The Nation Newspaper

Tag: years

  • ‘We must complete our eight years’

    Days to the country’s potentially reforming presidential election rescheduled for March 28, the language and logic of compulsion coming from the camp of President Goodluck Jonathan deserve contemplation and rejection.  In particular, the implication of coercion expressed by First Lady Patience Jonathan betrays the innermost recesses of her mind, and by possible and understandable extension, the likely evil within the presidential circle.

    Mrs. Jonathan said at a women’s rally in Benin, Edo State: “Everybody is staying there eight years. Now, it’s our turn. We must complete our eight years.”  She continued: “It is in the constitution of this country. Two, two terms. We will complete our two terms and hand over.”   Such dangerously simplistic thinking is even more terrorising because of its source. If the unenlightened belief in automaticity is the operating inspiration for Jonathan’s reelection ambition and campaign, it further exposes the appalling lack of democratic awareness and understanding in his sphere of influence.

    It is disturbing that Mrs. Jonathan, who must have spoken the minds of others of her ilk, reduced the concept of two possible terms in power to a mechanical construction.  In other words, in the wife’s view, her husband’s first-term performance in office shouldn’t be a factor for consideration by the electorate in the expected election. What should matter to voters, the thinking goes, is Jonathan’s constitutional eligibility for a second term in office, separate from any measurement of his first-term accomplishments, if any.

    What kind of democracy gives power to the people, and yet expects them to be powerless to remove a first-term failure and stop him from advancing to a second-term catastrophe?  Interestingly, perhaps because love is said to be blind, Mrs. Jonathan seems blind to her husband’s political minuses, for which a conscious electorate should punish him by voting him out.

    In this context, it is relevant to consider the dubious slogan of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP): Power to the People.   Against the background of Mrs. Jonathan’s demonstrated not-so-subtle sense of entitlement regarding a second presidential term for her husband,  the power of the people appears to be unrecognised, meaning that a powerless people is central to the achievement of her dream.         Fundamentally, the expected presidential election represents a priceless opportunity for the electorate to demonstrate not only discerning political consciousness but also confident mastery of its ultimate sovereignty. In other words, the election is better appreciated as a People Power Project. It is about the supremacy of the vote or the primacy of the voters. Power to the people is a catch-phrase that must be actualised by the people themselves for meaningful change.

    Probably the main the challenge facing the progressive camp in the countdown to the defining election is people mobilisation, which will likely come with the difficulty of spreading political awareness and enlightenment as well as delivering the crucial message of the need for game-changing political action within a population that is usually fatalistically absorbent. Indeed, how far the people are ready to go to protect the sacredness of their votes will be decisive.

    Importantly, the people need to respond in the clearest of terms to Mrs. Jonathan’s misconception of her husband’s misrule by expressing through their votes the popular perception concerning his unpopularity. It is thought-provoking that at another PDP women’s presidential rally in Ilorin, Kwara State, Mrs. Jonathan said: “Nigerian women, if they (APC) come, tell them that your mother said you should not listen to them. They have nothing to offer. They have nothing to give you, Nigerian women; because the battle has already been conquered, God has opened the way for us. God has brought down the messiah for us. And PDP is the messiah. Goodluck is the messiah.”

    It is unsurprising that the closer the election, the more corrupted the political talk, especially by a party of corrupt and corrupting features. On crooked thinking, it may be impossible to beat the thought that links the purity of the divine with the observable impurity and impunity of the PDP and its governmental hierarchs, particularly President Jonathan. It should be interesting to have an idea of Mrs. Jonathan’s idea of God as well as her definition of a messiah.   Still on clarifications, Mrs. Jonathan may need to be more clarifying about her concept of peace.  She also said in Ilorin: “PDP is not shaken; as far as we are there, there is no need for trouble. You know that Mama Peace, your mother, is peace-loving, so the children must also be peace-loving. Women are peacemakers and no woman that makes trouble is worth to be called a woman.”

    Interestingly, the questions that must follow such innocent self-disqualification are: Does Mrs. Jonathan stand for womanhood? Can she be called a woman? When in December 2013 she re-introduced herself as Mama Peace, Nigerians were anxious to find out whether the publicised change of name would make any difference not only to her public conduct but also to public perception of her personality. The so-called name-change sounded like a publicity stunt prompted by pressure from “social anxiety,” which was graspable in the light of her markedly unflattering public image.

    According to her at the time, “My name is no more Patience but now Mama Peace because I believe that without peace, there will be no more women, no more children and no more health sector. Without peace, the international community will be afraid to come and invest in our country.” She also said: “Peace is from the heart and not from the tongue or lips; not what you say but what is in you.” From the look of things, whatever might have been responsible for Mrs. Jonathan’s new-found song on “peace evangelism,” it appears that she would benefit from further education on the basics of the concept. She still needs to learn from her own words, if they were not uttered hypocritically, but that seems more and more to be the case.

    Apart from the reality that her record of imperiousness has not changed, Mrs. Jonathan’s campaign utterances show that a name-change cannot be the same thing as conscious self-redefinition. This is still the old, familiar lady of battle, and it is difficult to recognise any change.

    What if the people go against Mrs. Jonathan’s ridiculous argument that her husband “must” be reelected irrespective of his track record that makes him unelectable? What if the people rubbish her nonsensical view that her husband and his party have a messianic value?

  • A referendum on the Jonathan years

    A referendum on the Jonathan years

    It is great that  terrorists have been pushed out of Baga, Bama and others but how does that translate into electoral advantage for Jonathan in places like Chibok where hundreds of families are still grieving over their missing daughters? How does it help him with families across Adamawa, Yobe, Borno, Gombe and Kano who lost husbands, wives and children as the insurgents rampaged unchecked over the last four years?

    Six weeks have evaporated like a puff in the wind and the postponed day of reckoning is finally upon us. Voters would pass judgment on All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari’s, past and present and decide whether they want to go on an adventure with him and his party.

    Crucially, the March 28 election is even more about President Goodluck Jonathan and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) being placed on a scale by the people they have ‘served’ over the last four years.

    The polls are not about Prof. Attahiru Jega and his performance as chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Neither are they about the alleged sins of former Lagos State Governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) campaign has devoted countless millions producing negative advertising and hate documentaries against the two men you would be forgiven for thinking Jonathan was running against them instead of Buhari.

    If the president had sat out this election, next Saturday’s contest would have been defined in a different way. But he’s on the ballot seeking four more years in office: that automatically transforms the polls into a referendum on his tenure.

    In seeking a revalidation of his contract with Nigeria he will face the same parameters used to judge people who want a renewal. First there has to be a review of what has been done in the initial term and a decision made as to whether the individual who has put himself forward is the man to lead the organisation going forward.

    So what has Jonathan made of the four-year mandate he received in 2011? Has he done enough to earn a fresh contract? Will Nigeria be a safer, respected and more prosperous country if left in his care for another four years?

    Granted that most voting decisions are neither objective nor rational, I still believe that a sizeable number of voters – especially the undecided – should be asking these questions as they make up their minds whether to return him to the presidency.

    Jonathan took office with overwhelming goodwill. Riding on the back of the national need for healing following the unscripted demise of Umaru Yar’Adua, he brushed aside Buhari’s 2011 challenge. People wanted him to succeed and expectations were high because he and his late boss were Nigeria’s first university-educated executive presidents.

    It was refreshing that he was from the Ijaw minority in the South-South zone – breaking the usual three-cornered Hausa-Igbo-Yoruba power struggles. His grass-to-grace story was attractive and romantic – offering the possibility of a fresh start  under a humble head of state after a succession of arrogant and autocratic leaders.

    That goodwill translated into him getting 10 million votes more than Buhari. Although many still dispute those figures as rigged, they are the ones recorded by INEC for posterity. They are also the ones upheld by the courts.

    Usually, incumbents face very testing elections when they seek a second term. The margin of victory often contracts when compared to the first time around. However, it takes some special talent to blow away 10 million votes such that, today, Jonathan stands on the verge of making history as the first incumbent president in Nigeria to lose his reelection bid. How did things get this bad for him?

    Although expectations were high, the new president raised the bar even further by promising ‘transformation’. But instead of a landscape transformed, what we have after four years is a country devastated on many fronts.

    Jonathan apologists have printed reams of glossy paper itemising his supposed great achievements. They churn out statistics to open our eyes to the transformation we cannot readily appreciate. The things I always remember are that he established 12 federal universities, built almajiri schools and Nigeria’s economy became Africa’s largest under his watch.

    This list might impress party hacks but that’s as far as it goes. There was a time where opening universities was a big deal. Not anymore. Private individuals are establishing them all over the place.

    As for the size of the economy, the tag is just a salve for our egos and not much more. Nigeria’s economy might be the biggest on the continent but that honour is vitiated by one of the iconic images of the Jonathan era: the National Stadium, Abuja packed full of the unemployed who had gathered for an ultimately fatal Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) recruitment exercise last year.

    Ours is the largest economy in Africa at a time when our currency is lying prostrate against major currencies of the world. It would have been a boon if were exporting goods, but because we are enslaved to imported petrol this massive economy is headed farther and farther into the woods.

    In any event, I cannot imagine that Jonathan and his team – with a straight face – would claim that the ‘magic’ they performed in the last four years was what shot the country atop the continental economic rankings.

    The problem with Jonathan’s ‘achievements’ is captured by a link that his online supporters keep retweeting. It says something like ‘If you are from Ogun State please click here to see how GEJ has transformed your state’! If I live in a community and cannot see this so-called transformation then it is just fiction – or whatever has been achieved is being oversold as transformative.

    If Jonathan’s positives are not resonating, it is because his negatives are so overwhelming. Every regime has its fair share of scandals but this one seems to have a manufacturing plant that spews out sleaze. Over the last four years it has staggered from tales of billions of dollars allegedly missing from the NNPC, to flamboyant ministers blowing millions on armoured limousines to bungled arms purchase runs leading to embarrassing seizure of millions of dollars traced to the government in far away South Africa.

    Just as the image of the president was taking a battering internally, the country was not doing better externally.  The phantom phone call scandal involving Morocco left the president in the ridiculous position of having to deny something that his government officials had been vehemently insisting happened. It is not without reason that the administration’s critics call it ‘clueless.’

    Another defining character of the last four years has been the subversion of the rule of law and the destruction of institutions. It’s as if from day one the scheming for a second term took hold of the president. In order for that ambition to be realised, key national institutions have been virtually destroyed and compromised. The police, DSS and armed forces have at various times been pressed into partisan political assignments on behalf of the president and PDP in ways that are just nauseating.

    But ultimately the institution mostly badly affected by Jonathan’s desperate craving for another term is the ruling party. The PDP is going into elections in its worst shape since 1999. Under the incumbent, distinguished members have been deserting in droves as ambitions and interests clashed. Each time this happened, Aso Rock court jesters would dismiss the departed as paperweights who the ruling party could do without.

    Governors Rotimi Amaechi, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Magatarkarda Wamakko, Abdulfatah Ahmed and Murtala Nyako were casually allowed to go without the political implications of losing five states to the opposition sinking in. Former national chairmen like Barnabas Gemade, Audu Ogbeh and Kawu Baraje left. House of Representatives Speaker Aminu Tambuwal and one of his predecessors Ghali Umar Na’Abba have jumped ship. So also have numerous senators, representatives and ex-ministers.

    Add to that list of heavyweights former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who was humiliated out of the party because his continued presence was an obstacle to Jonathan’s second term bid. After dismissing him and calling him names, guess who came calling under the cover of darkness at the former VP’s Yola home a few days ago begging for support? Candidate Jonathan!

    Even former President Olusegun Obasanjo who always swore he was PDP for life ended up tearing his party card in a farcical ceremony at his Abeokuta ward. His departure was celebrated too. Much as PDP would want to pretend that those who left weren’t politically relevant, these departures are akin to losing blood or limbs – the organism invariably becomes weaker.

    One of the challenges that came to define the Jonathan years is the insurgency in the North-East. Several months after they carved out a caliphate on Nigerian soil, an African multinational force in collaboration with the Nigerian military has driven Boko Haram out of most towns they occupied.

    A few days ago, Jonathan was quoted as boasting that the sect would be defeated within a month. There’s no question that the president and ruling party expect an electoral boost from the victories of the military.

    But such unrealistic expectations come from a profound misunderstanding of the dynamics at play here. It is great that  terrorists have been pushed out of Baga, Bama and others but how does that translate into electoral advantage for Jonathan in places like Chibok where hundreds of families are still grieving over their missing daughters? How does it help him with families across Adamawa, Yobe, Borno, Gombe and Kano who lost husbands, wives and children as the insurgents rampaged unchecked over the last four years?

    Where there has been transformation it was of the undesirable sort. I, like many faceless millions, voted for Jonathan in 2011. Back then we used to say we were voting for him and not PDP. The result was the creation of a pan-Nigerian mandate that swept him into office. Today, a president who emerged as a unique Nigerian creation has ended up the hostage of Ijaw clan chiefs and ex-militants.

    A Nigerian president has been reduced to manipulating ethnic militias like the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) whose agendas are largely separatist in his desperate bid to cling on to power.

    Jonathan has been executing a cross-country dash from pillar to palace to pulpit – bowing before strange gods and demi-gods as he struggles to stave off a defeat that is increasingly looking inevitable.

    And it was all so unnecessary. Imagine what the political landscape would have looked like today had the ‘New PDP’ faction not broken away from the ruling party? Perhaps there were too many interests to appease and none would ever have been satisfied with any form of compromise.

    Unfortunately, the ambitions of the president deepened the fault lines. The upshot is that in a few days we all would cast votes that could radically alter the political landscape. If his party is kicked out of power Jonathan would then have truly delivered ‘transformation!’

  • Obi: why president needs four more years

    Obi: why president needs four more years

    Former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi has urged the citizenry, for the sake of the nation’s unity and progress, to re-elect President Goodluck Jonathan.

    Saying besides the facts that Jonathan had done well to merit a re-election, he added that the socio economic dynamics of the nation demanded that the South-South should be allowed to exhaust their eight years.

    Obi, who is the deputy director-general (South) of the Jonathan’s Campaign Organisation, spoke at the meeting of the laity of Nigeria at the Pope John Paul 11 Centre, Abuja.

    The former governor said the wisdom among the country’s elderly men allowed a Southwest man to become the president after the death of Chief Moshood Abiola, arguing that the same wisdom was needed for four more years for Jonathan, a Southsouth man.

    Obi, who lauded late President Umaru Yar’Adua for the wisdom in packaging the amnesty deal, said before the deal, Nigeria produced about 700,000 barrels of oil per day and had been producing about 2.2 million barrels since after the deal.

    On qualities that endeared Jonathan to Nigerians, the former governor said: “President Jonathan has characteristics required among leaders. He is patient and infinitely ready to listen; he is tolerant; he is humble, and above all he has untainted patriotic credentials.

    “He also has age going for him. You know that being a president involves a lot of mental energy and we must accept that at certain age, no matter one’s personal integrity, he is limited in his mental and physical capabilities.”

    He argued that what Nigeria needed now was not the type of change witnessed in Egypt, Libya or Iraq, but the sustenance of the change already begun in many sectors.

    He said in education, Jonathan built 14 new universities and had through commitment to the sector, improved the country’s performance in West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and National Examination Council (NECO) from 25 per cent to over 50 per cent.

    He also reeled out list of roads rehabilitated by Jonathan government, adding that no past government in Nigeria did what Jonathan has done in four years.

    On the fall of the naira, Obi said it was a global phenomenon caused by the fall in the price of petroleum.

  • 2,500 seafarers trained in four years

    The Federal Government trained over 2,500 youths as seafarers under the Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP) in the last four years, the Maritime Watch Dog has said.

    The Maritime Watchdog is a pressure group that protects the interest of retired and serving maritime workers.

    The group’s Legal Adviser/General Secretary, Mac-Johnson Odey, told reporters in Lagos that the  administration’s commitment to the NSDP is unwavering. According to him, when Nigerians take over the industry, the country would save the over N3 billion lost yearly to foreign seafarers.

    Odey recalled that since the liquidation of the Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL), training of seafarers in Nigeria ceased, adding that it led to the dearth of indigenous seafarers. “While those trained by the NNSL were ageing, there was no replacement and apparently no government thought it wise to invest in encouraging and training young Nigerians to become seafarers until recently,” he said.

    Odey praised the the administration for building a shipyard/dockyard for repairs and maintenance of ships, barges, and creation of a satellite surveillance centre in Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) to fight piracy, oil theft, smuggling, among others.

    “The Maritime Watch Dog has keenly observed developments in the maritime sector of the economy over the years and is enthusiastic to record and proclaim that in contrast to the years of denial and decay, the Jonathan administration has recorded encouraging resuscitation in the aforementioned areas,” he said.

  • Mary Slessor: 100 years after

    •Her humanity still beckons us today

    How time flies! So it is a hundred years since Mary Mitchell Slessor died. The good thing though is that her works continue to speak. This is the reason she is being celebrated by people in Cross River State, where she left very strong impact, thousands of kilometres away from her native Aberdeen, Scotland, where she was born on December 2, 1848.

    Mary, the great Scottish Amazon liberated old Calabar, brought Christianity and modernity as well as stopped the killing of twins, then thought to be devil-sent, in the area. Her mother’s strong Presbyterian background influenced her decision to become a teacher, even as she admired missionary work. The opportunity for the latter came when David Livingstone, a great explorer and missionary died, and Mary applied to the Foreign Mission Board of the Presbyterian Church in Edinburgh to embark on missionary journey to Africa. She set sail on August 5, 1876, and arrived her destination one month after. She worked first in the missions in Old Town and Creek Town (in the present Odukpani Local Government Area of Cross River State  and lived in the mission house), where many supernatural beliefs – witchcraft, and ritual sacrifice of twins – among others, were common.

    Because of her commitments to her beliefs and her duty, she was never found wanton where duty called or danger. Like some other early missionaries in Africa, she once suffered malaria attack, necessitating her return to Scotland for treatment. She took many daring risks, travelling sometimes by boats and canoes to dangerous enclaves for the purposes of evangelism and her campaign against twin murder superstition. To prove that twins were no evil, she picked up a twin abandoned for dead, took her home and brought her up as daughter. This was to mark a turning-point for the people engaged in the evil practice as many of them saw the matter as what it was: mere superstition and jettisoned it; it has been so till date.

    If on this score alone, Mary’s expedition to Nigeria was not in vain. But she did not stop at being an agent of social change; she was also involved in settlement of communal disputes among villagers, thus helping to save lives. She was instrumental in introducing education and encouraging trade in the area. Indeed, the history of Waddel Training Institution, Calabar, which has produced many great men and women cannot be complete without her illustrious contributions. She frequently campaigned against injustices against women and took in outcasts and unwanted children.

    A woman of the people that she was, Mary, while in Okoyong, stayed in a traditional house with the people and learned to speak the Efik language. She was nicknamed “Obongawan Okoyong” (Queen of Okoyong), which she is still being called till today. It was in recognition of her contributions to the society that she was made the vice consul in Okoyong in 1892; she was also awarded the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem for her philanthropy.  Mary died on January 13, 1915 and her body was transported to Duke Town (in present Calabar) where she had a colonial equivalent of State Burial.

    We join in commemorating the centenary of the departure of this great woman. It is however regretful that some of the ideals for which Mary sacrificed her all are being jettisoned today. Nowadays, we read stories of child bombers; children are no longer getting the quality education that they should have; healthcare is not a thing that can be taken for granted even for the child. People may have stopped killing twins, but it is still common to see children being accused of witchcraft in Calabar, and a few other places.

    We are happy that the Cross River State Government has made Mary’s house at Okoyong and her grave at Duke Town as heritage sites. But the best way to immortalise her is to see to it that all those things that she sacrificed for are completely eradicated. It is by so doing that her efforts would not be in vain.

  • Nigeria’ll be a better place in four years, says Jonathan

    Nigeria’ll be a better place in four years, says Jonathan

    President Goodluck Jonathan has said Nigera will become a better place in the next four to five ears.

    He said that Nigeria was steadily making progress as a result of the policies of his administration.

    The President spoke at the Christ Apostolic Church, Garki Area 1, Abuja, where he observed his last Sunday church service for the year.

    Even as he expressed optimism that Nigeria will overcome its challenges, he said that 2015, which is an election year, will be a tempting one.

    The President later yesterday afternoon left Abuja for a private visit to the United Kingdom.

    A statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, said the President was accompanied on the trip by some of his principal staff and personal aides.

    Jonathan is expected back in Abuja today ahead of official engagements at the Presidential Villa on Tuesday, including scheduled audiences with groups from Delta and Lagos states.

    Speaking at the church service, Jonathan said: “As a nation, we have not reached where we want to go; definitely not. But we are coming up with a number of policies. Those who are taking pain to look at what we are doing will agree with us that if we progress as a nation steadily in this manner, in the next four or five years, this country will be a better place.

    “Only a few days back, the Vice President was in Port Harcourt to flag off the Eastern railway. The Western one moving from Lagos to Kano has been running. We will start using the modern one from Kaduna to Abuja by the first quarter of next year and the one from Port Harcourt.

    “When we were small, there were railways. But I believe most of our children of about 30 years only see railway as cartoons in the television but now, they are seeing it.

    “We relied on agriculture before the oil boom or doom and all that died. We are reviving it and the whole world has appreciated that we are moving forward in agriculture.”

    He went on: “When they start something, people do not see the benefits immediately. We know that as a nation, we have a lot of challenges in terms of getting jobs for our young graduates and we have set up a lot of programmes that can bring job opportunities for our young men. The result may not be obvious immediately but God willing, job opportunities will continue to increase and many more young people will be engaged.”

    On falling oil prices, he said: “We have talked about the drop in global price of oil. Of course, if there is a drop in oil price, it will affect us in one way or the other. We tell our people to bear with us. It has happened before in 2008, 2009 that was almost about $40, we survived as a nation.”

    The President reassured Nigerians that the falling oil prices will not go as low as $40 and that Nigeria will survive it.

    According to him, his economic team is already working very hard to stabilise it.

    He said: “Although there may be temporary inconveniences, it will definitely not bring the economy down.”

    Stressing that 2015 is a tempting year, Jonathan said: “Elections year in Third World countries is always a turbulent year with all kinds of predictions. I, however, believe that the God who brought us to this level will see us through.”

    He urged the congregation to continue to pray for politicians from all political parties.

    The President said: “Pray for God to guide us in our utterances and what we do so that we will not sacrifice the lives of Nigerians because of our ambitions. Nobody’s ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian.”

    “Pray to God to give us that wisdom and mind to make sure we conduct ourselves in a way that will not set the country ablaze because of our own personal ambition.”

    “There are so many good Nigerians that can hold the offices we are occupying or aspiring to occupy; it is by privilege of God that we are here in positions to ask for the mandates of Nigerians.”

    He went on: “None of us should begin to think that he is the best person to be anywhere from state houses of assembly to the president. There are a thousand and one Nigerians that are super qualified more than those people who are even aspiring to occupy offices.

    “If the idea is to help the people, grow the economy and make the people happy, you won’t want to kill, you won’t want to maim or burn down houses, vehicles and property. Human beings may see things differently but God can guide us.”

    He noted that instead of the challenges abating, the problems started increasing for one reason or the other.

    “But I am convinced that it would have been worse than this but for your prayers. With the prayers you continue to offer to God, God will see us through, he said, adding:

    “I always say that whenever I read the Bible, especially the Old Testament, particularly the journey of the Israelites from Egypt to the promised land, the kind of challenges they faced; the confrontation, the wars up to the days of King David, people were always fighting and you will ask why children of God will continue to be fighting.”

    “I believe what is even happening to us is not even as serious as sometimes the passages we read in the Bible and God was able to see them through.”

    “The God we believe will see us through. What I will request from you is to continue to pray for us. For me and members of my team, in spite of the challenges, we will continue to do our best.” he stated

  • SURE-P: Three years after

    Three years ago, Nigeria was in the frenzied grip of another sort of campaign. There were intense arguments for, and against the planned removal of fuel subsidy. By January 2012, organised Labour paralysed the country with a nationwide strike that had echoes of similar work stoppages in the preceding decade when fuel prices were increased rather peremptorily. In the heat of the debate, anyone could have been forgiven for being cynically dismissive of the federal government’s insistent pledge of what it would do with its own share of the savings from the partial withdrawal of fuel subsidy.

    Now, three years later, it is fair to ask whether the cynics have seen their worst fears materialise. On the contrary, there is growing evidence that the federal government is keeping faith with its pledge of judicious use of its accruals arising from the fuel subsidy removal.

    Let’s take a sampler from infrastructural development. In 2006, the federal government awarded the dualisation of the Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja highway. But the project languished in the doldrums owing to inadequate geological surveys occasioning poor design, and majorly the abject lack of funding, as the annual budget of the Federal Ministry of Works could hardly make any impact. Contractors abandoned their various sites on the Lots. Since 2012, following the launch of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P) by the federal government, the story of the project has changed dramatically: the Abuja-Abaji-Lokoja expressway is now a reality.

    Similarly, for more than two decades, the Benin-Ore-Sagamu expressway had collapsed, and the remedial patchwork that often was carried out on that critical arterial road was as laughable as it was dangerous. SURE-P funding is now making a huge difference that is clearly measurable in the reduced travel times on that route. The Benin-Ore part of the expressway has been totally reconstructed, while work is proceeding determinedly on the Ore-Sagamu axis. Indeed, the story is the same with the on-going total reconstruction of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway, which has a basket of funding to which SURE-P is contributory.

    Move over to the Loko-Oweto bridge that connects Nasarawa and Benue states, and SURE-P funding is the reason why the project is already more than 65 per cent complete, not to reference the hundreds of direct and indirect jobs being created in the process. Furthermore, the SURE-P wallet is one of the assured sources for financing the much-delayed Second Niger Bridge, the ground-breaking ceremony of which was performed this year by President Goodluck Jonathan. After many sorrowful years for commuters, the East-West Road was at about 22 per cent completion in early 2012 when SURE-P was created. Within two years of injecting funds, the East-West Road has notched more than 70 per cent completion with a new lot added, not to mention overcoming the havoc wreaked by the floods of 2012.

    The Lagos-Kano rail line that represents the Western line of Nigerian Railways is active today with regular commuter and cargo traffic, because of massive supplementary funding by SURE-P. The Eastern corridor, which runs from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri has also witnessed tremendous rehabilitation, on account of SURE-P financing. But one must also add that the brand new standard gauge rail line from Kaduna-Abuja is a dream come true, because SURE-P weighed in with funds. It is also deploying resources of up to N10 billion in support of the Abuja light rail project that is expected to ease intra-city transportation upon completion.

    The 21-member committee that manages SURE-P as a unique interventionist agency was established on February 13, 2012, after the smoke cleared from the protests against the partial withdrawal of subsidy. The mandate is judicious and transparent application of the federal government’s 41 per cent share of the subsidy savings. The funds are domiciled with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). All the 36 states of the federation and the 774 local governments are entitled jointly to 54 per cent of the subsidy savings, while the remaining five per cent goes to Ecological Fund, as well as cost of collection.

    SURE-P started receiving funds in July 2012. From then until now, it has received a total of N441 billion. The programme has an annual allocation of N180 billion, but its receipts so far have been N126 billion (2012), N180 billion (2013), and N135 billion (2014). SURE-P operates through specialised sub-committees and project implementation units that are embedded in, but insulated as much as practicable from the stifling bureaucracy in relevant Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs). SURE-P does not choose or award contracts on behalf of the MDAs. However, projects and programmes that are targeted for funding are evaluated by SURE-P in-house technical staff and outside consultants where necessary, to certify work done, before payment certificates are approved. The payment certificates are then forwarded to the Federal Budget Office, which scrutinizes the certificates, before advising the CBN, which credits the contractor’s account. This approach, no doubt, has boosted the confidence of contractors handling the infrastructure projects, hence the rapid milestones they have achieved in so short a time.

    SURE-P is focused primarily on critical infrastructure projects and social safety net programmes, which directly and positively impact on the people. The infrastructure projects include roads, bridges, and railway. On the other hand, the social safety net programmes cover mass transit; maternal and child health; community service, women and youth empowerment (incorporating the Graduate Internship Scheme); public works (under the aegis of the Federal Emergency Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA); vocational training, as well as culture and tourism.

    If SURE-P can crow about its achievements in infrastructure intervention, it can crow even louder about the impact of aspects of its social safety net programme, which are not as visible as roads and bridges. Let us take it for granted that the major works in railways and on roads and bridges are generating jobs. Yet many more jobs are being created in the course of executing the social safety net programmes. No fewer than 12,400 youths have been engaged in maintaining 40 priority federal highways nationwide under the FERMA Public Works project. In the same vein, more than 120,000 jobs have been created for the youth, women, and physically challenged across the federation, under the community, social, women and youth empowerment programme. This is just as thousands of graduates have taken advantage of the Graduate Internship Scheme that prepares them for employment, even as they receive monthly stipends.

    By far the most remarkable is the landmark success in the Maternal and Child Healthcare programme. The programme is designed to increase the supply of skilled health workers to offer maternal and child health services at the primary health care (PHC) level, undertake infrastructural renovations to PHC centres, raise supply of essential commodities at PHC facilities with a view to upscaling service delivery, and above all to increase demand for maternal and child health care services in underserved and rural communities by deploying conditional cash transfers. As at August, SURE-P had recruited nationwide 11,912 health care workers made up of 2,811 midwives, 3,133 community health extension workers (CHEWs), and 5,966 female village health workers.

    Three years ago, who could have believed that the successes recorded thus far by SURE-P were possible? No one can assert that SURE-P is perfect; but it has shown what 41 per cent has achieved, and what lies ahead. If only we could also tally the aggregate positive showing of states and local governments with their combined 54 per cent receipts, we would have a much happier picture that the firm promises of partial subsidy withdrawal are being kept.

     

    • Omafume, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja.

     

  • Oshiomhole: Six years after

    On November 12, 2008, Adams Eric Aliyu Oshiomhole, was sworn as governor, Edo State. It was a special moment for the state and its people for several reasons. Remarkably, it was the culmination of the resilience of the people, who voted and stood by him when anti democratic forces tried to rob him of the mandate they gave willingly to him, and the judiciary that resisted machinations of the powers-that-be to give a verdict in favour of a popular choice.

    The nation became better for it as the judiciary stood resolute on the side of the people. In addition, it was a turning point for the entire state as it marked the beginning of what is now popularly referred to as the ‘new narrative’.

    While making the solemn pledge to turn the state around like never before, he underscored his desire to be a people’s governor by seeking their consent to be referred to as “Comrade Governor.”

    Uniquely, his pledge was an unambiguous desire to give the state a fresh breath in terms of people-oriented, physically verifiable development projects that will stand the test of time. The pledge became necessary because the supposedly democratic administrations before him ruined and wrecked the state economy without any attempt to upgrade basic public infrastructure on the pretext that the state had no money.

    A few years into his administration, Oshiomhole eroded the no-money myth by proving to be a man of his words. Decades after the historic performance left by Dr Samuel Osaigbovo Ogbemudia, who, as military administrator of old Bendel, left a telling record of infrastructural development, Oshiomhole recreated that long gone era as structures, after hope-rising structures began to fill available spaces in all the nooks and crannies of the state. It was not a surprise that the people decided to give a unanimous second term endorsement in all 18 local government areas despite subterranean subterfuge by those put to shame by his performance.

    Importantly, Oshiomhole was not given an unassailable second term approval by the people on flimsy grounds. Between his inauguration and the end of his first term, they witnessed an unprecedented, self evident and widespread development projects spread across every sector, including economy, education, works, health, environment/public utilities, etc, in every senatorial zone, every local government area and every town. With him, the people became convinced that the state had truly become a very positive new narrative.

    Before the coming of his administration, Edo State economy was in ruins. Though oil revenue was high, the greater part of whatever accrued from it found its way into the pockets of those elected by the people. It didn’t matter to them that the people they represented suffered. For instance, roads and public schools became so wrecked that an urgent surgical revival was needed to avert total collapse. Midway into the administration, roads in the city centre, including Akpakpava, Five Junction, Mission, Airport, Sapele roads, etc, became self-evident proofs that the administration meant business. Further from the capital, there are too many to be mentioned here. In addition, the administration embarked on a deliberate renovation and reconstruction of public schools, public health institutions and streets, designed and completed with covered drains, walkways, street lights, etc, also in all the 18 local government areas. The health sector witnessed the same level of turn around.

    Remarkably, the administration kept the momentum despite dwindling returns from federation allocations and internally generated revenue.

    With the accruing monthly allocations from the federation on the decline, from N3.8 billion to N2.8 billion, the administration took to the internally generated revenue option which moved up from its less-than-N300-million revenue before the advent of the administration to its present status of between N1.4 to N1.5 billion. Yet, Benin City, the state capital is about the cleanest compared to some of its neighbours with over N10 billion monthly federation account allocation.

    In the education sector, the new narrative is known as the red roof revolution. Public schools in the state only compared with poultry farms before the advent of the Oshiomhole administration. At best, most of them had no roofs, making teaching and learning near impossible tasks during rainy seasons.

    All that has changed as the administration went on a deliberate education rebirth policy that resulted in the rehabilitation of old and construction of new school buildings, complete with red roofs and every other facility conducive for learning. The new structures are found in all the 192 wards of the state. Education is not only free for both primary and secondary schools, the administration also made transportation free for all uniformed children both in private or public schools riding on the comrade buses.

    Edo State ranks as one of the state with the best network of roads. However, they were hardly motorable until the current administration took effect. Since then, things changed for the better as roads from the capital down to the local governments have become a beauty to behold in terms of their look and functionality. Among others, Akpakpava, Five Junction, Mission, Airport, Sapele roads, are proofs of the changes the administration brought to bear on roads reconstruction and rehabilitation.

    Oshiomhole has taken upon himself some ambitiously near impossible task and turn them around. The Azura/Edo Independent Power Project and Edo Water Storm project are obvious examples. The former is a $100 million project and the first Nigerian power project to benefit from the World Bank’s risk guarantee status, covered by the global bank’s Partial Risk Guarantee structure for developing needs of emerging global markets. It is very credible evidence that the state is a viable centre for global investment hob.

    The latter is a vast labyrinth of huge drainage system under construction to serve as a permanent solution of the endemic drainage challenge in the state capital. It is designed to empty the water deluge from all over the city to either the Ogba or Ikpoba River. For all his efforts, the Benin crown prince, Eheneden Erediauwa, described Oshiomhole’s performance in the following words. “I don’t know of any governor that has developed Edo Dtate in terms of infrastructure as Oshiomhole.”

    •Omoarelojie writes from Benin City, Edo State.

     

  • Couple gets twins after 15 years

    Couple gets twins after 15 years

    or over 15 years, Deaconess Peace Igunbor endured the agony of being called a barren woman. Her husband, Pastor Eghosa Igunbor, resisted several temptations and entreaties to get a second wife that would bear him children.

    Pastor Eghosa was almost referred to as an eunuch. He never thought a baby would still cry in their house.

    They were married in April 1998 and had looked forward to celebrating birth of their first child nine months later but nothing came.

    But recently, God blessed the couple with a twins boys after they underwent a fertility treatment popularly called IVF in a private clinic that combined scientific technology and prayers to assist couples overcome the stigma of remaining childless.

    Pastor Eghosa, in a chat with our reporter, said their problems were compounded when the wife had two miscarriages. He said their status as a childless couple was harrowing until they saw the face of God who blessed them with the baby boys.

    Eghosa stated that the problems made him to focus more on worshipping God and deepen his faith in God’s miracle as a member of the Church of God Mission where he was later ordained as a pastor and his wife, a deaconess.

    He said his faith in God was challenged as the devil created some challenging option of either going for other women or marrying another wife.

    His words: “But because of my position in the church and one who at one time of the other have cancelled others facing similar challenges, I held unto God believing that He will surely change my own story.”

    Deaconess Igunbor said it was a horrific period for her considering how the African society treats women who are childless.

    She said: “But I held unto God’s words in the bible which kept me busy in the church and did not have to sit down weeping in a corner or running all over the place in search of solutions.

    “However, seeing other pregnant women who carried their children to full term I often raise the question why I am not like them?”

  • Agricultural sector created 3m jobs in three years- minister

    Agricultural sector created 3m jobs in three years- minister

    The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, said the agricultural sector created three million jobs in the last three years.

    Adesina said the government was driving agriculture through the commodity and value chains approach to achieve results.

    He spoke at the 2014 World Food Day with the theme: “Family Farming: Feeding the World, Caring for the Earth.”

    The Minister, who was represented by the Director, Federal Department of Agriculture in the Ministry, Demola Emmanuel, said this year’s theme is aimed at heightening the role of family farming in achieving food security as well as signifying the contribution of small scale farmers.

    He said: “The agricultural sector over the last three years has created three million farm jobs thereby putting young people to work as the agricultural revolution deepened across rural areas and agricultural value chains, leading to reduction in rural urban migration.

    “The private sector participation in driving ATA shows that between 2011 and 2014, the sector attracted over $5.6 billion of private sector investments. Between 2012 and 2014, a total of 14 million farmers received their subsidised farm inputs using electronic voucher on their mobile phones to directly pay private sector input retailers.”

    According to the minister, the government has recorded 21 million metric tonnes of food from 2011 to 2014, surpassing the 20 million mt of food target set for 2015.

    “Between 2012 and 2014, six million rice farmers were reached with improved rice varieties through the e-wallet system. The total cumulated rice area rose by two million hectares, national paddy rice production rose by an additional seven million MT.

    “The rice policy has attracted $1.6 billion of private sector investment and it is expected that Nigeria will become a net exporter of rice like Thailand or India very soon.”

    Adesina added that investment by fertiliser companies expanded from 100 million in 2012 to $500 million by 2014.

    Earlier, the country Representative of the Food and Agricultural Organisation, Dr. Louise Setshwaelo, said a growing and increasingly urbanised world population was relying on food produced by a much smaller percentage of farmers.

    According to her, family farming and the support it receives need to adjust in ways that can respond to these changing conditions.

    Dr. Setshwaelo said: “Innovation is key to make this happen. Family farmers need to innovate, in the systems they use; governments need to innovate, in specific policies they implement to support family farming.

    “Clearly, family farmers need to produce enough food, not just for them but also for people in rural areas not involved in farming or city dwellers. They also generate income -money to buy inputs, such as seeds and fertilisers.”