Igbo, Export-Import Logjam, Pizza Pimps, And Fashola -By Simon Kolawole

The Igbo once again gave their votes to the PDP in the presidential election and this has raised yet another issue over the sharing of the “spoils of victory”. If the APC-led government insists on “winner takes all”, then national cohesion will take a hit in the next four years. While the hawks will be telling President Buhari to “deal with those guys” for not voting for him, I would say two things: one, he should not ignore the fact that south-east’s votes for him have been on the rise in the last three general elections, no matter how marginal; two, he needs the support and energies of everybody. He has to be president of all, including those who did not vote for him. Inclusion.

EXPORT-IMPORT LOGJAM
Is there a way of really understanding the Nigerian situation? We depend heavily on imports, yet we do not have enough reception facilities at the ports. Imported goods spend months before they are cleared. Now there is another problem: even though we have been talking about promoting non-oil exports and encouraging Nigerians to go into agriculture, the ports are such a mess that exporting has itself become a nightmare. According to a Bloomberg report, shipments of cashew nuts worth N108 billion ($300 million) have been trapped at the Apapa port since January because of “inadequate capacity and infrastructure, stifling red tape and corruption”. Nigeria!

PIZZA PIMPS
Chief Audu Ogbeh, minister of agriculture, might have bitten more than he could chew on Wednesday while defending his ministry’s 2019 budget before a senate committee. Ogbeh complained that some Nigerians now order pizza from the UK via their cell phones and take delivery the next day through British Airways. He sounded genuinely angry. Some commentators have taken him on, reminding him that government officials gleefully patronise foreign goods and services. Some said he was exaggerating his “pizza by air” claim so as to be retained as minister. Can Ogbeh please give us details of how much forex Nigerians expend on importing London pizza yearly? Spicy.

AND FINALLY…
Mr. Babatunde Fashola, minister of power, shocked many of us when he said on Wednesday that some states in Nigeria now enjoy nearly uninterrupted power supply. I did not know things had improved so dramatically in the sector. All I know is that my bills for diesel at home and in the office have gone up considerably in the last three weeks. However, it seems some Nigerians do not agree with Fashola: someone said on Twitter that to be fair to the minister, he did not say the states enjoying “almost 24 hours of power supply” were in Nigeria. Maybe he meant American states! Or was the minister adding the power supplied by generators as well? Electrifying!