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Crises in Nigeria: Food, Not New Constitution, is the Answer

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By Eric Elezuo

In the recent times, the Nigerian space has been very volatile as anger occasioned by extreme hunger, continue to ravage the land. This situation has led to a massive protest against the less than 15-months-old President Bola Tinubu-led administration in states across the nation, especially in the Northwest and Northeast corridors of the regions.

Themed #EndBadGovernanceInNigeria, the protests have been described as the consequence of a bottled up anger, which has engulfed Nigerians, from the extreme hardship that resulted with the pronouncement of Tinubu’s “Subsidy is gone” address on May 29, 2023.

With various manifestations of theories being propounded as the reasons for the consequential crises, most elites have said the a new constitution that will address the basic structure of the Peoples of Nigeria is urgently needed to assurge the desires of thr people, others have opined that at a time like this, all Nigerians are interested in is food for survival, and not constitution.

“Yes, we need a new constitution to address a lot of lopsided issues in the Nigerian nation, but as it stands today, the most important to address is hunger and hardship that has reduced many families to beggars, and has also made even the hitherto well to do members of the society to relapse into oblivion,” a hardship protester said.

As at the moment, a N500 plate of food cannot quench a form of hunger in roadside cafeterias otherwise ‘mama put’. One has to cough out as much as 1500 to 2000 to be able to have a ‘decent’ roadside. The eateries are now no go areas to average salary earner.

In the same vein a moderate tuber of yam that can serve for one meal in a family of 3/4 persons cost about 5000 as against 1000/1500. A bag of rice sells at N85000 depending on the location. Tomatoes and other cooking ingredients are gradually going beyond the reach of the regular.

Tinubu has therefore, in a make or mar effort to redeem image, launched into unproductive distribution of palliative to both individuals and governments, all in a bid to attempt to curb the resultant hardship, which has been acknowledged by the government. The effort has painted the administration as a palliative government of Nigeria, that has no clear-cut agenda to give the people a good life.

It would be recalled that life took a dramatic turn for the worse for Nigerians on May 29, 2023 minutes after President Tinubu was sworn in. It all took three simple words to bring a world of gloom to the citizens, who were hoping for a positive change from the drab eight years of General Muhammadu Buhari’s administration. What Nigerians got was a clear distance from prosperity and survival. In between May 2023 and the present, the situation has remained unprecedented as high cost of living, loss of jobs and general disconnect from deep-rooted welfarism have become the order of the day. Nigerians have continued to tell a tale of woe, the Tinubu loyalists have continued to defend a very bad situation, albeit unsuccessfully.

From the moment President Tinubu declared the unfamous subsidy is gone jargon, a drastic change occurred. And as if not deterred in the provision of antipeople policies, more policies and decisions that have further pushed citizens to the precipice were dished out including floating of the dollar, that has made naira a no use in the international money market, hike in elecrricity tarriff, and worse of all, the disappearance of operations of not a few multinational businesses.

” alt=”” aria-hidden=”true” />Microsoft announced the shutting down of its development centre in Nigeria, just two years after the opening of the centre in Lagos. This development adversley affected Nigerians, many of whom were employees in the firms and others.

In 2023, GlaxoSmithKline, Nigeria’s second-biggest drug producer, unceremoniously left the country after 51 years of operation. The British pharmaceutical giant said its prescription medicines and vaccines will only be sold in the country through third-party distributors. The same fate befell Unilever which shut down its home care and skin cleansing business. In the same 2023, another pharmaceutical multinational, Sanofi, left Nigeria.

Procter & Gamble (P&G), the US consumer goods powerhouse, which has been operating in the country for 30 years and ran two manufacturing plants in Ibadan, Oyo State and Agbara, Ogun State, closed down business operations and switched to only importation activity, describing the Nigeria market as problematic for the corporation.

Other companies that have called it quits with Nigeria since the advent of the Tinubu administration are Equinor Nigeria Energy Company (ENEC), a Norwegian energy corporation, which holds a 53.85 percent ownership in oil mining lease (OML) 128, including a 20.21 percent stake in the Agbami field, operated by Chevron. The company announced the sale of its Nigerian operations after three decades in the country’s energy market, including the company’s stake in Agbami oil field which were all sold to a Nigerian-owned firm, Chappal Energies.

Jumia Food and Bolt Foods also joined the long queue of companies that left Nigeria in December 2023. All blamed the rising and unstable foreign exchange rates and other unbearable government policies.

But the Tinubu government has continually told everyone that all was well, and the economy is on the right footing.

It is worth knowing that these aforementioned companies are known and in the limelight bwcause they are foreign companies. This is saying that in the alleged bad governance policies, private owned companies, the SMEs who could not even withstand the harsh inflation and cost of doing business have also packed up, as a direct consequence of the subsidy is gone pronouncement. These closures created wide gap of joblessness, unemployment and resultant hardship and hunger. This also heightened the spate of insecurity, thuggery, armed and petty robbery, kidnapping, banditry and outright terrorism.

It was not therefore, a surprise when out of the blues, a notice of 10-day long protest tagged #EndBadGovernance in Nigeria was initiated. The organizers, who were originally dismissed as faceless, outlined its demands including a reverse to previous electricity tariff regime, return of subsidy among other demands.

The Tinubu addressed any of the demands, but engaged in propaganda and threats using instrumentality of government, thugs, traditional institutions as in Lagos State, emergency groups and more. The protest however, held, and was successful in states, but failed in many other states, especially in the southeast.

After the third day when it became violent in the north east and west regions, President Tinubu addressed the nation. But Nigerians across board described his broadcast as porous and failed to address the spirit of the protest, which was a demand for end of hunger and hardship. Tinubu asked for more time, reiterating that his policies are for the good of the nation,  no matter how unbearable they are.

He said, “In the past 14 months, our government has made significant strides in rebuilding the foundation of our economy to carry us into a future of plenty and abundance. On the fiscal side, aggregate government revenues have more than doubled, hitting over 9.1 trillion Naira in the first half of 2024 compared to the first half of 2023 due to our efforts at blocking leakages, introducing automation, and mobilising funding creatively without additional burden on the people. Productivity is gradually increasing in the non-oil sector, reaching new levels and taking advantage of the opportunities in the current economic ambience.

“My dear brothers and sisters, we have come this far. Coming from a place where our country spent 97% of all our revenue on debt service; we have been able to reduce that to 68% in the last 13 months. We have also cleared legitimate outstanding foreign exchange obligations of about $5billion without any adverse impact on our programmes.

“This has given us more financial freedom and the room to spend more money on you, our citizens, to fund essential social services like education and healthcare. It has also led to our State, and Local Governments receiving the highest allocations ever in our country’s history from the Federation Account.”

However, personalities like former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka among others derided the speech as lacking in substance, and failed to address the issue of hunger, which is the major reason for the protest.

According to Soyinka, the president also failed to mentioned the extrajudicial killings of some protesters by security agencies during the uprising.

“His outline of the government’s remedial action since inception, aimed at warding off just such an outbreak, will undoubtedly receive expert and sustained attention both for effectiveness and in content analysis. My primary concern, quite predictably, is the continuing deterioration of the state’s seizure of protest management, an area in which the presidential address fell conspicuously short,” Soyinka said.

In his response former VP Atiku said, “His speech neglects the pressing economic hardships that have besieged Nigerian families since the very beginning of his tenure.

“This address lacks credibility and fails to offer any immediate, tangible solutions to the Nigerian people. Given the extensive publicity surrounding the protests and the threats issued by government officials against demonstrators, one would have expected President Tinubu to present groundbreaking reforms, particularly those aimed at reducing the exorbitant costs of governance.

“But alas, no such announcements were made. The President ignored the protesters’ demands, such as suspending the purchase of aircraft for the President, downsizing his bloated cabinet, or even eliminating the costly and burdensome office of the First Lady, who has been indulging in extravagant trips at the nation’s expense.”
Other than Tinubu’s apologists, loyalists and direct beneficiaries of his government, the entire nation is constantly voicing the fact that food is in dire need before families begin to slump in mid motion as a result of inherent and uncontrolled hunger.
It is not known the direction any other protest will take in the near future, but the truth remains that the government of Tinubu must rise to the occasion, and remedy an already messed up situation so that Nigerians can heave a little sigh of relief in the buildup to returning to economic statusquo before a new direction is carved.
But notable Nigerians like veteran journalists, Chief Dele Momodu, has said there is no hope of recovery for the economy if Tinubu continues in the direction he is going.
In an article titled, “A Nation in Pain,” where he insisted that only a miracle can avert what awaits the country, Momodu said, “Let those who still care plead with these people to have mercy on Nigeria. No matter how long Tinubu spends, he will fail spectacularly and sink Nigeria, unless he can drastically reduce the insensitivity and the ongoing jamborees in his government. Sadly, he doesn’t seem inclined that way.”
It’s obvious that time is ticking on Tinubu as a result of the non-availability of food, what may not be obvious is the trend of the next protest.
Yes, a new constitution is good to address lopsided affairs, but availability of food is the most important thing at the moment because citizens have to be alive to put together a new constitution.
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Peddle Drugs and Die: NAFDAC Goes for the Jugular

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By Eric Elezuo

Drug peddlers and their sponsors are in for a harder time if recommendations and proposal of death penalty, by the Director General of the National Agency for Food and Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Mrs Mojisola Adeyeye, sails through.

The formation of NAFDAC was inspired by a 1988 World Health Assembly resolution requesting countries’ help in combating the global health threat posed by counterfeit pharmaceuticals

Speaking bitterly at a live television show on the hard-heartedness of peddlers, whose actions, direct and indirect, have caused the deaths of not a few Nigerian children, and in some cases, adults.

According to the Director-General, only stiff penalties will deter peddlers, especially when it leads to the death of children.

She noted that “Somebody bought children’s medicine for N13,000 or something like that, another person was selling about N3,000 in the same mall,” the NAFDAC chief said on Friday’s edition of Channels Television’s The Morning Brief. 

“That raised an alarm. Guess what? There was nothing inside that medicine when we tested it in our Kaduna lab. So, I want the death penalty.

“Because you don’t need to put a gun on the head of a child before you kill that child. Just give that child bad medicine,” Adeyeye said.

The NAFDAC DG is also seeking the cooperation of the judiciary and the National Assembly to make such a move a reality. According to her, the agency is open to partnering with lawmakers and other stakeholders on the matter.

“You cannot fight substandard, falsified medicine in isolation. The agency can do as much as it can but if there is no deterrent, there’s going to be a problem,” she said.

“Somebody brought in 225mg of Tramadol that can kill anybody, fry the brain and you give a judgment of five years in prison or N250,000. Who doesn’t know that that person will go to the ATM and get N250,000?

“That is part of our problem. There are no strict measures to deter [people] from repeating the same thing. We can do as much as we can but if our law is not strong enough, or the judiciary is not strong enough to stand up, we’re going to have a problem.

“So, our judiciary system must be strong enough. But we are working with the National Assembly to make our penalties very stiff.  But if you kill a child by bad medicine, you deserve to die,” she said.

While NAFDAC has a lot on its plate in stemming drug peddling, Adeyeye decried the shortage of manpower in the agency.

She believes with about 2,000 staff members nationwide and limited funding, NAFDAC is constrained in carrying out its activities.

“So, when it comes to staffing, you’re right on the point. We are short-staffed and I am hoping things will be better,” the NAFDAC DG said.

It would be recalled that in times past, and in recent times, the deaths of children from medicine intake has been rift, prompting a form of emergency in the medical sector to checkmate the activities of the saboteurs, who are bent on reaping gains at the expense of life and wellbeing.

Mrs Adeyeye has promptly toed the lines of former NAFDAC DG, the late Dora Akinyuli, who declared an all out against drug peddlers and couriers.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is a federal agency under the Federal Ministry of Health that is responsible for regulating and controlling the manufacture, importation, exportation, advertisement, distribution, sale, and use of food, drugs, cosmetics, medical devices, chemicals, and packaged water established in 1993 under the health and safety law.

 

The establishment of NAFDAC was to counter the production and sales of adulterated and counterfeit drugs, which has become a menace in Nigeria, and to Nigerians. It would be recalled also that in one incident in 1989, over 150 children died as a result of paracetamol syrup containing diethylene glycol, among a list of other horrifying incidents.

At a certain stage, fake drugs issue was so severe that neighbouring countries such as Ghana and Sierra Leone officially banned the sale of drugs, foods, and beverage products made in Nigeria.

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El-Rufai Lacks Capacity to Win Even Senate Seat – Presidency

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Daniel Bwala, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Communication, has stated that the former Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, the lacks the influence to “unsettle” President Bola Tinubu.

Bwala made the remarks during an interview with TVC News on Thursday, stating that former Kaduna State governor does not have the capacity to win even a senate seat.

He emphasized that President Tinubu is not troubled by El-Rufai’s ongoing criticisms of his administration.

Bwala also noted that el-Rufai only gains political prominence when aligning with a strong, revolutionary leader, adding: “Let me tell you something about my elder brother, el-Rufai, and whether we should be concerned.

“There’s a dynamic around him. El-Rufai needs a solid revolutionary figure to thrive. On his own, El-Rufa’i might not even secure a Senate seat.”

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Reps Propose Creation of 31 More States

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The House of Representatives Committee on the review of the 1999 Constitution has proposed the creation of 31 additional states in the country.

Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Benjamin Kalu, who presided over plenary on Thursday read a letter from the committee containing the proposed states.

If approved, this will increase the number of states in Nigeria to 67.

The letter read: “This is to inform members that the House of Representatives Committee on the Review of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as altered), has received legislative proposals for the creation of states and local governments in the following order:

NORTH CENTRAL

1. BENUE ALA STATE from the present Benue State.
2. OKUN STATE from the present Kogi State
3. OKURA STATE from the present Kogi State
4. CONFLUENCE STATE from the present Kogi State
5. APA-AGBA STATE from Benue South Senatorial District
6. APA STATE from the present Benue State.
7. A 37th state, namely FEDERAL CAPITAL TERRITORY, ABUJA

NORTH EAST

8. AMANA STATE from the present Adamawa State.
9. KATAGUM STATE from the present Bauchi State.
10. SAVANNAH STATE from the present Borno State.
11. MURI STATE from the present Taraba State.

NORTH WEST

12. NEW KADUNA STATE and GURARA STATE from the present Kaduna State.
13. TIGA STATE from the present Kano State.
14. KAINJI STATE from the present Kebbi State.
15. GHARI STATE from the present Kano State

SOUTH EAST

16. ETITI STATE as the sixth (6th) state in the South East geopolitical zone.
17. ADADA STATE from the present Enugu State of Nigeria.
18. URASHI STATE as the sixth (6th) state in the South East geopolitical zone.
19. ORLU STATE from the South Eastern Region of Nigeria.
20. ABA STATE from the South Eastern Region of Nigeria.

SOUTH SOUTH

21. OGOJA STATE from the present Cross River State.
22. WARRI STATE from the present Delta State.
23. BORI STATE from the present Rivers State
24. OBOLO STATE from the present Rivers and Akwa Ibom states.

SOUTH WEST

25. TORU-EBE STATE from the present Delta, Edo, and Ondo States.
26. IBADAN STATE from the present Oyo State.
27. LAGOON STATE from the present Lagos State.
28. IJEBU STATE from the present Ogun State.
29. LAGOON STATE from the present Lagos State and Ogun State
30. IBADAN STATE from the present Oyo State.
31. OKE-OGUN and IFE-IJESHA STATES from the Present-day Ogun, Oyo, and Osun states.

The request for states’ creation can only materialise if at least “the third majority of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives (National Assembly) and the House of Assembly in respect of the area, and the Local Government Council in respect of the area is received by the National Assembly.”

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