Business
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Roberts Orya, managing director of Nigeria Export Import Bank and Benjamin Dikki, director general of Bureau of Public Enterprises, have argued strongly at a lecture organised by Realnews magazine to mark its second anniversary, on Wednesday, November 19, that Nigeria needs good leadership to consolidate on economic gains as a democratic nation
| By Olu Ojewale | Dec. 1, 2014 @ 01:00 GMT |
THIS is not a buoyant time in Nigeria. In fact, the federal government has already asked everyone to tighten his or her belt in view of dwindling revenue occasioned by the fall in the sale of crude oil in the international market. Could the government’s preemptive action be a display of good leadership to engender a better economy for the country? The answer to this question could be found in presentation and discussion of the “Economic Implication of Getting the Right Leadership” at the lecture organised by the Realnews magazine to mark its second year anniversary, at the Sheraton Hotels, Lagos, on Wednesday, November 19.
The lecture which was done as part of Realnews magazine’s contribution to development of nation and in anticipation of the next year elections, had Roberts Orya, managing director, Nigeria Export Import Bank, NEXIM, and Benjamin Dikki, in the separate presentations arguing strongly that a strong leadership was needed to keep the country in the right economic direction. Their arguments gained traction with the audience who were made of mainly captains of industry, media managers and entrepreneurs who agreed that the country actually would need the right leadership to lead it on the path of development and economic growth. Part of the debate was centered on the presentation of the Paragon of Journalism which is a compendium of Realnews magazine major stories covering politics, economy, corruption and oil and gas.
Orya set the discussion rolling in his paper, the “Economic Implications of Getting the Right Leadership,” in which he defined leadership “as a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a task. It is a process by which one person influences the thoughts, attitudes and behaviours of others.” Hence, he said the leader sets the direction for others in the group to follow.
Orya, whose paper was presented by Ifeanyichukwu Nwade, deputy general manager, NEXIM, made reference to the leadership roles in the economic success of East Asian Tigers, which have recorded remarkable rapid growth in the past few decades, as worthy of emulation. “However, while the story of the East-Asian Tigers are well known and need not be over flogged, permit me to observe that our dear country can achieve a similar feat if we could sustain the current tempo of economic reforms, which has so far achieved significant results,” he said.
The NEXIM boss called attention to the year 2011, when President Goodluck Jonathan launched the Transformation Agenda, with the aim of helping the nation to achieve rapid economic growth. According to Orya, the agenda rests on four pillars such as macro-economic reforms and stability; good governance and anti-corruption; investment in key infrastructure and jobs creation. “Today, just over three years down the line, I am quite positive that the economy is moving in the right direction. The Nigerian economy has grown to become the largest economy in Africa and the 26th largest in the world. Nigeria is also the largest destination of FDI inflow in Africa, with growing investment interests occasioned by reforms in the power sector, the Agricultural Transformation Agenda and the New Industrial Revolution Master Plan. These positive developments are in spite of the current infrastructure and security challenges, which given the current efforts of government, I am quite positive will soon be a thing of the past,” he said.
Orya also talked about the role of institutional transformation of the government in which NEXIM has been a big player. He said the bank resumed operation in August, 2009 “at a time when the institution was in dire need of effective leadership.” That became necessary because prior to the time, the bank lacked proper focus, leading to lots of problems such as low morale of staff, deterioration in the operational and financial performance, which also caused the bank to find it difficult to deliver on its mandate. “This made us to quickly articulate a strategic repositioning exercise with a clear vision to be the Leading Export Development Bank in Africa. We also built a formidable team, improved our processes and took steps to motivate staff such that within 18 months of our resumption, we were able to turn around the fortunes of the bank to become a sustained profit-making institution,” the NEXIM boss said.
Today, he said, the bank had become more visible as one of the key government institutions facilitating trade in Nigeria, while also trying to help towards diversifying the external sector of the Nigerian economy. He concluded by saying that effective leadership was quite central in achieving any set goal either as a family, business or as a county. So, in relation to the 2015 elections, he said: “We should bear in mind that the choice of leaders will make the difference between where we are currently and where we would be in 2018.”
Agreeing, Benjamin Dikki, director general of the Bureau of Public Enterprise, BPE, who discussed Orya’s paper sounded optimistic at what good leadership could do to the country. Dikki drew a graphic parallel of the difference between good leadership when he compared what happened during the late General Abacha regime when no investment was made in the power sector and it worsened and the subsequent situation with other leaders who thought it wise to reform the sector for the better and invested into the sector. He cited reforms in 14 key sectors of the economy, from electricity to oil and gas as well as other relevant ones towards the development of the nation’s economy as the price of good leadership. “Government believes that the effective implementation of the proposed reform programmes will attract private capital; reduce government and political interference in the running of the economy and clearly define role and functions of participants in the economy,” Dikki said. In the same breath, he said the success recorded in the telecommunications industry was the product of the joint efforts of the BPE and National Council of Privatisation. “Through the reforms carried out in the telecommunications sector, Nigeria has moved from about 400,000 telephone lines in 2001 to about 134 million lines in 2014; and the Teledensity has increased from estimated 2.5 percent to 95 percent in a space of 12 years,” he said.
Based on its privatisation time table, Dikki said this was a critical period for the exercise, but he assured that the NCP/BPE would continue to prosecute the agenda of government to logical conclusion. “We make bold to say that the three phases so far implemented have been successful in spite of the criticisms and oppositions from a section of stakeholders and Nigerians. Privatisation being a reform programme has always drawn opposition anywhere it is introduced,” he said, adding: “Long term benefits for the nation have always been the rationale for continuing.” He also commended the foresight and tenacity of the current leadership in the country for its transformation agenda.
Another major highlight of the event was the presentation of the book published by Realnews. Ngozi Anyeagbunam, a lecturer, author and journalist of repute, who reviewed the book, noted that Realnews as an online magazine was timely because of its reach. Based on a recent study, Anyeagbunam observed that about 43 million Nigerians surfed the net on daily basis. She, therefore, recommended Realnews site to advertisers as well as those who want to sell their products.
On Paragon of Journalism, the former newspaper columnist commended Maureen Chigbo, publisher and editor of Realnews for her foresight in coming out with the book. She said: “This huge volume is not the normal book which comes in chapters of fiction or nonfiction as we know it. It is rather a compilation of some work of journalism at its finest.” Besides, she said: “Paragon of Journalism is a gesture by Ms Chigbo, a seasoned journalist who understands these issues and has resolved that even while she goes with the flow to the new world of the internet she needs to stay in touch with her origin and its tradition of discipline which approaches issues objectively and from all the possible sides, hesitate for her first audience, many of whom still buy the hard copy.”
According to the reviewer, “one copy of Paragon of Journalism at a time in any school library could empower endlessly.” The book being a product of hard work of Chigbo, Anyaegbunam said was very happy and proud the publisher as she celebrated years of hard work.
Hard work, that, indeed, was what Ray Ekpu, a founding director of Newswatch Communications Limited, publishers of Newswatch magazine, said encouraged the directors of the magazine to give Chigbo a job and subsequently made her the general editor of the publication.. Ekpu disclosed that Chigbo had been the only lady that had ever been made general editor of the magazine. “To be a general editor at Newswatch you have to be able to handle and control cantankerous editors who were always ready to fight with you over any issue. But we had no doubt that she could handle the newsroom and we were never disappointed,” Ekpu said. The former Newswatch boss also commended her tenacity while doing stories. He recalled the time Chigbo went to creeks in pursuit of a story on Niger Delta for which he commended her bravery and devotion to get the story done.
In her welcome address, Chigbo expressed sadness and happiness because Mike Akpan, pioneer editor-in-chief of Realnews who was supposed to give the welcome address was late. “He was one of the pillars of Realnews. We are sorely missing him,” she said as called the audience to observe a minute silence in his honour. Chigbo used the opportunity to tell listeners about Realnews, its vision and mission. “Our objective is to use our investigative skills to ferret out information in the sectors we focus on and produce an unbiased report which will actually influence the government and decision makers to take actions that will make the society better,” she said, adding: “There is no gainsaying that in the past two years we have kept faith with our vision and mission statement. Hence, we have investigated, covered and published exclusive stories that cover all the sectors we focus on including politics, oil and gas, business and economy, women and youth etc. We have done our job with all sense of responsibility.” Chigbo, however, said the reason behind “Paragon of Journalism” was to create more awareness about Realnews magazine as an online investigative publication.
This, indeed, earned the commendation of Nwade who noted the potential of the magazine as something inspiring and encouraging. He said the calibre of people present at its second anniversary “shows that Realnews has been able to carve a niche for itself in online publication.” The right reverend also commended the magazine for the topic of the lecture, which he described as topical “because it is something in the heart of everyone now.” He said notwithstanding what the doomsayers have been saying, Nwade said 2015 would mark yet another major transition in Nigeria. “You know, fear and faith are mutually exclusive. We have chosen to have faith and trust in God. Let’s pray and put everything before God and He will never fail us,” he said.
The occasion was graced by a good number of people from different walks of life. Chaired by J.C. Ezigbo, a professor and managing director, Falcon Corporation Limited also had in attendance Anaya O. Anya, a professor of Biology; George Obiozor, professor of international affairs; Dan Agbese and Soji Akinrinade, both former editors-in-chief of Newswatch, editors from different news media, among others. Ezigbo described journalism as the unseen force that impacts in a major way on our political and socio-economic environment. “The media has the potential to pool the collective psyche of large groups of people through the information that it passes on. A simple analysis of the political terrain of Nigeria reveals how the media affects political decisions and actions. The Nigerian public is today more politically informed and active than ever before, a development we can readily attribute to the proliferation of media outlets – print, electronic, and digital (through social media platforms); as well as the quality of information (or unfortunately at times, misinformation) that the public has at their disposal today,” he said. According to him, in the world that we live in today, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find people and institutions that will stand their ground against various forms of oppression and temptations to deliver the truth. “And when we do find such people or institutions, we must celebrate and encourage them. We are here today to mark the second anniversary of Realnews, one of such laudable media institutions which I refer to. Realnews is a noteworthy institution that has positioned itself as community servants, keepers of public documentation, protectors of democracy, and sponsors of public channels of communication,” he said.
Said Ezigbo: “As we celebrate this milestone in their work to showcase the fine art of journalism, I want to again emphasise on the need for freedom of expression, and the need to encourage those men and women who have chosen to bravely walk the path of ensuring true freedom of information and expression is an established reality accessible to all. The societal watchdog role that our media institutions play is crucial to the achievement of equality and harmony in our nation and plays a vital and valuable role in our democratic process. I ask that each of us here make a determined commitment to work hand in hand with Realnews to ensure their growth and continuity in the years ahead, for the sake of our beloved nation Nigeria.”
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