SAM OHUABUNWA'S PARADIGM

Nigeria is the most populous Country in Africa with current population estimated at about 194 million growing at about 2.6% per annum. It is said that every one of Four black People in the World is a Nigerian.With an estimated GDP of $405 billion Nigeria is still the largest economy in Africa in spite of its recently ended descent to economic recession. So with the largest population and largest economy, it is natural that Africa expects leadership from Nigeria. The discussions for the conversion of the African Union (AU) into a common economic zone like the European Union (EU)  had been going on since 2012 and actually intensified since 2015. Nigeria's current Minister of Industry, Trade and investment, Dr Okechukwu Enalamah was the Chairman of the African Ministers of Trade (AMOT) that signed off the legal instruments establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) , thereby paving the way for the Heads of States and Governments to gather in Kigali Rwanda...

Nigeria is in dire straits,especially from a security perspective. Everyday that passes, it looks like things are falling apart and the centre is finding it difficult to hold. I do not know how the government and party in power view this situation. Some how, it seems to me that they are essentially hoping that things will soon sort themselves out. But that strategy seems not to be working well so far and I am getting really worried that by the time this strategy eventually comes to work, things may have completely gone out of hand, because in the long run we would all be dead as the economists say. It is true that Nigeria has a high fertility rate, but the way Nigerians are being slaughtered everyday these days,soon we will begin to depopulate Nigeria at a rate much higher than the birth rate. I do not think that this is a valid population control strategy. Boko Haram is bombing and killing daily and those they fail to kill, they abduct. The militant Fulani herdsmen have gone com...

Most Nigerians agree that we need change in many aspects of our national life and national institutions. But in my mind, if there is one place, we needed urgent and revolutionary change, it is in the Nigeria Police (Force or Service). This is because Nigeria Police is fully symptomatic of what is troubling Nigeria and therefore, if we get the Police right, many other matters will fall into place. For example, our perennial low position on the Transparency International global   Corruption Perception Index (CPI) is influenced strongly by the pathetic picture of our Policemen extorting money from drivers in the full glare of the public. It must however be pointed out that this seems to be an embedded culture of the Nigeria Police,which has long characterized the force, almost from creation. This matter has troubled me for many years and I had taken a few actions to see if I could help stop this practice without any iota of success while putting my life at risk. First was as a...

Last week the Independent National Electoral Commission  (INEC) released what looked like the Periodic Table which we used in the O-level Chemistry class to determine the valency of metallic elements, announcing the dates of elections in Nigeria up to 2043 or so. Some people saw this as a strategic and audacious move of projecting the future. Indeed INEC said they did this to bring some certainty to election dates in Nigeria. Many other commentators have mocked INEC for 'forming work', that is pretending to be working when actually there is no work being done. They think that INEC is leaving the substance and pursuing the shadow. Some think all this was INEC's response to the "effrontery" of the National Assembly in trying to change the sequence of elections in Nigeria. The executive is decidedly unhappy about this and it looks INEC has gone on overdrive to project the President's desire.  But there is little INEC can do, as it is their lot to implement...

PMB's 3-point Agenda is facing very strong challenges from all sides. The President said his focus was going to be on the Economy, Corruption and Security. On coming to office, he promised to make the economy buoyant (including making the Naira equal to the US dollar). He was going to fight Corruption to a standstill or indeed kill corruption before corruption killed Nigeria and lastly to restore Nigeria's security and make it a safe haven for all. Recently we interrogated the 'doing well' of our economy and concluded that though the economy is recovering from recession, it is not yet doing well as unemployment, underemployment, misery index and poverty rate have worsened. The misery caused by the persisting fuel scarcity (Over 3 months now) is unrelenting, afflicting more of the poor and rural dwellers, affecting agricultural out put negatively. We have advised a single minded commitment to the implementation of the Economic Recovery & Growth Plan (ERGP) and a f...

One of the greatest virtues President Muhammadu Buhari( PMB) is associated with is Integrity. This popularly marketed virtue is the back bone of the faith Nigerians have in PMB to fight corruption. This was the primary promise made to the people of Nigeria and this was also the main reason Nigerians voted him into power. Therefore one would expect that the President would ordinarily not do or permit to be done anything that would impugn his integrity. When the story about his former SGF Babachir Lawal broke, following Babachir's indictment by the National Assembly, many Nigerians were shocked that it looked as if he was being shielded from facing the law. PMB quickly set up an- in house committee to investigate the indictment and he was soon absolved. But the National Assembly stuck to their gun, supported by the civil society and subsequently forced PMB to set up another investigative committee now headed by the Vice President. It took nearly six months for the report to be act...

The only defence offered by the FGN to OBJ's letter to PMB was to educate him on the great strides of the government on the economy. The Government asserted that OBJ must have been too busy to notice the wonderful works done by PMB on the economy with an implied presumption, that had OBJ been less busy and more observant he would have seen the signs of a bubbling economy instigated by the wonderful policies, programs and projects being faithfully implemented across the length and breadth of Nigeria. In which case OBJ's verdict would have been different and perhaps he would have advised PMB to seek re-election in 2019 and perhaps attempt a third term as he(OBJ) attempted. The unassailable truth is that Nigeria's Economy is on the recovery mode. Nigeria's economy that contracted for 5 quarters between Q1 2016 and Q1 2017 precipitating a recession, the first time in 25 years has begun to expand, hence our exit from recession from the Q2 of 2017. The lowest dip in GD...

The Accelerating Business Growth Seminar is organised primarily to open the eyes of entrepreneurs, business leaders, industrialists, business development managers, strategic planning managers, marketing and sales executives, accounting managers ad all operators in the economy to the emerging developments in the Nigerian economy and how to take early advantage of them to prosper and resume growth in 2018. The focus of the seminar are: Assessing Nigeria's economic performance in 2017; Understanding Nigeria's economic outlook for 2018; understanding the drivers of Nigeria's economic recovery and growth; Full understanding of the 8.6 trillion federal government budget and what is in for you; Discovering opportunities in the economy and how to exploit them; Taking advantage of special concessions to SMEs and agri-businesses; Understanding business enablers for 2018 - marketing, sales, cost control, management and governance; optimizing financing opportunities fr...

The emergence of a third force which former President, Olusegun Obasanjo heralded in his recent famous letter to PMB is ordinarily a good development for Nigeria's polity. For now, OBJ  recommends that it remains a movement, a coalition of Nigerians who dislike both APC and PDP or who do not trust that any can save Nigeria from its present dysfunction and descent to anarchy. Or those that do not see any good candidate emerge from these parties in 2019. Or could it be a movement of people who want political power but can not find any space in APC or PDP? Or is it just a movement to ensure PMB does not try 2019 and that if he insists, then the coalition will ensure he does not succeed? For me the idea is good but for it to succeed the motives must be altruistic, not parochial, not selfish. In most nations of the world with two strong parties, there is always a third significant party where those who lose out in the two parties find shelter. It is also a place where those who ...