Public Affairs Analyst

2010 will go down as a year of mixed fortunes for Nigeria. The budget was proposed to stimulate the economy but the majority of Nigerians are yet to feel positive impact of the stimulus package. A number of positive developments in 2010 for me are the passage and signing into law of the Asset Management Company of Nigeria as well as the inauguration of the board. The other is the tsunami that swept away the board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange in August. There was also the sustained reform of the banking sector with the classification of the banks into four groups with different capital bases viz. International, specialised , regional, and national banks; the CBN also initiate idea of having a 10-year reform for the Nigeria banking industry which the CBN Governor at a pre-convocation lecture at Bayero Univeristy, Kano in February 2010 said is aimed at "enhancing the quality of banks, establishing financial stability, enabling healthy financial sector evolution and ensuring th...

I thought I was suffering from visual and auditory hallucination when I learnt that government of Nigeria had decided to lift ban on some hitherto prohibited items. These goods include furniture, textile materials, tooth pick, matches, cassava, energy drinks and vehicles that are less than 15 years old. According to newspaper reports, the government’s decision is ‘to replace the bans with tariffs to protect domestic industries.’ Government opined that banned imports result in huge revenue losses to government through significant trade diversion to neighbouring countries, and the routine smuggling of these items into the country. In un-banning the prohibited items, government therefore decided to slam levies on them. The tariffs put on the items are: cassava- 15% levy in addition to the substantive 20% duty; toothpick- 20% levy and duty of 20%; furniture- 20% levy and duty of 20%; textile fabrics and articles (lace fabric, brocade, voile, African print, etc. and made-up garments) - 20%...

In commemoration of his 20 years of media advocacy, Jide Ojo, a development consultant, essayist and public affairs analyst on Thursday, 25 November, 2010 at Denis Hotel, Abuja launched a book titled: Nigeria, My Nigeria: Perspectives from 1990 – 2010. The 315 page digest contains 11 chapters dwelling on different aspects of Nigeria’s national life. These includes commentaries on governance, economy, legislature and judiciary, education, health, politics and elections, media, global affairs, security, electoral reform, labour, sports, religion and society. As part of the event, a public lecture entitled: Elections, Power and Morality was also held. The Guest Speaker was Prof. Okey Ibeanu, chief technical adviser to the Chairman of Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The Chair of the occasion was Prof. Suleiman Bogoro The event had in attendance dignitaries such as Ed Morgan, a development consultant, Prof. Sam Egwu, Governance Team Leader, UNDP, Hajia Amina Salihu, P...

Congratulations are in order for our Super Falcons. In further celebration of Nigeria’s golden jubilee independence anniversary, the senior female national football team on November 14 2010, at Sinaba Stadium in South Africa reclaimed the African Women’s Championship with a 4-2 victory over Nzalang Nacional of Equatorial Guinea. The win makes it a record 6th time the Super Falcons will win the trophy out of the 7 editions of the soccer competition. By this feat, the Super Falcons alongside their Guinean counterpart have booked tickets to the next FIFA Women’s World Cup coming up in Germany in 2011. The Nigerian female soccer team is said to be the only one in the championship whose head coach is a woman. The coach, Eucharia Uche, is herself a former Falcon player. It did not end there. It was as if the tournament was organised to honour Nigeria as our ladies, apart from winning the trophy and gold medal as the champions of the soccer fiesta also won the Fair Play Award. Perpetua Nkwoch...

It was not my first time observing elections. I have been similarly engaged both in Nigeria and Ghana. However, getting invited as one of the global assemblage of people to observe the November 2, 2010 US mid-term election was quite exciting for me. In the one week that I was in America for the exercise, I tried to soak in as much information as I could on one of the world’s oldest democracies. It‘s true that America has over two hundred years of history of electoral democracy. Yet, I believe Nigeria does not need two centuries to overcome her challenge of credible elections. It took Ghana just about a decade to become the toast of the rest of the world on how to conduct acceptable and transparent polls. My American trip was an eye-opener. If we must catch up with the rest of the world, we must learn the positive lessons from other climes. With Nigeria in the process of conducting her fourth successive elections, it is widely believed that the forthcoming polls will be far better than ...

Cross River State is arguably Nigeria’s home of tourism. The State hosts the famous Obudu Ranch Resort, Old Residency Museum, Marina Beach Resort, Agbokim Waterfalls , Ikom Monoliths, Mary Slessor’s Tomb, Tinapa Business and Leisure Resort, Cross Rivers National Park and Carnival Calabar (a month long cultural festival held every December). Recently, I was in Calabar on official assignment and lodged at Amber Tinapa, the 243 room hotel situated right inside the Tinapa environ. This should be my third time visiting the business resort, the last time being in 2007. Tinapa is an architectural masterpiece, the first integrated business and leisure resort in Nigeria. It was conceived to be a free trade zone in the mould of Dubai. It comprises four emporiums of 10,000m2 each and about fifty four line shops that range between 150m2 to 200m2 in size. The edifice was commissioned in December 2008. However, two years down the line, I am very unimpressed with the lacklustre way the multi-mill...

The reluctance of the Nigerian parliamentarians to pass the anti-money laundering (AML) and anti-terrorism (AT) bills is worrisome. Although, if history will be our guide, it rings true to the character of Nigeria’s members of the national assembly to hold anti-corruption bills in disdain. Similar fate as befalling the AML Bill has been the lot of Freedom of Information (FoI) Bill, Whistle Blowers Bill and several other bills aimed at promoting transparency and accountability in government. Background to the Bill President Goodluck Jonathan had written twice this year to appeal to the Senators and House of Reps members to pass the bill, all to no avail. News report has it that the new anti-money laundering bill was meant to replace the 2004 version of same bill which was said to lack the relevant provisions that will make it fully compliant with the recommendations of the Financial Action Task force (FATF), established by the G7 Summit held in Paris in 1989. Nigeria, at its last meeti...