Opinion

Indeed, the collapse of a 21-story building under construction in the Ikoyi area of Lagos State on Monday, November 1, 2021, is unfortunate. Unfortunately, this sad incident occurs in almost every region of Nigeria without proper investigation to determine the actual courses of action and adequate solutions to prevent future occurrences.

As FG is set to reverse the sale of DISCOs and GENCOs, it shows the highest form of corruption and mismanagement that continue to pester in their management. Go to their offices and see mismanagement and corruption personified, poor customer services and daylight bribery, before a meter is issued to a customer and so on.

There are 11 electricity distribution companies in Nigeria. Majority of them violated the agreement they entered with FG. There are over 20 electricity generating companies in Nigeria today but the top six GenCos providing the country with electricity are Egbin Power Limited, Transcorp Power, Shiroro, Kainji/Jebba, Sapele and Geregu. They have also failed to inject money into power generation and are begging government for funds.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not against privatisation of NEPA, but I am certainly not happy with the hurried way the government sold the utility corporation without putting it in good shape so that the private hands that will buy it will have a smooth and easy take up.

I was against selling the power corporation to former leaders, cronies and incompetent men by the Jonathan administration.

The past government didn’t rehabilitate the power plants before selling them. All money set aside were stolen by officials. The government refused to listen. We said they should take a cue from global trend. Almost all countries around the world began their power reforms from different starting points with a long history of handing over relatively well managed power corporations.

In contrast, Nigeria is privatising inherited pieces of the old NEPA systems, a derelict corporation where power generation was allowed to dip below 3500mw .

Nigeria will be the only nation in the world that sold its utility corporation at such an abysmal low power generation level, 3500MW to be precise.

Privatization of the Power and Natural Gas Industries around the world has a starting point which include: industry structure, wholesale market, labour and management relations, regulatory framework, privatization objectives and privatization methods.

Nigeria was so much in a hurry to sell out the entire system without taking a holistic appraisal of the likely consequences of the exercise to the nation.

And this explains why the country will remain in darkness for a very long time!

Aliyu Nuhu write from Abuja, Nigeria.

By Muhsin Ibrahim

By Abdulrazak Iliyasu Sansani

By Bilyamin Abdulmumin

After the ugly event between 1967 and 1970 in Nigeria that threatened to end the country’s years of coexistence, the then Federal Government sought to mend the fences by mandating one year of National Youth Service  Corps (NYSC) for university and, later, polytechnic graduates.

The program was made effective by ruling that prospective Corps are deployed interchangeably across regions and states. This provides a platform to understand better the country’s cultural diversity and catalogue other differences among Nigerians.

To many, the NYSC scheme is a brainchild to later life achievements, building connections that lead to many things such as jobs, skills acquisitions, marriage or lifelong friendship.

However, out of not knowing, many prospective Corps members risk missing out from this one-lifetime experience in the name of redeployment or service in absentia.

At the tail ends of the NYSC three-week orientation camp, one thing that dominates the exercise is relocation application.

The NYSC commission has provided the options for relocation after completing the three weeks orientation camp from one state of service to another on the grounds of many reasons such as health, marriage, security and what have you.

Many Corp members would seek to outsmart this relocation window, intentionally citing health grounds, among many other reasons, for the relocation. Last Thursday, during the ongoing orientation camp, Gombe State chapter DG had echoed that: “There is no need to invite sickness you do not have upon yourself for the sake of relocation”

It doesn’t take careful observation to note that most applicants are typical northerners, aka Hausa-Fulani.

This leads to an intriguing conclusion; Hausa-Fulani folks are home loving-people. Therefore, they do not want to explore other regions apart from their familiar environment despite the enormous possibilities attached with that.

These home-loving youths would come home after redeployment only to continue from where they stopped; the circle of routine activities but little do they realize that the bet wasn’t worth it.

In education, unarguably where the NYSC scheme found its most important use, many secondary schools poised as Place of Primary Assignment (PPA), especially the public ones, would improve their teaching capacity with these agile youth (bubbling with fresh ideas) who came from different backgrounds. In addition, many students would get their inspiration for future careers from these  Corp members. I’m a living witness, and I have come across many friends who testified to that.

Those Corps who came away from their PPAs have only the service to offer; therefore, they are the most dedicated to their service. Service at home is a deterrent to the prospective Corp members from giving their best; therefore, it makes redeployment to home non-recommendable. On the other hand, service in absentia deprives the host PPA; it will also come back hunting the Corp members involved.

Sometimes later, whenever there is a discussion on the NYSC memories period while those who served in absentia are sent into oblivion, the deployed youths will just be cut short with little to reminisce. However, many of them never hesitate to voice their regret for being deployed to their homes or even from rural to urban cities.

When it comes to having eventful memories, serving in the rural areas is the bomb. That is where NYSC youth Corps members are treated with glamour or grandeur, unlike in urban areas. Perhaps the lack of due recognition to NYSC in the urban areas is because of the high number of youths who were once members; the society became used to the scheme.

Initially, when deployed to a particular environment, primarily rural, it depends on how rural the area is; the writing will be all over the wall that a significant readjustment is necessary, the hopeless loom large on the horizon. Cortisol level overshoot, the less tough youth (female) breakdown crying. Yet, at the same time, men who are more practical with emotions keep it within them. This traumatic experience would soon make the relocation processes continue at an unprecedented rate or invoke planning ideas of serving in absentia either by showing up just during the monthly CDSs or abdicating completely with impunity.

However, the enigma of the arrival would naturally fade away; the cortisol level would come down and, after given sufficient time, the codes of living in the newfound environment begin to be deciphered. One can then manipulate the environment to his taste until at a point after settled. Then, one begins to imagine the wind-up is fast approaching or even fantasy for an extension of the programs.

Dear Corps members currently on the camps or those coming later, avoid plunging into remorse later and shortchange the PPA community. It would be best if you rethink the idea of redeployment or service in absentia.

Bilyamin Abdulmumin is a PhD candidate, Chemical Engineering, ABU Zaria. He can be reached via bilal4riid13@gmail.com.

By Mohammed Baba Goro

By Hamid Al-Hassan Hamid

To be honest, the poor reviews against the eNaira app are all valid negative reviews. As usual, policymakers must have rushed software engineers into developing the app in haste, obviously with poor analyses, and the software engineers do not have the balls to stand their ground and point out facts.

For example, how do you create an app that requires email tied to BVN while email was not a required field in BVN registration? This means that those working on the app did not consult other sectors related to the app, and just imagined the app to work in a certain way, developed the app, and now people are complaining.

I was called in by the Federal Ministry of Health on Wednesday to develop a mobile app that would be used to facilitate disease monitoring and control. They wanted to deploy the app on Thursday. I developed the app with the minimum requirements given, but I strongly advised them against putting the app into production without at least testing for a week. Policymakers were not happy about my stance, but I held my ground, and they are complying unwillingly and willingly. They have seen the app, I spent the whole night hacking it out, created the mobile, server backend, and desktop monitoring, then warned them against deploying.

Not everything has to do with rushing to the market to score points and make names. You must be brutally honest with yourself. If you must deploy such an app that serves such serious responsibility as the national currency, you should at least start developing a year ago, AT LEAST!.

ALWAYS TEST, TEST AND TEST!!!!

WRITE AUTOMATED TESTS, THEN RUN MANUAL TESTS, OVER AND OVER AGAIN UNTIL YOU MEMORISE ALMOST ALL THE CODE!!

IT SHOULD NOT ALWAYS BE ABOUT HITTING THE MARKET. ALWAYS ASSIGN GREAT ENERGY TO ENSURE THAT YOUR PRODUCT IS ACTUALLY READY FOR THE MARKET!!!

Hamid Al-Hassan Hamid is a social analyst and expert in software development.

By Zayyad I. Muhammad

On October 25, 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari officially launched the much-awaited Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) digital currency, the eNaira. The launch of the eNaira is a good and commendable initiative. The CBN said, “As technology evolves and advances, it is critical that Central Banks also evolve to continue to play their roles and the Central Bank Money adapts to take advantage of these opportunities provided by new technologies. Today is one of those moments where new technology offers the Central Bank an enormous opportunity to play its role even better, thereby improving the society and economy of the nation.”

The CBN is right in taking advantage of new technologies. However, there is a problem – many ordinary Nigerians are not aware of the eNaira and its benefits. The CBN has done well in enlightening the already-informed segment of the society on the advantages of the eNaira. The CBN boasts that the eNaira is secured, tamper-proof, processes verifiable transactions, simple and reduces the cost of transactions. But the majority of the common people are not aware of the eNaira and its advantages. So the big question is: What are the innovative approaches through which the CBN can enhance the acceptance and usage of the eNaira and e-transactions, generally among common people in Nigeria?

First, the radio. Radio plays a vital role in enlightening people, especially in rural and peri-urban areas. It is a significant source of information and news. The CBN can take advantage of the radio to create awareness on the benefits of the eNaira. Secondly, telecommunication service providers, with over 80 million users in Nigeria, the GSM creates a platform for the CBN to reach nearly half of Nigeria’s population on the advantages of the eNaira.

The CBN can collaborate with the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development (FMHDSD) to create an e-wallet for all Federal Government social investment programme beneficiaries. Most of the beneficiaries are poor with prior low financial inclusion. The FMHDSD have ensured these people have bank accounts. Recently, through the Ministry, the Federal Government announced the launch of the Mobile Money Agent Programme and the commencement of training for 1,850 beneficiaries in Nigeria. These are viable means for the CBN to disseminate the advantages of the eNaira.

The CBN may collaborate with businesses that have daily interactions with common people. For example, collaboration with filling stations, market associations and transport unions to use eNaira in their transactions will help integrate more common people on the eNaira platform, as the people can use it with phones that are not internet-enabled. The eNaira should also be enhanced to allow banks to transfer it into a regular bank account automatically.

Bringing ordinary people on board will undoubtedly assist the CBN, and the government boosts the use and acceptance of the e-Naira. A columnist, Gimba Kakanda, wrote, “CBN needs to offer a layman’s explanation of the eNaira and break it down in various local languages to justify its usefulness, difference from cryptocurrency and what sets it apart from the electronic transactions Nigerians are used to.”

To bring millions of common Nigerians on the platform of the eNaira, the CBN should seek the help of experts in media, communication and public relations (PR) to develop programmes and models that will promote the acceptance of the eNaira.

Zayyad I. Muhammad writes from Abuja. He can be reached via zaymohd@yahoo.com.

By Lawi Auwal Yusuf

Leaders are preoccupied with self-centred political hustles, party meetings, extravagant banquets and flying their private or chartered jets over the country attending various lavish occasions. On the contrary, Nigerians turned wistful and sad about the terrible fate of the country and the gloomy future. As they get more concerned, their hope becomes less.

The country is endowed with efficacious potentials for its development to become a global power. It has a strategic location, sizable landmass, enormous young population, highly educated elites and abundant natural resources. In addition, favourable climate, fertile farmlands, and the shores that give it access to the Atlantic Ocean in the South are all added advantages.

In the last sixty-one years, Nigeria has reaped hundreds of billions of petrodollars in total revenues as one of the major producers and exporters of oil to the global market. It is the 12^th largest producer of oil in the global ranking, 8^th largest exporter and the 10^th largest proven reserves. According to the Department of Petroleum Resources, it has about 159 oil fields and 1481 wells in production.

Apart from petroleum resources, Nigeria has multiple precious mineral resources in massive deposits. Moreover, cocoa is the largest foreign exchange earner to Nigeria besides oil and rubber, the second largest.

Similarly, as the most populous state in Africa and the 7^th in the world with over 211 million people, Nigeria is a vast market. Its mixed economy is the largest on the continent. It is the 27^th largest economy in the world by nominal GDP as of 2021 estimate. By GDP per capita, it is the 137^th in the global ranking and the 25^th largest by PPP.

However, these unique and extraordinary endowments are rare for a country to possess. These are the best opportunities and possibilities for its advancement. Unfortunately, poor leadership, endemic corruption and mismanagement have been the greatest obstacles in realising the potential. These precious endowments were not genuinely and diligently used. Hence, it has not made appreciable progress in those years. Had they been utilised at the best and maximum capacity, the sky would have been the limit.

More than 40% of Nigerians are living below the poverty benchmark in May 2020 estimates. They are destitute and cannot afford the three daily meals. Today, pervasive poverty depicts the lives of most Nigerians. The life expectancy is as low as 54.7 years on average. Infant mortality reached 74.2 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2019, and maternal mortality was 814 per 100,000 live births in 2015.

Moreover, the stagnant economy, inflation and the perpetual falling value of the naira have aggravated the plight of the masses, making life worse, more challenging and more miserable for ordinary Nigerians. There has been a swift rise in the cost of living and a concurrent decline in the living standard. Therefore, poverty, inequality, mass idleness, underemployment and wretchedness are at the highest pinnacle. This made Nigeria always emerge winner of the global rankings of the poorest nations.

It is appalling that the masses are becoming poorer while the nobles are getting more affluent. There has been a persistent widening inequality between the rich and the poor. Transparency International ranked Nigeria 136^th out of 182 in the 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index. It was estimated that more than $400 billion were embezzled by corrupt leaders from independence to 1999. Nonetheless, President Muhammadu Buhari in 2015 said that corrupt officials had squandered more than $150 billion in the last decade. As a result, the country is synonymous with corruption. And the most astonishing is that it is among the wealthiest countries and also the poorest simultaneously. This is because the state wealth is enjoyed only by the aristocrats while the commoners are destitute.

Rule by theft known as ‘kleptocracy’ has deteriorated into kleptomania. They are strongly obsessed with stealing to the level that they don’t even have a material need for it. It degenerated into highly competitive accumulation syndrome. The monies that are ideal for the development of Nigeria are stashed at its detriment in Western countries and therefore become beneficial to their contented economies.

On the other hand, in the early 1960s, Nigeria was self-sufficient in food. But after the Civil War in 1970, the government failed to reinvigorate agriculture, resulting in failure to meet the acute population growth. It had to depend primarily on importation to fill up the supply gap. Sadly, in the 21^st-century world, farmers are still tilling the ground with simple implements like hoes and cutlasses to feed a population of over 200 million. As of 2010, almost 30% of Nigerians are employed in agriculture and still have not met up the national demand.

The leaders had failed to provide the basic necessities of life to the citizens. As a result, after more than six decades of self-governance, there is no stable electricity supply, safe drinking water, standard healthcare, adequate and affordable food, qualitative education, social housing estates, infrastructures and social amenities. Nonetheless, the problems of the country in the1960s are yet to be resolved. Poverty, corruption, rule by theft, secessionism, tribal and religious antagonisms are lingering today. Regrettably, terrorism, kidnappings, cattle rustling, banditry and other current collective problems have deepened the crises.

Not being able to diversify the monocultural economy that largely depends on oil plays a significant role in the economy, accounting for 40% of GDP and 80% of the government earnings. Moreover, Nigeria does not adequately exploit the vast array of mineral resources in colossal deposits while the mining industry is still in its early stage of development. Moreover, other sectors of the economy that will help tremendously grow the economy and raise revenues are also underdeveloped. Contrarily, it has remained a perennial borrower of funds in the global capital market. Recently it emerged as the 5^th most debt-ridden country in the world. The World Bank in August 2021 said that it had accumulated $11.7 billion in debt.

There has been deficient human development, especially the youths folk. In 2019, it ranked 161^st in the world in the Human Development Index with a 0.539 score, which was very low. Millions of school-age children are out of school while some wander the streets freely with torn-out clothes and scavenging through rubbish looking for food. These miserable children are left on their own to live their entire unwholesome lives on the streets in search of a living. They have no qualifications or skills to make them employable in the labour market. Similarly, graduates searching for employment happened also to be idle many years after they had left school. Therefore, almost half of Nigerians are unemployed.

Furthermore, the emigration by professional Nigerian doctors to the diaspora known as the “brain drain” due to adverse working conditions in the country led to shortages of doctors in the healthcare system. It was estimated in 1995 that roughly 21,000 indigenous doctors were working in America alone, which was almost equal to those in the public health service then.

When you make a comparative analysis between Nigeria and its peers to assess its performance, you will realise that it had performed poorly. For example, look at the High Performing East Asian Economies (HPEAEs) that include Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan. They are the fastest-growing economies in the world after the first world countries. Some had launched rockets into space. They manufacture aircraft, ships, automobiles, computers and smartphones while Nigeria still imports razor blades, pencils, toothpicks, including its most abundant petroleum products. Singapore and Japan developed from the less developed countries and joined the first world nations.

Look at other countries like UAE, India, Brazil and South Africa that recently established a consociational democracy in 1994. Nigeria played a significant role in fighting the apartheid regime and helped in establishing the multiracial democracy in the country. South Africa is now regarded as a highly developed state and has become a better haven for Nigerian youths who emigrated there in search of greener pasture.

Finally, Nigeria still has the chance to do better and start developing once more to realise its long-lost potential.

Lawi Auwal Yusuf wrote from Kano. He can be reached via laymaikanawa@gmail.com.

By A. A. Bukar

Let me preface this with the caveat and confession that part of the reason I recently slow down hobnobbing with professors is my increasing abhorrence of this culture of excessive bootlicking and kowtowing that is creeping into academia and eroding the ideals of independent thought, spirit of free inquiry and detachment that hitherto characterise intellectual discourse. The radical critique of issues and events for the betterment of humanity and irradiating the society is slowly taking a wing, supplanted with overt politicisation of minor issues (and even non-issues). Today, young academics, like myself, are becoming increasingly afraid to express even simple admiration of who they consider as the IDEAL TYPE among their teachers and mentors in academia because of “interpretations”. For this, you can even be reported to the enemy of such a scholar to possibly victimise you “sabida ai yaron wane ne! Ku kyale shi, ai zai zo defence, ai za’ a kawo papers dinsa for assessment”. And on and on. Such pettiness and vendetta. Hence, many – out there – see  Nigerian academics as the worst enemies of themselves and are happy with how FG is dealing with them.

Little wonder whether this culture is obtainable in other parts of the world. Departments are compartmentalised into cliques and camps a la political parties in the larger society. Professors are becoming like emirs fortified by sycophants, making them unnecessarily snobbish and covetous of flattery. PhDs are deliberately delayed or tactically killed because a candidate does not BELONG. A blind eye is turned to obvious wrongs, mediocrity, and crass injustice because “our oga” is INVOLVED. Entitlements and privileges (especially of the younger ones) are stampeded to settle SCORES.

A friend sent me a Jumaat goodwill message, a quotation from Rumi which reads: “Listen to silence; it has so much to say”. How many PhD/MSc candidates do you know writhing in silent pain of frustration? Prof sirs and mas: listen to our silences and that shy smile that says “ba komai sir”. When I was an undergrad, I once overheard my teacher, Dr Gausu, talking about one of his colleagues in Economics, Business or Accounting (I can’t remember exactly) who’d become agoraphobic and almost schizophrenic because of PhD manhandling from a senior colleague. Of course, then I was too inexperienced to understand the heck that was about. They sarcastically even refer to the initials as “Pull Him Down”.

Whether this augurs well for generation, production and dissemination of ideas and knowledge typical of the Ivory Tower, I leave it to your imagination.

For these and more, many ideal intellectuals are on the lookout for escape windows from the suffocating atmosphere of poverty and frustrations taking over academia like a thick cloud on the horizon. Many are “diversifying”, hence diverting their attention from the absolute commitment ideal scholarship demands. Others are increasingly becoming nonchalant – that I-don’t-care attitude of: “if the department or unit fuels the generator set, fine, otherwise I teach the SPSS or Word Processing on the whiteboard”. Elsewhere blackboard. So Nigerian hospitals are not alone; medical practitioners are just a cohort.

Despite all odds, I love being at the University. It is a place where I feel I naturally belong. And our campuses are still dotted with the IDEAL TYPE (just as there are IDLE TYPES who do not “profess” any knowledge) that constantly bring back to one’s memory my favourite: Edward Said. Critically engaging. Highly unassuming – like Mazrui. Passionate about nourishing the mind; concerned with the public good and Humanity as a whole. People who will unconsciously make you feel you are far from arriving without making you feel embarrassed. I have recently met and enormously admire one such intellectual is Professor Abubakar Mu’azu of the Mass Communication department, UNIMAID.

Interpret this one too the way you like. Report me anywhere. Land me into trouble. I no longer care. But Allah knows whether this is coming from the bottom of my heart or elsewhere. Such as an attempt to curry favour.

After all, what use is admiring people if you cannot tell them or others you do? Or should we hold on till they are no more? Wouldn’t that serve as a token of encouragement to maintain the course and tempo against all odds?

I have earmarked a few other similar intellectuals I will write about in due course on this space. I will unburden my heart about people I feel positively towards. Yes, I will specify those who fit my definition of the ideal intellectual. Part of this is, of course, honesty. Wallahi, no matter how engaging you are, you are out of the equation once it comes to the light you are dubious and too self-centred. If you’re extorting money or sex from your vulnerable students, you cannot be my model. But again, I am not looking out for an angel.

Back to the subject, I have met with Prof Muazu only a few times. One was when he came as an external examiner to my thesis in April 2018 and some months earlier as an accreditation team member for the college I taught in Yobe state. The last, some weeks back. Each, he left me with nothing but admiration and deep respect.

When I phoned my referee and supervisor at undergrad, late Prof Maikaba, to congratulate him on his last promotion, he typically enquired about the progress of my thesis. I told him then, “I was done with viva yesterday and effecting corrections now”. Curiously, he returned with a finder about the examiner. When I replied that it was Mu’azu, he said: “kace an sha aiki”. Toh Bukar. PhD beckons. You can’t wait, especially for one in this business. He admonished me as usual; I giggled, thanked and said my goodbye.

I don’t know whether it’s appropriate to reveal this too. Some hours before the viva voce, my supervisor, Dr Binta Kasim Mohammed, called alerting me “to prepare very well. Because the external examiner brought is extremely thorough and critical”. Sir, you are appreciated and held in high esteem not only by nonentities like us but also by your colleagues. But my assessment of you from afar is that: these things matter little to you (if at all) – out of humility.

From both you and the late Maikaba, I graduated with distinction. But each time we met, you left me feeling inadequate, making me wonder ‘when will I arrive?’. Parts of this are the books you recommend, which I never read, or know not exist. But somewhere in WHERE I STAND, Sheikh Gumi has opined along this line that knowledge is such enigmatic that the more you learn, the more you realise that you know very little. I wonder whether you feel something similar sometimes. Yes, despite the accomplishments. In just your last visit, you recommended, as the situation warranted, many texts. Among these are Peter Winch’s THE IDEA OF A SOCIAL SCIENCE AND ITS RELATION WITH PHILOSOPHY. Then the POSITIVIST DISPUTE IN GERMAN SOCIOLOGY. The latter is such a rare collection – in fact, my first time to meet Adorno, Habermas and Karl Popper in one place. Both books remind me of similar stuff I read from the staple of Claude Ake and Yusuf Bala Usman of blessed memory.

In this vein of characteristic modesty, you specifically asked me to read Ben Bagdikian’s MEDIA MONOPOLY after the viva voce in order to steel my argument on the influence of profit drive in media content production. A copy of my thesis still carries your adorable handwriting suggesting the title and other points. But little wonder you never drew my attention to the fact that you have written extensively on media in peacebuilding until my curiosity took me to the internet and a bookshop where I stumbled CONFLICT MANAGEMENT AND THE MEDIA IN NIGERIA  – a book coedited by you and Gani Yoroms. This was despite your awareness that my thesis is squarely about this matter of controversy. Quite recessive indeed.

With the crisis engulfing Nigerian Universities (the worst I have ever seen) and academics running helter-skelter for greener pasture, I equally wonder what becomes of the academia after the few of you that remain out of passion pass on to something else or the inevitable great beyond. And especially if this maddening ill-treatment continues from the federal government. Allah Ya kiyaye, amin.

Bukar teaches Mass Communication & Journalism at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria.