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Economy

Magnus Onyibe
Economy

Nigerian Presidency, 2023: Where Are The Igbo Candidates?

by Magnus Onyibe
written by Magnus Onyibe 10mins read

In the People Democratic Party, PDP whose convention comes up 30-31st October which is a few days’ time, the front runners for the presidential tickets are already very well known.
Ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar who had faced- off with the incumbent president Mohammadu Buhari in the 2019 presidential contest with significant impact, is on top of the pecking order. This has been confirmed by Oyo state governor and secretary of the PDP convention committee, Seyi Makinde who revealed the identity of the other presidential candidates during a recent Channels television interview.
“…PDP has eminently qualified personalities that can lead this country successfully. Some have indicated interest, like former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar, like Governor (Aminu) Tambuwal, like Governor Bala Mohammed.”
Curiously, former senate president, and ex Kwara state governor, Bukola Saraki who was a serious contender for the presidency in 1999 was not mentioned. Just as no Igbo man/woman whose region is supposed to present the next president in 2023 is featured in governor Makinde’s list of PDP presidential candidates that would slug it out in presidential primaries.
With respect to the ruling party, All Progressives Party, APC, the man with the appellation, National Leader, also known as both the Jagaban of Borgu and Asiwaju of Lagos, Bola Ahmed Tinubu who served as governor of Lagos 1999-2007 is clearly the leader of the pack.
So it is almost like an entitlement for the man also nicknamed the Lion Of Bourdilon to become the president of Nigeria in 2023. That is simply because he played a pivotal role in the emergence of President Buhari as president in 2015 via his ability to swing the very critical south-west or Yoruba votes in favor of a then-presidential candidate, Buhari. Since it is the nature of politicians to give and later demand a return on lOUs, it appears to me that it is now payback time between Buhari and Tinubu. To actualize the presumed presidential ambition of Tinubu, South West Agenda For Asiwaju, SWAGA, a well-oiled campaign organization that has been founded by Tinubu’s ardent supporters has been making waves.
The criticality of Tinubu’s role in making Buhari president is accentuated by the fact it happened after Buhari’s three previous failed attempts (in 2003, 2007, and 2011) to win the presidency.
As someone contended elsewhere, it would not be far-fetched for observers of Nigerian political developments to come to the conclusion that Tinubu has been waiting for seven years to gain a foothold in the presidency of Nigeria. That is after the Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN that Tinubu leads, struck the deal with then-candidate Buhari’s, Congress for Progressive Change, CPC between 2013/14 to harness Yoruba votes for Buhari’s victory in 2015.
Considering that the Asiwaju had to give up his initial ambition to serve as Vice Presidential candidate to Buhari in 2015, which is owed to the fact that the concept of a Muslim president and Vice President is a sort of anathema in Nigeria, his burning ambition to succeed Buhari as president must have remained aglow.
But how the burning desire can be converted into reality is a lump currently lodged in the throats of both the Asiwaju who is yet to verbalize his apparently lifelong quest, and his political godson, Yemi Osinbajo, that is being coy about his interest in the plump job of being president of the republic.
Be that as it may, a presidential campaign organization, ostensibly without Osinbajo’s public endorsement known as ‘Osinbajo Support Movement’ (OSM) has
created a website as far back as May to chronicle the achievements of the Vice-President and public garner support for him. Without being told, the emergence of OSM is in pursuit of the cause of elevating the current Vice President to the next level-the presidency.
To consolidate the publicity that had been achieved with the website, in the course of president Buhari daughter’s high octane wedding ceremonies recently held in Kano, the streets of the ancient city were adorned with posters pitching Osinbajo for president and incumbent Kano state governor, Abdullahi Ganduje for vice president with the carefully crafted message:
“If power rotates to the South, Osinbajo is best placed to unite, heal and inspire our great nation. We also firmly believe that Ganduje’s antecedents as Governor of Kano make him the perfect Northern vice presidential candidate to Osinbajo; one who will advance and protect the interests of a Northern Nigeria plagued by poverty and insecurity.”
By and large, it can be stated without equivocation that the presidency of Nigeria in 2023 from the ruling party prism appears to be beaconing on the current Vice President, who is a prodigy of the Jagaban, Bola Tinubu.
Keeping in mind that it was Tinubu that conceded the role of Vice President to Osinbajo by virtue of the fact that he was his trusted ally, would he be willing to concede the presidency to him this time?
Osinbajo, who is a high-ranking Pentecostal pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God and an astute legal scholar has been on the saddle as Vice President since 2015 and Tinubu his erstwhile boss has been on the sideline.
If the feelers in the political space are anything to go by, Osinbajo is not resisting the allure of change of nomenclature from Vice President to President-a natural progression that very few mortals can resist. But would his mentor, and if you like, an earthly master concede the presidency to him? That is the elephant in the room.
In my calculations, although Osinbajo may be able to garner the votes of a vast number of Christians nationwide by virtue of his being a member of the Redeem Church (believed to be the largest Pentecostal church denomination) he does not appear to possess what it takes to take on his former boss in political warfare and win in the main political battleground, south-west. It is perhaps why the Vice President has been demurring from advancing his purported presidential dream from the subliminal level to the realms of reality.
Even when the block votes in north-west are mobilized by Ganduje backed by Buhari for Osinbajo/Ganduje presidency, the nature of politics in Nigeria is that the block votes of the southwest are also required to secure the presidency which only Tinubu appears to have the capacity and ability to procure.
So, once again, the man often referred to as pastor/professor may have to predicate his presidential ambition on the will of God.
The third personality from Yoruba land that may be nursing presidential ambition in 2023 is the present Ekiti state governor, Kayode Fayemi who is also an ex-minister of solid minerals development.
As the chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF, he has chalked up some national influence enough to earn himself national name recognition. Again, like Osinbajo, he is one of Tinubu’s surrogates who honed his political skills in the days of NADECO-the Yoruba political pressure movement that is one of the forces that pushed for the exit of Sani Abacha as Nigeria’s military head of state(1994-8).
So, Fayemi’s reported ambition may also be in abeyance, which is in line with the wisdom to engage in dalliance with Tinubu political family as a political tactic, so as not to cross paths with the APC national leader, who is apparently believed to hold the ace in Yoruba politics.
Now, our country, Nigeria is anchored, metaphorically, on a tripod formed by Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo nationalities, with each representing one of the three legs on which Nigeria stands.
They jostle for the presidency by the Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani nationalities gleaned from mainstream and online media sources has been cataloged in the preceding paragraphs.
But shockingly, alarmingly, and embarrassingly absent in the milieu are activities or information about the potential presidential or even vice-presidential candidates of Igbo origin from the ruling or main opposition parties jostling for the presidency in 2023.
So, where are the Igbo candidates?
Yes, Kingsley Moghalu, ex Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN deputy governor, and presidential candidate of one of the small political parties in 2019 may be angling for the presidency again in 2023. But, for the obvious reasons of lack of nationwide political structures, and inability to raise the humongous financial resources which by some estimates can be as high as one hundred billion nairas required to execute a presidential campaign, Moghalu has zero chance. The underlying reason for that assertion is that he is not vying for the presidency on the platform of the ruling APC or main opposition, PDP whose affluent members-governors, legislators, and ministers could have provided the financial resources and political structures once a candidate is adopted by the party. Basically if becoming the president of Nigeria in 2023 is in Moghalu’s gaze, it would have done his political career greater good, if he had joined the ruling or main opposition parties.
The other Igbo politicians of notable national status weighty enough to contemplate contesting for the presidency of Nigeria are Orji Uzo Kalu, ex Abia state governor, currently a senator; Ken Nnamani and Anyim Pius Anyim, both of whom are former senate Presidents at different times. To further give him more heft, Pius Anyim also served as Secretary to the government of the Federation under Goodluck Jonathan’s presidency.
But the aforementioned Igbo politicians who were on track to entrench themselves politically at the national level, have recently been literarily ‘damaged’ and have thus become political liabilities via their indictments by the EFCC for financial malfeasance. That is the case with Orji Kalu who was jailed under curious circumstances for corruption. But he escaped a long jail term by the whiskers when he was soon after discharged and acquitted. Pius Anyim has also been recently grilled by the anti-corruption agency, EFCC for alleged involvement of a company where he has a beneficial interest in an aviation ministry contract.
Regarding, Ken Nnamani, he has been in the cold politically for nearly fifteen years since he was compelled by his political leader( Chimaroke Nnamani, then governor of his state, currently a senator ) from seeking re-election to the senate after he played a prominent role in scuttling president Obasanjo’s presumed third term agenda in 2007. That much was revealed in Nnamani’s recently published memoir.
In a piece titled: How To Become President Of Nigeria which l wrote and published on the back page of Thisday newspaper on Monday, September 20, 2021, and on numerous online newspapers, l had made a case that the Igbo nation may be suffering from a dearth of ‘presidential materials’.
ln, the piece, l listed elder statesman, Emmanuel lwuanyanwu, the
owner of defunct Champion newspaper and lwuanyanwu Babes-football club (socioeconomic endeavors which gave him national name recognition) as a potential presidential candidate of Igbo extraction. But he is currently past his prime in terms of age and political relevance.
Another Igbo personality that l had also beamed the light on is Peter Obi, who is the 2019 vice presidential candidate of the PDP and former governor of Anambra state. He too is currently under the yoke of the recently leaked Pandora papers(a catalog of illicit financial flows into a tax haven in Monaco) which has put him under the scrutiny of Nigerian anti-fraud agencies which are getting under his skin in a bid to ferret out information to determine if the former state governor breached the code of conduct rules in public service by not disclosing some of his wealth tucked away in secret foreign jurisdictions.
In my interactions with multiple members of the Igbo ethnic stock, l get the sense that they desire, as desperately as can be imagined, to be the tribe calling the shots in the presidency from2023.
This was affirmed by the president-general of Ohaneze Indigbo, the region sociocultural organization, George
Obiozor had passionately made a case for the Igbo presidency of Nigeria after president Buhari exits the Aso Rock villa in 2023. Here is how he put it: “We support the Igbo president with open arms. It is the most important thing that will happen to Igbos. Finally, it is our turn. And we are going to work it so hard,” Obiozor further made the following emphasis:
“We will talk to other parts of Nigeria to give us a chance. Because it is right, reasonable, deserving, and timely. It is wonderful to consider it done by this time. Igbo presidency is our agenda.”
Another Igbo elder statesman and former Anambra state governor (1992-3) Chukwuemeka Ezeife had also lent his voice to the call for the next president to be Igbo.
Said he ” power comes from God but we (Ndigbo) have been doing our homework, reaching out to our brothers from the Northern, Western, and South-South part of Nigeria to support us in 2023. Ordinary Nigerians from the other geopolitical zones want an Igbo to be the next President for equity, justice, and fair play”.
Although, there has been a deluge of rhetorical statements that can be likened to the roars of lions from Igbos at home and in the diaspora about 2023 being a watershed year for a member of their ethnic group to be the president of Nigeria on the premise of the fact that both the Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani nations have had their turns in the presidential power rotation arrangement introduced since 1999: in terms of the physical mobilization of Igbo voters and the actual preparation of Igbo candidates, there has not been any significant evidence to match the vigor displayed in the media. Rather the hoopla in the mainstream and social media without commensurate practical action on the ground makes the Igbo appear like whimpering kittens as far as the struggle for the presidency of Nigeria in 2023 is concerned.
The clearly un-Igbo tame and timid attitude has been in part attributed to the resistance being put up by the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra, IPOB, separatist movement via their seat-at-home order in Igbo land; and their disruption of political activities in the South-East through other civil disobedience actions which are having crippling effects on the socio-economic and political activities in the region.
The political inactivity in Igbo land with respect to the presidency of Nigeria in 2023 is quite the opposite of the preparatory activities towards the forthcoming November 6, governorship election in which both president Buhari and NEC chairman, Mahmood Yakubu have vowed must hold on schedule, despite the IPOB threat.
Somehow, the quartet of Andy Uba of APC, Val Ozigbo of PDP, Chukwuma Soludo of APGA, and Ifeanyi Uba of YPP representing the main political parties have been ramping up their campaigns.
Given the scenario above, and if the Igbos are really not politicking for the presidency like their Yoruba and Hausa/Fulani counterparts, (which is evident by the reality on the ground) the prospect of an Igbo presidency in 2023 that may already be in peril, can be given a shot-in-the-arm through a strategic partnership that would provide political structures and financial muscle.
That is what informed my proposal in the earlier referenced article: “How To Become The President Of Nigeria” that the Igbo should align with Atiku Abubakar as PDP presidential candidate in 2023 to achieve the dream of Igbo presidency in 2027.
My proposal is underscored by the belief that it would be unlikely that the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who has become a veteran in presidential contests since 2003 with enormous practical experience, would seek his re-election in 2027 if elected president in 2023 via an Igbo alliance and PDP support.
Unless, other northern contenders like Aminu Tambuwal or Bala Mohammed are willing to serve only one term and hand over to an Igbo Vice President, which is a highly unlikely scenario simply because of their relatively young age compared to the former Vice President who would be 75 years next month, Igbo quest for the presidency of Nigeria may remain a mirage.
In my view, a partnership with Atiku Abubakar as a pathway to Aso Rock Villa remains the most viable trajectory for an Igbo man/woman to become president of Nigeria in 2027 on the PDP platform. That is because, Atiku Abubakar is liberal, broad-minded, business savvy, and has links by marriage to all the three major ethnic groups-Hausa/Fulani, Yoruba, and Igbo in Nigeria. It implies that Atiku Abubakar’s presidency would likely be more inclusive than the nepotistic-a trademark of the current government in power that is fueling the current gale of separatism.
The point being made here is that under Atiku Abubakar’s watch as president, separatism would be consigned to the dustbin as inclusiveness becomes a major plank in government policy. With inclusiveness becoming a center point of public policy in Nigeria, secessionist tendencies would die a natural death in the manner that Niger delta militancy ceased after the late president Umaru Yar’adua took strategic steps to stabilize the volatile region via his offer of Amnesty to former militants after meeting some of their demands.
The existential reality in Nigeria’s current political equation is that the Igbos need help to actualize their quest for the presidency of Nigeria. As Atilla, the Hun advised, “choose your enemies wisely and your friends carefully.”
It should be obvious to the average Igbo that they can not ascend the throne in Aso Rock Villa by themself. And they must accept that their mastery of business can not overnight translate into the political savviness that is required for someone of Igbo extraction to become the number 1 citizen presiding over our country in Aso Rock Villa seat of power from 2023.
So an alliance with the former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar whose political fortune has been built since the time that he first contested against former the late MKO Abiola in Social Democratic Party, SDP primaries held in 1992, remains the most viable political catapult that can propel the Igbo nation into Aso Rock Villa, after Alex Ekwueme’s partnership with Shehu Shagari for the presidency of Nigeria (1979-1983). It is disappointing that it is the last time the Igbo enjoyed worthy political significance in a country that they have indisputable ancestry.
Without adopting or resorting to the application of such cold calculations, the Igbo’s demand to have someone from their ethnic stock as number occupant in
Aso Rock Villa would very likely remain a mission impossible as the demand would continue to be elusive beyond 2023 and even 2027.
As a follow-up article to How To Become President Of Nigeria, l wrote another piece titled: “A Citizen’s Guide on How To Become President of Nigeria” also published on the back page of Thisday newspaper on October 22, 2021, and other mainstream newspapers, including Daily independence, Vanguard as well as online platforms, the following points were brought to the attention of readers:
“Although presidential power play is largely about popularity, it also significantly utilizes conspiracies and alliances as the oxygen and blood for positioning popular candidates for victory in presidential polls.”
In light of the above reality, which ethnic nationality or nationalities in the Nigerian Union is the Igbo building alliance or conspiring with, overtly or covertly? None in my opinion. But l stand to be corrected.
Now, I have read some news items indicating that some ethnic nationalities in the middle belt have been co-opted into the agitation for the Igbo presidency in 2023. The pertinent question is: does the north-central political zone hold significant votes compared to southwest or northwest that are the most prolific sources of votes in our present political configuration? Again, the response is a negative affirmation.
Even as the political link-ups being weaved like spider webs between the Yoruba and the Hausa/Fulani politicians as reflected by the subterranean alliances are being tagged conspiracy theories since they are yet to be acknowledged by the key actors, there are practically neither conspiracy theories nor alliances between the Igbos or any other major tribes for the presidency of Nigeria in 2023.
It is disappointing that while the eastern region is prevaricating or pussyfooting on the strategy to adopt in order to achieve her over 50 years aspiration for self-rule, or at least get critically involved in running the affairs of the only country that can call their own, the southwest and more appropriately, the Yoruba nation, leveraging the ruling party, APC platform is at the cusp of taking the slot of the south for the second time in the presidency rotation calculus which commenced with president Olusegun Obasanjo in 1999. And I get the uncanny sense that the APC is more oriented towards rotating the presidency to the southeast in 2023 than the PDP, as such it may end up specifically zoning the presidency to the Igbos even as the PDP by all intents and purposes are likely to throw it open. But the easterners may not be able to positively convert the opportunity if offered by the APC because their house has not been literarily put in order.
Perhaps, the Igbo nation would be jolted from its reverie if it is reminded of how one time Vice President of Nigeria, Alex Ekwueme of blessed memory suffered the negative effect of Igbo republicanism when multiple fellow Igbos contested against him and split the votes in the PDP primaries held in Jos, Plateau state in 1998.
Although the election of Goodluck Jonathan to serve as Vice President under Umaru Yar’adua’s presidency (2007-10) and his subsequent elevation to the position of president (2010-2015) in the aftermath of Yar’adua’s sudden death offered a window of opportunity for the Igbos to have a say in the country, 2023 represents an epoch for them to be on top of the pecking order in Aso Rock Villa. Beyond the feeling of accomplishment amongst the Igbos that may be elicited by an Igbo presidency, it is even being canvassed in some quarters that it would also moderate their separatist tendencies that have severely damaged the fabric of the unity of our beloved country in the manner that the concession of the presidency to the Yorubas in 1999 via the fielding of both Olusegun Obasanjo and Olu Falae as the presidential candidates of the two major political parties, healed the wound inflicted on the collective psyche of the Yoruba nation by the annulment of June 12, 1993, presidential election; presumably won by their son, MKO Abiola; the assassination of his delightful and heroic wife, Kudirat and his subsequent passage while in the custody of government in the course of his struggle to claim his presidential mandate.
In the likely event that the Igbos have forgotten.
It would interest them to know that of the five presidents that have led Nigeria -Shehu Shagari, Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Yar’adua Adua, Goodluck Jonathan, and Mohammadu Buhari currently in the saddle, only two have been from the south. Both of them- Obasanjo and Jonathan made it to the presidency directly or indirectly following the sudden death of their principals- either via assassination or natural causes.
In other words, they rode on the apron strings of northern Political leaders who got selected after a military putsch, as is the case with Murtala Muhamed and Obasanjo (1976-9) or got elected president via a general election following the death of an elected sitting president, which is what happened with the Umaru Yar’adua and Goodluck Jonathan presidency(2007-15).
It is also pertinent to bear in mind that Obasanjo did not get elected president in 1999 on the voting strength of the Yoruba nation. Rather, he became president despite being rejected by his Yoruba kith and kin that preferred his opponent, Olu Falae.
So he only became no 1 citizen through the political engineering reportedly driven by the duo of former military head of state Ibrahim Babangida and ex-chief of army staff, TY Danjuma. The pair of whom are leading members of the northern intelligentsia or the so-called Kaduna mafia.
It is the foregoing political developments that have informed my unique perspective that it would be more pragmatic for the Igbo nation to be fully conscious of the dynamics of politics in our country in order to be guided and thus be appreciative of the propriety of weaning itself off the utopian idea of winning the presidency without the type of strategic alliances espoused in my earlier proposition.
Allow me to indulge you by being a bit prescient as l reference an AriseTv interview with late northern political power broker and bridge builder, late Isa Funtua in January 2020 where he made a prediction that the Igbo can not be given the presidency on a platter of gold:
“They want to do things on their own and because they are Igbo, we should dash them the presidency?”
The straight-talking lsa Funtua further made the following declarative statement about the Igbos :
“Nobody will carry you like a newly born baby.
With due respect to the Igbo, they fail to understand that when the South-West chose to remain on their own as opposition, they did not go near (national) power”
With the benefit of hindsight, my candid advice to the Igbo nation is that it is time for them to collectively pull themselves out of their current state of lethargy and do their spadework if they truly want to be the ethnic nationality calling the shots in Aso Rock Villa in 2023.
Need l say more?
ONYIBE, an entrepreneur, public policy analyst, author, development strategist, an alumnus of Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, Massachusetts, USA, and a former commissioner in Delta state government, sent this piece from Lagos.
The conversation continues on: www.magnum.ng

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robert opara
Economy

DIPLOMATIC DISCOURSE WITH ROBERT OPARA

by Robert Okpara
written by Robert Okpara 10mins read

The world’s nations have taken developmental strides a notch in ways that have gone beyond our usual pedestrian laid back “transfer technology” mantra of Africa’s sociopolitical class. While lots of African nations and leaders are presently assembled in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia lying through their teeth on ways to extract more funding commitments from the developed countries by presenting phantom development narratives that are absolutely nonexistent, the developed world has left African countries far behind in developing strategies to make life much more bearable and conducive to their citizens. Two decades into the 21st century and the science fiction dreams of the creators of The Jetsons are closer than ever to becoming a reality. With the likes of UBER and BOEING developing eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing) flying taxis, it’s a definitive surety that by 2040, there will be about 430,000 such vehicles in operation around the world. This comes as delivery drones are also being increasingly developed and tested with the global market for these tipped to be worth about $5.6bn by 2028. One can only begin to estimate the unprecedented job opportunities coming from this innovation alone. 


African countries are miserably lagging behind in developing strategies for agricultural bumper harvests in any given period because we hardly get our priorities right. Most simple things like toothpicks are imported from foreign lands. There’s hardly investments in other agricultural equipment to send the teeming jobless youths and women to subsistence farming opportunity. Incidentally, these are the 2 most vital demographics that need these nonexistent job opportunities because of their implosion tendencies during a crisis. Listen to Buhari’s sermon on the mount in Riyadh on Tuesday in an attempt to hoodwink his hapless and gullible Mumu audience: “Nigeria’s population today exceeds 200 million people. Some 70% are under 35 years old. When we came into government in 2015, we’re quick to realize long-term peace and stability of our country is dependent on having inclusive and humane policies” Really Mr. President? Which definitive policies are you referring to now? He further added: “We introduced policies that supported investments in Agriculture and food processing. We provided loans and technical support to smallholder farmers through the Anchor Borrowers Program”. Maybe we should enquire about the present unemployment rate in Nigeria. Or can we also ask Mr. President the success rate of his policies in dealing with kidnappings and banditry in Nigeria? Or put it mildly, is the country safer now than in 2015?


While our president is acting Prince Charming to his Riyadh audience and other African countries are neck-deep into coup de’tats and killing sprees, to handle the demands of a future in the Flying Taxi module, in which drones and flying taxis (think large, multi-propeller the drones) share airspace over busy conurbations, proponents of this unique technologies are already ahead of the competition in planning how to build lots of mini-airports dubbed skyports. They reckon that these mini airports will be needed to enable air taxis at the exact spots where the passengers want to go. Prospective companies keen on these unique ventures are in the forefront of strategic mappings, having carried out more than 1,000 test flights of its eVTOL crafts. The companies are already processing their approval documentation from the US regulator, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to begin commercial operations in 2024. These air taxis can carry four passengers, travel at up to 200 mph (322 km/pH), and has a range of more than 150 miles (241km). These crazy and strategic investors envisage offering their aerial ride-sharing service from locations near to where people live, work and want to go. They’re also working closely with cities to ensure their services connect to other modes of transit, co-locating skyports with train stations, airports, and other hubs.

However, whether and when these investors reach a point reminiscent of the unique project will depend on how the industry handles a number of key hurdles. These will include public acceptance, high-volume manufacturing, digital, power, and physical infrastructure investment, and the development of a highly-automated air traffic management system.
The main challenges here are regulatory hurdles and air traffic control systems. I can actually envisage the extreme human factor challenges in the regulation of air traffic routes and multiply by a million. It’s likely to start by establishing standard drones or air taxi routes. Rules will be set, kinks worked out, and standards applied universally to minimize incidents. From my investigations in the US from regulatory authority sources, the biggest barrier is that Flying taxis are yet to be given the authorization to fly commercially by the relevant authorities such as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the US or the UK’S Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). I also understand that these hugely rich companies from both sides of the Atlantic are ready to deal with these treating issues.

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minister-of-petroleum-in-nigeria
Economy

Nigeria Though An Attractive Destination For Business, Investors Must Read This

by Abdulrauf Aliyu
written by Abdulrauf Aliyu 10mins read

Nigeria is no doubt an attractive investment destination for multinational corporations seeking to do business in Africa. Yet, it remains a difficult market to do business in. My conversations with senior business executives, particularly those from big multinationals, often focused on the high cost and difficulty of doing business in Nigeria as one of the biggest disincentives for them to invest in the country.

In one illustration of these difficulties, consider that Nigeria currently ranks 131 out of 190 countries in the 2020 World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business rankings, 100 places behind China, 93 places behind Rwanda, and just 1 place above the Niger Republic. The country’s ranking in paying taxes (159) and registering a property (183) is particularly bad.

The main reason for the poor performance is a complex and unpredictable regulatory landscape. Inconsistent policymaking and subjective interpretations of legislation on the ground are major obstacles to business. Moreover, regulations can change from state to state, just as they do in other large nations.

If entrepreneurs or multinational corporations want to succeed in Nigeria, they need to understand the country’s individual states and their business environments in a lot more detail. Most of them approach Nigeria as one market when they should be thinking of the different states as individual markets. After all, what works in Anambra or Kaduna state will not necessarily work in say Sokoto or Lagos state.

Nigeria is a large, fragmented, and heterogeneous market. Within the country, there are large – and often underestimated – regional differences in language, culture, talent, infrastructure, and wealth, all of which lead to wide variations in business landscapes.

Nigerian states can be compared to individual countries. For instance, Nigeria’s most populous state, Kano, has a population equal to that of Senegal or that of Liberia and Tunisia combined, while Nigeria’s most prosperous state, Lagos, has the 7th largest economy in Africa which is significantly bigger than that of the whole of Kenya, East Africa’s most dynamic country, with a nominal per capita income of more than $5,000, more than double the Nigerian average.

Cultural variations are important. Other than the well-documented differences in language and development, demographic differences are also significant. For instance, Southern Nigeria is older, with higher spending capabilities and a more skilled population, while Northern Nigeria is younger and relatively poor. North Nigerians prefer speaking Hausa, while South Nigerians prefer communicating in English or their respective native language. These cultural differences have a significant impact on multinationals’ talent and organizational decisions.

Nigeria’s federal structure also leaves certain key policy decisions to the states. Policies relating to infrastructure development, land and labour, healthcare, and transport fall under the purview of the states – as do most licensing and permitting.

This decentralized policymaking, as well as differing priorities among state governments – from city/urban management and rural development to improving infrastructure or attracting investment – have resulted in wide variations in the business landscape across the 36 states of Nigeria.

For instance, the 2018 World Bank Doing Business in Nigeria Survey compares business regulations and measures progress in four regulatory areas: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, registering property, and enforcing contracts. which map business environment conditions across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory, reports that it takes an average of 44 days and 8 procedures in Kaduna to register a property thus making it the number one in Nigeria as against the likes of Lagos state with an average of 105 and 12 procedures or Sokoto state with an average of 85 days and 12 procedures, thus ranking them as number 16 and 30 respectively in Nigeria.

Similarly, the time it takes to enforce contracts varies. For instance, while it takes 307 days and a 25.2% claim value as cost in Kaduna state, In Sokoto state it takes  568 days with a 27.1% claim value as cost, while in Lagos state, it takes 447 days with a 42.0% claim value as the cost

I expect state(s) policy to become even more prominent in determining the overall investment potential of the country. This can be made possible if the country’s federal government encourages competitive federalism – an approach that will enable the 36 states to compete for investments based on their individual economic policies and ease of procedures. Similarly, the federal government should consider devolving power to state governments, thus, encouraging them to make their own economic policies.

Aside from understanding how Nigeria’s states differ, companies or investors must also create a well-thought-out plan for allocating resources across states. Most firms find it difficult to effectively compare markets and develop a structured prioritization process. Based on my experience of working with entrepreneurs or business executives doing in or seeking to start a business in Nigeria across different industries, I find that a simple yet powerful four-step framework can help them effectively prioritize markets in the country

Measure risk-adjusted opportunity

I recommend that entrepreneurs, senior business executives, or institutional investors first measure the risk-adjusted opportunity in each of Nigeria’s 36 states by analyzing leading indicators of the market’s size, growth, industry clusters, and stability. (Industry cluster metrics measure the size of the pool of potential customers for B2B or B2C companies, and market stability metrics measure institutional, business, and social stability.) Example indicators include size (population, for instance, or state gross domestic product), expected growth, industry clusters, and market stability (including factors from workplace injury rates to crime).

This first step would allow prospective investors or entrepreneurs to measure not only the potential in a market (size, growth, and industry clusters) but also the associated risk (market stability). This is important to get an assessment of the realistic potential of each state.

Measure operating environment

Entrepreneurs and investors should then measure the operating environment of each of the 36 states by analyzing indicators related to infrastructure, talent, finance, and the business and tax environment. The data for this exercise are publicly available on most state’s websites or the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics reports among several others. Example indicators include infrastructure (such as the number of major seaports or airports), access to talent (the number of people enrolled in higher education), access to finance, and the business and tax environment, and the ease of doing business.

The business and operating environment vary remarkably across states. Focusing on those that have a strong operating environment — for instance, high ease of doing business score (Kaduna) or well-developed infrastructure (FCT) — can help entrepreneurs or business executives lower the cost of doing business in the country.

Evaluate results

If we plot the risk-adjusted opportunity and operating environment of the different states on a graph, we would clearly see which states offer the highest return on investment and represent the greatest opportunity for business. It is advisable that business executives or investors focus on a state with the largest opportunity and the strongest operating environment so that they are able to increase the return on their investment.

Prioritize states

Entrepreneurs, business executives, or investors must also align their Nigerian focus and strategy to the outcome. They can do this by categorizing the states into four groups in order of priority.

The first group of states – those with high opportunity and a strong operating environment – are category 1 states where entrepreneurs or business executives should focus on enhancing performance. Most big businesses or multinationals already have a presence in these states and executives should undertake a strategic approach to improving operations and capturing opportunities in these high-performing states. I recommend examining areas of geographical expansion within the states and conducting internal reviews to identify areas of operational inefficiencies.

The second category of states – those with moderate opportunity and a good regulatory environment – are states in which entrepreneurs or business executives should consider expanding their presence. There are benefits in expanding to states that are geographically close to category 1 states, so I suggest a ‘hubbing strategy for expansion, i.e. executives should prioritize expanding to category 2 states that are relatively close to the high performing states to capitalize on cultural similarities and capture economies of scale.

The third category of states – those with moderate opportunity but a weak regulatory environment – are those where executives should monitor growth rates and explore potential as the state governments continue to improve the regulatory environment by implementing reform. Examining details of various policy initiatives aimed at attracting investment is critical for companies to determine the right time to enter these markets. Several central and eastern states fall into this category.

And finally, the fourth category – those with small risk-adjusted opportunities and a weak operating environment – are likely to be costly investment destinations for multinationals with low returns. Executives should de-prioritize these states.

Often considered a country of countries, Nigeria can be a difficult yet rewarding market for entrepreneurs, business executives, and institutional investors. Those that have a structured approach to prioritize Nigeria’s states can navigate the complex market effectively and make strategic decisions backed by quantitative insights. The approach presented here can enable entrepreneurs and business executives to prioritize those states that are business-friendly, thereby lowering their operating costs and helping them get the highest return on their investment. Adopting a state-wise approach is key to getting it right in Nigeria.

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minister-of-petroleum-in-nigeria
Economy

Lesson From The Bida/Mokwa/Kwara/ Lapai/ Lambata Truck Drivers Strike

by Denzel Harrington
written by Denzel Harrington 10mins read

Recently, truck drivers who regularly ply the Kwara/Mokwa/Bida/Lambata road blocked the route to all forms of road transportation in demand for the federal government to repair that road. Their seven-day action, although sabotaged economic activities to a great extent, was hailed as well-deserved, in the opinion of many who feel that road has been neglected for too long. And the take is, depending on the ultimate upshot of their action, a new culture to arm-twist the federal government to do its work may be evolving. Truck drivers’ rebellion might be an example to emulate in the future.

As a matter of fact, the federal government has already started making some concessions to the demand of the drivers. And their demand is appropriate, “make the roads pliable!”

The drivers had blocked the road in protest of the Niger State Government blocking the Bida/Minna road, which had been closed to articulated vehicles owing to construction work. That road had been used as an alternative route because the Kwara/Bida/Lambata Lapai road, which is the main road linking the Southwest to the North has become virtually impassable. And lip service has been paid over the years regarding that road.

For example, since 2018, when N33 billion was allocated by the federal government to rebuild the road, virtually nothing has been achieved, as the condition has only worsened since then with every rainy season.

The economic importance of that road cannot be overstated. A large swathe of the north, which depends on the ports of Lagos depends on that road to convey manufactured and imported goods to end-users. On the other hand, the Southwest depends on the road to receive agricultural products from parts of the north, which depend on that road. There can be no gainsaying the fact that the road condition has contributed to the rising cost of food, since perishable foods that should be conveyed over a 24 hour period from north to southwest take days and get wasted, to the loss of farmers and the larger economy.

A highway network can be likened to the human cardiovascular system. Good pavement and minimal construction zones keep a local economy moving, healthy, and growing, but potholes and slow-moving construction projects are like plaque – they render regional commerce sclerotic.

When interstate highways are pockmarked by rough, vehicle-ruining roads, it takes longer to deliver goods in and out of the region. Delivery vehicles will be damaged more often (flat tires, bent tire rims, broken axles, etc.) and need more repairs.

Labour and fuel costs increase when traffic moves slowly, due, simply too bad conditions, or lane closures during extended resurfacing projects – causing drivers, their goods, and passengers to endure more time per trip.

The same applies to municipalities. When bad streets are all that connect consumers to a shopping center, the options to shop online, in stores elsewhere, or not at all become much more attractive. The online alternative might come with a higher price if parcel delivery services begin to tally and charge for the added costs of delivering in specific areas. But especially regrettable is the billions of man-hours lost in traffic, most notably in cities like Lagos, largely due to potholes.

Many intra and interstate travelers can identify with the above scenarios. With the negative impacts of COVID-19 on the populace such as loss of jobs, salaries slash, to name a few, coupled with the increase in the prices of fuel and electricity,  improving the pliability of the country’s roads is a veritable and the most impactful moves the federal and state governments can make to assuage the pains of the masses.

A regular user of that road, Aliyu Usman says if the roads were in good condition there would be reduced incidences of banditry, kidnapping, and other criminal acts. He observed that such criminal activities occur at bad spots where vehicles must slow down due to bad spots on the road.

One important take from the saga is that the blockade by the truck drivers was only called off after the state government shifted grounds to allow the trucks to use the Minna-Bida Road, which happens to be an interim arrangement to allow the federal government to mobilize contractors to site to recondition the road, at least in phases.

The success of the truck drivers’ rebellion to the arm-twist government to do the needful may embolden road users suffering similar menace in other parts of the country to do the needful: ‘fix the roads’.   

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Bashorun J.K. Randle
Economy

THE FIRST LADIES (AND THE LAST MAN) PT2

by Bashorun J.K. Randle
written by Bashorun J.K. Randle 10mins read

“WHY WE HAVE NOT REMOVED DEAD PERSONS FROM VOTER REGISTER, BY INEC”

The Independent National Electoral Commission has linked its inability to expunge dead Nigerians from the nation’s voter registration to the absence of adequate data of dead people.

INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu stated this when he received chairman of the National Population Commission (NPC), Nasir Kwarra, at the headquarters of the commission in Abuja on Friday.

Currently, 84,004,084 Nigerians are registered to vote but there are fears that the INEC register is grossly inaccurate due to the failure of the commission to remove dead persons from it.

INEC and the NPC had in 2018 signed a Memorandum of Understanding that would see the NPC providing information of dead voters to the electoral umpire but not much has been achieved.

Yakubu explained that the commission had been conducting a periodical cleaning of the voter register by removing ineligible persons or multiple registrants from it using a combination of technology.

He, however, regretted that technology cannot assist the commission to identify and remove dead persons from the record.

He maintained that although INEC has the largest biometric register of citizens in Nigeria complete with photographs and fingerprint information for voter authentication, there is a need to further enhance the credibility of the voter register.

The INEC boss, therefore, called on the NPC to periodically avail the electrical umpire data of deceased Nigerians for a proper clean-up of the register.

“Perhaps you may wish to start by availing us with the list of prominent Nigerians who have passed on, civil and public servants compiled from the official records of Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies and other Nigerians from hospital and funeral records across the country,” Yakubu told Kwara.

“We appreciate that this is a herculean task but that is partly why we have an NPC. We are confident that NPC has the capacity to do so. This information is critical for INEC to enhance the credibility of the National Register of Voters,” Yakubu said.

Curiously, old boys of St. Gregory’s College love dogs.  However, their wives are not so keen on keeping dogs as pets.  Beware.  Hence, they have sent out a huge warning courtesy of the front page of “The Punch” newspaper of September 25, 2021.

“UNGUARDED DOG BITES OFF ONDO UNDERGRADUATE’S PRIVATE PARTS.”

 “A dog, identified as Charlie, has bitten off a part of the private parts of a yet-to-be-identified undergraduate of the Adekunle Ajasin University, in the Akungba Akoko area of Ondo State.

City Round gathered that the student had visited a friend at the Vanilla Villa, around the Permanent Site, outside the school premises when the dog attacked him.

During the attack, the dog reportedly bit the victim’s private parts but some good Samaritans came to his rescue.

The Public Relations Officer of the institution’s Students Union Government, Oluwafemi Adegbeyeni, who confirmed the incident to our correspondent, said the undergraduate was rushed to a nearby hospital.

He said, “From what I gathered, the student went to visit a friend at Vanilla Villa, around the Permanent Site. Maybe knowingly or unknowingly he was bitten by the unguarded dog. The victim was quickly rushed to a hospital for treatment because the dog bit off part of his private parts.

He is currently being treated and still alive and that is the information I got from people who live in the area. The incident happened in the morning and from what we gathered, the dog has been a threat to people living in that area but we have been warning students to secure their dogs. The incident happened outside the school premises.”

A post on Instagram made by Instablog9ja showed when men of the Ondo State Police Command arrested the dog at a hostel where the incident occurred.

Footage attached to the post showed a man tying the dog to a patrol van. The police were later seen taking the dog away in the van.

Efforts to get a reaction from the state Police Public Relations Officer proved abortive.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Funmi Odulami, said the dog bit the upper thigh of the victim, adding that the impact of the attack affected the undergraduate’s scrotum.

She said, “A pit-bull dog known as Charlie, two years and three months old, owned by one Abass Olagunju, 24, a 400-level Animal Science student at the Faculty of Agriculture, Adekunle Ajasin University, attacked and bit one Sadiq Opeyemi, 18, 100-level of the same department, at their hostel in Vanilla Villa Permanent Site, Akungba.

Opeyemi Sadiq, who was running to meet the owner of the dog, was attacked by Charlie. The bite affected the skin of his scrotum. He was immediately rushed to Inland Specialist Hospital, Ikare, where he was treated and discharged.”

As evidence that human beings can be as savage as dogs, “The Punch” newspaper added the following headline:

“HOW HOODLUMS KILLED LAGOS POLICE CHIEF WITH MASTER’S IN LAW MONTHS TO RETIREMENT”

“Fresh facts have revealed the gruesome manner in which a Chief Superintendent of Police attached to the Lagos State Police Command, Kazeem Abonde, was murdered on Thursday by hoodlums in the Ajao Estate area of the state.

Abonde, who was also a lawyer, was killed nine months after his retirement from the Nigeria Police Force and became a full-time legal practitioner at a chamber based in Osogbo, Osun State, City Round learned on Friday.

He was lynched during a joint operation on the enforcement of the ban on motorcycles plying restricted routes in the state while one of the police operational vans took to the neighborhood was destroyed.

The raid was reportedly carried out by a tactical team comprising operatives from the Operations Department of the state police command headquarters, Ikeja, the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences (Enforcement) Unit, Rapid Response Squad, and the Ajao Estate Police Division.

The spokesperson for the police in the state, CSP Adekunle Ajisebutu, in a statement on Friday, said the team had also raided flashpoints in the area and wanted to leave the estate when the hoodlums struck.

He said, “After the successful operations which led to the arrest of some of the suspects, other criminal elements and hoodlums in their large numbers laid siege to the exit of the estate and attacked the policemen with guns, cutlasses and other weapons. Unfortunately, during the fatal attack, CSP Kazeem Sumonu Abonde attached to the Operations Department of the command was brutally killed by the hoodlums.

“The DPO Ajao Estate, CSP Abdullahi Malla, and other police officers equally sustained varying degrees of injury. The corpse of the deceased officer has been deposited at the Yaba Mainland Hospital for autopsy.”

Ajisebutu said the Commissioner of Police, Hakeem Odumosu, had ordered an investigation into the incident and vowed to ensure that those responsible for the dastardly act would be brought to book.

A colleague of the deceased who spoke on condition of anonymity told our correspondent on Friday that Abonde was supposed to retire from the Force in June 2022 and had planned to practice as a lawyer afterward.

“He was already preparing for his retirement. He was a lawyer and wanted to join a chamber he co-founded in Osun after retirement. Abonde was a fine officer and we will sorely miss him,” the colleague said.

Another source close to the late Abonde said the 54-year-old slain officer was enlisted in the Nigeria Police Force in June 1987 and rose through the ranks to a CSP in June 2019, lamenting that his death was devastating.

“He studied Law at the Lagos State University. He graduated in 2014 and proceeded to Law School. He became a barrister in law in 2016 and went back to LASU for a master’s degree. He bagged LLM (Master in Law) in 2019,” the source added.

Our correspondent learned that Abonde, a  native of Ona Ara Local Government, Oyo State, was the Divisional Police Officer, Ilemba Hausa, Lagos, before he was posted to DOPs, his last place of assignment where he was Operation Officer 1.

Meanwhile, the Executive Chairman, Isolo Local Council Development Area, Adebayo Olasoju, has appealed for calm by the residents of Ajao Estate and other concerned parties regarding the attack.

Olasoju in a statement on Friday by his Chief Press Secretary, Iskilu Alao, said the chairman, some officials of the council, and the Area Commander, Area D Command had visited the scene of the incident.

The statement read in part, “Ajao Estate being a major entry point especially to foreigners coming into our dear nation deserves the serenity obtainable in a city of equal status in advanced countries.

While the investigation into both the remote and immediate causes of the violence is being carried out, the law-abiding citizens of Ajao Estate are hereby urged to go about their lawful business as there is enough security presence to forestall resurgence.”

The Chairman, Community Development Committee, Isolo LCDA, Adesegun Olatunde, said the executive had stopped movement of Okada motorcycles on the estate as one of the immediate measures to address the violence.

He said, “No okada motorcycle is allowed on the estate for now. We are going to have a PCRC (Police Community Relations Committee) meeting today (Friday) to deliberate more on it. Some years back, they (okada motorcycle riders) had issues and they went destroyed an armored tank.

After that incident, they were not allowed to operate in Ajao Estate. But after the #EndSARS protests, they suddenly resurfaced and started operating. On Osolo Way and the 7/8 bus stop, you would see them on the road. They were not organized at all. Now, they have created problems for themselves. You cannot kill a senior police officer and go scot-free.”

The task force said on Thursday that 410 motorcycles were impounded on prohibited routes in Isolo, Ojodu-Berger, Ojota, Lagos Island, Surulere, and Second Rainbow along Apapa-Oshodi Expressway.”

“The Guardian” newspaper confirmed its appetite for dodgy (or dog) stories with its front-page story on September 25, 2021.

“ANAMBRA DOG TRAGEDY:  UNDERSTANDING PERSONALITIES OF FOREMOST DOMESTICATED ANIMAL.”

“The dog has been a human companion for more than 18,000 years, making it one of the first domesticated animals in history. However, keeping dogs as a pet comes with a lot of responsibilities. In fact, in the southeastern part of the country, there is an adage that warns thus: “The dog that laughs also bites”. Thus, as friendly as dogs are, they can also be very aggressive.

In a response to a question on why people keep pets, particularly dogs, on www.quora.com, one MJ Lejer wrote: “Because dogs can be a wonderful addition to someone’s family and/or themselves. Dogs are affectionate, loyal, loving, can offer an alarm system, and are the warm and cuddly nest to you if you have been kind and loving to them! But dogs are a responsibility; they require care, food, water, shelter… and some training if they are to be good pet citizens. And that responsibility can be from eight to 20+ years, depending on the breed! But their companionship and unconditional love can be a tremendous reward for taking care of them right!”

Lejer’s submission is quite apt, especially when considered against the backdrop of the incident that happened at Global Growth Academy, Amokpo, Umuanunwa, Nteje, Anambra State, last Saturday, where 11 dogs belonging to the owner of the school feasted on a two-year-old pupil.

It was reported that the school’s proprietor, Chief Chinedu Oka, is a returnee from the United Kingdom and that the victim was taken to the school for enrolment by his parent when the incident happened.

A source had said: “A parent took the child to the school for enrolment when the incident happened. The owner of the school rears dogs on the premises, despite the community’s warning against it. While the parent of the child was perfecting the documentation and registration of the child, the child wandered off.

On sighting the baby, one of the dogs rushed at him and dragged him into their pen where about 10 of them devoured the two-year-old boy without any school official on hand to rescue him.”

The development reportedly angered members of the community’s vigilante group who entered the school’s premises and killed all the dogs.

A similar incident had happened in September 2014 at 35 Adegboyega Street, Akesan, Igando, Lagos. In the incident, then four-year-old Omoniho Isaac Abraham narrowly escaped death as two dogs belonging to the caretaker of the house, Stanley Jegede, pulled out his skull. Two elder brothers to the victim also got injured while trying to evade the dogs’ attack.

Narrating the incident then, the father of the victim, Abraham Odia, said his wife went to buy something for the children, shortly after she left, the children came downstairs with their bicycles to play as he lives upstairs.

But unknown to them, the giant dogs belonging to the landlord’s brother, Jegede, were not chained.

“Immediately the kids came down, two of the dogs chased them. The third dog was chained. The children ran back upstairs, but the dogs chased them up. Three of them ran up, but the dogs still attacked them forcing the other two who were 12 and seven years old to jump down and leave their younger one who could not jump. They sustained fractures on their legs. The dogs pounced on the boy who could not jump, tore his skull, and battered his face,” he said.

What could have gone wrong with the dogs that made them turn violent? Or was it the fault of the victims? What should a household consider before choosing a dog as a pet and what kind of dog should they get?

The wives of Old Boys of St. Gregory’s College were adamant:

“NO DOGS ALLOWED WITHIN THE PREMISES

OF THE COLLEGE”

At King’s College, some dogs are more equal than others !!

Bashorun J.K. Randle is a former
President of the Institute of the Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN)
and former Chairman of KPMG Nigeria and Africa Region.
He is currently the Chair

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Bashorun J.K. Randle
Economy

THE FIRST LADIES (AND THE LAST MAN) PT1

by Bashorun J.K. Randle
written by Bashorun J.K. Randle 10mins read

Straight after delivering my address to the Society of Women Accountants of Nigeria I walked into an ambush outside the hall.  It turned out that among women chartered accountants there is a core group – those who are married to old boys of St. Gregory’s College, Obalende, Lagos.  They were wearing T-shirts (Green and Purple !!) with “J K  For  President” boldly emblazoned.  What they wanted was for me to agree to their terms for supporting my candidacy for election as the president of St. Gregory’s College Old Boys Association.  They have been fiercely loyal regardless of the fact that it is their husbands who would actually vote.   They assured me that their beloved husbands would do their bidding to the last man.

They promptly informed me that they had constituted themselves into a focus group with the principal aim of taking on the cynics who have been making loud noises over the prospects of an old boy of King’s College (which I am) emerging as the President of St. Gregory’s College Old Boys’ Association. 

After all, this is Nigeria – the land of the free and home of the brave.  They particularly like my campaign slogan which is a quotation:

“If you find a path with no obstacles,

it probably doesn’t lead anywhere”

  • Frank A. Clark

(1860 to 1936).

What has galvanized my campaign is the bombshell announcement I made at both my nationwide broadcast and World Press Conference that within one hundred days of becoming the President of St. Gregory’s College Old Boys’ Association, I shall introduce to the letter (and the spirit) the radical views espoused by Emeritus Professor Olugbemiro Jegede when he was interviewed by Christian T. Alabi.

In bold headlines, “Daily Trust” newspaper delivered the message on its front page on September 30, 2021.

“WHY NIGERIA [ESPECIALLY ST. GREGORY’S COLLEGE] MUST ABOLISH EXAMINATIONS IN ITS EDUCATION SYSTEM”

“Why the call for the abolishing of examination in schools and how can that be actualized in the Nigerian education system? 

Examinations in schools have never been true tests of the learner’s full capabilities. Think of a student taking examinations at the worst emotional time of his life, probably lost his mobile phone with all information, or lost one of his parents, or has been battling with malaria all week before examinations. How do you expect such a student to do well or perform to the optimum of his intellectual ability? At best, examinations and tests are good for ranking learners. But no system should exist just to rank students because learning should never be a competition.

In education, the progress of a whole class is dependent on the slowest learner. If you, therefore, rely on examination as a yardstick to measure real learning, we shall never make the comprehensive progress needed in our educational system. That is why Singapore has done away with examination and especially ranking of performance in the primary and secondary school levels and considered doing the same at the tertiary education level.

What that country and other progressive countries, especially in Asia, are doing now is using qualitative descriptors such as a learner’s discussion participation, homework, group work, and other less competitive means to assess learning by individuals. At the secondary school level, even though learners may still be graded, including decimal points in any marking scheme is a waste of time. What is being done is to use the portfolio system which will contain a learner’s performance in group projects and the learner’s proficiency in demonstrating skills acquired in any learning situation.

The current century no more looks for marks grading or ranking of students to decide if learning has taken place. That is why our first-class graduates cannot perform as well as third-class graduates on the field where the use of our hands integrated with brainpower is required. It is what skills you can demonstrate with the mathematics or science or geography you have learned that employers now look for. In any case, the new development in the recognition of learning achievement is to use learning badges.

A learning badge (digital or physical) is a validated display of accomplishment, skill, quality, or interest that can be earned in any learning environment. Badges can represent traditional academic achievement or the acquisition of skills such as collaboration, teamwork, leadership, and other 21st century skills.

What kind of change are we expecting when exams are abolished?

Examinations encourage unhealthy competition in our learning environment and this is an inherent threat to the total development of a child. Encourage a learner to use all his or her senses, hands, and brain in an integrated fashion to demonstrate innovation and creativity.

That is why in interviews, it is no more adequate to show a certificate from a business center that you are computer literate; they put the computer before you and ask you to word process something or do some excel spreadsheet or whatever to demonstrate your proficiency and skills in the use of the computer.

We need to abolish examinations in schools and devise other means to replace entrance and final year examinations. We must borrow a lesson from the latest developments around the world in an industry where Google, Apple, and 12 other companies no longer require employees to have a university degree to be hired.

In fact, they say they will now hire accountants, historians, and non-scientific qualifications and train them hands-on in computer science and information technology. Many of the world’s most popular global companies that young ones now rush out of Nigeria to work for, don’t require a university degree, and certain jobs are more likely to be filled with non-college graduates than others, as the World Economic Forum tells us with regard to the world’s most sought-after skills for the 21st century.

As reported in many pieces of literature around the world, top business executives have begun questioning whether degrees or certificates from institutions of higher learning really prepare workers for careers, while some are starting to hire more and more non-tertiary graduates.

We must rethink everything about our examination systems and what they portent for our education system in Nigeria. How come most of our youth are excelling exceptionally well outside of Nigeria than within? It is because the environment is quite conducive and there is no stress about examinations but a lot of emphasis on what you can do with your acquired skills.

 In general, our examination system at all levels should have been goal-based, process-based, and outcomes-based but a critical analysis of the examinations we give to learners in Nigeria shows it is not.

If we do not revise our examination systems and indeed our education system by 2030, Nigeria will be left at the train station or most probably at the motor parks.

Of course, any parent would be pleased that his son or daughter has come first or second in class or level, and in a system where our prize-giving ceremonies are traditionally to recognize student’s achievement, based on what students crammed and regurgitated for examinations. And yet, they say education is what is left in your head when all you crammed for examinations have disappeared!

If exams are abolished, by what parameters would learners be assessed in Nigeria?

For now, we must throw our archaic examination system out through the window and welcome with a broad and huge bear hug the need to use proficiency, performance badges simulations, open question, one on one sessions, online forums and discussion groups, group projects and peer-based feedbacks, and scenario-based assessment and case studies to instill self-discipline in our children to enable them to master all the skills they need to succeed in life.”

The focus group (consisting of wives of old boys of St. Gregory’s College) has encouraged me to venture into tackling crucial national issues particularly drugs.

“Daily Trust” newspaper, September 25, 2021

“DRUG ABUSE: PSYCHIATRIC PATIENTS FLOCK HOSPITALS

IN CALABAR, AWKA”

“The principal psychologist at the Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Calabar, Dr. Eyo Asuquo, has disclosed that there is an increasing number of psychiatric patients arriving at their facility in recent times.

In an interview, he attributed the reason to increasing abuse of hard drugs, such as Tramadol, Nicotine, Cannabis, Indian hemp, as well as high intake of alcohol by victims.

Findings revealed that as of press time, 93 drug-related patients were accommodated at the seven wards of the hospital.

Asuquo said, “As a result of the increase in the number of patients, an emergency ward was created to receive them.  We have seven wards that accommodate different levels of psychiatric disorders.  We have a multi-disciplinary approach to their treatment.”

He said they took time to attend to individual cases and discharge those whose conditions got better than when they were admitted.

He also said the rate of recovery differed from one patient to another, depending on the degree of disorder.

He expressed gratitude to the federal government for restoring and re-equipping the facility better than when hoodlums destroyed it during the #ENDSARS protest last October.

A member of staff of the hospital, who did not want his name mentioned, said patients were brought in from different parts of the state and other places.

“At present, the facility is functioning as it should. Patients are brought in from parts of the state and outside. Our experts attend to them every working day, except Wednesday,” he disclosed.

Another member of staff said they only received 10 percent instead of the 40 percent hazard allowance promised them by the government.

In Anambra State, the Neuropsychiatric Hospital, Nawfia, Awka South, has many patients.

Our correspondent who visited the hospital observed that as early as 8.30 am, doctors were already in their consulting offices attending to patients.

Speaking with our correspondent, a patient, who identified himself as Mike, thanked the hospital management for the care and treatment he received.

He said the journey to the facility was a long one that he did not want to share with anybody.

One of his relatives, Uche Daniel said, “We thank God for healing him. We hope he would not repeat the cause of the problem.”

One of the doctors who spoke on condition of anonymity said the hospital received an average of five patients every week.

He said most of the patients were induced by hard drugs or the popular Indian hemp, adding that the state government should pay special attention to the hospital.

On the challenges of the hospital, he said it lacked adequate funding and manpower like any other public institution in the country.”

The focus group also wants me to tackle gas flaring.

Frontpage headline “The Guardian” newspaper of September 30, 2021.

“NIGERIA, OTHERS LOSING $82 BILLION FROM GAS FLARING YEARLY”

“By flaring, rather than utilizing gas for power generation or other domestic needs, Nigeria and other nations involved in such act, could lose up to $82bn a year due to global gas flaring, says GlobalData report.

The report identified the biggest gas flares, accounting for over 87 percent of all flared gas in 2020, to include Nigeria, Algeria, Angola, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, the US, and Venezuela.

Though the Federal Government had pledged to end the burning of gas as a by-product of oil production by 2030, under its latest climate plan submitted to the United Nations, independent sources state that Nigeria flared an average of 11.1m3/bbl of gas last year.

With 7.83bcm in 2019, up from 7.44bcm in 2018, the World Bank ranked Nigeria as having the seventh-largest volume under the Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report (GCFR), despite having a low level of energy access.

Nigeria reduced flaring by 70 percent between 2000 and 2020, according to the International Energy Agency, as a result of tougher penalties and incentives to capture and sell the gas.

However, the Nigeria Gas Flare Commercialisation Programme (NGFCP) has loopholes, and penalties are low and weakly enforced. International oil majors report slow progress in eliminating wasteful flaring, analysts have claimed.

GlobalData notes that, even though technological solutions exist to avoid gas flaring, many countries persist with the activity – including developed countries such as the United States and Russia. Besides lost revenue, this is also an environmental issue, as gas flaring is one of the major contributors to CO2 emissions.

According to GlobalData’s report, ‘Gas Flaring-Thematic Research’ countries could make up to $82bn if they utilize this gas instead of flaring it.

Senior Oil and Gas Analyst at GlobalData, Anna Belova, said: “It would do many countries, especially in Europe and Asia where natural gas prices are setting all-time records, a lot of good if oil and gas operators found the strategy to sell this gas rather than lose it – not only for the money but for meeting their CO2 targets too.”

Belova added: “The top 12 gas-flaring countries, flared almost 13 billion cubic feet of gas per day (bcfd). To put that into context, that amount of gas could easily keep the whole of Japan well supplied for a year. All of that power has simply gone to waste.”

Many countries flare gas because of lack of access to these markets, combined with the small volumes of gas produced at individual oil sites. The situation is further complicated by low domestic gas prices in most of the top flaring countries.

The value of flared gas, when priced at domestic prices in Russia or the US for example, is often less than a quarter of what the gas could command on Europe or Asia markets.

Belova said: “Reducing global gas flaring will require a multi-prong approach due to unique regional drivers that prioritize flaring over monetization of gas. Small-scale modular technologies, aimed at converting gas into liquids or chemicals, represent a logical choice for remote and distributed flaring sites.”

At a meeting hosted by KPMG in Durban, South Africa the late charismatic Nelson Mandela who was no longer the President of South Africa beamed his gaze on the old boys of King’s College and St. Gregory’s College and proceeded to deliver the following message:

“If this meeting has been useful, I am glad.  But it will be more useful to me if you go back to Nigeria and work to give young Nigerians good education.  Teach them to value hard work and sacrifice, and discourage them from crimes that are destroying your image as a good people.  Then you have to spend a lot of your resources on education.

Educate the children of the poor, so they can get out of poverty.  Poverty does not breed confidence.  Only confident people can bring changes.  The black people of the world need Nigeria to be great as a source of pride and confidence.  Nigerians love freedom and hate oppression.  Why do you do it (keep shafting yourselves)?”

By way of digression, the women accountants who are married to old boys of St. Gregory’s College deserve a medal for their sense of humor.  They have adopted the “The Nation” newspaper of October 2, 2021, as a collector’s item.

On its front page, it carried the following headline:

“WHY I DUMPED MY ACCOUNTANT HUSBAND, GOT PREGNANT FOR JOBLESS GRADUATE”

(Says he’s crap in bed; I had no choice but to look outside).

In the inside pages, the sizzling story is given plenty of space to accommodate the anguish of the dejected husband, the triumph of the elated lover, and the fury of the unrepentant wife.

Having regained its poise, the focus group of ladies proceeded to remind me:

“What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.”

  • Ralph Waldo Emerson

(1803 to 1882)

What followed was a trenchant complaint via WhatsApp by one of their members who had quit accountancy to venture into farming.  Along with the distress call was the front-page headline of the “Daily Trust” newspaper of September 25, 2021.

“BANDITS IMPOSE TAX ON KATSINA FARMERS”

  • Gunmen demand labour and fertiliser for own farms
  • Food crisis may worsen as resident desert farms.
  • The worsening security situation in northwestern Nigeria has since assumed alarming proportions.  Bandits are still on a killing spree, maiming or abducting people in broad daylight, forcing many to flee the rural areas and rustling their animals.  Farmers in some of the areas are also compelled to pay taxes to access their farms.  Some say by this, the bandits seem to be running a parallel government in some areas.  An investigation by Daily Trust in Danmusa, Batsari, Dandume and Dutsin-Ma local government areas in Katsina State revealed that people in villages close to forests are either forced to pay taxes to the bandits not to be harmed and to access their farms or work on the bandits’ farms and serve as their informants.
  • Despite taxing us, we’re not spared from their atrocities; they’d always come to your farm and seize your phone, money or motorbike, even shoes – anything valuable.  For nearly three weeks, I couldn’t go to my farm out of fear of the unknown.”

In a country where many are literarily voting with their feet, “The Guardian” newspaper delivered a bombshell with its front-page report on September 25, 2021.

Bashorun J.K. Randle is a former
President of the Institute of the Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN)
and former Chairman of KPMG Nigeria and Africa Region.
He is currently the Chairman, JK Randle Professional Services

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Zainab-Ahmed minsiter of finance
Economy

The Path To Sustained GDP Growth

by Denzel Harrington
written by Denzel Harrington 10mins read

Just as the economic outlook for Nigeria for the 2021 fiscal year came with multiple predictions, depending on the author, the country’s 2022 economic growth outlook varies between 2.7 and 4.2 percent, depending on the source of information. The economic prognosis is based on buoying recovery in crude oil prices and production.

Based on the latest report of the World Population Review, Nigeria is currently the 27th largest economy in the world, with a GDP of $445 billion. The report also revealed that Nigeria retains the position of the largest economy in Africa.

With Nigeria’s current population put at 212 million, according to the World Bank, the country constitutes 2.7 percent of the global population, which stands at 7.75 billion. On the other hand, with Nigeria’s GDP ratcheting around $445 billion the Nigerian economy constitutes 0.483 percent of global GDP, which currently stands at $91.98 trillion.

Nigeria has over the last several years been drooping in GDP growth. Hence, judging by the target set by the federal government, the country has failed woefully to meet up with its ambition of being among the 20 largest economies in the world by 2020.

Vision 20:2020 was a dream statement that Nigeria would become among the first 20 economies in the world by the year 2020. The 2020 goal was sequel to a research conducted by economists at an American Investment Bank, Goldman Sachs, a fall-out of which was a prediction that Nigeria would be in the league of 20 top economies by the year 2025. This was based on the assessment of her abundant human and material resources and on the assumption that the country’s resources would be properly managed and channeled to set economic goals. The then-president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, next mooted the dream as Vision 2020.

Not only has the country failed to meet up with her own set goal, but has actually fallen in GDP value over the last eight years since she assumed the premier position in Africa in 2013.

It may be recalled that the rebasing of the economy in 2013 shot the country’s GDP up from $270 billion to $510 billion. That assent catapulted Nigeria to claim a share of sub-Saharan African GDP from 21.3 percent to 31.7 percent. Since then, Nigeria had maintained the 26th position globally until recently toppled by Argentina, whose GDP has appreciated to $515.35 billion.

Interestingly, it would seem like the country has hovered about that position since then, far from the 20th position occupied this year by Switzerland, whose GDP now stands at $740.70 billion.

Even more interesting is the fact that at the time of rebasing the economy in 2013, Nigeria’s GDP stood at $510 billion; as of late, the country’s GDP stands at $445, down by almost $65 billion. This is even as the country’s population increases by more than 2 percent annually. The implication is that the country has become poorer in terms of GDP per capita.

There can be no gainsaying the fact that the fortunes of Nigeria have depended, and largely continue to hinge on the price of crude oil on the international market. It may be recalled that at the time of rebasing the economy in 2013, the price of Nigeria’s Bonny light on the International market hovered around $115.00 per barrel. As of the time of ascent to power of the current administration, the price of crude oil had fallen to below $70.00 per barrel. The situation was exacerbated by the ruinous COVID-19 pandemic, which has impacted virtually the entire world economy. The general fall in the price of crude oil has propelled the southward path of the country’s GDP over the past half-decade.

No doubt, an economy that depends on one product for sustenance, in the case of Nigeria, crude oil, is exposed to economic uncertainties. The current administration has strived to diversify the economy, especially in the areas of agriculture, energy, and transportation. As a matter of fact, Nigeria’s GDP is mainly driven by abundant crude oil, finance, transport, and infrastructure. Sustained diversification will serve as a veritable economic buffer in the long term in the instance of falling crude oil prices.

But diversifying the economy for optimal impact would require making the best of the country’s talents, or latent talents. That would imply training and retraining for productivity.

As per solution to ramp up productivity, International Business & Project Development Consultant at Ant Hill Concepts Limited, Dr. Emeka Okengwu identified factors of productivity to be the right education and training, as well as the right environment and the application of science, skills, and technology to raw materials. He said the right kind of training, when juxtaposed with internal demand for goods and services, would determine the right output for development.

Dr. Nnaemeka Onyeka Obiaraeri, recently argued the total value of domestic goods and services produced by every Nigerian in the whole of 2021 is N59,960/$113 or N164/$0.30 per day.

Obiaraeri queried the fiscal, socio-economic, governance, and resources production and distribution framework of the 1999 constitution that directs states to the federal government for monthly federal allocation for the under-productivity the country is suffering.

According to him, rather than continue to make a mess of everyone in the system, by deliberately pushing a majority of Nigerians to parasitically leech and depend mainly on the crude oil from the Niger Delta and Value Added Tax from Lagos State, the national and state assemblies should quickly lean on the High Court ruling on VAT collection by states to totally restructure Nigeria and return her to the 1960/1963 Republican Constitution, socio-economic and governance architecture.

He said if Nigerians are truly honest to themselves, they should agree on how to devolve more powers, resources, and authority to the constituent units and the people and check the massive roguery and political banditry going on in Nigeria since 1999.

He said this will be done in such a way and manner that can enable Nigerians to have a daily per capita productivity of goods and services of at least N2,000 a day or N720,000 a month by 2023/2024.

“If we restructure today and return Nigeria to the 1960/63 fiscal and governance framework that engendered productivity and healthy competition amongst the constituent units in the First Republic, by 2023/2024, Nigerians at home would be able to generate about N79,640,000,000,000/$150.2 billion if all the estimated adult working population of 110 million Nigerians are put to active productivity of goods and services within the system.

“At a worst-case scenario, even if we are able to put 50 percent of the working population to active productivity of goods and services, Nigerians at home will still be able to generate at least N39.8tn/$75.13bn annually,” he said.

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Dr Akintoye Akindele
Economy

Value before Remittance

by Akintoye Akindele
written by Akintoye Akindele 10mins read

Official data available estimates about 146 million Africans living abroad. With the population of Africa estimated at around 1.2 billion people, this implies about 12% of us live outside of the continent. These 12% remitted circa US$78 billion back to Africa in 2020. Quick arithmetic shows that the remittance per capita is about $534. The per capita remittance of Nigerians is $988 from the estimated 17 million Nigerians living abroad. When we compare these per capita numbers to that of the Lebanese community @ $664 (of the estimated 17 million Lebanese, about 11 million live in diaspora) and the Jewish community of $565 from the US (5.7 million Jews live in the US alone when compared to the population of Israel of 6.7million people), versus GDP per capita of Africa at $2,569; Nigeria at $2,097; Lebanon at $4,891 and Israel at $43,610. It shows a very clear role for the African diaspora beyond remittances. Our research shows that these other diaspora communities do a lot more than remit money back home. They are involved in skills development & knowledge transfer, collaborative research & innovation, investment & trade & product exchange. Africa needs her people who live abroad to do much more than remittances.  From our IT professionals (there are only 690,000 software developers in Africa from her compared to 628,000 in California alone) to doctors, scientists and other professionals, the possibilities that can be unlocked are endless. 

Changing the African narrative requires everyone to get involved. Home or abroad. Our dignity and future depend on all of us being nation builders. There is little government can do. People build their countries.  Go through history and let’s not confuse Chinese growth over the last 4 decades as a government-centric one alone. Our governments are a reflection of who we are. The African opportunity is the biggest catch-up story in history. We have more foreigners investing in our start-ups, companies, and innovation than us Africans. Let’s get the money we have put under our bedsheets and bank accounts working.  Inflation and devaluation risks of the money in bank accounts or at home are not better than business risks of an investment in start-ups. Data shows that while 70% of start-ups fail, the 30% that succeed compensate for the ones that fail and deliver real returns which exceed the yield on savings which is often exposed to inflation and devaluation. I am not asking us not to save; informed and enlightened investment in start-ups, equities, and innovation are also savings. Stock gambling isn’t an investment. Get advice where and when in doubt. The real return on long-term positions in equity (public and private) outperforms pure savings. 
Africans let us collaborate more, invest in each other, share knowledge, engender skills transfer and have a more positive mindset about ourselves and our future.  Our children deserve our best effort. Remember the future starts today. Start creating the future you want to live in.

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Economy

Heads Up On Bandaging The Bleeding Naira

by Cees Harmon
written by Cees Harmon 10mins read

The rate at which the value of the naira has been battered over the past six years is historic, to say the least. Over the period, the value of the local currency has eroded by more than N350 naira. And the trend seems to be inexorable.

Professor Tayo Bello of the Department of Private and Commercial Law, Babcock University, predicts that the dollar will exchange for N800.00, and more than N1,000.00 for the pound sterling by December.

No doubt, the loss of value of the naira goes hand in hand with inflation, which in turn has implications for the welfare of Nigerians.

Hence, you are in good company reading what aficionados had to say about the hemorrhaging of local currency recently at a webinar forum organized by The Alvin Report and Nairametrics.

The forum was laced with some of the brightest minds that did justice to the topic: The Hemorrhaging Naira: Way Forward.

Tope Fasua, economist and chief executive of Global Analytics Consulting Limited, who set the ball rolling, largely viewed the problem through the lens of perception. He caveated that a unified exchange rate is never going to happen as he stressed that there is hardly any unified exchange rate between the parallel and official markets in any country. He said 50 percent of the value of any currency is based on perception, and that individuals were entitled to their individual freedoms to bargain whatever rates they were willing to exchange their money for.

He said the black market will continue to exist. He argued that Nigerians’ understanding of economics must evolve as there is no grounding point for saying that the country’s currency must be determined by demand and supply.

He also stated that one of Nigeria’s problems is that we seem to have an innate belief that the naira is rubbish. Fasua added that 50 percent of the value of a currency is based on perception—if you think your currency is rubbish it will be rubbish, which is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Stressing that the issue of the value of the naira is based on perception, he alluded that Ghanaians value their currency more than the dollar, which is different from what obtains in Nigeria and paying off for them.

He cautioned that there is information asymmetry when it comes to the price of money. “If we allow the currency to be determined by demand and supply, there is only one way, down, because the naira is up against the currencies of some of the most economically diversified countries in the world, such as the USA. He also cautioned that if you fix your currency it will move against you because it will be shorted. He added that if you borrow too much your currency will fall.

The economist said devaluing the naira cannot have any positive effect any longer because the price is determined by Nigeria. He cited the Marshall-Lerner condition, which states that currency devaluation will only lead to an improvement in the balance of payments if the sum of demand elasticity for imports and exports is greater than one.

He also said Nigeria needs to have a good economic complexity index, which is a holistic measure of the productive capabilities of large economic systems, usually, cities, regions, or countries, which looks to explain the knowledge accumulation in a population and that is expressed in the economic activities present in a city, country or region.

Fasua, although earlier stating that there can never be a unified exchange rate, said BDCs constitute part of the problem of the hemorrhaging naira because some people profit from it, which is corruption because such people put demand pressure on the naira.

But beyond perception, Fasua picked on the issues of diversification and productivity. Beyond the government, Fasua said individual Nigerians must ask themselves what we are producing. He added that diversification should not be mouth talk but must be followed by action. He said for currencies to be strong there must be fundamentals.

He said FDI is the better investment to have, not hush money. He added that the CBN should expand illegible transactions, which will meet the supply for forex.

Fasua had blamed the security situation in the country as having a run on the economy because the situation stalls investments. He stated that the government has been investing a lot of money to support the people in the form of palliatives but that has not translated to productivity, which also has a toll on the naira because that all that money is in the system and chasing the dollar, which is also contributing to the naira hemorrhage.

Ascribing the hemorrhaging of the naira to the entire Nigerian project, Fasua advised that the naira not be fixed to any currency as that would be a recipe to short the local currency.

He also said Nigerians should stop the self-fulfilling prophecy that the naira is worth nothing. He said with that attitude the naira would lose value.

He also queried the idea of over-borrowing and devoting 95 percent of the revenues accruing the government going to the servicing of debt, warning that it would be dire if multiple creditors have the payments due at the same time.

Jimi Ogbobine, head, Agusto Consulting, on the other hand, viewed the hemorrhaging naira through the lens of fundamentals. He said as the rate of a country’s inflation rises, the value of the naira will fall. He said the inflation rate drives the value of the currency down. Jimi charged that we are fixated on the exchange rate, not the bottom line, which is inflation.

He said with high inflation, investors’ expectation on yield is higher as smart money is looking for yield above the rate of inflation; otherwise, it is a loss on investment. He said giving higher yields is the way to go. Otherwise, investors will hedge against inflation. He said more Nigerians are trying to hedge against an eroding naira into the US dollar because of high inflation rates.

Ogbobine said Nigeria does not over-import, but under-exports. Nigeria should export more. If people want to seek services and goods abroad, they should go. But it should reflect the price.

Tackling the root of the problem, he said Nigeria needs to give attention to the drivers of inflation, which includes running a chronic budget deficit. According to him, “We are increasing the money supply to fund our budget deficit. Monetary supply spending without a fundamental increase in production will only increase inflation.”

He also urged the government to harmonize exchange rates to attract foreign direct investment (FDI). He added that people will bet if the gap is widened.

On his part, Segun Akanji, the Divisional Head of Strategy, Heritage Bank blamed the hemorrhaging naira on the institutional void. He said institutions are not strong, which causes corruption, which in turn causes crime.

He said the country needs strong policies, which should help us determine price, premium, and return. He also queried the country’s balance sheet, which he said is not strong. Akanji said a strong balance sheet should give confidence to investors.

He stated that the CBN needs to relook at its balance sheet with international assets. “The CBN balance sheet is too nairanised. There need to be some international assets,” he said. “Bring in international institutions to facilitate financial clearing so that we have sitting capital, not transit capital.

He said Nigeria has lost its productive base, adding that Nigeria should build trade and productivity while employing sophisticated trading instruments and financial solutions. He also queried that Nigeria is a transit asset economy. He said Nigeria should create employment and enhance production.

Akanji also said not selling dollars to BDCs is a good step that has ended badly because whereas the BDCs are bad, the CBN has not provided enough forex, and corrupt people are taking advantage of it by round-tripping. He said the BDCs should be regulated.

Akanji added that Nigeria needs to imbibe international financial instruments and regulations that would add value to the markets and the economy. He stressed the need to create a financial hub that would allow for dollar clearing.

He said the Treasury Single Account (TSA) is a wrong policy because the government is too big to be having all the money in the CBN to freeze.

“We need an A-team to manage our economy. We need to advance into beneficiation for Nigerian products and bring global standards to enhance employment,” he added.

“Make policies light. Kill corruption. When that is done people will have hope. Once there is hope and a means of doing the right things people will stop doing the wrong things.  Once it gets easier here people will stay home and work. And the local currency will gain value,” Akanji summed

If Fashola, an attendee, expressed disappointment that no instruments are being traded on Nigeria’s oil, hence no value addition. About policies, she said, “Nothing is going to move forward as long as policy directions are not clear. No one wants to invest in uncertainty. Uncertainty drives away everything.”

Olumide, who joined the webinar from the U.S. bolstered Segun Akanji’s submission and added that the result of our weak institutions is our lack of ideals.

Segun Akintemi supported the argument of Dr. Tope Fasua, who had mentioned corruption as one of Nigeria’s biggest issues right now.

Ernest Edgar who joined the webinar from Canada stressed that there must be balancing acts between fiscal and monetary policy. He buttressed Tope Fasua’s argument that perception of a currency contributes to stability. He added that stable policies are necessary to drive perception.

Oluwa Shobowale however treaded cautiously, saying assumptions are always wrong when put side by side with analytics. He said we can’t draw conclusions of the causes of the hemorrhaging naira without subjecting those assumptions to analytics. He observed that every time there is an announcement made by the CBN governor the currency loses value. He said there are many variables that do not correlate. If assumptions can stand the test of analytics then we will know what to tackle. Or we may be tackling the wrong problem.

Olumide Wanwayor, on his part, said bad policies are killing exports. He said it is expensive to export out of Nigeria, which affects the value of the naira. “Why are people paying dollars for services in Nigeria?” he asked.

Promise George, who works for the Bank of Industry (BOI), said industrialists are discouraged because of the bad investment environment and resort to importing finished products, which put pressure on the naira.

Nonny Ugboma, who joined the webinar from the United Kingdom, said Nigerians need to create value and not extract value.

Aminu Gwadebe, the president of the Association of Bureau de Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) said as long as the government continues to have a monopoly of diaspora remittances there will always be problems.

The forum ended on a note of yearning for more regular meetings as such.

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Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede
Economy

Press Release: Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede has selected five Leaving the Tarmac interns for mentoring

by Ayanda Siswana
written by Ayanda Siswana 10mins read

Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede has selected five Leaving the Tarmac interns for mentoring

“It’s my privilege and honor to mentor them and set them on a path to achieving goals that not only enrich their own lives but also add tangible value to others”

Lagos, Nigeria – 08 October 2021

Press Release: Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede has selected five Leaving the Tarmac interns for mentoring

African investor and philanthropist Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede has announced the names of the five young persons he has selected to join him for a year in a special and bespoke mentorship programme created to celebrate the publication in March and the ongoing success of his memoir, Leaving the Tarmac: Buying a Bank in Africa.

The five mentored interns will be fully salaried and will join Aigboje Aig-Imoukhuede and his management team across the ecosystem of his businesses and extensive philanthropic initiatives, learning from him and receiving his best advice and counsel as they embark on their professional journeys.

The Leaving the Tarmac interns were selected from more than 500 applicants after a rigorous and competitive process. They are Raqibatu Zukaneni (a BSc Agricultural Economics and Extension graduate from  Ambrose Alli University Ekpoma, Edo State); Awe Oluwatosin Doyinsola (an MBA student from the University of Lilongwe); Jeremiah Enoch (a law graduate from Bowen University); Vivian Eze (a law graduate from the  University of Nigeria, Nsukka); and Sadiq Yusuf (an economics graduate from the Ahmadu Bello University).

“I am delighted and proud to welcome these exceptional young individuals on board,” Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede says. “They exemplify the spirit, tenacity, and can-do attitude that’s characteristic of the Nigerian youth. It’s my privilege and honour to mentor them and I look forward to working with them, fine-tuning their aptitude and talents, and setting them on a path to achieving goals that not only enrich their own lives, but also add tangible value to their lives of others, the society, and world at large.”

He says his own career benefited immensely from mentoring advice and support he enjoyed in his early days as a banker. It is his responsibility, and his honour, to do for others what was done for him as a young man.

In Leaving the Tarmac: Buying a Bank in Africa he says: “I hope that the story I am about to tell will be an inspiration to other young entrepreneurs who are setting out with big dreams, great visions, and high hopes. I believe we must speak confidently about our story of transformation if we are to inspire others to achieve the same.”

Leaving the Tarmac: Buying a Bank in Africa tells the story, in Mr. Aig-Imoukhuede’s own words, of how he and his partner, Mr. Herbert Wigwe, acquired a lackluster Access Bank and turned it into a financial service powerhouse in eleven short years.

The book has become a Nigerian bestseller and has been variously described as an account “that gives young Nigerians the inspiration to dream, weather the storm and achieve greatness” (Amina J Mohammed, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General); and “a powerful tale of leadership and institution-building” (Ngaire Woods, founding dean of the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, UK).

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