In the words of Professor Omo Omoruyi, a former Director General of the National Centre for Democratic studies, “Any community deprived of good roads, power supply, pipe-borne water, health care delivery and affordable education, will be axed and carved, hewed, shredded and cleaved of social, economic and political progression. The aforementioned are very germane towards the economic advancement of every society.”

Pathetically, this above proclamation by the Benin, Edo State born Omoruyi seemed likened to the ordeals of Ilogbo-Ekiti, a countrified community in Ido/Osi Local Government Area of Ekiti-State enmeshed in myriads of socio-political and economic maladies which had hitherto continued to heighten its state of Under-Development”.
Indeed, it should be told that Ilogbo is not a barren land, it is a town blessed with numerous Sons and Daughters who have reached the peak of their careers starting from the chronicle of the king of Ilogbo-Ekiti, Oba Edward Oluleka Ajayi is a doctorate degree (PhD) holder from the University of North London, United Kingdom. This category include the current Registrar of the Ekiti-State University, Ado-Ekiti (EKSU), Dr. Omojola Awosusi (Ph.D.); Prof. ‘Tola Olutoye, a former Provost, College of Education, Ikere-Ekiti; Dr. ‘Deji Fasuyi (PhD), an ICT expert and Senior Lecturer in EKSU; late Obagbade Bamisaye, a former Comptroller General, Nigerian Custom Service; Olufemi Aina, a top official of the Nigerian Custom Service; Justice Adesodun of the Ekiti-State High Court; Barrister ‘Tunji Orisalade, a Lawyer and incumbent Deputy Speaker of Ekiti-State House of Assembly; Prince kayode Jegede, Special Adviser to Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti-State on Infrastructures Development and Public Utilities amongst many others.
Unfortunately, as I write, the young and old residents of the town are bawling and howling in the agony of cruel-neglect and abandonment of their community by government across all tiers.

THE DEVASTATING STATE OF ROADS IN ILOGBO EKITI: A DEATH TRAP

There are five lawful alleyways through which commuters from neighbouring town access Ilogbo-Ekiti. These pathways are interlinked with Osi-Ekiti, Ijurin-Ekiti, Usi-Ekiti, Ido-Ekiti and Ayegunle-Ekiti. Sadly enough, four of these routes are no longer motorable. The 3.5km Usi-Ilogbo Road project that was awarded by Segun Oni led PDP government of Ekiti-State has not been completed since May, 2008 till date. The contractor handling the road project stopped working even before Oni government was sacked by the Court of Appeal. Aside the fact that the quality of the road project is shamefully out of order, the completion rate has not reached 60% and no contractor is working on the road at the moment.
To many Ilogboans, Ilogbo-Ijurin road may have been erased from the map of Ekiti-State. Since, the road has never been tarred since it was constructed by the late Obafemi Awolowo led government of the old western region. The state of Ilogbo-Osi road is akin to that of Ijurin-Ilogbo road; both roads are so inoperably narrowed to the extent that Motorcyclists now find it difficult to commute.
That of Ido-Ilogbo road on its own is a fright. Erosion has declared the road a no go area for both Motorists and Cyclists. Without being hypocritical, a 2013 model Hummer Jeep with good shock absorber cannot dare drive through the route.
The boulevard roads in Ilogbo-Ekiti are the most atrocious. Roads intersecting Oju Oja – Ugbo-Eku-Okuta Edi-Ile Ogbomo-Odo-Ode-Aafin -Ipono Akobo -old Anglican road are not commutable as far as I am concerned. The path from Imeya to Adiatu crossroads in Temidire Street is more than what a sane mind should label a monstrosity, it is in a grisly form! The neglect of the road that links the community’s Health centre and Oke Ayo to Ayegunle-Ilogbo to Ido highway is the most pitiable, same as that which leads to the Christ Apostolic Church (CAC), Oke Ooye, Ilogbo-Ekiti from the new Anglican church junction, which has defaced the vehicles of many worshippers of the churches on the route.
Meanwhile, the road from Ijigbo Street to new Palace is not only horrendous but very appalling. The 200meters allocated to Ilogbo-Ekiti out of the 5kilometers access road being tarred in each local government by the Kayode Fayemi led administration of Ekiti State has not been completed 15 months it was awarded to a faceless contractor.
In actual fact, Oba Ajayi, the Owa of Ilogbo-Ekiti, if not stuck or wedged, can carve a book on the poor condition of the roads in his Jerusalem.

WHEN WILL WATER FLOW AGAIN IN THE DRY TAPS OF ILOGBO-
EKITI?

The 2012 United Nations report on third world countries made it known that, over 1million people die yearly in the world as a result of unhygienic water consumption. Nonetheless, this report may not be a source of concern to the poor people of Ilogbo-Ekiti because they are already addicted to the water being fetched from Ogidigbi, a stream in the town.
Ilogbo-Ekiti, with a distance of less than 12kilometers to Ero dam in Ikun-Ekiti no longer enjoys regular water supply. Water has stopped flowing in the many water-pipes in a community whose son, kayode Jegede, is the one saddled with the task of coordinating water and power supplies in Ekiti-State. Many public servants (mostly teachers) posted to Ilogbo-Ekiti have relocated to neighbouring towns as a result of social and infrastructure decadence in the community. In addition, a drive all through Ilogbo-Ekiti conurbation indicates that virtually all the public water points where the poor masses of the town fetches water have warped. The water points sited at the old Adiatu, Central Mosque, Aafin, Ijigbo, C.A.C., Odo-Ode, Usi road, etc. do not function again. The only available manual borehole located near Fasuyi house in Iyedi compound now functions anti-clockwise. The modern borehole at Imeya street in the town only dispenses water for just two weeks since it was advantageously erected in year 2006.

WHEN WILL ILOGBO STREET LIGHT POLES BEAM AGAIN?

The street light poles in Ilogbo-Ekiti last functioned in 1999. The good people of Ilogbo-Ekiti, like every other Nigerians, for many years have been paying for services they are not enjoying. Generating power plants have taken over the streets of courtesy of epileptic power supply.

ILOGBO MARKET CRUISED FROM GRANDEUR TO MEADOW!

The two markets in Ilogbo-Ekiti were adjudged as the most patronized in Ido/Osi in the 90’s; but gone are the days. The story of Ilogbo markets could be equated to the live of King Saul in the Holy bible. Saul, the first king of Israel, was demoted by God from a Titan to a non-grata for violating his order. The man prevalently known for his extravagancy later becomes someone that eats with ghosts in the mausoleum and catacomb. However, the only different between the history of Ilogbo market and that of King Saul is that, the market men and women of Ilogbo-Ekiti did not contravene any officially authorized tenet. Meanwhile, the regrettable feat of Ilogbo market from grandeur to meadow was largely impelled by the horrific condition of all the roads that leads to the town. As I write, bordering communities have stopped patronizing Ilogbo market as a result of bad road. The people of Ijurin-Ekiti no longer bring their tubers and local rice to Ilogbo to trade.

WAEC AND NECO SET TO DUMP I.H.S

The only secondary school in Ilogbo-Ekiti, Ilogbo High School, was donated by an age group,” Gbotoluwa” in the year 1974. Information on my radar has it that the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) will in any moment from now, cancel its centre in IHS due to under-population. Many young lads from Ilogbo-Ekiti have chosen to be attending nearby town secondary schools rather than their own Ilogbo-High School. The state of Infrastructures in the school was before now a blot on the landscape. However, Ilogbo community is presently renovating the school assembly hall while Ekiti State Government is renovating about 3 classrooms and the staff room. Meanwhile, the school dining hall, Staff and principal quaters have all shrunken as they are now in moribund.

ALL HAILS ILOGBO EKITI AGE GROUPS!

History made it known that the major infrastructures and Public Institutions in Ilogbo-Ekiti namely; Primary Health Center, Post Office, Ilogbo-High School, Police Post, etc were all donated by age groups. The four Primary schools in Ilogbo-Ekiti were built by churches. The one and only civic centre in Ilogbo-Ekiti was built by an age group. The only institution built by government in Ilogbo-Ekiti i.e. the National Primary Health Centre situated along Usi-Ilogbo road does not have a single Doctor. The civic centre positioned along Aafin road which was awarded by Ido/Osi local government during the administration of a son of the soil, Thadeus Aina in year 2005 but was abandoned a year after. Confirmed Information on my radar has it that the project file has disappeared from Ido/Osi council secretariat. Several projects initiated by the government since 1999 swell transversely in Ilogbo-Ekiti uncompleted.

POLITICAL SLOGANEERING: WISHY-WASHY PROMISES!

Governors have come and gone in Ekiti-State without commissioning any meaningful project in Ilogbo-Ekiti. The former governor ‘Niyi Adebayo in 2002, explicitly promised to reconstruct Ilogbo roads but bowed out of office without laying any asphalt in the town. Ayo Fayose led government that was abruptly terminated via the conspiracy of Ekiti Assembly and some Federal figures in October 2006 also performed abysmally in Ilogbo-Ekiti. Segun Oni led government came with hope but failed to deliever. Oni governent awarded the 3.5 kilometers Usi-Ilogbo in May 2008 but failed to complete the project before being legally booted out of office in October 2010. Kayode Fayemi led government came with much prospect but yet to execute a magnificient project in Ilogbo-Ekiti. Tractors were brought to Ilogbo-Ekiti prior to the February 2012 botched council poll; some drainages were excavated while few roads were graded apparently to cajole the gullible people of Ilogbo-Ekiti. The tractors were taken away a day after the election was stopped from being conducted by a Federal High court sitting in Ado-Ekiti.

IS ILOGBO-EKITI JINXED?

The above question was sometime ago asked from me by a United Kingdom based conscious daughter of Ilogbo-Ekiti. Well, I wouldn’t castigate the young lady for such vituperation; the present situation of Ilogbo-Ekiti can make one offend God. The mind-boggling state of infrastructures in Ilogbo-Ekiti can make anyone think in the direction of that lady; but to the court of public opinion, the drought of Ilogbo Descendants at the top government seats is the architect of many troubles militating against the community.

FAYEMI’S FEAT IN ILOGBO-EKITI

Ever since the return of democracy to Nigeria in 1999, Ilogbo-Ekiti descendants have never had it so pleasurable in term of juicy appointments like the way they have been treated so far by Kayode Fayemi led government. ‘Tunji Orisalade, Deputy Speaker of Ekiti-State House of Assembly, Kayode Jegede, Special Adviser to Fayemi on Infrastructures and Public Utilities, Dele Omoleye, Senior Special Assistant to Deputy Governor, Modupe Adelabu on Political Affairs, and ‘Femi Bobade, a Board Member of the Ekiti-State Community Development Agency (A World Bank Project) all hails from Ilogbo-Ekiti. The incumbent secretary to Ido/Osi Local Government, Mrs Abiola Adeosun also hails from Ilogbo-Ekiti. However, how far have the aforementioned worked for the upliftment of their Jerusalem- Ilogbo-Ekiti? The degree of personalities, mostly government functionaries, that graced the 2011 and 2012 annual Ilogbo Day celebration had been attributed to the influence of Political Titans of Ilogbo-Ekiti origin appointed into various positions by Fayemi.

Meanwhile, these political figures till date have not been able to ensure that the 3.5 kilometers Usi-Ilogbo road awarded by the Segun Oni led government since year 2008 is completed three years after their Boss takes over the insignia of power in Ekiti. The social and infrastructures development attracted to Ilogbo-Ekiti will the yardstick which these public officials of Ilogbo-Ekiti origin will be measured after exit from office, not by the merry- making galore that pervades Ilogbo day celebration. As at the time of writing this piece, Fayemi and his lieutenants in Ilogbo have performed below expectation, and for the sake of record, I wish to remind Fayemi that he won only in Ilogbo-Ekiti in the entire Ido/Osi during the 2007 polls.
On a final note, let me seize this opportunity to inform all the current political gladiators in Ilogbo-Ekiti that history and posterity will never forgive them if Ilogbo-Ekiti is not fixed before Kayode Fayemi regime expire in October 2014. Meanwhile, Fayemi should note that the N2million he donated for the completion of the community’s palace is not the desire of Ilogbo people. We want him to sincerely compensate for the loyalty of Ilogbo Ekiti people towards him in becoming the governor of the state by assisting us in revolutionising Ilogbo-Ekiti with infrastructural development and necessary amenities. Fayemi and his associates in Ilogbo Ekiti should remember with nostalgia that every action of today becomes history tomorrow!

Adeleye, a Public Affairs Commentator and Son of Ilogbo-Ekiti, writes from Lagos, Nigeria. maxwell_adeleye@yahoo.com

Your Excellency, how is the Aso Rock ambient? Trust you are rounding off preparations on your security meeting with President Obama in the White House!I strongly believe you will ace it as usual. I am writing this letter to you as one of the citizens of the beloved country you are privileged to govern as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (if I were a tout, I would have exclaimed”tuale!!!”) and fervently fasting and praying that the boys will do the needful for once and read this into your hearing on one of those evening hang-outs.

Let me confess that I never liked you and I still don’t like you-please note that my dislike isn’t something personal-I just don’t like the manner and ways you handle matters of national importance. Let me assure you in advance that I will not waste your time-I know you are a busy executive with humongous duties to perform and enormous functions to attend to so I will make this missive concise and very brief.

I have never meet you in person and it is most likely I will never meet you before you join your ancestors (viewing Nigeria from the context of a kingdom, you are the King) by accident or any other means we will all make the transition some into glory, others into shame (if the dead ever will know any shame) – inevitable transfiguration. It is however strange that the people who hold exalted offices in the land act and talk as if they are indestructible and oblivious of the reality of death.

Permit me to be free with you-am sure you will not object as a fine and gentleman-I will henceforth call you Uncle after all you are old enough to be my uncle. Like Uncle ”Sege” who other people refer to as “Baba” both of you seem to be greater beneficiaries of the Nigerian benevolence since independence of our beloved country up to now. As a matter-of-factly, you trump Baba with your history of displacement reactions-you are a legend in getting to the top by luck whether good or bad right from while you were in school up to when you became the president as usual and still are.

Uncle, your closest friends are your worst enemies. I didn’t cast my vote for you (it didn’t count after all) in the Presidential elections because I didn’t like your extreme coldness and passiveness and still don’t like that about you. Even when your house is on fire you will just smile it off as if everything is under your control-that is so disturbing and scary about you. You have isolated and insulated yourself from reality of the dying Nigeria-deliberately or nonchalantly.

Right under your nose various monumental scams and stealing were and are carried out yet you move on with life as if nothing is happening.

When you and your late boss (Alhaji Umuru Ya’dua) were handpicked by Uncle Sege many people especially the academia heaved a sigh of relief thinking that their very own would be in charge and that meant the world to them, not me, I still didn’t think any good thing could come out of your Nazareth-really am again justified by my position-the truth be told your administration is the worst thing that as ever happened to the academia, they never had it this bad and ugly. It beats my imagination that the entire university community has been grounded for close to two months now with no visible light at the end of the tunnel. It is sad.

Sir, nothing has since changed in accountability and transparency of public office holders-it is still business as usual. The Police Pension Scam, Fuel Subsidy theft, Amnesty Fraud and many others are clear acid-tests of your tolerance for bribery and corruption. Like your predecessors you have resigned to fate that the cancerous worm of corruption has eaten way too deep into the Nigerian fabrics and it is incurable.

Uncle, I think your kitchen cabinet is too large (you feed way too many mouths) as you have too many duplicated offices-for example, what are the job descriptions of the Senior Media Assistant and the Special Assistant on Media?

I think this is wasteful use of the tax payers’ money.Besides, if you are doing wonderfully well you would care less about media paparazzi. Some of my friends asked me to tell you that you need to man up and dislodge yourself from passed down luggages of the past governments. My friends believe that certified failures of yesterdays can’t metamorphose into sudden successes of tomorrows without precision surgical procedures. They are recycled.Uncle,I think you aren’t a bad person after all but you just find yourself in bad company and evil association corrupts good manners.

Maybe, if you severe yourself from those cabalistic parasites you will think, act and do the right thing. Forget about the effusive smiles they don’t mean well!

If you will take to my advice and will not discount it as a child’s talk I will just run over some of the areas I think you should start paying attention to and areas you shouldn’t devout your limited time to.

As the number citizen of Nigeria, you shouldn’t devout your time to gossips and hear-says like local market women-this isn’t stately and this doesn’t exclude your damsel, Mrs. Patience, for the first time I think you can disprove the thoughts in some quarters that she is your “husband” and you are her “wife”-(isn’t it laughable?) so tame her from meddling with Rivers State politics and other issues of national importance.By the way,does she hold any political portfolio we aren’t aware of?

Uncle, there are a million and one ways to pamper a woman especially if she stood by you when you had no shoes.

Also Uncle, please listen to the sound advice from other uncles who are offering tested wisdom with all sincerity unlike the other uncles and aunties in your kitchen cabinet(ministers and advisers).

Sir, now to what you should give all of your attention to: a 7 or 9-point agenda is a pure scam!

Please pick the toughest challenge Nigerians are facing and pump all available resources into it until it is solved and leave other challenges for others after you to handle! That simple!

I know you want to contest again for the Presidency come 2015; my candid advice is perish that ambition and just leave the stage when your tenure is up and write your name in gold.

 Dust your certificate (after all you are a PhD holder) and take up lecturing job in Harvard-am sure Harvard is looking for candidate like you.

Olanrewaju Daodu

Regional Represenatitive(Nigeria)

Alternative lifestyle Communication,USA.

www.allternativecommunication.com

 “May be these people need somebody like me around, someone to do their dirty work, a real bad guy.” –Merle Dixon.

Contrary to many intuitive understanding of ‘godfatherism politics’ as a discourse of division, some argue that it’s also a discourse of integration, serving to bring the allies closer to each other. The fundamental logic of such politics, thus considered a Schmittian game of telling friends from enemies, in which betrayal is an unpardonable crime and traitor the worst kind of enemy. Yet at the same time, betrayal, in politics of godfatherism, acknowledges an intimacy that existed prior to the act of betrayal: an intimacy that must be denounced and, even, at times, held in disgust. During the era of late governor Patrick Yakowa, while he and many of his followers worried about being betrayed by his staunch allies and was at the risk of exiting the bowl of power, then a deputy governor, Yero never understood betrayal as a political risk. Eight months after being sworn as the governor of Kaduna State, by circumstance of death and destiny, governor Yero now has a new definition for betrayal as ‘political risk’, at least through his actions. It’s glaringly obvious that our dear governor is confusing reality with imagination. The events that unfolded over the last eight months led me to reflect on how an imaginary crisis can be productive, for it means imagining an alternative history that bears on political reality. The events — both political and otherwise — depressing-esque meshing of political suspense and subplots, also revealed the sort of risky connections between fantasy and politics that could put real lives at risk. While Yero’s era as deputy governor can be regarded as political fantasy, eight months into his tenure as governor, he’s yet to term with the political reality bestowed on him. It’s this confusion, with no ending signs, that triggered my much laid down sense of demands and accountability. In this era of political correctness, no doubt, many will argue that its too early to judge a governor whose tenure can still be regarded as a ‘baby’ one. Our mediocrity of offering time frame as an excuse for failure always beats my thoughts. Real men handle institutions of power from the hour authority befall on them.

For those familiar with Kaduna State, in a context of charity, it should be a municipal too easily to govern with real men at the helm of affairs. Yet, one at the death end of anything meaningful. For a state that’s well structured post independence, one would’ve imagined by now, the expansion levels should be at par with that of Lagos State. However, from 1999 to date, compare to the resources generated regularly and the accrued Federal Government allocations, one had be right to say nothing has been achieved in moving the state forward — infrastructurally and economically. The only aspect well established is that of corruption — birthing godfatherism and sycophancy. It will be a share art of hypocrisy not to acknowledge the efforts of former governor Ahmed Makarfi in providing infrastructural development to rural areas during his era, even though little can be said of the metropolis. When Namadi came on board, being an architect himself, one would’ve expected him to compliment the efforts of his predecessor. Regrettably, the parallels were too obvious to even a blind folk to feel and differentiate. For the better part of his three years as governor, there was hardly any substantial project of note, no matter how charitable one intend to be to him. The only thing that characterized his short, yet destructive, spell was the propagation of an unrealistic millennium city project. A project that remain elusive much as it’s illusive. The coming of Patrick Yakowa, as thought, signalled some levels of hope. Though ours is a clime where commencement of projects hardly define it success rate, but at least, there were some visible projects no matter how miniature, to pointed to. For the less than two years he was in charge, Yakowa’s era wasn’t without its lapses. However, the positives far outweighed the deficits until destiny played it hand. There came Ramalan Yero, whom many had thought, going by the circumstance of his emergence, would continue with the projects started by his predecessor, at least infrastructurally. Unfortunately, ever since his commissioning, governor Yero had succeeded in ensuring the state attained a historical feat of been the only state with four governors — three of whom are governing in proxy.

Some of the monumental achievements of his first eight months included nominating his father to chair a board of a federal neuropsychiatric hospital in the state. For a system that will appoint Salisu Buhari (Former Speaker Federal House of Representatives), who fogged certificates to win an electoral position, to chair a governing council of a federal university, appointing a governor’s father to chair any board is less a mediocrity. The 560 million naira subsidy reinvestment and empowerment programme (SURE P) funds that disappeared without any sort of explanation  marked another turning point in defining the kind of government on board. A money meant, though without any rationale behind it, for complimenting developments. While the state is yet to recover from such abuses of human power exhibited by the governor, another naked cynicism was displayed. Withdrawing state funds (estimated to be around 28bn naira) meant for developmental projects in the name of paying the vice President certain debt the state is owing him is the highest form of political rascality and leadership vulgarity. One shouldn’t be surprised because we are in a country of all possibilities. Impossibility, positively or otherwise, is never greeted with less paucity by must Nigerians. From its inception, Yero’s administration is one that never shows any clear sense of focus nor logical direction, but  corrosive servile form of flattery. It has been very slow and inept from the word go. Worst still, even more slower and disconnected from the masses as it matures daily. There has not been notable wills and intentions in justifying the trust placed upon it by the ever reluctant and status quo massaged state citizens. The era of Yero, in the last eight months, had succeeded in serving only the interests of godfathers and elites within and outside the state. Notable amongst is the vice President who, aided by no functional responsibility except attending cocktail parties and commissioning of ghost projects, is always curiously interested on how a cent is managed in the state account. Supported by his lack of political experience and weak disposition as a leader, the governor always succumb to whatever the demands of the vice President are, even if they mean milking the state empty. Recent happenings within the state shows that the governor’s dad must endorse whatever proxy–projects to be issued for one to be sure of his guaranteed share of the jamboree. How low these people had made governance and power intoxicate them is beyond one’s ability to conceive. While states like Kano are putting eternal efforts to advance the state in all angles, Kaduna, which many northern States previously looked up to is fast dwindling economically and infrastructurallly. It’s an abuse of State prowess to state here that as large a city Kaduna is, there are only two major dual road linkages. The third , which billions had been sinked into, is the Eastern bypass which is yet to be fully operational. Even the minor dual roads not linking to other states are less available. For a city that is long due for expansion and which the government, over the years, had maintained reluctant stand to attend to, the pseudo Lagos traffic that’s becoming a permanent imperil in the city should be anything but surprising. The few individuals that had showed the desire to expand the city hardly got any government backing. For example, there were new government layouts at Barakallahu and Rigachikun areas of the State issued to individuals by Makarfi’s administration, but when Namadi came on board, together with the Nigerian Airforce authority, contrived to claimed the lands. Till date, individuals’ properties worth billions are at their custody. Denying the city a chance to be de-congested and expanded for good. The story isn’t any different today, as there are many instances of such where the state government would’ve impacted meaningfully, but have failed to do so on ground of visionless stand and satisfying the elitist class. It’s also the same in Zaria and other suburbs of the state, if not even worst. The furore that rocked the state assembly over the last few weeks, leading to the speaker’s impeachment attempt, is evidence of the crack within the top setup. Yes, the tenure may be young, but the scandals already rocking it are typical manifestations of bleak days ahead.

However one may look at it, it’s high time governor Yero get himself out of the cusp of Namadi’s tantrum.  Leadership and governance are not a family nor cliche affairs. He must unbond himself from the intoxication his political godfather suffered from while in charge of the state. If all that’s happening within the state, as others are claiming, though not justifiable, are because his government is too young to get its acts together, I wonder how long will it take him to start executing meaningful projects. There’s no better time for the governor to paint himself gold as now, but he must first realize the task ahead of him and by making himself a free civic entity. A word they said, is enough for the wise.

Abubakar A. Musa

The writer can be followed on twitter for direct engagement via @blinkingam

Plurality defines the Nigerian state. It is a state endowed with plural nationalities, plural languages and dialects, plural religions, including plurality of intra-religious sects, and plural sensibilities. Since plurality and diversity are synonyms, we might as well say that diversity is the reality of the Nigerian state. But this is no news to anyone. Indeed, we acknowledge it in many ways including in the lyrics of our first National Anthem: though tribe and tongue may differ, in brotherhood we stand. The question that we have yet to settle is how we should deal with the plurality that defines us. Do we simply wish it would go away? Do we actively suppress it? Do we celebrate it? Or do we actively engage it in a productive way and make it a blessing rather than a curse?

Last week, I agonised over the most dreadful disease of problem-denial that ails the country. Today I deal with the specifics and offer a way out of the dilemma of an eagle that is incapacitated by the weight of its wings.

Back in 1960, we acknowledged our plurality and actively engaged it, ensuring that each region managed its human and natural resources in ways that were beneficial for its peoples and the entire country. If one determined that it needed to invest in the development of the human talents of its entire people, we let it be. If another focused on benefitting the elite cadre and sustaining the hierarchical ordering of the society, we didn’t stand in the way. We acknowledged the fundamental right of each to manage its resources with the recognition of derivation as an important principle of revenue allocation. The country was on the right side of the discourse on the management of plurality. But then something wasn’t right and things fell apart.

In a genuine effort to deal with the ringworm that afflicted the political system, we applied a medication suited for leprosy. We chose to kill an irritant ant with a sledge hammer, and in so doing we killed the dream of unity-in-diversity by denying diversity and embracing uniformity.

The reality of the menace of political ringworm was not in question. It had to do with the tone of political debate and the intolerance of the players in the political arena. But we failed to treat that ailment talk less cure it as is evidenced by the nature and tenor of current political debates. Political leaders still take pleasure in hypocritically heating up the polity with diatribes concerning the other.

The leprosy medication ended up destroying the nerve of our nation-space, causing debilitating pain that has impacted our drive and militated against our flight into the space of giants which we are supposed to be.

Centralisation and unitarisation is the Achilles Heel of this republic, and like every weak spot, it can spell its downfall. We may pray as we want, but even the scriptures attest to the need to combine faith with work and wonders aloud if we could multiply grace while we dwell in sin. The singular sin of a political structure is the deliberate distortion of the relationship between its component parts and this is what we have managed to do in the last forty-seven years.

Consider the following. We have centralised all security services including the police, but we have not seen any improvement in our security situation. One rationale for centralisation of security is that states executives may use the police for political purposes. It’s unclear how that rationale squares up with what’s going on in Rivers State now. And assume that the tendency to politicise state police is real. Are we so out of ideas for dealing with such scenario? Are there no constitutional means of ensuring that the management of state police is kept out of politics?

There have been proposals for the centralisation of all elections, including state and local government elections. The assumption here must be that states cannot be trusted to conduct free and fair elections into their local governments. But we have witnessed cases of election fraud, rigging, and manipulation with elections conducted by INEC. And now the new idea is for local governments to come under the federal authority through direct funding. For, if state governments have no budgetary relationship with their local governments, the reality is that they will have no political relationship with them. Yet local governments are units within particular states.

Recent events show clearly that some options are not available to the Nigerian state in the matter of dealing with the plurality of its component parts. The reality of geography ensures that nationality groups cannot be assimilated one into another. That reality seals our fate as a plural state. Political leaders and actors affirm it in various ways when they are sincere and honest. They embrace their kith and kin especially when they thrive no matter where they may reside in and outside the country. Of course, they can be hypocritical if and when they are sure of its political benefit.

There is another way we show that nationalities and ethnicities rule our space. Residency rights should normally come with responsibilities. But we claim the rights in various ways and then renege on the responsibilities. Census times and election times see the most inter-sate and inter-zonal movements of people across the nation. Yet both of these are politically essential and sensitive activities in a republic. Consider the case of Lagos. If many of its residents go back to their home states for census only to come back after, Lagos is shortchanged and placed in a position of disadvantage in the allocation of resources that are essential for residents. What has been the response of political leaders to such a reality?

It is also not an option to exclude, excise, or alienate one nationality or another from the assembly of nationalities that make up the republic. Every nationality has a unique contribution to make to the upliftment of the nation’sprofile and deserves an adequate space to do so as well as the respect of all. To do this, however, we must recognise the uniqueness of each, what it brings to the table, and what it needs to make its contributions. For far too long, we have fallen prey to the political manipulation by the elite who exploit national sentiments for political advantage. But that doesn’t mean that nationality is unreal. It means that it needs to be actively and productively engaged for the good of the nation.

If neither assimilation nor excision is an option in our engagement with our diversity and plurality, what is? From the foregoing, it seems clear that our option is to acknowledge the reality, embrace it, welcome it, and make it work for the good of the nation. This is sometimes referred to as the pluralist approach to nation-building. Pluralism recognises, affirms, and respects plurality. What holds together members of diverse cultural, linguistic, and religious nationalities that comprise the Nigerian state is the right and privilege of citizenship. Since none can assimilate another or be assimilated, and since none canexcise another or be excised, we must devise an ingenious way of inclusion and recognition of all in the varieties that each brings to the fold. The political arrangement that best deals with this is federalism in its purest form. That, in all seriousness, is the task that we have to perform successfully.

On May 14, 2013, when I published an article ‘Fashola: Porting from admirable achievements to peeving policies’, some respondents could have sworn that it was sponsored. Their position was however pardonable because unfortunately, we are in a country where due to the poverty rate, some believe that you can only disagree with an incumbent government after someone somewhere has deposited something in your bank account. Once more, here we are divided over yet another policy that has gone sour.

In late July, the government of Anambra State protested the ‘deportation’ of certain south-east indigenes from Lagos, Nigeria’s former national capital. Governor Peter Obi was said to have forwarded a letter of protest to President Goodluck Jonathan in which he said that “Lagos State did not even bother to consult with Anambra State authorities before deporting 72 persons considered being of Igbo extraction to Anambra State”. He added that the act “is illegal, unconstitutional and a blatant violation of the human rights of these individuals and of the Nigerian Constitution.” Alausa however puts the figure at 14, insisting that it acted within the law. It also maintained that it was not the first time such exercise was carried out – be it in Lagos or other states. Officials further cited ‘deportation’ of Lagos indigenes by Rivers state, Abia’s dismissal of other a number of Igbos working in its civil service, among other instances.

The situation which has since generated heated arguments is a source of worry to every observer. It has pitted different persons, groups/affiliations against each other. Reference: a former aviation minister, Femi Fani-Kayode and Madam Due Process, Oby Ezekwesili, took on each other on social media platform, Twitter; the All Progressives Grand Alliance found a (not-so strange) bedfellow in the People’s Democratic Party in condemning the ever-vigilant Action Congress of Nigeria; the Ohaneze Ndigbo, Aka Ikenga and the like, firing missiles at the Oodua People’s Congress, Oodua Liberation Movement and other organizations promoting the interests of the Yoruba race. Only recently, a Pan-Igbo pressure group, Enugu State Roots Initiative, asked the Lagos government to “publicly apologize for denigrating their (the victims’) personal liberty”, as well as pay N500 billion as compensation or face a lawsuit.

But the ensuing controversy would have been avoided if Lagos had acted more cautiously. Governor Babatunde Fashola himself admitted a lapse when he received Aka Ikenga, an association of Igbo community in Lagos. He explained that there was correspondence between the state and the Anambra liaison office in Lagos on the 9th of April, 2013. The memo was signed by his Special Adviser on Youths and Sports, Enitan Badaru. Awka replied on 15th April, requesting information which Lagos provided in another letter to the liaison office on 29th of April. But Awka did not give further reply, a ground upon which the government acted. Fashola at the meeting admitted that the state could have waited a little longer before taking the now infamous action.

BRF’s cry over spilt milk has, obviously, not calmed the nerves his antagonists. Whereas some have kept the matter plainly moral and constitutional, others have gone political, a trend not abnormal in cases like this. Already, such undertone is being used to whip up sentiments against All Progressives Congress’s campaign for the forthcoming governorship poll in the ‘Light of the Nation’ state. This, of course, is a tip of the iceberg when compared to what to expect in the 2015 general elections.

Although this writer is unhappy about the seeming discord the saga has triggered, it has turned out to be what I call a good goof. Firstly, there is a lesson to be drawn and that is: In leadership, never take your luck too far. That the governor is loved by residents is not in doubt; that he is admired at home and abroad is also not in doubt. In fact, I would not be surprised if more than half of the 20 million Lagos population score him 60 percent and above for achievements and general performance in office. To this end, his handlers, perhaps, have assured him that his huge admiration would always translate to endorsement of whatever policy. As we have seen, not this time.

Secondly, the controversy has cropped up varying questions, beliefs, myths, as well as divergent backgrounds of co-existence, unity and the purported disunity of the Yorubas and Igbos. On this contentious subject, commentators have been revealing deep and shocking tales which has led to additional discourse in homes, offices and beer parlours. Luckily, those of us who did not witness the civil war now know a thing or two about the bottled-up emotions, thoughts and reservations the two ethnic groups have against either side. They should keep it coming as we wait to hear more.

All said, I honestly think it is wrong for anyone to refer to Lagos as a ‘No man’s land’. I am from its closest neighbour, Ogun, and albeit spending most of my lifetime in the Centre of Excellence, I don’t regard it as my origin but a place that has contributed to my development as an individual. On the contrary, Abuja – the country’s first planned city – is the ‘No man’s land’ and that is the actual concept behind its establishment to start with. That a major tribe is now short of laying claim to its Certificate of Occupancy is a topic for another day. The attitude, which is an absolute betrayal of the intention of the conceptualizer, General Murtala Mohammed, is an issue we must not ignore lest tenancy rate is imposed on other tribes living in the Federal Capital Territory.

For Fashola, he should endeavor to make wider consultations before taking critical steps in the future. As a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, his handling of this matter is, sadly, below par. Heaven would remain in its position, if he had accepted that Lagos might have taken a different approach, tender an apology and announce a query of the official directly in charge of the exercise. Simple! But he appears to have joined those leaders renowned for their ego. Agreed that he is keen on evacuating beggars off the streets, he should ensure that the authorities of their states of origin are (i) carried along, and (ii) express readiness both verbally and in letter form to receive such persons. He must not forget that some of those his government has labeled ‘destitutes’ and ‘threat to security’ voted for him to assume power. Twice! You do not bite the fingers that feed you. If you must, bite with care.

wodunsi@yahoo.com

@WaleOdunsi

His grainy internet picture shows him wearing a turban. This is the only photograph of Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau that is often used by newspapers. Nobody has seen him in public, except perhaps, members of his group, who are privileged to come in contact with him in the line of their deadly business. Thus, Shekau is more of a spirit than a human being. But he has a reputation of being a hard hearted and non – compromising fundamentalist.

There is a $7million reward on his head for the atrocities committed by Boko Haram, but Shekau seems unperturbed. He (or is it his ghost?) still comes out once in a while to either  issue threats or claim responsibility for some attacks carried out by the sect. He spoke nine days ago, but the Joint Military Task Force (JTF) wants us to believe that it was not him that appeared on video posted on Youtube on August 13. The JTF claims that Shekau may have died of gunshot wounds in Amitchide in Cameroon on August 3.

If Shekau is dead, JTF should be able to prove to the world beyond reasonable doubt that this dreaded human terror is no more. The irony of it all is that the JTF itself is not sure whether Shekau is dead or alive. Its statement on Shekau’s well – being did not serve the purpose for which it was issued. The statement, I believe, was issued to clear the air over the death or otherwise of the Boko Haram leader, but it ended up confusing the public the more.

Until the statement was issued, the public knew nothing about the fate of Shekau. We didn’t know that there was an encounter in which he was allegedly shot but escaped with wounds. The JTF believes that he must have died from those wounds. What informed the JTF’s belief? We don’t know; all that we know is what is contained in its statement, which the Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has described as hasty because the circumstances from which JTF drew its conclusions do not ‘’add up’’.

The military is not known to do things haphazardly. It takes its time to dot the I’s and cross the T’s in life and death matters before it comes out with its position. When it concerns the death of a person, the military is even extra careful because it knows the implication of saying a person is dead when that person’s death is not confirmed.  The military double checks its facts to ensure that they are correct before pronouncing a person, whether a soldier or a bloody civilian like Shekau, dead. That is the military tradition. And JTF, we believe, is  operating under that rule.

Shekau is not just any member of Boko Haram; he is its linchpin. He is to Boko Haram what the late Osama bin Ladin was to Al Qaeda before he was killed by the United States (US) Naval SEAL 5 in May, 2011. Shekau is not a small fry whose death should not be confirmed before it is made public. In breaking the news of the death of such a person, there is no need to rush things. Such a death  can only be confirmed after a thorough and painstaking exercise.

If Shekau has indeed been killed, what Nigerians expect is a categorical statement from the authority, detailing how, where and when he was killed. The statement should not be equivocal.  It must be clear, succint and unambiguous. As it were, the JTF statement cannot pass muster. This was the dilemma we found ourselves at our editorial meeting on Monday evening when we got the JTF statement. Do we take it at its face value and run with it that Shekau may have been killed as claimed by JTF? Do we do our independent findings to ascertain the true position of things?

We resolved to err on the side of caution by settling for the latter option. We found out that even within the military, the JTF claim was not well received. The military found it difficult to believe the JTF story that Shekau had been killed without concrete proof of his death. Where is the body? Which doctor confirmed him dead? Where was he killed? These are some of the questions begging for answers in the JTF statement. If Shekau actually died in Amitchide, Cameroon, has the JTF visited the place to see the body and confirm that it is really his?

In the face of the doubts expressed by the DHQ over JTF’s position, that statement is not worth the paper on which it is written, except the task force can convince us  with clear cut evidence that Shekau is dead. We saw proof beyond reasonable doubt when bin Ladin was killed by the Americans. We saw his body being buried at sea. And we saw a confident President Barack Obama, exultantly responding to a question that: ‘’I can assure you that Osama bin Ladin will no longer walk the surface of the earth’’.

We need this kind of compelling evidence and talk to believe that Shekau is dead. For now, we don’t know what to believe. Is Shekau dead or alive?

Nigerian power problem seems to defy solution, not because of lack of good intentions or efforts on the part of our leaders, but because such efforts have often been designed to fail. Tragically, like most intractable man-made Nigerian problems, the same leaders, the source of the sector’s woes and some victims of their greed often go spiritual, asking for divine intervention. Like typical victims of underdevelopment, some have said the sector is doomed because its headquarters was dedicated to the Yoruba god of thunder. Some have even suggested three days of national fasting and prayers. Unfortunately, the current efforts of the Jonathan administration, designed and packaged by the same set of leaders that derailed the previous efforts including the Obasanjo roadmap, is not likely to end the nightmare of Nigerian victims of PDP inept handling of the power sector in the last 14 years. The omen from the unfolding events in the last three weeks, gives no assurance of any form of solace to troubled Nigeria electricity consumers.

For instance, last week, about 60 licensed Independent Power Producers (IPPs), owned by some PDP leaders or their sympathizers, under the aegis of (IPPAN), led by its chairman, Professor Jerry Gana, a former minister of information, current chairman of University of Lagos Governing Council and a permanent feature in every PDP administration since 1999, visited the Ministry of Power to give

government a set of conditions before the IPPS can effectively take off.

Chief among the body’s demand is government granting to IPPs, a waiver for the importation of gas-related machinery and equipment.  Others include government funding and supply of pre-paid meters, government provision of funds that could be readily available should the bulk trader not meet up with its commitments and finally taking cognizance of uncertainties related to operating independent electricity plants, they appealed to government not to leave them alone entirely, but to consider taking shares in their various companies. “We are craving the support of government by way of equity participation. We are open to government coming to take 5 -10 per cent equity in our companies just like it is doing for the newly acquired DISCOs.” They are probably asking for what happened in the aviation industry.

The government through the minister has agreed that ‘on equity participation, whenever the Federal Government through the National Council on Privatization (NCP) arrives at putting in shares in the

sector, we will be ready to assist the IPPs by owning equities in the IPP companies. We are ready to do whatever will promote or facilitate an enabling environment for IPPs to thrive,” It is obvious those who will benefit from such self serving policy of government reinvesting in private firms after divesting its interest and selling public firms held in trust for the people to private concerns at such scandalous

amounts which has prompted probes set up by government to direct some of the firms be taken back.

If we need further evidence that president Jonathan Roadmap for Power Sector Reform  whose focus  is ‘market reform, change of the current ownership, attracting new investment in generation into the market, expanding the transmission capacity, providing for government divestment’, like the 2005 Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSR Act), which called for ‘unbundling the national power utility company into a series of 18 successor companies: six generation companies, 11 distribution companies covering all 36 Nigerian states, and a national power transmission company, is not going to bring relief to Nigerians soon, the interview Dagogo Jack, the chairman of the presidential task-force on power as well as member of presidential Committee on Power, is all that is required.

Asked if there is a time frame for the new licensed firms to start yielding dividends, he said since government  has no control over private firms, the best government can do is to ensure they ‘sustain the current 4500MW level, if they cannot increase it’.

What has become apparent is that PDP inherited a little over 200MW from Abacha’s regime.  This according to Segun Agagu, minister of power under Obasanjo, was moved up to 4,200MW in 2002. There was no evidence of any further improvement until the end of Obasanjo’s tenure. But then it was PDP men themselves that alleged a rip off.

First, President Yar Adua, Obasanjo successor alleged that over ‘$10 billion was spent on power by the Obasanjo administration with nothing to show it’. The Speaker of the House Representatives, Dimeji Bankole’s put the amount frittered away at over $16 billion, while the House power probe committee Chairman, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu’s figure was $13 billion. President Jonathan’s own three year road map after an alleged expenditure of 8 billion dollars has pushed the power capacity to 4,517MW (miserable 4% of what South Africa generate) in December 2012.

In other words, after eleven years, and expenditure of between 18 and 24 billion dollars depending on which of the PDP leading members’ figures you want to adopt, PDP secured a marginal gain of about 2500MW.

This was in fact wildly celebrated by the then minister for Power, Professor Bath Nnaji who announced gleefully that “With regards to generation, Nigeria is moving ahead by ‘leaps and bounds’, adding that the ‘only problem facing the sector was that of transmission.’ (His transmission firm is to be commissioned soon in Aba by President Jonathan) In fact the president was less restrained. He told CNN Christian Amanpour in far away New York that Nigerians were celebrating his unprecedented achievement in the power sector, a claim which forced the ever resourceful CNN anchor woman to ask for prove from residents of darkness enveloped Lagos.

But one thing has remained constant. The same set of PDP men, involved in PDP ‘family war’ over the power sector  are also today actively involved in the on-going new efforts either as ministers, governors, senators or IPPs members or as wild celebrants of the absurd.

Two weeks ago, the nation witnessed a significant drop from the peak of 4,517MW attained on December 21, 2012 to 3,443MW, a drop Prof. Chinedu Nebo, the new power minister attributed to the shutdown of the Chevron gas plant, while admonishing to Nigerians ‘to learn to cope with this type of experience each time there was to be a routine maintenance’.

And as if we are all pupils of kindergarten, it was this period Dr Doyin Okupe, the president’S Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs chose to celebrate the report of NOI polls, carried out in July 2013 which curiously indicated that 53 percent of Nigerians sampled in the exercise were satisfied with the President’s performance, with majority of respondents attributing the high approval rating to improvement in power supply across the country.

Okupe remains unrestrained.  According to him, “It is expected that by the time most of the hydro power dams which are currently been rehabilitated also resume operations by the end of September, (40 days from now) most Nigerian cities will have more hours of power supply from the National grid…” Dr. Okupe was not done:‘The implication of this and other reforms, “is that without any doubt, before the end of 2014, Nigerians’ long held dream of joining the worlds list of countries with uninterrupted power supply will be closer in reality than it has ever been,’ he triumphantly declared.

And working on the theory that Nigerians have short memories, he ignored the fact that it was in June, a month before the survey that the Minister of State for Power, Zainab Kuchi, after the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC), publicly declared: “We have 160 million Nigerians now and we are only giving power to 40 million of that population, what it means is that there are about 120 million Nigerians that are without power and wish to buy power”.  The minister for power, Nebo, who was present at the press briefing also added “the situation where only 25 per cent of Nigerians have access to electricity is a nightmare caused by human beings used by evil forces”.

I think it is pointless asking how Dr Okupe and his pollster arrived at 53%.

Every nation has its own heroes and villains, cerebral and non-cerebral, strong and the weak, educated and non-educated, performers and non-performers, the good and the bad leaders, etc. In every serious nation, it is the work of the intellectuals to help fish the good guys out for the good of the commonwealth. It is the same intellectuals (the honest ones) that set the template for the leadership. They prepare the road map and the way forward. This is because they know that whatever good things that are happening in any successful country are byproducts of the good thinking of the honest intellectuals. They act as a bridge between the poor and the rich, the leaders and the followers. They are stars in conflicts resolution mechanisms.

Today, I want to once again take the calculated risk of engaging Nigerians on the need to embrace the eleven APC governors and some performing PDP governors as the new face of leadership in Nigeria. As we get closer to 2015, history is beckoning on anybody that wishes Nigeria well to stand up to be counted in the quest for a New Nigeria. We must admit that we have a leadership crisis in Nigeria. We must ask questions on how we got to this sorry pass in a country so blessed with both human and material resources. I am told that crisis in any serious country helps to usher in good and dedicated leaders. Yes, we must ask questions because those who ask questions can only be fools for five minutes but those who do not ask questions remain fools forever. The future belongs to the curious, the man who wants to know and the efficient.

Asking the right questions and opening our eyes to the realities of today can compel us to look at the direction of the opposition governors in APC and their friends and colleagues in PDP. I am talking about the Fayemis, Okorochas, Fasholas, Aregbesolas, Oshiomoles, Al-Makuras, Amosuns, Ajimobis, Shettimas, Yaris and the Geidams. Their colleagues in PDP like in Babagida Aliyus, Amaechis, Nyakos, and others are also in the picture. These men have what it takes to drive Nigeria to greatness. Nigeria is like a brand new vehicle without a driver. A brand new car needs a good driver to move it to a destination. The APC has thrown a frontal challenge to take Nigeria away from the paths of ruination. They are doing this through the performance of their governors and staking that as the most enduring requisite for future leadership of a misgoverned country like Nigeria. We have wasted fourteen long years of our national life and the APC is advertising itself as the credible alternative to recovering the long years lost to locusts.

A school of thought suggests that since we go to driving schools to learn how to drive a car, why should our leaders not go to leadership school before governing. Having served their states for four or more years and did well too I want to believe that they have got some reasonable training to move this country forward. Nigeria cannot be still looking for leaders with these trusted and tested guys in place. I suggest that Nigeria should trust these men even for a change. This is the time to make investment on these men for the benefit of Nigeria. This is the time for Nigeria to put its best men forward for the job to recue the sinking giant. This is the time we make deliberate efforts to fish out the brightest and the best for leadership. Leadership of Nigeria should no more be a game for mediocres and incompetent men who do not know the route to progress and success. I believe that is the greatest challenge the APC offers to Nigerians today. It is the greatest issue the coming of the APC and its make up brings to the Nigerian table.

The biggest problem facing Nigeria today is what to do with federal government of Nigeria. When you look around, there is nothing on the ground to justify the trillions of Naira Nigeria budgets every year. The positive developments one sees in Nigeria are always at the state level which leaves one to wonder why the center records little or no progress while appropriating hefty chunk of the national revenue. How do we get good drivers to drive the functional vehicles? How do we manage the huge human and material resources to build the new Nigeria of our dreams? How do we address the excesses of impunity in Nigeria? How do we deal with the power problem? How do we create jobs for our children? How do we feed our teeming population? How do we deal with the health sector that has gone almost bankrupt while our people die from preventable diseases? How do we create a healthy population? How do we deal with the problems of insecurity in Nigeria? How do we reduce corruption to the barest minimum and free our national wealth to work for our people? I can go on and on.

One good man on the Presidential chair in Abuja in 2015 can make the difference. One good man supported by these governors cannot derail. We cannot solve our problems with the level of thinking that created them in the first place. This is the central message the APC governors are sending today and they have shown, by words and performance that they are the future hope of the country. Nigerians should hearken to this call.

Every country has its problems but Nigeria’s problems are undeniably untreatable. The Nigeria we know today is a caricature of its former image in the global community. There are problems everywhere.  The economy is in a bad condition. Our healthcare system is a disaster. That explains why politicians and members of the privileged class rush to overseas medical facilities for their yearly medical check-up.   The universities are no better. They are underfunded. Their research outputs are poor.

They lack innovative teaching practices, probably because they also lack science and technology equipment. Academic staff of our universities are widely regarded as active industrial relations militants, who have learnt to adopt radical tactics to draw public and Federal Government’s attention to the crumbling facilities that are used – shamefully – to support teaching and learning and research.

These conditions offer no encouragement to students and their parents. It is this depressing academic environment that has compelled wealthy parents to send their children to foreign universities because ours are ill-equipped and badly managed.

If you ask anyone how best to restore Nigeria to its previous status as a country that offers quality university education, as a continental leader, a unifying force in Africa, and a peace broker in the continent, chances are you will receive countless suggestions. When it comes to how to reform the nation, everyone has ready-made opinions. However, most people believe Nigeria is no longer admired or respected in various spheres in the international community.

Many countries would rather avoid Nigeria than openly engage with us as a partner in economic development. This is what happens when a nation is perceived and treated as a Pariah in the world. Why should Nigeria be dreaded rather than be seen as a highly regarded country in Africa and beyond?  Despite the long history of Nigeria’s contribution to economic and human resource development of African countries, despite the noble role Nigeria played in international inter-governmental organisations such as the United Nations (UN), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and other international organisations, it is rare to find positive references to Nigeria in public discourse at regional, continental or global level, even by African countries that have benefited from our benevolence in various ways. What happened?

How did a nation that used to serve as a reference point in the world suddenly lose its appeal? How did we plunge so rapidly into the bottom of the ravine so much so that even small and impoverished countries that used to rely on our financial assistance now take pride in poking their fingers into our eyes? We can only reminisce about our glorious past because our present image is tattered. Talk about our marvellous achievements in sports and you feel like replacing today with yesterday. At the 2012 London Olympic Games, our sports men and women returned with no medals of any colour.

The agricultural sector is as good as dead. The symbols of the successes we recorded in agriculture have disintegrated. The renowned groundnut pyramids of Kano have fallen apart. The cocoa farms in the southwest are no longer what they used to be. The oil palm industry in the southeast operates only at local community level. Southeast Asian countries such as Malaysia that once visited Nigeria to understudy the success of our oil palm business are now exporting oil palm produce to Nigeria. What a paradox! Where we should be teaching other countries how to engage in various forms of agricultural production, we are now being taught by other countries.    We can no longer feed our population. Every year, our food import bill soars and, despite pledges by senior government officials and ministers to slash our food import expenditure, we continue to spend more money on food importation.

A country that cannot feed its population lives at the mercy of other countries. In 2010, Nigeria spent over N991 billion on importation of rice and wheat. In the same year, according to Minister of Agriculture Akinwunmi Adesina, “Nigeria spent N635 billion on import of wheat, N356 billion on import of rice, N217 billion on sugar importation and despite the huge marine resources spent N97 billion importing fish.”   These problems and many others, including leadership challenges, have overwhelmed us. It is not that we do not know that the country is descending into a deep hole.

The trouble is we don’t know how to stop the rapid disintegration. It is perhaps for this reason, the lack of effective leadership, the widespread corruption, the looting of federal treasury, growing insecurity and the ongoing slide toward anarchy that the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aminu Tambuwal, suggested on Tuesday, 2 July 2013 that Nigeria was due for a revolution. Nearly four weeks after his call, Nigeria’s former representative at the United Nations (UN), Yusuf Maitama Sule, also called for a revolution free of bloodshed.

At a lecture he delivered as a guest of the Nigerian Institute of Management, Tambuwal said: “The most compelling reasons for revolution throughout the ages were injustice, crushing poverty, marginalisation, rampant corruption, lawlessness, joblessness, and general disaffection with the ruling elite.”

Tambuwal was absolutely correct in his analysis of the existing climate of discontent in Nigeria. He may have spoken to the applause of the audience but did he realise that in his capacity as a member of the ruling class, he could become one of the casualties of a revolution, if we were to have one? His call was altruistic but frightening, coming from a man who is also a member of the aristocracy.

When a revolution starts in Nigeria, Tambuwal and his parliamentary peers will find no hiding place to escape the anger of the poor and the homeless.  Maitama Sule said he was calling for a Mahatma Gandhi-style revolution. He said: “When Murtala Muhammed came into power, within six months, he started giving this country a sense of direction. Did he kill anybody?”   Calls for a revolution suggest to me we have reached a blind alley through which we can make no further progress. The only way out of our current pain, it seems, is for everyone to undertake an upheaval that will radically transform the nation. However, there is something murky, dangerous, and uncertain about a revolution. All revolutions do not always end the way the organisers intended. Things can get out of hand. A revolution that goes off course can lead to political and social instability. It can produce more anarchy than social order. It can destabilise rather than yield the stability we need to advance our economy.

If you are in doubt, ask the people in Egypt.   When the “Arab spring” swept across North Africa and the Middle East in 2011 — from Tunisia to Libya to Egypt and to Yemen – everyone celebrated the rise of popular democracy and the downfall of dictatorship. But look at what is happening in Egypt. Long after the situation in Libya and Tunisia has arguably stabilised in a relative sense, Egypt is still restless. In just one day last week, more lives were lost than during the uprising that occurred in 2011.   In Syria, the opposition and government forces are engaged in sporadic bombing runs that have not resulted in either the overthrow of the government or the crushing of the insurgents. A revolution might start off as a non-violent uprising but it can quickly degenerate into lawlessness that could be difficult to guide in a particular way. This is why anyone advocating a revolution in Nigeria should be cautious so we do not fall into the same chaos that has gripped Egypt and Syria.   If you believe that things have to get worse in Nigeria before they get better, perhaps a revolution might serve us best. Hopefully, when the fire from the revolution’s frontline has cooled off, a new Nigeria will emerge triumphant. It will be a Nigeria in which the leaders will be accountable to the people. It will be a new Nigeria in which the people will be free to scrutinise their leaders. It will be a new Nigeria in which the institutions of society operate effectively and productively.   I have heard people argue passionately that, for things to work in Nigeria, we need to get rid of many people who have served in government directly or indirectly. I am not persuaded by that argument. Nigeria did not get to its current predicament through the stupid actions or activities of presidents and military dictators only. We must include in the list of those who underdeveloped Nigeria people like state governors, National Assembly members, state legislators, federal ministers, special advisers and special assistants, state commissioners, members of government departments and agencies, and ordinary people who engage in criminal activities that have contributed to Nigeria’s ghastly profile in the world.

When you add all these, you will find that only a few people will be spared. So, who wants to start a revolution that could end up wiping off our entire population? I do not share in the call for a revolution for two key reasons. There is hardly a bloodless revolution. The sheer number of people who have served in one way or another in government or government departments and agencies, including ordinary citizens with criminal record implies there will be far too many people who will be incinerated in a revolution. Who will be spared in a revolution and who will be assassinated?

Ms. Stella Oduah, Minister of Aviation, is a bundle of contradictions. In slightly over two years in office, she has superintended over a sector in which one of her key parastatals, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), has been locked in a series of court cases with its concessionaires either over the cancellation or non-adherence to the terms of the concessions entered into by FAAN.

In all of these cases, FAAN has been unable to secure a single victory against the plaintiffs or aggrieved parties and has been portrayed as an unlawful corporate citizen, with scant regard for the sanctity of contracts and its refusal to obey the court orders and rulings.

In the same period, Oduah has embarked on an ambitious plan to establish a national carrier, which has raised eyebrows. Although she has defended the move, insisting that the airline will be established under a public-private partnership arrangement, in an era when very few airlines on the continent with ties to the state have managed to remain profitable, it remains to be seen how the minister intends to convince private sector investors to place a bet on Nigeria.

It was not too long ago British businessman Richard Branson set up Virgin Nigeria with some local investors. And although Branson has been uncharacteristically mute about the alleged role his Virgin Atlantic played in the collapse of Virgin Nigeria, it has been convenient for him to place the blame of the airline’s collapse on the federal government (or better still, FAAN). Branson branded Nigerian authorities corrupt and told anyone who cared to listen that FAAN flouted the terms of a letter signed by a former aviation minister Isa Yuguda, which gave Virgin Nigeria permission to operate out of the international wing of the Murtala Muhammad Airport as its regional hub.

Yet, in this same period, Oduah has been one of the few ministers in the Goodluck Jonathan administration who has been lauded and recognised for the work she has done rehabilitating the country’s international and domestic airports. It must be added that in recognition of her efforts, this newspaper gave her the highest score in its annual assessment of members of the federal cabinet at the end of May this year.

Though the quality of finishing at some of the airports, the garish gold plates fitted around the concrete columns at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, as well as its slippery floor tiles, leave a lot to be desired, it must be said that the airports, which the minister has set her sights on, are a far cry from what they once were.

For instance, the Murtala Muhammad International Airport (MMIA) is one of the 11 airports simultaneously being upgraded and transformed around the country under Oduah’s watch. The international airport, which had become an eyesore and an embarrassment under successive aviation ministers, is being overhauled to a more acceptable terminal that would make travelling a less painful experience for air passengers.

Among the new features at MMIA is the expansion of the A and B wings, as well as the installation of six new conveyor belts, each of which can handle passengers’ luggage from large Boeing 747 aircraft in just 45 minutes, a massive improvement over the old two conveyor belt system that used to take almost two hours from arrival to luggage collection in the past. Other improvements include the increase in immigration counters from 16 to 40 to ease passenger flow and facilitation. There is also the total overhaul of the air conditioning system with the installation of new chillers.

In addition, there are plans to rehabilitate and duplicate the MMIA avio bridges leading to and from the aircraft. Should the minister conclude this project, departing and arriving passengers would be separated, as is the case with other international airports. Security screening points and scanners will also be increased to improve passenger flow through screening points and improve passenger and airport safety.

It is not just MMIA that has been given a face lift, the Benin, Kano and Enugu airports, as well as the General Aviation Terminals (GAT) in Lagos and Abuja have all been revamped to more acceptable standards while work on Owerri, Port Harcourt, Yola, Sokoto, Akure and Ilorin airports is still on going.

In the area of safety, Oduah has keyed into the concerns of the public that airline operators and the regulatory agencies responsible for civil aviation have often compromised safety standards in Nigeria’s airspace. Accordingly, she has ordered that the rehabilitation work at the airports must include airfield lighting that would enable big carriers like Arik Air operate 24 hours a day.

She has also continued where her predecessors left off by ensuring that the Total Radar Coverage of Nigeria (TRACON) project is completed while ensuring that radio communications between the pilots and air traffic control is upgraded through the use of satellite technology. A noteworthy aspect is the migration to area radar, which is a system that enables pilots to communicate directly with destination airports from take off. With its installation, it will reduce the flight time and enable airlines to save fuel. The cost of fueling an aircraft accounts for more than 30 per cent of airlines’ operating cost.

Add to this, the minister’s vision to create the Nigerian Aerotropolis model, which she terms a strategic approach to developing an airport city at and immediately around an international airport, possibly Lagos, that will serve as the multimodal and multifunctional commercial nexus anchoring aviation-enabled trade in goods and services, and driving it throughout the aerotropolis and greater province.

The aerotropolis model is not dissimilar to what exists at the Dubai International Airport, Hong Kong International Airport and London’s Heathrow Airport, with its five terminals and a sixth (Terminal 2) under construction. But for this gargantuan project to take off, it would require serious commitment, planning, massive local and international funding, and private sector involvement, to succeed. How the minister intends to market and commence the aerotropolis project is one area this columnist is keen on monitoring.

Is it any wonder stakeholders in the industry are singing Oduah’s praise from here to the high heavens? Speaking on the minister’s stewardship recently, Mr. Sam Iwuajoku, Chairman/CEO Quits Aviation Centre, a business jet terminal in Lagos, believes the minister’s achievements in aviation in the last two years have been unrivaled. He told this newspaper in a recent interview: “Ms. Stella Oduah has achieved the seemingly impossible in just two years in office. It is amazing how she has been able to upgrade 50 per cent of the airports in the country in one fell swoop, improved the face of aviation and allowed room for entrepreneurship to flourish by encouraging investment in the sector.”

He said without the minister’s determination to improve the aviation sector, Nigeria’s airports would still be in shambles. “In my mind, she has performed meritoriously. Against the odds, she has upgraded more than ten airports simultaneously, a major accomplishment never achieved by other ministers before her. In addition, she is focused on improving safety in aviation and through her fortitude and has created the enabling environment for existing aviation operators and new investors in the sector.

“A key achievement is the removal of duties on imported aircraft spare parts and equipment, which will help to reduce cost in the sector. Another one is encouraging private sector investment which facilitated the construction of Quits Aviation Centre, which boasts an ultra modern hangar operated by Execujet Aviation Group and a state-of-the art terminal for business aircraft,” he added.

Largely, Iwuajoku can hardly be faulted but it would be dangerous for Oduah to let all the praise and accolades get to her head. She cannot afford to rest on her laurels, as there is still so much left undone. FAAN, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) need to be professionalised and their operations made free of political interference.

Indeed, one of the areas Oduah has ignored is exploring the possibility of involving the private sector in the ownership and administration of FAAN, as is the case with Heathrow Airport Holdings (formerly British Airports Authority). Right now, FAAN is operating on the fringes of airport infrastructure development, maintenance and operations. It makes most of its money from charging airlines landing fees. But it could be run more efficiently and made commercially viable if it is partly owned by the private sector, which has the capacity to reengineer its ancillary operations within the airports to include retail and property development, as all this aligns with the vision for the aerotropolis model.

In the same breadth, Oduah needs to evolve a more holistic approach to improving domestic airline operations in the country. It is rather confusing when the minister states that she wants to procure new aircraft for operators, an area which her ministry has no business venturing into, given its lack of expertise in aircraft leasing.

What she needs to do is to keep focusing on policies and creating the enabling environment for airlines to thrive through consolidation, keeping costs low and making the airports attractive by eliminating the multiplicity of taxes and fees paid by the airlines, and ensuring that they can raise funds for aircraft acquisition and equipment under concessionary terms.

She has taken a step in the right direction by making sure that aircraft spare parts and equipment are imported duty free. But other policies must be put in place and implemented to elevate the Nigerian aviation sector to the next level.

The recent exchange of tirades between the presidency and the newly registered, political party, All Progressives Congress (APC), was a huge distraction to the public sphere. Certainly, the public mood does not deserve such an extravagant flight from the reality of issues confronting the people to the domain of non-issues.  Perhaps, in a lighter mood, APC’s interim chairman, Chief Bisi Akande, “invited” President Goodluck Jonathan to join his party.

Here we are talking of an “invitation” to the national leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the party in power at the centre and in most of the states and local government areas. Akande went further to insinuate that Jonathan’s performance was akin to “kindergarten” governance. Expectedly, presidential spokesman, Dr. Reuben Abati, fired a riposte asking the septuagenarian, Akande, to “respect his age”. Other partisans have since joined the festival of abuse from both sides. Pray, are these the issues that the government and opposition should be talking about at a time the nation is faced with burgeoning problems?

There is indeed a surfeit of issues for the PDP, APC and other parties to discuss rather than wasting their moments in the public sphere on non-issues and trading of insults.  These issues are begging for “edifying elucidations”, to borrow from the title of the column of Dr. Okey Ikechukwu on this page.  Definitely, what is needed is not abuse. The issues are patent enough in a country where by official admittance over 10 million children are out of school and youth unemployment has become a socio-economic plague.

From the Sahel to the creeks the nation is confronted with insecurity of different hues. Poverty looms large menacingly on the national horizon. In such a socio-economic climate, politicians should not be content with raining abuses on one another. They should be debating these issues manifesting themselves in the various departments of national life. Since the politicians have elected to bring 2015 closer than it should ordinarily be, the issues should now be put squarely in focus in their pronouncements. It is time for the politics of issues! Yes, it could be conceded that elsewhere politicians employ wisecracks to lighten the rigour in the discussion of issues. But jibes are never a substitute for issues.

In fact, APC was unwittingly being unfair to itself by playing up the insults at a time its programme was being unveiled. It is the programme that should provide the substratum for a vigorous debate about the future of this country. The party should be identified with such a programme and not the undue distractions.

Doubtless, it is important to examine each substance contained in the formula that APC is offering as a cure for Nigeria’s problems. This should, of course, be done in comparison to what other parties are offering. The question to ask is this: are there real alternatives on display? From its published manifesto, there is ample evidence that the APC strategists have reflected on some of the issues before the nation.

The party has presented an eight-point agenda with the following items: war against corruption, free education, accelerated power supply, food security, affordable health care, accelerated economic growth, Integrated transport network and devolution of power. With a mix of policies the party intends to address the problems in the areas of job creation, environment, insecurity, political violence, the oil and gas industry, the Niger Delta, gender, youths, human rights and housing. The programme also includes plans for persons living with disability, senior citizens, local government system, prisons and foreign relations. The national publicity secretary of the PDP, Chief Olisa Metuh, reportedly dismissed the APC’s manifesto as a familiar story.  There is nothing fresh in it, according to Metuh. Now, that may actually be a compliment of sort instead of the legitimate criticism that Metuh probably intended. It shows that a national consensus may be emerging around these issues. The issues are probably familiar because all the parties have come to acknowledge them as national problems.

Compare the APC formula to Jonathan’s goal of transformation. The issues being discussed on the streets are also embodied in the Jonathan’s transformation agenda: electricity supply, jobs, agriculture, rural development, water resources, transportation, oil and gas, technology, education, health, Niger Delta, security and women and youth development. The President’s mid-term report contains the achievements recorded by the administration in tackling some of these issues. It is the job of the other parties and indeed the larger public to interrogate these claims. It is more useful for the public purpose to do so rather than wasting time on non-issues.

The items on both agenda may indeed be similar, but a party could be distinguished from the other on the strength of policy articulation and the mapping out of strategies to realise the outcomes. There could, of course, be different strategies to achieve the same goal. After all, the agenda is all what the party intends to do; the other more practical question is about how it intends to do so when in power. These are areas in which public debate could be healthy and enriching for the political economy. Each item in transformation agenda of the APC formula could take time and mental energy to articulate.

Unfortunately, policy articulation is not yet a distinguishing feature of this era. Yet, it has not always been this way in Nigeria. To be sure, there was once politics of issues. In the Second Republic, all the parties could be identified with one signature policy or the other. A few examples will suffice here.  The Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) was associated with free education while the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) pushed its preference for qualitative education. The UPN had integrated rural development in its cardinal programmee while the NPN pursued its Green Revolution unrepentantly; the river basins across the country remain the monuments of that much-articulated policy.

The People’s Redemption Party (PRP) articulated policies that were liberating for the peasant and the talakawa, the poor. Its mass literacy programme was remarkable. These were the issues of the time even when the politicians of that era still had time for some taunts. As a matter of fact, the UPN leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, in preparing for the presidency in that republic had written The People’s Republic embodying his vision for Nigeria as well as The Strategy and Tactics of the People’s Republic of Nigeria in which he spelt out the policy steps to take in order to realise the vision.

Incidentally, both Akande and the (embattled?) PDP’s national chairman, Alhaji Bamanga Tukur, were players in that era at different levels.  Sustaining the public debates of the party’s programme is actually the job of the party secretariat under the supervision of the chairman. That is the point Chief Ebenezer Babatope seems to be making in the course of his current campaign for the post of the National Secretary of the PDP. He is indisputably experienced in party organization. It is, however, up to his fellow party members to recognize this huge asset in him.

The germane point in his public statement is that it is the duty of the party to articulate and defend the programmes being executed by the government that comes to power on the platform of the party. The party structure should be so equipped to perform this important task in the democratic process.

There are enough issues to occupy the attention of any party or politician interested in discussing them with the aim of finding solutions to problems confronting the people. That is why the political parties should embrace politics of ideas.

What has consistently escaped most Nigerians in this entire travesty is the fact that mediocrity destroys the very fabric of a country…ushering in all sorts of banality, ineptitude, corruption and debauchery. That…is precisely where Nigeria finds itself today! —Chinua Achebe

Since the beginning of yet another strike embarked upon by the Academic Staff Union of Universities ASUU last month, which not surprisingly has entered its second month, one wonders when we as a nation would remove ourselves form this wanton mortification of making the education a laughing stock among comity of nations. The question all stakeholders enmeshed in this opprobrium should be asking is whether something fundamental is not wrong with our collective consciousness, else, how come that in every two to three years, the news of ASUU demanding that its overlords in Abuja implement an agreement both entered into and which in turn leads to a painful strike, reverberates the whole nation?

Are we lacking in foresight as to understand that the Nigerian universities are dying gradually? Have we looked around to ask ourselves why the nation, whose youth out-numbers the old and very young, cannot remove itself from the shackles of societal malfeasance and hold forth the appellation: “we are the future leaders of tomorrow” by taking their destinies into their hands? For as long as the Nigerian youth accepts redundancy, fails to think for himself, cannot see where the rain began to beat him or take the bull by the horn, like many of their counterparts in developed nations, then it will be succinct to claim that the education sector which is supposed to train, build, inculcate, mould and educate vibrant youths against the morrow have failed in its entirety to bequeath such for a people who will take up the reigns of leadership from the old guards, a fault which is not theirs anyway.

If ASUU once again and for the umpteenth time has called for a strike, it is not because they do not see the peck in their own eyes, as it is evidently known that their own house is also not in order, but because from the very first day government whose responsibility is to pay very good attention to the education sector keeps faltering and reneging on agreements she entered into. For many who are of the belief that ASUU has no reason or justification to embark on this strike which has become one too many in recent times, they must understand that though it may look more like Oliver Twist asking for more, in the situation our education sector finds itself, once and for all, drastic measures ought to be taken in ensuring we do not become a pointer to ridicule anywhere in the world anymore.

If we have to look well enough the reason ASUU had decided embark on this strike and we feel the shame our universities have put up with, especially if we have to balance it with the education the likes of our parents had in the 60s, 70s and 80s and the pitiable ones our children have today, we then must understand ASUU’s pain and anger. Nobody likes to strike, nobody wishes to allow it take so long, in fact, it is not a good story to tell in our nascent democracy. Yet when a country is bequeathed with leaders who have no foresight, lack understanding of the socio-political terrain, remain clueless in tackling simple political arithmetic, and is occupied with how to remain in power until 2090, then strike becomes an option and a weapon to bring such government to its senses.

Many Nigerians cannot understand how we practice democracy in the country. Democracy and good governance go hand in hand and therefore, policies embarked upon by one government or the other must necessary be a continuum and should not shift unless necessary. One finds it very difficult to grasp well the story peddled by this government that the agreement it voluntarily entered into in 2009 with ASUU should be re-negotiated. It is the worst of arguments this writer has heard in decades and one wonders if this government is truly committed to transforming the education sector, if the so called campaign promise in 2011 is anything to go by. One would have thought the government of the day should have put forward the same argument during negotiations with the Nigerian Labour Congress NLC in the last subsidy protest. Perhaps, the vast majority of Nigerians wouldn’t be where they are today looking weary, fatigued and hopeless in the midst of plenty.

Even if government in its usual volte-face had thought the agreement needed to be re-negotiated, why didn’t it bring it to ASUU’s table long before the latter deemed it fit to embark on its ignoble strike? From this, there is no disputing the fact that there is so much insincerity among those in power and it is the reason the vast majority of Nigerians do not trust their leaders.

It is an irony that the education sector, more than ever, faces this type of humiliation, especially when the president of this country was once a university teacher and his minister of education, a professor in a vibrant field of academic study. No country in its right senses would have such individuals in power and watch as rot engulfs their education sector. With leaders like that who cannot engineer viable transformations within the sector they once held sway, we cannot but feel sorry for the entire country.

Our universities are no more role models for other countries to follow. Even the so called first generation universities have lost it, while mediocrity reigns supreme in the new ones. Individuals who lack the capacity to teach or engage in ground-breaking discoveries now fill our faculties and departments. Students who lack the intellectual vigour to learn now fill our departments with little or no capacity to communicate, write or engage their lecturers in intellectual debates. Most worrisome is the fact that one cannot find viable tools to hold experiments in our respective laboratories, reminding one of the total neglect in our secondary school laboratories. The structures which the Sardauna, Azikiwe and Awolowo had patriotically erected over 48 years ago still stand rickety today with nothing to show for a better one or even critical repair of the old. One could count the number of ICT-driven universities in the country and if one is lucky to find any, the structure is not enough to train students who are supposed to have pre-requisite knowledge of the ICT world like their counterparts elsewhere.

Our classrooms have become a national embarrassment where students now sit on windows and outside to receive lectures. University libraries are littered with books the like of Isaac Newton had used during his time yet librarians are employed year in and out without any innovation coming from them to transform their departments into world class. It is most saddening that more than 80 Nigerian universities cannot boast of a state-of-the-art library where students can get up-to-date books to embark on their research. It is no wonder that even reference materials used for PhD thesis today are as old as the country itself, when new materials have been churned out by the same author over five times. Most PhD thesis today appears unconstructive, lack coherence and almost adds nothing to problem-solving. A don once pathetically noted that there are a lot of questionable PhD’s today in Nigeria.

We seem to forget that strikes in our ivory towers have lasting implications for the future direction of the country. A medical student who is supposed to spend seven uninterrupted years in medical school suddenly faces a three month strike in his quest to become a medical doctor. At the end, he spends about eight to nine years for a seven year medical programme and is in turn given license to practice thereafter. If we do not know, we have bred a murderer and with his shaky training as a medical doctor in the murky world of medical school as a result of incessant ASUU strikes, we are bound to find our loved ones at their mercy. God help us if they survive with the way things keep going in this country!

If we continue to pretend as if all is well, we will only find ourselves to blame if not now then tomorrow, as the future does not even hold anything to cheer about.

Constitutionally or conventionally, revolution is incontrovertibly regarded as the last resort amongst the instruments of social change. It is a radical weapon of change being used by the socialists to dislodge and dethrone leaders’ perceived to be oppressive and tyrannical from the seat of power. Revolution is an attempt by a large number of people, to change the government of a country, especially by violent action. In the words of Solomon Akinboye (2013), “Revolution takes three forms: firstly, protest and war leading to total paralyses of virtually all government formations and institutions; secondly, strive for power and return to masses and people oriented system of government, and thirdly, rebuilding of the collapsed and warped government formations and institutions.” Indeed, revolution has been prescribed as the most wanted panacea to Nigeria socio-economic and political quagmire in an incontestable, irrefutable and indisputable manner by some political pundits against the exploitative dominance of the Nigerian capitalists and bourgeoisies.

It had been a long day.

The Lady of the Rock had just emerged from the Situation Room where officials had been summoned to brief her on the latest intelligence from Rivers State and the struggle for survival of its beleaguered governor, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.

Earlier, senior representatives from the security and intelligence services had given her a detailed briefing, a battle plan actually, on her latest project: a national rally in Abuja to “sensitise” Nigerian women to the Federal Government’s epochal achievements in the areas of peace and women empowerment.

She was about to settle down to a late afternoon snack of fresh-baked cassava bread and steaming fish pepper soup fortified with orisirisi when the AfDB’s searing report on the Nigerian economy bobbed up on the large television screen in the room that serves as her private study.

“A-f-D-B.” She called out the letters slowly and deliberately, with more than a hint of disdain. “Wetin’ be dat one again?”

“African Dèvèlopement Bank,” Your Excellency, one of six personal assistants waiting on her volunteered with a deep curtsey.

“Dis world don spoil o, I swear. Yeye people. Wetin’ dem know about dèvèlopement?”

Her Excellency had every right to be miffed. A month had scarcely passed since she was presented with the International Telecommunication Union’s Online Child Protection Award, in Geneva, Switzerland. Now, the ITU is one of world’s oldest international organisations, going back to 1869.

That award recognising Nigeria’s leadership role in protecting children – the leaders of tomorrow — from the snares of cyberspace where anything goes was fundamentally an award honouring Nigeria’s commitment to development in the finest sense of the term.

And yet, the so-called AfDB, an ordinary regional body funded in large part by Nigeria, has the temerity to issue an adverse report on the Nigerian economy and even contradict facts and figures that the responsible officials have painstakingly complied and dutifully checked?

What, indeed, is the world coming to?

Does the official who signed that contumacious report not know that Her Excellency could by a mere clearing of the throat get him deported, regardless of his diplomatic status? Or get the AfDB expelled from these shores? Or, for that matter, cause Nigeria to end its membership in the organisation and the financial support that constitutes such a large chunk of its operating funds?

But on this day, she was exceedingly agreeable.

The briefing on preparations for the National Rally for Peace and Women Empowerment, conducted by top officials from the National Security Agency and the armed services, had gone very well. The logistics had been worked out to the minutest detail. Nothing was being left to chance. All those who had been ranting that there were no clues at the top and no vision would be put to shame big-time.

The rally, it has to be said at the outset, was a triumph of planning, organisation, and execution. Abuja is like a basket; it leaks at every point. Yet, the rally took even long-time residents of the town by surprise. They had no idea it was coming. Neither did Boko Haram.

Withal, it must be accounted an astonishing feat that tens of thousands f women from all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory were outfitted, flown or bused to Abuja and housed in suitable lodgings without disruption to air travel and inter-state road transportation, without straining the city’s resources, and without attracting undue attention from the usual interlopers.

And when it was staged last Thursday, the rally was quite a spectacle. Abuja had never seen anything like that. As a matter of fact, no city in Nigeria has ever seen anything like it. The recent week-long siege on Port Harcourt did not even come close. Someone who follows such matters closely tells me that we would have to go back to Romania, in the time of Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, to find a modern precedent.

Thisday’s terse, summative headline captured it best: “Residents Groan as First Lady’s Rally Shuts down Abuja.” The city finally got a taste of what the Lady of the Rock had worked up in Lagos, Makurdi, Lokoja and Port Harcourt, to name just some of the cities she has favoured with a visitation.

All approaches to the venue, Eagle Square, were blocked to vehicular traffic. Hundreds of residents heading to the adjacent Federal Secretariat to resume work were reduced to sulking in impotent rage in their cars, immobilised, according to one account, by “stern-looking and gun-toting” men who had descended on the venue before dawn.

Hundreds upon hundreds upon hundreds of empowered women clad in dresses bearing a portrait of President Goodluck Jonathan in black on a yellow background marched in close military formation to express gratitude to the man who had changed their fortunes, not forgetting the woman – I take that back: the Lady — behind him.

Women in the armed services were not left out. Decked out in their official uniforms, women soldiers and police officers imparted to the march past the military precision their civilian sisters could not muster. You could see gratitude for their empowerment and a deep yearning for peace written not only on their faces but across their well-starched uniforms.

So as not to be left out of the great occasion, women security operatives shed, at least in part, their accustomed anonymity. They wore tight black masks that covered just about the entire face except their eyes, nostrils, and mouths. In itself, that spectacle bespoke awesome power. It is frightening to think of what it would convey when the operatives are empowered all over again.

Easily the most awesome demonstration of power on that day of power, however, was taking place in the skies above the parade ground, where a squadron of fighter jets streaked overhead, with orders to interdict, neutralise, or destroy any would-be saboteurs. Boko Haram finally got the message. It could pre-empt the National Day parade, but it cannot mess with the First Lady’s Rally for Peace and Empowerment.

Meanwhile, on the ground, The First Lady looked on serenely from a covered stand and beamed with benevolent satisfaction as the empowered women in their tens of thousands marched past. First ladies from several African countries invited to the rally watched in awe and envy.

I am told that a debate is now raging in the usual circles as to whether the terms “First Lady” and “Firstladyism” adequately depict the current Nigerian reality, and whether it would not be much more helpful to replace them, respectively, with “Maximum First Lady” and “Extreme Firstladyism.”

The debate makes sense, especially after it was made clear the other day that the Office of the President is inseparable from the Office of the First Lady. Or do I have it backwards, with the Office of First Lady being inseparable from the Office of the President?

In whatever case, the word from that corner is: You ain’t seen nothing yet.

This story often gladdens me and, at the same time, angers me. There is a community called Birnin Ruwa in Zamfara State, which used to be afflicted with the cholera epidemic every year. A dozen persons were always guaranteed to die with each outbreak, which was an annual event. Those who know Northern Nigeria very well will understand why. Denied of potable water, rural communities depend on water from streams to cook, wash and bathe. Unfortunately, during rainy seasons, the streams are easily polluted. With human and animal wastes perching on the banks, it takes a few drops of rain to defile the water. Pit latrines also overflow after heavy rainfall. Cholera outbreaks are inevitable. Every year, hundreds of people die from the epidemic. You can almost be sure.

What gladdened my heart about this story? It took just one public-spirited person to tackle the epidemic in Birnin Ruwa. All he did was fork out N200,000 to sink a hand-pumped borehole. The poor people could now drink clean water – in and out of rainy season. “That was the end of cholera-related deaths in that community,” Malam Imam Imam, former THISDAY correspondent in Zamfara and now spokesman to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, told me some years ago. Can you believe that with just N200,000, a dozen guaranteed deaths could be prevented? What angered me, and still angers me, is that N200,000 is a piece of cake for our politicians. They could spend that to just polish a pair of shoes when they should be saving lives.

Only God knows how much public funds Northern governors spend every month going on “lesser Hajj” while lesser mortals continue to die from preventable and treatable diseases. As five PDP governors chartered private jets and started flying from Port Harcourt to Abeokuta to Minna to Abuja to Yola to “rescue democracy”, all I was just calculating in my head was the number of boreholes the money could have sunk and how many lives that could save. (Pardon me: I am always thinking and talking about boreholes and potholes.) To be clear, I am not saying people should not go for lesser Hajj as long as it is not treated as official trip. Also, I am not blaming Northern governors alone for wasteful spending. It is prevalent in nearly every state of the federation. I wish someone could help me calculate how much our governors and ministers have burnt on chartering jets for useless political meetings this year alone. It would be mind-blowing. Yet there are so many things crying for attention, but politicking is their priority.

Isn’t it a shame that some of the most meaningful and effective interventions in the welfare of Nigerians are not initiated or funded by government? When we are talking about malaria, cholera, safe motherhood and several matters with critical impact on the people, it is amazing that foreign donors and non-governmental organisations exude more commitment and tenacity than the political actors. While politicians typically play politics with “free healthcare” just to tick the box, the experience of those who visit public hospitals for treatment is not usually exciting. The poor are condemned to neglect and deprivation. We need to be a little bit ashamed of ourselves that it is taking foreign or individual intervention to achieve measurable results in the fight against poverty and disease in our land.

For instance, the UK Department for International Development (DfID) spends millions of pounds every year supporting different causes in Nigeria, and they can measure the results better than the different levels of government. One of the projects DfID has consistently funded for nearly 10 years now is the Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria (HERFON), a national membership organisation advocating better health for all Nigerians through the health sector reform (HSR) which has recorded significant progress. HERFON, headed by Dr Muhammed Mustapha Lecky, former Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), has worked actively in different states of the federation on malaria control, reproductive health, increased health budget and safe motherhood.

HERFON, which started as the Change Agent Programme (CAP) in 2001, is engaged in advocacy and capacity building, focusing mainly on health systems, immunisation and HIV/AIDS. It has reportedly trained over 200 change agents to make reform sustainable in Nigeria and Nigeria-owned. Working hand-in-hand with the Federal Ministry of Health and states to reform the health sector, HERFON lays claim to several successful initiatives including helping with the resuscitation of the polio vaccination in the North after all the hiccups caused by a suspicion that it was designed by the United States to sterilise young Muslim girls in order to reduce the population of Muslims.

The organisation has also been involved in the strengthening and supporting of primary health care systems in Yobe, Katsina, Nasarawa, Ogun, Bayelsa and Ebonyi and is currently implementing the organisation of management training programmes for the improvement of management manpower and capacity in the health sector. Working with other non-governmental organisations committed to improving healthcare delivery in Nigeria, DfID can be satisfied that it has impacted a lot on the welfare of Nigerians and that its funds are not wasted. We cannot say the same about the trillions of naira we throw at problems without much to celebrate beyond political propaganda.

I find it very difficult to understand the psyche of government officials when it comes to spending public funds. I would like to know, for example, how much of public money is spent on foreign trips every year and what results those trips achieved that could not have been attained without junketing. Most of our attention is usually on the Federal Government, especially Presidency. We hardly scrutinise what states and councils waste on frivolous items in a country where a N200,000 borehole can prevent a dozen cholera-induced deaths. I would be interested in knowing the practical impact of the projects government claims to have spent huge budgets on. The basic reason government exists is to provide for the security and welfare of its citizens. When it now takes public-spirited individuals or NGOs to provide water, rehabilitate public schools and provide security, then you have to question what we need government for in the first place.

If N200,000 can save so many lives, if NGOs like HERFON could impact so much on the healthcare system, if foreign donors could show so much commitment to fighting poverty and disease in Nigeria, then our political actors should talk themselves and work out a better way of reducing wasteful spending and directing the funds to what will make life better for poor Nigerians. Everybody will be happy for it.

Recently, I stumbled over a report on Reuters that estimated the cost of doctor’s brain drain to Africa at a huge amount. The report said that Sub-Saharan African countries that invest in training doctors have ended up losing $2 billion as the expert clinicians leave home to find work in more prosperous developed nations.

The search for better living conditions and reward systems in developed countries is not restricted to medical doctors alone. Africa’s young footballers are living the continent every day in droves to realize their dreams of playing in the big leagues of Europe with its huge economic benefits. In the midst of this desperation to leave for Europe, most of these footballers become soft targets for human traffickers masquerading as FIFA licensed agents. The victims of trafficking predominantly belong to Africa, Eastern Europe and Asian nationalities.

 Most young footballers leaving Africa for Europe are barely educated and some of them are not even old enough to take care of themselves in foreign countries. On arrival, most of them realize that they had been lied to by their supposed agents and life becomes unbearable for them. Thereafter, frustration and disappointment sets in and the dream to play in the biggest leagues in the world is destroyed. It is worthy to note that no matter how talented young footballers are, without proper education and guidance, they are still vulnerable to the activities of traffickers who are in business to ruin their careers for economic gains.

He was nicknamed the next “Pele”, he was expected to be the next superstar out of Africa; Nii Odartey Lamptey, player of the tournament ahead of Alessandro Del Piero and other future stars in the Under-17 World Cup of 1991. Lamptey left Ghana at the age of fourteen to Belgium and signed a professional contract with Anderlecht for five years as soon as he was 16, but did not know what he was doing. He was not prepared for life in the big league, he could not read or write, and was exploited mercilessly by football money men. “I was cheated so much,” Lamptey says.

According to The Guardian, at one point in 1997, after being loaned to four clubs, Lamptey discovered his registration was owned not by Anderlecht, as he thought, but by his agent, Antonio Caliendo, who also represented Roberto Baggio and Dunga. Some years before, Caliendo had secured Lamptey as a client by flying to Accra and paying him a cash lump sum to sign on the dotted line. ‘I didn’t know the details of the contract,’ he says.

And the next “Pele” never came into reality. The next “Pele” became a victim of football’s money men. As at today, the human trafficking industry is estimated to be worth $9.5billion dollars globally. NewsRepublic stated in 2010, more than 10 years ago, that the United Nations Commission on Human Rights issued a report warning that “a modern ‘slave trade’ is being created with young African players.” In Belgium, the politician Jean-Marie Dedecker investigated 442 cases of alleged human trafficking with Nigerian players. Many of them ended up on the street, with some even falling into prostitution. There are also reports of 5,000 boys who went to Italy, hoping to begin careers as footballers, and then disappeared.

The Solution

The slave trade preys on young people who are not prepared to transition to adulthood, or whose families are in dire need of income. I believe that if poverty is tackled, then human trafficking in modern football would become a thing of the past, as young footballers would have better living conditions and therefore, the urge to leave for greener pastures at all cost would have been eliminated. In that way, the probability that they would remain prey to traffickers would be hugely reduced.

M. DeYa tweets @red_deya onb Twitter

He writes for TheSoccerOpinion.blogspot.com

“In recent times, one of the causes of malfunctions in the Nigerian financial system is the paradox of substantial government deposits in Deposit Money Banks and high government borrowings from the deposit money banks. As of June 13, 2013, the three tiers of government had N2.384tn in the DMBs out of which about 90 per cent are in zero interest bearing current accounts.  To mop up the liquidity at 14 per cent will cost N301.33bn, which is more than the annual budgets of most states…

This corporate welfare, transfers or subsidy is clearly wasteful and costly.  In addition, it undermines and corrupts the public sector and makes public resources to generate inefficient outputs and ineffective outcomes.  Improving the market and the state demands the correction of the causes of distortions.”

The above remarks were made by Alhaji Suleiman Barau, a Deputy Governor in the Central Bank of Nigeria, to corroborate the same argument recently made by the CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi, in support of the belated decision to increase the Cash Reserve Ratio for government deposits in banks from 12 per cent to 50 per cent.

In a similar vein, the Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Finance, Dr. Abdul Mumuni Jubril, also observed at a recent public lecture that the deficits that instigated government borrowings were the deliberate reduction of the budget benchmarks for projected oil revenue  by the Executive. Jubril further noted that, “In simple mathematics, when the government goes and borrows all the money available…, private people that want to set up business will have no money to borrow.  So, we said, government, ‘get out of the domestic market…’  But it will not take that, you know why, they are a bunch of lazy people!  What they do is to wait for government to borrow, and then give (charge) government double-digit interest rates.  This is how they make their money!”

Chukwudi Jones Onyereri, Chairman, House Committee on Banking and Currency, also noted that his committee’s goal is to see a total withdrawal of public sector funds from the commercial banks. Thus, critical stakeholders in the lower House obviously see the CBN policy as a step in the right direction, and also expect that  the banks will have to work harder to justify their bountiful annual profits by promoting an enabling environment that will sustain inclusive economic growth.

Indeed, the CBN’s belated wake from its deep slumber vindicates my over 10-year-old consistent advocacy for a restructured payment system.

Our recommendations were widely published in hundreds of articles in prime newspapers as well as several media interviews to drive home the impact of the apparent fraud in government borrowing back its own funds.  Our advocacy was also brought to the attention of major stakeholders such as the Nigeria Labour Congress, the Trade Union Congress, the Nigeria Bar Association and Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture.

The question, however, is why it took so long for the CBN to recognise the folly and attendant poisonous economic impact of government borrowing back its own money!  Secondly, will the CBN’s directive on public sector deposits achieve the expectation of creating a positive enabling economic environment with low single digit interest and inflation rates, and the containment of the causative factor of systemic surplus cash?

Indeed, for how long did this ugly mess go on while our industries were starved of the much needed funds and our people wallowed in poverty?  Besides, if the government provides banks with an average annual unforced subsidy of about N300bn, according to the above opening statement of the Deputy Governor of the CBN, then it may have provided the over N3000bn social welfare support to the banks in the last 10 years.  This amount does not include the trillions of naira bank bailouts and AMCON’s burdensome rescue package.  In those economies where public officers are accountable, such anti-social management of public funds may count for criminal negligence or at least, to voluntary/forced resignation of the self-indicted officials from office.

The above notwithstanding, the other question is whether the new CBN directive on public deposits will actually redirect our economic trajectory positively.

In reality, the banks can still leverage on the residue of 50 per cent of government deposits to expand credit; besides, the fact that soon after its directive, the CBN, itself, borrowed over N100bn with fresh plans to mop up another N50bn this week from banks’ vaults, is a clear indication  that not only is the problem of excess cash in the system not resolved, but also that government may still be crowding out the real sector by still borrowing back its own funds at a high cost, as it has done for several decades at an average cost of over N300bn annually!  Actually, about N600bn is currently dedicated to servicing government domestic debts annually.

Paradoxically, the CBN’s directive on public sector funds will also seriously constrain the apex bank’s ability to achieve its core mandate of price stability; i.e., low cost of funds and low rates of inflation as well as an appropriately priced currency.

The emerging reality since Sanusi’s announcement is that the reduced cash volumes with banks have expectedly instigated higher lending rates beyond the already oppressive average of about 20 per cent to the real sector!  Consequently, critical sectors like industry and agriculture may actually become more seriously disadvantaged, with an attendant reduction in employment opportunities and the adverse ripple impact on social welfare and security.

Consequently, the CBN may have inadvertently opened our doors wider for cheaper imports of consumer goods to meet the needs of an inflation-riddled and industrially-shackled economy.

Thus, the total withdrawal of government funds from banks may actually eliminate the folly of government borrowing back its own funds, but the collateral impact on the cost of funds to the real sector may also be equally industrially and socially destructive.

The decades long practice of government borrowing back its own money is a clear warning that we can no longer trust the failed strategies of our eminent Economic Management Team to redeem our people from the clutches of poverty.  It would be a monstrous sin for all true public-spirited professionals to keep silent as the CBN bountifully swells its reserves with our dollar revenue, while it conversely consciously floods the money market with its liberal creation of increasingly worthless naira, which instigates the poisonous ripple that manifests in inflationary spiral with high cost of funds to the real sector and the irony of government borrowing back its own funds!

Indeed, how long will it take the CBN to recognise that its contradictory and ineffective policies will only be resolved in the absence of perennial surplus cash?  Fortunately, this will be possible with the adoption of dollar certificates for the payment of dollar allocations to constitutional beneficiaries!

There must be a mix-up somewhere. In 1984, Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka dismissed his generation as a ‘wasted generation’. Soyinka, in a scathing essay in The Punch entitled ‘The Wasted Generation’ examined Nigeria’s historical travails and concluded, in a damning sentence: “After a quarter of a century of witnessing and occasionally participating in varied aspects of social struggle in all their shifting tempi, dimensions, pragmatic and sometimes even ideologically oriented goals, I feel at this moment that I can only describe my generation as the wasted generation, frustrated by forces which are readily recognisable, which can be understood and analysed but which nevertheless have succeeded in defying whatever weapons such ‘understanding’ has been able to muster towards their defeat.”

Another eminent Nigerian, Prof Chinua Achebe, had said Nigeria’s problem was basically leadership. Achebe declared, in The Trouble with Nigeria, published in 1983, that “the trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a problem of leadership” and of the inability or unwillingness of leaders to rise to “the challenge of personal example.”

Both Achebe and Soyinka had refused national honours in protest against the decadence in the country and the caricature of a nation that Nigeria had become under various despotic regimes. These are the hallmarks of great men. In Nigeria, all kinds of characters usually end up on the national honours lists. So, many men of honour and proven integrity must be weary of wearing the same emblems as the unworthy characters who sometimes populate the lists.

However, more than 30 years after Achebe and Soyinka had narrowed down the country’s problem to a dearth of leadership, former President Olusegun Obasanjo came up with his idea of the younger generation as the cause of the country’s leadership crisis. The former president spoke at the 4th Annual Ibadan Sustainable Development Summit organised by the Centre for Sustainable Development (CESDEV), University of Ibadan (UI), in collaboration with African Sustainable Development Network (ASUDNET).

Obasanjo listed former Bayelsa State governor, Dieprieye Alamieyeseigha; former Edo State Governor Lucky Igbinedion, former Delta State Governor James Ibori; his counterpart in Abia State during the last dispensation, Orji Uzor Kalu, former Lagos State governor, Bola Ahmed Tinubu as some of the young leaders who have failed the nation.

“It is sad that after 53 years of independence, we have no leader that we can commend. The problem in Africa is that when one person takes over, he would not see any good thing that his predecessor did. Let us condemn but with caution,” the former president was quoted as saying by the online news medium, Premium Times.

Trust the former president; he also seized the opportunity to sing his usual song of self-glorification: “In 1979, we had 20 new ships specially built for Nigeria. When I came back 20 years after, the national shipping line had liquidated”. He was talking about his first time as military head of state and 1999 when he returned as civilian president. Has he forgotten too that the government he handed over to in 1979 was as inept and corrupt as it could be and in less than four years, that government had done sufficient damage to the economy and other sectors of the economy. That begot the dictatorship of General Muhammadu Buhari, then Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha before General Abdulsalami Abubakar came and organised elections that threw up the Obasanjo government in May, 1999. So, what did Obasanjo expect the scenario to look like in the circumstance?

Characteristically, the former president was economical with the truth when he said he did not want to hand over to his former vice president, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar because he (Atiku) was a betrayer. “I wanted someone who would succeed me, so I took Atiku. Within a year, I started seeing the type of man Atiku is. And you want me to get him there?” Does Chief Obasanjo think we have forgotten that Abubakar was content with being governor in his Adamawa State when Obasanjo approached him to be his deputy? Has Obasanjo forgotten too how he reportedly cringed before this same Abubakar to get his party nomination for second term? Worse still, if Obasanjo, despite his experience in government (at least he had been head of state in the ’70s) could have a faulty sense of judgement in choosing his deputy, what right has he to lampoon the so-called younger generation for incompetence in leadership positions?

But can we really blame Chief Obasanjo for giving us these homilies? I do not think so; rather, it is his colleagues and others who have been running Africa aground that are still honouring him with invitations to deliver lectures, oversee elections and stuff like that who are still giving him a false sense of importance. Even at the summit on leadership failure in Africa in question where the former President gave the keynote address, he was the least competent to speak on the issue. We remember the many illegalities that were committed during his regime. We saw how governors were impeached without quorum; a thing his political godson experimented in Rivers State with the speaker of the state house of assembly; we saw how he (Obasanjo) used the anti-corruption agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to haunt his enemies. There are too many buts about his administration that we can’t go on counting. Yet, his colleagues keep calling him to deliver lectures and monitor elections, a question of birds of the same feather flocking together?

If there is any leadership lacuna in Nigeria, it is to Obasanjo’s wasted generation that we should turn for explanation. If Nigeria is jinxed with leadership crisis, then that must have been due to the activities of the Obasanjos in leadership positions. It is not even sweet in the former president’s mouth to say the country is jinxed. The country is jinxed, yet Obasanjo was head of state from 1976 to 1979; the country is jinxed, yet Obasanjo made himself available for the presidency in 1999 and was president for eight years. The country is jinxed, yet Obasanjo wanted a third term, a thing alien to our constitution and Jagunlabi would have gladly become a sit-tight president but for Nigerians’ resistance to the satanic plot.

But it is one slave that makes one abuse many other slaves. The truth is that there is no correlation between age and leadership. Obasanjo, at least officially, was born on March 5, 1937. He is therefore 76 years old. Achebe was born November 16, 1930. He died March 21, aged 82. Soyinka on his part was born July 13, 1934, which means he is 79 this year. Officially, therefore, Obasanjo is the youngest of the trio. Much as we can say that Obasanjo cannot be said to have given Nigerians good leadership, both Soyinka and Achebe are renowned worldwide. How it is only the wrong people that get into leadership positions in Nigeria is what one cannot fathom.

Chief Obasanjo should not be deceived that because he owns a leadership forum, then he is eminently qualified to mount the pulpit to pontificate on leadership, whether in Nigeria, worse still, in Africa. It is just one of the many contradictions of the man, Olusegun Obasanjo. In better run societies, no one would touch his forum, not even with a long spoon. His sermons can only make sense if he tells us to do as he says and not necessarily as he does- born again only above, but steep in the world down below! Another contradiction?

At present, ASUU wants the Federal Government to pay N92bn in extra allowances, when the resources are not there, and when we are working to integrate past increases in pensions. We need to make choices in this country as we are getting to the stage where recurrent expenditures take the bulk of our resources and people get paid, but can do no work.

Dr. (Mrs.) Okonjo-Iweala, Address to the National Council on Finance and Economic Development, Minna.

In March 2012 shortly after the nationwide strike against the oil subsidy removal by the Jonathan administration in which she is a key cabinet member, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala made a revelation in an article that was published in the March 3, 2012 issue of that iconic newsmagazine of British and global finance capitalism, The Economist. The revelation considerably startled the writer of the article. It certainly startled me, so much so that I have never forgotten it. What was this revelation? It was a bluntly stated assertion that corruption and waste were so endemic to Nigerian politics and governance that she, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, would be satisfied if by the end of her current tenure in 2015 as the nation’s Finance Minister she would have cleaned up as much – or as little – as 4% of the waste, mismanagement and corruption in the affairs of the Nigerian government. 4%? Yes, 4%.

When I came across this figure of the pace in which our Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minster for the economy thought corruption and mismanagement could realistically be cleaned from Nigerian governance, I read and re-read the article, thinking that, surely, there was an irony, a hidden meaning or perhaps a playful signification on the usually inflated claims of the statistical sciences intended in that 4% target. But there was no irony, no sarcasm and no ludic intent of any kind in the bar Dr. Okonjo-Iweala had set herself. This is because, as totally absurd as it may seem to ordinary folks like you and me, in the reified calculus of the technocratic gurus that run the nations and business conglomerates of the world, 4% of trillions upon trillions of naira – especially in the context of the monumental swampland of Nigerian corruption – is very consequential. You and I might think that the 96% that remains after 4% might have been reduced means that so much has been taken out of our national coffers that could have considerably made life easier for millions of Nigerians now and in the years head. But the technocratic mind – or more precisely the kind of technocratic mind embodied by our Minister of Finance – does not see things the way we see it. You may call it a form of cynicism that expresses itself as a professional ethos, but to the kind of technocratic rationality we encounter here, 4% recovered in five years is good enough.

This, I suggest, goes to the heart of Okonjo-Iweala’s presuppositions in her strident attack on the ASUU strike earlier this week. In the justifiable rush to condemn the Finance Minister for her intervention the ASUU-Government negotiations, I suggest that it is in our best interest to pay attention to where Dr. Okonjo-Iweala is coming from, specifically to the kind of technocratic sophistry that underpins her reasoning and conclusions. But before getting to this point, a full disclosure of the sources and nature my interest in the matter is necessary, for I am far from being an intellectually detached observer or a dispassionate commentator on the case.

As perhaps some of the readers of this column know, I was the National President of ASUU some 30 years ago, precisely between 1980 and 1982. And when I was succeeded by the late Mahmud Modibbo Tukur, I served as ASUU’s Immediate Past President (IPP) between 1982 and 1986. Moreover, between 1984 and 1987, I served as ASUU’s representative on the Central Working Committee (CWC) of the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC). I mention all of this background not only to show and declare my strong connections and solidarity with ASUU but also to indicate that in the course of my work in ASUU, I came across many bureaucrats and technocrats, in government, among employers of labour, in the universities and other tertiary institutions themselves – and even within the rank and file of ASUU membership!

I mention this last point deliberately because I think it would be a mistake not to recognise that the likes of Dr. Okonjo-Iweala do not constitute an aberration but are, rather, a part of the corps of elite bureaucrats in charge of the management and administration of the affairs of this world. The word “technocrat” is indeed an appropriate indication of the elite status of this corps of bureaucrats. Dear reader, look at the suffix “crat” in the following terms: democrat; plutocrat; aristocrat. In all of these cases, that suffix lends a seal of respectable identity and pedigree to each term. In the particular case of technocrats, they are – and are regarded as – the cream of the bureaucrats that run the nations, business empires and international organisations of the planet. And we must recognise this: within this demographically tiny elite group in our world, Okonjo-Iweala is among the most celebrated, the most sought after, a fact that she never lets anyone, her fellow cabinet members included, forget. What Okonjo-Iweala does not recognise, what in fact we must not let her and technocrats like her ever forget, is the fact that technocrats and technocracy often get things horribly wrong in our world at the cost of a lot of needless hardship and suffering of hundreds of millions of ordinary folks.

To speak to this last claim, think of the following fact that has almost entirely been missed in the justifiable outrage that the Finance Minister’s intervention in the ASUU strike has caused: the very day before Okonjo-Iweala made her statement about the federal government’s impossibility of meeting ASUU’s demands, she held a press briefing at Abuja in which she informed the world and the nation of the efforts – the technocratic efforts, I might add – that her Ministry had been making to reduce corruption, waste and mismanagement in those arms of government and parastatals known as the MDAs (Ministries, Departments and Agencies). In that press briefing, she was very sanguine about the successes that her Ministry was beginning to make, against all the odds. She mentioned that she had set up two bodies that henceforth would ensure the full rationalisation of the operations of all the MDAs, all the personnel of these government units, together with their activities. Here are the names of these two bodies, both reeking with a maximum of technocratic smarminess: IPPIS – which stands for Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information Systems; and GIFMIS – which in turn stands for Government Integrated Financial Management Information Systems. [Watch out all you government employees! IPPIS and GIFMIS are watching you!]

In the press briefing, Okonjo-Iweala also said that the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) had hired 53 consultants that would verify the accuracy and probity of revenue generating MDAs like the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) in their collection of revenues and remittances of parts thereof due to the government. To cap it all, Okonjo-Iweala at this press briefing last Monday announced that so far, 46000 ghost workers had been discovered and the sum of N53 billion naira had been saved through the work of all these technocratic instruments she had put in place. Hallelujah!

Quite apart from the fact that at this press briefing Okonjo-Iweala did not mention the name of a single public official or MDA that had been responsible for misdeeds and/or incompetence, the figure of N53 billion naira “saved” is worse than a joke; it is the expression of a kind of intellectual fraud and professional complacency that technocrats routinely perpetrate around the world, especially in the poor countries of the global South. Last year alone, an Ad Hoc Committee of the Senate on the oil subsidy scandal of 2011 found that the colossal sum of N2.58 trillion had been siphoned from the national treasury. As I observed in this column a few weeks ago, that sum represented more than half of the national budget for the entire country that year. The oil marketers that were illegally paid this humungous sum are not “ghost workers”; they are known, their names were published, together with how much each real or fake marketer was paid. And yet to date, not a single kobo has been paid back by these looters and not one of them has been arrested, let alone sent to jail. As far as I am aware, Okonjo-Iweala has said and done nothing to recover any of that N2.58 trillion naira. Neither has she nor her Ministry gone after the huge pension funds scams that rocked the country last year and earlier this year. N53 billion saved; meanwhile the N2.58 trillions looted in the oil subsidy scam stand unrecovered and are perhaps are unrecoverable in the scheme of things.

In her defence, it could of course be argued that Okonjo-Iweala had told us exactly what to expect from her. She had told us that by 2015 to expect no more than 4% reduction of the monumental waste and corruption plaguing the land. To argue the case for this “defence” it could be said that technocrats are not police detectives; they are not enforcers of the law; and they are not moral crusaders. Their work is to make the machinery of governance work smoothly and efficiently, every cog in the wheel of management and administration moving along its apportioned groove. Pressing the case for this “defence” further, we could accept the fact that in the modern world, we cannot do without technocrats; and Nigeria in particular needs able and conscientious technocrats to counter the deadweight of entrenched mediocrity and incompetence in the corridors of power and the halls of governance in our country. But the great flaw in the worldview of the Okonjo-Iwealas of this country and this earth is the idea, the belief that to be a good technocrat you must be “realistic”, you must content yourself with the 4% that you can reduce, leaving the moralisers, the idealists, the romantics and the would-be messiahs to worry about the 96% that remains. This in effect means keeping quiet about and acting as if unconcerned with that lion’s share of 96% that the looters get away with.

In conclusion, we need to anchor these generalised reflections in the specific case of Okonjo-Iweala’s extremely unconscionable intervention in ASUU’s negotiations with the federal government over the ongoing strike. Here, once we see clearly that the Finance Minister is basing herself on the assumption that only 4% of what is looted, wasted and mismanaged is recoverable, then we can perceive the fact that her assertion that “the resources are not there” is completely bogus and untenable. For only by a very sophistical reasoning in which ASUU’s demands are reduced to the purely technocratic formulation of “recurrent expenditure” can Okonjo-Iweala assert that the resources are not there. In this case, the gap between sophistry and truth is bridged by the fact that her brand of technocracy is perfectly compatible with all the scams, all the looting going on in the administration of which is a major player in an alliance of technocrats with kleptocrats.

This alliance of Harvard and MIT – or Cambridge and LSE – educated technocrats with thieving, mediocre and unpatriotic politicians is, by the way, not unusual in the developing countries of the world. Since 1999 when our current failing experiment in democratic governance began, it has indeed been part of the justificatory myth of the ruling party at the center that notwithstanding all the unending crises we have gone through and are still going through, the “experts” have been recruited and will guide us to our destiny as one of the biggest economies in the world by the year 2020. This is of course a fantasy. To make it a probability, we need to adequately fund our universities and their teaching and research staff. How ironic then that the one member of the present administration that embodies this justificatory myth more than any of her colleagues should be the one to whom the task is delegated to say, quite untruthfully, that the “resources are not there” to resuscitate our universities!

Biodun Jeyifo

bjeyifo@fas.harvard.edu

Today’s piece is addressed to you, Mr. and Mrs. Middle-Class Nigerian. Please do not misunderstand this letter as a beggar’s call to altruism. I know you daily, naturally and indeed irritatingly, get loads of the God-will-help-you-if-you-help-me “mendicantese”. Rather, this is a call to you for a good investment opportunity that will open a new sustainable stream of income for you while you are “helping” to alleviate the ballooning problem of unemployment which is ravaging the ranks of our youths.

Far more importantly, your pecuniary investment will not only give you a viable line of business, it will go a long way to help get many of our youths out of the state of anomie that many of them are presently in.

Now let me explain in graphical terms why this call to lucre is very urgent. Many of our governments at all levels, either independently or through some sort of partnership with private sector entities, are now investing in one form of human capital development or the other. For example, the Lagos State Government, through the Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board, in the last two and a half years, has engaged Automedics to train interested, young and unemployable graduates to acquire modern automotive maintenance/repair skills. In addition to upgrading the skills of willing roadside mechanics (many of whom are logically being chased out of their environmentally degrading workshops/villages) to be able to work on the computing technology in today’s vehicles.

States as far as Adamawa, Imo and Osun are actively running one skills acquisition/empowerment scheme or the other. And many of our youths and artisans are enthusiastically engaging in these programmes. But the missing link, as I see it, is the poor investment culture of our middle-class.

For example, we (Messrs. Automedics Limited) have trained hundreds of young persons and formerly out-dated mechanics to levels of competencies that have opened new vistas for them in the areas of self-employment and general employability. It is a fact though that not all of the beneficiaries of our training can (either through self-effort, filial help and governments-championed poverty alleviation programmes) appropriate the inherent opportunities of the two above mentioned windows of productive/economic opportunities.

And albeit, it may be fashionable (indeed many a time justifiable) to play the arm-chair critic and lambast our governments for their many failures. The truth is that in many societies where things work well there is a third leg to the tripod of wealth creation besides the governments and the consumers: which, dear readers, are you.

Maybe it’s about time I cursorily got into the specifics of what I’m canvassing you to do here: there are very knowledgeable young graduates and artisans who, if you decide to invest on, will be good “cash-cows” for you. Imagine starting a small high-street auto maintenance/repair shop (eg., a lube service centre with wheel balancing and alignment, and basic suspension and brake repair offerings to the motoring public) with, say, a 3-man team of diagnostician, mechanic and electrician with less than ten million naira and you’re monthly netting five hundred thousand naira and more from the investment.

We at the Automedics have actually gotten the concessioning of a chain of high-street locations inside the lube bay of a major oil marketing plc nationwide where this enterprise value chain of investor-cum-skilled partners-and-quality service to the motoring public can be perfected. We’ll (after matching you with these minor partners, whose, let’s say, ten to twenty percent equity in the venture will be factored on their marketable skills set) continue to technically mentor/develop them because of the Automedics brand that will help give the business respectability. And also your unemployed/underemployed spouse/partner or relations can also be gainfully engaged in the enterprise as your day-to-day onshore accounting officer. If you wish to know more about this socio-economic re-engineering concept, please send a mail to the above advertised e-mail address.

NB: The live and interactive public service Automedics radio production will commence broadcast during the evening drive-time on LOVE 104.5FM Abuja on Monday, August, 19 (today). It is initially scheduled to run on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays evenings for one hour. This motoring-public edifying service is a collaborative pro bono work between the management of the station and Automedics Limited. If you have any problem with your vehicle or you see any warning light on your automobile’s dashboard and you want to get free advice on how to resolve it in the manufacturer’s recommended way, then call in live into the programme if you’re either in Abuja, Nassarawa, Kogi or Niger state where the live interactive programme (to be anchored by one of the young graduates I trained) will be heard.

Dear Chairman Akande,

Let me first start by congratulating you on the successful registration of your party-All Progressives Congress (APC) after some moments of doubt and chicanery. I am sure you and your fellow promoters must be feeling giddy and excited at the possibilities for change that you feel and believe exists for your party come 2015.

I have  however, followed your post registration pronouncements and I must say that you have hit the ground running on the wrong foot, as far as the messaging board is concerned, and that is why I have decided to send you this open memo. What I am doing here in  the open, is what political consultants would have done, for  a huge amounts of money, but as a deep believer in a two-party system, I felt I should do this free of charge.

My Chairman, as I stated above, I believe in a two-party system and have advocated and advanced that position on this page on numerous occasions. I believe that an ideologically distinct two-party system is the best vehicle to advance democracy, build its internal structure and deepened its culture. All over mature democracies, a two-party system has helped the electorate make informed choices as to which of the two platforms best advance and cater to their common needs, hopes and aspirations. The coming of APC, therefore, is a welcome development. But Mr. Chairman, I am concerned and worried that you and some of your colleagues may have already frittered away a huge percentage of the goodwill that your registration engendered in the first few weeks by the divisive, almost obtuse rhetoric that has emanated from you. You didn’t have to travel that path; you should have stayed above the fray of such inanities.

Even though your aides may not have told you the honest and unvarnished truth, let me tell you that you have disappointed millions of dispassionate, engaged and alternative solutions-seeking Nigerians with your messaging board. APC was founded on the belief that Nigerians needed an alternative platform to that which the PDP have run and governed with. Those Nigerians want a different approach to governance, new set of values and ideology founded on progressive ethos. They don’t want name calling, of vile and infantile posturing, of heating up the polity with divisive, ethnic-tinged rhetoric, they don’t wish to see a party that magnify our differences and deepen the chasm and cleavages that already exist within our polity. They don’t wish to see a leader of  a major party descend to the level of mud, calling or likening the president of the republic and the institution of the presidency to that of “a kindergarten” and saying he is not “a serious minded person” without showing us  “how serous minded” and ‘grown-up” your advertised alternative would look and feel.

Mr. Chairman, you will not win the hearts and minds of millions of independent minded Nigerians- those who are non-aligned politically but are desirous of seeing good governance take root with such seriously confounding rhetoric.  What Nigerians desire is a politics of ideas and not politics of personal attacks; what Nigerians need from APC is to draw distinctions and show how it is a viable alternative to PDP; its platform on key issues germane to our development-power, education, infrastructural upgrade,  the growth of economy, employment generation mechanism, how to use our power to achieve our national interests, a culture of transparency and the awakening of the innate abilities- that ‘can-do- spirit that defines the Nigerian essence.

Nigerians desire an opposition party that will rise above the fray of obtuse-mudslinging, where its leaders will prove that they are actually new kids on the block willing to buck conventional wisdom and do things differently. Mr. Chairman, if Nigerians were to judge you based on the above check boxes since your party was established, I would say you have failed miserably. You have to rein in some of your spokespersons, such as the former Minister of the Federal Capital Teritoty-Mallam El-Rufai, to tone down his divisive rhetoric. Those resorts to amplifying our differences and ethnicity represent bad political strategy that will not serve you well in the end.

What you party needs is to come out with a carefully constructed and internalized narrative- a narrative of change, of hope and opportunity and how such, would be achieved under an APC government. As we speak, Nigerians don’t know what you stand for; none of your spokespersons have advanced any reason why Nigerians should jettison the PDP for APC. If what you and your spokespersons have so far presented as  APC’s governing style, which based on statements so far made, appears to be founded on vindictiveness, hate and anger, then I posit that you will find the political waters in 2015 violently turbulent and you will need a lot of prayers to stabilize the ship.

Let me present a little analysis here of the American political process which I am very familiar with, and have been an active chronicler and follower for almost 17 years now. At the beginning of the millennium, the Republican Party was struggling to find its voice. The party had been riven by ideological inflexibility and its leaders had instead of providing the electorate an alternative vision of governance, rather devoted itself to the politics of personal destruction of President Bill Clinton. They had amplified a personal failing of Bill Clinton to a national and international embarrassment. The Monica Lewinsky scandal which led to Clinton’s impeachment was a politically manufactured crisis. The Republican Party reveled in politics of personal destruction as opposed to those of ideas.

Clinton was eventually impeached and soon, it came to pass that the very people who had mouthed moral arguments and purity were themselves enmeshed in various sexual shenanigans-Speaker Newt Gingrich was later forced to resign when it was revealed that he, after hounding and pillorying Bill Clinton over his sexual dalliance with Monica Lewinsky was himself involved in a romantic liaison with his secretary whom he later married. Congressman Bob Livingston, who was selected to succeed him as speaker and was one of the most vociferous opponents of Bill Clinton himself, himself, was involved in an adulterous affair. He was also forced to resign.

The American people were not amused, and averse to the brand of politics the Republicans were promoting, had rewarded bill Clinton‘s personal failing with the highest approval ratings post-Lewinsky’s scandal. The Republican Party in the lead-up to the 2000 presidential election had to recalibrate its message and reduced to the fringes those elements that practiced politics of personal destruction. The party came out with a narrative that appealed to millions of American founded on the principle of what they called “Compassionate Conservatism”. George W. Bush, ran on this narrative and convinced millions of independent American electorate to see the party as an alternative to the Democrats whose then Presidential candidate-Albert Gore had promised to bring back the era of big government that Bill Clinton had worked hard to make lean and effective.

George W. Bush, who at the beginning of the electioneering campaign did not stand a chance against Gore suddenly, was able to win the majority of the Electoral College votes (however dubious it may have seemed, especially in Florida where his brother Jeb, was the governor) and eventually became the president , however contentious his victory was!

The new message founded on Compassionate Conservatism lasted throughout the Bush administration until 2008 when a fringe group who demanded ideological purity- the Tea Party or the hard right took over the Republican Party and the party has never recovered its ideological moorings. The Tea-Party elements today dominate the Republican Party and their motto is ‘obstruct, obfuscate,  create legislative gridlock, attack and obstruct.’ Their messaging board is filled with vile and objectionable rhetoric. They have employed ethnicity, racism and outright hate to define the Obama presidency. They have alienated different voting blocs-the Hispanics, African Americans and other minorities groups, they have resorted to name-callings and instead of presenting an alternative to the Democratic Party platform, theirs has been to attack, name-call, and continue to manufacture crises upon crises. The net result of this approach has been the gradual defacing of the Republican brand so much so that today the party is going through crises of identity and Americans have soured on its divisiveness.

As a result, the Republican Party stands the risk of becoming a minority party for a long time to come, because politics of personal destruction is not a winning strategy. The 2016 Presidential primaries front-liners of the party today parade the best of its inflexible and ideological purity class: Senator Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and a coterie of other narrow and fringe elements of its lunatic right. Little wonder that prognosticators have already started seeing Senator Hilary Clinton- the all-but certain candidate to hoist the Democratic Party flag in 2016 as the president in -waiting.

Mr. Chairman, I am afraid if you don’t begin to weave a beautiful narrative on  a different governance model and reduce your personal attacks on the president, you may find out rather belatedly that Nigerians have already soured on your party and once they had defined you along certain lines, it would be extremely difficult to win them back. Mr. Chairman, Nigerians are getting increasingly politically sophisticated, and your conduct must recognize this new reality. You must recalibrate your messaging board and take the bull-horn from the merchants of hate and bigotry or your message would be lost in the din of ethnic-laden echo chamber.

The office of the presidency of Nigerian is larger than an individual; we should respect that institution no matter who occupies it. Using phrases like “kindergarten “or that the occupant is not a “serous –minded person” is a politically obtuse and idiotic strategy. Go out and tell Nigerians why you are a viable alternative and why they should invest their hopes in you instead of engaging in politics of personal attacks and name-calling.

Enjoy your weekend, Mr. Chairman
Best,

Ekerete Udoh

Based on a subsisting motion sponsored last year by Deputy Majority Leader, Senator Abdul Ningi and 46 other colleagues, the Senate recently directed its committees on Petroleum Resources (Upstream) and Finance, chaired by Senators Paulker Emmanuel and Ahmed Makarfi respectively, to probe the controversy surrounding the payment of $1.092 billion to Malabu Oil and Gas Limited over OPL 245 oil block. The Senate decision came barely a week after the House of Representatives Ad-hoc committee which investigated the same deal concluded its assignment with damning conclusions.

While the Malabu controversy remains a business deal gone sour in a sector that is lacking in transparency, the circumstances surrounding a tri-partite transaction involving the Federal Government, Shell/Agip and Malabu Oil and Gas Limited in respect of OPL 245 is what has generated the current furore.At the centre of the deal is former Petroleum Minister, Chief Dan Etete and Shell Nigeria Ultra Deep (SNUD),a company incorporated in January 2001 for the sole purpose of operating OPL 245 as a fully-owned subsidiary of Shell. The block in question is located directly between the two major commercial oil discoveries of Agbami (OPL 216/217) and Akpo (OPL 246). OPL 246, for the uninitiated, was awarded also by Abacha in March 1998 to South Atlantic Petroleum (Sapetrol) of which Lt General T.Y. Danjuma is the major stakeholder.

To be sure, the House of Representatives Ad-hoc committee report on Malabu is very revealing of how the resolution arrived at by the federal government may not be in our national interest. But stories making the rounds also suggest that the current rash of probes may be more in the interest of some characters who lost out in the dirty deal than in the interest of Nigerians who were practically gang-raped. For instance, one of the key recommendations of the House report is that Mohammed Abacha, and not Dan Etete, owns the controlling shares in Malabu Oil and Gas. That may indeed be true but it appears that the former Oil Minister has already out-swindled the Abacha family and it should not be our business that people who helped themselves to our national wealth are fighting over the spoils.

What should be of concern to critical stakeholders is that nobody, no individuals should have the powers to singularly allocate national assets to themselves as it was done by the late Head of State, General Sani Abacha and his minister, Etete, with regards to OPL 245. Yet it would seem that we don’t learn any lesson from our experience which then explains why the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) still retains the clause that enabled the duo to award such juicy oil block to themselves. Notwithstanding the subterfuge, Section 191 of the PIB is a clever replication of Section 2 of the 1969 Petroleum Act which vests unrestricted powers in the hands of the Petroleum Minister with regards to “Oil exploration licences, oil prospecting licences and oil mining leases”.

Against the background that it is theabuse of such discretion that has created several idle but rent-dependent overnight billionaires and associated corruption in our system, certain provisions in the current PIB fail the test of credibility. For instance, Section 190 (1) of the legislation states that “The grant of a petroleum prospecting licence or a petroleum mining lease not derived from a petroleum prospecting licence in respect of any territory in, under or upon the territory of Nigeria shall be byopen, transparent and competitive bidding process conducted by the Inspectorate pursuant to the provision of subsection (2) of this section.”

For the sake of emphasis,Section 190  states“There shall be no grant of discretionary awards, except as provided under section 191 of this Act.” Unfortunately, that exceptional clause in section191 stipulates that “Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (3) of section 190 or any other provision of this Act, the President shall have the power to grant a licence or lease under this Act.”

Clearly, this new lever for another discretionary power endangers a fair and open bidding process that the Nigerian oil industry truly requires. The discretionary award of oil production licenses that put the Nigerian oil blocks in the hands of Abacha and Etete will happen again if we still vests such powers in the hands of individuals.  When Nigerians say that their president “is the most powerful in the world”, what they mean essentially is that he/she has control over the oil industry and can turn a pauper to a billionaire by the stroke of a pen. But is that the way to run a country in this modern era? That is a critical question we need to answer if we are desirous of ever institutionalizing a government that will be both transparent and accountable. While it must be stressed that this problem, like many others, predates President Goodluck Jonathan, we must begin to wean the system of such absurdities.

It is indeed instructive that Mrs Oby Ezekwesili provided the institutional template, first with the Nigeria Extractive Industry Transparency Initiative (NEITI) of which she was founding Chairman (this reporter was also a member) and then later as Solid Minerals Minister where she was also instrumental to writing the Nigerian Minerals and Mining Act, 2007 which detaches the office of the Minister and his/her Principal from the award of mining licences. Incidentally, between 2004 and 2007 when we were drafting NEITI Bill as members of the National Stakeholders Working Group under Ezekwesili, discretionary power in the award of acreages was of serious concern to us. Unfortunately, while the NEITI Act that we eventually succeeded in getting passed requires the Federal Government to conform with the provisions of the Global EITI (which includes a transparent bidding process for acreages), the same NEITI Act added a caveat that all existing long-term contracts must be respected, a last-minute insertion following pressure from the IOCs.

But to properly situate how discretionary power has created a culture of rent seeking behaviour that has in turn made our oil and gas sector largely unproductive, we may have to trace the trajectory of the controversial Malabu deal. The story began in April 1998, about three months before Abacha’s death when he decided to manipulate the Indigenous Exploration Programme Policy to award certain oil blocks to cronies who would act on his behalf and themselves. By the filings at the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) on April 18, 1998, the share capital for Malabu Oil and Gas Company that was handed OPL 245 was N20 million, divided into 20 million ordinary shares of N1 each. The shareholdings were distributed as follows: Mohammed Sani, better known as Mohammed Abacha, son of the late Head of State: 50 per cent or 10 million ordinary shares; Kweku Amafagha, representing the interest of Dan Etete: 30 per cent or 6 million ordinary shares; and Hassan Hindu, wife of the Wakili Adamawa, Alhaji Hassan Adamu: 20 per cent or 4 million ordinary shares.

However, with Abacha’s death and the emergence in 1999 of a “Pharaoh that knew not Joseph”, to borrow a Biblical expression, the story became interesting in 2000. At a period Olusegun Obasanjo was now President and Atiku Abubakar Vice President, the entire documents for Malabu got missing at the CAC and a new one surfaced: Enter Munamuna Siedougha and Fasawe Oyewole with the shares redistributed as follows: Munamuna Sidougha, 10,000,000 and Pecos Energy Limited, 10,000,000. It was at this point that Mohammed Abacha’s name disappeared from the Malabu manifest and Etete more or less became the sole proprietor.

Meanwhile, by a letter dated April 29, 1998, Malabu Oil and Gas Limited had been directed to pay N50,000 application fee, $10 million bid processing fee and $20 million for signature bonus, all within a period of one month as stipulated by law. But it was a year later that the processing fee of $10 million would be paid while only $2.04 million was paid as signature bonus. Interestingly, the April 6, 2001 cheque for the balance of $17.96 million for the signature bonus by SNUD as the technical partner of Malabu actually bounced. Three months later in July 2001, there was a directive from President Obasanjo to cancel the deal and with that, OPL 245 was put on offer by the Federal Government. At the end, Shell (that was to have been a technical partner for Malabu with a stake of 40 percent), now had control of OPL 245. But since it is not an indigenous company, the signature bonus had to change and the company was asked to pay $210 million. But with Etete feeling back-stabbed by Shell, he sought legal redress.

In November 2006 while the court process was still on, there was another twist in the tale when the federal government decided on an out-of-court settlement with Malabu which led to the restoration of OPL 245. The oil block was thereafter re-awarded to the company with a new signature bonus of $210 million. A letter to that effect dated 2 December 2006 was signed by Dr Edmund Daukoru, then Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (President Obasanjo held the substantive portfolio throughout his tenure). Why Obasanjo decided to approbate and reprobate on Malabu only him can explain but it would seem that the rash of court cases may have affected his judgment.

With Malabu back in the picture regarding OPL 245, Daukoru wrote Shell that “following a review of expert legal opinions on respondents’ prospects in the legal appeal by Malabu Oil and Gas, Government has decided that the best option against exposure to substantial damage is an out-of-court settlement. That Shell is to forgo block 245 to Malabu while Government provides a mutually acceptable substitute of comparable potential against the $210 million, which Shell has already paid or will be expected to pay as signature bonus”.

But Shell would not relinquish the block without a fight. Having apparently seen how  commercially rewarding OPL 245 could be and unwilling to accept the promise of another block, Shell took the Federal Government before the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), an arm of the World Bank in Washington DC. The case was on throughout the tenure of the late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua but on July 2, 2010, the current administration wrote a letter allocating OPL 245 to Malabu Oil and Gas. That followed an out-of-court settlement brokered between the Federal Government and the contending parties.

Now, the House report clearly states that the terms of settlement of the Malabu deal are unfavourable to the country with regards to our oil assets, especially when compared with our stake on Danjuma’s OPL 246. It is also on record that then Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Secretary, Professor Yinka Omorogbe, a respected academic with solid integrity who was cleverly eased out of the system, was critical of certain aspects of the agreement. Yet the federal government still nonetheless went ahead to conclude the deal. That has led to all manner of insinuations and allegations that some officials may have acted beyond the call of duty in the transaction.

But I find the basis for which the House report seems to be slanted against the federal government rather suspicious. While I am also of the view that the manner in which Etete edged out Mohammed Abacha from the Malabu deal smells fraud, I do not believe that should be the business of those who superintended the transaction on behalf of the federal government. Since all the Malabu documents and court papers have always listed Etete and not Mohammed as the  prime promoter of Malabu, the two of them should go and sort themselves out. What I think should be of concern to our lawmakers is whether indeed our officials acted in good faith. That is what interests me.

With the intervention by the United Kingdom authorities to probe allegations that Etete made some curious payments into several onshore and offshore private accounts after receiving the settlement claims from the escrow account at JP Morgan, it will not be difficult to establish if any official was indeed involved in financial impropriety, since money trail is very easy to trace. And if any official is found to have been paid from the Malabu account not only should such public officials lose his/her job, the person should face criminal prosecution.

However, my main concern really is not that the government acted as intermediary in the transaction but rather that it has chosen not to learn anything from the whole controversy. Of course, there will always be questions in an industry where the more you look the less you see, but there can be no doubt that Shell indeed had a good case before international arbitration.

According to the company’s statement of claim at the arbitration, Malabu in March 2000, came with “a farm-in proposal. Malabu was looking for an international oil company to take a 40% equity stake in the OPL 245 licence itself and ‘carry’ Malabu in developing the block, i.e the international oil company would take all the exploration and development risk by funding Malabu’s share of the costs (including the acquisition, exploration and development costs of the block) as well as its own. Those costs would then be recovered by the international oil company from Malabu’s share of oil production.”

Given that several other oil exploration and development licences allocated by the Abacha regime had been withdrawn by the Obasanjo administration at the time, “Shell made enquiries of the Assistant Director of the DPR, Mr. Andrew Obaje, on 31 March 2000. He confirmed to Shell that OPL 245 had been owned by Malabu since April 1998 and was currently in a good standing. Mr Obaje told Shell that the FGN did not intend to revoke the allocation because Malabu had paid all the required fees and part (US$ 2.04 million) of the US$ 20 million signature bonus for the block. The map of allocated concessions obtained from the DPR also indicated that Malabu was the owner of OPL 245. On 4 October 2000, Shell was approached by a new Malabu representative. He was known to Shell, because he had been employed as the Managing Director of Texaco in Nigeria until his retirement in mid-2000. Shell received verbal assurances from the then Vice President of Nigeria that there was no objection from the FGN to Shell acquiring an interest in OPL 245.”

With all the agreements signed between Malabu and Federal Government and the requisite documents ceded, Shell on 24 May 2001, received the signed title deed of OPL 245 together with the co-ordinates of the licence area. “However, in approximately mid-June, reports appeared in the Nigerian press suggesting that notwithstanding the assurances Shell had received from Malabu and the results of its own due diligence – certain individuals whose names were not contained in any official records were claiming an interest in Malabu and/or OPL 245. In early July 2001, Shell received news that the FGN had withdrawn the allocation of OPL 245 to Malabu. The FGN’s revocation was a shock to Shell, as no explanation was given, but Shell continued to hope that Malabu (together with Shell’s assistance) could reverse the FGN’s revocation. Shell did all it could do to assist Malabu to reverse the FGN’s decision. On 25 March 2002, a Shell representative was suddenly and unexpectedly summoned to meet with President Obasanjo in Abuja the following day.  Chief Olusegun Obasanjo (the President of the FRN), Mr. Obaseki , Mr. Kayode Are (the Director General of the State Security Service), Mr. Funsho Kupolokun (Special Assistant to the President of the FRN on Petroleum Matters) and a representative from ExxonMobil were all present. At the meeting, the President of the FRN informed Shell and ExxonMobil that OPL 245 would not be returned to Malabu and that Shell and ExxonMobil would instead be invited to bid competitively not for the role of licence-holder (as Malabu had been) but rather for the role of Contractor for OPL 245 with NNPC holding the licence.”

Quite naturally Malabu kicked, accusing the federal government of breach of contract and Shell of underhand dealing. But with the award, Shell commenced operation to develop OPL 245, spending in the process, according to its figure, “over US$ 535.9 million” while exploration work had already resulted in two significant discoveries. But on 30 November 2006, there was yet another twist when the Federal Government again canceled Shell’s contract and re-awarded the block back to Malabu. With that, Shell took the case to international arbitration until it was finally resolved in July 2011. But has it really been finally resolved?

 With so much money involved and several contending interests (including Mohammed Abacha claiming he registered Malabu before Etete allegedly defrauded him), we have definitely not heard the last of the Malabu controversy. For sure, the case will drag on for years both in local and foreign courts, especially since Energy Venture Partners Limited (a British Virgin Island company) and International Legal Consulting Limited (a Russian company) have already joined legal issues with Malabu. Our security agencies should also be interested in the current investigation by the UK Proceeds of Crime Unit to ascertain if any of our officials was paid bribe following the consummation of the tripartite agreement. But as far as I am concerned, the critical issue to deal with is: How do we ensure it doesn’t happen again?

The Malabu controversy is coming at a period our oil and gas sector is seriously challenged on all fronts: from the massive oil theft that threatens the national budgets to the discovery of shale oil in the United States and now there are reports that our once-promising multi-billion dollar Olokola (OK) LNG project might end up another waste with the withdrawal of the foreign investors. What the foregoing indicates is that there is much to engage the attention of our lawmakers and other critical stakeholders so that we do not continue to repeat the mistakes of the past.

The OPL 245 deal which led to the payment of  $1.092 Billion to Malabu was the result of a systemic abuse of discretion in which an oil minister and his late boss, taking powers from military decrees, subtly allocated a fruitful oil block to themselves even though Etete has succeeded in playing a fast one on the Abacha family. But while Mohammed Abacha and Dan Etete can use their proxies to fight either in court or at the National Assembly, the core question in the Malabu deal lies in the process of awarding oil licenses and leases which is placed at the discretion of the Oil Minister or President. That is the critical issue we must deal with.

As things stand, the PIB merely transfers the powers of the Minister in the 1969 Petroleum Act to the President who can now grant licenses outside the bid round. So effectively, nothing has changed, and that is the problem. The President should not have such transactional powers which he/she could then easily delegate to the minister who acts on his/her behalf anyway. The lesson we must learn from Malabu’s OPL 245 is that NO ONE SHOULD HAVE discretionary power to grant leases outside a competitive and transparent bid round.

The economy is a reflection of a country’s development. If a country is doing well, it shows in its economy and if it is otherwise, it also shows. So, the economy is the pivot on which every other thing rests, especially the core elements of the economy, such as manufacturing, banking, finance and insurance, transport, oil and gas and human development.

Every nation strives for a productive economy and not a consuming economy because of its derivative benefits. In a productive economy, the per capital income is good and the people live well. A nation’s economy says a lot about it. Its strength and ‘’vulnerabilities’’, to borrow the word of the all – knowing Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo – Iweala, are the determinants of how well an economy is doing. How well is our economy doing?

Okonjo – Iweala answered this question in an interview in ThisDay on Sunday. Her answer : ‘’Our economy is strong, with vulnerabilities’’. Yes, we are all vulnerable in one way or the other; so in that wise, Madam Minister was not saying anything. What she should have told us in simple and plain language is either that the economy is doing well or it is not doing well. Rather than do that, she chose to talk from both sides of the mouth.

That same Sunday, the African Development Bank (AfDB), answered the same question and chose to shoot straight from the hip. Without mincing words like Okonjo – Iweala, AfDB said the Nigerian economy did not do well last year, quoting its African Economic Outlook (AEO) report. The government fought back swiftly, dismissing the report as ‘’false and political’’. Can AfDB play politics with such matters? What will be its gain in being political in a report that covers all countries on the continent?

Our government is alleging that AfDB was biased against it when statistics showed otherwise. The only basis on which it can sustain the bias argument is to prove that the statistics used is not correct. If the government cannot do that, the best it can do in the circumstance is to look through that report once again and see how it can work with it to improve the economy. There is no need to grandstand over this very serious issue if the government has the interest of the governed at heart. Even in the United States (US). which is far developed than Nigeria, the issue of the economy is taken seriously. This was why in 1992, former President Bill Clinton, who was then campaigning for office, focused on reviving the ailing American economy. The catch phrase of his campaign, coined by master strategist James Carville, was : ‘’It’s the economy, stupid’’. Till today, whether in America or any other country for that matter, it’s still the economy, stupid.

The AfDB as the continent’s leading financial institution owes it a duty to make its owner member – states to be alive to their responsibilities whenever their economies are not doing well. If it does not do that, it means that it is not doing its job. What then will be the essence of having the AfDB if it cannot comment on the economies of countries under its purview? If the government must know, the AfDB is not there to make life comfortable for countries on the continent whose economies are not doing fine. No, its job is not to praise sing governments, but to ensure that they do the right thing for their people by developing a robust economy. An economy can only become strong when it is properly managed and those at the helm are not stealing as some leaders are doing in Africa.

We are where we are today in Africa because of the thieves in power on the continent. Many of them know next to nothing about the economy, so they find the criticism of their economic policies hard to swallow. As I said, the AfDB was only doing its job by presenting its report on the African economy and a wise government will take a look at the document and make amends where necessary. It is not for the government to bellyache and impute motives to what the bank did. Despite the bank’s low rating of our economy, it noted that the future is bright if we do the right things. So, it was not condemnation all the way as government officials have been painting it. The AfDB noted that the economic growth last year did not translate into job creation and poverty alleviation, adding that unemployment rose from 21 percent in 2010 to 24 percent in 2011. ‘

The report said : ‘’The Nigerian economy slowed down from 7.4 % growth in 2011 to 6.6 % in 2012. The oil sector continues to drive the economy, with average growth of about 8 %, compared to -0.35 % for the non – oil sector. Agriculture and the oil and gas sector continue to dominate economic activities in Nigeria. The fiscal consolidation stance of the government has helped to contain fiscal deficit below 3.0 % of gross domestic product (GDP). This, coupled with the tight monetary policy stance of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), helped to keep inflation at around 12.0 % in 2012. Short and mid – term downside risks include security challenges arising from religious conflicts in some states, costs associated with flooding, slower global economic growth (particularly in the United States and China) and the sovereign debt crisis in the euro area.

The AfDB could not have done that because it is supposed to aid the growth of the same economy.

So, it refrained from throw

ing the baby away with the

bathwater in its assessment. Proffering the way out, it said : ‘’There is a high need to diversify the Nigerian economy into the non – oil sector. This will help expand the sources of growth and make it broad based, both socially and geographically. Further development of agriculture, manufacturing and services could broaden growth, create employment and reduce poverty’’.

Monday, Mr Labaran Maku, Information Minister, faulted the AfDB report, saying it was based on old data. ‘’The AfDB report based on 1996 – 2010 statistics is therefore behind time and does not reflect the real achievements/results of this administration in tackling poverty and unemployment in Nigeria in the last three years. This government has undertaken significant policy reforms targeted at addressing the challenges identified in the report. These policy interventions have contributed positively to turning things around beyond the picture painted in the report. Poverty is a national challenge that transcends the whole country cutting across party divides. In reality, the responsibility of fighting poverty does not rest solely with the Federal Government. States and local governments share in this responsibility too. Dealing with poverty as a partisan phenomenon will be trivialising the problem’’. This is the problem with our leaders. They view every criticism from the political prism.

They see nothing constructive in any criticism of their policies and actions. Their belief is that their political foes sponsor such criticisms against them. Unfortunately, this is the light in which the government is seeing the AfDB report. It is imputing political motive to the AfDB action. I will not be surprised if the government accuses the opposition of sponsoring the report instead of taking a critical look at it in order to make use of the salient findings therein. Will we ever grow if we continue to think like this? May God give us leaders with large hearts, who will not see every criticism as a ploy to bring them down. By the way, Mr Maku, where are the jobs?

Mr. Femi Fani Kayode’s sequel, “The bitter truth about the Igbo”, which appeared as a three-series article in The PUNCH earlier this week, did not disappoint in the least. We must remind ourselves that this article is part of Fani-Kayode’s efforts to prove that Lagos is Yoruba and that any claims to it by any other indigenous group is spurious. Part of his method was to trivialise the contributions of any other group to the development of Lagos, preferring to ascribe this development largely to the genius of the Yoruba. In an earlier response, I had sought to show that Fani-Kayode’s efforts in that direction were not successful. I showed that his claims and argument were neither grounded in history nor in economics, and that it was indeed so easy to puncture those claims.

The problem with Fani-Kayode’s concluding article on this issue is that it runs out of ideas and abandons the issue under review after the fourth paragraph and only returns to it in the last four paragraphs of the article. The contents of paragraph 5 (paragraph 5 begins “That single comment, made in that explosive and historic speech…”) up to the end of paragraph 13 are hardly relevant to the issue under discussion. Let us remind us what the main issue is using Fani-Kayode’s own words:

“Permit me to make my second and final contribution to the raging debate about Lagos, who owns it and the seemingly endless tensions that exist between the Igbo and the Yoruba. It is amazing how one or two of the numerous nationalities that make up Nigeria secretly wish that they were Yoruba and consistently lay claim to Lagos as being partly theirs.”

How relevant then is the diversion to the political history of the National Convention for Nigerians and the Cameroons, the 1966 coup, the Ironsi regime, the pogrom, the civil war to this issue of who owns Lagos and who has contributed to its development write-up? How does this advance the debate? How does this elucidate the key issues under discussion? I doubt very much that they do. What they certainly succeed in doing however is to rouse emotions, enflame tempers, to whip up sentiments. Even here, Fani-Kayode’s use of history is suspect, since his historiography is very selective. If anything, however, in the deployment of this elective historiography, he comes across as an apologist for the killings of the Igbo in the north and as an ethnic-driven revanchist historian out to even out scores with an imagined enemy. Revanchist and ethnicity-sodden historiography are poor and demeaning pursuits as the prisms of bitterness, revenge and ethnicity which come with them soon trap the historian, blur his vision, dull his criticality and destroy his objectivity and capacity for detached interpretation. The “history” we are thus presented in paragraphs 5 to 13 is replete with instances of these.

In succumbing to the appeals of this type of historiography, even if he was doing this as part of his ongoing efforts at rehabilitation with a view to regaining entry to his “tribe’s” confidence, Fani-Kayode does himself and his country a great disservice.  He does himself a disservice because he ends up with an article where more than 55 per cent of its contents (55 per cent again!) are of doubtful relevance to his declared purpose. And because he fails to identify what is relevant and what is not, he ends up saddling his article with major problems of cohesion and coherence. He does his country a disservice because he presents a history of a difficult part of her history that is deliberately flawed and skewed by his selective use of sources and by his uncritical interpretation of events and casting of persons – Ironsi is a coup plotter, Igbo indiscretion was responsible for the pogrom unleashed on them in the North, the Igbo provoked the civil war – all of which are examples of a flight from intellectual rigour, mono-causal analysis, faulty attribution and one dimensional thinking, and  all very painful, pernicious and debilitating ailments in persons they afflict. It bears repeating that good historiography is about balanced sources. To rely on sources that only support the case one is pushing pushes one away from doing history on to the slippery slopes of ethnic jingoism, “clan hagiography” and propagandising of the cheapest sort. This is what has happened in this article, and it is indeed a tragedy for Fani-Kayode.  I believe that this tragedy has arisen less from a fundamental lack of intelligence on his part but more from his allowing himself and his mind to be shackled and blinkered by bitterness.

 Fani-Kayode sets out hoping to write “the bitter truth” about one ethnic group and ends up clumsily splaying the reality and truth of his own bitterness in public for an amused world to behold and laugh at. As he navigates this current discomfort he has created for himself, he once again deserves our compassion and not our condemnation.

•Dr. Ihebuzor is a development specialist based in Tanzania

“Regrettably, Nigerian governments do not fund documentation and safeguarding. Government implements economic injunctions from the World Bank but neglects those on culture, which is the foundation of sustainable development and modernisation”

—Prof. Karin Barber 2013

 Have you read Prof. Femi Taiwo’s latest book: “Africa Must be Modern?” The question was put to me in a gentle whisper by G. G. Darah, Professor of Oral Literature and Folklore at last week’s Conference of the Nigerian Oral Literature Association held in Ibadan. At Darah’s beckoning, I sat next to him in one of the plenary sessions.  Sitting close to Darah and myself was renowned Kenyan academic and poet, Prof. Chris Wanjala, who in the course of his trip would later weep for Nigeria when he saw the desolation that had overtaken the National Arts Theatre, Iganmu since the FESTAC colloquium of 1977 when he last visited the country.

Answering Darah’s question, I said, “No, I haven’t but Taiwo mentioned the book to me in the course of our ecstatic reunion in my office at Lead City University last month.” Taiwo is one of Nigeria’s finest minds and Professor of Philosophy at Cornell University in New York. Of course, I needed no further prodding to grab a copy of the book at the earliest opportunity and to race through its brilliant, polemical, sometimes actively debatable contents for the next two days. It turned out that one of the most interesting sections of the book, at least for me, relates to the search for indigenous narratives and tropes on which to anchor our development experience and scholarship – one of the key themes of the Oral Literature conference.

Obviously, the matter of creating a knowledge society in Nigeria, and by implication, a modern one is related to emerging concerns about how knowledge generation, transmission and sharing are context bound activities.  In other words, folklore, cultural and linguistic diversities are increasingly viewed as central to and affect the architecture of knowledge systems.

Let us illustrate this with reference to the way in which farmers adopt or reject high yielding crop varieties introduced from the industrialised West.  A rural geographer and international development expert, Dr. Oluwayomi Atte, told the story once of how shocked some development experts were when farmers in a particular locale, unanimously opted for a local grain variety rather than an imported version which grew rapidly and boosted production.  Upon interrogation of the farmers on this apparently irrational behaviour, the experts were told that the farmers could put the local grain to a variety of culinary uses which the imported variety did not afford. The dialogue between the experts and the farmers resulted in the adoption of both varieties of grain, one for export and the other to cater for the different food tastes of the farmers.

This buttresses the point about different knowledge cultures in which in the words of one expert “knowledge is understood to gain meaning as a result of the way it is used in the context of interaction.”  This also provides the context for Taiwo’s critique of our universities as externally oriented to the extent that its workers are more inclined to ‘garnering honours from outside’ than producing knowledge that will impact on Nigerian on African problems.

A knowledge society is one which sets out to employ knowledge to ameliorate the human condition and one in which knowledge is prized as a principal resource both for its own sake and in problem solving capacities. We are, Taiwo insists, not developing knowledge communities constituted by expertise on Nigerian and African conditions; enriched by debates on local problems and developing policy competencies around indigenous puzzles. To illustrate his point, Taiwo refers to the insistence of our universities that the results of researches on local themes should be published in so-called “international journals” to be recognised.

He argues, first of all, that all international journals are local in their countries of origin.  There is also, he maintains an element of self-devaluation in appealing to experts’ validation in a context where most of these experts are not very informed about Africa.  Taiwo’s position, which must of course be weighed against the possibility of the rigging of internal evaluation criteria (“man know man”) is of more general application in our national life.

If Nigeria were a knowledge society, Taiwo says, the city of Ibadan, location of several momentous events in Nigerian history such as the assassination that preceded the second military coup of 1966 would have generated their own academic mini-industry.  Similarly, the activities of the charmed circle of writers and iconic artists such as Wole Soyinka, Ulli Beier, Chinua Achebe, J. P. Clark, Duro Ladipo, who at one point all flourished in Ibadan, would have produced several memorable studies.

In contrast to such expectations, Taiwo laments that, “Ibadan, as far as I know, does not even have a historical society, has no bodies for historical preservation; and hosts no archivist of its intellectual and material artefacts.” What is true of Ibadan, one of the largest cities on the continent is also true for the rest of the country and reflects just how much taste or attention we have for documentation, storage and retrieval.  Is it any wonder then that young Nigerians educated abroad, write with reverence about George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and other American founding fathers but know next to nothing about Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo or Ahmadu Bello?

Taiwo, like several eminent Nigerian academics, is in my view mistaken, however, when he sees the spreading embrace of Christianity as “a slide to ‘irrationality’ and the manifestations of a ‘virulently anti-knowledge society’”. Taiwo must know having lived in the United States for many years that the universities of Harvard, Yale and Princeton were founded by Christian ministers. Princeton’s motto, “Deisub nomine viget” (Under God she flourishes) underlines its Christian origins.  In Nigeria, the educational antecedents of Pastor E.A. Adeboye, Pastor W. F. Kumuyi, Bishop Matthew Kukah, Bishop David Oyedepo all of who not only have doctorate degrees but are in the main founders of universities speak to enlightening  auspices. What then is “irrational” or “anti-knowledge” about balanced Christianity?

Interestingly, Taiwo mentions the divorce between intellectuals based outside the universities and those in the Ivory Tower as an index of weak and incoherent knowledge system. I perfectly agree with him on this score and have often wondered why our Mass Communication departments have no need of the proven journalistic skills of the late Alade Odunewu, Tony Momoh, Mohamed Haruna, Dele Sobowale and Doyin Abiola among others? In Britain, star journalists are appointed to academic departments to ‘brand’ and legitimate the impartation of knowledge; whereas in Nigeria they are kept at arms’ length.

 What then is the way out? It should be noted that our prospects of successfully driving to a knowledge society is bound up with the emergence of visionary political leadership, which will implement policies that will make the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, for example, unnecessary; and which understands that a society that undervalues scholarship disqualifies itself from being a part of the emergent innovation-driven system of the global knowledge economy. Is anyone listening?

Nigerians are jolly captives, unwilling to extricate themselves from the stranglehold of political and military collaborators, who succeed in keeping them occupied on the periphery while feeding on the common purse. They pin their hopes on thugs, standing in proxy for their bickering paymasters, who clobber themselves in hallowed spaces and with sacred symbols. They line up behind men who do not wince at nepotism, but deploy their wives, daughters, and hangers-on into positions of power; they line up behind clay footed generals and unconscionable intellectuals who have the cravings of their belly and the cause of the people all mixed up; behind men and women who have the hopes of Nigeria’s 112million poor in their back pockets, imagining themselves on a march to change.

Few things capture our resignation and near powerlessness like the growing acceptance of the newly registered All Progressives Congress (APC). Make no mistake. I welcome the APC into Nigeria’s political space with tinged gladness, and I consider the argument for a strong alternative to the PDP and its purported benefits to our democracy to be within reason. However, a cursory examination of the characters that currently constitutes the APC, and will yet constitute it, exposes the hollowness our clamouring for change, and how much of a compromise we seem ready to make on the road to nowhere.

The whispers of young progressives infiltrating the APC, as some have done the PDP, and reforming it from within is naïve at best. Look to Mohammed Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and you can make a fairly accurate guess how that adventure would go.

A reformist faction made up of young mid-career professionals did emerge within the Brotherhood during the 1980s and 1990s. They argued for a pluralistic society, advocated an alternative view to the Brotherhood’s posture on Christian and women’s rights, and reached out to professionals, journalists and civil society activists.

But in the end, they failed to gain more than a seat or two in the Brotherhood’s executive council. For the old guard, who had the actual boots on the ground, these young Turks did not have the locus standi to challenge their authority. Some left the Brotherhood frustrated, others were expelled.  The plausibility of young reformers transforming parties controlled by elders set in their ways? Very unlikely.

So here we are. Caught between ‘evil’ and a lesser variation of it. Projecting our respective notions of change on recycled politicians pinning new logos on old habits. Effectively shut out of the negotiations and trade-offs, we cross fingers and hope the APC will throw up worthy candidates we can expend our energies on. What we have refused to do is confront our seeming inability to break away from the past and build a political organization from the ground up; what we have refused to do, permit the cliché, is take our destinies in our own hands.

 As 2015 approaches, two roads diverge in the wood; we can decide to take the pragmatic path of embracing the APC, warts and all, working with it to unseat the PDP and subsequently charting a better course, or we can take the long view, pool our strengths, and trudge down the arduous path of building an alternative political force, one in better consonance with the hopes and aspirations of the Nigerian people and one with the capacity and integrity to progressively actualize it.

Either or, we cannot afford to neglect the importance of closing ranks, deploying every tool within our arsenal, including the organizational capabilities of social media, to build an army of people with a sense of shared destiny. We’ll need this alternative political force to have any influence on the weighty decisions of the APC, if we choose to line up with it, and we’ll need it to give bones to the possibility of a new political party, that can make the dash for 2019, if we choose to take the road less travelled.

Whichever direction we go, we’ll need a third force with boots on the ground; one that truly captures the yearnings of the people, a break from the past, an embodiment of the future. So there it is, 2015, two roads in the wood, no prize for telling the one we would take.

Efe Paul Azino is a poet and writer. He lives in Lagos with his wife and daughter.

The Nigerian establishment does not seem to have regard for qualitative education of its citizens. If it did, both President Goodluck Jonathan and the Minister of Education, Prof. Ruquyyatu Rufa’i, would not be as tepid on the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities.

Nigeria is in a meltdown and if there is any fear that should keep Nigerians wide-awake in the night, it is not that 400,000 barrels of crude oil are being stolen daily; that this theft summed up to a hefty $10.9bn between 2009-2011 or, that a shortage of gunboats and fast-assault crafts were partly responsible for increased oil theft. It is because our future as a people is in a free fall with the decline in the quality of public education. No country can make anything of itself with a retrogressive education system.

Whenever lecturers go on endless countless strike actions, the government of the day hesitates to negotiate with them. It forgets that the strike is as a result of its failure to implement past agreements. The government signed an agreement with ASUU in 2009 and till date, only two of the nine demands have been met. In the midst of the latest pretext of finding a lasting solution to ASUU strikes, the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, dampened the ardour of everyone by stating on Tuesday that ASUU’s demands amount to N92bn and the Federal Government cannot meet it. Okonjo-Iweala’s excuse is that they need to streamline public expenditure. In 2011, Rufa’i claimed ASUU’s demands would cost N106bn and that they could not source the amount. Rather than trim a wasteful executive and a bloated legislature, they want to downsize education. Their negotiating start-offs are crooked since sincerity has never been the strong point of this government. Education seems an after-thought and that is why Nigeria is badly served.

In the midst of this commotion is the Minister of State for Education, Nyesom Wike, who is the opposite of Rufa’i. He is boiling hot, but not out of passion for education. Rather, he has found a larger calling in his home politics.

The Rivers State crisis, by the way, has become a soap opera of sorts. While President Goodluck Jonathan and his wife have been consistent in their exemplary Underworld Bosses roles, the governor, Rotimi Amaechi, has successfully played multiple parts. Amaechi has acted the victim, warrior, villain and currently, a victim all over again. Mrs. Patience Jonathan, with maternal condescension referred to Amaechi as her “son.” The son-governor, like a schoolboy before his school ma’am, asked mediators to plead with his “mother” to restore his security detail. Their tussle has resulted in the desecration of the legislature. It is quite nauseating to note their drama is more about self-aggrandisement than ideals.

Wike’s role in this drama is to play Jonathan’s Man Friday. In one of his narratives, Wike stated his annoyance with Amaechi was his disrespect for Jonathan; to welcome Jonathan to Rivers once, Amaechi brought only four commissioners to the airport. To the pageantry-minded Wike, it was to humiliate Jonathan and make him suffer. Pray, who thinks and talks like this in 2013? Precisely, why can’t Jonathan be welcomed with four commissioners? Is he suffering any form of handicap that he requires the entire state cabinet members as human crutches to find his way out of the airport? It is a cultural practice to stage elaborate welcomes but quite wasteful one. When people are consumed by their own VIP status, they need a village to drum their importance to them. It partly explains why African societies fail to progress. Unfortunately, men like Wike, who take umbrage when their egos are not sufficiently wound, propagate the culture.

The other question for Wike is, how does the number of people who meet –or, failed to meet — Jonathan at the airport affect education in Nigeria? How does his persistent fight against Amaechi on behalf of Jonathan do anything for the ASUU strike? How does it help the sorry state of primary and secondary education in Nigeria? What is his agenda for northern education now that Boko Haram has burnt down an estimated 800 schools in Borno State? How does his politics improve funding to Nigerian universities on a regular basis? When is he going to talk about the 2009 government agreement with ASUU and how soon they will resolve the deadlock? Did he read Prof. Daniel Saror’s interview on the state of universities in Nigeria? What is his response to the critique of the university system as have been persistently enunciated by intellectuals like Prof. Niyi Osundare?

Does it occur to him that when older academics throw up their hands in frustration that the universe has dropped out of Nigerian universities, younger academics and intellectuals need reassurance so that the system can continue? How does Nigeria plan to recruit from universities all over the world to boost universities back home? Do these things bother him at all or he is more concerned about doing the dirty laundry of the Jonathans-at-the-top? If I asked Wike what Nigeria’s 25-year plan for education is, would he have an answer at the tip of his fingers? Or, he is in Abuja just to get paid and build his career by making notice-me-monkey-jumps in front of Jonathan?

Let me at this point reiterate that I have no problems with Wike’s politics. It is his constitutional right to take whatever sides suit him. I have posited on this page before that I understand that times are hard and certain folk will have to play some bend-bend game to survive. I therefore do not begrudge Wike’s survivalist politics. Who knows, it might turn out to be his greatest contribution to democracy. It is a man’s prerogative to chase rats even when his house is burning. But when such a man is entrusted with public office, and a sensitive one such as education, his ears need to be pulled.

In one of his interviews, Wike said he was ready to resign because after two years, he has overstayed the life expectancy of his job. It is a statement that is uncomplimentary of his boss, President Jonathan, but I agree with him. In fact, he overstayed from his first day in that office. He should resign, go back to Rivers State and devote more time to measuring his manhood against that of Amaechi.

The statement issued by Reuben Abati the official spokesperson for the presidency on 11th of August 2013 criticizing the interim chairman of the APC for describing the Jonathan Government as a “kindergarten presidency”, is paltry, whining and falls in the category of world class political tantrums. In a most predictable fashion, the rabid nature of the reaction confirms the truth that Nigeria is being run by little minds and irritants. This kind of rascally mindset displayed by the minders of the Presidency continues to contribute greatly to the unraveling of a government spinning out of control.

Those of us opportune to have read the statement from the presidency now realize the office of the spokesman has shifted from being the mouthpiece of serious governance to that of the National Crybaby. Their statutory task, that of serious governance, they did not address at all. They insist on telling us what they should tell themselves.

Thus, their eagerness to assume the role of the country’s top complainant is predictable. Instead of trying to minimize opposition criticism by providing the nation with decent governance, their strategy is to complain that the opposition complains too much. The performance of government, upon which the great fate of the nation hangs, is immaterial to them. In fact, the nation and its multitudes be damned as far as they are concerned. Afterall, the same President on live television told Nigerians he does not give a Damn about some of the things that affects them.
They claim that Chairman Akande disrespected the office of the presidency with his remarks. In  truth, Akande was merely exercising his democratic rights to speak about the dire state of this government. Not only was he exercising his democratic rights, he had a moral duty to criticize this government for it is government in ruins, a stumbling, bumbling mash of self-seekers, opportunists and the myopic. What Akande said of them was mild compared to what the average person says of this government on a daily basis. If the office of the presidency is to respond to every harsh criticism levied at it, that office shall be a busy one. It will have to issue 150 million press statements aimed at almost every Nigerian, including half the members of the very inner circle of this very government. Nigerians are now used to the countless insulting press statements and reactions from the duo of Abati and Okupe.

They reacted so vehemently to the Akande statement for two reasons.  First, the truth hurts. Second, they are afraid of the APC and seek to intimidate it. However, they might as well stop on the second point.  With the fate of the nation at stake, the incompetent will not be able to intimidate into silence the committed.
Let us add two other important points. If they want people to honor the office of the presidency, they should practice what they preach. The people who most dishonor that office are those who currently occupy it. The way this entire government goes about its job embarrasses and burdens the nation. There is nothing important that they do right and nothing they somehow accidentally get right that is important. They are the party and government of partying and flashy public events. When it comes to policies for the people they grow tired and disappear from view.
Thus, why must the people, who are the bosses in a democracy, respect the elected public servant when it is clear that the person they elected does not respect them? Wisdom says that what is good for the goose is also good for the gander. In this instance, what the presidency feels is fair treatment of the public, the public has every right say it is also fair treatment for the presidency. Let the hired criers cry on. The average people are in their humble homes crying. Those who cause their suffering might as well join in. When the government starts implementing people oriented policies and tackle the problems that confront us as a nation, then we will rejoice and the criticism will cease.

Also, they need to understand the function of government.  Those now in charge of running government don’t even understand their role and proper limits. They should return to school. The response to the Akande statement should not have come from the presidency.  Bisi Akande is the leader of an opposition party, a partisan political figure. If they saw fit to reply, the response should have come from the PDP’s over-exercised mouth.
Those who run the highest office of our national government do seem like children who dropped and broke a glass then simply cry when someone points out what they have done. Instead of crying, they should clean the mess they made. Until Reuben and the Presidency he fanatically seeks to defend accept they owe Nigerians plenty of performance and explanation, they will continue to languish in immaturity, self-delusion  and hence rightly called a kindergarten government. The same right my brother Reuben Abati exercised in telling Akande off is what Akande also exercised in telling the President some bitter truth.  Akande has spoken for millions of Nigerians and it is well within his right.

I still recall how one of my sons behaved before going into kindergarten. He did not know how to share toys or food, threw tantrums whenever he failed to get his way or insulted his siblings or sulked when criticized. With years of parental effort at home, and intervention of handlers in nursery school, our son learnt the virtues of sharing, inclusion and getting along with those that he disagreed with. I guess this is the experience of many parents. I have always wondered what manner of person would resort to abuse, bigotry and division when his or her conduct and utterances are interrogated, instead of simply responding in civilized language. APC chairman Bisi Akande’s characterization of Jonathan as a  kindergarten president explained everything. And surrounded with equally parochial, morally-flexible handlers, one is bound to read the kind of falsehood that emanates from the likes of Reuben Abati from time to time.

It was Aeschylus, the ancient Greek dramatist who said, “In war, truth is the first casualty”. Thank God, despite the provocations of the Dokubos and the Clarks, Nigeria is not at war, but the presidency and presidential hangers-on have distorted democratic politics into some sort of warfare. President Goodluck Jonathan’s response to an interview I granted over the weekend is indicative that truth has become a casualty in his shoddy attempt to belittle the salient issues concerning Nigeria that I spoke about, and the weighty fact that the president is the promoter and apostle of ethnic and religious division of Nigeria, purely for political gains!

For the records, I was featured on Liberty Radio’s Guest of the Week where I spoke on a number of issues, including the fact that the proceeds from crude oil theft (as confirmed by the Bayelsa state governor, Seriake Dickson) were being used to procure arms to wage war on Nigeria in the event that Jonathan lost his re-election bid in 2015. I also stated that, “PDP has become a virus that is infecting and destroying the country because they are not doing anything productive. They have changed our politics into that of ethnicity and religion to divert attention from their incompetence, lack of capacity and looting of the treasury”.

Instead of addressing the issues I raised, presidential spokesman Reuben Abati chose to muddle the discussion and confuse the public. According to a report issued by Governance and Sustainable Initiatives Ltd., entitled Analysis and Lessons of the Current Geopolitical Distribution of Federal Appointments, the Jonathan administration is said to have favoured his home state of Bayelsa 200% times more than the next states with the highest federal representation – Delta, Edo and Anambra. If Jonathan is not playing the ethnic card, can he possibly explain to Nigerians why Bayelsa which has the smallest population in Nigeria and the fewest number of local government areas, has more than double the number of federal appointees measured by population and weight of responsibility than that of the next state, whilst the most populous states of Lagos and Kano were at the bottom of the representation ladder. What is the president’s response to that?

If President Jonathan is not playing ethnic politics, why was he quick to exonerate those he called “my people” in the aftermath of the October 1^st 2010 bombings in Abuja? Did Henry Okah, who was eventually convicted of the offence in South Africa, not reveal in court that he was contacted by a high-ranking official from the presidency who told him to implicate some northerners in the bombing?

A year later, after his highly divisive election, he told a delegation of the Ohaneze that he believed that the only votes he got from the North were from Igbo residents in the North. Are those the words of a patriot or an ethnic bigot? This was after an election where he received nearly 100 percent of all votes cast in the South South and South East states, in some cases getting more votes than there were registered voters or even residents. The presidency did not respond to these facts, but chose to distort the matter in order to sweep the issues under the carpet. It may interest the president to know that Nigerians are much wiser now and will not be deceived by the antics of a drowning president and his desperate aides.

The president, rather than responding intelligibly to my charge that Jonathan has a deliberately evil strategy of using religion to divide the country for electoral gains, decided it was story time, and proceeded to announce that the president also fasted along with Muslims. It may interest him to know that former president Olusegun Obasanjo also fasted while in office, but did not broadcast it for any political gain. Incidentally, fasting goes beyond abstaining from food and drink during daylight hours; it is an intrinsic spiritual contact between man and his Creator to strive for higher ideals including truthfulness, honesty and keeping promises. Which promise has Jonathan kept? Where is the integrity in this government? Where is the genuine fear of God when looting is the order of the day?

Nigeria, by the will of the people, is a secular state. But of all Nigerian leaders, no one except Jonathan makes policy proclamations from his place of worship. Perhaps, the irony is lost on the president, but not only is it religious politics to make policy statements before only a section of the populace, the implications of making those promises in the house of God, then refusing to fulfil them are serious. Are we not told not to take the name of the Lord in vain?

As testimony to the fact that truth has become a casualty in the presidency, Abati went beyond that and concocted a lie that I said Christians were behind the Church bombings that took place in Nigeria. I never said anything like that. All I wrote was that the late National Security Adviser to the president, Gen. Owoye Azazi, and a small group known to him, were behind the dastardly acts, and I pointed out the fact that the moment he was removed as NSA, the church bombings virtually stopped as mysteriously as they started. I would have expected the president to set up an independent panel to find out and tell Nigerians the truth about the horrific church bombings. Why the conspiracy of silence?

I am keen to know why the presidency chose to keep quite on my charge that President Jonathan is the godfather of the oil thieves. If that is not the case, how come oil theft jumped from about 100,000 barrels per day before his election to a staggering 400,000 per day now? Can Jonathan explain why he ordered the removal of recognised maritime security officials from the creeks and handed over pipelines and oil installations security to militants? In what country does a bank employ a former bank robber to guard its vaults? Is there not a grand strategy to ease oil theft and procure arms for the militants to use against their fatherland? Why is there no response to this issue?

In the interview, I mentioned that the vice president, Namadi Sambo left massive debts as governor of Kaduna state with little to show for it, the same attitude that permeates every facet of Jonathan’s government. Anyone in doubt should check with the Debt Management Office. Kaduna state has the second highest debt of all states in Nigeria, thanks to loans that Sambo pursued as governor for projects that no one can see on the ground. Kaduna is a short drive from Aso Rock, so Jonathan and his cohorts can take a quick drive to see things for themselves. Nothing beats personal experience.

One of the largest and longest ‘ongoing’ projects in Kaduna state is the Zaria Water Supply Project, which was awarded to Sambo’s company before he became governor. Though Zaria is his hometown, he did not complete the project as contractor despite payments, did not conclude it as governor despite his office and is today uncompleted, despite his position. Up until last week, most of Zaria does not have potable water, yet Sambo lists the award of a N7billion Government House contract among his achievements. Indications are that the final figure may reach N20billion before it is completed. Is that an achievement or an appropriate priority? Which 300-bed hospital did Sambo build in Kaduna State when the KASU Teaching Hospital is far from being a centre of excellence? The former governor has a penchant for confusing awarding contracts that remain forever “ongoing” with delivering public services to the citizens. How sad.

When the circle around Yar’Adua decided to play sit-tight, unconstitutional politics with his ill-health, we described their actions as that of a cabal and subjected them to public opprobrium. Whether the cabal existed as one unit or several cabals sometimes even working at cross-purposes is not the issue. We waged a war against saboteurs of our constitution through lawful means. Who is the primary beneficiary of that cabal narrative if not Jonathan?

I have had my differences with General Muhammadu Buhari, and that explains the context of my 2010 statement. Despite my strong views on issues, I do not suffer from the egotism that prevents reflection, reconsideration and the ability to adjust to new information. The general and I have moved on from those differences and we are working with like-minded compatriots to contribute to providing Nigeria the quality leadership it desperately needs. Those fixated on that to divide us are free to waste their energies.

As for Abati, I understand his problem. I will not bother to mention his writings in his previous incarnation where he thoroughly abused the president, his wife and others from whose dining table he now eats, on several occasions. Managing the public image of the inept and incompetent president that Jonathan has proved to be can be a demanding task. That task is further compounded when a medical doctor begins to angle in on the same job, especially as Jonathan has demonstrated clearly that he does not have any idea on how to tackle Nigeria’s massive unemployment challenges. So to keep his job and prove that he is more loyal, Abati thinks that the more he insults the president’s critics, the better he would look.

Unfortunately, he has a lot of people to insult, because his boss has nothing to offer Nigerians, which is why he is using ethnic and religious sentiments to play politics. A thinking president would know that stoking ethnicity and religious affiliation is not only unpatriotic, but dangerous in a country like Nigeria, but as desperate as he is to remain in office, nothing seems too low for this president. No wonder Chief Bisi Akande referred to him as a kindergarten president, while Lagos state governor called him a roadside mechanic that cannot be trusted with any vehicle. If only the presidency could hear the truth of what majority of Nigerians who feel betrayed by his agenda of deceit and corruption are saying!

To say that the security situation in the country is both tense and precarious, at the moment, is to beg the question. In recent times, there have been discoveries and interception of arms and ammunition in many parts of the country. This has raised fears and alarm in security and political circles over the real intention of the arms merchants.

While such incidents of arms smuggling is not limited to a particular geo-political zone, the preponderance of opinion is that the frequency of such discoveries all over the country, in recent times, has been on a geometric ascendancy. As a result of this, the level of intelligence shadowing and surveillance in the whole country by security agents has been on the increase. As insurgency remains a major toothache in the north-eastern part of the country, where a state of emergency still subsists, the growing cases of arms stockpile in the north-west states are said to be giving security analysts sleepless nights, especially as they look for clues about the motives of the masterminds of this arms stockpile.

In order to unravel the sudden surge in the trafficking menace across our numerous porous borders, security agencies in the country are said to be focusing on both local and external sources.  In the first instance, the importation of arms may likely be traceable to trans-national Islamist terrorists arming local jihadists as well as using Nigeria as a transit route in the Sahel arms and related smuggling trade. This line of thought dominated the minds of the top-shots of the country’s security agencies for some time until in the last few months when political motivation began to filter in. Although security agents are yet to find direct linkage between the arms stockpile and political gladiators, fears are rife that the ugly trend of politicking across the country could in fact snowball into obvious threats from key leaders who are increasingly getting desperate.

It will be recalled that the arms cache found in Kano is still a mystery despite the ongoing prosecution of the Lebanese allegedly involved in the whole saga. The security agencies are also said to be at a loss over the alleged connection between alleged Hezbollah Shiite agents and the Sunni-led Boko Haramists. Boko Haram is said to belong to the Sunni school of Islam, and therefore, finding a synergy between them and the Lebanese under trial over the arms cache is said to be proving very difficult. What the security agencies are believed to be zeroing on is the possibility that the Shiite group could have its own separate agenda for the country.

Consequently, the Kano arms discovery has thrown up many theories. One of them is the possibility of a non-religious involvement, with political undertone being the chief reason. This theory was said to have given added fillip after the Zamfara State government recently got its hands burnt in an arms importation imbroglio. Abdulaziz Yari, the state governor, had claimed that it wanted to arm vigilance groups in the state in view of recent rising incidence of violent robberies. However, the way and manner the state government imported the arms allegedly without police approval has since become a subject of investigation in Abuja. And understandably, this investigation is already attracting attention of people within the nation’s security circles.

Though the Zamfara State government has since justified its action on the need to combat criminal gangs operating freely in the state, keen watchers of the 2015 drama pointed out that arming vigilantes in the countdown to 2015 sent mixed signals. The belief is that, once Zamfara succeeds in this matter, other state governments will follow suit, leading to proliferation of arms in the country ahead of a potentially explosive electoral year in 2015.

However, while the controversy over Zamfara arms importation is yet to abate, a tanker filled with assorted arms and ammunition, whose source of importation is still unknown, was recently impounded between Kebbi-Zamfara axis. With hundreds of such tankers streaming into the country through remote border areas, fears are mounting that there may be a deliberate agenda by some unknown elements in the country to warehouse arms ahead of 2015 elections.

This is more worrisome because a few days after the arms-bearing tanker was impounded, another arms cache was discovered in the sleepy state of Jigawa, which led to an exchange of fire between security agencies and those described as Boko Haram insurgents. This assertion is astonishing, to say the least, because Jigawa has never once witnessed any Boko Haram attack since the insurgency reared its head in the northern part of the country many years ago. At any rate, the exchange of fire cannot stand in as explanation for the owners of the arms or those who masterminded their importation.

One thing is that, each time there is a security breach in some parts of the country, especially in the North, it has become convenient for security agents to heap the blame on Boko Haram. This situation is scary. We cannot say for sure that all these arms are imported by Islamists. We cannot prove that. We can also not prove that politicians are behind the menace for electoral purposes. All that is apparent is that there is an arms build-up across the country.

While the real motive behind this dangerous development is still baffling to security agencies who are probing deeper, Mike Oghiadohme, the Chief of Staff to the President, recently warned leaders and elders in the country against precipitating a civil war in the country through their actions and utterances. He warned such leaders and elders against plunging the nation into avoidable catastrophe, in furtherance of their individual or collective agenda. Analysts argue that Oghiadohme’s warning is a signal that the Presidency already has more facts over security situation, especially arms build-ups in the country, than it is willing to tell the public.

Arms build-up in the country has become a constant issue for discussion within the Nigerian military arena, which is battling insurgency in the North-East. Though the military has not ruled out any trace of political opportunism, suspicions are strong that the Islamists could be behind the development. The wider intelligence community, however, thinks differently. They feel political forces are neck-deep in the menace.

In a recent statement, Sagir Musa, a lieutenant-colonel and spokesman of the Joint Task Force in Borno, while confirming the rising incidence of arms proliferation, gave greater insight into the problem facing the North and the country as a whole.  Said he: “Nigeria’s borders are massive with hundreds of footpaths crisscrossing to neighbouring countries of Chad, Niger and Cameroun with links to Mali, Libya and Sudan.”  According to him, “from conservative estimate by locals, there are well over 250 footpaths from Damaturu/Maiduguri axis that link or lead directly to Cameroun, Chad or Niger. These paths, which are mostly unknown to security agencies, are unmanned, unprotected and have continued to serve as conveyor belts for arms and ammunition trafficking into Nigeria. It is disheartening and unfortunate that the merchants of death have since devised methods to beat security agencies at the borders, chief among them, through the footpaths.”

Musa explained that “the Libyan and Malian rebels are desperate to exchange arms for money to Boko Haram terrorists, their financiers and collaborators as the sect has since been affiliated to Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb.” This, according to him, “has added to the overwhelming challenge of the influx of illegal aliens, arms, ammunition and sophisticated IED materials into the country and an efficient and effective fight against terrorism.”

Whatever the case is, I believe the security agents still need to critically explore the political angle to all these discoveries. If need be, investigation could be extended to foreign soil. As the arms influx continues, the questions are: Is Nigeria fast becoming a Somalia? Who is preparing for war? Could the current flexing of muscles by political gladiators be a subtle declaration of war ahead of 2015? Perhaps, a thorough investigation by the security agencies would provide answers to these probing questions. Time will tell!

I have intentionally steered clear of the leave-township notice that the Lagos State Government recently served and executed on some Igbo residents of Anambra extraction, simply because there are so many gaps in the story.

Gov. Raji Fashola has told his side of the story, even though he was silent on the decision to do the transfer at night (or why such vulnerable persons would be left on their own, without being handed over to some other relevant authority), but I feel Peter Obi’s Anambra has not told us the full story of its involvement – what it did, and what it failed to do.

However, when people, who ordinarily should know better, begin to bandy figures and percentages that even a motor-park economist would be ashamed of appending his name to, one is forced to do a rethink.

For instance, I was dumbfounded when my very good friend, Femi Fani-Kayode, looked all of us in the face and declared that Igbos did not contribute anything to the development of Lagos. But, I guess, he was also responding to claims by Igbos in the social media that Igbos contributed 85 per cent of all the developments in Lagos. Where did all the statistics come from?

We have recently caught the bug of statistics in this country – especially since these World Bank and IMF people began to run things around here. Now, if we talk of inflation, they give us figures. Unemployment? They give us even more figures. Poverty? More figures. Hunger? Some more figures. Electricity? Figures still. Agriculture? Figures!  Each new set of figures, more impressive than the previous. It does not matter that we see neither the food, light nor employment. Of course, nobody bothers to ask where and how the figures were generated. Only recently, I stumbled on a document that put the population of Nigeria at 50 per cent Moslem, 40 per cent Christian and 10 per cent other religion. Some senior government official was using it to back up a proposal he was sending outside the country. It did not occur to him that there was no provision for capturing religion during the last census – in fact, one of the gaffes a section of the country holds against NPC chairman, Festus Odimegwu, today is that he said he would try to capture religion and ethnicity in the 2016 census. But that is a matter for another day.

So, when Joe Igbokwe, in defence of Fashola, said Igbos carried out 100 per cent of the kidnappings in Lagos, it was taking the statistics craze to ludicrous height. Expectedly, the Igbo lynch mob on the Internet came after him. But as they attacked Igbokwe, only two or three of them took time to present evidence to fault him. The rest, like Fani-Kayode, merely whipped up emotions.

It is the same emotions that have beclouded the facts of the recent deportations from Lagos. I’m sorry for using the word ‘deportation’ again. In fact, Fashola did not ‘deport’ Igbos from Lagos. He only ‘reintegrated them with their families at their family house at Upper Iweka, Onitsha. And as every Igbo person, who has ever visited Igboland would know, the ancestral home of all Anambra people is at Upper Iweka. If you doubt me, ask Fashola or Joe Igbokwe. Even Gov. Peter Obi knows this fact – although it might not be politically right for him to confirm it now.

If you also observe, I have refused to state the exact number of those deported. For I know, not even Fashola can categorically say he knows the figure – neither he, Peter Obi, Aka Ikenga, Joe Igbokwe, Fani-Kayode nor any member of the pro- and anti-Igbo lynch mob on the Internet was there at that ungodly hour when the deportees disembarked from the vehicle (or vehicles). Fashola may have signed for 14 persons, but that is no guarantee that the operations people shipped out only 14, and not 72, or 68, or 74. What makes the Lagos governor think that those who carried out his orders did not hide under the umbrella of his approval to swoop on their business rivals, troublesome tenants and neighbours or even young women who had rebuffed their love advances and shipped all of them out of Lagos? The only people who could give us an idea are either the driver or the passengers. Now, if many of the victims are mentally unstable, as we have been led to believe, it is not likely that whatever figures they give us would be reliable. In fact, I’d love to meet with the social worker at Majidun Welfare Centre, who interviewed all of them to ascertain their state of origin.

My only regret in all this is that the men I sent out to go interview the deportees to ascertain their residences and places of work in Lagos have yet to turn in anything. Yes, I actually want to confirm the alleged claim of some of them that they were picked up on the street, initially accused of wandering, clamped into detention, and then, finally branded as destitute and deported. At least, if they can give us the true picture of their status, then we can confront Fashola with the facts. And if they were indeed destitutes, we would still confront Fashola to ask him what he’d be doing with the other omo onile ‘destitutes’ in Mushin, Lagos Mainland. And those other ones who do not beg but simply extort traders and passersby. After that, there are still the fair-skinned ones from our neighbouring countries in the North, to which states would Fashola deport those ones?

But in all, something just does not seem to jell with this deportation and re-integration thing. When I raised it recently with a top state government official from one of the Northern States, he confessed that his state has a bigger problem with destitutes than even Lagos. But deportation has never figured in all their calculations. This is because the problem of ridding the streets of beggars and destitutes remains a time bomb – as the Lagos case is proving to be. For the official from the North, that is one sure way to lose election because the Islamic teachers would come after you. The reasoning is that if Islam encouraged you to give alms and you chased away beggars, who would you now give alms to? They would brand you anti-Islam. It does not matter that even in Saudi Arabia, there are notices everywhere, warning people not to beg around the holy places. Like two or three other Northern states, he said, his state is presently toying with the idea of erecting government-run homes where it hopes to send the destitutes to, on clearing them from the streets. As a stop-gap arrangement, however, those state governments currently pay a ‘welfare salary’ to all documented destitutes. Interestingly, all these states do not have a quarter of the revenue Lagos State makes monthly.

For me, therefore, deporting destitutes is a lazy man’s approach to the problem although some other states are now copying Fashola. It would not cost any state government a fortune to cater for destitutes within its boundaries. In fact, if we check properly, chances are that provision is annually made for this in the budgets. It is possible somebody is pocketing the money or it is diverted to take care of political thugs.

If Fashola had opted for this latter option, chances are that he would not have created this window for ethnic jingoists, political jobbers and all manner of opportunists to seek to now score cheap political point at his expense. He too, would not have cause to suddenly remember that any Igbo critic of the action is in arrears of any tax or levy and move against such person’s interest

Now, people would set up NGOs to allegedly fight the cause of the deportees but it would all be for selfish interest. The question that we should be asking all of them, however, is: If you loved this your brother so much, what did you do for him all these years he was roaming aimlessly on the streets of Lagos?

Yes, the deportation was wrong but that does not make Fashola an Igbo hater.

LASTLINE

I am not one of those who believe Lagos is a no-mans-land. It is insulting to the indigenes of Lagos to make such postulations.

However, I don’t believe any person or group that has as much stake as the Igbos have in Lagos should be treated as a second class citizen in such a place. I suspect this is the message that those who have been raising the battle cry over the deportations want to put across but have failed to properly articulate.

When a man becomes rich, he does not wish away his poorer relatives; instead, he looks for how to improve their lot.

It is common knowledge that the beautification project of the Babatunde Fashola Administration has led to the “deportation” of hundreds of the jetsam and the flotsam from Lagos State to their states of origin. The elite and the media have been celebrating the ban on “Okada” from the major roads and the removal of traders and area boys from the streets. For understandable reasons, most of the hundreds of thousands of poor people who have been displaced and dislodged in the operation “keep Lagos clean” are of the Yoruba extraction.

In fact, on April 9, 2009, when the Lagos State government “deported” 129 beggars of Oyo State origin and dumped them at Molete in Ibadan the Adebayo Alao-Akala regime alleged that the action was aimed at sabotaging his government. Just last week, some beggars of Osun State origin were also “deported” by the Lagos State government and dumped at Osogbo.

It is sad to note that most Nigerians never took cognisance of the war being waged by state governments against the poor and disadvantaged citizens in the urban renewal policy until the much-publicised case of the 14 beggars of Anambra State origin who were “deported” in Lagos and dumped in Onitsha about three weeks ago. In fact, it was the condemnation of the “deportation” by the Governor of Anambra State, Mr. Peter Obi, that drew the attention of the elite to the unfortunate development. However, in defence of its action, the Lagos State Government stated that it entered into an agreement with the Anambra State Government through its liaison office in Lagos on the controversial “deportation”.

Although the Anambra State government has not denied the allegation that it was privy to the “deportation” of the 14 beggars, it is on record that in December 2011, the Peter Obi administration had “deported” 29 beggars to their states of origin i.e. Akwa Ibom and Ebonyi States. Apart from such official hypocrisy, the Obi regime did not deem it fit to protest when the Abia State government purged its civil service of  “non-indigenes” in 2012. Many of the victims of the unjust policy who hail from Anambra State were left in the lurch.

In June 2011, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) government “deported” 129 beggars to their respective states of origin. In May 2013, hundreds of beggars were also removed from the streets and expelled from Abuja. Of course, it is common knowledge that the FCT authorities have continued to demolish residential houses without following due process in order to “restore the masterplan of Abuja” which was distorted through corruption and abuse of office. The majority of the victims of such illegal demolitions who are poor have been dislocated and forced out of FCT.

Last week, the Rivers State government removed 113 Nigerians from the streets of Port Harcourt and “deported” them to their states of origin. The Akwa Ibom State government has just contacted its Lagos counterpart of the planned “deportation” of two “mad” Lagosians roaming the streets of Uyo. Many other state governments are busy “deporting” beggars, mad men and other destitute in the on-going beautification of state capitals. Those who are defending the Igbo beggars out of sheer ethnic irredentism should be advised to examine the socio-economic implications of the anti-people’s urbanisation policy being implemented by the federal and state governments in the overall interests of the masses.

Since “deportation” has been resuscitated under the current political dispensation, it has become pertinent to examine the legal implications of the forcible “deportation” of a group of citizens on account of their impecunious status. Although street trading and begging have been banned in some states, it is submitted, without any fear of contradiction, that there is no existing law in Nigeria which has empowered the federal and state governments to “deport” any group of Nigerian citizens to their states of origin.

Accordingly, the forcible removal of beggars from their chosen abode and repatriation to their states of origin are illegal and unconstitutional as they violate the fundamental rights of such citizens enshrined in the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 as amended. In particular, “deportation” is an affront to the human rights of the beggars to dignity of their persons (Section 34), personal liberty (Section 35), freedom of movement (Section 41), and right of residence in any part of Nigeria (Section 43).

Furthermore, the “deportation” of beggars and other poor people by the federal and state governments is a repudiation of section 15 of the Constitution, which has imposed a duty on the state to promote national integration. Since the political objective of the state imposes a duty on the governments to “secure full residence rights for every citizen in all parts of the Federation” it is illegal to remove poor people from the streets of state capitals without providing them with alternative accommodation. By targeting beggars and the destitute and “deporting” them to their states of origin, the state governments involved are violating Section 42 of the Constitution, which has outlawed discrimination on the basis of place of birth or state of origin.

In so far as Article 2 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act (Cap A9) Laws of the Federation of Nigeria, 2004 has specifically banned discriminatory treatment on the ground of “social origin, fortune, birth or other status”, it is indefensible to subject any group of citizens to harassment on account of their economic status. An urban renewal policy that has provision for only the rich cannot be justified under Article 13 of the African Charter, which provides that every citizen shall have equal access to the public services of the country.

In the celebrated case of the Minister of Internal Affairs v. Alhaji Shugaba Abdulraham Darma (1982) 3 N.C.L.R. 915, the Court of Appeal upheld the verdict of the Borno State High Court which had held that the “deportation” of the respondent (Alhaji Shugaba) from Nigeria to Chad by the Federal Government constituted “a violation of his fundamental rights to personal liberty, privacy and freedom to move freely throughout Nigeria.” In the Director, State Security Service v. Olisa Agbakoba (1999) 3 NWLR (PT 595) 314 at 356 the Supreme Court reiterated that “It is not in dispute that the Constitution gives to the Nigerian citizen the right to move freely throughout Nigeria and to reside in any part thereof.”

Since “deportation” has denied the victims the fundamental right to move freely and reside in any state of their choice, it is illegal and unconstitutional. It is indubitably clear that the fundamental human rights guaranteed by the Constitution and the African Charter Act are not for the exclusive preserve of the bourgeoisie but for the enjoyment of all Nigerian citizens including beggars and other economically marginalised people. To that extent, no state governments has the power to “deport” or enter into agreements to repatriate any group of citizens to their states of origin.

It ought to be made clear to the managers of the neo-colonial state that there is no country which promotes social inequality that has successfully outlawed the poor from existence. This explains why beggars are found in large numbers on the streets of major cities and in the ghettos of the United States of America – the bastion of capitalism. The situation is bound to be worse in the periphery of capitalism like Nigeria where the poverty rate has reached an alarming proportion due to the failure of the state to provide for the welfare and security of the people, which is the primary purpose of government.

The federal and state governments should also be made to realise at all times that beggars are Nigerian citizens who lack money, food and other basic facilities to live decent lives. The authorities should stop stigmatising and harassing them and other citizens who have been pushed to a state of penury by the gross mismanagement of the economy by a selfish and short-sighted ruling class. A nation that complains of inadequate funds to establish a social security scheme for the majority of the people allowed a cartel of fuel importers to corner $16 billion while oil thieves stole crude oil worth $7 billion on the high seas in 2011 alone.

Yet the influential oil thieves and pirates are walking free on the streets of our state capitals without any official harassment. Others who engage in unprecedented corruption, fraud and other financial and economic crimes have never been “deported” to their states of origin. It is high time the government was restrained from holding the poor vicariously liable for the crisis of underdevelopment of the country. Therefore, part of the billions of naira being earmarked to build mega cities should be set aside for the rehabilitation of beggars and the destitute.

There is no doubt that Lagos State is put under severe pressure, from time to time, by millions of Nigerians who have been economically displaced in their own states of origin. But unlike its counterparts, the Lagos State government has devised effective strategies to compel the rich to pay taxes through their noses. In addition, the monthly statutory allocation of the state from the federation account is partly based on its population. In the circumstance, the Lagos State government should take from the rich to service the poor. As in the case of most of the “area boys” who have been productively engaged by the Fashola administration the Lagos State government should formulate programmes for the rehabilitation and resettlement of beggars and the other destitute to make them contribute to the economy of the state

In his inaugural address on January 20, 1961, the United States President, Mr. J.F. Kennedy, warned: “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich”. About 40 years later, those cautionary words resonated in the case of Hoffman v. South African Airways (2001) CHR 329 at 354 where Justice Ngcobo of the Constitutional Court of South Africa stated: “Our Constitution protects the weak, the marginalise, the socially outcast and the victims of prejudice and stereotyping. It is only when these groups are protected that we can be secured that our own rights are protected.”

With respect to the implementation of neo-liberal policies that have continued to pauperise our people, I am compelled to remind the ruling class in Nigeria of the plea made by the Late Dr. Akinola Aguda in 1985 that “our new perspective in law and justice must be such as to guarantee to each of our people food, drink, lodging, clothing, education and employment in addition to the rights guaranteed to him so far by our Constitution and our laws, so that justice may mean the same thing to everyone.”

Finally, since the “deporting” state governments have no immigration officials to police their borders, there is no assurance that the “deportees” will not find their way back to where they were “deported”. However, in view of the illegality of the “deportation” of poor people, the governments of the FCT and the respective states are advised to stop it without any further delay. If the practice is not discontinued, the “deporting” state governments should be prepared to defend their action in court sooner than later.

On Saturday, August 10, the Special Assistant on Media and Communication to the Minister of Power, Ms. Kande Daniel, issued a press statement on behalf of her boss to the effect that the total amount of electricity generated in Nigeria as of 6am on that day was 2,628.6 megawatts. This indicates a sharp drop from the peak of 4,517.6MW generated power as of December 23, 2012. The drop in generated electricity, according to the Minister of Power, Prof. Chinedu Nebo, is as a result of severe leaks in the supply of gas to some strategic power plants across the country. These leakages were ascribed to the activities of pipeline vandals. The minister went further to state that low head water elevation was also limiting generation at Kainji and Jebba hydro stations to one unit each.

I want to thank the minister for coming out clean to Nigerians on the parlous state of our electricity generation. If there is an albatross that the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan inherited, it is the power sector. The sector in spite of many years of reform and millions of dollars in investment has not been where it should be. Nigeria is in its 53 years of independence from colonial rule and a few months shy of its centennial celebration of its 1914 amalgamation of Northern and Southern Protectorates. Not even the much touted opening of new power generating plants across the country is heart-warming to Nigerians as these new thermal plants may face the extant problems of lack of gas and/or system collapse which have largely reversed the recent gains in power generation.

I am not ignorant of the various reform measures going on in the power sector but the annoying thing is the lack of sustainable progress in power generation, transmission and distribution. These three are still fraught with a lot of challenges. Not only has the power generation dipped due to the aforementioned problems, the transmission lines themselves are weak and cannot transmit the generated power. By far the most problematic aspect of the entire power reform exercise is the distribution companies which market the power transmitted.

Initially, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission told all who cared to listen that pre-paid meters would be given out “free of charge” to electricity consumers while the cost of that would be deducted from the customers every month. Later, due to scarcity (artificial and natural), NERC later came up with the Credited Advance Payment for Metering Implementation Scheme under which it, on May 14, 2013, registered 61 vendors and installers. According to NERC’s website, the “CAPMI was a response by the regulator to address the lingering issue of non-issuance of meters by the electricity companies. CAPMI allows for any interested and willing customer to advance money to their electricity distribution company and in return will be given electricity credit until the cost of the meter has been recovered by the customer.”

My inquiry from a couple of these registered vendors shows that the cost of a single phase meter is N25,000 and a three phase meter N50,000. However, an employee of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria has been asking me for between N37,000 and N40,000 for a single phase pre-paid meter. One vendor I spoke with said his company does not sell directly to individuals but to a utility company, which is the PHCN, which now sells to individual members of the public. Now, one is at the mercy of corrupt PHCN officials who deliberately make these meters scarce and try to force the old analogue meters on electricity consumers.

The greatest challenge is that with the scarcity of pre-paid meters which would have ensured that electricity consumers pay for only what they consume, the PHCN marketers, due to a revenue target given to them, indulge in issuing estimative bills better known as “crazy bills” to hapless consumers still using the analogue meters. Even in areas where electricity cables have turned to clothing lines and electricity transformers are mere relics due to unavailability of light, exorbitant bills are still being given to consumers. What can be more exploitative?

The NERC, according to information on its website, said, “It can be recalled that in 2011, a N2.9bn metering intervention fund was made available to the companies with a view to closing the unacceptable metering gap. One year after, no appreciable progress was made by the companies, and this compelled the NERC to demand performance reports from the DISCOs. Eight of the 12 DISCOs submitted reports that fell far short of the requirements of the NERC. The rest did not submit any report of how they spent the money.”

In a letter dated July 19, 2013, the NERC issued a 14-day ultimatum to electricity distribution companies that are in violation of its order to submit a list of all customers who paid for meters since January 2011, and commence metering them with immediate effect. The commission expressed its utter dismay that all DISCOs have been in complete violation of the order as it relates to customers who have made payments within the given time frame, and have not been identified for immediate metering.

According to NERC Chairman/CEO, Dr. Sam Amadi, “Any DISCO that does not comply with this new directive will be barred from collecting the new electricity tariff.” In addition, NERC threatened that failure to comply with the 14-day ultimatum could make it  institute enforcement procedures that may result in the removal of the Chief Executive Officer of any defaulting electricity distribution company. This ultimatum has elapsed, it remains to be seen if the NERC will wield the big stick on the erring DISCOS who currently operate with impunity; reaping where they did not sow and frittering away the nation’s resources; a whopping N2.9bn metering intervention fund.

Curiously, while the issue of metering remains largely unresolved, the Multi-Year Tariff Order for this year came into effect on June 1, thereby activating another increase in electricity tariff. The regulatory agency said, “In 2012, the NERC published the MYTO – a tariff plan that sets both wholesale and retail tariffs for the industry over a five-year period. This means that tariffs have already been set for every year starting from 2012 through to 2016. Effective June 1 of every year, a new tariff is to take effect.” In essence, whether there is electricity supplied or not, from 2012 to 2016, hapless Nigerian consumers will continue to pay more for electricity or darkness depending on the situation. This is the height of mistreatment!  The NERC may have set the MYTO to ensure that there is private sector attraction to invest in the power sector (cost recovery) but this should have been tied to improved productivity and accessibility of power to electricity consumers.

The consequence of deplorable public electricity is here with us. Nigeria has been tagged the country with the highest consumption of generators in Africa, nay the world. The import of this is that the much needed foreign exchange is spent importing these contraptions since they are not locally manufactured. The need for private generators has also caused considerable increase in the cost of doing business in Nigeria. There is an associated health hazard with this due to the noise and wider environmental pollution that these generators cause. Carbon dioxide fumes emitted from these generators have also caused many deaths to persons and families that do not know how to use them. The pollution from the generator emissions has also been contributing to ozone layer depletion and concomitantly, climate change. Should we continue this way, our attainment of 2015 Millennium Development Goals and Vision 20:2020 will be a mirage.

The latest circus of muscle-flexing over local government autonomy hardly comes as a surprise. If it seems an indication of how muddled our federalism has come to be in the hand of our slow-learning operators, it partly reflects the desperation in some quarters to perpetrate their retrogressive reign and anti-development agenda on the polity.

I don’t want to go into the matter of how our federal lawmakers came to read their manual on federalism upside down. That is not important; at least not now. Rather, of great interest to me is that the two chambers of the National Assembly have taken their positions on the raging debate of local government autonomy: one for, the other against.

The House of Representatives, persuaded that autonomy is the way to go, voted –according to the reports – overwhelmingly to give “full financial, administrative, executive and legislative autonomy to local government councils in Nigeria”.

In the Senate, a determined group of minority senators – 34 in number – used the filibuster to deny the pro- autonomy senators the needed 73 votes! And that on an issue that have the potentials of altering the terrain of our federal practice!

Should anyone therefore feign surprise that the division came that close? I don’t think anyone should. At least, not while everyone remains hung on the Niger Delta freebies and the rentier economy it promotes, and not when power is seen as an end an itself rather as an opportunity for service.

I think I understand the Lower House’ love for the fancy word “autonomy” a phrase increasingly used exclusively for the councils. It starts from their opinion of the 36 governors as the bad boys who need to be stopped forthwith from dipping itchy fingers into the councils’ tills. Where the idea came from, I do not know but suffice to say that the attitudes of some of the governors, who, often times carry on like the Lords of the Manor have simply not helped matters.

What could be wrong with councils insisting on taking control of their funds? I think there is a world of difference between being allowed to take charge of their affairs and the clamour to have council officials sit at table with their federal and states counterparts to share revenue from a common pool. How about blending the confounding three-tier federal arithmetic with the monthly conclave of 774+ 36+1 officials to share oil money in the name of autonomy? How does that square to the imperative to devolve more powers to the states?

And to what effect? More funds for council officials to buy those fancy toys that make them objects of adoration in those far flung communities after leaving just enough left to pay the bills of their bored staff?

What are the problems with our councils? I can number them in dozens. In the first place, I believe that the capabilities of our local councils are overstated. Majority are simply nowhere there yet, at least not as far as being agents of change and development is concerned. Take a trip to any of the rural local governments and you will be amazed at the number of absentee officials – officials on AWOL – men and women who only show up either when their wage is due or when there is something to share!

No doubt, there are few exceptions in notably, urban local government areas which for obvious reasons, have very little choice than to perform even if minimally. The truth is that the records of our local councils overall, have been dismal. That explains why nothing of development is going on, and why basic social services are not provided at that level. Fact is; majority are no more than mere outposts for sharing the federal freebie.

So how does the quest for “autonomy” cure what is fundamentally a structural problem? How does a monthly excursion to Abuja promote development or even lift the status of the local council? Will the craving to share in the wealth they did not help to create encourage responsible fiscal practice? Would it not produce alternate governors – officials who will consider themselves answerable to no one in the long run?

This is where I believe that those pushing the autonomy miss the argument. It starts with their inability or unwillingness to isolate the problem. Left to me, we should rather be discussing whether indeed the current local government structure has not outlived its usefulness. Imagine the chairman of a local government whose internally generated revenue would not even suffice to purchase the diesel needed to run its generators making a case for autonomy. What he means is that he needs a licence to live off the wealth created by others. True autonomy means living off your sweat. Has anyone ever queried any chairman for spending their internal revenues the way they deem fit?

I need to make one important point. I do not wish to suggest that the governors are entirely blameless in the mismanagement of our councils. Indeed, one of the problems is the absence of democracy at that level. The obverse side is that claims of meddlesomeness by the governors are often times exaggerated. The problems of the local governments are largely endogenous, hence my position that the prescription of autonomy is a wrong therapy to consider.

While fiscal federalism is yet a long way yet in practice, let the local governments make do with what they have. Yes, we need democracy at the grass roots; we also need development. Autonomy in the circumstance cannot be the end. The councils surely have a long way to prove that they are worthy of our trust. They are a long way from there.

A friend sometime ago narrated this story to me. It was a personal experience. It happened a long time ago when he was still a bachelor.

He had a girl friend who loved to party a lot which was in sharp contrast to his own quiet social life and this often strained their relationship. At one of such parties which as usual he was opposed to, she ran into a problem with a group of hoodlums who attempted to rape her. The matter eventually ended up at Oko Oba police station in Lagos.

Her friend who attended the same party with her ran home to inform him of what had just happened and together they headed to the police station. He introduced himself to the desk officer as the lady’s lover and demanded to know what actually happened. The officer told him she was arrested and brought to the station for disturbing public peace (fighting) and causing destruction to property at the venue of the party. The owner of the event centre where the party took place had lodged the complaint against her that necessitated her arrest.

My friend said he was confused as to what to do, but he sought the assistance of the officer to secure a bail for the lady. The officer not only obliged to help him, albeit at a fee, but handed over the statement of the original complainant in the case to him to go through and use the information to write his own statement accusing the first complainant of assault and such other similar offence(s) that some policemen have the capacity to cook up in an attempt to nail somebody.

Upon payment of the agreed fee, the statement of the original complainant was destroyed and my friend’s statement admitted as a complaint against the owners of the damaged property. So, the complainant suddenly became the accused and the lady was released. The rest is history.

I am sure this kind of story is not new in the Nigeria Police and not a few Nigerians will have similar stories to tell in their previous encounters with officers and men of the Nigeria Police. I am not saying this is the norm in the police but the recent case of one Sergeant Chris Omoleze who was caught on camera demanding a bribe of N25, 000 from a motorist over an alleged traffic offence has once again raised to the fore the issue of corruption and other vices in the Nigeria Police.

With the video of the event released to the public via YouTube, the Inspector General of Police Mohammed Abubakar acted swiftly by ordering the Lagos State Police Command to put the Sergeant on Orderly Room trial, which the Commissioner Umar Manko did, and within an hour or so, it was over. Sergeant Omoleze was dismissed and thus ended his 21 years in service, in disgrace. He also stands to be prosecuted for the offence by the police.

Good. It was about time the Police high command began to act and decisively too on some of its officers and men who have brought shame to the force as well as the nation. The IGP has promised that there would no longer be room for corruption and such vices in the police again. Bad behaviours he said would no longer be tolerated. Good also. But does he have the will to see through any house cleansing exercise that this his promise could entail? Yes, he does and can, according to those who know him well.

Ummmm, that’s good. May be he should go the whole hog and kick out the other Sergeant Omolezes still left in the police. And he could do this by beaming his searchlight on not just those at the lower rung of the ladder, but also on some of his commanders who are more than an embarrassment to the Nigeria Police. One of such is Mbu Joseph Mbu, the incumbent commissioner of Police, Rivers State Police command.

The story of Mbu Joseph Mbu we all know. But perhaps what is still baffling is why the man is still at the saddle in Port Harcourt as CP of the state police command, in spite of overwhelming public call for his removal. Not even the Senate or the House of Representatives is left in doubt about the need to relieve him of his appointment as Rivers state police boss. Yet the powers that be at the top are saying no, including the IGP.

No matter the professional competence of Mbu Joseph Mbu as a police officer as his friends would want us to believe, his integrity as a public officer has been called to question and in the public interest and for the sake of peace he should be removed as CP Rivers state.

I understand this was to be the case recently, but the ‘madam at the top’, who allegedly masterminded his posting to Rivers state command from Oyo State command in would have none of this. CP Mbu, sources say was to be redeployed on the orders of the President and Commander-In-Chief. In fact, he was billed to be redeployed to neighbouring Imo state as the Police boss while the man in Owerri was to cross the border to Port Harcourt and take over as CP. The ‘Oga patapata’ at the top was said to have given his orders to the IGP to do this and the man in Imo had been briefed. But somehow, the Imo state governor got wind of this and he allegedly protested.

As CP Mbu had seemingly turned toxic, no state governor wanted him in his domain and Governor Okorocha allegedly made his move to stop Mbu from coming to Owerri. The embattled CP got wind of his transfer as well and ran to Madam at the top in Abuja seeking cover. But since the order for the move seemingly came from above, the story had it that Mbu was to be taken to a lucrative beat as a form of soft landing and the Port Police Command was to be his next port of call.

The police hierarchy sources said kicked against this, the argument being that if Mbu is to be removed, those who sent him to Port Harcourt should remove him and once he is removed, he should be kicked out of the police and not redeployed.

But who sent him to Port Harcourt you might want to ask? It is a long story. As I heard, our First Lady had a hand in it. She felt strongly that the former CP was working for the state Governor Rotimi Amaechi and she wanted her own person as CP in her home state, so Mbu who had barely spent three months as CP in Oyo state was found ‘suitable’ for the task, and you’ll agree with me he has been doing a ‘good’ for Madam at the top. You know the rest of the story.

If this is exactly what is happening then IGP Abubakar must stand up and act truly as the Inspector General of Police. The rot, mess, corruption and all the other bad things happening in the Nigeria Police cannot and will not end until all the Sergeant Omolezes in the police including the likes of CP Mbu and other politicians in uniform are booted out. Not a few Nigerians have faith in IGP Abubakar; he should not disappoint the nation.

One of the most tragic aspects of Nigeria’s aborted promise is that too many Nigerians have now imbibed a terrible culture of low expectations. They look daily at the series of crises, bedeviling their country and they manage, somehow, to see something admirable.

It is sad to encounter this attitude in Nigerians, who have never traveled outside their country and who are, therefore, blind to the dramatically higher levels of efficiency in most other countries, including some of Nigeria’s neighbours on the western hump of Africa.

Lacking a reference point, these Nigerians may be forgiven for believing that the intolerable state of affairs in their country is a mirror of how things happen elsewhere in the world.

But it’s always a case of sheer exasperation when one comes across well-traveled Nigerians infected with the virus of low expectations. These world-wise Nigerians have no excuse.

They have been to other efficiently-run countries; they have seen other societies where institutions work fluidly and high quality services are expected and delivered; often, they function within these well-choreographed societies, helping to sustain a culture of excellence.

So, why do some of these “exposed” Nigerians nevertheless rush to rationalise, defend or excuse their country’s mediocrity and ghastly performance?

Visiting London last week, I was interviewed by Kayode Ogundamisi on his live political programme on BEN Television, “Politricks with KO.” The interview touched on the subject of presidential performance. I asserted that President Goodluck Jonathan, like Olusegun Obasanjo before him, had failed to deliver result-oriented leadership.

Soon after, two or three callers questioned my assessment. One, a resident of London, reeled off a few roads he alleged that the Jonathan administration was building. He, or another caller, reminded me that the president had set up new universities. They insisted that the president deserved praise for getting round to roads and the setting up of new universities.

Another, also resident in London, sought to remind me and viewers that Mr. Obasanjo’s presidency was marked by impressive feats, among them the payment of a huge chunk of Nigeria’s external debt and the husbanding of mobile telephony.

The sense of fervor in the two callers’ voices was sad to behold. If they had never been to a society where things worked, I would have understood their misplaced advocacy. I reminded them that no serious leader today would have the temerity to list the building of roads as one of his or her achievements.

The mayor of London, I argued, would be run out of the city if he ever tried to campaign on his road repair record. British citizens and residents take good roads for granted, which is as it should be.

On the matter of Mr. Jonathan’s new-fangled universities, it was enough to tell my interlocutor that the government had not lived up to its obligation to fund existing universities. What, then, was the sense in creating more?

Mr. Obasanjo’s payment of jumbo sums to Nigeria’s external creditors never struck me as an achievement – not when he made the payment and not in retrospect. A more visionary leader might have used all that cash to improve his country’s ghastly infrastructure.

Why transfer nearly $20 billion to creditors when Nigerians have no healthcare, no electric power, no dependable network of roads and no waste disposal system? Why hand over such princely sum when our public schools, from kindergartens to universities, are in heartrending shape?

Why invest in the Paris and London Clubs when the failure to address Nigeria’s electric power woes remain a huge impediment to Nigerian businesses, hampers economic enterprise and leaves hordes of Nigerian graduates unemployed?

What was the sense in serving the interests of external creditors – many of them complicit in the mismanagement of the loans they gave – when Nigeria’s climate of insecurity gets worse by the day? In short, why hasten to pay the foreign Peter and Paul whilst neglecting the plight of the Nigerian Musa, Okoye and Adebayo?

One of the callers to BEN Television scolded me for the sin of holding a Nigerian president to the same expectations I would apply to President Barack Obama. Nigeria was not America, he stated. It was, on the face of it, a salient point but it was also a deeply troubling point. Here’s why.

Nigeria is in such dire straits that it is in more desperate need than America (or Britain, Norway, Germany) for tested, committed leaders. In other words, Nigerians need a leader with vision, energy, passion and drive far more urgently than do Americans.

And there are Nigerians, who have the intellectual acumen, vision and leadership skills to stand toe to toe with the best leaders anywhere in the world. For some reason, however, the Nigerian state is rigged by and for mediocrities.

Here’s another slice of the argument. Many Nigerians are quick to contend that it’s unfair to demand American-grade performance for Nigerian public officials. But the same Nigerians are hardly ever outraged at the outlandish payments and perks enjoyed by their officials.

Consider this fact: Each member of Nigeria’s House of Representatives hauls away enough cash in a year to pay Mr. Obama’s salary several times over. In fact, many local government chairmen take home enough cash to make Mr. Obama – whose salary is $440,000 a year – look, by comparison, like a chump.

It baffles that some Nigerians are at peace with the lavish payments to Nigerian public office holders, from municipal officials to the president. Yet, these same Nigerians raise their hackles the moment a critic demands that our obscenely remunerated officials demonstrate a semblance of engagement. It boils down to that disease of low expectations.

Given how much money Nigerian officials are paid – to say nothing of the additional sums they steal – why is it out of place to hold them to the highest levels of expectation? If they’re in the highest paid league, what’s wrong with insisting that their performance be Messi-like?

Nigerians, who have never had the privilege of traveling to other parts of the world – and who, therefore, have never seen the fruits of true leadership – deserve our patience when they mistake the substandard roads most Nigerian governments build as evidence of sagacious leadership. As one caller to BEN Television noted, many Nigerians are so dehumanized that they praise governors for paying salaries!

The greater tragedy – absolutely inexcusable – is when those who have seen the world, who ought to know better, embrace the culture of low (even no) expectations. In the end, as I tried to tell the viewers of “Politricks with KO,” Nigeria – on such indices as healthcare, education and social services – Lagos many countries with significantly less resources.

Countries like Ghana, Uganda, Jamaica, South Africa, Botswana and the Philippines are way ahead of Nigeria where it counts. Part of the reason is this: Nigeria is cursed with “leaders”, who intone that they’re “moving the nation forward.” But they neither know what “forward” means nor how to move in its direction.

 Please follow me on twitter @ okeyndibe 

I have tried not to write this since APC was registered. However several commentators on the new political party won’t allow me suppress the need to make some remarks.  PDP has ruled Nigeria since 1999 and majority of citizens have complained about lack of significant change in the country.  The progressives through some form of alliances have tried as much as possible to seize power at the centre but have not succeeded. Sensing we are close to the brink and the possibility of being counted on the wrong size of history because of greed and selfishness, they started early and worked out a merger in a historical fashion against popular expectation

After all this, what we hear is GMB was a dictator, Tinubu is a thief, Ikimi is an Abacha apologists etc. My role is not to answer for then but ask that, when Pat Utomi and his people founded ADC did you join? When KOWA Party came with the support of Fola Adeola and other professionals, how many of us picked a form and supported their quest? The truth is even if the Pope floats a party today in Nigeria, some people with their cynical minds will still do nothing.

Developed societies rest on the active nature of their citizens in the processes that contribute to nation building from the grassroots. How many of us are responsible in our local communities? How many are members or play active roles in our community development associations or contribute to the growth of the area we live in Abuja, Lagos, Akure, Owerri, Zaria, Enugu, Maiduguri, Ibadan etc. It is fashionable to jump on social networks and talk about some utopian society we dreamt/read about or saw on our last trip to a foreign land but we are not ready to get down and work it out here. We crave the oratory and seeming perfection of Obama and the US general elections but we failed to dig deeper to see that even Obama is far from being a Saint and that millions of US citizens worked their ass out in various communities as voter educators, social mobilizers, campaigners, party members, election monitors, community workers etc to make things work and make it look good for us to view on CNN,BBC and the likes.

How on earth do we believe that once we remove GMB, Tinubu, Anenih, Tukur etc from the scene all our problems will be solved? And who on earth told you those people will leave the scene of their own? We have to come to terms with the fact that politics by its nature attracts people of different shades of character and you have to devise a way of working with them, just ask Pastor Tunde Bakare. Political parties have a way of devising how to put their best people forward when they know there is a viable alternative around the corner that will challenge them. Ever wonder how the SDP system threw up MKO Abiola despite the fact that the PDM guys held sway? Forget how good MKO Abiola was, the truth is that the fear of NRC is the beginning of wisdom.

Those who will vote at party national convention in 2015 are already attending ward and local government meetings now. If you have an inclination for party politics, join APC, PDP, APGA etc and let the good people crowd the space from the Ward to local government to state and national level and quit this cynical comments on social media. It is high time we occupied our sphere in the political landscape and start building enduring systems, structures and institutions that will stand the test of time and eventually move up away from the era of one-man powered political associations.  We are not where we want to be, yet the stages we are going through now are crucial for our eventual greatness as a nation and we all need to cherish and be optimistic about it. God Bless Nigeria.

@BosunAdedokun

In August 2002, a paper titled, “A liberalised foreign exchange market: A proposal for a liberalized forex market in Nigeria  and its economic benefits”, by Boyo/Ojomaikre (www.lesleba.com/olp.pdf), was presented to the National Economic Intelligence Committee, then headed by Prof. Ibrahim Ayagi, an economist, and one time managing director of a now defunct merchant bank.

Several months thereafter, without a feedback, we alerted NEIC that we had also forwarded the same paper by courier mail to critical stakeholders, including President Olusegun Obasanjo, the incumbent minister of finance and the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor.

Ultimately, NEIC responded in its mail of March 25, 2003 as follows: “The NEIC notes that you have already contacted Mr. President and the Governor of the Central Bank on the same subject matter.  This development forecloses further consideration of your proposal by the Committee until Mr. President concludes his consultation on the matter.”

Subsequently, copies of our paper were distributed by courier to some state governors and as well as critical stakeholders in the public and private sectors.

Sadly, after listening to us, the Economic Officer sent by the Manufacturers’ Association of Nigeria to discuss our paper, concluded that: “In view of the existing structure of the MAN Council, our paper may ultimately be discovered after 20 or 30 years thence on a dusty shelf to become recognised as the simple but evasive solution to our seemingly intractable economic challenges”.  Well, 11 years thereafter, that gentleman’s statement was apparently prophetic, as successive economic management teams have adamantly pursued monetary and fiscal strategies, which clearly make our people poorer, especially when we earn increasing dollar revenue!

Curiously, there has been no serious contention to the validity of our advocacy in any serious media since 2002!  I concede that there are occasional obtuse comments like why anyone should think that there can be a one-cure solution to our economic problems. In reality, however, our advocacy for a reformed payments system targets the need to enhance the quality and volume of the required “oxygen” for improving our economic and social welfare.  Instructively, the complex interrelated organs of our human bodies are useless without the free oxygen we breathe; similarly, the fate of our complex economy is also related to the quality of our monetary policy strategy, particularly its policy instrument of interest rate.

Indeed, some experts, including the CBN Governor, have argued that inadequate power and other infrastructure, as well as corruption are critical reasons for our comatose economy. Superficially, this may seem so, but you cannot diminish the significance of cost and availability of funds as the universal drivers of any economy.

Thus, a quarter of one per cent movement in a country’s Monetary Policy Rate will sympathetically instigate expansion or contraction of economic activities across the board in successful economies.  Consequently, interest rate provides a critical competitive edge in both domestic and international trade.  For example, it may still be cheaper to bring agricultural exports from “faraway” Japan with its prevailing below one per cent interest rate for agriculture, than to grow similar items locally in Nigeria, where cost of funds to agriculture, when available, would cumulatively exceed double digits, plus the additional cost of provision of own infrastructure i.e. power, water, roads, etc., which also have to be funded with commercial cost of funds above 20 per cent!

Consequently, a high monetary policy control rate of 12 per cent compared to one to two per cent in successful economies will lead to contraction in economic activities and consumer demand, and ultimately reduce available job opportunities.

However, our advocacy for reforming the payments system with dollar certificates for dollar revenue recognises that the constant cause of high cost of funds is the excess naira unleashed into the market whenever the CBN captures the nation’s dollar revenue and substitutes naira as monthly allocations to beneficiaries.

The queer implication of this obnoxious practice was recently corroborated by the CBN Governor, Lamido Sanusi, when, belatedly, he also surprisingly admitted that the constant spectre of excess cash in the system stampedes government into keeping billions of free naira in the banks, only to turn back and borrow hundreds of billions of that money at between 13 – 14 per cent. Worse still, more of such high cost borrowed funds, have for decades, been simply kept idle in the CBN vaults and account records in spite of rising national debt!!

This odious practice also funds the pool of surplus cash that sustains extensive corruption and which enriched our banking moguls over the years, while simultaneously crowding out the real sector from access to credit at enabling rates of interest, despite the attendant negative consequences for employment opportunities. In addition, such a monetary strategy also clearly exerts negative pressure on the naira value and promotes capital flight.  Consequently, the more dollars we earn as a country, the greater is the money supply in the system and the greater also will be government’s debts and repayment charges. Ultimately, the weaker also will be the naira, as bloated  naira sums chase rationed dollar supplies, and reduce the purchasing power of all income earners. Surprisingly, however, in spite of this attendant economic oppression, the CBN’s dollar reserves will conversely balloon and will ultimately be inexplicably invested in other countries’ economies for minimal returns.

Evidently, a weaker naira increases fuel subsidy; thus, instead of the prospect of additional revenue of a per litre sales tax on fuel prices, as in some oil producing countries like the United Kingdom and United States, we will continue to waste trillions of naira on unnecessary payment of fuel subsidy annually, for as long as the CBN continues with the existing perverse payment system.

Deductively also, a weak exchange rate will inevitably induce rising subsidy values in fixing acceptable power sector tariffs and this factor will definitely threaten or delay the success of the sector’s privatisation.  Besides, the ever-present threat of systemic surplus money will fuel double-digit inflation rates, particularly in our food basket, and this will continue to contract consumer demand and purchasing power, and ultimately deepen poverty nationwide, as high unemployment rate persists.

Indeed, any attempt to resolve our economic malaise without recognising the impact of our current disenabling payments systems may be akin to a simplistic focus on a skin wart in the face of a ravaging leprosy.

In conclusion, if the MAN Economic Officer’s above “prophetic” observation that it would take 20 to 30 years thence for our advocacy for a restructured payment system to be admitted as correct materialises, then we may, painfully, expect that a minimum of another 10 years may elapse before our economy is liberated from its self-fabricated shackles.  Heaven help us!

Billions, no longer millions at which eyes used to pop and for which a distinguished FEDECO Chairman said he would have collapsed, now reads like pennies in PDP’s corruption odyssey.

Corruption in Nigeria diverts financial resources from building roads, and bridges, curtailing the development of infrastructure that is needed to make Nigeria more competitive. It drains the federal treasury of funds that could do wonders in expanding and improving the education provided to millions of Nigerian children which, in turn, would enhance Nigeria’s economic future. Corruption forestalls additional spending on medical clinics and preventive health-care spending that countless studies have shown reap long-term economic rewards for a country when properly implemented. In short, corruption is a scourge that undermines virtually everything that could move Nigeria towards a brighter economic future.’ – Jeffrey Hawkins -U.S Consul-General

For its frailties, which I define as inherent moral turpitude leading to inability to resist evil, top of which is corruption, of both material and the entire Nigerian governmental apparatus, the Peoples Democratic Party ought to have been dead a thousand times and more. That the party, consisting of an amalgam of those elder statesman Tunji Braithwaite described as ‘rats and cockroaches’ during the Second Republic, is still alive and kicking is due, not to the patronage and racketeers which cohere it, but the in-explainable inability of the opposition political parties to have massed against it when that was the earnest wishes of a majority of Nigerians.

One thing that needs be emphasised from the very beginning is that this has little or nothing to do with the person of President Jonathan, a decent gentleman, as corruption is ingrained in the party’s DNA. Nobody within PDP today can tame it. It currently has very experienced octogenarians at its policy-making levels which should ordinarily translate to a more nuanced party management but what do we have? As the Yoruba would say:’kaka ki ewe agbon de, lile lo nle si’, meaning that, rather than the coconut leaf getting softer, it’s getting tougher by the day. Corruption has become the party’s raison d’etre and this manifests in every segment of our national life.

The Nigerian Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), under the lead of a very forthright Nigerian attorney, Ledum Mitee who, but for God’s mercy, would have long been consumed by the forebears of these roaches, has again presented its Audit Reports in compliance with the requirement of the global Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) covering the period 2009-2011.

It reeks of nothing but corruption. And as is usual, the culpable government agencies, NNPC and PPRA, the latter in particular, have been fighting to the death to salvage what remains of their integrity coming on the heels of the massive oil subsidy scam in which scions of PDP leaders turned out the major culprits. Meanwhile, as has become the norm, both the EFCC and the judiciary are playing poker over that serious matter such that by the time they came up with their slaps on the wrist, Nigerians, weighed down by their daily gruelling toils, would have forgotten all about it.

The report covered physical and process issues that characterise business activities in the industry with a view to establishing if companies actually paid what they were expected to pay and if government indeed received what it ought to receive. The report recommends that the NNPC should: ·’settle domestic crude liability of N842.7 billion adhere to due process in accessing subsidy deductions out of crude oil proceeds;. carry out a comprehensive documentation system of the records and reconciliation of volumes and value of PSCs and Carry transactions; design a system that suitably controls gas income to the Federation; confirm remittance of $3.789billion (dividends from NLNG) to the Federation Account; strengthen controls over product importation and distribution and specify a unique methodology for managing crude sales during a Trial Marketing Period’.

It should be noted that some of the above, where they are not direct thefts, are wonky systems put in place to facilitate stealing from the national treasury. PPRA is to remit N4.423 billion to the Federation Account for the period in review; a report which Reginald Ibe, its Executive Secretary, as should be expected, has disputed as if Nigerians do not know that agency enough.

As is now well known, the PDP, for purposes of 2015, will never have the political will to deal appropriately with these well documented acts of non-transparency. As with the pension fund and the humongous oil subsidy fraud, so shall it be with the NEITI Audited Report.

Nor is corruption the only issue APC should leverage on to send PDP to where it rightly belongs in historical infamy.

The other day I laughed my heart out at the spectacle of our dear President at the wheel of a Land Rover besotted by a swooning array of well decorated PDP women in a scene so reminiscent of Mr Bode George’s court days. A few questions immediately crossed my mind about this ‘Sagamu road-show’, as my brother, and colleague columnist, Dr Jide Oluwajuyitan, has described it: Don’t these otherwise innocent women know that their zone of the party has long been forgotten by the powers that be in Abuja? I also wondered what became of then President Obasanjo’s no less imaginative ‘road show’ as he flagged off the Ibadan-Ilorin road as Baba Adedibu held court in Ibadan and elsewhere? Is the road now completed a decade after? Then I remembered the delectable and hard-working Mrs. Deizani Alison-Madueke then of the Works Ministry who, overcome by her lachrymal glands, cried like a baby whose milk was snatched, bemoaning the sorry state of the Ore-Benin Road post N300Bllion.

Honestly, in ‘Mummy land’ – apologies music impresario Lagbaja, I think our ‘mumu e don do.’

Worse though is the fact that nothing suggests,given PDP’s track record, that the Lagos-Ibadan Express Way project will ever be competed even if it rules for its chimerical 60 years. I quote Oluwajuyitan, again,to buttress this view point. Wrote Jide in his column in The Nation of Thursday , August 8: ‘The Presidential Projects Assessment Committee (PPAC), set up in March 2011 to look into cases of abandoned federal government projects claimed that there were 11,886 abandoned projects that will cost an estimated N778 trillion to complete…’ More interesting is the fact that many of these abandoned projects are located within the really favoured territories of the PDP , namely: the 400 metre long Utor bridge along Asaba-Ebu-Uromi road awarded in 2006, the 36 kilometre Bodo-Bonny road in Rivers state, awarded in 2002, the abandoned 285 NNDC projects not to mention the never- never East-West road which has not only pitted the Rivers State governor against the Niger Delta Affairs Minister but has ensured that foot soldiers have already been conscripted in Burutu, Warri, Ughelli, Ozoro and Asaba, in what should be the mother of all wars between respected Chief Edwin Clark and his son,the wannabe governor, Godsday Orubebe, two unmatchable supporters of Mr President.

If all these are happening in the President’s geo-political zone, I do not think the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway stands a ghost of a chance of completion. After all,morning, they say, shows the day, and we already saw enough ruckus on that road. What that expansive ceremony and project would most probably achieve will be easy campaign funds, nor would that be the first time.

If the above are material and measurable damages to our common wealth, the PDP had also ensured they damaged Nigeria so morally that an international pariah like Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean owner, could, with a wave of the hand, reject the African Union’s appointment of PDP’s one-time Chairman, Board of Trustees, and Nigeria’s, unarguably, most remarkable living statesman -Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, to lead its observer team to that country’s recent election. Mugabe did not have to think twice – no thanks to PDP’s record of ignominious election charades.

The above are obviously only a small fraction of the multitude of PDP’s infractions which the new party should adroitly exploit in getting rid of PDP; a party which inner peace has long deserted as there is no moral authority within it any longer. Billions, no longer millions at which eyes used to pop and for which a distinguished FEDECO Chairman said he would have collapsed, now reads like pennies in PDP’s corruption odyssey.

APC leaders, officials, members and Nigerians in general, must rise up like one man/woman, as has been elegantly canvassed by Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila,leader of opposition in the House of Representatives, and take ownership of this party which is destined to re brand Nigeria.

Political scientists are always preoccupied with the issue of succession. Incidentally, this is not a challenge associated with constitutional governments alone. Even in the old primitive tribal societies of kings and priests, there were always questions about what would happen after one ruler or how he could be replaced.

In his book, “Succession of Kings”, for instance, Sir James Frazer recounted a story from the ancient Congo: “The people of Congo believed that if their Pontiff were to die, the world would perish and the earth, which he alone sustained by his power and merit would immediately be annihilated. Accordingly, when he fell ill and seemed likely to die, his prospective successor entered his house with a rope or club and strangled or bludgeoned him to death.”

You could argue that the practice was barbaric in that the people tended to nudge fate in a predetermined direction but it was nonetheless one way of resolving the issue. In modern constitutionalism, however, this problem appeared to have been settled with the codification of a set of rules and procedures on how people are to get to power and how they can be replaced. The essence of the constitutional method though is that it tended to expand the space for reasoned elaboration. That perhaps explains the idea of multi-party system, which affords the electorate the opportunity to choose between a set of alternatives.

It is within the foregoing context that one should view the recent registration by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of the All Progressive Congress (APC) which is set to effectively challenge the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2015 general elections. In the last 14 years of our democracy, we have had presidential elections with predictable outcomes because of the dominance of the PDP and the fragmentation of the opposition political parties. That then explains the excitement of Nigerians about the formation of the APC, notwithstanding the misgivings that many may have about its promoters and their anti-democratic inclinations.

Personally, I am excited about the prospect of the APC because I spent my year as a Fellow at the Weathehead Centre for International Affairs, Harvard University, between 2010 and 2011 interrogating the issue of incumbent presidential elections in Africa. (http://programs.wcfia.harvard.edu/files/fellows/files/paper_adeniyi_final.pdf). My conclusion was that the narrative of elections on the continent is that of a process which presents little or no risk of defeat for the incumbent. “It is my contention that defeating the ruling party/incumbent in Africa would require the creation of strategic coalitions of political parties in which personal ambitions are sacrificed for group goals”, I argued. I then added: “While elections are indeed more transparent when the incumbent leader is not on the ballot-either by reason of death or expiration of tenure- it will take the formation of a broad coalition of opposition political parties to expect victory against a sitting African president seeking re-election.”

Now I want to see how relevant my thesis will be to our local environment. Because if the APC leaders can put their acts together, then we may indeed have a proper presidential contest in 2015. And that, I believe, can only help to strengthen our democracy.

President Goodluck Jonathan is not a Muslim but he participates in the annual Ramadan fast religiously. As a tradition, he also invites dignitaries to join him in breaking the fast in the evening. Some of his regular visitors on such occasions are members of the diplomatic corps in Nigeria.

During the week however, a newspaper came up with a report that former military dictator, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (retd.), turned down Jonathan’s request for him to break his fast with the gap-toothed former leader in his Minna Hilltop mansion.

The report, no doubt, rattled the President and his handlers so much that they had to issue a rejoinder denouncing the story. They went a step further to demand for an apology and retraction from the newspaper.

They however got more than they expected when the newspaper published the following day that it stood by its earlier story. Despite the Presidency’s explanation that it is not in the character of Jonathan to leave the premises of the seat of power in order to go and break his fast with a private citizen, the publishers said they were not convinced.

While the President’s media men were still considering their next line of action however, the military dictator fondly referred to as the evil genius, also came out to say that there was no iota of truth in the report.

In fact, he said he would jump at any opportunity to eat with even his Ward Councillor without equivocation, let alone the President of the Federal Republic.

I suspect strongly that the news report might have emanated from the comment of the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Anthony Anenih, during a reception organised to mark his 80th birthday at the International Conference Centre, Abuja on Sunday.

 Anenih, while soliciting support for Jonathan in steering the ship of the country, had said that he would return home and sleep a happy man anytime he enters the Villa and he is told that Jonathan, Babangida, former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former military leader, Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar are eating together inside.

Celebrating Sambo’s birthday in his absence

Last week Friday, President Goodluck Jonathan summoned an emergency meeting of the Federal Executive Council. Because FEC’s statutory meetings always hold on Wednesdays, there was anxiety among some of the ministers that the emergency meeting might have been summoned to announce a cabinet reshuffle.

As it later turned out, the agenda of the meeting was far from cabinet reshuffle. The meeting was convened to discuss the nation’s 2014-2016 medium-term fiscal framework.

Despite the anxiety that preceded the meeting, cabinet members did not forget to remember one of their own, Vice President Namadi Sambo, whose 59th birthday coincided with the emergency meeting. They really planned big for him. I guess as at the time they were preparing, many of them did not envisage that the birthday boy would not be at the meeting.

Some individuals, mostly politicians, also doled out some cash to place congratulatory advertorials in some national newspapers for the Vice President.

Sambo had left the shores of the country the previous night to take part in the lesser Hajj in Saudi Arabia. He returned to the country on Tuesday evening.

Apparently not aware that the Vice President would not attend the emergency meeting, cabinet members took turn to sign a giant birthday card meant for Sambo as they arrived the venue of the meeting.

Minister of Housing, Lands and Urban Development, Ama Pepple, coordinated the exercise. The giant card was placed on her desk as she called members to come and sign.

It finally dawned on them that Sambo would not attend the meeting when Jonathan arrived the venue without the Vice President behind him as the usual practice. They however handed over the card to the Deputy Chief of Staff for onward presentation to the Vice President.

A number of special cakes were also made that saw each minister leaving the venue after the meeting with one big cake each. Minister of Information, Mr. Labaran Maku, was magnanimous enough to hand over his own to journalists before he started the post-meeting press briefing.

Our country is in the news these days often for the wrong reasons. Nigeria is a country devastated by poverty, insecurity, corruption and terrorism. The governance challenges are immense, while much of public policies now deliver poor outcomes. The budgeting process is a fictographic art, featuring much drama and a growing disconnect from the imperatives of development and the needs of the majority. True to that tradition, the 2013 budget is by August still a matter of unsettled contention between the executive and legislative branches of government. In spite of this, the nation’s savings account – the Excess Crude Account is being rapidly drawn down, probably unlawfully, such that it is likely to fall from about $11bn in February to zero by October 2013!

Yet this sorry impasse, governmental incompetence and impunity do not define Nigeria. Our diverse peoples are an energetic, often optimistic lot trying to build our lives despite the trammels imposed by governmental incompetence and paralysis. Ours is Africa’s largest country and second largest economy. It could easily be the continent’s largest economy and market if a congruence should emerge between politics, government action and national aspirations.

Such congruence was in the works from 2004-2007, when a variety of reform measures began to improve government finances, shrink the participation of the state in business by privatizing many state-owned enterprises, create a modern national identity system, strengthen the banking system and getting the ports to be more efficient. Our nation was even poised to launch a national mortgage system to reverse its embarrassing 17 million units housing deficit. A series of gas-based thermal plants were contracted to improve the patchy electric power generation levels. For the first time, a coherent roadmap for a potential boom in the solid mineral sector emerged alongside efforts to reduce the cost of governance through right-sizing and monetization of fringe benefits. The personnel cost of the entire executive arm of the federal government was about N600bn, while the maximum running cost of 469 members of the national assembly used to be less than N50bn annually. The pay-as-you-go pension system was reformed and transitional roadmap to a fully-funded contributory pension scheme legislated.

The success of our foreign debt relief campaign reflected the international community’s confidence in the soundness of the economic programme then being feverishly pursued. Nigeria did not suddenly become an Eldorado. But it was clearly beginning to get to grips with its problems using solutions that were pragmatic and largely market driven; propelled by a vision that the government should provide the infrastructure, security and the guaranty of law and order that can give people confidence to invest, grow and unleash their talents.

The vision of that Obasanjo administration was to make this the last generation to merely speak of Nigeria’s potentials. We were determined to realize those potentials, confident that we had the talents to create wealth from the vast natural and human resource endowments of the country, leveraging the energies of its young people and latent assets in the Diaspora.

Why then the stasis since late 2007? We will attempt an explanation.

Political power must always be tied to national purpose. The inheritors of power post-2007 were strangers to that conception, and did not feel obliged to uphold the reforms they inherited, and where they did, did not demonstrate sufficient political will to see them through. Even conceding to the ever changing dynamics of life, the broad thrust of the programmes our governments need to implement is obvious: the 2004-2007 reforms are unfinished. They should constitute a new starting point for development- focused governance and the agenda for the next government.

Perhaps that will be the single agenda item for the All Progressives Congress in post-Jonathanian Nigeria, as it is clear that the current leadership is unwilling to proceed on that road less travelled. We will nevertheless outline what obviously needs doing. It is not rocket science but requires a competent team led by a president that has been tested and transparently honest. The next president must possess unquestionable personal integrity, character and will, propelled by the anger to change our currently-unacceptable conditions – qualities that appear to be in great deficit in the current leadership across the board not only at the top but even at the levels of ministries, departments and agencies.

On a macroeconomic level, the government has to both shrink and become more efficient. The public service is in many ways unfit for purpose, with a mismatch between the skills required and the excess personnel it carries. A set of incentives needs to be arranged to once again make the public service an attractive career for our most talented. Certain sectors of the service also need to grow. Nigeria needs more police officers, health workers, teachers and judges and the infrastructure to support them. But the share of national income consumed by government has to reduce. The monetization policy has to be revisited and strictly implemented so that securing a public service job, or getting elected to a post stops being a license to live like a monarch, well above the austere circumstances of ordinary Nigerians.

The expense on human capital has to both grow and be more efficiently allocated. The failure rates in the final secondary level exams show that we are not equipping our youth with the skills needed for the 21st century. Our tertiary education is also mired in mediocrity, and the emergence of private universities merely glosses over, rather than addressing the problem. Access to basic healthcare is also problematic, and we continue to record scandalous rates of maternal and infant mortality. The vote of no confidence in the healthcare system is seen not merely in the N4 billion Nigerians spent in 2010 on medical tourism, but also in the fact that the government makes provisions to send its top officials abroad for healthcare services.

Spending priorities and the allocation of resources have to be calibrated to reflect the urgent necessity to build infrastructure and capacity in Nigeria. The personnel and overhead cost of governments should no longer dominate budgeting; which must begin to prioritize about 70% of budgets for capital expenditure in national and subnational appropriation acts. Having a healthy and well-educated population that is able to compete in today’s global village is more important than the perks that seem to occupy and distract many public officers.

The abandoned efforts at developing a national mortgage system should be revived to create a source of sustainable, long-term financing and a basis for a veritable housing revolution. This would help create better planned neighborhoods in addition to the civic pride, social stability and sense of security that home ownership fosters.

Unleashing entrepreneurial energy also requires that strong regulatory competencies be developed across the board. As our banking system so notoriously demonstrated, effective supervision and enforcement of rules and regulations are critical to the overall performance of the nation’s economy.  The culture of corruption and impunity must be confronted no matter whose oxen are gored. The ambivalent and highly politicized efforts to tackle insecurity and terrorism must be reassessed and redesigned, and then implemented with all seriousness to end the  kidnapping, crude oil theft, armed robberies and the Boko haram insurgency that plague our country. The commendable clean-up of the judiciary initiated by the current illustrious Chief Justice must be intensified and sustained.

None of these is easy but we have little choice if our 170 million people are to have a future. If we continue to make at least 6 million babies per annum, by 2050 Nigeria will be amongst the three most populous nations on earth. We have a duty to do what is necessary to avoid short-term anarchy or sate failure in the medium term when the oil prices are driven down by discoveries all over Africa, and improvement in fracking technologies producing more and more shale oil and gas in Europe and the Americas. We have only a small window to get things right, and we can. Indeed, we must!

When we do, Nigeria has room for an economic explosion, a revolution in development with tectonic consequences for Africa and the Black Race. While we concede that even today, enterprising investors can still make money from the chaos that is the Nigerian economy given the reservoirs of unmet needs across many sectors, real progress that creates jobs and opportunities on a sustainable basis are possible only within the framework of leadership qualities and policies described above. But all these depend on getting the politics right by ensuring we have clean elections between now and 2015. Anything sort of that is sounding the death knell of Nigeria’s progress, and Africa’s emancipation, and that will be very sad indeed.

“The president is right. Nigerian leaders should stop playing ethnic politics. Yes, we started as a nation of nations. But we accepted even if reluctantly the imposition of one-nation status and we have lived together as such for almost a hundred years. Damn it, we are celebrating our centennial next year. So what’s wrong with our people? When will they stop speaking in tongues and embrace WAZOBIA?”

“Welcome, Mr. WAZOBIA and Mr. President’s comrade-in-arms. But I have two questions for you. First, are you aware of the philosophical jargon “Ought implies can?” You must, since you are a philosopher. Second, and this is for you as a surrogate of the president in this matter: Did Mr. President look in the mirror?”

Opalaba will never stop shocking me. Even when I was certain that I knew my good friend and would vouch for him, he had always surprised me. This time, I had simply presented a case for President Jonathan’s latest insight thinking that it was something Opalaba shared in view of his claim to a cosmopolitan lifestyle.

“Ought implies can? Yes, of course; but what has it got to do with this matter? I asked my friend. To suggest that I ought to do something implies or presupposes or assumes that I can do it. So you may not insist on an ethical obligation for me to jump over a 12ft fence because I simply cannot. How is that related to the presidential injunction to fellow Nigerians to stop playing ethnic politics? Do you imply that Nigerians cannot but play ethnic politics?”

“Yes, and I stand by that claim, obviously to your disappointment because you and Mr. President are idealists. But I don’t trust you. Indeed, I see a tongue-in-cheek scenario when anyone makes that kind of claim, knowing fully well in my mind that behind every such claim there is an agenda.Surely, the President and his aides have always come up with his image as father of the nation. And a father has to bring all of his children together. But the same aides don’t shy away from throwing jingoistic bombshell when it suits them. Hence my second question: Does the President look in the mirror? Does he realize that the pest that assails the vegetable of unity is inside?” Opalaba concludes.

“Prove it!” I challenged my friend.

“Of course, you would feign ignorance as if you don’t follow the news. When Ijaw militants vowed to end Nigeria as we know it unless Mr. President is allowed a second term, where were you? When elder statesman Edwin Clark claimed Goodluck as his son and challenged the North, where were you? And for the sake of everything that is decent and honorable, where was the Presidency? Did you hear a rebuke?

“Sure, I followed those exchanges,” I answered Opalaba.” But as you also know, there is no smoke without fire. And Ijaw militants or elder statesmen didn’t start the raucous atmosphere that ensued. They were reacting to the demeaning nature of contemporary Nigerian politics, one that appears to favor majority. And you are also aware that as it is in national politics, so it is in state and local politics. Minorities feel marginalized. In the case of the south-south, they are asserting their right to have one of their own at the center in recognition of their status as stakeholders in the Nigerian project. Is there something wrong with that? I asked my friend.

“Nothing is wrong. Indeed, you just made my point because as I would go on to show, it is also natural.

“There are two important elements of ethnic identity, especially in the context of post-colonial African states. First is the natural tendency for language, especially mother tongue, to unite and divide. We had an opportunity at the dawn of independence to use our mother tongues to unite through the auspices of a language policy that would have ensured that from elementary to secondary school, Nigerian languages were compulsory. We chose not to. We not only embraced English as our national language, we also encourage the study of other foreign languages. Yet mother tongues remain the only mode of communication in our local communities and states, uniting speakers and separating them from non-speakers. We cannot avoid ethnic politics as long as we embrace linguistic diversity.

“Second, while we embraced the so-called world religions and abandoned traditional religions for good, we have also managed in our own ways to ethnicize Islam and Christianity. So we speak falsely of Christian South and Islamic North and this is what has entered our political attitude. A national candidate from the North is expected to be a Muslim while his or her counterpart from the South is expected to be a Christian. This stereotypical attitude to politics has been with us for as long as the beginning of the republic and we deem it natural. Where then is the urge to jettison ethnic politics?”

Opalaba went on.

“What is particularly troubling to me in the case of President Jonathan is how he failed to exploit the national goodwill that he enjoyed at the beginning of his term. First, it was the will of the nation that he assumed office as Acting President. Those that are now vilified as ethnic jingoists were the fighters that rallied on his behalf. They were nationalists at that time. There was a national outrage when it appeared that he was not going to get the nomination of his party on account of a zoning formula. And when he finally got the ticket, he appeared to have a nationwide mandate, though rigging took place in a number of states. What this showed was that in spite of the tendency to ethnicize, Nigerians were willing to look, not at the sound of the tongue, but at the content of the character. And the question is, how has that victory been managed?

“When the same voters complained of leadership vacuum in the matter of dealing with insecurity and unemployment, what has been the response? Now that there is palpable dissatisfaction with the state of the nation, our people are accused of playing ethnic politics. And you want me to go along with that judgment?”

“Minority parties in the National Assembly showed tremendous courage and sound judgment when they voted for House Officers on the basis, not of their ethnic origin, but of their conscience prompted by their judgment about who can better do the job. The Nigerian Governors’ Forum voted to reelect their Chairman on the basis of their judgment of his performance and the fact that they did not appreciate external influence on the affairs of the forum. Where was ethnic politics in that event? It would appear that those external forces that expected the Northern Governors to vote as a block deserved the accusation of ethnic politics, and there were good indications that they were acting on behalf of the Presidency. So can the kettle really justifiably demean the blackness of the pot?”

“I would go further,” Opalaba continued. I am tired of being preached to about national unity. Politics is about interests. John Locke got it right better than your favorite political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. We come to the political table with our various interests. Those interests don’t get left behind as we enter the doors of the state or national assembly. Otherwise, we would not be treated to rancorous debates about “what my people deserve.” Birds of the same political feather flock together in pursuit of their interests. Against our idealistic tendency to castigate and criminalize ethnicity, we must be aware of its behind-the-scene appeal as it colors deliberations which are supposedly in the national interest. Ethnic politics is not the enemy; deceptive embrace of national politics is.”

Thus Opalaba ended his unsolicited lecture. And as God Old Cicero would say: Oro pesi je.”

There are over 200 million illicit drugs users globally, 28 million of which are based across the African continent. It’s a business with a global market net worth of $322 billion, with African market posing a huge value of $46 billion. Illicit drugs can be described as drugs which are under international control (and which may or may not have licit medical purposes) but which are produced, trafficked and/or consumed illicitly. Such drugs ranges from those produced or processed from natural plant products such as opium, morphine, cannabis and heroin. There are also the synthetically produced ones – the amphetamines, as well as the psychoactive pharmaceutical drugs that become illicit as a result of being diverted from licit uses or purposes. In combination, these drugs have dwarfed licit drugs markets like cigarette, tea and coffee. Only the market for alcohol outstrips that of illicit drugs in Africa. Drugs are a source of widespread harm for African youth (a population that constitute the bulk of African human resources), and their problematic consumption is a cause of social harm. Africa has historically held a peripheral role in the transnational illicit drug trade, but in recent years, has increasingly become a ‘sitio’ for drug trafficking.

Africa’s emergence as a trafficking nexus appears to have resulted from structural shifts in international drug trafficking pattern; which include pressure from international counter-narcotics driving drug traffickers away from international routes, and the operational allure for traffickers in Countries with low levels of law enforcement capacity, weak boarders and high rates of corruption, phenomenon too peculiar with many African Countries. Transnational organized crime and drug trafficking is of growing concern, and particularly illicit trade’s broad impact on development. Few, if any, countries are exempt. A thought many African Countries harbored to be out of sync with the reality.

Drugs and crime undermine development by eroding social and human capital. This degrades quality of life and can force skilled workers to leave, while the direct impacts of victimization, as well as fear of crime, may impede the development of those that remain. By limiting development, crime negate access to possible employment and educational opportunities, and it encourages the accumulation of wealth at all cost. Crime is also more expensive for poor people in poor countries, and disadvantaged household may struggle to come with the shock of victimization. Drugs and crime also drives away businesses. Both foreign and domestic investors see crime as a sign of social instability, in addition to driven up cost of doing businesses. Drugs and crime, moreover, undermine the ability of the state to promote development by destroying trust relationship between the people and the state, negating democracy and confidence in the criminal justice system. When people lose confidence in the criminal justice system, their next point of call is, naturally, vigilantism; a malignant manifestation of state failure.

The routing of cocaine through West Africa to Europe has sparked a nascent crack epidemic. From Guinea to Ghana, addicts have taken drugs over the last few years. In Guinea Bissau, it’s estimated that 20 – 30% of the youths are active users. The rapid increase in crack use is driven in part by its low cost, ranging from 80 cent a hit in Guinea to $2 in Ghana. In Nigeria, amphetamine production has reached an all time high, with the uncovering of a production laboratory as pointer, and potentially signalling the emergence of a destructive new epidemics. The African drug crime rate records are, Infact, supportive of the rising claim. With two people from Uganda on death row in China, over 600 South Africans in different prisons abroad, and only recently, a Nigerian was sentenced in Malaysia, all but due to drugs related issues. The rise in contents is much disturbing to any sane brained African. A decade ago, national net weight contents stood at 159kg in Egypt, 8.5kg in Kenya, 104kg in Nigeria, and 7.9kg in Tanzania. As of 2010, it’s 234kg in Egypt, 35kg in Kenya, 202kg in Nigeria and 191kg in Tanzania. As of today, the exponential rise is absolutely scary. A shift in consumption is unsurprising, and in many ways unavoidable. The dynamic economic growth has led, in the words of the world bank, to the “fastest growing middle class in the world.” The emergence of a dynamic middle class in Africa promises to make the continent a prime market for a host of goods – it’s nearly unavoidable that globally popular narcotics such as cocaine and heroin will be amongst them. It’s obvious that today’s peace and security may be transitory. An increase in drug use coupled with increasing incomes promises to make Africa’s drug market much lucrative. It’s highly likely that gangs, similar to those seen in Mexico, Columbia and other Latin/north American drug nexus will emerge and seek to control drug retail markets across the continent. With the un-nuanced crime riddled in Southern Africa and narcotics assisted insurgency in Western Africa – Mali and Nigeria, as instructive. In both, high levels of criminal violence have accompanied the maturation of retail drug markets. In some countries, drugs related violence has surpassed levels previously seen during civil wars. There’s no reason to think African countries are immune from such violence.

It’s particularly important to point out here that Africa’s drug market emergence was never an ephemeral one, yet, Africa’s power mongers never correlate its detrimental impact on sustainable developments. In their book titled : Africa and the war on drugs, Neil Carrier and Gernst Klantschnig pointed that ” the criminalization of narcotics progressed during the independence era, even while new types of narcotics gained popularity.” Regrettably, the war on drugs in Africa is at its lowest repression, an initiative driven by Western interests. The trafficking routes emerge with sterling rapidity, states alternatively demonize and then decriminalize different drugs, while fickle consumers spur the development of narcotics overnight. Few public health services are available for addicts, and where available, they’re often over stretched, public security services are often either underfunded or co-opted in the fight against illicit drugs. Environmental damage of of illicit drugs is no less a concern for developing Africa. Clearing of forest, growing crops as mono-cultures, processing of harvested plants into drugs and the use of environmentally dangerous chemicals without necessary precautions being taken are all potentially damaging to Africa’s economic diversification plans. For Africa to be free from this menace, the market must be made less lucrative, major criminal syndicate involved dismantled, and prevent the emergence of future hotspots. Until then, Africa may settle with the tag of “good neighbors” whose markets can be used as a dumping fulcrum for whatever other continents consider, in French, “nuisible”.

The Self Serving Cry Of Marginalisation by the Ruling Elites

In recent times, as has always been the case with the thieving Nigerian ruling class, there has been a renewed, strident, and competitive cry of marginalisation by different ethnic and religious factions or fractions of the ruling class.

Northern elite elements have been making a case for the marginalisation of the ‘north’ since their extrusion from the presidency for most of the period since the 1999 return to civil rule.

Igbo elites from the South East, have ofcourse been making a long standing case of a more or less ‘permanent historical marginalisation’ of their people since independence!

Not to be left out, certain elements within the Yoruba elite have also of recent been railing about the so-called marginalisation of the Yorubas in the present dispensation.

And before the Jonathan presidency, Minority elites from the South-South [Niger Delta] have equally made seemingly compelling case with regards to the marginalisation of the peoples’ of the Niger Delta.

Now let us critically examine these self serving claims of marginalisation by the different, but competing fractions of the treasury looting ruling class.

To set the context it is important to identify what the elite means by marginalisation. They quite often and very exclusively discuss marginalisation in the context of power and senior position sharing arrangements within the ruling class. Hence they prioritise such positions as the President, Vice President, Senate President [and the Deputy], Speaker of the House [and the Deputy], Chief Justice [and the various heads of the High Courts, and Court of appeal, etc]; the service chiefs, ministerial appointments; membership of boards of parastatals and commissions etc.

In order words they prioritise the interests of the elites, and access to and control of state power and by extension state treasury and resources. What they mean when they cry that they are being marginalized, and use our name to justify their marginalization, is simply their temporary absence from, or attenuated access to treasury looting opportunities and state patronage.

My take on this cry of marginalization, is that for all intents and purposes, shorn of its pseudo-populist toga, it is a cry that is quite selfish, self serving and motivated by greed; by the various sections of the ruling class; and even among the Yorubas for example, a quite sectional one at that! Why is this so?

A section of the Yoruba elite who have lost out at the home front are now trying to whip up sentiments in order to win concessions at the center. I do not think that those who have gained ascendancy at home consider the Yoruba to be marginalized! What real significant difference would occupying any of those positions by the political elite making the claim, make in or to the lives of ordinary Yorubas?

When under the OBJ presidency a section of the Yoruba elites occupied those positions, what significant difference did it make to the ordinary Yorubas and other citizens who lived in the south west?

In reality, has this so-called marginalisation led to the undermining in any way, much less fundamentally, the business interests of the Yoruba elites for example?

Is the southwest at this moment governed by non Yorubas? Has it at any time in its history been governed by non Yorubas? I can even make bold to stir the hornet’s nest and make what may be considered, a controversial assertion: ‘The Yorubas, within the context of the politics of Nigeria, have made ‘progress’ whenever they have been autonomous of the center because of being governed by parties who are in the opposition at the federal level; than when they have been governed by same party as that at the center or by parties in alliance with the governing party at the center!

This claim of marginalisation as in most of the cases of marginalisation pushed and politicised by the political elites, is at its heart thus very self-serving. And in this particular instance of the Yoruba, at this moment in time, even more self serving than most!

We heard a lot from the political elite of the Niger Delta before GEJ’s ascendancy about the marginalization of the Niger Delta [which is true in reality; but by which the elite meant their exclusion from access to the spoils of the federal center]. So is it that the fundamentals of the Niger Delta have been radically altered since GEJ? Is that why the Niger Delta is ‘No longer marginalised’? Will the marginalization return the moment the Niger Delta elite lose their current first class access to the spoils of office at the federal center?

Has there ever been a time in the post independence history of Nigeria, other than during military rule, when the Igbo states of the South East, the Minority States of the Niger Delta, the states of the North Central, or the states of the core North and all their LGAs have been governed by persons other than the elites from those places? Even under military rule, in cases where military elites from other sections were made to administer states in different sections; were the commissioners and managers and members of boards of parastatals not composed of elites from those states?

And if we may further ask; of what significant impact to the lives of ordinary people have all those decades of the domination of the Federal Government by the Northern elite been to the people of the North. The statistics are there to prove it. The North is still the poorest section of the country, with the highest incidence of poverty, food insecurity, hunger, out of school children, school dropout rates, and now highest levels of insecurity anywhere in the country!

Take the Niger Delta case, ironically the incidence of oil pipeline vandalisation and crude oil theft, with its attendant consequence on the Niger Delta environment and the livelihoods of the poor have seen the highest spikes under a Niger Delta presidency! The cumulative quantum of oil spilt into the Niger Delta environment, and of the devastating impact on the environment and livelihoods over the last 3 years of a Niger Delta presidency is much more than the combined total for the previous 3 decades before the Jonathan presidency.

In reality, the real marginalisation is of the under-privileged non elites, whose slum dwellings are routinely demolished; who are routinely evicted from urban centers; whose livelihoods sources are routinely criminalised; and whose living conditions have been permanently made hellish and unbearable.

Or take the youth, among whom unemployment and unemployability has reached pandemic proportions! These are the real marginalized; and it is these truly marginalized citizens across the country who need to come together and organise themselves politically and autonomously of this light fingered, treasury looting, state patronage dependent, thieving ruling class.

We need to do this, to organise and mobilise independently and autonomously of this ruling class, in order to be able to take the necessary political Action to Take Back Nigeria; and achieve our National Liberation as a nation, and our Social Emancipation as a people.

Visit: takebacknigeria.blogspot.com; Follow on Twitter: @jayegaskia & @[DPSR]protesttopower; Interract on with me on FB: Jaye Gaskia & Take Back Nigeria: #DPSR

By Jaye Gaskia [Initially written in late 2012, but revised for re-publication August 2013]

I had always looked forward to meeting someone from Maiduguri, the epicentre of the activities of Boko Haram in Borno State. What will the person look like? Will he look terrified? Will he bear visible scars (not necessarily from personal attacks) of the Boko Haram insurgency? And most importantly, will he be willing to relive his experience in the sect’s enclave. Yes, whether we like it or not, Maiduguri has become Boko Haram’s enclave because it holds sway there.

For many of us down South, Maiduguri or any of those places where Boko Haram rules are not where we want to visit even when the opportunity arises to do so, with little or no cost to us. As journalists, we literally run away when we are told to come and go to Maduguri on assignment. With mouths wide open, we look at the person talking to us with eyes that that say : old boy na now I know say you no like me.

It is as if the person suggesting that we should go to Maiduguri wants us dead. On such occasion, we tend to forget that there are people living, schooling or working in the town. This is why I had been anxious to meet someone from there. The good Lord answered my prayer a few weeks ago when I met a female student from the beleaguered city. If I had not been told that she is from Maiduguri, I wouldn’t have known that she is from there because there were no telltale signs of the trouble over there on her.

She looked every bit like any of the girls you run into on the streets of Lagos daily. With a shiny, ebony black skin, Jennifer, let’s just call her that, did not carry the burden of coming from a place like Maiduguri on her face at all. Instead, she smiled knowingly as Adeniyi Adesina, the Deputy Editor (News) of this paper, and I chatted with her. She pardoned our benign ignorance as we regaled her with how we believe that Maiduguri must be looking like now with Boko Haram ruling the place.

Jennifer laughed and laughed, saying in between her laughter that things are not like that at all. Maiduguri, she told us is ‘’peaceful’’. ‘’Peaceful’’, Niyi and I shouted, adding : ‘’With all that we have been hearing that place cannot be peaceful’’. ‘’In fact, the peace of Maiduguri had long been shattered’’, I added for effect. The girl looked at me and laughed, wondering what could be wrong with this man who, as the Yoruba would say, ‘’wants to know a child more than the mother’’

Our encounter with Jennifer was an eye – opener of sorts for Niyi and I about how little we know of what is really happening in Maiduguri besides the Boko Haram insurgency, which has been dominating reports from there in the past four years. Is Maiduguri that safe for habitation that a girl like Jennifer could come from there and be bold enough to engage Niyi and I in discussion about her much beloved town. Even though, Jennifer says she is from Biu, on the outskirts of Maiduguri, she stays more in the Borno State capital than in her home town.

As a reporter, my mind kept going back to that encounter with Jennifer. Is it that Maiduguri is safe and we are painting a different picture of a ravaged town in Lagos? How do we get her to put this in writing? The reporter in me wanted a story as told by her in order to put a human face to the Maiduguri conundrum. But I could not do that without her permission. To use her story without her consent will be a breach of trust and confidence. Because of the confidence Jennifer has in this paper, she has agreed to tell her story herself soon. Niyi and I were able to convince her that it would take people like her to come out and talk for Nigerians to know that things are not as bad as they believe in Maiduguri. ‘’If you don’t talk, we, like most Nigerians, will continue to believe that Maiduguri is a no go area. But you have just come from the place, looking good, well kept and healthy. There cannot be a better poster child for Maiduguri, at least for now, than you’’, we told her. This was all Jennifer needed to open up during our private discussion later. “Before the death of Moham

med Yusuf, the sect’s

founder, in 2009, Maiduguri was peaceful’’, she bagan. ‘’There was cordial relationship between Muslims and Christians. Life went on smoothly. People went about their businesses without being molested. There were no fears of any attack. Things changed after the death of Mohammed Yusuf. His followers wanted to avenge his death because they believe that he was killed by security men. That was when this problem started. People started staying away from the streets to avoid being attacked or caught in the crossfire of attacks.

‘’In the heat of this, the government imposed curfew on Maiduguri. Even before the curfew, by 6 p.m., you won’t find people on the streets. Many would have returned home. I attend the University of Maiduguri (UNIMAID), The campus is peaceful. We go for our lectures regularly without any cause for alarm. Students are in school; even those from the South are among us. We relate very well. We don’t have any reason to fear for Boko Haram. You can’t even know a Boko Haram member. You may even be living with a member of Boko Haram without knowing. There is nothing to distinguish a Boko Haram member from other people.

‘’Before Mohammed Yusuf’s death, you could know a Boko Haram member by his dressing. Then, they wore long beards and their trousers were not full length. I don’t remember the kind of dress they wore. The university is on Maiduguri – Bama road, but there is no problem on campus. Lectures are going on. It s difficult to know who a Boko Haram member is. Even, they can be among soldiers and policemen. If you inform the police or the army about any Boko Haram member, you may be looking for trouble because you will be found out and killed. Now, they don’t dress like they used to do while Mohammed Yusuf was alive. So, you cannot tell who is a Boko Haram member or not. But the town is generally peaceful. Women go to the market; children go to school. If Boko Haram attacks anywhere there must be reason for it’’.

‘’Is it then safe for me to visit Maiduguri?’’ I asked. ‘’Yes’’, she answered, ‘’as long as you don’t go and report any Boko Haram member to the police’’, and we burst into laughter. You will soon meet Jennifer, mind you, not that Jennifer, in this paper.

Wild, wild Wike

They call him Nyesom Wike and he is the Minister of State for Education, a position he got, courtesy of Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi when the going was good between them. In their party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), nobody can become minister in a state without the governor’s nod. So, it amounts to empty boast, today, by Wike that Amaechi had no input in how he became minister. He can tell that to the Marines. Wike spoke like that because of the rift between him and Amaechi. We can understand that. Shouldn’t he have limited himself to that statement instead of pouring invectives on Amaechi? You don’t address a governor like that no matter your grievances. What reconciliation are we then talking about if Wike can be allowed to shoot his mouth in public like that? His masters had better call him to order.

There are two positions Africans usually take in discourses: moralist and Africanist. The former stance is taken by those who insist on universal codes of ethical behaviour; the latter by overly defensive Africans who reduce issues to relativity and “What about..?”

Take for instance, the visit of the Sudanese president, Omar al-Bashir, to Nigeria. While moralists pointed out that al-Bashir has ICC warrants hanging on his head and should not be allowed here, Africanists countered by asking what he had done different from those pursuing him. They wanted him left alone based on an anti-western sentiment that lionises any African leader seen as giving the West a middle finger. A Nigerian newspaper supported the decision to host al-Bashir. It intoned, “We support the Federal Government’s principled stance of placing an African Union resolution over and above the dictates of the International Criminal Court, other Western agencies and their local stooges.” Not once in the editorial/Africanist rant did it spare a thought for al-Bashir’s victims.

 Al-Bashir is an Arab supremacist whose hands drip with the blood of Black Africans of now independent South Sudan and, those of Darfur against whom he organised genocides. The newspaper, like other Africanist institutions, was willing to elide the deaths of millions who ended up in psychopathic Bashir’s cauldron.

You can track the Africanist position in the arguments of supporters of the Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabe. To this set of Africans, Mugabe is a symbol of anti-western imperialism and neo-colonialism; poor Mugabe believes them. When you read some Zimbabwean newspapers (or the infantile racist tweets of Mugabe’s political party, the Zanu PF), you are amused by how “anti-imperialism” and anti-colonialism” have become buzzwords for Africans who will not accept responsibility for their complicity in how Africans underdeveloped Africa.

Many times, when those expressions and similar post-colonial registers are thrown around, they are fanned by despots like Mugabe to take advantage of cult followers who just do not want to see through the smokescreen. Such a posturing by Mugabe, however, is a load of fatuous nonsense; behind everyone’s back, he patronises Western technology, products and even culture. The main thing “African” about Mugabe is his gargantuan hypocrisy. Come to think of it, if people like al-Bashir and Mugabe get free passes from Africanists because they antagonise Western sentiments, then why do they criticise Sani Abacha who also spat in the face of the West?

Last Wednesday, an election took place in Zimbabwe and, the 89-year-old Mugabe contested the seventh term! It is curious the farce of Mugabe’s attempt at democracy that makes him go so far as to stage elections. For a man who controls the machinery of a supposed democracy including the press, why does he waste everyone’s time on an electoral contest? A pathetic African dictator who is as corrupt as he is repressive, Mugabe deliberately ridicules the principles and precept of democracy when he allows an election he knows he will win, not based on his popularity but because he holds the knife, the yam, the cooking utensils and the list of all who will eat or not. The odds are already skewed in Mugabe’s favour and he consistently rejects any move for electoral reforms.

Worse, his major contender in that Wednesday’s charade was Morgan Tsvangirai –an unexciting candidate. The difference between Mugabe and Tsvangirai is like Nigeria’s Peoples Democratic Party and the All Progressives Congress. A victory for either of them is a loss for Zimbabwe, Africa and Black people in general. Sometimes, to criticise Africans for their voting choices becomes unfair because of the No-More-Person Syndrome that afflicts the continent. People desire change but there never seems to be a worthwhile candidate. It raises the question, once again, whether as a people we are able to lead our own selves.

Enter Olusegun Obasanjo, the AU observer mission’s head who declared the election as “free, honest and credible” and that the structural flaws in the elections were “honest mistakes.” Some other reports quote Obasanjo as saying the election was “fairly fair.” (Precisely, what does that forked tongue expression mean?!) His assessment so easily papers over the inherent flaws of the election, most of which were evident. How can any election in which Mugabe is a seventh-term contender be credible? Is this expression an act of resignation to a helpless situation, or a quickness to patch things up so as to prevent any sort of uprising by disgruntled opponents like it happened last elections? Obasanjo even added that he had never seen a perfect electoral process. Again, we go back to relativism. Was perfection ever the issue in this election, or about getting the basics right?

The Obasanjo-led AU team’s position is antithetical to that of the observers from the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia who declared the election “deeply flawed.” Either adjudication –the AU or Oyinbo observers — is steeped in ideological bias. Even a donkey knows the West does not like Mugabe and for them, the election could only have been flawless if he lost. Either position is extreme.

But then, given Obasanjo’s antecedents and his role in engendering the culture of do-or-die elections in Nigeria, precisely what qualifies him to be a lead election monitor to Zimbabwe? Is the choice of Obasanjo the AU’s way of preempting their politics to us? That they wanted someone who will not be incommoded by any conscience attack but only say what they wanted to hear? This is one of the sad things about the AU; it is willing to lower standards and allow defective elections pass. It did that with the DRC elections two years ago.

Obasanjo visited Mugabe after the “elections” were concluded; a not-so-subtle legitimisation of his own role in Mugabe’s victory. His image, sitting with Mugabe in the latter’s palace strikingly reminds me of the iconic moment in George Orwell’s Animal Farm when “The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”

Looking from Obasanjo to Mugabe in that photograph, I also saw the same Orwellian transmutation. Obasanjo and Mugabe are the same; both are sit-tight and oppressive dictators. While one was however unseated by his countrymen, Mugabe, on the other hand, can perhaps be removed by death only.

Far too many people are losing their lives every day, every week, every month and every year through accidents on Nigerian roads. The yearly statistics on road accidents are frightening. They should not be tolerated by any society that values human lives. Perhaps, we do not yet realise the deleterious impact that road accidents and the resulting casualties are having on our economy, on human resources, on families and on the larger population. When someone dies in a road accident, an entire family and the soul of a community go with that person. In essence, both the dead and the living are victims of road accidents.

How can we compel drivers to show consideration for human lives on our roads? Are Nigerian drivers so callous, so thick-skinned and so careless about road rules and the lives of other road users that they have little regard for everyone? How do we account for the horrible number of casualties the nation suffers through road accidents every year? Consider the following grisly figures.

In 2011, the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) reported that there were 4,765 road traffic crashes nationwide in which a total of 4,372 people were killed and 17,464 people sustained injuries. A breakdown of these figures shows that, on a daily basis, there were 13 road traffic crashes in which 11 people died while 48 people sustained injuries.

Over a 10-year period from 2001 to 2011, the number of deaths through road crashes has remained high. In 2001, a total of 9,946 people lost their lives through road crashes while 7,407 people were killed in accidents in 2002. In 2003, a total of 6,452 people were killed in road accidents. Figures for other years are: 5,351 people were killed in 2004; 4,519 people lost their lives in 2005; 4,944 people were killed in road crashes in 2006; 4,673 people lost their lives in 2007; 6,661 people were killed in 2008; while 5,693 people (in 2009), and 4,065 people (in 2010) were killed through road accidents. When you add these figures, you will find that a total of 64,083 Nigerians lost their lives in road accidents over 10 years.

Shocking as these figures might appear, I would argue that the statistics are understated. The figures represent only those incidents that were reported to the FRSC nationwide. Other cases that were not reported to the FRSC, as well as incidents that were not observed by officials of the FRSC, were not included in the report.

The FRSC says its vision is “To eradicate road traffic crashes and create safe motoring environment in Nigeria”. We are definitely a long way from achieving a “safe motoring environment” in the country. That is the key challenge that faces the FRSC and every road user.

Already this year, the number of people who died in road accidents is rising fast. On 5 April 2013, no fewer than 100 people died in two separate accidents that occurred near Ofosu, along the Benin-Lagos expressway, and in Okija (along the Owerri-Onitsha expressway). These accidents occurred nearly one week after 18 people lost their lives in an accident along the Lokoja-Abuja road.

There were various accounts of how the first accident occurred along the Benin-Lagos expressway. Regardless of how the accident happened, no fewer than 80 passengers, most of them in the luxury bus, were incinerated on the spot. That accident involved a luxury bus, a truck and a petrol tanker. The fatalities that occurred along the Owerri-Onitsha expressway were attributed to a trailer whose driver lost control and collided with vehicles approaching from the opposite direction. Two buses were seriously damaged in the incident in which most of the passengers lost their lives.

In all the accounts of the two incidents, reckless driving, excess speed, and failure to observe traffic rules and road conditions were major factors. The high number of deaths recorded through road accidents should have prompted an urgent and serious federal review of the situation. However, in a country in which federal officials do not care about accidents on our roads, any talk about federal intervention programme to prevent or reduce significantly the disasters that occur on the roads will remain a mirage.

Official statistics on road accidents highlight several problems. First, the report shows the total disregard we have for traffic rules and other road users. Second, it shows that many vehicles that operate on our roads are not roadworthy. The decrepit vehicles should have been taken off the roads and dumped where they should be dismantled. Third, many people who operate vehicles in Nigeria are not officially licensed or trained to operate motor vehicles. In our system, anyone can drive a vehicle because it is easy to obtain driving licences without undergoing training. Fourth, the high number of fatalities on our roads represents an adverse vote of confidence on the ability of the FRSC field officials to enforce road rules, to discipline or prosecute erring drivers, and to halt the bloodshed on the roads.

There are too many careless drivers on the roads. How do we stop these kamikaze, suicide-prone drivers from killing themselves and other careful road users? Anecdotal evidence suggests that careless driving is the most frequent cause of road accidents in the country. If this is the case, why hasn’t the presence of FRSC officials served as a strong deterrent against reckless driving?

Even as we complain about reckless driving, we must also identify the absence of speed limits on many roads. I have heard some drivers ask self-righteously: How can I observe speed limits when there is none? So, if there are no speed limits, how can anyone enforce speed limits?  Many roads do not have signs that signal to drivers the acceptable speed limit.

Another problem that has not been dealt with seriously is the impact of alcohol consumption on road accidents. How many times have traffic police officers stopped drivers on the road and compelled them to undergo on-the-spot breath-testing? Breath-testing of drivers for alcohol and illicit drug abuse is seen as strange because the practice is not known in our society. It is not a part of law enforcement in Nigeria. Owing to negligence on the part of drivers and law enforcement officers, you will find many drunken drivers on the road. Illicit drug users also drive vehicles without regard for the law. If the police and the FRSC cannot enforce traffic rules, who else can we rely on to do so, particularly when some mad drivers are determined to take the lives of passengers and other road users?

In other countries, there are strict driving rules that prohibit drivers from talking or sending text messages on their mobile phones while driving. In Nigeria, everything is allowed and nothing is excluded. You can drink and drive. You can talk on your mobile phone and drive. You can watch video while you drive. You can even have your meal and still drive. You can drive without fastening your seat belt. Motorcyclists can ride without safety helmets.

If you are caught infringing road rules in Nigeria, there are ways you can talk yourself out of trouble. You can brag about your identity and high social status. You can threaten the police officer or FRSC official with a sack. You can shout or sneeze in the face of the officer. If you are a “Big Man” or “Thick Madam”, life will be much easier. You can send your house boys and maids and thugs after the officers who “harassed” you in public. We seem to have a way of settling issues when we break laws that are largely unenforceable in Nigeria.

Informal references to the certainty of life and death are often used as suitable excuses by reckless drivers to justify their death-defying stunts on the roads. In fact, the FRSC Corps Marshal, Osita Chidoka, once alluded to this practice when he explained the laid-back attitude of Nigerian drivers who misbehave on the road. He said: “A driver who overloads his vehicle, drives at top speed, regardless of the nature of the road, disobeys traffic signs with impunity and operates in a manner reminiscent of one on a race-track, cannot in all sincerity blame God if he lands himself in a crash that claims his life and those of his entire family members travelling with him.”

The rising number of fatalities on our roads should inform the government and all agencies that have responsibility for enforcing the rules of safe motoring that it is time the nation rolled out tougher laws. We need stricter road accident prevention strategies. The plan must be aimed to eliminate corruption in the process of granting driving licences and in the process of enforcing road rules. The strategy should include prosecution of traffic offenders such as those who drink and drive. The new rules must be backed with sustained and vigorous information campaigns designed to promote awareness about safe driving.

The nation’s external reserves have dropped by $1.8bn within the space of three months, according to the latest data from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

The data posted on the CBN’s website on Tuesday showed that the foreign reserves dropped by $1.8bn from the peak of $48.85bn on May 2 to $46.98bn on August 5.

The Federal Government had targeted $50bn reserves by the end of 2012.

The reserves, however, closed the year at $44.26bn on December 24, 2012, finishing $6bn below the government’s target.

The performance of the reserves was driven mainly by proceeds from crude oil, gas exports and crude oil-related taxes as well as reduced funding of the Wholesale Dutch Auction System on the account of huge inflow of foreign portfolio investments.

The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr. Lamido Sanusi, said in May that the outlook for the country’s foreign reserves this year was mixed.

Sanusi told Bloomberg that the foreign-currency reserves would probably keep expanding, while facing risks from lower-than-projected oil output and falling prices.

He said, “Quantitative easing by central banks in the United States, United Kingdom and Japan all point to a likelihood of strong capital flows to emerging and frontier markets that may benefit Nigeria.

“Still, the combination of lower global oil prices and weak output performance in Nigeria may lead to a slowdown.”

Oil production in Nigeria fell to 1.81 million barrels a day in March, the lowest level since September 2009.

According to the CBN, the country relies on crude exports for about 80 per cent of government revenue and more than 90 per cent of foreign income.

“We always said that the budget based on projections of about 2.5 million barrels per day was founded on overly optimistic and unrealistic assumptions,” Sanusi said.

The Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had stressed the need for the country to shore up its external reserves.

The latest CBN data showed that the nation’s external reserves dropped to $46.98bn on Monday, barely one week after hitting the $47bn mark.

The external reserves had dropped to a five-month low of $46.96bn three weeks ago, according to the CBN data.

The foreign reserves had hovered between $47bn and $48bn marks since February 20, 2013, when the nation recorded 46.96bn.

Between February 21 and July 15, the external reserves hovered between the $47 and $48bn marks.  On July 16, the external reserves dropped to $46.99bn.

The country’s foreign reserves had fallen 2.78 per cent month-on-month to $47.11bn on July 11.

Reserves at Africa’s second biggest economy stood at $48.46bn on June 11. They have risen about 30 per cent year-on-year this month, from $36.47bn in the same period last year.

The nation’s external reserves had a few weeks ago dropped to $47bn, after being stagnant at $48bn for over three months.

From 19 states in 1980, the next two decades were to see the creation of 17 additional states (two in 1987, nine and the FCT in 1990, and six more in 1996) to arrive at the present 36 states and FCT in six geo-political zones or regions. The economies of all Nigerian states and regions had looked very similar in the stagnant 1980s and 1990s when weak global commodity prices inflicted deep contractions on the country’s economy. Oil production, agricultural and manufacturing output fell steeply and remained stagnant until 1999. Infrastructure, such as rail transport and power supply deteriorated or collapsed over this period.

The nation’s economy however entered a recovery phase in 1999 when global commodity prices saw a broadly-based surge that has surprisingly been sustained for more than a decade, the brief contraction during the 2008/2009 global crisis notwithstanding. This has boosted agricultural, oil and trading output in Nigeria. Growth has however been concentrated in a few sectors as crops, oil, and commerce have contributed 90 per cent of Nigeria’s growth. Each of these three activities is regionally concentrated, meaning that some regions are excluded from the growth process. This creates a challenge of making growth more inclusive.

Thus, regional growth incidence has been primarily dependent on regional resource endowments. States and regions are beginning to look very dissimilar as growth has not been uniform across the regions. States/regions included in the growth processes are getting rich, just as those excluded from the growth processes, remain poor. Regions can now easily be grouped into the haves and the have-nots. If this trend continues, the rich states/regions will get richer, and the poor, poorer.

North-west and North-central, with well-watered stretches of land area, account for 90 per cent of crop production; South-south, with access to coastal oil and gas deposits, accounts for 91.5 per cent of oil production; South-west, with the historic ports of Lagos and lucrative land borders, account for 60 per cent of trading and commercial activities, and North-central and South-south combine to contribute another 30 per cent of this. The remaining two regions, the semi-arid North-east with immense metal ores, and the landlocked South-east with immense coal deposits, are marginalised from the existing growth processes.

The South-west gross regional output grew the most in 2012 with an absolute nominal increase of N1.4 trillion (or 21.8% nominal growth), followed by the North-west with N1 trillion (16.38%), and North-central with N800 billion (14.27%). These are to be compared to regional output increases of N123 billion (10.89%) in the South-east and N100 billion (8.19%) in the North-east. Owing to a slight dip in oil price in 2012 after growing impressively in the preceding three years, oil-dominated South-south recorded a slight decline of about N268.9 billion (-1.69%) in regional output in 2012.

The South-south still had the largest gross regional product, N15.65 trillion (38.6% of Nigeria’s GDP), followed by the North-west’s N8.4 trillion (20.65%), South-west’s N8.2 trillion (20.26%), and North-central’s N5.7 trillion (15%). South-east’s N1.4 trillion (3.27%) and North-central’s N1.2 (3.11%) trillion were the smallest GRPs in 2012, each being even smaller than the increase in South-west’s regional output that year. More importantly, South-east and North-east not only had the smallest economies in 2012, they also recorded the least absolute and percentage growths.

The seeming advantage of the South-south’s output over other regions has to be qualified that only a small fraction of the oil wealth created in the region is appropriated in the region. One third of the oil wealth is appropriated by multinational joint venture partners with the remaining two thirds heading into the federation account which only concedes 13 per cent of the oil revenue to producing states over and above what comes to them, like any other state, based on the revenue allocation. The non-oil output of about N1.9 trillion in 2012 is fully appropriable within the region, as with non-oil output in all other regions.

The consequence is that South-south ranks third, after South-west and North-west in total consumption spending, and ranks a distant fifth, only ahead of the North-east, in consumption spending per head. The region’s domestic income is high enough to rank first; consumption is low enough to rank third; and consumption per head even lover to rank fifth. Worse still, food consumption per head in the region is the lowest in the country, while non-food consumption per head is the second highest; revealing the irony that, while the average person in the South-south spends less on food than persons in the other region, the average outlay on non-food items in the South-south is second only to the South-west, and even higher than in the North-central! This anomaly suggests that derivation pay-out funds luxury spending by few privileged government officials and their cronies, while the populace don’t have enough to spend on basic needs like food.

On the contrary, the output disadvantage of the South-east is mitigated by the fact that south easterners’ income from involvement in wealth creation in all the five other regions and in the Diaspora far exceeds the value of wealth generated within the region. The strong home bias of the average south easterner ensures that huge fractions of such wealth are repatriated to the region with the consequence that South-east ranks third in consumption spending per head after the South-west and the North-central, ahead of the North-west, South-south and the North-east, although total consumption in the region still ranks fifth, only ahead of the North-east. South-east consistently remains third in both food consumption per head and non-food consumption per head. The relative rankings of the other four regions do not need to be qualified as they remain fairly consistent across output and consumption measures.

The 2012 growth patterns may persist into the medium term as the current outlook of global commodity prices remain favourable for food and agricultural raw materials. Crop production and trading and commerce will continue to contribute the most to Nigeria’s growth in the foreseeable future. With oil price already a little above $100, oil sector growth is likely to remain intermittent in the medium term. In the absence of a national interregional redistributive policy, rich regions will continue to get richer, just as poor regions get poorer. Residents in the poor regions might eventually lose hope, become restive, engage in activities that may threaten peaceful interregional coexistence, and undermine growth in the country. Sustenance of growth in the country can only be assured through peaceful redistribution of growth from rich to poor regions. Otherwise, violent redistribution of the pains and anguish of penury from poor to rich regions will be inevitable, breach the peace among regions, and the country will be the worse for it.

Investing in fast and efficient rail links between rich and poor regions is the win-win national redistributive strategy that could bring resource-poor regions closer to needful inputs, ensure benefits of growth are more evenly distributed across regions without hurting any of the resource-rich regions, ultimately eliminate interregional growth disparities, and ensure the peaceful coexistence that is required to sustain growth. Nigeria therefore needs to approach the nationwide rail development with a much stronger sense of urgency.

The recently released ‘Mid-Term Report of the Transformation Agenda (May 2011–May 2013): Taking Stock, Moving Forward’ did say that, ‘The Federal Government in a bid to turn around the railways nationwide, articulated a 25-year strategic vision for the rail sector, with milestones to be implemented in three stages. The broad targets of the rail sub-sector are the completion of the rehabilitation of the existing narrow gauge and construction of new standard gauge rail lines, and construction of extension to link all state capitals and commercial centres. …  Currently, feasibility studies are ongoing to create additional corridors for the standard gauge rail system. The studies are expected to be completed by the third quarter of this year and their reports will amongst others consist of Outline Business Cases which will be made available to potential investors for the development of tracks under Public Private Partnership.’

The federal government does seem to have the rail sector development on its radar. The only problem is that the 25-year timeframe does not reflect the strong sense of urgency that an appreciation of the likely impact on states, regions and sectors, and industrial clusters would impose. 25 years? Not five years? Full economic revival of the six regions depends critically on the development of a fully functioning rail sector. Every region will gain tremendously from fully functioning rail transport system. Train terminuses have historically been known to open up new markets, which propelled the growth of major Nigerian cities and triggered the emergence and growth of regional industry clusters across Nigeria. Since the collapse of the rail transport system in the 1980s, the markets surrounding the terminuses have either declined or died altogether, all major Nigerian cities, except Lagos and Abuja, have declined markedly, regional industrial clusters are dead; in the absence of rail transport, only parts of Lagos and Ogun States have sufficient proximity to the ports to sustain industry clusters. Revival of cities and industries requires a fully functioning rail transport system. Metal ores and coal production can only thrive in the presence of rail transportation. Nigeria can extract additional growth by exploiting these two minerals that abound in the North-east and the South-east respectively.

With 160 million people to move across 36 states and the FCT, spread over 774 local government areas, annual crops, livestock, forestry, fishery, petroleum products and solid minerals output in excess of 440 million tonnes, with an even larger volume of merchandise imported through the airports, seaports and land borders, the business case for the Nigerian rail sector should be more than obvious. The developmental impact is no less compelling. Competitiveness in manufacturing and broader industrial activities depends very critically on the existence of a transport cost reducing fully functioning modern rail sector. Growing long term savings represented by the pension fund assets need long term investment vents, which are currently absent in Nigeria. Opportunities for investing these funds in the rail sector will be in the long-term interest of the savers and the country. Government can issue rail bonds, or even levy rail specific taxes to provide part of the required funding, in addition to funds that could be contributed by joint venture partners and public-private-partners.

Nigeria needs a strong national economic intelligence apparatus like the defunct National Economic Intelligence Committee (NEIC) to, amongst other things, provide the foresight required to ensure that regional growth divergence is prevented on an ongoing basis rather than cured. The NEIC Act should be amended, rather than repealed as being contemplated by the Senate, to give the agency more powers to provide insight, oversight, and foresight on matters of urgent national importance in line with the original vision for the agency when it was created in 1994. The National Assembly, the Presidency, and the National Economic Council alike should rely on such an agency to clarify their vision and thinking on the best ways to ensure a more inclusive national economic growth trajectory.

•Dr. Teriba, former Chief Economist and CEO of Economic Associates

I used to be a keen observer and admirer of the Governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola (SAN). Apart from the visible progress he might have made in governing Lagos, I believe he is an astute and tactful politician. That could go as the most outstanding part of his personality. For almost eight years, he worked out a very rare but functional arrangement where he focused more on the day-to-day running of the state, while he allowed his former boss and Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria now All Progressives Congress, Bola Tinubu, to hold sway and take full charge of the political arena. Do not take my word for it but it takes a man of considerable political acumen to function effectively under the shadow of a maverick politician larger–than-life politician like the “Lion of Bourdillon”, as many call him, and yet be able to create a remarkable political niche for oneself. Managing overbearing political bosses is a virtue that many of our politicians have not developed. Fashola not only achieved this but managed to create an impression of a visionary leader on anyone who visited Lagos recently.

However the controversial deportation of Nigerian citizens of Igbo extraction resident in Lagos by giving them an emergency destitute status has brought Fashola’s true divisive and odoriferous tribal personality into the public domain.  It is unarguable that many admirers of Fashola are rankled and startled and now see him in a different, largely uncomplimentary light. Apart from the Chairman of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and Rivers State Governor, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, Fashola is one other governor who has demonstrated, in my view, that he has a direction and who anyone can hold a conversation with about good governance and development. My admiration for the conduct of these two used to be so boundless that I would nominate them without hesitation for any bigger national assignment only if I had the slightest opportunity. But not anymore, at least for Governor Fashola.

For the benefit of those who do not know the details. A Lagos State agency known as the Kick Against Indiscipline, obviously on the orders of the state governor, was said to have arrested some people predominantly from Igbo extraction about two years ago on the suspicion that they were leading destitute lives. They were detained in several locations in Lagos under some dirty and largely inhuman condition. Many of them allegedly died in the process out of starvation and sickness. A few who survived were later packed into a lorry like cows and deported to Onitsha where they were dumped near the head bridge at Upper Iweka and abandoned there. There is a possibility that not all of these hapless deportees were doing meaningful things before they were caught. However, some of them reportedly confessed to be petty traders and roadside food hawkers before they were nabbed by some overzealous KAI operatives. They disclosed that much when they were interviewed. But those are all by the way. How come they were interviewed to find that if they spoke Yoruba language before bundling them into prison? How come they bundled all of them into Onitsha even when some of them might have been from Calabar, Yenagoa, or even Uyo? Was it a pre- rehearsed attack against a perceived enemy ethnic group? When and where were these hatched?

As the debate continues to rage, many informed minds have continued to condemn Fashola and his government. However, a few ethnic jingoists have tried desperately to justify the action of the governor, who I am sure might have realised the import of his mistake by now. But I am certain that such arguments as indigene/settler, host/guest conversations have become anachronistic. And so I will not waste valuable time on the contribution of one tribe or the other to the growth and development of Lagos State as some have been preoccupied with.

However, I want to point out some personal views for all of us to consider, extrapolate and draw conclusions. The first point is a short story. During my days at the University of Ibadan, I used to spend time with a relation who lived in the Mushin area of Lagos. I remember it was a storey building and I often came to the narrow balcony to watch a mammoth crowd hurry across to Isolo, Idi-Araba, Surulere and other parts of Lagos. I recall vividly how I helplessly watched hoodlums on several occasions snatch bags and valuables from unsuspecting passers-by. If you are in doubt, try to walk around the area in the evening. You will notice some people following you and singing praises initially and appealing to you to “bless” them. If you hesitate, they will turn violent and “bless” themselves by force by dispossessing you of your valuables. They are still there as I write. Now, if a destitute person is someone who is poor and does not have the basic necessities of life. If the goal of the KAI campaign is to rid Lagos of poor, homeless beggars and non-taxpaying individuals as someone opined, then their destination should be Mushin. There, they will find trailer loads of such individuals but of course the destination of such vehicles will never be Onitsha.  If the Lagos State Government was talking to its Anambra counterpart, why did it decide to drop the “deportees” at the Onitsha head bridge in the dead of the night, not in Awka or any government establishment?

Besides, how come the Lagos State Governor decided to contact, as he said he did, only the Governor of Anambra State on a matter as sensitive as this? Why did he not write other state governors in the South-East and South-South?

Instructively, during the last census exercise, Fashola and his fellow politicians were literally begging Ndigbo and other “settlers” not to go back to their states but rather stay back in Lagos and be counted. Now that they might have contributed to the mega population size of Lagos for which is a clear tool to bargain for national resources, these same people have become disposable street urchins. What could have inspired this state-sponsored hatred? Some say that the pre-civil war fear of Igbo dominance is still a factor. No. Not at all. The effect of the civil war on Ndigbo is so devastating that it will take many more decades to be neutralised, whatever anyone might think to the contrary. Many of the Igbo who left the East after the war went out in search of survival. After the war, they lost their jobs, money, properties and everything. Some of them who had millions of pounds in the bank had to forfeit them and were given only 20 pounds, on the orders of the Federal Government to start life. The only option they had was to continue to travel to places that were inhabitable to trade and farm etc. That was how the Igbo began to migrate to other parts of Nigeria in search of livelihood and survival. It takes a hard-working person to rebuild considerably from the rubble of war with only 20 pounds. Sadly, many years after the civil war, many other tribes with covert backing of politicians are still fighting against Ndigbo. Ndigbo are the least represented in everything Nigerian because, unfortunately, the divisive sentiments that pervaded during the civil war are still very active in the hearts and minds of many. If you look at the lopsided nature of the Nigerian civil service under the name of Federal Character, you will cry.

Since independence in 1960, ethnic issues have been deliberately politicised to give a clique of power-thirsty individuals, a dubious legitimacy. The civil war worsened it and politicians have continued to exploit it to their advantage. Amidst these sad and almost inescapable realities, one would only imagine that Fashola would have known and done better.

It must be noted out that the deportation saga has very tricky political implications. It has a potential of deepening inter-tribal suspicion with counterproductive political repercussions. For instance, Ndigbo constitute a majority of the non-Yoruba voting population in Lagos State that will be too difficult to ignore. How come Fashola mobilised these “street urchins” to vote for him only to remember towards the end of his last tenure that they are a bunch of nuisance that needs to be deported? Why did he not do it before 2011? What about 2015?

Recently, a new report titled Nigerian Unity in the Balance, which was authored for the United States Army War College, warned Nigerian leaders to beware of another civil war or an outright break-up following what it called on-going divisive trends in the country. The report was written by two former American servicemen – Gerald McLaughlin and Clarence J. Bouchat and released by the Strategic Studies Institute of War College.

The report observed that divisive forces were becoming far stronger than uniting forces in Nigeria. It then warned that unless this debilitating trend was reversed, Nigeria’s existence could be jeopardised. According to the report, “Parochial interests created by religious, cultural, ethnic, economic, regional, and political secessionist tendencies are endemic in Nigeria.” The report warned that, “under such stresses, Nigerian unity may fail.” The report stressed further: “Should Nigeria’s leaders mismanage the political economy and reinforce centrifugal forces in Nigeria, the breaks to create autonomous regions or independent countries would likely occur along its previously identified fault lines.” The report observed that, “having already experienced one brutal civil war, Nigeria is at risk for a recurrence of conflict or dissolution, especially since some of the underpinning motivations of the war remain unresolved.”

While detailing many fault lines speeding up disintegrative tendencies in the country, the report said: “Indeed, East Timor, Eritrea, Croatia and Somaliland indicate that the weakest point of failing states is along colonial borders. Of more interest for Nigerian unity is that this may also occur between regions separately administered by a common colonial power, as occurred between Malaysia and Singapore, and North and South Sudan, where differences proved irreconcilable after the departure of British administration”. The report projected that “at least, some of the resulting regions and states of a possible Nigerian devolution may divide along such internal lines.”

While conceding that Nigeria’s fate is primarily in the hands of Nigerians, the report noted that such could be positively affected by actions of the US, adding that “Nigeria’s future is hanging precariously on the balance and the United States should help tip the scales.” Furthermore, the report particularly warned that religious differences were taking the centre stage in the emerging conflict situation in the country, disputing repeated reports that economic reasons were to blame for the insurgency and other conflicts in the country.

There is every reason why Nigeria cannot afford to dump this report in the trashcan. SSI is part of USAWC and is the strategic-level study agent for issues related to national security and military strategy with emphasis on geo-strategic analysis. It would be recalled that a former US ambassador to Nigeria had, last year, warned of a possible break-up of the country, if the growing trend of disaffection is not curtailed. The government’s reaction to this advice was in the least shocking and disappointing. Rather than view the opinion with the seriousness it deserved, the government merely threw unprintable expletives at the ambassador. Since then, everything has been done to disparage the report.

However, going through the SSI report, one could perceive its genuineness in view of recent happenings and events. Our so-called politicians, whose patriotism is ever in doubt because they look more like fortune seekers, have largely been toying with the security and stability of the country. It is as if they have zoned the entire country to themselves as things are done within them at their whims. To them, the people are secondary whenever issues bordering on the unity and stability of the country come up for discussion.

The country was almost stripped bare at the demise of former President Umaru Yar’Adua. Throughout his sick period, various pranks, I mean, ‘official pranks’, came to play. At a time, a cleverly conceived dummy was sold to the public; at another time, the greatest hoax was foisted on the people. That was the time many of us really sat back to think whether the country belonged to Nigerians or only the politicians who were ever so meticulous with their lies and fairy tales.

When eventually the former President gave up the ghost, attempts were made from many quarters to ‘rewrite’ the Constitution. We all know what it took the nation to arrive at the “doctrine of necessity” before an acting President emerged. We can also remember, too, the various schemes and shenanigans brought to the fore to make sure that the new President, when he inevitably emerged, could not function.

By and large, like some Nigerians are wont to say “we are individually successful but collectively a failure”. What this means is that Nigerians, as a people, are very dynamic, industrious, except that selfishness rules them most, if not, all the time. While we all crave for individual, family, tribe and clannish excellence, we are the least patriotic when it comes to the issue of national question. Take for instance, the build-up to the 2015 elections, which has started in earnest. Everybody, every section of the country, is angling for the coveted number one seat: the Presidency. It is no longer what the Constitution says but the unwritten doctrine of “turn-by-turn”. In this new craze, brothers have become enemies overnight in the mad race to undo one another.

Now, let us take the issue of Rivers State. Today, that once peaceful state is in turmoil. And many people believe the problem with Rivers has many things to do with 2015. The sitting governor, Rotimi Amaechi is believed to have incurred the wrath of Abuja because he is suspected to be nursing an ambition to become the Vice-President of the country under the rulership of a candidate presented by the North. Many permutations have come up to the effect that Amaechi might pair up with Sule Lamido, his counterpart in the north-west state of Jigawa, to wrestle power from President Goodluck Jonathan.

At a point, the posters of a Lamido-Amaechi presidential ticket flooded Abuja, the nation’s capital. It is strongly believed it was the handiwork of fifth columnists bent on wrecking that ticket if at all it exists. The next thing was that the war was taken to the Nigeria Governor’s Forum whose election was truncated after the votes were counted. Amaechi is believed to have emerged as the winner of that keenly contested election, but the powers that be are not favourably disposed to that. The belief is that the number one spot at the forum for Amaechi will give him an undue advantage over the incumbent president.

To stop this, the Presidency threw up a puppet in the name of Jonah Jang, the confused governor of Plateau State. Since then, logic has been made to stand on its head. Or what do you call a situation where 16 could be adjudged to be greater than 19? Amaechi scored 19 votes out of 35, while Jang scored 16 votes. Today, Jang enjoys the undue privilege of getting the President’s ears as he has been officially recognised as the chairman of the Governors’ Forum to the chagrin of the Amaechi camp and many right-thinking Nigerians. And where do we go from here?

The other day, the floor of the Rivers State House of Assembly became a battle zone when elected parliamentarians and leaders of the various communities in the state, who were elected to serve the people, turned the whole place upside down. Again, there was a mathematical infraction in which five was adjudged to be greater than 23. In a melodramatic move, five members of the House met and purportedly impeached the Speaker. The bedlam that followed speaks volumes of how much we cherish the unity and stability of the country.

As it stands, the issue of Rivers State is largely unresolved because certain egos have refused to be massaged. And from what several commentators have said, this protracted issue that has been allowed to fester for too long might as well be the beginning of the end for the country’s fledgling democracy or even the country itself. The ominous signs are there for all to see!

On August 1, 2013, The PUNCH reported that Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State “wrote President Goodluck Jonathan to investigate the dumping of 72 homeless people at the Upper Iweka Bridge, Onitsha, Anambra State, by suspected agents of the Lagos State Government.” The said dumping was said to have occurred at 3:00 am on July 24, 2013.

In the intervening period, the mainstream media and social media network sites have been rife with gossips, guesses, charges and countercharges. And while some see it as a non-event, others see it as a disrespect and abuse of human and civil rights and another evidence of the continuing marginalisation of Ndigbo.

But the Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola, has denied the charges – claiming that (1) what his government did was “rehabilitation and not deportation”; (2) that the actual number of citizens so returned were 14 and not 72; (3) that the government of both states had exchanged memos on the matter, hence, it was wrong for his Anambra State counterpart, Peter Obi, to claim ignorance of the matter; and (4) that the repatriation of citizens to their states of origin was not peculiar as this was a routine act amongst states – especially amongst states in Igboland.

While Fashola has taken the time to address the media, Obi, at least in the last couple of days, has yet to do so. Consequently, one is unable to judge what happened and what didn’t happen. In the end though, I am not sure that allotting blame or stoking primordial anger and bigotry would serve any meaningful purpose. But rather, one hopes that this event and the attendant reaction will spur a healthy national conversation about (a) federalism and citizenship; and (b) the duty and responsibility of government towards the poor and the needy and towards citizens with mental and physical impairment.

Frankly, this incident presents us an opportunity to jumpstart a national conversation about our collective problems and challenges – problems and challenges successive governments and sections of the elite have refused to address. In just a few days, imagine how much time and energy this “simple act” has cost us. We have become a nation that gives sinister meanings to acts that are otherwise ordinary and pure and without untold intentions. Conversely, we sometimes dismiss sinister and injurious acts that demand our full attention and resources.

Nigerians and their God: I say this tongue-in-cheek: I think it is time God listened to Nigerians. For more than four decades, Nigerians have been praying to God to deliver them from poor governance and bad leadership. They’ve been praying to be saved from all manner of unnecessary deaths and calamities. There are many countries out there that don’t pray as much, yet God listens to them. These countries don’t have as many churches and mosques, yet, God makes their dreams come true. Perhaps, God has forgotten that he also created a people called Nigerians. Or, didn’t he?

When my non-Black friends run into or create problems, they look for practical and real life solutions. Some even anticipate the problems before they happen. But for most of my African friends, they barely anticipate problems; and when problems arise, the first thing they do is to pray: seek guidance and solution from God. Six to 12 months down the road, they are still battling the problem — while my non-Black friends have moved on and away on holiday. Blacks need to face reality; they need to come to the understanding that religion is a hindrance.

Carrot and Stick for Boko Haram: A couple of months ago, the government dangled presidential amnesty before Boko Haram, but the group rejected it and went on its killing spree. Thereafter, some of their leaders were released from prison; still, the group was not moved. The government even sent religious and political emissaries; again, the group said “No!” Along the way, the group has been attacked and bombed and some of their members killed. (To all these, Boko Haram said, “No shaking!”) No approach – stick or carrot – has been effective. Why? Simple: the government does not want to accept the fact that traditional notion of power and security is outdated (and has so far refused to try new tactics).

Unlike the vast majority of Niger Delta militants who were seduced with money, contracts and political appointments, Boko Haram seems to have a different value system with an endgame. And while I believe that some sort of settlement can and should be reached with the group, the Nigerian government must reassess its understanding of national security and how to bring about tenable peace.  The starting point is simple: What are the factors that gave rise to Boko Haram, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta and other such groups? What factors accounted for the rise and acceptance of Biafra and many other groups? Is the current constitution adequate? Unless these questions are addressed, we should expect similar or more dangerous non-state actors.

Gowon as peacemaker: President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Chibuike Amaechi are having a fight even though both men are made from the same political cloth. Why the Akasoba Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution is planning to invite Dr. Yakubu Gowon, Dr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, and Kenneth Kaunda to help settle the fight, beats my imagination. The ACPCR also invited traditional rulers.

The embarrassment in Rivers State does not amount to a national security problem, and neither does it have international security implications. This is strictly a personal and party issue that does not warrant such an intervention. What is Boutros-Ghali doing about the coup in his country, Egypt; and what is Kaunda doing to help resolve the crisis in his own country, Zambia?

The ASUU strike: Some years ago when I was seriously considering returning to Nigeria to, amongst other things, apply to do my doctorate studies at the University of Ibadan or University of Lagos, a noted scholar at UI advised that I dismiss the idea unless I wanted to waste 10 or more of my academic life (The ASUU strikes factored into his advice.) After all these years, things have not changed — but have instead worsened. Today, the Academic Staff Union of Universities is on strike. Again!

I have no doubt that the body has legitimate reasons to strike; however, it has been in existence for so long that it should have found ways to solve many of its age-old problems. More than 35 per cent of all politicians at the state and federal levels have university education. And many lecturers have gone on to become politicians, the current Minister of Education being one of the many. So, it is not as if both sides do not know what the problems are.  Sadly, many students who otherwise should be in school for 4-5 years end up spending an extra 1-4 years as a result of the perennial strikes. Others get frustrated and abandon school or leave the country. This, surely, is not how to treat those we regard as the leaders of tomorrow. As things stand, the tomorrow may come and there will be no quality leaders around. And the cycle continues over and over again.

When Major Hamza al-Mustapha, former Chief Security Officer to late Head of State, General Sani Abacha was recently discharged and acquitted of change of murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola, wife of presumed winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Bashorun M.K.O Abiola, by an Appeal Court in Lagos, it felt like somebody messing in ones mouth and putting salt as well, as the Yoruba would say.

The mess, one can’t swallow, the salt one cannot spit out, if you understand what that means. It was a sweet/bitter verdict that could be described as both victory and defeat for justice at the same time. To al-Mustapha and family, it was victory for justice while the Abiola family naturally felt otherwise. I guess most Nigerians felt the same way as the Abiolas but because the appellate court had spoken, are resigned to leaving everything in the hands of God, the ultimate judge.

But the Lagos state government (the prosecutor in this case) I guess, might not be inclined to handing over to God yet, as there is still one window of appeal to the Supreme Court left and might be willing to explore that, if only to be seen to have tried everything legally possible to get what the majority (at least in the South west) believes to be justice in this celebrated murder case.

I deliberately refused to join the bandwagon in condemning or praising al-Mustapha’s acquittal for obvious reasons even though I smelt rat in the whole thing. I could see politics at play here even though one could not point at any particular politician as being behind it. But with speculations in the air that al-Mustapha is about to pitch his tent with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), coupled with the reception he got when he visited the Government House in Kano shortly after his release, one needs no soothsayer to conclude that the former CSO had the support of the ruling party while his trial lasted.

It might not be out of place to also conclude that the powers that be in the north were sympathetic towards al-Mustapha’s cause as could be seen not only in the enthusiastic welcome he had received so far from his home region, but also in the shocking silence of that class on how to get justice for the Abiolas, after all somebody shot and killed Kudirat and the person was acting under somebody’s order. So, who did it and who gave the order? Until that person or those people are found and punished, al-Mustapha remains guilty in the minds of the people here, the show of shame by Dr Fredrick Faseun of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) hailing his acquittal notwithstanding.

In spite of the court’s verdict, if al-Mustapha and his co-accused as they were then, had a hand in Kudirat’s murder or any of the numerous unresolved murders of the Abacha era, definitely they will not go unpunished, both here and in the hereafter.

My concern here is not even about their punishment if they were indeed involved in the murder, but the red carpet being given to al-Mustapha in particular as if (the murder case apart) he was a honourable, just and competent officer while he held court as the unseen number two in the administration of the late maximum ruler. Don’t forget that al-Mustapha, a mere Major in the Nigerian Army was more powerful than most of his seniors, Major Generals et al including the official second in command in that regime, a three-star General, Lt. General Oladipo Diya. After Abacha, no other person was most feared than al-Mustapha.

Have we suddenly forgotten all those revelations made at the Oputa panel about the activities of the death squad of that regime that were answerable only to al-Mustapha? Has anybody been punished? If al-Mustapha had no hand in the killing of Kudirat what of the other crimes committed under his watch as CSO? Are we sweeping such under the carpet or has he been cleared? Until we are told that the man is free of all the baggage attached to him as Abacha’s CSO, it would be wrong to parade him as a kind of a hero or victim of vendetta as he wants us to believe. It would even be worse if any political party should roll out the red carpet for him and admit him into its fold.

It is unfortunate that the PDP already smells opportunities for electoral gains in the release of al-Mustapha, and the young man himself seems to wants to make political capital of it. Apart from visiting the Government House, Kano, controlled by the PDP, shortly after his release, he had been making some political comments and visitations as well.

He was at the Abuja home of the leader of the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force (NDPVF), Alhaji Mujahideen Asari-Dokubo at the weekend where he was beating his chest as being the one whose actions shortly after Abacha’s death gave birth to this democracy. Can you imagine that, coming from an al-Mustapha? He wants us to praise him for not taking over power then, which he could have easily done according to him if he wanted to. What an insult? I think the young man is better advised to take it easy and lie low for some time and not reopen healing wounds. His choice of words and association tend to portray a man with an exaggerated view of his value. The Asari-Dokubo that he visited would either be in detention or a dead man under the Abacha administration that he served. We have not forgotten who killed Ken Saro Wiwa.

In any case politics they say is all about interest. So, an Asari-Dokubo can hobnob with an al-Mustapha? Wonders shall never cease. All for a Jonathan presidency again in 2015? So all those derogatory things Asari-Dokubo has been saying about the north, what E. K Clark, the Ijaw leader has been saying against the Hausa/Fulani no longer hold water as long as al-Mustapha can help win the northern votes for President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015? Nigeria we hail thee.

Since al-Mustapha’s release, different Ijaw groups and leaders have been failing over each other to outdo one another in hailing his acquittal, nothing wrong in that if only they are genuine and sincere, but we all know why; 2015. But al-Mustapha should remember the party story of the Biafran leader late Dim Chukwuemeka Odumegu Ojukwu, who because he was granted pardon by the NPN government of President Shehu Shagari in the second republic, quickly joined the on his return from exile and took Ndigbo to NPN, thinking that the interest of his people, who had followed Dr Nnamdi Azikwe to NPP that time would be better protected in the ruling party, he was wrong. The rest is history.

Nothing personal against al-Mustapha, but he should tread softly and realise that the murder of Alhaja Kudirat Abiola is still fresh and hurting in our memory, beating his chest all over the place or jumping into the political arena would do nothing to heal the wounds, he needs to show remorse and seek ALLAH’s forgiveness for the pains he inflicted on so many Nigerians as Abacha’s CSO. This is more honourable than joining the political fray. A word for President Jonathan and his group as well, Nigerians are no fools again; our mumu don do.

In a recent interactive session with the House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Currency, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi, noted that if the plan to redesign naira notes last year was executed, “it would have made it impossible for counterfeiters to cook.”  He further noted that best practice currency management is that “Within a period of 5 – 8  years, you redesign the currency, after which counterfeiters tend to catch up with you.”

The question which we may need to ask, however, is whether counterfeiting or redesign is the most serious problem with our currency, particularly when Sanusi, himself, admits that “in terms of what we see as counterfeit in the processing of naira notes, the percentage, is very low?”  Indeed, the claim that it is also best practice to redesign currency every five to seven years may not be supported by the relative longevity of currencies such as the pound sterling and the US dollar.

In reality, the issues of unwieldy portability, the acrimony associated with a shortage of change for small transactions, the inflationary push associated with product pricing, the rapid deterioration of both paper and polymer notes because of their high turnover rate and ultimately the reduction in the naira’s purchasing power as a result of double-digit annual inflation rates, are also all significant challenges to the current naira profile.

Indeed, it will be self-delusion to think that a mere redesign of the naira would counter or remediate these weaknesses.

Consequently, some analysts have suggested that redenomination/decimalisation would make the naira more portable, and also accommodate primary kobo coins, which would fill the gap for change in small transactions, and make close competitive pricing of consumer products more practical, and also restrain inflation.

Instructively, redenomination is the simple process of changing the nominal value of a currency by moving the decimal point. For example, if the naira is restructured by two decimal points, then, N1,000, which is the highest in our currency profile, will be replaced by a N10 denomination.  Similarly, the existing N100 note will become N1; consequently, the new N1 denomination can then be fabricated as a coin, and still have the same purchasing value as the old N100 note.  In the same manner, N50 would similarly be a 50 kobo coin, while the current N10 will become a 10 kobo coin, and the old N1 will become 1 kobo!

In this manner, a redenominated currency profile would increase the purchasing power of coin denominations and still make them portable and attractive for transactions and for provision of change.

Furthermore, consumer products can also become more competitively priced in steps as low as plus or minus 1 kobo, rather than the unusually wide leap of N5 or more, as with sachet water, for example, because of poor portability and rejection of primary coins.

The advantages of redenomination may however, be short-lived, if the abiding economic instigators of inflation are not adequately tackled.  For example, the Ghanaian currency, the Cedi, was redenominated by four decimal points about five years ago, so that ¢10,000, became just one new Ghana cedi and exchanged for almost $1.2. However,  since the root causes of Ghana’s average annual inflation rate of about 15 per cent remained unresolved, inevitably, the cedi has since depreciated sadly, by over 50 per cent to Gh¢1.8=$1.

From the above discussion, it will be clear that neither redesigning nor redenomination of a currency completely satisfies the qualities of portability, safe store of value and acceptability as a medium of exchange.

Conversely, I have consistently argued that the issue of value is the major problem with the naira profile; for example, a much stronger naira value, just like redenomination, would make primary kobo coins more valuable.  However, if the root causes of our economy’s double-digit annual inflation rate remain unresolved, the purchasing power of the redenominated naira will also be rapidly eroded, and make the naira a poor store of value, as is the case with the Ghana Cedi!

Some analysts have argued that the naira value cannot be enhanced or improved until we diversified our economy and produced more to earn additional export revenue; conversely, a diversified economy can never evolve without a liberal access to cheap funds to the real sector, at rates not exceeding five to six per cent, while the naira exchange rate must become stronger, so that critical imported industrial raw material costs will inversely become cheaper.

Regrettably, such a benign enabling climate will never be possible, and our processed products will hardly be competitive against imports, so long as Nigeria’s economy remains besieged by the unyielding threat of surplus cash, which ultimately predicates the crazy reality of government borrowing back its own funds at 13 – 14 per cent, according to the CBN Governor in a recent statement, while the cost of funds to the real sector remains disenabling at over 20 per cent, with inflation still largely untamed.

Instructively, the creation or substitution of humongous naira sums as replacement for monthly allocations of dollar-derived revenue undoubtedly creates the constant burden of surplus cash, (which must be contained to restrain inflation), and also results in a conscious manipulation of the balance of demand and supply of the naira in favour of the dollar, in the forex  market.  Meanwhile, the paradox of a weakening naira in spite of increasing reserves makes our currency less desirable to hold as a safe store of value.

For these reasons, the naira has paradoxically depreciated, as our dollar reserves climbed from less than $4bn in 1996 to consistently over $50bn in recent years.  Thus, an appropriate realignment of the naira/dollar exchange rate with the market forces of demand and supply will be, to issue dollar certificates for allocations of dollar-derived revenue, rather than recklessly create naira replacement, which fuels surplus/excess naira supply.  The evolving market imbalance of more dollars chasing naira with such a payment system will provide a platform for a stronger naira/dollar exchange rate in favour of the naira, and make the naira the currency of choice.

In reality, there is no sensible explanation why the naira should exchange for N80=$1 between 1996 and 1998 with only four months imports demand cover, while the naira currently exchanges for N160=$1 despite over 12 months imports demand cover!  A much stronger naira will ultimately also make primary kobo coins more valuable and portable for transactions.

In conclusion, therefore, an appropriate naira/dollar price mechanism will evolve a currency profile that will become a stable store of value, which is also sufficiently portable to be readily accepted as a medium of exchange.  Neither currency redesign nor redenomination can enduringly accommodate these values while the economy still remains steadfast against a ravaging inflation.

Nigeria’s democracy is growing; but painfully and slowly. Since 1999, we have organised three national elections; no matter how flawed those elections were, we did not take up arms against ourselves; at least on a national scale. We stopped the bid for life presidency by Olusegun Obasanjo and, by so doing, gave notice to would-be life presidents. We also resisted attempts to scuttle constitutional succession at the Presidency following the death of an elected president, and secured a precedent through Goodluck Jonathan.  But regrettably, that transition did not happen as a matter of course.  At sub-national levels, we have seen governors who were rigged out of flawed elections reclaim their mandates through the judiciary. Even an abducted governor was “rescued” by public outcry and the willingness of Nigerians and the press to remain steadfast for justice and the rule of law. Incumbent governors have been voted out of office. We have also seen a fair dose of legislative indiscretions contained. But, our war on corruption has, sadly, yet to start.

As part of the frustratingly slow baby steps in our democratic advancement, we are currently involved in constitution amendment. Through the so-called peoples’ representatives, we are tweaking a false constitution authored by the military and handed down to Nigerians as if it emanated from “We the People”. That process, no matter how flawed and how much it reveals of the structurally defective federation we are operating, provides a learning and “teachable moment” for a healthy national conversation, now and perhaps, more importantly, later.

Conceivably, more than all these, we have seen a few isolated signs of intellectual awakening to our experience with democracy. For example, once in a while, we have seen politicians or actors in the political or public arena write a treatise on their experience in service or in power. I am not talking about governors who rent pliable journalists to scribble their praises and recklessly and corruptibly lavish public funds “launching” tissues of self-glorification in the disguise of books. I have in mind publications such as Nasir el-Rufai’s “The Accidental Public Servant” and Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s “Reforming the Unreformable”. These two I have read. I suspect that there may be a few others of some intellectual merit that I have yet to read. This opinion is not another review of el-Rufai’s book.  I am interested in the significance of such initiatives for Nigeria’s democratic progress. But a bit about the book may be helpful.

The “Accidental Public Servant”, to me, is therefore an unfiltered account of the anatomy and overall inner workings of the Obasanjo administration. It provides a close-range mirror of the Obasanjo persona like no other.  El-Rufai’s book offers a “Because-I-am-Involved” account of the forces behind the privatisation of Nigeria’s prime public corporations and the role of politicians and their agents in a process that was highly contentious as it was controversial for the most part. Perhaps, only a few politicians or public servants (even private sector actors) of note in the Obasanjo administration whose paths crossed with El-Rufai’s in his various official engagements escaped some mention for good or bad in the book. For example, the book provides a sexy representation of aspects of the role of individuals such as Nuhu Ribadu, Okonjo-Iweala, Oby Ezekwesili, Chukwuma Soludo, Mike Adenuga, etc. in specific contexts of the Obasanjo government.

However, it must be noted that el-Rufai has made a significant contribution to Nigeria’s political history by illuminating on the hidden intrigues and cross-currents of Obasanjo’s second coming. His courage and initiative is worthy of commendation. Such projects help grow our democracy.

    And that is the challenge which Major Hamza al-Mustapha and all other crucial actors in Nigeria’s public sphere may like to embrace. Like el-Rufai, for those who were adults at the time of the Abacha regime, al-Mustapha needs no introduction. He was one of Abacha’s closest confidants. He was so powerful that not many doubted that he was the de facto next-in-command to the shy and reclusive General. Anyone that came by his approval to the Abacha power chambers had their wish granted. More important than his influence in the Abacha junta, al-Mustapha was said to be in charge of a security outfit called the Strike Force, allegedly used to suppress the restive opposition, especially in the South-West zone, as symbolised by the National Democratic Coalition and its allies for insisting on the sanctity of the 1993 June 12 presidential election believed to have been won by M.K.O. Abiola.

During the Abacha era, there was massive crackdown on the opposition including through targeted assassinations of prominent opposition and prodemocracy leaders, including journalists. It was that period of terror that Alfred Rewane, Kudirat Abiola and others were assassinated. Michael Ibru, the affable publisher of The Guardian Newspaper, was a target of a failed assassination attempt at that eon. Most of these attacks happened in broad day lights conceivably by persons believed to be agents of the government of the day and allegedly under the security directive of Al-Mustapha.  There was also an allegation of a phantom coup that resulted in the trial and convictions of several people, notably, Generals Obasanjo, Oladipo Diya, Abdulkarim Adisa, etc.

Abacha’s sudden death turned the tide dramatically for all prominent actors in his government, including, you guessed it, Al-Mustapha. For almost 15 years, he was a guest of our criminal justice system, defending himself from various charges including conspiracies to commit murder.  A star witness (Sgt. Rogers) testified that Al-Mustapha provided the weapons and gave the directives for the assassination of Kudirat Abiola, the pro-democracy wife of the late M.KO. Abiola – the arrow head of the June 12 presidential election.  In 2012, Al-Mustapha was convicted (with another) for Mrs.  Abiola’s murder. Until his recent release, al-Mustapha existed at the intersection of freedom and the hangman.   But recently, a Court of Appeal sitting in Lagos spared him from the hangman and declared him free. Expectedly, his release by the judiciary has elicited mixed reactions across the country. He has made a heroic and triumphant return to his native Kano, and he seems to have hit the ground running into limelight; and even appears ready to rattle the polity by the suggestive steps he has taken so far.

But how best could al-Mustapha make his freedom count? Not many that walked al-Mustapha’s kind of “long walk to freedom” get an opportunity for redemption that is now his pleasure and his burden.  He was a prominent figure in Nigeria’s political transition from Babangida to the second coming of Obasanjo. That point in our political history where he became a visible actor was one of the most critical to our national survival. He knows all the actors at a time when Nigeria was on the edge of the precipice. He can make his freedom count by assisting us to unravel what actually happened to Abiola. and to shed light on all the post June 12 political engineering and manipulations.

He could assist us to truly understand the anatomy and the overall psychology of the Abacha administration and the Abacha enigma. Al-Mustapha could help put in context all the actors that bestrode Nigeria’s political firmament during the Abacha days. If he feels a personal burden to make a case for his innocence before the Nigerian people, he surely has the chance. Truly, his countrymen would like to hear from him now that he has the chance. Could it be possible that he had all along been misunderstood as he often insinuates? If only he could shun all the evident political pressures following his release. Before he gets things all mangled by the crooked ways of politics to which he is being dragged, al-Mustapha should write us a treatise that would help illuminate the darkest tunnels of our political journey. As Chinua Achebe said, if we do not know where and when the rain started falling on us, it is hard to realise where and when and it stopped.

Al-Mustapha, please write for us “The Accidental Military Politician” with as much courage if not more than el-Rufai’s “The Accidental Public Servant”. You can make a difference.  By so doing, you contribute to the growth of our democracy, cultivate the rule of law, help heal wounds and bring closure to many and contribute to nation-building. These are the kinds of stuff patriots do. For you, they could be redemptive.

– Oguamanam, an Associate Professor of Law, wrote in from Ottawa, Canada.

Twitter: @chidi_oguamanam

A few days earlier in Dakar, the humble capital of Senegal, on the seaside tranquility of one of its tony hotels, I contemplated Camara Laye, the under-song author of Africa’s most realised novel, Radiance of King. The book is a localised rendition of Kafka’s mad work of genius, The Castle. There the German Jew tackles the epic emptiness of search.

I had not resettled here in Nigeria on my return when I picked up the rumble between Lagos State and Anambra State, and I could not but take another journey – mental this time – to Senegal. I recalled another author, Aminata Sow Fall, who wrote an African classic titled, The Beggar’s Strike.

Governor Peter Obi, the feminine-voiced matador of Anambra State, should read that book, if he has not. If he has, he should read it again. It is the story of the revenge of beggars against the patriarchal art of oppression in Africa. In 2011, Gov. Obi did not show much empathy for the mendicant profession. The beggars came from Akwa Ibom State, and Obi did not like them. He ordered, according to the reports, about 29 of them out of the streets of Awka and Onitsha.

Unknown to him, the wraiths and spirits of the beggars would haunt him, just as the beggars stalked the government bullies in Sow Fall’s novella. The alternative title Fall gave her book is Dregs of Society.

Fast forward to 2013. The Lagos State Government of the governor of example, Babatunde Raji Fashola, SAN, ordered the repatriation of 14 destitute persons to Anambra State, and Obi is crying foul. The beggars have come home to roost!

No hoopla attended the Akwa Ibom incident from Godswill Akpabio, the ebullient governor of the state. This author does not know if Obi wrote Akpabio and handed the beggars to a government person. The Anambra State Government has not, as Lagos has shown, demonstrated in public any exchange of correspondence with the other government before the repatriation order.

But as documents have evinced, the Lagos State government rescued the Anambra State citizens from the streets. They were not just lunatics but destitute. They were not child beggars as in the case of Anambra State, but adults. Unlike in Anambra State, the destitute received humane treatment. They enjoyed relocation from the severity of the streets to the serenity and comfort of shelter, food and medical treatment. The Lagos State Government also wrote the Anambra State liaison office to inform them that they had the persons under their care and wanted to relocate them. The State replied asking for details of the persons, and Lagos provided the facts. According to the state, the care was costing the state. So a plan was put in place with the knowledge of the state to repatriate the persons.

Officials of the Anambra State Government were, according to the arrangement, to wait on the Anambra end of the Niger Bridge. But when the Lagos State bearers of the destitute persons arrived, the Anambra State Government representatives did not show up. The persons were then handed to a government office nearby. This negates the claim by Obi and some of the mischief makers that the persons were dumped at the bridge. I would concede that the Lagos State officials should have consulted Lagos and should have returned the fellows to Lagos.

But this does not mean that the Lagos officials erred. Any government office ought to have taken custody of them and reported to the appropriate authority. What this shows is that Obi was probably not duly informed of the proceedings up to that point by his officers in Lagos and Awka, or the whispering, solemn-faced governor was doing havoc with the situation.

The issuance of letters from Fashola’s government to Obi’s liaison office reflected earnestness and respect not only for the government of Anambra State but also for the persons involved.

That explains why some Nigerians have expressed dismay at Obi’s irritability and emotive recklessness in his letter to the President as though Fashola had declared war on the people of Anambra State. It shows that Obi and his government do not operate on Fashola’s due process style. A letter from a government to another is sacrosanct, and a governor should not shout hoarse, and Obi cannot shout if he tried. But the virus of accusation has been read in many quarters as opportunistic and defensive.

In the atmosphere of the registration of All Progressives Congress, Obi should be wary not to conflate an innocuous matter into an ethnic virus. This is dangerous and reckless. The Igbo form a significant population in Lagos, and the record shows that the Igbo have enjoyed warm reception in the state. They do business without let, and have earned rights in the state like any other group. It can be argued that other than Yoruba, the Igbo are the most favoured. They also play roles in government that Obi has not given any outsider in Anambra.

In these days of ethnic rage, we do not expect a man like Obi to be what the Bible calls, “the accuser of our brethren.” In spite of evidence of letters, Obi lied that Lagos State did not communicate with the authorities of Anambra State.

As Fashola has noted, why did Obi not call Fashola before escalating the matter into a potential Igbo versus Yoruba matter. Obi’s eyes are also set on the battle for Anambra State governor polls scheduled for November 16. He wants to pour venom into the relationship between former governor Ngige and his people by tagging him with the brush of the friend of the enemy, or the friend of the Yoruba.

Akwa Ibom recently sent two destitute persons to Lagos, and Lagos did not raise any hubbub over it. The letters between both states also tell the decorum between both states. The use of the word deportation is not only wrong but tendentious. This is a federation, and the relationship between Lagos and Anambra is not between nations but parts of a nation.

It is wrong and wrong-headed to exploit the destitute. The destitute is the worst any human can get materially. If Obi reads the Russian classic Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyvsky, he would accompany the old drunk who distinguished the destitute from the poor. The poor may have a little, and survive. The destitute person is like an empty well.

But Obi should be careful not to fall into what is worse than material destitution. That is moral destitution. That wreaks of dishonor, and that was what I saw in a play titled, Three Penny Opera written by German playwright Bertolt Brecht. It is the story of a leader of a beggar’s colony who wants to take advantage of them for profit. He lost the pride of his daughter to the bargain.

Obi should not prostitute the pride of Anambra State on the platform of political and ethnic opportunism.

Finally the people of the Niger delta, south-south Nigeria have their son in power yet the region remains a shadow of its self. This is a clear reminder that Nigerians must not allow herself to be drawn into electing people to power based on ethnic sentiment but rather they must take the courage to interrogate critically those who sought their mandate so as to see the substance of their candidature.

Judging by the attitude and mood of the people from the Niger delta before Jonathan was elected, a vote for their son means good bye to poverty and so those oppose even from within them are labelled as traitors who must be dealt with and never be allowed to raise their voice, even when their concerns were genuine. Today south-south Nigeria inspite of its enormous natural endowment remains a region whose people are faced with abject poverty, educationally backward and economically far behind places like Lagos.

A Jonathan ticket will never and can never be the solution to the plight of the people from that region but rather the people themselves must be active participant in any developmental quest it wishes to engage in. They must endeavour to engage government and other private concern in the development quest of the region. This is important because what the people of the Niger delta suffers today is not lack of infrastructure but lack of men and women with genuine interest and vision for the common good of all citizens of the region. What the Niger Delta parade as leaders are merely individuals with that egoistic tendency for the self.

Since the era of Ken Saro wiwa, the region is yet to see true fighter who will stand up and say no to the banality and abuse going on. In fact after Ken Saro wiwa, the pen has suddenly gone dry of ink while the sword has become the potent tool for negotiation used by all who feels it’s time to take their own share of the oil wealth.  This fundamentally is the reason Niger Delta is a region dying from the negligence of its own people. If and only if the people from that part of the country are intellectually reawakened then they will truly see the darkness they have been in all these while. Mental darkness not just physical darkness is the most potent way to keep a people consistently suppressed. They cannot see who they truly are once they are in this state. This is the reason bad governance and corruption is prevailing not just in the Niger delta, but in Nigeria and Africa in general.

The key to bringing light therefore is to illuminate the minds of the people by getting them properly educated and skilled so as for the people themselves to have a greater mastering of their own destiny. This is because you cannot give development to a people but rather equip their minds so as for them to be creators of their own development. This is the sure way out of the mediocrity we see today in the region.

Yek keme

@yekeme

www.yekipedia.blogspot.com

”The claim that the Igbo helped to develop Lagos is hogwash. The major institutions of the south-west were developed by the diligence, hard-work, industry and sweat of the Yoruba people. This is a historical fact”

– Femi Fani-Kayode

I posted those words on my Facebook wall as a fall out from the hot debate that was generated after the relocation from Lagos to Anambra of 19 Igbo destitutes by the Lagos State Government and Governor Fashola. Immediately after the posting all hell broke loose on my wall and all sorts of excitable and emotion-laden comments and assertions were made on the thread. I welcome each and every one of those comments including those that accused me of being a tribalist and a Yoruba nationalist. That is the spirit of debate and we cannot all possibly agree on everything.

Needless to say I stand by every word that I wrote in the post and those that do not share my view are free to hold their own opinion. My assertion is based on history and knowledge and not emotion. The facts are clear and the records speak for themselves. I will go no further than that because it is about time that Nigerians from the younger generation learnt to do their own research and to study their own history. I will not allow the mob mentality or the wild emotions of others to becloud my thinking or to intimidate me into distorting the truth.

The Igbo had little to do with the extraordinary development of Lagos between 1880 right up until today. That is a fact. Other than Ajegunle, Computer Town, Alaba and buying up numerous market stalls in Isale Eko where is their input? Meanwhile the Yoruba of the old Western Region and Lagos were very gracious to them and not only allowed them to return after the civil war to claim their properties and jobs but also welcomed them with open arms and allowed them to flourish in our land. This is something that they have never done for our people in the east. Such gestures of love and fraternity were never reciprocated. Now some of them have the effrontery to call Lagos which is our land and the land of our forefathers (I am half Lagosian) ”no-man’s land” and others have the nerve to assert that up to 50 per cent of the development in Lagos came as a consequence of the input of the igbo. This is utter rubbish.

Those that do not know any better ought to go and learn rather than vent their hostilities and ignorance against me here or on my Facebook wall. I am not a tribalist but a great believer in Nigeria and more importantly I am a historian and a student of history. I will not distort the facts of history just to keep some people happy. The history of the Yoruba and of Lagos particularly is very well known to me and the fact that Lagosians and the Yoruba people generally are so generous and accommodating in their ways and to non-indigenes that settle in their territory should not be mistaken for ignorance, stupidity or weakness. We know our history, we know who we are, we know who and what developed our land and made it into what it is and we urge those that yearn to be like us to go and emulate our efforts and attitude to non-indigenes and hard work in their own states of origin.

I have nothing against my fellow Nigerians from other parts of the country and I have proved over and over again that I love Nigeria and that I am a Nigerian before anything else. However if, in the twisted imagination of some, speaking the truth about the history and development of Lagos and the Western Region makes me a tribalist, then tribalist I am. Servants of truth do not fear such labels and are often hated and misunderstood. If I was worried about what others thought of me I would have stopped writing long ago.

Meanwhile permit me to recommend to all and sundry to read and learn from the following words of an insightful Nigerian by the name of Mr. Sina Fagbenro-Byron. He has had the courage to analyse the matter in a very honest, clear and forthright manner and he has spoken the truth. Let us hope that those that have no knowledge of that truth are humble enough to learn from it.

He wrote- ”It has become a recent habit by a number of our young Igbo brethren to refer to Lagos as a ‘no-man’s land. The great Zik, Mbadiwe, Mbonu Ojike, Ajuluchukwu, Opara etc would never have made such statements as they knew better. It is not only unfair but in extremely bad taste apart from the fact that it is historically false. How can you call a land that has had over 400 years of traditional rulership and cultural definition as a no man’s land? It shows contempt for the indigenes, ingratitude of hospitality and a betrayal of ones host. The late Herbert Macaulay( a Yoruba Lagosian) on his dying bed endorsed Zik as successor leader of the NCNC because of his nationalism, intellectual sagacity and it was endorsed by a group of Yoruba elders and not by any Igbo population who in anycase were infinitesimal as at the time, for Chinua Achebe records in his book, and we can roughly confirm that there were not more than a few thousand Igbos in Lagos before the civil war. So after having been received, accommodated by their host Yorubas since the 1940s a generation that is ignorant of history and careless of historical relationship refer to Lagos as no mans land, this attitude is the cause of the perennial Jos crisis amongst others. When the military stopped the teaching of history in schools in the 1980s, we knew that by allowing them we courted confusion, but it was deliberate. Up till 1968, Mushin, Apapa, Ikeja, were all part of the Western Region. The English treaty was with the Oba of Eko Ile,(Lagos). Lagos traditional families all are Yoruba and the founder of Eko was Ogunfunminire who migrated from Ife before the 16th century. Lagos traditional Obaship was confirmed on behalf of the Oduduwa dynasty. If we consider it unfair to call Igbo property ‘abandoned property’ after the civil war, why should they refer to another mans backyard as no man’s land. Lagos had been the commercial nerve center of West Africa befor Nigeria was created and this was attributable to the welcoming attitude of coastal Yorubas, which was first betrayed by the Portugese who introduced slave trade, the Kiriji war and the 100 year Yoruba civil war of 1769-1869 also saw a huge population from the other Yoruba Hinterland moving to Lagos to procure salt, guns,seek out their freed slave brethren etc and these led to the growth of Lagos. Since independence and after the civil war other Nigerians have made Lagos a home for themselves , but none have been so unkind as to call Lagos a no mans land. Igbos who say this and claim credit for the development of Lagos should remember that the first Industrial Estate in Nigeria was built by Awolowo in Ikeja as Premier of the West and the Western house on Broad street has significant historical importance. I would urge my Igbo brethren not to make true the words of Sardauna when he described the Igbos as having a tendency to come in as visitors and seek to claim ownership to the exclusion of indigenes, if Onitcha or Abakaliki is not no mans land why should Lagos be. Imagine how our Niger Delta brethren will feel if we refer to their space on God’s earth as no mans Land?”

Fagbemi-Byron has hit the nail on the head and I wholeheartedly commend him for his courage. Frankly I could not have put it better myself. How I wish that more of those that are in the younger generation today would indulge in the type of research and scholarship that this man has obviously done. He, and those that value truth and knowledge like him, are the true Nigerians and thankfully I believe that there are many like him in every tribe and nationality in this great country. May God grant them the courage to speak out and cure the ignorant of their ignorance. God bless Nigeria.

PS: The opinions expressed in this article are strictly those of the writer and not those of Omojuwa.com or any of its affiliated persons and platforms

Amid warnings over a fresh planned attack on Western targets, United States officials in Washington and diplomats in US postings around the world were on high alert at the weekend, leading to the closure of 22 embassies and travel alert to American citizens in the Arabian Peninsula.

The British Broadcasting Corporation reported Saturday that the United States is not the only one worried by the latest threat to peace. The United Kingdom, French, and German embassies in Yemen will also be shut Sunday and Monday.

The uneasiness was coming on the heels of warnings that fresh intelligence points to Yemen-based al-Qaida being on the final stages of planning an attack on Western targets.

The warning is specifically tied to Yemen.

According to a report by Associated Press, President Barack Obama’s counterterrorism adviser updated him on the potential al-Qaida threat before he left Saturday for a round of golf in Maryland to kick off his 52nd birthday celebration last weekend, officials said.

An attack last year on a US diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, on September 11 killed the ambassador and three other Americans.

“There is a significant threat stream, and we’re reacting to it,” said Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He told ABC in an interview to be aired today that the threat was “more specific” than previous ones and the “intent is to attack Western, not just US interests.”

The warning said al-Qaida or its allies might target either US government or private American interests. The alert expires on August 31.

The New York Times reported Friday night that American officials said the US had intercepted electronic communications among senior operatives of al-Qaida.

The State Department said the potential for terrorism was particularly acute in the Middle East and North Africa, with a possible attack occurring on or coming from the Arabian Peninsula.

US officials pointed specifically to Yemen, the home of al-Qaida’s most dangerous offshoot and the network blamed for several notable terrorist plots on the United States.

“Current information suggests that al-Qaida and affiliated organisations continue to plan terrorist attacks both in the region and beyond, and that they may focus efforts to conduct attacks in the period between now and the end of August,” a department statement said.

Britain, Germany and France also announced their embassies in Yemen would be closed Sunday and Monday. British authorities said some embassy staff in Yemen had been withdrawn “due to security concerns.”

Canada’s Foreign Minister John Baird said on Friday there were no plans to close any Canadian missions in the region. But he did urge diplomats and Canadian travellers in the region to exercise added caution.

Interpol, meanwhile, issued a global security alert Saturday in connection with suspected al-Qaida involvement in several recent prison escapes including those in Iraq, Libya and Pakistan. The alert calls on Interpol’s 190 member countries to help determine whether these events are co-ordinated or linked. The Lyon, France-based international police agency said it issues such alerts fairly regularly.

The State Department urged U.S. travellers to take extra precautions overseas, citing potential dangers involved with public transportation systems and other prime sites for tourists. It noted that previous terrorist attacks have centred on subway and rail networks as well as airplanes and boats.

The alert was posted a day after the U.S. announced it would shut many diplomatic facilities Sunday.

Spokeswoman Marie Harf said some missions may stay closed for longer than a day.

Sunday is a business day in Muslim countries, and the diplomatic offices affected stretch from Mauritania in northwest Africa to Afghanistan.

Although the warning coincided with “Al-Quds Day,” the last Friday of the Islamic month of Ramadan when people in Iran and some Arab countries express their solidarity with the Palestinians and their opposition to Israel, U.S. officials played down any connection.

They said the threat wasn’t directed toward a specific U.S. diplomatic facility.

The concern by American officials over the Yemen-based al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is not new, given the terror branch’s gains in territory and reach during Yemen’s prolonged Arab Spring-related instability.

The group made significant territorial gains last year, capturing towns and cities in the south amid a power struggle in the capital that ended with the resignation of Yemen’s long-time leader, Ali Abdullah Saleh. A U.S.-aided counteroffensive by the government has since pushed the militants back.

Yemen’s current president, Abdo Rabby Mansour Hadi, met with Obama at the White House on Thursday, where both leaders cited strong counterterrorism co-operation.

Earlier this week, Yemen’s military reported a U.S. drone strike killed six alleged al-Qaida militants in the group’s southern strongholds.

It is news that has left a bad taste in the mouth since it broke about a week ago. Whichever way it is looked upon and no matter the honey-coating state government officials or agents have tried to give it, the sight of scores (the number is put at about 70) of destitute-looking fellow Nigerians herded into a bus in Lagos and dumped at a point in Onitsha is most unpleasant.

From all indications, it was the handiwork of a Lagos State Government exasperated by the unending flow of human traffic, predominantly of the jobless and penurious kind, daily into Lagos, and frightened by the growing security and social implications for the state.

To be honest, I sympathise with the state of Lagos in what is looking like a “Rock of Sisyphus” challenge it faces; one in which the harder it strives to make Lagos beautiful, habitable and prosperous the more it draws in more dregs abandoning the unpleasantness of their own poorly governed states!

It is a familiar story all over the world that plays out for different reasons and at many levels, microcosmic to macrocosmic, from village to town to state to country to the global world – from the Plateau State “indigenes” seeking to drive out “settlers,” to Nigeria’s “Ghana-Must-Go” of the 80s, to series of deportations and discriminatory laws engaged in by a number of European and American countries. Whenever a place feels its economy, social equilibrium and or security is threatened the culprit to look for is the outsider or “foreigner.”

The question on my mind, however, is: how come Onitsha? Why and how was Lagos able to determine and herd all 70 or so destitute persons and put them as Anambra people. Or was it that it left it to the state of Anambra the business of further sorting out and dispatching to other states those that are not her own? I mean, to get to Onitsha the bus must have crossed at least three or four other states – Ogun, Ondo, Edo and Delta.

A justifiably bemused, if not angry, Governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi, has gone crying out to the country’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, asking for his quick intervention lest the situation degenerates into a dangerous tit-for-tat. Obi says it’s not the first time, and that similar incident happened “last September.”

According to Governor Obi, “Lagos State did not even bother to consult with Anambra State, before deporting 72 persons considered to be of Igbo extraction to Anambra State.”

Ah ha, were they all Igbo and was that why Onitsha (Anambra) was chosen as their ‘distribution” point?

But to get more serious, Obi has raised a cogent point, why would the state of Lagos have embarked on such desperate and untoward action that should have been a last resort, without the courtesy of first raising the issue with his counterpart, the governor of the state of Anambra?

Conversely Obi has committed two errors in return, as Governor Tunde Fashola of Lagos has pointed out.

Says Fashola, “It is unfortunate that my colleague governor has made this a media issue. As I speak, I haven’t received any telephone call or letter from him to complain and I don’t think that is the way government works. On less important matters like this, he had called me before.”

More grievous, why would Obi be running to the president like a baby whose candy has been snatched running to mummy, thus further giving the Abuja the wrong notion of being the “parent’ over states, rather than being “partners?”

The whole business is not funny in the context of our supposed “One Nigeria.” And all that contest between two governors on their last lap aside, human lives are involved, and that of fellow Nigerians at that.

As I have indicated earlier, it is a human sociological tendency for people to feel aggrieved at the sight or thought of some other people coming to take overly undue advantage of the openness or generosity on offer by their clime or sweat. It is worse when this advantage being taken turns into an abuse or even appropriation of ownership or control of the land.

The pressure on Lagos is onerous, and the creation of, and movement of the Federal seat to, Abuja has not abated it in anticipated proportion. Unfortunately ours remains a self-spiting, Ostrich-like, silly country, denying Lagos its deserved “special status” for Federal allocation purposes to handle the continuing influx of people from all over the place. At the same time the same country has not found it imperative and urgent to develop other coastal cities with the potential of having sea ports to reduce the pressure on Lagos.

But more grievously, what is called for is the necessity for other states to hold their governors responsible for the development of their states and the creation of an environment to reduce the urge to migrate to places whose governors are striving to make life more abundant for her citizenry.

A good example is the State of Osun, I daresay. Since that maverick OgbeniRaufAregbesola became governor, he has turned the state rapidly into an economic and intellectual beehive such that all Osun persons are drawn into the state, and none I know is seeking to leave for even Lagos. Therein lies the lesson.

A department of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) reportedly attempted to delay the registration of the newly formed APC. Ultimately, good sense, courage and Professor Attahiru Jega’s integrity prevailed and the APC became a legal and political reality. I therefore reproduce below a piece published in this column on June 22, 2013

Look at the books which I have written, the lectures which I have given, and the many speeches and statements which I have made. You will find that there is no problem confronting or about to confront Nigeria to which I have not given thought and for which I have not proffered intelligent and reasoned solutions
– Chief Obafemi Awolowo, 3rd of July, 1979

The above assertion was certainly no empty boast by the great sage, Awo, as he assiduously sought the country’s presidency in 1979. Reading his vast collections of writings today, one is still amazed at the extent of his industry, the depth of his research, and the enduring relevance of his proposed remedies for the protracted maladies that have laid Nigeria prostrate for over five decades. That was a statesman, politician and leader avidly committed to transformational change and who made every possible sacrifice, even if ultimately futile, to help actualize his dreams for a country he loved passionately. I want to believe that the leaders and moving spirits behind the emergent new political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) have also given serious reflection to their decision to choose ‘change’ as the party’s slogan.

This question is pertinent because the President Goodluck Jonathan presidency along with his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) apparently flippantly flung the phrase ‘transformation agenda’ before our too easily seduced eyes in the run up to the 2011 election. Having won a pan-Nigerian mandate, neither president nor party appears, two years after, to have any inkling what transformation is about. Thus, our existential realities only steadily worsen even as they trumpet their purported accomplishments from the roof tops. Things have clearly sunk to their lowest ebb in contemporary Nigeria. Despite the undeniable progress made in many states in the present dispensation, the centre that controls the bulk of the country’s resources remains largely rudderless and clueless. And even as poverty worsens, insecurity reigns and corruption struts our highways in majestic omnipotence, we have a presidency that is completely preoccupied with 2015 to the exclusion of almost all else. Yet, the darkest period of the night also marks the gradual transition to dawn. This may thus also be the beginning, fortuitously, of Nigeria’s march towards hermanifest destiny of greatness in spite, perhaps because of, the inexcusable ineptitude of the Jonathan presidency.

There are great expectations and immense anticipation in the air. This is perhaps the most significant moment of political alignments and realignments in Nigeria’s post-colonial history. In sharp contrast to the perfunctory and half-hearted political alliances that failed woefully in the first and second republics, the opposition seems determined this time to forge a solid full scale merger to wrest power from the behemoth at the centre. Against all odds, the merging parties have come up with a common name, common logo, common slogan, agreeable constitution and are pacing premium on coming up with a national redemption programme rather than pursuing personal political ambitions. And the obsessive ambition of President Jonathan is turning out to be a blessing in disguise for the opposition. It has split the PDP down the middle bringing it to the point of implosion. It has ruptured the National Governors Forum and, very happily for the opposition, alienated many PDP governors who may work against their party in 2015 just as they bloodied a hubristic presidency’s nose in the May 24th, NGF election clearly won by the irrepressible Governor Rotimi Amaechi of Rivers State.

But then, these are still early days yet. After all, 24 hours is a long period in politics. This is why the opposition leaders involved in the merger moves must be constantly challenged to reflect on their motives and incessantly interrogate their assumptions. This is exactly what my colleague, Mr.Olakunle Abimbola, did in his column of last Tuesday. He wanted the APC leadership to have a crystal clear idea in their minds on why exactly they want to ease the PDP out of power at the centre come 2015. If it is power for its own sake, he reasoned with characteristic incisiveness, the new party would not be much differentfrom the PDP it seeks to displace. For we all know the catchphrase of the ‘largest party in Africa’: PDP! POWER! It has monopolised power in the country since 1999 while increasing the powerlessness of Nigerians in the face of hunger, disease, ignorance, darkness and joblessness. I approach Abimbola’s concerns from a slightly different angle.

What kind of change do the APC leaders have in mind when they advocate the need to lead the country in a different direction from the retrogressive one taken over the last 14 years? The ironic truth is that to bring about the kind of change that will fundamentally and qualitatively transform the country the way the PDP has completely failed to do, the new party at the centre must also place premium on ‘power’ a s a value. But then, I refer not to the arrogant, purposeless power associated with the PDP. No, I mean the power of self-discipline, the power of self-denial, the power of sacrifice and the power of selflessness. Let me explain.

It will be all too tempting for a new party at the centre to want to maintain the current unhealthy asymmetrical relations between the federal and state governments. The government will be likely under the illusion that it will wield the immense powers at the centre more responsibly than the PDP has done. Nothing would be more false. Absolute power will always corrupt absolutely maybe it is the PDP in power or not. Fundamental decentralization of powers, resources and responsibilities from the centre to the states and regions is thus a necessary change that a post – PDP government must consider non-negotiable. Of course, such a federal government will take the lead in upholding the rule of law, transparency and judicial integrity to tame corruption and promote good governance.

Again, if a post-PDP President emerges in 2015, he may be inclined to retain the dysfunctional, excessively expansive powers of the Nigerian presidency that has become a veritable albatross on the entire political system. Again, the outcome will be as disastrous as it has been under the PDP and positive change will remain pure fiction. All the nonsense of the President being the leader of a political party must go with the PDP. Critical national institutions must be relatively autonomous of the presidency. Party supremacy must hold everybody, no matter how highly placed in check while internal democracy must be the norm. To be fair to two prime movers of the APC, General Muhammed Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, they have demonstrated a remarkable willingness to forfeit selfish, personal ambition for the collective party and national interest. That is a commendable example of the power of sacrifice and self-denial.

Furthermore, what will the APC do about the outrageous allowances, perks and salaries particularly of our law makers? That is one area where there must certainly be drastic change in the direction of greater probity and frugality. Let us heed the following words of Awo in this regard in the second republic. According to the sage on 27th January, 1980, “When the National Assembly expends so much time and energy in discussing the salaries of its members, while it does little about a reasonable minimum living wage or income for the working classes and peasants; when our parliamentarians conceive of something in the neighbourhood of N2,000.00 per month by way of salary and allowances each for themselves where the low-income group including policemen earn as low as N70.00 per month ( I don’t know how much the rank and file of the armed forces earn)…we can be sure that the end of democracy is in sight, even though, in our blinding self-seeking, we may not perceive it”. Surely, it is no easy task for the APC but the party can ill afford to dash the high hopes of Nigerians.

Fellow Nigerians, let me start by congratulating the leaders and members of the newly registered political party, All Progressives Congress (APC) of Nigeria, on their well-deserved victory. You will agree with me that it was never a smooth ride for them, and they were forced to fight like wounded lions, every step of the way, against all manner of forces that attempted to frustrate their efforts and derail their mission. Even at a time many of us wondered what was so special about a name, and an acronym, that at best stood for a popular pain-killer, the leaders of the merging political parties stuck adamantly to their guns and refused to be intimidated by the powers that control life and death in Abuja. It speaks volumes about the uncommon bravery of those the PDP, the ruling party at the centre, are poised to duel with sooner or later.

Now that APC has crossed the Rubicon, believe me, the big game is just about to start. Already the rhetoric is changing.  The tone and tempo of politics is set to be modified and returned to the good old interesting days of NRC versus SDP pre-1993. There is nothing that makes politics more exciting than having two giants in the ring. What we’ve had all along was a mismatch where a heavyweight champion was flexing its muscles in front of several flyweights whose combined strength did not even amount to a proper lightweight! Compared to PDP, the other parties in opposition were like pests, or minor irritants, that could easily be swatted and squashed! With this miraculous registration, the days of a lone King Kong punching the wind in the arena are over. The two major warriors can now stand shoulder to shoulder, eyeball to eyeball and square up to each other.

It would certainly be naïve of the PDP to underrate the potential of APC and the combination of General Muhammadu Buhari, now a Grand Admiral in contesting elections, and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, a civilian General in his own right and a veteran of many political wars, marshalling the affairs of APC from the rear. Those two men, with their politically savvy and die-hard troops in tow, have what it takes to give the PDP apparatchik and foot soldiers a run for their money. What gives me the confidence is the assurance I’m getting from the inner caucus of APC that General Buhari and Asiwaju Tinubu have chosen to play backend roles this time around as kingmakers. This sacrifice on their part will certainly yield better fruits and bountiful harvests. It is bound to upturn the permutations of those who are hoping, willing and ready to use the perceived weaknesses of both great men against them if ever they present themselves as candidates. But with the decision to make the big sacrifice, they would be able to concentrate their attention, energy and resources at mobilising voters all over the country.  The APC can only stand to gain more converts and instant ovation as a result.

Those who want APC as replacement to PDP are of the opinion that by 2015, PDP would have spent a total of 16 years in power. It is their belief that in those years, Nigeria frittered away enough resources that could have brought true transformation to our nation because of the profligate nature of the PDP leaders. They argue that the time has come to try some other people and certainly a new and different political party. But the antagonists of APC consider that line of thought as preposterous and untenable. They wonder how a party that is likely to poach and field a candidate, and possibly a running-mate, from PDP can reasonably claim to be a new party. Their supporters are pleading with Nigerians to stick with the devil they know and not risk a new government that might make matters worse for the country. They are taunting APC as a coalition of frustrated and disgruntled politicians.  It is for APC to rise above such base mocking and focus solely on the gargantuan task ahead.  Nigerians want to see a Party that discusses issues and solutions not one that spews forth bitterness and hate.

The war of words is expected to escalate in the coming days and weeks as the gladiators warm up for the battle royale. It is not clear yet how the game would play itself out or how PDP would respond to this affront on its supremacy and erstwhile invincibility. For sure, President Jonathan would have to take some urgent and drastic steps to shore up what is regarded by many people as his lethargic style of governance. He may be forced to sack and sacrifice some of the controversial and or lacklustre members of his kitchen cabinet. He would have to jazz up his team with more accomplished and competent people. The anticipated shakeup is expected to be as powerful as an earthquake if and when the President decides that he has the liver to do it. He would have to close his eyes and ears to close family members and friends with vested interests in who should or should not come in. According to close insiders, this reshuffling is long overdue and the time has come for decisive action in order to steal the thunder from APC.

In the calculations, the President is said to be considering new realignments based on the current realities. The South West is aggrieved that it has not fared well in the present equation. No Yoruba man is known to occupy any of the top ten positions in a country where ethnic considerations and jingoism reign supreme. And the South West is too strategic and very enlightened to ignore because of its huge votes and educated voters. The region is very similar to the swing States of America.

I’ve no doubt in my mind that it would have been almost impossible for Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan to win the last Presidential election had he not secured the tacit support of Bola Tinubu & Co. in the South West. The breakdown of talks and negotiations between the CPC and ACN was all Dr Jonathan needed to coast home to victory and the PDP flag-bearer wasted no time in relocating to Lagos to caress and cajole the South West power-brokers into supporting his dream. The rest is history.

But somehow, it seems the PDP has mismanaged the goodwill that gave it the victory it recorded in 2011 almost on a platter of gold. As I write this, PDP appears to be in utter disarray fighting within and without on all fronts. Not since the First Republic have we seen a party fighting such a war of attrition and self-immolation as if under a demonic spell. It appears that the leaders of the PDP and in particular the President and his cronies have not imbibed the lessons of history.

For all you care, and hate him or love him, Bola Tinubu is currently the most significant politician in Yorubaland today, while General OlusegunObasanjo is the biggest national figure from the South West. Truth is Tinubu is a one man riot squad who controls the biggest army of old and young members of the electorate in his region. He’s very intelligent and skilful. He understands how to meander his way in the forest of a thousand daemons. As tough and irreconcilable as President Obasanjo was in his days as civilian President, one man he could not cow was Tinubu. Lagos was starved of its statutory allocations yet Tinubu ran the State on auto-pilot. He even cruised at an altitude that would have many Captains green with envy.

Tinubu did not stop there. He deployed humongous energy and resources to wrestle the states taken by the PDP in the South West and took them back one after the other. Like the legendary Ijesa warrior, Ogedengbe Agbogungboro, Tinubu has carried his political exploits across borders and certainly beyond the South West with a most formidable ally in Edo State, Governor Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole and Kwara State has always been just a fingertip away from being captured by his Party. Unless something happens soon, Governor Rotimi Amaechi may be thrown willy-nilly, or inadvertently, to the APC free of charge by a rabidly vengeful PDP.

The President and his strategists would really have to wake up from the day-dream that the 2015 Presidential election would be easy to win. With the birth of APC, the forces against them are now bigger and stronger than ever. The PDP has enough enemies to contend with in the South South where the President comes from. The problem is not just about personal squabbles but the lack of visible development in the region despite the fact that they have the President, Petroleum Minister, Minister and Ministry of Niger Delta, Niger Delta Development Commission, Presidential Amnesty Programme, and so on. The physical appearance and infrastructure remain as rickety as they were three years ago and no miracle can improve them in the next two years.

The South East that gave total support to the President at the last elections may yield some ground to APC this time, especially with the influence of Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State. No one is sure if the full weight of APGA would be thrown behind President Jonathan now that Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State has reconciled with Chief Victor Umeh, Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance.

The confusion in the polity extends to the North Central, especially in Kwara State, where the position of its kingpin Senator Bukola Saraki and his successor in office, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed is not clear. The Governor is one of the pro-Amaechi supporters in the crisis rocking the Nigeria Governors Forum. Not too far away, Jos has been a notorious trouble spot with sporadic attacks and counter attacks in the area. The unrealistic insistence of Governor David Jang of Plateau State that he won the Nigeria Governors Forum election may also weaken the fortunes and chances of President Jonathan in this Zone.

Many parts of the North West are groaning under incessant terror attacks. Kano, Kaduna and Bauchi have been ravaged and savaged by terrorists. President Jonathan may have to rule out and write off that zone in his calculations of States to win in the next election, especially if the Opposition fields a Northerner as it is certain they will.

Let’s move across to North East. The situation here is even more volatile as the hotbed of radical terrorism. Borno, Adamawa and Yobe where the President has declared Emergency rule are too shaky for him to win. Out of the six geo-political zones of Nigeria, the President would be lucky to win two of them comfortably today. But even those two zones can’t match the votes that may pour in for a Northern candidate from the North West, North East and South West.

This is why the APC is in an upbeat mood. You can’t blame them; a house divided against itself like that of PDP is a wandering avenue for lizards and rodents. But APC should not be over-confident. What binds PDP together is very strong, access to power and money, a surfeit of it for that matter. When the time comes, you can expect PDP to open the taps of wealth at its disposal and wave the whiff of cash as usual to catch a largely impoverished populace. The APC would have to wage an unprecedented campaign using mass communication and the preponderance of information technology to counter the humongous financial arsenal that PDP will ultimately deploy. APC must ignite a passion in the youths and first time voters. It must appeal to women as never before, not just as voters but as candidates, even as high as Governorship level. If a country as small as Liberia could produce the first female President in Africa, APC should be more gender-sensitive and positive.

The candidates it chooses will determine the shape of things to come. I pray the two parties will engage in campaigns of issues and not that of calumny.

Nigerians and Nigeria will be better for it in the long run. May God bless our nation.

Straight away, it’s a faux pas, a very embarrassing policy misjudgment that one believes the Lagos State Government must be giving a serious rethink right now. Something must have been amiss somewhere as one cannot imagine an enlightened cabinet as Governor Raji Fashola’s voting to ship ‘alien’ destitute and derelicts to the nearest bus stops away from Lagos, it’s an ill-digested novelty. And if we may remind, what this calls to mind is that governance (everywhere) need be more rigorous in its work, it must take especial pains to SOLVE problems not throw them into shredding machines and government must at all times, strive for the greater good of humanity for that is its raison d’etre. Having said that here are some points to ponder on the ‘deportation’ of the homeless 70 saga:

ONE: People of Onitsha woke up last week to find a small crowd of hapless souls near the head bridge by Upper Iweka flyover. They had been dumped there in the dead of night by officials of the Lagos State Government, (LASG) they claimed and recounted a tale of woes. Officials of the LASG initially denied but when their denial would not stick, they told the ‘true’ story. Yes, it’s routine practice that had started for sometime, they are homeless destitute picked off the streets of Lagos and having rehabilitated them for a while, must send them back to their home states. LASG cannot possibly manage the influx of the dregs of the society into its burgeoning city. They were not dumped in Onitsha, they were reunited with their people, besides there is no ethnic undertone as the same method had been adopted for destitute from Oyo, Ogun and the north of Nigeria.

TWO: The fact that LASG had to carry out the ‘operation’ in the dead of night then lied about it initially means that it must be aware that it is doing something wrong; something heartless and inhuman. Whether the ‘dumping’ had gone on for a decade or that the destitute are routinely and democratically dispersed into the four winds of Nigeria does not make the action right. It simply means that no rigour was applied to solving a social problem.

THREE: LASG must learn to take the bitter with the sweet. A big city cannot be too picky about the people it wants within its borders. All the able-bodied, law-abiding, hardworking and creative ones are welcome; those who can generate taxes, and help build the city can stay while their wretched siblings must stay away? And to venture into the ethnic hue of the matter, you will not normally associate Igbo with destitution so if out of say one million, a hundred or two are banana cases the city should be able to accommodate that. It is called the law of averages which evens things out. Let’s also remember that every city of the world has destitution challenges – London, Paris, New York – the dirt poor and homeless are a part of the human race after all. There are Nigerians in some of these cities in fact, over two decades ago, Newswatch magazine reported on Nigeria’s destitute community in London.

FOUR: It is true that Lagos State is a special case and deserves to enjoy some special status in the federation as has been canvassed by many for sometime now but regardless LASG must be upfront and paradigmatic in managing most of its challenges because they will only grow with the city. For instance destitution is likely to increase and not reduce in years to come so long term solutions are required. The Ministry of Social Welfare sure has a department in charge of derelicts, castaways and the wretched of the society; if this lowliest class in our midst has become such major challenge to the government, what thoughts have been put into the problem? What new grounds have been broken? Why can’t we have model camps and settlements in different locations for these dregs where they can be afforded proper rehabilitation? Why can’t we have a Destitute Fund like the Security Fund which individuals, other states and international bodies could contribute to with proper conceptualization and promptings? What is the public awareness and sensitization strategy for tackling this problem? How have other mega cities managed their own citizens of the streets? Who says Lagos City cannot create a universal model for managing this class of people? True, Lagos may have a case, its method is most baleful even to the city as we have seen from the backlash arising from the action so far.

FIVE: With pervasive poor governance across the land and with the local government system effectively moribund in Nigeria today, social crises like destitution will assail us at a scale we have not known before. Since we cannot put these people into a compactor and tip them into the Lagos lagoon or the River Niger as the case may be, we must recourse to thinking better and working smarter.

Wieder einmal ist Senator Yerima in den Nachrichten, behauptet der Islam als Grundlage für sein Argument, dass ein Mädchen automatisch verwandelt sich in einen Erwachsenen von ‘volljährig’ sobald sie verheiratet ist, mit den damit verbundenen Aufgaben, die auf den Verzicht der Staatsbürgerschaft betreffen, unabhängig davon, ihr Alter oder geistige Leistungsfähigkeit. Weil der Senator aus Zamfara gegangen mit seinem persönlichen Verständnis der Scharia Öffentlichkeit, ist es notwendig geworden, um öffentlich zu antworten seine Äußerungen.

Es sollte darauf hingewiesen werden, jedoch, dass mehrere Medien Berichte über die verfassungsrechtliche Beurteilung Debatte im Senat den Eindruck, dass die Verheiratung Minderjähriger durch den Senat Chambers wurde gebilligt geben. Fakten sind, dass S.29 der Verfassung von 1979 ein nigerianischer Staatsbürger ‘volljährig’ ermöglicht, seine oder ihre Staatsbürgerschaft durch Erklärung verzichten in einer vorgeschriebenen Weise, wozu ‘volljährig’ wurde angegeben, 18 Jahre und älter sein. Das Unterkapitel auch bestimmt, dass “jede Frau, die verheiratet ist gilt sie als volljährig sein werden.” In seiner gegenwärtigen Bemühungen um die Verfassung zu überprüfen, hatte der Senat Ausschuss festgestellt, dass die insbesondere Unterabschnitt gelöscht werden sollen, im Grunde, weil Staatsbürgerschaft keinen Einfluss auf das Geschlecht, wie zum Beispiel Stimmrechte, das Recht auf ein Auto zu fahren, eine Waffe oder so ähnlich besitzen soziale Interaktionen, die sich entwickelnden oder sind Germane zu einer demokratischen Nation. Senator Yerima jedoch vehement (und Lobbyarbeit) gegen die Abschaffung der Klausel, mit der Begründung, dass das Löschen dieser Klausel war gegen (sein Verständnis) Islam. In seinem Verständnis, ein Mädchen, einmal verheiratet, übernimmt automatisch die volle geistige Leistungsfähigkeit und Verantwortung bewusst zu machen die vorgeschriebene Erklärung des Verzichts auf ihre Staatsbürgerschaft.

Diese Position muss sorgfältig geprüft, vor dem Hintergrund der ähnliche Positionen, die unter der Scharia und in unserem Zusammenhang zu erhalten, als eine Nation. Ist es dann folgen, dass der verheiratete Mädchen, das unter 18 ist, bei Wahlen würde erlaubt, Abstimmen, oder ist sie nicht eine Wähler-Karte unislamisch ausgestellt? Ist der Senat nun, eine Ausnahme von diesem Gesetz zu machen, ermöglicht sie zu stimmen, oder sogar fahren, in Übereinstimmung mit (Senator Yerima Verständnis von) Islam?

Im Gegensatz zu der Position, die der Senator aus Zamfara befördert, gibt es sicherlich keine Einstimmigkeit von Positionen in diesen zeitgenössischen Bereich der sozialen Interaktion, in der islamischen Juristen oder die verschiedenen Denkschulen. Sicher, wo es ‘Schweigen in den Texten “(dh Primärquellen) oder das Fehlen von Einstimmigkeit für eine bestimmte Praxis, die Öffnung ermöglicht eine Gesellschaft für sich selbst bestimmen, was in seinem besten Interesse (maslaha), in seinem eigenen Kontext. Was ist verheiratet muslimische Mädchen, die eine Immobilie erben? Ist es nicht die Position, dass in einigen Fällen, in denen nicht als reif genug (‘sufaha’, auf Koran 4.06 basierend), wie Immobilien in der Obhut ihres Vormundes bleibt, bis sie zu intellektuell reifen wächst? Dies würde natürlich auf ihr Alter, geistige Kapazität und der Größe und Art der Immobilie ab. Warum diese Eigenschaft nicht auf ihr automatisch obliegen Ehe, damit umzugehen, was sie will, unabhängig von ihren geistigen Fähigkeiten? Es scheint auf jeden Fall kein Grund sein, unter der Scharia, das wäre ein Mädchen zu zwingen, sich mit Fragen von solcher Schwere, den Verzicht der Bürgerschaft beschäftigen, nur weil sie verheiratet ist. Islam ist sicherlich nicht so vermessen oder hart wie zu belasten sie mit dem, was sie ist geistig und körperlich unfähig Lager. Ihr Vormund ist erlaubt, das Alter oder das Stadium, in dem ein solches Kind anvertraut werden solche schweren Aufgaben, die Bewertung ihrer geistigen Fähigkeiten ist die wichtigste Determinante bestimmen kann.

Als eine muslimische Frau (ohne Anmaßungen Stipendium) immer das Streben nach Wissen, hat die Forschung in diesen Bereichen ergeben, dass im Bereich der sozialen Interaktion (mu’amalat), gibt es eine Menge Spielraum, was erlaubt ist, es sei denn, es ist ausdrücklich verboten ein Klartext. Die Regeln sind sicherlich nicht so endgültig. Was zeigt sich auch darin, dass die “besten Interesse des Kindes eine vorrangige Erwägung im Islam ist, zusammen mit dem Grundsatz der Öffentlichkeit gut (maslaha oder istislah). Die betrieblichen Regelungen sind nicht definiert (wahrscheinlich absichtlich, in meiner bescheidenen Ansicht) und die Bestimmung der solche Probleme am besten zu der Erfahrung, Gewohnheit und Kontext der jeweiligen Gesellschaft hinterlassen. Der Koran sieht vor, dass die vorherrschende Betrachtung im Bereich der Kinder würden auf dem Punkt, an dem sie sagte nicht ‘sufaha’ (geistig unreif) mehr sein, im Rahmen dieser besonderen Gemeinschaft werden können, hängen.

Es ist interessant, dass Senator Yerima lieber verknüpfen die gewichtige und leidenschaftslos Thema Staatsbürgerschaft mit seinem Verständnis von Gender vis a vis seine Wahrnehmung des Alters der Ehe, anstatt mit anderen Fragen der sozialen Interaktion, wie sie in Bezug auf das Erbrecht, das Fahren oder sogar wählen. In der Tat ist ein modernes Phänomen Staatsbürgerschaft innerhalb der Scharia, wie in den frühen Tagen der Begriff der Bürgerschaft noch nicht definiert und Menschen reisten über Grenzen hinweg, ohne Einschränkung. In einer muslimischen Gemeinschaft, wenn Fragen zu entwickeln, ist es für Wissenschaftler oder Experten in islamischen Rechtsphilosophie-‘Usul-al-Fiqh’-und juristische Argumentation (und nicht einmal die ausschließlich in der gelehrten Koran-‘ Mussafirun “, der Fiqh – ‘Fuqaha’ oder die Hadith-‘Muhaddithun’), um die Probleme im Hinblick auf die Herbeiführung einer geeigneten Position für den Rahmen dieser Gemeinschaft relevant zu analysieren. In diesem speziellen Fall ist es sicherlich verwirrend für die Senator so kategorisch darauf zu bestehen, dass auch eine verheiratete “intellektuell unreif ‘Mädchen gestattet, müssen sie Staatsbürgerschaft verzichten, unabhängig von ihren geistigen Fähigkeiten werden. Die Grundlage für eine solche allgemeine und pauschale Aussage innerhalb der Scharia ist schwer zu lokalisieren.

Das öffentliche Gut bleibt die vorrangige Überlegung in den Prozess der analytischen Argumentation von jenen qualifizierten für den Zweck, solange die Abzüge nicht in direktem Konflikt mit den Primärquellen der Scharia. Daher ist in folgenden Argumente wiederholt von der Senator warb, kann es notwendig sein, den Kontext, in dem wir leben, zu untersuchen, um zu bestimmen, was gut ist, für die Zwecke der Ermutigung und Unterstützung, und was bleibt, schädlich für unsere Gesellschaft, konfrontiert werden, entmutigt oder verboten von muslimischen Juristen.

Heute ist der Norden von Nigeria weiter zu werfen Nigeria ärmsten Indizes in Fragen der Gesundheit, Ernährung, Bildung, Empowerment und Produktivität. Folglich verbleiben Arbeitslosigkeit, Unsicherheit, Gewalt und Armut weit verbreitet in dieser Region. Statistiken haben, dass 2/3 der 102 Millionen armen Menschen in Nigeria im Norden leben. Extreme Armut in den Norden führt zu extremen Anfälligkeit für die Auswirkungen des Klimawandels, Ernährungssicherheit und so vieles mehr. Übrigens sind mehr als die Hälfte der Frauen im Norden durch das Alter von 16 Jahren verheiratet und beginnen Geburt innerhalb des ersten Jahres der Ehe. Außerdem sind von den 16 Millionen Geburten von Mädchen im Alter von unter 18, 9 von 10 von ihnen verheiratet.

Fakten sind, dass fast die Hälfte aller Kinder unter 5 Jahren sind unterernährt in der Nord-Ost-Zone, mit Frauen und Kindern in der Ernährung “High-Belastung” Staaten von Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Gombe, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, Yobe und Zamfara am meisten leiden an Unterernährung, und verschwenden Wachstumsstörungen. Diese einzigartige Faktor bleibt die zugrunde liegende Ursache für 53% der unter-5 Todesfälle. Wenn das Kind in seinen ersten 1000 Tage verkümmert ist, das Zustand irreversibel ist, so dass die Zukunft dieser Kinder, und die größere Bevölkerung ist permanent kurz kommen. Die gesundheitlichen und ernährungsphysiologischen Bedürfnisse von Müttern, Neugeborenen und Kindern sind eng miteinander verknüpft, mit jungen Mütter auf die ein Großteil der schwer unterernährte Kinder.

Mehrere gesundheitliche Risiken Kind Ehe gehören der sexuellen Ausbeutung (einschließlich erzwungene sexuelle Beziehungen), dass sie ausgesetzt ist, sowie eine begrenzte Zugang zu Dienstleistungen der reproduktiven Gesundheit, trotz der reale und gegenwärtige Gefahr, an Krankheiten wie HIV / AIDS, sexuell übertragbare Krankheiten ( sexuell übertragbare Krankheiten) und der schwächenden Krankheit von VVF / RVF (VVF-eine Träne im Fleisch zwischen Scheide und der Harnwege, in der Regel aufgrund längerer Arbeit, was zu unkontrolliertem Urin oder Kot im Fall von recto-Vaginal-Fisteln-RVF ), einschließlich der Aufgabe, die mit solchen Beschwerden kommt. Nigeria, mit 2% der Weltbevölkerung, hat 10% der Patienten VVF. Drei Viertel der Befragten mit VVF / RVF sind junge Mädchen, die noch nicht physisch reifen aber Trauma erlitten haben, in ihrer ersten Schwangerschaft.

Statistiken zeigen, dass Totgeburten und Todesfälle 50% eher bei Babys geboren, deren Mütter jünger als 18, wie gegen Babys geboren, deren Mütter über diesem Alter sind. Jeden Tag sterben 144 Frauen bei der Geburt in Nigeria, mit dem North East allein mit 5 mal die globale Rate der Müttersterblichkeit. Der Mangel an Informationen und Zugang zu letztlich Ergebnisse in psycho-sozialen und emotionalen Konsequenzen, häusliche Gewalt, aufgegeben (Straße) Kinder zu unterstützen, mit den damit verbundenen Entbehrungen ihrer Rechte und Freiheiten, deren Wohlbefinden wird stark beeinträchtigt. Die Prävalenz der Missbrauch des Rechts auf die Ausübung der Scheidung von muslimischen Männern ist die Situation nur verschärft, was zu so vielen negativen sozialen Abweichungen wie Drogenmissbrauch (das hat sich so weit verbreitet), kommerzielle Sexarbeit und den vollständigen Verlust von Werten in der ganzen Familie eingerichtet.

Viele dieser Jugendlichen sind aus den Menschen viel älter als sie heirateten, und wegen der damit verbundenen Machtdifferentiale, behindert diese einzigartige Faktor Kommunikation zwischen ihnen, mit dem Mädchen, das keine Verhandlungsgeschick entscheidend in der Entscheidungsfindung, die möglicherweise ihr Leben beeinflussen. Nach dem Verlust an diesen kritischen Lebenschancen, können diese verheirateten Jugendlichen nie anstreben leben als sinnvolle und produktive Mitglieder der Gesellschaft. Nicht in der Lage, sich aktiv an der Community übersetzt, um ihre Niederlage vollständig auf profitiert von Konjunktur und verdienen ein angemessenes Einkommen. Viele dieser Mädchen bleiben von gesellschaftlichen Leben ausgeschlossen, nachdem er von Kollegen und Familienmitgliedern von Ehe getrennt. Depression setzt in. Ein Leben der verminderten Chancen. Die Gemeinde verliert vollständig, die Wirtschaft nicht verbessern kann, wo die Hälfte der Bevölkerung in diesem festgefahren ist.

Kind Ehe, aus den verfügbaren Statistiken, letztlich behindert die Bemühungen dieser jungen Jugendlichen eine Ausbildung zu erwerben, wie früher als später, sie es schwierig, die belastende Verantwortung des Seins eine Frau und Mutter zu kombinieren, mit Schulbildung zu finden. Sie fallen aus, wenn sie nicht für den Zweck der Ehe, in den ersten Platz entfernt. Folglich sind 70,8% der jungen Frauen im Alter von 20-29 in der Nord-West-Zone nicht in der Lage zu lesen oder zu schreiben. Aufgrund der Tatsache, dass diese Mädchen so früh eine Ausbildung (einschließlich des Zugangs zu Informationen und Wissen) bleiben sie beraubt die Kaufkraft für ein angemessenes Ernährung, Gesundheit, Fähigkeiten, oder sogar den Rückgriff auf in Notfällen zu unterstützen, alle beraubt was würde es ihnen ermöglichen, über die Umstände von bitterer Armut steigen. Es ist paradox, dass Muslime wie Senator Yerima lieber ihre Frauen und Töchter durch weibliche medizinische Personal behandelt werden, wenn sie krank werden, und doch sind sie durch kontinuierliches Eintreten für Kind Ehe bewusst Schließen der Alleen für Mädchen zu streben, solche Berufe.

Entbehrungen der formalen und nicht-formalen Bildung zu übersetzen, zu einem so frühen Alter, in Einschränkungen der Mobilität, häusliche Belastungen, die Leugnung der sonstigen Freiheiten in Bezug auf Überleben, Entwicklung und Beteiligung sowie der Verlust der jugendlichen Jahren. Tatsächlich sind Kinder von jungen, ungebildeten Müttern auch weniger wahrscheinlich, dass ein hohes Bildungsniveau, verewigen Zyklen niedrige Alphabetisierungsrate und der begrenzten Möglichkeiten der Existenzsicherung zu erreichen. Kind Ehe daher letztlich entzieht Gesellschaften der intellektuelle und finanzielle / Lebensunterhalt Beiträge der Mädchen und ihrer Nachkommen. Es ist kein Wunder also, dass der Norden so schlechte Bewertungen in fast allen Aspekten des menschlichen Strebens porträtieren weiter.

Als Folge bleiben MDGs 1 (bezogen auf die Beseitigung der extremen Armut und des Hungers), 2 (Bildung), 4 (auf die Senkung der Kindersterblichkeit), 5 (Gesundheit von Müttern), 6 (zur Bekämpfung von Krankheiten) unerreichbare Ziele (zumindest in Northern Nigeria), wenn wir nicht konfrontieren die Folgen und Auswirkungen von Kind Ehe. Offensichtlich erfordert die Geographie der Armut einen kohärenten und dringende Northern Strategie und eine Lösung für die Instabilität, die die Region heimgesucht hat in den letzten Jahren. Vor dem Hintergrund der düsteren Daten können wir nicht leisten, die Politik mit den offensichtlichen Mängeln in unser Humankapital spielen. Der Norden, als wesentlicher Bestandteil der Nigeria muss an allen Fronten zu verbessern, um einen positiven Einfluss auf Nigeria Fortschritte und unterstützt das Wachstum. Seit Kinderehe hat all diese verheerenden Auswirkungen und abnehmende, sicherlich die Überprüfung der Erhöhung der Praxis kann nur auslösen und katalysieren positives Wachstum, in so viele Dimensionen.

Es ist sicherlich nicht im Islam zwingend erforderlich, dass Mädchen aus muss als Minderjährige verheiratet zu sein, so zu halten, bestand darauf, dass diese Praxis bleiben muss unantastbar, vor dem Hintergrund der Bedürfnisse in Nordnigeria, ist unpassend, auch unter der Scharia. Wo eine Praxis bestimmt wird, dass nur zulässige und nicht obligatorisch, wird es als praktikabel und durchaus möglich innerhalb der islamischen Jurisprudenz, zu erschweren oder zu verbieten, wenn festgestellt wird, dass so schädlich für die Bürger und für die Gemeinschaft. Länder wie Jemen, Ägypten, Marokko, Tunesien, Algerien, Somalia und Bangladesch, mit Mehrheit oder hohen muslimischen Bevölkerungsgruppen haben ein Mindestalter für die Ehe als 18, in der Erkenntnis, dass es schwerwiegende soziale, körperliche und geistige Gesundheit Risiken verbunden mit Kind Ehen. Dieser progressive Schritt wurde notwendig, dass diese unbestreitbare Tatsachen stellte eine schwere Belastung für die Rechenschaft und gottesfürchtige Führung in mehrheitlich muslimischen Ländern, um den Schwächsten in ihrer Mitte zu schützen.

Es ist daher nicht unvernünftig, dass die gebildete Elite und Persönlichkeiten des öffentlichen Lebens wie Senator Yerima erwarten, ist im Bewußtsein ihrer Verantwortung Grab, um Schaden zu verbieten und gebieten gut in unserem eigenen Kontext, sollte eigentlich abschrecken diese Abwertung und Verharmlosung der Praxis der frühen Ehe, in der Öffentlichkeit gut, für den Schutz der gefährdeten und der Realisierung von Sozialleistungen. Damit unsere Mädchen erreichen ihre größtmögliche Potenzial ist auf jeden Fall ein Ziel, dass Senator Yerima sollte auch leidenschaftlich sein hinzuarbeiten, zusammen mit dem Rest der Nigerianer, die Sehnsucht nach einer besseren Zukunft.

Tatsächlich sind die übergeordneten Ziele der Scharia die Förderung der Menschenwürde, Gerechtigkeit, Mitgefühl, die Beseitigung von Härten, die Vermeidung von Schäden, die Realisierung der gesetzlichen Leistungen der Menschen, und die Bildung des Individuums durch inculcating in ihm einen Gefühl der Selbstdisziplin und Zurückhaltung, die Ziele sind keineswegs exklusiv. Alles andere kann geeignet sein, diese Ziele, die Maßnahmen Anliegen umfassen nicht nur dem Gesetz kann aber auch für die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung, Verwaltung und Politik. Erreichen Für diejenigen, die spiegeln die Not, dass diese kleinen Mädchen Erlebnis, wo ab und heiratete bald nach geschieden, so mutwillig, ist sicherlich im Glauben inakzeptabel.

Obwohl die Grundlagen des Glaubens und der praktischen Säulen, auf denen sie stehen bleiben unveränderlich im Prinzip können sie interpretiert und auf der Ebene der Umsetzung in der Ausübung öffentlicher gut begründet werden.Dieser Prozess muss von Need ausschließlich von Personen gelernt und hervorragend qualifiziert, um über den Gegenstand in Frage sprechen durchgeführt werden. Wir müssen immer bedenken, dass die “Aneignung” der göttlichen Autorität in religiösen Interpretation am besten zu Scholars in islamischen Rechtsphilosophie und analytisches Denken gelernt links. Nach dem Erwerb der erforderlichen Kenntnisse und Fachwissen (einschließlich der Fähigkeit, die verschiedenen Ansichten in der jeweiligen Sphäre des Lernens im Kontext unserer Zeit wiegen), würden diese Juristen müssen auch getrunken, um das absolute Minimum haben, die Attribute der Demut, Mitgefühl , Reflexion, Weisheit, Selbstbeherrschung, Fleiß, Objektivität, zusammen mit Frömmigkeit. Unsere Gelehrten müssen aufstehen und gehört zu werden, anstatt weiterhin auf Fragen schweigen, dass so beeinträchtigen uns als Individuen, als eine Region, eine Nation und als Mitglieder einer globalen Gemeinschaft, die paradoxerweise Herausforderungen controvert den tieferen Sinn und Zweck der Shari ‘ein.

Zurück zu der Frage in Streit, ist es wichtig, das Denken hinter der Entscheidung, die verfassungsmäßige Klausel, die auf Holz sogar ein “intellektuell unreif ‘Mädchen, wo geheiratet sucht, mit dem Grab Verantwortung der Macht, sie Staatsbürgerschaft aufzugeben löschen loben, wodurch Hebe das Thema der Bürgerschaft auf das Niveau, wobei beide Männer und Frauen haben ähnliche Aufgaben, ohne Diskriminierung. Es ist zu hoffen, dass letztlich die Mitglieder des Senats würde tief nachdenken über die Folgen ihrer jüngsten Aktion und überdenken ihre Entscheidung, die strittige Klausel beibehalten, wenn auch nur, um sicherzustellen, dass jeder Bürger der nigerianischen volljährig, ohne Unterschied, ähnliche Normen unterworfen wird und Pflichten unter den Bestimmungen unserer Verfassung.

Maryam Uwais (MFR) ist Vorsitzender Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative, Kano.

It’s a small step for a party, but a big step for democracy.”

“Let me go further. It’s a small step for a man, but a big step for a nation.”

“Progressives finally have a fighting chance; they are moving from the margin of political existence to the centre of legislative and executive decision-making. In the twinkle of an eye, with the courage of an agency of government, progressivism has gotten rid of scaremongers. It’s a good day for progressives.”

Opalaba went on and on as I feigned complete ignorance of what he was talking about.

Of course, earlier in the day I had received a call from an excited Sunday Dare: “Good morning, Sir” and before I could answer, Sunday went on, as if he had borrowed a leaf from Opalaba’s playbook:

“Oga is very excited, Sir. APC has been registered!”

“Wow” I answered. That’s great. But isn’t the meeting supposed to be on Thursday? I asked, wondering if someone was trying to play a trick on us and make a fool of us.”

“Yes, Sir” Sunday responded, “but for reasons best known to INEC, the meeting had been held earlier today (Wednesday) and Asiwaju has been on the phone with the leadership.”

“Wonderful; Excellent; Oh, that’s so great. Now democracy is on course, I went on in my own excitement, forgetting for a moment that I was in my office.”

Later in the night, we gathered together in my living room, with the Jagaban himself, who in fifteen years, has evolved and transformed himself, with palpable acts of courage and foresight to become the most acknowledged political strategist that Nigeria has ever produced. Bola Tinubu’s political enemies are still in political wilderness, and are not likely to vacate that space of irrelevance because they have failed to acknowledge his political wizardry. Simply put, the fact that Asiwaju has been able to pull this merger through, even if nothing more comes out of it, is a testament to his political skills.

Fifteen years earlier in August 1998 in the same living room that we gathered to celebrate this merger on Wednesday night, we had agonised over the prospects of the participation of progressives in the Abdulsalami transition programme. It was a post-Egbe Omo Yoruba Convention reception in my house. With Baba Adesanya leading the discussion, the pros and cons were laid down and hotly debated. One view was that we needed to demand a national conference to discuss the way forward for the country and we must insist on constitutional provisions for a true federal system prior to any elections. Another view was that we must secure a territorial space from which we can advance our proposals for a true federal system. The meeting decided to give participation a chance so as not to cede our political space to the military backed politicians whose motives we knew.

Progressives have always been purists, and that has been the nemesis of mainstreaming a progressive political agenda. After that decision and participation was endorsed, we moved from one political group to another because we didn’t want to have anything to do with some individuals who had collaborated with the military in one shape or form. I must confess that I have been one of the purists. But that is why I am not a politician. Bill Clinton, the American counterpart of Asiwaju Tinubu in the important task of political strategising once famously pronounced that politics is arithmetic. It’s a game of numbers. For a long time, we have failed the test of numbers largely because of our puritan tendencies.

I was in deep thought about all these when Opalaba’s call came in and I pretended as if I knew nothing. He went on.

“Why are you so quiet?” I expect some excitement from your end. This is why I am always worried about you egg-heads. When there is cause for jubilation, you turn inwards as if you have no emotion. Is it all about mind? Is reflection all there is to life? Get a life, my friend. Break the Champagne, right now and I’d propose the toast to the birth of a new baby: Ayo abara tintin!”

“Wait a minute, my friend. Since when have you become so enthralled about politics? I am beginning to fear that old age is having its toll.”

“You are right about that. This is probably my “Nunc Dimittis” moment. I have waited so long for progressives to have a real shot at the centre. Despite his genuine efforts and outstanding service to the masses, and his truthfulness to a progressive agenda, Chief Obafemi Awolowo wasn’t able to form a credible alternative to the reactionary clique that controlled the center in the first and second republics. Perception has always been the superior of reality in our political history. Now change is coming. Old alliances are broken and new ones taking effect because of the political sensitivity of one man and his ability to persuade like-minded folks. Progressives must doff their hats to Asiwaju Tinubu,” Opalaba concluded his beatitudes.

“So you are actually ready to go now?” I asked my friend. “Remember now that shortly after he sang the song, Simeon, the author of Nunc Dimittis simply gave up the ghost! He just passed on because he had seen the glory of the Lord. Now that you have seen the glory of progressive politics, are you done? Should we start the arrangements?”

“Of course, I knew that you would pounce on that. That’s the kind of friend you are. But it’s just the beginning, and the end is most definitely important. My only hope is that this beginning is not thwarted; that the leadership of the new party learns from experience; that internal democracy is their watchword; that they are sensitive to the presentation of a uniquely democratic alternative to the electorate because in the final analysis, it is what matters most. It’s a game of numbers.”

“Surely, my friend, and I am one with you on these observations. What is particularly important is that All Progressives Congress (APC) is seen by all as a party of progressives with a progressive agenda focusing on the welfare of the people and a true federal arrangement. “

When a former southwest governor queried the authenticity of the progressive label, I marveled at the misrepresentation of issues. On the part of that governor, the tie that binds the disparate entities of Nigeria together is oil. If wealth from oil gone, he suggests, Nigeria is no more. Yet it is true that oil wealth has not always been there and in those days of agricultural wealth, we observed how Nigeria held together through investment in human talents.

The seat that that former governor occupied was the seat that Chief Obafemi Awolowo governed from. It is public record that Chief Obafemi Awolowo once defied the central government when he was given an unacceptable condition for the acceptance of federal subsidy. Awolowo told the central government to keep its funds because he could not sacrifice the educational agenda he had for the people on the altar of a federal promise that would scuttle that agenda. He successfully sourced internal revenue for his programme. That is what progressivism is about.

It is not a coincidence that Asiwaju Tinubu famously resisted Obasanjo’s Federal Government intrusion into the affairs of Lagos State between 2003 and 2007 leading to the withholding of the states’ funds. And Lagos State did not collapse. That is what progressivism is about. There is a record for APC to emulate. Let’s get on with it.

It is a very significant fact for our national project today that Nigeria can rightly be considered as a country of young people. This is because more than 70% of Nigeria’s total population is youthful. That demographic figure is an ambivalent fact until we all make a strong and forceful decision about what we want to do with that statistics. One way to treat the fact is to conveniently ignore it and allow it to degenerate to the level where the youthful energies become a source of national worries and security challenge beyond measure. The Mohamed Bouazizi’s frustration and the dimensions that the whole dynamics of the Arab Spring have created as the new face of struggle for national revival ought to give us pause on the wisdom of neglecting such a huge source of unchannelled dynamism.

On the other hand, the challenge of the youth could be critically and robustly confronted and reconfigured within the context of our idea and ideals of what we want Nigeria to become. Melvin Tolson, the American poet, once said “Youth has vision! Old age, dreams.”  Nigeria is now at a critical juncture in her national history where the dreams of old age must enter into a productive conversation with the vision of youth. In other words, the Nigerian youth constitutes a template for rewriting the dynamism of the national project burdened by the tragic stories of ethnic rivalry and religious chauvinism. This translates immediately into a development platform that integrates the youth as a critical variable while simultaneously including them as one of the development indices.

Picking up the challenge of harnessing the youth as a development platform begins from the acceptance of Margaret Thatcher’s warning that “Young people ought not to be idle. It is very bad for them.”  What we should add is that the idleness of the youth portend great danger for the Nigerian state and its many visions. To pick up the baton necessarily requires that we transcend the level of narrow focus on their possibilities towards reconsidering them as institutional platforms. Attending to the Nigerian youth, in other words, demands commitment at the level of a paradigm shift. Such a paradigm shift would facilitate a movement from traditional approaches to youth-friendly platforms of engagement — blogs, twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc.; (b) a transition from a strict budget resource dependence to a partnership-oriented one; and (c) a change away from a bureaucratic to a result-based performance framework that utilises reward and sanction mechanism.

The new youth development strategy transcends the normal, run-of-the-mill diagnosis of youth matter. Indeed, almost everybody within the conventional perspective is an expert on the youth in this sense. Everybody has a handle on the challenge and what the youths are or are not or should be. Within this generalised and uncharted diagnosis, the Nigerian youths are either just a rebellious mass or a cynical lot who have been driven to an agnostic level about leadership commitment. The unfortunate but genuine fact that this diagnosis laments is the employment deficit confronting the youths in Nigeria which deprived the nation of a critical human and social capital the youth affords. However, beyond diagnosis is the requirement of a serious and committed youth strategic action frame that serves as the framework for a comprehensive outline of government action plan that rally the youth towards a nationally galvanised conversation.

What is the nature of the youth strategy required to harness the youth in Nigeria? What is to be done is clear: We need youth development programmes and value proposition, as well as an execution framework, around which a paradigmatic value reorientation and platforms of engagement can be achieved. The core of the evolving youth strategy would therefore be rooted in various stakeholders’ platforms that would be veritable points for exchanging knowledge and lessons of what works, what are not working and solution framework for continuous learning and improvement, including celebration of success story. The youth development strategy document deploys the Nigerian youth as an immediate and future value. Such a future, according to Jean-Jacques Ampere, ought to be “the faith of our age: it is the torch of the past, the guiding star of the present”.  The youth development strategy adapts the dreams and enthusiastic visions of the Nigerian youth to the Nigerian national project.

This youth strategy is significant essentially because it functionally connects other development frameworks. First, the Transformation Agenda as well as the Vision 20:2020 provides an appropriate broad policy roadmap which guides and fills out the aspiration of the youth development strategy that is targeted at certain strategic objectives that secure a better deal for the youths. These include:
*Creating decent jobs in sufficient quantities to address the protracted problem of unemployment and reduce poverty;
*Laying the foundation for a robust and inclusive growth of the Nigerian economy; and

*Improving, on a sustainable basis, the well-being of all classes of Nigerians regardless of their personal circumstances and location.
Second, the new strategy ensures a partnership framework that is a significant shift away from the assumption that youth matter is an all government affairs. Rather, it proposes a means of synergising the contributions of other level of government (states, LGAs) as well as NGOs, community-based organisations, faith-based organisations, private sector and international agencies as well as youth-focused government initiatives which are dispersed across MDAs. All these sectors are brought together under an inter-ministerial platform to confront a three-fold objective:

• articulate the shared value in Nigeria Youth Development;
• develop holistic plan, to mobilise stakeholders; and
• coordinate all interventions for effective implementation.

The institutional arrangement that results from this synergy between government and government as well as with non-governmental organisations ranges from the minute to the truly revolutionary. This arrangement provides an institutional dimension which inter-governmental cooperation, PPP and other platforms can indeed strengthen.

We can then move from this specific institutional framework to elaborating certain measurable objectives that will be calibrated into a Youth Development Index (YDI) to encapsulate the narrative of our envisioned shared future with such implementation pillars as:
• paradigm shift in education and training to breed a new generation of enterprising, skilled, innovative and self-reliant youths;
• meaningful strategies for information, participation and structured inter-generational self-sustained conversation and dialogue;
• permanent structures for smoothening the cutting edge of policy framework and programmes through youth research and networking that leverages social media to build a community of practice and service;
• a national system of evaluation, quality control, accountability and feedback that is interrogated at institutionalised inter-generational platform/forum convened at the highest level; and

The new Action Framework has four main domains. The first is Social Mobilisation, the second is Leadership Development, the third Leverages Social Media as a critical platform for information, education and communication with the Nigerian youth and the fourth is Youth Empowerment. The implementation pillars is expected to be strengthened by a National Training Strategy Framework, defined by a ‘dual system” of education which combines school-based education with in-plant training for building bridges between education, vocations, training, qualification framework, skills-pricing policies/wage policy and employment; with a profiling system to establish the skills that are available, skills gap, the challenges and projected future skills requirement and employment trends by occupation, a prognosis that will be most valuable for decision making.

One core concern of the new strategy is to engage more closely with the Nigerian youth.  We know for a fact that most of them are now found on the various social media platforms and/or on the internet.  We have therefore re-crafted our engagement strategy with this new development in mind. Our technical team has redesigned our website specifically to cater to their needs.  We have made it into a portal that would serve as a one-stop-shop for the Nigerian youth. We have also created a dedicated unit that is responsible for maintaining the portal and its associated demands including handling live calls and chats.  The youth are changing the world at a tremendous pace, and we, who are tasked with youth development, are evolving and keeping pace.

For Andrew Grove, the important things of tomorrow are probably going to be things that are overlooked today. The new youth strategy and framework of action will remain a living document open to progressive review based on our experience in this learning journey. It is our present mandate to ensure such a document evolves as the beginning of a new epoch in the history of youth development and contribution of the youth to national development in Nigeria.

•Dr. Olaopa is the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Youth Development, Abuja

Elder statesman, Yusuf Maitama Sule, joined, this week, the frighteningly long list of distinguished Nigerians calling for a revolution as a way out of the political decadence and regression in the country.  The GuardianSunday edition quoted Sule on July 28 as saying that Nigeria requires a revolution, with the rider, however, that he does not advocate a bloody revolution.

Sule’s allusion to the revolutionary option came on the heels of a similar more categorical advocacy by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Aminu Tambuwal, who said early in July that all the ingredients of a revolution, namely injustice, crushing poverty, rampant corruption, joblessness and the like are present in Nigeria.  Senior citizens such as Prof. Ben Nwabueze, Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, Gen. T.Y. Danjuma, Bishop David Oyedepo, Pastor Tunde Bakare, among others have made similar calls or predictions in the past.

It is one thing for students or workers’ union activists to advocate a revolution which connotes a violent overthrow of an existing order for the purpose of radical transformation; it is quite another for established and privileged citizens to call for radical break with the present. Factoring, for example, that these are citizens who have President Goodluck Jonathan’s “hotline”, one is left to wonder whether they had reached the end of their tether in seeking a peaceful reform behind the stage.  To be sure, this is not the only group of Nigerians making this prescription.  As a columnist, I receive several telephone calls from concerned Nigerians commending or commenting upon something I had written.  Most of them invariably end their analyses with the refrain: Only a revolution can sort out Nigeria’s problems.

Even if a revolutionary option is not on the cards, the pedigree and number of people reaching the conclusion that it is inevitable may actually trigger or predispose Nigerians to that eventuality. Sunday PUNCH columnist, Tunde Fagbenle, provided some insight on July 28 into the circumstances fuelling the growing frustration in the country.  Fagbenle highlighted the recent publication by The Economist that our legislators are the highest paid globally, when salaries are related to a country’s Gross Domestic Product per capita.  Fagbenle then went on to ask: “Would it change? Is anyone alarmed? Does it disturb the mind of anyone out there sufficiently to want to probe this and seek amelioration? Of course not. A shrug is perhaps the most you’ll get and business goes on as usual.”

In other words, no matter how shocking the statistics of official prodigality get, no one seems concerned enough to do anything about them, because those who ought to restrain others are themselves too implicated in the same business to blow the whistle. At any rate, why blow the whistle, now that elections are around the corner, and the support of all the guilty and criminalised are needed in what is shaping up like another do-or-die contest?  Again, who is to blow the whistle on the legislators in a government which had no qualms about “storming China” with a large entourage of 13 ministers and four state governors for negotiations which could have been carried out by diplomatic officials?

If government is aware that it is the disparity between official affluence and the worsening state of infrastructure as well as the plight of the citizens that is fuelling the calls for revolution, it has not demonstrated any such knowledge.  All we hear, most times, is that it is those who are disgruntled or who want to “bring down” the Jonathan government that are “making noise”. There is a hardening of the political arena.  Those in power, pick and choose who they listen to and which voices they black out or demonise.  There is no conversation worth the name, the critics are talking to one another while government carries on in its obdurate, often reprehensible ways.

My reading of the persistent calls for revolution from senior citizens is that they would have preferred a reformist segment of the political class to drive overdue reforms if for no other reason than the enlightened interest of self-preservation.  However, they see that such a prospect is receding by the day as the jostling for power usurps serious matters of governance. They are therefore raising the alarm of revolutionary change so that those who still have ears may rise to the occasion to pre-empt such a drastic and unpredictable occurrence. On the other hand, it may also be that these citizens are so frustrated and disillusioned in their efforts to nudge our leaders in the right direction, that they are willing to consider radical renewal by revolutionary means.

However we interpret the growing calls for revolution championed by notable citizens, they send around frightening messages in high decibels about the deteriorating state of things.  Matters are not helped by the perception of Jonathan as a genial easy-going leader who is however too weak to cleanse the Augean stables that are riddled with the overpowering stench of corruption.

Attractive as a revolutionary scenario is, however, it is not without its problems as the descent into anarchy in Egypt illustrates.  It is interesting that Prof. Charles Tilly, distinguished scholar of revolutions, discusses them along the two related concepts of coups and civil wars, suggesting their unpredictable trajectories.  There is also the issue of whether you can have a revolution without revolutionaries or scholars of a new utopia.

Where are the revolutionary vanguards with their green or red books? Indeed, what sort of revolution are we talking about: A left wing, a right wing, fundamentalist religious ones and so on?  The questions are endless; but the concerns are real and urgent. As matters stand, I do not think we have exhausted the possibilities of radical reform within the current democratic dispensation.  The people through protests and peaceful demonstrations should set an agenda which would determine the shape of elections in 2015 and beyond as well as generate a charter of reforms that can reorder the political space in an edifying manner.     Protests over fuel price hikes in January 2012, for example, threw up an engagingly querulous national conversation over corruption and official profligacy. It showed too that the people will not always be spectators on burning issues of governance as well as provided a template for possible system change initiated from below.

There is also the need for those talking about revolutions and who are in a position to make changes to do the little they can to inspire wider reforms. What stops Tambuwal, for example, from championing a move to whittle down the salaries and emoluments of legislators? Similarly, those we may call reformers within the system can match their words with action by initiating changes in their terrains and by personal example.

At any rate, we must begin to actively canvass creative alternatives to the ominous prospects of revolutionary anarchy.

Nigeria: Gaining Freedom from ideological gullibility

“True compassion is more than flinging coins to a beggar; it comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

Nigerians, bow your heads and pray!

Today, I will be going ideologically-spiritual. I have realised over time that Nigerians will embrace anything that appeals to a higher being or that has even the slightest hint of religion in it. Hence my decision to tread the part of spirituality in espousing these critical issues that have to do with our survival, not as a nation, but our survival and re-orientation as individuals.

The issue that has caught my attention today is the registration of the All Progressives Congress (APC) by INEC and the furore it has generated in every nook and cranny of this nation; the furore that greeted the announcement is one that makes the un-knowing onlooker think that perhaps the party has already won the presidential election.

Bayo Oluwasanmi captured the nature of an average Nigerian perfectly in his article, 160 million dumb Nigerians. The question that should be asked all those jubilating over APC’s registration is that, do they, in their wildest dream, think that anything good can come out of a lying down of strange bedfellows?

I write as a politically-neutral Nigerian; I am not a citizen that concerns himself with the roadside arguments on crises in the ruling class. I do not belong to any political party, neither am I a blind loyalist of any political figure. I write as a social crusader, a revolutionary prophet that can see what greed, deceit and blind loyalty has blinded others from seeing.

The alliance of CPC, ANPP and ACN will shock many that it would bring no difference. True, there would be a change in portfolio, there would be a change in leadership, there would be a change in anti-graft agencies, but I dare say that there would be no change in the living conditions of the citizens.

Let’s go on a journey of self-education. When the minimum wage was signed, how many states paid it? How many PDP states paid it? How many APC(ACN, CPC, ANPP) states paid it? The point is simple; they are all birds of a feather with each one trying to grab higher than the other. Another illustration, as regards child marriage, how many PDP senators voted in support of it? How many APC(ACN, CPC, ANPP) senators voted in support? In the educational sector, can anyone try to find out how much is being paid in institutions owned by APC states? I dare say the students in these states pay higher amounts of money than their counterparts in other states. Go back to the NASARAWA 4, and confirm the government that deployed military men to gun down unarmed protesters in their school.

Perhaps a more recent illustration is the ‘jagabanlisation’ of Lagos state. In a bid to turn Lagos state into a Mega(maga) city, rule of law, regard for human lives, care for the poor have all been thrown to the wind. The use of Okada has been ‘banned’. Beggars are being rounded up and sentenced to community service and given jail terms, people who have spent all their lives in the state are suddenly ‘deported’ based on ethnicity, leadership of markets are being forced on residents. I then ask, If Lagos state, the ‘home’ state of Jagaban himself is to be used as point of contact for all other states, what is the hope of the average Nigerian?

The earlier we wake up from this ideological sleep, the better for us and our generation. We may choose to ignore this, but by 2016(if it ever comes), we would remember.

I am not saying PDP did anything worthwhile, far from it, in fact, PDP will go down in our history as one of our fiercest looters. But thinking that APC will solve our problems is just another deceit that we are being fed with. If there’s any doubt, please show me any APC governor that got into power and successfully prosecuted his predecessor or recover any loot. No! They cut deals, at our own expense; there’s just no way out.

I do not believe in this system; I lost faith in it a long time ago. As long as we continue to tow this path of governance that neglects the poor and enrich the rich, let Pastor Adeboye become the president, the plight of an ordinary Nigerian will remain the same.

It is better to start preparing for the difficult days ahead instead of wasting time celebrating the registration of yet another looting enterprise. Start saving up, I see a dark cloud looming.

Nigerians, bow your heads and pray!

Ogunjimi James Taiwo is  @hullerj on Twitter

The ruling party has shown beyond doubts that it is a party built to serve selfish interests using National wealth at the detriments of citizenry, after 14years which will be 16years come 2015, Nigeria is far worse than it was before the return to democracy and now it is the job of every soul in Nigeria to rescue our once great nation from them before they embezzle the future of our unborn children and leave them to spend their lives paying back the debts PDP borrowed in the name of Nigeria for their private use.

Several political parties most of which were PDP in different trade marks, have tried but failed to oust the dreaded PDP from National power but the new merger APC could be the party to get us away from the mental slavery PDP has subjected us to for many years.

True, the merging parties along with the good plans also merged their different challenges and problems, also we can’t rule out their own selfish interest from being a challenge to them and their greatest hurdle will surely be when its time to select candidates for their various positions.

When this alliance was formed, our hopes were raised that the merger could just be what we need to conquer the slavery party and give the youths some hope of a good future but APC make a big mistake when they allowed disgruntled PDP members join them, APC already have their own members with questionable pasts and we are willing to overlook their past but allowing PDP member in their midst might portray them as not different from the party they want to oust;

What do young Nigerians want?

Now that the APC has been registered, ousting the present government is not enough, even if we succeed in ousting the PDP how are we so sure that the next party won’t unmask their leering monstrousness at us and let us trade in another path of purgatory?

The youth need people we can trust not those screaming for change when all they really want is a chance to loot their share of the national treasure, we’ve seen many partisan activist cloaking their selfish interests under the auspices of change movement just to realise their ambitions.

The APC is a good party formed with the interest of Nigerians at heart, young Nigerians want to see role models in power, not “loot models” that are so obsessed with having fat bank balances, we want people that will allow us be the leaders we were told we are.

A nation where education at all levels is given all the attention it needs and a lasting solution is provided to the incessant AASU strike.

We want a nation where we can see ourselves as Nigerians first before any ethnic or religion, where the leaders see themselves as the leader of Nigeria and not the leader of a region or religious group as it is with the present administration.

We don’t want a nation where those without constitutional power believe they are more important than constitutionally elected officers and Nigerians won’t have to suffer on the road because those we elected are in town

A nation where the lawmakers earn modest salaries and not the outrageous salaries they currently earn for doing nothing.

Corruption has been a major problem for many years, we want to a nation where the fight against corruption is taken seriously and the anti-corruption/electoral bodies are independent of the presidency.

Nigeria is the only country we can call our own and the revolution as been witnessed in Egypt is not really a solution for us (though if frustrated further than we already are we might revolt), this country is blessed with enough for us to stay in our country and live happily, we’ve endured the ills of PDP for 14years going to 16years, 16years is enough to suffer, 2015 is the time for the change we deserve and God willing we’ll effect the change with our thumbs and not our blood. God Bless Nigeria.

This article is not to discredit the PDP neither is it to praise the APC, rather it was written to make known what we crave, A POSITIVE CHANGE from top to bottom of power in Nigeria.

Adefenwa Joshua Adeshina is @joshadeshina on Twitter

At the public presentation of the 2009-2011 audit report of our oil and gas industry on Monday, the National Extractive Industries Transparency Initiatives (NEITI) governing board Chairman, Mr. Ledum Mitee, disclosed that Nigeria lost over $10.9 billion worth of crude oil to thieves within the period. Unfortunately, it would seem that the sustained pillaging of our national resources is a problem that will not go away. I make this point knowing that the NEITI current submission reflects the repeated positions of all actors in the sector for more than a decade now. Today, I reproduce for the readers’ attention and evaluation a column written some nine years ago on this page and on this same matter, complete with the dire implications for our economy and national security. What is worrisome about the recollection is that it might as well have been written after the last NEITI report:

23 September, 2004: The United States-based Human Rights Watch, in a recent report, stated that oil theft accounts for 10 percent of Nigeria’s daily production. Describing illegal oil bunkering as Nigeria’s most profitable private business since it is estimated to yield between $750 million to $3.5 billion annually (depending on the season), the report also stated that the violence being witnessed in the Niger Delta has a direct link to the illegal business: “Oil has become literally the fuel for the violence-despite the fact that in theory it should be easy to stop its theft (it is hard to hide a tanker and easy to trace its owner)”. The Human Rights Watch is wrong here. In a nation where big vessels “disappear”, bunkers are not that hard to hide! But the report gets interesting when it talks about the modus operandi and those believed to be involved and I want to quote more extensively:

“Illegal oil bunkering-long prevalent in the Delta-has become a sophisticated operation that no longer requires the cooperation of oil company staff to operate equipment at wellheads or allow access-though there are still reports that they are involved. The bunkerers tap directly into pipelines away from oil company facilities, and connect from the pipes to barges that are hidden in small creeks with mangrove forest cover. Frequently, both in the riverine areas and on dry land, the police and military are involved in the process or are paid off to take no action against those tapping into pipelines. In November 2001, the Nigerian federal government set up a Special Security Committee on Oil Producing Areas, ‘to address the prevailing situation in the oil producing areas which have, in recent past, witnessed unprecedented vandalisation of oil pipelines, disruptions, kidnappings, extortion and a general state of insecurity.’ Reporting to President Obasanjo in February 2002 (in a report that has not been published), the committee noted that a ‘major threat to the oil industry … arises from the activities of a ‘cartel or mafia’, composed of highly placed and powerful individuals within the society, who run a network of agents to steal crude oil and finished product from pipelines in the Niger Delta region.’ The committee indicated that many of the militant youth groups responsible for halting or diverting oil production and preventing free traffic on the waterways ‘could be enjoying the patronage of some retired or serving military and security personnel.’ Despite this high-level recognition of the seriousness of the problem, there appears to be no proactive government strategy for investigating the organized illegal oil bunkering rackets. There have been some seizures of the vessels involved. More than nineteen vessels used in the illegal bunkering business are reported to have been seized by the army and navy in the year to July-though it is often not clear what happens to their cargoes thereafter…”

According to media reports, now confirmed by the authority, MT African Pride, one of the 15 vessels arrested for alleged bunkering in August last year (2003), and carrying 15,000 barrels of crude, is missing. Testifying before a House of Representatives Committee, the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Sunday Afolayan, said his men were helpless to arrest what he called “practice of topping”, obviously the Naval euphemism for oil theft. He blamed the Police for this sudden disappearance of a vessel on the high sea, arguing: “It is my responsibility to arrest the ship and another to prosecute. I have made arrests and handed over and it is not my duty to do anything beyond my constitutional duties.”

Probed further, Afolayan said there was a directive in January this year (2004) from President Olusegun Obasanjo to the effect that the vessel should be handed over to the police for prosecution after the cargo had been taken away by the NNPC. Those who attended the said meeting were Nuhu Ribadu, Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC); Funso Kupolokun, Group Managing Director, NNPC; and the Police IG, Tafa Balogun. Afolayan, in the course of his testimony at the House (where we got to know another vessel, M.T. Jimoh, has also disappeared) said the Navy had begun an in-house probe into the matter resulting in the court-martial of some officers and ratings over their alleged roles after pushing the blame on the Police. But the Naval Chief did not have the last say on the matter.

Balogun, in his testimony, said that consequent upon the directive of the President, he set up a panel led by DIG Ogbonna Onovo (who would later become IGP) to take custody of the vessel and suspects but the Flag Officer Commanding Western Naval Command, Rear Admiral Bob Manuel, refused to oblige them on the grounds that he was yet to be briefed by Afolayan. However, when the investigating team returned to Abuja to express their complaints, a copy of a signal from one Agbiti with number NHQ/MS0/00/05/02/04 was handed to them by the Naval Headquarters. At about the same time, according to Balogun, another letter was issued to the police stating that the Navy would take custody of the ship but would release the suspects.

Said Balogun: “MT African Pride, reported missing by the Navy was never, and I repeat, never in the custody of the police. At no time were any of the ships taken over by the police. It is not even a question of MT African Pride, all the vessels have always been with the Navy. If anybody says he handed over a ship to me, let him produce the handing over note because there is no way the handover of such magnitude can take place without a handover note. The vessels in question were at the high seas where the police have no access to them. The Navy deployed helicopters and ships to trace the MT African Pride and it was on the pages of newspapers that I read it. If the ship had not been in their custody, why did they deploy ships and helicopters to search for it?”

Without prejudice to the work of the House Committee, it must be noted that we are not just talking about a missing ship here. We are actually talking about the theft, corruption and mismanagement of our oil wealth, aided and abetted by officialdom and the implication for our economic well-being and national security. I repeat, nobody should confuse the issue here, this matter is about oil, not ship. And in another country where leaders are actually accountable to the people, several public officials would have lost their jobs by now, assuming they are not already in jail. But because this is Nigeria, we have a situation in which arrested vessels carrying stolen oil just ‘disappear’ into thin air and the Naval Chief can only tell us some cock-and-bull story!

Since the ugly development broke, I have had time to speak to several people in the oil sector as well as in the Navy and I am privy to some damning reports. I also have it on good authority that the Navy has on several occasions in the last one decade arrested vessels carrying stolen crude but up till now, there has not been one single prosecution of these criminals. The oil majors have also written several reports to the government on the activities of these illegal bunkerers sometimes mentioning names and pointing out the danger of their activities since a large chunk of their ‘returns on investment’ go into the purchase of arms. But nothing happened. And we should get the fact right: what we call illegal bunkering is simply armed robbery in that arms, sophisticated ones for that matter, are used to dispossess Nigerians of our commonwealth by some unscrupulous, but obviously highly placed, elements. And now that some vessels are in custody of the Navy and should help in the investigations, assuming anybody is really interested in investigations, they are now conveniently “missing”.

Whichever way one looks at the Nigerian condition today, one cannot but agree with the conclusion reached in the July 2003 IMF Working Paper titled “Addressing the Natural Resource Curse: An Illustration from Nigeria”. It reveals that over a 35-year period Nigeria’s cumulative revenues from oil (after deducting the payments to foreign companies) have amounted to $350 billion at 1965 prices yet only few people feel the impact of this huge wealth.

The authors, Xaxier Sala-i-Martin, a professor of Economics at Columbia University and Arvind Subramanian, an Advisor, Research Department, IMF argued that on just about every conceivable metric, Nigeria’s performance since independence has been abysmal essentially because of oil. Check out the statistics: While Nigeria’s Per Capita GDP was US$1,113 in 1970, it had declined to US$1,084 in 2000 which places the country among the 15 poorest nations in the world. The poverty rate, measured as the share of the population subsisting on less than $1 per day, increased from 36 percent to 70 percent which in practical terms means the number of the poor has moved from 19 million in 1970 to 90 million today. “In 1965, when oil revenues per capita were about US$33, Per Capita GDP was US$245. In 2000, when oil revenues were US$325 Per Capita, the Per Capital GDP remained at the 1965 level. In other words, all the oil revenues did not seem to add to the standard of living at all. Worse, however, it could actually have contributed to a decline in the standard of living.”

The objective of the 44-page report, according to the authors, was to demonstrate that corruption, weak governance, rent seeking and plunder are problems intrinsic to most countries that own mineral resources, especially oil. In the light of recent developments, I think the authors may have to review their report because they have only scratched the surface where the Nigerian oil asset is concerned. The rot is much deeper than they, or anybody, can ever imagine. But it is unacceptable.

POSTSCRIPT: The above column, titled “MT Abracadabra”, and published some nine years ago, highlighted the challenge of oil theft in our country which seems to have defied solutions.Yet it is instructive that as at the time I wrote the piece in September 2004, Nigeria was said to be losing about ten percent of its oil revenues to thieves. Today, the figure has jumped to between 20 and 30 percent. The essence of this recollection therefore is to ginger the authorities on the need to find solution to a problem that is fast getting out of hands, especially given recent revelations, including from Finance Minister and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, that Nigeria today loses about 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day to these same criminal gangs.

Unfortunately, rather than confront this challenge frontally, the relevant authorities are playing politics with it. Just recently, the Director General of NIMASA, Mr. Patrick Akpobolokemi said: “There are some big vessels under my custody belonging to organised piracy and crude oil thieves. Very soon, I will release all the big names in the syndicate. Once I do that, people should not come and say it is ethnic cleansing or that it is 2015.” While Nigerians wait for Akpobolokemi to make god his threat by revealing the names of the people helping themselves to our oil wealth, nobody is putting him to task on the issue that impinges not only on our economy but indeed, our national security. Any wonder then that these criminal gangs have been so emboldened as to now corner to themselves almost a quarter of our national oil production, on a daily basis? Yet, as I stated nine years ago, this is clearly unacceptable.

Luck, or providence, is a major factor in politics. In a CNN interview during his recent official visit to China, President Goodluck Jonathan accepted this. He acknowledged that it is his good luck that has guided his political career in Nigeria, including his meteoric rise from obscurity to the presidency of Nigeria. A former university lecturer in Zoology at the University of Port Harcourt, he entered politics in 1999 and, in just over ten years, rose to the pinnacle of power in Nigeria.

He started his political career as the deputy governor of Bayelsa. When the governor, Alamasiegha, tripped and was impeached for fraud and money laundering, Jonathan took over from him as governor of the state. Barely two years later as governor, he was handpicked by Obasanjo and made the vice president in Yar’Adua’s PDP government. Halfway into his administration, Yar’Adua died and was replaced, in spite of strong opposition from the Northern establishment and his limited experience in politics, as the President of Nigeria, a position that, in his wildest dreams, Jonathan could not have believed was possible. He defied the logic that politics is the art of the possible. He hardly lifted a finger before becoming president. He served out the rest of Yar’Adua’s term in office. He is in the middle of his own first term, and now wants a second term as president. He may yet get it.

But Jonathan is not the only Nigerian leader who got into high office by sheer luck. Our first Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa, got into that office simply because his Party leader, the Sarduana of Sokoto, declined the invitation to go to Lagos. He was very disdainful of Southern politicians and did not want to be contaminated by the Southern ‘infidels’. Instead, he sent Balewa, one of his party deputies. In 1954, Tafawa Balewa, a former school teacher, was appointed the federal prime minister and remained in that position, for nearly 12 years, until his assassination in the bloody 1966 military coup.

His successor, General Aguiyi Ironsi, the GOC of the Nigerian Army, was a hard drinking and blundering military officer, without the slightest ambition of being Nigeria’s head of state. He had previously served as the head of the Nigerian military contingent in the Congo in 1960, and later as the military attaché in the Nigerian High Commission in London. He was just happy to be the GOC of the Nigerian Army, a post given him as a compromise by the NPC/NCNC federal coalition government. He had not even been recommended for that position by the departing British head of the Nigerian Army, Major General Welby Everard, who, for professional reasons preferred either Brigadier Maimalari, or Brigadier Ademulegun. After the 1966 coup, power was handed over to him by the rump of the federal parliament. Within six months, he fell from power and was assassinated in a counter coup by Northern military officers, who were fiercely opposed to his plan to introduce a unitary system of government in the country.

Following that coup, power was handed over to then Col. Yakubu Gowon, the chief of staff, who had played no part in the July 1966, coup that ousted Aguiyi Ironsi. In fact, he had returned to Nigeria from a training course abroad a few days before the coup, and was to have been eliminated in the coup. He escaped by sheer luck and was imposed on the country by his Northern military colleagues as the new military head of state. His military superior officers, Brigadier Ogundipe, and Brigadier Adebayo, were not acceptable to the Northern officers responsible for the coup. He was only 32, unmarried, and he did not want the job. He had absolutely no experience of government and, for quite a while after taking over the government, had to be guided by the coterie of federal permanent secretaries. He fought the civil war successfully but was overthrown in 1975 by his military colleagues while attending an OAU summit in Uganda. In some ways, he regarded his ouster as a relief from a job he did not want or relish in the first place.

He was replaced by then Brigadier Murtala Mohamed who, unlike his military predecessors, had always wanted the job badly, since 1966 when he plotted the ouster of General Ironsi. He did not get there by providence, but by calculation. He had such influence among Northern military officers that it would have been difficult to stop him. But he lasted barely a year on the job before he was assassinated and his military regime overthrown in 1976.

He was succeeded as military head of state by then Brig. Obasanjo, his deputy. Obasanjo had played no part in the coup and actually went into hiding at the Victoria Island residence of late Chief S.B. Bakare, his old friend, from where Gen. Alani Akinrinade, fetched him. As a compromise between Gen. Danjuma and Gen. Yar’Adua, the ranking Northern military chiefs, Obasanjo was made the new head of state, a job that he did not want at the time. But through providence, or sheer luck, Obasanjo has been twice Nigeria’s head of state. In 1999, he was released from prison where the brutal dictator, Abacha, had sent him to a life sentence allegedly for being involved in a phantom coup plot. Had Abacha not died suddenly in 1999, Obasanjo would have been left to die in prison. But the Northern elite were looking for a Yoruba head of state after it had denied Abiola who won the 1993 presidential election. They wanted a safe Yoruba head of state and Obasanjo fitted that description. Elected in 1999, he served out his two terms as Nigeria’s head of state, another remarkable story of sheer good luck, or providence. This is a position that Chief Obafemi Awolowo struggled for during his long political career, but which he did not achieve, though he was eminently qualified for it. On several occasions, Gen. Obasanjo has publicly admitted that providence played a large role in his professional career, both as a military man and as a politician.

There are many examples in some foreign countries as well of the factor of luck in shaping the career of other politicians. Had President John Kennedy not been assassinated in 1963, Lyndon Johnson would not have become the president of the US. And had his brother, Robert Kennedy, not been assassinated in 1968, Richard Nixon would not have been elected the US president. At another level, had King Edward V111 not abdicated the throne in 1936, to marry a twice divorced American, Mrs. Simpson, and been replaced by his younger brother, King George V1, Queen Elizabeth 11 would not now be the British monarch, a position she has now held for over sixty years. Had she not been Queen, we would not now be celebrating the latest royal arrival with so much pomp and pageantry.

It was sheer luck that brought the former Labour Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, to power in 1963, when the tottering Harold Macmillan’s Conservative government was narrowly defeated by Labour in the elections. Hugh Gaitskell, the outstanding leader of the Labour Party, was widely expected to lead the Labour Party to victory in the elections, but died shortly before the elections. He was suspected of being poisoned by the Soviets who preferred Harold Wilson as Prime Minister. Harold Wilson was once quoted as saying that a day in politics is a long time, and that as long as there is death, there is hope for every aspiring politician. On both counts, he was right.

The deportation of 67 Nigerian citizens from Lagos State to Onitsha, Anambra State, expectedly dredged up many shades of emotions. Those who make capital out of ethnic paranoia read the act as a throwback to the Igbo-Must-Gopre-Biafran War frenzy; the vampires who feed off the same bad blood they generate latched on the deportation to the case of Ladipo Market shutdown, and throw both up as examples of anti-Igbo behaviour. Take for instance, ex-governor Orji Uzor Kalu, who wants to sue Governor Babatunde Fashola over the deportation. His threat smacks of carpetbaggery; he needs this to revive his rested political relevance. The Lagos State PDP also came into the ring, demanding a public apology from the governor, all to snag some political mileage out of the situation. Some NGOs are also threatening to sue on behalf of the poor Igbo deportees. As always, the poor are cannon fodder for political opportunism.

All these bawlers need to get over themselves and understand that given Fashola’s antecedents, this cannot be about regionalism. There are many well-to-do and middle class Igbo in Lagos and Fashola enjoys a good relationship with them. During the 2011 elections, they hosted dinners in his honour, gave him a chieftaincy title, and donated generously to his campaign. The charge of ethnic profiling and its attendant bickering is unhelpful, as it does not advance germane arguments.

In 2009, the Oyo State Government accused Fashola of dumping mendicants in Ibadan (Molete Bridge, specifically) but not many were paying attention then, probably because it was Adebayo Alao-Akala (the dude no one wants to be caught defending) speaking. In the third quarter of last year, about 600 Nigerians were reportedly dropped off at the same Upper Iweka, Onitsha. There have been reports of deportations of beggars to their Northern homesteads. In a documentary, Lagos, Africa’s Big Apple, Fashola stated that Lagos is home for all. What he didn’t add was that it is not a place for beggars and the underprivileged. You have to be rich (and taxpaying!) before you can live in Lagos.

What we see, therefore, is a problem of class discrimination. The forced deportation is about classism — the oppression of poor people by the rich and powerful and, the culture that perpetuates this. In May, eight men, all from Northern Nigeria and aged between 50 and 65 were sentenced to jail for the offence of street begging. Come on, when middle-aged men beg for alms, it implies a malignant social problem a stint in jail will never cure. It is a human index that indicates that despite Nigeria’s much-touted optimistic economic growth figures, her bottom poor is rapidly sinking.

In June, a World Bank report indicated that the rate of statistical growth in Nigeria contrasts the reality of her ever-growing proletariat. The deportation is a sweet case study for Marxian theorists; Lagos does not welcome poor and destitute people. When the “Welcome to Lagos” documentary pointed this out in 2010, Lagos went on the offensive. The state government paints Lagos as if it is an oasis, separate and distinct, from the general malaise afflicting other Nigerian cities.

As things stand, there is an unbelievable amount of poor people in Nigeria; opportunities are few and far between; unemployment rate is high and, people are frustrated in the hinterlands. In such a situation, people, naturally, will migrate to urban centres where they believe they can at least increase their chances of survival. There is very little Fashola’s deportation can therefore achieve. For every mendicant he deports, another 70 X 70 are moving, at breakneck speed, towards Lagos.

The response of Lagos to the allegation does not even help issues. The Special Adviser to the Lagos State Governor on Youths and Social Development, Dr. Enitan Dolapo Badru, was quoted as saying Lagos was merely being altruistic, and reuniting them with their families.

First, if the goal is a family reunion, why dump them on the bridge at the crack of dawn? Whether Upper Iweka or Molete Bridge, did Lagos contact their parents/guardians to come and pick them at a rendezvous? Second, did they try to assist them find their way home? Was there any documentation whatsoever signed by parents/guardians that states they received their children/wards in good health? Were Anambra State officials even informed of this reunion? By the way, who thinks they are all minors? The persons who appeared in the pictures accompanying the news reports do not all look like 18-year-olds and below. The response of Lagos is a poorly thought-out lie that suggests the state government did not think it would answer to anybody on the issue.

The flipside to criticising Fashola, however, is also to understand that urban planning and regeneration requires a lot of tough measures and the poor are always the first to go. Tourists who visit New York to gawk at the skyline hardly see the drying blood of poor people sacrificed in the process.

Indeed, a lot of us will like a cleaner and more functional Lagos where beggars do not constitute social nuisance; where Okada riders do not drive on the few sidewalks; where street-lights function; where the roads are tarred; where there are minimal robberies and a thriving nightlife; where many “Fashola-Is-Working” projects are not concentrated on Lagos Island. Yes, a Lagos where people do not hang clothes on bridge railings or major highways; and a proper city where you do not have to encounter open sewers everywhere. This kind of urbanisation is a lot of work and sacrifice but one that must not lose a human face in the process.

Deporting poor people, for instance, is no solution. If Fashola can find enough money to deport people, he can find enough money to rehabilitate them, right there in Lagos. In certain rich cities like New York, they have homeless shelters and soup kitchens where they house and feed the poor.

And this is where the rest of us should come in: Such social programmes for poor people are usually supported with charitable contributions from the society. Let those who truly care about the poor –Igbo and non-Igbo alike — not merely stop at criticising Fashola for deporting them. They should help the poor live by going to the beggars’ rehabilitation centre in Ikorodu to donate food and clothing items. It is called putting-your-money-where your-mouth-is, or something like that.

Now that Major Hamza al-Mustapha is free, Nigerians will like to know who killed Alhaja Kudirat Abiola on Tuesday, June 4, 1996. Who ordered her killing, and who pulled the trigger?  The living and the dead deserve justice. But first, an abridged version of history.

From August 5, 1967 until his death on October 5, 1969, Col. Shittu Akanji Alao was the second indigenous Chief of Air Staff of the Nigerian Air Force. The official version of his death, as indicated by his successor, Brig. Emmanuel Ebije Ikwue, was that Alao was “on a solo flight in an L-29 aircraft in the South-Western part of the country when he ran into bad weather and subsequently ran out of fuel. He made an emergency landing but unfortunately ran into a tree and died in the process.” It was that simple. But not many believed this account of events.

The contending narrative was that the 32-year-old Alao was murdered: “shot and killed and his killers staged the helicopter crash.” Did the Nigerian Armed Forces kill one of its officers?

This other version of events was given credence when an autopsy report allegedly written by Dr. Adeyemi G. Ademola (the Chief Medical Officer, Federal Ministry of Health and brother of Sir Adetokunbo Ademola, then Chief Justice of Nigeria) was said to have refuted the official report. Sadly, Ademola was assassinated at his Ikoyi residence by “unknown soldiers” on October 23, 1970.

Was Ademola killed because he “refused to alter the autopsy report on Alao”? We don’t know. However, more than four decades after both men were killed – assuming they were killed — we still do not have a satisfactory answer as to what truly happened. By the way, what happened to the original autopsy report written by Ademola?

There are others, but these were two of the earliest known cases of unsolved assassinations in post-independence Nigeria. In the intervening years, there may have been some 10,000 high and low profile assassinations. In the vast majority of these cases, their killers were never found. And so, just as we may never know who killed Dele Giwa, Bola Ige, Jerry Agbeyegbe and Funsho Williams – we may never know who ordered and who killed Mrs. Kudirat Abiola.

Publicly, we may never know their killers. However, in every instance, there are people (three or more) who know what happened: there are people out there who know who the killers are — many of them may still be alive. At the very least, there are people out there with verifiable account of what happened and why. But unless we have irrefutable confessions or excellent investigative and prosecutorial work, we may never know who committed these atrocities.

In the case of Mrs. Abiola, the Nigerian Police and related organisations assigned with the task of finding her killers mangled the investigation. The prosecutors also garbled the case. Then some despicable politicians and judges injected vile politics into the matter.

Did al-Mustapha kill Kudirat? Or did he order her killing? That was and still remains the question. Knowing the answer was one of the principal responsibilities of the Nigeria government: Knowing and bringing justice to the victim and the accused. But the government failed woefully. On one level, the Nigerian government failed the Abiola family (by being unprofessional). And on the other level, it failed al-Mustapha (by not according him speedy trial). In sane judicial systems, it is better to allow the guilty go free than to incarcerate the innocent. In this instance, there seems to be no irrefutable evidence that points to al-Mustapha’s guilt.

Those who commit crimes should be made to pay. They should be punished. That is the law. But the law also requires that you prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt. It requires that you follow due process; that you investigate and prosecute the case in a just manner. There should be no room for politics. No witch-hunt. No mob-mentality. No revenge. No ethnic and or religious considerations. And for sure, there should be no “conviction by all means necessary.” That is not justice. That is not how you grow the legal system. That is not how to advance democracy. You do so by an unwavering commitment to common sense and to the law and the constitution.

Hamza al-Mustapha has been freed now for a couple of weeks. In spite of the judicial scolding by the Court of Appeal directed at the Lagos High Court, there are those who believe that he was freed because of the politics of the 2015 elections. And also because of the Boko Haram menace. In essence, political settlement is what some people think this is. This may be true, it may also be false. What matters now are two questions: First, who killed Kudirat Abiola? And second, what’s next for al-Mustapha?

For a nation that has not been able to answer “Who killed Alao…Ademola…Giwa and Ige,” she may never be able to satisfactorily answer “who killed Kudirat Abiola?” As for al-Mustapha, well, only he and he alone can venture an answer as to what’s next for him.

Be that as it may, if you listen carefully to chatters, you will hear voices who believe that he (al-Mustapha) got away with blue murder. You will hear others say he did them wrong. That he made their lives a living hell. That he helped to cut short their careers. That he was General Sani Abacha’s gatekeeper and hangman. In different alleys across the country, some of the aggrieved seem to be waiting for him. They want their pound of flesh. They may get it, or he may get them.

I don’t know al-Mustapha. Still, I would advise him to stay out of the limelight for a while. He should refuse courtesy calls. And also refrain from making any. He needs to rest. He needs to consult medical professionals. He also needs to catch up with his friends and family. But beyond that, he needs to take time off to reflect on his past and his future. There is nothing he can do about his past; but there is a whole lot he can do about his future. For the next couple of years, he must avoid sectional or party politics; and must also resist any kind of leadership role.

He should be wary of those who are edging him on, lying that he is the saviour they’ve been waiting for. Essentially, I am suggesting he takes it slow. Take a breather. Take a swim. Walk in the park. Reread the Quran. And engage in deep thought and deep conversation with his conscience.

Finally, it makes no sense to fight former colleagues and bosses. Or to reveal secrets. What’s there to be gained? The Nigerian military has moved on, and Nigeria itself has changed since the last time he was a free man. He may have received a hero’s welcome; but really, such a welcome will dissipate when he starts to step on people’s toes. What does he really want?

 “There is one army stronger than all armies in the world; this is an idea whose time has come…..” Victor Hugo

SETTING THE STAGE;

As you begin to read this write up and go through it, I will plead from the very beginning for patience, and tolerance to go through it and digest its contents, as if you were studying for an examination.

We again begin by paraphrasing Karl Marx, Frantz Fanon, Leon Trotsky, and Vladmir Lenin! Why is it necessary to set the context by invoking these historical figures? To emphasise the nature of the revolutionary, and therefore potentially radically transformative times that we are living through now; and as well to underscore the immense life changing potential in our heightened collective action.

First, Marx it was who observed that ‘Philosophers have always interpreted the world, the point however is to change it’; and additionally that, ‘Human beings make history, but not entire according to their will, rather under conditions inherited through generations’.

Frantz Fanon, a leader of the Algerian Revolutionary war for independence from France had also gone on to observe that, ‘Every generation must out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it’.

Long before Fanon, Trotsky, co-leader of the Russian revolution of 1917, while describing revolution and the conditions for it had also said something to this extent; ‘To a slap on the cheek, we each react differently, but to being hit by a sledge hammer, we all react in the same way’. He went to define revolution as ‘the rude collective intrusion of the mass of oppressed peoples unto the stage of history’.

And Lenin, leader of the Russian revolution, had described the conditions for revolution as thus: ‘the gravity of the situation is such that the ruling classes can no longer rule in the old way, while the oppressed classes no longer want to be ruled in the old ways’.

THIS MOMENT IN HISTORY;

We are truly living through interesting times globally and nationally. As a system into which all countries are sucked; the fortunes and misfortunes of capitalism, the global market and free enterprise system affects all. We are in the era of a global organic that is comprehensive and all embracing crisis of capitalism; one that has also spawned a global resistance movement to the life threatening impact of that crisis. This crisis is total, organic, because it is at one and the same time a combination of five different crisis; a global financial, economic, political, ecological and food crises rolled into one!

It is a crisis that has demonstrated the structural failure of capitalism in the most graphic dimensions. Multi and transnational corporations have failed spectacularly threatening the world economy; just as national economies have collapsed further compounding the global economic crisis. What this has engendered is a situation where global corporations and national economies have gone bankrupt and gone burst, all needing bailouts from public treasuries, contrary to the mantra of the cult of free enterprise and the market!

In response to these comprehensive global crises, ruling classes everywhere have responded by bailing out the private sector, while shifting the burden to the working and exploited classes through austerity measures, and drastic cuts in social spending.

Not surprisingly the response of the working and toiling peoples across the world to this inhuman attack on their conditions of living and working has been a groundswell of global resistance, which has manifested in different ways. Thus it is that we have had and are still witnessing the intensified wave of general strikes across Europe, the emergence of the Global Occupy Movement, the resurgence of the left globally, the return to power of left parties in Latin America, the January Uprising and all the subsequent movements of resistance since in Nigeria, etc.

This mutually antagonistic responses of the main historical actors globally; the ruling and subordinate classes respectively to the combined crises, is illustrative of Lenin’s conditions for revolution: ‘The ruling classes not being able to continue to rule in the old ways, while the exploited classes begin to refuse to be ruled in the old ways’.

If at the beginning of the twentieth century Lenin described Imperialism as the highest phase of capitalism, on the eve of the subsequent two world wars; then at the beginning of the twenty first century we can describe Globalisation as the highest phase of Capitalist Imperialism.

COMING BACK HOME: JANUARY UPRISING AND SINCE;

It is important to make it clear that what I describe as the complex and historic revenue crisis facing the Nigerian state and the Nigerian ruling class is rooted squarely within this global crises. Of course in our own case the impact of the global crises is compounded by the unsustainable public treasury theft rate amounting to about N2.5tn annually or N220bn monthly in recent years!

It is a combination of fluctuating international prices for our main commodity, and the intensive looting of the public treasury that has produced the spectacle of an endemic systemic revenue crisis for the Nigerian state. And it is the response to this crisis that is fueling the subsidy removal drive, and which eventually triggered the January Uprising of 2012.

That Uprising has become the defining life changing political process for a generation. As a process, it has and its experience continue to radicalize and politicize a new generation which is awakening to its historical duty; emerging from relative obscurity, discovering its historic mission, and increasingly choosing to fulfill it.

And for the generation radicalized by a previous period of intensified struggle, the anti-military campaigns, the January Uprising served to reinforce and reinvigorate not only their convictions, but also their organisations. In this context, the historic coalitions; Joint Action Front [JAF] and United Action For Democracy [UAD] have emerged revived and repositioned.

The experience of the January Uprising has and continues to create a new wave of activists and active citizens picking up causes to fight for, at different junctures in our history since the uprising.

It is important to see and draw strength from the continuity between the January Uprising and all the protest, resistance, and governance influencing movements that it has since spawned. And we can list these; the various Anti-Corruption campaigns that have emerged; the campaigns and popular struggles to protect the livelihoods of the poor and defend their homes [the movements in support Okada riders,  mini bus operators; the movements to stop demolition of suburbs where the poor and powerless live]; the waves of workers strikes in different sectors of the economy; the emergent youth movements in particular their proactive engagement with the constitution reform, resource allocation and budget transparency processes; etc.

Each of these waves of popular struggles and resistance since the January Uprising have their individual significance not only in galvanizing popular responses to particular issues, and helping to place popular checks on particular excesses of the ruling elites; It has also helped in sustaining the momentum initiated by the January Uprising, while building the self confidence of the subordinate classes and their movements not only in the desirability of change, but also in the possibility of change in our time!

Politically, this new momentum of resistance to injustice and failed governance, this new and rising level of collective popular confidence, is manifested in the renewed wave of activities with respect to formation of expressly political and proto party platforms, on our side, on the side of the subordinate classes. Here we refer to the number of emergent new party formations.

On their side too, on the side of the treacherous, treasury looting ruling elites and class, there is also political commotion, manifested in on the one hand in the intense internal antagonistic struggles within the parties [PDP, APGA, etc]; as well as in the self serving power grab drive of some opposition parties towards merger [APC – CAN, CPC, ANPP].

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE #CHILDNOTBRIDE CAMPAIGN;

Within this broad spectrum of revival of active popular struggles, the emergent ChildNotBride campaign holds a special significance on the road to 2015.

If the January Uprising unleashed the momentum, pointed the way, and engendered confidence; the ChildNotBride campaign, has served to confirm that rising confidence, and presents us with a projection of our capacity to effect change, and ensure a fundamentally different outcome in 2015 from the past!

These urgent lessons of this latest campaign needs to be identified immediately, and integrated into the emergent political processes towards national liberation and social emancipation of our country and her peoples.

What are the lessons that must be learnt? First, a new generation radicalized by the January Uprising has shown that it can recognize and seize historical moments; that it can organise on its own, autonomously of established movements and personalities; and that we can overcome a lot of the challenges posed to popular organising and mobilising by combining effective use of the new social media, with active real life and on the ground community mobilisation to build a movement that can go viral with respect to its influence and its potential.

This effective use of the social media to reach out; to undertake mass enlightenment; to put out and push a message; to call for action; to ginger popular conscience and consciousness; to identify volunteers; and to coordinate the actions of these volunteers in organising and mobilising people in their various localities; were lessons learnt during the January Uprising, and reinforced in a magnified way in the ChildNotBride campaign.

What are the implications of these lessons? The implications seem to be clear; First that we can organise, and need to organise politically autonomously of the political platforms and parties of the ruling elites; Second That we can organise and mobilise independently of ‘Godfathers’ within the treasury looting political elite; Third that we can build and mobilise a nationwide movement capable of responding to the issues of our peoples, and capturing popular imagination; and Fourth, that if we put these lessons to use, we can build a political movement or party that can represent not only an effective challenge, but also a viable alternative to the parties of the thieving ruling elites towards 2015 and beyond.

In Greece we have had the emergence of the Radical Left party as the largest single party; In Italy the emergence of the radical Five Star Movement, also as the single largest party; In France the return of the Socialist Party to power and the increased electoral share of radical left parties; In Spain, the rise of the Indignato Movement of Youths and workers; In Latin America, the consolidation of Left Parties in power [Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Nicaragua, Venezuela, etc]; And In the Arab spring, in particular in Egypt, the emergence of the Tamrod Movement of the youths, and the Revolutionary Left Front – both of which have effective control of the streets [Tahir Square].

There is no reason why in the context of Nigeria, against the backdrop of the global revolutionary situation, and within the context of the momentum generated by the January Uprising and accentuated by the ChildNotBride campaign, we cannot achieve similar feats or even go beyond, and transcend the limited, but significant successes in the examples above.

It is thus in this light that we need to welcome and actively participate in all the processes towards the formation of new and fundamentally different parties from among us; and why we all need to work towards the Convergence of all these proto party efforts at most by the first quarter of 2014.

Our experience since the January Uprising through to the ChildNotBride campaign proves that, ‘if we actively organise to resist injustice, we can win; and when we win, we can fundamentally transform our conditions of living.

As Murtala Mohammed said with respect to the liberation of Angola and Nigeria’s support for it; ‘This is the time to reflect, to rethink, and to Act’.

It is therefore upto us to take our destiny into our own hands and organise to Take Back Nigeria Now.

Visit: takebacknigeria.blogspot.com; Follow me on twitter: @jayegaskia & protesttopower; Engage on: Take Back Nigeria FB page; #DPSR

Even the most casual observer of the country cannot help but notice the huge gap between President Goodluck Jonathan’s 2011 campaign slogan of “Transformation” and the facts on the ground; in spite of his administration’s bravest efforts the country has been anything but transformed for the better. On the contrary it has, in spite of all the brave claims to the contrary by the president’s men (and women), been on a slide in almost all sectors of society; employment, education, infrastructure, health, good governance, name it.

The gap between the presidential rhetoric and the substance of the word has so much discredited it in the public eye that even the Peoples Democratic Party would look foolish to stick with it as its slogan for the next general elections in 2015. Yet there are governors, some PDP, some in the opposition parties, who can credibly use the word to describe the impact their policies and programmes have had on their states since their ascension.

One such governor is the State of Osun’s Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola. Since coming to power three years ago the man has provoked much gratuitous attack from PDP as the leading opposition party in his state and from some sections of the media variously for adopting a state flag and anthem, for his urban renewal programme and for declaring the first day of the current Islamic year a public holiday, among others.

Of all the criticisms he has come under, the most reasonable-sounding are about his urban renewal programme. This has involved extensive demolition of buildings and removal of containers used as business premises by road sides. However, as any fair-minded critic would agree, such demolitions and relocations of mobile structures are inevitable; as the chef said, if you want to make omelette you must break eggs.

And as the governor said on the occasion of his interactive session with the media only last week, urban renewal is not just about the beautification of our cities. More importantly it is also about the health and safety of their residents.

“Those of you who think I am a Lagosian, I am not a Lagosian,” he said on that occasion. “I was born and bred in Ikare (fifty six years ago). But interestingly, when I was born there and bred there, I found out that there was nothing like what we have now. The colonial masters left a tradition that made it impossible to erect any illegal structure to occupy the frontage of any building. As it was in Ikare, so was it here…It was everywhere in the Western Region.  Then what happened to us? Why was this decline and degeneration? Was that the effect of Independence that there must be a decline? No!”

The abandonment of proper planning for our towns and cities is obviously what has led to the kind of devastations from floods experienced in recent times and to the easy spread of epidemics occasionally.

What is important, therefore, in trying to recreate and, of course, improve upon the safety and healthy environment of our colonial past is that no governor hides behind his urban renewal policy to illegally demolish the property of his adversaries or to refuse to pay adequate compensation for properties that have to go. So far no one – not even his worst traducers – has accused Aregbesola of either. Nor has anyone accused the man personally of inflating contracts for selfish reasons.

One important element of his urban renewal policy is the airport he is building on the outskirts of Osogbo, the state capital. The first time I heard of it, my instinct was to dismiss it as one of those things politicians do more for their symbolism of statehood than for their economic value. Later, however, I found out this one was with a difference; it is mainly to provide West Africa with its only facility for helicopter repair and eventually also for the repair of aeroplanes. Right now, all the aircrafts operating in the country go abroad for such repair.

One of the marks of effective governance is a leader’s ability to attract direct foreign investment to his charge. Until the last three years under Aregbesola, no governor of the state since its creation in 1991 had attracted any such new investment. Since then, however, three companies have set up shop in the state, the first, a garment company in Osogbo that will employ 3,000 workers, the second in Ilesa that will produce flat screen television, laptops, iPads and phones, and the third, and for me the most important, to produce the potentially revolutionary Opon-Imo (Yoruba for tablet of knowledge) for use not only in the state’s primary and secondary schools but also possibly elsewhere in the country.

Of all the tools any leader can use to lift the people of his state or country out of their ignorance and poverty none has the effectiveness of this tablet of knowledge. The reason is simple and obvious; knowledge is power and countries all over the world have increasingly come to adopt and adapt the new information technology as the most effective tool for imparting knowledge.

As a lengthy article in The Economist of June 29 pointed out, even a country as literate as America has had to resort to this new information technology to stop its slide in the international ranking in education during the past three decades from first to tenth of the educational level of those leaving high school, and from third to 13th for college students. The magazine’s earlier editorial piece on the same subject in the same edition showed how the new education technology, edtech for short, has been making a big difference in the learning curve of children and adults alike both in America and elsewhere.

The wisdom and foresight of Aregbesola in investing much of his state’s lean resources in the new edtech lie in his focus on primary and secondary school education. As a journalism teacher at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in the last five years I can attest to the alarming semi-literacy of undergraduates in this country. The single biggest source of this problem, whose most dramatic manifestation are the scandalous rates of failure in West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) examinations, is obvious; the inexplicable abject neglect of primary and secondary education since the First Republic.

The economics of Opon-Imo alone should recommend its use all over the country. As the governor pointed out to reporters in defence of his spending on the gadget so far, the accusation that he was being wasteful is laughable.

“The charlatans,” he said, “bribed their way into our system, stole a document and published it. You all read it. They said we bought all the textbooks, digital textbooks for two hundred million, and that is all we spent for the over fifty-six books that are in Opon-imo. If you are good in mathematics divide 56 textbooks costing 200,000,000 from Evans by 150,000, the cost is 26 Naira. Tell us where you can buy a book for N26. Opon-Imo is a world beater!”

My own arithmetic showed the unit price was actually N23.80. But the beauty of the tablet of knowledge is not only in its economy but in how effectively it can raise the quality of primary and secondary school education in the country the way it is already doing elsewhere in the world.

In an article entitled “Pass the Books. Hold the Oil” in The New York Times of March 10, 2012, an article which should interest Nigerians as citizens of a major oil producing country, its columnist, Thomas L. Friedman, said when asked every so often which country was his favourite outside his own, he always mentioned Taiwan.

“‘Taiwan? Why Taiwan?’ people ask. Very simple,” he said. “Taiwan is a barren rock in a typhoon-laden sea with no natural resources to live off of — it even has to import sand and gravel from China for construction — yet it has the fourth-largest financial reserves in the world. Because rather than digging in the ground and mining whatever comes up, Taiwan has mined its 23 million people, their talent, energy and intelligence — men and women.”

Almost alone among the country’s leaders Aregbesola seems to have appreciated the significance of mining the talent, energy and intelligence of the children of his state for its future development by massively investing in their education. The dividend of his faith in the youth as tomorrow’s leaders has already manifesting itself in the latest statistics from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics which shows the state as the first in primary school and girl-child enrolment throughout the country.

“Steve Job,” as he said in his final words during the media interactive, “was not a super human. He only had early interactions with computers. Bill Gates is not a super human. He only had early encounter with technology. Who says our own pupils cannot? That is our vision.”

Of course, gadgets alone cannot bring about the realisation of his lofty vision. Along with gadgets you need good teachers, something he has also been investing in. Above all, you need good leaders who teach by example. As I have cause to say on these pages not too long ago, Aregbesola, by his simplicity, humility and uprightness, among other virtues, is among this breed of leaders that are rare in the country.

Hopefully, he can persuade the citizens of the State of Osun that he is the man to beat at next year’s governorship election in the state.

Over time many lives have been lost including enemies and loved ones all in the name of boko haram – the Islamic extremist (as they are commonly called). Boko haram is an Islamic jihadist militant terrorist organization based in the northeast of Nigerianorth Cameroon and Niger. It is an Islamist movement which strongly opposes man-made laws and Westernization. Contrary to this meaning (ON WIKIPEDIA)– boko haram are not jihadists. Jihad in the Qur’an means” the use of one’s utmost powers, efforts, endeavors or ability in contending with an object of disapprobation, and this is of three kinds; a visible enemy (like someone trying to lure you into bad acts), the devil (evil thoughts), and against one’s own self. Jihad is praying and striving against these three things and it’s far from being synonymous with that of war, and the constructed meaning “holy war”.

The prophet of Islam (pbuh) never interpreted jihad as war or holy war as the case maybe and the permission (Quran 22:40) to fight under certain circumstances has no connection with preaching the Islam by force or killing. God expects from us a jihad against our souls, against our Nafs, our free will which continuously incites us towards evil. God Has not given us any permission to use any kind of force to prohibit people from going to places of worship – churches, synagogues and temples – “where the names of God are being glorified (Quran 2: 114)

For the very learned and striving Nigerian, if we so believe in simple and direct meanings can’t we all see it’s very contradictory to find the Boko haram as anything Islamic since Islam is said to mean peace in every language there is.

It is okay to hate Boko haram, I despise them too, I have lost friends and colleagues to their madness but it’s just not okay to stigmatize Muslims especially the very obvious ones, the ones in hijab, jalabs and all sort of clothing that signify being a Muslim.

Sometime in 2011, a few friends of mine were murdered in Borno (MTS RIP) and the only two who survived (a Christian and a Muslim) were spared because they could recite the first Surat (chapter) in the Holy Qur’an, which I believe is even more confirming to a lot of you that they are Islamic extremists, but alas!

I watched a video on YouTube sometime in late 2011/early 2012 of some group of people (Boko Haram) slaughtering travelers and making adhan (call to prayer) and reciting the first chapter and a few verses of the Qur’an before beheading each and every one of them. This prompted me to visit my Qur’an and because I am not so good with the Arabic version, I checked the English version for meanings. I did a lot of research, it is confirmed that what they recited is totally against what they were doing.

They said: (QURAN 2:190) “fight in the cause of Allah those who fight and prosecute you, but commit no aggression. Surely Allah does not love aggressors’.  And I wondered isn’t this explanatory enough? And why is it the opposite they have decided to do?

I stumbled across another enlightening verse of the Qur’an which permits fighting but has been misconstrued; “turn them out whence they have turned you out. Killing is bad but lawlessness is even worse than carnage”. Thus, under certain circumstances war becomes indispensible. Even Jesus (Prophet Isa – pbuh) saw the necessity of war when he said; ‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the world. No I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.’ (Mathew, 10:34). The sword doesn’t mean to kill or slaughter, Islam permits fighting for two reasons; see (Quran 2:190, 22:39-40)

Islam is perfect, Muslims are not. Being a Muslim doesn’t segregate you from being human and just because some of us have embraced a certain religion doesn’t make us experts or above the law. One shouldn’t expect any more from what one expects from an average human being. As much as our faith should reflect our sense of being and living, don’t we find us making even more mistakes because we are mostly chosen to be tested by the Almighty?

I have never and will never criticize other religions because there is no compulsion in religion, it’s by choice. And my reason for choosing this or that is between me and my God assuming I believe there is one and as Muslims, Christians, Hindus or Jews etc.  Let’s know that for what it’s worth, killing is not a thing of the “SANE”. The Boko Haram group use retarded, hopeless and unintelligent people for operations. We shouldn’t join them in this state by blaming a particular religion. ALLAAH (SWT) says in His book that we should seek knowledge by ourselves for ourselves and with the help of others. He sent forth the Gospel, Torah, Psalms and the Qur’an. To help improve on our knowledge, how do we then communicate God’s words if we do not learn through schools and since Boko Haram says no to education, isn’t it automatic that they are obviously negating what the Almighty has requested of us?

Let’s come together as one and shame the government, the people who have decided to rip this country apart by raising all forms of groups and societies. One of the basic principles that can bring about peace and unity among the nations and the religions of the world is TOLERANCE, RESPECT AND HONOUR, towards each other’s founders, saints and heroes. The Quran tells us repeatedly that every nation had its Warner and these “warners” are to be respected and honored (Quran 2:4, 40:78, 42:13).

Let’s not go about insulting and calling Muslims names especially the Hausas, it’s even more encouraging for the weak-fated ones amongst us to succumb to the calling of the Boko haram. I often here bus conductors and even learned corps members insulting the Hausas and calling them killers and murderers. The faith they have chosen doesn’t make them Boko haram as Boko haram has got nothing to do with Islam or any faith I know of.

www.madekreations.com

@made_creations

“We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” – President Abraham Lincoln

The above statement by President Abraham Lincoln is arguably the best known definition of democracy. The word “Democracy” originates from two Greek words: demos (the people) and kratein (to rule). The two words put together form democracy, which literally means “rule by the people”. It is a system of voting for a government through a free and fair electoral process, a system of government that ensures and respects the human rights of all citizens; wherein the Rule of law applies to all citizens of the land in equal measure. In a democracy, the government is bound by the consent of the governed and is accountable to the electorate. Nigeria has been a “democratic state” for the past 14 years, yet the dividends of democracy have yet to cover the Nigerian people. A democratic government is one in which power flows from the people to their elected officials, who hold power only temporarily. Can the nation truly then be considered a democratic state? For even in principle, we have continuously failed to uphold the very tenets upon which the concept of democracy is predicated. So what exactly is it that is hindering the growth of our democracy?

The main obstacle of and constant bane to the progression of our democracy is the perpetual lack of freely conducted elections. Our elections have lots of flaws and the necessary policies and enforcement mechanism must be put in place to improve and strengthen our democratic process and democracy. Our seeming inability to conduct free and fair elections is hindering our nation’s journey towards a stable democracy. For indeed in a democracy, it is not merely the voting process that matters. It must also be ensured that the ballots and their respective tallies are free from any instances of tampering; the votes of the electorates should count.

Another obstacle to continued progress of our democracy is a perpetual lack of strong democratic institutions. Vice President Namadi Sambo recently echoed the same sentiment saying that democracy cannot be sustained in the long run without sound policies that will benefit the electorate. Adding that building strong political institutions and strategizing ways to deepen our democratic culture is paramount to its continued viability. Therefore priority must be given to the establishment of impartial and bipartisan government and civic organizations.

Party affiliations are supposed to give the electorate an idea of the philosophy of a candidate. Political affiliation should be a way to understand the core beliefs of each candidate in the context of said party’s political and social manifesto. However, within Nigeria our political institutions are weak, devoid of any overarching strategy pertaining to the nation’s socioeconomic concerns. They serve only to ensure the indefatigable control of the nation’s resources by the present incumbent class. Dissent and or divergent opinions are not tolerated; and are followed by either outright expulsion or unanimous condemnation. Executive officials have centralized the balance of power around their respective offices, both at state and national levels. Our democratic institutions are under the personal control of men and women who show little concern as to how these complex political machinations, the great majority of which have no relevant significance in the contingency of democracy in particular and in the well being of the citizens at large.

We want to be a democratic state, we want to have a stable democracy, a democracy that works and delivers. A system that moves our country forward yet we do not seem to have a cogent proposal as to how we can achieve that objective. We don’t have a structure that will get us to the Promised Land, a country of opportunities, of freedom, liberty, a country where the citizens feel safe, where no one is above the law. Presently our yearning for a stable democracy is but a wish.

We have to move past the mindset where people believe an elected official’s performance or indeed, the impetus for his selection is determined by his adherence to a particular religion or kinship towards a certain tribe or region. We have to put our largely inconsequential differences by the side and have meaningful conversations and dialogue with people across all backgrounds, religious beliefs and tribes to come up with solutions and ways to move our country forward for the benefit of our people and our democracy like our founding fathers did for our independence. Our founding fathers from all over the nation came together and did lots of great things for our nation that we are proud of till today. So why can’t we do the same? We have to always put our country first and our fellow countrymen before any personal and selfish interest, that’s the only way our nation will prosper. Democracies grow and progress when its people establish lines of dialogue, yet they only truly develop when its various communities put aside largely inconsequential differences and work towards the common good.

Recent efforts by some opposition parties to merge into one (All Progressive Congress) is a step in the right direction for our democracy, not because the new party will surely solve Nigeria’s problems but we need a strong opposition that can challenge any party in power. We want a system whereby any party that fails to deliver the dividends of democracy to the citizenry will be replaced. Ensuring in the long run that all parties involved work towards a more progressive agenda. We as Nigerians don’t expect our democracy to be perfect from day one but we want to see progress by the day, we do not want to see our democracy slide ever backwards into an oligarchy.

In conclusion I leave you with a statement by Fareed Zakaria “Modern democracies will face difficult new challenges–fighting terrorism, adjusting to globalization, adapting to an aging society–and they will have to make their system work much better than it currently does. That means making democratic decision-making effective, reintegrating constitutional liberalism into the practice of democracy, rebuilding broken political institutions and civic associations. Perhaps most difficult of all, it requires that those with immense power in our societies embrace their responsibilities, lead, and set standards that are not only legal, but moral. Without this inner stuffing, democracy will become an empty shell, not simply inadequate but potentially dangerous, bringing with it the erosion of liberty, the manipulation of freedom, and the decay of a common life.”

Fahad Garba Aliyu

Kano, Nigeria

fahadaliyu@yahoo.com

When God All Mighty heard the prayers of the Israelites and sort to set them free He made Pharaoh be the foster father of the chosen one to lead the Israelites free and bring down Pharaoh down.

So has God heard our prayers and cries, the signs are clear, there is confusion and cracks in the house of pharaoh, it is now for us to make sure that all infected with the disease that this pharaoh has drown with him in our sea of change.

The last time we had a government that was true to our progress (now with the benefit of hindsight) was in 1983, we were then not used to the pressures that change comes with (and probably still aren’t) and the opportunity went, while the next government fed fat we were fed with SAP, the rest is history that has kept us drifting down hill.

We should ask ourselves, Are we truly ready to weather the storm of change? Will we do that required to support the change we call for?

Then;

We should seek a workable plan, on all levels of government, public and private sectors,

Agree that the best man for the job be given the job regardless of where he comes from or his choice of worship,

Know and accept that we will be affected directly or indirectly by the effects of positive change,

That change will bring about large scale unemployment, occasioned by the sack of corrupt civil servants et al, while employing a new hopefully clean set.

Know and understand that the rot we have will take a few years to clean up.

If we are clear on this and other issues we are set to go.

We should start now to educate ourselves on how to do the right things now and when the time comes.

Those agencies that will play a role in bringing order have to be sensitized to understand their constitutional role; the righteous among them will flush the trash out of them at the appropriate time, evident from reading the cries of the DPO who wonders why they should live on charity and bribes.

We have to from now let our security agencies, elected officials, civil servants, etc know and understand what is expected of them, by God, as citizens and the constitution.

For us It’s not enough to seek change only to create a vacuum,we must be focused, we must from now select or at least put in the bench mark for the standards we want from people and organizations, know the various laws and be ready to enforce them.

Actions it said should be judged according to intensions, while all sorts of NGOs are calling for change and to fight corruption, the only solution so far is jail them, we must fashion how do we get the loot back, locally stashed and foreign stashed? The landed properties, cars and stocks?

Decide on how we would secure them and put them to good use.

Our jails will indeed be full, from those who displayed Ghana must go bags on the house floor full of bribe money to those who commission old roads and are claiming 20 billion, from the thugs we saw braking a Mace to those who kill unarmed men, women and children.

As we clamor for the peaceful path to change, the new political parties should as a duty and a must seek new passionate members and not the old political prostitutes who have through time have been members of too many parties for their selfish ends.

The lessons of various betrayals by this class of people should be held on to well, we have seen how ANPP was rubbished in so many places by those who used the party only to decamp. It’s the same with CPC, APGA, ACN, etc.

The change we seek will involve a lot of sacrifice, of our time and intellect.

We must network the various groups and individuals calling for change, not only to have a common ground but to also know the Judas among us.

To partner and put in tow agencies that fight corruption, from now as participants in our quest for change. Yes the anti-corruption camp have issues with most of the agencies but from actions so far they have tried to pull out files on a number of people and issues raised by anti-corruption groups.

Our resolve for change should make us more tolerant of each other, make us to do the right thing at all times starting from our houses, learn to queue and to wait our turn, accept our faults and seek forgiveness from those we transgress, amongst other positive traits we have to develop.

Remember if we do not start from ourselve, it will all crumble!

The greatest love of all is learning to love your self – self-destruct is not a love option!

@wsm4you

walidmoukarim@gmail.com

The current political, ethnic and religious tensions in the country, accentuated by the tussle for the 2015 Presidency, have begun to make many people raise the alarm that the often misquoted and misrepresented personal comments of the participants at the United States’ National Intelligence Council conference of the possibility of a break-up of Nigeria in 2015, if certain things occurred, is about to come to fruition.

Many people have often quoted the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency as the body that made that prediction so as to give that misrepresentation more authenticity. But reports show that some participants at the National Intelligence Council conference had noted that if some junior officers were to stage a coup in Nigeria, it could cause a crisis of immense proportions in Nigeria, which could destabilise the West African sub-region.

But are the fears of a possible break-up of Nigeria real or exaggerated? Another question is: Given the constant tensions in Nigeria, why has it not disintegrated?

Going down memory lane, the closest Nigeria came to disintegration was between July 1966 and January 1970. A counter-coup against Maj.-Gen. J.T.U. Aguiyi-Ironsi had led to the massacre of Igbo civilians, especially in the North, with an estimated 50,000 of them killed. That incident led to bad blood between the Eastern Region, led by Lt. Col Chukwuemeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, and the rest of Nigeria, led by Lt. Col. Yakubu Gowon. There were efforts to settle the differences, the culmination of which was the Aburi Accord in Ghana, under the chairmanship of Ghana’s military head of state, Lt.-Gen. J.A. Ankrah. But it failed to stop a war that raged from 1967 to January 1970, which claimed the lives of over one million people, most of whom were Igbo. But at the end of the war, Nigeria still remained one in spite of discontent.

The second incident closest to breaking up Nigeria was the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, won by Chief M.K.O Abiola, by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida. This injustice was greeted by protests. While the scheduled date of Babangida’s exit of August 27, 1993 drew near, there were fears that the self-styled Evil Genius wanted to extend his stay in power, and the junta of Babangida heightened the tension in the land by the propaganda that Abiola was mustering an army to invade Nigeria. Just before August 27, there was an exodus of people from Lagos. Happily, that day came and went quietly with Babangida handing over power to an Interim National Government led by Chief Ernest Shonekan.

Gen. Sani Abacha subsequently sacked the Interim National Government and unleashed a gruesome dictatorship on Nigeria from November 1993 to June 1998. There were frequent strikes and protests. The fears that Nigeria would disintegrate heightened. That fear evaporated when Abacha died in 1998 and Abiola followed suit a month after.

But before the June 12 crisis, there was another incident that had the trappings of a break-up: the 1990 military coup led by Major Gideon Orkar. The curious part of that coup was the announcement of the excision of some Northern states from Nigeria. If that coup had succeeded, the fate of those Northern states would have hung in the balance.

Then came the Niger Delta insurgency of the first decade of the 21st Century. The region had complained for a long time that despite producing the wealth of the nation, it was being treated shabbily and its land polluted. Armed groups started the bombing of oil installations as well as kidnapping of foreigners working in the petroleum industry in the region. It looked as if that would lead to a pull-out of parts of the Niger Delta from Nigeria, until in 2009 when President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua initiated the amnesty programme.

That was followed by the violence of the Islamic fundamentalist group known as Boko Haram in some Northern parts of the country. The sect’s members bombed schools, markets, churches, mosques, military offices, media houses etc. Given Boko Haram’s audacity and continuous attacks, it was feared that its attacks, especially on Southerners in the North, could lead to reprisals in the South that could spark off an ethnic war. But it was managed until President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in the three Northern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe this year.

Furthermore, in 2011, the plan of Jonathan to run for president also caused tension in the land, especially from the viewpoint of the North. His ambition to run was viewed as negating the gentleman’s agreement to rotate the Presidency between the South and the North. The death of Yar’Adua in office had cut short the turn of the North, it was further claimed. Nevertheless, Jonathan ran and won. There was bloodshed in parts of the North, but the nation trudged on.

Now that the 2015 presidential election is on the radar, tensions have risen again. Some tactless individuals in the North have threatened that if the North does not rule in 2015, there will be trouble. Their fellow tactless counterparts in the South-South have replied them that if Jonathan does not rule in 2015, there will be trouble. The 2015 election has therefore been given an ethnic hue again, with many fearing that there will be trouble. The current crisis in Rivers State has further worsened the situation.

However, I believe that the future of Nigeria is not threatened in the nearest future for some reasons. The first is the existence of petroleum in the South and lack of it in the North. Oil is the major national glue in Nigeria. Nigerians have become so lazy that the fear of not getting the proceeds from oil is the beginning of patriotism and oneness.

Second, even though there are armed groups in different parts of the nation, the Nigerian Army is still stronger than all of them. These armed groups do not operate under a united platform that will make them more formidable, and so they are individually of no match to the Nigerian Army.

Third, there is the often unspoken fact that deep in the hearts of Nigerians, they really want to be Nigerians. Nigerians may spew hatred about one another on Monday over underage marriage or the Presidency, but on Tuesday, if the United Kingdom or the United States threatens Nigeria over gay rights, Nigerians will suddenly come together to tell them to take a jump. If schoolchildren are killed in Borno State on Wednesday, Nigerians will exchange angry words and ask for the nation’s disintegration, only to return on Thursday to celebrate the victory of the Super Eagles at the African Cup of Nations as one nation on Sunday. It is a funny type of marriage.

However, the problem is that Nigerians are angry with the poverty in their land in spite of the immense wealth of their nation. They feel frustrated by the corruption, the frequent ethno-religious bloodshed, the marginalisation, the injustice, the unequal opportunities, the harsh environment for personal attainment, to mention but a few. When the citizens of a nation are prosperous and safe, they think less of disintegration.

Finally, from North to South and from East to West, Nigerians are diverse in their worldviews and orientations. The continued attempt to make Nigerians move together as one on all issues of life – including on religious and ethnic matters – will continue to cause problems. A true federal system of government like that practised in the US, the UK, Canada, Switzerland, Belgium, etc, is meant to allow the different federating units to retain their identity and worldview while pursuing national visions with their compatriots.

What Nigeria has today is a pseudo-unitary system of government, where everything takes place in Abuja and every state has to conform to what Abuja wants. The states and zones are forced to accept lifestyles that run against their beliefs just for the sake of other states and zones. If this is not changed through constitutional means or a national conference, Nigerians will continue to feel trapped in a nation that they love but which continues to suffocate and frustrate them.

This is one controversy, which nearly every actor, reporter, commentator, and protester at least partially got wrong one way or the other. The basis of the controversy is provision (4)(b) in Section 29 of the 1999 Constitution, which deals with the qualification and procedure for the renunciation of citizenship. It is a carryover from the military’s 1979 Constitution. It is not a new law. It was not created by the Senate. Even as an old provision, it was never meant to be a marriage law. Neither the Constitution nor the Marriage Act recognises a marriage age that is less than 18.

Here’s the entire Section 29 in order to facilitate the following discussion:

(1) Any citizen of Nigeria of full age who wishes to renounce his Nigerian citizenship shall make a declaration in the prescribed manner for the renunciation.

(2) The President shall cause the declaration made under subsection (1) of this section to be registered and upon such registration, the person who made the declaration shall cease to be a citizen of Nigeria.

(3) The President may withhold the registration of any declaration made under subsection (1) of this section if-

(a) the declaration is made during any war in which Nigeria is physically involved; or

(b) in his opinion, it is otherwise contrary to public policy.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section.

(a) “full age” means the age of eighteen years and above;

(b) any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age.

If the purpose of subsection (4) is to define the age qualification for renunciation of citizenship, then provision (b) is redundant. That’s why the Senate removed it by voice vote. But paedophiles, like Senator Sani Ahmed Yerima and his associates, must have understood why the redundant and controversial provision was included in the 1999 Constitution, and retained in subsequent amendments. They must have been using it as a cover for marrying underage children, including the 13-year-old Egyptian girl Yerima married in 2010. That’s why he mustered enough support to force a revote, this time by electronic voting. Unfortunately, there were not enough votes to sustain the removal. So, provision 29(4)(b) was put back in.

By the time this failed attempt hit the newsstands, it was carried by many reporters more or less as a new law that allowed for child marriage. The implication of this old provision as a cover for child marriage was no longer the issue, the present Senate suddenly became culpable for its authorship! In particular, Senators who rightly or wrongly voted for retaining the provision became special targets of attack. This was particularly true of the Senator from Ondo State, Patrick Ayo Akinyelure, whose constituency, the Ondo Central Senatorial District, immediately summoned for questioning.

The question that arises here is: Where have the reporters and critics of the provision (now misunderstood as a new child marriage law) been since 1979 (33 years ago), when the clause was smuggled into the Constitution, and retained in the 1999 Constitution and in subsequent amendments? The answer is simple: Most Nigerians have never read the Constitution, partly because of the high level of illiteracy and partly because the document is not widely distributed. And I bet you, even many reporters and legislators never read the Constitution, unless there was a constitutional crisis. Even then, only the relevant section was read, if at all, sometimes out of context.

Here then is a lesson for legislators: Once the ongoing amendments have been ratified, the Constitution should be mass-produced, translated into the three major languages, and circulated widely, constituency by constituency. It should even be embedded in appropriate textbooks from secondary school upwards. It is not a sacred text for lawyers and legislators only. Americans understood this early and widely circulated their constitution. It is even reproduced in full in any standard Dictionary of American English. It was the constitution that provided the context for the civil rights struggle and even for the ongoing protests against the Trayvon Martin verdict.

This brings me back to the Ondo Senator, who wept openly and apologised to members of his constituency for mis-voting. But the context and significance of his action were lost in the focus on his apology. First, the immediate protests by the people of his Senatorial District show the high level of political awareness in the district in particular and Ondo State in general. These are people who would go to any length to fight for their mandate, vote out a non-performing elected official, and re-elect a performing one.

Second, although Akinyelure remains culpable for his mis-voting claim, he deserves credit for showing up immediately to respond to the protests, thus demonstrating his understanding of his constituency and the respect he has for its members. I was at the Adegbemile Cultural Centre at Akure on that day, where protesters had gathered, and watched as they grilled their Senator and rejected his vote for what they understood as a new child marriage law.

As a concerned elder in the Senatorial District, I had wanted to placate the protesters by explaining the history and context of the controversial provision, but, on that day, that hall was not the forum for public intellectualism. Raw emotions were on display, as a sea of women in the hall sought to protect their daughters from what they thought was the new law of the land. The Senator had no option but to respond with an emotionally-laden apology. At the end of the day, the event showed participatory democracy at work. It demonstrated the power of the people as the source of authority and the burden on politicians to respond to their call.

Back to the Senate, the protest over the notorious provision of Section 29(4)(b) speaks to larger issues in our national life. It demonstrates the role of identity politics, notably religion, ethnicity, and gender, in shaping our political perceptions and behaviour. Yerima argued for the restoration of the provision by blackmailing non-Muslims in the Senate for insensitivity to his religious beliefs.

This was one occasion when Yerima’s religious zealotry should have been called off. But the Senate President, David Mark, succumbed to the pressure against the background of our national history: Identity politics has been the bane of Nigerian politics, from the regional and ethnic crises of the 1960s, which precipitated a military coup and a civil war, to the ongoing regional and zonal struggles for power, which underlie the rise of internal terrorism. Nevertheless, Mark should still be praised for the Senate’s failed attempt to remove the obnoxious provision.

Although his recent remarks may have doused the tension associated with the protests, the issue is not dead. Rather than run off with commentaries on child marriage and Yerima’s paedophilia, the press should ensure that Mark keeps his promise of revisiting provision 29(4)(b), with a view to expunging it from the Constitution.

At the same time, however, it must be realised that identity politics cannot be wished away from our national life nor can our democracy be magically cleansed of primordial considerations. The case of Section 29(4)(b) shows the futility of our attempt to reproduce the American-type of democracy. Rather, we must properly domesticate our own democracy, first by recognising the influence of primordial considerations and, second, by convening a national conference to agree on how best to proceed. We must work hard to get the democracy we really need, rather than oil a copycat democracy that does not suit us.

Sitting in-front of my system and watching the so called youths comment on the new found form of activism keeps trying to dampen my spirit anytime I scroll through my timeline. With the entire horror scene on our political stage we have not been able to argue the same course on common ground. We leave a distaste of religious sentimentalism aided by the strong stench of tribalism. I am not here to talk about the #ChildNotBride trending matter that most youths blindly joined the train wagon without really understanding the connotation of it all.

I am here to talk about the disheartening comments and tweets that people send to the cyberspace. Rather than face the issue on ground, we hastily point sentimental accusing finger to religion and ethnicity. Let us address this issue or else we all will be used directly or indirectly mostly unknowingly to destroy our nation. The internet space in the outside world is being used in restructuring the definition of community based on common interest but a nation like ours only use it to deepen the gorge of regionalism that keeps tearing us apart. While disintegration stares at our heritage, we lose the point on ground by arguing from a religious and ethnical perspective. As much as our leaders have failed in steering our course, we keep aiding them by failing to expunge religion and ethnicity from politics and activism and if we don’t secularize politics we are doomed to self-destruct. These two remain the bane of our society as it limits the scope of our activism and leaves most of us myopic in reasoning. Consequently, the oppressed in our country take to the social media to rain religious and tribal abuses on one another and in the end we forget all about our oppressors and we lose the unity to fight against real enemies to start enmity amidst us.

Furthermore, most times religion and ethnical discussion has been used to create tension cunningly and in the long run popularizing someone within the nation. They employ such strategies to use the religious fanatics against the religion blind person who remain unbiased in his opinion about every policy being put in place in the country. Like someone said, China’s president isn’t a Yoruba or Hausa or Igbo, yet he keeps working towards a better future, neither is Indian’s President a Christian or a Muslim and yet development is being achieved on a faster scale.

The United States of America has diverse cultures and moral belief, but when it comes to the issue of the state they put aside these differences and stand on the same ground for what will benefit the state. Let us find a unity of purposed rather than dwell always on our differences and together build a great nation. Switzerland harbours four main ethnic groups German, French, Italian and Romansch and yet they preserved their identity as a nation. Until all of us outgrow the diversity and reason as one, then can any meaningful development be made in this country. Political parties would have to cut across the artificial barriers of tribe and region, and social and political convictions of party members would replace the present tribal and regional affiliations. National loyalties must supercedes sectional claims; only this way could National leaders, acceptable to the majority of Nigerians, be produced to tackle the exacting demands of a modern constitution. At a time when Nigeria should be electing its best people to strategic positions, most states and the country as a whole remain bogged down by the politics of balancing ethnic and religious interests. Thus, competence, capacity, qualification, experience, honesty and other considerations that should determine a candidate’s eligibility and electability are relegated to the background.

Inasmuch as we need a better Nigeria, there is a need for a thorough orientation before we take to social media activism about the need to converge the different streams of tribalism and religion to flow into river of national unity. Let us coalesce our individual need and strength towards a common cause “making Nigeria great”. Let us relegate religion and tribalism to the background of polity so that we will have a clarity of purpose and vision to work towards making our country great. Until then I tell you we can not make a headway in the re-birth of our great nation, and if it continues like this be sure Nigeria won’t stand together for long. I am a believer and I believe the future of our Nation will be brighter than that of any nation, If we get it right. God help Nigeria.

I am Ologbenla Adedeji Samuel,

@samade07  on Twitter

I find it difficult to believe that instead of commenting on her ranting Nigerians chose to judge her personal affairs.

Though I did not bother to watch her youtube video about the child marriage issue because most of our celebrities just like most Nigerians don’t really understand the issue, there was no bill, the senate only deliberated on a section of the constitution but because everybody is talking and sharing their opinions about it, they as celebrities don’t want to be seen as nonchallant, but as celebrities and with the attentions they get I believe they should have read or ask questions about the issues before talking about it but most of them never bothered to understand the issue before ranting about it.

Those that watched her attention seeking video said she “spat fire” but the responses that followed the video is what I really don’t agree with, Stella Damasus is human just like us all and she surely need a man for those cold nights, I am not writing to defend her, but the abuses and judgements about her private affairs are uncalled for, I really don’t think we should judge public figures by their private lives (except public office holders), the husband snatching allegations around her is still a rumour, and even if it is confirmed, Daniel is neither a baby, a purse nor is he a mobile phone that can be snatched, I think if we want to blame anybody it should be Daniel and Doris for allowing their marriage to fall apart, especially Daniel for not giving his marriage another shot before moving on to Stella.

We are a very “religious” nation, whatever happened to our popular saying “thou shall not judge”, Stella Damasus shared her opinion as a girl and a mother,  she has passed through the pains of marriage and childbirth, her rant and show of anger is very understandable, she doesn’t want girls that are not ripe enough for such pains to pass through it, we don’t have to shoot the messenger for her life and “misdeeds” if any, am sure most of those abusing her have done worse than her, let he/she who is blameless cast the first stone, but if you have your own short comings too, leave Stella and Daniel alone.
#childnotbride

@joshadeshina

Apparently piqued by the worsening political temperament of the country, five governors from the north, last week embarked on consultations with some elder statesmen with a view to stemming the slide. The governors- Aliyu Babangida (Niger) Murtala Nyako (Adamawa), Sule Lamido (Jigawa) Rabiu Kwankwaso (Kano) and Aliu Wammako (Sokoto) held discussions with Olusegun Obasanjo, Ibrahim Babangida and Abdulsalam Abubakar, all former military rulers of this country. Feelers from some of those who attended the meetings indicated that top on their agenda were the festering crisis in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the feud in the Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the political crisis in Rivers State. Also on the table was the marginalization of some PDP governors by both the party and the presidency as well as the hurling of pebbles on the convoy of these governors when they visited their colleague of Rivers State.

They were equally reported to have said that their main concern is not with where power swings in 2015 but the prospects of the tense political atmosphere derailing that election. For them, the road to the election is strewn with thorns such that the former leaders needed to intervene before things go awry.

Not much has been heard from those they visited. But Babangida must have been so impressed by the concerns raised by the governors that he did not waste time in describing them as patriots. By that, the impression we get is that they are genuinely concerned and prepared to sacrifice for the peace, unity and progress of this country. That should be good news to all fair-minded people.

This is not an attempt to diminish Babangida’s assessment of the motive behind the governors’ action.

This is more so as the issues raised are already in public domain. There is no doubt that recent events in the country, especially the crisis in the ruling PDP, that of the NGF and its manifestation in the show of shame in Rives State have elicited genuine concerns about the fate of democracy. If the five governors were moved by genuine desires to save the country from the slide to the precipice, they may well qualify as patriots as Babangida has labeled them.

But there are issues that can be raised against their composition and agenda. It is curious why the ‘patriotic’ governors did not include the menace of the Boko Haram insurgency as a very potent destabilizing factor requiring urgent therapeutic response. Boko Haram is even more threatening and devastating to our corporate existence than the items in their agenda. Moreover, most of the issues raised can be encapsulated within the domestic problems of the ruling party. No doubt, they could have wider repercussions for the country but they are the making of the PDP. Boko Haram is of a wider and more destructive dimension. To have left it out of their agenda did considerable harm to the credit which Babangida sought to give them. It is difficult to fathom how their largely skewed agenda can lead to national fame.

It is not clear how the five governors were selected. But they are all members of the PDP. Incidentally also, they are known to hold views contrary to those of the presidency and the PDP especially on the country’s power equation. They are known sympathizers of Governor Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State who has turned out the anchor point of the opposition to President Jonathan.

The five governors are entitled to their views. The opinions they currently hold on issues of our national being cannot be circumscribed. In fact, some of them have won the admiration of some people for their principled stance on issues.

But their inability to attract some of the pro-Jonathan governors in that part of the country to their team lends their motive to suspicion.

Hard as they try to convince the rest of us that power shift is not at the centre of their self-assigned consultations, it is still hard to believe.

The problems the governors raised are just symptoms of the innate political sickness afflicting the country. They are all linked to 2015. If Jonathan announces today he will not present himself for the 2015 election, they will fizzle out unilaterally.

But, that will not be the end of our problems. Sooner or later, they will rear up their ugly heads in other forms as we are yet to tackle the root of them all. And as long as we fail to genuinely address these fundamental distortions, so long will they remain a recurring decimal in our national affairs. Even if power moves back to the north in 2015, it is no guarantee that these systemic frictions will abate. They will not. At best, we would have succeeded in assuaging the feelings of a section of the north albeit temporarily. Within this north and south dichotomy, the fate of the Igbo, one of the tripod on which this country was erected and northern minorities has been relegated to the background. Moving power back to the north has not in any way addressed the grouses of these sections. They will be worse off when this happens given the number of years the north has held that post. With the posturing of the north, it is uncertain the use they intend to put political power when once they get. Key northerners are known to have said that rotation is dead. And when we juxtapose this to recent statements from northern elders and Arewa Consultative Forum that the north has the population to snatch power and retain it as long as it pleases it, then the danger lurking around becomes very manifest.

It stands to reason that reverting power to the north is not a solution to the centrifugal tendencies that have gained higher momentum in the last couple of years. It will rather reinforce the fears of sections continually shunted out of the commanding heights of key national positions and institutions. These groups will in no distant time, begin to vent their pent up grievances. There is mistrust, suspicion and ill-feelings among the diverse groups on these shores due to inequitable distribution of power and resources. It is on account of these that some people organized themselves to throw stones on the northern governors who were on a legitimate solidarity visit to their colleague in Port Harcourt.

Some of those who spoke accused Amaechi of wasting their money hosting the northern governors. What money one may wish to ask? Their posters had some unprintable inscriptions that could further fuel embers of discord. That is how bad the mistrust is. But that is their mood. One of the governors succinctly captured this dilemma when he wondered what would have happened in the north had harm come their way.

It is vital we give deep thought to stemming the recurring frictions that have over the years, stood against national integration. Power shift being a symptom of the larger national disorder cannot effectively address the nagging issues of our federal order. Power is sought desperately in this country because sections want to gain advantage over others. Such a posturing cannot promote fairness, justice, equity and national cohesion. Jonathan may as well vacate office for the north in 2015. But the manner he is being harassed out of the contest may end up swelling a groundswell of public sympathy for him both in the south and the Middle Belt.

Finally what we craved and prayed for many years was granted and it was time to forget the past and look to a new lease of life filled with many hopes. We believed the new system will heal our land and make us forget all we’ve suffered in time past.

It was 14 years ago when the country finally embraced the Democratic system of government; we all believed that democracy is the ultimate cure to the ills inflicted on us by the cold chains and dark shadows of military imperialism.

Our hopes was that a democratic government will put an end to the incessant brutality and blood shed as well as the dreadful duo of bribery and corruption, but it was like pouring the same drink into a different bottle, since the return to democracy; neither God nor Nigerians have known peace. The funny intricacy of our twisted and bogus democracy is that the same circus players who bled Nigeria to death in the series of military regimes are the same ambassadors loitering the corridors of power today, a fortiori we have incompetent, wicked, fraudulent and desperate politicians with their immodest spouses trying to sully the nation to doom.

The epoch of our negated democracy has featured ruthless thugs and frisky criminals cloaking themselves as politicians, flagrant abuse of power by these so-called office holders and uncountable cases of invidious looting and unscrupulousness. These frontliners of our democracy, these vile unconscionable beings have all proven how amused they are by depravity and human desolation.

In these 14 years unemployment has soared to greater heights, our education sector is on the row of debacle,  constant electricity still remains a dream and with each day we get new promises of when it will be resolved and despite the huge investments, the power sector continues to deteriorate; The public office holders prefer to fly abroad to treat a headache rather than fix our health sector and provide hospitals for the masses; agriculture is in a quasi-redundant state and terrorism is gradually becoming a norm, These are but few of the many “dividends” of our democracy.

Last week I saw a shocking photo of an ongoing surgery in a hospital while someone was holding a rechargeable lamp, at first it was hysterical but truth be told it warmed my conscience on how human lives have become utterly meaningless. Over the years things have gone from bad transiently to worst but all these melancholy, grim re-occurrences and inhumane oppressions are nothing but the comeuppance for our decadent silence as ordinary citizens.

We all share in these problems regardless of our ethnic and religious background, we’ve been silent for too long and the earlier we stop hoping that things will get better automatically the better for us, those at the helms of our affairs have shown us they don’t care how we feel and even when they feel we are getting close to threatening them they distract us with religious or ethnic issues

What is wrong with Nigeria today is that we’ve  ignored our feelings,
the feeling that we deserve more than a tawdry democracy and mediocrity leadership. The feeling that an ideal democracy (even not 100% obtainable) is a government of the majority and we the masses are that majority- that voting out the incumbent dominating party is zilch if we don’t collectively set a standard for our political office holders. The feeling that it is our right to know and question our government and vote out the vampires there-in; the feeling that it is our collective responsibility to put out these ungodly sleazy politicians and reclaim our nation, the feeling that to ameliorate our nation positively requires collective efforts regardless of our religious and ethnic diversity and that hope alone will not get us beyond this point but rather our infinitesimal individual actions of patriotism because such actions are sine qua non to the utopia we all anticipate. It is time for Nigerians to know that the collective fight against corruption is the fight for good roads, good jobs, portable water e.t.c.

For us to progress as a nation we have to curb whatever barricades us from our much-needed unity; the problems of Nigeria are the problems for Nigerians irrespective of age, religion and tribe. If we really want to put an end to these inhumane oppressions and break out of the shackles of a bogus democracy, then its time for us to withdraw our investments from cowardice and dormancy and redecorate our beliefs with the motivation to move forward without regression, although success may not be guaranteed but we must advance towards the path that will positively re-shape Nigeria one day in the future, anything short of this is inadequate.

Its not necessary for us to make a rapid change but its time for us to make a difference by standing up to our corrupt government.

Its time we take our show of anger beyond the internet and let them know we can do more than the Egyptians, we aren’t zombies, we put them In power to serve our interest but they shown us that their interest matters most.

We’ve always asked: What Is Wrong With Nigeria but its time we start asking “What have I done to save Nigeria?”

By Amir AbdurRahman J.A
President District 11 Outreach Project (DOP)
@Ameer_tsidi

Psychologists have long informed us that people who feel that they are important to others tend to be more inspired in life. That’s why parents rarely wonder about the purpose of their lives.

Well, Nigerians may derive a similar psychology from a 103-report released recently by the U.S. Army’s Strategic Studies Institute. Particularly pertinent is that the report has a message for those Nigerians who think that Nigeria will be better off broken up.

“Nigeria can play a productive role in the region and contribute to global economic growth as a large, economically powerful unified state,” the authors assert. “At best, no group of conceivable Nigerian successor states would have the resources to continue these positive roles.”

And at worst? You guessed it.

In explaining the purpose of the report titled, “Nigerian Unity: In the Balance,” Douglas C. Lovelace, Jr., the director of the institute, warns that Nigeria is too important for American policymakers to ignore or misjudge.

“Nigeria is the key country in sub-Saharan Africa for the success of American policy and interests, but is poorly understood by policymakers,” Lovelace writes in the foreword to the report. “Nigeria is an African powerhouse blessed with a large growing economy, huge reserves of oil and natural gas, the largest population in Africa, a rich cultural diversity, and powerful regional influence.”

The document proper was authored by two retired veterans of the U.S. Army and Foreign Service, Gerald McLoughlin and Clarence J. Bouchat. McLoughlin is identified as “a retired U.S. Foreign Service Officer with extensive service in sub-Saharan Africa, most notably Cameroon, Mozambique, and Nigeria.”

To be a “foreign service officer” can mean a lot of things, of course, given especially that McLoughlin was educated at the U.S. Army College. The co-author, Clarence J. Bouchat, is a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel and senior researcher at the institute.

“Nigeria’s continuation as a cohesive functioning state is important to the United States due to the bilateral economic relationship, Nigeria’s influence in the international community, and its pivotal role for U.S. interests in sub-Saharan Africa,” McLoughlin and Bouchat write.

“Nigeria is central to U.S. interests in sub-Saharan Africa and important to U.S interests beyond the African continent. Its value to the United States is best understood in the context of post-Cold War sub-Saharan Africa’s growing strategic importance.”

The document goes on to note that sub-Saharan Africa is the source of many minerals and other resources that are critical to the world’s economy. And with Nigeria as the anchor, the region is also growing in importance as a market for American goods. It is important, therefore, that the U.S. government pursue policies to guarantee Nigeria’s stability, the document warns.

“In this context, U.S. Government agencies have identified specific U.S. economic and related security objectives in Africa as preserving access to natural resources, deterring  violent extremist activities (especially those linked to international terrorist organisations), and reducing maritime piracy and African-based international crime,” the report states.

The authors also note the importance of continuing to pursue humanitarian causes, including human rights and improvements in health care in Africa.

“The centrality of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the achievement of these interests is difficult to overstate,” the authors assert.

They particularly note Nigeria’s economic buoyance, diplomatic activism and military muscles as reasons the U.S. has to intensify its interest in and partnership with Nigeria.

Among other things, Nigeria is the United States’ fourth largest supplier of crude oil, accounting for 11 per cent of U.S. oil imports. Nigeria’s oil reserves rank tenth in the world, thus making it a long-term supplier.

Moreover, Nigeria’s natural gas reserves are largely untapped, despite the establishment in 1989 of the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas industry. When gas exploration reaches its peak, it is expected to supplant crude oil as Nigeria’s leading source of export revenue.

At that time, Nigeria will be set to become the economic and diplomatic giant that it has long been expected to be, the report states.

Besides its economic value to the United States, Nigeria is also valued for its military and diplomatic roles. “Nigeria is … one of the few credible Sub-Saharan African security partners for the United States,” the report asserts. “Nigeria… remains disposed and able to act regionally and, to some degree, outside the region.”

“It has long been the largest African contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations in Africa and beyond.”

Still, the crux of the report is the Americans’ concern about Nigeria’s stability. The concern stems, of course, from what we know too well: the ethno-religious and regional tensions, insurgencies in the North and South, political immaturity and crass opportunism, and the insidious corruption that impedes economic development. It is a long list, and the report carefully details them.

The report also expresses concerns about managerial competence. “While there are extraordinarily talented individuals within the Nigerian civil service, the government as a whole often lacks the managerial depth to fully manage the political economy,” it states.

“This is most telling in Parliament, which is the only place where all regional and ethnic groups have a chance to be represented, but which often lacks the technical capacity to fully analyse its decisions.”

Still, for those who think that Nigeria is a sinking ship, the report offers some strong contrary indications. Regarding national integration, the report notes that inter-regional trade and co-dependence has unified Nigeria to an extent not readily appreciated. So have inter-regional population migrations, especially to the urban centres.

As to the economy: “Nigeria’s economy is large, reflecting its huge population and centuries of integration into the global economy. The Nigerian economy ranks 32nd in the world in GDP purchasing power parity, with $378 billion in 2010, and a very healthy real growth rate averaging over seven per cent since 2003.”

The report goes on to note that Nigeria’s GDP fell from about $1,500 during the 1970s to below $300 in 1998. That, by the way, was the last full year of military rule. The GDP began a recovery in 1999 and reached $1,470 in 2010, that is almost the same as in the 1970s.

The report concludes that: “Although Nigeria’s fate is primarily in Nigerian hands, it can be positively affected by American actions. Nigeria’s future is in balance and the United States should help tip the scales. By helping Nigerians protect Nigerian interests, it will help protect its own.”

The question, though, is whether Nigerians — especially Nigerian political leaders — are as equally dedicated to Nigeria; if not for the sake of Nigeria, at least for the sake of Nigeria’s importance to the world.

Nigeria is a peculiar country. Peculiar and sad. The more one looks at the country, her political structure and her leadership, the more convinced one gets that we are not a particularly serious country. Of course there are many things grossly lacking in the country but the most gross, the most fundamental is the spirit, the eagerness, to develop as a country and the readiness to make it an overriding objective of governance.

True, one has written about this so many times; one has cried oneself hoarse hoping somebody is listening to no avail. Or as our Pentecostal pastors would say: “somebody shout Hallelujah!” – and all what one gets is a deafening silence. Not quite, rather a maddening rush of those at the top to grab what they can while it lasts or before the rocking boat goes under.

How else can one interpret a situation in which the Nigerian federal legislators are the highest paid in the world, as reported recently by UK’s The Economist magazine? The report, quoting data from the International Monetary Fund considered the salaries of lawmakers around the world and expressed them as a ratio of Gross Domestic Product per capita.

Would it change? Is anyone alarmed? Does it disturb the mind of anyone out there sufficiently to want to probe this and seek amelioration? Of course not, a shrug is perhaps the most you’ll get, and business goes on as usual. Those who could do something are those carting away the booty.

How else can one interpret a situation in which everyone, even the moron amongst us, recognises that the presidential system foisted upon us by the military several decades ago, and as being practised here, is a dead weight on the neck of the country that is bound to sink it and yet decades afterwards, we persist in it unable to summon the collective will to retrace our steps or make required drastic changes that would move the country forward?

Am I an alarmist? Then don’t take my word for it. But what about it coming from someone as high up and knowledgeable as the governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, himself? Has he not on several occasions cried out that the country is heading for doom if she persists in the course she is taking, both in terms of the political structure and the emoluments of her leadership?

Let me quote from The PUNCH newspaper of January 12, 2012: “Sanusi said in an interview on Africa Independent Television that the political structure of a huge Federal Government, bicameral legislature, 36 states, 774 local governments is quite unsustainable.” At another time (delivering a paper in Kaduna in honour of Professor AdamuBaike) the Vanguard newspaper of October 30, 2011 quoted him as saying: “Ultimately, we will have to be confronted with the task of taking the difficult step of overhauling the political structure that we have.”

To be sure, both Sanusi and other serious economists in the country and abroad had severally decried the wasteful political system of the country, her unsustainable structure, the unjustifiable earnings of the legislature and the bloated civil service that mean over 70 per cent of the country’s budget goes on recurrent expenditure, wondering how any country can hope to develop under such scenario.

Yet nothing changes leaving one to wonder if there is really nothing intrinsically wrong with us as a people, or with us bounded together as a country.

However, it gets worse. Nothing demonstrates the pettiness, the wrongheadedness of our political leaders and their total disinterest in putting the people first more than the personalisation of “development” that goes on in the name of politics particularly at the federal level, which, again, buttresses the need to rework the country along true federation or confederation lines if we are to get out of the present quagmire of underdevelopment.

Here in London delivering a lecture on “Resource and Governance in Nigeria” at Chatham House, the presently embattled governor of Rivers State, Mr. RotimiAmaechi, narrates how as a result of his face-off with President Goodluck Jonathan, the Federal Government is forestalling several development projects of the state.

According to Governor Amaechi, “When the Federal Government suspects that you have an ambition, they do everything to bring you down. For instance, we have two helicopters to monitor security that they have refused permission to be brought into the country and they have frustrated plans we have to open a syringe- manufacturing factory in Rivers State.”

He went further: “Even if they have an issue with me, why should the whole of Rivers State suffer? We have numerous projects which we have signed agreements with the Federal Government to introduce and implement but since this crisis began, they have suspended all of them and the people feeling it are the ordinary people of Rivers State.”

Only to undeveloped minds in an underdeveloped country would blocking development programmes that would benefit the people be something to consider simply because you make an adversary of one political leader or another.

But that is the nature of politics in Nigeria, and as Amaechi said, “the political culture in Nigeria where politicians believe they are doing the people a favour is a huge impediment…”

No president in the history of Nigeria made greater mockery of the seat and personalised the presidency more than Chief Olusegun Obasanjo of whom I should say no more. Nothing we are witnessing today, no political brigandage, no chicanery, no resort to force over the will of the people, no denial of rights, no spiting of development imperatives, no negation of the constitution that that man Obasanjo did not visit on Nigeria and Nigerians.

We will recall how, just because he felt like it, he (Obasanjo) ordered the stoppage of the federal allocations to Local Governments in Lagos State under Governor Bola Tinubu. Obasanjo cared less even when the courts ordered that the funds be released. And the stoppage went on for a couple of years until the end of Obasanjo’s regime. Obasanjo was law, nay god, unto himself. It mattered little that the poor people of Lagos State were at the receiving end of his illegal action.

Similarly, virtually all development projects for Lagos State were stalled or cancelled outright simply because a federal president Obasanjo could not differentiate between personal interest and people’s interest. A case in point was the visionary desire of governor Tinubu to give Lagos State independent and steady electricity supply that, again, Obasanjo hindered.

Earlier, in military government period, Lagos State had also suffered a similar setback in the hands of a General Muhammadu Buhari who came in and stopped the dream of Governor Lateef Kayode Jakande to give Lagos (and indeed Nigeria) its first metro-line (rail system). That singular action had not only set Lagos State back decades, it has cost her incalculable sum in years hardship, accidents, and sundry losses.

Nigeria is a troubling country, but for how long more must our leaders allow their pettiness to becloud their judgment; for how long more must we as a people not wake up to the imperative of the country’s restructuring? As 2015 draws near we should seek answers to these and many more questions.

When I was approached by the editors of YNaija to join its popular Y! FrontPage  series I asked my four “W” questions; What is the series about? Why? When would you like these write ups and what media is going to be using it? As soon as I got answers to these questions I said ‘yes’ so fast I didn’t give myself the usual one week “to think about it”.

How long this relationship will last I cannot tell, but what I can tell though is that the best decision I’ve made in recent time was to “make the best of the present moment”. I reckon the whole idea would be to make the best of this relationship.

I deeply hope that this effort will not only reach many but be able to achieve the twin aim of inspiring and impacting on youths and all readers alike to thinking through events and seeing themselves as the much needed change agents and revolutionary tools to changing Nigeria in particular and the world at large.

My introductory piece is one I’m passionate about – issues of my state and country and surely there are matters arising for which I can not turn a blind eye as a stakeholder and concerned citizen. So join me on this journey to dissecting the intrigues in this issue”For the love of state and country – the 10 steps to addressing the transition dilemma.”

2015 is two years away, but for many states and indeed countries, it appears to have come in two years earlier as it is singularly serving as the defining factor behind decisions, intrigues, happenings, strategies and ambition. That there is therefore something deeply important about 2015 is now no more in doubt, a typical scenario during any major proposed transition though taking a dramatic turn this time. For areas that have it all ‘locked down’ and unanimously working on a mutually agreeable plan, you somewhat may not be hearing too much of a bullet from there but for some others whose soul many want to conquer, in one word, the drama has just begun.

So many live in uncertainty as their vulnerability to the outcome and effect of two elephants fighting leaves them as the ground to decide if and when to give way or give in. Okay, consider these my best philosophical musing ahead of discussing a very deep issue that has given me sleepless nights in recent times.

The issue on the front-burner is the ongoing security and related challenges facing Rivers state in particular and the nation in general which has gone beyond who is responsible, to who really cares for the citizenry? Who has genuinely put citizens above self?

In recent months, a conglomerate of intrigues are threatening to tear apart the heart of its existence. Making mince-meat of development efforts and citizens commitment to growth and civilization. It is certainly generally known that the hands of crises only knows how to make rubbish of peace and peaceful co-existence. The implication of the huge man hours dedicated to resolving issues most often takes away the drive and concentration leaders and followers alike making citizens become like a woman that is being raped, called for help, help came and elbowed the rapist but continued none the less in the same act.

History, in its benevolence and generosity to a fault has it on track record that an environment ridden with crises has never allowed sustainable growth and development to take place.

So, before the matters escalate and we get to the brink of war,I list my thoughts on the 10 steps worth thinking through to addressing the crucial issues on ground with a view to stimulating thought towards resolution.

1) One of the most crucial obligation the state in particular and nation owes its citizenry is to ensure security of lives and property. However, even as this constitutional responsibility rests on the shoulders of the police command depended upon to discharge such duties responsibly, the inadequacy of this support is putting all stakeholders at risk. This is security corruption and needs to be addressed as the outcome of setting a dry bush ablaze can never be predicted.

2. We have survived a phase and no one wants a return to the dark days of uncontrollable politically motivated gang violence. The return to ‘gangsterism’ has globally been known to cripple both social and economic activities, increasing poverty,reducing development and multiplying discontent. It is said that a time may come when the extremity of these issues could make the poor have nothing else to eat than the rich themselves. How ready are we for such anomie?

Any true democrat who refuses to apply the tenets of acquired education will take turns to settle political differences with fisticuffs. It is worthy of note that even in Bible times, the fists had a greater proposed assignment than many give it credit for.

4. Knowing that conflicts and violence are lethal threats to peace, which is the irreducible minimum condition for development, we should not therefore let it degenerate as not only the state but the nation will lose massively. A typical current scenario is the fact that as the fury escalates, the dreaded oil theft issues and gas flaring activities are booming, crude oil is being stolen daily from the creeks and the nation is too busy or unwilling to tackle the menace head on. Coupled with the loses we suffer from gas flaring in the excess of N735 million daily, we appear to be speaking from two sides of the mouth when we claim creating wealth and employment for millions of the hungry youths now roaming the streets is our priority.We waste the resources that could have been channelled towards creating infrastructure and even making a mockery of existing yet untapped ultra modern technology strategies that would have been used to tackle theft and flare.

5. The government seem to have forgotten that with the current trend, no investor will be encouraged to invest thereby further crippling the economic fortunes. So one must see the need to act out a ‘zero’ tolerance signal to those fanning the embers of discord.

6. A time was, going by the ranking published by Bloomberg, Port Harcourt ranked with Baghdad as one of the Worlds most dangerous cities for foreign workers. As for the nation, we have, days ago, been labelled as the most stressful country to live in the World! While we overcame the city’s saga with an entrance of peace and stability, it would take a random interview to confirm the national status.

7. In whatever way I have tried to imagine it, we now all move with a certain tag home and abroad. While in Nigeria, one is asked questions like: “Where are you from? River state I answer… They tilt their heads sideways and go “Oh my, how are you able to cope with all going on there bla…?

Outside Nigeria, you are asked, “Where are you from?”. “Nigeria,” I respond. The expression darkens, “Nigeria? Oh my, how far have you people gone with fighting….”

You quickly realise that a certain brand imposed on you that could even as individuals affect ones chances at achieving. It is imperative for everyone to seek a common ground so the lives of people won’t be affected by sectors who they basically may not be gaining anything from.

8. While many may believe arguments should proceed from facts on ground reconciliable with the provision of the clear cut laws of the land and not mediated intents. Others believe it is a case of humility required. Many feel influence to increase the fire has not been remotely coordinated especially as one is infallible in reputation. Crossing constitutional or legitimate boundaries as in itself challenging and leaves many no more burden of proof. Can the law be jettisoned? Well, now we have judicial commissions of inquiry into the crises going on.

9. The loss of our nation’s sanity is very provocative in a country where millions already go to bed hungry. We need not take our profound resource blessings for granted shutting us out of worlds wisdoms reach.

As a people, we need to confront impunity head-on, resisting it in its
totality. The fact that it undermines the very fabric of legality and
constitutionalism and jeopardizes legitimacy, thus undermining the very
foundations of human civilization and societal existence is dangerous and
unhealthy and ironically assumption based, referencing perceived enemies.

10.”Live and let live” is a common phrase yet difficult to practice. No
man is an island and that working together puts away external aggressors
is perhaps stating the obvious. Analysing the situation may not end today
but will,to a large extend give us clear direction to who is really
interested in the consistently growing needs of the citizenry. Power
intoxicates and absolute power intoxicates absolutely.
A house divided against itself cannot stand as third parties who derive
profits from fanning embers will seek innovative ways to helping you
destroy what is yours. Statesmanship is required just like a forgiving
spirit is the hallmark of any great leader. What does it profit a man to
win a “war” and lose out on his aspirations? For every Goliath, there is a
stone. The solution to the current challenges is not far fetched… He who
seeks it….Shall find it…Nigerians are watching..it is said that what
the elders see sitting down,the young may not see standing, so where are
the elders? Perhaps it is time for the true elders to arise… and seek ways
to keep the house together.
———————
Mina Ogbanga is an ardent development activist with a strong passion for sustainable development in rural communities, institutional building and social performance.

A social entrepreneur par excellence, Mina has had over 20 years of development experience. A Post Graduate Alumni of Cambridge University UK, United Nations Training Institute, Alumni of Harvard Kennedy School Boston, US, LBS etc and a Doctoral Researcher in Nigeria

Fellow Nigerians, many of our citizens missed some of the great lessons to be learnt from the circumstances surrounding the birth of Prince George in London earlier this week. While the whole world was agog with the news, ours was the typical, and so what, fashion. A friend was so infuriated about the reticent Nigerian attitude that an argument soon ensued between us. Let me quickly warn that this guy is practically a white man in Black skin. We’ve had this running battle for years and all efforts to change his theory that ours is an accursed race have failed.

He returned to his old familiar terrain this week as the news of the Royal birth hit the airwaves like thunderbolt. He had forewarned me early last week,that the Black people lacked passion for such things, as we drove past the Paddington station and saw the way the world media had camped outside the proposed birthplace, some for over two weeks,like they were awaiting the second coming of Christ. My friend had pointed in their direction, and asked me rhetorically: “Please tell me, how many Blacks can you see among those reporters?” I deliberately kept mute so as not to ignite a debate I knew won’t end as easily as it started.

“I’ve told you repeatedly that the Blackman can never comprehend how to turn the simple things of life into objects of substance,” he quipped. I knew he was in the mood to propound and possibly expand his usual notion and philosophy of the superiority of one raceover another and I wasn’t prepared for his always volatile lecture. But he refused to give up as he fired more salvos from his throat with every ounce of energy in him. “The Black race can’t appreciate good things!” he concluded. At this stage I could no longer take his tirades. “Our problems are different from that of the Whites,” I said in a Professorial voice. He didn’t let me finish before he pounced on me again, like a wounded lion:

“What do you mean? All of mankind went through similar problems at different stages of their evolution but they didn’t lament forever without doing something about their terrible condition. See all those journalists working under this heat-wave to await the birth of a child, they are not stupid. The hype around this child is creating employment and job opportunities but you blind people can’t see it. Go and check how much the monarchy is attracting to Great Britain every year. This feverish hype is what keeps it alive. Just imagine all those Americans and how many copies their papers would sell and the viewership on television. They are even paying money to anyone who can describe or get pictures of the Lindo wing at St. Mary’s Hospital in Paddington. They are cleverly clinging to all information available while you guys continue to wallow in your perpetual ignorance…” I stopped him there.

“Would you believe if I tell you I had all my children in that very St. Mary’s Hospital and in the same Lindo’s wing even as a refugee on the run from the military government in Nigeria?” I said matter-of-factly. My friend got even angrier. “Don’t tell me you didn’t take the pictures?” he asked as if my life would ever depend on it. I told him I didn’t. He then lectured me on a subject that is not very popular in Nigeria – History. “That is serious history you have wasted. Just imagine how many news channels would be happy to get those historic pictures from you now. If you were White, you would have taken pictures of the whole place inside out. Now you have to wait for your next life if ever you’re fortunate to go near the place.” He was beginning to sound like an outsider weeping louder than the bereaved. He was furious throughout the rest of our journey home but I wasn’t bothered a bit. When he had calmed down, I narrated the ordeal that made it impossible for me to record my experience for posterity.

We were deeply in the heat of the June 12 crisis when my first child was born. I could not travel at the time. The second was born while we were in exile and on the night I was busy producing the third issue of Ovation and we almost had the baby in a car. At the hospital, I had to stay with the first who was not yet two at the time. By the time we had the third, I had two kids to look after at the hospital. The last baby was particularly difficult as my wife was in labour for over 24 hours and the doctor even told us to prepare for the caesarean section until a Ghanaian midwife appeared miraculously and started speaking in tongues and the baby was delivered. How would I have thought of a camera in the middle of all manner of challenges? The story of my life is a stuff of fiction which must be told in several books for those who think life has been rosy. Even my friend didn’t know this side of me. But he still felt my journalistic instinct should have been sharper despite the odds.

At any rate, I really couldn’t understand what he was fussing about. Nigerians would never pay a kobo extra on those pictures if ever published. Celebrities are still too few and far between in Africa. You can count the authentic ones on your fingertips. We’ve had to create and manage a new class of newsmakers. Unfortunately, most of the so-called high-fliers are usually and almost all those in government circles and power blocks plus their cronies and associates. Most of them are purportedly hated with passion by the ordinary man on the streets who sees every successful man as the source of his misery. The youths who have become substantially frustrated and disillusioned cannot even differentiate or discriminate between the thieving class and members of the privilegentsia. They portray or pretend to resent and begrudge lives of opulence and ostentation while indeed most are searching for their own opportunity to join that elite class they attack with such religious fervour. I was soliloquising…

I knew the discussion won’t end there. The birth of Prince George was bound to take us back, and it did. My friend had promised to return to Twitter, after a long absence, when the baby is born. I had also promised to partake in the celebration of the new-born in the traditional giddiness of Europeans. I returned to Africa while he remained in London. Of course, my friend alerted me as soon as the news broke. He tweeted as he had promised and I followed soon. My friend would later call fuming and vibrating on the phone.

“What did I tell you about the Black people? he started. I asked what the matter was this time. “Haven’t you seen some guys on Twitter saying you were showing off by stating that your children were born in the same St. Mary’s Paddington? When did Nigeria become a country where a writer can’t recount his personal experience as example to others?” he retorted. My response was simple “My job as a journalist is to report reality and chronicle events from my individualknowledge. I’m sure they thought I was showing off some wealth and affluence not knowing I was a common refugee from Nigeria at the time. My family was at the lowest ebb in the name of fighting for democracy and the British Government was graceful enough as to treating us like her own citizens. No African nation would have welcomed us with such warmth and provision.” And the lesson I wanted to draw from it was lost in the cacophony of those who wait to pounce on such opportunities.

In our days at Concord newspapers, Travelogue was one of my favourite columns. I relished the adventures of Michael Awoyinfa and Nnamdi Obasi as they transported us to places we never visited. We prayed to God to give us such dream possibilities in life. Till this day, I savour the exciting reports of CNN’s Richard Quest from one world capital to the other, aboard new jumbo jets, and so on. But in Nigeria of today, you may be accused of blabbing and grandstanding.

I told my friend we must remain trendsetters for others and especially for those willing to lift up themselves from the doldrums of poverty and oppression. We were much poorer in our time and knew the solution was in acting positively than blaming others for our woes. We marched in protest over smaller problems than what we face today. But the times have changed. We can now hide behind our cellular phones and all manner of gadgets to attack real and imaginary enemies. We must learn to tolerate them except where they are downright rude and vulgar. It is normal for people to vent their anger on those they can see. Our leaders are too isolated to be hit directly. They hardly read anything not to talk of going on social media. They live on another planet obviously.

Unfortunately, my friend and I are not on the same page over this matter. He reminded me of the psychology of the African he told me about many years back. It was one of those tantrums I had tried to obliterate from my memory. He had narrated the story of a Shakespearean tragedy staged before a White and a Black audience separately. He said there were scenes in which some members of the White audience actually wept. Now wait for this, when the same scenes were shown to our Black audience, most people actually laughed. The import of this is that the Blackman has the proclivity to treat important matters as a joke.

The gentleman was trying to corroborate and justify the racist comments of a controversial but prolific English author, George Alfred Henty (8 December 1832 – 16 November 1902) whose perception of the Black race was as dastardly as that of his fellow author, Joseph Conrad (3 December – 3 August 1924; originally Polish, JozefTeodorKonradKorzeniowski, but granted British nationality in 1886). Both authors had written at a period of immense prejudice against those they called the Negroes. I think of the two Henty’s book, By sheer Pluck: A Tale of the Ashanti War was more caustic and acerbic than Conrad’s Heart of Darkness but both explored the theme of civilisation and enlightenment versus savagery and backwardness.

Now read what Henty had to say about us: “They (negroes) are like children… They are always either laughing or quarrelling. They are good-natured and passionate, indolent, but will work hard for a time; clever up to a certain point, densely stupid beyond…” My narrator believes not much has changed since then; that in fact Africa remains the heart of darkness; that the leaders and their followers continue to live in fools’ paradise while pretending to be insulated from the rest of the world.

My friend wished Nigerians in particular would see that what makes the British society what it is that their leaders try to give human face to governance: that a Prince would be delivered in Paddington, not a particularly posh neighbourhood; that the leaders owe it a duty to tell the people as much detail as possible on even their private lives; that the Queen walks on the streets with cheering crowds around her; that a Prince William found it necessary to compensate the expectant journalists and face a barrage of cameras; that he drove his wife and new baby to Kensington palace, and so on, are important instructions to a modern society.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Hauwa Abubakar. Like all little girls, she must have had dreams. Perhaps she dreamed of being a doctor, lawyer, teacher or simply doing something that would impact the world around her. She didn’t get to be a doctor, lawyer or teacher but she became famous and not in any desirable way.

When she was nine years old, her father married her off to be the fourth wife of a 40-year-old man. That wasn’t part of Hauwa’s dream and so she ran back home as soon as she could. Her father’s house wasn’t the place of succor and protection that every little girl should rightly assume. Her father dragged her back to the man who called himself her husband. Undaunted, Hauwa ran away again, and again, her father sent her back. After she was returned the third time, the “husband” hacked off her legs to immobilize the “runaway bride” permanently.

Hauwa’s story attracted global condemnation. She became the poster child of everything that is wrong about some of our cultural and religious practices. Her story also opened up the can of putrid worms known as VVF, a disease that was (hopefully no longer) prevalent in parts of Nigeria where dominant religious and cultural beliefs condone – in fact, encourage – child brides.

Hauwa eventually died as a consequence of the double amputations. But her ordeals were not in vain. Her state, Bauchi, took the lead and banned marriages of girls under 18 years. The other nine northern states followed suit. All ten northern states offered universal education to girls until the age of 18. They enacted stiff penalties for fathers who withdrew their daughters from school for marriage.

Meanwhile, an innocuous little phrase had been tucked in the 1999 Constitution and it contradicted all these policies and other parts of the Constitution. It was a loophole through which every dirty old pedophile would burrow into the unformed bodies of little girls in the name of marriage. This is why a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Ahmed Yerima, would import a 13-year-old Egyptian girl and claim to marry her. The “wedding” was attended by his fellow senators and other supposedly rational lawmakers and policymakers.

One would have thought that after the uproar that followed Senator Yerima’s child-bride incident, he would repent from his pedophilic ways. But no, he had to lead some 33 other senators to resist a plug in the loophole so that men who get a kick out of “marrying” children will continue to have the support of the Constitution. In a different society, Yerima would already be in jail for his pedophilia. That would have spared Nigerians last week’s travesty.

Of course, the other senators who believe that marriage ripens a girl should be ashamed of themselves. One can’t even challenge them by asking: would you marry off your under-aged daughters? These men would do so in an instant if there are economic, social or political benefits to them, regardless of the interests of the little girls. After all, Hauwa’s father married her off to a man to whom he owed money. Of course, the senators would be trading for higher stakes with their daughters who become produce for exchange in the marketplace of political ambition, lust, greed and perversion.

These are the same people who criminalize homosexuality, presumably an act between two consenting adults. By the way, it was reported in one of the newspapers this week that president of Christian Association of Nigeria, Mr. Ayo Oritsejafor, offered the following advice on same sex marriage to President Goodluck Jonathan: “He must not allow Obama or the British Prime Minister to put pressure on him to bend to what they want.” I wonder if the cleric was able to keep a straight face with those heavy double entendres! Or perhaps, the reporter was simply having fun by paraphrasing the pastor’s words in that language.

It’s all about the language, isn’t it? It is gratifying though to see how Nigerians of all genders, ages, religions and ethnicities have reacted against last week’s child-bride-encouraging Senate vote. Hopefully, this groundswell will “pressure” our lawmakers “to bend” to what Nigerians want in the interest of our daughters.

Already, the pressure made one Ekiti senator burst into tears in front of his constituents. His defense that he didn’t understand the vote goes to show what kinds of people we send to Abuja. I commend him though for owning up to his error in such a public way. To demonstrate his remorse, he should spend his time in Abuja fighting to get rid of that obnoxious phrase in the Constitution. If not, the Nigerian Senate would have killed Hauwa Abubakar all over again.

Update on Letters to Nigeria: Journal of an African Woman

Here’s a big thank-you to everyone who braved the rain and the notorious Lagos “go-slow” on July 19 to attend my book signing event at Laterna Books Ventures in Victoria Island. I particularly thank the three individuals who flew in from out of Lagos for the event.

It was great to meet “ardent readers” and to reconnect with friends and colleagues. The staff and management of Laterna rolled out the orange-and-black carpet (the company’s colors). They put out a great event and provided sumptuous “eats” afterward. Thank you so very much, everyone! For those who couldn’t make it to the book signing, Letters to Nigeria is still available for purchase at Laterna as well as Jazzhole/Glendora bookstores.

Due to popular demand (seriously!), one more signing has been scheduled before yours truly flies back into the Arizona sunset. And since Arizona is famous for its glorious and breathtaking sunrises and sunsets, I won’t be singing any sad “Leaving on a jet plane” ditty when I board my flight … but will certainly pray not to stumble on someone’s carry-on!

And so I will be at Wordsworth Bookstore on Oron Road (by Nwaniba) in Uyo on Tuesday, July 30, between 12 noon and 3 p.m. If you’ve already purchased Letters to Nigeria, please bring it for signing. If you don’t have a copy, the bookstore will have lots for you to purchase for yourself, your friends and family. It is a great and fun gift for anyone and on any occasion. The first ten people for whom I sign the book will receive a matching red tote bag and pen. Everyone will receive my Arizona hand shake and/or hug. Let’s make it a date

In a democracy, the President has an executive power. His words are authority; men and women bow and tremble before him. What may not be known to many, however, is that the President is not the only person wielding this enormous power. In some cases, some of his lieutenants are even more powerful than the President, or so it seems.

The situation is not different with President Goodluck Jonathan. While he is the captain of the team, there are some of his appointees and aides who are very powerful in their own right.

Leading the pack is the Chief of Staff to the President, Chief Mike Oghiadomhe. Though unassuming, the former Edo State Deputy Governor is a factor in the Presidential Villa, Abuja. Nobody or group meets the President without his knowledge. He designs the President’s schedule and itinerary. He even serves as an intermediary between the President and some of his aides.

Among the ministers, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala towers above her colleagues and that is why she combines the post of Minister of Finance with that of the Coordinating Minister of the Economy. She is referred to as the present administration’s “De facto Prime Minister” by the virtue of the power she wields. Her influence is felt beyond the Executive arm of government. If in doubt, ask any of the occupants of either the Red or Green Chambers of the National Assembly.

Apart from Okonjo-Iweala, other influential ministers in the cabinet include Muhammed Adoke (Attorney-General); Diezani Alison-Madueke (Petroleum Resources); Stella Oduah (Aviation), Bala Muhammed (FCT) and Olugbenga Ashiru (Foreign Affairs).

By virtue of being technocrats, the likes of Olusegun Aganga (Trade and Investment); Akinwunmi Adesina (Agriculture) and Mobolaji Johnson (Communication Technology) also have the ears of the President.

Among presidential aides, Oronto Douglas (Special Adviser on Research Documentation and Strategy); Reuben Abati (Special Adviser on Media and Publicity); and Ahmed Gulak (Special Adviser on Political Matters) are also close to the President and hence wield a level of power.

The list is not restricted to political appointees alone. There are many civil servants and security aides who also wield enormous influence in the Villa. There are many others who do not fall into any of the aforementioned categories but are also powerful by virtue of their relationship with the President or his wife. They could be friends, family members or schoolmates among others. Some of those who fall into that category are the likes of Hajia Bola Shagaya, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Mr. Femi Otedola, and Chief Mike Adenuga among others.

When next you see these people, if you refer to them as the President’s men (or women), you are just stating the obvious.

…and the First Lady mourns

The foster mother of the wife of the President, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, Mrs. Charity Oba, fondly called Mama Sisi, died in an auto crash on Monday.

Oba was said to be on her way to Bayelsa State when the vehicle conveying her, a Toyota Corolla saloon car, got involved in an accident along Isiokpo-Elele Road in Ikwerre Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The accident reportedly occurred at 4pm near Isiokpo Bridge along Port Harcourt-Owerri Road.

As at the time the accident occurred, the President’s wife was in far away Geneva where the news was broken to her.

The deceased came into public consciousness in April when speculations were rife that Mrs. Jonathan had again been flown abroad to attend to her alleged failing health.

In debunking the report, her spokesman, Ayo Osinlu, issued a statement saying the President’s wife “was abroad to attend to her mother, Mama Sisi, who was sick and to also use the opportunity of the trip to spend quality time with her children who were holidaying.”

As condolence messages poured in on Tuesday and Wednesday from state governors and friends of the First Lady, however, there was no official statement from the Presidency on the death apparently because of the absence of Mrs. Jonathan.

She however returned to the country on Wednesday evening into the waiting hands of her husband. She did not betray emotion as she was received by the President and some members of the Federal Executive Council. Former Head of State, Gen. Abdusalami Abubakar (retd.) was also at the Villa at the time Mrs. Jonathan arrived. He arrived about 15 minutes before the First Lady’s arrival. It was not clear whether he was in the Villa purposely to join Jonathan in receiving his wife or he was there for consultations with the President and the visit merely coincided with the woman’s arrival.

What else can we say than to join other well-meaning Nigerians in commiserating with the “mother of modern Nigeria” in her period of grief and pray God to grant her the grace to bear the loss. Take heart, mama.

Pate’s exit and imminent cabinet shake up

Despite repeated media propaganda, President Jonathan has not carried out any major cabinet reshuffle since the inception of his administration. Speculations were rife in May that as part of activities marking his two years in office, he would drop some ministers and redeploy some others. None of those happened.

But with the voluntary resignation of the Minister of State, Health, Dr. Muhammed Pate, on Wednesday,  another vacancy has been created in the cabinet. That is in addition to the position of a substantive Minister of Defence that has remained vacant since Jonathan showed the former occupant the way out in June last year. Minister of State, Defence, Olusola Obada, has been holding fort in that ministry.

As elections draw nearer, some present ministers who are nursing ambitions will also leave the cabinet. For example, Minister of Police Affairs, Caleb Olubolade, had publicly declared interest in contesting the governorship election in his home state, Ekiti. His exit from the cabinet is therefore imminent.

As the vacancies increase, lobbying will also increase among politicians who may want to replace the ministers.  Political godfathers should be getting ready for action.

It’s a season of courtesy visits

As elections year begins to draw nearer, it is gradually becoming a vogue for groups to be paying courtesy visits to the President. On June 7, Chief Edwin Clark and a former President of the Senate, Ameh Ebute, led some elders of the South South and Middle Belt under the aegis of the Congress for Equality and Change to meet Jonathan. As if the interest of the Middle Belt was not properly protected during that visit, Chief Solomon Lar on July 2 led leaders and representatives of the Middle Belt Forum to meet with the President.

On Monday, the Urhobo Progressive Union led by Maj.-Gen. Patrick Aziza (retd.) came calling. On Thursday, it was the turn of the Nigeria Bar Association. That was an opportunity for the lawyers in Jonathan’s cabinet to reunite with their constituency. The likes of Nyesom Wike and Emeka Wogu dusted their suits.

A visit by another Ijaw group initially billed for Wednesday was shifted to a later date. It is indeed a season of courtesy visits.

True, true, suffer neva start.

We are just seeing the prelude; the real movie is coming soon. We never start to cry, we never start to dey hungry, we never start to dey bury loved ones. We are still experiencing jollyment in comparison to what’s in store for us if we continue in our lackadaisical “siddon-look” attitude.

It is irritating to see how Nigerians adapt to every horrible and terrible situation like Chameleons. We have become silent survivors of suffering, yet smiling and moving on; gathering experiences of suffering and adding it to our curriculum vitae to be told at round tables to children yet unborn, who would also continue the chain of suffering and smiling with no plan to break the cycle of suffering.

It is more irritating to see the youths, the supposed leaders of tomorrow, sacrifice excellence on the altar of mediocrity, sacrifice progressive and positive change-oriented activism on the altar of ignorance, sacrifice political participation on the altar of indifference.

We always believe that one day things will magically get better. We pray always for a better Nigeria, as if God will come down from heaven in His splendor and majesty to set things right in Nigeria. We spit fire and brimstone in buses while being held in traffic on terrible and unmotorable death traps called roads, arguing blindly about corrupt politicians and how much they have looted. We keep forgetting the collective power of the masses and the fact that change can be effected by our collective efforts, if channeled in the right direction.

Yet, our youths prefer to discuss the round bottom of Kim Kardashian and Nicki Minaj, passionately tweet about the fight between Rihanna and Chris Brown, prattle with empty heads and fine faces; bimbos of the highest order.

I get frustrated when I read bios of youths on facebook, and I see ‘Not Interested’ in the column for politics. Ignorant big boys and girls; who should be more interested in politics if not the youths?! How can you not be interested in politics? If we all leave politics to these drained-out, geriatric and fatigued men, where will the radical change come from?

From lootocrats ready to change party without batting an eyelid and with no consideration for ideology? I think not.

A mentor of mine, Chude Jideonwo of Y! Naija, in his article – ‘Don’t get it twisted – anger is good’ opined that we all need to get angry, we all need to rise up with vexation and cry out in pain. It was collective anger of the people that led to the House of Representatives Ad-Hoc Committee on Fuel Subsidy “Mis-management” ; it was anger that led to the delay of tolling on the second phase of the Lekki-Epe Expressway; it was anger that caused the PDP to lose the governorship in Edo State; it was anger that led Mr. President to rescind his decision to rename the University of Lagos.

My take on that opinion is quite simple: Our youths do not even know what to be angry about. Ignorance has been used to rub our faces like petroleum jelly. We are blinded by mediocrity and lack of interest in whom and how we are governed.

Tell me, how many young people know what the foreign reserve is about? How many young people know about the Sovereign Wealth Fund is? How many young people know that serious countries are seriously looking for alternatives to petroleum? Have you realized that a news story on Whizkid or Davido sells better that a political analysis?

Parents warn their children to stay clear of politics. We have been taught that it is a dirty game and only dirty people can play it. As if that’s not enough, a popular religious sect sees it as a violation of rules for its members to go into politics. The members of this sect do not even vote during elections, yet we want a better Nigeria. Don’t worry magic will happen.

We so much believe in that part of the bible that says ‘a thousand and ten thousand shall fall by our sides, but nothing shall happen to us’, so we act like we don’t see the people that are being killed by accidents and armed robbers on Benin-Ore road. We act like we don’t see the people being murdered by Boko Haram. We act like we don’t see the people being murdered emotionally when they have to write UTME five times before getting admission into a university, or the ones that have to trek the length and breadth of Lagos to secure a job. No, we are only conscious of our well being.

Until we rise and start asking the right questions and getting involved in politics, we may continue in this downward trend into abyss.

—-» Akan Imoh is a Media Content Provider/Creative Writer. He has a burning passion for talent development among youths in a Nigeria with unique intricacies.
He blogs at Ovasabii.com and on twitter, he is @Ovasabii

“It is sad that ignorant people are allowed to be speaking on behalf of Islam. Sometimes they even speak on behalf of God Himself”—Dr Usman Bugaje

When it comes to choosing wives, especially in a serial manner, the philosophy of Senator Ahmad Sani Yerima has always been to “catch them young”–first with the 15-year old girl he divorced two years later at 17 and not long after, the 14-year old daughter of his Egyptian driver he had to import all the way from Cairo. But the proclivity for cradle-snatching by the former Governor of Zamfara State has now put the Senate in the eye of the storm and with emotions running high, there seems to be no line between fact and fiction as many commentators sell their prejudices in a manner that can only further divide us as a nation.

From my understanding of what transpired at the Senate in the course of the constitutional amendment process last week, the issue that fed the current hysteria has more to do with the reputation of Senator Yerima than what the upper chamber actually decided. The clause in contention has nothing to do with the legal age of marriage in Nigeria and having spoken extensively with Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu who chairs the committee on constitutional review, I can see both ignorance and mischief in the slant of the public debate on the issue.

 Section 29 of the 1999 Constitution which generated the hoopla is about renunciation of citizenship and it states: (1) Any citizen of Nigeria of full age who wishes to renounce his Nigerian citizenship shall make a declaration in the prescribed manner for the renunciation; (2)The President shall cause the declaration made under subsection (1) of this section to be registered and upon such registration, the person who made the declaration shall cease to be a citizen of Nigeria; (3)The President may withhold the registration of any declaration made under subsection (1) of this section if- (a)the declaration is made during any war in which Nigeria is physically involved; or (b) in his opinion, it is otherwise contrary to public policy; (4) For the purposes of subsection (1) of this section (a)‘full age’ means the age of eighteen years and above; (b) any woman who is married shall be deemed to be of full age.

The purport of subsection 4 (b), which has become the bone of contention, to borrow a famous cliché, is that for the purposes of renunciation of citizenship, a married woman irrespective of her age shall be deemed to be of full age. However, according to Ekweremadu, “the Senate committee was of the view that this provision is discriminatory, especially considering that subsection 4(a) has already defined ‘full age’ for the purpose of renunciation as 18 years. That was why the committee thought it necessary to expunge the section and ensure that men and women are treated equally.  It is indeed based on that principle that we recommended the deletion of the word ‘woman’ in Section 26(2)(a) and replaced it with the word ‘person’. That particular amendment was passed by the Senate. But the truth of the matter is that Section 29 does not legalize child marriage and, in fact, has been in the constitution since 1999 even though many people were not aware of its existence.”

The Deputy Senate President explained further that the subtext to the whole saga started with the antics of Senator Yerima on the floor of the Senate in the course of debating the clause-by-clause amendment process. Yerima, who incidentally is a member of the committee and had signed the same document would later seek to repudiate section 29, subsection 4(b). “What happened was that Senator Yerima never raised any objection to any of the things we decided at our retreat in Lagos and even when we arrived Abuja, we went through all the clauses together and again, we all agreed. I recall that Senator Aisha Al-Hassan (representing Taraba North) even thanked us on behalf of the Nigerian women for the decision to expunge section 4(b).”

I find that revelation by Ekweremadu rather interesting because the same Senator Al-Hassan would join Senator Zainab Kure (former First Lady of Niger State) to abstain when it came to voting on the clause. Perhaps they were afraid of Senator Yerima whose initial objection, according to Ekweremadu, “was defeated while we were taking the clauses on item-by-item basis. But in the course of discussing pension and labour  there were arguments as to whether the two issues should be under different (Exclusive or Concurrent) List in the Constitution. Senator Yerima exploited my intervention to raise a fresh argument that we should revisit the issue of section 29, subsection 4 (b) on the basis of his religion. In the spirit of democracy, the Senate President decided to take the vote again. Meanwhile, Senator Yerima had gone round to lobby some of our colleagues, arguing that expunging subsection 4(b) would be against Islam.”

Whatever may be our misgivings about the inability of the Senate to expunge from the Constitution section 29, subsection 4(b), I still fail to understand how that can rationally be interpreted to mean that the upper chambers passed an amendment (or a resolution) to legalise child marriage. From what transpired, the Senate could not secure the requisite two-thirds majority because of the intervention by Yerima (aided by Senator Danjuma Goje, former Governor of Gombe), both of who played the religious cards. But the real catalyst in all the brouhaha is Senator Yerima who has come out to justify his own position on child marriage, which then makes the senators who voted along with him accomplices in the pursuit of what is clearly a private agenda. Of course, we now read about some weeping Senators claiming that in the process of voting, they actually thought Yes was No!

In the rather interesting face-off between him and the former Aviation Minister, Mr Femi Fani-Kayode, Senator Yerima has defended his position on the pretext that child-marriage could promote “the attainment of Paradise” which, by his own reasoning, resides in the loins of some perverted old men. Then he would further argue: “So what can anybody tell me? I live in a city where young girls at the age of 12 have already become serial fornicators and cannot count the number of men they’ve had sex with. I live in a city where primary school children dis-virgin themselves behind toilets on Valentine day. I live in a city where young girls flood the street at night looking for men that would give them N500 to have sex with them. I live in a city where government officials pick undergraduates from University car parks with coastal buses to wild sex parties. I live in a city where abortion is so common that even a chemist shore owner can perform abortion with just N2,500.”

Whatever may be happening in the city Senator Yerima resides, what he fails to understand is that the girl-child is not a chattel created by God for the pleasure of men, she is a human being with as much rights as the boy-child. The senator also says that he can give his daughter out in marriage at age six but talk is cheap since there is no record that he has actually done any such thing even when he indeed has young daughters. But it is understandable because, as the Yoruba people would say, the hunting dog knows how to breastfeed its own child while chasing that of the antelope.

Ordinarily, this whole controversy would have been needless if we enforce our own laws in this country; which then goes to show that even if the contentious subsection 4(b) is expunged from the Constitution, it is not likely going to change anything. It is noteworthy, for instance, that section 21 of the Child’s Rights Act already forbids the marriage of persons below 18 years and prescribes a punishment of N500,000 or a five year jail term, or both to offenders. Of course the Child Rights Act needs to be domesticated by the states, and most northern states have not done that based on the same claim that it is against their culture and religion. So, while the current campaign against the Senate for “passing a child-marriage law” has been more sensational than factual, it has at least put the issue high on the agenda. Even at that, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which has been signed and ratified by Nigeria, also pegs the minimum age for marriage at 18 years.

What the foregoing means in essence is that the issue is not an absence of law regulating the age of consent with regards to marriage in our country, the real challenge is that there has been no enforcement. For instance, in Egypt, the age gap between spouses should not exceed 25 years. However, their laws also make exceptions for foreigners who must then deposit a hefty amount of money in the name of such young bride at the Egyptian National Bank after which he must sign documents at the Ministry of Justice, to guard against trafficking. It was in fulfilling those legal obligations that Senator Yerima’s marriage to the Egyptian girl attracted public attention.

All said, I think we should stop chasing shadows by dealing with the real issue: anybody who has followed the trajectory of Senator Yerima’s recent marriages cannot but notice one slant: the brides come from the children of poor (and uneducated) people. The point here is that it is only poverty and ignorance that would make parents give their under-aged daughters out for the entertainment of some old men who deliberately read their Holy scriptures upside down. If that then is the issue, the focus of the current engagement should change. This matter is really not about religion or culture, it is about class and the manner in which the affluent of our society exploit the underprivileged to feed their personal indulgences.

Mrs. Maryam Uwais in her brilliant treatise titled “Senator Yerima and Constitutional Review” has already enumerated the health challenges associated with child-marriage as well as its sociological impacts on the society. Her thesis is that poverty and illiteracy are merely recycled (and entrenched) by child marriage and there are facts to back up her claim. What that then suggests is that until we deal with those root causes by ensuring that all our young children, whether male or female, are given compulsory basic education, at least up to a certain level, the problem will persist. The Yerimas of this world are quite aware that so long as our society remains replete with widespread poverty and illiteracy, child marriage will also continue to be a function of demand and supply

Sweetheart,

This letter is a betrayal of my previous convictions, and an apology for actually allowing a society of chauvinists to train my mind into agreeing that the womenfolk are indeed inferior, merely created from our ribs to be chained to marital slavery. This diseased mindset was the reason I addressed a letter to your brother about two years ago without even a reference to you, or even expressing a concern over your wellbeing in the pre-mortality world. I felt sorry for you afterwards, Sweetheart. Recent experiences have shown me the complexes of this ancient crime against ‘womanity’—a crime perpetrated by a species of insecure men for whom the freedom of the woman is seen as the collapse of decency. The woman, in their inverted wisdom, is a metaphor of gullibility—a moron who cannot think or survive in the absence of the almighty man; an imbecile whose knowledge of right and wrong must be stirred up by the ever “holy” male; a pet that must, as needs be, be treated as an accessory.

My heart is heavy, Sweetheart, as I brush away my shame to write this.  I had unfairly antagonised feminists whose misery I now understand. I had dismissed their Gender Equality campaigns as attention-seeking wolf-cries done either for publicity or to enjoy a piece of the Whiteman’s dollars. The misery and frustration of woman can be understood when we study the history of their subjugations, the cultural and religious conspiracies perfected to make the position of the woman as subordinate a design of God. Give religion to an idiot, and you have created a monster. The sheer inability to check the border between devotion to God and obsession with insanity is the root of our present societal chaos. The borderline between adherence to religion and fanaticism is thin, people don’t seem to know it when they cross it. But a fanatic is an intellectual fraud who highlights aspects of religion that celebrates the man, while he finds bliss in disregarding portions that emphasise the rights of the woman.

This letter is actually written from a will to give you the hint of latest happenings here. Ahmed Yarima, that man who ought to be in jail for establishing a political space that serves as greenhouse for this new breed of extremists, has again attempted to play on our intelligence and anger when he rallied his fellows together to agree that an underage girl is a constitutional adult simply because she’s married. They tried to cite the Prophet as role model, defending that present context shouldn’t invalidate the practice. Do you know what that means, Sweetheart? The challenges of 21st Century are issues that require painstaking application of wisdom, and not these outright insensitivities of the literalists. My provocation is an expression of many disgusts over this perpetration of an old conspiracy by a cult that still sees an empowered or independent woman as a puncture to their inflated egos! This deliberate destruction of the woman remains why every poverty-stricken idiot quotes Allah and the Prophet to marry more than one woman, even when their income is not enough to feed a camel. Has any lawmaker ever moved a motion to stop low-income earners from this going against Allah, which is what they do by going into polygamy with empty pockets? I can’t let these conspiracies and hypocrisies be dressed in the garments of religion. I can’t watch a little girl not only denied privileges but constitutionally dehumanised.

 And when we are trying to highlight where commonsense ought to be applied in engaging the socio-politics of religion in modern Nigeria, some self-appointed litigators of God declared us as “liberals” or even “apostates”? One even warned that my geography and name are proofs of my infidelity. They argued that you must bear Arabic names and even be from the core north, perhaps Dan Fodio’s lineage, to pass for their own Muslim. These litigators were possibly going from house to house, market to market, as destitute “Almajirai” conveniently abandoned by their parents to begging in the name of Qur’anic education when some of us were in decent classrooms studying the ideal Islamic literatures under scholars of piety and repute. These litigators can’t tell cultural Arabism apart from Islam, yet where they counter that commonsense must never be applied in interpreting Islam, they refuse to ride on camels for pilgrimage to the holy land. Like the Prophet did. You see, Sweetheart? Fanaticism is a disability in thinking. There is nothing sacred about Arabic language or names or culture outside the context of religion, but they don’t know this. And Islamic texts are preserved in their original Arabic forms to avoid distortions. I approve that, Sweetheart. You may learn Arabic to perfect your faith, so that you won’t end up like the clowns who initiate an aggression when they see, say, a Christian cuddling a Bible written in Arabic. You see, these litigators are so pious they can mistake porn magazines written in Arabic for Islamic literatures!

Our people’s cultural and religious ignorance is that complicated. To understand them, you must study the history of their evolution either from Darwin’s contested apes perspective or from the Adam of the Qur’an and the Bible on to the invasions and missions of Arabs and Europeans who exploited our primitivity and introduced dazzling concepts of monotheism in which the inferiority complex-stricken Blackman becomes an example of spiritual confusion. Sweetheart, this holier-than-thou gra-gra over imported ideologies is one reason I wish we had a leader like old Turkey’s Mustafa Ataturk—to restore our lost self-esteem. Our esteem has been grounded in the mud by the slaveries and racisms we’ve been subjected to and which we still come across overseas today, which seem not to upset us enough to return home and demand for an ideal Black Africa of our father’s dreams. The frightful danger with pseudo-religious politicians here is their acute understanding of our gullibility, their understanding of our submission to their frauds when couched in the name of God. They sponsor sectarian crises in the name of God, they waste our resources on sponsorship of pilgrims to holy lands just to render our budgets unanalysable. Could you believe that they invested billions of taxpayers’ money in feeding destitute subjects this Ramadan, when that money could have built an industry to engage the hopeless people? Theirs are not the ways of Allah.

 But don’t be afraid of showing up whenever Mum and I are ready to have you. Come, just come and be our delight. I promise to train you into that woman the society cannot but idolise, that woman of whom the chauvinists shiver… I hate the fact that Muslim women are under-represented in the Labour Market. A society whose women are powerless has done a disservice to Islam because it’s the same women, and not men, that shape the earliest education of every child. A woman deserves her freedom to rightly decide who her man is, and also be as empowered as her male counterpart. Don’t be afraid of any man, just be sure you mark the identity of whoever harasses you on your way to Junior Secondary School. I’ll definitely take care of his funeral. May God save us from us!

 Dad.

 By Gimba Kakanda

@gimbakakanda (On Twitter)

I love the Internet. I think it is the purest expression of democracy. It eases communication, gives power to the weak and – depending on how much respect they have for it – can amplify or minimize the influence of the powerful. Social media is an asset, one that needs to be used diligently. I believe every true Netizen should understand and respect its power and see themselves as custodians of same. Abuse of this awesome power should be collectively pointed out and frowned at every turn.

Two days ago, I read an article by Mr. Adeyemi O.J. and I just couldn’t stop laughing. The piece left me both flabbergasted and frustrated. Frustrated because I knew many would believe it without questioning the facts. We have grown so used to believing every accusation of corruption out there. Once somebody punches out a few hundred words, mentions a few politicians, adds numbers with lots of zeroes, then presto! A new anti-corruption crusader is born!! Death to all politicians!!!

After reading the article, I chose to go and see the gentleman’s timeline. His tweets seemed above par. Sadly, his article wasn’t. Not even close. Been a while since I read a piece so filled with misinformation as this. I will attempt to point out and correct Mr. Adeyemi’s many misnomers and do my best to keep my article civil.

ATTCK MODE

Where to begin? The beginning, I guess. The first and second paragraph read like a personal attack on the Special Adviser on Environment and Sanitation to the Osun State Government, Mr. Bola Ilori. I think the attack on Mr. Ilori’s person was uncalled for. At no point in Mr. Ilori’s article did he call for anyone to “bow and worship” the governor. Neither did he imply that Opon Imo would ensure world peace nor end global hunger. He simply praised the courage and vision of the Osun state government for treading this uncharted course, despite being Number 34 on the revenue earning list of the country.

I wonder why Mr. Adeyemi failed to educate his readers that Mr. Ilori’s article was in response to an earlier piece by another gentleman who decided to play politics with Opon Imo. And, I think, Mr. Ilori is right to say the device is unique. Opon Imo, as a ‘standalone e-learning tool’, is a first of its kind in Africa and arguably in the world. When you consider that the usual thing is for these tools to be internet-based while the Opon Imo has all the content domiciled in it, the difference is clear. That is its selling point. This was a critical issue during the implementation of this project as those in charge took cognizance of the network challenges in the country and the feedback from the potential users of the device.

However, Mr. Adeyemi reserves the right to challenge Mr. Ilori. One would have expected that he gave relevant references to support his assertions. It is clear that the gentleman either did not do his homework or chose to ignore the FAQ  section. Else, he would have got answers to all his questions about powering the tools, trainings and maintenance, which are in the third paragraph of his piece. I visited the site and got very satisfactory answers. I even found out Opon Imo has a Twitter handle and a Facebook page. Research is a beautiful thing, isn’t it?

THE CLAIMS

Mr. Adeyemi must love mathematics very much. So much, he picks numbers out of thin air and labels them as he deems fit. But he must love renaming things too. Else, why would he say Ogbeni Rauf has a son named “Kamoru”? Another evidence of his disdain for research or love for mischief? I know the internet allows a lot of things, but I seriously doubt if it gives us the power to rechristen people. I would have thought one of the minimum requirements for Mr.Adeyemi’s job (Social Media Trainer) is to get the basics right. I was prepared to ignore the error the first time but to do it twice in one article is simply unpardonable. One can only hope his students are either very forgiving or very smart. Or know how to use Google. Fela once said, “Teacher, Don’t Teach Me Nonsense.” Mr. Adeyemi will do well to use that nugget of knowledge.

THE  FACTS

Mr. Adeyemi, FYI, I know not any Kamoru Aregbesola but if this is prophesy, I bid you good luck. The gentleman whom you accused of receiving a phantom contract is in fact Kabiru Aregbesola.

Now, Mr. Adeyemi isn’t the first person to falsely claim that Ogbeni Rauf gave a contract to his son. Though the accusers can’t seem to agree on the numbers as the amount in their accusations keep mutating, Mr.Adeyemi is simply the latest accuser and he won’t be the last. But, if he had done his research, he would have caught this. During an all-night live Q&A event held recently, the governor said his son NEVER got a contract to supply the tablets. He explained that the tablets were supplied by a Chinese Manufacturing Company,  Kabiru only contributed his knowledge as an ICT expertise  to make the project succeed. And he did this free of charge. But of course, Mr. Adeyemi ignored this nugget of information too.

QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS

Mr. Adeyemi, I have to ask; why the rush to castigate the young man? What is Kabiru’s offense? Is it a crime to be a do-gooder who saw a chance to help his father’s dream come true or has the concept of volunteering become so alien that we just don’t think it impossible? I am not even asking that you agree that the job was done at no charge, but you should have acknowledged that the matter had already been raised and responded to. I would seriously doubt your credentials if you claim you never saw the articles on the Internet. Here’s one, and another. I am in the same profession with you and I know that online monitoring is a huge part of the job.

Now, I have more questions for you, Mr. Adeyemi: who told you the Opon Imo contract was worth N8.3b? When did you inspect the warehouse where the tablets are stored for distribution and found out that only 3,700 of 50, 000 was supplied for the same amount? Where did you learn that this contract is for 50,000 not 150,000 as I read it? Which website did you find the Opon Imo tablet specification selling for $30? How many units do you need to buy from that website to get a discount? I would truly hope to get answers to this questions but I won’t hold my breath.

The following questions are for the rest of us. The timing and content of Mr. Adeyemi’s piece sent the Twitterverse into a near-meltdown as people smelt blood and moved in for the kill. I know corruption is a huge problem we face but so is ignorance. Why didn’t anyone ask the writer what company “Kamoru” used to secure the alleged contract? When was the company incorporated and who are the board members? Except the Osun State Government simply forked over billions to an individual, the writer must know what the company name is. I have gone over Twitter many times and not many gave the accused man the benefit of the doubt. Mob Mentality?!

THE FUTURE

Mr. Adeyemi suggests that the project is shrouded in mystery but that is not true. Apart from the final cost for the project, which hasn’t been made public yet, the answers are all out there. See here. And here.

I called a few friends within the Osun State Government and they told me that the final costs were being kept away for “marketing reasons”. As the government owns the Opon Imo patent, they told me they are looking to recoup the money spent on the project by supplying tablets to interested states or private institutions. For this reason, they said, it would be foolhardy to reveal the cost price of the products.

Now, I know it is almost unbelievable that a Nigerian state government is pushing to commercialise a product developed with state funds but it shouldn’t be. Any government should be actively looking for ways to maximize the money they get. While I would admit that leaving the public in the dark is suspicious, I can understand why they are doing this and I believe Osun should be praised for seeking ways for create new wealth through Opon Imo. Apple would never reveal the cost price of the iPad. I have been told that total cost of the project will be revealed when the commercialization part of the project is completed. When that happens, I would be the first in line to go through it with a fine toothcomb.

DEBTS

As a parting shot, Mr. Adeyemi couldn’t resist the temptation to talk about the debt issue. Again, without any evidence, he said Osun state owed over N200b. He didn’t quote the CBN or the Federal Ministry of Finance. May be he knows better than those guys or is a bigger authority on financial matters. A careful perusal of the constitution didn’t spring his name, so what was he basing this on?

Again, this matter has been raised and dealt with here. The governor said the state debt is no more than N30b. Again, Mr. Adeyemi, Google is your friend. And I am yet to find someone owed 5 months’ salary. Could you be kind enough to provide names of affected staff or ministries next time?

CONCLUSION

As I said before, I love the internet. I believe it is capable of facilitating great things. But, when articles like Mr. Adeyemi’s hit the net, I think it is the role of true custodians to respond with the facts. A wise journalist once told me, ‘The truth will do just fine.” And to this I add, “When in doubt, Google it!”

And Mr. Adeyemi, nothing personal, okay?

Gbenga Olorunpomi is a social media specialist and an Ogbeni Aregbesola groupie. He lives and works in Lagos.

IT was meant to be a private visit. But the President’s trip to Abeokuta, the exciting city that is the capital of Ogun State, to commiserate with his spokesman Dr Reuben Abati on the death of his mother has thrown up many issues. Not because it was out of place for Dr Goodluck Jonathan to be with the one he considers a member of his family on such an occasion. No.

President Jonathan was with former President Olusegun Obasanjo same day. The popular thinking – “the popular is seldom correct”, don’t forget – is that the visit to Obasanjo was the main reason for the President’s presence in Abeokuta. That is neither here nor there. Also unclear is what transpired in the inner room of Obasanjo’s home where the two leaders – father and son, some will insist – poured out their hearts.

There has been no official statement. Dr Jonathan told reporters that it was a mere courtesy call. No more. Editorial Notebook fans and numerous others have been eager to find out details of the meeting. A usually reliable source, who pleaded for anonymity because of what he described as the security implications of the high profile talks, has given some snippets, which he was able to piece together after an encounter with his uncle’s friend who swore that a colleague of his was there. Here is his account, which remains unconfirmed as neither Dr Jonathan nor Chief Obasanjo would take questions:

A flurry of activities proclaims the arrival of a big man. Soldiers are taking positions. A long row of policemen and Civil Defence officials backing the road and domestic staff running around the expansive compound. A convoy of vehicles rumbles up at the gate and Obasanjo comes out to receive his visitor.

Jonathan (embracing his host): Baba, good to see you again. You’re looking great sir.

Obasanjo (smiling and stretching out his arms): Thank you so much. Please, come inside. I trust all is well o. Because this kind of visit … I don’t know if I’m still qualified for it o.

Jonathan: Haba, baba! You remain my father, any time any day. You’re an elder statesman, the most respected of them all today. And we need to show you respect at all times; we need to consult you on matters of national importance, especially now that our country has some challenges and… . We need your experience to go through it all. And…

Obasanjo cuts in: Thank you; thank you so much. Hmmm…huumm! (He clears his throat). Mr President. You know I won’t deceive you. I will be frank and blunt; you know me for that. It’s just that I’m a good man, I would have asked the guards to shut the gate. But, as a good Christian, I mustn’t do that. If I consider all the attempts made to humiliate me, with the connivance of your people, your party and so on.

Jonathan: I don’t want to waste time Baba. You’re our father; the greatest Nigerian living today, ever patriotic. I should be consulting you everyday, but you know how this job is and you too, you’re a busy man; always moving. I beg you to forget the past and join us to strengthen the party and move it forward to 2015.

Obasanjo: Thank you, oga President. So, you think people like us are still relevant at home in Nigeria? Abi, is it because the 2015 elections are coming? You see, any papa wey no sabi the number of im pikin, na yeye man; I know my children and my children know me. Where were you when I resigned from the board, BOT or whatever you call it? Interestingly, somebody – I won’t mention his name – told me that you would collect the letter and never ask me why. And you did immediately and never asked me why. That means you never wanted me in the first place.

Jonathan: But, baba (the President tries to stop him) you’re … .

Obasanjo (raising his left hand): Please…please; let me talk, oga President. With due respect, you people never wanted me in your party. The man you wanted is now there. So, I wish that my feeling should be respected. I should be allowed to just siddon look. No be so!

Jonathan: Baba, no vex. With due respect, sir, you got it all wrong. I didn’t know you were not happy. I thought you were having too many international engagements and it was getting difficult to cope with the demands of that position. Now, people are saying all sort of things. Lies. Rumours. Nonsense. They say that em…emm…emmm …that I don’t have your support for 2015 and all that. And I tell them that the Baba Obasanjo that I know will always leave everything in the hands of God. I said, ‘no; these are dangerous rumours and I’ll come here to shame our common enemies and show the world that you remain my father.’

Obasanjo (a wry smile on his lips): 2015? I dey laugh o! Who is talking about that? People have been telling me to intervene, that the road to 2015 is full of bumps, that we should save our democracy. Go and face your job o. All those telling you that they know what will happen in 2015, that they will fix it and all that jagbajantics, they’re deceiving you o. You don’t need such people around you. And note that I don’t have any problem with your party o. Please.

Jonathan: Sir, you remain our leader, the head of the PDP family, a big family that is the envy of all others.

Obasanjo cuts in, his face betraying a frown. Please, Mr President. Please, please and please. Me; PDP family? That’s a joke taken too far. Isn’t that strange? All my boys – Oyinlola, Oni and the others – have been pushed out of their positions by those who are bent on hijacking the party for their own selfish ends and with the connivance of your people. In Ogun here, the whole thing is scattered, like a tailor’s legs. And I’m a leader of the party. Leader my foot!

Jonathan: Sir, that is why I’m here. I agree that we have problems in the PDP family. There are issues here in Ogun, Rivers, Adamawa, Ekiti and some other places. Minor issues. I intend to consult all the elders and I’m starting with you as our father.

Obasanjo: I salute your courage. God will help you, but if you want to hear the truth – you know I’ll always be frank with you – these are self-inflicted wounds. Take, for instance, that boy; the one in Port Harcourt. Emmm…Amaechi. What’s his offence? What did he do? They said he refused to give them money. They contrived all manner of wuruwuru and suspended him. Is that a party looking for peace and reconciliation? They said your people dey shout say he must not be Governors’ Forum chairman. They held an election and said 16 is bigger than 19. Haba! Even among thieves, there is honour. A thief knows when he has taken too much and he stops, but this your family, me I no understand o.

Jonathan: Thank you sir. That’s why I have come; so that we can resolve all these outstanding matters and forge ahead as a united, strong and purposeful family, the biggest party in Africa. Sir, you’re a man of foresight. Remember you warned in 2007 about featuring a candidate with k-leg. We’re seeing the result now.

Obasanjo: Really? That was then. The leg don straight now and I’m seeing some people with k-leg warming up for 2015. I won’t say more than that.

Jonathan: Thank you sir. All we want is peace. We need peace. If the party is troubled, the whole country will feel it.

Obasanjo: You see, President. For there to be peace and reconciliation, there must be tolerance. The other day when I spoke about Boko Haram; that it was not something to be handled with kid gloves, your boys descended on me. They said I was talking from both sides of the mouth. I simply suggested a carrot-and-stick approach. Is that not what you’re doing now? Nobody can gag me o; tell them that I, Aremu Okikiola Obasanjo Baba Iyabo, will never be gagged. I will continue to say my own. Anybody who doesn’t like it, dat na im toro.

Jonathan: Thank you, Baba. I take it that all the issues are resolved and that I remain your son and that I can count on your support. I have to leave now.

Obasanjo: Thank you Jonna. You have done well. I need to get ready for some other visitors. Today is a day for visitors and I’m happy to have hosted you, even though you have refused to eat and drink. I know it’s Ramadan but you should have tried a little. All the best.

They shake hands and the President leaves .Some 10 minutes after, some governors drive in to see Obasanjo. There is no ambiguity about their mission. They say the country is adrift and will like Obasanjo to join other elders to pull the brakes on the slide.

Many opinions have been formed on these visits. One, it is said, is about mending fences to realise a personal goal. The other, said critics, is about altruism – stopping the ruckus in Rivers and saving democracy so that Nigeria can get to 2015 and not fulfill the doomsday prophecy of some self-acclaimed necromancers. The governors have since visited former military president Gen. Ibrahim Babangida and former Head of State Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar. Can you guess who Dr Jonathan’s next host will be?