The Golden Eaglets finished second at the African Under 17 Championship in Morocco,where they lost out to Ivory Coast in the finals,while the Nigerian Athletics team won the maiden edition of the African under 18 championship held in Warri,Delta State.

President Jonathan said that he was rewarding them for their efforts in representing the country very well in their respective competitions,adding that he was giving them a certain amount of money,considering that they are still young,in order not to derail the.

“In recognition of your performance, we are giving you a token cash appreciation. It is token because you are young people and we don’t want to spoil you” President Jonathan said.

“The U-17 players will get N500,000 each. Their coach will get N1m, the assistant coaches will get N750,000, the team officials will get N500,000 each while the team curator will get N300,000.

“For the athletes, we will give N500,000 for gold medals, N400,000 for silver medals, N300,000 for bronze medals and N500, 000 for technical officials.”

“The nation is proud of you. You have done us proud and as a nation, we appreciate your efforts and patriotism. I urge you not to relent. You must continue to inspire young people,” President Jonathan added.

source-allsports

A presidential spokesman issued a statement saying the biggest drive yet against the four-year-old rebellion had made progress since President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in three troubled states last Tuesday.

“The insurgents have been dislodged from their previously safe havens and camps while many have been apprehended, and their activities in the affected states have been brought to a total halt,” he said of operations around Lake Chad, along Nigeria’s northeastern borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Thousands of additional troops have been deployed in the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa in an operation that has targeted areas of Africa’s top energy producer where Boko Haram has established bases and weapons dumps. Warplanes were used to destroy some militant camps on Friday.

Jonathan has won support for decisive action, although many doubt whether Boko Haram, adept at going into hiding under pressure and then resurfacing, can be defeated militarily.

A record of human rights abuses by the Nigerian armed forces has seen Western powers voice concern about the offensive.

A military source in Maiduguri told Reuters the operation was facing major hurdles, as the Islamists were well armed and ready. Some had already gone into hiding, he said. Soldiers were conducting house-to-house raids, another military source said.

A spokesman for Nigeria’s defense headquarters, Brigadier-General Chris Olukolade, said in a statement that several Boko Haram camps had been destroyed in areas such as New Marte and Hausari, which were now back under control of the government.

He added that 120 militants were detained at a funeral for one of their commanders killed by special forces. Others had fled towards the Chad and Niger borders, he said.

source -reuters

The Igbo leaders spoke through Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State on a day Jonathan fulfilled his 2011 electioneering campaign promise to the Igbo by completing Akanu Ibiam International Airport Enugu.

Obi  referred to the fulfillment of the electioneering promise when he told Jonathan that the South-East merits its own international airport to enable the people, being the most widely travelled in Nigeria, traverse the world to market their entrepreneurial attributes.

On the Second Niger Bridge, the Igbo leaders said: “The bridge will serve as an important economic corridor that is at the heart of a globally recognized emerging industrial hub, not just for this nation, but for the entire Africa. The salient national benefits of a second bridge across River Niger cannot be overemphasized.In our last meeting, you promised to flag off this project within the First Quarter of 2013. We humbly plead that you return to our zone in the not-too-distant future to fulfil this promise for which your commitment is not in doubt.”

On roads, they said: “The presence of a good road network.  The present state of most federal roads in our zone remains deplorable and our people very often use these roads as a comparative measure of the federal government’s commitment to our zone.

“In this context, sir, we wish to once more as a people appeal for your due attention to the Enugu-Port-Harcourt, Enugu-Onitsha, and the Owerri-Elele federal roads, which we have repeatedly brought to your attention.  These roads form a critical tripod in our national transportation mosaic. Similarly, a critical bridge on the hump of the federal road linking Abakaliki to Ogoja is in dire need of replacement.”

The mandatory two days required for the National Assembly to approve the emergency rule in Borno, Adamawa and Yobe states elapsed on Thursday without a formal notification from President Goodluck Jonathan to federal lawmakers, leaving a web of confusion whether or not, a vital constitutional requirement was breached.

Lawmakers and lawyers shelved an overwhelming euphoria that have trailed the emergency rule, to accuse the president of violating basic requirements in imposing emergency order, pointing out what may turn out tools for potential challengers of the order.

“I’m not contented with the whole arrangement because of the way he declared it and did not follow due process. He was expected to notify the House,” Ibrahim Kamba, a House of Representatives member from Kebbi state said on Wednesday.

The senate confirmed on Thursday it had yet to receive a published gazette, as stipulated by the constitution, through which the proclamation of the emergency rule ought to have been made.

The senate’s position is founded on Section 305 of the constitution, which states that “Subject to the provisions of this constitution, the president may by instrument published in the official gazette of the government of the federation issue a proclamation of a state of emergency in the federation or any part thereof.”

The succeeding sub section requires that “copies” of the published gazette be “immediately” sent to the senate and the House for consideration and possible approval. Such approval is expected in two days if the lawmakers are in session, or 10 days, if they are on break.

Johnathan needs to act quickly to ensure that Nigerians do not see this act as unconstitutional and whence any act by men of the military could be deemed as criminal

John Kerry, US Secretary of State, in statement on Friday, said,” the United States condemns Boko Haram’s campaign of terror in the strongest terms.

But urged Nigeria’s security forces to apply disciplined use of force in all operations protect civilians in any security response, and respect human rights and the rule of law.

He stated that the United States is deeply concerned about the fighting in northeastern Nigeria following President Jonathan’s declaration of a state of emergency in the Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states.

We are also deeply concerned by credible allegations that Nigerian security forces are committing gross human rights violations, which, in turn, only escalate the violence and fuel extremism. He noted.

A Reuters reporter saw two Alpha jets land in the city of Yola, in Adamawa state, one of three over which President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, the other two being Borno and Yobe.

Jonathan has beefed up troop deployments in the northeast to counter increasingly bold and deadly attacks by Islamist group Boko Haram, which wants to create an Islamic state in Nigeria and already controls territory in the northeast.

Rights groups said they feared an escalation of the conflict that could cause large civilian deaths, but Jonathan’s move enjoys public support in Nigeria, after more than three years of trying to contain the insurgency have largely failed.

Air Force spokesman Air Commodore Yusuf Anas confirmed to Reuters by telephone that “air assets”, including helicopter gunships as well as jets, had been sent in support of the extra troops being deployed for the operation.

He declined to give any further details. A military source said the planes would bomb Islamist bases and training camps.

Telephone connections to Borno and Yobe were almost completely cut on Thursday. In Adawama, where a curfew was declared from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. — the other two states were already under curfew — some cautiously welcomed the offensive. The three are among Nigeria’s poorest and most remote states, near border areas with Chad, Cameroon and Niger.

“This state has been under the control of gunmen for so long, it’s been long overdue,” said Audu John, a trader in Jimeta market.

But another man, Ahmed Usman, feared civilians would become targets for killings or torture by a military notorious for abuses. His family was evacuating as soon as possible, he said.

HUMAN COST

The Islamist insurgency has cost thousands of lives and destabilized Africa’s top energy producer since it began in 2009. Because it has mostly happened far from economic centers such as the commercial hub Lagos or political capital Abuja — and because it is hundreds of miles away from oil fields in the southeast — Nigerian elites have rarely prioritized it.

Jonathan’s move will answer critics who had accused him of not taking the crisis seriously enough.

“The federal government has come to terms with the bleak reality that what we are facing is … terrorism in its most horrific form,” said an editorial in The Punch daily paper on Thursday. “Nigeria is teetering on the precipice of disintegration … It is time to act decisively.”

But the United States expressed concern about a worsening “cycle of violence” on Wednesday, a view echoed by human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on Thursday.

Both have documented cases of abuses by Nigerian forces including summary executions and random shootings.

“All you’re doing is giving the military more powers than they had, but they were already far exceeding the powers … and violating human rights massively,” Lucy Freeman, Amnesty International’s deputy program director, told Reuters by phone.

Human Rights Watch Nigeria researcher Eric Guttschuss said: “If the military continues its practice of targeting civilians, there is a risk of massive abuses during this offensive … the military’s tactics have helped fuel the spiraling violence.”

source -Reuters.com

It was not clear who carried out the attack.

Several gunmen were killed during a clash with police in the remote town in Katsina state, army spokesman Ikedichi Iweha told Reuters, without giving specific figures or police casualties.

Nigerian forces are trying to regain territory controlled by increasingly well-armed Boko Haram Islamist insurgents in their northeastern stronghold states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, which were put under a state of emergency by President Goodluck Jonathan on Wednesday.

Security experts believe a crackdown in the northeast could push insurgent attacks into other regions, or awaken smaller cells that operate in other parts of the north.

“It’s difficult to tell if this is a criminal attack or part of another Islamist cell,” one security source said.

“There have been incidents in the past in Katsina but it certainly hasn’t been an insurgent stronghold.”

Another security source said a bank was raided and prisoners were freed from the police station.

Boko Haram, other Islamist groups like al-Qaeda linked Ansaru and associated criminal gangs have become the biggest threat to stability in Africa’s second largest economy and top oil producer.

Thousands have been killed since Boko Haram launched an uprising almost four years ago in an effort to create an Islamic state in a country of around 170 million split roughly equally between Christians and Muslims.

Violence has mostly happened far from economic centers such as the commercial hub Lagos or political capital Abuja and hundreds of miles away from oilfields in the southeast.

Military jets, helicopter gunships and thousands of troops are involved in the current offensive, which may answer some critics who accuse Jonathan, a southern Christian, of underestimating the severity of the crisis in the Muslim north.

Rights groups are concerned the state of emergency will lead to more abuses they have document by Nigerian forces.

Preparing for possible further action across three frontier states where President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, the armed forces also deployed jet fighters and helicopter gunships to the region.

Rights groups said they feared for the safety of civilians from combatants on both sides, but Jonathan’s move enjoys widespread public support after more than three years of trying to contain the insurgency without notable success.

It follows an upsurge in violence against government and Christian targets in the northeast by Islamists who want an Islamic state in Nigeria. Africa’s most populous nation’s 170 million people are split evenly between Christians, who dominate in the south, and Muslims, who are the majority in the north.

Little detail was available from Sambisa. Nigerian forces have attacked Islamist bases in the area of the game reserve before, as recently as February, to rout militants seen as the biggest security threat to Africa’s top energy producer.

The emergency affects the semi-desert states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa, which variously border Niger, Chad and Cameroon and cover some 150,000 sq km (60,000 sq miles) – an area similar to England or Illinois, but with a population of only 10 million.

A Reuters reporter saw two Alpha light attack jets land at Yola in Adamawa state. Air Force spokesman Air Commodore Yusuf Anas confirmed that “air assets”, also including helicopter gunships, had been sent to support ground troops. A military source said there could be air strikes on Islamist bases.

HUMAN COST

In the 1980s, military leaders used air power to put down religiously inspired protests during a crackdown that left some 5,000 people dead, according to state media at the time.

Telephone connections to Borno and Yobe were almost completely cut on Thursday. In Adamawa, where a new, 12-hour overnight curfew was declared – the other two states were already under curfew – some cautiously welcomed the offensive.

“This state has been under the control of gunmen for so long, it’s been long overdue,” said Audu John, a market trader.

But another man, Ahmed Usman, feared civilians would become targets for killings or torture by a military notorious for abuses. His family was evacuating as soon as possible, he said.

The Islamist insurgency has cost thousands of lives since it began in 2009, when a crackdown killed 800 people, including Boko Haram founder Mohammed Yusuf, who died in police custody.

Because it has mostly happened far from economic centers such as the commercial hub Lagos or political capital Abuja – and because it is hundreds of miles away from oilfields in the southeast – it has not been a priority for the establishment.

The offensive ordered by Jonathan, a southern Christian, may answer critics who had accused him of failing to address the crisis: “The federal government has come to terms with the bleak reality that what we are facing is … terrorism in its most horrific form,” the Punch newspaper said in an editorial.

“Nigeria is teetering on the precipice of disintegration.

“It is time to act decisively.”

But the United States expressed concern about a worsening “cycle of violence” on Wednesday, a view echoed by human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on Thursday.

Both have documented cases of abuses by Nigerian forces, including summary executions and random shootings.

At Human Rights Watch, Eric Guttschuss said: “If the military continues its practice of targeting civilians, there is a risk of massive abuses during this offensive.”

Red Cross, and security agencies are currently involved in rescue exercise.

First responders/observers on-site fear more people may be buried in the rubble.  …. more details

Rev. Bethrand made the call at a send-off and reception church service organised for him and the new parish priest, Rev. Father Cosmas  Edochie by the parishioners on 12^th May, 2013, as a way to appreciate him for a meritorious 6 years of service in the parish.

Using the broom to drive home his massage of unity, the clergy said when Christians stand as individual entities, just as a single broom stick, they can easily be defeated but when they are united as a collective indivisible entity, they will be in good position to overcome any threat  and emerge victorious because Igwe bu ike (multitude is strength)

Rev Bethrand noted that though there is diversity in our various lives, there is need for unity among Christians which will bring about peace and development for the good of the society.

Reading from the gospel of John 17:20-26, Rev. Bethrand charged Christians to love one another just as God loved Jesus Christ.

In earlier in her welcome address, comrade Maria Eke commended the dogged efforts of Rev. Ujunwa thus:

“On his arrival on February 20^th 2007 Rev. Fr. Bethrand Ujunwa left no stone unturned but quickly galvanized the people into action. By his efforts and in consonant with the efforts of the parishioners mostly the CWO, the parish house was completed, well-furnished along with the Boys Quarters. In no distance time as he came with the financial assistance of his non-parishioner friends – Mr and Mrs Emma O. Agbachi, MD. A.O. Emmaco Global ltd and others put in place a befitting Chapel which ranks second to none in the Archdiocese.

He started a Nursery/Primary School and within one year, he provided a new and standard structure, an edifice to accommodate the school pupils.

Rev. Fr. Bethrand with dogged persistence and enthusiasm negotiated and acquired over ten plots of land for further and future developmental purpose for the parish. He was a peacemaker. He mediated in and resolved some nagging and prolonged misunderstandings among families and villages”.

After receiving kind words and gifts from the Anglican Church in the community, catholic organisations in the parish, individuals, and a solidarity club (Ofu Ama Solidarity Club) led by its leader, Nze Emmanuel etc.  Rev. Ujunwa stated that, “I am moved by the songs and all the pleasant things you have said. You have surprised me. I am overwhelmed by the love you showered on me. May God reward you all”.

In an interview on the significance of the day to him, this was Rev. Bertrand’s response:

Today is a great day for me, in the sense that the people here, whom I have stayed with for six years asked me to come over for them to appreciate me for the work I have done for them. I am very happy coming back to them, to thank them for their support, because they are not the one that called me to this ministry, it is God himself. I did what I was supposed to do, working for them here. But for them to recognise that father you did well, come let us tell you thank you, I appreciate them. I appreciate them for their efforts to make sure that everything went smoothly when I was here with them. They gave me their full support, they gave me full encouragement, they did all they could do to make sure that our mission here was successful. Today is significant and I am happy.  I am happy today.

On his major Achievement:

The major achievement is the spiritual rejuvenation. That is the greatest achievement I made here. I try to revive their spiritual life. When I came in, you couldn’t blame them because of the distance from the parish centre, which made impossible for the parish priest when they were still a station to be really covering the community very well. But with my coming to live with them, the gospel got closer to them, and as God will have it, they responded to the gospel and you see some changes in their life style – they become more aware of their Christian responsibilities.

His message to the parishioners:

They should remain faithful to the gospel of Christ which we have propagated when we were here. They should remain ever faithful to it. The word of God is truth, and truth never rots. Truth is unchanging, so those truths the gospel of Christ has given them, they should hold on to them strongly. As the new priest has come, they should equally support him fully so that he will be able to achieve his aims here to making them better Christians.

The occasion was graced by His Royal Highness and Ugoeze S.O. Nwaeke, knights and Ladies of the church, traditional title holders, among others.

State, the Aircraft Bombardier BD 700, Global Express aircraft with

registration No. 5N5N65 RS, bought by the Rivers State Government,

used by Governor Chibuike Amaechi for official trips, have many

political bombardiers, and this is generating political wars.

After the plane was grounded at Akure airport on April 26 and Governor

Amaechi was affronted by those who felt that they were better

political bombardiers, because of their professed threat on the part

of Amaechi, the dust their political bombs are generating are noisy,

but are as infertile as a dry season.

They have called on Amaechi to explain the ownership of the jet. They

said that their records with the Acting Director General of Nigeria

Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), the aircraft was not bought by the

state government. Is this not giving a good dog a bad name in order to

hang her? They jumped from that to say that the aircraft registration

illustrated that it was possessed by Bank of Utah Trustee of Salt Lake

City, Utah Limited States of America.

What the ham-fisted Acting Director General of Nigeria Civil Aviation

Authority (NCAA), who was credited as saying that the aircraft’s

clearance approval expired on April 2 did not know, was that his

statement exposed his position for public ridicule. Since he or she

knew that the clearance approval had expired since April 2, what

effort did this inelegant chap make to notify the Rivers State

Government?

The Acting Director General of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)

was also credited as saying that the aircraft was operated illegally.

But this statement was coming after the aircraft was grounded and you

wonder between the aircraft and the office of the accuser which one

operated illegally.

Imagine that it was reportedly that the aircraft’s clearance approval

expired since April 2 and it was nearly a month that the clumsy Acting

Director General of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) was

telling the world about this and perhaps, with a view that Amaechi had

shot himself on the foot, oblivious that the Acting Director General

of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) was calling for his or her

sack, for not been able to update the Rivers State Government with the

news of the supposedly expiration of the aircraft’s clearance

approval.

If Amaechi-led Rivers State Government aircraft clearance approval had

expired, it behoved the aviation authorities to notify his government

since the said April 2, and not wait to insult their offices thinking

that they were bent to molest Amaechi. This impostor behaviour is

unacceptable and embarrassing to the sensibilities of Nigerians that

public funds are completely managed-badly, as salaries to the Acting

Director General of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA); this

person was supposed to be a professional, but allowed sluggishness to

becloud his or her official duty.

The sack of this Acting Director General of Nigeria Civil Aviation

Authority (NCAA) should be effected immediately if it is believed that

the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) government led by President

Goodluck Jonathan had zero tolerance for corruption. Nigerians are

tired of incompetent and un-performing office holders. From

examination, if truly the aircraft’s clearance approval had expired

since April 2, that Acting Director General of Nigeria Civil Aviation

Authority (NCAA), is just diverting attention and joining many

political bombardiers to mount massive opposition and humiliation of

Amaechi.

What these fellows after Amaechi do not realise is that Amaechi is not

the only person to be the chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum

(NGF), from where the presidency began to fight him, because he was

always not mincing words on the stand of the forum. Why did the same

presidency not fight the House of Reps, which rejected the

forced-candidate by the presidency for the post of Speaker and voted

for their wish? Amaechi has been rated the best chairman of the NGF,

but regrettably his fellow governors allowed themselves to be divided

by the presidency for the portage of political gains. What a pragmatic

political friends and foes!

The saga of the bombardier aircraft has kept President Goodluck

Jonathan on the line on how he would be rated in his further political

ambitions, because totalitarianism is an enemy of democracy. Has

Jonathan not been fighting in all the regions of the country? North,

West and South-South. Does he remember an Ijaw proverb which says

that, “The beginning of iworoko dance at village square will not end

with the beating of bathroom slippers”? The political bombardments

will not end with Amaechi.

Whether it was N7bn or N9bn that the private jet was bought or not,

what did those saying that Amaechi inflated the cost of the jet by

$10m do when they earlier had this record? Was it when the plane had

brushes with the aviation authorities that this spurious agenda of the

rival came up?  It is really unfounded!

This rather hatchet man’s job against Amaechi is falsity and an

imagined-thing of the imagination of those spreading the bogus claim.

Wherever the traducers got their record, but news reports said that

the state government never announced that the aircraft was purchased

for $57m. It was recently that the state government said that the

aircraft was bought for US$45m. Which script are those political

bombardiers against Amaechi playing? The script, Nigerians have seen,

will not make a good film.

One group “Lawyers League” only saw where the Nigerian Civil Aviation

Authority acted within the law, but refused to see where the Acting

Director General of Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) misfired

against the law.

Citing the Civil Aviation Authority Act of 2004, the group made a

comment before  it reasoned thus: (1) The private jet illegally

operated for three weeks on an expired type certificate; (2) The

owners of the jet wilfully and or neglected to comply with the

Nigerian Civil Aviation Act of 2004; and (3) The NCAA has no record of

Governor Amaechi’s interest in the private jet registered.

The above statement can only be expected from ‘lawyers without

boarder’. Hope you know what a professional without speciality can do?

Need we say more? And if the phony group said that Governor Amaechi or

the foreign operator of the private jet did not please the NCAA’s

terms and conditions, how come that the plane was allowed a landing

space? Many officials in the NCAA needed to be sacked, if not for the

politics the presidency is playing against Amaechi.

No one should say that Governor Amaechi should own up to any error

that was not his. The regulator in NCAA needed to be castigated more

than anyone had perceived, because of its shortcomings in the proper

exercise of regulation. The regulator did not do the right thing since

it knew and said that the aircraft’s clearance approval expired since

April 2.

It was not expected of Governor Amaechi or the Rivers State to provide

any satisfactory answer when the bean had already been peeled by the

NCAA. If the plane was not driven that day it meant that NCAA would

not have known the alleged state of the aircraft. Many persons needed

to be sacked from this NCAA! One wonders how many privately owned

aircraft in Nigeria that occupy the landing space without official

approval.

Many Nigerians have known that the political bombardiers against

Governor Amaechi are bent on distracting him and are urging other

Nigerians not to allow this comedian’s tactics distract them. It is an

unnecessary distraction. They want to score cheap point with Amaechi.

One woman in the NCAA even said freshly that she was not aware of the

aircraft, and you wonder if the aircraft was smuggled into the country

if not through the dictates of the NCAA.

It has become obvious from what are on the papers that the political

bombardiers against Amaechi want to intimidate or blackmail him. Do

these persons remember again the Fuel subsidy scandal that involved a

member of the National House? Hooey! EFCC should investigate NCAA and

make its findings public, because Amaechi is not insane not to have

known the obligations required of him before the plane was brought in.

Governor Amaechi is courageous and bold, but what did the Federal

Government do to the country that unleashed its dam’s bank to flood

Nigeria? That country turned Nigeria into garbage of a sort in the

areas that the flood affected as long as it lasted. Contending with

Governor Amaechi’s right to the Immunity Clause that he was supposed

to be enjoying as a sitting governor, is contradictory and

incompatible with the Constitution of the Federal Republic.

As far as the Immunity Clause exists, whoever that is probing Governor

Amaechi is infringing on his fundamental right to the Constitution

with impunity. Rather, it should be those at the NCAA that deserve the

probe for not living upto expectation in the cause of their duty, but

only waited to open the Pandora’s Box when there is a perceived

witch-hunt. After all, did the state House of Assembly not approve of

the purchase of the aircraft?

If people see the purchase of the aircraft as a misappropriation of

state funds they are not true with the issue, if a top banker in the

country could say he donated One Hundred Million naira to a state in

the north upon the insecurity in that part of the region and you

wonder what the donation was meant for. He said that it was to assist

the destitute, but what of if the people had used the money to

purchase more munitions for their rebellious expertise?

Who is talking about the Rivers State Government aircraft and is

breaking head over it when 73% Niger Delta oil wells are controlled by

the Hausa/Fulani ‘untouchables’ of this country and hardly is anyone

talking about it? The political fight against Amaechi is not ideal.

The fight is costing Niger Delta its supposedly peace. It is a vulgar

display against Amaechi, if those in the NCAA who said that the

aircraft’s clearance approval had expired since April 2, but did not

notify the Rivers State Government earlier, are enjoying their sleep.

It is palpable that people should stop betraying the Constitution with

the view that they are fighting Amaechi. All the repression and

high-handedness levelled against Amaechi in this matter should stop.

Paying a section of the media to pull Amaechi down does not worth the

onus. Is Amaechi the only governor whose state’s aircraft was

registered by the Bank of Uttah? Tomorrow is the best judge of any

action taken today.

Odimegwu Onwumere, Poet/Author, is the Coordinator, Concerned

Non-Indigenes In Rivers State (CONIRIV). Phone: +2348032552855 (OR)

+2348057778358. Email: apoet_25@yahoo.com

In his online rejoinder, a certain “Mr. Has” noted that “… the money deposit banks that should mobilize deposits for proper financial intermediation depend heavily on the monthly naira distribution to the tiers of government… for their operations.  With dollar certificates, this source of funds will no more be available.  The banks may experience some liquidity crisis.  This probably explains why the banks exhibit lukewarm attitude to your proposals.  Previous directives that the accounts of MDAs be held by the CBN were reversed owing to the banks’ agitation, as many of them exhibited inherent liquidity crisis!  I believe the dollar certificates will have similar effect on the banks”.

For sake of clarity, excess liquidity is defined as cash held by a bank above the usual regulatory requirement for that bank.

Presently, Nigerian banks are required to hold a minimum of 12 per cent of their assets strictly as cash; consequently, cash availability above 12 per cent may encourage banks to indiscriminately, recklessly expand credit to customers, thereby unwittingly increasing money supply, and driving inflation, as so much money chase less goods!

Evidently, Nigerian banks become flush with excess liquidity every month, when hundreds of billions of naira are substituted for monthly distributable dollar revenue and paid into the bank accounts of the three tiers of government.

In response to the inflationary threat caused by the ensuing naira surplus, CBN would seek to withdraw and keep as redundant and idle, hundreds of billions of naira, which it borrows from the banks at between 10 and 17 per cent interest rate.

In place of such an obnoxious strategy, government proposed, some years back, that cash allocations to the three tiers of government should be domiciled directly with the CBN rather than commercial banks; in this manner, the burden of government paying outrageous charges for accumulating idle funds borrowed from the banks to restrain inflation will be averted.

Understandably, the banks rose up in concert to oppose this arrangement, which would have removed their veritable source of free meal tickets.  Expectedly, banks preferred the comfort zone of playing custodian to government funds and also earning premium returns from the high-yield risk-free sovereign borrowings that regularly came their way.  Unfortunately, with such supportive payments model, it made better commercial sense for banks to ignore lending to the more risk-prone real sector SMEs!

Consequently, the real sector eternally cries for credit, and gradually contracts, with adverse impacts on employment opportunities, while banks conversely continue to declare extraordinary profit results, in an otherwise retrogressive economy.

Regrettably, in spite of CBN’s constant generosity with humongous bailouts with public funds and the bonanza associated with endless excess liquidity in banks over the years, it is inexplicable that the Nigerian public have become traumatically pauperized.  Nonetheless, the most impactful function of banks currently appears to be the facilitation of transactions rather than that of an engine room for inclusive national economic growth.

Alternatively, however, adoption of dollar certificates would avoid the pitfalls of excess liquidity and its ugly train of double-digit inflation, high cost of funds, with a weakening naira instigating increasing fuel subsidies above N2tn annually; such resultant enabling environment will regenerate industrial activities, and ultimately also restrain the plague of unemployment!

Furthermore, “Mr. Has” also observed online that “…the state governments that will be beneficiaries of the (proposed) dollar certificates require naira to meet their monthly recurrent expenditure, which range from 40 – 80 per cent.  Why issue them with dollar certificates?  Probably, that explains why the state governments are not enthusiastic about the dollar certificates”.

In practice, dollar certificates are not legal tender; consequently, beneficiaries would need to exchange them for naira at market-determined rates through the banks.  Thus, in the absence of the usual stupendous cash increase with 100 per cent naira allocations, increasingly more dollars will consequently chase stable naira supply and alter market dynamics in favour of a stronger naira!  Thus, in place of naira value coming under threat with bountiful dollar revenue, as before, the reverse will become a benign trend!

The presumed liquidity enjoyed by the three tiers of government from the current payment system has failed to positively induce real economic growth with improved social welfare.  Nonetheless, government and MDAs’ bloated recurrent expenditure budgets have become cesspools of corruption, and accommodate all sorts of spurious expenses and allowances, including salaries for hundreds of thousands of ghost workers and other such duplications and leakages!

Conversely, the adoption of dollar certificates would certainly boost naira purchasing power, so that income earners would immediately find that their otherwise meagre wages and salaries will buy much more goods and services than previously possible.  The resultant increase in consumer demand would create an array of opportunities for production expansion in existing ventures and similarly attract new investors who wish to target the exploding consumer demand.

Consequently, multiple job opportunities would become available to reduce unemployment and also absorb those ‘victims’ of efficient streamlining of public establishments in response to the MDAs’ adjusted liquidity positions.  Ultimately, government coffers will also become beneficiaries of rising personal and corporate tax revenue.

Finally, “Mr. Has”, in his rejoinder, is concerned that a payments reform, as proposed, will create several beneficiaries of dollar certificates and this may in return result in multiplicity of exchange rates in the market.  This may not necessarily be so; for example, in the absence of rogue consignments, the multiplicity of tomatoes sellers in a market does not generally engender a wide spread of prices; indeed, this is what a free market is all about; ultimately, an equilibrium price with minimal deviations will always evolve!

In reality, centralized price control promotes corruption and is generally also a precursor of market distortions and inefficiency, as currently evident with CBN’s monopoly of the foreign exchange market.  This odious practice pampers the interest of the banks and the operators of a collaborative government structure, at the expense of over 90% of Nigerians, whose welfare and sense of dignity have become deflated by this oppressive payment model.

SAVE THE NAIRA, SAVE NIGERIANS!!

BY HENRY BOYO