July 29, 2008
Energy
President Umar Yar'Adua continues to footdrag on the vital rehabilitation of the power sector.
After trudging on for many years, Nigeria's only surviving tyre manufacturing company, Dunlop Nigeria PLC became the latest player in the real sector to succumb to the country's intractable energy problem. Following in the footsteps of Michelin, the French tyre giant which also closed down its Port Harcourt tyre plant a few years ago, Dunlop announced it would, henceforth, be concentrating on the importation of the product it used to produce locally. It described its decision as a "strategic business redirection".
Giving the rationale for the move, Abiona Babarinde, Dunlop spokesperson noted: "The evident decay of manufacturing infrastructure, particularly the epileptic power and gas supply situation, imposes additional burden on costs, amounting to about 40 per cent, which put locally produced tyres at a disadvantage. The whole situation certainly confers undue advantage on importation rather than manufacturing. Thus, we are forced to scale down local manufacturing operations due to the very harsh business environment".
It is understandable that the company is not yet forthcoming on the fate of its over 1000 workers given the sensitivity of labour issues. It is, however, not in doubt that Dunlop is set to join the ranks of companies that have in recent years been swelling the number of unemployed Nigerians rather than creating new opportunities for employment. Before now, scores of textile manufacturing companies have closed down operations.
One statistic indicated that not less than 150,000 employees in the textile industry have been thrown back into the job market from over 70 distressed players in the industry in the past 10 years. As in the case of Dunlop, the chief culprit is the country's epileptic power supply situation. "Electricity crisis is the most important infrastructure bottleneck in Nigeria today. It is the main driver of Nigeria's high indirect cost. On the average, 10 per cent is often recorded by Nigerian companies as overhead cost due to lack of public power supply. Over 85 per cent of them now run on generators," Steven Dimitriyev, World Bank' s Senior Private Sector Specialist said recently. He noted that Nigerian enterprises still face a hostile environment characterized by high indirect cost, which depresses value added.
But the fact is that the situation has been getting worse in the past few months, as the cost of maintaining alternative power supply skyrockets. Diesel, gas and low pour fuel oil, LPFO, the three petroleum products used by large industrial concerns to power their generators and some vital industrial machines, are either not available or are sold at triple their normal prices.
For instance, diesel was selling for between N150 and N170 per litre in most parts of the country last week. There are fears that except something drastic is done, the product may soon be selling for N200. Importers of the product do not enjoy subsidy, unlike importers of premium motor spirit. Femi Otedola, Chief Executive Officer, Zenon Petroleum and Gas, regarded as Nigeria's biggest diesel importer recently noted that unless the federal government subsidises diesel import to force down the price "at least temporarily," the price will continue to rise in the local market as a result of the continuous rise in price of oil in the international market.
Manufacturers who power their operations with gas and LPFO, which are supposed to be cheaper alternatives are not better off. There are frequent disruptions of gas supply to the companies as a result of intermittent breakages in the pipelines of the Nigeria Gas Company, NGC.
Also, the reported move by the NGC to effect a 200 per cent increase in gas price, this magazine gathered, has become another source of anxiety among real sector operators. The increase, it was gathered, was as a result of NGC adoption of international price of LPFO as a base to fix the price of gas, though the product is 100 per cent produced locally. "Oil price is high, so it is not a domestic problem. The only domestic angle to it is that the Power Holding Company of Nigeria is unable to generate much electricity, so companies have to rely on gas and diesel which increases their cost of production," Bashir Borodo, president, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, lamented the negative effects of the situation on the players in the real sector. "I got a recent call from hoteliers and even service companies to inform me that they could not continue because of the power problem and high cost of powering generators," he said. The Kano State branch of MAN expressed a similar sentiment in a statement released some weeks ago.
The two chairmen of MAN in the state, Alhaji Sani Umar and Ali Madugu, said the epileptic power supply has led to a drastic drop in capacity utilisation by the local manufacturing organisations. According to them, companies that were formerly operating three shifts a day are now operating one. "Others that cannot bear the brunt have closed down," they said.
Yet, there were high hopes of a quick solution to Nigeria's power problem when President Umar Yar'Adua was sworn in as Nigeria's president on 29 May 2007. To signify his determination to tackle the problem of power supply which is very important to the country's economic development, he announced energy as top of his seven-point agenda. The former Katsina State governor had also promised he would declare a state of emergency in the power sector. He also promised to deliver over 30,000 megawatts of electricity to Nigerians in the first five years of his administration: "Our plan is to launch a national emergency programme on the power sector, because we believe that there cannot be any meaningful industrial development without steady power supply," he said.
Over a year, neither the expected declaration of state of emergency nor any significant improvement in the supply of electricity has become a reality. Rather than the much-anticipated improvement, the power situation is worsening, as power generation which was about 2,500 megawatts by May last year, recently plunged below 1000 megawatts. The reasons are not far-fetched. The existing power plants with capacity of 6000 megawatts, it was gathered, have mostly been performing below capacity due to lack of maintenance.
The former administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo had embarked on the construction of some gas-fired plants mostly in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria under the National Integrated Power Project, NIPP. This involved the construction of gas-fired power plants in Egbema, Imo State; Eyean, Edo State; Sapele, Delta State; Calabar, Cross River State; Gbaran Ubie, Bayelsa State; Alaoji, Abia State and Omoku, Rivers State. The six projects at Omoku, 100mw; Egbema, 175mw; Eyaen, 250mw; Sapele, 250m; Calabar, 250mw and Gbaran Ubie, 125mw with a combined generation of 1,150 mw were scheduled to have been completed by May 2007 while the 253 mw Alaoji plant was scheduled to have been completed by December 2006. Other power projects inherited by the Yar'Adua administration include the 414-megawatt Geregu plant in Kogi State, Papalanto and Omotosho in Ogun State, as well as Okitipupa in Ondo State . The government also at the same period awarded a contract for the construction of the Mambilla hydropower project at the cost of $3.46bn.
The hydro-electric plant is expected to generate 2,600mw of electricity when completed. The hope was that the completion of the various projects, especially those scheduled to have been completed last year, would enable the government to raise electricity generation to 10,000-megawatts by the end of last year. Indeed, Liyel Imoke, former Minister of Power and Steel Development and the recently deposed Governor of Cross River State had on a visit to the Geregu Power Station in 2006, expressed the hope that the power supply situation in the country will witness a drastic improvement by the end of 2007. His optimism was based on the additional megawatts the Geregu, Omotosho and Papalanto thermal plants which was commissioned just before the last administration left office will add to the national grid.
Obasanjo had also boasted during the inauguration of the Geregu plant in February last year that the nation would generate 10,000mw by the end of 2007. The Managing Director of the NGC, Voka Mukoro, told the Senate last December that though the power stations have the capacity, they would not be able to generate power because of unavailability of gas.
The hope was that Yar'Adua would take off from where his predecessor stopped. Against the criticisms that nothing was being done to improve the country's energy situation contrary to his promise before he was elected into office, he revealed early this year that he was being cautious so as not to repeat the mistakes of his predecessor who, he alleged, spent over $10 billion on the sector without any tangible improvement in the power situation. This set off a whole new round of time-wasting controversies as lawmakers in the House of Representatives latched on it to commence a probe on spending in the eight years of the previous administration. The activities of the Ndudi Elumele-led Committee on Power constituted by the House to probe the power sector have themselves remained enmeshed in controversies.
Recently, the federal government and two other tiers of government agreed to jointly contribute $5.375 billion for the rehabilitation and expansion of power generation, transmission and distribution and for the completion of the Independent Power Projects, IPPs.
"It is the view of the ministry that with this, it is possible to get to 6,000 megawatts by the end of 2009 and by 2011, with the expansion of the grid and Mambila and Zungeru, we should be able to get to 10,000mw", Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State who spoke on behalf of his colleagues after the June National Economic Council where the issue was discussed, told journalists. "The question then was the amount of money required, and we were told that for the short-term, it will require about $5.3 billion and a presentation was made that it should be shared between the federal, state and local governments. After a long deliberation, the states supported the proposal that funds from the excess crude will go towards this project as part of our national effort to address this problem that we see as key to the development of our great country", he concluded.
A power sector emergency implementation committee to be chaired by Vice President Goodluck Jonathan and consisting of nine governors, five ministers, one representative each from the organised labour, the media, and the oil sector was constituted to implement the plan.
Ya'Adua also set up a committee headed by Dr. Rilwan Lukman to draw up a blueprint on the way forward for it in the power sector. The Power Sector Reform Committee said that Nigeria needs a whopping sum of $85 billion (about N10.2 trillion) to meet her 20,000mw electricity target by the year 2020, in its report which was submitted to President Yar'Adua about two months ago. In the report, the committee identified problems responsible for Nigeria's power problem to include insufficient power generation infrastructure, poor maintenance culture, inadequate funding, gas shortage, obsolete equipment, weak and inadequate network coverage and sub-standard distribution lines.
The committee, among other things, thus recommended the strengthening of the PHCN through the establishment of a coordinating body at its headquarters. The committee, in the report submitted to the President about a couple of months ago, also recommended N870bn to complete the NIPPs and advised that the projects be completed as soon as possible. The committee also recommended the provision of 130m euros to complete the Shell Afam 600 mw IPP under the NNPC/Shell and Agip/Elf joint venture, which it said, could have been completed in the first half of this year.
The Lukman committee also wants the government to expedite action on the establishment of coal fired plants, which could add at least 3,000mw to generation in the medium term, and up to 8,000mw subsequently to the national grid, and to fast track action on the Zungeru and Mambilla hydro stations. These two are expected to add 4,000mw to the national grid in the medium to long-term. To ensure that the current demand estimated at 10,000mw is met in medium term, the committee recommended the immediate implementation of the proposed Calabar-Ajaokuta gas pipeline and the need to fast-track rehabilitation works in the power stations across the country to ensure their conclusion on short-term basis.
The committee also asked the government to make provision for an annual grant of N2bn to fund the procurement of 36,000 metric tonnes of LPFO, enough for 30 days generation of 200mw from Egbin power station's ST-4, to serve as a back-up in case of disruption of gas supply to the thermal power plants.
The committee recommended immediate implementation of the Gas Supply and Pricing Regulation and the Gas Infrastructure Blueprint to take care of the problem of gas supply to the power plants. The implication of the report of the committee and its recommendations, according to stakeholders in the sector, is that the government will still be the key driver of new investments in power generation, transmission and distribution. This is contrary to the policy of private sector-led investments in the sector pursued by the former President. As part of execution of the committee's recommendations, the federal government also recently appointed Engineer Bello Sulaiman as the new Managing Director of PHCN. Many have expressed fear that private investors may be scarred off from investing in the industry with the return of government as a significant player in the sector.
With the submission of the report, the hope was that the President will declare the much-expected emergency in the power sector. Indeed, Yar'Adua told a gathering of French businessmen in France last month that his administration would formally declare a state of emergency in Nigeria's power sector last July. According to him, under the emergency which would be in force for three years, the federal and state governments would set aside $5 billion for the rehabilitation and expansion of Nigeria's power generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure.
He added that after the three-year emergency period, the generation and distribution infrastructure would be privatised while its transmission infrastructure will remain under the control of a state-owned company. He added that his administration intends to establish a proper framework for the increase in Nigeria's power generation capacity to about 50,000mw by the year 2020.
Nigerians are still waiting for the declaration of the emergency. The present situation in the Nigeria power sector and the need for urgent solution to tackle it was expressed in an article by Luke Onyekakeyah, a columnist with The Guardian newspaper last Wednesday: "Not many organisations could afford the high cost of diesel to still remain in business. Many big companies have folded up. Our airports, schools, hospitals are without power.
The country is literally grounded because there is no power supply. What else is an emergency? It does not matter whether or not the president recognizes it or not; the country is in an emergency not only in the power sector but also in every sector of the economy. The earlier the situation is tackled the better for the country instead of making grandiose preparations to declare emergency as if it doesn't already exist".
Roads And Transportation
Nigerian roads are a nightmare, causing untimely death and reducing the lifespan of motor vehicles
OLUOKUN AYORINDE
On assumption of office as Transport Minister last year, Deziani Allison-Madueke, during a visit to Shagamu - Benin Expressway on 6 August 2007, raised the hope of many Nigerians of a quick solution to the legion of dilapidated roads scattered around the country. A major artery linking the Western and Eastern parts of the country, the Shagamu - Benin expressway, like scores of other major roads around the country, has for many years remained a travellers' nightmare as a result of its many failed sections and craters wide enough to swallow vehicles.
Unfortunate commuters have, at times, had to spend days on the road as a result of traffic gridlock caused by articulated trailers and other heavy duty vehicles stuck on the numerous craters that dot the expressway. The Minister defied the heavy downpour to traverse a long stretch of the popular express way to assess the extent of damage of the road.
At the end of the tour of the road, she declared: "I am actually very unhappy today at what I have seen. I am very displeased that this road was allowed to degenerate to this level. I want to apologise to Nigerians for the deplorable state that I found this road in. This is inhuman and unacceptable".
Unfortunately, a year on, the utter indignation expressed by Allison-Madueke over the condition of the road has not translated into a positive outcome. The condition of the road has continued to deteriorate just like many other roads across the country are also demanding for urgent attention.
The upper chamber of the National Assembly, in a motion last year, identified a number of such roads across the country which it said are hazardous to road users and economic activities. The roads identified by the lawmakers include the Benin-Shagamu Road, Zaria-Katsina-Kano Road, Ninth Mile-Nsukka-Makurdi-Lokoja -Abuja Road, Enugu-Port Harcourt Road, Enugu-Abakaliki - Calabar Road, Enugu - Onitsha Road, Onitsha -Owerri-Aba Road, Bauchi-Kari-Maiduguri Road, Warri-Patani-Yenegoa Road, Jos-Makurdi-OturkpoRoad, Argungu-Kangiwa- Kamba- Bunza-Kalgo Road, Sokoto- Jega-Yawuri-Kwantagora Road, Lokoja-Okene-Benin Road, Lagos-Shagamu-Ibadan Expressway and Hadejia-Nguru-Gashua-Bayamari Road among others.
The lawmakers subsequently asked the federal government to rehabilitate the roads. But there has been little action on the part of government on the roads in the past one year. Recently, petroleum tanker drivers embarked on strike to protest the bad condition of roads across the country.
The same situation is being experienced in the rail sector. The country's rail network presently stands at 3,557 kilometers with 3,505 kilometers still on the narrow gauge. The former administration of President Obasanjo had entered into a 25-year contract to rehabilitate the Nigerian rail system with a Chinese construction company.
The 25-year $35 billion four-phased rehabilitation project was to take off with the Lagos to Kano route at an estimated cost of $8.3 billion. The previous administration had initially released $250 million to China Civil Engineering Construction Company, CCECC, the main contractor of the project while it also obtained a $2.5 billion loan from Chinese bank to facilitate the project.
But the project has been enmeshed in controversies since the inception
of the present administration. For one, there is the allegations that the concessionary loan was obtained at too high a cost to Nigeria while the contract was also said to have been inflated. But the Chinese company has consistently denied this. The project has consequently been stalled as a result of lack of funds, according to the Chief Coordinator of CCECC, Mr. Karl Leo.
The Yar'Adua administration set up a committee headed by Minister of Finance, Dr Shamsudeen Usman, to review the funding options for the project last year. The committee, in its report, recommended the suspension of further action on the project, citing procedural error such as lack of competitive bidding and contract inflation. It also said a proper feasibility was not conducted before the commencement of the project and thus advocated for a renegotiation of the contract sum and loan terms as well as the involvement of the private sector in the funding of the project. Though government has not made its views known on the report, it may, however, have accepted the recommendations as there was no allocation to the rail sector in the 2008 budget. This, according to Bashir Borodo, President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria is unfortunate. Borodo lamented that companies operating in the country face the additional problem of moving their goods into the hinterlands as a result of the poor state of the roads: "Railway infrastructure is supposed to be a priority in our economy and we expected that railway project should have been started by the government and thus included in the budget. It is shocking that it was not mentioned in the budget."
The Minister of Transportation said funding constitutes the biggest obstacle to the railway project.
The government is laying emphasis on the private sector for the development of all sectors of transportation. For this, President Yar'Adua promised that an Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission would be put in place last month to facilitate the process.
According to him, due to the prevailing economic realities in the country and worldwide, it has become clear that government can no longer perform the function of a regulator and yet, remain responsible for the maintenance and development of road infrastructure. "The need for comprehensive reform in the management of our roads is now more urgent than ever. This reform must create an enabling environment for Public-Private-Partnership and involve road users in the development and management of our roads," he said.
Education
Standards are on a free fall in Nigeria's educational institutions
FRANCIS OTTAH AGBO
The education sector, like others is shaky. The university system is a mere glorified secondary school version, as most of them lack teaching aids and social amenities that make learning conducive. Government, it seems, is gradually washing its hands off funding tertiary institutions, thereby stultifying their capability for research and forcing them to introduce outrageous fees for virtually every aspect of tertiary education in competition with the burgeoning number of their expensive private counterparts. And the public secondary schools, save the elitist Unity schools, have virtually collapsed. It has now become the fad for the rich and powerful to send their children abroad or to private schools.
But the most devastating crisis in the sector is the ongoing strike embarked on by teachers in public primary and secondary schools. The teachers, under the auspices of Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, are demanding for a new teachers salary structure, TSS, and want the federal government to issue a circular to state governments directing them to pay the new salary structure. But the government is insisting that the salary and welfare of primary and secondary school teachers are in the concurrent and residual Lists of the 1999 Constitution. What this means, according to Dr. Jerry Agada, minister of state for Education, is that "government can not fix the salary scale of teachers in those schools except that of teachers in Unity schools which is its responsibility.î He further asked the various state chapters of NUT to negotiate with their governors on what they can pay. However, teachers in federal government-owned colleges are to enjoy 27.5 per cent salary increase beginning from this year as the increase is contained in this year budget. "As far as TSS is concerned, government can only help teachers in Unity schools and that is why TSS has been appropriated for in this year's budget. The TSS provision amounts to 27.5 per cent increase from what teachers are receiving. The good thing is that some states increased teachers salary more than 30 or 40 per cent. If government issues circular to state governments as NUT wants us to do, we shall end up violating the principles of federalism", Agada said.
But NUT National Secretary, Obong Ikpeng Obong said government was economical with the truth. "The Federal Government should be truthful. The NUT has never asked government to issue a circular and force the states to implement the TSS. All that the NUT has been saying is that they should issue a circular and pay federal teachers, especially as the National Assembly has appropriated funds for Unity School teachers. We intend to use it as a benchmark to negotiate with states. We never asked them to fix salary for states", Obong said.
Meanwhile, public primary and secondary school pupils are bearing the brunt of the face-off between government and their teachers. What a country!
Judiciary
The Justice system in Nigeria stinks as the education sector goes steadily down
FRANCIS OTTAH AGBO
In civilized climes, the judiciary is not just the third arm of government but the last hope of the ordinary man. This is against the backdrop that judges are seen to be gods in the midst of human beings walking on holy ground and dispensing justice without fear or favour. But in Nigeria, the judiciary is compromised. Justice, according to analysts who spoke to TheNEWS, can only be sought and obtained by the rich and powerful, especially those who are either in government or affiliated with Aso Rock, Nigeria's seat of power.
In fact, the judiciary is blamed for the collapse of the previous Republics in the country. The annulment of the June 12 presidential election of 1993 is not unconnected with the inglorious role of the judiciary. Justice Bassey Ikpeme, for example, granted interim injunction on 10 June, two days to the election, to stop the polls from holding.
The suit was instituted by Arthur Nzeribeís Association for Better Nigeria, ABN. The National Electoral Commission, NEC, chairman, Professor Humphrey Nwosu disobeyed the ruling on grounds that Section 37 of the Transition to Civil Rule Decree ousted all court rulings on the conduct of the election. Though the election held as scheduled, the effect of Ikpemeís frivolous ruling was not left unnoticed. In fact, then military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida, cited the Ikpeme misadventure as one of the reasons for the annulment of the election adjudged to be the fairest and freest in the history of Nigeria.
After Babangida annuled the election, there were attempts by pro-democracy activists to use the judiciary to revalidate June 12. Yet it was the late Philip Umeadi, a senior advocate and Obafemi Awolowoís presidential running mate in 1979, who, in conjunction with Clement Akpamgbo, then Attorney-General of the Federation, conspired to thwart efforts to revalidate the mandate. Though the judiciary made a spirited attempt to redeem its image by declaring the Interim National Government of Chief Ernest Shonekan illegal, it is on record that Ikpeme's ruling set the ball rolling for the truncation of the third Republic.
Before the June 12 impasse, the Supreme Court had sacrificed justice on the altar of the "lesser evil" paradigm to uphold the fraudulent election of President Shehu Shagari in contravention of the 1979 Constitution. Though the apex court acknowledged that Shagari did not muster two-third majority vote to be declared winner of the polls, it decided that cancelling the election would cause more havoc than upholding it.
The 1999 and 2003 general elections threw up a new challenge to the judiciary for a number of reasons. One, the 1979 Constitution gave way for the 1999 version which legal experts had thought would address the lacuna in the electoral laws. Two, Nigerians, tired of dictatorship embraced democracy hoping that the judiciary would remain an impartial arbiter in the temple of justice. But their dream, analysts conclude, has been dashed by the judiciary. ìWhat we have in Nigeria is that the judiciary is no longer the last hope of the common man or the weak in society. The Nigerian people fought for democracy believing that the judiciary can protect them from the machinations of scoundrels in power. But the judges aligned with their oppressors and that is why justice is in the open market for sale. The judgments particularly in Osun, Sokoto, Enugu, Delta, Ogun, Kebbi and Jos not only dashed the hopes of Nigerians, they have reinforced the age-long belief that once you rigged yourself to power, nothing on earth can reverse it. In short, justice is for sale in this country and this is so because corruption walks in the judiciary untamed. Nigeria is a failed state. I foresee a situation in which aggrieved politicians will invite the military to strike", Mike Igini, a legal expert, asserted
Wild allegations? What is, however, empirical is that the strange judgments from election tribunals across the country have heated the polity. In Osun State for example, the First Election Petitions Tribunal led by Justice Thomas Naron upheld the election of Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, of the people Democratic Party, PDP, against the cast-iron evidence of irregularities that marred the conduct of the 14 April 2007 governorship election in the state. The tribunal threw away the petition of Oyinlola's opponent, Engr. Rauf Aregbesola of the Action Congress, AC, on grounds that he failed to prove substantially that he won the election in compliance with the Electoral Act 2006. The irony in the verdict, according to experts, is that the same tribunal stopped Aregbesola from using scientific means to marshal his argument. It will be recalled that the tribunal, on 14 August 2007, granted Aregbesola his prayer to demonstrate how the election was rigged through the forensic report prepared by a British forensic expert, Adrian Forty. However, the tribunal reversed itself on 18 February this year, as the justices curiously disallowed the presentation of Fortyís report. TheNEWS learnt that the secret telephone conversation between Oyinlolaís lawyer, Mr. Kunle Kalejaiye and Justice Naron influenced the justices to ìeatî their words. "In law you cannot blow hot and cold at the same time. How can their Lordships approve of the use of a forensic report and reverse themselves on the same matter. I smell a rat", Aladi Ejah, a lawyer, reasoned.
On account of the credibility crisis, many Nigerians called on the tribunal to suspend delivery of judgment pending a through investigation of the scandal. Like Osun, the justices of the Sokoto election tribunal and the Appeal Court in Kaduna have not dignified themselves. Alhaji Muhammadu Maigari Dingyadi, Sokoto State governorship candidate of Democratic Peoples Party, DPP, challenged the candidature of Governor Aliyu Magartakada Wamakko of PDP at the tribunal. Wamakko, Dingyadi told the tribuna,l was not qualified to stand for the polls having been nominated by the PDP and his former party, All Nigerian Peoples Party, ANPP. Aside this, Dingyadi told the court, Wamakkoís running mate, Alhaji Mukhtari Shagari, former minister of Water Resources, lied on oath in contravention of the Penal Code.
Shagari was alleged to have forged his nomination form CF001 in a High Court in Nasarawa State. Paragraphs 10-11 of Dingyadiís petition read in party: ìShagari falsely backdated it (form CF001) to 12th of February 2007 and colluded with the officials of Independent National Electoral Communication, INEC, to reflect the 12th of February as the date in which it was sworn. And in order to make it hardly traceable, Shagari left Sokoto and came all the way to Nasarawa State to swear to the affidavit.
But, in what a source described a "judicial miracle in the caliphate", the tribunal upheld the election of Wamakko and Shagari. However, Dingyadi headed for Court of Appeal in Kaduna, where a unanimous judgment read by Justice Ahmed Belgore set aside Wamakkos victory on the ground of non-qualification and massive irregularities.
The court averred that evidence before it indicated Wamakko was card-carrying member of ANPP at the time PDP nominated him, in contravention of section 187(1) of the 1999 Constitution. On Shagari, the appellate court said his nomination was illegal, stressing that his form CF001 was "manufactured purposely to meet the challenges of Election Petitions Tribunal in clear contravention of sections 164, 362(9) and 366 of the Penal Code". The strangest aspect of Belgore's verdict was that he allowed Wamakko, whom he said was disqualified ab initio, contest the re-run election. "The Court of Appeal in Kaduna made a serious mistake in not making a consequential order banning PDP and Wamakko from the election permanently having declared that Wamakko was disqualified ab initio", said Prof. Itse Sagay.
Legal experts were yet to recover from that verdict when the court delivered another sucker punch in a case involving Yar'Adua's son-in-law, Governor Saidu Dakingari of Kebbi (PDP) and Alhaji Abubakar Gre Mallam. In a unanimous judgment, delivered by Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, the court upheld the victory of Dakingari even though, like Wamakko, he had double nomination. How did the tribunal arrive at the difference between six and half a dozen? The only difference between Wammakko and Dakingari is that the latter has the blessing of Aso Rock, while the former does not", observed Sagay.
In Asaba, the capital city of Delta State, there was a collapse of the justice system at the tribunal. The five-man panel chaired by Justice Lokulo-Shodipe delivered a judgment to the effect that Peter Okocha, the AC governorship candidate for the state had no locus standi to challenge his exclusion from participating in the polls since he was not a candidate in the election. INEC had disqualified Okocha on grounds that his companies enjoyed certain concessions at the Nigerian ports.
The judgment was contradictory, more so that the Supreme Court, in the case of Atiku v. State, had declared that only a court of law could stop a candidate from participating in election. The question is: can a tribunal upturn a decision of the apex court? The answer is no. "Such a thing does not happen except in a state of anarchy", said one source.
Curiously, too, the appellate court has refused to hear the substantive matter in Okocha's suit, six months after it lambasted the Delta Tribunal for doing same. Okocha has petitioned the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umar Abdullahi, to constitute a new panel to hear the matter.
Delta is not the only place where judges have not lived above aboard. Despite the Practice Direction of the tribunal warning their Lordships not to strike out cases on grounds of technicality, the Ogun State Election Petitions Tribunal dismissed Senator Ibikunle Amosun of ANPP's petition because he did not mention his age, nationality and his political party. Though the Appeal Court has quashed that pronouncement, the Court of Appeal president is yet to constitute a panel to try the matter. And as Nigerians were pondering over the warped verdicts, the Court of Appeal in Enugu passed yet another judgment that shocked Nigerians to their bone marrows.
It held that Enugu State Governor, Sullivan Chime won election by valid votes cast even when there was incontrovertible evidence of rigging established by the lower tribunal which had earlier sacked Chime.
The compromise of the judiciary did not exactly catch observers by surprise following the bribery scandals trailing the tribunals. The House of Representatives committee on Judiciary alleged that some politicians gave a retired Chief Justice N2.3billion to induce judges in the tribunals.
Of Patriots And Traitors
Nigeria and its fellow oil producing nations of Middle East and Asia present an interesting study in contrasting leadership
TAYO ODUNLAMI
Someone once described Dubai as the most architecturally breathtaking city in the world. That may arguably be laying it on too thick - for now. Very soon, the eulogy may, however, just become apt as the sheikdom in the United Arab Emirates, UAE, throttles deeper in its quest to appropriately wear that title.
Dubai is the Middle East's commercial hub, as Lagos is West Africaís. But that is where the comparison in similarities ends and a gap in difference yawns. A drive, diurnal or otherwise, from Dubai International Airport through the city assures one of safetyñfrom potholes, armed robberies, area boys, stray bullets, etcñas the beautiful scenery soothes tired eyes. Everywhere, huge structures tower upwards, either as residences, offices or hotels, off wide roads so impeccably constructed and tarred a tired driver could sleep off on its smoothness.
And also everywhere, construction jobs are endlessly on-going ñ from the airport itself, besides which the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos pales into an inactive airstrip and which is still being expanded ñ to numerous building, water, metro and power engineering projects. For the numerous citizens of the UAE, there are so many job engagements, so much so foreigners are having a good slice of the action. Certainly, in the UAE, poverty is minimal, and non-existent among its indigenous population. From the bare telltale, it is incontestable that leaders of the UAE have been judiciously utilising the huge earnings the kingdom has been reaping from oil.
Both Nigeria and the UAE are major oil producers and members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC. And whereas the UAE and, indeed, other oil producing countries in the Middle East can flaunt developmental projects made good with oil dollars, Nigeria remains a shamefully poor cousin, no thanks to the kleptomania of its leaders.
Despite oil wealth, Nigeria falls in the list of the worldís poverty line. The United Nations Human Development Report, UNHDR, published for 2007/2008 confirms a greater population of the Nigerian population live in abject poverty, as if that needs any telling. The UN defines poverty as ìan economic condition of lacking both money and basic necessities needed to successfully live, such as food, water, education, healthcare and shelterî. The body considers lack of a stable income, economic instability, insecurity and unpredictability of a continued means to meet basic needs as indicative of absolute poverty. The UN considers any nation where its population live under $1 and $2 per day as existing below the poverty line.
It is not enough that Nigeria conveniently hugs a prominent position in the unenviable list of poverty-stricken nations, the percentage of its people so living takes the cake among OPEC members. The current UNDHR discloses that 92.4 per cent of Nigerians live on $2 per day while 70.8 per cent live on $1. Fellow oil-producing countries in the Middle East are free from the blemish, as are Asian oil producers, Malaysia and Singapore.
Similarly, the Human Development Index, HDI, which measures a countryís life expectancy, literacy, education, general standards of living and impact of economic policies on quality of life to determine whether the country is developed, developing or under-developed also rightly situates Nigeria in the despicably low status it belongs. Nigeria actually places 158th of the 177 countries analysed. Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Brunei, Libya and Singapore are all proudly perched in the developed category. Angola is the only other oil-exporting country that shares the under-developed stain with Nigeria. With Nigerians consigned by their leaders to live in such a deplorable state, it is little surprise that the average life expectancy is 44 years. Its fellow oil producers in the Middle East and Asia boast of a minimum of 70 years.
The difference between the primitive permanence in Nigeria and the developed envy in the Middle East and Asia is that of traitors to patriots, clueless rulers to visioners, thieves to the upright, bastards to true-bloods. Whereas Nigerian leaders have been insanely stealing and stashing the money away in foreign lands for use to develop other economies, leaders of other oil-producing countries have been investing the money to build the necessary infrastructure, either for manufacturing, as in the instance of the Asian Tigers, or hospitality and tourism, as concerns the Arabs. In Malaysia and Singapore, Nigeriaís contemporaries in the 1960s as underdeveloped nations, their leaders have over time established an efficient small and medium scale industrial class that is not only to a great extent addressing the issue of employment, it is also earning money for the countries from exports. Malaysia is a major producer of palm produce and mass-exports household electronics and computer software, especially to Africa. Its government has exploited its oil money well to build a relatively strong economic base and provide basic necessities of life.
Singapore was fortunate to have Lee Kuan Yew, its Prime Minister from 1959 to 1990, who transformed it from economic backwaters to global prominence. In 1959, when Yew assumed office, Singaporeís per capita gross domestic product was only $400. By 1990 when he left office, it was $12,000. By the turn of the century, it had risen to $22,000. Lee encouraged entrepreneurship, but first, he laid the infrastructural foundation that would flower entrepreneurial excellence. His administration built power plants and good roads and provided small scale industrialists low-interest loans to start off their businesses. Yewís administrative philosophy was a unique mix of economic freedom and tight social control. He was able to achieve success in implementation because of his sincerity of purpose and personal discipline, two vital qualities lacking in Nigeriaís leadership.
The kings and sheiks of the Middle East nations may not be pumping petro-dollars on industrialisation yet, but they have been proving shrewd in investing in lucrative money and capital markets worldwide and in property. The countries there are no longer the stretches of desert; rather governments are spending huge sums of money providing infrastructure that will boost commerce and tourism. In the Arabian Gulf, there is estimated to be, at least, 2000 projects - roads, railways, sea and airports, liquefied natural gas pipelines, commercial and residential sectors, educational establishments, healthcare facilities, cinemas, theatres, sports facilities, hotels and theme parks as well as mixed-use and retail developments - worth 1.3 trillion pounds sterling, currently under construction.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia account for the lionís share of civil building development. In the UAE alone, there are 390 projects with a combined value of more than $430 billion. Saudi Arabia has 330 projects with a total value of more than $409 billion.
The Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC, states of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar have generated among them a huge current account surplus of $590 billion over the past five years, a higher figure than what even China has reaped. Income per head in the region is running at an average of $20,000, which is 25 times higher than the average income in India. The GDP has doubled since 2002 and is expected to match the Indian economy this year.
The GCC is currently executing five major projects with a total combined value of $358 billion. The projects are the $120 billion King Abdallah Economic City in Saudi Arabia located north-west of Jeddah and comprising six components: the sea port, industrial zone, Central Business District (including the financial district), resort district, educational zone and residential communities; Kuwaitís $86 billion Silk City project consisting of construction of a natural desert reservation, a new airport, a large business centre and zones that include environment, sports, media, health, education, and industry; the Dubaiís Investmentís $60 billion Dubailand, a large-scale leisure and entertainment project with 45 individual projects including theme parks, eco-tourism projects, shopping malls, restaurants and residential units with a minimum of 55 hotels; the $53 billion Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Mousaed Economic City in Hail, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dabhiís $39 billion Yas Island development.
Also planned is the world's largest tower, the Burj Mubarak Al-Kabir, a 1,001-metre structure. "The entire value for projects in the Gulf, including those projects at the planning and conception stages, are worth over $2.5 trillion and account for 3,521 projects", Proleads director, Emil Rademeyer, said. Proleads is a database company that monitors regional construction projects across various industrial sectors in the Gulf region. The total value of construction projects in the region is expected to go up to $3 trillion in 2008.
Saudi Arabia spearheads the construction drive with projects worth over $1.1 trillion. The UAE ranks second with developments valued at $700 billion, followed by Kuwait in third place at $300 billion. However, in terms of total number of projects, the UAE has an edge over Saudi Arabia, with 1,539 projects compared to the kingdomís 1,033 projects. The top five UAE projects include Dubaiís Dubailand, Bawadi Development and The Palm Deira, Abu Dhabiís Yas Island Development and Saadiyat Island, and Umm Al Quwainís White Bay Development. Investments in civil construction alone exceed $1.35 trillion and are valued higher than other construction sectors like oil, gas, power, water and petrochemicals. The GCC governmentsí policy is to invest their huge financial resources into the construction of premium residential, leisure and entertainment facilities for the residents as well as tourists. The governments aim to reduce dependence on oil exports and invest their profits into developing the financial, industrial and tourism sectors.
In the UAE, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority plans to invest $7.5 billion in Citigroup, United States of Americaís largest bank. The investment will give the Arab state about 4.9 per cent of Citigroup Inc.'s equity. The purchase will make the Investment Authority one of Citi's largest shareholders.
The Investment Authority is the world's largest sovereign wealth fund. Although the fund has never publicly revealed its total assets, it is believed to be controlling hundreds of billions of dollars.
Dubai International Capital, another investment arm in the UAE, has acquired a stake of undisclosed size in the Japanese electronics and media company Sony Corp. It also recently acquired 3.12 per cent of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co., manufacturer of the Airbus commercial planes and military aircraft. The firm also holds stakes in Daimler AG and British bank HSBC Holdings plc.
Total residential projects in the GCC to ensure the people are conveniently accommodated are more than 340 and is worth over $81 billion. The UAE leads on residential projects with more than 230 currently active with a combined value of over $59 billion.
Total commercial projects across the region number 144 with a combined value of over $17 billion. The UAE also leads the way with 81 of the commercial projects and a combined value exceeding $10 billion. The total number of hotel projects in the Gulf region is 96 with a combined total value of $190 billion.
The region is also currently spending huge money worth more than $13 billion on aviation development, safety and expansion. The UAE has already been ranked among the worldís top five fastest growing aviation markets in the world by International Air Travel Association, IATA.
In Africa, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya has been prudently directing proceeds from oil into gradually turning the desert country into an agricultural wonder. Gaddafi has also been ensuring that nearly every family is cheaply accommodated. Leader of Libya since 1 September 1969 when he took over power in a coup díetat to stem the deep rot then ravaging the country, Gaddafi remains well loved by his people for his revolutionary fervour which has positively turned round the country and improved the living standards of the Libyan people. Libya is categorised in the high (developed) echelon of UNís HDI as the worldís 56th most developed nation. Its average life expectancy is 74 years.
Where do all these leave Nigeria? In absolute ignominy. Although we share the same oil producing tag with the Middle East, some Asian countries and Libya, there is practically nothing on ground to show for it. For a positive change to be effected, it is obvious something must give. And fast too.
Health
For so long, successive governments have ignored the health sector. This has left hospitals in the country in ruins
ERNEST OMOARELOJIE
Even before he assumed office as the countryís President, Nigerians were worried sick about the condition of Umar YaríAduaís health. It was no surprise that his Nigerian doctors were frantically attempting to douse the anxiety that was enveloping the entire country like a harmattan haze. When at last they came out with a diagnosis, they told Nigerians that he had a respiratory ailment. No one had any reason to entertain any fear that there was anything wrong with the diagnosis. That, however, was until his case worsened and he was flown to Germany for a more detailed examination. There, doctors found that the President was suffering from a more debilitating ailment. Nigerian doctors had goofed. More recently, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) suffered the same fate. His doctors diagnosed pneumonia. But when his health problem became more complicated, he went abroad where foreign doctors found out that his problem was far more serious than he was told.
Bad as the two diagnoses may appear, both the President and Fawehinmi were lucky to have come out of the experience alive. Or barely so.
In reality, the countryís health care system can only be described as comatose. The reason is not far to seek. Indeed, the list of anomalies in the sector is endless. They include misdiagnosis, hospital-to-patient infection, obsolete equipment, low morale among health workers, dilapidated and inadequate infrastructure, among others. At the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, it is a regular feature to administer malaria treatment on patients because the mosquito nets on windows are torn. As a matter of course, nurses in the hospital carry pouches containing syringes and other basic health materials which they sell to patients. In some instances, patients who do not buy from them or risk being given a tough time. LUTH has equally devised a unique method of dealing with the problem of inadequate health workers. This medium learnt that the hospital keeps non-critical patients on hold while doctors attend to others with more serious conditions.
Investigations conducted at the Spinal Injury ward of the Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, revealed an uncanny substitution for the treatment of such injuries. The hospital now uses stones in place of the regular measuring device tied to patientsí spinal region to keep the broken bones in the spinal region in place.
The situation, this magazine learnt, is not much different in other hospitals across the country. For instance, at the Ijebu Ode General Hospital, the dearth of infrastructure and personnel has increased drastically the probability of emergency victims ending up dead.
There are several case studies. Richard Obiefule is an unfortunate example. On 21 January, the 34-year-old bank employee who was returning to Lagos from his village, was involved in a motor accident that shattered his spinal cord. He was rushed to the hospital but help failed to reach him. The following day, he managed to put a call through to one of his friends in Lagos. However, by the time help came, his case had worsened. He was taken to the Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi where he was later transferred to LUTH. A few days later, he died.
Dr. (Mrs.) Abiodun Oduwole, Ogun State Health Commissioner told this medium that one of the problems facing the hospital, like others across the country, is inadequate manpower. The others are inadequate infrastructure and personnel. According to her, most of the hospitalís consultants live in Lagos, far from the hospital.
For many years, successive administrations ignored the health sector, leaving hospitals across the country completely neglected and in perpetual state of disrepair. In most cases, the structures are pitiably dilapidated. Along with the neglect of physical infrastructure was the absence of any attempt to formulate a health policy to reverse the trend. The last comprehensive effort, which has since been abandoned, was made by Prof. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti in 1992, which was revised by Prof. Eyitayo Lambo. Though the National Assembly is expected to formulate one, there is absolutely none in existence at the moment.
That was generally the case when the Obasanjo administration committed about N17 billion to revitalise, especially, federal government hospitals. The money was for the rehabilitation of eight Teaching Hospitals, including LUTH and the University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan. Though the project met popular approval and was indeed commissioned at the twilight of his administration, there were claims that most of the equipment supplied to the hospitals were refurbished. As some hospital sources put it, the condition of the equipment left no one in doubt that it was a half-hearted politically-motivated measure which now supports the view by observers that the government had no real intention of ending the slide into decadence the sector has had to contend with for a very long time.
Governmentís inability or refusal to commit itself to reversing the decay in hospitals is most manifest in the manner it starved the sector of funds over the years. The direct result is that the morale of health workers dimmed, which is the greatest problem facing the sector. Dr. Bola Olaosebikan told this medium that the biggest problem facing the sector is inadequate funding and as it is in some cases, improper administration of funds.
The problem, he stressed, worsened because over the years, successive administrations made no attempt to have a defined health policy that would provide direction for the development of the sector. For the same reason, he opined, the National Health Insurance Scheme that was launched with funfare by the Obasanjo administration failed. The former Kwara State Health commissioner and publisher of HEALTHCARE magazine explained that lack of funding led to the massive exodus of doctors and nurses (brain drain) to overseas countries. The trend, he said, is still on-going as most health workers still find the sector unbearable. Those who for one reason or the other are unable to leave the country, especially junior workers, have taken to selling basic medical equipment like syringes, to patients. "The heart of the matter is the issue of funding and money. No one can say how much money is available or how it is being used. Inadequate fund forced professionals out of the country. It is still driving them away. There is no motivation for them and equipment are not there. The heart of the matter is funding and money; how much money is available and how it is being used", Olaosebikan said.
Dr. Dolapo Clement, a Community health care consultant, agrees that over the years governments starved the sector of funds. According to him, the United Nations recommendation for the health sector is 15 per cent of national budget. In Nigeria, however, it is, at its highest, is just 5 per cent. Even then, the money is almost always never released in full. Rather than brain drain as most people are wont to believe, the most dire consequence of that inadequacy is the manner it affects the peopleís health. For instance, the countryís life expectancy took a direct hit. Despite that reality, health care facilities are not only inadequate but grossly malfunctional.
Are Nigerians Docile?
The docility of Nigerians in the face of unpopular government policies is probably responsible for bad leadership
TONY ORILADE/Abuja
At the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, mega station in Wuse Zone One, Abuja last Wednesday, a woman who simply identified herself as Madam Angelina told this magazine that she had arrived the station early in the day wanting to buy kerosene in two 25-litre jerrycans. At 4pm, Angelina, with her baby tied to her back, was still waiting. Her containers, nowhere near the dispensing pump, were among over 1000 waiting to be filled with the essential commodity which has since disappeared from filling stations, including those of AP, which President Umar Yar'Adua, three weeks ago, promised would have the product for sale at N50 a litre.
Those who crowded around the nozzles were horsewhipped by mobile policemen who were on duty for crowd control. "Madam, is this how they beat you people every day?" this magazine inquired.
"There is no way we will come here to buy kerosene without being horsewhipped by these policemen. That is the price we pay for coming here," she responded with a sigh.
The late Justice Minister, Chief Bola Ige, who was murdered by yet-to-be identified gunmen in 2001, once told his political associates that he had resolved to "siddon-look" as a way of expressing his dissatisfaction with the distasteful political climate under former dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha. That statement immediately became a popular phrase in Nigeriaís political lexicon. Many years after Ige's death, Nigerians are, more than ever, dissatisfied with the conduct of their rulers.
From the annulment of 12 June 1993 presidential election to the incessant hike in prices of petroleum products which culminated in Labour-organised protests across the country, especially during the tenure of Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigerians have constantly been lackadaisical in their response to the excesses, nay, impunity, of their leaders. Even when avoidable, often harsh, economic, political or social policies which impinge on their wellbeing are forced on them by an inconsiderate, kleptomanic leadership, Nigerians have been known to put up a lack-lustre protest and thereafter abandoned human rights activists, many of whom are comfortable and are solely driven by patriotism and humanitarian instincts, to lead the struggle. In the face of arbitrary hiking of fuel price, the disposition of most Nigerians seemed to be: may God provide us with more money to afford our needs.
And with the generation of the known staunch activists passing to the great beyond, getting old or, at least, past their prime, producing icons who are prepared to replace the older generation as the conscience of the nation is becoming a great concern.
Already, great activists like Beko Ransome-Kuti and Chima Ubani have sacrificed their lives for the struggle. Prof. Wole Soyinka is 74 years old, Gani Fawehinmi is 70 and ailing, and the likes of Femi Falana, Mike Ozekhome, Tunji Abayomi, Festus Keyamo and Shehu Sani are not getting any younger, yet they still persist in their struggle for an egalitarian society, undeterred by the lackadaisical attitude of the generality of their countrymen to the festering rot that is enveloping the country.
The former President of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, outlined the mindset of such activists succintly. In October 2003, when he mobilised Nigerians for yet another strike against fuel price hike during the 8th All Africa Games in Abuja and the government was forced to rescind the increase, albeit temporarily, Oshiomhole was asked by this magazine if he was sure Nigerians would have stood solidly behind him if the strike was to continue. His reply: "There is no question about that. But in any event, my responsibility and those of my colleagues is to lead. If the people fail to follow, we cannot lead and at the same time follow. What we promised was credible leadership. We trust that Nigerians will follow because the frustration was palpable everywhere in the land."
In another interview, Oshiomhole expressed his frustration when he said: "The government's weakest point is their assumption that Nigerians are very docile. Our people can talk, but beyond that they will just give upÖ.so if Nigerians accept slavery, there will be little or nothing anybody can do on a sustainable basis that will bail them out. We can offer the leadership but we can not also be followers."
The current President of the NLC, Comrade Abduwaheed Omar and his Trade Union Congress, TUC, counterpart, Comrade Peter Esele, are yet to attain the towering stature of Oshiomhole in mobilising Nigerians against unpopular government policies. But they have shown the potential. The problem, however, is, are Nigerians ready?
President Umar Yar'Adua continues to footdrag on the vital rehabilitation of the power sector.
After trudging on for many years, Nigeria's only surviving tyre manufacturing company, Dunlop Nigeria PLC became the latest player in the real sector to succumb to the country's intractable energy problem. Following in the footsteps of Michelin, the French tyre giant which also closed down its Port Harcourt tyre plant a few years ago, Dunlop announced it would, henceforth, be concentrating on the importation of the product it used to produce locally. It described its decision as a "strategic business redirection".
Giving the rationale for the move, Abiona Babarinde, Dunlop spokesperson noted: "The evident decay of manufacturing infrastructure, particularly the epileptic power and gas supply situation, imposes additional burden on costs, amounting to about 40 per cent, which put locally produced tyres at a disadvantage. The whole situation certainly confers undue advantage on importation rather than manufacturing. Thus, we are forced to scale down local manufacturing operations due to the very harsh business environment".
It is understandable that the company is not yet forthcoming on the fate of its over 1000 workers given the sensitivity of labour issues. It is, however, not in doubt that Dunlop is set to join the ranks of companies that have in recent years been swelling the number of unemployed Nigerians rather than creating new opportunities for employment. Before now, scores of textile manufacturing companies have closed down operations.
One statistic indicated that not less than 150,000 employees in the textile industry have been thrown back into the job market from over 70 distressed players in the industry in the past 10 years. As in the case of Dunlop, the chief culprit is the country's epileptic power supply situation. "Electricity crisis is the most important infrastructure bottleneck in Nigeria today. It is the main driver of Nigeria's high indirect cost. On the average, 10 per cent is often recorded by Nigerian companies as overhead cost due to lack of public power supply. Over 85 per cent of them now run on generators," Steven Dimitriyev, World Bank' s Senior Private Sector Specialist said recently. He noted that Nigerian enterprises still face a hostile environment characterized by high indirect cost, which depresses value added.
But the fact is that the situation has been getting worse in the past few months, as the cost of maintaining alternative power supply skyrockets. Diesel, gas and low pour fuel oil, LPFO, the three petroleum products used by large industrial concerns to power their generators and some vital industrial machines, are either not available or are sold at triple their normal prices.
For instance, diesel was selling for between N150 and N170 per litre in most parts of the country last week. There are fears that except something drastic is done, the product may soon be selling for N200. Importers of the product do not enjoy subsidy, unlike importers of premium motor spirit. Femi Otedola, Chief Executive Officer, Zenon Petroleum and Gas, regarded as Nigeria's biggest diesel importer recently noted that unless the federal government subsidises diesel import to force down the price "at least temporarily," the price will continue to rise in the local market as a result of the continuous rise in price of oil in the international market.
Manufacturers who power their operations with gas and LPFO, which are supposed to be cheaper alternatives are not better off. There are frequent disruptions of gas supply to the companies as a result of intermittent breakages in the pipelines of the Nigeria Gas Company, NGC.
Also, the reported move by the NGC to effect a 200 per cent increase in gas price, this magazine gathered, has become another source of anxiety among real sector operators. The increase, it was gathered, was as a result of NGC adoption of international price of LPFO as a base to fix the price of gas, though the product is 100 per cent produced locally. "Oil price is high, so it is not a domestic problem. The only domestic angle to it is that the Power Holding Company of Nigeria is unable to generate much electricity, so companies have to rely on gas and diesel which increases their cost of production," Bashir Borodo, president, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, lamented the negative effects of the situation on the players in the real sector. "I got a recent call from hoteliers and even service companies to inform me that they could not continue because of the power problem and high cost of powering generators," he said. The Kano State branch of MAN expressed a similar sentiment in a statement released some weeks ago.
The two chairmen of MAN in the state, Alhaji Sani Umar and Ali Madugu, said the epileptic power supply has led to a drastic drop in capacity utilisation by the local manufacturing organisations. According to them, companies that were formerly operating three shifts a day are now operating one. "Others that cannot bear the brunt have closed down," they said.
Yet, there were high hopes of a quick solution to Nigeria's power problem when President Umar Yar'Adua was sworn in as Nigeria's president on 29 May 2007. To signify his determination to tackle the problem of power supply which is very important to the country's economic development, he announced energy as top of his seven-point agenda. The former Katsina State governor had also promised he would declare a state of emergency in the power sector. He also promised to deliver over 30,000 megawatts of electricity to Nigerians in the first five years of his administration: "Our plan is to launch a national emergency programme on the power sector, because we believe that there cannot be any meaningful industrial development without steady power supply," he said.
Over a year, neither the expected declaration of state of emergency nor any significant improvement in the supply of electricity has become a reality. Rather than the much-anticipated improvement, the power situation is worsening, as power generation which was about 2,500 megawatts by May last year, recently plunged below 1000 megawatts. The reasons are not far-fetched. The existing power plants with capacity of 6000 megawatts, it was gathered, have mostly been performing below capacity due to lack of maintenance.
The former administration of President Olusegun Obasanjo had embarked on the construction of some gas-fired plants mostly in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria under the National Integrated Power Project, NIPP. This involved the construction of gas-fired power plants in Egbema, Imo State; Eyean, Edo State; Sapele, Delta State; Calabar, Cross River State; Gbaran Ubie, Bayelsa State; Alaoji, Abia State and Omoku, Rivers State. The six projects at Omoku, 100mw; Egbema, 175mw; Eyaen, 250mw; Sapele, 250m; Calabar, 250mw and Gbaran Ubie, 125mw with a combined generation of 1,150 mw were scheduled to have been completed by May 2007 while the 253 mw Alaoji plant was scheduled to have been completed by December 2006. Other power projects inherited by the Yar'Adua administration include the 414-megawatt Geregu plant in Kogi State, Papalanto and Omotosho in Ogun State, as well as Okitipupa in Ondo State . The government also at the same period awarded a contract for the construction of the Mambilla hydropower project at the cost of $3.46bn.
The hydro-electric plant is expected to generate 2,600mw of electricity when completed. The hope was that the completion of the various projects, especially those scheduled to have been completed last year, would enable the government to raise electricity generation to 10,000-megawatts by the end of last year. Indeed, Liyel Imoke, former Minister of Power and Steel Development and the recently deposed Governor of Cross River State had on a visit to the Geregu Power Station in 2006, expressed the hope that the power supply situation in the country will witness a drastic improvement by the end of 2007. His optimism was based on the additional megawatts the Geregu, Omotosho and Papalanto thermal plants which was commissioned just before the last administration left office will add to the national grid.
Obasanjo had also boasted during the inauguration of the Geregu plant in February last year that the nation would generate 10,000mw by the end of 2007. The Managing Director of the NGC, Voka Mukoro, told the Senate last December that though the power stations have the capacity, they would not be able to generate power because of unavailability of gas.
The hope was that Yar'Adua would take off from where his predecessor stopped. Against the criticisms that nothing was being done to improve the country's energy situation contrary to his promise before he was elected into office, he revealed early this year that he was being cautious so as not to repeat the mistakes of his predecessor who, he alleged, spent over $10 billion on the sector without any tangible improvement in the power situation. This set off a whole new round of time-wasting controversies as lawmakers in the House of Representatives latched on it to commence a probe on spending in the eight years of the previous administration. The activities of the Ndudi Elumele-led Committee on Power constituted by the House to probe the power sector have themselves remained enmeshed in controversies.
Recently, the federal government and two other tiers of government agreed to jointly contribute $5.375 billion for the rehabilitation and expansion of power generation, transmission and distribution and for the completion of the Independent Power Projects, IPPs.
"It is the view of the ministry that with this, it is possible to get to 6,000 megawatts by the end of 2009 and by 2011, with the expansion of the grid and Mambila and Zungeru, we should be able to get to 10,000mw", Governor Bukola Saraki of Kwara State who spoke on behalf of his colleagues after the June National Economic Council where the issue was discussed, told journalists. "The question then was the amount of money required, and we were told that for the short-term, it will require about $5.3 billion and a presentation was made that it should be shared between the federal, state and local governments. After a long deliberation, the states supported the proposal that funds from the excess crude will go towards this project as part of our national effort to address this problem that we see as key to the development of our great country", he concluded.
A power sector emergency implementation committee to be chaired by Vice President Goodluck Jonathan and consisting of nine governors, five ministers, one representative each from the organised labour, the media, and the oil sector was constituted to implement the plan.
Ya'Adua also set up a committee headed by Dr. Rilwan Lukman to draw up a blueprint on the way forward for it in the power sector. The Power Sector Reform Committee said that Nigeria needs a whopping sum of $85 billion (about N10.2 trillion) to meet her 20,000mw electricity target by the year 2020, in its report which was submitted to President Yar'Adua about two months ago. In the report, the committee identified problems responsible for Nigeria's power problem to include insufficient power generation infrastructure, poor maintenance culture, inadequate funding, gas shortage, obsolete equipment, weak and inadequate network coverage and sub-standard distribution lines.
The committee, among other things, thus recommended the strengthening of the PHCN through the establishment of a coordinating body at its headquarters. The committee, in the report submitted to the President about a couple of months ago, also recommended N870bn to complete the NIPPs and advised that the projects be completed as soon as possible. The committee also recommended the provision of 130m euros to complete the Shell Afam 600 mw IPP under the NNPC/Shell and Agip/Elf joint venture, which it said, could have been completed in the first half of this year.
The Lukman committee also wants the government to expedite action on the establishment of coal fired plants, which could add at least 3,000mw to generation in the medium term, and up to 8,000mw subsequently to the national grid, and to fast track action on the Zungeru and Mambilla hydro stations. These two are expected to add 4,000mw to the national grid in the medium to long-term. To ensure that the current demand estimated at 10,000mw is met in medium term, the committee recommended the immediate implementation of the proposed Calabar-Ajaokuta gas pipeline and the need to fast-track rehabilitation works in the power stations across the country to ensure their conclusion on short-term basis.
The committee also asked the government to make provision for an annual grant of N2bn to fund the procurement of 36,000 metric tonnes of LPFO, enough for 30 days generation of 200mw from Egbin power station's ST-4, to serve as a back-up in case of disruption of gas supply to the thermal power plants.
The committee recommended immediate implementation of the Gas Supply and Pricing Regulation and the Gas Infrastructure Blueprint to take care of the problem of gas supply to the power plants. The implication of the report of the committee and its recommendations, according to stakeholders in the sector, is that the government will still be the key driver of new investments in power generation, transmission and distribution. This is contrary to the policy of private sector-led investments in the sector pursued by the former President. As part of execution of the committee's recommendations, the federal government also recently appointed Engineer Bello Sulaiman as the new Managing Director of PHCN. Many have expressed fear that private investors may be scarred off from investing in the industry with the return of government as a significant player in the sector.
With the submission of the report, the hope was that the President will declare the much-expected emergency in the power sector. Indeed, Yar'Adua told a gathering of French businessmen in France last month that his administration would formally declare a state of emergency in Nigeria's power sector last July. According to him, under the emergency which would be in force for three years, the federal and state governments would set aside $5 billion for the rehabilitation and expansion of Nigeria's power generation, transmission and distribution infrastructure.
He added that after the three-year emergency period, the generation and distribution infrastructure would be privatised while its transmission infrastructure will remain under the control of a state-owned company. He added that his administration intends to establish a proper framework for the increase in Nigeria's power generation capacity to about 50,000mw by the year 2020.
Nigerians are still waiting for the declaration of the emergency. The present situation in the Nigeria power sector and the need for urgent solution to tackle it was expressed in an article by Luke Onyekakeyah, a columnist with The Guardian newspaper last Wednesday: "Not many organisations could afford the high cost of diesel to still remain in business. Many big companies have folded up. Our airports, schools, hospitals are without power.
The country is literally grounded because there is no power supply. What else is an emergency? It does not matter whether or not the president recognizes it or not; the country is in an emergency not only in the power sector but also in every sector of the economy. The earlier the situation is tackled the better for the country instead of making grandiose preparations to declare emergency as if it doesn't already exist".
Roads And Transportation
Nigerian roads are a nightmare, causing untimely death and reducing the lifespan of motor vehicles
OLUOKUN AYORINDE
On assumption of office as Transport Minister last year, Deziani Allison-Madueke, during a visit to Shagamu - Benin Expressway on 6 August 2007, raised the hope of many Nigerians of a quick solution to the legion of dilapidated roads scattered around the country. A major artery linking the Western and Eastern parts of the country, the Shagamu - Benin expressway, like scores of other major roads around the country, has for many years remained a travellers' nightmare as a result of its many failed sections and craters wide enough to swallow vehicles.
Unfortunate commuters have, at times, had to spend days on the road as a result of traffic gridlock caused by articulated trailers and other heavy duty vehicles stuck on the numerous craters that dot the expressway. The Minister defied the heavy downpour to traverse a long stretch of the popular express way to assess the extent of damage of the road.
At the end of the tour of the road, she declared: "I am actually very unhappy today at what I have seen. I am very displeased that this road was allowed to degenerate to this level. I want to apologise to Nigerians for the deplorable state that I found this road in. This is inhuman and unacceptable".
Unfortunately, a year on, the utter indignation expressed by Allison-Madueke over the condition of the road has not translated into a positive outcome. The condition of the road has continued to deteriorate just like many other roads across the country are also demanding for urgent attention.
The upper chamber of the National Assembly, in a motion last year, identified a number of such roads across the country which it said are hazardous to road users and economic activities. The roads identified by the lawmakers include the Benin-Shagamu Road, Zaria-Katsina-Kano Road, Ninth Mile-Nsukka-Makurdi-Lokoja -Abuja Road, Enugu-Port Harcourt Road, Enugu-Abakaliki - Calabar Road, Enugu - Onitsha Road, Onitsha -Owerri-Aba Road, Bauchi-Kari-Maiduguri Road, Warri-Patani-Yenegoa Road, Jos-Makurdi-OturkpoRoad, Argungu-Kangiwa- Kamba- Bunza-Kalgo Road, Sokoto- Jega-Yawuri-Kwantagora Road, Lokoja-Okene-Benin Road, Lagos-Shagamu-Ibadan Expressway and Hadejia-Nguru-Gashua-Bayamari Road among others.
The lawmakers subsequently asked the federal government to rehabilitate the roads. But there has been little action on the part of government on the roads in the past one year. Recently, petroleum tanker drivers embarked on strike to protest the bad condition of roads across the country.
The same situation is being experienced in the rail sector. The country's rail network presently stands at 3,557 kilometers with 3,505 kilometers still on the narrow gauge. The former administration of President Obasanjo had entered into a 25-year contract to rehabilitate the Nigerian rail system with a Chinese construction company.
The 25-year $35 billion four-phased rehabilitation project was to take off with the Lagos to Kano route at an estimated cost of $8.3 billion. The previous administration had initially released $250 million to China Civil Engineering Construction Company, CCECC, the main contractor of the project while it also obtained a $2.5 billion loan from Chinese bank to facilitate the project.
But the project has been enmeshed in controversies since the inception
of the present administration. For one, there is the allegations that the concessionary loan was obtained at too high a cost to Nigeria while the contract was also said to have been inflated. But the Chinese company has consistently denied this. The project has consequently been stalled as a result of lack of funds, according to the Chief Coordinator of CCECC, Mr. Karl Leo.
The Yar'Adua administration set up a committee headed by Minister of Finance, Dr Shamsudeen Usman, to review the funding options for the project last year. The committee, in its report, recommended the suspension of further action on the project, citing procedural error such as lack of competitive bidding and contract inflation. It also said a proper feasibility was not conducted before the commencement of the project and thus advocated for a renegotiation of the contract sum and loan terms as well as the involvement of the private sector in the funding of the project. Though government has not made its views known on the report, it may, however, have accepted the recommendations as there was no allocation to the rail sector in the 2008 budget. This, according to Bashir Borodo, President, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria is unfortunate. Borodo lamented that companies operating in the country face the additional problem of moving their goods into the hinterlands as a result of the poor state of the roads: "Railway infrastructure is supposed to be a priority in our economy and we expected that railway project should have been started by the government and thus included in the budget. It is shocking that it was not mentioned in the budget."
The Minister of Transportation said funding constitutes the biggest obstacle to the railway project.
The government is laying emphasis on the private sector for the development of all sectors of transportation. For this, President Yar'Adua promised that an Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission would be put in place last month to facilitate the process.
According to him, due to the prevailing economic realities in the country and worldwide, it has become clear that government can no longer perform the function of a regulator and yet, remain responsible for the maintenance and development of road infrastructure. "The need for comprehensive reform in the management of our roads is now more urgent than ever. This reform must create an enabling environment for Public-Private-Partnership and involve road users in the development and management of our roads," he said.
Education
Standards are on a free fall in Nigeria's educational institutions
FRANCIS OTTAH AGBO
The education sector, like others is shaky. The university system is a mere glorified secondary school version, as most of them lack teaching aids and social amenities that make learning conducive. Government, it seems, is gradually washing its hands off funding tertiary institutions, thereby stultifying their capability for research and forcing them to introduce outrageous fees for virtually every aspect of tertiary education in competition with the burgeoning number of their expensive private counterparts. And the public secondary schools, save the elitist Unity schools, have virtually collapsed. It has now become the fad for the rich and powerful to send their children abroad or to private schools.
But the most devastating crisis in the sector is the ongoing strike embarked on by teachers in public primary and secondary schools. The teachers, under the auspices of Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, are demanding for a new teachers salary structure, TSS, and want the federal government to issue a circular to state governments directing them to pay the new salary structure. But the government is insisting that the salary and welfare of primary and secondary school teachers are in the concurrent and residual Lists of the 1999 Constitution. What this means, according to Dr. Jerry Agada, minister of state for Education, is that "government can not fix the salary scale of teachers in those schools except that of teachers in Unity schools which is its responsibility.î He further asked the various state chapters of NUT to negotiate with their governors on what they can pay. However, teachers in federal government-owned colleges are to enjoy 27.5 per cent salary increase beginning from this year as the increase is contained in this year budget. "As far as TSS is concerned, government can only help teachers in Unity schools and that is why TSS has been appropriated for in this year's budget. The TSS provision amounts to 27.5 per cent increase from what teachers are receiving. The good thing is that some states increased teachers salary more than 30 or 40 per cent. If government issues circular to state governments as NUT wants us to do, we shall end up violating the principles of federalism", Agada said.
But NUT National Secretary, Obong Ikpeng Obong said government was economical with the truth. "The Federal Government should be truthful. The NUT has never asked government to issue a circular and force the states to implement the TSS. All that the NUT has been saying is that they should issue a circular and pay federal teachers, especially as the National Assembly has appropriated funds for Unity School teachers. We intend to use it as a benchmark to negotiate with states. We never asked them to fix salary for states", Obong said.
Meanwhile, public primary and secondary school pupils are bearing the brunt of the face-off between government and their teachers. What a country!
Judiciary
The Justice system in Nigeria stinks as the education sector goes steadily down
FRANCIS OTTAH AGBO
In civilized climes, the judiciary is not just the third arm of government but the last hope of the ordinary man. This is against the backdrop that judges are seen to be gods in the midst of human beings walking on holy ground and dispensing justice without fear or favour. But in Nigeria, the judiciary is compromised. Justice, according to analysts who spoke to TheNEWS, can only be sought and obtained by the rich and powerful, especially those who are either in government or affiliated with Aso Rock, Nigeria's seat of power.
In fact, the judiciary is blamed for the collapse of the previous Republics in the country. The annulment of the June 12 presidential election of 1993 is not unconnected with the inglorious role of the judiciary. Justice Bassey Ikpeme, for example, granted interim injunction on 10 June, two days to the election, to stop the polls from holding.
The suit was instituted by Arthur Nzeribeís Association for Better Nigeria, ABN. The National Electoral Commission, NEC, chairman, Professor Humphrey Nwosu disobeyed the ruling on grounds that Section 37 of the Transition to Civil Rule Decree ousted all court rulings on the conduct of the election. Though the election held as scheduled, the effect of Ikpemeís frivolous ruling was not left unnoticed. In fact, then military ruler, General Ibrahim Babangida, cited the Ikpeme misadventure as one of the reasons for the annulment of the election adjudged to be the fairest and freest in the history of Nigeria.
After Babangida annuled the election, there were attempts by pro-democracy activists to use the judiciary to revalidate June 12. Yet it was the late Philip Umeadi, a senior advocate and Obafemi Awolowoís presidential running mate in 1979, who, in conjunction with Clement Akpamgbo, then Attorney-General of the Federation, conspired to thwart efforts to revalidate the mandate. Though the judiciary made a spirited attempt to redeem its image by declaring the Interim National Government of Chief Ernest Shonekan illegal, it is on record that Ikpeme's ruling set the ball rolling for the truncation of the third Republic.
Before the June 12 impasse, the Supreme Court had sacrificed justice on the altar of the "lesser evil" paradigm to uphold the fraudulent election of President Shehu Shagari in contravention of the 1979 Constitution. Though the apex court acknowledged that Shagari did not muster two-third majority vote to be declared winner of the polls, it decided that cancelling the election would cause more havoc than upholding it.
The 1999 and 2003 general elections threw up a new challenge to the judiciary for a number of reasons. One, the 1979 Constitution gave way for the 1999 version which legal experts had thought would address the lacuna in the electoral laws. Two, Nigerians, tired of dictatorship embraced democracy hoping that the judiciary would remain an impartial arbiter in the temple of justice. But their dream, analysts conclude, has been dashed by the judiciary. ìWhat we have in Nigeria is that the judiciary is no longer the last hope of the common man or the weak in society. The Nigerian people fought for democracy believing that the judiciary can protect them from the machinations of scoundrels in power. But the judges aligned with their oppressors and that is why justice is in the open market for sale. The judgments particularly in Osun, Sokoto, Enugu, Delta, Ogun, Kebbi and Jos not only dashed the hopes of Nigerians, they have reinforced the age-long belief that once you rigged yourself to power, nothing on earth can reverse it. In short, justice is for sale in this country and this is so because corruption walks in the judiciary untamed. Nigeria is a failed state. I foresee a situation in which aggrieved politicians will invite the military to strike", Mike Igini, a legal expert, asserted
Wild allegations? What is, however, empirical is that the strange judgments from election tribunals across the country have heated the polity. In Osun State for example, the First Election Petitions Tribunal led by Justice Thomas Naron upheld the election of Governor Olagunsoye Oyinlola, of the people Democratic Party, PDP, against the cast-iron evidence of irregularities that marred the conduct of the 14 April 2007 governorship election in the state. The tribunal threw away the petition of Oyinlola's opponent, Engr. Rauf Aregbesola of the Action Congress, AC, on grounds that he failed to prove substantially that he won the election in compliance with the Electoral Act 2006. The irony in the verdict, according to experts, is that the same tribunal stopped Aregbesola from using scientific means to marshal his argument. It will be recalled that the tribunal, on 14 August 2007, granted Aregbesola his prayer to demonstrate how the election was rigged through the forensic report prepared by a British forensic expert, Adrian Forty. However, the tribunal reversed itself on 18 February this year, as the justices curiously disallowed the presentation of Fortyís report. TheNEWS learnt that the secret telephone conversation between Oyinlolaís lawyer, Mr. Kunle Kalejaiye and Justice Naron influenced the justices to ìeatî their words. "In law you cannot blow hot and cold at the same time. How can their Lordships approve of the use of a forensic report and reverse themselves on the same matter. I smell a rat", Aladi Ejah, a lawyer, reasoned.
On account of the credibility crisis, many Nigerians called on the tribunal to suspend delivery of judgment pending a through investigation of the scandal. Like Osun, the justices of the Sokoto election tribunal and the Appeal Court in Kaduna have not dignified themselves. Alhaji Muhammadu Maigari Dingyadi, Sokoto State governorship candidate of Democratic Peoples Party, DPP, challenged the candidature of Governor Aliyu Magartakada Wamakko of PDP at the tribunal. Wamakko, Dingyadi told the tribuna,l was not qualified to stand for the polls having been nominated by the PDP and his former party, All Nigerian Peoples Party, ANPP. Aside this, Dingyadi told the court, Wamakkoís running mate, Alhaji Mukhtari Shagari, former minister of Water Resources, lied on oath in contravention of the Penal Code.
Shagari was alleged to have forged his nomination form CF001 in a High Court in Nasarawa State. Paragraphs 10-11 of Dingyadiís petition read in party: ìShagari falsely backdated it (form CF001) to 12th of February 2007 and colluded with the officials of Independent National Electoral Communication, INEC, to reflect the 12th of February as the date in which it was sworn. And in order to make it hardly traceable, Shagari left Sokoto and came all the way to Nasarawa State to swear to the affidavit.
But, in what a source described a "judicial miracle in the caliphate", the tribunal upheld the election of Wamakko and Shagari. However, Dingyadi headed for Court of Appeal in Kaduna, where a unanimous judgment read by Justice Ahmed Belgore set aside Wamakkos victory on the ground of non-qualification and massive irregularities.
The court averred that evidence before it indicated Wamakko was card-carrying member of ANPP at the time PDP nominated him, in contravention of section 187(1) of the 1999 Constitution. On Shagari, the appellate court said his nomination was illegal, stressing that his form CF001 was "manufactured purposely to meet the challenges of Election Petitions Tribunal in clear contravention of sections 164, 362(9) and 366 of the Penal Code". The strangest aspect of Belgore's verdict was that he allowed Wamakko, whom he said was disqualified ab initio, contest the re-run election. "The Court of Appeal in Kaduna made a serious mistake in not making a consequential order banning PDP and Wamakko from the election permanently having declared that Wamakko was disqualified ab initio", said Prof. Itse Sagay.
Legal experts were yet to recover from that verdict when the court delivered another sucker punch in a case involving Yar'Adua's son-in-law, Governor Saidu Dakingari of Kebbi (PDP) and Alhaji Abubakar Gre Mallam. In a unanimous judgment, delivered by Justice Zainab Bulkachuwa, the court upheld the victory of Dakingari even though, like Wamakko, he had double nomination. How did the tribunal arrive at the difference between six and half a dozen? The only difference between Wammakko and Dakingari is that the latter has the blessing of Aso Rock, while the former does not", observed Sagay.
In Asaba, the capital city of Delta State, there was a collapse of the justice system at the tribunal. The five-man panel chaired by Justice Lokulo-Shodipe delivered a judgment to the effect that Peter Okocha, the AC governorship candidate for the state had no locus standi to challenge his exclusion from participating in the polls since he was not a candidate in the election. INEC had disqualified Okocha on grounds that his companies enjoyed certain concessions at the Nigerian ports.
The judgment was contradictory, more so that the Supreme Court, in the case of Atiku v. State, had declared that only a court of law could stop a candidate from participating in election. The question is: can a tribunal upturn a decision of the apex court? The answer is no. "Such a thing does not happen except in a state of anarchy", said one source.
Curiously, too, the appellate court has refused to hear the substantive matter in Okocha's suit, six months after it lambasted the Delta Tribunal for doing same. Okocha has petitioned the President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Umar Abdullahi, to constitute a new panel to hear the matter.
Delta is not the only place where judges have not lived above aboard. Despite the Practice Direction of the tribunal warning their Lordships not to strike out cases on grounds of technicality, the Ogun State Election Petitions Tribunal dismissed Senator Ibikunle Amosun of ANPP's petition because he did not mention his age, nationality and his political party. Though the Appeal Court has quashed that pronouncement, the Court of Appeal president is yet to constitute a panel to try the matter. And as Nigerians were pondering over the warped verdicts, the Court of Appeal in Enugu passed yet another judgment that shocked Nigerians to their bone marrows.
It held that Enugu State Governor, Sullivan Chime won election by valid votes cast even when there was incontrovertible evidence of rigging established by the lower tribunal which had earlier sacked Chime.
The compromise of the judiciary did not exactly catch observers by surprise following the bribery scandals trailing the tribunals. The House of Representatives committee on Judiciary alleged that some politicians gave a retired Chief Justice N2.3billion to induce judges in the tribunals.
Of Patriots And Traitors
Nigeria and its fellow oil producing nations of Middle East and Asia present an interesting study in contrasting leadership
TAYO ODUNLAMI
Someone once described Dubai as the most architecturally breathtaking city in the world. That may arguably be laying it on too thick - for now. Very soon, the eulogy may, however, just become apt as the sheikdom in the United Arab Emirates, UAE, throttles deeper in its quest to appropriately wear that title.
Dubai is the Middle East's commercial hub, as Lagos is West Africaís. But that is where the comparison in similarities ends and a gap in difference yawns. A drive, diurnal or otherwise, from Dubai International Airport through the city assures one of safetyñfrom potholes, armed robberies, area boys, stray bullets, etcñas the beautiful scenery soothes tired eyes. Everywhere, huge structures tower upwards, either as residences, offices or hotels, off wide roads so impeccably constructed and tarred a tired driver could sleep off on its smoothness.
And also everywhere, construction jobs are endlessly on-going ñ from the airport itself, besides which the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos pales into an inactive airstrip and which is still being expanded ñ to numerous building, water, metro and power engineering projects. For the numerous citizens of the UAE, there are so many job engagements, so much so foreigners are having a good slice of the action. Certainly, in the UAE, poverty is minimal, and non-existent among its indigenous population. From the bare telltale, it is incontestable that leaders of the UAE have been judiciously utilising the huge earnings the kingdom has been reaping from oil.
Both Nigeria and the UAE are major oil producers and members of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC. And whereas the UAE and, indeed, other oil producing countries in the Middle East can flaunt developmental projects made good with oil dollars, Nigeria remains a shamefully poor cousin, no thanks to the kleptomania of its leaders.
Despite oil wealth, Nigeria falls in the list of the worldís poverty line. The United Nations Human Development Report, UNHDR, published for 2007/2008 confirms a greater population of the Nigerian population live in abject poverty, as if that needs any telling. The UN defines poverty as ìan economic condition of lacking both money and basic necessities needed to successfully live, such as food, water, education, healthcare and shelterî. The body considers lack of a stable income, economic instability, insecurity and unpredictability of a continued means to meet basic needs as indicative of absolute poverty. The UN considers any nation where its population live under $1 and $2 per day as existing below the poverty line.
It is not enough that Nigeria conveniently hugs a prominent position in the unenviable list of poverty-stricken nations, the percentage of its people so living takes the cake among OPEC members. The current UNDHR discloses that 92.4 per cent of Nigerians live on $2 per day while 70.8 per cent live on $1. Fellow oil-producing countries in the Middle East are free from the blemish, as are Asian oil producers, Malaysia and Singapore.
Similarly, the Human Development Index, HDI, which measures a countryís life expectancy, literacy, education, general standards of living and impact of economic policies on quality of life to determine whether the country is developed, developing or under-developed also rightly situates Nigeria in the despicably low status it belongs. Nigeria actually places 158th of the 177 countries analysed. Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Brunei, Libya and Singapore are all proudly perched in the developed category. Angola is the only other oil-exporting country that shares the under-developed stain with Nigeria. With Nigerians consigned by their leaders to live in such a deplorable state, it is little surprise that the average life expectancy is 44 years. Its fellow oil producers in the Middle East and Asia boast of a minimum of 70 years.
The difference between the primitive permanence in Nigeria and the developed envy in the Middle East and Asia is that of traitors to patriots, clueless rulers to visioners, thieves to the upright, bastards to true-bloods. Whereas Nigerian leaders have been insanely stealing and stashing the money away in foreign lands for use to develop other economies, leaders of other oil-producing countries have been investing the money to build the necessary infrastructure, either for manufacturing, as in the instance of the Asian Tigers, or hospitality and tourism, as concerns the Arabs. In Malaysia and Singapore, Nigeriaís contemporaries in the 1960s as underdeveloped nations, their leaders have over time established an efficient small and medium scale industrial class that is not only to a great extent addressing the issue of employment, it is also earning money for the countries from exports. Malaysia is a major producer of palm produce and mass-exports household electronics and computer software, especially to Africa. Its government has exploited its oil money well to build a relatively strong economic base and provide basic necessities of life.
Singapore was fortunate to have Lee Kuan Yew, its Prime Minister from 1959 to 1990, who transformed it from economic backwaters to global prominence. In 1959, when Yew assumed office, Singaporeís per capita gross domestic product was only $400. By 1990 when he left office, it was $12,000. By the turn of the century, it had risen to $22,000. Lee encouraged entrepreneurship, but first, he laid the infrastructural foundation that would flower entrepreneurial excellence. His administration built power plants and good roads and provided small scale industrialists low-interest loans to start off their businesses. Yewís administrative philosophy was a unique mix of economic freedom and tight social control. He was able to achieve success in implementation because of his sincerity of purpose and personal discipline, two vital qualities lacking in Nigeriaís leadership.
The kings and sheiks of the Middle East nations may not be pumping petro-dollars on industrialisation yet, but they have been proving shrewd in investing in lucrative money and capital markets worldwide and in property. The countries there are no longer the stretches of desert; rather governments are spending huge sums of money providing infrastructure that will boost commerce and tourism. In the Arabian Gulf, there is estimated to be, at least, 2000 projects - roads, railways, sea and airports, liquefied natural gas pipelines, commercial and residential sectors, educational establishments, healthcare facilities, cinemas, theatres, sports facilities, hotels and theme parks as well as mixed-use and retail developments - worth 1.3 trillion pounds sterling, currently under construction.
The UAE and Saudi Arabia account for the lionís share of civil building development. In the UAE alone, there are 390 projects with a combined value of more than $430 billion. Saudi Arabia has 330 projects with a total value of more than $409 billion.
The Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC, states of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar have generated among them a huge current account surplus of $590 billion over the past five years, a higher figure than what even China has reaped. Income per head in the region is running at an average of $20,000, which is 25 times higher than the average income in India. The GDP has doubled since 2002 and is expected to match the Indian economy this year.
The GCC is currently executing five major projects with a total combined value of $358 billion. The projects are the $120 billion King Abdallah Economic City in Saudi Arabia located north-west of Jeddah and comprising six components: the sea port, industrial zone, Central Business District (including the financial district), resort district, educational zone and residential communities; Kuwaitís $86 billion Silk City project consisting of construction of a natural desert reservation, a new airport, a large business centre and zones that include environment, sports, media, health, education, and industry; the Dubaiís Investmentís $60 billion Dubailand, a large-scale leisure and entertainment project with 45 individual projects including theme parks, eco-tourism projects, shopping malls, restaurants and residential units with a minimum of 55 hotels; the $53 billion Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Mousaed Economic City in Hail, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dabhiís $39 billion Yas Island development.
Also planned is the world's largest tower, the Burj Mubarak Al-Kabir, a 1,001-metre structure. "The entire value for projects in the Gulf, including those projects at the planning and conception stages, are worth over $2.5 trillion and account for 3,521 projects", Proleads director, Emil Rademeyer, said. Proleads is a database company that monitors regional construction projects across various industrial sectors in the Gulf region. The total value of construction projects in the region is expected to go up to $3 trillion in 2008.
Saudi Arabia spearheads the construction drive with projects worth over $1.1 trillion. The UAE ranks second with developments valued at $700 billion, followed by Kuwait in third place at $300 billion. However, in terms of total number of projects, the UAE has an edge over Saudi Arabia, with 1,539 projects compared to the kingdomís 1,033 projects. The top five UAE projects include Dubaiís Dubailand, Bawadi Development and The Palm Deira, Abu Dhabiís Yas Island Development and Saadiyat Island, and Umm Al Quwainís White Bay Development. Investments in civil construction alone exceed $1.35 trillion and are valued higher than other construction sectors like oil, gas, power, water and petrochemicals. The GCC governmentsí policy is to invest their huge financial resources into the construction of premium residential, leisure and entertainment facilities for the residents as well as tourists. The governments aim to reduce dependence on oil exports and invest their profits into developing the financial, industrial and tourism sectors.
In the UAE, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority plans to invest $7.5 billion in Citigroup, United States of Americaís largest bank. The investment will give the Arab state about 4.9 per cent of Citigroup Inc.'s equity. The purchase will make the Investment Authority one of Citi's largest shareholders.
The Investment Authority is the world's largest sovereign wealth fund. Although the fund has never publicly revealed its total assets, it is believed to be controlling hundreds of billions of dollars.
Dubai International Capital, another investment arm in the UAE, has acquired a stake of undisclosed size in the Japanese electronics and media company Sony Corp. It also recently acquired 3.12 per cent of European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co., manufacturer of the Airbus commercial planes and military aircraft. The firm also holds stakes in Daimler AG and British bank HSBC Holdings plc.
Total residential projects in the GCC to ensure the people are conveniently accommodated are more than 340 and is worth over $81 billion. The UAE leads on residential projects with more than 230 currently active with a combined value of over $59 billion.
Total commercial projects across the region number 144 with a combined value of over $17 billion. The UAE also leads the way with 81 of the commercial projects and a combined value exceeding $10 billion. The total number of hotel projects in the Gulf region is 96 with a combined total value of $190 billion.
The region is also currently spending huge money worth more than $13 billion on aviation development, safety and expansion. The UAE has already been ranked among the worldís top five fastest growing aviation markets in the world by International Air Travel Association, IATA.
In Africa, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi of Libya has been prudently directing proceeds from oil into gradually turning the desert country into an agricultural wonder. Gaddafi has also been ensuring that nearly every family is cheaply accommodated. Leader of Libya since 1 September 1969 when he took over power in a coup díetat to stem the deep rot then ravaging the country, Gaddafi remains well loved by his people for his revolutionary fervour which has positively turned round the country and improved the living standards of the Libyan people. Libya is categorised in the high (developed) echelon of UNís HDI as the worldís 56th most developed nation. Its average life expectancy is 74 years.
Where do all these leave Nigeria? In absolute ignominy. Although we share the same oil producing tag with the Middle East, some Asian countries and Libya, there is practically nothing on ground to show for it. For a positive change to be effected, it is obvious something must give. And fast too.
Health
For so long, successive governments have ignored the health sector. This has left hospitals in the country in ruins
ERNEST OMOARELOJIE
Even before he assumed office as the countryís President, Nigerians were worried sick about the condition of Umar YaríAduaís health. It was no surprise that his Nigerian doctors were frantically attempting to douse the anxiety that was enveloping the entire country like a harmattan haze. When at last they came out with a diagnosis, they told Nigerians that he had a respiratory ailment. No one had any reason to entertain any fear that there was anything wrong with the diagnosis. That, however, was until his case worsened and he was flown to Germany for a more detailed examination. There, doctors found that the President was suffering from a more debilitating ailment. Nigerian doctors had goofed. More recently, Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN) suffered the same fate. His doctors diagnosed pneumonia. But when his health problem became more complicated, he went abroad where foreign doctors found out that his problem was far more serious than he was told.
Bad as the two diagnoses may appear, both the President and Fawehinmi were lucky to have come out of the experience alive. Or barely so.
In reality, the countryís health care system can only be described as comatose. The reason is not far to seek. Indeed, the list of anomalies in the sector is endless. They include misdiagnosis, hospital-to-patient infection, obsolete equipment, low morale among health workers, dilapidated and inadequate infrastructure, among others. At the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, LUTH, it is a regular feature to administer malaria treatment on patients because the mosquito nets on windows are torn. As a matter of course, nurses in the hospital carry pouches containing syringes and other basic health materials which they sell to patients. In some instances, patients who do not buy from them or risk being given a tough time. LUTH has equally devised a unique method of dealing with the problem of inadequate health workers. This medium learnt that the hospital keeps non-critical patients on hold while doctors attend to others with more serious conditions.
Investigations conducted at the Spinal Injury ward of the Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, Lagos, revealed an uncanny substitution for the treatment of such injuries. The hospital now uses stones in place of the regular measuring device tied to patientsí spinal region to keep the broken bones in the spinal region in place.
The situation, this magazine learnt, is not much different in other hospitals across the country. For instance, at the Ijebu Ode General Hospital, the dearth of infrastructure and personnel has increased drastically the probability of emergency victims ending up dead.
There are several case studies. Richard Obiefule is an unfortunate example. On 21 January, the 34-year-old bank employee who was returning to Lagos from his village, was involved in a motor accident that shattered his spinal cord. He was rushed to the hospital but help failed to reach him. The following day, he managed to put a call through to one of his friends in Lagos. However, by the time help came, his case had worsened. He was taken to the Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi where he was later transferred to LUTH. A few days later, he died.
Dr. (Mrs.) Abiodun Oduwole, Ogun State Health Commissioner told this medium that one of the problems facing the hospital, like others across the country, is inadequate manpower. The others are inadequate infrastructure and personnel. According to her, most of the hospitalís consultants live in Lagos, far from the hospital.
For many years, successive administrations ignored the health sector, leaving hospitals across the country completely neglected and in perpetual state of disrepair. In most cases, the structures are pitiably dilapidated. Along with the neglect of physical infrastructure was the absence of any attempt to formulate a health policy to reverse the trend. The last comprehensive effort, which has since been abandoned, was made by Prof. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti in 1992, which was revised by Prof. Eyitayo Lambo. Though the National Assembly is expected to formulate one, there is absolutely none in existence at the moment.
That was generally the case when the Obasanjo administration committed about N17 billion to revitalise, especially, federal government hospitals. The money was for the rehabilitation of eight Teaching Hospitals, including LUTH and the University College Hospital, UCH, Ibadan. Though the project met popular approval and was indeed commissioned at the twilight of his administration, there were claims that most of the equipment supplied to the hospitals were refurbished. As some hospital sources put it, the condition of the equipment left no one in doubt that it was a half-hearted politically-motivated measure which now supports the view by observers that the government had no real intention of ending the slide into decadence the sector has had to contend with for a very long time.
Governmentís inability or refusal to commit itself to reversing the decay in hospitals is most manifest in the manner it starved the sector of funds over the years. The direct result is that the morale of health workers dimmed, which is the greatest problem facing the sector. Dr. Bola Olaosebikan told this medium that the biggest problem facing the sector is inadequate funding and as it is in some cases, improper administration of funds.
The problem, he stressed, worsened because over the years, successive administrations made no attempt to have a defined health policy that would provide direction for the development of the sector. For the same reason, he opined, the National Health Insurance Scheme that was launched with funfare by the Obasanjo administration failed. The former Kwara State Health commissioner and publisher of HEALTHCARE magazine explained that lack of funding led to the massive exodus of doctors and nurses (brain drain) to overseas countries. The trend, he said, is still on-going as most health workers still find the sector unbearable. Those who for one reason or the other are unable to leave the country, especially junior workers, have taken to selling basic medical equipment like syringes, to patients. "The heart of the matter is the issue of funding and money. No one can say how much money is available or how it is being used. Inadequate fund forced professionals out of the country. It is still driving them away. There is no motivation for them and equipment are not there. The heart of the matter is funding and money; how much money is available and how it is being used", Olaosebikan said.
Dr. Dolapo Clement, a Community health care consultant, agrees that over the years governments starved the sector of funds. According to him, the United Nations recommendation for the health sector is 15 per cent of national budget. In Nigeria, however, it is, at its highest, is just 5 per cent. Even then, the money is almost always never released in full. Rather than brain drain as most people are wont to believe, the most dire consequence of that inadequacy is the manner it affects the peopleís health. For instance, the countryís life expectancy took a direct hit. Despite that reality, health care facilities are not only inadequate but grossly malfunctional.
Are Nigerians Docile?
The docility of Nigerians in the face of unpopular government policies is probably responsible for bad leadership
TONY ORILADE/Abuja
At the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, mega station in Wuse Zone One, Abuja last Wednesday, a woman who simply identified herself as Madam Angelina told this magazine that she had arrived the station early in the day wanting to buy kerosene in two 25-litre jerrycans. At 4pm, Angelina, with her baby tied to her back, was still waiting. Her containers, nowhere near the dispensing pump, were among over 1000 waiting to be filled with the essential commodity which has since disappeared from filling stations, including those of AP, which President Umar Yar'Adua, three weeks ago, promised would have the product for sale at N50 a litre.
Those who crowded around the nozzles were horsewhipped by mobile policemen who were on duty for crowd control. "Madam, is this how they beat you people every day?" this magazine inquired.
"There is no way we will come here to buy kerosene without being horsewhipped by these policemen. That is the price we pay for coming here," she responded with a sigh.
The late Justice Minister, Chief Bola Ige, who was murdered by yet-to-be identified gunmen in 2001, once told his political associates that he had resolved to "siddon-look" as a way of expressing his dissatisfaction with the distasteful political climate under former dictator, Gen. Sani Abacha. That statement immediately became a popular phrase in Nigeriaís political lexicon. Many years after Ige's death, Nigerians are, more than ever, dissatisfied with the conduct of their rulers.
From the annulment of 12 June 1993 presidential election to the incessant hike in prices of petroleum products which culminated in Labour-organised protests across the country, especially during the tenure of Olusegun Obasanjo, Nigerians have constantly been lackadaisical in their response to the excesses, nay, impunity, of their leaders. Even when avoidable, often harsh, economic, political or social policies which impinge on their wellbeing are forced on them by an inconsiderate, kleptomanic leadership, Nigerians have been known to put up a lack-lustre protest and thereafter abandoned human rights activists, many of whom are comfortable and are solely driven by patriotism and humanitarian instincts, to lead the struggle. In the face of arbitrary hiking of fuel price, the disposition of most Nigerians seemed to be: may God provide us with more money to afford our needs.
And with the generation of the known staunch activists passing to the great beyond, getting old or, at least, past their prime, producing icons who are prepared to replace the older generation as the conscience of the nation is becoming a great concern.
Already, great activists like Beko Ransome-Kuti and Chima Ubani have sacrificed their lives for the struggle. Prof. Wole Soyinka is 74 years old, Gani Fawehinmi is 70 and ailing, and the likes of Femi Falana, Mike Ozekhome, Tunji Abayomi, Festus Keyamo and Shehu Sani are not getting any younger, yet they still persist in their struggle for an egalitarian society, undeterred by the lackadaisical attitude of the generality of their countrymen to the festering rot that is enveloping the country.
The former President of Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, outlined the mindset of such activists succintly. In October 2003, when he mobilised Nigerians for yet another strike against fuel price hike during the 8th All Africa Games in Abuja and the government was forced to rescind the increase, albeit temporarily, Oshiomhole was asked by this magazine if he was sure Nigerians would have stood solidly behind him if the strike was to continue. His reply: "There is no question about that. But in any event, my responsibility and those of my colleagues is to lead. If the people fail to follow, we cannot lead and at the same time follow. What we promised was credible leadership. We trust that Nigerians will follow because the frustration was palpable everywhere in the land."
In another interview, Oshiomhole expressed his frustration when he said: "The government's weakest point is their assumption that Nigerians are very docile. Our people can talk, but beyond that they will just give upÖ.so if Nigerians accept slavery, there will be little or nothing anybody can do on a sustainable basis that will bail them out. We can offer the leadership but we can not also be followers."
The current President of the NLC, Comrade Abduwaheed Omar and his Trade Union Congress, TUC, counterpart, Comrade Peter Esele, are yet to attain the towering stature of Oshiomhole in mobilising Nigerians against unpopular government policies. But they have shown the potential. The problem, however, is, are Nigerians ready?
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