Fayemi: Re: Buhari V Jonathan: Beyond The Election

Saturday, January 31, 2015

Published in the public domain January 27, 2015

***

We commend Professor Chukwuma Soludo for his insightful and incisive article published on January 26th in the Vanguard Newspaper, The Nation Newspaper and major online news platforms under the above title. We agree with Professor Soludo that if the political parties, including ours, must justify the overwhelming enthusiasm of Nigerians about the 2015 elections, we must remain focused on the issues that matter most to them, which is the progress of our country and the well being of our people. Indeed, this has been the driving conviction of our party and our campaign all along.

While we accept his critical comments on our party, more for the intentions than for the letters, we believe some clarifications would be quite necessary. We wish to emphasise that our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), presents a real option to Nigerians. Professor Soludo expressed the sentiments of most Nigerians when he spoke about the incalculable damage that the PDP under President Jonathan has done to the Nigerian economy and the unprecedented hardship that his six years of the locust has brought upon Nigerians.

However, the APC does not intend to ride into power on a mere rhetoric of 'change'. The change that we propose is fundamental in many ways as it is critical to the very survival of our country. This in itself presents a major distinction between our party and the PDP. Perhaps, the most compelling argument against the People's Democratic Party today is that its government and leadership does not even see that Nigeria is in trouble. While majority of our people wallow in abject poverty, and the gap in inequality gets ever wider by the day, yet PDP has basked in self-celebration of imagined accomplishments. How can a party or a government even begin to solve a problem that it does not believe exists? Like in all things, PDP is stuck in denial.

APC does not promise Eldorado. Neither our candidate nor our manifesto has made such promise. Our programs are based on the critical awareness of the difficult task ahead, while holding out a ray of hope to our people. The promises that we make reflect our innermost belief that the people must be at the centre of development. Especially, we believe that any economic growth that leaves the majority of the people behind, and does not protect the weakest and the vulnerable among us, is merely delusionary.

Professor Soludo has drawn our attention to the striking but unfortunate similarity in the nation's economy in 1982-1984 period and what we are experiencing today. Back then, a period of sustained high crude oil prices had also ironically led to unsustainable debt levels and introduction of the austerity measure. Just as it happened more than three decades ago, it is difficult to explain how a sustained period of oil boom should ultimately lead to austerity measure except to say that huge opportunities that the period of boom presented were frittered away by mindless profligacy, wanton corruption and bad economic choices made by the PDP government, which has rewarded a protracted period of boom with uncertainty and austerity and is still asking for another mandate to do more damage.

If we sound upbeat in our manifesto, it is because we recognise that this crisis period also presents us a great opportunity to restructure the economy in a way that improves the quality of lives of our people by ensuring that our economic growth is job-led. Our party has identified job creation as a critical priority of government. We have noted with concerns that Nigeria’s unemployment rate of 23.9% should be seen as a national crisis. And if this government was more sensitive to the enormity of the challenge that this presents, it would be reluctant to jump all over the place in self celebration while so many of our youths are wasting away. In the immediate future, our priority is to tackle unemployment and provide good jobs by embarking on a massive programme of public works, building houses, roads, railways, ports and energy plants. Over the long term, we believe we must wean Nigeria off its dangerous addiction to oil, which currently provides 80% of our spending leaving us at the mercy of volatile international oil prices. Even as a federalist party, we believe that an economy that is dependent on a commodity that is so dangerously exposed to price volatility must always prepare for eventuality through savings and investments once the agreed thresholds are met. What we disagree with is the unilateral and arbitrary deductions in accruable revenues in a way that hampers the development of the federating States.

Going by the government's own statistics, is it mere coincidence that the three States with the lowest unemployment rate - Osun, Lagos and Kwara - are all APC States? This is evidence of our Party's ability to tackle this problem head-on. APC’s policy thrust will create an enabling environment and incentives for the formal and informal sectors to lead the quest for job creation. This will be done in addition to skills acquisition and enterprise- training to ensure our youths are equipped with the appropriate skills to take these jobs. Merely introducing a National Qualification Standards would power a whole new world of opportunities for our artisans by launching them into the international job markets. We note the issue that Professor Soludo picked with our figure of 720,000 jobs. We need to clarify that this is limited to immediate direct employment opportunities from public projects and maintenance works only. Our manifesto actually promises a lot more jobs but we see that as the product of the enabling environment we seek to create for private sector-led job creation, especially in high opportunity sectors like agriculture, construction, entertainment, tourism, ICT and sports. APC economic policy is driven by an overwhelming concern for the level of inequality in our country today. Specifically, to quote from our manifesto, we intend to achieve our job-creation agenda through:

• Massive public works programme especially the building of a national railway system (complete with tramline systems for our major cities), interstate roads, and ports. These projects must commence early in the life of the new administration.
• Establishing a new Federal Coordinating Agency - Build Nigeria - to fast track and manage these public works programmes with emphasis on Nigerian labour.
• Embarking vigorously on industrialization, public works and agricultural expansion.-Diversifying the economy through a national industrial policy and innovative private-sector incentives that will move us away from over reliance on oil into value-added production especially manufacturing.
• Reviving textile and other industries that have been rendered dormant because of inappropriate economic policies.
• Reinvigorating the solid mineral sector by revamping our aged mining legislation and attracting new investment.
• Developing a new generation of domestic oil refineries to lower import costs, enhance our energy independence and create jobs.
• Working with state governments to turn the country into Africa's food basket through a new system of grants and interest free loans, and the mechanization of agriculture.
• Encouraging and promoting the use of sports as a source of job creation, entertainment and recreation.
• Creating a knowledge economy by making Nigeria an IT /professional/Telecom services outsourcing destination hub to create millions of jobs.
• Filling the huge gap in middle level technical manpower with massive investment in technical and tradesmen's skills education.
• Ensuring that all foreign contractors to include a plan of developing local capacity (technology transfer).
• Creation of six Regional Development Agencies covering the country with representatives from the Federal Government, States and the private sector to manage a new N300billion growth fund.

Our obsession with job creation stems from the fact that we believe we must focus on actions that would serve the twin purpose of closing the gap in inequality and creating opportunities for our people, especially the youth. 

Our current situation is dangerous for the stability of the country. The Human Development Index position ranks Nigeria 152 of 169 countries surveyed. This is incompatible with the present administration’s insistence on celebrating GDP growth and our absolute economic size hinged on a routine rebasing exercise. As many commentators have pointed out, rebasing the GDP is not an achievement. Rather, it is a mere statistical adjustment that does not impact on the real or imagined standards of living of the people. So, we also wonder what this PDP government is celebrating. And maybe it is not that difficult to explain when one discovers that a small elite has captured the state and converted our commonwealth into private gain, becoming disproportionately rich from massive corruption while poverty has deepened. The income gap and illicit capital flight are growing alarmingly. Instead of investing in modernizing our economy, massive theft has starved the country of desperately needed resources for infrastructure and public services and left us dangerously dependent on fluctuating global oil prices for our economic survival. For the ordinary Nigerian, the much-touted economic growth cited by the present administration has not translated into employment or development. Over 100 million Nigerians are struggling to make ends meet on a regular basis.

Furthermore, we understand Professor Soludo’s concern on the cost of implementing our various programmes, especially those relating to social welfare. The enormity of this challenge is not lost on us. We also know that sometimes, going into government is like buying a "no testing" electronic equipment. You may never know the true state of what you are buying until you get in. We want to assure Professor Soludo and other like-minded Nigerians that our policy team is looking at all the options – including the worst-case scenario of a completely empty treasury. We are however confident that by blocking avenues of wastages and corruption alone, savings could run into billions of Naira that could be deployed for productive use. Even so, we agree with Professor Soludo that savings from corruption alone will not tackle the enormous challenges we are likely to confront in government. We are however comforted by the fact that a four-year period provides opportunity for phased implementation while growing the resource base as well as changing the culture of graft while reducing the cost of governance.

Quite significantly, we know that periods of economic downturn also potentially provide opportunity to lay the foundation for real economic restructuring and development; and we can reflect on how Singapore under Premier Lee Kuan Yew and the United States of America under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt used historic moments of economic downturn in their countries to launch a period of sustained development and a new deal for their people. General Buhari has never claimed to have the magic wand nor the answers to all of the country’s problems. His greatest assets would be his moral authority borne out of his self-sacrificing integrity, his sincerity of purpose and his patriotic zeal to return Nigeria to the path of progress and genuine development. He is committed to utilize competent and committed people of integrity wherever he may find them. This is precisely why he promised when flagging off his campaign in Port Harcourt on January 5, 2015 that if voted into power, it would be an opportunity to, in his words, "finally assemble a competent team of Nigerians to efficiently manage this country”. This is a clear sign that a meritocratic process will govern the appointment of those that would be entrusted with managing our economy and country. His stint as Head of State shows a track record of using self-sacrificing professionals in his governance team. His previous cabinet included the likes of Dr. Onaolapo Soleye, Professor Tam David-West and Professor Ibrahim Gambari.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) is determined to lead Nigeria in the direction of change that is so urgently required. And even as we prepare for the immediate rescue mission in 2015, our minds are also set on building the necessary democratic institutions that would entrench our ideological conviction as a progressive and people-centred party. A National Progressives Policy Institute is part of this plan in the near future but we are very clear about the enormity of the task ahead. We would not seek to underplay it. We are supremely confident that we are equal to the task and we appreciate the commitment of majority of Nigerians to this quest for change.

Dr. Kayode Fayemi

Former Governor Ekiti State and Head Policy, Research and Strategy Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign.

JOHESU'S DISHONORABLE CAMPAIGN

Friday, January 30, 2015

Not content with attempting to hold the nation to ransom via their several months long strike, or perhaps miffed by their so far questionable results in their Campaign of Dishonor, the members of JOHESU have now taken to physically attacking doctors who report for duty at government hospitals.

Doctors are not JOHESU members and so are not on strike. JOHESU can attempt to pull its "considerable weight" without physically attacking doctors who, as noble citizens, go about their professional duties. The actions of JOHESU in this regard are condemnable, ridiculous, and thoroughly lacking in propriety. Their resort to the strongarm tactics employed by hooligans and motor park touts gives every discerning Nigerian a clear picture of what our hospitals will be like when such characters begin to manage them.

I believe there still exist a few honorable members of JOHESU. I believe I even know some. I expect them to publicly disassociate themselves and their association from that despicable move by their comrades. Otherwise, that move will go down in history as JOHESU's interpretation of how to go about a labor dispute. And, if the latter situation is true, then ordinary Nigerian citizens, who may themselves become patients at a government-owned health facility any day, have a lot to be apprehensive about.

TO THOSE NIGERIANS WHO STONE PRESIDENT JONATHAN

Friday, January 30, 2015

President Jonathan is running for reelection in 2015, whether you like it or not. Again, whether you like it or not, he has a good chance of winning reelection, although (thankfully) the chances of his being the first Nigerian incumbent to face defeat at the polls are looking increasingly cheerier.

You may have been grieving over the past several months and years over the lives of your mothers, sisters, fathers, brothers, friends, and relatives which have been lost to the madness that the government likes to call insurgency rather than call it by its true name of terrorism. You may feel betrayed by the absolute nonchalance displayed by this Federal Government to the plight you have experienced, to the rape of our collective sensibilities. You have good reason to. A government whose officials swore to defend the territorial integrity of the nation and the security of the people should have busied itself doing that.

But you should have acted in your interests several months and years ago. You should have started a massive civil disobedience campaign that would have brought the nation to its knees and the government to its duties. You should have closed the streets and sat on the roads after the Christmas Day bombings in Niger state; you should have refused to discontinue the protests until the perpetrators were discovered. If perhaps you were not shocked by that time, by the sheer horror of that act, if perhaps you thought it did not concern you then because it was a church that was attacked, well then, you should have shut down the North in the immediate aftermath of the mass kidnapping of the girls from Chibok, especially when this government pretended like it did not happen, when this President went dancing on the very day the news broke, even as bombings occurred in Nyanya, killing Nigerians muslim and christian, northern and southern alike. 

You have watched how the French protest. You should have taken a cue from that. They don't burn houses, they don't kill anyone, they just sit on the roads, arrange carnivals on the highways, and make it impossible for movement to occur anywhere in the region until the government acts. The sheer scale of such French protests usually forces the government to act. In fact, as a British Lord once said, "the fear of French protests has become, for French and indeed for European politicians, the bedrock of political wisdom". 

If you had done any or all of that, then maybe, the rest of the country might have been galvanized into action long before now, on our collective behalf. Isn't it rather interesting that till date, the most visible figure in the #BringBackOurGirls Campaign has no ancestral roots in any location directly affected by all this violence?

But you chose to be silent. You chose to wait for this moment. You chose to wait for the elections, and then to make your statement. That is all very good. Very, very good. I have statements of my own I want to make at these elections, with my thumbprint on my ballot paper. I want to send this president back to Bayelsa in 2015. But I want to do it with my ballot paper. Not with stones.

You cannot stone your president, Nigerians. He is still your president. And this is not Palestine. This is not the ancient Middle East. You don't stone people. You really cannot stone your president. He may be a clueless, spineless, useless, shameless, corrupt  (add or subtract any adjectives, as you please) individual, but HE IS STILL YOUR PRESIDENT. HE IS STILL OUR PRESIDENT. He may not deserve a second term in office (in my opinion, he certainly doesn't), but he is still deserving of our collective respect. The moment we think he is no longer deserving of our respect as President, we get our legislators to impeach him. Period. 

Stoning his motorcade, trying to deny him the right to campaign, the right to be heard (even if most of what he has to say is not worth hearing), is of all kinds of hateful politicking the most despicable.

If you think you can afford to stone your president today just because you don't like what he looks like, where he comes from, or the policies he implements or fails to implement, I hope you don't get offended when our dear friends the Chinese pour lime-water on whoever becomes the Nigerian president tomorrow simply because they don't like the color of his skin.

Put down your stones. They are not as powerful as your thumbprint on that ballot. 

Bunmi Awoyemi: On That Unchristian Charge By A Christian Pastor

Friday, January 30, 2015

I was shocked when a man of God, Bishop David Oyedepo who I respect so much said in his church some days ago that his members should slaughter any one that looks like a terrorist. The key word there is "anyone that looks like."

While I am 100% in support of self defense, I abhor tribal profiling and targeting. When this happens, innocent lives are bound to be lost. Then in the 3rd service of his Church on Sunday, January 25, 2015, attended by President Jonathan, my dear Bishop Oyedepo said in a comment directed at President Jonathan “We will open the gates of hell on those who oppose you.When God enthrones you no one can dethrone you”

My Bishop's support of Jonathan is anchored on the false premise that Buhari is planning to Islamize Nigeria. Nothing could be further from the truth. IBB, not Buhari, registered Nigeria as a member of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC). IBB, Abacha and Abdusalami Abubakar attended OIC meetings. No President of Nigeria has attended OIC meetings in the last 15 years until President Jonathan attended an OIC meeting in late 2014. Buhari never attended any OIC meeting and refused to join the OIC even though he was a military Head of State possessing immense powers. How can the same Buhari now islamize Nigeria in a democratic setting which has the checks and balances of the National Assembly and the Judiciary?

Is my Bishop aware of what happened a few days ago? At the Presidential campaign rally of GEJ/Sambo in Jigawa state on January 21st, 2015, in the presence of President Jonathan, Vice President Namadi Sambo stated in Hausa : "Buhari ya dauko pastor a matsayin mataimakinsa kunsan coci nawa yake dashi? Yanada coci 5000, don haka karku zabesu. The translation is - "Buhari has selected a pastor as his running mate, do you know how many churches he has? He has 5000 churches, so based on that, don't vote for them".

My Bishop, Sambo used religious sentiments in his attempt to divide the country and incite Muslims against Christians. Sambo also said at the rally that the PDP is the most Islamic Party in Nigeria because nobody can be more Muslim than him. He said that his name is Namadi which is a derivative of Namadina, meaning someone from the Medina in Saudi Arabia. At the Rally in Jigawa State Sambo also stated that he goes for the Hajj every year.

My dear Bishop, in Sambo's determination to whip up religious sentiments and divisions, he stated at the Jigawa state rally that all the security chiefs in the Jonathan administration are Muslims and based on that, those alleging that Jonathan is supportive of Boko Haram are not being fair. He mentioned the names of some key ministers in the Jonathan administration including Defence Minister, Aliyu Gusau, NSA, Sambo Dasuki, Inspector General of Police, Abba whom he emphasized are all Muslims. He also mentioned all the Muslim ministers from Kano, including Aminu Wali, Foreign Affairs Minister and Shekarau, Minister of Education.

Bishop, Sambo then asked if anyone could claim to be more Muslim than him Namadi Sambo. Then he shouted Allahu Akbar (Allah is great several times). To close his speech he recited the AlFatiha, (The Opening, the first seven verses of the Holy Quran, which for Muslims is the Mother of the Book, highly revered by all).

My dear Bishop, Sambo's outburst against Christians and Pastor Osinbajo would not surprise close watchers of political events in Nigeria but it does reconfirm the outcome of late General Azazi thorough and extensive investigation of Boko Haram and in which he concluded that the PDP founded Boko Haram and finances its terrorist activities.

MY ADVISE TO CHRISTIANS WHO RESPECT BISHOP OYEDEPO

To Christians like me who hold Bishop Oyedepo in great esteem this is my advise to you;

Don't let any pastor tell you who to vote for. Does Bishop Oyedepo experience the effects of misgovernance? Bishop is on 24-hr power generators and he does not even know when there is power outage. You bear the brunt of misgovernance daily and you should know that voting GEJ is a guarantee of another 4 years of no electricity, corruption galore and insurgency that will claim more lives and disintegrate Nigeria. Vote based on what you know not on religious or tribal sentiments!

Currently, 70% of the territory of states like Borno, Yobe and Adamawa are under the firm control of Boko Haram. This is the first time this is happening in Nigeria. Boko Haram bombing and genocide has targeted both Christians and Muslims, churches, mosques and schools attended by both Christians and Muslims. Because of Boko Haram's control of about 5% of Nigeria's territory, Nigeria's map has been redrawn.

When a bomb goes off in a market place it does not discriminate between Muslims and Christians. When the village of the Chief of Defense staff close to Mubi was attacked he did not rescue his fellow christian villagers but he airlifted his relatives out of danger and leaving his fellow Christians to be slaughtered by Boko Haram. The "polithievians," "executhieves," "legislooters" and "judishare" officers of Nigeria have only one religion that unites them and that religion is stealing and looting with impunity.

How many of the Pastors that are telling you to vote for Jonathan have children who are unemployed graduates sitting at home; bear the brunt of insecurity; send their children to public school; patronize government hospitals like you do or understand what the members of their religious organizations go through on a daily basis?

Did Bishop Oyedepo speak out when ASUU and ASUP were on strike twice in 4 years thereby leading to the loss of almost 2 years in the academic calender of Universities and Polytechnics?

Did Bishop Oyedepo speak out to condemn the manner in which the almost 300 Chibok girls were kidnapped? Did he condemn the manner in which the President refused to acknowledge that they were kidnapped? Did Bishop Oyedepo condemn the failure of the President to rescue the Chibok girls 9 months after they were kidnapped by the insurgents?

Did Bishop Oyedepo speak out when medical doctors went on strike twice in 4 years leading to the death of millions of Nigerians.

Has Bishop Oyedepo spoken out against the ongoing strike by health workers and judicial workers in Nigeria?

All these strikes have to do with the inability of President Jonathan and the PDP government to abide by industrial agreements signed after extensive bargaining among stake holders and their insensitivity to the plight of Nigerians.

Did Bishop Oyedepo speak out when 16>19, 5>26 and 7>19 in the Governors Forum election, Rivers state house of Assembly and Ekiti State House of Assembly in clear and reckless violation of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria?

Has Bishop Oyedepo spoken out to condemn the legalized looting of billions of dollars of Nigeria's money taking place under the watch of President Jonathan? Did Bishop Oyedepo speak out to condemn the beating up of a state High Court judge in Ekiti state by the Chief Thug of Ekiti State, Ayodele Fayose and his gang of thugs?

Did Bishop Oyedepo speak out to condemn the deliberate flouting of court orders by President Jonathan which has become like a recurring decimal in his administration?

Let Pastors like Bishop Oyedepo who don't know what their members are going through or who are unable to feel the pulse of the masses, stick to what they know how to do best which is feeding Chist's sheep as Christ commanded them, but let them stay out of politics. Bishop Oyedepo should not try to influence Christians to vote for a failed President like Jonathan. I urge all Christians to vote their conscience to free themselves from the 16 year bondage of the PDP led administration.

Section 95 (3) of the Electoral Act, states that “places designated for religious worship, police station and public offices shall not be used for political campaigns, rallies and processions or to promote, propagate or attack political parties, candidates, their political ideologies or programmes.”

Let my darling Bishop note that his actions on the pulpit violates this law and as a man of God the scripture expects him to obey the laws of the land. We are to give to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's. 

Bunmi Awoyemi, Ph.D, the author of this opinion piece, writes in from New Orleans, Louisiana and is a public affairs analyst, lawyer and entrepreneur.

This article was originally published under the title "Dissecting Bishop Oyedepo's Support For GEJ And Sambo's Anti-christ Outburst Against Churches And Pastor Osinbajo At The Jigawa State PDP Presidential Rally By Bunmi Awoyemi" at this source.

Okonjo-Iweala: [Full Text of the Response of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala to the Article by Prof Soludo]

Thursday, January 29, 2015

BlogNote:
A few days ago, a past governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo, wrote an article in which he examined the challenges that face the Nigerian nation as it goes to the polls in a couple of weeks. His article, reproduced on this blog, was quite critical of some of the policies (or lack of policies) of the Goodluck Jonathan administration.

In what follows, which was released on behalf of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala by one of her underlings, in language that is, in some paragraphs, surprisingly uncouth and unbecoming of a globally respected finance expert and a foremost Nigerian public official, President Jonathan's Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy (Dr Okonjo-Iweala) attacks the professor's own record at the Central Bank of Nigeria, puts up a defense of her government's policies (or lack of them), and highlights some achievements of the Goodluck Jonathan administration. This article was sourced from The Vanguard.

***

Response by the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance to “Buhari Vs Jonathan: Beyond the Election”, by Charles Soludo

1.

For anyone who has not read Professor Charles Soludo’s article in the Vanguard (online version) on January 25 2015, I would encourage them to do so. It is littered with abusive and unbecoming language.

It shows how an embittered loser in the Nigerian political space can get so derailed that they commit intellectual harakiri by deliberately misquoting economic facts and maliciously turning statistics on their head to justify a hatchet job. We hope all the intellectuals in the international circles in which Professor Soludo has told us he flies around in will read what a Professor of Economics has chosen to do with his intellect.

2.

In this one article Soludo has shamelessly pandered to so many past leaders that Nigerians are asking one more time – what position is Soludo gunning for now? He claims in his article that he has had his own share of public service, yet he has failed twice in his attempts to be Governor of Anambra State and Vice Presidential candidate of various parties. There is definitely an issue of character with Prof. Charles Soludo and his desperate search for power and relevance in Nigeria. Nigerians should therefore beware of so-called intellectuals without character and wisdom because this combination is fatal.

3

But let us turn to the main subject of Soludo’s discourse. So much of what is written is outright nonsense and self-seeking aggrandizement that need not be dignified with a response. It is totally remarkable that Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo, the man who presided over the worst mismanagement of Nigeria’s banking sector as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria between May 2004 and May 2009, can write about the mismanagement of the economy.

4

Nigerians must be reminded of his antecedents as CBN Governor, and even prior to that, as the Chief Economic Adviser to the President. The consolidation of the banking sector was a good policy idea of the Obasanjo Administration but Soludo went on to thoroughly mismanage its implementation leading to the worst financial crisis in Nigeria’s history. So what did Soludo do?

5

After consolidation, the regulatory functions of the Soludo-led CBN were very poorly exercised. As Governor, he failed to adequately supervise and regulate the now larger banks – an anomaly in Financial Sector Supervision. In fact as every Nigerian knows, in his time there was very little separation between the regulators and the regulated which is a violation of a key requirement of Central Banking success.

This led to infractions in corporate governance in many banks as loans and other credit instruments running to hundreds of billions of naira were extended to clients without following due process, and several of these loans could not be paid back. This massive accumulation of bad debts or non-performing loans as they are called in the banking sector meant that our banks were ill-positioned to deal with the global financial crisis when it hit.

6

In fact, the banking sector was brought to its knees and required a massive bailout by Nigerian tax payers. This bailout was done by his successor (now Emir of Kano) who cleaned up all the bad debts and transferred them to the newly-established AMCON, from where they are managed today.

So let it be noted for the record books that Soludo’s single-handed mismanagement of the banking sector led to an incredible accumulation of liabilities that will cost tax payers about N5.67 trillion (being the total face value of AMCON-issued bonds) to clean up. Let it be noted also that this amount, which is more than the entire Federal Government 2015 Budget, constitutes the bulk of Nigeria’s “contingent liabilities” mentioned in Soludo’s article. It is only in Nigeria where someone who perpetrated such a colossal economic atrocity would have the temerity to make assertions on public debt and the management of the economy.

7

Let us now look at some of the points he makes. Luckily, Soludo has told us that he has been busy travelling internationally, hobnobbing with his global partners. It is obvious from this article that from the rarefied heights at which he is flying he is completely out of touch with what is happening with the management of this economy.

Take his comments on the mismanagement of the economy and the imposition of the austerity measures. The present fall in oil prices, a global phenomenon over which Nigeria has no control, has given every charlatan the opportunity to attack the economy, and by extension the managers of the economy

8

It is true that the economy grew well during the second-term of former President Obasanjo as a result of the reforms supported by the President and implemented by the Economic Management Team. Please note that the Finance Minister under whose leadership that good performance took place, including massive unprecedented debt relief, is still Finance Minister today.

But thorough examination of the facts on performance under the Jonathan Administration will also reveal that at a time when global economic performance was mediocre, with GDP growth averaging about 3 percent per annum, Nigeria’s GDP growth – averaging about 6 percent per annum – is indeed remarkable.

Even more interesting is the fact that the oil sector did not drive this economic performance but the non-oil sector (Agriculture, Manufacturing, Telecommunications, the Creative Economy, and so on), which shows that the current Administration’s diversification objective under the Transformation Agenda is working. Transformation equals diversification

9

This current government managed to control inflation, which he Soludo, was not able to do during his time at the helm of monetary policy in Nigeria. When he left the Central Bank in 2009, inflation – which hurts the poor and vulnerable in the society the most – was above 13 percent per annum.

Now, inflation is at single-digit, at 8 percent per annum. What about exchange rates? Well this administration again managed to stabilize the naira exchange rates, such that between May 2011 and the end of 2014, official exchange rates against the dollar rarely moved out of the N153 to N156 band. It is only with the recent dramatic fall in oil prices and the consequent impact on our foreign reserves that the exchange rate has become quite volatile.

The drop in oil price has been heavy and rapid impacting all oil producing nations significantly. Nigeria is no exception and appropriate fiscal and monetary policy measures are being put in place to manage this situation.

10

In fact, history will recall that careless remarks by Prof. Soludo (then Chief Economic Adviser to the President) hypothesizing a possible naira devaluation, condemned the naira to a free fall towards the end of 2003. Ray Echebiri, in his 2004 article in the Financial Standard, wrote that not even the assurances given by the then CBN Governor, Mr. Joseph Sanusi or President Obasanjo that any plans to devalue the naira existed only in the head of Professor Soludo could halt the fall of the naira from N128 to the dollar in the official market to about N140 between September and December 2003.

11

It is true that our foreign reserve accumulation is less than what it should be but the reason for this has been fully given, not as excuses but simply as fact: lower oil production and crude oil theft along with the refusal to save in the Excess Crude Account (ECA) are the reasons. Contrary to what Soludo said, oil production under President Obasanjo was higher than current levels. Quantities produced averaged 2.4 million bdp, 2.22 million bpd, and 2.21 million bpd in 2005, 2006, and 2007 respectively but has declined now to between 1.95 and 2.21 million bdp due to vandalism of the pipelines and the resulting “shut-ins” to fix the problem.

It is true that had production been at the previous levels and had there been willingness to save we would have had more money in the ECA and also in the reserves. But the overriding setback to savings is that the State Governors felt it was their constitutional right to share the money. Please recall that even as we speak the States have taken the Federal Government to the Supreme Court on this issue

12

Soludo’s claim that 71 percent of Nigerians live below the poverty line is misleading and disingenuous. He uses 2011 statistics on poverty by the NBS to support his argument while ignoring more recent figures. But as stated in the Nigeria Economic Report 2014 by the World Bank, poverty rate in Nigeria has dropped from 35.2 percent of population in 2010/2011 to 33.1 percent in 2012/2013. By the way, the reason why our poverty numbers have been so wrong is that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), under Soludo’s supervision as CEA and Vice-Chair of the National Planning Commission, departed from the international standard method of poverty measurement. Is he now ignoring the right economic statistics to wilfully manipulate information?

13

No doubt we have a problem with unemployment in this country and we must deal with it. Indeed this Administration is dealing with it and stands proud of what it has accomplished so far and is pushing hard to accomplish much more. As a first step, the Administration, through the office of the Chief Economic Adviser to the President and the NBS, worked hard to determine how many jobs we need to create in a year. What you don’t measure you cannot make progress on. Why didn’t Soludo do this when he was CEA?

14

We need to create about 1.8 million jobs a year in this country to cater for the new entrants into the labour market, but we also need to deal with the backlog of the unemployed and the underemployed, e.g. those selling on the streets. Dealing with this global challenge of unemployment is not an easy task for any country, as can be seen from the experiences of developed countries particularly in the euro area. But the Jonathan Administration is making good progress, creating an average of about 1.4 million jobs per year by driving quality growth in key sectors like Agriculture, where the bulk of new jobs are being created, Housing, Manufacturing, Financial Services, and the Creative Industries like Nollywood.

15

In addition we have special programs to promote job creation among the youth and these include:

Promoting entrepreneurship among the youth through the “Nagropreneurs” program to support 750,000 youth farmers with grants and training, and the YOUWIN program that is directly supporting up to 5,400 young entrepreneurs with grants, training, and mentorship and so far beneficiaries are creating an average of 9 jobs each, for themselves and others.

About 22,000 jobs have been created by the first 2,400 youwinners.

Graduate Internship Scheme: that is reducing the vulnerability of unemployed graduates by enhancing their employability. The Scheme targets up to 50,000 unemployed graduates in the 36 states of the Federation and FCT and about 22,000 graduates have so far been placed by the program.

Community Services Scheme under SURE-P: developed to empower young unskilled Nigerians, women and people with disabilities. About 120,000 mostly young workers have been engaged across the country

16

On the issue of debt, Nigerians deserve to know the truth and we have said it before. The truth is that the government borrowed in 2010 to pay an unprecedented 53.7 percent wage increase to all categories of federal employees as demanded by labour unions.

The total wage bill rose from N857 billion in 2009 to about N1.4 trillion in 2010, and as a result, domestic borrowing increased from N200 billion in 2007 to about N1.1 trillion in 2010 to meet the wage payments. Where was Soludo at the time? Why did he not react to the borrowing then? Was it because he wanted to pander to labour in preparation for his political career?

17

It is noteworthy that since 2011, the Administration of President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has been prudent with the issue of debt and borrowing. The Economic Management Team not only looks at debt to GDP ratio, where Nigeria has one of the lowest numbers in the world at 12.51 percent but it looks at debt service to revenues.

That is why in spite of the rebasing and a larger GDP, the administration has taken a prudent approach to borrowing. The prudent approach helped to drive down domestic borrowing from N1.1 trillion in 2010 to N642 billion in 2014. In fact for the first time in our nation’s borrowing history we even managed to retire N75 billion of domestic bonds outright in 2013.

18

Despite the present tough situation, we do not plan to go on a borrowing spree but to keep borrowing modest at a level sufficient to help us weather the present situation. We have already ramped up efforts to generate more non-oil revenues for the government while cutting costs of governance. Therefore, Soludo’s claim that this Administration is reckless with debt does not hold true.

19

Since Soludo seems so ignorant to what has been achieved by the Jonathan Administration, let us present just a few examples of them here again. This information is easily verified.

• We are improving infrastructure across the country. For example, 22 airport terminals are being refurbished, and five new international airport terminals under construction in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Kano, Abuja, and Enugu. Soludo’s kinsmen in the South East now have an international airport in Enugu, and for the first time in Nigeria’s history can fly direct from Enugu to anywhere in world for which they are very grateful to this Administration. But with Soludo being up in the air with his international travels, he has not touched ground in the Southeast to observe this development for himself.
• Various road and bridge projects have either been completed or are under construction. Those completed include the Enugu – Abaliki road in Enugu/Ebonyi States, the Oturkpo – Oweto road in Benue State, the Benin – Ore – Shagamu highway, and the Abuja – Abaji – Lokoja dualization, and the Kano – Maiduguri dualization. The Lagos – Ibadan expressway and the Second Niger Bridge are under construction.
• Rail from Lagos to Kano is now functional, as is parts of the rail link between Port Harcourt and Maiduguri. All these have brought transport costs down. We recognise that more needs to be done in the power sector, but bold steps (like the privatisation of the GENCOs and DISCOs) have been taken, and our gas infrastructure is being developed to power electricity generation
• In Agriculture, over 6 million farmers now have access to inputs like fertilizers and seeds through an e-wallet system, which is more than the 403,222 that had access in 2011. Rice paddy production took off for the first time in our history, adding about 7 million MT to rice supply. An additional 1.3 million MT of Cassava has also been produced and as a result, the rate of food price increase has slowed considerably, according to the NBS.
• In Housing, we have put in place a new wholesale mortgage provider – the Nigerian Mortgage Refinance Corporation (NMRC) – to provide affordable mortgages to ordinary Nigerians, starting with those in the low-middle income bracket. This sector will help the economy grow as we tap it as an economic driver for the first time.
• Mortgage applications from 66,000 people are currently being processed and 23,000 have already received mortgage offers
• Our Manufacturing sector is reviving with new automobile plants by Nissan, Toyota, etc. This is in addition to the backward integration policy in key sectors like petrochemical, sugar, textiles, agro processing and cement, which Nigeria is now producing 39,000 MT and exporting to the region.
• The Creative sector is now a factor in our GDP, with Nollywood alone accounting for 1.4 percent, creating over 200,000 direct jobs and nearly 1 million indirect jobs. This is the first Administration to recognise its importance and support its further development with a grant program.
• A new bank – the Development Bank of Nigeria – will soon be operational and this bank will help bridge the access to finance gap, which is a major constraint for the private sector especially SMEs. The bank will provide long-term (5 – 10 years) financing at affordable rates for the first time in our nation’s history.

20

This is the path that the government has been on before this fall in oil prices. The response to the economic shock has been spelled out to the Nigerian public over and over again, and the Administration intends to focus on managing this crisis appropriately. This year will be difficult.

To say anything less to Nigerians will be untruthful. It would have been better if there had been a bigger cushion of the Excess Crude Account to manage this situation but despite this the nation can rise to the challenge. More importantly, President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan and the Economic Management Team are seeing this as an opportunity to diversify the revenue sources of an already diversifying economy.

In fact let me at this juncture use this opportunity to comment on Soludo’s appalling statement that rebasing brings no policy value. Rebasing has enabled us to better grasp the new diversified nature of our economy. This provides the basis for our present drive to support different sectors with appropriate policy instruments to enhance their development.

Rebasing has also enabled the Administration to create the platform from which to drive our work on increasing non-oil revenues. These are areas of critical policy value.

21

Soludo mentioned the issue of the Economic Partnership Agreement with the EU, noting that this Administration has not been vocal or clear on its direction with this agreement.

On the contrary, the Administration, particularly the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment, has been clear on this issue but since Soludo has been in the air he probably has not been aware of this. Just recently, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment reiterated again to the corporate sector that Nigeria has not signed and does not propose to sign the EPA in its present form.

22

The point is that this government has been pursuing the right economic policies, and its efforts have been acknowledged nationally and internationally. Let me say that there are objective ways to measure performance. There are international institutions globally accepted to do this. They have acknowledged this Administration’s good economic management up to the recent crisis and even now.

23

We cannot go by someone’s subjective view, driven by bitterness and bile. We need to look to the truth and to professionalism. This is where Professor Soludo totally fails. For the other gratuitous, political, and personal attacks, we are sure that those mentioned will respond appropriately.

It is a sad day for Nigeria and the economics profession that someone like Soludo, a former CBN governor should write such an article. If Soludo wants to regain respect, he should return to the path of professionalism.

He certainly needs something to improve his image from that of someone whose sojourn into National Economic Management ended in disaster for the banking sector, his sojourn in politics, ended in overwhelming rejection by the electorate, and more recently, his sojourn abroad, has put him out of touch with the reality of the Nigerian economy.

Paul C Nwabuikwu Special Adviser to the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance

Moore Numental: You Play Too Easily Into Their Hands...Because Common Sense Is Not So Common After All

Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Blognote:

BACKGROUND TO THIS ARTICLE

The Nigerian general elections of February 14 and 28, 2015 are only (in the case of the former, the presidential) about 17 days away. In the past few days, one of Nigeria's few television stations with nationwide reach (and global reach via satellite), the Africa Independent Television, has devoted an hour of prime time each day to airing a sponsored documentary about the atrocities allegedly committed during the "watch" of Retired General Muhammadu Buhari as Nigeria's military head of state in the early 1980s. General Buhari is a frontrunner in the upcoming (2015) presidential elections. The documentary in question, which his supporters have dismissed as a smear campaign against him, is believed to be sponsored by friends of incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan who is in the running for a second term in office as Nigeria's president.

In what follows, the writer (in a post originally made on Facebook, and reproduced hereunder with minor edits) wonders why supporters of incumbent president Jonathan expect General Buhari to abandon his campaign and address the issues raised in the documentary, whereas they are yet to hold the president accountable for the many administrative gaffes that seem to have become not just the hallmark but the very staple of his six-year (so far) presidency.

***

As I responded to another individual pestering the Opposition to reply to the documentary on "historical Buhari", allow me hold the same position here.

Which accusations of outright corrupt practices tied round his neck has Jonathan responded to? Where is the fulfillment of the promise of getting the Chibok girls back? Where is the apology and retribution for fooling us all with a bogus, harebrained ceasefire? Who has been punished for those hullabaloo? A president who was given a full country is now campaigning for reelection, having ceded portions to a ragtag motley of miscreants (in comparison with the might of what used to be the Nigerian army). Where is his defense for that?

Hasn't he failed in his singular constitutionally-bequeathed task of the welfare and security of the lives of Nigerians? Has he answered to that? Why was it that the only minister ever relieved of his duties and to have had his travel documents seized was the only one who dared call to question the sharp practices of a government parastatal? Does he care to respond and counter this fact?

What do you defend of a President who says one thing today as it suits him and when it no longer matters he says another? He has every right to change his mind, as has any individual, but why lie about it? He promised to be a single term president - that was called "statesmanly". It's OK he decided not to be a statesman anymore. But don't lie that you didn't make such promise when there's video evidence to the fact. Has the DSS (the Department of State Services) called him to question on the prevarication about MEND (Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta) and the attempt on the life of the president? Should that not be accorded the highest levels of seriousness that we should have a right to know for sure threats to the highest office in the land that today is treated with disdain (it was not MEND in 2011, became MEND in 2015 because they switched loyalties to the opposition)? Who's defending that?

What has been done to those responsible for the lives of Nigerian graduates who died in a badly organised, money gathering job search for positions in the Immigration Service? Innocent people who only wanted an opportunity to serve and to live by earning their keep and who were ready to pay for what shouldn't attract payments? Is no one is documenting that? Or you think that ISN'T mass murder? If Abba Moro, Jonathan's lackey can today be gloating about Jonathan's approval for upping prison amenities instead of being an inmate himself, Jonathan has blood on his hands.

Any excuse here is just bloody sentimental, and that isn't acceptable. At all. You're allowing sentiment becloud your judgement, maybe because none of your family members or friends died since y'all have good jobs under the best President since the presidential system began on earth. If that isn't childish, I don't want to know what childish is.

Now, let's not digress too far. All these occurred under a democratically run government where there's a constitutionally backed legal standard.

Yet, nothing, NOTHING, N. O. T. H. I. N. G. has happened to Jonathan oo. Nor his army of murderers. He's having his field day going around with a rallying cry to do more of what he's been doing. Do more of call corruption mere stealing while it causes hunger, starvation, death and more stealing across board. Do more of ceding areas of the country to a group while arguing about if only three people died or 300, like life is animal dung. Do more of spending trillions obtained from a period of the highest oil price ever with little or nothing to show for it, except old school locomotive contraptions they call AC trains that no one else uses again but the most backward countries, and sharing dumb phones and fertilizer to farmers who could do with government subsidies for mechanized agriculture. Do more of making claims of achieving victories that had nothing to do with him, claiming the Nations Cup victory after 19 years then refusing to claim the disgrace of a defending champion not even qualifying, claiming to have made Nollywood great and also the success of telecommunication, claiming the best economy in Nigeria for what was simply a statistical calculation with no real difference in anyone's life. Doing more of barefaced lies and outright thefts, from rebasing to transformation.

Where's the outrage? Because there's no tape or documentary to show the impact of these maladministration here, we turn the other way, bury our necks in the sand and pretend all is well. Because there's no time to begin to dig into how to sort all these out and make serious commitments to bringing things to a point where the average man on the streets can begin to enjoy the dividends of democratic society, abi?

But they have the time to gather old documents and produce a documentary of similar issues of a period in our history when the Constitution was suspended and the state was run by military fiat? Because they know some like you people here will ask Buhari to answer these allegations while no such demands are made of they themselves. You play too easily into their hands, as you do that. They wish to continue campaigning while you do their dirty job for them forcing the other party to leave the campaign and fill your biased thirst for answers.

It's foolish to imagine it will work. But as some of you here prove, common sense is not too common after all. There's goose. And then, there's gander.

***

This post was originally made by Moore Numental on Facebook on Wednesday, January 28, 2015, under the title All Goose and Gander are Created Equal But....

If The President Claims That His Generation And Older Are Already Spent, Then Why Is He Contesting?

Friday, January 23, 2015

PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan’s recent declaration that his generation has failed Nigerians would ordinarily have been dismissed as an election campaign punch line against his political opponent. But when interpreted within the context of an earlier event, where he accused elderly Nigerians of being the cause of Nigeria’s troubles owing to their misguided utterances and indecorous comportment, the president’s remark is indeed very weighty. Therefore, it calls for careful evaluation because of its timely relevance and its import for the future leadership of this country. 

The remark, which was made in Lagos at the flagging off of his re-election campaign, stated inter alia: 

“I believe that the young Nigerians are the future. We (referring to his generation of leaders) are finished. We believe that the youths will be the ones that will take us to the moon. My generation has failed because we could not take Nigeria to the moon… I don’t want to address old people like me because we are spent already.” 

Harbouring the same sentiment, the president had stated on an earlier occasion that, 

“Anything that old people like us are involved in, it is always problems”.

Whether he was speaking in metaphor when he made reference to Nigeria of being taken to the moon, or he was building a new political bloc with the youth, the substance in the president’s speech is that he has cast aspersions on his and older generations of Nigerians for their cluelessness about the way to lead Nigeria aright.

It is gratifying that the president is the one passing such judgment on his generation, and that he is the one placating young people to put on the mantle of leadership. There may be some elements of truth in the president’s remarks, after all his generation might have been the last beneficiary of quality education. Perhaps, too, that generation and older ones might have witnessed an appreciable culture of civility and political consciousness before the military wreaked havoc on the polity.

From a sober outlook, this gesture seems a meek and sincere expression of incapacitation. But a mea culpa posture is not enough if Nigeria is to evolve from this culture of yawning inanities and take its pride of place in Africa and in world affairs. Besides, this is a very grave self-indictment that calls to question the capacity of even the president or older generation of politicians to mend the mess the country has been put through, let alone any transformation.

If the president claims that old persons, senior citizens are the cause of Nigeria’s problem, if it is granted that his generation has failed, then on which generation should Nigerians depend for their political destiny? Is it the generation that succeeds two failed generations? Is it a generation that has been cut off from meaningful participation in the running of national affairs by the greed and primordial interests of the president’s generation? Is it this generation onto whom no values seem to have been passed by older generations? A generation that has been abused, demoralised, instrumentalised, onto whom has not been bequeathed any moral armament to tackle corruption and insecurity?

If the president claims that his generation and older are already spent, then why is he contesting? What do they have to offer Nigeria in this overly complicated and upbeat world if they are spent horses? What measures have they put in place to ensure that the youth and oncoming generation of leaders ‘take Nigeria to the moon’?

The president might have meant well by his utterance, yet his statement is a defeatist acceptance of the fate befalling Nigeria of the future. Nigerians cannot be enthused by the hackneyed mantra that the youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow, or that they hold the future of this country. This is trite. The more serious questions to ask are: what quality of youth? Which future? As has been made apparent in the course of history, with the passing of one generation to the other, the state of leadership deteriorates in double proportion. When Nigerians thought the country was at its lowest ebb, another generation of leaders perfects the act of decadence with astonishing efficiency.

Besides, the president’s generalisation should not be taken with so much seriousness. Whilst a systemic failure signposts the leadership quotient of his generation, it is also obvious that in this generation are found persons who have turned around the fortunes and prospects of their respective leadership spheres. That the president was not able, and has not been able to harness the talents and qualities of these persons to lift his administration to a commanding height of moral regeneration and socio-economic progress, is a regrettable personal failure.

In line with the spirit of collective responsibility and wholesome development of man and society, it is this newspaper’s conviction that the young and the old are useful for any positive transformation to be effected in society. Age is not a hindrance to socio-economic and political development, just as the ideas of progress are not exclusive to any generation. It depends on the persons in question; which is why the president’s indictment of his generation should be regarded as his personal opinion, even if it seems exciting to young people. 

"That the president was not able, and has not been able to harness the talents and qualities of these persons to lift his administration to a commanding height of moral regeneration and socio-economic progress, is a regrettable personal failure."

Notwithstanding, today’s youth, in heeding uncritically to the president’s remark, will ignore the older generation to their own peril, for they cannot get the experience they would need to plot their future. In the same vein, the old, who should see themselves as kingmakers, should not straddle the generation divide to become kings themselves, lest they be overwhelmed by the complexity and unfamiliar problems of leading today’s Nigeria, and their energy burnt out before understanding their situation.

In one phrase, their role should be that of selfless mentoring and purposeful succession management, rather than shrewd manipulation for personal aggrandisement.

***

• This editorial first appeared in the online version of the Guardian at this location, from where it was retrieved on January 23, 2015.

• An earlier version of this article was published as an editorial under the title "The Generational Question"

• All stresses (underlined phrases and sentences) mine, and not those of the original author.

Muhammadu Buhari's Covenant With Nigerians

Thursday, January 22, 2015

Corruption and Governance

I pledge to:

• Make a public declaration of my assets and liabilities
• Encourage all my appointees to publicly declare their assets and liabilities as a pre-condition for appointment. All political appointees will only earn the salaries and allowances determined by the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Allocation Commission (RMFAC).
• Personal leadership in the war against corruption
• Inaugurate the National Council on Procurement as stipulated in the Procurement Act. The Federal Executive Council, which has been turned to a weekly session of contract bazaar, will concentrate on its principal function of policy making.
• Review and implement audit recommendations by Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative including those on remittances and remediation.
• Work with the National Assembly towards the immediate enactment of a Whistle Blower Act
• Work with the National Assembly to strengthen ICPC and EFCC by guaranteeing institutional autonomy including financial and prosecutorial independence and security of tenure of officials. Make the Financial Intelligence Unit of the EFCC autonomous and operational.
• Encourage proactive disclosure of information by government institutions in the spirit of the Freedom of Information Act.
• Ensure all MDAs and parastatals regularly comply with their accountability responsibilities to Nigerians through the National Assembly.
• Ensure all political officer holders earn only the salaries and emoluments determined and approved by the Revenue Mobilization and Fiscal Commission RMFAC.
• Work with the leadership of the National Assembly and the Judiciary to cut down the cost of governance.
• I will present a National anti-corruption Strategy.

Insurgency and Insecurity

I have had the rare privilege of serving my country in the military in various capacities and rose to become a Major General and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. I defended the territorial integrity of our nation. I pledge to:

• As Commander-in-Chief, lead from the front and not behind in the comfort and security of Aso Rock to boost the morale of fighting forces and the generality of all Nigerians.
• Give special attention to the welfare of our armed forces and their families; lost heroes and their families and the victims of insurgency.
• Boost the morale of the men and women in the field by public recognition of their efforts through memorabilia, stamps, statues, regular rotation, regular payment of allowances, regular communication between the men and officers of security agencies, provision of best health care and housing for families of deceased comrades.
• Provide the best and appropriate military and other materials the country needs to combat insurgency, ethnic and religious violence, kidnapping and rural banditry.
• Establish personal relationship with governors of the affected states by insurgency, with leaders of the countries in the region and with leaders around the world to coordinate efforts to combat insurgency, oil theft, piracy and criminality.
• Restore confidence in the bilateral and multilateral partnerships in addressing insurgency including procurement.
• Activate regular meetings of the National Police Council to ensure the discharge of its true constitutional role in a transparent and accountable way.
• As a father, I feel the pain of the victims of insurgency, kidnapping and violence whether they are the widows and orphans of military, paramilitary, civilians and parents or the Chibok girls. My government shall act decisively on any actionable intelligence to ‪#‎BringBackOurGirls‬.
• I will present a marshal plan to the nation that will combat insurgency, ethnic and religious violence, kidnapping and rural banditry.

Niger Delta

I pledge to:

• Restore the integrity of the Niger Delta by implementing relevant sections of the Ledum Technical Committee on human capital development, resource management and distribution, governance and rule of law, reclamation and environmental and sustainable development.
• Commit myself and my administration to the phased implementation of the United Nations Environment Program’s(UNEP) recommendations on Ogoniland.
• Unveil a marshal plan for the regenerative development of the Niger Delta.

Diversity

Diversity refers to the inherent complexities of the variations in the social fabric of a people. Elements of poorly managed diversities include absence of cohesion, low capacity or political will to address resulting tensions, weak institutions of the state, in-equalities in every facet, impunity, breakdown of mutual trust, rising incidences of violence and total breakdown of law and order. To quickly reverse this observable trend in our society, I pledge to:

• Continually acknowledge and consciously effect equality and equity in all government businesses and activities.
• Implement the National Gender Policy including 35% of appointive positions for women.
• Work with National Assembly to pass a National Disability Bill, which I shall immediately assent, into Law.
• Immediately charge relevant MDAs to implement new building codes to ensure that people with disability have easier access.
• I will lead the campaign for restoration of mutual trust and cohesion for nation building, while also working with the National Assembly to make appropriation to strengthen institutions and platforms promoting dialogue and inclusion.
• I will promote amendment to the provisions of section 14:3 of the Constitution to give effect to the expansion of the scope of representation to include women and persons with disabilities.
• Work with National Assembly to pass the National Disability Act and the Equal Opportunities Bill.

Health

I pledge to:

• Implement the National Health Act 2014,which guarantees financial sustainability to the health sector and minimum basic health care for all and ban medical tourism by government officials.
• Launch special programmes to improve availability of water and sanitation.
• Review occupational health laws and immediately commence enforcement of the provisions to reduce hazards in the work place.
• Unveil a health sector review policy to ensure the efficient and effective management of our health systems.
• Mobilize the health workforce needed for the all-round implementation of our primary health programmes for rural communities.

Agriculture

I pledge to:

• Make pronouncement to make agriculture a major focus of the government and lay the institutional foundation to attract large-scale investments and capital into the agricultural infrastructural sector.
• Launch a massive agricultural infrastructural investments plan that will focus on production, transportation infrastructure and marketing logistics across Nigeria.
• Launch a massive, well-coordinated and innovatively funded Youth in Commercial Agribusiness Programme.
• Establish agricultural produce pricing and marketing mechanism and institutions.
• Work with State and Local Governments to launch Agricultural Support Programmes that will drive state level massive agricultural land development and mechanization agenda.
• Revamp, revitalize and continuous improvement on the national agricultural extension and rural support service system.
• Initiate a holistic project aimed at promoting and securing access of standardized agricultural products to both local and international markets.
• Lay the groundwork for a standardized market uptake and aggregation outlets for specific agricultural produce.
• Initiate a comprehensive revamp of key development banks (Bank of Agriculture, Bank of Industry and Nigeria Import & Export Bank) operations to fund inclusive agricultural value chain operations.
• Lay the groundwork for an ambitious, massive, seamless, accessible single-digit agricultural value-chain finance programme.
• Initiate the process to appropriately liberalise and expand agricultural and rural insurance system with premium subventions support to farmers.
• Revamp the agricultural cooperative system to drive rural agriculture and improve stakes for smallholder farmers.
• Launch appropriate tariff rectification instrument to support import-export anomalies.

Management of the Economy for prosperity

Every Nigerian deserves to benefit from the running of our collective resources. We promise not to leave any Nigerian behind in our determination to create, expand and ensure equitable and effective allocation of economic opportunities. No matter the amount of funds we generate, unless there is an efficient and effective utilization, it will only create few billionaires. Unless we fight corruption, the economy will only benefit the greedy in our society. I pledge to:

• Work with the legislature to strengthen constitutional provisions to make the meetings of the National Economic Council more periodic and predictable and its decisions more binding.
• Present annual report on the state of the economy to the National Assembly and the Nigerian People.
• The Preparation of Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and annual Budget which will be guided by job creation projections.
• Negotiate rule-based oil revenue management process, and adopt a rule based excess crude account management process, which will entail a fixed percentage (e.g. 10% or 20%) of oil revenue each year, and also set clear rules about where the proceeds will be domiciled, when the savings can be used, by whom, and what the savings can be used for.
• Work with the National Assembly to adopt a rule based, realistic and predictable oil benchmark as a basis for a more transparent management of federation account revenue and excess crude account.
• Launch a Small Business Loan Guarantee Scheme in partnership with Commercial Lenders to improve access to finance for SMEs.
• Automate the business registration process to ensure sole proprietorships can be opened within 24 hours and incorporated business within 5 days.
• Reduce the cost of company registration to a maximum of N10,000 for sole proprietorships to encourage formalization.
• Review and regulate import duty waivers to promote transparency and accountability.
• Forge partnerships with state and local governments and private sectors to promote innovation, entrepreneurship and cottage industries.
• Work with the National Assembly to review and finalize work on the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB).
• Boost community and local participation in downstream through expansion and promotion of local content development.
• Commence organizational reforms to curb corruption in NNPC and its subsidiaries.

Industrial Relations

I pledge to:

• Give political force to collective bargaining in all sectors of the economy, revive Tripartite Committee of Government, employers and workers organisations, whose task would be to constantly review matters of labour relations and the practice of industrial relations.
• Undertake to institute an annual statutory tripartite body to contribute towards formulation and implementation of broad macro-economic policies.
• Reposition Ministry of Employment, Labour and Productivity and all relevant agencies mandated to manage labour dispute and grievance handling process to ensure pre-emptive strategies to halt the current frequent incessant strikes phenomenon.

Power

The power sector has become a monstrous demonstration of corruption. Despite investment of more than $35 billion there is nothing to show but few fat cats. I pledge to:

• War against corruption in the power sector
• Tackle the issue of gas availability for the proposed power plants
• Emphasise alternative sources of power such as small, medium and large hydro plants (Mambilla has capacity for 4,700 megawatts), wind, coal and solar. Efforts will be geared towards smaller and potable power supply.
• Start an accelerated training of human resources for the power sector.
• Work with PenCom to consider giving soft loans to power sector operators.

Youth and ICT Development

The youth are the salt of the nation. More than 60% of our population is categorized as being of youth age. The future of the nation depends on the brains of the youth and not on what is buried under the ground. I pledge to:

• Declare support for the appointment of young people with requisite qualification into key political offices to begin the incubation and mentoring for a successor political generation.
• Unveil a policy that all federal contractors must employ at least 50% young people.
• Work with the private sector to establish innovation fund for young people.
• Encourage that girls’ and boys’ education is prioritized in states where this is established to be a big problem.
• Review and make pronouncements, with attendant political will and commitment, on the full implementation of the national youth policy.
• Establish innovation centers in conjunction with proposed National Science Foundation and the private sector.
• Include vocational skills in the curriculum of Almajiri schools so that they become self-employed.
• Unveil a policy that will begin to multiply the efforts and effects of technology incubation centers to at least establish two of such centers in each of the geopolitical zone.
• Establish a free-tuition and scholarship scheme for pupils who have shown exceptional aptitude in science subjects at O/Levels to study ICT-related courses.
• Immediately establish linkages with friendly names to champion exchange programmes for the acquisition of IT related skills.
• Extend the local content policies to cover software and hardware developments in the youth-driven markets. Put in place a quality assurance mechanism to ensure that standards are met and adhered to and make it a policy for companies to procure a percentage of their ICT needs from the local market.
• Hold a summit of all ICT service providers, OEMs, etc both local and foreign that are doing business in Nigeria to device concrete skills transfer and capacity building models in a sustainable manner.

PAID FOR WITH YOUR TITHES

Monday, January 19, 2015

Kunle:

GEJ has become the first president to slash the price of petrol. This is the clearest demonstration yet of the government's commitment to the Transformation Agenda.

Somto:

Oh no, he wasn't the first Nigerian president to reduce the pump price of petrol. There was President Yar'Adua before him.

Kunle:

Oh well, at least he was the first president to increase the price of petrol AND THEN reduce it. 

Somto:

Fantastic!!! Do you have to go to such great pains to prove he was the first to do something?

Kunle:

You see, there are too many of your ilk of Nigerians who just don't see that GEJ has been the best president we have ever had. But you have to agree that he is, after all, the lesser evil when compared to that old, sick, retired army general who doesn't even remember his deputy's name. And you have to agree that he was the first president to increase AND THEN decrease the pump price of petrol (or gasoline), in each case in response to the yearnings of Nigerians.

Somto:

Well, I will let that pass, just this once, and pretend you did not justify it as a response to the yearnings of Nigerians. Could he be the first Nigerian president to slash church tithes already? 

Kunle:

The Pope will not be thrilled by that. 

Somto:

The Pope's version of Christianity is not known to be thrilled by tithes. 

Kunle:

That may be the case, but reducing tithes would not be in the national interest.

Somto:

But how? How do tithe payments further national interest? And how does slashing tithes militate against those interests?

Kunle:

Tithes provide jet fuel for pastors' planes which are routinely used to carry weapons in order to fight Boko Haram.

Somto:

Pastors' planes routinely used as military transport aircraft? Isn't that a trifle absurd?

Kunle:

Nothing is absurd when you put on and faithfully use the lens of Transformation. Your vision is transformed by it. Besides, no sacrifice is too great to make for the nation.

Somto:

I see the problem, Kunle. All that holy water you have been drinking has not treated you kindly...

Kunle:

My good man, you should get some of the holy water too; they are your entitlement. All the holy water bottles have the inscription: "PAID FOR WITH YOUR TITHES".

TEXT OF A FICTITIOUS CONVERSATION BETWEEN TWO FRIENDS.

This article was inspired by a Facebook post by one of my friends, Kainene Cjn, following the reduction in pump price of petrol (gasoline) by the Nigerian Federal Government from NGN97.00 to NGN87.00 on January 18, 2015.