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The first time I had a complete understanding of what the term “democracy dividends“ means was 13 years ago when I was appointed as Special Adviser to the Governor of Kano State. The governor at that time was Malam (now Senator) Ibrahim Shekarau, and a cardinal policy of his administration was human development.
Unfortunately, most of the people took that to mean sharing of government money to the them, and, so, those of us that were senior aides of the governor were always pestered with demands from politicians, who would tell you they came to collect their democracy dividends. It mattered very little to some of these people that the administration was rooted in transparency and accountability, which it carried as a trademark of sorts, and was indeed the very first in Nigeria to set up a state-wide anti-corruption commission that it vested with widespread powers to deal with all cases of graft under whatever coloration.
Observing Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, even from a distance, one could clearly see a tendency on his part to evolve policies that seek to lessen the hardship and excruciating poverty faced by at least 40.1 per cent of the nation’s population that are living below the poverty line. The National Bureau of Statistics has, in its Poverty and Inequality Report of 2019, indicated that 82.9 million Nigerians made N137,000 per year.
And given the universally accepted definition of democracy as a government of the people, for the people and by the people, it has since been settled that one of the chief functions of government anywhere is improving the welfare of its people. That obviously explains why President Muhammadu Buhari has since vowed to move 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in a record period of 10 years.
Then, as if to make matters worse, the coronavirus pandemic started hitting the global population really hard, with many Nigerians finding it pretty difficult to make ends meet.
It was in the midst of the economic crises occasioned by COVID-19 that the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) announced an unprecedented increase in cost of operational licenses it grants to courier companies, ranging from international to local players.
The problem with this increase is that, whereas NIPOST, like virtually all government agencies, will really make do with additional funding, it is coming at a very wrong time when most Nigerians are only struggling to survive. Globally, millions of jobs have been lost. The lockdown occasioned by the pandemic has affected every strata of the global economy, and Nigeria is surely not an exception. And what is more, the agency, which operates under the purview of Pantami’s Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, somehow announced the increase without even informing the supervising ministry, not to talk of obtaining its permission as required by law.
Realising that the new policy announced by NIPOST would end up pushing thousands of small and medium-scale entrepreneurs presently engaged in courier services out of business, Dr. Pantami wasted no time in directing the agency to revert to the status quo, until further notice. A few people queried why the minister announced the directive for the reversal on Twitter, forgetting that Pantami is supervising a ministry that is pushing for e-government that will make governance more open and transparent.
There were reports that the big players in the courier business are not happy that hundreds of courier companies are now operating in the country. They detest the “incursion” into their goldmine and are reportedly working behind the scenes to teach these small entrepreneurs a lesson for their “effrontery.” Whether they were the ones who influenced the new direction haphazardly announced by NIPOST or not, the fact remains that they will be happy if the space is limited to make courier business the exclusive preserve of only the rich and the mighty, as it used to be until the sector was liberalised by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
One advantage of appointing people whose qualifications and working experience make them round pegs in round holes is that they cannot easily be deceived by unscrupulous civil servants. If, for example, Dr. Pantami were not a guru in the communication and information technology industry, or if he were the corrupt type who would enrich himself and allow all sorts of shenanigans in the name of policy to pass through without a care about the negative implications to the masses, chances are that this policy would have sailed through. And that would have amounted to putting the Buhari administration in big trouble because the ripple effects of thousands of young men losing their jobs overnight owing to a policy obviously rooted in recklessness could only be left to the imagination.
At a time when the Buhari administration is working hard to secure the country from a decade-long terrorism that was started by some reckless politicians six years before it came into power, and also against the backdrop of rising cases of banditry occasioned by age-long herders/farmers’ clashes, the least the government wants for stability of the country is a large number of its teeming youths being pushed to the unemployment market, given that, all over the world, unemployment and hopelessness are some of the key drivers of crime and criminality.
It probably only takes some of us who have suffered one incident of kidnapping of a family member or the other to fully come to grasps with the fact that Dr. Pantami has been enriching thousands, if not millions of Nigerians, without them even realising it. How is the communications minister doing that? The answer is simple, and it is in his ability to make it difficult, if not impossible, for kidnappers to continue using unregistered SIM cards that were everywhere in the market before his appointment to this office.
As at September 2019, barely a month after Pantami was appointed Communications Minister, there were nine million unregistered SIM cards being sold all over the place in the country. As soon as he came to office, however, he directed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), another key agency under his supervision, to immediately block these numbers until the users present themselves for registration.
The rate of kidnapping in the country has significantly reduced not only because the security services have upped the ante, but because unregistered SIM cards are no longer available for criminals to deploy in their act. Of course, some of these criminals now resort to using the SIM cards of their victims, but that has also not been serving them well because it gives the security services an easy clue to their whereabouts.
Kidnapping was until now a very lucrative business, with a report by cfr.org showing Nigerians have paid a whopping sum of $18 million (N8.4bn) in ransom between 2011 to 2020. The same report, however, shows a drastic decline in the rate of kidnapping across the country in the last 10 months, as perpetrators are getting arrested as a result of this policy that Minister Pantami brought about.
Kidnappers, terrorists and their agents have been blaming the patriotic minister of communications for bringing about this policy that is working very well for Nigerians. It is a policy that is also helping the Nigerian military, given that the chief terrorist in the country, Abubakar Shekau of Boko Haram, had also cast aspersions on Pantami for bringing about this policy that has severely been making communication for the criminal elements very difficult.
Another Pantami policy that is significantly helping the downtrodden in Nigeria has to do with Internet or data cost. From the beginning of this year, 46.6 per cent of Nigerians were Internet users. This share is projected to grow to 65.3 per cent by 2025. With over 100 million Nigerians using the Internet virtually on a daily basis, any entrepreneur dealing in data is bound to be smiling to the bank, especially as the cost is among the highest in the world, as of the time Pantami assumed office as minister.
In October 2019, barely two months after being appointed to the office, Pantami directed the NCC to ensure telcos reduce prices of data packages and stop illegal deductions arising therefrom. He also directed the NCC to ensure compliance with the maximum 2 per cent Call Drop Rate directive to telecom operators and bring to an end the frequent data depletion experienced by subscribers.
According to a report from a UK-based price comparison website, Cable, Nigeria is not among the top 10 African countries with low average price of data. Pantami rightly found this completely detestable. The minister has been worried that Nigerians have been spending their hard-earned monies on data, but more often than not end up getting less value for their money.
Pantami did not stop with private investors, but also came hard on the government-owned information technology service provider, Galaxy Backbone, asking the management to leverage on the advantage of government funding to deliver quality services that will attract more revenue, something it is now doing.
One of the things these directives, and ensuring they get implemented clearly shows is the unimpeachable integrity and uncommon transparency of Minister Pantami. Any minister of communications could become a billionaire overnight if he or she chooses to collude with some communication service providers to shortchange Nigerians. But these are the same people that the minister has been fighting, not in a manner as to affect the growth of the telecoms industry, but particularly to ensure operators make legitimate profit and also give Nigerians real value for their money.
This directive has now seen to a situation where cost of data packages keeps getting lower, and the quality of service is increasing, with the beneficiaries being Nigerians, especially those in the lower income bracket. The operators now know there is a new sheriff in town, and this sheriff is pro-people and pro-masses. They know that he is interested in their progress, but he cannot allow that to happen at the expense of Nigerians.
Felicitating with Madam Grace Jakko on her birthday
Last week Saturday, I got an invitation to attend a birthday prayer session for the wife of my long-standing friend, role model and elder brother, J.E. Jakko, in Abuja. It was an event restricted only to those of us considered family members, and every bit of the protocols set out by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) for personal hygiene and physical distancing since the onset of COVID-19 were strictly observed.
So, when the husband called and asked whether I could spare a few minutes to attend his wife’s birthday prayers, I had no hesitation in confirming my attendance.
A subordinate, who served as an aide to J.E. Jakko, testified at the event that Oga’s wife was a huge blessing to them because “the way she properly takes care of the home front ensures stability in the office, as our boss handles his very busy office with utmost diligence and dedication that radiates the entire office environment.”
Pastor Dominic, a dedicated man of God and close friend of the Jakkos, also harped on the blessings brought about by virtuous women such as Mrs. Grace and prayed that those who are yet to get married should be blessed by God with women that will give them the peace to work and advance the cause of the family.
There is no doubt that Madam, the celebrant, is a virtuous woman in every definition of the word. At least, this much could be said of her by those of us who have been relating with the family for well over a decade now.
Highlights of the occasion was the cutting of the cake, which was done by the celebrant, assisted by her husband and children. Even at that, some measure of social distancing was observed.
From the entry gate of the venue, a modest farm on the outskirts of Abuja, body temperature of guests was taken, using a thermometer and, few as the guests were, all were politely asked to put on their face masks and also rub hand sanitizer.
This column wishes Madam Grace a blessed and longer life of dedicated service to not just the Jakkos, but humanity in its entirety.
