The military authorities should look into the complaints of the affected soldiers and deal with them professionally

Nigerian soldiers of the Special Force deployed in Borno State where there is an on-going counterterrorism operation against Boko Haram insurgents recently barricaded the Maiduguri Airport gate in protest, firing gunshots sporadically into the air and forcing many residents around the area to flee for safety. The shootings by the soldiers were said to be protests against their redeployment from Maiduguri to another location in the northern part of the war-torn state.

For sure, the battle to contain Boko Haram has been difficult. Until lately, the insurgents were carrying out their grisly atrocities particularly in the Northeast, at will. And the feeling out there was that if the insurgents were causing such murderous havoc, then it stands to reason that our armed forces were not doing well enough. This was further accentuated by reports of shortage of vital supplies in the frontlines – from ammunition to food, complaints that can do a lot of damage to anyone’s morale. But there are procedures for dealing with those challenges.

It is sad that the war-wearied soldiers have to resort to violent protests anytime they want to draw the attention of the military authorities to their inhuman conditions. This is not the first time the soldiers, under special squad operation, will be protesting about their plight since the war against the terrorist Boko Haram group started many years ago. According to reports, the soldiers, who had been deployed since February 2015, said they ought to have been released to return to their original unit to see their families after serving over three years at the same operational location. There are reports that many of the soldiers have resorted to taking hard drugs in order to muddle through both the psychological and physical trauma of their long stay in the war zone.

While it may be convenient for the military authorities to describe the affected soldiers as acting illegally and that they must be dealt with according to the Military Act, we will like to once again, say that it is not in line with the global military pact or practices to keep fighting soldiers in a war zone for over three years. Apart from the urgent need to allow them have access to the immediate families, it is unwholesome and a huge risk to the counter-terrorism strategy. Apparently because of the precarious situation, there are reports that many prominent persons in the country now regularly lobby military authorities for their relatives not to be posted to the war zone.

Rather than threatening to deal with the protesting soldiers for their perceived unlawful action, we advise the military authorities to look into the complaints of the affected soldiers and deal with them professionally; after all the soldiers are humans. They deserve a good life like us; they need to have access to their families in spite of the national duties. They are patriotic Nigerians who stay awake day and night in order to make our nation a better place for us to live in. They are our heroes, fighting the enemies of our country. They also deserve to be treated humanely and with respect.

The huge international embarrassment of regular protests by aggrieved soldiers can be avoided if the military authorities keep to best practices in the deployment of troops and other welfare matters. The military must face up to the question of what led to the incident in the first place. The point here is that if the issues of trust in military leadership are not addressed, we will continue to witness this short of unruly behaviour within the military which may not bode well for our democracy.

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The goal of politics is to organise to secure power to serve the people. Violence should not be part of the game

Nigeria is no stranger to political violence. Over the years, it has become a regular staple of electioneering campaigns, coming in form of inflammatory rhetoric, intimidation, armed conflicts between gangs of rival politicians, bombings and assassinations. However, the pattern of impunity that is being witnessed almost on a daily basis in the build-up to the 2019 general election is such that many are fervently praying that a replay of the extreme violence that dogged the exercise of 2007, where hundreds of innocent people, including National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members were killed, is not repeated.

Indeed, as the country braces for the 2019 general election, there are renewed concerns over the wave of political violence. From north to south, east and west, thugs are again being mobilised and armed to serve political ends. Penultimate Friday, emotions ran high in Ido Ekiti as the remains of the late Bunmi Ojo, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was committed to mother earth. Ojo was shot dead on 10th August by unknown gunmen. A month ago, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) meeting in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State attended by party chieftains ended in gun shots that claimed the life of Borishade Adeniyi, the Apapa Local Government PDP chairman.

Similarly, Sunny Ejiagwu, newly inaugurated APC chairman in Ideato North Local Government Area of Imo State was hacked down a fortnight ago. Ejiagwu’s killing was the third in less than a month, coming barely a few days after a PDP youth leader in the state was brought down. A month earlier, Amos Akano, director-general of Ezihe Foundation, one of the groups supporting the governorship ambition of Uche Nwosu, Chief of Staff to Governor Rochas Okorocha, was kidnapped and murdered. And only recently during the by-election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to fill a vacant constituency seat in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, ended in violence, just like that in Lokoja, Kogi State a week earlier, where two persons were reportedly killed.

We can go on and on to list the people who have met their death as a result of the growing political violence in the country. But more worrisome is that a recent report by United States Institute of Peace (USIP) on electoral violence risk assessment in Nigeria suggests possible escalation of electoral violence before the 2019 general election. Everywhere in the country today, there is the pervasive sense of fear and insecurity. Armed robberies, kidnappings and other allied crimes have conspired to paint a picture of a country practically at war with itself.
The brewing political violence is further intensified by the tension and deep division between the APC and the main opposition PDP. This is not helped by the prevailing atmosphere of wanton killings and deaths across the country, engendered by the Boko Haram insurgency, farmer-herdsman clashes, communal killings and general banditry – all aided by the ease with which just about anybody could access arms.

This newspaper has repeatedly maintained that electoral violence is not only a violation of the law, it also constitutes abuse of the constitutional right of the people to choose their leaders. Violence discourages political participation as it scares many away from the polls. We believe that the goal of politics is to organise to secure power to serve the people and violence and bloodletting should not be part of the game.

Our democracy is increasingly losing its shine essentially because the political parties want to be “democratic” in a manner that advances only the personal interests of some leaders and not that of the society. It is clear that with eyes to the enormous spoils of office attached to the nation’s political positions from the presidency to local councillorship, many of our politicians would do anything in order to ensure easy ride at the polls.

Given the foregoing, until political leaders imbibe a culture that puts premium on the sanctity of human lives, our democracy will remain imperilled to our collective shame.

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Electoral violence is not only a violation of the law, it also constitutes abuse of the constitutional right of the people to choose their leaders. Violence discourages political participation as it scares many away from the polls

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MONDAY EDITORIAL

There is need to overhaul the nation’s building regulations

The recent building collapse in Abuja which claimed no fewer than two lives with several others injured should spur the authorities into looking into how we can avert this recurring tragedy in our country. While we commiserate with the families of victims, we reiterate that unless drastic steps are taken, the nation will continue to experience these avoidable serial disasters with the attendant loss of lives.

 It is indeed noteworthy that in order to address the problem of the all-too frequent cases of collapsed buildings in the country, the National Council on Lands, Housing and Urban Development resolved last year that the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) should liaise with the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) to establish a committee to review the urban planning law. They also urged the government to facilitate the early passage of the bill for the enforcement of the provisions of the revised Nigeria National Building Code that is currently before the National Assembly.

Unfortunately, there has not been any follow-up in that direction. Yet all over the country, there is a glaring failure of the regulating agencies to properly perform their supervisory roles, giving rise to a situation where quacks have taken over the building sector. Indeed, some land speculators have also become estate developers and self-styled construction experts all rolled into one. Unfortunately, most of these characters seem interested only in how to cut costs, even if it means circumventing laid down regulations. Such a state of affair can only breed the kind of disaster we experience from time to time.

 In other climes buildings don’t just collapse every other day. From the architectural design stage to civil and structural engineering, actual construction and completion of a project, efforts are made to ensure that stipulated regulations are strictly adhered to and there are no shortcuts aimed at minimising costs. That unfortunately is not the case in our country today.  Ordinarily, the construction of a building is expected to be managed by qualified professionals including structural engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, architects and quantity surveyors, among others. All these professionals are to be supervised by site engineers and inspectors whose duty it is to ensure that everything is done in accordance with approved plans and standards, but above all, they are expected to pay attention to the use of quality materials.

 It is very clear that we continue to witness this unfortunate occurrence on a frequent basis is due largely to unethical dealings by project promoters. In most of the instances, the collapse could be attributed to the distortion of original building plans by adding more floors regardless of the weight the foundation was erected to carry. To add to all this is the failure of oversight and negligence by the appropriate authorities for supervision and monitoring of physical structure that are prone to collapse due to wear and tear.

 While we reiterate our recommendation that appropriate sanctions be meted to those who may be found guilty of the criminal negligence that led to the collapse of buildings in recent years, we subscribe to the decision for a complete overhaul of the nation’s building and construction regulations. That is the only way to stop what has become serial disasters with the attendant avoidable loss of innocent lives.

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Much more could be done to improve the lot of the Fulani boy who rears cattle, argues Okezie Victor Ikpeazu

Like every other Nigerian, I am deeply appalled and genuinely concerned over the horrific and merciless bloodletting being unleashed on the citizenry by the Fulani herdsmen. The truth is also evident that Nigeriaâ€s security architecture as presently constituted is at their wits end or pretending to be, over whose mandatory responsibility it is to clinically nip the herdsmen jigsaw in the bud.

In the light of these realities however, my narrative in this endeavour will seek to slightly differ as I draw and zero in on what I consider a historical neglect, which I am persuaded to believe has become the albatross of the herdsmen menace.

The ingredient of my sincere submission therefore is anchored on the disdainful and serial neglect of the Fulani boy by the national government and multiplicity of our Fulani nationality elites who as it were would have written their names in gold by advocating a change in the way and manner their nomads tend to cattle. “Change they say is the only constant thing in life”. If providence smiles on you, the expectation is that you will generously pass it on to some members of the society you represent.

As I script this piece, some of our Fulani brothers globetrotting and bestriding blue-chip companies, will gratefully recall their frightening past which was bleak and fraught with hopelessness, until God turned the hand of the clock.

We delight in the vanity and fantasies of playing tin-god and Lord of the manor, while our growing Fulani young ones are indoctrinated and radicalised into believing that their destinies and chances of making the much expected difference is foreclosed. At best, they are conscripted and charged to maim, kill and destroy perceived political and business enemies. And by extension, host communities, whose farmlands and source of livelihood they end up destroying.

Islam we were told, is a religion of peace and it beats my imagination why these virtues are not being inculcated in this young and upcoming adherents. No argument or explanation will rationalise the violent response of a herdsman and his collaborating traducers to every assumed or established cattle theft in any host community rather than toeing the noble path of peaceful settlement. Our enlightened Fulani brothers should therefore soberly look inwards, swallow their pride and strategically seek to jointly establish how the interest of their herdsmen brothers can be best promoted without having to keep constituting a nuisance here and there. Indeed, whatever and however the herdsmen act, is usually deemed to have dovetailed from the dispositions and insinuations of their elite leaders. Their elite therefore, have urgent need to change this deception through a deliberate and resolute determination to end the catastrophic orientation of their herdsmen kins. The sophisticated arms and ammunitions possessed and deployed by the herdsmen are certainly procured and availed to them by some persons above their intellectual background and capacity.

My joy will know no bounds if pay masters of that rustic Fulani boy is provoked by this honest and sincere submission into accepting his obvious failure for not doing enough to better the life of these Fulani boys rather than this despicable delight of using them to make us the laughing stock of the world community.

Let us be pertinently mindful of the truism that nobody has the monopoly of violence and people will naturally react most times in dimensions and proportions with horrific consequences when pushed to the wall, and silence they say, may not always be cowardice.

Herdsmen in exchange for their cows also access foods cultivated and produced in other parts of the country. If at every slightest provocation those consuming the cows are heartlessly decimated, one wonders who will be left to consume the cows.

The middle belt states, largely held to be the major contributors to Nigeriaâ€s food production needs, have become the most affected in the ongoing disregard for the sanctity of human life. Recall the identifying acronym of Benue State, as “the food basket of the Nation”. It is evidently not for nothing given their richness in agricultural products which include but not limited to mass production of yam, rice, beans, cassava, sweet potato, maize, soybean, sorghum, millet, sesame, cocoyam, etc.

My science oriented background has taught me to know and rightly so too that their soils are generally characterised by tropical ferruginous types derived from crystalline rocks with an appreciable quantity of ferromagnesium minerals.

The farming cultivation and production comfort in this regard is that the area allows for participation in both the grain-based and the yam based economies derivable from the Northern part of Benue and the yam cultivation based economies of the South. This advantageous ecological position permits and facilitates year round farming activity, contrary to the shifting cultivation which obtains in the South-East.

Interestingly too, choice of farmland in the Agrarian Tiv enclave is determined by proximity to the compound, the implication of which is that compounds are part and parcel of the farms with provision for kitchen gardens where large proportion of the vegetables are grown. Consequently therefore, our Tiv brothers reside in their farms, making any herders dislodgement colossally disastrous.

Plateau State, which is currently reeling from the heartless massacre of over 200 souls for unsubstantiated case of missing 300 cows, is highly condusive for the cultivation of varieties of fruits: tomatoes, vegetables, onions, sweet potatoes and Irish potatoes. Studies have shown that Benue, Nasarawa and Jigawa are the largest producers of sesame.

Down South, the Easterners and their Western counterparts, are still adding taste and value to our economic well-being, following from their constant cultivation and production of palm oil, cocoa, cassava, yam, plantains, bananas and so on.

I sincerely empathise and share in the presidentâ€s desire for us to proffer a workable and nationally accepted recipe to the herdsmen malady. But first he may have to begin by showing enough commitment in terms of roundly condemning these murderous monsters with a view to winning the peopleâ€s confidence in his ability and sincerity to restore peace in the Nigerian polity.

The contradictory claim of saying that herdsmen are Libyan militias and in the same vein advising Nigerians to give up their ancestral lands to foreigners for ranches is too suspicious to be desired. I have to humbly observe that some of the positions so far churned out were not well panel-beaten with a view to conscientiously accommodating all shades of opinions.

First was grazing reserves and routes which are not anything different from cattle colonies as latter bandied. The multiplicity of angst and rejection which greeted the idea of cattle colonies and reserves as initially advanced took us back to the drawing board.

Acquisition of lands for ranches as currently being considered ultimately involves giving up of lands. But the note of caution is that the peculiarities of states in matters concerning land must be seriously considered and accorded its well-deserved priority attention in any peace-anticipated policy formulation for dealing with this matter in our country today.

One of the inhibitions discouraging the willingness of my itinerant Igbo brothers from retiring home to invest bothers on scarcity of land. Other ethnic nationalities and geo-political zones are naturally feasting on this challenge to gainfully play host to our numerous entrepreneurial Igbo brothers who are desirous of a condusive and convivial environment to invest and express their wealth of business know-how.

Given the obvious reality that cattle business is predominately a private concern, I will advise that we refrain from tinkering with contentious solutions that will aggravate an already bad situation.

My panacea of choice is for us to rise from the ruins of this herdsmen/farmers clash to acquire and cultivate pro-vitamins species of the appropriate grass for our cattleâ€s in the vast Sahel of the North East.

Our response therefore should be towards the establishment of large feed stock derived from the cultivation of the huge expanse of land in the North. We can replace desert encroachment with lush green fields for the benefit of our cattle economy. Israel has done it. And there is certainly no reason Nigeria cannot, except insincerity and non-commitment be the anchor of our aims and efforts towards finding a lasting solution to this tragic socio-political quagmire that has engulfed the nation especially in recent time.

Todayâ€s Dubai, used to be a sprawling desert city, which started out as a tiny fishing village. The earliest recorded mention of Dubai is in 1095 in the book of Geography by the Andalusian-Arab geographer Abu Abdullah Al-Bakri. The livelihood of the areas inhabitants was based on fishing, pearl diving, boat building and providing accommodation and sustenance for the traders who would pass through there, on their way to sell gold, spices and textiles.

But visionary leadership and well placed determination provided the vista and caused Dubai to explode within the space of half a century, boasting in its wake of eye wondering and ear tingling high rise buildings such as the Burj Al Arab and BurjKhalifa and innumerable high quality infrastructure and expatriate friendly environment. This is the kind of socio-economic vision and formulation that the Fulani boy with cattle should be oriented and exposed to, rather than making them a perennial beast of burden that has no hope for a great future, other than a life of fatality and tragedy whose only means of expression is violence and destruction of life and property . What a destroyed youth! What a destroyed society!

The further we procrastinate, the deadlier it keeps getting and by the time we get our acts together to restore normalcy, we would have created another devastating hunger problem.

God willing, we shall overcome. But we must demonstrate readiness, availability of ourselves and sincere commitment to really overcome.

Dr Ikpeazu is the Governor of Abia State

The security agencies are ineffective. They are due for overhaul

Nothing highlights the desperate situation in which Nigeria has found itself today than the harrowing words by the governor of Sokoto, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal on the tragic incident last Wednesday in his state: “We buried 32 people yesterday but when we were leaving the area, they brought additional seven bodies…these marauders invaded Tabanni village, killing and maiming people. They never took away even a chicken; they only came to kill.”

What is very clear today is that the Nigerian state is losing the dominance of the machinery of violence to non-state actors. With the Boko Haram devastation still on in the North-East and free-wheeling criminalities in the south and middle belt, it is safe to say that Nigeria has fallen so badly short in peace and security. There is therefore an urgent need for the federal government to apply the wedge and pull the nation back from the brink. Until that is done, the body count will keep mounting to our collective shame.

As we have repeatedly stated on this page, perhaps aside the 30-month civil war, Nigeria has never been so threatened by security challenges as it is today. This year alone, there have been over a dozen deadly attacks at different locations across the country, claiming hundreds of lives. Yet, it is the blatant failure of the authorities to pursue these murderers and bring them to book that has directly encouraged further commission of such heinous crimes in different locations across Nigeria.

Against the background that the killings in Sokoto and Zamfara States have put paid to speculations that the violence in the country today is targeted against a section of the country or worshippers of a particular religion, it is important for the nation to rally if we must defeat the demons that trouble our land. But while we condemn in the strongest terms the violence, we are particularly worried that these incessant attacks come at a delicate period in our history. The sad reality is that our country is almost becoming a bandit territory with all manner of criminals on the loose, taking the lives of innocent citizens without any provocations.

Unfortunately, that the authorities place little premiums on human lives is demonstrated by the number of policemen drafted for yesterdayâ€s gubernatorial election in Ekiti, one of the smallest states in Nigeria. When politics takes precedence over national security, it is no surprise that the lives of ordinary citizens now count for little in our country. That should worry the current administration that came to power with the promise to address the challenge of insecurity.

In a 2013 report titled “Leave Everything to God: Accountability for Inter-Communal Violence in Plateau and Kaduna States, Nigeria”, released by the United States†Human Rights Watch, the federal government was accused of ignoring every “horrific sectarian violence” even when children and women were victims. The report put much of the blame for the culture of impunity in the country on “an already broken criminal justice system” while “the Nigerian authorities have taken no meaningful steps to address underlying grievances” or bring to justice those responsible for the bloodshed.

What the foregoing says quite clearly is that this culture of impunity persists because the relevant security agencies have allowed free reins to the entrepreneurs of violence who now ply their nefarious trade all over the country, without being challenged. And under the current atmosphere, it is difficult to persuade investors that Nigeria is good for business. After all, no one would want to take his business to a dangerous zone with no guarantee for safety of investment, life and property. That is why we reiterate the call for a total overhaul of our entire security architecture so it can effectively combat the challenge of the moment.

To the extent that the right to life is the ultimate measure of all rights, it should worry President Muhammadu Buhari that Nigeria is gradually descending to the Hobbesian state of nature where life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”.

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It is the blatant failure of the authorities to pursue these murderers and bring them to book that has directly encouraged further commission of such heinous crimes in different locations across Nigeria

MONDAY EDITORIAL

The government should urgently submit the act to the Egmont group

Last week, President Muhammadu Buhari assented to the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) Act, 2018. The law establishes a legal framework for a national centre that will be responsible for the receipt and analysis of information from financial institutions and designated non-financial institutions, for the purpose of generating and disseminating intelligence to all law enforcement agencies and other competent persons. While the absence of a legal framework for financial intelligence unit and lack of operational and financial autonomy, among others were problems in the past, the situation has been redressed with the law.

However, having a law in place is one thing, ensuring effective implementation is even more important. The next thing the president must do urgently is to send the name of a fit and proper person to the National Assembly as head of the unit for consideration while putting in place the necessary structure for a functional agency that will be able to discharge its responsibilities. The 2018 act provides the NFIU with operational independence and autonomy and greater ability to provide financial intelligence to all competent authorities in order to strengthen anti-money laundering and combat the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) measures.

The NFIU was set up in 2006 as part of the efforts to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities in Nigeria, and as a pre-condition for the removal of Nigeria from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) list of non-cooperation countries and territories (NCCTs).  The deficiency identified by the international community is the absence of operational autonomy, confidentiality and a legal framework.

The mandate of the new NFIU is to receive and collect currency transaction reports (CTRs) as well as suspicious transactions reports (STRs) and other information relevant to the money laundering and terrorist financing activities from financial institutions and designated non-financial institutions. The unit will also receive reports on cross-border movement of currency and monetary instruments; analyse and assess the information and reports it receives; conduct mandatory review of supervisory reports and criminal referrals; maintain a comprehensive financial intelligence database for information collection and exchange intelligence with counterpart FIUs and law enforcement agencies around the world. All of these, while maintaining a network with the regulatory authorities and law enforcement authorities in Nigeria.

Other functions of the new NFIU will include: to advise the government and regulatory authorities on the prevention and combating of economic and financial crimes; liaise with compliance officers and ensure strong compliance culture in financial institutions; provide financial intelligence reports/statistics in the investigation and prosecution of offenders under the relevant laws; promote public awareness and understanding of matters relating to economic and financial crimes, money laundering and financing of terrorist activities and to trail money transactions in banks and other financial institutions.

However, it is important to highlight the fact that Nigeria remains suspended from the Egmont Group of FIUs, meaning that the country has not been receiving external financial intelligence since July, 2017 and this will remain in force until the suspension is lifted. Now that the NFIU bill is assented, the authorities must move quickly. As the Egmont Plenary holds in September 2018, the federal government must urgently submit the assented copy of the bill to the global body. It is better late than never.

In addition, the executive should work closely with the National Assembly to ensure the prompt passage of the following bills into law: the Proceeds of Crime-POCA; Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters, the repeal and re-enactment of the Money Laundering Prevention and Prohibition Act and the Terrorism Prevention Act, as well as the Whistle Blowers/Witness Protection. These laws are necessary, if Nigeria must be taken seriously, particularly as the country prepares for an international mutual evaluation by the FATF in 2019.

The authorities could do more by domesticating international treaties

Organised by the Nigerian Shippers Council and the National Judicial Council with the theme “Institutional Excellence in Admiralty Law”, an international maritime seminar was held in Abuja last week to raise the consciousness of admiralty law among members of the bar and bench as well as other stakeholders in the sector. Some of the issues discussed were the rights of a cargo owner at the insolvency of the carrier, liability regime for carriage of goods by rail, road and inland waterways, piracy and armed robbery at sea as well as the application of international treaties to Nigerian laws and the draft convention on recognition of foreign judicial sale of ships.

We must commend the conveners of the seminar, the Nigerian Shippers Council and National Judicial Council for bringing experts and practitioners together to share knowledge and experiences in managing maritime industry issues. The seminar also offered participants the opportunity to appreciate the commercial and international nature of the admiralty law to Nigeriaâ€s economic development, thereby strengthening the link between the maritime industry, the judiciary and other important stakeholders.

Over the years, there has been an appreciable level of awareness among judges on the importance of speedy resolution of admiralty disputes in the country. It was therefore no surprise that the discussions and resolutions at the sessions provided a treasure trove of information for relevant stakeholders in the maritime industry. But until the international treaties are domesticated, there are challenges that impinge not only on the sector but also on the national economy.

To the extent that maritime is a global trade, any treaty signed by Nigeria has to be transformed into our local jurisprudence to enable it have the force of law. According to the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Walter Onnoghen in his address at the session, ”the domestication of some of the principles of International Admiralty laws into Nigerian legal framework as contained in the United Nations Convention on Carriage of Goods by Sea [Ratification and Enforcement] Act and others are significant milestones towards ground breaking legal practice in this sector in Nigeria.”

This is what the annual seminar was established to achieve and it has contributed tremendously to the growth of admiralty law system in the country. But time has come for Nigeria to begin to navigate with the world so as not to be left behind. Maritime is fast becoming part of the digital economy and given its contributions, any treaty or law pertaining to that sector must be domesticated. We therefore call on the National Assembly to begin to look at some of them in the interest of the country.

Much as we admit that such seminars are important for bridging the knowledge gap in admiralty law, it is pertinent to recommend that more participants be invited in future in order to expose them to some of the highly technical principles and applications of maritime disputes and adjudication. Undoubtedly, the maritime industry is important and strategic to Nigeria since it is the engine that drives the economy through trade facilitation. We therefore believe that the seminar will help bridge the gap and ensure expeditious dispensation of justice in admiralty cases for the overall interests of the countryâ€s economy.

We commend the commitment of the Nigerian Shippers Council and National Judicial Institute for always bringing members of the bench and other stakeholders together for the sake of instituting more comprehensive ways of attending to pressing marital issues of Nigeriaâ€s economy. But they could do more. We urge the authorities to commence the process of domesticating those international rules and conventions which will govern maritime activities between Nigeria and other countries.

The authorities should address the problem of poverty
Of the around 700,000 persons trafficked across the world every year, Nigeria’s notoriety in the act has become an issue of international concern. Thousands of young Nigerian girls are routinely trafficked to Europe and Asia for sexual exploitation. Sadly, the concern over the menace of human trafficking in the country goes beyond the shores of Nigeria as the United States has accused the federal government of failing to do enough to put the scourge under control.

On 30th June 2018, for instance, a 51-year old Edo State-born Nigerian woman, Josephine Iyamu, was convicted in the United Kingdom for trafficking five girls from her homestead of Edo to Germany for sexual exploitation. Ms Iyamu, a nurse in Britain and the first person to be convicted under the UK anti-modern slavery law was formally jailed on 4th July. She had before her arrest and trial compelled her many trafficked victims to swear to oaths that they would deposit all their earnings with her once they started working. Some of the rituals she reportedly performed on her victims included eating chicken hearts and drinking blood containing worms, and powdering incisions.

Iyamu’s conviction was preceded by the earlier sentence of another Nigerian, Franca Asemota by the UK Crown Court to 22 years imprisonment for attempting to traffic some Nigerian girls to Europe through the London Heathrow Airport. Asemota, who was arrested in Nigeria and extradited to the UK for trial, was convicted of a 12-count charge of sexual exploitation, trafficking in persons outside the UK and engaging in unlawful immigration, among others.

In the last one year, the International Office of Migration (IOM) has spent huge sums of money to evacuate back home hundreds of Nigerians most of whom were trafficked to Libya enroute Europe with promises of better life. Several of them lost their lives while those who survived went through anguish and trauma before the federal government came to their rescue. These were aside the uncountable numbers of Nigerians who regularly lose their lives on the Mediterranean Sea while being trafficked abroad or engaged in illegal migration. Meanwhile, several young Nigerians are also being trafficked within the country by money mongers who recruit them from poverty-stricken homes in rural areas with promises of improved living standard or access to education in the city.

Victims of human trafficking and illegal migration often go through physical and psychological trauma as they must always be at the beck and call of organised patrons from the traffickers without any freedom of objection no matter their level of grief. Those trafficked abroad neither have peace of mind nor desirable happiness, yet they often live under the threat and fear of deportation with little or no savings of their own.

At the root of human trafficking in Nigeria is endemic poverty which has been a veritable tool in the hands of traffickers to lure their victims into illicit jobs with promises of improved living. Several of those recently evacuated from Libya narrated how frustration forced them into the journey. We thus challenge the federal government to address the prevalent poverty ravaging the land and offer meaningful hope of livelihood to frustrated young Nigerian men and women who are often victims of trafficking.

We implore the security agencies to deploy the requisite intelligence that will help in fishing out the perpetrators and punish them in accordance with the law to serve as deterrence to others. We also task the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to live up to its responsibilities by engaging in massive enlightenment campaigns against trafficking, particularly in the rural areas of the country where this scourge is now prevalent.

The security agencies could do more to contain the violence across the country, writes Olusegun Adeniyi

It should worry the authorities that not only has life become very cheap in the country today, even the personnel of both the military and the police have now become easy game for sundry criminals. While there have been several reports in recent days of dozens of soldiers that cannot be accounted for after an ambush by Boko Haram, no fewer than 11 policemen have been killed this month alone. On 2nd July, seven policemen were killed in broad daylight at Galadimawa roundabout, Abuja and just 12 days later on 14th July, four policemen were ambushed at Sabongida Ora in Edo State and murdered.

Unfortunately, at a time you expect those saddled with the responsibility of protecting us to come up with a mapping of areas of the country where threats and vulnerabilities are active and deploy their human and material assets to such locations, we have a situation in which half the population of our police are either doing guard duties or carrying bags for spouses and concubines of politicians. Besides, our security agencies still rely on show of force, especially against defenceless citizens as we saw in Ekiti State last week rather than a close to the ground intelligence that will help in identifying possible threats and how to tackle them.

However, the problem in Sokoto was long foreseen. While hosting the Northern States Governors†Forum (NSGF) meeting in July last year, Kaduna State governor, Malam Nasir el-Rufai spoke on the need for the federal government to hand over to the affected states the management of the Kamuku, Kuyambana and Falgore forests before he added: “For such efforts to be credible and sustainable, the (Nigerian) state must vigorously reclaim its prerogatives as the guarantor of security. Robust actions in the security sector must be undertaken quickly to implant a visible, reassuring and effective presence of the protective hand of the state across our region. There are too many places where outlaws and non-state actors of all sorts have stepped into the ungoverned spaces like these forests.”

Unfortunately, the authorities in Abuja paid no attention to the growing danger in the north-west while our security chiefs have not come up with any meaningful strategy to contain the threat. Yet, arguing that it would be catastrophic for the country to allow the emergence of another ‘Sambisa†in the North-west axis, el-Rufai had warned that the forests which now provide safe refuge for outlaws and has become the headquarters for robberies, kidnappings and cattle rustling “constitute sources of perils to ordinary people, the states and the country.”

The villages within the Gandi district, like many across the country, have been left practically at the mercy of God but the problem is compounded when those whose mandate it is to protect the people also invoke divine protection as their only solution. As a commentator observed last week, security chiefs that can only “(c)rack their brains” as hundreds of citizens have their lives brutally cut short almost by sundry criminal cartels almost on a daily basis cannot guarantee safety. So, President Buhari must do something urgent about that if we are ever to arrest the current drift to anarchy.

Meanwhile, my trip to Rabah local government of Sokoto opened my eyes to the richness of our country and the potential that we waste. Accompanied by Mallam Abubakar Shekara, Director- General, Media and Public Affairs to the Governor, the drive from Sokoto to Gandi took about 80 minutes but I had never seen such vast expanse of rain water bodies in any part of Nigeria as I saw on that stretch. From Sokoto through Rabah town ( home town of the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello) up to Gandi, all that you see on both sides of the road are small lakes and ponds with lush green, though of shrubs since the trees have been harvested for firewood (another challenge we must address). Also being herded by nomads were very hefty and robust cows, the likes you hardly find in any of our markets. I was told they are called ‘Sokoto Gudaleâ€.

In my brief chat with Tambuwal before I headed for the airport after returning from Gandi on Tuesday, he said plans were on the table for harvesting the rain waters for irrigation during the dry season. While all the studies have been done on the idea of capturing rainwater and storing it for irrigation purposes, he added that funding is a problem. Yet, given what I saw in Rabah local government, this is an idea that the federal government should be interested in not only for Sokoto but for other neighbouring states where harvesting rainwater can help in growing crops in the dry season, support the ranching of livestock that has become a national security issue.

In Sokoto, I also learnt about the cattle ranch project started by the former governor, Alhaji Aliyu Wamakko which Tambuwal has continued. Covering 1000 hectares with capacity to cater for 10,000 cattle, what the idea suggests is that we can easily turn the current challenge into a huge opportunity. As Dr Chidi Amuta once argued at our editorial board meeting, “by allowing some people to roam the length and breadth of Nigeria often herding diseased and evacuated cattle, we violate the rights of these animals and endanger the health of these citizens through exposure to the elements and a cocktail of diseases.”

In Sokoto State, investments have already been made for the acquisition of cattle from both Brazil and Argentina for cross-breeding with ‘Sokoto Gudaleâ€. While the species from Brazil is expected to improve milk yield, the species from Argentina is for the beef yield with the expectation that cross-breeding with ‘Sokoto Gudali†will significantly improve the quality of animal husbandry. Tambuwal said cluster farms will be established under a private sector arrangement while the cattle breeds will graze in the fields which take care of the security challenge posed by nomadic herding.

Aside helping to effect the much talked-about ‘diversification of the economy to agricultureâ€, it will also deal with the security challenge that has, in the words of retired federal permanent secretary, Dr Hakeem Baba-Ahmed turned “a huge swathe of the north into bandit territory.”

On our way back to Sokoto from Gandi on Tuesday, I was so enthralled by how kind nature has been to us as a country that I muttered almost to myself but to the hearing of Shekara,”we have no business with poverty in Nigeria.” Chuckling, Shekara, a soft-spoken but rather interesting man, responded: “A friend told me a story many years ago. He said after God had created the world, He sent an angel to carry resources to different parts. In America, God told the angel to drop a lot of resources because people from different parts would congregate there. In Asia, God also directed the angel to drop a lot of resources because the inhabitants would be very industrious. The same pattern continued until the angel got to Africa and he had not even expended half the resources he carried. But upon entering the continent, the angel stumbled and spilled all the resources. As he tried to pack them God told him: Donâ€t bother, just watch: The people will not use them.”

Sadly, this story, even when it is fiction, it nonetheless reflects the reality of our country since we have done little to optimize the abundant resources God has bestowed upon us as a nation. Even if we had taken a different path, it would still have been difficult to sustain production and human development in an environment where bandits set up parallel government, abduct people for ransom, sack villages and kill innocent citizens at will.

The money should be tied to some developmental projects

How best can the recently returned $322million by the government of Switzerland from the money looted by the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha be put into use? The federal government said last week that it would disburse the money through conditional cash transfers to some 302,000 poor households across 19 states. But there are concerns by many Nigerians that this is a decision that is open to abuse, such that at the end of the day the money may just be shared by politicians of the ruling party.

According to President Muhammadu Buhari, the choice of investing the recovered loot in the social investment programme of the administration was to address the problem of extreme poverty and create social equality among Nigerians. “We know people who wake up in the morning and donâ€t even know where to get their meal from,” said the president. “This whole project is to address that problem, to create social equality, to provide opportunity. We are using international standards developed by the World Bank. The idea is if we can lift one person out of a household out of poverty, it will inevitably affect the entire family.”

The federal governmentâ€s social investment programme targeted at the poor started in 2016. The impact of the programme is yet to be felt. Even with the promise that the cash transfer would be monitored to ensure transparency of the process, the position of the federal government will likely face an uphill battle in an increasingly fractious democracy.

Even though the decision to deploy the last tranche of Abacha loot from Switzerland for poverty alleviation was reportedly based on an agreement Nigeria entered into with the Swiss government, many Nigerians are of the view that the deal with the Swiss is heavily flawed because of worries about its distribution. Given the notorious reputation of poverty alleviation programmes in Nigeria, most people believe this could also end up as another political slush fund for the party in power, especially in an election season. How, for instance, were the 19 states that will benefit from the money selected? What happens to the remaining 17 states and the Federal Capital Territory? What are the criteria for selecting the individual households?

Shehu Sani, a senator representing Kaduna centre, argued that it would be impossible to share the loot among Nigerians, saying that the money would end up with beneficiaries nominated by governors, ministers, lawmakers and the presidentâ€s men. Instead, he argued that the money should be tied to specific projects that Nigerians could see. The national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Mr. Uche Secondus said the money was already being diverted as “no government will put money in baskets and starts sharing. It is primitive to be spending money without proper appropriation.”

Last week, the House of Representatives also voted down the memorandum of understanding signed by the Swiss government and the Buhari administration on how the latter would spend the $322 million. Hon Karimi Sunday, a member of the House from Kogi State said the MoU between Nigeria and a foreign government was not binding unless approved by the National Assembly. “This money was stolen from Nigeria. It is our money. So, it is the duty of the Nigerian legislature to decide how the money will be spent by appropriation,” he said.

Indeed, many Nigerians had earlier raised questions on how past administrations spent the earlier repatriated funds from the Abacha loot, put at some billions of dollars. Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, former chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), claimed that he recovered some $2 billion out of the over $6 billion that Abacha reportedly stole from the countryâ€s coffers. Can the country pinpoint any developmental projects of significance that the repatriated money was used for? It will pay all if the money is tied to some developmental projects.

The defections lend credence to politics without principles

The recent gale of defections from one political party to another by many of our public officials and aspiring ones is an affirmation that after almost 20 years of unbroken democratic practice, Nigerian politicians do not seem to have learnt any lesson. Instead of maximising the huge opportunities inherent in democracy to promote the culture of selfless service, good governance, institution building and improve the living standard of the people, most of those who preside over our affairs would rather pursue their selfish goals.

It all began on 24th July this year when 14 senators defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and African Democratic Congress (ADC). One of them returned to APC less than 24 hours later. The defection in the Senate was followed by the movement of 33 other members of the House of Representatives from the ruling APC to PDP on the same day. Since then, defections at both the national and state levels have been the norm with Senate President Bukola Saraki, Benue State Governor Samuel Ortom and his Sokoto State counterpart, Aminu Tambuwal and former Senate Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio as the biggest defectors.

What theses defections have done is to make Nigerian politicians guilty of one of the seven social sins listed by the late erstwhile Indian leader, Mahatma Ghandi which is politics without principle. Indeed, many Nigerian politicians lack a sense of principle: not even the nation’s constitution or any extant law can put them under check whenever the game is against them. That is why there are some politicians who jump from one political party to the other every time the general election is approaching.

Indeed, what is disturbing is that most of the defections in recent times were done with sheer disregard to constitutional provisions. For instance, Section 68(1g) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) stipulates that a lawmaker can only defect from the party that sponsors his/her election without losing his seat if such a party has been factionalised. It is instructive that such factionalisation as established by the court when New PDP emerged from PDP in 2013 is not expected to be deliberately created for that purpose.

Against this background, none of the recent defections was predicated on justifiable division envisaged by the constitution. Whereas defectors in APC lay claim to the emergence of Reformed-APC as the basis for their exit, its manner of emergence was patterned after that of the New PDP which the court had rejected as a form of division.

In the past, there had been clear cases of factionalisation in some parties which could lend credence to defection. One was the fierce contest for the national chairmanship of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) from 2000 to 2003 when Mamman Yusuf and Ahmed Abdulkadir emerged each as the national chairman of the party from two different conventions. The other occurred when Chief Bisi Akande and Mojisoluwa Akinfenwa also emerged factional chairmen of AD in 2004. A similar situation in recent times was the emergence of Ahmed Makarfi and Ali Modu Sheriff both as factional chairmen of PDP.

However, a situation where Akpabio, for instance, dumped PDP for APC without any case of division currently in the party and was celebrated to high heavens by the APC-led federal government which ought to be the custodian of the constitution, underscores the degree of selfishness, hypocrisy, insincerity and lack of commitment of our leaders to democracy.

We appeal to our politicians to desist from the politics of expediency which has continuously hampered the growth of democracy in Nigeria since 1999.

The delay in carrying out the executive function is impacting significantly on the administration of justice

The large turnover of inmates on death row in the country recently prompted the National Economic Council to voice concern over prison congestion while asking the state governors to take prompt action on the matter. As at last count, the official number of condemned prisoners in the country, according to the Attorney General of the Federation and Justice Minister is 2,359. Statistics released by the Prison Rehabilitation and Welfare Action (PRAWA) estimated that 11 per cent of the 22,641 convicts and four per cent of about 74,000 inmates in the country were awaiting trial. This is clearly unacceptable.

We can understand that some governors dither in signing death warrants on humanitarian, political, religious, emotional and ethnic grounds. But whatever may be the mitigating sentiments, the delay in carrying out this executive function is breeding congestion that has impacted significantly on the administration of justice in Nigeria. That is aside the helplessness endured in the roller coaster of emotions for these condemned inmates who have practically been reduced to the status of living dead.

Statutorily, governors are not bound to sign the warrants for the execution of people on death row. They can exercise their prerogative to commute such sentences to lifetime in jail or reduced jail terms. They can also grant such convicts state pardon, therefore putting a closure to the matter. But it is morally reprehensible for them to leave inmates perpetually on death row.

The obligation on the governors is specifically enshrined in Section 212 of the 1999 Constitution as well as Section 221 of the Penal Code and Section 319 of the Criminal Code. All these codes prescribe capital punishment for murder while sections 37 and 38 of the Criminal Code prescribe the same punishment for treasonable felony. There is of course a global campaign against capital punishment but it is still applicable in Nigeria. Majority of these death row inmates are in solitary confinement having been convicted for such offences as murder, treason, treachery and armed robbery. Some states in the country have also enacted capital punishment for those convicted of kidnapping.

It is an inherent violation on their rights and dignity to keep people interminably on death row, especially for cases that have been concluded by the Supreme Court. Such practice is antithetical and capable of inflicting traumatic shock on the condemned inmates awaiting an imaginary death in solitary confinement. To put it in context, prisoners on death row are condemned to a kind of existential limbo, existing as entities in cold storage rather than living as human beings. We, therefore imagine the harrowing spell condemned prisoners go through daily in solitary cells, humbled by the force of an impending death that seems to be an eternity.

Whatever may be the justifications, prolonged solitude is a punishment that is detrimental for the psychology of death row inmates. It kills its victims incessantly and unmercifully. It also negates the international treaties, declarations and other documents that establish the scope of prisoner rights to which Nigeria is a signatory. A clear reference is the UN adopted Standards Rules of 1955 that recognise solitary confinement and prolonged segregation as appropriate only in exceptional circumstances and to be used sparingly.

We state that a solution to the rising cases of prisoners on death row is to carry out a thorough review of the Administration of Justice Criminal Act. The review will reduce incidents of prisoners on death row being held outside their states of conviction and allow governors to consider their sentences when such cases are brought forward. In the meantime, they must deal with the issue of those that are already condemned, one way or another. That is what leadership demand.

The FOCAC summit provides an opportunity to look at the challenges of the partnership

Since its establishment 18 years ago, the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) has upheld the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits, and has helped in the area of infrastructure in many African countries. To date, China-Africa cooperation under the framework of the forum has also become a strategic instrument for partnership for growth and development. That perhaps explains why expectations are high as this year’s summit opens on Monday in Beijing with many African leaders, including President Muhammadu Buhari expected to attend.

The essence of the 2018 FOCAC is to deepen China-Africa friendly cooperation, according to President Xi Jinping who has over the years harped on the values of friendship, justice and shared interests. The expectations from the summit include writing a new charter for integrating the Belt and Road Initiative with the development of Africa, setting a new path for Sino-African cooperation and helping to further cement the relationships between the two peoples. Along this direction, the summit will adopt two outcome documents with a series of bilateral cooperation agreements between China and several African countries, including Nigeria.

In May this year, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Peoples Bank of China (PBoC) signed an agreement on a transaction valued at Renminbi (RMB) 16 billion or the equivalent of about $2.5bn. The currency swap deal means that the Chinese Yuan now ranks with the dollar, Euro and to a little extent, pounds sterling as a second currency in Nigeria. Aside the fact that the deal shields Nigerian businessmen from the vagaries of third currency fluctuations, it is now also easier for Chinese manufacturers seeking to buy raw materials from the Nigerian market to obtain Naira from Chinese banks to pay for their imports.

Meanwhile, the 2018 edition of FOCAC could not have come at a more auspicious moment. Given the disposition of the current American President Donald Trump, the United States is becoming increasingly less important than China and the European Union in terms of trade and investment on the continent. A 2017 McKinsey report states that there are no fewer than 10,000 Chinese–owned companies in Africa today. Many of these investments, according to the report, “increasingly contribute to job creation, skills development, and the transfer of new technologies, practices more generally associated with Western business norms.”

However, with the aggressive manner in which China pursues the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative both at home and abroad, there are also concerns that about 14 per cent of sub-Saharan Africa’s total debt stock is being held by China. Before his last visit to Africa where he learnt of his sack on Twitter, former American Secretary of State, Mr Rex Tillerson had accused China of using “predatory loan practices” to undermine growth and development on the continent even though by helping to develop the infrastructure, China is actually helping the economies of many of these countries.

At the last count, China is believed to be financing well over 3,000 infrastructure projects across Africa with about $90 billion in commercial loans. But the main challenge is that with the Chinese policy of non-interference in the affairs of other countries, accountability is not demanded of the African leaders in the manner to which they deploy these loans. That is an issue that needs to be addressed if the people on the continent, and not the political leaders, are ever to benefit from the debts that are already piling up for future generations to repay.

However, it is most fitting that some of the issues on the FOCAC agenda this year include the promotion of policy coordination, financial integration and people-to-people bonds between China and Africa, especially in the areas and directions that have a stake in creating employment opportunities and inclusive growth.

President Buhari has a responsibility to safeguard the democratic process

With barely five months to the 2019 general elections, Nigeria is faced with a myriad of challenges that has the tendency to mar the exercise. First, the continuous voters’ registration exercise recently suspended by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was characterised by fundamental flaws. Despite the extension of deadline, several prospective voters could not be registered because of needless difficulties in their bid to register.

Indeed, hundreds of thousands of prospective voters were frustrated as there were not enough officials to attend to them before the exercise ended. In some registration centres across the country, some women had to fake pregnancy with a view to drawing the sympathy of INEC officers to facilitate their registration. There were also reports of people who had to part with money before they could be attended to. These developments are unhealthy as many Nigerians will be deprived of exercising their civic and democratic rights on election day.

However, what perhaps constitutes the biggest impediment is the debacle over Electoral Act (Amendment) to which President Muhammadu Buhari is yet to give his assent. With barely 24 hours to the expiration of the 30-day grace at his disposal to assent to the bill, the country faces the prospect of being compelled to use the old Electoral Act for the conduct of the 2019 elections, and that will be nothing but a setback. Already, several critical stakeholders, including political parties and advocacy groups have expressed their anger at the disposition of the president.

It is instructive that the current bill was transmitted to the president on 3rd August, 2018 following the consideration of the initial observations he raised. Given the existing rules and protocols guiding preparations for the conduct of elections, if the bill is not signed six months before the elections, it becomes invalid hence the 2019 polls cannot be predicated on it; so technically, the bill might have lapsed. It is hard to believe the insinuations in some quarters that the president has refused assent because of the provision that makes the use of card readers mandatory for the accreditation of voters.

While the card readers were used for the accreditation of voters during the 2015 general elections, it was not a legal provision then and where it did not function, voters were accredited manually. But with its incorporation into the bill, any form of manual accreditation has been outlawed. That therefore means that it will be completely difficult to inflate votes beyond the number of the voters accredited.

It is noteworthy that in 2015, the use of the card readers also generated so much unease in the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), evidently because of the same cold calculations. Without its deployment, the outcome of the presidential election might have been different. It is therefore unfortunate that President Buhari who benefited from the use of card reader now seems reluctant in legalising the technology that has helped to improve on the credibility of elections in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, as the jostle for party tickets in various political parties in accordance with INEC timetable on the conduct of the 2019 polls holds between August and 8th October, the high cost of purchasing expression of interest forms remains a huge impediment to participation in elections. Unfortunately, rather than show a good example, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has priced its tickets at practically all levels beyond the reach of many people. Yet, as long as the cost of political participation remains high, the nation will continue to be deprived of the services of well-meaning Nigerians.

Given the foregoing, the president has a responsibility to safeguard democracy in the country by ensuring that he does not put his personal ambition above national interest. But the political parties also have a responsibility of ensuring that internal democracy is upheld and that every candidate for the forthcoming general election emerges on merit after a process devoid of any form of manipulation. That is the only way to grow democracy in Nigeria.

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The political parties have a responsibility of ensuring that internal democracy is upheld and that every candidate for the forthcoming general election emerges on merit after a process devoid of any form of manipulation

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MONDAY EDITORIAL

The move by the central bank is commendable

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently unveiled measures to increase the flow of credit to the real sector of the economy. The idea is to stimulate growth by propelling Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to lend to companies that are doing new capital expenditures and expansion to factories. Loans to be given under the unfolding policy are facilities of seven years with two-year moratorium on principal and nine per cent interest per annum. If well implemented, the provisions in the revised guidelines for Accessing Real Sector Support Facility (RSSDF) through the Cash Reserves Requirement (CRR)/Corporate Bonds (CBs) may help revolutionise the real sector of the economy.

Under the evolving policy, the DMBs will henceforth be incentivised to direct affordable, long-term credit to the manufacturing, agriculture, as well as other sectors considered as employment and growth- stimulating. Corporate/Triple-A rated companies will also be encouraged to issue long-term corporate bonds (CBs). Already, the CBs funding programme is in place, according to the CBN. The programme would encompass its own investment as well as that of the general public in CBs issued by corporates subject to the intensified transparency requirements for participating companies. 

While several critical stakeholders in the financial sector would rather watch to see the implementation, the consensus seems to be that the CBN got it right with the move to increase the flow of long-term credit to the real sector in such a strategic manner as to ginger growth in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors. But since the devil is always in the detail, many have decided to express cautious optimism as they await the guidelines.

 The idea of finding an enduring solution to the major challenges facing the real sector of the economy is quite commendable. For decades, the real sector has continued to be hamstrung by a major problem of getting credit at high interest rate and at short tenor. Repaying such loans with high interest and at short tenor has not only stifled their growth, but also sounded the death knell for many. While the nation’s fiscal and monetary authorities have at different times experimented with one form of measure or the other to stimulate growth without much success, we believe the new move by CBN is in the right direction.

 However, lessons should be learnt from how such efforts failed in the past.  We recall that the CBN had in August 2013 launched the N220 billion Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises (MSMEs) Development Fund.  Ten per cent of the fund was  devoted to developmental objectives such as grants, capacity building and administrative costs while 90 per cent commercial component was being released to Participating Financial Institutions(PFIs) at two per cent for on-lending to MSMEs at a maximum interest rate of nine per cent per annum. We are aware that the purpose was hugely defeated. The PFIs had cried out that lending at single-digit nine per cent interest per annum was a pipe-dream as the fund has remained largely unutilised.

We also recall that the purpose of settling up a wholesale financial institution like the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) was to provide long-term single-digit interest financing. It is evidently clear that while it might be striving towards providing long-term financing, giving loans at single digit has for years been a mirage. We, therefore applaud the current innovative approach of the CBN to incentivise the DMBs which give long-term credit at single digit interest, using the CRR mechanism. All factors considered, it might just work this time, especially if all the relevant stakeholders, including the banks and the business managers, deploy the facilities in a transparent and accountable manner.

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THE MENACE OF PIRACY IN NIGERIA

The exploitative activities of pirates have remained a serious problem for movie makers and music producers in the Nigerian creative industry. This violation of intellectual property rights has rendered many creative arts practitioners bankrupt and also inflicted devastating blows on the entertainment industry with the attendant revenue loss estimated at billions of naira. The authorities can therefore not continue to be indifferent while the pirates capitalise on weak regulations to pillage and sabotage the industry.

Aside the producers and other artistes, government is also feeling the impact of this illicit activity through loss of tax revenue as those engaged in piracy do not pay tax from their sales. Besides, as a thriving sector with huge potential, the entertainment industry should be well regulated to enable it fully evolve and contribute to the Nigerian economy. A report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said the creative industry generated $7 billion in 2016. The report said the sector accounted for 1.4 per cent of the Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and is responsible for direct employment for over one million people.

Unfortunately, this growth is not encompassing as only a few individuals, engaged in deleterious production of pirated and substandard materials, make a fortune at the expense of diligent movie makers and producers. We also find particularly disturbing a revelation made by the Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) concerning the effect of piracy on the creative sector. According to NCC, Nigeria has since 2013 been losing $1 billion per annum to pirates, who clone copyright works into CDs, DVDs, VCD and other audio-visual formats, and selling them at cheap prices through their distribution network. The report also claimed that between 2011 and 2018, regulators confiscated 749,316,187 units of pirated works and impounded 28 containers of pirated copyright protected works valued at over N10 billion.

However, in the face of this criminal act that portends grave danger for the economy, regulatory bodies are hamstrung in controlling copyright infringements and making violators accountable. Indeed our laws on piracy appear too lenient. Rather than deter the criminals from their unholy act, they have only heartened the pirates, who believe they will always be given a mere slap on the wrist. It is outrageous that section 18(1)(c) of the copyright act only imposes a jail term not exceeding five years or a fine of N1,000, or less on every pirated article, on a person convicted for pirating cinematographic films, musical works, sound recordings, among others.

We propose that the National Assembly should pass the 2017 draft Copyright Bill approved in June 2017 by the Federal Executive Council, which provides stiffer punishment for any act of copyright infringement. Regulators should also introduce other institutional structures to block areas of leakages, make more revenues for government as well as the artistes to reap from their labour. We also propose the introduction of a compulsory bar code on all original works, to discern them from imitation, thus preventing buyers as well radio and television stations from patronising pirated works.

In addition, regulators should register and license all filmmakers, marketers, distributors and film shops. They should also make meaningful arrests, enforce all anti-piracy laws and ban the sale of creative works on the streets and in the traffic. We also call on government to design a tax scheme on each copy of movie or music sold as a way of tracking all sales activities in the industry. Government should also transform the sector into a viable economy and encourage private sector investment in production and post-production studios as a deliberate effort to curb capital flight to countries with hi-tech production gadgets.

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Ibrahim Idris will take the assignment to a familiar dead end

A recent meeting of the National Economic Council (NEC) presided over by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo (then in his capacity as acting president) resolved to constitute a committee to spearhead the decentralisation of the Nigeria Police. But as we have reiterated in the past, a cynical approach to a fundamental problem, taken essentially to buy time, will not do in an environment where impunity has for long been the order of the day. With Nigeria gradually descending to the Hobbesian state of nature where life is “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short”, there is need for a more coherent strategy to deal with the challenge of insecurity in the country.

By the reasoning of the NEC, the proposed decentralisation would aid greater access to intelligence gathering and make policing work more efficient at all levels. Furthermore, the magnitude of the security challenge facing the nation necessitates collaboration between the states and federal governments in tackling the menace. Sadly, question remains as to how the NEC would seek to decentralise the Nigeria Police and opt to choose the current Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris to head the committee. It appears that the council merely wanted to play on the emotions of Nigerians.

That there is an urgent need to reform the police is not in doubt. The security challenge is overwhelming. Besides, while there are several stories of police officers collaborating with criminal gangs, not a few Nigerians have had experiences of extortions from some of the notorious officers and men who act in a manner unbecoming of a police force. Demanding bribes from motorists on the roads, collecting money before accused persons are bailed from their stations aside being deployed as muscle men for rich people, the image of the Nigeria Police is unedifying.

Therefore, assuming there is a genuine interest in the idea of decentralising the police for efficiency, the assignment ought to have been given to a neutral person, especially when the decision came at a time majority of Nigerians have lost confidence in the Nigeria police and its current leadership. This NEC move is not different from the so-called overhaul of the Special Anti-robbery Squad (SARS) ordered by Osinbajo at about the same period. The presidential order came against the background of extortion, brutality and extrajudicial killings for which men and officers of SARS were notorious.

However, in a cynical move devoid of any rigour, all that Idris did was to rename SARS as FSARS as if that would change the mentality of the men renowned for all manner of misconduct ranging from harassment to extortion, assault and extra-judicial killings. Not surprisingly, the reign of impunity has continued in the squad. For instance, on 23rd August, an innocent undergraduate was shot dead in Iwo, Osun State by one of their operatives, prompting irate youths in the town to set the police station ablaze. It was also just a few days after the presidential order to overhaul SARS was given that its men, fully armed, engaged in ballot box snatching during a state house of assembly bye-election in Rivers State, thus forcing the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to call off the election.

Given the foregoing, we agree with the NEC that there is an urgent need to reform not only the administration of justice in Nigeria but also the entire structure of the police if they must regain public confidence. But we do not believe that the current IGP possesses both the temperament and capacity for the task with which he has been saddled. We therefore demand that a more serious committee be established to review the several available reports on the reform of the police and come up with useful recommendations.

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There is need for more enlightenment campaign on the use of generators

The rising death toll through carbon monoxide poisoning across the country can be attributed to the fact that most Nigerians generate their own energy, but some without the necessary precautions. Yet, as we have repeatedly warned, exhaust from power generating sets contains carbon monoxide, a dangerous invisible and colourless gas. When inhaled, the tell–tale signs on the victim are dizziness, nausea, headache, even confusion – symptoms mistakenly attributed to too much alcohol or sun; or something else. And it has led to far too many fatalities in recent years.

That there is need to enlighten the public more on the use of generators is an understatement. Just two weeks ago, a family of six in Igboetche community, Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State lost their lives to generator fumes. It was learnt that the family had put on the generator and left it in the bathroom before going to bed. The only survivor, a 13-year-old later died in the hospital. Two months earlier in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State, another family of six was similarly wiped out after inhaling generator fumes all night.

Reports of death through generator-related accidents have indeed become a daily staple in Nigeria. That is because there is hardly a home, particularly in urban areas, without a generating set. Despite the noise and pollution they emit, they provide “emergency” power for lights, fans, fridges so that stored food items don’t get bad, and to television, video games, and such alike. Perhaps because nobody seems to be paying attention, it is difficult to put a figure to the number of Nigerians that has died as a result of generator fumes. What makes it even more tragic is that in most cases, it is the entire family that is wiped out.

The carbon monoxide fumes emitted by generators are fatal and most often, the victims, who are almost always asleep, never realise the danger until it is too late. Carbon monoxide gas, when inhaled, replaces oxygen in the body tissues and that prevents blood from carrying out its functions, including transporting oxygen around the body, thus leading to death. Even for those who survive, inhaling such fumes on a continual basis has long-term hazards, especially since it is a possible cause of lung cancer and heart disease.

That then explains why experts advise people “to never run a generator indoors or in any area where ventilation is limited and people or animals are present.” In effect, it is always safer to put the generator outside, and away from a window, and never in an enclosed situation. Indeed, most of the deaths recorded were as a result of unsafe generator use in badly ventilated environments.

Therefore, we feel the general public should be adequately enlightened on the danger of using generators, and how they can be safely used, mostly at homes. This should be the responsibility of the health and environment authorities at both the federal and state levels. By so doing, we will be able to save our people from painful but cheap deaths.

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The road map already adopted by the last Federal Executive Council will be of immense help

That the quality of teachers and other academic infrastructure at the level of basic education in the country are major challenges is no longer in doubt. Despite the Universal Basic Education (UBE) scheme, many states maintain a truly pathetic profile in the form and content of their curricula. This is hardly surprising, as many of them have consistently failed to access the federal government’s counterpart funding arrangement that offers a clear rescue path. They are unwilling to provide the matching funds for the UBE intervention and are therefore on the run from the generosity of the federal government.

The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has repeatedly lamented the failure of state governments to access and use the funds. This is in addition to states which collect it and divert same to political patronage, or which put their counterpart funds as bait to draw federal government’s support and quickly pocket theirs. To address this problem the commission should publish the list of defaulting states and invite the serious ones for “Expressions of Interest” in the unutilised funds.

However, pre-primary school education should be made to function within a well articulated and enforceable policy framework. The entry and exit into education management at this level should be regulated and standardised. A modern testing instrument should be developed and administered to potential/existing proprietors and staff of early childhood educational facilities to audit the system. The many well-meaning associations and groups acting in disparate ways to help in this regard should be properly warehoused and coordinated. A national competition to determine the best 10 pre-primary school facilities in the country should also be part of a cocktail of incentives to encourage excellence here.

The much-vaunted professionalisation of teaching should be pursued with new timelines while the Teachers’ Registration Council (TRC) and the Nigerian Teachers’ Institute (NTI) may well be merged, to have all matters relating to teachers domiciled in one address. Our post primary institutions need a complete overhaul. This should begin with a comprehensive capacity audit of the academic staff. Research capacity should also be strengthened and the criteria for academic promotion made more rigorous.

Above all, the reward system and the eligibility criteria for leadership of the trade and academic unions should be reviewed to favour serious academics. Those who want trade union platforms as springboard to political visibility should be subtly distanced from such platforms. The government should also always honour its agreements with the teachers, so that attention can move from trade disputes to exchange of ideas for the development of the system.

The governing boards of our universities and polytechnics should be populated with people whose relevant exposure will add value to post secondary education. The federal government only needs to pay attention to the mistaken assumption that an appointment into the governing board of any institution is an opportunity to confer political patronage. The Federal Ministry of Education should reduce the excess luggage it now carries by merging some of its agencies. For instance, the continued retention of the staff of the Unity Colleges as staff of the ministry promotes inefficiency and nurtures abuse in the system.

All said, the federal government can begin dealing with the emergency in education by NOT convening another national summit on education. Not only have there been many of such, there is already a road map adopted by the last Federal Executive Council. The many insightful suggestions can be structured with timelines and an implementation template so that specific action points are isolated and treated. Only a return to those neglected details that make for a credible educational system can rescue the nation from the current deplorable situation.

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There is need for independent audits of campaign finances of candidates to ensure they operate within the law

At a period in history when the President of the United States of America, regarded globally as the bastion of democracy, says “campaign-finance violations are considered not a big deal”, there is a temptation to dismiss the manner in which the laws governing elections in Nigeria are being cynically violated by our politicians. But the neglect of the relevant campaign financing limits and what candidates do with such donated monies even after elections has deepened the impression that what obtains in Nigeria is a transactional political culture with inbuilt ethos for corruption.

At issue is the way some shadowy groups are paying, on behalf of prominent presidential aspirants, the prohibitive nomination costs in both the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Section 91 (9) of the 2010 Electoral Act (as amended) states: “No individual or other entity shall donate more than one million naira to any candidate” while prescribing a punishment for those who violate this provision in Section 91 (10) (a) thus: “A candidate who knowingly acts in contravention of this section commits an offence and on convictions shall be liable – (a) in case of presidential election to a maximum fine of N1,000,000.00 or imprisonment of 12 months or both.”

Interestingly, while politicians who violate the law would, upon conviction, be given lenient sentences with options of paying some ridiculous out-of-pocket fines, “an accountant who falsifies, conspires or aids a candidate to forge or falsify a document relating to his expenditure at an election or receipt or donation for the election or in any way aids and abets the breach of the provision of this section of this Act commits an offence and is liable on conviction for imprisonment for a term of 10 years.” So in typical Nigerian fashion, the responsibility for such crimes has already been shifted from the office seekers concerned to their accountants!

The rationale behind the finance campaign laws may be many but two stand out. One, to prevent office seekers from being captured by special interest groups should they win. Sadly, nobody knows the memberships of these shadowy groups, their main objectives and how they came about the money they are donating to these aspirants as well as their own expectations. Two, in a milieu where political godfathers sponsor candidates for executive offices as business investments for which they expect bountiful rewards, a N1 million donation cap was considered a way to reduce the corrupting influence of anonymous money.

Unfortunately, the law on campaign finances has always been treated with contempt by practically all our politicians and the big parties in our country. For instance, the electoral act prescribes limits to how much candidates can spend on their elections but there is neither a way to monitor such expenses nor a method to enforce compliance. According to the electoral act, a presidential candidate can spend a maximum amount of N1 billion while the spending limit for a governorship candidate is N200 million. A senatorial candidate can spend only a maximum amount of N40 million while the limit for a House of Representatives candidate is N20 million. For state assembly election, the limit is N10 million; chairmanship, N10 million and councillorship, N1 million.

However, not only has the law been observed in the breach with elections more or less a bazaar where stupendous amounts of money are spent, the whole issue of campaign expenses in Nigeria is riddled with unwholesome practices. Besides, in almost all instances where an incumbent president or governor is seeking re-election, it is public money that is used for such purpose. Far more worrisome is what the accumulated funds are most often used for: to buy consumables which are distributed at campaign rallies, pay off some local operatives, procure the services of muscle men, compromise electoral and security officials and then buy votes on election days.

To the extent that this anomaly has alienated many Nigerians from participation in politics which looks more like a cult of the wealthy, there needs to be a provision for independent audits of campaign finances to aid accountability. If our democracy is to make any meaning, donations to political campaign organisations by corporate bodies and voluntary organisations should come under the purview of such an audit requirement.

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In a milieu where political godfathers sponsor candidates for executive offices as business investments for which they expect bountiful rewards, a N1 million donation cap was considered a way to reduce the corrupting influence of anonymous money

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