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Premabiri Rice Project: Reflections
The issues about closure of Nigerian borders with neighbouring countries, for economic and security purpose, have been generating mixed reactions and misgivings by various people and interest groups. One major or visible effect of the border closure policy is the rising cost of food items, particularly rice.
Reasons necessitating the border closure are quite valid on the long-run, but the biting effects on the population raise humanitarian question.
Someone gave a humorous parable that if in an effort to encourage your children to learn how to roast corn, your house gets burnt down, then, such project makes no economic or security sense. But border closure has no basis for comparison with roasting of corn. However, managing the affairs of a nation demands the application of three vital management principles, namely: efficiency, effectiveness and continuity (EEC principles).
Efficiency has to do with internal organizational cohesion arising from sound division of labour, cooperation, motivation, accountability and speed and economy in the accomplishment of tasks. These would demand a clear road map. Effectiveness is determined by the ability to accomplish objectives as planned, coupled with the quality of services and level of satisfaction derived by those being served. These are achievable by the installation and operation of adequate control measures. Continuity is the ability to remain stable and grow, because people happy.
What determines the happiness and cooperation of people in a management process is largely the level of transparency, accountability and sense of responsibility exhibition by a management team. Wherever those taking on the duty of managing the affairs of a nation are seen to deviate from the rules of transparency, accountability and responsibility, then, the cooperation and patriotism of the masses would dwindle.
In the case of management public affairs in Nigeria, there is an obvious loss of confidence in the psyche of the masses towards the leadership. If nobody has had the sincerity to state this fact in public, the reason is that people are afraid to says the truth. Wherever the masses are afraid to say the truth but resort to flattery because it pays to do so, what results is a slow decline.
Once upon a time when Rivers State included current Bayelsa State, there was an agriculture project involving the production of rice in large scale, in Peremabiri located in Bayelsa State. Conception of the project was noble and full of good intentions, including the creation of job opportunities and food for the masses. Feasibility study was undertaken by some zealous and expert authorities, vast area of land acquired for the purpose, and personnel trained and hired. There were great expectation!
Today, the memory of the Peremabiri Rice Project evokes not only sadness but mockery as well. Sadness, because it was a failed project, despite the initial enthusiasm, expectations and huge revenue invested therein, Mockery arose from the fact that some cynical persons right from the initial stage predicted a possible failure of the project. Failure of the Peremaabiri Rice Project, for those cynical persons, became a self-fulfilled prophecy. What the cynics foresaw came to pass.
What would be of vital interest to the reading public in this article, include what the cynical persons saw earlier which made them to predict a possible failure of the Peremabiri affair. In a situation where foreign agricultural experts were brought to Rivers State, kept in Hotel Olympia and other 5-Star hotels, with bills running into million of naira, the cynics kept watchful eyes.
Were they wrong to predict that gains made from the rice project in the first four years would go into payment of hotel bills?
Obviously, within Nigeria, there are local experts in race cultivation business. Hiring some of such local rice farmers to pass on their experiences and skills, to boost the Peremabiri project would have reduced costs considerably. They would not have been lodged in S-Star hotels but would gladly have lived with Peremabiri indigenes. A Local Content Policy can be interpreted and meant to include the identification and effective utilisation of locally available talents, abilities and resources. We know how patriotic our elites are in the encouragement and consumption of what products that are available with us, locally.
It was quite instructive, interesting but really shocking, listening to what a PhD student under my supervision had to say about what he meant by “kill and divide” culture in Nigerian business and political affairs. It is like saying: “You provide the fire and I would provide the sacrifice.” With regards to doing business in Nigeria, the “Kill-and-divide culture translates into the mechanism of corrupt practices, whereby one person provides the contract, and another does the dark deals.
These are well known facts, even though some people would pretend not to be aware that sharp and unethical practices have resulted in the killing of state-sponsored projects and the dividing of the spoil arising there from. Therefore, what became of the Peremabiri Rice Project would not be different from the fate of other failed projects also.
We had Rubber Estates, Oil-palm Estates, Brewing and Bottling Companies, Fisheries and Banana Farms, Fibre Boat Building Companies and made attempt to establish a business estate in Ahoada, what happened to all these projects?
The cynical persons whose prophesy about Peremabiri Rise Project became a reality, would tell us that the “kill-and-divide” culture accounts for why we have failed projects in Nigeria. With all good intentions, border closure would throw up a few people who would turn it into a failed project.
Why so? The EEC Principles in management can give us some answers.
Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminialayi Fubara, has dissolved the State Executive Council.
The governor announced the cabinet dissolution yesterday in a statement titled ‘Government Special Announcement’, signed by his new Chief Press Secretary, Onwuka Nzeshi.
Governor Fubara directed all Commissioners and Special Advisers to hand over to the Permanent Secretaries or the most Senior officers in their Ministries with immediate effect.
He thanked the outgoing members of the State Executive Council for their service and wished them the best in their future endeavours.
The three-paragraph special announcement read, “His Excellency, Sir Siminalayi Fubara, GSSRS, Governor of Rivers State, has dissolved the State Executive Council.
“His Excellency, the Governor, has therefore directed all Commissioners and Special Advisers to hand over to the Permanent Secretaries or the most Senior officers in their Ministries with immediate effect.
“His Excellency further expresses his deepest appreciation to the outgoing members of the Executive Council wishing them the best in their future endeavours.”
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) yesterday told the National Assembly that it requires N873.78bn to conduct the 2027 general elections, even as it seeks N171bn to fund its operations in the 2026 fiscal year.
INEC Chairman, Prof Joash Amupitan, made the disclosure while presenting the commission’s 2026 budget proposal and the projected cost for the 2027 general elections before the National Assembly Joint Committee on Electoral Matters in Abuja.
According to Amupitan, the N873.78bn election budget covers the full conduct of national polls in 2027.
An additional N171bn is needed to support INEC’s routine activities in 2026, including bye-elections and off-season elections, the commission stated.
The INEC boss said the proposed election budget does not include a fresh request from the National Youth Service Corps seeking increased allowances for corps members engaged as ad-hoc staff during elections.
He explained that, although the details of specific line items were not exhaustively presented, the almost N1tn election budget is structured across five major components.
“N379.75bn is for operational costs, N92.32bn for administrative costs, N209.21bn for technological costs, N154.91bn for election capital costs and N42.61bn for miscellaneous expenses,” Amupitan said.
The INEC chief noted that the budget was prepared “in line with Section 3(3) of the Electoral Act 2022, which mandates the Commission to prepare its election budget at least one year before the general election.”
On the 2026 fiscal year, Amupitan disclosed that the Ministry of Finance provided an envelope of N140bn, stressing, however, that “INEC is proposing a total expenditure of N171bn.”
The breakdown includes N109bn for personnel costs, N18.7bn for overheads, N42.63bn for election-related activities and N1.4bn for capital expenditure.
He argued that the envelope budgeting system is not suitable for the Commission’s operations, noting that INEC’s activities often require urgent and flexible funding.
Amupitan also identified the lack of a dedicated communications network as a major operational challenge, adding that if the commission develops its own network infrastructure, Nigerians would be in a better position to hold it accountable for any technical glitches.
Speaking at the session, Senator Adams Oshiomhole (APC, Edo North) said external agencies should not dictate the budgeting framework for INEC, given the unique and sensitive nature of its mandate.
He advocated that the envelope budgeting model should be set aside.
He urged the National Assembly to work with INEC’s financial proposal to avoid future instances of possible underfunding.
In the same vein, a member of the House of Representatives from Edo State, Billy Osawaru, called for INEC’s budget to be placed on first-line charge as provided in the Constitution, with funds released in full and on time to enable the Commission to plan early enough for the 2027 general election.
The Joint Committee approved a motion recommending the one-time release of the Commission’s annual budget.
The committee also said it would consider the NYSC’s request for about N32bn to increase allowances for corps members to N125,000 each when engaged for election duties.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on INEC, Senator Simon Along, assured that the National Assembly would work closely with the Commission to ensure it receives the necessary support for the successful conduct of the 2027 general elections.
Similarly, the Chairman of the House Committee on Electoral Matters, Bayo Balogun, also pledged legislative support, warning INEC to be careful about promises it might be unable to keep.
He recalled that during the 2023 general election, INEC made strong assurances about uploading results to the INEC Result Viewing portal, creating the impression that results could be monitored in real time.
“iREV was not even in the Electoral Act; it was only in INEC regulations. So, be careful how you make promises,” Balogun warned.
The N873.78bn proposed by INEC for next year’s general election is a significant increase from the N313.4bn released to the Commission by the Federal Government for the conduct of the 2023 general election.
President Bola Tinubu yesterday expressed grief over the death of a former President of the Academic Staff Union of Universities and one of Africa’s foremost literary scholars, Professor Emeritus Biodun Jeyifo.
Jeyifo passed away on Wednesday, drawing tributes from across Nigeria and the global academic community.
In a condolence message to the family, friends, and associates of the late scholar, Tinubu in a statement by his spokesperson, Bayo Onanuga, described Jeyifo as a towering intellectual whose contributions to African literature, postcolonial studies, and cultural theory left an enduring legacy.
He noted that the late professor would be sorely missed for his incisive criticism and masterful interpretations of the works of Nobel laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka.
The President also recalled Jeyifo’s leadership of ASUU, praising the temperance, foresight, and wisdom he brought to the union over the years.
Tinubu said Jeyifo played a key role in shaping negotiation frameworks with the government aimed at improving working conditions for university staff and enhancing the learning environment in Nigerian universities.
According to the President, Professor Jeyifo’s longstanding advocacy for academic freedom and social justice will continue to inspire generations.
He added that the late scholar’s influence extended beyond academia into political and cultural journalism, where he served as a mentor to numerous scholars, writers, and activists.
Tinubu condoled with ASUU, the Nigerian Academy of Letters, the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism, the University of Ibadan, Obafemi Awolowo University, Oberlin University, Cornell University, and Harvard University—institutions where Jeyifo studied, taught, or made significant scholarly contributions.
“Nigeria and the global academic community have lost a towering figure and outstanding global citizen,” the President said.
“Professor Biodun Jeyifo was an intellectual giant who dedicated his entire life to knowledge production and the promotion of human dignity. I share a strong personal relationship with him. His contributions to literary and cultural advancement and to society at large will be missed.”
Jeyifo was widely regarded as one of Africa’s most influential literary critics and public intellectuals. Among several honours, he received the prestigious W.E.B. Du Bois Medal in 2019.
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