13072019 - Buhari on new cabinet: I’ll never appoint ‘strangers’ again

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34—SATURDAY Vanguard, JULY 13, 2019 A man sets out with cattle and roams from Timbuktu to Calabar, on foot. And that is his life in 2019? He has no shelter. He has no education. He has no healthcare. He lives a wretched and perilous vagrant life. And we say he is entitled to live so dangerously in the name of freedom? They say the constitution grants him freedom of movement with his goods. But the constitution ought to protect him even from ignorance. The laws should protect him from himself and his hazardous freedom. And from the avarice of callous cattle owners. We have signed up to conventions against human and animal cruelty and against slavery. The laws should grant the herdsman human dignity. Cross country grazing is a stone age culture. This is 2019. We are behind. Our cattle industry should be a goldmine. But we have shackled our modern selves with the practices of our ancestors who lived in the dark. Modern cattle industry is led by scientists and big businesses, supported by banks. It’s not a walkabout in the bush with starving cattle. The ranches are scientific projects. The focus is on yield and cost. Stronger and more prolific breeds. Heavier yields in milk and beef. Nobody in the world grooms cattle for marathons. The industry has no room to sentimental addiction to unproductive, noncompetitive, unhealthy toil or culture. A bull with the finest of genes could be worth as much as three hundred and sixty million naira. Yes, one million dollars. Its sperm cells are fetched and sold at prices higher than diamond. The bulls and the cows live in ranches. The owners and the herders live in homes on the farms. Their children see their fathers everyday and go to school. The society gives them life. And they are not made feral by perpetual sojourn in treacherous forests. That is where the industry is in the United States. That is where the It was at the amphitheatre on the first floor of the NNPC Towers last Monday, July 8, 2019. The amphitheatre charged with anticipation overflowed with personalities for Mele Kolo Kyari, MKK to take the insignia of office as the 19 th Group Managing Director, GMD of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC. It indeed, happened in a colourful ceremony that for the first time since the creation of the NNPC in 1977, a head of the national oil company would be ceremoniously pulled out on retirement for a new one to formally take office. The new helmsman of the NNPC, one would prefer to address as a comrade. Not just because he was a onetime Chairman of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PENGASSAN at the NNPC, but because he sees his friend as another self if one would take the phrase from Aristotle in his Nicomachean Ethics. Some associates believe MKK must have started positioning himself for leadership of the national oil company from the day he joined the NNPC. Some others may say ambition; it takes ambition to achieve success wherever one finds oneself. MKK however, believes in the divineness of his meteoric ascension to power. The new Group Managing Director may fit into Warren Bennis’ assertion of a leader’s eye on the horizon. Of course, he knows what horizon means in paleontology geology. And he started by defining reality in his statement which is the first responsibility of a leader. Warren Bennis, a United States educationist and writer, “On Becoming a Leader” wrote that managers have their eyes on the bottom line; leaders have their eyes on the horizon. But who is Mele Kolo Kyari? Born on 8th January 1965 in Maiduguri, Borno Cross country y grazing in 2019:Sheer barbarism industry is in Brazil and India. That is where we should be. We are not in 1850. We can’t exercise and exasperate ourselves arguing legal antiquities, grazing routes and right of way for cattle. We can’t sit astride and let our youths roam the forests with cattle of very low quality genes, kill themselves and hurt the animals for pretty little. We must outlaw cross country grazing immediately. We have outlawed bucket toilets, We must outlaw cross country grazing immediately the shalangas. Open cross country grazing is another affront to human dignity. We have outlawed riding on motorbikes without helmet. Open cross country grazing exposes the herders to more dangers than riding without helmets. We have outlawed driving without seat belts. We did it because of public safety. We did it to protect drivers against their own negligence and recklessness. We must outlaw cross country grazing. We cannot allow herdsmen expose As Comrade MKK leads NNPC State, Mele attended Government Community Secondary School Biu in Borno State. His first love is Geology and Earth Science which he took a degree from the University of Maiduguri in 1987, with an Upper Second Class Honours. He served in the mandatory one year National Youth Service Corps, NYSC scheme with the defunct Directorate of Foods, Roads and Rural Infrastructure, DFRRI between 1987 and 1988. His illustrious career started with the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency as Field Geologist in 1988. He joined the NNPC subsidiary of Integrated Data Services Limited, where he worked as a Seismic Data Processing Geophysicist in the Production Sharing Contract, PSC in 1991. He is quite experienced having traversed the NNPC with professional and service credentials. He served at the National Petroleum Investments Management Services,NAPIMS as Abuja Operations Manager. Between 2006 and 2015, he was in the Crude Oil Marketing Division COMD, where he rose through the ranks from Supervisor to Group General Manager. In May 2018, he became the Nigerian representative at OPEC. What are his commitments to themselves to criminals and cattle rustlers in the wild and expose the communities to the rampant violence that frictions from open cross country has begun to bring. Freedoms can be circumscribed. They are legitimately circumscribed when curtailed for reasons of public health and public safety. Intrusions are legitimate if they are the minimum necessary to achieve the stated public aims. A country wide ban on open cross country grazing is legitimate and long over due. Laws can limit choices, if the limiting of choices takes away harmful options and improves humanity, personal and collective autonomy. A man sets out with his cattle and roams from Sokoto to Calabar. It’s the culture he knows. He wanders over 1500 kilometers because he has to feed his cattle. He withers, his cattle shrivels. He is unaware of the other man, his professional colleague in Brazil or India. He has no education. He stoically wades through the perils and makes a pittance for his gruesome labour. The burden of the endless journeys wearies his cattle drains them of beef and milk. It’s slavery. The other man in Brazil stays in his ranch and his cattle leisurely Nigerians in the NNPC project? The new Group Managing Director of the NNPC has vowed to reverse the trend of petroleum products importation in the country by rehabilitating the existing refineries and encouraging private sector investment in the refineries sub-sector. He has not minced his words in saying he will transform Nigeria into a net exporter of petroleum products by 2023. We may not doubt MKK because the Crude Oil Marketing Division of the NNPC under his watch has recorded noticeable transformation in the management and sales of the various Nigeria’s crude oil grades via an infusion of transparency and automation of the processes. He pledged to continue the automation of the petroleum products sale process so that marketers can buy products online. Experts’ fears that the global chasm in crude oil quality supply shows no signs of narrowing, prompting refiners to lighten their slate and leading to a market glut with gasoline, naphtha and LPG. Notwithstanding the US shale oil that is hitting 12 million barrel per A country wide ban on open cross country grazing is legitimate and long over due feed on juicy grasses. They have been called to the same trade. One society is mindful of human dignity and modern trends and has prospered. The other is shortsighted and is stuck to the past. The shortsighted society allows its members to roam free in ignorance. And reaps the harvest of poverty, illiteracy and violence that come with it. Our cattle industry should be a gold mine. But we must send the herders to school to learn modern animal husbandry. And we must shelter and pamper the animals to better productivity. We must borrow from those who have succeeded their methods and techniques. We stopped child labour. It’s slavery. We established labour laws, to stamp out exploitation and inhumanity. Why then have we let the herders live like wild animals? Many state governments already have ranches and farm settlements. They should be rehabilitated and put to use. But the soul of a cattle business that will endure will be private ranches and scientific completion. The federal government can help with sourcing modern breeds and agree extension services. Let private ranches sprout everywhere. Let the state governments allocate lands generously to businesses that want them for ranches. Cattle will do well in ranches in Aba and Akure as they will in Sokoto. The herders should be given a life. It’s 2019. The new Group Managing Director of the NNPC has vowed to reverse the trend of petroleum products importation in the country by rehabilitating the existing refineries and encouraging private sector investment in the refineries sub-sector day a saturated light ends market could still attract demand for our crude and refined products as the new restrictions on amount of sulphur in global marine fuels would mean refiners buying more light sweet crude. With MKK outfield pedigree in petroleum economics and crude oil and gas trading that could be to our advantage. Entrenching transparency in NNPC? MKK is the focal person for the Open Government Initiative that helps the government to track the buyer and seller of crude oil. The Open Government Initiative is a global body that believes that making government information available to the public is a requirement for an informed citizenry and accountability by government. Kyari’s commitment is that every Nigerian is a stakeholder in the corporation, which implied that everyone has a right to information on how NNPC is managed. “NNPC will not be opaque, we’ll be transparent to all so that at the end of the day everyone will be in a position to assess us and say what we have done right or wrong.” MKK pledged to do his job with integrity, and will never put personal interest above that of the nation or the corporation. He has given a time limit to accomplish the thorny Nigerian problems in petroleum industry. Let’s give MKK a chance by encouraging him to improve the NNPC.
C M Y K ince the Federal Government, Sor an arm of it, announced the policy of RUGA settlements to contain the itinerant nature of our cattle business, neither the government nor the governed has had peace. Even now that the government has suspended the policy, the noise is yet to abate. Prominent people have shown their emotions and biases. Leaders of Socio/cultural organisations have chosen to follow the emotions and sentiments of their people rather than inform, lead and navigate them through this difficult pathway in the life of the country. Religious leaders are pitiably predictable in their condemnations or praises for the policy. Blogs are peddling halftruths and knowledgeable people including professors are reposting those that suit their positions. Everybody it seems, has taken sides based on personal, ethnic or religious interests on a policy that is yet to be properly enunciated, properly articulated and therefore properly understood. Elders that should offer a voice of reason, of temperance, are beating drums of war. Misguided ‘youths’ are giving misguided ultimatums. With all that is going on, it is difficult to keep a clear head. Yet, a clear head is what is required at this moment of anyone who is read or listened to when they pass comments on public issues. I was tempted to skip the RUGA issue completely and go ‘Afghanistan’ to comment on America’s Fourth of July celebrations, where a real belligerent drum of war was beaten. But that would be escapism bordering on dereliction. Besides, my looking away is not going to make the issue go away.The issue as I see it, is largely an economic issue which is described in colourful imagery depending on who is doing the narrative while the methods of addressing it is covered in greed, ethnicity, sabotage and incompetence. The North, particularly the Fulani North, rears cattle while the South largely consumes them. It is natural that a product will find its way to its consumer. It used to do so in this Given the kind of theatrics that come with political campaigns, it was not surprising that some mischief-makers in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, used the name of the national chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to mock the opposition during the recent campaigns. Despite the royal honorific, the APC social media proponents took it to town that Prince Uche was designated to lead the PDP to a second place. After all, his name is Secondus! It now seems that Prince Secondus, hailed by admirers as Total Chairman and who had in the past been praised for his political acumen may yet be living to his name in pulling his party down at strategic opportunities. While he was praised in some circles for managing a successful campaign despite the taunts of the APC social media soldiers, the jury out there is that he failed to provide leadership during the 2018 Osun governorship election. Osun was a state many believed was there for the taking given the record of the former administration in the state. However, at about the most critical period of wheelingdealing, the PDP national leadership was missing in action. And when present, was politically inept. Now, a development in the House of Representatives is another avoidable bungle that is smearing the Secondus leadership of the PDP. The decision of the leadership to project Mr. Kingsley Chinda as the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives is one that has RUG UGA as the new oil field? case, through a grazing route which was subsequently gazetted. Then population growth coupled with executive greed—former leaders who turned parts of the route into personal farms—and neglect nearly obliterated this route. The ensuing indiscriminate search for pasture and water led to clashes between farmers and herders. The fact that there is no organised or defined grazing route also made the roaming cattle to become more vulnerable to rustlers. The reality of drought on one hand, clashes with farmers on the other and rustlers along the way, turned otherwise benign herdsmen into aggressive survivalists. Losing 30, 50 cows in one night will harden any herder—just as losing your farm and home would harden any farmer. The herdsmen armed themselves initially as defence against attacks but soon became looters, rapists and arsonists. The next step was inevitable. Many became criminals who found it more profitable to take human beings than to take or fend for cattle. The reluctance and tardiness of security officers to nip a growing crime in the bud worsened the situation.Like cancer, this state of insecurity has spread through the life blood of the entire country. Hysterics replaced calm reasoning. Desperation led to knee jerk actions. The country became long on rhetoric but short on solutions. The situation reached a state of emergency for want of a better phrase.Fortunately it is a phrase—and a phase—that the President, being a General, understands. The first step in a state of emergency is containment, typified usually by a restriction of We must save Secondus astounded many partisans of the opposition party. The shock is in the nepotistic ascription that has been given to the choice of a Rivers man to become the number three man in the party that has a Rivers man as chairman. That is despite the vote of the majority of the PDP caucus for another person. Yes, the PDP was subtle in criticizing President Muhammadu <strong>Buhari</strong>’s choice of appointments last week that showed the first 10 aides from one ethnic bloc and all from one religion. Nigerians from outside the president’s catchment area for juicy appointments may have given up on seeing President <strong>Buhari</strong> make the kind of broadminded appointments as were made by Dr. Olusegun Obasanjo. But there are still some appointments being made that especially rankle. One of such was the appointment of a new director-general of the Nigerian Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru. After staying for more than three years, as acting director-general of NIPSS, Jonathan Juma is to step down for a subordinate, Habu Haladu who movement. That has been suggested by some in this case. But an abrupt restriction of cows and their herders has it consequences. First is the economics of it. It will affect the livelihood of many on both sides of the River Niger. People in the south forget how much they depend on livestock from the north for their many celebrations. Many are ignorant of the process it takes before meat gets to their dinner tables.Then we would need a large number of officers to police the restriction. The attendant result is an even more increase in violent crimes. Fortunately after a slow start, we all seem to agree that ranching is a better form of containment. But that is as far as consensus goes. The contending issues are land and the nature of Government support. Some people believe that ranching should be treated as a private business like other ventures. Whoever is interested should look for land, food and market like other farmers. The government believes a more comprehensive incentive is needed to change an ageold habit of cattle rearing. I see the sense in both arguments.Ranching is a very expensive business unlike poultry or piggery. It is also the main source of meat in the country. Secondly, we want to change, wholesale, the whole business of rearing and selling cattle and thereby avert incessant clashes. These two reasons and the urgency of the situation make government intervention inevitable.But intervention should be limited to providing infrastructures and funds at reasonable rates for interested has been promoted over him as substantive director-general. Though not totally shocking given the present inclination of the present leadership, the emotional trauma of reporting to a subordinate who is promoted apparently based on religious and ethnic primordial sentiments is demoralising. As Dr. Isaiah Osifo wrote in an article published this week, Nigeria succeeds in the field of soccer when we present our best eleven irrespective of where they come from. As Osifo noted, the man of the match in the Nigeria–South Africa encounter of last Wednesday, Samuel Chukwueze, may not have surfaced in a Nigerian team if the present primordial sentiments used in leadership selection were taken into consideration. Nigeria is not working because of the leadership recruitment process that puts meritocracy at the lower rung well below tribe and religion. Why Nigeria trashed South Africa was because the nation chose to put her best players forward. It is against this background that the distress of the PDP can be seen in its SATURDAY Vanguard, , JULY 13, 2019—35 Now is the time to get involved in what could be a win, win situation if handled properly investors.Government should also not force any State to enlist. And those that enlist should not have to cede their land permanently. There is something called leasing and it is applicable to land.Secondly, Ranching, RUGA, Colony or whatever name government aims to call it, should not be limited to a particular tribe. States that are interested in the programme should reserve the right to populate the settlements as they choose. My suggestion would be to encourage people of different tribes to populate each settlement with indigenes being in the majority. Let Southerners invest in the North and vice-versa. That way, we could have a mini Nigeria in each settlement. Or we cancel the idea of settlement altogether and let allied industries gravitate towards ranches. Although that would not make for an organised and integrated livestock industry, it should diffuse the tension and distrust in the country. My advice to States still sitting on the fence is to get on board. Especially the Southern States where cows are consumed in huge numbers everyday. Now is the time to get involved in what could be a win, win situation if handled properly. It does not make sense to have to depend on others for your food security. This Government is leaning towards a form of settlement for cattle and allied industries as a way to solve the farmer/ herdsman clashes. A lot of money is likely to be pumped into this project and those who are lucky to get ranches in these settlements might become instant millionaires given the support and incentives that could be available.The settlements could be the new oil fields of the future which the elites irrespective of tribe or religion, would again scramble to corner for themselves. Any State that opts out should not cry of marginalisation in the future. Nigerians from outside the president’s juicy appointments catchment area may have given up on seeing the kind of broadminded appointments as were made by President Olusegun Obasanjo faux pas in the House of Representatives. The act of the national chairman of a political party writing to the presiding officer on who should be the choice of majority or minority leader is itself offensive to democratic ethos. Some presiding officers would certainly not accept such communications! The PDP has undoubtedly found itself in a bind on the issue of selecting the principal officers of the House of Representatives. The rules do not support the inclinations of the national leadership of a political party telling the legislators who should be their leader! It was not surprising that the party set up a ten-man committee comprising of many past senior legislators and presiding officers to help it escape from the embarrassing situation it has found itself. Yes, those who know Prince Secondus speak of his humility and grace. It is understandable that he may have been under extreme pressures in guiding the party in selecting the new minority leader of the House. The lesson for the Secondus leadership of the PDP is that it cannot afford to make a slip on any issue. Doing otherwise would leave it permanently in second place in everything!
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13072019 - Buhari on new cabinet: I’ll never appoint ‘strangers’ again

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