Ojifo-Raphael

Nigeria has started a journey towards the zenith since it moved up from 169th to 145th (24 paces forward) in 2017 World Bank’s Doing Business index. Although, not much of a profound achievement, it is, nevertheless, a critical achievement built on policy reform and the exercise of extant rules to make the business cart move. In 2016, President Buhari inaugurated the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC); the Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo chaired it, Jumoke Oduwole (Senior Special Assistant to the President on Investment, Trade and Industry) headed the Secretariat, and the Federal Ministry of Trade and Investment, led by the quick-witted Okechukwu Enelamah, coordinated it. PEBEC operates by convening the leadership of key MDAs to tackle regulatory impediments to doing business in Nigeria. The council had to operate on this score because, in the past, red tape and regulatory barriers infringed on the ease of doing business. The existing government insti...

I once sat down and listened to the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, His Eminence Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Emir of Kano, as he gave an allegory of "a man who died". From him I understood that there is a variation in what we inquire when we say "The Man has died" and when we say "The Man's neck was slit with a knife". When we say "a man dies" the import of the statement is much different compared to when we say "a man's throat was slit with a knife". While it is true that the man died, that is not enough because it hides too much information. The questions of; WHO killed him? WHAT sharp object was used to slit his throat? WHEN did this happen? HOW did this happen? are fundamental questions of philosophical significance we must not shy from. The Nigerian economy was certainly dying; that goes without saying. But the questions we are most often not comfortable with are; WHO killed it? WHAT was used to kill it? WHEN di...

The SIWP is a roadmap currently undergoing implementation. It provides a strategic framework which coordinates investments in the development and stabilisation in the Niger Delta. It aims at ensuring maximum efficiency and impact on the people of the region. The SIWP was created by organising the proposals developed by the various Federal Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), and the development projects planned by the various oil companies operating in the region, into one joint and coordinated roadmap. Its framework shows 475 projects implementable in the short-term (2017-2019), medium-term (2020-2022) and long-term (2023-beyond). Of these projects, 307 are of the Federal Government and 150 are of the IOCs totalling ₦2,065,140,035,959. The commitment of the Federal Government totals about ₦1,769,621,000,816; with the Short-term being ₦1,549,008,641,117, Medium-term, ₦208,989,130,066 and Long-term, ₦11,623,229,633. Whereas, the IOCs totals about ₦295,519,035,143 ; ...