A former Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), Prof Bola Akinterinwa, has advised President Bola Tinubu not to appoint his cronies as ambassadors.

Akinterinwa was reacting to a report that some Governors, the President’s associates, unsuccessful governorship aspirants, and retired military officers have submitted loyalist names for ambassadorial appointments.

Speaking with The Punch on Friday, Akinterinwa said the President should not use such important positions to reward or compensate his political cronies who helped him win the 2023 election.

He said the President should consider appointing academic ambassadors who specialised in handling international affairs of the countries they would serve in rather than political ambassadors.

Akinterinwa asserted that most political ambassadors usually pursue personal interests over national interests because they have no training as diplomatic agents.

He said, “Political ambassadors are not interested in any national interest to protect abroad. The moment they are appointed, they look out for how to survive even after the tenure of the President who appoints them.

“Nigerian politicians do not place priority on the protection of national interests. If President Tinubu is not careful with the appointments and decides to reward his political cronies and friends, Nigeria will certainly be in trouble very shortly.

“If we are suggesting academic diplomats, I agree with that; there are many academic diplomats in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There can be a focus on the specialisation of those who have served in some countries if they meet the level of Grade Level 16 or 17; those are the people they should be looking out for.

“Political ambassadors need diplomatic training to be able to perform diplomatic functions enshrined in the 1961 Vienna Convention. Most unfortunately, it is the political ambassadors that have always behaved in a manner considered not compatible with the status of diplomats.”

[NaijaNews]

Following the recent announcement of GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) departure from the Nigerian pharmaceutical market, there has been a notable surge in the prices of GSK medications, with increases reported to be as high as 1000%. 

The significant rise in the cost of these medicines has sparked widespread concern among Nigerians, many of whom have expressed their frustrations on social media platforms.

The escalating prices can be attributed to a combination of factors: the withdrawal of GSK, a major player in the pharmaceutical industry, and the burgeoning rate of inflation in Nigeria. 

According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), Nigeria’s inflation rate as of October 2023 stood at 27.33%, the highest recorded since August 2005. This persistent upward trend in inflation has been a key driver in the rising costs of various goods and services, including pharmaceutical products. 

The compounded impact of Nigeria’s increasing inflation rate and GSK’s exit from the local market has had a substantial effect on the affordability and availability of medicines, posing significant challenges for healthcare in the country. 

GSK exit 

On August 3, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), a prominent UK-based pharmaceutical company, communicated to its Nigerian branch, GSK Consumer Nigeria Plc, its decision to discontinue the direct commercialization of its prescription medicines and vaccines in Nigeria.

The company announced a strategic shift towards utilizing a third-party direct distribution model for its pharmaceutical products within the country. 

GSK attributed this significant change to a range of operational challenges. Primary among these was the difficulty in maintaining a steady supply of GSK drugs in the Nigerian market.

Additionally, the company faced considerable hurdles due to the scarcity of foreign exchange, which adversely affected its capability to manage and settle foreign currency-denominated trade payables with its product suppliers. 

Furthermore, GSK identified several external factors influencing its decision.

These included the prevailing insecurity in the region, the government’s decision to remove fuel subsidies, and the overall high cost of conducting business in Nigeria. These elements collectively contributed to GSK’s strategic realignment in the Nigerian pharmaceutical market. 

Consequences on the Nigerian pharmaceutical market  

Following GlaxoSmithKline’s (GSK) announcement, traders of pharmaceutical products report that there has been a noticeable scarcity of GSK drugs across the country.  

Nairametrics has also observed significant challenges faced by community pharmacies, particularly in Lagos, in procuring various GSK medicines, attributing this difficulty primarily to the decreased availability of these drugs. 

To illustrate the impact of this development, Nairametrics has compiled a comparison of the current prices (as of November 2023) with those before GSK’s exit, focusing on some of the most commonly used GSK medications.  

This comparison highlights the disparities and provides a clear picture of how the market has been affected by the company’s strategic withdrawal. 

Reactions 

Nairametrics conducted interviews with community pharmacists to delve into the causes of the recent surge in drug prices, customer reactions, and their expectations from the government. 

• One pharmacist stated, “Prices are soaring because of the major issue of the foreign exchange rate, then companies that left Nigeria, for instance, GSK, and they control most of the market products, something Nigerians are not really aware of. We also have companies planning to leave so there will be more shortage of medicines leading to price increase.” 
• Another added, “The scarcity of these medicines creates an increase in demand which leads to an increase in prices of medicines. If these companies left the country and directly imported medicines, they wouldn’t be this expensive, but based on exchange rates and certain government policies on importation, that’s why they are expensive.” 

All the pharmacists interviewed pleaded anonymity as they feared victimization by industry stakeholders some of whom do not encourage speaking to the media about prices. 

• Discussing customer behaviour, a pharmacist remarked, “Customers are now opting for cheaper brands, but there are some particular products that they just have to sacrifice for, like asthma medications. There are no options. Some have to cut down on feeding and supplements just to get medicines.” 
• The sentiment among customers was further echoed by another interviewee: “Customers have been lamenting seriously. Some do not care to the point where they’ve stopped using their medicines regularly. They are looking for places where they would get discounted prices.” 

Addressing government intervention, one pharmacist expressed, “We all want the government to work on the foreign exchange rate.

The dollar-to-naira rate is really impacting and affecting the lives and health of Nigerians.

They should also look for ways to entice these companies back while boosting our local pharmaceutical manufacturing companies like Emzor to fund these companies so they can get to a certain level of standard of operation.” 

• Another pharmacist emphasized the need for accessible healthcare: “The government should also make healthcare available to all, especially in government hospitals so Nigerians can have access to more affordable drugs.” 

Implications 

According to the BMC Infectious Diseases Journal, there is a significant prevalence of antibiotic use in Nigerian hospitals, estimated at 78.2%. The journal notes that antibiotics produced by GSK are among the most frequently prescribed due to their proven efficacy.  

This high reliance on GSK’s antibiotics implies that Nigerians facing common bacterial infections will now encounter increased medical expenses. 

In the context of respiratory illnesses, the journal highlights that asthma impacts between 14% to 18% of the general population in Nigeria, with a notable prevalence among adolescents.  

Given GSK’s role as the primary and trusted supplier of asthma medications, its exit from the Nigerian market is resulting in increased costs for asthma patients.  

This situation is exacerbated by the current economic challenges and the scarcity of these crucial medications. 

[Nairametrics]

The nomination of 22 justices for elevation to the Supreme Court bench has been attributed to the ongoing pressures to fill the vacancies at the nation’s apex court.

The Federal Judicial Service Commission (FJSC) had on Thursday listed 22 justices to fill the vacancies on the bench from the six geopolitical zones according to the gaps observed.

The document shows that the list has been sent to the National Judicial Council (NJC) for further action.

The list include: North Central: Jumai Sankey (Plateau, priority); Muhammed Ibrahim Sirajo (Plateau, reserve); Stephen Adah (Kogi, priority); Ridman Maiwada Abdullahi (Nasarawa, reserve); Baba Idris (Niger, priority); and Joseph Ikyegh (Benue, reserve).

For the North East, the list comprises Haruna Tsammani (Bauchi, priority) and Abubakar Talba (Adamawa).

The list from the North West comprises of Muhammad Lawal Shuaibu (Jigawa, priority); Bello Aliyu (Zamfara, reserve); Abubakar Sadiq Umar (Kebbi, priority); and Abdullahi Mahmud Bayero (Kano, reserve).

The South East list has Chidiebere Nwaoma Uwa (Abia, priority); Onyekachi Otisi (Abia, reserve); Obande Ogbuinya (Ebonyi, priority); Theresa Orji-Abadua (Imo, reserve); Chioma Nwosu-Iheme (Imo, reserve) and Anthony Ogakwu (Enugu, priority).

South South has Moore Adumein (Bayelsa, priority) and Biobele Georgewill (Rivers, reserve).

South West has Adewale Abiru (Lagos, priority) and Olubunmi Oyewole (Osun, reserve).

Sources say the nomination of the 22 justices followed the growing gaps left by the death or retirement of 12 of the justices in the last two years, which made the apex court short on the 21 justices provided in Section 230 of the Nigerian Constitution, 1999.

The complaint by retired Supreme Court, Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammad, who had on October 27 spoken over the reducing number of justices of the Supreme Court from the constitutionally guaranteed number, is one of the factors believed to have influenced the move to fill up the vacancies.

[DailyTrust]

The Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) Kaduna on Friday announced the promotion of Lt. Col. Abubakar-Surajo Imam to Professor of Mechatronics Engineering.

Imam is said to be the first ever professor among serving personnel in the history of the Nigerian Army.

Brig.-Gen. AM Tukur, Registrar of the Academy, announced the promotion in a statement on Friday in Kaduna State.

According to him, the promotion was ratified during the NDA Council Meeting in September and took effect from October 1, 2023.

The registrar said that the council’s decision was a reflection of the confidence and recognition of the contributions of Imam to the Department of Mechatronics Engineering of the Academy.

He said the new professor had provided exemplary services and upheld the standard of excellence expected in his field.

“This recognition not only honours Professor Imam but also highlights the commitment of the Nigerian Defence Academy to acknowledging and rewarding outstanding contributions within its academic community,” he added.

[DailyPost]

Veteran actor, comedian and lecturer at Adeniran Ogunsanya University of Education in Lagos, Hafiz Oyetoro, popularly known as Saka, tells EMMANUEL OJO how his acting career has shaped him

How has the journey of 60 years been for you?

Yes, I turned 60 this year. It’s God. To be honest, I don’t do anything special in keeping a youthful look. It’s just been God. I can’t explain it. I only sleep, wake up, do my job, and go about my daily business. But physically, let’s say maybe because I am happy doing what I love doing. I found myself in the profession that I wanted and I had the opportunity to practise the profession. On the home front, I have a happy home. I do not have any issues with my wife.

What spurred your interest in acting?

Well, everybody has a vision or a mission to accomplish while alive. So, I think that is also God because it wasn’t in my plan to become an actor. I wanted to become a pilot, but when I started school, I found myself in a situation where each time my teachers wanted to do anything (relating to acting), they would select me. When I got to secondary school, I became very popular in the drama group and I thought there was nothing wrong with it, especially, when I heard that it was offered (as a course) at the university and that was why I applied for it at the then University of Ife, (now Obafemi Awolowo University).

Was it the discovery of your natural talent in drama that aborted your dream of becoming a pilot?

I was not that good in all the science subjects, apart from Physics. I was very good at Physics but I wasn’t good at Mathematics. I was struggling to learn it. At that time, I was in Iseyin (Oyo State), and when I visited my friend in Olivet High School, Oyo, I accidentally entered its laboratory where I did a comparison and saw that we practically didn’t have a laboratory in my school and I thought that if I continued with that, there would be a problem because we didn’t have anything in my school’s laboratory. When I left secondary school, I thought it was better for me to go for the arts. I had to reconfigure my mind to that. I had been having the suggestions in my mind to go the arts way because of the struggles I was having with Mathematics, but the laboratory issue in my school gave me the final conviction.

You have featured more in comedy roles than in other roles in movies. Is that deliberate?

Let me explain something. Every profession has what we call an area of specialisation. I guess comedy is my area of specialisation. I’m rounding off my doctorate in Stand Up Comedy at the moment. By the grace of God, I hope to be a PhD holder by the end of this year. I can do virtually everything in theatre arts, from costuming to make-up, and various roles. I can write and I can direct. However, my strength lies in comedy because I had the opportunity to go through various levels of theatre arts, from undergraduate level to postgraduate level, and in Nigeria. You know when you can do something very well, the directors wouldn’t like to waste their time trying to put the person through another role. They just pick the person who can interpret the role. As a matter of fact, in theatre arts, we have directing, choreography, music, writing, acting, and all that. So, if within the context of drama, comedy is my area of specialisation, that’s fine, but I can assure you that I can play any role and do anything as far as theatre arts is concerned.

How did you come about the name ‘Saka’?

Saka is a screen name. My name is Hafiz Oyetoro. My dad named me Hafiz, and my mum named me Adebimpe but as I tell people, hustling and struggling to survive in Lagos brought about the name, Saka.

There was a time when we were trying to do a television production here and there, and my friend, Gbenga Windapo, who is also a lecturer with me at the university, was the one I stayed with when I first came to Lagos. We were together in our undergraduate days and even in our postgraduate days. We became very close. We got a very good idea and we shared it with another friend, Greg Odutayo, and his wife. They had a production company. We told them the idea and they produced it in a film titled, “House Apart”. “House Apart” was reportedly the second most-watched comedy series in the (old) Western region as of that time. I played the role of Saka, while my friend played the role of Setilu and that was the beginning of everything, and at a point, Saka became very popular.

What year was that?

I think it was in 2004.

Was that your first role?

No, I had featured in many other movies before that.

Which movie was your first?

I can’t remember the first movie but one of the earliest movies I acted in was in “Irawo”. It was a Yoruba movie in Ibadan. I cannot remember most of it now.

When lecturing in class, do your students take you seriously or do they always see you in the light of being a comedian?

Well, they are theatre arts students. On a serious note, a lot of people have asked me that question but the fact is that these students are also theatre arts students. So, they understand the difference between acting and reality. Although, in the first and second lectures, they are usually excited and call me Saka, but when the lectures begin in earnest, they know that I am Hafiz Oyetoro, not just “Saka”.

We were trained as practitioners in the university to remove our personalities from the role we play. So, if you meet me one-on-one, you will know that I am a very reserved, quiet, and easy-going person unlike Saka who is noisy and all that. Once I leave the stage, I become Hafiz and that’s the ability to manoeuvre, manage roles and be able to identify oneself in the role one is playing and it’s also a big factor that helps me.

So, usually at first, they shout ‘saka’ but after the second lecture, they see Hafiz Oyetoro. However, sometimes, when I go out and people start shouting Saka, I usually like to dodge because I am a shy person.

Would you also say that you are a disciplinarian?

Well, I can’t say that. All I can say is that I don’t like rubbish. I feel like everybody should do their job. Discipline must be maintained else, one would lose their identity. As an actor, you have to be very disciplined because you are a role model. There are some adverts I will not do, no matter how much was given or paid for it.

Why so?

It is because I believe I am a role model and I am a teacher and as a teacher, if I tell my students not to take drugs and I encourage the advertisement of drugs, then, I am not doing what I’m teaching. Also for my children, whenever ‘Saka’ is on the screen, me and their mum would sit with them and watch ‘Saka’ on TV.

What’s the usual reaction of your children about your roles?

They are usually excited. I must say that my family, especially my wife, is my very first. My wife makes comments about the costumes and roles and I believe once my wife and children like the movie, it would be good in the market. I usually use them as my indirect critics.

Do you rehearse most of your comical facial expressions before going on set?

(Laughs) Some people even embarrass me in the office. They said whether I talk or I don’t, they would laugh. It is my natural personality. I do not make efforts in those roles. I talk when I want to talk and do anything I want to do effortlessly. I do not make any extra effort. It’s just natural. Sometimes when I talk in meetings with my colleagues, they laugh and sometimes, I even get embarrassed at the reason why they laugh, so, I realised that it’s the way I talk sometimes. I do not make extra efforts on that. When it comes to roles that I play, I prepare for them. One must be disciplined enough to prepare for the roles to play and to be able to interpret the character effectively to the audience.

What would you say is the difference between teaching and practising?

It has been a fantastic experience. There is nothing more fulfilling than teaching and practising something that one loves to do. It’s interesting that after teaching and saying what Aristotle and other philosophers said, I go out to practise it.

First of all, it allows me to know the difference between theory and practice. Secondly, it gives me the opportunity to know that some theories only stay in the classroom but are not practicable out there, so, I live in the world of fantasy of the theory, then, the reality of the theory on the field. It’s been a very fantastic experience for me and I thank God that the school where I teach allows me to practise as much as I can, as long as it doesn’t disturb academic activities.

There is no difference between a teacher and an actor. A teacher is an actor who teaches the students within the confinement of a classroom and an actor is also a teacher who teaches his audience outside the confinement of a classroom. There is something that links the two together and that is dissemination of information. The only difference is that it is carried out in different environments.

Do you still teach your students theories that are not practicable?

I attend workshops, seminars, practice, and all that. As I go out, I gain more experience and my teaching methodology is enhanced, so, when I come to school, I have more experience to teach my students, and my teaching methodology is also enhanced.

Did you grow up in a city?

I was born in Adegbola, which is a farm settlement in Iseyin (Oyo State), where people from Ibadan, Abeokuta, and some other places settled as farmers. My dad also settled there and once in a while, they went to Iseyin for one festival or the other. So, the first nine years of my life were in Adegbola. At age nine, I moved to Iseyin and attended the Baptist Day School for my education and then I attended Koso Community Grammar School for my secondary education.

Later, I attended the University of Ife, now Obafemi Awolowo University, where I studied Theatre Arts. I obtained a master’s degree at the University of Ibadan in Theatre Arts. I went to study for my master’s then because I didn’t want people to think I wasn’t brilliant. When I saw that my colleagues were going back for master’s, I went for mine too, but at that time, I was already a professional theatre arts practitioner. I guess I was training myself then. The majority of the jobs I got later in life were from contacts I made while in school.

Can you recall how you met your wife?

That’s a long story. I got a letter to work at the Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, which became a university last year, and that’s where I still work. I started my job there in 2001 and my friend, Gbenga Windapo, was there. He was teaching Drama minor in Education. There was a day I was with him and I saw one small, fine girl with a hijab walking innocently. I pointed at her to my friend and asked who she was and my friend told me to let her be, that she had been walking alone on the walkway but I said she was the kind of person I wanted. I found out that she had just concluded her final project and came to submit her written project to her supervisor. I monitored her to a point and I was told that she was in the sciences. So, I traced her to her department and her supervisor. When she left her supervisor, I told my friend, Gbenga, to tell her that I wanted to see her in my office. When she came, I told her she was a good girl. (Laughs) I asked her name and all that. Then I told her that as a Yoruba man, I wasn’t supposed to woo her there at that moment but that she should rest assured that the next time, I would do that. One thing led to the other and in 2003, we got married.

What would you describe to be the biggest challenge you have faced in life?

One thing about challenges is that those little ups and downs challenge you to move on. For me, if one does not experience those little ups and downs, life will be boring. What makes life interesting and exciting is the fact that it does not go one way.

In a couple of years, you will retire as a lecturer. What is your retirement plan as an actor?

Well, a theatre arts job does not have a retirement age. (The late) Baba (Hubert) Ogunde, may his soul rest in perfect peace, worked until his death. In fact, he was on the set when he died. My retirement plan is that I want to be a production consultant and a farmer. My parents were farmers and I have been interested in farming for a long time. I have started farming and I believe that before I retire, my farm would have grown bigger. I intend to start a production company. So, at that time, I will even be busier than I am now. The academic work is slowing me down a bit but I enjoy it.

[Vanguard]

The Commissioner of Police, Enugu State Command, CP Kanayo Uzuegbu, has ordered the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of the State Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department (State CID) Enugu, to thoroughly investigate and ensure the prosecution of everyone involved in the alleged sexual molestation of a three-year-old female pupil of Tenderlink School Trans-Ekulu, Enugu.

A statement released by the spokesperson of the command DSP Daniel Ndukwe today November 17, says;

‘’a preliminary investigation proves that the child (names withheld) was found to have been sexually molested, with physical injuries and patches of blood observed on her private part, after the school's bus dropped her at home on Tuesday, November 14, 2023. This is in addition to the receipt of similar complaints by parents of other children at the school. Three (3) suspects, comprising the victim's female teacher, the school's bus attendant and driver, have been arrested for interrogation.'''

Ndukwe added that the state Police Commissioner describes the act as unthinkable and wonders why the school's authority and teachers would allow such to happen to the toddler they are supposed to tutor and protect from such an ungodly act. 

‘’He appreciates the Enugu State Government's decision to shut down the school pending the conclusion of the investigation while vowing to ensure that everyone found culpable faces the full wrath of the law,'' Ndukwe added

After the drab 1-1 draw with Lesotho, the Super Eagles will tomorrow, in Rwanda, file out against troubled Warriors of Zimbabwe in continuation of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The result ramps up pressure on Super Eagles coach Jose Peseiro just months out from the Africa Cup of Nations.

Injured striker Victor Osimhen was sorely missed as Nigeria lacked cutting edge against the minnows. Peseiro’s men need a quick response when they meet Zimbabwe on Sunday.

With their backs to the wall, the Super Eagles will want to bounce back to reckoning with a huge win from the encounter. Their hosts, the Warriors of Zimbabwe who drew 0-0 with Rwanda in their opening group match will also be out for a first win in the series.

For the Super Eagles, the draw with the Crocodiles of Lesotho was indicative of what awaits them in the series: nobody should expect Super Eagles to have it easy with any of the teams in the group.

Apart from Coach Peseiro’s technical frailties, it appears the players are not fighting enough. Their display in Uyo was shoddy, indifferent and fell far short of a true representation of Nigeria’s best. Some analysts have questioned their sense of patriotism, leading to calls for a reconfiguration of the entire architecture of the Nigeria national team. Rightly, some analysts have questioned the inclusion of some foreign-based players in the team and called on national team selectors to look inwards in order to give players in the domestic league a fair chance to compete for shirts in the national team.

Some of the invited players are bench warmers in their European clubs and that reflects in their outing in the national colours. It is crystal clear that the majority of Super Eagles players are average and overrated, yet Nigerians place so much expectations on them. In time past, countries like Lesotho were used as cannon fodders by the Super Eagles to advance their cause.

As the team prepare for the Warriors of Zimbabwe tomorrow, one expects that coach Jose Peseiro will do the right things; like his team selection, putting players in their rightful positions and have the ability to read the match and know when to effect changes that can also change the course of the match.

The Super Eagles can save Nigerians the usual permutations on their chances of qualifying for the World Cup with a commanding performance against the Warriors of Zimbabwe.

[Vanguard]

I would like to commend the Institute for choosing this topic. Every successive government in Nigeria has talked about the need to transform and diversify our economy for decades but none has identified corporate governance as a major catalyst for driving that transformation. And there is no better time than now to draw the attention of the nation and managers of the economy to this significant omission.

As I indicated in my recent book, Reclaiming the Jewel of Africa, the Economy is the number one priority of any government. In some countries, elections are won or lost because of the economy. Our economy today is relatively small; it is not growing fast enough and is not inclusive. It has all the features of a weak economy: Import-dependent, weak and unstable macroeconomic environment, export of primary products without value addition, high and unsustainable level of debt servicing cost to national revenue, fall in real wages, high dependency on foreign earnings without building productive capacity, high incidence of poverty, high rate of unemployment, high rate of emigration of skilled professionals, weak governance structure and prevalence of insecurity.

So, the recurring question many keep asking is, why has a country which has about 85million hectares of land where almost everything can grow, has more than 45 solid minerals in commercial quantity, a top 10 oil and gas producer, a young population which is the envy of the rest of the world, and some of the brightest people in the world, not been able to transform its economy and diversify its sources of revenue for decades? It is not because we do not have economic plans or policies to diversify and transform our economy. The simple answer is the lack of continuity and extremely poor quality of implementation of economic plans and policies.

I will give you an example, Nigeria officially launched its industrial plan to diversify the economy in 2014, although it commenced implementation in 2011. From 2015, the plan was put it in the cooler for about 8 years. As result the growth of manufacturing’s contribution to GDP which was in double digits throughout 2011 to 2014 peaking at 24.59% in 2013 crashed to negative 1.46% in 2015, another negative 4.32% in 2016 and only grew marginally by 2.45% in 2022. This is what the lack of continuity does to an economy. If it had been implemented rigorously, Nigeria would have become a top competitive global exporter of at least 3 or 4 of the 13 products identified for export by now. It is all about continuity and discipline. 2 We are long on plans and policies but short on implementation. And why is that so? It is because our institutions particularly the economic institutions are weak or do not exist. According to Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson in the book “Why Nations Fail”, Nations fail because Institutions are weak or do not exist.

Nations fail when they have extractive (weak) economic institutions, supported by extractive political institutions that impede and even block economic growth.’ The third question you may then ask is why are institutions weak? And the answer is that they are weak mainly because of the poor corporate governance, and governance in public institutions. An area that has been overlooked and rarely mentioned when talking about the economy. That is why I commend the Institute once again for the choice of today’s topic. I will be talking about Governance in the corporate world and in the government because the economy is driven by both the private and public sectors. What is Corporate Governance? The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines corporate governance as “a set of relationships between a company’s management, its board, its shareholders and other stakeholders; it provides the structure through which the objectives of the company are set, and the means of attaining those objectives and monitoring performance”.

So, it is about the four “Ps”: People, Purpose, Processes and Performance. In Nigeria, where both public and private sectors play a significant role in the economy, we have to take a holistic view and expand the discussion to cover governance in the public sector. That was why the original National Code of Corporate Governance developed by the Financial Reporting Council in 2013/2014 when I was the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment had three parts: codes for the private sector, public sector and the not for profit organisations. The public sector governance code was meant to cover all MDAs, state-owned entities, all parastatals and all government commercial agencies.

What is the Role Of Corporate Governance In Economic Diversification And Transformation?  Let me highlight a few key aspects of how corporate governance can drive Nigeria’s economic transformation and diversification: Attracting Investment: Nigeria needs substantial investments to develop and diversify its economy. In fact, the attainment of the National Development Plan 2021-2025 will require an investment of about N348.1 trillion and 85.7% of that is expected to come from the private sector. It is fair to say that Nigeria’s ability to attract investments into critical areas 3 of the economy has not been more important than now and the quality of the corporate governance in both the private and public sector will be a major catalyst.

Today we talk about the NLNG as the bird that lays the golden egg because of its remarkable success and its ability to diversify the economy and attract investments. A lot of the success, can easily be attributed to the strength of the corporate governance practices that were put in place by its owners 51% of whom are multinational oil companies. The success story of the privatisation and the transformation of the telecom industry will also not be complete without the mention of the strong corporate governance at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and the role of the Board led by the late Alhaji Ahmed Joda, the former Chairman of NCC and Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, the CEO at the time and who today, is the chairman of this session of your conference. We need to replicate this privatisation in other sectors.

Another example I gave in my book is the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), a Saudi Arabian multinational corporation that was established in 1976 by Aramco (Saudi Arabia’s NNPC) with an investment of $1.8 billion. Today, it is the second-largest diversified chemical company in the world and a market leader in many products. Its mandate was to pioneer and drive gas industrialization in Saudi Arabia by adding value to the gas produced. The company had total assets of $83.46 billion as at the end of December 2022, operates in 50 countries, and generated $46.6 billion in sales revenue.

The interesting thing is that SABIC has in turn created The Saudi Iron and Steel Company, one of the world’s largest fully integrated producers of Iron and Steel. Again, corporate governance has been identified as a catalyst for the remarkable success of SABIC. Strong corporate governance will strengthen institutions that are responsible for economic diversification and transformation: Governance in public sector enterprises ensures that they fulfil their mandates, achieve their intended outcomes for citizens and service users and operate effectively, efficiently, transparently and in ethical manner.

It significantly improves the quality of implementation, allows for continuity and ensures sustainability which have been our biggest obstacle for decades; the real reasons we have failed to diversify our economy.  Corporate governance frameworks that encourage entrepreneurship and support micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) can be instrumental in diversifying the economy. MSMEs are often engines of growth in emerging economies. In Nigeria, they account for 76% of the workforce, about 50% of the GDP and 7% of exports.

Effective corporate governance and its mechanisms will foster innovation which can drive new industries and create opportunities for diversification, improve accountability and transparency which will lead to better quality of implementation of plans to diversify the economy and curb corruption and waste. It will also build trust in citizens and investors.

Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, for Nigeria to truly harness the power of corporate governance in both the private and public sectors for economic diversification and transformation, it must address certain challenges. These include Political Interference: When political considerations heavily influence the decision-making process in public organizations, it can compromise the impartiality and objectivity needed for good governance. It starts with the process and quality of making appointments. Why must critical appointments such as heads of parastatals, board members, etc, go to party members as ‘dividends of democracy’? That is not the dividend of democracy.

The dividends of democracy should be good governance. The appointment and promotion of individuals based on personal relationships and political party affiliations rather than on merit weaken the very institutions we need to diversify and transform the economy. We cannot eat our cake and have it.

There is no effective mechanism for holding our economic institutions that are supposed to drive the economic transformation the country requires accountable. That is why we have had a high level of waste, leakages and corruption and poor execution of existing diversification plans and policies. We have heard about oil theft for years, we know about insecurity, high levels of unemployment, poverty, inflation, low manufacturing value addition, tough macroeconomic environment. Who has ever been held accountable and how many people have been sacked? Can you imagine this happening in the private sector and the management and board will remain?

 Ineffective Oversight: Limited checks and balances on government agencies and public institutions have led to inefficiencies, misuse of public funds, poor implementation of economic plans and policies. There is no effective oversight because of the poor quality of the board, no relevant key performance indicators (KPIs), no reward for good performance and consequences for bad performance or behaviour.

So, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, before I conclude, I would like to leave you with some recommendations: The NCCG 2018 for the private sector has been issued and has strengthened corporate governance in the sector. But focusing on private sector corporate governance alone to drive economic diversification and transformation is recipe for failure. The public sector has a major role to  play, particularly in developing countries.

At the very least, it determines how high you can jump and how fast you can run. That is why it is critical for the Financial Reporting Council of Nigeria to issue the National Code of Corporate Governance (NCCG) for the public sector as soon as possible, after due consultations. Full implementation of the Nigerian Code of Corporate Governance in the public sector will have a dramatic and positive effect on our economic institutions. The National Assembly should amend the Acts which established the Ministries and their agencies to make the adoption of the code mandatory for the public sector.

In addition, the Acts should specify the skills, competence, and experience (number of years in the profession) required to chair or sit on the board and to be in the executive management team of an Agency. That was one of the strategies employed to have strong governance and effective leadership at the Sovereign Wealth Fund (Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority) and which regulators like National Pension Commission (PENCOM) have used effectively to regulate the pension industry which is now one of the best regulated sectors.

Economic Institutions and Agencies Must be Held Accountable: Nations fail because institutions are weak or do not exist. Any industrial plan will fail if the relevant economic institutions are weak. Government agencies are economic institutions and the implementing arm of the Ministries and are therefore critical to any economic diversification plan. At a minimum, competent technocrats or even competent politicians who have a reputation for delivering should be appointed to the boards and management of these agencies. The dividends of democracy as I said earlier should not be about sharing positions to party loyalists but should be about good governance. KPIs should be set, and a comprehensive review of their performance regularly undertaken before any reappointments.

Both the private and public sectors need to show more commitment to environmental, social and governance (ESG) practices. Investors are beginning to demand this to invest in companies and countries. 6. Capacity Building. There is a need for continuous training and capacity building for corporate leaders, regulators, and stakeholders to enhance their understanding of governance principles, particularly in the areas of digitalisation and cyber security.

The CIoD as a very important institution in the country has a major role to play as well. It was one of the reasons I made it absolutely clear to the FRC that they must work very closely with the Institute when I inaugurated the Technical Committee that worked on the National Code of Corporate Governance.

For efficient and effective corporate governance practices to thrive in the country, it is critical that the CIoD become advocates and facilitate the adoption of the NCCG in the public sector. To focus on corporate governance in the private sector only will miss the mark and will not work.

To improve the corporate governance environment particularly in the public sector, the CIoD should develop an index for ranking Corporate Governance in the public sector particularly the institutions that are responsible for economic diversification and transformation. You will be amazed how that Index will transform our economy and nation. Remember nations fail because Institutions are weak or do not exist.

In conclusion, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, unassailable corporate governance is not an option but a necessity for Nigeria’s economic transformation and diversification. It is the lighthouse that guides us through the complex waters of modern economics, helping us navigate toward sustainable growth and shared prosperity. Nigeria, with its vast potential and human resources, has an incredible opportunity to redefine its economic landscape through effective corporate governance and become the Jewel of Africa again. Together, let us work towards a future where Nigeria’s economy is diversified, robust, and inclusive, built on the solid foundation of good governance.

Aganga, former minister of finance presented this key note address, “Driving Nigeria’s Economic Transformation and Diversification: The Role of Corporate Governance,” at the Chartered Institute of Directors 2023 Annual Directors Conference in Abuja on November 16

Former President Goodluck Jonathan last weekend opened the debate on the propriety or otherwise of off-season elections. Speaking in an interview with journalists after voting at his Ward 13 Otuoke, Ogbia LGA, Bayelsa State in last Saturday’s off-cycle governorship election, Dr. Jonathan asked the country to put a stop to off-cycle elections, explaining that if the trend continued a time would come when even the presidential election might also become an off-cycle election. His grouse against off-season polls is that they are inconsistent with the global best practices.

“I get worried about the issue of off-season elections, and I will use this unique opportunity to plead with the National Assembly that we need to block off-season elections. It is very odd; it’s not a global best practice. A country can elect its people at different times, like the American election and some countries. They may not elect everybody at the same time but the only time they go on to conduct elections, they elect everybody that is supposed to be elected,” he said.

What the former president seeks is all elections should hold once or twice and there should be fixed periods for elections in Nigeria as is the practice in United States, where we copied our presidential system of government from. In the US, the presidential election takes place every four years, congressional and mid-term elections every two years and a variety of state and local elections hold every year.

The former President, Dr. Jonathan has his point. Off-season election is what it is: it is not in sync with the electoral cycle, distorts the electoral calendar flow and makes elections costlier for a country like Nigeria as opposed to when everything is taken together once or twice. 

But achieving the Jonathan proposal seems utopian. It’s a difficult and almost impossible thing to achieve without running foul of the constitution.

The distortion in the electoral cycle came about as a result of adjudication into some governorship election petitions since the democratic rebirth in 1999, which ate into the four-year term of some governors. Eight states fall within the off-cycle elections as a result of judicial judgements on election petitions. At present, the states include Ekiti, Osun, Ondo, Edo, Anambra, Kogi, Bayelsa and Imo. In the case of Osun State for instance, it took former Governor Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola three solid years before he was able to retrieve his stolen mandate, such that his tenure, which ought to have begun in 2007 eventually started in 2010.  Yet, by the constitution, he is entitled to a four-year tenure, and another four years, if re-elected, as was the case in 2014.

Electoral petitions used to go on interminably before. However, the 2010 Electoral Act (as amended) has now fixed the time for the hearing and dispensing with election petitions within 180 days and any ensuing appeal within 60 days. The National Assembly that is at present working on the amendment of the Electoral Act should look into the former president’s suggestion and decide what is possible with respect to off-cycle elections.

In my view, off-cycle elections should ordinarily serve some useful purposes. Rather than injure our electoral system and democracy, they ought to deepen them. 

This is what I mean: because the number of seats or constituencies involved in off-cycle elections are much smaller compared to nationwide elections, they normally should give the election stakeholders, particularly the Independent National Electoral Commission, more leeway, indeed the latitude to work towards and engender good elections. They should give the security agencies the room and opportunity to properly police the votes and ensure compliance with the electoral rules and processes.

Let’s examine the wide gaps in the numbers involved, in the February 25, 2023 Presidential Election as compared with Bayelsa, Kogi and Imo off-cycle elections for instance. About 87 million Nigerians collected their PVCs from around 93 million voters registered. They were the eligible persons for the last presidential election (though only 26.71% of them turned out). In the election held in a total of 176, 846 polling stations, 18 political parties participated according to INEC. Also, the police deployed a total of 310, 973 personnel and 1,240 patrol vans for the election.

However, for last Saturday’s off-cycle elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi states, a total of 5.4 million votes were available for grab by the 18 parties who participated in the polls while the elections took place in 10, 470 polling units across the three states.  According to INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, there were 1,056, 862 registered voters in Bayelsa State, 2,419,922 in Imo State and 1,932,654 in Kogi State, making a combined total of 5,409,438 voters for the three states.  16 political parties sponsored candidates in Bayelsa, 17 in Imo and 18 in Kogi.  For effect, the electoral commission also claimed it deployed 27 Resident Electoral Commissioners, six national commissioners and many administrative secretaries for the elections.

Now, my point is with that large number of election officials, police officers and other stakeholders deployed for just three gubernatorial seats last Saturday, there is no reason why the elections should not be almost flawless if not excellent. 

As I argued earlier, the small number should prepare the ground for the conduct of good elections.

Another important thing about off-cycle elections is that in our situation, they are supposed to provide INEC with the opportunity to test run their arrangements and facilities for the general elections. The July 14 and September 22, 2018 governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states for instance were supposed to prepare ground for the 2019 presidential polls just as the just-ended off-cycle elections in Bayelsa, Imo, Kogi and the governorship elections in Edo and Anambra scheduled to hold in 2024 and 2025 respectively are supposed to be used by INEC to prepare and particularly to further test its technological systems, the BIVAS and IReV, for the forthcoming 2027 general election.

But has that been the case with off-cycle polls? Writing on the Back Page of Thisday last Tuesday, cerebral columnist and ARISE TV anchor, Dr. Reuben Abati, said: “Every off-cycle election is as bad as the main election, and are in many cases worse. Nigerian politicians and the various stakeholders are obsessed with their own greed, ambition and limitations. Nobody shows any capacity to learn any lessons, making every election the same of the same: the same incredulous pattern of criminality, conflict and capture.”

So, what difference does it make whether the elections are off-cycle or nationwide?

Indeed, the same allegations of vote-buying, writing of results before the election, violence and other malpractices have greeted the just-ended off-cycle elections in Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi. INEC should investigate these anomalies and do the needful so it can at least help in future elections.

Governors Hope Uzodinma and Duoye Diri of Imo and Bayelsa states and All Progressives Congress candidate in Kogi, Ahmed Usman Ododo, have emerged winners of the governorship polls. Uzodinma won in all the 27 Local government areas of the state, polling a total of 540,308 votes to beat his closest challenger, the Peoples Democratic Party candidate Samuel Anyanwu who scored 71, 503 votes. The Bayelsa election across just eight local government areas was a tight one, stretching INEC for two days after the poll before a winner was announced particularly over the alleged manipulated results from Nembe.

Governor Duoye Diri of PDP polled 175, 196 votes to defeat ex-governor Timipre Sylva, the candidate of APC, who came second with 110, 108 votes, while none of the other 14 candidates scored up to 1000 votes.

Kogi off-cycle election was also contentious. There were allegations of writing of results before the election in Kogi Central where Governor Yahaya Bello, the White Lion as he is called, and his handpicked successor, APC candidate Ododo, hail from. INEC initially suspended the election, cancelled results from nine wards in Ogori-Magongo LGA in Kogi Central over electoral malpractices and fixed rerun in those wards for today, November 18. But the commission cancelled the idea of re-run in the affected wards arguing that the total votes from those nine wards would not make any difference in the gaps between the leading candidate Ododo and Social Democratic Party candidate Murtala Ajaka. Ododo was eventually declared the winner of the election, having won the majority of lawful votes.

There are a few remarkable things about the election though.

It is noteworthy that the Bayelsa, Imo and Kogi elections proved bookmakers right. Many analysts had predicted victory for Uzodinma and Diri for various reasons including incumbency factor, even though Diri is of the opposition party at the centre. Ajaka performed brilliantly in the election but the opposition in the state is too fragmented to make a major impact to upstage the APC.

Another thing about the polls is that they were generally peaceful and devoid of much violence which is a credit to President Bola Tinubu and the police. 

There was also a level-playing field. President Tinubu did not use his exalted position to oppress candidates of the other parties. At every turn, he would tell all those involved in the election to give everyone and every party equal chance. 

This has been widely acknowledged and applauded. Indeed, the President deserves commendation on the off-cycle polls. We should take these gains into the future elections.

Rahman, former Editor of Thisday on Sunday is a Senior Presidential Aide.

In a predictable, premeditated, and carefully choreographed judicial charade, the Court of Appeal on Friday upheld the verdict of the Kano State Governorship Election Petition Tribunal that reversed the electoral triumph of NNPP’s Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State. I sincerely hope this assault on justice isn’t the spark that ignites an inferno in Kano—and in the country.

The signs had been evident since early October that a predetermination had been made that irrespective of the facts, the flawed, preplanned judgment of the election petition tribunal must be preserved at all costs. 

For example, on October 6, the Head of the Legal Department of INEC in Kano State by the name of Suleiman Alkali wrote a curious letter stating that INEC, which had declared NNP’s Yusuf as the validly elected winner of the governorship election in Kano, was no longer interested in defending its declaration. 

“I have been instructed by the commission headquarters that INEC as an umpire has no reason to appeal any judgment,” he wrote. “Consequently, the National Commission in charge of Legal Services and National Commissioner in charge of Kano zone directed that the appeal be withdrawn and all processes for all appeals should be forwarded to the Kano Office.” 

In response to the jolt and outrage that the letter generated, Sam Olumekun, INEC’s National Commissioner and chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee, said Alkali wasn’t authorized to write the letter, pointing out that the letter had “since been withdrawn and the officer reprimanded.” We weren’t told the nature of the “reprimand” because it was a lie.

That was exactly what played out when INEC acted in cahoots with Ahmed Lawan to steal APC’s Bashir Machina’s Yobe North Senatorial District primary win, which the Supreme Court affirmed in a shameless show of what I called judicial banditry. 

(Retired Justice Musa Dattijo Muhammed quoted his colleague’s quotation of my abrasive censure of the Supreme Court in his parting shots at his colleagues even though he and his colleague didn’t give me credit— and slightly misquoted me. I said in a February 6 article titled “Lawan and Supreme Court of Shameless Judicial Bandits” that "Nigeria's Supreme Court is, without a doubt, a rotten gaggle of useless, purchasable judicial bandits. The highest bidder gets their judgement." Dattijo used "voter" where I used "rotten.")

Anyway, on September 5, 2022, an INEC lawyer by the name of Onyechi Ikpeazu, SAN, had filed an affidavit at the Federal High Court to discredit the result of its own election that had declared Machina as the winner of the Yobe North APC senatorial primary election. 

In the aftermath of the shock and fury that attended this, Festus Okoye, at the time INEC’s National Commissioner and chairman of its Information and Voter Education Committee Festus, repudiated Ikpeazu’s affidavit and said, “the Commission will review its quality assurance protocols, including the preview by appropriate ranking Officials of all processes filed on its behalf to ascertain their correctness in all material particulars with all reports and all information at its disposal before their presentation so that a situation like this is not repeated.”

Well, that situation was repeated in Kano in October this year, almost exactly a year later. It seems to be a well-practiced pattern. INEC first flies a kite, sees how high it flies, then crashes it. But the whole point is to prepare the minds of the public for what is being hatched so as to minimize its shock value when it finally materializes.

 If the outcome of the Ahmed Lawan and Bashir Machina case is any guide, it means INEC is deeply complicit in Ganduje’s chicanery and plot to steal Yusuf’s governorship. It might also mean that the “judicial bandits” I talked about at the Supreme Court are waiting in the wings to feast on another stolen electoral dinner. I hope I am wrong.

The second indication that this appeal court judgment was a well-rehearsed theater came when the appeal court completed its deliberations on November 6 but deferred its judgment until November 17 and then requested that security be heightened in Kano in anticipation of the publicizing of its judgement. Only people in a dry run for the abortion of justice ask for anticipatory protection from their potential victims.

As I pointed out in my September 23, 2023, column titled “Why the Kano Verdict Can’t Stand,” it is apparent that former Kano State governor and current APC national chairman Abdullahi Ganduje has resolved to damn all consequences and use the federal might at his disposal to wrest the power that his party and his flunkey lost to Rabiu Kwankwaso and his son-in-law in the governorship election. 

“APC appears intent to get back through judicial manipulation what it lost through the ballot box,” I wrote. “It’s a higher-order, more sophisticated, and less primitive version of the broad-day electoral heist they perpetrated in 2019 after former Governor Abdullahi ‘Gandollar’ Ganduje lost to the same Abba Yusuf.”

In a defiant disregard for potentially untoward consequences, Ganduje—of course, with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s blessing—has decided to pull all strings to snatch judicial victory from the jaws of electoral defeat.

As I will show shortly, both the election tribunal and the appeal court are not even pretending to be fair in their judgments. They have already been handed a verdict and mandated to fish for evidence to justify it. The verdict, of course, is that NNPP’s Abba Yusuf must go and must be replaced by APC’s Nasiru Gawuna.

In rhetorical studies, we call that finalism, that is, a conclusion in search of evidence. Psychologists call it "motivated reasoning," that is, tendentious interpretation intentionally designed to produce a predetermined outcome. Philosophers call that armchair hermeneutics, that is, reasoning that ignores the evidence.

The Daily Trust reported Justice Moore A. Adumein as predicating the nullification of Yusuf’s victory on the fact of his not being a member of the NNPP when he was nominated by the party. “As rightfully found, Yusuf Abba was not a member of the NNPP at the time he was purportedly sponsored by his party and he was not qualified to contest the March Governorship Election,” Justice Adumein reportedly said.

Yet, in quashing the election of APC’s House of Representatives member Musa Iliyasu Kwankwaso and reinstating NNPP’s Yusuf Umar Datti as the validly elected member to represent Kano’s Kura/Madobi/Garun Malam Federal Constituency seat, the same appeal court said two weeks ago that “the issue of membership of a political party is an internal affair, which no court has jurisdiction on,” according to the LEADERSHIP newspaper.

I had thought that this was settled law. As I wrote in a previous column, “A May 26 Supreme Court ruling also says rival parties have no right to question the validity of the internal decisions made by other parties unless they can prove that they suffered demonstrable harm as a result of the internal decisions another party took. So, the Kano governorship election tribunal’s verdict on this issue will be as dead as a dodo upon appeal.” 

The question now is, why is NNPP’s Yusuf being held to a different standard? I get that Kwankwaso and Yusuf didn’t handle their victory well. Instead of being happy, their victory roused destructive vengeance and mean-spiritedness in them. But that’s no reason to steal their legitimately earned victory. 

I am certain that NNPP will take this case to the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court is guided by its precedents, which is never guaranteed, I have no doubt that it will invalidate the judgements of the lower courts. 

But this is clearly not a legal issue. It’s a battle for political supremacy in Kano between Ganduje and Kwankwaso in which Ganduje is deploying the courts as cudgels to fustigate Kwankwaso.

My advice for President Tinubu is to be very watchful because this is really treacherous territory.  Righteous anger over obvious injustice—on top of ongoing existential torment in the country—can spark violence whose consequence we can’t predict.