ONE: A 10-year-old Nigerian engineer busy with his primary school career and his after school profession of repairing generators dazzles us this week. Apparently his curiosity with the electricity-generating machine began when he was 5 years old and playing in his father’s workshop. He hopes to go on to university to study engineering. We wish him the very best of luck. Although, it is quite saddening that the country’s power sector is so dismal, and the use of generators is so prevalent, that a little five year old spends his time with such machines. Nevertheless, we are glad for his early genius and curiosity.
TWO: The Governor of Osun State, last week, signed an order cutting the fees for tertiary education by 50% in the state. We salute Governor Aregbesola’s dedication to making education affordable for his citizens. However, it is important to maintain or improve the quality of education being dispensed in Osun State. Ergo, it is curious how the good executive plans to pay for this reduction and simultaneously improve quality or keep constant.
THREE: The legislative body of the Federal Government has refused the proposal to regulate the housing cost in the Federal Capital Territory. The body cited the fact that lowered cost would result in the reduction of Abuja FCT’s prettiness. We must conclude that the Nigerian congress believes that the aesthetic integrity of the city is more important than the wellbeing of the citizenry. One wonders how pretty the city will look when most people become homeless.
FOUR: The recent nominee for the post of Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Musdapher, has stated a wish to execute any and all corrupt Nigerians. He offered this curious policy proposal at his confirmation hearing last week. He wowed to implement such a law if confirmed and called for the Legislatures to pass a similar measure as soon as possible. His nomination was confirmed on wednesday.
FIVE: The new economic minister, Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, announced last week that the president will no longer grant waivers directly to businesses seeking to propose new ventures for the country. Instead, he has delegated this task to his economic team who are ostensibly more qualified to review such applications. The president still retains his oversight powers. We must however point out that the head of the biggest conglomerate in the nation, Alhaji Dangote, is a valued member of the Economic Team.
SIX: The manufacturing sector of Nigeria last week reported progressive news. The World Health Organization and other international agencies plan to certify Nigerian pharmaceutical manufacturers in global best practices standards. The Ministry of Health and its partners plan to certify 8 companies in the first phase of the strategy. 8 new certified manufacturing companies would employ quite a lot of Nigerians. This is good news.
SEVEN: The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has been ordered to go through an auditing process for its revenue remittaces processes into the federation account. The federation account is the mechanism used to distribute oil funds among the 36 states. Members of the Nigerian House of Representative ordered the leadership of the parastatal to investigate its methods of remittances. The NNPC recently owed the federation account an estimated N450 billion. This led to the order to investigate its compliance with the law.
EIGHT: Following recent events, members of the Ogoniland Assembly have requested that the European Union dedicate some funds for the cleanup of the Ogoni land area. The United Nation recently declared that the region is one of the most polluted spots in the World. Further, a British High Court, months ago ordered Shell Petroleum company to pay the people of Ogoni Land some compensation for the damages the company made to their land. We hope the Assembly is successful with their bid.
NINE: In a surprisingly responsive move, the Nigerian police force has built a tool to manage cars and prevent fraud in the country. Potential car owners may search to ascertain that the car has not been previously reported as stolen. You are required to enter some information and the history of the car is brought up. The tool is available online HERE.
TEN: The Nigerian government announced last week that it has increased the amount of power generated. This is a promising development. While an increase in generation is commendable, improvement of the distribution channels carries more weight with the improvement of power supply per capita. We will like to ask you if power has improved in your area. Please take this poll [poll id=”2″].