmental sanitation laws.

    The local government authorities and CDAs need to be more proactive in the management of the environment. They need to partner with the government so as to achieve the desired result.

    The government must place order for more waste bins for distribution to all nooks and crannies  of the state and ensure that they are promptly evacuated when filled up to prevent spillage of refuse back to our streets/roads and drains. Every vehicle playing Lagos roads, private or commercial, must have a waste bin for the use of their passengers. The activities of street traders must be outlawed in the state because they contribute in no small measure, to the level of filthiness we are currently experiencing.

    The government must build more public toilets across the state. If possible, the usage of these toilets should be free of charge to encourage patronage by Lagosians.

    The monthly environmental sanitation exercise cancelled by this present administration must be re-introduced and properly monitored to ensure full compliance by the citizenry. No sacrifice is too much for the preservation fi the environment which is our natural heritage.

    House-to-house sanitation inspectors must be-introduced.

    It behoves on Lagosians to embrace the Cleaner Lagos Initiative of the present administration so that its stated objectives can be realized.

     

    • Babajide Olowookere, Ikorodu, Lagos.

  • Towards functional nationwide transportation

    Should states collaborate with the Federal Government to drive an effective mass transit that will be truly national? The berthing of a forum of Commissioners for Transportation, experts say, will help breed a healthy sector that could grow the economy, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

    The gathering of Commissioners of Transportation in Abuja, last Friday, was the clearest signal that Nigeria may be on the way to getting it right in the transportation sector, a critical sector which drives the wheel of the nation’s economy.

    While the sector has witnessed tremendous support and sustained planning by governments world over for about six decades, transportation has been abandoned by successive governments in Nigeria, turning the sector into an all comers’ affair.

    This has made the sector almost prostrate, contributing a mere 4.5 per cent to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2017.

    The maiden edition of the meeting of states’ transportation policy formulators was a fallout of last year’s National Transportation Council’s resolution, which served as peer review mechanism to drive the renaissance of transportation across the states, thereby reviving a sector largely seen as being in the woods.

    That explains why Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi’s charge is  that the greatest dividend such a gathering could give Nigerians was to bequeath a working mass transit to the people. For this to happen, all federating units must key into the policies and programmes of the Federal Government.

    The problem is that the nation’s transportation sector, like others, has been fraught with dysfunctional paradigms that have seen states working at cross purposes to one another, thereby making a national transportation master plan a messy piece of cake and unachievable.

    For instance, while for about two decades the National Transportation Council – Nigeria’s highest policy making organ, clearly stated that motorcycles should not be means of mass transit anywhere in the country, many of the states did not only permit same, but openly encourage it. There were instances where governors, who ought to drive the policy, continued to dole out motorcycles and crash helmets to the youth as empowerment tools.

    The resultant effect was the ugly kaleidoscope of commercial motorcycles called okada, which are now contesting space on the crowded roads in the cities. It is not out of place to see commercial okada operators migrating their services from hostile environments to favourable states.

    The effect of such odious practice, which cut across several states of the federation, is that national transportation policies and programmes have continued to be distorted as states’ fidelity to the policies is seen in breaches.

    For the past six decades, the nation’s transportation sector was more of a jungle, where everyone held sway. The result is that despitethe country’s population, which is put at about 180 million, Nigeria’s economy, until recently, the largest in Africa, is still driven by a monolithic motorised system of transportation, while other sub-sectors have been either moribund non-existent, or operating at a disproportional ratio to its full potential.

    For instance, while the road mode had accounted for over 75 per cent of both freight and passenger transportation in Nigeria, air, rail, and water modes have continued to jostle for the remaining 25 percent, with the air accounting for about 10 per cent, while the rail does about 12 per cent, leaving inland waterways with only three per cent traffic.

    Amaechi listed some of the programmes, which he envisaged greater collaboration, to include the development of Road Transport Operators Manual (RTOM), Road Crime Control System (RCCS), Introduction of Truck Transit Parks (TTPs) and the development of robust urban mass transit that would fully deploy the three modes of transportation.

    Road transport operators’ manual, road crime control system and the introduction of truck transit parks, will help stimulate the transportation sector, create jobs, relief the roads and assist in making the roads safer for all operators/users.

    This is aside the introduction of Green Transportation (walking, trekking, bicycle riding), and Amphibious vehicles, which could be used on the nation’s inland waterways being promoted by the government.

    According to experts, the time has come for a shared vision if government is determined to give Nigerians seamless transportation system.

    A logistics expert, Mr. Kelvin Joseph, urged the states to formulate right policies that would develop the road transport sub-sector, which according to him, was state’s constitutional responsibility.

    Amaechi said the Federal Government remains committed to the ongoing reforms in the rail, maritime, aviation, mass transit and road operations administration.

    According to Joseph, states must cue into the reforms and expand the transit modes available to the people linking one state to the other.

    Chairman of commissioners’ forum and Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Transport and Petroleum Resources, Mr Orman Esim,  said beyond peer review, the forum was also to ensure that there was uniformity in service delivery by state governments. He said issues such as multiple charges and taxes within states would soon be a thing of the past.

    Working Document

    From United Kingdom (UK), to Singapore, China and Australia, tiers of government in developed societies usually have holistic master plan encompassing  their transportation visions and aspirations.

    In the United States (US) for instance, states are required to regularly update a master plan co-ordinated by the Department of Transportation (DOT). DOT is a federal regulator.

    The federal regulator requires that each state must prepare and periodically update a state wide intermodal transportation plan that not only addresses how it will tackle specified factors, but covers a period of at least, 20 years as a condition to receiving federal transportation funding.

    In its 2005 to 2030 masterplan with the theme: “Strategies for a new age: New York State’s transportation Master Plan for 2030, an update of the state’s 1996 plan, the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), envisaged the following parameters: 11 million licenced drivers, 10.5 million motor vehicles, riding over 113,000 miles of local, state and interstate roads and 17,000 local and state highway bridges.

    About 2.6 billion transit passenger trips are made yearly, including a daily average of 4.8 million subway riders. Over 488 communities are linked by intercity bus service, which serves 2.6 million passengers yearly.

    No fewer than 4,800 miles of railroads serve or connect 31 passenger rail stations and carry 78 million tons of freight yearly.

    Experts said a transportation master plan that would include the states, will help address the nation’s status as the biggest economy on the African continent.

    In a changing global economy, where travel demands of customers are becoming complex, new modes, they argued, needed to be introduced if Nigeria must continue to be relevant.

    Lagos State Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS) Chief Executive,  Dr Hafiz Toriola said an integrated master plan, which includes all modes of transportation, especially land, water and air must be pursued.

    He also canvassed the involvement of 36 states in designing masterplan that suits their environment, while the Federal Government sets the rules of integration, facilitates and coordinates inter-state involvement.

    He said: “There should be a devolution of power, which would see the Federal Government take full charge of all roads on the exclusive list, (Trunk A) roads, while states gain full autonomy to run all roads on the concurrent list (Trunk B) and local governments the residual (Trunk C) roads.”

    Former Dean, School of Transportation Studies, Lagos State University (LASU), Dr Tajudeen Olukayode Bawa-Allah, wondered why the government ought to be taken seriously in its bid to develop a transportation masterplan for the country.

    Executive Director, Safety Without Borders (SWB), Mr Patrick Adenusi, traced the mushrooming of illegal activities in the sector and the way all comers find their way into the sector to the absence of a master plan.

    Describing transportation as a major part of human activity, Adenusi wondered why the government had to wait till everything almost collapsed before it thought of regulating the sector.

    According to Adenusi, nobody goes into the aviation industry and buys an aeroplane to start operating it. The other sub-sectors of the industry, he said, ought to be strictly regulated as well.

    A master plan, mutually shared by the states, experts argued, will ensure that every state is maximally developed.

    The states must begin to evolve their plans and efficiently manage their physical development.

    According to Managing Director Planet Projects Ltd., Biodun Otunola, states must take ownership of the transportation systems in their states and develop systems that support their population.

    Conclusion

    The coming together of Commissioners of Transportation outside the nation’s highest advisory body on transportation, Otunola said, may be one of the ways to sanitise the sector and stimulate its growth across all states.

    Having someone like Amaechi to drive the change initiative in transportation may mean an unusual time for the sector and stakeholders will agree, is the only way to bring sanity to a sector that has long been abandoned and neglected by policymakers.

  • Towards a better NDDC

    SIR: The current leadership of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) headed by Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba had its hands full from inception, in its bid to remake the narrative that has hitherto plagued the commission. This piece takes a look at critical steps taken in this respect.

    Since the special intervention aimed at enhancing the sustainable development of the Niger Delta, a move which birthed the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) as it is known today by the NDDC Act of 2000, this laudable initiative, some say, has been fraught with all manner of irregularities, a narrative currently being reworked by the current management.

    This has been responsible, in part, for why the Chairman of the Governing Board, Senator Victor Ndoma-Egba, suggested a change in narrative, strategy and modus operandi as it were, if the NNDC must realise the aims and objectives for which it was set up while contending that the former ways of doing things have hampered the realisation of the agency’s objectives.

    This injection of a new policy direction seems to cascade down to the day to day running of the commission under the Managing Director/CEO, Mr. Nsima Ekere, whose responsibility it is to run the affairs of the Commission day to day, and see to it that the objectives of the interventionist agency are in harmony with both the people in the relevant communities and the federal government’s overall plans for the region.

    To kick start and bring the new policy drive to life, a meeting with the executives of Oil Producers Trade Section (OPTS) was held, geared towards including them in the budgetary process of the Commission in carrying out relevant projects initiated especially by the IOCs and OPTS within the host communities where their major operations exist.

    This move is premised on the fact that since the oil producers are part of the major contributors to the NDDC budgetary allocations, allowing them to have a say as to where these monies are spent for the host communities contributing to the development of the region, seems logical and fair.

    At another level, the Inter-Ministerial Meeting chaired by the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, to review the 20-point agenda of the Federal Ministry of Petroleum Resources with regard to the Niger Delta and take a critical look at abandoned projects under the NDDC with a view to doing something about it.

    The meeting also reassessed the environmental management in the Niger Delta under Federal Ministry of Environment and a review of the amnesty programme and the 16-point demand of the Pan Niger Delta Forum with a need to harmonise the agenda with that of Petroleum Ministry, State Government’s blue print and the Amnesty office, while ensuring that it is rolled up into one workable plan.

    Shifting gears, NDDC also directed contractors responsible for abandoned projects to return and recommence work immediately, setting a 30-day deadline with effect from 17th March, 2017, after which contractors would be prosecuted for failure to heed the Commission’s directives. This is a clear manifestation of the ‘business unusual’ nature of the current leadership.

    More importantly, awareness of the ongoing Niger Delta Clean Up efforts, which have since started, is to be reinvigorated, facilitated and sustained by the Federal Ministry of Environment.

    In the final analysis, Senator Ndoma-Egba, understanding that it may not be easy as the current move will need a total overhaul of the old ways of doing things, had canvassed and advocated increasing community participation by host communities and sense of ownership regarding NNDC projects as the way forward towards ensuring sustainability and maintenance of NNDC projects after completion and inauguration.

     

    • Clara Braide,

    Special Assistant on Communication to NDDC Chairman

  • Towards an inclusive economy: Harnessing the power of youth

    Following the inauguration of the 8th Senate, it was clear that working to make a better Nigeria would mean shining the light on segments of the population that have yet to be carried along in our national development journey. It would also mean taking a closer look at how different groups of people have benefitted or not benefitted from the socio-economic dividends of Nigeria’s past economic growth.

    A glaring underserved population in our society are our youth. Over the years, the ripple effect of their lack of inclusion has prevented this otherwise powerful group from playing their rightful role in the evolution of Nigerian society. The onset of declining economic growth and this year’s recession has only amplified the hardship being felt by Nigerians across the board. In turn, the youth have been some of the hardest hit, in need of urgent attention.

    Overall, Nigeria’s unemployment rate was recorded at 13.3 percent in the second quarter of 2016 according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). That figure is up from 12.1 percent in the first quarter of the year, meaning that we have reached the highest recorded unemployment rate since 2009. NBS has also reported that the underemployment rate was recorded at 19.3 percent as of August 2016. In view of this, it was estimated that 26.06 million persons in the Nigerian labour force were either unemployed or underemployed as of the second quarter in this year.

    Youth between the ages of 15 to 34 especially have poor job prospects and low employment rates. The unemployment rate was highest for those within the ages of 15-24; 24.0 percent in Q2 2016. That is nearly 1 out of every 5 youth falling within that age bracket, capable of and actively seeking work but being unable, for one reason or another, to access decent employment. As a result, their life choices are significantly limited, and they are increasingly exposed to a number of vulnerabilities and threats. It is disheartening.

    We must ask ourselves why this is happening. Despite the personal and financial investment that goes into obtaining an education or vocational skills, it is shameful that such efforts are undervalued in the next stages of one’s life due to a socio-economic, political and cultural structure that fails to guarantee inclusion and participation. Nonetheless, understanding the problem is the first step to finding the right solution.

    What can we do to change it? If we look at the NBS projections for Nigeria over the next few months, without any drastic interventions, our economy is expected to contract by another 1.7 percent. This is further compounded by domestic inflation rising to 18.3 percent. This basically means that there is less money in circulation around the country, yet the cost of everyday goods and services has gone up.

    With the aforementioned in perspective, policy-makers in both the private and public sectors must both acknowledge and take advantage of the fact that due to their sheer numbers, our young people can serve as our human resource base for the reorientation of our economy. However, if they are neglected and not provided opportunities to be productive, these same young people can exacerbate social tensions in their communities.

    As we work to define a new and more sustainable economy, we must make a thorough multi-sectoral examination to take stock of how we are responding to the aspirations of young Nigerians. This analysis must be undertaken with the objective of weaving youth involvement into the national development framework.

    Hence, we must adopt a youth-inclusive approach that involves assessing the various implications for young people for policy actions. This approach would allow us to ensure that young people have access to opportunities and benefits from the interventions undertaken by the government to end the recession and build a more efficient economy.

    The good news is that we are on track. Over the past few months, the Senate has responded to Nigeria’s economic contraction with a 21-point plan that includes 11 priority bills that are aimed at restructuring different sectors of the economy. These bills have been drafted with the intention of redirecting the economy to promote greater private sector participation and job creation activities to benefit all Nigerians.

    Legislation such as the Company and Allied Matters Act (CAMA) will make it easier for our youth to transition into the formal sector. Others like the Federal Competition Bill will help stimulate entrepreneurship amongst our youth — by putting in place parameters that guarantee a level-playing field for all participants in Nigeria’s various markets.

    In the same vein, with the Senate’s passage of an amendment to the Public Procurement Act, government ministries, departments and agencies will be made to give first-option priority to local businesses. When this Bill is finally signed into law, more young Nigerian business-owners will benefit from the government’s procurement – worth upwards of N2 trillion.

    One thing that is clear it that when we provide a platform for youth participation in public life, the positive possibilities are endless. This is due to the energy, innovativeness, and diversity in thoughts and approach that they bring to the table.

    Youth economic inclusion means bringing our youth back from the margins of society by incorporating their perspectives into policy designs; tapping into their command of new technologies to create new industry sector and jobs; and providing them with the training, skills acquisition and empowerment programs that they need to become self-sufficient and successful small business owners in the absence of government and private sector jobs.

    I believe Nigerian leaders at all levels should spearhead this effort. This past weekend, in Kwara State, the Senate President inaugurated a job creation program that is aimed at putting a massive dent in the state’s unemployment rate, with a focus on the youth. This programme aims to create 40,000 new jobs in the state by 2018. Aptly titled the Skills Acquisition, Training and Empowerment Programme, STEP adopts a pay-it-forward approach that helps to engender a self-sufficient, entrepreneurial generation that will go on to become employers of labour in the near future. “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man how to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime”.

    Moving forward, with limited jobs available in both the private and public sectors, Nigeria must recalibrate its perspective on how it wants its young people to participate in its development. As we work to turn the economy around, we cannot afford to continue with “business as usual” practices. Instead we need to adopt transformative and unorthodox approaches to the status quo. Doing this is not only necessary to get out of the recession, it is imperative.

    • Onemola and Sutherland are Senior Legislative Aides of the Senate President

  • Towards a Nigeria that works

    An ideal situation is one where things work most perfectly, and as desired. It is where and when expectations and fulfilment dovetail. We all live for ideals. There is a way the quest for the ideal gravitates our lives towards feats and accomplishments that otherwise could have been missed. Imperatives on the other hand are the unavoidables, necessary and required things or better still, actions that must be taken. But in order to attain ideals, there would always be imperatives on the way, some of them possibly unflattering and inconvenient.

    For example in 1776 when the American elites of the day took a firm decision to declare independence from King George III of Britain, they fashioned out a well-crafted vision of freedom, liberty and equality which the emergent United States of America would represent and advance. That was a noble ideal. But they had to fight fatally and fiercely, for a total of eight years in all, to clinch their ideal of independence. The war, which British historians named “revolt of the colonies,” but which their American counterparts rather called “war of independence,” (or American Revolutionary war, was the imperative.)

    Nigerians voted for President Muhammadu Buhari, in good part, because as a people we had gotten to the point that majority of us could no longer tolerate the astounding level of corruption in government and the then seeming intractable security catastrophe in the North-east. For good measure, the Buhari/ Osinbajo ticket also did an excellent job during the campaigns, depicting the possible economic resurgence that could be attained in the country and how. The ideals were very clear, agreed and well embraced. What many of us possibly did not imagine were the imperatives that would have to be confronted on the journey to the ideal.

    One lesson I have surely learnt in public service in the last 15 months is the virtue of patience: it’s the useful conduit between ideals and imperatives.   The master hires a servant and assigns a duty, expecting performance as soon as possible. That is the ideal. The servant tackles the assignment but there is a time lag between effort and result, including certain unpleasant imperatives which prolong the expectation of the boss, and the boss becomes understandably impatient, questioning the servant.

    Let us assume that this looks like what is happening in our country today. The people are the masters; those of us in the Buhari administration are the servants. We got the message, the expectations were that there would be swift turnarounds and the prosperity promised would kick-off much earlier.

    Yet, the master cannot in good conscience ignore what the imperatives are, or the explanations of the servant, especially if there is trust between the boss and the servant. Clearly, Nigerians have shown tremendous trust in President Buhari. Indeed, at the recently concluded Aso Rock Retreat on the 2017 Budget last week Thursday, one of the invited economic experts, after making his presentation regarding how best to steer the country out of recession said to the president “it is better to be trusted than to be loved.”

    Now, to get the Nigeria of our desire, the ideal, there has to be some urgent imperatives, especially in the economy. No one in all truth can deny the main causes of our present economic condition. It is not about a blame game but it is what it is. Even the immediate past Finance Minister made it abundantly clear that some of the things that had to be done when the economy was buoyant were simply left undone because of lack of political will. Past governments left out some critical imperatives and with increasing intensity from one administration to the other, corruption became the order of the day.

    What then is the Buhari presidency doing now? One critical imperative is economic diversification. Diversification in our national lexicon has become an overused and hackneyed word, except that now we are left with no option really. Besides, we have a President who means what he says and is getting results. Even if little, lights of hope are being sighted in the area of agriculture and Agro-Business. For instance, because of the deliberate policies of the Buhari administration, some of the states are advancing in rice production, and the country is targeting self-sufficiency by 2018. (This will also reduce foreign exchange pressure.)

    Let us take the example from Kebbi State where the CBN Anchor Borrowers programme launched by the President late last year is churning out exciting news. According to media reports, 78,000 farmers got some soft loans under the programme leading to the creation of over 500,000 jobs and the emergence of 40,000 millionaire-farmers this year alone. BusinessDay actually did a front page lead story last week September 15 thus: RICE PRODUCTION GAINS TRACTION IN NORTHERN STATES with one of the riders saying 40,000 millionaire rice farmers emerge in Kebbi State.

    This particular example goes to prove what the rice farmers told Vice President Yemi Osinbajo in May during a meeting at the Presidential Villa to discuss the agricultural policies of the Buhari presidency. According to Mallam Aminu Goronyo, the President of the Rice Farmers Association, before the coming of the Buhari presidency, “farmers in Nigeria were considered useless people on the streets, but now farmers are kings.” Indeed if we can get 78,000 people on a soft loan programme and 40,000 made a million or more in profits in a few months, certainly within a year, that is significant it’s only a tip of the iceberg.

    The Vice President himself had assured the farmers then at the May meeting that the Buhari presidency has a clear idea on how to execute its agricultural policy to achieve self-sufficiency in food production, and diversify the economy in the process. The results are trickling in. These are the facts, all we need is patience. This is only one example.

    Facts are sacred, opinions are free; the fact is that already now in Nigeria, there has been a certain turnaround that has happened in the affairs of the federal government today when compared with the past. It cannot be denied, nor gainsaid for instance that the affairs of Nigeria is now steered by a fiercely honest leadership.

    A decisive message has reverberated across the country that the days of corruption with impunity are over. The mindless bleeding of the nation’s resources is being terminated. These are significant outcomes that Nigerians yearned for and it’s already in the bag.

    However, what no one could have imagined is the extent of damage. The discoveries are unending, ranging  from the $15billion security equipment purchase scandal in a country that could hardly boast today of $25billion in foreign reserves, to the open and public claim recently by an individual related to power in the past of several millions of dollars in a few accounts in one bank! Also, there has not been anything said or heard yet about the corruption in the oil sector but at least everyone knows there would be a reckoning unlike in the past when a corruption convict was even given a state pardon “before our very eyes.”

    Now the fight against corruption is a big deal because in a sense it has been responsible for where we are today as a nation. Several choices and decisions by past governments were deeply rooted in corruption, thereby shutting out the people from enjoying any meaningful and enduring benefit from our collective patrimony. Take the scams that were perpetrated in the subsidy regimes for example where we now know that people just completed forms and were paid large sums of money supposedly for supplying refined fuel when indeed there were no such supplies.

    The cumulative effect is that today when we need the savings of the buoyant years, there is nothing to fall back upon due to corruption and it’s twin sister-profligacy. And so the economic situation is rather difficult and many of our people are suffering the pains. The deliberate and relentless sabotage of our oil and gas pipelines have even added a worsening streak, cutting government revenue almost by half at a time government needs to spend its way out of the recession.

    But my final point is the most important: patience. If there is any government that deserves to be patiently given a chance to perform, this is it. There are indeed tonnes of questions that can be asked, and possibly a few issues here and there. But the resolve, the patriotism, the honesty, the integrity, the competence and the diligence of the Buhari presidency to restore Nigeria’s lost glory are unequivocal. When you have a president who can’t be lured into a corrupt deal, who has absolute passion for the people and utmost respect for the land, who knows what he is doing, supported by a vice president, equally committed and well tested on the issues of the day, all we have need of is a patient citizenry in the face of some rather unpleasant imperatives on our way to attaining the ideal of a Nigeria that works. As the Lord lives, that journey is now in irreversible progress!

     

    • Akande is Senior Special Assistant-Media & Publicity in the Office of the Vice President.

  • Towards a People’s Assembly

    The appointment of a new Managing Director for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), and the consequent swift restructuring of its directorates, have re-ignited enthusiasm that President Muhammadu Buhari might, indeed, be planning a reform of the government machinery. It makes sense that he is starting with the revenue yielding agencies. Dr. Ibe Kachikwu appears to fit the bill of the kind of person who should be saddled with the onerous task. He is solid academically, experienced and is reputed to have a mind of his own- one who may not be available for manipulation by the politicians.

    However, while awaiting other reforms and appointments, including those regarding the electoral system and commission, we need to pay closer attention to the National Assembly. Everything points to the continuation of the old order in that very critical arm of government. The crisis that attended the election and appointment of principal officers tends to suggest that the legislature could actually be the clod in the wheel of progress. It is unfortunate to be debating at this point how and why the rules of the Senate were fraudulently altered. That it was altered is not in dispute, what remains to be sorted out is by whom and why it was behind the Senators. It is clear that some people were beneficiaries of the alteration. That is probably where to beam the searchlight as there could not be a crime without a motive.

    It is an irony that at this point when the new administration is committing itself to CHANGE, the Senate is headed by the new feudal lord of Kwara politics who is entrenching an order introduced in the eighties by his father. In Kwara, the Sarakis dictate the pace. They decide who emerges governor, those who work with him and how values are shared. As it was under the Oloye, so it is under The Prince.

    All eyes are now on President Buhari, awaiting the quality of men who would be appointed as ministers, but little attention is being paid to how Saraki would run the Senate-who he would be comfortable with as committee chairmen.  Students of the democratic process know that the legislature has a large say in how the Republic functions. And, the Parliament works through the committees. If there must be a change, the legislature must realign and reform its structure. The Nigerian people must take more than a passing interest in how Saraki as chairman of the National Assembly and presiding officer of the Senate functions. It is no longer acceptable that we do not know ALL about the pay structure of our supposed representatives. We should be availed the criteria for appointment of committee chairmen. While it might not be surprising that Senator Godswill Akpabio, a fresher, is Minority Leader because it is the exclusive responsibility of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to make the appointment, it is not amusing that the leadership of the upper legislative chamber saw nothing wrong in it.

    If allowed to hazard a guess, I would say the ambition of the Senate President is to run the Assembly as a fiefdom, distributing largesse to those who he feels comfortable with, irrespective of their level of competence.

    If this becomes the dominant philosophy, how would President Buhari pass his budget through the National Assembly without a replay of the Osuji syndrome? Hon. Farouk Lawan was charged with a similar abuse of privilege over the investigation into fuel subsidy maladministration. Yet, for about three years after the hullaballoo, he remained a member of the House of Representatives. Many of the federal lawmakers slept through the 7th session. Oversight function was converted to avenues for extorting the ministries and agencies. As the (dis)honourables sought various means of fleecing the economy, the law enforcement agents looked the other way. They perfected means of arousing public anger against some officials, but as soon as they responded to demands made behind the scenes, no more was heard of the allegations.

    The process of constituting committees, itself, is as fraudulent as contract splitting. The Senate had to find a way to create more than 50 committees, so that every member could be made a chairman or Vice Chairman of a committee. That way, the benefits accrues to all. While, for example, no one was entitled to an official car under the monetization policy introduced by the Obasanjo government, each committee had cars allocated to it which were then made available to their leadership. That way, every Senator had an official car by other means. This must change.

    We want real change. This must straddle the three arms of government. The legislature is too important to be left in the hands of men who have mastered the art of system manipulation. All the civil society groups must begin to ask the appropriate questions. Had the N7th National Assembly been up to its task, the Jonathan administration would not have been the colossal failure that it was.

  • Towards our date with destiny 3

    Towards our date with destiny 3

    It is therefore wishful thinking if those behind election postponement plan or hope to benefit in terms of electoral support from change of election dates

    We said on this page last week that Nigeria’s date with destiny has been delayed by six weeks as a result of the decision the country’s security chiefs made to devote the time allocated for the presidential election of February 14 and 28 to fighting the menace of Boko Haram in the northeast corner of the country.  Arising from last week’s postponement of the presidential election is an episode-by-episode examination of the political campaign that signalled a decision of majority of citizens to resist continued collapse of their dreams into the economic and social problems thrown up by decades of substandard governance.

    As this page has observed several times, Nigeria’s malaise did not start with the incumbent president; it only got compounded under his presidency. The persons who have been helping the incumbent to govern have also perfected tricks (used by military governments in particular) to hoodwink citizens to believe that the government, like several governments before Jonathan’s, has been doing its best on account of which citizens should use their vote to retain Jonathan for another four years. Using the case of national security to justify sudden postponement of the election is a game that Nigeria had experienced before, especially during General Babangida’s military dictatorship.  Primaries and elections were cancelled by Babangida, citing national security as excuse, and most Nigerians accepted to give Babangida the benefit of doubt until the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

    From military to post-military era, the power of the federal government has been so enormous that anyone in control of such power who is willing to use the power to his or her advantage can do so and hope to get away with such impunity. The postponement of the election is one such use of power to give advantage to the incumbent president and several invisible characters in and out of the corridor of power who are afraid of what emerged as the Buhari Phenomenon or Effect during the four weeks of campaign after the emergence of Buhari as APC’s presidential candidate and of Professor Osinbajo as his vice presidential candidate.

    When President Jonathan said in his recent media chat that he had contested election against General Buhari before and that the situation was not as filled with tension as the 2015 one, made to be so largely by the “people that surround Buhari,” he too must have recognised the high voltage of the Buhari Momentum. What those who clamoured and still defend the postponement of the election by six weeks are missing is the meaning of the Buhari Phenomenon. It should not be hard for watchers of the campaign to recognise that it is not the impact of the campaign per se that has produced the electrifying effect of APC’s presidential campaign in particular. It looks more like the decision of individual citizens to stop the collapsing of their dreams into the mess that Nigeria has meant to them.

    Just like President Jonathan, this writer has also seen a major transformation in General Buhari and in the character of citizens who follow him during his campaign in different parts of the country. The picture that emerges from Buhari’s campaign, in contrast with that of President Jonathan, is also different from what obtained in 2011. In 2011, Goodluck Jonathan was the darling of the people just as General Buhari has been during the 2015 campaign. Citizens seem to have made up their minds to chart their own destiny by giving their trust to Buhari, as far as the near fanatical followership of Buhari in different parts of the country has suggested. The 2015 campaign is not just about Jonathan versus Buhari. It looks like a contest between Jonathan and a new idea and vision of and for Nigeria on the part of citizens.

    It is therefore wishful thinking if those behind election postponement plan or hope to benefit in terms of electoral support from change of election dates. The evidence before our eyes about Buhari as the personification of an Idea is not likely to be eroded by years of postponement of the election that is to give citizens the opportunity to choose who they want to govern them beyond May 29. It may not be clear to Buhari himself and to his ardent supporters that Buhari has become an instrument of change in the hands of citizens who throng his campaign rallies. It is the magic of the fusion of a new idea and a candidate with respect to Buhari that appears to be missing in the campaign rallies of the PDP and the incumbent president.

    The evidence before citizens’ eyes is the maturation of an idea believed or perceived by citizens to have been embodied in the persons of Buhari and Osinbajo. Those currently governing Nigeria need to pay more attention to the nuances of the thronging around of Buhari and Osinbajo of voters. I have witnessed all the elections in this country since 1959. I have not seen anyone in which the desire for change acquires the high wattage of the 2015 campaign. The closest to this is the election in Western Nigeria in 1965 when the people of the region wanted to use their votes to put to shame a federal government that they believed had set out to destroy the dreams of the region. For those around then, it was not surprising when citizens reacted against the rigging of that election.

    Thus, it is advisable for those handling the 2015 elections (whenever they are finally allowed to take place) that the elections are free, fair, and credible. When citizens mass around a presidential candidate the way they have done in the last five or six weeks, it becomes dangerous for the society if such citizens are prevented from expressing their real choice through the ballot box. It will not matter who at the end majority of citizens vote for; what will matter is that citizens are given free choice to use their vote and that such votes are allowed to count.

    Those who are now calling for the use of Temporary Voter Cards, need to realise that it is too late in the day to do this. We said several times in this column at the beginning of the discussion of permanent voter cards by the National Security Adviser and all the political parties that temporary voter cards should be used if distributing PVCs became impossible before February 14. But now that candidates and citizens have accepted the delay of the elections for six weeks, it is illogical for any political party to call for the use of TVCs. It is also illogical for any political party to campaign against the use of card readers. Using card readers does not amount to electronic voting. An electronic card reader is only a device to confirm the authenticity of the PVC being presented at the poll. It does not make sense to revert to the use of TVCs that cannot be verified, especially after citizens have accepted to wait for additional six weeks before exercising their fundamental rights to choose their leaders. Reverting to use of TVCs is more prone to rigging than using PVCs that can be verified.

    INEC needs to pay more attention to the fact that the Southwest region is lagging behind other regions in the distribution of PVCs. Voters in the Southwest should not be denied the opportunity to use their votes to negotiate a new destiny. So far, too many citizens are having problems collecting their PVCs in the Southwest and this is evident in the latest release of numbers of cards collected across the country. In my household of four, I am the only person that has been able to obtain PVC in Alausa. My wife whose photograph was pasted on the wall has not been able to obtain her card. On the three occasions we went to MKO Abiola Gardens for this purpose, the staff there have not been able to find the PVC of my wife and two other family members among the mountain of cards on and under their table.

    While the country’s security chiefs use the next five weeks to fight Boko Haram terrorists, INEC should double its efforts to bring out the PVCs of citizens duly registered to vote. INEC needs to know that South-westerners have the same right as residents of other regions to dream anew about Nigeria. They also have the same right to use their votes to bring a new Nigeria into being or keep the old one. This right can only be exercised by those with their PVCs in their hands by election time.

    To be continued.

  • Towards a better society

    Towards a better society

    NewsDirect, a weekly newspaper, has held its fourth anniversary lecture and awards at the Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos, reports AMIDU ARIJE.

    It was a special gathering where group met to discuss the way out of the prevailing economic challenges and insurgency. Venue was the Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos.

    Former Aviation Minister Mr Femi Fani-Kayode and Managing Director of the Peugeot Automobile of Nigeria (PAN) Alhaji Ibrahim Boyi spoke on the occasion.

    Boyi spoke on Dwindling oil revenue: Role of Infrastructure in fast-tracking economic growth and sustenance of democracy. Fani-Kayode handled The rise of Islamic fundamentalist and the quest for ISIL State.

    Guests were well dressed. They registered in the lobby before entering the hall.

    The hall was simply decorated in white and blue satin.

    The Nigeria Police Band supplied music.

    It was a twin event – the fourth anniversary lecture and award – organised by a weekly journal, NewsDirect.

    Its Editor-in-Chief, Dr Samuel Ibiyemi, was clad in black suit with a matching tie and a pair of shoes.

    The rendition of the national anthem and prayer by the duo of Pastor Olumuyiwa Samson and Head of Service of Kastina State, Alhaji Muhammed Aliu, who represented  Governor, Ibrahim Shema, kickstarted the programme.

    Mr Temiloluwa Aawonbiogbon compered the event.

    Mallam Spencer, a comedian, spiced up the occasion with jokes that left everyone laughing.

    The police band sang praises of guests as they were invited to the dance floor.

    Delivering his speech, Boyi stressed the need for diversification of economy as a way to rescue the Nigeria from collapse.

    He enjoined government to invest more in agriculture and non-oil sub sector.

    Fani-Kayode attributed the rise in insurgency to government’s negligence.

    Fani-Kayode rallied support for President Goodluck Jonathan to phase out the Boko Haram insurgency.

    “We need to support the president because I believe he needs support now more than ever. Let’s forget the notion that he ought to be impeached, we don’t impeach president in the middle of civil war. I reject the call for the removal of security chiefs as some have suggested; we should completely reject the assertion that President Jonathan is a modern day Nebuchadnezzar, I think it is most in appropriate and unwise for people to try to undermine the leadership,” he said.

    The award ceremony followed. There were different categories of the award.

    Governor Shema went home with the Governor of the year award.

    Ogun State Governor Ibikunle Amosun, represented by Mrs Remi Onansanya, got the Best Health Project of the Year.

    Mr Jim Obazee went home with the Chief Executive of Distinction. In the banking sector,  Access Bank won the Best Bank of the Year, while Keystone Bank won Most Friendly Bank of Year.

    The chairman, Mr Ken Etete, the chairman of Century Group, represented by Mr Whyte Karibe went home with the Newsdirect Outstanding Supporter of the Year.

    The Energy Company of the Year was won by the Niger Delta Power Holding Company Limited.

    The Top Most entertainment group entertained guests on the occasion.  The conviviality increases as this last.

    A closing remark was made by the chief host, Dr Ibiyemi. He thanked all that were present at the occasion and prayed for their safe trips back home.

    He said the occasion was to bring together Nigerians and appreciate their good work and to also celebrate the newspaper.

  • Towards a safe environment

    Towards a safe environment

    Members of Entrepreneurial Action In Us (ENACTUS) have participated in a contest to promote environment-friendly innovations. HALIMAH AKANBI (200-Level Law) and IBRAHIM JATTO (400-Level Zoology) report.

    Entrepreneurial Action In Us (ENACTUS), Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS) chapter, has evoked the innovative spirit of students through an entrepreneurship contest held at the institution’s auditorium.

    The competition featured the exhibition of innovative projects done by five teams. The projects were financed by First City Monument Bank (FCMB).

    The first team carried out an evergreen project, which involved the use of briquette – an environment-friendly biofuel that can be used in place of coal or charcoal – to reduce air pollution. The project was unveiled by the team leader, Friday Nwankwo, who explained the use of the substance. He said briquette was made from the mixture of saw dust and moist rice shaft moulded it into round shapes and used as fuel.

    The team approached residents of communities around the campus and taught them how to produce briquettes and use them in fueling energy-saving stoves. The project has economic value of saving the income that could have been used to buy firewood; the raw materials used in the production of briquettes are readily available.

    Members of Team B were trained by a couple in Sokoto on how to use animal skin to produce several leather products such as bags. The husband trained male students how to cut the material into various shapes and styles, while the wife trained female students how to decorate the pieces and sew them into varieties of bags and leather accessories.

    During the presentation, Team B explained that the vocation has economic value, which is to harness natural resources in the state to empower the people. The social value, it said, is the promotion of art and culture of the people of Sokoto. The project was said to be environmentally-safe as the raw materials used are hides and skin of dead animals.

    The project of Team C was tagged: “Rice Cereal for Infants (RCI)”, aimed at eradicating malnutrition in local communities. The team embarked upon a sensitisation programme in the university’s host communities. Afterwards, members came up with a cereal formula produced from rice, carrot and groundnut. The move was to reduce malnutrition in children and to save expenses of buying factory made cereals, which are not affordable to the poor residents.

    Team D’s project was Net School, which involved creation of a website for local schools to make communication easier between parents, students  and the school authorities. Teachers can also use the online medium to communicate students’ performance to their parents. The project was said to be environment-friendly, because it discourages the use of papers which is made from trees.

    The last team carried out tomato puree project, which involved grinding and boiling of tomatoes. The pulverised substance was stored in mayonnaise containers and exposed to intense heat by boiling the paste in the bottles in order to pasteurize it. The tomato puree can be safely stored for a period of six months.

    The idea was to prevent waste of tomato by peasant farmers, who could not store the produce because of their lack of adequate storage facilities. It would also discourage women to buy imported tomato pastes. The team estimated that 160 women would save ¦ N4 million every year. The project was evaluated to have environmental value as it would save people from littering the community with spoilt tomato paste.

    Before winners were announced by the panel of judges, Commissioner for Environment, Dr Jabbi Kilgori, praised the innovative spirit of the students in imparting on the people and empowering themselves. He also recognised the students’ effort to initiate environment-friendly projects to reduce pollution and environmental problems.

    The ENACTUS Staff Adviser, Mallam S.B Shamaki, said all the teams performed brilliantly and described all of them as winners.

    Team A, which carried out evergreen project, won the contest, while Team B with its leather project, came second. The winners were presented with trophies by the Dr Kilgori.

    The projects would be presented in national challenge of the ENACTUS  coming up in Lagos later this month.