The Nation Newspaper

Category: Friday

  • As America returns to Sodom…

    Friday, June 26, 2015 must mark the beginning of an American epoch. It is the day the American age must have begun its final decline. It is the day the American Supreme Court legalised same-sex marriage for the entire country.

    One sympathises with the ‘silent’ majority of US citizens, who have been badgered to submission by a perverse minority. Oh, what a calamity that has befallen the world. After the ruling, one saw the new earthlings crawl out of their cupboards and taking to the streets of America in triumphant march. It was oddity on parade: wife and waif; John and Johnson, kissing openly to affirm their perfidy.

    Before the ruling, 36 of America’s 50 states had upheld same-sex marriage. America is the 21st country in the world to allow this wholesale desecration of humanity. As the world inexorably returns to Sodom, people of God must get hard on their knees …He that vanquished Sodom once can do it again.

  • As Buhari visits US

    As Buhari visits US

    It is an open fact that Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari will be an invited guest of President Barrack Obama of the United States on the 20th of this month. Such is nothing strange especially whenever the honeymoon remains fresh for any newly elected President of an African country. Virtually all the former Presidents of Nigeria also enjoyed that privilege in Washington. The difference this time however, is that President Buhari’s visit is coming up at a time when sodomy has become America’s new civilisation. And President Buhari’s host has described that ‘new civilisation’ which was authoritatively proclaimed by America’s Supreme Court last Friday as a joyous victory for his regime which he may want to share with anybody that falls into that country’s web of sacrilege. The Almighty Allah said much about this in Qur’an 11: verses 76, 77, 81 & 82 as follows:

    “And when our messengers came to Lut (Lot), he was grieved for them because he could not protect them against the sacrilegious acts of his townsmen (who were neck deep in homosexuality). Lut concluded: ‘this is a day of woe.’ And as the evil doers came rushing towards him he said: ‘’my people, here are my daughters; they are (sexually) rather lawful to you than your fellowmen. Have fear of Allah and do not humiliate me (with your sacrilege) before my guests. Is there no single good man amongst you?

    “Then, the Angels said: ‘Lut! We are the messengers of your Lord; they shall not touch you. Depart with your kinsfolk in some part of the night and let none of you look back, except your wife. She shall suffer the fate of the others. Their appointed time is the morning. And, is the morning not near? And when our judgement came to pass, we laid them (and their towns) upside down and let loose upon them a shower of burnt stones bearing the tokens of your Lord. Such is not far off from all evil doers”.

     

    Exposition

    The above Qur’anic quotations are in reference to the people of Prophet Lut (Lot) and the consequences of their evil deeds. But as the last quoted verse indicates, the story of such evil machination did not end with them and its consequences will not end with them. Now, the imperial West seems to have found a new civilisation in sodomy. It probably believes that the men of Sodom and Gomorrah were afflicted by the mentioned calamity either because they were not clever enough or they had no nuclear power with which to fight God.

     

    Words of advice

    Sodomy has long been a global phenomenon from which no part of the world is excluded. But with its current institutionalisation backed up by governmental authority, especially in Europe and America the leaders of sane countries from the rest of the world must be on their guard. It is characteristic of the West to want to impose any newly invented idea by them, and considered as civilisation, on others. This is where President Muhammadu Buhari has to be very careful when he travels to the United States.

    The Western imperialists have a way of luring others to their traps with open carrots while hiding the stick. With them, there is no free lunch. Every gift that comes from them is a Greek one. As of now, President Barrack Obama seems to be very desperate in helping Nigeria to get rid of Boko Haram menace. And he has noticed desperation on the part of President Buhari in solving the same problem.

    When two Presidents meet with such desperation on the same issue one is likely to bow for the other depending on whose will is stronger. But in a situation where one of them is the giver and the other is the recipient, the elasticity of will may be limited.

    Whoever pays the piper surely dictates the tune. The imperialists do not traditionally live in a house with only one door. They are invariably known for keeping the front door wide open to all visitors while a back door, which is an alternative, remains hidden. No Nigerian interest can ever be a priority for an American President.

     

    The evil axis

    America is currently the champion of modern civilisation. Whatever emerges from America is perceived as a trend of civilisation with which the rest of the world must keep pace. Last Friday (June 27, 2015), America’s Supreme Court gave a split judgment (of 5 to 4) that shocked the sane world to the marrow.

    The judgment officially granted the citizens of that devil’s own country the legal right to practise sodomy throughout the country in what is now seen as a token of civilisation at higher pedestal.

    The implications of that evil judgment are innumerable. Some of them are as follows:

    1.Marriage between male and female has been consigned to the uncivilised basket of the primordial time.

    2.The legal natural and conventional means of procreation of children has been rubbished and rendered irrelevant.

    3.Adoption of other people’s children has become a new artificial means of increasing human demography.

    4.Through a devilish connivance with Europe, America has challenged the authority of the Almighty God to make law for mankind.

    Human history is generally dotted with waves of civilisations from era to era. The fall of one civilisation has always signaled the beginning of another. Where are the civilisations of the yore today?

    Haven’t such ancient civilisations, such as Egyptian, Assyrian, Persian, Mesopotamian, Carthaginian, Greek and Roman each of which lasted far more than a thousand years now become sheer rubbles on the pages of history? From the experience of history, we have come to learn that when a civilisation wants fall, its conductors will begin to see themselves as super human beings and clad in the garb of arrogance. That is now the lot of America which amounts to challenging the authority of God.

     

    Audacious chief gay

    A few years back, the world’s chief gay crusader was no less a personality than the Prime Minister of Britain, David Cameron whose campaign for free homosexuality and same sex marriage is going international.

    At the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting in Australia in 2011, Cameron’s preoccupation was to sell the constitutional entrenchment of free homosexuality to other heads of governments, particularly those from Africa. He threatened to withdraw his government’s aid to any country that refused to allow gay freedom in its constitution.

     

    Reactions

    The first reaction to that threat came from the then Ghanaian President, John Atta Mills, who publicly and eloquently told his fellow countrymen that his government would not tolerate the linkage of foreign aid to promotion of gay rights.

    President Mills’ open denunciation came after David Cameron boasted in the British Parliament that he had sold the concept of gay rights to the Commonwealth countries.

    “If the aid is going to be tied to things that will destroy the moral fibre of our society, do you really want that?” John Mills concluded.

    Ghana was not alone in such denunciation. Uganda also asserted that she would rather suffer any economic backlash from anywhere over her opposition to gay rights. Meanwhile, the Presidents of both countries had separately proscribed homosexuality and condemned Cameron’s threat.

    However, about a year thereafter, President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda went back to his vomit and announced to the world that Uganda was ready for institutionalisation of homosexuality in line with the new trend in the West. The presidential afterthought was to enable Uganda gain access to the satanic dollars that were to be granted to her in the name of economic aid.

     

    Analysis

    Out of the 54 members of the Commonwealth of Nations, 41 maintained their enacted laws banning homosexuality with many of those laws dating back to the British colonial rule. During the early days of resistance to that evil proposal, Uganda had described Cameron’s threat to cut bilateral aid as “bullying tactics”. And Ghana, which enjoyed some 36 million British pounds aid in 2010, said she would not compromise on the matter. It will be recalled that Cameron had been harping on gay rights since early 2010. He had apparently promised his party to take the campaign for gay rights to the outside world, convinced that the British point of view was more salutary than Africa’s.

    When Malawi, another African Country, sentenced two homosexuals to 14 years imprisonment with hard labour shortly after the 2011 Commonwealth conference, David Cameron responded by slashing $30 million from that country’s aid.

     

    Nigerian experience

    Ex-President Goodluck Jonathan led a Nigerian delegation to the referred Commonwealth meeting in Australia. But no one in that delegation gave any report of that devilish mission after the delegation arrived home.

    What we rather saw was a shameless sponsor of a bill in the Senate calling for the inclusion of gay freedom in Nigerian constitution. Incidentally, a public controversy had ensued on an allegation that the then Deputy Senate President, Senator Ike Ekweremadu was working on such a bill, an allegation which he promptly denied.

    Although the allegation could not be proved, people felt it was be too much of a coincidence for a bill of that nature to suddenly surface in our Senate subsequent to the Commonwealth meeting at which Cameron’s gay crusade was intense. The coincidence became more suspicious when a termagant Nigerian woman of South-Eastern extraction suddenly appeared on the Senate floor to defend the sacrilegious bill.

    However, we thank God that the then Senate President, Senator David Mark, maintained his dignity and upheld the cultural honour of Nigerians by not allowing any debate at all on such an obnoxious bill. In his remark over the bill, David Mark told his colleagues that such a bill was not only incompatible with African culture but also antithetical to religious beliefs in Nigeria.

    Though it could be assumed that for David Cameron to have championed such a desecration, he must have also been a gay but what could be  strange in having a gay as the Prime Minister of Britain when publicly known gays were being consecrated as Bishops in the Church of England which was and is still headed by the Queen. And despite the hue and cry over Cameron’s heretic action in that instance the Queen as Head of State remained silent an action which some people considered as a sign of approval.

     

    Irony

    The irony of Cameron’s crusade in 2011 was that he had, in the past opposed any inclusion of gay rights in the British constitution. Even as recently as 2003 he voted for the retention of section 28 of the British acts which prohibited gay rights in Britain.

    But in a sharp departure from his Tory past, Cameron later came out shamelessly to apologise for supporting that section of that constitution and turned round to say that teaching sexual equality in the British society was an important way of combating homophobic bullying.

    Britain’s changing attitude towards homosexuality was highlighted last in a study in 2011by the National Centre for Social Research which found that 36% of respondents thought sexual relations between two adults of the same sex were “always or mostly” wrong. This was down from 63% in 1983. Today, the figure in favour of sodomy in Europe and America has gone up so tremendously that it has boosted the audacity of some evil agents to turn the evil act into an open market trade.

     

    Nigeria’s cultural bereavement

    Now, with the rapid rate of moral degeneration and deification of capitalism in the West, major vices like homosexuality, lesbianism and bisexualism have become so contagious that those opposed to them are in the minority. This cannot be strange in any European country. What became strange is the official exportation of such vices to Africa with such cheap blackmail. The concern here is not much for Africa as a continent as it is for Nigeria as a country.

    Here is a country of multi-cultural, multi-religious adherents who had once held on tenaciously to their cultural identity and religious affinity for centuries. But with the arrival of European colonialists over a century ago, foreign vices began to overwhelm Nigerian cultural lifestyle as blind imitation became the tradition of Nigerian youths. Thus, today most Nigerians, especially those of the south, only see with European eyes, speak with European tongues and reason with European minds as they have totally lost their cultural origin to the imitated evil lifestyle of the Europeans. In this case and many other vices that are yet to surface, only genuine prayer can bail out Nigeria.

     

    Admonition and supplication

    “Allah does not impose upon a soul a duty that it cannot bear; for each soul is the benefit of what it has earned; and upon it is the evil of what it has wrought. Our Lord! Do not punish us if we forget or make a mistake; Do not lay on us a burden that you did not lay on those before us; Our Lord! Do not impose upon us what we have no strength to bear; Pardon us, grant us protection and have mercy on us; You are the Patron (of the universe) so help us to overcome the machinations of the infidels”. Amen.

  • Change and NASS

    Nigerians voted for change and they rightly expect their representatives to implement change. It isn’t clear however that their representatives take change seriously. The National Assembly (NASS) crisis is a fundamental threat to the change agenda.

    There is an argument that All Progressives Congress (APC) must not waste time on NASS matters because there are greater and more urgent priorities—power, corruption, unpaid salaries, etc. What this argument misses is that NASS cannot be ignored because these priorities on which APC promised to focus its attention cannot be resolved without a united NASS led by credible change agents. Therefore, while NASS is not all there is to change, its role in the change Nigerians desire cannot be overestimated.

    If the present impasse were just about the matter of appointments into NASS leadership positions, perhaps it can be resolved and contending forces reconciled. For this to happen, the actors must be willing to submerge personal interests for the larger group and national interests. However, it may not be about appointments after all. It may be the outcome of a fractious coalition of special interests.

    Assume, for instance, that the impasse is about calculations toward 2019 even when the incumbent has not publicly declared an intention to retire. In this case, it seems clear that we are back to the unfortunate climate of suspicion that birthed new Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), in which case APC is just a wrecking platform in the unassailable analogy of Chief Bisi Akande.

    From this reasoning, the only inference is that innocent electorate have been sold a dummy, yet again! Yet, to believe this or to reconcile oneself to that possibility is a short course to depression. I choose optimism and the path of sanity instead. To achieve sanity, I think we have to isolate the issues that we are dealing with. Then we can see what the prospects are, if any, for reconciliation.

    For one side to the conflict, it has been suggested that we have here a contention between party supremacy and individual or group ambition. And for this side, party supremacy has a moral edge. After all, without the party, individuals cannot pursue or achieve their political ambition. If individuals wreck the party, they will have no base to pursue their ambition. This ignores the possibility that some individuals may choose to ditch the party and seek their interest in some other parties. The new PDP defectors chose that path months ago and may choose it again and go back to PDP where they came from.

    For the other side, it is not about party supremacy but about internal democracy and parliamentary convention. They claim that they are not against the interest of the party, but are actually protecting those interests.

    Given what has occurred, the opposing side finds it hard to believe this reasoning. “Would someone who cares about the interest of the party cede to another party a position that belongs to his party so he could emerge as Senate President?” they ask. “If that wasn’t the intention, what prevented Senator Bukola Saraki from requesting that the election be delayed to allow his fellow party members arrive the chambers? Assume he wasn’t in a position to do so at the time, how about now? Can’t he at least show his loyalty to the party now by taking steps to correct the anomaly?” Thus far, the Senate President appeared to resist that idea.

    There is more. The latest resistance to honour the request of the party for the appointment of Senate officers, including Senate Leader, Whip and Deputy Whip signals an even more serious issue. There are insinuations that the Senate President refused in part because he doesn’t want his “rivals” to be in such sensitive positions.

    This is a strange reasoning, to say the least. Senator Saraki doesn’t see a PDP Deputy Senate President as a threat, but he sees his party members as political rivals who cannot be trusted! Compare how President Obama appointed Mrs. Clinton to the most coveted cabinet position in his administration, thus putting together “a team of rivals”, which strengthened the party and his administration.

    The positions of the Senate President and House Speaker suggest to observers that there is something else going on. If Saraki and Dogara are reluctant to appoint party- endorsed candidates into leadership positions in the Senate and the House respectively, is it too far-fetched to sense a 2019 calculation going on? But what does this calculation mean for APC, for President Muhammadu Buhari and for Nigerians, who voted for change?

    First, for the APC, it means that at the dawn of its victory, the party has succumbed to the disease and paralysis that struck the PDP at the dusk of its reign. Isn’t it too soon? But as tragic as it is, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. PDP started out as a party of contractors and business partners. Members knew what they wanted out of the bargain. Politics for them was business.

    That was the mindset when a Southwest party leader accused Chief Bola Ige of ingratitude, on the ground that they had invited him to the dinner table but he returned the favour with a critique of their approach to national interest. “What national interest other than the acquisitive and possessive interests of the elite party members?” That was, and is, PDP.

    ACN is the major legacy party of APC with core progressive principles. With an ideological orientation that prioritises social welfare, it prides itself as a descendant of UPN and SDP. With its achievements in the Southwest, it needed an alliance of like-minded groups to capture the centre. Buhari’s CPC, with its leader’s famed integrity and love for the welfare of the masses as well as its large Northern following, was a good fit. What wasn’t clear was whether other individuals and groups shared the same political worldview. But electoral politics is a game of numbers and no one can really fault the pioneers of the APC idea for dealing with the reality.

    With obsession with numbers come different motivations and intentions. There are individuals who felt that their political interests were threatened in the PDP and sought other means. APC was a willing tool and they jumped ship. If what they wanted out of their association with APC wasn’t anything as grandeur as the change mantra implied, they naturally will feel unnecessarily burdened by the imposition. They can therefore jettison change without a moral qualm.

    For the group in question, the 2019 calculation is simply consistent with their original motive and intention. If it doesn’t jell with the grand mission of the party, it’s just too bad. They cannot toe party line and they cannot acknowledge party supremacy where their understanding of self-interest is at stake. For them, that is what politics is all about.

    Second, for President Buhari, the 2019 calculation on the part of Saraki, Dogara, and their collaborators means that his leadership is being questioned and he is being treated as a lame duck, even before he gets started. How is he going to receive the cooperation of a divided NASS led by a divided majority of his own party?

    When the President sends his ministerial nominees to the Senate for confirmation, what can he expect? Will the “rival” groups within APC cooperate to confirm the nominees or will each group look for who among the nominees belongs to which camp? As far as change is concerned, can we expect any serious legislative agenda that targets and delivers APC’s promises to the electorate? As long as the conflict endures and the mutual suspicion lingers, it is doubtful.

    Third, for the nation in general, and for the masses that voted for change, it means  we are not out of the woods yet and the crab in us must watch its head with its eyes. This is my reading of Chief Bisi Akande’s warning. It is good that Northern political elite have denied a conspiracy against the Southwest. It is important for them to work hard with individuals and groups in the Senate and the House to restore normalcy and party unity. The alternative is MAD, aka, Mutually Assured Destruction.

  • A note for Governor Ambode

    Yesterday is a closed book, today open history It was necessary to let much of the noise and hoopla of change to die down in order to find space for this small voice. Then again, it would amount to a disservice bordering on ill-will to the new regime at Alausa not to lend one’s voice. If only for the reason that one has been a long-term observer of this emerging megacity – as far back as Baba Lateef Jakande era; one would therefore be unfair not to make one’s humble input for the overall good of our city.

    It must be noted that the new helmsman in Lagos, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode (AA), has started on a delightful note. He has touched down running. Quite salutary that he has set about his job rather gracefully without looking back and seeking to pick holes in his predecessor’s tenure. If only for the reason that no two circumstances are quite the same and of course, that ex-governor Raji Fashola served to the acclaim of most Lagosians. The ball is in AA’s court now and the world ahead is far larger than what has gone by. He must therefore, resist the temptation to be seen to be casting aspersion or to look back in anger.

    Quick off the starting block Having said that, it is quite remarkable that he starts off with one of the most troubling issues for Lagosians today – traffic logjam. That AA elected to visit most of the traffic prone areas of the city says something about his having his finger on the pulse of the city. It suggests that he has an understanding of the challenges from the prism of the people.

    To unlock a huge gridlock To illustrate, some commuters in some heavy traffic areas of the city may have suffered the pains of traffic gridlock in particular spots for upwards of 20 years. Dopemu First Bridge and Iyana Ipaja Second Bridge along the Lagos Abeokuta Expressway, which are among the spots he visited, are just two examples where Lagosians have suffered daily (morning and evening) for over two decades without anyone coming with succour or solution.

    The point is that there is always a solution to any problem, much less traffic gridlock spots, but only if someone cared. All around the state – from Alimoso to Apapa, Ikeja, Third Mainland, Lekki to Ajah, hardly any area is free of daily traffic snarl that keeps commuters locked down for long spells. Apapa must be declared an emergency case immediately with joint LASG/FG task force mobilised to solve what has long been the shame of the nation at our premier sea port. There is need for a committee to rethink the entire road and transport template of the state. In the meantime, urgent palliative measures are needed in places like Iyana Ejigbo, Mushin Olosa, to mention only two. Some critical side roads need to be opened up too.

    The LGAs conundrum

    Talking about side roads, most of his efforts would amount to naught if his LGAs remain comatose the way they have been for a long time. The LGAs were not created just to pay salaries to a few people; they were set up for very important purposes.

    They must be galvanised to work for the people in the grassroots. There is a limit to what one man can do or the places he can go to in Lagos. If the LGAs are not working, he would only be working at about 40 percent capacity no matter how hard he tried.

    For instance a visit Ejigbo area of Alimoso especially now that the rains are here would be like visiting a huge pig sty; hardly any street is passable; a testimony to the total failure of governance. Just how many streets can a governor reach? He must therefore make the LGAs do their jobs and accountably too.

    The scourge of ‘hood gangsOne crying matter AA must attend to with utmost urgency is the question of hoodlums and street gangs rampaging in areas of the state like Mushin, Fadeyi, Somolu-Bariga, Ajah etc. this situation has indeed gone out of hand already. Gruesome killings and wanton destruction of property of residents have gone on for too long. AA must reaffirm the authority and presence of government in the state, pronto.

    Age of creative economy The last point the new helmsman must note is the need to restructure the economy of the state. No matter how we look at it, the state is highly leveraged. The economy has merely been hinged on high taxes and federal allocation. It is still a rent-taking economy buoyed by huge debt. This is less than half its potential. There is need for a new template of more robust and creative economy especially in this season of depression.

    For instance what are the strategic assets of the state? How developed are these? Apart from just taking taxes what direct investments is the state doing for bigger economic cakes. Yes there is the new city, the free zone, refineries and airport all in the making but there is room for much more.

    Another instance: Lagos is almost like a tourist desert. Not even residents have public places for family relaxation or sight-seeing how much more visitors and foreigners. The Bar Beach, commonplace as it was, used to be a popular public convergence for fun-seekers in Lagos. It is no more and millions of Lagosians are stranded. A moderately made-up and well-secured public beach would be a huge earner. The huge tourism potential of Badagry is untapped. That town ought to be a global hub for historical and cultural tourism. The slavery sites in Ghana and Senegal are not any more significant than the Badagry slave port, they are only better developed and better projected.

    We are talking about Lagos carefully developing and making capital of her waterways and aqua-culture economy, expansive beach economy, slave trade economy, ICT economy, entertainment and culture economy and sports economy. Lagos can drive and sustain a viable football league, basketball league, and catalyze swimming and athletics clubs.

    Even in the traditional businesses, a million or two more people more will pay taxes with a slight review and a better approach. Engaging big businesses better and a friendlier industrialization policy could see the state’s economy grow to twice its current size without being overly indebted.

    Lastly, Lagos must set up a carefully manned federal government intervention panel to fashion out ways and manner of engagement. And multilateral agencies should find a haven in Lagos for spending development dollars. But the conditions must be conducive. Lagos, a fledgling mega city needs all the funding it can get.

  • Facts about Zakah

    Facts about Zakah

    Preamble

    Perhaps no institution in Islam has brought as much harmony to human societies as Zakah. Its divine decree and revelation to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in the 5th year of Hijrah was a social revolution coming to mankind with an ecstasy of delight. That decree was the Fatwah that ushered Zakah into the world and made it the third pillar of Islam.

    Hitherto, there was no organised system of redistribution of wealth for the purpose of alleviating poverty in any society. Although the Prophet had introduced Sadaqah (voluntary charity) as a pecuniary bridge among the Muslim social strata, this was only done according to the whims of the rich. And it had a specific neither time nor a specific measure.

    While in Makkah, the Prophet was limited to only two pillars of Islam. These were ‘Iman’ (Faith) and Salat (observance of five daily prayers). The three other fundamental pillars of Islam came to him through divine revelations in Madinah. Of the three, Ramadan was the first to came in the third year of Hijrah. It was followed by Zakah which came in the fifth year of Hijrah. These two pillars were finally anchored by Hajj in the 7th year of Hijrah. However, Zakah is our immediate concern here.

     

    Essence of Zakah

    Zakah is not about redistribution of wealth between the rich and the poor alone. It is much more about social interaction of individuals and groups in any society for the purpose of boosting tolerance, security, peace and harmony. With the coming of Zakah as the third obligatory pillar of Islam, the mutual suspicion between the rich and the poor in Madinah was reduced to its barest minimum and the instrumentality of governance was formidably strengthened.

    Zakah is the only pillar of Islam that affects other people’s lives through the giving hands of the rich and the receiving hands of the poor. Other pillars of Islam such as Iman (Faith), Salat (Worship), Sawm (fasting) and Hajj (Pilgrimage) are all personal to whoever observes them. They cannot be shared with any other person. It is only Zakah that requires the giver and the recipient to interact heatedly to the benefit of the latter.

     

    Controversy over Nisab

    The main problem of Zakah in the world today is in the controversy over the interpretation of Nisab (i.e. the minimum taxable amount from which Zakah is supposed to be paid) as prescribed by Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

    Some modern scholars have become so lazy and perhaps so intellectually retarded that they only rely on research carried out by primordial scholars some centuries ago. Such modern scholars believe that the research carried out according to the situation of those primordial periods should suffice in projecting Islam to eternity. They have forgotten that Islam is a dynamic and not a dogmatic religion. Thus in matters of Zakah, such scholars are so rigid on using gold as the measure for determining Nisab that they do not even care if Zakah is no longer paid and the five pillars of Islam are technically reduced to four. They  have ignored the fact that the same Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who prescribed gold as a measure of Nisab for sellers and buyers of gold also prescribed silver (as a measure of Nisab for dealers in silver as well as the majority of Muslims who are engaged in other businesses). That same Prophet even went further to prescribe the specific amount of money that can be termed as Nisab in certain currencies available during his time. He said, as reported by Ali Bn Abi Talib, that if you have 200 Dirham or 20 Dinar you are liable to paying Zakah. This means that if you are in possession of a net income that amounts to 200 Dirham or 20 Dinar, Zakah payment becomes obligatory on you.

     

    How the Jews influence Nisab

    Since payment of Zakah is not about money alone, subjecting the Nisab of Zakah to the market price of gold is like surrendering a whole pillar of Islam to the whim of the Jewish gold dealers who invariably determine the price of that commodity to the detriment of Zakah as a pillar of Islam. It is generally known throughout the world that the principal traders in gold are the Jews. And they are the ones determining its price from time to time. While some scholars insist on waiting for the current price of gold to be able to determine Nisab of Zakah only a few people know that as of today it requires just a minimum of about 200 UAE Dirham (according to the Prophet’s prescription) which is an equivalence of $54 or N10,744 as the net amount of money from which Zakah is to be paid in a year. And only two and a half per cent of this amount which is now N268 (according to current rate of exchange) is payable from it. The figure here is based on 200 UAE Dirham in accordance with the Prophet’s prescription. By this, only those who have less than N10744 as net income in a year will not pay Zakah. Yet Nigerian Muslims prefer to spend thousands of dollars on Hajj every year without ever paying Zakah.

     

    Due Process

    In Islam, everything is done by due process. And Zakah cannot be of any exception. The process of paying Zakah includes the following:

    •Being a genuine Muslim

    •Attainment of the age of maturity

    •Intention to pay Zakah and not Sadaqah;

    •Timeliness (the amount must have remained in custody for one year);

    •Correct amount (i.e. to pay according to Nisab);

    • Ensuring that the paid Zakah reaches the intended recipient;

     

    Explanation

    The wealth on which Zakah must be paid are basically seven. These include: gold and silver; cash income; agricultural products; livestock; property and mineral resources.

    Every male or female Muslim who has a net income of at least N10,744 which is an equivalence of 200 UAE Dirham prescribed by the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) as reported by Ali Bn Abi Talib, the third Caliph should pay Zakah. The Prophet was quoted as saying that if you have a net income of 200 Dirham or 20 Dinar you are liable to the payment of Zakah. The fact that he mentioned Dirham which was coined in silver before Dinar which was coined in gold confirms his preference for silver over gold as a measure of Nisab. And based on the quoted Hadith, Umar Bn Khattab also laid emphasis on silver during his caliphate and provided opportunity for most working Muslims to pay Zakah.

    Both Dirham and Dinar are still very much in use today in some Arab countries. For instance in countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Syria and Morocco, the currency in use is Dirham while countries such as Jordan, Iraq, Libya and Kuwait use Dinar.

    Most of the prescriptions of Nisab by today’s Nigeria’s Islamic scholars are based on the current global market value of gold as determined by the Jewish gold traders. This is contradictory to the position of the second Caliph (Umar Bn Khattab) who adopted 200 silver-based Dirham prescribed by the Prophet to enable majority of the citizenry pay Zakah even as he did not prevent those who preferred gold as Nisab measure from using it.

     

    Personal Comment

    Insisting on gold as a universal measure of Nisab in today’s world is nothing but a dogmatic ambush for Zakah as well as a clandestine collaboration with some enemies of Islam to ditch the third pillar of that divine religion. The Prophet had guarded against this by considering the implications of not paying Zakah before he prescribed Dirham and Dinar. Now, going by the current market price of gold, which has put Nisab at over N600000, more than 85% of Nigerian Muslims may not be able to pay Zakah. And this has been the case year in and year out for many past decades. The implication of this is that most Nigerian Muslims will never be able to pay Zakah throughout their life time. Yet, some Nigerian scholars insist on Nisab based on gold price not minding the plight of those who are technically excluded from the payment of Zakah.

     

    Using Dirham for Nisab?

    This column (The Message) chose the UAE Dirham as a measure of Nisab for Nigerian Muslims because of their familiarity with Dirham. Many Nigerians either travel to Dubai for business transactions or pass through that city which is globally acknowledged as an international transit on their ways to some countries in Asia or Australia. By that, they have become familiar with the UAE currency called Dirham which the Prophet recommended as a matter of priority. The argument that the Dirham of the Prophet’s time was different from today’s Dirham as being advanced by some so-called scholars is as pedestrian as saying that since the Prophet did not mention Naira as a measure of Nisab, Zakah should not be paid in Naira. Can anybody prove that the available gold or silver during the Prophet’s time was different from that of today? Just as gold is gold whether during the Prophet’s time or today so is Dirham or Dinar remains the same.

     

    Payable Amount

    What is statutorily payable from N10,744 = N268 (which amounts to 21/2% or 1/40) of that amount. Today, the Dirham used in the United Arab Emirates is globally recognised as denominated in silver just as the Dinar used in Jordan or Iraq or Kuwait is recognised as denominated in gold. It is therefore grossly erroneous to impose the price of gold as determined by the Jews on Nigerian Muslims as the only yardstick for measuring Nisab.

     

    Zakah of Property

    With regards to landed property, no Zakah is paid on a residential building that is not commercialised fully or partly. If however, a part of it is commercialised and made a source of income (i.e. a part of it is let out) Zakah should be paid on the amount realised from the income generated from the commercialised part. If an open land is rented out commercially, Zakah should be paid on the amount realised from it provided that the net amount there from reaches the prescribed Nisab of N10,744 per annum. But if the property is completely sold out the payable sum on it should be 21/2% or 1/40 of the amount realised from its sale.

    Other properties on which Zakah should be paid include machinery leased out which generates income or a plot of land leased out on commercial basis or a well of water used for commercial purpose. Whatever is realised from any of these should be assessed according to the prescribed measure and   21/2% or 1/40  of its net balance should be paid as Zakah after deducting all expenses incurred on its process as well as payment of any debt.

     

    Agricultural Products

    As for the agricultural products, the prescribed minimum quantity from which Zakah should be paid is 653 kilograms. Such products include cash crops, legumes, fruits as well as tuber. There is no payment of Zakah on anything less than that weight. And the measure to be paid on agricultural products generally is 10% if the farm is not irrigated. But if irrigation is involved, only 5% is to be paid. This is to enable the farmer to cater for the cost of irrigation. The Zakah on farm products is paid immediately after harvesting. Payment of Zakah on agricultural products, especially crops, may be more than once in a year because it is a matter of pay as you harvest.

     

     Livestock

    In the case of livestock, the quantities from which Zakah should be paid vary from animal to animal. For instance, one cow is given as Zakah out of every 30 cows. One goat or one sheep is given as Zakah out of every 40. One year old goat or sheep is given as Zakah on every five camels.

    The minimum taxable Nisab on gold is 20 Dinar. Out of this, half of one Dinar, which amounts to 1/40 of 20 Dinar is payable. Anything in excess of 20 Dinar is calculated accordingly. Besides gold and silver, there is no Zakah on mines until they have been converted into cash or cash-able values. Zakat may also be paid on expected payment of debt if the debtor is reliable and trustworthy.

     

    Beneficiaries of Zakah

    The statutory beneficiaries of Zakah are contained in Chapter 9 verse 60 of the Qur’an as follows:

    “Verily, Sadaqah (obligatory alms) are only for the poor and the needy and those who work on its collection and those whose hearts are to be reconciled (i.e. new converts) and to free those in bondage (debtors and prisoners) as well in the path of God (building of Mosques, orphanages etc) and the wayfarers; a duty imposed by God; God is all-knowing, all seeing”.

    The administration of Zakah to these people should be done by the State authorities in Islamic societies or a committee headed by Muftis of each locality with Islamic scholars as members.

    It is better to disburse Zakah within the extended family or in the neighbourhood than to carry it outside one’s environment. In countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia, Iran and the likes, the time for paying Zakah is set to coincide with Ramadan period. This does not however mean that every Zakah time must fall in Ramadan.

    Generally, the business of Zakah is as serious with Allah as it is in the lives of the poor masses that will benefit from it. Thus, it is not a topic to be fully treated in a single day column of this type. It may therefore be continued in this column in the near future.

  • The challenge of moving beyond race

    There are incurable racists. Anyone who doubts this should go to Mother Emmanuel, Charleston, North Carolina, the Black church where a racist wreaked havoc last week, leaving dead nine innocent souls studying the Bible in God’s sanctuary.

    Do racists really have any genuine object of their racism? Or is the object only a construction of their sick imagination? When Dylan Roof looked in the eyes of nine church men and women and ranted about why they had to die in his hands, what did he see? Did he really see a species different from him? Of course not! He saw what he was brought up to believe, what his narrow minded peers planted in him. He couldn’t see a biologically different species because there is none.

    Scientists have long accepted the truth that the classification of human beings into racial groups based on assumed differences in genetic or biological properties has no foundation in reality. But back in the days of slavery and Jim Crow, the word of science didn’t really matter. Politics did. And still does.

    The seed that bigotry planted, politics watered, and it germinated and bore the fruit of hate. The ensuing embrace of the fruit brutalised communities of colour which came to reluctantly accept the existence of race and rallied to assert and protect the dignity of the Negro race.

    This was why W. E. B. Du Bois, back in 1897, declared the “verdict of science” on race that “we have at least two, perhaps three, great families of human beings—the whites and Negroes, possibly the yellow race” and that “other races have arisen from the intermingling of the blood of these two.”  However, as if unsatisfied with this “final word of science”, Du Bois goes on to suggest that it “is nothing more than an acknowledgement that, so far as purely physical characteristics are concerned, the differences between men do not explain all the differences of their history. And that great as the various races of men, their likenesses are greater, and upon this rests the whole scientific doctrine of human brotherhood.”

    But what is “the whole scientific doctrine of human brotherhood”? Du Bois does not tell us. As a child of his age, he cannot just shrug off the idea of race with its suffocating grip on humanity. Thus in his Eureka moment, Du Bois gives us his own verdict: “the history of the world is the history, not of individuals, but of groups, not of nations, but of races, and he who ignores or seeks to override the race idea in human history ignores and overrides the central thought of human history.” And he defines a race as “a vast family of human beings, generally of common blood and language, always of common history, traditions and impulses, who are both voluntarily and involuntarily striving together for the accomplishment of certain more or less vividly conceived ideals of life.”

    I have read Du Bois at least once a year in the last 20 years and each time, something new is presented to me from the versatile mind of this ancestor. For instance, with a closer attention to Du Bois’s reference to “the whole scientific doctrine of human brotherhood” in which he appears to have anticipated the science of human genome and its wonderful conclusions, he could go all the way to declare the idea of race division as unscientific and unacceptable. Instead he caved in.

    Long after Du Bois’s concession, there have been reviews of the “verdict of science” on race. The American Association of Physical Anthropology declares that, “all humans living today belong to a single species, Homo Sapiens, and share a common descent…. There is great genetic diversity within all human populations. Pure races, in the sense of genetically homogenous populations do not exist in the human species…”

    In 1998, The American Anthropological Association (AAA) declared that “human populations are not unambiguous, clearly demarcated biological distinct groups. Evidence from the analysis of genetics (e.g. DNA) indicates that 94% of physical variation lies within so-called racial groups. Conventional geographical “racial” groupings differ from one another only in about 6% of their genes. This means that there is greater variation within “racial” groups than between them.”

    Tracing the history of the race concept and its practice in the US, the AAA declares that, “given what we know about the capacity of normal humans to achieve and function within any culture, we conclude that present-day inequalities between so-called “racial” groups are not consequences of their biological inheritance, but products of historical and contemporary social, economic, educational and practical circumstances.”

    The foregoing consensus notwithstanding, there is a strong interest in keeping race as a tool of science. This interest appeals to two different but related reasons. The first argues that since race classification is embedded in the routine collection and analysis of scientific data, it is not practicable, possible, or desirable to purge science of race. The second argues that while race may not be a scientifically meaningful concept, as long as it continues to influence social life through several paths, including racism, race classification must have a role to play in fighting the injustice of racism.

    With regard to the first argument, there is no doubt that race classification is embedded in the routine collection and analysis of scientific data. But it is also true that the collection and analysis of scientific data may be carried out in disregard of the verdict of science. If in fact there is no scientific foundation for race, and if there is no biological race, then the collection of “scientific” data on race is in defiance of science and it is as such scientifically invalid. To purge science of race should not therefore be impracticable or impossible. For it would only require doing away with the collection of “scientific” data on race, that is, doing away with bad science.

    It is true that due to centuries of classification without scientific validity, some group have enjoyed privileges while others have been deprived. The result of this is still very much with us. The politics of race, rather than the biology of race, is the driver of hate, discrimination, and dehumanization.

    Race is not an accurate “pie slicer” to slice people into genetic groups. It is a social classification. So though science assures that biological race is a myth, racist ideology succeeds in creating a system that effectively slices people into groups of differing powers and opportunities.

    The power is unassailable, and the opportunities are immense. Consider what has been noticed in the wake of the execution of innocent Bible study participants. Upon his arrest, Roof was handled with care and respect by the officers. He was protected with body armor from possible harm. Compare this with the arrest of an innocent young Black girl attending a pool party in Texas. The police officer threw her to the pavement and sat on top of her in her swim suit. Then he aimed his gun at the young men and women around.

    While some liberal commentators courageously saw racism in Roof’s act, others dogged the question. They described Roof a misguided kid or a sick child who needs help. They psychoanalyze the issue on behalf of a racist murderer. This kind of psychoanalysis doesn’t generally take preeminence in the case of a Black suspect.

    But the power is more brazenly flaunted. In the wake of Roof’s murderous attack and the public revelation of his hate manifesto on his webpage, there is a debate about the continued relevance of confederate paraphernalia including the battle flag. Should there be a debate, really? For many Southerners, including self-identifying liberals, these symbols of oppression are symbols of their heritage for which they are proud.

    There are descendants of slave owners who would defend slavery till death. One told an interviewer that slavery was the best social security that America offered Blacks. And he didn’t consider himself a racist! “If I am a racist, why would I have so many Blacks working for me?” he asked.  We still have a long ways to go to move beyond race.

  • Re: Peter Principle: a correction

    Last week, in the lead article here, “Troubled governors and the Peter Principle”, I wrote that “Obi (erstwhile Gov. Peter Obi of Anambra State) did not only leave about N80 billion in cash for his successor, Chief Willie Obiano, he put millions of the state’s funds in bonds that will mature in a few year’s time at some profit.”

    Mr. Valentine Obienyen, media aide to Obi, came in with a correction, which one thinks is quite important to be reflected, if only for the purposes of record. He said that a total N75 billion was saved by Obi and handed to his successor, Gov. Obiano and broken down thus: “N25 billion in cash (naira); equivalent of N25 billion in dollar bonds and another N25 billion in local investments.”

    The error is regretted, though the point of the piece remains valid. While many of Obi’s contemporaries almost ran their states to bankruptcy; with huge, unsustainable debts and unpaid salaries to show for it today (notwithstanding that it was a period of boom), Obi showed maturity, prudence and fiscal discipline that is uncommon in this place and age. That he never borrowed a kobo for eight years is an indication of a rare resource management acumen that needs to be emulated.

  • Troubled governors and Peter Principle

    As most governors in Nigeria run from pillar to post in search of funds to meet such basic obligation as salaries and pension arrears, this column wagers that all the petro-dollars in Arabia will not help a poor governor. Even as they collectively resolved to recover expenditure allegedly made on behalf of the Federal Government, a better option may well be to tell each other the harsh truth. Unless most of our governors purge themselves of spiritual and mental poverty, they will always be plagued by this manner fiscal poverty.

    The newly-elected governors in particular must carry out a deep introspection over the activities of their immediate predecessors and determine to choose a fresh path because the road ahead is destined to be tough. It will be interesting to note the amount spent by some of the  governors at the Abuja meeting last Wednesday in search of bailout. It will be even more interesting to note that some of the governors travelled to and from Abuja in chartered jets at highly wasteful rates.

    Just last month, even as workers suffer the pangs of hunger, a governor from the Southeast was on a junket with a chartered jet. As he touched down in his state, he kept the jet on standby for so long and at such huge cost that even the owners of the craft were worried at such wastefulness by a state’s chief executive.

    Early in this month, four vessels berthed at the Apapa Ports bearing 34,450 tons of imported crude palm oil worth over N3 billion. In the last five years, Nigeria has imported about 2.4 million metric tons of this commodity valued at about N314 billion (about $1.6 billion).

    We must point it out for the umpteenth time that between Adapalm in Imo State and Risonpalm in Rivers State all the palm products needs of Nigeria’s manufacturing industries can be met with extra to export to Europe. In other words, these states could have easily earned a chunk of this multi-billion dollars palm oil trade. But a visit to any of these sprawling palm estates would only make you weep. It would also afford you an idea of the kind of people managing our affairs.

    Apart from funds from the federation account, which has virtually vanished with the crude oil debacle, most governors never mustered the initiative to build alternative economic bases in their states. As we said here last week, has cocoa stopped growing in the Southwest of Nigeria or has it stopped being a major world commodity? Any thinking governor can make any state in the Southwest the hub of cocoa production and processing in Africa.

    Regardless that most states lacked any economic base and do not earn enough revenue, yet they all live large and embark on vanity programmes and projects that are not only way above their means, but have little economic value. Imo for instance was handing cash to pupils and also claimed to be building two universities at the same time. It was also building a fancy skyscraper and three massive hotels in the three senatorial zones. There are 27 general hospitals going on simultaneously in the 27 LGAs. There is no iota of financial planning in all of these.

    In Osun State, an unsustainable N3.6 billion free school meal programme is on, as well as free uniforms; free tablets and free tuition. What then are parents for?  In the thick of all these is an airport project.

    Where on earth is this impoverished State supposed to get the fund for all these? Where is financial planning and projections in all this? Another state in the southwest is building so many posh public schools in towns while many students still learn under trees in the rural areas. There is also a plan to build a sky-scrapper like the Cocoa House in Ibadan, an ego-induced edifice, not minding that the Ibadan monolith is barely occupied and of little economic value apart from gracing the horizon.

    Why would a governor dare to purchase jets, helicopters and fly in chartered jets yet expect that cash is inexhaustible? Why are local government council workers also owed for months in many states? The federal allocation to LGAs ought to be enough to pay that level of staff five times over since hardly anything else happen in the LGAs.

    The point being made essentially here is that money or the lack thereof, is not the problem with these states that cannot pay their workers. This may be hard to comprehend but the point is that no state is in reality richer than the other. A state is only as good as its manager. This is buttressed by the fact that while some oil-rich state are in trouble, some that are deemed to be poor states have managed their finances so well that they have enough to bailout rich states.

    This is where the Peter Principle above comes in. This principle, espoused by a certain Laurence Peter and Raymond Hull states that people are usually promoted to positions quite above their competence. Are most governors in Nigeria truly competent. Are they willing to learn?

    This leads to the other Peter Principle: the Peter Obi Principle. This column will recommend him especially to the new governors. They must quietly seek out the erstwhile governor of Anambra State, Governor Peter Obi and tap his mind on the art of running a state in an emerging economy like Nigeria’s. It is not only that Anambra is not owing workers, it has enough in its kitty to lend money to some overly trouble states.

    Obi did not only leave about N8o billion in cash for his successor Chief Willie Obiano, he put millions of dollars of the state’s funds in bonds that will mature in a few years time at some profit. As if he saw tomorrow, he executed a policy of putting aside at least N100million monthly for his eight years in office. Apart from a glaring fiscal discipline, he never embarked on any vanity projects of policies but enacted numerous decisions that would continue to redound on the economic well being of the state for a very long time.

    There are investments in modern shopping malls in Awka, Nnewi, Onitsha; Onitsha Business Parks one and two and a N500 million investment with the Bank of Industry to support SMEs in Anambra State. Perhaps most remarkable is the SAB Miller’s breweries in Onitsha, which recently expanded to Nnewi. SAB Miller, one of the biggest brewers in the world has invested about $170 million in its Nigeria subsidiary based in Anambra and will provide about 50,000 jobs at full capacity. This is the way to build a state’s economy.

    Peter Obi exemplified prudent leadership while delivering value to the people. At the time he left in March 2014, he had restored the people’s trust in public schools and Anambra candidates topped in all national exams for many years. While some states are so indebted that they are no longer credit worthy, Peter Obi did not borrow a dime in eight years. His time in Anambra (2006- 2014) ought to be a case study on how to run a state. He left the state far better than he met it and proved that it is not the quantum of funds available to a state but the quality of mind managing it.

  • 10 posers for NASS

    10 posers for NASS

    Now that the 8th National Assembly (NASS) has been inaugurated, despite the controversial and rebellious manner in which its leadership was elected, and since the ruling party has reconciled itself with the rebellion and accepted the reality of the moment, congratulation is due to all members and leaders.

    The important role expected of the legislature in the making of just laws in liberal democracy is very well-known. More importantly, however, in view of the promise of change that attracted millions of our people including first-time voters, to the ruling party, the legislative branch, whose members willingly subscribed to the change mantra and campaigned on its promise, is obligated to take legislative initiatives in support of change. This is the justifiable expectation of the electorate who weathered the most violent political storm for the sake of change.

    Though it’s been only 10 days since the NASS leadership elections, and the body is not expected to resume for full legislative session until next week, it is an appropriate time to alert our distinguished NASS members about the most important expectations of our people. It is appropriate time for two related reasons.

    In the first place, citizens are eager for change and unfortunately, they are receiving feelers which appear to send the wrong signals. In the second place, since we are still in the wee hours of the new dispensation, it is right time to sound a note of warning to all political actors and operatives that our people are mad as hell and will not be fooled again. It is in the light of this empirically validated consciousness of the state of the nation that I share the following 10 posers with NASS members.

    One: As distinguished members of the National Assembly, what is your idea of change? Since you consciously campaigned for votes by appeal to the need for change, this question applies especially to you members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). However, it also applies to you members of the minority party, Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), in both chambers. Though you did not campaign by appeal to change, you understand that the majority voted for change and as democrats you must accept it and live with it.

    Moreover, it is a known fact the present APC leadership in both the Senate and the House had entered into an alliance of sort with PDP members, albeit against their party leadership position but with the blessing of PDP leadership. If this is true, as I think it is, it would appear that PDP legislators have a stake in the success of their respective houses. Now that there is a coalition of rivals, PDP cannot wash its hand off the success or failure of the Senate and the House.

    In the light of the foregoing, then, a relevant question follows: Does change for you our legislators mean just change of actors or does it include change of ideas and practice? If it means change of actors only, how sensible and morally justifiable is it? Why would anyone expect voters to respond to a call for change of actors without a corresponding change of ideas and practices that had failed the people? Therefore it seems reasonable to expect that the people voted for change of ideas and practices.

    Two: If you understand that the people voted for change of ideas and practices what such ideas and practices occurred to you NASS members as needing change? Is corruption one of them? What about governmental impunity? Is greed a practice that requires a rethink? How about financial waste and leakages?

    Three: If any of the above occurred to you as NASS members newly sworn in, how do you plan on executing change in such areas? Does it occur to you that change must start with you and be self-initiated? If it doesn’t, does it occur to you the moral issue that faces advocates of change who are not prepared to self-initiate change and self-impose its requirements? How can you go about mouthing change if you don’t lead in the necessary action and if it doesn’t start with you? Are you an advocate of “do as I say but don’t do as I do” with the moral contradiction it implies?

    Four: If you come to terms with the need for self-initiation and self imposition of change, where does it occur to you to start? Which aspect of change is easiest for you to execute, bearing in mind that what concerns you severally and collectively is the easiest to deal with, especially since you can move from there to what concerns others?

    Look at it this way. If I discover a deficiency in my approach to life and I notice that my son is going in the same direction, to help my son get back on the right tract, I must first deal with my own problem. Our legislators are the guardians of our national destiny. Admittedly, we have all gone astray in the matter of our priorities. We expect our national guardians to lead us back on the path of moderation and decency. But they must first remove the logs in their legislative eyes.

    Five: In light of Four, how do you as NASS members perceive the recent report on your salaries and allowances in the context of the economic situation prevailing in the nation? Do you think that it is fair, excessive, or inadequate in comparison with other jurisdictions and other sectors of the polity?

    Six:  Assume that you consider it fair, what is the basis of that assessment in light of comparison with other countries, including our peers and those more advanced?

    Seven: If you consider it excessive in comparison to other demographics, what can you do about it? What will you do about it? Do you have the legislative power to reduce your remuneration and allowances? If you don’t, why not, since you have enormous legislative powers? If you do, will you?

    Eight: In particular, can you really morally justify the provision for wardrobe allowance no matter how little it is? If you can, will you also support the provision of wardrobe allowance for teachers, lecturers and other professionals?

    Some of you are retired governors and you are receiving generous pensions from your states. Will you also consider yourself eligible for full remuneration and allowances from NASS? Some of you are former ministers who received handsome severance allowances from the Federal Government. Are you also eligible for full remuneration and allowances from NASS? What message are you sending to ordinary Nigerians struggling to survive?

    Nine: How about the overall budget of NASS? Do you consider it excessive in the context of our overall economic situation and the mass poverty in the country? The Deputy Speaker has suggested that N150 billion is not too much for the body because it is only 3 per cent of the national budget.

    Do you know, as Premium Times has revealed, that NASS, with no more than 2,000 people including members and staffers, has a budget that is greater than the budget of 19 states in the federation with population averaging four million people? How do you justify the allocation of such disproportionate resources to your institution? Is it in terms of the work that you do?  But it has also been reported that while NASS gobbled N600 billion in four years, it passed only 106 bills out of 1063. Or is it in terms of the prestige of the institution? Or the risk that members take in getting elected? You must agree with me that change must start with you.

    Ten: Finally how do you as NASS members plan to carry the masses along the path of and toward change? The reaction to the recent announcement of remuneration and allowances has been overwhelmingly negative. To one page of the report in ThisDay there were 57 comments covering five pages of regular paper print and all of them were negative. “Is this the change we voted for?” is the common refrain. Isn’t it too soon for NASS and the new Executive to alienate the masses that voted massively for change?

    Just a thought!

  • PMB: let’s run with the ‘draft’ now

    In journalism and indeed in the writing world, when deadline pressure mounts and time is more of the essence than the essence of a piece, editors often call for the draft. Short of publishing a blank space, the ‘draft’ is quickly tweeked, spruced up and used. Production must go on.

    It seems the same scenario with President Muhammadu Buhari and his work list. Nigerians are almost exasperated waiting for him to get down to work. Nature abhors a vacuum. He must choose his team now without further ado and set about the numerous pressing issues begging for attention. It is good to consult, but too much of it would engender compromise. He is allowed to make a few mistakes too, which can be ‘rejigged’ and corrected down the line. But we must go now lest we lose the change momentum that brought him in.

    It is inexcusable if not inefficient to take so long to appoint the core backroom staff who run the engine of state; like CoS, PS, SGF and even NSA. Certain things don’t wait, let’s run with the ‘draft’ please.