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NNPC And The Road Task Scheme

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What do we call the recent story about the federal executive council (FEC) approving N621.2 billion for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) to take over the reconstruction of 21 federal roads across the six geopolitical zones of the country? Misplaced priority? Another drain pipe? Or what?  As usual, a beautiful story was coined and sold to Nigerians to make them see reasons with the plan. The interesting tale is that the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) had decried the loss of its members and property to dilapidated roads — but NNPC appealed to the union to shelve the planned strike and accepted to rebuild some roads.
The Executive Order No. 007 signed by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2019, was latched on by the NNPC to embark on the construction of 21 roads across the country. E07 of 2019 or “the scheme”, according to records is a strategic intervention under the Federal Government Road Infrastructure and Refreshment Tax Credit Scheme which allows the private sector to deploy in advance the taxes they would pay for infrastructure development. While some people criticised the initiative, others have applauded it, saying it will bring about speedy infrastructural development in the country.
But the purpose of this article is not to examine the pros and cons of Executive Order No. 007. My concern is rather why the national oil company should dabble into road construction when it has not delivered on its primary responsibility of ensuring energy security in the country. Currently, none of the nation’s four refineries is working. Sometime last year, the government announced for the umpteenth time that the refineries would soon come back to life. The Minister of State for Petroleum, Timipre Sylva, specifically told the nation that the Port Harcourt refinery would become operational again before the end of the year.
That was never to be. Some days back, yet another promise was made. This time around the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited, Mele Kyari, stated that the facility had been completed and that operations at the 60,000 barrels per day refinery would commence in the first quarter of 2023. No thanks to the Russian/Ukrainian war, many oil producing countries have become richer as the war has resulted in the increased price of oil in the international market. But here, in Nigeria, we have gained nothing. Instead, we are suffering even more than those that are not blessed with crude oil because our refineries are not working. We have to export our crude oil and import the refined product at a very high
Fuel scarcity has become almost a permanent thing  in many parts of the country. In the Federal Capital Territory for instance, there has not been a whole month of lack of fuel since February last year. Currently, the situation in the FCT is very precarious. People spend hours/days at petrol stations struggling to get the product for their daily uses. Even in the states where there is no scarcity, the price of the commodity is way above the approved pump price. In some places, it is sold for as high as N300.00 per liter at the filling stations. Owners of filling stations now seem to be at liberty to fix whatever prices they like for the product.
The big question is, since NNPC is so buoyant, why don’t they fix the refineries so that importation of fuel will stop and Nigerians can have petrol in their cars without hassles? Meanwhile, the same NNPC, now a limited liability company, is reported not to have made any remittances into the federation account from revenues generated for several months now, blaming it on billions paid as a shortfall for the importation of petrol (subsidy). Again, since under the watch of the NNPC, even with the president as the Minister for Petroleum, the nation’s refineries have remained non-functional for many years, what is the assurance that the roads they will construct will work?
What will be the quality of these roads? Will this not go the way of other government projects in the country where one project is budgeted for almost every year with outrageous sums of money released, yet there will be little or nothing to show for it? Who will monitor these projects to ensure compliance with the best standard? As some people have also rightly asked, is the NNPC now so free to dip its hands into the nation’s oil revenue and use funds generated for the nation and expend the funds to build roads rather than paying it into the nation’s account and allowing the Federal Ministry of Works to perform its constitutional role?
Some valid concerns have also been raised about the spread of the projects across the various geopolitical zones in the country. According to the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, nine of the selected projects will be in north-central, three in north-east, two in north-west, two in south-east, three in south-south, and two in south-west. Is there any reason why one zone will have nine of its roads constructed while another zone will get only two?  What is the rationale behind it? Those that should know have always posited that the cost of road construction in the Southern part of the country far outweighs that of the north because of the topography of the regions and other environmental factors. The same goes with the durability of the roads.
It therefore should have been expected that the southern part of the country, particularly the South- South should have been considered more in the allocation of the project or better still, let every zone get equal attention. Yes, almost every part of the country has some death traps called roads but some are worse than the others. For instance the Enugu/Makurdi/Abuja road is in a very sorry state and it is shocking not to see it among the roads to be handled by the benevolent NNPC. Any reasonable person that plies this road would wonder how an important road that links the South-East with the North and vice versa should be allowed to deteriorate so much.
From Otukpa, Benue State down to Obollo Afor Enugu State, the road is a no, no. The worst spots are Inyi and Amala Egashi, Enugu State. The coal tar on these portions of the road had since been completely washed out and the road had turned deep gullies. You ply the road with your heart in your mouth, seeing heavy duty vehicles and trailers drive through the gullies with their loads. Nigeria is in dire need of unity and those in authority both now and in the future should be seen to be championing the course of a united country through appointment of people into government offices, allocation of projects and many more.
All this lopsidedness in the affairs of government, favouring one particular region or tribe at the detriment of others can only fuel the cry for marginalization and deny the country the much needed peace and unity. Most importantly, NNPC should first of all tackle the issue of the crisis in the energy sector in the country – oil theft, non-functional refineries, fuel scarcity, corruption and many more, before talking of constructing roads. Again, the Road Infrastructure and Refreshment Tax Credit Scheme of the federal government may be a good idea but considering the level of corruption and insincerity in the country, will it yield the best result?

By; Calista Ezeaku

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Opinion

NYSC And 50 Years Of National Unity, Cohesion

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The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has become one of the most revered Federal Government-established schemes that has done the country proud in all respects. It was created by Decree No 24 of May 22, 1973, promulgated by the military regime of the then head of state, Gen Yakubu Gowon,”to keep Nigeria one.” The scheme was primarily conceptualised to strengthen the national cohesion and integration, so that the already fractured nation could be more bonded in all spheres. Without being immodest, NYSC has helped to revitalise the affinity among diverse nationalities of the Nigerian nation and bolstered the values of respect for the culture, religions and customs being practised by each of the ethnic groups.
Though there might be some hiccups in the operations of the scheme since inception, it has relatively lived up to its biddings in some noticeable aspects of our national life. The country can not forget the pivotal roles played by NYSC in managing the post traumatic stress disorder suffered by some Nigerian citizens during the post civil war era. Since then, the NYSC  had been a  leveller, creating balance across the multi-ethnic Nigerian nation and sending a strong signal that Nigerians are brothers regardless of the noticeable difference in our culture, customs, religions, creeds and political leanings. It has been a spiralling binding force, warding off the cankerworms of mutual distrust, suspicion, class differences, hatred, superiority and inferiority complexes, and all manners of social malaise serving as tremors quaking the country’s foundation since its independence in 1960.
Besides unity, economic prosperity of nation is vital to the survival and wellbeing of its citizens. Under this context, the NYSC scheme has been a strong weapon providing employment for countless Nigerian professionals from all respectable fields of human endeavours. Many of the graduate participants are employed into public and private sectors, thereby rejigging the economy and making it more responsive. Thousands of participants deployed in many states, had got the opportunities of securing permanent jobs after the expiration of their service years. In many developing economies, rural-urban drift had always been the most economic challenge confronting them. But with the advent of NYSC, government has been able to stem the tide to a large extent.
A vivid dissection of how the scheme was being prosecuted connoted the fact that bulk of the participants is deployed in the rural areas. With this, government at all levels has focused attention on the development of the rural sector, so that the corps members can be more comfortable to serve and live among the rural dwellers. The scheme also serves as a unique opportunity for training for leadership. Opportunity is given to corps members to become self-disciplined and capable of becoming future reliable leaders of the country. In fact, the conduct of the scheme is designed to infuse discipline and self-reliance in the participants. Good leadership would without no doubt help a country to achieve socio-economic advancement, all things being equal.
This is because the kernel of the scheme is to ensure that the participating graduate youths are self reliant, disciplined, and responsible and to nurture the true spirit of nationalism. However, in spite of the myriad of benefits inherent in the scheme, it has been confronted with a lot of snags. The challenges of kidnappings, killings, insurgency, social unrest and banditry being experienced, coupled with religious and ethnic strife, propelled agitations in many quarters that the scheme should be scrapped. A copious example was the 2011 general elections’ gory events of killings and maiming of many corps members in some states in the country due to spontaneous violence that dogged the presidential polls of that year.
Many of the participants had also fallen victims of kidnappings and carnages on roads, thereby portraying the scheme as gradually outliving its usefulness. Another devastating trend is the lukewarm and unreceptive attitudes and dispositions being exhibited by participants to their posting to some certain parts of the country, due to pervasive social mistrust that is gaining traction in the country. Unlike in the past, when corps members preferred to be posted to other parts of the country, so that they could go get familiar with their culture, customs and nuances, such spirit is gradually fading out and threatening the potency of the scheme and viability to live up to the buildings of helping to foster relationship, oneness, togetherness, unity and integration across the country.
This forms part of the agitations that the scheme should be phased out or made optional.
A critical analysis of the pros and cons of the NYSC scheme since inception shows that its benefits actually outshine its demerits. I share the humble opinion that the scheme should be fortified rather than scrapped, as is being agitated by some interests. The government should look for ways to introduce leadership training, skill and entrepreneurial training into the programme to be able to confront  the current economic reality of today. To further serve as a boost to the scheme, the Federal Government should establish small scale businesses that can make participants really self-reliant after their compulsory one year service to the nation.
This remains one of the ways to bolster the interest of Nigerians in the scheme and cut down agitations that it should be scrapped or made optional. In conclusion, NYSC in the last 50 years has been a strong instrument of national integration and cohesion. It has helped to strengthen our togetherness. I give kudos to our past heroes who conceptualised this lofty idea in their intention to invigorate Nigerians’ patriotic spirit. And I believe that, for the labour of these past heroes not to be in vain, the best the current government owes them is to sustain the scheme and make it more responsive in the discharge of its duties for national stability.

By: Dalimore Aluko

Aluko is an online media contributor.

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Opinion

Failed System And “The Will Of God” Proponents

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The 2023 General Elections have been conducted, (barring reschedules and post-election petition tribunals outcomes), but the unpleasant euphoria it generated across the country, will not be forgotten in a hurry. In fact,  it will be  chronicled in the political history of Nigeria, the “Giant of Africa” that it is ironically one of the most ‘successful’ elections ever held. It is an election that  seems to dent the credibility of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as tongues wagged on the conduct of the elections. Sadly, this is happening against multiple assurances by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on her commitment to conducting  a free, fair and transparent technology-driven elections in the country.
With several billions of tax-payers’ money, allocated to the Commission for purchase of materials for the conduct and seamless transmission of election results, the performance of the Commission  in the considered judgment of several Nigerians, is an assault on the sensibility of the electorate. What is baffling about the election is that key political figures across the country accused of masterminding alleged compromise of the process, tacitly lend support to the public outcry of rape of people’s will, through their public statement and comments on the elections. To several people, the outcome of the elections was an “open wound, truth only can heal it”, borrowing the words of Othman Dan Fodio, the Fulani patriarch. The outcome has generated controversial philosophies and sentiment from the Nigerian public, including the clerics.
One of such philosophies is “The will of God Philosophy”. Considering the outrage on the suspected flawed general elections, with the attendant loss of lives and property, how logical it is to assert that the outcome of the elections is the architecture of God for Nigeria—a predominantly religious country. If that sentiment is anything to go by, that would imply that God supports “the end justifying the means” philosophy. That would mean God approved human’s flawed and inordinate ambition to achieve an end. Should God hold humans accountable for taking life, hijacking a process, and fostering a bleak future for a nation of over 200 million people through the actions and inactions of a comparatively insignificant population.
Bad leaders are a function of the people’s choice, not exclusively God’s. God allows leaders for a people according to who the people are. If a people are corrupt or love corruption, depraved in morals God gives them leaders according to who the people really are. God called Nebuchadnezzar “my servant,” because he was to serve God for an “ignoble” purpose of punishing Israel for their idol worship. After using Nebuchadnezzar as a “king of kings”, God humiliated him. God should not be associated with evil because He is light, thus the nature of God is repugnant to evil. We should not postulate that a faulty process can translate to a glorious outcome under God. Paul’s argument against the theories of Determinism and Machiavelli is “if our unrighteousness advances the purpose of God, why will God punish an offender or culprit for wrong doing?”
God is Omni-benevolent (Wholly Good) in nature, so should not be associated with evil and mischief. There were reports across the country that overzealous and financially induced loyalists of some party stalwarts deprived some eligible voters from voting candidates of their choice. The action partly accounted for the voter-apathy or the abjectly poor turnout of voters compared to the Presidential and National Assembly Elections. Would God approve the gruesome murder of political rivals or perceived opponent to access power or public office? In my considered view, the answer is No. We should not associate God with unacceptable, unethical and morally debasing practices and processes of governance.
However, God can permit or allow a person to emerge a leader through a faulty process. That does not suggest that God supported the process or approved of the person. Several instances abound,  no doubt, God by his unrelated attribute of Omniscience knows who should be where and when, but God may not be directly involved or approve all the processes that brought about the emergence of all such person. Man is a free will creature and God respects the will of people in decision taking even on who should lead them, hence God declares: Behold I set before you blessing and curse, life and death but I desire that you choose life. This implies that life is more of a function of choice. It is also a function of  God and human’s symbiotic relationship.
It requires Divine and human partnership for God’s perfect will to  play out. Even in the case of God’s perfect will ( like Saul’s) rejection is inevitable if man fails to obey God. That God allows evil or anormaly to hold sway does not mean he approved of it. A time will come when evil and its perpetrators will be accountable to God for their actions and inactions. And they will receive their rewards both in this world and the world to come. It was in view of this stark reality that Daniel Webster said, the greatest truth that had crossed his mind was his “accountability to God”. Everyone in all ages will certainly give account of what they did in life. Knowing this, it behoves humans to have a “conscience void of offence before God and man”.
We can not use the “will of God” to justify an exceedingly ugly political incidents in the country.The ideal will of God is peace, not evil for Nigeria. If we construe every event and human action as the will of God then let us make no effort to drive positive change over failed system. We should stop complaining of bad leadership and stop praying against the course of events that do not favour us as a nation. God’s will is a better Nigeria-a product of servant leadership under him.

By: Igbiki Benibo

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Opinion

 Lies And The Iraqi War, 20 Years On

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There is no gainsaying the fact that our beloved country, Nigeria, is currently in a high-octane dysfunction. Some might argue that it is because  of the kind of  President we have; but my own argument would be that President Muhammadu Buhari has never been anything different since he took the oath of office on May 29, 2015. In truth, the current dysfunction  is not unconnected to the various theaters of war across the country,  and we must know that President Buhari allowed this ferment.

The mendacity of 2015 and what Nigeria has become today, even as the unraveling continues is a near parallel to the lies that George Bush and Tony Blair told the world two decades ago. It was almost a year and six months after the September 11 attacks, and America was looking for an avenue to reassert itself. It knew that the intelligence was wrong, yet it was packaged and sold to its allies, including the British. Even though, then Prime Minister, Tony Blair did not see hard evidence, he joined the allied forces and took the British to Iraq.

At that time, Tony Blair was heard saying: “I only know what I believe.” Many may have wondered what he meant by that statement. For some, it was an appeal to the heart; while for others, it was a political sleight-of-hand, a simple way of saying, I have no concrete evidence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq. During the same period, we were also fed with such nonsensical statement accredited to the then Secretary of Defence of the US, Donald Rumsfeld, during a news briefing, he said: “There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we know we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we do not know.”

In the period leading to the launch of the war on March 19, 2003, the Arab League voiced its opposition to the war in very strong terms. In fact, in retrospect, it was as if the leaders of the Arab League were gazing at a crystal ball when they declared that “invading Iraq would open the gates of hell.” Indeed, after 20 years, and counting, that gate has become a gaping hole that continues to consume vital resources that could have been deployed in other ventures, and most of the crises in the Middle East could be traced to the fallout of the Iraq war.

It is now an open secret that Iraq was invaded on specious intelligence which was primarily sourced from a defector referred to as Curveball, who was also an alcoholic. The events of the last two decades have been tumultuous for the world and the Middle East, but particularly for the Iraqi people, even though one of the core arguments of Bush and Blair made for war on Iraq was for the betterment of the Iraqis – freeing them from the grip of a despot. Yes, Sadam Hussein was removed, however at an awful cost: about 300,000 lives, according to one estimate. Sadly, most of the casualties are Iraqi civilians.

Since 2003, so much has happened due to the leadership vacuum created at the heart of the Middle East with the fall of Saddam Hussein. In Iraq, ethnic and tribal sentiments and mistrust have crippled every government, and as a result, the present government is unable to provide something as basic as water. But then, we have seen major problems like the rise of ISIS and the Caliphate, and the impasse in Syria after President Asad killed thousands of his people without a clear resolution and action from the United Nations; and not leaving out the resultant northward migration of Arab youths to Europe.

Even Nigeria has not been spared from the ripple effects of the bad decision of Bush and Blaire because ISIS has gained a foothold in Nigeria. For instance, a December 2022 article on The Africa Report had the following caption: “Nigeria 2023: ISIS make inroads in Nigeria ahead of elections, says the report. But, the first paragraph of the article was more telling, and it reads: “The ISIS-backed Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP) had a “successful year” in Nigeria in 2022, carrying out attacks in the capital, Abuja; Kano; Kaduna; and setting up bases in and around Niger State, according to a report by a Nigerian based intelligence research consultancy, SBM Intelligence.”

As you already know, aside from natural causes, the 2022 flood inclusive, Boko Haram, ISIS and of course rogue Fulani herdsmen are the reason why Nigerian is in a food security crisis. Farmers are unable to cultivate their lands, while those who manage to cultivate their lands are unable to go back to the farms for harvest. Reports have it that in some cases, most farming communities have been  sacked to the point of no return. Even though Nigeria was not a member of the United Nations Security Council in 2003, and it is not a member currently, one might ask if our voice was heard in the Committee of Nations opposing the Bush and Blaire rascality. Honestly, I am in doubt if we took a position; or, if we even had the political finesse to play our part as the largest black nation on earth, and the so-called giant of Africa.

For too long, we have stood on the sidelines of history, and international epochs due to our perpetual babyhood. We have allowed international trouble to show up at our doorstep, even when we have no hand in it, but because we lack the clarity to make the right decision, and to take timely actions. The political significance and the full ramifications of the events of the past two decades are a kettle of fish still on fire. But the world, and Nigeria in particular, seem to have learned no lessons from the unholy cocktail of so-called expert advice and political massaging. This much was made plain at the peak of the COVID-19 Pandemic; the experts sent the world into a lockdown without any real scientific proof that the approach would stem the spread of the virus.

But, it did not stop there. Major global leaders used their platforms to spread fear, especially in Africa. For instance, Melinda Gates was on CNN when she mentioned that the developing world would be hit the hardest, making particular reference to Africa. Some might have forgotten her actual words, but thank God for the news media and the internet that never forgets. She said: “It’s going to be horrible in the developing world.

“Part of the reasons you are seeing the case numbers still do not look very bad, is because they do not have access to many tests. Look at what is happening in Ecuador, they are putting bodies out on the streets, you are going to see that in countries in Africa.”Her projections were preposterous; yet when it did not materialise, African countries were accused of not having accurate data. Fortunately, the truth remains that; compared to our population of 1.2 billion people in Africa both the infection rate and the death from the covid-19 pandemic were infinitesimal.Another major case of global group thinking and disinformation is coming from the World Economic Forum, and other global institutions, especially in the issue regarding global warming and what should be done to curtain it. As it is, if most of the advanced ideas are implemented, global GDP would fall, and the negative impact will be more on developing countries like Nigeria.

As I look through the prism of time, and the lies that have been told over and over again by global leaders in the wake of the Iraqi war twenty years on, I am saddened that black Africa especially has not found its own voice. We are still fed crumbs of information in the event of a global crisis that might not be in our best interest. We need to wake up!

By:  Raphael Pepple

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