Author: The Nation

By Agbogunleri Owolafe

Nigeria is always blessed with amazing individuals as governors of her central bank. Counting from when I could clearly see the signatures and properly read the names of CBN governors on our currency notes, I can say that the individuals that have assumed the responsibility of managing the country’s treasury are somewhat decent and professional.

Beyond professionalism, they are people-centred, with strong bias for developmental economics. Their policies and actions were geared towards nurturing socio-economic growth and empowering the citizens, even though the CBN does not interface with Nigerians directly.

Let us start from the recent past with Dr. Paul Agbai Ogwuma, who was the CBN governor from 1993 to 1999. Chief (Dr.) Joseph Oladele Sanusi replaced him after his retirement in 1999 and left the saddle for Professor Chukwumma Charles Soludo in 2004. After him, came Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi in 2009 before this catastrophe of a governor befell Nigeria in 2014.

All the listed governors had evidential contributions to the Nigerian financial system and growth of the nation’s economy. If the eras of Ogwuma and Sanusi were too distant in our memories for recollection, we cannot struggle so much to recall Soludo’s brilliant intervention in the Nigerian banking system, which consolidated the country’s 87 banks into 25 and boosted liquidity in the system.

The country’s slumbering economy experienced a reawakening as a result of that policy. Nigerian commercial banks that were fringe players, lacking capacity to match their South African counterparts, became big enough to fund big-ticket transactions in manufacturing, telecommunication, agriculture, service industry, trade, and oil and gas.

Under Soludo, the CBN was a major driver of socio-economic growth. The country witnessed and celebrated policy-induced multi-billion dollar foreign investments into the Nigerian banking sector. Without any doubt, his banking consolidation is the foundation of the solid and diversified financial system we have today.

As CBN Governor, Soludo was very methodical, focused and pragmatic. He demonstrated in an unambiguous manner, a very deep understanding of economic policies and principles. In fact, it was going to be easy to attribute his outstanding performance to his background as a scholar and economist, but the appointment of Lamido Sanusi as his successor at the CBN proved that brilliance is the reason for Soludo’s remarkable feats.

Unlike Soludo, Sanusi is neither a professor nor an academic, but a professional banker like the current CBN governor, Emefiele. However, Sanusi continued the string of excellence, professionalism and integrity at the CBN. He did not denigrate the office through conception and implementation of injudicious policies. As governor, Sanusi occupied and ran the office with grace and brilliance. Although he lacked the reticence of the previous office holders, a trend that began with Soludo, but continued the tradition of virtuosity required for the office.

Sanusi prevented a financial sector meltdown that would have crippled the Nigerian economy like other major economies around the world. He demonstrated that he was a good successor to Soludo with the way and manner he quickly cleared the rot in the banking system.

As a result of his ingenuity, failed banks were fixed without depositors losing their money. He quickly set-up Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to acquire bridge banks and absorb toxic assets. Similarly, he strengthened aspects of our banking regulations through improved regulatory frameworks. I am not sure anyone has forgotten that Sanusi institutionalised tenure limits for bank CEOs and abolished the universal banking system.

Although Sanusi was bold, showy and controversial, no one was able to fault the logic of his policies. He was clearly a pro-people governor of the CBN. He spoke truth to power and earned enemies for his outspokenness. Sanusi battled the National Assembly with knowledge of job and extensive awareness of policies.

If not that we saw Sanusi, Emefiele’s tenure would have justified the reasoning that professional bankers should stop being CBN governors. May be the argument would now be that the appointments should be switched between practical economists (scholars) and professional bankers, one after the other, not in succession.

With Emefiele at the helms, CBN has become a political party. Not surprisingly though because he got the governorship of the CBN through his association with the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

Those familiar with Emefiele’s career at Zenith Bank where his secondment to the CBN was procured would tell you that he was not a pragmatic leader. He ran the institution in the shadows of Jim Ovia, whose Sanusi’s house-cleaning policy forced to step aside from directly and publicly running the institution.

So, that he could not practically address economic issues or come up with intelligent policies is not a surprise. He is an individual who has significantly benefitted from his association with people, not by creating anything for himself. His calm mien portrays him as a gentleman, but he is a very arrogant and devilishly ambitious individual.

I do not have problem with anyone being ambitious. But when you drive your ambition through sneaky paths, it becomes devilish. Before the APC presidential primaries, the whole of Abuja was besieged with Emefiele’s campaign posters. Is it not strange that a sitting CBN governor had several buses to promote his interest in the presidency of Nigeria, and bold-facedly feigned blindness to the profligate undertakings?

Where is this man’s professionalism? Where is accountability in Nigeria? Should Emefiele not be explaining to Nigerians the meaning of the festival of irresponsibility that happened pre-APC presidential primaries? He breached his oath of office, and still continues to disrespect Nigerians!

Is Emefiele really serving Nigerians, himself, or some unknown interests in the country? The Naira redesign and the changing reasons for the ill-timed policy is a pointer to his lack of interest in the unity of Nigeria and her progress. In the bid to curb corruption, as he claimed, he decided to throw Nigeria into economic chaos. Did corruption start in Nigeria October 2022? Do you think with the Naira design and invalidation of people’s hard-earned currency, corruption will stop right away?

Emefiele: With your action, do you not see yourself as corruption on two legs? Even the company you keep, especially, your association with an influential media mogul known for his anti-progressive activities is suggestive of your ideals.

You opened the CBN vault for him to sing your praises, and de-odourise your putrid endeavours as the custodian of Nigeria’s vault. You thought that your alignments with him and other evil forces who are against the progress of Nigeria will scuttle our democracy.

Emefiele, indiscretion turned you into a clown, whose professional capacity is being questioned globally. Because of greed and imprudence, you violated your oath of office and lost your moral right. To avoid retribution, you agreed to do the dirty job of disrupting our democratic process for the enemies of Nigeria.

The goal of the Naira design and limited exchange window is to trigger hardship in Nigeria and cause citizens to change the attitude or disposition to our democracy. Daily, we see how Nigerians suffer to get access their money in the banks and buy Naira in Nigeria to live.

Under your watch as CBN governor, Emefiele, Naira failed to serve and work for Nigerians.

•Owolafe, a distraught Nigerian, writes from Ogbon Oluwo, Ogbomoso.

By Augustine Nwaka

After the general elections this week and later in March, Nigeria would have come to a different kind of reality about her political configuration. We would have learnt that people are the real bridges to power. It will become evident that the path to becoming the president or governor of any state in our country does not begin and end with electioneering. 

The results of the elections will teach us, individually, a lesson in compassion, and redefine our politics permanently. Unlike the last six cycles, the build-up to the current one has had more zest and character. The elite class and the voting-for-the-first time generation have added spice to the narrative, with generous doses of creativity that attest to our ingenuity as a people. 

From the blast of the whistle by INEC, the social and mainstream media have become a theatre of entertainment. We wake-up daily to entertaining contents and comments, invented from real life scenarios, to ridicule opposition candidates. In one instance, the highly comical Senator Dino Melaye of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and the spokesperson of the Atiku Abubakar Presidential Campaign, feigned falling on a campaign stage in mockery of the APC presidential candidate, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu.

There were also beautifully crafted tirades from the caustic ball-point of Chief Femi Fani-kayode, who recently decamped to the All Progressives Congress (APC), to become the co-spokesperson of the Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu Presidential campaign, attacking the Atiku Abubakar camp. As always, out of Fani-Kayode’s pen flows a rich repertoire of, searing, stinging, spearing and scything words made into heavy artillery fire. The exchanges have created enough drama to keep our gaze fixed on newspapers and other platforms, where the battle rages.

As a mark of support for candidates of our preferences, we became one of ‘BATified’, ‘Atikulated’ or ‘Obidient’. The political natives that emerged from these groupings almost signalled that the presidential election is almost a three-horse race, but the consideration of political engineering should remind us of the numbers in the Kwankwasiyya movement. Although not forceful enough to make the former governor of Kano State, Rabiu Kwankwaso and presidential candidate of the NNPP, the president, but at its fullest, it may be adequate to make him third in the presidential race.

Without any equivocation, the next president will come from any of the mentioned candidates. This is because they have the name recognition and visibility that established their participation in the context. However, the door to Aso Rock would not be unlocked by the whirl of social media and rallies. Human beings are the path to Aso Rock. Therefore, genuine connection with the people is the key to Aso Rock.

There must be a solid political base, which must cut across the ethno-religious line that will deliver bloc votes for any candidate to be president. And this would have been nurtured over a period of time, not just suddenly, because elections are an affective commitment parade. In our clime, eloquence and sharp suits are not indicators of capacity and ability to perform in a political office yet. In fact, a presidential election is a test of candidates’ relationship with tribes and religions outside their own faith, practices, or beliefs.

Let us see it this way. If you are an easterner who is interested in becoming the president of Nigeria, you may need to marry a westerner and settle your family in the north to establish the connections that will give you the needed national appeal.

Perhaps, if a candidate, who is a Muslim does not have a track record of attending church programmes or supporting Christianity, he or she will need a bridge that will take him into that fold and give him the image of acquiescence. It is a tedious and serious work requiring commitment, more than money. It is an investment that takes a significant part of you. That is why people in certain age bracket may not become president of Nigeria at this time.

The journey to national acceptability and believability is very long. Understanding the socio-cultural diversity of Nigeria is a real factor in the choice of who becomes the president of the country. Until you have the reach, you may not know how to leverage the means because real human beings make voting decisions, not emojis.

Social media crowd can be really deceptive and misleading. What you have there is just is a noisy swarm lacking in the commitment to help candidates actualise their dreams with their votes. Although the horde is very good in holding government accountable, but beyond recommendations, their involvement in real political actions – registering to vote, following to pick-up voter’s card and voting is condemnably low.

So, the power to make any Nigerian president is with the real people. Only the candidate, who has connected well enough with them will have access to that power, which is their votes. When a presidential candidate’s name is mentioned in any tribe outside his own, someone notable from the tribe where his name is mentioned must be able to say he or she has experienced him or her. It is a network of people and minds, agreeing to confer their identity on someone outside their culture to represent them.

Have you wondered why ex-military men have ruled Nigeria more than civilian politicians? They usually would have gone around the country, seen the people and their cultures. The reach, which their service in the military gave them, contributed to their network. With that as foundation, the rhetoric of politics was deployed to make heroes of them, saying they fought for the unity of Nigeria.

For Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Peter Obi and Rabiu Kwankwaso, it is different. Atiku Abubakar was a Customs Officer. He moved around by serving in the nation’s borders, but this may not be as much of a leverage for him as the ex-military men. However, his repeated presidential bid should be an asset to his aspiration, except for the drawback caused by Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s publicly expressed opinion on his integrity.

Still, Atiku remains a major contender in the race to Aso Rock, but he is unlikely to unlock the doors of the Presidential Villa. He has lost the bid few times and this may not make his base see disappointing him as a big deal. Peter Obi has brought something distinct into Nigerian politics, and that is a mind-shift, but it is transitory. Most of his supporters are either ineligible to vote or enjoying the buzz. They are buried in debauchery, lacking the discipline to act pragmatically. The pain or sacrifice of going out to vote may be too much for them to make on the crucial day.

Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu will emerge the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, marginally defeating Atiku Abubakar. Peter Obi, with the amount of effort he is making will come third, but not with so much margin ahead of Rabiu Kwankwaso.

The Tinubu presidential ambition started about 16 years ago. To keep this aspiration alive, he made several sacrifices and strategic interventions in keeping Nigeria together. He did not become a leader by just deploying resources; he raised men and built capacity in people. Arguably, Tinubu is Nigeria’s most followed politician.

His influence goes beyond his ethnic domain. Since the end of his tenure as Lagos State governor, he started serving Nigeria in unofficial capacities. From East to West, North to South, his generosity, humanity and presence are felt. He touches lives without considering tribe or religion. This season, he is the candidate with the widest social connection, best experience and most suitable outlook for Nigeria of today.    

•Nwaka writes from Akwa, Anambra State.

By Charles Onunaiju

For the avoidance of doubt, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC) is not an answer or even a solution to Nigeria problems and no one is. But he is likely the proper framing of the questions and issues that could lay bare the roadmap to understanding the vexatious issues of the current national dilemma. In the campaigns leading to the epic vote, so much have been said about character, competence and capacity but even this have confounded rather clarified the issues. Except capacity and competence is viewed and understood from the point of original thinking and not mere technical capacity to fix some specific issues, it would be largely useless in the context of existentially understanding the nature of the challenges that confront Nigeria.

The radical or revolutionary transformation of Nigeria without the upheavals and disruptions of a revolution is not a mere matter of competence and capacity in the technical sense of fixing this or that. The challenge to restore Nigeria to practical use in the improvement of the living conditions of the Nigerian people and also fulfilling its manifest destiny as a significant power in the global system is to re-found the Nigerian state and not merely to reform it. In this regards, the courage to dare and explore unchartered waters despite potential dangers and obstacles is the hallmark of the leadership Nigeria needs. Tinubu’s recent travails even within his own party where his courage not only came under fire but was existentially and mortally tested piles into the constituent brick-blocks for understanding issues concerning the current Nigeria dilemma.

The roadmap to understanding the issues of contemporary Nigeria and possibly set on the path of recovery consists essentially to reconfigure the Nigeria state and restore its viability, credibility and integrity. The current travails of Nigeria state are because it is too weak and vulnerable to capture by vested interests. The trajectory to the current atrophy of the Nigeria’s state is because it was taken as given, lacking in the social content of the indigenous legitimacy, it hung on a precarious thread of technical legalism fostered by the climate of the contemporary international system that automatically confers de jure status. Because of the arcane nature of the subsisting Nigeria state, a predominant view has emerged, that the state is incompetent to lead the charge in development but on an inclusive and sustainable basis. Tinubu in the governance of Lagos, a sub or mini-state entity demonstrated that the state can constructively lead the charge in development. The massive turnaround of Lagos, leveraging the state authority’s initiative showed that the state is not inherently incapable or incompetent but can actually be energized, repositioned and considerably leveraged to drive sustainable and inclusive development. The current fad to demonize the state as pathetically incompetent and incapable, copied from the ideological playbook of western liberalism is neither empirically sustainable nor historically tenable in our specific socio-economic context. The market fundamentalism of neo-liberalism that disavows any role for the state is founded on the ideological fable and not even the practical economic practice of the West can sustain the myth. Even in the West, at any juncture of serious socio-economic malady, like the Great Depression the state has played the lead role out of the miasma. For a developing country like Nigeria, the imperative for navigating through historically backward economy disarticulated by vest interests both internally and externally must consist in the lead role of a state untainted by the venality of special interest.

To reposition the state in that role especially in the context of Nigeria, where the state has been perennially weak, vulnerable to factional in- fighting of the political elite and unable to focus on issues of integration and development, the challenge to return to its pre-eminence is daunting and even forbidding. The structural weakness of the state in the Nigeria context has led some to disavow it completely in the country’s challenge of development. The history of contemporary governance in Lagos, whose trajectories was initiated by Tinubu showed that with innovation and the capacity to think differently and originally, the state could not only be constructive partner in development but could play indispensable pivotal roles in driving a sustainable and inclusive development. The atmosphere of private sector roles in development can only be realized by an activist and strong state, uncompromising in its institutional integrity and holding the rings fairly and creditably for all non-state actors. A “siddon look” state, washing its hands off development and only parcelling out public largesse to choice private sector operators may be no less complicit than any rogue actor in the perennial crises of society’s socio-economic bankruptcy.

No transition from consumption to production is possible without a developmental state or at best a “night-watchman: state, with exceptional insight and critical innovative aptitude, to spot, engage and leverage opportunities for transformation.”

According to the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, when as a governor, he was handed strike action by workers in the education and health sector, two critical sectors that a developmental state must not toy with, he concessioned the sectors to the private and voluntary agencies. To resolve the issue of public sectors workers by concessioning to private and voluntary non-governmental agencies like the church is both escapist, non-innovative and amount to mere simplification of an issue requiring original thinking and profound interrogation. It is an over simplification of liberalism that would even embarrass liberal thinkers.

Former vice president and presidential candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar barely disguises his intention to denude the state. He believes the perennial failure of the state, to efficiently and profitably mange business and the economy, is in the innate nature and character of the state. The state which he fears its inefficiency and incompetency is the prebendal weak state that exist to promote, nourish and perpetuate clannish in-fighting of the factional governing elite, whose struggles over spoils and fiefs have unfortunately defined the trajectories of Nigeria’s modern state.

A visionary leadership, with courage tailored to think originally and differently, could reverse the ruinous trajectory of the contemporary Nigeria state and steer it in a new direction.

The presidential candidate of the All Progressive Congress Ahmed Bola Tinubu whose antecedents comprised boldness to innovate, insight to the constructive role of developmental state, courage to dare and question received wisdom and foresight to understand the place of Africa in the emerging global disorder, constitute a distinctive outlook, necessary for interrogating the Nigeria’s existential condition and amassing the relevant patchworks to construct it as viable entity both for the Nigeria people and the rest of mankind.

Interestingly and coincidentally, Tinubu’s pair and vice presidential candidate Kashim Shettima generously deployed the state initiative to help rebuild his home state, which was once the epicentre of the Boko Haram insurgency. Their shared commitment to the vision of a developmental state offers a modest and refreshing hope from the current stupor of a narcissistic state on the ruin from itself-delusions.

•Onunaiju is a research director of Abuja based Think Tank.