By Ismail Abdulaziz
Nigeria’s Prof. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been appointed as the next World Trade Organisation (WTO) Director-General.

This is contained in the WTO verified Twitter account @wto on Monday.

“Okonjo-Iweala makes history as the first woman and the first African to lead the WTO.”

The term of the new director-general would start March 1.

By Obike Ukoh, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

Since the release of the 2020 Transparency International (TI) Corruption Perceived Index (CPI), in which Nigeria was placed 149 out of 180 countries, there had been mixed reactions on the correctness or otherwise of the rating.

Denmark is first in the transparency index table as the most transparent and least corrupt country, while Sudan ranked 180, as the most corrupt country.

Expectedly, the government challenged the rating as the country dropped from the 2019 rating, while other commentators expressed divergent views, but advised that the rating should be critically analysed.

Leading the pack, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, the Minister of Information and Culture, said the CPI did not reflect the great strides the country has recorded in the fight against corruption.

He said the implementation of the various reforms, especially in the Ease of Doing Business was expected to yield positive outcomes in the country’s corruption perception and other relevant assessments in the next 12 to 24 months.

“For instance, following the release of the 2019 TI-Corruption Perception Index, the government initiated reforms to improve on Nigeria’s Ease of Doing Business indices.

“This is because we found that up to 40 per cent of the country’s corruption perception survey indices relate to business processes and general public service delivery processes.

“Government’s swift action has led to major reforms in the processes at our ports and business process points,” he said.

Mohammed said in addition to placing more emphasis on corruption prevention measures and building of integrity systems, high profile corruption cases were currently under investigation and prosecution.

He said the emphasis on preventive mechanisms was in response to various local and international reviews and evaluation that Nigeria had gone through, including those from the United Nations Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) and even from the TI-CPI.

The information minister said that having analysed the 2020 TI-CPI rating for Nigeria, the Federal Government was interrogating a number of issues and discrepancies that had been observed in the rating processes.

“These included some data sources in which Nigeria’s scores have remained flat over the past 10 years, reflecting no improvement, decline or fluctuation.

“This is very improbable given the nature of behaviour of variables which are normally influenced by a variety of factors (which is the reason they are called ‘variables’).

“In this case, the corruption scores would have been affected by changes in the size and structure of the public sector over the past 10 years.

“Changes in policies and personnel and systems over the period, including for instance, process automation, etc.

“There is therefore, the need to verify that there is no transposition of figures from year to year due to absence of current data,” the minister said.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, on his part, said the report was a reflection of corruption by Nigerians and not by the Buhari administration.

“ I will tell you that this one is a judgment on Nigerians because if you look at the indices they used at arriving at these conclusions; they used eight indices, six of which showed Nigeria as being more or less Nigeria in the same position.

“The two that they dwelled on, that caused this backslide, are essentially Nigerian problems. They’re talking about the political culture of this country, vote-buying, thuggery. Is it Buhari that is a thug? We’re not doing thuggery.

“And when they talked about the justice sector, they are talking about perceived corruption in the judiciary.

“These perceptions are essentially not correct. Yes, there are issues in that sector, but so many changes are going on in that sector, it would have been nice if they acknowledged it so that you encourage those judicial officers that are upright.”

The Director-General of the Progressives Governors’ Forum, Salihu Lukman, said the TI 2020 CPI was designed to influence electoral outcomes ahead of the 2023 general elections.

He described the 2020 CPI on Nigeria as a poor attempt at politicising the fight against corruption.

Lukman tasked TI to go beyond perception and expose actual corruption.

“It is a poor attempt to politicise the fight against corruption largely because it completely ignores all the empirical cases that should have provided objective indicators for the performance of the Nigerian government.

Beyond politics is also the funding reality, which has made Nigerian civil society groups to be very aggressive in legitimising the CPI 2020 report in Nigeria.

“The challenge to Nigerian civil society groups and patriots is really to rise above cheap smear campaigns based on perceptions and sentiments.

“ Corruption is not a theoretical issue. It is a very practical challenge. It is beyond the perception of anyone. Where perception is to be our guide, we should be able to confirm it with evidence of reality.

“If TI can conveniently rely on perception, any serious Nigerian organisation should be able to corroborate perception with empirical cases of corruption.

“If one is to interpret the Nigeria CPI 2020 report, the conclusion is that the current government of APC under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has lost the fight against corruption.

“ For us to be able to fight corruption, based on the ‘perception by Nigerian businesses and country experts’, there has to be a change of government.

“This is the underlying narrative in the CPI report. It is basically more of a political campaign, if you like for 2023. Nigerians, including local leaders of civil society groups and their international partners are free to make their political choices and decisions.

“But they should be transparent about it. It mustn’t be a case of shadowboxing Nigerian citizens and forcing them to kowtow political choices fraudulently contrived because Nigerian citizens are committed to the fight against corruption!”

Lukman said that the claim of lack of adequate anti-corruption legal frameworks was outrightly false in today’s Nigeria.

“It will appear that this is most likely reproduced from old reports of CPI before all the anti-corruption laws that led to emergence of EFCC, ICPC, etc.”

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC), an NGO, on its part, called on the Federal Government and other stakeholders to constructively scrutinise the 2020 CPI.

Mr Auwal Musa-Rafsanjani, the Executive Director of CISLAC, also cautioned against playing politics with the report.

He echoed what Garba Shehu said that the report was a reflection of corruption by Nigerians and not by the Buhari administration.

Musa-Rafsanjani said that it was ironic to witness statements by opposition political parties referencing the 2020 CPI as evidence of corruption in the current government and politically and egoistically misusing the national failure to address corruption.

“No single political party is responsible for the miserable state of affairs today.

“It is a collective responsibility of the political establishment and leadership that transcends all political parties and indeed the Nigerian elite.’’

Musa-Rafsanjani stressed that it would be politically dangerous to dismiss the results without reflecting constructively on the drivers behind ranking.

According to him, many multinational companies consider the CPI ranking when deciding where to invest.

“Governments around the globe include the CPI results in their political-economy analysis when deciding how to engage a particular country in terms of investments, development cooperation or diplomatic ties,’’ the CISLAC boss said.

He suggested an analytical approach to problem solving in specific governance areas.

In the same vein, some lecturers at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), expressed divergent views on the rating.

Prof. Jonah Onuoha, the Head, Department of Political Science, who spoke on the issue, said that President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration had done a lot to tackle corruption since he assumed office in 2015.

“If corruption is the only factor transparency used in its assessment and ranking, the present government has done well in the fight against corruption since Buhari assumed office in 2015.

“It will be unfair to list Nigeria among the most corrupt nations of the world,” he said.

Prof. Aloysius Okolie, also of the Department of Political Science, on his part, urged the government to put serious structure on ground to fight corruption.

He said the fight against corruption should not be used as guise to clamp-down on opposition political parties.

Okolie noted that the level of poverty and unemployment in the country had made people to do all sort of things in order to survive.

“In the fight against corruption, adequate structures must be put in place and anybody found corrupt should be arrested and prosecuted,” he said.

Dr Ifeanyichukwu Abada, immediate past Head of Department of Political Science, who also spoke on the issue, attributed the low rating, to poor framework in the fight against corruption.

“The ease of doing business in the country is expensive coupled with high level of insecurity, this has scared many local and foreign investors from investing in Nigeria.’’

He said that Nigeria would join the league of least corrupt nations if our leaders “should have zero tolerance for corruption, impunity, nepotism, as well as abuse of fundamental human rights of citizens”.

Unarguably, the TI 2020 CPI rating is a human document. As canvassed by stakeholders, it should be constructively scrutinised, as no particular organisation, political party is to be blamed for the inherent failings pointed out in the report. (NANFeatures)

Evaluating government’s response to economic impact of COVID-19

By Kadiri Abdulrahman of the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)
The Federal Government confirmed the first Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) case in Nigeria on Feb. 27, 2020 in Lagos. It was the first to be reported in the country since the beginning of the outbreak in China towards the end of 2019.

The COVID-19 pandemic created medical emergencies across the world, but it also impacted on social and economic lives of countries, which necessitated actions to fight its effect.

In Nigeria, it necessitated a total lockdown of key economic sectors. Private and public institutions were closed and economic growth was stifled.

The country slipped into an economic recession in 2016, but it soon bounced back, and between 2017 and 2019 the economy had began to show promising signs of recovery before COVID-19 came and slowed the progress.

This ultimately resulted to a second recession in November 2020. The pandemic impacted negatively on the oil sector, which is the mainstay of the economy, with both price and production quantity declining.

This made the finance ministry to announce that Nigeria would cut the size of its N10.6 trillion budget for 2020 due to low revenue. The spending plan was calculated on assumptions of crude oil price of 57 dollars per barrel, but Brent crude hovered around 33 dollars per barrel during this pandemic

The drop in revenue from oil came with multiplier effects that reduced the value of the Naira and affected welfare of the ordinary Nigerians.

As an immediate response to save small businesses and also save jobs, the House of Representatives passed the Emergency Economic Stimulus Bill in March 2020 to provide support to small businesses and private citizens.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila, said that the aim was to prevent job losses and to allow ordinary Nigerians live their normal lives.

Gbajabiamila said that the bill primarily sought to grant companies a rebate on Companies Income Tax to the value of 50 per cent.

“This, we hope, will prevent large scale job losses in an already fragile economy and allow our people to carry on with their lives as best as possible in the event of a large scale outbreak,’’ he said.

Observers believe that COVID-19 related economic interventions significantly squeezed Nigeria’s fiscal space and exposed the danger of the country’s sole reliance on oil.

CBN, on March 16, 2020 announced a N50 billion fund to combat the impact of the pandemic on the economy and allow banks to give their customers more time to repay loans.

The apex bank also cut interest rates on its loans from nine per cent to five per cent and announced a moratorium of one year on principal repayments of CBN intervention facilities.

It announced a N100 billion intervention fund in healthcare for pharmaceutical companies and healthcare practitioners to expand their capacity, and another N1 trillion in loans to boost local manufacturing and production across critical sectors.

CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele said that the various packages were directed at households and micro and small enterprises as well as pharmaceutical companies that wish o explore local production.

“The health sector loan aims to support the health authorities to ensure that laboratories, researchers and innovators work with global scientists to patent or produce vaccines and test kits in Nigeria to prepare for any major crises ahead.

“The CBN stands ready to provide liquidity back stops as and when required in view of its role as banker to the federal government and lender of last resort,” he said.

Emefiele assured that given the continuing impact of COVID-19 on global supply chains, the bank would increase its intervention in boosting local manufacturing and import substitution.

The government also took practical steps to avert a looming food crisis by empowering farmers to embark on massive cultivation of food crops through the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme of the CBN.

CBN rallied agriculture stakeholders to a meeting in Abuja, in September, 2020, and offered them incentives towards averting food shortage that could result from challenges posed by the pandmic.

Mr Yusuf Yila, Director, Development Finance Department of the bank, pledged the bank’s continuous support, adding that food security was an important priority of the government, which the CBN would work to ensure its success.

That initiative ensured availability of food in the country during the pandemic, even as some countries grappled with acute food shortages.

The government also set up a N500 billion intervention fund to enhance capacity of health facilities.

Minister of Finance, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, said that the fund would pull in cash as loans from various special government accounts and grants from multilateral institutions to be used to upgrade healthcare facilities at the federal and state levels.

“Our general view is that this crisis intervention fund is to be utilised to upgrade health care facilities as earlier identified.

“The Federal Government also needs to be in a position to improve health care facilities not only at the federal level but also to provide intervention to the states,” she said.

Dr Obi Adigwe, Director General of Nigeria Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development (NPPRD), urged the government to take advantage of the pandemic to improve capacity of research and development in relevant sectors.

`As bad situation creates wonderful chances, COVID-19 should create opportunity for increased funding into tropical and other diseases,” he suggested.

Though government’s various intervention schemes did not completely erase economic hardship experienced by ordinary Nigerians, they went a long way to ameliorate the situation and Nigerians fared relatively better.

As the pandemic enters its second wave and with the discovery of vaccines in some countries, Nigerians are concerned about the provision for procurement of these vaccines in the 2021 budget.

The Finance Minister, however, explained that the government was working on type and quantity of vaccines to be procured while her ministry and the ministry of health would finalise cost. (NAN)

****If used, please credit the writer and the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

By Abujah Racheal
The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) has reported 1,244 new cases of the Coronavirus (COVID-19), bringing the total number of infections in the country to 101,331.

The NCDC disclosed this on its official website late Monday.

The agency also confirmed additional three coronavirus-related deaths in the country in the past 24 hours.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that last week the country recorded more than 9,800 cases within seven days, thus surpassing its earlier weekly record of COVID-19 infections.

Available data shows that between Jan. 3 and Jan. 9, the country recorded 9,833 cases, a sharp increase from the 5,681 cases recorded in the previous week of Dec. 27, 2020, and Jan. 2, 2021.

The public health agency said the new infections were reported from across 20 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

It disclosed that Lagos state, the epicentre of the virus in country, recorded the highest number of confirmed cases with 774 new infections, taking the total number of cases in the state to 36,875.

The health agency added that Lagos, FCT and Plateau recorded the highest number of COVID-19 infections with 774, 125 and 102 cases respectively.

Ohers states with new infections were Anambra-47, Ondo-46, Rivers-27, Edo-18, Kaduna-16, Ogun-16, Gombe-16, Bauchi-11, Kano-11, Nasarawa-10, Akwa Ibom-seven, Sokoto-seven, Borno-five, Ekiti-four, and Zamfara-two.

NCDC also announced the discharge of 461 patients from isolation centres across the country.

“Our discharges today include 144 community recoveries in Lagos State managed in line with guidelines,” it said, adding that it had conducted at least 1,033,858 tests since the first confirmed case of COVID-19 was announced in the country.

According to it, a multi-sectoral national Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) activated at Level 3, is coordinating response activities nationwide.

The agency issued a public health advisory to alert Nigerians that non-adherence to public health and social measures was undermining its response efforts aimed at limiting the continued spread of the virus.

“The average number of daily confirmed cases recorded in the first week of January 2021, was higher than the cumulative cases recorded the last week of December 2020.

“Following the festive season, and in view of the increase in the number of confirmed cases in Nigeria, the NCDC and partners, with leadership from the Federal Ministry of Health and the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 are putting in place measures to strengthen the public health agency’s response to the pandemic,” it said.

To prevent the further spread of COVID-19, the NCDC said, ”Nigerians are reminded to wear a face mask properly, wash hands with soap, and maintain physical distance from others.

“This is not the time to let down our guard. The virus that causes COVID-19 never went away and is still very much with us, as evidenced by the rising cases in Nigeria and globally.”

The NCDC noted that COVID-19 could affect all age groups with severe outcomes in the elderly (50 years and above), and in persons with co-morbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, cancer etc.

“Recently there has been increased infection among the younger age groups.

“Therefore, NCDC urges all persons to take responsibility and adhere to the non-pharmaceutical interventions (regular hand washing, maintaining physical distance, and proper use of face mask,” it explained.

It said it would continue to work with other agencies under the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Health to spear-head public health response to the disease.

It added that it would continue to play a key role in the multi-sectoral response to the disease, within the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 (PTF-COVID-19), established by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Given the sustained increase in cases, the agency said it would also continue to work closely with state governments, provide support through the deployment of Rapid Response Teams, provide laboratory and medical supplies as well as carry out other response activities.

“We urge state governments to take greater ownership of their response, maintain their COVID-19 surveillance structures, laboratory diagnosis and testing.

“Unless states actively test, they will not know their disease burden, putting local communities at greater risk of adverse outcomes, if the virus is not detected and impacts vulnerable populations.

“NCDC has significantly scaled-up the national testing capacity by expanding the number of laboratories for COVID-19 testing across states.

“Testing remains one of the best tools we have in our fight against COVID-19, as it enables prompt clinical management and helps in preventing further transmission.

“The cumulative number of samples tested in the country has increased significantly, and some states have sustained their higher levels of testing.

“Although the country has yet to meet its total testing capacity, this remains a major priority for the response.

“Sample collection sites have also been established in many Local Government Areas, making public health testing more easily accessible.

“Testing in public laboratories remains free of charge unless for travel purposes in private laboratories, where pricing structures vary,” it explained.

The NCDC charged healthcare professionals to maintain a high index of suspicion, especially when treating patients with breathing difficulties and also present with symptoms common to COVID-19.

It urged Nigerians to adhere to the recommended public health and social measures recommended by public health authorities and to avoid all non-essential travel within and outside Nigeria to reduce the risk of transmission.

“The virus that causes COVID-19 is more likely to spread in mass gatherings, especially in confined spaces with poor ventilation.

“It is advised that people avoid mass gatherings during this time, and if necessary meet outdoors and adhere to physical distancing and other public health measures.

“All these measures are critical in order to sustain the gains made since the onset of the pandemic.

“We also strongly advise business owners, employees and religious leaders to institute the strict enforcement and adherence to public measures, which include the wearing of face masks, ensuring the availability of handwashing facilities or providing hand sanitizers.

COVID-19 pandemic, credible electoral process and matters arising

A News Analysis by Emmanuel Oloniruha, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

The conduct of credible elections remains one of the crucial issues for any country that practises democracy.

However, the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has not only disrupted activities in societies, economies and lives across nations, presenting a somewhat difficult situation for the conduct of elections.

Just as the world has to adapt to the new reality of COVID-19 pandemic, the challenges of Election Management Bodies (EMBs) have increased from the conduct of credible elections to adopting measures critical in having safe elections without further spread of the virus.

With the spread of the virus in 2020, the electoral calendar has been punctuated by postponed elections in many nations, with decision makers and election authorities faced with a difficult question of whether or not to postpone elections.

Stakeholders express concerns over tendency by incumbents to explore the difficulty in holding elections to extend their mandates.

According to a publication by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), as at September 2020, globally at least 67 countries have postponed national and sub-national elections while 48 countries have held such elections.’’

“The initial reaction to the pandemic in March led to a large number of countries declaring states of emergency (or de facto states of emergency), putting their populations into lockdown’’, the publication said.

IDEA noted that some of the decisions taken by some countries based on the pandemic “are likely to impact on elections for years to come.

In Nigeria, when the pandemic broke out in Nigeria recorded its COVID-19 index case on February 27, 2020, the country was already preparing for major elections, including pending by-elections, Edo and Ondo State governorship elections scheduled for Sept. 19, 2020 and Oct. 10, 2020 respectively.

The pandemic did not just affect the activities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), it also led to some consequential amendments to the 2019 Regulations and Guidelines for the Conduct of Elections.

Following lockdown declaration by the government due to COVID-19, INEC on March 24, 2020 postponed the conduct of four by-elections – Bayelsa Central and Bayelsa West, Imo North and Plateau South Senatorial Districts by-elections.

Announcing the suspension, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, said it was in view of the coronavirus pandemic and the preventive measures put in place by the federal and state government.

Also, at the commission’s first virtual meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in May, INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, assured Nigerians that while the commission would take the COVID-19 pandemic seriously, the democratic and electoral processes could not be truncated.

Yakubu said INEC was determined to hold some bye-elections ahead of Edo and Ondo State governorship to enable it to test-run and fine-tune its modified processes in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said INEC was studying reports of recent elections conducted under COVID-19 pandemic, especially in Mali and South Korea, for lessons that would strengthen the processes and protect all those involved.

In line with its promised not to allow the pandemic to jeopardise Nigeria election, on May 13, 2020, INEC directed immediate reopening of its headquarters, Edo and Ondo State offices in preparation for the states governorship elections, following the gradual ease of the lockdown.

On May 25, 2020, INEC approved and released a new policy framework known as “Policy on Conducting Elections in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic.’’

The Policy enables officials and staff of the commission to understand and respond adequately to the challenges of conducting elections in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well provide a guide for engagement with stakeholders.

The document covers health and legal issues, election planning and operations, election day and post-election activities.

It also covers voter registration, political parties, election observation, electoral security and deployment of technology.

Measures taken in line with the document includes the mandatory use of face masks at Polling Units (PUs) and all election locations, creation of a two-tier queuing system at the polling unit — one outside and the other in the voting area — stating that voters will be brought into the voting area periodically to prevent overcrowding.

The commencement of poll also changed from 8 a.m. to 8.30 a.m. and the closing time from 2 p.m. to 2.30 p.m., to accommodate additional activities in setting up the PU due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Others include regular disinfection of the Smart Card Readers (SCR) after each voter’s fingerprint is read.

Making public presentation of the policy, Yakubu also announced the redesign of polling units to ensure substantial compliance with the COVID-19 protocols established by health authorities.

He said that the commission also developed a Voter Code of Conduct (VCC) document detailing how voters were expected to act and conduct themselves at the polling units in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic

There was also establishment of additional voting points to reduce the number of points in a polling unit to be monitored and controlled for COVID-19 safety protocol compliance.

Others include review of all INEC Elections Information Kits to include COVID-19 information; expanded the Inter-Agency Consultative Committee on Election Security at all levels to include Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) (or other requisite health bodies) and National Orientation Agency (NOA) on a temporary basis.

Also, on June 1, 2020, at the first virtual consultative meeting of the commission with leaders of political parties, Yakubu announced the design of dedicated portal through which political parties that contested for Edo governorship poll submitted the nomination forms of their candidates.

In the spirit of deepening the use of technology in the country’s electoral process and to reduce the level of physical contacts in line with the new reality, INEC also introduced online process for accreditation of media and election observers.

Yakubu reassured Nigerians that INEC would continue to adopt and implement measures to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s electoral activities.

To experiment the policy documents, the commission on Aug. 8, 2020, held a successful by-election in Nasarawa Central State Constituency which took place in seven wards, 44 polling units and other voting points, with 71,919 registered voters.

Although one of the challenges faced by INEC in the conduct of the by-elections was enforcing physical distancing, the commission embarked on further training of its presiding officers and public enlightenment to address the occurrence in the conduct of Edo and Ondo State governorship election.

Aside the aforementioned steps taken to adjust to the new reality of pandemic, while working on safe measures to hold elections, between April 2020 and May 2020, INEC deployed no fewer than 160 of its operational vehicles to not less nine states to support the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 in tackling the pandemic.

According to Okoye, the pick-up vans were deployed to Lagos, Osun, Oyo State, Kano State, Rivers, Plateau, Sokoto State and FCT, for contact tracing, surveillance/laboratory and infection prevention/control in the states.

Okoye said that the vehicles were deployed in response to the request by the PTF to facilitate the movement of medical personnel for massive contact tracing and testing in the states.

He said that the commission was equally working with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and telecommunication service providers to assist in raising public awareness of the pandemic by sending bulk messages to registered voters similar to what INEC did for voter mobilisation.

He added that INEC was also discussing with the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development on the possibility of using its electoral registration units nationwide as locations for the distribution of palliative and other relief materials to citizens.

Okoye said the commission would continue to work with all agencies and stakeholders to combat COVlD-19 virus.

Stakeholders, however, commended INEC that in spite of the pandemic and other challenges, including fire disaster at its Akure office that destroyed more than 5,000 Smart Card Readers, the commission successful conducted Nasarawa Central State Constituency by-election, Edo and Ondo State in 2020.

It also conducted 15 pending by-elections, including Bayelsa Central Senatorial District, Bayelsa West Senatorial District, Nganzai and Bayo constituencies in Borno, Cross River North Senatorial District and Obudu Constituency in Cross River.

Others were Imo North Senatorial District, Lagos East Senatorial District, Kosofe II Constituency in Lagos State, Plateau South Senatorial District; Bakura Constituency in Zamfara and Ibaji Constituency in Kogi.

The Interim National Chairman, Inter-party Advisory Council (IPAC), Dr Leonard Nzenwa, who is also the National Chairman, African Action Congress (AAC), commended INEC for its policy for conducting elections under the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stakeholders, therefore, express optimism that INEC will sustain these measures and standard recorded in 2020 and improve on them in 2021 to conduct credible elections in the event of COVID-19 pandemic.(NANFeatures)

**If used, please credit the writer as well as News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

By Francisca Oluyole

Organised mining began in Nigeria in 1902, when the Mineral Survey of the Northern Protectorate was created by the British colonial government.

A year later, the Mineral Survey of the Southern Protectorates was founded and by 1940s, Nigeria was a major producer of tin, columbite and coal.

The discovery of oil in 1956 affected the mineral extraction industries, as the government and industry both began to focus on this new resource.

The Nigerian Civil War in the late 1960s made many mining expatriates to leave the country and that affected the mining industry.

In a bid to unlock the economic potential of the solid minerals, the Federal Government in 1985 created the Ministry of Solid Minerals Development to spur the rapid and beneficial development of the country’s solid mineral resources.

About 44 mineral occurrences have been reported in Nigeria; a number of these minerals are estimated to exist in commercial quantities, including Nickel, Bitumen, Iron Ore, Gold and Coal.

When President Muhammadu Buhari assumed office in 2015, he emphasised on diversifying the economy from oil to solid minerals and measures were being taken by the Federal Government to realise this programme of moving the economy from oil to solid minerals.

In spite of the COVID-19 pandemic disruption and destabilisation of Nigerian economy which enforces urgency of economic diversification, the task fell on the lap of those managing the solid mineral sector.

More specifically, the focus is on the Mining Cadastre Office (MCO), which regulates mining licencing under the Ministry of Mines and Steel Development.

The expectation of the public is high while the Federal Government itself is in search of a magic wand to accelerate the diversification process and ensure sustainable mining licensing and management.

To achieve the diversification agenda of Mr President, MCO has launched world class reforms, some even anticipating the ease of the pandemic.

In the past one year, several policy actions have been initiated, both ministry wide and specifically at the agency level.

From the revenue perspective, verifiable improvement was recorded last year; the agency earned N2.59 billion, first in the history of the agency.

The secret of the sudden increase was the introduction of ‘First Come, First Serve’ and ‘Use it or Lose it ’, in the licensing administration.

Use it or lose it helps to eliminate speculators in the industry and also helped to revoke licences not used and dormants.

Use it or lose it has activated many dormant licences and increased revenue inflow into the treasury. Between 2006 and 2020, MCO revoked 4,997 licences due to different offences.

On this basis MCO was able to make the system attractive enough for investors so as to generate more revenue.

The agency also initiated migration online of licencing processes long before COVID-19 pandemic; elimination of human to human interaction is the best practice in enthroning transparency, accountability and anti-corruption in licencing and other governmental transactions.

This is a smart response to the evil of corruption, low investment and dwindling revenue earnings. The Electronic Mining Cadastre system (eMC+) is a state of the art in the administration and management of Mineral Title for prompt, efficient and transparent management of Mineral Titles throughout their life cycle.

The migration of MCO operations to an online-based Mineral Title Administration system also encompassed the digitalisation, automation, recording and archiving process (e-Recording/Archiving) as well as the establishment of six zonal offices in Nigeria.

MCO is working closely with National Iron Ore Mining Company (NIOMCO) and NSRMEA on Ajaokuta iron ore to be used for steel and other strategic minerals.

The office is protecting cooking coal, Bauxite, Dolomite from exploitation and preserving the minerals until when Ajaokuta steel company kick starts its operation.

The office has been able to protect the Federal Government Gold project initiative programme too.

MCO also places restrictions on strategic minerals such as gold and coal (for power generation)  unless the applicant provides evidence of competence to  develop these strategic minerals.

The mining policies and programmes put in place since the coming of the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has sign posted a significance interest, revenue generation as well as attract initiatives for genuine investors to the mining sector as a way towards diversifying the economy.(NAN)