On Thursday, President Muhammadu Buhari resent the $29.96 billion external borrowing plan to the senate for approval.

The borrowing plan was previously sent to the 8th Assembly in September 2016, after being approved by the Federal Executive Council (FEC). Buhari has asked the 8th Assembly to approve the plan to enable the Federal Government to fund infrastructure from 2016 to 2018.

But the 8th Assembly, led by Bukola Saraki rejected the plan since there was no detail on how the fund will be utilized.

On resending the plan to the 9th Assembly, Buhari explained that the preceding Assembly only approved a segment of the loan plan, which resulted in infrastructural decay due to lack of funds by the Federal Government to execute projects across sectors like power, health, agriculture, water and education.

The letter, dated November 26, 2019, reads thus:

“Pursuant to Section 21 and 27 of the Debt Management Office (Establishment) Act, I hereby request for Resolution of the Senate to approve the Federal Government’s 2016 – 2018 External Borrowing Plan, as well as relevant projects under this plan.

“Specifically, the Senate is invited to note that while I had transmitted the 2016 – 2018 External Borrowing Plan to the 8th National Assembly in September 2016, this plan was not approved in its entirety by the Legislature. Only the Federal Government’s Emergency projects and one (1) China Exam Bank Assisted Railway Modernization projects for Lagos-Ibadan segment) were approved out of a total of thirty nine (39) projects.

“The outstanding projects in the plan that were not approved by the Legislature are, nevertheless, critical to the delivery of the Government’s policies and programmes relating to power, mining, roads, agriculture, health, water and educational sectors.

“These outstanding projects are well advanced in terms of their preparation, consistent with the 2016 Debt Sustainability Analysis undertaken by the Debt Management Office and were approved by the Federal Executive Council in August 2016 under the 2016 – 2018 External Borrowing Plan.

“Accordingly, I have attached, for your kind consideration, relevant information from the Honourable Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning the specific projects under the 2016 – 2018 External Borrowing Plan for which legislative approval is currently sought.

“I have also directed the Minister to make herself available to provide any additional information or clarification which you may require to facilitate prompt projects under this plan.”

The implementation of the projects and programmes was broken into varying costs that totaled $29.960 billion. The projects and programme loan stands for $11.274 billion. Special National Infrastructure Projects is $10.686 billion, Eurobond, $4.5 billion and Federal Government Budget Support, takes $3.5 billion.

The Federal Government maintained that the loan is necessary for the implementation of needed infrastructural development nationwide. And that positive technical economic evaluation and the presumed contribution to the economic development of the country was conducted before the projects, which varies from railroad, electricity to roads etc. were selected.

President Buhari also acknowledged the receipt of the sum of $575 million from the World Bank. He said the World Bank loan is geared toward specific social programmes such as Polio Eradication Support and routine immunization project, which will take $125 million, Community and Social Development Project, which will take $75 million.

There are also the Nigerian states Health Programme Investment Project, which will take $100 million, Nigerian Youth Employment and Social Support Project, which also will take $100 million, and Fadama III project that will consume $50 million.

However, the recent move has attracted uproar and condemnation. Economic groups and concerned Nigerians say the loan attempt will further burden on the increasing external loan profile.

The BudgIT Nigeria says the FG external debt has grown from $7.34 billion in June 2015 to $22.87 billion as at June 2019, a 211% growth in four years.

Additional $29.960 billion will do more than double the figures in a short time. It’s noted that the figures in the borrowing plan is a little more than Nigeria’s entire budget, which is suggesting that Nigeria is broke and unable to fund the 2020 budget, and so resorts to borrowing.

The Lead Director, Center for Social Justice, Eze Onyekpere, said reliance on loans to fund projects is not a course of action that will sustain Nigeria’s economy.

“At the end of the day, if there is a shortfall in revenue, salaries and overheads will be drawn down, debts will be serviced whilst capitalist projects suffer.

“At 23.74 percent of overall expenditure, the debt service is high and it is higher than capital expenditure. When the sinking fund of N296 billion is added to debt service, it comes up to N2.746 trillion which 26.61 percent of the overall budget,” he said.

The Registrar Chartered Institute of Finance and Control of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Eohoi, also warned that the Federal Government is spending about 20 percent of its budget servicing debt, any further attempt to increase the country’s debt profile might lead to debt crisis.

Many have also concluded that the latest loan plan by the FG is an evidence that the claims by various agencies of the Government, like the Nigerian Custom Service (NCS), which claims it’s generating over N5 billion daily, since the border closure, and the Federal Inland Revenue service (FIRS), which claims it generated N5.3 trillion in 2018, and thus set for itself, a target of N8 trillion in 2019, are more of propaganda.

Arsenal has parted ways with Coach Unai Emery, the club announced in a statement. But the development has opened a void that the club will not fill in a hurry.

The past five weeks have been the worst in the coaching career of Unai Emery. The Spaniard who left French giant PSG to replace former Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger, has been under intense pressure to do better.

Arsenal has struggled for years in both domestic and European leagues, a great cause of worry for their passionate fans who yearn for the glorious old days.

Though revered, Arsene Wenger took a bow when it was obvious that his tactics and style weren’t going to deliver the needed result. Emery stepped into the shoes, but they certainly appeared too big for him.

The Gunners have not won any match since the 24th of October, a situation that instigated the #EmeryOut hashtag, and the subsequent booing at the Emirate Stadium following last Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Southampton.

Emery knew his days were numbered, but was hoping for a miracle to save his career. Thursday night’s 2-1 defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt killed whatever was left of his hope. That’s a run of seven games without a win.

Arsenal have only won four of their 13 league games which places them at eight on the table, just below the underdogs, Sheffield United and Burnley.

On Friday morning, Arsenal issued a statement. Speaking on behalf of Arsenal board and our owners Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, Josh Kroenke said:

“Our most sincere thanks go to Unai and his colleague s who were unrelenting in their efforts to get the club back to competing at the level we all expect and demand. We wish Unai and his team nothing but future success.

“The decision has been taken due to results and performances not being at the level required. We have asked Freddie Ljunberg to take responsibility for the first team as interim head coach. We have full confidence in Freddie to take us forward.

“The search for a new head coach is underway and we will make a further announcement when that process is complete.”

Arsenal’s struggle dated back to the days of Wenger, especially the 2016/17 season when they failed to book a spot for the Champions League. It wasn’t something the North London club was proud of, so Emery was hired to change that.

But he didn’t only fail to qualify the Gunners for Champions League, he also failed to bring the Europa League home, the closest Arsenal did get to a major trophy in years. Arsenal lost the Europa League final to London rivals, Chelsea, dashing the hope of millions of fans around the world.

But the search continues for those who will wear the cap. Apart from Ljunberg who has been appointed to coach the club in interim capacity, other names are being mentioned also: Man City coach Pep Guardiola, former Arsenal player Mikel Arteta, and the recently sacked coach of Tottenham Hotspur, Mauricio Pochettino.

The long season beams with uncertainties, and surprises are an integral part of it. Big names no longer guarantee winnings, just as it’s evident with Jose Mourinho and Manchester United.

Great coaches are highly priced, Arsenal is notorious of its close-fistedness, and that keeps Guardiola out of the possible successors. Pochettino has similar trophyless record like Emery, hiring him will make little or no difference.

Arteta has little or no experience to compete with the big fish, though Lampard is an evidence that you can’t rule everyone out. So the search is likely to extend beyond English shores, unless Ljunberg turn things around to convince the fans that he has what it takes to lead the club to the expected result.

Arsenal will be facing Norwich this weekend and that would be Freddie’s first test. If he scales it, and takes on the subsequent games with the same mentality, he may have a chance. If not, Arsenal will have to update the list of its potential coaches to include Nunu Espirito, Allegri, Ancelotti, Rafa Benitez and Eddie Howe.

The hunt for Emery’s successor is as always, a difficult decision, but whoever succeeds him will have a big shoe to step into.

‘’Three million children are out of school in the North of the country but there is not enough funding for schools and teachers. Digital Innovation can help us think beyond the conventional ways to solve this problem’’ H.R.M Mallam Muhammadu Sanusi II  Former CBN Governor and Emir of Kano while speaking during the 25th Nigerian Economic Summit Group held recently.

There are over 3 million Almajiri children studying in Koranic schools across Northern Nigeria who need to be absorbed into the formal education sector.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan established special schools for the Almajiri to get Western education integrated with their Islamic education.

Currently there are about 10.5 million school aged children out of primary school in Nigeria with a sizable majority found in the northern region. The girl child isn’t encouraged to be educated unlike her peers in the southern region due to cultural and religious beliefs. Disparity has seen the South lead the North with a literacy level of 67 percent to 34 percent.

The Governors of the region over the past 20 years since the return of democracy received grants to develop the basic education sector with little or nothing to show for it, as they have the worst results among all the states of the federation in National and Continental Examinations. The major problems affecting basic education in the North include poor quality of learning facilities, teachers , number of pupils per class and efficiency of learning supervision to achieve positive outcomes.

Former Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State established over 40 state of the art mega schools to cater for orphans who lost their parents as a result of the decade-long Boko Haram insurgency which has wrecked the socio economic development of the state. Among such schools is the Aisha Buhari Integrated School for Fulani named after the First Lady, a primary school with 24 classrooms and 40 preschool which runs morning and afternoon sessions with free bus rides to convey the Fulani children to school from their homes. They are served breakfast and lunch as a means of encouraging them to attend school. It is equipped with eco-friendly cooking stoves which can cook for as much as 300 people at once, a water chiller with power provided by a 33 KVA generator and solar energy.

Another strategic intervention is The Northern Education Initiative Plus Project which commenced in October 2015 with funding support from the United States Agency For International Development, a five year project aimed at strengthening the ability of Bauchi and Sokoto States to provide increased access to basic education, especially for girls and Out Of School Children, and to significantly improve learning outcomes for more than one million school aged children and youths. It employs a holistic approach addressing a broad range of critical factors that affect learning, teaching, systems management, parental participation and community engagement. The project strategy focuses on strengthening the technical and administrative capacity, commitment and accountability of federal, state and local government authorities to provide effective English and mother tongue based early grade reading, teaching and learning to its pupils. Also to deliver literacy, numeracy and life skills to out of school children and youths and whenever possible onboard them to formal educational institutions.

The project provides innovative cost effective ICT solutions for facilitating mobile money payments for learning facilitators, improve coaching and mentoring systems for teachers/learning facilitators and maintains an efficient teaching and learning materials supply chain, helps in capacity development for local education authorities to plan, budget and administer schools, support and supervise teachers, deliver high quality teaching learning materials and mobilize community involvement for increased enrolment and to improve learning outcomes. 

It is training and equipping Colleges of Education to include early grade reading concepts, techniques, practices and materials in their curriculum, while playing a key role within the education sector to promote the EGR policy and research. It constantly monitors program activity and assesses its delivery and results against established targets and milestones to improve project outcomes. The initiative is expected to demonstrate significant improvement in EGR for approximately one million children in schools and over 400,000 out of school children attending some 11,000 non formal learning centers, adolescent girls learning centers and youth learning centers.

There is a nexus between the high insecurity in the Northern Region and poor human capital development. The current Emir of Kano Mallam Muhammadu, Sanusi II a strong champion for girl child  and quality education in the Northern region, has spoken of the need for its political class and philanthropists to invest in education.

A redesign is urgently needed to scale access to quality education in the region as funding for schools and teachers is not enough. Utilization of technology can help in fixing this friction. Basic education teachers in the various states of the region should be trained on modern digital tools which are being used to deliver quality education across the globe. With Artificial Intelligence tutors, the Almajiri and other millions of educationally disadvantaged children can learn subjects in English and Hausa Languages to improve their understanding through customized tablets while Augmented Reality can be used in helping them understand the sciences.

Lagos based CoCreation Hub recently established an Education Technology Centre of Excellence at Tai Solarin College of Education to transform learning outcomes in public educational institutions across Nigeria in line with 21st Century standards. The Governors of the Northern Region and other zones across the country should partner with the Centre of Excellence to transform their educational deficiencies to create globally competitive youths for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.