The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Wanted

  • Wanted: consular assistance for Nigerians on death row

    Human Rights Law Service (HURILAWS) Senior Programme Officer, Collins Okeke, in this piece urges the Federal Government to show more interest in Nigerians on death row abroad.

    On April 5, 2018, Peter Nielson, a Danish National was arrested by the Nigerian Police for allegedly killing his Nigerian wife, Zainab and their three-year-old daughter, Petra at their home in the Ikoyi area of Lagos State. His arrest was communicated to the Danish Embassy in Nigeria after which the Embassy was given access to him.

    Officials of the Danish Embassy visited him at the police station and in prison, ensured he had legal representation and observed his trial at the Lagos State High Court. The Danish Ambassador was in court on some of Peter Nielson’s trial dates.

    Contrast Mr Nielson’s case with the case of Kudirat Afolabi, the Nigerian lady executed by the Saudi Government for drug trafficking. As I write, there is still nothing in the public domain on the role played by the Nigerian Consulate in Saudi Arabia from the point she was arrested up until she was executed by the Saudi Government.

    The official reaction of the Federal Government has been to admonish Nigerians living abroad to be law abiding and avoid committing crimes in their host country.

    More troubling is the reaction of Nigerians, especially on social media. Rather than demand answers from the Federal Government, they have instead engaged in stereotyping the ethnicity of Ms Afolabi and other Nigerians on death row in prisons abroad.

    The consular courtesies and assistance accorded Mr Nielson by the Nigerian Government and the Danish Embassy in Nigeria is not restricted to Danish citizens. It is available to every country and their nationals and is guaranteed by Article36 of the Vienna Convention 1963.

    Article 36 (1)(c) of the Vienna Convention provides: “Consular officers shall have the right to visit a national of the sending State who is in prison, custody or detention, to converse and correspond with him and to arrange for his legal representation. They shall also have the right to visit any national of the sending State who is in prison, custody or detention in their district in pursuance of a judgment.”

    The Vienna Convention gives consular officers the right to visit their nationals in trouble with the law abroad and provide them with legal assistance. Nigerian consulates appear to either not know about the Vienna Convention, which is unlikely or appear not to care about their nationals. It may also be that they are embarrassed by the criminal activities of some Nigerians abroad.

    Crime by any Nigerian is bad. It is even worse when the crime is committed abroad. Criminal activities by Nigerians abroad have done enormous damage to the image of the country.

    Nonetheless, it is important to point out that a person accused of a crime abroad is at a great disadvantage. It is worse when the person is accused of a crime that attracts the death penalty.

    These persons are extremely vulnerable-they are far from their families and loved ones and often are not accorded basic human rights protection like the presumption of innocence, the rights to legal representation and fair trial.

    Zainab Aliyu’s case aptly illustrates how this could happen to anyone. A routine religious pilgrimage, vacation or business trip can suddenly become deadly. It is gratifying to see that the Federal Government has successfully rescued Zainab Aliyu from the executioner’s sword in Saudi Arabia.

    Perhaps, this is an opportunity for the Nigerian Government through the Foreign Affairs Ministry to begin an inquiry into the cases of other Nigerians on death row in prisons around the world. According to Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP), there are over 600 Nigerians on death row in South East Asia alone. These cases need to be reviewed.

    This is also a good opportunity for Nigeria’s Federal and state governments to rethink their position on the death penalty. It makes no sense to appeal for leniency on behalf of Nigerians on death row in other countries and at the same time retain and support the death penalty. Nigeria must first purge itself of the barbarism of the death penalty.

  • Wanted: Better welfare for journalists

    Journalism is a profession imbued with danger. Therefore, it requires greater attention in terms of the welfare of workers.  The Nigerian press has been bedevilled with an ugly phenomenon called “poor welfare” and it keeps getting tougher, year in year out.

    There is no doubt that the society may have to support the initiative because it deserves a better and more improved brand of journalism championed by credible journalists, guided by professional ethics and general public interests. For this to happen, society should be bothered about the welfare of its ‘watchdog’.

    In recent years, development in the media industry is raising serious concern over the twin challenges of funding and ethics that are deeply and negatively impacting on the operations and credibility of the media and its practitioners.  The expansions in the industry have, unfortunately, not translated into improvement in the quality of life of journalists vis a  vis better conditions of service.

    Poor welfare of journalists is manifesting in financial intimidation, threats, inferiority complex, physical pressures and psychological hazards, as well as social and emotional risks for practitioners and their families. No thanks to the state of insecurity in our nation which has exposed journalists to harm or even deaths in the line of duty.

    Of course, neither is it debatable that the welfare of journalists affect the quality of their profession, ethical conducts, efficiency and  the credibility of their employers.

    Premium Times Centre For Investigative Journalism (PTCIJ), in a publication of August 27, last year by Kinsley Obi, stated that “media issue of poor remuneration, as well as poor welfare, provisions for journalists, has been identified as one of the greatest challenges eating up media industry in Nigeria. The wider ramifications of the problem are that most media organisations also do not pay salaries, as well as benefits like pension, insurance and other statutory requirements like tax remittances”.

    As a result, the terrors of punishment they suffered in the hands of overzealous security officials, political elements and economic forces still hamper them.

    Arguably, that is why we hear of brown envelopes, weak investigative spirit, fake news, hate speech, corporate begging, and so many scandalous cases which have reduced the reliability, competency and relevance of media among its audience. It has also  battered the image of the profession.

    Akabogu, C. E. (2005), in his paper titled: ‘The Ethical journalist and brown envelope syndrome: The way forward’, argued: ‘’Although some journalists will always reject bribe, a greater majority of them do take bribe because they are generally not well paid. This is coupled with a lot of financial problems within and outside their working environment.”

    The inability of the central labour organisation and sectoral unions to strongly confront the challenge has also helped in adding fuel to the wave of explorative and unfair treatments of the journalists. All hands must be on deck to battle unscrupulous employers to save its members and the society upon which the media operates.

    Dapo Olorunyomi, Publisher of Premium Times, said: “One of the major problems of the media house is the business model brought which most media houses are run. Business models based on advertising can no longer work in the country.”

    Olorunyomi, therefore, suggested that media owners must come up with innovative ways to make money based on the platforms they operate to sustain the business and eventually improve the salary structure of their employees.

    Further, he also recommended that “sustaining democracy is largely dependent on an effective media which also largely depends on adequate remuneration”.

    Beyond improved perequisites for journalists, the freedom of press is still under incarceration. There’s the need for the government to understand that promoting good governance and socio-economic development of a nation is hinged on best journalistic practices. This clearly echoes the words of Helen Thomas, who states thus: “We don’t go into journalism to be popular. It is our job to seek the truth and put constant pressure on our leaders until we get answers.”

    The freedom of the press puts journalists in a better position to fulfil their constitutional responsibility of holding government accountable to the people.

    Ralph Akinfeleye, a professor of Mass Communication at the University of Lagos, says of unfettered journalism practice: “The other name for democracy is free journalism and there can’t be sustainable democracy without a free press. The government must understand this for developments to occur.”

    With the coming of democracy, we thought our society will reflect the above truism.  Unfortunately, democracy still appears to a nightmare in Nigeria.

  • Wanted: More male teachers in Anambra schools

    A large number of teachers in Anambra State primary and secondary schools are women. Some schools do not have male teachers at all. Stakeholders are calling for a change, reports EMMA ELEKWA, ONITSHA.

    To stakeholders and the public, the number of male teachers in nursery, primary and secondary schools nationwide is worrisome.

    Teaching is gradually becoming an exclusive preserve of women provoking the question: where are the teachers?

    In Anambra State, the case is more pronounced in primary and secondary schools where statistics show that over 80 per cent of teachers are women.

    Several factors are attributed for the trend and its attendant implications on the education sector.

    While some blamed it on poor remuneration of teachers, others said the profession demanded patience and tolerance, a twin-virtue lacking among the male folk.

    They argued that improved salary and general welfare packages for teachers would go a long way to reverse the trend and make it more attractive for  men.

    Speaking with The Nation, Coordinator, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) in Anambra State, Lady Chinelo Otigba, said poor remuneration contributed largely to the near absence of male teachers in the profession.

    She said: “Due to the pay package, male teachers are running  away because they have to marry and have other responsibilities to carry out with their meagre salaries.

    “We need men in our schools because there are certain subjects they can teach, especially technical subjects, which women cannot handle because of the kinds of equipment in technical schools.”

    She said the Council was doing its best to ensure that teachers were among the best paid in the country.

    Special Assistant to the Governor on Grassroots Mobilisation and Enlightenment, Sir Anthony Ugoji, expressed worry over the development.

    He said the trend, if not tackled, would impact negatively on students and their academic pursuits in future.

    “How can you tell me that in a school of over 20 teachers, you won’t see a single male teacher? This is an abomination to our society.

    “We need to do something, including review of teachers’ salaries to make the profession attractive for men to go into,” he stressed.

    Also Read: Teachers’ retirement age rift in Anambra

    A medical practitioner, Dr. Jude Obi, said the paucity of male teachers was a time bomb waiting to explode. He canvassed gender balance in educational institutions, insisting that male and female teachers have distinctive roles to play in moulding the character of the learners.

    “There is supposed to be male and female gender in every school. They can learn so much from each other in the course of their interactions,” he said.

    On his part, Principal of Igwebuike Grammar School, Dr. Uchechukwu Anekokwu, attributed the decline to the method of recruitment, which, according to him, seemed to accord priority to female applicants,.

    He warned that it may have grave consequences years to come.

    “If nothing is done to salvage the situation between now and 2025, you may hardly see a single male teacher in both primary and secondary schools,” he said.

    The immediate past chairman, Academic Staff Union of universities (ASUU), Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Prof. Denis Aribodo, said the trend was gradually crippling into the tertiary education.

    He said, “It’s crippling gradually into the university system because if you compare the statistics of female lecturers with that of their male counterparts, you’ll notice a significant difference. The gap is closing.

    “Presently, women are paralleling with the men in the tertiary institutions in the area of lecturing. In the past, it was about 20:80 female to male ratio. But now, it’s almost 50:50 ratio especially in the Southern Nigeria. It may not be the same in the North.”

    Aribodo however noted that as encouraging as the development seemed to be, there was the need to check the trend in order not to encounter the current experience in the primary/secondary schools.

    A businessman, Obiora Igwenagu, thinks differently.  He argued that what was important was the level of personal discipline exhibited by a teacher and not necessarily his or her gender.

    “If both male and female teachers behave responsibly, you see their pupils take after them,” he said.

    Igwenagu stressed the need for teachers to update their knowledge through research and training.

    “Every teacher should go to research institute and spend quality time. When they come back, they do not repeat the same things over and over again,” he added.

    For Dr. Ndidi Iheama, a university lecturer, majority of the men hardly measure up with the demands of the teaching profession.

    She said: “Teaching job tends to tie people down and men want to use their time for other things.

    “Teaching demands sitting down, writing lesson notes and all that. Men just don’t have that time.

    “If you have not prepared lesson notes, lesson plan and prepared instruction materials or teaching aids with targets, you will not appreciate the task before a teacher.”

    On his part, another academic, Dr. Sunday Okafor, said the teaching profession should be seen as a calling. “Something must attract a man to something. Either money is the source of the calling or passion for teaching.

    “In an event where money is the main or the only reason for the calling, the ‘callee’ certainly must leave the ‘caller’ into searching for greener pastures,” he noted.

    Comparing teaching with nursing, Okafor argued that it would be difficult for men to be found in nursery and primary schools in view of the class of persons there.

    He said: “Teaching in nursery and primary schools is more like a nursing. We have nursing mothers (women) and not nursing fathers. So many men will find it difficult to do nursing work.

    “Nursing work includes cleaning poo and wee, runny nose and running stomach, oil and dust on your well-ironed shirts, climbing on your head and stomach, changing pampers, among other things.

    “Even in children ministry in churches, you have more aunties than uncles. Even the uncles will be reluctant, if at all they agree to go to pre-nursery class. Rather, they will prefer to teach children in JS and SS classes.”

  • Wanted: Competent Speaker for Kwara

    Founding members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kwara State have urged President Muhammadu Buhari, Adams Oshiomhole, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Governor-elect Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq and APC chairman Bashir Bolarinwa to allow the best candidate to emerge as the next Speaker of the House of Assembly.

    They said the rule of law and legislative experience should not be sacrificed on the altar of sectionalism when electing the Speaker.

    The chieftains said that it would be counterproductive, if rule of law and legislative experience were jettisoned.

    Kwara Central Senatorial District Chairman Alhaji Gani Saka counseled the APC leadership to ensure that members, who had laboured were not subjected to further injustice.

    Saka said: “In as much as we will want to appreciate efforts of our dear brothers and elected members from the Kwara North, we cannot but be guided by a Yoruba proverb that says, “the blind cannot successfully lead the blind”. Therefore, we will like to declare our support for the rule of law, by clearly encouraging our party leaders to do the needful by declaring Hon. Saheed Popoola, who is the only re-elected House member among the 24 House of Assembly members-elect, as the next speaker of the House.

    “Hon. Saheed Popoola, who has the best political experience as former council secretary, member of Kwara state polytechnic governing council, Offa local government council chairman, former commissioner and the only returning House member, is qualified to be the next speaker of the House where all other members are fresher.”

    Saka called the attention of the party leader to alleged injustice saying that emergence of APC candidates for the just concluded general elections was lopsided.

    He said that members that decamped to the party were allotted 95 percent in elective positions.

    “From the position of governor-elect, deputy governor-elect, senators and House of Representatives members, down to the House of Assembly members, almost all are from the camp of our decampee members, while the foundation members were left with next to nothing in the whole arrangement.

    “It will be great injustice to again sacrifice Hon. Saheed Popoola who has sacrificed so much for the party when it was an act of political suicide for any elected party man to stand with the party against Dr. Bukola Saraki’s position, he stood with the party.

    “When all other members of the current House of Assembly members decamped to the PDP with Saraki, he stood alone with the APC in the state”, he said.

  • Wanted: $30b yearly for energy development

    The Director-General, Energy Commission of Nigeria (ECN), Prof. Eli Jidere Bala, yesterday said because of the huge energy infrastructure deficit, about $30billion is required yearly to meet the country’s energy demand.

    Speaking during the opening ceremony of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) training workshop in Abuja, the DG said  60 per cent of the yearly energy demand is going to electric power.

    Nigeria, like most nations, according to him, requires and desires for economic and social development, which are driven by adequate, secured, cost-effective and environmentally acceptable energy supply.

    He said: “Huge infrastructure (deficit) estimated to cost about $30billion annually between 2014 and 2043, is however required to meet Nigeria’s energy demand to support its long term aspirations, with 60 per cent going to power electricity.”

    He noted that the infrastructure needed should, however, be renewable energy and energy efficiency based in order to ensure sustainable development in line with national commitment to global obligations to climate change mitigation.

    Bala said in line with the nation’s Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP), the need should be private sector driven.

    The ECN chief however said, for effective funding by private sector, the project proposals must be bankable.

    He added that bankable proposals are dependent on reliable and acceptable data obtained from international best practices and institutions.

    This, according to Bala, was the significance of the training.

    On the essence of the training, he said it is on renewable energy statistics, which imply the availability of all information (data, law) in internationally acceptable manner to assist in planning.

    He said renewable energy is a resource that is environmentally friendly and replenishes itself within a reasonable short time and through a natural process.

    Bala said the workshop was organised by the IRENA based in Abu Dabhi based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in colloboration with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency and the ECN in Abuja.

    He said: “Our projection by 2030, if the economy is to grow by seven per cent, we need nothing less than 100,000Mw. And if the economy is to grow by double digit, we need nothing less than 300,000Mw. Therefore that 30 gigawatt that is now in our plan should be 30 per cent renewable and it is still low.”

    Bala said currently, there is 12,000Mw installed capacity, of which about 50 per cent is available in the country. Of this capacity, the large hydro is contributing about 30 per cent.

    Meanwhile, the Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, said to bridge the gap and improve access, the government is working to increase the contribution of renewable energy to 30 per cent of country’s energy mix for electricity production capacity 30,000Mw by 2030.

    Represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary’ Mr. Bitrus Nabasu, he said the National Rural Electricity Programme is now renewable energy driven through off-grid programmes.

  • Wanted: Law on open asset declaration

    A lawyer and seasoned multilateral diplomat, Dr Babafemi A. Badejo, bemoans the failure to enact a law to make assets declaration by public officials more open and accessible by every Nigerian. He also examines Atiku Abubakar’s ‘amnesty to looters’ proposal and the ruling party’s attitude towards suspected looters.

    It was on January 18, 2019, that Adams Oshiomhole, one time labour activist, former Governor of Edo State and currently Chairman of the ruling party, had in Benin City stated that all wrong doers in the opposition party would be forgiven once they join the All Progressives Congress (APC).

    Indeed, the ruling party has been welcoming to many alleged thieves and evil doers with some of these as national leaders, including ministers. This pragmatism on the part of the ruling party makes nonsense of the declared position of President Buhari as an anti-corruption leader.

    In a nationally televised television programme, the presidential candidate of the main Nigerian opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), announced that once voted into power, he would forgive all evil doers who had stolen from national patrimony, once they are willing to repatriate the funds and invest in the national economy.

    The brazenly daring opposition to the laws and institutional arrangements against corruption in Nigeria by Adams Oshiomole and the expressly stated campaign promise of a policy by the PDP presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, on granting amnesty to looters so that they can invest in Nigeria should be of concern to all Nigerians.

    It is a shock that the leadership of the two main Nigerian parties, one of who will definitely produce the next President of Nigeria, are making reckless statements that are endorsing money-laundering. A thief being freed from the legal responsibility to atone through laid down punishments in our books is a dangerous proposition as answer to handling corruption in Nigeria.

    The orientation being encouraged whether in the form of obtaining reprieve once you join the ruling party or the promise of amnesty once the current opposition party becomes the ruling party amounts to the same thing in my view: Feel free to steal as much as you can and you will be without blemish once you are in the party that rules Nigeria after the February 2019 elections.

    It is overwhelmingly agreed by Nigerians that corruption is the major problem that faces our country. One may argue as to whether corruption takes precedent over poverty of leadership for service. And even along this line, it seems clear that we have two intrinsically linked priorities that mu be strongly prioritised and efficient solutions sought if the lot of Nigerians is to be any better. Hence, it is important to examine the similar articulated pro-looting statements of “Comerade” Adams Oshiomhole and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

    The common position of the APC and PDP is bound to encourage others to steal and seek forgiveness/amnesty. While, it is true that punishments have, so far, not deterred stealing from national patrimony, to decriminalise this type of theft is to throw away the child with the bath water.

    Why has the fear of punishments not deterred stealing and ignoring of our laws? The answer is simple: the reason can only be traced to weak and corrupt enforcement of retribution arrangements. We need to put in place more stringent pressures to realise the implementation of laws we already have on the books against the corrupt.

    In effect, the looters should not think they can launder their respective stolen money and reappear as so called investors who are to be respected as providers of employment opportunities to Nigerians through “investments”.  Anyone caught should be effectively handled and made an example to potential thieves. We must put a stop to the wrong argument in Nigeria that seem to suggest you need to first catch all thieves because you can punish anyone.

    Once a thief of our national patrimony is caught, the full weight of the law must blindly step forward and assisted to be effective in halting the particular thief in his/her tracks. If the President is quiet on thieves around him, let us collaborate with him to punish those not around him and once he is out of office, descend on those he shielded while in office.

    Strong diplomatic efforts are needed to go after funds stolen from Nigeria that are kept in Panama and Paradise type papers. It was not only Abacha alone who stole from Nigerians. More and more, the current campaign is exposing many who have been pontificating as success stories as nothing other than thieves in robes of respectability.

    Nigerians should rally round budding civil society organisations to demand restitutions for all that was looted through the manipulation of public policies to acquire resources for the benefit of self and family businesses. Some of these would require changes to the law through the help of public spirited lawyers going through the courts. Our legislatures being den of looters will never be of help.

    For instance, since 1999, our ‘legislooters’ have refused to pass the law for making assets declaration more transparent. And the ‘executhieves’ are not doing enough either to make such transparent Act a priority for attention.

    Nigerians should wake up and oppose amnesty for corrupt thieves. We cannot progress on the fight against corruption if we allow thieves to launder their loots. We, as a nation, must make it clear that there will be no forgiveness/amnesty for looters. There is still time before elections for “Comerade” Adams Oshiomhole and his brother Alhaji Atiku Abubakar to change their respective messages by withdrawing their offers to looters.

    We may be finding difficult to recover what has been stolen but let us continue to pursue looters all around the world. Looters must not have comfort of expecting an amnesty/forgiveness from Nigerians. Punitive answer is not the only answer in our anti-corruption armory. That this is the case is clear from the paper-weight National Anti-Corruption Strategy (NACS) that the Buhari government finalised in 2017 but has been weak in implementing.

    Many other anti-corruption pressures/measures in the NACS must be pursued. But in the interim, effective implementation of punishment for looters must remain on the front-burner. Nigeria’s problem is not shortage of funds to invest and hence strong need to repatriate what has been stolen. The problem is to halt continued looting.

  • Wanted: A low cost dairy industry

    Nigeria spends about $1.3 billion yearly on the importation of dairy products. Stakeholders believe the situation can change if efforts are made to improve the local production system, DANIEL ESSIET reports.

    In Nigeria’s quest for a diversified economy, one question stakeholders have shown concern about, is  the country’s   share of the global  $442 billion dairy business.

    For the larger part, Nigeria is not involved in the more productive aspects of the industry. At the moment, the value of Nigeria’s dairy business is about $1.5 billion, with over 90 per cent of that amount accounting for importation, packaging and distribution of milk  to consumers.

    This  was not   a cherry  news  for  Minister of State for Industry, Trade and Investment, Aisha Abubakar.

    She didn’t hide it when she   inaugurated  a stakeholders committee for the development of policy framework to boost the dairy industry.

    Nigeria spends about $1.3 billion yearly on the importation of dairy products such as milk, yogurt, cheese and other milk derivatives.

    Abubarkar said the dairy industry has huge potential, such as the creation of millions of jobs and the generation of about N300 billion monthly for the country.

    She lamented that 85 per cent of Nigeria’s 19.5 million cattle,are owned and managed by small holder, subsistent and nomadic herdsmen, leaving the remaining 15 per cent in the hands of medium and large scale farmers in managed pastures.

    Consequently, she  urged  the  committee  to put  in place  a policy framework  that will  attract and achieve local participation in dairy business; ensure local content development of dairy; encourage joint venture opportunities across strategic segments of the dairy business and provide financial relief to boost local growth through the participation of women and youths in the sector.

    Other stakeholders  have  shown  concern following  severe impact of revenue loss due to  the state of the  sector. One  of them  is  , the Managing Director, Chana Eloa Integrated Farm Limited, Udeme Etuk.

    Speaking in Lagos during a forum of Food and Agriculture Writers of Nigeria(FAWON) ,Etuk  said local  dairy production faces a number of challenges that have affected quality and quantity.These,according to him,  include limited availability of quality and affordable feeds, inadequate infrastructure including access roads and milk cooling facilities, limited extension services, low value addition to absorb surpluses during glut, and limited access to markets and market information.

    He noted that the  nation’s cattle raring is at best still at primitive levels with the herders mostly nomadic and their cattle producing milk.

    According to him, Nigeria’s production is far below the global average of 24.5 litres /cow/day.

    The opportunities include enhancing the milk yield per cow, per day, processing of quality feeds, and processing milk into value added products such as pasteurised milk, UHT milk, yoghurt, mala, cultured milk, cheese, butter and many others.

    He said investing in better production technologies further involves improved feeding system thus creating more investment opportunities along the value chain through feed production.

    He said  increased investment in milk processing facilities  will  create huge demand for milk production and investment in high milk yielding heifers.

    He said the huge demand for milk could be met by forming more farmers’ clusters that can allow farmers to access sources of finance from lending institutions to increase investment.

    He stressed  the need for the government to l support farmers to access quality feeds as well as appropriate finance to support transition to commercial dairy farming.

    According to him, there are opportunities for dairymen to  diversify into other  areas such as  cattle production .

    Transforming dairy farming in Nigeria, according to him, depends on  improving  the productivity and profitability of smallholder dairy farms.

     

    Challenges facing smallholder dairy farmers

    He said dairy farmers face a number of challenges when rearing animals for milk, often struggling to make any profit. These challenges are underpinned by a general lack of information about how to manage animals and what basic conditions are required for healthy productive cattle.

    Etuk stressed   the sector  needs   transformation of  the livestock farming systems and the cattle farming.

  • Wanted: Strong legal framework for social investments

    Mrs Maryam Uwais is Special Assistant to the President on National Social Welfare Programme. She tells Legal Editor JOHN AUSTIN UNACHUKWU about the Federal Government’s social welfare programmes.

    The Muhammadu Buhari administraion is known for its social investment programmes.

    However, there is the need for a legal framework to ensure the programme outlive this administration, stakeholders have said.

    Special Assistant to the President on National Social Welfare Programme, Mrs.  Maryam Uwais, told The Nation that the programmes are for all Nigerians irrespective political affiliation.

    She spoke on the sidelines of a forum organised by the Africa Legal (PAL) in Lagos.

    Speakers called for a stronger legal framework for social investment programmes.

    They were of the view that a strong legal framework will not only benefit Nigerians, but will give the programmes a life of their own no matter the government in power.

    PAL Managing Partner Mrs. Boma Ayomide Alabi said the Federal Government’s social welfare programmes should be institutionalised.

    According to her, they should be insulated from political, ethnic and tribal interferences.

    Mrs Uwais said the programmes were designed to reduce poverty, unemployment, and to boost  productivity.

    “The social investment programmes were specifically designed by this administration to impact on the lives of the poor, vulnerable, unemployed and those at the bottom of the pyramid without access to finance to ensure they are availed the opportunity to better their lives.

    “The National Social Investment Office (NSIO) is strategically set up within the Office of the Vice President, chaired by His Excellency the Vice President to ensure standard delivery mechanisms, objective leadership and pro-active monitoring and evaluation are met,” she said.

    How the programme works

    Mrs Uwais said a steering committee of ministers with portfolios relevant to education, health, agriculture, investment, productivity, youth, information, finance, budget and national planning (being the Secretariat) continuously engaging with updates, approvals, guidance and advice for proper coordination among all stakeholders.

    The committee, she said, was established to advise and guide the NSIO in its operations.

    “State level partnerships have been established with the NSIO, with each of the 36 state governors nominating a state Focal Person, since the implementation of NSIPs comprises mandates that remain within the purview of states (education, health and agriculture), while impacting on citizens within their jurisdictions.

    “These focal persons liaise with and engage with the Federal Office for seamless integration, also coordinating activities related to the four programme leads within their jurisdictions.

    “The four N-SIPs of job creation/N-Power, conditional cash transfers, home grown school feeding and government enterprise and empowerment programmes were carefully designed and developed,” she said.

    N-Power

    Mrs Uwais said N-Power is an employability and enhancement programme aimed at imbibing the learn-work-entrepreneurship culture in youth between 18 and 35.

    Her words: “Applications are done online to create a level playing ground for everyone,which information determines an objective selection and direct payment process through the bank accounts and BVN submitted by the applicants.

    “The state merely engages in the physical verification and deployment of the successful candidates to their places of assignment after they have been selected, while direct payment of N30,000 to their accounts of commences after State validation.

    “N-Power graduate volunteers are given devices consisting of learning modules relevant to their selected vocations, which enables them to serve effectively in their primary place of assignment for a period of two years.

    “The non-graduate category of successful candidates are trained in state audited skill centres for a period of three months. They are given toolboxes and paid a stipend of N10,000 per month, for a period of one year.

    “We currently have over 520,000 N-Power youth (both graduate and non-graduate) selected on an online platform.”

    ‘How cooks are selected’

    Mrs Uwais said cooks for the school feeding programme are selected through an open and inclusive recruitment committee exercise set up by the state, with focus on applicants who are known and trusted within the vicinities of the schools.

    Selected cooks are then trained on financial skills, hygiene and nutrition.

    Direct payment, through their accounts, facilitates financial inclusion, identification and efficient measurement, as well as tracking payments in a transparent manner, she said.

    “Today, we have 96,972 cooks on our payroll, feeding 9,300,892 pupils in 49,837 government primary schools around 26 states, while all the remaining states are at various stages of meeting the criteria we have laid, for feeding to commence.

    “These children are able to eat a balanced diet, towards improving their learning outcomes.”

    Cash transfer programme

    Mrs Uwais said the National Cash Transfer programme is designed to deliver timely and accessible cash transfers to beneficiary households.

    The aim is to build their capacities for sustainable livelihoods which support development objectives.

    “In a bid to depart from the random and opaque method of beneficiary selection as evidenced in the past, we have had to devise a targeting structure that ensures only the poorest of the poor (and the most vulnerable) are supported, with both cash and mentoring.

    The Office has commenced the development of a National Social Register (comprising State Social Registers) of data relating to poor and vulnerable households through a tried and tested community-based targeting method, from which cash transfer beneficiaries are mined.

    “Such a Register is hosted in the Ministry of Planning of each state, after the state and LGA officials are trained to support the identification process by the community.

    “One caregiver (and one alternate) in a selected household are thereafter enrolled for cash payments, training and mentorship through the State Cash Transfer Office and issued an identification card.

    “Direct payment is made to caregivers in the locality of residence through the agents selected in an open and transparent procurement process. In addition to the money paid to our beneficiaries, Local Government Community Facilitators are trained in every ward, who visit the beneficiaries to mentor and support them on the formation of savings groups, financial skills, sanitation, hygiene and nutrition.

    “Through this effort, the NSIO is also collating critical data relating to nearest functional primary and secondary schools, primary health centres, payment service providers, access roads, connectivity and power supply to the community.

    “With over two million individuals so far identified from 26 states, we are currently paying N10,000 every two months to over 300,000 beneficiaries in 20 states, including the IDPs in Borno State.

    “All the remaining states are at various stages of developing their Social Registers, which data remains the foundation for the cash transfer programme.

     Enterprise and Empowerment Programme

    Funds for the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, Mrs Uwais said, are managed by the Bank of Industry (BOI).

    It is aimed at providing financial support and training to businesses at the bottom of the financial pyramid.

    “There are currently 3 GEEP products: FarmerMoni, MarketMoni and TraderMoni.

    “For the first two, funds between 10,000 to N350,000 are paid into the accounts of the successful applicants. To be successful, an applicant is required to belong to a registered cooperative or association (even if registered at LGA level), and have a bank account with a BVN.

    “With neither collateral or an interest element, peer pressure from other members of the cooperative encourages repayments through selected agents.

    “With TraderMoni, loans of  10,000, 15,000 and N20,000 are incrementally made available, provided repayment is made within the six months period.

    “Trained enumerators go into the market and clustered businesses to register petty traders who fit the set profile, following which the registered traders are processed for disbursement.

    “An applicant must be a petty trader, own a phone and have a verifiable place of trade (kiosk, table-top, spot, area of hawking).

    “Cumulatively, BOI has made 1,378,804 loans available to successful applicants in all the States and the FCT.

    “As at the end of October, 2018, the National Social Investment Programmes have cumulatively made direct impact on 11,259,012 beneficiaries, and almost 4m secondary beneficiaries, comprising the cooks, farmers, families, employees and members of the community.

    “As a team working on the directives of our President and Vice President, the NSIO has benefitted from this administrations’ leadership for staying the course in ensuring that the programmes impact on all Nigerians, irrespective of political affiliation, religion and ethnicity.

    “No other administration in Nigeria’s history has been able to stand firm with similar government initiatives or projects, without providing slots or preferential allocations to certain interest groups based on privilege.

    “Without this formidable backing, none of this would have been possible. We have striven to remain faithful to this mandate and commit to serving our dear country, as we move to the Next Level,” Mrs Uwais said.

  • Wanted! World class varsities

    When you hear early products of the University of Ibadan (UI) talk about the UI they attended, chances are that you will feel bad—especially if you are 50 and below. Please listen to Prof. Mike Obi Onyekonwu, the former Director of the Institute of Petroleum Studies, University of Port Harcourt, the great Prof. Niyi Osundare, the amazing Prof. Femi Osofisan and others at the UI of then, you are bound to mourn what has become of their alma mater.

    Listening to early products of other first generation universities, such as the University of Lagos, also invoke the same feeling about what has become of our university system.

    The military incursion into our body polity is usually the first casualty when the blame game begins. Interestingly, the military has been out since 1999. In a few months, it will be twenty years since the military began subjecting itself to civil authority. The question then is: why have we not been able to find the solution to our varsity education’s decline?

    I have lost count of the number of industrial actions the Academic Staff Union of Nigerian Universities (ASUU) has embarked upon in its quest to get the university system working again. Governments after governments have signed agreements with the ASUU leadership but the agreements, in my understanding, were never meant to be implemented because giving our realities, there was no way they could have been implemented. The government officials who appended their signatures to the documents did not do so with utmost sincerity. The terms had always been such that government alone was expected to fund tertiary education and the amount required was always a chunk of the budget.

    For ASUU, the problem is lack of political will on the path of governments to implement the agreements entered into. It believes once the agreements are implemented, we will have a university system that can compete internationally.

    As you read this, our public universities have been closed again. ASUU is protesting the inability of government to implement an agreement on funding the university system. By studies conducted by ASUU in 2010, the cost of training undergraduates to   full accreditation      status is $3,364. With a student population put at no less than 800,000, close to N2 trillion is needed to fund the education system.

    Our current budget is N9.12 trillion. Of this, capital expenditure has 31.5 per cent, which comes to N2.87 trillion. Recurrent non-debt spending has N3.51 trillion earmarked for it in 2018. N2.01 trillion is meant for debt servicing. The entire sum meant for the Ministry of Education is N542 billion. If everything is given to universities, it still will not achieve the aim. We will need to add the N55.15 billion meant for health, the N300 million for National Health Act, the N25.1 billion for promotion and development of value chain, the N5.30 billion for National Grazing Reserve Development, the N109 billion for Universal Basic Education Commission and many more for university education to be what it really should be. What this means is that these sectors will suffer. These competing needs, such as infrastructure, defence, security, health and other needs require government’s urgent attention too. It is bad enough that we have bad roads and other infrastructure everywhere. What will happen if education gets their shares of the federal budget?

    This brings me to the issue of what I think should be done. Long ago, the idea of an Education Bank, which will provide loans to students to fund their education and pay back when they begin to earn income, started floating in the air.  This should be a right as propounded by the National Council on Education (NCE). The NCE approved the establishment of Education Bank and Study Loan Boards by states at concessionary interest rate to allow students easy access to fund. The council also asked all states of the federation to establish what it called “Education Fund” with special emphasis on funding teacher development and secondary education.

    I vehemently disagree with those who see the planned introduction of Education Bank as commercialisation of public universities. I was alarmed reading an ASUU official saying the Education Bank will deny the poor access to education. How? If this is ASUU’s fear, then it should insist that the loans should be automatic to every indigent student with valid university admission. Even from NCE’s explanation, the bank will meet the financial needs of both teachers and students ‘from not-well-to-do families’.

    I believe this will also help the much-talked about autonomy for varsities. May be to allay one of the fears expressed by the ASUU top gun, the scheme may be limited to students of public universities. After all, the rich can afford to pay for the private universities.

    We are quick to point at the developed world, but when it comes to issues like this, some of us want to be different. But, we will never move forward this way. In developed parts of the world, such as the United States and the United Kingdom, university education is supported by student loans and scholarships. Great leaders, including President Barack Obama, could not have been able to have university education without this institutional support.

    Aside the student loan, another way education is funded abroad is scholarship schemes by government and private sectors.  The Federal Government has one in place, which I believe can be improved upon. The schemes run by state governments should also be improved upon and they will help to make available the needed resources to develop our varsities.

    Like former Niger State Governor Dr. Muazu Babangida Aliyu, I believe establishing the bank would lead to an improvement in the standard of education and give more impetus to educational infrastructure.

    It is good that the House of Representatives has expressed its readiness to work towards the establishment of the bank. House Leader Femi Gbajabiamila said the loans to be accessed by the students would be interest free.

    “We realise that so many students out there lose their admissions because they don’t have the wherewithal to pay their school fees. We felt the state should be able to assist these students. Education is a right and not a privilege. It is our duty to make it available to everybody. When we set up the education bank, it would give loans to keep these students in school.  The loan would attract zero interest.

    ”The students would only repay the principal interest when they get jobs. We are not happy because there are young men and women out there who are gifted, but are unable to pay school fees.  Every lawmaker understands this and we would make sure the bill is passed into law,” Gbajabiamila said.

    My last take: I beg ASUU to work with the Wale Babalakin negotiation team instead of calling for the disbandment of the team on the account of alleged arrogance. This same team was praised to high heavens by ASUU when it was put in place. So, what has changed? Whatever it is, the important thing is that public good should be of utmost importance. And ASUU should know that no war has ever ended at the warfront. It is always at the negotiating table.

  • Wanted! More women in politics

    The Female Voters Initiative at the weekend organised a road walk across the major road in Ikeja,  Lagos State to educate women to participate in the electoral process.

    Speaking at the event, the convener, Miss Morenikeji Afolayan and Assistant, Miss Tolani Aransiola, said the Female Voters Initiative is to ensure that women become familiar with political institutions.

    She said: “We organised the programme, basically to raise awareness and encourage more young females and middle-aged women to participate fully in all electoral processes in the forthcoming general elections.

    “We find out that more females obtained voters card than males. But majority of them obtained it as a means of national identity or prior to open account in any banks.

    “Our mission is to change this mindset, correct these mistakes. We don’t want this ugly directive to continue. We want to educate and encourage more females to know the usefulness of their Private Voters Cards (PVC) aside the means of identification in bank or others places. We want them to know PVC is one of the swords to effects positive changes to Nigeria democracy which can equally produce a better Nigeria. We all have role to play to make Nigeria great.

    “We called on females above 18 years that have PVC to come out enmass to vote for their choice candidates and also monitor the votes to avoid adulteration. Let’s stop our wrong impression that it’s only the jobless housewives that go out to vote. Our vote is our civil rights. Our voice must be heard. We are females but have same equal rights with male’s gender in the society. Let’s stop the idea of only the male speaks and determine the right of both genders.

    “Females should come out to aspire for leadership positions. Democracy we want is to vote and be voted for. Female’s activities must be highly measured and their voice must fully add in this coming elections.

    “We should be saying politics is a dirty game and abscond from performing our civil rights. We all have responsibilities to rebuild this nation’s democracy and to turn Nigeria to a new Jerusalem.”