In this report, SEGUN OLUGBILE who visited some foreign embassies in Abuja highlights the challenges being faced by young Nigerians in search of student visa to further their university education abroad

Frustration, anger and utmost apprehension were written boldly on the faces of youths, who gathered at the Ukrainian Embassy in Abuja on this hot Wednesday afternoon. Their mission was the same. They were there to obtain visa that would enable them to go and continue their studies in various universities in this eastern European nation.

Some of them from various states across the country had been there for as many as 20 times. The Nigerian security agents attached to the embassy had hectic time controlling the surging crowd of youths and some parents who accompanied their children. The embassy located on Parakou Crescent, off Aminu Kano Street, Abuja, did not provide shelter and seats for them. So they were left to the vagaries of the inclement weather that Abuja experienced in December.

Once in a while, an official of the embassy would come out to call out a number, the lucky applicant would rush in. And most of the few lucky ones that were given date for the oral interview, our correspondent gathered, had paid agents between N300,000 and N400,000. The same scenario played out at the Russian Embassy where frustrated prospective  students of universities in Russia were struggling to outdo one another to gain the attention of security operatives in the embassy.

One of the candidates, who simply identified herself as Oyin, said the embassies were capitalising on the increasing number of Nigerians seeking admission to universities in their countries to make more money from desperate Nigerians. This is true as findings revealed that each of the embassies had hiked the application form for visa from $45 in August to $90 in October.

Lucky applicants, it was gathered, paid between $1,000 and $1,200 after the application must have been granted. Due to the stringent conditions, most applicants were denied visa and subsequently lost their admission. Oyin, who had been admitted to the Lugansk State Medical University, Lugansk, Russia to pursue a degree in medicine, said she could not make the admission because she could not even secure a date for a meeting with the Russian Consul in Abuja let alone securing the visa.

“I had wanted to study medicine when I finished secondary school but I could not make the cut off point and therefore settled for a degree in Human Physiology. So, as soon as I completed my programme in 2010, I applied to Lugansk State Medical University in Russia. I was happy the day I got my letter of admission. I thereafter applied for visa and was asked to come and pick a date for the interview. The first day I came, what I met was an eyesore. Over 500 of us were there shoving and pushing ourselves, the security agents were not helping matters.’’

Though she got to the embassy around 6:30am, she left by 5:30pm after she succeeded in picking a number. That was on a Monday. The following Wednesday, she left her uncle’s place around 4am thinking she could get to the embassy early, do the interview early and left for home. But her assumption was wrong.

“When I got to the embassy around 4.45am, it was like a market. I was surprised to meet people there. It was as if people slept there. I waited till about 4.30pm when a Russian official just came and said they had  finished for the day. I was furious just like the other guys that I met there. That was how I have been visiting the embassy until one day in October, I did not get home until around midnight. This infuriated my parents and they stopped me from going there again. That was how I forfeited my admission.’’

Though she was expected to resume on November 15, her inability to get the visa had frustrated her ambition. When asked whether her university intervened on her behalf, she said yes. “The university wrote, I submitted all the necessary documents, I paid the visa application fee but unfortunately, I could not just get the visa,” she said.

Oyin had decided to go back home and participate in the mandatory national youth Service Corps scheme after which she might try to go to Canada for a degree in medicine.

At the Ukrainian embassy too, some young Nigerians narrated their travails to our correspondent. A graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Chima Ndukwe, said that though he had spent over  N250,000 on transport and hotel accommodation to and from Abuja from Lagos, he had not been able to secure a date for the interview.

He alleged that corruption and influence peddling by “some big men” and the lack of respect for Nigerians by the Ukranian Embassy officials were some of the factors frustrating  young Nigerians desiring foreign education.

“Nigerian government should do something about higher education in this country. These people treat us with disdain. When Nigerian university system was good, how many Nigerians  would go to Ukraine to go and study? Look, these people have no respect for us and unfortunately, our Nigerian brothers who are posted there as security agents are not helping matter. I’ve spent over N250,000 on transportation and accommodation from Lagos to Abuja.

“I’ve been coming since September and this is December and by rule I’m supposed to resume on November 15 although the university has said that I could come in January but with the way things are going, I don’t think that the visa application would be successful because as I’m talking to you now, what I have been able to do is just to get the number and as at now (3.43pm) only about three applicants had been called in. They would soon come out to tell us to go,” he said.

When our correspondent attempted to take a photograph of the crowd, one of the mobile policemen attached to the embassy prevented this, saying that  doing so was illegal. He threatened to give our correspondent the Boko Haram treatment if his order was disobeyed. The security man only directed our correspondent to the notice board placed at the fence of the embassy for information about the visa application process. “Mr. Journalist, you cannot enter the embassy and you must not take any photograph,  if you need any information go to that notice board,” he said.

On the noticeboard, the embassy just listed the procedure for student visa  and this include submission of letter of admission, letter of the sponsor and statement of account, identification letter as a Nigerian from the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the approval of education certificates presented by applicants by the Federal Ministry of Education.

However, it was alleged that sharp practices involving some top Nigerian officials in the Federal Ministry of Education and the finance ministry were some of the factors that enhanced the stringent conditions for the visa application.

One of the applicants, who pleaded not to be named for fear of possible persecution, said that top officials of the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs were colluding with some officials of these foreign embassies to compromise the process.

“I know people who bribed their way with about N250,000 to secure the visa after which they still have to pay the official visa fee,” he said.

But when our correspondent visited the ministry, officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, denied the allegation.

“We don’t issue visa, the only thing we do is to confirm the identity of applicants as Nigerians while the Federal Ministry of Education authenticates the certificates presented by applicants. On the issue of bribery, I cannot say anything about that,” the source said.

However, a parent, who simply identified herself as Mrs. Ogunnoiki, said though she did not give anybody bribe, it was not impossible that some highly placed Nigerians could be compromising the process.

“What I don’t like about the whole process is the way and manner these oyinbo people are treating Nigerians in Nigeria. They are using policemen and soldiers to harass us and our children, thereby subjecting us to psychological trauma. All through the period I went there, apart from the money we wasted, we were made to sit in the sun for hours all the time we were there.

Her daughter had secured admission to Crimea Medical University, Crimea in Ukraine to study medicine and since she got the admission letter, they had been shuttling between Port Harcourt where Ogunnoiki works as a lawyer and Abuja, where the Ukrainian embassy is located.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t  secure the visa. We had to give up. We will try another university in another foreign nation in Europe in 2012,” she said.

Ogunnoiki, therefore, called on the Federal Government  to develop the nation’s universities. Our  lecturers are good but we lack equipment and teaching facilities. The Federal Government should provide them with tools to work with and motivate them with good welfare package, then all these foreign nations will stop treating us with disdain,” she said.

But why are Nigerians seeking foreign education? Some Nigerians, including the Executive Secretary, Association of African Universities, Prof. Olagbemiro Jegede; and the President, Nigerian Academy of Science, Prof. Oye Ibidapo- Obe, said that inadequate access, irregular academic calendar and preference for foreign certificates by employers of labour had combined to make foreign university education attractive to Nigerians.

Jegede, however, warned Nigerians seeking foreign university education to be wary of where they go to in search of such education. “We don’t cherish what we have but I will not blame people who go in search of foreign education, I will only warn that they should be careful in making their choices because not all foreign universities are good,” he said.

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Written by Odidison Omankhanlen

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The Philippines said yesterday it would extend a ban on sending workers to
Nigeria after Christmas Day bombings in the country left 35 people dead.

The two-year-old ban was to have been lifted by January 1 to allow the
movement of thousands of Filipinos seeking to work in Nigeria’s booming energy
sector. But the wave of bombings has raised fresh security fears, and the ban
will now remain in place for at least three more months, the foreign department
said in a statement.

The Philippine government imposed the ban after a
series of Filipino workers were kidnapped in the Niger Delta region between 2006
and 2009. The labour ministry had recommended the ban be lifted days before the
bombings occurred. The attacks were blamed on the Islamist group Boko
Haram.

The mainly Catholic Philippines is a major labour-exporting
country, with about 10 percent of its 94 million population working abroad, many
as maids, seamen, construction workers and labourers.

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A revealing, fresh, factual perspective to the ongoing debate on fuel subsidy. Dr. Izielen Agbon, a petroleum engineer and an economist, here says there is no fuel subsidy rather, Nigerian petrol is over prized at N65 a litre.

ON December 10, 2011, if you stopped at the Mobil Filling Station on Old Aba Road in Port Harcourt, you would be able to buy a litre of petrol for N65 or $1.57 per gallon at an exchange rate of $1/N157 and 3.875 litres per gallon. This is the official price. The government claims that this price would have been subsidized at N74/litre and that the true price of a litre of petrol in Port Harcourt is N139/litre or $3.35 per gallon. They are therefore determined to remove their subsidy and sell the gallon at $3.35.

But, On December 10, 2011, if you stopped at the Mobil Gas Station on E83rd St. and Flatlands Avenue in Brooklyn, New York, U.S., you would be a able to buy a gallon of petrol for $3.52. Both gallons of petrol would have been refined from Nigerian crude oil. The only difference would be that the gallon in New York was refined in a U.S. North East refinery from Nigerian crude exported from the Qua Iboe Crude Terminal in Nigeria while the Port Harcourt gallon was either refined in Port Harcourt or imported. The idea that a gallon of petrol from Nigerian crude oil would cost nearly the same in New York as in Port Harcourt runs against basic economic logic. Hence, Nigerians suspect that there is something irrational and fishy about such pricing. What they would like to know is the exact cost of one litre of petrol in Nigeria. We will answer this question in the simplest economic terms despite the attempts of the Nigerian government to muddle up the issue.

What is the true cost of a litre of petrol in Nigeria?  The Nigerian government has set aside 445,000 barrels per day throughput for meeting domestic refinery products demands. These volumes are not for export. They are public goods reserved for internal consumption. We will limit our analysis to this volume of crude oil. At the refinery gate in Port Harcourt, the cost of a barrel of Qua Iboe crude oil is made up of the finding /development cost   ($3.5/bbl) and a production/storage /transportation cost of $1.50 per barrel. Thus, at $5 per barrel, we can get Nigerian Qua Iboe crude to the refining gates at Port Harcourt and Warri. One barrel is 42 gallons or 159 litres.

The price of one barrel of petrol at the depot gate is the sum of the cost of crude oil, the refining cost and the pipeline transportation cost. Refining costs are at $12.6 per barrel and pipeline distribution costs are  $1.50 per barrel. The distribution margins (retailers, transporters, dealers, bridging funds, administrative charges etc) are N15.49/litre or $15.69 per barrel. The true cost of one litre of petrol at the Mobil Filling Station in Port Harcourt or anywhere else in Nigeria is therefore ($5+$12.6+$1.5+$15.7) or $34.8 per barrel. This is equal to N34.36 per litre compared to the official price of N65 per litre. Prof. Tam David-West is right. There is no petrol subsidy in Nigeria. Rather the current official prices are too high.

Let us continue with some basic energy economics.  The government claims we are currently operating our refineries at 38.2 per cent efficiency. When we refine a barrel of crude oil, we get more than just petrol. If we refine one barrel (42 gallons) of crude oil, we will get 45 gallons of petroleum products. The 45 gallons of petroleum products consist of four gallons of LPG, 19.5 gallons of gasoline, 10 gallons of diesel, four gallons of jet fuel/kerosene, 2.5 gallons of fuel oil and five gallons of bottoms.  Thus, at 38.2 per cent of refining capacity, we have about 170,000 barrels of throughput refined for about 2.57 million litres of LPG, 12.55 million litres of petrol, 6.43 million litres of diesel and 2.57 million litres of kerosene/jet fuel, 1.61 million litres of fuel oil and 3.22 million litres of bottoms. This is not enough to meet internal national demand. So, we send the remaining of our non-export crude oil volume (275,000bpd) to be refined abroad and import the petroleum products back into the country. We will pay for producing the crude oil, shipping the crude oil to the foreign refineries, refining the crude oil and shipping the petroleum products back to Nigeria.

The Nigerian government exchanges the 275,000bpd with commodity traders (90,000bpd to Duke Oil, 60,000 barrels per day to Trafigura (Puma Energy), 60,000bpd to Societe Ivoirienne de Raffinage (SIR) in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and 65,000bpd to other sources) in a swap deal. The landing cost of a litre of petrol is N123.32 and the distribution margins are N15.49 according to the government. The cost of a litre is therefore (N123.32+N15.49) or N138.81. This is equivalent to $3.35 per gallon or $140.74 per barrel. This is the price that the Nigerian government wants its citizens to pay. However, the landing cost is made up of the international cost of a barrel of crude oil, the shipping cost of the crude oil to the foreign refineries, the refining cost and the shipping cost of the refined products back to Nigeria (North West Europe to West Africa – WS100). Let us explain further.

A barrel of Nigerian Qua Iboe Crude oil cost $107 at the North European Rotterdam market. In technical terms, one barrel of Qua Iboe crude oil has a volume yield of 6.6 per cent of AGO, 20.7 per cent of gasoline, 9.5 per cent of kerosene/jet fuel, 30.6 per cent of diesel, 32.6 per cent of fuel oil /bottoms when it is refined. Using a netback calculation method, we can easily calculate the true cost of a litre of imported petrol from swapped oil. The gross product revenue of a refined barrel of crude oil is the sum of the volume of each refined product multiplied by its price. Domestic prices are $174.48/barrel for AGO, $68.53/barrel for gasoline (PMS or petrol), $172.22/barrel for diesel oil, $53.5/barrel for kerosene and $129.68/barrel for fuel oil. Our gross product revenue per swapped barrel would be (174.48*0.066 +69.55*0.207+ 172.22*0.306+ 53.5*0.095+129.68* 0.326) or $125.20 per barrel. We have to remove the international cost of a barrel of Nigerian crude oil ($107 per barrel) from this to get the refining gross margin of imported swapped petroleum products. The refining gross margin is the difference between the gross products revenue (the sum of the volume of each refined product multiplied by its price) and the cost of the crude oil. The refining gross margin of swapped petroleum products would therefore be $125.20 -$107 or $18.20 per barrel.

The total cost of the petroleum products from swapped crude oil is the sum of the cost of production/storage, pipeline distribution cost, the cost of shipping the crude to the foreign refineries, the gross refining margin and the distribution margins. It cost $5 per barrel to produce and store the crude oil and $1.50 per barrel pipeline distribution cost to get it to the Qua Iboe Crude Terminal. The freight cost to Europe (the furthest refinery is Trafigura) is $2.50 per barrel. The refining gross margin is $18.2 per barrel and the distribution margins (retailers, transporters, dealers, bridging funds, administrative charges etc) are N15.49/litre or $15.69 per barrel. Thus the total cost of the imported PMS is ($5+$1.50+$2.50+$18.20 +$15.69) or $42.89 per barrel. This comes out to be a total cost of N42.36 per litre. This is the true cost of a litre of imported swapped petrol and not the landing cost of N139 per litre claimed by the government.

The Nigerian government did not sell the 275,000 barrels per day to Duke Oil, Trafigura (Puma Energy), Societe Ivoirienne de Raffinage (SIR) in Abidjan, Ivory Coast and other commodity traders at international prices in its swap deal. Rather, it wants Nigerian citizens to pay for the swapped oil at this price. This is the economic logic defined by the ideological prism of the World Bank. The pro-subsidy Nigerian government imbeds the cost of the swapped crude oil at international prices into the landing cost of $140.74 per barrel (N139 per litre). The government therefore argues that the “subsidy” is N139-N65 or N74 per litre. By imbedding the cost of crude oil at international prices in the landing cost, the Nigerian government is trying to sell the crude oil to Nigerian citizens (including indigenes of oil and gas host communities in the Niger Delta) at international prices as if they are foreigners in their own country with no claims whatsoever to their natural resources. This is the political implication of the government economic calculations and its demand for the removal of a non-existent petrol subsidy. We are foreigners in our own motherland. Therefore, we must pay for Nigerian crude oil like foreigners do.

So let us conclude this basic economic exercise. If the true price of 38.2 per cent of our petrol supply from our local refinery is N34.36/litre and the remaining 61.8 per cent has a true price of N42.36 per litre, then the average true price is (0.382*34.36+0.618*42.36) or N39.30 per litre. The official price is N65 per litre and the true price of petrol in Nigeria is N39.30 per litre (even with our moribund refineries and imports). There is therefore no petrol subsidy. Rather, there is a high sales tax of 65 per cent at current prices of N65 per litre.

The labour leaders meeting the President should go with their economists. They should send economists and political scientists as representatives to the Senate Committee investigating the petroleum subsidy issue. The labour leaders should not let anyone get away with the economic fallacy that Nigerians must pay international prices for Nigerian crude oil as if we are foreigners in our own country. The government should explain why it wants to sell Nigerian crude oil at international prices in a domestic market. It should explain why we must become foreigners in our own country because it promises to develop the country with the excess funds just like the Abacha regime had promised to do.

We have done this simple economic analysis of the Nigerian petroleum products market to show that there is no petrol subsidy what so ever. In the end, this debate on petrol subsidy and the attempt of the government to transfer wealth from the Nigerian masses to a petrol cabal will be decided in the streets.

• Dr. Agbon spent the last 30 years working in academia and the oil and gas industry.

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The United States Ambassador to Nigeria, Terence McCulley has said that  his country’s government is in support of the planned removal of fuel subsidy in the country.
The ambassador made the statement in Abuja on Monday during a visit to the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu.
A statement signed by the Assistant Director for Media in the Ministry, Samuel Olowookere, said the visit was to enable the ministry to sensitise the U.S. embassy on the challenges  facing the Federal Government with regards to job creation and to  seek ways to collaborate in solving them.
The U.S. ambassador said the creation of jobs through diversification of the economy was a welcome development.
‘’We will look for ways to partner with you to bring in the U.S business people to invest in this area and create jobs as Nigeria is central to President Barack Obama’s National Export Initiative designed to export goods and machinery to the country . This  would benefit the Nigerian economy,’’ the News Agency of Nigeria quoted Mr. McCulley as saying during the visit.
Wogu said although unemployment was  not peculiar to Nigeria, ‘’job creation and employment generation is at the fore-front of the transformational agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.
‘’Unemployment is a global thing and the U.S government is also battling it the same way we are tackling this problem in Nigeria’’.
According to him, the removal of fuel subsidy would create revenue for capital projects which would result in job creation.

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By Jonathan Owen

Government has let down parents and children as debts and long working hours exact a major toll on Britons, says new research.

Britain is one of the worst countries in Europe for families, according to a study released today by the Relationships Foundation. High levels of debt and poverty, coupled with long and unsocial working hours, are major contributing factors, the report, Family Pressure Gauge, reveals.

Its research paints a picture of a country where, in stark contrast to David Cameron’s pledge to make Britain the “most family-friendly” nation in the world, British families are among the most pressured in Europe, only ahead of Bulgaria and Romania.

Stress from money and work worries, along with a lack of support for parents and poor living conditions, are all factors, the report finds. It recommends urgent reform to the way families are helped, with one in five families struggling to make ends meet.

The report also reveals that 14 per cent of families are suffering “critical” levels of debt, compared to 1 per cent of Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian households.

In addition, almost a quarter of the average British working family income goes on childcare costs – double the percentage spent by French families and three times that for German families.

One in seven families spend more than 40 per cent of their income on the rent or a mortgage. In contrast, just 1.8 per cent of the French population are in this situation.

Britain also ranks as the second worst country in Europe for maternity and paternity leave, with new parents receiving less than ten weeks fully paid time off on average.

One in 20, or 340,800, British families live in “severe housing deprivation” – in overcrowded homes in poor condition, without a bath, shower or indoor toilet, for example. This is 12 times more than in the Netherlands, and significantly worse than in the Nordic countries, Germany and Spain.

The report provides the most comprehensive picture to date of how British families fare compared with counterparts in 26 European countries, based on an analysis of 25 indicators, including pressures of money, work, parenting and living conditions. It draws on data from the European Union, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the European Commission.

Although work is seen as a route out of poverty, it can also be a source of additional pressure, with Britons working some of the longest hours in Europe – on average, 43 a week.

Long working hours can affect health and time for family relationships, according to the report. It states that 78 per cent of British workers do not have flexible working hours.

It accuses the Government of a lack of focus on its family agenda, noting that the Childhood and Families task force, set up in June last year, had “delivered nothing”, that pledges on flexible working had been “reneged upon”, with a Budget that “did little to engage with pressures on families”. It added that the plight of families, already buckling under the strain of debts, is set to worsen.

This comes at a time when a record 2.1 million children in Britain live in poverty, despite the fact that one or both of their parents work, according to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The figure has soared by 400,000 in the past five years, undermining the mantra that people can work their way out of poverty.

The Government’s “warm words on family friendliness are fast becoming cold comfort,” according to Michael Trend, executive director of the Relationships Foundation.

He added: “Sideline family policy and you court systemic failure… A year on from the general election, it is time the Government got its act together on family policy.”

Rhian Beynon, head of policy at Family Action, warned: “Changes to welfare support and high inflation mean that family finances are increasingly tight, placing a strain on families. If the Government doesn’t sort this out the pressure on families will only increase.”

‘We’re under such pressure’

Former IT manager Stephen Russell, 53, lives in Cheltenham with his wife, Susan, 50, and children Lauren, 25, Ethan, 17, and Eleanor, 16

“I worked in IT for 17 years and was unexpectedly made redundant last summer. We had a daughter going through university, and losing my job was one squeeze too far. We had developed debt over the years, making some financial mistakes like so many do, with one too many credit cards, things like that. We aren’t drinkers, don’t gamble or go on foreign holidays; we don’t run an expensive car. We live fairly simple lives but it’s got expensive. The mortgage is the killer. We owe £160,000 and are paying the interest only right now. We also have debts of about £32,000 – it sounds horrendous every time I say it. I work as a night carer for a 97-year-old lady, something of a turnaround. I needed to prove to myself that I could generate income for the family and I didn’t mind what I did.

Before, I was on a salary of about £35,000 a year plus benefits. I now earn about £350 a week – a considerable change in circumstances – and I’m working 50 hours a week for that.

My wife has two jobs and, between us, we’re doing an average of 100 hours a week at the moment. Time with all of us together is unusual.

I don’t think David Cameron’s vision of a family-friendly Britain is realistic, but it’s a great soundbite. As far as families are concerned, I think we’ve never been under so much pressure, both financially and economically.”

‘We struggle to pay the bills’

Gemma Dawson, 21, lives in Wakefield with her partner, Chris, 31, and their two young children, Summer, 15 months, and Bradley, two

“I used to be a claims adviser for a car insurance company, but I left to start up my own business selling party supplies online. The cost of childcare – about £900 a month – forced me to work from home.

I work about 10 hours a day. Chris works as a bingo caller four days a week, for 14 hours a day. He earns about £14,000 a year and at the moment I earn only around £1,000 annually because I’m still in the process of building up the business.

We struggle to pay the bills, like a lot of families.

We don’t spend much time really together, maybe one night a week. The main pressure is definitely financial, to afford things, and I think money is probably the main factor we argue about. It’s like we are working just to pay the bills. We scrimp by but we’re not actually working to live a life.”

 This is in contrast with most African countries where even though they are on a much lower income they are much happier as a family unit. Nigeria was recently rated as the country with the happiest people on earth.

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Swaziland has urged Nigerians to　invest in its　banking, telecommunications and agriculture sectors,　Nigeria’s Acting Commissioner　to South Africa, Mr Bassey Archibong, has said.　

Archibong　told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Johannesburg that the　Swazis’desire to do business with Nigerians was　discussed　with the leadership of　its　investment promotion authority during　his visit to the country.

“For now,　the only banks in Swaziland　are South African banks and they want Nigerian banks to come on board, while in telecommunications, they have only MTN,” he said.

Archibong said the country was optimistic that the investment would boost Swaziland’s　economy.

Apart from investors, Archibong said he also held discussions with authorities in the health and education sectors　on the possibility of restarting assistance through the Technical Aids Corps (TAC) scheme which was stopped in　1999.

“The last set was in 1999. So now, they want us to send　science and mathematics teachers and doctors and they are so enthusiastic,” Archibong said.

The envoy said many Nigerian professionals were doing well in the country.

Archibong, who described his visit to Swaziland as “very fruitful,’ said no fewer than 3,000 Nigerians were resident in the country.

He said the immigration unit at the Consulate planned visits to Swaziland to ease the acquisition of the new passports by Nigerians there.

The Acting High Commis-sioner　restated his resolve to ensure that Nigerians were treated fairly in the country.

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The Nigerian film industry popularly called Nollywood is a money spinning industry that has been left to its own fate since it became famous in the 1990s. Most of what is known about Nigeria in other parts of the continent and Europe is through Nollywood. There are cases of some Nigerian parents abroad who compel their children to watch Nigerian films for them to be abreast with the Nigerian culture and what is going on at home. Outside the country, Nollywood has been well received but unknown to its lovers abroad, it is an industry that is struggling to survive. It is an industry established with a tenacious spirit of grassroot entrepreneurship.

Piracy is a critical issue ravaging the industry. Many filmmakers see their investment in it as throwing money into the ocean without getting returns as their works are pirated as soon as they reach the market shelves. Nollywood Film & Video Producers and Marketers Association of Nigeria estimated that up to 50 percent of the Nollywood’s profit is currently being lost to piracy. Intellectual Property Right laws have been ineffective for years. The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) seems to have done nothing at all to salvage an industry that is rated as the world’s second largest producer of films after India’s Bollywood.  With this rating, it has overtaken America’s Hollywood. Today many Nollywood films are pirated in China and resold in Nigeria.

In addition, it is also an industry that is starved of funds. Making a good film requires a great deal of money which most Nigerian filmmakers don’t have. An average filmmaker in the country has to source for money independently to produce his movie. This poor funding has resulted in films of poor quality which currently flock the market. Most Nigerian films are characterised by badly written scripts which lack depth.  Most of our script writers rarely read to gain needed insight to global trends. To be a great artist in any part of the world is to be so absolutely widely read. If an artiste is not educated there is no way he can come up with a well research script for a good movie.

Be that as it may, the recent interventionist approach by the Goodluck Jonathan administration is quite commendable. November last year, the President announced that the Federal Government will investment of $200 million (N30 billion) into the development of the entertainment industry. The Special Entertainment Fund, will be disbursed by the Bank of Industry (BOI) as single-digit interest rate loans. It is the first time in the country that the Federal Government will make such fund available for the entertainment industry including Nollywood. As good as this may sound, what the Federal Government should work towards Arts Endowment Fund like some countries of the world like Germany where the Arts is valued. It is also important that Nigeria has a cultural policy which will enable FG harness the huge potentials in this industry and make it marketable for tourism.

For this fund to be judiciously used and for investors to get returns on their money, the Federal Government must through the NCC enforce the intellectual property right laws to curb piracy. FG must also put in place a proper marketing strategy as the industry currently survives on the ordinary marketing strategy used by traders in selling their wares in the open market. The survival of  Nollywood can only be possible if proper structures are put in place as it services are currently informal.

In addition, it is crucial that Nollywood practitioners put their house in order as the industry that is currently riddled by factions created by longstanding feud, and fight for supremacy.  It is only when Nollywood begins to take itself seriously that other meaningful investors can come in and a better return on investment is assured.

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Written by Terence P McCulley

Last year, Nigeria celebrated its Golden Jubilee.  It was a signal event, marking 50 years of Nigerian Independence, and celebrating Nigeria’s emergence as a force on the world stage.  This great nation has demonstrated its consequence throughout its history, supporting liberation movements on the continent, contributing to regional military actions in support of peace, security and humanitarian assistance, demonstrating economic capacity and entrepreneurial spirit, and engaging the world as a leader in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union, and at the United Nations.  .

The Giant of West Africa has much of which to be proud.  The time has now come for Nigeria to take the next step to achieve its potential by embracing democracy fully and cementing in place the institutions, practices, and values of democratic governance.  Free, fair, and credible elections are an important part of that process.

Promoting democracy and respect for human rights has long served as the underpinning of American foreign policy, and President Obama has underscored the importance of these first principles in our engagement abroad.  We do not seek primacy for a specific democratic construct – democracy is as diverse as the global community – but we are convinced that advancing democracy has demonstrable dividends.  Democratically-governed nations deliver safer, more just, and more prosperous lives to their citizens.  And strong democracies are more likely to secure peace, deter aggression, expand markets, promote development, combat terrorism and crime, uphold human rights and the rights of workers, avoid humanitarian crises, protect and improve the global environment, and protect human health.

America recognizes that the pursuit of democracy is a difficult and organic process.  Throughout our history the United States has struggled to ensure that all citizens can fully enjoy the rights guaranteed under our laws and our Constitution.  America’s 39th President, Jimmy Carter, once stated: “The experience of democracy is like the experience of life itself — always changing, infinite in its variety, sometimes turbulent and all the more valuable for having been tested by adversity.”

Nigeria too has been tested by such adversity.  Recently, Nigeria has endured term-limit challenges, the untimely death of a President, and the constitutional transfer of power to another.  During its first fifty years, Nigeria survived a painful civil war and a pattern of military coups.

But enduring unexpected tests is not the same as addressing and correcting systemic or structural problems and the coming national elections present a golden opportunity for Nigeria to demonstrate its lasting commitment to democratic values and institutions.

Specifically, we urge political parties and the government to allow all registered voters to participate freely and fully in a peaceful and transparent process.  This nation’s political leadership — and all those who aspire to lead — must refrain from engaging in inflammatory rhetoric or supporting acts of intimidation. Violence has no place in a democratic society.  We encourage efforts by the Nigerian government and civil society not only to permit, but to promote the inclusion of all political parties and their access to public fora and the media.  Finally, whatever the outcome, we call on all political parties to respect the results of these elections.

Democracy is more than a formal counting of votes, and both Nigerians and the international community will judge the quality of this election by more than what happens on Election Day.  Democracy is also about the freedom of all parties to campaign, meet with supporters, appeal to new voters, and deliver political messages to the electorate.  Democracy is about sharing ideas and stimulating open public discussion on the future of one’s country.  Democracy is about upholding principles that are greater than any individual person and respecting the will of those who confer democratic legitimacy: the people of Nigeria.

The Nigerian Government is not solely responsible for the success of your elections.  Representative and accountable government can only occur when citizens empower themselves by participating fully and actively in the democratic process, ensuring that their votes count.  Only Nigerians, by their vote and their commitment to democracy, can ensure that the 2011 elections are truly free, fair, and transparent.

Nigeria’s most valuable and most dynamic resource is its people.  Every day, whether meeting with entrepreneurs, government officials, civil society activists, farmers and shopkeepers, students and youth, I am impressed and inspired by the optimism, intelligence, drive, and ability of the Nigerian people. I am optimistic that the Nigerian people will decide what kind of government they want and then insist, even demand, that their leaders honestly represent their collective interests.  Active citizen participation and open public involvement in all aspects of government is the most essential part of Nigeria’s promising future.

And speaking about the future, I would like to offer a special message for the youth of Nigeria. You represent the majority in this country, and you all have individual decisions to make about where you want to be in the next five to ten years. But you have an equally important collective decision about where you want Nigeria to be in the next decade.  Go out and vote. Choose wisely. Make your voices heard.

The challenge for Nigerians in the coming years will be to build solid institutions, based upon the legitimacy conferred by the country’s strong, diverse and decent people, and guided by democratic principles.  You can count on American support for this enterprise, because Nigeria matters, in the sub-region, on the continent, and on the world stage.  As you build and consolidate your democratic institutions, and with many friends and partners throughout the world, Nigeria will increasingly be called upon to lead, in Africa, and beyond.  But it starts with you and your fellow citizens.  And it starts now, in April, with these important elections.

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