BusinessDay 07 Jan 2019

Monday 07 January 2019
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BUSINESS DAY
29
Why the electorate need to turn
out and vote with conscience
AMAKA ANAGOR-EWUZIE
Repeated tales of pain
about the state of the
nation have become
the order of day with
Nigerians. This indicates
that many Nigerians are hard
hit by the poor state of the economy
and lack of respite in sight.
For them, the government of
the day has done little or nothing
to improve the standard of living
of the poor masses. The economic
hardship is characterised by
prevailing national poverty and
a high rate of unemployment. As
companies’ profit margins continue
to shrink, majority resort
to staff lay-offs to cut cost and
manage margins.
Basic necessities are beyond
the reach of many Nigerians
as the cost of foreign exchange,
especially the rate of the naira
to the dollar skyrocketed from
N200 per dollar in 2015 to over
N360 per dollar in 2018. This not
only fueled inflation, but also
reduced the purchasing power
of Nigerians, whose monthly
expenditure increased without
corresponding increase in income
earned.
In all of this, one thing is certain,
and this is the fact that the
electorate are the real kingmakers
because they are the people
that choose who will lead them
at different levels of government.
Therefore, if an elected government
fails to enthrone good governance
while in power, it means
that the electorate also failed to
choose the right leader.
Abraham Lincoln, former
American President, who
preached the importance of
government of, for, and by the
people, said that voters played
the most important role in making
sure the government reflects
their desires and function according
to the guidelines of the
constitution.
This is why the right to vote
should not by any means be
taken for granted. The outcome
of elections plays a very important
role in the voters’ personal
freedoms, taxes, and other aspects
of daily life that people
take for granted. Because of the
far reaching impact election can
have, it is the civic responsibility
of citizens to not only cast their
votes if they want a say in how
their futures play out, but to also
vote in the right person.
According to the Electoral
Act 2010, the most important responsibility
as citizens involves
registering to vote and voting
during elections. “A person shall
be qualified to be registered as
a voter if such a person – (a) is
a citizen of Nigeria; (b) has attained
the age of 18 years; (c)
is ordinarily resident, works
in, originates from the Local
Government Area Council, or
Ward, covered by the registration
centre; (d) presents himself
to the Registration Officer of the
Commission for registration as
a voter; and (e) is not subject to
any legal incapacity to vote under
any law, rule or regulation in
force in Nigeria.”
Alarmingly, many Nigerians
today have failed to acknowledge
their role in shaping the
government. Many dismiss the
responsibility of voting during
elections by not caring about the
issues on the ballot.
However, by failing to use
their privilege to vote, people
essentially allow other voters to
make decisions for them, to let
their voices be heard over voters
who make no effort to go to the
polls. This is why the electorate
need to vote.
Meanwhile, some Nigerians
go to the polling centre without
a clear decision of whom to vote
for. This group of people ends
up mortgaging their future by
collecting inducement such as
money and gift items from politicians
in order to vote.
As Nigeria moves closer to the
next general elections slated for
the first quarter of 2019, there is
need for every Nigerian up to the
eligible voting age, to note that
exercising their right to vote is
essential to being a good citizen.
The past four years in Nigeria
have been lived in lamentation
but to put an end to this and avoid
reoccurrence, Nigerians must join
forces to enthrone ‘real change’.
They must show interest in the
electoral process starting from
party primaries, through campaigns
and voting at the elections.
In doing this, there is need to
get it right by coming out enmass
to vote for the right candidates
with the pedigree required to turn
Nigerian economy in the right
direction. We need to enthrone
the right economic managers in
accordance to their competences
and capabilities, if Nigeria will
grow in the next four years.
NEWS
Police Recruitment: 232,000 excess applicants
underscore Nigeria’s unemployment problem
MICHEAL ANI
The recent announcement
by the Nigeria Police on the
excessive turn out of people
applying for recruitment
into the law enforcement agency, affirms
the critical state of the nation’s
unemployment crisis, analysts say.
As at 1:00pm, 2nd Jan 2018, the
Police Service Commission (PSC)
said it had received applications
from 242,455 persons in its on-going
recruitment exercise, even though it
plans to enlist only 10,000 of these
numbers into the Nigeria Police
Force.
This figure shows an excess of
more than 232,000 applicants vowing
for the positions, a number
analysts say is a tip of an iceberg
of how Nigerians jostle for jobs as
falling infrastructural development
and slowdown in economic activities
have forced companies turn off the
tap of recruitment.
This number of applications that
the police received as at that date
implies that for each successful applicant,
24 others will be rejected.
That is, assuming that the applications
stop at this number, which is
unlikely.
Data from the National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS) has shown that the
rate of unemployment has been on
a consistent increase in the past three
years, settling as high as 23.1 percent
in the third quarter of 2018 from 18.8
percent recorded in the same quarter
of the previous year.
In nominal terms, a total of 20.9
million Nigerians are unemployed,
signalling that about 3.1 million
people have entered into the unemployment
trap in less than a year. The
NBS had earlier in Q4 2017 reported
the number to be 17.8 million.
“I am not surprised at the statistics
released by the Nigerian police
with regards to the number of
participants that signified interest
as against those that are required
as it is an indication of the massive
unemployment in the society,” says
Timothy Olawale, Director-General,
Nigerian Employers Consultative
association.
“There is no way that the government
despite all its efforts in creating
jobs, is going to succeed if the focus
is on white-collar job creation alone,
which is what they are throwing up,”
Olawale said.
An average university student in
Nigeria spends about 4 years in the
university, if and only if the Academic
Staff Union of Universities and /
or the Non Academic staff union
does not embark upon any strike
whatsoever.
For about two months now,
teachers in public universities in
Nigeria have been on an indefinite
strike designed to compel the
federal government to meet their
complaints on issues including poor
funding, poor remuneration and
low infrastructural developments
in school.
“It is not as if there are no jobs in
the country, but the skills required to
match these jobs are not there. That
is why we say the government should
identify what those skills are and
make concerted efforts to develop
capacity in those skills; that way our
youth will fit into those jobs that are
available,” Olawale said.
“Furthermore, there is the need
to imbibe in our youths the entrepreneurial
spirit so that they can be
self-employed,” he added.
President Muhammadu Buhari,
in November last year, announced
the approval of a new salary package
for police personnel “with a view
to restoring its lost primacy in the
internal security framework of the
country”.
A statement by the PSC’s acting
Head, Press and Public Relations,
Aaron Kaase, shows that of the total
applicants, Niger State led with 15,
633 applications, followed by Kano
State with 15, 079, Katsina State, 14,
582, Bauchi State, 12, 652, Kaduna
State, 13, 882 and Adamawa State
with 11, 449 applicants.
Bayelsa State had the lowest applications
of 1, 258, followed by Lagos
State, 1, 358, Ebonyi State, 1, 659 and
Anambra State, 1,618.
CBN makes first New Year entry
into forex market with $210m
... as external reserves decline to $43.05bn
HOPE MOSES-ASHIKE
The Central Bank of Nigeria
(CBN) on Friday, January 4,
2019, made its first intervention
in the inter-bank sector
of the foreign exchange market for
2019 with a total sum of $210 million
injected into the wholesale segment
and other sectors of the market.
A breakdown of the figures obtained
from the CBN on Friday
showed that customers in the Wholesale
sector of the market received the
sum of $100 million with the Small
and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and
invisibles sectors each getting $55 million
to meet the needs of customers.
The dollar supply has helped
to boost liquidity in the market
strengthened the value of the local
currency. Consequently, naira
gained N1.00k on Friday to close at
N361 per dollar at the parallel market
from N362 traded the previous day.
However, naira depreciated marginally
by N0.05k to close at N365.35k
on Friday from N365.30k per dollar
traded on Thursday, data from
FMDQ indicated.
External reserves last week declined
to $43.0 billion as at Friday, January 4,
2019 from $43.28 billion as at December
24, 2018, data from CBN revealed.
Isaac Okorafor, CBN’s director in
charge of corporate communications,
said the CBN continued from where it
stopped in 2018 in order to maintain the
stability being enjoyed in the market.
While noting that the Bank had
made commendable effort in keeping
the exchange rates at the current
levels, Okorafor re-echoed the
Bank’s Governor, Godwin Emefiele
saying that the current capital flow
reversals from the emerging markets
were expected to bring out pressures
on the market rates.
He, however, assured that, in spite
of the anticipated pressures, coupled
with the forthcoming elections, the
Bank was committed to maintaining
the current exchange rate policy,
given the level of reserves.
Quoting the Governor, Okorafor
said that the CBN was determined to
sustain a stable exchange rate as it continues
to put in place relevant measures
to shore up the country’s reserves.
Meanwhile, one United States
Dollar (US$1) exchanged for N357
in the Bureau De Change (BDC)
segment of the market on Friday,
January 4, 2019.
“We expect activity level to improve
as Christmas festivities wrap
up; and further anticipate that the
central bank will continue in its
pursuit to stabilize the value of the
Naira should any market volatility
occur, possibly owing to pre-election
uncertainties”, analysts at Afrinvest
Securities limited said.