Happenings

Prices of foodstuff in various markets in Nigeria is on the increase, despite the Federal Government’s insistence that it has done a lot to ensure that the agriculture sector is able to provide the food needs of the people and revenue for government.

Interestingly, the Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh has declared that 90 per cent of rice in the markets are locally produced, Nigerians, however, dismiss the Minister’s claim, arguing that most of the markets sell imported rice. In this interview, the Founder, Grand Imam and Spiritual Head of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke says that successive governments did not explore the various opportunities in the agriculture sector. Excerpts :

The prices of foodstuff in the markets are on the increase, what do you think is the cause ?

Nigeria is overdue for meaningful diversification of the economy.

Gen. Yakubu Gowon’s regime established the refineries with the hope of satisfying domestic demand for petroleum products. Port harcourt, Warri and Kaduna refineries were established and these refineries functionally produced to the satisfaction of the people of Nigeria.

The government then, equally had on its agenda, the expansion prospects, this was not to be due to the absence of continuity in governance.

The export of crude oil gained prominence, while the refining of crude oil abroad for home consumption took center stage.

Initially, Nigeria enjoyed the domestic production of crude oil, same was the case of imported refined petroleum products.

The long years of military rule in Nigeria affected policies of government and resulted in the neglect of the refineries. This now made the country to depend heavily on imported petroleum products.

Also, crude oil as the mainstay of the economy suffered from activities in the international market, such as fluctuations in prices.

This to a large extent negatively affected the annual budget, since budget performance was hinged on the unstable price of crude oil.

The cheapest area of diversification of the economy, is agriculture. 

Animal husbandry , poultry farming and several other aspects of farming make the sector a very attractive potential revenue earner.

In fact the physiological needs of shelter, clothing and feeding, are the major reasons why the country must focus on agriculture.

Unfortunately, successive governments have not been able to explore the limitless opportunities in the sector.

Suffice it now to say that Nigeria needs to embark on phased restructuring process to correct the anomalies in governance.

For example the Ministers are expected to give bi-annual reports of their performances, rather than be requested to do so at the expiration period of the four year term of government.

Nigerians deserve the best in terms of governance, but this is not the case.

Strategic administration and effective management styles that could call for merit is the subject matter to build corporate governance for virile and strong institutions where policies would be made to work effectively.

Diversification of the economy is long overdue and the agriculture sector based om modern day practice all over the world must be sought in Nigeria.

Institutions of higher learning starting from technical colleges must be overhauled, to train people with relevant skills, who can manage agriculture beyond subsistence level.

Government must desist from wasting money through paper theory agriculture experts.

But must train the trainers to identify with the real farmers for the sake of rural integration need for the policy, at the implementation level, can only be realized through using the SWOT analysis on why and how similar projects failed such as DFFRI, OFN, Better Life for Rural Women and Agriculture revolution.

A critical study of the current one needs to be done, to be able to overhaul where necessary and adapt to compliment the news ideas.

Above all, democracy is about the people that must be managed to meet up with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs-physiological, sociological, security, self esteem and actualization realm, while government must manage self to be able to achieve with Olagoke hierarchy of attitudinal needs using Maslow’s apex of actualization realm as its foundation-mentor ship for governance and policy continuity, altruism philosophy for culture of philanthropy and total personality target for true spirit of elder statesmen with high sense of forgiveness and service to humanity.

Imbibing the two as a culture of living would not only put the people to be served into the readiness of supporting government on the culture of patriotism and trust in the face of government’s transparency and accountability.

When there are successes in agricultural projects, same would manifest in the welfare of the people.

Don’t let us play rhetoric with the issue of economy and agriculture, but rather let us be decisive and pragmatic in the areas of availability, accessibility, affordability and cost effectiveness to give this government a deserving credit.

The  Judiciary in Ethiopia is set to assert its independence as it moves to negotiate its annual budget with the Legislature.

According to the  country's first female Chief Justice, Justice Meaza Ashenafi, the  Judiciary has submitted its budget request to the Parliament.

''For the first time last week, we submitted our budget request directly to parliament. In the constitution, there is a provision that says the judiciary will directly request and negotiate its budget from parliament, but this never happened. It would go through the executive. So we're changing that trend and this year for the first time we will negotiate with parliament and that, I feel, will give us some independence. We will negotiate for better resources'', Justice Ashenafi stated.

On the issue of corruption in the Judiciary, the Chief Justice said ''part of the problem is lack of communication and understanding of how the judiciary functions. I'm not saying we don't have problems of integrity - we do have them - but most of the time it is perception. Everyone who walks into my office with some sort of complaint says the judge has some sort of relationship with the opponent. This is not always true. Maybe it is true 5% or 10% of the time, I don't know, but there is that perception. We need to build trust, help people understand that the law functions in a very technical way. But we do also need to work on addressing questions of integrity in our judicial system''.

 Banditry, killings, kidnapping, armed robbery and violence now characterize daily living in different parts of Nigeria.

The feeble response by government has further aggravated the almost helpless situation.

The impression Nigerians have, is that the present administration does not have the know how to restore normalcy.

In this interview, the Founder, Spiritual Head and Grand Imam of Shafaudeen-in-Islam Worldwide, Prof. Sabitu Olagoke says Nigerians no longer trust their leaders who neither transparent nor accountable, which has resulted in the clamour for secession. Excerpts :

Banditry, killings, kidnapping, armed robbery and violence are the signposts of living in Nigeria, what do you think is the way out ?

 Naturally, in a system of mankind, poverty takes the most  percentage of what can fuel crisis and violence.

This is why the major challenges to be managed by government, revolve on the provision of basic amenities and  functional infrastructure. As regards this, successive governments have failed.

For example the Boko Haram issue would have been a thing of the past, if not for the accumulated destitution among  most of the youth in the Northern part of the country.

The same fundamental enabling environment  for violence and impatience cuts across all states of the federation, with varying degrees of poverty, gaining prominence.

Secondly, since the inception of democracy, we  have been running governments that have been insensitive to the peoples' plight, contrary to the dictates of  section 16 of  the 1999 amended constitution, which harps on the responsibilities of government to the welfare of Nigerians.

Apart from this, our political management has assumed an extreme dimension of ethnic and tribal coloration, where nepotism is the basis for getting jobs and contracts.

When government fails to manage the issue of corruption effectively, the wealth of the land goes into the hands of the privileged few in positions of power.

Unfortunately, the mitigation measure on ground, rests with our security agencies, which are being weighed down by lack of motivation.

Furthermore, capacity building in the areas of training with modern equipment is equally lacking, which would have enabled them to stem the ugly tide of insecurity.

 The world standard of work ratio of all the security agencies to the population, they are supposed to serve, is extremely low.

This is why the clamor for state police may hold water, although with reservations.

Are we civilized enough to the level of upholding professional ethics in this respect ?

Certainly, the answer is no, because all tiers of government in Nigeria are still vindictive on the opposition, hence the security agencies may be manipulated for selfish purposes by any government in power. We need to work on this area of civility challenge.

Dearth of adequate personnel and professional training requirements, need to be addressed with utmost urgency to avoid wasting the  lives of the few that are ready to stop further bloodshed that would have been found to be highly unwarranted.

Running an inclusive government, rather than the winner takes all syndrome, will not only promote amity and memorandum of understanding, between the President and the governments at the state and local levels, but will also allow for timely intervention to quell riots or any acts of violence.

Nigeria is  presently enjoying, a graveyard peace.

The people do not trust their leaders who neither transparent nor accountable, this has caused a lot of disaffection to the point of hiding under restructuring motives to achieve secessionist agenda.

Most of the regions are waiting for Nnamdi Kanu to achieve his aim, for others to say '' to thy tents Oh Israel''.

 With the foregoing as the situation on ground, Nigerians should naturally expect pockets of killings and anti-societal acts inimical to any reasonable development.

However, making the country ungovernable for the government in power, is never a solution, but an act of retrogression, that all Nigerians must condemn.

Nigeria ought to learn from the civilized way the issue of BREXIT is being handled.

Dialogue is the best option to adopt to further the peaceful co-existence that still keeps the country together.

The service chiefs and the Professors of conflict resolution, would continue to be indicted for incompetence and lack of patriotism, if the the President could not be rightly advised to do the needful, with all sincerity of purpose.

What is government doing with the reported $1 Billion it collected for the purchase of arms and equipment for the military ?

What are the security agencies doing with the reported N 350 million worth of arms and ammunition intercepted at the nations' borders ?

We must know fully well that a cracked wall, would ever harbour reptiles, to the detriment of the people in the house.

 Inter-religious and ethnic  disaffection been promoted by the President Muhammadu Buhari led government must stop, because government needs the support of all Nigerians.

A  300 level law undergraduate has become the first female chairperson of the University of Nairobi Students Association.

Ms Ann Mwangi emerged after polling 24 votes to beat her  challengers, Samuel Ayoma whoe scored eight votes Ertiman Oile  scored 4 votes .

The process was facilitated through the electoral college and was presided over by Prof. Mohamed Jamaa.

Ms Mwangi will take over from Mr Antony Manyara who has been the chairman of the association since 2018.

The Nigerian Publishers Association(NPA) has raised the alarm over the unabating activities of book pirates in Nigeria.

The NPA made its position known through its Executive Secretary,Mr. Emmanuel Abimbola.

‘’Book piracy is a major problem in Nigeria. Piracy is on the increase, these pirates print abroad and the quality of their work is alarming. We as an association are working with the Nigeria Copyright Commission, to reduce it to the barest minimum. These pirates are not our members, they come from outside. We embark on anti-piracy campaigns to alert the public on the activities of book pirates’’, Mr. Abimbola dislcosed.

Protesters in Sudan have continued their  protests outside the Army headquarters in Khartoum demanding the resignation of President Omar al-Bashir.

Alleged attempts by  government security forces to break the ranks of the protesters  were resisted by  soldiers who protected the protesters.

Attacks by students militias, anti-riot policemen and government security forces have not deterred the protesters.

Interestingly, Sudanese traders in Juba have declared that  they stand in solidarity with their brothers and sisters back home.

"I support with all my power the change in Sudan because change must be now, at this time on these days. (We) must take al-Bashir out," Isim Assam Abdallah, a trader disclosed

"We want justice and freedom. The government of Sudan is the government of destruction. The government has killed innocent people and has killed many in Darfur since 2004,"  another trader Abdallah Haman  said.

The All Workers Convergence(AWC) has described the delay in assenting to the new national minimum wage by President Muhammadu Buhari as another stage in the game of deceit.

The AWC is made this postion known through its National Coordinator, Comrade Andrew Emelieze.

‘’The drama has been from one ugly occurrence to the other. The totality of it all is that President Muhammadu Buhari has shown that he is at the center of this game, calling the shots and he has been able to prove that he is not willing to pay the new national minimum wage, except through struggle and confrontation by the Nigerian workers, without which workers would continue to be entangled in the endless web of deceit in a bid to actualize the new national minimum wage’’.

‘’It is very painful that the government is continuing with the game, if not what is the explanation for the different scheming by government aimed at externally postponing the actualization of the new national minimum wage’’, Comrade Emelieze noted.

The Federal Government has lost grip of the health sector.

Nigerians now seek God’s intervention in issues pertaining to health care delivery.

Most public hospitals are now designated mortuaries, where Nigerians are left to die, rather than recover from aliments.

Interestingly the citizenry now resort to self-medication and traditional healing therapy as a result of their poor economic status.

Sadly, most health workers lack the requisite skills needed to be proactive on their jobs.

All these put together has resulted in high infant and maternal mortality and the prevalence of several diseases.

In some hospitals, patients are required to buy sachets of water for medical tests.

Government at all levels ought to set goals for a better health care, but this is yet to occur.

Nigerians hope to experience an increase in life expectancy, while also coming to terms with high and substantial levels of immunization against all vaccine preventable diseases and attaining national self sufficiency in vaccine production.

Up till this moment, government at all levels are yet to ensure that universal access to primary health care becomes a reality, in terms of support, community engagement and participation.

Government has not performed commendably in the eradication, control and prevention of epidemic diseases. Why ? The corruption and rot in the system. Perhaps.

Indeed, it is possible for the three tires of government to achieve adequate supply of essential drugs to all health facilities, but activities of government officials have become the major impediment.

It is only in an enabling environment, that the government would be able to resuscitate a viable secondary health care system.

Unfortunately, several uncompleted projects characterize health facilities across the country.

Of disturbing worry, is the fact that commercialization of some hospitals’ functions, is strangulating the already impoverished population, just as it is doubtful if existing health policies can take care of exigencies of this present time.