Nigeria’s 2018 Budget of Consolidated Struggle.

The 2018 budget is very important to Nigeria in two major ways – 1) it is the last full year budget that will be implemented by the Buhari administration, a government that rode to power on the back of tremendous goodwill and popular vote, but to this day, has largely failed to meet the expectations of the majority; 2) It is the first budget after the country began recovering from the economic recession which hit hard into the standard of living of the majority for the large part of 2016. So, to the average Nigerian, this budget is the last single hope that this government may still deliver on some of its campaign promises.

It was therefore with so much raised hopes that the nation listened to President Buhari’s budget speech to the National Assembly, I was particularly looking out for pointers to drastic transformation and strategic spending to curtail government excesses and send strong message that this last year was not going to be business as usual for the government. But many were largely disappointed, both with the budget itself, and the lacklustre speech that the President delivered. The speech was largely indifferent from previous budget speeches, and had little or no substance, enough to inspire Nigerians that 2018 will be different, or enough to jolt the overwhelmingly corrupt public system that 2018 was the year to sit tight and deliver on the President’s mandate. I struggled to extract a few takeaways from the budget, and have broken them down to basic implications for the ordinary Nigerian:

1.    Our Budget was tagged ‘Budget of Consolidation’ – Though the budget, at ₦8.612 trillion (16 % higher than 2017 estimates) is regarded as the ‘largest ever’ budget, a conversion of the budget to real currency shows the budget is a joke in real value. There is very little to consolidate with a budget of a meagre $24 billion in 2018; in an economy of 180 million people, when Angola, a similar oil major country, as at 2017, had a budget of $44billion with a population of 30million.

2.    It appears the major objective of the Budget, from the President’s speech, is to ‘reinforce and build on recent accomplishments; and sustain reflationary policies’ – there were little or no accomplishments by this government since 2015 in the first place, so this budget will build on little or nothing.

3.   The two major claims to success by Buhari - movement on the 2018 World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking and peace in the Niger Delta – were achieved when he ‘stepped aside’ – so, it’s either we pray he steps aside again in 2018, or we may achieve nothing again. 

4.     Increase in external reserve to US$34billion as at 30th Oct. 2017, extra $500million in Sovereign Wealth Fund, and an increase in our trade surplus – while all good macro-indicators, have almost zero impact on the overwhelming majority of Nigerians who work in the informal sector. These majority population require ONE major thing to drive their economic activity – infrastructure, and this can only be achieved by a focused and firm government, that is totally committed to budget implementation, devoid of corruption, so as to ensure every naira allocated and released is spent. As it appears, we still expect the likes of Ameachi, Ngige, Dalung, Adeosun, Ogbeh & other political jobbers to execute the 2018 budget – so, fellow Nigerians, this is another dead end.

5.     With the massive infrastructure deficit, we have budgeted only about 30% to Capital Expenditure, that comes to $7billion. I assume that’s cost of campaign in 2018, because that amount won’t even scratch the surface if this govt intends to make any impact before it leaves in 2019 (and it has to, otherwise, it gambles with 2019)

6.     FX rate at ₦305/1US$, when the economy mostly runs on the parallel market of ₦363/1US$ and the I&E FX Window is ₦360.46/1US$ shows one thing – continued currency peg – this tells the world that our political leaders are still as ignorant as ever about economic realities, and market-determined exchange rate

7.   Revenue forecast at oil production of 2.3million barrels per day, when average crude oil production in 2017 has been less than 2million barrels per day – we have over-estimated revenue again, then next year, we’ll be back here with stories of low income bla bla. What’s wrong with doing a worst-case scenario planning?

8.       Personnel and Overhead costs to increase by 12%. This is completely unjustifiable. At this point, we should be investing heavily in projects that will drive employment in the private sector. Any increase more than 5% here shows we haven’t learnt jack from the past

9.    Plan to set aside ₦12billion for transmission lines and substations to address challenges with power transmission and distribution networks – asides the fact that most of the allocated funds may be diverted, $33million is grossly insufficient to fix the Transco and Disco end of the power value chain. More importantly, the government failed to address the fundamental regulatory issues that impede on the growth of the power sector. Throwing money at the power sector has repeatedly failed to solve the problem. So, darkness again in 2018.

10.   Agricultural sector – 6 staple-crop processing zones to be established to support investors and boost crop production, processing and storage – as usual, nothing will come of this. Certainly not under Audu Ogbeh. Even the brilliant Akinwunmi Adesina, with brilliant initiatives, couldn’t end the food crisis, how much more Ogbeh

11.   Budget deficit of ₦2trillion to be financed through new borrowing of ₦1.7trillion, and the balance of ₦306billion to come from privatisation of non-oil assets –  we are already spending 23% of 2018 budget on debt service, 7% less than our CAPEX, so as it is, our borrowing is already impeding our development. And we are sinking deeper into the debt hole. While debt in itself is inevitable for development, we must quickly balance infrastructural growth with growth in debt profile, otherwise, we’ll be back to 1999, begging for debt pardon, which may not come.

12.     Having said all these, it is this same APC government that has foot-dragged since 2015 that owns this budget, a large part won’t be implemented (less than 60% in 2017), and some released funds will be diverted, especially as elections are fast approaching. So effectively, Nigeria is expected to survive 2018 on less than $15billion. Absolute disaster.

 13.      And worst of all, elections are here. Nigerian politicians have better things to think about than fixing bad roads and providing electricity in an election year. There are bags of rice to be shared. Stomach infrastructure, poverty perpetuation.

 14.        2018 Budget new name – The budget of consolidated struggle. Aluta continua Nigeria!

Ayo-Bankole Akintujoye is a Political Economist and Strategist. He has worked with some of the world’s biggest consultancies to advise organizations and governments in the areas of Strategy, policy formulation, transformation, and process improvement. He holds a Master’s degree in Political science. He tweets from @AyoBankole

Buharism and the Crisis-Ridden Nigerian Economy – A call to Rescue!

For some of us who were ardent supporters of the Buhari/Osinbajo campaign team during the electioneering period, our faith in the team’s ability to swiftly turn around the socio-economic situation of the country is fast dwindling for reasons not so far-fetched.

Firstly, the war against corruption, though enjoying a lot of media attention, is still the same as was in the past – punish the symptoms and ignore the base of the cankerworm. Past political and military

bigwigs are being arrested and prosecuted for looting the country blind especially during the immediate past administration of Goodluck Jonathan. While this is not a bad thing to do in itself, the government is yet to issue clear directives on its approach to cleaning up the deeply corrupt bureaucracies in the Ministries, in Tax offices, Nigeria Police Force, Nigeria Immigration Service, The Customs, the Ports Authority, etc. Business still goes on as usual in these organizations, Nigerians still pay way above the official rates to get a Nigerian passport issued, the police is still as deeply corrupt and completely irresponsible as it has always been, several extra thousands of naira still go into the pockets of FRSC officials before a Drivers license is issued, customs officials still rake in millions from the ports and the borders; and ofcourse, the borders are still as porous as ever with goods worth billions of naira being smuggled in on a daily basis.

Secondly, no clear strategy has been presented for the transformation of key sectors. The education sector is yet to witness any shift in its direction, the president recently sacked and appointed new Vice chancellors into 13 of the nation’s recently established universities, a move that has set tertiary education back by decades. We are back to the era when universities suffered from absolute government control, a direct opposite of what is required to produce leading centers of research and academic excellence.  The health sector is still moribund; there has been no form of swift change in the efficiency of our healthcare institutions. Our government hospitals are still a no-go area. To make it worse, president Buhari was in the UK for a five day vacation in February 2016, a visit that was rumored to have been a medical visit, though denied by government officials. Medical visit or not, this is not a departure from the past. When will the president begin to visit Obudu cattle ranch or any of the several resorts scattered across Nigeria for such short vacation? And when will our Leaders be checked up by medical experts on Nigerian soil? The body language from the Buhari presidency doesn’t seem to show that an end to this medical tourism is anywhere in sight.

The realities in the power sector are even more heart breaking than all others combined. While electricity output greatly improved in major cities after the swearing-in of the president in 2015, a situation that was commended by several stakeholders to be a direct result of the power of a strong-willed government to influence operational efficiency even without issuing orders; the power situation has since fallen to a record low of 3,720 megawatts as at December 2015, now picking up gradually in the first quarter of 2016 to just above 4,000. As at the time of writing this, Babatunde Fashola is yet to tell us clearly how we will improve the power sector other than through tariff increase, and what he intends to do differently from past ministers. From his public statements, it appears Fashola intends to maintain the current status quo with government interference in the power sector, a direct contradiction to what his stance was when he was governor when he advocated a complete overhaul of the laws regulating electricity such that independents can generate power without having to connect to the national grid! Same goes for other sectors like rail, maritime, agriculture, ICT, etc. What exactly is the transformation roadmap for these key sectors almost one year after?

Thirdly and lastly, the economy is crumbling! While we know that the Buhari government inherited a badly damaged country economic wise, we expect that there will be a clear economic blueprint by now. We have waited for 11 months and have yet seen no blueprint for the economy going forward. The capital market, the banks, manufacturing sector, and worse of all our currency are all groaning under the pains of the economic crisis we have found ourselves in! To make an already bad situation worse, our government seem to be swimming towards the same direction that crumbled giants like China and the old Soviet union before they transformed – Big government! The Buhari administration seems to be swimming strongly towards big government in an age where the world is moving towards smaller governments and bigger private sector-led economies! The president is romancing with the idea of rejuvenating the long dead Nigerian Airways, continued control of the power sector and railways, overbearing influence on the education sector, the police, and a strong government control of the naira!

The Naira has become the symbolic representation of all that is currently wrong with the Nigerian economy in recent times, commodity prices have shot through the roof due to the free fall of the naira in the parallel markets and the ban of over 41 items from the FOREX markets. The way the Buhari government is managing the FOREX crisis shows a clear case of cluelessness on the part of the economic management team and the lack of a strategic direction for fixing the economic rot that has led us to where we are. The president and his team seem not to have realized that the currency is a direct function of the performance of the market economy. The more you produce, the more demand for your currency. The more demand for your currency, the stronger your currency becomes in the FOREX market! President Buhari must be made to understand, as a matter of urgency, that in a real market economy, a currency’s exchange rate is not “regulated” by the government.  We cannot continue to subsidize the banks at the expense of the ordinary citizens! We cannot continue to make a few richer and impoverish the majority! The banks and a few other powerful corporations and individuals buy at the CBN rate and in turn sell at the parallel rate. Who then is the government benefiting?

What is required urgently is a massive drive towards private sector involvement and a leaner government. We expect by now to witness absolute privatization of the power sector, transport sector, infrastructure development, oil and gas industry, etc. Government needs to declare a systemic closure of its borders to enhance production of certain commodities, which will ultimately lead to total closure in the mid to long-term. All forms of subsidy on consumption and importation should be immediately scrapped, be it petroleum subsidy, rice subsidy or Naira subsidy (CBN control of the naira). These trillions of naira can be used to subsidise production instead, with a very strict and controlled framework to ensure whatever support is granted goes into production processes and not diverted into bigger imports as witnessed in the rice importation rackets under the GEJ regime. It is absolutely ridiculous that we are the world’s second largest importer of rice after China, with a population of about 10% of China, and despite our massive arable land of over 78% of our land mass. Nothing says we cannot produce what we eat, and even export to China!

We need some semblance of a military-like approach in the transformation of our borders, seaports, and airports to prevent the ridiculous way contrabands get smuggled in with ease. We need an authoritarian, private sector-style leadership in the sanitization of all our military and para-military organizations, ministries, departments and agencies. We cannot expect to adopt the slow and often futile democratic process in achieving a total turn-around of our key sectors. No third world, highly corrupt nation has ever achieved such with democratic style, from our neighboring Ghana under J.J. Rawlings, to Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew, to China starting under Hua Guofeng; but most importantly under Deng Xiaoping and other Post-Mao Chinese leaders. Democratic principles can be used to regularise the polity after having achieved socio-economic stability through private-sector type authoritarianism, certainly not before.

Generally, privatisations are driven by the desire to increase competitiveness and efficiency and the belief that the powers of the market place can achieve this better than state control. Moreover, given the antecedents of government’s participation in goods and services production in Nigeria, and the long history of crisis bedeviling these public enterprises, privatisation is the only logical way to go. A leaner government that will be strategically focused on regulation, taxation, corruption war, social welfare, security and diplomacy is what we need. Any attempt to increase the already overbearing government involvement in the economy is destined to fail! As it stands, our total non-petroleum exports is a mere $3 billion dollars which is less than 1% of our over $530billion GDP. This poses bigger trouble for the country’s currency in the nearest future if not quickly arrested by the measures earlier described. No amount of currency control can save a “production-less” economy. The best controls government can exert on the economy or the currency are controls done through effective fiscal policy, economic policy, and monetary policy. That is where it stops, the market should be left to determine the outcome of economic indices within the framework of those policies.

A leaner government will give government free time to focus on social welfare initiatives like education and healthcare, which rank amongst the highest sources of intellectual and FOREX flight from our country. Some of the schools and health institutions under the federal government should be concessioned immediately to well qualified institutions/organisations with the mandate to carry out systemic transformation of our schools and healthcare institutions. Government can then in turn provide education subsidies from the billions already generated from the 2% education tax being imposed on Nigerian companies to cushion the effect of the inevitable increase in the fees of such schools. Healthcare insurance can also be provided to indigent citizens in the form of obamacare or strengthen our existing National Health Insurance Scheme. A handful of legacy institutions can be left under government control, but must be granted full autonomy to govern its affairs the way similar leading institutions operate globally.

The Buhari some of us voted for was the Fascist Buhari we all knew, or read about, not this Buhari. Our president needs to rescue himself from this alter-ego of a self-proclaimed democrat who intends to please everybody and may end up pleasing nobody. Our president needs, as a matter of urgency, to rescue our crumbling economy from his new school Buharism ideologies!

Critical Questions to ask Mr Jimi Agbaje, and ourselves, before Voting him for Governor!

I read Jimi Agbaje’s piece titled My Conviction, and I almost thought I was reading an APC piece before the presidential elections. Jimi Agbaje has taken a 360 degree turn since GEJ lost, he told us to vote for him so as to align Lagos to the centre because he felt GEJ would win. When GEJ released billions of dollars for national and state campaigns to “mobilize” support for himself and PDP candidates, Jimi Agbaje told us GEJ had done well, deserved a second term, and Lagos deserved to be aligned with the center for accelerated development. He told us Nigeria will shut down if GEJ is not returned elected.

APC used the same Lagos-Abuja alignment strategy for both Ambode and Buhari's campaign, and they have maintained their ground, while Mr Jimi Agbaje has been speaking in a dishonourable manner from both sides of the mouth. Now that GEJ has lost, JK is telling us that Lagos does not need the center, and that he is separate from the PDP. JK is an intelligent man who is ready to say and do anything, no matter how ridiculous, to win elections. We must reject double speak!

JK claims to be independent minded. It shows his shallow understanding of multi-party democracy,a fundamental component of which is party supremacy. Besides, how can Mr. Agbaje boast of being independent minded when he was rigged in as candidate in a brutal display of shame of a party primary, while he looked on helplessly and basked in the europhia of such rape on democratic tenets, where the minority was greater than the majority? An everlasting PDP doctrine that has been repeated at the Governor’s forum elections where 16 was greater than 19, Ekiti state National assembly saga where 7 was greater than 19, just to mention a few.

How does JK intend to repay his financiers and those who defied all democratic decorum to rig him in? Now that PDP has lost the center and Obanikoro can no longer be compensated at the center as promised, will he also fall back to Lagos for compensation? And is it with the same funding that the APC government is generating from the same taxes JK has promised to reduce?

Mr JK, how do you intend to reduce personal income taxes, when it is the prerogative of the National assembly and President? Do you even understand the Nigerian tax system at all? Why promise to un-ban Okada when Okada was banned in major PDP states and Abuja way before Lagos effected its partial ban? Is this another vain promise?
If you are now distancing yourself from the PDP, how do you plan to govern efficiently in a disgruntled political platform? Or do you intend to also decamp since your double speak has shown you have little regards for honour? Should a honourable politician be hobnobbing with an ex-convict, even as his godfather?

If from your write up, you have admitted the APC government has done well even without federal support, don't you think they will do better now that the same ex-APC governors, who drafted the governance model and plans for Lagos, and know where the shoe pinches in Lagos, are going to be part of the government at the center? Should we sacrifice this promising future for your mostly impractical promises?

Besides, why did JK blatantly declare outbreak of violence and insurgency, and a system shut down if GEJ looses, saying it was the only way Nigeria could peacefully progress, and now turnaround to ask for a peaceful relationship from GMB's government if he wins? Thought you had no faith in the continued peaceful existence of Nigeria without GEJ?
I advise all Lagosians to take a sip of water, and critically examine this man called Jimi Agbaje, before buying his sweet-talk hook, line, and sinker!

JK is PDP, especially now that they have lost the center. PDP needs Lagos as their new cash cow since Abuja is gone. Bode George needs a new NPA and a new avenue to access public treasury. All other PDP cabals need Lagos as their last hope to fall back on. Bola Tinubu isn't perfect. But the APC has a tested governance model that is functioning and has been largely commended. PDP has none, and is full of hawks and sycophants who ruined President Jonathan’s administration and will come back to Lagos to feed fat and take us back 16yrs!

We pray that doesn't happen. This is the closest we've ever been to Lagos-Abuja governance alignment. And a Lagos government in collaboration with a Buhari-Osinbajo led federal government is way better than a government under the same bandwagon of leadership failures we chased out from Abuja.
God bless Lagos!

The Crucifixion of Ogbeni Rauf’s Education Policy and the Myopia of his Crucifiers

While I must agree that some components of the reclassification policy recently embarked upon by the Aregbesola administration in Osun state are not "well-suited" for the cultural realities of Osun state (and by extension Nigeria), I feel we should not crucify the policy in its entirety, especially from a largely biased and myopic point of view as most of his critics have been.

It is degrading that some Nigerians have attempted to reduce a holistic policy into Religious and political sentiments. Such writers and speakers are quick to condemn the so called merger of same-sex schools with mixed ones, and termed the merger as “islamization of Osun schools”. Really, how ridiculous can this be?? How can schools that belong to the government, and therefore secular, be referred to as Christian or Islamic schools? And where in the world has it been proven that children in same sex schools perform better than their contemporaries in mixed schools? In fact the American Department of Education has established that single-sex classrooms or school environments does not guarantee success in education, but educational success is dependent on other factors such as good learning environment and instructional materials (which is what I believe the Educational policy is aimed at putting in place).

When are we going to stop being holier than Jesus and more Muslim than Prophet Muhammed in Nigeria? And who says those are the only components of the education policy? For example, the introduction of the Yoruba culture and Ifa-knowledge as an optional subject and degradation of religious studies from compulsory to optional is a good thing for promotion of our cultural legacies. I believe that the Harvard designed "opon-imo" is the climax of the policy and an excellent revolutionary initiative in our educational system.

Such initiatives have been experimented even on children of the most remote societies in Africa, and have been seen to be an amazing stimulant of learning. For example, the UN-Backed One Laptop Per Child project (OLPC), has distributed more than two million low-cost laptops in 42 developing countries in the last seven years and has recorded several success stories (Please read on their experience among some Ethiopian children, who learnt to read the English alphabets within months and sing unaided with such devices). Just recently, Opon-Imo was recognized as one of the best 4 e-learning devices across the world by the United Nations-backed World Summit Award Global Congress on E-Content and creativity. I believe it will do us no good if we focus on the limitations (such as electricity, low-skilled teachers, etc.) and brood over the demerits (everything has one), rather than take advantage of the unprecedented opportunities provided for the children to learn, with access to over 50 textbooks including the Bible, Quran, and Opon Ifa, without spending much (as most public school children are less-privileged than their private counterparts), and platform for exposure to the use of technology.

I agree Ogbeni should immediately review some of the components of the policy to forestall violence in the once peaceful state, however, I also believe he should expand on some of his policies especially as regards curriculum content, construction of modern schools and reclassification into elementary, middle, and high schools; the free school feeding program (an age-long stimulant for school attendance), etc. other components like the merger of same-sex schools with mixed ones, eradication of religion-based divisions in schools, etc can be re-worked after further consultations with relevant stakeholders. But these policies should not be ridiculed with religious and political sentiments please. God be with Nigerian school children!

The Truth about Igbos. And the Rantings of a Hypocrite!

Having survived this long in silence over this FFK-Kalu hullabaloo, the discussions I had with friends on my Facebook page made me give up my resolve to remain quiet. I have followed FFK's writings for months, and I have to repeat that I am yet to arrive at a better word for his writings than "ramblings". He swings from blind spiritual extremist views in calling Obama the antichrist who should not be voted for, to cultural extremism by over generalizing one man's comments into an ethnic and uncalled-for outburst. I also believe it is disrespectful for a former minister and presidential spokesperson to call the comments of a former governor "unintelligent rubbish", and I owe such a man no respect. While I agree that Orji Uzo Kalu went beyond bounds in labeling Lagos a "no man's land", and insulted the collective heritage of Lagosians, and by extension, the Yorubas, I still believe strongly that Fani Kayode's response was utterly irresponsible.

A country's greatness and strength lies in recognizing differences and working together to build them, but greater strength lies in respecting the sensitivities and ethno-religious fragility of your countrymen, and striving to respect individual and group differences in culture and religion. While some of us are advocating for a true federal system, where ethnic leanings will be held secondary and competence and integrity upheld as the main crux of leadership, Fani Kayode attempted to open old wounds with snide references to the pogrom and civil war, publicly condemning an entire Igbo race in a classic case of sheer fallacy of hasty generalization, and then attempting to grossly undermine the contribution of millions of Igbos to the socio-economic development of Lagos.

I believe Fani would have done excellently well if he had taken on Kalu on his words and blasted him in return, infact, he would have gotten sympathy from even some Igbo kinsmen. But defending Lagos by undermining the history of a major race? In a culturally sensitive polity?? How does that translate to being a responsible statesman and public figure??? Was Fani not singing Obasanjo's praises when he withheld the Lagos funds for two years?? If he loved Lagos that much, how come he was running his mouth so loudly against "perceived Obasanjo enemies in Lagos"??, and participated in a government that was committed to running Lagos aground?? Please Fani cannot succeed in deceiving people like us with his sheer hypocrisy and desperate quest for relevance. He was almost worse than Abati in his days as the presidential parrot. We have not forgotten so fast. It’s time we started ignoring people who had decades of opportunities to make a difference, did nothing but enjoy the spoils of government, and then attempt to further plunge us into crisis when they get booted out of government!

I think we should break this down into tiny basic bits of rhetorics, so as not to get lost in all the barrage of historical banters, let’s look at it this way; we can all agree Kalu went overboard with his comment, and deserved to be “educated”, but after then, what next? Is it not a major feature of mega-cities to downplay indigeneship and promote diversity even while preserving cultural heritage? Was this not why and how Hilary Clinton could become a Senator from New York despite having never lived there, and offered “New Yorkers” unprecedented legislative service? Didn’t she become a New Yorker herself?

Now, to Lagos and the contribution of Igbos, or say, others generally, Can the south west singularly maintain the diverse market opportunity Lagos provides to potential and forever courting investors? Could the south west have fed Lagos with the economic boom and mega status it enjoys all alone? How many cities in the world of Lagos’ status attained such with culturally parochial mindset? Is it New York? Bombay? Tokyo? Shangai? Seoul? Delhi? Mumbai? A first glance at those cities will show how much all of them have one thing in common; their openness to diversity and accommodating culture, where legitimate immigrants can come in, belong, and contribute to economic growth. We all know that the contributions of the Sage Obafemi Awolowo to south west development cannot be underplayed or matched by any other statesman

(I stand to be corrected), but again, after then what? If the south westerners were such geniuses at single handedly feeding cities with mega population and turning them around to socio-economic hubs, then why has Ibadan, despite all Awo’s efforts, gone to sleep? Where is Abeokuta in the hierarchy of commerce? Then Akure, Ife, Ijebu, Oshogbo, Ilesha, Idanre, Akoko and many others? Why have they not all become another Lagos? Truth be told, NO MEGACITY ever REMAINS solely for indigenes, except it chooses to sacrifice such status, not even Kano’s economy was developed solely by Northerners, how much more almighty Lagos. So Fani’s claim that “…The Igbo had little to do with the extraordinary development of Lagos between 1880 right up until today. That is a fact. Other than Ajegunle, Computer Town, Alaba and buying up numerous market stalls in Isale Eko, where is their input?..” is totally baseless and is borne out of either sheer prejudice, intentional hate, or outright ignorance, which puts to question his so called “sound Cambridge historian” intellect. He even goes ahead to insult our intelligence by calling it a fact!

Have we also considered that a Wole Soyinka, Tunde Fashola, Bola Tinubu, Femi Okunnu, and many others with more direct stake, if they responded to Kalu, would have done so with deeper maturity? (Based on antecedents, your choice to disagree), if you agree, would this not be because they are probably more socially responsible? Would FFK have also said these exact things if he was still in government or position of responsibility? In plain terms, Fani-Kayode’s ramblings are purely hypocritical and irresponsible!
Having said that, I believe the true Lagos Igbos know and appreciate the fact that Lagos is NOT a “no-man’s” land, that is why there is an Eze-Ndigbo, who pays homage to the Oba of Lagos, that is why there are white cap chiefs, and traditional Lagos families like Kosoko, Dosunmu, Oniru, Etti, Olumegbon, etcetera. But then, I think the Igbos also have the right to ask for a sense of belongingness in a city where they are an integral part of socio-economic activity. For God’s sake, even Lebanese and Chinese lay claim to being “Lagosians”! Does that also mean they want to reclaim Lagos from the Oba?? Absolutely No! But that is the beauty of a city like Lagos, diversity and openness.

So therefore, our focus should be on educating the Orji Kalus of this world, putting them in their rightful place on the mat (where other respected statesmen sit on high tables), and shutting them up with more civil write-ups! Not ego-filled and boastful claims of intellectual astuteness like Fani-Kayode, when his so called writings lack depth and defies basic understanding of economics and sociology, talk less of history, and attempt to further fan the embers of ethnic hate by opening old wounds and insulting an entire race.

Long Live Lagos. And long live Nigeria.

My Personal Ode to HUGO CHAVEZ: A Lesson for Africa, A Shame to "American Consensus"!

In as much as I am an ardent believer in Modern liberalism, representative democracy, and free market economy with not-more-than-neccessary government intervention as the best forms of social, political and economic ideologies. I cannot however deny my admiration for Hugo Chavez and his socialist policies.

The lifes and times of Hugo Chavez should be a great lesson to many other leaders in the world, especially Africa, where the priority of myopic leaders is to enrich their pockets, impoverish their people, create illiteracy, hunger, and sacrifice their countries' future on the alter of pro-Americanism.

Africa is blessed, or cursed with mediocre leaders who are quick to satisfy western egos, enrich western economies with our oil wealth, and invest in production and capital in the west with stolen money from mother Africa, all at the expense of their people's posperity and even right to existence.

From Mugabe, to Mobutu, Idi Amin, Sanni Abacha, Gnassingbe Eyadema, Robert Mugabe, Modibo Keita, Olusegun Obasanjo, Ahmed Sekou Toure, Ibrahim Babangida, Omar Bongo, the list of African tyrants goes on and on and on. Individuals unworthy of leading small groups have assumed national leaderships in Africa, and contributed to the abject impoverishment of their nations, turning the blessings of Africa's resources into her curses. These shameless rulers who spend all their time in power stealing unprintable amounts of wealth are always so quick to please western powers, until ofcourse they fall out of favour, and alas become toppled, murdered, or disgraced out of office through pressures from various quarters or the bullet.

Once upon a time when leaders like Hugo Chavez rise from small sized nations and leave their footprints on the hearts of mankind, friends and foes alike, we owe it to posterity to salute such men and document their achievements. Chavez displayed unprecedented courage in his anti western ideas, and proved to the world that nations can bring their citizens out of poverty without neccessarily acting as western "ass-kissers". Chavez questioned status quo in a largely uni-polar world order, and proved that  the "American consensus" approach to socio-economic policy wasn't always the best or only option to follow.

Despite an overwhelming influence on the people and the polity, Chavez conducted and won elections, introduced constitutional reforms and subjected them to referendum, and above all, he accepted the results of these processes.

While he is not a perfect leader, as no one is, we can safely agree that Chavez was able to shut the mouths of his most powerful western adversaries by delivering quality, measurable leadership to his ordinary citizens.

To make it simple, Hugo Rafeal Chavez bettered the life of his citizens, especially the poor.

Below are a summary of some of the achievements of this tremendously remarkable man.

1. REDUCTION OF POVERTY

During the administration of the Bolivarian Government led by President Hugo Chávez, the extreme poverty rate significantly fell from 42% in 1998 to 9.5%. This result allowed Venezuela to achieve in advance this UN Millennium Goal. General poverty was also significantly reduced, from 50.5% in 1998 to 33.4% in 2008.

Venezuela's Human Development Index also increased from a 0.69 (medium development) in 1998 to 0.84 (high development) in 2008. Currently, Venezuela ranks 67 out of 179 countries according to the 2008 UNDP report.

Venezuela's Gini coefficient fell to 0.4099, the lowest in the country's history and in Latin America. In 1998 it was 0.4865.

2. ACCESS TO EDUCATION

In 2005, Venezuela achieved the goal set by UNESCO to declare a country an illiteracy-free territory; 96% of adults and elders know how to read and write. But we are still working and 99.6% of the population over the age of 15 is now literate.

Currently, the Venezuelan state spends 7% of the GDP on education, compared to 3.9% of Venezuela's GDP in 1998. Without including the socialist missions (social programs), school enrolment was 6.2 million students in 1998; now it is 7.5 million students both in public and private schools.

The socialist missions, created as an initiative of President Chávez to look after the population excluded from the formal educative system, show the following statistics:

a. Mission Robinson II: 437,171 students, including 81,000 indigenous students, have graduated.

b. Mission Ribas: 510,585 students have graduated.

c. Mission Sucre: 571,917 Venezuelans are in the higher education system in 24 programs (career), in 334 different municipalities. 30,000 students have graduated from seven programs: education, environmental management, social management of local development, journalism, management, computer science, and agro-food production.

3. ACCESS TO HEALTH

Venezuela invests 4.2% of its GDP in health and it continues deepening strategies to guarantee Venezuelans free access to health with the creation of the social programs Barrio Adentro I-II-III and IV. Up to 2009, Barrio Adentro has made the following achievements:

a. 24,884,567 Venezuelans, that is to say 88.9% of the population, benefit from this mission.

b. 630,491 Venezuelan lives have been saved thanks to this mission.

c. Barrio Adentro has inaugurated: 6,531 popular health centers, 479 Integral Diagnosis Centers, 543 Integral Rehabilitation Centers, 26 High Technology Centers, 13 popular clinics, 459 popular opticians and 3019 locations offering medical and dental care.

The public health policies developed by the Bolivarian Government have managed to reduce the children mortality rate (children under 5 years) to 13.7%. In 1990 this figure was 25.8%.

4. SOCIAL SECURITY

Unemployment has been reduced by 50% during President Chávez’s administration, falling from 12% to 6.1% by early 2009.

In May 2007, the Venezuelan minimum wage became the highest in Latin America (US$372). In addition, workers receive a monthly bonus for food amounting to over US$139. Also, pensions have been increased to the minimum wage.

5. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

The Venezuelan economy has experienced 20 consecutive quarters of growth. The year 2004 stands out with an historical growth of 18.3%. The 2008 rate of growth was 4.9%. Our economy has grown by 526.98% compared to the Venezuelan economy in 1998.

Venezuela has the fourth largest economy in Latin America after Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.

6. FOOD SOVEREIGNTY

In order to guarantee the country's food security and sovereignty, the Bolivarian Government created Mission Food, whose aim is to offer basic foodstuffs to the Venezuelan population at low prices and without intermediaries. This initiative materialized with the creation of a network of storing centers and stores (Mercal, PDVAL, ASA, FUNDAPROAL, and silos, among others).

In 1998, Venezuela produced 16,272,000 tons of vegetables. By 2008, Venezuela managed to produce 20,174,000 tons of food. This represents a 24% increase.

7. PUBLIC DEBT

The public debt dropped from 73.5% of the GDP in 1998 to 14.4% in 2008, placing the national deficit as one of

the lowest in the World.

In 1998, a debt of $3 billion was paid off to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and to the World Bank (WB).

8. INTERNATIONAL RESERVES

By early 1999, the International Reserves amounted to US$14.3 billion. In January 2009, they amount to US$41.9 billion.

9. TECHNOLOGY SOVEREIGNTY

Before the Bolivarian government, there was practically no investment in science and technology. Today, 2.69% of Venezuela's GDP is aimed at science and technology.

With the creation of the Infocentros (centres of information) and the National Technological Literacy Plan, the access of the population to

information and communication technologies was boosted.

On October 29, 2008, Venezuela launched the Simón Bolívar Satellite from the Sichuan's Satellite Center in the People's Republic of China. It is operative and the Venezuelan state has taken control. Satellite services will be offered to thousands of communities all around Venezuela, and beyond our borders in other Latin American and Caribbean countries, with tele-education and telemedicine programs.

The consolidation of Venezuela's technological sovereignty also includes the nationalization of the main, strategic, telephone company, Venezuela's National Company of Telephones (CANTV, Spanish acronym).

10. ELIMINATION OF GENDER INEQUALITY

Gender equality adds to the achievements of the Venezuelan society. Women’s participation in Communal Centers is 60%; 4 out of the 5 Public Powers are headed by women. The women's presence in the National Assembly (Venezuelan parliament) increased from 10% to 16.5%.

(The 10 points enumerated here are Excerpts From the Venezuelan solidarity campaign)

A good study of Chavez's life will show the painful obvious fact that some of us will gladly sacrifice our leaders for a day to have the leadership styles of Hugo Chavez!

Rest in Peace the "Bolivarian" General!

(Ayo Bankole Akintujoye, Lagos Nigeria, March 2013)

EXCLUSIVE NEWS: Dangote Now World’s 43rd Richest Man

EXCLUSIVE NEWS: Dangote Now World’s 43rd Richest Man


With a net worth of $16.1bn as of March 2013, the President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, has moved up in the latest world richest ranking to number 43 from 76 in 2012.

According to the list which was released on Monday by Forbes, Dangote and the Chairman of Globalom, Dr. Mike Adenuga were the only Nigerians on the list.

Dangote, 55, however, retained his position as the richest man in Africa and the richest among manufacturers in the world with a net worth of $16.1bn.

Adenuga, 59, on the other hand, ranked 269 on the list with a net worth of $4.7bn.

The world billionaires, list presented Carlos Slim Helu, a Mexican as the world richest man with a net worth of $73bn, while Bill Gates of United States came second with a net worth of the $67bn.

Others are Armancio Ortega of Spain ($57bn); Warren Buffet, United States ($53.5bn); and Larry Ellison of US with $43bn net worth, coming third, fourth and fifth, respectively.

Forbes said, “To compile net worths, we value individuals’ assets, including stakes in public and private companies, real estate, yachts, art and cash – and account for debt.

“We attempt to vet these numbers with all billionaires. Some cooperate; others don’t. We also consult an array of outside experts in various fields.”

The past year has been eventful for Dangote. In October, he sold off a controlling stake in his flour milling company to Tiger Brands of South Africa and pocketed $190m in cash.

In February, his Dangote Sugar Refineries acquired a 95 per cent stake in Savannah Sugar in a bid to maintain its dominant position in the Nigerian sugar industry.

Dangote started building his fortune more than three decades ago when he began trading in commodities like cement, flour and sugar with a loan he received from his maternal uncle.

He delved into full production of these items in the early 2000s and went on to build the Dangote Group, West Africa’s largest publicly-listed conglomerate, which now owns sugar refineries, salt processing facilities and Dangote Cement.

Source: Punch Nigeria