Buhari decries illicit arms trade, solicits debt cancellation for Nigeria, others at UN by Stephen Angbulu

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), on Friday at the ongoing 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the United States of America, called for a regulation of arms and light weapons trade in the interest of human rights. Addressing the gathering of world leaders, the Nigerian President expressed deep concerns at the devastating effects of small arms and weapons, calling for accountability in the conventional arms trade. The Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, revealed this in a statement titled, ‘At UNGA, President Buhari raises the alarm on the erosion of democracy in West Africa, urges world leaders to reject unconstitutional takeovers.’ The statement quoted Buhari as saying, “Nigeria remains deeply concerned over the illicit trade, transfer, and circulation of small arms and light weapons. Their excessive accumulation and uncontrolled spread in many regions of the world are having devastating humanitarian and socio-economic consequences, especially on the continent of Africa. “It is on this note that my delegation calls for the worldwide application of the Arms Trade Treaty to codify accountability in the conventional arms trade, which is critical to the security of nations. This is in recognition of the need for a broad-based global partnership in the ongoing battle against trans-border crimes, including terrorism and piracy.” Buhari also frowned on the recent trend of the unconstitutional takeover of power on the African continent, saying such actions must not be tolerated by the international community. He warned that the democratic gains of the past decades in West Africa ‘‘are now being eroded’’ due to these negative trends. He affirmed Nigeria’s support to efforts by ECOWAS, AU and the UN to address this growing challenge, saying, ‘‘As leaders of our individual member-states, we need to adhere to the constitutional provisions of our countries, particularly on term limits. This is one area that generates crisis and political tension in our sub-region. “In this connection, my delegation underscores the importance of promoting peaceful, unfettered, and inclusive participation of states in global actions towards conflict prevention. ‘‘This will facilitate the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the African Union Agenda 2063.” The Nigerian President also called for fair and equitable international trade system, which he said was more important to African countries than foreign aid. Buhari called for reforms that would engender recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, build resilience against future shocks and pursue transformative development strategies that could deliver the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. He said, ‘‘Nigeria reaffirms that international trade is an engine for development and sustained economic growth, as well as the global eradication of poverty. ‘‘My delegation would like to reaffirm the critical role that a universal, rules-based, open, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system can play in stimulating economic growth and development. ‘‘Fair and equitable trade would eventually eliminate the need for aid. My country and indeed all African countries do not intend to stay indefinitely looking for aid. All we need is a fair and equitable system of international trade.” However, he called for outright debt cancellation for countries facing the most severe challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Buhari said, ‘‘Developing countries have been faced with unsustainable debt burdens even before the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the risk of a new wave of deepening debt, where vital public financial resources are allocated to external debt servicing and repayments at the expense of domestic health and financing for critical developmental needs. ‘‘I must commend the current initiatives by the international financial institutions and the G20 aimed at significantly mitigating the economic situation of the indebted countries and urge for more efforts in this regard. ‘‘Therefore, there is an urgent need to consider expansion and extension of the Debt Service Suspension Initiative to include all Developing, Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States facing fiscal and liquidity challenges. ‘‘In addition, a review of the eligibility criteria for debt suspension, including outright cancellation, is needed for countries facing the most severe challenges.’’ The President also advocated the equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, outlining steps Nigeria had taken to achieve ‘‘moderate success’’ in containing the virus and halt its deadly onslaught in the country. ‘‘Nigeria remains grateful for the assistance received from our partners and friends all over the world. Vaccination is the key to our safe emergence from the pandemic. ‘‘We fully support the COVAX initiative from which we have benefitted. We also thank the United States of America, Turkey, India, China, the European Union, and others for the vaccines provided. ‘‘Despite the acknowledgement, however, I would like to reiterate my call for a fairer and more equitable distribution of vaccines to all countries so that, together, we can fight and contain the pandemic,” he said. On the fight against terrorism, the President told the UN General Assembly that ‘‘As a result of the renewed vigour of Nigeria’s military, many terrorist fighters are voluntarily surrendering to our security forces. ‘‘Nigeria will continue to work closely with UN counter-terrorism bodies and entities to bring this scourge to an end,’’ he said, adding that the country would spare no effort in addressing the challenges of terrorism posed by the activities of Boko Haram in North-East Nigeria and the Lake Chad region, as well as banditry in the North-West and North-Central Nigeria.” He also renewed the call for the reforms of the UN Security Council, stressing that those intergovernmental negotiations on the issue were taking too long. ‘‘No reform of the United Nations system is more urgent than that of the Security Council. Stakeholders around the world are asking how such power could be concentrated, with scant representation. ‘‘The intergovernmental negotiations have taken too long, some 15 years. ‘‘We must avoid going in circles. Consensus has been achieved in some of the elements of this reform, especially that of the representation of Africa based on the Elzuwini Consensus and the Sirte Declaration. ‘‘It is unreasonable to expect unanimity in this matter. The issue, indeed, is about justice, not unanimity. Without justice, the legitimacy even efficacy of our organisation is called to question. ‘‘We can and must make substantial, irreversible progress on Security Council reform in the current session,’’ he said. The President also encouraged Israel and Palestine to re-engage in dialogue based on relevant UN resolutions and Initiatives. ‘‘The two-state solution has the support of the international community and is widely acknowledged as the path to lasting peace,’’ he said. Buhari concluded his address praising the outgoing German Chancellor, Angela Merkel. He also pledged Nigeria’s unalloyed support for multilateralism and faith in the UN as the pre-eminent body for solving current and emerging global challenges. ‘‘Nigeria re-affirms its faith in the United Nations and is further resolved to continue to work with all member-states for peace and security, development and the protection of human rights. ‘‘In this regard, let me close my statement by paying special tribute to a great and humane internationalist, and an exemplary practitioner of multilateral cooperation. I am speaking of Chancellor Angela Merkel of the Federal Republic of Germany. As she exits the stage, we wish her well,’’ he said. Use leadership position to stabilise W’Africa, Guterres to Buhari Meanwhile, the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, has urged Buhari to continue to use his leadership roles in Africa for the stabilisation of the West African sub-region. Adesina’s statement quoted Guterres as saying this in a meeting on the sidelines of the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. The UN Scribe observed that Africa, especially West Africa, was generally seen as an ocean of stability and good governance, but was deeply concerned at recent reversal of fortunes in democratic rule in some parts of the West African sub-region with coups overturning elected institutions. He, therefore, urged Buhari to continue to show leadership as he looked up to Nigeria to help stabilise the sub-region in terms of democracy and good governance. PUNCH

It’s compulsory for Nigerians to accept e-naira, says CBN by Eniola Akinkuotu

The Central Bank of Nigeria says the e-naira which is set to be launched on October 1 is a legal tender equal to the value of the naira and thus must be accepted as a form of payment by all merchants and business outlets. The CBN Director, Payment System Management, Mr. Musa Jimoh, said this during an interview on the ‘Business Morning’ programme on Channels Television on Monday. Jimoh said, “Today, anywhere you present naira to pay, compulsorily it must be accepted because that is our fiat currency. So, the same way naira is accepted that you can’t reject it, is the same way e-naira must be accepted. Anywhere in this country where e-naira is presented, it must be accepted. So, merchants must accept e-naira as a means of payment.” He advised Nigerians to open e-naira wallets which could be downloaded on their phones from October 1, adding that CBN bears all liabilities. “The liability of the e-naira money is directly on CBN which is similar to the cash you hold. The liability of the cash you hold today rests with the CBN. So, it gives Nigerians the opportunity to bank with CBN,” Jimoh said. On whether Nigeria was ripe for the e-naira due to the technological challenges in the country, Jimoh said he didn’t expect it to be a major problem. PUNCH.

FG may bar unvaccinated Nigerians from government facilities by Deborah Tolu-Kolawole and Solomon Odeniyi

THE Federal Government may consider barring unvaccinated individuals from accessing government facilities, among other measures, if the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy being witnessed continues, The PUNCH has learnt. It was gathered, however, that the decision would only be taken if the government did not notice any significant improvement after the ongoing enlightenment and engagement across the country. Recall that the Executive Director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr Faisal Shuaib, had said the government might enforce the law against those who refuse COVID-19 vaccination. The Edo State Government had already started barring government workers without COVID-19 vaccination certificates from accessing government buildings. When asked on Friday if the Federal Government was also considering such step, the Secretary to the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19, Dr Mukhtar Muhammed, told The PUNCH it would be considered if it became necessary. Muhammed said, “We don’t have such plans but if it becomes necessary, it is something that can be considered. “There is a lot of mobilisation going on. We have community engagement in all the states where the communities and traditional leaders are engaged. “We will continue to persuade people through all available means to make sure that people would realise the need and take the vaccines by themselves. For now, there is no plan to do that.” Read Also Vaccination: Senate to probe maltreatment of Nigerian travellers in Ghana Compulsory vaccination ignites anger, revives debate on alleged COVID-19 funds embezzlement UK recognises vaccines administered in Nigeria, 4.6 million get jabs 1.6% fully vaccinated- NPHCDA Meanwhile, data obtained from the website of the NPHCDA on Sunday revealed that as of September 18, 2021, only 1.6 per cent of the over 200 million Nigerians had been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. According to the NPHCDA, only 4,373,434 eligible citizens have taken their first dose of the Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines, while 1,764,649 of the initial four million had taken their second doses. Shuaib added, “We will continue to monitor for side effects of the COVID-19 vaccines and as it is common with all vaccines, there have been reports of mild to moderate reactions. “This is normal with any vaccination. We are working with NAFDAC to keep a close watch on those who have been vaccinated for any unlikely case of serious adverse effect,” he said. As of September 18, 2021, no fewer than 201,630 confirmed cases had been reported in Nigeria with a total of 2,654 fatalities, with 190,288 cases discharged. PUNCH.

UNILAG crisis: What caused Babalakin/ Ogundipe faceoff ― Visitation Panel By Adesina Wahab

The face-off between the former Chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Lagos, UNILAG, Dr Wale Babalakin, SAN, and the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, that rocked the university for some months last year has been attributed to the various interpretations given by both sides to the Procurement Act 2007 which led to conflicts in the areas of responsibilities of the Council and the management. This was contained in the 261-page report of the Visitation Panel set up by President Muhammadu Buhari to look into the affairs of the university from 2016 to 2020. The Panel, headed by the former Chief of Army Staff, General Martin Luther Agwai, also observed that another major area of disagreement was the interpretation of the University of Lagos Act 1967. The Panel, which also had as members Mr Olufemi Agunbiade, Mr Agele John Alufohai, Malam Abubakar Maikafi, Mrs Ogochukwu Rose Onuoha, Mr Umar Yahaya and Mr Ashafa Ladan, did not mention specific areas of the Procurement Act and UNILAG Act that caused the said disaffection. It, however, recommended that, “It is necessary to review and properly interpret the Procurement Act 2007 and the University of Lagos Act 1967 so as to avoid conflicting responsibilities and forestall the possibility of unhealthy rivalry.” While the panel commended the management and Council in some areas, it lashed them in certain aspects. For the management, the panel said only 10 out of the 29 income-generating units such as UNILAG Holding, UNILAG Consult etc were shown in the accounting books and called for the blocking of leakages in those areas. The IGUs generated N34 billion during the period under review. It also faulted the accounting software being used by the university and that the format of periodic budget performance report presented to the Governing Council has major deficiencies, adding that, “It lacks the critical aspect management information, performance review criteria, and presentation.” It lauded the management for giving the internally generated revenue of the university a boost, adding, “The leadership quality of the different organs had been laudable over time that has earned it national and international reputation with consequent ranking among the 1000 top universities globally until the 2018 crisis.” It also advised that the Governing Council should stick to its responsibilities as contained in the extant laws. On the total amount that accrued to the university between 2016 and 2020, the panel put the figure at N84.18 billion compared to N94.5 billion it got from 2011 to 2015. Allocation from the Federal Government was N53.25 billion, while the IGR was put at N28.93billion. Out of the money from the government, the sum of N46.8 billion was for overhead costs, emoluments, and others, leaving a huge gap in the finance of capital projects. The panel also faulted the inability of the university to meet the benchmark of the National Universities Commission, NUC, in the number of lecturers with doctorate degrees. While the NUC suggested that not less than 70 percent of university teachers should have P.hD, only 623 lecturers or 37 percent academic staff have the degree. Out of a workforce of 4,855, only 1,673 are academic while the rest are non-academic. Of the academic staff, 244 are professors, 188 are associate professors, 388 are senior lecturers, 292 are lecturers 1, 72 are graduate assistants, three are reader/ librarian among others. It appealed to the government to help the institution build up the capacity of its teachers. Vanguard News Nigeria

Is’haq Oloyede and the JAMB revolution, By Kunle Akogun

There is no doubt that since his appointment as the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) five years ago, Prof. Is’haq Oloyede has remained one of the most visible poster boys of President Muhammadu Buhari’s war against corruption. The reason is simple: The Professor of Islamic Jurisprudence and former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin has so sanitised the operations of the tertiary institutions’ admission body in five years that it seems that the 44-years old Board had never been in any tangible operational existence before 2016! For this singular reason, his reappointment for another term of five years, announced on Friday, 20th August, did not really come as a surprise to many watchers of the great revolution going on in JAMB since August 1, 2016. Indeed, when his first tenure ended on July 31st, 2021, not a few discerning Nigerians openly canvassed his reappointment into the same office, if only to allow him consolidate on the unprecedented socio-economic revolution he initiated and sustained not only in JAMB but in any Nigerian public institution. For, which sane captain changes a winning team? In one of such altruistic advocacies, a former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), Prof. Peter Okebukola, said that Prof. Oloyede’s first term in office has “been marked by unprecedented success”, having elevated the quality of university education in Nigeria by ensuring improved quality of candidates for admission into the university system. Prof. Okebukola added that with 82 innovations in JAMB, Prof. Oloyede should be allowed to consolidate the gains of the last five years and see to the completion of his ongoing programmes and projects. It is a thing of personal joy for those of us who know this erudite scholar intimately that Prof. Oloyede did not disappoint his teeming admirers since his appointment. Rather, he shamed the vociferous opposition to his well-merited appointment. Not only did he institute an enhanced welfare scheme for JAMB staff that greatly boosted their morale, Prof. Oloyede’s messianic tenure substantially restored the sanctity of the Board’s main mandate: the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME). And, as evident in all the five admission exercises he superintended, JAMB’s technology considerably improved, with high level of transparency and advanced networking. The scrapping of the traditional scratch card system for checking results is also another positive rebellion by this audacious JAMB helmsman. And the drastic reduction in the application fees is a serious relief to sundry admission seekers and their parents and guardians. But by far the most remarkable feat by any non-revenue yielding MDA in the country is the consistent remittance by Prof. Oloyede’s JAMB of whopping sums of money in billions of naira to the Federal Government coffers in each of the last five years. This is indeed praise-worthy, especially in a country where even some MDAs that were specifically and originally established to collect revenue for the government often turn round to ask the same government for extra-budgetary bail-outs to supplement their overheads! By this feat, Prof. Oloyede merely lived up to his well-known credentials of administrative acumen, financial discipline and legendary transparency in public service. An erudite Professor of Islamic Jurisprudence and the first ever Unilorin graduate to make a first class degree in the institution, Oloyede became a household name during his tenure as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin, having largely succeeded in turning the second generation University into a world class institution. This, he achieved by dint of hard work, resilience, consistency, tenacity of purpose and unparalleled team spirit. Indeed, Prof. Oloyede’s trajectory has been a study in service excellence, administrative acumen, religious commitment to the achievement of set goals, and unapologetic insistence on fairness for all. This much has been duly acknowledged by dispassionate watchers of his profile since he emerged the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin in 2007, especially with his sterling track records of achievements. It’s no surprise, therefore, that many well-meaning Nigerians continue to harp on the need for President Muhammadu Buhari to renew the appointment of this modern Midas to consolidate the good job he has been doing in JAMB in the past five years. After all, he is statutorily entitled to two terms of five years each, subject to the wish of the President. At a point, however, there were reports that Prof. Oloyede appeared not to be too keen on doing a second term, as he was said to have insisted that he had made his mark and would like to yield the ground for other persons to be given the opportunity to serve the nation at the JAMB level. The veracity of this report could be gleaned from the swiftness with which he handed over the Registrar’s baton, without any prompting whatsoever from any quarters, to the available most senior Director at the nick of the expiration of his FIRST term! The common sit-tight scheming among Nigerian public officials does not seem to hold any attraction for him! His reappointment is, therefore, a very commendable masterstroke by the President. For, Nigeria still needs the services of this highly cerebral and effective public officer for another five years at JAMB to personally nurse the several ongoing innovations, which he initiated in the organisation to irrevocable and unabortable fruition. For instance, such initiatives as the Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS) for automation of admission process; the institution of Equal Opportunity Group for the conduct of the Universal Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) for Blind Candidates; the expansion of the capacities of CBT centres for standardization purposes; the introduction of E-Ticketing (for Complaints; the introduction of the Integrated Brochure and Syllabus System (IBASS) for prompt delivery of admissions requirements; the use of Biometric Authentication to confirm validity of registration, the introduction of E-slip printing; the introduction of management dashboard to monitor registration and admission exercise real time; the use of CCTV cameras in all CBT centres to monitor the examination and registration process real time; and exemplary funds management; as well as prudent and judicious use of JAMB’s financial resources, all need to be consolidated upon in order to avoid the incidence of the well-known Nigerian syndrome of policy summersault and programme discontinuity that often characterize the advent of any new administration in this clime. Kunle Akogun, a former group news editor at ThisDay Newspapers, is the director of corporate affairs at the University of Ilorin

Ishaq Oloyede: Snake charmer By Ray Ekpu

There are two tough positions in Nigeria’s public service whose incumbents deserve tons of public sympathy. The chairmanship of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is one of them. The other is the Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB). Politicians want to “win” elections at all costs so they use money and violence to get things to go their own way. Some parents want their children to get into Nigeria’s tertiary institutions by hook or crook so they and their children do anything fair and foul to secure admission. So the JAMB office is a yearly theatre of battle and whoever is the Registrar bears the brunt of that battle. Since JAMB was set up in 1978 as the sole examination board for tertiary level institutions, there has been plenty wahala principally for three reasons. One, there are more children eager to go into tertiary institutions than there are vacancies for them. Two, many of the students eager to get in do not qualify by JAMB’s examination standard to have a place. Three, as there are no facilities provided for remedial programmes for these under-achievers, the pressure on JAMB becomes almost unbearable. So why can’t the country provide a one year remedial programme for those who cannot get into tertiary institutions through JAMB? After one successful year they can get into the first year programme of the universities or polytechnics or colleges of education. I am not unaware of the fact that some universities offer one-year diploma programmes in some courses. Those who do well are promoted into the second year of that course. But you first have to be able to sell your mother into slavery to be able to pay the fees for such programmes. If you don’t have a mother or you have one that you do not want to sell into slavery or she is too old to be purchased as a slave, then I say to you “tough luck.” That is not the kind of programme I am referring to. I am talking of a year’s remedial programme that equips the student to be admitted into the first year programme of any of the universities. This means that the student who is unable to get into the university through JAMB can still get in through the remedial route. The only difference is that he has to put in one extra year to get there. Why is that not possible today? We used to have this programmes years ago. The answer is that in Nigeria we do things differently. That is why people get into the universities on ridiculously low cut off points. The good thing is that it is the universities that now have to decide on their cut-off points. The dregs will go into universities that do not have high standards while the brilliant ones will aim at the high-flying institutions. These are some of the complicated decisions that JAMB has had to contend with since its inception. One man who has faced these intractable problems with a great deal of courage, integrity and transparency is the current Registrar of JAMB, Professor Ishaq Oloyede. Oloyede, 66, is a thorough bred student of Arabic and Islamic Studies, having been trained in Islamic Studies in Agege, Lagos State, Offa, Kwara State and the University of Ibadan before he enrolled for a degree course at the University of Ilorin. In 1981 he was awarded a first class honours Bachelors degree in Arabic Studies. In July 1982, he was appointed an Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Religions of the university. He went on to nick a Ph.D in Islamic Studies from his alma mater, University of Ilorin. During his student days he got several scholarships, prizes and awards as an attestation of his exceptional brilliance. Of course, his brilliance cannot be in doubt because Arabic, just as Mandarin or Russian uses its own peculiar alphabets, which are different from the regular alphabets that are used in the English-speaking world. Those hen-scrawls in Mandarin, Russian and Arabic look to me utterly undecipherable. How anyone could decipher them and still got a first class in it is a minor miracle. Arabic lacks the pin-point exactitude of mathematics or engineering so anyone who acquired a first class in it must have the attributes of a genius. It was no surprise that Oloyede rose like a meteor through the Unilorin university system to become a professor at 41 and the Vice Chancellor of that university at 52 years. He had also been chairman of the Association of Vice Chancellors of Nigerian Universities. In 2015, he was appointed Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the Governing Council of Fountain University. He is also Secretary General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs. His tour of duty in various positions in the university system (he was also Deputy Vice Chancellor Administration as well as Academics) had amply equipped him for the JAMB job. And when it came he was ready for it. JAMB is a place where there is always a lot of bustle and brouhaha. There are crooks within the system, who want to corrupt and damage the system for their own selfish ends. There are also crooks outside the system who want to reap unmerited dividends from a corrupted and damaged system. They both work hand in gloves to bring JAMB to a place it does not deserve to be. That was the situation before Oloyede was appointed. Oloyede’s entry brought an electric spark to the place because he put smiles on the faces of the workers whose welfare he took care of. When he started remitting huge funds into the coffers of the Federal Government a blush of pleasure must have risen to President Muhammadu Buhari’s cheeks. Here are the figures: Between 2010 and 2016, JAMB remitted about N50.7 million to the Federal Government but in 2017 alone Oloyede remitted N5 billion, yes N5 billion, that is 10 times what was remitted by the preceding administration in six years. Let us look at more figures of remittances. In 2011, it was N11.5 million, in 2013 it was N25.3 million. According to the Accountant General’s office there were no remittances at all in 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2016. But under Oloyede JAMB was turned into a cash cow. Between 2016 and 2020 Oloyede remitted a staggering N28 billion to the government eventhough during this period he had actually reduced the fee for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) from N5, 000 to N3, 500 in 2017. The impression that Nigerians got of JAMB before Oloyede’s arrival was not that of a possible moneyspinner. It was that of an organisation that needed to be pampered and bottle-fed by the government to do a difficult job that the nation wanted done for the good of all. However, when a former Registrar of JAMB, Professor Adedibu Ojerinde was arraigned on an 18-count charge of alleged fraud and alleged diversion of public funds to the tune of N5.2 billion the scales fell from our eyes. Even though the man is innocent and will remain innocent until convicted, most people never thought that there could be billions in JAMB that could be stolen without the place crashing like a pack of cards. Oloyede has proved that our public institutions can work if people of unimpeachable integrity manage them. JAMB was not set up as a money-making institution but Oloyede has brought top drawer quality to the management of its affairs and turned a near moribund institution into a thriving money-spinning enterprise. Other government organisations that were specifically set up as money-making enterprises but are gulping money certainly have questions to answer for their incompetence. Oloyede is said to have instituted about 80 innovations which have had the overall impact of blocking leakages, improving the central admissions processing system, curbing illegal admission by streamlining and standardising admission data and generally making JAMB more efficient than hitherto. This is not to say that JAMB is perfect. It is not. Many complaints still exist because JAMB is a human institution and it remains a work in progress. However, Professor Oloyede has brought unparalleled integrity, transparency and accountability to the management of the institution. He invites stakeholders in education and better society activists to JAMB’s meetings so that they can see, at close range, the range of problems he is dealing with, the methods of complaints resolution and he is willing to accept suggestions for the improvement of the institution. In the management of affairs in Nigeria’s public offices that is rare. That approach helps in fine-tuning ideas through interaction and it gives an inspirational impact to the organisation. It also puts the organisation at the cutting edge of educational admissions administration and makes it able to absorb new ideas and feedback from the viewing, critical public. Oloyede, a man of great courage did not allow himself to be encumbered by what has come to be known derisively as the “Nigerian factor,” the mean and obscene resort to unfair and unwholesome tactics in achieving results. That would have been the quest for worst practices. Instead he looked for innovations outside the system for examples of best practices. That is why JAMB seems to work. There are two things to remark about Oloyede. He is a muslim. He is a professor. Some Muslims in public office have failed Nigeria by stealing our money and mismanaging our diversity. Some professors have failed Nigeria by rigging elections or harassing female students for sex or male students for money. So Oloyede’s success has nothing to do with his religion or his professorial standing. He is just a good man because it is not the hood that makes the monk or the cassock that makes the priest or the turtleneck that makes the reverend. It is the integrity in him, that rare quality that made him to charm the snakes that were swallowing JAMB’s money before he took office. The snakes vomited the money and where they could not they were put in zoos where they cannot escape. That way he made JAMB’s money inaccessible to greedy snakes. © 2021 Guardian Newspapers

What makes eNaira different from money in your bank account by Victoria Edeme

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s eNaira website has gone live ahead of the October 1 official launch. According to the website, www.enaira.com, “eNaira is a CB -issued digital currency that provides a unique form of money denominated in Naira.” Find out what makes the eNaira different from the money in your bank account — according to the apex bank itself. What is eNaira? eNaira is a central bank digital currency (CBDC) issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria as a legal tender. It is the digital form of the Naira and will be used just like cash. What is an eNaira wallet? The eNaira wallet is a digital storage that holds the eNaira. It is held and managed on a distributed ledger. The eNaira wallet is required to access, hold and use eNaira. Is eNaira wallet safe? Yes. The eNaira system uses a two-factor authentication system in addition to cryptographic encryption to ensure the safety of customers’ wallets and the eNaira holding. Read Also eNaira website goes live, displays CBN digital currency features e-Naira offers cheaper, fast remittance option, says CBN SEC defeat CBN to win 2021 financial institutions' football cup How are eNaira wallets created? For smartphone users, download the eNaira app (termed “Speed”) from either the Google Play Store or Apple Store and complete the registration process. For feature phone users, utilize USSD codes and follow the registration prompts. How do I connect my eNaira wallet to my bank account? The eNaira app allows customers to identify a bank of their choice, connect to their bank accounts and perform transactions. What makes eNaira different from the money in my bank account? eNaira is the digital form of the cash and is a direct liability on the Central Bank of Nigeria while the customer deposits are direct liabilities on the financial institutions. How do I resolve failed transactions or raise enquiries on eNaira? Reach out to the customer support of the bank you selected when registering for eNaira through their available channels which include: phone, email, whatsapp, etc. Disputes will be resolved as soon as possible. If issues are not resolved within 48 hours, send an email to CBN’s eNaira Customer Support via helpdesk@enaira.com What are the different tiers of eNaira wallets that I can open as an individual? These are different tiers of wallets and they include: September 2021 TIERS CATEGORY REQUIREMENT DAILY LIMIT CUMULATIVE LIMIT 0 No Existing Bank Account NIN verified telephone number 20,000 120,000 1 No Existing Bank Account 50,000 300,000 2 Has an Existing Account BVN + valid means of identification 200,000 500,000 3 Has an Existing Account Tier 2 requirement + public utility receipt 500,000 5,000,000

JUST IN: Jurors find R. Kelly guilty of all charges

Jurors in R. Kelly’s sex trafficking trial in New York said have found him guilty of sex racketeering, involving a scheme to recruit and sexually abuse women, girls and boys. He was convicted on all nine counts including violations of the Mann Act, which prohibits the transport of “any woman or girl” across state lines for any “immoral purpose.” He faces life in prison. The jury of seven men and five women deliberated for about nine hours across two days before reaching their unanimous verdict, New York Post reported. Prosecutors had painted Kelly, 54, as a “predator” who used his fame and a cadre of employees to prey on young victims. “This case is not about a celebrity who likes to party a lot,” Assistant US Attorney Maria Cruz Melendez said in her opening statement last month. Related News R. Kelly gave me herpes, I couldn't walk: Witness Jane Doe Jerhonda Pace: What R. Kelly did to me, T-shirt of semen tendered in court R.Kelly told me to lie I was 19: Jerhonda Pace now 28 “This case is about a predator,” she said. According to reports, the jurors began Monday by sending the judge a note asking for transcripts of testimony by two former Kelly employees and for a legal clarification. Deliberations first began on Friday, before the panel of seven men and five women took the weekend off. The 54-year-old Kelly had pleaded not guilty to the charges. Kelly is best known for the 1996 hit “I Believe I Can Fly”.

COVID-19: Protesters shut down Edo over compulsory vaccination by Adeyinka Adedipe

Members of civil society organisations and students on Monday took to major streets in Edo State to protest against the compulsory COVID-19 vaccination policy put in place by the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration. The protesters, who grounded vehicular movement in the metropolis, carried placards bearing inscriptions as: ‘We need security in Edo, not vaccine’; ‘We will resist any form of executive rascality’; ‘Hunger is killing us, not COVID-19’; ‘Obaseki obey court order’; ‘My body is my right’; ‘Share COVID-19 palliative’. They also threatened to completely shut down government houses, government agencies/parastatals, corporate organisations enforcing ‘no vaccine, no entry’ policies, stressing that the protest of Monday was just a warning. Speaking at the secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Edo State Council, the coordinator of the Freedom Ambassador Organisation, Curtis Ogbebor, said they were out to express their displeasure over the compulsory vaccination in the state, noting that other pressing issues such as security should be the governor’s priority and not COVID-19 vaccination. He said, “We have come out today to send a warning and an advice for him to urgently withdraw that enforcement order. If he refuses to withdraw that order in 48 hours, we will mobilise to shut down the economy of the state. We cannot fold our arms and watch the act of illegality happen in our state. “There are issues of urgent concern like security which is enshrined in the constitution that the governor is under the law to secure the lives and properties of its citizenry. But as we speak, the governor is not concern about the security and welfare of the people. “As of now, no street light is working in Edo State; Benin-Auchi Road is not safe to travel on because of bandits, herdsmen and other criminal elements.” He urged the state governor to also focus on infrastructural development rather than enforcing COVID-19 vaccination. Also speaking on behalf of students in Edo, National Public Relations Officer, Nigeria Student and Youth Association, Osamudiamen Ogbidi, said students in the state reject the forceful COVID-19 vaccination. While noting that the protest was just a warning and that students would be mobilised to shut down the state, he said all other youths in the state also reject the compulsory vaccination.

Police threaten clampdown as IPOB declares sit-at-home on October 1 by Tony Okafor and Edward Nnachi

The Ebonyi State Police Command has threatened to deal with any group that foments trouble in the state on October 1, 2021. Nigeria celebrates its Independence Day annually on October 1. Ahead of this year’s celebrations to mark Nigeria’s proclamation of independence from British rule on October 1, 1960, the Indigenous People of Biafra, in a statement by its Media and Publicity Secretary, on Saturday, issued a sit-at-home order in the five South-East states. The secessionist group also banned the flying of the Nigerian flag in the region on that day. He said, “IPOB has declared October 1, 2021, total shutdown in Biafraland as a sign of our rejection of the evil construct called Nigeria and there shall be no movement in Biafraland on this day. “Also, IPOB has declared from September 25, 2021, that all Nigerian flags mounted anywhere in Biafraland must be brought down, banks exceptional. IPOB leadership will communicate to banks directly and give them the reason they must peacefully bring down the Nigeria flag on their banking premises before we do it ourselves in our own way.” But the state Commissioner of Police, Aliyu Garba, in a telephone interview with one of our correspondents in Abakaliki, on Saturday night, said operatives of the command will not fold their hands and watch a group of persons unleash illegality in the state. He said, “This portrays illegality and we will not allow it. It is not the norm in our country and it’s unconstitutional. Our job is to maintain law and order so we will not take it lightly with anybody or group of persons who try to disrupt the peace of the state. We will deal with such a person or group of persons.” According to the police spokesperson in the state, DSP Loveth Odah, the commissioner had rolled down an operational order to men of the command to prevent crimes or illegality in the state during and after the Independence Day celebrations. She said, “We have been briefed and we are ready to contain every illegal act of any group of persons come October 1. We have already been given operational orders to this effect by the Commissioner of Police and we will not tolerate any act capable of causing a breach of the peace. On October 1, we will prevent any group from removing the Nigerian flag in the state.” Meanwhile, IPOB has urged residents in the South-East states to celebrate Ambazonia’s 4th independence anniversary on October 1, 2021. Ambazonia, also known as Ambaland, is a secessionist, self-declared nation in Cameroon, comprising the English speaking North-West and South-West Region of Cameroon. The two separatist groups formed an alliance in 2020 to drive their push for self-determination from the two West African neighbours. The statement read in part, “In line with the Memorandum of Understanding and alliance between Ambazonia and Biafra nations, we wish to ask Biafrans to support and celebrate Ambazonia’s Independence anniversary on October 1, 2021. We advise Biafrans to stand with the Ambazonian people as they celebrate their God-given freedom and independence.” IPOB’s sit-at-home observed every Monday has grounded socio-economic activities in the South-East states namely Ebonyi, Imo, Anambra, Enugu and Abia with many residents abiding by the order. Despite the governors’ assurances to the people to ignore the order and go about their normal business on Mondays, they continued to obey it even when IPOB suspended the order. The group announced the order in the region to protest the Federal Government’s prosecution of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, for offences bordering on treasonable felony. Kanu is advocating Igbo Nation. After announcing the suspension of the sit-home which the people didn’t obey perhaps in solidarity or for fear of attack, IPOB noted that the order would be observed only on the days Kanu would appear in court. It also threatened a one-month sit-at-home protest in the region if Kanu was not brought to court on October 2, 2021. t PUNCH.

Why dead Nigerians’ names are still on voter register – INEC chair by Solomon Odeniyi

The Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has said the inability of the commission to get adequate data on death in the country has hindered it from removing names of dead Nigerians from the voter register. He added that INEC had been periodically removing ineligible persons and multiple registrants using technology but the technology cannot assist the commission to identify and remove dead persons from its record. Yakubu said this when he received the Chairman of the National Population Commission, Nasir Kwarra, at the headquarters of the commission in Abuja on Friday. He, however, called on the NPC to ensure that data on dead persons in the country is made available to the commission for a proper clean up of the voter register. He said, “Perhaps you may wish to start by availing us with the list of prominent Nigerians who have passed on, civil and public servants compiled from the official records of government Ministries, Departments and Agencies and other Nigerians from hospital and funeral records across the country. “We appreciate that this is a herculean task but that is partly why we have the National Population Commission. We are confident that the NPC has the capacity to do so. This information is critical for INEC to enhance the credibility of the National Register of Voters”. Read Also INEC maintains dead govs, ministers, others on voter register LASIEC shouldn’t have access to INEC voter register –Resident Voter registration: 203,497 requests received in one week - INEC According to Yakubu, the NPC and INEC have embarked on one of the most imaginative and extensive inter-agency collaborations in Nigeria in the area of delimitation of boundaries of electoral constituencies. Earlier, Kwarra said the NPC was awaiting the approval of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), to conduct a national census by the first quarter of 2022. According to him, the Enumeration Area Demarcation exercise which is a prelude to a national census was still ongoing, adding that INEC aims to complete the enumeration by October. Copyright PUNCH

EXPOSED: HOW NIGERIAN AIRWAYS WAS KILLED AND THE MEN WHO EMBEZZLED THE AGENCY TO DEATH. - Agency Reports

On Tuesday, as the Nigerian government commenced payment of the pension of retired employees of the defunct Nigerian Airways, members of the House of Representatives passed a resolution to investigate those indicted for looting the resources of the fallen national carrier. After weeks of verification, the government eventually cleared about 6,000 former employees to be paid from the N45 billion earmarked for the purpose. The former employees have not been paid their entitlements since 2003 when the airline went belly up. The House resolution to identify those indicted by the white paper with the aim of ensuring they are “prosecuted and made to refund the loot,” followed a motion of urgent public importance moved by James Faleke (APC-Lagos) during plenary. Mr Faleke said the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2002 set up the Justice Obiora Nwazota Judicial Commission to probe the operations of Nigerian Airways. He said the commission revealed the looting and misappropriation of the company’s resources to the tune of N60 billion. “The white paper was approved by the federal government and further directed the Federal Ministry of Finance and the police to recover the stolen funds and prosecute the indicted culprits,” he said. “Those indicted in the report are believed to be largely visible in the public arena while the ex-workers continue to languish in abject poverty having been denied their rights to their entitlements with many of them reportedly dead without receiving their entitlements.” Mr Faleke then added that if the Obasanjo government and subsequent administrations had implemented the recommendations of the white paper, workers of the airline would not have suffered much pains and deprivation. ….An orgy of fraud In 2013, an investigation on the judicial commission of inquiry’s white paper detailed the orgy of fraud and unbridled embezzlement that ultimately hastened the death of the once prosperous airline. The airline, which had 32 airworthy aircraft in its heyday in the 1980s, saw its fleet reduced to just two barely functional airplanes. Outraged by the cascading status of the airline, Mr Obasanjo in 2002 set up the commission of inquiry to investigate its management. The commission was mandated, amongst other things, to “examine all books of account and records and determine whether there has been compliance with appropriate regulations.” The commission worked for a year going through documents and interviewing stakeholders and other experts. At the end of its assignment, it submitted a four-volume report that revealed mind-boggling fraud, misappropriations and wanton recklessness running into billions of naira involving several officials of the airline, administrators, travel agencies, financial institutions, local and foreign companies, as well as one prominent development organisation. On December 11, 2002, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a draft White Paper on the commission’s report and directed the ministry of justice and the police to prosecute and recover the stolen funds. It also directed the office of Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) to gazette the recommendations of the white paper. That was the last heard of the white paper. The police, the justice ministry and the SGF failed to do as the FEC directed. The Justice Nwazota-led Commission of Inquiry revealed that decency was thrown to the dogs in the management of the Nigerian Airways. It was a free-for-all contest of corruption with almost everyone involved in the running of the airline trying desperately to out-embezzle the other. Due process was alien to the managers of the airline. Officials stole and misappropriated tens of millions of dollars. Administrators arbitrarily signed shady contracts with companies without recourse to regulations, monies were dubiously deposited and lost in moribund financial institutions. Functional airplanes were sold as scraps and the revenue stolen. Officials collected huge loans from financial institutions with the name of the airline and kept the money for personal use. …The indicted Though several individuals, organisations, companies were indicted by the judicial panel of inquiry for their roles, which includes the stealing of several millions of dollars, in the eventual demise of Nigerian Airways, some persons received prominent mentions for their brazen and unrestrained looting of the airline. Just like Mr Faleke said on the floor of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, many of them are still around today, free and enjoying the proceeds of their alleged fraudulent act after killing a national icon. Below is a list of these men. 1. Mohammed Joji No single individual should be blamed as much as a former managing director of the Nigerian Airways, Mohammed Joji, the judicial commission found. In fact, the commission stated that Mr Joji, who owns Skypower Express Airways and is the secretary general of Aircraft Operators of Nigeria, was brashly corrupt and handled the affairs of the airline in such a reprehensible manner that it recommended he should be banned from ever holding public office in Nigeria. However, last year, the President Muhammadu Buhari administration allegedly appointed him to head a committee that supervised the repair of the Abuja airport and the temporary relocation of international flight to nearby Kaduna Airport. That alleged appointment was, however, not publicly announced. The Nwazota-led commission found that in 1993 Mr Joji “collected and spent” N4.37 billion ($12 million) royalty from Swissair without approval. Also, in the same year, he diverted N3.57 billion ($9,800,000) to himself in a single transaction. According to the judicial committee, Mr. Joji claimed that he paid N3.93 billion ($10.8 million) to a defunct Belgian national airline, Sabena Airline, but he only paid N364 million ($1million), the panel discovered. Further, the white paper revealed that in March 1993, Mr Joji “unlawfully approved” N2 million to one Grace Hembah as imprest account. In the same year, Mr. Joji outsourced the maintenance of a Boeing 737 aircraft to Brazilian consultants paying them in full despite up to 75 per cent of the maintenance was done by employees of Nigerian Airways. The committee said the airline lost N1.28 billion ($3.53 million) in the process. A year before, Mr. Joji had paid Nicon Insurance PLC N896.43 million ($2,458,064) less premium due to the then government-owned insurance company. Also, the judicial committee found that during the tenure of Mr. Joji as the managing director of the airline, N813.38 ($2,230,357) discounted from the premium accrued to the airline had vanished into thin air. In all, the white paper revealed that Mr. Joji was responsible for the diversion or siphoning of N11 billion ($30,018,421) in 24 months. When contacted in 2013, Mr Joji, said that his indictment was as a result of a witchhunt against him by former aviation ministers, Bablola Borishade and Kema Chikwe. He described Mr Nwazota as a mere consultant, adding that the committee did not do a good job. “There were several panels. Nwazota was just a consultant. Is that what you call a panel? They didn’t do a proper job,” he said in a telephone conversation. “Do your research. The question you have to ask is who wrote the white paper? Was it gazetted? Was anyone charged?” He wondered why there was an interest in the story 10 years after. “At that time, no newspaper wrote about it. The White Paper was published 10 years ago, why are you just writing about it now,” he queried. When told we had just started publishing, he replied: “You are starting on a bad note. They will charge you to court. The White Paper is not gazetted. You’re playing a dangerous game. Ten years ago, something was written, and you just came overnight and want to write something about it.” “It just a wishy-washy thing by Mr. Borishade and Kema Chikwe. It wasn’t gazetted and I wasn’t charged,” he said. 2. Jani Ibrahim The second biggest culprit in the demise of the Nigerian Airways identified by the Nwazota commission of inquiry is Jani Ibrahim. The chieftain of the Nigerian ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in Kwara State was indicted for several fraudulent and illegal acts between 1996 and 2001 that he was the managing director of the airways. Mr. Ibrahim, who is now a director of Heritage Bank, was so enmeshed in corruption that the investigating commission declared that ““every project and contract was conceived with fraudulent intent.” The white paper specifically described him as “fraudulent and high-handed.” According to the white paper, Mr. Ibrahim treated the airline’s account like his personal wallet and summarily sacked those “he thought were threats to his fraudulent practices.” The judicial commission found that between 1997 and 1999, Mr. Ibrahim collected rent valued at N1.47 billion ($4,052,234.00) due to the airline and spent the money without recourse to laid down regulations. He unilaterally paid $1.78 million without guarantee to Alpine Aviation, a travel agency for the 1999 Hajj operation. The agency failed to deliver. But only $560,000 was recovered from the agency. The balance of N444.92 million ($1.22 million) could not be recovered, the commission stated in the white paper. Between 1997 and 1999 was the period Mr. Ibrahim was most profligate, the report stated. In that period, he appointed and paid a third-party company, Hak Air, N338.75 million ($928,895) to collect revenue on behalf of the airline. After analysing the deal, the judicial commission stated the Hak Air has no capacity whatsoever to carry out the job assigned to it. Mr. Ibrahim also overpaid Hak Air (N529 million) $1.45 million for overhauling two aircraft – DC10-30 and B737, the white paper stated. During the first C-Check of an Airbus in Nigeria by United Kingdom-based aircraft maintenance firm, Revilo Aerospace, Mr. Ibrahim made an over-payment of N224.68million ($616,052.26). He also “single-handedly signed and disbursed N379 million ($1,039,439.00) without the signature of the airline’s financial director as regulation required.” Mr. Ibrahim also unilaterally allotted 24 plots of land belonging to the airline in the Ayobo area of Lagos to non-staff members of the airline. In keeping faith with what the judicial commission described as Mr Ibrahim’s authoritarian approach to leadership, he went into a Wet Lease agreement with Al-Mahfooz Aviation, a Gambian chartered airline, that was to last for a year, but the venture collapsed because Mr. Ibrahim did not consult Nigerian Airways technical department. The failure of the agreement cost the airline N247.28 million. In all, a whopping N3.63 billion disappeared as a result of corruption and the highhandedness of Mr. Ibrahim while he was managing director of the airline, the report stated. 3. Bernard Banfa and Patrick Koshoni During his time as managing director of the Nigerian airways, the judicial commission revealed that Bernard Banfa, a retired air commodore, colluded with Patrick Koshoni, a retired admiral and the minister of aviation at the time, to sell airworthy A310 aircraft at giveaway prices against the advice of experts. The commission recommended that the duo should refund N158.73 billion ($435.25 million) being the cost of an A310 aircraft. There is no evidence that both men repaid the money as directed by the commission. Despite his indictment by the commission, in 2016, President Buhari appointed Mr Banfa, who was a member of the President’s defunct Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) which later merged with other parties to form the ruling APC, into the board of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC). 4. Afam Nwagboso Afam Nwagboso, who was the director of finance of the Nigerian Airways in 1992, with the approval of Mr Joji, designated a moribund bank (Continental Merchant Bank) as the collecting bank for all cash taking of the airline. Soon after the designation, the bank failed, and the airline lost N40 million already collected by it. 5. Olu Bajowa and Alabo Graham-Douglas The managing director of Nigeria Airways between 1988 and 1990, Olu Bajowa, a retired major general, gave CES Travels the exclusive right to sell tickets for the airline in the United Kingdom and the United States. During the period, CES Travels failed to remit N2.29 billion ($6.3 million) worth of tickets it sold on behalf of the airline. Commission recommended that Mr. Bajowa, Alabo Graham Douglas, a prominent Ijaw politician and member of the opposition Peoples democratic Party in Rivers State, M. Abdulsalam, T. Mgbhor and U.S.H Maigida, should refund the money to the airline’s account. 6. Mohammed Kari The judicial commission also wrote in its white paper that in 1993, a former managing director and chief executive of Nicon Insurance, Mohammed Kari, colluded with other officials of Nicon Insurance and Nigerian Airways to divert N50.82 billion ($13,935,956) to a phony company – Alexander Services Limited in the Channel Island, an offshore tax haven. In July 2015, Mr Buhari, in one of his first appointments made after being sworn-in as president, named Mr Kari the commissioner for Insurance and chief executive of the National Insurance Commission (NAICOM). For days, Mr Kari failed to respond to questions about his indictment sent to by PREMIUM TIMES through the spokesperson of NAICOM, Razaq Salami. 7. Ibrahim Bala Bala Ibrahim was an area marketing manager of the airline. In 1993, he stole N860.50 million ($2,359,546.95) collected from the Jeddah station for excess baggage and luggage allowance, the commission revealed. 8. All-Well Brown For two years, between 1995 to 1997, All-Well Brown, a director, “kept some crew of the airline in Miami for five months for no reasonable cause,” the commission discovered. Their stay cost the airline N44.49 million ($122,000.00). 9. Alexandra Howden Some officials of the airways connived with a defunct UK insurance company, Alexandra Howden, and transferred N893.49 million ($2.45 million) to its account without rendering any service to the airline. 10. A. Olafisoye According to the report, Mr Olafisoye, the Managing Director of Fidelity Bond Limited, and other senior management officials, stole millions of dollar from the airline. The report described Mr. Olafisoye as “all-in-all [who] manipulated the operators of the company at will.” The report said his involvement with the company “led to the looting of funds and other fraudulent activities that brought the [airline] on its kneels.” Tweet ATTACHMENT CONTACT INFO NIGERIAN CONCORD ONLINE Editor-in-Chief : AARE ABIODUN

2023: APC reveals where Buhari’s successor should come from By Seun Opejobi

The South African chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has expressed hope that a Nigerian from the diaspora would succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023. Bola Babarinde, Chairman of APC in South Africa, disclosed this after Philip Idaewor, Chairman of Forum of APC Diaspora, declared his intention to run for Nigeria’s presidency in 2023. The News Agency of Nigeria. NAN, reports that Idaewor, a medical doctor and Chairman of APC in the UK, made his intention known via a zoom conference of his campaign group and media on Sunday. Babarinde, while speaking with NAN on Tuesday in Lagos, said the party needed a candidate that had lived abroad and understood what good governance was all about. According to him, the Chairmen of Diaspora chapters are deliberating on ways to contribute to the development of the party and Nigeria. “We are deliberating on someone that will carry ordinary Nigerians along, someone that believes in the federation and not the present unitary system we are practising due to our faulty constitution. “We are very serious in making the real change happen and not just as a slogan,” Babarinde said. On the APC National Convention, Babarinde said the Gov. Mai Mala-Buni-led Caretaker and Extra-Ordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC), was not carrying the diaspora chapters along as expected. “Presently, no relationship between APC Caretaker Committee and most, if not all, of the diaspora chapters; no direct information to us. “It is also very difficult to communicate with the CECPC, no clear line of communication for now. “We are not sure of the plans of the caretaker committee for us in the Diaspora,” he added.

APC UK chairman Philip Idaewor joins 2023 presidential race. By Adeyemi Adeleye

Dr Philip Idaewor, Chairman, Forum of APC Diaspora Chairmen has declared his interest in Nigeria’s 2023 presidency. Idaewor, a medical doctor and chairman of APC UK, made his intention known via a zoom conference of the campaign group and media on Sunday. The Edo born chieftain of Diaspora APC, said his decision to join the race was to usher in new ideas that would help build on the achievements of the Muhammadu Buhari led administration. “The best successor for President Buhari should be one with fresh ideas from the diaspora, who has the mental capacity and goodwill to adapt those ideas that have made life better for citizens of the more or better developed western nations, to the Nigerian challenges. According to him, the myriads of challenges of Nigeria though tough, are surmountable. My ambition is the ambition of diaspora APC chairmen, made up of personalities in different fields in various countries, and we think this is time for us to wade in and make Nigeria better,. Idaewor said his first focus would be strengthening institutions against all forms of corruption in Nigeria and making them impregnable to criminals. He said: “Corruption has cost and still costing Nigeria huge wastes. If corruption is tackled headlong in all sectors of the economy and government, then Nigeria will be steps ahead of achieving her dream status.” He noted that some of the issues of poverty, insecurity, infrastructure among others were all tied to corruption, saying: ‘ eliminate corruption and you eliminate almost all our challenges. ” If I am elected, those who think they have ways of beating the system will have to think twice, knowing that the possibility of being indicted or caught will be extremely high,” Idaewor added. Also speaking, Mazi Charles Eze, Campaign Director of the Idaewor for President and HOPE2023 Campaign Organisation, said the decision for Idaewor to run, remained a “Diaspora Movement”. He said they understood it was a tough terrain but they would pull their skills to make it happen for the nation’s benefit. “It’s a very tall order but we have the capacity to pull it off. The kind of campaign we undertook for President Buhari in the diaspora is what we will bring in and indeed, we have learnt from those experiences. We know there will be challenges but we are ready for them,” he said. Also speaking, Mr Ayoola Lawal, Secretary of the APC Diaspora Chairmen Forum and Chairman, APC in the Scandinavian countries, said APC should consider ceding the candidacy to a diaspora member. Ayoola said the decision by the group to join more active politics in Nigeria dated back to many years ago, when some of them came in to contest at different levels in their home states. “Those elections were experiences for us and we have built on those experiences and believe it is time to wade in,” Ayoola said. Idaewor is a specialist Histopathologist, residing and working in the UK. He had his medical education in Nigeria and previously worked as a lecturer at the University of Benin Medical School. Dr Idaewor had been Vice President and later President of the Resident Doctors Association at the University of Benin Teaching hospital, and also served as National Financial Secretary of the association at the national level. He was for over three years, the Coordinator of “Nigeria Prays” in Edo , under the national chairmanship of Nigeria’s former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon. He had been a member of the Movement of National Reformation (MNR) led then by late Chief Anthony Enahoro , and on the platform of the MNR, became involved in NADECO during Nigeria’s pro-democracy campaign of 1993 – 1999. In 1999 Idaewor joined the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and was a key member of the party’s governorship campaign organisation in Edo. He was to later serve as Chairman of MNR Europe and later, the founding Chairman of PRONACO Europe. Dr Idaewor remained consistently a member of the defunct AD, and later Action Congress (AC) UK Chapter, Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) UK Chapter and now APC UK chapter. He served at various times as the Head of Strategy, Congress Committee, Deputy Chairman and Chairman of these political parties.

2023 Presidency: PDP may lose again if northern candidate emerges, says Okupe by Sunday Aborisade

A former presidential spokesperson, Doyin Okupe, has warned the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party against presenting a northern candidate for the 2023 presidential election to avoid another major defeat. The PDP chieftain stated this in an interview with journalists in Abuja on Saturday. Okupe argued that the zoning arrangement in the PDP ended with the 2019 presidential election but that some people within the party are insisting on presenting a northern candidate for the 2023 poll. He said major politicians were defecting from the party because of the issue of a northern presidential candidate. He expressed the fears that the party could collapse before 2023 if the gale of defections continues. Okupe said, “The gale of defections in the Peoples Democratic Party has nothing to do with any form of crisis. It is just part of happenings when a general election is approaching “Those who have defected have personal issues with party leadership, especially on the zoning arrangement. “The issue of zoning shouldn’t be a basis for defections at this time because the committee set up to determine that will soon conclude their assignment and submit their report “However, there is a strong indication that the party is erroneously tilting towards zoning the presidency to the North. “Zoning is a veritable instrument that ensures equity and balancing in the nation, gives hope and confidence and support to our national unity. “The zoning arrangement which the PDP started since 1998 was based on the assumption that the party will be in power consistently but the moment it lost power in 2015, automatically the arrangement has to be reviewed in view of the development “When the PDP lost power, there was a southern president in power. If the party didn’t lose power and completed in 2019, zoning would kick in and power would have shifted to the North. “However, the party that won the election presented a northern candidate who by 2023 would have ruled for eight years. “We still carried on as if the former arrangement was still in place in 2019 and it was justifiable because within the PDP at that time for us to put forward a northern candidate. “In 2023, with APC having ruled for eight years with a northern candidate, it will be preposterous, unjust, uncaring and blatant for the PDP to zone the presidential ticket to the north because the arrangement expired the moment our party lost power in 2019. “There should be a reset of the zoning arrangement in 2023. It does not make sense to replace a northern government of eight years with another northern government for another eight years, it doesn’t make sense. “That is why the PDP should zone the presidency to the South. The southern governors who are the leaders of the South had spoken, we should listen to then. “It will be folly, reckless and insensitive for any political party to ignore the position of the southern governors “Some people who think they control wealth are talking within the party while reasonable and strong men are keeping quiet. Some are being given money to keep quiet. “The struggle between Secondus and Wike is unnecessary. It ought not to have degenerated to this level. Our party may lose again if we zone presidency to the North again in 2023, ” Okupe added.

Aboki FX: How speculators attack, affect naira value —CBN ex-deputy gov Moghalu by Kayode Oyero

A former Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Kingsley Moghalu, has said that currency speculators attack and affect the value of the naira. Moghalu, who was a deputy governor at the apex bank from 2009 to 2014, made this known in a thread posted on his Twitter handle on Saturday. He made the comments just hours after the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, on Friday, said that the Federal Government would track the owner of Aboki FX, an online platform that gathers and displays parallel market rates in Nigeria, and stop the operations of the website in the country. The apex bank governor had also accused the owner of the website, a London-based Nigerian, Oniwinde Adedotun, of “speculative activities on the naira”, adding that he has to explain how he obtains his rates. This is based on the rate of the rise of the naira on the parallel market which is currently trading at N570/dollar. Following the complaints by the CBN governor, Aboxi FX said on Friday that it would no longer provide daily updates on foreign exchange rates for now and hoped that the naira would stabilise. Commenting on the FX crisis in the country in a Twitter thread, Moghalu listed factors that affect the value of the Naira to include “supply and demand (if too much Naira is chasing scarce dollars, the dollar gets stronger relative to the Naira, and vice versa). “Others are inflation (a high inflation economy such as Nigeria’s weakens the value of the legal tender), high government indebtedness ( again, our case especially relative to our revenues and ability to pay which will be stretched the more we borrow on poor revenues, and 90 kobo out of every N1 goes to debt servicing).” Though Moghalu did not mention Aboki FX, he said, “Speculation also affects the naira value, as there are currency traders around the world for whom the weakness of a currency is their very good fortune. Such traders “attack” such currencies for profit, especially where the currency is using a fixed, official exchange rate determined by the central bank instead of the market. “As the Naira is effectively pegged officially to a “reserve” currency (dollars, euros, pound sterling), speculators can attack such a currency for profit if the country (Nigeria in this case) is perceived to have insufficient foreign reserves to meet demand. Because our inflation rates at 17% are way higher than those “reserve-currency” countries, again we are exposed to possible currency attacks. “If reserves are weak, and demand for dollars massively outstrips supply, currency devaluation is inevitable, and currency traders who mount speculative attacks profit from this devaluation. “Such traders will borrow the Naira from Nigerian banks, convert it to, say, dollars, then buy short-interest paying Nigerian bonds. If, as the speculators anticipate, the central bank devalues the naira, the traders sell the bonds in the foreign currency, convert them into naira, and repay their original loan. “The steeper the devaluation the higher the speculator’s profit. What should we do about all of this? As I have said before, and say again, we have two options. One is to let the Naira find its level in the market. In order, words, subsidizing the currency. “While there will likely be an immediate spike in the price of the dollar, this move will have two advantages. The first is that, because Nigeria has a big, profitable economy and market, dollars will likely swamp the market seeking profits for investors. “When this happens, the laws of demand and supply will work in favour of the Naira. Alongside this, maintaining different exchange rates for different kinds of transactions must end. This is called rate convergence.” The former presidential candidate of the Young Progressive Party in the 2019 election also said that one of the best ways to strengthen the naira is to make the “right trade policies to support and create such incentives for massive exports of finished, value-added goods from Nigeria”. “The second, and more important benefit is that, since the current practice of the CBN pumping dollars in the FX market (from the reserves, which also depleted them) is essentially a subsidy for imports, which has made Nigeria more and more import-dependent, letting go of the subsidy on the Naira will refocus the economy towards exports. “This will create an incentive for complex production of a quality that can be competitive in the international market. Accompanying this must be the right trade policies to support and create such incentives for massive exports of finished, value-added goods from Nigeria.”

Sit-at-home: Kidnappers, criminals have hijacked IPOB agitation, says Umahi by Kayode Oyero

Governor of Ebonyi State, Dave Umahi, has said that the secessionist agitation of the proscribed Indigenous People of Biafra has been hijacked by criminals and kidnappers. The governor also said that the proscribed group is no longer in control of the whole agitation as a result of the alleged hijack by unscrupulous elements. Umahi, who is the Chairman of the South-East Governors’ Forum, spoke on Friday on Channels Television’s ‘Sunrise Daily’ breakfast programme monitored by The PUNCH. According to him, the people of the South-East geopolitical zone are industrious people who don’t sit at home on Mondays. The governor said though IPOB had announced the suspension of its Monday sit-at-home order initially issued by the group, Igbo businessmen and women continue to stay indoors on Mondays because of the lack of inadequate security personnel to secure their lives and property. Umahi said, “The sit-at-home works to the average of 70 per cent in the South-East because of fear. It’s fear; our people are not the kind of people that sit at home – they hustle for their daily living, they go from one place to the other. “The worst sit-at-home is the terrible state of roads in the South-East, it is worst than IPOB sit-at-home. “But let me address the issue of IPOB sit-at-home to say that even IPOB themselves had come out severally to say, ‘Look o, we have suspended sit-at-home’, which is madness in the first place. You are not sitting at home in the North or in the West, you only sit at home in the South-East to destroy the economy of South-East. “You can’t destroy your people and pretend that you are fighting for your people. These are youths and then the agitation of IPOB has been hijacked by cultists and criminals and kidnappers, so the whole show is out of their hands. “So, it is out of fear that we don’t have enough security to protect the people, that’s why the people sit at home out of fear because many had been killed as a result of this and as a result of security people not being enough to protect them.” The PUNCH had earlier reported that IPOB pronounced a weekly sit-at-home order in the entire South-East (Imo, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi and Abia states) beginning August 9, 2021, to protest the continued detention of its leader, Nnamdi Kanu, who has been in the custody of the Department of State Services for over three months. IPOB subsequently suspended the Monday sit-at-home order, saying it would be observed any day Kanu appears in court but the last seven Mondays have turned bloody in the South-East as “unknown gunmen” attacked travellers, traders, students, and other persons who came out for normal activities. Many have been killed, injured and vehicles have been burnt while banks, markets, schools, and other public places continue to shut down every Monday as people stayed indoors out of fear of being assailed outside. The case of Kanu, who is facing terrorism-related charged before Justice Binta Nyako, has been adjourned to October 21, 2021, for continuation of hearing.

The National Association of Resident Doctors has said it will appeal the ruling of the National Industrial Court by Deborah Tolu-Kolawole and Lesi Nwisagbo

Striking doctors kick against industrial court order, vow to appeal Kindly share this story: Dr Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi The National President, National Association of Resident Doctors, Dr Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi

The National Association of Resident Doctors has said it will appeal the ruling of the National Industrial Court, Abuja which asked its members to suspend their ongoing strike action and return to work. The association made its position known in a statement on Friday titled, “NARD/SG/2020-2021/170921/83,” jointly signed by its President, Uyilawa Okhuaihesuyi, and Secretary General, Jerry Isogun. The statement partly read, “As we are all aware, especially those that were present in court today, the NIC has given a ruling on the application for interlocutory injunction filed by the Federal Government. We are not satisfied with the ruling. “After consultations with our lawyers, we have instructed our lawyers to appeal the ruling and file application for stay of execution. “On September 15, 2021, the court reserved ruling on which application the court would take first. Our lawyers had argued in the court on that day that the court ought to hear and determine our notice of preliminary objection challenging the jurisdiction of the court before taking the application for interlocutory injunction or any other application. “The court adjourned ruling on the argument on that issue till today (Friday). Today (Friday), the court ruled that it would take the government’s application for interlocutory injunction first and our NPO would be taken and determined along with the substantive suit. “Also, our lawyers drew the attention of the court to our application for stay of execution of the ex parte order and that the court should take that application first. The court insisted that the government application would be taken first.” NARD added that while the court had on September 19 ordered all parties to resume negotiations, the government refused to resume negotiations in line with the order of August 23. It added, “Our lawyers reported this development to the court. We have demonstrated good faith and would continue to do so. “By the refusal of the court to hear and determine our Notice of Preliminary Objection before taking the government’s application for interlocutory injunction, we believe we have been denied fair hearing which is a fundamental right. “In the circumstances, we have instructed our lawyers to file necessary processes. “We urge all members to remain calm and resolute. Everything depends on our firm resolve. We are committed to protecting your rights within the confines of the law. We believe justice shall be ours ultimately.” During the Friday hearing, counsel for government, Tochukwu Maduka (SAN), had told the court that the parties ought to have given a report on the settlement reached but they were unable to agree. But counsel for NARD, Femi Aborisade, accused the Federal Government of failing to call a meeting to reconcile the differences. Aborisade urged the court to compel the government to go back to the negotiation table. However, he stated that if the government wants to proceed in court, they were ready to match them. Arguing Federal Government’s motion on notice for interlocutory injunction, Maduka urged the court to restrain the resident doctors from continuing with the industrial action pending the hearing and determination of the substantive suit. He argued that resident doctors, as persons who provide essential services, could not embark on strike and continue to deny citizens access to health care. But Aborisade vehemently opposed Maduka’s prayers, saying it would be unfair to force doctors who treat hundreds of Nigerians back to work without settling the issues they had raised. But after taking arguments from the parties, the judge ruled in favour of the Federal Government and ordered the resident doctors back to work immediately and ordered the parties to go back to the negotiation table. The judge said, “It is my firm belief that if the court does not intervene, many Nigerians will lose their lives. “In view of the fact, I found the application meritorious, I grant the application. “Members of the Defendant are hereby restrained from continuing with the Industrial action. “I hereby order the defendant to resume work and enter negotiation with the claimants.” PUNCH

THE CHALLENGES OF UNIVERSITY EDUCATION.

By Yemi Ogunbiyi (Dinner speech on the eve of the 2019 Convocation of the Nigerian Academy of Letters (NAL), University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria, on 7th August, 2019) First, let me thank the Academy, and also its President, Professor Francis Egbokhare, for the honour done me and the other distinguished inductees for our admission into the Nigerian Academy of Letters. The honour of being considered an Honorary Fellow of this highly distinguished apex body for the advancement and promotion of scholarship and public interest in the humanities in our country is one that I cherish immensely. When I was invited to address this gathering for no more than 40 minutes on a topic of my choice, my immediate impulse was, of course, to choose to share with you my experience of the past two years as Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council of the Obafemi Awolowo University, and how that experience has reshaped my thinking about the future of university education in our country. Accordingly, I have titled my address: How to reposition our Universities: The modest example of the Obafemi Awolowo University. When I first came to work at Ile-Ife in 1977, I was a young 30-year old who had just finished graduate work at the New York University, in the United States. At that time, the University of Ife was a huge beehive of intellectual and cultural activities. A robustly brilliant, nimble-witted academic, Professor Ojetunji Aboyade, who had become Vice-Chancellor, I believe, the year before I arrived, embodied the bedrock of the fermentation of intellectual ideas that opened up the University to vistas of new possibilities. His influence and effort paid off handsomely and succeeded in attracting some of our finest academics to Ife. There was a joke at the time that captured the spirit of those moments, namely, that Professor Aboyade had given Professor Wole Soyinka an absolute free hand to institute any department he wanted in the Faculty of Arts, design for himself what courses he wished to teach, or do just about anything he wanted to do, provided his name featured prominently in the University’s teaching staff list! Other young academics, such as Dr. Biodun Jeyifo (as he then was), Dr. Kole Omotosho, Dr. Olabiyi Yayi, the late Professor Akinwunmi Isola, and a number of others, relocated to Ife. From the collaborative effort and work of our internationally-endowed faculty, a very virile culture of learning and research thrived, leading to a string of various achievements. The atmosphere of those years was not just upbeat, it fuelled a healthy competition and a robust interest in research and learning. My own modest work as an academic is a product of those years. By the time I came back two years ago, this time, as Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of Council, that is, some forty years after I first set foot on that campus, I encountered a slightly different scenario! While much of the architectural beauty of the campus remained relatively intact, there was abundant evidence that the system was encountering severe difficulties. Those difficulties, which are not peculiar to Ife, is the sad story of higher education today in our country. I speak here of very scarce financial support, inadequate infrastructural facilities, acute shortage of skilled teaching facility, a bloated administrative arm of the system, lack of research interests, lack of motivation to compete and collaborate internationally, and an almost zero industry collaboration, etc. Perhaps, the most fundamental of these problems is that of the inadequacy of funding. Mr. President, I am reluctant to bore you with the history of higher education in our country. It is sufficient merely to state here that, in certain respects, that history is inextricably linked with the problems we face today. When the British invaded our shores in the middle of the nineteenth century and established the first set of mission schools in their trading posts in Lagos and Calabar, their interest was in commerce, not education. As we all now know, the idea was not to provide education for development, but to educate the elites that would assist them in administering the colonies. So, when, following the recommendations of the Elliot Commission of 1943, the University College, Ibadan, was founded in 1948, it was conceived as an affiliate of the University of London, which was itself founded by Royal Charter in 1836 to function, like its brother institutions, Cambridge and Oxford, as a haven for the training of British professional elite to assist in propping up the Empire. Quite unlike the American model, for instance, where in 1862, the Morrill Act created a uniquely American model, one in which, in principle at least, universities were designed from the beginning “to prepare the masses of young people in a participatory arrangement,” the British model was something akin to the medieval concept of the university, where the Church and the State funded universities in full. The new University College of Ibadan inherited the University of London's structure, its curriculum, its funding mechanism and its broad objectives, essentially, as I stated above, to enable it to cater to the elite class in Nigeria. That structure appeared to have worked, at least, for a while. Then following the Eric Ashby Report of 1959, other regional universities were established, such that two years after Independence in 1960, there were 60,000 undergraduates in Nigeria’s six universities, usually referred to as the first generation universities, namely, Ibadan, Nsukka, Ile-Ife, Zaria, Lagos and Benin. Then, in the mid-1970s, our problems began, albeit, gradually. In September of 1976, General Olusegun Obasanjo, as Head of the military government, launched the Universal Free Primary Education Scheme (UPE), clearly the most gigantic educational project ever in the history of Nigeria, at least, up until that time. During the first session of the scheme, that is, the 1976/77 session, 8 million pupils were enrolled in primary schools throughout the country. During the 1980/81 session, that figure rose to 15 million. In the same year, 1.2 million children enrolled in secondary schools and another 75,000 students gained admission into universities. By 1985, the undergraduate admission figures went up to 125,000. And even though those figures represented a tiny proportion of the population, it was clear, even at that time, that the fierce competition to get into the limited available spaces in higher institutions had begun. Obviously, the rapid enrollment into primary and secondary schools had started to create a deficit between the number of students seeking higher education and the amount of slots available in the universities. As at 2018, according to the National Universities Commission, there were over 2 million full-time undergraduates and graduates enrolled in our existing 170 Universities today. As these nascent problems of our universities began, they were compounded by other global challenges that were way beyond the capacities of these institutions. First, there was the transformation in the global political economy and the significance of information and knowledge to production and management services, known as globalisation. Then came the global economic meltdown of some two decades ago, coupled also with the burgeoning population explosions of the period, which took a greater toll on Africa than the rest of the world. This situation was compounded even further by the rapacious greed of the African elite, whose corrupt practices robbed the continent of valuable resources that would have gone into infrastructure, social services and human capacity development. Then, just as we were beginning to negotiate our relationship with the long period of military rule and its effects on higher education, the HIV/AIDS pandemic struck. These global challenges led to severe crunches in practically every sector of the economy, from governance, to social services and, of course, education. These also meant that our universities were incapable of taking full advantage of the opportunities and benefits of globalisation. And as the State, which had been the main source of funding retreated, our universities, buckled under the strain. This major challenge, that is, lack of adequate funding, led to the decay we now face today. Meanwhile, some key stakeholders in the sector, seemingly oblivious of these challenges, appear stuck in the mindset of the past and insist that state funding of universities is the only viable way forward for our universities to survive and thrive. Without question, adequate funding is key to university education. That view is not open to debate. Without adequate funding, higher education, anywhere, is doomed. But how should higher education be funded? Given regard to the peculiar nature of our history, can the state afford to continue to fund higher education? Are there lessons to be learnt from how universities are funded elsewhere? My contention, Mr. President, is that higher education in Nigeria can no longer be funded entirely by government. Let me restate this differently for emphasis. With all due respect to the position of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, its contention that Government can fund higher education entirely if all the leakages in the system were plugged, is unrealistic. In my view, no government of Nigeria, now or in the future, can adequately fund higher education for a number of reasons which I shall show presently. Not even the laudable effort of such intervention funding institutions as the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) can fully reverse the current deterioration in the system, to enable us to maximise learning outcomes and contribute efficiently to the workforce here at home or abroad. Even if we were to emulate the example of Ghana, which has consistently, during the last two decades or so, allocated about 15% of its annual Budget to education, we would still not be there. And the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, said that much at the last Convocation ceremony of the University of Ibadan, when, while admitting that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), may be correct in some of its demands, insisted that sole government funding for universities was an invitation to repeated failures. The existing funding details could not be worse than what is in place at the moment. Take the Obafemi Awolowo University, for instance. With a students’ population of close to 30,000 and a staff strength of some 4,800, we require over N65billion annually to run the university as a modern, top-ranking institution. The annual budgetary allocation for salaries from the federal government is N11billion. When you add that to the various capital Project intervention funds from TETFUND, and the NEEDS ASSESSMENT which come to about N1.5billion, we are looking at an annual maximum income of no more than N13billion That situation is further compounded by the fact that we cannot charge proper fees for tuition and accommodation. Even if all our 30,000 students pay their average of N26,000 fees annually, that is, for tuition and accommodation, it comes to a paltry N780 million. What this means is that we receive less than 25% of funds required to effectively run the university. Even a number of private universities that charge proper fees are finding it difficult to remain afloat without the intervention of other revenue sources. And as Dr. Wale Babalakin, the Chairman of the Implementation Committee of the Federal government and the Unions has brilliantly pointed out, the existing funding demands of our staff unions are not sustainable. Let’s do the sums. ASUU’s demand for N2Trillion to fund university education exceeds in value the total amount of money available for all capital projects in the country, including for Works and Infrastructure, Health, Security, Transportation, Housing and others. Referring to the 2018 Budget, which was N9Trillion, Dr. Babalakin said: “If you look at the break-down of the Budget, after debt services are removed, you remove recurrent expenditure, all that is left for the federal government is about N2Trillion. Last year (that is, 2017), the former Minister of Finance celebrated the fact that in 2017, we spent N1.5Trillion on capital Projects, which was the highest we have ever achieved in Nigeria”. In other words, if we spend an average of about N1.8Trillion annually on capital projects, ASUU’s demand for N2Trillion is unrealistic in its extremes. Recall also that in the 2019 Budget, a paltry sum of N620billion, representing 7% of total expenditure was allocated to Education. Faced with these realities, the Babalakin team has come up, in my view, with a number of well-thought-out proposals, among them a call for a huge increase in the number of scholarships provided for students of federal universities, a rapid implementation of a Student's Loan Scheme, presumably, under the rubric of an Education Bank and the introduction of internally-driven and self-regulating Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), to ensure maximum return on investments. Implicit in these proposals, of course, is the assumption that universities, under a climate of full autonomy, would be allowed to charge proper economic fees for tuition and accommodation and that students in need of assistance would be able to avail themselves of the services of an existing Education Bank and a robust Loan’s Scheme. But Mr. Chairman, even these measures, laudable as they may seem, would not be enough to get us to the Promised land. To be sustainable in the long-term, our universities would need to meet the full economic costs of teaching and research and these include proper staff remuneration, cost of research, costs of field trips, costs of equipment, cost of services, cost of replacing infrastructure and the cost of investing in innovation. Indeed, universities, by their very nature, need surplus income, because without surplus income “universities would be unable to deliver the scale of investment required to meet students' demand, remain internationally competitive and continue to be financially sustainable”. Again, let me, by way of emphasis, restate these facts somewhat differently. Our universities would need to creatively source for additional alternative and sustainable revenue streams to enable them to survive, thrive and compete internationally. In the absence of a robust tradition of endowments, which, for instance, is a key funding source for many American colleges and universities, our universities would need to do a lot more for them to join the league of the world's top universities. I contend further, that if we do not do this now; if we do not come up with fresh, creative ideas on how to survive, the future would be bleak for higher education in our country. Indeed, at the risk of sounding like a doomsday Prophet, I predict that if we fail to look inwards now and fail to see our current challenges as symptoms of an impending larger crisis, and continue to rely solely on government for funding, some of our current universities might not be around in twenty-five years from now to tell their stories. In the concluding section of this presentation, I would attempt to share with you our modest effort at Ile-Ife to confront this challenge, head-on. But before I do, let me quickly share with you two other aspects of the Higher Education debate that are relevant to the future of our universities, namely, the question of whether we should or should not establish more universities, and the perceived quality of our university education. The funding debate had led some to argue, not without justification, that in the face of the huge scarcity of funds, which has led to serious decay in the system, government should put a freeze in the establishment of new universities. But that position is unrealistic and obscures a different, and perhaps an even more fundamental problem, in the face of unfolding realities. Again, let’s look at the figures. The World Bank estimates that at an annual growth rate of close to 3%, our population could be close to 500 million by 2050, which is only 30 years away! That would make us the most populous nation on earth, after China and India!! Close to half of that population, some 200 million young people, would be between the ages of 15-30, the age bracket that would most be in need of higher education. Bear in mind also that as at today, we deny close to one million young persons access to higher education because we cannot find spaces for them in our existing 170 universities. This exclusion confirms the World Bank’s figures that state that access to higher education in Africa remains, at 5%, the lowest regional average in the world, where the global average is 25%. So what would happen, thirty years down the road, when we hit the 500 million population mark? The economic implications of these realities are grim, especially for a country such as ours. If our current institutions are incapable of responding to our immediate skills’ needs to support productivity-led growth, what would happen when we are 500 million people? Put differently, how do we reap the demographic dividends of a huge growing young population in a way that enables us to plug the huge deficit in human capital development, while at the same time responding to our immediate skills’ needs? What these realities suggest is that we cannot afford to ignore the huge demand for higher education. The viable way forward, in my view, should be an expansive two-track approach that compels us to meet the yearning demands of higher education by establishing more universities, while at the same time striving continuously to improve on the quality of existing institutions. The example of India comes readily to mind here. With its 800 universities, 45,000 affiliated colleges, and 315 million student population, it could not shut its doors to the establishment of new universities, because India is acutely aware that it still has a huge exclusion problem of persons seeking admission to universities. What India did was to devote its time, resources and assets towards improving on the quality of some of its key institutions, while allowing at the same time for more universities to be established to cater to its 1.3 billion population. Even inspite of its many problems, India’s technological advancement today bears testimony to the fact that this model has paid off. We must make huge investments in the quantity and quality of our higher education. There are no two ways to it. By quality of education here is meant the quality of teaching, learning and research. The questions that arise from this phenomenon are simple, but varied. Are our current university curricula responsive enough to the evolving demands of students and society? Are these curricula achieving the important aims of undergraduate education in an era of globalisation and the emerging age of Artificial Intelligence? Do our current patterns of skills production, as embodied in our curricula, match our labour market demands and developmental needs? Do we have a robust tradition of applied research that would drive and generate intellectual property, develop technologies needed to grow our economy in a way that ensures social mobility for our students? Are we doing enough in the area of ICT development for teaching, research and learning? Do our current curricula help develop greater intellectual competence in our students in ways that help them acquire such basic skills as critical thinking, critical reasoning and even basic writing? In today’s highly competitive world of digitalisation, developing such competences as critical thinking in an atmosphere of collaborative work is more valuable than merely acquiring information, facts and figures that are transmitted in passive lectures. While not ignoring the Liberal Arts and the Social Sciences, our focus must now be on the Sciences, Medicine, Engineering, Agriculture and the new frontiers of the study of Science such as Robotic Engineering and Artificial Intelligence. It is now abundantly clear that ICT systems will, with time, become more complex and indispensable, based essentially on the exponential amount of data that is constantly collected, transmitted and utilised today. By now, it ought to be mandatory that undergraduates of our universities, in whatever discipline, must be equipped, ab inito, with basic digital skills as a prerequisite for a degree. Let’s face it: the brave new world is here! Without question, the fourth industrial revolution is on us, with its focus on artificial intelligence, robotics and big data. And as society changes, we must change and adapt, otherwise, we become relics; we become the odd typewriters in the age of smartphones. Mr. President, I am the first to admit that the issues I raise here are far more complex for a short forty-minute presentation. How do we find trained, suitable teaching staff for these new institutions which are bound to be established in the face of our growing population? How do we fund and equip them? But, then, what do we do with 250 million restive young Nigerians, yearning to go to universities? How do we strike a balance between the skills’ needs of a society of 500 million people, the yearning desire of some 250 million young persons for higher education and the ability to fund these institutions? In our effort to create a more inclusive and less unequal society, perhaps, we should be looking at a different, more cohesive higher education model for our country. Perhaps. But, at least, let the process of addressing these problems begin in earnest. For instance, the federal government should establish, as a matter of priority, the much-talked about National Research and Innovation Foundation (NRIF) as contained in the Science and Innovation Policy of 2011. As conceived, the Foundation would start the conversation by mapping out a cohesive policy for the quality of higher Education generally, and of Research and scholarly output, and ultimately point the way forward in developing research areas that are critical to our economy. I should quickly add, Mr. President, that these concerns about the quality of our university degrees are not peculiar to us in Nigeria. There is an ongoing debate even in better-funded university environments about just how much undergraduates are made to benefit from university education. Nowhere is this debate more vigorous than in the United States, where, in the face of rapid scientific evolutions, faculty review of curriculum has become an annual event in most colleges and universities. My good friend, Biodun Jeyifo, himself a former ASUU President and now retired Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard, put his (Marxist!) finger accurately on a variant aspect of the problem when he asked in one of his weekly columns in The Nation newspapers: “Are the graduates we are producing now and that we will be producing in the future; are they being taught, being trained by academics and professionals who are themselves trained and good enough for a modern technology and science-driven capitalist economy?” THE EXAMPLE OF OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY, ILE-IFE The old University of Ife has a unique history. As conceived by its founding fathers, the university was designed to chart a new direction and orientation in higher education in Nigeria. In his brilliant history of the university’s first ten years, Emeritus Professor Banji Akintoye documents how “from the beginning, a major objective was to step away from the pattern of university development designed by the British colonial rulers… to provide university education for only a small number of young Nigerians”. The university’s founding fathers dreamt of a novel community-based institution that would be self-sufficient and self-sustaining. So, when the current Council of the University assumed its assignment, it decided to go back to basics and seek to secure alternative funding sources in the hope of making the university virtually self-sustaining and self-sufficient. Armed with an expanse of some 10,000 hectares of University land and the support of the university’s Vice-Chancellor and his team, Council decided to establish an Industrial Farming Park that would put the land to industrial commercial use. Under the scheme, a privately registered limited liability company, the OAU Integrated Farms Ltd, has obtained a Lease of some 10,000 hectares of land from the university. Backed almost entirely by the Afrixexim Bank, the OAU Integrated Farms Ltd has entered into partnership with a number of foreign and local-based companied to stimulate the industrial development of agronomic production, processing and distribution on a single unit of the agricultural land in Ile-Ife. In more specific terms, there will be six components to the project: a massive industrial Poultry Farm with a 600,000 holding capacity of broilers and a cold room storage facility of 80 tons of chicken; a 500 capacity cattle feedlot and a dairy farm of 300 cows, with a capacity of 100,000 litres of milk a day; a large scale production of crops such as maize, soya beans, alfalfa, sunflower and cassava as impute into an industrial feed mill for the farm’s livestock and sale to other farmers; the production of high-yield vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, egg-plants in green houses and open field and a 1,700 hectare of hybrid coconut plantation for the production of coconut oil and other by-products. The sixth component of the programme that deserves a special mention is the students’ Internship/Work-study Scheme, where students of diverse backgrounds and disciplines can, in their free time, not only earn money from working on this farm, but would also end up picking up skills that could change the courses of their lives after their graduation. In other cases, undergraduates of the Agricultural Sciences could be allocated hectares of land, supported with a lot of facilities to ensure the success of the scheme. It is unnecessary to go into the financial details of this project here. Nor is there time to analyse its numerous and extended benefits. Again, it is sufficient merely to state that after several meetings and consultations, over a one-year period, with financial experts drawn from the Africa Development Bank, Afriexim Bank, in Cairo, the Governor of our Central Bank and the immediate past Minister of Agriculture, Chief Audu Ogbeh, we are certain that this $65million venture, which is already operational and (which, by the way, is the single largest investment of any Nigerian University, since Ibadan was founded) would turn our financial fortunes around at Ile-Ife. And when they do, 40% of the total profit from the venture would be assigned to Research, Teaching and Training, 25% to Infrastructural development, and the other 20% to Human Resource Development and Staff Support, 10% towards community development and the final 5% retained as an Emergency Relief Fund. Again, there is not the time here to explain our effort at Ife to undertake a thorough review of our curriculum, which we are determined, would remain a continuous exercise. Neither am I able to explain our modest efforts to establish effective links with industry to enable us, among other things, to guarantee the employability of our graduates. But these processes are already in place and are beginning to yield results. CONCLUSION In discussing the challenges of university education in our country, I hope that I managed to convey a picture that is complex, varied, but not insurmountable. Again, because of the constraints of time, I have left out other key areas that could form the bases of a discussion at another place and time. However, one area that I shall touch up on, if only in passing, is the question of the leadership of our universities as embodied by our Vice-Chancellors. I speak here of the transformative power of leadership to create new possibilities, because, ideally, our Vice-Chancellors should be in the forefront of reshaping the debate about higher education in our country. Mr. President, I do not make this point lightly. I say this with considerable insights today into the problems of our universities at that level. Being a Vice-Chancellor is a tough job, with its mounting challenges, both inside and outside the university. But to be a Vice-Chancellor is also a privilege, because it offers an opportunity to shape young lives and contribute in many ways to shaping society as a whole. But without principled, courageous and creative men and women who have the character, vision and behaviourial skills to match the task, as well as the instincts and experience to understand and respond to the complexities of the job, no amount of funding from anywhere can transform our universities. Yes, it helps a lot to put in charge as Vice-Chancellors outstanding academics, with administrative experience. But it helps even more if such persons have integrity in a ways that elicit respect and elevate the ethos of a University. But in concluding, let me state again that in the effort to reposition our universities, there would be no short cuts, no quick fixes. As we are discovering at Ile-Ife, some difficult choices will have to be made about the broad policy framework of higher education, which will be deftly negotiated by all stakeholders in the entire education gamut. Without impinging on the broad framework of our educational objectives, we must be prepared to take the bold steps of making cuts where necessary, of eliminating wastes, creating shared services, utilising assets more efficiently and renewing the relationship between administrative and academic functions. But our solutions must be united by one common thread, the focus on innovation. Our new normal in our battle to save our universities must be continuous innovation, characterised by flexibility and creativity. We must adapt and innovate, or we would become irrelevant. For instance, in our ‘new’ curriculum choices we must seek better frameworks to advance all the important goals of a well-rounded university education. In deference to developmental needs and labour market demands, we must come up with curricula that is not only robustly structured to accommodate a theoretical ability to think systematically, but also one that can confront our acute shortages of higher skill labour. And we must be prepared to put in positions of leadership men and women of integrity who can drive these changes. But in all that we do, let us remain clear that the purpose of university education is to train and graduate students to meet our demands for higher skills, to generate world-class research that would transform lives, drive innovation and support local and national economic growth and well-being. The way forward may be tough. But I know that within us are to be found dedicated, committed and exemplary leaders who can respond to these challenges.