EDITORIAL

The Federal government has announced its approval of three memos, National Duct One Policy, National Child Online Protection Policy and Strategy and Nigeria Data Protection Bill
The Minister of Communications and digital economy, Isa Pantami said, Council approved three memos, National Duct One Policy, National Child Online Protection Policy and Strategy and Nigeria Data Protection Bill.
He said the National Duct One Policy aims to institutionalise providing ducts during construction in Nigeria, at federal, state and even local government.

He said the policy came about after many stakeholder engagements with over 37 institutions of government.
The minister said with the approval, by implication, during road construction, bridges, rail lines, seaports, stadium and all other important buildings, provision must be made for ducts, where at least any wire or any gadget for electricity or telecommunications or any service that is required will make use of that facility and lay their cables.
Patanmi said, “This is the global best practice today. Before construction, even during the conceptualisation, design and construction, there should be provision of ducts for road construction, bridges, rail lines, seaports, and any important building.

“Today, we have been confronted with a challenge that whenever we want to provide telecommunications infrastructure, in some cities and towns in Nigeria, a lot of damage is being done, either to our roads or to our facilities.
“Why? Because during the design and construction, no provision of any duct or pipeline where the fiber optics and other telecommunication gadgets will pass. It is because of this we organised stakeholder engagement, where we brought all the stakeholders including the Ministry of Works and Housing, where we all agreed that there is a need to institutionalise the provision of ducts in design and construction.

“And there are so many benefits to be obtained from that. Number one, it allows shared infrastructure. Number two, it makes maintenance and repair much easier. If that is part of the design and construction, during maintenance, you don’t need to damage any road or any important building.

That provision is sufficient and you will have a chamber where you will get access to all the facilities. It is because of this, we came up with this policy and in addition to that, it will also continue to make the price of broadband cheaper.

“However, it is very cheap. In Nigeria as at August 2019, based on the official report of the Nigerian Communications Commission, one gigabyte of data, the price approximately was N1,200 but today the average price is N350. If you look at it, the reduction is even more than 60%.

“Because by laying fiber optics, a lot is being spent in doing that. When we try to reduce the price and the amount being spent in doing that, that is part of the cost of production. So it will automatically bring the cost of production lower and by implication, all of us will even get broadband access at more affordable prices than what is being obtained today.”

On the National Child Online Protection Policy and Strategy, Pantami said it is meant to protect children from online content that could corrupt their innocence.

He said: “As we all know, there are many benefits of going online. The world population reached 10 billion on the 15th November 2022. Today, we have around 6.3 billion people online and by implication, among this number, you will discover many children. They will not be able to differentiate between what is beneficial and what is harmful.

“According to the report of the International Telecommunication Union, even during COVID-19, more than one billion children were online, most of them for their studies, because schools were shut down. So, they switch to virtual learning only.
“Children will not be able to differentiate what is beneficial or what is harmful. And today, if you go online, you will discover that many things are coming into your device unsolicitedly. If you are at least matured, you will be able to avoid it but children would not be able to and that will definitely affect their innocence and will even affect them morally and otherwise.

“It is because of this that the International Telecommunication Union, which is an arm of the United Nations, came up with a policy document for all its 193 member countries. Nigeria is part and parcel of the International Telecommunication Union. The document has been titled: ‘keeping children safe in the digital environment, the importance of our protection under empowerment.’
“In this document, all member countries have been urged to ensure they come up with a policy where children are going to be protected.

“In the UK today, they have a bill that is for online safety. Many countries are working on a similar document. It is because of this, we organised stakeholder engagement, where we invited around 37 institutions of government, because if you look at the challenge is not only one sector, but rather it is multi sectoral issue, Minister of Information and Culture, National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for example, national orientation agency, all of them have a role to play.

Street hawking is a growing problem in developing countries like Nigeria due to its associated risks. As well, poverty is one of the fastest growing scourge in Nigeria and by extension in Africa.
It is also apt to also register that Street hawking and poverty are symbiotic because poverty feeds street hawking.

In Nigeria, the increasing scourge of poverty and worsening economic conditions feeds the drastic rise in street hawking in the country’s major cities such as Lagos, Port-Harcourt, Abuja Aba, Owerri and Onitsha. This development is a clear manifestation of socioeconomic realities on ground. For instance, families and young people migrate to cities in search of livelihoods but end up on street hawking.

Most State governments have recently started enforcing a law that bans street hawking in their state’s major cities. Some of these States implement this as urban renewal policy aimed at kicking the unwanted, out of the cities, towns and streets instead of tackling the rising poverty indices which beget the increasing Street hawking scourge.

Over 80% of Nigerians live below the poverty line and street hawking has become the easiest route to survival. Thousands rely on street hawking for survival, conspicuously standing at traffic interchanges, weaving between cars and setting up on pavements. The ban is usually regarded as part of the government’s drive to modernise the city and improve infrastructure in the state.

But the way that the assigned units do the job of chasing out the street hawkers is dehumanizing; pursuing them like animals, confiscating their goods and demanding money for bail usually cause more harm than good. Sometimes, these Street hawkers run into dangers such as accidents while running to save their wares from vandalisation and subsequent exorbitant extortion.

Frankly, there is no justification for such a policies in Nigeria when the poverty situation of the country has not been addressed. Policies should be founded on research and evidence based practices. Nigeria should learn from countries like Bangladesh, Ghana, Uganda and Tunisia. All have failed to forcibly evict street hawkers.

Street hawkers are transient, resilient and adaptive that if threatened with eviction, will change their strategies, location and mode of operation. They could also resort to crime when forcefully evicted.

The question is how can government effectively respond to issues of street hawking?

There is no consensus on an effective intervention. The state argues that street hawking promotes child trafficking, misuse of public space, environmental degradation, lawlessness and violation of human rights.
As part of the cleanup, the government can offer small loans to street hawkers through the Employment Trust Fund to use as a means to start proper and standard businesses.

Nigeria is in its worst economic shape in history. The poor bear the brunt. And there is no social welfare system in the country to cater for poor families.
There is a pressing need to protect children and other young people from being exploited. Evidence shows about 40% of children that hawk on streets are victims of adult exploitation. This amounts to child abuse, according to United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child. Although Nigeria promulgated the Childs Right Act in 2003, it has not been implemented effectively.
Children are sometimes sent to the streets by their parents to supplement the family income. Others are children trafficked from neighbouring states or West African countries. These children were given away by their parents on the premise that they would receive food, shelter, good education and care. But they end up being exploited.

The impact of street hawking is enormous; especially for vulnerable children. They are at risk of being hit by a vehicle, subjection to sexual abuse and possible of suffering physical exhaustion. For those that attend school, street hawking also affects their academic performance.

State social protection services have a responsibility to protect children and young people from the negative impacts of street hawking.
Responding effectively to street hawking requires both a structural approach and one that focuses on individuals. Parents who use children to hawk for income should be given jobs to help them provide for their families and meet their economic needs.
And children should be provided with training to make up for any deficiencies in knowledge and skills to help them lead a successful life.
The anti-street hawker policy will not be fruitful if it’s enforced without addressing the root cause of street hawking which is poverty and joblessness.

Usually, every New Year comes with lots of expectations and hopes but Elections years come differently as it with a unique and peculiar wave of apprehension that seemingly heightens the January fever occasioned by huge expenses of Christmas and New Year merriments.

However, this year’s election is distinct because the incumbent President General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), is not contesting as he is constitutionally completing two terms of eight years in office.

This nation has continued to face an escalated myriad of problems especially since the past seven and a half years, Buhari held swear as President. These challenges include continuously reducing standard of education, rising level of unemployment, pervasive poverty, widening insecurity, food scarcity, rising inflation, division along tribal and religious lines, increasing debt profile, fuel scarcity, excessive corruption and absolute maladministration among others.

The only hope for a positive change in the country is rapped on the fact that there will be a general election expected to replace the frustrating and suffocating Buhari’s administration on May 29, this year.

Obviously, no other activity in this Country consumes as much resources and time than politicking elections. The period and process have a lot evils encapsulated in it; from financial, spiritual to physical trauma.

Indeed, Nigerians pay so much for this aspect of democracy rituals. The one activity that makes time stand still in Africa is elections. Everything our politicians do by way of governance is either about preparing for the next election or undoing a previous election they have lost. Life itself is made to stop just for the sake of elections.

Of the 18 candidates contesting to become Nigeria’s next president, just one is female. But she, along with 13 others, does not have a realistic chance of winning. Most analysts agree that only four candidates – Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC); Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP); Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP); and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) – can win or shape the destination of the presidency in February next year. They all know each other, and Nigerian politics, well.

Ordinarily, many Nigerians are of the view that the next President may not be able to cope with the national challenges considering the level of damages done on virtually all facets of the nation’s life; Health, Education, Petroleum Resource, Economy, Business, Aviation, Civil and Public Service and Security which adjudged by many as the worst hit, thus far.

The stakes of the 2023 election are high because the new president will immediately confront an exhausting array of challenges, from multiple and complex security crises to a disastrously mismanaged economy.

This year makes it 23 years since Nigeria got on the path of an uninterrupted cycle of civil rule yet Nigeria is filing far below her counterparts.

It is most painful that our politicians of this age have turned the spirit, tenets and structure of democracy to the highest opportunity for a masterful display of manipulations to outwit more decent players in the game of power, but Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) which is an electronic device designed to read Permanent Voter Cards (PVCs) and authenticate voters, and the newly introduced electronic transmission of results will certainly change the dynamics this time.

Frankly, Nigeria is in the dungeon of turmoil, disorder, insecurity, ethnicity, and religious chauvinism because our leaders have used inordinate process to ride to power.

These perverted interests have prevented the most competent and rational characters from attaining to power and these have caused vulnerable Nigerians political, economic, and social mess. These ills have dragged the country far backward; Nigeria, needs a leader that can rise above petty religious and tribal sentiments.

Electing the nation’s leadership is up to Nigerian voters. It is also apt that serious attentions be given to other essential elections targets that will be impactful to Nigerians at certain levels such as representatives at the National Assembly comprising of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The Senate consists of three senators from the states of Nigeria and one senator from the Federal Capital Territory of Abuja.

It is my prayer that Nigerians should drop their petty sentiments attitude and vote massively for a presidential candidate with credible and trusted antecedents, to redeem our country.

While appreciate the fact that Election Security is vital to democratic consolidation through provision of enabling environment for the conduct of free, fair, credible and inclusive elections and thus strengthening the electoral process.

The 2023 general election which is about 45 days away is seriously being threatened by waves of insecurity in many parts of Nigeria which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) warned may call for its cancellation.

The warning came on Monday at the Validation of Election Security Training Resources by INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, represented by the Chairman Board of Electoral Institute (BEI), Prof. Abdullahi Abdu Zuru.
Though, according to the Commission, in preparations for the 2023 General elections, the body is not leaving anything to chance in ensuring that intensive and extensive security are provided for election personnel, materials and processes.

This he said is expedient and instructive for the commission given the current insecurity challenges in various parts the country and the fact that the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members constitute the core of the Polling Unit Election officials.

“Moreover, if the insecurity is not monitored and dealt with decisively, it could ultimately culminate in the cancellation and/or postponement of elections in sufficient constituencies to hinder declaration of elections results and precipitate constitutional crisis. This must not be allowed to happen and shall not be allowed to happen.

“Therefore, security personnel in particular and all election officials in general must be security conscious and alert to unusual activities in their environment and must be fully equipped to deal with any challenge at all times,” Yakubu said.

In the light of that possibility he said, the National Security Adviser (NSA), Gen. Mohammed Babagana Monguno (retd), and the Chairman, INEC have jointly assured the nation that conducive environment will be provided for successful conduct of the 2023 general election.

He also said that there is a new Electoral Legal Framework that will guide the 2023 election as a result of the enactment of the Electoral Act 2022 which prompted the review of the INEC Regulations and Guidelines for Conduct of Elections 2022.

He said, “In particular, Sections 47(2), 60(1, 2 & 5), 62(1), 64(4a & 4b) and 64(5) of the Electoral Act 2022, which confers INEC with the power to use any technological device to transmit or transfer election results electronically are instructive in this regard.

“Emboldened by these legal protections, the Commission introduced new innovative technologies and procedures and made commitments to the Nigeria People that (a) Continuous Verification, Accreditation and Voting will be conducted at the Polling Units using the Bimodal Verification and Accreditation System (BVAS) and (b) Real-Time Polling Unit-level results will be uploaded on to the INEC Results Viewing (IReV) Portal using the same BVAS.

“These commitments require innovative security strategies and deployments for protection of voters, election personnel, materials, equipment, the electoral processes as well as the general public and infrastructure.
“These innovative systems and processes minimize human errors and delays in results collation and improves the accuracy, transparency, and credibility of the results collation process thereby ensuring credibility of the process, they were tested during the Ekiti and Osun Governorship elections, held on June 18, 2022 and July 16, 2022, respectively.

“The Hon. Chairman INEC has severally assured the nation that the BVAS and IReV will be deployed during the 2023 General Elections.”
The INEC boss added that reports on the conduct of security operatives during the elections conducted by the commission specifically stand-alone governorship elections in Ekiti and Osun states have shown progressive and commendable improvement in their disposition to electoral training and professionalism on election duties.

Over the past several years, Russian Foreign Ministry has strengthened the military-technical cooperation a key part of the foreign policy of the Russian Federation with Africa. It has oftentimes explained in statements released on its website that Russia’s military-technical cooperation with African countries is primarily directed at settling regional conflicts and preventing the spread of terrorist threats, and fighting the growing terrorism in the continent.

It is broadening its geography of military diplomacy covering poor African countries and especially fragile States that need Russia’s military assistance. It has signed bilateral military-technical cooperation agreements with more than 20 African countries, according to several reports.

Some policy experts have said that African society is suffering through a weak institutions and terrorism challenges due to alienation from political governance and lack of having equal opportunity in community affairs. For instance, countries such as Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Central African Republic and many others have loose holds of the government and have deliberately created the political environment for terrorist organizations to flourish in Africa.

The basic polity of many African countries is not up to the mark. There are state institutions, departments and agencies like law enforcement bodies, regulatory agencies and judiciary suffering from the chronic dysfunctional mechanism which needs immediate focus to address challenges of terrorism and terror funding. Therefore, fighting terrorism should be analyzed and raising the functioning levels of institutions as well as the development of the society.

Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat has reiterated the necessity of creating regional forces for fighting terrorist groups, but added that the African armies are still under-equipped. “It is important that external partners listen to the cries of Africa and operate within the framework of the organization when it comes to the extension support in dealing with this scourge,” he stressed.

Somalia’s President, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud also spoke about how the terrorist group, al-Shabaab, controlled large portions of Somalia’s rural areas. “Shabaab, or terrorists anywhere they are, cannot be defeated militarily only,” he said.

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi was very outspoken, shared valuable experiences about the use of well-constituted regional military force for enforcing peace and security in Mozambique. Creating regional military forces to fight threats of terrorism will absolutely not require bartering the entire gold or diamond mines for the purchase of military equipment from external countries.

Now, Mozambique has relative peace and stability after the 16-member Southern African Development Community (SADC) had finally approved the deployment of joint military force with the primary responsibility of ensuring peace and stability, and for restoring normalcy in the Cabo Delgado province, northern Mozambique.
It involves troops from Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community Military Mission (SAMIM). Rwanda offered 1,000 in July 2021. South Africa has the largest contingent of around 1,500 troops. External countries are, of course, enormously helping to stabilize the situation in Mozambique.

The Joint Forces of the Southern African Development Community are keeping peace in northern Mozambique. The rules, standards and policies, provision of the assistance as well as the legal instruments and practices are based on the protocols of building and security stipulated by the African Union. It, therefore, falls within the framework of peace and security requirements of the African Union.

Ahead of the next Russia-Africa Summit in St Petersburg, July 2023, the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA) has published a special report on Russia-Africa.
The report titled – Russia’s Private Military Diplomacy in Africa: High Risk, Low Reward, Limited Impact – says that Russia’s renewed interest in Africa is driven by its quest for global power status. Few expect Russia’s security engagement to bring peace and development to countries with which it has security partnerships.

While Moscow’s opportunistic use of private military diplomacy has allowed it to gain a strategic foothold in partner countries successfully, the lack of transparency in interactions, the limited scope of impact and the high financial and diplomatic costs exposes the limitations of the partnership in addressing the peace and development challenges of African host countries, the report says.

The report authored by Ovigwe Eguegu, a Beijing-based Nigerian Researcher on Politics and International Affairs, focused on the use of private military companies to carry out ‘military diplomacy’ in African states, and the main research questions were: What impact is Russia’s private military diplomacy in Africa having on host countries’ peace and development? Why has Russia chosen military diplomacy as the preferred means to gain a foothold on the continent?

His report was based on more than 80 media publications dealing with Russia’s military-technical cooperation in Africa. He interrogates whether fragile African states advance their security, diplomatic and economic interests through a relationship with Russia.

Overcoming the multidimensional problems facing Libya, Sudan, Somali, Mali, and the Central African Republic will require comprehensive peace and development strategies that include conflict resolution and peacebuilding, state-building, security sector reform, and profound political reforms to improve governance and the rule of law – not to mention sound economic planning critical for attracting foreign direct investment needed to spur economic growth.

The United Nations (UN), the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the entire international community have expressed collective concerns about any use of private mercenary forces, instead strongly suggested the use of well-constituted regional forces approved by regional blocs, as a means of addressing conflicts in Africa. The G5 Sahel are Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger.

Movement of people from one place to another in countries of the world in search of better conditions of living predates history. It ignited western societies’ contact with Africa and the rest of the world. In the present day Nigeria, the same scenario still abounds but in a new dimension. It now involves movement of highly skilled manpower from the country to developed societies.

But, shockingly, Nigeria, which was a destination for economic migrants with an influx of teachers and lecturers from Ghana and India into public secondary schools and universities soon found itself under the economic downturn and an IMF-mandated structural adjustment program. Austerity measures were imposed led to a downturn in funding of the educational sector.

This led to several student uprisings which triggered a mass exodus of the expatriates and an export of skilled Nigerian workers. Ever since, many Nigerian students have shown increasing interest, especially in travelling to developed societies, soon after the completion of their study.

Subsequently, significant factors such as mass unemployment, poor working conditions, poor salary structure, political and religious crises, lack of quality education delivery and mass poverty as Nigeria became the World Poverty Capital (OXFAM Report, 2018) led to more brain drain.

According to revelations from Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Nigeria has lost over 9,000 medical doctors to different parts of the western divide, especial United Kingdom, Canada and the United States of America between 2016 and 2018. In fact, no fewer than 727 medical doctors trained in Nigeria relocated to the United Kingdom alone between December 2021 and May 2022.

This nauseating development that is having almost all the country’s best brains in the medical field leaving the country shores for greener pastures, even when the healthcare industry in Nigeria needs more medical experts to meet the growing health needs of over 200 million people in this country.

According to World Health Organisation (WHO) data, Nigeria has a doctor-to-population ratio of about 1: 4000-5000, which falls far short of the WHO recommended doctor-to-population ratio of 1:600.
Therefore, the deteriorating menace of brain drain worsens the already depleted healthcare resources in Nigeria. And here we are in a country currently battling the myriad of challenges including escalating insecurity, mass youth unemployment, crises in the education sector exacerbated by the ASUU strike and of course, the highest inflation rate over the past 18 years.

Beginning with health sector, according to the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, it costs Nigeria between $21,000 and $51,000 to train a single medical doctor. But, the country has lost more than $2bn since 2010 to training doctors who later migrate. It therefore, means that countries such as the UK with10% of doctors coming from African nations save about $2.7bn by recruiting these doctors.

Nigeria is holding the short end of the medical stick!
In retrospect, concerned health stakeholders alerted the federal government to a looming shortage of medical doctors, with a projection of over 50,120 doctors and 137,859 nurses in Nigeria by the year 2030. That was in July, 2021. For instance, as at March 2020 the ratio of doctor –to- patient ratio stood at 1: 2,753. This falls far short of the one medical doctor-to-600 people as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Some other effects of brain drain identified so far “include loss of human capital assets, lost income from the loss of tax of the migrated manpower to foreign countries and the loss of capital invested in the subsidised public education of migrated manpower”. So, how do clip the widening wings of brain drain from taking our best and brightest minds outside our shores?
We should admit that quality healthcare delivery is part of the United Nations’ Human Rights Declaration of 1948. It is also expressly stated, in section 17(3)(d), of the 1999 constitution (as amended which guarantees “adequate medical and health facilities for all persons.”
There has to be the enabling environment of peace and security in place, to act as catalysts to increase human resources and healthcare delivery. More budgetary allocations should go to these sectors. It is sad to note that the country’s budget for education as a percentage of its GDP has never surpassed a single digit from 2016 till date. In fact, in 2021, Nigeria’s education budget of 5.6 percent has been the lowest since 1999. This falls short of the 26% as recommended by UNESCO.

As for the health sector, finding solutions go beyond the government setting up a Health Reform Committee geared towards reversing the brain drain. For instance, the country’s budget in 2021 was 13.6 trillion, and the health ministry got 514 billion, being 3.7 per cent of the budget. Now you should understand one of the reasons behind the massive brain drain.

Notably, in a 2017 survey carried out by Nigeria’s polling agency, NOI Polls, in conjunction with Nigerian Health Watch it was found that 88 percent of doctors were considering work opportunities abroad! Over half of the doctors registered with the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN) practice outside Nigeria.
Also, medical tourism should be banned. Shortage of medical specialists contributes towards medical tourism as a handful of Nigerians spend ₦359.2 billion annually while seeking care abroad.

The forthcoming 2023 general election provides yet another golden opportunity to the Nigerian electorate to choose political leaders, wisely, especially those who understand exactly where we are currently trapped in and have to muster the political will to do the needful. That is, with regards to the all-important education and the health sectors.

Paradoxically, Nigeria is barely Seventy-Eight (78) days away from a general elections that could strengthen or deface its democracy.
However, laudable developments thus far, includes a surge in voter registrations and a wave of civic engagement among young Nigerians who in the recent past have often despaired of better governance through elections. Yet, dangers loom: risks of electoral violence or disputed election results in a country where political and criminal violence has reached new levels.

Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reassured Nigerians that the 2023 general election will be technology-driven to avoid any human errors.

Speaking during a Twitter space organised by the Commission on Friday, November 4, on the topic ‘Why INEC BVAS, IReV are critical to the 2023 General Election,’ the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Festus Okoye, disclosed that the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and INEC Result Viewing Portal (IREV) will be deployed for the 2023 general elections.

Okoye said: “We have reached the critical stage in the electoral process, in this critical stage, it’s important to let Nigerians know some of the creative innovation that had been pinpointed for the purposes of the 2023 elections. The INEC chairman has made it clear to Nigerians that only the vote of Nigerians will determine this election. He has also made it clear that this particular election will be technology-driven.

He noted that Commission has the power to make use of electronic voting machines in the electoral process.
“Both the Constitution and the Electoral Act have also given the Commission the power to make subsidiary legislations and the Commission has also made regulation and guidelines for the conduct of the 2023 general election and other subsequent elections.

“By the provision of Section 41 of the Electoral Act, the National assembly and invariably the Nigerian people have given the Commission the right and power to provide what we call suitable boxes, electronic voting machines, or any other voting device for the conduct of election.

“The implication is that for the 2023 general election, the Commission has exclusive right and responsibility to determine the mode of election and for this particular election the Commission has made a determination that it will continue to use the ballot boxes and the ballot papers for the conduct of elections. Subsequently there is a possibility that the Commission may deploy and introduce electronic voting machines in the electoral process.”
He stressed that no registered voter in Nigeria will vote without passing through the gate of BVAS which has been recommended by INEC as a technological device for voter’s authentication and verification.

“In terms of IREV, it’s also impossible not to transmit the Polling Unit level result into the INEC result viewing portal. This is because, Section 50, Section 60 and as well as Section 64 of the Electoral Act have made it mandatory that the result of election should be transmitted electronically,” he said.

The INEC deputy director of ICT, Lawrence Bayode, also added that BVAS and IREV will play a pivotal role in creating a free, fair and credible election.

“INEC, since 2002, progressively has deployed technology to improve the transparency and credibility of its electoral process. And therefore, the deployment of these two technologies in the coming general election in the 2023 are going to play a very strong role and their role will be pivotal in reducing human intervention that could lead to alteration of the wishes of voters.”

Bayode stressed that BVAS is used during accreditation to verify voters unlike the smart card reader where the information of the voters is read from the PVC.

“It is also to authenticate that the bearer of the PVC is the legitimate owner of the card using the fingerprint or the facial matching. BVAS can also be used to scan and upload result to the IREV portal at the end of the poll.”

Therefore, we believe that supporting the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the domestic front means (1) ensuring that political figures refrain from anything that smacks of political interference with the election process, and (2) that the Nigerian military and police share full information on the precarious security situation, so that the commission can make informed decisions for a secure election. This is acute in disparate locales, overrun by criminality, where it could be difficult to hold elections at all.

To help Africa’s most populous nation pivot toward stability and to indirectly bolster democratization across the continent; the United States and other international partners should provide diplomatic, political and technical support for Nigeria’s electoral authority.

Maternal mortality has been on the increase in recent time with detrimental effects on the socioeconomic development of the nation. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 830 women die every day from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. More worrisome is the fact that 99% of all maternal deaths occur in developing countries.

Recently, the Nigeria’s Minister of Health, Osagie Ehanire, said, the lack of access to healthcare is the main factor contributing to high maternal, infant and under five mortality in the country.

The latest United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report titled “Situation of Women and Children in Nigeria” states that the country records 576 maternal mortality per 100,000 live births, while approximately 262,000 babies die at birth every year.

Also, infant mortality currently stands at 69 per 1,000 live births, while under-five deaths is 128 per 1,000 live births with more than 64 per cent of the deaths caused by pneumonia, malaria and diarrhoea.
Though, Ehanire, admite, the figure is embarrassing, he added that the federal government is working toward extending healthcare to areas that lack services.

“It is embarrassing when you go to conferences and see that your country has some of the worst indices and that’s one of the reasons why this administration is looking at extending healthcare to areas where we have problems.

“The area where you see this maternal mortality mostly is the rural areas where they have zero access to healthcare and where you will see that in spite of preaching inclusion, many people are actually excluded from the health service delivery.

“That’s why we are pressing for expanded primary healthcare. If you examine the causes of this high maternal mortality and also the infant mortality and the under-five mortality, you find that most of it is due to lack of access.

“There is no hospital there. Most of the women who deliver do so without skilled birth attendants, but once you have skilled birth attendants, maternal mortality reduces drastically.”

He also said that the federal government was working with state governments to ensure staff complement every PHC because the states and local governments are responsible for all the personnel at the PHCs as they were the custodians of PHCs.

“The new model that we have set up will have staff quarters, solar power independent of grid electricity, water supply and be able to offer community service day or night so anybody who is ready to deliver will not have a long way to go. So, that is a very important part of reducing maternal and infant mortality.
“The other part of it is financial access. There is no point when they get there they don’t have money and then they are ignored.

“So, that’s where health insurance comes in and then the Basic Health Care Provision Fund assures that even somebody who goes to the PHC in an emergency without any money in his pocket will still receive attention because the provider will be assured of payment.

“We have enough nurses and enough supply chain of medicines and digital technology that allows a nurse in a rural PHC to contact the doctor at the local government headquarters or a specialist at the teaching hospital to give advice on what to do if they have complications.”

The Minister explained that such intervention would ensure access to an experienced doctor at all times, as currently, it may not be possible to have a doctor in every PHC.
On emergencies, the minister said there were people who even though they deliver safely at home, suffer complications.

He said some may bleed severely, while some others may have obstructed labour and cannot deliver and wait till the next day to get to a capable treatment centre, which would be dangerous.
He, however, added that the National Emergency Medical Service and Ambulance Services (NEMSAS) was created to address such emergencies.

“You will just dial 112 and the ambulance with paramedics will come to wherever the patient lives, administer first aid and move to the nearest capable treatment centre where the problem will be solved.
“These are the measures that will reduce maternal mortality and under-five mortality.
“As far as the under-five mortality is concerned, the three main killers for children are diarrhoea, malaria and pneumonia.

“If a child has acute pneumonia or acute diarrhoea and you don’t take care of that child quickly, there is high risk so we can’t wait for two days or three days.

“So if they get to a medical centre or a PHC early enough, an experienced nurse can take care of that problem,’
It is therefore most expedient that Nigeria, do the needful and quickly too to enable a sharp control on the rising maternal and infant mortality rate.

The campaigns are here again. Political parties and candidates are deploying everything to convince innocent voters that they mean well and have clear agenda to transform society. These statements give an indication of what matters to the candidates and their visions of the future of their societies.

Ideally, a manifesto is a compilation of the broad vision, development philosophy, ideological leaning and sector-specific policy options that a political party intends to pursue once elected.

The reality in the Nigerian political culture deviates, albeit in a slightly different way, from the denotative nuances of a manifesto. In Nigeria, a manifesto is more of a tradition, a political culture and not an essential requirement in a political contest. Whether citizens take it seriously or not is another matter. The belief in Nigeria, following historical precedence, is that manifestos are almost acts of confidence trick – soundbites and promises that are intended to trick but never to be kept. Nevertheless, the expectation is that all political parties and presidential candidates will present their manifestoes or agenda to the public.

Two of the four presidential frontrunners in Nigeria’s 2023 general elections have released what are somewhat documents of manifestos. Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) released an abridged version of his manifesto captioned the “New Covenant” or “My Covenant With Nigerians”. Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has issued a “Hope Renewed”.

One common thing to both manifestos is that they need to show more details on how they intend to accomplish what they have outlined as their programmes for the revival of Nigeria. Labour Party’s Peter Obi and New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP)’s Rabiu Kwankwaso are yet to release any manifesto officially. Peter Obi had argued that getting wordsmiths and consultants to write and package a manifesto is not enough, candidates should be able to speak to Nigerians about what they plan to do, how they will do this and where the funds will come from to fulfil their promises.

The campaign managers and spin doctors of the two main parties, APC and PDP, are already jostling to place their manifestos at the centre of media and public attention, whilst attacking the essence and content of each other’s manifesto.

Dele Momodu, a journalist and media manager of the Atiku presidential campaign launched the first attack by describing Tinubu’s manifesto as a bad recycling of late MKO Abiola’s 1993 manifesto, calling it the “APC manifesto of lies”. As expected, he got an immediate reply from Festus Keyamo, who described the Atiku-Okowa manifesto as merely a copy of President Buhari’s projects. At least Nigerians who have consumed enough bad news now have some comic relief.

We expect these attacks, which are part of election campaigns and justling. However, these contesting soundbites are not enough to satisfy the political appetites of the electorate. I expect thorough and critical analyses of the manifesto of each party by its opponents, with the view to interrogating the document and questioning the relevance of its content to our common aspiration.

Nigerians should examine the practicality and workability of the ideas and policies contain in these manifestos and task each party’s campaign managers to explain to the public some of the grey areas identified. I also expect civil society organisations, the media and public commentators to delve into these manifestos and dissect them in order to educate the public on their contents, and the merits and demerits of the ideas, policies, and assumptions contained in these documents. The aim is to enlighten the citizens, because only an enlightened citizenry will vote for candidates whose visions align with their developmental needs and aspirations.

Once elections are over, the parties and the candidate jettison their manifestos and its promises. What if we treat voting as a transaction between the voter and the elected officials, which is a social contract? Should we not hold elected officials accountable when they deviate from promises they made in their manifestoes, upon which they were voted into office?

Can citizens take legal action against parties and candidates for not implementing the provisions of their manifestos? If a prospective voter has voted on the basis of a promise, should the voter not have the legitimate expectation that the government voted to power would perform on the basis of their contract? Therefore, citizens need to take note and keep track of party manifestos and candidates’ promises during election campaigns in order to hold them accountable.

Besides, citizens must be able to remove non-performing leaders before another election cycle. Though it runs a parliamentary system, the UK changed a prime minister in 44 days because she could not deliver on her campaign manifesto.

Yet, there is no indication that the content of a party’s manifesto substantially influences how citizens vote. 90% of eligible voters, a good chunk being illiterate by default, in Nigeria do not bother about manifestos. Even candidates need to learn the content of their manifesto document. It is time we paid attention to the manifestos of parties and candidates, in order to interrogate them, keep track, and hold elected officials accountable. We need citizen mechanisms or actions to hold candidates responsible for their manifesto promises before periodic elections. That way, we shall deepen our democracy.
In countries such as Bhutan and Mexico, political parties are required to submit a copy of their election manifestos to the Electoral Commission before the general elections.

Manifestos are issued to the public only with the approval of the Electoral Commission. This has a way of making the government perform its manifesto promises. A mechanism to track and hold candidates accountable would ensure that promises merely to induce voters are not made and that promises are sincere and well-conceived.
News Echo implores all stakeholders in the Nigerian project to use every opportunity available to interrogate all electoral promises within and outside the manifestos.

We need to understand the vision that a political party’s candidate is selling to voters and create means of holding him or her to his or her words. The media is also advised to focus on the proper enlightenment of voters on the basis of the promises of candidates as contained in their manifestos and other political statements