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Why piecemeal approach won’t deliver on Ogoni clean-up

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Why piecemeal approach won’t deliver on Ogoni clean-up

Dr Godwin Uyi Ojo, Executive Director, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria (ERA/FoEN), attempts an appraisal of Federal Government’s effort in environmental protection and sustainable livelihoods of rural communities

From right: Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo; Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers; Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo; and Minister of Environment, Mrs Amina Mohammed, during the launch of ‘Clean-up of Ogoniland and other oil-spill affected communities in the Niger Delta’ at Bodo Town in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State
From right: Gov. Rochas Okorocha of Imo; Gov. Nyesom Wike of Rivers; Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo; and Minister of Environment, Mrs Amina Mohammed, during the launch of ‘Clean-up of Ogoniland and other oil-spill affected communities in the Niger Delta’ at Bodo Town in Gokana Local Government Area of Rivers State

Environmental degradation has been limited to narrow ethnic lens hence the polarity and lack of a national holistic approach to address them. Environmental challenges have been politicised along ethnic lines. The failure of natural resource management in Nigeria is the failure of governance in the lack of compliance and enforcement of the extant laws. To Go Wild for Life, we hereby make a strong call for Environmental State of Emergency in order to address the parlous state of the Nigerian environment.

In the North, desertification has ravaged the environment and livelihood sources hence the Fulani herdsmen are migrating in droves to the South in search of grazing vegetation for their cattle. The Fulani-herdsmen conflict persists, claiming lives and property due to scare lands for farming and grazing. In the south, deforestation, frequent oil spills and gas flaring have also ruined the environment and destroyed rural livelihoods and marine ecosystems. Persistent corporate impunity holds sway and this means that there is no environmental justice for the poor who suffer the impacts of environmental degradation most. Whether in the north or south the threat to rural livelihoods has resulted in natural resource conflicts and impoverishment of the local people.

Nigeria needs a new economic pathway that is not dependent on fossil fuels. The significant drop in oil pricing requires an alternative economic blueprint that is envisaged within a post petroleum economy for Nigeria. Let’s put a halt to the plundering of natural resources in the name of foreign exchange earnings. This has so far been counter to local production and consumption.

Two profile cases are worthy of mention: The Petroleum Industry Governance Bill 2015, and the implementation of the United Nations Environmental programme (UNEP) Assessment on Ogoniland Report.

First, the Petroleum Industry Governance Bill 2015 (PIGB) for oil sector reform currently before the National Assembly falls short of peoples’ expectation because it does not recognise local participation in the management of natural resources. The 10% equity devolved to the community in the previous Bill has been deliberately left out and environmental protection is not provided for. The Bill is not comprehensive and highly deceptive because although it anticipates other Bills, yet the timing, shape and content of such future bills are virtually unknown. The Bill should not be passed by the lawmakers unless the promoters put all the cards on the table in respect to other expected bills and incorporate critical views from the impacted communities and civil society groups.

On the implementation of the UNEP assessment and recommendations on the clean-up of the Ogoniland, we are pleased by the fulfilment of President Buhari’s pledge to implement the UNEP report with the public flag off of the clean-up process in Bodo City, Rivers State on June 2, 2016. But the Federal Government approach is rather shaky, piecemeal, lacking a holistic approach and without timelines for clean up. In August 2015, the government had promised $10m for commencement of the clean up of Ogoni, and an inauguration of the Governing Council to provide for an institutional framework to drive the process. Unfortunately, these warm words have not been implemented.

We urge a clear and unambiguous commitment on the part of government and Shell that this process will not be a repeat of its previous modus operandi where it had become adept at covering up oil spills instead of actually cleaning it. Almost five years on from the submission of the report (August 4, 2011), no clean up has taken place. Spill sites identified by UNEP remain heavily contaminated even after claims by Shell that it has carried out clean-up operations. The Ogoni environment is worse off, and the people are dying in droves on a daily basis in a place where life expectancy is shortest in Nigeria.

To reiterate, the high point of the president’s speech delivered on his behalf by Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, was the approval he gave for the setting up of the structures such as the Governing Council and the Board of Trustees recommended for driving the clean-up process. But recall that the president had given the same approval in August 2015 for the constitution of the structures and nominations were made by different parties to the negotiation. One year on, that order had not been implemented. He has been forced to give another approval for the constitution of the same structures. From this trend, we see lots of motion with little or no movement.

Furthermore, the Gazette that would provide legal backing and clear delineation of the roles and responsibilities of various parties during the implementation process has not been scrutinised publicly nor signed into law and made easily accessible to the general public. We had called for the signing of the gazette to be one of the critical pre-launch activities with amendments such as removing Shell and other oil companies from the Governing Council because they could unduly influence the clean up process and frustrate the establishment of a full-fledged Ogoni Environmental Restoration Authority. The role of NOSDRA to have oversight functions over the clean up and supported by the UNEP technical team should be an opportunity to empower the agency because it neither has the capacity to detect oil spills nor respond to them. This means the immediate dissolution of Hyro-Carbon Pollution Restoration Project (HYPREP).

Some questions are left unanswered. When will the actual clean-up of Ogoni commence, and when will environmental justice be done such as compensation for lost livelihoods as recommended by the UNEP report?

When will the clean-up of the Niger Delta begin? The clean up of the Ogoni messed environment is a metaphor for the clean-up of the oil spills and remediation for the entire Niger Delta. We urge the FG to establish a Clean-Up and Restoration Fund of $100 billion for the entire Niger Delta.

The Theme of the 2016 World Environment Day is Go Wild for Life. Nigeria can emerge stronger by curbing oil-dependency, breaking free from fossils, and embracing renewable energy sources that are decentralised, non-grid and socially controlled so that individuals and communities are co-producers of energy and share in the benefits. The option of leave the oil in the soil means taking an alternative pathway to sustainable development that is powered by renewable energy, the protection of ecosystems and biodiversity. For Nigeria’s environment and economy, let’s Go Wild for Life.

The Federal Government should:

  • Provide the institutional framework and inaugurate the Governing Council and Board of Trustees to drive the process of clean up and environmental remediation.  It should amend the HYPREP gazette to provide the legal backing to the clean up process.
  • Implement the UNEP report recommendations in a holistic manner and should not be selective or manipulated but should be a comprehensive clean up, environmental remediation including biodiversity restoration, and compensation for loss of livelihoods.
  • Ensure the inclusion of civil society representatives in the Governing Council.
  • Ensure the Establishment of Ogoni Environmental Restoration Authority as a means of empowering the Ogonis as part of the other structures to be set up.
  • Shell and its joint venture partners Agip and Totalfinaelf as major polluters in the oil industry are shielding themselves and representing their own interests by lobbying to be part of the proposed Governing Council. We demand that they should be removed forthwith from the proposed Governing council so that the council is free to operate professionally and without the overbearing influence of the oil multinationals. The oil companies’ role should be restricted to providing their own share of the funds needed for the clean-up process under the Polluter Pays Principle. Shell and its joint venture partners should not be allowed to drive a process in which they are chief culprits and violators.
  • Immediately draw up and publish firm timelines, commencing from June 2 2016 for each step in the implementation process in conjunction with all interested parties in the clean-up process and to be made public.
  • Provide a clear Clean-Up and Remediation Fund. The clean up process is not covered in the national 2016 budget. The $10 million fund announced by the president last year should be made available to the constituted board of trustees and governing council to facilitate work. UNEP report recommended an initial set up of US$ 1 billion to commence clean up. Nothing should be short of this.
  • Set up a new structure called the Technical Partners unit headed by UNEP and other interested institutions with expertise in complex multi-disciplinary clean-up processes. This Unit will undertake the monitoring of the implementation processes and provide technical support to ensure that standards are maintained during the clean-up process.
  • The clean-up is an opportunity to empower NOSDRA that currently lacks the capacity to detect spills, conduct clean up, or monitor clean up independently.
  • Put in place structures for a Clean-Up and Restoration Fund of $100 billion for the entire Niger Delta.

Cities commit to combating emissions

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Cities commit to combating emissions

Through bold climate commitments, 228 cities around the world are taking the lead on climate action

Rotterdam in the Netherlands emitted 29.8 tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent per capita in 2005
Rotterdam in the Netherlands emitted 29.8 tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent per capita in 2005

Over 200 cities have set greenhouse gas reduction goals or targets. Action in these cities, which represent a combined population of 439 million people, could propel countries to meet their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) – the national greenhouse gas reduction pledges embodied in the Paris Agreement. According to “Can a City Be Sustainable?”, the latest edition of the annual State of the World series from the Worldwatch Institute, cities and their inhabitants are playing a lead role in achieving global climate action goals.

“Can a City Be Sustainable?” examines the core principles of sustainable urbanism and profiles cities that are putting them into practice.

“The challenge over the next several decades is an enormous one,” write Michael Renner and Tom Prugh, contributing authors and co-directors of the report. “This requires not change around the edges, but a fundamental restructuring of how cities operate, how much they consume in resources and how much waste they produce, what they look like, and how they are structured.”

Growing numbers of cities have pledged themselves to climate commitments and sustainability goals. The C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group has expanded to over 80 cities. The Compact of Mayors, launched at the 2014 United Nations Climate Summit, is the largest coalition of city leaders addressing climate change. ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability works with more than 1,000 cities around the world.

Cities today host more than half of the earth’s human beings and represent about 70 percent of global energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. If trends continue, urban populations are expected to increase to six billion by 2045, at which point two-thirds of all people will live in urban environments. “If current trends in urbanisation continue unabated, urban energy use will more than triple, compared to 2005 levels, by 2050,” write Renner and Prugh.

It is no surprise that cities collectively account for a large share of greenhouse gas emissions, because they concentrate economic activity. But cities vary widely in their per capita emissions. Rotterdam in the Netherlands, for example, emitted 29.8 tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent per capita in 2005, whereas Paris emitted just 5.2 tons per capita. Many variables, such as climate, urban form, and primary energy source, affect a city’s level of emissions. Economic factors, such as the wealth and income of residents and the level and structure of economic activity, also play a major role.

“Only demand-side policies that succeed in sharply reducing energy consumption in transport, buildings, waste handling, and agriculture can address the urgent need to decarbonise energy,” write Renner and Prugh. “It is cities that must step up to the front lines of that battle.”

In conjunction with policy changes, cities’ success will depend on having both comprehensive data and financial support. Current protocols, such as one developed by the World Resources Institute, C40 Cities, and ICLEI, can be used to measure or estimate greenhouse gas emissions in cities worldwide. Financing sustainability in cities may be easier in some cities than in others. Among the C40 cities, only three-quarters have budgetary control over property or municipal taxes. In poorer cities, multilateral development banks and a variety of donors may play an important role.

The Worldwatch Institute is an independent research organisation based in Washington, D.C. that works on energy, resource, and environmental issues.

WED 2016: Ogun raises concern over desert encroachment

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WED 2016: Ogun raises concern over desert encroachment

In the light of threats posed by climate change, the Ogun State Government has called on residents to desist from acts that can lead to desert encroachment.

Ogun State Commissioner for Environment, Bolaji Oyeleye
Ogun State Commissioner for Environment, Bolaji Oyeleye

Commissioner for Environment, Bolaji Oyeleye, who stated this on Monday in Abeokuta, the state capital, while briefing newsmen in commemoration of the 2016 World Environment Day (WED), added that desert encroachment was a critical environmental challenge that the state has had to deal with in recent time.

Oyeleye cited areas that have been seriously affected by the environmental hazard in the state to include Ipokia, Imeko Afon, Yewa South, Yewa North, Abeokuta North and Odeda Local Government areas.

“The people of Ipokia, Imeko-Afon, Yewa South, Yewa North, Abeokuta North and Odeda LGAs are vulnerable to this environmental hazard and we will ensure all our ability to curtail the effect of climate change in those areas,” he stated.

He urged the people of the state, particularly the affected areas, to cultivate the idea of tree planting, cautioning against indiscriminate felling of trees so as not to jeopardise the ecosystem.

Oyeleye said the state was not unmindful of the human tendencies of extracting earth resources without recourse to preservation of the environment, adding that government had been monitoring activities of industries to ensure proper disposal of waste.

He enjoined residents of the state not to dispose their wastes in drainage channels as this could cause flooding especially, in the rainy season.

“We have warned our residents to desist from dumping refuse in our drainages so as to avoid flooding that could cause loss of lives and properties in our state,” the commissioner warned.

Nigeria, others tackle continental water, food insecurity challenges

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Nigeria, others tackle continental water, food insecurity challenges

In the light of the food security and the water-food-energy-ecosystem nexus, some nine nations embarking on a new initiative in collaboration with the Global Water Partnership (GWP) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) Africa

GWPNigeria and eight other African countries have begun an operation that will address continental challenges related to water and food security in the light of an increasingly erratic global weather pattern.

In sub-Saharan Africa, climate change appears to be worsening an already alarming situation vis-à-vis food security and water resources and, according to stakeholders, everyone has a responsibility to develop as well as utilise appropriate means to remedy the situation.

Consequently, nine countries in Africa (Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Nigeria, Sudan and Uganda) have carried out national consultations on water and food security whose outcomes were used by the United Nations Committee on Food Security (UN CFS) to issue recommendations on Water and Food Security and Nutrition at the end of 2015, offering a strong basis for a new momentum.

According to the Global Water Partnership (GWP), issues raised in the nine countries are illustrative of the diversity of challenges faced by the African continent, raising concern on the need for them to be part of the initiative based on the “Partnership for Development” principle in the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Number 17.

The aim, the GWP adds, is not only to support governments in addressing one particular challenge of managing water and food security in an integrated holistic manner but also for all the countries involved across Africa to exchange experiences, learn from each other and eventually disseminate good practices for improved livelihoods.

Globally, the initiative will contribute towards the SDG Number 2 to End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture.

The initiative is promoted by the governments of the countries through Ministers of Agriculture and Ministers of Water and by Country Water Partnerships, and is supported by the GWP Network and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). Each country was represented at a gathering that held May 18-19 2016 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, whereby delegates met, interacted and designed the national components of the programme based on the consultation held in the country in 2015. They identified areas for regional and continental experience sharing.

The next step is to pursue the discussion with all stakeholders at country level in order to fine-tune the project in an inclusive manner and with all relevant partners.

WED 2016: Crusaders charge FG to commence concrete actions to save environment

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WED 2016: Crusaders charge FG to commence concrete actions to save environment

To save Nigeria’s diverse ecosystems from further ruin, the Federal Government must go beyond mere words on the issue of transiting from fossil fuels-based economy and put in place the relevant laws to checkmate the activities of the extractive corporations, the Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria(ERA/FoEN) has said.

L-R: Mrs Warder Ayibakuro, women activist from Ikarama; Dr Godwin Uyi Ojo, ERA/FoEN Executive Director; Dr Sofiri Peterside of the University of Port Harcourt; and Celestine Akpobari of the Ogoni Solidarity Movement
L-R: Mrs Warder Ayibakuro, women activist from Ikarama; Dr Godwin Uyi Ojo, ERA/FoEN Executive Director; Dr Sofiri Peterside of the University of Port Harcourt; and Celestine Akpobari of the Ogoni Solidarity Movement

ERA/FoEN’s recommendation is coming as Nigeria joined the rest of the world to mark the World Environment Day (WED) on Sunday. The WED is celebrated June 5 annually. To mark the event, ERA/FoEN organised a workshop in Abuja with the theme: “Natural Resource Governance: Bridging the Gaps versus Break Free from Fossils.”

The workshop brought together community-based groups, civil society, the academia, legal experts, the media, and government representatives to brainstorm on oil-induced conflicts and disempowerment of local communities as well as recommendations on the way forward.

ERA/FoEN Executive Director, Godwin Uyi Ojo, said: “We are delivering this message straight to our government. The era of sloganeering on preserving the environment is over. This year’s commemoration helps us mirror the local picture of ruined environments, livelihood losses and systematic depletion of wild life.  Our government must now go beyond mere talk, to taking concrete actions that will reverse the chaos that has been unleashed on us under a regime of fossil-fuels dependence.

“Nigeria is yet to come up with a new economic pathway that is not dependent on fossil fuels. The significant drop in oil pricing requires an alternative economic blueprint that is envisaged within a post petroleum economy for Nigeria. There is also the misdirection in policy such as opening discussions with the Russian government on building nuclear power plants here in Nigeria. This, no doubt, is very disturbing.”

Ojo noted that the current administration may have demonstrated willingness to tackle some of the identified issues such as the Ogoni clean-up which was flagged off on June 2.

He added, however, that for it not to have given concrete time lines on commencement of the Ogoni clean-up and to deliver on any of the set objectives of the UNEP report is worrisome.

Re-echoing ERA/FoEN’s argument that Nigeria must look away from dirty energy, he insisted that the ecological disasters caused by fossil fuels dependence makes it imperative for the current administration to declare an Environmental State of Emergency in order to address the situation.

“The Federal government must demonstrate the political will to save our environment through conscious and deliberate adoption of clean and safe renewables. The option of leave the oil in the soil means taking an alternative pathway to sustainable development that is powered by renewable energy, the protection of ecosystems and biodiversity. This is non-negotiable for a new world economic order,” Ojo declared.

World ‘goes wild for life’ on 2016 Environment Day

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World ‘goes wild for life’ on 2016 Environment Day

Marking World Environment Day, which this year focuses on the illegal trade of wildlife, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is calling on everyone to “go wild for life” and take action to help safeguard species under threat for future generations.

Environment Minister, Amina J. Mohammed, goes wild as an elephant on World Environment Day 2016
Environment Minister, Amina J. Mohammed, goes wild for life as an elephant on World Environment Day 2016

“We have chosen this theme because damage from this trade has become so serious and so far reaching that urgent action is needed to reverse it,” UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said in a video message on the occasion of the Day, celebrated annually on 5 June.

The UN official underlined that the effects of wildlife trade include the destruction of natural capital in which many nations could build healthy tourism industries; the spread of corruption and the undermining of the rule of law all around the world; and the “fattening of purses” of the international crime syndicates.

“This must stop and the time to take action is long overdue,” he insisted, calling on all individuals to use their “spheres of influence” to help end the illegal trade in wildlife by engaging in the “Go Wild for Life” campaign.

With the aim of reducing the demand for illegal wildlife products, the campaign stresses that that greed, fashion, ignorance, indifference, investment, corruption, pseudo medicinal use and cultural belief should not be allowed to endanger any species of animal or plant or tree.

It is giving special attention to eight species in particular: orangutans, sea turtles, pangolins, rosewoods, helmeted hornbills, tigers, elephants and rhinos.

Noting that Angola is this year’s host country for World Environment Day, Mr. Steiner announced that the country is making strong commitments to combat wildlife crime by shutting down its domestic ivory trade and taking action to stop smuggling over its borders.

“We support the actions of countries like Angola to join this fight,” he said. “We must be united in this cause, we must think globally, but also act locally, and we must have zero tolerance for poaching and illegal trade in wildlife.”

In a similar message, Yury Fedotov, Executive Director of the UN Ofice on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said criminal networks and poachers have scant regard for biodiversity, or the terrible impact their actions have on our fragile environment and vulnerable communities. Every country suffers either as a source, transit or destination for these products. UNODC’s World Wildlife Crime Report shows that 7,000 species were found in more than 164,000 seizures affecting 120 countries.

“The global nature of this crime compels us to stand united and to promote global solutions to halt the catastrophic poaching and trafficking of wildlife. Our Wildlife Report is helping by providing a global assessment that will allow the international community to design effective and efficient solutions,” he said, stressing that wildlife crime deprives people of a sustainable livelihood. “These crimes are also closely connected to fraud, money laundering, human trafficking, corruption and brutal violence, among other crimes,” he said.

As such, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged governments and citizens everywhere to help end the practice, noting that there is “great cause for alarm,” as elephants are being slaughtered for their ivory, rhinos for their horns, and pangolins for their scales.

“The United Nations and its many partners have resolved to tackle this illicit trade, including by setting clear targets to put an end to poaching in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted last year by all 193 Member States,” he recalled.

Meanwhile, UNEP is underlining five quick steps that citizens can take action, including through arts and crafts exhibitions, film festivals, flash mobs and social media activities.

CEGDEC commemorates World Environment Day 2016

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CEGDEC commemorates World Environment Day 2016

The Lagos-based Conservative Environmental Growth and Development Centre (CEGDEC) has said that this year’s World Environment Day (WED) offered it an opportunity to make an inroad and cross inland boarders in the country. Apart from sensitisng the students of Oke-Afa Junior and Senior Schools in Lagos, CEGDEC took a bold step to King’s Court Academy, Dabi, in the Federal Capital Territory.

World-Environment-day-2016-Theme“Go wild for life” was simplified and interpreted as embracing all living things as parts of the ecosystem. Examples of animals killed for fun in our society were highlighted by the students in the interactive sessions as lizards, butterflies, birds, worms, ants and the like. Apart from mosquitoes, pests and rodents that breed as a result of dirty environment, that must be eradicated, animals are important features of the environment.

By eating less meat, poultry and fish, we ‘go wild for life’, as more resources (materials like animal feeds and time) are used to provide meat than plants. Sustainable lifestyle is all encompassing, and it begins with simple change in our attitude to other features of the ecosystem, according to the group.

Keeping the environment clean through proper waste management and pollution control were stressed as avenues of maintaining a serene environment safe enough for plants, humans and all animals alike. The commemoration also coincides with the flagging up of the cleaning up of environmental pollution in Ogoni land in the Niger Delta by President Muhammadu Buhari.

The team on the final note encouraged the spreading of good environmental practices all around the year. “It is our joint responsibility to keep the environment safe for ourselves and the future to come,” said Mrs. Maryam Olayeni, head of the team.

WED is a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) day of personalising environmental issues to enable everyone identify its roles and responsibilities to become the agent for change in support for sustainable and equitable development.

The CEGDEC is a not-for-profit organisation established on the basis of reducing human footprints on the environment. It aims is to promote sustainable development by campaigning for a give-back-to-the-environment through research, advocacy, education/awareness creation, capacity building, economic empowerment and environmental management.

GEF/UNDP scheme fosters resilience, tackles food insecurity

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GEF/UNDP scheme fosters resilience, tackles food insecurity

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has commenced the implementation of a programme aimed at promoting the sustainable management and resilience of ecosystems as a means to address food insecurity.

Hajia Salamatu Garba, executive director of the Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN), making a presentation at the forum
Hajia Salamatu Garba, executive director of the Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN), making a presentation at the forum

Titled “Fostering Resilience and Sustainability for Food Security in sub-Saharan Africa”, the project involves states in the nation’s North East, North West and the North Central regions.

The programme will support efforts to:

  • scale-up more sustainable and more resilient approaches, practices and technologies including innovative approaches to improving soil health, water resource management and vegetation cover with direct benefits to the most vulnerable land users;
  • promote impacts at scale, by fostering supportive policies and incentives for smallholder farmers to adopt sustainable and resilient practices;
  • increase private sector investment in climate-resilient and low-emission food value-chains; and
  • promote mechanisms for multi-stakeholder coordination, planning and investment in Sustainable Land Management at scale.

At a two-day consultative meeting held last week in Kano, community-based organisations (CBOs) and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from Kano, Gombe, Nasarawa, Adamawa, Benue, Katsina and Jigawa states attempted to develop the relevant information/data on the actual situation on ground in the proposed regions of focus, in the bid to foster food security and resilience in the Sudan Sahel region of Nigeria.

Hajia Salamatu Garba, executive director of the Women Farmers Advancement Network (WOFAN), listed poverty, climate change, gender discrimination, socio-cultural/socio economical/socio-political limitations, food wastes/losses, diversion of farmland from food production, and conflict/natural disasters as challenges militating against food security in the northern part of the country.

To address the situation, she called for improvement of livelihoods and promotion of opportunities for women and youth.

She said: “Give women and youths an opportunity and it amounts to sustainable food security for the nation. The authorities should promote relevant post-secondary, vocational and business training. Data collection, record keeping, financial management services and training should be targeted to enhance agricultural productivity.

“While food security strategy should continue to prioritise nutrition and nutrition-sensitive agriculture, government should promote better livestock practices, promote resilience, link emergency relief to long-term security, invest in research and extension, invest in rural infrastructure, strengthen domestic markets, and strengthen farmer organisations/citizen participation.”

Giving a brief overview of project and implementation model of “Increasing Groundnut Productivity of Small-holder Farmers in Ghana, Mali and Nigeria,” a project being promoted by USAID and the International Crop Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Dr M. Vabi, country director of ICRISAT Nigeria, listed the project objectives to include:

  • Enhancing farmers’ knowledge of improved groundnut production technologies including complementary crop management practices
  • Enhancing seed production and marketing at a grand scale
  • Enhancing farmers’ knowledge and diffuse improved aflatoxin management technologies
  • Enhancing farmers’ access to small scale processing technologies

Furthermore, he identified the scheme’s five strategic implementation approaches as:

  • Engaging and delivering with credible partners of the public and private sectors, and civil society organisation as well as individual resource persons/institutions
  • Using on-farm demonstrations and other appropriate delivery mechanisms that enhance mutual learning and sharing amongst groundnut value chain actors
  • Strategic simultaneous handling of geographical and institutional Upscaling – States, LGAs, Actors at different Stages of the value chain, etc.
  • Engaging and securing media organs – federal, state and private
  • Monitoring from established baselines situations

In a presentation, Professor Emmanuel Oladipo submitted that agriculture accounts for about 24% of the nation’s GDP and employs about 70% of the labour force in Nigeria. According to him, it is dominated by about 15 million smallholders (mostly women) who account for over 90% of the national food.

Average prevalence of food inadequacy and domestic food price volatility between 2000 and 2013 were 12% and 13% respectively, he noted adding that food imports despite its abundance of arable land resources stood at about $11 billion in 2012.

He listed the main drivers of food insecurity to include: rapidly the growing population, changing and uncertain climate, shrinking farming workforce, poor infrastructure, flat crops yields over the past decades, and conflicts in the northern agro-ecological zones (AEZs), where most of the grains are produced.

“All these put food security in danger unless the decline in food production is offset by vast increase in-country food production and food imports despite infrastructure, production and market support services constraints,” he said.

Prof Oladipo disclosed that specific project sites for the GEF/UNDP scheme are yet to be determined, but focus will be the sudan-sahelian AEZ where agro-pastoral millet sorghum and cereal-root crop mixed production systems are practiced.

His words: “The zone constitutes the grain basket of Nigeria and produces most of the grains (such as maize, millet, sorghum and wheat) and legumes (such as cowpeas and groundnuts) that provide the main staple diet of the people.

“The zone is subject to marked inter-annual rainfall variability resulting in periodic droughts. It is mainly of ferruginous tropical soils that are highly weathered and laterised. It is characterised by sandy-fixed undulating topography.”

Nigeria’s housing crisis: Fact and fallacy

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Nigeria’s housing crisis: Fact and fallacy

The arresting headline in the June 3, 2016 edition of EnviroNews titled “Housing crisis looms with 17 million deficit,” must have scared the hell out of readers, nay other compatriots at this time when Nigeria is fighting so many wars both declared or undeclared. From Boko Haram to the Niger Delta Avengers coupled with the problems of corruption, kidnapping, economic recession, epileptic power supply and looted treasury.

Observers say Nigeria’s housing deficit is far in excess of 17 million. Photo credit: lagos.all.biz
Observers say Nigeria’s housing deficit is far in excess of 17 million. Photo credit: lagos.all.biz

The housing deficit figure was revealed at the 35th Annual General Meeting and International Symposium of Shelter Afrique held at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja on June 1, 2016. It was contained in the opening address of President Muhammadu Buhari at the event, who innocently might not know the source of the figure he presented to the attendees of the Symposium. The President was just doing an obligated state duty, which protocol demands during such international event. This piece will focus on the fact and fallacy of Nigeria’s housing crisis.

 

Necessity for reliable housing data

As alarming as the figure of 17 million housing deficit is, one may be tempted to ask: From what source it is? How was the figure arrived at? Was any research done? Who or which institution spearheaded the study? I am asking these relevant questions as a result of my personal experience. This writer was a modest key player in the generation and dissemination housing data and ancillary information in Nigeria by virtue of my position as the pioneer Secretary of the Housing Policy Council (HPC), which was established in 1991 as a “specific-purpose” Council in the defunct Federal Ministry of Works and Housing. The HPC was a product of part of the recommendations contained in the operative 1991National Housing Policy. That policy recommended that HPC as a Council, be established for the purpose of monitoring and evaluation of housing policy implementation; and to give an annual report of its stewardship to the National Council on Housing – an apex body made up of all the Commissioners of Housing in all the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). The body meets annually to brainstorm on housing, land and urban development in Nigeria and makes policy recommendation to the Federal Government for its consideration.

Part of HPC mandate was to establish a National Housing Data Bank for the country. As important as this assignment is in terms of generating data on housing through a detailed census that would reveal the quality and quantity, occupancy ratio and other pertinent variables for the housing census in Nigeria, the response the HPC got from majority of the states was poor and discouraging. Only very few states provided skeletal information while others simply did not respond to the questionnaires sent to them. Most of the states were either uncooperative or were naïve of how to provide the information/data asked for. When most micro institutions at the state level cannot provide housing data as input to the proposed National Housing Data Bank, it hampers the effort of the HPC to generate accurate and quality data on housing, which can be used for planning purpose and reliable statistics that agencies of government can co-use where applicable.  The statistical figures being bandied around as housing deficit are figures that could not be supported with verifiable data.

The 17 million housing deficit that was referenced is suspect. The housing requirement in Lagos as a mega city of over 20 million is quite enormous if the high rate of housing demand is considered. Out of the figure of 17 million housing deficit in the country, Lagos alone can comfortably consume one third (5.6million) leaving a balance of 11.5 million. The residue figure of 11.5 million is what big cities such as Ibadan, Kano, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Aba, Onitsha, Kaduna, Owerri, Warri and Abuja can share because these cities are growing exponentially in population and so is the demand for housing in them. Basically, what this analysis reveals is that the 17 million housing deficit being bandied is what could only satisfy the needs of 10 densely populated urban centres in the country. In this calculus, the housing deficits in other state capitals are not captured. Ditto other secondary towns where there are equally housing shortages! The flaw in the given figure of 17 million housing deficit in Nigeria is discernable as analysed herein. Actually, Nigeria’s housing deficit is far in excess of the figure stated.

 

Underfunding of Research Institutions

It is a pity that the government that wants to improve the country’s housing situation, most especially for the low-income people, is not ready to fund most of the institutions responsible for research and data collection for planning purpose. The Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) staffed by very brilliant Researchers has been left comatose and inactive due to acute underfunding. The Institute was on course when it started to collect data on “housing starts” circa 1990s as part of the foundation to creating reliable statistics on the number of houses built yearly in the country. The laudable effort by NISER was short-lived because the capital-intensive project was starved of funds and the idea was abruptly abandoned in less than three years, good as the initiative was. Many of the Researchers became frustrated and in wont of greener pastures abroad, many left the country.

The case is not different from what obtains at the Nigerian Building and Roads Research Institute (NBRRI), which exists in name now due to redundancy in building materials research attenuated by low operational budget. The Housing Policy Council was deliberately killed by the very mother (figuratively speaking) that midwifes its birth. As I write, the Federal Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development has not thought it wise to re-establish the HPC despite its necessity and in line with the provision of the extant National Housing Policy, which recommends the resuscitation of the Council. In essence, government shares a chunk of the blame for not financially supportive of the Institutions it created, in order to enhance effective job performance of these institutions. Without reliable data, it is near impossible to determine the country’s housing requirement and how to develop a Housing Plan to meet such need.

 

Policy somersault

The rate at which Housing Policy is changed from one administration to the other in Nigeria is a counter-productive. From 1981-2014, a period of 33 years, the country had 5 different National Housing Policy documents, which on the average translates to one policy every six years! The ideal timeframe for housing policy review should be every 10 years when it could be reasonably determined the impact of such policy. But that is not the case in this instance.

Once a new administration comes into office and a new Federal Minister of Housing is appointed, his/her preoccupation is to formulate a new Housing Policy for the country, regardless of the merit of an existing policy he/she met in office. Often misguided by self-interest ministry officials, the Minister will be ill-advised to set up a Committee to formulate a new Housing Policy, which in the end would produce copycat (evidently plagiarised) of the old one. Such document is like identical twins born from one fertilised egg. The same strategies would be recommended for housing finance, land management, institutional framework, production of local building materials, low-income housing, public-private partnership etc. In addition to this, every minister wants to initiate a National Housing Programme, which entails the involvement of government in direct construction of housing contrary to the provision of the housing policy that stipulates non-involvement of government in direct housing construction.

Without any measure of proper policy evaluation to determine how effective its implementation in all the areas of housing components (land, finance, building materials, institutional framework, research etc), it will just be a wild goose chase trying to solve the nation’s housing problems as daunting as they are. It is not the frequency of policy change that would cause increase in housing supply in the country, but sincere implementation of whatever strategies the policy recommends regardless of whether such policy is old or new. This is an honest advice any Minister of Housing should take to heart. There is nothing wrong in pursuing the housing policy objectives of your predecessor in office using the subsisting policy as a guide. But where it is necessary, the policy’s grey area can be fine-tuned without reinventing the wheel.

 

Conclusion

Nigeria has a daunting housing deficit, the accurate figure of which is yet to be properly and scientifically determined. The current figure given is just a tip of the iceberg as alarming as it is. Until government changes its fire brigade approach to closing the gap between housing supply and demand, it cannot make the desirable impact in the sector. The change must start from the quality and honesty of advice government officials give to the administration. This leads me to the wrong step taken in the past of not allowing National Housing Policy to endure for a reasonable timeframe before it is prematurely reviewed and a new one is formulated. Any subsisting housing policy of government has what it takes to ameliorating the country’s housing crisis, but lack of continuity and faith or rather a deliberate attitude not to implement what the policy recommends, has been the bane of Nigeria’s housing crisis. Such negative attitude must change in this era of change.

By Yacoob Abiodun (Urban planner, planning advocate and pioneer Secretary, Federal Housing Policy Council)

Ambode denies kidnap attempt on mother

Michael Simire
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Ambode denies kidnap attempt on mother

Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, on Saturday denied media reports claiming that a kidnap attempt was made on his mother, Mrs Christianah Ambode, at her residence in Gbagada area of the State on Friday evening.

Akinwunmi Ambode, Governor of Lagos State. Photo credit: ecomium.org
Akinwunmi Ambode, Governor of Lagos State. Photo credit: ecomium.org

The governor, in a statement issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Habib Aruna, denied the media report, saying that it was not a true reflection of what transpired at the residence of his mother.

An online newspaper had claimed that heavily armed gunmen invaded the governor’s mother’s residence and disarmed the octogenarian’s police detail in an apparent attempt to abduct her. The newspaper had further reported that the unfortunate development took place at about 7:30pm, while a back-up team arrived at the scene at about8:10pm.

Responding, Aruna said: “Whilst it is true that a commotion occurred at the residence of the governor’s mother on the fateful day, it was however far from the truth that it was a kidnap attempt.

“What really transpired was that a man parked his vehicle in front of the residence of the governor’s mother and the security detail attached to the building asked him not to park there so as not to block the entrance.

“The man who claimed to be military personnel was not in uniform as at the time of the unfortunate incident but he insisted on parking in front of the building on the ground that he was military personnel.

“He then went on to invite military personnel attached to Operation MESA to beat Mrs. Ambode’s police details after he was advised not to park his vehicle outside the building.

“The unfortunate part was that the newspaper rightly reported this aspect of the development in the body of the story but still claimed in the lead paragraph that it was an apparent kidnap attempt.

“While we would like to put on record that the disturbance was not a kidnap attempt on the governor’s mother as nothing untoward happened to her, we also like to caution against needless sensational journalism which could cause unnecessary panic.

“At the moment, officials of the State Government are taking appropriate steps to sanction the unruly military personnel who joined their colleague to disturb public peace,” Aruna stated.

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