BREAKING: Shehu Shagari Dies at 93

The Nigeria's second civilian president, Chief Shehu Shagari, whose civilian tenure was sandwiched between two military rulers in an era rocked by coups, has passed on at the age of 93.

Nigeria's current President Muhammadu Buhari, who unseated Shagari 35 years ago, said on Saturday, 29th December 2018, he mourns "the departure of a patriot, who served Nigeria with humility, integrity and diligence."

Chief Shagari's grandson, Mr. Bello Shagari in a Twitter post said, he died on Friday, 28th December 2018 in Abuja, the Nigeria's capital city after a brief illness.

Chief Shagari had an ambivalent relationship with the military, which initially favored his ascension to power but held him in solitary confinement for three years after toppling his government.

After military ruler Olusegun Obasanjo lifted the ban on political activity in Africa's most populous nation in 1978, Shagari beat regional political veterans in a hotly contested election the next year. The polls followed 13 years of military rule by four different men.

At his swearing-in ceremony, Chief Shagari said the military had "succeeded in large measure in unifying us."

It had been less than 20 years since the West African powerhouse had earned its independence from British rule, and it struggled to forge national unity within the colonial borders which tied some 250 ethnic groups together.

Those years saw a civil war, a toppled civilian government and a series of military administrations including that of Gen. Yakubu "Jack" Gowon, in which Shagari served as a civilian finance minister.

Shagari is said to have been the first boy to go to school in his northern village of Shagari in the northeastern state of Sokoto. He started out as a science teacher before entering politics. From 1954-1966 he was a member of the House of Representatives and later held a variety of ministerial posts under both civilian and military governments.

Even though the military had voluntarily paved the way for democratic rule, the threat of its interference loomed over Shagari's time in office.

The oil-rich nation's economy suffered from a sharp drop in global crude oil prices, fueling discontent. On Dec. 29, 1983, Shagari announced austerity measures in a country already suffering from high unemployment rates and general disillusionment after the oil boom of the '70s.

Chief Shagari's administration also was marred by corruption scandals. Even though the public considered him to be honest, his inability to rein in his government's avarice was sharply criticized.

On New Year's Eve in 1983, a group of military plotters toppled his government, describing Shagari's administration as "inept and corrupt." Buhari, then a military officer, took over the nation.

Chief Shagari, who had been elected a few months earlier, seemed to have seen it coming.

"My greatest concern is that democracy survives in Nigeria," he told a biographer just before the coup.

It was not until Buhari returned to the presidency in 2015 that Nigeria saw the first peaceful transfer of power from one party to another.

TECH I On INEC's Tracking Devices, Electronic Collation

By Fred Doc Nwaozor



The last time I checked, even a dummy could testify boldly that technology is at the moment gradually dominating the entire system, hence the compelling need for every institution cum economy to be tech-driven.

It could be this conspicuous fact that informed the recent avowal of the Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). It has been in the news that the electoral umpire is looking forward to ensuring that virtually all the impending 2019 elections are tech-driven.

Recently, precisely on 12th July 2018, the commission led by Prof. Mahmood Yakubu graciously introduced a new innovation that would help to track the location and movement of any vehicle conveying sensitive electoral materials to its target location.

The INEC boss disclosed that aside ensuring tight security in the transportation of the materials, the commission would equally be tracking all the vehicles carrying them. He said “All we are doing is to maintain our stand on transparency and openness even as we also guard against infiltration.”

According to him, another cogent reason the authority was determined to keep its plans and programmes was that it did not want failure of any form, especially on issues bordering on delivering of voting materials. This implies that cases including late arrival of materials, among others, would soonest be a thing of the past.

The plan to implement vehicular tracking devices come next year was reiterated two weeks back – on December 12, 2018 – when the INEC elatedly signed a Memorandum of Understanding with some key vehicle cum traffic unions domiciled in the country, which included the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) and National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), among others.

Tracking devices are veritable tools that have, for years now, been in use. It was primarily invented for the purpose of fighting crimes and allied matters. For instance, if a certain programmed device is stolen by anyone, it can easily be traced, hence recovered, by the concerned authority such as the Nigerian Police Force (NPF).

I have before now severally hammered on the urgent need for the various law enforcement agencies like the NPF to fully inculcate the use of tracking devices into its day-to-day bid in tackling different forms of grievous social ills, especially at this era when several criminals have gone so digital in their numerous nefarious activities.

It, therefore, suffices to opine that the INEC under the watch of Prof. Yakubu has thus far done well by thinking it wise to come up with this laudable initiative. However, in its quest for thorough utilization of the said electronic device, it’s required to take into cognizance some inevitable factors.

First, it’s expected to set up a special unit at its various states’ jurisdictions that would tactically handle every matter concerning the technicalities of the awaited practice. Such a unit must boast of the required materials as well as experts to ensure its holistic functionality and sustenance throughout the elections.

Among all, on no account should an outsider be contracted or hired to be in charge of the proposed unit, thus the commission needs to ensure that some of its staff in the technical section are duly trained and imbued with the requisite skills. Additionally, well tested softwares must be made available for the exercise to permit adequate monitoring of the moving vehicles.

Similarly, sometime last year, 20th March 2017 to be precise, the INEC during a media parley chaired by Prof. Yakubu, the authority disclosed that the results of the general elections would be collated and transmitted electronically towards replacing the existing manual mode of collation.

The commission’s Chairman stated thus, “INEC decides to securely transmit results from all polling units to central database such that only viewing access is allowed at the ward and local government levels, which ultimately eliminates manual collation processes.”

The INEC Director of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Mr. Chidi Nwafor who’s reportedly a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), informed the gathering that the electronic system in question has a flexible dashboard with real-time user interface showing graphical presentation of status of the results collated per given time.

He equally went further to disclose that the e-collation system has four procedures as follows: the results from polling units would be entered into the e-collation application on the smart card reader; secondly, the results would be transmitted to a central server; thirdly, they would be auto-collated and can be viewed at the ward level and can also be scanned at that level; and lastly, the results’ audit and confirmation shall take place at collation centres at LGAs, state and national levels.

With the analysis and explanations above, it’s imperative for the electoral umpire alongside other concerned bodies to acknowledge wholly that this is not rocket science, hence the compelling need not to place frivolities ahead of priorities as we eagerly await the innovation.

The commission has apparently discovered as well as test-run the viability of the impending electronic collation system, but it’s more pertinent for it to painstakingly consider the possible technical challenges that await its full implementation and usage.

In a country like ours where we are continually being taken aback as regards factors like power supply, software management cum maintenance and what have you, the concerned authorities ought not to be reminded that the aforementioned plans are greatly in need of unequalled pragmatic approach with a view to ensure their apt and adequate implementation as expected by the electorate.

It’s on this premise I urge the INEC as led by Prof. Yakubu to look inwards toward ensuring that the best brains herein are consulted as well as deployed in its seeming frantic efforts to conduct elections whose outcome would stand the test of time. Hence, the cognoscenti must not be relegated to the background in this regard.
As the voters’ hopes are already raised by the electoral umpire, the latter shouldn’t hesitate to collaborate with all the needed entities so that the uplifted optimism of the former wouldn’t be dashed come February 2019. Think about it!

Comrade Nwaozor, tech expert, policy analyst & rights activist,
and National Coordinator, Right Thinkers Movement, writes via
frednwaozor@gmail.com; Twitter: @mediambassador

TECH I FG's Tour On Automobile Hub

By Fred Nwaozor




The last time I checked, Nigerians in their number were earnestly awaiting the era when the acclaimed giant of Africa would be spotted on the world map as regards automobile industry.

The aforementioned quest is not unconnected with the recent deal struck by the Nigeria’s government and its German counterpart. It isn’t equally unconnected with the candid body language that accompanied the pact.

It would be recalled that recently, on Monday, 3rd September 2018 to be precise, the Federal Government (FG) under the watch of President Muhammadu Buhari graciously signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Volkswagen Group with a view to developing an automobile hub in the country.

The two are reportedly to come up with an enabling policy framework on the proposed project. The epochal move was an offshoot of the recent visit of the German Chancellor, Mrs. Angela Merkel to Nigeria, precisely in Abuja – the country’s capital city.

It’s noteworthy that under the bilateral arrangement, the automobile firm is expected to implement a phased approach in relation to the assembly of vehicles down to positioning the nation as an automobile hub in the entire West Africa region.

Lest I forget; in regard to vehicles’ assemblage as mentioned in the pact, the government must take into cognizance that there’s need to go extra mile towards reviving the country’s dying pride if we’re really ready to invest in this sector. As we might have forgotten in haste, it’s highly imperative to recall that some of these vehicles – particularly Peugeot products – were being assembled here but the activity has now regrettably gone into moribund.

This, therefore, implies that the FG is required to look inwards with a view to resuscitating and boosting the aforesaid practice, which is currently considered as a lost glory. In a bid for an automobile hub, we must make frantic effort to reawake the seeming dead foundation.

The pact equally includes raising a training academy in conjunction with the German government with the sole aim of equipping pioneer employees of the impending industry with requisite skills as well as imbuing them with the needed industrial qualities.

Definitely, establishing an academy to train the indigenous prospective workers that would kick start the hub is a welcome development. It’s thus needless to state that the MOU included the key recipe with regard to the awaited industry.

However, the bitter truth is that such an approach is liable to collapse on arrival if the stakeholders involved failed to consider the essential factors required for its functionality. Hence, the parties in charge of the initiative must leave no stone unturned towards doing the needful.

It’s similarly pertinent for the government to acknowledge that such an academy deserves to be sustained in the long run. In view of this idea, the institute shouldn’t be utilized only in the case of the ‘pioneer employees’. Thus, it ought to be retained with a view to training subsequent intakes as well as upgrading the skills of those already absorbed in the system.

Recalling other clauses contained in the pact, it’s worthy of note that the FG on its part is to ensure that the Nigerian Automotive Policy, which is currently under consideration, gets a speedy approval from the apt quarters. The policy, though still in the pipeline, includes the gradual transition from the importation of used cars to the manufacturing and distribution of new passenger vehicles.

It’s not anymore news that overtime issue regarding policies has bedevilled most of the activities taking place in the country. Acknowledgement of this recurring decimal indicates that the concerned stakeholders are required to go extra mile in their move to ensure that the lofty motive of the FG is duly actualized.

It’s on this premise that I suggest the authorities involved painstakingly consider all the needed parameters as they prepare the policy. Every required factor, ranging from setting up the hub, training academy, in-service workshop/training, to working incentives cum environment, must be holistically looked into so that nothing absolutely would be missing in the process.

In the same vein, the legislators need to be duly lobbied in a quest to witnessing a healthy deliberation. In his words, an Adviser in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Bisi Daniels disclosed that the government was committed to providing a conducive legislative environment for the production of automobiles in the country.

I deem it fit to advise that such a commitment must be fully put into action if the FG is truly determined to create an industry where Nigerians as a people could boast of production of automobile machines that can be presented as well as used anywhere in the world.

As regards the sealed deal, the Minister of the said ministry, Dr. Okechukwu Emelamah strongly affirmed that the MOU was a major step in the FG’s quest for a robust automotive industry in the country, hence assured that the government was damn prepared to achieve the tech-driven objective.

The gospel truth is that, everything centres on the political will that accompanies the quest. Against this backdrop, for the tour in question to arrive at the desired destination, the government must not claim ignorance of the fact that what’s primarily of importance at this point is to support the recently embarked journey with the required will.

Inter alia, for a thorough emergence and sustenance of the incoming industry, the country’s education sector must also be involved. Hence, our technically-inclined students need to be brought closer to realities. It’s appalling and pathetic to note that our teeming graduates in the field of Mechanical Engineering and allied disciplines cannot present the mechanism that constitute main parts of an automobile let alone manufacturing them.

It’s no longer news that in recent times, successive governments had made various lofty moves but en up not actualizing the object of the initiative, owing to their inability to accompany the approach with candid practical steps. It’s thus unnecessary to remind the government that it’s expected to make a difference by acting differently.

As the Buhari-led administration is ostensibly determined to create a technology-driven economy herein, it must do everything humanly possible to separate priorities from frivolities. Think about it!

Comrade Nwaozor, National Coordinator, of Right Thinkers
Movement writes via frednwaozor@gmail.com