The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) spent $380 million in two days to prop up the ailing naira, after conducting special forex interventions to shore up the local currency, a Reuters report has revealed.

Latest data on the central bank website yesterday showed that the forex reserves fell to $32.66 billion as at February 16, down by 1.2 per cent from $33.04 billion by February 13.

Foreign reserves have fallen by 5.3 percent from a month ago as huge demand for the greenback continues to depress the naira.

The central bank intervened for the third straight session yesterday to defend the naira by selling dollars below its official band, but the currency traded weaker in the interbank market.

Dollar sales by an oil firm were traded at a weaker level than in the earlier sale by the central bank, dealers said.
The bank once again sold dollars below its official band, at N198 to the US currency, and again banned banks from reselling dollars bought at its currency auction to other banks to curb speculation.

All the trades by the bank have been outside its own target band of N160-N176 to the dollar set in November when it devalued the currency by 8 percent to save its foreign reserves.

On Monday and Tuesday, it sold dollars at N198 naira, dealers said.

“The market is weaker than the central bank rate … counterparties are selling dollars based on how they were able to buy it,” a dealer at a major lender said.

The naira crashed through a psychologically important level of 200 to the dollar last week in a rout triggered by weak oil prices and escalating tension over the postponement of a presidential election Africa’s biggest economy, prompting the central bank to step up its intervention.

The central bank has been selling dollars in a special intervention since Friday, spending $380 million in two-days to shore up the naira and curb speculative attacks, which it says is the reason behind the weaknesses in the currency.
Addax Petroleum sold $7 million to some lenders to buy naira for its local obligations, testing the naira’s true level as the currency immediately weakened to N203.50 to the dollar.

The central bank’s special interventions have kept the naira trading within a range of between N197 to N199.50 .

The topic of this intervention recommended itself as it is very evident that Nigerians want change. It is also very clear to the discerning that majority will vote for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential candidate, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) to save Nigeria from bad leadership and an under-performing administration. The contrived postponement of the election also attests to this. And the international community supports this. This is good for our democracy in many ways and good for Nigerians.

President Goodluck Jonathan is therefore better advised to conduct a free and fair election. Any other planned election manipulation projects should be shelved, as the dark forces lurking even within the administration can hijack and truncate the nascent democracy and tip the current groundswell in the country into avoidable crisis. The inclination, alluded to in some quarters, to take the country down, than lose honourably, is not necessary. And any rigging that denies Nigerians their need for change, will have the same effect. The only sensible option is to allow the will of the people to prevail; support free and fair elections without further manipulations and let every vote count.

The second introductory issue worth raising in this intervention is the erroneous assumption that the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable even when all evidence show that Nigeria is never united. Has never had unity. How can one sustain what does not exist? A lot of people make a lot of noise about unity even while doing things that keep the country severely divided. Unity can never be achieved by rhetorics, or as a wishful thinking or by force but can only be a reality if we all work on it, with our political actors leading by example. It can be an outcome and not a given as some un-informed delusionists assume, claim and posture with.

My full name, for instance, is Eze‘kulie Festus Anthony Boniface Oha Odimegwu Okonkwo Nwa-Uboh Ikpendu Ndieze Umuozo Okanadiji UbiriElem…Nnemiriukwu-Chukwuabiama. This bloodline extends almost 1000 years ago, into perpetuity. Within its Obidigboness, the central issue here is that Odimegwu, who was born in 1868 and died in 1969 at the ripe age of 101 years, was born a proud Igbo man and not a Nigerian, as Nigeria did not exist then. My Ancestors into perpetuity from Odimegwu were Igbos. Never Nigerians. Nigerians is what the British want us to be from 1914, a mere 100 years ago.

I can be a Nigerian from proud Igbo extraction, but only under an agreed basis that is irreversibly committed to and maintained in reality. This Unity in Diversity with other nationalities is only possible under certain conditions. It is not as automatic or to be assumed as me being Igbo. And the basis of this, as enshrined in our Constitution, is that our Union must be built on Truth, Justice, Equity and Fairness to lead to unity, peace, and sustainable progress. This progress within Nigeria must be better than progress within the ethnic nationalities to make it attractive to all participating nations. It is only under such conditions precedent that it makes sense to become fully and happily a Nigerian. Otherwise it will be to your tents for every one irrespective of what anyone or any nationality thinks. And understanding this simple idea by all participating nationalities and persons, no matter who, is essential for progress.

The third introductory issue, another fallacy and delusion, shared by most of the predatory ruling cabals in Nigeria, is the wrong notion that they understand Nigerians as gullible and naive people who can always be divided along ethnic and religious lines and therefore incapable of rising up in revolt over predatory leaders. The insult of postponing the elections, with belief of no consequences, is the most recent example. The examples of impunity and massive looting of public treasury, without fear of consequences, is also ongoing. The emerging conspiracy to scuttle the election altogether is another: one reads of coups, interim governments, at least six weeks open ended postponement, and from the same characters of the June 12 annulment, the same dynamics that led to the death of MKO Abiola and even Sani Abacha, the possibilities of an unsigned press release that annulled June 12 etc.

The dark forces that have held Nigeria down over 100 years now are rearing their ugly heads again, double-speaking, contriving, unable to give clear answers to simple direct questions and all for personal and self-serving reasons, for continued exploitation of Nigeria and Nigerians that are already laying prostrate. The Arab Spring examples recommend themselves for all. Muammar Ghadafi of Libya was extracted from a waste pipe. Mubarak of Egypt, the lost Pharaoh, was put in a cage in Egyptian courts. The wise can learn from examples like these. The corrupt leaders of Nigeria should let Nigerians be!

And the Federal Government, as distinct from the ruling party, must take steps to secure the life of General Buhari as these intrigues thicken. Nothing should happen to him. He may not be a saint. Even the late Nelson Mandela rightly said he was not. No one is. But he now personifies the new hope for Nigeria. Nigerians need him. Nigerians need change. What happened to Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, MKO Abiola and even Sani Abacha must not happen to him. Nigeria may not survive if it does. And the Federal Government should keep on a straight and narrow path to avoid boxing itself into a corner that can be hijacked out of its control. Deductive reasoning and good sense of applied history recommend this caution, given in the overall interest of our country.

With these introductory advise, let us put the challenges before President Buhari in historical context. The important question here is: what is the unedited story of Nigeria to date? In summary the narrative is as follows: History and papers in the colonial archives have it that, Britain colonised Nigeria and ran it for their interest from 19th century to 1914 when they amalgamated the poor North with the rich South with an obnoxious concept of Northern husband and Southern wife of means in a new creation called Nigeria and held the colonised captives without their consultation or agreement. 1914 to 1960 represented 46 years of exploiting the amalgamated protectorates according to the wishes of the British Crown. And this, unfortunately, should be expected. On their exit at independence they found it wise to impose a fraudulent census data on Nigeria that enabled them to rig the elections and hand over power to the northern part of the union in preference to the troublesome (enlightened) southern part: in their continued self-interest.

The first republic was soon showing signs of un-informed leadership, with no clear national vision for the young nation and it is not surprising that the centre could not hold sooner than later. The regions were antagonising themselves in absence of a capable and independent leader at the Federal Government level; the prime minister reporting to the Northern Premier as it were, violating basic principles of organisation. And entrenching the interest of the Caliphate against pursuing a national vision of greatness.

Young crazy army officers struck in 1966 but killed political leaders of Northern origin more than from other regions but the coup was significantly quelled under an Igbo head of the army, who himself was also not particularly well educated. Northern officers labelled the coup an Igbo coup for convenience and butchered Igbos in their thousands including the Head of the army that had also become the Head of state for about six months. The savagery of this pogrom is not yet matched, even in modern terrorist enclaves. In self defence and to avoid genocide against them, the Igbos retreated to Eastern Nigeria and hastily declared the Republic of Biafra, where all Igbos could have a safe haven: A Home land since Northerners do not want them in the North and the seat of Federal Government, now managed by also uneducated northern army officers, was in Lagos, western Nigeria.

An accord was reached in Aburi between the antagonists, where the new nation of Biafra was led by its Oxford University trained Head of State with an upper-class mien and confidence that seem to have raised envy, hatred and the general Nigerian “let us deal with him” antagonism. On return, the Nigerian side was now educated by their supporters that what they agreed with the state of Biafra is not good for implementation as it will prevent continued exploitation of the rest of the country by the new northern overlords.

Biafra stood on Aburi: Nigeria stood on keeping Nigeria one: two positions that can be resolved at the level of creative synthesis, but the young hot heads on both sides, driven by idealism from the Biafra side and by regional domination from the Northern side and an avoidable war was started, first as a police action and later a full scale war against the Eastern part, now called Biafra and the rest of Nigeria.

The North procured Western support by releasing their leader from prison and later procured Eastern minority support, to sabotage the Biafra position with all sorts of promises that included taking over the real estate assets of their fellow easterners, Biafrans, at the end of the war. Almost two million lives were lost on both sides, but more on Igbo side; including the use of hunger and starvation as instruments of war, even if against women and children! After the war, no victor and no vanquished was declared and reconciliation, rehabilitation, and restoration announced. All have been observed in breach, with all rich Igbos reduced to twenty pounds, as the Igbo political marginalisation also continues till today, to the detriment of Nigeria.

The emerged, mostly Northern, army of occupation now operating as a full army of fortune, re-colonised Nigeria and established a corrupt political leadership class that rotates between the Northern military and civilian political wings. No thought was spared for Nigeria. The other Nigerians became onlookers as the Northern impunity held sway replacing one clueless government with another without even sharing with their collaborating western and conspiratorial eastern minority partners in the war against the Igbos, beyond the indigenisation timing and so called abandoned property execution.

Then a prominent and loved cosmopolitan Yoruba won the presidency, beating the north to their own game of deception. The election was mindlessly and thoughtlessly annulled and the Yorubas cried foul. The caliphate North said they were born to rule. The Yorubas refused. Brutality was deployed against the Yorubas by the North. Another Yoruba, a former military Head of State, was jailed. The military maximum leader from the North was himself cornered by colleagues he sidelined, inside his military Presidential fortress, and offered an unholy apple. And MKO then had to be honoured with an executive supervised tea service to return to ground zero.

Olusegun Obasanjo was preserved at this point as the North needed a trusted ally to calm things down before taking power over again, as their birth right. He was released from prison and taken to the presidency. The military continued in power by other means! The army of fortune that claimed to have fought to keep Nigeria one continued to exploit the country without let, united in sharing the oil money and the loot of war as they would have seen it. Learning nothing from recent happenings.

But Obasanjo was not quite like The Obasanjo before prison experience; he became his own man and grew into power as in office: The north refused and invented sharia to destabilise him. But he is a General and also experienced and well known internationally, having being a military Head of state that handed over to a northern civilian with an unbalanced mathematics. He even negotiated in desert tents and being who he is, that also made him survive in prison, he also survived these intrigues. He attended to the army wing of politics and executed a strategic handover that eventually enthroned a Minority in the Presidency. Jonathan emerged with a lot of goodwill and as a breath of fresh air: not from the Caliphate North, not an ex-military man, and not from any of the majority tribes. A younger man than the immediate past Presidents. And above all a University graduate. A PhD!

Nigerians were very hopeful that a new era that would be better than the British colonial era of exploitation from 1914 – 1960 and better than the caliphate North mis-rule from 1960 – 2010 effectively (Obj being a creation of the North) has started. A new era where an ordinary (qualified) Nigerian will truly enable Nigeria to practice democracy: a government of the people for the people by the people!

The President Goodluck Jonathan Presidency, is ultimately an Obj creation, even if not originally planned so. It is therefore very significant if this Presidency is rated low by its main promoter and its low performance rating then becomes comprehensive with the latest endorsement of Buhari by Obasanjo despite all the hedging. Other prominent Nigerians, with objective minds have also made direct calls that Buhari be supported and be voted for. From my detailed analysis and observations, I am aligned to that thinking.

However, I have not seen any one that truly captured why the Jonathan Presidency failed the hope of ordinary Nigerians. It is my conviction that all the failings of his Presidency emanated from one mortal leadership sin: the deliberate and sustained replacement of a presidential vision that should be good for Nigeria and Nigerians with a personal vision uncompromisingly focused on re-election! He sacrificed and was ready to sacrifice anything and everything, anyone and every one for re-election! He continuously saw himself as a politician instead of the President of Nigeria! This is really frightening and dangerous when the full ramification is internalised. Anything and everything that can lead to re-election is allowed no matter how wrong or unwholesome, and anything and everything that is good for Nigeria and Nigerians, but that has no immediate direct link to re-election can be traded for re-election! This is not leadership. This led to leadership failure including the Kano Governor taking over our Presidential villa to abort Nigeria having a credible and accurate census!

Analysing it further is not necessary for the initiated. Where there is no vision, the people suffer like we have also seen with the North currently at the receiving end of insurgency and displaced persons, including trafficking of children and heart-aching forceful slavery of about 300 Chibok young school girls. It is providential that APC provided an alternative platform. If not, a real crisis is possible, if the Jonathan Presidency, with PDP as a party, continued the current governance deception or charade.

And for APC to make change possible, like a done deal, Nigerians must thank the Jagaban of Nigeria, the last standing Governor of the 1999 class, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for unmatched vision and patriotic role in forming the APC. Nigerians must also thank General Buhari of CPC, Chief Ogbonnaya Onu of ANPP, Owelle Rochas Okorocha of an APGA faction and HE Atiku Abubakar, Turaki Adamawa for leading the New PDP team to reinforce APC. Special thanks to the Lion of the South South, HE Rt. Hon Rotimi Amaechi for being a man and a leader of character: committed to his people till death if necessary.

These are the great Nigerians, with their teams, that gave a platform to save Nigeria. The Good Lord has forgiven all their shortcomings and prepared a special abode for them in paradise. As already well said elsewhere, General Buhari is educated enough. Experienced enough and meaning well enough to be our President. No more unnecessary distractions. And the only advice one can give APC at this point is to make Tinubu the Party Chairman (forget zoning) so that he can build APC into an ANC type party, with internal democracy and where the elected President cannot dictate to the Party, and the Party can discipline an erring President. Where the Leader of the Party is the Chairman of the Party and not the President to allow for separation of powers, for checks and balances. PDP was ruined doing the opposite as an evidence of this need.

This short historical excursion shows that all Regions of Nigeria have tasted what it feels like to be under a country where things are not done properly. Overall, Buhari has remained above the rot and now positioned to save Nigeria. And Buhari himself said: “My dear friends, this is very important to note: it doesn’t matter if you are Igbo, Yoruba, Ijaw,Hausa, Idoma, Efik, Ikwere, Urhobo, Igala and, no, it doesn’t matter if you are a Christian, Muslim, Animist or Atheist: we need a new direction under a new leadership. The task ahead will be very challenging and daunting, but it is surmountable. This is what leadership is about; my only desire is to prove to you that Nigeria can truly work. Allow me to prove to you that in your lifetime, you can be proud of this country. Let me make you this promise today: we will protect your children; we will protect your wealth. We will make this country work again. This is why i am running for the office of the President of Nigeria. This is my promise.”The pertinent question is: Why General Buhari? I believe him because he is believable. I believe him because he has a track record of being a serious leader. I believe that General Buhari will do well as President of Nigeria and that he needs the support of all for seven reasons:

1. He has the personal example of honesty and integrity. He will not steal with compulsion.
2. As Fulani he can relate better with the Caliphate to help redeem its image of misrule and establish once and for all that where a leader comes from is not important. What is important is that he performs well for Nigeria and all Nigerians.
3. As a General he will relate best to the Nigerian military to help redeem their image of mis-rule too and show that our military is a worthy national institution and not army of occupation with soldiers of fortune.
4. He is committed to fight corruption and compulsive stealing. This is key now, with 5 and 6 as well.
5. He is committed to fight insurgency and can handle it better.
6. He cares about ordinary Nigerians and will serve them wholeheartedly.
7. He is supported by many prominent objective Nigerians, international objective media and the civilized world. He is dreaded by many that have looted Nigeria dry. And I am happy in this worthy company of free citizens of the world and institutions that endorses General Buhari and recommends him to all Nigerians.

What General Buhari and APC owe Nigeria and Nigerians, during this extra and unnecessary six weeks delay to election day and even long after is to SECURE THE LIFE of General Buhari. It is imaginable, given the annulment of June 12 under unclear circumstances, that this six weeks delay can have more supporters than are known. President Jonathan himself can lose control as during the trying time of the 1993 election crisis. It is imaginable that some vested interests may not want both President Jonathan and General Buhari and may work alone or in cooperation with others to impose a contrived and orchestrated interim government that is now gaining traction. Or coups or coups baits that are being mentioned, worsened also by giving security agencies more roles over election matters than necessary.

The forces that aborted June 12 could still be alive. General Buhari in many ways reminds one of MKO. Nigerians must shine their eyes beyond the ordinary and the conventional. Things seem to me now like the more one looks, the less one sees. There is a logical need therefore, based on the history of MKO’s political struggle to have cause for concern. Similarities, comments, personalities, etc. are emerging and trending. APC as a priority should secure the life of General Buhari. It is important for Nigeria and Nigerians. And as said earlier, this is also the task for the Federal Government, specifically the President. This bulk must stop on this table: no relegation, no excuses.

Now, what are the key challenges before President Buhari when elected? Nigerians are hopeful that General Buhari will live for them and win the coming election. And I want him to be the best President Nigeria ever had after his two terms in 2023. But this will be based on his performance in office, for Nigeria and all Nigerians, and not on sentiments. For that to happen, he needs to meet the following seven challenges as an absolute minimum:

1. One Nigeria for All Nigerians: He must come with a Vision of One Nigeria for All Nigerians. Based onTruth, Justice, Equity and Fairness as the only basis for sustainable Unity, Peace and Progress. This progress must be bigger and greater than progress under ethnic, regional, religious or other identity platform.

Every thing he does must be driven by this Greater Nigeria, Greater Nigerian Vision. He must rally the Nation, the Nigerian Nation and all Nigerians with this inspiring leadership vision based on his continued honesty, integrity and personal example. Nigerians will believe and follow him. And that is what leadership is all about. This will ensure that the two million or so Nigerians who died during the Nigerian civil war will not die in vain and for their souls to finally rest in peace. Keeping Nigeria One is good but certainly not the current Nigeria. To keep Nigeria One for ALL NIGERIANS is a task that must be done!! On that vision we must all stand.

2. First Class Cabinet: He must establish a credible and competent cabinet and Presidency with only credible, honest and competent professionals with integrity and personal examples too: extending himself and his goodness into the total executive arm at the Federal level that will impact on executive arms at the Regional levels and the Legislative and Judiciary arms at all levels. This is the magic of honest leadership!! This Presidency can lift the entire nation, all sectors.

• Assemble the best Team of Nigerians from anywhere in the world to give the best cabinet and Presidency ever designed and in placed in Nigeria. Really qualified persons may be begged to join the cabinet/Presidency. This Presidency under the President, should then develop the strategic Architecture to develop Nigeria in 8 years, even without a drop of oil and oil revenue!!!
• This Presidency will, by example, provide leadership for the Legislature, Judiciary and all public servants/civil service at both the Federal and Regional Government levels, even with separation of powers.
• This presidency, by absolute dedication to the well-being of Nigerians, and well-being of all Nigerians ALONE will have the moral suasion and audacious impact to mobilize all civil society organizations, media, academia, labour, youths, women and the international community to enforce what is right on all Nigerians and all institutions of state.
• Strong and patriotic leadership precedes all strong institutional formulation, building and establishment. Strong institutions and maintenance culture are outcomes of strong leadership that also establishes good laws and enforce them no matter who is involved. Nigeria cannot be an exception. And the President and his Vice are not the first and second citizens by order of protocol for nothing. The President, can and should take the lead. And if doing the right things, all will follow. And all will be made to follow one way or the other. Leadership determines followership in our type of society. Leaders with integrity and personal example like Buhari are needed for progress. And their goodness cascade down and permeate the Nation.
• Countries without the likes of Buhari in power ultimately perishes. There are really no other options to greatness than through great leaders. Buhari has the qualities. And he has a date with destiny in the Nigerian presidency from 2015 – 2023. May God give him the right vision and guide him.

1. Security for all Nigerians: Security has socio-economic and political inclusive, vision-driven and effective governance aspects that needs to be handle in conjunction. But directly he needs:

• To degrade, destroy and eliminate Boko Haram insurgency in the North, including immediate arrest and prosecution of sponsors, financiers and hate religious preachers and severe punishment of those implicated in the abuse of IDPs.
• To degrade, destroy and eliminate kidnapping and armed robbery kingpins and drug barons in the South East including removal of all criminals in traditional institutions and in political offices and parties through special courts for accelerated no nonsense hearing.
• To continue to contain militancy in the South South including arresting and prosecuting all sponsors and leaders of massive oil thefts and collaborating security organizations – private and state.
• To carry out a massive youth empowerment job creation and invest in education and vocational training targeting elimination of prostitution, human trafficking, modern day slavery and idleness of youths.
• Restore sanctity in the military and security agencies including severe disciplinary actions, jail terms and court marshalls for those who perpetrate corruption in security matters and intelligence officers that collaborate with criminals, by sitting on their files, allowing them into political offices.

1. Eliminate Corruption (reduction will not do!): Corruption has killed Nigeria. People steal without consequences. The rule of law is in breach. Some Nigerians are more equal than others. Write your name in gold to stop this.

• First work with the National Assembly and all Nigerians to close all office duplications that will reduce the 2000 + MDAs to just the Constitutional Bodies and maximum of 24 Ministries with eye to reduce recurrent expenditure to 30 % max and capital expenditure to 70% minimum by design / planning. And enforce the monetisation policy. This will be a good signal of serious leadership and no business as usual.
• Take all Audit Reports on corruption cases since independence till date and set up a small body of 10 incorruptible Nigerians to vet it and sieve out all refunds needed. Work to set up special courts, with high integrity known judges with modern ICT-based court process and with international support and ask them to recover all stolen Nigerian funds in one year maximum. This will generate more funds than your Administration will ever be able to invest in Nigeria in eight years even without selling a drop of oil.

This is the best thing you can do for Nigeria with your integrity and honour. If it is not done, people will continue to steal turn by turn and kill themselves for political office. Public service must not be a route to material wealth. Public service should not be the best economy. It should only be an avenue for sacred service to fellow Nigerians. Once there is the political will to do this, you will be surprised how easy it is to execute. It is the criminals that should be afraid and not honourable Nigerians working on behalf of the Nation and on behalf of Nigerians. Stand firm on this.

1. The well-being of all Nigerians Imperative: The economy should be managed for 12% growth that creates Jobs, Jobs and Jobs.

• Having a credible census for Accurate Demographic Data is key to professional management of the economy. The envelope system without data, without strategy and plan supports corruption.
• Physical and Social Infrastructure (Education, Health, Transport, ICT etc) and Development strategy and plans coordinated by the CEO of Nigeria Plc / The President are all key. You cannot delegate this. Technocrats with performance track records abound to handle this area but under your supervision to benefit all Nigerians. Regulators and the regulated must never sleep in same beds, to avoid massive scams and absolute conflicts of interests as presently the case.

1. Sustained Re-orientation Policy, Projects and Programmes to convert ethnic nationalities with different religious orientations and economic backgrounds into PROUD NIGERIANS: This is key. A national education and re-education programme aimed at all levels for Nigerians.

• The elite must be educated that their lives can only be better in a united and peaceful Nigeria. And that they will NOT be allowed to ruin Nigeria and run away.
• Justice, Truth, Equity and Fairness must be entrenched in every public affairs for continued work towards Unity, Peace and Progress that will be sustained. Forced unity is not possible. And good peace for real progress will not be possible without sustainable unity. Experts abound to do this work for Nigeria and Nigerians but only the President will guarantee the foundation: that Truth, Justice, Equity, Fairness and Rule of ‘good’ law for sustainable Unity, Peace and Progress must never be violated with impunity as we march towards a Greater Nigeria and Proud to be Nigerians Vision.

1. Credible People-based Constitution: Above all, all these ingredients of greatness for our country and improved well-being of all Nigerians should be coded and encapsulated in a People-based Constitution, and the constitution that Nigeria needs and that should be put in place must enshrine the values of truth, justice, fairness and equity as organising principles to guide all our national actions. The route to it can be through the National Assembly that is willing or through other many possible routes. But it is a must have. It must abolish all obnoxious frauds in our constitution that keep us divided, removing ethnic, tribal, religious and unmerited advantages out of national limelight and the constitution into personal lives where they belong by establishing the following minimums:

1. True fiscal and cultural Federalism, with well demarcated 6 Regions. Each Region has potential for viability if well led. And, competition will be good for the regions and their people. Easy money, ultimately kills a soul that is housed by a lazy body. And the North has lagged behind the Southern Regions for this reason as evidence. Hardwork is part of a good life.

1. Specified directives for an accurate and credible census, with ethnic, religious and place of origin as part of data collected and collated, and executed as per international best practices as per the plans that we already developed and left behind in National Population Commission. This will have a comprehensive Vital Registration infrastructure to deliver, not just the Accurate and Credible demographic data for planning but for its updating on a continuous basis. 80% of our current problems in Nigeria will be cured by having ACCURATE DATA alone. It is the DATA stupid as the Americans say. Management starts with it. Leadership without competent management will lead to no where and burns out.

We cannot plan or coordinate the economy or anything else without credible data. Celebrating the documentation of 4 million farmers is fool-hardiness given what is possible from a comprehensive National soft data infrastructure. Specifics should be put in the constitution that should enable National population commission to carry out its constitutional mandate without political interference. The political requirement that census result is subject to council of state acceptance is nonsensical and should be deleted.

1. All other bodies in the constitution, including security agencies, should be sharpened and protected from political interference. A functioning Council of State for instance cannot be there and certain things are happening. The constitution should specify directions and implementation imperatives and matrices.

1. Anti-corruption policies, practices and sanctions must be better specified and the body made independent of all arms of Government and immunity clause expunged. Plea bargain provision must not be extended to issues of corruption and stiffer jail terms and recoveries must be enunciated to serve as deterrents. Corruption should be made unprofitable from all dimensions.

1. The 2000 or so MDAs under the Federal Structure should be reduced to a level where recurrent expenditure is maximum of 30% with capital expenditure minimum of 70%. All extra constitutional bodies like efcc, icpc etc etc should be abolished and absorbed in their constitution most relevant bodies or MDAs. The assignment of responsibilities to Federal and Regional governments should be aligned, including security agencies.

1. A two-party system should be enshrined into the constitution with ideological orientation and broad socio-economic development directives specified.

Job creation growth routes should be favoured given our huge population. Party primaries to sieve out criminals and any one with criminal records should be specified. The minimum qualification for political office should be aligned to weight of office (Buhari is qualified under current specification that ask for up to secondary school which is really JSS 1, even for one day. But Buhari with his military training and on the job experience up to former Head of State, GCFR, is more than qualified.

A provision should be added that the NSA should be prosecuted and sent to jail if his agency withholds the criminal records of criminals and refuse to give them to political parties and INEC to sieve out useless people from aspiring to political office. And if the occupant of that office becomes a threat to national security with inappropriate conducts that are corruption or politically motivated, like scuttling planned elections, he should be prosecuted and sent to jail. It is more dangerous when those that should protect us become the threats to national security.

INEC should have powers to disqualify at the last minute without replacement option by political parties. This will make the parties to be more careful and for Nigeria to start the process of evolving credible and competent political leadership. Given the numerous problems in the land, our brightest and the best should be attracted to public service in place of corrupt scums and economic predators, criminals, professional thugs and uneducated jesters. In matters that determine national security and well-being of the nation, only the very best will do.

Conclusion: Size matters. So, I believe that progress within Nigeria will be better than progress as ethnic champions. Nigeria has had a chequered history from colonial times through the years of the locusts, years of occupation army of fortune to the recent years of the Jonathan failed Presidency. Upcoming democratic election gives Nigeria another chance and all signs point to Change, as a popular choice of most Nigerians and nothing should be allowed to derail that.

General Buhari needs to be secured. Nigeria needs him. Nigerians want him. When his party wins the Presidency, Buhari should continue to provide integrity-based leadership. He should then lead the Presidency, as the first citizen, doing the right things for all Nigerians at all times. Leadership by example is the best way to lead. The best way to think. The best way to speak without words. And the best way to act. It will be there for all to see, feel and honour. Leadership to secure Nigeria and improve the well-being of all Nigerians.

Leadership by example, will be a product that does not need propaganda or display of obscene advertisement to sell. It will sell itself. It has sold itself without making effort as it can be perceived and felt. Truth is self-evident. Facts do not need debates. All the propaganda in the world cannot make a lie true. What is Right, like Goodness, uplifts. Evil depresses, even to one who pretends they are hardened.

With a continued personal example, a Greater Vision for Nigeria and all Nigerians and with an honest hard work towards the seven key challenges identified here as the basic minimum, the Golden Era of Nigeria will start and the life of Nigerians will be properly rebased in reality. For now, all should do whatever is in their power to support the election of Buhari and ignore all campaign propaganda and mis-information and even assassination threats from panic-stricken political thugs. It is too late in the day for PDP. The party needs to take stock after losing and reform to become an effective opposition party. It will be good for its soul. And good for Nigeria. Above all, it will be good for Democracy: to keep the ruling party then, APC, in check. No condition is permanent, says the visionary Zik of Africa.

And may God continue to bless Nigeria, our HomeLand, and all Nigerians!!!

• Eze Festus Odimegwu, CON, is former MD/CEO NB Plc and immediate past Chairman of the National Population Commission

Some years ago — in 2004, I think — I started a series of articles which I titled “Made in Nigeria, Enjoyed Worldwide”. My intention was to celebrate good news coming out of Nigeria. I wrote on rising Nigerian brands, highlighting my dream and desire to see them go and conquer Africa and the rest of the world. I remember celebrating the likes of Globacom, Oando, Zenon and Dangote — even at the risk of being savaged by cynical readers who always think journalists are paid for everything they write. I was unmoved; my conscience was very clear.

I often interchanged the series with another, “Made in Nigeria, Only for Nigerians”, in which I highlighted some shameful things that are peculiar to us which we should never export. These are the things that make me less proud to be a Nigerian and dampen my enthusiasm about our stepping up into the comity of civilised nations. For instance, I often asked: how do you make sense of a country reputed as the sixth largest producer of crude oil which, rather than being a major exporter of petroleum products, is actually a leading importer? It is criminal.

The fiasco surrounding the postponement of the 2015 elections has sadly reminded me of these shameful things again, those things that are made in Nigeria and should be for Nigerians only. Even small nations like Benin and Togo will be laughing at our inability to organise the simplest things in life. No matter the way we look at it, the poll shift did not improve our prestige as a nation. No matter the excuses, no matter the plausibility of the reasons given for it, we just are not up to scratch as a nation. We should be ashamed of ourselves.

In the first place, the 2015 general election served us at least a four-year notice — that is if we are generous enough to think that it was only in 2011 that we knew we were going to hold another general election in 2015. Four years, I insist, is enough to plan for an election no matter how big a country is. Four years should be enough to print voter cards and distribute them. Four years should be enough to print ballot papers. Four years should be enough to test-run voting equipment. Four years should be enough to think through how security will be put in place for the elections.

Let’s face it: your wife cannot give birth to a child today and you claim you did not buy baby clothing because it happened suddenly. Pregnancy gives at least a seven-month notice before delivery. On a good day, it is nine months. As I write this, the 2019 elections have already served us notice. We have four years to prepare. But you know what? There is this terrible thing about us that in 2019, we would still be saying something happened to the ballot papers or card readers. We always advertise our shamelessness at every election.

In truth, the shift in the 2015 polls is yet another symptom of our chaos. There is so much inefficiency in every sector. Things that should run smoothly and automatically just have to be complicated because it is Nigeria! For instance, why do we have to physically go to centres created by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to collect our PVCs? Because our postal system is a shambles! In civilised countries, those things are posted to your house. But how many houses are even numbered in Nigeria? What does it take to number houses?

Every election year, we print ballot papers abroad. I am yet to understand why. What is the job of the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Plc? What printing machines do they have in South Africa that Nigeria cannot afford to buy? By the time we calculate the value of the contracts and the cost of the machines, what option makes more sense? People will say for security reasons, we should not print the ballot papers at home. So if you go to South Africa to print ballot papers, where does South Africa print its own? What is so special about us?

Nigeria is a study in shamelessness. Every election year is like a foretaste of Armageddon. In Ghana, just 45 minutes away by air, they do not impose curfew on Election Day. They do not close schools and offices. In fact, they conduct elections on weekdays! In Nigeria, we have to shut down the country. So if you were living in Nyanya when you registered and you are now in Garki, you cannot vote except you go to Nyanya. But then you cannot even move on Election Day! You’re automatically disenfranchised. Does it make sense? Why are we like this?

How did we become this dysfunctional as a society? The major reason given for the shift in election dates is security. The military chiefs said they would be too busy. Again, we are advertising our shamelessness to the whole world. What is the business of soldiers with internal security? That is the job description of the police. If the police have become inefficient over the years, the solution is to give their job to the military! How many countries deploy soldiers for elections? Former President Olusegun Obasanjo started the nonsense in 2003 and now it has come to stay.

There are so many burdens we carry as a people today that we have, shamelessly, come to accept as part of our lives. We are not even ashamed to tell the world we are postponing elections because voter cards are not ready — an election you had four years to prepare for! We are not ashamed to say military cannot provide security! We keep opening our mouths and uttering smooth gibberish on how we are the largest black nation in the world, how we have the best doctors and best professors, yet we cannot organise a simple election that took us four years to prepare for! And we have been holding elections in Nigeria since 1922. What exactly is the problem with us?

I wish we could all see the damage we are doing to ourselves every day. I wish we could see how we keep letting ourselves down every minute. The world is expecting big things from us. They stand at attention when the name Nigeria is mentioned. But we always manage to embarrass ourselves. Our excuses are utterly incredible. It is difficult to imagine that in the year 2015, we are still working very hard to show to the world that our level of thinking is not better than what used to obtain 200 years ago. Shamelessness. Incompetence. Impotence. Made in Nigeria. Only for Nigerians.

And Four
Other Things…

CHIBOK GIRLS
It was a bit heart-warming to read the account of an escapee from Boko Haram camp last week. A woman named as Monica Sunday said she saw 24 of the girls at Sambisa forest in November last year, claiming that the homesick girls were being forced to cook for insurgents. She also seemed to confirm that the girls were not in one place, suggesting that they had been divided into groups and spread all over. It is a combination of good and bad news, really. If the military invades these camps, these girls could end up as collateral damage. Hazardous.

NIGER V NIGERIA
There seems to be a brewing crisis between Niger and Nigeria over the renewed onslaught on Boko Haram. With the heat on the insurgents, they are now crossing into Chad and Niger to attack villages and seek territories. A successful repelling of the insurgents by Niger soldiers in Bosso prompted the country’s defence minister, Mahamadou Karidjo, to poke fun at Nigeria, saying: “Our soldiers are not like Nigerians. They don’t run.” Much as this hurts me as a Nigerian, I would advise Niger not to celebrate too soon. Things could actually get tougher than just a battle for one town. Vigilance.

STEALING IS CORRUPTION
When President Jonathan was being quoted and derided on the social media as saying “stealing is not corruption”, I knew it was mischief. No rational human being, much less a president, could so brazenly justify stealing or corruption. Jonathan was trying to quote Justice Dahiru Musdapher but he himself clearly misunderstood what the judge meant. Musdapher said most cases being prosecuted by the anti-graft agencies are common stealing, not corruption, and should be handled by the police at lowers courts. Whatever the case, stealing is corruption. On Thursday, Jonathan laboured to explain himself. Don’t copy if you can’t paste. Please.

VIDEO CALL
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) is making efforts to douse tension ahead of the rescheduled general election because, according to an advisory it released on Friday, there are clear danger signals of violence — with scores of people killed in the last two months. According to the NHRC chairman, Dr Chidi Odinkalu, the commission plans to get Jonathan and Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, the two leading candidates, to hold a joint broadcast preaching non-violence to their supporters. Good thinking and good effort. But the candidates must also follow up with a similar message to their supporters in private. Vital.

According to reports from Muyiwa Adekeye, the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress in Kaduna State, Nasir El-Rufai was this morning attacked by Nigerian Soldiers in Kaduna. Read his tweets below.

SaharaReporters has received unimpeachable documents and audio recordings providing substantial evidence that major Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leaders planned and successfully rigged the gubernatorial elections in Ekiti State, and plotted a similar scenario in Osun in 2014.

The audio recordings and affidavit were provided by Sagir Koli, a Captain in the 32nd Artillery Brigade stationed in Ekiti State, who has since fled the country for fear of retaliation. Capt. Koli recorded the conversation on 20th June 2014 when he was asked to accompany his Commanding Officer, Brigadier General Aliyu Momoh, to the meeting. The venue was held at Spotless Hotel in Ado-Ekiti.

The audio recordings depict the meeting as being attended by the eventual “winner” of the election, Governor Ayo Fayose of Ekiti; Senator Iyiola Omisore; a man identified as Honorable Abdulkareem; the Minister for Police Affairs Caleb Olubolade; and Senator Musiliu Obanikoro who was at the time the Minister of State for Defence. Mr. Chris Uba came to Ekiti with huge stash cash and soldiers from the East to carry out the assignment.

The 37-minute recording details the conversation between these men as they bribed Brigadier General Momoh with a promotion for his assistance in carrying out election fraud in Ekiti. In it, Obanikoro is clearly heard informing the group of men, “[I] am not here for a tea party, am on special assignment by the President.”

SaharaReporters further received credible intelligence that President Goodluck Jonathan had instructed the Chief of Defense Staff, Alex Badeh, to use the army in arresting and intimidating opposition politicians before and during the election. The audio recording provides exact details of the plot, with the collaborators almost degenerating into physical combat.

Authentication of Audio Recordings and Proof of Election Fraud

The audio recordings were analyzed and authenticated by Guardian Consulting, an independent US-based security consulting company. According to a report authored by Guardian Consulting, also in the possession of SaharaReporters, the independent company used Forensic Voice Frequency Comparison technology to identify all voices on the recording with audio available in the public domain.

The then Deputy Defense Minister, Obanikoro clearly states to General Momoh that he was not only sent to the meeting by President Jonathan, but “you can’t get a promotion without me sitting on top of your military council. If I am happy tomorrow night, the sky is your limit.”

Governor Fayose revealed that he had already bribed an official of the Independent National Election Commission (INEC), the non-political commission charged with organizing elections in Nigeria, to bring copies of voter ballots with the INEC logo to him that day. Fayose, upset that his INEC contact was caught in traffic, narrated his day’s frustrations: “Where are we supposed to be collating the thing INEC gave to us? Soft copies we now printed? Why is my [INEC] contact not with [the ballots]…my contact man [was] sitting in the check point…it took me more than two hours to get this man.”

As the plotters began to argue, Omisore, who was running for Governor of Osun State on the PDP ticket, tried to calm the room: “I would just say that we don’t have to argue so much, we have seen some lapses [today] yes. It’s just this evening, there is nothing happening now that we cannot contain before tomorrow morning.”

Plans to Rig Elections in Favor of PDP

The eyewitness testimony and sworn affidavit by Capt. Koli corroborates the audio recordings of the PDP officials’ plans to manipulate the Ekiti elections. The plotters devised several plans intended to bring about an unlawful victory for PDP candidates in Ekiti State races, including the forging of INEC ballots, the use of the military to facilitate access for PDP operatives and supporters, the creation of a list of APC members to be arrested, and the deployment of a Special Team of military personnel to prevent APC voters from reaching the polls.

The PDP officials told General Momoh that those soldiers on election duty “must work hand-in-hand with the PDP agents” and ordered the arrest of selected APC stalwarts as that could “greatly assist the party during the election including DG campaign organization for Dr. Fayemi, Mr. Bimbo Daramola,” Capt. Koli said in his affidavit.

General Momoh, confronted with criticism by the group, defended himself by saying that “we have done a lot of [APC] arrests.” It would be recalled that there were arrests of APC members in Ekiti during the period. It would also be recalled that many members of the security offices paraded around Ekiti in disguise.

The PDP collaborators also demanded that the military block APC members’ access to the electorate and that moles should “be careful because the consequence will be severe.”

Soldiers were instructed set up roadblocks leading to the polling stations and prevent APC supporters’ access. Additionally, vehicles and individuals with a special sticker labeled “National Security Task” were allowed movement anywhere, and were only distributed to PDP agents.

General Momoh informed the group that there were “about 6 special teams. I have one strike force. I have almost forty soldiers after deployment,” evidently an organized system being used to manipulate voter turnout.

Capt. Koli’s statement explained that based on these strategies, “they succeeded in rigging the Ekiti State election with victory in all the 16 Local Governing Authorities (LGAs). These really inspired them and they were with the euphoria that same would happen in Osun State.”

Indeed, leading into the Osun State elections the Brigadier General posted there was told to take a three-week leave during the elections. His position was temporarily filled by General Momoh, who then repeated the same fraudulent tactics in Osun.

Retaliation Against Captain Sagir Koli
SaharaReporters was provided with additional evidence that proves the military retaliated against Capt. Koli when he released this information. Capt. Koli fled before he was arrested, but the military arrested, secretly detained, and chained his brother Adamu to a bed for nearly five months at the Adekunle Fanjuyi’s Cantonment.

In an exclusive phone interview with from his hideout outside Nigeria, Capt. Koli told SaharaReporters that his brother was starved for periods of time and sometimes “fed worms.” Adamu was only released after a petition, which is also in possession of SaharaReporters, was submitted to the National Human Rights Commission by Barrister Chief K. Akinola Ajayi.

The treatment of Capt. Koli’s brother was so poor during his illegal confinement that he had to be hospitalized due to malnutrition.

SaharaReporters contacted Nigerian Defense spokesperson, General Chris Olukolade as well as Nigerian Army spokesperson, Col. SK Usman, for comment on this story. Both officials promised to get back to us but never did.

Listen to recording:>> How Ayo Fayose, Obanikoro, Omishore and the military Rigged Ekiti – Sahara Reporters

They rigged Ekiti. Listen to the voices of Sen. Musiliu Obanikoro, Governor Ayo Fayose, Senator Omishore and military top brass working out a rigging plan.

Click here: How Ayo Fayose, Obanikoro, Omishore and the military Rigged Ekiti – Sahara Reporters

The Economist Magazine has openly endorsed the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Party (APC) Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. The Economist stated that “We are relieved not to have a vote in this election. But were we offered one we would—with a heavy heart—choose Mr Buhari. Mr Jonathan risks presiding over Nigeria’s bloody fragmentation. If Mr Buhari can save Nigeria, history might even be kind to him.”

You can read the full article >>> Nigeria’s Election: The Least Awful – The Economist

Nobel laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, declared on Thursday that no one should vote for the continuation of President Goodluck Jonathan’s government, saying that there has been a total failure in leadership.

He said he has sixty reasons not to vote for the Jonathan regime.

“I will not vote and I will not encourage ?anyone to vote for the continuation of this government, simply because your colleagues numbering over two hundred were kidnapped, ” Soyinka told students at the 2015 edition of Vision of the Child (VOTC), a yearly programme inaugurated in 2012.

He said the Chibok girls kidnapped on 14 April of last year were sent on a mission to acquire an education, but ended up being kidnapped.

“And the government of this nation failed to show leadership.? So anyone who says after that event that I will vote or cast my vote or encourage anyone to vote for this regime must be living in Sambisa forest,” Soyinka said, referring to a forest in Borno State where the Chibok girls are believed to be held by Boko Haram.

“There has been a failure of leadership. Our children whom you represent today have been betrayed?,” Soyinka said, adding that no appropriate action was taken to retrieve them.

Soyinka said it took the Jonathan government ten days to even accept that the Chibok girls were even missing.

“After that dereliction of duty, after that failure of leadership, after that betrayal for our future, for anyone to think or to put words in my mouth suggesting that I will vote or encourage anyone to vote for this regime is a travesty of intelligence, ” Soyinka said.

Soyinka laughed off those who had claimed on the social media that he ?was dead, telling journalists at the event that they should not misquote him. If they do, he added, he will rise from the dead to correct them.

The 2015 edition of Vision of the Child has for theme “The Road to Sambisa”.

This year, a total of 250 student participants from 60 primary and secondary schools within Lagos attended the interview. The age bracket for the participants was 9 to 12 years.

Their entries were assessed by a panel of eminent judges comprising teachers, artists, child carers and social workers.

The finalists will be invited on the 7 March to the National Conversation Foundation Park. Lekki, and provided with brush, paint and easel, and will be required to illustrate their literary presentation in the complementary medium painting.

This year, 60 finalists were drawn from 35 schools within Lagos State, said Foluke George?, Festival Secretary and Programme Manager for the Vision of the Child

This movie was banned from being shown in Nigeria by the Nigerian government. You will get an idea why after you watch it. credit: Ishaya Bako

Nigeria’s practice of transactional democracy is delaying its progress and development due to the large numbers of ill-informed voters who give away their voting and bargaining power in exchange for minuscule items such as food and cash. American journalist George Will writes, “politics in a democracy is transactional: politicians seek votes by promising to do things for voters, who seek promises in exchange for their votes.” The issue beforehand is not whether or not Nigeria’s democracy is transactional but to ask what it will take to build more informed voters and civil society groups, audacious enough to follow through on holding leaders at all levels accountable for Nigeria’s progress and development.

Election season in Nigeria is one of the best times to be affiliated with a political party and more importantly to work as a consultant. You can either choose to troll the opposition party on social media, or you can choose to become a wholesale supplier of various items to include phone recharge cards, African print fabric – Ankara, fufu, or bags of rice to a political party, whichever option you choose, you are at least guaranteed to get rich quickly. If you have never owned a car or a home, now will be the time to purchase one. Both major political parties offer these items in exchange for votes and this is a problem for Nigeria’s democracy, development, and progress.

ThisDay, one of Nigeria’s leading newspaper reports that in 2014, current of Governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose during the elections, “distributed over 30,000 bags of rice to students, market women, and workers in 16 council areas of the state. Over 6000 students also received 2000 Naira cash,” Fayose won the elections. Popular Nigerian youth platform, Nairaland.com reports that current Osun state Governor, Rauf Aregbesola distributed odorless fufu while campaigning, Aregbesola won the elections.

Nigeria’s political leaders exploit the extreme poverty, hunger, and high unemployment rates for their personal gains and rather than hold these leaders accountable for job-creation, power and educational reforms, the large numbers of ill-informed voters give away their voting and bargaining power for these minuscule items. Until Nigeria moves away from this practice, the country cannot progress or move forward as quickly as we would like. As with many African countries, when there is the combination of transactional democracy, which attracts a certain type of leadership along with high poverty levels and unemployment rates, it presents a ticking time bomb.

In the United States, when an immigrant is about to become a citizen, they have to take a civic test to examine their knowledge of the country. In the book they are given to study for this exam, it makes clear that “citizens vote for leaders to represent them and their ideas, and the leaders therein support the citizens’ interest.” If we were to apply this phrase to Nigeria’s situation, can a political leader win an election without practicing transactional politics? With the transactional campaign process, one of the unintended consequences is corruption. How? Because political leaders begin to lose their moral obligation to do what is right by encouraging voters to give away their voting power in exchange for food, cash, and recharge phone cards. They knowingly exploit the poverty and high unemployment rates. Voters on the other hand, lose their bargaining power by agreeing to sell their votes in exchange for these minuscule items.

The process of voting and the idea of voting for leaders, who represent the citizens’ interest in itself, is democratic. However, what happens when the idea of democracy becomes, “I will give you recharge phone cards, cash, and bags of rice and you vote for me?” The exploitation of the poverty rate, hunger, and high unemployment level allows for this kind of transaction, which is not only unethical and morally bankrupt as leaders vie for votes but problematic because it leaves Nigeria with leaders whose moral and ethical values should be questioned. The problem and responsibility however, lies on both ends. Voters in Nigeria have to become well-informed about their civic duties. Voters along with civil society groups need to learn how to hold leaders accountable for job-creation, power and educational reforms amongst other infrastructural initiatives.

Indeed, democracy involves citizens playing an active role in the political process whereby they may choose to join a political party, a civic group, volunteer to help out with a political campaign, or speak with their senators and representatives on issues without getting paid or expecting anything in return but doing so for the greater good of the country and for the progress of the continent. This however, rarely happens. Recently, I was chatting with a friend based in Abuja and he informed me that “the PDP youth wing in Abuja received 50 million Naira to harass and troll the opposition party on social media.” The question remains, what can we do and how can we take a proactive approach to practicing effective democracy. What can we do as citizens to hold leaders to their campaign promises and work collaboratively to move Nigeria toward progress, regardless of who gets paid and who doesn’t.

It is election season in Nigeria and social media is busy and buzzing. Young Nigerians are in tune, in touch, and excited to see who will win on February 14, 2015. Although there are several candidates running, the popular favorites are Goodluck Jonathan, current President of Nigeria who is running on the PDP party platform and Mohammed Buhari, former military dictator who is running on the APC party platform. Billions of Naira have been spent on the campaign with support from party leaders, the private sector, and to an extent ordinary citizens who are desperate for a change and progress. Who will win?

About the Author:

Mary Olushoga is passionate about politics and entrepreneurship. She is a 2015 Vital Voices Global Leadership Fellow, an IndiAfrica Young Visionary Fellow (2014), a Women4Africa International Media Woman of the Year (2014), a Crans Montana ‘New Leader’ (2014), the first-ever GOOD Maker/Oxfam America International Women’s Day Challenge Winner, a Nigeria Leadership Initiative (NLI) Associate, and an Oxfam America Sisters on the Planet Ambassador.

Olushoga received a bachelor’s degree from Union College in Schenectady, New York and a Master of Science degree from Baruch College. She has served as a Public Policy Fellow at the University at Albany, Center for Women in Government and Civil Society and participated in the Sub-Saharan African Women In Public Service Fall Institute.

Olushoga has featured on BBC World News, Black Enterprise, iwantherjob.com, AFK Insider, Applause Africa, BET Networks, and has presented her work on women entrepreneurs at the Columbia University Africa Economic Forum, the United States Department of Labor Strategy Meeting on Inclusion, Entrepreneurship, and Disability, W!se Institute, the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, the United Nations ECOSOC Youth Employment Forum, and the Rockefeller Foundation Tech Salon. She also writes for GE Ideas Lab and the Huffington Post.

Views expressed are solely the author’s

Address by Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, OFR at the Kaduna South Zonal Rally, Kafanchan, 04 February 2015

After several days of campaigning across Southern Kaduna, our overwhelming impression is one of gratitude to the good people of the zone. We have been encouraged and excited by the warmth of the reception we have been accorded everywhere, and the willingness of the people to embrace our message of change. On behalf of the APC Kaduna State Campaign Council, I say a heartfelt thank you to Zone 3. There is no doubt that we have a solid, state-wide constituency for change and Southern Kaduna has this week emphatically proven it.

Kaduna State needs change. We must reset the dynamics of governance.We will place at its core a commitment to fairness and the promotion of harmony amongst the diverse peoples of our state. We must build a Kaduna State that treats all of its residents as equal citizens. It is a fallacy that any one part of a community can sustainably progress by holding back or repressing the other. Our destiny is to work together to bring progress and development, to secure our communities and to empower people to make the best of their talents.

Our programme of change is clearly aimed at improving security, building human capital by focusing on education and healthcare, focusing on key infrastructure, including roads and water supply, jobs and a new industrial strategy.

We do not underestimate the challenges, but your votes will give us the mandate we need to make governance work for the people. You have rejected the lame arguments of those who have tried to divide us along ethnic or religious lines. Our people have clearly rejected that as the refuge of incompetent people with no record of performance. You have also seen through the deceit of people who only thought it fit to condole with you over the killings and insecurity as elections loomed.

Empathy cannot be commodified, it is not a feeling based on expectations of reward, electoral or otherwise. Rather it is an obligation of governance, a duty of political responsiveness anchored on refined human character. This same people have also promised you a university and a new state, two months to the elections. You know they cannot be trusted.

We recognise the role that mass media has historically played in forming cohesive communities, fostering harmony and uniting peoples. Kaduna State cannot be whole when a government neglects to treat it as a unified broadcasting space. An APC government will end the information dichotomy which has seen our state not having a state-wide public broadcaster whose signals can be clearly received in every inch of the state. If elected, we will unite our state by making our public radio and television accessible to every part and every resident of this state. Services of Kaduna State Radio and Television that have been cut off in Southern Kaduna will be revived as a priority item.

Yet despite the passion we have seen, and the incredible support demonstrated, the job is not yet done. To deliver change we all must first collect our PVCs and turn up to vote, and guarantee by our conduct an atmosphere of peace and calm.

We ask once again that you give our party,the APC, your vote at all levels. We are ready for the responsibility of governance.

Let’s make Kaduna great again!

Nasir El-Rufai

Preparations for the coming General Elections have now reached fever-pitch levels, as Nigerians are only days away from the epochal dates. One would easily surmise that the interesting days were nigh when President Goodluck Jonathan threw caution to the winds at the commencement of his party’s presidential rallies in Lagos where he unashamedly declared that he had “directed the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to achieve 99.9% distribution of the permanent voter’s card (PVC) to all Nigerians”, which has now become the most essential commodity with respect to the elections. A president who has the presence of mind or moderation in such matters should be aware that it is ultra vires his powers to issue such directives, especially when he is a candidate and has more than a passing interest in the elections. What is more when the president wants ‘all Nigerians’ to receive PVC, be they eligible voter or not?

If it was not enough to exercise such gaffes, which is merely one of the many that his presidential years have strove to bequeath on a beleaguered nation of disillusioned citizens, it was quite unfortunate that a president, who lays continuous claims to unverifiable high academic qualifications, would expect such unrealistic rate of PVC distribution. To be sure, that call is asking too much by someone who should be in the know after years of milling around high political office. It is important to clarify that aiming high is not offensive in and of itself but a discerning leader of people and institutions is expected to be realistic in his expectations.

Would it have been possible to achieve Jonathan’s directive of 99.9% PVC distribution? My unabashed inclination is that even if INEC were to put in place the most efficient and effective process of registration of voters and distribution of PVCs, not everyone would be able to collect, considering that life happens continuously that deaths, relocation and unavoidable population displacements would have occurred even at short interval of time between registration and collection of the voter’s cards. I do not claim to know rate of deaths recorded in Nigeria but one would be safe to project a high figure considering how every odds are stacked against life and living in the country due to the wanton mismanagement of resources practiced consistently under Jonathan and his cohorts.

Even if there were no deaths or the death or displacement rates were negligible, there is a plethora of empirical evidence to prove that there is growing voter apathy towards elections globally. For instance, despite the brazen allocation of votes, Nigeria has only achieved its highest voter turnout of 69.08% in 2003, since 1999. This is to say that collection of PVC does not necessarily equate to participation in the elections, such that it becomes puerile to think that all PVCs must be distributed or collected before elections can hold.

Was it not in the same country where two governorship elections were held in Ekiti and Osun after only PVC distribution rates of 65.72% and 70.59% respectively were attained in both states? Is the logic of those bandying low PVC collection rate as the basis for the call for a shift in dates of elections that those elections in Ekiti and Osun were not properly conducted?

In addition, I believe it would amount to infringement on the rights of eligible voters in Nigeria to compel them to collect the PVC if they do not intend to do so. Quite unfortunately, the elections management body, being INEC, has not discharged its duties diligently despite the enormous amount of resources and supports that it has enjoyed. INEC effectively had four years to plan for this election and it seems that it is heading towards bungling the entire exercise. Else, an exercise as basic as collection or distribution of PVCs should not become rocket science for an agency that has repeatedly claimed it was ready for the elections whose dates were announced almost a year hence.

I am one of those who do not think that INEC is prepared for this election – that being my personal opinion. Well, not that I have ever thought they were ever prepared in any election. It has always been that the autopilot mode, in which they push us, cruises through the very torrential moments of passage of the electoral process. Give INEC another four years and we would still be expressing the same concerns as now. To be sure, the same last minute scurrying is replete in virtually all of our national or public life. So if the electoral body continues to maintain that it is ready for the elections, as it has done repeatedly, why would anyone, not of wicked intentions, trigger a campaign to force them to postpone, when there is no assurance that the situation would improve beyond the present level?

My modest estimates show that so far, between the election management body, political parties and their candidates and other political actors, over N200bn have been expended. This is my conservative estimates which I am sure would be much higher, if all other variables and financial heads were considered. This is tragic in the face of an economy that is in teetering on the brinks and one in which austerity measures have been proffered as the… Besides, the amount of human and time resources invested already in the campaigns should be sufficient to re-energize an economy in dire need of intervention, if strategically channeled.

Others who have chosen to blackmail us with the growing wave of insurgency in parts of the country should be pointed in the direction of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria and Yemen. These countries, I believe, have far more serious security situation than we have presently, but that has not deterred them from conducting elections even in recent times. And those elections were acclaimed as free and fair, in the circumstances in which they were held. Those who want to hide their mass behind one finger can continue to wager their lucks but the illogicalities of their actions, nay intentions, are not lost on those of us who are patriotic and ready to move the nation truly forward.

We could assert many more intelligible reasons for wanting to postpone the elections, but to hinge it on low PVC distribution/collection or inadequacy of security, which is now being orchestrated even in the highest quarters of government, is mischievous, disingenuous and ill conceived.

Mimi Achineku spokesperson for For Every Stroke has announced that the organization in collaboration with iBlend PR, Friendraiser Community and I Am Nigeria shall be having a charity run/obstacle run on February 7th Saturday 2015 by 7 am at Jabi lake, Jabi, themed RUN LIVE VOTE IN PEACE . All participants will need to register on the day.

The event will feature an obstacle run, a talk session tagged ‘The Truth’, musical performances by carefully selected Abuja Artistes namely Oge Kimono, Isomers, John Ogah, Jessica Bongos, Eve Urrah etc, a blood drive as well as smoothies and small chops will be available for sale at the event. For Every Stroke is a non profit organization whose purpose is to educate people on the cause, effect and dangers of stroke as well as how to clearly identify an individual who is about to have a stroke and take care of a stroke victim. By collaborating with I-blend’s program tagged VOTE IN PEACE, Friendraiser and I Am Nigeria, the event seeks to educated the masses as to why they should vote not who the should vote for as well as the importance of peace during the upcoming election.

The event is proudly sponsored by Phinix Pr and Media Consults, 89 Works, Enough is Enough, Friendraiser Community, Wawoo TV, RED, I Am Nigeria and Abuja Times.

For further information do not hesitate to contact

Mimi Achineku;

For every stroke: 08065643764

Email: foreverystroke@gmail.com

Instagram: @foreverystroke

Facebook: For Every Stroke Nigeria

Renowned economist and a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, on Sunday alleged that over N30tn had been stolen under the watch of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

Soludo, in a 10-page response to Okonjo-Iweala’s rebuttal of his earlier criticism of the management of the Nigerian economy under the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan, said the nation was in for a very turbulent time this year because the economy had been grossly mismanaged.

The Federal Government had last Wednesday described the five-year tenure of Soludo as the governor of the CBN between 2004 and 2009 as a disaster to the banking sector.

The comment came on the heels of an earlier article by Soludo last Monday in which he claimed that the Nigerian economy under Jonathan had performed woefully.

Okonjo-Iweala had in a statement on Wednesday described Soludo’s as an “embittered loser in the Nigerian political space.”

But Soludo, in his new article, which was made available on Sunday, said if the prices of crude oil in the international market failed to rebound, Nigeria would face an unprecedented level of economic crisis with horrible attendant hardships for the citizenry.

“Our public finance is haemorrhaging to the point that estimated over N30tn is missing, or stolen, or unaccounted for, or simply mismanaged,” the former CBN governor stressed.

In the piece entitled, ‘Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and the missing trillions’, Soludo said the sharp decline in the naira-dollar exchange rate from 158 a few months ago to 215 currently showed that trouble was already at the doorstep.

The governorship candidate of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kaduna State and Former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mallam Nasiru El-Rufai, on Saturday urged his supporters to shun violence no matter the level of provocation.

He said this while addressing his supporters at  Gwantu, headquarters of Sanga Local Government Area in the southern senatorial zone  of Kaduna State. He also promised to stem the tide of killings in Southern Kaduna.

“I am passionately appealing to you not to abuse anybody, don’t fight anybody, if somebody looks for your trouble, run away, we are not trouble makers. If anybody slaps you, don’t retaliate, turn the other cheek for him, avoid anything that will lead to violence.

“Your greatest weapon in the struggle for change in Kaduna State and Nigeria is your voters’ card and this change can only be possible if you have your voters’ card,” El-Rufai charged the crowd.

The former minister who noted the persistent killings in the southern part of the state, especially in Sanga Local Government Area, decried the level of insecurity in the state and declared that his administration will ensure security of lives and property if elected.

“If you vote APC, we will provide good roads, good schools, good hospitals and improve the quality of lives of our people. But the first step you must take is to ensure that you collect your voters’ card, ?because it is with the voters’ card that we can demolish PDP.

“If you vote us, there would be change and we will bring an end to the killing of our brothers in southern Kaduna and Birnin Gwari,  by arresting the perpetrators and bringing them to justice,” he said.

I read some of the responses to my article, “Buhari vs Jonathan: Beyond the Election”, and I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the debate. I am glad that the debate has finally taken off. I have decided, for the record, to re-enter the debate if only to set some records straight and hopefully elevate the debate further.  Whom do I respond to? First, let me thank Gov Kayode Fayemi for his very mature and professional response on behalf of the APC. It forms a great basis for deepening the conversation. Pat Utomi, Oby Ezekwesili, Iyabo Obasanjo, and thousands of other patriotic Nigerians have raised the content of the debate. Femi Fani-Kayode made me laugh, as usual. The Gov. Jang faction of the Governors’ Forum played the usual politics, although I know what most of them think privately. Who else? Oh, Peter Obi. Well, since he can’t write and designated Valentine as usual to write for him (who never disputed the NBS statistics that Obi broke world record in the pauperization of Anambra people but instead focused on lies and abuses) I won’t dignify him with a response here. His third class performance in Anambra will be the subject of a comprehensive article later.

Here, I will focus on Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s response (as Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy—CME and hence on behalf of the Federal Government). Since I have known her, out of deep respect, I have never called her by her name: I call her Madam. I must state that I have great pains seeing myself on the opposite side of the table with Madam, in this way. I respect you, Madam, and will always do.  If you read my article of September 2010 (before you became Minister), the tone and elucidation were as strong as the current one. It is my honest effort to ensure that our choice of leaders is based on rigorous scrutiny of what is on offer.  Part of my frustration is that five years after, everything I warned about has come to happen and we are conducting our campaigns as if we are not in crisis. As a concerned Nigerian, I have a duty to speak out again. Regrettably, you have taken it very personal.

I am not bothered about the personal abuses: I actually expected worse. What name has the government not called President Obasanjo or any person who has dared to disagree with it of late? Anyone who disagrees with the government must either be ‘insane’ or have a ‘character’ deficiency or must be ‘looking for a job’ or ‘without honour’, or a ‘charlatan’. Yesterday, Sanusi alleged that $20 billion was missing and he was accused of gross financial mismanagement, recklessness and poor governance to the point of being the first governor of central bank to be suspended from office. Today, he is the good one; and for daring to award an “F” grade for our economic performance, Soludo has become the ‘worst’ and ‘without character’ or perhaps ‘looking for position’ (Lol!). Some days ago, a former president was called ‘a motor park tout’ and ‘un-statesmanly’ just for disagreeing.  This “how dare you criticise us” mind-set of the government is dangerous for our democracy.

In this Part One of my planned three part series, I will restrict it to the main issues you raised. I will not bother about the malicious attacks on my person. For me, it is nothing personal. In early 2011, I had a similar heated exchange with then Finance Minister Segun Aganga. But when the Nigerian economy was at stake and he invited me to a stakeholders meeting in his office (as Minister of Trade and Investment) to discuss Nigeria’s response to the ruinous EU- Economic Partnership for Africa (EPA), I flew into Nigeria for that (at my expense)— the first and only time I have been to any government office to discuss policy since I left office. It is about Nigeria. I will, as expected, remind people like you of the salient aspects of my record of public service in response to your charge; challenge your claim to debt relief, and your reason for not saving; highlight your forgery of economic statistics and the lies in your response; but most importantly re-focus our attention to the historic mismanagement of our economy which you carefully avoided. I will show that while you are introducing austerity measures and soon to immiserate the citizens, our public finance is haemorrhaging to the point that estimated over N30 trillion is missing or stolen or unaccounted for, or simply mismanaged— under your watch! We can’t go on like this, and I am convinced that an alternative future is possible. Can we have a public debate on this alternative future? The issues at stake are too grave to be trivialized through name calling. As I write, the naira exchange rate to the dollar is at N215 (from N158 a few months ago) and unless oil price recovers, this is just the beginning.  For the sake of Nigeria, I won’t keep quiet anymore!

READ: Buhari vs Jonathan; Beyond The Election – Chukwuma Charles Soludo

Let me start with Madam’s rather comical, wild judgment on my tenure of office which I believe to be totally false and baseless. I apologise upfront that in the process of making a ‘personal defence’, it is difficult to avoid a rather uncomfortable emphasis on “I”. I did not want that but since Madam has dragged us this low, I have little choice but to do so in the next few paragraphs—just to keep the record straight!

In my view, there are three criteria for evaluating a public officer’s stewardship: the evaluation by his employer; the satisfaction of the public he served; and the hard facts of performance. As I will show on these three counts, I am convinced that I left a world record of public service, and a thousand Okonjo-Iwealas cannot re-write that history. I served Nigeria under two presidents (Obasanjo and Yar’Adua) and as my immediate bosses, below are their written testimonials of my record.

Said President Obasanjo (December 2004):

“Charles Soludo is a true Nigerian. He is the sort of Nigerian that we all know we can rely on. Among his numerous virtues is COURAGE. I have found in him a man who can take tough and realistic decisions, stand his ground, educate others on the salience of his decision, and work very hard to ensure that the decision is efficiently and effectively implemented. His dedication to duty is first rate. His leadership qualities are admirable and his willingness to listen and learn is simply infectious. Professor Soludo has within a short time emerged as one of the leading lights of our nation. Not because he has a godfather but by sheer hard work, loyalty, dedication to duty, commitment to the nation, creativity, and undiluted association with the reform agenda….”

President Yar’Adua (May 2009) had the following to say about the Central Bank of Nigeria under my leadership:

“… the CBN has performed creditably well in delivering on its core mandates. This is especially even more so in the last five years. Most people would agree that without the successful banking consolidation and effective management of our foreign reserves, the current global crisis would have shaken the financial system and our national economy to their foundations with calamitous consequences”.

In the President’s special letter of commendation after the completion of my tenure of office, President Yar’Adua (June 2009) had the following to say to me:

“As your tenure as Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria comes to a glorious end, I write on behalf of the Government and people of Nigeria to place on record our debt of gratitude to you for your dedicated service and uncommon sense of duty over the past five years. I am confident that your worthy antecedents in the CBN and in prior appointments in the service of our nation remain sources of inspiration to an entire generation. As I wish you even more astounding successes in the years ahead, it is my fervent hope that you will readily avail us of your distinguished service when the need arises in the future”.

To the best of my knowledge, President Obasanjo has not changed those views even after ten years. The views of my two bosses, not the emotional outburst of an angry person desperate to get even, are what count.

How did Nigerians evaluate my public service? Unfortunately, we do not have scientific opinion polls on job approval ratings for individual public officers. But if the public opinions of individuals and organized groups (labour, employers, depositors, borrowers, stakeholders of the financial institutions, newspaper editorials, investors, etc) as expressed in thousands of newspaper/magazine clips during and after my tenure are anything to go by, then 82% of the public largely agree with the sentiments expressed by my two bosses. Your views belong to the other 18% which is okay, after all, no one is perfect. Five Nigerian newspapers and magazines simultaneously named us “man of the year” in one year— unprecedented in Nigeria’s history. I do not talk about hundreds of awards and recognitions by various segments of our society (during and even after service) for “excellent public service”. I was particularly touched by the historic award by the staff union of the Central Bank and the tears in the eyes of many as thousands of the staff gave me a standing ovation as I walked the aisle after my brief farewell speech.

Certainly, the international community (investors, bankers, scholars, donors, media, etc) took serious notice of the revolution in Nigeria’s monetary and financial system. I am recipient of five international awards as global and African central bank governor of the year, not to mention dozens of other recognitions (even after leaving office). The London Financial Times described us as “a great reformer”. Even as the global economic and financial crisis raged in 2008, the United Nations General Assembly appointed me to serve on the Commission of Experts to reform the international monetary and financial system. You don’t appoint someone who has ‘mismanaged’ his national financial system to reform the global system. For 8 years until 2012, I served on the chief economist advisory council (CEAC) of the World Bank, and together with two Nobel Prize winners in economics and other experts we met periodically and advised two presidents and two chief economists of the World Bank, and in 2011, I served on the External Advisory Group of the IMF.  Again, these are not positions for ‘mis-managers’. Since I left office, I have been advising countries and central banks; and there is hardly any two months I don’t consult/advise on banking/financial and monetary policy. I have given these illustrations to make the point that for every one Okonjo-Iweala’s attempt to rewrite history, there are thousands who disagree.

Now, to some skeletal facts of our stewardship! I will be brief as I have a whole book to tell my story. As chief economic adviser, I had advised that our banking system could not support the private sector-led economy envisioned under NEEDS. When I assumed office at CBN, I inherited 89 rickety, mostly family banks (all of which put together were not up to the size of number four bank in South Africa). Many were insolvent, with depositors’ money trapped, and 20 more about to collapse. To get a credit of $300 million probably required all the banks to syndicate it. For me, there was a national emergency. I drafted a 13-point reform agenda, discussed and agreed all the specifics with the President, and his VP; as well as my management team at the CBN, and we swung into action. President Obasanjo promised 100% support and actually delivered 1000%— which was decisive. I apologize to you Madam because I did not brief or inform you about it. We just wanted to keep it confidential given the sensitivity of the announcement. It is on record that you never supported it.

It was both a revolution and a war and most people thought it was “impossible”, but thank God we succeeded. For the first time in Nigeria’s history a policy of that magnitude was announced and deadline kept with precision.  We were courageous to revoke the licenses of 14 banks, including those of my friends, in one day. The FT-Banker concluded that the scale, precision, and cost of the transformation were unprecedented in the world. Before then, Malaysia had the least cost of banking consolidation at 5% of Malaysian GDP. It did not cost Nigerian taxpayers one penny. Twenty-five new, stronger banks emerged but the powerful idea behind consolidation ignited something even more powerful—‘the race to the top’. Banks raised more capital, and even banks like First Bank, Zenith, GTB, etc that did not merge with others went on capital raising several times. The consequence was higher levels of capitalization and within two years, 14 Nigerian banks were in the top 1000 banks in the world and two in the top 300 (no Nigerian bank was in the top 1000 before I came). Even after I left office, still 9 banks were in the top 1000. Our vision was to have a Nigerian bank in the top 100 banks within 10 years. As I see the new Access bank; Zenith, GTB, Fidelity, Diamond, UBA, FBN, FCMB, Skye, Stanbic IBTC, Union, Ecobank, etc, I cannot but feel that we have taken giant steps forward.

Deposits and credit soared (from barely N1.2 trillion to over N7 trillion); new technologies (ATM and e-banking) boomed, and banks had 57,000 new jobs; mega businesses emerged (ask any major operator in the Nigerian economy their experience with banking and credit before and after Soludo —the Dangotes, Arik, MM2, oil and gas operators; etc); capital market boomed and dominated by the banking sector. It was a new dawn for Nigerian private sector. I have heard Dangote twice say that he would not be near as big as he is today without the banking consolidation. Many other stakeholders still say it today. FDI and portfolio inflows flooded into Nigeria. The world celebrated, and one single transformative idea has changed the face of the private sector and economy forever.  Banks became Nigeria’s first transnational corporations with about 37 branches outside of Nigeria.

Nigeria survived the global crisis because of this, and it is the banking sector that has largely been powering the economic growth you claim (compare banks trillions of naira credit for investments in the productive sector with your government’s miserable expenditure on critical infrastructure and investment; much of your borrowing – bonds – is from the banks). Your privatization of power sector, several PPP projects on infrastructure, etc, are now possible because of the mega banks. Today, Nigerian banks syndicate multi-billion dollar loans— unthinkable before. Madam, if the consolidation was ‘mismanaged’, there would not have been any bank to start with in the aftermath of the global crisis— as President Yar’adua correctly pointed out. Even you, during a recent presentation at the Banquet Hall in Abuja advertised consolidation as a historic achievement. How can you recognize a ‘mis-managed’ project as an outstanding achievement? As we say in Igbo, you can’t cover the moon with your palms.

Let me be clear: the quantum size of the new banks following consolidation presented challenges of risk management and supervision. We deployed all we had and overworked the CBN staff. The carry-over of bad loans from the consolidated banks was quickly cleaned up. To the best of my knowledge, we instituted stringent regulatory and supervisory regime (consistent with best practices at the time). We even had resident examiners in the banks and required bank MDs to personally sign their reports to CBN. I recall that the former MD of GTB complained of “regulatory intrusiveness”. To our credit, non-performing loans (NPL) came down from 22% in 2003 and 2004 to 6% as at 2008. Anywhere in the world, a central bank that brought NPL from 22% to 6% over a four year period does not look like one with a loose supervisory regime. Name other developing countries that performed better, Madam. So, on point of fact, Madam lied. Yours was a reckless assertion without basis by a Finance Minister.

The banks in Nigeria were supervised by the CBN and NDIC, but other institutions— international firms which audited them, international rating agencies which also examined their books, capital market operators since most were listed companies — all had oversight. I put on record that there was never any information/report of infractions by any bank which was brought to my attention and which we did not act upon decisively during my tenure. I heard the comment that some of the bank MDs were my friends. Well, my response is that perhaps as CME you should kill all your friends operating in the economy or become their enemies. For the record, my successor audited all the banks and none of my so-called friends was indicted. It speaks volumes. Indeed, it is also a fact that the alleged personal criminal infractions (including lapses in corporate governance Madam alluded to) by some bank CEOs were found out, only AFTER they had been removed from office. My successor told me that the comprehensive audit of the banks did not reveal such infractions. Of course, you must be God or have a special tip-off from inside to get to such information while the MDs are in office. Unfortunately, all over the world, no financial system has succeeded in routing out all criminal behaviours by the operators. So, Madam, I challenge you to provide one shred of evidence that ‘there was no separation between regulators and regulated’ or be honourable enough to retract your reckless statement.

What happened? The unanticipated and unprecedented crisis of 2008/09 hit the world. More than 40 US and European banks either collapsed or were shaken badly (remember the Lehman Brothers, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Wachovia, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, even UBS, etc) and hundreds of billions of dollars were spent to bail them out. The contagion effects spread like a wild fire, destroying national stock markets and banks. The nascent (big) banks in Nigeria faced sudden multiple shocks— liquidity, exchange rate, oil price, capital market, etc. As oil prices collapsed, loans to oil and gas became non-performing overnight; loans to the capital market became non-performing overnight; etc.  Our first priority was to save the entire banking system and the economy from systemic collapse. I assured Nigerians that no bank would be allowed to fail, and not many people know what it took to achieve it. Once we had navigated through the unexpected /unprecedented turbulence, we laid out a comprehensive plan to clean up the debris which we presented to stakeholders in Lagos (March 2009). I had pleaded with the Senate to pass the AMCON bill which we sent to them in 2004. But I had a comprehensive plan to finish the clean-up with or without AMCON by the end of 2009, including second round consolidation and a N500 billion fund (my book will detail all these). I left behind an 11-volume document of the Financial System Strategy 2020 (FSS2020) which has remained the policy roadmap for the CBN/financial sector since I left office.

I have two analogies for our experience. Ours was really like an airplane that was cruising and suddenly meets an unexpected and unprecedented turbulence. After the pilots and the crew succeed in navigating through the potential crash and probably land the airplane, people look in and start blaming the crew for the broken tea cups, chairs, and drinks that fell during the turbulence as evidence that the crew never kept the airplane clean or serviced it. My second analogy is that of a sudden earthquake in a region it was never expected and some houses collapsed. All of a sudden, the housing authority is to blame for not requiring earthquake-proof foundations for the houses. Well, my legal experts call it force majeure, an act of nature!

To be fair, after every crisis, there are lessons (and my book will detail what, with benefit of that experience, we should have done differently). Risk management— which has always been there— now took a new centre stage all over the world following the crisis. But for anyone to suggest that CBN under me, for one minute, took its eyes off the ball is, to say the least, ludicrous. The US financial system literally crippled the world costing America hundreds of billions of dollars but no one has suggested that Alan Greenspan is no longer the great maestro!

AMCON is a big topic (which I will address at a later date) but her claims show either ignorance or mischief. She claims that N5.7 trillion of AMCON funds was used to rescue banks and the ‘bond issued’ as ‘cost to taxpayers’. Really? I will deal with the AMCON I envisaged and the AMCON under you later but let me state that even if 100% of the banks’ NPL was offloaded on AMCON, it would not be up to N5.7 trillion. Enough said for now. The fact is that the Federal Government has not put a penny in the AMCON fund: the banking system is financing itself, and together with the sinking fund by banks, AMCON surely can’t default (thanks to consolidation that the banks are now big enough to cough out such funds to solve the system’s problem). Did you intend to deceive the readers by refusing to tell them that much of the AMCON fund is ‘investment’ and not ‘expense’. Am sure you heard the IMF’s alarm about moral hazard? If you want, we can have a focused debate on AMCON.

Next, let me briefly respond to a few outlandish claims. She brags about ‘single-digit’ inflation rate ‘now’ and alleges that when I left office, inflation was above 13%. I just laughed at this one. In Nigeria’s history, no governor of the Central Bank has delivered 24 consecutive months of single digit inflation as I did until the advent of the unprecedented global crisis in 2008. It was not for nothing that the world cheered us as monetary policy czar, Madam! Perhaps you are also not aware that we broke a world record by having a depreciated real effective exchange rate during a time of export boom and this was at the heart of our reserve accumulation and the portfolio/FDI inflows. I resisted the IMF advice to deplete reserves for liquidity management, and Nigeria had enough self-insurance to survive the global crisis.  The opposite has happened under you Madam, and the Nigerian economy is in trouble. Naira exchange rate appreciated under me from N133 to N117 before the global crisis; and reserves grew to all time high of $62 billion. For the first time since 1986, the official, interbank and parallel market exchange rates converged under me. You can’t match these records!

READ: Buhari vs Jonathan; Beyond The Election – Chukwuma Charles Soludo

I hereby challenge your attempt to blame others for not saving for the rainy day. It is not a virtue when you are quick to appropriate all the credit when things are going well, but shift the blame when they go wrong. You blame the state governors— who, according to you, have taken the Federal Government to the Supreme Court—not that a Supreme Court judgment forced your hands. For your information, the governors have never agreed to savings and always threatened court action even under Obasanjo. Why did we save under Obasanjo but not under Jonathan? Two keywords explain it: leadership and integrity.  Governor Amaechi said the governors insisted on sharing the funds because they found out that you were illegally fiddling with the savings.  So, as Nigerians still wonder, if billions of dollars are now ‘missing’ under your nose, why should governors trust you to keep their money?  Do the states that have taken the federal government to the Supreme Court and refused to save also include the PDP governors—who are in the majority? If so, then it is fatal: even governors of your own party, PDP, do not trust you to keep their money! Furthermore, did the governors also stop the Federal Government from saving part of its share? If you ran a surplus budget at the Federal level, you would have had credibility to blame others or to say they did not listen to your advice. The key point is that since you were running huge deficits yourself, it was also in your own interest to share the ECA. You did not show leadership or credibility, full stop!

Next, Madam, I was really embarrassed for you to read that one of the reasons for declining forex reserves is ‘oil theft’. Under you as Minister of Finance and coordinator of the economy, the basket of our national treasury is leaking profusely from all sides. Just a few illustrations! First, you admit that ‘oil theft’ has reduced oil output from the average 2.3 – 2.4 million barrels per day (mpd) to 1.95mpd (meaning that at least 350,000 to 450,000 barrels per day are being ‘stolen’. On the average of 400,000 per day and the oil prices over the past four years, it comes to about $60 billion ‘stolen’ in just four years. In today’s exchange rate, that is about N12.6 trillion. This is at a time of cessation of crisis in the Niger Delta and amnesty programme. Can you tell Nigerians how much the amnesty programme costs, and also the annual cost for ‘protecting’ the pipelines and security of oil wells? And the ‘thieves’ are spirits? Come on, Madam!

Second, my earlier article stated that the minimum forex reserves should have been at least $90 billion by now and you did not challenge it. Rather it is about $30 billion, meaning that gross mismanagement has denied the country some $60 billion or another N12.6 trillion.

Now add the ‘missing’ $20 billion from the NNPC. You promised a forensic audit report ‘soon’, and more than a year later the Report itself is still ‘missing’. This is over N4 trillion, and we don’t know how much more has ‘missed’ since Sanusi cried out. How many trillions of naira were paid for oil subsidy (unappropriated?).  How many trillions (in actual fact) have been ‘lost’ through customs duty waivers over the last four years? As coordinator of the economy, can you tell Nigerians why the price of automotive gas oil (AGO), popularly called diesel,  has still not come down despite the crash in global crude oil prices, and how much is being appropriated by friends in the process?  Be honest: do you really know (as coordinator and minister of finance) how many trillions of Naira, self- financing government agencies earn and spend? I have a long list but let me wait for now. I do not want to talk about other ‘black pots’ that impinge on national security.  My estimate, Madam, is that probably more than N30 trillion has either been stolen or lost or unaccounted for or simply mismanaged under your watchful eyes in the past four years. Since you claim to be in charge, Nigerians are right to ask you to account. Think about what this amount could mean for the 112 million poor Nigerians or for our schools, hospitals, roads, etc. Soon, you will start asking the citizens to pay this or that tax, while some faceless “thieves” were pocketing over $40 million per day from oil alone.

You alluded to debt relief in your response and tried to take credit. Well, your CV is honest enough to admit that your two achievements in office as Finance minister under Obasanjo were that “you led the Nigerian team that struck a deal with the Paris Club” and that you “introduced the practice of publishing each state’s monthly financial allocation in the newspapers”. You are right about the two achievements. Let me put on record that Nigeria would have secured debt relief under anyone as Minister of Finance. President Obasanjo secured debt relief for Nigeria. Much of his first term was used to get Nigeria back into the international community and to campaign for debt relief. Before you were sworn in as Minister of Finance, President Bush visited Nigeria and both of us accompanied President Obasanjo during the meeting. There, Mr. Bush promised to support Nigeria with debt relief and asked our president to ensure that he met the conditions of the Paris Club. Obasanjo mobilized the global political support and coordinated all of us to ensure that the government met the check-list of ‘conditionalities’ as required.  I spent five weeks in the hotel with my team (as coordinator/chairman for drafting the National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy, NEEDS).

Some of the reform targets in NEEDS became the ‘conditionalities’ Nigeria was required to fulfil to merit debt relief. You and I signed the various MoU with the IMF on behalf of Nigeria (the policy support instrument). We had a great team at work and each member of the economic team had specific aspects of the conditionalities to deliver: Bode Agusto was in-charge of the budget; Oby Ezekwesili held sway at Bureau of Public Procurement and later Minister of Solid Mineral, and Education (but specifically tasked with delivering on EITI and procurement reforms); Nuhu Ribadu was at the EFCC fighting corruption; I was at the Central Bank delivering on monetary policy and banking reforms; Steve Oronsaye worked hard to delist Nigeria from the FATF; Nenadi Usman was in-charge of the parastatals; El-Rufai held forth at FCT and in charge of public sector reforms; privatization programme went on, etc. Did you know that the IMF wrote President Obasanjo threatening that there would be no debt relief if the CBN did not meet some monetary targets, and do you know the magic we performed to meet them? Can you tell Nigerians which of the ‘conditionalities’ that you personally implemented? With the groundswell of political support and Nigeria meeting all the ‘conditionalities’, debt relief was assured.

Your major role as stated in your CV was to lead the team to negotiate the specific terms of the relief, having fulfilled the conditions. I still believe that Nigeria should have gotten far better terms than you negotiated. Of course, with your eyes on returning to the World Bank after office, I did not expect you to boldly stand up to the donor community in defence of Nigeria. Was there a conflict of interest on your part?

By the way, can you tell Nigerians why you were eased out as Finance Minister and you cried like a baby begging OBJ to still allow you remain in the Economic Management team—- barely few weeks after the debt relief? Why were you eventually also removed from the economic management team if you were so important?  Ironically, President Jonathan has recycled you, with a bigger title and greater responsibilities. But the difference is that the team that did the actual work is no longer there, and the world has seen that the king is naked.

You are brilliant Madam, but you need serious help. Having spent all your life in the World Bank bureaucracy largely in administration/operations, no one will blame you if your economics has become a bit rusty. There are firebrand Nigerians all over the world to draft to service. It is certainly embarrassing to Nigeria for you to be bothering World Bank economists to help you with most basic economic analysis.

Your response on the poverty issue is deeply troubling. You accuse me of using “2011 statistics on poverty by the NBS to support his argument, while ignoring more recent figures”. At least you did not refute the NBS figure as valid. In the next sentence, Madam went ahead to note that “as stated in the Nigeria Economic Report 2014 by the World Bank, poverty in Nigeria has dropped from 35.2 percent of population in 2010/2011 to 33.1 percent in 2012/2013”. Did you notice that you have quoted two figures for poverty for the same year as being equally correct? So, for 2011, was poverty 71% (according to NBS) or 35% according to the World Bank? To the best of my knowledge, the last published household survey by NBS was in 2011. The World Bank does not conduct household surveys in member states to determine poverty incidence. So, when and by whom was the survey that gave the World Bank figures?

What worries me is that this government is the first in our history to attempt to manipulate our national statistics under Okonjo-Iweala. When NBS published the poverty figures in 2011, she felt indicted and incensed. She called upon the World Bank to come and examine the ‘methodology’ and get NBS to ‘review’ its numbers. Oby Ezekwesili (as VP Africa Region rejected the call to try to tamper with a country’s statistics). Once Oby left, the ‘World Bank’ started talking about ‘new figures’, without conducting any new surveys.  I was told about it by a World Bank economist, and I cautioned that it was a dangerous gamble that would damage the credibility of the NBS. If you want to ‘review methodology’, you conduct another survey but you can’t change ‘methodology’ because you don’t like the published figures. No government in our history has tried it: even Sani Abacha allowed a poverty survey that put poverty at 67% under his regime. At this rate, who will believe statistics coming from the Nigerian government again? Is it now the World Bank that sits in Washington and allocates poverty numbers to Nigeria? Something smells here!

Madam alleges that the NBS—as a parastatal under the National Planning Commission (under me) departed from the ‘international standard method of poverty measurement’. How and when, Madam? I was in office at National Planning for 11 months from July 2003 to May 2004. A poverty survey was conducted in 2004 and the results computed and published in 2005/2006— more than a year after I had gone to the Central Bank. Or perhaps, it was a clever way to divert attention from your manipulation of published economic statistics. The NBS published its poverty data in 2006 when you were Minister of Finance, and you did not question the ‘methodology’ because the figures looked good. In 2011, the poverty numbers (using the same methodology as in 2005/2006) indicted the government and suddenly, the ‘methodology’ is wrong. Interesting times!

Now that you decide which economic statistics published by NBS to accept and which ones to ‘change the methodology’ to give favourable figures, you can keep feeding your manipulated figures to your international media circus for the vain glorious awards to sustain an empty hype, while Nigerians groan under hardship. We can actually ask Nigerians whether they are getting better off now contrary to your bogus figures.

Many of Madam’s responses were comical, but this one is classic. According to her, the chief economic adviser and NBS “worked hard to determine how many jobs we need to create in a year”, and went on to ask, “why didn’t Soludo do this when he was CEA?” (Lol!). Madam, any good economist needs less than 10 minutes to compute this figure, not the (months? of) ‘hard work’ by your team. My calculation is that the number of jobs Nigeria needs to create each year to significantly reduce unemployment rate to sustainable levels in the next few years is at least 3 million, and not the 1.8 million by your team. We are talking about the Nigerian economy, please.

Your magic wand for mass housing is the Mortgage Refinance Corporation with 23,000 mortgage offers—for a country with 17 million housing deficit! Then, there is the pedestrian proposal of a new development bank— financed with loans from the World Bank, etc? A World Bank loan to set up another ‘development bank’ where we already have Bank of Industry, Bank of Agriculture, NEXIM, Federal Mortgage Bank, etc? People have totally run out of ideas and can’t see anything for Nigeria without through the prism of the World Bank. I will offer you free consultancy on how to set up a development bank without a World Bank loan but we don’t need another one now. I actually gave President Yar’adua a two page note for a N3 trillion development fund then, and if we plug your leaking pipes, it could actually be a N10 trillion Fund. I envisioned and set up the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC)—Africa’s premier infrastructure bank!

Frankly, I don’t understand why you seem highly troubled that the Soludo you thought had “disappeared from the political space” seems to be still around. Well, let me assure you that I will only ‘disappear’ in God’s own time. I gave credit to two past presidents who laid the foundation of the market economy we operate today. You did not contest or contradict any of my points. Rather, what you see is that Soludo must be ‘looking for a position’. Pity! If I am looking for a position, I would be running around one of the candidates now just as you are busy dancing Atilogwu dance at TAN and PDP rallies, struggling to keep your job. How Yar’adua drafted me to contest for governor in Anambra and APGA leadership as well and how I was “stopped” on both occasions are in the public domain. But I am not deterred for one minute. Chinua Achebe said that on leadership, Nigeria is a country that goes for a football match with its 10th Eleven. I am proud and happy to have offered to serve my people, and for the service of Nigeria, I will do it again and again. How many times did Abraham Lincoln, Obama, Reagan, etc contest before they got there? I actually encourage everyone who believes he/she has something to offer to get involved or stop complaining. I am happy seeing the increasing critical mass of professionals (like you) now getting involved. It is good for Nigeria!

What is at stake is the survival and prosperity of Nigeria. Next elections are critical, and for me the key is the ECONOMY. We must offer Nigerians clarity on the choices before them. Can I propose a three-way debate with you (representing PDP/Federal Government), nominee of APC (Utomi or Fayemi? or any other), and myself (as independent citizen— I don’t belong to any of the two). Let us have two bouts of debate between now and 12thFebruary, 2015 focusing on: CBN/AMCON and the financial system (if you want); our economy and its outlook, and agenda/alternative paths to sustainable prosperity post elections. Choose the dates and times, and for the sake of Nigeria, I will fly in. You can invite any of your international media friends as moderators. I feel the pain of the 180 million Nigerians whose tomorrow you have carelessly rendered bleak, and when I think of what the missing trillions could do for them, it becomes extremely urgent that we all must deepen the debate. Eagerly waiting for your response, please!

Charles Soludo is a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria 

Soludo

Views expressed are solely the author’s

Governor Amaechi of Rivers State danced along with Davido at the APC Presidential Campaign Rally in Lagos. Watch here courtesy Sahara TV.

Possibly the worst year of my life was 1984. I was 10 years old and blissfully unaware of the changing face of Nigeria’s political landscape. And a rather unyielding face it was – that of Muhammadu Buhari who had recently overthrown Shehu Shagari, a democratically elected president. For Buhari, this was a necessary coup d’etat because Nigeria was being overrun by corrupt politicians. However, his regime would have a devastating impact on my family’s fortunes.

For the first time, at the close of the school term in Edinburgh, my father wasn’t there to pick us up. My older brother, aged 15, took charge and we made our way to Heathrow. Touching down in Nigeria, it was my mother who met us at the airport. She didn’t smile, perhaps couldn’t; her mouth was turned down at the corners like she was being flattened by existence. Something was wrong, clearly. I waited until we were settled in the car and piped up: “Where’s Daddy?” Without turning to glance at me, my mother answered: “He’s in jail.” She always had an aversion to bullshit but even, for her, that was pretty cold. For the rest of the journey, I thought about my Daddy who returned the cash to the phone company when our account was credited with thousands of naira; Daddy who, born into abject poverty, personified what it meant to work really hard and make your own dreams come true, in a hopefully new meritocratic Nigeria.

On getting home, one of my older brothers explained that Buhari’s deputy, the uncompromising, much-feared Colonel Tunde Idiagbon, had commanded that all government contractors in Ogun state had received a notice to appear before a special committee. My dad honoured the invitation and presented all the papers to show that it was in fact the government that owed his company money. He was given two options: to pay a large amount (that no one quite understood how they arrived at) or go to jail. On principle, my dad said he wasn’t going to pay money that he didn’t owe. He was not alone. I have a group of friends with whom I am forever bound by this shared ordeal of seeing our fathers treated like criminals. And as it was for many, this period signified the beginning of financial ruin.

My father spent six months in jail and came out a different man. For one, he started clapping at our solemn family devotion in the mornings, something we never did. He explained that that was what they did in prison. He was never a big talker but seeing him work at adjusting to normal life was painful for everyone around him.

Before his release, the two giant crushers and all the machinery and equipment that belonged to his civil engineering firm were liquidated. As children, our lives changed too. We were placed in state schools and said goodbye to our privileged lifestyles.

My dad is 87 now and he’s an active member of the local advisory board of the All Progressives Party, the opposition party that has recently adopted Buhari as the presidential flag-bearer, 30 years after his first outing as a military head of state. Like many Nigerians, my father was saddened when he heard President Goodluck Jonathan claim that “stealing is not corruption”. With 24% unemployment, there are limited opportunities for young people, making them easy fodder for militants in the southernmost parts of the country and dreaded religious fundamentalists in the north. People clamour for leadership.

For the last three weeks, I have been travelling with the presidential campaign team and I have had the opportunity to listen to people and interview them. I have also had a personal need to understand this man Buhari who has run for the highest office a record three times. At the beginning, I admit I had doubts and misgivings. It’s hard not to when you’ve been stung before. But after several conversations with him, I have come to understand what the mass hysteria is all about and why Nigerians would vote for this soft-spoken but highly principled 72-year-old.

It’s quite simple and, having worked as a schoolteacher for years, I can use a school setting in my analogy. Kids like a teacher to whom they can give the runaround but when it’s crunch time, they favour an environment where the teacher is firm, one where clear boundaries have been set. Having a president who is widely described as “clueless” may have seemed to many like an opportunity, but the goodwill that Jonathan enjoyed in 2011 has been frittered away. These days, governors in the opposition parties are starved of funds and harassed when they don’t do the bidding of a first lady who campaigns for her personal candidates. Many Nigerians believe that it is time to return to one of the few faces of anti-corruption in Nigeria’s political history. Even my wrongly-imprisoned Dad would recognise that Buhari’s ambition was to stem corruption.

Unlike many Nigerian past presidents, Major-General Buhari does not have a huge mansion. You won’t hear about him owning a bank or sitting on the board of banks. Neither does he own expansive farmland. In fact, he wrote to the minister of finance requesting that he only receive 10% of the allowance that all past presidents receive on a monthly basis. Overwhelmingly, his lack of greed and personal venality means people trust him. Within a democratic dispensation, whatever excesses Buhari’s singlemindedness at tackling corruption might have shown 30 years ago can and will be curbed.

He has surrounded himself with a brilliant, savvy team of young Nigerians and I much enjoy the passion with which he talks about his three main priorities: unemployment, insecurity and education. For some Nigerians, he might not be an ideal candidate but for many more, people want anything but Jonathan. And even better it’s someone that they feel they can believe in.

 Lola Shoneyi is a Nigerian novelist, poet and convener of the Ake Book Festival. She wrote this piece for the Guardian

Views expressed are solely the author’s

“Fellow Nigerians, People accuse me of many things. But one thing they never accuse me of is corruption. They never accuse me of mediocrity, or of lying. People accuse me of many things. I have led this country and I have a record. We were not perfect, but we were effective; we solved problems, and we made Nigerians proud. In our government, we fought corruption, we stabilized the Naira, and we shut down insurgency. We shouldn’t forget so soon that there was the Maitatsine ravaging the North east and we dealt with it. We also overran the Chadian rebels.We rebuilt industries, Nigerians queued up and treated each other with respect; Nigerians took pride in our reputation for discipline.

The world admired us. We were proud to be Nigerians. However, because they can’t attack our record, they accuse me falsely of ethnic jingoism; they accuse me falsely of religious fundamentalism . Because they cannot attack our record, they accuse us falsely of calling for election violence – when we have only insisted on peace. Even as Head of State, we never imposed Shariah. All my running mates have been either Igbo or Yoruba and are always devout Christian of indisputable repute. I have and will continue to condemn those who burn God’s places of worship, be they churches or mosques and wish God’s judgment upon them. As your President, their punishment won’t stop there, we will also ensure Boko Haram and other such elements, are found, are arrested and face the full wrath of the law as punishment for their crimes against our country.

My dear friends, this is very important to note: It doesn’t matter if you are Igbo,Yoruba, Ijaw, Hausa, Idoma, Efik, Ekwere, Urhobo, Igala and, no, it does not matter if you are Christian, Muslim,animist or atheist: we need a new direction under a new leadership. The task ahead will be challenging and daunting, but it is surmountable. This is what leadership is about. My only desire is to prove to you that Nigeria can truly work. Allow me prove to you that in your lifetime, you can be proud of this country.

Let me make you this promise today: We will protect your children. We will protect your wealth. We will make this country work again. This is why I am running for the office of the president of Nigeria. This is my promise.” –

Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR)

The firestorm generated by Chukwuma Soludo’s well reasoned commentary on the place of issues in the 2015 electioneering campaign has somehow become the core of the campaign. What a way to come from outside and define agenda.

Of course I do not agree with all the points marshaled by the erstwhile CBN Governor and Patito’s Gang member, but not to commend his citizen duty of engagement or indicate as reprehensible the resort to ad hominen bashing of the former Economic Adviser instead of providing Facts to counter the views he had raised. That is issues based campaign. I will myself raise logic to support and dispute some of the points in the Soludo intervention.

I do agree with Soludo that issues matter. I also think that those who turn to divisive emotion-laden typecasting of others rather than issues pertaining to the well being of the Nigerian people do a grave disservice not only to democracy but to the long term common Good of all.

The Soludo thrust of criticism sounds like an attack on the statist perspective that intervention can generate jobs and economic growth. Even as one who likes to see government out of the way, I find the approach worrying because beyond the Keynesian logic that brought the ultimate capitalist state, the US, out of the Great Depression with initiatives like the Tennessee Valley Authority in Infrastructure, there is more recent example of post 2008 global financial crisis and the stimulus packages of the Obama Administration, and now Europe turning to Quantitative Easing, not to knock the wall street / Main street tag team approach to ensuring prosperity. Soludo’s solutions sometimes sounded like Deepak Lal on the poverty of Development Economics. I think that if we see current oil price slum as an opportunity rather than a threat then we have to see a role for government in the way Lee Kuan Yew used state intervention when Singapore was prostrate in 1965, as Nigeria is today.

This leads to another point I am not in agreement with Soludo on. He talks about cost of programmes and the fact that low oil prices mean you cannot finance a big idea. In 1965 Singapore’s main revenues came from rent for the British Naval Base and the British had decided to shut all bases east of Eden. The decision of leaders of the United Malay, National Organisational (UMNO) to eject Singapore from the Federation that was thought to be the only hope left. Singapore, out of pocket, and all dressed up with nowhere to go. Then they rolled up their sleeves, got creative, transmitted the right values and found leadership that inspired and had integrity. Today the small country probably has the largest concentration of billionaires per capital on earth.

Here in Nigeria, shortly after self government, in the 1950’s, Nnamdi Azikiwe as Premier of Eastern Region was anxious to match the free education policy of Chief Obafemi Awolowo. Palm Produce did not fetch as much as Cocoa in the Market. The civil servants led by the new Permanent Secretary in Finance, Chief Jerome Udoji thought it could not be done because of limitations of money. Zik insisted and accused Udoji, in Parliament, of trying to sabotage his government. After 40 percent of the Eastern Nigeria budget of 1957 had gone to education and was still inadequate, the Ugoji team suggested the introduction of fees for Primary 1 and Primary 5. But leadership kicked in. A philosophy called “Ibu anyi danda” raised a formula that created a partnership between government, the communities and missionaries that enabled the East leapfrog the gap in education between the East and West.

In both cases the difference was leadership. At the centre in Abuja for some reason that may be from exposure, or whatever, does not inspire as Lee Kuan Yew, Nnamdi Azikiwe and Michael Okpara did. Money is not everything in making dreams come through.

Among the many lessons we will learn, if we begin to operationalize the cash transfers initiative of APC, a concept that helped Inatio Da Silva pull Brazil out of ‘potential’ into a global economic powerhouse, is that we may not need as much cash as Soludo projects and that corruption and goal displacement is so high in a bloated public service that the savings will more than be adequate. Besides from Kayode Fayemi and Rauf Aregbesola we learn that with such programmes in Ekiti and Osun that the numbers projected are often exaggerated. Given our abuse of census we are likely to find much fewer people in those brackets. Check with the Bill Gates Foundation on satellite imagery studies of target population groups.

Having stated my major point of disagreement, it is useful to reflect on some other points raised by Soludo.

His broadside on austerity measures pronouncement and the road to austerity is a true, fair and proper read. No question that we walked with our eyes open into a repeat of 1982. In many of my speeches and my 2006 book WHY NATIONS Are Poor, I recall how the Iranian revolution pushed oil prices into the stratosphere of USD 40 a barrel. We went reckless with champagne and even importing sand and big men bought Rolls Royces. We managed to borrow ourselves into a dept trap. On this round we moved up private jets and buying up Dubai.

When this current boom started with India Rising and China producing I recall on several occasions calling for fiscal responsibility compact in which flows into the distributable pool, the FAC account, not go above $40 a barrel, with additional revenues up to $70 a barrel price going to a stabilization fund. This fund would be available were prices to drop below $40 to be used to ensure a constant budget funding up $40 in lean times. Beyond $70 it should flow into a future fund. I have been singing this song for several years but the technocrats say the politicians insist on sharing the whole money and say of talk about saving for a rainy day that it is pointless planning for the rain when it was already pouring torrents. My retort was what is so wrong in resigning to make a point and force public conversation to educate the people because these politicians may be greedy but they surely do not hate their children. They have only acted in ignorance. I point them to young Mahathir Mohammed in Malaysia who disagreed with the position of the then Prime Minister and spoke up. He was dropped from the government where he was a junior minister, and expelled from The United Malay National Organization (UMNO) the dominant party at that time. Out of government he wrote a book: The Malay Dilemma. That triggered soul searching that finished with the resignation of the Prime Minister. He was brought back into the Party. Not long after Dr Mahathir Ibn Mohammed became Prime Minister and the history of Malaysia changed for good.

What does it take to lead such change- Genius? No. I draw from the Ronald Reagan experience in the US. President Reagan was not a genius. Some think he probably already had Alzheimer disease when he entered the White house. But his values were clear as was his vision. He found the right people and an America, in retreat, was revitalized, opening the way for teen and twenty American young stars to create a new industry with the .com revolution. Ironically, I have said elsewhere that the Buhari movement somehow reminds me of the coming of Ronald Reagan.

Let me close with a caveat. My response is a citizen response. My prism on this is not partisan. But I am a card carrying member of the APC. The emergence of the APC is a culmination of my life’s quest as an institutionalist to see the dynamic of two balanced political parties. I was sure that without competition between parties that are equals progress would continue to elude Nigeria So I longed for and worked for the scenario we have today. But I see in the torrent of abuse on Chukwumah Soludo for speaking truth to power and worry this thing we have worked hard for, not in any pursuit of any self interest, but for the advance of the common good, could be threatened by those who fail to understand the very idea of the public squares and the triumph of the ideas rather than emotional outbursts that result in tension and violence. I have read unprintable things on line and in so many e-groups, some more offensive than Charlie Hebdo cartoons from both sides. This is poison we must curb. It is a double blow when those who follow this track are well educated. So let us leave this business of certificates and uncompleted PHDs and hateful portrayals of opponents in caricature from the cross to throw backs of earlier life of candidates that seem like Hitler’s Goebbels at work let’s examine vision of society of challenges and the record of incumbents. Lets ask people, regarding incumbents, is your life better today than it was four years ago and to the challengers how can you make these same lives much better four years from now. To win elections from intimidation, a shower of insults and trying to diminish opponents rather than engage their minds can only produce pyrrhic victory. The worst such “victory” would be to win an election and lose a nation through bitterness that makes it difficult to get people to work together to advance the shared good of the people. For people like me the public sphere is about the pursuit of the elevated immortality. This comes when you do what is right and if providence beckons, as it did for Mahathir Mohammed, lee Kuan Yew and Ronald Reagan then you live a name that time cannot find an eraser to rub off. Those who negate the opportunity for progress to blossom and the triumph of the human spirit to bring progress deserved die a thousand times while they still inhale and exhale no matter the title they get for their place is in infamy.

Prof. Pat Utomi

Views are solely the author’s

A recent survey conducted for ANAP Foundation by NOIPolls Limited shows a significant lead in the Kaduna State Governorship seat between the top two contenders; the Current Governor of the State His Excellency Governor Muhktar Yero and Malam Nasir El-Rufai, with a twenty-six percent point gap between the two.

When asked who respondents will be voting for in the coming February 2015 governorship elections in Kaduna State, El-Rufai led the list of candidates with 46 percent, while Governor Yero had 20 percent. However, 23 percent of those polled are undecided as to their choice of candidate; and could be key in deciding a winner.

The survey results also show that Youth between the ages of 18-29 years and the Working Class between the ages 30-45 & 46-60 are more inclined to vote for Nasir El-Rufai, while the Senior Citizens who fall in the 61+ age group are more inclined to vote for Gov. Yero.

The survey also shows that almost 9 in 10 eligible voters are registered to vote in the February elections, with about 9 in 10 being absolutely certain that they will vote. Similarly, the working class of between 30 to 60 years, as well as Senior Citizens of age 61+, are absolutely certain they will vote.

ANAP Foundation is a Non-Profit Organisation committed to promoting good governance. ANAP has been carrying out a series of Elections polls since 2011 with the sole objective of providing information on opinion research during the election periods. ANAP Foundation conducted similar polls for the Lagos state governorship & presidential elections in 2011. Our Ekiti poll release marked the first in our 2015 election series and is available at www.anapfoundation.com. Kaduna’s is the second. We will be releasing additional poll results shortly.

NOIPolls Limited, No.1 for country-specific polling services in West Africa, in technical partnership with the Gallup Organisation (USA), conducts periodic opinion polls and studies on various socio-economic and political issues in Nigeria. More information is available at www.noi-polls.com

Senator James Ebiowou Manager, an Ijaw indigene, has been representing Delta-South Senatorial District comprising 3 distinct ethnic tribes (Ijaw, Itsekiri and Isoko) in the Senate on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for 12 years (3 tenures); and he was recently imposed again on the people by the PDP political machinery as their candidate to contest for this office for another four years. It is of note that just before the primaries was conducted, the Governor of Delta State, Dr Emmanuel Uduaghan (who is an Itsekiri indigene), was suddenly constrained to step down after he had indicated a firm and formal interest to contest for this position in the 2015 general election. This situation ruffled many feathers, but the Governor readily explained that it was a decision he had to take for “peace to reign.” However, the hasty manner by which this decision was reached and the shady circumstances surrounding it raised an alarm bell. On the other hand, no Isoko indigene offered to contest for this position under the PDP, possibly on the assumption that it was fair to allow an Itsekiri indigene to contest for the office since they had never held it under the current democratic dispensation that commenced in 1999; and besides the potential candidature of the Governor was probably considered to be unassailable.

Irrespective of the above, we, “Delta-South Coalition for Progress” are quite concerned about the impact of the perpetual imposition of Senator James Manager by PDP; and to be specific, we are very worried because the public service rendered so far by Senator Manager on behalf of the entire Delta-South people has not met their yearnings. Indeed, his service in the Senate has mostly served his personal interest. We are worried that his continuation in office will only produce more of the same, and this will dash the hopes and aspirations of a large majority of Delta-South people, especially the youths and the entrepreneurial class, whose future is being mortgaged. To foster development and progress of Delta-South,we therefore say ‘NO’ to the return of Senator Manager to the Senate especially for the following reasons;

LACK OF EQUITY: James Manager’s proposed continuity as a Senator lacks equity. He was “allocated” the Delta-South Senatorial seat by PDP in 2003 after Senator Stella Omu, an Isoko indigene who had spent one-term in office (1999-2003), was deprived of returning to the Senate in order to balance the political tripod of Delta-South politics. Today, after spending almost 12 years at the Senate, Senator Manager seeks continuity. To achieve this he exploited the “Ijaw-in-power” influence and possible clandestine connivance with both known and masked militants who had threatened fire and brimstone and a total breakdown of law and order should PDP not return him to the Senate; thus compelling the Governor to withdraw from contesting this office just so that “peace may reign.” In this age and time, and with our continuous quest to deepen our democratic norms and values, we take a serious offence to being held hostage while persons without merit are forced down our throats. We therefore reject the imposition of Senator Manager on the people of Delta-South.

NEPOTISM: For the past 12 years, Senator Manager, has been Chairman, Senate Committee on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and also, since the creation of the ministry, he has held the position of Chairman, Senate Committee on Federal Ministry of Niger-Delta Affairs. This is besides being in many other vibrant committees. Using these official platforms, Senator Manager is directly involved with, and gets involved with innumerable projects by proxy, thereby amassing colossal wealth for himself, his associates and protegés to the detriment of the people he is supposed to serve. First, it is important to note that the Delta State budgetary allocation under the Federal Ministry of Niger-Delta Affairs and NDDC are based on the rightful legacy and inheritance of oil producing communities within the state, which mainly includes the Ijaw, Urhobo, Itsekiri, Isoko and Ndokwa people. Senator Manager maintains an overriding influence on this budget and continues to use his office to assign many projects on the basis of political patronage; and all in a desperate attempt to silence the voice of the people. However, “Enough is enough”. This time around, we say ‘NO.’

It is even worse that he has been using his influence as Chairman of these Committees to concentrate most of the Delta State projects within his ethnic Ijaw land; while other ethnic groups have to battle to attract projects to develop their areas. In fact, over 60% of these budgets are spent on projects in Ijaw land. This insensitive act of ‘robbing-Peter-to-pay-Paul” must stop forthwith. These facts are readily verifiable and are not far-fetched.

DEPUTY GOVERNORSHIP: The Governorship primaries for Delta State PDP held after that of the Senate had been “allocated” to Senator Manager. The twists and turns that attended this governorship primaries remains tale-by-moonlight, but at the end of the day, a candidate of Delta- North extraction ( Senator Dr IfeanyiOkowa) emerged. The story as reported by media agencies is that the same team that worked to arm-twist the Governor to drop his Senatorial ambition also worked with Senator Okowa to wrestle PDP Governorship ticket from the Governor’s preferred candidate. Surely, the lack of fixity of purpose and subsequent political somersault by the Governor did not help his case.

After the Governorship candidate emerged, the key action following was the choice of the Deputy Governor, and with typical PDP political calculation, this position was zoned to Delta-South. Knowing that the emergence of the Governorship candidate was based on a cry for equity, it was expected that equity will also be considered in the process of choosing the Deputy Governorhip candidate. As a result, the Isoko nation quickly jumped at the position given that the out-going Governor is an Itsekiri indigene, and the Senate seat was already assigned to an Ijaw person (Senator Manager).

This fervent quest by the Isokos was “visible to the blind and audible to the deaf,” yet was made more pronounced by Isoko Development Union (IDU), the apex socio-cultural organization of the Isoko nation, that indicated that this position would help assuage long held feelings of marginalization under successive administrations.

In fact, the President-General of IDU, Major General Paul Omu (rtd) expressed it clearly, “Anything short of this is not acceptable to the ethnic group.” His words, “IDU hereby states that only the political party that appoints an Isoko son or daughter as Deputy Governor will have the vote of our people. The consequence of this should not be lost to any discerning mind.”

The same behind-the-scene “political hijackers” that succeeded in extinguishing the interest of the Governor and installed Senator Manager as the candidate for Senate, and who also “helped” Dr. Okowa to emerge as PDP Governorship candidate called for their pound of flesh and insisted on presenting their own candidate for this position. After all, this is politics and they got their wish. The PDP structure eventually shunned the Isoko people and assigned the position of Deputy Governor to Mr. Kingsley Otuaro, another Ijaw man. The Ijaws now have it all, leaving the two other tribes of the tripod, Itsekiri and Isoko with nothing. The cry of the Isokos for equity and inclusiveness was rebuffed by PDP.

From inquiry, we have confirmed that Senator Manager’s mother is an Isoko by tribe, and that he plays to this maternal lineage to help him secure bloc votes from Isoko people during elections and thereafter melts away. That is probably why he was nowhere to be found when Isokos needed him the most; he could easily have argued his case for the Isokos on the strength of equity. Senator Manager’s choice, unfortunately, was reportedly Mr J. T. Government (a former chairman of SUBEB) who is also an Ijaw man. He may have thought that he had “smartly” hidden his neck in the sand like the proverbial ostrich, thinking that Isoko people may not be clever enough to figure out this treachery; and praying that the Isokos do not challenge or even punish him at the polls for not supporting them when he was needed to throw in his weight in their favour.

If Senator Manager was a stranger, he might have been spared for misunderstanding the prevailing interest of the Isokos; but Senator Manager is not a stranger. Knowing that he would need their votes again in 2015 Senatorial elections, why did he not throw in his support for their aspiration? Maybe he does not value the steady support the Isokos have given him in the last three elections (2003, 2007 and 2011).

As Senator Manager did nothing to support the emergence of an Isoko candidate for the position of Deputy Governor, the Isoko people also owe him no moral obligation to return him to the Senate. They ought to pay him back in his own coins if only just to liberate their electoral value in Delta State politics.

Delta-South Politics in 2015

A number of scenarios are now playing out as we proceed towards the 2015 elections in Delta State. Among the main political parties in the state, Delta-South seems to be the “political bride” of the moment because it has no candidate for the position of Governor in the elections. Only Delta-North and Delta-Central have Governorship candidates, and they are all vigorously wooing the Delta-South.

In Delta-South, PDP (including Senator Manager) appear to have started on the wrong footing by undermining the interests of both the Itsekiris and Isokos that are important voting blocs; but this situation has also provided both tribes with an excellent opportunity to pull together in the 2015 elections. They certainly wield significant power to determine the outcome of the governorship elections if they approach it with a common front, and side-step the “divide-and-rule” that political merchants may want to use against them. We know that the current governor of Delta State is an Itsekiri man; and both Itsekiris and Ijaws have produced Federal Ministers as well as held many other top positions at state and federal levels. The Itsekiris and Ijaws have therefore lifted themselves up politically. In contrast, the Isokos lag behind in many indices and still complain of marginalization, so it would be a tale of doom if they still act naively in the political sense. They ought not to rely on empty promises from any political party, rather they should act “smart” by using the strength of their electoral votes to their utmost benefit, so as to rise from the present “political grave yard” they find themselves in.

Only the Isokos can do it for themselves. The old mentality of “blaming others” is now useless, because here lies a golden opportunity before them. The solution is in their own hands. All politics is about numbers! If they so wish, they can sell off their pride and their rights for a “pot of porridge”, but they will only have themselves to blame. Sadly still, many politicians that represent Isoko people do not take the interests of Isoko people to heart; they work more for themselves, forgetting that they hold the lamp to their peoples’ freedom. All of us, Niger-Deltans, being minorities in the larger Nigeria can easily recall our struggles, and how we screamed for years for better representation at the top echelon of the federal government to no avail; not until providence and good fortune brought President Goodluck Jonathan to office as Vice-President and subsequently to the current position of President. That same fortune is now beckoning on Isoko people, but they seem to be at a crossroad. Will they be wise and smart enough to recognize this as a golden opportunity to win back their pride and glory?

And albeit the fact that they continue to pursue their objectives in a peaceful way, will they be brave enough to stand up and claim their inheritance? This opportunity may never come. The main political parties have elected or chosen their nominees for the exalted Governorship and Deputy Governorship positions in Delta State for the 2015 general election, and PDP has clearly told the Isoko people that they do not have space for them at the top echelon of Delta State government. It is now up to Isoko people to respond to PDP with the proof of their electoral power, to show their relevance and tell PDP that they made a serious mistake by shunning them in the 2015 political calculations. The Isoko Nation being one of the three beautiful brides from Delta-South (Ijaws, Itsekiris and Isokos), the two main opposition parties in the state, All Progressives Congress (APC) and Labour Party (LP), have recognized them for their electoral value and political strength, and deemed it fit to fill the position of Deputy Governor with Isoko indigenes. This is therefore an opportunity to begin to close the gap in the power equation of Delta-South. It is now left for the Isoko people to rise up and claim their own rights. No one is going to freely give them the power they seek on a platter of gold; they must struggle for it. They must demonstrate cue by their political actions and their votes that they love themselves enough to share a common destiny and a brighter future. No political party will recognize or respect you until you demonstrate that you have useful political value and power. As the other two main political platforms (APC and LP) have now provided a stepping stone for Isoko people to rise, It is an opportunity of a lifetime.

Therefore, the leaders of Isoko people should not fritter it away by mortgaging and trading-off their rights, their privileges and the future of Isoko youths. May we therefore sound a loud trumpet as though we speak from the preacher’s pulpit; we admonish all Isoko People today we will NEVER allow impunity, corruption, nepotism or militarism to thrive in Delta State, nor anywhere in Nigeria.

God bless Delta South Senatorial District

God bless Delta State

Delta-South Coalition for Progress

Views expressed are solely the author’s

We commend Professor Chukwuma Soludo’s for his insightful and incisive article published on January 26th in the Vanguard Newspaper, The Nation Newspaper and major online news platforms under the above title. We agree with Professor Soludo that if the political parties, including ours, must justify the overwhelming enthusiasm of Nigerians about the 2015 elections we must remain focused on the issues that matter most to them, which is the progress of our country and the well being of our people. Indeed, this has been the driving conviction of our party and our campaign all along.

While we accept his critical comments on our party, more for the intentions than for the letters, we believe some clarifications would be quite necessary. We wish to emphasise that our party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), presents a real option to Nigerians. Professor Soludo expressed the sentiments of most Nigerians when he spoke about the incalculable damage that the PDP under President Jonathan has done to the Nigerian economy and the unprecedented hardship that his six years of the locust has brought upon Nigerians.

However, the APC does not intend to ride into power on a mere rhetoric of ‘change’. The change that we propose is fundamental in many ways as it is critical to the very survival of our country. This in itself presents a major distinction between our party and the PDP. Perhaps, the most compelling argument against the People’s Democratic Party today is that its government and leadership does not even see that Nigeria is in trouble. While majority of our people wallow in abject poverty, and the gap in inequality gets ever wider by the day, yet PDP has basked in self-celebration of imagined accomplishments. How can a party or a government even begin to solve a problem that it does not believe exist? Like in all things, PDP is stuck in denial.

APC does not promise Eldorado. Neither our candidate nor our manifesto has made such promise. Our programs are based on the critical awareness of the difficult task ahead, while holding out a ray of hope to our people. The promises that we make reflect our innermost belief that the people must be at the centre of development. Especially, we believe that any economic growth that leaves the majority of the people behind, and does not protect the weakest and the vulnerable among us, is merely delusionary.

Professor Soludo has drawn our attention to the striking but unfortunate similarity in the nation’s economy in 1982-1984 period and what we are experiencing today. Back then, a period of sustained high crude oil prices had also ironically led to unsustainable debt levels and introduction of the austerity measure. Just as it happened more than three decades ago, it is difficult to explain how a sustained period of oil boom should ultimately lead to austerity measure except to say that huge opportunities that the period of boom presented were frittered away by mindless profligacy, wanton corruption and bad economic choices made by the PDP government, which has rewarded a protracted period of boom with uncertainty and austerity and is still asking for another mandate to do more damage.

If we sound upbeat in our manifesto, it is because we recognise that this crisis period also presents us a great opportunity to restructure the economy in a way that improves the quality of lives of our people by ensuring that our economic growth is job-led. Our party has identified job creation as a critical priority of government. We have noted with concerns that Nigeria’s unemployment rate of 23.9% should be seen as a national crisis. And if this government was more sensitive to the enormity of the challenge that this presents, it would be reluctant to jump all over the place in self celebration while so many of our youths are wasting away. In the immediate future, our priority is to tackle unemployment and provide good jobs by embarking on a massive programme of public works, building houses, roads, railways, ports and energy plants. Over the long term, we believe we must wean Nigeria off its dangerous addiction to oil, which currently provides 80% of our spending leaving us at the mercy of volatile international oil prices. Even as a federalist party, we believe that an economy that is dependent on a commodity that is so dangerously exposed to price volatility must always prepare for eventuality through savings and investments once the agreed thresholds are met. What we disagree with is the unilateral and arbitrary deductions in accruable revenues in a way that hampers the development of the federating States.

Going by the government’s own statistics, is it mere coincidence that the three States with the lowest unemployment rate – Osun, Lagos and Kwara – are all APC States?  This is evidence of our Party’s ability to tackle this problem head-on. APC’s policy thrust will create an enabling environment and incentives for the formal and informal sectors to lead the quest for job creation. This will be done in addition to skills acquisition and enterprise- training to ensure our youths are equipped with the appropriate skills to take these jobs. Merely introducing a National Qualification Standards would power a whole new world of opportunities for our artisans by launching them into the international job markets. We note the issue that Professor Soludo picked with our figure of 720,000 jobs. We need to clarify that this is limited to immediate direct employment opportunities from public projects and maintenance works only. Our manifesto actually promises a lot more jobs but we see that as the product of the enabling environment we seek to create for private sector-led job creation, especially in high opportunity sectors like agriculture, construction, entertainment, tourism, ICT and sports. APC economic policy is driven by an overwhelming concern for the level of inequality in our country today. Specifically, to quote from our manifesto, we intend to achieve our job-creation agenda through:

• Massive public works programme especially the building of a national railway system (complete with tramline systems for our major cities), interstate roads, and ports. These projects must commence early in the life of the new administration.
• Establishing a new Federal Coordinating Agency – Build Nigeria – to fast track and manage these public works programmes with emphasis on Nigerian labour.
• Embarking vigorously on industrialization, public works and agricultural expansion.
• Diversifying the economy through a national industrial policy and innovative private-sector incentives that will move us away from over reliance on oil into value-added production especially manufacturing.
• Reviving textile and other industries that have been rendered dormant because of inappropriate economic policies.
• Reinvigorating the solid mineral sector by revamping our aged mining legislation and attracting new investment.
• Developing a new generation of domestic oil refineries to lower import costs, enhance our energy independence and create jobs.
• Working with state governments to turn the country into Africa’s food basket through a new system of grants and interest free loans, and the mechanization of agriculture.
• Encouraging and promoting the use of sports as a source of job creation, entertainment and recreation.
• Creating a knowledge economy by making Nigeria an IT /professional/Telecom services outsourcing destination hub to create millions of jobs.
• Filling the huge gap in middle level technical manpower with massive investment in technical and tradesmen’s skills education.
• Ensuring that all foreign contractors to include a plan of developing local capacity (technology transfer).
• Creation of six Regional Development Agencies covering the country with representatives from the Federal Government, States and the private sector to manage a new N300billion growth fund.

Our obsession with job creation stems from the fact that we believe we must focus on actions that would serve the twin purpose of closing the gap in inequality and creating opportunities for our people, especially the youth. Our current situation is dangerous for the stability of the country. The Human Development Index position ranks Nigeria 152 of 169 countries surveyed. This is incompatible with the present administration’s insistence on celebrating GDP growth and our absolute economic size hinged on a routine rebasing exercise. As many commentators have pointed out, rebasing the GDP is not an achievement. Rather, it is a mere statistical adjustment that does not impact on the real or imagined standards of living of the people. So, we also wonder what this PDP government is celebrating. And maybe it is not that difficult to explain when one discovers that a small elite has captured the state and converted our commonwealth into private gain, becoming disproportionately rich from massive corruption while poverty has deepened. The income gap and illicit capital flight are growing alarmingly. Instead of investing in modernizing our economy, massive theft has starved the country of desperately needed resources for infrastructure and public services and left us dangerously dependent on fluctuating global oil prices for our economic survival. For the ordinary Nigerian, the much-touted economic growth cited by the present administration has not translated into employment or development. Over 100 million Nigerians are struggling to make ends meet on a regular basis.

Furthermore, we understand Professor Soludo’s concern on the cost of implementing our various programmes, especially those relating to social welfare. The enormity of this challenge is not lost on us. We also know that sometimes, going into government is like buying a “no testing” electronic equipment. You may never know the true state of what you are buying until you get in. We want to assure Professor Soludo and other likeminded Nigerians that our policy team is looking at all the options – including the worst-case scenario of a completely empty treasury. We are however confident that by blocking avenues of wastages and corruption alone, savings could run into billions of Naira that could be deployed for productive use. Even so, we agree with Professor Soludo that savings from corruption alone will not tackle the enormous challenges we are likely to confront in government. We are however comforted by the fact that a four-year period provides opportunity for phased implementation while growing the resource base as well as changing the culture of graft while reducing the cost of governance.

Quite significantly, we know that periods of economic downturn also potentially provide opportunity to lay the foundation for real economic restructuring and development; and we can reflect on how Singapore under Premier Lee Kuan Yew and the United States of America under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt used historic moments of economic downturn in their countries to launch a period of sustained development and a new deal for their people. General Buhari has never claimed to have the magic wand nor the answers to all of the country’s problems. His greatest assets would be his moral authority borne out of his self-sacrificing integrity, his sincerity of purpose and his patriotic zeal to return Nigeria to the path of progress and genuine development.  He is committed to utilize competent and committed people of integrity wherever he may find them. This is precisely why he promised when flagging off his campaign in Port Harcourt on January 5, 2015 that if voted into power, it would be an opportunity to, in his words, “finally assemble a competent team of Nigerians to efficiently manage this country”. This is a clear sign that a meritocratic process will govern the appointment of those that would be entrusted with managing our economy and country. His stint as Head of State shows a track record of using self-sacrificing professionals in his governance team. His previous cabinet included the likes of Dr. Onaolapo Soleye, Professor Tam David-West and Professor Ibrahim Gambari.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) is determined to lead Nigeria in the direction of change that is so urgently required. And even as we prepare for the immediate rescue mission in 2015, our minds are also set on building the necessary democratic institutions that would entrench our ideological conviction as a progressive and people-centred party. A National Progressives Policy Institute is part of this plan in the near future but we are very clear about the enormity of the task ahead. We would not seek to underplay it. We are supremely confident that we are equal to the task and we appreciate the commitment of majority of Nigerians to this quest for change.

 Dr. Kayode Fayemi heads the Policy, Research and Strategy Directorate of the APC Presidential Campaign.

Views expressed are solely the author’s

As the world is awakened by news of terrorist atrocities and other disasters almost every day, most people around the globe have become accustomed to such sad developments. This has been further compounded by the global oil prices crisis. Nations that remain solely dependent on oil revenue have had to re-think new strategies for diversifying their economies while pursuing stringent austerity measures simultaneously. From Europe, which continues to grapple with the challenges posed by a desire to remain united under a single umbrella, to the Middle East which is daily confronted with crisis in Syria and Iraq the world seems to have lost count of its many woes.

The year 2015 brings with it so much hope and a desire to actualise the lost dreams and truncated aspirations of the common man which has been necessitated by failed promises of politicians and the excesses of bad governance in Nigeria. This reflects the ambience that permeates the day to day lives of the average Nigerian today. Nigeria remains Africa’s largest economy and the 26th largest economy in the world. The African continent continues to look up to Nigeria for leadership on different issues that affect not only the lives of its citizens but particularly on external relations.

In addition to this, Nigeria has led numerous peacekeeping missions across Africa and the entire world. With a formidable military force, the Nigerian Armed Forces have earned the respect and admiration of the entire world as a result of its efforts at assisting troubled nations in Africa to entrench peace, law and order which has come at a heavy cost to Nigeria. Nigeria has a also served in the United Nations Security Council multiple times as a non-permanent member which is an attestation to her uncompromising stance with regards to de-colonization and world peace.

After over 50 years of experimenting, Nigerians finally have a change to determine the course of the nation’s destiny. The General Elections scheduled to hold in February remains the most significant elections yet in the history of Nigeria. Surprisingly, the Western media seems to be quite ignorant of how important these elections are to the future of Nigeria and the entire African continent. Make no mistakes; if Nigeria fails to get it right this time, the entire future of democracy in Africa’s largest single black nation would be threatened. Democracy in Africa by extension would also be in jeopardy as disgruntled elements bent on acquiring power by all means may be propelled to capitalise on Nigeria’s failures thereby hijacking political power for their own selfish gains.

The stakes are too high. The entire world has its eyes set on Nigeria. Nigerians are more than ever ready to ensure that their votes count and that they are a part of the democratic process in their country. No doubt, years of military coups and counter coups have affected the country’s democratic sojourn. The politicisation of state institutions, endemic corruption, and bad governance has also damaged credibility domestically and plummeted recognition and competence amongst the committee of nations. But this year presents Nigerians with another solid opportunity to get things right!

Sadly, one can say that the apparent disinterest in the forthcoming elections by Western media may be attributed to all the negative news associated with Nigeria. After over 6 months, the Chibok girls that were abducted by the dreaded and yet cowardly Boko Haram sect are yet to be released. Too many innocent lives have been lost to the persistent insecurity ravaging the North Eastern part of the country. The economy seems to be struggling and the average Nigerian feels that his government has failed him.

On the bright side, 2015 offers Nigerians a new beginning. Nigerians want to be able to raise their heads up in confidence and be proud of their passport. Nigerians are tired of all the stigmatisation that comes with being a Nigerian. The rest of the world has come to witness us as a nation that has very little regards for human life and progress.

The truth is, unless Nigerians come out to vote on Election Day, things are bound to remain as they are. Unless Nigerians are ready and willing to pick up their Permanent Voters Cards and effect the vote in the leaders of their choice, they would remain relegated to the dictates of a few who amass state wealth of their own selfish interests.

It is no longer news that Nigeria is saddled with numerous developmental challenges ranging from erratic power supply, bad roads, and weak institutions to insecurity. But just so the facts are clear, the only way to get Nigeria out of the present mess it has found itself in is if its citizens will exercise their civic responsibilities by voting out bad and corrupt leaders and voting in competent and trustworthy ones.

There has been so much talk about Africa rising in recent times. The prospects for economic growth and development in Africa remain hopefully positive. But of what benefits are these if political accountability is lacking? Of what benefits are increased economic fortunes if they do not meet the needs of the average Nigerian? Nigerians are tired of asking these same questions repeatedly. This reality has created an infestation of political apathy on the path of citizens.

Nigerians feel that they have had enough of this backwardness. The general feeling in the air and on the streets is that democracy has come to stay. Nigeria is bigger than any one single person, party or institution. To all those who have left Nigeria out of fear, know this; Nigeria will rebound! We are a peace loving people and we are committed to ensuring that we keep our nation united. Nigerians are saying NO to electoral violence, electoral thugs and rigging. We demand better! We want our lost glory back. The youth and elderly want a prosperous Nigeria. We will not settle for anything less.

As we approach February 2015, Nigerians all over the world should heed this clarion call; pick up your voters card and come out en mass to vote. The whole world expects us to get it right; we cannot afford to let the world down. Say no to violence. Say no to the disruption of public peace. Your vote is your voice! Make it count. Long live the federal republic of Nigeria!

Aina Folahanmi is a Political Scientist that resides in Nigeria. He remains committed to youth development and is a proponent of good governance ad anti-corruption in Nigeria

Views expressed are solely the author’s

In 2011 Nigeria saw its worst election period in what is relatively a young immature democracy. Coupled with the wide spread election malpractices nationwide, violence and resentment enveloped most parts of the Northern region. Traditional leaders and their properties were destroyed, the ruling party and many of its associates in the north were not spared from the ensuing chaos, most unfortunately, innocent lives and properties were also caught in what became known as the ‘Post-Election violence of 2011’. It became clear at that point that Nigeria’s long history of bitterness between regions and religions had in no way disappeared and that if a quick solution wasn’t found, future elections could be the doom of a Nation with great prospects.

Blames flew In from all parts of the country, a picture was painted of a Northern region whose people only wanted their own to be the President or no other. The opposition Candidate was chastised for not coming out fast enough to denounce the violence which they implied might have ended it and brought normalcy to the region.

Even though it wasn’t entirely true, the ruling party and its government were quick to brand the problem as anarchy by disgruntled supporters of the opposition candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari and that some miscreants had seized the opportunity to re-introduce sectarian violence to the volatile region. They called on the opposition candidate to immediately come out, denounce the violence and call his supporters to order, which he gladly did even though he was also a victim of the violence at that moment and he had definitely played no part towards inciting them in the first place.

Now what the ruling party and its government forgot to say or chose not to say was the truth – that a very huge population of the Northern region felt deprived and suffocated by the election rigging with the disparity in results especially in the North, they also forgot to point out that according to statistics, the same Northern region had the worst living conditions and illiteracy levels in the entire country (which is quite a substantial number). They also conveniently left out the fact that an ongoing systematical genocide was taking place in the North-Eastern part of the country and some other small pockets of the northern region and that poverty worse than we know it, was and still is the fastest growing epidemic in that region! With confirmed cases of people selling their votes for as little as a one pack of noodles, a bar of soap, a plate of rice or 100 Naira (Half a dollar) you will understand that calling the poverty levels there a growing epidemic is putting it lightly.

Now bringing us to my main reason for scribbling down these, I have read about and watched recent campaign tours of Mr. President (Goodluck Jonathan) to some Northern states where he and his campaign team have been subjected to ridicule, being stoned at, booed and pelted with objects of all kinds, most of all being held under siege at the Katsina family residence of the late President, Umaru Musa Yar’adua by protesting youths. First of all I must say that I do not support any of that and it is totally unacceptable! A few northern leaders like former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar have called for an end to that and I also believe more northern leaders should add their voices. Although I find it hard to believe that he is getting resentment in states controlled by his party and safe passage in states controlled by the opposition when it should be vice versa, leading me to believe recent statements credited to Gov. Isa Yuguda of Bauchi State on BBC Hausa saying that the PDP had a hand in the whole disobedience at the Bauchi rally.

Something that should be pointed out here is that the defiance of these youths has nothing to do with Mr. President’s religion or region, but more to do with the frustration, hurt and deep anger of a huge population of the Northern region towards Jonathan’s government and his intention to continue for another four years, a feeling that a growing number of Nigerians nationwide also share! Hundreds of Thousands of Nigerians especially from the North-east have been slaughtered in the past 3-4 years under a questionable insurgency which this government has not only failed to tackle, but also seem adequately unable to tackle. Economy and means of livelihood in the north is fast disappearing, northerners have been living under heavy army siege since 2010 all in the name of ineffective checkpoints to checkmate Boko-Haram! A typical journey from Abuja to Kano which normally takes 4-5 hours before 2010 now takes at least 7 hours on a good day! Entire families, villages and ways of life of a people is on the brink of extinction. Education, healthcare and businesses are fast becoming non-existent in most parts of the Northern region! Even if it were a northerner in that position at the moment acting the same way Mr. President is, he definitely will get the same, if not even worse rejection than is being dished out to President Jonathan now.

In a sane environment, a Leader would be ashamed of those in his government and party who act as ambassadors of his to their people in the Northern region, especially with the level of resentment and widespread rejection he has witnessed in the past few weeks within that region. But then again it raises the question if Nigeria has had a leader for the past six years and also the level of illusion which he and those around him have created for themselves.

Another point worth pointing out to my brothers and sisters from all regions of our dear nation is that M.K.O Abiola of blessed memory was a Southerner who was well accepted and voted for in the North. Ex-President Obasanjo campaigned in the North on two occasions against a Northerner and he wasn’t booed or ridiculed. The same President Jonathan campaigned in the Northern region in 2011 and it was largely successful with no animosity towards him, so now that the rejection of his government and the ruling party is so wide spread in the north, we must all understand that it is the genuine anger and pain which the people are suffering that has led them to that path and the only way they feel they can vent that anger is by acting in such manner, though not acceptable but it is effective.

One lesson he must learn from all of this is that it is not by claiming to have a large number of Northerners or people from any region in his government/ cabinet that he will gain acceptability, but by doing what he swore an oath to do and making Nigeria a safe and inclusive nation for all its citizens.

On a final note, with a dwindling popularity all over Nigeria, President Jonathan does not need an army of kamikaze internet warriors to spread his propaganda in a style similar to that of the Nazi party about phantom, non-existent policies and ghost projects which have had absolutely no impact whatsoever on the people of Nigeria. Mr. President’s popularity is so bad in some parts of the country that only those who benefit directly from his clueless kindergarten form of leadership support his ambition for re-election.

I hope and pray to God almighty that by May 29, 2015 when he, Jonathan hand’s over to a more qualified and credible successor in the person of General Muhammad Buhari, we will still have a Nation to salvage. Amen

#ChangeIsHere2015

Collect your PVC, Vote for Change and Protect your VOTES!

Abdulrahman Abba

@abbanani66

Views expressed are solely the author’s

There is plenty talk of how one candidate or party will ‘Islamize’ the Federal Republic of Nigeria if it assumes power. As ridiculous as that sounds, ‘silence being the best answer for a fool’ doesn’t really work in this clime. In fact, silence translates to endorsement in some instances, so let’s actually explore the feasibility of this expensive argument.

It is important to shed light on the governance structure of the Federal Republic of Nigeria so that we understand the prerequisite steps needed to ‘Islamize’ the country. This is germane because in Nigeria we tend to ‘put the cart before the horse’. We act without thinking things through and just taking a walk down any street would reveal this culture. Examples abound such as roads built without proper drainage systems; plazas/malls built without any thought to parking space; millions spent on a Cinderella wedding only to rent a small pitiful flat; and beautifully adorned gates with poorly furnished homes just to mention a few. As you can see, it is a common trait of the system and has evolved into a culture of the people.

Nigeria operates a federal system with 3 arms of government: The Executive, The Legislature and Judiciary. According to the constitution;

1. The Executive-Carries out the law and is made up of the President, Vice-President and The Federal Executive Council consisting of 36 ministers appointed by the President. The President shall be the Chief Executive of the Federation and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces of the federation.
2. The Judiciary- Interprets the law and is made up of the highest court- the Supreme Court, followed by the Court of Appeal, High Court, Sharia Courts and Customary Court.
3. The Legislature- Makes the law, provides representation and oversight. It consists of 2 chambers- the House of Representatives and Senate.

The constitution as the supreme law of the nation seeks to promote good governance. It enshrines a system of checks and balance to ensure no one branch of government becomes too powerful. The evidence of separation of powers can be seen in the fact that each branch of government can change the acts of other branches such as

• The President can veto laws by the National Assembly
• The National Assembly confirms or rejects the President’s appointment and can remove the President from office in exceptional circumstances
• The Judiciary can overturn unconstitutional laws; and are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.

Now this talk of Islamizing Nigeria didn’t come from thin air but has its roots from the time of Usman Dan Fodio’s Jihad over 200 years ago (1804-1810) which swept across most of the north and reached down south to the north of Lagos. Additionally, the growth of Islamic fundamentalism at different phases of Nigeria’s history has continued to raise age-old fears and suspicions. On the other hand, in the South and parts of the North, Nigeria was being Christianized by the missionaries; and with the advent of Independence, the battle of religion has been meshed with politics. This has created a very toxic and tense interplay between politics, religion and ethnicity where in recent times religion has trumped ethnicity. But all in all, the beauty of Nigeria’s democracy is that a semblance of a system exists and the stateless era of Jihad and Crusades has truly gone if only the people choose to let go of it too.

Now lets return to the possibility of our billion-dollar question;

For a President to Islamize Nigeria, he’ll need to

1. Appoint only Sheiks and Jihadists as Ministers to all the 36 ministries in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
2. Appoint extremists as head of parastatals and all federal executive bodies such as National Population Commission, INEC, FIRS etc
3. Appoint an extremist Grand Khadi as the Chief Justice of Nigeria
4. Ensure the National Assembly (who are elected by their constituencies in the 36 states, 109 Senators and 360 Representatives [469 total]) are overwhelmingly extreme Islamists to be able to easily secure 2/3 of both chambers needed to change the constitution
5. Ensure the State House of Assembly in all the 36 States are also filled with extremists to secure the 2/3 votes out of the 1,152 possible votes to change all laws to fit the Sharia code.
6. Institutionalize Islam as the only acceptable and state approved religion and then ensure all the Service Chiefs are Islamists to secure and legitimize the propagation of Islam by force and to reduce the monopoly on violence that terrorists groups currently have
7. Select Special Advisers that are Islamic Scholars and provide solid expertise on establishing an efficient government grounded in Islamic law

How practical does the above sound? It is almost like assuming that a Roman Catholic on assuming the office of the President of Nigeria, will damn the constitution and transform Nigeria into a replica of the Holy See/Roman Curia.

Unfortunately, the above can only happen when you completely obliterate this very diverse Nigeria with over 500 ethnic groups and 250 languages to achieve a completely homogenous country. You might be able to achieve that by borrowing the technology from the Hollywood movie ‘Men In Black’ to blank out the memory of all non-Muslims in the country while filling their new blank minds with an Islamist identity. But with a population of over 170 million and half of them non-Muslims, one might need to also rent those scary aliens from the movie as well to threaten to annihilate the masses if they don’t convert. This will scare the life out of people who will now be directed to make use of every INEC office or LGA office to stand in line and collect their new Islamist identity.

Outside of establishing strong links with Hollywood to execute the audacious plan above, it is safe to say that ‘Islamizing’ the sovereign entity called Nigeria is impossible. The suspicions and fears that have transferred from generation to generation are mere illusions under a democratic system. Our battles are completely human struggles to determine who gets what, when, where and how; wrapped in religious garments by political entrepreneurs.

Someone who didn’t have any ideas for leadership had an even brighter idea to distract the people with baseless religious fears. This strategy intends to sharpen our differences, fracture the society and wish away the complexities of the land while pushing us into the binary world of ‘us’ and ‘them’. This ensures that the people are too busy fighting each other instead of demanding better leadership. This has kept the citizens living as slaves in their own land while they strive to live in a heavenly kingdom that doesn’t exist on earth.

For the record, the constitution expressly states that the federal government shall not adopt any religion (Chapter I, Part II, Section 10). It also ensures that the Local to State and Federal Governments all have to abide by the federal character to reflect the constituency it represents (Chapter II, Section 14,article 3).

On a final note, we must question our basis for prioritizing our love for religion over our desire for development. In the ancient world, the idea of God actually propelled people to build magnificent structures that in today’s world still attract a pilgrimage as people scramble to see such wonders of the world. This proves that this fiery overzealous practice of hate (aka religion), leaves no legacy but robs us of the present and dims the promise of tomorrow.

Nigeria should stop shaming the black race by its chronic underdevelopment and its intense, sordid love affair with mediocrity. When Time magazine regarded Nigeria as the ‘First among equals’ in 1960 and referenced it as ‘Africa’s super power’ it was not based on its size or natural resources alone but in the strength and beauty of its diversity. Why we have decided to use this as a noose to hang ourselves is truly the billion-dollar question?

For those who choose to live in fear of a 200 year old suspicion who’s manifestation in modern Nigeria is nothing like the organized exercise used to boost trade along the Sahel-please answer the following questions; does the Benue or Niger river flow based on who is Christian or Muslim? Do the tomato farms in Jigawa grow based on the religion of the persons that till the land? Do the banana plantations in Ogoni land grow based on the planters brand of religion? If no, then as these things grow and bloom based on effort, vision and consistency so also should Nigeria just bloom without strangling itself with religious agendas that should remain strictly in the personal space of the citizenry.

 Simi Fajemirokun 

Views expressed are solely the author’s

The Obanema of Opume Kingdom in Bayelsa State, King A. J. Turner has predicted that Nigerians will regret if they allow sentiments of tribe or religion lead them into voting out President Goodluck Jonathan in next February’s presidential election.

The monarch, who disclosed this yesterday while hosting a pro-democracy group, United Summit Friends Development Association (USFDA) in his Abuja residence, said, “Nigerians will regret if they chase President Goodluck Jonathan out of office. They should vote him in next month’s presidential election for continuity of development.

“But if they must chase Jonathan out of office, it shouldn’t be because of sentiments. It is quite a challenging time for Mr President and I will always support any cause that will promote President Jonathan’s re-election. I thank you for finding me worthy to be your grand patron. I can’t promise that I can take you to see Mr President at this time. If he returns as president, there will be enough time for you to see him so that he will thank you for your contributions. Every deed will be rewarded,” he said.

First of all, ask yourself, what is the logic behind Nigerians buying diesel and kerosene at the same price today as they did last year when the difference between the price of a barrel of oil today and last year is over $50? For those still able to think without the cloud of confusion caused by partisanship, there is definitely an ongoing scam in the downstream sector and the size may just be bigger than the monumental heist of 2011. Let me break it down in naira; the price of oil has reduced by as much as N10,000 since last year – at more than 50 per cent reduction – but a supposedly deregulated diesel and petroleum downstream sector has never seen its prices shift against the global norm that has seen prices go down all over the world, from the United States, to the United Kingdom, from India and down here to sub Saharan Africa.

Now, we will quickly jump the gun and start blaming our regular thieves in government and their cronies posing as businessmen but aren’t we the biggest culprits here? We have been watching oil price take a plunge but we have not even bothered to ask, what happened to the pump prices in Nigeria? Oh, do we need the late Gani Fawehinmi and Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti to lead this particular fight again? But really, when are we as a people ever going to fight for ourselves? Is it after we pray and Jesus finally appears to say, “If you like pray till tomorrow, the power to save your country is in your hands!”?

I have an idea, maybe, we should beg Fela Anikulapo-Kuti to do a song about this? Oh! He did one that should inspire you, “Zombie oh, Zombie, Zombie no move unless you tell am to move, Zombie!” Another old Fela line aptly captures our docility even today, “My people sef dey fear too much…we fear to fight for freedom, we fear to fight for liberty…we no wan die…we no wan quench…papa dey for house…mama dey for house.” We will never run out of excuses to keep quiet about the things that hurt us most but we will never get out of this mess until we find our voices. We need to walk the talk of all that angers us about this ordinarily beautiful but unfortunately abused country.

It is indeed funny that we find ourselves in the same position decade after decade. We trust a new government to do better than the old by getting more things right. Most times, new governments come in amidst jubilation and high expectations from the people. Within months, the song begins to change as the promising government eventually starts to lose goodwill. What hardly happens are the people actually going on the streets to make their feelings known, they often immediately start looking to have a new government replace the current one.

It is okay to work out plans to do away with a bad government, what is not okay is to let every bad government run its course without the people at least working to make sure it gets the job done while its time runs out. We cannot always look to new governments to save us if we don’t decide to save ourselves. The worst leader would be forced to get more things right if we were not this docile a people. As children, most of us naturally protested to have our parents feed us. As children, we’d cry at night to let our parents know that the heat was getting to us. The noise from our cries ensured that our parents got more or less forced to attend to our needs. Children often have their way simply because they are natural protesters.

On that note, we Nigerians have a lot to learn from children. The child gets what it wants because they make life uncomfortable for their mother until they will get done. Yes, politicians have failed Nigerians but we the people have failed ourselves too. Pick Nigerians of high integrity, with time tested values and expertise to run this country, they’d only do marginally better than the crops of leaders we have had in the past half a century. The reason is because politicians are indebted to too many people, cabals and forces. These forces are their permanent distractions. It is often, almost always, impossible for a leader to be tuned into the real thing; running a country or a state. The allure and blindness that come with power eventually get these leaders carried away.

The onus is on the people to cure that blindness. An average president lives in a prison. There is hardly anytime to follow the news or read the papers. They are left to read what their aides want them to read. They are often always in situations where they get told that the people are so happy with them they are working to see how they can make the leader live for another 900 years so that they can continue to lead the country for that long. Power is a garden full of sycophants. It takes a lot of intentional control, personal stubbornness and self-awareness to have power and remember its essence. Many get carried away by power, especially those who never prepared for or wanted it.

Elections are here again. As it is, there is a huge chance a new government will be formed on May 29, 2015. Again, it would take a certain level of delusion or getting lost in the garden of power to pretend that the incumbent is not in danger of losing. If a new government comes in, trust Nigerians to celebrate. We will expect them to be different, to be better and to indeed fix Nigeria. They will come with such intentions too but like every government, they will be in power, dwelling as tenants in a garden full of sycophants. Except, we, the people, run the government with them, getting them to be immediately aware of what we want or don’t want, we’d be looking to vote them out within two years of their tenure.

If we retain the status quo, it would of course mean that we are okay with the way they are running the country. That wouldn’t need us to protest or get them to run the country better. They have been running the country since 2010 so if we vote them to run it till 2019, we’d be saying, “Thank you for all you did between 2010 and 2015, now we will be trusting you with another four years.” No matter what parties post as ads in newspapers, one can only hope that the decision of the majority of Nigerians is influenced by the three main issues; the economy, national security and the fight against corruption.

The ball is in the court of the average Nigerian. The ball has always been even though we wrongly assume that we only have power during elections. No, citizens have power at all times. Having it is of course one thing, knowing we have it is another and using it is in itself another entirely. We just must know that privately debating our problems won’t cut it, we need to walk the talk. Until then, nothing will change even if we change the government every New Year.

The piece first appeared in the PUNCH Newspapers, republished here with permission from the author

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, Members of Congress, my fellow Americans:

We are fifteen years into this new century. Fifteen years that dawned with terror touching our shores; that unfolded with a new generation fighting two long and costly wars; that saw a vicious recession spread across our nation and the world. It has been, and still is, a hard time for many.

But tonight, we turn the page.

Tonight, after a breakthrough year for America, our economy is growing and creating jobs at the fastest pace since 1999. Our unemployment rate is now lower than it was before the financial crisis. More of our kids are graduating than ever before; more of our people are insured than ever before; we are as free from the grip of foreign oil as we’ve been in almost 30 years.

Tonight, for the first time since 9/11, our combat mission in Afghanistan is over. Six years ago, nearly 180,000 American troops served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Today, fewer than 15,000 remain. And we salute the courage and sacrifice of every man and woman in this 9/11 Generation who has served to keep us safe. We are humbled and grateful for your service.

America, for all that we’ve endured; for all the grit and hard work required to come back; for all the tasks that lie ahead, know this:

The shadow of crisis has passed, and the State of the Union is strong.

At this moment – with a growing economy, shrinking deficits, bustling industry, and booming energy production – we have risen from recession freer to write our own future than any other nation on Earth. It’s now up to us to choose who we want to be over the next fifteen years, and for decades to come.

Will we accept an economy where only a few of us do spectacularly well? Or will we commit ourselves to an economy that generates rising incomes and chances for everyone who makes the effort?

Will we approach the world fearful and reactive, dragged into costly conflicts that strain our military and set back our standing? Or will we lead wisely, using all elements of our power to defeat new threats and protect our planet?

Will we allow ourselves to be sorted into factions and turned against one another – or will we recapture the sense of common purpose that has always propelled America forward?

In two weeks, I will send this Congress a budget filled with ideas that are practical, not partisan. And in the months ahead, I’ll crisscross the country making a case for those ideas.

So tonight, I want to focus less on a checklist of proposals, and focus more on the values at stake in the choices before us.

It begins with our economy.

Seven years ago, Rebekah and Ben Erler of Minneapolis were newlyweds. She waited tables. He worked construction. Their first child, Jack, was on the way.

They were young and in love in America, and it doesn’t get much better than that.

“If only we had known,” Rebekah wrote to me last spring, “what was about to happen to the housing and construction market.”

As the crisis worsened, Ben’s business dried up, so he took what jobs he could find, even if they kept him on the road for long stretches of time. Rebekah took out student loans, enrolled in community college, and retrained for a new career. They sacrificed for each other. And slowly, it paid off. They bought their first home. They had a second son, Henry. Rebekah got a better job, and then a raise. Ben is back in construction – and home for dinner every night.

“It is amazing,” Rebekah wrote, “what you can bounce back from when you have to…we are a strong, tight-knit family who has made it through some very, very hard times.”

We are a strong, tight-knit family who has made it through some very, very hard times.

America, Rebekah and Ben’s story is our story. They represent the millions who have worked hard, and scrimped, and sacrificed, and retooled. You are the reason I ran for this office. You’re the people I was thinking of six years ago today, in the darkest months of the crisis, when I stood on the steps of this Capitol and promised we would rebuild our economy on a new foundation. And it’s been your effort and resilience that has made it possible for our country to emerge stronger.

We believed we could reverse the tide of outsourcing, and draw new jobs to our shores. And over the past five years, our businesses have created more than 11 million new jobs.

We believed we could reduce our dependence on foreign oil and protect our planet. And today, America is number one in oil and gas. America is number one in wind power. Every three weeks, we bring online as much solar power as we did in all of 2008. And thanks to lower gas prices and higher fuel standards, the typical family this year should save $750 at the pump.

We believed we could prepare our kids for a more competitive world. And today, our younger students have earned the highest math and reading scores on record. Our high school graduation rate has hit an all-time high. And more Americans finish college than ever before.

We believed that sensible regulations could prevent another crisis, shield families from ruin, and encourage fair competition. Today, we have new tools to stop taxpayer-funded bailouts, and a new consumer watchdog to protect us from predatory lending and abusive credit card practices. And in the past year alone, about ten million uninsured Americans finally gained the security of health coverage.

At every step, we were told our goals were misguided or too ambitious; that we would crush jobs and explode deficits. Instead, we’ve seen the fastest economic growth in over a decade, our deficits cut by two-thirds, a stock market that has doubled, and health care inflation at its lowest rate in fifty years.

So the verdict is clear. Middle-class economics works. Expanding opportunity works. And these policies will continue to work, as long as politics don’t get in the way. We can’t slow down businesses or put our economy at risk with government shutdowns or fiscal showdowns. We can’t put the security of families at risk by taking away their health insurance, or unraveling the new rules on Wall Street, or refighting past battles on immigration when we’ve got a system to fix. And if a bill comes to my desk that tries to do any of these things, it will earn my veto.

Today, thanks to a growing economy, the recovery is touching more and more lives. Wages are finally starting to rise again. We know that more small business owners plan to raise their employees’ pay than at any time since 2007. But here’s the thing – those of us here tonight, we need to set our sights higher than just making sure government doesn’t halt the progress we’re making. We need to do more than just do no harm. Tonight, together, let’s do more to restore the link between hard work and growing opportunity for every American.

Because families like Rebekah’s still need our help. She and Ben are working as hard as ever, but have to forego vacations and a new car so they can pay off student loans and save for retirement. Basic childcare for Jack and Henry costs more than their mortgage, and almost as much as a year at the University of Minnesota. Like millions of hardworking Americans, Rebekah isn’t asking for a handout, but she is asking that we look for more ways to help families get ahead.

In fact, at every moment of economic change throughout our history, this country has taken bold action to adapt to new circumstances, and to make sure everyone gets a fair shot. We set up worker protections, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid to protect ourselves from the harshest adversity. We gave our citizens schools and colleges, infrastructure and the internet – tools they needed to go as far as their effort will take them.

That’s what middle-class economics is – the idea that this country does best when everyone gets their fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. We don’t just want everyone to share in America’s success – we want everyone to contribute to our success.

So what does middle-class economics require in our time?

First – middle-class economics means helping working families feel more secure in a world of constant change. That means helping folks afford childcare, college, health care, a home, retirement – and my budget will address each of these issues, lowering the taxes of working families and putting thousands of dollars back into their pockets each year.

Here’s one example. During World War II, when men like my grandfather went off to war, having women like my grandmother in the workforce was a national security priority – so this country provided universal childcare. In today’s economy, when having both parents in the workforce is an economic necessity for many families, we need affordable, high-quality childcare more than ever. It’s not a nice-to-have – it’s a must-have. It’s time we stop treating childcare as a side issue, or a women’s issue, and treat it like the national economic priority that it is for all of us. And that’s why my plan will make quality childcare more available, and more affordable, for every middle-class and low-income family with young children in America – by creating more slots and a new tax cut of up to $3,000 per child, per year.

Here’s another example. Today, we’re the only advanced country on Earth that doesn’t guarantee paid sick leave or paid maternity leave to our workers. Forty-three million workers have no paid sick leave. Forty-three million. Think about that. And that forces too many parents to make the gut-wrenching choice between a paycheck and a sick kid at home. So I’ll be taking new action to help states adopt paid leave laws of their own. And since paid sick leave won where it was on the ballot last November, let’s put it to a vote right here in Washington. Send me a bill that gives every worker in America the opportunity to earn seven days of paid sick leave. It’s the right thing to do.

Of course, nothing helps families make ends meet like higher wages. That’s why this Congress still needs to pass a law that makes sure a woman is paid the same as a man for doing the same work. Really. It’s 2015. It’s time. We still need to make sure employees get the overtime they’ve earned. And to everyone in this Congress who still refuses to raise the minimum wage, I say this: If you truly believe you could work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it. If not, vote to give millions of the hardest-working people in America a raise.

These ideas won’t make everybody rich, or relieve every hardship. That’s not the job of government. To give working families a fair shot, we’ll still need more employers to see beyond next quarter’s earnings and recognize that investing in their workforce is in their company’s long-term interest. We still need laws that strengthen rather than weaken unions, and give American workers a voice. But things like child care and sick leave and equal pay; things like lower mortgage premiums and a higher minimum wage – these ideas will make a meaningful difference in the lives of millions of families. That is a fact. And that’s what all of us – Republicans and Democrats alike – were sent here to do.

Second, to make sure folks keep earning higher wages down the road, we have to do more to help Americans upgrade their skills.

America thrived in the 20th century because we made high school free, sent a generation of GIs to college, and trained the best workforce in the world. But in a 21st century economy that rewards knowledge like never before, we need to do more.

By the end of this decade, two in three job openings will require some higher education. Two in three. And yet, we still live in a country where too many bright, striving Americans are priced out of the education they need. It’s not fair to them, and it’s not smart for our future.

That’s why I am sending this Congress a bold new plan to lower the cost of community college – to zero.

Forty percent of our college students choose community college. Some are young and starting out. Some are older and looking for a better job. Some are veterans and single parents trying to transition back into the job market. Whoever you are, this plan is your chance to graduate ready for the new economy, without a load of debt. Understand, you’ve got to earn it – you’ve got to keep your grades up and graduate on time. Tennessee, a state with Republican leadership, and Chicago, a city with Democratic leadership, are showing that free community college is possible. I want to spread that idea all across America, so that two years of college becomes as free and universal in America as high school is today. And I want to work with this Congress, to make sure Americans already burdened with student loans can reduce their monthly payments, so that student debt doesn’t derail anyone’s dreams.

Thanks to Vice President Biden’s great work to update our job training system, we’re connecting community colleges with local employers to train workers to fill high-paying jobs like coding, and nursing, and robotics. Tonight, I’m also asking more businesses to follow the lead of companies like CVS and UPS, and offer more educational benefits and paid apprenticeships – opportunities that give workers the chance to earn higher-paying jobs even if they don’t have a higher education.

And as a new generation of veterans comes home, we owe them every opportunity to live the American Dream they helped defend. Already, we’ve made strides towards ensuring that every veteran has access to the highest quality care. We’re slashing the backlog that had too many veterans waiting years to get the benefits they need, and we’re making it easier for vets to translate their training and experience into civilian jobs. Joining Forces, the national campaign launched by Michelle and Jill Biden, has helped nearly 700,000 veterans and military spouses get new jobs. So to every CEO in America, let me repeat: If you want somebody who’s going to get the job done, hire a veteran.

Finally, as we better train our workers, we need the new economy to keep churning out high-wage jobs for our workers to fill.

Since 2010, America has put more people back to work than Europe, Japan, and all advanced economies combined. Our manufacturers have added almost 800,000 new jobs. Some of our bedrock sectors, like our auto industry, are booming. But there are also millions of Americans who work in jobs that didn’t even exist ten or twenty years ago – jobs at companies like Google, and eBay, and Tesla.

So no one knows for certain which industries will generate the jobs of the future. But we do know we want them here in America. That’s why the third part of middle-class economics is about building the most competitive economy anywhere, the place where businesses want to locate and hire.

21st century businesses need 21st century infrastructure – modern ports, stronger bridges, faster trains and the fastest internet. Democrats and Republicans used to agree on this. So let’s set our sights higher than a single oil pipeline. Let’s pass a bipartisan infrastructure plan that could create more than thirty times as many jobs per year, and make this country stronger for decades to come.

21st century businesses, including small businesses, need to sell more American products overseas. Today, our businesses export more than ever, and exporters tend to pay their workers higher wages. But as we speak, China wants to write the rules for the world’s fastest-growing region. That would put our workers and businesses at a disadvantage. Why would we let that happen? We should write those rules. We should level the playing field. That’s why I’m asking both parties to give me trade promotion authority to protect American workers, with strong new trade deals from Asia to Europe that aren’t just free, but fair.

Look, I’m the first one to admit that past trade deals haven’t always lived up to the hype, and that’s why we’ve gone after countries that break the rules at our expense. But ninety-five percent of the world’s customers live outside our borders, and we can’t close ourselves off from those opportunities. More than half of manufacturing executives have said they’re actively looking at bringing jobs back from China. Let’s give them one more reason to get it done.

21st century businesses will rely on American science, technology, research and development. I want the country that eliminated polio and mapped the human genome to lead a new era of medicine – one that delivers the right treatment at the right time. In some patients with cystic fibrosis, this approach has reversed a disease once thought unstoppable. Tonight, I’m launching a new Precision Medicine Initiative to bring us closer to curing diseases like cancer and diabetes – and to give all of us access to the personalized information we need to keep ourselves and our families healthier.

I intend to protect a free and open internet, extend its reach to every classroom, and every community, and help folks build the fastest networks, so that the next generation of digital innovators and entrepreneurs have the platform to keep reshaping our world.

I want Americans to win the race for the kinds of discoveries that unleash new jobs – converting sunlight into liquid fuel; creating revolutionary prosthetics, so that a veteran who gave his arms for his country can play catch with his kid; pushing out into the Solar System not just to visit, but to stay. Last month, we launched a new spacecraft as part of a re-energized space program that will send American astronauts to Mars. In two months, to prepare us for those missions, Scott Kelly will begin a year-long stay in space. Good luck, Captain – and make sure to Instagram it.

Now, the truth is, when it comes to issues like infrastructure and basic research, I know there’s bipartisan support in this chamber. Members of both parties have told me so. Where we too often run onto the rocks is how to pay for these investments. As Americans, we don’t mind paying our fair share of taxes, as long as everybody else does, too. But for far too long, lobbyists have rigged the tax code with loopholes that let some corporations pay nothing while others pay full freight. They’ve riddled it with giveaways the superrich don’t need, denying a break to middle class families who do.

This year, we have an opportunity to change that. Let’s close loopholes so we stop rewarding companies that keep profits abroad, and reward those that invest in America. Let’s use those savings to rebuild our infrastructure and make it more attractive for companies to bring jobs home. Let’s simplify the system and let a small business owner file based on her actual bank statement, instead of the number of accountants she can afford. And let’s close the loopholes that lead to inequality by allowing the top one percent to avoid paying taxes on their accumulated wealth. We can use that money to help more families pay for childcare and send their kids to college. We need a tax code that truly helps working Americans trying to get a leg up in the new economy, and we can achieve that together.

Helping hardworking families make ends meet. Giving them the tools they need for good-paying jobs in this new economy. Maintaining the conditions for growth and competitiveness. This is where America needs to go. I believe it’s where the American people want to go. It will make our economy stronger a year from now, fifteen years from now, and deep into the century ahead.

Of course, if there’s one thing this new century has taught us, it’s that we cannot separate our work at home from challenges beyond our shores.

My first duty as Commander-in-Chief is to defend the United States of America. In doing so, the question is not whether America leads in the world, but how. When we make rash decisions, reacting to the headlines instead of using our heads; when the first response to a challenge is to send in our military – then we risk getting drawn into unnecessary conflicts, and neglect the broader strategy we need for a safer, more prosperous world. That’s what our enemies want us to do.

I believe in a smarter kind of American leadership. We lead best when we combine military power with strong diplomacy; when we leverage our power with coalition building; when we don’t let our fears blind us to the opportunities that this new century presents. That’s exactly what we’re doing right now – and around the globe, it is making a difference.

First, we stand united with people around the world who’ve been targeted by terrorists – from a school in Pakistan to the streets of Paris. We will continue to hunt down terrorists and dismantle their networks, and we reserve the right to act unilaterally, as we’ve done relentlessly since I took office to take out terrorists who pose a direct threat to us and our allies.

At the same time, we’ve learned some costly lessons over the last thirteen years.

Instead of Americans patrolling the valleys of Afghanistan, we’ve trained their security forces, who’ve now taken the lead, and we’ve honored our troops’ sacrifice by supporting that country’s first democratic transition. Instead of sending large ground forces overseas, we’re partnering with nations from South Asia to North Africa to deny safe haven to terrorists who threaten America. In Iraq and Syria, American leadership – including our military power – is stopping ISIL’s advance. Instead of getting dragged into another ground war in the Middle East, we are leading a broad coalition, including Arab nations, to degrade and ultimately destroy this terrorist group. We’re also supporting a moderate opposition in Syria that can help us in this effort, and assisting people everywhere who stand up to the bankrupt ideology of violent extremism. This effort will take time. It will require focus. But we will succeed. And tonight, I call on this Congress to show the world that we are united in this mission by passing a resolution to authorize the use of force against ISIL.

Second, we are demonstrating the power of American strength and diplomacy. We’re upholding the principle that bigger nations can’t bully the small – by opposing Russian aggression, supporting Ukraine’s democracy, and reassuring our NATO allies. Last year, as we were doing the hard work of imposing sanctions along with our allies, some suggested that Mr. Putin’s aggression was a masterful display of strategy and strength. Well, today, it is America that stands strong and united with our allies, while Russia is isolated, with its economy in tatters.

That’s how America leads – not with bluster, but with persistent, steady resolve.

In Cuba, we are ending a policy that was long past its expiration date. When what you’re doing doesn’t work for fifty years, it’s time to try something new. Our shift in Cuba policy has the potential to end a legacy of mistrust in our hemisphere; removes a phony excuse for restrictions in Cuba; stands up for democratic values; and extends the hand of friendship to the Cuban people. And this year, Congress should begin the work of ending the embargo. As His Holiness, Pope Francis, has said, diplomacy is the work of “small steps.” These small steps have added up to new hope for the future in Cuba. And after years in prison, we’re overjoyed that Alan Gross is back where he belongs. Welcome home, Alan.

Our diplomacy is at work with respect to Iran, where, for the first time in a decade, we’ve halted the progress of its nuclear program and reduced its stockpile of nuclear material. Between now and this spring, we have a chance to negotiate a comprehensive agreement that prevents a nuclear-armed Iran; secures America and our allies – including Israel; while avoiding yet another Middle East conflict. There are no guarantees that negotiations will succeed, and I keep all options on the table to prevent a nuclear Iran. But new sanctions passed by this Congress, at this moment in time, will all but guarantee that diplomacy fails – alienating America from its allies; and ensuring that Iran starts up its nuclear program again. It doesn’t make sense. That is why I will veto any new sanctions bill that threatens to undo this progress. The American people expect us to only go to war as a last resort, and I intend to stay true to that wisdom.

Third, we’re looking beyond the issues that have consumed us in the past to shape the coming century.

No foreign nation, no hacker, should be able to shut down our networks, steal our trade secrets, or invade the privacy of American families, especially our kids. We are making sure our government integrates intelligence to combat cyber threats, just as we have done to combat terrorism. And tonight, I urge this Congress to finally pass the legislation we need to better meet the evolving threat of cyber-attacks, combat identity theft, and protect our children’s information. If we don’t act, we’ll leave our nation and our economy vulnerable. If we do, we can continue to protect the technologies that have unleashed untold opportunities for people around the globe.

In West Africa, our troops, our scientists, our doctors, our nurses and healthcare workers are rolling back Ebola – saving countless lives and stopping the spread of disease. I couldn’t be prouder of them, and I thank this Congress for your bipartisan support of their efforts. But the job is not yet done – and the world needs to use this lesson to build a more effective global effort to prevent the spread of future pandemics, invest in smart development, and eradicate extreme poverty.

In the Asia Pacific, we are modernizing alliances while making sure that other nations play by the rules – in how they trade, how they resolve maritime disputes, and how they participate in meeting common international challenges like nonproliferation and disaster relief. And no challenge – no challenge – poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change.

2014 was the planet’s warmest year on record. Now, one year doesn’t make a trend, but this does – 14 of the 15 warmest years on record have all fallen in the first 15 years of this century.

I’ve heard some folks try to dodge the evidence by saying they’re not scientists; that we don’t have enough information to act. Well, I’m not a scientist, either. But you know what – I know a lot of really good scientists at NASA, and NOAA, and at our major universities. The best scientists in the world are all telling us that our activities are changing the climate, and if we do not act forcefully, we’ll continue to see rising oceans, longer, hotter heat waves, dangerous droughts and floods, and massive disruptions that can trigger greater migration, conflict, and hunger around the globe. The Pentagon says that climate change poses immediate risks to our national security. We should act like it.

That’s why, over the past six years, we’ve done more than ever before to combat climate change, from the way we produce energy, to the way we use it. That’s why we’ve set aside more public lands and waters than any administration in history. And that’s why I will not let this Congress endanger the health of our children by turning back the clock on our efforts. I am determined to make sure American leadership drives international action. In Beijing, we made an historic announcement – the United States will double the pace at which we cut carbon pollution, and China committed, for the first time, to limiting their emissions. And because the world’s two largest economies came together, other nations are now stepping up, and offering hope that, this year, the world will finally reach an agreement to protect the one planet we’ve got.

There’s one last pillar to our leadership – and that’s the example of our values.

As Americans, we respect human dignity, even when we’re threatened, which is why I’ve prohibited torture, and worked to make sure our use of new technology like drones is properly constrained. It’s why we speak out against the deplorable anti-Semitism that has resurfaced in certain parts of the world. It’s why we continue to reject offensive stereotypes of Muslims – the vast majority of whom share our commitment to peace. That’s why we defend free speech, and advocate for political prisoners, and condemn the persecution of women, or religious minorities, or people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. We do these things not only because they’re right, but because they make us safer.

As Americans, we have a profound commitment to justice – so it makes no sense to spend three million dollars per prisoner to keep open a prison that the world condemns and terrorists use to recruit. Since I’ve been President, we’ve worked responsibly to cut the population of GTMO in half. Now it’s time to finish the job. And I will not relent in my determination to shut it down. It’s not who we are.

As Americans, we cherish our civil liberties – and we need to uphold that commitment if we want maximum cooperation from other countries and industry in our fight against terrorist networks. So while some have moved on from the debates over our surveillance programs, I haven’t. As promised, our intelligence agencies have worked hard, with the recommendations of privacy advocates, to increase transparency and build more safeguards against potential abuse. And next month, we’ll issue a report on how we’re keeping our promise to keep our country safe while strengthening privacy.

Looking to the future instead of the past. Making sure we match our power with diplomacy, and use force wisely. Building coalitions to meet new challenges and opportunities. Leading – always – with the example of our values. That’s what makes us exceptional. That’s what keeps us strong. And that’s why we must keep striving to hold ourselves to the highest of standards – our own.

You know, just over a decade ago, I gave a speech in Boston where I said there wasn’t a liberal America, or a conservative America; a black America or a white America – but a United States of America. I said this because I had seen it in my own life, in a nation that gave someone like me a chance; because I grew up in Hawaii, a melting pot of races and customs; because I made Illinois my home – a state of small towns, rich farmland, and one of the world’s great cities; a microcosm of the country where Democrats and Republicans and Independents, good people of every ethnicity and every faith, share certain bedrock values.

Over the past six years, the pundits have pointed out more than once that my presidency hasn’t delivered on this vision. How ironic, they say, that our politics seems more divided than ever. It’s held up as proof not just of my own flaws – of which there are many – but also as proof that the vision itself is misguided, and naïve, and that there are too many people in this town who actually benefit from partisanship and gridlock for us to ever do anything about it.

I know how tempting such cynicism may be. But I still think the cynics are wrong.

I still believe that we are one people. I still believe that together, we can do great things, even when the odds are long. I believe this because over and over in my six years in office, I have seen America at its best. I’ve seen the hopeful faces of young graduates from New York to California; and our newest officers at West Point, Annapolis, Colorado Springs, and New London. I’ve mourned with grieving families in Tucson and Newtown; in Boston, West, Texas, and West Virginia. I’ve watched Americans beat back adversity from the Gulf Coast to the Great Plains; from Midwest assembly lines to the Mid-Atlantic seaboard. I’ve seen something like gay marriage go from a wedge issue used to drive us apart to a story of freedom across our country, a civil right now legal in states that seven in ten Americans call home.

So I know the good, and optimistic, and big-hearted generosity of the American people who, every day, live the idea that we are our brother’s keeper, and our sister’s keeper. And I know they expect those of us who serve here to set a better example.

So the question for those of us here tonight is how we, all of us, can better reflect America’s hopes. I’ve served in Congress with many of you. I know many of you well. There are a lot of good people here, on both sides of the aisle. And many of you have told me that this isn’t what you signed up for – arguing past each other on cable shows, the constant fundraising, always looking over your shoulder at how the base will react to every decision.

Imagine if we broke out of these tired old patterns. Imagine if we did something different.

Understand – a better politics isn’t one where Democrats abandon their agenda or Republicans simply embrace mine.

A better politics is one where we appeal to each other’s basic decency instead of our basest fears.

A better politics is one where we debate without demonizing each other; where we talk issues, and values, and principles, and facts, rather than “gotcha” moments, or trivial gaffes, or fake controversies that have nothing to do with people’s daily lives.

A better politics is one where we spend less time drowning in dark money for ads that pull us into the gutter, and spend more time lifting young people up, with a sense of purpose and possibility, and asking them to join in the great mission of building America.

If we’re going to have arguments, let’s have arguments – but let’s make them debates worthy of this body and worthy of this country.

We still may not agree on a woman’s right to choose, but surely we can agree it’s a good thing that teen pregnancies and abortions are nearing all-time lows, and that every woman should have access to the health care she needs.

Yes, passions still fly on immigration, but surely we can all see something of ourselves in the striving young student, and agree that no one benefits when a hardworking mom is taken from her child, and that it’s possible to shape a law that upholds our tradition as a nation of laws and a nation of immigrants.

We may go at it in campaign season, but surely we can agree that the right to vote is sacred; that it’s being denied to too many; and that, on this 50th anniversary of the great march from Selma to Montgomery and the passage of the Voting Rights Act, we can come together, Democrats and Republicans, to make voting easier for every single American.

We may have different takes on the events of Ferguson and New York. But surely we can understand a father who fears his son can’t walk home without being harassed. Surely we can understand the wife who won’t rest until the police officer she married walks through the front door at the end of his shift. Surely we can agree it’s a good thing that for the first time in 40 years, the crime rate and the incarceration rate have come down together, and use that as a starting point for Democrats and Republicans, community leaders and law enforcement, to reform America’s criminal justice system so that it protects and serves us all.

That’s a better politics. That’s how we start rebuilding trust. That’s how we move this country forward. That’s what the American people want. That’s what they deserve.

I have no more campaigns to run. My only agenda for the next two years is the same as the one I’ve had since the day I swore an oath on the steps of this Capitol – to do what I believe is best for America. If you share the broad vision I outlined tonight, join me in the work at hand. If you disagree with parts of it, I hope you’ll at least work with me where you do agree. And I commit to every Republican here tonight that I will not only seek out your ideas, I will seek to work with you to make this country stronger.

Because I want this chamber, this city, to reflect the truth – that for all our blind spots and shortcomings, we are a people with the strength and generosity of spirit to bridge divides, to unite in common effort, and help our neighbors, whether down the street or on the other side of the world.

I want our actions to tell every child, in every neighborhood: your life matters, and we are as committed to improving your life chances as we are for our own kids.

I want future generations to know that we are a people who see our differences as a great gift, that we are a people who value the dignity and worth of every citizen – man and woman, young and old, black and white, Latino and Asian, immigrant and Native American, gay and straight, Americans with mental illness or physical disability.

I want them to grow up in a country that shows the world what we still know to be true: that we are still more than a collection of red states and blue states; that we are the United States of America.

I want them to grow up in a country where a young mom like Rebekah can sit down and write a letter to her President with a story to sum up these past six years:

“It is amazing what you can bounce back from when you have to…we are a strong, tight-knit family who has made it through some very, very hard times.”

My fellow Americans, we too are a strong, tight-knit family. We, too, have made it through some hard times. Fifteen years into this new century, we have picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off, and begun again the work of remaking America. We’ve laid a new foundation. A brighter future is ours to write. Let’s begin this new chapter – together – and let’s start the work right now.

Thank you,

Let’s start with those who will not be voting in next month’s presidential election. There will be those who have no interest, who are distressed that in 2014 the choice Nigeria is faced with is between an underachieving President and a septuagenarian former military dictator. Then, there are those who would like to vote but cannot, because the Independent National Electoral Commission has made it impossible. Many have in recent weeks been on a frantic manhunt for their Permanent Voter Cards, and are already frustrated. Others are people like me who were not in the country during the last elections, hence never got the Temporary Voter Cards, and by implication, no PVCs. We will be hoping INEC opens one final registration window for us.

However, among those who will be voting, there will be many reasons for their choices. I will try to touch on all those reasons, but I must point out that they are in no way mutually exclusive. Most people will be voting based on a basket of reasons – with those reasons carrying different weights in the entire basket.

There will be those who will be voting neither for the All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, nor for the Peoples Democratic Party’s Goodluck Jonathan, but instead for one of the nine other candidates (yes there are actually a total of 11 candidates in the running, including one woman, Prof. Remi Sonaiya, of KOWA Party).

But if history is anything to go by, the majority of voting Nigerians will be making a choice between the Broom and the Umbrella. A cross between a Broom and an Umbrella would be a “Broombrella”, or an “Unbroomla”, and there will be some Nigerians who will happily settle for that hybrid grouping – all those ones who will vote for Buhari (APC) and, two weeks later, Jimi Agbaje (PDP) in Lagos State, or for Jonathan (PDP) and Dakuku Peterside (APC) in Rivers State.

Those who will be voting Buhari will belong to one or more of the following camps. There are those who have always voted him – in 2003, 2007, 2011 – and are today looking in amusement at the flood of latecomers to the “Sai Buhari” party. There are those who will vote Buhari simply because he’s a Muslim and from the North. For them it is enough. There are those voting Buhari because of the presence of Yemi Osinbajo on the ticket (I have met two such persons, who said they were unenthusiastic about a Buhari presidency until Osinbajo came on board). And there will be those people who, four years ago, belonged to the “I’m voting Goodluck Not PDP” clan, but have now “seen” the light.

There are those who belong to the ABJ – “Anyone But Jonathan” – camp. Give them a frog or a tortoise as candidate and they will find reasons why that animal will make a better President than the incumbent.

In recent weeks, a “Buhari Did Me Bad, But…” camp has emerged. These are the people who suffered in the hands of Buhari while he was a Head of State, but are now ready to proclaim to the world that they have forgiven him. Tunde Thompson, one of the two Guardian journalists jailed under Decree 4, is one of them. My friend’s wife recently found out from her mother that her late dad was once imprisoned by Buhari in Kirikiri Prisons. But the mother insists she will vote for Buhari, in spite of what he did to her husband. It has been 30 years since Buhari’s government, and a lot has been forgiven. (Jonathan, it seems, has also given some people a strong reason to forgive Buhari).

Finally, there are those who will vote for Buhari but will never publicly admit to that, because it would be politically incorrect to do so. Some of those who are today saying “Jonathan or Nobody!” already know deep down in them they will be voting for Buhari next month.

Finally, there are those people who just want change for the sake of change. After 16 years of the PDP at the centre, let’s give another set of people the chance to fail Nigeria, they reason. “Let us substitute the PDP and allow them to rest for a while. After all isn’t democracy the power to make a mistake and to change your mind four years down the line? If Buhari and his people fail us we will send them packing in 2019.”

Now, let’s move to the other side; those who will be voting for President Jonathan to get a second term in office. Just as for Buhari, there will be those voting for Jonathan simply because he is an Ijaw man, or from the South-South, or a Christian, or has a middle name “Azikiwe”, or is married to a woman whose mother is Igbo. For them, any of those reasons will be enough. He is our son, we can’t abandon him. As Asari Dokubo memorably put it, in September 2013, “Monkey no fine, but him mama like am.”

There will be those voting for Jonathan because they think he has “tried”, given the circumstances. Whether they believe he has been truly “transformational” – as his paid defenders would like us to believe – is another matter, for another day.

In a recent article on this column, I asked if there were any people who voted Buhari in 2011 but will now be voting Jonathan. I didn’t think there would be anyone, but there are. On the Internet, I came across a piece by Bayo Adeyinka, who says in 2011 he was an “avid supporter” of Buhari, but is today “wholeheartedly (in) support” of Goodluck Jonathan. He argues, rightly, that “the fact that you think Goodluck Jonathan doesn’t look, talk or act presidential does not mean you should doubt what he has done or refuse to accept the good he has done.” He goes on to list the President’s “ground-breaking efforts” to deal with Nigeria’s “numerous issues”. His list includes – and I touched on some of these achievements in my article last week – transport infrastructure (railways, Lagos-Ibadan highway renovation); agriculture, the Bank of Industry’s interventions in the SME sector; Nollywood support; Local Content in the oil and gas industry; FOI Act; National Mortgage Refinancing Company; YouWIN; PHCN privatisation, and reforms in the civil service payroll system (IPPIS).

Also voting for Jonathan will be the “ABN” people – Anyone But A Northerner. They are the ones who complain bitterly of what they term the “Born To Rule” mentality of the North. The truth is their fears cannot, and should not, be waved away or dismissed without consideration.

Then there is the “ABB” camp – “Anyone But Buhari”. They believe that Buhari is a Sharia-obsessed Muslim fundamentalist, “half-literate”, a man who is not as “clean” as the rest of the world presumes him to be. Some of them are genuinely terrified of him, in their nightmares they see him turn Nigeria into a giant prison to which only him holds the padlock and the key. I have personally seen no evidence that Buhari was or is any of those things. He did not Islamise Nigeria when he was a military dictator and had the best chance to do so; he was as hard on Maitatsine as he was on the rest of the people he thought were troubling Nigeria. He has had people like Bishop Hassan Matthew Kukah come out in his defence, against allegations of fundamentalism.

Here’s what I think about February 14 – which, interestingly, is now being cast as a battle between the #FailBuhari and #FeBuhari camps. I still think Jonathan and his government have let us down very badly, considering the kind of hope he represented, and the promises he made in 2011. I think we have been let down so badly in fact that Buhari has now come to represent our best chance for a dramatic change in direction. I’d like to be a part of it all. Which is why I’m pleading with INEC to give me a chance to register and put my PVC where my mouth is.

Follow me on Twitter: @toluogunlesi

This piece was first published in the PUNCH newspapers. Re-published here with permission from the author

In early 2011, my boss at First Bank decided to take a poll within the office on we were going to vote for. Before the voting, each camp was expected to make a short pitch on the why their candidate should win the elections. I did my part extolling the right principles of Buhari founded on integrity and how the lack of these virtues among Nigerian leaders have shortened the opportunities in Nigeria. Few days later, President Buhari came to Lagos and visited the City Hall for a Townhall session, I dropped work on my desk. I ran out of First bank building in Marina, took a “Keke Marwa” and I watched the General from a distance. I am moved to tears in few times but that day I truly did shed a tear. I wish he won but truly he did not win. With glee, I took a picture of my ballot paper excited at my sole decision to choose CPC.

I have fought drift and purposelessness in this nation. I have fought corruption and indiscipline. I have fought indolence and the betrayal of trusts. I have fought the Nigerian civil war and struggled for the unity of this country in many other ways.

I have had the fortune and privilege of managing national resources in various capacities? As a military commander, as a state governor, as a minister, as head of the Petroleum Trust Fund, and as the head of state of this great country. And in all that I have been and done, I have never touched a kobo of public funds.

I say this without pride and with all sense of responsibility and humility; but I challenge anyone in the race for the leadership of this country then or now to dare make the same claim.

After being head of state, I am sure I could easily have retired into a life of comfort and ease as an elder statesman, as a contractor or as a beneficiary of any one of the nation’s many generous prebendal offerings. But that is not what I wish to do with my life. – General M. Buhari April 2011

I decided  I will not vote Buhari again for reasons of age and he also stated that 2011 was his last chance. So for Buhari, I had to foreclose choosing him. I looked forward to a Ribadu, a Fashola and any other young Nigerian that tickles me. However, we are back to 2011 scenarios and Goodluck Jonathan is not an option. I had to change my mind and allow General Buhari another chance. Another chance to instruct the politician that public office is not their fortress. I don’t like the status quo. I don’t like politicians being comfortable; that’s why Jimi Agbaje tickles me. Politicians have to be disciplined to ensure that they keep yearning to give their best to the people. Also, the second term of most Nigerian politicians is very disappointing. The zeal and the enthusiasm with the incentive to ask for another mandate is usually lost.

I am voting General Buhari in 2015 again. He got a lot of things wrong from a historical perspective but I connect with his integrity and interest to reset this country. It might be more politically correct to sit on the fence, accept aloofness and radically analyse issues. Check through the history of Nigeria, you will find out that parties with progressive tendencies never led this country. It is time to scale Nigeria’s leadership from the accidental to the prepared.

However, it is instructive to know this might not be that neutrality typical of advocate of civic good. We must always know that 1000 advocacy efforts will never be complete if political action is not followed with it. Martin Luther King walked from Selma to Montogomery but if LBJ did not sign the bills, his lofty efforts and the entire movement wouldn’t have come full circle. I don’t want to be weary from seeking that change that in making public resources to work for the people.

Maybe it is time to start a new conversation with a new government who is ready to make difference. I think change sends the old and the new a definitive message, that power truly belongs to people. Rightly, we can change again if APC disappoints us. The twists and turns, that makes the son of a black immigrant lead the world’s largest economy  in its dark hours is the hallmark of great countries. That is really the essence of democracy. However, whoever wins, our vigilance will be eternal.

Oluwaseun Onigbinde is the founder of BudgIT and he is on Twitter as @seunonigbinde

The best graduating student of Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State in the 2013/2014 academic session, Oputa Alma, 21, finished from the Department of Computer Science and Information Science with 4.99 CGPA. She shares her story with TUNDE AJAJA in this interview

Some people have said that the grading system in private schools is too generous and unrealistic unlike what obtains in public schools.

Do you see any difference in their products?

The grading system is the same.

It’s just that we pay for our comfort in private schools, which enhances our performance.

Those things that could make learning very conducive and stress-free are already provided for us, and we pay for them, so we tend to do better.

For instance, some public schools pay N15,000 as tuition fee while some private schools pay up to N700,000. Whatever we pay already covers power supply, water supply, accommodation, equipped and functional laboratories, etc, and an enclosed environment where not just anything goes, unlike in public schools where those facilities are not always readily available and the teaching and living conditions are not good enough.

The attention and care we get in private schools cannot be compared to what we have in public schools.

When you put all these variables together, they influence a student’s performance. With the kind of money we pay and the kind of academic environment, the difference is expected.

We learnt you had wanted to study Medicine while growing up. What motivated you?

My dad is a doctor, a consultant, and he is my role model, so I wanted to follow in his steps and make him proud.

I loved what he was doing and I just wanted to be like him.

That was why I had such plan, not because I knew anything about Medicine or had so much interest.

Why did you end up studying Computer Science and Information Science?

I didn’t pick the course; one of my teachers in secondary school randomly picked it for me because I never knew about the course until I was offered.

I was keen on studying Medicine then, so I didn’t care what my second choice was.

In fact, everyone thought I would study Medicine, but it didn’t work out. But now, I’m okay with the course, coupled with the Information Science that deals with everything about information, from the gathering/collection to its processing, storage and dissemination.

I have always loved mathematical courses and subsequently, the programming courses because I love practicality.

I don’t really like theory; theoretical courses were boring to me.

I had to put in extra efforts in reading and learning them.

Oscar and Diego Costa both scored two goals each as Premier League leaders Chelsea overpowered Swansea 5-0 at the Liberty Stadium on Saturday to go five points clear at the top of the table.

The forwards completed their doubles before half-time as Jose Mourinho’s side extended their lead over Manchester City ahead of the champions’ match at home to Arsenal on Sunday, with substitute Andre Schurrle adding a fifth goal in the 79th minute.

It took visitors Chelsea less than a minute to open the scoring in south Wales.

Swansea midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson’s poorly-weighted pass to Tom Carroll bounced off the Tottenham loanee and into the path of the Brazilian.

Three touches later and Oscar was celebrating a 20-yard strike that gave Lukasz Fabianski no chance.

The writing was on the wall for Swansea. After all, in the previous 15 games in which Oscar had scored for Chelsea, the Blues had never lost.

But Swansea, to their credit, came within inches of equalising, straight from the restart. Sigurdsson let fly from 25 yards, but the ball struck the outside of the upright and went out for a goal-kick. Stung by such a poor opening, Swansea were back on the front foot straight away with Wayne Routledge having a goal-bound shot blocked by Branislav Ivanovic.

At the other end, Willian fired over after Oscar’s shot had been parried by Fabianski. Oscar was just wide with another firm strike and Eden Hazard was denied by a smart save from Swansea’s Polish goalkeeper.

However, they got their second goal in the 20th minute. Fabregas, Willian and Oscar combined on the edge of the box to set up Costa for a simple finish.

More than a Church!!! Not just another Ministry!!! A Commission or Formation or Organization might not still be the best way to describe her based on the role she has played in the lives of several thousands that have either identified with her or visited her.

FATHER’S HOUSE!!! The Custodian, Originator and Primary Practitioner of the cliche “The Place where Friends meet friends and all meet Jesus.” Spanning the last decade, She has lived through to her name and her core Vision of Shaping Destinies and Adding Fragrance to living. Lives have been outstandingly reformed, transformed and setup for Upward and Forward Mobility. This great Concept called Father’s House that has a high percentage (about 90%) of worshippers being students has undoubtedly been a source of Impact and strength to our Nation and the globe at large as her products are scattered abroad with tremendous engagement and quality results and testimonials.

Several great Speakers and Anointed Vessels had been of great blessings having graced the Father’s House Altar to bless lives including Dr. Albert Odulele (UK), Rev. Sam Adeyemi (Daystar), Rev. Biodun Fatoyinbo (COZA), Rev. Afolabi Coker, Fela Durotoye, Lanre Olusola (Catalyst), Olakunle Soriyan, Rev. Adeniyi Daniel, Rev. Ola Kris (South Africa), Rev. Tunde Amosun and a host of others

Father’s House is indeed more than a Church, it’s a Nation. Father’s House is more than a Community, it’s a Conglomerate. Father’s House is more than a Clan, it’s a Constituency. It’s the Home where leaders are bred and groomed for greatness. One of her distinguishing factors is that she trains not to keep but to give to the world and the Father’s House will never stop training, building, grooming, nurturing and equipping young folks and old alike in the areas of Personal Giftings, Leadership Development, Capacity Building, Personal Growth, Spiritual Development, Global Relevance and Excellence amongst many others.

The popular saying is that many come to earn a University degree in the city of Abeokuta but stumbled on something bigger than that. Many claimed to have stumbled on true discovery and definition of life, others claim to have come to discover God and the true essence of living. Some others claim to have gotten the real thing they need for their next level but the Universal Summary is that Father’s House puts all on a pedestal to individual’s Core Essence and Core Genius. You are empowered to Maximize life and exceed expectations and the Father’s House hasn’t done less in the progression of years in the last decade.

Habits have been reformed, attitudes had been transformed, behaviours have been reconfigured and all of these and more call for celebration which has been planned to hold on Sunday 18th January, 2015, 8am at GlassHouse Odo-Eran Obantoko Abeokuta, Ogun State.

Where else would you be? It has been a decade without decay. It has been full of Grace without disgrace. It has been clouded with Greatness without Regrets. Why not Join us and let’s do da Anniversary Special Jamzzzzzz together in the Father’s House with Rev Wales (Founder and Convener), Okeysokay, Arole, Crystal Sound, Heaven’s Best, First Class Visuals an lots more. It’s gonna be Exasperating Praise that is not an inch diluted.

Rev. Wale and Mrs. Lanre Akinronbi are excited about FH @ 10

Let me start by saying that even a faulty clock is right at least twice a day. Of course, there are things that the Jonathan administration can point to as achievements but let’s ask a few questions: is your life better, today, than it was in 2011?

Dear Fellow Nigerian,

Thank you for taking the time to read this, as I know you have a lot on your plate.

Let me start by acknowledging that regardless of what I write in the next few paragraphs, some of our fellow citizens will go ahead to vote for President Goodluck Jonathan on FeBuhari 14, 2015. To those sworn supporters of the president, you have our respect but I hope that you are not doing this because you think it is too late to change your mind.

To those who are planning to vote for Buhari/Osinbajo, please make sure that you don’t lose your Permanent Voter’s Card (or that you get it if you’re yet to), and that on that day, you go to the polling unit on time. Before voting, observe the activities around you. During voting, obey the law and be courteous to your fellow voters. After voting, stay back to see the result at your polling unit. Take a picture. Share it on social media, so that it won’t change between the polling unit and the ward.

This letter is really for the moderate Jonathan supporters, fellow citizens who like Buhari but are not too keen to vote, and the golden undecided voters. Allow me to speak with you as a fellow citizen whose life in Nigeria has exposed him to many reasons to worry about the continuous decline in our dear country. I’ll start with those who “like Buhari” but haven’t taken it upon themselves to actively campaign or do what’s necessary to ensure a Buhari victory on FeBuhari 14, 2015.

Dear GMB fan, your vote is more important than you think. I say this because some of us are beginning to see the momentum enjoyed by the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket, and thinking: “wow, we will win this thing!” There’s a temptation for you to slow down with the passion required to pick up your Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) or to be unavailable on election day – due to office work, family needs or emergencies that do not include the earth coming to a standstill. GMB needs every vote he can get from every corner of Nigeria so he can start out as a leader for all of Nigeria. Vote, and get out more votes. Call your uncle and your sister. This is a good time to mend fences with those family members who think you’ve forgotten them. It’s high time you worked all contacts on your phone. Vote for GMB, and get out every vote you can for him.

To the golden group of undecided voters, the current toast of every party and influencers of what could be a close race during Nigeria’s 2015 general elections, thank you for recognizing the power of your PVC to make Nigeria a better country. Let me start with the benefits of a Buhari/Osinbajo presidency. The duo of Buhari and Osinbajo – and the team that they will select to join them in the huge task of governance – have between them demonstrated leadership and capacity to lead Nigeria out of our current predicament. Security is high on the list, and I’m sure you’ve heard of the blows dealt to insurgents by General Buhari in the past. Boko Haram should not be something a leader will tell his people to endure because “it happens all over the world”; it should be crushed decisively! Let General Buhari do something that he is not afraid to do – make Nigeria safe. It’s the first responsibility of government, President Jonathan has failed in this area, and we need to not get used to stories of the death and/or kidnap of fellow citizens. Please vote for a leader who will help Nigeria on the path to safety. Vote for the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket.

Dear undecided voter, I also know that you are worried about corruption, especially now that it is clear that the Nigerian economy is taking a big hit. The Buhari/Osinbajo ticket will wage war against corruption, as any sensible government should. For the many years that Buhari has been a subject of political attacks, no one has been able to stick the label, “corrupt”, on him. You and I know that not many politicians can pass that test. He is practicing what he will preach. If you worry that he could overdo it, remember that his partner is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria who will ensure that the war against corruption is fought within the provisions of Nigerian law.

The other critical factor that should decide this election is the economy, and the past few days have provided the Buhari/Osinbajo team an opportunity to explain how their presidency will restore and grow the Nigerian economy. You may also visit www.thisisbuhari.com to see the details of the plan. I also know you have been told outright lies about Buhari. Thanks to the volunteer team at FactChecki.ng, some of these lies have been shown to be what they are – lies. If there is anything you are not sure about, please share on that website and/or ask around to be sure you are not being held to a past you dislike because of planted fears of the future.

Now, to those who are considering a vote for Jonathan for many reasons, I hope the next few sentences get you thinking about a change of mind. If you change your mind and decide to vote for the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket, thank you! I will address three broad topics – GEJ’s achievements, “the devil we know” theory and “true change that Nigeria needs.” Over the years, Nigerians have not had the benefit of good governance and it has become easier for anyone with access to public funds to advertise achievements as if this isn’t why they fought hard to become public officials in the first place.

Let me start by saying that even a faulty clock is right at least twice a day. Of course, there are things that the Jonathan administration can point to as achievements but let’s ask a few questions: is your life better, today, than it was in 2011? Has the commander-in-chief shown enough leadership to fulfill the primary role of government? On May 29, 2011, President Jonathan promised to secure Nigerian lives and property. We have recorded more loss of lives under his watch and his reaction has ranged from outrightly ignoring the calamity under his watch to delegating action that should come from the mourner-in-chief. Is this the leadership Nigeria needs for the next four years? No. We need a leader that is decisive; one that won’t dance on the graves of the citizens he swore to protect.

Dear GEJite or fellow citizen leaning towards rewarding President Jonathan with another four years in office, I am not ignorant of the other reason many would rather vote for him. “The devil we know is better than the one we don’t know,” people say. I could easily say don’t reward failure with four more years in office but let’s reason as citizens who also understand the concept of performance, and who know that there is a relationship between the quality of life of the average Nigerian and the kind of leadership we allow. We all know that President Jonathan has had more than five years to show Nigerians what transformation means, but what we’re seeing him do on the campaign trail now is make additional promises of how we will fight corruption. Later. He’s promised to limit terrorism. Later. He’s promised to improve the quality of Nigerian lives. Later.

We don’t need a “later” leader, we need someone who will use the resources (s)he has access to, right now, to make change happen in Nigeria. Right now. Not later. The problem with the “devil we know” is that he has tried his best, but his best is not good enough. He has led your company, as a Nigerian shareholder, towards bankruptcy. You and I know it’s time to change the CEO of this enterprise, and that’s what we should do. Every organization that votes for change knows that there is a certain level of uncertainty that comes with change, but reality in this case is that we can model the change we want from our next president. Thankfully, Buhari has a CV that shows expertise in at least 2 of our most critical problems at the moment – security and corruption. Let’s hire him and not allow the current CEO kill this enterprise.

Let me close with this: Nigeria needs true change that will take a few decades to take root (it took much more to ruin what we had) but we MUST start that process right now. It is said that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, and that the next best time is now. The duo of Major-General Muhammadu Buhari and Professor Yemi Osinbajo are the storm that Nigeria needs before the calm work of rebuilding takes root. They will fight the corruption eating deep into the veins of Nigeria. They will tackle the ugly insecurity that Nigerians are almost getting used to. They will get Nigerians excited about a new direction, leaning on their previous positive contributions to Nigeria and an excellent team of the best of Nigeria.

Dear fellow Nigerian, we have a chance to commence our journey towards the Nigeria of our dreams on FeBuhari 14, 2015, and I invite you to vote for the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket because instead of giving excuses or blaming others, they will get the work done. They see the anger. They feel the frustration. They know they either work or get shown the way out. Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd) and Professor Yemi Osinbajo are eager to get to work but they need your permission to lead Nigeria. Vote for the Buhari/Osinbajo ticket on FeBuhari 14, 2015, and let the work of change begin!

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‘Gbenga Sesan is the Executive Director of Paradigm Initiative Nigeria. A 2014 Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year, he is a Crans Montana Forum Fellow, Archbishop Desmond Tutu Leadership Fellow, Ashoka Fellow, Our Common Future Fellow and Cordes Fellow. ‘Gbenga tweets via @gbengasesanand is leading a team of volunteers to kill political lies through FactChecki.ng

A future Buhari/Osinbajo Presidency shall focus critically on investment and human capital development agenda of the youth population. It is very disheartening that just in 2013, the world bank announced that an estimated 100 Million Nigerians mainly in the youth bracket, have been tied into the vicious grip of poverty.

China, at about same time, following institutionalisation of stringent economic policies, pulled  about 600 million of her population out of the misery of poverty. It is obvious that economic agenda somersault  of the PDP led administration is responsible for the above sad development. The PDP continuity campaign mantra therefore is a prescription for disaster. Change now is imperative!

It is even more worrisome  that the PDP-led government in Nigeria managed the affairs of this country during most of the period in question. PDP government lacks youth-friendly policy that can enhance chances of our youth population to attend same developmental global index as their colleagues elsewhere. How then can they compete favourably with other youth from across the globe?

The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) indicators that is set to expire this year has shown the abysmal failure of Nigeria under a clueless and inept PDP-led administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. A cursory look at the global indices for growth and development as it relates to Nigerian Youth is shocking. World Bank records indicate that despite our rebased economy as the biggest in Africa, our youth population hold the highest global average of 70% proportion of the total youth population living below $1/day. Consequently, we are unfortunately closely followed in same group by Democratic Republic of Congo at 66.6%. Indonesia that had  lower GDP than Nigeria in late seventies is at a mere 7.7% although their current population is much higher than that of  Nigeria.

Global community as a routine, evaluates its progress and follows up with opportunities. A recent Global Youth Wellbeing Index Ranking revealed Australia as being in the first position among thirty countries which represented 70% of the world population. Sweden came   second while Ghana, our next door neighbor, made the 21st position. It is very sad to observe that Nigeria, the biggest economy in Africa, ranked last among these thirty countries at, yes, 30th position.

The above scenario unequivocally, is a fertile ground for an unproductive economy and social unrest, the twin evil our nation is presently challenged with. An APC Youth-centered administration under General Mohammadu Buhari, cannot afford to ignore this ugly picture as the youth of a nation represent its future.

The UN often uses poverty gap ratio as an indicator to measure the poverty level of countries. An assessment of African countries with highest poverty gap ratio placed Nigeria in the third position of 34.9%, Central African Republic (CAR)  38.1 % is second and Mali  at 37.4%  is ranked  first. While countries with low poverty gap ratio showcased Ghana at 17% , Namibia 14% and Cameroon with the lowest poverty gap ratio of 11.8%. The above world bank and UN estimates clearly makes it evident that interest of Nigerian youth during the 16 years of PDP misrule were highly misplaced.

APC-led government under General Muhammadu Buhari, if voted into power is set to  rescue our teeming youth population from this vicious circle of poverty. The Buhari/Osinbajo ticket under the prevailing circumstance offers the only hope that must be tapped into by all Nigerian youth in order to safeguard and improve their lot.

The Buhari/ Osinbajo ticket shall precisely treat our youth as a priority group. They will be supported to acquire skills that will give them a fair chance in the labour market. They will receive the support and guidance they deserve to reach their full potentials and unveil their manifest destiny instead of the current directionless ineptitude infested lifestyle forced upon them by a clueless government that has no direction itself.

Actually, our youth requires the crucial platform to unleash their ideas and flourishing ingenuity on the crest of  their dynamic entrepreneurial zeal. A future Buhari/Osinbajo Presidency youth rescue agenda will enable Nigerian youth become the centre stage for a new Nigeria project by addressing the following issues amongst others:
1)?Mitigation of the crisis and rot in the education sector
2)?Human capital development enhancement.
3)?Youth purpose specific empowerment schemes segmented into (
a) Promotion of youth enterprise development and self-employment.
(b ) Programs that will promote labour intensive public works requiring more hands in heavy infrastructure such as roads, rails etc.
4)?Gender sensitivity in policy programming and proclamation.
5)?De-criminalization of the street urchins and gangsters and re-integration which will include structured educational plans and apprenticeship schemes
6). ?Youth Citizenship promotion.
7). ?Investment in more research on youth matters.
8)?. Increase in policy integration and effective implementation.
9). Deployment  of  a strong political template  geared towards  simultaneous addressing of all issues facing our youth today .
10). Strengthening  of the offices of  traditional institutions and royal fathers  as  custodians of local cultural values needed for the planned massive  cultural reorientation of the society .

The enabling environment for youthful expression shall therefore be provided by an APC-led government that is not only able but willing to chart the course for a youth-focused agenda in a Safe and secured new Nigeria anchored on integrity and transparency.

Dr. CHIDIA  MADUEKWE
Head; Media Publicity & ICT.
BUHARI SUPPORT ORGANIZATIONS.
January 15th 2015

For weeks, I had resisted the urge to write. So many landmark events have transpired in the last few weeks and despite the persistent prompting by two editors to put my opinion into words, I chose not to. I just wanted to clear my mind for the task ahead.

However, it took me less than a minute to make up my mind to pen some words after reading the unbelievable speech our president, Goodluck Jonathan, gave on the first day of the year. Now, Mr. President has a long repertoire of terrible choice of words. As a matter of fact, you could make a tidy bundle if you wrote a book exclusively on GEJisms. But, this one takes the cake, the baker and the bakery.

The question to Nigeria’s biggest challenge is the easiest to answer. Even the mute, deaf and blind know corruption is at the root of our problems. However, on January 1st 2015, exactly 1670 days after he was first sworn in as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, following the death of Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Mr. Jonathan confirmed to the world he had ignored fighting corruption all along.

Hear him:

“There are two main problems confronting us as a nation: The issue of insecurity in the North, where we have the Boko Haram terrorists and in the South where we have commercial kidnapping. The next thing that people worry about after security is the issue of corruption.

“We are coming out with programmes and plans to clean up. These are things that you don’t just use a magical wand to wave off, otherwise even before I became the President, there wouldn’t have been corruption in Nigeria.”

I have heard people say the damnest things but this one shook me to my core. Here is the man elected into power admitting to the whole world that he had wasted the mandate given to him doing nothing to stem the tide of looting in the country. And, he said it with a smile. He said it in the most laid back, off-handed manner you could imagine. Like he was telling his drinking buddies why a fly was in his beer.

Imagine your security guard proudly telling you how he went out to party every night you left the house in his care and says he plans to get to protecting the home pretty soon. Or your driver admitting he had always driven your children to school while drunk and high but had plans to kick the habit in the near future. Let that thought sink in.

Never in my life has someone admitted his own failure so glaringly without even a little sense of irony or responsibility. Never has a leader soaked his own feet in soup and then go on to suck firmly on it.

Was Mr. President drunk when said those words? Clearly, no one can say those words while in complete control of their senses. I refuse to believe the man trusted with leading the most populated country in Africa admitted deliberately ignoring arguably the most important part of his job and allowing the wolves to run wild over our collective till.

Did Mr. President know that, standing on that stage, he was admitting his inability to fight the Subsidy Thieves that fleeced Nigeria of trillions? That he was admitting that all the work the anti-fraud agencies have done in the last five years have been merely cosmetic?

That he was admitting that every word the opposition had said about his reluctance to fight corruption was a fact? Frankly, despite the modest but largely incomplete physical work President Jonathan has put in, I can’t wait to see his back. I – and I speak for about 80% of Nigerians here – am embarrassed to have Goodluck Jonathan as president. Febuary 14th can’t come soon enough.

Booting this man out of office would give me more pleasure than a thousand orgasms.

________

Gbenga Olorunpomi is on Twitter as @GbengaGold

Views expressed are solely the author’s

“This generation of Nigerians, and indeed future generations, have no country other than Nigeria. We shall remain here and salvage it together.”—Buhari, 1984.

“We seek a new Nigeria. It starts with us. It starts today… Nigeria is our home. Let us now turn it into the great nation we know it can and should be.”—Buhari, 2014.

The story of General Muhammadu Buhari and his engagement with Nigeria is a story layered with ironies. He made the first statement above in his first speech as a military head of state, after truncating a democracy. He made the second last week in his address to delegates at the national convention of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which could as well be an address to all Nigerians, as part of his quest to be the head of state again, this time under a democracy.

Woven into this personal narrative is a very sad and ironic commentary on the Nigerian condition. If the needful had been done, the first statement would have lost resonance by now, and the second, made thirty years after the first, would have been superfluous. Both, sadly, have not. And if those ills he identified and tried to tackle three decades ago as a military dictator have been wrestled aground, we won’t be confronted with a converted democrat and a septuagenarian exhorting us to build a new Nigeria. Sadly, too, those issues have not.

After that landmark speech last week, Buhari emerged as the flag-bearer of APC, scoring almost 60 per cent of the total votes cast against the initial prediction of a close race. He is set for a historic rematch against a familiar opponent, President Goodluck Jonathan, the only candidate he will be contesting against twice. Now in the race for the fourth time, the retired general has become something of a perennial presidential candidate. Thrice he had contested against candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and thrice he had lost.

Perhaps buoyed by that history, some PDP officials boast that they look forward to a contest against Buhari with relish because they believe their party has perfected a way of defeating him. They might mean this and they might turn out to be right. But my money is on the possibility that they are merely playing political mind-games to mask their trepidation about duelling with Buhari again. But if they indeed believe their own story, I think it will be the height of political naivety to dismiss Buhari’s candidacy at a moment like this.

To start with, the Buhari of 2014/2015 is not the Buhari of 2003 or the Buhari of 2007 or the Buhari of 2011. For sure, he is still the same person, largely. But time has been good to the retired general beyond the fact that he looks fit and sound. Time has dulled the edges of his contrived handicaps and brought his skill-set and pedigree into sharp focus. Also, the context and the issues of the coming election as well as the present field of play have imbued Buhari’s quest with fresh viability. Can this fourth shot at the presidency then be the Buhari moment? Possibly. We won’t know the answer to this until the votes are cast and counted in February. One thing is certain though: this is Buhari’s best chance ever as a presidential candidate.

I think three reasons have aligned to give Buhari this bounce. The first is that the major challenges facing the country today, and the critical issues that should decide the voters, give Buhari some edge. These are insecurity, corruption and the economy. Except during the civil war, at no other time in our history has our country witnessed such a generalised state of insecurity. Armed robbers, ritualists and kidnappers are having a field day in different parts of the country. And depraved terrorists kidnap, maim and kill our citizens with unnerving regularity and seize our territory with disturbing ease.

Yes, there is some recent claw-back by our armed forces against Boko Haram. But we are only recovering territories that shouldn’t have been lost in the first instance. We are Nigeria, for God’s sake! It a supreme irony that a country once known for bailing out other countries in distress cannot guarantee the safety of her citizens and the integrity of her territory. The fact that Buhari, in the early eighties under President Shehu Shagari, successfully fought the Maitasine insurgents and made a daring incursion into a hostile Chad projects him as the man with the track-record and the disposition for this dire moment.

Also, Buhari is widely believed to be well positioned to checkmate corruption. Here, his past and present make eloquent statements. His iron-fisted regime tried and jailed many Second Republic politicians for corruption. He also tried to straighten out the rest of society through his War Against Indiscipline (WAI). Out of office, he has lived modestly despite having been a federal commissioner (minister) for petroleum, the head of the Petroleum Trust Fund (PTF) and a head of state. Buhari might not be as poor as he is being projected, but his Spartan and stern lifestyle radiates integrity and endears him to the mass of ordinary Northerners, who believe their other leaders have failed them, a rebuke that has been mischievously framed as evidence of religious fundamentalism. At a time when sleaze is now six for a penny and when the country cries for moral leadership, this plays to Buhari’s strength.

The economy is definitely not Buhari’s strong suit, but this might not be a fatal handicap. Clearly, the present administration has recorded some economic achievements in terms of growth and inflation rates, foreign direct investments and external reserves. But the more than 40% slump in the price of crude oil and our lack of much wriggle room, unlike other oil exporters, erodes the bragging rights of the incumbent. The fact that growth did not translate to shared prosperity and that the economy is headed south not just because of plunging oil prices but also because of massive oil theft and corruption may only give the incumbent some marginal advantage on the economy but will not put Buhari in a totally bad stead.

The second factor that has enhanced Buhari’s candidacy is that, unlike in the past three attempts, Buhari now has a formidable political platform. Buhari ran his three previous presidential contests largely on his own steam, without the benefit of a solid political structure and on platforms that were not national enough. Buhari has had to rely only on his cult-like following in the North, which in turn aroused and solidified suspicion in the South. Yet Buhari got 12.7 million votes in 2003, 6.6 million votes in 2007, and 12.2 million votes in 2011. He disputed all of them and challenged the results all the way to the Supreme Court, and lost, even when the highest court agreed there were some irregularities on some occasions.

However, the truth of the matter is that Buhari lacked a national support base in his last three outings and did not stand on the platform of a party that could compensate for his weakness. The emergence of APC, his election as its candidate and the fact that APC has managed not to implode after its primaries have changed all that. For the first time in five electoral cycles, PDP is now faced with its most formidable test ever. By next year, PDP would have been in power for 16 years and if it wins the election, it would have held power for 20 years by 2019. Even in the best of circumstances, fatigue will set in and voters will naturally seek change, as it happens regularly not just in the UK and the US, but also in countries like Ghana.

But the absence of a viable and formidable opposition had been a boon to PDP. Now, there is an APC, which even though has been described as “PDP light”, has the spread and the structure to credibly challenge the ruling party. For Buhari, APC provides added value and offers a beach-head into the hitherto impregnable South. The Southwest, where APC controls four out of six states, will be the real battleground in this election. While APC cannot guarantee that it will deliver the four states overwhelmingly to Buhari, the possibility that the party might deliver even a simple majority to Buhari in those states is a potential game changer.

The last factor that I think puts Buhari in serious contention is the current status of the profile of the two contestants. In 2011, President Jonathan, Buhari’s opponent then and now, was projected as a breath of fresh air and someone different from (and better than) his party. Three years after, that well-crafted image has run into serious headwind. Now, the only pitch open to the incumbent is not change or difference but his scorecard in office. This, expectedly, will be rigorously interrogated. Fact is while Buhari contested against a stronger Jonathan in 2011, Jonathan will be contesting against a stronger Buhari in 2015.

The stigmatization of Buhari as a religious fundamentalist and sympathiser of Boko Haram is losing its sheen. Unlike in the past, there have been conscious efforts to market Buhari beyond his fanatical base and challenge the way he was negatively framed by reverse bigots. Based on this outreach, a groundswell of support, fuelled by nostalgia and the burning desire for a new Nigeria, is building up for Buhari where none previously existed. Despite his rebranding, Buhari however still does not come across as an orator, a good debater and someone with a good handle on the economy. But these handicaps are more than compensated for by the reality that, at best, his opponent has only a slight advantage in these areas and that Buhari’s tested and trusted image speaks to the urgent national challenges of the moment.

It is still early to call the next presidential election. For one, two months is a very long time in politics. The landscape can change, for good and for ill, within hours. Another caveat is that elections are not won on paper or by logic alone. And yet another is that Buhari is running against a determined incumbent who should be expected to throw everything he has into it. For now, it is safe to say this election will live up to its billing as the most competitive in Nigeria’s history. And that: PDP can only dismiss a resurgent Buhari at its own peril.

Views expressed are solely the author’s. Published by THISDAY and re-published here with the author’s permission

How can we talk about change, yet we are confronted by a 73 year-old who seems younger with his narratives than a 57 year-old? Never in history has a loud cry for change brought more profound contradictions. But today, we are a witness to history.

Suddenly, Nigerians have become so angry that the imperative of change is now the main sing-song. Sadly, Nigerians have grown so accustomed to eating their dry shit. Now they are fed up of their excreta, their insides have been shattered; the fissures of their heart keep oozing for a relief. And the relief is now this lanky, yet tiny ex-soldier who has offered himself for the service of a fast disappearing nation.

But something is strange about this General. Why is he so loved, so hated, so feared, so old, yet the onus of ballot revolution lies in his poor oratory projection?

Buhari’s emergence is currently hinged on the greatness of the historical circumstances that threw him up from the pack of younger brains with unsullied oratory projection. The greatness of expectations and the sanitizing effect of time conspired to remake him in open confrontation and also in paradoxical complicity.

So on what legacy is Buhari riding to offer himself for a second coming? To be fair, we need to do justice by first isolating issues from issues, which require a sort of intellectual surgery with historical import, bearing in mind the sterilizing effect of political evolution of man and his environment. First, we must isolate Buhari from the historical circumstances that threw him up and which he tried to mould by sheer granite while being molded by their unbending historical logic and imperative. Second, we must define the boundaries and then refine the legacies themselves, particularly in the face of cobwebs the legacies have collected as a result of the sleepless nights of diligent detractors. Finally, we must review the legacies with the benefit of changing historical circumstances, particularly given the heavy erosion of our collective treasuries that had witnessed uncommon transformation from something to nothing. Such scoped legacies will be better analysed in another treatise. I will save it for another day.

It is now generally agreed that colonization constituted a historic disruption of the normal evolutionary process of Nigeria. The old order was shattered together with most of its binding institutions. In some areas, the colonialists tried to reinvent the wheel, while in other places, their intervention constituted a truly revolutionary restructuring of the political process. As decolonization got under way, as independence approached, and as the new nation-state paradigm with its new institutions and new political elite were operationalised, a fresh wave of energy was released in the nation-state of Nigeria. Like the anxiety that awaited what was to be the defining moment for Nigeria’s political freedom in 1960, the current mood of the nation which has been ethnically, religiously and economically polarized, is yearning for something real, a leadership that will spring-forth hope and bring our tomorrow to bear.

Buhari’s movement is not a game of the elites. with their sedate languor and aristocratic diffidence, the elites are about to be challenged and surpassed in terms of raw energy and unburnished determination by a new hinterland faction predominantly made up of younger mights that are products of anger and desperation and some scions of the old feudal aristocracy. It was this same movement of desperados that handed him the flag of his party. The movement is like a fighting machine, this time, the dogs and the baboons are on board, now advancing with panache and precision, promising swift regrouping when surprised into a retreat and then resuming its remorseless advance.

It is now safe to say that the moment has met its man. It is a banal truism that exceptional circumstances produce exceptional people. Buhari is a product of his time and his politics, an acute reflection of the forces at play.

Of all his peers and contemporaries, it would seem that it is Buhari who has a telepathic understanding of the historical forces at play and an elective affinity with their great unstable dynamics. With unusual mental focus and great clarity of mind, Buhari knows precisely where he wants to go and how to get there.

To this end, he has only one message for his staunch detractors, ‘I will fight corruption and govern Nigeria with best Nigerians and in all honesty.’ This would make him develop the great force of personality to make himself seemingly indispensable.

It is me, @Obajeun

Jonah Ayodele Obajeun blogs @www.obajeun.com. You can reach him twitter via @Obajeun

Malawi is a closed economy. The Malawian government dictates prices for goods and services, the value of the currency, and consistently implements subsidies for fertilizer and maize. As a result, many citizens are passive in their efforts to create enjoyable living conditions, waiting for the one true and honest politician to appear and to solve the problems of work, welfare and development.

The Malawian youth also do not have an option but to paint themselves in party colors waiting for a true and honest politician to give them few kwachas which they cannot even use for a single day.

Many Malawian farmers whom despite their hard work do not make profits because the prices of their goods and services are determined by the government and external buyers only and not the forces of demand and supply

Center For Free Market Enterprise (CFME), a think tank, aims to increase the awareness that it is individuals who must strive to create a better life and it is entrepreneurial risk-takers who will come up with new ideas, solutions and opportunities that are beneficial for the society. The people of Malawi must be made aware that it is the citizens who must dictate to the politicians what must be done to allow individuals to make their own dreams come true.

Through lectures on liberty and entrepreneurship we will deepen people’s understanding of the benefits of a free-market economy and how it has propelled many countries forward toward positive economic growth. We will gain participants who will improve their entrepreneurial skills and support us in promoting liberty and free-market ideas.

We will advocate for a simplification, reduction and modernization of the government administration to free up resources for more productive activities.

Through translation of books for general use, conducting entrepreneurship nights, TV and radio shows we will raise awareness of free market ideas and motivate young people to get a positive picture of business, and to interact with successful business owners for them to grow into active entrepreneurs.

CFME strives to stir up activism among young people, and to promote the idea of liberalism and its importance for economic strength and individual success. Additionally, CFME will prepare a liberal political platform, in the form of policy recommendations to policy makers, that should be implemented to decrease the burden of government on the economy and on Malawian citizens and to create an enterprise friendly environment.

Furthermore, we aim to be conducting research on the following areas: Tax and budget policy, Governance & Politics, Rules & Regulations of Starting & Conducting Business, Privatization of public property

A better and prosperous Malawi is possible. Join us as we make this dream come true. Like our Facebook page Center for Free Market Enterprise and follow us on twitter @CFMEMALAWI. Our website is www.cfmemalawi.org .

The tyranny of ideology is real, and perhaps more pronounced in Africa than in any other place in the world. Although scientific socialism or one of its many variants is not practiced anywhere in Africa, well at least not manifestly, the vestiges of the insidious ideas that beguile the whole body of work behind socialism are still here with us.

The ideas that were very grain of socialism are making a brisque come back, well maybe they never went away, but there are calls by many a contemporary Africans to go back to the ‘good old ways’ the good sweet discipline of socialism. The ideology has never lost its allure and sexiness, that is why many a people would wish for a return of the days of old; the days of Nyerere’s Ujaama , and Nkrumaism, the ones who are do not want the days of old back are ambivalent at best and do not know what idea-engine should drive development on this continent.

Therein lies the problem, the many off-shoots of Marxism and particularly the ones that found currency in Africa were not growth oriented, they were not pre-occupied at ways and means of growing Africa or bringing it abreast with other global economies, they were much more oriented towards re-distributing miseries as widely as possible. That is why when Asian tigers were gaining considerable eminence at marshaling populations out of poverty, African countries could be described as ‘scared serval cats, tiptoeing in fear in the global market environment.’ The construct of socialism was in its redistributive anchor not growth or regeneration that is why when economies elsewhere were growing, African economies were mark-timing or worse still regressing.

The main issue here, is not that socialism gained utility in Africa, it is that it did not have competition of note. The tyranny of socialism was not challenged, in fact it has never been challenged. It was the bedrock upon which African academia and practice of academia was built, it influenced: literature, political science, economics it almost influenced science. The curriculum was and still is imbued with heavy doses of Marx, the practice ‘mostly public practice’ is heavily laden with offices who swear by Marx but acquire and stash billions in foreign accounts.

That is the ideological waddle that Africa finds itself in, waddling in shallow ponds of poverty and destitution, with no real alternatives for respite and relief.

What then happens when you realize that your life, academic life has been a lie? Not really, but what happens that you have been tunnel visioned to think in an acute sense? Adulate Marx and socialism and all that he stood for? What happens when you discover that the only purpose of your education was to turn you into an ebullient socialist cheerleader? What happens when you get that epiphany, have a vision like the one that Saul had on the journey to Damascus, subsequently became Paul? What happens when you realize that there could be a redeeming alternative to that lie that you have lived for so long?

It is simple; you win yourself first, you look to win others in the process, you appeal to the neutrals, and you take on convention. You develop a substratum upon which the redemptive theory will challenge the dominant theory. You throw your heart in the ring and offer a few ideological punches, you challenge conventional wisdom. You do not win against the ideological tyrant by resigning to fate, do you?

That is what we set out to do, to: challenge and query conventional wisdom; to unearth how deeply the African political system has been under the yoke of socialism, we can only do this by coming up credible options for development and alternatives to the ideas that have kept Africa down for the better part of the last half century.

Alex Ndungu Njeru wrote in from Kenya

At the 4th MBA International Literary Colloquium  held in Minna, Niger State, last week, chairman of the Forum of Former African Heads of State and Government, and winner of the 2007 Mo Ibrahim African Leadership Award tasked Nigerian and African leaders on what could be described as principles of leadership. Here are excerpts from his keynote entitled, Leadership and National Development and Post Centenary Nigeria.

Allow me now to focus on the subject of leadership and national development from the perspective of the broad and general “ propositions I made earlier and also allow me to share with you some of my own experience as a leader and the leadership I had to provide to the people of Mozambique during my tenure of office. During that time, it was clear to me that the way to a successful leadership was to put the people and the country before me….

Put differently, what the people want is a leader ­   who is with them, discusses their problems and applies his or her mind to solve their problems. That is what they would call accountability and accessibility.

Additionally, the common people want to see tangible things. After experiencing the horrors “ of war, they want and cherish peace and stability. They want food in their tables and food security. They want to see roads, hospitals and schools being built. They want to feel respect for their human rights. Their major concerns are basic human needs and they will respect the leader who can deliver such services. Many leaders remain locked in their offices while leadership is about going to the people to discussing with them and addressing their concerns and demands. Leadership is about delivering on promises made. If you make a promise, you must deliver – and that is what accountability is all about. A leader should not promise what he or she cannot deliver. The challenge of leadership is to anticipate demands and aspirations of the people and design appropriate strategies to address them. Therefore a leader must be a visionary. But the vision of the leader cannot be imposed on the people especially when they were not prepared to understand what it means for their lives.

The use of land, water and other production factors­   for instance requires a good combination of the leader’s vision and the traditional practices of the citizens both in the rural and urban areas.

Land and water sharing is a problem to be solved in a smart way. This is one of those problems which may require a long term exercise of mind-set transformation.

The leader may see a shortcut solution but he has to use his best skills to transform it into a people’s’ solution. Here I would like to bring to our reflection the importance of people’s inclusion in the process of decision making on the main issues affecting the life of the nation.

This is important for development. It is my opinion that people’s participation is the most important part in a country’ democracy. The sense of belonging to the exercise of power is very much reassuring to the citizens.

Gender equality and the empowerment of women, the rural women in particular, are of the utmost importance for a country’s development. Women are the majority of the labour force that produces food in Africa. They are the ones who take care of our children particularly during the critical ages from zero to five years. The good care of the child at this period of life is a guarantee of her or his healthy, strong, intelligent and happy adulthood which enables her or him to fully participate in the development process with high productivity.

We in Mozambique came from a background of a prolonged armed liberation struggle followed by a protracted war of destabilization in which many people were killed and others were massively displaced. The social tissue was disrupted, hatred was built up, and the unity of the country was threatened.

In face of these circumstances, the preoccupation of the leadership was national reconciliation and post-conflict reconstruction and development. The leadership understood that without peace there could not be development and without development, peace was illusive.

Therefore, national reconciliation was given priority in the name of peace, security and stability. We entered into negotiation with our enemies and adversaries almost against the will of the people but we also recognized that the end product would be a peace dividend. We have a saying that “for the sake of peace, one may even be forced to swallow a live frog”. Otherwise how can we explain the reasons for negotiating for peace with those who committed mayhem? This requires strong leadership with foresight and the commitment to introduce and sustain durable peace for the sake of the people and the country. Our decision to engage in negotiations with our adversaries paid off and peace was restored through the Rome Peace Accord, in 4 October 1994.

The experience of the Mozambican leadership may be an exception rather than the rule. I am neither suggesting that one-size fits all nor trying to sell you magic and infallible formulae.

What I am suggesting here is that leadership, both as an art and a science, requires the full understanding of the existing objective reality in the cause, the circumstances surrounding it and what are the demands and aspirations of the people. Additionally, it is equally important to select what would be the most appropriate methods of addressing those demands and aspirations of the people. Visionary leadership would assess the objective reality as it relates to national development and adopt appropriate strategies for addressing the challenges facing the nation.

National development

We know that poverty is the single major threat to security, which, in turn, is the precondition for peace that provides the environment for sustainable national development. Therefore, poverty eradication should be at the centre of the policies for social and economic transformation and development.

To this end, leadership must have the requisite capacity to anticipate, or in other words, to read ‘ the minds of the people and address their expectations.

As I said earlier, there are no magic or infallible formulas that will take you to the success. There is a high element of risk and uncertainty involved, but the best way to manage those risks is to be in constant contact with the people, is to be accessible to them. When this happens, people will always have opportunities to share with you their views and sentiments about the prevailing situation, even making suggestions and proposals to correct errors and mistakes.

With these working methods, the leader ensures the participation of the people, the common citizens, in addressing the developmental challenges of the country, thus making room for them to complement the work of the elites and technical experts.

These working methods provide a new dimension of accountability, which is people-centred, but again, in complement with what experts produce.

In this regard, leadership requires organizational structures and systems focusing on addressing the demands and aspirations of the people.

Aspirations of the people

In the current wave of social media, leaders cannot promise and not deliver, for this will, almost certainly invite something like what is now commonly referred to as the Arab Spring. Discontent and popular uprising may be part of leadership’s failure to deliver or lack of participation and respect for human- rights.

Sometimes, leaders see things but they do not believe what they are seeing. Some people ca1l this cognitive dissonance. Leadership for development is anticipating and addressing potential trouble spots and not waiting until it is too late. Early warning demands early action.

Before concluding my remarks, I should like to suggest that the notion of leadership and I national development is easy to discern in the literary world, but very complicated in the real world, in the world of practical action.

In this case, we make a distinction between leaders and leadership. It is often said that in Africa we have leaders but we do not always have leadership .

Perhaps this is true, if one considers a leader as an individual and leadership as a system. But there is no leader without a system, even informal systems. Put differently, there is no leader without leadership. It may be bad or poor leadership but it is leadership anyway.

However, leadership for national development presupposes a leader with a leadership style that focuses on national development. It would seem to me this is what is needed in Africa. We need thoughtful leaders.

National development is the major responsibility of leadership at the national level. It involves addressing the national priority for social and economic transformation and development.

It is about building developmental state, capable of addressing the development needs of the people. It is also about planning for development which requires leadership vision for development. This development always requires optimal utilization of both human and natural resources.

Africa is a continent full of resources but Africa is considered as a continent of poverty, “the wretched of the earth”.

It is often argued that leadership in Africa is a bad mixture of African and foreign cultures which tend to suggest that leadership the continent is devoid of indigenous cultural imperatives.

For this reason a culture of dependency has been entrenched in the continent forcing Africa to consume what it does not produce and produce what it does not consume. Leadership and development would suggest that Africa should consume what is produced in Africa and export the surplus. This means that Africa must go beyond exporting, commodities to exporting processed goods.

Why does Africa export cocoa to Europe and then buy chocolate at a colossal price from there? How difficult is to access to the technology to produce chocolate? To make production in Africa a viable undertaking…

– First published on www.vanguardngr.com

The National Executive Council (NEC) of the Nigeria Union of Teachers on Friday threatened to direct its members to embark on an indefinite nationwide strike if the proposed local government autonomy and scrapping of the state joint local government account sail through in the ongoing Constitutional Amendment.

The National President of NUT, Michael Alogba Olukoya, who briefed journalists at the end of the NEC meeting held at the NUT headquarters, Abuja, insisted that granting of LG autonomy would lead to total collapse of primary education in Nigeria.

He urged governors of the 36 states of the federation and members of State Houses of Assembly to stoutly resist the draconian recommendation of the National Assembly in the recent proposal, seeking the scrapping of the State Joint LG Accounts as contained in the Bill for an Act to further alter the provision of the 1999 Constitution.

Olukoya said the implication of the LG autonomy was that payment of teachers’ salaries, pension contributory funds and payment of retirees would be left in the hands of the local councils.

According to him, the development would be a great setback to efforts by the Federal and state Governments to revamp primary education in the country.

He said, “The moment the Constitutional Amendment process is concluded against the wishes of the Nigerian teachers, we shall direct all schools in Nigeria to remain closed. The mother of all strikes shall commence, because we have a responsibility to protect and defend our members.”

For those who know him, he’s still the same man… For those who don’t, his name is Goodluck Ebele Jonathan (GEJ), the presiding President of the United States of Nigeria.
It’s now a normal thing for bombs and grenades to go off in certain parts of Nigeria as if it’s some fire-crackers going off during Diwali celebration within the Indian communities in Anthony, Lagos. It’s goes off here and there and everybody just walks by, including the President, the Commander in Chief of all security agencies in the federating states called Nigeria. It is becoming rather unbecoming and quite so sad that the only people that are now affected by these incidents are the victims and their families, even the governors have resolved to pointing to the GEJ, who in turn turns his face the other way in what I will describe in street language as “Ko Kanye”. The Yorubas will say, “Eni a mori I ba ku” meaning “It only becomes my business when those affected are my own”. Fair enough I would say but the last time I checked, every citizen of this beautiful country is GEJ’s business, so if he chooses to ignore the plight of a single citizen, he’s definitely ignoring the plight of every Nigerian citizen. Perhaps he’s more concerned about the crude in the bowel of this great ship called NIGERIA as the captain, and not the crew that makes the cheap move from bay to bay.

I will reference a few incidents that we are all aware of and I hope everybody reading this will agree with me that at some point, we need to wake up and either boycott or cut out this unholy situation by saying “Enough Is Enough” with a louder voice as Nigerians.
This administration started out on an explosive note in 2010 and hasn’t stopped announcing its intentions with explosions. MEND claimed responsibility for the Abuja bombing in 2010 prior to his declaration but GEJ came out to defend MEND, he categorically stated that it is impossible for MEND to be the culprit in a crime they claimed all by themselves that they committed. The refusal of Henry Okah to get MEND to retract the statement landed him in a South African jail, even with the amount of evidence he presented to show how he was innocent, and how it was a faction of MEND that perpetrated the crime under the defined request of GEJ in an attempt to criminalize the north and present them as saboteurs to his presidential ambitions. The interesting thing in that situation was that the president was more concerned about the criminals than the victims of the crime; his energy was more on exonerating his Ijaw brothers without dishing out justice for the victims. He was complicity in the accusations and counter-accusation so there was no way he was going to nail himself. The dead went ahead and buried their dead and that was the last time he cared about either the bombers or “bombee”.
Fast forward to the new era bombers in boko haram, led by the undisputable Emir of the new caliphates of the Nigeria North Eastern kingdom Shekau, it has been a more explosive experience and since those claiming responsibility are those GEJ wants to be responsible for the crime, neither the bombers, nor the victim are any of his business. I will highlight a few examples that will delight you so you know how uncaring GEJ got over the years. These are events you already know, open facts that will solidify the present attitude of GEJ about the nation and her people.
Sometimes in April 2014, two bombs went off in Abuja the capital city, it took the life of so many Nigerians and we got lucky; GEJ visited the bomb site and paparazzi went wild. His campaign in Kano was due a few days after, instead of showing some milk of human kindness, even if it had to be pretense by canceling the Kano jamboree or something in the class of the crocodile tears of Buhari in those years, but he couldn’t hold his excitement. Naturally one would have taught that the tragic event that led to the world wild campaign #BringBackOurGirls would have dampened his excitement when it happened on April 14, it didn’t, by the next day, GEJ was in Kano dancing “Shoki”. A wiser campaigner would have been remorseful about the incident but “ko kanye mehn!” our dear president grooved under the umbrella like 99. As far as he was concerned, no Ijaw girl was involved. See picture of the dance moves below.

Fast forward again to the event of the last few days. I read in the news today and on the official Facebook page of the Nigerian Police Force that all roads leading to Eagles Square will be on lock down because our Golden Son of Otueke GEJ will be declaring what we know already, his intention to run and fail in the next election. The interesting thing about it is that the way Shekau is going, boko might take over Abuja before February 2015. However it is a paradox that the same thing is repeating itself all over again. We’ve had two suicide bombs in Potiskum in just seven days interval and our dear GEJ will not even beg to postpone his declaration or show concern about the events, and rally round to make things work out just better. No moves to improve or install securities at various schools in Northern Nigeria, but every military and police apparatus is taking the roads in Abuja 11/11/14.
There are no better words to describe the action of our so-called president so far, he’s told us in all Nigerian languages except Swahili that “It’s none of my business”, it is now our choice to decide whether we will continue to make Aso rock his abode since he’s no more interested in the people he’s supposed to represent form the Rock Throne.
I hope you’ve registered to vote, I hope you are ready to kick these bastards under the tattered umbrella out of site. Let’s hope Shekau who has made it is business doesn’t get there before we decide because while GEJ is preparing to declare, Maiha Local Government Area in Adamawa State has been overtaken by Boko Haram militants.

Articles on www.omojuwa.comare solely authors opinion

Who is a leader? A leader is someone who leads people to accomplish a task; a leader is someone who people look unto as a role model. Someone once described a leader as someone who can make others turn his dream into their passion. I agree with that last one a lot.
Presidents are supposed to be leaders. They are supposed to be good examples to the citizens they lead, govern or rule. They are supposed to be people with the ability to transform and redirect a failing system. They are supposed to be the guardian of the people who voted them in (including those who didn’t even vote them or like what they look like.) Presidents owe their entire country service, whether they belong to the ruling party or not.
Nigeria’s case shouldn’t be an exception, especially as our democracy is getting deeper. Without a doubt, we should be better off today, but due to sentiments we used in choosing, judging and rating our leaders has cost us many years of growth.
Prior to the 2011 elections, in the spirit of federalism and continuity, President Goodluck Jonathan made a vow to Nigerians in the Diaspora, the members of his party, a group of Northern Elders and Nigerians in general, that he won’t stay in office beyond 2015. In fact, I know someone who fell in love with the President because of this promise (though she presently dislikes his ways, leadership style and his pro-corruption way of life).
The Promise from President Jonathan that he won’t be contesting 2015 election had made headlines then, but just penultimate Thursday evening, I read that President Jonathan had declared his intention to seek re-election. The little boy in me has been telling me; “This guy might still have that humility in him and might not contest”, but that little boy was sadly mistaken and disappointed. I saw him take delivery his nomination form, and I said, “So he was lying back then, right? Did he deceive us? Oh, no!” Here is evidence of his promise: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12339017
Yes, it may be President Jonathan’s constitutional right to want to seek a another term in office. I don’t know how legitimate it is for him to be sworn in thrice as the country’s constitution is against this, but if he gets re-elected in 2015, that means he would have been sworn in the 3rd term. That is unconstitutional and against the law of the land, but what do I know? The lawyers and the court will argue that out and translate to us.
However, as a Nigerian citizen, before voting last election, I had listened to the programs candidates presented before electorates, also the manifestos of their political parties, and I still have that of President Jonathan. The question is, which one has he fulfilled? Which one has he failed in? Is he re-electable? Can we trust him again? Ok, before you answer those questions, here are the promised President Jonathan made to electorates while campaigning round the country prior to 2011 elections.
If President Jonathan or some of his handlers won’t remember his promises during campaign, here are few of his promises with evidence. On the 12th of October 2010, he had told Nigerians in Kaduna that he’s a man of his words; evidence http://allafrica.com/stories/201010140313.html, can we still believe those words? Close to 5years after, there’s still not appreciable improvement in power supply in Nigeria.
Also, President Jonathan, to fool our traditional rulers to endorse him and compel their communities to vote for him, he promised constitutional roles for them. Do our Obas, Emirs and Obis have these roles now? Did he send any bill to National Assembly to effect these roles? Or GEJITES want to argue he didn’t say it? You said this on the 27th of December 2010 and here is one article someone posted about it…. http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/articles/guest-articles/do-we-need-any-constitutional-role-for-traditional-rulers.html It is almost four years now sir, we still await his executive bill to National Assembly on this issue.
“If I win the election, within my four years in office, I will establish domestic airports in all the states without airports.” Those are the words of Mr. President on March 17th 2011 in Jigawa after seeing the airport being built by Sule Lamido of Jigawa. Besides this one, the Moshood Abilola Airport in the State of Osun is being built by the Rauf Aregbesola administration. Even the president’s home town of Bayelsa doesn’t have; Ebonyi does not, Ogun, Ekiti et el to mention few. All we see is Stella Odua’s cosmetic rehabilitation and corruption-driven aviation industry. President Jonathan has not built a single airport in the last 4 years.
Also, he promised Nigerians while campaigning in Nassarawa state that he would build one university in each of the state of the federation; I wonder if this promise has been fulfilled. All we know about is $20 billion missing money; no new government-owned university in Lagos where I stay. Do you have in your state? The first developmental plan of Yakubu Gowon that built universities of first choice and so many institutions today and airport is not up to N3billion(I’ll explain in my next article). Yet someone got $20billion in her purse? Indeed, deris God o!
On February 8th 2011, in Ibadan, I don’t know what really happened that day. That day, he called Yoruba elders and leaders “Rascals.” After that, he promised to create jobs and improve power sector, but as I’m typing this my battery is in 30percent (not #30percentornothing, mind you), and scores of my brothers and future leaders were killed early this year during the scam on Nigerian youths they called it Immigration Recruitment. They collected N1000 each from over 700,000 Nigerians for 5000 vacancies, out of which over 3500 have been shared to governors, senators and PDP chieftains. Still no job, no refund and lives were lost. In fact, the minister that carried out that exercise is still in office living large. Is that what Jonathan promised? If so, he’s delivered sorrows, tears and blood. Great apologies to the Great Fela.
On February 9th 2011, Mr. President was in Bauchi and he promised to intensify oil and gas exploration in the North-East as part of efforts to harness resources for economic development. Also, he pledged to boost agriculture, power and water supply for wealth creation and revenue generation. He further assured that projects such as the Mambilla hydro-electricity, Jada irrigation project and Kafin Zaki dam in Taraba, Adamawa and Bauchi would be pursued to boost agriculture and industrial development, here is an evidence of this particular vow. http://dailytimes.com.ng/article/jonathan-promises-intensify-oil-exploration-north. Then, he promised that his administration would establish two universities in the region. Sadly that’s the same North our President can’t even visit today. So painful we have lost the region to terrorists in a state that has sovereignty. We still have a President, don’t we?
Even if those universities were built and completed today, who would attend them? Is it the thousands of Youth who have been forced to either join Boko Haram or the alternative, the Civilian JTF? Or the over 200 Chibok Girls who were writing their Secondary School Leaving Certificate Examinations when they were crudely kidnapped by terrorists and criminally abandoned by the President? Or the hundreds of thousands who have been displaced by the war? Who would attend your new universities, Mr. President?
On this day in 2011, it was February 12th precisely in Port Harcourt, a lot of people lost their lives trying to listen to the promises which have not seen the light of day. President Jonathan announced plans that the NNPC, in partnership with the private sector, would establish a petrochemical plant in the Niger Delta. He also promised the plant will create job opportunities for the Niger Delta youths.  Then he went ahead to promise the implementation of Local Content Law and Petroleum Industry Bill. You all can judge if that has been done today.
Also he has promised in Benue in 2011 that he will build the 2nd Niger Bridge within four years of his stay in office. This is the project that woos Ndi Igbo and immediately they call him ‘Azikiwe’. Today, nothing has been done; I believe the Ndi-Igbo are wiser now. Or are they still waiting for the 2nd Niger Bridge? They will only get 2nd fooling. WATCH IT.
President Jonathan trying to show his team has some good governance idea or policies that could liberate the people, he went to Jos on February 17th 2011 and promised them what looks like mere wishful thinking. Our ‘transforming’ President promised the people of Plateau that he will refocus on the solid mineral development of the state and make it one of the key revenue sources in Nigeria. He also promised to build more dams and complete ongoing ones, so as to boost agricultural growth. Inasmuch as I agree that Dr. Adeshina the minister of Agriculture is doing great, but I think he’s doing what he’s doing to save his own career, if he opposes one of Jonathan’s evil policy tomorrow he’ll be sacked just the way he sacked his best minister in 2013, Danladi Usman, and the light of his administration Bolaji Abdulai all because the people that nominated them pick up the membership of the opposition party, APC. This is a serious government, indeed. And that same day, Mr. Jonathan promised to complete the Vom-Manchok-Jos road to boost economic links between Plateau and Kaduna states; I have not been there. Please, someone should confirm if the road has been completed.
In Kogi State on the 21st of February, he promised that the dredging of the River Niger and  Lokoja-Abuja road dualisation would be completed’ very soon.’ The last time I use that road, it was wahala; in fact I saw AIT bus inside a big mud and Mrs. Owoeye Wise can tell you her story. That road almost cost the Kogi State Governor his life on that road. Was that part of the promise?
The next day, our President went to Kwara and pledged that the irrigation project in Shonga would  be completed “in a few months” to boost the commercial farming activities of the New  Nigeria Farmers in the area. He also said the Jebba-Mokwa Road and Jebba Bridge would be given adequate attention to ease transportation in the area. Sadly the only thing I can recognize Shonga Farms for is their sweet banana which the government of Senator Bukola Saraki kick-start and dully been followed up by incumbent Governor Abdul Fathia Ahmed. What can our president point at?
On 24th of that same love month of February 2011, our President was in Aba where he promised his adopted Ndi Igbo brothers that he would make Aba “the economic city of the country” by rehabilitating their ailing industries and creating enabling environment for them for a proudly “made in Aba” products. The last Jeans I bought was made in China. Maybe after this election if our Igbo brothers fall for this gimmick again, he might keep his promise this time.
On the 25th of February in 2011 in Anambra state, I remember vividly how the APGA leaders and PDP leaders fought shamelessly to endorse President Jonathan. In fact, Igbo leaders said he’s their son and they were blunt to tell their wards, “This is Azikiwe. He will do what our late son Azikiwe did for us.” I was happy for him, because he was their hope; but how far has he given back to these people that love him dearly? He promised to fix ALL roads leading to Anambra state and South East in general. I saw on TVC how Anambra and Enugu people are complaining about bad federal roads. If Anambra people can complain like this imagine how federal roads in Abia and Ebonyi state will be. Also, President Jonathan promised to tackle erosion in South East. NTA can’t even cover this lie as any news from South East is erosion news.
In Niger state, he promised more power generation. Perhaps the most important aspect of his promises is that his government would map out a five-year strategic plan for road projects; but sadly he met 2962 megawatts from the Yar’dua government, today what we our country is generating is 2600 megawatts haven received over billions of dollars for power.
President Jonathan promised many Nigerians that things will change for better but the reverse has happened. President Jonathan promised young Northern people that he would give them life, give them education, better their lives and lead them to greatness. He can’t even protect them from terrorism. He just doesn’t give a damn.
President Jonathan promised to unite Nigerians, but his government has so divide Nigerians that a Yoruba wife is so opposed to his Igbo husband while a Hausa husband so dislike the families and sibling of his Ijaw wife.
President Jonathan promised the continuation of rule of law as being witnessed during the Government of Late President Umoru Musa Yar’dua but instead, lives of innocent Nigerians were being lost, big people looting the vulnerable and walking free. Impunity is the order of the day. Corruption is so legal those government officials steal at will and get no jail once they can say, “Goodluck Nigeria 2015”. I have never witnessed such a corrupt government driven by impunity and shenanigans since I was born.
It’s a fact that if this country should continue with someone like President Jonathan as President, Nigeria will be so divided and insecurity will spread. This government, as plainly demonstrated by its leader, has no idea how to curb terrorism. They have no clue how to better the lives of people they are governing or propose progressive government policies.
If President Jonathan could fulfill all those promises he made during the electioneering period of 2011 (some of which I have highlighted with the help of Oluwaseun Egghead Odewale’s letter ), I’ll not only support and endorse his candidature; I’ll bring in all my machinery of about 7500 volunteers in my group to support this man.
But as it stands, I’m a no Jonathanian; I’m anti-GEJITES and I hate this type of transformation my people are witnessing. Transformation that brings about Touts Across Nigeria to loot us dry. God forbid!
I’m Lanre Oguntoyinbo and yes I tweet at @lanreneville

Articles on www.omojuwa.com are solely authors opinion

On 17 September 2014, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr. Mahama Ayariga, announced that Ghana is ready to stage the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) competition slated for January and February 2015. The original host, Morocco hasofficially written to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) saying it is no longer interested in hosting the competition because of the ravaging cases of Ebola and the WHO’s heightened risk alerts of the disease spreading through social gatherings such as the tournament. For the same reason, South Africa, the other country aside Ghana CAF approached as alternative hosts, has issued a strongly worded letter  that it cannot welcome Ebola from potential participating nations Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Ghana, which has a less developed healthcare system than Morocco and South Africa, should not volunteer or accept to host AFCON 2015. The Ghana Medical Association (GMA) strongly advises against it. The GMA and millions of Ghanaians remain unconvinced of our state of preparedness considering our shameful inability to cope with even treatable cholera, which has affected thousands and killed several hundreds of Ghanaians.  Ebola is not kind to a disorganised healthcare system as we have in Ghana. It kills almost all of its victims. Any government that entertains the thought of importing Ebola is an uncaring one and should be resisted.

Besides Ebola, here are 5 very good reasons why Ghana should not even be thinking of hosting AFCON 2015.

1. INCOMPETENCE AND CORRUPTION AT THE GHANA FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION.

Management of Ghana Football Association, its hirelings and Black Stars players have given first-hand accounts of mismanagement of resources in the run up to and during the World Cup in Brazil. We have not heard the last of the successively organised mismanagement by the GFA as well as the troubling Maputo Report which contained similarhumongously corrupt acts.  Instead of rushing to host another tournament, the GFA and the Ministry of Sports should be focusing on rebuilding Ghana’s tattered reputation in international sports.

2. A CULTURE OF UNACCOUNTABILITY AND MISMANAGEMENT AT THE MINISTRY OF SPORTS.

The Dzamefe Commission is still sitting and uncovering the sheer rot and waste of the taxpayer’s money in Brazil. The nation had a collective gasp at the incredulity of a private person spending $20,000 of our money in Brazil to seek directions to a groceries market. Until and unless the many cases of financial mismanagement are explained, those responsible dealt with as prescribed by law, and robust systems and processes put in place to stop their recurrence, the Sports Ministry cannot be trusted with the execution of any international sporting event.

3. OUR HUGE FISCAL DEFICIT.

Ghana’s fiscal deficit stands at Ghc10bn. Government is spending more than it can afford so much so that critical services such as health and education are not receiving their statutory funding. There was no parliament-approved budget in 2015 for AFCON. In the face of huge Eurobond borrowing as well as an imminent IMF bailout, there is no financial justification for a single pesewa of government’s already scarce revenues being spent on an avoidable, unnecessary, unbudgeted leisure event.  The Fiscal indiscipline must stop. Just as households have been forced to tighten their belts in these harsh economic times, government must also tighten its belt and refuse to accommodate all budget over-runs, especially discretionary especially discretionary, leisure-laden ones!

4. DUMSOR or its more current rendition, A-DUMDUM-A-DUMDUM.

The Ministry of Energy has given up on managing the little power it has inefficiently left us with as we now have full 24-hour power outages running several days in a week. The cost of business soars as a consequence – it is not only 5-star internationally branded hotels but the small kiosk hairdresser who now also requires a diesel generator to stay in business.  Our manufacturing sector cannot compete at the low cost of production of foreign competitors whose products flood our markets, which is in part due to the higher cost and unreliability of power in Ghana.

For the duration of a sporting event such as AFCON, electricity demand will surge as people gather in front of TVs at precisely the same time of day to watch games. Our erratic and low supply cannot cope with such demand without switching off power to the productive sectors of the economy, and by it, negatively affecting economic output and growth.

5. 5. MISPLACED PRIORITIES.

This and previous governments of our dear Republic of Ghana need to understand a fact:  FOOTBALL IS NOT A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH. Football is not a developing nation’s greatest priority. The breaking of Bank of Ghana rules, the flouting of Ghana Revenue Authority laws, the disregard of international money laundering best practice guidelines to ferry $4m in cash to footballers and to pay the expenses of party foot soldiers in Brazil while turning off power to VALCO because of a football game, all show grossly and embarrassingly misplaced priorities.  We elected the government to prioritize education, health, sanitation, transport, energy, to keep our currency stable and inflation low, to create an enabling environment for private business to thrive. Football did not appear in any 2012 political party manifesto as a matter of national priority: stop making it so.

 In summary, even if there was no Ebola epidemic, AFCON 2015 is not our headache.  Why is our government contemplating forcing Ghanaians to swallow bitter medicine for someone else’s headache? We shall not allow you to force this down our throats.

The Minster of Youth and Sports’ position opens himself up to accusations of attempted corruption. There can be no justification for taking on AFCON 2015 for all the reasons elucidated above other than another opportunity for some to also create loot and share and probably cry.

Our strong disapproval for AFCON 2015 in Ghana will be expressed directly to CAF and FIFA. Perhaps they will see sense sooner than Government of Ghana to withdraw their ill-thought out request.

 OccupyGhana

The Presidency, yesterday, argued in defence of the involvement of Christian Association of Nigeria’s ,leader, Ayo Oritsejafor in the controversial $9.3m arms deal in South-Africa, clearing him from the case.

Speaking on behalf of President Goodluck Jonathan, his Senior Special Assistant on Public Affairs, Dr. Doyin Okupe, told newsmen in Abuja that Pastor Oritsejafor who doubles as founder of Word of Life Bible Church, had nothing to do with the matter.

According to Okupe: “Most Nigerians do not also respect the sensibilities of other people. Oritsejafor is the President of CAN and Head of all Christians in Nigeria who is representing at least, 50 per cent of people in this country. When it comes to a man like that, people should be cautious and circumspect,” he said.

It was a bright and sunny day, with a mixture of haze in the air suggestive of the coming harmattan season which literally heralds the preparation for the yuletide season. It was on a Sunday, precisely the 4^th of November, 2012. Elizabeth Ngodoo Terfa, 25, popularly known by friends and peers as ‘LizzyDoo’, left home for church to give thanks to God Almighty for all the good deeds in her life.

Before the Accident…

The trip to church was usually a short routine; she takes a motorcycle from her home to church and then takes another motorcycle back home after church, period. However, in the midst of her normal daily activities, little did she know that that fateful Sunday will mark an agonizing turning point in her life. It was that day that ‘normal activities’ ground to a halt; the soothing smile which was her trademark suddenly ceased, her boisterous personality suddenly disappeared, and her aspirations I life currently hanging on a cliff. LizzyDoo boarded a motorcycle to take her home after after church and on their way, a Volkswagen Golf 3 car rammed into the motorcycle, sending both passenger and rider crashing awkwardly on the brittled asphalt of Northbank, Makurdi.

LizzyDoo, who is currently receiving treatment at DaisyLand Orthopaedic and Trauma Hospital Jos, has gone through hell in a bid to fix her broken legs. Series of surgeries have been performed on the legs and monies have been expended in the process. As at the time of writing this appeal, she could not even recall how much money she has spent on the broken legs. She has her humble family and other sympathisers to thank for what they have done for her so far. And she prays that God will bless all those that have showed her love and care.

Elizabeth Ngodoo Terfa is appealing to good Nigerians to come to her aid and assist her in any way possible so as to enable her achieve her dreams of walking again. She requires about N900,000 (Nine Hundred Naira) altogether to bring her fully back on her feet again. Nigerians are good people, and LizzyDoo hopes to reach out to someone who has the means and heart to help.

You can contact LizzyDoo on 07031312599, and 08059799880. May God Bless the potential helper; God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

By

Moses Unongu (sweetpea4awase@yahoo.com)

Concerned Citizen

#ChopChopToday: Saving the lives of Women who cannot cook!!!

Rice is eaten by virtually everyone across the globe. While growing up I used to think that Nigerians love eating rice a lot, but when I started getting exposed to different people from various cultures, I realized that rice is eaten by almost everyone.
We normally cook rice in different ways, i.e. White rice and stew, Jollof rice, Fried rice, Tuwon rice and most times it becomes boring.

I started looking for a different way to eat rice but with a more healthy option. Then I discovered the cabbage sauce that could be eaten with white rice. Though there is nothing special about it, but some may like it.

You would need:
1 cabbage
2 carrots
1/2 pack of green beans
1/2 cup of peas
1 tomato
1 onion
4 seasoning cubes
spices
1 mercurial fish
vegetable oil
curry
salt and pepper.

Directions:
Wash the cabbage and slice it [finely chopped],

Then wash the green beans, carrot and peas.

Chop the green beans and carrot how you want it [your desired shape] and set aside.

Slice onion, wash the fish and cut it and spice it using salt, pepper, ginger, garlic, 1 seasoning cube, ground coriander and ground nutmeg].
Allow to marinate for 5 minutes, then put some vegetable oil in the pan or pot [depending on what you want to use].

When the oil is hot enough, start frying.

And when it is well fried, take out and set aside, using the same oil add the onions and some garlic.
Then add the chopped tomatoes and keep frying.

Add the diced carrot, green beans and peas keep stirring allow to cook for 1 minute.

Also add the seasoning cube, salt, pepper, curry and spices.

Allow to cook for another 5 minutes.
Reduce the heat and add the cabbage.

Add half cup of water allow to steam and cook for 10 minutes to allow the cabbage to get soft [depending how you want it].

When it is ready add the fish and serve with the boiled rice and enjoy.

Contributed by Akumabee’s Plate on: http://africfood.blogspot.co.uk/

@mabastarr on Instagram