NEW MEDIA VS TRADITIONAL MEDIA: A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH

Unfolding events in the world today send clear signals that traditional media, which comprises Radio, Television and Newspapers are facing an extremely daunting challenge that even threatens its very existence. An internationally renowned media expert, Mr. Ron Wimer, who held senior positions at various major US, British and French media conglomerates, with over 30 years of experience both as a journalist and media scholar, recently awakened many stakeholders in the Nigerian media industry as well as many others globally, from their long and deep slumber, with an alarming revelation he made on the looming recession facing major newspaper, cable, television and radio broadcast companies in the United States and Europe that forced many of them to either close their doors completely, or engage in radical cut in staff strength, serious reduction in staff salary among other expenses in order to remain in business.

Mr Wimer, who was the founder of Press Box Limited, a partnership of Ango-American media professionals, spread across London, Paris, Geneva, New York and Nairobi, while addressing a group of journalists at a seminar recently organized by the United States Embassy Public Affairs office in Abuja, revealed that famous newspaper giants like the New York Times, L.A. Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Boston Globe all in the United States had to adopt radical austerity measures for them to survive the imminent recession in the industry that hit the print media the most. The broadcast media was not immune as well, because it is on record, that powerful radio broadcast media outfits like the BBC and VOA had to close several of their international language sections among other radical review in their expenses for them to contain the damage. While cable news media giants like the CNN, Fox News among others are steadily losing a large percentage of their audience on a daily basis. In short, the present alarming recession in the traditional media industry globally could best be described as a tenacious wild fire that is sweeping through the industry, which has the capacity of consuming all the traditional television, radio and newspaper businesses completely if care was not taken.

The traditional media is experiencing this seemingly insurmountable challenge primarily as a result of the phenomenal growth of the new media also referred to as online media, which was a product of information branch of technology, the most powerful among all its branches; a fast growing force that is rapidly redefining the new world order. This era is regarded as golden age for technology, as no single phenomenon characterized the development of the world today more than technology, which advances rapidly and literally at the speed of light. This technological advancement is rapidly changing the way almost everything works in this world.

It is rather an irony, that the mass media, which could be said to be the major beneficiary of technology, which served as the catalyst of its rapid development in the last two centuries, but today the mass media could be described as the major casualty of the same technology. The advent of information technology (IT) is increasingly making it easier for people to access breaking news, live updates, extensive details, balanced report and generally all information of their interests more conveniently using their laptops, ipads, mobile phones and other portable ICT devices, virtually without costing them a dime. This trend is increasingly making new media the primary and more reliable source of unfiltered and uncensored information to hundreds of millions of people around the world.

Internet blogs, websites, news portals, facebook, twitter, you tube, google, yahoo, podcast and webcast, and even the short messaging system (SMS) are all new media, which comprehensively bridged the information gap of the past, and broke all geographical barriers to communication. The new media revolution enables everybody to become a journalist at little cost and with global reach. This is something that has never been possible before, but today it is as real as life and death, thus putting the profession and various mass media channels in great danger. The entire mass communication system is witnessing a revolution that was never anticipated before.

The new media is winning this battle hands-down because of so many reasons. One has to do with credibility issue, which the traditional media is losing it because of flagrant bias and subjective reporting in order to protect the interests of those that provide them with finances, or other narrow interests. In the same vein, the online media could said to be even more subjective than the traditional media, but the consumer has an unlimited access to both sides of the story, and therefore, could draw the balance himself. Secondly, while ethical codes limit the traditional media’s access to certain information protected by law, online media outfits like the wikileaks could dig and hack into highly confidential materials and reveal them to the world, instantly and rapidly via the internet for free. Thirdly, while audience reach of television and radio are limited to apportioned air waves and newspaper, to physical circulation, the online media defies all barriers and defines its boundaries only by the reach of internet and telecommunication services, which is of course worldwide.

Also, while the conventional media only offers a very concise bit of information, which they consider important to the audience, due to time and space constraints,  the new media defies those constraints, and offers the information in its entirety, even with links and references that could directly lead the audience to the source giving the people the right to decide what part of the information is important rather than submitting to the judgment of a few individuals, sitting round an editorial table, taking decisions on their behalf. Similarly, facebook, twitter, my space among other social networks continue to earn an entrenched role as the primary source of information and breaking events for the hundreds of millions of people connected to one another, in a more subtle, informal, flexible and unconventional style that give the people an appealing impression of being part of the dissemination process, not just at the receiving end.

The world of computers, internet, telecommunications and IT generally has now become an indispensable part of our lives, such that many people could risk losing their minds if that IT part of them were to be snatched away. This sticky-intimate bond, unprecedented reach, absolute freedom of information and expression and an unrivalled ease and convenience to access information, which IT provides, could be described as the major factors that are causing this radical shift from the traditional media to the new media.

Today, for most people, television means cable and a nonstop stream of reality shows, soap operas and celebrity gossip. The channels are increasingly tilting towards very thin slice of life and satisfying less and less of the needs of the people, contrary to what TV used to be before, of having a little of something for everyone, in addition to authoritative news bites at intervals. Also, playing the tunes of interests that pay the piper is steadily eroding audience confidence on the traditional media. Similarly, those in the rural areas who had no access to television, and who depended on radio as their primary source of information, plus many other urban dwellers, who love radio broadcasts for what is worth, can now access the broadcasts via their mobile phones. Therefore, online radio and television broadcasts are fast becoming viable alternatives to on-air broadcasting, which is limited by signal range, whereas online broadcasting knows no boundaries. In regards to the print media, today, newspaper readership habit has also dropped drastically, especially among persons under the age of 30, because they can lay their hands easily on all the information the papers could offer them and even more. It is no more news that today, people get breaking news and live updates, download and watch live stream of their favourite movies and series easily and conveniently using their handsets, laptops, ipads and other ICT gadgets with all their interactive features. It is evident that the new media is rapidly becoming more powerful than the traditional media and that it has the capacity to influence socio-political changes in the world. It could be vividly recalled, that the new media had last year, tested its power to do just that, during the Middle-east and North African revolution that succeeded in bringing down many powerful governments in the region.

In addition, the new media has provided a much better bargain and more advantageous platform for advertisers, who were the major source of finance to the traditional media. Now they could save huge amount of money they would have used to buy airtime on radio and television or space on newspapers in order to promote their interests. In addition to the economic benefit, the new media also provides the advertisers with the ability to reach more market, monitor the exact number of people that viewed the adverts as well as the capability to receive instant feedbacks, inquiries and comments directly from the target audience or end users, from any part of the world. This has led to a sudden shift by advertisers to the new media at the detriment of the traditional media; a situation, coupled with the global economic meltdown is making it extremely difficult for many television, radio and newspaper outfits especially those that are not owned by government to gather enough finances to cater for their human and material needs.

It is however said that not all that glitters is gold. The new media also has its own negative side of the coin. One of its disadvantages is the absence of any limitation or defined boundary, in terms of its accessibility, content and reach. This could lead to information over-flow and the resultant consequences of breakdown of public harmony, moral decadence, etc. Another disadvantage of the new media is its feature that makes anyone a journalist with a global reach. This could lead to serious damage in the fundamental ethics of the profession. Another danger posed by the new media is that many professionally trained journalists would eventually lose their jobs because the traditional media industry would continue to shrink. Similarly, many professional journalists, would face serious problem in adjusting to the new media system, which represents a sharp contradiction to the basic ethics of core journalism. More profoundly, the economic crisis that the new media would create, as a result of the collapse of the traditional media, would definitely be catastrophic.

Indeed, this unfortunate situation is a strong reason for serious concerns among stakeholders in the media industry globally, which has now forced them to go back to the drawing board in order to review their business models and evolve effective strategies that would get them out of the deadlock. As part of such efforts, many newspapers, cables, television and radio stations have now resolved to open an online version of their services, accessible through subscription in order to make some money, but the strategy seems not to be working effectively as expected. There is therefore, a raging discourse among experts and researchers all over the world in search for a landmark breakthrough that would ensure the continued survival of the traditional media side-by-side the new media.

However, the good news for the Nigerian media and developing countries generally, is the fact that this imminent new media revolution is at this stage, sweeping through the developed world more profoundly, where there is a significant advancement in IT and internet services. It may therefore, take some time to reach this part of the world, which gives stakeholders in the industry in the developing countries, relatively some time to re-strategize and review their business models among other precautionary measures before it gets here.

It is true that old is gold, but that does not mean that new changes should be overlooked or even cast aside. Some of the measures that can be taken by the traditional media towards addressing the situation include, identifying and exploring alternative sources of revenue. The traditional media must also move away from regarding the new media as an enemy and treat it as a partner in progress, and work towards striking mutually beneficial relationship. Practitioners in the traditional media industry must also make serious efforts in adjusting with the new trend. They need to become computer literate, use their professionalism to take over the practice from self-certified online journalists, apply more creativity and innovation to be able to sufficiently satisfy their new audience, who are global in nature, with all their ethno-religious pluralism, socio-cultural diversities, divergent political inclination and varying economic status.

The traditional media need to work assiduously towards making changes in line with the needs of the people and the dynamics of the business world, in the face of the raging information technology revolution. The traditional media, which comprises radio, television and newspapers that hitherto served as the most powerful channels of mass communication, may not seize to exist, at least not in the next couple of decades, but unless concrete measures are evolved, it will continue to fade, become irrelevant and ultimately lose it to the promising new media.

NIGERIAN LAWMAKERS CULTURE OF ABSENTEEISM

The legislative arm is a very important part of a democratic government. It is the arm on whose shoulders rests the very important and heavy task of making laws that would guide the smooth running of affairs in any given nation. Therefore it should consist of very high competent individuals, who possess very high standard of education and moral character. In fact, lawmakers are commonly titled distinguished or hounourable members, because they are supposed to possess outstanding capabilities that should enable them to satisfactorily represent their respective constituencies in the various legislative houses in the country.

The Congress of the United States of America, as well as Harvard University in the United States and Oxford University in the United kingdom have all banned Nigerian lawmakers from foreign exchange training programmes over the lawmakers’ consistent failure to attend and participate in the programmes. Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu, who disclosed this during a recent interactive session with Chairmen of the House Standing Committees and the National Institute for Legislative Studies (NILS) also admitted that his colleagues were fond of absconding from training programmes after being paid for, an attitude he bitterly condemned.

Citing a few instances of such unprofessional behavior by the lawmakers, the Senate leader said there was a time when the prestigious Oxford University in the United Kingdom rejected many Nigerian legislators, who refused to attend a training programme until the last day. And in another instance, it took over six months of appeals and high-level diplomatic talks for the US Senate to accept Nigerian lawmakers for an international exchange programme, because of their attitude of absenting from the programmes after being nominated.

No doubt, this attitude of the lawmakers is indeed condemnable as it seriously exposes not only despicable attitudes of the lawmakers but also their relatively poor quality. It is very unfortunate that the lawmakers, on whom a large portion of the nation’s scarce resources are spent, and who should have endeavoured to exemplify the best characters both at home and abroad, have continued to conduct themselves in a manner that portrays them as unpatriotic and opportunists thereby lowering the prestige of the country on the international scene.

However, many Nigerians would hardly be surprised that the lawmakers have already established such a bad record in those prestigious institutions, because it is the same kind of attitude that they demonstrate at home. Abscondment by many legislators from assembly sessions both at the federal and state levels has almost become a fashion to many of them. It is rather unfortunate that as less hectic as their working days were, which only consist of three days in a week, except in the event of oversight function and during budget deliberations, many of the parliamentarians, find it very difficult to attend plenary or other committee sittings. Even more worrisome is the fact that many out of those who are regular in legislative sessions either lack the capacity to make meaningful contributions to deliberations or are just too indifferent to the business of the legislative houses. It would therefore, not amount to an exaggeration to say that the nation is only wasting a large portion of its scarce resources, to pay people that are more a liability than an asset to the nation.

Certainly, the recent decision of the US Congress and the internationally renowned Oxford and Harvard Universities, by which Nigerian legislators are banned from participating in their exchange programmes should serve as a very loud wake-up call to our legislators. The lawmakers should see the ban as an avoidable consequence of the misconduct of some of them and therefore begin to live up to their responsibilities. It is only rational that the person whose duty is to make laws for others to follow, should be seen to be the first to observe to such laws and exhibit high moral standard and discipline.

Additionally, more fairness should be observed in the selection of those to attend such trainings, so that it is only those who are both qualified and serious enough should be given the opportunity. This means that nomination of members of national and state assemblies to partake in trainings and workshops or any other programme should henceforth be strictly merit-based.

But more importantly, this decision by the US Congress and other institutions in the UK that deprived Nigerian lawmakers from the opportunity to advance their knowledge and experience and improve their capacity on legislators, through foreign exchange programmes, poses a more greater challenge to the ordinary Nigerians, who hold the right to send any person of their choice to represent them at the parliament. Therefore, the electorate should ensure the election of only those candidates that possess the requisite educational and moral qualification to represent them at all levels. Failure to do so would only mean the continuous waste of resources in sponsoring rotten and incompetent legislators who would only influence the formulation of rotten laws that would have no positive impact on the people and the country, but only a source of more disgrace, chaos and underdevelopment.

PETROLEUM INDUSTRY BILL (PIB) AND THE PEOPLE’S EXPECTATIONS

In his nation-wide broadcast on the 2012 Democracy Day, which was celebrated last Tuesday, May 29^th, 2012, President Goodluck Jonathan announced that the long-awaited Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) would be re-presented to the National Assembly by next month. The President, said that the bill is being re-drafted to ensure that it meets the aspiration of all stakeholders, as well as to ensure enduring transparency and accountability in the industry given the current realities in the oil and gas sector. The President also disclosed that special task forces dealing with governance and control, petroleum revenue and national refineries were finalizing their work, recommendations of which would be sufficiently reflected in the bill to ensure probity in the sector, as well as ensure self-sufficiency in refined petroleum products. He therefore assured Nigerians that work on the bill would be concluded next month, June and formally submitted to the National Assembly immediately for subsequent consideration and passage.

A draft of the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), which would serve as a comprehensive legal framework guiding all activities and operations in the Oil and Gas sector, has become necessary in order to address current unfortunate realities in the sector.  The need for the bill became more apparent and pressing with the release of the report of House of Representatives’ Ad-hoc committee that probed the Fuel Subsidy regime, which contained a lot of alarming revelations regarding widespread corruption and the shocking impropriety and impurity surrounding activities in the Oil sector.  According to the report, the Country has lost over a trillion Naira in the last two years as a result of flagrant corruption and senseless embezzlement of the subsidy funds by a few individuals and groups in the industry.  In additional to that, the nation loses hundreds of billions of naira annually due to ruthless acts of Oil bunkering and vandalisation of pipelines by some unscrupulous elements.

This is why top on the recommendations of the subsidy probe report was the urgent need for the unbundling of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), an overhaul of the sector and more importantly the urgent review of the Petroleum Industry Bill and its speedy passage in order to check the excesses and infidelities that have continued to characterize the sector.

Oil or Petroleum resources, which Nigeria was blessed with in abundance are the nation’s largest source of revenue. Nigeria is also the world’s sixth largest exporter of petroleum products. The country extracts millions of barrels from its crude oil reserve on a daily basis, which is more than enough to serve its domestic needs as well as for export to earn sufficient foreign exchange than can be used for the rapid development of the country. However, due to the widespread corruption in the sector, dysfunctional state of the nation’s refineries and the highly condemnable acts of bunkering and vandalism, largely as a result of the absence of comprehensive and effective legal framework, which the proposed Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is expected to serve, the nation is continuously losing trillions that could be used to provide the citizens with basic infrastructure and social amenities and ultimately revamp the nation’s economy.

It is therefore, expected that the President and his team would exhibit high sense of responsibility,  commitment  and competence in re-drafting  an all encompassing Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB), that would adequately address the current realities in the sector. The National Assembly is also expected to thoroughly scrutinize the bill, which the President said would be submitted to it in a couple of weeks, and make sure that all the issues raised by the Subsidy Probe Report are sufficiently addressed among other realities that the bill should address.

The proposed Petroleum Industry Bill is therefore expected to check the excesses and widespread corruption in the oil and gas sector, support the local content initiative, ensure the revival of the nation’s refineries, increase the availability and affordability of the products, check the problem of bunkering and vandalism, and entrench probity, transparency and accountability in the sector, so that Nigerians would begin to reap maximum benefits from the abundant Petroleum resources that nature has blessed the country with.

JONATHAN-TAMBUWAL DISAGREEMENT OVER SEPARATION OF POWER

As part of activities to mark the 2012 Democracy Day and the first anniversary of the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, a National symposium was organized on the eve of the anniversary at the State House Banquet Hall, Abuja. The symposium, which was tagged: “Our Democracy: Progress and Challenges” was attended by President Goodluck Jonathan, Vice President Mohammed Namadi Sambo, Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Aminu Tambuwal, a chunk of members of the Federal Executive Council and lawmakers, as well as a cream of the nation’s political circle affiliated to the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who added colour and grandeur to the occasion.

The symposium, which was supposed to focus on discussions around the progress and challenges of the nation’s democracy, however, laid emphasis on a sharp disagreement between the President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, on the principle of separation of powers between the executive and legislature, two out of the three arms of government in a democratic system.

The President, who debated in support of a less strict separation of powers between the two arms, concluded that implementation of total separation of powers would adversely affect development and good governance. The President premised much of his arguments on the extensive scrutiny, the legislature often subject national budgets, prepared and submitted to it by the executive in the name of exercising its duty. He alleged that the National Assembly often mutilates and makes changes that make it difficult for the executive to implement the budget.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Aminu Tambuwal, who opposed the motion that total separation of power and absolute independence of both arms of government is detrimental to development and smooth running of good governance, explained that the executive is only made up of two people, the President and Vice President, while the legislature comprises of hundreds of members that represent their respective constituencies, shouldering the responsibility of protecting their interests. Tambuwal, who emphasized the need for good working relationship between the two arms, added that, that should not in any way interfere with the independence of each party and the principle of separation of power, which is an essential element in a democratic system. Reacting to the President’s accusation that the legislature always undermines the efforts of the executive in budget preparation, the Speaker also faulted the executive of frustrating their work by refusing to assent to bills they passed.

At the end of the symposium, which was purposely organized to discuss the progress and challenges of the nation’s democracy, turned into an event for open disagreement between the President and the Speaker. Many Nigerians, who expected the gathering to ponder on the series of pressing national issues and daunting challenges that are stunting the nation’s journey to rapid development, were disappointed with the direction of the event. Similarly, the direction the symposium took in the wake of very alarming assessments that trailed the democracy day celebration from many prominent politicians, distinguished academics and elder statesmen, all pointing to the apparent failure of the nation’s 13 year old democracy as well as President Jonathan’s one year in office, further re-enforced the views of the cynics among the citizens.

In addition, the debate on the principle of separation of powers, which characterized the Democracy Day National Symposium is a clear indication that many of our leaders do not have a full understanding of even the basic tenets of democracy, because one of such basic tenets is the principle of separation of power, which means that each arm operates within some specific framework as contained in the country’s constitution for the purpose of ensuring good governance. In developed democracies, the executive adopts the strategy of lobbying to ensure the bills it submitted to the parliament are adopted, rather than the crude or even subtle use of power.

It is rather unfortunate that a democratically elected President would propose a compromise in the principle of separation of power, which is an important pillar in a democratic system of government. President Jonathan was indeed wrong to have made such an unnecessary proposition, which is very unfortunate considering the fact that he is the President of Africa’s largest nation. Similarly, The President’s concern over the strict adherence to the principle of separation of powers between the legislature and executive reveals his anti-democratic tendencies. Many people would definitely wonder that even when the executive is seen to be too powerful and therefore getting away with so many wrongdoings, the President is still complaining. It all shows that Jonathan is both poorly skilled in terms of democratic governance and over ambitious.

In the context of all the points raised in the course of the argument between the two leaders, it will be most appropriate to conclude that Speaker Tambuwal spoke the minds of all lovers of democracy. The separation of powers among the three arms of government should not only continue to exist but it should be seen to be existing through maximum observance by the operators of all the three arms.

But more importantly, during such important national events, the leaders should be seen to be brainstorming on how to address pressing issues that affect the people and the nation, like the rising insecurity, the issues of poverty and unemployment, corruption, healthcare, education, power, dwindling infrastructure and other important issues with a view to reducing the sufferings of the people and setting the nation on the right track towards rapid socio-economic and political development.

ROAD ACCIDENT: NUMBER ONE KILLER OF NIGERIANS

          Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) released its 2012 Road Accidents Fatality statistics, which showed that about 250,000 Nigerians die annually as a result of road accident related mishaps. The figure was further corroborated by the Minister of Health, Professor Christian Onyebuchi Chukwu, who said Nigeria was rated 2^nd out of the 193 countries in the world in terms of fatality arising from road accidents. The Minister, who disclosed this at an occasion to mark one year of the declaration of United Nation’s (UN) Decade of Action on Road Safety in Abuja, explained that 162 persons out of every 100,000 Nigerians die annually as a result of road accident-related cases. According to the Minister, the alarming increase in road accident fatality poses a great challenge to the attainment of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), as well as the UN Decade of Action on Road safety, which aims at reducing fatalities resulting from road accident by 50% by the year 2020.

          However, what is more scaring about this statistics is the fact that if no measure wan taken, and the trend continues, more than 5 million Nigerians will die in the next twenty years, as a result of road accidents. Even without the WHO statistics, road accident has become a serious pandemic that almost every Nigerian family had its share of the casualties. Road accident in Nigeria is believed to be number one killer, claiming more lives than HIV/AIDS or any other deadly health phenomenon.

          It is rather an irony that both immediate and remote causes of this dangerous pandemic are well known to both the road users and the authorities but this knowledge has not helped in anyway in reducing the scourge of the pandemic. Some of the causes include poor condition of the vehicles, over speeding and flagrant violation of even the basic traffic rules. Other factors include reckless and under-age driving, as well as drunkenness, cell-phone use by drivers among many others. In a nutshell, the factors leading to the rise in the rate of road accidents in Nigeria can be summarized into non-challance attitude on the part of the authorities, which are responsible for both the road worthiness of vehicles and fitness of road users as well recklessness on the part of the road users. While the government can be blamed for the poor condition of the roads that have become death traps, the road users on the other hand do not seem to value their lives or the lives of others.

          Therefore, this alarming rise in road accident fatality can only be checked with a radical attitudinal change by the road users. The road users must begin to understand the value of their lives by taking all precautionary measures that would reduce the fatality of road accidents. Road users must always ensure the roadworthiness of their vehicles, avoid driving under the influence of alcohol, drugs or other intoxicants and ultimately drive within the safety speed limit. Road users must begin to understand the need to respect simple traffic rules and regulations like fastening seatbelts without being forced by the authorities.

          On its part, government at all levels should rise up to the task by investing adequately in road construction and repair of dilapidated ones. Similarly, government should ensure that sound policies are formulated and implemented, which will check the rising level of importation of used cars and obsolete spare-parts. Authorities saddled with the responsibility of granting license for driving should also ensure proper test of applicants so that only those that are qualified are given license. Certainly, no human life is worth losing, hence the need for a collective effort to check the present alarming rise in road accident fatalities in Nigeria.

PRESIDENT JONATHAN’S CASSAVA TRANSFORMATION PLAN

In its bid to exploit the economic potentials of Cassava, the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan has on Saturday, April 28^th launched the Commercial Cassava Transformation Action Plan, at the State House, Abuja. President Jonathan, who launched the initiative, said the action plan is capable of generating 1.3 million jobs in the next four years, make Nigeria the largest Cassava processing country in the world, as well as expand the market for Cassava farmers towards rapid economic development.

The President first revealed his enthusiastic plan on Cassava bread since November last year, during the Federal Executive Council Meeting. After testing the Cassava bread during the meeting, the President vowed not to eat any bread except Cassava bread, and immediately directed his cabinet to come-up with a policy to encourage the production of Cassava bread in the country. The team, which comprised Finance Minister, Agriculture Minister, Minister of National Planning, Trade and Investment, and the Chief Economic Adviser to the President, who fully understood the President’s enthusiasm about the Cassava bread, dedicated so much time and effort until they produced a comprehensive action plan for the commercial transformation of Cassava, which was launched during the weekend.

According to the action plan, 18 large scale Cassava processing plants would be constructed within the next 24 months, to be located in areas of high Cassava production. The action plan also envisaged that  Nigeria will be the largest Cassava  processing country in the world, and will consequently be able to save  over 250 billion naira foreign exchange, as a result of reduced import of wheat and wheat flour, which Cassava is expected to substitute. Other benefits of the initiative as contained in the document include, creation of job opportunities, creation of market for farmers, stabilization of price and ultimately giving the country the pride in consuming what it locally produces and processes. The plan is also expected to support the local content initiative of the government, as well as its efforts towards diversification of the economy focusing on non oil sectors that could serve as strong alternative sources of revenue for the nation.

Cassava is one of Nigeria’s abundant endowments by Nature. The country is the highest producer of Cassava, producing over 34 million tons of the produce annually. It is also the raw material used to process Garri, one of the cheapest food items in Nigeria, on which the sustenance of millions of Nigerian families depend. Indeed, poor Nigerians couldn’t have been happier with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) that discovered Cassava flour, which can be used to make bread, another cheap and widely consumed food item. Other commercial potentials of Cassava include Cassava grit, which is used in poultry farming and dry Cassava chip, which has a very high demand in the international market

It is unfortunate however, that a country like Nigeria, endowed with so much mineral resources and arable land with the capacity of producing enough food to feed much of the West African sub-region, has turned out to be heavily dependent on importation of even the basic food stuff like rice, wheat, millet and maize consumed by the citizens. This of course can be attributed to the failure of successive governments to make adequate investment in the agricultural sector, towards harnessing the abundant human and material resources of the country for the revitalization of the sector.

In view of the numerous socio-economic benefits that can be derived from the federal government’s Cassava transformation action plan, many Nigerians will indeed, welcome the idea and even render their support and cooperation for the success of the initiative.  President Jonathan’s Cassava dream for the country could be described as one of the most laudable initiatives of the present administration. It is therefore hoped that the government will exhibit high level of commitment towards realizing the dream, as well as adopt similar transformation drive and strategy for the exploitation of other resources and potentials, for the rapid socio-economic development of the nation.