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Tag: value

  • Add value or perish

    Add value or perish

    • That was Tinubu’s message to African countries on exportation of raw materials. But we have been hearing that for some time. It’s time to put it into practice, probably with Nigeria showing the way

    President Bola Ahmed Tinubu struck the right chord at the Second Africa Minerals Strategy Group (AMSG) High-Level Roundtable on Critical Minerals Development in Africa, held on the margins of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, New York City, where he called for a complete overhaul of the global financial architecture governing Africa’s mineral resources, to enable African countries take full control of such resources.

    He was represented at the event by Vice President Kashim Shettima.

    The President said, “First, I urge African nations to climb the value chain’’, adding, “We must end the ignoble cycle of exporting rocks and importing finished goods. From beneficiation to green manufacturing, Africa must build industries on African soil.”

    “We must take the bull by the horns in financing our future. Never again shall we wait for capital to trickle in. With sovereign funds, blended vehicles and innovation tools like the Africa Mineral Token, Africa shall finance Africa. To safeguard this sovereignty, we must guard our cobalt, lithium, graphite, gold and rare earths not as fragmented states but as one continental bloc, wielding collective power in global supply chains,” the President was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the vice president’s spokesman, Stanley Nkwocha.

    But Tinubu did not say anything novel. Several African leaders, international organizations like the World Bank, and economists have for long been making a case for value addition to raw materials before export, to boost economic growth and create jobs.

    One such prominent figure is President Akufo-Addo of Ghana. ‘’ One thing that Ghana, and Africa, must do is add value to the sale of raw materials and natural resources. We need to transform stagnant, jobless economies built on the export of raw materials and unrefined goods to value-added economies that provide jobs to build strong middle-class societies and lift people out of dire poverty,” Akufo-Addo once said.

    Also, our Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, has urged African nations to take sovereign control of their natural resources by halting the export of raw minerals and prioritising domestic value addition through local processing and industrialisation. Alake spoke in July at the opening ceremony of the 4th African Natural Resources and Energy Investment Summit held at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.

    The minister said African countries deprive themselves of the immense benefits they could have enjoyed if they processed their raw materials before exporting them. According to him, the continued exportation of unprocessed mineral resources deprives the continent of critical economic benefits, including job creation, technological advancement, and sustainable development.

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    Indeed, experts have for decades unanimously concluded that the only viable option for African countries is for them to add value to products and provide transport and production of African goods. They are of the opinion that failure of the continent’s producers to add value to their products before exporting them is part of the main reasons for the continents’ slow economic growth.

    As the experts noted, whenever we export processed goods, we create jobs for our teeming jobless youths and add value to local economies. But it is the other way round when we export raw materials: we keep the industries of the receiving countries humming; their citizens employed at the expense of ours and generally help them grow their economies.

    For instance, they said its better for Africa to learn how to export copper cables instead of copper and aluminum sheets

    The Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council, Prof. Nnayelugo Ike-Muonso, gave an insight into what the horizon would look like if we begin to add value to our raw materials: He said, “Crude oil is a raw material. We export oil in its raw form and get back only fuel. We lose additional revenues because we just exported crude oil in that form.”

    Ike-Muonso is not done: “If we process copper here, it will be difficult to hide or remove the gold content embedded in it. When exported raw, they smelted it abroad and made excess profits,” he stressed.

    Now to specifics.

     In the cocoa industry, Nigeria loses $1 billion annually due to limited local processing of raw cocoa beans into high-value products like chocolate. The country exports raw cocoa at $10 per kg, and the chocolate comes back at $100 per kg. That’s not good. Once we export raw materials, we don’t get much value.

     Nigeria loses $3.7 billion annually from raw cashew exports, highlighting the massive opportunity cost of not processing these cashews into higher-value products.

    Moreover, Nigeria exports most of its shea nuts as raw materials, with only about 18 per cent processed domestically, whereas foreign countries, especially in Europe, process these nuts into shea butter for cosmetics and food. This is why the ban on exportation of this produce by the Federal Government is welcome.

    The case with petroleum products is even worse, especially with subsidy being paid on every litre of fuel imported due to the country’s inability to refine fuel locally until the Tinubu administration put an end to the subsidy fraud in 2023. Although what is paid for a barrel of crude oil and what is eventually spent refining it varies from producer to producer, one indisputable fact is the wide disparity between the cost crude oil is sold and the amount crude exporters like Nigeria spend on importing the refined products. 

    Of course, as we have always known, corruption exacerbates the problems in the Nigerian oil sector, with so many interested parties feasting on the misery of ordinary Nigerians. So, they can never wish for a situation where the country would stop fuel import. This is one of the bases of disagreement between Dangote Refinery and the unions in the oil sector, among others.

    The government has to come down hard on the parasites feasting on the system in the oil sector if Nigeria is not to continue to experience fuel scarcity in spite of the fact that we are beginning to have some capacity to fuel our vehicles locally.

    Even in the days when Nigeria was a major producer of palm oil, the raw products were exported almost for peanuts, while we imported the manufactured products from them at exorbitant costs.

    Everyone that matters has made the points that needed to be made on this matter. But it should not be about speech-making. African nations need to move from the stage of reading well drafted speeches to concrete action.

    Continued exportation of raw materials over the decades is part of the reasons Africa has remained potentially great perpetually. And, unless they change the narrative; that is the way the continent would remain in self-inflicted subjugation forever. Self-inflicted because it is a thing they imposed on themselves.

    All of these call for domestic reforms by African leaders to harmonise their policies and increase trade among their various countries, to achieve sustainable development.

    Nigeria must be ready to take the lead and take the idea of value-addition to the realm of implementation. This is one way of demonstrating its strength as ‘giant of Africa’. Perhaps a good way to start is to enforce the approved amended version of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council Act, 2022, which mandates that exporters must process at least 30 per cent of raw materials locally before exporting.

    Sponsored by Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi, the goal of the amended bill that was approved by the Senate on July 2, is to stimulate value addition, strengthen domestic manufacturing, reduce imports, and spur sustainable economic growth. Any exporter who fails to meet the 30 per cent processing threshold would incur a 15 per cent levy on the export value; it could also lead to the suspension or revocation of the exporter’s value-addition certificate.

    However, the point must be well made that for the idea of value-addition to raw products for export to come to fruition, power supply is key. No nation can industrialise without a reliable power supply. And you can only add value by industrialising. Therefore, the Federal Government must be ready to further shake the power sector to deliver. Yes, some progress is being made gradually in this direction, but then, more needs to be done. Most Nigerians seem to have agreed that the extant template in the power sector cannot take us far.

    The state government and private investors should take full advantage of the new vistas of opportunities being opened by the Federal Government to take a substantial share of the pie from the existing power players. May be that is the elixir that would jerk them to the reality of the fact that their best is not good enough.

    Above all, however, African leaders must be ready to govern responsibly. The era of life presidency is over. The era when leaders sit tight as if their respective countries would collapse if they suddenly drop dead is also over. No one is indispensable. Here, the regional and continental bodies must be ready to be on the side of the people and not protect their friends and colleagues in power even when it is clear that such leaders have outlived their usefulness.

    That Africa has so far spent so much of even the little she realised from exporting raw materials on arms and ammunition to protect corrupt and inept leaders is a notorious fact. This would not change if the mindset remains unchanged even after more money starts to come in from value-added to products that are being exported from the continent. It would only mean more arms and ammunition, more hunger and squalor, and more poverty, at least for the people, with the changing really never changing.

  • A question of value

    A question of value

    • Nigeria’s wash-a-thon GWR seeker is part of society’s hunt low on values

    In her pursuit of a handwashing marathon world record, Enitan Subair was reported hospitalised after a 58-hour effort to get listed as a world record holder. A viral video showed her lying on a bed with, according to a report, “white and wrinkled hands.”

    She was quoted as saying, “I felt I should give up several times, especially when I was pressed. I was like can I go through this thing? That my mum and my friends are in this crowd, I feel very fulfilled to complete this task right in front of her.”

    She initially targeted a record of 50 hours, but ended the hand wash-a-thon on November 27, exceeding that period by eight hours. A 200-level student of Linguistics and African Languages at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Osun State, she attracted the attention of the institution’s authorities as she tried to set a world record. The university’s deputy vice-chancellor (administration), Prof. Abayomi Daramola, led a management team to encourage her during the task. The Student Union President of OAU, Abbas Akinremi, said after she ended the wash-a-thon “we took her to the university clinic.”

    The Guinness World Records (GWR) has not announced her as a new record holder. The British reference body, which lists world records “both of human achievements and the extremes of the natural world,” is expected to review the evidence, and verify her efforts as a new record.

    Interestingly, there are those who consider her pursuit of the wash-a-thon record frivolous, and unworthy of a university undergraduate whose mind, they say, should be focused on higher matters.

    But she is entitled to lawfully seek fame as she deems fit, and in her own way. In a world of diversity, a multiplicity of aspirations should be expected. The question of what has value will not draw the same answer from everyone. This explains Subair’s wash-a-thon record chase.   

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    In May, for instance, Nigerian chef Hilda Effiong Bassey, popularly known as Hilda Baci, grabbed the headlines following her attempt to set a cook-a-thon world record in Lagos. Her aspiration generated intense public interest. Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu was at the cooking spot. The then Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, phoned her. The then President, Muhammadu Buhari, and Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who was president-elect at the time, praised her.

    GWR confirmed that she had set a cooking record of 93 hours and 11 minutes. In November, she lost her GWR position to Irish chef Alan Fisher, who cooked for 119 hours and 57 minutes.

    Baci’s cook-a-thon record triggered multiple attempts by Nigerians to set world records. For instance, a lady, identified as Big Tresh, tried to set a 125-hour world record for the longest Instagram live video. According to her, she would be live streaming herself engaging in various activities, without a break.  

    A musician, Oluwatobi Kufeji Alejopataki, started a 200-hour singing marathon. Masseuse Joy Chukwudi’s plan to massage clients for 75 hours failed; she was reported to have collapsed after 50 hours.  

    A resident of Ekiti State, who identified himself as “Sugartee,” planned the longest kissing session, but was stopped by the state government, which described it as “unhealthy and immoral.”

    The growing list of GWR attempts in the country after Baci’s success, and the colourful variety, demonstrate the enthusiasm of the record chasers and their unlimited sense of adventure.

    We believe these record-chasing examples should be dismissed as of little value. Few societies applaud GWR as sterling or headline-grabbing when scientific breakthroughs, artistic hits, intellectual ideas that transform lives thrive. It is because we play low in those areas that GWR mesmerises us. In terms of value and values, GWR is a feat but subordinate to higher pursuits. It raises questions about what is valuable. The question of value won’t go away.

  • SARS: What value for a life?

    The ongoing #EndSARS campaign, which depicts the impunity characterising the activities of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SANS) of the Nigeria Police, is both strikingly revealing and poignantly worrisome because various allegations that have been levelled against the security outfit. The responses to the campaign from the police leadership, especially at the initial stages, ascribed the allegations against SARS as concocted lies and fears caused by delusions.

    In fact, the rapidity of the response by the head of Police Complaints Rapid Response Unit, Ayo Sogunle, was questioned by the unassailable facts presented by the public. For defending the indefensible, Sogunle should have been relieved of his post for displaying crass insensitivity when he said: “To all those having frightening dreams – ‘shot/beaten by police’. Pray to God not to allow it happen and avoid areas where police are responding to incidents in real life. If such dreams persist, go see a psychiatrist. We only deal with real-life police complaints.”

    Sogunle’s response was predictable. Nigerians have got used to this kind of insensitive remarks and almost accustomed to crass insensitivity being shown by the police. Sogunle’s thoughtless comment showed the context of the patterns of indifference that have since become the way of the Nigeria police. However, the continued demonstration in the social media to draw attention to the reprehensible behaviours of our policemen is encouraging. The hoopla generated in the social media did not only jolt the government, it even made the police to accept the fact that SARS had been maltreating Nigerians ever since.

    Of what value is a life in Nigeria? Revelations have continued to pour out on the social media, especially on Twitter, showing a total disregard for the human rights and lives of Nigerians by a unit in the police. People have continued to expose brutal encounters with SARS that the unconvincing excuses by the Inspector General of Police could not assail. Reforming the unit should be done quickly as a part of reorganisation necessitated by the need to pacify the angry public and thus douse the growing tension. However, many fear that the reorganisation would not be done on time and the campaign to #EndSARS may fizzle out.

    A very important point to be made here is that, Nigerians may not see the change desired because the system is programmed to maintain the status quo. What is the sincerity of the change promised by the Federal Government when Nigerians continue to be in danger of losing their lives to the mindless trigger-happy security operatives? It is high time the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government laid down expedient measures that will curb the excesses of the security operatives. Nigerians deserve to live in peace. A people who daily see their country’s commonwealth being cornered by  a privileged few could not but be unfortunate. They would be more unfortunate to be indifferent to the depletion of lives by the security operatives.

    Nigerians deserve more from the  government. Nigerians deserve better from Buhari. The #EndSARS campaign is an ample opportunity for the president to prove that he is, indeed, a listening and responsive president. Nigerians are waiting.

     

    • Tobi is a student of University of Ibadan

     

  • On Nigeria’s dwindling value system 

    On Nigeria’s dwindling value system 

    Sometimes ago, there was a popular Nollywood movie with a thought-provoking and telling title: “Died Wretched but Buried in 3.2 million naira Casket”.  For somebody who does not understand the African culture, it denotes how in Nigeria we prefer to spend huge funds to celebrate the death of somebody who could have been saved by a little amount of money on medicals. Here, someone can be terminally sick for years without any attention or help from anywhere.  Fast forward to when the person dies and you begin to see people flying from one part of the world to the other to ‘celebrate’ his exemplary life with a big,  fancy,  noisy party. This begs the question, what is really our value system as a people?

    In recent times, the tendency of people hanging around emergency scenes without a natural mental disposition to help the victims but as “social media reporters” should be of grave concern to discerning minds. Nowadays, when people get to tragic scenes, rather than offering the needed assistance, they would rather bring out their phones and start recording so as to share on various social media platforms.

    Recently, a lady that was drowning in a pool and a guy who could swim just watched her die.  When the guy was asked why he did not help, he said he did not want to jump into the pool with his phone and if he left the phone behind, it might be stolen. Implication: He valued his phone ahead of a human life.  Yet, he recorded the drowning scene. What really is the worth of the human life in Nigeria?

    Just a few days ago, a ritualists’ den was discovered in a part of Lagos with startling revelations.  Only God actually knows how many souls have become victims of ritual killings in the country.  At the end of the day, only the little criminals are caught while the real kingpins in the ritualists’ chain re left off the hook. Some of the kingpins could even be top shots in some of the nation’s critical sectors.

    How can we claim to have value for human life when the national minimum wage leaves much to desire? Almost every aspect of our national life diminishes our human values.  How can we claim to be a people of sound values when traditional, academic, judicial, religious and other such hitherto revered institutions openly pervert justice?

    Recently, a student, Ayodele Dada broke the 54 year old Cumulative Grade Point Average (CPGA) record of the University of Lagos, UNILAG, by graduating with 5.00. His reward? A laptop! To achieve that incredible feat, Dada had an A in all his courses.  Now that is simply ingenious. On the other side of the divide, Efe Ejeba, the winner of 2017 edition of Big Brother Naija was rewarded with N25 million and a brand new KIA Sorento after 90-days work.  On top of this, he was offered a chieftaincy title of the prince of Okpe kingdom in Delta state. That simply sums up the weird direction of our value system now toes. Now, since we have chosen to celebrate artificial and superficial glory at the expense of real success, we need not be taken aback that vices such as kidnapping, cultism and gangsterism among others are taking the center stage in our beloved country.

    The worst part of our warped value system is that we don’t take responsibility for our lives and destiny. We don’t take responsibility for anything. It is only in Nigeria, and perhaps other African countries, that there would be mass killing somewhere and the police hierarchy would be waiting for the ‘body language’ of some powers that be before actually taking step to do the needful.  Sadly, we still pontificate on the illusion that books like, “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa” provide.  We still believe that Lord Lugard caused our problems by lumping seemingly disunited groups together.  If we don’t put the blame for our several woes at the doorstep of politicians, we blame it on the military. Sadly, the blame game continues endlessly. Poor people! When do we grow up? When exactly will the blame game end?

     Today, the U.S. Office of Management and Budget puts the value of a human life in the range of $7 million to $9 million. As of 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency set the value of a human life at $9.1 million. Meanwhile, the Food and Drug Administration put it at $7.9 million — and the Department of Transportation figure was around $6 million. Are any of these the right answers? No because the human life is priceless.  Money was created by man and thus the creation of man, money, cannot be more valuable than man

    This is a call on the conscience and the soul of the nation?  Where is our humanity? Where has our human feeling fled to?  How can we have roads that have become somewhat of a death trap and it does not really bother us? What kind of a nation houses its security men in places where advanced nations would not dare put their prisoners?  What kind of a people put guns at officials that are risking their lives to contend with corruption? What kind of a people enter into a church and open fire on hapless worshipers, including children? What kind of a people corner funds and materials meant for Internally Displaced People? What do we really want? Who really are we? What do we represent?

    To rediscover our lost values, we have to change our ways. We not only have to do things right but do the right things. If we are poor in values, we will be poor in everything else. Now, I rest my case!

    • Omisore is of Features Unit, Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos
  • Of drug war and marijuana’s business value

    Of drug war and marijuana’s business value

    As the youth grow up, they are warned about the “dangers” of marijuana and other substances. The supposed danger, as echoed by many, is that marijuana makes people become unkempt, irresponsible, lazy and ultimately, running-on-the-streets-naked (that is, madness). Some religious preachers go as far as to say that marijuana users are hell-bound. Since the 1950s, thousands have been jailed; countless properties have been confiscated by the government, and taxpayers’ money has been wasted on the war on drugs in Nigeria, through the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

    Marijuana is a medical plant grown in various states across the country, mostly in the southwest of Nigeria, where the land is arable and fertile for agriculture. The popular belief is that, the plant was brought into the country by soldiers returning from World War II, who had access to marijuana seed via the Far East and North Africa. When the international community embarked on the war on drugs, our government introduced laws banning the cultivation, use and trade of marijuana.

    To date, these laws have thrown many citizens into jail, forced private property confiscation, and created discrimination against individuals who might only have a seed in their possession. Gradually, these discriminatory laws have influenced our culture, and now marijuana users are regarded as the scum of the society. Criminal activities like rape, robbery, kidnapping, and militancy are associated with marijuana and this has created the impression that anyone who takes the drug must be a criminal. More often than not, users are the first suspect in any criminal case, often wrongfully so.

    Where has this led us? The police carry out aggressive raids in communities where marijuana users live, often just to extort them. At checkpoints, anyone found in possession of even a seed of marijuana is automatically stripped of his rights, and if he “talks too much”, he would be beaten black and blue by law enforcement agents.

    Nigerians, especially human rights activists, rarely speak out on the brutalisation and dehumanisation of marijuana users in the country. And if one dares to speak out, it is first alleged that he must be a user, before being sent on discriminatory path.

    A politician accused of embezzling public funds in mind-boggling proportion can appear in court with 70 Senior Advocates in tow, but such act would not be excused if the case has to do with marijuana, a plant. Rather, junior lawyers take charge knowing full well that, because of the strict law in place, the accused is already guilty as charged.

    We need to review the laws surrounding marijuana usage in Nigeria, so we can reduce the number of individuals – especially young people – being jailed for the intake of a plant. In countries, such as The Netherlands and Spain, the use of marijuana for recreational purposes is tolerated. In a country that promotes agriculture as a major economic sector, hectares of land belonging to individuals in Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Edo, Kaduna and Plateau states have been seized by the government.

    As free people who are no longer under colonial control, why should the government decide what one grows on his farmland? Farmers are still required by law to pay taxes on their profits, and when there is no business for them, they’ll turn to other crops or different industries.

    Nigeria, being a producer of high-potency marijuana can profit from the marijuana business by increasing exports to countries with deficit of marijuana farming. For a country with a lot of traditional medical practitioners, the use of marijuana can also be encouraged with the lifting of the ban on the use of the plant.

    Our politicians, lawmakers, and civil servants are quick to brandish academic certificates on leadership and management, but none on public/consumer choice. It is as simple as it sounds. Individuals should be free to choose what they want for themselves and this, in turn, encourages production of goods and services.

    If we are truly equal before the law, no one should be made an outcast because they choose to grow or use marijuana. There is no discrimination for people who eat fatty foods, or consume alcohol.

    The freedom of Nigerians to choose what works for them should not be restricted to elections alone. The consumers should also have the liberty to choose what they consume, what they grow, and which business to go into, with the marijuana industry being one of them.

    Chukwuemeka Ezeugo is the Programmes Associate of African Students For Liberty

     

  • Naira value: We won’t kill our people, CBN tells IMF

    Naira value: We won’t kill our people, CBN tells IMF

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) declared yesterday that it has no intention of ‘killing’ Nigerians through undesirable monetary policies.

    The CBN, in a reaction to a call by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for Nigeria to float the naira, declared that it made no sense for the country to introduce a policy that will ‘kill’ Nigerians.

    ”Our economy has its own peculiarities, and we cannot kill our people in the name of floating the naira,” CBN Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Isaac Okorafor ,said on the sideline  of the ongoing IMF/ World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington DC.

    Okorafor insisted that Nigeria’s market is extensively liberalized  already and the call to float the naira is unnecessary.

    His words:”Yesterday, when Madame Lagarde (IMF boss) was discussing the economy of Egypt, she lamented the devastating inflation that is in that country.

    “Egypt has half of our population, Egypt receives about $12 billion in foreign aids and several billions in tourism. We are 180 million people, our infrastructure is so  poor and the productive capacity cannot be fast enough to rise to benefit from massive depreciation.

    “If you float the naira today, and given the discoveries by security agencies, you’ll discover that our case will be terrible.

    “ If Egypt today has an inflation rate of almost 31 per cent, remember Angola also has about 36 percent inflation, ours is at 17.26 per cent. If we float the naira and allow speculators and those with corruption money and all the people who create the bubbles to launch into the market, you can yourself imagine the kind of situation we will find ourselves”.

    He said that there is no country that floats its currency, by just leaving it to the dictates of the market.

    Okorafor also said that the CBN would sanction banks denying Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) access to foreign exchange (Forex) from the newly instituted SMEs Forex Window.

    The window which  opened about  two weeks ago  is designed  to help SMEs import eligible finished and semi-finished items not exceeding $20,000 for an enterprise per quarter.

    Appropriate sanctions are spelt out by the   CBN Act  and the  Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA).

    He said staff and even  chief executives of banks could be punished where necessary.

    The CBN spokesman said the apex bank has  already received series of complaints from bank customers, especially those that operate in the SMEs segment of the market that banks are frustrating their efforts at getting forex.

    Okorafor said some entrepreneurs still complain that banks are frustrating their efforts at obtaining forex for their eligible imports after the stipulated 48 hours. He said the regulator has reviewed the complaints and discovered they are not evidence-based.

    He appealed to  bank customers and the SMEs to “please give us concrete evidence against these banks so that we can hold them responsible by way of sanctions.”

    He added: “Get a photocopy of your Form Q, Form X, Form A or Form M. Give us the name of the bank, branch and send to us and we will deal with them as example to others.

    “The only way the we can make things better for Nigerians is for them to call the CBN whenever they are in trouble or whenever, or are getting frustrated by banks.

    “We have a number you can call or you send an email to our Consumer Protection Department. We want to urge everyone who is frustrated by banks to call and lay complaints. We assure you that you will get redress,” he said.

  • Deciphering the value of infrastructure loan

    Great value was lost in the skewed reportage of the keynote address delivered by Mohammad Sanusi, Emir of Kano in Abuja on December 2.  Emir Sanusi, the Federal Government and Nigerians were ill-served by the media’s embellishing of a fiscal element of the address. Sanusi observed that Nigeria is heavily enmeshed in debts that “out of every one Naira Nigeria makes, 40 kobo goes to debt and 60 kobo is left for salaries, health, education, power and infrastructure.”  Proclaiming that Nigeria should borrow more in order to dig itself out of the present debt peonage seems counterintuitive. Yet such argument gains validity, if such borrowing is per se, for development. The redeeming caveat is ensuring “beyond financing established infrastructural needs…that aggregate expenditure is of such quantum and composition to enable exit from recession.”

    The proposed $30 billion loan is tailored mainly to social infrastructure. It’s safe to assume implicit correlation between the $30billion infrastructural development loan and reported plans to offer N20 billion to 36 states respectively, for infrastructural development. The loan document, split into three parts – programmes and projects $11.247bn; special national infrastructure $10.686bn; and Eurobonds and federal budget support, $4.5bn and $3.5bn – didn’t include the sectoral narratives, which made it hard to discern the benefiting geopolitical or economic sectors. But we know this much. Nigeria’s infrastructures are in bad shape and needs remediation. But the dismal state of our infrastructure is hardly by happenstance; they failed gradually, through poor policy articulation and implementation, wrong priorities and wrong utilization of previous loans. Nigerians remain cognizant that past foreign loans dedicated to Nigeria’s steel sector yielded very limited results.

    The value and amortization terms of any loan are best assessed, if the loan is meant for hard infrastructure – power, housing, toll bridges and roads – that yield returns. Same is not always true of loans for soft and social infrastructures. Thus, it may be wise to borrow for hard infrastructure; yet not so wise to borrow for soft infrastructure. This position does not discount the overarching importance of soft infrastructure, needed to promote quality of life and human development, since rising youth unemployment, inequality, and poor healthcare delivery are corollaries of growing disenchantment and portend risks. Nigeria having only extricated herself from the sapping London and Paris Club debts just a decade ago, some heady questions arise. Will Nigeria’s borrowing outcome be any different now? Here is the challenge: Can an external loan – quick-fix, ad-hoc funding – couched in the attractive term of “infrastructure fund” even if it serves as stimulus or bailout, begin to redress existing infrastructure deficit, if its utilization is not properly handled?

    Infrastructural deficit in Nigeria remains huge with sectoral infrastructures suffering major setbacks, which manifest in dismal electric generation and distribution; crumbling roads and bridges that are further exacerbated by a poor maintenance culture.  The deregulated national air transportation system struggles, due to the existing oligopolistic market structures. Recent census shows that the national commercial air fleet shrank from a total of 60 to 20 planes in the past year alone. Prevailing operational challenges translate to air safety concerns. Nigeria is also underserved by its limited ports and waterways infrastructure. The sector is hampered by navigable, but yet to be dredged inland waterways totalling some 3,300km, and dearth of modern vessels. Nigeria’s housing deficit is estimated at 16-20 million, but Nigeria’s housing infrastructure is so laggard that even 20% of its housing needs are presently unrealizable. The mortgage sector remains dysfunctional, given prevalent inefficacious mortgage policies and regiment.  Whereas real estate construction contributed $990 billion or some 6% of U.S. GDP in 2015, and 4% of GDP in Ghana, in Nigeria, contributions via mortgages is a dismal 0.5% of the GDP.

    Whilst Nigeria’s GSM system is much improved, Nigeria’s 97 million GSM users are still underserved with only 21% broadband penetration. With Boko Haram destroying most GSM urban furniture in the North-east; the national landline systems have totally collapsed and are non-existent in most parts of the country. Such setbacks are worsened by high tariffs, lack of periodic maintenance, insufficient public sector funding and unavailability of stable bond and capital markets.  Even as Nigeria’s ICT sector yielded N1.4 trillion in FQ of 2016, the nexus between the parlous state of Nigeria’s communication infrastructure and her inability to fully catalyse the “use of ICTs for different aspects of national development” persists. Relatedly, Nigeria’s rating on the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness index, which assesses “countries’ ability to have good and steady electricity supply, road quality construction, air transportation, and port and rail infrastructures”, remains bleak. Two consecutive surveys between 2014 and 2016 ranked Nigeria 133rd and 134th respectively, out of 144 countries.

    Infrastructure funding and challenges were of lesser concern during the military era. Because democratically elected governments view infrastructure development as democratic dividends, the Jonathan administration prioritized infrastructural development via the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP), which linked key economic sectors. The plan envisaged to last for 30 years, would guarantee sustainable economic growth and development and bridge existing infrastructure deficit, if fully implemented. Still Nigeria has suffered from the inability of successive governments to follow through on approved infrastructural projects.  Hence, leadership change and politicians jockeying for preferential funding and sitting of constituency projects, continue to impact negatively on infrastructure development.

    The value of Nigeria’s infrastructure is relative to her historical realities regardless of whether the funding is borrowed or budgeted. Historical realities also reflect the federal government’s unending inability to leverage accruing oil revenue to develop national infrastructure fully. Resultantly, poorly funded and executed policies have contributed to awful deliverance or abandonment of strategic infrastructural projects. Meanwhile, states are increasingly averse to rehabilitating decrepit federal infrastructures, given extant policies prohibiting such repairs without prior authorization and challenges in recouping funds expended by states on federal projects.

    Funding infrastructure via budgets or loans is no longer as important as finding the political will for executing and delivering national projects fully. Not delivering on requisite infrastructure amounts to short-changing the national population and retarding development. As Ejeviome E. Otobo, averred in the recent edition of Jeune Afrique, “The ability of all tiers of government to increase citizens’ access to pipe-borne water, public healthcare and of the federal government to increase electricity supply will be an important test of their commitment to inclusive growth.” And as Abraham Nwankwo, Nigeria’s debt management czar observed; “If the economy does not succeed in converting the external borrowings to domestic productive capacity and self-sustaining economic growth, with substantial diversified export component, the resulting economic and social disruption will be unbearable.” Translated from our historical past to here-and-now, “unbearable” means recession, the new normal for Nigeria. Hence, advancing Nigeria does not require a foreign loan likely to be mismanaged, but a clear delineation of institutional structures and responsibilities for driving the deployment of critical national infrastructure. Such delineation will influence funding, resource and burden sharing among the three tiers of government, with a view to improving domestic productive capacity and sustainable development.

     

    • Obaze and Okoye are of Selonnes Consult Ltd.
  • Value addition, organic farming’ll boost non-oil products, says NEPC

    Value addition, organic farming’ll boost non-oil products, says NEPC

    The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has said value addition and organic farming are possible strategies that can boost non-oil products export.

    NEPC’s Trade Promotion Advisor and Export Assistant in Benin Mr. Macpherson Fred-Ileogben, who made this known in Benin, the Edo State capital, said the strategies were necessary to enable exporters know how to make their products acceptable in foreign markets and earn more value for them.

    He said the government was looking at diversifying resource generation from oil to non-oil products. “The government is also promoting the exportation of non-oil products because it is a way to boost foreign exchange earnings, conserve the foreign reserve and create jobs,” he stated.

    Fred-Ileogben advised exporters and would-be ones to key into this policy and generate more foreign exchange for the country and strengthen the valve of the naira. He said value chain addition was, therefore, imperative to making non-oil exports more competitive and acceptable in the international market.

    “On the average, our products are up to standard, but we have to do more so that they can compete well at the international market. The country needs to do more in the aspect of infrastructure, such as improving power, processing facilities, access roads and rail transportation to ease conversion of raw materials into semi-finished or finished goods for exportation,” the NEPC trade advisor said.

    According to him, most semi-finished or finished products attract more value at the international market than products in their raw forms. “If you are taking anything outside the country, we expect that the standard and packaging should be acceptable abroad. If the standard is good, it will earn you good value for your product, but if otherwise, it could be rejected,” he pointed out.

    While adding that worse still, the exporter will bear the cost of returning it back to the country, Fred-Ileogben advised farmers to adopt the emerging international trend in organic farming. This, according to him, involves concentrating more on the use of organic materials, such as farm manures, crop rotation and planting on the right soil and at the right time.

    His words: “We are encouraging farmers to shift from subsistence farming to commercial farming for purposes of exportation. As they do so, they should also do more of organic farming as the prolonged use of inorganic fertilisers has adverse health effects on both the plants and humans.”

    The NEPC trade advisor, however, noted that the major challenges confronting small and medium scale exporters in some parts of the country were the lack of access to finance and lack of access to international market.

  • Re: Our endangered value system

    SIR: Professor Olatunji Dare’s article “Our endangered value system”, (The Nation, March 29), was very instructive. Next to the agitation for a new constitution that reflects a true federal structure, the other matter for which I have continued to be vocal is our fast changing values. It is about time this matter is brought to the front burner.

    How did we come to this pass? A situation where nothing matters except crass materialism. Among the Yoruba, there is what we call omoluabi which I often like to define as ‘all that is good in a human being’. It is the quintessential human being. When we say in Yorubaland that a person is an omoluabi, it literally means that he/she is a person of integrity, a trustworthy person, a selfless person, a charitable person, a respectful and respectable person, a philanthropist, a humanitarian, a just person, a lovable person etc. To be an omoluabi, was the pride of a Yoruba person, but this value that is all good and used to be desired and aspired to by us all is fading and fading fast.

    In order to attain the change we want at a fast but more realistic pace, we need to change our attitude. This is one of the first things the Buhari administration should have embarked on. It is that fundamental. The foundation of the building block on which all other changes are premised is an attitudinal change. When we cultivate the right values, then all other things will follow. However, what we have done so far, and the reason the change is seemingly slow is that we have put the cart before the horse. As soon as the government was sworn in in May 2015, there should have been a pronouncement on the establishment of a national reorientation programme which would set the tone for the change we need and the goal we aspire. The advocacy would build up a groundswell against our current unethical values.

    A programme reminiscent of his first coming in 1983- the ‘War Against Indiscipline’ (WAI), but this time more elaborate would have worked wonders as it did at that time. By now, many of the criticism being levelled against his government would have been properly taken care of. What we have now leaves much to be desired. It is like a one man riot squad rather than a situation where we are all involved.

    An examination of the classification of society into two models by Robert Putnam, namely ‘Civic Community’ and ‘Predatory Society’, shows clearly that Nigeria fits squarely into the description of a predatory society. In order to change Nigeria from a predatory society to a path of development as epitomized by a predominantly civic community, we must have a cultural revolution. It is obvious that Nigeria will not develop and neither can it be effectively governed in a predatory society. It is therefore imperative to educate and establish new expectations and civic norms through a concerted reorientation (attitudinal change) programme. I believe that this should be a priority of government now.

    • Tokunbo Ajasin,

    Akure,  Ondo State

  • Nigeria, four oil exporters hit by falling currency value, says OPEC

    Nigeria, four oil exporters hit by falling currency value, says OPEC

    Five oil exporting countries, including Nigeria,  Angola, Venezula,  Azerbaijan, and Russia are mostly affected by falling  currency value,  Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has said.

    OPEC, in a paper detailing the impacts of recession on the global oil market, said the countries were picked among several others as having showing serious effects of fall in currency value.

    The body said depreciation in   the cuurency value is common in  the in oil exporting countries, adding that whether it is the Venezuelan bolívar, or the Russian rouble, low oil prices are wreaking havoc in oil exporting economies and on their national currencies.

    OPEC said: ‘’ In most cases, the scenario is similar: over the past decade, oil exporting countries used excessive revenues from oil to expand public services, or simply pursue populist policy in order to buy political stability. Once oil prices started to fall, the budgets did not shrink accordingly, which created a wide gap between the oil revenues and swelling fiscal demands.’’

    According to OPEC, governments were forced to devalue their national currencies in order to stem the rapid outflow of foreign reserves.

    ‘’An unwanted consequence is almost always the rise in inflation and household prices, along with a decline in living standards and stalled economic growth,’’ it added.

    OPEC gave a bit by bit accounts of impacts of falling curency value on the five countries thus.

     

    Nigeria

    Africa’s largest economy was hard hit by the falling oil prices. The national currency, the naira, dropped against the dollar by more than 50 per cent over the past year.

    On January 20, the Federal Government requested $3.5 billion loan from the International Monet6ary Fund(IMF) and the African development Bank to plug its $15billion budget  gap. The country’s oil revenues are expected to fall by 70 per cdent in 2016, while the hard currency reserves almost halved from $50billion to $28billion and the state’s emergncy fund went from $2 billion in 2009 to $2.3billion currently.

    Azerbaijan

    The former Soviet Republic is the first country to request a $4 billion emergency loan from the IMF and the World Bank in order to cover losses caused by low oil prices.