Degree Grade: The Cause for Unemployment and Backwardness in Africa

By Dr. Ahmed Adamu

Each century has its unique challenges and requirements, and educational qualification and requirement must evolve as well. The 20^th century educational system was designed to prepare people to work in offices and farms, and unfortunately, we still run this type of educational system in 21^st century, when we have spaceships that go to the moon and electric cars. Each century supposed to have its own befitting educational system. Most of the work that human beings must do in 20^th century are now being done by machines and computers. The human intelligence has now turned to artificial intelligence, so the priority and the style of education must change.

In this era, education is not exclusive to school, for you to be knowledgeable, you don’t have to go to school necessarily, in fact, even those that go to school, what they learn from school become outdated. We now have access to smart phones, which gives us access to a more computing power and information more than the president of United State of America 20 years ago. So, access to education has never being so level as it is today. In a job market, “we no longer need workers who can retain and reproduce large amount of information, what we need are people who can sort through information and organize it effectively. We need new form of intelligence”. One of my mentors said. Learning must be reformed to enable us change the way we see and approach the world.

In 21^st century, we have google and internet, where we can store, consult and learn information and skills better than what we would do within classrooms sometimes. So, the requirement is not only how much knowledge you can keep in your head, but what you can do with it. Your ability to finish with a high grade in school is not a sole indication of your intelligence and abilities.

Once we peg employment qualification or competence to a mere school grade, then we are training people to be unfit in 21^st century. In this era, you don’t actually need the grade or the certificate to thrive. In fact, most of the billionaires don’t have a degree, and they are more successful than those with the highest grades from schools.

In fact, one might argue that school is the worst distraction to personal growth. Why would you stick your growth of knowledge and skill to a certain restricted or outdated curriculum only, while you have unlimited scope and boundless skills that you can learn in half the time. Schooling psychology tricks us into delaying every personal and skill development until we graduate, and eventually we have to start afresh, because 70% of what we learn in school are not applicable where we may find ourselves. In fact, most graduates forget more than 90% of the things they study in school.

What students eventually learned in school within 16 years, they can learn it in half of that time in this century, so the current school system waste students’ time more than we realize. Learning some of the subjects, professions or skills do not take more than five years, some even less, and with a levelled space for learning, one can go at his/her pace and learn more within far less the time, and keep updating his/herself timely.

Once you judge people by their grade alone, you are bound to hire people-like-robot, who only think and behave within the box, and they would not be able to adapt once you put them out of it. In fact, school system is not grading students fairly, because it subjected numerous learning style preferences to a single teaching style. It is like pairing fish and lizard in a climbing contest. You won’t be fair to the fish. Likewise, if you ask the fish and lizard to compete in a swimming contest, you won’t be fair to the lizard. So, even if one has the lowest school grade, it is not a case to condemn his intelligence and abilities, because he might have related to that fish in a climbing contest. He has not been tested in his best abilities.

Schools fail to teach students how to learn, it only teaches students what to learn, and by doing that students failed to effectively learn, and that’s why most of them forget what they were taught.

If we can subject our educational system to individual’s passion, style of learning and their chosen timeframe, we would be surprised by what we can learn within short time. If we can judge people by their skills, application, comprehension and motivations, we would have unemployment rate reduced drastically. People might have failed to score good grade, but they can be so creative and motivated to apply the skill.

Once we subject employment to grade, then everyone will compete for the grade instead of skills and comprehension, and without skills, people will have to keep waiting for the diminishing white-collar jobs, and more graduates are being produced daily, flooding the labour market, unemployment rate will constantly be on the rise.

The competition should be on skill acquisition and knowledge application, and to do this, you would need shorter period of time, and you don’t actually have to go to school all the time. In this century, certificates should not be recognized, but skills, creativity and ability to apply the knowledge should be the measure of competence and qualification. 

Technology has replaced human requirement for growth, so human beings must do what machines cannot do, and this cannot be achieved by just competing for who can remember facts better. Life skills have changed due to technological advancement, new economies and opportunities. So, schools curriculum must prepare students for these, otherwise, the students will remained unemployed. Most of the skills you would need on a job are not being taught in classrooms, and that’s why most job seekers are not fit for job. That’s why we have high structural unemployment. On the other side, we have people who didn’t go to school or do not rely on their certificates creating jobs, and even employing the graduates.

School grade is delusional, it deceives students into believing that they have it all, while they don’t have it. Those with higher grades tend to rely so much of their grades, and those with lower grades lose hopes on their grades, and as a result pursue real life skills and opportunities. That’s why I advise students to burn their certificates, I don’t expect them to do that, but the aim is to give them the impression that certificate is not everything and that they should not over rely on it.

In fact, when you know you don’t have a good grade that’s when you become creative and innovative. I know Farida Kabir who said that, she graduated with a third class degree, but she is now employing first class graduates. The first class graduates have this impression that they can get a job because they have high grade, and of course they will get it, but they will be working under the creative minds, who may not have gone to school at all. In this century, grades are not indicative of how successful you may become, it might be good for you to have a grade, but don’t expect anything from it, and that alone is a motivation for creativity.

Conclusively, schooling is an outdated system, education is the new system, and for education to take place, you don’t need conventional schools. So, to address illiteracy, we have to create education beyond school. Schools do not have space capacity to accommodate educational needs. In fact, most of the valuable education are not acquired in school. School learning system is not always fair, because it teaches us what we don’t need, and it only teaches us what to learn, but not how to learn. School grades makes us redirect our energy towards grade competition instead of skill competition, and as a result graduates become unemployable. There are no enough opportunities to absorb the graduating students, they have to be trained to create the opportunities for themselves, otherwise, we will forever have unemployment on the rise. So, we have to reform our school system and our perception about school. Anyway, some schools are adapting nowadays, and we should have more of these reforms.

Dr. Ahmed Adamu
Petroleum Economist, Leadership and Personal Development Expert,

Brain Coach,

Lecturer at Economics Department of Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja,

First Global President of the Commonwealth Youth Council.
ahmadadamu1@gmail.com

08188949144.

SPEECH DELIVERED BY DR. AHMED ADAMU DURING THE CONFERENCE ORGANISED BY THE NIGERIAN YOUNG PROFESSIONALS FORUM ON INTERNATIONAL ACTION ON ILLEGAL MIGRATION AND TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS, AT FRASER HOTEL, ON 10TH JUNE 2019.

Africa has to move with time to be truly independent and lead in civilization. We no longer live in a century of labour intensity, where how much you grow is dependent on how much labour you employ. We live in a century of intelligence intensity, where how much you grow is dependent on how much intelligence you apply.

We no longer live in a century where people are trained to work in offices and farms, we live in a century where people should be trained on creativity and innovation, so that you cannot succeed even in office or farm without creativity and innovation.

Labour was a great determinant of growth in 20th century, and that’s why some Western countries illegally invaded Africa and took Africans to their countries as labourers/slaves. Now, they realized that human labour is no longer desirable, because we have machines that can do human work, they closed their borders and created visas.

Now, they don’t need Africans, because with intelligence, creativity and innovation, they can achieve higher results. We live in an era where putting so much physical energy without mental energy cannot guarantee you success. People with mental strength and intelligence tend to succeed more than those with just the physical energy.

So, as long as Africa does not grow its mental intelligence and creativity, Africans will continue to be willing to be trafficked to the western world. Africa has to reform its outdated educational system that does not prepare students for modern skills, creativity, and innovations.

In the fast pace 21st century, you don’t have to spend 16 years to find purpose and to specialize in your chosen skill. In fact, competence and excellence is not strictly based on what you study in school. In the presence a huge database like google, and with amazing technological devises, how much facts you can retain in your head is becoming less required.

Sticking to the 20th century curriculums that teach students repeated and mostly irrelevant subjects is tantamount to producing unfitting graduates that will be competing with machines, leading to permanent and increasing unemployment, because no one will pay continues wages while they can acquire a machine that will do the same job without paying continues wages.

So, building minds is the way to go, no country can make people great, it is the people that make countries great, and that can only happen with great minds. As much as we spend money growing our bodies and making our faces, we should spend more to build our minds.

Africans should now realize that in a fixed technology and intelligence, adding population cannot guarantee their success. Even China realized they need to cut down population and invest more in creativity, innovation and intelligence. A job that 10 people can do in the past, now a single machine can do that, so, instead of competing with machines, we should be ahead of the machine. Even less populous nations succeeded more than the most populous nations, but only with the higher intelligence and creativity. To curb illegal migration and trafficking in persons, everyone must take responsibility of their personal growth beyond school, especially in mental, physical, emotional, spiritual and financial capacities.

The Northern Nigeria: Population and Insecurity

The Northern Nigeria: Population and Insecurity

By Dr Ahmed Adamu

If the world had begun in year 2000, Nigeria, would have been the most populous country in the world, meaning that there are more people born in Nigerian more than anywhere else in the world post 2000. But, is this an added advantage or a liability? When you add more of valuable assets, your productivity will increase, but when you add more liabilities, the reverse is the case.

It is not surprising the continuous killings and kidnappings in the country, especially in the north. North contributes higher proportion of the Nigerian population, and yet it faces lack of development, lack of education and insecurity. The region that produces the president and most of the security chiefs could not have peace.

At the moment, no one is safe in the north. This week the UBEC chairman was kidnapped, and according the audio of the telephone conversation I listened to, which was alleged to be a conversation between a relative of the chairman and the chairman himself, a ransom of N60 million was supposed to be paid for his release. Imagine this money was paid? Who are we empowering? Kidnappers?. They would have use the money to buy more arms and kill more people.

The bitter truth is that if northerners keep giving birth to children that they cannot cater for, leaving them on the street to scavenge for food, without educating and clothing them, and without giving them proper upbringing, discipline and religious knowledge, then in the next five years, north will not be habitable.

The inequality in the north is the widest you can obtain anywhere in the world; the desperation and frustration is too much, to the extent that people can do anything just to survive. People live a life that they wish they are dead. If people don’t value their own lives, how would they value other people’s lives.

Money has become the only means of survival, get it or you die, so the competition for money is so extreme. If a person who is uneducated, poor, desperate, and frustrated sees some kidnappers collecting N60 million per night, why won’t they join them, because they either get the money or they die, and they don’t care if they die.

The persistence of these kidnappings is worrisome, and now the elites are becoming the victims. One thing I observe is that once these elites are being kidnapped, they are being released quickly, and the kidnappers would be captured almost immediately. Maybe, the ransom is being paid immediately, unlike a poor man whose family would have to sell assets and contribute money to raise the ransom money.

There is a way we can trace these kidnappers, we can use technological and traceable chips, which can be pinned into the money, so that, the police can keep enough money with them and stick these chips on them. Whenever a case of kidnap is reported, the police will supply these kind of currency notes, and once the victims are released, the criminals would then easily be tracked and arrested. There also has to be capital punishment and to be executed within short time and in the public eyes to serve as deterrent.

Therefore, it is apparent that the northern population is a liability not a value at the moment. The north is the poorest with higher illiteracy and insecurity. There has to be a regional development plan and goal, where policy makers, investors, private individuals, schools and politicians will all center and commit to achieving the unified goals, among which is population for value policy. Every person added to the population must be prepared to add a value, not to become a liability.

Dr. Ahmed Adamu
Petroleum Economist, Leadership and Development Expert, and Lecturer at Economics Department of Nile University, Abuja.
ahmadadamu1@gmail.com

Fuel Subsidy: Where we found ourselves

Fuel Subsidy: Where we found ourselves

By Dr Ahmed Adamu

In 2016, Nigerians experienced one of the most difficult economic situations in more than a decade following the removal of subsidy by President Buhari. Surprisingly, there was no uprising or protests, unlike during the President Buhari’s predecessor, who was criticized and protested against for attempting to remove petroleum subsidy. Immediately after Buhari’s subsidy removal, inflation kept rising from 9% till it reached 19% within a year. Unemployment also increased from 10% to 23% in two years, and soon after that Nigeria was ranked world poverty headquarters, and recently the 6^th most miserable country to live in. The subsidy removal has seriously created untold hardships, and limited economic growth, and it was not surprising many businesses became unviable, leading to economic recession in the country. These hardships still linger, and no equivalent replacement was provided to offset the sufferings yet.

Now, from the news coming out this week, the Nigerian Finance Minister proclaimed that, the Buhari administration will remove petroleum subsidy gradually. This revealed to Nigerians that, the initial removal was not a total removal, and that they should prepare for more hardships once the subsidy is further removed. This time around, the hardship is likely to be the worst. Following the previous subsidy removal, we thought there would not be further hardships, but more hardships awaits us if subsidy is to be further removed.

The initial subsidy removal was not done properly, as long as fuel price is controlled, there will never be deregulation. So, prices have to be let free to float according market forces for us to have true fuel subsidy removal. And if that is to happen, then at the moment the market pump price in Nigerian is likely to be almost N200 per liter. Are we ready for that?

Since the initial subsidy removal, Nigerian government has not secured legal backing to continue subsidizing petroleum consumption, but reports showed that Nigerian Government spends N1.5 billion per day to subsidize petroleum consumption, this figure is very high especially when computing for a year or two. And now crude oil price is at its highest since 2013, which makes the subsidy payment higher. The higher the crude oil price, the higher the subsidy payment.

The recent discussion on subsidy removal is in reaction to the IMF call for countries to totally remove petroleum subsidies. Though IMF may not consider peculiar Nigerian context, they applied general approach. The IMF Motive is to make fossil fuels prices volatile and high, and compel rapid growth of renewables and alternative energies to the advantage of western petroleum resource poor countries.

Removing petroleum subsidy is good, but Nigeria is presently not prepared and not qualified for that. The failure of government to provide basic infrastructures and reduce inequalities make it dangerous for Nigerian government to further remove subsidy.

Unless there is a sufficient Public Transport System across the country, sufficient Electricity supply, single digit inflation and adequate Local Refineries, it will not be safe for Nigeria to further remove subsidy.  There has to be adequate cushions to protect the poor man from the resultant difficulties.

However, the government is now trapped, because subsidy is no longer sustainable (N1billion per day at least), and there is no money to protect the poor man from the effects of its removal. The Excess Crude Account (ECA) would have save he country by now, but it has been eroded, as at last December, the ECA was eroded to less than a billion dollar. The purpose of the ECA is for rainy days like these ones, this is the time we should have used the savings to build alternative energies and the conditional infrastructures, and implement demand conservations measures. But, it is not there, so, Nigeria is trapped. And, I would like to caution against further loans, the more we borrow the more we burry ourselves. The government might also resort to taxing people, this will not augur well too. At this stage, we should go for more injections, not withdrawal from the circular flow of income.

Oil’s reign has started to decline, because it is a largely a monopoly fuel in the transport sector, and now due to structural changes and innovations, the demand for oil even in the transport sector will be more elastic in a near future, which might bring the crude oil price down. And if that happened, it means low revenue for Nigerian government, and which means it will not be able to fund subsidy. So, even if subsidy is not removed today, time will come when it will be impossible for government to pay it.

Though, it is important to note that if the above forecast of low crude oil price comes to be, the landing cost will also be reduced, which might make the pump price low. However, if prices are low and with emergence of alternative energies, there will be less incentive for oil supply, going by the law of supply and going by the fact that even average marginal cost producers will not profit at certain lower oil prices. This will then reduce the supply of oil, and later push the price up. 

Whatever the situation, we should not be investing on consumption, we should be subsidizing economic activities that add value to the economy. The money spent in subsidizing petroleum consumption in the last 6 years is sufficient to build refinery like that of Dangote’s capacity. If individual person can do it, then government can do it.

No foreign oil company will invest in refinery in Nigeria willingly, their interests are not Nigerians. That’s why they rather invest in LNG than in domestic gas pipeline or processing plants. So, we have to do it ourselves, and the best option is to construct new refineries by ourselves.

Before total removal of subsidy, there should be a transparent auditing and tracking of fuel consumption in Nigeria. We should not rely on what officials tell us, they might collude to extort Nigerians. What if our consumption is just 30 million liters a day? and now we are told we consume 66 million liters a day. This will mean the extra 36 million liters subsidy will go to the pocket of some officials, which is N1 billion per day going to the private pockets in the name of subsidy. So, there is need for forensic auditing and tracking of fuel consumption to ascertain the true consumption, so as to reduce the subsidy payment before we become qualified for its final removal.

In terms of pricing template, PPPRA has failed to demonstrate the pricing template on their website, which gives room for manipulation. Nigerians deserve to know the responsiveness of petroleum landing cost to crude oil price, as well as the complete pricing template for transparency. Without this, there will be tendency for huge corruption and collusion.

Because 92% of our fuel consumption is imported, and refined petroleum products are the largest items in our import basket, the value of Naira reduces. In addition, crude oil export is not creating demand for Naira. So, we always lose currency value for petroleum importation. Therefore, we are trapped, naira kept depreciating and import bills becoming more expensive.

NNPC lacks the capacity to save the country, because, as at 2018, the Nigerian Petroleum Import Bill was N2.28 trillion (half of capital investment for a refinery like that of Dangote’s), and NNPC’s expected revenue contribution in the same year was N2.44 billion. So, no profit, what we anticipated to generate was equivalent to what we paid for importation. So, we are just consumers.

There are too much burdens on NNPC, being largely the sole importer of petroleum, and struggling to maintain N145 per liter price, NNPC will have no option but to allow marketers to sell for profit, which at the moment may shoot price up to N200 per litter, courtesy of higher crude oil price.

 It is all evident clear that, subsidy that we thought was totally removed, it is still being paid in an unsustainable way. We kept leaning on a weak and collapsing pillar and we don’t the money to construct new pillar at a dying hour.

We are lucky, Dangote might rescue us, because he can by 2020 refine up to 60 million liters per day, and until then no subsidy should be removed. We might also have to be careful about Dangote’s monopoly tendency, and based on his business model, he will work with expatriates and might adopt an international refinery pricing model, which the effect of exchange rate might affect its price.

Therefore, if this crisis has taught us anything is that, we have to explore unconventional sources of revenue to build infrastructure, refineries, and alternative energies. One way of doing that is by privatizing the NNPC, so that we can generate revenue and attract investment and competitiveness in the petroleum sector, and use the proceeds to develop infrastructure and new economies. At the moment, the country needs more injections into the flow of income, and this can be stimulated through government spending and benefits, investments and exports, and there should be less imports and more tax cuts. All these cannot be possible without unconventional sources of revenue. So, the final verdict is fuel subsidy is not sustainable, but don’t remove it further until all the set conditions are fulfilled.

Dr. Ahmed Adamu

Petroleum Economist and Lecturer at Economics Department of Nile University, Abuja.

Ahmadadamu1@gmail.com

President Buhari’s Security, Economy and Corruption Cards

By Ahmed Adamu, PhD

President Buhari easily played the security, economy and corruption cards in 2015, and won the election. However, in 2019 elections, it will be difficult for him to play these cards and win. Now, almost four years in power, Nigerians can judge how President Buhari fared on these issues, and I will try to analyze each of these issues to see if Nigerians should trust President Buhari’s further promises on these issues again. I will be writing three series of articles to cover the security, economy and corruption cards, starting with the security now.  

In the area of security; President Buhari came on the promise to deal with the Boko Haram crisis, he even bragged by saying “What is Boko Haram?”, a statement made to give Nigerians confidence that he can deal with the Boko Haram swiftly. Everyone thought Boko Haram will cease to exist in the first year of Buhari’s administration. The administration had once issued a 40 days ultimatum to capture the Boko Haram leader, and yet, this has not been achieved. In fact, Boko Haram is growing more dangerous and causing more casualties especially on the Nigerian soldiers. Even on the Christmas Eve, Boko Haram attacked Nigerian troops in Kukareta village, and beheaded a security aide of the Governor of Yobe state. This happened just less than a month after Boko Haram militants killed dozens of Nigerian soldiers in Metele town. In fact, one cannot keep count of the continuous attacks on Nigerian villages and troops by the Boko Haram militants.

The Nigerian security personnel have lost morale in the fight against Boko Haram, one of the soldiers videoed himself lamenting inadequate weapons, and how they are being abandoned in the desert. He was narrating how his colleagues were being killed brutally by the Boko Haram. Similarly, some 190 Nigerian Police officers have absconded from training at Special Forces School, Buni Yadi, in the Boko Haram crisis affected Yobe State. The Nigerian soldiers worry that their families might not be taken care of after their death, and this makes them not commit or risk their lives in the fight against Boko Haram.

Despite the huge security budgets and foreign loans and supports, the Buhari led administration cannot defeat Boko Haram in four years. Being led by an ex-army General, we thought security will be the least of our concern by now. Out of many optional choices for self-appointments, President Buhari would have appointed himself the Minister of Defence, an area he is well trained and experienced. Instead, President Buhari appointed himself minister of Petroleum. At this time, Nigerians are more concerned about the security of their lives more than anything.

Reuters reported that Boko Haram still holds territory expanding over 100 miles in Yobe and Borno States.  They reported that “The Boko Haram has not been defeated”. It can be recalled that President Buhari once declared that Boko Haram had been technically defeated, but soon after such proclamation, Boko Haram launched deadly attacks on Nigerian villages and troops, causing hundreds of deaths. Boko Haram has displaced more than 2.4 million people, some of them still living terribly in IDP camps.

In May 2018, more than fifty people were killed in a dual suicide bombing in a mosque in Mubi town of Adamawa state. The attacker detonated a device inside a mosque, with a second bomber setting off explosives as people fled. In fact, incidents of fatal Boko Haram attacks in recent years is a daily occurrence, and may not all be accounted here.

It was during this Buhari’s administration that Boko Haram abducted 110 school girls in Dapchi town in Yobe state. Though they were returned in a controversial circumstance, but still one of them remains captive. There were several allegations against this administration for paying Boko Haram some money in exchange for some of the abducted girls in Chibock and Dapchi, which if happens to be true, will be a direct funding of the terrorist group by the federal government. Similarly, despite the atrocities committed by Boko Haram, the Buhari’s administration released 154 ex-Boko Haram members into society, and this threw fear in the minds of the people who believe an ex-Boko Haram cannot be trusted or forgiven.

Going by the above, one can conclude that President Buhari could not defeat Boko Haram in four years, a failure in a key promise and hope upon which he was elected in 2015. The question to ask now is, would a reasonable Nigerian still believe in Buhari’s further promises in the fight against Boko Haram? Seeing the total failure in the fight against Boko Haram, President Buhari’s further promises may not easily be trusted.  

Moving away from Boko Haram crisis, under President Buhari’s watch, Nigeria faces the worst security threat in more than a decade. Security of lives and property are under threat in all parts of the country. The United Kingdom has said that, there is a high threat of kidnap throughout Nigeria. It also warned its nationals against travelling to the North-Eastern part of Nigeria, saying that the security environment in the region deteriorated in 2018. The UK cautioned its citizens against travelling to Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina and Kano states, among others.

If a serious government like the UK can advise against travelling to the above Nigerian states, what would the people living in these states do to be safe, to flee? Of course they have started fleeing. As we speak today, in Zamfara state alone, there are over 2000 internally displaced Persons, who are taking refuge in the neighboring Kankara Local Government of Katsina State. This is without taking consideration of other IDPs who take refuge in other states.

Most of the people that are being killed daily in Zamfara state voted for the same President Buhari who promised to protect their lives, but they ended up losing their lives under his watch. In fact, there have been calls for declaring state of emergency in Zamfara state. This is the worst insecurity the state has ever witnessed. Other states like Benue, Kaduna, Jos and Adamawa face similar incidents of killings and general unrest resulting from herdsmen crisis, ethnic and religious conflicts.

Kidnapping has become rampant and one of the lucrative business under President Buhari’s watch, in fact, no one is safe now. People at their farms or while on a journey or even at their homes are being kidnapped, and huge ransoms being paid. Both the rich and the poor, the politicians and the masses are being kidnapped. In some cases, poor people have to contribute among relatives to raise money for the ransom or risk losing their relatives. Many of the victims have been killed, because their relatives could not raise the ransom money. In some cases, families have to resort to public fund raising to rescue their relatives. The cases of Kidnapping I know personally are numerous, and some of the victims were either killed or suffered in the hands of the kidnappers. People no longer travel by road out of fear of kidnapping, they rather use train or take flight, and all these happen under President Buhari.

Nigeria is now ranked 148 out of 163 countries in the global peace index, which means Nigeria is the 16^th least peaceful country in the world. Nigeria is safer than only 15 countries in the world, and 147 countries are safer to live in than in Nigeria.

Finally, based on the above reasons, one can easily conclude that President Buhari performed poorly in the area of security. Security is the key mandate and Promise of Buhari’s Presidency, and this has not been fulfilled in four years, because the security situation in the country has deteriorated under his watch. There is a fear that if things continue this way, insecurity will get worst in the country. Therefore, President Buhari should be cautious when playing the security card this time around, because he has failed in terms of security, and Nigerians should not trust any further promise of security from the administration that failed to secure their lives and property in the last four years. If they cannot do it in their first four years, they cannot do it in another four years. We cannot risk losing more lives of innocent Nigerians.

Ahmed Adamu, PhD

S.A. to Atiku Abubakar on Youth and Strategy

ahmadadamu1@gmail.com        

Before you increase the minimum wage

By Ahmed Adamu, PhD

The last increase on the minimum wage was in 2011 during the Goodluck Jonathan’s administration, when the then minimum wage of N7, 500 was increased to N18, 000, and since then, the minimum wage has not been increased. Seven years after, and after increasing inflation, it is justifiable to seek for adjustment. However, before we consider increasing the minimum wage, we have to understand the unique economic situation in Nigeria and the best alternatives to the increase on the minimum wage. Instead of increasing the minimum wage, there are better alternative measures that can help improve the wellbeing of the people of Nigeria, and we will discuss these alternatives in this article. Before then, we need to go through the background and some of the effects of increasing the minimum wage.

How much should be the deserved minimum wage as at today? Going back to 2011, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 110.84 and this year’s CPI is 266, adjusting the minimum wage for inflation within the seven years, the minimum wage in Nigeria as at 2018 should be N43, 197.40. A public worker must earn this amount to be able to have a wage of the same purchasing power as the purchasing power of N18, 000 in 2011. In layman terms, a public worker (receiving the minimum wage) would need to receive at least N43, 197.40 to be able to buy the same provisions he used to buy in 2011 with N18, 000. Therefore, the minimum wage of N18, 000 today is equivalent to N7, 500.45 in real value.

Most people would think it is generally good to put more money in the hands of workers, not realizing that more money in the hands of workers leads to increase in the prices of goods and services. “Inflation is primarily caused by an increase in the money supply that outpaces economic growth”. Once the money in circulation is growing at a rate higher than the economic growth, the value for money will reduce. At the time when Nigeria is struggling with two digits inflation rate (11.28%), and achieving steady reduction in the inflation rate, increasing the minimum wage will put inflation rate back to around 20%.

To maintain corporate profits after minimum wage increase, employers must increase the prices they charge for the goods and services they provide, which leads to inflation. Increasing the minimum wage is like increasing the petrol price in terms of its correlation to inflation. Receiving higher income but paying higher bills makes no impact. The dangerous thing in Nigeria is that prices are fast at going up and sticky in going down, and knowing that should make us do everything possible to avoid letting prices go up.

Once the minimum wage is increased, the value for Nigerian currency will reduce, as the goods and services affordable for each unit of Naira will reduce. Similarly, a mere sentiment and perception of traders will push the prices up. Once traders understood that workers have more money in their hands, they wouldn’t hesitate to stretch the buyers’ purchasing income through higher prices.

Increasing minimum wage can cause many people to lose their jobs, as some companies will have to be forced to sack their employees to be able to maintain normal profits. New companies will have to cut down the number of the employees they intended to employ, and reducing the number of labourers may affect the productivity of the individual companies, which reduces the aggregate production within the economy, thereby reducing the country’s economic growth rate. Investment in the country will reduce as prospective investors will be discouraged seeing the increasing inflation and wage increase.

At the time when we need to create enabling environment for competitive economy, the best thing to do is to add value for the Naira by attracting investment and competition in manufacturing and industrial sectors. Apart from inflation and unemployment, increase on minimum wage increases the burden on government, making it difficult to invest adequately on infrastructural and development projects, which are desperately needed for investment and competitive economy.

With politicians investing heavily on campaigns and maintaining luxuries, extravagance and over-sized cabinet, it will be difficult for most governments to pay the increased salary and still have balance to do projects for the poor. Some governors still find it difficult to pay workers’ salaries, some take months before they pay salaries. Most of the states rely heavily on federal allocation to be able to pay government workers, and while the federal allocation may not proportionately increase, the salary budget will increase by at least 25% if the minimum wage is increased. This will mean cuts on development budgets like health, education, water and transport to fund the wage increment, and it will make life difficult for most of the poor. While trying to serve less than 5% of the population, majority will have pay for it.

With the minimum wage increase, the attraction to government jobs will increase at the cost of self-employment, creativity and productivity. The private sector should be more attractive to the younger and productive population of the country by making the prospects in the private sector more lucrative than the public sector. By increasing the minimum wage, the reverse will be the case, as a profit motivated private enterprises will find it difficult to optimize profit and employment while still paying higher diesel price, electricity tariff, taxes, and still providing for its own security and water supply.

The best alternatives: instead of clamoring for wage increase, the labour unions should have campaigned for measures that will add value to the existing wage, and advocate for adequate provision of basic life requirements and reduction of unnecessary government spending. It will be better if government can cut the excessive spending and allowances it pays to political leaders like senators, legislators, governors, ministers, SAs, SSAs, political leaders, and cut the unnecessary gifts, travels and events, and use the saving for adequate provision of basic requirements like education, healthcare, security, water, transport, and electricity. The reason why the N18, 000 will not be sufficient and even the proposed new minimum wage will not be sufficient is because workers have to provide these basic requirements for themselves. Workers are now their own government, so, even N50, 000 will not be enough for the minimum wage earner without these basic provisions.

To add value for Naira and to reduce the inflation, government should look for ways to restore petroleum subsidy. Petroleum subsidy is like magic, even if you earn N18, 000 minimum wage, with petroleum subsidy, life will be much better than increasing the minimum wage. The subsidy will make goods and services cheaper, make investment easier and increase the employment rate. With the additional amount of money that would have been used for the payment of additional wage, government can use that to pay for petroleum subsidy so that not only the government workers will benefit but everyone. With further cuts in government excessive spending, the government can save enough to pay for the petroleum subsidy.  

Another measure that will make government workers contented with the N18, 000 minimum wage is to allow and encourage them to engage in other enterprises. The existing code of conduct act is anti-economic growth for prohibiting government workers from venturing into enterprises, which makes them redundant and live below their economic potentials. Workers should be inspired and coached on how to become effective entrepreneurs. They should be given the space to make the right balance between government work and their business enterprises. No matter how much the minimum wage will be, it will still not be enough, only creative economic ventures can sustain workers. Relying on salary alone will not serve them, it will only tempt them into corruption.

Instead of paying for the additional wage, government workers should be offered soft loans to set up economic ventures, so that they will not rely on their wages alone. With this opportunity, you will see some of them resigning from the government work, because they will be more attached to their businesses. Like the popular saying that says, if you give a man fish, you feed him for a day, but if you teach him how to fish, you feed him for lifetime. So, let us teach the government workers how to fish, instead of giving them more fish.

Finally, the workers that really deserve increase in their wage are the small-skilled labourers, craftsmen and primary school teachers. The small-skilled labour force should be organized and their wages standardized. These are people who use their skills and sweats to earn every Naira, and there are more of these small-skilled labourers than the government workers. So, the small-skilled labour force should be professionalized, and supported to organize their unions to protect their own interests and agitate for their own deserved wages.

DR AHMED ADAMU

Petroleum Economist,
Leadership and Development Expert,
First-Ever Global President of Commonwealth Youth Council,
University Lecturer (Economics),
08034458189, 08188949144, ahmadadamu1@gmail.com

Concession Remark after the Primary Election

By Ahmed Adamu, PhD

I didn’t win the Primary Election. I could have chosen to blame it on some nasty political slanders, betrayals, envies, selfishness, greediness, and traditionalism, but I chose not to point finger of blame at anything or anyone, I submit everything to Allah (SWA). I know if Allah had destined that I will win, no force or group of people can deny it for me, but Allah has already decreed that it is not for me this time around, so I totally accept it as Allah’s will, and it is for the best.

Therefore, I hold no grudge or ill feeling against anyone, and I don’t blame anyone. It was not because we fall short in our efforts or because of other political reasons, it is Allah’s will, and I accepted it with good faith. I thank Almighty Allah for this outcome and for the worthwhile experience. Whatever Allah decreed is for the best.

I would like to sincerely thank the delegates that voted for me, we might not have been successful for now, but I can assure you this is a step further to a bigger success. To the delegates that didn’t vote for me, I thank you too, and I know you must have had a conviction for your choice. I congratulate you. I also congratulate my opponent for his victory, and I wish him well and best of luck.

Coming down to my partners in this project, I don’t know how to face you, and I don’t know how to express my sincere gratitude to you. You trusted me with unyielding confidence and you stood by me, you contributed your hard earned money for this campaign. This campaign was fully and unconditionally sponsored by you. You bet on me even when we were not certain of victory. Some of you, I haven’t met you yet. I will never forget you in my life, I have marked your names and your faces. Thank you so much.

I would like to thank our teaming supporters across the world for the confidence you have on me, you asked me to come forward to serve you, and together we have done our best in the last 12 months. I know how shocking this was to you, we never thought our journey will be stalled this early, but it is not the end of it, we will keep trying and moving.

I know how hard it is for us to embrace this, but we have to be brave. It is a true test of our readiness for the battles ahead. I was told some of you overreacted, some cried, some fell sick, it is ok, but let us put it behind us and learn from it. At the time we lost the election, I was only worried about you, how will I face you? and how will you feel about it? This loss is not for me alone, it is for thousands of our supporters across the world, and it is a loss to the party and to the people of Katsina State and Nigeria at large.

Some political parties have started inviting me and offering me ticket to contest, but I still resist. I think we are not greedy for power, when our time comes we will get it wherever we are. Our project will continue, we don’t necessarily need to have a position to contribute to humanity, we can do a lot even without politics. In fact, one of my friends has been advising us to think of how we can do more for the society outside the politics. With the faith we have on each other, we can do great things.

I don’t want this experience to discourage other emerging young and promising politicians, it is part of the struggle, in fact failure teaches you more, and it is an asset. Don’t be discouraged. We need more competent hands in the politics, we have to take responsibility and actively engage in politics, especially at grassroots. We cannot be sitting on the fence and reacts to situations, we have to come down in the arena and change things ourselves. You have to involve in political parties, and become executives of the parties, that is when you can really become relevant and influence governance. I acknowledge that our political processes need to be reformed, but we can’t reform it from the outside.

While contributing to societal development, I will also continue with my career as a University Lecturer and Leadership and Personal Development Expert, I will channel my energy, creativity, and innovations in building people, who will in turn build the nation. Nations cannot make people great, it is the people that make nations great, so to develop, we have to build and invest on the people.

I thank everyone who contributed in one way or the other in this journey, especially my campaign teams, thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you once again.

Aluta Continua, Victoria Ascerta.

DR AHMED ADAMU
Aspirant for Federal House of Representatives (Katsina Central Federal Constituency) under PDP, 2019 Election.
Petroleum Economist,
Leadership and Development Expert,
First-Ever Global President of Commonwealth Youth Council,
University Lecturer (Economics),
08034458189, 08188949144, ahmadadamu1@gmail.com

MKO Abiola Day or Democracy Day?

By Dr. Ahmed Adamu

The first democratically elected government in Nigeria was inaugurated on 1^st October 1960 and re-elected in 1964, but was toppled by a military coup on 15^th January 1966. Likewise, on October 1^st, 1979, another democracy was revived, but was toppled by the military on 31^st December 1983, just few months after a democratic election. Again, in 1993, another democratic election took place on June 12, but was halted by the military. The most sustained democracy in Nigeria is the one that was ushered in on May 29^th 1999, and it is the current democratic era in the country.

In choosing a democracy day among these dates, one may be indecisive. Would you consider a date in the past democratic era or a date in the current democratic era? Would you use a date that marks a success to the democracy or a date that marks a failure to the democracy? Whichever one you choose, you will still have to choose among options. If you go for a date to commemorate a failure to the democracy, you would then have to choose between 15^th January 1966, 31^st December 1983, and 12^th June 1993. All these dates were days when democracy was ruined or crucified in Nigeria. So, what criteria would you use to choose among these options?

Unlike other individual’s decisions, when you are a president, every decision you make impact on people and the nation, and people will react to it, but you still have to make one at all costs. President Buhari’s recent decision to change the democracy day from May 29 to June 12 is a choice among many options, and this enticed reactions, hence the writing of this article. Changing the democracy day from the date in which the democracy was revived and achieved success seemingly forever (May 29) to the date in which a democratic election was negated 25 years ago (June 12) is a big call. Which of these two dates is more deserving to be a democracy day? Many would have chosen differently.

The question people ask is why President Buhari did not decide on changing the democracy day (to June 12) until a year to the end of his first term? When it is just eight months to the election. One would ask, is this decision political or based on informed justification? June 12 was the day in which one of the freest and fairest elections was conducted in Nigeria, but the outcome of the election was annulled by the military regime then. If the choice of a democracy day is based on sad events, why June 12 was a better date to commemorate a democracy? Why not 15^th January 1996, which is another sad day in democracy, when democratically elected leaders were killed in numbers and put an end of the first democratic era in Nigeria? Why not 31^st December 1983, another sad day in democracy, when another democratically elected government was toppled and the civilian leaders were jailed without a due cause?

The presumed winner of the June 12 election, MKO Abiola is no doubt a great symbol of democracy in Nigeria, and it is fair to dedicate a special day to remember his struggle and sacrifice, and June 12 is a perfect date to do that. MKO Abiola day is a day in which the country will reflect on and renew our hope for a true democratic principles and the contributions we can make to sustaining democratic values. So, June 12 should be an MKO Abiola Day.

For Democracy Day, it should remain May 29, the day in which democracy was revived to stay forever, and a day in which every newly elected government is inaugurated. In Nigeria, we have tried democracy four times, but we all failed except for the fourth time (May 29, 1999). So, May 29 is a perfect date to celebrate our democracy. It was in this democracy that was ushered on May 29, 1999 that we had four consecutive elected president. It is worth celebrating.

May 29^th should not be isolated, it is a date we really achieved sustained success in democracy, and it is still the date we mark the beginning of every new democratic dispensation. Therefore, we should have both Democracy Day on May 29 and MKO Abiola Day on June 12. This will be more sustainable, otherwise, a different regime in the future may also wish to change the democracy day to either 15^th January or 31^st December. 15^th January has already been marked and commemorated every year as an armed forces day, and that is ok because it was not made a democracy day as it is a day to remember a sad event.  Dates for sad events may not be fit to celebrate a democracy, but can be renamed to remember the victims and the struggles made in those times. Finally, the government should reconsider its decision on June 12 and make it an MKO Abiola Day instead of Democracy Day.

Dr. Ahmed Adamu,
Petroleum Economist,
Leadership and Development Expert,
First-Ever Global President of Commonwealth Youth Council,
University Lecturer (Economics),
08034458189, 08188949144, ahmadadamu1@gmail.com

Not Too Young To Run: Celebrate Not Yet

By Dr. Ahmed Adamu

At 25 years old, most of the youths are struggling to finish from University, Polytechnics or Colleges, those that are lucky to graduate early are struggling to get or create a job. Most of us at this stage, we struggle to get a house, set a family or even buy a car. However, the story is not the same across, the children of our so called leaders know nothing about these struggles, they study abroad, they receive medical care abroad, they shop abroad, they go to holidays abroad, they buy cars and power bikes from abroad, and they have all the money to afford the most expensive politics in the world, the Nigerian Politics. If at the age of 25, a young person can contest for a state or national legislative position, then the children of the well-to-do or the political leaders are likely to take advantage of that. This then makes the political leadership like hereditary. The children of the poor may not even have the appetite to run for election, because they struggle with poverty, lack of quality education and focus.

The biggest barrier in our political system is not that of the age, but money politics. Though, breaking the age barrier is a positive development, but that alone will not make big impact unless we break other barriers especially that of money politics. Despite the recent cost reduction of nomination forms, the maximum cost of nomination form for the office of President, Governor, Senator, and Member House of Representatives is N10 million, N5 million, N2 million, and N1 million respectively. President Buhari himself could not raise N25 million then for his nomination form, he had to take a loan. Even at the reduced cost, it is still on the high side, because political parties are likely to stretch the cost limit.

Even if you have a decent job, how long will it take you and how much will you deprive yourself to save or raise such amount? In fact, the cost of nomination form is just a small fraction of the other cost that you must incur while contesting in this kind of politics. You have to spend for delegates to get a ticket of a formidable party. In fact, these delegates you have to keep watering them till the primary election. Once, you become an aspirant, you will automatically become the ATM of the people, everyone will come asking for money, and if you don’t give them, they will insult you. You also have to pay for the administration of your campaign, you have to pay for publicity, posters, billboards, stickers, rallies, party elders, stakeholders and media. As a poor youth who is eligible by age, are you eligible by money?

Like Frank Underwood said in season 3 of the House of Cards, he said “Power is more important than money, but when it comes to election, money gives Power”. I don’t totally agree with Underwood, but you still have to learn the significance of money in politics. The late Hausa Movie Comedian, Ibro was once asked if he has the “sinadarin cin zabe”, i.e. Ingredient for winning election, and he responded by showing some bunches of money.

Poverty is striking so hard now a days, people are waiting for politicians to suck from them, and this makes the politics even more expensive and increases the chances of those with the money to win elections even if they are not competent. The reason why we don’t have good governance is because the criteria for electing leaders are based on Money not ideas. And people are desperate to get money and can compromise on ethics for money because the government failed to provide the basic life requirements for them.

Professor Lumumba once said, “Good guys with no money loose elections, but bad guys with money win elections in Africa”. So, the barrier that we need to fight now is the money barrier. There are other barriers like the cartel barrier and party barrier. There are some circles of big and powerful politicians who monopolize the politics and fix candidates from the pool of their families and friends. As a young person, you have to break these cartels. They will not invite you because you don’t have the money, and they might not want you to take chances of their children. They would rather mobilize you for their political thuggery, use you and dump you. Getting the ticket of a formidable party is another big barrier. To get the party ticket, you have to have money, godfather, and influence in the party. The political parties, especially the big ones, may not be interested on your age, but your money. Therefore, we should not take the Not Too Young To Run policy as a guarantee for youth political involvement. We should not celebrate yet.

Many young people called and texted me telling me that they want to run since the Not Too Young To Run bill has become a law. I jokingly ask them, where are you running to? Just because, you are allowed to run, it does not mean that you have the skills and the capacity of running. With this new policy, we, the young people, we have to organize and unite to take advantage of the opportunity. We have to come together to fight those bigger barriers. If we all contest, then how do we unite our votes, we will split our votes, and the older generation will continue to rule us. The strategy is, we should choose the most competent among us and rally behind them; support them with our money, time, ideas, and energy. We can only fight those barriers if we unite. We should get rid of envy and partisanship. We should not worry about the party, let us consider the candidates only. We should identify prospective and competent candidates wherever they are and encourage them to contest. Most times, the ones that are desperate to contest are not the most competent. We have to identify and force the competent youths to contest in election and provide room for consensus.

We should not be eager to contest, we should be more concerned about building our capacity and personal development. If you are not fully prepared, how can you lead? It is better to be ready and not have the power than to have power without being ready. We have seen cases where some young people were given the chances, but because they lack capacity and professionalism, they messed up. We have to dispel those that doubt our abilities by sending qualified candidates among us, so that people will have confidence in our ability.

Now we can run, but what do we want to do? What do we want to change in Nigeria? Having just a young President or a young Governor or a young Legislator cannot fix our problems. Development has nothing to do with demography, it is determined by genuine intention, capacity and great ideas. Wanting to become President is not a Vision. What problem do you want to solve and how do you want to solve it? That is your vision, and that is why you want the office of the President or Governor or Legislator as a tool to fix that problem. We should not think that the only success we can achieve is by becoming Presidents or Governors. There are many ways we can achieve success. As a young person, if you become President and you can’t solve a problem, you are a failure.

Therefore, if we want to lead this country, we need to develop an agenda for this country. We have to show to Nigerians that we understand our challenges as a country, and how we intend to address them. Do we have that right now? We cannot be ready to run unless we have an agenda. Once we can develop this agenda, then we can influence governance even if we are not elected into political offices. We can still sell our agenda to the leaders, make them work on our agenda and still achieve our vision. So, it is not a must that we must contest before we influence governance, we can still do that even outside politics.

Finally, it is not bad if we can start preparing some few among us for the office of the President in a near future. We have to identify people who have the skills, capacity, influence, popularity, personality, popularity and relative experience in politics and in professional careers. We have hundreds of them that can run for President, everyone can draw his own short list of these caliber of people. I know lots of young people who I think can make a good president, people like Onofiok Luke, Jelani Aliyu, Moses Siasia, Grema Terab etc. If we are not too young to run, we need to be too qualified to run, too united to run and too organized to run. Now, we need to agitate for further reduction of political nomination cost, and strict limitation of political expenses during elections. If we have to attract good candidates into governance, we have to reduce the monetary benefits and luxuries attached to political offices.

Dr. Ahmed Adamu,
Petroleum Economist,
Leadership and Development Expert,
First-Ever Global President of Commonwealth Youth Council,
University Lecturer (Economics),
08034458189, 08188949144, ahmadadamu1@gmail.com

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2019 Elections: A Young President?

By Dr. Ahmed Adamu

I have come across some young people on social media aspiring to contest for the office of the President of Nigeria, and I am happy about it. However, it would only take luck for any one of them to emerge winner in 2019 elections. As a youth advocate, I want to see my country producing young leaders, but we cannot achieve that without collective strategic planning. Let us assume there will be four young contestants for the president’s position in 2019, and each one of them running under a different party, what will happen is that the votes of the youths will be further divided, and there will still be some youths who will vote for older aspirants. This means the chance of having complete votes of the youths for the youths as suggested by Mal. Muhammadu Sunusi II will be minimal. I am afraid youth will keep trying and loosing, unless we strategise. Despite our desire to have a young president, we cannot achieve that without a better strategy. Instead of risking credible presidential hopefuls for election failure unnecessarily, I have a better strategy that Nigerian youths can use to surely produce a president among ourselves.

With the “not too young run” bill that is now been considered at state assemblies, more youths will aspire to contest for higher positions when the bill eventually becomes a law. This opportunity can only make a difference if we follow the strategy that I suggest below.

2019 elections should be a turning pointing for us, the youths, in political participation. In 2019, let us have more youths contesting for various legislative positions both at national and state levels, so that we can take over the majority of the National and State assemblies. If we can overcrowd the national assembly with young legislatures, then we can shape the governance and politics the way we want it. At that time, we will change policies and laws for our own interest. We will then control whoever will be the president. It would not matter whether the president is old or young, through the national assembly we can control governance. We will then have more experience in governance, and we can easily pave way for one among us to emerge as president.  The vibrancy and creativity of every democracy depends on the kind of people in the national assembly, if we have more young people as legislators, we can then have a vibrant and creative democracy.

Even Barack Obama, before he became president, he was a junior United State Senator; he also served in the Illinois State Senate. That was what gave him the edge to contest and win his election as president of America. Emmanuel Macron was also Minister for Economy in France before he contest for the position of the president of France. Let us apply this strategy, if we cannot take over the national and state assemblies, we cannot take over the country. Even if other promising young people are likely to emerge as presidential candidates, let them consider using their resources to contest for the senate or as members of house of representatives or state assemblies. I think a young president can only be realistic if we have young national and state assemblies. We have to be truthful to ourselves, no matter how much we want it, it cannot happen automatically, it cannot happen naturally, it has to be planned.

However, this strategy cannot work if we elect incompetent youths. The youths to be elected into the national and states assemblies must be competent, and we should elect them irrespective of their parties. As long as a candidate is competent and young, we should elect them without considering which party they stand. We also have to have unity among ourselves. For instance, if you are contesting for a position, and you see another young person who is more qualified than you, then you should step down and support that young person. We should not envy or hate each other, if we do that, we cannot go anywhere. We should get rid of insecurity and egoism among ourselves; it must not be us all the time. We should learn to see other people’s success as our success too. Your success should not be based on how you could push down everybody around you, your success should be based on how you can push everybody up, and if we keep doing that, one day you too will be pushed up.

We also have to change our ideology, we should not just go into politics because we want authority or we want money, leadership is not about authority or money, it is about responsibility, service and sacrifice. You must have what it takes first before you contest. You have to have the inspiration and the vision. Our participation should not be restricted to only contesting or voting, it should go beyond that, so that we can control who emerges, help in raising political awareness among uninformed population, and follow up to ensure better governance and representation after the election. Those that are politically informed among us should take responsibility and inform others, otherwise, those that are not informed will undo whatever we do, and their voices still matter. So, we need everybody on board.

Finally, we as young people, we should not let anyone deceive us with money. It is a deception and contempt for anyone to offer us money for votes. Our votes are priceless; every candidate must earn our votes based on his competency and vision only. I would like to call on competent youths to participate in politics, so that we can have majority and competent young legislatures, and then we can easily produce a young president. Let 2019 elections be the starting point for this strategy, let us support our fellow youths and send them to national assembly, and soon we will have a young president.

Dr. Ahmed Adamu,

Petroleum Economist,

Leadership and Development Expert,

First-Ever Global President of Commonwealth Youth Council,

University Lecturer (Economics),

08034458189, 08188949144, ahmadadamu1@gmail.com

Petroleum Catastrophe: Truth Must Be Told

By Dr. Ahmed Adamu

Someone very close to President Buhari sent me abusive comments because I suggested that President Buhari should step down as Petroleum Minister. Now, over 4,500 Nigerians supported my initial call, and they also called on President Buhari to step down as Petroleum Minister. Now, that close aid to Mr President should also come out and abuse these innocent Nigerians too.

After my initial call, an online newspaper called Premium Times conducted an online survey seeking the opinions of Nigerians on whether President Buhari should step down as Petroleum Minister or not. Over 6,700 Nigerians participated in the survey, and 67% of them have the opinion that the President should step down as minister of Petroleum Resources. This is an indication that Nigerians want their President to free himself from unnecessary pressure so that he can concentrate fully in overseeing the affairs of governance. This call was not out of hatred but out of love. Nigerians want their President to maximize his resources to achieve efficiency. The office of the President and Commander in Chief of Armed Forces requires undivided attention, and the one occupying this position needs to maximise his concentration and focus through effective delegation of power, so that he will supervise effectively. Now, politics is approaching, the attention of Mr President will further be divided, this can affect governance. Therefore, this call is a patriotic one, and it is not intended to contempt Mr President, but to help him achieve more for our country, and prevent avoidable hardships that may be caused due to possible oversight in managing the affairs of a sensitive sector like that of Petroleum. 

For those that think telling the truth to a leader is hatred, than they are the ones that hate the leader. If you love someone, that is when you will tell him the truth. If you are with someone and you always say yes to that person irrespective of whether he is right or wrong, then you became sycophant and a cheater. No body is perfect, and even the President makes mistake, and he must be told the truth. 

We should be professional in judging and reacting to people's opinions. If someone says something you disagree, you should disagree with respect. If you abuse and criticise without facts, it means you are ignorant and unprofessional. If you disagree with someone, disagree politely and with facts and evidence, don't just say no, say no to it with reasons. If you disagree with someone, don't pass negative comment, just establish your own point, period. 

Remember this: "Hold to forgiveness; command what is right; but turn away from the ignorant". Quran 7:199.

Finally, Mr President should take absolute responsibility of all the hardships that people are undergoing right now. President Buhari said in 2015 "I take responsibility for whatever happened under my watch". This time around too, President Buhari should take responsibility and stop the blame game. All measures must be in place to check and stop those supposed saboteur activities. Subsidy is not evil, we should embrace and apply what I suggested as quota petroleum subsidy and targeted petroleum subsidy. Refineries must be built and existing ones be in full capacity utilisation. President Buhari promised in 2015 "I will revive and reactivate our minimally performing Refineries to optimum capacity", and this week Mr Kachiku (the state minister of Petroleum) said "the major solution to the fuel scarcity challenges in the country is for Nigeria to fix its refineries", which means those promises have not been fulfilled after 3 years. 

Here is the link to the report about the survey: https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/254374-nigerians-ask-buhari-resign-petroleum-minister.html

Dr. Ahmed Adamu

Petroleum Economist and Development Expert,

First-Ever Global President of Commonwealth Youth Council,

University Lecturer (Economics),

(08034458189, 08188949144 ahmadadamu1@gmail.com)