General News
Many Headaches of GMB, President-Elect
For President-elect Muhammadu Buhari, winning Nigeria’s tight election race is the easy part. Keeping Africa’s biggest country afloat will be harder, according to Aryn Baker of Time.
When he defeated President Goodluck Jonathan at the polls on March 28, Buhari made history as the first opposition candidate in Nigeria to unseat a president through the ballot box.
But the president-elect faces far greater challenges when, on May 29, he takes office and must confront Nigeria’s multiple problems, from an economy that has been hit by the falling price of oil, a government paralysed by corruption, and a security sector beset by one insurgency and threatened by another.
Time reported that if Buhari, 72, is to leave a legacy equal to his history-making victory, he will have to take on these challenges:
Cutting out corruption
Buhari’s All Progressives Congress [APC] party emblem is a broom, symbolizing his commitment to sweeping out the corruption that has plagued Nigeria for decades. He has a proven track record, too.
Unlike most of his predecessors and successors, he did not use his time in power, as military president from 1983 to 1985, to enrich himself, and still lives in the modest home of a retired general.
But even if he manages to resist the temptations of office, he will have to work with the political elites in his party who brought him to power, largely through Nigeria’s deeply entrenched system of political patronage and its attendant promises of favors and kickbacks.
“The APC line is that there will be no corrupt individuals in Buhari’s cabinet, but there will have to be some wiggle room,” says Elizabeth Donnelley, assistant head of the Africa program at London’s Chatham House foreign policy institute. “Deals have been made, and things are owed.”
Buhari may not be able to sweep away graft in the short term, but if he immediately strengthens existing anti-corruption institutions that had been intentionally weakened under previous administrations, such as Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, and oversees the prosecution of standout cases, he will set the right tone.
A good place to start would be an investigation into the country’s petroleum ministry, where an estimated $20 billion in oil revenue is thought to have gone missing, according to a 2014 report by Nigeria’s Central Bank.
Taming Boko Haram
In tackling the Islamist insurgency that has killed more than 13,000 over the past six years, Buhari faces a three-fold problem. With significant help from neighbors Chad and Niger, along with an estimated 100 foreign mercenaries, Nigeria’s army has managed to push Boko Haram out of all but three local districts, liberating territory roughly the size of Belgium.
But in order to keep Boko Haram from re-grouping, Buhari will have to oversee a complete restructuring of an army hollowed out by years of neglect and corruption. He will also need to ramp up security and intelligence services as the insurgents, denied territory, resort increasingly to terror attacks.
Two assaults in the country’s northeast over the weekend took several dozen lives, underscoring the urgency.
Buhari will also need to strengthen the relationship with those countries assisting in the fight, whose leadership feels that they are doing the bulk of the work with little recognition.
The insurgency has devastated parts of Nigeria. The United Nation’s Deputy emergency relief coordinator, Kyung-wha Kang, says that some 1.5 million people have been displaced by the fighting, creating one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world today.
More than 300 schools have been severely damaged or destroyed, and less than 40% of health facilities, in a historically underserved area, remain operational. Farmers have fled fighting in the country’s agricultural heartland, leading to rising food costs and the risk of widespread malnutrition.
It’s the economy, stupid
Nigeria may have surged past South Africa to become the continent’s biggest economy last year, but that growth has slowed.
The International Monetary Fund estimates that economic growth will slow to 4.8% this year, down from 6.1% in 2014, and the Naira is down 17% against the dollar. Inflation is on the rise, and foreign reserves are at a historic low, largely due to the decline in oil and gas prices, which provide nearly 70% of government income.
The oil and gas sector only accounts for about 16% of GDP, which means that if Buhari can help the government diversify its revenue base to better incorporate Nigeria’s booming entertainment and telecoms sector, he could oversee a return to better growth.
The problem is that when it comes to economics, he is largely inexperienced, and will have select cabinet members with strong economic and business backgrounds.
“I believe that Buhari is going to choose a very strong, good team in various departments, but most especially in economy,” Nigeria’s Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka told Bloomberg TV. “I think, like me, he’s an economic illiterate.”
Keeping the oil-rich delta area onside
To secure Nigeria’s economic growth, Buhari will have to prioritize his government’s relationship with the militants that upended the oil industry for much of the early 2000s. In 2009, then Vice President Jonathan negotiated a temporary amnesty deal with the militants that saw an end to the attacks on oil pipelines and kidnappings of foreign oil workers that made the region a no-go area and drove the price of oil to record highs.
In exchange the militants, who claimed that they had long been denied the oil riches from their native lands, received generous payouts. The deal, which includes education stipends for some 30,000 residents, is set to expire at the end of 2015.
If Buhari is not prepared to extend multi-million dollar contracts with local powerbrokers that make up a large portion of the amnesty agreement, the militants could respond with violence, igniting an uprising in the south even as he tackles the Boko Haram insurgency in the north.
Buhari could extend the agreement, but better still would be to address the underlying issues: that the Delta’s oil wealth funds the nation with little in return for locals but environmental degradation and a few low-wage, low-skill jobs.
Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) has urged the Federal Government and the National Pension Commission (PenCom) to suspend the proposed increase in Nigeria’s mandatory pension contribution from 18 per cent to 21 per cent, warning that the policy would raise the cost of doing business, threaten jobs and undermine enterprise sustainability at a time of mounting economic pressures.
Dr. Chinyere Almona, director general of the LCCI, said while strengthening retirement security remains an important policy objective, increasing mandatory pension contributions by three percentage points would impose additional financial burdens on businesses already grappling with high borrowing costs, persistent inflation, foreign exchange volatility, rising energy prices and multiple taxes.
According to the chamber, the proposed increase comes at a period when many businesses, particularly micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), are struggling to remain profitable amid Nigeria’s challenging operating environment.
The LCCI noted that Nigeria’s existing mandatory pension contribution rate of 18 per cent comprising 10 per cent by employers and 8 per cent by employees is already broadly aligned with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average of 18.8 per cent.
It argued that raising the contribution to approximately 21 per cent would place Nigeria above several comparable economies, including the United Kingdom, where mandatory contributions stand at 8 per cent; the United States at 12.4 per cent; Kenya at 12 per cent, subject to earnings caps; and South Africa, where there is no equivalent mandatory private-sector pension contribution.
The chamber warned that implementing the proposed increase would significantly raise employment costs for employers, discourage new recruitment, constrain wage growth and place disproportionate pressure on MSMEs, which account for a substantial share of employment in Nigeria.
According to the LCCI, the higher payroll obligations could also reduce Nigeria’s competitiveness as an investment destination, encourage non-compliance with pension regulations and push more businesses into the informal sector.
“A stronger pension system cannot be built on weaker businesses,” the chamber stated, stressing that economic sustainability and business growth remain critical to expanding pension coverage over the long term.
The LCCI therefore called on the Federal Government to defer the proposal until a comprehensive Nigeria-specific actuarial and economic impact assessment is conducted to determine its implications for businesses, workers and the broader economy.
It also urged policymakers to engage in extensive consultations with organised private sector groups, labour unions and other key stakeholders before implementing any changes to the country’s pension contribution framework.
According to the chamber, the government’s immediate priority should be restoring business confidence, preserving existing jobs, encouraging investment and expanding the formal economy, which it described as the most sustainable pathway to improving retirement savings.
As an alternative to increasing contribution rates, the LCCI advised PenCom to focus on developing more innovative investment instruments capable of generating stronger returns on pension assets.
The chamber said improving investment performance would enhance contributors’ retirement savings without imposing additional financial obligations on employers and employees already facing difficult economic conditions.
Nigeria and the African Development Bank (AfDB), on Sunday, called for stronger African ownership of the continent’s vast mineral resources and advocated greater data sovereignty, regional collaboration and strategic financing to ensure Africa derives more economic value from its natural assets.
They spoke at the Ministerial Forum on Critical Minerals, Value Chain and Beneficiation: Pathways for African Transformation, organised by the African Development Bank in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire.
Speaking at the forum, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr. Dele Alake, urged countries to embrace data sovereignty, regional collaboration and strategic financing to ensure mineral wealth translates into sustainable economic growth across Africa.
Alake urged ministers from Africa’s mineral-producing nations to pursue greater regional cooperation rather than isolated national strategies, arguing that coordinated action would enable the continent to derive greater value from its abundant mineral resources.
Alake said Africa must move beyond exporting raw minerals and adopt practical measures to secure full control of its natural assets through value addition and local processing.
He said: “While the mantra of value addition has ushered in an era of economic independence for mineral-producing nations, we need concrete actionable strategies to take charge and be in full control of our natural assets to ensure total economic freedom.”
The minister, who chairs the Africa Mineral Strategy Group (AMSG), said Nigeria had continued to champion a common continental agenda on mineral development through collaboration with more than 30 member countries focused on promoting value addition.
He also advocated greater African control over mineral resource data, describing the continent’s long-standing dependence on the Australia-based Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) reporting standard as outdated.
Alake added, “For the overall interest of the continent, and to efficiently and effectively safeguard its resources, Africa should take charge of the coding mechanisms utilised to assess its mineral assets.”
He urged African countries to adopt the Pan African Resource Reporting Code (PARC), developed by the Africa Minerals Development Centre (AMDC), saying the framework would promote transparency, consistency and ethical reporting while reflecting Africa’s unique geological and environmental realities.
Alake further proposed the establishment of a West African minerals processing hub and corridor stretching from Lagos to Dakar, modelled after the Lobito Corridor, to reduce infrastructure costs, encourage collaborative investment and enable participating countries to specialise in processing specific minerals.
According to him, the regional model would lower financial burdens on individual countries while promoting shared risks, increased trade and stronger value chains.
He also lamented the low level of intra-African trade, which he said stands at about 16 per cent, compared to roughly 60 per cent in Asia and 70 per cent in Europe.
In his remarks, AfDB President Dr. Sidi Ould Tah, described Africa’s mineral sector as a paradox, noting that despite the continent’s vast mineral endowment, it has yet to achieve corresponding gains in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) or attract sufficient Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
Tah said Africa must overcome the disconnect between its enormous natural wealth and its limited global economic influence by strengthening financing mechanisms and developing integrated mineral value chains.
The forum concluded with the adoption of the Abidjan Declaration, which commits African countries to coordinate policies on critical minerals, regional infrastructure development, value-chain expansion and capital mobilisation.
Under the declaration, the African Development Bank pledged to deploy its financing instruments, technical expertise and capital mobilisation capacity to support mineral-producing countries, reduce investment risks, finance strategic infrastructure and accelerate the development of competitive and sustainable mineral value chains.
A statement by the Special Assistant on Media to the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Lara Owoeye-Wise, said the declaration also urged African countries to strengthen national and regional capacities capable of attracting investment, financing viable projects and creating quality jobs through local value addition.
The forum brought together more than 20 ministers responsible for mining, energy, industry, natural resources and the green economy, alongside representatives of the African Development Bank, the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank), the U.S. Export-Import Bank and mining companies from Germany, Canada and the United States.
Participants reaffirmed that stronger African cooperation, regional processing infrastructure, strategic financing and greater control over mineral resources remain essential to transforming the continent’s mineral wealth into broad-based and sustainable economic development.
Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, governor, Anambra State, has approved an indefinite ban on graduation ceremonies in kindergarten, primary and secondary schools across the state as part of efforts to reduce the financial burden on parents.
Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, governor, Anambra State,
The directive was confirmed by Dr. Law Mefor, commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, in a statement issued on Friday.
According to the commissioner, the government deemed it necessary to clarify the policy following public inquiries and concerns over the scope of the ban.
Mefor explained that the directive applies to all graduation-related ceremonies in both public and private schools across the state.
He said the ban covers events described as graduation, passing-out, crossover or any other ceremony organised to mark the completion of kindergarten, primary or secondary school levels.
The government said the decision was taken to discourage unnecessary financial obligations often imposed on parents through elaborate school celebrations.
The commissioner clarified that students completing Senior Secondary School (SS3) are exempt from the directive.
However, he stressed that graduation ceremonies for SS3 students are not compulsory and may only be held without imposing any financial burden on students or their parents.
According to him, schools choosing to organise such ceremonies must ensure that no levies, compulsory contributions or hidden charges are demanded from parents.
Mefor warned that the state government would not hesitate to sanction any school that violates the directive.
He said schools found organising prohibited graduation ceremonies or imposing illegal charges on parents risk severe penalties, including possible closure.
The commissioner urged school proprietors and administrators to comply fully with the directive in the interest of parents and the education sector.
The state government said the policy is part of broader efforts to make education more affordable and eliminate unnecessary expenses associated with school activities.
Many parents have previously complained about the increasing costs of graduation ceremonies, including compulsory levies for gowns, entertainment, souvenirs and other related expenses.
The government expressed optimism that the directive would ease the financial pressure on families while encouraging schools to focus more on academic excellence than ceremonial activities.
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