The Federal Inland Revenue Service, on Tuesday,  kicked against the imposition of additional taxes and levies on business owners to raise money for funding the Child’s Online Access Protection Bill.

The FIRS Chairman, Mr Zacch Adedeji,  represented by Mr Mathew Osanekwu, made this known when he appeared before the House Committee on Justice in Abuja on Tuesday.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the committee is holding a public hearing on a bill to provide for the Child Online Access Protection Bill 2023.

This bill also included other issues of online violence against Nigerian children and related matters.

Adedeji said the FIRS had already been given a target, and instead of levelling additional burden through taxation to fund the bill to become an Act, it should be funded through appropriation.

“The impression we have is that the funding will be through a levy. We already have eight different levies, and I advised that the funding should come by way of appropriation,” Adedeji said.

He added that this became necessary since FIRS was charged with collecting revenue for the government.

Speaking in support of the bill, he said:  “Our position is that FIRS fully supports the bill, and its intention is a great initiative.

“We have to adopt global best practices; we observed that funding to make it happen is also in the bill, and in this, we have raised issues,” he said.

The Deputy Director, Legal, Nigeria Communication Commission, Abang Abua, who represented the commission’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Aminu Maida, said the commission was concerned about the method of funding in the form of taxation.

“We are concerned about tax because our operators are already inundated with taxes,” he said.

He said the commission had been very active in child online protection and had deployed child line protection protocol.

Also speaking, the Deputy Director, Legal, National Human Rights Commission, Ms Pwadumoi Okoh, who represented the chairman, said the bill was a proactive step to ensure the rights of children were protected.

 She, however, said the NHRC had observed some errors in the bill and submitted its inputs to the House.

“We suggest that the committee should explore some other relevant Nigerian laws instead of duplicating efforts in agencies where such laws exist.

“We should look at other Acts of the agencies of government that have similar mandates so as not to have interagency rivalry.”

Usman Kumoh (APC-Gombe), who represented the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abbas, said the House would continue to protect the rights of the child.

“We will continue to protect the interests of the children on a moral and legal basis. All hands must be on deck to protect children from being harmed.

“Nigeria cannot live in isolation in the digital world, and our children must not be exposed to the dangers of the internet,” he said.

He said the bill must be done collaboratively between parents, and service providers.

This, according to him,  ensures that children are protected and adults will not be able to take advantage of their rights.

He said the bill was not targeted at taxing anybody, adding that what the House was demanding was to take part of the existing money to fund the bill.

The Chairman, House Committee on Justice, Olumide Osoba, said the bill was straightforward, adding that it was meant to ensure that service providers safeguarded the Internet for children.

Osoba said the FIRS should be more interested in protecting the Nigerian child than in tax collection.

NAN reports that other stakeholders that appeared at the committee sitting included the Ministry of Women Affairs and the Data Protection Agency, among others.

[Punch]

Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou are set to become significantly richer once their fight in Saudi Arabia is done and dusted later this week.

The two are all set for their contest this Friday and there are tens of millions set to pour into their accounts, no matter who wins.

It’s an important fight for both men, with AJ looking to set up a huge 2024 in which he hopes to become world champion again, while his opponent will want to build on his first professional match against Tyson Fury.

The UFC icon stunned the world when he knocked Fury down before controversially losing via split decision.

It should be a great contest between two men who have stated they plan to be aggressive, and they will both be a whole lot wealthier once the contest is over.

The official figures for the purse and prize money have yet to be confirmed.

However, what is guaranteed is that Ngannou and AJ will make millions from this fight.

The Cameroonian will take home $20million, which works out to around £16m.

This would be the most lucrative fight in his career by a distance and would be double what he earned against Fury.

This purse fee doesn’t include any pay-per-view money or fees for winning or lasting the full distance etc.

So, it’s possible Ngannou could earn well over £20m for a maximum of 30 minutes in the ring.

Meanwhile, this is also set to be one of Joshua’s most lucrative fights.

Reports suggest he will earn nearly £40m.

Again, this doesn’t include PPV fees or any potential prize money.

These figures have not been made public yet, so things could slightly change.

However, what is clear is that Joshua will earn significantly more than Ngannou.

Some might think this is unfair, but the Brit is the more experienced boxer and former two-time unified world champion, so commands a bigger fee.

Meanwhile, this is just Ngannou’s second professional boxing match.

[Vanguard]

Bitcoin traded at $69,191, surpassing its previous record of $68,991, reported in November 2021.

However, shortly after the price surge to the record high, the cryptocurrency declined to $64,941.37 as of the time of filing this report.

The cryptocurrency has been on a bullish run, recording a 14.63 percent rise in the last seven days, and a significant surge of over 191.03 percent in the last year.

Similarly, some major altcoins are rising steadily in the last 24 hours, with Ethereum climbing 3.17 percent to $3,673.12, while Solana rose by 5.46 percent to $134.94.

The crypto market capitalisation has increased by 54.10 percent to $222.06 billion within a day.

According to reports, the record is buoyed by the largest cryptocurrency becoming more accessible for trade as supplies tighten.

Meanwhile, the development comes amid the federal government’s clampdown on the crypto exchange over regulatory contraventions in Nigeria.

Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to President Bola Tinubu on information and strategy, on February 21, 2024, said Binance and other cryptocurrency platforms should be banned from operating in the country.

Also on February 27, 2024, Olayemi Cardoso, governor of the CBN, said $26 billion passed through Binance Nigeria from unidentified sources in one year.

Cardoso said the apex bank is collaborating with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to ensure there is no manipulation in the FX market.

On March 1, 2024, the federal government reportedly demanded at least $10 billion as a settlement from Binance for profiting from “its illegal transactions” in Nigeria — days after two top executives of the crypto platform were detained.

Following the restraint on its operations in the country, on Tuesday, Binance Nigeria announced plans to cease all naira transactions, from March 8, 2024.

[TheCable]

Let me start by joining the Planning and Organizing Committee of this great and historic event, the BACAS OLD STUDENTS’ REUNION CONVENTION, the first ever since 1978, forty-six years ago when the first set of students of the Interim Joint Matriculation Board (IJMB) of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria graduated from this famous citadel of learning, the Bauchi State College of Arts and Science (BACAS) Bauchi.

We may all recall that BACAS was established, along with six other similar Institutions in Northern Nigeria in the summer of 1976 by the former Head of State General Olusegun Obasanjo ostensibly to bridge the education gap between the Northern and Southern parts of the country. The objective then was to offer fresh opportunities to young and bright secondary school leavers in the Northern States who were unable to immediately proceed to Tertiary Institutions either because of lack of access or because of some minor deficiencies. It was believed that given the ambience of a College environment, away from the very stiff and regimental secondary school settings, students could perform optimally with resounding results.

This was exactly what happened in BACAS. Incidentally, BACAS was established less than six months after the creation of Bauchi State by General Murtala Muhammed of blessed memory, out of the old North Eastern State with Headquarters in Maiduguri. Most of us seated here today are products and indeed beneficiaries of these visionary leaders. Today, is a day we have all come together to meet again after nearly half a century to rejoice and relieve our past experiences with nostalgia and excitement.

We have every reason to thank God and celebrate for even more reasons. In a country where life expectancy for both men and women is very low, it is a wonder, even a miracle that despite of all the odds, despite all the obstacles and daily hazards of life, God in His infinite Mercies and blessings has spared our lives to witness today. We pray, may we all live long in good health to continue our great service to our dear nation and humanity. Of course, we have lost many of our dear friends including our classmates, roommates and even our very close family and social friends. We pray, may God grant their beautiful souls eternal rest in peace.

In a significant turn of events, we are also holding our Reunion here at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, the very place where BACAS was established and located forty eight years ago. We therefore wish to convey our special appreciation to the Vice Chancellor, Prof Muhammad Abdulazeez, Management, Staff and students of this University for welcoming us back home and offering us cosy hospitality to meet again where our educational umbilical cord was buried. 

Let me also appreciate the organizers for nominating me to serve as a Guest Speaker in today's event and share my thoughts on one of the most topical issues in Nigeria today, that is to say on the issue of the direction of the political, economic and social conditions of our great nation. In particular, I will focus my attention on the need to: Rethink The Neo-Liberal Economic Doctrine especially as it affects Nigerians today. I am deeply aware, today is not a day for long talk and certainly, it is not a day for hard talk. Since today is a special day of Reunion and a day of celebrations, I will not go the pedantic way, nor engage in deep theorizing as the time for that is not auspicious.

In this intervention, I will rather approach the subject as a polemic, to try to raise questions on the contending issues, to provoke and generate more debate and discussions to deepen our understanding to the challenges confronting our dear nation as we work towards consolidating democratic governance in the country.

Abstract

In the early hours of the morning of Monday 5^th February 2024, reports started filtering through the Internet and the conventional media that there was a massive demonstration in Minna, the Capital city of Niger State over increasing cost of foodstuffs and general conditions of life in the country. Two days later on Wednesday, 7^th February 2024, a similar protest was reported in Suleja, another ancient town in Niger State but very close to Abuja, the Federal Capital city. Subsequently, other similar protests were reported in Kano on Thursday 8^th February; Osun, State on Friday, 9^th February; and in Ibadan, Oyo State on Monday 12^th February 2024. And just as was the case with the Minna demonstrations, these were also associated with the rising cost of living in the country. The clarions call in all these protests were that the prices of foodstuff have skyrocketed so much making it difficult, if not impossible, for ordinary Nigerians to feed themselves and their families.

While demonstrations in Nigeria are not new, nor are they peculiar under democratic governance, what was new was for the first time in a long time, people are going to the streets because of the rising prices of food and the biting costs of living. Suddenly, there was fear and anxiety, if these demonstrations were allowed to continue, they could escalate beyond control and become a major security threat in the country. The Federal Government reacted swiftly.

Both the National Assembly and the Office of the President held series of meetings with Ministers and Heads of Security Agencies to address this urgent matter of national importance. The Federal Government immediately started taking some remedial steps including unlocking the national grain reserves to release more food to the people and  Government went further to issue a strong warning against hoarding of food in the country.

Despite the initial Federal Government spirited efforts, still more demonstrations took place in Lagos on Monday 27^th February followed by the NLC’s nationwide protests held on Tuesday 28^th. The second day of protests scheduled for Wednesday 29^th February  2024 were  suspended with threats by the NLC to continue if their demands were not met. What all these means is that unless something is done urgently, the nation will continue to move on tension, anxiety and  uncertainty.

While the Federal Government was working hard to find other lasting solutions to this problem, Nigerians, as usual, have gone to  the town with what they perceived as the causes of these problems asking the question, what may have happened and how did we arrive at where we are today? As we shall see later, while there are many ‘explanations’ about the causes of Nigerian economic crises, in this paper, I will argue that, embracing the neo-liberal economic paradigm over the last four decades under the regime of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, with their adverse conditionalities is the root causes of these problems.

I posit that the cumulative effects of over four decades of the involvement and intervention of the Bretton Wood Institutions in the Nigerian economy and society based on the neo-liberal ideology which is insensitive to the feelings and yearnings of Nigerians is the fundamental reason why Nigeria is caught in the web. I argue that unless and until Nigeria takes decisive action, we shall be moving in circles. In other words, it is time to Rethink The Neo-Liberal Economic Doctrine. This is precisely, why I call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to take far reaching decisions to give Nigeria and Nigerians a new deal.

Background

The first question we need to ask is, what the origins of the classical economic theory? As an ideological framework, neo-liberalism can be traced to early works of 20^th Century classical economists who placed greater emphasis on free market or laissez faire as the determinant of economic policy. This theory is rooted in the classical work of Adam Smith in his book, The Wealth of Nations published way back in 1776, which was more less the Manifesto of capitalism. Adam Smith (1776) argued that in the management of public resources, the State should play only an invisible role, or what he called, the ‘invisible hand’ in supporting the market forces.

The classical economic theorists posit that the market must be allowed to operate through the forces of demand and supply, with little or no government interference, which in their view, is more efficient in the allocation of resources. They were  opposed to excessive power of Governments and Governments spending. The classical Doctrine rests squarely on supply side economics insisting that Government’s primary duty and obligation was only to provide the enabling environment for industry and businesses to flourish in order to improve the efficiency of production and productivity which were expected to reduce the costs of goods and services.  They were opposed to demand side economics. This, in essence is the ideology of capitalism. However, since Adam Smith postulated his theory, the world has faced various challenges that led to serious re-examination by scholars of the classical theory. The post Second World War consensus led to the decline of the attraction of the so called free market capitalism at the policy level in Europe.

First, after the Second World war, 1939-1945, the European economies were devastated by the war and there was serious crisis and despair. Industries in Europe had collapsed, unemployment and inflation were on the rise and there was general discontent. There was even greater concern and fear that if nothing was done by Governments then, Europe could slip further into anarchy and civil wars. The issues of inequality, poverty, racial discrimination and even starvation had to addressed. Banal capitalism was thus a threat to itself. The British Economist, John Maynard Keynes, the arrowhead of Keynesian economics, who along with Barry Whites the US Treasury Secretary, played decisive role in the creation of the New International Monetary Order came forcefully on the need for Government to take steps to reboot the economy.

John Maynard Keynes (1983-1946), along with other economists in Britain argued for interventionism. Keynes general argument is that Government must create jobs to boost consumer buying power during recession. He held the view that Governments “should increase spending even it means going into debts”.  They urged the British Government to create jobs, any jobs to raise the effective demand which would enable citizens to go to markets to look for goods and services. The principle here, which is taught at the University, under Economics 101, states that the increased demand for goods and services by citizens would encourage producers to expand production, look for more raw materials, recruit more workers and the so called ‘multiplier effect’ would propel the engines of the economy to restart full blast.

Thus, after the Second World War, the Labour Party Government in the United Kingdom introduced the welfare State, where it became necessary for the Government to intervene in providing various forms of social support for children, women on maternity, the unemployed, the homeless, the Elderly and the terminally sick. Here, an economist, William Beveridge (1879-1963) often described as the father of the Welfare State  played a critical role in the introduction of the Welfare State in the UK.  Governments were also involved in investments and businesses especially in critical sectors of the national economy, including the telecommunications, the railways, the power and the banking sectors.  This system was sustained by virtually by all the succeeding UK Governments, in various forms, until late 1970s.

The Rise of Neo-liberalism

The neo-liberalism as an economic philosophy emerged among European scholars during the inter-war period in the 1930s, which greatly influenced economists and policy makers both in Europe and United States. This led to the restructuring the Global financial and monetary system leading to the establishment of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) otherwise called the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO). The primary objective of the United States  which had emerged as a major beneficiary of the Second World War, was to open the world economy for multilateral trade and investment and for the movements of goods and capital to its advantage.

However, in late 1970s and early 1980s, something dramatic took place in both Europe and United States. Very powerful conservative leaders emerged. We may all recall that Margaret Thatcher emerged as the British Prime Minister in 1979; in the United States, President Ronald Reagan was elected in 1981; and in Western Germany, (then as it was), Helmut Kohl was elected in 1982 as the German Chancellor. Under these conservative leaders, the neo-liberal thinking reemerged that once again went back and excavated the orthodox Adam Smith classical economic theory, that the State has no business being in business and the clarion call was to role back the frontiers of the State from business.

The primary considerations of these conservative neo-liberal regimes in United States and Western Europe in the 1980s and 1990s were economic liberalization which included privatization of public enterprises, deregulation of the economy, monetarism, free trade, Globalisation, reversal of welfare policies and the introduction of austerity policies. Under the leadership of the these revisionists, most social services in the US and Europe were either discontinued or greatly scaled down. What followed next was the gradual but systematic divestment of Government businesses in what later came to be called the rolling back of the frontiers of State from direct engagements in businesses. All major public enterprises were either privatized or sold out. The result was massive unemployment, inflation, economic turbulence, Labour Unions unrest  and general disillusion among the people. Other critical aspects of the welfare State were also dismantled especially in Britain, in complete reversal of all the gains of the welfare State.

Neo-Liberalism And The Bretton Wood Institutions

It was within this context of revisionism in Europe and United States that Africa, Asia and Latin American countries were caught. The Bretton Woods Institutions, that is to say the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) otherwise known and called as the World Bank which were established after the Second World War, initiated the Structural Adjustment Lending (SAL) Programs. In 1980, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) came up with what they called, Structural Adjustment Lending (SAL) in reaction to what the Bretton Wood Institutions determined as, "markedly deteriorated prospects that were foreseen for developing countries during the 1980s" (Alkali, 1997). 

According to the World Bank, "the Structural Adjustment Lending (SAL) was designed to provide maximum support to those governments that had requested such support and that have recognized the need to formulate and introduce as a matter of urgency a set of comprehensive measures designed to adjust the structure and situation” of their economies (Alkali, 1997). The main objectives of SAL were therefore two, namely: (a) to support a program of specific policy changes and institutional reforms; and (b) to act as a catalyst for the inflow of external capital specifically in developing countries.

It is this apparently innocuous focus and objective of “providing support of specific policy changes and institutional reforms” that brought the Bretton Wood Institutions directly into the economic and social affairs of African nations. In a short period of only six years 1980 and 1986, the World Bank extended many Structural Adjustment Loans which rose from only $640.00 million for the SAL sector in 1980, to $2,284.00 million in 1986.

In effect, SAL loans increased from 0.6 per cent of total World Bank and IDA commitments in 1980, to 14 per cent in 1986. As was noted elsewhere, “since then, the Structural Adjustment Programs became central to World Bank and IMF operations globally, but particularly in Africa. By 1994, a total of 29 African countries were at various levels of the implementation of SAP” (Alkali, 1997). Indeed, since 1994, the World Bank and the IMF have entrenched themselves deeply into the African economies.

By now, it should be clear, the World Bank and IMF were the Institutions that served as the arrow heads in imposing neo-liberal policies on the African continent, indeed on Nigeria. Not surprisingly, the two Institutions through all kinds of methods imposed very hash economic policies on Nigeria with adverse consequences. Some of these policies included the abolishing of Commodity Boards; Commercialisation of public services such as hospitals and school feeding; deregulation of the public sector; privatisation of public enterprises; and the introduction of various tax policies, some of them very harsh.

But the long term objective of the IMF was always the removal of all subsidies especially agricultural and fuel subsidies and allowing floating exchange rate for the national currencies – in the case of Nigeria, the total devaluation of the Naira. Today, virtually all these have been achieved by the Bretton Wood institutions. More recently in a final push, in February 2024 the IMF began to call for the removal of subsidy from electricity and already some senior Government officials have started echoing this IMF demand.

Cumulative Effect of the Neo-liberal Economic Doctrine

So, while most of these neo-liberal policies were in principle intended to reduce or remove Government intervention or involvement in businesses ostensibly on the pretext that market forces are more efficient in the allocation of resources, there is no where in the world where Governments abdicate their responsibilities to their citizens without adverse consequences. What we are facing today therefore are existential issues concerning the social, economic and political consequences of swallowing the World Bank and IMF pills. Undoubtedly, these policies have brought about serious economic, security and social consequences.

In the first place, the Nigerian Economy has been going into deep and deeper  crisis. This fact is known to everyone both within and outside Nigeria and does not require long explanation. Nonetheless, it is important to mention even in brief the background to some of these problems. It is well known fact that until Nigeria discovered petroleum oil, agriculture was the mainstay of the Nigerian economy characterized by huge production of food and export crops. Nigeria was a leading producer and exporter of groundnuts, cocoa, Palm kennels, hides and skins. The discovery of petroleum oil changed all these. Nigeria’s oil export earnings grew steadily and over the years agriculture began to decline. Even though the contribution of agriculture to GDP in Nigeria remains high, exports of traditional agricultural products began to decline, giving way to petroleum exports.

But instead of Nigeria to use oil to get out of oil, the country went deeper and deeper into the dependence on oil exports earnings whose price was and still is determined by external forces of demand and supply. With huge export earnings accompanied with the decline of agriculture and in the absence of a coherent industrialisation policy, Nigeria became a massive importer of goods and services including food. Indeed Nigeria became a dumping ground of all kinds of foreign manufactured products.

With Nigeria’s growing population and the instability of  the oil market, Nigeria began to borrow heavily from the international financial institutions. This is precisely how the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) gradually but systematically penetrated into the Nigerian economy and society. Today, Nigeria is debtor nation and there is no aspect of Nigeria where these two Bretton Woods institutions are not involved. And as in all Africa, Asia and Latin America where the World Bank and the IMF are involved, there are deep and pervasive implications for the governments and the peoples.

Without consistent, coherent and coordinated education system, the number of out of school children, especially in Northern Nigeria kept on rising yearly while the Almajiri system became a breeding ground for criminal activities. Privatisation of public enterprises and the embargo on recruitments by the Federal and State Ministries, Directorates and Agencies also contributed to rising unemployment in the country. The unintended consequence of all these is rising crimes and criminality.

Today, it is a well known fact that many groups have taken up arms against the Nigerian state. Boko Haram, once seen and treated as a fringe religious sect grew and expanded rapidly in the North Eastern sub region declaring total war on the people. In the last ten to fifteen years, the insurgents unleashed mayhem within and outside the cities, villages and communities in the region causing unprecedented deaths and destructions. Unfortunately, despite spirited government efforts over the years and in spite of the huge collateral damage to the Nigerian economy and society, still remnants of the group have been waging sporadic attacks on innocent civilians in the region.

Similarly, the menace of banditry and kidnapping especially in the North Western sub region which also started in the form of cattle rustling grew up very fast constituting a huge security challenge to Nigeria. Today, the issue of banditry and kidnapping has become a franchise with some warlords openly threatening to intensify the killings of innocent citizens and destructions of public property. Similarly, frequent tension, conflicts and even confrontation leading to deaths and destruction over access to land and water between farmers and cattle rearers in the midlands have also been of great concern to every Nigerian and to the Nigerian Government. This too has led to many deaths and destructions and the disruptions of public life.

Furthermore, in the South East, the emergence and growth of the outlawed  Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) and the threat of secession has destabilized a region known for vast trade and commerce. It is now common for IPOB to declare certain days of the week as closed for public and private commercial activities and anyone who violated the ‘Order’ is dealt with mercilessly by the group. All these and many similar groups are challenging the very existence of Nigeria as an entity, a further evidence on the loss of confidence in the system. Unfortunately, these irredentist groups have also invariably undermined Nigeria's economic base with dire consequences on agricultural and industrial production and commercial activities and the very essence of peaceful coexistence within and among communities.

Nigerians Are Loosing Hope and Getting Angry

Today, everywhere you go around the country, the cry of food, food and food rants the air with many more people going to bed (if they have any bed at all) and waking up in the morning with empty stomachs, with no hope of getting food anytime soon. In communities devastated by insecurity and in families with many small children whose parents have been killed, the situation is even more dire and distressing. It is obvious, a hungry man is an angry man. One consequence of all these is loss of hope in the land. It is an incontrovertible fact that many Nigerians have lost hope in the country, many others have lost hope on democracy and even many more Nigerians have lost hope in themselves.

Although it might require further in depth research to corroborate, it is a fact that the frequency of suicides in Nigeria in the last few years appear to be on the increase. Unfortunately, a lot of drama has been added to the gory incidences of suicide in Nigeria, with many of those planning to commit suicide do so openly in public spaces in order to attract the media to achieve maximum effect. As in all instances, while it is very difficult to pin down specific cause or causes of these suicides, nonetheless, it is not too difficult to deduce that the harsh economic conditions in the country, accompanied with social pressures are major contributors.

Late last year, in November 2023, a video clip trended on-line showing a young Nigerian man from Edo State called Alvin Ilenre, a graduate of Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Oyo State, publicly setting fire on his primary school, diploma, Bachelors Degree and NYSC certificates saying that since his graduation for nearly thirteen  years, the certificates did not serve him any purpose. While many social media followers were shocked and surprised that anyone could go this far, the lesson from this was that there was no easier and harsher way of dismissing the education system in the country. It is a fact of life today that the biting economic conditions have deepened hunger, poverty, unemployment and general bitterness and resentments in the country. This has also raised anger and bitterness in the land. After pursuing the neo-liberal doctrine for over forty years, Nigeria has been caught up in a web.

Nigerians are also getting angry because Nigerians image and respectability is being systematically eroded. When a bullish  American President calls African countries shit holes, we take it calmly and do not respond; when a British Prime Minister calls Nigeria, fantastically corrupt, we shrug it off, as if he didn't say anything; when Nigerians are chased away from African countries, we bark but we not bite; and when descent and innocent Nigerian citizens are maltreated at foreign airports, we just look the other way, we do not carry out reprisals to forestall future similar diplomatic embarrassments to our citizens. In short, Nigeria and Nigerians image and respectability are being eroded and undermined on daily basis and certainly, Nigeria does not deserve this.

Popular Consensus Among Nigerians

Despite all the deafening noise, grandstanding and brinkmanship which is common in Nigerian politics, especially during elections season that we have just passed through, there is popular consensus among Nigerians in a number of areas relating to our great nation:

In the first place, virtually every Nigerian, including friends of Nigeria  are agreed  that our country is not moving fast enough and nor is it moving in the right direction of fulfilling its manifest destiny as the leading and leader on the African continent. Some Nigerians even believe, rightly or wrongly, that we as a nation are either stuck in one place or even moving backwards compared to some of the leading nations in the world;

Secondly, most Nigerians believe, here rightly too,  that the country has vast human and natural resources, that if these resources were properly harnessed, these would propel us to accelerated economic development, social advancement and political stability and so far this has not happened.

Thirdly, most Nigerians believe, unless something is done urgently, Nigeria’s economic and socio-political drift will be exacerbated with far reaching consequences not only for Nigeria as a country but for the African Continent as a whole. Already the deepening economic crisis in the country has impacted virtually in every sector of the national economy especially in the areas of agriculture, the manufacturing sector and commerce. As we noted earlier, these have been exacerbated by general insecurity in the country.

Popular Explanations About The Causes Of Crisis In Nigeria

Unfortunately, while there is a general agreement about the existence of these problems, there is no agreement on the causes of these problems and their solution. There are a number of critical issues that are often raised and advanced forward as explanation for causes of Nigerian economic crises.  Instead of situating the ongoing crisis at the doorstep of the neo-liberal ideologues, most Nigerians often prefer to look elsewhere for the causes of Nigerian economic crisis.

The most popular among these explanations include among others: issues of lack of elite consensus; unbridled corruption both in low and high places; the dysfunctional State; manipulations from foreign powers; the indiscipline of Nigerians; and the problem of fiscal Federalism. Each of these has attracted interest among Scholars, Political analysts and Civil Society organisations. Even though we do not have sufficient time here to address each and every one them, nonetheless we need to interrogate some of them.

On the issue of corruption, there has been spirited debate in Nigeria on its causes, dimensions and implications for the national economy and society. Some of the manifestations of this corruption include lack of priorities in governance, misuse and abuse of public trust and open theft. Many Nigerians believe that this corruption has been facilitated because of the gradual but systematic concentration of power and resources into fewer and fewer hands while abject poverty is on the increase. A new word, ‘state capture’ is beginning to find its way into the lexicon of political discourse.

Undoubtedly, the issue of corruption has been as old as the history of Nigeria. In fact, way back in 1984, a spirited debate took place among leading scholars, Yusuf Bala Usman of the Department of History and Yusuf Bangura of the Department of Political Science both at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria on the causes of Nigerian economic crisis. During the debate, while the issue of corruption was raised as one of the causes of the economic crisis in Nigeria, it was also argued that corruption itself was a feature and manifestation of a deeper problem, inevitable in all capitalist systems (ABU, 1984). While in the earlier years of the World Bank and IMF operations in Nigeria, the issue of corruption was not highlighted as major factor of underdevelopment, but since the early 1990s the story has changed. It was now being argued that corruption was one of the major impediments to development in Africa and governments in Africa must fight corruption.

As part of this, Governments in Nigeria have over the years established numerous institutions and agencies to curb these excesses, but still in the perceptions of most ordinary Nigerians, there is even more escalations of these excesses and misdemeanors. Regrettably, even those highly respected, talented, fearless and dedicated officers who were given the difficult task of cleaning the system end up being undermined and or compromised by the system.

Beside the issue of corruption, there are many Nigerians who also contend that the structure of the Nigerian federation is the major factor and an impediment to economic growth, political inclusivity and inclusiveness and social harmony. Here, it is felt that the distributive process of national resources between the federal government, the states and local governments has greatly impaired national development. This has led to frequent calls for restructuring of the country in order to address the issues of fiscal imbalances and other sundry matters.

Here, there are many Nigerians, including highly respected citizens who believe that the whole problem in Nigeria is either what they term as faulty fiscal federalism, or that the Federal structure in Nigeria itself, is the foundation of the problem. According to this view, there is an urgent need to restructure the Nigerian Federation. Under this assumption, there have been strident calls for creation of more states, devolution of powers of the Federal Government, review of the Revenue Allocation Formula,  resource control, establishment of State Police and even calls for return to regionalism.

There are still others who are also calling for jettisoning of the Presidential system of Government, which they say is too expensive and a return to the Parliamentary system of Government, as was practiced under the First Republic 1960 to 1966. Initially, there was serious resistance against restructuring of the country, but with time, the issue of restructuring is becoming clear, and today there is consensus about among Nigerians on the need for the restructuring of the country, what remains unclear is when, how the modus operandi. Recently in late February 2024, the, National Assembly in Nigeria commenced processes for the amendments of the Nigerian Constitution to revert the country to Parliamentary System of Government and the introduction of State police. Both of these are very contentious and are likely to raise more tensions in the days ahead.

Beside the structuralists debate, there is also the ‘Institutional’ Argument. The Institutional argument also falls within the structural functional paradigm which is rooted way back in the 1960s. Advanced forward and promoted by some conservative American scholars, they argue that one of the causes of backwardness in Africa was lack of effective institutions and structures. They argue that for Africa to grow, Africa must modernize and abandon its primitive ways of doing things.

Modernization theories which were off-shoots of the structural functionalist school, are traceable to the popular writings of sociologists such as Emil Durkheim, Ferdinand Tonnies, and TaIcolt Parsons. These were later reviewed and applied by American political scientists, such as David Easton and Gabriel Almond. According to this view,  the essential goal of modernization, is to alter the patterns of what they considered primitive social organization in Africa and to create a society, in which, "man is efficient, adaptable, independent oriented towards long term planning and in which he is amenable to change”(Alkali, 1997). A more recent version of this was advanced forward by the former American President Barack Obama in his address at the Ghanian Parliament on 11 July 2009. Obviously sending a message to all African nations, he said, “Africa does not need strong men. It needs strong Institutions” (Obama, 2009).

Unfortunately, many African writers and commentators, without critically analyzing the statement, were carried away, believing that what Africa needed to achieve development is to build strong Institutions and structures. This fits in very well with the Bretton Woods new direction of ‘institutional reforms’ in Africa. It was stated that, “the neo-liberal project is also focused on designing Institutions and is political in character rather than only economic”(Wikipedia, p30). But it must be stated that while Barack Obama might have a point about building Institutions, it can be argued that while institutions and structures have their role in the development process, certainly, they can not be substitutes for good governance guided by leaderships that are  rooted in well conceived social values. 

Here again, one of issues that has been attracting attention is the challenges of leadership in Nigeria. I have argued elsewhere in my Convocation Lecture at Taraba State University, Jalingo in 2022 that  there is no subject that has continued to elicit so much passion and acrimonious debate than the problem of leadership in Nigeria. Here is what I stated: “In the past three decades, conscious efforts have been made in search of solutions. As part of this, the Arewa House, Center for Historical Research and Documentation in Kaduna, an arm of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria has hosted a number of Seminars, Workshops and Lecture series addressing this issue” (Alkali, 2022).

“Some of the prominent Nigerian Leaders who spoke on this matter included: Mallam Liman Ciroma's paper on The Imperative of National Unity and the Responsibility of Leadership" (1994); Alhaji Shehu Usman Aliyu Shagari, on Politics, Governance and Development in Nigeria (1996); General Muhammadu Buhari on Leadership and Accountability in Period of Moral Crisis (1998); Chief Sunday B. Awoniyi on Sir Ahmadu Bello’s Style of Leadership (year 2000); and General Yakubu Gowon on Sir Ahmadu Bello’s Vision and Contemporary Politics in Nigeria (2003), (Alkali, 2022).

In 1994, General Olusegun Obasanjo, (before he was elected as President of Nigeria) presented a Lecture at the Arewa House Conference on the State of the Nation, where he drew attention of the participants on the problem of leadership in Nigeria. According to him, "for as long as our leaders are sponsored for personal, geographical, sectional, religious and purely ethnic interest, for so long will the problem remain with us, no matter the sophistication of our Constitution or the frequency of change", (Mahdi Abdullahi: 1994). Some people may argue that both General Olusegun Obasanjo and General Muhammadu Buhari who on different occasions presented Key Note Addresses in Arewa House, Kaduna on the same theme of Leadership were subsequently elected to serve as Presidents of Nigeria and the question is what difference did they make in addressing the problem of Leadership in the country?

I am convinced, history has shown that actually it is good and great leaders - men and women of courage, men and women of character and men and women of foresight and revolutionary ideas, who in the first place, brought about fundamental changes to their countries leading up to the building of strong Institutions. If anyone is doubt, let him study the evolution of the old Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), China, Cuba, Iran and even Singapore where visionary leaders with clear ideological direction served as the moving forces for transforming their nations.

Rethinking Democracy in Nigeria

Another issue gaining traction in recent times is on the issue of democracy. Many Nigerians placed a lot of hope on democracy praying that the institutions and structures of democracy will give them protection and dividends. Many more Nigerians thought that democracy and democratic governance would offer the appropriate window and platform through which all contentious issues facing Nigeria, especially issues of good governance, accountability, equity, social justice and inclusivity could be addressed and resolved. Unfortunately, so far, this appears not to be case.

As a result of this, nearly twenty four years since the return to liberal democracy, Nigerians are raising questions and even beginning to loose hope in virtually every facet of national life. Instead of democracy to offer hope to the people, this has not been so. Democracy as a system of government which hitherto was embraced with enthusiasm and with huge public support appears to lose its allure. Poor political representations, lack of empathy, blatant misuse of public resources and vulgar and ostentatious living in the midx of poverty and hunger has created a rejectionist tendency of the very essence of democracy among the populace.

Frequent attacks on political office holders physically and in media platforms have been on the increase and every institution and individuals associated with political matters including political parties, election officials, law enforcement agencies and the judicial officers are treated with suspicion and disdain. This perhaps might explain why one of the leading Presidential Candidates during the 2023 General Elections, Asiwaju BOLA Ahmed Tinubu, who incidentally subsequently won the Presidential election used the mantra of Renewed Hope during his campaigns.

It must however be said, while the resentment is general, often, the political elites who lose elections are the vanguards of the delegitimization and criminalization of the democratic process and the institutions of the Nigerian State. While most of these behaviors and attitudes are not unique to Nigerian democracy nor is it completely a new phenomenon in the history of Nigerian party politics, the intensity has been  increasing, leading to either voter apathy or withdrawal from the political process and or avoidable political violence before, during or after elections. The 16^th American President Abraham Lincoln has often been quoted defining Democracy as, “the Government of the people of the people by the people and for the people”.  But recently, some Nigerians have now redefined democracy as, “Government of a few people for a  few people and by a few people” (Mafiana, 2023).

Reading the new mood of the nation, in late November 2023, former President Olusegun Obasanjo organised a conference in Ogun State, Nigeria on the theme: “Rethinking Western Liberal Democracy” stating that Western democracy is not working because it is imposed on Africa. According to Obasanjo, democracy as it is practiced in Africa today, is a “government of a few people over all the people or population and these people are representatives of  only some of the people and not fully representatives of all the people. Invariably, the majority of the people are wittingly or unwittingly kept out”(Obasanjo, O; 2023). He argued that democracy has not delivered on good governance and progressive development. He therefore proposed what he called “Afro-democracy” as an alternative model of democracy for African countries (Obasanjo, O; 2023).

Rethinking The Neo-Liberal Economic Doctrine

While all said, we need to return to where we started from. In my view, the more fundamental issue that poses greater challenge to Nigeria and Nigerians goes beyond these ‘popular’ explanations, important as they are in understanding the overall social conditions and political direction in Nigeria. While the issue of leadership is very significant, it has to be stated that the ideological platform under which the leadership emerges and operates constitutes the material base upon which everything rests. In this case, neo-liberalism, the model of development that Nigeria has adopted since political independence, but especially in the last forty two years can easily be treated as the critical foundation. Let it be understood that liberal democracy and the neo-liberal economic doctrine are two sides of the same coin. So, while the pitfalls of liberal democracy has greatly undermined its effectiveness and acceptability, the reality is that liberal democracy cannot be separated, treated nor understood outside the doctrine of neo-liberal economics.

Contradictions in the Application of Neo-liberalism

One of the tragedies facing the African continent is that we often fail or refuse to learn from the experiences of the same countries that have been forcing the continent to adopt harsh economic policies that are injurious to our socio-economic and political conditions. Let us take the case of  what happened in the United States in 2008 when the world was hit by one of the greatest economic depressions since the Great Depression that took place during the inter-war period in the 1930s which wiped away huge investments and jobs. President Barack Obama who had just taken over as President of the United States had to quickly and directly intervene in the Stock Exchange; the Banking and Automobile Industries; and generally the social sector such as the Obama Care policies. At that time, the American Government had to come up with a stimulus package to rejig and restart the engine of economic growth in the US.

In February 2009, President Barack Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It was a $831 Billion economic stimulus package under his American Recovery and Reinvestment programme to help the country move out of the Depression (Obama, O; 2009). The primary objective was to save jobs and create even more jobs. Some of the policy measures President Obama adopted included provision of medicaid, unemployment benefits, food stamps, loans and grants to support the education and transport sector. Tax relief for individuals and some companies were also introduced to save Businesses from collapse.

Of course, President Obama faced a lot of resistance and opposition especially from the Republicans against  the Economic Stimulus Plan, nonetheless, he pushed on with the support from his Democratic Party Congressmen and women. President Barrack Obama went further to rally other European countries to also step in because it was a global crisis that affected country. The American Stimulus Plan provided for “a minimum tax rebate of $300 ($600 for married taxpayers filing joint returns) for taxpayers with earned income of at least $3,000” (Obama, 2009). The Plan also included social security retirement benefits, compensation and pension benefits for disabled veterans.

In the case of Britain, the 2008  United Kingdom Bank Rescue package revealed that, “the Intervention  Plan provided for several sources of funding to be made available to an aggregate total of £137 billion in cash injections and loans at peak and a further £1,029 billions in guarantees at peak” (UK, 2008). The British Government went further to nationalize a number of Banks including major Banks such as the Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) to enable Government provide more funds directly to save the financial sector. Government spent over £137 Billions in support of (at least) four major UK Banks. The British Government also lowered its interest rates and introduced  tariffs to protect its industry and Businesses and also regulated the Pound Sterling.

For Nigeria and most African countries, this lesson was lost. At the very time United States and Britain were doing everything possible to protect their domestic industries, save jobs and provide essential social services to their peoples, African countries were digging deeper and deeper into the vortex of neo-liberalism with little or no concern about the long term social and political consequences of these policies. As Nigeria's experience about Privatisation has revealed, apart from the Telecoms Industry, virtually all the other sectors such as the Banking sector, the Electricity and manufacturing sector have not shown marked improvement and efficiency. Today, any Business that is found to be fairing well in Nigeria must have deep connection with Government, so what is the essence of Privatisation? Recent reports indicate that even after the Privatisation, the Federal Government is still providing subsidies to the Energy sector which is raising fresh controversies.

Cumulative Effects of Neo-Liberalism in Nigeria

It is clear that the Cumulative Effect of the Neo-liberal monetarists supply side economics has not brought about the much expected results of stimulating domestic production of goods and services nor have these policies improved the competitiveness of our goods in the International market. In any case, apart from raw crude petroleum that we still export, whose price we do not control, what else does Nigeria produce and export that justifies all these tough and harsh policies that the Country has been implementing over the last forty years under the command of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)?

Instead of attracting and promoting more investments in the country, the harsh IMF Conditionalities have led to more capital flight and divestments by a number of leading companies in the country. In an Editorial of 11^th December 2023, Punch Newspapers noted that there have been mass exit of multinationals from Nigeria. The mass exodus include giant companies such as Unilever, producer of Omo, Sunlight soap etc; GlaxoSmithKlime (GSK), a pharmaceutical company; Sanofi, another French pharmaceutical corporation; and Procter and Gamble, producer of household goods. Another company, BOLT described as “a user friendly” in the transport business has also been affected.

The Punch also noted that much earlier since 2006,  giant tyre manufacturers in Nigeria including the popular Michelin and Dunlop have also left Nigeria. Beside these, the Punch stated that within this period “no fewer than 25 oil companies and investments pulled out and sold their stakes to domestic investors” ( Punch Editorial of 11^th December 2023). Surprisingly, those companies included giant oil companies such as Shell, ExxonMobil and ENI.  As the paper puts it, “the high cost of foreign exchange, energy, multiple taxation, rotten criminal justice system are killing both domestic and multinational manufacturers alike (Punch Editorial of 11^th December 2023).

Before We Crucify President Bola Ahmed Tinubu

It is easy to heap the blame on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu who took over power last year, in May 2023. But the issue is much more complex than that. As can be noted, the deterioration and the worsening of conditions for investments and businesses in Nigeria has been going on for a very long time in the country, during the same period the IMF and the World Bank were digging their feet deeper and deeper into the Nigerian economy. In my view, what is before us is the cumulative effects of over four decades of the involvement and intervention of the Bretton Wood Institutions in the Nigerian economy and society based on the neo-liberal ideology which is insensitive to the feelings and yearnings of Nigerians.

The good news is that even President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is keenly aware of the dangers of the neo-liberal ideology. According to Professor Farooq Kperogi, way back in 2012, Asiwaju Tinubu raised concerns about “European conservatives” whose economic prescriptions are at variance “with the needs of the Nigerian populace” (Farooq Kperogi, 2024). He quoted Asiwaju Tinubu as saying then that, “There has been no nation on the face of the planet that has developed or achieved long term prosperity by devotion to conservative, ultra-free market economic ideas….if no nation has grown using these ideas, why are we stuck with them?”(Farooq Kperogi, 2024).

Of course times have change and circumstances have changed but the reality has not changed. As usual, the IMF and the World Bank bided their time and took advantage of the very tense, uncertain and volatile period in the 2023/2024 political transition and struck again! Nigerians can continue bickering, as always, over the outcome of the 2023 Presidential elections but the eyes of the IMF and World Bank were fixed on the ball - to achieve their long term and ultimate objectives of ‘liberalizing’ or one can say, capturing the Nigerian economy. The economic, social and political consequences of these harsh policies are not their interest or concern. Here I wish to state with all sense of responsibility that as long as Nigerians do not put their house in order and we do not care to know who our true friends and enemies are, the country will remain open to the machinations of powerful foreign forces who are bent on undermining our potentials and our historic destiny on the African Continent.

I wish to also state that, there is nothing that is being said about President Bola Ahmed Tinubu today that has not been said, even more, about past Nigerian Leaders including Muhammadu Buhari, Dr  Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, General Sani Abacha, General Ibrahim Babangida and even Alhaji Shehu Usman Aliyu  Shagari. The point is that, irrespective of who is in charge in the Government of Nigeria, as long as the country is pursuing neo-liberal economic policies under the influence and direction of the IMF and World Bank, the problem will still persist.

Let us recall the words of General Olusegun Obasanjo in 1977, then as Military of Head of State, in his address at the World Conference for Action Against Apartheid in Lagos, “I am on record as suggesting that most of the nation's that attained political independence since 1945 are sponsored states. The implication of this is that, their sponsors will continue to dictate directly or indirectly, teleguide openly and subliminally the pace, tone, direction and quality of life of the citizens of the sponsored states”, ( Alkali, 2003).

Early Attempts At Social Engineering

Over the years, Governments in Nigeria have come up with what might appear an attempt to intervene and provide some sort of social support for the people but most of these Programs fell short of what was needed to address fundamental issues in their design, scope, focus and implementation. In the last three decades, various Programmes have been introduced including the Family Economic Advancement Programme, (FEAP); National Directory of Employment, (NDE); Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme (SURE-P); N-Power; TraderMoni; etc. Most of these Programmes were not effective nor sustainable. More recently, the concept of Palliatives has entered the lexicon but this too unfortunately has attracted even more negative response and reaction from Nigerians. The sad events of the year 2020 over the Covid 19 Palliatives which were not properly managed led to numerous embarrassing situations around the country. In any case, the essence of Palliatives in itself is just like offering a cancer patient Panadol, a small and  brief pain reliever, while the main sickness grows and worsens.

Apart from the monthly regular allocations from the Federation Account, in the last three decades, huge sums of money have been released to the State Governments including Paris Club refunds; Covid 19 Support Funds; Ecological Funds; Federal Highway Constructions Refunds and other special interventions by the Federal Government, still the problems persist. Local Governments have become mere administrative units and all purpose vehicles in the service of vested interests. While on the one hand, this may appear to justify the need for re-visiting the issues of fiscal federalism, on the other hand, the reality is that in so far as the ruling elite does not change its ways, no matter what restructuring is done, only beneficiaries might change, but the crisis of resource management, indeed the whole crisis of development in the country would persist.

In August 2019, the Federal Government created a new Ministry named the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development. It's mission was ostensibly to develop policies and provide platform for harmonizing all activities related to humanitarian and social policy intervention. Unfortunately, instead of focusing on its mandates, the Ministry has been enmeshed into scandals and controversies which has greatly undermined its goals, objectives and effectiveness.

Time For A New Deal For Nigerians

The truth is that it takes a lot of courage and great risks for any African Government, especially in Nigeria to do wholesale devaluation of its currency and remove subsidy on a commodity such as petroleum which is more or less the umbilical code of the Nigerian economy without anticipating reaction from diverse forces. But now, with the complete removal of Petroleum Fuel subsidy and the total devaluation of the National currency, Government needs to come up with other bold, courageous and creative steps to preempt pushback from social forces.

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is bound to face resistance - going either way forward. This is because just as in all other countries wherever the Bretton Woods Institutions operate, there are beneficiaries and dogged advocates and defenders of their ideological praxis. Broken down in simple terms, there are intellectuals, bureaucrats, corporate executives, Think-Tank Groups and even politicians who benefit from and ardently believe in the neo-liberal monetarist supply side economics. So today, as Nigerians groan and scream over difficult and challenging conditions of lives, if we look behind us, regrettably, we see the two Trojan Horses that is to say, the two Bretton Wood institutions, in collaboration with domestic elements standing as sentinels dictating the content, direction and substance of public policy in Nigeria.

The IMF and the World Bank do not trust Governments even if they are part of it, nor do they care to remember that Governments around the world have social responsibilities to their people especially the poor, to women, to children and to the weak and the underprivileged. Even in Europe and United States which we often cite as models of development, when necessary, as we have demonstrated during the 2008 Economic Depression, Governments do intervene in the management of public affairs including the economy. Just as was the case after the Second World War, governments intervention became inevitable to save capitalism from collapse.

Stimulus Programme For Economic Revival (SPER)

What President Bola Ahmed Tinubu should do urgently is to come up with a medium term strategy of economic revival. President Tinubu should quickly adopt the Barrack Obama rule book that led to bringing America out of the woods within a short period of time. This is essential in order to urgently restore hope in the country and in the Nigerian democracy. I trust this is the time the Federal Government under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will take fresh and far reaching decisions to bring Nigeria out of the woods.

Just as Barrack Obama was able to bring America out of the 2008 Depression, President Tinubu can do the same in Nigeria. I therefore recommend the immediate launching of a well thought-out, comprehensive and well coordinated Stimulus Programme For Economic Revival (SPER). This policy may not be popular with the World Bank and the IMF but this is our country and this is our democracy. If the President could remove subsidies and devalue the national currency even when many Nigerians were thinking differently, the President can as well take strategic policy initiatives to save the nation from further drift. And this is the time. To achieve these, it is time  for the Federal Government to take a number of steps:

(i).  First, as Muhammad Sagagi (2024) noted, rolling back the reforms could be difficult, but he argued that there was need for ‘adjustments’ based on what he called new realities. He said, “policy makers must pause between ‘episodes’ of reforms, reflect and update the situation based on new ideas and information generated from the assessment”. He similarly stated that in the case of the Naira, the national currency, many countries around the World today do operate ‘managed floating’ regime and Nigeria can do the same.

Arguing along the same line, Akpan H. Akpan (2024) noted that part of the problem that pushed Nigeria into the present situation was the monetary policy which suddenly  collapsed the I & E multiple exchange rates into a single window. He argues that the current  economic crisis requires the Visible Hand of Government to restore recovery because since the economy is sinking, reliance on private sector and market forces would further deepen the crisis. In his view, market forces would not reduce poverty even in the long run. According to him, in fact market forces need poverty to intensify primitive capitalist accumulation. Just as in the case of Sagagi, he argues that there was need for the Government to revert to a managed floating Exchange rate to rescue the Naira from further depreciation. In my view, recent attempts by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to tinker with interest and exchange rates has so far not brought the much anticipated and desired results.

Nigeria should go further and borrow a leaf from United Kingdom. Throughout the period Britain was a member of the European Union (EU), it never abandoned its national currency, the Pound Sterling. It operated side by side with the EU currency, the Euro. And in 2009, when the Great Depression started biting harder, the UK Government intervened to protect the Pound Sterling from free-fall depreciation. There is danger and limit to allowing the Naira to continue sinking deeper and deeper into oblivion. With the constitution of the National Monetary Committee (NMC), the committee should move fast and rescue the Naira;

(ii).  Second, It is essential to have an appropriately targeted tax relief for certain category of individuals and some companies, especially small and medium enterprises such as educational institutions, pharmaceuticals and transport services. Additionally, Government should review the tax policies especially as it affects workers, self employed and artisans. Fortunately, the President has already constituted a Committee on tax reforms. This should not be held down or delayed by technicalities and bureaucracies. The current system of multiple taxations through VAT and other obnoxious charges by the  banking and telecommunications companies is too excessive. These huge and multiple charges are putting great pressure on Nigerians;

(iii). Third, the Government should come up with a policy framework whose primary goal is to protect jobs, to create new jobs, to enhance the purchasing power of the ordinary citizen in the country and genuinely encourage the establishment of small and medium scale businesses. The Federal Government should also introduce tariffs to protect the domestic industry and businesses especially those producing essential goods and services. The primary objective here should be to save jobs and create even more job opportunities. Since some of the major companies have divested from Nigeria, this gives Government the opportunity to protect and support emerging domestic businesses;

(iv), Fourth, Government needs to also, in the short term, reduce excise duties on basic pharmaceutical products and medicaments, while it should urgently initiate Programs of encouraging domestic production of pharmaceutical products and basic medical care facilities. This is because today one of the most essential yet most expensive products are pharmaceuticals and hospital equipments.  It is time President Tinubu comes up with his Save Life Initiative (SLI). This is urgently needed to assist our women, children and victims of insecurity challenges;

(v). Fifth, with the current state of the economy, long term investment by companies and even small businesses is unattractive and hazardous. The current interest rates are also not attractive for saving. That's perhaps precisely why most Nigerians with excess liquidity prefer to go for speculation in the Dollar exchange markets or even the purchase and hoarding of grains. Government needs to urgently revisit the interest regime to forestall further flight of capital;

(vi). Six, the current proposed policy of raising school fees especially in the Universities and other Tertiary Institutions in the country which is adding great pressure on the families should be placed on moratorium or scaled down significantly. Already many public servants and middle income earners cannot even drive their cars to their Offices because of high cost of fuel. It is very possible, under this situation even University teachers who know the value of education can not afford to send their children to schools. In my view, whatever the short term gains, this  will have longer term implications for social and political stability;

(vii).  Seven, Nigeria should resist the pressure from the IMF in tempering with the current energy prices regime, because this again will further escalate the cost for industrial, commercial and domestic users. Governments also needs to come up with a robust policy on domestic energy sources. While government is discouraging tree felling which could lead to deforestation, the prices of both cooking gas and kerosene are on the rise. Certainly only a small fraction of Nigerians can use electricity for domestic or even commercial culinary purposes.

(viii). Eight, it appears politically expedient for both the Government and the Labour Unions to settle for increase of salaries and wages for the workers. For the labour Unions, this will show that they have extracted some ‘reasonable concessions’ from the Federal Government, which in the short term may douce tension among agitated workers. For the Federal Government, this might also show to Nigerians that it is a listening Government and it has compassion for the workers.

However, this strategy is dicey. In the first place, the number of workers in Nigeria constitute a small percentage of Nigerian total population. What about the unemployed youth – men and women who filled the streets? What about pensioners, whose earnings are virtually frozen after retirements? What about students at all levels especially in Tertiary Institutions? What about farmers, artisans and those who are in IDP camps around the country? What about the Almajiris, the beggars and destitutes roaming the streets? All these are also Nigerians and any social policy intended to have nation-wide and long term impact needs to carry them along. And certainly, negotiated wage increase has no place for them.

In any case, the history of salary reviews in Nigeria is that, immediately new salaries and wages are announced, the market responds instantly wiping out any gains. This further escalates the inflation in the country. Already, in anticipation of this salary reviews which has been in the news for a long time, some unscrupulous Nigerians have started massively purchasing food and other essential products and hoarding them, just waiting for the opportune time to strike.

Rather, Governments both at the Federal and State levels need to come up with more creative policy options that would target those in the middle and lower income bracket and provide basic essential social services to the people. What is needed now is a Social Safety Net for the poor. In particular, emphasis should be placed on urban and interstate transportation system; freezing of further increase in school fees in public institutions; provision of essential pre-natal and ante-natal medical services; offer of basic  emergency medical support for accident victims; and other life threatening medical conditions such as tuberculosis, hepatitis, cancer and AIDS treatments. To finance these commitments, the Federal Government should offer various forms of grants to support the education and  health care sectors at all levels.

(ix).  Since one of the major issues that let to the current conundrum  was the removal of fuel subsidy, it is very important for the Federal Government to tackle this problem frontally. The confusing and contradictory stories coming out from the oil industry are both unpleasant and worrisome. While there is consensus  in the country today that the Federal Government should not and can not even afford to continue to pay subsidies to small group of oil cartel, the story of the subsidy has not been fully understood by Nigerians. As long as Nigeria remains a major petroleum producing and exporting country and ironically a country that is a major importer of refined petroleum products, the story will never go away.

I strongly suggest that the Federal Government should take full charge and control of the oil industry. The oil cartel, with their local and foreign collaborators who are the major beneficiaries of the subsidies through dubious imports billing to the nation will do everything to undermine the Federal Government, but Nigeria should not be deterred. Everything should be done to revive and commission the national oil Refineries which are parts of the commanding heights of the Nigerian economy. The Dangote Refinery is a right step in the right direction but given the quantum of demand of refined petroleum products in Nigeria, one private Refinery will not address Nigeria's long term demand. Indeed, this country should aim at being a major exporter of refined petroleum products in the West Africa sub region. We have lost too much time procrastinating, this is the time to leap forward.

(x). Ultimately, Nigeria must return to agriculture, the very foundation of the Nigerian economy. There is an urgent need to bring a sustainable solution to the ongoing protracted crisis between arable farmers and Nomadic livestock producers in many parts of the country. Surely, the tension and conflicts between arable farmers and livestock owners revolve around access to and control over land and water resources. Other countries of the world have addressed and resolved similar issues, Nigeria can do the same. Very soon, the rainy season will set in. It is therefore vital for the Federal Government to collaborate with the State Governments to provide essential agricultural inputs to farmers in good time and at affordable prices.

(xi).  Beyond all these the Federal Government in collaboration with the State Governments should urgently tackle the security challenges in the country. It has been repeatedly stated that, using force alone, no matter how convenient or justified, will hardly bring lasting peace and stability in the country. What is sure is that every problem has a solution unless we do not deal with the problems holistically. Many people and communities in the country who feel neglected and or alienated should be reintegrated into the system and a negotiated framework for deescalating tensions and violence should be adopted.  The way forward should be a win-win situation for every Nigerian.

Conclusion

In conclusion, let me restate the fact that however fanciful and even appealing the various ‘explanations’ on the causes of Nigerian crises, the bottomline and the bigger challenge facing Nigeria is the cumulative effect of the neo-liberal monetarists supply side economics which over the last forty years look only at one side of the equation.  They refuse to recognise the impact of the global economic forces such as the Great Depression of 2008 and the Covid 19 of 2020 on the Nigerian economy and society. Even the ill fated currency redesign imbroglio initiated by the Central Bank of Nigeria in 2022 that had devastating effects on Nigeria was treated as non-events. Nigeria has also been dealing with serious security issues which  have undermined agricultural and commercial activities in many parts of the country. We are yet to recover from the effect of all these challenges.

This is the time for the Federal Government to step back, reassess the impact of the removal of the fuel subsidy and the wholesale devaluation of the Naira and come up with a Stimulus Programme For Economic Revival (SPER) to achieve the Renew Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. This will serve as a Social Safety Net which implies fiscal inclusion of all Nigerians which would prevent further collapse of businesses and descent into more unemployment, hunger and poverty. It can be done, it should be done.

References

Adam Smith (1776); The Wealth of Nations, W. Strahan and T. Cadell, London.

Akpan H. Akpan, (2024); “The Nigerian Economic Crisis: Before it is Too Late”, Premium Times, January 19, 2024.

Barrack Obama, (2009); American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) Objectives and FAQs

Barrack Obama, (2029); “Remarks By The President (Of the United States of America), To The Ghanaian Parliament”, Accra, Ghana on 11^th July 2009.

Farooq Kperogi, (2024); “Notes From Atlanta, Tinubu’s Accurate 12 Year Old Prediction on Subsidy Removal Effects” February 17, 2024.

Glen Biglaiser & Ronald J. McGauvran (2022); “The Effects of IMF Loan Conditions on Poverty in Developing World”, In Journal of International Relations and Development.

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Today, as Olusegun Obasanjo celebrates his 87th birthday, a speech prepared by him was delivered by his son, Dr. Seun Obasanjo, at the recent presidential commissioning of geometric power in Aba, Abia State.

It is a great pleasure to be invited to speak on this occasion. The commissioning of the 188-megawatt Geometric Power plant located in the Osisioma Industrial Layout of Aba, the Great Enyimba City, and Aba Power Ltd which will distribute electricity to nine (9) of the seventeen (17) Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Abia State is historic in every sense of the expression. This is a red letter day in the annals of not just Aba or Abia State but also the entire country. I had for months assured my brother and friend, Professor Bart Nnaji, that I would attend this event physically, in flesh and blood. However, the ongoing funeral rites during the same period of a fallen hero of African liberation, President Hage Geingob of Namibia, in his country and the follow-up meeting in Angola have made it impossible for me to be with you in person. I have, therefore, sent a worthy representative in person of my son, Dr. Seun Obasanjo.

I have heard a lot of reasonable members of our society claim that the Geometric Power Group is a product of the far-reaching reforms that our administration decided to carry out in the national economy after the 2003 general election. Geometric Power is, indeed, part of the product of that reform programme, but, in reality, it preceded the 2003 election. Our administration in 2000 wanted to build an emergency power plant to provide power to the Central District of Abuja pending the completion of the Shiroro- 2 Abuja power line by the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA). Two companies were final bidders for the 30MW plant after repetitive bids. One was Scottish and one Nigerian.

The Nigerian company, Geometric Power, was led by Professor Bart Nnaji. I asked the then Minister of Power to share the project equally among the two companies. Geometric Power built a 22MW Emergency Power Plant in Abuja to ensure reliable delivery of the required 15MW to provide electricity to some critical parts of the Federal Capital Territory during the period. We felt it was in the overriding national interest to allow this team of young Nigerians to showcase their knowledge and skills rather than award the whole contract to a foreign firm.

This gave birth to Geometric Power becoming the first indigenous Nigerian private power company. I am happy these Nigerians did a very good job. There was no power failure in the Presidential Villa, the NNPC Corporate Headquarters, the Central Bank of Nigeria Headquarters, the Federal Secretariat, and the entire Abuja Central Business District for the period they supplied electricity to these places.

The success of the 22MW Abuja Emergency Power Plant resulted in the birth, in 2004, of the 188 MW Geometric Power plant and the Aba Power Distribution Company. The success rekindled our belief that the private sector, not the government, should play a commanding role in the power sector. We started with Aba simply because of its reputation as the home of indigenous industrialization. Given that the existing law invested 3 in the Federal Government the sole power of electricity generation, transmission, and distribution, we reached a special agreement with Geometric Power to carve out Aba and the environs from the national electricity arrangement and make it operate as a kind of island. We thought that the success of this business model would be recommended across the country. Hence, the Electric Power Sector Reform Act of 2005 made the electricity business in Nigeria private-sector driven.

I came to learn that during the privatization of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) successor companies in November 2013, the government of the day did not respect the Federal Government’s MOU with Geometric Power in 2004, with substantive agreement in 2005, to make Aba a Ring-fenced Area. This action led to a loss of public confidence in the privatisation programme and many years were lost in the development of the Aba Ring-fenced Area.

All that is behind us and Aba is now primed to enjoy reliable, quality, and affordable electricity. Quality and regular power supply will, by extension, benefit all Nigerians, not just the people and businesses in Aba. Constant power supply can reduce the cost of doing business in Aba significantly; this will translate to cheaper products and services. I felicitate with the people of Aba for what this 188MW gas-generating plant will contribute to living and business experiences in Aba. I congratulate Geometric Power and its driving force, Professor Bart Nnaji. Let this example be followed in other cities and business areas in other parts of the country.

Thanks for listening.

“In the Nigerian Public Service, the spectre of “private interest” looms larger than “public interest”. This calls for restraint and a reorientation of all involved in the governance. The greater responsibility falls on leadership at all levels. They should lead by example. Public officers should stand by the truth as their armour, and exhibit transparency and accountability in their conduct”.

“The challenge of the Nigerian Public Service now and in the future is essentially behavioural and calls for a change of attitude to the conduct and management of public affairs. The challenges center on compliance with and enforcement of the rules and this essentially rests on leadership at all levels of governance, particularly leadership at the topmost levels. … People’s response to the implementation of policies and programmes is the barometer for assessing the impact of governance. Unfortunately, at the moment, more negative than positive responses are coming from the populace. This should be a source of serious concern to all public servants”. - `Bukar Usman in Reflections on The Nigerian Public Service: Way Forward For Governance at the CORFEPS Colloquium 2024

The lead paper presenter, my own mentor and our most respected senior colleague, Dr Bukar Usman, has identified that “there are more negative than positive responses from the populace on our public service at the moment” and has anchored the root causes on two key factors, namely: Conflict of Interest and Leadership. Speaking on conflict of interest, Dr. Bukar Usman states: “In the Nigerian Public Service now, the spectre of “private interest” looms larger than “public interest” and that “the challenges center on compliance with and enforcement of the rules”, which “essentially rests on leadership at all levels of Governance, particularly leadership at the topmost levels”. I am in total agreement with him. Conflict of interest is a function of integrity, which speaks to honesty, truthfulness and a consistent and uncompromising adherence to strong moral and ethical principles and values, and strong opposition to hypocrisy.

That is why my Discussant’s submission is titled: Integrity Is at The Centre of Eroding Competence and Capacity of The Public Service in Nigeria, But It Is a Leadership Challenge.

As a scientist and an advocate of integrity in public service, I will be deploying concrete data and facts to examine the issues of conflict of interest, integrity, and leadership and how it has played out in the Nigerian public service in the last 20 years, to enable us all to provide firm recommendations on the way forward. The instances of current data and situation analysis where they have occurred is to connect participants to what currently exists, especially as performance of the past leadership of the civil service from 1999-2015 and of the Presidents have been covered in Goke Adegoroye (2015) Restoring Good Governance In Nigeria (RGGN) Volume 1: The Civil Service Pathway and Volume 2: Leadership and Political Will.

2. In a Presidential System There Cannot Be Double Loyalties, One to The HCSF Contending with The President’s

 The import of national interest (or public interest, as stated by Bukar Usman) as the core objective of operations of the civil service was what made President Olusegun Obasanjo at the Presidential Retreat on Public Sector Reforms and Public-Private Partnership in Abuja in August 2005, in his vote of thanks to the Chairmen of the Plenary Sessions, to say of the then Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, Mahmud Yayale Ahmed, as follows:

“As a Civil Servant, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation is often caught between loyalty to the Civil Service his constituency, and national interest, but I am happy to say that more often than not he has stood on the part of national interest”.

In a Keynote Address titled: “Public Service Reform for Sustainable Development: the Nigerian Experience” that I delivered at the Commonwealth Advanced Seminar in Wellington, New Zealand in January 2006, I had used that quote to interrogate the loyalty of the then HCSF and was able to resolve that, unless there was an error of parallax, his loyalty to the civil service could never have been out of alignment with his loyalty to the nation, because the civil service is by tradition the guardian of national interest. In other words, what we were dealing with then was a wrong perception, borne out of the style of Yayale Ahmed putting both his integrity and official position on the line to defend the civil service. Unlike 2005-2007, my assessment in the last few years is that a different type of loyalty has been contending with national interest in the last 10 years. The cultivation of private interest is producing a strange and perilous harvest of loyalty to the occupant of the Office of the HCSF rather than to the civil service system. In a Presidential Democracy, national interest is embodied in the President, by his election and oath of office. Accordingly, there cannot be another loyalty to an official outside the personage of the President.

What is not clear to the public is that the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation is not in charge of federal public services. There are constitutional and structural limits to the powers of the HCSF, as the office is confined to only those public servants appointed by the FCSC. All other services, from the military to the Police, Para-Military services, the Judiciary, National Assembly, the Intelligence Community (DSS, NIA, EFCC) as well as agencies and statutory corporations, are outside the control of the HCSF. That is why I said in some of my presentations that an HCSF trying to overstep its boundaries is like a Rooster parading heavily adorned comb and ear lobes in the midst of lions, tigers, bulls etc. with horns and massive claws. The entire population of civil servants controlled by the HCSF at any given time stands at less than 10% of the federal workforce. But it is our own equivalent of what in other climes is termed the Elite Service, with certain oversight responsibilities that are expected to be discharged in the national interest for the entire public service.

3. Integrity is the Key

My assessment of what is needed to reposition the public service in Nigeria is captured in the concluding paragraph of my Briefing to President Yar’Adua in my capacity as DG BPSR in August 2007, where I said as follows: “…To truly reposition the public service as a virile national institution for the - realization of our core national development aspirations in the 21st Century, in one word, what is required as the key is INTEGRITY. If we can uphold integrity, transparency and equity in appointment, discipline, staff training, job deployment and promotion processes, we would have solved 80% of the problems of the civil service and the Nigerian public service of our dream will be within our reach”. - Goke Adegoroye in Briefing by the DG BPSR to the President, Commander-in-Chief Federal Republic of Nigeria 14 August 2007 In: Goke Adegoroye (2010) Beyond Yours Faithfully p. 159-217.

4. Dimensions of Leadership Integrity in Civil Service Processes and Procedures

Notwithstanding the subsisting constitutional and structural limitations of the powers of the OHCSF, the key to the effective management of the entire public service by a sitting HCSF is integrity. Let us put aside the buzz words, the jargons and the slogans of our reforms STEP, EPIC, KPI, Digital and Transformational, etc. Over the past 20 years we have set up many agencies, programmes and procedures to bring efficiency to fund utilization and transparency to appointment. From IPPIS, Due Process in Public Procurement, EFCC, ICPC, Fiscal Responsibility Act, the 3-layered examination/screening processes in the appointment of perm secs, etc., yet, we are worse off now as a nation, as the corruption and leakages have been horrendous, because of crisis of integrity at several levels of leadership positions. As I have said many time, the art of budget manipulation for personal gains has now become the coveted expertise that political office holders head hunt in getting Accounting Officers deployed to their MDAs and, arising therefrom, hitherto honest officers in their increasing numbers are yielding to the temptation of joining the band wagon.

Misplaced values is also a function of integrity at both personal and institutional levels. For example, we seem to place more emphasis on the paraphernalia of offices than what will enhance productivity. The reality of what is going on played out on us last Monday, 26 February, 2024, during the Press Briefing for this Colloquium. We were held up for one hour as there was no light. No light at the most important Conference Hall of the OHCSF. Hajiya Ammuna Lawal Ali and I were lamenting and wondering how our current colleagues in the service could feel comfortable riding their SUVs to offices that suffer this type of blackout and without working tools. We both agreed that, were we in the position, we would rather the SUVs were withdrawn from us in exchange for a permanent solution to the power challenge in our offices.

As stated above, Integrity in the civil service leadership is what will uphold honesty, transparency and equity in the HR processes of appointment, promotion, deployment, training and discipline. This is because the Integrity backbones of the HCSF and the Perm Secs are what will strengthen those at the Directorate levels and below to muster the courage to take the right actions on their respective desks. The inability of public servants to see honesty, transparency and equity in these processes, arising from the questionable integrity of their leaders, is the major factor in the falling standards in the service.

I have been writing since 2011 about how successive HCSFs have moved stealthily towards hijacking the presidential powers of appointment and deployment, through the smokescreen of the written examinations cum oral interview screening processes, but the blatant way the processes have been manipulated, in recent years, to achieve predetermined ends makes me to wonder who, indeed, between the HCSF and the President is vested with those powers.

If allegations of financial inducement in the appointment of perm secs have been difficult to substantiate, what cannot be disproved is the trend of professional bias/favoritism in appointment that started to creep into the service some 15 years ago, where the emergence of Accountants as Heads of the Civil Service appeared to have triggered an increased number of accountants and procurement officers appointed as Perm Secs. Now, with a graduate of Dental Surgery as HCSF, not only has that trend been playing out in favour of medical doctors since 2019 when the incumbent assumed the position, it has been taken to an unprecedented level with a quarter of the perm sec cadre composed of medical doctors. Considering how diverse the Officer cadres of the civil service is, ranging from the Common Services cadres of those in Administration, Planning Research and Statistics, Accounting, Procurement, to the professional Officers cadres across Ministries, in Agriculture, Aviation, Commerce, Culture and Tourism, Education, Environment, Health, Lands, Housing and Urban Planning Information, Justice, Sports, Water Resources, Works and Highway, the predomination of medical doctors in the appointment of permanent secretaries is beyond the ordinary. Unfortunately, such lopsidedness in appointment has not been matched by any improvement in the competence of Perm Secs as accounting officers.

Civil/public servants know themselves in terms of competence, capacity and character/integrity. Those with potentials to rise to the level of Perm Secs are already showing such traits at AD/DD (GL 15/16) levels such that by the time they are appointed Perm Sec, they already earn the acceptance and respect of their peers and subordinates. Of course, the reverse is the case when a misfit emerges as a newly appointed Perm Sec as there is a general feeling of deja vu, disappointment and loss of morale; and this has been happening with increasing frequency in the last 10 years.

I recall the day Mahmud Yayale Ahmed called me to his office as HCSF to give me my letter of appointment as DG BPSR. I had no inkling that anything was in the offing. Handing me the letter he said, “Goke, this is a reward for your hard work, dedication to duty and patriotism”, and I could not hold my tears. I was not working with him directly, but as a HCSF he took notice of me. Similarly, 3 years later when the consequential vacancy in my State finally occurred, I spoke to no one throughout the stages of my screening for appointment as Perm Sec. Nowadays, you hear of people going round places and people to lobby to be appointed Perm Sec. It is now common to see some candidates boast of the certainty of their being appointed, even before the commencement of the exercise, just as it is an open secret that, by their appointments and deployments, civil servants now know the favourite Perm Secs of a sitting HCSF.

5. The Challenge of Residual Actors in a Political Transition

5.1 In his Goodwill Message to this CORFEPS Colloquium, General Yakubu Gowon has continued to relish how he respected the courage and conviction of the advice of the permanent secretaries of his days, thus highlighting “speaking truth to power” as perhaps the most important quality in civil servants that is appreciated by political leaders. Speaking truth to power (a moral imperative to stand up for what is right before national leaders even when it is not the easiest thing to do) is a function of personal integrity. An officer without integrity cannot muster the required courage to speak truth to power.

There is no period in the life of an administration that this quality is most crucial than during political transition from one administration to the other. The 2023 transition was an unusual one, where the in-coming administration was riding into power on a national popular vote of a little over 37% and barely 20% in the FCT the seat of power, meaning that the President was in the middle of non-friendly foes. Under such setting, there is no greater challenge that can confront an incoming administration than that of Residual Actors whose relationship with the in-coming administration is, most often, driven by selfpreservation. As I have said, quite a few times, quoting Louis Gawthrop, in his 1997 article titled, “Democracy, Bureaucracy and Hypocrisy Redux: A search for Sympathy and Compassion”, the civil servants are the masters in the “professional environment wherein the art of pretense, the methods of acting or playing a role, indeed, of wearing a mask, become the virtual prerequisites for a successful career”. (Goke Adegoroye (2015) RGGN vol. 1 The Civil Service Pathway p. 16-17)

How did this play out during the political transition of 2023 with the civil service leadership hierarchy, namely: Perm Secs, CEOs and other accounting officers and most importantly the HCSF as the arrowhead residual actor of the immediate past administration that the new administration had to rely upon for briefing on what was on ground? Was the incoming administration availed the truth in briefing them about subsisting HRM policies? Or were the briefings, and other official actions that were taken on behalf of the new administration, carried out from the recesses of the personal biases of the respective Perm Secs and HCSF, with the sole aim of self-preservation?

5.2 Redeployment of Perm Secs Barely 24 Hours After Swearing In of New President Take for example the massive redeployment of perm secs that was made to take effect on 30 May 2023, barely 24 hours after the swearing in of a new President, which, but for the over ruling of President Buhari, had included a recommendation that the Perm Sec State House who was to attain the 60 years mandatory age of retirement in less than two and a half months away in August should move from the State House to another Ministry. This raises curious questions: i. What was the urgency for movement of permanent secretaries 2 days after inauguration of the President, when the appointment of Ministers within the time prescribed by the constitution was bound to elicit further movement of perm secs? ii. What were the MDA specific requirements and the personal quality and HR criteria that informed those movements? iii. Whose agenda was being prosecuted? iv. How would it have engendered the smooth and steady take-over of government as required? v. With the benefit of hindsight, how much of the unsteady operations in the Ministries at the time the Ministers eventually came in are traceable to this late hour replacement of the Accounting Officers? vi. Had the out-going President Buhari not overruled the redeployment of the Perm Sec State House, how would it have played out in the afternoon of 30 May 2023 when the new President Tinubu came to take over at the State House, starting with his first inspection of the Brigade of Guards, in an atmosphere where a new Perm Sec who was not familiar with either the grounds or the people in charge was also just assuming duty? vii. Indeed, how legal or constitutional were those deployments, since the powers for the appointment and deployment of Perm Secs are vested in the President? In this regard, we must remember that at the point of swearing in, the President has been made to take over the affairs of State and was expected to rely on the Accounting Officers, CEOs and Service -Chiefs in place for briefing on what was on ground under their jurisdiction. Any redeployment of these officers from their confirmed duty posts as handed over on the day of swearing in, not made with the explicit approval of the just sworn-in President, amounts to a hijack of presidential powers.

Recalling our experience when CORFEPS paid a courtesy call on President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016 Talking of briefing a new administration with honesty by residual actors, Chief Philip Asiodu as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Council of Retired Federal Permanent Secretaries, had led us the members of the Executive Committee to meet President Buhari in 2016. During our interaction, I raised my fears of the briefings by residual actors during political transition on the take-off trajectory of his administration, citing my briefing to President Yar’Adua in 2007 where I stated it often takes between 6-18 months for a new administration to know the true position on most issues. It was as if I had hit the nail on its head, in terms of what was troubling him, as he jumped in: “Dr Adegoroye, you are correct, very correct! When I came in I was not in a hurry to bring in Ministers because I felt the Perm Secs could assist me until I fully settled down. The Perm Sec Transport was one of the people that briefed me. I went on air to make statements based on the briefings that I got from him. Barely 2 days, later, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala countered me in a national television. I summoned the Head of the Civil Service to bring the Perm Sec before me. When they came, I repeated what he had earlier briefed me and asked him to confirm if that was his briefing, which he did. I asked if he was aware of the counter opinion of Ngozi Okonjo Iweala and he similarly did. I then requested him to confirm who was correct between Ngozi and I, and he said “hmmmmm Your Excellency, the position relayed by Dr Ngozi is the correct position”! I told the Head of the Civil Service to take him out, but that one too just deployed him to another Ministry. So I had to take the two of them out of the system”.

6. The Challenges of Competence, Capacity, and Integrity

Competence, capacity and character/integrity are closely interwoven but integrity rules them all. For example, we know that capacity to learn and take corrections will undoubtedly improve competence, but that capacity stems from an honest admission of the need to learn and the humility to take advice or correction, both of which are a function of personal integrity inspired confidence. There are 2 cases that I want to cite to illustrate where the challenges of competence, capacity and character/integrity lie. Both are taken from the list of what I have been advocating in the last 10 years, in my books: Restoring Good Governance In Nigeria (RGGN) Volume 1: The Civil Service Pathway and Volume 2: Leadership and Political Will and presentations and they expose: (i) the weakness in the capacity of the civil service to take correction, and (ii) the manipulation of policy implementation and public service rules for self-preservation. One is as simple as it can be, yet important, while the other is at the root of the current rumblings in the civil service with grave consequences for succession and productivity, namely: • Wrong acronyms, procedures, processes and protocols that have been institutionalized, and • Wrong implementation/application of major policy and its public service rule: The Tenure Policy 6.1 Weakness in the capacity of the civil service to take correction The example of the acronym MDAs which I have stated many times that it refers to self-accounting entities headed by Accounting Officers and therefore means: Ministries, Extra-Ministerial Departments and Agencies NOT Ministries, Department and Agencies, since in our setting Departments are headed by Directors who report to Accounting Officers. Two times I was invited by the current HCSF to make a presentation on the “Roles and Responsibilities of Perm Secs as Administrative Heads and Accounting Officers of Their MDAs” at the Induction Workshop of newly appointed Perm Secs in February and July 2020, and the interpretation of “MDAs” as an acronym was one of the wrong acronyms, processes, procedures and protocols that I said have been institutionalized and must be corrected by Perm Secs at their desks. Anyone in doubt should open the first page of the Financial Regulation (FR) and see rules 101, 102 and 104 on the definition of Accountant General of the Federation as Chief Accounting Officer, Auditor General for the Federation and of Permanent Secretary and Head of Extra-Ministerial Department as Accounting Officer. Before now, I have been wondering why it has been difficult for the media, the National Assembly and Ministers to take correction on this simple definition, and several more, despite my years of advocacy until I saw in the social media recently, Circular Ref No: HCSF/3065/VI/189 of 19 February 2024, issued under the signature of the HCSF and titled: “Measures To Curtail The Leakage of Sensitive Official Information/Documents In Ministries, Departments And Agencies (MDAs)”! In contrast though, circulars issued under the signature of Boss Mustapha, a non-civil servant, as SGF were correctly titled as “ExtraMinisterial Departments” (Ref. No. SGF/OP/I/S.3/T/29 of 28th August 2019) while previous circulars from the OHCSF before the incumbent came into office were consistently similarly in error (e.g. HCSF/511/II/T/164 of 10th April 2019). Like the Yoruba would say: “oro p’esi je” - the question itself has swallowed the answer! The OHCSF is the incubator of this and similar errors that I have been advocating their correction!

6.2 Manipulation of policy implementation and public service rules for self-preservation The Tenure Policy came into effect in 2009. It was suspended for the most part of the Buhari administration, effective 17th June, 2016, with a directive conveyed in letter No. SH/COS/100/A/1462 and announced in circular HCSF/428/S.1/139 of 20th July 2016. Suddenly in a Circular issued on 27th July, 2023, the HCSF announced the restoration of the Tenure Policy with a directive that Directors who have spent 8 years on the grade should immediately retire from the Service. In contrast to Public Service Rule (PSR) 020908 on 35 years’ service or 60 years of age, whichever comes first, for mandatory retirement of career officers, a further condition of service is attached on account of the Tenure Policy to Directors and Permanent Secretaries through PSR 020909, which stipulates that “A Director or its equivalent by whatever nomenclature it is described in MDAs shall compulsorily retire upon serving eight years on Tenure Policy on the post; and a Permanent Secretary shall hold office for a term of four years, and renewable for a further four years, subject to satisfactory performance and no more.”

In compliance with the HCSF circular, all Directors (GL 17) who have spent 8 years on the grade have now been off-loaded, even when they are yet to clock 35 years of service or 60 years of chronological age. One of the affected officers, who was removed on 31st October, 2023, is John Olusola Magbadelo a highly productive PhD holder who has been the life wire of a key Department within the OHCSF. He has spent only 32 years of service and is not due on account of 60 years of age either. His CV is better than most of his superiors: BSc Political Science (Lagos) 1987, MSc International Relations (Ife) 1989, PhD (Political Science) Usmanu Danfodiyo University 2001 with a research grant from the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA). He was promoted Director of Admin in 2014. In the course of his career, he had served at the Federal Ministry of Labour & Employment 1996-2003; Cabinet Secretariat OSGF 2003-2009; Ministry of Defence 2009-2011; Ministry of Petroleum Resources 2011-2017; Cabinet Affairs Office 2017-2019; Ministry of Labour & Employment 2021-2022 and at the OHCSF in charge of key Department as Director, Civil Service Transformation 2022-2023, where he was the life wire coordinating the Federal Civil Service Strategy and Implementation Plan 2021-2025. Yet, he was let go while Permanent Secretaries who have spent over 4 years have continued in office without any known screening to affirm their “satisfactory performance” as stipulated in PSR 020909. Right here in this hall this morning, the Chairman FCSC Prof Tunji Olaopa, in his brief remarks, spoke of the anti-intellectualism posture of today’s civil service. It is my hope that the treatment meted to him was not a fallout of that anti-intellectualism.

The Tenure Policy was not designed to accord any officer a serial 8-year limit on every grade level from Director through Perm Sec to the HCSF. Tenure is the instrument of political appointment. It is already enshrined in the Public Service Rules. I have been writing on the implementation short-coming and wrong application of the Tenure policy for over 10 years. It is comprehensively covered in RGGN vol 2. P 87-95. Most Nigerian national dailies, especially The Guardian, have published my write-ups on it. But succeeding HCSF have opted to be rather self-serving in their implementation of the policy. The integrity of the civil service leadership is obviously at stake here. Not a few are alarmed that Dr. John Magbadelo and others like him, who could have been an asset to this administration at this critical time, were compulsorily retired on account of Tenure Policy implementation by a civil service whose leadership has spent 12 years on the grade of Perm Sec and above and is waiting for 60 years of age as due date of retirement!

Such cases, and there are many of them, are open secrets Service-wide. They are the source of recent grumblings among the Directorate level officers. Corridor grumbling is the first step to low morale. Low morale leads to passive resistance, loss of effectiveness and low productivity. It reminds me of how outstanding career officers of the NTA, namely Sola Atere and Eugenia Abu were removed from service in 2017 on account of having completed a 3-year tenure as Executive Directors of the NTA. Applications of public service rules demand consistency not selectivity. It reflects on the integrity of the civil service leadership.

7. There Must Be Some Non-Negotiable Skills Set for Appointment As HCSF

A lot has been said here today about how things have seemingly fallen apart with regard to competence, professionalism and integrity of the public service. It is obvious that a lot also needs to be done to improve the civil service in terms of capacity, competence, and professionalism. The leadership must command the respect of the entire public service, through their career path, trajectory and emergence. It needs to be understood by all that the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF) is the de facto chief human resources manager of the federation. It is not a post for anyone to start learning the ropes about the requirements of the job. Skills such as the combination of proven capability in policy analysis, administrative skills, human resource management, personal integrity, as well as ability and readiness to enforce Public Service rules and regulations should be the non-negotiable requirements of the job. The loose constitutional provision in 171 (3) that “Appointment to the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation shall not be made except from among permanent Secretaries or equivalent rank in the Civil Service of the Federation or of a State” does not preclude a diligent search for candidates with these skills.

Our experience since 1999 has shown that for those whose career paths are outside HRM and Admin, but professional cadres of science, engineering, accounting and medicine, multiple years on the grade of Perm Sec is not a guarantee that those skills would have been acquired. On my part, I have stressed that personal integrity is at the center of it all because, even for the professional cadre candidates who are short on HRM skills, personal integrity qualities of receptivity to new ideas and advice, ability to take correction, transparency, honesty and ability to place national interest above personal interest will enable them to make success of their tenure. How does one explain a situation where during an Induction Workshop for newly appointed Permanent Secretaries, a simple advice to a HCSF not to sign official documents as Head of Service of the Federation but as Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, being the correct title of the office as prescribed in the constitution, had to lead to an argument!?

8. Appointment of HCSF Demands More Serious Search

Another observation that is worth re-examining is how Heads of the Civil Service of the Federation are appointed. It should be a source of concern that while exams are required to get recruited into the civil service and rise through the ranks to Director and even Perm Sec, not an assessment, interview or thorough screening is needed to be appointed a HCSF. The winning strategy is loyalty to the sitting HCSF and the right connection. Toward this end, the standard practice has been for the out-going HCSF to forward a short list of his choice of 3 names to the President from which one would be picked. This is a practice that breeds self-perpetuation, since like begets likes. It is only an HCSF who is removed from office before his/her due date that misses out on that opportunity. With the right connections, even that platform can be by-passed, as I was able to do 13 years ago.

In 2011, after Prof Dapo Afolabi had directed the Perm Secs who met his eligibility criteria to submit their CVs and was trying to set in motion his own process of making recommendation to the President for his replacement, all it took me after being approached by one of the aspiring candidates was to take the particular candidate’s CV to the person who was best to get the listening ears of the President, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala (NOI), as the candidate that I felt was best for the job. As pioneer DG Bureau of Public Service Reforms (BPSR) and member of the Technical arm of the Economic Team under President Obasanjo during her first tour of duty as Minister 2003-2006, Ngozi had confidence in my sense of judgement. I was the one who had to provide answers to all the questions bothering her, to clear doubts based on what she had heard of the candidate. NOI went promptly to see the President, carrying in her hands the CV that I gave her and in 24 hours the announcement was made. She did not meet the candidate until he was being sworn in at the Council chambers. It was then, as the candidate was going round receiving the congratulatory handshakes of the cabinet members and got to NOI and was saying thank you that she whispered back to him, “Go and thank Goke”. Both relayed the encounter to me after.

Tedious filtering and performance index review were said to have been applied to screen candidates on the basis of Character, Performance, Integrity, Quality and Job KPI to produce Mr. Lawrence Wong Shyun Tsai, currently one of the two Deputy Prime Ministers, as the next Prime Minister of Singapore with effect from November 2024. As Chairman of the Osun State Public Service Transformation Team in 2012-2013, we designed a set of 20 Quality Traits which we administered as Questionnaire to the 26 eligible perm secs, with instruction for each to take him/herself out of the equation and score the other 25 in each of those qualities. Key among the quality traits that were assessed in the questionnaire are: • Courage to uphold what is right and defend the service; • Service-wide/public perception about officers (a) proneness to corrupt inducement; (b) wealth above what can be explained by his/her official earnings; (c) ownership of privately owned properties and businesses; and (d) ownership and utilization of personally-owned or cronies-owned companies to execute government contracts. The top 3 candidates were recommended to the Governor who, being impressed with our approach, had to pick the topmost candidate as the Head of Service of the State. In relaying this approach in my 2015 twin-volume books, I had asked: “if the federal government had adopted the Osun model to assess Directors and Perm Secs for their respective next grade how many of those who have occupied the seats ever since would have successfully scaled this hurdle”? (RGGN vol. 1: The Civil Service Pathway p. 86-89).

The fact that the position of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation has over these years been filled mostly on the weight of political connections rather than proven skills, competence, capacity and integrity, is probably why some occupants of the office have not been able to see the upholding of national/public interest as their primary purpose and, rather, have been largely preoccupied with personal/private interests, to oil their self-preservation strategies of answering to the general demands of political heavyweights, including satisfying those interests and theirs in appointment and deployment recommendations to the President. We certainly need a better process for screening and making appointments into high level and critical bureaucratic positions. It is one of the reasons why, conscious of the subsisting constitutional and structural limitations of the powers of the OHCSF covering less than 10% of the Federal workforce, I have been advocating an Institutional Framework to Strengthen the Bureaucracy through the establishment of a Federal Public Service Council to be charged, among others, with: • “Screening of candidates for recommendation to the President for appointment as Head of the Civil Service of the Federation”; and • “Carrying out stage 2 assessment of candidates already screened by the HCSF for appointment as Perm Secs, before the final recommendations are forwarded to the President.” (RGGN Vol. 1: The Civil Service Pathway, p. 296-301)

9. The Public Service Reflects the Political Leadership

It is always said that “a nation’s capacity for development is a function of the capacity of its bureaucracy/public service”. There is a sense in which it can also be said that the public service at any point in time is a reflection of a nation’s political leadership. This is particularly true in a nation operating the Presidential system where the powers for appointment into bureaucratic leadership positions are vested by the constitution in the President, who is also the Head of State, the Chief Executive of the Federation and Commander-inChief of the Armed Forces of the Federation. As members of CORFEPS, in this Colloquium, we have raised the issues and drawn on the weight of our experience and institutional memories to proffer recommendations on the way forward. It is now up to the President to take ownership of his bureaucracy, as he has done for his cabinet. Going by records of the responsiveness of the President to national issues and challenges, I have no doubt that, at the right time he will take appropriate actions to rejig the core civil service on the basis of competence, capacity, and integrity.

I thank you all for your kind attention!

Goke Adegoroye, PhD, OON

Abuja, 5 March 2024

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced the restoration of visa services for Nigerians, confirming that they can now visit the country again.

The restoration of visa services was announced in a joint statement by the federal government of Nigeria and the UAE titled “Resumption of Visa Services for Nigerians Travelling to the UAE, ” dated March 4, 2024.

The statement noted that the achievement follows the discussions between President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates.

The Statement disclosed that the commencement of visa issuance, which resumed on March 4, 2024, is a milestone, reflecting the successful outcome of in-depth talks between the two nations and underscoring, “Our shared commitment to strengthening ties, enhancing cultural exchanges and fostering opportunities for economic and social collaborations.”

To ensure a seamless and efficient visa application experience, the UAE has introduced an enhanced document verification process.

Starting from March 4, 2024, all Nigerian applicants for UAE visas are required to first obtain a document verification number. This essential step according to the UAE is to be completed by visiting the dedicated online Document Verification Hub platform https/documentverificationhub.com).

The UAE Ambassador to Nigeria, Saleem Saeed Al-Shamsi, highlighted the importance of this updated procedure.

After obtaining the Document Verification Number, applicants can proceed with their visa applications through designated travel agents, after which the process will be completed at the Embassy of the UAE in Abuja or Lagos.

The announcement, the UAE said signifies, “our ongoing efforts to enhance the strong ties between the UAE and Nigeria, contributing to the prosperity and well-being of our people.”

Naija News recalls the UAE had in 2022, banned about 20 countries including Nigeria from travelling to Dubai, leading to a diplomatic row between the two nations.

However, President Tinubu in 2023, visited the country and engaged in diplomatic talks with the country’s leaders.

A former Governor Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State said the federal government still pays subsidy on petroleum products.

Yuguda stated this in an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today on Monday.

Recall that President Bola Tinubu, in his inaugural speech, announced that “The fuel subsidy is gone.”

The President added that the 2023 Budget made no provision for fuel subsidy and more so, subsidy payment was no longer justifiable.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in one of its reports last month also advised Nigeria to completely phase out costly fuel and electricity subsidies as part of measures to address its economic challenges.

Speaking on the issue of subsidy, ”If the IMF says we are paying subsidy then we are. But the subsidy that was removed was the one that was going into private pockets and I decoupled that subsidy that ordinarily shouldn’t have been paid.”

”If it should have been paid it should be paid into the treasury of the country and today that revenue increase that we see is reflected in the removal of the monies that were going into the pockets of private individuals is what is going into the treasury of the country.”

”You have that subsidy being paid on petrol products that are pumped through pipelines and in many instances they are pumped through imaginary pipelines, where the pipelines don’t exist, sow e all pay subsidy but that what was the President removed, that is why most states are getting twice or thrice of their allocation.”

On the economic hardship in the country, the former governor said the average Nigerian will not understand the challenges the president has to face in resolving the economic situation.

Yuguda noted that the members of the president’s cabinet need to help in sensitising the masses on how the government policies will change the nation.

He said, ”I will expect the cabinet of Mr Predisnet to go down the strata of our society and explain to the people that this is the situation that we have found ourselves in.”

”If we hadn’t had our Central Bank messing us up and the economy that has been mismanaged in the past, it wouldn’t be the way it is today.”

An unidentified mother of three little children has reportedly committed suicide in Enugu state.

It was gathered that the woman allegedly ran into a moving vehicle and died instantly, following her husband’s departure from her and their three children due to financial difficulties.

It was further gathered that the incident happened last weekend in front of Ogui Police Station, Enugu.

According to reports, the deceased whose identity is not known yet was reportedly suffering from depression. She dropped her three young children at the police station, pulled her clothes, and ran naked into a moving vehicle which crushed her to death.

When interrogated, the eldest of the children said their father “got lost.”

“She could not give any other information about their family, their town, or residential address”, a police source told the Nation

Meanwhile, the wife of Enugu State governor, Mrs Nkechinyere Mbah, has announced sponsorship of a scholarship for the three siblings (under seven years) who lost their parents in mysterious ways.

The governor’s wife announced the scholarship when she paid an unscheduled visit to Ogui Police Station Enugu, where the children were kept in police custody.

Mrs Mbah, who was touched by the pathetic story surrounding the death of the mother of the children, said she would take care of the children and train them from Nursery school to University level.