Questions over dry season agric plan Friday, 07 February 2014 00:00

AGAINST the backdrop of Nigerias desire to boost agricultural production, the approval of N14 billion by
President Goodluck Jonathan for dry season farming may be worthwhile if only the money would be applied
judiciously. Afterall, achieving food security is one of the critical benchmarks of good governance. What the
nation intends to achieve by the huge financial commitment should, however, be clearly spelt out and
diligently implemented. Otherwise, such a huge amount may amount to money up for grabs by greedy
politicians, especially, in the run up to the 2015 elections.
Jonathan made the disclosure of the financial outlay while launching this years Dry Season Farm Support
Programme at the Presidential Villa in Abuja. According to him, his administration is poised to diversify the
nations economy from over reliance on hydrocarbon resources to harnessing the potential of agriculture. And,
remarkably, he noted that agriculture is the largest contributor to the nations Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
and the largest employer of labour.
The Presidents remarks merely reaffirmed what has been the official oft-repeated position on agriculture.
What has been missing, however, is action. The country is not lacking in well-articulated agricultural
programmes that failed to meet set targets. The initial success and the eventual failure of the Operation Feed
the Nation (OFN) and Green Revolution programmes in the 70s and 80s, respectively, are common
knowledge. Ever since then, feeble attempts have been made at boosting agriculture to no avail.
While the Dry Season Farm Support Programme may seem attractive, its step by step design towards
actualisation remains far from being well articulated. The proposal is opaque. How does this fit into the overall
agricultural development strategy of the country? Given the large size of Nigeria, which area(s) would be
covered by the programme? These details need to be worked out before disbursing the funds.
For instance, the Minister of Agriculture, Akinwunmi Adeshina, had told journalists that the N14 billion
would be used to support dry season procurement and cultivation of rice, wheat, sorghum, millet and
groundnut in the North. Whats the basis for selecting these crops and leaving out others? Why are farmers in
some parts of the country left out? While the dry season may be more pronounced in the North, many areas in
the southern part of the country also cope with acute dry season, spanning a better part of the year.
At any rate, which states in the North are being targeted? The North-East and many states in the North are
currently facing debilitating insurgency and thousands of farmers have fled their homes. Are those areas
included in the programme and who would make the procurements? How many farmers are involved? What
are the criteria for selecting the farmers? How would the funds be disbursed? Is the money disbursed as loans
or grants to the farmers? And who accounts for what?
There is also the issue of water supply. Dry season farming is predicated on a well-planned and efficient
irrigation programme. Is adequate irrigation water available? Crops for dry farming are usually the heat-
resistant species and not the common crops used in normal times. Has this been put into consideration?
Reports say the Federal Government approved the sum of N9 billion for the same dry season farming last
year. What was the outcome of the huge spending? What targets were set? Were they met? What informed the
increment this year? There is need to make such valuable information available to the public, otherwise,
suspicion arises that money is being frittered away surreptitiously and no one is being held accountable.
Major dry season farming, with its huge capital requirement is not something that should be left to illiterate
farmers without strict guidance and monitoring. Without a well-defined policy on it, voting huge sums of
money for a few selected crops would be no more than a frivolity. Such intervention, indeed, ought to be part
of the overall agric development policy of the country.
Nigeria had once approached agric food production through the River Basin Development framework and
the Fadama project. In 1976, 11 river basin development authorities were created across the country by Decree
No. 25. They were Sokoto Rima, Hadejia-Jamaare, Lake Chad, Upper Benue, Lower Benue and Cross River.
Others are Anambra-Imo, Niger, Ogun-Oshun, Benin-Owena and Niger Delta. But rather than fulfill the
purpose for which they were created, the river basins have been politicised and their operations are largely
comatose.
Similarly, the Fadama project, aimed at helping farmers, especially in the dry North, cultivate low lying
plains underlain by shallow aquifers along river beds has not achieved any appreciable result. Despite the
support received from the World Bank and other multilateral agencies, the Fadama project, now in its third
phase, remains a yet-to-be-fulfilled dream.
Based on these experiences, the Federal Government should be more vigorous in its planning and
implementation of the Dry Season Farming Programme.

JUSTICE AND THE KILLER COP Sunday, 09 February 2014 00:00 Written by editor
NOT surprisingly, and for good reasons too, security agencies, in particular the Nigeria Police, have been
placed on the spot by local and international human rights communities for their highhandedness in dealing
with suspects in custody or at points of arrest. Quite a number of extra-judicial killings and tortures in these
circumstances have been highlighted by the local media too. Against this background, the judgment of the
Bayelsa State High Court, Nembe Division, sitting in Yenagoa, delivered by Justice Lucky Boufili sending
killer policeman, Matthew Egheghe, to the gallows is most welcome. It is a bold statement that the law frowns
at cruelty by uniformed officers of the state and that an appropriate premium is placed on life by the Nigerian
state.
That judgment would not bring back the dead, but it should to some extent console their grieving families that
justice was served to the guilty. It would equally serve as a deterrent to trigger-happy men in the services who
kill at the least provocation and continue to give a bad image to the institution as well as the country.
Twenty-year-old Victor Emmanuel on his way from church about two years ago was callously murdered at a
road block in Yenagoa in the presence of his mother following his harmless request to a policeman to stop
extorting money from hapless motorists, which he considered illegal. The mothers intervention and pleas to
Egheghe and two accomplices to stop raining more bullets on Victor failed and the trigger-happy policeman
snuffed out of the young man a life full of promise. He then callously put a pair of scissors in Victors hands
with a view to perverting justice by showing him as the aggressor!
Victors case reinforces the fact that many dastardly acts by a few conscienceless policemen are committed at
road blocks in encounters with motorists (even against the Inspector-Generals directive on assumption of
office) as some of these greedy men attempt to feed their corrupt instincts. In some instances, summary
executions by policeman have been unearthed after painstaking searches by families and human rights groups.
A certain Joseph Bajulayes case is the latest despicable act, his killing shrouded in controversy as ever. For
weeks, Special Anti-Robbery Squad operatives in Lagos denied that the son of a widow was ever in their
custody. Reports the other day said SARS finally claimed on January 27 that Joseph, incarcerated since
November, 2013 died in a shootout with alleged colleagues when he led police to a place for investigation.
A few days ago in Kaduna, Alhaji Ibrahim Mai Penti lamented the killing of his 14-year-old Senior
Secondary School student son, Hassan Ibrahim, allegedly by some policemen. Human Rights Watch once
claimed in a report that police killed no fewer than eight thousand innocent Nigerians between year 2000 and
2007. Global human rights body, Amnesty International, in a 2008 report titled Nigeria Police Kill at Will
accused the Force of hundreds of unlawful killings every year. It added: Majority of cases are
uninvestigated and police officers responsible go unpunished. The families of the victims get no justice or
redress. Most never found out what happened to their loved ones. Luckily, Victors case is now a refreshing
exception.
Undoubtedly, the police authorities deserve credit for cracking tough criminal cases. And there are many
good men, thorough professionals in the Force. However, it is apparent that lack of proper tools for
investigations to obtain concrete evidence to prove a case often incapacitate probe teams, leaving them with
the illegal and inhuman option of torture of suspects to extract information. An efficient system must,
therefore, be built to prevent officers and men of the police from resorting to such crude tactics. A reformation
of the investigative system, to secure evidence through scientific means in line with modern investigation
techniques, and a more professional training of officers are also required, starting with the recruitment process.
Any reform of the system should, of course, be predicated on justice rooted in transparency and accountability.
Citizens complaints against the excesses of the police personnel must always be fully and sincerely addressed
by the Force to prevent further system breakdown while a regime of impunity thrives. With these done, Victor
and many others would not have died in vain and the police force, a noble institution in the best of times,
would not be dragged further to the mud.
PUTTING OUT THE SMOKE Monday, 10 February 2014 17:44 Written by EDITOR
CIGAR-SMOKEIT is quite refreshing that a regime of impunity by smokers is being terminated and healthy
living is being enthroned in Lagos State via a bill just passed by the state House of Assembly after months of
deliberation and public engagement. The move is laudable in setting the tone for other states and bolstering a
federal legislation still in the works to control cigarette smoking without trampling on the rights of whoever
chooses to indulge in the habit.
Notwithstanding smokers preference or choice, hardly are they conscious of passive or secondary smokers
fundamental right to unpolluted air. Among the health implications of smoking, according to medical experts,
is the debilitating lung cancer which affects both smokers and non-smokers, passive smokers. Professor Robert
West, from Cancer Research United Kingdom, said: Cigarettes at the moment are killing in the region of six
million people every year. The Health Ministrys campaign, The Federal Ministry of Health warns that
smokers are liable to die young displayed on every cigarette pack is good but not enough to stop die-hard
consumers.
Essentially, government at all levels has a duty to promote good health and good living among their people
by embarking on campaigns and actions targeted at unnecessary afflictions or diseases militating against the
survival of citizens, or ultimately the overall interest of the country.
The Lagos bill, awaiting the assent of the governor, prohibits smoking in all public places including libraries,
museums, toilets, schools, hospitals, day care centres, public transports and restaurants, among others. Any
contravention of the law attracts up to six months imprisonment or fines as appropriate penalties. Part of the
16-section bill obliges owner, occupier or person in charge, apart from designating no smoking areas, to
properly display a picture showing a burning cigarette enclosed in a circle with a bar across both at the
entrance and key locations in the premises.
Any owner/occupier risks N100,000 or six months or other non-custodial punishment. Penalty for smoking
in a restricted area is N10,000 fine or a term not less than one month and not exceeding three months in prison
or both. Repeated violation will attract N50,000 fine or six months term or both. The bills promoters have a
thought for children too: smoking in the presence of a child is an offence punishable by N15,000 fine or one
month in jail or both. This is indeed encouraging. Anti-tobacco campaign is not new. Serious campaigns
against tobacco smoking especially after linking it to lung cancer began to emerge in the 1950s, eventually
assuming a global dimension in the 1990s. More countries have since taken measures to protect citizens. Since
then too, many advocacy groups have sprung up to push campaigns against tobacco companies. Business
interests have kept the manufacturers on, however. Many have remained relevant through social responsibility
campaigns in areas of their operations besides their contributions to the countrys revenue base.
It is instructive that a key player, British American Tobacco Nigeria (BATN) and sundry stakeholders have
endorsed the Lagos State Public Place Smoking Bill as balanced, not excessive or discriminatoryrespects
choices while maintaining responsibility to protect residents from effects of second-hand smoking. Owners of
hotels, bars, lounges and cafes have a six-month grace period to implement any changes envisaged under the
law.
In the race to address tobacco issues, some anti-ban campaigners argue about inherent dangers in the global
drive to eliminate tobacco use and manufacture, citing the possibility of increased smuggling in a regime of
restrictions. They may have a point but the protection of health of citizens is imperative. Their claim that the
war on tobacco companies is not yielding any meaningful results in countries where such has been introduced
is doubtful. Of course, the control measures are not designed to push companies out of business. Rather, it is
more about guaranteeing public health.
It is also imperative to pursue discussions and conclude the debate on two other bills stuck in the House of
Representatives and the executive bill championed by the Federal Ministry of Health. That may at least spur all
states to domesticate the regulation if they are not to continue putting their human resources at risk.
Enforcement of the laws is also very necessary. The country is replete with cases of regulations and laws that
are beneficial to the people but are hardly enforced.
There may also be need to empower the citizens to demand for rights on no-smoking zones to complement
the law enforcement personnel. A lot of public enlightenment by the government and its agencies, in this
connection, will go a long way in this campaign, while industry practices are thoroughly and constantly
monitored.

The voters register Tuesday, 11 February 2014 00:00
WITH the unveiling of the timetable by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the
race to 2015 has, of course, begun; but more than the race, the process is of paramount concern to
all Nigerians. The voters register is one aspect of the process leading to 2015 that deserves
immediate attention and thorough compilation at this juncture if the pitfalls of the past are to be
avoided. The pertinent question to ask with a view to having a better election in the future is: what
has changed since the general elections of 2011? Nothing. No doubt, all the bye-elections and state
elections conducted across the country after 2011 have been riddled with sundry irregularities. Late
arrival of materials, inaccurate voter registers, underage voting and other malpractices have been
the hallmarks. Therefore, the state of preparedness by the electoral umpire towards mission 2015 is
deserving of rigorous examination. While the INEC chairman has complained loudly about insecurity
and funding as threat to the process, the issue of voters registration is one that is much more
worrisome.
Voters register as a key element of the electoral process has always been central to electoral
fraud. So much so that in this day and age strange names such as Mike Tyson, Bill Clinton and
Nelson Mandela have been found in the electoral register in Nigeria. While many names were
missing, outright, leading to disenfranchisement of a reasonable number of qualified voters, there
have equally been a scandalous transposition of names in such a way that they were found in the
registers of other states and constituencies. Instead of devising ways to remedy these obvious
deficits, what is confounding is that at each electoral turn, registration of voters is always begun
anew or almost so instead of updating of the extant register. This points to fundamental
contradictions in ways Nigeria seeks to build and run institutions. When records are not kept
appropriately, a nation loses not only materially but does the most damage to its institutional
memory.
While it is disheartening that the voters register, given the experiences of recent elections, is
hardly worthy of being so described, despite the huge financial outlay on various registration
exercises, there is no need for wholesale registration of voters. Although INEC seems to say this is
not what it is about to do again, the concern is still genuine that wholesale registration at every
election is an indication of inefficiency and fraud. The right thing to do is to display the existing
register and allow Nigerians to verify their names. Those whose names are missing can then come
forward to be registered along with those who have attained the statutory voting age of 18. If this is
done, it will allow for order and, above all, it will cut cost. It must be stressed that the issue of
registration and verification by the voters should start now. This will help to avoid the plague of
double registration. The assertion of voters sovereignty should begin with voters going to ascertain
that their names are in the electoral register. For full effect, voter education is then invaluable and
community mobilisation is important to ensure citizens participation.
Equally, INEC must address such issue as voters transfer. It is currently not being well done by
the electoral umpire. This is for the benefit of those who have changed residency either for reason of
change of job or others. The related problem of purchase of voter cards must also be checked.
Politicians who have perfected the art and science of rigging by purchasing and warehousing voters
cards must be fished out and made to face the wrath of the law.
For the avoidance of doubt, there are things that are sacrosanct to make elections credible. One of
them is ensuring the emergence of public office-holders through popular election based on secret
ballot and universal suffrage. There is also the issue of how independent from government and
political parties the elections are, and an integrity-based procedure for voter registration. Other
considerations include effectiveness of the array of choices that the electoral and party system
allows voters; the equality of votes; the proportion of the electorate that votes, and the extent to
which electoral outcomes approximate actual votes cast in the electoral process.
In all of these, voter registration and voter education are the bedrock on which credibility is built.
Without a correct and comprehensive voters register there is no foundation on which to hinge a
viable democracy.

In search of true democrats Wednesday, 12 February 2014
NO one can dispute the abysmal level of understanding of Nigerian politicians when it comes to the
majesty of democracy. No one should be surprised, therefore, at their lack of sophistication in its
practice. This realisation should, therefore, compel pity instead of condemnation over their current
needless fight on the directive by the leadership of the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) to
its members in the National Assembly to block all executive bills beginning with the 2014
appropriation bill. All Nigerians can and should do is ask their leaders to grow up!
For the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its sympathisers, such a directive was ill-
informed, self-serving and part of a grand design by a desperate opposition to capture power at all
cost. More seriously, targeting such a directive at the 2014 appropriation bill was particularly seen as
the height of political irresponsibility and insensitivity on the part of the APC to the plights of
Nigerians who, as they argued, would be the primary victim of the order.
On the surface, this criticism of the APCs directives would seem logical and understandable. The
barrage afterall, affords the PDP an opportunity to accumulate cheap political capital, appearing as it
does, to be on the side of the people. Nigerians should, however, thoroughly interrogate the sudden
rejuvenation of the PDP as the champion of the popular interests of Nigerians. Close observers of
the trend of governance under the PDP since 1999 will attest to the fact that the party has not been
too people-friendly in its policy options and strategy. Given its antecedents, this sudden populism
regarding the budget, seems more about the partys share of the budget and not about Nigerians.
After all, despite the annual increment in annual budget since 1999, and the rituals of its vetting by
the National Assembly, the standard of living of an average Nigerian has hardly improved. It is bad
enough that many of the criticisms fail to appreciate that an opposition party has the right to use its
numerical strength to advantage in the legislature in all reasonable circumstances.
Worse still, the critics who claimed to be relying on the utilitarian philosophy of the greatest
happiness for the people have pretended not to understand the context within which the APC gave
the directive. For the avoidance of doubt, the APC predicated its directive upon the need to restore
the rule of law in Rivers State, where for a long time, a commissioner of police, with the active
connivance of the presidency, appeared to have become the state, in every sense of the
expression, to the detriment of the people of the state. The level of impunity in that state has been
outrageous, especially under a supposedly democratic government.
So, if only for the purpose of rescuing the government and governance of, and in Rivers State, the
decision of the APC on this matter, for all intents and purposes, is not only compelling, but has been
long overdue. It is like the only weapon in the hand of the weak against the strong, a kind of the
last resort to ensure some measure of balance of power against an imperial presidency, especially
having exhausted all other available avenues for local remedy to no avail.
Moreover, filibustering, as it is known in principle, is a legitimate democratic tool for advancing
democratic and party agenda in the legislature. The underlying assumption is that the people should
be at the heart of governance and once a party has the requisite numerical strength in the legislative
arm, it can force the executive arm run by another party to pursue the opposition partys desired
policies. Again, the people are central to it all. It is a tool that has been deployed on more than a few
occasions in the United States, the latest being the government shutdown in 2013 over
controversies regarding the health policy popularly called Obamacare. The reality in Nigeria may
not necessarily be the same as the U.S., but the principles are not different. This is the beauty, the
majesty of democracy. Recent experiences at both regional and national levels have shown that in
the absence of such institutional checks as the proposed blockage, people may resort to the
adoption of unconventional means, especially street protests against an imperious or high-handed
executive arm of government. It is, therefore, important to view what the APC did beyond partisan
connotations. Rather, it should be seen as a bold and courageous step against a presumably
dictatorial presidency. It was, above all else, a fight against impunity. The directive was, therefore,
aimed at salvaging governance and rule of law in Rivers State in particular and Nigeria in general.
For it will be too myopic and reductionist to interpret happenings in Rivers State strictly as the
internal affairs of the state.
If, as the underlying principle of a dominant party in the legislative arm blocking executive excesses
is to make that government behave responsibly, so be it. This, however, is not to say that a
supposed instrument of control such as this should be trivialised. While this development is
welcome, the opposition needs to be careful in its deployment only in a way that will hold
government accountable for its actions and inactions. If it must be deployed as a measure of last
resort, as this instance suggests, it must be in the overall interest of the nation, never for partisan
reasons. Only then can it generate sustainable sympathy from Nigerians and help advance the
nations democracy and progress.