Lawyers Alert Brings Human Rights Lawyers together on provision of legal literacy and access to justice to vulnerable groups in Nigeria.

By Roseline Oghnebrume

Lawyers Alert in partnership with UNAIDS Nigeria, brought together human rights lawyers under the auspices of Coalition of Lawyers For Human Rights, COLaHR, on the 28^th and 29^th day of October 2015 at Kanem Suites, Utako Abuja to interact with People Living with HIV (PLWHIV), People Who Inject Drugs (PWIDs), Female Sex Workers (FSWs), Sexual Minorities towards provision of free legal assistance and legal literacy.

The Coalition of Lawyers for Human Rights (CoLaHR) which consists of Volunteer Lawyers across 23 states in Nigeria has as its  mandate the provision of free Legal Assistance and Interventions for Key Populations and Vulnerable Groups in Nigeria.

This event was aimed at bringing Members of CoLaHR and Members of Key Populations and Vulnerable Groups to get to know one another to ensure justice for all and to create awareness of relevant law as members of CoLaHR have been finding it very challenging connecting with Vulnerable Groups since the Coalition was formed. It was also a forum to increase the visibility of CoLaHR and to build confidence and trust between the Vulnerable Groups and Lawyers.

At the event there was an official launch of the CoLaHR website (http://www.colahr.org), CoLaHR help line (08026826761) and email (colahr.nigeria@gmail) making it easy for the Key populations and vulnerable groups to reach the CoLaHR members promptly when the need arises. Ramaroson Mianko representing UNAIDS Country Director, Dr Bilali Camara, emphasized the importance of the website stating that it was created to facilitate  the protection of Human Rights and also to serve a resource base. Informative, Educative and Communication materials (pamphlets and posters) explaining rights and where to go when one’s fundamental Human Rights are abused were developed and distributed to Key and Affected Populations during the meeting to take home and also distribute to the grass roots and the larger community towards possible validation and mass circulation afterwards.

Mr. Kunle Adeniyi, representing of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA) expressed his delight with the passion being exhibited by the participants but also cautioned that the forum cannot fully settle the issues of the law as it relates to Human Rights as the Law is constantly existing. He congratulated UNAIDS, Lawyers Alert and CoLaHR for a job well done and for the official launch of the website.

The Executive Director of INCRESE, Dorothy Akenova expressed her joy at the launch of CoLaHR website and stated that she had never been more happy working with Lawyers Alert and UNAIDS. Most participants expressed the feeling that hitherto were not comfortable in the same room with  Lawyers as they always had the mindset that no one understands them and the society at large always discriminates against them. They thanked Lawyers Alert and UNAIDS for organizing the meeting especially with members of CoLaHR  volunteering to provide Legal Assistance to them.

Barrister Rommy Mom, President of Lawyers Alert commended and appreciated his learned colleagues who have offered to give themselves and their time to the Vulnerable Groups to protect and offer pro-bono legal services when their rights have been infringed.

At the end of the 2 day event, an effective networking and trust building between the Lawyers and the Vulnerable Groups was enhanced and  agreed modality between the Vulnerable Groups and members of CoLaHR on reaching out when in need. The participants also learnt about the common violations faced, knowledge of their rights and knowledge of the legal needs of key populations and vulnerable groups.

The members of the Coalition agreed on the following: There should be a permanent staff for CoLaHR, Legal fund for CoLaHR be established and administered by Lawyers Alert, Members of CoLaHR should be trained on Human Right practice, More Lawyers should be trained to increase the number of Lawyers under CoLaHR, There should be a meeting with critical stakeholders and bodies, The need for specialization by CoLaHR members where necessary and the need to have periodic meetings.

 

 

TAX JUSTICE, PRESUMPTIONS AND THE BENUE WOMAN

By Jerome Uneje. 

It’s a hot Monday afternoon, sun is high up in the sky, temperature in the city of Makurdi is as high as the afternoon sun. In the hallowed chambers of the Benue State House of Assembly, a plenary session of the House is being held. The cool and serene atmosphere is in total contrast to that of the weather outside of the building. The legislators’ present are spellbound by the eloquence of Mrs. Mimi Adzape Orubibi the new Chairman of the Benue State Inland Revenue Service (BIRS). The young amiable and dynamic economist who recently assumed the position of the head of the State Revenue Management Agency is presenting her proposal on Revenue Generation to the State Assembly. The seasoned tax officer outlined some innovative approaches that would enable the realization of her Two billion (N2b) naira a month revenue generation target for the State. One of her most potent strategy is the unveiling of a proposed tax regime in Benue tagged the “Daily Tax Collection”. In her proposal, Mrs. Orubibi has proposed a presumptive tax of fifty naira daily collection from the informal sector. Her proposal mandates micro business operators in the State to pay as much as fifty naira daily as income tax. At the end of her brilliant presentation, the honorable members applauded the tax czar and her ingenious revenue generation strategies.

Elsewhere in the State, Mrs. Iorlaha (not real name), a Katsina Ala market woman dealing in fresh tomato and her ilk especially Women are not applauding. Fifty naira daily for a fresh tomato dealer amounts to 18,250 naira annually. That is a huge sum to tax a poor woman who lives on less than a dollar day.

Now the daily tax regime as introduced in Benue is an adaptation of the Federal Inland Revenue Service tax product based on presumptive taxation. This is a form of assessing tax liability using indirect methods such as income reconstruction or by applying base-line taxation across the entire tax base. Presumptive methods of taxation are thought to be effective in reducing tax avoidance as well as equalizing the distribution of the tax burden. The presumptive tax regulation is based on the provisions of Section 6 of the Personal Income Tax Act, 2011, which inserts sub-section 6 to Section 36 of the law. Specifically, the new sub-section states, “Where for all practical purposes the income of the tax payer cannot be ascertained or records are not kept in such a manner as would enable proper assessment of income; then, such a taxpayer shall be assessed on such terms and conditions as would be prescribed by the minister. These regulations shall apply to the informal sector, including micro businesses that have an annual turnover of N6m and below.”

As laudable as this innovative tax regime is, it seems to be a bit of too much burden on the majority of the operators of the informal sector at whom the proposed tax regime primarily targets especially Women. According to the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative Report of 2014, Benue is ranked as the 15^th poorest State in Nigeria. Of it’s over 5,000,000 populations about 1,664,418 or 34% form the working population while the remaining 66% are comprised of the under aged, the elderly and the unemployed. Going by the United Nations Development Programme country report of 2014, over 75% of Nigerians live below 1 USD or 195 NGN per day. As it stands, majority of the operators in the informal sector fall below the poverty index as stated above. If therefore, these people are taxed based on the proposed fifty (50) per day tax rate then they are left with just a hundred and forty five naira per day to contend with amidst a bourgeoning inflation rate and other economic variables milking away their meager resources.

The informal sector of Nigeria is about 35 percent of total GDP. This is more material and significant in Lagos, the national commercial hub; with an estimated informal sector of $48.2 billion as at 2012. The informal sector is incidentally predominated by the Women folk all over Africa especially Benue State. Women in the labour force in Nigeria generally have low participation in the formal sector. Many of them take up self-employment in the informal sector. The women mostly operate in a hostile environment and are ignored as far as public policy is concerned. Often, they are seen as illegal traders to be harassed by law-enforcement agents. The women in the informal sector generally have limited access to start-up and working capital, and other resources, such as credit and technology beside other socio cultural constraints. The consequences of all these is gross poverty and penury occasioned by high mortality rates, unsafe abortions, high HIV/AIDS prevalence rates and low human development indices amongst Women and young girls in Benue State. Subjecting these poor and vulnerable women to a high tax regime is at best being insensitive to their economic and cultural rights.

Given the dwindling fortunes of the State evidenced by a consequent drop in the monthly allocation to the State from the Federation account on one hand and the increasing financial demands of the State on the other, there is an understandable need to increase the income of the State through internal generated revenues. The proposed daily tax collection of fifty naira as ingenious and laudable as it sounds does not favour the poor and the vulnerable especially Women.

This piece therefore is a clarion call on the State Inland Revenue Service ( BIRS), the State House of Assembly to review downwards the proposed daily tax collection to the most poor and vulnerable especially Women.  The Personal Income Tax Act, 2011 failed to specify the exact indices for determining presumptive tax regulation. It suggested that the presumptive tax system be applied on businesses with a turnover of six (6) million or below. Going by the provisions of that law, a supermarket with a six million naira turnover in Makurdi will be subject to pay fifty naira (50) daily as the Akamu hawker in Otukpa. The law has failed to enhance equity and fairness in its provisions. It promotes everything else but Tax Justice. In order to protect the rights of the poor and the vulnerable in Benue State especially Women, we would suggest that the proposed daily tax collection regime be reviewed downwards with Women paying 20 naira daily as tax especially those whose businesses have a turnover of one million naira or less. This way, the economic capacity of the Benue Women and its attendant gains will be protected and enhanced.

 

 

 

STILL ON CITIZEN LOIS IORVIHI AND GOVERNOR AL MAKURA

Governor Al Makura

By Jerome Uneje Mary

So much has been written and heard concerning this issue in both the social and mainstream media. Both Ms. Lois and Governor Al Makura’s crowd are trading blames and claiming rights over the said incidence with each party putting forward their edition of the story.

For reminder on the story, on this day, along the Makurdi – Lafia – Abuja Federal High Way, a young lady by the name of Lois Iorvihi was allegedly molested, brutalized and violently intimidated by the security agents on the behest of a sitting Executive Governor under his nose with impunity. This action, is in direct contrast with the wind of change across Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari. It would appear Governor Al Makura and his security details are stuck in the past and have refused to flow with the tide of change.

We were not present when this incidence occurred to endorse or renounce their claims. Some underlying facts in both editions of the same story are however not manipulative. First, there was a face-off between Ms. Lois and the Convoy of Governor Al Makura. Second, the said incidence occurred before the very eyes of His Excellency, Governor Al Makura of Nasarawa State. Third, the young lady suffered some brutalization on herself, siblings and property including her car and media devices. Finally, the young lady was arrested, charged and detained alongside her siblings. Bare fact truth is that Ms. Lois and her siblings were violated simply because she is a woman with “less rights” than her male counterparts as far as Governor Al Makura and his boys are concerned.

In the face of the foregoing indisputable fact we make bold to say that the security agents took their jobs a little too far and the Governor did much too little to manage the incidence. We are not in any way exonerating Ms. Lois of blame neither are we indicting the Executive Governor and the security details. However, we are of the strong opinion that the unfortunate incidence was in the first place avoidable had someone along the line acted a little more civil. The management of the aftermath of the incidence is even worse than the incidence in itself. Since the occurrence of the incidence, the Governors’ spokesman Yakubu Lamai, Senior Special Assistant Public Affairs & Media Strategy has been turning logic on its head all in a bid to make his boss a saint and Ms. Iorvihi the villain.

It is a common knowledge on the streets of Nigeria that security agents especially those attached to high profile personalities act with dispatch overzealousness especially on hapless citizens. Therefore, it is not an out of place incidence for the security agents attached to the convoy of an Executive Governor to pounce on a young lady who seems reluctant to give way to the Governor’s convoy. What is however surprising and baffling is the period and timing of the incidence.

Barely three months into the “change” regime, one would have thought the era of Police brutality and Master Leadership was over. It is also surprising that this ugly incidence happened to a hapless young lady before the eyes of the Governor of the State. As an Executive Governor of a State, it is mind bugling to imagine him sitting in the luxury of his SUV while watching his goons manhandle a female motorist in broad day light. We strongly feel that it is duty and obligation of the Governor to uphold the dignity and rights of hapless Citizens ESPECIALLY women regardless of any circumstances. There is no law that encourages brutality and torture on offenders. Even if Ms. Lois was “driving in the middle of the road” or being “very rude” or even “dressed like a prostitute” it is still unwarranted that her car was smashed, her ipad and phones destroyed and her siblings beaten before detention.  If Ms. Lois had violated traffic laws or committed some other form of crime, the civilized thing to do is to get her arrested and charged as per the offence. Her physical assault and brutalization under the watchful eyes of the Governor speaks volumes on the state of Human Rights in Nigeria especially those of Women. This incidence also serves as a reminder to us all that the issue of Women Human Rights is still light years away from being defended and respected in Nigeria.

Perhaps, the Governor’s Senior Special Assistant Public Affairs & Media Strategy, Yakubu Lamai was right when he said in his response to the incidence that “a political leader of the stature of a governor will naturally face a constant challenge posed by the social construction of his image and identity” which is why this incidence speaks volumes about the attitude of the Governor towards Human Rights and especially Women. In a bit to correct the above ugly incidence in preservation of his towering image we hereby recommend that the Executive Governor reach out a hand of friendship to Ms. Lois and her family. He should also attempt to recompense her on her lost and damaged properties in the hands of his goons including her car and devices. Pay the medical bills of her siblings brutalized in the course of the incidence. This way, Ms. Lois’ Fundamental Human Rights and indeed that of the entire Nigerian Women will be preserved especially in these days of change.

The likes of Governor Al Makura and his goons must learn to live with the change or make way for those who will for the good of Ms. Lois, Nigerian women and indeed the entire Nation.

Jerome Uneje Mary is a Program Officer at Lawyers Alert Head Office in Makurdi, Benue State. She can be reached at unejemarie@yahoo.com

 

THE EVOLUTION OF BOKO HARAM AND THE ROLE OF CITIZENS

BY ROMMY MOM

Beginnings of Boko Haram

It is widely believed that the movement started out as a pious and strict way of Islam intended to guarantee paradise after death in the midst of worldly and earthy distractions. Not many people are aware that this ideology became so popular in Nigeria’s North East that even some government officials joined in the movement and supported it in order to be seen as holy and pious people.

With time, the movement became powerful enough to start enforcing its way of life on many, demanding zero tolerance to anything western. Some government officials resigned to comply with this directive while others saw the price as too heavy to pay just to belong. Originally known as “Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Lidda’awati wal-Jihad,” which in Arabic means “People Committed to the Propagation of the Prophet’s Teachings and Jihad” this coinage was soon shortened by locals to the simpler, “Boko Haram” which, loosely translated, means, “Western education is forbidden.” Those who refused to team up with the extremists were viewed as uncommitted Muslims.

Extra judicial punishment in the form of brutal killings was soon meted out on those who resisted these teachings, especially persons of other faiths. Early violence was targeted at non-believers with Churches targeted particularly on holy days such as Easter and Christmas when attendance was heavy. Perhaps the initial plan was to plunge Nigeria into a religious war. The reluctance or inability of Christians to pay back in kind thwarted this move thereby frustrating the movement in that regard.

The now notorious cult, which began its insidious existence during the Obasanjo administration (2002), was rendered a crushing defeat by the state under YarAdua when it appeared to be challenging the power of the state. However, instead of a well strategized and carefully executed investigation which would perhaps have unearthed the roots of the cult, defeat was meted out on extreme grounds of extra judicial killings, with the arrest and execution of the group’s founding leader, Mohammed Yusuf, who was killed in police custody in 2009.

This act caused the group to run off into the forest (Sambisa) and quietly continue living their “pious” lives while burning with anger and resentment with a view to vengeance. They soon regrouped under a new and more vile leadership, that of the so called Abubakar Shekau.

 

Growth and Notoriety

Having regrouped, the cult, now bent on establishing an Islamic state, quietly developed networks with other extremist Islamic groups, first across Africa and eventually, beyond. How Nigeria’s intelligence missed this is the wonder. Indeed, the efficiency with which the group was able to muster heavy military weapons and machinery speaks volumes about how incredibly weak Nigeria’s government systems were calling to question how the weapons were brought into the country and safely delivered to the terrorists without raising suspicion. These weapons included armored personnel carriers, surface to air missiles and other weapons even Nigeria’s military lacked.

On the anniversary of their leader’s assassination, the group announced its desire to commemorate his death. Not knowing the extent of the group’s preparedness and the seriousness of their threats, the Borno state government (the state that has since gained notoriety as the “home” of BH) assured citizens that there was nothing to worry about and urged them to go about their normal businesses. Underestimating BH turned out to be a big mistake.

On the day of the “commemoration,” gun wielding members of BH stormed the city of Maiduguri, mowing down any Christian policemen in sight, leading to police officers taking off their uniforms and begging for their lives. It was to be the first of many well primed attacks.

The state’s meek reaction did nothing to help and the sect waxed stronger over time, killing at will, bombing prime state targets across the country, including the Police headquarters and the UN office both in Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory. Still the state, this time under Goodluck Jonathan, failed to fully comprehend how powerful the rag tag group had grown to be.

BH eventually went as far as conquering and seizing territories, declared its independence from Nigeria and killed citizens at will, at this point, not minding religious inclination. Schools were targeted and children killed for being at the wrong place at the wrong time. The Buni Yadi massacre in Yobe state was carried out at night in an all-boys school. Shortly afterwards, an estimated 300 girls were abducted from their school, also at night. A few of them managed to escape when one of the vehicles they were being carted off in broke down.

This incident finally turned international attention to Nigeria, when the army first of all lied that the abducted girls had been rescued, then when the abduction was followed by inaction by the state. To this day, one and a half years later, there are still groups demanding for the return of the girls, now known as the Chibok girls. An estimated 200 may have been sold into slavery or forcefully married off to total strangers as Shekau at the time threatened.

Their actual fate remains unknown.

 

Reaction of the state

After the brutal subjugation of the movement by the Yar Adua administration, subsequent dealings by the state lacked any form of decisiveness. State reaction portrayed total lack of political will to deal definitively with the terrorists, leading to a state of general insecurity, not just in the region but across the country, thereby giving the group a larger-than-life reputation.

While the terrorist group wreaked havoc in Nigeria’s North East and the neighboring West African countries of Chad, Niger, and Mali, unscrupulous elements within the government and the military saw the insurgency as a means of making money and corruptly enriching themselves. Monies intended for equipping the military were diverted to personal use, while a poorly armed, poorly motivated military was sent out to tackle a better armed, better, motivated and better organized opponent. The battles ended with Nigeria’s military massacred in huge numbers and the people of the region killed in a pogrom of a sort never before witnessed in the land.

Over 15,000 lives have been lost, while a mutiny within the army, owing to lack of weapons and machinery was decisively dealt with by imprisonment even as corruption continued to thrive and the country bled. It has since been speculated that a 5^th column was identified within the army and that some of the sponsors were known to those in power and yet to BH remained a menace.

In the run up to the 2015 elections, the ability of the APC Candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, to definitively articulate issues such as Corruption and Security, and the way these messages resonated with the electorate forced the sitting government to finally see BH as an electoral albatross that could lead to its defeat. Elections were quickly postponed to deal with BH, but lacking any concise operational plan, weapons were hastily put together and indiscriminate air strikes commenced in territories held by BH. While the group was indeed pushed back, the collateral damage was equally huge especially in the civilian population.

This last ditch attempt at stopping BH, while the most impressive, did nothing to help the Goodluck administration as the people’s minds were already made up. Elections eventually threw out the government and installed Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, whose credentials as a long serving military man were seen as the right qualification for a Nigerian leader hoping to rout BH.

 

The Citizen

The present administration is now engaging BH in a more constructive and intelligent manner, strengthening alliances with neighboring countries, gathering intelligence and launching offensive strikes, while curbing corruption within the system and motivating soldiers.

The results are commendable as Nigeria is now on the offensive as opposed to BH being on the offensive, which was the situation in the past, and practically all Nigerian territories have been reclaimed. This has led to a new approach by the terrorists, bombing of soft targets within the communities, markets, viewing centers, IDP camps etc.

Intelligence can help neutralize these attacks and this is where the role of the citizen is key. The new wave of terrorism in Nigeria can NEVER be won except the citizen steps up and engages.

Intelligence is not obtained from thin air but by citizens being observant and reporting suspicious movements and or circumstances in their surroundings. In the past, those who did report such things found themselves under attack, the information having been somehow leaked to the terrorists. Perhaps this was led to the situation we now face where some of these communities have taken to shielding the terrorists and some even contributing their children to the “cause.” There are also those who genuinely believe the extremists are trying to promote an Islamic agenda and as such have developed genuine sympathies for them leading to them cooperating with the group and shielding them from the prying eyes of the authorities.

Interestingly enough, as operations against the group have continued, it has become obvious that though members of the group claim to be Muslims trying to establish an Islamic state, a good number of them know nothing about the religion itself other than what they have been brain washed by the master minds into believing. It is said that a good number of them neither pray nor can recite vital parts of the Quran. One then begins to wonder what the real motivation or trigger behind the movement is.

Attempts by the Jonathan administration at various points in time to establish contact with the group and determine their demands produced woeful results. Unlike other terrorist groups in Nigeria which made concrete demands on government, BH’s demands were unrealistic and speak of a lack of focus. The group is believed to have demanded that Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian, convert to Islam, a request which of course went unattended to.

There is a real need for some of Behavior Change Communication strategy to be embarked upon to enlighten Muslims of the real intentions of the group which has little to do with promoting Islam and everything to do with spreading hate and fear. There is a need to send out educational passionate educational messages, suing passages from the Quran to counter the poisonous messages being spread by the terrorists.

These could be in the form of radio/TV messages, billboards, online broadcasts and so on. After all, the fight is against an ideology. There is therefore a serious need to work on the minds of those who are vulnerable to get them to understand that the ideology of the terrorists is warped at best. This is one of the ways in which the state can help the citizens to decide on doing what is right.

Regarding the fear of being outed after passing intelligence to security agents, the current government seems genuinely concerned about curbing the excesses of BH as can be seen by the fact that the service chiefs are now stationed right at the battle front and have been seen at the frontlines with their men. This is a clear sign that the status quo has changed and people can now trust the security agents.

“Small” things like strange faces, tenants who would rather keep to themselves, vehicles haphazardly laden with gas cylinders and driven in populated areas, etc. as normal as they appear, could be clues. A tip off to security agencies may lead to saving of scores of lives.

People acting suspiciously in crowded environments such as markets, schools, malls, Churches should be carefully observed and if possible questioned. Unattended bags should not be poked or touched. Very rickety cars driven to a crowded spot and abandoned are also suspect.

The need to create awareness amongst community leaders on how to spot suspected terrorists can’t be over emphasized. It is very important for the purposes of stepping the messages down to members of the community in languages they will understand and be made to understand how this strategy could save us all.

If we can successfully push for and achieve the measures outlined above, then we can truly begin to say with confidence that the days of BH in Nigeria are numbered.

 

Behind the arrest of a Nigerian ex-minister in London is a maturing Nigerian president

Written by Yinka Adegoke

For some Nigerians, there’s an inevitable feeling of deja-vu about their country’s former petroleum minister, Diezeani Allison-Madueke, being arrested in London on charges of money laundering.

That’s because in 1984, under the rule of current president Muhammadu Buhari, the Nigerian government tried and failed to abduct another former cabinet minister, Umaru Dikko, in London. Dikko had been accused of looting as much as $1 billion.

BBC World Service retold the caper in 2012:

On a summer’s day, Mr Dikko walked out of his front door in an upmarket neighbourhood of Bayswater in London. Within seconds he had been grabbed by two men and bundled into the back of a transit van.

“I remember the very violent way in which I was grabbed and hurled into a van, with a huge fellow sitting on my head – and the way in which they immediately put on me handcuffs and chains on my legs,” he told the BBC a year later.

Labelled “Nigeria’s most wanted man,” a plot was hatched to get both him and the money back.

The extraordinary plan was to kidnap Mr Dikko, drug him, stick him into a specially made crate and put him on a plane back to Nigeria – alive.

The messy incident involving ex-Mossad Israeli operatives, a brave British customs officer, and a major diplomatic fall-out with Britain, shows just how much the ruling Buhari has learned about the importance of soft power and diplomacy over the past three decades.

At that time, president Buhari was a 42-year-old, no-nonsense, rigid military dictator and strict disciplinarian

While Buhari has retained a strict, no-nonsense approach to leadership (one that is sometimes considered too slow), he also appears to have become a team player when it serves his interests—for example, at his inauguration in May when he talked about working with Nigeria’s border nations in the battle against the Islamic insurgents Boko Haram.

Now, Buhari is targeting Allison-Madueke as part of his election pledge to hold senior government officials accountable for corruption. Allison-Madueke is at the center of a missing $20 billion oil scandal; the country’s central bank, along with other independent investigations, have flagged the national oil company’s suspect accounting on her watch.

Whereas in the Dikko case Buhari ran into trouble with the British government for attempting to abduct a resident on its territory without warning, this time Buhari appears to have been working closing with British authorities before Allison-Madueke’s arrest; The raiding of her home in Abuja by local anti-graft agents appeared to be synced with her arrest in London.

And it was a newly formed International Corruption Unit of UK’s National Crime Agency that made the arrests of five people (including Allison-Madueke) connected to the case. Those arrests came after concerted efforts by Buhari to pressure Western governments and financial institutions to help combat money laundering and recover misappropriated funds from corrupt regimes, particularly in African countries.

Buhari’s government will need the continued support of international heavyweights like Britain and the US to prove his resolve in eradicating corruption in Nigeria. Unlike in 1984, he now has the democratic support of the majority of Nigerians, which Western governments like Britain can feel more comfortable standing behind.

the Quartz Africa Weekly Brief

 

THE MEDIA IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF NIGERIA OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY CONTENT DEVELOPMENT ACT, 2010

 A PAPER PRESENTED BY THE FORMER MINISTER OF LANDS, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, RT. HON. NDUESE ESSIEN, TO MEMBERS OF THE NIGERIA UNION OF JOURNLAISTS, AKWA IBOM STATE COUNCIL ON AUGUST 26, 2015.

Distinguished Guests

Gentlemen of the Press

I want to begin by thanking the organizers of this programme and particularly, ExxonMobil and the leadership of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Akwa Ibom State Council, for finding me worthy to speak here today. I also wish to thank all of you, gentlemen of the press, for turning out for the programme.

While the Council wished I speak on the topic: “Prospect of the Petroleum Industry Bill in the Development of Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry,” I had considered that since that piece of legislation is still in the works, it was better to speak on something that is very practical and relevant. As lawyers would always argue and rightly so, “You cannot build something on nothing.” A discussion of how a bill that is yet to be passed into law would contribute to national development is like building something on nothing.

I, therefore, crave your indulgence to allow me speak on a topic that would be useful to you as journalists and encourage significant local participation in all operations and transactions of our oil and gas sector.

I am aware that majority of you do not know about the existence of the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act and the role you can play individually and collectively to ensure that our national interest is not jeopardized in the oil and gas sector operations and transactions.

EVOLUTION OF NIGERIA OIL AND GAS SECTOR

At Independence, most African countries, including Nigeria were determined to ensure that their citizens take over the operations and control of their natural resources for exploitation and conversion into economic growth. In Nigeria, some of the legislations made in this direction include the Petroleum (Drilling & Production) Regulations; Industrial Training Fund 1971; Petroleum Technology Development Fund 1973 and National Office of Technology Acquisition Act 1979. Before the enactment of the above laws, the Nigerian oil and gas industry was an exclusive domain for the International Oil Companies, IOCs. The IOCs were solely responsible for exploration, production, refining and trading.

Shell Petroleum Development Company was the first multinational oil firm to drill the ground in search for oil in Nigeria. In 1937, the company then known as Shell D’Arcy was granted license to search for oil in the country. However, in 1956, it discovered the first commercial oil field at Oloibiri, a quiet community in Ogbia Local Government of Bayelsa State and commenced oil exports in 1958. Before the discovery of oil in commercial quantity, Nigeria like many other African countries strongly relied on agricultural exports to sustain its economy. Many Nigerians who witnessed the initial exploration thought Shell was looking for palm oil.

Since then, the Niger Delta had become Nigeria’s scene of feverish exploration and production. From an initial output of 5,100 barrels per day in 1956, the nation steadily rose to the sixth position on the production chart of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries. By the mid 1970s Shell, the leading producer had exceeded the one million barrels per day production mark.

After over three decades during which the oil industry was dominated by foreign companies, a private indigenous oil company, Consolidated Oil, recorded its first discovery, Bella – 1, in 1991. Since 1992, following the release of new concessions in the Niger Delta to indigenous exploration and production companies, the number of indigenous companies has increased but most of the fields are not producing because the country has to abide by OPEC’s production quota which currently stands at 2.2 million barrels per day, bpd.

OVERVIEW OF THE NIGERIAN OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY CONTENT DEVELOPMENT ACT, 2010

A research carried out in 2008 had indicated that although the oil and gas industry accounts for 90 percent of Nigeria’s revenue, it contributes less than 38 percent to the nation’s GDP. In real terms, the upstream industry has for decades functioned as an enclave economy with minimal impact on the wider economy. The primary reason was the absence of a strong legal framework for Nigeria to harvest the technological, industrial and economic intangible capital assets being generated by oil and gas activities for diffusion into the local economy.

The Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act was, therefore, promulgated in 2010, to create the framework for the growth of local content in respect of all operations and transactions in Nigeria’s oil and gas sector. The Act also established the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board.

Under the law, investors are mandated to consider Nigerian companies as an important element in their project development and management. For the avoidance of doubt, a Nigerian company is defined as a firm registered in Nigeria in accordance with the provisions of the Companies and Allied Matters Act with not less than 51 percent equity shares owned by Nigerians.

The Act has a total of 107 Sections and applies to all operators, contractors and other entities involved in any project in the country’s oil and gas industry. It takes precedence over all other existing enactments and laws in respect of all matters and operations industry pertaining to Nigerian content carried out in the oil and gas. A Nigeria Content Development and Monitoring Board has also been established and vested with the responsibility to implement the provisions of the Act, make procedural guidelines and monitor compliance by operators within the oil industry.

Section 3(1) states, “Nigerian independent operators shall be given first consideration in the award of oil blocks, oil field licenses, oil lifting licenses and in all projects for which contract is to be awarded in the Nigerian oil and gas industry subject to the fulfillment of such conditions as may be specified by the Minister.”

However, Section 3 (2) states, “There shall be exclusive consideration to Nigerian indigenous service companies which demonstrate ownership of equipment, Nigerian personnel and capacity to execute such work to bid on land and swamp operating areas of the Nigerian oil and gas industry for contracts and services contained in the Schedule to this Act.”

In order to have full grasp of the law, you can download it at: http://www.placng.org/new/laws/NIGERIAN%20OIL%20AND%20GAS%20INDUSTRY%20CONTENT%20DEVELOPMENT%20ACT,%202010.pdf

HOW THE ACT STIMULATES JOB CREATION AND NATIONAL ECONOMIC GROWTH

The policy objectives of the law as contained in Section 3 are further backed up by the provisions in Section 11, Section 15 and Section 16 which confer advantages to Nigerians firms.

The main support granted in favour of Nigerian companies is contained in Sections 15 and 16 which deals with the bidding process. This advantage is considered further under bid evaluation.

In addition to the benefits conferred on Nigerian businesses in the bid evaluation process, Section 41 provides that the Minister may make regulations ‘setting out targets to ensure ‘full utilisation and growth of indigenous companies’ in the following areas:

• Exploration • Seismic data processing • Engineering design • Reservoir studies • Manufacturing and fabrication of equipment; and • Other facilities as well as the provisions of other support services for the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

The benefits to be enjoyed by Nigerian companies by way of technology transfer are contained in Sections 44 and 45 of the Act. Section 44 stipulates that operators are required to have a program of incentives to promote transfer of technology and Section 45 encourages the formation of joint ventures and other forms of alliances.

Under the bidding process, the general provisions in this regard are contained in Sections 14, 15 and 16 of the Act. These sections state as follows:

Section14: All operators and Project Promoters shall consider Nigerian content when evaluating any bid; where bids are within 1 percent of each other at commercial stage, the bid containing the highest level of Nigerian content shall be selected provided the Nigerian content in the selected bid is at least 5 percent higher than its closest competitor.

Section15: All operators and alliance partners shall maintain a bidding process for acquiring goods and services which shall give full and fair opportunity to Nigerian Indigenous contractors and companies.

Section16: The award of contract shall not be solely based on the principle of the lowest bidder where a Nigerian indigenous company has capacity to execute such job, the company shall not be disqualified exclusively on the basis that it is the lowest financial bidder, provided the value does not exceed the lowest bid price by 10 percent.

However, details of document to be submitted at each stage of the bidding process are contained in Sections 18, 20, 21, and 22 of the Act.

Sections 25 – 27 of the Act sets out the provisions of the Act in regard to the maintenance of a project office by “operators or any other body” submitting a Nigerian content Plan. The does not however specify when a project office would be mandatory, although power is conferred on the Board to require that an office is maintained in a community where there are significant operations.

The promotion of Nigerian human capital as an aspect of Nigerian Content is contained in Sections 28 to 35 of the Act. Section 28(1) of the Act stipulates that “Nigerians shall be given first consideration for employment and training in any project executed by any operator or project promoter’.

Based on the above, the Act requires that the Nigerian Content Plan submitted by operator or project promoter shall include and Employment and Training Plan which complies with Section 29 of the Act.

Sections 30 and 31 also make it an obligation on operators to provide training to Nigerians where Nigerians are not employed because of lack of training and to provide a succession plan for a Nigerian to understudy to an expatriate for a maximum period of 4 years.

By Section 32 the expatriate workforce for an operator or project promoter is limited to a maximum of 5 percent of its management positions as may be approved by the Board.

Again, Section 33 requires that all applications for expatriate quota must first be referred to the Board. The Act requires in Section 34 that a “Labour Clause” be inserted in “projects or contracts” mandating the use of a minimum percentage of Nigerian workers as may be stipulated by the Board.

Finally all operators and companies operating in the Nigeria oil and gas industry shall employ only Nigerians in their junior and intermediate cadre. By the definition of the “Labour Clause” the minimum labour use is not limited to junior and intermediate cadre, but extends to professional cadres also. This is a significant provision when it is considered that the labour cost centre in most oil and gas operations is constituted in the professional cadre i.e. geologist, petroleum engineers and highly skilled technicians.

The Act imposes very strict measures on the employment of expatriates in the oil industry. Expatriate management positions are limited to 5 percent in respect of each project. In addition, operators are required to obtain prior approval of the Board before applying for expatriate quota from other Government agencies. What is perhaps innovative is section 42 which requires professional employees engaged in engineering or other professional services in the Nigerian oil industry to be registered with the relevant professional bodies. This requirement means that the Board is able to track and monitor the activities of expatriates in order to ensure that the expatriate does not hold a position for more than 4 years (Section 31).

Section 37, 38 and 39 deal with the R & D requirements of the Act and requires operators to submit a programme for the ‘promotion of education attachments training research and development’

The Act in Sections 40, 41and 42 empowers the Minister to make regulations in respect of training, growth of indigenous companies in various areas such as exploration, engineering design etc and for ensuring that professional employees are registered with Nigerian professional bodies.

Section 47 also permits the Minister to make regulations which requires operators to invest in or set up facilities factories etc for the purpose of carrying out any production or manufacturing in Nigeria.

Section 43 provides that an operator must have a programme for purpose of promoting the transfer of technology into Nigeria in relation to oil and gas. By virtue of Section 44, the operator is required to submit to the Board annually a plan setting out a programme of planned initiatives aimed at promoting the effective transfer of technologies from the operator and alliance partners to Nigerian individuals and companies.

An operator is required to support the transfer of technology initiative by encouraging and facilitating the formation of the formation of joint ventures, partnering and development licensing agreements between Nigerian and foreign contractors. As well as ensure that the agreements for such joint ventures meet the requirement of the Nigerian content development to the satisfaction of the Board (Section 45 of the Act).

Section 49 of the Act requires that all investors in the oil and gas industry to insure all its insurable risks relating to the oil and gas business, operations or contracts with an insurance company, through an insurance broker registered in Nigeria under the provisions of the Insurance Act as amended. However, the operators can place their insurance risk outside Nigeria with the written consent of the National Insurance Commission who shall ensure that Nigerian local capacity has been fully exhausted in Section 50 of the Act.

Section 51 provides that the operators and other investors in any operations, business or transaction in Nigeria oil and gas industry can only retain a Nigerian legal practitioner or a firm of legal practitioners located in Nigeria.

Section 52 provides that all operators and investors in need of financial services can only retain the services of Nigerian financial institutions expect in situations to the satisfaction of the Board it is impracticable to do so.

Section 53 provides that all operators and investors engaged in Nigerian oil and gas industry must carry out all fabrications and welding activities in the country.

THE NIGERIAN MEDIA AND THE REPORTAGE OF THE OIL AND GAS SECTOR

The Nigerian media is one of the freest and most authoritative in the continent. The media, we must admit, have been instrumental to the attainment of great milestones in the country including Nigeria’ Independence, the entrenchment of democratic rule and agenda setting and shaping of public opinion.

Permit me to use this opportunity to express profound appreciation to you, Gentlemen of the Press for the roles you have played individually and collectively towards the unity and development of the country and Akwa Ibom State in particular.

But Gentlemen of the Press, I can tell you unequivocally that while the law provides that preferential treatment be given to all Nigerian companies operating in the industry and further requires that the promotion of Nigerian content development shall be a major concern in all projects and operations in the oil industry, the reality is that multinational oil companies are yet to substantially comply with the provisions of the law.

Multinationals still find ways of circumventing our laws by using Nigerian cronies to register companies and then award joint venture projects to these phony firms to the disadvantage of genuine Nigerian companies.

While these crimes are being committed against our people and in contemptuous violation of our laws, the media seem to pay little or no attention to the plight of Nigerians whose businesses are being destroyed in the process. Instead of fighting against the monopolistic tendencies of some of the oil majors, journalists have instead formed splinter bodies, like the National Association of Energy Correspondents which appears to be working against our collective national interest in the oil and gas sector.

For instance, since the promulgation of the Act in 2010, the Nigerian media are yet to carry out an investigation into how the oil majors have complied with it. We are yet to know how many Nigerian workers who understudied their expatriate counterparts have taken over such jobs based on the provisions of Section 31 of the Act.

Gentlemen of the Press, permit me to express profound gratitude to media organisations that have risen in defence of Arco Group, a major indigenous oil and gas company that has offered quality services to the nation for over three decades. Arco Group had during the peak of disturbances in the Niger Delta region, single-handedly maintained the OB/OB, Ebocha and Kwale Gas faculties in Rivers state at a time the Nigeria Agip Oil Company and its partner, General Electric, GE, withdrew their staff and sent them abroad.

Not long after peace was restored to the region with the proclamation of Amnesty by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua, Agip and GE returned to the country and found that the gas plants were still functioning in top gear. Instead of encouraging the indigenous firm, the two foreign partners launched an insidious project to get rid of Arco and replace it with a company that has no root in the operations of the gas facilities.

Even when the indigenous oil company secured a valid court order against being thrown out of the OB/OB, Ebocha and Kwale Gas plants, Agip is widely reported by the media of attempting to flaunt the court order. It is, therefore, on this premises that I implore the Nigerian media, the civil society community and the National Assembly to rise in defence of our law. While Arco has taken up the challenge of fighting against the attempt to throw it staff out of Nigeria’s economic asset, other indigenous firms have not been able to muster the willpower to seek redress. This is therefore, a wakeup call to Nigerian operators in the oil and gas sector to use every legitimate means to fight against neo-colonialism by oil majors in country.

I wish to also use this medium to call on President Muhammadu Buhari, to launch an investigation into disputes associated with the non-compliance of oil majors to the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Any company found to have flouted the laws of Nigeria should be made to face the full weight of the law and may be asked to leave the country depending on the level infraction.

I challenge the media to do more in reporting the good things done by both indigenous and international oil companies and the bad sides of such operations equally.

The Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act is one giant move by the government to stimulate the participation of Nigerians in the country’s lucrative oil and gas sector. The full and effective implementation of the law will yield millions of jobs and create value chains across the sector.

This cannot happen unless the media apply its agenda-setting role to beam their searchlight into how the oil and gas sector operates and point out the feats, infractions and challenges.

Thank you and God bless you.

 

 

Civil society, media call for stiffer punishment for violation of Local Content Act

Civil society groups and the media have called on the Nigerian government to impose stiffer punishment on multinational oil firms, which violate the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act.

The call was contained in a communiqué issued after a working group meeting between civil society and their media partners, Thursday.

The meeting which took place at Ajuji Hotel, Gudu District, Abuja, was attended by representatives of civil society groups and media practitioners.

Among other things, the communiqué deplored the continued violation of Nigerian laws by Agip and General Electric in a maintenance contract dispute with Arco Group, an indigenous oil and gas firm.

It calls on the relevant committees of the National Assembly to summon the management of Agip and other multinational oil companies in the country to explain their compliance with the Local Content Act.

The groups, “The Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board being the regulatory body in the Act should as a matter of urgency, commence the discharge of its obligations by monitoring the operations of International Oil Companies, IOCs, with a view to track and enforce compliance with the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act 2010,” a part of the communiqué reads.

“We call on the relevant Committees in both chambers of the National Assembly to immediately summon the management of the Italian firm, AGIP and other International Oil Companies, IOCs, to appear before it and explain their role in the total disregard and violation of the Nigeria Oil and Gas Industry Content Development Act, 2010.

“Similarly, we call on the Federal Government to use all apparatus at its disposal in breathing life to the spirit and intent of the Local Content Act 2010.”

The communiqué noted that while Local Content Act was promulgated in 2010 to enhance local participation in the oil and gas sector, it lamented that indigenous firms are yet to play significant role in the industry.

Over five years after the law came into effect, the communiqué said, multinationals still manipulate the system to retain expatriate workers against Nigerian technicians and engineers.

It, therefore, calls on indigenous oil and gas companies to close rank and fight the glaring act of impunity by multinationals in the country.

The communiqué warned against further attempts to breach the laws of Nigeria by Agip and General Electric and vowed to mobilise Nigerians to fight them

This Article first appeared in PremiumTimes.com