STRUCTURES on waterways across the nation’s capital will all be demolished, according to the Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA).
The FCDA executive director, Shehu Ahmed, said structures in communities such as Trademore estate, disrupting the natural water flow, are responsible for flooding recorded in some parts of the city.
He disclosed this in a statement on Sunday, July 2, in Abuja.
Ahmed said many of the buildings in the estate have been marked for demolition. Still, the occupants have refused to relocate despite repeated warnings.
Last Friday, June 23, Trademore Estate was flooded after an hour-long rainfall.
Several houses, vehicles, shops and other properties were damaged by the flood, while some lives were also lost.
Speaking on this incident, the FCDA director said, “People are clamouring that we act quickly and take tough decisions to save lives. And this is what we must do. We cannot work as though we don’t see this man-made problem caused by those who violate the Abuja Master Plan.
“By declaring Trademore a disaster zone, we have told the residents there to evacuate. The area is in a low-line zone which is not safe. Flooding can come at any time. They know this and have been experiencing it over the years.”
Ahmed said a police station and some buildings will be demolished.
He noted that the Agency has asked the FCT Police Command to provide a suitable place for them to operate from and fight crime.
According to him, Trademore Estate does not have an FCDA-approved building plan. He noted that due to the continuous flooding in the area, it would be best to leave the flooded areas as green areas and not for residential purposes.
Meanwhile, When The ICIR visited the estate after the flood incident, the residents protested the plan by the government to demolish buildings.
The Trademore Estate chairman, Phase 2, Stella Okuteh, said no demolition will be allowed in the estate as the residents are still paying the mortgage on their homes to the Federal Mortgage Bank (FMB).
“Trademoore is not the only estate affected. The government should fix the problem. Trace the water, and build better drainages.
“The houses here are owned by the Federal Mortgage Bank through Platinum Mortgage Bank that built this house. Many residents here are civil servants who are still paying mortgages to the government,” she said.
Harold Idemudia, a member of the estate board of trustees, said demolishing the area is an ineffective way to resolve the problem.
He blamed poor drainage construction for the perennial flooding in the estate.
“Demolishing the area won’t stop the flooding. Government needs to build a better drainage system.”
THE Socio-Economic Rights Accountability Project (SERAP) has demanded that Nigerian President Bola Tinubu publish spending details of the N400 billion saved as a result of removal of fuel subsidy over the past four weeks.
In a post via its Twitter page on Sunday, July 2, SERAP threatened to institute legal actions against the President if the details demanded are not made available.
SERAP also addressed a letter to Tinubu dated July 1, stating that there were concerns about embezzlement of the funds and making the information public would promote accountability and reduce the risk of corruption.
“Your government has a legal responsibility to ensure that the savings from the removal of subsidy on petrol are spent solely for the benefit of the 137 million poor Nigerians who are bearing the brunt of the removal.
“Publishing the details of the spending of the N400bn and other savings from the removal of subsidy would also ensure that persons with public responsibilities are answerable to the people for the performance of their duties including the management of the funds.”
The organisation said transparency would ensure that Nigerians, who have been affected by the hike in cost of petrol, benefit from the funds and overcome the effects of the removal.
“We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within 7 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall consider appropriate legal actions to compel your government to comply with our request in the public interest.
“Unless the government is transparent and accountable to Nigerians in how it spends the savings from the removal of subsidy on petrol, the removal will continue to undermine the rights of Nigerians, and increase their vulnerability to poverty and social deprivation,” SERAP noted.
While delivering his inaugural speech, Tinubu announced the removal of fuel subsidy, after which fuel prices surged by about 200 per cent.
The surge in fuel costs resulted in some hardship for Nigerians, as transport costs and other businesses have been affected by the hike.
On Friday, June 30, oil marketers said that the Federal Government has saved N400 billion as a result of the removal, based on calculations by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Mele Kyari on Nigerians monthly subsidy expenditure.
“Today, by law and the provisions of the Appropriation Act, there is a subsidy on the supply of petroleum products, particularly PMS imports into our country. In current data terms, three days ago, the landing cost was around N315/litre.
“Our customers are here; we are transferring to each of them at N113/litre. That means there is a difference of close to N202 for every litre of PMS we import into this country. In computation, N202 multiplied by 66.5 million litres, multiplied by 30 will give you over N400bn of subsidy every month,” Kyari was reported to have said in February 2023.
THE Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, says the 10th National Assembly will prioritise addressing climate change issues in the country.
He said this in a statement on Saturday, July 1, issued to commemorate the 2023 International Day of the Parliament.
The International Day of the Parliament was introduced in 2018 through a United Nations General Assembly Resolution and is celebrated annually on June 30.
According to the United Nations, the goal is to review the progress that parliaments have made in achieving some of their goals and responsibilities.
The event for 2023 is themed, ‘Parliaments for the Planet’.
And to keep up with Nigeria’s climate change commitment, the lawmaker said the National Assembly will be more responsive to climate change issues.
He said the assembly would adopt greener policies and sustainable cultures to address the country’s climate crisis.
“Climate action begins at home. Parliaments and those who work in them can take concrete steps towards reducing their carbon footprint, both as institutions and individuals.
“By adopting greener policies and embracing a culture of sustainability, parliaments can help in addressing the crisis caused by climate change.
“As a newly inaugurated National Assembly member, I want to assure Nigerians and the key stakeholders on climate change issues that we will prioritise climate change issues as the parliament settles down.
“The 10th Parliament would lead by example. We shall prioritise the greening of our parliament, greening the way we work, and we will lead and foster a culture of sustainable change,” he said.
Earlier, the House of Representatives had demanded that the Federal Government implement the carbon credit scheme to mitigate the impact of climate change in the country.
The carbon credit scheme is a policy where industries are encouraged to reduce their carbon footprint to earn calculated carbon credit (per ton of carbon).
Enterprises that exceed emission thresholds are sanctioned with fines.
Climate Change issues in Nigeria
Climate change is having a severe impact on Nigeria. It is evident in how it affects average daily weather temperature, causing intense humidity, rainfall or sunshine in a location over an extended period.
According to the House of Representatives, climate change has led to seasons of drought and flood, which affected agricultural activities.
The lawmakers said the country is experiencing the devastating impact of climate change, as desertification races southward at a speed of 0.6km per annum, and gully and coastal erosions destroy communities and farmlands, thus drying up Lake Chad.
Flooding has claimed hundreds of lives while displacing millions.
In 2019, the National Emergency Management Agency revealed floods had displaced approximately 1.9 million Nigerians. In 2022, flooding displaced over 2 million people in the country.
However, Nigeria is a signatory to several climate change treaties.
There’s the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol, and the Paris Agreement. The country is also a part of the Copenhagen Accord, the Doha Amendment and the Marrakesh Accords.
These agreements aim to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and limit the impacts of climate change.
These agreements also encourage counties to work together to develop policies and strategies to address the individual climate crisis. They also help countries to reduce their carbon footprints and transition to a low-carbon economy.
On Friday, June 30, FORMER Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Lucky Irabor said that the Armed Force had curtailed insecurity challenges in the country under his leadership.
Lucky Irabor was at appointed by former President Muhammadu Buhari in January, 2021 and sacked sacked on Monday, June 19 by President Bola Tinubu along with the other service chiefs.
Speaking at the pulling-out ceremony held in his honour, the former Chief of Defence Staff noted that the Armed Force had mitigated the threat of terrorism and decreased the level of insecurity in Nigeria.
Stressing that President Ahmed Tinubu would grapple with nation building and national security challenges, Irabor noted he is leaving the Armed Force of Nigeria bigger, stronger and more capable.
“I make bold to say that I’m leaving the armed forces of Nigeria today,bigger,stronger and more capable to deliver on its constitutional mandate and national security functions.
“In more specific terms we have significantly curtailed the threats of terrorism, insurgency, piracy, sea robberies, vandalism of critical national assets and kidnappings, and the military aid to civil authority role.
“We successfully work in conjunction with other security agencies and stakeholders to deliver a physical security environment that is amenable for Law and Order, critical democratic processes as well as human security and national development,” Irabor stressed.
Months earlier, the EX-CDS (then CDS) boasted that the military had recorded landmark successes in the fight against terrorism and curbed insurgency.
Delivering a lecture titled “National Defence Policy and Transitional Justice Approach in the War Against Insurgency in Nigeria” in Edo state, Irabor said that among the 51,828 Boko Haram that surrendered, 13,360 are fighters.”
Irabor had revealed that no fewer than 51,828 Boko Haram terrorists and their family members surrendered to the Federal Government of Nigeria between July 2021 and May 2022.
Contrary to the claim of the EX-CDS that terrorism and insecurity activities reduced during the period of his leadership, statistics shows an increment.
To find out if the military has significantly curtailed insecurity since Irabor’s assumption in office from 2021 till 2023; The ICIR used Data gathered from SBMIntel, Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), Nigeria Mourns and the Nigeria Security Tracker (NST) to fact-check Irabor’s claim that he had significantly curtailed insecurity.
The ICIR earlier reported major issues on insecurity as Buhari’s administration wind down its eight years tenure of leadership.
Documenting attacks on security personnels, it identified cattle rustling as a significant contributor to rising insecurity in the country.
Showing that the insecurity challenges had caused displacement of thousands of Nigerians, it maintained insecurity is one of the major challenges of Buhari’s administration.
Did the Nigerian Armed Forces curtail insecurity as Lucky Irabor claimed? Here is what data state
A way to weigh improved security architecture is through either increase or decrease in the number of violent incidents recorded within the period of his leadership, as well as recorded death.
Nigeria Mourns, reported that 3,188 people lost their lives in violence attacks between January to December 2019.
These include lives lost during such as gang wars, clashes, extra-judicial killings, resource crisis, kidnappings and Boko-Haram/ ISWAP attacks.
It stated that 2,707 killed were civilians, while 481 were state security agents.
According to the SBMintel Quarterly Media Killing Report gathered between January to December 2020 not less than 7,070 incidents of armed violence were reported.
In the years that followed, SBMintel records 10,366 and 7,728 in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
By end of December 2022, the mortality rate of armed violent incidents have skyrocketed drastically.
A critical evaluation of the figures and compilation revealed that over 18,000 deaths were recorded in violent incidents including attacks from Boko Haram, militia herdsmen, abduction and gang clashes since 2021.
Similarly, despite the spread of insecurity and insurgency in the Northeast, ACLED data indicated that deaths registered from violent incidents between 2019 and 2020 totalled 14,407 is relatively low compared to the registered mortality rate between 2021 and 2022 (21,641).
ACLED pointed out that the mortality rate increased by 50.2% within two years as a result of insecurity.
However, NST data shows a total number of 8,340 and 9,694 people died from insecurity in 2019 and 2020 respectively, the record of mortality in 2021 shot up to 10,398 while it never decreased below nine thousand (9,080) in 2022.
Kidnapping: what has happened?
Bandits and terrorists in northern Nigeria; Niger Delta insurgents; as well as ritual killers in the west and east; have all continued to practice kidnapping, banditry, or abduction.
Nigeria Security Tracker (NST) showed a rising trend in the frequency of mass kidnappings and the overall number of kidnapping victims in the nation by analysing data gathered
Between 2019 to 2020 (two years before Irabor’s appointment); NST recorded 1,441 and 2,879 victims of kidnapping respectively.
The following, two years under the leadership of the EX-CDS Lucky Irabor administration’s leadership; Nigeria witnessed a spike in the number of mass abduction and the reign of kidnapping continues.
NST data showed that almost 10,000 people fell into the net of kidnappers in 2021 and 2022.
Noting that 5,287 and 4,680 victims were recorded for the two years respectively, data shows that the rate of kidnapping had doubled.
As cited in Punch, a security report by Beacon Intel recorded that 7,92 persons were kidnapped in the first quarter of 2023.
This study covered the abduction recorded from January to March this year.
One of the major kidnapping cases during Irabor leadership was the abduction of Abuja-Kaduna train passengers.
Terrorists attacked the train on March 28 and killed an unspecified number of passengers before abducting dozens of others to an unidentified location, according to The ICIR.
After months of negotiations between the federal government, victims’ families and terrorists, the abducted were finally released.
Announcing the release, then minister of Transportation Mu’azu Sambo said, “I am pleased to announce to the nation and the world that at 16:00hrs (4:00 pm) today, Wednesday 5-10-22, the seven-man Presidential Committee assembled by the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Leo Irabor, secured the release and took custody of all the 23 remaining passengers held hostage by Boko Haram terrorists following the attack on the Abuja to Kaduna train on 28-3-2022.
“The nation owes a debt of gratitude to the Nigerian military under the leadership of the CDS, who conceived and guided the operation from start to finish. All sister security agencies and the Federal Ministry of Transportation contributed immensely to this operation.
THE Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group (AfBD) has approved a loan of $115 million to support a major road rehabilitation projects in Abia State.
The project will be used for the rehabilitation of roads, erosion control and provision of solid waste management facilities in the state capital, Umuahia, and the commercial hub, Aba.
The continental bank disclosed in a statement that the financing for the project, estimated at a total cost of $263.80 million, will come through an African Development Bank loan of $100 million; a Canada–African Development Bank Climate Fund (CACF) loan of $15 million; and a $125 million co-financing loan from the Islamic Development Bank.
The Abia State government will provide $23.80 million in counterpart funding for compensation to people affected by the project and implementation of a Resettlement Action Plan.
Under the project, which is expected to be completed in 2029, a total of 248.46 km of road – 58.03 km of roads in Umuahia and 190.43 km of roads in Aba – will be rehabilitated to asphaltic concrete standards at varying cross sections. Erosion sites in Umuahia and Aba will be reinstated as well as preparatory studies undertaken for private sector participation in solid waste management for the two cities.
The project will also include capacity building, project management and development of social infrastructure such as the rehabilitation of schools and the provision of sanitation facilities in schools, community markets and hospitals.
With an estimated population of 553,000 and 814,000 respectively (2022 estimates), Umuahia, capital of Abia State, and Aba, the commercial hub, are currently facing serious infrastructural challenges arising from decades of underinvestment amidst rapid urbanisation.
The ICIR findings revealed that the situation is aggravated by gully erosion and the emergence of huge piles of solid waste on the roads.
When completed, the 1.37 million population in these two cities will benefit from reduced travel time, reduced vehicle operating costs and lower transport cost.
The project will also create 3,000 temporary jobs (30 per cent for women) at the construction phase, and about 1,000 permanent jobs during the operational phase. The permanent jobs will particularly benefit the youth, who will make up 50 per cent of the project. They will be trained in contract management by the State Youth Road Maintenance Corps for Road Maintenance, a body of young Abia engineers drawn from the 17 Local Government Areas of the State.
Lamin Barrow, Director General of the African Development Bank’s Nigeria Country Department, noted in the statement that the project will build resilience by providing the towns access to urban infrastructure services, including economic and social amenities.
Barrow said, “The results from implementation of the project will help expand access to economic and social amenities in the two cities, and thereby contribute to building sustainable and liveable cities.”
NIGERIAN electricity consumers have heaved sigh of relief as the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) and the distribution companies (DisCos) shelved plans to implement a 40 per cent hike in tariff on July 1.
Most Nigerian consumers made last -gasp efforts to purchase electricity units before the date. However, checks by The ICIR showed the electricity tariff hike was not effected.
For instance, the tariff for power users on Band A which stood at N68/kilowatt-hour as of Tuesday, June 27 remained the same on July 1.
Commenting on the development, Muhammad Yusuf, a trader who resides in the Dei-Dei area of Abuja, told The ICIR that the proposed hike would have dealt a big blow on his income which he said has been shrinking.
“Trading and business is slow, our income is squeezed and we cannot afford to another electricity hike. I appreciate the suspension, but I want the government to resuscitate the economy. Trading is generally slow and people are complaining,” Mohammed said.
The President, Nigeria Consumer Protection Network, and coordinator, Power Sector Perspectives, Kunle Olubiyo, confirmed the halt in the proposed tariff hike by the DisCos. But he told The ICIR that it might be raised quietly in the near future.
He stated, “Tariff adjustments happen every six months. However, most of us just concluded that the six months was supposed to end on June 30, 2023, and that with effect from July 1, there might be an upward review.
“However, that is not sacrosanct; there is nothing in the books that says it has to be July 1. But, of course, in this month of July, somewhere along the line before this month ends, you may load credit and notice some adjustment.
“We have seen that in the past. There was supposed to be an increase in September 2020, it didn’t come immediately. But between December 2020 and January 2021, the increase was made quietly that now brought the rate for Band A from N24/kwh to N56/kwh, before it was quietly raised again to N68/kwh.”
Talks of a possible increase in tariff had been premised on the multi-year tariff order (MYTO) of NERC, which six-monthly review was calculated to be due in July 1. But as one of the official spokespersons at NERC, Mike Faloseyi, affirmed, there would be no tariff increment now.
A DisCo official who spoke with The ICIR confirmed the company would not be effecting any upward tariff review on the date.
“We are not increasing any tariff for now – and it is important to tell you this,” the official spokesperson of the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), Donald Etim, told The ICIR.
Other distribution companies had also posted on their websites that they would not be effecting any hike on July 1, as reported in several sections of the media.
A statement on the Ikeja DisCo’s website read, “Public Notice: Avoid Fake News. Dear Esteemed Customer, if the information is not from us on tariff hike, or is not on any of our social media handles, then it is not true.”
Commenting on the development, an energy lawyer and power sector governance expert, Chuks Nwani, who confirmed the suspension of the tariff hike, explained that the DisCos would be justified to effect the upward tariff review “because there is a template for such review every six months as directed by the multi-year-tariff-order of the NERC”.
Distribution companies.
Nwani said, “There is a template for the review, which does not necessarily require approval. What the DisCos are doing is to key into that template. The last official exchange rate, for instance, is N460 to a dollar, but now with the forex unification, it is above N760. All these will be factored in to pay for gas. Inflation is 22.22 per cent. This is the market reality.”
When asked why DisCos have been rejecting loads and not improving their supply, resulting in huge negative balance sheets for them, Nwani said energy theft had been a major concern for many DisCos, which he said had led to under-recovery in most cases.
“Distribution companies also experience their own challenges. There are issues with energy theft and meter-bypass, which drains their income and makes them to reject loads in key areas there are power theft,” he said.
The projected upward tariff review in July was expected to address fuel subsidy removal and increase the previously frozen tariff bands D and E, increasing the bands from N54.59/kilowatt to N62.16 for band D, and N48.37/kilowatt to N61.16 on average, with an average increase across the bands moving to N67/kilowatt.
Energy experts projected that inflation induced by the floating of the naira and subsidy removal would spike the new average tariff to about N88/kilowatt for the energy sector to recover operational costs.
Over the past week, several media outlets had published the expected 40 per cent rise in tariff, which they hinged on the MYTO, in line with the half-yearly review.
Considering Federal Government’s foreign exchange rates unification, double-digit inflation at 22.22 per cent, and fuel subsidy removal as they affect operational cost, some analysts had concluded it would be difficult for NERC and the DisCos not to hike the tariff in the July 1 review window.
THE Federal Government Staff Housing Loan Board under the Ministry of Works and Housing has failed to provide information on capital and constituency projects sponsored by members of the National Assembly in the organisation.
The information was demanded through a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR).
The ICIR, in the FOI request dated May 31, 2023, asked the Board to specifically provide the contract description, advert date and media, approved threshold, procurement method, bid opening date, contractor, and date of contract award.
Freedom of Information sent to the Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board
The Board refused to acknowledge the letter, stating that it doesn’t respond to FOI requests from Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO).
The Federal Government of Nigeria in 1924 under the colonial administration established the “Africa Staff Housing Loans Scheme”, which was renamed the Federal Government Staff Housing Loans Board (FGSHLB) in 1974 by an enabling law No.6 of 1974 and No. 43 of 1977 as amended, now FGSHLB Act, CAP F. II, Laws of the Federation, 2004, to address the housing need of Federal Government Staff:
“With the legislation, the Board became autonomous and subsequently self-accounting. Following the Alison Ayida-panel recommendations on Public Service Reforms, the supervision of the Board was transferred from the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing to the Office of the Head of Civil Service of the Federation as a Parastatal to perform the same mandate,” a post on the FGSHLB website reads.
The Board, in it’s website, boasts of having the responsibility of providing the Federal Government staff with sustainable housing loans with single-digit interest rate to enable them to purchase, build or renovate their own houses for a peaceful post-retirement life after a successful career in the service.
It also has the mandate of managing revolving housing loan funds for the purpose of granting soft loans to Federal Public Servants to enable them to build residential houses, purchase land of residential houses, and any other housing project of their choice in Nigeria.
The refusal to respond to the request contravened the Freedom of Information Act which mandated all public institutions to ensure information is readily available through various means upon requests.
Section 1, sub-section 1 of the FOIA states that “Notwithstanding anything contained in any other Act, law or regulation, the right of any person to access or request information, whether or not contained in any written form, which is in the custody or possession of any public official, agency or institution howsoever described, is established.”
Section 2(4): “Public institutions shall ensure that information referred to in this section is widely disseminated and made readily available to members of the public through various means, including print, electronic and online sources, and at the offices of such public institutions.”
In another section of the act, it was stated that should any institution believe that another public institution has greater interest in the information, the institution is required to transfer the application to the other public institution within three days.
Section 5, subsection 1, “Where a public institution receives an application for access to information, and the institution is of the view that another public institution has greater interest in the information, the institution to which the application is made may within 3 days but not later than 7 days after the application is received, transfer the application, and if necessary, the information, to the other public institution, in which case, the institution transferring the application shall give written notice of the transfer to the applicant, which notice shall contain a statement informing the applicant that such decision to transfer the application can be reviewed by the Court.”
The Media Right Agenda’s programme manager, Ayode Longe while speaking on the Board response to The ICIR said the FOI Act doesn’t not specify who not to provide with information.
“Apparently being under the ministry of works, and receiving annual budget allocation for office work, they are Federal Government Agency and the law says any agency that’s owned totally or in part by the Federal Government must respond to FOI requests. Even if it were a private agency using Federal Government money to provide services, it’s also subjected to the FOI Act.
“In fact the law does not specify who they should not respond to and it applies to both Natural and legal persons, whether they are registered or not registered. They are expected to respond to all of that type of request.”
He further explained that the “reason they are giving for not providing the information is not within the exception that FOI Act listed by which they can deny information. So they are totally wrong.”
He however advised The ICIR and other NGOs who have been denied response to charge them to court to seek help to address the issue.
Also, a human rights lawyer, Festus Ogun, bemoaned the trend, arguing that the explanation is not tenable under Nigeria’s extant laws.
“I think the refusal to provide your organisation with the requested information is a violation of the Freedom of Information Act. The justification for refusal of the information is not tenable under our extant laws. I think the pathway recognized by law is to institute a judicial review at the appropriate court for an order of mandamus compelling the Board to release the information or they face damning legal consequences.
“It is gravely disturbing. It seems that the rule of law has no place in this country. And their recklessness persists because there are no consequences for impunity.”
THE Federal Government has a lifeline on its rough road to foreign exchange stability through forex remittances by Nigerians in the Diaspora, according to some financial experts.
Former President, Muhammadu Buhari, had in June 2020 disclosed that remittances home by Nigerians abroad in the preceeding three years exceeded $25 billion annually, describing it as the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.
President Bola Tinubu has primed foreign exchange unification and fuel subsidy removal as key policy directions of his administration, but there are concerns of negative consequences to the policies.
The concerns revolve around increase in foreign debts, and inflation occasioned largely by foreign exchange volatility.
Another key concern is that the supply side of the dollar to the Nigerian economy is weak, which has seen the naira thrown into all shades of volatility.
To key experts, the Federal Government needs to work harder at targeting Nigerians in the Diaspora.
“The immediate goodwill that arise from this liberalisation is that the stocks and shares have appreciated. We are expecting hot money to come in and go out. The big banks are trading and making huge money,” the Lead Director, Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), Eze Onyekpere, told The ICIR.
“Most importantly, let us target our diasporan brothers and sisters. Most of the money they are bringing in annually is welfare money. Let us set up a special purpose vehicle that will ensure they are part of funding some key projects like rail, road, hospitals. If they see you are honest and not tribalistic, Diasporans can work with you. All they need is a trustworthy government,” Onyekpere added.
Onyekpere believes Diaspora remittances will be a strong foreign exchange boost
He stressed the importance of ensuring that the ease of doing business works effectively to attract investments.
“You must correct the signals in insecurity and increase accountability and transparency in governance,” the CSJ director said.
A professor of Energy Economics at the University of Ibadan, Adeola Adenikinju, told The ICIR that though the foreign exchange reform is experiencing initial volatility now, it would find its level much later with increased supply of the dollar.
“Let us give the initiative more time to be able to soak in more funds. But consistency of the policy remains vital for success,” Adenikinju said.
To a professor of Finance and Capital Markets at the Nasarawa State University, Uche Uwaleke, certain conditions must be fulfilled to ensure proper transitioning to currency devaluation.
Uwaleke: Nigeria has a long walk to foreign exchange unification
“You have seen how the market has reacted to the forex situation already. A country must have sufficient reserves before pegging its currency to the dollar to sustain that. Another precondition is to diversify your export base.
“You can have a managed float system like Nigeria is doing, but transitioning will be done with caution. Our external reserves have dropped to about $1 billion since we commenced this forex unification project. This is why the Federal government and sub-nationals must intensify efforts to ensure increased supply and enable the convergence of the rates,” Uwaleke said.
He posited that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) might need to increase interest rates above 18.5 per cent to enable expected capital inflows.
“Central banks all over the world face a dilemma, and that is why the interest rates need to go up to attract capital inflows from foreign investors. Egypt did a similar policy and have not recovered from it till today. The International Monetary Fund is even telling them that they have not done enough,” he said.
He stressed the importance of Nigeria diversifying its export base to attract more foreign exchange into the economy.
Nigeria’s capital importation keeps dropping, a key concern for foreign exchange market
In the fourth quarter of 2022, total capital importation into Nigeria, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), stood at $1,060.73 million, lower than the $2,187.63 million figure recorded in the fourth quarter of 2021, indicating a decrease of 51.51 per cent.
When compared to the preceding quarter, capital importation fell by 8.53 per cent, from $1,159.67 million in the third quarter of 2022. The largest capital importation during the period was received from a grouping classified as Other Investment, which accounted for 65.17 per cent ($691.23 million) of total capital imported in the fourth quarter of 2022.
This was followed by Portfolio Investment with 26.89 per cent ($285.26 million) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) with 7.94 per cent ($84.23 million).
Disaggregated by sectors, capital importation into the production sector recorded the highest inflow of $392.54 million, representing 37.01 per cent of total capital imported in the fourth quarter of 2022.
This was followed by capital imported into the banking sector, valued at $255.45 million (24.08 per cent), and telecoms, with $168.27 million (15.86 per cent).
Capital importation by Country of Origin revealed that capital from the United Kingdom ranked top in the fourth quarter of 2022 with $455.24 million, accounting for 42.92 per cent.
This was followed by the Republic of South Africa and the United Arab Emirates valued at $119.31 million (11.25 per cent) and $116.82 million (11.01 per cent) respectively.
By Destination of Investment, Lagos state remained the top destination in the fourth quarter of 2022 with $600.54 million, accounting for 56.62 per cent of total capital investment in Nigeria.
This was followed by Abuja (FCT), valued at $424.50 million (40.02 per cent).
Categorisation of Capital Importation by banks showed that Citibank Nigeria Limited ranked top in the fourth quarter of 2022 with $308.72 million (29.10 per cent).
This was followed by Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited with $232.45 million (21.91 per cent) and Rand Merchant Bank with $102.00 million (9.62 per cent).
On annual basis, capital importation was $5,328.88 million in 2022, a decrease of 20.47 per cent from $6,700.51 million in 2021.
Nigeria had adopted a market-driven exchange rate policy three weeks ago, leading to an immediate depreciation of the exchange rate from about N471.67/$1 to an average of N765/$1.
In terms of turnover, the import & export (I&E) window recorded a volume of $198.13 million on Monday, June 26, 2023. Total turnover since the revised I&E window was launched is about $1.4 billion.
DRIVING from one town to another in the northeastern Nigerian state comes at a price. Asides risking their lives, road users are also frequently levied by security agents on the highways — and because of the Boko Haram insurgency, there are so many of them.
The whirring from a vulcaniser at the Bama motor park in Maiduguri, Northeast Nigeria, could hardly be ignored. Passengers gradually filled the minibus, and at quarter past eight in the morning, we set out on the three-hour journey to Gwoza. I had asked the transport workers union officials to allow me to sit at the front of the vehicle, which gave me two advantages. One was being able to hear as the driver, 52-year-old Musa Gwoza, shared fact after fact about the history of Nigeria’s military rule. Second, seeing first-hand how people like him are routinely extorted by security personnel along the road.
Vehicles were first screened and numbered at the Alou checkpoint. About an hour later, we continued on the journey that Wednesday, March 29.
Between the park and the final stop in Gwoza, there were 34 security checkpoints: 27 manned by soldiers, two manned by officials of the Joint Task Force, two manned by vigilantes, two by police officers, and the last one by officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS).
At each of those checkpoints, the security personnel habitually collected ₦50 or ₦100 from the driver, more or less serving as his ticket to move from one point to the next. Only the vigilantes were not so entitled, but they also asked for money. Soldiers oftentimes collected more than their counterparts in the police force or other agencies. They would wave their hands as the vehicle approached, signalling to the driver to slow down and squeeze some money into their palms. It has become a silent agreement between the parties. Sometimes, drivers bring more than cash with them. They also give bread, groundnuts, and fara (fried grasshoppers) to the security agents.
Musa, the driver, has plied the Maiduguri-Gwoza road for more than 15 years and has supported two of his children to get university degrees from his earnings.
“Extortion by the security personnel has been a long-time ritual,” he complained. “Just that it got worse during the insurgency, especially after the closure of the road in 2015.”
Extortion of road users is a widespread problem in many parts of Nigeria, particularly on highways. Exploiting their positions of power, the corrupt security officials use intimidation and threats to get money from truck drivers, transport companies, and other travellers. They may demand payment for safe passage through certain areas, for permission to load or unload goods, or for protection from crime along the route. This is despite the fact that they are paid by the federal government to safeguard lives and properties.
Maiduguri’s city gate along the Mafa-Maiduguri road in Borno, Nigeria. Photo: Ijasini Ijani/HumAngle
Violence broke out in northeastern Nigeria in 2009 with the rise of Boko Haram, a terror group whose attacks have since led to the death of tens of thousands of people and the displacement of millions.
The activity of the armed group along major roads in the region led to the establishment of prominent checkpoints with the hope of protecting civilians and preventing the insurgents from moving freely from one place to another. These checkpoints later created an opportunity for security personnel to extort road users.
Corruption in Nigeria’s security sector has existed for decades. A 2019 survey by Afrobarometer found that the police were considered the most corrupt public officials in the country, and two in five Nigerians thought the government was doing a bad job in tackling the problem. Much of the problem can be seen on roads across the country where police officers are stationed to prevent crime.
HumAngle gathered from interviews with multiple drivers and stakeholders in Borno that highway extortions by various security agencies often lead to delays, increased costs of fares and goods, and reduced efficiency in the transport system. Drivers are left with no option but to increase the transport fare so they can still make a reasonable profit, therefore passing the burden down to passengers. The practice can also lead to decreased safety on the roads as drivers are pushed to take risks or engage in dangerous behaviour in order to avoid paying illegal fees.
Drivers and passengers at the Bama Motor Park in Maiduguri, Nigeria. Photo: Ijasini Ijani/HumAngle.
Checkpoint robbery
Samaila Usman, 43, says he gives at least ₦1,200 every day to security personnel as he drives from Bama Park to Gwoza and back. There are 15 to 16 major checkpoints on the route where drivers believe they are mandated to give the ‘what do you have for the boys’ money.
“I always give the cash when crossing through each checkpoint just to avoid being delayed, even though I’m not pleased with it. But I won’t delay my passengers just because of ₦50 or ₦100. I will just charge my passengers additional costs to meet up with the checkpoint demands along the road.”
Samaila sometimes gets away with only giving the soldiers sachet water or not even paying at all because of the rapport he has built with them over a long period. But when a new set of soldiers are deployed to a checkpoint, he would be left with no choice but to stick to the ritual.
Tashan Bama Office of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Mairi Branch. Photo: Ijasini Ijani/HumAngle.
Taxi drivers at the Bama motor park in Maiduguri, known locally as Tashan Bama, convey passengers to Gwoza through Konduga and Bama. People also board vehicles going to Mubi and Yola, cities in the neighbouring Adamawa state, at the park. Drivers plied the major roads in Borno with ease before the insurgency escalated in 2010.
In Sept. 2014, the park was closed because of Boko Haram activities along the Maiduguri-Gwoza road, a strategic route that leads to the Far North region of Cameroon. The Nigerian military also stopped movements on the road. Because of the closure, the travelling distance between Maiduguri and Gwoza quadrupled from 127 km to 485 km as drivers were forced to move through Damaturu in Yobe state, Biu in Borno, Mubi in Adamawa, before finally arriving in Gwoza. This other network has much fewer checkpoints, and people who ply them have no fear of being attacked or extorted by security personnel.
Over three years after the closure, the military reopened the Maiduguri-Bama highway in March 2018, lifting the spirits of businessmen and travellers, including people who had not visited their home communities in a long time. “We implore the commercial road users to kindly abide by the code of conduct that we have given them so that we can ply the road with some level of safety,” said Nicholas Roger, a Major General and the Theatre Commander of the counterinsurgency military operations in the Northeast.
The reopening made travelling easier, but it also came with the many checkpoints that have been abused by security personnel.
“The police, road safety corps, NDLEA, immigration officers, and the Nigerian Army all collect cash from us,” said Ismail Buba, a truck driver who conveys goods from Maiduguri-Banki down to Gwoza town.
“They make it look like it is obligatory to give the abnormal ₦50 or ₦100 at each checkpoint. Sometimes, they make it look like they are doing us a favour by collecting money from us. We don’t refuse because it serves as our ticket to the next checkpoint towards our destination.”
Map illustration: The 127 km route from Maiduguri to Gwoza/Mansir Muhammed/HumAngle
Extortion is not only a daily routine on the Maiduguri-Gwoza road. The practice is common along many other major roads in Borno state, and we observed the same trend along the Maiduguri-Mafa road, Maiduguri-Gubio road, and Maiduguri-Monguno road.
There are about 18 checkpoints between Muna Park in Maiduguri and Mafa town: 14 manned by the Nigerian Army, two by the police, one by the road safety corps, and one by customs officers. Drivers regularly smuggle goods, such as rice, cement bags and petrol, out of Nigeria through the Ngala border area using this route.
The first checkpoint after the Maiduguri city gate is guarded by FRSC officials, who often receive bribes from drivers without licences. At the next one, which had police personnel, our driver gave ₦50 to the officer, who immediately tucked it in his combat wear.
“The road to Mafa is our daily route,” said Fannami Abor, who has been plying the road for over five years. “I travel to and fro twice a day along this road. I always give money whenever I load goods, but when it is just the passengers, I only give to a few checkpoints that I know I can’t escape.”
He claimed that all the checkpoints along the Mafa road collect money from all commercial vehicles all the time when they have goods with them. Soldiers receive more money and customs officers are only given bribes when the drivers are smuggling rice across the border.
By the end of the journey, the driver had given out ₦50 at 13 checkpoints and managed to sweet-talk his way out of paying at five others. This sums up to ₦650.
Usman Dibal, 41, a commercial driver also plying the Maiduguri-Mafa road down to Dikwa, told HumAngle this practice doesn’t sit right with him.
“I have never given this money willingly. I have no option but to pass through the checkpoints, and that is the one reason I am giving the normal ritual. I always charge security officials who board my taxi along the route because they also extort from us the drivers, and so they must pay me fully without any leniency,” he lamented.
Truck drivers are charged even more on the road. Abba Pele, who drives one, said he has to pay ₦500 per checkpoint every time he is transporting cargo between Maiduguri and Dikwa, and this applies to about 16 of them.
A Nissan 1988 model loaded with farmers in Mafa. Photo: Ijasini Ijani/HumAngle
Let’s take a look at the Maiduguri-Gubio road too. It has about 25 checkpoints: 15 manned by soldiers, three by police officers, two by CJTF, one by the FRSC, one by Customs, one by the NSCDC, one by NIS, and the last one by the NDLEA. But extortion rates are lower compared to the other major roads. This is likely due to the reduced traffic here because of frequent terror attacks – especially during the rainy season.
“I have been stopped several times along the Magumeri to Gubio road by the armed group, mostly during the raining season,” said Mallam Bukartima. “The soldiers are extorting the little we have gotten and whenever the armed group stops us, they also extort from us, taking away our phones, money and goods with them.”
About nine of the security checkpoints on the road extort drivers, seven of those having Nigerian Army personnel and the other two manned by NDLEA and NIS officers.
Ali Gubio, 32, says he gives ₦450 every day as bribes along the road.
“₦50 Naira to five checkpoints of the soldiers, ₦50 to the Immigration officer, ₦100 to the police officers at the Magumeri checkpoint, and ₦50 to the NSCDC agents at the Maiduguri city gate.”
Most of the vehicles on the route are owned by non-governmental organisations that have security agents attached to them. They have a pass to convey goods to their destinations, often including Magumeri, Gubio, and Damasak.
NURTW officials at the Gubio Park told HumAngle that between 25 and 35 commercial vehicles pass through the route daily. This number goes up on some days, especially during food distribution exercises at displacement camps.
The Maiduguri-Monguno road is another notorious route, starting from Baga Park and winding up at the entrance gate in Monguno. The Baga River and Lake Chad province along the road have attracted armed groups over the years. There are 22 checkpoints here: 18 manned by soldiers, two by the police, one by the NDLEA, and one by Customs.
Soldiers often extort truck drivers, collecting nothing less than ₦300 per loaded truck.
Sheriff Isah, who drives a truck, says he gives ₦500 per checkpoint from Gajiganna up to Nganze. There are about five of them between those places. Then he gives ₦200 per checkpoint to the remaining 12 up to Monguno. “They only collect money from me when I am carrying goods in my truck,” he said. “We have at least 10 trucks plying this route every day with goods.”
Mallam BK, a commercial driver, also confirmed that he gives ₦50 at most of the checkpoints starting from the one in Maimalari down to Monguno town, costing him at least ₦500 to ₦600 daily.
Infographic by: ‘Kunle Adebajo/HumAngle
Businessmen, IDPs bear the brunt
As much as the practice has affected drivers, they are not the only victims. People conducting businesses who need to move their commodities between locations have their grievances too.
“I don’t travel with plenty of goods anymore,” said merchant Felicia Philemon.
“The drivers complain that the security personnel always charge them more than the normal fee ₦50 or ₦100 at most of the checkpoints [because of the extra cargo]. I prefer to board a car that has no goods and chattels loaded so as to avoid heavy checking along the road. This has affected my little business in Gwoza town. I need to split my goods into different vehicles and need to pay more to make sure my goods reach my destination.”
Also, many of the passengers moving around these towns are internally displaced people from Bama, Banki, Pulka, and Gwoza who are trying to get by. The higher the illegal fees drivers pay on the road, the more they would, in turn, charge the passengers, many of whom are struggling to survive.
“The extortion of money from us drivers was what hiked the transport fare from the normal ₦1,500 to ₦2,000 per passenger when travelling from Maiduguri to Gwoza,” observed Musa Dauda, 32, a taxi driver.
HumAngle learnt that in Pulka, officers at the NIS checkpoint are notorious for asking to see the travellers’ national identity cards. Those without one are then told to pay ₦200, after which they are allowed to pass. Foreigners without the local ID card are sometimes extorted as well, and this has been going on since 2018.
Maryam Madube, a 21-year-old IDP from Gwoza said she had to pay this amount at the NIS checkpoint anytime she travelled from Maiduguri to Gwoza after she lost her identity card.
“It doesn’t matter how much I explained to them. Nothing helped until I paid,” she said angrily.
“This happened to me for almost a year before I was able to retrieve my national identification number. This is daylight pocketing by those that need to protect us after knowing how insecurity has affected our livelihood, but they still extract from the little we have for our survival.”
The state government has confirmed that these incidents happen. In Jan. 2020, the governor, Babagana Zulum, accused police officers and soldiers of collecting bribes from travellers without national identity cards along the Maiduguri-Damaturu highway, describing it as unacceptable.
“How can you subject people to this kind of torture all in the name of National ID card? And you are all here collecting ₦500 and ₦1,000 from poor travellers who don’t have national ID cards,” he said.
Borno is the state hardest hit by the humanitarian crisis that has trailed the Boko Haram insurgency. Of the 2.4 million internally displaced people documented in the Northeast as of March, about 77 per cent were in Borno state. About 8.3 million people need humanitarian assistance in the region. In Borno alone, 1.9 million people are estimated to need food support between June and September, and 65 per cent of households surveyed by the United Nations experienced crisis levels of hunger.
Dashboard view of the Bama-Pulka road, Borno state. Photo: HumAngle.
Meanwhile, many drivers have gotten used to the tradition of parting with some money at these stops. Adamu Adamu, a taxi driver who constantly gives ₦100 at each of the eight checkpoints between Bama and Gwoza, says he doesn’t see anything wrong with giving “the normal” fee.
“The security agents are responsible for our protection along the road,” he explained. “Without their protection, both the commuters and we, the drivers, can’t use the road.”
Millions every year
According to Bamai Mustapha, chairman of the NURTW branch in Mairi, 50 to 70 commercial vehicles depart from the Bama motor park in Maiduguri every day, and “each driver gives nothing less than ₦500 from the Kawuri checkpoint down to the last checkpoint in Gwoza”.
One driver along the route, who asked to be anonymous, confirmed this estimate.
“I give ₦50 habitually at most of the checkpoints because I don’t carry overloaded goods from travellers. It always costs me ₦500 per trip from Maiduguri to Gwoza and another ₦500 when travelling back.”
The implication of this is that at least ₦25,000 is extorted from 50 drivers every day along the Maiduguri-Gwoza road, summing up to at least ₦9.1 million annually. Since the practice has been ongoing for over five years, we can estimate that over ₦45.5 million has been illegally collected from drivers by security agents on this route alone since it was reopened in 2018.
A similar calculation for other routes shows that millions are extorted yearly from each one.
HumAngle gathered from an NURTW official at Muna Park that vehicles leaving for Mafa from Maiduguri daily include about 40 Volkswagen Golf cars, 25 Nissan Desert Runner 1988 model cars, and 15 trucks.
An estimated amount of ₦42,250 is extorted from 65 drivers using smaller vehicles every day, while at least ₦120,000 is extorted from 15 truck drivers, both totalling about ₦59.2 million annually.
For the Maiduguri-Monguno road, NURTW official Isa Nganze said over 40 vehicles depart from Baga Park every day, excluding trucks. An estimated sum of ₦24,000 is extorted from the vehicles daily, plus ₦49,000 extorted from 10 truck drivers, which totals about ₦26.6 million yearly. Nganze says it used to be considerably worse.
Along the Maiduguri-Gubio road, about ₦15,750 is extorted from 35 drivers daily, running into about ₦5.7 million annually.
Infographic by: ‘Kunle Adebajo/HumAngle
HumAngle reached out to the various security agencies whose officials have been sighted at these checkpoints.
Deputy public relations officer for Borno state police command, an ASP, Nahum Daso Kenneth, replied that the force is not a revenue-generating organisation and the officers’ actions are not “in conformity with the Police’ structural operation procedures and its mandate”.
“No police officer is posted on the road to collect money or extort money. The Police authority will deal with any officer found wanting,” he assured. “Majority of Gwoza people are very vulnerable and with less privilege. They feed from hand to mouth. They deserve special attention and treatment to reintegrate into a livelihood and not to be extorted.”
At first, spokesperson of the state NSCDC command Bulus James said the agency does not man checkpoints at the Maiduguri-Gwoza route. When we provided information on the exact location of the personnel, he replied that he was hearing about the development for the first time. He suggested contacting the divisional officer for Bama, CSC Abdulmalik, who did not respond to our enquiries.
Spokespersons of the Nigerian Army, NIS, and NDLEA did not answer calls from HumAngle and have not replied to texts sent to their phones.
Budget allocations for defence and security increased significantly under the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration, which handed over power in May. The country budgeted ₦1.4 trillion ($3 billion) for defence in 2023, a 135 per cent increase compared to the 2019 budget. The policing budget has similarly increased, with a lot of the money going into salaries and recurrent expenditures.
So why do officers still engage in corrupt practices? James Barnett, a conflict expert and research fellow at Hudson Institute based in Lagos, says some of it can be blamed on the war economy that has emerged because of the protracted conflict.
“When a soldier sees the guy above him taking part in some form of corruption or extortion in a significant manner, he’s liable to want to get in on the action as well and believe that it is an acceptable part of the institutional culture,” he explained.
“Relatedly, many soldiers complain that they don’t get paid on time or in full, or that the supplies and equipment they receive is inadequate or non-functional—both downstream effects of institutionalised corruption—although these complaints seem to have decreased somewhat in recent years compared to at the peak of the insurgency. Anytime soldiers are not receiving what they need, they are liable to use the power of their status and their gun to forcefully make up for that, even if it means extorting innocent civilians.”
There have been repeated complaints from police officers serving in the Northeast about unpaid allowances and poor welfare conditions. In July 2018, officers blocked a Maiduguri highway in protest. “For over six months now, we have no allowances, no decent accommodation; we sleep on corridors of officers and sometimes in the open air,” one of them told Premium Times.
The solution, according to Vincent Foucher, a researcher with the French National Centre for Science Research who specialises in Islamist extremism, is to sanction the offenders.
“Nigeria has an old history of civil war and military dictatorship, and a number of persons in the security forces seem to have a sense of impunity. Many cases of abuse, be it corruption or violent abuses, including at senior ranks, have led to little or no investigations and punishments. This authorises misbehaviour,” he observed.
“The visible, legal and public punishment of corruption and abuse, all the way from the top to the bottom, is essential to bring about change. There are military courts, which is good, but there is next to no information about the cases and the decisions taken. This does not help.”
Delays, security risks
There are 15 to 20 heavy checkpoints and over 15 subtle checkpoints between Maiduguri and Gwoza. It starts with the first checkpoint at Kawuri village, where all commercial and private vehicles are screened before they are allowed to proceed to Konduga. The final checkpoint is a few kilometres from Tashan Mararaba in Gwoza town.
Each checkpoint has some security personnel attached to it, ranging from officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Nigerian Army, Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Nigeria Police, and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
Passing through the checkpoints appears hassle-free once the fee is paid to the officers. If a driver does not cooperate, the trip can easily become frustrating. The car would be checked thoroughly and each passenger would be searched. Everyone could be delayed for hours before they are passed to continue their journey.
Musa was a victim of this. Once, he was delayed for two hours in Bama by officers of the Nigeria Police and the FRSC after refusing to give them ₦100. “I had to sleep over in Bama and couldn’t get to Pulka before they closed the gate, making a trip of one day to last two days,” he recalled. Since then, he has cooperated with the security personnel.
Observers believe the corrupt practice encourages security agents to abandon their duties as they tend to pay lesser attention to vehicles that offer them bribes. This gives travellers room to smuggle illegal goods and could give insurgents opportunities to move arms and explosives along the routes.
“I don’t hesitate to follow the normal tradition of giving cash to the security personnel because no matter how encumbered your vehicle is, they will never search the carriage or delay your movement once you give them that normal doings at the checkpoints,” Musa said.
Transparency International observes that one way Boko Haram has gotten the support of locals is by pointing out violations by security forces “as proof that only a constitution based on a strict interpretation of Islam could guarantee a just and fair society”.
Rampant corruption, the group said in a 2021 report, “has weakened defence and security forces, fuelled resentment against states’ representatives and enabled non-state armed actors to fill the vacuum”. It noted that some of the least peaceful countries in the world are also ranked very low on the corruption perception index.
Barnett agrees with this assessment.
“Corruption and extortion undermine the armed forces’ efforts to build trust with the communities that they need to be winning the support of if they hope to deliver sustainable gains against the insurgents,” he explained.
“Counterinsurgency is largely a contest of governance, and the insurgents, particularly ISWAP [Islamic State West Africa Province], thrive on exploiting the grievances of vulnerable individuals and communities.”
Barnett believes corruption creates opportunities that insurgents can exploit, such as bribing their way through checkpoints to purchase supplies and conduct attacks. The trend could also “create a system of skewed incentives” that discourages soldiers from actively engaging the terrorists since it comes with far more risks and fewer rewards.
Foucher similarly states that when people perceive security personnel as corrupt, it weakens their legitimacy. This complicates military operations and “can create tensions within the security forces themselves”.
Passengers boarding at the Muna Motor Park Maiduguri to Mafa. Photo: Ijasini Ijani/HumAngle.
A galaxy of corruption
Extortion along the roads in Borno wasn’t always this widespread. Adamu Mustapha, 31, said he did not have to pay to transport goods worth over ₦1 million from Maiduguri to Mafa, Dikwa, and Gamboru Ngala before the insurgency.
“But transporting food supplies to Mafa is hectic now. You need to pass 15 checkpoints, all manned by the soldiers, and you must give nothing less than ₦300 per checkpoint. For my goods to reach Mafa local government area successfully, I always keep ₦10,000 per truck and ₦4,500 per small vehicle.”
He explains that the extortionary practice has triggered a spike in the price of goods in Mafa, Dikwa, and Gamboru Ngala.
“Many of my friends have withdrawn from this business because of how security personnel have made the route unfavourable,” he added bitterly. “I am still into this business because of my people. I know how they are suffering with getting some basic goods in Mafa. I have no choice but to help out by bringing in the needed goods for their consumption.”
The level of corruption sometimes goes beyond paltry payments. This was the experience of Alhaji Garba Ali, 45, who has moved fish between Monguno and Maiduguri for over 20 years. His father introduced him to the business when he was still enrolled in secondary school. The fish business brought impressive profits before the Boko Haram crisis. Traders came all the way from southern Nigeria to buy fish from the Monguno market. But that is no longer the case.
Military personnel also took advantage of the restrictions on movement to make a killing from the business.
“The soldiers along this route stopped us from transporting the fish to Maiduguri, and the fishing business became dominated by the Nigerian Army officials,” Garba recalled.
“I myself have bought fish from a sergeant in Monguno for more than ₦10 million. Over ₦1 million has been extorted from me for my fish to reach Maiduguri during the peak of the insurgency.”
According to fish trader Zakariah Ngubdo, after transporting fish from Monguno to Maiduguri was disallowed, businessmen had to bribe security personnel ₦1,500 per carton of fish. This meant suppliers had to raise the price from between ₦2,500 and ₦4,500 to ₦6,000 when selling to local traders, who then resold them for about ₦9,500.
Before he became a top official of the NURTW, Bamai was also a driver along the Maiduguri-Gwoza route. He drove passengers to Yola as well, and he saw first-hand the challenges on the road. But he says the situation has improved. The roads are in better shape and there is more security, developments that have significantly shortened the travelling time.
“We have been suffering along this route for over a long period of time, but now the situation is very favourable to our drivers and commuters. Three years back, the security personnel used to open the road linking Maiduguri to Bama at about 9 a.m. daily and closed it at about 4 p.m. But now they open the road by 7 a.m. and close it by 6 p.m.,” he observed.
Also, there are officials of several security agencies now supporting the Nigerian Army to protect travellers.
While he acknowledged that drivers give money to these officers, he insisted that they do so voluntarily. “Many drivers do give money along this road by their wish and not compulsorily,” he said. “We feel this is the only way to support the security personnel along the way, even though we know giving money to them is totally wrong and unacceptable.”
This report republished from Humangle was produced in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation under the ‘Promoting Transparency in Insurgency-Related Funding in Northeast Nigeria’ Project.
THE Hydro Power Producing Area Development Commission (HYPPADEC) said it has re-channelled water flowing through some flood prone regions and constructed dykes to mitigate future disaster.
The Commission explained that it prioritised the most hit communities and also planned relocating the affected residents to higher land.
The ICIR in an investigation published on June 26, detailed some of the challenges faced by residents of the flood prone communities in Niger State and how the state government was reacting to it.
According to the investigation, residents of the affected communities were forced to abandon their homes due to the onslaught of heavy floods and had to seek refuge in internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps and makeshift houses.
Despite the warning by the Nigeria Meteorological Agency (NiMET), some survivors in these communities have returned to their homes and vowed not to relocate even if there is a repeat of last year flooding, while some hoped to vacate to high land if necessary.
They cited hunger, government neglect and lack of basic amenities in their camps as reasons for not wanting to return to the camps.
Findings by The ICIR show that should the forecast become a reality, some of these communities, like Kusogi and Ketso are at risk of losing lives and property as no flood preventive measures and control have been launched in the villages – either by the government or the residents.
Reacting to the findings, HYPPADEC spokesperson Nura Tanko, said the Commission and the state government are addressing the concerns of residents by building resettlement camps for residents in the flood prone communities.
He also assured that the state won’t experience a severe flooding this year no matter the amount of torrential rainfall.
He said: “As you know, this problem has accumulated for over five decades, and these communities are dealing with socio-economic and ecological challenges. Addressing it to the satisfaction of the people going by their expectations is not a day or two days job. We are just two years old,” he said.
“Resources also matter in addressing this issue. I can tell you we have actually done our best, and where people are not satisfied with what we are doing, all they need to do is to exercise patience. We can’t rise up in one day and address all the issues.
“We are sure that what we experienced last year, no matter the amount of torrential flood, we aren’t going to experience it again. We have re-channelled the water, and we constructed dykes to prevent it from cutting off the road.”
When asked about Ketso and Muregi, he said, “For Ketso and Muregi communities, our plan is not to provide ecological intervention within the existing community, our plan is to relocate these people to where the state government has provided for their relocation and as I speak with you, construction of houses for their relocation has started in a place identified by the state government where the government constructed a clinic and palace for the district heads.”
“For Mariga, as we address these things in batches, it will get to them. We can’t address all these problems overnight because of resources and the number of communities we operate in in the six states.”
Speaking on the Hydro Electric Dam project in Shiroro LGA, Tanko said communities in that area have enjoyed the Commission’s intervention, which is in contrast to what The ICIR reporter gathered on the field.
But he explained that the idea of dredging River Niger was not an easy task, adding that the Federal Government cannot undertake the project at the moment.
The managing director of HYPPADEC, Abubakar Yelwa, had earlier noted that to dredge River Niger, River Benue, and River Kaduna, the Federal Government will have to spend over $20 billion.
The HYPPADEC boss however stated that the process will be difficult for the Federal Government to handle without intervention from international donor agencies.
