Tag Archives: Ogunyemi Bukola

Rich Kids, Poor Kids: States And The Pot Called Federal Allocation – Ogunyemi Bukola

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Yesterday budget and public data analysis platform BudgIT shared how much in total each state in Nigeria received as Federal Allocation in 2013. The list was divided into two. The top ten earner states:

Top 10 States

And the bottom ten:

Bottom 10 States

So this morning I decided to dance around the data a bit and see if numbers could talk. Here’s what numbers said:

My analysis is centred on the Top Four, and Top Six, states (the rich kids), and the Bottom Four, and Bottom Six, states (the poor kids). Figures are approximates.

The Top Four states (Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Delta, and Bayelsa) received a total of N928.2 billion in Federation Allocations in 2013. This is 5 times the total allocation of the Bottom Four (Nassarawa, Osun, Ekiti and Ebonyi) who received N176.6 billion.

The Top Six states (Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Delta, Bayelsa, Lagos and Kano) received a total of N1.1 trillion in Federal Allocations in 2013. This is 4 times the total allocation of the Bottom Six (Kwara, Gombe, Nassarawa, Osun, Ekiti and Ebonyi) who received N272.4 billion.

Bayelsa’s N182.5 billion is more than the combined allocation of Nassarawa, Osun, Ekiti and Ebonyi (bottom four) – N176.6 billion. The N237.8 billion Rivers got is more than the combined allocation of Gombe, Nassarawa, Osun, Ekiti and Ebonyi (bottom five) – N223.1 billion. While top earner Akwa Ibom got N293.5 billion in 2013, the bottom six of Kwara, Gombe, Nassarawa, Osun, Ekiti and Ebonyi got N272.4 billion combined.

 

It gets even better.

Akwa Ibom got 7 times the total allocation of Ebonyi. This means Akwa Ibom got in one year what Ebonyi will get in 7 years if rates are fixed. Rich Kid Bayelsa got 4 times the allocation of Poor Kid Osun.

Numbers wouldnt stop talking so I went online to get the population data of the Rick Kids, and the Poor Kids. Here’s what I found:

Top 6

What did numbers say?

The Top Four earner states have a combined population of 17.5 million (2011 projection figures), add Lagos and Kano to that and the population more than doubles, to 39.3 million. Divide the total allocation received by population and you realize the Top Four got about N53,ooo per citizen. This figure comes down to N28,000 per citizen when Lagos and Kano are considered.

Let’s see what the poor folks are up to:

Bottom 6Bottom Four total population is about 11.5 million, this goes up to 17 million when Gombe and Kwara states enter the fray. N15,000 per citizen is what you get when total allocation of bottom four states is divided by the total population, this goes up to N16,000 per citizen when all six states are considered.

For individual states, Akwa Ibom: N64,000 per citizen is what Akwa Ibom got, Bayelsa is N93,000 per citizen, more than 5 times the N17,000 per citizen for Ebonyi.

A quick look at the map of Nigeria shows that Top Four states are from the oil-rich South-South region. That is not surprising. What is surprising is that only one state from the North, Nassawara (North-Central), is in the Bottom Four, with two from South-West (Osun and Ekiti) and one from South-East.

Numbers started speaking French when I compared the data with primary school enrollment figures, state GDP, WAEC pass rates, health reports etc.

Instead of having all 36 come to him every month, one wearing Louboutins, the other rubber slippers, to give one money for private jet back home and the other just enough to board a train, why cant Big Daddy just let the mothers of these kids take care of them?

 

Ogunyemi Bukola (@zebbook) writes from Lagos. www.zebbook.com

#OsunEdu: Making Sense of Aregbesola’s Edu-Revolution in the State of Osun – Ogunyemi Bukola

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OgbeniI have met Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola only a few times, the last time at the launch of my father’s book in April 2013. In his speech that day, Ogbeni reiterated his administration’s plans to revolutionize education in the State of Osun, and has since rolled out several reforms in the education sector in the state, some of which have generated serious controversies. This explains, in part, my decision to attend the State of Osun Education Policy Summit organized by the Osun Movement for Peace, a group of non-partisan academics and professionals, not just as a new media observer but as an Osun indigene.

According to the chairman of the event, our job was to critically examine the educational policies introduced by the Aregbesola administration and make recommendations. The summit featured presentations by Dr. Isiaka Owoade, Professor Ayo Olukotun, Chief Layi Oyeditan and the State Deputy Governor, Otunba Titilayo Laoye-Tomori, who doubles as the Commissioner for Education. They took turns to explain the various policies of government in the education sector and relay the success stories.

Perhaps the most controversial and widely misunderstood educational policy of Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola is the schools reclassification policy leading to a new school system in the state. The new system is a departure from the 6-3-3-4 and 9-3-4 systems to the 4-5-3-4 system which has led to the restructuring of primary and secondary schools into Elementary, Middle and High schools.

The Elementary Schools will cater for pupils between the ages of 6 and 9, grouped into Grades 1 to 4 as against the old designation, Primary 1 – 4. Each elementary school is designed to accommodate 900 pupils and daily academic activities run from 8am to 2pm. As at December 2013, 13 of the elementary schools have been completed and commissioned.

The Middle Schools will cater for pupils and students between the ages of 10 and 14, grouped into Grades 5 to 9 as against the old designation Primary 5 and 6, and JSS 1 – 3. Each middle school is designed to accommodate between 900 and 1200 pupils/students and academic activities run from 8am to 3pm daily, while the High Schools are for students within the age bracket of 15 – 17 years, grouped into Grades 10 to 12 as against SSS 1 – 3. Each high school is designed to accommodate 3000 students and daily academic activities from 8am to 5pm.

The implications of this new school system include the phasing out of single sex schools, the merger of schools within the same geographical location irrespective of their religious or community ownership backgrounds, and demolition of old school structures after students have been relocated to new premises. The Osun State government is poised to commit about N30 billion to the building of 100 elementary, 50 middle, and 20 high schools across the state. This will cater in total for about 210,000 pupils/students.

The reclassification of schools naturally gave birth to unified school uniform project. The idea is that all elementary schools should have a common uniform, and same applies to the middle and high schools. Toward this end, government established a garment factory in Osogbo for the supply of complete sets of uniforms for all categories of students. The factory has since produced 750,000 sets of uniform which were distributed free to pupils and students across the state, at a cost of N900 million – about N1200 per set.

A less controversial but less publicized policy of the Aregbesola administration is the Osun Elementary School Feeding and Health Programme, referred to as O’MEALS. The vision of the programme is to have a state of well-nourished and healthy children who are happy and eager to not only attend but complete their basic education. Some of the objectives include the alleviation of hunger and malnutrition among school children, job creation, increasing local food production, and the development of small and medium scale enterprises for poverty reduction.

The idea is for all elementary school pupils (Primary 1 – 4) to eat lunch in school. This scheme covers a total of 252,000 pupils, costing the government about N14.8 million per day – about N58 per child per day. Government appointed 3007 food vendors, assigned them to the various schools in the state to supply a certain number of pupils the menu for each day with the one for Thursdays, as an example, being rice with egusi garnished with vegetable, chicken and banana.

This scheme feeds the pupils with 35 herds of cattle, 8,400 crates of eggs and 15,000 whole chickens on a weekly basis and all these are sourced locally. O’Meals has led to the establishment of the Osun Fisheries Outgrowers Production Scheme which now supplies about 400 metric tonnes of fish weekly. It has also led to the Cocoyam Rebirth Programme in which 1000 cocoyam farmers have been trained and assisted in the cultivation of pink cocoyam.

Enrolment in elementary schools has increased by about 40% since the introduction of this scheme, and Osun State now has, according to NBS, the highest rate of primary school enrolment in Nigeria. Apart from the increased enrolment rates, absenteeism has also reduced in elementary schools in Osun State, pupils have shown incredible improvements in their academic performances and most importantly, about 5000 people are indirectly employed and empowered economically.

Perhaps, what the Aregbesola administration considers its greatest educational reform programme in the state is the Opon Imo project. According to him, the need to develop an efficient knowledge based economy and make students ICT compliant, both for learning and self-development inspired the design and distribution of computer tablets, branded Opon Imo, to high school students in the state. The tablets are preloaded with lesson notes on the 17 subjects offered by students in WAEC and NECO exams. Opon Imo also contains lesson notes on extra-curricular subjects such as Civic and Sexuality Education, over 40,000 past questions, 63 e-textbooks and 51 audio tutorials.

According to Otunba Tomori, 28,000 high school students have received the tablet out of a total number of 32,000. The contract for the supply of 150,000 tablets was awarded to a Chinese firm at N1.2 billion and is to be executed in two phases – 50,000 tablets will be imported from China while the remaining 100,000 is to be manufactured in the state. She stated that the initiative has saved the state N8.4 billion as about N9.6 billion would have been spent on the supply of the books and instructional materials on the Opon Imo.

Other achievements in education mentioned at the summit include the upward review in bursaries, from N2000 for students of Colleges of Education and Polytechnics and N3000 for university students to N10, 000. Law and Medical students now receive N20, 000, 100% more than the previous figure. Also, the special grant given to Osun State indigenes at the Law school has increased from N10, 000 to N100, 000. N2.5 billion spent on the provision of 150,000 befitting furniture for 300,000 students, and another N543 million spent on provision of instructional materials. Others include N155 million spent on the sponsorship of 98 medical students to Ukraine and the reintroduction of extracurricular activities like debates, calisthenics and interschool sports competitions.

So why has so much backlash accompanied the introduction of what seems to be commendable policies and reforms? Rauf Aregbesola strikes me an impatient reformer, barely seeing through one reform policy before introducing another. I understand his zeal to turn around the fortunes of the state in the sector under consideration, but introducing so many reforms at once is bound to boomerang, both in execution/implementation and acceptance by the public.

The execution of the Opon Imo idea for example leaves much to be desired. The distribution has been haphazard, because on one hand, students and teachers are settling into the new grade system, and on the other hand, schools are being merged and hundreds of students relocated to new premises. I am yet to understand the logic behind making all the schools in the state wear a common uniform. And I have it on good record that the sets of uniforms supplied by the garment factory are of low quality and barely survived a month of use before tearing. I believe schools should have different uniforms for identity and branding.

Also, claims teachers’ monthly salaries are promptly paid by the 25th of every month are false. Salaries are paid as late as the first week of the next month. Also, Otunba Tomori stated that N14.41 billion has so far been spent on building 39 model schools, which translates into almost N370 million per school. I have seen some of the schools, and the structures there don’t justify that amount.

In conclusion, Ogbeni needs to be a bit less radical and more strategic about execution of what are certainly mostly commendable educational reforms, and commit to consultations with stakeholders and the public before going ahead with policies that are likely to be misunderstood and resisted.

Ogunyemi Bukola (@zebbook) writes from Lagos, Nigeria.

#JKFeedback: Why Kayode Fayemi should continue his N549,000/month job in Ekiti – zebbook

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John Kayode Fayemi

John Kayode Fayemi

The Nigerian social media space is a volatile and very unpredictable community and those who saw N549,000 trending on the afternoon of Saturday 8th February would have had a hard time knowing where that figure came from. However, trending alongside this figure were the hashtag #JKFeedback and the official twitter handle of the Ekiti State Government @ekitistategov and keen observers were able to connect the dots.

#JKFeedback was an interactive session between Ekiti State Governor, John Kayode Fayemi, and prominent bloggers and activists from across Nigeria. Ogunyemi Bukola used the opportunity of the no-holds-barred discussion to ask the governor how much his salary is, and for the first time in Nigeria’s history, an elected public official declared his earnings. JKF, as he’s popularly called, said he earns N549,000 monthly without allowances as he lives in the government house and enjoys all the amenities for free.

That declaration threatened to overshadow other happenings at #JKFeedback, but what turned out to be the first truly independent assessment of any government by the Nigerian public was much more than that.

I got the email invite to participate in #JKFeedback from Funmi Ajala of the Digital Media Unit of Ekiti State. Taking bloggers and activists from across the country to Ekiti to assess JKF’s works initially sounded inappropriate. The people of Ekiti voted him, not us, and as such they should have the final say on whether their governor has performed well or not. The people of Ekiti do have the final say on this matter, but not the only say. Indeed, part of our job in Ekiti was to sample opinions of the people there on how well they think JKF has performed.

We got to Ikogosi Warm Spring and Resorts on Thursday, 6th February, and if anyone said you shouldn’t blow your own trumpet, Fayemi has not heard, or does not agree. Right there on the bed in each room were bags containing print materials detailing the achievements of his three and a half year old administration. On Friday, we went on a tour of Ekiti State, visiting 12 out of the 16 local governments in the state. We were taken to sites of completed and ongoing projects embarked upon by the administration, visiting schools, hospitals, dams and farms while assessing the quality of the roads and other infrastructure across the state. Saturday was the discussion proper, and the governor came three hours late and left earlier than he should have.

At his inauguration on October 16, 2010, Kayode Fayemi promised the people of Ekiti State to “democratize governance, modernize agriculture, improve on infrastructure, promote free and qualitative education towards the development of functional human capital, provide free health and social security to the disadvantaged sectors of the state, ensure industrial development, promote tourism and sustainable development and promote gender equality and women’s empowerment”. This 8-point agenda forms the basis of my assessment of his administration.

On the democratization of governance, two things stand out for me. One, Ekiti State senators pool their constituency project funds, N200 million each, to finance specific projects in the three senatorial districts of the state. N600 million every year for the past three years has ensured the execution of projects in tourism, agriculture and water provision, one of which is the provision of 1,700 hectares of irrigated land in conjunction with UNDP and FAO. I have not heard of any other state in Nigeria in which this is happening. Also, I am impressed by how diligently local governments have kept to the governor’s mandate of constructing at least 5km of roads every year. This has ensured the construction of at least 15km of local roads in each of the 16 local governments in Ekiti State since Fayemi became governor. Also, from our tour guide on Friday, to the commissioners who briefed us on Saturday, everyone had insight into the vision, and facts and figures on the achievements, of Fayemi’s administration.

On the modernization of agriculture, Fayemi said his vision is to “revive cocoa plantations to make Ekiti again a world leader in cocoa production; make agriculture contribute 50% of internally generated revenue; have 20,000 Ekiti youths trained and employed in mechanized agriculture by 2014.” I did not see a single cocoa plantation in Ekiti during my stay there, but records have it about 860,000 cocoa seedlings are being cultivated across the state. I visited cassava plantations and according to the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor, Egghead Odewale, the Youth Commercial Agriculture Development (YCAD) programme is in full swing but we were unable to get to any of the farm sites in which 250 young people under the scheme are employed. Agriculture equipment worth N57 million distributed to rice farmers, purchase to 20 tractors at N150 million, provision of micro-credit facilities to over 200 farmers are initiatives executed by the government.

On improvement of infrastructure, 902 federal, state and local government roads have been rehabilitated, each local government has constructed 5km of road every year for three years, and the state government has constructed about 1200km of roads since 2010. I should add that Ekiti State has arguably the best road network in Nigeria and in our tour of 12 local governments, we didn’t come across more than 3 bad patches of road while massive construction of bridges is ongoing in different parts of the state to replace the narrow and dangerous ones inherited by the Fayemi administration. Also, 100 transformers have been distributed to communities and N600 million have been goven to 176 communities to execute different projects.

On the promotion of free and qualitative education towards the development of functional human capital, Governor Kayode Fayemi’s administration has renovated all the 183 secondary schools in Ekiti State and has procured and distributed over 30,000 Samsung solar laptops to students and 18,000 to teachers of senior secondary schools in the state. Also, Ekiti has the best pay package for teachers in public service in Nigeria while those in the rural area get 20% of the basic salary more. Bursary funds for students of higher institutions of the state has been increased from N5,000 to N10,000.

On the provision of free health and social security, we were able to visit the site of the new general hospital in Ado-Ekiti, the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital and the Cancer Diagnosis Centre built in honour of Mrs Funmilayo Olayinka, the late Deputy Governor of the State. About N100 million has been spent on medical assistance to needy patients, and another N38 million on indigent patients and physically challenged people.

On tourism and industrial development, I first visited Ikogosi Warm Spring in 2006 as a 200 Level OAU student before going back there last year and then over the weekend, and I am impressed by Kayode Fayemi’s vision and tenacity in turning what was essentially a bush into one of the most exotic holiday places in Nigeria at a cost of N1.5 billion. We were not opportuned to visit any industrial site in Ekiti State during our tour.

On the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment, it was refreshing to know that under Kayode Fayemi, Ekiti State has made strict laws against domestic abuse and violence against women, the state has halfway houses, a family court and other support systems for victims of rape and other forms of abuse, while the rights of widows and the girl child are protected. Ekiti State is also the first, and perhaps still the only, state in Nigeria to maintain a register for sex offenders.

However, much more needs to be done. I am unimpressed by the state of primary health facilities in Ekiti and I would have expected Governor Fayemi to issue a mandate to local governments in this regard as he did with roads. I have it on good authority that a single doctor oversees 6 primary health facilities in Erijiyan and Ikogosi, and that doctor is there on youth service. There are cracks in the walls of the Funmilayo Olayinka Cancer Centre which was opened in October last year, suggesting shoddy work by the contractor.

Also, Governor Fayemi was defiant on the effective execution of his laptop initiative, but as Opemipo Adebanjo noted, there is a school in Erijiyan where the laptops are gathering dust in the principal’s office and the teachers claim they weren’t trained on the use of these gadgets, and the students do not know how to use Microsoft Word.

In agriculture, the development of irrigation sites at Ero, Egbe and Itapaji dams should be given more attention. More needs to be done about the vision of making Ekiti one of the world’s leading producer of cocoa. Also, more attention should be given to the production of cash crops like oil palm and cashew through YCAD. This should then roll into the industrial development agenda through the establishment of processing plants for agricultural produce. There are only 6 women in the 29 member state executive council, in a state where women are the majority. This is totally unacceptable and I hope the governor makes good his promise to Rinsola Abiola on correcting the imbalance in his second term.

I am not swayed by Governor Fayemi’s attempt at turning my purely economic question on the disparity between the state’s IGR and monthly salary expenditure into an ideological battle between socialism and capitalism. While I commend his efforts at increasing IGR by more than 400%, from N140 million in 2011 to about N600 million in 2013, I am worried that he has failed to balance welfarism with economic sustainability. The sad truth is that Ekiti State cannot pay its workforce and finance its welfare and social security programmes until Abuja credits its account with the monthly N3 billion allocation. I hope Governor Fayemi’s efforts at attracting investments into the state through the provision of tax breaks and other initiatives as stated in the Agusto Report yield positive results over the next couple of years to enable the state attain financial independence.

Egghead Odewale wouldn’t agree with me that Kayode Fayemi’s administration has focused more on infrastructure than any other item on its 8 point agenda but that is the reality I observed. I will take the positives from that by saying Fayemi, by the provision of good roads, has opened up Ekiti for economic development, especially through agriculture and tourism.

I am impressed by how prudent and transparent Kayode Fayemi has been in the execution of projects in Ekiti State. Contracts are awarded at very modest and verifiable amounts, an example being the laptop project in which each unit costs about N60,000. Also, while I await the confirmation of his pay slip, I salute his bravery in openly declaring his salary and that of his commissioners. And I hope he has not joined the league of corrupt Nigerian politicians who eat their yam with palm oil from public pots. It would be heart-breaking for some of us who see him as an exemplary leader in the rot prevalent in Nigeria’s political space.

Kayode Fayemi has done well over the past three years and I urge the good people of Ekiti to give him a chance to continue the good work he has started by voting him as their governor for a second term. I urge them to be vigilant and hold him accountable at all times. As he goes about his campaign, visiting cities, towns and villages in the state, he will make promises and commitments, and they must hold him to these from day one of his second tenure.

My name is Ogunyemi Bukola (@zebbook), and I endorse John Kayode Fayemi for a second term as governor of Ekiti State.

Leadership: What Goodluck Jonathan can learn from Stephen Keshi – Ogunyemi Bukola

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Keshi-JonathanSuccessful leadership, be it in business, politics or sports, operates on identical underlying principles. As such, successful leaders learn from one another across the different sectors of life and terrain of leadership in which they operate. Nigeria’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, has a lot to learn about leadership, and he has plenty of options to choose from. But he needs not look far. In his mostly unremarkable government, the sports sector, especially football, especially the national male football team, Super Eagles, have enjoyed unprecedented success. This due in no small parts to the efforts of the Glo/CAF African Football Awards 2014 Coach of the Year, Stephen Keshi.

Since his appointment in 2011, Keshi has led Nigeria to qualification for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, which they went on to win, becoming one of only two people (along with Egypt’s Mahmoud El-Gohary) to have won it as both a player and a coach, secured qualification to the 2014 World Cup and is through to the semi-final of CHAN2014. Keshi’s success has not been accidental, and in his handling of the team, some particularly stellar leadership attributes shine through that the man from Otuoke can learn from.

Leaders deliver results, not excuses: Jonathan has a readymade excuse for why nothing is working in Nigeria. From corruption to terrorism to poor state of infrastructure nationwide, none is due to Jonathan’s inability/failure to effect change. Past Nigerian leaders, the opposition, the children of anger, some aggrieved ethnicities, these are the groups responsible for everything that is wrong with Nigeria. And this has gone a long way in entrenching the culture of complacency in his largely incompetent team who know they are not to blame for failure. Keshi as Super Eagles manager has an opposite philosophy, get results and you won’t have to give excuses. And this has worked for him, as the team knows a bad pitch or weather and even biased officiating is not a reason to lose.

Leaders make sacrifices, especially big sacrifices: “To save Nigeria, we must all be prepared to make sacrifices. On the part of Government, we are taking several measures aimed at cutting the size and cost of governance, including on-going and continuous effort to reduce the size of our recurrent expenditure and increase capital spending. In this regard, I have directed that overseas travels by all political office holders, including the President, should be reduced to the barest minimum” – Goodluck Jonathan (January 2012)

“Our administration believes that the cost of governance in the country is still too high and must be further reduced. We will also take additional steps to stem the tide of corruption and leakages. Foreign travel by government personnel will be further curtailed” – Goodluck Jonathan (January 2014)

In the two years between the two statements from Goodluck Jonathan above, he has spent over N3 billion on foreign trips, recurrent expenditure has increased to 72% of overall government spending, Aso Rock feeding and entertainment budget has stayed at N1 billion and Mr President is planning to acquire an 11th aircraft for the presidential fleet.

Keshi and his assistants on the other hand are being owed a total of 7 months’ salary and allowances running into about N78 million. In the face of this, he has ensured that no player is owed match bonuses and has not failed to deliver results on the pitch. Jonathan and his aides are living in obscene opulence while asking Nigerians to make sacrifices for the nation’s development. Errrrr, it all starts with you sir.

You are only as good as your team: Since his accidental ascendancy to the highest political office in Nigeria, Mr Jonathan has managed to assemble arguably the worst Federal Executive Council since return to democratic rule in 1999. Men and women of low competencies, questionable character and proven records of corruption/mismanagement have been given control of sensitive positions in return for political devotion. Mr Jonathan has shown that he values political loyalty above competency, and that is politics, not leadership. In this regard, he should learn how Keshi picks his team, making sure the best available players are selected, not those who spent more time with the press praising his managerial skills.

Leaders know what and when to celebrate: One of the most disappointing moments of Jonathan’s presidency for me was when he told CNN’s Christine Amanpour during an interview that power situation in Nigeria has vastly improved and Nigerians are happy with his administration in that regard. Amanpour went ahead to disprove this claim so effortlessly. In truth power generation had increased to more than 4000MW then, but that hardly calls for celebration and smugness considering that Nigeria needs about 20,000MW to stand any chance of being one of the top 20 economies in the world by 2020. Jonathan stops short of calling a party for every hundred MW added to the national grid or every kilometre of road patched. Mister, it’s like celebrating victory after winning the first free-kick in a football match. Keep calm and get to work, like Keshi does. Don’t pop the champagne until the trophy is in the cabinet.

Leaders know the people are priority: I do not understand the polimathics of FIFA rankings, and I got even more confused when in December 2013 Nigeria slipped three places from 33 to 36 despite having arguably the best year of all African teams. So was Keshi, but something struck me about his response:

“I am shocked (by the latest rankings). We won the Africa Cup of Nations this year, qualified for the World Cup and four-time world champions Italy held us to a draw, so I am surprised. We should continue to win and make Nigerians proud because that is what is most important to me and Nigerians. If we remain in wherever we are in the ranking and keep winning and Nigerians are happy, then I am happy.”

This contrasts sharply with the selective acceptance game Jonathan’s government plays with global governance and human development rankings. It is not unusual to see Mr Jonathan’s media aides base their principal’s successes on positive comments from international organizations like the World Bank and IMF. When however, the spotlight is on corruption and poverty, in which the report is almost always unfavourable, they swing to action and give a thousand and one reasons why such reports are inaccurate.

Failure to realize that democracy is a government of the people, and the most acceptable index is the people’s assessment, is the foundation of Mr Jonathan’s woeful performance as Nigeria’s president. And as long as he continues to seek acceptance from local power blocs and international organizations at the detriment of the wishes of the people, the story is not likely to change.

If Jonathan is to record any success worth remembering as he enters the final year of his presidency, he should learn from how Keshi has managed to turn around the fortunes of a Super Eagles team that failed to qualify for the nations cup into African champions. While Keshi has proven to be Nigeria’s most successful football coach, Mr Jonathan might just be the worst president in Nigeria’s modern democratic history. It’s all about leadership.

Ogunyemi Bukola (@zebbook) writes from Lagos, Nigeria.