Six World Leaders On Navigating Climate Change, Without The US

President William Ruto of Kenya. Dina Litovsky for The New York Times

BY DAVID GELLES

Climate debates often focus on the world’s largest economies and biggest emitters. But the work of adapting to a hotter planet is happening in countries that have contributed little to the problem but are nevertheless exposed to its consequences.

I spoke with six world leaders from these places and heard some common themes — the ravages of extreme weather, the difficulties posed by the Trump administration’s retreat. (The president withdrew the United States from the Paris Agreement and denies the existence of climate change.)

But the conversations, which you can see in full, also show how varied environmental predicaments can be. Some of the interviews, condensed and edited, are here:

Kenya

President William Ruto has positioned himself as Africa’s climate leader. Kenya’s energy system is powered in large part by biofuels, wind and solar power. But many African countries, including Kenya, have struggled to obtain competitive financing for clean-energy projects. Ruto’s push for climate action has not moved many voters who want improvements in government services, currency stability and living costs.

Talking to your countrymen, how do you explain your focus on something that can seem very abstract to people who are still just struggling to get by?

Droughts made millions of Kenyans go hungry. Floods just in the city of Nairobi killed over 30 people. Nobody can persuasively tell any Kenyan that climate change is abstract. It is not.

Do you feel that the effort to coordinate global climate action has been effective?

It is generally acceptable now that countries like Kenya should be considered for financing. There was a time when we said this and it looked like a joke.

Does international collaboration on climate change work if the United States is rowing in the opposite direction? 

I am very confident that the position of the United States, of China, of Europe, of Africa must come together at some point. We may disagree for a moment, we may disagree for a while, but reality is going to beat us into an agreement. The effects of climate change are in every continent. The only difference is that developed countries can cushion themselves.

Finland

This country has done something unusual: It has cut down on carbon emissions while growing its economy. Of course, it helps that the Finnish public is wildly supportive of government action on climate. Finland hopes to be carbon neutral by 2035, but it is still reliant on oil because of shipping fuel. Prime Minister Petteri Orpo describes a nation being transformed: The Arctic is warming nearly four times as fast as the global average, and arable land is moving north as remote regions thaw.

Is China becoming a more powerful partner to Finland with the retreat of the U.S. on clean energy? 

We have to be careful. We have to get rid of dangerous dependencies, because we have to be autonomous in clean-energy production.

You’ve been working on this issue for many years now. What was the moment when you felt the most personal disillusionment about the politics around climate change? 

About five to 10 years ago, there was a debate in my own country over whether climate change is true or not. And because I believe it is, and I’m deeply worried about our world and our planet, that debate was frustrating. But we won. Today we have new technologies. We can change our behavior without cutting our welfare. We just have to believe that it’s possible, and we have to continue our work.

The Marshall Islands

This country, made from islands and reefs in the Pacific Ocean, is a few feet above sea level. Each year, the challenges grow. Mosquito-borne diseases have spread because of more frequent rainfall. Tuna — an economic backbone — are leaving for cooler parts of the Pacific. The water is rising. “We will be submerged by 2050 if the world doesn’t do its part,” says President Hilda Heine, who has spent her career sounding the alarm.

What do developed nations owe countries like the Marshall Islands? 

The plan for elevating only two of our communities is projected to cost us billions. It’s a lot of money. I wish that the big emitters could step up and put money into that.

What specific steps are you taking in the Marshall Islands? 

The warming of the ocean is killing our corals, which are building blocks of atoll nations. We are currently doing research to determine species of corals that can survive the warming ocean. We are building a fleet of ships that use wind and solar power to replace our fossil-fuel-run shipping fleet.

What are some of the changes your people have had to make? 

Seven years ago, Majuro had no sea walls. Now we build sea walls to protect homes and schools. I mean, we used to be able to just walk into the lagoon. Now you have to go over sea walls to get to the lagoon side or to the ocean side. The landscape is different.

Do you think your country will survive? 

As the leader of the Marshall Islands, I cannot take the view that we cannot survive.

Bangladesh

With a young population densely packed into a low-lying delta, rising sea levels and extreme heat are major problems. Agriculture is being disrupted. Populations are being displaced. After a popular uprising last year, the country installed Muhammad Yunus as the government’s chief adviser. Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for developing a way to give small loans to low-income people. He called it an example of the way small individual actions can produce widespread change, and he believes that the same is possible with climate.

How is Bangladesh experiencing climate change right now? 

We have to make use of every little space we’ve got in order to feed ourselves. But not only is our land sinking into the ocean; the water system brings saline water into the land because of the tide. And salinity eats up our cultivable land. So sum total is our land is getting squeezed. It’s not a very happy situation.

How much do you think international efforts on climate action have succeeded? 

We try to solve everything by pouring money into it. That’s not the solution. I’m saying I have to change myself. That’s how the world will change.

What do you think the developed countries that have historically been responsible for most global emissions owe a country like Bangladesh? All I can do is explain to them: “Look, this is our home. You start a fire in your part of the home, you suffer. But you do something to start a fire in my part of the house — this is not a fair thing to do. You are destroying the whole home. Our life depends on what you do.”

READ BORIGINAL STORY HERE

NIGERIA: Government And Southeast Insecurity

THIS DAY EDITORIAL

A government that cannot protect its people has failed, argues Marcel Mbamalu

The southeast region of Nigeria has been plagued by persistent insecurity, exacerbated by the Indigenous People of Biafra’s (IPOB) “sit-at-home” orders, which have crippled economic activity and normal life. The federal government’s seeming inability or unwillingness to address this issue has sparked accusations of defeat, complicity, or both. As the government abdicates its security responsibility, citizens are left to suffer, and the economy is suffocating. The pattern of blame-shifting and inaction only fuels suspicions of powerful sponsors behind the protracted instability.

The abdication of security responsibility is evident. During the first two years of the “sit-at-home”, security agencies that should reassure the public instead vanish from towns and highways across the southeast. It is still partially so in some states. Markets, banks, schools transport services— vital symbols of civil life — are shuttered in fear, while citizens, left to fend for themselves, opt to remain indoors. It is not simply the threat of violence that keeps them at home; it is the visible withdrawal of the state.

Today, the theory of culpability is gaining ground. When citizens have no banks to transact with, no schools to send their children to, and no markets to trade in — even when they would prefer to ignore sit-at-home orders — the economy suffocates and normal life collapses. How does one defy sit-at-home when the government itself has abandoned the streets?

Allowing sit-at-home to persist for nearly four years is tantamount to conceding control to non-state actors. Worse, it mirrors the FG’s disturbing tendency to blame victims of insecurity rather than confront its own failures — much like it did during the massacres in the Middle Belt, where farmers were blamed for not cooperating with security forces.

The hypocrisy extends beyond the southeast. Recently, in Edo State, former Governor Godwin Obaseki swiftly threatened reprisal actions against citizens who took up arms to defend themselves against criminal herders — even though these same communities were previously left defenseless. Similarly, in Benue State, Governor Hyacinth Alia criticized villagers who repelled armed attacks rather than openly support their self-defense efforts. The pattern is clear: authorities prefer an inactive, passive citizenry, even if it means allowing insecurity to reign.

The silence of southeast governors is equally damning. They are quick to issue statements when citizens defend themselves, but when their people are slaughtered or terrorized by gunmen, they often retreat into cowardly silence. This double standard cannot be accidental.

Indeed, in Nigeria, it is often said that “any insecurity that lasts more than one month has powerful sponsors.” The protracted instability in the southeast strengthens this suspicion. Perhaps only the “eyes” of the federal government truly see the hidden reasons why a movement — unsupported by the constitution — must be allowed to cripple a vital region week after week.

Kanu’s continued detention also smacks of FG Complicity. In December 2023, the Supreme Court nullified an order of an Appeal Court in Abuja to release Nnamdi Kanu due to an illegal extradition from Kenya, which also violated his fundamental human rights. Kanu’s continued detention thus continues to surprise many, especially in the face of clear cases of negotiating with and pacifying terror groups. Hardly is there a freedom fighter in the mould of Nnamdi Kanu who has been in detention as long as Kanu.

This is another angle that makes many Nigerians accuse the federal government of complicity in the sit-at-home imbroglio. To some extent, it is also seen as a surprise that the federal government has yet to deploy the same force it used against IPOB in the case of the insecurity bedeviling the whole country. At some points, it is even anger against the FG that also drives compliance to the sit-at-home. This is evidenced in some cases where two state governors once ordered the opening of markets in Enugu and Anambra, yet people refused to go to shop, choosing even to dare the police than open their shops.

The Southeast deserves better. Nigeria deserves better.

A government that cannot protect its people, but rather enables lawlessness through inaction and selective enforcement, undermines its own legitimacy. Every day that sit-at-home endures is another day the Nigerian state bleeds its credibility before the world.

If the federal government does not act swiftly and decisively, history will remember this era not simply as a time of insecurity, but as a time when the guardians of the state became silent accomplices in the slow, painful erosion of a nation’s unity.

Dr Mbamalu, a Jefferson Journalism Fellow, member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, and Media Consultant, is the publisher of Prime Business Africa (PBA)

The Sorry State Of Nigeria's Foreign Missions

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE EDITORIAL

FOLLOWING the appalling state of Nigeria’s missions abroad, which directly impinges on its quality of diplomacy and foreign policy, the Federal Government set up a committee to review the state of those missions last week. For years, there have been complaints from the Nigerian Diaspora and foreigners seeking consular services in Nigeria’s missions about the poor services rendered to them and how frustrating doing business with the embassies and consulates is. In well-documented episodes, consular services were arbitrarily cancelled without notice or apology even after online scheduling confirmation had been made, causing applicants to waste their time and resources by coming for appointments. Many have complained of being left stranded. In other cases, diplomatic missions or consulates are closed without prior notice.

Besides, there have been allegations of corruption, nepotism and even sexual harassment levelled against Nigerian consular offices in some countries. Some years ago, there were video clips of Nigerians in the United Kingdom and Canada laying siege to the missions, protesting shabby treatment and the unethical conduct of the embassies’ staff. Going through the websites of Nigerian embassies five years ago, an independent researcher found that many of the sites, including those in western countries, had not been updated in months. Some still had the names of ambassadors or consul-generals that had been there two or more years previously. Scheduling appointment online could not be done because of the dormancy of the sites, and reaching the offices was impossible because of dated or disconnected telephone lines. Where phone calls connected, the answering machines were programmed voice notes and such calls were never returned. Sending emails was a waste of time, as neither acknowledgment nor a decent reply would be received.

The state of the missions became even more critical for a number of other unimaginable reasons. In recent times, most of the missions have been in debt and have not been able to perform their statutory roles. Apart from rendering consular services, embassies and consulates are expected to attend to the needs of Nigerians abroad. These include, among other functions, giving diplomatic shield to the citizens under their watch abroad, providing protection if there is any exposure to danger, and holding the host government accountable if there is any molestation or murder of any Nigerian. Other responsibilities include ensuring that Nigeria’s interest is protected through respect for the dignity of every Nigerian abroad and negotiating ‘soft landing’ for any citizen even when they run foul of the law of their hosts.

Poor funding has been offered as an explanation for this indebtedness and lack of performance. The resources meant for consular services are not forthcoming and even when they do, the previous huge debts are cleared before any activities. According to eyewitnesses and insiders, this trajectory has given Nigeria bad press and made its missions abroad apparently unprepared for any serious business. Among the comity of African nations, Nigerian embassies should stand out. It is a shame that the missions of smaller nations like the Rwandan, Togolese, Ghanaian, Namibian, Algerian and Kenyan embassies tower higher when considering African foreign missions. The sad reality is that Nigeria is a far cry from fellow African missions. In some consulates, the air-conditioning system or elevators have collapsed.

The struggle of the Nigerian consulate in the United Kingdom is real. Nigerians in that country once complained bitterly about how the nationals of less endowed African nations narrated or shared with them their smooth experience in their own missions, and how embarrassed they (Nigerians) often felt about their own awful buildings and services giving the impression of a big-for-nothing country. The missions are not only generally decrepit and lacking decency and dignity, they are often unable to provide even minimal consular services for Nigerian citizens and foreigners in the host countries, with complaints often of inadequate funding and staffing making them ineffective as points of reference for the country. International passports are often scarce and take months to process. And where passports are available at all, sharp practices by consular staff in some countries are the order of the day. The prices are marked up and to be issued with passports, applicants have to ‘soften’ or grease the palms of the officers in charge.

If Nigeria cannot provide the required funding for the basic consular services in the missions abroad, it can close some. It can prioritise countries according to their strategic importance and numeric strength or the business activities of Nigerians. As it is, it is neither expedient nor compulsory for Nigeria to have missions in all countries of the world. Government can save resources by running only the very-important ones, so that those to be retained are well funded. The committee set up to critically look into and review the state of Nigerian missions abroad should be a relief to many Nigerians. Against the background of the sorry and ineffective performance of many, if not most, of the missions, this is a welcome development. This perhaps signals that the government is getting set to do something meaningful and concrete about the unhealthy state of the missions.

We urge the committee to approach this assignment with utmost sense of responsibility, to be able to come up with yardsticks and recommendations that will yield more befitting and effective missions for the country. The government should also respond most readily and with promptness to the recommendations by immediate and careful implementation. That would evidently turn around Nigeria’s diplomacy and image abroad.

NIGERIA: Kidney Dialysis: How Three Sisters Cater For Low Income, Uninsured Patients

THIS DAY

To cater for the needs of low income and poor kidney disease patients, who are uninsured and have little or no means of affording high cost dialysis treatments, three sisters- Jumoke Ojomo,Folawe Ojomo and Kunbi Ojomo, polled their personal funds to set up the JFK Dialysis Centre in Lagos. Precious Ugwuzor reports that at the centre, there is no consideration of profit as the philosophy of ploughing back resources for continuous and lean operation is paramount

Today, March 10, on the occasion of World Kidney Day, the contributions of three sisters –Jumoke Ojomo,Folawe Ojomo and Kunbi Ojomo, come to the fore. Coincidentally, this recognition fell into the commemoration of the 2022 International Women’s Day (IWD).
World kidney Day is being celebrated worldwide to draw awareness to the deadly kidney disease. In 2016, these three sisters thought about giving something back to the community.
They came up with the idea of setting up a dialysis centre in Lagos to cater for the needs of low income and poor kidney disease patients, who are uninsured and have little or no means of affording high cost dialysis treatments.
To actualise this project, they put together their personal funds to the tune of over N60millionto secure a property, buy dialysis machines and equip the centre with state of the art facilities.
Today, JFK DIALYSIS CENTRE, whose name is derived from first initials of their first names – “J “for Jumoke,”F” for Folawe and “K” for Kunbi, has grown to become one of the well managed, front line and sustainable dialysis centres within the Lagos metropolis.
At JFK Dialysis Centre, there is no consideration of profit as the philosophy of ploughing back resources for continuous and lean operation is paramount.
JFK Dialysis Centre is located within the Palmgrove Estate in Lagos. These sisters went a step further to set up a non -governmental organisation (NGO) called Global Assistance for Healthy Kidney Initiative (GAHKI), whose mission is to promote global awareness of the plight of people suffering from Kidney disease, a silent killer, ravaging the population.
GAHKI subsidises the cost of treatment for indigent patients who cannot afford three dialysis sessions in a week. The average cost of dialysis is equivalent to $900-$1000 in US dollars per month.
If clients on dialysis do not have the financial and social support, it is very difficult to get the required treatment, making such clients more sick, unable to work, and eventually terminated from work because of tardiness and extensive absenteeism, continuing the vicious cycle of poverty and noncompliance with treatment.
During the World Kidney Day activities, which comes up on the second Thursday in March of every year, GAHKI organises special enlightenment and screening programs to educate the populace and screen for hypertension and diabetes- the two foremost causes of kidney failure.
In 2018, GHAKI in collaboration with Apollo Hospital in India organised successfully a medical mission which screened more than 500 persons in Lagos whilst providing educative materials to them.
At that medical outreach, a team of 10 nephrologists, doctors and other specialists from India were present.
At other commemoration days, screening and enlightenment programs were organised for different socio-economic groups at other venues –Ojuelegba (for transport workers), and Ojuolowo, Mushin (for market women).
The impact of those programs were tremendous, thus, today on World Kidney Day, the contributions of these ladies are tremendously recognised.
Their tireless passion and dedication to community service is admirable. On program and activities days, these sisters come from wherever they may be to gather in Nigeria to participate fully and demonstrate their desire to help the vulnerable population.
Their impact is commendable. But who are these sisters you might ask? While Jumoke is a successful businesswoman who lives in Lagos; Folawe is a senior pharmacist who works in Maryland, USA and Kunbi is a Clinical nurse manager and stem cell specialist, who works in New Jersey, USA.


Quote “JFK Dialysis Centre, there is no consideration of profit as the philosophy of ploughing back resources for continuous and lean operation is paramount”

NIGERIA: Before Ritual Killing Consumes Us All

LEADERSHIP EDITORIAL

Killings, for ritual purposes, are assuming a worrisome dimension in Nigeria. Even more disturbing is the involvement of people from age groups that would, ordinarily, be classified as vulnerable. The modus operandi of perpetrators of these heinous acts is as blood-chilling as it is horrendous – they rape, maim abduct and kill to harvest the sensitive and vital organs of their victims.

What is equally disheartening is that the crime has acquired the trappings of business, unfortunately so, and has also developed its own language and terminology which makes it difficult for anyone not involved to easily understand the conversation by those engaged in it. For instance, they refer to human head as ball, the heart as transformer and hands as fans. The situation is so bad that the security agencies are finding it difficult to unravel and trail the mindset of these criminals.

Some analysts blame the ugly trend on the growing rate of unemployment in the country while others see it as the aftermath of the pervasive moral decadence in the society that is beginning to celebrate get-rich-quick syndrome among the youths. These merchants of death brazenly use the social media as a ready tool to advertise their evil behaviours. Recently, one such criminal boldly used ‘ego obala’ an Igbo phrase for blood money as car number plate.

This newspaper is appalled that while the society is getting more religious with the proliferation of churches and mosques, the ugly trend of ritual killing is on the rise as the quest for wealth at all cost gets so cruel and barbaric.

It is an irony that, in this abhorrent inhuman act and as in all criminal acts, the real godfathers are hardly known as they use contractors or wealth seekers who only get stipends for their dastardly acts. And the negative trend cuts across all the geo-political zones of the nation.

Even more ironic, in our considered opinion, is the contradiction that while youths in other climes are embracing science and technology as well as other sustainable human development efforts as ways of keeping pace with the rest of the dynamic world, youths in Nigeria seem stuck in the mistaken belief that sacrificing human blood is the path to wealth, safety and protection.

According to a recent report by Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND), 150 women and girls were killed across Nigeria between January 2018 and December 2021. The Red Cross International also in 2017 reported that it received 10,480 reports of missing persons in Nigeria. Fake clerics and herbalists are often alleged to be complicit in these heinous practices. Reported cases of ritual killings continue to surge in many parts of the country and law enforcement agencies have arrested many suspects of ritual killings showing gory pictures of human skulls and dismembered bodies.

It is in this context that we welcome the plan by the federal government to launch a national sensitisation campaign against ritual killing and other such acts that challenge our collective belief in what is human and acceptable.

The National Orientation Agency (NOA) has mapped plans to partner with religious, traditional organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to forge behavioural change. Already, it has directed the National Film and Video Censors Board (NFVCB) to take the issue of ritual killings into consideration while censoring and classifying films and videos eulogising the inhuman trade. Some ritual killers have confessed that they learnt the money-making tricks from some social media platforms.

On January 22, 2022, three teenage suspects and a 20-year-old reportedly killed one Sofiat Kehinde and had her head severed and burnt in a local pot in Abeokuta, Ogun State. Ogun State Police Command said one of the suspects confessed that he learnt the act of ritual killing from a video he watched on Facebook.

Jolted by the reports of ritual killings across the country, the House of Representatives, has also asked the federal government to declare a national emergency on the social vice. The House asked the Inspector General of Police to take urgent steps to increase surveillance and intelligence gathering with a view to fishing out, arresting and prosecuting the perpetrators of the killings, especially their sponsors.

As a newspaper, we are of the view that a lot needs to be done by the police and other law enforcement agencies to check this ugly trend. Parents, schools, religious leaders, and stakeholders must make deliberate efforts to curb the increasing rate of ritual killings and other related vices.

We call on government at all levels to make it a priority to empower the youths with vocational skills. With this, it would be difficult for many of them to be lured into ritual killing just to make quick money. Someone with a good source of living will find it difficult to engage in the act. More importantly, parents must desist from making comparisons between their children who are decent with their age mates that have chosen the life of crime.

NIGERIA: Checkpoints As Threat To Citizens’ Safety

THE GUARDIAN EDITORIAL BOARD

The perennial menace, (it is difficult to not to term it so) of police and military checkpoints on Nigerian roads was brought to the fore by a Southeast group, Cultural Credibility Development Initiative. It complained in a letter to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Usman Alkali Baba, and the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor, about the ‘strangulation of Igbo land with checkpoints’ and the “suffocation caused by the humongous number of checkpoints in Igboland.” The group alleged existence of checkpoints at every kilometer that create five-kilometer –long traffic snarl and demanded that these ‘security’ posts be reduced by 75 per cent.

A media report has gone so far as to say that the Southeast geopolitical zone ‘‘can be rightly said to be under siege by soldiers and the police.’’ While no one doubts that the nation is on the precipice security-wise, police checkpoints have been so abused as to compound rather than relieve citizens of their misery. This situation needs be reformed.

Security officers at checkpoints have been accused by not a few persons, high and low, of excesses that patently violate the rules of engagement on their duty. House of Representatives member, Ifeanyi Momah, has gone so far as to accuse checkpoint officials of human rights abuse, ‘‘devastating, degrading, and inhuman treatment’’ of citizens that include whipping women and searching traditional rulers ‘‘in an embarrassing manner.’’ No less a person than the President-General of Ohaneze Ndigbo, Nnia Nwodo, reportedly accused security agents of using the checkpoints to extort, harass, and intimidate road users. Vehicles, from motorcycles to large trucks are forced to pay varying sums according to type and size of goods. It is also reported that checkpoints are deliberately set up on market roads. The question cannot but be asked: how can the security agencies receive cooperation and intelligence while they behave in ways that generate distrust and ill feeling against them?

Checkpoint, by ordinary meaning of the phrase, simply is ‘‘a place where traffic is stopped so that it can be checked’’ for any act of illegality.
Of course, it is used in other lands within and at the borders. Alas, like many other things that are borrowed from other jurisdictions, some crooked –minded Nigerians have devised a way of bastardising a sound idea and a good process to enable them derive personal benefit. Indeed, with the aid of modern technology, human factor in checking people and vehicles for illegal items has reduced. But those who would gain from not adopting this method will not let it happen. A journey that should take a few hours ‘costs’ hapless travellers twice or even thrice precious time. The received opinion is that checkpoints have been turned into ‘‘toll gates’’ and ‘‘collecting centres.’’

The menace of extortionate security men at checkpoints is nationwide. Countless times, literally, police chiefs have directed their officers and men to desist from mounting checkpoints unless they are approved for specific reason. Successive IGPs have had to order their men off the road because they do not do what they ought to by law. Besides, they tend to go beyond their briefs. Policemen on legal checkpoints have been repeatedly told that they have no business checking the documents of vehicles, unless a particular vehicle is reported missing. They hardly comply with this simple order from ‘above’. In late September 2017, the then IGP Ibrahim Idris ordered that checkpoints be dismantled ‘‘to enable ease of business in Nigeria, safeguard and guarantee free passage of goods and travellers throughout the country.’’ Indeed, according to the police spokesperson, Moshood Jimoh, ‘‘special X-squad teams of the force have been deployed throughout the country with strict instructions to arrest, investigate and discipline police personnel violating the IGP directive.’’ Mohammed Adamu had, in December 2019, directed that ‘‘only checkpoints and nipping points that are operationally expedient for crime prevention and other forms of key duties’’ should be allowed on the roads. Adamu went further to specifically address the heart of the problem about checkpoints. He admonished that ‘police officers posted on checkpoint duties are expected to eschew corruption …be firm…courteous and polite to citizens.’’ That was two years ago. If anything changed, the Cultural Credibility Development Initiative, the Ohaneze Ndigbo leader and the House of Representatives would have no cause to lament.

Early December 2021, a resolution of the House of Representatives asked the IGP to order that ‘‘illegal and unnecessary checkpoints’’ be dismantled. Where checkpoints were not properly mounted, they have caused accidents many times. Just one example: along the Owerri-Onitsha road, on November 28, 2021, a fully loaded articulated truck rammed into vehicles stopped at a check point. 20 people were killed.

Clearly, checkpoints are not serving the pure and simple purpose that they are meant for. In the Southeast, police posts are attacked and sacked at will, About 30 communities are reported to have been taken over by criminal elements. These are happening all over the country. Criminals move freely on highways, terrorists with ease, trucks transporting aliens with their deadly arms hidden on the floor of the vehicles move through so-called checkpoints. Often, it is the local vigilante teams that accost, detect and arrest them, not at all the officials at the checkpoints.

The current IGP Baba promised, on assumption of duty in April 2021, a police force ‘‘guided by the principles of public accountability … conformity with the rule of law, compassionate servants and helpers of citizens.’’ Unfortunately, the conduct of his subordinates at checkpoints denies these good intentions. They constitute an existential threat to the convenience and safety of road users. Baba has much work to do to bring his wishes into reality.

NIGERIA: The Way Out Of The Ruling Party’s Conundrum

THIS DAY EDITORIAL

As the All Progressives Congress prepares to hold its primary, Tony Amadi writes that Saliu Mustapha is going strong for the position of National Chairman

In some 60 days or thereabout, Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressive Congress, (APC) should have found a way out of its well-articulated conundrum and free itself of the growing malaise of incompetent leadership at the heart of its party affairs. The problem used to be dumped at the doors of Osho Baba, but it has been long since Adams Oshomhole was shunted out of the party hierarchy and thrown into the wilderness where there was a lot of gnashing of teeth and apparent regrets. People should have realized that the only problem with Adams was his half-baked Hitlerian tactics which party men couldn’t understand because of its laden crudity.

Members of the ruling party prefer Mr. President’s excellent deployment of body language dynamics and its effective articulation that is best understood by the senate leadership who know when to run into their shelters when the President coughs or sneezes. Their handling of his letter over the electoral bill non assent was a typical example of how to react to presidential body language. The senior lawmakers had gathered enough signatories to upset the Aso Rock superman when they realized that they were headed to political oblivion if they dared disrupt presidential wellbeing.

The Senate President’s spin doctors had to produce an appropriate senate response before the hastily assembled closed session of senators to discuss the outcome of the response to the body blow of the President’s denial of assent to the electoral bill was decided. The seventy something signatories was jettisoned with alacrity and those who were beating their chest that they will override presidential veto were hiding their heads in shame because like Mrs. Margret Thatcher, this President is not for turning. Not even presidential spokesmen can be affected if they misrepresent the President, simply because the fear of the president by most lawmakers has reached tremendous heights because the president’s men can do no wrong.

All the current President’s men can do as they like because under the present headship of Senator and double doctor Ahmed Lawan, the National Assembly can be side stepped on any matter of national importance because they act as the executive’s rubber stamp. I remember with nostalgia, the times of Senator Chuba Okadigbo, Anyim Pius Anyim, Adolphus Wabara, Ken Nnamani and Abubakar Saraki who can damn tough talking presidents and get away with it. President Olusegun Obasanjo was vetoed by the National Assembly and had a rough ride with the National Assembly whenever he dared the lawmakers and Saraki, despite all the attempts to jail him over Code of Conduct issues, he stood his ground and mounted legal challenges when need be to prove that separation of powers was not a tea party.

The APC is now in the middle of holding its primary since it came to power in 2015 and this is causing consternation in the party as implosion starred them in the face. One of their biggest blunders was to appoint a whole state governor to act as party chairman in the aftermath of Adam Oshomhole’s forced departure as party chairman, leaving his Yobe state in the hands of deputies and permanent secretaries while he sauntered around the presidential mansion in Abuja, denying his people good governance in the process.

Now that the die is cast and the party must produce a new governing council to repair the damage of the past and possibly counter the advanced strides of the main opposition PDP, there is no more room for profligacy and the APC must get a proper National Working Committee, a sound National Executive Committee and a body of trusted elders in a Board of Trustees, BOT, and ultimately get ready to retain governance at the national level and produce an acceptable president, something that look like an impossible dream, judging from their poor handling of executive authority since 2015.
So far, the front runners in the National Chairmanship race of the ruling party are products of the old guard that you can dismiss their integrity levels with a wave of the hand. It is doubtful if the President can endorse any of the trio of Senator Ali Modu Sheriff, Senator Umaru al Makura and Abubakar Yari, all former governors of Borno, Nasarawa and Zamfara state respectively to the national chairmanship seat. If Mr. President has forgotten any of his promises prior to the 2015 elections, it is certainly the pledge to rid the country of corruption. One thing you can say of President Muhammadu Buhari is that he loathes corrupt leaders and would rather not seat around people whose corruption perception index is too low for his comfort.

There is also a cabinet member and a former PDP governor of Benue State, George Akume whose idea is to mend the broken pieces of the APC jigsaw if he comes into the managerial cadre as national chairman. Akume is according to his billboards all over Abuja, the man to mend the broken fences of the APC. It will interest voters at the convention that someone highly placed in the party knows that the fences of the party are virtually broken but fortunately or unfortunately for Akume, his former mentor and close friend Iyorchia Ayu has become the national chairman of the PDP and has gone on record to say that he would bring his friend back to the PDP rather than allow him to languish in the fringes of the ruling party leadership hierarchy.

Senator Sheriff says that he is the man the job needs to salvage its fortunes in the country’s party politics and Senator Almakura believes he is the man to sustain and secure the party from the vagaries of insecurity and instill democratic norms. My belief is that none of these successful politicians can add value to the well-being of the party particularly now, that the future dangles helplessly because of the general perception that it has not lived up to its promises to raise the standard of life of Nigerians that led to its election victory eight years ago.

But there are younger men who can make the grade and whose claim to national prominence is acceptable and can make a great difference when “the come, comes to become” with apologies to Kingsley Ozumba Mbadiwe, former political juggernaut and Minister of Aviation in Tafawa Balewa’s cabinet of the fifties and sixties. A few of these youths are already in the race, notably Malam Mustapha Salihu, the Turaki of Ilorin who at 50 was turbaned last October with unusual fanfare by the Emir of Ilorin Dr. Ibrahim Sulu Gambari.

The Turaki of Ilorin is probably what the doctor ordered to mend the bartered All Progressive Congress fences currently needing some political cleansing, repositioning, if not white-washing on the eve of the departure of President Muhammadu Buhari and give the party a fair chance of giving the opposition PDP currently basking in the euphoria of their successful convention and the Ayu Chairmanship a good run for their money as the 2023 acid test faces the two major political parties. I first met the youthful politician when Charles Aniagolu of the Arise News put us on a panel to discuss the fortunes of the PDP and APC where he gave a good account of himself before the 2015 elections. We became quite close since then and I have followed up his fortunes in the political scene from then.

I am convinced that he can turn his party around, rejuvenate it and excel in the direction of its fortunes in an election year that is so close at hand. His political credential is notable from the Progressive Action Congress where he served out his political sophomore days as National Publicity Secretary, to his key role as Deputy Chairman of Buhari’s Congress for Progressive Change, CPC at a young age. By the time the All Progressive Congress amalgamated from a group of parties that became the ruling party, Mustapha Salihu, the Turaki Ilorin had become a major political force himself and notably one of the Buhari disciples from ANPP, CPC and now APC.

Students of the ‘Buhari Body Language Institute’ are the only ones that could attempt to answer the question if Malam Mustapha Salihu, theTuraki Ilorin is already anointed as the next Chairman of the APC, but we all know that the President would distance himself from such assumptions. From my corner though, as a student of Nigerian politics, I will not be afraid to place my bet on this dynamic young man who is a ruthlessly charming, charismatic and fascinatingly humble politician to give APC a shot in the arm as their next chairman after their convention early this year and rescue the party from its present conundrum.

Nigeria’s Civil War 50th Anniversary, A Reflection

Watching Russian Ilyshin bombers in Biafra, a mother craddles her dead child. As Alex Kempkens (Germany) writes for Stern, she would die moments later. 

BY THE GUARDIAN EDITORIAL BOARD

Even though anniversaries of certain events may be worthless for nation building as some pundits claim, the 50th anniversary of the end of the Nigerian Civil War, which started in 1967 and ended in 1970, is an important historical marker for Nigeria. Apart from providing a veritable moment for sober and candid reflection on the controversial issue of nationhood and federalism, it also interrogates the value of collective memory for national progress.

These points were brought to the public space at the “Never Again Conference 2020” organised the other day by Igbo think-tank, Nzuko Umunna, Ndigbo Lagos and civil society organisations. Along with submissions from former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon (rtd.), Prof. Wole Soyinka, Prof. Pat Utomi, one of the high points of the conference was captured by the keynote speaker and professor of political history, Prof. Banji Akintoye.

In a blunt analysis of the present state of affairs, Akintoye stated: “The voices of the majority register protests continually and are continually disrespected and ignored. The state of the law is patently being subsumed to the needs of that agenda, with seriously damaging effects on human life.” He explained that this situation is promoting a feeling in certain sections of the country that “they are being reduced to the status of conquered peoples of Nigeria.”

In the same vein, Gowon, Soyinka, Utomi and other speakers at the event were unanimous on the position that Nigeria’s national unity is predicated on mutual respect of ethnicities, addressing deep-seated animosities, respect for the principles of democracy and aversion to situations that would lead to another war.

Indeed in agreement with many of the discussants at the conference, the events playing out in Nigeria today should make us ponder whether any lessons have been learnt from the two and half years civil war. In this age of social media and its widespread followership among the youths, there is a gradual rehash of the pre-civil war years hate narratives. People are more brazen in their resolve for anarchy and impunity. The gulf between the corrupt rich and deprived poor is widening, while religious divides are sharper than ever. This is scary and unfortunately so 50 years after.

Today, more than ever before, the same bigotry and bitterness of petty-minded Nigerians, the same greed and grandiloquence of prebendal politics have all brutally enveloped the country. What is more? More than ever before, the country is witnessing one of its worst security situations. And at a time like this, Nigerians must ponder on what lessons can be passed on to young people who were never witnesses to the war.

Besides, despite the “No victor, no vanquished” verdict of the then Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, the truths about the civil war still elude Nigerians. There are as many versions of the war narratives as there are interests. Though history recorded the efforts made to salvage battered nationalistic spirits through reconciliation, reconstruction and rehabilitation, little or nothing suggests in today’s Nigeria that healing has taken place. If Nigerians were healed after the civil war, why did Nnamdi Kanu emerge? If any rehabilitation occurred why are Nigerians being regarded as strangers and treated like a conquered people? Are Nigerians incapable of speaking the truth about the civil war?

Notwithstanding, this newspaper is persuaded that it is such situations as the resurgence of pre-civil war sentiments that make it inexcusable for us to draw lessons from past mistakes and from the evils of war. Whilst the horrors of the civil war have remained ever traumatizing as they were then, they nonetheless should instil fear and restraint in us not to wish for another war. Already Nigerians are besieged by problems that pose as wars raging in the country. If one is not a target of Boko Haram insurgents or Fulani herdsmen or murderous kidnappers, one is a victim of the self-inflicted sufferings we have collectively imposed on ourselves. Thus, there is no way another war would make sense to Nigerians. Nigerians are tired of the carnage. We do not want another bloodshed.

Moreover, wars have not been known to better the lot of any country at war with itself. The primary beneficiaries of wars are not the people fighting but the flourishing economies of exporters and manufacturers. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the top five weapons exporters (United States of America, Russia, France, Germany and China) were responsible for three-quarters of all global arms exports between 2014 and 2018. For developing economies like Nigeria, therefore, going to a needless war is an expensive venture that enriches the powerful nations of the world while impoverishing the former.

The last 50 years also questions the value of collective memory for us Nigerians. Though Nigerians tend to remember traumatic experiences of the past, they are seldom able to garner the value of the memories for building the future. The shallowness of our collective memory is seen in the way we forget that which is important. The works, deeds and thoughts of our illustrious forebears are remembered mainly for personal advantage. Collective amnesia is felt in the forgetfulness to progressively appropriate the good deeds of people for national growth.

This newspaper believes that this memorial is very relevant to nation building if Nigerians are to understand the truth about their corporate existence. Just as genuine historical markers are necessary for takeoff points in the annals of a people, the 50th anniversary of the Nigerian civil war should propel the country to some aspired greatness. One can understand the value of what one is from understanding where one is coming from.

Providentially, the ill-advised ban placed on the teaching of history in secondary schools has since been lifted. The claim about history’s non-viability to economic development has been found to be false and spurious. With this dramatic re-introduction of history, Nigerian children would be equipped to know the truth about their present circumstances and where they are coming from. If truth heals, as the saying goes, then all possible truths are necessary for better understanding of Nigeria.

In times like this, when supposedly healed scars of hostilities are being re-opened by narratives of untreated hostilities, when tales of war are retold with heavy hearts, the sagely Soyinka admonishes elsewhere: “At such rare moment, memory ceases to be a burden. It becomes a quiescent stock-taking, an affirmation of existence in the present and a resolve in defence of unborn generations.”

It is in this regard that we implore political leaders to enhance the credits in nation building by embracing partnerships that transcend party lines. The prevalent practice of promoting divisive politics or reducing social organisations to political party alliances should be discouraged both in words and actions. Politicians and public officers should condemn in unambiguous terms acts and policies that do not bestow a sense of belonging on other Nigerians. Nigerians should realise that a united Nigeria now is better that a split country.

As Nigerians reflect on the prospect of a truly federal nation, they must courageously sift the bitter truth about the precarious state of affairs from the echoes of collective wisdom in the voices of the majority. They should realise that the dream of a truly united Nigeria will materialise if and only if we all recognise the power in our diversity in terms of resources just as we do in religion and culture, appreciate this diversity and harness it for our common good.

NIGERIA: Costly War Without End

Image via This Day

Nseobong Okon-Ekong and Kingsley Nwezeh write that the 10-year insurgency war in the North-east of Nigeria has become intractable due a convergence of business interests from virtually all the stakeholders

A couple of incidents have happened in quick succession in the last few days to bring home the grim reality of the devastating conflict in parts of Borno, Yobe, Bauchi, Taraba and Adamawa states. First, was the forbidding evidence of the beheading of the Chairman of the Christian Association of Nigerian (CAN) in Michika local government area of Adamawa State, Reverend Lawan Andimi by Boko Haram because the clergy refused to be converted to Islam. A few weeks earlier, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), a faction of the Nigerian Islamist group, Boko Haram that broke away in 2016 released a video of the beheading of 11 Christians captured in Borno State.

News also broke of Leah Sharibu, the only Christian girl of the 110 school girls kidnapped by Boko Haram on February 19, 2018 from the Government Girls Science and Technical College (GGSTC) in Dapchi, Yunusari local government area of Yobe State, still in captivity, has given birth to a baby boy for a Boko Haram commander.

Last week, reaction on the increasingly worrisome insecurity in the country came from the highest quarters of governance with President Muhammadu Buhari and Senate President, Ahmad Lawan making succinct comments. While, the Senate President admitted the inevitability to adopt another approach to security issues, Buhari drew condemnation from citizens who were riled by his admission of ignorance of the worsening security situation. This led to calls for the president’s resignation championed by Senate Minority leader, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe. Other responses focused on the heads of the various arms of the security services, insisting that they had nothing else to offer, therefore they should be asked to go and other persons given the opportunity to tackle challenges.

However, the Federal Government has insisted that Boko Haram has been “technically” defeated. The President maintained this stance at the recent Armed Forces emblem launch in Abuja. He said “the Boko Haram terrorists have been substantially defeated and degraded to the extent that they are only daring soft targets.”

Going by the calamitous, decade-long insurgency war in the North-east of Nigeria, it would be appropriate to say that war is business and business is war. The business of war is costly in terms of lives lost, destroyed infrastructure and military equipment.

By United Nations estimates, 27,000 people have been killed since the beginning of hostilities in the North-east by terrorist groups, Boko Haram, which has since broadened its callous activities through the breakaway faction called Islamic State for West African Province (ISWAP).

The casualties range from civilians, military and para-military personnel, aid workers, travelers, clerics, school children among others. The level of devastation carried out by these mutinous armies is mind-boggling. In many parts of the North-east any institution representing advancement in western cultures like schools, churches (and in some cases mosques), private residences, government offices, banks and telecommunication infrastructure were destroyed; whole towns were razed to the ground.

Government, international donor agencies, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and other stakeholders have sunk billions if not trillions of Naira in procurement of arms, management of humanitarian crisis notably Internally Displaced Persons Camps (IDPs) camps and logistics supplies among other headlines for expenditure.

The immediate past Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, once said 100,000 people have been killed since Boko Haram began a campaign of violence in the geo-political zone.

The United Nations said 130,000 people have been displaced and seeking refuge in Internally Displaced Camps (IDPs) following rising insecurity in recent months.

An earlier statistics released by the UN said the Lake Chad Basin region was grappling with a complex humanitarian emergency.

“Over 2.7 million people have been displaced, including over 1.9 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in North-eastern Nigeria, over 541,000 IDPs in Cameroon, Chad and Niger accounting for 240,000 refugees in the four countries,” it said.

War as Business

But the truth remains that the war has become intractable due a convergence of business interests from virtually all the stakeholders. Since 2015, the government of former President Goodluck Jonathan engaged mercenaries from South Africa and Russia in the war against Boko Haram terrorists. Hundreds of them were allegedly being paid $400 cash daily. There is also the involvement of thousands of suppliers of military hardware, uniform, food and beverage.

Making an unsubstantiated indictment of some security chiefs for complicity in the war, the Deputy National Publicity Secretary of Ohaneze Ndigbo, the apex Igbo socio-cultural organization, Mr. Chuks Ibegbu told journalists that some service chiefs in the country were making money from the war against Boko Haram insurgents. He challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to lack of weapons and welfare to soldiers in the warfront despite huge sums of money budgeted to that effect. According to him, “The Boko Haram war is now a money-making venture for some government officials and top army officers. If Boko Haram is not completely defeated now by this regime, it will be a disaster for Nigeria in the future.”

Another security expenditure which has been widely criticised because it is mostly expended at the discretion of state governors is a monthly allowance allocated to the 36 states for funding security operations. Running into billions of Naira disbursement of the funds is not accountable to any agency. Profiling security votes in 29 states in a 2018 report by Transparency International (TI) titled ‘Camouflaged Cash’, it was revealed that Nigeria spent an average of $580 million (N208.8 billion) yearly on security votes. The monthly fund runs into billions of naira and varies based on the level of security required by the individual state.

The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has admitted that its planes consumed an average of 1.9 million litres of aviation fuel each month to fight and prosecute insurgency in the North-East.

The Chief of the Air Staff (CAS), Sadiq Abubakar, an Air Marshal, made the disclosure at the NAF Logistics Seminar in Lagos. The seminar was tagged, ‘Repositioning NAF logistics for Efficient Employment of Air Power in response to Contemporary National Security Imperatives.’ He said, “The main fighter air plane we use consumes 2500 liters/hour and we fly at least two air planes at a time. At that consumption rate, the two consume 5000 liters every hour and we run two missions. So, we are talking of about 10,000 liters just for one aircraft time. We have so many other airplanes like the Alpha jets which consume 2400 liters/hour. They also fly in formation and that means about 4800 liters. There are other air planes that fly on daily basis.”

The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Ibrahim Magu, an indigene of Borno State, declared recently that systemic corruption is prolonging the war against insurgency.

“You can’t separate the growing insecurity from corruption. The surest path to peace in our country is to take care of the menace of corruption. If we succeed in stemming corruption, we will berth a working system,” he said.

Banks/NGOs

Magu also berated banks for allowing terror sponsors to use the banks as a conduit for channeling funds for their nefarious activities. He said the commission would come down hard on bankers who collaborate with terror sponsors.

In a renewed bid to track the movement of laundered funds in the banking system used to finance terrorism, the EFCC recently declared that it would commence an investigation into the financial dealings of some Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) operating the North-east.

A military source had recently raised posers about the upfront payment of hotel accommodation for upwards of 10 years by some NGOs operating in Borno State, making it difficult for travelers to secure accommodation in Maiduguri, Borno State capital.

The source had also questioned the genuine desire on the part of the organisations to see the end of the insurgency.

Speaking at a meeting with banks’ compliance officers in Maiduguri, Chairman of EFCC, Ibrahim Magu, queried the rationale behind a single NGO keeping 40 bank accounts.

He warned that banks should comply with the Money Laundering Act by reporting to the anti-graft agency, any person or persons moving cash above the allowed threshold.

“Nobody should carry cash above the threshold of N10 million for corporate organisations and N5 million for individuals. Anything above the threshold must be routed through financial institutions,” he said.

Magu said EFCC would soon commence the profiling of Non-Governmental Organisations with a view to monitoring their financial activities.

He said, “We must profile all the NGOs in the North-east. I don’t know why an NGO will open more than 40 bank accounts.

“We are going to ask your various banks to give us statements of accounts for each and every NGO.

“The issue of money laundering, terrorist financing and leakage of information will be eliminated by the commission with the help of bankers across the country.”

Funding Insurgency: N6trillion Budget in 13 years

In the 2018 Budget, the military proposed N38 billion for the purchase of ammunition, jet fighters, armoured tanks, landing ships, patrol vehicles and boats among others.

Going by the record of appropriations since 2008, a total of N6 trillion was expended on the military by the end of 2018 fiscal year.

A significant part of this budget was concentrated on the war against insurgency.

The huge defence allocation represents 10.51 per cent of the N58.001 trillion appropriated in the past 11 years.
The sum of N2.945 trillion or 40 per cent nearly half of the budget was spent between 2012 and 2014.

Additionally, President Muhammadu Buhari spent N2.5 trillion or more of the 11 years defence budget since coming to power in 2015.

Between 2008 and 2017, the Ministry of Defence budgeted N191.5billion in 2008, N223.1billion in 2009, N232.3billion in 2010, N348.3 billion in 2011and N332.2 in 2012.

The defence budget in 2013 stood at N364.4billion; 2014, N349.7; 2015, N273.8; 2015, N375.5; 2016, N443.1; 2017, N465.5 billion; 2018, N567 billion; 2019, N435,62 billion and N878,458,607,427 in 2020 (military/intelligence agencies), the second highest budget of the year.

The budgets cover personnel, overhead, recurrent and capital votes.

Capital budget within the period under review was also on the increase from 2008 to 2020: N46.8, N39.4, N38.2, N35.9, N64, N35.4, N36.7, N130.9, N140, N145 and N99,869,263,767 billion.

There was also an increase in the recurrent expenditure within the same period, an indication of resources expended on procurement of arms and recruitment of more personnel within the period.

North East Development Commission

An interventionist agency, North East Development Commission (NEDC) was given a take-off grant of N55 billion in May 2019. So far, N36 billion was deposited in the account of the commission.

The Secretary General of the North-East Development Association, Abubakar Bitako, said recently that the people of the North-east were not feeling the impact of the commission.

“We want to see things taking place. We want to see the NEDC helping the people. We don’t have only Boko Haram problem in the North-East. We have farmers and herders’ clashes mostly in Adamawa and Taraba states.

“We want to see foodstuffs shared to the people. We want bedding provided for our people. We want our people to have access to hospitals and schools.

“They were inaugurated on May 8, 2019. From 8th May to now, N10billion was released to them and subsequently, N26bn was also released in the 2019 budget. So if you add N10billion to N26billion that is N36billion”.

UN/Donor Agencies

The United Nations has also recently granted a $9 million to help fund thousands of displaced people in the North-east. The fund includes $2 million in support of UN humanitarian air service for frontline responders in the region.

There are also contributions from many NGOs operating in that area.

Another agency known as the North East Nigeria Recovery and Peace Building Assessment (RPBA) announced that the impact of the conflict in the region cost $9 billion. The team also said it would need $6 billion to perform recovery efforts in the crisis torn area.

Dr. Mariam Masha, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), named Borno State as having the worse loss estimated at $6 billion. She said damage to housing in the region could be as much as $3 billion, not counting damages to livestock. Next in the ranking of devastation, in the estimation of the RPBA are Yobe and Adamawa states. According to her, at least, 20,000 lives have been lost, while no less than 1.8 million people were displaced by the Boko Haram insurgency.

Quick Facts

*Recently, Chairman of Christian Association of Nigerian in Adamawa State was beheaded by persons suspected to be members of Boko Haram, 10 persons were earlier beheaded by the Islamic State West Africa Province, while it was also revealed that Leah Sharibu, the only Christian girl remaining in captivity among school girls abducted in Dapchi, Yobe state by Boko Haram has given birth to a baby boy for a Boko Haram commander. These incidents, again, brought to live the ugly reality of the existence of Boko Haram.

*Efforts to stem the tide of insurgency, first, in Borno State became a full blown war in 2009

*At least 27,000 have been killed from the activities of Boko Haram insurgents. The immediate past Governor of Borno State, Alhaji Kashim Shettima, once said 100,000 people have been killed since Boko Haram began a campaign of violence in the geo-political zone

*The number of Internally Displaced Persons are not less than 1.8 million. The UN believes over 2.7 million people have been displaced, including over 1.9 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in North-eastern Nigeria, over 541,000 IDPs in Cameroon, Chad and Niger accounting for 240,000 refugees in the four countries

*Going by the record of appropriations since 2008, a total of N6 trillion has been expended on the military by the end of 2018 fiscal year

*Military capital budget has consistently gone up. Between 2008 and 2017, the Ministry of Defence budgeted N191.5billion in 2008, N223.1billion in 2009, N232.3billion in 2010, N348.3 billion in 2011and N332.2 in 2012. The defence budget in 2013 stood at N364.4billion; 2014, N349.7; 2015, N273.8; 2015, N375.5; 2016, N443.1; 2017, N465.5 billion; 2018, N567 billion; 2019, N435,62 billion and N878,458,607,427 in 2020 (military/intelligence agencies), the second highest budget of the year N812,169.263,769 billion

*North East Development Commission (NEDC) take-off fund was given a take-off grant of N55bn. So far, N36billion released

*Profiling security votes in 29 states in a 2018 report by Transparency International (TI) titled ‘Camouflaged Cash’, it was revealed that Nigeria spent an average of $580 million (N208.8 billion) yearly on security votes

*Stakeholders say impact of funding not felt

*The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has admitted that its planes consumed an average of 1.9 million litres of aviation fuel each month to fight and prosecute insurgency in the North-East

*One NGO operating in North-east owns 50 bank accounts. The EFCC believes that banks are being used as conduit by terror sponsors

*UN grant to aid displaced people stands at $9million

* Hundreds of mercenaries were allegedly being paid $400 cash daily. There is also the involvement of thousands of suppliers of military hardware, uniform, food and beverage

SOURCE: THIS DAY

NIGERIA: Public Universities, High Acceptance Fees And Consequences

BY THE GUARDIAN EDITORIAL BOARD

The arbitrary high acceptance fees being charged by some public universities on new students across the country may have become a matter of great concern to many families but it should also be seen by the relevant authorities as a consequence of unaddressed challenges of funding of higher education.

Amid rising frustration over the exorbitant fees, indigent families of new students who are being forced to pay the fees are bemoaning the unusual development, especially, against the backdrop that federal universities are still tuition-free.

The fact that the fees are discriminatory, varying from one institution to the other, shows that they are unauthorised and therefore there is something still wrong with the so-called university autonomy that does guarantee freedom of the governance processes in the universities.

For instance, while some of the institutions are charging minimal fees, others are charging very high and some others are not charging anything at all. This raises the question as to whether the institutions were not established under the same law.

Reports say students who couldn’t pay some charges are losing their admission, which is sad and not in the interest of the country’s future. The emerging trend needs to be addressed, especially, as some institutions are not charging acceptance fees at all.

It needs to be stated that charging acceptance fees is not altogether out of place, so long as they are minimal and affordable. In the 1980s, for instance, universities charged N5.00 (five naira) as acceptance fees. Today, with the high rate of inflation, charges ranging from N5, 000 to N10, 000 could be considered reasonable and affordable.

But a situation where some universities are charging between N50, 000 and N80, 000 as acceptance fees raises some questions about the funding issues that the federal and state authorities have failed to address.

Reports from across the country show that some universities are openly fleecing students in the name of acceptance fees. The situation varies sharply between the northern and southern universities, with southern universities charging higher acceptance fees than the north without any cogent reason.

Investigations in some universities have revealed that University of Benin is charging from N60, 000 to N80, 000 as acceptance fees depending on the course of study. This may be among the highest in the country.

Imo State University is charging N70, 000 while Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike Umuahia charges N50, 000. The Federal University of Technology, Owerri charges N42, 000. University of Nigeria Enugu Campus charges N25, 000. While the University of Lagos charges N20, 000; the University of Ibadan charges N35, 000 depending on faculty.

Going up north, University of Abuja charges N42, 000 while Federal University of Technology Minna charges N20, 000. The Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria charges between N25, 500 and N44, 500.

Usman dan Fodio University Sokoto charges N5, 000 made up of N3, 000 acceptance fee and N2, 000 screening fee.

But Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi and Federal University Kashere, Gombe State do not collect acceptance fee from students.

The foregoing is a tip of the iceberg, which shows the discrepancy in the management of universities in the northern and southern parts of the country. While most students in the north enjoy free tuition, or minimal charges, those in the south are being exploited, yet both under the same unitary educational system.

The exploitative universities didn’t stop with acceptance fees; they also have a long list of sundry charges ranging from registration fee, departmental fee, faculty fee, result verification fee, examination fee, information technology fee and endowment fee, among many others ranging from N120, 000 to N150, 000, in the southern parts of the same country.

While many frown at the myriad of charges in the universities, this newspaper believes that good and quality education requires robust funding. And we have continued to reiterate this fact. In other words, we support a school of thought, which believes that students should pay to get quality education that the country needs.

We are aware that this would present a challenge as most parents can’t afford to pay and this is due to the economic situation that has affected a large segment of the people in the country. As we have repeatedly noted here, there should be ways of addressing the needs of the poor whose children should also be educated.

One way out is to determine what it costs to train a student in the university in different disciplines. Once this is done, the cost would then be spread between the parents and the government. Proper funding of education is critical in this regard.

The other strategy is to resuscitate the education bank that could grant interest-free loans to indigent students. The resuscitation of scholarships and bursaries should also be part of the framework to assist indigent students.

University learning is not the only education that should be available to students. The issue of technical education should be brought to the front burner. This newspaper believes that in this age when employability has become a key factor in skill set that should disrupt curricula of studies, technical education should not be discounted. Without delay, our policy makers and public officers at all levels, political party leaders should enunciate policies for quick revival of all moribund and dead technical schools. It is tragic most skilled workers in the building and maintenance industry are available only in some neighbouring (West African) countries. What is more, experts are daily warning about emergence of mediocrity in the polity just as a few skilled citizens in some sectors are making good money more than white-collar workers. If we must be entrepreneurial as a nation, we should be intentional in investing robustly in technical education at all levels.

The dearth of technical colleges and intention to phase out polytechnics without proper funding have complicated the quest for exceptionalism in Africa’s most populous nation. The rush for university education against technical studies does not also augur well for the country.

This trend should be reversed. Universities’ proprietors, whether public or private, should fund the institutions adequately to reduce undue exploitation of students through various charges. But the roots of charges must be addressed. There should be real autonomy for the tertiary institutions. There should be a freeze in establishing new tertiary institutions that cannot be funded. A situation whereby water resources as well as humanitarian and intervention agencies are getting higher budgetary allocations than education is a preface to tragedy. The only way you can destroy a nation is to destroy its education system. Authorities in Abuja and the 36 states of the federation should note this as they begin implementation of their 2020 budget details.

How Much Money Can You Move Overseas From South Africa?

Image via Business Tech

With several alarming indicators showing that more South Africans are leaving the country, an increasing number of people have started to research their options on how to move money offshore.

Tax Consulting SA has also noted a large increase in individuals who are expatriating funds and investing these funds offshore, says Jonty Leon, legal manager at financial emigration, Tax Consulting SA.

There are various speculative reasons as to why people are moving money abroad. Some are financially emigrating due to moving overseas.

Other reasons include better investment opportunities abroad, the weakened South African Rand, and political instability.

Many of Tax consulting’s clients leaving, or having already left SA, wanting to formalise their non-Residency status, have mentioned discussions regarding land expropriation without compensation has led them to feel that their investments in South Africa are no longer secure.

What is exchange control?

Foreign exchange controls are various forms of controls imposed by a government on the purchase/sale of foreign currencies by residents or on the purchase/sale of local currency by nonresidents. Exchange control in South Africa is dealt with in terms of the Currency and Exchanges Act No. 9 of 1933 and Regulations thereof.

“In my opinion, this law is quite antiquated. Over the past few years and for the foreseeable future, this law will continue to be phased out and simplified, but the process has been slow,” said Leon.

The exchange control system regulates the inward and outward flow of money in South Africa and it affects both individuals and companies.

At its core, exchange control in South Africa is controlled by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB). The SARB, however, entrusts authorised dealers (banks) to ensure their customers comply with the various regulations that control the sending and receiving funds across South African borders.

Jurisdictions that form part of the Common Monetary Area, however, aren’t subject to the same regulations. These countries include South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland.

Key considerations when moving money abroad

The exchange rate is a major determining factor as to when people take money out of South Africa. People obviously want to take money out of the country when the exchange rate is in their favour, i.e. when the Rand is stronger against currencies such as the Dollar, Euro or Pound.

Many times, ill-timed expatriation of funds can mean that a person ‘loses’ much of the value of the funds.

Moving money outside of South African when the Rand is weak is like making a bad investment. Be sure to time the expatriation of your money according to the exchange rate.

Compliance is another aspect of funds expatriation that needs to be carefully considered and adhered to. Those looking to expatriate funds must ensure they meet all the regulations related to the transaction.

Something as seemingly menial as providing an incorrect statement in any declaration to the SARB can lead you to be found guilty of an offence in terms of Regulation 22 of the Exchange Control Regulations, 1961. If you are found guilty of such an offence, you could be fined up to R250,000 or up to five years in prison – or both.

Tax Consulting SA also advises clients to find a reputable foreign exchange company when looking to expatriate funds. Many times, large banks do not give consumers the lowest rates, which leads to a major chunk of the funds being absorbed by the bank’s fees.

Look for a foreign exchange company that not only offers good rates but will assist you with meeting all the requirements and regulations of the SARB and SARS.

How much money can you move abroad?

There are two main ways of expatriating funds from South Africa, namely the single discretionary allowance and the foreign capital allowance.

The single discretionary allowance is afforded to all South African residents who are 18 years or older and have a valid South African identity document. This allowance is R1-million per calendar year per individual. The foreign capital allowance gives a South African resident individual, 18 years or older, the opportunity to expatriate funds of up to R10-million per calendar year.

Prior approval is needed to expatriate funds under the foreign capital allowance. The individual will be required to obtain a Tax Clearance Certificate from SARS before they will be allowed to expatriate money and prior approval is required.

If a person wants to move actual South African bank notes abroad, the limit when entering or leaving South Africa is R25 000 per individual. If you are travelling between countries in the Common Monetary Area, however, the amount is unlimited.

Those looking to expatriate funds will benefit greatly from speaking to an experienced tax consultant.

Make sure you remain within the boundaries of the law, that you plan the fund expatriation according to the exchange rate and that you get a good rate from a foreign exchange company.

SOURCE: BUSINESS TECH

NIGERIA: The Herbal Psychiatrist Of Nasarawa

Image via The Guardian

BY LEADERSHIP EDITORS
Nigeria is rated as having a rich history and culture of local treatment and cure of people with serious mental problems often known as madness or insanity. Just like the traditional Chinese medicine, especially acupuncture, which predated Western medicine, so is herbal remedy and treatment of the insane in Nigeria.

Across the length and breadth of Nigeria are traditional herbal healers who have handled serious mental cases that have defied new age medical practice. But because of the crude manner and in some cases the inclusion of fetish practices in their operations, they are not accorded recognition in the nation’s mental health services.

It is against this backdrop that this newspaper takes special interest in the activities and claims of the management of Musabil Herbal Centre in Gauta community, Keffi Dan Yamusa of Keffi local government area in Nasarawa State where 47 mad people have been allegedly cured.

The centre also claimed that it is currently handling another 103 psychiatric patients, with 40 of them, all males kept in one room. The breakdown of the mentally-challenged persons showed that 70 of them are men and the rest, 33, women.

Among the impressive revelations, is that none of the patients is in chain, a usual practice in orthodox hospitals and other traditional homes where such cases are handled. Added to this is the harmonious relationship among the insane persons in the same room and their free interaction with members of their families and visitors to the herbal home.

The owners of the facility and visitors have attested to the fact that no violent cases have been recorded among the insane since the inception of the “hospital.” The owner of the centre, who bears the official title of director-general, “Dr” Kabiru Mohammed popularly known as “Dr. Naborgu” said that the centre was established 15 months ago.

This native of Fakachi in Kainji area, Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State, who relocated to the community to set up the home in Nasarawa, said that he learnt the trade from his father.

The statistics presented by the management of the home shows that the recovery rate of the patients in the home is high, as 47 persons have been treated and discharged in 15 months, out of which 20 of them are engaged in the centre as guards and ancillary workers. This figure translates to an average of two persons being discharged monthly. This is not a mean feat considering the long period such people stay in psychiatric hospitals.

At the herbal home there are wards for women and men; the structure and practice in the facility are mixed: consultants from various fields of mental health work with Mohammed in the diagnosis and treatment of the patients with only herbal drugs. Although the home may not be a perfect setting, its achievement so far ought to recommend it to Nasarawa State government.

We consider it curious that in spite of this the local government health authorities claim that they do not have any relationship with the herbal centre. That the lives of the people of the state and other Nigerians, who patronise the centre are at stake makes the indifference of the local authorities more worrisome.

It is our opinion that health officials in the state government owe themselves a duty to monitor the activities of the home, enforce standards especially on environmental issues, and assist in the upgrade of its facilities. For instance, the government can help in decongesting the wards, especially for the male psychiatric patients. A situation where 40 ill people are kept in one room is unhygienic to say the least.

The state government should resist the temptation of closing the centre no matter the pressure from any quarter, especially orthodox practitioners, whose interests may be threatened by the impressive performance of the herbal clinic. Instead, the claims of the owners should be investigated based on the number of cases so far handled.

The cheering news from the centre requires that we do away with the mentality that everything Nigerian is wrong and anything herbal is unregulated and fetish. We, therefore, canvass the adoption of the Chinese model where that Asian country combines modern and traditional medicine practice and export them to the world.

We are also compelled by the reality on ground at the herbal home to caution against calls to sanction any orthodox medicine practitioner who partners with a herbal doctor. Such punitive action would be counter-productive in this case as those in Musabil Herbal Centre play only advisory and counselling roles to the management and patients. Instead, the collaboration already on display at the home ought to be encouraged. One way of doing it is for the state government to help the home to develop its skills acquisition centre where recovered patients are trained and rehabilitated before they are allowed to go home.

The Problem Is Not 'Negative' Western Media Coverage Of Africa

Rather, it is the lack of in-depth and nuanced reporting on the continent and beyond.

BY PATRICK GATHARA

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A recent job ad for Nairobi bureau chief the New York Times posted has sparked controversy [Reuters]

The New York Times is once again in Kenyans' crosshairs. Just six months after it was excoriatedfor publishing graphic pictures of the victims of January's hotel attack in Nairobi, which forced it to shelve the appointment of Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura as head of its Nairobi bureau, the search for a replacement has stirred up another hornet's nest.

In an ad for the position that appears to have been taken straight out of the late Binyavanga Wainaina's famous satirical essay, How To Write About Africa, the Times repeated many of the problematic stereotypes have dominated much reporting on the continent.

The job, it proclaimed, would offer "tremendous opportunity to dive into news and enterprise across a wide range of countries, from the deserts of Sudan and the pirate seas of the Horn of Africa, down through the forests of Congo and the shores of Tanzania". In addition to covering seemingly ubiquitous conflict and suffering, the successful candidate would also get to "delight our readers with unexpected stories of hope" in the region.

Many Kenyans online have predictably responded with outrage. It "says a lot about the kinds of stories they want from Eastern Africa", tweeted Ken Opalo, who is an assistant professor at Georgetown University. He warned that "the biggest losers from this sort of madness" would not be Eastern Africans, but the daily's American audience who "continue to be fed [and believe] myths and as a result are increasingly economically [and] geopolitically uncompetitive in the region".

The NYT's international editor, Michael Slackman, belatedly offered a mea culpa on Twitter in which he took responsibility for the ad, blaming it on his “taking a short cut: Rather than write a new job description, a posting from about 18 months went out”. Why this would have been deemed appropriate in 2017 is left unaddressed and no actual apology was offered. However, despite his non-apology, the offending ad is yet to be taken down.


For many Kenyans, it is reminiscent of the similar non-apology they got in the aftermath of the January incident. Despite acknowledgment of the need to "make decisions based on the fact that we serve a global audience", the offending photo remains on the NYT's website. A promise to "convene a group of people to come up with clearer guidelines" to ensure "consistent standards that apply across the world" has seemingly not been kept.

The complaints about negative coverage in Western media are not new. Media negativity and its consequences have been bemoaned the world over, but perhaps nowhere more than in Africa - where the prevailing perception is that foreign media, and Western correspondents in particular, have gone out of their way to portray the continent as the nadir of human civilisation. A dark continent of unspeakable "tribal" savageries, unmitigated suffering, horrible epidemics and child-like helplessness all bounded by breathtaking vistas of natural beauty.

However, it would be good to keep some perspective. Slackman is right when he urges people to "judge our correspondents on the quality of their work, not that job posting". While it is true that one can readily find examples of racist and colonial stereotypes in many Western news reports, as pointed out by Kenyan writer Nanjala Nyabola, a 2016 study by Dr Toussaint Nothias of the Center for African Studies at Stanford University also found that there is no empirical evidence for the assertion that Western media coverage "systematically refers to 'tribalism' and 'darkness', treats Africa as a country and relies predominantly on Western voices".

He echoes a 2015 paper by Martin Scott of the University of East Anglia who reviewed the research into US and UK media representations of Africa in the previous quarter century and concluded that "the widespread belief that we know how Africa is represented in the US and UK media is … a myth".

Still, there is a perception that much of what international audiences hear about Africa is overwhelmingly negative even when not overtly racist. Between May and September 2010, the 10 most-read US newspapers and magazines carried 50 times more articles mentioning poverty in Africa, than mentioning gross domestic product (GDP) growth. But is Africa unique in this? Are we being singled out?

Not exactly. For example, one 2013 study of the coverage of China by three major Western outlets, including the Times, found that nearly half of all political coverage was about corruption. Further, as noted by Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian in Foreign Policy, "US news tends to slant towards the negative and the sensational - making its critical coverage of China a normal feature of the media landscape". The same could be said about the coverage of Africa.

Africans must also focus on the practices of local media, which is just as guilty of the sins which Western journalists are routinely accused of. This week, South Africa's Mail & Guardian published a series of "inspiring, uplifting and positive stories from around the African continent" in a "good news" edition.

That this was deemed necessary only highlights the fact that on the continent, like everywhere else, the telling of the news is largely perceived to default to the negative. Yet here too, the problem is less that we need more good news stories than that the stories we are told are largely decontextualised.

There is no good and bad news; there is just the news. The false dichotomy between positive and negative stories is a reflection of the lack of the sort of storytelling which allows audiences to make sense of events within a wider universe of African experience. Like their Western counterparts, local media engages in shorthand - it reports rather than explains.

The episodic tales which it tells are not related to one another to produce a more complete scene. Each is presented as an isolated, self-contained event - a story with a beginning, middle and end - rather than part of a wider tapestry of experience. This approach is what generates the false dichotomy of positive and negative news that then needs to be "balanced". The picture drawn is poor not because the subject is "bad", but because it is incomplete. And this performs a great disservice to audiences.

One way Western media organisations can address the issue is by rethinking the role of the foreign correspondent. In today's world, is it really possible to justify the anachronistic search for foreign bureau chiefs when local reporters can provide much better local context and feel for the circumstances of their own countries? Given that skewed power dynamics dictate that Africans care more about their representation in Western media than Westerners do about how African media covers them, it is time Western outlets privilege local journalistic expertise and choices.

Recruiting local journalists who can explain rather than simply report, as well as improving the output of local media can provide context for the horror stories the media gravitates to, making Africa seem less of - in the words of journalist Shayera Dark - "a war-torn, disease-ridden, poverty-stricken hellscape where all hope dies".

The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.