He added that, in all other states, the RECs worked cooperatively with the national commissioners, except in Adamawa, “for reasons that are now obvious to all”.
Okoye said: “The attention of the commission has been drawn to a press statement by a candidate in the recently-concluded Adamawa State governorship election in which officials deployed for legitimate duty in the state were alleged to have undermined the electoral process after a discreet ‘nocturnal’ visit to the Government House and ostensibly met with one of the candidates in the election who gave them a list of ‘collation and returning officers’ deployed for the election.”
He added, “Ordinarily, the commission does not join issues with partisan actors, particularly where no evidence has been provided.
“To set the record straight, no such visit or meeting took place, let alone the compilation of any purported list of collation and returning officers.
“Such a meeting would have been contrary to the oath of neutrality that we all swore to. Moreover, every conscientious observer would have noticed that the commission appointed and retained only one returning officer for the governorship election who also doubled as the State Collation Officer for the Presidential Election (SCOPE).
“Like all returning officers nationwide, he was issued with a letter of appointment by the commission and the Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Adamawa State was duly informed. The list of collation officers was also forwarded to the state, with every page of the list personally endorsed by the chairman of the commission well ahead of the arrival of the national commissioners.
“Similarly, the same press statement created the impression that the national headquarters of the commission specifically targeted Adamawa State in its deployment of national commissioners and other officials, with the sole intention of influencing the outcome of the supplementary election held on Saturday, 25th April, 2023 and the sidelining of the REC. Nothing can be further from the truth.”
According to Okoye, “For the record, it has been the standard policy and practice of the commission to deploy national commissioners, RECs, and other staff from the headquarters or neighbouring states for supplementary or off-cycle elections where doing so is considered necessary.
“In the case of Adamawa State where supplementary governorship election was held in 69 polling units, two national commissioners were deployed, while for Kebbi State involving 142 polling units, three national commissioners were deployed.
“Similarly, one national commissioner was deployed to Sokoto, Zamfara, Imo, Rivers, Ekiti and Ogun states. This has been the standard practice of the commission, of which all RECs are informed in advance. Therefore, Adamawa State was not specifically targeted. In all other states, the RECs worked cooperatively with the national commissioners, except in Adamawa State, for reasons that are now obvious to all.
“The public is advised to discountenance these insinuations as nothing more than a claptrap. We also advise those behind the mischief to desist forthwith as such fabrications have endangered the lives of our officials (both ad hoc and regular) engaged in legitimate election duties. We expect well-meaning citizens to act within the bounds of propriety and decency.”
This is contained in SB Morgen’s (SBM) latest report, titled, ‘The SBM Jollof Index: Remaining Within a Vicious Cycle’.
The index covers major food items used in making a pot of jollof rice such as rice, curry, thyme, seasoning, groundnut/vegetable oil, turkey/chicken, beef, pepper, tomatoes, salt and onions.
According to the report, poor climate conditions, insecurities, and poor policies are some of the reasons for the increase in prices of foodstuffs in Nigeria.
“Nigeria is facing a persistent food insecurity crisis that is continually aggravated by insecurity, poor policies, adverse weather conditions, and international events such as the recent Russia-Ukraine war,” the report reads.
“This alarming situation stems from various factors, including unstable food-producing regions, inadequate storage infrastructure, and a lack of agricultural commercialisation.
“Policies ostensibly aimed at reducing food imports over the past years still have a lingering effect, and increased energy tariffs have further exacerbated the problem. An ill-fated currency exchange attempt worsened what was already a bad situation.”
The SBM report shows the national average cost of making a pot of jollof rice across the 13 markets in the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria.
According to the data, over seven months (September 2022 to March 2023), the cost of preparing a pot of jollof rice has risen from N9,917 to N10,882, marking an increase of 9.73 percent.
“From September 2022 to March 2023, the cost of making a pot of jollof rice increased in every market. Port Harcourt experienced the highest percentage increase at 22.7 percent, followed by Calabar Municipal at 14.7 percent, Bayside Mbakpa at 13.7 percent, and Kano at 13.3 percent,” SBM said.
On the month-to-month examination, the research firm explained that the costs of foodstuffs generally increased from September to January.
“The most substantial spike occurred in November, with a 6.6 percent increase. Between September and October, the index saw a more modest growth of 1.81 percent, while January experienced a 0.88 percent increase,” the agency added.
“This upward trend shows that the prices of essential ingredients for jollof rice have increased. The period between September and November saw long petrol queues across the country, which led to supply chain disruptions and inadequate supplies of food ingredients.
“As the fuel scarcity failed to ease, the prices of items like rice and chicken increased in November as preparations for the end-of-year festivities began, which are often.”
This year, SBM expanded its report to include two cities — Accra and Kumasi — in Ghana, West Africa’s second-largest economy, as part of a broader regional edition.
The organization said the jollof index now aims to provide a clearer understanding of “food inflation across West Africa and provide a basis of comparison that ordinary people and sophisticated observers alike can quickly intuitively use across multiple countries”.
To make the comparison between Nigeria and Ghana clearer, the report analyses the data in naira and cedis when comparing both countries but converts to US dollars at three rates: Ghana’s exchange rate and the two rates in Nigeria — official and parallel.
“From the data, it can be observed that the price of Nigerian jollof has been increasing over time, with fluctuations. The price started at $13.42 in July 2016 and increased to $24.23 in March 2023,” the report said.
“In the only three months for which Ghanaian jollof data is available (January to March 2023), the price started at $23.94 and increased to $24.14.
“When comparing the Nigerian and Ghanaian jollof prices in these three months, Nigerian jollof is slightly more expensive than Ghanaian jollof, but using the official Nigerian exchange rate, a country-by-country price list of a popular fast-food chain, Chicken Republic, with branches in both Ghana and Nigeria shows that the price of Ghanaian jollof is higher.”
SBM, therefore, urged government and stakeholders to address the issues with price fluctuations and ensure food security for Nigerian citizens.
The research organization added that there will be a need to focus on improving agricultural productivity, addressing supply chain inefficiencies, and implementing measures to curb inflation. (thecable.ng)
