Buhari and private sector monitoring

IT is now clear to most people in Nigeria, and even the international community after 16 years of democratic clowning, that Nigeria’s public sector and governance instruments can really work to ensure law and order in the conduct of human relations and business activities for a balanced social order. That is to say, as Chinua Achebe did, that there is really nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else.

The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership…the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership. A keen and dispassionate observer of the Nigerian environment since May 29, 2015 will agree and commend the current Federal Government for the rejuvenated efforts it is making in ensuring a sane operational environment for private sector operators in Nigeria amidst few other flashes of rebirth in public attitudes.

Our countrymen and women can beat their chests and say that the year of transition did not pass without associating it with an achievement – a change in national political leadership which is yielding gradual results in a steady and sustainable manner. The Change professed by the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) has left the realm of a political mantra to the realisation of its essence in decisions and actions of Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

The fight against corruption which went comatose has been rejuvenated under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), the Independent Corruption Practices and other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), and the Central Bank of Nigeria are now alive to their responsibilities in such a manner that a critical observer would question if these agencies of government were really in existence before the inauguration of the Buhari administration.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently sanctioned the multi-national telecommunications giant, MTN, Nigeria with a fine of N1.4 trillion for contravening its directives on SIM Card registration. Since then, the company and other operators in the sector who have been exploiting Nigerians and depriving the government of relevant revenues have been put on the spot and alive to the rules and regulations governing the sector in which they operate as it is done in other climes where civilised people hold sway.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), has shown new vigilance, with the extraordinary swiftness, which it  discovered the criminal violations of the commercial banks in breach of the Treasury Single Account directive. The CBN, had within two weeks, applied various monetary sanctions running into billions of Naira on First Bank, UBA and Skye Bank.

This is profound in the annals of the CBN supervision of the banking sector in Nigeria. It is also noteworthy that National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC) slammed a 1billion Naira fine on Guinness Breweries for using expired raw materials in the production of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.

Under the President Muhammadu Buhari’s watch, the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has raised the tempo of its activism and regulatory courage, by sanctioning the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) the sum of N18 million as compensation to the family of eight-year-old Faith Yakubu who died when a worker of AEDC disconnected the wire feeding the Yakubu’s residence over allegation of accumulated bills.

There is no doubt that these corporate violations over the years in Nigeria that went unpunished and ignored contributed immensely to the destruction of the Nigeria’s economy and the loss of revenue that slowed down governance all over the country.

It is also instructive and commendable that within the past six months of the APC Federal Government that the National Office for Technological Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP), has withdrawn approvals for banks that bring in expatriates to manage banks’ software in Nigeria. This singular decision will throw open opportunities for the nation’s indigenous practitioners in the ICT sector to flourish.

Conclusively, the activation of the laws and operational codes for business operations in Nigeria, by relevant regulatory agencies and their sudden awakening from long term slumber to their mandates and responsibilities have directly and indirectly established a new public order.  It has also sent a new message of hope to the world on Nigeria. Effective and efficient monitoring have promoted Nigeria’s image abroad as a nation of law and order; where rules and regulations are upheld. This is impacting on Foreign Direct Investment and the conduct of business and human interactions in Nigeria. The rest of the world has increased confidence in Nigeria’s economy and its people because the new sheriff in town has reputation for discipline, law and order and zero-tolerance for corruption.

• Ugo Jim-Nwoko, a Development and Budget Policy Analyst, writes from Abuja.