Address Nigeria’s structural issues, Oloyede Tells FG

The Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Is-haq Oloyede, has said that for the country to make any meaningful progress, there is need to address the structural issues that continue to retard the country’s growth. In his opening remarks at the 7TH Annual Conference of the Guild Of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) on Thursday in Abuja, Oloyede insisted that authorities must show leadership in the drive to put the country on the path of sustainable growth and development. The GOCOP conference has as its theme: “Nigeria: Roadmap for Socio-economic Recovery and Sustainability.” The JAMB registrar noted that with the country undergoing tremendous pressure from numerous socio-economic challenges, it was obvious that the new administration and newly elected and appointed persons at various levels have their jobs cut out for them. According to him, these economic phenomena have further put pressure on the well-being of Nigerians. He noted that the foreign exchange market volatility, insecurity, kidnapping and a host of other vices and crises have conspired to rob the country of realising its potentials in productivity and economic growth and development and have contributed significantly to the rising level of poverty.  “The issues confronting us as a nation have resulted in loss of earning assets, decline in the capacity to earn and curtailment of purchasing power,” he said.   The Professor of Islamic Studies explained that in planning a roadmap for economic recovery and sustainable development, “we need to address some issues that have confronted us as a nation which have contributed to negative and slow growth, overtime. Some of these factors have contributed in not small measures to high levels of corruption and low productivity in the public sector. While noting that the removal of fuel subsidy, managed float of the naira among other policies by the new administration has further worsened the living conditions of Nigerians, he was however hopeful that the new policies will help in turning around the economy and put the country on the path of sustainable growth and prosperity. Oloyede, also called on the government to overhaul the wages and compensation structure in the public service to discourage deep- rooted corruption in the society. “Unless we are pretenders, we all know that some things do not just add up in the compensation of public servants and most of the public office holders. These phenomena encourage corruption and lack of accountability. It gives room for malpractices, financial impropriety, and malfeasance.  When officers and executives are not well paid and they are entrusted with huge resources of the state, some may resort to helping themselves. “I recommend that the code of corporate governance be extended to all major actors in the Nigerian economy. Specifically, the government should come out, without further delay, with a code of corporate governance and make it mandatory for public sector institutions, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and small and medium enterprises that represent over 97% of businesses operating in Nigeria. “When this is done, I believe there would be improvement in governance of government, non-governmental and private entities in Nigeria which would help to unlock their values for prosperity of Nigerians and sustainable development of the country. “It is important that our economists should not shut their eyes to the many alternatives to the template of Bretton Woods’s institutions. Not a few people believe that some austerity measures and curtailment of our high taste for foreign products are absolutely necessary in view of the current realities,” he explained. He therefore urged the media to partner with the government in order to “attain the socio-economic and political progress we badly need as we cannot treat the media as adversaries and as entities whose health or ill-health shouldn’t concern us.”

As Nigeria Turns 63: No Quick Road To Nirvana

The President in his Independence Day speech on Sunday 1st October, painted the picture of a nation bent in the knee by the weight of its challenges but one nonetheless, that remains unbowed and undeterred from the task of building a virile nation worthy of its destiny. The president delivered a balanced, sobering yet hopeful message that Nigerians expect from their president.  He reiterated his commitment to his reform agenda. He rightfully acknowledged the excruciating pain it is imposing on the citizenry, and announced new palliatives to ease it, principally due to fuel subsidy removal and the mind-numbing, wealth-devouring currency devaluation associated with ongoing effort to rejig the foreign exchange mechanism. The president therefore deserves our commendation for delivering a speech which is aimed at giving us a much-needed shot in the arm to bear the pain a little longer, with the hope for a future payoff in a better Nigeria.  It is obvious that the speech writers did a lot of research into past U.S. Presidential state of the union speech particularly JFK and Reagan if one critically examines its tonality, inflection and substance.   However, the President missed a great opportunity to prepare Nigerians for the long haul.  He should have emphasized that given the gargantuan project of rebuilding a badly dilapidated house that his government is taking on, that diligence, patience and long forbearance, not speed must be the watchwords.  The president who was a key player in installing his predecessor who did so much damage to the country might have been uncomfortable to acknowledge that the damage to our country has been long, systemic and all-encompassing.  It would have amounted to accepting his own culpability (directly or indirectly) had the had the courage to admit that neither the political system, the civil service, the civil society, the clergy, religious nor our traditional institutions have been spared from our national rot and decadence. It would have taken tremendous courage for the president to tell the nation that what the country is embarking on is not the kind of patch work that can be done in days. Politicians by their trade after all, are often short term focussed, looking as the clock speeds up to another looming election. Telling the electorate to expect long term pain in the hope of a better future is not a speech that is often associated with practicing politicians.  It is the reason, the “I have a dream speech” was given by Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and not be a JFK.  No savvy politician will tell the electorate he has gone to the mountaintop and seen a brighter future but that he might not get there with them like King prophetically said in his speech.  For politicians, pain is a dish served in small bites and intermittently.  But if truth be told, Nigerians must face the reality that the road to Nirvana will not be easy nor quick.  We didn’t get to this Hobbesian state of existence by leapfrogging and neither will we get out by it.  Our suffering and pain might endure a long while but without it we have no chance. What we must do is to hold this government’s feet to fire to ensure that it stays focussed, on track and committed to its promises.  This government must also take on this difficult task of holding accountable those who have egregiously plundered our country and pauperized the most vulnerable of us.  There can be no way forward without the atonement for, at the minimum the most egregious sin.  The president himself laid down the marker by singling out in his speech, the ongoing investigation into the CBN and the egregious criminality that was perpetrated by its previous governor.  Yes, it is true that very few if any in the political class can be absolved of culpability in the decimation of our country.  However, the abuses that have been revealed in the management of the CBN are so egregious that they cannot and must not be swept under the carpet.  There must be severe consequences for their criminality even if it amounts to scapegoating.  The many Nigerians whose lives were destroyed and the many who literally lost theirs due to the action of the former governor, deserve and demand it. Happy 63rd Independence Day to us all.