President Buhari’s Jobs Search” By Garba Shehu

The ongoing ministerial briefing of the President at the State House, Abuja, put a spotlight on an important sector long neglected by previous administrations, yet one that can create millions of jobs.

The first briefing of a President by the Ministry of Science and Technology and its parastatal organization, the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure, NASENI, over a period of many years showcased opportunities and the enormous achievements made in the invention, fabrication and assembly of capital products for the sustainable industrialization of the country.

A matter for serious concern for President Muhammadu Buhari, who campaigned on a promise to create jobs is the paucity of investments in industry, without which there can be no new jobs or incomes.

Experts have warned a long time ago that Nigeria has been frittering away its demographic dividend.

Sixty-five per cent (65%) of the country’s population is made up of youth, and a majority of whom are said to be jobless. The President has been quick to see the danger which he describes as the next most potent for the nation after Boko Haram.

In fairness to them, it is not as if past governments hadn’t seen this problem coming.

The difference President Buahari wants to make can only succeed by moving away from past measures with only palliative effect on youth unemployment.

President Buhari has often spoken about agriculture, public works, IT, industry and mining as capable of delivering the quick wins.

Past agricultural practices have had the effect of constricting the definition of farming.

For agriculture to deliver jobs on the scale the President is looking at, it has to go beyond cropping and cereal production. The whole concept has to change.

It is for this reason that the new administration is seeking to boost livestock, fisheries, horticulture; geese, duck and bee farming and all that. In the neighboring Cameroon, export of fresh flowers is a key flank of their foreign exchange earnings.

Those who patronize Chinese restaurants know the value of ducks. It is so high in export value that the few who have tried taking it abroad say it is a money spinner.

In addition, there is also what they call medical agriculture. Organic plants are grown and exported such as the moringa that have herbal and medicinal value with ready markets everywhere. After listening to the presentation on this sector, the President’s parting shot, having realized the challenges was “I’m going to give you a tough Minister.”

The President has also been speaking about public works projects, subject to improvement in the earnings of the government. But he is not oblivious of the limitations of this line of job-creation. Its absorptive capacity is limited largely to labour and low in capacity in dealing with skilled manpower.

When NASENI and the Ministry of Science and Technology came calling, they broached an important issue dear to the President.

They made presentations to him on home-initiated and home-sustained industrialization processes through the development of relevant processes, appropriate local machine designs and machine-building capacities for capital goods and equipment manufacture that can lead to job-creation, economic well-being and national development.

The President was much excited seeing this. He wondered aloud why the industry was not lapping up these local inventions. It was equally clear that the problems on the part of these important agencies of government is the lack of capital infusion to move prototypes to capital and industrial goods. He asked for a one-on-one meeting with the NASENI Executive Vice Chairman for further briefing.

Successful economies such as the United Kingdom, Japan and the United States got to where they are today because they did just this. They encouraged inventions and adaptations through business incubation and the availability of venture capital.

The President spoke about his enthusiasm for energizing local manufacturing of goods using indigenous technology as against the wholesale importation of goods and services as is the current practice.

In response to this concern came the overwhelming as well as disturbing impression that Nigeria’s industrialization and growth are being held back by an industrial sector dominated by foreign interests that are keener on maintaining home ties than in keying into local patent. For this reason, private investment using the local patent has remained in the doldrums.

To change the unwanted situation, government, according to some experts, has to put its own house in order and look at policies that will drive up the capacity of industry to employ enmasse. Some even argue for trade barriers and subsidies since everyone is doing the same.

Government at the center may consider a national industrial plan in accordance with national plan objectives and party principles or manifesto. Many think this is necessary to define priorities and give budget benchmarks because state government are not always run in a serious or objective manner.

When he saw what NASENI and the other agencies in the science and tech sector were doing, the President’s question, obviously was of interest and concern: have you ever made this type of presentation to the states? The answer was that only Bauchi and Nassarawa have so far shown a measure of seriousness.
For such a central plan to succeed, it must take into account the peculiarities and endowment of the states.

In addition, it should be a “must-implement” for APC states and optional for those in the hands of the opposition. By this, APC states can become model states in job creation through innovation and industrial production. In addition to giving the party relevance, this plan imposition may have the effect of synergism in national development efforts.

With his expressed commitment to supporting the science and technology sector, along with agriculture, mining, IT and industry through invention and local manufacture, the President has taken a major step towards fulfilling a key campaign promise, which is to address the failure of the economy to create jobs.

By Malam Garba Shehu, SSA Media & Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari

Still On The Proposed Privatisation Of Our Health Sector

Unarguably, our health sector remains the only sector with the highest number of industrial actions. Many lives have been lost in avoidable situations   owing to these incessant crises in the sector .In view of this, the current administration recently revealed its willingness to nip this intractable problem in the bud through privatisation of the Sector.

But some cabals benefitting from the pitiable  state of our  health sector have once again raised an alarm against such move by  the government.

I am aware that Satan will be surprised at some of the things happening in our country. Consider, for an instance, just recently it was reported that street beggars in Kaduna state were threatening to drag the state government to court for banning street begging and it was also reported that a fake doctor had the temerity of working, not even at the local or state government level but at the federal level in a country where qualified medical doctors stay many months at home before securing jobs.  Will the beggars not use the money they will use to brief their lawyers, to go and start petty businesses or are they born to beg hence they should not be deprived of their inalienable rights to begging? Our former first lady under these circumstances would shout,’ There is God ooo.’

Coming back to our topic, the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations (AHPA) and their sister organisations recently opposed the proposed privatisation of the sector. As I read their joint communiqué, I remembered a song in pidgin English that says,’ No be you say you be oga, na why e dey run.’ By this their recent communiqué, it means that this group wants our health sector to remain in its present pitiable state. Is it not pathetic that surgeons in conjunction with the physicians will manage an unstable surgical patient and when the patient is stable to withstand surgical stress, one group will embark on a strike, so that after the strike, the patient will either be resting in the grave or be in the mortuary in preparation for the final burial?

Is it not preposterous that the same people that were shouting and quoting ‘International best practices ‘ are still the same people that are now opposing privatisation which is the foundation of the International best practices in any health sector? Top hospitals and universities in the world today are either privately owned or are run by public-private partnership. All the medical tourisms by Nigerians abroad end up in these hospitals run by public private partnership. Why are they afraid of public private partnership and why is Nigerian Medical Association (NMA) supporting the proposed privatisation of the sector by the  current government?

The answer is simple, under public private partnership, each of the professionals in the sector will be paid according to their inputs/skills and not according to their ability to either draw media attention by issuing communiqué or ultimatum on daily basis or form more unions in the sector.

Once the sector is privatised, all these unions will die a natural death, everybody will return to his duty post and face his assigned duty. At that point, we will see if an entrepreneur will agree to employ a consultant generator operator, cleaner, mortuary attendant etc and pay him/her consultancy allowances. At that point, we will see if pharmacists in our tertiary hospitals will continue being drug counters while more than 98% of the drugs used in our hospitals are imported and even those requiring reconstitution are done by private firms outside the hospitals. At that time, we will see if pharmacists in our public hospitals when embarking on any strike will lock up all the drugs in the pharmacy shops such that when they resume after the strike, majority of the drugs must have expired. Also, at that time we will know if medical laboratory scientists will collect samples from patients and later in the same day will embark on a strike, abandoning the collected samples.

Why are they afraid of public private partnership? They should accept the fact that people are supposed to be paid according to their skills and not according to their abilities to make noises in an organisation. Under public private partnership, I will like to see how a nurse that has direct contact with the patients in most of the times will earn lower than a drug counter in the pharmacy unit. They are aware that with this newly proposed arrangement, everybody in the sector will work out his/her salary. Until then, let me see a good entrepreneur that will appoint people without the requisite qualifications and experiences as the chief medical directors (CMD) because the post, as JOHESU will always argue, is purely  administrative .In our private enterprises we employ competent hands because we know that the quality of  our services determines our output and Revenue but in our government hospitals we want a cleaner, mortuary attendant etc  with O’level certificates, first degree or OND/HND  to head our tertiary  hospitals  in the presence of medical consultants  under the incessantly- abused ‘international best practices’ . I don’t need to remind the government on the need to retire senior army officers when their junior is appointed as the Chief of Army Staff.

I look forward to a day when clerical staff and other workers like accountants in the ministry of justice will be appointed as Attorney -General or Commissioner for Justice because as my JOHESU friends will argue, the posts are purely administrative and the sector is muti-disciplinary. Also, I will like professors of paralegal studies to come and head our ministry of justice as paramedical workers are advocating in the health sector. More so, the appointment of paramilitary officers from the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, Federal Road Safety Commission, Nigerian Customs Service etc as Chief of Defence staff will help to assuage my aggrieved mind after all, the post of the chief of defence should also be purely administrative as my JOHESU may also argue.

I know if I surf the internet I will definitely get few countries where civilians like me can be chief of defence staff, hence I will now parochially argue that such anomaly forms the fulcrum of our international best practices. I even wonder why a group has not come up to call for legalisation of same sex marriage in Nigeria under ‘international best practices’ since any anomaly observed in few countries abroad forms our international best practices. Meanwhile, as they called for international best practices, I advise them to openly accept this privatisation in good faith because that is the foundation of the much-touted international best practices.

Dr Paul John, a medical practitioner based in  Port Harcourt,  Rivers state, examines the rot in the Nigerian health sector and gives reasons why privatisation of the sector is the best option.

This article was first published by Daily Independent.

NUPENGASSAN Flays Gale Of Sacks At NNPC

Workers, under the aegis of Nigerian Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers and Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (NUPENGASSAN), have challenged the new GMD of NNPC, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, to recover the stolen trillions of Naira in the oil and gas sector rather than retiring and sacking innocent workers.

The workers claimed that the fight against corruption should not be turned against workers whom government have sworn to protect

NUPENGASSAN, in a statement signed by the NUPENG President, Comrade Igwe Achese, and his PENGASSAN counterpart, Comrade Francis Johnson, in Lagos, at the weekend, said the two unions in the oil and gas sector have reservations about the approach of government to the reform programme in the oil and gas industry without carrying the two unions along in the process.

Part of the statement read: “We dare the new GMD of NNPC, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, to recover the stolen trillions of Naira in the sector than retiring and sacking of innocent workers. We see the action as an act of cover up.

“While we are fully in support of the fight against corruption, the fight itself should not be turned against workers whom government swore to protect. The ongoing exercise portends a great danger in the oil and sector, if workers are meant to bear the brunt of government current action where the fight of corruption is now used as an act of vindictiveness against workers.

FAAN issues seven – day final notice to debtors

The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has given all its debtors a seven-day final demand notice to settle their indebtedness on or before Aug. 24.

FAAN warned that at the expiration of this notice, the Authority would take all necessary measures to recover these debts in line with a Presidential directive.

This is contained in a statement signed by its General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Mr Yakubu Dati, and made available to the News Agency of Nigeria on Sunday in Abuja.

The statement said that all the debtors had earlier been communicated with details of their indebtedness to the aviation Authority.

It advised affected debtors who were in doubt to reach the relevant credit control office at its headquarters to reconcile their accounts.

FAAN said that the debt recovery drive was to enable the Authority to meet its responsibilities, within the burden of these huge debts, as a self-sustaining organization.

Ekiti PDP crisis: Faction threatens Fayose-backed men over ‘contempt’

The estranged State Working Committee (SWC) members of the Ekiti State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have accused the faction loyal to Governor Ayo Fayose of contempt of court.

They threatened to jail the chairman of the faction backed by Fayose, Idowu Faleye, for allegedly spearheading the purported expulsion of four of them.

The embattled SWC added that the action eroded the integrity of the court of law, where its members filed a suit against any punitive measure against them.

The Chairman of the 11 SWC members, Tunde Olatunde, whose expulsion was announced by Faleye and three other state exco members, maintained that they would explore available legal and constitutional means to seek redress and ensure that those holding court in contempt were committed to prison.

Others, who were expelled by the Faleye-led faction, were PDP State Secretary, Tope Aluko; Women Leader Mrs. Busola Oyebode and Auditor Tunji Olanrewaju. They were expelled for alleged anti-party activities.

Olatunde, who spoke with reporters at the wedding of Aluko’s daughter at the weekend in Ado-Ekiti, said the faction loyal to Fayose knew that a suit had been filed at the Ekiti State High Court challenging their suspension and seeking leave of the court to restrain the party from taking further action against them.

He said for Faleye and other loyalists of Fayose to go ahead and expel them in view of the pending court process, was tantamount to contempt of court, abuse of the rule of law and an attempt to foist a fait accompli on the court.

Olatunde said: “Shortly after we were suspended, we went to court to challenge our suspension and also asked the court to restrain the party from taking further decision pending the time the reconciliation committee to be constituted by the NWC arrives in Ekiti.

“What really marvelled us was that the Faleye and his ilk were duly served with all the court processes. But we decided to stay action in the pursuit of the case because of the respect we have for the NWC, which had indicated interest to resolve the matter.

“But out of desperation, they went and trampled on the integrity of the court. We would have expected that status quo be maintained while awaiting what the court and NWC would say on the matter.

“We are assuring that we will use every legal means to ensure that Faleye and his collaborators are jailed for contempt. Though we are not ruling out the reconciliation being proposed by NWC, we are ready to embrace it. But if they failed, then we will resort to legal means.”

But the spokesman of the Faleye-led faction, Jackson Adebayo, insisted that the expulsion was in order.

He added that the quartet had been expelled before they went to court to seek protection against disciplinary action.

Adebayo said: “There was no contempt of court in anything that the party’s state executive committee did because the expulsion was done before the aggrieved went to court.

“I don’t think they understand the meaning of contempt of court. If they understand it, they will not be going to court for injunction after an action had been taken.”

This story was first published by the Nation Newspaper.

All African Games: Nigerian Table Tennis Federation hires German coach

To strengthen the technical crew for the 2015 African Games, the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) has engaged the services of former German national coach, Martin Adomeit as its technical adviser.

The hiring of the coach was made possible through the financial support of the National Sports Commission (NSC).

The German tactician guided Nigeria’s Aruna Quadri to the quarter-final of the 2014 ITTF World Cup in Dusseldorf, Germany and he is expected to arrive Nigeria this week to start working with the team in readiness for the games.

From 1978 to 1980 Martin Adomeit worked at youth level of clubs with Germany-based Soest TV and TuS Ampen. In 1981 he joined the TuS Jahn Soest and was part of the technical crew of the team’s female team in the Bundesliga League and in 1984, he took over as coach of the women’s team of the club. He also served from 1988 to 1997 as honourary coach of the West German Table Tennis Association (WTTA).

In 1996, he was appointed as an assistant coach by the German Table Tennis Association DTTB and in 1997 he ended all previous activities at club levels and took over the post of national coach of the German female team.

Quadri Aruna hugs Martin Adomeit

Under his tutelage, the German women’s team won three consecutive times the European League as well as winner of the 1998 and 1999 European Ladies Team Championship while in 2000, the team won silver.

For this feat, the Association of German Table Tennis Coaches named Adomeit as the coach of the year in 1999.

But after a poor outing by the German team at the 2000 ITTF World Cup, Adomeit stepped down and was replaced by Richard Prause. Adomeit now assumed responsibility for the female junior team.

From August 2004 to April 2007, Adomeit worked as coach and sporting director in Luxembourg while he also handled the Belgium national team from 2008 to 2010.

In 2010, he began working as an independent coach in camps for players and coaches for the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) and ITTF as well as German Organising Committee (OC), coach education in Germany. He also worked with top tennis players across the globe.

The 51-year old Dortmund-born tactician is an A-licensed coach, who studied at the German Sport University in Cologne.