The Nation Newspaper

Category: Friday

  • NGO, religious leaders seek peaceful poll

    A non-governmental-organisation (NGO), Strength in Diversity Development Center (SDDC) and some religious leaders have urged politicians to ensure peace reigns during tomorrow’s and March 2nd general elections.

    They made the submission at inter-religious and inter-denominational prayers for peaceful election.

    SDDC, in a communiqué signed by its Executive Director, Imam Shefiu Abdulkareem, said a national week of prayers and rally were held between February 8th  and 10th.

    The resolutions including reduction of hate speeches by educating the people to understand its consequences and urging religious leaders to desist from the act of hate speech.

    SDDC also bemoaned the act of vote buying, which it said has denied Nigerians from enjoying the good governance.

    “There must be penalty for such act (both the seller and buyer). The punishment must be enforced as well,” the group said.

    The Sarkin Fulani of Lagos, Alhaji Muhammed Bambado, at the conference, urged religious leaders to use their influence by calling on politicians within their domains to show commitment in preventing electoral violence.

    “Beyond ensuring peace, it has also become imperative for leaders to enlighten their subject and followers and encourage them to ask questions and seek clarification before going out to vote,” he said.

    The Chief Missioner of Ansar-ud-Deen Society of Nigeria, Sheikh Abdur-Rahman Ahmad, said fake news and hate speech are worrisome trend that has bedevilled Nigeria, noting that fighting it has become a matter of urgency.

    He urged religious leaders to desist from circulating fake news and hate speech in their sermon.

    He said: “We are the one suffering the threat of social media not the owner, It is better we act now by exploring common humanity and not emphasising on parochial interest”.

    Bishop Mathew Daniels said vote buying creates a big distortion and hindrance to the democratic idea of a free and fair election that ensures that the electorates elect the leaders they deem fit to rule them.

     

     

  • 2019 Election and national values (1)

    Next week, Nigerians will head to polling stations to declare their preferences in the choice of a president and national legislators for four years. The president’s election is a national affair because the entire nation is the president’s constituency. By the same token, then, choosing a national president is, ultimately, an expression of the values of the nation. And a president that is elected by the free will of the people reflects their values.

    While some preferences reflect nothing more than taste, electoral preferences reflect deep-rooted moral values. Your choice of chocolate over vanilla cake is simply a matter of what tantalizes your taste bud. However, if you prefer, say, a child molester as your governor or president, that says a lot more about your morals. For governors and presidents have responsibilities over the lives of millions of people, and not caring about their moral standing puts you in an indefensible position.

    Furthermore, as birds of a feather flock together, so humans with the same preferences and values stick together. Your preference for a child molester will naturally place you in the same party as other child molesters. If you have pleasure in racist rants, you are most likely going to end up in a political party that empowers racists. And corrupt exploiters, who feed fat on the common patrimony of the collective, will always find a home in the company of other exploiters. Even if they wonder afar for a while, they will have no rest until they find their way back to where they belong.

    Some clarification is in order. Despite the picture of fixed groups with people belonging to one or the other as painted above, we also know that there are nuances worth understanding. Some are die-hard members of specific parties because what the parties stand for jell with their preferences, whether morally debased or morally sound. But there are other groups of individuals.

    First, there are those individuals who choose to sell their birthright for a pot of porridge. They fall prey to misplaced priorities, selling their votes for a pittance that they expend within a day or two. But they end up in a lifetime of poverty because those who buy their votes have no sense of responsibility to them.

    Second, there are decent value-voting citizens who choose to stay out of political parties as independents. In close competitions, these could sway the outcome of an election. They are also the most likely to examine seriously the character of candidates, their position on issues, their background and experiences in politics and society, and the prospect of their candidacy for the masses.

    Finally, there are non-partisans who are nonetheless greatly invested in elections. I have in mind ethnic voters whose preference is dictated by the ethnic nationality to which they belong. Interestingly, this presidential election is different from recent ones. It is the second one since 1999, when the two frontrunners come from the same ethnic nationality. In recent elections, we have had one candidate from the north, another from the south. This year replicates 1999 when the two major candidates came from the southwest and 2007 when Yar’ Adua, Buhari and Atiku were the frontrunners.

    One would expect, therefore, that ethnicity will not be on the ballot and ethnic champions will have no serious platform. But, of course, such a thinking reflects an underestimation of the place of ethnicity in our national space. We have heard reports of even one of the candidates questioning the ethnic authenticity of the other. Buhari doesn’t speak Fulfulde well; therefore, he is not a true Fulani, according to Atiku.

    There are also surrogates in other nationalities routing for one candidate or the other based on their assessment of his positions relative to their interest. And though the heads of the ticket are from the same nationality group, their running mates are from two of the most competitive groups, Yoruba and Igbo. To think, therefore, that ethnicity will play no role in this election is to be a dreamer. The reality is that it will, at least, to some extent.

    If we cannot wish away the role of ethnic calculations, what can we truly and realistically expect to be on top of the reasonings that everyone with a thinking cap brings to bear on their decision to vote one candidate or the other?

    Let me make another assumption. There are probably good reasons why some may not be enthusiastic about voting. Beside the IPOB loyalists harkening to the voice of Kanu to stay home or participate in his referendum, there are those who are disgusted about the choice presented to them and would rather not venture to the polls. This is, of course, a weak excuse and a dangerous position to take. Many who took similar position in the 2016 US elections are living to regret it.

    For those who would not shirk their civic responsibility, the question remains, what are their priorities? On what basis are they thumb-printing their ballot papers? What reasoning process have they been through? I assume that they have been inundated with campaign slogans and promises of all the candidates, especially the leading ones. What messages have stuck with them as worth their consideration?

    It is fair to suggest that the priorities of the electorates, from security, economy and jobs, to anti-corruption, restructuring and infrastructure, are as diverse as the nation’s demographics. The candidates naturally take their cue from this. Thus, President Muhammadu Buhari and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, the two leading candidates, have in varying degrees focused on infrastructure, security, economy, anti-corruption and restructuring. How do we assess their claims and promises?

    Restructuring is high on Atiku’s agenda. It’s the reason for the support he receives from some southwest, southeast, and south-south leaders. How does he plan to do this? How seriously is he to be taken? It is instructive to note that among his powerful endorsers is former President Obasanjo who has been contemptuous of restructuring. Will Atiku dare his former boss again? Can Atiku single-handedly restructure the country without national and state legislatures?  How about his NEF supporters? While presidential leadership is important, it is hardly enough.

    APC promised devolution of power in 2015. A party committee submitted a report; but intra-party politics surfaced. The promise is back in its 2019 manifesto. Is there reason for us to keep hope alive?

    The war against corruption has been President Buhari’s forte and his political party has made much of it. He has dared anyone with a knowledge of corruption about him or his family to come forward. Even with powerful enemies along the way, he has vowed not to shy away from the fight.

    Atiku has made a similar pledge. However, he continues to be under a cloud of suspicion. His chief endorser and campaigner, President Obasanjo, has been unapologetic about his allegation that Atiku is a corrupt politician. It’s in black and white. Atiku is still under investigation in the U.S. for corruption. In a moment of unintended frankness, he declared on national television that he would use the presidency to enrich his friends.

    Beside the candidates, it is also important for neutral electorates to consider the stand and background of political parties on whose platform they are running. PDP ruled the country for 16 years. What was its record? Both Atiku and Obi, his running mate, are on record publicly accusing their party of mismanagement of the country’s resources from 1999 to 2015.

    PDP Chairman Secondus publicly apologized to the nation for his party’s performance. That was only a couple of years ago. The same leaders who led its failure are still in the leadership role. Obasanjo who left the party and tore his membership card publicly is also back routing for its presidential candidate. But no one has told the nation how the party has changed in the last four years. What evidence of change when it has not been in power since that apology? As to Obasanjo’s vouching for a changed Atiku, what evidence is there since Atiku has not held any elective or appointive position since 2007?

    To be continued.

     

  • Human nature and constitutional corruption

    As Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Onnoghen was accused of failing to report all his assets in the sworn declaration he submitted to the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB). Confronted, he admitted guilt, explaining that he forgot to include about one billion Naira, hundreds of thousands of dollars, British pounds, and euros in bank deposits plus more than fifty landed properties across the country. He was charged to the Code of Conduct Tribunal (CCT).

    In a jiffy, fire erupted from political, ethnic, religious, and professional partisans. South-south governors counseled the CJN against appearing before CCT. He took the advice. With the impasse, CCT ordered the President to suspend him and appoint an Acting CJN pending the resolution of the case. He did.

    Thereafter, heaven and hell broke lose. The president has always been a closet dictator and now he’s come out in the open, they pronounced. The head of a separate branch of government cannot be removed by the head of the executive branch, they argued. It can only happen if, and when, the National Judicial Council (NJC) in its wisdom, after its own investigation, concludes and advises the President to remove the CJN or any judicial officer. Per the constitution, the complainants are right.

    NJC has been used effectively even if unethically in the past twenty years since the 1999 constitution was foisted on unsuspecting Nigerians by the military. It was used in the most infamous case of Justice Ayo Salami, then President of the Court of Appeal who the PDP loved to hate for his discipline and judicial temperament. President Jonathan accepted the recommendation of NJC then headed by Justice Katsina-Alu who had fallen out with Salami over a directive which the latter had considered inappropriate. Jonathan suspended Salami and, bowing to his PDP leadership pressure, he never reinstated him even after the same NJC reversed itself.

    But now, we have a case of another CJN in the eye of the storm. Does the constitution anticipate the crisis it has created? NJC is headed by the CJN who also appoints its members. Is there an expectation that a CJN could be indicted by the NJC over which he presides? Even if it is possible because there are members with the courage of a lion, do we expect the CJN to deliberately place himself at risk? Self-preservation is the first law of nature. Predictably, CJN Onnoghen canceled the meeting of NJC indefinitely. If you can’t meet, you can’t investigate. Unless reason intervenes and institutional integrity prevails. Hopefully, it will.

    Our constitution assumes the best angels of our human nature to prevail in circumstances where the worst has thrived since the beginning of the fourth republic. In our present predicament, decency would prescribe resignation on the part of the CJN who has admitted to wrongdoing in the matter of asset declaration. On many levels, it is regrettable that he has chosen the path of ignominy. Coming to the table of equity with clean hands is not an empty demand. The highest judicial officer, who has himself ruled in favor of CCT as the exclusive judicial body for matters of asset declaration cannot possibly have any more justification for sitting tight in the face of a damning accusation, especially after admitting guilt.

    But again, that is what decency mandates. Unfortunately, it is not an endowment that many in public life can lay claim to, especially in our clime. More regrettable is that a pattern of exploiting the loopholes in our constitution has been established at least since 1999. We are therefore not on an uncharted territory.

    Since 1999, our institutions have failed to prevail against the weakness of human nature parading as strength. When people are weak and cowardly, they hide behind the facade of democracy to instill harm and hardship. The constitution provides for emergency powers for the president. We are aware of how this was used between 1999 and 2007 by a born dictator. We now have a case of the kettle calling the pot black.

    We have a constitutional provision for impeachment of the executive and legislative leaders. We also know how that has worked in the last twenty years with a president who cannot tolerate any inkling of opposition to his self-regarding desires. Those who applauded the strongman approach then, or stood by without lifting a finger of restraint, are now protest leaders against presidential abuse of power.

    So far in this self-inflicted crisis, we have conflated process and substance to the detriment of the latter. The substantive question remains, what is the source of the huge funds in the account of the CJN? Can he account for the funds based on his personal salary and investments? Or has he been corruptly enriched by individuals and groups seeking justice from his court? Is he in some conspiratorial cahoots with the opposition to thwart the will of the people as the ruling party alleges?

    These questions deserve satisfactory answers. Assume that he did not “forget” to declare all his assets, shouldn’t a government that prioritizes fight against corruption investigate the source of those assets?

    By a twist of fate, as this matter engages national attention, Transparency International (TI) released its 2018 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) which is part-encouraging and part-discouraging for Nigeria. While the country moved up four point from 148 in 2017 to 144 in 2018, it retains the same score of 27% that it received in 2017.  But while this may appear encouraging, the full picture points to something else.

    Although, just a handful of African countries rose to or above a 50% score, quite a few out-scored Nigeria, the self-declared giant. Seychelles scored 66% while Botswana and Cabo Verde had 61% and 57% respectively. Sierra Leone had 30% since 2016. Togo dropped from 32% in 2017 to 30% in 2018. Ethiopia is at 34%; Zambia at 35%; Niger at 34%; even Liberia that Nigeria helped liberate from a corrupt dictatorship is at 32%.

    TI postulates that “undemocratic regimes undermine anti-corruption efforts”. Unfortunately, even in a democracy such as Nigeria, corruption could be fatal to democratic institutions. Patricia Moreira, the Managing Director of TI puts it thus: “Corruption chips away at democracy to produce a vicious cycle, where corruption undermines democratic institutions and, in turn, weak institutions are less able to control corruption.” And they won’t until so-called political and professional elite, who benefit from the proceeds of corruption and shamelessly hide behind democracy to undermine its institutions, desist or are made to face the music.

    Focusing on Nigeria in particular, TI advises President Buhari to “veto legislation that weakens laws to fight corruption.” It also calls on the Nigerian Senate to uphold the Code of Conduct as it now stands…. It should apply to the proceedings against Senate President Bukola Saraki.” The statement adds that the “law should apply to everyone equally.”

    The intervention of UK, US, and EU, as well as the effort from some quarters to get them involved, is a sad twist of irony. The same group that insisted on national sovereignty in the horrific days of military dictatorship now rush to seek foreign intervention against national anti-corruption efforts.

    But before you ask for a loan of outfit from someone, you must prudently ensure that what they put on is an indication that they have extra to loan. Electoral corruption is not a monopoly of the global south and the Muller investigation is evidence. In 2017, the US President fired FBI director James Comey to take off the pressure as the FBI investigates Russian intervention in the election that brought the president to power. What about a case of a Secretary of State who has statutory responsibility for umpiring an election in which he is also a gubernatorial candidate? And he refused to recuse himself. That happened in 2018 in Georgia, USA.

    But seriously, why are these countries interested in our democracy now? You probably still remember their prediction for Nigeria, come 2020. With our present suicidal raw partisan and ethnic chauvinistic stance, it is most likely going to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. And that’s the way they want it. If we let them.

     

     

  • Leadership problem: Islamic solution

    The title of today’s article in this column is not originally a coinage of ‘THE MESSAGE’. It is rather the theme of a public Ramadan lecture organised by Mstapha Akanbi Foundation (MAF) in Ilorin to which yours sincerely was invited as the guest lecturer on August 29, 2010.

     

    Whio is Mustapha Akanbi?  

    The name Mustapha Akanbi cannot be strange to any contemporary educated Nigerian. It is a household name in Nigeria and beyond especially for those who are familiar with the Independent Corrupt Practices (and other offences) Commission (ICPC). The first Chairman of that Commission is Justice Mustapha Akanbi, an erstwhile President of the Federal Court of Appeal of Nigeria. For the entire 35 years of his service in the judiciary, all that can be called his property was  just a modest three bedroom bungalow in which he lived in Ilorin till his demise recently.

     

    The MAF Foundation

    Established in September 2006 shortly after its founder (Justioce Mustapha Akanbi) voluntarily resigned as the Chairman of ICPC despite the overwhelming pressure on him to continue his service, MAF is a non-governmental and non-partisan organisation dedicated to the uplift of mankind and to the enthronement of justice, equity and fair play as well as the promotion of the quintessential virtues of honesty, integrity, transparency and accountability in all human activities.

    The Foundation is committed to being in the vanguard of revolutionary changes aimed at reforming and transforming our society from being a body of self-serving individuals to a nation that places high premium on selfless service for the common good of all. MAF Foundation, therefore, has, as its focus, the building and sustenance of a great nation founded on sound ethical values and good governance capable of holding its own in the comity of nations. It is in line with its focus  that the Foundation chose the theme of today’s article and invited yours sincerely as the guest lecturer.

    At the occasion which was held in the month of Ramadan, I alluded briefly to the significance of Ramadan in the life of an average  Muslim.

     

     Point of Reverence

    This is a period of relevant reference in Nigeria. This is a time when history displays its duty as the teacher of man. The current trend of dirty banters in the country is both a reminder and a point of reference for men and women of decent pedigree and impeccable dignity.

    This is a time when disciplined parents and patriotic citizens are identifiable. This is the time in Nigeria’s contemporary history when human wheat can be separated from human chaff. This is the time of distinguishing between shame and shamelessness on the one hand and decency and indecency on the other. This is the time when lovers and haters of Nigeria can be known. It is the above mentioned issues that make this article a point of reference. And the reference is the lecture that yours sincerely delivered at the MAF Foundation in 2010.

     

    The lecture

    As a preamble, I told my audience that thinking of leadership in terms of those who are privileged to govern the country alone can never solve the problem of bad leadership in Nigeria. Leadership does not start from the top. It is rather a matter of good home management and excellent upbringing of children. Leadership is like a pyramid which has a base and an apex. Whoever wants to assess leadership in a society must start from the base rather than the apex. It will be unreasonable to sight a major fault at the roof of a house when the foundation of the same house is evidently faulty. Generally, children learn from their parents’ actions much more than from the latter’s words.

    Any parent who starts the upbringing of his or her children with lavish celebration of birthday without teaching such children the act of money making early in life has initiated them into the world of reckless spending spree. The tendency for such children when they grow up is to look for money to spend from any source including pilfering and stealing. What will be virtuous to such children is to get money to spend. It will never matter to them how they come about such money.

    And that is the root of corruption in a society like Nigeria where parents assist their children in cheating in the examination or in getting admitted into higher institutions with fraudulent pre-requisites.

     

    Leadership in Islam

    In Islam, leadership is so sacrosanct that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) never relented in warning all leaders and aspirants to leadership about the delicate nature of ruling the people. In his farewell sermon in 631 CE, he reminded the Muslim Ummah that leadership is a great responsibility entrusted to an individual by the society as sanctioned by the Almighty Allah. The Prophet also admonished the people on their responsibility to both the state and leadership quoting Qur’an 4, Verse 59 thus: “Oh you, who believe, Obey Allah and obey the Messenger (of Allah) and those charged with authority among you. If you differ in anything among yourselves, refer it to Allah and His Messenger if you do believe in Allah and the last day. That is best and most suitable for final determination”.

    However, he did not stop there. He went further to explain that obedience to those charged with authority is conditioned by their  (those in authority’s) own obedience to God in their deeds as well as the rule of law that governs them. In one of his statements, he said there is no obedience or loyalty to any human being, ruler or otherwise, who is not himself, obedient to God and the rule of law. He concluded that: “Whoever entrusts a man to a public office, where, in his society, there is a better man than this trustee, has betrayed the trust of God and His Messenger as well as the people of that society”.

     

    Hadith.

    The exemplary leadership of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and his great teachings were scrupulously followed by the Caliphs who succeeded him in office. When, shortly after the Prophet’s demise, Abubakr was  elected as the first Caliph, his primary objective was to continue the pious administration which the Prophet left behind. He took the mantle of leadership with which he was saddled as a responsibility to Allah.

    In his acceptance speech as new Head of State, he addressed the people as follows: “Oh people behold me charged with the cares of government.

    Yet, I am not the best of you. In carrying out this great responsibility, I need your advice and assistance. If you find me doing well, please support me. If I make mistake, counsel me.

    To tell the truth to a person commissioned to rule is faithful allegiance. So long I obey God and act according to law, obey me. But if I neglect the law of God and His Prophet, I have no more right to your obedience. The strong among you shall have no right over the weak on the basis of his strength. Neither shall there be any room for sycophancy, nepotism or undue favouritism. Authority, power and sovereignty belong to Allah alone in whose hand is dominion over all things…”

     

    Comment

    From the foregoing, and contrary to what is happening today, especially in Nigeria, it is clear that leadership is a privilege rather than anybody’s right. It is a public trust which should not be betrayed under any circumstance. It is a responsibility to be carried out, not just with human face but with human heart as well. It is a humane and not sadistic public duty. It is a covenant between God and rulers on the one hand and rulers and the ruled on the other. It is a measure of conscience, piety and discipline. No one who is bereft of these traits should be entrusted with leadership.

    Other Caliphs after Abubakr followed suit and lived ascetic lives despite their access to unlimited state resources. Ali bn Abi-Talib, in particular, did not limit those qualities to himself. He extended them to his appointed Governors.

    While appointing Malik bn Ashtar as the Governor of Egypt he gave him certain instructions in writing and admonished him to follow those instructions to the letter in his governance in that country. Those instructions were not about the executive arm of governance alone.

    They also touched legislation and judiciary morally and legally.

     

    Parable of Governance

    Governance in Islam is like pregnancy in the womb of an expectant mother. The duration of such pregnancy is naturally defined barring any anomaly or aberration. Its delivery depends on the safety of its carrier and the circumstances of her wellbeing. And, after delivery, the baby is claimed, not by the carrier of the pregnancy but by the impregnator.

    There is no pregnancy without semen firmly planted in the womb of a woman. And the semen planter is a man who will eventually be called the father of the baby. For this reason, children bear the names of their fathers rather than those of their mothers as surnames.

    By analogy, one can compare governance to a pregnant woman who could not have become pregnant without an impregnator. The impregnator in this case is the populace that gave those in government the mandate to rule them. And just as the product of the womb (the child) belongs to the impregnator as a matter of legitimacy so should dividend of governance be the property of the governed populace. A child who bears his mother’s name as surname is nothing but a bastard.

    After life, security, law and justice, nothing else is held as sacrosanct in Islam as governance which can be compared to a magnificent shade under which people are supposed to take cover during torrential rains or burning sun. In a democratic setting, such a shade is owned by the citizenry. Those who claim to be its custodians are just servants holding it in trust for the people.

     

    Democracy in Islam

    In Islam, democracy is not about voting and power alone. It is fundamentally about justice in all its ramifications according to the rule of law. It is about tending the lives of others for the overall good of the nation. It is about providing the needs of the people according to the available resources in the nation. It is about protecting the interest of the weak against the oppression of the strong. It is about managing the wealth of the nation with diligent sense of accountability. It is about securing the lives of the citizenry in terms of jobs, feeding, shelter, health and education. It is about boosting the horizon of the youths and sharpening their hope against the future. It is about guaranteeing adequate income per capital and ensuring a standard life expectancy. Any government that claims democracy without all the aforementioned is oppressive and hypocritical. That was Nigeria’s lot between 1999 and 2015, the continuity of which we had fervently prayed Allah to forbid.

    Governance, like culture, has a variety of colours, flavours and tastes. What is called democracy in a State may amount to despotism in another State. Governance, whether democratic or monarchical, is fundamentally a function of culture. That is why a country like Britain claims to operate politically on a constitution that is partly written and partly conventional. Borrowing a foreign culture to practice democracy through a constitution written in a foreign language is like borrowing another man’s mouth to eat. Into whose stomach will the food go?

    If those entrusted with authority and power with which to care for the masses are the ones stealing public funds with audacity and reliability on ethnic or religious inclination, what moral right do they have to govern? Nigeria has now reached a stage where justice, the last hope of the common man, is for sale even as the citizenry continue to be impoverished. For a country that hopes to progress, to where does this lead?

    Justice Mustapha Akanbi was an exemplary judge with an exemplary template in delivery and administration of justice with the fear of Allah. He lived a clean life and groomed some others to follow suit with the expectation that Nigeria would be great. We pray the Almighty Allah to repose his soul in eternal bliss. As for those who have deviated from the path of decency left behind by Justice Akanbi, we pray Allah to guide them aright and rescue them from the manacle of Stan to which they are sternly tied. However, such people should know that: “Allah does not change a people’s lot unless they change the evil acts in their hearts. If Allah decides to afflict them with a calamity, no one can ward it off. Besides Allah, there is no protector for them”. Q. 13:11.

     

  • Remembering MLK on the 90th anniversary of his birth

    Today, between responding to hate and admiring love, I choose the latter. It is so simple that the alternative doesn’t even come close. I must confess, however, that the temptation was there. How can it not be? You imagine yourself an intelligent human being. But there are those who are hell-bent on fooling you as if you are incapable of seeing through the heap of rubbish they spread. Then, you feel duty bound to respond if only to let them know that they are exposed. But you realize they are not worth your effort.

    One of the enduring lessons of the life and ministry of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is that love trumps hate. It was the lesson of Jesus the Christ who taught us to love even our enemies. Dr. King personified the truth of Christ’s lesson in his thirty-nine years on planet earth. It is one reason he still lives in our consciousness.

    At twenty-five, when many of our young ones are wasting away, unsure of what life holds for them, Dr. King had made the choice of a life time, to fight the cause of justice. At twenty-nine, he was stabbed by a deranged woman. At thirty-nine, he got shot and killed by a racist sniper.

    For the fourteen years of his activism, Dr. King was exemplary in thought and uncompromising in action. With the belief that the “ark of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice”, he knew that the fight would be long. He also knew, as he proclaimed in his last sermon before he was assassinated, that he might not witness the sunny day of freedom. Yet he kept fighting because, without the fight, he knew those holding the levers of power were not going to release it.

    Thus, from his leadership of the Montgomery Bus Boycott of 1955 to the 1963 Birmingham, Alabama protests, to the March on Washington of the same year, the Selma to Birmingham protests of 1965, and the 1966 struggle for fair housing in Chicago, Dr. King’s consistency and persistence, in the face of hate from high and low places, set him apart as a leader of leaders.

    Dr. King died young, but his achievements in the less than forty years of his life surpass those beneficiaries of longevity who choose the worthless life of pirates. We know those who, in many lifetimes, cannot match him in status. They include the ones who covet leadership for its sake and the ones who lack the ability to handle life out of positions of power, which they use for personal enrichment. MLK was not a Senator. He was not a Congressman. He was not a Governor. He was a simple man who made himself a vessel for God’s use, like Moses of old.

    Three major legislations that changed the politics of racial injustice in America are traceable to King and his team. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 which outlaws racial, religious, and sexual discrimination in school, employment, and public accommodation, was the first major legislation of the civil right struggle.

    The second was the Voting Rights Act of 1965 which targeted state and local level legal barriers against African-Americans in the exercise of their rights to vote. It banned post-civil war discriminatory practices in the south, including literacy tests as precondition for voting.

    The third, no less important, was the Fair Housing Act of 1968 which was passed seven days after the assassination of Dr. King, and presented by President Johnson as an honor for his legacy. It prohibits discrimination against buyers and tenants on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.

    You might wonder why anyone has to struggle for these commonsense legislations. Or why the freedoms and rights that they sought to establish should not have been taken for granted in the first place. And you would certainly be right. But it is the sad experience of our diaspora kith and kin that, from the time they were stolen from the shores of Africa and enslaved by white plantation owners with the connivance of the state, they have been treated as less than human, who are not entitled to the commonsensical rights that whites enjoy. Dr. King saw through the sham of Christianity that his fellow clergy embraced and, in one of the most celebrated letters of the last century, condemned the hypocrisy of White Evangelicals.

    King’s 1963 “Letter from the Birmingham City Jail”, was written to his fellow clergymen as his response to their condemnation of his struggle against racial discrimination, which they had described as “unwise and untimely.” Even in what might come to others as naked hatred and hypocritical stand by the clergymen, King treated them as “men of genuine goodwill” whose “criticisms are sincerely set forth.” His task then was to answer them in “patient and reasonable terms.” That is what magnanimity means.

    Why were the White “liberal” clergymen upset with King? Simply put, they wanted to preserve White privilege, which King was struggling to unravel. While they pretended that they were also for justice but would rather bid their time for the right moment, King argued that the time was right to do God’s will for the promotion of justice. ‘I am here in Birmingham because injustice is here. Just as the prophets of the eighth century B.C. left their villages and carried their “thus said the Lord” far beyond the boundaries of their home towns…so I am compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home town.’

    Injustice beckons us to wherever it resides to act for its negation and nullification. That was the call that Dr. King answered when he led his team to Birmingham. And they were arrested and jailed by the city authorities who would rather preserve the privileges of injustice. But should clergymen familiar with the activism of Old Testament prophets against injustice enable them and participate in the perpetuation of injustice?

    “No”, they replied. But they found it paradoxical that direct action for justice would encourage disobedience of valid civil laws, that is, laws that were duly passed by the people’s representatives. “Would this not lead to anarchy”?  It’s a typical fallback of oppressors tactically shaming the oppressed. Of course, King is not caught unprepared.

    There is no contradiction in advocating the breaking of some laws and disobeying others. For King, there are two kinds of laws, just and unjust. The former “squares with the moral law or law of God.” The latter is “out of harmony with the moral law.” A just law “uplifts human personality.” An unjust law “degrades human personality.” While the former must be obeyed on legal and moral ground, the latter does not deserve obedience. “All segregation laws are unjust because segregation distorts the soul and damages the personality.” Most importantly, these unjust laws were passed by those who placed themselves in position of superiority without allowing the participation of the minority who are supposed to obey them. It is double injustice. The law is immoral and its passage excludes many who it is supposed to cover.

    The above is just a minute sample of the fertile and productive intellect of one of the towering global figures of the last century and, indeed, of all time. No wonder, without being a national president, a nation whose majority has wised up over the last fifty years has come to appreciate Dr. King’s contributions to its moral awakening and the supreme sacrifice he made for America to reclaim its moral ground. With a Presidential Medal of Freedom, Congressional Gold Medal, a federal public holiday, a Memorial on the National Mall, and a host of namesake roads and schools across the country, Martin Luther King Jr. is alive and well. And his legacy is marching on.

    Compare the morally-uplifting King letter that I just partially analyzed with the unedifying letters you receive every now and then from a contemporary elder who craves recognition that he fails to deserve, precisely because his motives are morally obnoxious, self-serving, and down-right malicious. It cannot but boggle rational minds.

     

     

     

     

  • Oloyede: Honour for the Honourable

    Today is another day of glory and history in Lagos. All ways from different parts of Nigeria will lead to the Centre of Excellence. At the instance of ‘The Sun’ newspaper, a gathering of Nigeria’s who is who will take place once again and the venue is Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island where a glorious recognition session will be held in honour of some great Nigerians who deserve honour. Among those to be honoured are some outstanding Nigerians in various fields of endeavour and flamboyant politicians who are considered to be frontline performers in their political terrain.

    The occasion is meant to be a show of recognition to certain patriotic Nigerians as an incentive for relentlessness in their excellent performances in public service.

    The most likely focused personality on today’s occasion is the current Registrar of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Professor Ishaq Olanrewaju Oloyede, OFR, FNAL, who is being honoured as the Most Outstanding Public Servant of the Year 2018. He won the same award two years ago (2017) at a similar occasion organised by New Telegraph and this article is similar to what yours sincerely wrote at that time in this column.

    This man’s unique patriotism and honesty at this period of epidemic corruption in Nigeria, especially among public servants, have become a special historic point of reference. His remittance of about N16 billion to the treasury of the Federal Government of Nigeria in less than just about two years of his assumption of office as JAMB Registrar, compared to remittance of less than N2 billion in almost twenty years in the same JAMB, is unprecedented in the history of this country.

     

    Who is this Prof Oloyede?

    He is the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin and the current Registrar of JAMB. Any citation about his birth, growth and schooling may not be relevant here since the award to be given to him today is about integrity and not academic qualification.

     

    Observation

    For every age of human life there are particles of history that relay to us the successes or failures of the previous ages. And from such successes or failures humanity endeavours to draw a guide for itself which may serve either as a warning on the vanity of human wishes or as encouragement or both.

    At a time like this when anything new and progressive is a great reminder of the sad flight of hope in Nigeria and its replacement by despair, it behoves only some die hard patriotic optimists to take a positive and progressive leap as an indication that all is not lost in our country after all. One of such optimists is Prof Oloyede.

     

    His Intellectual Prowess

    From his early age, this man has consistently been a bookworm as there was no book within his reach that he would not want to read and digest. His excellent academic performance in the University he attended as well as his exceptional administrative acumen as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin could therefore not have come as a surprise to those who know him closely.  But besides academic brilliance, what actually lifted him in life is his genuine goodwill and sincere selfless service which he is always eagerly ready to render towards helping others. His sacrifices in this sphere are quite legendary and his phenomenal rise can only be classified as a reward for it from Allah.

     

    His Tenure as VC

    If, during his tenure as Vice-Chancellor, the University of Ilorin could rise so loftily from a very modest foundation and tower above many other Universities that preceded it in Nigeria then the hope that a new Nigeria could still emerge from the debris of the old can no longer be a national nightmare.

     

    The Worth of Institutions

    “Institutions are worth no more than the men who work them”. This quotation is  culled from a speech once delivered by Prof O. O. Akinkugbe, the first Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin. That quotation is partially in tandem with a verse of the Qur’an thus: “Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change the evil contents of their minds…” It was on the premise of that pregnant quotation that Prof Oloyede built his unsurpassable achievements as the Vice-Chancellor of the same University of Ilorin between 2007 and 2012 as a way of encouraging the Nigerian youths of today on the pleasant possibilities of tomorrow. For some of those youths, that tomorrow has earnestly begun with the same Prof Oloyede as their model in JAMB. The men described by Prof Akinkugbe in that quote are not by any means ordinary. And the soils from which they sprang are not by any standard restricted to any particular area of study or style of life. Thus, since the tree of life has many branches and roots, no topmost twig should presume to think that it alone has sprung from the mother earth. There is no restriction of the signpost of life to any particular person, place or time.

     

    Parable of Greatness

    Greatness is like a magnet which attracts only the relevant elements to itself.

    It was because some people including a British writer and poet, Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), who won Nobel Laurel in 1907 were unmindful of the above quote that the world is in turmoil today. In the conclusion of one of his poems, Rudyard Kipling once asserted thus: ”Oh! East is East and West is West; never the Twain shall meet…” That poem later came to intensify the perennial hostility between the East and the West which the latter came to adopt as a permanent policy to the detriment of global peace and harmony. But what neither Kipling nor the West seemed to understand about the seeming natural divide in the world is the existence of an abstract confluence similar to a knuckle that holds the blades of a pair of scissors together. Just as the scissors cannot operate effectively with one blade so can no man with one focused educational eye correctly claim to be the main signpost in any field of human endeavour. That is what distinguishes Prof Oloyede from many others. He combines the Eastern and the Western education together with the intention of utilising both jointly to the benefit of humanity. And that is now manifesting nationally.

     

    The JAMB Registrar

    Prof Ishaq Olanrewaju Oloyede is a household name in the academia not only in Nigeria or Africa but also in the entire world just like the University he was privileged to head for five years in Ilorin. What qualified him for such a vertical position is an interesting question for which most inquisitive minds may earnestly seek an answer. And the answer is not far-fetched.

    Like some rare men of letters and knowledge, Prof Oloyede wears an intellectual binocular with which he sees life from a bird’s eye view. And this is evident not just in his management of the University of Ilorin for five years but also in the humility, selflessness and patriotism with which he demonstrates civility in all its ramifications. The difference between a man of letters and that of knowledge is quite clear. While the one sees life through the common eye, the other sees it through an uncommon binocular.

    In the days of Socrates, Aristotle and Herodotus, when education was an adorned virtue used as a yardstick for measuring civility and value, no one cared about the material gains accruing from it. Bastardisation of education only set in when certificate was introduced as a means of evaluating its material worth. Thus, with certificate, mere literacy began to be misconceived as education. Whereas literacy is just an added value to education the modern day man has ignorantly but arrogantly interpolated the one for the other. This is what Prof Oloyede resented in his academic odyssey when he chose to combine Eastern education with that of the West with a determination to use the advantage of both as a fertilizer for the academic soil of Nigeria’s future which was why he specialized in Arabic and Islamic Studies even at the professorial level.

    Many ignorant Nigerians including journalists had queried Oloyede’s educational background, even as Vice-Chancellor, in their vainglorious belief that Arabic and Islamic studies had nothing valuable to offer a progressive nation. Apparently, such blind sceptics did not know that some other Nigerian celebrities like the renowned literary  Prof Kole Omotosho, the author of ‘Just Before Dawn’ and the current Alake of Egbaland Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo as well as Prof Isaac Ogunbiyi and even the former First Lady of Ondo State, Mrs. Funke Agagu obtained their first University degrees in Arabic and Islamic Studies from the University of Ibadan. Yet, all of them and others are Christians. Looking at these mentioned personalities and many others like them very well which sensible person can show how their educational backgrounds diminish their greatness in life. Arabic which is naturally spoken by about 400 million people in the world is one of the few languages used to conduct meetings and conferences at the United Nations.  It is only in Nigeria that such naivety with which to denigrate a person for making a choice of career can thrive.

     

    His Philosophy of Life

    Prof Oloyede’s philosophy of life seems to tally with that of Daniel Webster who in a memorable poem stated as follows:

    “If we work marble it will perish; if we work upon brass time will efface it; if we rear temples they will crumble into dust; but if we work upon immortal minds and instil in them just principles; we are then engraving that upon tablets which no time can efface but will brighten to all eternity”.

    This is the philosophy that propelled him to adopt contentment as a personal principle right from his early age. While giving his reason for contesting for Vice-Chancellorship of the University of Ilorin, he once told some medical students of that University who paid him a congratulatory visit on his assumption of office as the new Vice-Chancellor that he never intended to contest for that office. He however made a clarification that when an academic charlatan with an ulterior motive in the same University threatened to expose him if he dared contest, he (Oloyede) saw it as a challenge to put his privacy on a public table. His intention was not to contest but to see what would be exposed in his privacy. But as God would have it he emerged as the Vice-Chancellor without an iota of blemish.

    Before contesting for that post he had served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor twice. First he was the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academics and later Deputy Vice Chancellor Administration in the same University of Ilorin where he had spent his entire tertiary academic life. Yet, it was only by a mere dint of fortuity that he contested for the post of Vice-Chancellor of that University.  He relayed the story above to the visiting students as a form of admonition that nothing in life is comparable to conscientious service to humanity with humility and patriotism.

     

    Evidence of His Patriotism

    As the President of African Vice-Chancellors, when he noticed that the position of the Executive Secretary of the Association of African Universities (AAU) was more important and more beneficial to Nigeria than that of the President which he occupied, Prof Oloyede encouraged some of his Nigerian colleagues to apply for that post promising that he would resign his Presidential position in that Association to enable a Nigerian emerge as Executive Secretary. But typical of Nigerians, most of his colleagues did not believe him. However, when the time came and one of them applied, Oloyede surprisingly resigned just after two years in an office where he was supposed to spend four renewable years. Following that patriotic display of strategy, Nigeria began to benefit greatly from the post of Executive Secretary which was then held by Prof Jegede, a former Vice- Chancellor of National Open University (NOUN). And to show appreciation to Prof Oloyede over his large heart and patriotism, the AAU Board appointed him as a Board Member of that Association.

    Only a few Nigerians in the academic field can surpass this humble man’s record when it comes to the ‘nitty gritty’ of academic prowess, discipline and integrity. Yet, you can hardly notice it in his demeanour.

     

    His Ladder to the Top

    Prof Oloyede was not only the first ‘FIRST CLASS’ graduate of the Faculty of Arts in the University of Ilorin and the very first alumnus of that University to obtain a PhD in that same University, he was also the first Director of Academic Planning and first alumni President to be a member of the Governing Council of the University. Oloyede is the first Unilorin alumnus to become a Deputy Vice-Chancellor and subsequently the first alumnus to become the Vice-Chancellor of the University.

    Not only that, he is the first Vice-Chancellor in Nigeria to introduce Computer-Based Test (CBT) as a method of screening applicants for admission into the University. An invention which institutions like WAEC and NECO later adopted. This ingenuous personality was also the first Vice-Chancellor to lead a second generation University to the number one position in Nigeria based on external ranking. He also became the first Nigerian Vice-Chancellor to emerge as President of the Association of African Universities (AAU) and at the same time the Chairman of Association of Nigerian Universities (AVCNU).

    He was also the first Nigerian Vice-Chancellor to combine the Board membership of International Association of Universities (IAU) with those of the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and Association of African Universities (AAU).

    With the above listed ‘FIRSTS’ he was able to make Unilorin the first Federal University in Nigeria to run an uninterrupted academic calendar throughout his tenure and this made it possible for Unilorin to be internationally ranked as one of the very best 20 Universities in Africa. Also, through Prof Oloyede’s astute academic administration, the University of Ilorin was able to maintain the first position among Nigerian Universities for three consecutive years (2009, 2010 and 2011).

    While giving his first annual report entitled ‘I BELIEVE’ barely one year after he became the Vice-Chancellor, he reflected on that determination thus: “History tells us that Julius Caesar with his legions sailed over the channels from gaol and arrived in today’s England. He did a very clever yet incongruous thing to ensure the success of his army. Halting the soldiers on the chalk cliffs of Dover, he burnt every ship by which they crossed, leaving them with nothing but determination to succeed or perish, with the only means of retreat consumed by the red tongues of fire. It was that determination, powered by courage that made the legions to advance and conquer. They did not look back and the rest is history”.

    “I believe”, he continued: “that with the caesarean determination of avoiding destruction and being focused on the set goals, the University of Ilorin, by all standards, a great University can be greater. Our goals are to fulfil our mission, attain our vision and engrave the name of the University on the psyche of global reckoning through the adoption of best practices. I believe that this is possible along the dictum that says “whatever human mind can conceive and believe man can achieve”. “I believe that we can do it if we are determined”. It is that courageous belief that is now seeing him through the hitherto turbulent voyage of JAMB.

     

    Conclusion

    “Who shares his life’s pure pleasure and walks the honest road; who trades with heaping measure and lifts his brother’s load; who turns the wrong down bluntly and lends the right a hand; he dwells in God’s own country and tills the holy land”.

    Professor Oloyede has done precisely that and Nigeria is a witness. It is now left for the present days to raise up their voices in prayer saying GOD BLESS YOU so that the future days can chorus AMEN in response.

  • A perceptive and progressive mind at 80

    Today, I offer my heartfelt congratulations to a distinguished statesman, a political and intellectual giant, Chief Bisi Akande, on attaining the enviable status of an octogenarian in a land with an embarrassing average life expectancy of fifty-five. Additionally, he has also earned the grace to be an agbasanko, a respectable elder.

    In view of his intellectual credentials and interest in public discourse on the nation and the conditions for its forward movement, I consider it fitting to honor Chief Akande with a discussion of a subject that is not only topical but is also dear to his mind in view of his well-publicized position on the matter in and out of office. From the obvious powerlessness of his chairmanship of an opposition party, to his powerful leadership position in the ruling party, his focus on the matter of true federalism has not dimmed. That is the true meaning of consistency, which defines the categorical imperative of our humanity.

    On May 29, 1999, Chief Akande took over as the Executive Governor of Osun State. Wasting no time, he used the podium of his inaugural address to offer a powerful defence of the Obafemi Awolowo school of politics. With a review of the story of the republic and the indefensible nature of its current structure, Chief Akande argued for the imperative of “a true and genuine Federalism as a basis for the continuing existence of the corporate entity known as Nigeria.” He also urged that revenue allocation be principally based on the principle of derivation.

    As governor, he demonstrated that a public servant can serve diligently and gain the respect of citizens. With a modest internally generated revenue that supplemented the meager allocation from the center, Chief Akande paid workers salary and leave allowances as due, cleared pensions and gratuity arrears inherited from the military, completed capital projects without borrowing, and ended up with a budget surplus. He taught others, including the federal government, the ethics of fiscal prudence and self-discipline in the management of public fund.

    In 2003, toward the end of his tenure after the PDP rigging trailer vanquished AD in the southwest, Chief Akande compiled and introduced an important volume titled Restructuring: Nigeria’s approach to True Federalism, with proposals from various individuals and groups on the subject. In his own well-researched contribution titled “The Obstacle to Peace in Nigeria”, Chief Akande is brutally honest in his account of the challenges and downright credible in his analysis.

    Observing that the country moved from a true federal status in the early 60s to a unitary federalism since the late 60s, he identified Decree 21 of 1998, which, on the eve of military departure, “transferred virtually all powers of taxation from the states and local governments to the Federal Government, thereby making the other tier of government and the Local Government financially helpless and virtually totally reliant on funds from sale of crude oil.” As he rightly noted, the “strident demand for restructuring, resource control and sovereign national conference” is a derivative of that decree. He then argues that ” the only thing that can give strength to and sustain the unity of the diverse people of Nigeria is true federalism.”

    In that same contribution, Chief Akande made suggestions concerning the distribution of functions and allocation of authorities between the federal and state and local governments. Using data depicting the lopsided distribution of powers and allocation of revenue since 1991, he concluded that in “the interest of peace and harmony, political and economic restructuring is a necessary insurance for the continuity of One Nigeria. In other words, our census must be accurate, our zones/regions must be recognized as the first line federating units, the exclusive functions of the Federal Government must be partly off-loaded and shared among the zones, revenue allocation system must be related to the quantum and complexity of function.” This is the crux of the position of the advocates of restructuring.

    I do not believe that Chief Akande has shifted from his belief and from his position on the matter despite some recent controversies emanating from his public statements.

    In a 2018 address titled “Devolution of Powers and National Restructuring” delivered to the APC-USA Second Annual Convention, Chief Akande attempted a clarification of what APC describes as “Devolution of Powers” in its Manifesto ‘vis-vis its mix-up with what is being described as “Restructuring”.’ Here, he suggests that ‘the means of achieving “devolution of powers” is just persuading the national and state assemblies to reduce the exclusive functions of the central government, and to rearrange the concurrent responsibilities between the central government and the state governments in the list of functions recorded in the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria with a view to giving more residual powers to the states.’ His position is that this is a task of all parties, not just APC.

    In his characteristic bluntness, Chief Akande does not shy away from narrating how the country got to where it is now in need of restructuring. For 29 years, by military fiat, states were created without any attention to how they were to be funded. Favored sections got more local governments with higher revenue sharing.

    For Akande, then, restructuring is “the equitable rearrangement and redistribution of the existing local governments and states per population within the various ethnic nationalities and making appropriate amendments to the Nigerian constitution to accommodate such rearrangements and redistributions.” Importantly, he does not think that ‘the word “equity” can be easily defined to convince those who might have had extra advantages under the constitution to surrender those advantages easily.’

    This is a simple but bitter truth. The mentality of unrelinquishable advantage is not unique to those whom we have been accustomed to linking undue advantage with. Are those that have enjoyed statehood since 1975 and beyond in the south eager to accommodate a restructuring that turns them into provinces within a regional entity? Hence, Chief Akande’s conclusion that ‘ “restructuring” must be seen as a more Herculean major task for all Nigerians than a mere political change of power for which APC was put together.’ This, of course, does not mean we should give up the quest for restructuring.

    I do not believe that Chief Akande has given up despite his loyal defence of his party’s position on a piecemeal approach to restructuring through a manageable devolution of power. In the context of our political climate, we are understandably impatient.

    In 2017, a prominent progressive called me with a complaint about a statement that had just been attributed to Chief Akande on the matter of restructuring. The caller was disappointed and was going to issue a rejoinder. I discouraged a rejoinder without finding out from Chief Akande what the story was. I called up Chief Akande, and true to my suspicion, he denied abandoning the matter of restructuring. He had been asked a specific question about the position of APC on the matter and he had simply quoted the manifesto of the party which promised devolution of power, which for some reason, the party does not understand as identical with restructuring.

    It is always a tricky issue when one is called upon to explain and defend one’s party’s position, even when one is a step or two ahead of the party on the matter. It is not unique to our corner of the world. It explains coalitions of interests within political parties all over the world, as moderates, progressives, and ultra- progressives within the same party. The existence of such groups provides individuals within each coalition to press their case despite their party position.

    As our democracy matures, we would reach a stage where party position on issues is based upon a consensus of all stakeholders, and Individuals and groups with different views could still enjoy the right to fight for their positions within the party hierarchy. What cannot be denied, however, is that due to the principle of party supremacy, party men and women cannot publicly antagonize their party, even as they make effort to have their own ideas accepted on party platform.

     

    Happy Birthday Baba. Igba odun, odun kan.

  • TMC to political parties: let there be no violence

    The Muslim Congress (TMC) has urged various political parties to eschew violence in going about the forthcoming general elections.

    Its Amir (President) Dr Luqman AbdurRaheem at the Quarterly state of the Nation briefing on Saturday in Lagos, said no one should see the coming General Elections as a do-or-die-affair especially as we have had assurances from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the Presidency and the President that the elections will be credible, free and fair.

    AbdurRaheem said: “Let us believe these assurances and play our part in ensuring a peaceful election. Let there be no violence, vote-buying and vote-selling. INEC staff, security personnel and politicians should conduct themselves in the best possible manner since the election is a serious affair in the progress and survival of the nation.”

    AbdurRaheem, an Associate Professor urged Nigerians to must desist from circulating unofficial and fake results on the social media.

    This, he said, is capable of breaching public peace.

    He called on the religious and traditional rulers to use their respected offices in creating an atmosphere of peace and security.

    “Whichever candidate becomes victorious in any of the elections, what is paramount is the development and progress of the nation. Victorious candidates should know that the people have become more aware of their circumstances and their rights and would therefore not tolerate bad governance. The right dividends of democracy are what the people want after sacrificing to vote at the elections. For those that run afoul of the election and electioneering laws, the rule of law must be allowed to take its course as they receive deserved punishment that will serve as deterrent to others,” he said.

    He hailed President Muhammadu Buhari for his commitment not to use government money for electioneering campaigns.

    This, he said, is a boost to eliminating corruption in campaign financing in the nation since cash payment to voters corrupts the electoral process.

    He said: “In times past, we know how our economy would have been awash with federal government’s money and other illicit monies all in the name of electioneering campaigns. It would have been time to share not just naira but dollars and other foreign currencies with different Aso-Ebi to the bargain. Nigerians would have been in carnival mood with the usual rent-a-crowd agents, outdoor entertainment equipment owners and caterers making huge gains running into billions of naira. “But everywhere is quiet now and money launderers are awash with the fear of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). There is therefore little money available for electioneering campaigns. This has reduced money politics that has not allowed credible-but-not-wealthy candidates to emerge as candidates let alone win elections. It simply means that the candidates who emerged under the Not-Too-Young-To-Run Law stand a better chance against other older and probably wealthier candidates. This is a positive development that should be sustained in the years ahead as it allows government money to be strictly used for developmental purposes. But governors and local government chairmen across the states and local governments have not made similar commitments not to spend such monies. It would be a bigger impact if they can also commit themselves.”

  • MURIC warns politicians to stop insulting Qur’an

    The Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC) has warned to political parties to stop messing up with the Holy Quran.

    According to the Islamic human rights outfit, a certain “prominent” political party in the country is fond of using the Qur’an in its political rallies without following laid down rules.

    MURIC in a statement by its Director, Prof Ishaq Akintola, described this as laughable, provocative and totally unacceptable.

    Akintola said: “Our office has been inundated with a Tsunami of complaints about a prominent political party that has been abusing the use of the Qur’an in its political rallies. Such an attitude exposes the political party as a body that is insensitive to the feelings of Muslims. It is laughable, provocative and totally unacceptable.

    “Exempli gratia, we are in possession of a video clip in which a notorious lawmaker cum comedian who is obviously a non-Muslim recited the Surat Al-Fatihah (chapter one of the Glorious Qur’an) wrongly in one of the party’s rallies about two weeks ago. The question is why was a non-Muslim allowed to recite an Islamic prayer using verses of the Glorious Qur’an in a political rally?

    “We don’t want to be misunderstood. Anybody can pray but decorum must be applied when doing that in public. It is most unwise for a non-Muslim to venture into praying in Arabic when he is not sure he can do it well. A Muslim should offer the Muslim prayer and vice versa. Prayer is a serious spiritual exercise. It is communication between the creature and the Creator. It is not something you can trivialise. But what we saw on that day was the transfer of the usual parliamentary theatricals that has been associated with the National Assembly in recent times.

    “In another trending video, a woman was seen struggling with the recitation of Surat Ash-Sharh (Qur’an chapter 94) at another rally of the same political party. She ended it all by mixing up the verses and wordings.

    “MURIC is not just raising false alarm or sounding unnecessarily demagogic. The fact is that the implications of reciting a verse or chapter of the Glorious Qur’an wrongly in an attempt to offer prayers are very serious. An inexperienced reciter may end up raining curses instead of offering prayers due to errors of pronunciation, wording or incorrect reading of verses. This can be terrible in a rally organised by a political party because instead of actually praying for the country and the political party, the person may end up inadvertently cursing the party and the country (may Allah forbid that).

    “That is why political parties need to have religious advisers among its officials. Such religious advisers must be made up of qualified Christian and Islamic clerics. They are the ones who should be called upon to offer prayers in public programmes, not parliamentary rascals whose only value lies in their capacity to constitute public nuisance.

    “We like to place it on record for public awareness that the rules guiding the recitation of Christian and Islamic scriptures are different and the yardsticks of one should not be used to judge the other. For instance, a person wishing to recite any portion of the Glorious Qur’an must first perform ablution. The rule is that you cannot read the Qur’an if you are not pure. The Qur’an itself set the rule when it says ‘Only those who are clean can touch it. It is a revelation from the Lord of the Worlds’ (Qur’an 56:79 – 80).

    “The recitation made by the woman at that political event is also contentious from another angle. Apart from the fact that she may not have performed ablution, she may not be clean. She may be in her menstrual period and Islam does not permit women to do such things in that state. That is one of the reasons Muslim women are not usually called upon to read the Qur’an in public. She does not have to make her condition public and this may happen if she is so invited.

    “In conclusion, we charge political parties to demonstrate seriousness in spiritual matters. We also advise political parties to consult their religious advisers before taking any step that has spiritual implication. We urge all churches and mosques to pray for a peaceful general election and a stable polity thereafter”.

  • Foundations of national productivity

    It is a new year and it is not too early to fix our national gaze on the push for increased productivity in the national economy. This is the impetus for this piece today.

    National productivity is a prerequisite for national advancement. Worker productivity is the sine qua non of national productivity. Good education, fair compensation, and workplace equity and fairness are indispensable conditions for worker productivity. Therefore, good education, fair compensation, and workplace equity and fairness are prerequisites for national advancement.

    The validity and soundness of the foregoing syllogism is not in doubt. However, our commitment to good education, fair compensation for workers, and our practice of equity and fairness in the workplace could pose a serious challenge. Worker productivity in the private and public sectors of a nation’s economy determine how far the nation can go on the ladder of development. We see this demonstrated in not just the highly advanced economies of the West, but also in those of some of the economies that we started out with as independent nations. Some of them, especially the highly motivated East Asian tigers, have long surpassed us by baring their fangs of productivity. How did they do it? And why do we still lag?

    We know that highly productive workers make highly developed economies. But while productive work is part of our human potential, concrete barriers exist in the realization of this potential. Note that I used “potential” and not “essence”. While it is arguable that we would not be humans without being essentially productive, the essentialism implied here is also troubling. Are flesh and blood humans who despise work and leave work-free lives sub-human? They may be morally irresponsible but there are many human beings who, despite working hard, are also morally irresponsible in other ways.

    What barriers exist in the realization of our potential for hard work? There are at least three: poor education, unfair compensation, and workplace inequity and unfairness.

    We were doing well with the education sector during the first republic. That was the time we were focused on competing vigorously with our peers across the globe. Recently, I revisited a pamphlet that I had checked out on my study shelve in the Library of Congress. It was the report of the commission set up by the Western Regional Government in 1962 to review the regional educational policy.

    The report commended the regional government for earmarking 40% of its revenue for education. That was two-fifth of the regional budget going to education! And we wonder why the region had such a huge success in educating her residents in those days. Even with the crisis in Action group and the emergency rule and stuff, up till January 1966, the region was still ahead in education. The University of Ife (Obafemi Awolowo University) was established during this period and with its high-quality products, and those of other higher institutions, national productivity was enhanced.

    The foundation for that achievement was laid very early in the intellectual armory of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the architect and builder of the modern West. His firm belief was that “the success of (human beings), in any sphere whatsoever in which he (or she) operates, depends wholly on the degree of his health, his intellectual comprehension, and his spiritual depth—because the coefficient of his efficiency in all undertakings generally, and of his productivity in any economic venture in particular, is education in every sense of the word.”

    Then the military struck 53 years ago this month and everything education was pushed to the back burner of national stove. They jettisoned the federal structure for a unitary system of governance. The federal government budgetary allocation to education between 1966 was 4.23%. In 1970, it dropped to 0.69% and it stayed at less than 1% until 1973. For the 13 years of first military rule, the average federal budgetary allocation to education was 3.66. The four years of the 2nd republic from 1979 to 1983 did not see much improvement, with federal allocation averaging 5.9%. Ironically, the Abacha dictatorship years averaged 10.88% while the return to civil rule in 1999 saw another drop with the Obasanjo years averaging 7.7% budget allocation. The UNESCO recommendation is between 15% and 20%. Currently, our budget allocation to education is 7.04 per cent. Ghana’s is 14 %.

    What does the foregoing data regurgitating exercise suggest about our priorities? Surely, other sectors are also important in the scheme of a whole economy. But education is the master driver in the matter of economic growth. A highly educated citizenry will have the skills the economy needs to fire all its engines of growth. Unfortunately, with abysmal funding, educational institutions from elementary to university levels lack the wherewithal to produce the best. So, we end up with materials that industries are not able to use for lack of the skills that they need.

    Secondly, a highly educated citizenry is also necessary to fight the ills of society that we are rightly obsessed about. Can anyone imagine soundly educated men and women getting involved in thuggery and vandalism as we witness daily in our urban enclaves? Can fully engaged citizens carry sticks and guns to campaign rallies and make themselves available for exploitation by politicians and get killed in the process?

    The elders teach that the proverbial eepa only kills itself while thinking that the dog is its victim. If the fortunate among us think that they can escape the coming catastrophe of frustrated expectation, they must think again. ASUU and other unions in the education sector are only helping us to avert the implosion ahead. It is a relief that the government is reluctantly paying attention.

    Along with education, in our road trip to increased productivity and economic growth, is fair compensation for hard work. Fair wage for work done is a rallying cry of workers the world over. Whether in the public or private sector, when we shortchange workers for the sake of more profit for capital, we deceive ourselves if we think that it will not negatively impact productivity. Where there is self-worth, there is bound to be resentment with a suspicion of cheating. Resentment may lead to cutting corners in a variety of ways, including fraud.

    The Nigerian Labor Congress (NLC) has fought a just battle on behalf of workers for an increase in minimum wage. Though it has couched its rationale in terms of the welfare of workers, which is right, it is also true that there is an economic justification for the increase in view of the potential increase in productivity that a happy workforce can generate. It is heartwarming that the federal government has risen to the occasion with the president’s promise to send a bill to the National Assembly.

    Finally, productivity also requires workplace equity and fairness. Where wage discrimination is rampant, there’s going to be a negative impact on worker productivity. Again, human beings with a modicum of self-respect normally want equal treatment with peers. When they perceive an absence of fairness in the workplace, it affects their attitude to work, which in turn impacts productivity.

    Fortunately, our institutions of public service—civil service, universities, teaching service, hospitals, etc.— unlike some comparable systems even in developed countries, operate a hiring system that is open and formal. Public sector workers are recruited into a hierarchical system that bases compensation on established rules which recognize gradations of pay scale. Depending on your qualification, you know where you belong, whatever your gender, ethnicity, or religious background. And you can expect promotion on regular basis if you perform.

    Where this regularity is disturbed for whatever reason that has nothing to do with performance, and a worker suffers persecution or discrimination, deliberate or unintentional, there is bound to be resentment and productivity suffers. Again, because human nature is precariously inclined to occasional regress to the dark side, even with an inherently just system of wage and promotion, this cannot be ruled out. And it behooves those charged with the sacred responsibility of human resource management to be above board. That is, if they care for workers’ welfare, an important prerequisite for workers’ productivity.