NIGERIA’S TRUE OLYMPIC SPIRIT

NIGERIA’S TRUE OLYMPIC SPIRIT

It is now so much a familiar pattern. The great games, the 30^th Olympiad has ended in London, United Kingdom and Nigeria, a country of One Hundred and Fifty Million people won no medal of whatever hue or shade.

The story of Nigeria’s participation at the London Olympics yet again beamed the search light on a nation that is determined to be poor, a country that is determined to fail, a country that is determined to self destruct, snatch defeat, destruction and death from the jaws of plenty, victory, success and life.

Nigeria won more Gold medals than the United Kingdom at the Atlanta games of 1996, our proudest moment yet at the Olympic Games. At the London games, Great Britain won 29 Gold medals and 65 medals in all. The United States of America maintained her power and dominance by winning the games with an overall medals haul of 104. The People’s Republic of China snapped at their heels until the very end. They eventually finished second with 87 medals in all. Russia did well as usual and many small nations managed to register their names on the medals table – Trinidad and Tobago, Latvia, Guatemala, Moldova, Bahrain, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Grenada, Mongolia, and Taipei to mention a few, all won medals in London. The Caribbean nation of Jamaica and Cuba won 12 and 14 medals respectively. Jamaica and Cuba are the sensible examples Nigeria ought to copy at the games. The Jamaican’s especially, since identified their strength and now they win the important and show case sprint events in athletics.

To get nearer home, South Africa with whom we like to pretend we are African power houses won 3 Gold medals, 2 Silver medals and 1 Bronze medal; Ethiopia and Kenya, two East African neighbours who also have a sensible approach to the games by prioritising and leveraging on their strength in the long distance races won 3 Gold, 1 Silver, 3 Bronze medals and 2 Gold, 4 Silver and 5 Bronze medals respectively. Tunisia won 3 medals across the medals category; Algeria won 1 Gold medal; Egypt took home 2 Silver medals; Botswana won 1 Silver medal; Morocco won 1 Bronze medal. Even Uganda and Gabon, two unlikely countries, won medals – Gold and Silver respectively.

Nigeria, the most populous black nation on earth was left in the unenviable company of Burundi, Rwanda, Cameroun, Benin, Burkinafaso and the lot. Many out of sorts nations. Really how did One Hundred and Fifty Million people come to this sorry pass? A single American athlete Micheal Phelps, became the greatest Olympian ever by winning his 22^nd medal – 18 of them Gold – at the just concluded London games. He won 8 of the 18 Gold medals in one Olympics at Beijing in 2008. Usain Bolt, the fastest man alive wrote himself into Games folklore by becoming the first man ever to successfully defend and retain the 100m and 200m showpiece dash. There is already another Jamaican, Yohan Blake who is poised to step into his shoes. Blake took Silver at both events after Bolt took Gold. To crown the duo’s monumental achievement, the two athletes ran the race of their lives as they were part of the quartet that won the men’s 4 x 100m relay in a new World record time of 36.84 seconds. Allyson Felix of the U.S won Gold in the 200m race. She also took Gold in the 4 x 100m and 4 x 400m relay, the first American female athlete to win three Gold medals at an Olympic game since the flamboyant Florence Griffith Joyner at the Seoul ’88 Games.

In the same vein, Mo Farrah (who fled Somalia when he was eight years old) of Great Britain won the 10,000m and 5,000m race in another epoch making chapter at the games. South Africa came one medal short of their best ever Olympics post isolation and whilst at it Chad le Clos beat the great Michael Phelps in the 200m butterfly to take Gold for the rainbow nation and South Africa also produced her first home grown world record holder. Kenyan David Rudisha, set a new world record in the 800m, breaking his own world record and becoming the first man to do the 800m under 1:41.00 seconds. In the men’s marathon, held at a time when the tiniest hopes of any shade of medal for our country was going up in smoke, I wept when the nation of Uganda won Gold, the country’s second Olympic Gold ever and the athlete, Stephen Kiprotich enthused emotionally, “even if I die now, I die a Champion”.

As has become customary, the United States won the Gold medal in the men’s basketball event with a storied, moneyed star studded team that included James Lebron, Kobe Bryant, James Harden, Kevin Durant and one Carmelo Anthony who stood out, shooting three pointers with supreme ease, when they completely annihilated the Nigerian team, breaking and making all sorts of records both world and Olympic with contemptuous ease against Nigeria on their way to the final. No one expected Nigeria to beat the US dream team but the manner of that loss leaves rotten, bitter, sour grapes in the mouth. The Tunisians we defeated in the first match held their own against the US team. The US team was only able to edge the final against Spain by 107 to 100 points. Nigeria in contrast lost 73 to 156 points to the US team. The biggest and most embarrassing margin at the Olympics ever!! May be in the history of international basketball even?

So much at stake and so much records broken and set and history made and remade and what did my Country do in all of this? Nigeria won no medal, broke no record, set no record, made no history, in fact made no mark at all. When the history of the London games is written, Nigeria will merely be an adjunct, a footnote in the annals of London 2012 history. But we do understand that Nigeria registered 55 athletes in 8 sports and the Federal Government released over 2 billion naira to prosecute the games. Knowing my Country, the significant issues are the ones left unspoken. For example, how many officials and hangers on accompanied the athletes to the games, how were the funds utilised, what and how much was spent on what? So far no one is telling. In sharp contrast, North Korea sent a similar contingent – 56 athletes – and they won 6 Gold medals.

Great Britain hosted the splendid games and put up a great show for the world to savour whilst the games lasted at a conservative cost of 15 billion pounds. London played host to some 10, 000 athletes and many others from across the globe and there were enough and adequate facilities for all. In this warped age of global terrorism, security concerns were adequately addressed; transportation, another possible problem area was handled in an exemplary manner and London delivered the games hitch free and passed on the Olympic touch to Rio de Janeiro with minimum fuss. There were no reports of security breaches, no one was molested, injured or harassed and above all, no loss of life was reported.

Can you fathom what would have happened if the games were held here? Your guess is as good as mine!! Whilst the games lasted, an acquaintance of mine sought to know if I think any Nigerian city can host a successful Olympic Games. My answer was studied silence. The kind reserved for a fool and his foolish question. I hope he does not remember asking me the question when he reads this piece!!

Just what have we ever learnt from these monumental misadventures and colossal failures? Really what does it cost to win an Olympic medal? Nigeria should be winning them anyway. To start with, the events we usually enter and qualify for are straight forward and simple enough. I do not believe that you require the same effort and expense to deliver a medal in the sprints for example, as you do, say in synchronized swimming, sailing and equestrian. Nigeria has had the good experiences of the ’96 Games to build on and now instead of moving on, we have regressed so badly it’s an indictment on all One Hundred and Fifty million of us. Do we even as much as realize that excellence in sports is a massive diplomatic relations tool? That Nigeria can be remade in part through the instrumentality of sports? Why are we so blind to see that success at global events helps redeem our sullied image?

Riches and population should mean more medals at any games. Nigeria has both commodities in abundance. Riches should ensure that you have enough money to invest in sports and population should ensure that you had a more reasonable chance of producing more and better athletes in selected and varied areas of priority. The statistics validates this, the United States has won 15% of all medals awarded at the Olympics, the Europeans 60% and the Chinese has since emerged a counter power to the United States at the Games. Former British Olympian, Adrian Morehouse said of China when the US team questioned the Chinese, Ye Shiwen’s feat in the 400m individual medley where she did not only win the Gold medal but also set a new world record and the 200m medley where she also won Gold medal thus: “there are a lot of people in China and actually the base of their pyramid is so wide that if they trained thousands and thousands of their kids they have got more to draw from”. It is a huge contradiction therefore that this has not clearly been the case for Nigeria. How on earth has a nation of One Hundred and Fifty million people won less than 20 medals in the history of the Olympic Games?

Is our case beyond redemption? One is tempted to think so but I believe with the faintest hope that if we put our money where our mouths are, if we start doing the right thing this very moment, we may well reach the Promised Land one day. But even at that, our mouths had to be in the right places for this to happen.

I am always amazed at how we treat every problem as if it is rocket science and you need all the experts in the world to solve it. I do not even think rocket science is that formidable anymore giving that several nations have now acquired space technology!! There are worthy examples to follow, if you ask me. Many nations have been where we are now. At the beginning of this piece, I did mention that Nigeria won more Gold medals than Great Britain at the 1996 games. In London, Great Britain won 29 Gold medals, 17 Silver medals and 19 Bronze medals and took 3^rd position. Never before have they done so well at the Olympics. From a lowly 1 Gold medal 16 years ago to an impressive haul of 29 Gold medals at the London games and our dear country, Nigeria with 2 Gold medals that fateful year of our Lord in 1996 won nothing in London.

What did Great Britain do that we can learn from? Immediately after the Atlanta games, Great Britain injected National Lottery Funds directly into elite Olympic sports. In the years leading to Beijing, 2008, Great Britain invested 250 Million Pounds in training programs and the gains were immediate as they won 19 Gold medals in Beijing. Does anyone have the figures we have spent on sports at any time in our history? Where and how do we invest? Have we identified our elite sport – our area of strength? Nigeria has to learn that investment has to be strategic. The money we release most times goes to what does not matter. When you release funds a few months to the games, it simply means you are doing so not to win medals at the games but for the jamboree and mundane aspects of the games. At that stage, the money will go into itinerary, allowances, feeding and sundry secondary issues instead of the primary expenses of training and preparation four long years to the games.

Nations who understand the value of time and the power of preparedness are already at it even when the ovations of the London games are yet to die down.  Great Britain, after a hugely successful games has already mapped out strategy on how to do even better at Rio de Janeiro in 2016, Prime Minister David Cameron has promised UK elite sports 127 million pounds per year till 2016; the United States is to open its Olympic camp for the 2016 games in September, 2012. Brazil has already announced it plans to spend $ 700, 000 (Seven Hundred Million Dollars) on high performance athletes over four years as they target a top 10 finish at the Rio games. This whopping amount of money will almost triple the sums spent in the run up to the London games by Brazil.

It is pertinent we highlight the importance of investment in sports and starting early repeatedly. No one knows what Nigeria’s plans are for the Rio games. What does Nigeria plan to achieve at the next games? What events are we focusing on? How much do we plan or are willing to invest? What sort of athletes are we looking at? Are we planning beyond the next games? May be it is rather too late to start preparing for a Gold rush in four years time? What reasonable time frame do we think our plans may bear fruit? Because come to think of it, excellence in sports is a long and life time investment of talent, time, sweat, a punishing training routine and cold hard cash.

In saner climes, an Olympian starts the game at about age five in elementary School, he continues through High School and in his teenage years, he is already winning youth Championships. Then he is ready for the Olympic Games. If he misses out on the medals podium in his first Olympics, the second soon comes around and he can hope to carry on from there. A prime example is the youngest British medalist at the London games. Amazingly, the London games were Tom Daley’s second Olympic Games. He is only 18 years old, won Bronze at the London games and he just only took his ‘A’ levels after the games. Chinese double Gold medalist, Ye Shiwen is only 16 years old. Great Britain’s Lizzie Armistead who won Silver in Cycling started the game at age 4. Now what is the average age of the Nigerian team at the Olympics? Was there a wise mix of young and old medal hopefuls? You can hazard a guess. German Golfer, Caroline Messon is 23 years old and she just competed at the South African Women’s Open. Her father introduced her to the game at age five. Interestingly, the story of Caroline is the story of many American and European sports great. What are Nigerian parents and guardians doing in this regard?

It has become imperative now that we must go back to the basics. Whatever happened to School sports and youth Championships? When I was in Primary and Secondary Schools not too many years ago, the Inter-House Sports and Collegiate games were a major fixture in the Schools Calendar and everyone looked forward to it at the beginning of every session. There were Sports masters and physical education teachers even in my Primary School. I doubt if Secondary Schools have them now much less Primary Schools. There were Schools in my Local Government Area that were known to excel in particular Sports and I remember that the old Bendel and Oyo States at least had games villages where sportspersons were trained and prepared for games, especially the National Sports Festivals and the gains were self evident then as the old Bendel State continuously did well at the games.

I do not know if these games villages still exist, but if they do, you can be sure, like everything else that they will no longer have the ambience, facilities and instructors to produce any sportspersons of note today. School sports and youth championships must be revived, every Local Government Area should designate at least three Secondary Schools as sporting excellence schools and such sports for which the people of the area are best suited must be given priority and learnt in the Schools with the understanding that promising sportsmen and women will be awarded Scholarships for further studies in similar institutions across the globe and with training grants factored into the bargain. The Federal Government must encourage all the State’s and collaborate with them to set up proper games villages.

There must be adequate investment in monetary terms and exposure. Our athletes ought to be funded to attend international meets in the course of their careers. That way, they can be exposed to the best facilities around, develop alongside and rub shoulders with the superstars. In the wake of the humiliation the Nigerian team suffered in the hands of the US men’s basketball team somebody expressed the opinion that our men’s basketball team players were star struck and may have been overawed by the star powers of the US basketball team that consisted of the best, biggest and richest names in the sport. This may not be farfetched considering the hiding the team got at the hands of James Lebron and his gang of ball slingers. 

Still on funds, it is important that our Governments (Federal, State and Local) makes adequate provisions in their annual budgets for Sports, release the funds early and make sure it gets to the athletes, eradicate corruption from sports administration, upgrade facilities, update coaches’ knowledge and encourage commitment and discipline on the part of the athletes and their coaches. All these will mean a lot of money,  so a possible way to go about it is to identify our elite sports, streamline and determine where our strength lie and invest massively in those sports for the purpose of international sports events and any sports that is successful by winning medals gets more funding and so on. Another way to invest massively and yet reduce cost is to send only medal hopefuls to the games. We know what modern standards are. We know athletes who will not win medals even before the games start. What is the point in sending anyone who cannot do the 100m in 10 seconds to compete with Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake and their ilk at the Olympic Games?

It is high time we institutionalized sports in Nigeria. Professionalize sports so sportsmen and women can earn income and thus a living for life in sports. That way, you can retain the best core of your sportsmen in the game and you are able to attract serious minded athletes, instructors, coaches and administrators to sports because there is a life and living to be made. As things stand now, only journeymen, crass opportunists and money grabbers with less than basic knowledge of the game even will be attracted into sports administration and management in Nigeria.

Nigeria must appeal to the better angels in the nature of wealthy Nigerians and the elites. They should be encouraged to introduce their wards and Children to sports early. They can afford to send their Children to elite Sports Schools in Europe and America. For once, Nigeria’s wealthy should be altruistic with their money. The newly minted Oil sheiks should stay their hands, they should not acquire that new private jet just yet; they should expend the money on making great sportsmen of their Children. Nigeria’s rich should understand that the way of Senator Uche Chukwumerije, who funds his sons training and gives the young man sundry support is the way to go if this reproach will be taken away from us soon. One can only imagine how proud the Senator must have felt when his son, Chika Chukwumerije ascended the podium to receive the Bronze medal he won in taekwondo at Beijing 2008, unfortunately the young man could not replicate the feat at the London Games. The Nigerian Government cannot go it alone. Let wealthy and rich Nigerians lend a helping hand. Let it be said for once that Nigeria’s rich and her elite saved her Sports at its lowest ebb.

Nigeria must encourage private sector sponsorship; attractive packages can be put in place for Corporations which will sponsor sports. Tax reliefs and other statutory waivers can be explored and I dare say that it is in the enlightened self interest of the Companies themselves to engage their host communities by way of sports sponsorship. Companies should now know that it is time to do away with the dubious and bogus claims of Corporate Social Responsibility. It is time to begin anew the process of Social Responsibility which edifies, one that is not mere lip service, a palliative disguised as cure.

All said and done, whatever we do, if corruption is not tackled, most things in our country will fail and Sports may not be an exception as we have seen with the usual name calling and finger pointing after successive failures at major games. It does appear now that only a voluntary change of heart will help Nigeria in this wise, a moral regeneration of the mind and soul if you will, akin to what the bible calls pulling down strongholds, for no one can deny that the stranglehold of corruption on Nigerian’s is now such a vice like grip that everything thrown at it has made no difference. Nigeria has made a public spectacle of fighting corruption since 1999, curiously though no one is impressed, treasury looters are on the rampage, they have continued to have a field day and nothing suggests that this state of anomie will abate anytime soon. In one sentence, Nigerian’s and their leaders are still not convinced that corruption does not pay!!

Corruption has become so pervasive in Nigerian life that the apex court, the Supreme Court of Nigeria, had this to say about it in the year 2002; “corruption is not a disease which afflicts public officers alone but society as a whole. If it is therefore to be eradicated effectively, the solution to it must be pervasive to cover every segment of the society” … “corrupt practices and abuse of power can, if not checked, threaten the peace, order and good government of the federation or any part thereof”.

If the prognosis of the usually reticent and conservative apex court on the debilitating effect of corruption on national life was this bad ten years ago, one cannot now fathom how bad it has become in the intervening years in light of the many scams that have been unveiled since then – the Siemens bribery scandal, the looting of many banks, the Governor’s heist, the police pension probe and the Oil subsidy scam takes the cake.

But then really, what is it that they say is the Olympic spirit? Something like, “The joy is not in winning, but in participating”. That is rather solicitous and placating and no serious and competitive nation believes in that but dishearteningly Nigeria and her athletes literally took the Olympic spirit to heart, went to the London Olympic Games of 2012, participated fully, won nothing and returned home to carry on as if nothing is amiss and to revel in her famed state of insouciance. That may well be the idyllic and true Olympic spirit but it amounts to living in a fool’s paradise in real terms.

Stephen O. Obajaja Esq. is a Partner at the Lagos Law Firm of Fountain Court Partners.

STEPHEN O. OBAJAJA

Fountain Court Partners

Block 36B, LSPDC Estate

Ogudu Road

Ojota – Lagos.

08052066172.

EDO ELECTIONS: SLAYING THE DRAGON?

EDO ELECTIONS: SLAYING THE DRAGON?

Much has been written about the July 14^th, 2012 Gubernatorial elections in Edo State and in many ways that election was epochal, an alchemy in the history of democracy in Nigeria, a night of the long knives of sorts if you consider the new grounds the people of Edo state broke and the irremissible political garbage it swept away with it but I do not share the ultra optimism of many that the election has by itself signaled the extinction of the dinosaur – the “Godfather” in Edo and Nigeria’s politics. The godfather may well be a dying breed, an end game for the godfather may be. Still I do not believe that the dragon of Godfatherism in Nigerian politics has been slain for good.

My pessimism stems from the nature and structure of Nigeria’s politics, a distorted polis that will for the foreseeable future always throw up new godfathers to take over the space vacated by the vanquished godfather because the space exists and there is a territory to take over. In Edo State for example indications are already  emerging and speculation rife that the Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadhome will take over the leadership of the PDP and Chief Tony Anenih’s machinery in the State. Now considering how the Chief of Staff himself rose to prominence, what else will he be if not a virulent godfather in the mould of his forebears?   

The concept of godfatherism is thought to originate from medieval Italy and Italians have a saying that ‘this world is so tough a man needs two fathers to look after him, that is why we have godfathers’. The phenomenon of godfatherism in Nigerian politics is age long, legendary and fascinating such that at the advent of this present republic they became entrenched  in every State in Nigeria. In Enugu State, Chief Jim Nwobodo chose his godson, Dr. Chimaroke Nnamani in 1999, Nnamani became a godfather after retiring his erstwhile benefactor and godfather from politics and he installed his godson Sullivan Chime as his successor in 2007. Former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu chose his Chief of Staff of many years and namesake, Theodore Orji, to succeed him in Abia State in 2007. In Ebonyi State, Dr. Sam Egwu adopted a much older political godson in Chief Martin Elechi and ushered him into Government house in 2007. 

Perhaps the Anambra imbroglio is too notorious and was publicly dramatized for anyone not to remember the sordid details. In the battle of the two “Chris’s”, Chris Uba, the then new ‘kid’ godfather on the block did everything with tacit support in turn from his Abuja godfathers to harry Chris Ngige out of the Awka Government House, but the diminutive medical doctor, Chris Ngige riding the crest of public sympathy proved himself a worthy survivor for three years until he was sacked by the Court of Appeal for electoral fraud.

The ubiquitous godfather did not spare any state of the federation. In Lagos State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu chose and ensured the election of his erstwhile Chief of Staff, Babatunde Raji Fashola SAN, in 2007 where though there are muted reports of discontent between the two, they have thus far conducted their affairs and those of Lagos State with some modicum of decorum. There was also the case of the ‘Oloye’ in Kwara State who for as long as anyone can now recall decided who will be Governor or hold any important political position in that State until he met his match in his biological and political godson, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, who dislodged the Elder Saraki and his loyalists from the PDP and in the process got his own anointed godson elected governor of the State in 2011. Who can forget the barbaric antics of the Garrison Commander of Ibadan and Oyo politics, Chief Lamidi Adedibu whilst he lived? It took the ultimate fate – death – to wrestle the people of Oyo state from his vice like grip. 

In Edo State in general and particularly in the PDP, Chief Tony Anenih, held sway as the numero uno, the godfather of godfathers as the Edo State chapter of the PDP is uncommonly populated with all manner, hue and shades of godfathers who it is said all owed allegiance to the Iyasele of Esan land. The Chief’s influence was so pervasive that he sat holding court in his Uromi country home, dispensing political patronage and deciding who was nominated candidates in positions as low as Councilors in far flung areas of the State. Many a brilliant political career was short circuited and ruined and many obscure impostors catapulted to dizzying political heights in the State on the godfather’s say so. It was the Chief who is alleged to fix everything and anyone who famously declared in 2003 that there was no vacancy at both Aso Rock and Edo State’s Dennis Osadebey Way, Government House, Benin City and thus the people of Edo State were saddled with the Government of Chief Lucky Igbinedion who wasted space, time and everyone’s resources for eight calamitous years.

The definition or idea of a godfather in any sphere of life may well not have been an objectionable thing as the term ‘godfather’ has been described as a man who provides inspiration or support, especially financial help, for a person or cause. The corollary therefore of getting something back for such support may also well be true and fair but the problem is that the godfather in Nigerian politics wants everything and anything. He conducts himself in a capricious, virulent and brazen manner without regard for decency and due process and he does not care if the people for whose good Governments are organized lives, thrives or dies.

Comrade Ugochukwu Emezue, the Chief Press Secretary to the Abia State Governor sums up the scourge of the godfather admirably for me when he told the THISDAY newspaper “it affected governance adversely because you are not given the freedom, not allowed to take decisions, there was a blockade, distractions were here and there, money was siphoned, and people were imposed on the governor, to the extent that nothing was going on here. Frivolous claims were made; those around were answerable to the godfather … it was a period of stagnatnion. If you get to know the kind of debt that was hanging on Abia then, you would marvel”.

The Chief Press Secretary spoke about his experiences in Abia state but he could well have been speaking for any State of the federation where the Governor and the people are unfortunate enough to be saddled with an overbearing godfather. Then we are wont to say, since the godfather is such an objectionable figure of derision, it will only be right for Nigeria to get rid of him!! Problem is the godfather is fierce and formidable. Solution however is a determined and fearless electorate with an alternative, determined and fearless leader, who has and is continually willing to show the right and determinate leadership as happened in the case and recent history of Edo State. 

So much for the myth and might of the godfather then!! For once, a Governorship candidate won in all the 18 Local Government Areas of the State, routing the PDP everywhere, anywhere and even in all places considered their traditional stronghold; the PDP was defeated by the ACN in Anenih’s polling unit; other PDP Chieftains were similarly so embarrassed; the PDP was decimated in Samuel Ogbemudia’s polling unit; the ACN won in Gabriel Igbinedions polling unit. The Candidate of the PDP in the  State, Charles Airhiavbere lost his polling unit, the State Chairman of the PDP, Chief Dan Obih  and the Chief of Staff to the President and former Deputy Governor of the State, Chief Mike Oghiadhome lost the election at all levels in their various areas of influence.

Now that Anenih, the reputed ‘Mr. fix it’ has apparently been fixed, does it therefore mean that the fierce and formidable dragon that is the godfather in Nigerian politics has finally been slain? Many think so but I do not share their optimism. It is not to say though that their optimism is misplaced but my experience of Nigerian and Edo politics does not inspire such confidence. I do not believe that just yet, though I fervently pray that I am proved wrong and that my fears be misplaced. But three things to note is you can be sure that the godfathers across the country will fight back; there are too many lieutenants who are waiting in the wings to step into the godfathers vacated shoes (closet godfathers); and worst of all, the godsons who slay their godfathers only become more virulent godfathers themselves and this vicious circle shows no sense of abating anytime soon. It may well be set to continue an unfortunate and unedifying trend.

But what can the people do really? The good people of Edo State have shown the way in this regard. ‘[The price of liberty is eternal vigilance’.

Stephen O. Obajaja Esq. is a Partner at the Lagos Law Firm of Fountain Court Partners.

STEPHEN O. OBAJAJA

Fountain Court Partners

Block 36B, LSPDC Estate

Ogudu Road

Ojota – Lagos.

08052066172.

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PENSION REFORM: CAN MY PENSION BENEFITS BE SECURED THROUGH MY LIFE TIME

CAN MY PENSION BENEFITS BE SECURED THROUGH MY LIFE TIME

INTRODUCTION

All over the world, people worry about their future and studies have shown that social security generally, particularly pensions constitute a large chunk of this worry for many folks. People even already start worrying as soon as they start work but not many of them prepare for the future they worry about because there will always be the temptation to believe that your working life is spread before you and it stretches over a whole lot of thirty five years or for even longer if you are in the private sector or self employed.

But experience has shown that it is a tough world and the best laid plans can go awry, there is always the malignant hand of fate and in a country as ours where life expectancy is now ridiculously as low as forty nine years or less, where not many people can find jobs and those who find are poorly paid and more often than not with aged parents and siblings to cater for, then the worry of the average Nigerian worker about his future and his pension benefits about quadruples compared to his contemporaries in developed economies where most things work and there are numerous safety nets to cushion the effects of unemployment and other worries that is a man’s life. 

In our country therefore, pension benefits have become a very topical issue because it does get dire when a man retires from active service and there is no pension to fall back on and where there is, it is often inadequate and you may have to wait for months and in some cases years to receive what should be a monthly stipend to keep body and soul together.

This paper therefore attempts to answer the question posed “Can my Pension Benefits be Secured through my Lifetime?” by looking at pensions generally and its historical origins, pension administration in Nigeria, the need for reform, the Pension Reform Act, 2004 and the Security of Pension Benefits therein.

DEFINITION OF PENSION AND A HISTORICAL EXCURSION

A common definition of pension is that it is a form of deferred compensation of a worker, a retirement plan to provide secure income for life. Pension fund therefore can be defined as savings indirectly accumulated during active working years for investment to yield good returns for use on retirement. It is a pool of resources accumulated from the employer and employee with the aim of providing financial security for employees when they finally leave paid employment.

By the provisions of the Pension Reform Act, 2004 pension fund means;

“an investment fund within the Pension Scheme which is intended to accumulate during an individual’s working life from contributions and investment income, with the intention of providing income in retirement from the purchase of an annuity or in the form of programmed withdrawal, with the possible option of an additional tax free cash lump sum being paid to the individual”. 

In the case of a pension fund, during the active working lives of such employees, agreed or statutory amounts are deducted from their salaries and paid into a fund. The fund managers use their expertise to choose the best and safe windows of opportunity in which to invest the fund with a view to maximizing returns on the investment. The funds could be invested in bonds, equities and real estate amongst other investment vehicles. The fund often held by portfolio managers (institutional investors), is a major source of investible capital in the advanced economies of the United States of America and Europe.

The earliest record of payment of public sector pension dates back to the Roman Empire times when in 13BC, Emperor Augustus Caesar paid pension to the Military and loyal civil servants. This was to secure the active loyalty of troops who were then the sole determinant of power in the realm and further conquest. The pension was first paid from Augustus’ personal funds and later taxes of 5% were levied on inheritances and 1% sales tax to meet the pension liabilities of the emperor. Three  thousand denarii’s was paid to Legionnaires after 20 years of active duty and 5 years in reserves. This had the effect of making beneficiaries instant millionaires by the standards of the time.

The history of public pension in modern Europe started with disability compensation to soldiers. A good example was the scheme established by the British parliament in 1592. By the 18^th Century all major European nations maintained some form of pension for their officer corps.

However, these pension schemes were not very popular because of the perceived bias of the schemes for the military. The primary aim was to keep the military in total subjugation and commitment to the leaders of the time as military might guaranteed state power and sovereignty at the particular time in history.

Military service at the time was seen as gratifying only and essentially in the service of the crown and family and not necessarily for the good of the State and her citizens. This is not hard to understand as emperors of the time had always equated themselves with the state as epitomized by Louis XIV of France (the Sun King) who proclaimed, “I am the State and the State is me”.

The scathing description of the scheme therefore by the English writer, Samuel Johnson as “pay given to a state hireling for treason to his country” is indeed instructive. 

In modern times, the United States public pension system, otherwise known as U.S. Social Security (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) is a social security insurance created by the Republican Government of Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1937 during the great depression, following the stock market crashes of the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. Retirement benefits payment is the largest component of OASDI. The scheme was unfunded though as payment of retirees were financed by payroll taxes of current workers depending on workers earning records at and age of retirement.

The first payments were made in 1937 to 53, 236 beneficiaries and by 2004, the beneficiaries had risen to 47.5 million with cash benefit amounting to $492 billion. The current tax level of 12.4% is equally shared between employer and employee. Since 1982, the payroll tax receipt, investment and other income of OASDI consistently exceed benefits payments and other expenditures.

PENSION IN NIGERIA

Pension schemes were introduced into the public service of Nigeria in the early years of the 19^th Century as evidenced in Pension Proclamation No. 14 of 1901 of the Northern Nigeria Protectorate and the Pension Ordinance No. 4 of 1902 of the Colony of Lagos. Until 2004, there were a myriad of enactments that regulated pension schemes in Nigeria. They include the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 in Sections 173 and 210, the Pension Act Cap 346 Laws of the Federation 1990, the National Provident Fund Cap 273 Laws of the Federation 1990 and the Nigeria Social Insurance Trust Fund Act, 1993 amongst others.

The schemes, which were the products of these enactments, were anything but harmonized; each operated separately with the result that many people were not covered by any scheme. Moreover, the schemes were not funded. The NSITF that was intended to cover the gap for the private sector at least was thought to provide small benefits. It therefore became obvious that the schemes and pension administration in Nigeria generally needed reform if they were going to be meaningful to the workers and constructive to the economy.

TRIGGERS FOR PENSION REFORM IN NIGERIA

As it became evident that the unfunded pay as you go pension system was unsustainable due to short term budgetary constraints, demographic pressures, aging and dependency ratios, inefficient public systems, untrustworthy governments, fragmented public sector system and corruption, the Government of Nigeria made different efforts at different times to reform and improve pension administration in Nigeria. Committees set up under the auspices of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of the Secretary to the Federal Government of Nigeria, National Council on Privatization, the National Insurance Commission and all other stakeholders unanimously agreed that the system needed reform.

PENSION REFORM ACT, 2004

The present effort in the Pension Reform Act, 2004 is more particularly concerned that all employees come under a uniform and workable scheme that will be meaningful to the people and the economy. The Act provides that:

“There shall be established for any employment in the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a contributory pension scheme for payment of retirement benefits of employees to whom the scheme applies under the Act.”

The Act further provided that the pension scheme shall apply to all employees in the public service of the federation, Federal Capital Territory and the private sector.

The objectives of the Scheme are:

(i)           To ensure that every person who worked in either the public service of the Federation, Federal Capital Territory or the private sector receives his retirement benefits as and when due;

(ii)          To assist improvident individuals to save for old age; and

(iii)            To establish a contributory scheme with a uniform set of rules, regulations and standards for the administration and payment of retirement pension benefits.

The Act provides for the category of workers to be covered thus:

“The scheme shall apply to all employees in the Public Service of the Federation, Federal Capital Territory and the Private Sector:

(a) In the case of the public sector, who are in               employment; and

(b) In the case of the Private Sector, who are in      employment in an organization in which there are five or more employees.’’

Other specific features of the Act relevant to our discourse today are:

·        A contribution of 15% minimum of the total emolument payable on behalf of each employee. The minimum employer contribution rate is set at 7.5% while the maximum employee contribution rate is 7.5%. However an employer may decide to fund the scheme wholly for the employee. In addition, employees can make voluntary contribution.

·        Opening an Employee Retirement Savings Account where any funds so contributed will be credited monthly.

·        Pension funds/assets are to be privately managed and invested by professional fund managers.

·        Regulation of Pension Fund Administrators/Custodians under uniform law and regulations and establishment of the National Pension Commission to regulate, supervise and administer the Scheme.

·        An employee will not be able to make any withdrawal from his account before attaining the age of 50 years, except in the cases of mental or physical disability, and employment terms and contract.

·        The accumulated amounts can either be used to buy  an annuity or be invested with an asset management company under a phased withdrawal arrangement.

The objectives of the new scheme can be broadly categorized into Social and Economic objectives with the understanding that the social objective should override the economic objective. Concerns about the safety and security of the funds should take precedence in investment decisions for it is only when workers retirement benefits are due and there are enough pension funds/assets in the scheme to match them that pension benefits can be secured.

SECURITY OF PENSION BENEFITS

Security of pension benefits was one of the major reasons the old inefficient and unfunded pay as you pension scheme was scrapped and replaced with the Contributory Pension Scheme. The Pension liability of the Federal Government ran into billions of naira and many private sector Schemes where they exist at all were poorly managed and at times the funds brazenly looted and there were no consequences because there was no regulator as we now have in the mould of PENCOM.

Can my pension benefits be secured through my life time? Pertinent question.

If pension benefits will be secured through a man’s life time, I dare suggest that the place to start addressing that security is the Pension Reform Act 2004 which is a radical departure from the old unsustainable scheme. The employee also has a lot to do to ensure that his pension benefits are secured through his life time. The following issues will be key to securing pension benefits for a life time.

Contributory Scheme

The fact that the new scheme is contributory at a prescribed ratio should help address the issue of lack of funding in the past. The Government will no longer have to make inadequate budgetary provisions and the private sector employers can no longer dip their hands into the pension fund/assets of their employees as they are no longer in control of the funds which is now held by the Pension Fund Custodian and invested by the Pension Fund Administrator.

Retirement Savings Account

The Act requires every employee to open a RSA with any PFA of choice into which retirement benefits will be credited. That way an employee can monitor the remittances of the employer, monitor the account itself and he can demand regular/periodic statement of account from his PFA. He can even discipline his PFA as he has the power to change his PFA at least once in a year.  

Accessing Retirement Benefits

The statutory age at which one can access his pension has been put at fifty (50) years so even if one retires earlier, he will not be able to access the retirement benefits in his RSA. He will not be entitled to make any withdrawal from the retirement savings account before attaining the age of fifty (50) years.

There is equally the provisions for programmed withdrawal which will help in ensuring that the retirement benefits are stretched over the employee’s lifetime as he can only withdraw a lump sum from his RSA provided that the amount left after that lump sum withdrawal shall be sufficient to procure an annuity or fund programmed withdrawals that will produce an amount not less than 50% of his annual remuneration as at the date of his retirement. 

Minimum Pension Guarantee

The PRA 2004 makes provision for a minimum pension guarantee by providing that all RSA holders who have contributed for a number of years to a licensed PFA shall be entitled to a guaranteed minimum pension as may be specified from time to time by PENCOM. 

If government will shoulder the fiscal responsibility for the MPG as is done in other jurisdictions such as Chile and the U.K then the MPG will further secure a retiree’s pension benefits through his life time.

Compliance

Since the passage of the reform Act, compliance with its provisions have been a major challenge especially in the private sector. The public sector does not have such a challenge as participation is compulsory for all public employees. In the private sector, organizations with at least five employees are required to implement the Contributory Pension Scheme. However, compliance by the private sector has remained a challenge due to lack of comprehensive database of employers of labour in the country, which limits the extent of enforcement by the regulator. Similarly, employers themselves are not willing to comply with the provisions of the Act as they erroneously believe that it is an additional cost to their Organizations.

If all the business organizations covered by the Act comply with its provisions, then it will go a long way in securing pension benefits. It is further suggested that the coverage of the Act be expanded to include all employees whether they are employed in an organization with only one employee or otherwise. Why restrict it to organizations with 5 employees or more?

The extension of the coverage will help address the difficulties faced with the informal sector. Because the informal sector in Nigeria lacks a coherent structure and has an unwieldy composition, its integration into the new scheme is very herculean and difficult but if some issues like coverage, contribution rate, mode of collection and enforcement are addressed then the informal sector can be brought in and more Nigerians covered thereby securing their pension benefits for life.

The National Pension Commission, The Pension Fund Administrator and the Pension Fund Custodian

The reform Act created the National Pension Commission and charged it with the responsibility for matters relating to the regulation, supervision and effective administration of the Scheme and for matters connected therewith. PENCOM has wide and varied powers to administer the scheme, license and revoke the licenses of erring PFAs and PFCs and in addition to set guidelines and prescribe regulations from time to time as may be necessary for effective administration of the Scheme.

The reform Act conscious of past failures removed the management of the funds from the erstwhile managers, creating the PFAs and PFCs to manage and hold the funds respectively. This dichotomy has the advantage of further protecting pension benefits as the one who holds the funds in trust cannot manage and the one who manages cannot hold the funds. With  good faith the PFAs and PFCs can act as checks on each other to protect pension funds and assets.

The Act further imposed the duty to keep proper books and accounts, the duty to protect pension funds, the duty to report fraud, the duty of loyalty on the PFAs and PFCs to further protect the funds and ensure retirement benefits.

Investment of Pension Funds and Assets

One of the most important ways to ensure that pension benefits are secured is to protect the funds and assets subject of the Scheme and make sure they are not frittered away by either fraudulent and incompetent fund administrators or as a result of bad investment decisions. Since one of the major policy considerations behind the reform Act is the desire to provide for the worker in old age or during ill health and to secure his financial wellbeing, any mismanagement of the funds may mean a failure of the scheme. 

To prevent this possible outcome, the Act provides for relatively safe and less volatile areas of the Nigerian economy where the funds may be invested with the objective of safety and maintenance of fair returns on investments to the beneficiaries.

Pension funds and assets are therefore to be properly invested in authorized investment such as bonds, bills and other securities issued or guaranteed by the Federal Government and the CBN, bonds, debentures, redeemable preference shares and other debt instruments issued by corporate entities and registered on the Stock Exchange, ordinary shares of public limited companies listed on a Stock Exchange, Bank deposits and bank securities, Real estate investment amongst others with the obligation to keep the  pension funds and assets safe.

The Act further requires the PFAs to establish Risk Management Committees and Investment Strategy Committees, which Committees shall also ensure that the PFAs comply with the provisions of the Act. In addition they are to employ a Compliance officer who shall be responsible for ensuring compliance with the provisions of the Act and the internal rules and regulations made by the PFAs.

Corruption and Fraud

Whatever we do, if corruption is not addressed, most things in our country will fail and pension benefits may not be an exception as we have seen with the National Provident Fund and the National Insurance Trust Fund. The effect of corruption on pension fund is being currently dramatized before the nation with the ongoing police pension probe at the National Assembly. At the last count, over Fourteen Billion Naira had been looted from the police pension fund. And this happened right in the office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation. 

Corruption has become so pervasive in Nigeria that the apex court, the Supreme Court of Nigeria, had this to say about it in the year 2002:

“corruption is not a disease which afflicts public officers alone but society as a whole. If it is therefore to be eradicated effectively, the solution to it must be pervasive to cover every segment of the society”.

“corrupt practices and abuse of power can, if not checked, threaten the peace, order and good government of the federation or any part thereof”.

 

The question of fraud should also be addressed, PENCOM has the responsibility to regulate and monitor the PFCs and PFAs who hold the funds and place investments respectively and it must discharge this responsibility efficiently and effectively to forestall the ever present possibility of embezzlement of the funds. In this regard, we must learn from the experiences of even more developed countries in safeguarding pension funds/assets. 

PENCOM and indeed all stakeholders therefore ought to heed the warning of one Ugo Okoroafor who wrote in the Champion newspaper in 2006 thus:

“… as a warning though, it should be noted that the experiences of even more developed countries in safeguarding pension assets give cause for concern. Just as examples, Robert Maxwell, who introduced scientific printing in Britain and in the process set up a vast media empire that included the famous Mirror Group Newspapers, embezzled the pension assets of his workers worth hundreds of millions of British pounds sterling. He did this right under the nose of British regulators…”. Okoroafor wrote further, “the ongoing Enron saga is also another example. In this case, hundreds of millions of pension dollars were invested in Enron’s derivative projects which evaporated into thin air when the company went burst”. 

CONCLUSION

We circle back to the question with which we began this discourse, “Can my Pension Benefits be Secured through my Lifetime?”.

To this question and to many of life’s pertinent questions, there may be no clear cut answer because many factors and variables may and do affect the outcome of many of man’s ventures but if we will do what is right, if our laws will be strictly enforced and if we will cut corruption and the monumental waste of public funds by say 50%, then the odds that our pension benefits will enure and be secured through one’s life time will considerably be much higher.

The Pension Reform Act 2004, which we believe is wise and good law barring a few proposals for amendment seeks to ensure and guarantee secured pension benefits but this is only possible if all stakeholders resolve to make it work. PENCOM, the PFAs/PFCs and the retiree/beneficiaries must do what is required of them and the retiree/beneficiary must seek to understand how it works, monitor his PFA, seek PENCOM regulations and also understand a bit of the Market, sharpen his financial literacy skills and where possible consult and seek opinion of experts for after all it is his money and his future that is at stake.

Stephen O. Obajaja Esq. is a Partner at the Lagos Law Firm of Fountain Court Partners.

STEPHEN O. OBAJAJA

Fountain Court Partners

Block 36B, LSPDC Estate

Ogudu Road

Ojota – Lagos.

08052066172.