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Ekiti State Governor, Mr Biodun Oyebanji, has approved a work-from-home arrangement for civil servants in the state.

The arrangement is aimed at further cushioning the effect of the current economic situation on workers in the state.

According to a statement by the Special Adviser on Media to the Governor, Mr Yinka Oyebode, under the new arrangement, officers on levels 01-07 will work from home three days a week.

Also, officers on levels 08-12 are to work from home two days a week, while officers on levels 13-17 will work from home once a week.

The new arrangement, which commences on Monday, September 9, 2024, excludes essential workers like teachers, core health workers in hospitals, and security personnel, among others.

According to the governor’s directive, each MDA is expected to produce a workable schedule for staff to ensure that the new work-from-home arrangement does not jeopardize effective service delivery.

The arrangement will be in place for a period of two months and is subject to periodic review in line with prevailing circumstances.

Also, the arrangement does not affect other palliative measures put in place by the state government, including the monthly wage award for workers and pensioners, and the free bus service for workers and students.

The Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji-led administration is committed to workers’ welfare and will continue to implement necessary measures to enhance their productivity.

[DailyPost]

 

The federal government has flagged off the sale of 30,000 metric tonnes of milled rice to public servants with duly registered National Identification Number (NIN) to curb racketeering. The move is parts of efforts to crash the prices of food in Nigerian markets.

President Bola Tinubu, who was represented at the flag off by Abubakar Kyari, the minister of agriculture and food security, said the intervention will be sold strictly “one man to one bag or one woman to one bag”.

He said the rice — which is to be sold at a flat rate of N40,000 naira only for 50kg — is the federal government intervention for the sales of subsidised milled rice to ameliorate the prevailing food crises in Nigeria.

“This food intervention can be said to be timely considering the times and challenges we are in as citizens of this great nation,” he said.

“As one of the numerous efforts of the present administration to cushion the effect of high cost of food commodities, kindly join me to applaud the immense efforts of the present administration such as the release of 42,000MT of Assorted Food Commodities (AFC) to vulnerable and the 30,000MT of milled rice which is being flagged-off for sales to Nigerians today 5th September, 2024.”

The minister blamed COVID-19, the Russia-Ukraine war, climate change amidst other localized factors/challenges for the high cost of food prices.

“This has led to increase concern and risk of food insecurity and general decline in the standard of living globally. I therefore urge us to understand that the present challenges are not peculiar to our great country,” he said.

 

He added that the federal government being aware of the potential challenges associated with the sales of an important staple such as rice, at this critical period has deployed a multi-disciplinary machinery of Government, as well put in place certain processes and conditions to ensure the transparency, wider reach and success of this exercise.

“This includes one man one 50kg of rice, others are the verification of intending beneficiaries using relevant identification mediums such as the National Identification Number (NIN) and phone numbers to forestall multiple access to this food commodity by fraudulent individuals at the detriment of other citizens,” he said.

He implored citizens to cooperate with the relevant citizens to achieve the initiative.

“Let us work together to ensure that the dream of the present administration to upheld the fundamental right to food for all Nigerians is achieved. It is expected that with the injection 30,000MT (1000 trucks of 30MT each of this important staple into Nigeria food balance sheet, it will not only crash the price of rice but also other closer food substitutes and alternatives.”

He called on Nigerians to remain steadfast and be patient with Mr. President as his numerous efforts to enhance Food security will soon begin to pay off.

The director, food and strategic reserve of the ministry, Haruna Sule Abutu outlined the procedure to buy the subsidised rice.

“To qualify for the one person one bag, you must have National Identification Number, of course you have phone numbers and those in public service are all registered under the Integrated Payroll and Personal Information System (IPPIS) platform,” he said.

“Once you have any of these three, at the point of sale, with the NIN logged into the system, a code number and a Treasury receipt will be generated, and with that the buyer can get to the collection center and pick up his bag. The receipt will indicate, time and point of collection to eliminate stampede.”

[BusinessDay]

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has dismissed an appeal filed by governorship aspirants of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Edo State, Arthur Esene and Anselm Ojezua,  to disqualify the party’s candidate for the upcoming September 21 governorship election, Asue Ighodalo.

In the appeal marked CA/ABJ/CV/863/2024, Esene and Ojezua had urged the Court of Appeal to overturn the April 17 judgment by Justice James Omotosho of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which dismissed their suit as “statute barred.”

Justice Omotosho had previously ruled that the plaintiffs failed to prove their claim that Ighodalo had forged his voter’s card. He also noted that “non-possession of a voter’s card did not constitute a disqualifying factor under the Constitution and the Electoral Act” to bar a candidate from contesting an election.

 
 

In the lead judgment delivered on Friday, Justice Hamma Barka upheld Justice Omotosho’s decision and affirmed that the suit filed by Ojezua and others was “filed out of time and statute barred.”

Justice Barka concurred with the Federal High Court’s finding that the appellants “failed to establish their claim” that Ighodalo forged his voter’s card.

He further observed that the suit lacked merit, based on the flawed assumption that “non-possession of a voter’s card constitutes a ground to disqualify a candidate from contesting an election.”

 

Justice Barka highlighted that the appellants did not contest the trial court’s findings that Ighodalo had applied to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the transfer of his registration from Lagos State to Edo State, and that INEC had issued a voter’s card to Ighodalo.

Consequently, Justice Barka struck out the appeal for being without merit and awarded costs of N3 million against the appellants and in favor of Ighodalo, PDP, and INEC.

Justices Usman Musale and Okon Abang, who were also on the panel, concurred with the lead judgment.

Details later…

[Tribune]

Musician Oladapo Oyebanjo, popularly known as D’banj, has treated Lagos commuters to a free concert on a BRT bus on the same day the Lagos Rail Mass Transit (LRMT) Blue Line celebrated its official opening.

The award-winning artist, known for his hit song “Oliver Twist,” took to the streets of Lagos to promote his latest album, The Entertainer D’Sequel, in a unique and engaging way.

D’banj’s impromptu concert began at the Leventis bus stop and continued as he traveled to the Marina train station and the National Theatre station.

 

Passengers greeted the singer with enthusiasm, singing along to his new tracks and dancing in the aisles.

A heartwarming moment was captured on video, showing D’banj dancing with an elderly woman and leading a sing-along of one of his new songs.

[TheNation]

Bolton Wanderers striker Victor Adeboyejo missed the team’s EFL Trophy victory against Barrow on Tuesday after suffering an unusual injury caused by a “hefty sneeze.”

Adeboyejo was forced to pull out of the squad due to discomfort in his back and ribcage, which, according to his manager, Ian Evatt, was triggered by the sneeze.

“Victor has been suffering with a nasty back injury and a sneeze set it off, believe it or not,” he told The Bolton News on Thursday.

The 26-year-old Nigerian has since undergone a scan to assess the extent of the injury.

“He felt a bit of a crack in between his ribs and we are hopeful it is just a cartilage or muscular issue but until we have a good look at the scan we won’t know,” Evatt said.
 

Evatt noted that the injury originally occurred after a challenge in a game against Charlton but was worsened by the sneeze.

“He was okay at the time, but then he had a pretty hefty sneeze. Victor is a powerful boy, and even his sneezes are powerful,” the manager joked. “I’ll have to start having a long look at myself when players start getting injured sneezing.”

Despite Adeboyejo’s absence, Bolton secured a 3-2 win against Barrow and currently sit 18th in League One with four points from their first four games of the season.

Adeboyejo transferred to the League One club on January 27, 2023.

 

[Punch]

The first ballots for the US election were slated to go out to voters Friday, two months ahead of what looks set to be a photo finish between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

The closely fought battleground state of North Carolina was expected to distribute around 130,000 absentee voting slips, with a presidential debate — the next likely campaign inflection point — set for next week.

 Early in-person voting will start as soon as September 20 in some states.
 

North Carolina is among a handful of swing states that Harris and Trump have been crisscrossing as they embark on the most intense phase of a White House race expected to be decided by razor-thin margins.

Harris’s entry into the contest six weeks ago turbocharged enthusiasm among Democrats, who had been despondent about President Joe Biden’s chances of stopping Republican Trump from re-entering the White House.

Her team announced Friday that it raised $361 million in August, the largest monthly haul of the cycle and nearly triple the Trump team’s figure.

“In just a short time, Vice President Harris’s candidacy has galvanized a history-making, broad, and diverse coalition — with the type of enthusiasm, energy, and grit that wins close elections,” said campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez.

“As we enter the final stretch of this election, we’re making sure every hard-earned dollar goes to winning over the voters who will decide this election.”

– ‘Honeymoon’ –

Harris’s ascent to the top of the ticket has tilted the races for the White House, Senate and House of Representatives in the direction of Democrats, though all three fights remain close.

While Trump has seen the leads he built over Biden evaporate, his campaign still sees several possible paths to victory and believes it has more support on key election issues like the economy, immigration and crime.

Trump’s aides argue that Harris’s “honeymoon” with voters has overstated support that is beginning to erode as her policy views come into focus.

Harris is up 1.8 percent in head-to-head nationwide polling, according to aggregator RealClearPolitics.

The polls that really count — in the crucial swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina — show an even tighter race, with Harris up 0.2 percent overall, a statistical dead heat.

The plan in North Carolina was to begin mailing out voting slips first thing, but a judge ordered a halt until at least midday to give Robert F. Kennedy Jr time to appeal a ruling refusing to take his name off the ballot following his late withdrawal from the race.

– ‘Save our country’ –

The independent candidate sued the North Carolina election board after its Democratic members denied his request to be removed, deeming the task of reprinting and distributing voting slips impractical at such a late stage.

Kennedy’s exit was a reminder of how rapidly events could change the calculus in the campaign.

His support has fallen away precipitously — from 13.8 percent in July to five percent when he dropped out, according to RealClearPolitics — but even a few hundred of his supporters could swing an election in a close state.

Other wrinkles on the path to November 5 include Trump’s 34-felony hush money conviction in New York, which is likely to charge back into the headlines with his much-delayed sentencing scheduled for September 18.

The first — and perhaps only — debate between Harris and Trump is the next big landmark, set for Tuesday on ABC News.

Trump — who has consistently opposed mail-in voting — posted a short video on TikTok urging Americans to send him back to the White House, “whether it’s mail-in ballots, early voting, or voting on Election Day.”

He was due to address an influential police union in North Carolina on Friday, and then hold a rally on Saturday in Wisconsin.

“We’ve got to save our country, we’re the only ones that are going to save it. That other group of people, they’re going to destroy our country. We can’t let that happen,” he said.

THE on-going Triennial Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, FOCAC, holding in Beijing from September 4-6, 2024, raises a fundamental question: do both sides understand the language they speak?

The theme: “Joining Hands to Advance Modernisation and Build High-Level China-Africa Community with a Shared Future”, presupposes that both are walking hand-in-hand towards the same direction. But do two walk together unless there is an agreement? The ‘strategic partnership’ agreements being signed by China and individual African countries do not give the impression that they are on the same page.

To formalise these agreements, Chinese President Xi Jinping has met with African leaders like Presidents Felix Tshsekedi of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bola Ahmed Tinubu of Nigeria and the leaders of Mali, Togo, Djibouti and Comoros.

 

In my reading of the summit, China’s interests are basically four. First, is to hugely increase its exports and services to Africa which includes building infrastructure. The second is to vastly increase its imports from Africa, basically minerals like lithium, copper and cobalt. The third is to better safeguard its funds by moving billions of dollars which can be trapped in the United States to Africa as loans.

The loans promised this Thursday is $50.70 billion. The fourth is to influence countries and build partnership across the globe. This is evident in its being able to gather over 50 African leaders in its capital. This is as China faces the issue of Taiwanese sovereignty, challenges with countries in the South China Sea and handling the unpredictability that is the USA, a giant that has a history of trampling on countries. On the long run, China hopes to crown its influence with a land and sea network linking it with Africa.

On the other hand, I cannot decipher what Africa’s strategic interests are beyond endorsing statements and agreements, and, expecting more from the perceived generosity of China. For me, Africa would have achieved quite a lot, if all we do is study China.

Let us use the agreement Nigeria signed this week with China as a case study. Permit me to begin with a preliminary observation. While President Tinubu is in China, Vice President Kashim Shettima back home, led the Nigeria National Economic Council which included Ministers and State Governors, to meet American billionaire, Bill Gates. Now, Gates, a salesman of capital and suspect vaccines, is not quite trusted in Nigeria.

Gates said, six years ago, he told the same Nigerian elite corps about the urgent need to invest in the country’s greatest resource: its people.

Gates’ pain is the obvious neglect and abandonment of the Nigerian people to the extent that, at least, 18.3 million of its children are today out of school.

Nigeria, in the agreement with China, stated it has “the largest population in Africa”. True, but as Gates pointed out, we have neglected this huge human resource. This is to the extent that some educated Nigerian youths prefer to cross the Sahara Desert, endure suffering and possible enslavement in North African countries, and cross the vast Mediterranean Sea into unfriendly reception in Europe, rather than remain in the country.

Nigeria claimed that its economic reforms and that of China are “…on a similar course”. I beg to disagree. While China’s economic reforms had, by 2017, lifted 300 million people out of poverty, Nigeria sank deeper, making it the poverty capital of the world. By 2024, China has wiped out extreme poverty, making it the United Nations model for poverty eradication. This is at a time Nigeria is talking about poverty alleviation.

Rather than compare ourselves with China on such matters, Africa should learn. For instance, the key strategies China employed to eradicate extreme poverty are education, production, ecological compensation, social assistance and relocation. In Nigeria’s case, rather than expand educational opportunities, we are contracting it and even making our youths obtain education loans to meet increasing costs. Our production is in so terrible a state that rather than refine petroleum products, we prefer importation and increasing their prices leading to unprecedented hyper-inflation.

So, while China’s reforms have led to it by 2023 refining 14.8 million barrels per day, Nigeria’s reforms have led to zero fuel refining in the last three decades.

As for ecology, we have abandoned our people to the devastation that is oil and environmental pollution and, advancing desert. Yes, we engage in social assistance but this programme is widely acknowledged as a criminal enterprise with billions of Naira in the pockets and bank accounts of identifiable persons, including past ministers.

Relocation was an important strategy: rather than struggle to rebuild old villages, the Chinese simply built new ones and relocated the people. I recall in 2017 visiting two of such model relocations in the remote villages of Yangguang and Xinxing.

Rather than Nigeria and China reforms being on a similar course, they are actually headed in opposite directions. While China manages its foreign exchange by refusing to let it float uncontrollably, Nigeria uncritically tossed its currency into shark-infested seas expecting it to float. It is like tossing a baby into a river and expecting the child to swim.

Nigeria’s electricity reforms are wrapped in rich layers of propaganda with the only reality being ever higher tariffs, for criminally poor services. Under claimed reforms, the electricity sector, except its transmission arm, was auctioned to private owners in September 2013. Rather than improvements, all that are audible are lamentations. Then suddenly, after a Federal Executive Council meeting, the Buhari administration announced on February 20, 2020, that the country was generating 13,000MW and transmitting 7,000MW when the installed distribution capacity was about 4,000kw! That did not lead to improved services as it was obviously a fabulous story told through the lips of then Power Minister, Mamman Saleh.

On Monday, September 3, 2024, Power Minister Adebayo Adelabu announced his own figures about the country hitting a three-year high of 5,313mw; same as it was eight years ago! But I did not hear him tell us our actual distribution.

No, Nigeria and China are not operating on the same wave length. While China’s reforms are pro-people and development-oriented, Nigeria’s version are anti-people; more of deformities than reforms.

A piece of good news is that Presidents Xi and Tinubu agreed on currency swap to boost trade between their countries. The expectation is that unlike President Buhari who made a similar agreement for a $2.4 billion swap in 2018, but did not have the balls to implement it, President Tinubu would be courageous enough to see this through.

The hope is that at this FOCAC 2024, Africa and China would neither speak Latin nor Greek, but a language both sides understand and, that we would be humble enough to learn from China.

AS the good people of Edo State elect a new governor on September 21, the question that should concentrate all minds is how not only to make the best choice, but also ensure that the will of the people prevails.

As easy as this task is in other climes that profess democracy, it is challenging in Nigeria because of the abounding political demagogues to whom free, fair and credible election is an anathema because they belong to the school of thought which believes that “political power is not going to be served in a restaurant”.

When a people believe that political power is not served a la carte, they, “at all cost, fight for it, grab it and run with it” as it was the case in 2023. But as Dike Chukwumerije, the spoken word and performance poetry artist and author, noted: “Nobody who steals political power will use it for good.”

 

Senator Adams Oshiomhole, former governor of Edo State and president of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, is one of such demagogues. More than anyone else, he is leading the Edo must be brought back to the APC column charge.

To be sure, nothing is wrong in Edo people deciding that for whatever reason, they have had enough of the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led Peoples Democratic Party government and want to pitch their tent with another political party. Never mind that Obaseki was a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, until four years ago and, indeed, served his first term as an APC governor. But any such decision is the beauty of democracy as long as it is a product of a free, fair and credible election.

Sadly, that is not likely to be the case because Oshiomhole, obtuse as ever, is polluting the political space with his unbecoming rhetoric. At 72, the former national chairman of the APC is no spring chicken any more. As former governor and now senator representing Edo North senatorial district, his voice should be that of reason and moderation just like the voice of Chief John Odigie-Oyegun.

Chief Oyegun, also a former Edo State governor and APC national chairman, has played the role of a statesman up to the hilt. As much as he would want his party to win, he is also decent enough to appreciate that it is the call of Edo people to make, not his alone. That is what it takes to be a democrat. Not so for Oshiomhole. A man adept at rousing the political rabble, it is either his way or the high way. He is at it again just as he did in 2020 when he led the APC candidate, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, to the political Golgotha.

In my “Obaseki blowout in Edo poll” column of September 23, 2020, I posited that Oshiomhole was the reason why Ize-Iyamu, a man reputed as a grassroots politician, took the drubbing he did in the 2020 Edo governorship election.

“Oshiomhole, former governor of Edo and sacked APC national chairman, is quite a character,” I wrote. “Crabby, grouchy and pugnacious, the former Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, president loves picking fights, most times gratuitously. As the Smart Alec he thinks he is, he behaves as if he knows everything. And because he is Mr. Know-All, he is opinionated, intolerant and blinkered. Like every Smart Alec, he is irritating. Little wonder, to borrow a cliché, he is the best hated man in the APC today.”

I stated four years ago that Oshiomhole’s APC-Obaseki-Iyamu odyssey echoed the allegory of the tortoise who embarked on an ill-advised trip and vowed not to return until he was disgraced. And, indeed, he was humiliated because blinded by infantile hubris and quest for vendetta, he could not correctly interpret the handwriting on the wall even when he saw and read it.

Sadly, the former governor has embarked on the same ill-fated trip once again throwing caution to the winds. Lacking in basic political decency and decorum, Oshiomhole, uncouth as ever, takes pride in assaulting the sensibilities of Edo people.

Emboldened by his new status as a senator and the fact that his political soul mate, Bola Tinubu, successfully  snatched Nigeria’s presidency in 2023 and ran with it, Oshiomhole thinks now is the opportune time to finish the job he started in 2020 even when Obaseki is no longer on the ballot. In doing that, the former Labour leader has decided to make Asue Ighodalo, candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party, a collateral damage in his war of attrition with his successor.

Again, supporting the APC candidate, Senator Monday Okpebhelo, wouldn’t have been an issue if he played by the rules of the game. But he hasn’t because he is incapable of playing decent politics devoid of puerile drama, invectives, name-calling and foul language. Edo people deserve better. 

I am not from Edo but I strongly believe that Nigeria’s redemption lies with the federating units and not the ever-bumbling federal government. I also believe that any state in Nigeria that has an Asue Ighodalo as a governorship candidate should consider itself lucky. I believe that for our country to stand any chance in the comity of nations, the politicians should have a second address. A career politician in the Nigerian context is a fraud, who lives off the state. That person cannot be the selfless, transformational leader that a country at the socio-economic and political crossroads such as Nigeria needs right now.

Ighodalo, a product of the prestigious King’s College, Lagos, obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of Ibadan in 1981, an LL.B from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1984.

Having worked as an Associate in the law firm of Chris Ogunbanjo & Co upon graduation from the Nigerian Law School in 1985, Ighodalo as the founding partner, alongside Femi Olubanwo, set up the Banwo and Ighodalo law firm in 1991, thus starting a soaring corporate and commercial law practice in Nigeria that specialized in advising major corporations on corporate finance, capital markets, energy and natural resources, mergers and acquisitions, banking and securitisation and project finance.

He was chairman of the boards of Nigerian Breweries Plc. and Sterling Financial Holding Company, as well as the Nigerian Economic Summit Group, NESG, aside sitting on the boards of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, NSIA, Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc., and the FATE Foundation, an NGO committed to the development of entrepreneurs in Nigeria, among others. And it goes without saying that he made a fortune from his endeavours.

Yet, this leading corporate lawyer and boardroom leader resigned from all these corporate positions and the huge financial rewards in 2023 just to serve his people.

In his resignation letter to the board of Nigerian Breweries in December last year, Ighodalo wrote: “It is with heartfelt regret that I announce my resignation as Chairman of the Board of Nigerian Breweries Plc. effective December 31, 2023. After extensive deliberations, I have decided to offer myself for public service to our dear country. The decision comes with the mixed emotions of a painful sacrifice made to enable my full devotion to the new cause.”

So, it is okay if Oshiomhole prefers a Monday Okpebhelo, a career politician to an Asue Ighodalo, but he cannot impose his preference on the highly discerning and politically savvy Edo people. The difference between the Ighodalo and Okpebhelo candidacies is tantamount to light and darkness. There is no basis for comparison. And those who still insist that education does not matter in leadership after the Muhammadu Buhari disaster in Aso Rock are simply lying. Edo people should be wary of such characters.

And those who are insisting that Ighodalo should be held liable for Obaseki’s alleged failures are delusional because truth be told, Obaseki has not failed. Not only that, it is hypocritical for those who argued only yesterday that Buhari and APC’s failures had nothing to do with a Tinubu presidency to turn around today to deny Edo people the promise of an Asue Ighadalo governorship on the baseless ground that PDP has failed.

The Edo governorship election is not about political parties. It is about individuals and their capacity to deliver on their promises. Monday Okpebhelo, typical of professional politicians propped by wannabe godfathers has promised nothing and will deliver nothing. Conversely, the promise of an Asue Ighodalo governorship is fascinating. The difference is clear and the choice is that of Edo people to make in spite of Oshiomhole’s Surugede dance.

A wag once said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

This aphorism is important in considering the news from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announcing the sack of the board and executive directors of the Nigeria Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agriculture Lending (NIRSAL). Those affected include the chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD), Abbas Umar Masanawa; Kennedy Nwaruh, executive director, operations, and Olatunde Akande, executive director, technical.

The news did not come as a surprise to many watchers and financial analysts who have followed the unravelling mess at the agricultural intervention institution which has as its tagline – “Derisking agriculture, Facilitating Agribusiness” and which was ostensibly set up to “Redefine, Dimension, Measure, Re-Price and Share agribusiness-related credit risks in Nigeria.”

Attention began to focus on the NIRSAL following the appointment of the Jim Obazee investigative committee which unraveled unsavoury tales from the CBN wholly owned NIRSAL.

It ratcheted up with the motion by house of rep member, Chike Okafor, in July 2024 asking the house to initiate a probe into NIRSAL and others as a means of unravelling the reasons behind the food scarcity which he said was linked to the alleged mismanagement of agricultural funds intended for agricultural development in the country.

Analysts are describing the move as a bold one from the CBN which seems focused on cleaning the Augean stable at the apex bank and reintroducing a new regime of financial responsibility, corporate governance and transparency.

According to its profile on LinkedIn: “NIRSAL was launched in 2011 and incorporated in 2013 by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as a dynamic, holistic $500 million public-private initiative to catalyse the flow of finance and investments into fixed agricultural value chains. NIRSAL seeks to address the causes of low funding levels in the agriculture sector, including lack of understanding of the sector, perceived high risks, complex credit assessment processes/procedures, and high transaction costs.”

 

All seemed to have been going well with NIRSAL until the launch of the Anchor Borrowers Programme (ABP) under Godwin Emefiele at the CBN. The scheme was set up in 2015 by the CBN and launched with fanfare by President Muhammadu Buhari on November 17, 2015. The stated objective was to create a linkage between anchor companies and smallholder farmers to complement each other along the value chain.

On paper, the ABP seemed like a laudable initiative. NIRSAL was supposed to implement the ABP using the instrument of its Credit Risk Guarantee (CRG) which was meant to facilitate the process and effectively reduce the risks of the participating financial institutions (PFI).

The CRG is described on the institution’s website as “the core service provided by NIRSAL…and an instrument issued to protect financiers and investors from possible losses in a finance/credit transaction through a risk-sharing arrangement under which NIRSAL indemnifies the lender or investor of the principal and accrued interest to the limit of a pre-agreed CRG rate.”

Under the terms of the CRG, NIRSAL was supposed to provide a guarantee of between 30%-75% depending on the borrower’s agricultural value chain (AVC) segment to the PFI at a 1% CRG fee; while the CBN is expected to bear 50% credit risk on the outstanding amount in default.

 

There was even as icing on the cake in the form of what NIRSAL called the Interest Drawback scheme under which borrowers who repay their loans on time receive an incentive and relief.

The design was laudable and NIRSAL has shared with pride its 6-step request and issuance process which tracks the request for a CRG cover to the disbursement and implementation monitoring stage. Sadly, the implementation now appears to have been anything but laudable. The loans that were disbursed to smallholder farmers now appear to have been misinterpreted as grants.

Between the launch of the APB in 2015 and prior to Cardoso’s assumption of office in 2023, over N1.08trn was disbursed but only N503bn or 52.39% had been repaid leaving the CBN with over N500bn unaccounted for.

What went wrong? Many point to a weak loan structure which is difficult to accept when you consider the point already made about a robust Request and Issuance Process at NIRSAL.

 

Others point to insecurity arising from the intractable farmers/herders clashes while others allude to the headwinds from the Covid-19 pandemic as well as flooding and other vagaries of the weather.

These challenges aside, what is becoming increasingly apparent is that NIRSAL appears to have dropped the ball and failed to follow through on Step 6 of its Request and Issuance Process – “Financier disburses the loan to farmer/agribusiness and NIRSAL commences project monitoring through its nationwide Project Monitoring, Reporting & Remediation Offices (PMRO).”

 

This is what led to the loans, as Honourable Okafor noted in his motion, being “misused, misapplied and channelled to non-farming and non-agricultural purposes.”

So, the Anchor Borrower’s Programme was stymied by a cocktail of issues; weak loan structure, poor corporate governance, mismanagement, misapplication and poor monitoring of the loans leaving a gaping hole of half a trillion naira. Commercial banks have had their licences withdrawn for less and the management must ideally be held to account and this appears to be what the CBN has done.

 

But more needs to be done and it bears mentioning that NIRSAL has a list of 5 Focus Commodities which were to be prioritized, thanks to the CRGs. They are broken down into integrated livestock commodity – beef, dairy, hides and skin; controlled environment agricultural commodity – fresh fruits and vegetables (Tomato and onions) and aquaculture; consumer commodities – rice, potato (sweet and Irish) and beans; export commodities – V.A Hibiscus, V.A Sesame, V.A Ginger and V.A shea then industrial commodities – maize, soya, wheat, cassava and cotton.

It is worth noting that items in NIRSAL’s 5 focus commodities were on the list of 43 items on which the CBN removed import restrictions. More recently, on August 28th 2024, the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) released its half year performance report for 2024 and only sesame featured in the top 3 non-oil exports for the period. It came in 3rd place after cocoa beans and urea/fertiliser.

 

The intention was that the country would, using the instrument of the CRG and support from NIRSAL under the ABP, achieve domestic self-sufficiency and then enough for export.

This hasn’t happened and this clearly must have informed Honourable Chike Okafor’s motion in the House and the action by the CBN.

Looking forward, one wonders what comes next after the cleaning of the stable. Will the NIRSAL baby be thrown away with the murky bathwater of the Anchor Borrower’s Programme? The answer is hopefully not, because as hitherto mentioned, all seemed to have been going well at NIRSAL until the ABP.

So, there may be a return to the drawing board, a recommitment to its core remit and disengagement from the ABP. Time will tell.

Toni Kan Onwordi is a PR expert and financial analyst



Views expressed by contributors are strictly personal and not of TheCable.

 

 
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Burkina Faso launches new passport without ECOWAS logo

Burkina Faso biometric passport
 

Burkina Faso has issued new biometric passports without the logo of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) — solidifying its decision to withdraw from the regional bloc.

Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso severed ties with the 15-member body after sanctions were imposed on them in the wake of military coups.

ECOWAS said the countries have to return to constitutional order if they want the sanctions lifted.

All three countries have since accused the alliance of abandoning the spirit of pan-Africanism for selfish interests.

Although ECOWAS only issued a suspension, the countries have denounced plans to return.

Mahamadou Sana, Burkinabe security minister, announced the passport facelift on Tuesday.

“On this passport, there’s no ECOWAS logo, and no mention of ECOWAS either. Since January, Burkina Faso has decided to withdraw from this body, and this is just a realisation of the action already taken by Burkina Faso,” Sana said.

 

Out of 198 passports globally, Burkina Faso’s ranks 78 with access to 60 visa-free destinations including ECOWAS member-countries, according to the Henley passport ranking.

ECOWAS said the withdrawal of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger would undermine the freedom of movement and common market of the 400 million people living within the 50-year-old bloc.

President Bola Tinubu, ECOWAS chairman, and his team have been persuading the trio to reconsider their decision to exit.

Tinubu also said the bloc would remain friendly to the countries.

The federal government has launched an electronic quality assurance system for basic education in Nigeria.

The platform, called the Federal Education Quality Assurance Service Cloud Server (FEQAS Collect), was unveiled in Abuja on Thursday.

Yusuf Sununu, minister of state for education, spoke at the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) digital resource centre.

He said the system is designed to streamline the collection, analysis, and reporting of data related to the quality of education in schools.

 

The minister said the cloud server would essentially automate the Federal Education Quality Assurance Service Department.

He said the server would better equip the education ministry to monitor, evaluate, and improve education quality assurance processes.

Sununu, represented by the director of ICT Abubakar Isa, said the server would revolutionise the operation of the FEQAS department.

 

He said it would enhance data capturing, streamline processes for efficiency, boost efficient reporting, and fortify data protection.

Hamid Bobboyi, the executive secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), said the manual conduct of school quality assurance evaluation and reporting has been fraught with delay and human errors, hence the need to automate the system.

He said UBEC adopted digital technology for school quality assurance evaluation to promote flexibility, accuracy, and timely reporting.

The executive secretary said the technical support the commission received from the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) led to the development of “UBEC Collect” which is currently being used by Quality Assurance Officers in the Commission.

 

He said UBEC Collect is also used by State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs) and Local Government Education Authorities (LGEAS).

“The impact of the technological intervention in our school quality assurance evaluation encouraged us to extend the facility to the Federal Quality Assurance Services (FEQAS) in the overall interest of educational development in the country,” he stated.

Helen Okoro, the UBEC quality assurance director, said that the launch of the Federal Education Quality Assurance Services (FEQAS) and the UBEC Quality Assurance Officers (QAOs) guarantees a unity of purpose in school monitoring and evaluation of schools.

“The use of the digital tablet in conducting school evaluation is meant to simplify the work of the field officers so that all areas of whole school evaluation are effectively covered without difficulties,” she added.

[TheCable]