The Alaafin of Oyo, Oba Lamidi Adeyemi III, has said that President Muhammadu Buhari has asked him to advice other traditional rulers in his domain to offer him advices on matters related to the way he should run a good government, and that such advices should be in writing.
Alaafin, who visited the Presidential at the Presidential Villa, Abuja to defend a private memo he wrote to the president on the state of the nation, told news men that the President invited him over on the strength of the advice contained in his written memo..
“As a Nigerian and one of the topmost traditional rulers in the country, I sent a memorandum to the President which he acknowledged and asked me to come and endorse those things I have written.
“I think it was time for me to use the proper channel to reach the President for suggestions and advice.
“Where he deserves commendation, I should also do that especially as it concerns the multi-dimensional problems Nigeria is facing like the Avengers and bombing of oil installations, MEND and Boko Haram insurgency in the North East.
“The President listened attentively and has asked me to pass the information to other traditional rulers in my domain to assist the government by giving advice because he is a good listener; but that such advice should be put in writing so that he can then relate it to the problems affecting Nigeria.”
He commended the President for acting swiftly to flush out criminal elements that wanted to extend militancy to Lagos and the rest of South-West.
“I have met with the President and offered some suggestions. We are losing huge resources to the activities of the Niger Delta Avengers. Coming close to that is the infiltration of the militants in Lagos and Ikorodu where in the last three weeks, 10 landlords were massacred.” [myad]
The one absolutely unselfish friend that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him and the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous is his dog – George Graham Vest (1870)
Joe Fortemose Chinakwe, the man who named his dog after President Muhammadu Buhari is right now probably regretting his decision to honour his dog with the name of a man he considers his hero.
He has been accused of trying to incite hate and breach the public peace.
He has been arrested and re-arrested by the police and taken to a magistrate court, which promptly remanded him in prison until he is able to meet the conditions of his bail.
He has spent days in prison custody unable to raise the N50, 000 that he has been asked to pay.
His family members have only so far managed to raise N20, 000.
Even if he succeeds in putting that sum together, his life is still in danger because aggrieved persons in his neighbourhood, including a man who says he was trying to ridicule his father, have threatened to kill him, if he shows up.
The police are not investigating this threat, but they seem so excited about dealing with the poor trader called Joe, for having the effrontery to name his dog, Buhari.
To protect himself, Joseph has allegedly put the dog to sleep, or thrown it away or whatever, in the hope that once the evidence is destroyed there will be no case against him.
It is all so pitiable.
Public opinion appears to be divided as to the nature and seriousness of Joseph Chinakwe’s alleged felony, with some people arguing that it is definitely an act of provocation and incitement for him to label his dog, Buhari so boldly and to parade the same dog in a neighbourhood where there are many residents of Northern extraction, whose feelings may be injured or who may perceive that he is trying to make a political statement.
Those who want him punished have therefore dismissed Chinakwe’s protestation that he is an admirer of the President, or that he means well.
His defenders insist that he is entitled to free speech and there is nowhere in the statutes where a man can be punished on the basis of the perception that some people’s feelings may be injured, and hence, be prompted to commit murder.
The law is not structured that way.
We are dealing, therefore with ethnic hate at the lunatic fringe.
Nigerians have become so suspicious of one another, and inter-ethnic relationship is so poisonous that even the littlest innocent gesture could result in mayhem.
This is why many have been killed for allegedly committing blasphemy or for insulting the religious sensibilities of some people.
Remember the woman who was killed by her students for allegedly desecrating the Quran.
Remember Gideon Akaluka.
Remember the woman who was recently beheaded in Abuja for daring to preach the Christian gospel.
We are also dealing with disregard for human freedom, and Nigeria’s slip into a tragic season of intolerance.
Why shouldn’t Chinakwe call his dog whatever name catches his fancy?
Well, maybe he should have chosen an Igbo name?
But if we want national unity, why shouldn’t he take a name he admires from another part of the country?
Ali Baba, the ace comedian, like many others, has come out strongly in defence of Chinakwe saying he actually has a dog in his house named OBJ, and that is quite direct because only one man bears that sobriquet in this country, and neither OBJ nor his kinsmen have asked Atuyota to leave Yorubaland.
One of the most famous pictures online is that of a goat named Goodluck Jonathan, with the name written on both flanks of it.
President Jonathan’s wife was also once (July 2013) referred to as “shepopotamus” by Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka, and before our very eyes, President Olusegun Obasanjo, donated, to a conservation sanctuary, a chimpanzee, which he named Patience to make a point obviously.
The parody at the time was unmistakable. We all drew humour from all of that.
What we seem to be dealing with right now, however, is the absurd deification of a name on ethnic and partisan grounds.
It is curious that the Nigeria Police is devoting to the trial of Chinakwe, a feverish amount of energy that we have not witnessed with regard to more statutorily relevant offences.
This hullaballoo over the giving of a dog a name that has led to its hanging and the likely punishment of its owner is one distraction too many.
We are above all else, dealing with a storm in a tea cup, occasioned by a culture shock, and our underdeveloped understanding of the relationship between man and animals.
Chinakwe says he chose the name Buhari out of admiration.
And he may well be right, and he would have been right, and there would have been no problem if he was living in Europe or North America.
But he lives in a country where animals have no rights and no recognition other than as victims of human predators, and a dog in our culture is to be treated as an instrument or as meat for the soup pot.
Elsewhere, a dog has earned its reputation in mythology and actuality, as a man’s best friend.
The root of this is that a dog is considered the most beloved, the most loyal and the most dependable of all animals.
People use dogs to guard their homes, to keep away intruders, even to play with children and as companions in the home.
There are many stories and legends about the loyalty of dogs.
Hawkeye is the name of a famous dog that lay next to the casket of its owner who died in active service as a US Navy SEAL.
There is a film, “Hachi, a dog’s tale,” starring Richard Gere, about Hachiko, a dog who greeted his owner at the train station every day and after the owner died, the dog went to the same station for nine years.
Recently, I posted on Instagram the picture of a dog in Santa Catarina, Brazil, Negao the dog, whose owner died eight months earlier and the dog remained outside the hospital awaiting his owner’s return.
In the United States, a police dog has been given a state burial, draped with national colours in appreciation of its loyal and meritorious service to the nation.
Many centuries ago, Homer wrote in Odyssey, about a loyal dog, Argos who waited for Odysseus until he returned.
The established normal is that a dog can be trusted more than a human being.
And this is why in other parts of the world, when people name their dogs after celebrities, they are actually paying compliments and showing respect.
World figures like Elvis Presley, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Louis Vuitton, Mandela, Clinton, J. F. Kennedy and others have had their names given to either cats or dogs, and it is no big deal.
Admirers transpose their feelings from man to animal.
Joseph Chinakwe may actually be saying that President Buhari is a loyal, trustworthy, supportive, dependable and companionable Guardian of the Nigerian estate.
It would have been a different thing perhaps if he had given that name to a tortoise, a rat, cat, a fox, or a chimpanzee.
But in a country where every animal is considered a prey or a lower, spiteful creature, using the metaphor of a dog could be risky as the Chinakwe case has shown.
In Nigeria, we treat animals badly, and we don’t consider anyone a friend, man or animal.
We are vengeful, mean and suspicious. We are so scared we are even afraid of domestic and domesticated animals.
In other societies, animals are treated with greater respect and in the United States for example, the life of a dog is far superior to that of a human being in Nigeria.
I have written about this twice: In “A Dog’s Life” (1996), I reflected on the life of a dog owned by Stanley Meisler (God bless his soul) and his wife, Elizabeth Fox, my hosts during my journalism programme at the University of Maryland, College Park, United States (1996 -97).
I was shocked that the dog had a room of its own, a proper room, not a kernel, and whenever that dog fell ill, we took him to a dog hospital and Stanley bought drugs.
I saw that dog living the life of a king, better catered for than many Africans.
I wrote another piece titled “A Hotel for Dogs” (July 23, 2006) about a five-star hotel in Bethesda, Washington, which attends to dogs as customers, and where dogs enjoy a life of luxury.
Established in 2003, by PetSmart Inc., by 2006, there were 32 hotels of its type in the United States and the then spokesman of the group, Bruce Richardson, had boasted that by 2010, the plan was to have 240 such hotels across the United States.
We are talking luxury, 23 USD per night, 33USD for a dog suite, as at that time, all pre-tax, plus provisions for pooch ice cream. In general, Americans spend about $40 billion dollars a year on household pets.
I guess that is more than Nigeria’s annual budget even by today’s relative standards.
And so, what are we talking about? An American dog is a big man in Nigeria by all standards.
But because we eat dogs and treat all animals badly in this country, in fact we have no regard for human beings (consider the hundreds that get killed, raped, kidnapped daily and nobody cares), we are bound to be incensed that anyone would name a dog after a deified political figure.
Joe Chinakwe’s sins should be forgiven, albeit there is no morality in law, but the Nigerian judiciary should not expose itself to further ridicule by lending the weight of the law to such partisan trash that makes no sense.
There are far more important issues requiring serious attention in this country today.
But in case nobody understands that and Mr Chinakwe and his counsel find themselves in a tight corner, they should put out a disclaimer and say their dog, living or dead, is filing for a change of name.
That is perfectly within their rights to do.
And should they find themselves in any other difficult situation, they have my full permission to rename the dog, Reuben Abati.
But should you, dear reader consider this a bad name you wish to hang, you also have my full support, partnership and friendship to offer your own name.
If that will put an end to this circus over the name of a dog, and set Joseph Chinakwe free, and also remind us that we are in a democracy, please, help and so be it.
By the way, I hear Chinakwe and his sympathisers finally managed, after a fund-raising appeal, to raise a sum of N90, 000 to perfect his bail bond and that he is now out of detention.
Would somebody in a responsible position just put an end to this joke and let us focus on serious issues? [myad]
Nigeria’s Health minister, Professor Isaac Adewole has announced that the Federal Government has obtained a $125 million loan from the World Bank to tackle fresh cases of polio and other health challenges in the country. The minister made this known while briefing the Senate Committee on Primary Health and Communicable Diseases on Thursday in Abuja. Professor Adowole said that with the approval of the National Assembly, $60 million would be earmarked for polio, while the remaining $65 million would be used for the procurement of vaccines. He said that N10 billion had been released by the Federal Government from the 2016 budget to tackle the epidemic. He decried the fresh outbreak, even as he said that about N30 billion would be required to tackle the menace, adding that as a result of the outbreak, no fewer than 800,000 children under the age of five had been immunized in five local government areas in Borno State. He said the local government areas, which had a population of about one million people, were Jere, Gwoza, Mafa, Maiduguri Municipality and Bama. Prof. Isaac Adewole said: “The resurgence of polio is an unusual development and a major setback considering the investment of the international community, and the whole world was looking forward to celebrate Nigeria next year. “I wasn’t expecting polio as a challenge; I was expecting teenage pregnancy and other health challenges.” Adewole also said the ministry was working with relevant stakeholders to search for more cases, adding: “We want to assume there could be many more of the cases, we are looking for more cases.” He said the ministry had flagged off response channels while the team monitoring and managing the disease was working to ensure that it was nipped in the bud. According to him, the ministry will embark on six-round response programmes to immunize children under five in the whole of the country and neighbouring countries, to ensure that every potential child is immunized. Adewole disclosed that 300 million doses of vaccine were required to be able to carry out immunization in the country to curtail the spread of the virus. He, however, said only 100 million doses of vaccine were on ground, adding that measures would be put in place to make up the required doses. He stated that the ministry was toiling with the idea of administering injectable vaccines in view of its efficacy, particularly in Borno State, rather than relying solely on oral vaccine. The minister however said that plans to curb the disease could change depending on subsequent developments. He also said that due to the security situation in the North-East, the medical team from the military had equally been deployed to assist experts from the ministry. On recent case of Lassa fever that claimed the life of a medical doctor in Delta, the minister said that measures were being put in place to curb further spread. He also disclosed that the ministry was working with relevant agencies to check Zika disease, which was already prominent in Brazil. The Chairman of the committee, Mao Ohuabunwa, urged the ministry to embark on more sensitization and advocacy. He expressed displeasure with the ministry for not involving the legislature before now. Ohuabunwa said: “If we didn’t initiate this meeting, we would not have been carried along. “I expect that immediately you had this outbreak, you alert us and say areas we could collaborate with you to alert state assemblies for sensitization.” He pledged the committee’s support to the ministry in tackling challenges in the health sector. [myad]
Federal, States and local governments have shared N443.6 billion as revenue realized in July. This was made known at a news briefing by the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, on Thursday. Adeosun, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry, Mahmoud Isa-Dutse, announced this while addressing newsmen on the outcome of the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee meeting. The amount is 11 per cent less than the N559 billion that was distributed for June. Adeosun said: “The distributable statutory revenue for the month is N268.7 billion. “The sum of N6.3 billion was refunded to the Federation Account by Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation. “There is a distribution of N1.3 billion excess bank charges recovered from 2008 to 2012. “Also, there was the exchange gain of N70 billion and N36.4 billion arrears for May, which were also proposed.” Giving the breakdown of revenue among the three tiers, Adeosun said the Federal Government received N129.2 billion, representing 52.68 per cent, while states got N65.5 billion, representing 26.72 per cent. The local governments, she said, received N50.5 billion, amounting to 20.60 per cent of the amount distributed. She said N12.8 billion, representing 13 per cent derivation revenue, was shared among the oil producing states. Adeosun also said during the month under review, the country generated N119.4 billion as mineral revenue and N168.4 billion as non-mineral revenue, showing a decrease of N250.9 billion from both sources. The minister said the country’s Excess Crude Account stood at $3.03 billion. She explained that the main cause of the decline in revenue was mainly attributable to the reduction in the quantity of petroleum sold due to the activities of vandals in the Niger Delta. Adeosun also said Lagos State had not started receiving the 13 per cent derivation from the sale of crude oil. She said: “Lagos State has not started receiving the 13 per cent derivation because the money has not started coming in yet. “It is after the actual export that the money would be realised and it would be given the derivation.” [myad]
A 30-year-old man, Samodi Olorodo,is facing a case of theft involving 18 tubers of yam worth N10,000 and a bunch of vegetables worth N50 in in the Oke-Odo Area of Osiele, Abeokuta.
Olorodo, who has been ordered to be remanded in prison by the Abeokuta Magistrates’ Court in Isabo on Thursday, had however pleaded not guilty. The accused is of no fixed address.
The Prosecutor, Insp. Olakunle Shonibare, told the court that the offence was committed on August 1 at about 10:00 a.m.
Shonibare said the accused stole 18 tubers of yams valued at N10, 000 and a bunch of vegetables worth N50, property of one Mr Adeney Safiu.
According to him, at about 10:00 a.m. when the complainant got to his store, he saw the accused person coming out from his store with the tubers of yam and a bunch of vegetables on his head.
He was interrogated but could not give a reasonable answer, which led to his arrest.
The prosecutor noted that the offence contravened Sections 516, 383 and 390 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Ogun, 2006.
The Magistrate, Mr Idowu Olayinka, ordered that the accused be remanded at the Federal Prisons, Ibara, to enable the police carry out more investigation.
He adjourned the case to Oct. 5, for further hearing. [myad]
The Sokoto state commissioner of Health, Dr. Balarabe Shehu Kakale has warned that malnutrition on the millions of children in Nigeria is threatening to extinct healthy citizens that are expected to be the leaders of tomorrow. The commissioner was emphatic that one of the dangerous effects of malnutrition is rendering the victims to suffer from retarded mental development and therefore making such the victims to look stupid and useless. Dr. Balarabe Kakale spoke on Thursday at the opening of a two-day interactive dialogue on child malnutrition, organised by the United Nations Children Education Fund (UNICEF) for media executives, editors and reporters in print, electronic and online media at the Dankani Guest House in Sokoto. The commissioner stressed that a country like Nigeria, with wide spread malnourished younger ones is doomed, because such young ones would grow up to be dunce, lacking the necessary Intelligent Quotient to live useful life. According to him, the danger about malnutrition is that it is not the preserve of the poor and uneducated as erroneously believe in many quarters and neither is it restricted to some parts of the country. He explained that malnutrition is so wide spread that even rich and influential people experience through over-feeding and resultant obesity. He said that malnutrition now ranks higher than the HIV in terms of immune deficiencies, adding that malnourished children are exposed more to all types of dangerous diseases and deaths than the HIV. “Malnourished children are stunted both in physical appearances and in terms of brain,”the commissioner said, adding that for a child to be bright and intelligent is not the function of the best school he attends, but the correct early exclusive breast feeding he enjoys right from birth. Dr. Balarabe Kakale said that Sokoto state government has began to invest heavily on growing nutritional food and other measures that would boost the nutrition of the food the people, especially, children eat. This was even as the state commissioner for information, Alhaji Andulkadir Jeli Abubakar stressed the urgent need to educate the people about eating healthily, reminding the people about the saying: health is wealth. He said that for Nigeria to have healthy leaders tomorrow, the government and other stakeholders should rise up and campaign to face the challenge of arresting malnutrition in the children. Different topics on child malnutrition in the interactive dialogue, coordinated by the UNICEF’s Communication Specialist, Geoffrey Njoku, were treated by UNICEF nutritional specialist, Paul Mudzongo; Coordinator of the African Centre for Media and Information Literacy, Chido Onumah; Head of the Child Rights information Bureau in the Federal Ministry of Information, Mrs. Rose Modu; Dr. Chris Osa. Isokponwu and others.
This was even as UNICEF has warned that 49,000 people in the IDP Camps in Borno state, Boko Haram’s heartland, will die this year if they do not receive treatment.
UNICEF, which is appealing for $308 million to cope with the crisis, said that to date, it had only received $41 million, 13 percent of what it needs to help those affected in the four countries – Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon – that border Lake Chad. At the start of 2015, Boko Haram occupied an area the size of Belgium but has since been pushed back over the last 18 months by military assaults by the four countries. Most of its remaining forces are now hiding in the wilds of the vast Sambisa forest, southeast of the Borno provincial capital, Maiduguri. UNICEF said that as Nigerian government forces captured and secured territory, aid officials were starting to piece together the scale of the humanitarian disaster left behind in the group’s wake. “Towns and villages are in ruins and communities have no access to basic services,” UNICEF said in a report. In Borno, nearly two thirds of hospitals and clinics had been partially or completely destroyed and three-quarters of water and sanitation facilities needed to be rehabilitated. Despite the military gains, UNICEF said 2.2 million people remain trapped in areas under the control of Boko Haram – which is trying to establish a caliphate in the southern reaches of the Sahara – or are staying in camps, fearful of going home. Boko Haram is thought to have killed as many as 15,000 people since the launch of its insurgency in 2009. Responding to its battlefield setbacks, Boko Haram has turned to suicide bombings, many involving children. UNICEF said it had recorded 38 cases of child suicide bombings so far this year, against 44 in the whole of 2015 and just four the year before that. [myad]
Determined to maintain the zero level of poliomyelitis in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as it returned to Borno state recently, the government of the capital city has decided to re-activate the Task Force that will work towards preventing the disease from entering Abuja, and to ensure routine immunization. The FCT Permanent, Dr. Babatope Ajakaiye, who spoke as he inaugurated the Task Force in Abuja on Thursday, said that the action has been taken as a proactive measure to prevent any resurgence of poliomyelitis in any part of the Federal Capital Territory. Dr. Ajakaiye said that the Administration has also approved the expansion of the Task Force membership in order to ensure sector-wide stakeholder participation. The Permanent Secretary said that the effort of the FCT Administration is geared towards strengthening Childhood Immunization Services across the 8,000 square kilometers of the Territory. Dr. Ajakaiye insisted that Abuja must remain the pace setter for the 36 states of the federation to emulate and therefore urged members of the Task Team to work very hard to maintain the tempo. He said that the FCT Administration would continue to provide all the necessary support to ensure that the programmes earmarked for the sustenance of the agenda are fully implemented. The Task Force’s terms of reference include ensuring effective leadership and coordination of all immunization activities by the FCT; preparing and regularly review/update a 12 month state plan for the intensification of Polio Eradication and Routine Immunization activities required to interrupt/sustain interruption of wild poliovirus transmission. Others are to ensure the formation of Area Council inter-sectoral committees to coordinate planning and implementation of quality routine immunization campaigns at local level; to over see preparation of budgets for immunization activities, advocate for timely and adequate resource allocation and ensure judicious use of all funds allocation for these activities as well as coordinate the planning and execution of polio eradication supplemental immunization activities amongst others. The Task Force is being Chaired by himself, while the Executive Secretary of the FCT Primary Health Care Board would serve as the Secretary. Other members of the 35-Member Task Force include some officials of the FCT Administration, Traditional Rulers, Religious Organizations, Media, World Health Organization, UNICEF, European Union, Emergency Agencies as well as the FCT Area Councils’s officials. Speaking earlier, the Acting Secretary of the FCT Health and Human Services Secretariat, Mrs. Alice Odey Achu assured that the Secretariat is poised to sustain the zero status of the Federal Capital Territory in poliomyelitis. [myad]
Nigeria’s Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo has admitted that the past governments had never been short on good ideas, good intentions and good plans but that they lacked the ability to keep to the plans and implement them. “I must say that governments in Nigeria have never been short of good ideas , good intentions, or even good plans. but one of the key difficulties is just that ability to keep to the plan, plodding through day by day, doing the routine things that eventually fulfil a plan.” Vice President Osinbajo who spoke on Thursday in Kano, at the meeting of the National Council on Development Planning (NCDP), noted that the discipline to stay focussed over the long term is crucial to the success of any plan. “To do so as a team requires even harder work, but success in any aspect of State building requires just that -hardwork.” The Vice President said that strategic planning might sound academic or esoteric but that the truth is that no modern economy has made notable progress without strategic planning. He stressed that Nigeria is well placed in terms of human and natural endowment to be a thought leader and economic role model in Africa and indeed globally. “I am confident that if we remain positive, determined and focused our country can achieve such lofty goals and great heights that we have set for ourselves.” The full text of Professor Osinbajo’s key-note address is reproduced here:
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I am delighted to be here with you today for this very important meeting of the National Council on Development Planning (NCDP) taking place in this historic and dynamic city of Kano. I must say how honored i am to be so warmly welcomed. I thank the Kano State Government under the leadership of Governor Abdullahi Ganduje for the warm hospitality extended to me and all participants here. Similar appreciation goes to the leadership of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning for the arrangements made to ensure the successful convening of this meeting.
This Council meeting is well timed and well thought out, as it enables effective partnership and cooperation amongst all tiers of government to envision our collective future while tackling the challenges facing the economy. Your deliberations will also complement the on-going process of articulating the medium term sector strategy 2017-2019 and the 2017 Budget.
The focus of the 2016 NCDP’s meeting is on “National Strategic Planning as Vehicle for Attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Nigeria” This focus is appropriate indeed.
It shows the intrinsic link between planning and expected outcomes, in this case the SDGs. The adoption of the SDGs in September 2015 was intended to place our world on the path of sustainable development by the year 2030.
The 17 SDGs which combine economic, social and environmental objectives are intended to be universal unlike the Millennium Development Goals which were meant solely for developing countries.
The universal application of the SDGs and their 169 targets show that they are a menu of options. This allows implementation to take account of different national realities, capacities, policies and priorities. In the Nigerian context, some of the issues that must engage our minds relate to economic diversification, boosting economic growth, eradication of extreme poverty, promoting social inclusion, creating jobs and stemming environmental degradation including climate change.
The empirical evidence from across the globe has shown that national strategic planning is very critical for attaining structural transformation and sustainable development. The countries of East Asia have proved this convincingly even though their development was largely private sector driven.
Such plans provide strategic direction, coherence and coordination. They are indeed a framework for guiding the activities of all stakeholders towards achieving a common goal. Planning specifics such as goals, targets and indicators which embody the SDGs also enable tracking, monitoring and evaluation.
Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen-
Successful implementation of strategic plans and attainment of the SDGs entail partnerships as encapsulated in Goal 17-which is about the need to create (global) partnerships in order to attain sustainable development. Accordingly, just as the Federal Government seeks international partnerships at the global level with regard to rules and resources, we also seek partnerships at the national level. Such domestic partnerships entails working closely with the States which is one of the main reasons for the establishment of NCDP. Other essential partnerships are also being built with other sectors of society especially the private sector which is the indisputable engine of growth in successful economies.
Let me now speak about some of the things that the Buhari Administration is doing with regard to strengthening short and medium term planning. We have strengthened the link between budgeting and strategic planning by merging the National Planning Commission with the Budget Office of the Federation. We have adopted Zero-based Budgeting which compels the interrogation of public expenditure at micro levels and allows effective deployment of limited financial resources to areas and sectors with the greatest need. We have used a short-term strategic implementation plan to guide the 2016 budget and just yesterday the Federal Executive Council approved the Medium Term Expenditure Framework and the Fiscal Strategy Paper which are fully consistent with the SDGs and AU Agenda 2063.
The strategic priorities of the Federal Government in the area of tackling insecurity, combatting corruption and growing the economy will undoubtedly find expression in any medium term plan. The same is true for the policy interventions in the Strategic Implementation Plan notably with regard to the policy, security and governance; diversification of the economy; power, rail and roads; oil and gas reforms; ease of doing business and social investments.
The commitment of the Buhari Administration to promoting broader macroeconomic and structural reform is obvious in our push to mitigate supply-side constraints. With the deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector there has been a significant increase in the availability of petrol throughout the country with savings of N1.4 trillion on subsidy payments alone. Also a more flexible exchange rate regime will help to ease the pressure on the external reserves. In the short run of course there will be consequences for inflation, but we expect that with the greater clarity we are seeing in the implementation of the policy by the CBN, the foreign exchange market will stabilise, and confidence will be restored.
With regard to diversification, agriculture is a major priority of this government. The obvious gains are food security and a reduction in the financial burden and pressure on foreign exchange resulting from importing foods that we can produce. We are therefore looking to self sufficiency in a number of key types of produce including rice, wheat and tomato paste, while scaling up the export of traditional and non-traditional crops like cocoa, cassava, cashew and sesame seeds.
A strategic framework for coherent coordination of trade, industrial and investment activities is also being developed. A mixture of support instruments and incentives will be used to bring about growth in sectors that are critical for economic revitalization, especially in agriculture, agri-business, agro-processing, and SMEs promotion. It will also leverage the Nigeria Industrial Revolution Plan comprising Nigeria Automotive Development Plan, National Sugar Master Plan, and Local Patronage Initiative. I urge State Governments to key into and get maximum leverage from these initiatives.
Indeed, infrastructural development is being accorded priority in current interventions with total capital budgetary releases from January to July 2016 amounting to over 50% of total budget that has been released to the MDAs going to these needs. If security is added, this rises to over 70% with the Presidential Initiative for the North East being prioritized in order to give a new lease of life to our people in North East.
Some of the key Sustainable Development Goals relate to the social sector which is very much in tandem with the priorities in our social intervention programme. Just as conditional cash transfers address Goal 1 which aims to eliminate extreme poverty, we are also tackling Goal 2 which aims for zero hunger through our Home Grown School Feeding Programme which was launched in July 2016. The Teacher Corps programme to put 500,000 unemployed young graduates to work meets the objectives of Goal 4 on quality education and Goal 8 which is about employment.
In other words, our on-going interventions speak to the ultimate aim of the SDGs to get people out of poverty and address health and education issues of children and other vulnerable groups.
It is important to emphasise that neither planning nor implementation can gain much traction without strong governments and institutions . The capacity to implement is largely a function of the ability of state institutions to deliver social goods. Public health for example, eradicating Polio, AIDS, Laser fever, Ebola, depends so completely on , well funded, well resourced healthcare systems. A healthcare system organised to respond promptly, efficiently and robustly will save more lives and livelihoods than one that is less endowed. The capacity to enforce not just law and order, but social services like immunisation, public education programmes, is the very essence of Statehood.
Excellencies, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me take this opportunity to highlight the African Union Development Agenda which is described as “Ágenda 2063”, to which Nigeria, has subscribed.
Agenda 2063 seeks to develop an Afro-Centric or home grown development framework that is predicated on harnessing the vast opportunities of the continent, as well as proffering solutions towards addressing the peculiar challenges African Nations are faced with in the current global sphere. It is a call to action to all segments of African Society to work together to build a common future and destiny as espoused in the AU vision. It represents a source of inspiration for the development of national and regional sustainable development plans.
The task before us therefore requires finding ways to promote partnership and collaboration in the articulation of a strategic national plan that that is aligned to the SDGs and the AU Agenda 2063. I enjoin you to participate actively in all related activities such as taking stock of the country’s performance particularly on the defunct MDGs, convening multi-stakeholders dialogues and validations at zonal levels, and the work of Technical Working Groups. Such active participation will ensure that the concerns, interests and aspirations of our people are reflected in annual budgets and national development plans. It will also quite naturally help to ensure effective implementation.
Other critical challenges we will face in mainstreaming and implementing the SDGs are in the areas of implementation capacity, needs assessment & costing, financing etc etc. Others include rationalisation of the 169 targets and identification of the ones that are most relevant to our specific needs, situation and challenges, and harnessing baseline and disaggregated data needed to monitor progress. Your contributions on how these issues can be addressed would be invaluable.
Excellencies,
Strategic planning may sound academic or esoteric but the truth is that no modern economy has made notable progress without strategic planning. I must say that governments in Nigeria have never been short of good ideas , good intentions, or even good plans. but one of the key difficulties is just that ability to keep to the plan, plodding through day by day, doing the routine things that eventually fulfil a plan. The discipline to stay focussed over the long term is crucial to the success of any plan. To do so as a team requires even harder work, but success in any aspect of State building requires just that -hardwork.
Nigeria is well placed in terms of human and natural endowment to be a thought leader and economic role model in Africa and indeed globally. I am confident that if we remain positive, determined and focused our country can achieve such lofty goals and great heights that we have set for ourselves.
Permit me to again thank the National Council on development planning for their kind invitation to me to be here, and may I wish you a very fruitful and productive meeting and look forward to receiving the outcomes of this meeting and another invitation next year.
President Muhammadu Buhari has sent birthday messages to Professor Tamunoemi Sokari David-West who was Nigeria’s former Petroleum minister and Pastor Sunday Coffie Mbang, former Prelate Emeritus of the Methodist Church of Nigeria, both of who have turned 80. This is even as the President leaves for Nairobi Kenya on Saturday to attend the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI). Statements from the Presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina described Professor David-West as eminent academic, as he recalled, with fond memories, his long term relationship with the Professor, when he served as Minister of Petroleum, 1984 from 1985. The President commended Professor David-West’s steadfastness and forthrightness on issues of good governance, democracy, human rights and the unity of Nigeria, especially when some seem to easily give up on the project of building one great nation. “President Buhari assures the octogenarian that his place in Nigeria’s history is guaranteed for the statesmanship, fearlessness, intellectual depth, resourcefulness and versatility that he brought into public discourse. President Buhari congratulated Pastor Mbang for attaining the ripe age of 80 in good health and a rich legacy of a life lived in the service of God, his nation and humanity. He said that as a former Prelate of the Methodist Church and President of the Christian Association of Nigeria, the legacy Mbang which include his working towards reconciliation, reconstruction and revival in all leadership positions, captures the central message of the Bible, which is love. President Buhari assured the former Prelate that his efforts in pursuing unity in the body of Christ and the country will always be remembered by posterity, especially in co-chairing Nigeria’s Inter-Religious Council (NIREC), a government body responsible for the promotion of inter-faith dialogue. The President also commended the courage of the His Eminence in always speaking out against tyranny, corruption and social ills like immorality, cultism and drug abuse in the country. He prays that the almighty God will grant Mbang good health and more years of service to his father land. Meanwhile, the Nairobi summit which would run through to August 28, was co-organised by the Government of Japan, the United Nations Office of the Special Adviser on Africa, the United Nations Development Programme, the African Union and the World Bank. It will focus on promoting structural economic transformation through diversification and industrialisation; promoting resilient health system for quality life and promoting social stability for shared prosperity. During the conference, President Buhari will participate in plenary sessions on TICAD in alignment with African Development, the Dialogue with the Private Sector as well as the Global Launch of the Second Africa Human Development Report. The President will also hold a bilateral meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe. The statement from Adesina said that no fewer than 35 African leaders are expected at the two-day high level summit which will also be attended by leading private sector companies from Japan. This will be the first time TICAD is being held in Africa since its inception in 1993. Nigeria has played a prominent role at the forum aimed at forging international partnerships for Africa’s transformation and prosperity through economic growth, agriculture and social stability. [myad]
The Join Tax Board in Nigeria has revealed that out of about 170 million Nigerians, only 10 million are paying taxes to the government.
A member of the National Tax Policy review committee and the Lead Presenter, Taiwo Oyedele, said at the stakeholders’ meeting in Abuja that the situation has denied the country huge revenue for developmental projects.
He said that in addition to the small number of Nigerians that are paying taxes, people have not been complying with issue of 10 percent Value Added Tax.
This was even as the chairman of the committee, Professor Abiola Sanni, said that the essence of the review was to improve it for better implementation.
Technical assistant at the Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, Chris John Mamuda, advised the committee to consider granting tax amnesty for SMEs in order to encourage the businesses to grow. [myad]
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The Sokoto state commissioner of Health, Dr. Balarabe Shehu Kakale has warned that malnutrition on the millions of children in Nigeria is threatening to extinct healthy citizens that are expected to be the leaders of tomorrow.
Determined to maintain the zero level of poliomyelitis in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) as it returned to Borno state recently, the government of the capital city has decided to re-activate the Task Force that will work towards preventing the disease from entering Abuja, and to ensure routine immunization.
