Nigeria Content Online

Nigerians imitate
so much from Americans that we resemble a US colony on the 50th
anniversary of our independence from the UK. All the same, I look
forward to that American tradition of moderated debates by presidential
candidates – this time, in Nigeria. Early days yet, maybe; but Jonathan
says it’s all God’s doing, Babaginda declares: the older the better,
and Saraki states it’s the turn of a new breed.

Slogans apart, a
would-be-president of Nigeria should confront and convince millions
within this country, as well as investors from outside, instantaneously
with an agenda of how he will pull the country out of the deep, dirty
hole we have lived in for 50 years. What plans, for example, do our
presidential aspirants have to combat the negative impacts of climate
change? What will they do about food insecurity? Some Nigerian
politicians are calling for a return to coal-mining to solve the energy
crisis. What is the opinion of Jonathan, or Saraki, Babangida, or
anyone else? Atiku, too. And if Nigerian coal miners got trapped 700
metres beneath the surface, what contingency plans would they have in
place to rescue them?

We often repeat all
those familiar statistics about Nigeria – forests gone, hundreds of
species endangered, rivers, lakes, coastal areas over-polluted and
over-fished, threats of erosion, floods, drought, the worst maternal
and infant mortality, the highest reported cases of snake bites in
Africa, thanks to Kaltungo Local Government in Gombe State. Do we have
someone who can turn things around, someone who will make a difference?

We need moving
rhetoric, ideas, plans and promises that will be kept, not patronizing
visits to re-assure the Igbo that they’ll give birth to the next
president, courtesy of a midwife called Babangida. Igbo people, like
other Nigerians, are more interested in when there will be light and
water, and jobs and health care, and no hankypanky and fraud in paying
pensions to the aged; no muggers and kidnappers, no policemen killing
drivers at checkpoints.

Babangida is sadly
out of touch with the recent realities of public affairs in Nigeria. We
are now in civilian times and marching to a different music of debate
and innovative thought processes, not commands and decrees. Long
retirement and hibernation has taken its toll on a once dashing General
of the Nigerian army. If it is correct, and I don’t still believe it,
that he picked Peter Odili to run with him, then IBB is very likely to
be frozen on the starting blocks once more. It appears that he has not
seen the handwriting on the wall, and I don’t think he will hear the
starter’s gun either. A great pity, but then soldiers are no strangers
to hara-kiri! I still would like the young Saraki to tell us what
lessons he learnt about farming from those white Zimbabweans. Has any
agricultural knowledge or technology been transferred to Kwarans? Why
did Mr Saraki approve land so rapidly for the Zimbabweans when many of
us are not able to own a plot to farm in our states of origin, talk
less of doing so in another state within the country? Is that what the
Land Use Decree is all about? That a state governor can hand over
productive land to foreigners with such ease?

If Mr Saraki was
enterprising enough to start a football academy in Ilorin, why hadn’t
he thought of a college of agriculture at which his Zimbabwean pals
would be lecturing?

Yet on Monday, Bukola Saraki wrote that we need young Nigerians to fix things. Yes, I agree, but not old Zimbaweans!

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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Sanusi
Lamido Sanusi, yesterday reacted to recent criticisms credited to his
predecessor, Chukwuma Soludo, on the management of the nation’s
economic policies, describing it as “alarmist.”

Mr Sanusi, who was briefing reporters on the
resolutions by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting yesterday in
Abuja, said Mr Soludo could not have been right to declare that the
country’s economy was facing imminent collapse, considering the damning
situation the global economy is currently going through.

“I wish he (Soludo) was specific on some of those
things he thinks we should do to save the economy from the crisis or
collapse he is talking about, and give recommendations,” Mr Sanusi
said, adding, “I think some of those remarks were alarmist and did not
take full cognizance of the situation we are in today.”

Failing short of tracing the root of the present
crisis in the economy to Mr Soludo’s administration, the CBN Governor
explained, “We are in the middle of global economic crisis (where our
country’s) banking system has lost 66 per cent of its capital. The
reality is that if we had intervened in 2007 or 2008, when the warning
signals were becoming clear that the banking system was heading towards
a point of crisis, due to the opaque situation in the capital market,
we would not be dealing with the kind of crisis we are facing at this
moment.

“Once it became clear that the banks had lost
capital, because of margin loans and exposure to petroleum products
importation and very weak regulation and supervision, it was clear that
the banks cannot continue to lend at the rate they were used to,” Mr
Sanusi said.

“For that reason, I supported the decision of the
National Economic Council that government should draw down on the
Excess Crude Account in order to augment government payments. And if
credit is not flowing into the economy and government is not lending,
we will have a full blown recession.

“Excess Crude Account was saving for a rainy day. And
when price of crude oil crashed from $147 per barrel to $40, and output
crashed from 2.3million barrels a day to less than one million barrels
per day, it is not just raining, it pouring.

“One needed to have counter-fiscal condition. The Excess crude Account was used to fund that counter-fiscality.”

Playing politics

Mr Sanusi said Mr Soludo himself pursued
counter-fiscal monetary policy measures and reduced the liquidity ratio
from 40 to 25 per cent, and cash reserve requirement from 42 per cent.

“These were appropriate quality responses in the time
of crisis,” he said. “For me, the decision of government to implement
financial sector reforms was long overdue. The announcement that
petroleum products distribution should be deregulated over time is also
a very good decision that should be implemented.

“The focus of the Minister of Finance on employment
generation and industrial development policy are long overdue and
should be encouraged. The reforms in the capital market are good. We
are not exactly there yet, but in terms of taking the right steps, I
think the government has done all that is necessary to do.”

Mr Sanusi said some of the comments credited to Mr Soludo might be political.

“Soludo had contested an election some time ago, and
as a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), one does not know
how much his statement is economics and how much of it is politics. But
I am responding to the economic aspect of the discussion and not
involved in the internal PDP family political affair,” he said

The
governors of the states in the southern part of the country, elected on
the platform of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), are still in
negotiation talks with their counterparts in the north on the party’s
presidential ticket in the 2011 election.

The Delta State
governor, Emmanuel Uduaghan, disclosed this in Abuja yesterday, shortly
after he submitted his Expression of Interest and nomination forms at
the party’s national secretariat.

Mr. Uduaghan also
dismissed the clamour by some members of the PDP in Delta State for the
dissolution of the executive committee of the state chapter of the
party.

Apparently
referring to the non-committal stance of some governors when they spoke
at the formal declaration of President Goodluck Jonathan for the
presidential race last Saturday, the governor said the southern
governors are still exploring the avenue to ensure that the president’s
candidature is acceptable to everybody.

Mr. Uduaghan said politics is all about negotiation, adding that what the southern governors are doing is not new.

“I have always said
this whole thing is about negotiation. Politics is about negotiation,
and I believe we should all go into negotiation. We are negotiating
with our colleagues in the North,” he stated.

Apart from the Delta Stategovernor, others who appeared at the
party’s national secretariat to either pick or submit their forms
include Theodore Orji (Abia State); Dambaba Suntai (Taraba State);
Saidu Dakingari of Kebbi State; and Jonathan Zwingina, who is gunning
for the Adamawa State governorship seat.

In ranking Nigeria
amongst the worst place for a child to be in 2010, a report by the
Global Campaign for Education (GCE) has stated that Nigeria has more
children out of education than any other country in the world.

The report claims
that an astounding 8.2 million children are not provided with adequate
education in Africa’s most populous country. Comparing the nation’s
wealth with the apparent low standard of education, the report claims
that “the report is made all the more appalling by the fact that
Nigeria is far from poor, by African standards. On paper at least it is
among the continent’s richest countries, the world’s sixth largest
producer of crude oil. But decades of failure to invest in education
have left the basic school system hardly functioning, especially in the
country’s impoverished north.”

For Primary
education, the report claims many students drop out of the school in
their first year of education due to ‘unequal provision of education’
and this it argued, is caused by the lack of political will to address
and arrest the issue. “A lack of political will is a major factor in
the country having the highest number of children out of school in the
world. Gross inequality in the provision of education has led to 8.2
million children out of primary school with many more dropping out
within the first year.”

Poor attendance, imbalanced education

The report
particularly criticised the northern region of the country for an
abysmal amount of children denied good education. “Over half of these
children are in the north of the country, with girls suffering the most
with many receiving just six months of education in their lives. In the
largely Muslim north of Nigeria……….attendance rates are below 50%
at primary school and of those only one in every three pupils is female
(nationwide, the proportion is five boys to four girls)” it noted.

The GCE report is
coming just as the National Education Council of Nigeria (NECO) on
Monday released the 2010 results and over 79% of the students that sat
for the examination failed in English language; the nation’s official
language.

While over 80% of the students failed the entire exam last year.

Nigeria was however
not listed in the list of the bottom 10 countries that are worst for a
child. The countries which are predominantly African nations include
Somalia, Eritrea, Comoros, Ethiopia, Chad, Burkina Faso, Central
African Republic, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Liberia and Haiti. Tanzania and
Mozambique were however commended for halving the number of children
out of school, while Rwanda is said to have made strong efforts to
ensure that there are enough professionally trained teachers.

The report noted
that delivering education for all is highly achievable and brings other
poverty dividends such as reducing HIV deaths by seven million and
doubling child survival by 50% if mothers are educated.

The President of
the Global Campaign for Education Kailash Satyarthi in a statement to
political leaders warned “if scientists can genetically modify food and
NASA can send missions to Mars, politicians must be able to find the
resources to get millions of children into school and change the
prospects of a generation of children.”

GCE called on
leaders meeting at the United Nations in New York this week, to make
funding for education a priority in order to meet the target of
universal access to basic schooling by 2015.

It argues that
“poor countries should spend 20% of their national budget on education,
abolishing school fees and be supported to hire an additional 1.9
million teachers so that every child can have access to education.” It
called on rich countries to “direct their aid budgets at the poorest
countries or where inequalities of education are most extreme, rather
using their aid budgets to underwrite the University systems.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday announced
the resumption of active open market operations for the purpose of
targeted liquidity management in the country. This was part of the
resolutions announced in Abuja by the apex bank’s governor, Lamido
Sanusi, at the end of the monthly Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)
meeting to review the country’s domestic economic conditions for the
first eight months of the year and the challenges facing the economy.

Other high points at the meeting included the
decision to increase the monetary policy rate (MPR) by 25 basis points,
from 6.0 percent to 6.25 percent, and adjustment of the asymmetric
corridor to 200 basis points above, and 300 basis points below the MPR,
for the standing lending and deposit facilities respectively. It also
agreed to raise forthwith interest payable on standing deposits with
CBN overnight by 200 basis points.

Mr. Sanusi, expressed the committee’s satisfaction
with the progress so far with the ongoing reforms in the financial
sector, and noted the inflationary pressures likely to be exerted on
the economy with the upsurge of government spending in an election
year, as well as the liquidity implication of the purchase of
non-performing loans by Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria
(AMCON). He, however, assured that the CBN is considering a policy
action to moderate the impact.

The committee, which also endorsed the CBN’s liaison
with the Pension Commission (PENCOM) to get part of the accumulated
pension fund to finance power sector projects on a long term basis,
commended government’s decision to resume the power sector reforms and
pointed out that this would impact positively on the core structure of
the country’s economy.

“We are trying to work out an arrangement that would
make the PENCOM fund to be available for power projects at single
digits interest rates. Between the PENCOM and the CBN, we should be
putting in about N500 to N600 billion in power sector development. That
potentially can create about 6,000 mega watts (MW) of electricity.

“This arrangement would help in shielding the power
sector from the vagaries of volatility in the international capital
market and the exchange and interest rates risks,” Mr. Sanusi said.

“We are sensitive at driving inflation. We do not
think at this point that it is something to panic about. However, we
recognise that with increase spending with AMCON, increase in salaries,
participation in deregulation, government is likely to have significant
equity injection towards rear end, which might further fuel inflation
in double digits,” he added.

Stock leadership crisis

On the operations at the capital market, the
committee expressed conviction that the early resolution of the
leadership impasse at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), as well as the
effective take off of AMCON would facilitate the return of the stock
market to the path of recovery.

The foreign exchange market, the committee noted,
remained relatively stable during the period, with total inflow in July
put at $2.25 billion, an increase of 9.22 percent over the $2.60
billion in the preceding month, out of which crude oil and gas revenue
was $2.16 billion, or 93.97 percent.

On the other hand, total outflows of payments for the
same period amounted to $4.03 billion, an increase of 3.78 percent,
from $3.88 billion for the previous month, while net outflow was put at
$1.78 billion. Total inflows of foreign exchange to the market between
January and August was $52 billion.

A breakdown of the total figures showed CBN funds
accounting for $14 billion, or 27 percent, with the balance coming from
autonomous foreign exchange sources, including oil companies,
international institutions, and other agencies, while gross external
reserve stood at $36.636 billion as at September 13, representing a
decrease of $0.5 billion, or 1.3 percent, when compared with the
$37.167 billion as at end July.

The committee described the current external reserve
level as still adequate and expected to remain robust, considering the
favourable outlook of oil prices at the international oil market,
pointing out that “there is no compelling reason to alter the exchange
rate regime, as stability will remain priority.”

On the AMCON board, Mr. Sanusi said a list of nominees submitted, in
consultation with the minister of finance, Segun Aganga, to the
presidency, has since been approved and passed on to the National
Assembly for screening and final confirmation. He assured that as soon
as the law makers resume from their vacation, the approved appointees
would be made public.

Time constraints may prevent the Independent National
Electoral Commission (INEC) from conducting credible elections next
year, but a little adjustment in the timetable will help it out of the
ongoing shoddy arrangement for the exercise, the Academic Staff Union
of Universities (ASUU) said yesterday in Calabar.

Rising from a-three day national executive meeting of
the union in Calabar, lecturers of public universities in the country
said the time between when their colleague, Attahiru Jega, was
appointed as the chairman of the electoral agency and early 2011 when
elections will come up, is “too short a time for free and fair polls to
be conducted.” The body’s national president, Ukachukwu Awuzie, told
the press in Calabar that it will take a miracle for the electoral body
to do a neat job, hence the timetable should be adjusted for the
exercise to come up at the middle of the first quarter of 2011, with
the May 29 handover date remaining unchanged.

According to him, if there is no shift in the
elections, Nigerians and the international community will be convinced
that Goodluck Jonathan and the INEC have “programmed the elections and
the entire process to fail. It will not help to guarantee the required
free, fair, and credible elections”.

A communiqué presented by the union suggested the
election time table be adjusted to provide time for a fresh voters
register, verification of the register and political enlightenment that
will guide the electorate in voting for candidates of their choice.
“ASUU believes that for the Nigerian political process to serve the
needs of the people of Nigeria, the NEC of our union is calling for an
adjustment of the election time table, but such adjustment must not
interfere with the handover date of May 29th, 2011,” Professor Awuzie
said.

Assessing activities

Assessing the political activities put in place by
the government for the 2011 elections, the ASUU leadership said the
federal government has not demonstrated enough sincerity in
institutionalizing true democracy in the country, as issues of party
bigotry and ethnic aspirations have not been properly addressed in the
electoral reform laws to serve as a step toward producing credible
leaders for the country.

On electoral reform, the union expressed confidence
in the INEC chairman, but expressed fears that the political class may
make votes not count again as was the case in 2007, stressing that
there was no sign in sight that the “people are ready to conduct free
and fair elections”.

“Attahiru Jega has integrity to deliver as INEC
chairman, but the fear is that he may not be given a free hand to
implement the electoral laws. Imo and Cross River State local
government council elections which were used recently to experiment the
new electoral law, were an indication that the ruling class are not yet
ready for democracy. Elections in the two states were fraught with
irregularities,” Mr Awuzie said.

“In Imo State, reports from the area revealed that
election results were declared without figures, while in Cross River
State, women demonstrated nude on the street against the conduct of the
polls. There is nothing in the offing to convince Nigerians that next
year’s general elections will be free and fair.”

There were
indications yesterday that the Oyo State Police command has shelved the
plan to declared Lateef Akinsola Oluwatoki (aka Tokyo) wanted, even as
he failed to show up at the state police headquarters on Monday.

The state
Commissioner of Police, Baba Adisa Bolanta, had told journalists last
Friday that he had invited both Tokyo and Lateef Salako (aka Eleweomo)
for interrogation over the violence that led to the death of three
persons and destruction of valuables, including vehicles, at the state
secretariat of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) in
Ibadan early on Wednesday last week. The two men are leaders of the two
factions of the union involved in the said fight.

Mr Bolanta, at the
press conference, threatened to declare wanted either of the two
leaders who failed to honour the invitation yesterday, and deploy the
necessary police fiat to effect their arrests.

Despite the threat,
only Eleweomo showed up at the command headquarters on Monday, while
Tokyo was represented by his counsel, Adeleke Bakare, who took excuse
from the command that his client could not come because he was
indisposed and was at an undisclosed hospital in Abuja where he was
receiving treatment.

After spending some
minutes at the commissioner’s office, Eleweomo was asked to go and give
his statement at the office of the state’s Criminal Investigation
Department (CID), Iyaganku, Ibadan.

On account of Mr
Akinsola’s (Tokyo) illness, Mr Bolanta told journalists in Ibadan
yesterday that the command would not be declaring him wanted any moment
soon, despite his failure to honour the invitation, since his lawyer
had represented him, which was taken as him being there physically. He
added that an understanding was reached with the lawyer to get back to
the command on today, on the state of his client’s health and the time
he would be honouring the invitation.

The command’s
spokesperson, Olabisi Okuwobi, said that during his brief stay at the
commissioner’s office, Mr Salako was advised to ensure that he cautions
his followers against engaging in any act that could negatively affect
the peace of the state.

Suspects arraigned

Meanwhile, 10
suspects paraded at the state’s police headquarters on Friday for
alleged involvement in last week’s disturbance, were brought to court
on Monday.

They were arraigned
before the Chief Magistrate, Shakratu Badrudeen, on a five-count charge
of felony, illegal possession of arms, attempted arson and public
disturbances.

The accused persons
are Hassan Fakorede (45), Ismaila Raheem (30), Mojeed Amsat, (32), Akem
Balogun (27), Sumoila Idowu (25), Abideen Oladimeji (25) Lukumon
Adebayo (35), Sunday Adeleke (30), Sefiu Ramon (23) and Azeez Sakiru
(25).

The prosecuting
officer, Mathew Olubuse, told the court that the accused persons, on
the said date, conspired to commit felony, disturb public peace, were
in illegal possession of arms and attempted to commit arson. Counsel to
the accused, Adeleke Bakare, prayed the court to grant them bail,
arguing that they still remained innocent of the charges until they are
convicted by the competent court.

But Mr Olubuse
opposed the bail application, saying granting it might spark off more
violence in the Ibadan metropolis which, he said, is now enjoying a
modicum of peace after they were arrested.

While granting them
bail, the magistrate, said though the offence attracts 14 years in jail
if the accused are convicted, it still remains a bailable offense.

She granted all of
them bail of N10,000 with two sureties each. She said one of the
sureties must present a C of O of a landed property, and adjourned the
case till October 15, 2010, for hearing.

Namadi Sambo, the
Vice President, has directed the Ministry of Water Resources to “as a
matter of urgency” assemble all the Dam Managers of Goronyo, Hadejia
Jama’are, as well as all dams across the country for an emergency
meeting.

The Vice President
expressed regret over the flood incident at the Goronyo Dam, requesting
that a survey be carried out to note those villages that are in
dangerous locations which could be affected by such floods, so as to
address and arrest future occurrences of such incidents.

He made this
disclosure during a joint meeting between the Ministries of Power and
Water Resources aimed at properly briefing him on the steps so far
taken in the realization of the Gurara Phase II project.

He noted the effort
to accelerate progress in the development of Gurara Phase II
Multipurpose Dam and in particular as part of efforts to boost
Hydro-Power generation.

Mr Sambo, who set
up a committee on harmonization on the Power and Water and irrigation
projects at the Gurara Phase II a fortnight ago, observed that there is
the need for harmony in the execution of the project.

He noted that Water
Resources will undertake the funding of the project, while the two
committees will work in harmony by taking a leap in analysing the whole
project. He observed the need to bring on board Coney et Bellier, whom
he believes have undertaken the necessary studies to fast-track the
project and keep to the recommended time as proposed by the committee.

Joint report

Earlier, the
Ministers of Power and Water Resources had presented a joint report on
the progress of the activities on the Gurara Phase II implementation.
The Committee they said adopted a work plan as its guide for the
implementation of the project.

The work plan was
slated as: August–September commencement of public procurement;
September–November 2010 completion of studies; December 2010–January
2011 final design and preparation of Tender Documents and
January–February 2011 completion of procurement process and
commencement and award of contract.

Similarly the
committee developed a term of reference for the various consultancy
services/duties to be carried out which include: Geotechnical Studies,
Environmental impact Assessment, Hydro Power design, Hydrological
studies, Topographic survey, ariel mapping, Irrigation Service Studies,
appointment of prime consultant and project support monitoring and
evaluation.

In attendance at the meeting were the Ministers of Power and Water
Resources, Permanent Secretary Water Resources and top ministry
officials.

The federal
government has urged the organizers of this year’s Argungu Fishing
Festival-Golden Jubilee Unity Motor Rally to directly reach out to car
manufacturers for a successful hosting of the event.

The Vice President,
Namadi Sambo, disclosed this at a de-briefing session with the
organizers of the rally at the State House in Abuja yesterday.

He commended the
initiative of the organizers as a good one, adding that the event will
not only further bolster the celebrations but will provide an “avenue
for motor vehicle manufacturers, like Peugeot Automobile Nigeria
Limited, to showcase the durability, stability and ruggedness of their
vehicles to prospective Nigerian buyers.” He, therefore, enjoined the
organizers to source for competent personnel to see to the successful
hosting of the occasion. Mr Sambo assured the organizers that he will
use his close contact with the state governors to reach out to them, to
ensure they fully participate in the programme.

He advised them to
also liaise with the office of the Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, the office of the Director-General of the Nigeria@50
celebrations, for its inclusion in the programmes.

Earlier, the Deputy
Governor of Kebbi State, the hosting state of the Argungu fishing
festival, and Chairman of the Unity Motor Rally, Ibrahim Aliyu,
disclosed that the special motor rally is part of the contributions of
Kebbi State, in collaboration with Anambra, Bauchi, Ogun and Sokoto
States and in conjunction with Benue, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina,
Kogi, Nassarawa, Niger, Ondo, Oyo, Plateau, Zamfara and the Federal
Capital Territory, to celebrate the occasion of Nigeria’s 50 years of
independence.

Founding fathers

He said the rally
was also to commemorate four of Nigeria’s founding fathers; the
Sardauna of Sokoto, Ahmadu Bello, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo and
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa. To this end, he said the flag-off centres of
the rally have been chosen “to be the ancestral home states of these
fallen heroes, namely, Sokoto, Bauchi, Anambra and Ogun, adding that
the four teams were named after them as a mark of appreciation for
their earlier contributions to the nation.

Mr Aliyu lamented
the inadequate response for sponsorship from the private sector, which
he adduced to “the media misinformation on the amount purported to have
been released for the golden jubilee celebrations by the federal
government”.

He, therefore,
appealed to the federal government for funding support and donation of
40 motor vehicles. He used the occasion to urge the Vice President to
flag-off the second leg of the event. He also told the VP that the
two-leg rally, which will be simultaneously flagged off on October 1 at
the four centres, will transverse the 36 states of the federation, with
the first leg terminating at the FCT, and the second leg, which will
start from Abuja, will end at Argungu, Kebbi State on October 8, 2010.

The group also
said, as a mark of respect to late President, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, the
Sardauna team will perform a special rally to Katsina, the home state
of the late president, commencing from Sokoto.

Also present at the occasion were the Deputy Governors of Niger and
Sokoto States, Ahmed Musa Ibeto and Mukhtari Shagari, the
Director-General of Nigeria@50 Celebrations, B. K. Kaigama, other top
federal and state government functionaries and entrepreneurs from the
private sector.