By Haniel Ukpaukure

If President Muhammadu Buhari’s promise to put in place a substantive board for the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) after the phased implementation of the recommendations of the forensic audit he ordered into its activities its anything to go by, then Nigerians should expect that the era of interim administration for the interventionist agency would soon come to an end.

While the promise by the president, made at the fifth National Council Meeting on Niger Delta in Uyo, recently, put paid to agitations for the end of interim administration in the agency, it predictably sparked struggle and intrigues among high-ranking members of the ruling All Progressives Congress members from the Niger Delta region over determination of the shape and composition of the board expected to be appointed for the agency.

It is pertinent to mention that Nigerians do not know the contents of the audit report, and its recommendations. It is therefore difficult to know when implementation of the recommendations started, and when it would end, especially since it is being done, as Buhari said, in phases.

It may be safe to assume, however, that since it is a firm promise and commitment from none other than the president, constitution of the long-awaited board would be done before the curtain falls on the life of the administration on May 29, 2023.

But while we await the constitution of a board for NDDC, it is important to look at the performance of the Effiong Akwa-led administration of the agency as sole administrator. The appointment of Akwa in December, 2020, followed the ruling of a Federal High Court in Abuja, which declared the Interim Management Committee of Professor Daniel Pondei as illegal. Before Pondei, Ms Joi Nunieh had held the same position.

Akwa’s mandate, among others, was to facilitate and fast track the forensic audit of NDDC which became necessary due to many years of unbridled corruption by previous administrations, with politicians from the region as the greatest beneficiaries.

His appointment was met with stiff opposition from some quarters, with some saying Buhari had no power under the law that set up NDDC to appoint a sole administrator for it, obviously ignorant of the president’s constitutional power to take any action he deems necessary for any government ministry, department and agency, which he considers to be in public interest. In the midst of the opposition, Akwa had the support of some major stakeholders in the region, including over 50 civil society organisations.

In the 22 months he has been in office, Akwa has tried his best to deliver on his mandate as someone whose job is a stop gap for the period the forensic audit of the agency lasted. He has facilitated and successfully managed a smooth exercise that saw a consortium of audit firms pore over the books of NDDC and visit project sites in nine states over many months – the first of its kind in the agency and, indeed, any government institution in the country. He deserves credit for this. Whether or not Nigerians will ever get to know the contents of the audit report is another matter.

Akwa has collaborated with the National Assembly on the amendment of the NDDC Act, to make reforms of the agency possible, especially the need to plug the loopholes that allowed the high rate of corruption that was witnessed since the establishment of the agency to thrive.

The NDDC, under his watch, has been able to carry out a number of interventions in the different states that comprise the Niger Delta in collaboration with state governors, aimed at providing the basic infrastructure and facilities that enhance quality of life for those for which they are meant – in educational and health institutions, including training of over 1000 youths in ICT, as well as other public facilities. Notable among such interventions was the construction of a 1050-bed hostel in the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

In one of such interventions, over 250 men, women and youths recently graduated from the Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprise Programme of the Federal Government in Edo State. The programme, which was funded by NDDC, International Fund for Agriculture (IFAD) and the Federal Government, was designed to promote agriculture as an alternative source of foreign exchange, with focus on rice, cassava, fishery and poultry farming. A similar programme is being implemented in other states of the Niger Delta.

In an initiative that was designed to positively engage youths in the region and channel their energy into productive ventures, NDDC organized the first ever Niger Delta Talent Hunt, a musical programme that was aimed at discovering musical talents in the region and building capacity for wealth creation.

The winner of the talent hint, Elvis Lunar, a singer from Rivers State, got the star prize of a car and performance trip to Dubai, while second and third place winners got N2 million and N1 million, respectively.

It mustn’t be forgotten that Akwa supervised the completion of the corporate headquarters of NDDC, a project that had been abandoned for over 20 years. I’m wondering if the money the agency spent on rent over since its establishment can easily be computed.

Akwa’s job has been made easy by the fact that he had been an insider in NDDC before his current appointment, his previous position being that of an acting executive director in charge of finance. He did not need to learn the ropes first, before settling into the job. He will certainly leave is mark when he bows out.

Ukpaukure, a media/publicity consultant and writer, lives in Lagos.

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By Michael Owhoko, Ph.D

Without prejudice to extent of preparations, has government genuinely evaluated reasons for dispute and rejection of previous census results in Nigeria before proceeding to organise another headcount?

Results of census conducted in 1962, 1963, 1973, 1991 and 2006 were all marred by anomalies and controversies allegedly engendered by manipulation and falsification of figures.

Were there any lessons learnt from these disputes? So far, all contentious issues that diminished and undermined the credibility of the previous exercises together with emerging fresh challenges are still widespread.

Distrust induced by ethnic dominance, religious supremacy, nepotism, inappropriate political structure, dishonesty, insecurity, corruption, poverty and socio-economic uncertainty are still staring at us as monsters.  Preconceived notion of increased revenue and political representation as basis for census rather than national planning and development, is another matter.

Without visible genuine efforts at resolving these hiccups, the National Population Commission (NPC) charged with conduct of census, including collation and analysis of population data has scheduled population census for April next year, approximately a month after the 2023 general elections holding between February and March.  The National Council of State has also gone ahead to endorse the exercise without rigorous evaluation of potential exposures.

In the face of current realities devoid of enabling environment, the timing is a miscalculation.  The general elections and census are both inflammable events, which should not be scheduled close to each other.  More worrisome is the fact that nobody can predict the outcome of the 2023 general elections which may likely spill into the census period.  From the body language of youths across the country who are major victims of years of misgovernance, it may not be business as usual.  So, why schedule a census under this condition?

Perhaps, if government had painstakingly carried out a risk assessment of the timing of both the elections and census within the context of Nigeria’s sociological complex configuration, both exercises would have been staggered apart by a minimum of one year.  No amount of risk mitigation strategy can contain associated emotions, particularly under a government that is challenged by trust deficit.  Rather than resolve these flaws, government is treading same path, with erroneous expectation of credible outcome.

In a multi-ethnic society like Nigeria where population census is used as basis for revenue allocation, the stakes are high, and so, citizens’ trust in government as an unbiased umpire devoid of sectional leanings, must not be in doubt.   Unfortunately, the distrust that characterized the previous failed exercises is popping up.

This is evident from the recent statement of Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde, when he advised NPC to “Be accurate and impartial. Declare what you capture. If the population of the state is less than 15 million, it is false and inaccurate. Do your work accurately.’’

By this declaration, Makinde has stirred up the hornet’s nest, and ready to reject any figure that is less than 15 million for Oyo State.  In the past, the Lagos State government rejected the 2006 census while the Igbo sociocultural organization, Ohanaeze, said the exercise reduced the Igbo to a minority group, casting aspersion on the credibility of the whole exercise.

Besides, all over the world, peace is a sine qua non and a critical factor for conduct of successful population census.  It is for this reason nations first determine its availability, and where otherwise, take appropriate measures to promote it, particularly ahead of major sensitive milestones like national headcount.

Currently, Nigeria lacks peace that is adequate enough to guarantee free and fair census.  Except to live in denial, the country is faced with unresolved multifaceted crises.  Peace is not only the absence of war, but also the existence of impediments to human endeavors.  Human delivery capacity in Nigeria is currently at its lowest ebb.

Where is the peace when travel and movement of goods by road or rail across the country is threatened by insecurity and associated risks?  Nigerians now invoke divine intervention for safe arrival at their destinations before embarking on a journey by road.  Inadequate security cover to facilitate safe deployment of men and census materials to all nook and cranny of the country may hinder the exercise. This also explains why NPC has not been able to demarcate enumeration areas in all the 774 local government areas in the country.

In the northern part of the country, particularly in the North East and North Central, Boko Haram, ISWAP, Fulani herdsmen, terrorists and bandits hold sway, driving fear among travelers. The southern part is also not better as travelers hold their breath until they get to their destinations due to fear created by these groups and other criminal elements.  So, how do you conduct credible census under this situation?

There are many families that have been displaced from their places of abode and ancestral homes, while others are either taking refuge in the bushes or are in Internally Displaced People (IDP)’s camp.  Those that have not returned to their homes owing to fear of being killed or kidnapped have not been accounted for.  Traces of these group of persons have not been established till date by relations or friends, and so, are unavailable for enumeration.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently admitted that insecurity was having a toll on data collection for field surveys.

The Statistician-General of the Federation and CEO of NBS, Adeyemi Adeniran, disclosed this at a conference organised by National Statistical Association in Keffi, Nasarawa State, where he said that enumerators were unable to access certain parts of the country for data collection due to insecurity.

With this revelation, do we need a prophet to tell us that the 2023 population census cannot be achieved?  In the absence of any hidden agenda and desperation of government to score a political point, the NPC knows that it is difficult to achieve a reliable census figure under the current security setting, as there is no magic that can contain insurgency in the troubled areas before commencement of census in April 2023.

Where is the peace when corruption of census process is fueled by subsisting economic, political and demographic interests.  Some census officials are compromised in the course of gathering, collating, analyzing and producing data on population.  These officials are either bribed, intimidated or coerced to inflate or allocate numbers for ethnic advantage.  This has been the trend in all the census conducted so far in Nigeria.

Where is the peace when the credibility and capacity of the present administration under President Muhammadu Buhari to deliver on such an important project is smeared by skepticism induced by nepotism and presidential preferences, which have fragmented the country along ethnic and religious lines?  Suspicion and lack of trust among citizens have deepened more than ever before.

Where is the peace when the country’s border with Niger Republic is opened and reinforced by policy of issuance of visa on arrival, allegedly aimed at bloating Fulani population in Nigeria.

Illegal aliens from Niger Republic enter the country unchecked, while some others are alleged to have obtained National Identification Number (NIN) from the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to qualify them as citizens, thereby giving the North undue demographic advantage over the South.

Where is the peace when there is no grass root enlightenment campaign to draw attention to the exercise.  Majority of Nigerians are unaware of a scheduled census for April next year due partly to lack of access to electricity, internet and other communication networks.

How many Nigerians can confidently affirm that their households were enumerated during the last trial census conducted by NPC ahead of the main exercise?  I am sure millions of Nigerians were not aware.

Where is the peace when enumerators are constrained by poor demographic maps caused by unreliable digital technology, including geographic information system (GIS), satellite and aerial photographs, cartography and geographical positioning system (GPS), resulting in inability to capture remote areas with difficult topography.

Where is the peace when insufficient capacity building and dearth of qualified personnel are further constraints. NPC is currently not fully equipped with enough skilled personnel, forcing it to rely on ad- hoc and temporary personnel, including members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) who are inadequately trained.

Notwithstanding the United Nations’s recommendation that census be conducted every 10 years, Nigeria is not ready for the 2023 census.  Population census is a sensitive matter that must be conducted under an atmosphere of peace to achieve credible and desired outcome.

The 2023 population census should therefore be postponed till such a time when all grey areas would have been addressed by NPC, otherwise, the exercise will amount to waste of time and resources, including the over N200 billion budgeted for the scheme.

Dr. Mike Owhoko, Lagos-based journalist and author, can be reached at www.mikeowhoko.com.

By Olawale Rasheed

History is replete with judges who shaped their days and nations, judicial officials who imprinted their footprints in front pages of national archives.

In uncertain times, the nation needs an activist reformer, a man ready to crusade for a transformative judiciary, issuing federalist corrective landmark rulings, focussing on unanimity in apex court decisions and deploying the bench as a weapon of national restructuring.

Is Justice Olukayode Emmanuel Ariwoola that man to remake the judiciary for this sacred national tasks?

Bernard Schwartzt in his “Supreme Court Superstars: The Ten”, listed John Marshall, Joseph Story, Roger Brooke Taney, Stephen J. Field, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Louis D. Brandeis, Charles Evans Hughes, Hugo Lafayette Black, Earl Warren and William J. Brennan, Jr as top judges in American history.

Justice Marshall was my favourite as a student journalist especially as he was responsible for constructing and defending both the foundation of judicial power and the principles of American federalism. I read through many of his judgements. His erudition on the bench serviced federalist reform, united the apex court and consolidated the powers of the Supreme Court as a respected equal arm of Federal Government.

In times of uncertainty about American governance modelling, an activist Judge helped a struggling nation out. As Encyclopaedia Britannica put it, ” His (Marshall) own mind had apparently a clear and well-organised concept of the effective government that he believed was needed and was provided by the Constitution.

He wrote with a lucidity, a persuasiveness, and a vigour that gave to his judicial opinions a quality of reasoned inevitability that more than offset an occasional lack in precision of analysis. His tenure gave opportunity for the development of a unified body of constitutional doctrine”. I am of the view that Abuja has among the 13 Supreme Court Justices great minds with such capacities as Marshal.

Strangely, Nigeria is in need of a Justice Marshall who will re-assert the potency of the top court to checkmate the cabal of influence peddling legal practitioners, who will serve as agent of devolution of powers and who will re-instil the culture of incorruptibility within the judicial process.

While Justice Marshal strengthened Federal Government, our own Marshall must empower the states for national survival. His task must entail that of sacrificial patriot who eyes the greatness of great juries in history, whose names remain indelible in national history.

Or let turn to the United Kingdom. Beyond UK judge, William Blackstone who was reputed to have influenced prominent American personalities like Abraham Lincoln, James Kent, Alexander Hamilton, and even John Marshall among others, Lord Denning stands out as the greatest British judge according to former Prime Minister Margret Thatcher.

His judicial activism and extensive judicial pronouncement across all sub-sector of the legal field are breath taking. Even when controversial, Lord Denning remains a guiding light in judicial administration. Again, the Nigerian apex must produce her own Lord Denning in contemporary setting. Nigeria has had many great judges of immense accomplishments.

Late Justice Fatai Williams, the suave scholar judge, was my favourite as a politics writer, going by his expansive contribution to jurisprudence. In Nigeria of today, we need an integrated reincarnation of a Lord Marshal, Lord Denning and Justice Williams to salvage the judiciary and weaponised it as a platform for national political, economic and social reform.

At a time all the leading presidential candidates are pro-restructuring, an activist CJN is imperative to navigate the hurdles of reforms, to speed up slimming down of the over-bloated centre, entrench a culture of fair and just justice administration and to fight corruption in leaps and bound.

As the sitting president aspires to deliver, judicial stumbling blocks won’t be on his way as no agent of status quo would get a cover from the bench. If the fear is about self-preservation and post-service survival, a pro-reform president may actually consider extending tenure of a Supreme Court collective which commit to a new Nigeria. Apex court justices can then be guaranteed of adequate funding for judicial reform especially the modernisation and digitisation of the court processes.

My intention is pontification. I watched the confirmation hearing of the new CJN. His answers to questions from distinguished senators were quite refreshing. With his immaculate style, he advanced a new vision of Nigerian judiciary where administration of justice will be seamless, fast and just. His take on digitisation of court procedures was a 21st century postulations, positioning the apex court as a potential beneficiary of donor funded justice sector reform.

Fluent and passionate, his immediate creation of an inclusive leadership through a committee system signals likelihood of unanimity judgement going forward within the court. His idea of a collaborative agenda among the three arms of government indicates interest to contribute to the question of federalist reform.

Based on the confirmation hearing and recent development at the apex court, Nigeria appears to have a reformer on the revered seat of Chief Justice of the Federation. While the extent of his reformist mind can’t be fully determined now, his inclination towards a robust internal reform, especially of court procedures is reassuring.

The Kenyan Supreme Court used only a week to hear and deliver judgement in the Presidential election disputes. The new CJN looks strongly like a thinker along a faster pace of court hearings even though he hinged his plan on judicial technological innovations and applications.

If Justice Ariwoola is not aspiring to be a ‘table shaker”, historical necessity may force him to have a rethink. If he is not a Justice Marshal known for his federalist advocacy, imperative of the time imposes a responsibility to safe the troubled federation from falling apart.

As things stand, history beckons on him and his colleagues that time is now for a bailout to Nigeria from the judiciary. The moment is now to remake the recent dark past where some lord justices are dragged and humiliated for being part of the national rot.

Nigeria needs landmark rulings to set the tone for national restructuring. Unanimous judgements in service of federalist reform are much needed impetus a President needs to foster life-saving changes. In this delicate time, lord justices must wear the activist robes in a conservative institution, to write their names in gold and to provide urgently needed national direction in this era of political emergency. Our justices must put an end to majority and minority judgements as much as such judgements are tailored towards serving national interest especially restructuring of the lopsided federation.

Several nations experience national emergencies; such turmoil throw up new leaders; heroes are made and history are written. What is to be feared? What should one be scared of?

The call to national duty is a sacred task; embracing it is a consecrated imperative. After all, at the apex of one’s career, what is compelling is the urge to leave an enduring legacy.

Oyo Yoruba CJN is on the threshold of history. His agenda from the confirmation hearing confirms a leader ready to innovate for a new bar and bench. What legacy will he bequeath on the Supreme Court, the Judiciary and the nation at large?

• Olawale Rasheed, CEO, Sahel Consulting and a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja. He can be reached on [email protected]

By Haniel Ukpaukure

Did he not see it coming? I’d be surprised if Celestine Omehia, “former governor” of Rivers State, failed to see his near annihilation by Governor Nyesom Wike, in which case what happened last week took him unawares.

If, indeed, he did not foresee the calamity before it befell him, then he must be a very poor student of the cloak and dagger brand of politics that is practiced in this part of the world.

How could Omehia, a lawyer, not know that by biting the finger that fed him, the person with the finger would not only pull it out of his mouth, but might do it in such a manner as to prevent food of any kind from entering that mouth, at least not any time soon?

I do not know what is more disturbing to the man who must have watched in disbelief and distress on national television as his photograph was brought down from the wall, from among those of former governors of his state by the same man who hung it there – losing a lifelong source of income or having to refund, within seven days, what he has illegally collected in the last seven years.

What makes the case of the “governor” whose tenure cannot be found in any record in Rivers State, perhaps from a purely human point of view, enough to evoke some pity, is that he cannot challenge the action of the state house of assembly in a law court. That would amount to personally reporting the illegality he and his erstwhile benefactor had perpetrated in the state to the legal authorities. I have no idea what his prayer would be.

Wike, a lawyer who is quite conversant with the law, had ignored the ruling of the Supreme Court – the highest court in the land – which had declared that Omehia was never the governor of the state and that, for five months, he had been a usurper illegally holding the office that was rightly meant for Rotimi Amaechi.

But for either of two reasons – putting food in the mouth of the impostor or spiting his predecessor (as some people said) who had by then become his foe – Wike railroaded the state house of assembly into passing an illegal resolution recognising him as a former governor who was entitled to all the benefits that are given to his “colleagues.”

In a country where laws are kept in the breach by those who should enforce them, Omehia quietly enjoyed benefits he knew he did not deserve – at tax payers’ expense. Now, the chickens have home to roost, and for the “former governor”, that is the way the cookie crumbles. He must be praying this is a nightmare from which he would wake up.

Omehia began to dig his own grave the day he aligned with the People’s Democratic Party presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, in the current fight for the soul of the party involving the former vice president and Iyorchia Ayu, the party chairman on one side, and the Rivers State governor, on the other. Sources say he not only identified with Atiku, but openly took on Wike, saying things to the effect that he is not the first governor of the state, and would not be the last, and can therefore not lead other stakeholders of the party in the state by the nose. It is strange he failed to estimate the extent to which a wounded lion could go to attack anything in sight.

I learnt on good authority that while other party leaders in the state who had shown signs of distancing themselves from Wike, but who quickly realised the risk their businesses faced (especially after some began to lose their sources of income in what seemed like a rage which manifested in destruction of businesses, including petrol stations) and scurried to London to mend fences with the man who is next to God with the power of life death, Omehia refused to toe that line.

It is difficult to hazard a guess as to whether he cared more about a potential ministerial position in an Atiku administration, forgetting that a bed at hand was more than 10 in the bush, in that circumstance. A position in Atiku’s administration is a dream that may not come to pass. Wike was already providing him food that was to last a lifetime (except another administration came to stop the illegality), albeit unlawfully.

From what I hear, his woes may not be over, just yet. There are speculations that the chairman of his Ikwere Local Government Council, a Wike boy, may move against him by sealing his private school on the allegation that setting up of the school did not follow the proper procedure.

What has emerged from the fate that has befallen Omehia is but a glimpse into how Nigeria is being run. It shows how the resources of this country are being plundered by those in power, and their cronies. This is a matter that should interest the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

It shouldn’t be only about Omehia who, for seven years, collected monies illegally, but the house of assembly members who passed the infamous resolution in 2015, as well as the governor who signed an illegal law to put in place that malpractice.

Wike will lose his immunity in the afternoon of May 29, 2023. He and the lawbreakers who encouraged the plundering of the resources of Rivers State for seven years should be made to account for their misdeeds.

Ukpaukure, a media/publicity consultant and writer, lives in Lagos.

[email protected].