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The Federal Government must be ready to privatise the successor
companies of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria for the country to enjoy
regular supply of electricity, Bart Nnaji, a professor of engineering and the
president of independent power providers association, has said.

Mr. Nnaji, a former lecturer at the University of Massachusetts,
also called for increased private sector participation in the electricity
industry.

“For the system to work, we need to create credible power
off-taker(s) and to do that, we should think about privatizing or at least
concessioning the PHCN successor companies,” Mr. Nnaji said.

“Like in the telecoms sector, the private sector must be enabled
to take the driver’s seat in the business of providing reliable electricity
supply.”

The Federal Government had, in April 2005, established the PHCN,
an incorporated company, to take over the assets of the defunct National
Electricity power company.

The PHCN was split into three subsidiaries which are the power
generating companies, the transmission company of Nigeria and the distribution
company of Nigeria.

As part of the reforms, the Electric Power Sector Reform Act was
approved which among things established the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory
commission (NERC) to monitor and regulate the electricity industry as well as
issue licenses to marketers.

The regulatory commission established the Multi-Year Tariff
Order (MYTO) to among other things determine the price to be paid by different
categories of electricity consumers. Mr. Nnaji, who lauded the MYTO, however
described its rates as inadequate.

“We, the independent power providers, believe that MYTO rates
are still lower than the rate that would attract investors taking into
consideration that no investor would want to put his money in any project that
would not guarantee a reasonable rate of return on investment,” he said.

Mr. Nnaji, who is also a member of the Presidential Advisory
committee established by acting president Goodluck Jonathan, welcomed the
proposed review of MYTO saying “while this initiative is welcome we sincerely
hope that the review would be robust enough to accommodate the dynamic nature
of such features that underpin the MYTO framework such as inflation rate, and
gas/fuel availability and pricing.”

Inconsistent policies

He blamed inconsistent government regulation for his company’s
inability to complete its 188MW power plant in Aba, Abia State, saying the “Aba
integrated power project will begin the process of commissioning by the end of
this year.

“Unfortunately despite the huge successes that we have recorded
as a pioneer indigenous company in the area of private power provision, we’ve
not been able to commission and commence operations as we had envisaged due to
several reasons, one of which is the government’s near suspension of the power
sector reforms that made foreign investors wary,” Mr. Nnaji stated.

A new minister of power is expected to be named by Mr. Jonathan
after the dissolution of the Executive Council of the Federation which led to
the removal of Lanre Babalola, the former minister.

NEXT in its previous reports on the power sector detailed how
power generation had dropped from over 3,000MW in December 2007 to less than
2000MW during Mr. Babalola’s tenure and how a bulk of the power generated was
by independent, privately owned power plants.

Almost a week after they were cleared by the Senate, the 38
ministerial nominees selected by the Acting President, Goodluck Jonathan, will
be inaugurated today at the presidential villa.

A statement released by the presidency yesterday, stated that
the inauguration will take place at the Council Chambers of the presidential
villa,at noon.

The nominees were screened in specially organised sittings of
the Senate, which held back to conclude the job before it proceeded on a
two-week recess. David Mark, the Senate President, said his colleagues rushed
the screening of the nominees in the interest of the country. Mr. Mark also
advised the Acting President to sack any of the ministers who fails to perform.

The ministers were picked from all the states of the federation,
except Taraba, whose nominee was rejected, and Ebonyi State.

“We have spent several hours to be able to screen and confirm
the ministers. It is our wish and hope that once these ministers are allocated
their portfolios and when they resume, they will earnestly do what they
promised us here,” Mr. Mark said.

The ministers will be assigned portfolios during the ceremony.

Lobbying intensified

Meanwhile, NEXT gathered that the ministers, their supporters,
and different interest groups, have intensified lobbying to make sure their
nominees get choice ministries.

A source at the presidency said this was the reason for the
shifting of the inauguration from last week Thursday to today.

The cabinet was dissolved on March 17, 2010 by Mr. Jonathan, who has had a
testy relation with the cabinet he inherited from his boss, Umaru Yar’Adua.

Pick pockets that
got away with my mobile phone and a couple of thousands of naira from my
husband’s pocket, a one hour walk under the heatstroke weather, a son
that started palpitating after being crushed by a mass of people on the
steps of Tinubu Square (TBS) and a daughter that broke into tears in
sheer terror. This was the sum total of my family’s experience at the
much hyped Lagos carnival.

We had started the
day on a very hopeful note, convinced that we should not be in Lagos and
not attend the maiden edition of the carnival. I had invitation cards
that were beautiful to behold. They had been delivered to me well ahead
of today’s event and they came with passes for car parks leading us to
believe the carnival would be a well organised event. We were totally
wrong.

For starters, the
car park was in Marina, a bit of distance to TBS even on the coolest of
days. This didn’t give us much pause though, we just assumed all of
Lagos Island had been cordoned off and buses would be available on the
periphery of the Island that would ferry revellers to and from the
event. Again, we were wrong, twice we tried to board a Lagos red bus,
both times at CMS only for the driver to insist he would not going
anywhere near TBS.

But, the sweat
dripping down our faces and the sun beating down our heads was not going
to stop us from having a good time. So we trudged on. Eventually,
exhausted, stinky and sweaty, we triumphantly arrived at TBS.

We were then
confronted with trying to actually get into the venue. After shoving our
way into the grounds through a side entrance and blocking numerous
attempts by the many pick pockets to sneak their hands into our pockets,
we realised we had arrived at a place where we were cordoned off
completely from the activities taking place.

We had invitations
and we reasoned there must be another entrance. A young lady who was
also waving an invitation card confirmed what we thought. Actually, she
said, you need to go through the main entrance and offered to lead the
way. So we started climbing steps up to the terraces and in the
beginning it was quite straight forward but by the time we got to the
other side of terraces and had to make our way down the steps that
exited the building, it was total chaos.

There were no
ushers, it was almost a free for all shoving feast. If you didn’t push
and jostle you got squashed and didn’t move an inch. Eventually, we
found ourselves outside. Once we got out it should have been easy. Make
our way to the entrance, show our cards, walk in find a seat and
leisurely enjoy the spectacle. Wrong, again.

The chaos at the
gate was even worse than what we encountered on the terraces. There all
we saw was a heaving mass of humanity, again shoving, pushing, shouting
and swearing. No pretence of ushers or even security personnel to ensure
order although on the other side of the gate, there were security men
who were obviously not interested in their job of maintaining sanity. We
spent about a minute contemplating the horde and decided to give it a
try; after all we were already at TBS.

It quickly became
clear that we were about to experience a repeat of what we went through
on the steps of the terraces. So we quickly withdrew and decided to go
home. In those few minutes we spent at the gates, my phone had gone
missing and money too from my husband’s pockets.

Five hours after we set out to have a good time, we dispiritedly made
our way back to our car, without even sighting a single float. And, in
case anyone from the Lagos State government is reading this, let me say
here and now, no thank you to an invitation next year.

A major contentious
issue during the debate on the report of the House of Representatives
ad-hoc committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution last week was
that of the minimum qualification of aspirants to the House and the
Senate.

The 44-member
committee headed by the deputy speaker, Usman Nafada recommended that
any Nigerian aspiring to be a senator or a representative should have
at least a diploma.

The constitution,
in Section 65 (2) (a) stipulates that a person shall be qualified for
election into the National Assembly if, “he has been educated up to at
least School Certificate level or its equivalent…” But the committee
proposed an amendment to the section substituting for certificate the
words “Diploma level or its equivalent and obtained the relevant
certificates and has served as a member of the National Assembly.” The
clause “has served as a member of the National Assembly” means that
anyone who has served for at least three months as a member of the
federal legislature would be exempted since that would have afforded
him or her the opportunity of learning the legislative proceedings.

Not surprising, the issue generated an intense and prolonged debate during the plenary session.

For the lawmakers
in support of the recommendation, the reduction in the quality of
education in the country makes it imperative to review upward the
minimum qualification of those who make law for Nigerians at the
federal level. They also believed that if the qualification is raised,
it would compel many to embrace education, which is a major determinant
in the productivity of the lawmakers.

But those opposed
to the recommendation argued that if the amendment is carried through,
many Nigerians may be disenfranchised due to poor educational
background. From the tone of the debate, it was not difficult to fathom
that they were protecting many of their colleagues who possess only
school certificates.

In the current
National Assembly, about 0.94 per cent of the 109 senators are school
certificate holders while about 4.74 per cent of such people are in the
360-member lower chamber.

According to the
“The Lawmakers: Sixth Assembly,” the percentage of senators with
O’Level GCE in 1999 was 6.6 percent but dropped to 4 percent in 2003
while in the House, the statistics showed that in 1999, those with O’
Level Certificate were 9.4 percent in 1999 and 7 percent in 2003.

It also said that
the proportion of senators with the first degree has been fairly
stable, with 44.3 percent in 2007 as against 46.7 percent in 1999 and
43.2 in 2003; while in the House, the movement has been quite dramatic
– from 55.7 percent in 1999 to 44.6 percent in 2003 and 48.96 percent
in 2007. Senators with second degrees have risen from 20.6 percent in
1999 to 31.1 percent in 2007 while in the House they have grown from
17.7 percent in 1999 to 31.16 percent in 2007.

The book concludes:
“This trend seems to have been strengthened by the general awareness of
the need for better learning and deeper knowledge of policy making
among the earlier crop of lawmakers. Many of the 1999 class of
legislators were known to have either availed themselves of
opportunities for courses during their tenure or return to school at
the end of their tenure.” Despite the perceived improvement, the
quality of debates on the floor of both chambers is still low, and
sometimes embarrassing. Others are merely warming the seats.

For improved
training, educational qualification is a major determinant of the
quality of debate in any forum, including the legislature. Therefore,
the ad-hoc committee deserves some kudos for that recommendation.

However, as can be
seen, education is not all it takes for our lawmakers to be more
productive. Controversially, some of those certificates paraded by our
lawmakers are fake. How can one explain, for instance, why a senator
who served between 1999-2003 and who claimed to have a doctorate degree
could not make a simple sentence in English? Then there was the House
of Representatives member (between 2003 and 2007) with an advanced
diploma who could not say a word in English throughout the four years
he served.

It is common
knowledge that with some good money, you can obtain any certificate. It
is also not in doubt that some kinds of diploma can be obtained within
a space of three months, whether in Nigeria or abroad. So, it is not a
big deal obtaining a diploma certificate for the purpose of
participating in an election to come to the National Assembly as is
being proposed by the Nafada Panel.

What is important, therefore, is the kind of exposure the lawmakers
get when they come to the legislature. Our lawmakers need constant
training and re-training on legislative duties. It is necessary for the
relevant authorities to organise seminars and retreats to enable them
improve on their productivity.

The continued slashes in the prices of
air tickets by some domestic carriers have triggered mixed reactions
among passengers and industry professionals.

This is coming after last week’s
announcement of a new airfare of N3,000 to be booked online by
travellers across all domestic routes covered by Aero Contractors – one
of the oldest carriers in the country involved in domestic and regional
transport business.

With an average of N16,000 for an hour
one-way flight in the country, the recent introduction of promo
airfares by domestic carriers like Dana Air, Nigerian Eagle Airlines
and Aero have no doubt increased the number of air travellers, but the
situation has also led to series of complaints from passengers who
claim that some of the airlines fail to provide enough seats for
travellers with low cost tickets.

“After booking online for N6,000, I
almost missed the flight because the flight was overbooked with
preference given to people that paid the regular amount; so talking
about N3,000 is practically impossible,” said Yemi Samuel, an Abuja
bound passenger at the Murtala Mohammed Airport 2 (MMA2),

Lagos.

Hot air

Mrs. Samuel argued
that for any scheduled flight, the airline involved should ensure that
it get the accurate number of passengers who booked online and those
that purchased tickets from either agents or ticketing and reservation
officers, so as not to cause confusion and “unnecessary delays” to
travellers.

Expressing his
doubts as pertaining low cost tickets, another traveller, Nwabueze
Godswil, who admitted to have benefitted “once” from reduced air
tickets in the past, disclosed that his second experience trying to
travel with a low cost ticket was “regretful.”

“I got to the
airport as usual but was told that I can’t fly because the aircraft is
filled, while I saw some passengers boarding,” he said. “Tell me if
such can happen to someone who paid N5,000, what then is the fate of a
person who books the N3,000 advertised ticket.”

Mr. Godswill,
however, called for safety of lives and properties, adding that though
the reduced rates are to attract customers, the airlines should not
compromise on their services in a bid to woo clients.

It would be
recalled that Aero last year introduced reduced fares of N8,000 for an
hour one-way flight, and later in the same year dropped the rate to
N5,000, while Nigerian Eagle Airlines, formerly Virgin Nigeria,
announced mid last month its low cost ticket of N4,999 on all its
domestic routes when purchased at any of Silverbird cinemas nationwide.

Not long enough
after Virgin’s promo airfares, Aero came up with its N3,000 ticket, a
development which travellers described as an act aimed at retaining its
customers.

Civil Aviation Authority position

Commenting on the
development, Sam Adurogboye, the media head for the Nigerian Civil
Aviation Authority (NCAA) disclosed that the authority does not
regulate whatever amount is decided by an airline to sell its tickets.

“Airfares have been
deregulated so they (airlines) are free to advertise,” he said. “Why
not wait and see if the fares are feasible or not.?”

Mr. Adurogboye,
however, assured passengers that the authority will not compromise on
the stipulated standards when it comes to safety and security of lives,
adding that any defaulting carrier will not be spared.

“The NCAA in line with the 2001 Civil Aviation Policy is required to
check predatory practices by airlines,” he said. “Anyone found wanting
will definitely face the consequences.”

As travellers take
advantage of the holidays to visit relatives and ‘unwind’, domestic
carriers have disclosed that tickets on most local routes are all fully
booked.

The high passenger
traffic, which has been visible at both the Murtala Mohammed Airport 2
(MMA2) and General Aviation Terminal (GAT), Lagos, since last week
Friday, resulted in increased vehicular traffic around the airports.

“The turnout of
passengers was high on Friday and Saturday, but is low today (Sunday),”
said Adepoju, a ticketing and reservation officer of Virgin Nigeria, at
the departure terminal of MMA2.

According to Mr.
Adepoju, though passengers travel on Sundays, some of them would prefer
hanging out with friends and families on an Easter Sunday.

The ticketing and
reservation officer, however, disclosed that “almost all seats” on
their Monday and Tuesday flights have been fully booked.

“This is because most of them will either be resuming for work after the holiday, or going back to their primary station.”

An employee of Arik
Air at the General Aviation Terminal, who spoke on conditions of
anonymity, disclosed that fares were not affected despite the rush, as
he argued that airfares are not determined by increase or decrease in
passenger traffic.

“As you can see on
our stands, the rates for our tickets have remained the same, despite
the high number of people travelling,” the officer said.

“This is because whether there is rush or not, airfares are usually not affected. If not, you will hardly get promo tickets.”

Bukola Johnson, a
passenger at the GAT, disclosed that she is not surprised with the high
traffic at the airports, because of the nationwide holidays.

“The increased
number of people travelling is not only peculiar to aviation. If you go
to bus stations in the morning, you will also see hundreds of people
travelling,” she said.

“This is a season of celebration and a time to go and visit family members, old friends and colleagues, as well as unwind.”

The ongoing fight over the Sokoto State
governorship is a crucial trial in Nigeria’s journey to true democracy,
good governance, international respect, and real development, a
non-governmental organisation, Conscience Nigeria, has said.

Tosin Adeyanju, executive director of
the organisation, said that for the first time in Nigeria’s national
history, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) is firmly stepping into an
electoral judicial battle through the National Judicial Council (NJC).

The CJN’s action came after state
governor, Aliyu Wamakko of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP),
petitioned the NJC over how the panel of justices of the Appeal Court
handled the case involving a petition brought by his opponent, Maigari
Dingyadi of the Democratic Peoples’ Party (DPP), challenging his
participation and victory at the May 24th, 2008 gubernatorial re-run
election.

Mr. Adeyanju commended the
incorruptibility of the Nigerian judiciary, saying that it is integral
to finding a way to manage the ‘bad loser’ habit of Nigerian
politicians.

“Were this integrity to be mortgaged
for even one second, the greed and selfishness of Nigerian politicians
will actually impede our hard-won democracy with senseless impunity,”
he said.

Stretched system

He noted that the
people of Sokoto State were very clear-minded and resolute in choosing
their governor. When Mr. Wamakko, Mr. Dingyadi, and other gubernatorial
aspirants presented themselves before the Sokoto electorate on 14th
April, 2007, the electorate chose Mr. Wamakko with conviction, said Mr.
Adeyanju.

When, by the order
of the Kaduna Court of Appeal, the candidates again presented
themselves before the Sokoto electorate on 24th May, 2008, Mr. Wamakko
was chosen again.

Mr. Adeyanju
accused Mr. Dingyadi of trying to get through the courts what he could
not persuade the Sokoto electorate to give him – and to get it on the
grounds of a false technicality.

After the 2007
election, Mr. Dingyadi complained on several grounds to the Election
Petition Tribunal. However, the tribunal turned down his claims and Mr.
Dingyadi proceeded to the Kaduna Appeal Court, which nullified the
April 2007 election and ordered a re-run election in May 2008. However,
during the May 2008 re-run election, Mr. Dingyadi again took Mr.
Wamakko to court, claiming that the order of the Appeal Court barred
Mr. Wamakko from contesting. Mr. Dingyadi ultimately lost to Mr.
Wamakko.

“Wamakko’s recent
petition to the National Judicial Council (NJC), alleging the possible
compromise of the Justices of the Appeal Court and the furore that
followed it, suggests that the system is now being stretched beyond its
elastic limits,” said Mr. Adeyanju.

The organisation also condemned the president of the Nigerian Bar
Association (NBA), Oluwarotimi O. Akeredolu, for appearing to take
sides in the matter and called on the president of the Court of Appeal
to reconstitute the Sokoto Appeal Tribunal, filling it with “men and
women of unquestionable character,” so that justice can be served to
all parties concerned.

The collective loss
of victims in last month’s Kantin Kwari market fire disaster is N1.65
billion and not the initial estimate of N6 billion, a committee
established by the government to investigate the incident has said.

Ibrahim Garba,
chairman of the committee, said this when he submitted its interim
report to the state governor, Ibrahim Shekarau, at the government
house, Kano on Thursday.

Mr. Garba, who is
also the state commissioner for project monitoring, said the committee
arrived at the amount having thoroughly assessed the incident through a
sub-committee of experts and other stakeholders.

He confirmed that
205 shops were razed, while 861 people incurred losses as a result of
the inferno as against the 1,213 earlier speculated.

“Seven houses
(complexes) and a mosque were burnt as a result of the incident, while
N122.3 million is needed to renovate the damaged structures,” he said.

The state official
also said the committee has so far collected over N200 million in cash
and pledges from individuals as donations, with the highest donation of
N100 million from Aminu Dantata.

Mr. Shekarau
thanked the committee for the perseverance and diligence of its
members, pointing out that the steps taken to pacify the victims are
also commendable.

He said the state government would carefully look through the committee’s and implement its recommendations.

Residents of some parts of Akure metropolis have been battling with acute dearth of water supply for the past three weeks.

The situation worsened in the last
three days as residents had to move from one area to another before
they could get access to portable water.

Mostly affected by the water scarcity
are residents of Arakale, Sijuwade, Ijo Mimo, Ijoka, Odopetu and Saint
Luke. Other areas affected are: Adegbola, Oshinle, Jide Mark, Abusoro
and some parts of Alagbaka.

Residents of the affected areas are now guests at Water Corporation offices where they fetch water in Jerry cans and buckets.

Observations by NEXT showed that Akure
has not witnessed heavy downpour since the beginning of this year. This
has further aggravated the situation as most boreholes and wells have
dried up, thereby forcing residents to look for water elsewhere.

Some residents of the area have engaged
the services of young boys and girls who fetch three kegs of twenty
five litres of water for a sum of N100, while people who live far away
add motor bike fees to their charges.

Little rain as well

A housewife, Nike Adeoti, lamented that
the water scarcity has made life difficult for people who have to queue
for a long time at the Water Corporation offices.

“It is not easy to get water these days
because of little or no rain that we have been experiencing in Akure in
the last few months. Our children normally spend long period before
they could get water to fetch.

“The situation is gradually making life
difficult for us because there is scarcity of water and since one
cannot do without water, it makes things difficult.”

Efforts to reach the Chairman of the
state Water Corporation for comments proved abortive as his mobile
phones were switched off.

The state government has sunk about 30 boreholes in the last one year to ease the problem of water scarcity in Akure .

Some leading visual
arts practitioners have condemned the National University Commission
(NUC)’s policy that demands that only lecturers who are PhD holders can
lecture in Nigerian universities.

The artists spoke
at the second Grillo Pavillion Visual Arts Fiesta to celebrate foremost
artist, sculptor and art teacher, Bruce Onobrakpeya over the weekend.

Dele Jegede, a
professor with the Miami University, Ohio called for more pressure to
be put on the NUC to upgrade the Masters in Fine Art (MFA) into a
terminal degree rather forcing every artist in the academia to pursue a
PhD.

Wrong decision

Questioning how the
university regulator arrived at such a conclusion, Mr Jegede opined
that studio work is no more like it used to be.

“Everyone is now rushing to get a PhD… we need to go out there and do crazy things and create things,” he said.

The nation’s ivory
tower regulator, in 2008, announced in an ultimatum to all lecturers in
the Universities that “only PhD holders will be eligible to lecture in
the higher institutions.”

Mr. Jegede however said this kind of policy will gradually eliminate creativity and encourage laziness.

“The structure, as
we have it, is already producing a lot of PhD holders who cannot
sculpt, who cannot paint, who are bad designers and this NUC’s policy
will only extend the vicious cycle of PhD holders, which is at the
detriment of the art community,” he said.

Yemi Adetoto, a
professor of Fine Art said the system must find a way of bringing
distinguished contemporary artists into the academia as artist-scholars
based on aspects of their work.

“It is very wrong
for the NUC to say, for all courses, all lecturers must have PhD before
they can lecture in the university,” he said, noting that an artist can
excel in practicals and proceed to get a PhD and even become a
professor directly.

Pat Utomi, another
guest at the event, described the problem with PhD as “Dele Jegede use
to be cartoonist but since he became a PhD holder, we don’t see those
great cartoons anymore.”

He likened the PhD to the problem with the MBA (Masters in Business Administration).

With an MBA, “one
is already trained to solved problems in the corporate world and the
same should be for the MFA as a terminal degree, but yet there has
always being battle for relevance between the PhD holders and their
Masters counterparts,” he said.

Noted for his
indifference to academic qualification and never rejecting any work
submitted to his annual Harmattan Workshop and Exhibition held
Agbarha-Otor, Delta state since 1998, most of the guests present agreed
with Bruce Onobrakpeya that ‘academic exposure does not make the
artist.’

Perpetual dichotomy

Foremost art
collector Yemisi Shyllon noted that there has always being the
dichotomy in every profession for those who want to specialise in
professional work and those who want to question knowledge. Hence he
recommended a PhD for those who want to question knowledge, but “that
doesn’t mean the specialist in the profession must be segregated or in
any way or be prevented from passing down their skill.”

Mr. Shyllon called
on Nigerian art professionals to get the NUC to address the policy,
saying “there is need for people to become dons in their profession
without PhD.”

Pam Makanju, who is
also an artist, warned the discussants of the possibility of
short-changing members of the art community when they (artists) compete
with their colleagues in other fields. Noting in particular the issue
of eligibility to the office of the vice-chancellor or rector, he
pointed out that applicants for these offices are scored during
evaluations based on their degrees cum qualification and not just the
skill.

Mr Makonju then called for an upgrade of the MFA to a DFA or a PhD.

The event featured the exhibition of diverse art works by Mr Onobrakpeya on different platforms.