Elder statesman, Professor Ben Nwabueze has warned that the nation that the much anticipated 2019 elections may not hold if the country is not properly restructured before then.

In this interview with VINCENT KALU in Lagos, he equally opened up on a lot of national issues including how former President Obasanjo doctored the nation’s constitution to create the current problems the country is facing today. He also spoke on the near hopeless situation of the Igbo and the tough conditions through which an Igbo can become Nigeria’s president.

Nigeria doesn’t seem to be working, why?

Nigeria is not working; this is the truth. It is not working because of so many things. The first and foremost is bad leadership, which leads to bad governance. We don’t have the right type of leadership in this country, at least at the present time.

This has worsened since the election of President Muhammadu Buhari; I have made it clearly that I don’t think this man was the right type of leader for this country at this time of our history. What kind of leader do you need to govern Nigeria, which is one of the most complex societies in the world, with over 300 different ethnic nationalities? A team of researchers from the University of Ibadan has identified at least, 300 ethnic groups in the country.

To be able to govern it and manage this type of complexity and diversity is not a job for everybody. Not everybody can do this. You need a certain minimum of intellectualism for you to be able to do this.

What does the constitution proscribe as educational qualifications – just Standard Six. In today’s Nigeria, where we know expo, we know fake certificates, how can somebody with Standard Six, whatever may be his experience govern this country; lead this country? It’s not possible. I have stated this time without number, it’s not that I’m prejudiced about anybody in particular; I’m concerned about this country, and what this country needs considering the complexity and diversity. The ideas involved in government are so complex. What do you know to bring about some kind of peaceful coexistence among over 300 ethnic groups in the country? Intellectualism means ideas, people who can think, rationalize and understand ideas about society, about humanity, about human relationships.

This is the starting point. You need somebody who is educated enough; you need somebody with energy, anybody looking at you (the reporter) will know that you have the energy, but anybody looking at me will know that I don’t have the energy anymore. I will be 87 in March, and so, for me to go and put myself in that position, I’m doing a disservice to Nigeria and to my self; to go and take a job that I know that I cannot manage at my age.

I have said this that at the age of 75, nobody can undertake the job of governing or leading Nigeria now. You cannot do it; you can’t mobilize the society. Mobilization is one of the most difficult jobs of political leadership. To mobilize people for national transformation you have to move round, address people at town hall gatherings and at various platforms. Seventy five year old man cannot do this; I cannot do this. This is what Nigeria needs. This is what is involved in political leadership. We don’t have it – orientation and inclination are involved. You must consider the background of our country, emerging from colonialism. What is planted in us, that personality, as Africans had been degraded by colonialism.

What is involved in decolonization, you need certain minimum of education to be able to understand what is meant by decolonization. How do you decolonize the mind of our people, whose personality had been degraded by centuries of colonialism? This is the problem of leadership, which is the first issue.

You have been in the forefront calling for restructuring in order to make Nigeria work. Towing your line, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has come up with proposal on how to restructure the country, are their suggestions in tandem with your position?

Restructuring, whether moving from leadership to structures (leadership is about individuals), we don’t have structure. The structure of governance is not right, that is why there is a clamour for restructuring. Essentially, the problem is on individual leadership, but you also have problems of structure. The structures are not right; they have to be reformed to create the right structure.

Regrettably, we have a leader, the president, who rejected restructuring, and attributed it to people who wanted to secede, and dismember the country.

We need restructuring for this country to move forward.

We have taken the first step, which is good in adopting federalism, as a system of governance suitable for this country, but that federal structure is again not right.

I was one of those responsible for the federal system that we have. Of the so-called 49 wise men that drafted the 1979 Constitution, the late Chief Rotimi Williams and I, were really the architect of that constitution. We were thinking of having a strong one Nigeria, with power concentrated at the centre, that is what landed us in the situation we now found ourselves – a strong centre, that is now muffling all of us. Too much power at the centre, then compounded by 28 years of absolute military government. They ruled us for 28 years and then compounded our problems.

Maybe, the problems we have today were created by the military rule, which is again individual problems, not one of structures, so we must get away from that.

Thank God the APC has rejected the position of the president, who had said there was no restructuring. His party if it has any control over him has now come round to say we will restructure after 2019 elections.

You and other elders insist that restructuring must come before 2019 elections, but the APC says it is after. How do we reconcile this?

APC wants to deceive us, but I hope we would not allow ourselves to be deceived again. This country has been run by government of deceit. APC is government of deceit. Their restructuring is the more you look the less you see, that is why they say they were for restructuring, and after Buhari’s re-election then they we will restructure. This deceit has been going on for too long.

Dr. Goebbels, Hitler’s Minister of Information, perfected falsehood, deceit and propaganda into an art, but our own Lai Mohammed, is trying to outdo Goebbels by churning out lies, deceits everyday. Telling us that they accepted restructuring, but we should wait after the election. If you don’t want restructuring now, then there should be no election. I hope Nigeria would stand up for once and say, no, we have had enough deceit, and say restructure now or never.

You said you and the late Chief Williams were the architects of the 1979 Constitution that came up with the presidential system of government, given our not unpalatable experience, do you regret that action?

No, I don’t. I should believe that it is better than parliamentary. What I regret is the amount of power that we put at the disposal of the Federal Government, which was too much.

We believed wrongly, as it turned out that strong centre was what is needed for one Nigeria; that if you have a strong centre you would be able to achieve the dream of a strong united, progressive one Nigeria. We were so enamored of the whole idea of strong one Nigeria.

Regrettably, the amount of power we put at the centre has been so enlarged by the military that the thing has been turned, virtually into a unitary system. We have unitary system tagged, euphemistically, Federal Republic of Nigeria. It is not a federal system; it is unitary system. We must go back to the original thing, the true federalism of 1960 and 1963 Constitutions.

We must let each constituent unit; each federating unit manage its own internal affairs; internal self government, either alone or in combination with related groups. Let them manage their own affairs and leave matters of common concern at the centre.

All this do or die struggle to control the centre should go. That is part of what is killing us. Everybody is struggling to control the centre. We have to reduce the powers at the centre to the barest minimum than what we have in 1960 and 1963. The Southern Leaders of Thought sat and agreed that we must reduce more the powers that we have at the centre in the 1960 and 1963, and let each unit, state or zone go and manage its affairs, and the centre will manage the little that is left there. That is the only way you can have coexistence.

Still on the 1979 Constitution, we were told that the military handed you what they wanted and you towed that line, and not what the people wanted?

It is an exaggeration. The military told us that they wanted presidential system. They didn’t tell us the amount of power to be at the centre. They wanted the presidential system, we bought the idea, but the amount of power to be at the centre was our own making.

As I said, we believed that a strong centre would give us one Nigeria. It was a misconceived idea we had at the time. It’s part of the fault of the military, the presidential system, but the amount of power at the centre, which has led to the do or die struggle to control the centre was our own idea, not the military.

It is true that when we finished, our report was sent to the Constituent Assembly, and I was a member, not by election, but because I was a chairman of one of the sub-committees. The Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee, Chief Williams, and the chairmen of all the sub-committees, were by decree made members of the first Constituent Assembly. That is how Chief Williams and I got into it, and we guided that Constituent Assembly, and we produced the draft constitution. Obasanjo was then the head of state, and went ahead and inserted so many things into it, which neither the Constitution Drafting Committee nor the Constituent Assembly considered, and these things they inserted became part of the problems we have today. That is how we have the 1979 Constitution – partly the recommendations of the CDC, partly the recommendations of the CA, and the partly the insertions made by Obasanjo’s military government.

Why didn’t you people protest that this was not what you recommended?

We saw it as a final constitution in a decree, and you can’t do anything then. It took me time to read it word by word to see the additions, and I tabulated them. I’m not sure that Chief Williams went through the way I did to find out what these people had done. Our problems didn’t start today.

What are the Southern Leaders of Though doing to convince their Northern counterparts that restructuring is not about breaking up of Nigeria?

In my statement on behalf of Southern Leaders of Thought, I made it very clear that breaking up of Nigeria is not part of the object of restructuring. The object of restructuring is to keep Nigeria one; to make it possible for the over 300 ethnic nationalities in Nigeria to live in peace, and not to break up. Those who are taking this view are trying to be mischievous; to create misunderstanding.

This country must be kept together, but it must be restructured. It is only those who refused restructuring along the lines that I have just indicated are the people who will break up this country.

If the country is not restructured along those lines there will be trouble. There may not be 2019 elections, and it will be the result of their own doing.

I was mandated by the Southern Leaders of Thought, after the Southwest had done its own summit; the South-south has just done its own summit, and the Southeast has done what it called, its own summit, I was mandated to get in touch with Governor Tambuwal of Sokoto State, whom, they say is the chairman of the Northern Leaders of Thought, for a national summit, where we will agree on a common platform for restructuring.

I haven’t written the letter yet, because I have just been briefed on the outcome of the South-south summit. I will write to him for us to agree on a meeting for restructuring, and a framework for such a meeting. That is the next stage of the work.

The APC, as it recommended, even the Federal Government has accepted the state police, which is the central part of restructuring. You can’t have true federalism with states not having their own separate police. It is a contradiction.

Federalism means separate governments at the centre and at the level of the constituent units. You can’t have a government without a cohesive force. Now that they have now agreed, the Vice President has spoken on this. The state police you must do, but you must do it as part of restructuring.

You can’t do it by word of mouth or by ordinary legislation, it involves changing the constitution, and that is where we run into another problem.

My own idea about restructuring involves a new constitution, that is what this country needs; a new beginning.

But the National Assembly is there to give us a new constitution

National Assembly can’t give you a new constitution. A new constitution involves the entire people of Nigeria. The constitution that we have now, though it says, ‘we the people of Nigeria’, was made by the military Decree 24 of 1999. It is not the peoples constitution. Constitution is not the work of government; it is the work of the people.

That is where another problem is. The NASS doesn’t not believe in a new constitution. What is going on is their constitutional amendments; I don’t know how many they have done. So, if you want to know what the constitution of Nigeria is, you can’t find it in the 199 Constitution, you have to go through the large number of constitutional amendments made by the NASS, and they think they can implement this restructuring by constitutional amendment, which is a perversion of the whole idea of restructuring.

Don’t you think that members of NASS are afraid that any restructuring will affect them and that is why they don’t buy into the idea?

This is a matter of drafting; you don’t do away with the past completely. In any new constitution, there is transitional provision. You can provide there that the present NASS with their members can continue in existence for this period of time, until another election is held. There must be that kind of transitional provisions.

They don’t need to bother themselves as individuals. Transitional provision will be made for them to continue for a period of time, or maybe till the end of their term, for which they were originally elected.

You said that if restructuring is not held, that 2019 elections won’t hold, with the attendant chaos, anarchy, coupled with the killings going on around the country, are you not afraid we are treading on the road to Rwanda?

Rwanda was caused, and that is part of the tragedy of Nigeria. Some groups wanted to bring chaos. It is this hate songs in Rwanda that caused the ethnic tension, and later the genocide. Here, some malicious people wanted to re-enact the Rwanda scenario by bringing out hate songs.

Have you ever listened to those hate songs? How can anybody who means well for Nigeria ever allowed that kind of thing to go out, saying, “Erase Ndigbo from the face of the earth; destroy them and raze their houses and property ”. That was what the song says both in English and Hausa.

Can you imagine what this could have led to if it had not been nipped in the bud?

That’s a hate song, and that was exactly what caused the genocide in Rwanda. Many Igbo have started evacuating from the North- the quit notice. That was an incitement to genocide.

From your vantage position, do you think there is any external force to destabilise Nigeria?

There may be, but I have no authentic information on that, so I don’t want to speak on what I do not know. However, ISIS is said to have a link with Boko Haram. ISIS is external, and it is the only external force that I can think of. I cannot think of countries, states wanting to create chaos and trouble in Nigeria.

Buhari from his body language and recent statement that he wants to take Nigeria to a higher level is seeking re-election. Do you support his return bid, and what must he do to get re-elected?

I said it earlier, that this administration has been characterised by deceit. The campaign for his re-election is a journey in deceit. He has spent almost three years in office. Three years of chaos, of suffering, of hardship.

It is captured the best by the Catholic Bishop Conference if you read what they said. They gave a good description of this – what this country has suffered under Buhari.

I agree with former President Olusegun Obasanjo that Buhari should not be given a second term. He has done enough damage in his first term and we don’t need anything more to convince us that he can’t take this country to any higher level, unless he is talking about higher level of suffering. He will take us to a higher level of misery, if he is given a second term. The decision is now left for Nigerians to decide.

2019, is decisive, it is the determination of the capacity for Nigerians to govern themselves. From all indications – body language, what he has said, what the Secretary to the Government of the Federation said, it is very clear that the man is going to contest again. It is also clear that the APC will put him forward.

My position still stand that no restructuring no election in 2019, and that is also the position of the Southern Leaders of Thought.

Do you people have the capacity to carry out this position?

It’s not for the group alone; we put it out to the people, and see what happens.

What must Buhari do to get Nigerians back to his side?

Churning out lies, trying to buy votes and support here and there, that is just their concerns. No governance now, it is all about winning the election. It is for the Nigerians to decide if there will be elections.

There seems to be chaos ahead of next year’s elections, can you say that 2019 is pregnant for Nigeria?

Yes, 2019 is very much pregnant for Nigeria. It will start from there. The President will not assent to the bill. If he assents, ok, as it will save us from trouble.

I don’t see why anybody should be opposing this. Some people argue that order of election is for INEC. It is a question of constitution, let the Supreme Court decide, and everybody should accept its verdict.

Obasanjo has condemned the APC as well as the PDP, and mooted the idea of a coalition or Third force; will that be the panacea to our problem?

You can have a coalition of parties. You don’t have a coalition within a party. We have 68 political parties, and he is promoting a coalition of parties to form a third force. That is my understanding and how it works out in practice, I do not know. In a situation like this, any idea is worth trying to avoid chaos, and prevent Buhari from getting a second term, that is creating a third force, not APC, not PDP.

Igbo have been clamouring to produce the president of this country, when do you think, it can be possible?

Igbo presidency is possible only when rotation is written in the constitution. If it is the turn of the Igbo, they will know whether there are 10 or 20 candidates, only one of them, Igbo, will emerge. The political forces are so aligned against Igbo presently, and unless there is rotation, Igbo presidency will never materialize through ballot box, unless by way of providence, as in the case of former President Jonathan.

Will the rotation be in the new constitution, which is the product of restructuring?

I don’t see rotation being introduced by way of amendment. It is going to be difficult. During Babangida’s era, I was the chairman of Constitution Amendment Committee, and we agreed unanimously on rotation of the presidency, before we submitted the report, the thing got to Babangida, and he made a national broadcast rejecting it. That was the end of that.

When he wanted to contest for the presidency, the same person supported rotation, and made promises to Ndigbo that if he was elected after his term he would make sure that it was rotated to the Igbo. I’m not sure that except in the new constitution adopted by a referendum that the NASS will ever pass rotation by way of amendment. In the NASS, there was a bill to rebuild the Northeast ravaged by Boko Haram, it went smoothly, but when the same was introduced to rebuild the Southeast destroyed by the civil war, there was uproar in the House. The same scenario will play out when you want to introduce this rotation. Those forces against the Igbo will never allow this.

They will talk about Igbo presidency, but when the chips are down they back out. Why?

Fear. Fear of domination. Contrary to the character of the Igbo man, if the Igbo man becomes president, the Igbo will be the least beneficiaries because he will want to make sure that every ethnic group is well treated. That is the character of the Igbo man, he believes in justice, equity and fairness.

But because of the aggressive nature of the Igbo man in business, they are all over the place; others think that they would carry that to the office of the president if Igbo man becomes president. It is not so. The things about the Igbo character, business sense and entrepreneurship; he is so resourceful and enterprising – over 60 per cent of the hotels in Abuja are owned by them. Others are so afraid.

It is this fear that is behind the hate song – Wipe out the Igbo from the face of the earth, and destroy his houses and property. When you do that it won’t give you that enterprising spirit.

Part of the solution to the problem of Nigeria will be an Igbo president. Like I said, the two contradictory traits in Igbo character – the enterprising spirit; he wants to be on top of every situation, at the same time, he is destined in his character, the fairness – he wants everybody to be well treated, and because he won’t like to be associated with failure, he would do everything to make the government succeed.

But I believe somehow, Nigeria will come out of its problems. We have had problems in the past and we got over them. The restructuring will come before 2019, to enable us have the elections, but we should not allow them to have their way again by deceiving us to wait till after the election.

Some people accuse Buhari of elevating nepotism to a level unseen or heard in this country, do you agree with them?

His nepotism is incredible. But he came to office mainly on that platform. That is what he came for. When you see a man contesting presidential elections four consecutive times. Not that he wanted to be president, no, there is something else that he is pursuing.

Appointing security chiefs from a particular region, has given room for suspicion and insinuation that there is an underlying agenda, what’s your take on this?

I have written a paper on this. Can anybody who means well for this country think of concentrating, sectionalizing the security apparatus in just one area?

All the members of the so- called, National Security Council coming from one section, with only one exception.

All the members – Minister of Defence, Minister of Interior, Chief of Army Staff, Inspector General of Police, National Security Adviser, National Intelligence Agency, Immigration, Customs, Civil Defence, DSS, etc.

Oh God! The man has no conscience, and he sits down to preside over such a meeting, the security of every one of us, and you think it is matter for just you alone and your people. It is this thing that has cast aspersion in the minds of the people including myself. I was disturbed when I went through the list. You appointed the people not by fairness, like the IGP, you removed people above him and brought him over; in the Customs, you did the same. Like the Executive Secretary NHIS, somebody very junior you brought him up over the head of his senior. Now the minister, under whom he works suspended him, and you reversed the minister’s directive, and restored him, and you call yourself president of one Nigeria that cannot be negotiable.

It is part of this concentration of the security chiefs in one area of the country that is what has emboldened the Fulani herdsmen. It is an agenda.
They know that this is agenda of the government and so, they are encouraged by this. The president is a member of the Miyetti Allah, and a former patron.

How do you expect a patron to take action against herdsmen?

That is why they are rampaging with impunity , you cannot do anything to them. They are sacred cows.

How can you, a country that consists of a diversity of people and you think you can favour one when you are the father of the nation? You are betraying that father of the nation, and that is what has landed us where we are today.

Sun

t is good that the All Progressives Congress (APC) government has accepted to restructure Nigeria. Over time, majority of Nigerians have concluded that there is something fundamentally wrong with the present structure, hence the demand for restructuring.

But, the issue of resource control has continued to generate heated debate and controversy. Though the ruling APC initially was not enthusiastic on the need for restructuring, however, it gave in to public pressure by setting up a Committee last year on True Federalism. The Committee, which was chaired by Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the governor of Kaduna State, early this year, submitted its report to the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party.

The El-Rufai committee made far-reaching recommendations, essentially calling for devolution of powers to the states. It also recommended that ten items be moved from the Exclusive Legislative List, to the Concurrent list of the Constitution. Perhaps, one of the contentious recommendations in the report is the part that says that while the Petroleum Act needs to be amended to ensure that mineral oil and mining are vested in the states, “except offshore minerals” which should belong to the federal government.

Expectedly, that recommendation, though denied by the President’s Senior Special Assistant on National Assembly Matters, Sen. Ita Enang, has reopened the onshore/offshore oil dichotomy controversy which had intended to deprive the littoral states of the country derivation entitlements in the revenue allocation during the Obasanjo presidency.  Buhari’s government, buffeted in all fronts by Herculean problems, need not distract itself further by compounding the tasks before it by reigniting a rested matter, its denial of plans to reintroduce the onshore/offshore dichotomy, not withstanding. It bears repeating that resource control is not all about the South-South, Niger Delta and crude oil. It is about the nation and the totality of the natural resources that abound therein. It is about equity, justice and fairness in the distribution of accruals from these resources in the true spirit of federalism.

It is this issue of equity and fairness that is at the core of the recent agitations for restructuring. Any attempt to upset the current sharing formula as it affects oil-bearing states could reignite restiveness in the littoral states. We want to believe government›s assurance that states will be allowed to control resources in their domains. In addition, government should devolve more powers to the states and increase their revenue allocation.

The onshore/offshore dichotomy should not be used to polarise the country any further. This government has enough problems to grapple with now. Adding the onshore/offshore problem will not help matters.

Those trying to revisit the onshore/offshore dichotomy should remember that the issue has been politically settled during the administration of ex-president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo.

We recall that legal experts had argued that the Supreme Court, in the case instituted by the Obasanjo administration in 2002, against the 36 states of the federation, did not take note of Section 134(6) of the 1960 Constitution which provided that “…the continental shelf of a region shall be deemed to be part of that region”.

That provision is in tandem with Section 140(6) of the 1963 Constitution. Again, the Phillipson Commission recommended 50 percent derivation fund to be retained in the region of the resource, 35 percent to be shared by all the regions, including region of origin. Within the intervening years, there were other attempts at increasing, reducing or abolishing derivation.

Also, Decree No.106 (Cap 2) of 1996 provided that, “For the purpose of subsection (2) of this section, and for the avoidance of doubt, the distinction hitherto made between onshore and offshore mineral producing areas, is hereby abolished”. The Decree 106 was, and remains an existing law under the provisions of section 315 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

It must be pointed out that, the existing law has not been modified or repealed by the National Assembly. Though the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the federal government, that the matter was resolved politically shows that there is wisdom in listening to the views of the people. Therefore, the federal government or the ruling APC should not restart the onshore/offshore dichotomy that was settled politically since 2004.

Rather, APC should be serious about restructuring. The tempers of the times demand that we can no longer wish this away. As we had noted in previous editorials, restructuring should not be misconstrued to mean separation of the country on ethnic/regional lines. The crux of the matter is about a conscious, deliberate effort at addressing the myriad issues that have made governance hard to achieve and undermined our people’s determination to meet their individual and collective aspirations. Ignoring these agitations is simply tantamount to living in denial.

Sun

The promoter also expects the IBF and WBA heavyweight world champion to box around the world, providing he gets through Joseph Parker, on March 31, live on Sky Sports Box Office.

Hearn, who is in Carson, California, for Scott Quigg's world title fight against Oscar Valdez, admits Joshua does not have to fight across the pond but will if he wants to become a global star.

"As a heavyweight world champion and a major star in world boxing, [Joshua] should box over here at some stage," Hearn told Sky Sports.

"There's always been that myth really that in boxing you have to crack America, but I don't see why.

"Look at what we are doing in the UK, look at the spectacles we are creating, [Joshua] is very happy boxing in the UK.

"I just think it's a natural progression to fight in other countries and he wants to break down boundaries as well and part of that should be boxing in America, Africa, the Middle and Far East, but right now he is very comfortable doing what he's doing.

"I am not sure if the US is imminent but I would expect him to box in America in the next 12 months."

WBC world champion, Deontay Wilder, who will be heading to Cardiff to be part of the Sky Sports Box Office team, and New York heavyweight Jarrell Miller, are just two big-name Americans who have already been mentioned as opponents for Joshua.

Skysports

Fellow Nigerians, how are you today and how is our dear beloved country? I’ve spent most of this week in Accra, Ghana. Many Nigerian leaders have also passed through the Republic of Ghana this week. The reason is not far-fetched. Ghana celebrated her 61^st Independence anniversary on March 6, 2018, and the country has been in celebratory mood all week and Ghanaians have been upbeat all the way. This state of jollification is well-deserved. Ghana has not done badly at all even if it had suffered her own challenges like most African nations in the past. As with all those who wish others well, Nigerian Leaders, including, President Muhammadu Buhari and Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki came to salute the Ghanaians for the tremendous progress they have achieved since independence.

I have followed Ghanaian politics since my secondary school days and I’ve been a passionate disciple of Kwame Nkrumah whose revolutionary zeal and passion fascinated me from the outset, and, later, President Jerry John Rawlings who caught the attention and imagination of the world by his summary execution of former Ghanaian Presidents and Heads of State, on the basis of their perceived corruption, at the time.

Nkrumah was like our own Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe or Chief Obafemi Awolowo, not just because of his dogged fight for Ghanaian independence but also, because of his great intellectual prowess. I read his powerful books and fell in love with ‘Consciencism’ and ‘Africa Must Unite’. In Rawlings, I found a revolutionary soldier, turned politician, who had an idea of what he wanted to do, what he needed to do and how he needed to it. His main goal was to rid Ghana of the cankerworm of corruption and corrupt influences even if violent and tragic means were required to achieve this.

He made mistakes, as he acknowledged to Ovation International magazine, in several interviews, but still did his best to turn Ghana around in a most dramatic but efficacious fashion. It is to his credit that those who like him ,and those who do not, jointly rise to applaud his role in the development of a modern, accountable Ghana.

This year’s Independence celebration in Ghana was very exciting and colourful. It was also special and unusual because two prominent Nigerians were invited, and they both attended. First, our President, Muhammadu Buhari, was the special guest of honour. Second, the President of the Nigerian Senate, Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki was also invited as a special guest of the Ghanaian Parliament.

This meant we had both the number one and number three citizens of Nigeria in attendance at the ceremonies. Nigeria being an acclaimed giant of Africa, the presence of these two lofty personages added grandeur and significance to the ceremonies, to say the least.

I paid special attention to the speeches, especially that of President Buhari of Nigeria and President Nana Akufo-Addo of Ghana. One is taciturn and ponderous in his delivery whilst the other is undoubtedly an orator. The Ghanaian President, dealt with and, rolled out his developmental plans and vision for Ghana and President Buhari also dealt with and, rolled out his achievements with respect to his pet project, the war against corruption.

Indeed, he made headlines with his offer and promise to help Ghana fight corruption. Many of his listeners wondered how Nigeria can help Ghana in the fight against corruption when Nigeria was already rated as one of the world’s most corrupt nations and Ghana was way behind. For me, I was happy that President Buhari accepted Ghana’s invitation and witnessed a superb ceremony by a country that has done fantastically well against all odds.

On a serious note, it is my belief that, Ghana is now far superior to many African countries in many areas. In the area of security of lives and properties, Nigeria has become over-militarised with more and more reliance on the Armed Forces rather than the Police, but in contrast, Ghana relies more heavily on its police.    

We have succeeded in turning our police into an inferior force of unmotivated, inefficient and corrupt officers, and our soldiers now appear more in public as if we are in a military era or worse still, state of war.

Our police have, as a result become ill-equipped to deal with the security challenges that face our nation.  They are unable to fight the rising menace of armed robbery and kidnappings by a rag-tag, motley crew of undesirable elements, such that, it is painfully obvious that, they cannot fight the dastardlier, highly organised, but cowardly insurgency of the Niger Delta or Boko Haram not to mention control those agitating for secession in the East, all of which are ravaging Nigeria and threatening our corporate existence.

I was enthralled and encouraged when the Ghanaian President declared, emphatically, that he would enlarge the size of the Ghanaian police and give them sufficient training and equipment to enable them fulfil their role as the guardian and protector of a civilian populace in peace time. He asserted that the military would only be used in exceptional cases as back up, since indeed that is their role when there is no war.

I have said it repeatedly that we must return power, purpose and significance to the Nigeria Police. The only way to do this is to follow the vision of President Akufo-Addo and recognise that the time has come to deal with all the issues which plague the police and make them the sorry and sometimes laughable outfit that they have become.

A situation where the police have been turned into little more than escorts and security guards for the rich and famous cannot augur well for the internal security of the nation. I do not object to the police carrying out this role, in part, given the security challenges that our nation faces. However, there is no reason why they cannot and must not fulfil their constitutional role of maintaining and securing public safety and public order, even as they protect the upper echelons of society.

The Armed Forces should be restricted to its constitutional role of defending the country from external aggression, maintaining and securing the integrity of our borders and quelling insurrection. They should only be called upon by the President to aid and assist the civil authorities, like the Nigeria Police when there is a real need to do so.  Even in such circumstances, the President is required to act only upon conditions laid down by an Act of the National Assembly.

It seems clear to me in my layman’s understanding of the law and the relevant constitutional provision of s. 217 of the 1999 Constitution that in the absence of such an Act of the National Assembly, the constant and regular resort to the Armed Forces to deal with simple matters of public order and security is not only wrong but unconstitutional.

To enable the Police to fulfil their constitutional role, our governments now need to concentrate on making bigger budgetary provision not only for equipment but also the number of personnel. Their personal welfare must also be improved. For people who constantly and continually lay their lives on the line, improving their welfare should be a no-brainer. Their salaries should be paid as at when due and must be increased.

It is common knowledge that the Police earn a pittance, hence their eagerness to work as security detail and escorts because they know that they will not just be paid on time, but they will earn a package much more considerable than that offered by Government. If we complain about the brazen corruption of police officers and their reluctance to perform their duties, we should appreciate that their emoluments make their position a bit understandable, even though a corrupt police officer cannot be justified and must never be condoned.

There should be a comprehensive insurance, medical and pension package for all Police officers, which will see them adequately taken care of, not just when they are in service but even afterwards, upon retirement.  In case of their untimely demise in the call of duty, proper provision should be made for their families. I have no doubt that the level of performance of our officers would increase tremendously if their welfare was improved and they knew that the Government really cared for them.

Having dealt with their personal welfare, the Government must further make provision for a strong and well-equipped police force. A situation where police officers have to pay for their own uniforms must be anathema to us. It is an absolute disgrace to see police officers wearing bathroom slippers because, the individual officer, or the Police force, cannot afford to kit them out with shoes, not to talk of boots. How can any sane person chase a criminal in such circumstances? To imagine this scenario is comical and farcical, to say the least. Yet this is the state of our police today.

For me and my house however, the major area that Government also needs to concentrate upon is equipping the Police Force. There is no reason why the Police should not be as well, and heavily equipped as the Armed Forces. Even though they are a peace time force, it is apparent that the criminals that they sometimes contend with have not just superior fire power, but also superior intelligence gathering techniques.  

This puts them several steps ahead of the police and sometimes leads us to deride the efficacy of the police when they are not to blame.  I see no reason why the Military police should not have armoured combat vehicles like the Army.  The air wing of the Police should have sophisticated aircraft including surveillance and assault helicopters. A sea arm of the police should have heavily armed patrol boats that can navigate and take control of our creeks and riverine areas.

It seems apparent, that part of the unwillingness of our present leaders to deal with the situation and have an effective, well-equipped, militarised and properly motivated police force is the military background of those leaders.

Esprit de corps properly mandates them to ensure that the Nigeria Police is not as strong as the armed Forces, because such a situation would mean that the Armed Forces could be permanently checkmated as a possible alternate force for governance in the country. Our history demonstrates, that army generals would always want to keep this trump card.  To protect our nascent democracy, especially at this time, when some of our leaders are making dangerous references to the possibility of a military takeover, it is imperative to have a strong viable police that can curb the excesses of the military since that is part of its duty of maintaining and securing public order.

As President Nana Akufo-Addo demonstrated with his vision and plans for the Ghanaian Police, the problem is not with our police force, but with the will of our leaders to empower the police force to take its proper constitutional position as the protector of our security and public order. This can only be done by giving and afforded the Police the necessary resources to carry out their duties. It is not too late to carry out the essential reforms of the Nigeria Police.

May God protect and secure us all!

China yesterday described as ridiculous the United States advice to African governments to be wary of Chinese loans, saying that such loans are already visible and speaking for itself.

It also emerged yesterday that due to the unorganised nature of gemstone business in Nigeria, the country contributes about 10 per cent of about $12 billion revenue generated annually by Thailand from gemstone.

Tillerson also said that Chinese investments “do not bring significant job locally” and criticised how Beijing structured loans to African government.

But the Economic and Commercial Counselor at the Embassy of the Peoples Republic of China, Zhao Linxiang, bitterly criticised the United States at a news briefing in Abuja, citing the Lagos – Ibadan rail line and the Mambila Dam projects among the visible projects engaged with Chinese loan facility.

Linxiang said Chinese loans to Africa were aimed at implementing major China-Africa cooperation projects and promoting sustainable development in the continent.

“African people should know the role the Chinese loans play in your economy; that is the most important thing.

“Except the Chinese Government, which other government provides loans to African countries without critical conditions. No Western country.

“How can they say they suspect Chinese loans; it is ridiculous. Without funds how can you develop a country?”

He disclosed that China was able to turn around her economy when she opened her doors to the world and accepted loans from other countries.

The envoy who noted that the China-Africa relations allowed for win-win benefits for both parties, added that as part of deepening relationship with Africa, it has planned an international expo for November, aimed at addressing balance in trade between China and her major partners.

China’s bilateral trade with Nigeria, from Jan. to Nov. 2017, stood at $12.3bn with more Chinese exports to Nigeria.

He said the “Expo Nigeria” would be an opportunity for the country to expand her exports to and share business opportunities with China and other participating countries.

“It is believed that this upcoming China International Import Expo will breathe new life into the bilateral trade cooperation and create the biggest opportunity to enhance the bilateral trade position to a new level.

“It is believed that this expo will give the Nigerian people and businessmen a great platform to show what Nigeria looks like to China and the rest of the world.”

He added that the Chinese Economic Office in Lagos was collaborating with the Lagos Chamber of Commerce to assist businesses interested in participating in the event.

Zhao said that China had invited eight other African countries with which the country hoped to improve trade relations, adding that 100 countries were expected to participate at the import expo.

ThisDay

The National Headquarters of the All Progressives Congress has advised the Lagos State chapter of the party to wait for another National Executive Committee meeting or the National Convention to make its case over NEC’s decision to extend the tenure of elected and appointed party officials.

National Publicity Secretary of the APC, Bolaji Abdullahi, said this in a telephone interview with Saturday PUNCH, in Abuja, on Friday.

Abdullahi said, “Well, that’s democracy. A decision has been taken by the second highest decision making body of the party, which is the NEC.

“If one out of the several chapters of the party disagrees, it does not invalidate the decision.

“The chapter concerned can wait for another NEC meeting or the National Convention to make its case; this is the beauty of party democracy. We have internal mechanisms for resolving whatever issues that arise and we advise that these mechanisms be explored.”

Ogun, Ondo APC disagree with Lagos over tenure extension

Meanwhile, the APC chapters in Ogun and Ondo states have declared support for the tenure elongation for Odigie-Oyegun and other party officials, as approved by its NEC.

By their actions, both state chapters have disagreed with the Lagos chapter of the party, which had earlier opposed the elongation of the tenure of the party’s national and state executives, saying it was against the party’s constitution.

The Ondo State Chairman of the APC and the Ogun State Publicity Secretary of the party, Mr. Ade Adetimehin and Mr. Sola Lawal, respectively, said they aligned themselves with the decision of the National Executive Committee of the party.

“The issue is not about Odigie-Oyegun, the decision affects all the elective officers of the party, from the ward to the national level. The tenure of all the officers has been elongated for just 12 months for the party to concentrate on the elections before us. We have elections in Osun and Ekiti states as well as the general elections next year, but after the elections in 2019, we can now meet again on the issue.”

Similarly, Lawal said, “We in the Ogun State APC will align with the position of the party on the tenure elongation of the current national and state executives of the party for one year. We do not hold any contrary position because the party’s decision is supreme.”

The NEC of the APC had on February 27 approved the extension of the tenure of all its elected and appointed party officials by one year, taking effect from June 30.

But rising from a Consultative Forum held at the State House Marina, Lagos and attended by party elders from across the state on Tuesday, the leaders said the extension of the tenure of Odigie-Oyegun and his executives was against the spirit of Nigeria and the APC’s constitutions.

When Saturday PUNCH contacted Oyo State chapter of the party for comments, its Public Relations Officer, Olawale Sadare, described the issue as “delicate”, adding that it “is best addressed by the appropriate officers and leaders of the party and that the Oyo State chapter of the party will not be making any statement for now.”

The Spokesperson for the party in the Osun State, Mr. Kunle Oyatomi, said the chapter would disclose its position after the meeting of its leaders.

Similarly, the Ekiti State’s APC Publicity Secretary, Taiwo Olatunbosun, said, “I don’t have the mandate to comment on the issue for now. So, I can’t speak on it.”

Lagos APC chieftain challenges Oyegun’s tenure extension in court

Meanwhile, a chieftain of the APC in Lagos State, Dr. Wale Ahmed, has filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Lagos, challenging the decision of the party’s NEC to extend Odigie-Oyegun’s tenure.

The plaintiff, Ahmed, who is a former Commissioner for Special Duties in the state, in his originating summons in a suit numbered: FHC/L/CS/364/18, which was made available to one of our correspondents on Friday, said the decision to extend the tenure ran contrary to section 223 (1a and 2a) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

He is praying the court to declare as null and void and of no effect the elongation of the tenure of the NEC, contrary to the extant laws.

Joined in the suit are the Deputy National Chairman (South), Chief Segun Oni; Deputy National Chairman (North), Senator Lawal Shuaibu; National Secretary, Mallam Ibrahim Gubi; National Vice Chairman (South-West), Chief Pius Akinyelure; the APC and the Independent National Electoral Commission.

Punch

After a former Russian spy was attacked with a nerve agent on an English street, Britain is considering pulling its officials from the tournament in June and July if it is proved that Moscow was behind the poisoning.

Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper complained that Western countries would hand Russia a “sheen of acceptability and normality, a bloody stamp of approval” by taking part.

But for Simon Chadwick, a professor who writes about sport and geopolitics at the University of Salford near Manchester, the Cup is more about boosting President Vladimir Putin’s image at home than abroad.

“It’s about projecting an image of Russia as strong and powerful,” he said, just as the Kremlin used the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics to build Russians’ sense of their nation as a resurgent global power.

In terms of relations with the West, however, Mathieu Boulegue, Russia research fellow at the Chatham House think-tank, predicted the tournament would bring “very limited dividends”.

Here are five sources of international tensions away from the pitch:

– Spy poisoning –

Former Russian agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter are critically ill after they were attacked in the southwestern English city of Salisbury last Sunday.

Russia has denied attacking Skripal but the murder attempt has sparked fury in Britain, which blamed Moscow for the 2006 murder in London of another spy, Alexander Litvinenko, with a radioactive cup of tea.

Britain is mulling how to respond if Russia is found responsible, including a possible boycott of the World Cup suggested by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Tuesday.

Officials have been quick to clarify, however, that this would affect only officials and dignitaries attending the tournament — not the England squad.

– Syria –

Russian support for Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has put the Kremlin at odds with the opposition-backing West since the brutal war broke out in 2011.

But Russia’s increasingly influential position in the conflict, undermining UN-backed Geneva peace talks with its rival Astana process, is a source of increasing anxiety in the West.

“There is a clear understanding in the Western world that there will be no peace deal in Syria without Russia playing a central part in it,” Boulegue said.

Russia wants to be the key power broker in postwar Syria, Boulegue added, shoring up its military presence on the ground and already eyeing business deals for the reconstruction efforts.

Jonathan Eyal, international director at the RUSI think-tank, said Moscow was also using its dogged support for Assad as proof to other potential client states that its help comes in handy.

“You stick to Mother Russia, Mother Russia will stick to you,” he said.

– Cyberattacks –

Since US accusations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, a string of Western governments have warned against Russian attempts to meddle in their domestic affairs.

Reports of Russian “troll factories” spreading fake news online to influence voters have spread fears from the US to France, Britain and Catalonia.

Moscow has repeatedly denied allegations of electoral interference, but analysts view its cyber-activities as part of long-term efforts to weaken the West.

“There is in Russia a systematic approach seeking to destabilise the West from within,” Boulegue said.

– Ukraine –

Russia annexed the Crimea peninsula in 2014 after a pro-Europe popular uprising ousted Ukraine’s Kremlin-backed president.

Since then, more than 10,000 people have been killed in the war in Ukraine’s east between government forces and Russian-backed rebels.

Chadwick noted that the Crimean invasion came just after the Sochi Games, which at home became “almost a symbol of Russia’s ascendancy to becoming a powerful global force again”.

And while hosting the World Cup might win few friends abroad, Putin could use the football tournament to pull off a similar domestic public relations coup this summer, he predicted.

– Doping –

The World Cup will come after months of controversy over the doping of Russian sportsmen and women.

They were booted from the Olympics over allegations that Russia carried out state-sponsored doping at the 2014 Sochi Winter Games.

But a 168-member team of Russian athletes was allowed to take part in the just-completed Pyeongchang Winter Olympics under a neutral banner, and the International Olympic Committee lifted the ban last month.

Chadwick said the doping scandal had been so huge in scope that it has had the odd effect of eclipsing criticism of Russia’s organisation of the World Cup.

“Compared to Qatar, Russia is getting a relatively easy ride,” he said, referring to criticism of the hosts of the 2022 World Cup.

“It’s almost as though the doping scandal has sidetracked any scrutiny of the World Cup.”

AFP

Hadiza Bala Usman was appointed Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority at a time the agency was plagued by corruption and inefficiency. Ten months before her appointment, Swiss prosecutors had named four former top shots of the NPA in a $20.7 million bribery scandal involving a joint venture partner of the agency, Dredging International Service (Cyprus) Ltd.

In this interview with Editor-in-Chief Musikilu Mojeed and Nicholas Ibekwe, Ms. Usman explains how she is checking corruption and making the agency more efficient.

We want to start with the inaugural statement you gave to your colleagues in 2016.  Specifically, you talked about how you would tackle corruption and invest in equipment, infrastructure and services to make the NPA an efficient regulator of the nation’s ports. How far have you gone in achieving these lofty dreams?

Ms. Usman:  Thank you very much for taking me back to the beginning of this journey. A year, seven months since I started working and I am very clear on the fact that we need to rid our institutions of corrupt practices.

One of the things that I saw in NPA is that quite a number of contracts have an existing third-party contractor and are skewed in favour of the third-party contractor and this for me is where a lot of the corrupt practices are entrenched within the Nigerian ports.  So, we have sought to do reviews and ensure compliance. In instances where we noted that payment or request were made whereby services were not provided, we declined those payment.

In instances where we noted that the emergence of the third-party contractor was not done in line with procedure, in line with the Public Procurement Act, we terminated such contracts. So, these are significant areas where corrupt practices were entrenched in NPA.

We also sought that payments need to be made directly to our account, so that we do not have any attendant revenue leakages for the authority.

Also, in instituting for example, the Treasury Single Account, that also provided another avenue where corrupt practices were checked to the extent that the government provided the TSA as a way to prevent revenue leakages as a way to ensure that all government revenue goes into government coffers. So, ensuring that all entities comply to TSA is also an integral part of our anti-corruption drive within the authority.

What about investing in equipment?

Ms Usman:  Ok, in investing in infrastructure, we have noted for example, Ikorodu is a terminal that is here, and the jetty is in a bad stage of collapse, we have awarded a contract for the full rehabilitation of the Ikorodu terminal. We also designated it as a terminal for agriculture processing which will facilitate the drive of the federal government on improvement of agriculture. We also identified several jetties which contracts have been awarded for rehabilitation. We also felt the need to test our boulders to see how strong they are, we have instituted that. We have also sought to have an expansion of our channel management.  We have noted, for example, the Ijegun area, there are quite a number of jetties in that location and the depth of a draft is not sufficient to enable it take vessels. So, we are investing in having good area to have it drenched to have the necessary draft that is required to facilitate access.

Last May, Swiss prosecutors named four former NPA officials in relation to bribery investigation. At the time, you promised that you were going to help the anti-corruption agencies to do everything to get to the root of the matter. What is the latest on the matter?

Ms. Usman:  Well, I have written to the Attorney-General as I mentioned, to draw his need to investigate. We have also written to the EFCC drawing their attention to sanctioning not just Nigerian Port Authority staff but several members of, I will say, federal government, and private citizens mentioned in that list. So, we have submitted those documents to EFCC and Attorney-General. We have not received any response from them or any queries, so I am not aware if they are instituting any investigation outside of NPA. But as far as NPA is concerned, we have not been contacted as it relates to investigating people that were said to have been compromised within the Swiss sanctioning.

But that case concerns one of your business partners, a company that you have a kind of MOU with, you are doing business with, yet you continue to do business with them. Why is that the case?

Ms. Usman:  As part of our letter to the Attorney-General, on one side we had written to them informing them of the people that were said to have been provided with certain inducement within the sanctions. We also wrote to the AG seeking for legal advice on certain relationship. It is a company that we have a joint venture with. We do joint venture for Bonny Channel management with the company. The Attorney-General has since replied us to say that the sanctioning does not affect our relationship with them, that we should proceed with our relationship, as it were. On that basis, we communicated to the company that this is the position of the Attorney-General. Just to further say that following the sanctioning, I at the board meeting of the joint venture, presented the fact that NPA is concerned about its relationship because of this but we will be seeking the advice of the Attorney-General, whatever the outcome is that will determine our relationship. So, the response of the Attorney-General was now sent to the company which says, we should proceed with our relationship with the company.

So, did you ask for explanation from the company? Why did they pay what is now considered bribe to personnel of the NPA?

Ms. Usman: They had submitted to us detailing what it was that informed the basis of such payment, which I forwarded to the Attorney-General as well. They had indicated that the Nigerian Ports Authority was not forthcoming in the invoices. It is a joint venture for dredging, so they sent invoices for us to pay and NPA had withheld their invoices for a long period and NPA officials were demanding for inducement to enable then to facilitate those payment. So, it was on that basis that they paid them those monies. They also cited security concern, because they are operating in the Bonny area, that resources are being demanded from them for security of their operations and the monies were given to those persons so that the operation remains safe.

 So, these were the two reasons they formally actually tendered the Swiss court as the basis those monies were paid to the NPA officials and other Nigerian citizens and companies.

Let’s talk about the traffic on the Oshodi-Apapa Expressway. We know that a new road is being built by Dangote, what other steps has the NPA taken to handle transportation of cargoes to alleviate the gridlock on that road?

Ms. Usman: The construction and rehabilitation of the road need to be done. We also need to institute inter-modal transportation system for cargo evacuation. So, we need to strongly encourage the use of barges and NPA has engaged with private sector companies that are now having barge movement and evacuation of cargoes from our terminal to Ikorodu to facilitate in-flow and out-flow using the barges.

So, we have connect-rail, for example, they started operation in the last three weeks and they are moving export cargoes to APM Terminal and also moving cargoes from APM terminal and Dangote Terminal for evacuation. So, we seek to ensure that we explore to the fullest inter-modal transportation, so leaving our inland waterways is something that is very important.

So, we encourage private sector to come and invest in inter-modal transportation system.  Come and invest in the use of inland waters for cargo evacuation, this would greatly assist in the decongestion of the Apapa and Tin Can Island area.

We, also, are working with Nigerian Railways to strengthen cargo evacuation using  the rail. We have set up a task team between NPA and Nigeria Railway to work on how to facilitate the improvement of the service. Our terminal operators are working with Nigeria Railway to fine-tune what is required.  But indeed, there is a need for additional capital investment, Nigerian Railway through the Minister of Transport is discussing the concessioning with General Electric.  That is a critical and important thing that will facilitate rail evacuation.

In addition, we included in our 2018 budget an extension of the rail line from our terminal to EML Terminal, all the way to the quay wall, so that we can have an enhanced cargo evacuation using rail to the quay side. We are doing that for 2018 and also repairing all the linkages internal within the port, to ensure that we have our rail connection more efficiently.

What is more important is that critical investment. To the extent that the Ministry of Transportation is unable to conclude with GE, we need to take some quick decisions on deploring rail, because inter-modal transportation is the only way we can address the gridlock.

We also identified that the shipping companies are bringing in empty containers into the terminals. That is also a congestion issue and we have given them directives that all empty containers need to go to a holding bay outside the port location. At the time when the vessel is ready to be loaded, then they can arrange the sequential time when the container will go in to this port locations. This position has instituted sanctions of withdrawal of service to two shipping lines and three weeks ago these shipping lines have now adhered to utilization of empty containers holding bays. We believe that if we have empty containers taken away from the access to the port location, at all times we would have a reduction in the number of empty containers that are plying that route.

We have also identified the need to remove tramping on the road. Tramping is where you have trailers just being on the road waiting for business. They literally use our road as parking.

There is a need for private sector to invest in holding bays outside the port location, so that you have only trucks that are called up to pick up cargo or deliver cargo are on the way to do that. NPA is deploying the call-up system, where we are calling on private investors to acquire locations and get the necessary lincensing from Lagos State government to develop a trailer, truck terminal or holding bay, on which basis the NPA will connect its call up system to that and then we can reduce the number of trailer that are plying the road when they have no business being on that road.

There was a stand off between the NPA and is it the Calabar Channel Management over payment for dredging. You claimed they didn’t do dredging and they said they did. Where are you on that?

Ms. Usman: I would say there are two legs to the issues with Calabar. There is one issue we really have attributed with the emergence of the technical partners. We had noted the non-compliance in the Public Procurement Act, we had noted the concern that people had raised, on which basis we sought and obtained an approval to terminate the joint venture partner for the processes in which the company emerged.

We have terminated the company, we are currently in court with them, and they are taking us to court to challenge the termination of the joint venture partnership. So, regarding the payment they had invoiced Nigerian ports for certain payment of dredging works. We have been unable to verify and confirm that that part of dredging was done.

We have refused to make any payment. We are in court with them challenging the claims they have made on the volumes and dredges they claimed to have made. No payment is being made.  There is an EFCC case that predates my joining the NPA on these payments of unverifiable dredging works.

The NPA and EFCC had commenced the process of engaging international surveyor to come and determine the volumes and determine the depth to see if there is a possibility that such dredging was done.

Can that be done now? Year after the job had been concluded?

Ms. Usman:  Well, it can to a certain extent, because the siltation rate will be computed, so you know how much siltation could have happened within that period and there is also the claim of components of capital dredging and component of maintenance dredging.

So, we will be able to determine indeed if those volumes have been done, might not be to the letter, but able to determine if it’s been done.

You were claiming that even the ship they claimed to have used for dredging was, perhaps, somewhere else at that material time. When you put that to them, what was their explanation to you?

Ms Usman: Well interestingly, it’s subjudice so I think I would not want to speak of that because we are in court with them on those issues. But all our records from Calabar Port indicated and provided those evidences, so we tendered those evidences in court, which question the fact that at what point did this vessel come because the duration it was required to do that dredging work it could not have done it because certain instances it never came to the port. In an instance it came and left within…  like I said, it’ s subjudice, I wouldn’t want to discuss that.

In a related matter, you have this system in NPA where you form joint ventures with people and then you give them a long-term contract maybe ten years and then you renew, effectively shutting out to other players from competing for those contracts. Whereas NPA does not even receive substantial revenue from that joint venture. You seem to have continued with the same system, why is that the case?

Ms Usman: We have articulated all the concerns, the observation had to do with if it is a joint venture company, are we making money from the joint venture? What is the basis of the sustained relationship vis-a-vis value for money? So, we have made the presentation through the board of JV that NPA would like to terminate.  I have initiated the process of exiting the joint venture relationship, to institute a management contract. It was a formal submission to the board of JV from NPA to the extent that we want to exit the joint venture. The technical partners have made the submission articulating their observation on the issues that we raised.

One of the things that they have raised is the fact that JVs will be expiring within a year and half and the process of exiting and terminating the JVs will take a year and a half, so they would like for us to conclude the period…

All the JVs?

Ms Usman:  We have two JVs

But you also have JVs for like maintenance, cleaning and all of that, did you not have such JVs?

Ms. Usman: No, we don’t have that JVs. What it is, is that it is a subsidiary company of ours that does…

Why are you into cleaning? Why are you into all those kinds of cleaning? Why are you into forming subsidiary companies? Your core business is clear, so if you are forming subsidiary companies to go into areas that other players should venture into, that should be a concern. It seems to me that NPA has formed the habit of circumventing the Public Procurement Act, do you agree?

Ms Usman:  Just to take you off the issue of our core business. All ports make money outside of their core business. Just to give you an example of the New York Port, eighty per cent of their revenue does not come from port operations, they do real estate, they have a huge investment outside of their core objectives. So, indeed ports around the world do embark on investments that are outside of their mandate. With that in mind, Nigeria Port Authority now has a subsidiary that does property development.  In doing property development, we included facility management as part of property development, meaning that this property development company would provide cleaning services in port locations of common user area.

Just as you have mentioned, that is our concern.  I have presented to the board that this should no longer be involved in doing that service. It should be opened for competition and to the extent that you are able to compete favorably with other facilities managers, then you will need to comply.

But in order for us to do our segment, we need the facility manager work into lots, so we needed to do an assessment of all the facility management work that is being done and put them into lot that are of similar work and advertise them.

So, we hired a consultant and just last week submitted the report which launched into large lot which will be advertised.

We have put in place the process which will exit that. I strongly believe that property development, yes, facility management, possibly no. But to the extent that even if you would do facility in a competitive environment, so that you are competing with other facilities managers and if you are able to compete favorably, then you can have the work. But even if that conflict to Public Procurement Act, then NPA should not compete in facility management because what is important is for a job to be done and be done professionally without limiting the threshold to within what you can approve at NPA. So that is what I inherited.

Even if NPA’s subsidiary is competing for contract NPA is awarding, of course, there will still be some conflict of interest, because, of course, they may have access to insider information.

Ms Usman: Which is why I said, I think a provision within the Public Procurement Act which limits such… For example, a subsidiary company to compete in a tender that that company’s parent company is issuing. So, you know we will clarify from the Public Procurement Act if that is in it, then NPA would not compete. But importantly, you know, you giving yourself an award without a competitive process is completely unacceptable. So, I have commenced the process of exiting that and they have submitted the document.

The Public Procurement Act is old; 2004 or thereabouts. What do you think was the thinking by your predecessor in setting up these JVs and subsidiaries?

Ms. Usman:  I think they were coming from the period of being an operational port whereby they were doing everything. Then there was a concession, the concession took away the terminals they were operating.

So, the Nigerian port now sought to keep some items or some activities. It is just like when you have children and some of them have grown, so you hold on to the younger ones. So I remember saying that at the point of where you might have entered into this JVs, you might have felt that was the right thing to do, because we were coming from an era of doing everything in a hundred per cent to the time when you have left all the terminals. So I will say ten years after that, even those JVs that you have instituted, now is the time to also let them go. At the point where it might have been challenging for Nigeria Port to completely handle private management. For example, the dredging in totality, which was why they might have bought into the JVs. But nevertheless, it is ten years after that, so it is important that journey for you to re-access where you were ten years ago to see that yes, ok this might be a time to  let this service go to a hundred per cent in some management contracts.

One of the things that were raised in NPA’s involvement in sustaining a JV is that if you have a management contract, you will not have direct oversight control over the dredging work that needs to be done. Just to give you an example, we have the fertilizer project that is being spearheaded through the National Sovereign Investment Agency, so they require for us to sweep and dredge certain locations in Onne. So, if you are on the management contract, it will be difficult for you to ask them to dredge their location.

Another instance is the Ijegun area that I mentioned that NPA want to expand into that, so if it is a management contract, it is difficult for you to expand into that allocation.

Recently, we got a request from MRS, when they had a new jetty type that will facilitate bigger vessels. So at that time, we were able to say, let this make economy sense because this is the trend and we ask that the joint venture company will now get to the level, dredges to that draft.

On that management contract, NPA is now limited to what that contract stipulates. So, you will not be able to have any immediate intervention involvement in the operations. It is also to do with, I will say now we have the FPSO coming, the huge Egina FPSO that has come, so there is a need for specialised navigational aid that we need to put in. So we have not factored that. For example, if you are doing a 5-year management contract, we did not have the Egina project you are aware of, so when the Egina project came with the type of navigational aid that is required, we now factored through the JVs to say, we must now procure this type of specialized navigational aid to facilitate the entry of Egina. So, these are some of the advantages to you being a shareholder in the company.

There are other attendant disadvantages, just to tell you that they usually declare a profit of N250 million. But, this year they declared N1.3 billion. So it’s really the first time they will declare such dividend in this magnitude. So it’s an indication that when you are very clear to them that this dividend are not good enough, how are you charging them and also reducing some of the naira and dollar inflows and outflows, you would be able to have, I would say, a better revenue stream. So, we are moving from a N250 million dividend to a N1.3 billion dividend. But I would give you the exact number so you can see.

Even though there are people who will argue that that N1.3 billion is still paltry. Maybe if the job is competitive you will pay less.

Ms Usman: Okay, but you see, it is difficult to do competitive dredging year in year out. So it has to be long-term. So you do a long term. What I sought to do is you do long term block of a management contract which would be like a 5-year or 10-year management contract. So even that is a one off, you will not be competing every other year, it is a one time competition

But the point is that you can negotiate. You hardly negotiate with your JVs, they send you invoices.

Ms Usman: Yes, the JV is for a 10-year period, the same way the management contract will be a 10-year contract. So the difference between it would be that you have the survey data, the dredging volumes that you intend to do for the year that is given to the management contractor fully to implement. So, with a joint venture company, you give the dredging volume that you need to do and then you will discuss these are the areas you want and this is how you want it done. One of the important aspects we sought to take control of is the audit. When you have the audit being done by the JV institutes a challenge. So taking the audit out of the JV where NPA will pay the audit and owns the audit, that will bring about the conflict that you see. How will I being audited pay for the audit? It has to be external. So that is what we are taking out of the…

In fact, that was going to be my last question. It’s so ridiculous. How do you allow a vendor to audit itself and then based on that audit, you get invoice and then you pay? How did that kind of arrangement come about?

Ms Usman: One of the things I have realised also, in checking all the documents as we were removing the audit from them, is that all the audit domiciled with NPA, when NPA refuses to pay their invoices. I think we have to be responsible in government to ensure people’s invoices are paid. Sometimes the payment of invoices determines the contractual relationship. Nobody wants to be tied to the government because the government refuses to pay you unless you induce the officers. So, as a result, they would rather go and be paid by the JV because every time the invoice comes to the NPA, the personnel sit on the invoice and refuse to pay.

Why do they sit on invoice?

Ms Usman: In our board meeting, the Bonny Channel Management and Lagos Channel Management made an official submission that this is the first time since they have been operating with the NPA that their invoices were promptly paid; they have never had that before.

But why will people paid to process their invoices sit on them?

Ms Usman: I think the people will be called to answer that, considering that a company has been sanctioned for giving them that inducement and the company had indicated that that is the reason. These people should be called to explain why. So, when they formally made the submission at the board meeting that this is the first time their invoices were treated, approved and paid on time without any inducement, I also noted that it is a two-way thing. Third party contractors would want to create a legal relationship that moves them away from payment by government because government will not pay, will sit on your payment. There are some procedural things we need to improve upon, even our procedures are cumbersome. So, beyond our procedures are cumbersome, some officers requesting for inducement, some officers are just incompetent. So over all, we need to improve on our procedure to make sure that payments are made, this is operationally also so nobody sits on anybody’s payment.

What have you done to ensure that even under you, your staff are not sitting on invoices.

Ms Usman:  As I always say, I turn around my things within 24 hours. Any payments that are not made, I actually go to the finance department to ask them where are your documents? Why have you not paid these people? We are also doing a review of our procedures completely. We are engaging the Deloitte and a group of technical consultants to work on our procedures so that we can eliminate some of these processes that are not necessary to fast-track payment. Because indeed, while third party contractors have their own issues, we also need to look into what it is that is making them run away from anything that has to do with payment collection from us. I can even move to, for example now, this issue you mentioned can be discussed within the context of the TSA with Intels. One of the things they have said is that when the money go to the government, government will take a long time to pay them..So they would rather owe government money and give government what is due them than for the money to go to government and wait and collect it. So just to continue on Intels, cause when they have raised those concerns I noted it and I said yes our procedures and proceedings need to be improved upon, but we are willing to even give you interest on delayed payment, so if we do not pay you within seven days of submission of the invoice to Central Bank, you can start charging us interest on delayed payment.

This is in recognition of our bureaucratic procedures. This is in recognition of the fact that our payment procedures are cumbersome. So, if you know we now say this delay of payment attracts an interest, so officers know that if you are responsible for that delay, NPA is getting to pay this amount, so everybody needs to work. But of course, Intels declined that offer.

The issue of Intels was on for several weeks and you were able to hold your ground. There was a part where they claimed that they paid the $18 million but they said they haven’t made some other payments later and everything comes to $42.6 million. But the question is how were you able to manage the entire situation? Intels is a huge company, a lot of pressure would have come from various sources on you to, I mean mellow down a on your stance with Intels. I mean how did you manage the pressure? How did you cope with that to have even forced a huge company like the Intels to apologise?

Ms Usman: Well I think it is having the support of the highest position of leadership. We have all the necessary support from the Presidency in ensuring that this compliance is done. So, I would say NPA just stood its ground. It was legally evident that Intels should not collect that money and we just maintained our position. I would say that private companies tend not to understand that your role as regulator and asking people to comply is really something that government should do, and government needs to do. So, I would say that we just weathered the storm and we just remained resolute on the fact that no entity is above the law. So even the seeming politicisation of the request for Intels compliance was not able to hold water, because as it was evident that Intels had been actually using politics to not comply. So, they are the ones that have always had a political leg to everything they do and a political leg to their non-compliance.

There was a time the House of Representatives tried to compel you to back down. Apart from that and we heard that the ministry (Ministry of Transportation) was also asking you to reconsider your stance. How did you resist all of those pressure?

Ms Usman: I would say I asked for, can you give me a legal basis which says I will not do this? This is my job, this is the clear position of the law on this, so through which method would Intels not comply? And for every time I am asked to do that, I actually replied in writing and detail what the relationship is and how Intels is not complying and urge the party to respond and indicate how it wants Intels to not comply.  So, I think people should, head of agencies should, be very firm and strong and be resolute in their duties, because if you maintain what you know is the right thing to do, if you know what you are doing is in line with the law, it is difficult for anybody to force you to a certain extent. The president has been very supportive of this and he has ensured that the Nigerian port is allowed to do its work unhindered by any influence.

You mentioned the National Assembly, they had asked us to suspend it, we did no such thing. We proceeded to what has been done in terms of notice of termination. So, they recently invited us for public hearing last week to present why we terminated Intels. Interestingly, Intels did not come for the public hearing and we made our submission. So I would say the committee itself, having been availed with the details of what transpired, was actually, you know, I would say, taken aback and they kept saying Intels had made this case and today Intels has refused to turn up. I think the whole thing is now overtaken by events, Intels has apologised, Intels has complied.  so Intels probably really just wants the public hearing to just disappear but because they have put their legs out there before they need to.

So, the House, did they feel like they had eggs on their faces? They said you should rescind this but Intels has apologised.

Ms Usman: I hope they do. I hope they understand, if you come out to support illegality and the person that have been doing the illegality now comes back to say that yes, I apologise. Am sure you must feel some sense of remorse, on your part, you must feel to some certain extent.

Because even proceeding with a public hearing with all that had happened, apology, payment, settlement and most of those are on the pages of the newspapers. Perhaps money had been voted for that particular public hearing and it must hold whatever the situation.

Ms Usman: On our part, we were invited, and we went with the relevant documentation and we made the presentation as required of us.

Did you help in funding the public hearing?

Ms Usman:  No, we don’t fund public hearings.

But from time to time when there is need for public hearings they ask agencies to…

Ms Usman:  But they have never asked me.

You are lucky.

Ms Usman:  Yes, I have never been asked to fund a public hearing.

NPA gave Intels two weeks ultimatum to pay certain amounts, they made some which have been confirmed but we are still about confirming some others, which they claimed they have paid. What if it turns out they have not made the second batch of the payment, what would be the next course of action by the NPA?

Ms Usman: You see, we have issued a notice of termination, we have written to the Attorney-General to say that Intels has complied and apologise so we would want to withdraw the notice of termination. So, to the extent that they are not paying our balance, then the withdrawal of notice of termination will not be done. One of the things that we are working on is pre-SOP. Pre-our intervention, Intels gives the NPA an amount it determines every month as how much will come to NPA from that revenue. So, there is a revenue that is being collected, Intels takes 28 percent as its management fee and the balance of 72 percent is shared between NPA and Intels for amortisation of … But historically, there is no sharing formula. Intels was giving $3.75million, after a while every month it’s $4 million. But the last agreement they wrote the NPA was they would be paying $4 million every month, but they did not pay that $4 million from November 2016 to November 2017 which amounted to $48million.  So, what we sought to do is that instead of having that in capped figure, we decided to have a sharing formula. So on the 72 percent, you take 70 percent for amortisation, NPA takes 30 percent. We felt the need to make it a percentage to the extent that we have an increase in oil and gas trades, so it means that we will have more revenue. So if you peg it at $4 million and there is more revenue then, how do we now benefit from this increase? That is why we felt the need to…

But if there is less revenue, you also get less than stated.

Ms Usman:  Yes, we also get less than $4 million dollars. But then, even that $4 million dollars was at their discretion. It wasn’t part of the original agreement, it wasn’t part of any documentation. So $2 million, its however they want so we want.

What kind of agreement is that?

Ms Usman:  Yes, they actually said that it was a gentleman’s agreement at a public hearing and I said to them you cannot have a gentleman’s agreement with the monies of government. It is not your decision. There is nothing personal about it, you cannot have discussions of millions of dollars of government resources and you say that it is between you…

So, you mean government did a gentleman’s agreement on revenue sharing with Intels

Ms Usman:  Yes. It was not part of the agreement how the revenue would be shared post the deduction of the 28 per cent, post the deduction of the amortisation. It was we give you $3 million, then after a year or two they say we would give you an amount of money. We want it to be part of the agreement so there is no ambiguity I will say. No one decides what to give. So just to take you there. Now, post this termination, so we fought for it to be a sharing formula. So Intels now wants to use that sharing formula to compute what they owe us. So, instead of the $4 million per month, now they want it to be the 70:30. They round the numbers into amount to $32 million dollars as opposed to 48million dollars for the period. So that is why we are trying to make a payment which would reflect the 70:30 sharing formula of the historic indebtedness. I have said to them that this 70:30 sharing formula is applicable from when we complied to TSA going forward. It is not applicable to the historic indebtedness. That is why they are trying to pay what they have computed as 30 per cent of that revenue and we have told them that it is $4million/ $48million, so that is the amount of money you need to pay. It is also money that Nigeria Port Authority needs to pay Intels for the Onne 4B project. In the course of implementing the project, there was a huge indebtedness to about $600 million, I am not too sure of the exact numbers, which NPA needs to pay them and we have said that well, we will pay you from this revenue stream.

So ab initio, the project we started it with the concept that payment will be made from this revenue, so this is the payment that will be made from the revenue stream even if it is going to take years. Because one, I questioned the basis on which the Onne 4B project was started. Because, have we fully utilised the terminal that you have? What is the capacity utilisation of Onne to determine why you need 4B? Because you need to have a fully utilised port so the decision to invest I think $2.4 billion dollars into Onne 4B was flawed from the beginning. And then you have now entered into an agreement whereby Nigeria Port pays for the cost of funds, pay so the whole Onne 4B project itself was wrongly conceptualised. So, we suspended the project, it is about 24 per cent completion. We asked them to put that 24 per cent into commercial use and we can now determine if we ever go back to doing it. But just to say indeed that project itself, the government of Nigeria has no business going to build a port when the one you have is not at full capacity.

So, you were paying for cost of funding?

Ms Usman: Yes.

That is strange. It means if they borrow money to execute the job, the interest or whatever that accrue to them on borrowing, you then pay.

Ms Usman: Yes. We questioned them that why would we pay for that? And NPA was not even privy to… how do you pay for cost of loan when you don’t have the details, how do you pay for a thing when you don’t know the interest or what basis they arrived at those interest rate? We are not privy to the, I always say to them, if Ministry of Works issues a contract to JV, what is the business of Ministry of Works with Guaranty Trust that lend the money to them? We have no business for you to pay for cost of fund. As a result, there is a huge amount of indebtedness accrued over the period.

The Lekki Deep Sea Port. In 2007, the International Container Terminal Services abandoned the project. They claimed that the NPA and the Lagos State government who are partners in the deep-sea port were delaying, that there was unnecessary delay in the project taking off. Since they left, the work was supposed to have at least the container terminal part of the port completed in 2016. That did not happen. As we are talking now, we don’t even know, since they left if another company has been awarded the contract to build the terminal? The turn-around group suddenly announced that they had funding from the international development organisations but as the tour leaves January, it now became obvious that all the international development organisations have practically backed out. So there was no financial closure on the deal. What is the problem with the port?

Ms Usman: Well, Lekki Deep Sea Port, there is no problem now, and they are doing turn around, they have started. But you know, the construction of the breakwaters. Just to say that NPA, we have 20 per cent shareholding in the port. And I felt that we should not have more than five per cent. Our shareholding should be a comfort shareholding that should not be more than five percent. So we reduced our shareholding from 20 per cent to five per cent and we fully paid for our five per cent. We do not think that the Nigerian government should invest millions of dollars into, I think our share, the value was about $106 million dollars or so, and we have paid about $24 million dollars fully for our five per cent fully and in terms of priority, I do not believe that Nigeria government’s priority is investment in port development. It is private sector driven, government should be regulating, we should have a comfort shareholding. They resisted that for quite a long time. I had quite a battle in getting that but I remained firm on it. There was a submission by Lekki Deep Sea Port Tolaram Group that it would discourage investors and I frown on investments and I find it laughable. Because any international investor seeks to have minimal government shareholding. Nobody likes investing in companies where government has more share. So, for you Tolaram Group to say that Nigerian government reduction in shares will discourage investors, is a joke. Because it is as if you want to build the port with government money. So if you have federal government of Nigeria through NPA 20 per cent, Lagos State government 18.9 per cent, Federal Government of Nigeria through the Viva Methanol project has another 20 per cent in Tolaram Group shareholding. So, if you sum it up, government – federal and state would have over 60 percent. I think its 20:20:18. So I felt that one, we would reduce our shareholding, two that federal government shareholding in Tolaram Group, that Viva Methanol grant should not be a grant, our contribution should be recognised.

Why was there a grant?

Ms. Usman: I questioned that. In fact, I wrote to the Ministry of Finance to question that investment in Lekki Deep Sea Port that they had said that the shareholding would take effect after five years of commercial operation of the port and would be sold at a public offering. So, I did a memo to question the basis.

Government invests this money in a project, but it will not take effect, that investment will not be recognised until five years after commercial operation.

Ms. Usman: Yes. And that commercial operation was from a failed project of Viva Methanol with the Tolaram Group I think during Obasanjo’s regime. So there were monies the government gave to Tolaram Group for Viva Methanol Project, the project never saw the light of day; then we transfer those obligations to Lekki Deep Sea Port. But I felt that money should be recognised like right now as government shares. And the issue of you saying you are going to give public offering of a port, I questioned that because how many ports are listed in the stock exchange? But just as a background, currently they have written to us that they are having an AGM, we have nominated our board representative, Lagos State Government has nominated the chair of the board of Lekki, they have commenced the construction of breakwaters, China Harbour has come in to take shareholdings within the structure. So, the financial closure has been extended to one year. So, I can give you the date but I am not sure when the financial closure of the deep sea project.

While the president was away last year, the vice president issued some executive orders including that the Apapa port should commence 24 hours service. Where are we on that?

Ms. Usman: We commenced 24 hours operations, Nigerian Ports and the terminal operations are providing a 24 hours service for all our services. What is challenging is that the customers don’t come to clear their goods for 24 hours. We have made clear the challenges they have with the 24 hours operations, the concern about security, state of the roads will not permit them to come access the port outside of the official working hours. I have made a request to the vice president that maybe the government should consider giving concessionary rates for off-peak that will encourage people to come and clear their goods and utilise the service off-peak. Other agencies of government have been mandated to operate 24 hours. They had started coming for 24 hours but the attendant lack of patronage has now discouraged other agencies of government from providing the services. Because they are there for 24 hours and nobody comes to clear it. I think on the one hand, addressing the issue of security and access to roads, on the other hand also consider having concessionary charges for off-peak periods.

We are told you have just one scanner that breaks down every time. And some agencies also have refused to vacate the port because there were some agencies that actually should vacate. So, when you have just one scanner, let’s assume that people show up, how do you handle clearing of cargoes?

Ms. Usman: The Nigerian Customs is responsible for providing these scanners. The scanners have broken down, Nigerian Customs is in the process of working with NPA on procuring. So, they have been doing 100 per cent physical examination on all the cargoes. So even that 100 per cent physical examination, if we can do it faster we can start at 9 a.m., if all government officials can work till 5 a.m. If they can work on weekends and off-peak hours, that would help, even the physical examination will be enhanced. So, a lot of time we position the container for examination, our government officials don’t turn up on time, they turn up at 11 -12, they examine a few, so that hinders it. Of course, you cannot even compare physical examination with scanning. So the spoilt scanners is an emergency that needs to be done. We need to get our acts right in making sure that all the port locations have all the necessary equipment.

You are a Bring Back Our Girls activist, I don’t know if you are still a Bring Back Our Girls activist. Since 2014 like the rest of us, there have been campaigns for the return of the girls that were abducted from Chibok but we suffered a huge setback recently where over 100 girls were abducted from their school in Yobe, what do you think of that?

Ms Usman:  Just as you say, it is a huge setback. You know, we have seen girls being returned, girls being rescued, and attendant reduction in the activities of Boko Haram. But this abduction has set us back and there are things that we need to ask. There are questions that need to be answered. For example, how can you have a boarding, lets not even say that it is a girls’ school, how do you have a school not been protected as it should? Even if it is a day school. How do you have a boarding school,  girls boarding school not being protected as it should? So, there are many questions that we need to ask. Having experienced what we did with the Chibok girls, we cannot now have a similar situation existing in the same environment -the school is not secured, no military deployed in that situation, I think a committee has been set up so we look forward to what it is they are going to tell us.

In addition, I will say that the response. One of the issues around Chibok girls and the abduction in 2014/15 is to do with the seeming denial of the government of accepting that an abduction has happened. Seeming denial of the extent of the insurgency.   So to the extent that now you see there is recognition and acceptance that yes people were abducted, recognition and acceptance that yes, we need to work on rescuing these girls, work on the abduction status and also investigate how it could happen, having claimed that we have made significant milestone in achieving reduction in insurgency. I would say this is a huge step back and it questions quite a lot of things that we should have put in place to prevent a re-occurrence. You cannot have our schools unprotected. You cannot have boarding schools unprotected in the northeast as these are soft targets.

The Minister of Interior, Abdulrahman Dambazau, has disclosed that the Port-Harcourt Prison which was built for 804 prisoners currently accommodates 4204 inmates.

Mr. Dambazau made the disclosure when he paid a courtesy call on Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State in his office in Port-Harcourt.

The minister told the governor that the Stakeholders Panel on Prison Decongestion recommended Rivers as one of the states from the six geopolitical zones for the construction of a 3000 capacity prison.

He added that the federal government’s proposed prison project would be carried out on a land that was allocated to the Prisons Service in 1979 in Bori, Rivers State.

In his remarks, Governor Wike promised to provide necessary supports and cooperation towards the commencement and completion of the new prison project.

The governor further called on the federal government to complete the ongoing construction of a prison at Omoku so that it could decongest other prisons in the state.

The Controller General of Prisons, Ja’afaru Ahmed, told the governor that the contractor handling Omoku Prison had been contacted to hasten the project for early completion.

 

PT

Former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, yesterday in Maiduguri described the Boko Haram insurgency as a scourge which incubated over time. He was delivering his closing remarks at the end of a two-day peer review meeting of the Nigeria Zero Hunger Strategic Forum which he is the chairman.

“Boko Haram did not start overnight,” he said, “It had an incubating period, but I do not know how long. And although I do not know how long it took to incubate, I am sure if the level of education in the North-East matched the level of education in the South-West, there wouldn’t have been Boko Haram.

“If we do not cater for and educate women, children and youth, they will become the Boko Haram of 15 years to come. Education is the panacea, education is the key, it inculcates the values that guard against the emergence of Boko Haram,” he added.

 

DailyTrust