More controversies appear to be swirling around the 2024 budget as more indications that the portion of the budget attributable to some federal government institutions lack details and transparency.

The affected institutions, including the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, were allocated between N3.5 trillion and N3.7 trillion without specific expenditure heading, or stipulations of what the monies were meant for.

This came as the Minority Leader of the Senate, Abba Moro, expressed concerns yesterday that the Senate is currently having credibility problems, following suspension of the whistle blower, Senator Abdul Ningi.

This is even as Bauchi State governor, Bala Mohammed, also yesterday threw his weight behind Senator Ningi, the lawmaker representing Bauchi Central senatorial district, who was handed a three-month suspension by the Senate for his expose, just as Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, and Transparency International in Nigeria, TI-Nigeria, declared Senator Ninigi’s suspension as sheer attack on freedom of expression and opposition’s rights.

Similarly, the presidential candidate of Labour Party in the 2023 general elections, Mr. Peter Obi, urged the Senate to come clean and clear all allegations associated with the N3 trillion padding in the 2024 budget.

Onigbinde, who was a guest on Channels Television’s ‘Politics Today’ programme late Tuesday, stated: “There should be a detailed breakdown of the budget. On that point, Senator Ningi is right”.

Ningi, of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) resigned as Chairman of the Northern Senators’ Forum, even as he was suspended by his colleagues in the red chamber on Tuesday over budget padding allegations.

BudGit fact-checks

But the BudGit co-founder, Onigbinde, said: “As the Senate rowdy session was going on, we were also fact-checking and one of the things we found is that we were not able to lay hold to the claim by Senator Ningi. A budget of N28.7trillion was passed into law and we were not able to see where N3.7trn (was missing).

“Historically, there are items in the budget that don’t have breakdown, like statutory transfers but that does not mean there is a certain level of capital projects by the Federal Government that was appropriated and does not have a breakdown.”

He said the entire capital project was around N9trn in the 2024 Appropriation Act signed into law by President Bola Tinubu after the bill was reviewed upward from N27.5trn to N28.78trn.
“The budget we have now have the ministries, departments and agencies (MDA) and the government-owned enterprise budget.

“Around N2trn of the budget presented by the President is the government-owned enterprises budget. So, if Senator Ningi says there is a N25trn budget, yes, that is the MDA’s budget. It’s different from the government-owned enterprises budget whose budget was now added.

“It is factual that he says that but it doesn’t mean that we are running two concurrent budgets. There is a different conversation that those projects should be detailed. TETFUND should not just get an allocation. What are you spending money on? INEC is collecting huge chunk of funds but there is no public details about what the funds are used for.

“In the current budget, the National Assembly gave a very broad summary of its allocations but there are no detailed allocations on a granular level that everybody can understand.

“These are transparent issues and if you put all these together, that is around N3.5trn to N3.7trn. So, if that is what he (Ningi) wants to interrogate, that there are components of the budget where there are no breakdown, that is very factual.”

The Budgit boss urged the executive and the National Assembly to ensure transparency in the budgetary allocations to MDAs and government-owned enterprises.

Senate already having some credibility problems – Minority Leader

Reacting to Ningi’s suspension yesterday, Senate Minority Leader, Abba Moro, said the upper chamber is having some credibility problems as a result.

Senator Moro said: “The budget in question was passed by the senators. Senator Ningi is a senator, he was a member of the Appropriation Committee. I am from the North and he purported to speak for the North.

“Why I was angry is that Senator Kawu Samaila who is the spokesperson of the Northern Senators Forum came before me and said he was going to address the press on this same matter while the debate was going on.

“I said ‘you don’t do that. You raised issues, we are tackling the issues and here you are, you want to address the press, go ahead and address the press.’ That was why I raised my hands because as minority leader, Senator Kawu Samaila is a member of the NNPP, he is with me and signed for me to be a minority leader.

“So why would he not accept my advice? As people have commented now, the Senate is already having some level of credibility problems. Why would an individual arrogate to himself the power to know it all, say it all?”

Speaking further, Senator Moro, who spoke in an interview on Channels Television’s breakfast programme, Sunrise Daily, yesterday, also defended the action of the Senate leadership, saying it did the right thing in Ningi’s matter.

‘I think the Senate did the appropriate thing, I was there. Budget padding may not be mentioned here now in the 10th Senate because previous budgets have been criticised based on budget padding.

“But this is the first time a participant senator who was honestly engaged in the whole process is coming out to say that what I did was wrong and rubbing it on all of us. I think it is not correct.”

He faulted Ningi’s action, recalling how the Northern Senators Forum had an audience with the Senate President in which Kawu and Ningi were in attendance.

Bauchi governor declares support for Ningi over Senate suspension

In his reaction yesterday, Governor Bala Mohammed of Bauchi State defended Senator Ninigi for his expose, condemining the three months suspension slammed on him by the Senate.

He said: “We will, as the opposition to the Federal Government, say some of the things that should be done in our modest opinion, but it is not for us to disparage our country. ‘’Yesterday (Tuesday), I was very sad for the Senate to suspend one of our best from Bauchi for saying the truth, for standing up to be the beacon of truth.

“Equally, I don’t know what we will do but we will discuss privately to see what we can do to support him because I support whatever he is doing. And that is the face of the opposition, especially if what he saying is the truth. I am not too quick to go to the media but, certainly, he has shown courage.”

Come clean, clear all the allegations, Obi tells Senate

The presidential candidate of Labour Party in the 2023 general elections, Mr. Peter Obi, in his reaction yesterday, asked the Senate to come clean and clear all allegations associated with the N3 trillion padding in the 2024 budget.

He wrote: “The fuss over the alleged N3 trillion padded into the 2024 budget raised by a Senator still rages as the Senate reaction of suspending the whistle-blower has not addressed vital issues emanating from the allegation.

“The senator is insisting on his allegation and the executive agreed that there was only N1.2trillion padded, not N3trillion as alleged by the Senate.

“Fresh allegations have also cropped up over indiscriminate and unbalanced allocation of constituency projects by the Senate leadership.

“A civic group, Budgit, through their official, have also added their voice to agree with the Senator. They alleged that there was no detailed project allocations for about N3.7trn in the 2024 Appropriation Act.

“As the Senate suspension of the senator involved has not addressed the issue, they still owe the Nigerian public a clear clarification over the various claims and counter-claims, including that of the executive arm, to be able to know exactly what is happening, and also disclose to the public, the amounts allocated for constituency projects for appropriate monitoring of implementation by the public.

“I had particularly elucidated in my earlier comments on what we can use the N3 trillion to achieve, by showing that it is more than the national budget of the two most critical components of the human development index, health and education, combined.

“Now that the executive arm has accepted that the padded amount is only N1.2 trillion, it is still a very significant amount, when you consider that it is almost five times the N251.47 billion proposed for Universal Basic Education, which is the foundation of education, in the country.

‘Use the money for health, education’

“Today in Nigeria, the greatest challenge to human resource development is education, which has been identified as most critical at the basic level. Nigeria has about 20 million out-of-school children today because of the poor investment in education. These are resources that would have been utilised to ensure that our children are taken off the streets and returned to schools.

“If, indeed, the report from the BudgiT is true that there is about N3.7 trillion without any detailed project allocations, I strongly urge the Senate to do more detailed work of channelling these funds into the critical areas of development – education, health and pulling people out of poverty, which will in turn, minimise the criminality we are facing today.

“We must, as a matter of urgency, put a stop to all the wastage of our scarce resources, amid the excruciating hardship in the country. Let every penny of our public funds be used for public good. That is the only way to achieve the New Nigeria we are working towards.”

Ningi: Attack on freedom of expression, oppositions’ rights – CISLAC, TI

Also yesterday, the Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre, CISLAC, and Transparency International in Nigeria, TI-Nigeria, declared the suspension of Senator Ningi as sheer attack on freedom of expression and opposition’s rights.

In a statement, Executive Director of CISLAC/TI-Nigeria, Auwal Rafsanjani, said the Senate’s action was not only undemocratic but also questionable.

Rafsanjani also pointed out that anything outside the provisions in the Declaration of Human Rights, 1948; Article 19 (2) of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966, was tantamount to deliberate violation of human right and apparent disregard to the rule of law.

He said: “The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC)/Transparency International in Nigeria (TI-Nigeria) is seriously perturbed by the undemocratic action and questionable decision by leadership of the Senate as shockingly demonstrated in the recent unfounded suspension of the Senator Abdul Ningi.

“We are not unaware that the suspension was initiated against Senator Ningi for expressing his constitutionally guaranteed concerns and observations on 2024 budget at this critical moment when the nation is deeply soaked in socio-economic and financial crisis.

“The suspension is not unconnected with the public exposure of the N3trillion padded into the 2024 budget by the Upper Chamber, which has hitherto failed to display transparency and public accountability in its annual budgetary allocation and spending.

“This includes the inequality and disproportionate marginalisation surrounding the distributions of the N3trillion, where each senator is expected to receive N500million as constituency allowance.

‘’We recognise and affirm that freedom of expression and opinion remains sacrosanct to preserve the democratic culture, values and principles in Nigeria.

“We, without hesitation, uphold our position that freedom of opinion and expression is a constitutional and legally-backed right under Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria; Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948; Article 19 (2) of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966; hence, the sanity and sanctity of these provisions must be strictly adhered, demonstrated and protected by a civic institution such as National Assembly.

‘’Anything outside these provisions is tantamount to deliberate violation of human right and apparent disregard to the rule of law.

“We must reiterate that the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as a supreme law of the country gives zero provision or power to the Senate to suspend a member of the National Assembly. ‘’Such provisions are only found in the ethics and privileges committee laws, which is answerable to the plenary through the Senate president.

‘’On this note, the committee laws cannot override the Constitution, especially in a matter of freedom of expression which is a fundamental right.

“Just as every member of the National Assembly representing his/her constituency has the primary mandates and responsibilities to absorb communal observations and offer feedback to the people for public accountability, expressing such in form of opinion must not be interfered, intimidated or suppressed in anyway or form.

‘Action projects legislative arm as autocratic’

“The repressive action by leadership of the Senate would clearly project the legislative arm as autocratic, which to a large extent would negatively impact legislators’ independence, robust debate, genuine submissions, and image of the legislature before Nigerians and rest of the world.

“Unjust suspension of a senator who represents an entire senatorial district is similar to public demonstration of unguarded culture of silencing,insensitivity, disrespect and marginalisation of the people.

“We strongly maintain that intimidating or silencing opinion of the dissents or oppositions is unhealthy in any civilised democracy and must not be tolerated as a culture in Nigeria. Despite the multiple number of opposition parties in the National Assembly, they appear to be conquered by power of the executive as well as the principal officers in the legislature.”

Rafsajani, however, called on the Senate not to silence opposition in the National Assembly, and warned that such action will lead to dictatorship and oppression, and should, therefore, not be allowed to exist in any form.

“We, therefore, call on the Senate to as a matter of urgency, shun silencing opposition views in the legislature; as the essence of the legislature is to allow for freedom of expression and contrary opinions as well as provide a democratic platform for constructive debates that enhance national interest.

“The greatest danger is that legislators can no longer be allowed to perform their duties, including oversight and opposing views on the executive and principal officers in the Senate which will be tantamount democratic dictatorships.

“We call on all well-meaning Nigerians and the media to protect and reject any undemocratic action or decision by the National Assembly targeted at impeding public accountability and shrinking civic space.’’

PDP demands Akpabio’s resignation, says it stands with Senator Ningi

Also reacting yesterday, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, asked the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, to immediately step aside and allow for an independent investigation into the allegation that a staggering N3.7 trillion was discreetly inserted into the 2024 budget for alleged non-existent projects.

National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Debo Ologunagba, who made the party’s position public, in Abuja, yesterday, said the party also demanded that Senator Akpabio immediately report at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, over his pending case with the commission.

‘President should speak on N86b contract scam’

Ologunagba said: “Furthermore, the Senate President should speak out on the reported N86 billion contract scam in the Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, during his tenure as the Minister of Niger Delta Affairs.

“The suspension of Senator Ningi is apparently a desperate move to suppress investigation, conceal and sweep the facts under the carpet.

“Moreover, the frustration of investigation by the APC Senate leadership further confirms PDP’s repeated alert that prominent APC officials in the National Assembly and a top official in the Presidency have been using ministers and other government functionaries to siphon budgeted funds from the national coffers.

“We ask, why did the APC leadership in the Senate not refer the matter to the appropriate Senate Standing Committee for an open investigation, in line with the extant Rules of the Senate? What is the APC Senate leadership afraid of and what is it hiding from Nigerians?

“It is even more absurd that instead of recusing himself, the Senate President sat as a judge in the matter; a situation that can bring the institution of the Senate to further public disrepute.

“This is especially as the issues at hand heavily border on alleged gross misconduct and criminal betrayal of public trust which are serious offenses under our laws.

“Nigerians can now see why the APC leadership in the National Assembly, especially in the Senate continues to condone the unbridled looting of public resources including funds meant for palliatives for poor and vulnerable citizens.

“This apparent inclination towards covering up sleaze in the polity is already pitching the institution of the Senate against Nigerians who are demanding for answers on the matter. Of course, the widely condemned suspension of Senator Ningi does not provide answers to the budget padding allegation.”

[Vanguard]

Nigeria has hired investment banks including Citibank NA, JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Goldman Sachs, to seek advice on its first eurobond issue since 2022.

According to a Bloomberg report, the size of the eurobond offer, which is expected before June, is yet to be determined.

The federal government could raise as much as $1 billion in external borrowing this year to meet its spending needs, according to sources who spoke to the publication.

The report said Nigeria has also hired Standard Chartered Bank and Lagos-based Chapel Hill Denham as advisers.

On January 1, President Bola Tinubu signed the N28.7 trillion budget for 2024 fiscal year, with a deficit of N9.8 trillion — which will be financed by borrowings from local and international investors and multilateral lenders.

Tinubu also received approval from the senate on December 30, 2023, to borrow the sums of $7.8 billion and €100 million as part of the 2022-2024 borrowing plan of the federal government.

The president had sent a request to the national assembly to approve the sum, saying the funds, when obtained, would be used to assuage the economic realities and undertake many projects cutting across various sectors of the economy.

Meanwhile, since he took office on May 29, 2023, Tinubu has been seeking to attract foreign investors back into the economy through several reforms.

Last year, on June 14, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced the unification of all segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market.

[TheCable]

Since the conclusion of my ‘missionary journey’ to Aso Rock almost 14 years ago, I have written more than a dozen columns on the need to reform the budgeting process in Nigeria. Notable ones include ‘The Illusion of Budget Performance’, ‘Budget War and Dysfunctional Envelope System’, ‘Buhari and the Budget Palaver’, ‘Nigeria’s 2016 Zero Budget!’ and ‘Of Government and Budget Blues’. The kernel of these interventions has always been to underscore the fact that what we call budget in Nigeria is essentially about the distribution of ‘political spoils.’ I have also repeatedly referenced a Twitter thread by ‘Laolu Samuel-Biyi who once concluded: “If you want to keep hope alive in Nigeria, don’t look at the budget”.

Had I heeded that admonition I would not have spent the whole of Monday and the better part of Tuesday perusing the 1000-page ‘2024 Appropriation Act FGN Budget Details Volume One’. By the time I was done, I was depressed enough not to bother with volume two of the same report. That second volume contains 1962 pages plus an additional 55 pages that are devoted to chronicling “Zonal Intervention Projects”. Had our lawmakers been content with what they will get from that aspect of the budget, we probably would not have had this controversy. But before I get ahead of myself, it is appropriate to ask: What exactly was I looking for?

Last Saturday, Senator Abdul Ahmed Ningi alleged that the N28.7 trillion 2024 budget being implemented by President Bola Tinubu was “done underground” with an “added sum of N3 trillion”. He then delved into the arena of sectional politics. The presidency was quick to debunk Ningi’s allegation, accusing him of lying. At the end, I was not surprised that Ningi received a three-month suspension from the senate or that he walked back on his allegation. There is neither North nor South, East nor West when it comes to sharing the proverbial ‘national cake’ at the National Assembly. This much could be glimpsed from the contribution of Senator Agom Jarigbe before he was shouted down. “All of us are culpable. Some so-called senior senators here got N500 million each from the 2024 budget. I am a ranking Senator; I didn’t get anything. No senator has any right to accuse Senator Ningi…” Jarigbe said to the displeasure of colleagues, in a scene described by a former governor as ‘Off the Mic 2.0.’

No matter how ill-motivated his allegations may be, Ningi cannot be casually dismissed. He is one of the most experienced lawmakers in Nigeria today having served in the National Assembly since 1999. He has also, at different times, been Majority Leader in the House of Representatives as well as in the Senate. When a man like that makes such weighty allegations, it is safe to conclude that there is no smoke without fire. But let’s first look at the bigger picture in the 2024 budget.

Under ‘Capital Supplementation’ (please don’t ask me what that means or how to explain the details below) many items come with round figure sums which raises questions about the process by which they were arrived at. For instance, ‘Contingency (Capital)’ has a vote of N200 billion; ‘Outstanding Liabilities’, N50 billion; ‘Clean Energy Initiatives: Development of Local Infrastructure, Conversion to CNG, Electric Vehicles etc.’, N130 billion; ‘Consumer Credit Fund’, N100 billion; ‘Infrastructure Project Preparation Fund’, N21 billion; ‘Mortgage Development Promotion Fund’, N65 billion; ‘Recapitalization of Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI)’, N20 billion; ‘Restructuring/Recapitalization of NIPOST’, N10 billion; ‘Special Projects SGD’, N30 billion; ‘Subscription to shares in International Organizations’, N15 billion; ‘Recapitalisation of Development Finance Institutions’, N10 billion etc.

The interesting bits of course come with the breakdown of budgets for the Ministries Department and Agencies (MDAs). I have decided to pick the budget of the Ministry of Works. Not because of the quantum of money allocated to the ministry (more than a trillion Naira) but rather because I recently commended the Minister, Dave Umahi when he made a declaration of preference for concrete roads as opposed to bitumen roads in the country. From the budget, I doubt if he would be constructing any serious road this year—bitumen or concrete.

As an aside, in view of Senator Jarigbe’s allegation, I did ‘research’ on the N500 million projects. There are nine road constructions/rehabilitations under the Ministry of Works with each allocated N500,410,000. Two are in Akwa Ibom State, another two for the Ibadan-Ogbomosho Expressroad, one for the Enugu-Port Harcourt Road, one for the Ilorin-Jebba-Mokwa Road, and one for the Bida-Lambata Road in Niger State. The one for the ‘Ifaki-Oye-Ayedun-Omuo-Kogi border in Ekiti State’ is simply for a rounded figure of N500 million without any ‘addendum’. In the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, 20 projects totalling N18 billion (and most of which have nothing to do with agriculture) are going to Akwa Ibom North West senatorial district being represented by Senate President Godswill Akpabio. There are also five ‘empowerment’ projects in the Ministry of Women Affairs each costing N500 million, all to the same senatorial district in Akwa Ibom State. You find many such projects in the constituencies of National Assembly Principal Officers across several ministries. And these are not part of the ‘zonal intervention projects’ that are solely for the lawmakers.

Now, to the Ministry of Works. The 2024 capital budget for the ministry is N916,574,239,856. There is an additional allocation of N70,611,518,333 for the Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA). Aside the N2.2 billion for vehicles and N4.1 billion for electricity, provision for the construction of roads takes N438 billion while ‘Construction of Infrastructure’ takes N209 billion. Then you have another 242.9 billion allocations for ‘Rehabilitation/Repair’ of roads.

In all, I counted 961 projects in the ministry’s 2024 budget listed as ONGOING. Interestingly, I have been told by those who should know that when you see ONGOING after a project, it is to circumvent the public procurement process. Many could be new projects. But let’s even leave that matter for now. Any critical observer will see that most of these ‘ONGOINGs’ are just about leaving small money ‘on the table’ for some local operatives, considering the amounts involved. For instance, there is a vote of N4.1 million each (yes, N4.1 million) for more than 20 ‘ongoing’ road constructions/rehabilitations in this ministry. They include ‘Special Repairs of Ilesa-Ijebu Road in Osun State Route number F117 (Phase 2)’; ‘Special Repairs of Birni Kebbi-Argungu-Kan Iyaka (Sokoto State border) Route 219’; ‘Special Repairs of Talatan-Marafan Sokoto Border Road, Routes 85’ and so many others. If we can excuse all that, what about the vote of N1.4 million for each of these major projects? ‘Reconstruction of Benin-Warri Dual Carriageway (Section 3: Ibada-Elume-Warri) (Km 66+275-KM+800 in Delta State’; ‘Construction of Bidda-Sacci-Nupeco Road across River Niger linking Nupeco and Patigi in Niger/Kwara State’ etc.

I know we have magicians in Nigeria but to construct a road and bridge across River Niger for N1.4 million is something else. Under NEW projects which I will come to shortly, there is also a N1.4 million vote for the ‘Rehabilitation of Makurdi-Gboko-Katsina Ala Road’. The ‘Design and Construction of Ogrite (Enugu State)—Akpanya-Oduru (Kogi State) Extension 2 With Extension to Obollo Afor’ takes N61.5 million. The same amount is voted for ‘Washout and Critical Threatened Road Section of Federal Road in Kaduna State’ and more than 30 other road projects across the country. And please don’t bother to correct the grammar. I merely dubbed what is in the 2024 appropriation law of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And please also don’t ask me how; but those amounts of money will leave the treasuries.

If the above are for ‘local operatives’, we can guess to whom no fewer than 85 percent of the road projects with the same amounts of monetary allocations would go. About 130 of them have a vote of N71,750,000 (that’s N71.7 million) each, while most of the rest are either N61,500,000 or N287,000,000 or N100,410,000. The interesting thing about the last figure is that two votes stand out. ‘Construction of Ikorodu-Itoikin Road (Sabo Roundabout to Itoikin Market)’ goes for N1,100,410,000. For the ‘Construction of Malando Garin Baka Wara Road in Kebbi State’ it is going for N10,100,410,000. Obviously, some people are clever at juggling figures!

Collectively, we have about 1200 road projects (ONGOING and NEW) in the Ministry of Works. With the budget already cannibalized, Nigerians who expect Umahi’s ‘concrete roads’ would wait in vain. Let’s now go to some of the NEW projects of which there are 237. Most of them are also in round figure sums, ranging between N10 million and N100 million. Of course, there are also ‘small potatoes’ here. Like the ‘Improvement of Electricity to Shagari Town, Sokoto State’, with a vote of N1 million! Same for the ‘Improvement of Electricity Supply to Argungu-Iyabo, Sokoto Community’. If you think such amounts make no sense or imagine the projects should be under the Ministry of Power, then you don’t understand budget in Nigeria.

Meanwhile, what you find in the Ministry of Works is replicated in all the other MDAs where monies are simply shared. For instance, under the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, you have a vote of N100 million for the ‘Renovation and Equipping of Block of Classrooms in Selected Communities of Yewa North LGA and Imeko Afon LGA in Ogun State.’ I guess that is part of ‘boosting food security’ in the country!

Overall, if you combine the N1.2 trillion ‘officially added’ by the National Assembly (which President Bola Tinubu has gleefully accepted) to other insertions, you will be looking at around 30 percent of the capital budget that does not pass the test of transparency and accountability. But nobody is deceived. The insertions are not only for the lawmakers, many of the ‘projects’ are also for members of the executive and judiciary as well as their friends in the private sector. That’s the way we roll with budgets in Nigeria. The more interesting thing is that if you check the budgets of previous years, they are based on the same template.

What I find disturbing is that President Tinubu is comfortable with what the National Assembly has done with the 2024 budget and is even defending it. This is strange. Signing the 2022 Appropriation Bill into law two years ago, then President Muhammadu Buhari expressed concern over the alterations made by the National Assembly. These changes, according to him, “are in the form of new insertions, outright removals, reductions and/or increases in the amounts allocated to projects.” He added that ‘‘provisions made for as many as 10,733 projects were reduced while 6,576 new projects were introduced into the budget by the National Assembly.”  

The distortions by the National Assembly on allocations for those critical projects, Buhari further warned, “may render the projects unimplementable or set back their completion.” He added that most of these projects “relate to matters that are basically the responsibilities of states and local governments, and do not appear to have been properly conceptualised, designed and costed. And many more projects have been added to the budgets of some MDAs with no consideration for the institutional capacity to execute the additional projects and/or for the incremental recurrent expenditure that may be required.’’  

The National Assembly of course fought back and Buhari capitulated. But we cannot continue this way. Reforming the budgeting process is important if we want to develop as a nation. That will not happen until our lawmakers become alive to their oversight responsibility. Section 88, subsection 2(b) of the 1999 Constitution expects the National Assembly to “expose corruption, inefficiency or waste in the execution or administration of laws within its legislative competence and in the disbursement or administration of funds appropriated by it”. But how can they do that effectively when they engage in a politically incestuous relationship with the executive?

If you speak to any of our lawmakers, they will remind you that even in the United States, there is what is called ‘Earmark’ which refers to ‘federal spending for a specific project for a particular congressional district, locality, or state.’ What they would not tell you is that even in the United States, so controversial are these spendings (most often linked with corruption) that they were dispensed with for ten years and only returned in 2021. Besides, the budgeting guidelines from the Congress Committees on Appropriations has capped earmark spending at no more than 1 percent. And in the US, lawmakers are not the contractors for these projects, unlike what obtains here. My authority on that is no other than Akpabio who, as Niger Delta Minister, confirmed that most of the contracts in the MDAs go to our federal lawmakers.

For me, the value of Ningi’s allegation is the opportunity for a conversation on budgeting process, if we are truly serious about changing the narrative of our country. As I have always argued, the current regime of ‘envelope system’ which essentially means that we simply determine spending categories rather than spending priorities, cannot serve our nation. With resource allocation made to resemble a distribution of spoils rather than a collective plan for an integrated whole, it is difficult to blame the National Assembly members for the insertion of projects because they are merely aping what they know members of the executive did with the proposal submitted to them. Ministers, heads of parastatals and top bureaucrats (who did not go through the rigour of any election) also insert projects not only for themselves but their principals. As I wrote two years ago, one only needs to check the number of federal government projects being taken to Daura under Buhari to understand this. Yet, when a national budget is reduced to sharing public resources between and among powerful interests as it has become in Nigeria, how can a society develop?  

In my book, ‘Power, Politics and Death’, I highlighted what happened with the 2008 budget which the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua was reluctant to sign due to what he considered the extreme meddlesomeness of the lawmakers. The main contention at that time was that the lawmakers had virtually rewritten the budget by introducing several clauses in contravention of the principle of separation of powers and inserting several projects with costs that were arrived at through guess work. “In summary, the legislators unilaterally initiated projects for which they provided money without any input from the executive which ordinarily should design, cost, execute and supervise such projects” I wrote, recounting how and why the option of judicial interpretation from the Supreme Court was eventually discarded. That we are still talking about the same problem 16 years after reflects the lack of accountability that drives public finance in Nigeria.   

With the suspension of Ningi, the National Assembly might imagine that everything has been resolved. It has not. We will not ‘Off the Mic’ on this issue. As I stated in the past, while the idea of restructuring may mean different things to different people, what some of us have always advocated is a serious national conversation around the appropriate institutional design to make government and those who hold the levers of power (whether in the executive, judiciary, or legislature) accountable to Nigerians. It is about how we can harness the much-touted potential for the greater good of our people. This will not happen until we reform critical areas of our national life. That includes the budgeting process!

I wish all my Muslim readers Ramadan Kareem!

The Ibom Deep Sea Port and Ibom Industrial city are expected to generate about 300,000 jobs upon it's completion, thereby contributing positively to the Gross Domestic Product of our Country. Our children are therefore encouraged to embark on relevant courses that will give them advantage in the maritime industry.

Recall that Pst. Umo Bassey Eno, the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, had on Wednesday, 10th January, 2024 sought the Federal Government’s support to fully implement the Ibom Deep Seaport project.

As part of efforts towards the realization of the projects, on Wednesday, 13th March, 2024, the Governor took members of the Technical Committee on the Implementation of Ibom Deep Seaport round the new office accommodation assigned to them on the third floor of Dakkadda Towers, the State-owned 21-storey smart building on Udo Udoma Banking layout, Uyo.

During the Governor's meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (GCFR) in January 2024, he argued that Nigeria’s South-South needs a seaport serving its population even as he described other seaports, especially that of Lagos as “congested”.

According to the Governor after a successful meeting with the committee and some Technical Partners on Wednesday, 13th March, 2024, "The move to allocate the new office space to the committee was necessitated by the need to avail them of requisite and befitting Infrastructure to aid the realization of the Deep Seaport Project in line with resolutions at the meeting."

Stating further, the Governor said "I think we have had a good discussion and we have commenced the whole process again. What I can say is that we are ready now, we are back and you will begin to see activities geared towards the realization of the Ibom Deep Seaport."

The Ibom Deep Seaport, located at the South East of Akwa Ibom State, is planned to be a deep-water facility built on a natural draft of about 17.5 meters, one of the deepest in the region.

Experts say the depth is a key feature allowing it to accommodate large vessels and handle a variety of cargo, including containers, dry bulk and liquid cargo. The IDSP will be owned by the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Nigeria Ports Authority in partnership with Akwa Ibom State Government and private investors.

Although the Federal Executive Council approved the Outline Business Case for the Public-Private Partnership project in May 2015, it remains uncompleted nearly a decade later. However, the immediate past Gov. Udom Emmanuel's administration said it has midwifed critical stages of the project’s development.

The Chairman of the Technical Committee on the Implementation of Ibom Deep Seaport, Mrs. Mfon Usoro however thanked for the office accommodation and other forms of support to the committee which she described as a demonstration of the Governor's commitment to the project.

The Ibom Deep Sea Port aims to become the Eastern Gateway of Nigeria, providing vital port capacity for the Country. Lagos, the existing gateway is situated at the Western part of the Country and is severely congested from the Sea and land sides, leading to delays for Ships entering the Port and leaving the Port due to capacity constraints on the terminal.

Ibom Deep Sea Port has two prime Characteristics that enables it to provide vital Port capacity: It is accessible for ships with draft up to 15m and it has an abundant availability of land in the Port area and it's sorroundings. The project is based on the following needs:-

✅To provide much needed container handling and storage capacity.

✅To provide much needed imports capacity for petroleum products.

✅To provide imports capacity for vehicles.

✅To provide dedicated import capacity for food and agricultural products.

✅To provide dedicated export capacity for industrial output and natural resources.

✅To provide supply base for the regional Oil and Gas sector.

✅To provide a Ship yard and dry dock for Ship building, Vessel Maintenance and Repairs.

✅To provide a logistics base and regional trading hub in West Africa.

The Ibom Deep Sea Port is a green field Deep Sea Port project located on the Atlantic Coast about 65km to the Southeast of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. The Port is an integrated development with the proposed Ibom Industrial city site that will be established on 14,517 ha. The land area allocated for the Port development is 2, 565 ha. The Ibom Deep Sea Port project shall be developed on the Southern part of the Ibom Industrial city site, with direct access to deep Sea trade routes, stable and predictable natural conditions, and ample area for expansion of the Port and the free trade zone.

The Development of the 30km road connecting the project to the federal highway and 20km Channel connecting the project to the Deep Sea are equally included in the responsibilities of the PDMC.

With the completion of a Port of this magnitude in Akwa Ibom State, the State will no doubt move to the front stage industrially in the Scheme of things in the Country and that will signal the end of Akwa Ibom State being describe as a Civil Service State, as the volume of Industrial activities to be carried out in the State, occasioned by the completion of the Sea Port can better be imagined.

I therefore call on the Minister of Transport, the director of Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), the managing Director of Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) and other relevant Federal Government Agencies involved in Port operation to come to our aide by doing everything humanly possible to fast track the development of the Ibom Deep Sea Port, as the Port stand to generate considerable revenue both for the Federal Government and Akwa Ibom State respectively.

Pst. Solomon Essiet (ACIA)

Special Assistant on New Media to the Governor of Akwa Ibom State

It is no longer news that the Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Eno, will on Thursday, March 14, 2024, sign into Law, the Purchase Agency Bill recently passed by the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly. What is news, is the implications of the Bill to Akwa Ibom people, especially, in the face of the harsh economic realities facing the country. 

In fulfilment of the Governor's campaign promises and in line with the policy direction of his ARISE Agenda, Pastor Umo Eno, through the Bulk Purchase Bill, is out to ensure food security and sufficiency, as well as develop value chains of agricultural produce from the state.

The Bulk Purchase Bill is not only a timely response to the current food crisis in the country, but a move that shows that Akwa Ibom is blessed with a responsible and forward-thinking leader. When signed into Law, the Bill will help mitigate the high cost of food stuff and further improve the socio-economic well-being at the grassroots level through the availability of food items at subsidized rates.

The Bulk Purchase Agency will aid the purchase of important food items like rice, beans, garri etc in commercial quantities and same sold at various designated depots at minimal rates. The Agency will also partner market associations and unions for proper coordination and supply, formulate long and short term policies for the purchase and sales of food items in the State, control and monitor the distribution and sale of food items in the State, advise the government on the best method of distribution, as well as formulate strategies accordingly.

To ensure transparency in the implementation process of the food subsidy initiative, vouchers will be distributed to targeted beneficiaries through Personal Assistants to the Governor, across the 368 wards of the state.

The state government having met with the leadership of the Traders, will begin selection of agents for accreditation. After being constituted, the agency will involve competent traders who after capacity validation, will be chosen to man branded shops and redemption centers located in select markets and Wards across the 31 Local Government Areas of the state. 

Upon validation, all accredited agents will be made to sign an agreement with the bulk purchase agency, while their names will be duly published for the masses to know, the social register will be used, therefore, there will be no room for compromise.

As a defensive mechanism to address a situation where some traders may want to thwart the initiative, the state government will have a buffer warehouse where food will be bought and stocked, and in the event where they try to sabotage the good intention of the government, the government will release the stocks and flood the market to ensure availability of food.

Noteworthy is the fact that the government is not coming to compete with, or crash prices for traders, but rather, to collaborate and work with them. Also, there will be some incentives in place for the accredited agents; during reconciliation of vouchers, a certain percentage will be made available to them as motivation in addition to other entitlements. 

As Governor Umo Eno prepares to append his signature to this Bill, the people of Akwa Ibom State stand on the cusp of a transformative economic shift. This initiative is poised to usher in an era of increased food availability, accessibility and affordability, bolstering the state's commitment to eradicating hunger and enhancing the quality of life for its citizens. 

With the Bulk Purchase Agency set to become a cornerstone of the state's agricultural policy, Governor Umo Eno's vision for a self-sufficient and economically robust Akwa Ibom is gradually becoming a tangible reality. This reflects the collective hope for a future where prosperity is cultivated in our own oil, and a course where no Akwa Ibomite is left behind in the march towards sustainability and progress.

When Prof Mahmood Yakubu, Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission hurriedly declared Ahmed Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress( APC) as President-elect of Nigeria in the wee hours of Wednesday, March 1, 2023, it was like an invisible force has descended on the country. There was this eerie, creepy sounds that seemed to come from the graveyard after midnight. There was no celebration, no merriment of any sort. The atmosphere was that of despair. For many Nigerians, it was as if the future had died. For many Christians, it could be likened to that troubled situation of ‘strait betwixt two’. Many wanted to depart to somewhere else. There was this palpable fear that Nigeria would soon become a place of trouble and extreme difficulty. We are almost there, are we not?                                                       

Nine months have since come full circle since Tinubu became President. But, that strange feeling of pessimism still hangs over the land. No positive change has been recorded, no shining legacy, no remarkable accomplishment that you can point to that has impacted life and security of the people. Tinubu’s ill-advised removal of fuel subsidy and the ‘floating’ of the naira have multiplied misery and hunger. Today, according to a recent World Bank report, the naira is ranked third among the worst-performing global currencies. This is the worst we have experienced in our democratic history. But, while Nigerians are reeling and riling over the economic hardship, the inclusion of the President’s two adult sons – Seyi and Olayinka – in his entourage to Qatar recently, has become sour staples in Tinubu’s leadership style. It has raised more questions than answers.                                  

The two-day business summit in Qatar reportedly to woo investors could well be potentially the most unravelling, and revealing sad story yet of what Tinubu’s administration holds in store for Nigeria. It’s not for nothing. The trip to Qatar has many takeaways, many lessons as well as warnings ahead. Undoubtedly, the Qatar visit was overshadowed by the presence of these two pampered young men . What portfolio, for example, do they hold( if any) in their father’s government? Were these self-important upstarts in Qatar for business trip, or just leveraging on the office that their father holds as President? Pointedly, what really do Seyi and Yinka Tinubu do for a living? Are they “jobless”?, as brilliant and versatile journalist Dr Reuben Abati said last week. I don’t know. Or were they just hanging around their Daddy in case lightening strikes? Who paid for their travel and related expenses, or were the travel expenses paid by Nigeria’s taxpayers? Many more questions.                 

When Donald Trump’s two adult sons – Donald Jnr, and Eric – joined their father when he was president on his first official visit to the United Kingdom in June 2019, the White House did issue an official statement that the two sons personally paid for the trip which included a visit to the Buckingham palace. Perhaps most shocking and disturbing during the Qatar summit was the fact that Seyi and Yinka were ranked in order of protocol, ahead of Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yusuf Tuggar and other government officials on that trip. Did you see that video? Seyi and Yinka were the first to be introduced by President Tinubu to the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamid. This offends every known diplomatic protocols. No plausible explanation has been given by the presidency to justify their inclusion in Qatar entourage list except the feeble, puerile explanation by presidential aide on digital and new media, O’tega Ogra , that it was “not unusual for members of the president’s family to accompany him on a foreign trip”. But at whose expense? 

This could be a disturbing red flag of what lies ahead if this President and his family are not carefully watched. Clearly, governance under Tinubu’s leadership is becoming a family affair and feathering the nests of bosom buddies. Remember that the president’s surrogate daughter, Iyalode Folashade Tinubu-Ojo has recently boasted how ‘my Daddy’ has become Nigeria’s president and said publicly, that she would want to be addressed by the title of “First Daughter of the Federal Republic”. Did you hear that? Yes, the president’s children, including his in-laws and friends believe this is their time. Last month, Folashade’s husband, Mr Oyetunde Oladimeji Ojo, was appointed the CEO, Federal Housing Authority(FHA). Don’t be surprised if more family members are given juicy appointments in the weeks and months ahead. After all, didn’t they ‘conquer’ Lagos? Maybe, it’s time also to takeover Nigeria. When last did we experience this sort of unabashed nepotistic style of governance? There’s also a report of award of N1trn contract to the President’s longtime business magnate and billionaire friend, Gilbert Chagoury, owner of Hi-tech Construction company. The N1trn contract is said to be for the construction of a coastal highway project. Details of that contract are still sketchy.                                               

No doubt, friends of a president have great influence in government, and juicy contracts are just some of the benefits. It’s part of payback or reward for their awesome financial donations during electioneering campaign. But in this case, why has the construction of a coastal highway become more important than many other incompleted dual carriageways across the country? For instance, the East-West Road that traverses different parts of the southern geopolitical zone of the country. The main takeaway from all of this is the fact that power reveals. When a leader acquires power, you can see his true colour – by watching what he does with that power, and why he desperately wanted to be President of his country. Tinubu’s children believe, and perhaps have come to see the entire country as their private estates. It rankles.                      

Are we not familiar with Lord Acton famous quote that “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”? If you are in doubt, again, look in the direction of, Seyi Tinubu. Since his father was declared President, this 38 year-old ‘boy’ has not stopped to rivet public attention. Sometimes, he craves for it. 

If there’s none, he creates one. Unlike his taciturn older brother Jide, who passed away in London, October 2017, Seyi is by every measure, a show-off. He has this histrionic personality. His self-esteem seems to depend on his overbearing desire to be noticed. And sometimes, he behaves dramatically or in ways some have described as ‘inappropriate’. Nigerians have not forgotten the role he or his company allegedly played prior to the October 20, 2920 Toll gate massacre in Lagos. It was simply gut-wrenching. That’s why in recent times, he was accused of abusing public assets, often flying in Presidential jets for private trips. But, it will be unfair to say that Seyi is alone in that regard despite public condemnation. And now, his younger sibling Olayinka has joined.                           

Perhaps the President’s family is borrowing from the playbook of his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, whose youngest daughter, Hanan, in January, 2020, was chauffeured to Bauchi state in presidential jet for purely private visit. The presidency, strongly defended her, saying “she belongs to the group of special Nigerians entitled to fly presidential jet”. But Tinubu’s sons, especially Seyi, has gone many steps ahead of Hanan. For his admirers and associates, Seyi is a ‘go-to guy ‘, an influencer working his way through the informal channels of power to know how it works and leverage on it. But the way Seyi and Yinka have been carrying on since their father became Nigeria’s number one citizen, could end up like the story Absalom, the son of King David( 2 Samuel Chapters 14, 15, 16 & 18).                  

If attitude shows character, Seyi may, like Absalom did, be telling anybody who cares to listen, look, ‘my father does not have time for everyone, tell me what you want, and I will make it happen ‘. No doubt, the profits from playing the heir-apparent posture comes with hefty benefits beyond wads of cash. Not much of Yinka is known yet to the public. Those who claim to know Seyi, the scope of his fortune can only be compared to, in the words of one foreign journalist, close what a mega church gets from its Sunday collection. Seyi’s overbearing behaviour last year caught the attention of his father. At the Federal Executive Council (FEC), the highest decision making organ of government , President Tinubu said, “I have noticed the undue access of people sneaking in and out of this Council, including my son Seyi, sitting behind the cubicle there, that’s not acceptable”.                                    

He directed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, and Head of the Civil Service of the Federation to take note of his order. Tinubu also warned that henceforth, “no one should have access to the FEC meeting unless they are granted permission. Did the President’s directive catch any fire with those he asked to enforce his order? Has that stopped his son from attending other meetings called by the President? What happened in Qatar could mean that no lesson has been learned, nothing forgotten. Instead, the president’s adult sons are gradually taking control. What we are seeing is akin to a monarchy’s structure, not acceptable in a democratic dispensation.                                                      

Anyone who loves president Tinubu should tell him to be be careful and avoid the likelihood of harm his sons could cause him, if not now, in the future. If in doubt, ask U.S President Joe Biden, the kind of trouble his scandal-plagued son, Hunter has causing his presidency. Donald Trump, in spite of his proclivities to errors didn’t allow his two older sons to have access to the White House meetings. It is the institutions a country builds that its elected officials must follow. The foundation of anything a president or his family members do is very critical to democracy. For the family members of the President, the advice is: Guide your feet in the way of peace so that you know where to walk. Take, for example, Seyi’s trip last year in Presidential jet to Kano, to watch the final of Polo tournament, for which he’s a big fan, anyway.                             

As reported in the media, Seyi was received on arrival at the Aminu Kano International Airport by some presidency officials. According to Premium Times account, Seyi was thereafter chauffeured to the Usman Dantata Polo Ground amid tight security by gun wielding detachment of the Nigeria Police and State Security Service officials. At end of the tournament, the waiting Presidential jet transported him and his friends back to Abuja where he has relocated since his father became President. Reading this, who doesn’t want to be the son of a President, with all the perks and pleasures at his disposal? But not this way. Pride is poisonous, very dangerous.                     

My advice to the President’s children: Those whose parents are in political power should give adequate attention to the mood of the country, the needs and conditions of the people, the transient and vanities of power. Some political families do have irascible children, alright. But not the way Tinubu’s sons are doing it. In his memoir, titled, MAN OF THE HOUSE, former Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives Tip O’Neill, recalled what American politics was when the Kennedys emerged in the political scene. He said, “money didn’t mean anything to Joe Kennedy(father of JFK, Robert and Edward), as there seemed to be no limits to his wealth”. And anytime the family had a party, some single girls in town showed up in the “hope that lightning would strike”, because then, Jack was still a bachelor – a bachelor who happened to be the son of a millionaire. The old Daddy Joe Kennedy once lamented that his children, especially Robert(Bobby) showed no gratitude for the favour done to them. In his own words, “these kids have had so much done for them by other people that they just assume it’s coming to them”. Obviously, this is one of the many sunny aspects of politics that Seyi and Yinka may be cashing in on right now. They may be saying, ‘Let us enjoy, while the party lasts’. But be careful of the enemy in the corner, for not all your friends and associates that swarm around you are your real friends or that of your father.

Barely 48-hours to its kickoff date, the Bola Tinubu-led government has postponed the launch of the Nigerian Students Loan Scheme indefinitely.

Akintunde Sawyer, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND), stated this in an interview with AriseTV on Tuesday.

The loan which was formally slated to take off on Thursday, has been postponed again, as there are some corrections that are being made around the launch according to Sawyer.

“Unfortunately, I won’t be able to commit to a specific date. We are sort of waiting to ensure that all the stakeholders are aligned to make sure that nobody is blindsided, then we can actually roll this out in a meaningful, comprehensive, wholesome and sustainable way.”

In June 2023, President Tinubu signed a bill to start a Students Loan Fund (SLF) that would give interest-free loans to Nigerians for higher education.

A former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, proposed the bill and it was supposed to start between September and October 2023.

Meanwhile, Tinubu said the programme would begin in January 2024, after missing the October deadline.

In January, Yusuf Sununu, Minister of State for Education, confirmed at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, while speaking to reporters, that preparations were completed for the scheme to begin, including the finalisation of the Student Loan Scheme website and the conclusion of technical plans to facilitate the scheme’s kick-off.

President Tinubu assured the leaders of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) when they visited him at the State House that the scheme would begin once its expansion to accommodate extra features, including vocational studies, was done.

The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) has issued a deadline for the owners of 12,387 unclaimed certificates still in the possession of the Commission.

In a notice seen by Nigerian NewsDirect, the Commission appealed to customers who are yet to collect their certificates to visit its offices nationwide for immediate collection.

The CAC also issued a deadline of 30th June, 2024 for unclaimed certificates noting that “failure to collect the said Certificates at the expiration of the grace period will leave the Commission with no option than to follow due process and discard them.”

“Affected Customers and members of the Public should visit our website, www.cac.gov.ng, for a comprehensive list of the Unclaimed Certificates,” the notice read.

I was compelled to write this piece, and set about it, in the third week of February, 2024. That was  after the Aboki fruit seller at the road junction to my office in the suburb of Lekki , unapologetically  refused to allow me price down one unit of red apple . My Aboki friend had offered to sell one at  five hundred naira, but,  just back in December, 2023 he sold me 4 pieces of same quality  for eight hundred naira. Was I jolted! 

I however held back closing this paper until today to benefit from listening to Prof  Kingsley Moghalu OON’s, keynote speech at the Leadership Conference and Awards at Congress Hall, Transcorp Abuja  on the topic “An Economy in  Distress ; Which Way Forward.” My unorthodox thoughts after listening  to the erudite lawyer-cum-development economics professor became even more . He is the author of the seminal book : Emerging Africa ; How the Global  Economy’s Last Frontier  Can Prosper and Matter” . Since I first encountered him in his days as  Central Bank Deputy Governor  about a decade ago he has never ceased intriguing me by clarity of his original hypothesis on overcoming Afrocentric economic development challenges. 

Being a roadside economic animal, and using Prof  Moghalu as a sounding board, here is my perspective. Nigeria is only an aspirational private sector-led economy. The fundamentals that should underpin its superstructure are fragile. The structural defect  is arguably reversible . But that may only result from an intentional, sacrificial, audacious, strategic and visionary investment of appropriate resources in human, intellectual and  engineered processes  of change, across  critical sectors to achieve a competitive and  sustainable growth. By nearly all economic parameters, Nigeria is now an under-developing  economy – our year-on-year and decade-on-decade regressing GDP statistics alone say it all . Over the last one year,  Nigeria’s money supply ballooned to an all-time high of N93. 72 trillion as of January 2024, which amounts to 76% surge from the N53. 14 trillion recorded in January 2023. We prodigally created more money without producing matching quantity of goods and services to by them with. Having neither worked harder or smatter nor produced more than we previously did, there is no prize for guessing why the bubble liquidity is chasing after less than the previous year’s GDP’. This alarming statistics must be recognised as a doomsday warning. It must task  the economic managers (on the fiscal and monetary sides) to swiftly  course re-direct towards repositioning and gaining re-admission of the country  into the family of  developing countries in the medium term.

The resultant effect of this misalignment of means and end  manifests in a distorted socio-economic system which hardly responds to orthodox neo liberal western-style  management tools. The challenge has never been more starkly presented than what the country is currently experiencing - the twin fiscal and monetary policy decisions of fuel subsidy withdrawal and dollar market fusion for  pricing parity across the financial market . This is consistent with  President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s campaign promises and manifesto encapsulated in the Renewed Hope Agenda (RHA). That audacious move required to be prosecuted by thinking  outside the box to “fetch water from a dry well”. But as Prof Moghalu wrote in his referenced Book “Many development indicators are published and tracked , but as informative as they are, it is paramount for success that the portfolio of measures used to track the performance of the strategy are those that matter for understanding  progress toward the nation’s strategic destination.”

The unintended but easily predictable consequences of not following through with the required rigorous articulation and heavy lifting value creation, that should  accompany the twin policy choices  are  Galloping Inflation, Forex Volatility and vulnerability , unmanageable sovereign debt , unprecedented descent into multidimensional poverty by majority of the population; and now, lately – a jarring food insecurity and threat to peace and security posed by non-state actors. 

Time has come for a decisive, all-hands on deck, strategic plan of action to be proactively iterated and articulated. That is a move that compels unconventional urgency with intent to onboard and implement  well defined deliverables by all stakeholders. I am regrettably afraid, that we are, instead, staring at a recipe for an atrophied economy and a state tending to ultimate collapse.

With dwindling foreign reserves largely resulting from progressively contracting revenue from the nations’ mainstay - crude oil, the Nigeria is unravelling as   less self-sustaining , less-productive , less confident of its steps and less predictable for long term business plans. It is struggling, so badly, to create new opportunities for increased prosperity on a scale necessary to keep more of our people out of poverty  (rather than taking them out of that territory). This is  despite our geometrically expanding population.

The urgency of the dire situation commends exploitation of immediate low hanging homegrown opportunities ; those that we have capacity and competence to explore and  swiftly activate. It will be akin to President  Roosevelt’s New Deal of the 1930s that rescued the  USA from its worst economic depression in history and led to her emergence as the world’s enduring  economic super power. That Deal can be contrasted with the  Marshall Plan contrived as economic reconstruction aid package for post-world war II Western Europe.  So, as  an emergency national agenda for  economic self reliance, my vote will be for the Roosevelt  Way  (aimed at rekindling our  self-belief)  rather than an aid -dependent  Marshall Plan as the preferred lead option. External support by way of foreign investment attraction  should only be a sweetener  for a country that is sinfully underutilising its enormous indigenous potentials.  The mantra should be to banish our loss of self-belief and empower Nigeria to confront our fears with daring courage ; so that, as that wheelchair-bound President Roosevelt said to his fellow Americans in their lowest moment of economic depression,  the only thing to fear … is fear is itself.

REGENERATION PROPOSAL: 

It is contended that for immediate hope-re-envisioning and impactful outcome,  the route to go is NOT by experimenting with fanciful palliatives and tokenistic programs or initiatives. The challenge calls for a roll out of audacious, visionary, focused and engineered strategic PROJECT OF FUNDAMENYAL ECONOMIC REBIRTH away from crude oil revenue dependency. This is what informs  the proposed PROJECT   3-in-3 RHA. It identifies and nominates  three strategic economic sub-sectors for game-changing reinvention in 3 years. The project will be scoped and kicked off for implementation in a matter of 3 months with full participation of a  broad spectrum of the  populace. All those  whose inputs as critical stakeholders outside of government are vital to elicit their unflinching buy-in and involvement must be brough on board.

The project is to  achieve predetermined deliverables around a  unique publicly promoted ( but not state funded)  massive investment in development of  Railway lines  (linking all state capitals), Housing ( to be a mix of quality commercial and social mortgage-ready stock,  to incrementally reduce housing deficits)   and Agriculture ( encompassing the allied cottage industries and value chain) for  recalibration and diversification of the Nigerian economic landscape. It is to be delivered in the  first phase   over three 3 years - starting from 2024- effectively from the date when the Implementation Coordination Team (ICT) (which must be corporate governance complaint)  submits  the framework that targets creation of at least 5 million (direct and indirect) new fulltime, living wage jobs  as a catalyst for reviving our fast vanishing middle class and create  two new thriving economic sectors as providers of revenue sources for reinvesting in  massive associated infrastructure assets and spin-off businesses in the second phase  replicating the proven  template.

This project will draw principally from our most underutilised but abundant domestic endowments and  capacities (with land as the pivot). The project 3-in-3RHA is to be deployed to reposition the national  economic base from consumption and overdependence on offshoring and foreign  support ; and to lessen  pressure on external reserves which may then be  reprioritised for use in funding acquisition of complex high tech machineries, know how; with preference to  those   genuinely unavailable economic inputs services that the country lacks  competitive, practical or suitable alternative domestic  substitutes for.

The broad framework will involve the following actionable tasks.

1. Constitution of Project 3-in-3 RHA Implementation Coordinating Team (ICT) with mandate to generate and submit “Project  Scope Statement of Work” within 3 months.   The team must subscribe to adherence to transparent corporate governance rules and be insulated from bureaucratic public service constraints.
2. The “Project Scope Statement of Work” must shift attention to subnational as engines of economic revitalisation by providing competitive, peer to peer capacities for states to deepen their productive economic potentials thus becoming less dependent on federally allocated revenue  and appropriations to more effectively meet their governance mandates as suits a properly structured federating states.
3. The target candidate productive sectors (Rail , Housing and Agriculture) are identified as derivatives of land surface resources (not import or forex dependent). Happily, the country has fallow land in abundance. It is still  largely socialised under the  Land Use Act, such that it can be conveniently    aggregated, mapped for use and dedicated to the project with minimal complications and constraints .
4. The three project sectors are outside of exclusive federal control and mandate-  this makes for flexible empowerment and diversified  intervention by sub-national governments and private sectors under federal overarching coordination as the prime  fiscal and monetary policy enabler .   
5. States and local governments as anchor implementers are to leverage on their control of land assets as dead capital for conversion into credit for creating cost effective financing scheme to fund the Project 3-in-3 RHA. The aim is to convert their dead capital into financial resources for investment in productive ,   high impact , fast trackable  sectors of the economy.  My simplified descriptive  term for dead capital, first coined by the Peruvian Economist , Hernando de Soto Polar is Idle Asset. In the hands of the rich it must be appropriately taxed; and in other respects it must be mobilised and invested for optimal return.
6. The tripodal economic course re-direction project must be productivity focused, value- and merit-driven; insulated from legacy cultural constraints of prebendal political patronage syndrome and with preeminent participation of the street level private sector  players and segmentation to accommodate different level of business models and sophistication for micro-small and medium enterprises . For this reason, the Project  must leave out big players who can crowd out the targeted sectors that need the empowerment and grooming. It  should  embrace an  all-inclusive , and party-neutral paradigm.    
7. Affordable credit guarantees on the back of predictable and credible data-driven inventories and receivables for off-takers of the commercial outputs and services from the projects by leveraging on a robust application of Secured Transaction In Movable Assets Act, of 2017, boosting consumer credit and  enhanced financial inclusion to restore peoples inflation-eroded purchasing power and support domestic demands for the sectors’ outputs.
8. The federal Government will have to commit to commission a broad implementation framework, templates and targets to be  adapted by each sub-national to suit their local circumstances ; and also provide seed credit guarantee through securitisation of inventories and receivables from Project 3-in-3 RHA to raise sovereign bonds in the capital market at  market rated (but government subsided single digit)  medium tenor interest rates to the tune of  TWENTY TRILLION NAIRA  (=N=20,000,000,000,000.00) for disbursement in predetermined  tranches through commercial banks  to support sectoral milestones over the project timeline.
9. The interest subsidies on the bond will cease after the initial five  years by which time they will be priced and traded on competitive capital market rates without government underwriting.  It is intended to be a creative avenue for mopping excess liquidity driving extant galloping inflation in the economy and to  reinvest those idle funds in the ring-fenced  productive sectors  targeted under the  project with the attendant multiplier effects in the subnational space. The expected short term outcome is that the project will turn  the entire 774 local government areas in the 36 states of the country into satellite of productive and quality work sites thus boosting their economies simultaneously. In the medium terms it should serve to reverse the uneconomic internal migration of unemployed, unskilled  and unemployable demographics at   state capitals and urban centres in search of perceived opportunities that do not exist . These are the marginalised , hapless citizens feeding crimes and creating  antisocial army of recruits posing  security threats across the country.    

• Federal Government will at the same time facilitate a credible audit of accessible domestic and open source technical research resources immediately usable to drive the project in collaboration with states across relevant research sources and institutions in the respective states.
• There is need to produce and issue a presidential executive order for mandatory collaboration and  patronage of indigenous  academic and research bodies imbued with resources and relevant consultancy expertise in close proximity to operational bases of eligible entities . This should be incentivised by its stipulation as a prequalification requirement to access or draw  on Federal Government  supported credits, grants,  subsidies or procurements related to the respective areas of focus under the Project . The added benefit is to facilitate the creation of functional and structured interface between town and  gown in the candidate sectors as model templates  for eventual adoption generally in other segments of the economy. It is anticipated that this strategic innovation will lead to better  appreciation of  scientific imperative of a workable plan for national development as the economy expands in sophistication and depth  in line with the goal of  the Project.  It is unimaginable that any well conceived plan to revive the country premised on indigenous effort and self reliance  will not assign a crucial role for our centres of knowledge and research to play as development partners and facilitators . 
• Deliberate effort must be made to reverse the Brain-Drain conundrum’ and retain, in-country, our best and brightest for the new phase of socio -economic revitalisation. As at 2023, Nigeria  had 170 universities comprising  federal-, state-, and privately-owned  in a ratio of  43, 48 and 79, respectively . Similarly, there are  over 160 accredited polytechnics ; they are  spread all over the country producing technical and vocational professionals with adaptable skills and competences in the three candidate sectors of the Project 3-in3 RHA. Considerable proportion of the products of these institutions are presently engaged in flexible online jobs as trollers, content creators, skit makers, bloggers, data miners,  or awaiting their emigration papers to “japa” with their underutilised skills and youthful creative minds. 

THE PROJECT THESIS :

What  Project 3-in-3 RHA proposal seeks to deliver is to extract latent value in the states-owned dead capital (Land vested in states as trustees under the Land Use Act),  and use it by way of adaptation of the   financial engineering technique in the oil and gas industry to fund and  bail out Nigeria from its desperate existential economic crisis that entered steroids territory in 2023.  The Project is conceived to deploy , subnational idle and under-utilized asset – LAND- as substitute for proven reserves applied in the  oil and gas industry for Reserve-Based Lending (RBL) as axtra-budgetary  financing mechanism to raise economic revitalisation investment capital. The model will finance the Project 3-in3 RHA by mimicking the financing technique that oil exploration and production businesses deploy for huge project funding. The designated land as a  readily available collateral asset is to be aggregated and committed in place of   RBL as a “borrowing-base” type of loan, sized on the basis of the projected Net Present Value (NPV) of cash flows to be generated by the underlying assets and investments under the Project  3-in-3 RHA  business plan.  

By this strategy, the Land Use Act provides a diamond in the raw which can be converted into a unique asset class available to  states for productive  investment  as against the constraining role it has played for so long in stultifying efficient exploitation of land for real estate value amplification since its promulgation in 1978. It is  comparable to the hidden value recently unlocked by the  NNPC Limited in structuring and collaterising its forward sale to secure lending from Afreximbank  in the region of  $3.5 Billion dollars for  advance dividend payment to the Federal Government. In the present proposal, a fairly long-term funding is to be originated, structured to be repaid from domestic economy that is not dollar denominated. It will nevertheless be priced attractively enough to whet appetite of even Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI), as repository for repatriated/laundered  funds ,  as well as add to investment baskets of diaspora remittances.

While RBL financing exploits extractive resource  vested exclusively in the Federal Government under the constitution (mineral oil); the target asset in this Project is surface right over land vested exclusively in the sub-nationals - the 36 federating states that are performing sub-optimally relative to their true potential as economic enablers . With the exception of Lagos State, being the 5^th largest economy in the continent, most of the states are cost centers feeding off federal grants  sustained through burgeoning  and unsustainable ways and means- while their humongous internal potentials for wealth creation are left unharnessed.

PROOF OF CONCEPT:

The audacious Eko Atlantic City in Victoria Island and the Dangote Refinery Complex Corridor at Ibeju Lekki, both erected on expensively reclaimed land from the sea in collaboration with the host state government as their landlord are examples of how viable the  land-asset-backed Project may prove to be against the backdrop of land that is ready and available for use from get- go across the 36 states of the federation. The replication of such bold, ingenuous, rigorous  and gusty creative thinking that birthed those signature multi- billion dollars projects in Lagos ,  is what the present circumstances of Nigeria nation needs at this desperate time. But it must now be one  that has diversified sectoral application designed to positively impact  the fortunes of the entire federation , in order that the country may escape a looming economic collapse .

EXPECTED OUTCOME :

Igniting the subnational economic potentials by optimizing their  dead capital to reflate and recalibrate their economies productively while taming cost-push, and  forex speculation-driven inflation.  In addition, it is to provide a robust  foundation for a new economic base. Project 3-in-3 RHA, promises  validation and seamless  translation of the Renewed Hope  Agenda for real value  creation vide state-backed strategic investment in Railways, Housing and Agriculture over the next three years. It will constitute the nucleus of a new productive economy. It is from its base that other critical economic sectors now struggling or moribund are to be jump-started and resume flourishing for ultimate restoration of the country on the path of sustainable prosperity. 

PROSCRIPT: 

The second part of this thesis will address options for de-dollarizing the Nigerian economy with a view to optimally benefiting  from the wider and fairer international trade currency  regimes free apron strings of  the dollar for settlement of cross border and multilateral financial obligations. The ultimate goal is to create  a respected Nigerian convertible currency tied  to a basket of foreign convertible currencies most connected to the Nigerian balance of trade objectives.

The Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Pastor Umo Eno has approved the appointment of Rev (Dr.) Ndueso Ekwere(JP) as the Honorary Special Adviser to the Governor on Religious Matters.

This was contained in a release by the Secretary to the State Government, Prince Enobong Uwah.

The appointment takes immediate effect.

Rev. Ekwere is the immediate past Chairman of the Akwa Ibom State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, and a Gospel Minister of the United Evangelical Church, (UEC) (founded as Qua Iboe Church).

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