The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Wanted

  • Wanted: New strategy to tackle waste in Lagos

    Wanted: New strategy to tackle waste in Lagos

    Lagos is not happy with its ranking as the second dirtiest state by the Community-led Total Sanitation (CLTS). To the government, the ranking rankles. OLATUNDE ODEBIYI,  UZOKA OBINNA, OKPEKU QUEENSLY, SMART NDUKUBA,  OFOMBA BRIDGET AND  EKPOGBE BENEDICTA seek stakeholders’ views on how to shrug off the tag.

    LAWMA: we’re set for action

    Barring the unforeseen, LAWMA will swing into action immediately after the rains. An official of the agency told The Nation that efforts are afoot to clear the backlog of refuse.
    The official explained why the dumpsites have been inaccessible for trucks to empty waste. He however described as untrue that the agency was burning refuse. According to him, fire outbreaks often occur at the dumpsites due to combustion.
    “The rains are subsiding and the backlogs of refuse are being cleared. The landfill site at Olusosun is soaked, making it impossible for our compactors to move in. But we are fully mobilised for dry season”, the official, who pleaded for anonymity said.
    He went on: “We are equally verifying outstanding payment claims by the PSP operators. In fact, we had a session with the operators two weeks ago for reconciliation. We listened to their complaints of underpayment. All these have been noted and being addressed.
    “Some of the PSP operators are afraid of the future. They don’t know what fate awaits them in the new regime due to be unveiled any moment from now.
    “So, they are reluctant to invest in the procurement of new tools. Their trucks are old and rickety. But they are not replacing them with new ones because they are not sure if they will be retained in the new dispensation.
    “The exchange rate of the naira to other major currencies has worsened the situation for them. They need the hard currency to import functional trucks and modern tools.”
    The official assured that no efficient operator would be dropped under the new arrangement, adding that residents have been unfaithful with the settlement of their bills.
    “Some residents”, he noted, “still patronise truck pushers, who collects their waste and discharge same within their neighbourhood, thereby creating problems for everybody.”

    IF city cleaner, Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA), had pushed through its wind up programme at the Olusosun landfill site, residents around the area would have been free from environmental pollution.

    Ahead of the dumpsite’s systemic closure, LAWMA, 10 years ago, began the reconstruction of the dumpsite to reduce the concentration of oxygen aimed at guarding against combustion on the site during dry season.

    Its former General Manager, Oladimeji Oresanya, dropped the hint then at a stakeholders’ parley on the “Emission of smoke and flame at the Olusosun dumpsite”. He said the agency, with the support from the Ministry of the Environment would bring up the refuse at the dumpsite from 12-metre depth to prevent the concentration of heat oxygen.

    At the stakeholders’ forum were representatives of business outfits, religious bodies and community development associations, including; Motorways, 7-Up, All Saints Anglican Church, Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Ikosi-Isheri, Kosofe and Onigbongbo Local Council Development Authorities (LCDAs), Mechanic Village and filling stations.

    According to Oresanya, the state government had drawn up a ten-year winding up programme at the Olusosun landfill site, which at 2006, was receiving 85 per cent of the total tonnage of daily waste generation in the State of Aquatic Splendour.

    It was learnt that the state was spending at least N25 million of the tax payers money to maintain the Olusosun site on monthly basis.

    According to Oresanya, alternatives have already been identified on the Lekki-Epe Expressway and at Mowe, off the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway in Ogun State.

    A tripartite agreement was said to have been sealed between the federal, Lagos and Ogun governments to build a $200 million mega dumpsite under the Lagos mega-city project.

    He told the stakeholders that government was genuinely concerned that those residing and working around the dumpsite were not exposed to environmental hazards, even as he said that nobody has ever set fire on the refuse.

    His words: “The fire outbreak and smokes being experienced are due to gaseous generation occasioned by heat. You are not alone, we are conscious of the fact that you have a right to enjoy your property as long as you are not flouting any physical and environmental laws.

    “We have a responsibility towards you to ensure that the dumpsite does not impact negatively on your health. We would try all possible means to prevent fire outbreak during the dry season.”

    But 10 years after that promise, residents still contend with the putrid smell oozing out in their neighbourhood. Unfortunately, many of them are at the mercy of the government.

    The Nation learnt that the prevailing economic crunch may have confined the relocation proposal to the KIV (Keep in View) file as parties to the tripartite agreement are cash-strapped.

    “Only Lagos out of the three parties is financially healthy. So, the issue of a mega landfill site is not on the card for now. We have to make the system that is on ground work”, a source told The Nation.

     

    PSP challenges

     

    A PSP operator in Yaba, Mrs Adeola Adenikan, said the operators have been trying their best to ensure a cleaner Lagos.

    She alleged that some residents have not been keeping their own side of the bargain by not paying the waste disposal bills promptly and by patronising cart pushers.

    Another PSP operator in Abule Egba, Mr. Abudullahi Lanre, said the operators have been working in partnership with the state government.

    He said: “One of the factors affecting our job is the dumpsite terrain; we usually have a delay whenever we take our trucks to the site. Sometimes, our trucks stay there for four days before we can dispose our refuse. This delay is caused by the small size of the dumpsite.”

    He urged the government to open more sites, to enable them have enough space to dispose refuse. Besides, he also complained about the Transfer Loading Station (TLS) at Agege, saying that the only dumpsite they use is the one at Igando.

    He also urged the government to enforce payment by residents to make their operations easier as they need money to service the trucks and replace old ones.

    At Ojokoro, an operator in charge of Aiyedire (Ajegunle, Ward G), Mr Dele Olatunde, said they should collect refuse once weekly according to government stipulation. He said they usually encounter problems at the dumpsite, which causes the delay.

    “The problem we face ranges from endless queues of trucks waiting to dispose their contents which they have packed either from tenements or designated communal sites such as markets, and sometimes, faulty machines.”

    According to Olatunde, the challenges make it difficult for them to meet up with the weekly regulation of the government for waste collection.

    He noted that a lot of people have not paid their LAWMA dues, and they use the economic situation as an excuse.

    He therefore, pleaded with the state government to provide machineries so as to reduce the queue at the dump site.

    Another operator at Ikorodu who identified himself as Alhaji  Sokunyin, who claimed to be accredited by LAWMA clear refuse in Lowa, Igbo-Oluwo and St Augustine axis, said the operators only had issues penultimate month. He blamed the hitches on heavy down pour.

    According to him, the torrential rainfall blocked access to the landfill site.

    He said: “We had to wait because we could not access the road to the dumpsite. It was so bad that when we went to off load, we got stucked on the road. We have being clearing refuse in the area assigned to us for almost 13 years and last (penultimate) month was the most challenging at the Igbogbo dumpsite, Off Ijede road.”

    He urged the residents to show understanding and bear with the operators, saying the rising population has expanded the scope of their operations.

    An operator at Okota told our reporter that PSP operators have been witnessing low patronage.

    Another operator said: “Bad roads to the dumpsite, especially when it rains, causes delay of the truck to dump their refuse and return back to the area.”

    The economic crunch has also incapacitated some landlords from picking the refuse bills as collection by operators became irregular.

    “Many people have refused to pay the PSP because they feel government is not doing much for them and therefore do not see any reason they should pay for services not rendered their waste”, he said.

    He noted that on the part of the PSP, they sometimes do not go to where they should go because of cost.

    His words: “Refuse management is a business. Operators would be reluctant to carry the waste of those who are not paying regularly. They organise their trips to reduce the cost of fuelling the trucks among other things.

    “PSP operators also face the challenge of turnaround time. The drivers have the time they are meant to carry waste in each area and the time to drop the waste at the dumpsite.

    “It is usually difficult to dump waste at the dumpsite whenever it rains. The access road is not whenever it rains. The trucks go bad more in the wet season.

    “Lack of enough trust on PSP operators also hinders the peoples’ trust in patronising them.”

     

    Experts’ views

     

    Over the past four decades, the Centre of Excellence has witnessed tremendous development through sustained efforts by successive administrations. The reversal of the state’s classification by a United Nation (UN) Report in 1977 as the dirtiest city in the world has been the most significant evidence of the sustained investments. However, with its growing population, public infrastructure in the state, including roads, healthcare system, housing and waste management, are overstretched.

    So alarming is the report of a recent survey conducted by the Community-led Total Sanitation (CLTS), which ranked Lagos as the second dirtiest state in Nigeria. It trailed Ekiti State.

    Benue, Oyo and Abia states sit in the third, fourth and fifth positions on the latest ranking of dirtiest states in the country.

    The damning report has challenged Lagos ‘mega city’ status and therefore called on the government to overhaul its waste management strategy, an expert said.

    According to the expert, it appeared that the prevailing waste management system has collapsed.

    He cited the cholera outbreak in some communities in Oshodi as an evidence of the failing waste management system.

    Condemning the existing waste management regime, in which residents pay for services not rendered, the expert attributed the failure of the system incompetence of the operators and their dearth of experience.

    Besides, he the operators lack the wherewithal to effectively and efficiently move the huge waste being generated by over 20 million Lagosians to the landfilled sites.

    The government, he said, must as a matter of fact, review its management system for Lagosians to have value for the bills they pay to PSP operators monthly.

     

    Towards a better waste

    management

     

    All eyes are on Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to unveil its waste management policy. The delay is believed to be holding down willing investors in waste management. “The government’s direction would stimulate investment in waste management.  The governor should expedite action on the transformation process for waste disposal and management for the state”, a potential PSP operator told The Nation.

    The would-be PSP operator listed the benefits of a government-controlled private sector-driven waste management arrangement as:

    • Waste-to wealth (recycling) programme
    • Efficient waste collection/disposal
    • Deployment of state-of-the-art equipment

    Taking a cue from other climes

    There is the need for an elaborate and standardised regulation of waste management in the state in line with international best practice as obtained in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Tanzania, Kenya, Namibia and New York City.

    The use of ageing tools by PSP operators and the deploring state of the dumpsites and the Transfer Loading Stations (TLS) must be addressed.

    Lagos has a mega city status as New York City in the United States (U.S.). Impliedly, the two cities have something in common in terms of entertainment, commerce and global trends.

    It (Lagos) has a population of 21 million and a population density of 13,405/sq.km and New York City has a population of 23 million with a population density of 10,833/sq.km.

    With its population, New York has been able to handle the huge waste generated by its inhabitants daily. But Lagos has been struggling with storage, collection and disposal of her waste.

    In New York, there are about 120 landfill sites as against Lagos’ six and some TLS.   The facilities have been described as inadequate for Lagos, considering the fact that it generates approximately the same amount of waste as New York.

    Unlike Lagos, New York has been able to collect its waste through several methods, including government-regulated commercial waste systems. It has more than 250 commercial waste haulers and an effective recycling methods and functional landfill sites.

    Statistics have shown that only 60 per cent of the daily wastes collected in New York go to the landfills as against Lagos where 95 per cent end up at the dumpsites.

    Since reliance on landfill sites is no longer fashionable, the state has been advised to start recycling as an alternative.

    The state should allow for a coordinated and effective PSP in the management of the environment through the provision of an organised judicial framework for the administration of environmental law to stimulate investment.

    Without losing focus a focus on peculiar solid waste generated in the country, the state should engage the services of those who have managed waste in mega cities across the globe.

    It is believed that a well-structured and organised waste management regime will offer economic empowerment for citizens, who have been excluded from the economic value chain as well as reinforce the cosmopolitan status of the state.

    Stakeholders have urged the Ambode-led administration to tackle this hydra-headed problem head-on. They said the enthusiasm deployed in its Light-up Lagos initiative should apply.

    According to them, the ongoing clean-up in highbrow Victoria Island and Ikoyi should be extended to other sectors including waste management.

     

    Communities frustrated

     

    The Olusosun community, in whose domain the largest landfill is located expressed their frustrations when our reported visited the area. Representative of the Baale Olusosun, Olatunde Oladejo spoke for the community. He said: “Before my father passed on, we complained and wrote letter to the managers of site and we were assured that something would be done about it but noting has being done. The odour persists. There was a time they buried the refuse as a remedial solution, but it was just sweeping the dust under the rub.

    “The waste seeps into the underground water in our community. Most of the borehole is affected by the waste in the environment. Most people have to buy water because the water from the borehole is coloured and smelly. We have to buy from public tap water or from water vendors. This costs a lot and it is a burden to our people. We buy a drum of water for between N400 to N500 and when this is multiplied by how many drums a family will use daily, the financial cost is too much. The government should please come to our aid.

    “We want the government to find a permanent solution to this perennial problem. We have a Primary Healthcare Centre, we have schools and this odour is detrimental to those who patronise these facilities.”

    The Secretary-General of the Olusosun Baale-in-Council, who doubles as the Baba Adinmi of Loudoun Central Mosque, Chief Semiu Yusuf said: “The odour affects us in all areas, especially in air and environmental pollution. The borehole in the community is contaminated and the service from the public water works is inadequate.

    “We have met with the management of the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) at their headquarters about three years ago and we complained to them. They told us they were working on it, but still, they have done nothing.

    “The government should give us special water at Olusosun because it is their dumping site that has made our water not useable by residents.”

    The Secretary-General to Ikosi Central Community Development Area (ICCDA), Ikosi Isheri Local Council Development Area (LCDA) and Youth leader, Ikosi community, Prince Olamilekan Onikosi said: “The odour has lots of negative impacts on the community. We have written a letter to the management of the Olusosun landfill site in Ojota, that they should please come to our aid. It is, however, unfortunate for us that this has not being done by them. In the letter, we also complained that they should look for a better way to burn the waste. We recommended that they should do such thing in the middle of the night, when people would have been indoor with their doors and windows locked, they still do all these things during the day time and they are seriously affecting our people, especially the aged. them.

    “If they can’t relocate the site from Olusosun, they should look for a way to curb the situation so that our people can live in good health.

    “In 2015, we had a meeting in the community when the General Manager of Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), Adebola Shabi came to address us on air and noise pollution. We have lots of problem facing us in Ikosi community and one of the complaints given by our people was that of the odour at Olusosun dumping site and we told him how the odour affects us. He advised us to write letter to the appropriate authority. We have since written the letter but unfortunately, there is no response till today.

    “We have some cases on how the odour from the landfill site has affected our people. We have one old woman, about 73 years old that was sick last year and when she was examined at the community’s Primary Healthcare Centre, the doctor told us that she has contaminated environmental heath disease, which was as a result of the odour. She was rushed to Gbagada General Hospital but we thank God she survived.

     

    Environmentalist speaks

     

    Relying on the report of survey, an environmentalist, Mr. Mayowa Sodipo, said that emissions from dumpsites expose residents around dumpsites to unacceptable levels of environmental pollutants with adverse health impacts.

    He said: “A high number of children and adolescents living around the area usually suffer from diseases like respiratory, gastrointestinal and dermatological systems such as upper respiratory tract infections, chronic bronchitis, asthma, fungal infections, allergic and unspecified dermatitis/pruritis – inflammation and itchiness of the skin.

    “Also, such dumpsites are not unlikely to have a high concentration of lead which in turn negatively impact on the communities living near it.”

    According to Sodipo, children in such environment may suffer from low haemoglobin levels and also abnormalities (microcytosis) of their red blood cells (iron deficiency anaemia – IDA), due to the presence of heavy metal intoxication from the dumpsite.

    “Such children could also suffer from eosinophilia (increase in the number of white blood cells mostly associated with allergic reactions) a condition that could lead to chronic rhinitis (irritation of the nasal cavity, asthma, allergic conjunctivitis and dermatitis”, the expert said.

  • Army declares ‘Mama Boko Haram’, two others wanted

    Army declares ‘Mama Boko Haram’, two others wanted

    The Army yesterday  declared three persons wanted under the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011(as amended), following  Boko Haram’s release of a fresh video in which it restated  its conditions for freeing the Chibok girls.

    Declared wanted are a journalist, Ahmed Salkida, a former Boko Haram negotiator, Hajia Aisha Wakil, and a non-governmental organisation (NGO) promoter, Ahmed Bolori.

    They are accused of withholding information that could unravel the abducted Chibok girls’ location.

    A statement by Army spokesman Col. Sani Usman said:  ”The world is quite aware of the abduction of several persons; women, children and men, including the female students of Government Secondary School Chibok, Borno State by Boko Haram Terrorists group. Consequently, appeal was made for their unconditional release by the Federal Government. The military also made concerted efforts to rescue them.

    “We also appeal to Nigerians that have any information to volunteer to the military or security agencies to enable us rescue them.

    “However, two recent incidents have pointed to the fact that, there are three individuals namely; Ahmed Salkida, (Ambassador) Ahmed U. Bolori and Aisha Wakil that have information on the conditions and the exact location of these girls.

    “Therefore, the Nigerian Army hereby declares the two gentlemen and the lady wanted for interrogation. We are relying on the relevant laws of the land and in particular the Terrorism Prevention Act 2011 (as amended) where Nigerians could be punished for failure to disclose information about terrorists on terrorists’ activities.

    “This become necessary as a result of their link with the last two videos released by Boko Haram terrorists and other findings of our preliminary investigations.

    “There is no doubt that these individuals have links with Boko Haram Terrorists and have contacts with them. They must therefore come forward and tell us where the group is keeping the Chibok Girls and other abducted persons to enable us rescue them.

    “We are therefore calling on all Nigerians and peace loving people to give us useful information on their whereabouts. We are also liaising with other security agencies for their arrest if they failed to turn up,” the statement said.

    Ms. Wakil, a lawyer, was in contact with the government during the 2013 amnesty negotiations with the Boko Haram insurgents.

    She is believed to have met with former President Goodluck Jonathan at the time as part of the negotiation, which later broke down.

    Mr. Bolori is the coordinator of the Fa’ash Foundation and the Partnership Against Violent Extremism (Pave). He is based in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.

    Mr. Sakilda had said on Twitter that the latest Boko Haram video was sent exclusively to him before the sect uploaded it to YouTube.

    Boko Haram said in the video that it would only negotiate with the Nigerian government through journalists known to be close to it.

  • Wanted: value-added nursing

    The first professor of Nursing Science at the University of Calabar (UNICAL), Mildred John, has delivered the institution’s 67th inaugural lecture. She made recommendations on solving the challenges facing the profession.

    The time was 3pm. Activities were at their peak. Then, a motorcade made its way to the University of Calabar (UNICAL) International Conference Centre.

    In few minutes, the venue was filled to capacity. Welcome to the 67th inaugural lecture of the University of Calabar (UNICAL) delivered by Prof Mildred John, the first professor of Nursing Science in the school.

    The lecture started with the procession of principal officers led by Prof Florence Obi, Deputy Vice Chancellor (DVC) Academics, who represented the Vice-Chancellor.

    Other members of the procession included Deans of Faculties, Heads of Departments, and Directors of Colleges.

    Declaring the ceremony open, Prof Obi lauded the lecturer for her feats in research, saying the has contributed to the development of the discipline with her academic investigation.

    Introducing the inaugural lecturer, Dr Ekpoanwan Esienumo of the Nursing Department, described Prof John as an “academic giant” and “trailblazer”, adding that her contribution to the discipline was immeasurable.

    In her lecture titled: Value-added nursing care: Best practice or wishful thinking? Prof John echoed the words of Florence Nightingale, who said: “Unless we are making progress in our nursing every year, every month, every week, we are going back. Every word ought to be distilled into actions, which bring results.”

    She noted that the lecture was important at this time when nursing was at a crossroads, adding that the discipline was losing its core values. To revive nursing, the don said critical decisions must be made to achieve a paradigm shift to restore the healthcare system.

    According to her, nursing has to rebuild its image and its practitioners must provide care that would meet the needs and expectations of patients with the aim of adding value to healthcare. Such values, Prof John said, would engender best practices in the sector.

    She said: “The ability of a nurse to respond to people’s needs within a rapidly changing environment of healthcare depends on the way  nursing is organised in the healthcare system. The way  nursing practice is regulated and the quality of care must be assured, but this depends on the level of preparedness of practitioners.”

    Enumerating nursing challenges, Prof John said the public image of nurses was far from being good. Nursing, she said, was not being practised in line with standards set by International Council of Nurses (ICN) and the Institute of Medicine (IOM).

    Proffering solution, Prof John said value-added nursing practice was the way out, adding that there must be national actions by stakeholders to fish out quacks and implement the regulatory guidelines. She said the government must invest in up-skilling of practitioners and make those with first degree nursing to be in direct care of patients.

    She advised that internship and thorough research must be encouraged to engender value-added practice.

    Prof John defined value-added practice as one that must have care, compassion, competence, communication, courage, commitment and change in attitude. The values, she said, were in line with global standards.

    The highpoint was the presentation of award to the lecturer by Prof Obi.

    Head of Department of Nursing Science Dr Mary Mgbekem said Prof John’s recommendations would change the practice for good if implemented. She said: “Nurses must strive to use value- added approach when caring for patients to enable the profession  survive its contemporary challenges.”

  • Wanted: A readers’ commune

    If we don’t create, we die. If we don’t recreate, our species die. Those were my thoughts when I sat on a panel last week to discuss the fate of writing in Nigeria. The discourse was organised by the Association of Nigerian Authors.

    Others on the panel, including the ebullient Kole Omotoso, projected a pessimistic tone. The Nigerian writer was a lost cause. In his well-manicured, hoary beard and confident diction, Omotoso noted that Nigerian writers, including novelists, playwrights and poets, did not pay attention to details, including punctuation, and could never compete. Hence those who made waves were the same Nigerians who were discovered or lived in the western world.

    Others moaned over piracy, bookshops that fleeced writers and publishers that leeched their writers. I thought that this was no time to weep. They all said the truth, I said, including novelist Omotoso and author of Just Before dawn. But only a version of the truth.

    “I am not here to bury the writer,” I intoned, “but to wake him up and out of his slumber.” I noted that we needed a historical perspective on the creative life of a nation. The first generation of Nigerians, including Soyinka, Achebe, Clark and Okigbo, thrived on a colonial boon. They worked on the infrastructure the white installed for everything else, including roads, power, education, health care. We became independent in the afterglow of British help.

    So, the writers were discovered and projected by the white man. It was easy to write and get an airing. I alluded to a recent interview on BBC’s Hard Talk with writer Ben Okri. The host referred to the view advanced by novelist Tricia Nwaubani that the prominent African writers soared on western endorsement alone. Good luck to you, no matter your quality of output, if the west did not see it, you will shine in self-congratulation in your unlighted, suffocated cocoon. Okri denied it and said Achebe, Soyinka and others did not thrive on western accolade. He also said it was not the west that made him and he was doing well as a writer in Nigeria.

    I have never heard anything more fraudulent about Nigerian literature. Okri, who has made himself a pariah of Nigerian letters by voting himself more as a Briton, manifested such damnable disingenuousness that it is necessary to expose him. He should tell us why he never comes to Nigeria to engage. He should describe the infrastructure of writing, discovery of writers and marketing in the 1950’s and 1960’s and tell us whether it was mastered by the British and other western poachers, including Uli Beier. They decided what was great art and what was not in their own lights.

    Later we had the African Writers Series (AWS) that Achebe edited. It was a forum created by the white man to stir African letters. Omotoso told me that before he finished his PhD, he had published two works. He said also that, in the age of the Internet, it was easy to access information. I replied that the AWS was an easy platform for the western poachers to know what was happening in African writing. Once you were in, you could savour a fair play.

    I noted at the conference that we no longer had such an easy infrastructure. Hence we have the ennui of today. For most writers who want to be read, the task is hard. Even critics and professors of literature have to enjoy a sort of western bear hug to be regarded as top flight in the ivory tower.

    What does that mean? It shows that the west has to decide what is important not only in style and content, but what issues we should take seriously. In the Hard talk interview, Okri caviled at what he thought was the tendency of African literature to journalism because of its political overtone. This is sheer hypocrisy. This is the author of Famished Road who confessed to family anxiety during the 1960s pogrom when his half-Igbo mother had to be hidden from the menace of marauding bigots. He is an alien to his African soul. If someone writes to capture such malady, he would say it is not great art. He wrote a piece saying that African writers are afflicted with the “tyranny of subject,” and that we should look away from such subjects as slavery, colonialism, poverty and war. We should shy away from writing about heavy subjects like suffering. I know Dickens, Austen, Balzac, Tolstoy, etc. They all focused on heavy subjects of suffering.

    I think Okri has been too colonised. I don’t think Okri is an African writer. He is a writer from Nigeria toadying up to his western masters. He is no longer our writer, but theirs. Some have argued that we use the white man’s language and they know what is good and bad. That is surrender. We have appropriated the language and good Nigerian English should not be dictated by the English.

    I agree, as Omotoso noted, that our writings published here have imperfections. But this is a world in which the writer is on his own. I suggested that we should establish the readers’ commune in Nigeria. I suggested to ANA to work with corporate Nigeria, local governments, state governments and the federal government to set up readers’ clubs in each local government. Young Nigerians and some of the old will be encouraged to meet once a month with a selection of a Nigerian writer. Each cell can organise itself idiosyncratically, as a debating club, recitation competition, political group, etc. But everything can surround a prescribed text for the month.

    I salute the efforts of the NLNG, Etisalat, GLO, Nigerian Breweries, etc for their investments in a literary Nigeria. But they encourage writers to win prizes. We need a more grassroots approach to literature, especially from the reader’s perspective. During his lecture on Biodun Jeyifo’s 70th birthday, Professor Dan Izevbaye noted that some of the new writings are hard to get, including playwright Sam Ukala’s Iredi War that won the NLNG drama prize.

    While the corporate sponsors have done well by way of nudging writers out of silence, we need to create an infrastructure to evangelise them among our people. Or else our letters will be fodder for the west only.

    If we have readers’ cells everywhere, we can encourage publishing in bigger scale because we will be “forced” to read them, and an industry will emerge. Our imperfections can be gradually removed through competition and reward. If no one takes local output seriously, we should make our industry compelling. The world may be forced to pay attention. After all, novelist Patrick Modiano won the Nobel Prize even though he was unknown outside France.

    We cannot allow others to tell us how to articulate our own experience. This happens in other arts. Fela and Sunny Ade often adapted their rhythms and beats to western sensibilities when they performed in Europe and North America. Recently I attended the Asha show in Lagos. The greatest artiste of this generation lives in France and her song has changed somewhat. She is still great but she lacks that power of utterance that resonates like the chant of an African goddess.

    The arts are not alone. We struggle with political system. Presidential or Westminster? Even in currency, we are trying to change masters from the American dollar to the Chinese Yuan. Globalisation should not obviate identity. The BREXIT debate in Britain is about that among other things.

    If we cannot be bold enough in other spheres, the literary world can be a start.

  • Wanted: equitable revenue sharing formula

    Wanted: equitable revenue sharing formula

    The Nigerian federation has been derisively described as ‘feeding bottle federalism’ characterised by the monthly revenue sharing among the three tiers of government. In recent times, states have started demanding for a new revenue formula in line with current economic realities. Assistant Editor LEKE SALAUDEEN examines the issues involved and why a sharing formula acceptable to the federating units may be difficult to attain.

    THE precarious economic situation in the country where many state governments are unable to meet their obligations to workers has rekindled the call for the review of the revenue sharing formula among the three tiers of government. Nearly two-thirds of the 36 states are insolvent. They have backlog of salaries to clear, while the provision of social services is no longer feasible. The slump in crude oil price at the global market has reduced the nation’s earnings from the commodity and this has adversely affected state governments who depend almost exclusively on allocations from the Federation Account.

    As a result, the Nigeria Governors Forum has come up with fiscal restructuring plan that will put more money in the coffers of the states, if such a review is undertaken. Analysts are of the view that the review of the revenue sharing formula is inevitable, given the situation many states have found themselves. The structure of the federation, they say, does not give room for creativity at the grassroots. At present, the Federal Government gets 54 per cent from the Federation Account; the 36 states share 26 per cent, while the 776 local governments are left with the remaining 20 per cent.

    An economist, Dr. Adebayo Adesina, observed that revenue sharing and allocation between the federal and other tiers of government have become the most contentious issue in Nigeria’s fiscal federalism. He said revenue allocation is fundamental to the political stability of the country. According to the economist, fiscal matters transcend the purview of economics. In plural societies, he added, they assume political, religious and social dimensions. He argued that the percentage of the revenue accruing to the Federal Government vis-à-vis other federating units is lopsided and that it has eroded the financial autonomy of states, making the Federal Government to venture into areas exclusive to or shared concurrently with the two tiers of government.

    Adesina added: “The principal effect of overbearing lopsidedness of the revenue sharing system has continued to strengthen the position of the Federal Government and in turn weaken the position of the other two tiers. It can be argued without fear of contradiction that one of the reasons for the high turnover in revenue allocation principles and formula is the relative share of each layer of government in the Federation Account. Each level of government, particularly the states, only agitate for reviews of the formula so that more money can be allocated to them.”

    The economist said the general opinion in the country is that the Federal Government controls a disproportionate amount of resources to the detriment of the states and local governments. “The Supreme Court judgment on Onshore and Offshore Dichotomy has proved this right. There is flagrant violation of revenue allocation laws by the Federal Government to its advantage. Before now, not all federally-collected revenues are paid to the Federation Accounts for distribution among the tiers of government,” he observed.

    Elder statesman Alhaji Femi Okunnu described the 54 per cent share of the Federal Government as outrageous. In his opinion, the Federal Government should not take more than 25 per cent.

    The former Federal Commissioner of Works and Housing recalled that, before independence, the colonial government with the consent of the regional governments appointed the Fiscal Commission to look into the functions and powers of the legislative list and determine the percentage of revenue the regional government will need to carry out their functions and the percentage that will go to the Federal Government to service its own functions. He said: “That was how government at independence up to the time of Murtala/Obasanjo followed the fixed constitutional formula of 20 per cent to the Federal Government, 50 per cent to the states and the remaining 30 per cent to distributive pool to be shared among the regions or states.

    “But, today, the Federal Government takes 54 per cent to discharge its own functions. The functions as listed in the 1999 Constitution include weights and measures, traffic on federal roads, declaration of waterways, stamp duties, quarantine, designation of professional occupation, passport and visa, insurance, law of evidence, awards of national honours, law on copy right and such other functions which do not require a great deal of expenditure. Rather, some of them like stamp duties and passport generate income for the Federal Government. There are some functions, which the government itself is selling to the private sector which require little expenditure.

    “All functions listed in the Concurrent Legislative List and Residual Powers that are not listed in the Exclusive Legislative List like primary healthcare, education (primary and secondary), land, housing, water supply and agriculture are mainly the basic functions of the state governments. These are the areas through which the people feel the impact of government every day and they require huge capital outlay to accomplish, compared with the Federal Government’s functions. Why should the Federal Government’s share of the Federation Account jump from 20 per cent to 54 per cent when the functions of the states are getting bigger?”

    An economist, Adedotun Philips, believes both the state and local governments are short-changed, because they receive only half of their constitutional entitlements from the Federation Account, due to the Federal Government’s subterfuge. He blamed the military for arbitrarily increasing what accrues to the Federal Government. He said: “It expanded substantially from 52 per cent in 1983 to 74 per cent in 1995. On the other hand, there was abysmal decline in state governments’ share from 40 per cent to below 20 per cent within the same period.”

    Adedotun said the situation was compounded by the fact all tiers of government, particularly state and local governments, depend on statutory allocations for their survival. He said: “Therefore, whenever there is a drop in allocations, their development efforts are adversely affected. Rather than supplement the internal revenues of the states, the statutory allocations to states on the average account for over 80 per cent of their revenue. In fact, it is the primary source of the states’ financial resources.

    “This simply exposes the weakness of Nigeria’s federalism in which the states and local tiers of government lack the necessary initiatives to mobilise resources internally, thereby failing in their responsibilities to the people.”

    Okunnu said it is ironic that the country is not ready to face the historical truth about the basis of the revenue allocation, particularly the reason why the colonial era and, until 1979, the Federal Government was assigned only 20 per cent of the revenue allocation, instead of the 54 per cent it now receives for running the central government.

    Quoting copiously from Section 134 (1) of the 1960 Constitution, Okunnu said: “There shall be paid by the Federation to each region a sum equal to 50 per cent of the proceeds of any royalty receive by the federation, in respect of any mineral extracted in that region and any mining rents derived by the federation during that year from within that regions.

    “The Federation shall credit to the Distributable Pool Account, a sum equal to 30 per cent of the proceeds of any royalty received by the federation, in respect of the mineral extraction in any region and any mining rents derived by the federation from any region.”

    The elder statesman said the remaining 20 per cent was kept by the Federal Government as its own share and that under the colonial rule the revenue allocation was fashioned in such a way that regions would derive revenue from the Federation Account according to the functions and powers allocated to them under the constitution.

    Constitutional lawyer Dr. Ejike Ezimora said one major feature that is lacking in the Nigerian federalism is financial autonomy. He said this has never been achieved in Nigeria federalism. The high level intervention of the Federal Government through national financial policies, grants-in-aids among others, increases its power and makes the federating units subordinate to the central government.

    Ezimora explained: “The increased revenue from oil boom has made the Federal Government to be more financially powerful over the state governments than before. As a result of this excess liquidity, the Federal Government embarked on some projects which were meant to be in the Residual List. The Universal Basic Education project and primary healthcare are examples.

    “Today, the revenue profiles of the states show little growth potential while, conversely, the expenditure shows a high growth potential. This is very unhealthy and suicidal of a federal polity. That is the reason why many states are openly calling on the Federal Government for financial assistance, thereby making the constituent governments subservient to the central government.

    “If states find that the services allotted them are too expensive to perform and if they call upon federal authority for grants and subsidies to assist them, they are no longer coordinate with the Federal Government, but subordinate to it. Financial subordination makes an end of federalism.

    “It follows, therefore, that both state and federal authorities in a federation must be given the power in the constitution each to have access to and to control its own sufficient financial resources. Each must have a power to tax and to borrow for the financing of its own service by itself.”

    On why Nigeria has failed over the years to come up with an acceptable revenue sharing formula, Phillips blamed it on lack of consensus on the criteria of distribution, the absence of reliable socio-economic data, the rapid rate of constitutional change and the extent to which revenue distribution is tied to perceptions of regional ethnic dominance.

    Philips noted that the major problem of inter-governmental revenue sharing in Nigeria has always been the formula for sharing revenue among regions and states that is, the horizontal revenue sharing scheme. He added: “In terms of horizontal (inter-state and inter-local) distribution, the Nigerian revenue allocation formula is based on two major principles: first principle of equity which includes even development, national interest, minimum responsibility of government, financial comparability, and primary school enrolment. The second principle is social factor that includes national minimum standard, population landmass, and terrain.

    “Since independence, each region or state has argued for the revenue sharing principles that support its particular interest. The states in the Southsouth or Niger Delta Region of the country always agitate for the derivation principle to be the major criterion in revenue allocation formula. This is with the belief that the derivation principle will enable them to benefit tremendously from the large deposits of crude oil in the region. States like Kano, Lagos, Imo, Oyo, Sokoto and Borno want revenue sharing formula to be based on population and landmass, which will work in their favour.”

    Analysts believe it will be very difficult to have an acceptable revenue sharing formula in Nigeria because of its pluralistic nature. Apart from the fact that revenue sharing is seen as a symbol of ethnic domination, there are no reliable and acceptable socio-economic data on which technical impartial allocations can be based, they observed.

  • Wanted: An activist FCT administration

    Wanted: An activist FCT administration

    It was Charles de Gaulle that said, “Men are great only if they are determined to be so”. It is apparent that the FCT has not been so lucky in having ministers determined to be great and reproduce (at least if they cannot surpass) the achievements of Mallam Nasir El-Rufai regarding the administration of the city affairs. The following questions you hear these days are troubling and shameful: Who is the FCT Minister? Why is Abuja becoming dirty and disorganised? The level of mediocrity and impunity that has overtaken this beloved city since 2007 is unprecedented and saddening. For architects and allied professionals like me, the reckless distortion of the FCT Masterplan, organisation and administration is disheartening.

    It is a fact that the best administration or measure that mitigated the spiralling decay in the FCT was the Obasanjo/El-Rufai partnership between 2003 and 2007. The partnership confronted the corruption, impunity and recklessness that they had met entrenched in the system. They adopted a “no-nonsense” and “no friend-of-the-status-quo” approach to achieve results. Mallam El-Rufai developed and perfected a system that was on its way to making Abuja a truly modern capital city like Johannesburg and Abu-Dhabi.

    Since most of us voted for Buhari, we had and still have great hope that it is possible to re-enact the spirit of El-Rufai as regards the FCT administration. So let us give the present FCT Minister, Mallam Muhammed Bello the benefit of the doubt. Though, I must say that lots of Nigerians are disappointed that no visible plan of action has been seen yet. It is expected that the. President would form a powerful partnership with the minister just as President Obasanjo did with El-Rufai. I have great liking for PMB and utmost confidence in his ability to bring change to the FCT and Nigeria. The FCTA ought to be chaired by the President as governor as provided by law while the minister should serve as the Minister of State just as he is doing with the Petroleum Ministry.

    Our beloved Capital City Territory has degenerated to the extent that the President will need to declare an emergency for the re-birth and renewal of the FCT in its entirety from the septic corruption in the FCDA where officials make it difficult for registered professionals to thrive as evident in the development of non-fancied, non-iconic buildings in the city, to the allocation of visible green areas to Mosques/Churches. For instance, it is in the public domain that the former administration allocated a plot of land to a popular church in Apo which was later discovered not to be originally designed for a religious institution and has become a contentious issue now.

    Another impunity is in the allocation of green areas to selected individuals for the development of an Event Centre and a Mosque for Wuye District Muslim Community. Another gloomy example is the allocation of a corridor between Federal Ministry of Finance and the Yobe State House along Ralph Shodeinde Street in the Central Business District to a car dealer where cars are now being sold, thus constituting a security risk to the Finance Ministry at this time when we should be more security-conscious.

    Allocation of plots to influential politicians, military personnel, civil servants, etc., for gardens is now the practice, where permanent structures are erected as event centres, restaurants, car-sales depots, etc. Even the existing spaces allocated for gardens are not properly maintained. For instance, the Asika Ukpabi Gardens in Wuse Zone 5 has degenerated so far that it has become a den of thieves. This garden was commissioned by the then President Obasanjo/El-Rufai.

    One will feel terribly disappointed that it had to take Senator Dino Melaye and his colleagues from the Senate to alert the FCT Minister on the abuse of the green areas in Maitama along the Nnamdi Azikiwe Expressway/IBB Boulevard, opposite the Aguiyi Ironsi Barracks. Of recent, a director in the FCT was openly embarrassed on a national TV as being part of the beneficiaries of the lawlessness that has characterised this projected modern city, for erecting his personal house on that same green area.

    The FCT Minister should dismantle all the structures of mediocrity put in place by the immediate past FCT administration, so that he can achieve the expected results. It is worrisome that the Central Business District of Sandton in Johannesburg was created in the mid-70s almost at the same time as FCT Abuja. Can you compare the status of that beautiful district of Sandton with our beloved Central Area, Maitama or the almighty Asokoro District?

    One of my professional suggestions is that the original masterplan and the approved revisions as approved by the President/Ministers should be mass-reproduced and made available to the general public. This will curb arbitrariness in the FCT. This will help the public, especially professionals to be on guard against potential abuses and become reflex whistle blowers against the mafia in the system. There is need to also dismantle and re-organise the development control, AGIS and other agencies of the FCT. There should be a seamless system of approval for land and design approvals in the FCT in collaboration with Architects, Town Planners (NIA, NSE, NITP, etc) in generating consulting firms to form a body for design approval and development control.

    Concerted efforts should be made to complete major districts around the precinct of developed areas and zones like Durumi, Wuye, Mpape, Life Camp, Kado and Lugbe district that shame us a nation. We need to open up the satellite towns by putting in place first-class facilities and using international standard class contractors. There is need to create an Abuja disciplinary or orientation body like KAI in Lagos but must be PPP-driven to prevent it from being moribund within a short period. The body will regularly educate Abuja residents on cleanliness, courtesy on road usage, work against uncivilised behaviour like posting of posters on bridges, trading on the road/under bridges, etc.

    We need to design and construct modern car parks, markets with adequate parking lots and international airport. There is also need to enforce the design of modern malls by individual developers in the FCT instead of box-like structures currently being labelled as malls or plazas springing up all over the city. The so-called malls within the city must be properly insured. The FCT Minister should take a look at the recently-proposed almost $1billion airport to be constructed in Senegal and use it as an inspiration to actualise Mallam El-Rufai’s dream of building a modern state of the art airport, meant to be the best in Africa.

    Finally, the FCT Minister should convene a conference of stakeholders, professionals in the built environment, officials of the Ministry of Environment, etc., to brainstorm on the best way of actualising a dream of a befitting capital city for us as a nation.

     

    • Alonge is a Chartered Architect.

  • Wanted: Responsive women as Buhari’s ministers

    If ever there was a contest like ‘picture of the week’, the prize for the last week in January would be won by the Minister of Environment, Hajia Amina Mohammed. The picture in which she operated a bulldozer was spectacular not only because she ventured into a vocation preserved for men but also because her status as a minister towers over and above the lowly venture. It was the last Saturday in January and the minister felt the best way to highlight the importance of the monthly environmental sanitation ritual at a time the nation was under the triple threat of Lassa fever, Ebola and Zika Virus was to lead by example. So, there she was, looking dead serious as she mounted the bulldozer in her lemon yellow jacket and customary head gear.

    She had toed the path of the Minister of Sports, Solomon Dalung, who a few days earlier was pictured in a 100-metre race; a move that seemed to drive home the saying that if you are made the king of hawks, you must show yourself capable of preying on chickens. As a perceptive Nigerian joked on a social media platform after the Minister of Environment’s act, Nigerians are waiting to see the Minister of Power mount a high-tension pole to fix some naughty electrical problems and for the Minister of Aviation to pilot an aeroplane from Abuja to Lagos.

    Of course, Mohammed and Dalung’s actions are in perfect sync with the change mantra on which the present government rode into office. The only worry is that a similar act by the immediate past minister of petroleum resources, Mrs Diezani Allison-Madueke, in 2008 turned out an anti-climax. Upon her appointment as minister of transportation in 2008, she undertook a facility tour of Benin-Ore Expressway and arrested national attention as she wept profusely in front of cameras in open lamentation of the bad condition of the road.

    Explaining why she betrayed emotions at the spot, Diezani had said: “I weep at the sight of everything that shows failure of government in Nigeria. Lagos-Shagamu-Ore-Benin Road is a clear picture of Nigerian state abandonment of its responsibility to its citizens.” She then vowed that she would fix the road, saying: “The challenge for us is to act wisely in dealing with this matter. The error has been made, but I think we can still correct the problem by looking for what will ensure a renewed government relevance not for self-serving or the good of a few, but the good of all.” As it turned out, nothing happened beyond theatrical shedding of tears until she was deployed to the Ministry of Petroleum Resources.

    At the Ministry of Petroleum Resources, the former minister fared even worse, going by the revelations of the shady deals that rocked the oil industry while she held sway as minister. So shocking were the revelations that Nigerians, ordinarily the most sympathetic people on earth, were not moved by reports of her battles with cancer. Rather, they are clamouring that she be repatriated from the United Kingdom to Nigeria to answer to charges of money laundering and other allegations of corrupt practices already leveled at her. In October last year, she was arrested along with four other suspects by the National Crime Agency in the UK for money laundering. The former minister was later arraigned before a Magistrate Court and charged with international bribery and money laundering. Her international passport was also seized.

    But she is not alone in the big let-down that most of our women appointed to leadership positions have been. In spite of her Brentwood upbringing and her exotic profile as a former Managing Director of the World Bank, the tenure of Dr. Ngozi-Okonjo-Iweala has been trailed by dirty controversy. Since she left office in May last year, the former minister of finance has been in the eye of the storm over the mega looting of the nation’s treasury under her watch. Former Director-General of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Ndidi Okereke-Onyiuke, left office in hazy circumstances following her involvement in the controversial Obama fund raiser. Her successor, Aruma Otte, did not fare better as the staff of NSE were practically at war with her for most part of her tenure for alleged highhandedness and reckless spending.

    As minister of aviation, Senator Stella Oduah made the headlines for months after her alleged approval of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authorities’ acquisition of two bulletproof cars for a whopping N255 million. A presidential panel constituted by the then President Goodluck Jonathan later indicted her for wrongdoing. As the spokesperson of the State Security Service (SSS), Maryln Ogar was a study in professional misconduct as she practically turned herself to the publicity manager of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

    The clamour for greater involvement of women in governance is based not just on their high population but also on the thinking that the woman folk is endowed with more milk of human kindness and would consequently be more responsive to the needs of ordinary people. But the experience we have had with most of the women so far appointed as ministers and heads of government agencies has been anything but gladdening. The spectacle that has confronted us time and again is that of awfully insensitive women who think nothing of appropriating public funds to themselves, their cronies and members of their families.

    Will Amina Mohammed and other women in President Muhammadu Buhari’s cabinet change this ugly trend and live up to the expectations of right-thinking Nigerians? Only time will tell.

  • Wanted: Men and women to help Nigeria

    Sir: I am writing this piece with a broken heart. I am writing this piece with a deep sense of sadness. I am totally devastated because it seems to me that a vast preponderance of Nigerians prefer Nigeria to remain a nation of anything goes. I know that every country has its own builders and plunderers. I know that builders put things in place and make things work. I know that plunderers decimate and desecrate anything in sight.

    After nine months, my eyes have seen a lot and my ears have heard enough to believe that leaders of PDP have no conscience, no heart, no mind and no soul. In 16 years they pillaged, milked and plundered a vibrant nation to stupor. It was a big scramble for the leaders of PDP to take everything within their reach. They stole dollars and naira in billions and trillions. They never said enough is enough. It was primitive accumulation of anything in sight. No wonder nothing is left to even pay salaries of workers. I did not see any ambitious road projects in Nigeria in 16 years. There was no serious investment in modern infrastructure – good roads, bridges, resorts, high speed rail projects. There was no serious investment in security architecture, schools, hospitals, agriculture, transportation, human resources etc. It has been a case of looters take it all.

    Since President Buhari took over in May 29, 2015, it has been everyday, one new discovery of loots and more loots traced to different banks both in and outside Nigeria. To some people, it is a joke. To some people, APC government is a liar. To some of them President Buhari is trying to divert attention. But the truth remains that no nation on earth has been milked to the bones the way PDP leaders cleared everything in sight in 16 years.

    I had thought that their conscience would have been pricked and that I will see some of them showing some remorse and asking for forgiveness. What we hear are all these: “Buhari lacks capacity to govern” from the aged Prof Ben Nwabueze. Charlie Boy Oputa, Ben Bruce, Regina Askia are asking ‘Is this the change we voted for’; others which time and space will not permit me to remember and mention says “ President Buhari has no plans for the economy”.

    Now, President Buhari needs our help to build a new Nigeria. Committed, decent, honest men and women of deep character to stand up for Nigeria. I know millions of Nigerians out there are silently praying for this President to succeed. In the midst of the confusionists and haters of honest things, I have seen silent workers who want President Buhari and APC to succeed where Jonathan, others and PDP failed. I want these men and women to rise up to the occasion. Leaders of PDP and their cronies have garnered enough muscles and huge wealth in the past 16 years and they can use this to bring down the system if we permit it. We sleep all the time but the looters are awake 24/7and work 24/7. We must not underestimate the power of these workers of iniquity and reprobate minds. They need to be defeated and crushed. They are fighting in our various courts, they are fighting in the National Assembly, they are fighting in the Presidency, ministries, embassies, states, LGAs, and even markets etc. Corruption must not defeat President Buhari. YES WE CAN defeat corruption and Nigeria will grow.

     

    • Joe Igbokwe,

    Lagos.

  • Wanted: Nigeria’s economic oracles

    I must begin this piece with a caveat; I am not an economist and do not pretend to be one. I am an engineer. Engineers find solutions to complex material problems that go to make life comfortable for mankind. Economics is also a solution science, much like engineering, but within a social context. Its main purpose, experts would say, is to improve the material well-being of the people. The two fields of knowledge use theoretical constructs and models to leverage better living for the society.

    Despite this point of convergence, I have a little quarrel with economics and the way it is practiced, may be in Nigeria. For while over the years, better life has come the way of society through engineering and allied sciences, economics has continued to postpone our well-being. It would seem the way we are told to await this ‘well-being’, the farther it is from us in much the same way as our shadows. Economists keep projecting into the future when today’s challenges are yet unattended to. As we get close to that future, they shift to yet another future, postponing our well-being interminably. This has been the lot of Nigerians over the last 50 odd years. And when we realize that our life expectancy is about 55 years, it becomes obvious the need to approach life with transcendental sobriety knowing that Nigerians well- being may well be in the other world.

    I would however wish that the President Mohammadu Buhari’s era be different. He is a honest man who wishes Nigeria well and should be encouraged and assisted to succeed even where others failed. But he should help himself to the array of economics experts we have in the country – the Charles Soludos, Pat Utomis, Akpan Ekpos, etc – to evolve a workable roadmap that would bail us out of the obviously surmountable challenges.

    Nigeria’s resources profile is not such that we should be crying for help, not after over three decades of oil boom when our soil was dripping with the black gold and associated gas at princely price. I am yet to see a nation that is so averse to production like Nigeria, a nation that relishes in conspicuous consumption at the expense of production (we are one of the world’s heaviest consumers of the most expensive wines), a nation that prefers to eat its yam with the head. Only recently I stumbled on a packaged ‘abak’, a local preparation from palm fruits usually used to make what is popularly called ‘gbanga soup’ in South-south Nigeria. On the label was the inscription: “Made in Ghana”.

    It is sad that oil price has tumbled the way it has in the world market; but it did not come as a surprise. What is rather surprising is that despite the warning signals that hung in the air menacingly, we went about our economic activities as though all the variables to oil price management were at our beck and call, and like the stubborn fly, followed the coffin right into the grave. Imagine Nigeria with 80 million hectares of arable land, about 23 percent of all the arable lands across West Africa importing, rather than exporting, food. Imagine the fact that manufacturing contributes a paltry five percent to the nation’s GDP when the minimum should be between 35 and 40 percent. Among the emerging economies, Malaysia receives 45 percent contribution from manufacturing to their GDP.

    Let’s look around us and we will see the giant installations at the steel mill at Ajaokuta, the Aluminium Smelter Plant at Ikot Abasi, the massive paper mill and gmelina plantation at Oku Iboku and Iwopin, the failed NITEL and M-TEL at a time of the nation’s communication boom, dead Nigeria Airways/National Shipping Line, etc. is there something in our genes that is working against our growth as a country?.

    Three things stand between us and development –decaying values, unmitigated   corruption, and lack of sustainable planning.  Nigeria’s value system must be re-fixed if we are to make progress. We have to go right down to teach our children the values embedded in dignity of labour, the evil of stealing, respect for elders, the criminality of cultism, hard work, honesty, patriotism and working for the common good.

    The President is fighting corruption under a very difficult condition. If this war must take root, it must be supported by all. It must come as an admixture of prevention and cure consistently fought over a prolonged period. Habits don’t change fast, it will take a gradual process; but consistency is the key. So far we have dwelt on the cure, but we need to evolve a strategic action plan to educate the public on the evil effects of corruption. We must traverse the mosques, churches, schools, social gatherings and airwaves to drum the gospel of sincerity into our youths. When these are combined with a revised law that punishes adequately, anyone caught on the wrong side of the corruption law, the impact will register. So far we must give kudos to Buhari for daring where others feared to thread.

    Planning in Nigeria is a difficult subject to discuss. But it is on one subject we can ill-afford to ignore. During the Obasanjo years when Charles Soludo was the Economic Adviser and subsequently Governor of Nigeria’s Central Bank, a development model was brought to bear on the Nigerian system that if it was followed through would have had tremendous impact on the economy. It came in three blocks, namely: National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS), States Economic Empowerment and development Strategy (SEEDS), and Local Government Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (LEEDS). The objective was to string economic development in a way that builds symmetrically from the last tier of government, the local governments, through the states to the national.

    The inherent benefits of that planning model is that whereas states have enormous leeway to plan their development, they should not operate in a way that suggest we have 36 nations working at cross purposes with one another and with the nation. States’ economic goals must add up to the national economic goals. Otherwise there could be dissonance and waste. Soludo’s plan, I think, was to evolve a paradigm of development that allows for benchmarking and acceptable peer comparison under a healthy competition. It was to draw up a template advice from the National Economic Council that would from time to time examine the physiology of states’ economy vis-à-vis the overall national economic goals. This way, an organically developed nation would emerge and tools for peer comparison developed for better economic management.

    Till date, I still see that model as the best; for while the centre may not be able to control states and Local Government expenditures by virtue of the limitations placed by the constitution, it can all the same foster voluntary development cooperation that would have redefined our development paradigm away from the present Tower of Babel.

    The other equally important issue is the need to ensure that the nation’s fiscal and monetary policies operate together to achieve our predetermined socio-economic goals. Am not particularly expecting the exchange rate of the naira to convertible currencies to improve. Not any time very soon. Those who blame this on Buhari are simply playing politics; and this is not the time for that. Any economist worth his buy knows that to compare any two administrations is not realistic except where the indices are discounted against time and space. If we had saved during our windfall years by investing bulk of the petro-naira in income generating investments, we would have made up for our shortfall from revenues from such sources today. If we had checked our unbridled proclivity for conspicuous consumption and tamed our waste, we would not have come to this sorry pass. We are now at the cross roads where the options are few and straight. It is either we produce or perish. So the naira will drift, whether government likes it or not, until such a time that our taste for foreign goods give way to their local equivalents.

    What is rather necessary is for the CBN to fund industrial goods, production equipment/machineries, raw materials, and vital spares at the official rate and allow those who make forex through their productive efforts to bring such in through existing official windows. Those who desire Kellogs Cornflakes, decaffeinated coffee, Brazilian hairs, Alceet wines, super exotic cars, etc satisfy their corrugated taste from wherever they can. The tea party should by now give way to serious economic management.

    Government should also address the issue of power frontally. Those of us in the private sector know the challenges we undergo with basic infrastructure like power, water, roads, transportation, etc. We can in the short run re-examine the industry cluster option where dedicated power, water, warehouses, etc are provided and shared by say, a hundred small scale businesses rather than this duplication of efforts at great cost to industrialists. We have seriously examine the issue of renewable energy – solar, wind, and biogas, which are environment friendly, cheaper in the long run as supplements to hydro electric power and fossil fuel.

    • Ekpenyong (Ph.D, FNSE, FNIM), is the former Deputy Governor of Akwa Ibom State.

     

     

  • Wanted: Communications appeal tribunal

    The Communications sector is a fluid sector that evolves with technological development, a precursor to the emergence of new products and services in the communications markets hence the need to ensure the existence of a seamless regulatory framework which accommodates for its evolving characteristics, for example, section 70 of the Nigerian Communications Commission Act (2003) provides regulatory powers for regulatory making with the purpose of giving full effect to the provisions of the Act and its due administration.

     

    Communications regulation

    The Regulator’s mandate and role in the liberalised communications sector is formidable being the protector of the public interest, guardian of the diverse markets in the provision of communications networks and services, an unbiased referee and independent expert adjudicator; ensuring market competitiveness through regulation of termination rates where necessary to ensure fair pricing between providers, by regulating significant market providers, by preventing the abuse of dominant positions through predatory pricing, by mandating access to essential facilities such as the local loop, by mandating universal service provision of communications services where it is not profitable to operators but beneficial to the public interest, by managing scarce resources such as radio frequency spectrum and numbers, by prescribing cost oriented pricing methodologies to ensure consumers get a good deal, by ensuring regulatory compliance with ex-ante and ex-post regulation, by making regulation and exercising dispute resolution powers.

     

    The requirement of expertise in communications regulation

    and adjudication

    The necessity of expertise in the complex regulation of the communications sector as illustrated above is the rationale for multiple jurisdictions adopting a fused system whereby the regulator in furtherance of its rule making powers also exercises adjudicatory powers. The British Institute of International and Comparative Law 2004 Report on Telecommunications Dispute Resolution: Procedure and Effectiveness gives credence to this view wherein it states that Oftel (now OFCOM, the UK regulator) in its combination of the roles of policy making with adjudication uses disputes and the dispute resolution process as an integral part of its policy making in a way that the courts are not able to. The Courts also shy away from meddling with such matters and have opined that such matters are best left to the experts, for e.g. the US Supreme Court in Verizon v Trinko 540 U.S. 398 [2004] stated that ‘effective remediation of violations of regulatory sharing requirements will ordinarily require continuing supervision of a highly detailed degree’ and reiterated that the regulation of the telecoms industry should be the purview of the FCC and the state public utility commissions, rather than judges all across the country. Also in Clear Communication v. New Zealand Telecommunications Corporation [1994] 6 TCLR 138; [1995] 1 NZLR 385 (PC) where an interconnection dispute arose following liberalisation of the market in the absence of the existence of a regulatory body, the Court stated that in the absence of guidance as to the principles applicable, the parties were ‘negotiating in a fog’. The experts and the Court agreed that such investigations are the function of regulatory bodies who can make decisive value judgments as the Court found it difficult to apply general competition rules to the dispute over interconnection rate. These historical cases reiterate the importance of regulatory adjudication in the communications sector.

     

    Errors in regulatory decisions

    However, disputes distinguished from complaints in the communications sector comprises of consumer/operator disputes, inter-operator disputes and regulator/operator disputes, Communications case law as it pertains to regulator/operator disputes has proven that regulators make mistakes and dispute resolution in the communications sector is an additional and autonomous form of regulation, which also fosters regulatory accountability. In BT v. Ofcom, Case No 1085/3/3/07, 12009] CAT 1, WL 6402, the appeal tribunal found that Ofcom, the regulator had erred and wrongly interpreted the term ‘reasonable’ in the context of the end-to-end connectivity obligation and that the ‘gains from trade test’ applied by Ofcom to assess the reasonableness of prices was seriously flawed; also in Hutchison 3G (UK) Ltd v Ofcom, Case No 1047/3/3/04, [2005] CAT 39, 12005J All ER (D) 396, Case No 1083/3/07, [2009] CAT 11, The UK Competition Commission determined that the price controls imposed on all the Mobile network operators by Ofcom have been set at an inappropriate level because Ofcom erred in its approach to the allowance of a network externality charge. The scrutiny by the CAT and its finding of regulatory errors is again illustrative of how the dispute resolution process is an additional regulatory tool which constitutes part of the overall regulatory framework in the UK. The UK institutional framework further distinguishes communications law disputes by referring pricing disputes to the UK Competition Commission and other disputes to the UK Competition Appeal Tribunal.

     

    Dispute resolution: An additional and autonomous regulatory tool

    The role of dispute resolution being a regulatory tool as illustrated in the case law and institutional framework above is achievable through a de novo review of a regulatory decision where the regulatory decision is considered in its entirety by a specialist adjudicatory body with cross-disciplinary expertise in law, economics, business and accountancy capable of hearing appeals against decisions of regulatory bodies on the merits, fact and law and enabling it to deal with legal and economic issues in economic related disputes. This composition evidently exhibits the inadequacy of the courts to adjudicate over such complex communications disputes, for example, the UK Select Committee on the Constitution Sixth Report, Chapter 11 on improving Appeal Mechanisms indicates that there was a gap in the UK institutional framework due to the lack of expertise in the courts to adjudicate over economic related disputes and states some of the reasons for the establishment of the Tribunal in the UK to deal with telecommunications appeals was because the judges lacked detailed economic expertise and the intensity of review in commercial regulated matters was limited. Jurisdictional experiences as discussed above illustrates the benefit of having a regulatory framework where appeals are reviewed on the merits and the appellate body seised with jurisdiction possesses the expertise to adjudicate over ensuing disputes.

     

    Nigerian framework

    Whilst the UK framework should not be a one size fits all model as each jurisdiction has its own peculiarities, the present Nigerian framework in the absence of an expert appellate body can glean some lessons towards enhancing its communications institutional framework, for example, appeals in communications matters are made to the NCC in the 1st instance, and following a review by the NCC to the Courts. A cause for concern in the Nigerian framework can be seen in the following cases NCC v MTN, Appeal No. CA/A/25/2004 where MTN, the Plaintiff/Respondent applied to the FHC for a review of the Interconnect Rate determination carried out by NCC. The NCC in response entered a preliminary objection in the matter contending that MTN was obligated to explore pre-action conditions stipulated in s86-88 of the NCC Act 2003. On appeal, the Court of Appeal held that it is essential that MTN meet the pre-condition stipulated in s86-88 of the NCC Act 2003 requiring a review of the decision by NCC, before going to court; also in Econet Wireless Nigeria Ltd V. NCC, Appeal No. CA/A/83/2004 Econet applied to the FHC challenging the Interconnect rate determination carried out by the NCC in December 2004. The NCC also challenged the jurisdiction of the court on the grounds that Econet had not followed the necessary procedural requirements before filing the suit. The Court upheld NCC’s contention and ruled that Econet was obligated to comply with the requirements of section 86-88 of the NCC Act 2003. The suit was thereby struck out.

    The Courts decision were accurate as section 86-88 of the NCC Act 2003 clearly provides for pre-action provisions which if not complied with ousts the jurisdiction of the Court pending compliance with the provisions. However, it is doubtful if the economic related disputes in both instances could be competently adjudicated by the Nigerian courts in the absence of the requisite expertise. Perhaps, the rhetoric that the Court could rely on expert evidence with the overriding duty of the expert to the court in adjudicating over the matter or seek the assistance of an amicus curiae, nonetheless the judge will still be required to understand, for example, economic evidence to make a reasoned decision especially where presented with two conflicting expert opinions. Moreover, communication disputes tend to be inquisitorial and not just adversarial going beyond the interests of the parties to the public interest especially in relation to economic related disputes, for e.g. an adjudicator may at times when reaching its decision carry out a consultation on its proposed decision to the parties in dispute or to interested stakeholders.

     

    Towards a robust legal Olawale Fayoseand institutional framework

    The ills of the absence of a robust legal and institutional dispute resolution framework are lack of regulatory accountability; it breeds errors in regulatory decision making; stifles legal development; creates distortion in the market through the application of incorrect regulatory decisions thereby impacting on the competitiveness of the sector and consumer welfare regulatory objectives, the epicenter of communications regulation. In contrast, the benefits are immense, the regulated network and service providers exercises its constitutional right of appeal to have their objections reviewed on the merits of the case by a competent appellate body; it provides a mirror which reflects the increasing effectiveness of competition in the market; it’s a good means to monitor the effects of ex-ante and ex-post regulation in the sector and to assess whether or not there is a need for more or less regulation in the sector thereby ensuring that regulatory objectives are met and not dated; it fosters regulatory accountability by testing the effectiveness of a dispute resolution framework in terms of resources, personnel and structure; and it facilitates timely resolution of commercial disputes.

    Nigeria should therefore consider developing the third regulatory restraint in communications regulation, the dispute resolution framework in addition to ex-ante and ex-post regulation towards a robust communications legal and institutional framework by enacting legislation creating a communications appeal tribunal to adjudicate over appeals from NCC decisions in particular regulator/operator disputes. The existence of such a framework will be most suited to resolve the on-going dispute between MTN and NCC.

     

    • Fayose is of Soji Fayose & Co, Lagos. e-mail: wale@so jifayose.com, wfayose@yahoo.com