Lewis's Blog - Nigerian Issues! http://elpngr.com/blog2/ Commenting on the Nigerian Government actions which I believe are unsustainable en Copyright 2011 Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:53:18 -0100 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.2ysb5-20051201 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss The FG Ecomonic policy of Subsidy Removal - What about social and moral grounds? I believe it is morally wrong to remove the fuel subsidy when the Government has not taken any meaningful steps to alleviate poverty. Governance in todays world is more than rhetorics i.e telling people sweet words and knocking them on the head. The FG must take steps like setting in place tangible changes so the the rural and urban poor can have an alternative.
As I write there is evidence that any new refinery has been built or is in design to be built. As I write, the only alternative to kerosene for cooking is back to the woods; gas is being wasted when it can be easily purified and distributed to homes or bottled as an alternative.
The Nigerian economy is almost completely dependent on Petrol and Diesel with very minimal use of Gas and fuel oil. However, the poor depend on petrol to go the farm, to the market, for all social activities like parties (generator, cooking and all related activities for such parties), etc. There is no functional railway that can be used as an alternative.
The effect of the removal will hit the poor hardest. Some families will be devastated if you take N1000 out of their monthly income while the rich who the Government thinks they are targeting will not even be affected if you take a million naira out of their pocket. Afterall, they have other sources of income; some of them may potential be the contractors for the planned investment of the monies realised from the subsidy. Is it only in the fuel subsidy that money is being wasted, or is it just that anything that affects the poor considered to be waste? what about all the monies spent as security vote and unnecessary protocol for government officials, and baseless parties and inauguration ceremonies? are these not wastes. Can someone tell Nigerians how much is spent on security vote nationwide? or how much Estacode is paid to government officials or more still how much money is spent partying? What has the Government done to reduce the thieving in the Government work force? Is it not common knowledge that most projects awarded carry a 10% bribe element for the officials? I cannot show proof but every Nigerian can perceive it as the corrupt practices in Government contracts smells bad in the air.
In development parlance, there is the word call PRO-POOR policies. These are policies that seek to reduce the effect of government's drive for efficiency on the poor. This is why, Scotland produces the bulk of electricity but London (England) uses the biggest without incurring the cost of the transfer of the electricity across vast lands of Scotland to England. This also why even capitalist states still provide social security benefit in various forms to its citizens. The social safety nets as they are called include:
  • providing loans to all students going into tertiary institution and allowing them to pay back only after their earnings reach a threshold,
  • Providing medical insurance for all (Not only to civil servants and executives)
  • Providing a maximum daily limit for intra urban travels (in London, you pay about 3 to 4GBP max using your oyster card in mass transit buses)
  • Providing at least a meal a day for those who can't afford to put food on their table
  • Guaranteeing loans to property development agencies and allowing low income workers to get on the property ladder
  • Providing benefits to those who spend more than 10% of their income on fuel
  • etc
The Government though in denial needs to understand that every kobo you take out of a family will impact on other things like their ability to continue to send children to school, to feed children adequately and provide a clean environment for the family and reduce communicable diseases.
The FG just doesn't seem to see things from this angle, I cannot think of any short term project that it has embarked on which will benefit the a good number of poor people. Even the Federal civil servants who work in Abuja have barely any means to get home. For those who have been to Abuja, you will have noticed the huge numbers of govt. staff who gather around the eagle square struggling to get on the very few private buses. Some of them even spend 2hrs just to get a vehicle home. What does it cost a government to contract this service out to a private bus operating company with a performance criteria that will bring comfort to the workers? Is comfort only for Government officials and private businessmen?
The FG only knows how to copy the policies that will hurt the poor and those that will benefit the poor is no good. There is argument and counter arguments at the moment but the people who will feel it most do not even have a voice; only posterity will judge these actions.

Some people make the issues about subsidy look very complex but I always try to keep it simple so everyone can understand why so many people are concerned. Below are some of the main issues: 
  • Currently, the FG argues that a cartel (some say about 100 people or thereabout) are the only once benefiting from the subsidy. This is not true, we are all benefiting by paying less for fuel and kerosene. However, it is true that several investigations have shown that a few are making money through various illegal ways using the subsidy; this is a global phenomenon and there is a Globally accepted approach to deal with it but the FG is shying away from this. All over the world corruption has bedeviled the implementation of subsidy but this does not make subsidy bad. It actually brings to fore the need for the Government to investigate, expose and jail the very few who are cheating the entire country of resource which should hitherto be channeled to infrastructural development. Actually who is in better position to stop the cartel and expose the culprits?Is it not the FG? Certainly not the poor Nigerians who do know where the next meal will come from.
  • A friend of mine used a very basic analogy that removing the subsidy is like stopping milk supply to school kids in other to build more schools. Sounds simple but if not taken seriously will have repercussions because the the long term result may be less healthy children. If the children are sickly and unhealthy, who will attend the numerous schools built from the savings? Sick children?
  • The FG recently initiated Nine Federal Universities in other to extend Federal tertiary institutions to areas where these were not already sited and in addition made funds available for take off and ordered that students must be admitted by 2011(barely 2yrs after it announced the creation of the universities). It is not my intention to discuss the rational behind the speedy implementation for these universities were per se but clearly it was a decisive step by the FG. Would it therefore not be right to use the same decisive approach to order the building of refineries? The cleaning of our polluted lands and water bodies so that Nigerians and particularly the Niger Deltans can do some subsistence farming/fishing to supplement the money that will be lost to removal of subsidy because every activity in Nigeria today require the burning of petrol/diesel/kerosene. Would it be wrong to order the immediate establishment of modular refineries in strategy areas of the Niger Delta where the crude is source and reduce our over dependence on imported fuel?
  • It is common knowledge that Government has consistently failed to improve its performance even with increasing funds available to it so what guarantee do we have that with more money, there will be more infrastructure. A man who cannot manage N1, will he be able to manage N10? In your opinion, the FG needs to do some prior works to to deal with the pain that will follow this decision of removal of subsidy by 2012?  Areas to look into include mass transportation, health, food, education, etc
  • A recent research report published by the GSI concluded that corruption in subsidy implementation affects fuel and agricultural subsidies. What is the government doing to reduce the corruption in fertilizers subsidy? Or are the actors too big to even delve into this area? The GSI report also made recommendations for improving subsidy implementation and the recommendations are that Governments must make polices clear, investigate those involved in the subsidy fraud, expose them, stop them from accessing the subsidy and jail them as necessary. No where in the report did the GSI mention or recommend subsidy removal.
  • Finally, the FG had a parley with Private sector Chief executives and came out hailing their decision to support the removal of subsidy. I find this very funny to comprehend. In the first instance, who will the removal hurt? Is it the Jim Ovia's, Dangote's, Otedola's, etc, or is it the common man on the road? Is it not common knowledge that Entrepreneurs especially those who were in the parley will always pass down their production cost to the customers meaning that eventually the poor who will bear the brunt?
In my opinion, Politicians and Chief Executive in public sector need to cut down on their expenses (parties and show-offs) as a way to show their readiness to move the country forward? The Federal Government need to also look at accessing funds which are not utilised in the CBN ($500bn) and look into the capital market for funds to develop the infrastructure. Also Foreign direct investment is falling due to policy somersault and poor enabling environment, January 2012, GE will be investing $300m in Brazil for renewable research. These are the kind of opportunities we need to attract to help the economy in my opinion.
To show seriousness the FG need to give matching orders for the building of refineries including modular ones which will take shorter periods to complete and situate these near the crude oil source.The FG needs to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of public transport in all urban hubs and busy rural/urban link routes. This can be done directly by the FG or through indirectly influencing the states. The FG needs to invest in alternative forms of travel by allowing more airlines, invest in water transportation or outsource these services. the FG needs to also investigate those involved in cheating the system and bring them to book. We see and hear reports of the EFCC and ICPC chasing Governors and bank chiefs but why are we not seeing these agencies chasing the subsidy Cartel. Obviously some must be fishing.

If the FG does some of above then perhaps Nigerians will begin to sway to the Governments subsidy removal proposal.
Lewis]]> http://elpngr.com/blog2/2011/11/the_fg_ecomonic_policy_of_subs.html http://elpngr.com/blog2/2011/11/the_fg_ecomonic_policy_of_subs.html Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:53:18 -0100 The CBN Recapitalisation Deadline Sometime last year, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) gave a deadline on updating of bank accounts details. I wondered why the deadline was necessary. Why the need for a deadline to update one’s bank account details when it is certainly the responsibility of banks to regularly update bank account details. This is how it is done in developed countries; despite the deadline not all customers have updated their details and in fact the
 update is a continuous process as it ought to be. So why did Sanusi put a tight deadline that led to customers queuing for days, and many not reporting to work?

Again, the CBN governor has placed September 2011 as deadline on recapitalisation of rescued banks otherwise he would nationalise the banks. Certainly there is something about the new posture of the CBN and I begin to wonder and ask myself a few questions:

• Is the CBN governor so powerful that he cannot be checked by law?

• Is there nobody overseeing his operations?

• Why would the CBN consider the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) position to Islamic banking as stupid and rather than engaging CAN, the CBN governor asked them to go to court?

• So when Sanusi nationalises the banks how will the proceeds from the banks be shared to all Nigerians? I know that one of the hottest debate in the UK is how to ensure that all residents of the UK get shares from the Royal Bank of Scotland which was nationalised with tax payers’ money and as such profits need to be shared to every citizen. Is this what will happen if the banks are nationalised?

While trying to answer these questions, I realised that people behave differently due to several enculturating agents, so whilst I expect Sanusi to engage with the stakeholders in trying to solve their problems, Sanusi may have had his own experiences which require that deadlines are given and penalty is met out for not complying. 
I would like to remind the CBN governor that, in dealing with any issue, one needs to talk to the people, as they know where it pinches most and can help to quickly and effectively tackle the problem.

I would like to remind CBN governor that the days of dictatorship style of leadership is long gone, he needs to think about the effect of his actions and inactions. Nigerians do not want to lose sleep for what is not necessary. There is no reason why the CBN cannot allow the banks to recapitalise in phases and if possible guide them back to health. Everywhere in the world, regulation has shifted from "they" and "us" to "US". Regulators now play supporting role while maintaining significant integrity so as to sanction when necessary. Sanusi will lose his credibility if he continues to force his way to everything.

Finally, I would also like to use the opportunity to call on the NASS and President Goodluck Jonathan to review the CBN law and to possibly include clauses that make the CBN answerable to either the Presidency before taking any actions on matters that bother on national interest.
Lewis
]]> http://elpngr.com/blog2/2011/08/the_cbn_recapitalisation_deadl.html http://elpngr.com/blog2/2011/08/the_cbn_recapitalisation_deadl.html Thu, 04 Aug 2011 09:39:29 -0100 NERC - New Electricity tariff takes off July 1 I wrote an article earlier in response to the setting up of a committee on electricity consumption. I have since seen several publications in reaction to my article. Some of the comments, I agree with while others are just face saving. Anyway, that was on demand management. However, my reference to the that topic again is because the same principle which I was advocating for is missing again in NERC's latest Action. I opined that, for
 demand side management to make impact, the NERC ought to prepare the grounds allowing an enabling environment which will encourage users to see the gains.

Unfortunately, NERC's chief executive who some days ago stated that the new tariff will take effect from January 2012, is now proposing to increase tariff from July 1. Again, I consider this proposal totally disheartening and perhaps inept. I am not against increase in tariff as from my own observation, Poor Nigerians are already paying for the lack of power via fuel for running poor quality generators and regular maintenance and repairs of these generators but what I thinks is not right in NERC's proposal is the fact that it continues to put the cart before the horse. Critical issues of measurement which has to do with accurate measurement and effective pricing do not appear to have been adequately considered. Electricity as a services falls under economics of scale; so for instance if metering is inaccurate, private companies will rake in millions of Naira daily for services not provided. As it stands today, Nigerians especially the poor are having to pay for PHCN unmetered connection with no service for over 70% of the time. Why would any right thinking person allow such to continue? The NERC has the responsibility to bring the right change in this area but the agency appear to have chosen to maintain the status quo i.e. enjoying the largese that comes with the job and forgetting that Nigerians are suffering as a result of their action and inaction. I have always wondered if monies realised from the unmetered bills are adequately accounted for or if N2000 collected for the continual disconnection and reconnection in mostly poor areas are receipted for. It will be interesting to see the PHCN accounts some day.

The point I am trying to make here is that the management of NERC is expected to implement regulation in a systematic manner. The days of jumping before the gun is over. I expect that things like adequate metering strategy for every connection should be the mantra at this moment. In the United Kingdom, the regulation places the responsibility on the service provider to provide a metered connection to households and the same exist in Nigeria but no one is interested in its implementation. Till date, NERC has not come out to tell Nigerians what proposals are in place to address this key issue. If meters are installed in households, consumption, losses and other related data like ROIs can be determined and will then inform the MYTO review. At the moment, what NERC is doing is typical to what the most Nigerian agencies do; use crude estimated data (some of which have no basis) in arriving at their decision making process.

On the insensitivity of NERC to public opinion, most public office holders in Nigeria forget where they have come from; ignoring the fact that there are several poor Nigerians (about 70%) who have to pay through their noses for services. Electricity is considered a social good, therefore the elements of social development must be given serious consideration in policy making and pricing mechanism of any regulatory agency. The reason many services in developing countries have been, and continue to remain under the control of Government or public ownership is to prevent loss of the social element of the service which will guarantee wider access. This makes it pertinent that managers of regulatory agencies and utilities must understand Pro-poor policy requirements. So, electricity, like water, health and education even when privatised must be done in such a way as to retain its social contribution. The provision of electricity services to all Nigerians is a key human development objective because access to services can on the one hand empower poor Nigerians by providing them a means of competing through increase productivity. This is even more true for a country like Nigeria where mostly Micro-enterprises (laundry and dry cleaning, market women, street traders and hawkers, subsistence farmers, taxi drivers, electricians, mechanics, welders, plumbers, petrol station attendants, etc)  make up the larger percentage of its businesses. On the other hand lack of access to services like stable and affordable electricity can effectively lead to marginalisation and a widening of the gap between the poor and the rich and also resulting in ill health, inadequate education because money meant for these areas could be reduced by energy bills.

Whilst It is true that poor management, decaying infrastructure and poor service delivery has remained a problem with publicly owned services leading to the global drive for privitisation. The FG policy thrust (as formulated by NERC in the case of electricity) must be geared towards approapriately designed and cleverly thought through processes.  Privitisation leads to increase in services coverage along with increase tariff to users and profit taking by Utilities and Government. Meaning that post privitisation,  there is a possibility that the service will become available but affordable only to the small percentage that can pay. So to guarantee service to the poor, NERC will have to review its regulatory strategy through wide consultations because regulation required under private ownership can be very complex. I expect NERC to seriously consider affordability or ability/willingness to pay in determining its policy decisions because I believe that the huge debt owed PHCN and the willingness of poor Nigerians pay bribes to illegally reconnect their supply once disconnected may just be an indication that there are issues with the pricing as it currently is and the availability/quality of the service.

NERC has deliberately provided limited information on its proposal to assist the very poor regarding their access to electricity. In the UK where a household is classified poor (referred to as fuel poverty) if more than 10% of its income is utilised to pay for energy, the Government provides an action plan to support these people. Such a measurable and radical plan means everybody government has a grip on the nos that move in and out of fuel poverty at any time. It is not clear what strategy NERC is strategy NERC is proposing to adopt in Nigeria and in my opinion, issues like this one ought to be discussed and made available to the public, similar the plan of how to ensure that there adequate metering in addition to a better regulatory enforcement on illegal tempering of meters should be dealt with before jumping into the other issues of increase tariff and demand side management.

Finally, my advise to the leadership of NERC is to slow down in its strong inclination to only deal with the issues that will take money out of the hands of poor Nigerians but to communicate more to the public about how it intends to deal with the more critical key human development issues that support the poor and ensure sustainability of the services.
Lewis
]]> http://elpngr.com/blog2/2011/06/nerc_new_electricity_tariff_ta.html http://elpngr.com/blog2/2011/06/nerc_new_electricity_tariff_ta.html Mon, 27 Jun 2011 09:14:53 -0100 Promotion for paid Adverts Interested readers and others can advertise their website here for a small fee. Its PROMOTION now.


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]]> http://elpngr.com/blog2/2011/05/promotion_for_paid_adverts.html http://elpngr.com/blog2/2011/05/promotion_for_paid_adverts.html Tue, 17 May 2011 12:40:04 -0100 FG Moves to Minimize Electricity Wastage I have read recently, the setting up of a committee to look into ways of minimising conserving Electricity consumption by the Presidential Adviser on Power. Whilst I fully support the move, I am very weary as to what thinking has gone into the process leading to the setting up of the committee. I am also very sceptical at what the outcome of the committee will be when its composition is mainly persons from non-performing agencies like the PHCN, NERC and a few distribution companies. Not even persons from professional organisations, private sector or diaspora.

Demand side management which is the focus of the committee is a relatively new concept. Following the adoption Kyoto protocol in 1997, the EU in 2010 made commitments to 8% reduction of green house gases and also to increase renewable energy by 21%. Demand side management became an issue for adoption to ensure that there is effort from both sides; consumers and generators in the drive for energy conservation so as to achieve meaningful results. Even in advanced democracies like the UK, the Government and the Energy companies are still facing huge challenges making a headway to full demand side management. Demand side management requires putting in place policies and measures to control and encourage reduced demand/consumption with a tendency to focus on residential and commercial users. It is majorly a responsibility of Utility companies and requires organisational, technical and behavioural solutions to achieve this.

Now, let us look at the three key issues in the case of Nigeria:

1.  Organisational solutions:-  are measures adopted by the utilities include pricing mechanism, awareness campaigns and regular facilities upgrades to ensure that losses are minimised in the network and not transferred to the users. In Nigeria, there is lack of adequate facilities to generate electricity. Huge no. of obsolute equipment are left in service. There is even inadequate data to show the inventory of obsolete electrical equipment let alone developing plans for upgrade. Therefore the inefficiencies of the generator PHCN is passed on the the user. Every time I drive by PHCN transformers or Switchgears even here in Abuja, I feel sick because I have worked in the UK as an electrical engineer and I cannot believe how obsolete and unsafe these equipment are. I actually wonder how PHCN manages to keep them in service. No wonder you find protective devices like fuses tied with copper wire! In the UK, the people in charge of such  equipment would be in jail!

2. Technical solutions: again these are engineering measures adopted majorly by the Utilities in ensuring that efficiencies are increase in other to reduce waste at the generators end and to cut down on transmission and distribution losses. However, one critical element that comes to play here is adequate and appropriate metering. Metering is very important  because it enables you identify what is happening and where? For instance,how do we know how much losses are in the network and at what side of the divide? You have to optimise the system before moving on to conserving energy. Apart from the current efforts in installing new substations and transmission lines, not much is done about removing old inefficient equipment from the network to cut down on losses. Meters are not installed for probably over 60% of users who have paid for the meters. PHCN benefits from fixed prices from unmetered users. I personally have been on fixed bill because PHCN has refused to install a meter in the my house and they have fixed my bills at N5,000.00 monthly when all I have is lighting bulbs and a TV. If metered, I would probably not even pay N2000 in a month. All effort to complain to the manager has been fruitless. Even a letter to the NERC has not been replied. Now without meter how do you convince a user to switch off electrical equipment which is not been used. Personally, I switch off my lights and equipment when not in use because I have learnt the benefit of doing so while living in another society but I notice that majority of Nigerians do not care. Why should they? When they still pay a fixed bill even if they turn off their equipment and worse still even when there is not supply? Also there appear to be a lack of regulations on the quality of electrical installation in buildings. Not even a single test is carried out after installation. Usually, a series of test is carried out to ensure that an installation is correct and safe to operate but in Nigeria, you find wrong connections everywhere with some buildings perpetually carrying overload currents. I have even found several cases of wrong wire sizes. Voltage drop is not an issue for technicians so you find a situation where there is a dip when you put on load within the building or perhaps when your neighbour switches on his Air conditioner, your light dips. This is obviously poor design/installation but who cares? PHCN, NERC, etc doesnt!

3.  Behavioral solutions, this is the where the consumers come in. However, it is the utilities/government that plays the role in using organisational and technical solutions to try and INFLUENCE consumer behaviour to bring about conservation of energy through awareness campaigns to remind users of the benefits of using less power and savings that can be derivable.

Now haven said the above, I hope that every reader can see clearly why jumping into setting a committee to look into conserving energy may not deliver any meaningful results. I would suggest that Barth Nnaji pays more attention to reducing losses in the network and ensuring appropriate regulatory framework to ensure best practice in installations. If possible Barth, should bring the Presidential influence to force PHCN to provide meters for all users and then he can have a basis for encouraging users to reduce demand because this way everybody will understand and feel the benefit from the savings that they can get for reducing their demand without losing comfort.

 

Lewis

]]> http://elpngr.com/blog2/2011/03/fg_moves_to_minimize_electrici_1.html http://elpngr.com/blog2/2011/03/fg_moves_to_minimize_electrici_1.html Wed, 09 Mar 2011 15:07:16 -0100 Nigeria's Numerous Dams & Persistant Flooding I have read in the dailies the various aggravated flood events causing damage to life and properties in Nigeria. Only this week there are new  reports of the suffering which again was worsen by the consecutive release of water from the Oyam Dam by the Osun-Ogun River Basin Development Authority. A few weeks back it was the release of water by Hadejia-Jamaire River Basin Authority that led to flooding which affected over 986 persons and flooded over 2500 hectares. 
I am some what concerned though that the government and staff of the basin authorities have down played the fact that there is need to investigate and clearly understand the immediate and remote cause of these flooding, they have continuous begged the issues and focus more on relief materials. Whilst I accept that immediate relief effort will reduce the suffering and prevent the spread of disease within the affected communities, I certainly think that someone has to ask the questions as to how and why this happpened? In this days of very robust weather forecast, could such a potential rise in the dam levels due to heavy rains not have been foreseen. And most importantly, what is the purpose of the so may dams been built with billions of tax payers money if we can not include flood control as part of the dam design?
I have noted the tendency of Nigerian to blame climate change but I know its the usual Nigerian thing, Hiding under the obvious. What is happening is the usual natural variation in climate pattern and countries make effort to forecast for these and also make preparation for eventualities. This is not so in Nigeria. I read that the Meteorological office predicted late rains and flash floods. There is also a talk about the ocean back flowing. It will be interesting if the claimants can provide flow data to prove this position.
Until, we review these key issues, we will continue to cause situations that will bring hardship, poverty, sickness and death to the poor because usually its the poor that pays for the failures of government. The competence of the management and capacity of staff of the River basin authorities is also questionable.
]]> http://elpngr.com/blog2/2010/10/nigerias_numerous_dams_persist.html http://elpngr.com/blog2/2010/10/nigerias_numerous_dams_persist.html Sun, 17 Oct 2010 09:36:02 -0100 Ndi Okereke & the Nigerian Stock Exchange I am not a fan of Ndidi Okereke Onyuike so I might sound a little bias. However, the truth is, I lost confidence in her for two reasons. Firstly, as the NSE boss, her involvement in transcorp alongside former president Obasanjo was to me, very unethical as time has eventually shown. Both Obasanjo and Ndidi Okereke were well positioned in Government and can have priviledge information which they can use to bleed the system particularly in an economy like Nigeria where integrity cannot be guaranteed. Ndidi has information on companies stocks and capitalisation, while Obasanjo has 'Absolute' power. What other way can the Nigerian system, currently struggling with mismanagement and corruption, be manipulated to their combined advantage. Secondly, her role in the dubious Obama fund raising dinner again shows how low and unprofessional she could get. There is nothing wrong with fund raising but fund raising on behalf Obama without his knowledge looks suspicious (as was eventually shown). I do not think she still qualifies to continue to be the NSE boss. She should resign or be fired.

Thank God she has now been fired but it’s a shame the Nigerian Authorities allowed her to rubbish the stock exchange before realising she has not much to offer.

Lewis

]]> http://elpngr.com/blog2/2010/09/ndi_okereke_the_nigerian_stock.html http://elpngr.com/blog2/2010/09/ndi_okereke_the_nigerian_stock.html Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:28:49 -0100 MTN Project Fame! A Famous Let Down!  

 

I’ve been trying to get to grips with what programmes to watch on DSTV and have in the past four weeks been watching the MTN project fame with the expectation of having the same satisfaction and entertainment like one would get watching the such reality shows like the X Factor, American Idol, Britain’s Got Talent & America’s Got Talent, etc but to my utmost disappointment, I have just understood that my expectations are too high. Ordinarily, I would have left it at that and just to tune in but in my usual critical mode I thought to blog about the show and for once I would be glad to receive comments from people who have watched the show to see what others feel.

 

For me, there are a few issues that border about the project fame. The main concern though is the fact that Africa seem to always lag behind, its been four years or more since reality shows like singing competitions started and over this period we have seen the likes of Jordan, Leona Lewis, Diversity, JLS, Alexandra Burke, etc. However, the MTN Project fame doesn’t seem to be a show which will end up giving us anything to be proud of. My question is why would MTN sponsor such a poor quality show. There is everything wrong with the show, most importantly the equipment, instruments, lighting and particularly the microphones are of such a poor quality that there is just no way to appreciate the voices of the singers. To make matters worse, such a poorly recorded show is then aired in Nigerian TV stations which ordinary have below average quality output. It just turns it to s child’s play.

 

Now, I wonder what the Judges are doing in the show. There is no creativity in their roles, their language command and choice of words is very ordinary. Actually there appear to be a common decimal from all of them; ‘Welldone’. The only sensible thing they say is ‘Welldone’. Its so annoying that every Judge and the Faculty starts and ends with ‘Welldone’. I cannot really say what the Judges and the Faculty is doing. It would have been better if the faculty stays in the back stage, listen to the judges and then go back and work on the contestants. Sincerely, if I was MTN I would sack all the judges except the guy in the middle.

 

The quality of contestant is very weak. With the millions of people in West Africa, it would have help if the contestants were of a little more potential. Nothing good can come out of these ones in my opinion.  These lot would not even be given a chance to move on from the auditions if MTN had made quality a part of the project. Anyway Vwede, Christian, Chidinma, Tolu and Adebola have got some potential and may improve if the faculty has got the right skills to transform them but I doubt.

 

Actually, the only good thing in the show is the two Presenters who are really qualified persons although the Judges are gradually infecting them with the WELLDONE word.

 

I use this medium to plead with MTN to take some time to research how reality singing competitions are done; quality of equipment, recording quality, the qualification of Judges, the choreography, stage and even the audience composition. This way, the very laudable objective of projecting Africa as filled with talents can be achieved. Currently, the show makes a mockery of Africa!

]]> http://elpngr.com/blog2/2010/09/mtn_project_fame_a_famous_let.html http://elpngr.com/blog2/2010/09/mtn_project_fame_a_famous_let.html Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:47:30 -0100 Delta State Governor Flags of Free Healthcare This is a good gesture and I commend the Gov. for his initial step. However, being a sustainable development expert, I doubt the impact of the governor's action because I believe that he has not created the enabling environment to allow the programme to succeed. For instance, where will these children get the free healthcare from? Is it in the existing hospitals in Delta state? We all know that the government hospitals are not functional. Most Deltans (like most Nigerians) are forced to resort to self medication or pay high premium to private hospitals. I recently visited Delta state for a funeral and just behind where I was sitted, a young boy of about 20yrs was stabbed with a bottle after an argument. We took the boy to a state government hospital at about 9pm but the doctor was not in town so it was a nurse who attended to him. Even at that, we pleaded and parted with some money before she even looked at the injured boy. To make matters worse, there was no light and the hospital generator was out of fuel so I had to hold a touch to enable the nurse stitch the head injuries. So is this the kind of free healthcare that the governor is flagging off? Does the governor not know that the hospitals are not working? Do you need a soothsayer to find out? This is why I doubt the sincerity of this free healthcare programme. I believe that the governor should spend more time and funds making the hospitals work and then parents can pay a small fee (nothing wrong with free care anyway), afterall the poor already pay too much for health.

Lewis

 

]]> http://elpngr.com/blog2/2010/06/delta_state_governor_flags_of.html http://elpngr.com/blog2/2010/06/delta_state_governor_flags_of.html Sat, 12 Jun 2010 09:33:34 -0100 BBC Documentary - 'Welcome to Lagos' I am very dissapointed at the Action Congress and particularly at the Nigerian High commissioner to Britain on their respective positions to the above subject BBC documentary. Ths BBC documentary titled 'Welcome to Lagos' is very exciting to me and to most Nigerian residents in the UK (at least to the people I have spoken to). Actually, I got to know about it from an SMS message. Rather than condemn the action of the BBC, Nigerians should proud of the BBC for bringing to light the ills in the Nigerian society. Most Nigerian officials or public office holders forget where they are coming from. They pretend as though Nigeria has arrived in its desired place in the committee of nations. As far as I know, Nigeria has got worse in certain areas and is doing better in some areas. People like the High commissioiner find their way into the corridors of power by whatever means and then convince themselves that their main role in government is to protect its action by all means even when things are not going well. Actually, they know deep down in their heart that they are only protecting those who put them in positions that they don't deserve and most especially holding on to their job. Otherwise, why are they so concerned about the documentary?
We all know that everything about the documentary is correct, there was no attempt to skew the vidoe or audio. Now what is the high commissioner and the AC's concern? That the documentary did not show the other side of the story! Wait a minute, since when did we now have to write stories to cover the concerns of everyone. Clearly the BBC report was to bring to light the hidden stories of ordinary Nigerians whose life is been gradually destroyed by the Nigerian politicians. Imagine, living in a waste dump for the most part of your life and you would understand how these forgetten Nigerians feel.
I would like to up the argument a bit, does the Nigerian high commissioner regular watch the BBC, channel 4, and other news/documentary televisions? I personally doubt because if he does he would have found out that there are documentaries and stories showing all the sufferings of poor people in India, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afganistan, Iraq, Iran, Palestine, etc. Actually the air programmes about the poor people living in council estates in the UK and therefore the Lagos documentary is not new to those of us who watch poor people suffer all over the globe. None of these countries raise so much dust, actually they take such documentaries as opportunities to improve things. By being defensive, clearly the Nigerian high commissioner is in denial. There is nowhere in the documentary where the BBC claims that Lagos is 100% slum.
Can the high commissioner tell me what effort he has personally put to sell the good works of the lagos govt.? As far as I know, he doesn't give a damn! Has he sponsored any programme to promote these effort or attempt to sell the other part of the story? No, certainly not. So, he sits down and eat and drink and hope that the BBC will promote Nigeria at a time when the world knows that Nigerians are suffering.
Clearly a sensible government will accept that things are not right , will make effort to improve and will showcase its good effort to world. In Nigeria, its the opposite, the country is being rebranding with nothing to show other than a slogan and millions of Niara into the pockets of a few.
Posterity will judge everyone by their actions. I thank the BBC an encourage them to focus on their interest area and to report what they consider to be in the wider interest of majority.
Just to know only yesterday, Jonathan Dimbleby of the BBC reported about the resilience and innovation of the african people including a piece of lagos. What does the high commissioner have to say about this, we will soon find out. But don't be too optimistic we will never hear a world!
]]> http://elpngr.com/blog2/2010/05/bbc_documentary_welcome_to_lag.html http://elpngr.com/blog2/2010/05/bbc_documentary_welcome_to_lag.html Mon, 31 May 2010 12:21:20 -0100 What is NEMA's Emergency Mgt Strategy for Nigeria

 

One will continue to wonder, when we can start seeing headlines like, NEMA warns of potential flooding…, NEMA Evacuates potential disaster area to prevent loss of life…, etc
 

Although, NEMA evolved from NERA, as a result of the latter’s inability to promote and engage in preventive emergency management as against its reactive focus.  NEMA has not been able to distinguish itself from NERA. It has continued to remain a reactive organisation. Though NEMA has had a fair share in his history in terms of support in ensuring it is structure is appropriate with department for preventive emergency management and forecasting, it has also received the United Nations acceptance as the adopted focal point for emergency management in Nigeria.

 

In addition, NEMA has a Search and Rescue department but has failed in several cases when it has been required to perform even with the support of the Armed forces.  In my mind, it appears that the leadership of NEMA and perhaps the heads of department in the Forecasting and Search & Rescue sections are out of their depth or perhaps the problem is with the funding of the agency. Could it be that NEMA’s priorities are not right and that its leadership prefers to spend the money in areas where it is difficult to audit than in preventive issues which can be properly debated and audited. The lack of access to information has complicated the matters as one cannot tell what the problem is from outside. One thing that is sure is that there appears to be a trend in the spending pattern where money is mainly spent in reactive issues like relief materials and I believe this is driven by the fact that it is easy to fiddle with the nos. and cost for the relief materials supplied. Afterall, most dealers in Nigeria usually ask you how much you want written on the payment receipt (you are actually at liberty to determine what is written in the receipt).

 

What about search & rescue? Consider that the armed forces are to be involved in the process of maintaining peace. What then can we expect from Nigeria's military that have such an appalling record? They are known to kill when they are expected to keep peace, known to collect bribes on the road and even kill to dispossess people of the valuables. So in an emergency what would happen to valuables lying around? The answer is blowing in the wind! The armed forces are also known for using horse whips  and wood to beat innocent people, and in some extreme cases, they  shoot to kill for no justifiable reason and have been know to invade and burning down communities. Truth is the Nigerian armed forces see themselves as above the civilians and any attempt to use them in emergency management I believe will be an opportunity to show supremacy if not constrained.

 

The way out of the haze and lacklustre performance by NEMA requires the leadership to identify their priorities and as part of their strategy to ensuring effectiveness they should address the issues around funding and fund management, they should also identify better ways to forecasting potential disaster rather than donating relief materials. Training of all staff and armed forces members to be involved in search and rescue effort & in maintaining law and order during an emergency will have to be given serious attention.
Finally, for NEMA to function effectively and achieve its objective, the leadership will have to be people of good reputation and not politicians. Perhaps, people from private sector who have managed similar situations in reputable organisations should be appointed.

 

Lewis 

 

]]> http://elpngr.com/blog2/2010/04/what_is_nemas_emergency_mgt_st.html http://elpngr.com/blog2/2010/04/what_is_nemas_emergency_mgt_st.html Sat, 03 Apr 2010 08:04:26 -0100 Charity begins from Abroad - A case of Nigerian Police Murders! On the 9th February 2010, after a busy days work, I settled down in my sitting room to see the news and as usual I wanted to see the other side of the news so I tunned to Al-jazeera news. Behold, there was news about Nigeria. I know that for a very long time, no good news had ever been aired about Nigeria. Whether all the good news is worth mentioning on an international channel like Al-jazeera or indeed the BBC or CNN, I cannot say. However, I was expecting nothing usual, little did I know that this was going to shock me to death!

Right in the front of a camera (it was not clear who was recording), aired on international TV, the Nigerian Police (mobile squad) committed murder. This happened, when there was unrest in Maiduguri, Borno state of Nigeria during the unrest from the Boko Haram militants group. After the unrest, the mobile police was moved in to stop killings and maintain law and order. However, they offered terror and mayhem.

In the Al-jazeera footage, mobile policemen were seen moving from house to house searching for people, they brought out three young boys, I guess, these were teenagers or boys in their early twenties. They asked them to lie down on the ground facing down. The boys did, then a mobile policemen took his rifle and wanted to fire into the air but his colleague called out and said, don't waste ammunition. He then moved to close to 1 metre to the three men and fired direct on them one after the other and then fired again to confirm that they are dead.

The policemen moved in again, brought our two other men and proceeded to fire them in the same area; shoting them on their backs or their heads. Apparently, enjoying this, the policemen fired more shorts than in the first case.

Finally, they brought in two handicapped men who walk with crushes, asked them to lie face down. Just then there was a voice from one of the mobile policemen calling out to the policeman who is about to fire and kill the handicapped men, asking him to fire at the heart and not the head. "Its the heart I want" he called out. The policeman holding the rifle then fired the men this time again firing more shots.

Next, there was shouting close to the police station and the camera moved close to the police station where it became evident that the Boko Haram leader had been shot dead by the police. The footage showed him dead, riddled with bullets but with his handcuff still intact. Yet the Nigerian police, claimed he was kill while trying to escape.

What shocked me most was when the Mobile police commander stood up (a pot bellied unfit man) walked to the police station and handed over the rifle used in killing the presumed innocent men to the regular police commander, telling him that his job is done. I was shocked to find out that the commander of the squad was there. Obviously then, he gave the orders to kill the innocent men. Good thing the camera showed the name tag of the both police commanders.

With such a clear graphic evidence, one would expect that the Nigerian Authorities will, perhaps out of shame carry out a thorough investigation and bring the culprit to book but no so, an interview with a Nigerian, lawmaker indicate that no arrest has been made to date.

What else does the police authorities or the Nigerian Govt. need to bring the culprit to book? This is very disturbing. I could not sleep that night. I have heard of killings before, I know that Nigerian police kill people at will but never have I seen such graphic murder aired on international TV.

Till this day, I am concerned about:

Why is this footage has never been aired in a Nigerian media? Why this is going on in Nigeria? Why Nigerians are not protesting in the streets to demand respect of human rights and justice for the innocent dead?

Why is the Nigerian Police not doing anything to bring the bad elements to book? and most especially, where are Nigeria's Civil Society Groups, Where is Femi Falana? Where is Wole Soyinka? Where is Agbakoba Olisa, Where is Festus Keyamu? and where is the Nigerian Labour Congress?

As I ask, I begin to understand that the news was reported in some news papers in Nigerian and that there had been call for an investigation but no effort was put in place by any groups including the international communities or groups like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch or Transparency International to ensure justice is served. Actually, a day after this TV footage, Human Rights Watch in Nigeria lead a group of women in a protest for the respect of Human rights in Congo. An irony, which explains the title of my article.

I also begin to understand that the interest of Civil Societies Organisations (CSOs) in Nigeria differs from what their interest is in developed countries. Whereas such a day light execution will lead to arrest and jail term in the UK, the US and mainland Europe; with the likes of CSOs leading crippling protest. In Nigeria the the CSOs have a focus of abiding by the dictates of the police and governments in order not to loose their licence to operate. Local organisations, are focus on aligning with govt and politicians to continue to be in business and earn a living.

Clearly, in this situation, nobody will be interested in fighting for the innocent dead apart from paying lip service.

While, I cannot say if the "innocent" people are truly innocent of the unrest, I totally condemn the summary killing of anybody without trial. Six months ago, a report by one of the UN agancies accused the Nigerian police of summary killings, there was a doctor who openly spoke about how the police were bringing dead bodies to his mogue in numbers, some without names. The Nigerian Government did nothing.

Personally, I will explore every means possible in raising awareness for a demand of a thorough investigation. 

IF YOU HAVE READ THIS AND FEEL CONCERNED ABOUT THE NEED FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN NIGERIA. PLEASE SIGN THIS ARTICLE BY PUTTING YOU NAME & LOCATION IN THE COMMENTS. I WILL FORWARD IT TO THE UN, THE NIGERIAN GOVERNMENT, THE UK GOVT, THE US, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, & OTHERS SO THAT PRESSURE CAN BE BROUGHT ON THE NIGERIAN AUTHORITIES TO INVESTIGATE AND BRING THE POLICEMEN PARTICULARLY THE MOBILE POLICE COMMANDER TO BOOK. 

 

]]> http://elpngr.com/blog2/2010/02/charity_begins_from_abroad_a_c.html http://elpngr.com/blog2/2010/02/charity_begins_from_abroad_a_c.html Sat, 13 Feb 2010 11:56:59 -0100 Alarming Headlines from Nigeria Its a bit strange and of great concern to see that the absence of the President is causing so much confusion in Nigeria. At forty, and after 10 years of so called democractic rule, one would expect that the absence of Yar Adua should not have too much impact on day to day activities but clearly this is not true. It is really shocking to read that the Amnesty programme is now at stand still due to the president's absence, that everyone in Abuja is minding their language for fear of the Obasanjo/Atiku saga and that rather than putting policies in place, people like the senate president is busy requesting for nine days of prayer! Since when did he become a pastor? 
If only people who occupy such sensitive position will do what they are elected to do, then all the cious would not manifest. One of the tests of knowing a functioning organisation or entity is to check that it is not dependent solely on an individual otherwise, it falls apart when the individual is absent. So how come the country is held to stand still because, the president is in hospital.
I use this opportunity to call on the leadership of Nigeria, Yar Adua, and the National Assembly especially to enshrine democracry in country.
Where projects or programmes are planned or designed, they should be carefully planned and be allowed to run independent of the executives. Things like Amnesty should clearly documented objectives with action plans and completion dates, and also widely publicised so any party not performing can be held accountable but again, the programme appears to be run under individual dictates. At the moment, only the government knows what the Amnesty is all about.
Such secrecy in policy and processes, both in business and governance leads to failures and creation of a gang style culture. We need to change this.
This is my call from Diaspora to Yar Adua and I wish him speedy recovery.
]]> http://elpngr.com/blog2/2010/01/alarming_headlines_from_nigeri.html http://elpngr.com/blog2/2010/01/alarming_headlines_from_nigeri.html Sun, 03 Jan 2010 23:20:56 -0100 IYC calls for EIA before Dredging the Niger River I advise some Nigerian commentators to read up on what sustainable development means rather than blabing foolishing in public.

Every reasonable government will carry out EIA for any project of such magnitude because history has shown that projects though intended to help the general can cause untold and generational problems to a few. For instance, all the dams built in china and india have led to families and large communities being barnish to poverty for generations. Bangledish is suffering from the impact of the River daming. In Zambia, the dams built along the River Zambesi cause untold impoundment leading to loss of livelihoods to severally communities.

In the USA, UK and other european countries, building a small industry, or warehouse or more so building a large development requires some level of environmental assessment to ensure that potential negative impacts are mitigated and then the project can go ahead. Even, in Nigeria, I am aware that the Rivers state environmental protection agency has insisted on an EIA for the SPDC integrated waste management facility which is currently on hold due to fear of the impact.

So, EIA can only lead to positive development and I wonder why commentator here, particularly Peters O. peter is concerned that the IYC has demended what is legitimate for the Ijaw people and other NIger Deltans.

]]> http://elpngr.com/blog2/2009/09/iyc_calls_for_eia_before_dredg.html http://elpngr.com/blog2/2009/09/iyc_calls_for_eia_before_dredg.html Fri, 11 Sep 2009 08:47:25 -0100 “Keke NAPEP: FG to sue contractor” NAPEP is a failure and will continue to fail under the leadership of a people with no idea of strategic thinking or people who do not understand the need for accountability and reporting. Magnus Kpakol’s reason for distributing the useless tricycles is that it will create jobs for area boys. Is that really true? I fault his thinking on this, reason being that, if a govt wants to create jobs for unemployed area boys, research and planning is required. I certainly believe, Magnus never carried out a research, otherwise, what value is a tricycle to the Nigeria transportation system. Absolutely zero! I was in lagos in 2002 and because I was in some much hurry to catch my transport back to Port Harcourt, I took the tricyle with one set of computer from Otigba. It was completely hopeless. We couldn’t get out of the traffic jam. The traffic jams or ‘go slows’ in Lagos, Port harcourt and many other Nigeria cities, can be so bad that even the ‘Okadas’ sometimes can not find a way around talkless of the Magnus Kpakol’s keke NAPEP which is probably three times the width of a motor bike. So why will anybody get on these tricylces?

If you want youth out of the streets, set up functional industries and employ these youths in the industries. This way, they have a sense of being away from the street, and the products from the industries will have positive effect on the economy. There are several areas where the FG can through its agencies invest huge funds to stimulate growth and employment but what do we see, old timers using nineteenth century ideas in the twenty first century.

The FG should know that agencies play a very specific and important role in moving a country forward as evident in most developed and successful devloping countries. However, in the case of Nigeria, this is not so, because of the political appointment of people without the right qualifications and also the FG's lack of checks and demand of accountability from these agencies.

]]> http://elpngr.com/blog2/2009/08/keke_napep_fg_to_sue_contracto.html http://elpngr.com/blog2/2009/08/keke_napep_fg_to_sue_contracto.html Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:07:07 -0100