The Nation Newspaper

Category: Steve Osuji

  • This Ali too, must go

    When hubris goes to bed with obduracy, they sire impunity, a wild-eyed son. This is the case with the retired Col. Hameed Ali’s defiance of the Senate. But let’s be upfront with it: this column is of the opinion that Ali, Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), must either GO answer the call of the Nigerian Senate or quit the service. This is the considered stand of this column on yet another matter that has not only vacated the realms of logic and commonsense, but diminishes the essence of the Buhari administration each day it lasts.

    This column was to interrogate the loud tales of agric exploits in Nigeria in the midst of intensified smuggling and rising cost of foodstuff. But this protracted folly has become a numbing distraction not only on this space, but for the Presidency, the Senate and indeed the entire polity. Eventually, the CGC, the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice and indeed the Presidency, only managed to tread that hateful and ignominious path well beaten by a certain Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke.

    At the height of her reign, a certain Alison-Madueke, oil minister in the last administration, was out of control of the Presidency under a certain Goodluck Jonathan and she considered a summon by the Senate beneath her dignity; so she corralled the Justice Ministry under a certain Mohammed Adoke to deploy the law and the courts to shield her.

    So it was that Diezani blatantly shunned the Senate and would not present herself to clear an allegation that she burnt about N10 billion of public funds in luxury private jet shuttles.

    But trivial as some think it to be, the case of also Ali blatantly refusing to appear before the Senate in regulation Customs uniform is even more fundamental. First, it is obvious that he, a public official heading a uniformed corps, would want to choose the way to dress as well as the rules to obey.

    Some have glibly said the Senate is pursuing trivia and neglecting important national issues, but what is more important than maintaining the sanctity of our institutions, obeying constituted authorities and abiding by rules, regulations and procedures?

    In this instance, it is clear that Ali has elected to defy the Senate and put it to public ridicule because he thinks himself answerable to the President and no other authority. It is in the same manner he has undermined the powers and authority of the Finance minister that statutorily supervises the NCS. What is playing out here is hubris at a level not acceptable in public service and in a democracy.

    To prove Ali’s untrammelled insubordination, his initial reason for not donning his uniform is because as an erstwhile army officer, it is beneath him to don any other service uniform. At another turn, he went before the Senate and lied that he was not aware that he was mandated to appear in uniform. And on the third occasion this week, he upped his cheap game by scurrying to the courts to procure some dubious injunction. This is indeed an old annoying trick used by poor governments.

    What a pity! If only Ali was a smart fellow; if only he was a man with a modicum of acumen in human relations and public perception; if the state of the Service mattered and the feelings of the officers and men under his command were of importance to him; if he were a man interested in public good and in delivering service; if he were not consumed by a monstrous ego bottled in his small frame, he would have simply decked his ceremonial CGC uniform to the Senate the first time and ended this sad saga with a joke. But he is not of such noble mould. His is of a zero-sum mind.

    And that segues to the brainwave about vehicles Customs duty. First, it’s a retroactive action and the motive as is apparent, is more an asinine revenue drive than a move to uplift the people or edify the system. It is all about hounding the people and chasing them down, sometimes to their deaths in a depressed economy.

    A thinking man would draw a line, rework the mindset of his men and fine-tune the system. This way, a noble objective would yield bountiful results without trampling the dignity and very humanity of the citizenry. But for Ali, every citizen is a crooked, bloody civilian who must be chased down and whipped into line.

    The reaction of many compatriots is to accuse the Senate of chasing shadows while neglecting important national issues; some even insinuate that the legislators pursue a vendetta of sort against the CGC. But they beg the question. No public servant is allowed to pick and choose the rules to obey.

    Finally, if Ali is doing a great job of revamping the Service, one could excuse his other shortcomings, though they may be grave. But sorry to say that he has not shown any especial capacity to radically reform a horribly rotten Service. Apart from weeding the top echelon of the Service and arming the men to the teeth, people still hold their noses when Nigerian Customs is mentioned in decent circles.

    At the end of his time, the NCS may have become a revenue machine, but not an organic institution that is efficient at watching over our borders and collecting revenues. Crucially, there is no promise that Ali would be able to re-orientate the Service and rid it of the demons of corruption that has seized its very soul. Not likely at all. Like the Ali of 1978, this Ali too really should go!

  • Power Supply: Quiet improvements?

    You know that power supply has improved in Nigeria when your freezer gets frozen more often and you don’t hear the shouts of ‘Up NEPA!’ in your neighbourhood too frequently. Plus the fact that you don’t hear Nigerians complaining bitterly at every turn anymore.

    There has indeed been a quietening down of gripping and whimpering about power outage in the last few weeks – the newspapers, broadcast stations and social media have reported less outage recently. Power supply had always been particularly tough during dry season when water levels in the hydro plants fall. But there seems to be a bit of reprieve this time.

    We guess we will have to watch for a while longer to determine whether the BRF magic is beginning to unfurl or we are merely enjoying some placebo effect.

  • PMB’s resignation prerogative

    How we all are shy to say it therefore, nobody wants to hear it. But in the opinion of this column, and with utmost respect, the best option available to President Muhammadu Buhari today would be resignation. And there are three straight, albeit simple reasons for this. One, he would be doing Nigeria, his fatherland a huge favour; two, it is the path of honour and history. And the third point: it is in the interest of his health and wellbeing. But there is one caveat though: it is for now, up to the president to toe this path. Based on the facts available to us, there is nothing compelling him yet to step down; it is strictly in the realm of the president’s prerogative.

    For the sake of our fatherland: Having raised the caveat above concerning choice, we say that he would be doing Nigeria a favour if he chooses today to do the unexpected and resigns his high office. The truth which most Nigerians would rather not face is that the country is not working under PMB. This is the plain truth which can be backed with a myriad of facts.

    Right from his ascendance of office, the country has gone on the reverse gear. Apart from the initial stirrings of the first few months which happened on account of his famed no-nonsense methods and integrity (what was aptly dubbed body language), the polity has suffered and bled since then.

    Of course PMB neither saw that opportunity presented by his ‘body language’ nor did he capitalize on it. Nigerians, including civil servants, government officials and stakeholders in various sectors soon caught on to the reality that this Muhammadu is a far cry from 1984 specimen. We all simply returned to our old bad ways – all of us.

    The president was apparently hobbled by a recurring illness apart from the fact that the dynamics of governance had changed drastically (almost beyond his comprehension) since the last time he presided over the country. The result of this has been a crippling inertia in the last nearly two years. This column has written on aspects of this malaise over a dozen times here.

    But the bottom line is that Nigeria is now faced with a double jeopardy now that our worst suspicion has been confirmed about PMB’s illness, the harsh truth is that Nigeria will be better off without PMB. (The recent stint of the acting president is a pointer.)

    First, Nigeria’s economy is in the doldrums and the country needs now, more than at any other time, an able, healthy, sound and knowledgeable leader to take her out of the storms and lead her to a new tomorrow. Though PMB may mean well, he does not have the capacity and wholesomeness to deliver urgently needed results.

    People may argue that he has a capable vice president and a cabinet but which country in the world is run by a vice president or the federal cabinet? Why do we organize huge elections to vote one man to lead? Why don’t we simply choose a cabinet or even vote a cabinet to run a country?

    A country either has a president or it doesn’t and it is trite to note that the standing of any country is defined by the quality of president it has. To buttress our point here, there is no doubt that Nigeria enjoyed a new lease of life in the few weeks that Vice President Osinbajo acted.

    Consider the debacle that became of the confirmation of Mr. Ibrahim Magu as chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). This Magu miasma gives us a scary inkling about the functioning of the PMB presidency and by extension, the running of the country.

    In two years of PMB there have been no fundamental positive changes and I have chosen my words carefully here. The economy bleeds, having run into deep recession in the first year. A proactive administration ought to have seen the turbulent headwind with all the red flags it waved. That was not the case. And the critical measures to turn recession into growth and prosperity are not being taken.

    For instance, two years of PMB’s administration (and he is the Oil Minister) Nigeria still imports unduly heavy shipments of refined fuels and petroleum products. Our economy will continue to regress if we keep applying nearly half of our forex earnings on derivatives of our abundant crude. Up to this moment, this government has no clear direction on how to upgrade and add value to Nigeria’s abundant hydrocarbon deposits. What’s the word on other minerals? Zilch.

    The anti-graft war which is the touchstone of this administration is today an antithesis. Everyday what we hear is catcham, catcham, thief, thief, thief; yet hardly any thief is brought to book. Why doesn’t someone think of changing the template; cut our losses and reset the entire system so that officials cannot find loose cash to haul. Why for instance, can’t MDAs present comprehensive annual reports, etc?

    A matter of honour: apart from PMB’s standing down being a matter of utmost sacrifice to the land, it would be a great path of honour to tread. If the president has been seriously ill in the last few years and the ailment has now been aggravated by his onerous office, an honourable resignation would be most dignifying and noble. And it would enter the annals of our country that a president found it worthy to resign from office on honorable grounds.

    The case of David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United kingdom who resigned after his country voted to leave the European Union is fresh. About five other heads of state across the world resigned last year alone many on grounds of principle and honour – just in case small people around the president begin to tell us it is unheard of.

    Just as this column admonished former President Goodluck Jonathan to toe the path of honour in 2015, history would accord PMB a nobler place if he walks this road.

    For the overall wellbeing of the president: it is obvious that PMB is not in the best state of body and mind to go through the rigour and punishment of running a country. This column thinks he has made his point and done his best for Nigeria. He is no longer hungry for food or fame or glory; what he needs now is go find therapy, healing and a well-earned rest in this twilight of his age. Here indeed is an opportunity to annotate his own history and embellish his legacy.

    Anything short of this would be unwarranted self-immolation.

  • Fanta-Sprite brouhaha: much ado about…

    What the much consumed soft drink brands, Fanta and Sprite may just by a nit of chance contain substances harmful to health is stuff that would generate maximum opprobrium any day. But this is what a recent court verdict suggests. And expectedly the country is set abuzz. But it seems to be much ado about a small matter.

    First it took all of 10 years to arrive at a judgment in a matter that seems so straightforward. Imagine the harm that may have been done in 10 years if the allegations were true. While we urge NAFDAC to sit up and manufacturers in Nigeria to scale up quality control and be more consumer-centric, we do not think the Nigeria Bottling Company is remiss in this matter. There seems no intent to commit a reprehensible act, nor do we see a case of negligence.

    Every country has slight variations in export requirements and FOR EXPORT ONLY products have always been part of international trade.

  • Sagay’s tiresome tirades

    In the heady early days of President Muhammadu Buhari’s ascendance, Professor Itse Sagay was the giant signpost of a no-nonsense anti-corruption era. An eminent professor of Law with a well-honed reputation for social activism, he also wears rather haughtily, a visage that seems to bear a permanent scowl against bad behaviour and official graft.

    When shortly after inauguration, Sagay was drafted to lead a high-calibre anti-corruption think-tank, many agreed that the PMB administration was indeed smart off the blocks.

    In August 2015, Sagay was announced chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC). And the mandate of the body is clear and without any ambiguity whatsoever: to advise the PMB administration on the prosecution of the war against corruption and the implementation of the required reforms in Nigeria’s criminal justice system.

    Other notable members of this committee are Prof. Femi Odekunle, Prof. Bolaji Owasanoye, Prof. Sadiq Rabba, Prof. E. Alemika, Dr. Benedicta Daudu and Hadiza Bala Usman. And funding was no issue as a matching grant of sort of about $5million was provided by three international development partners – the Ford Foundation; MacArthur Foundation and Open Society Foundation. “The fund is to assist implementation of key components of the Action Plan and the work of the Presidential Advisory Committee”, according to a release from the Presidency then.

    Sorry to note that more than one and a half years after, the Sagay Committee seemingly have made little or no impact in the anti-graft war. This columnist is not aware of any preliminary reports from PACAC or any notable impute it has made in the quest to rid Nigeria of acute and chronic systemic corruption. As indicated in its terms, PACAC seems to have been designed to be the intellectual backbone and guiding light of a renewed resolve to stem graft. We expected organisational retooling of anti-corruption agencies and of course fresh rules and laws to revamp and indeed return our policing, investigative and criminal justice systems.

    We expected new ways of battling financial and economic crimes; improved methods of monitoring the treasury, tracking revenues and executing public procurements. In fact, if the PACAC has been at work, nothing of it has been brought to the public domain at least to show Nigerians that it is not just another privileged, funds-guzzling bureaucracy.

    On the contrary, Prof. Sagay has since his appointment delved into what may be regarded as the politics of anti-graft war instead of tinkering with the technicalities that would deepen the war and imbue lasting solution.

    At almost every turn, the erudite professor has infused the media space with comments better left to political party spokesmen and information ministers.

    Some instances: commenting on the Supreme Court’s verdict in favour of the governors of Rivers and Akwa-Ibom states, he described the judgments as “perverse.” That of course, is a brashly impolitic statement to make in a bi-partisan affair, considering his status and position. In the matter of the night raid of the residences of some justices of the Supreme Court by the Department of State Security (DSS), Sagay had said: “Judiciary has lost its moral armour.”

    But this article is actually triggered by Prof. Sagay’s current outing in which he railed against the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) and the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC).

    “You will not believe that with all we are going through, the NDDC, which is the other name for uncompleted projects, has just bought over 70 cars,”  Sagay notes.

    He says further: “There is no difference in Customs since May 29, 2015. If you go to Tin Can Island in Lagos, it is business as usual.” He also berated the judiciary for side-tracking the administration of the Criminal Justice Act, 2015. He noted that contrary to the stipulation that an application for a stay of proceedings in a criminal matter should not be entertained, some courts still adjourn to wait for the outcome of an interlocutory appeal. “All these are illegal and strictly constitute acts of misconduct on the part of the judges. The outcome of all this is that we have over 100 high-profile cases not going nowhere.”

    To put it mildly, Prof. Sagay’s recent outburst can be seen as capitulation and an admission of failure by default. His fulminations over the NCS or the NDDC is at best a distraction as he has said nothing new or added value to the quest to clean these Augean stables.

    We have always known that most government departments and agencies are bastions of corruption. Any little Nigerian boy or girl can guess how rotten the Customs, NNPC, Immigrations, Police and others are. The main reason Nigerians voted PMB and APC is because of the aching need to stop the corruption monster. The reason the PACAC was among the first important moves made by this administration is to tackle this virus with forensic acuity. Not to wear us out with tiresome tirades.

    But 18 months down the line nary a dent has been made on the corruption monolith and as Professor Sagay rightly pointed out, it is probably worse now. Apart from the crude effort of Ibrahim Magu and his team at the EFCC, not much else goes on in the so-called battle. But Magu’s exertions, it has become clear, has been of no effect as the method is pedestrian and non-preemptive.

    Prof. Sagay is not the only one wringing his palms in utter helplessness, seemingly. Early in the month, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, had this to say about his industry: “Importation of petroleum products will have to stop. There is absolutely no reason why a country with the resources that we have will continue to import petroleum products. It’s a fraud on the system and we are going to end it.” Shall we just simply say good morning to Kachikwu that he finally stirs from slumber? Kachikwu has been in the sector and this matter has been with us for over two decades! He ought to have solved this problem yesterday.

    Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, also rose to the ‘great occasion’ recently albeit, belatedly. He says: “The power to do good or evil lies with a few people who form what we refer to as our Civil Service. When some of such elite see the opportunity as one of self-enrichment…. then the nation faces a monumental tragedy.”

    Wonderful, soul-stirring rhetoric but is this what we want to hear now? No! Do these denouncements stop the next procurement process abuse? No!

    This is why this column is particularly piqued by the way PACAC has turned out so far. To think that there are several things Sagay’s team could have done by merely making the right pronouncements, picking several quick wins and low-hanging fruits.

    For instance, the Office of the Attorney-General ought to be the impregnable war room from where anti-graft battles are planned and consummated. The office of the Auditor-General of the Federation – if it cannot be made fiercely independent, it can at least deliver its basic annual reports promptly and timeously.

    Same goes for the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Code of Conduct Bureau, EFCC and ICPC. These agencies could have been reshuffled and deepened to operate super-efficiently in line with the new spirit of fighting graft. But the problem is that old wines have remained in the old casks, maturing in their redundancies and old habits.

    But more irksome is that PACAC’s capitulation is almost akin to a force majeure in the fight against corruption. Enough of lamentations, please.

     

    Ali the obtuse

    They must have tagged it ‘operation show your Customs paper or be damned’. But thank goodness for the timely intervention of the Senate, otherwise Nigerians were about being subjected to the obtusest Customs rules ever enacted. Col. Hameed Ali (retd), Comptroller-General of Customs and his team had determined that they would not only follow smuggled products to Nigerians’ bedrooms and kitchens, but they were poised to drive every imported car owner up the electric pole.

    A deadline was already given and the stage was set: every second-hand car owner must show cause why he should be on the road. Just imagine for a moment Customs officials chasing about 50 million vehicles across the country – what a bedlam that would unleash on the polity! Again, thank goodness for the Senate’s intervention; it has asked the CG to junk what is obviously a junk idea meant to extort and overawe an already frazzled citizenry.

    It is hoped that our obdurate CG who won’t don the Customs’ uniform, would hearken to wise counsel this time. It must be noted, however, that Mr. Ali seems to lack the capacity to reform the Service. A rotten NCS now stinks. One instance: How did N5 billion worth of fake tyres get into the country recently? Another: Who imported those 566 AK47’s? How can we preempt smugglers instead of to pursuing them about town? The Service needs a holistic revamping, reorientation and retraining. It is an intellectual task, really.

  • PMB: 43 days on, plus one Igbo question

    It’s 43 days today since President Muhammadu Buhari hurriedly left his domain for a 10-day leave. The leave became tarrying a while for test results; further time to rest and now, a full blown and indefinite medical vacation. If nothing else, we have been availed the joy of new executive terminologies, as concerns vacations.

    While we do not know how much longer our President will be away, the drama of this presidential ‘virtual’ infirmity brings unexpected twists and themes.

    Now this one is for the laughs. Let us consider quickly, the little matter of the Igbo question and the eternal whimpers of marginalisation. Those who feared that PMB had always nursed a personal animus against Ndigbo may just have another straw to grab at. Here is it: for the entire 43 days Nigeria’s president has been ominously absent, no Igbo man (or woman) can affirm or confirm his well-being or actual state of health. This is because none has been allowed to venture near his now hallowed presence.

    Here is a list of those who have been afforded that most privileged information of vouching on PMB’s status: Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Chief Bisi Akande, Chief John Oyegun, Senator Bola Saraki, Hon. Yakubu Dogara, Hon. Yusuf Lasun, Malam Abba Kyari and of course, the redoubtable Mamman Daura. And on telephone from London, the President has spoken with the Vice-President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the governor of Yobe State and most recently, Mr. Femi Adesina reported his telephone conversation with his boss.

    It is likely that in private capacity and at work related levels, some Igbo may have spoken or even had contact with our new London House power locus. But the politics and power equation lie on who is found around the President at this time; who is consorting and consulting with PMB right now. Of course, every call, every photo opportunity comes with a strategic undertone.

    That is power relations 101. And no Igbo man is near the centrifugal arena; he is not in the picture; he is an outsider, he is the man on the other side of the fence, in the cold waiting for second level directive or even reading the lips and studying the body language of close aides.

    It is the same logic and mindset that denied Igbo nation a seat in the National Security Council (NSC) and in the entire superstructure of the military, security, intelligence and paramilitary hub in Nigeria. If this London episode is not yet another proof of Igbo marginalisation then what is?

    Well never mind that small digression there. The issue of the day is that 43 days have raced by and we are still counting, since our President left our shores in a most unclear and indeed hazy circumstance. And certain crucial issues won’t quit tugging at our consciousness.

    First, what really is the problem with our President, what is this health issue that has kept him away for so long – incommunicado and indefinitely.

    We, the citizens who voted him to office deserve to know the exact health status of our President. It is our inalienable constitutional right. In fact, we ought to just click a button and find all the details of our President’s health records. That is today’s standard of transparency in governance. The Fidel Castro example continues to be the touchstone. Pictures of him on his sickbed was there on the cyberspace for the world to see.

    Beyond the issue of transparency and integrity, apologists would say so along as PMB handed over to the Vice-President, nothing is amiss and government is running unhindered. But this is a fallacy, a mere placebo to make us feel well. When President Umaru Yar’Adua was in the same situation – ensconced in Saudi Arabia – some party wags insisted the President could rule from anywhere in the world.

    But we must not allow stalwarts, beneficiaries and a cabal of usurpers to lead the narrative. They say the Veep (Acting President) is in charge, yet only yesterday we were told that he consults PMB on important issues. And there lies the problem. What are important matters? Is there any matter of State that is not of specific importance and significance? And if for any reason the Veep cannot reach the President, such ‘important’ matter remains in abeyance? How long would the Acting President wait on instruction from London to act?

    And by Jove, do we know who really is issuing instructions from the London end on behalf of PMB – a cousin, a personal assistant or chief of staff? APC bigwigs are right now sulking that some fellow speaking on behalf of the president in London would not let them come see their prez. Such is our national dilemma.

    If the Veep is truly in charge, can he elect to rejig the cabinet tomorrow to make for a more effective team or to suit his style? Can he reshuffle the service chiefs, and the security and intelligence brass in order to have people of his own character and temperament? In other words, is he the Commander-In-Chief when the commanders recently pledged loyalty to PMB? We wait… indefinitely!

    Again, are the President’s personal aides who are in some cases untouchables and larger-than-life answerable to the Veep? Let’s not kid ourselves, many of these are the fabled members of the cabal who manage the President and run the presidency. Make no mistake, they still hold the levers of power and they pull the strings still. By the way, these strings are located in the office of the president which is still live and alive. Our dear Veep is at best, a marionette; as long as this episode lasts, he is only re-enacting a semblance of motion and movement. No man can be number one while seated in the office of number two…

    This is the rude fact of our current situation. Thus, while many will want to pretend that all is well, we are actually in a most precarious situation right now. The country is actually in abeyance. An Igbo proverb admonishes that a man who is truly healed must discard the crutches. But here we are, dangling on double-handed stumps and we insist all is well.

    Apart from the other issue of exposing our President to all sorts of security risks out there (a desperate cabal can actually contrive to keep him there for as long as they can swing it, while they milk the treasury), we cannot continue like this. No country excels that lies to itself or lives an extended lie. Most of us are afraid to confront the truth, the crude truths of our national life today. We are loyal to our presidents instead of to our country. We revere our president at the detriment of our country. This is why our service chiefs will tell us to our face that they are loyal to Buhari and not the government or country.

    . The other day in the House of Representatives, it was ribaldry raised to an art as they quarrelled over whether the president is sick abroad or on medical vacation. But unbeknown to us, we seem to gaily commit collective regicide; this is self-immolation. If we are a thinking people, if we have a legislature, the current crisis ought to be grist for fresh laws that would peg upper age limits for presidential candidates; laws to insist on full disclosure of a candidate’s health records. This is how a nation makes progress.

     

     

    What’s the MTN-Arsenal deal worth?

    My heart breaks each time I see big corporate bodies in Nigeria dole out huge sums to English Premier League (EPL) clubs in the guise of seeking marketing buy-ins. MTN is the latest in this thing I like to call flight of fancy. Many big companies in Nigeria are shovelling millions of pounds to clubs in England and Spain while football in Nigeria suffers acute kwashiorkor.

    Here is a roll call – MTN, Glo, Nigeria Breweries, Chi Limited, Sterling Bank, to name a few. In the last few years, managers of the Nigeria Professional Football League have done a damn good job in spite of odds, to lift our football.

    They need huge corporate support; our clubs could use revenues from jersey and stadium branding among other marketing and promotional buy-ins.

    It aches the heart when one sees the profit from the beer we drink here or recharge card I buy, being shipped to Arsenal or Manchester City. You don’t carry water to the river, do you?

     

  • Hush! Our President is resting, don’t disturb

    This column had gotten into trouble early in the life of this administration. A crippling inertia had bedevilled the President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) administration early in the day – from inauguration day on May 29, 2015 up to the end of that year. But not many noticed.

    The first 100 days often marked with fanfare and a showcasing of early results by most governments was dismissed gruffly as a no event by the PMB people.

    All the low-hanging fruits most new governments pick and process quickly were all lost on the new regime. The appointment of a new cabinet which often signposts the character and substance of any new helmsman as well as critical appointments to strategic positions could not be achieved in the first 100 days. Even some key agencies that drive socio-economic activities are still void of boards till today – almost two years of the PMB era.

    This column, befuddled and nonplussed at this crippling slow pace and loss of clear opportunities, wrote many pieces about it. Numerous easy wins were glaring but painfully neglected. One must have been branded to be among the ‘wailers’, who are impatient and seeking to stampede the new administration into derailing from its ‘methodical’ approach. Many readers all but branded this column a saboteur.

    One hundred days rolled into 200, and to one year going on to two. And everything goes from bad to worse. The exchange rate, the most critical indicator of the state of health of Nigeria’s economy galloped from N198 to a dollar to about N500 currently. And still rising. What this means, it must be said, is that in 18 months of PMB, the economy is in a complete mess. There is absolutely no justification for this ruinous slide other than sheer incompetence. Our expectations crashed, we wanted to see pithy changes happening quickly but, zilch!

    From the foregoing prognosis, every jigsaw may have fallen into place now with the ill-health of PMB becoming protracted and obvious. What all this betokens is that the President must have been seriously ill all this while. Recall that Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State raised the alarm about the President’s health in the heat of the 2015 electioneering, but Nigerians railed at him, drowning his (wake up) call in the politics of that moment. But the point remains that if PMB battles with a serious health situation he could never function at the optimum. This must explain the months of inertia when basic things seemed so difficult to execute and the country bled profusely.

    Today, it has all come to a head. The President’s illness cannot be concealed anymore and here we are told to watch and pray while he recuperates. Do not disturb, our president is resting: that is the bold sign place in our face. Yet we would naot be apprised with the true situation of our President’s health. From taking a 10-day annual leave to waiting for test results and now, to needing further time to rest.

     

    Of plastic rice and Indian ‘gari’

    The first point to note about the Indian garri discovered in a super market in Nigeria is that it is incorrectly spelt as ‘gari’ instead of garri. Last December, we were assailed by rumours of plastic rice emanating from China and dumped on our shores. But let’s not be overly alarmed as this place has long been the dumping ground of the world.

    From toxic waste to smelly fuel. Go to any supermarket or the new mega ones; they are filled with imported items – about 90% of over a thousand items you find in them are from other countries.

    While we feign alarm at the novelty of Indian ‘gari’, do we have a cassava industry or value chain? No. Do we not import over 80 per cent of what we eat still? Do we have a serious agric sector? No. Let’s get serious.

  • America’s ‘corrupt’ era, lessons for PMB

    Simon Cameron was a godfather during the civil war American politics. He was the lord, so to speak, of his home state Pennsylvania. His political machine held the state spellbound for decades making him both the king and kingmaker in state and federal politics.

    As a testimony to his dominance of his territory, he was a three-time senator over a cumulative 18 years; making him probably longest-serving senator in his days. In fact, he left the seat only when he had made sure that his son would succeed him.

    Orphaned early in life and with little education, he moved to Washington where he was self-trained, working as a printer, newspaperman, editor and publisher; buying and running the Republican at only 25. He later veered into business, building railroads and owning a bank in his early 30s. Having made much wealth, he joined politics, moved to Pennsylvania and began a public life that was at once remarkable and infamous.

    Cameron was notable for being corrupt and he made no bones about it. His famous quote is; ‘An honest politician is one who when bought, remains bought.’ He started out as a Democrat but soon crossed over to a smaller party from which he joined the Republican Party in 1856.

    When President Abraham Lincoln was to make him Secretary of War as part of a political deal, there was public outcry considering  Cameron’s corrupt ways. This had elicited the famous quote from Thaddeus Stevens, a Pennsylvania congressman, who in counselling Lincoln about Cameron had said; ‘’I don’t think that he would steal a red hot stove.’’

    To buttress Cameron’s odious public image he had sought a retraction from Stevens who then made the famous retort to the president, ‘’I believe I told you he would not steal a red hot stove. I will now take that back.’’

    However, because of his overwhelming influence in his state, Cameron got the job anyway but he lasted barely one year.

    He got other appointments but none lasted because his public persona was quite suffocating even in that era. Notwithstanding, he remained the kingpin of Penns politics till the end of his life.

    The original title of this piece was to be ‘’Salvaging the Buhari presidency.’’ But the above illustration from the American environment of the Lincolnian era – 1861-1865 — is to illustrate that the Nigerian situation of today may not be unlike USA of 1800. There was a civil war and institutions were still at formative stages. It would thus appear like a jungle setting in which only the fittest survived.

    It is not unlike Nigeria of today and our situation seems to deteriorate rapidly with successive governments. Then Muhammadu Buhari came along.

    Many of us had sworn by the Buhari presidency. Some of us were so sure that if this was not the ‘messiah’, it must be something quite close. We had been starved of honest, principled leadership for so long that we would have pledged our manhood to have one. One more tenure of a rudderless presidency was unthinkable.

    The Buhari presidency and his party’s change chant was refreshing to anyone who had an ounce of love for this land. However, about three to six months after inauguration, it became apparent that we had made a mistake once again in the quest to find a capable captain for our wind-tossed ship.

    It wasn’t that PMB had become less principled and honest overnight or that the fabled ghouls of Aso Rock had seized the soul of the president upon his stepping across that rarefied threshold of power. We simply found out that we were victims of our own zeal – the blind desire to install a president according to our own image.

    Most of us thought that stellar personal character, honesty of purpose and stoic lifestyle were the touchstones for successful national leadership, but alas, how mistaken, if not foolish we have turned out to be. We all must accept responsibility and indeed culpability for this debacle. We have proved to lack discernment, insight and the requisite ingredients for critical leadership selection.

    Character may indeed be key, but other variables, such as political pragmatism, efficiency, sense of urgency and a single-minded focus on results all must combine to deliver that wholesome broth of leadership needed to build a nation. PMB has been all about character in the last 20 months and his presidency has floundered, seeming to fail irretrievably if he continues on the current trajectory.

    To safe the Buhari presidency; it is bad enough that PMB is assailed by ill health but he should simply delegate and indeed devolve power as he did in his first coming. He has a vice president who can do much of the leg work and even work from the shop floor. He must retreat a little to the background and allow his cabinet run.

    Two; he must reshuffle his team quick. Apart from a couple of them like the minister of power, works and housing, most other appointees look like they still can’t find their way around the sprawling federal secretariat. There is an urgent need to press brighter minds and nimbler feet to work.

    Three; we must immediately change tactics in the current anti-graft war. Enough of Ibrahim Magu’s cops-and-robbers approach to solving a grave national malaise. It is not working and it never will work. It has indeed become counter-productive. For the umpteenth time let us re-work the system to make stealing from the treasury become nigh impossible.

    Four; some of the critical factors for driving change in the economy are still not being activated. Agriculture sector remains tepid and we still import major food and staple, such as rice, wheat, poultry, fish, milk, cooking oils and tomato paste. We must drastically cut the importation of these essential items by all means. That task force on price ought to be a task force to produce, preserve and package food.

    Five; the economy and the oil and gas sector need fresh pep. The management of our currency has been less than plucky. Oil and gas remains in the doldrums with no fresh ideas or projects in two years.

    But more debilitating is that the mindset of the rump of administration is warped. Not delivering much about two years after but continues to escape into yesterday, blaming the past government for its inability to think through the woes of the populace today.

     

    Babachir and the pro-Buhari crowd

    The other day, some compatriots led by music star, Tuface Idibia, who sought to protest the excruciating hardship that has become pervasive in the country were harangued and denied. But Tuesday, a pro-Muhammadu Buhari rally nearly marched straight into the Exco chamber until someone remembered how ridiculous an act it was.

    It was bad enough that they were allowed near the precincts of the Presidential Villa, the remarks by the SGF Babachir Lawal was most troubling.

    He said: ‘’Baba Buhari did not anticipate the problem that we are in. I am sure you all are aware. The people who caused this problem are the ones challenging the government… I tell you they will fail… in fact they have failed.

    ‘’You are aware of the economy that the president inherited, the economy in which revenues have virtually collapsed. The infrastructure is nowhere to be seen. The roads were dilapidated. The schools were dilapidated. Hospitals were abandoned…

    On and on, the same banal excuse is what we have harvested in two years but alas, even the articulation of these are vastly depreciated if not dilapidated as can be gleaned from the quote above. We must raise the game.

  • Wike and the Rivers conundrum

    The situation in Rivers State in the last few years doesn’t lend itself to rationality or even commonsense. The bitter rivalry between leading personalities in the state has blossomed into political, ethnic and even communal feuds the wounds of which would take some time to heal.

    It may be inelegant to state that Rivers over these years, is akin to a gang land enclave but the state is like no other in the land and it has been so for quite some time. It is as volatile as a tinder go. Elections are zero-sum, winner-takes all game. It has been so for some time.

    It is perhaps the most buoyant corner of Nigeria with over five decades of rich crude oil mining. It boasts of a mixed race of Igbo, Kalabari and Ogoni stocks with historical enclaves known as War Houses. But the stupendous wealth occasioned by vast crude oil dollars has seen warlords replace the hitherto well-structured community War Houses.

    In the last two decades, armed gangs, abductors and militants spawned in the paved streets of Port Harcourt have coalesced in the creeks and waters of the oil-rich Niger-Delta from whence they create republics of their own – abducting expatriates, disrupting flow-stations and bursting oil and gas pipes.

    Mercantilist international oil companies in cahoots with weak and narrow-minded leaders have ensured that Rivers State (as epicentre) and the entire delta zone of Nigeria remains a living Golgotha. It is in the light of this grim background that one attempts a review of the state of Rivers State today.

    Exactly six months ago, one had been part of the Nigerian Guild of Editors conference held in Port Harcourt. No few than 200 editors gathered in the heart of the city for about a week brainstorming over the affairs of the nation and the Guild and eventually doing a guided tour of key projects of Governor Nyesom Wike’s administration.

    We were shown huge impressive projects at various levels of formation. Personally, leading editors to some of these sites across the state, the governor was quite boisterous and elated showcasing his busy sites.

    And they were indeed busy and more remarkably, large work sites. He came across to me then as a man who likes his things large and even gross. Bridges cutting through creeks (I still retain images of piles and piles of pipes and iron rods littering various such site); dual-carriage roads cutting through virgin hinterland areas; an expanded and modernised multipurpose sports centre and a vast recreation park.

    These are a few of the images one still remembers after a long day of touring projects. Gov. Wike and his cabinet members were happy with themselves of course; members of the Guild were impressed by what may be descried as an impressive array of work-in-progress. But I was not impressed. I had been inured by numerous such great sights and sites that ended up a farce. Of course I couldn’t bring myself to write on such exploits then. Let’s wait and see, was the self-counsel.

    There was also a much strenuous effort to show that Port Harcourt was secured and safe in negation of rampant reports of violent crimes and kidnapping. We were literaly made to walk about the city-centre unchaperoned- some of us with our hearts in our mouth. But nary one of us hit his foot against a rock.

    It was a tale of glory and triumph as we departed to our various destinations. Governor Rauf Aregbesola was there also and he sang the same pleasant tune about peacefulness in a land marked to be far-removed from paradise. Aregbe’s trepidations must have found succor in the silky embrace of Port Harcourt welcome and hospitality. By his admission he didn’t feel less at home and he was indeed, minded to stay overnight.

    All these happened about six months ago. Who can fathom how much difference a few months can make in the life of an enclave? A most turbulent one at that. Apart from the 2015 general election which can be denoted as a blistering battle of giants, the National Assembly rerun elections last December is no doubt something of a final epiphany which nonetheless is still simmering. Accusations have welled up to counter even more accusations. There was fire and firings; there was blood and blood letting in an epic turf battle that defied method or logic. Rivers is a seething conundrum or cauldron if you like.

    But sandwiched between the gladiators are Rivers people – beleaguered and hapless. Now cannon fodder, now fodder cannon. Strangers in paradise; parched in a land suffused with milk and honey. Who is minding the gap? How adequately?

    The last time one checked with folks in Port Harcourt, the people seem to be happy with their ebullient, rambunctious governor. This is of course a tough call, but residents and those who know Port Harcourt attest to a visible transformation happening at a speed some of them did not expect or imagine – not from a man under a whirl storm.

    It sure would be difficult for people outside Rivers State to accept that anything good would come out of Rivers State now, but the reality, one can confirm, is a pleasant surprise. Zamfara State Governor, Abdullaziz Yari, who is of a different party was awe-stricken upon a recent visit to Port Harcourt the point that he became effusive in his laudation of Wike.

    There is a litany of completed projects – roads especially. Innovations have been imbued the revenue collection system and IGR has reported doubled to about N10 billion, added to Federal allocation, this is enormous cash by any measure – far more than many State earn per annum.

    It is said that adversity brings out the best in us. But whether Wike is driven to work like ‘crazy’ by a chequered environment or he is in his true element, time shall tell. However, of importance is that Rivers people get their ‘deliverables’ delivered.

    More important however, the man in the arena, Governor Wike, has ample opportunity to repair the State and heal her wounds. What’s to be done? Since poverty and privation remain at the root of so much strive and internecine feuds. The governor must do more by being more accountable and transparent. He must adopt an inclusive and integrated approach to the development of the State. What this means is that he must put the local councils at work and make them work furiously and accountably as possibly. The result of this will not only be most salutary to the State but to his career and legacy. Quality governance is the antidote to most of Nigeria’s problems.

    Rivers State needs not be a conundrum; a perpetually boiling cauldron. Can Wike break the duck?

     

    Fashola: The trial of ‘Power Mike’

    This tag is my wife’s special badge for Babatunde Raji Fashola since he was handed three large epaulets in this administration. The immediate past (exemplary) Governor of Lagos State now heads three merged Ministries of Power, Works and Housing.

    Each time power snaps when you are needing it the most, she would exclaim: Power Mike, how far?

    Power supply has been at its nadir in the new year and one has never seen BRF so harried. The more he explains, the more people yell and whimper at the same time. Listening carefully to him though, it is apparent that he is on top of the situation. From BRF’s antecedent, he is not one to sleep and snore when there is a pressing issue at hand. He says many transmission projects are completed or nearing completion; he says government is working on the debt overhang bedevilling the power sector especially in the gas end of the value chain. Suffice to say that if anyone can fix Nigeria’s power sector, it’s BRF.

    Those who are observant can see work going on frantically in the Works sector: not in a long time have we witnessed many highways under construction in Nigeria.

  • Nnamdi Oji, judiciary and goal-line tech

    The umpire fall short: Most followers of football would be aware of that new device known as goal-line technology. It is not entirely new as it has been in use in tennis for some time. For readers who are not sports fans, this is simply a high-technology electronic device being introduced to help referees make more accurate decisions.

    Many sports, for instance, football and lawn tennis, depend on the ball crossing lines to determine a result. But no matter how thin a line is, there always arise tricky borderline situations. Let’s illustrate: a ball, be it football or tennis ball can fall spat on the line, it can fall on the line with more of it in front of the line and it can equally fall on the line with more of it at the back of the line.

    The ball may even be frantically cleared as it hangs above the line. But was the ball cleared from inside the net, whereupon it would have been a goal? Most times the referee is not sure; sometimes he is sure but like all humans, he sees an opportunity to make a biased or mischievous call. He may even be compromised so he makes capital of a confused situation.

    Forgive my long digressive introduction but the above analogy is most apt for a small legal issue that has been thrown up in the matter of a certain Citizen Nnamdi Oji. Here is a quick synopsis: Citizen Oji contested an election; his opponent rigged like crazy, openly mutilating the result sheets. Even the electoral umpire confirmed that the result was doctored.

    Citizen Oji gathered all the evidence, went to the tribunal, but his opponent manipulated both the lower tribunal and the appeal panel and affirmed his dubious result. Citizen Oji petitioned the Judicial Council. The council investigated his case, found merit in it, sanctioned the errant justices and bade Citizen Oji goodbye.

    But Citizen Oji insists on justice. The electoral system was breached, his mandate was stolen, justice was miscarried and in all of this, the judiciary would not redeem itself by affording him remedy through a review of his case. Even though the matter had exhausted its course having reached the apex court of jurisdiction, Citizen Oji insists on a review, on remedy, on restitution and on justice. Perhaps Nigeria’s judiciary needs goal-line technology for cases like this?

    A pathetic odyssey: Oji was the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) candidate for Arochukwu/Ohafia Federal Constituency election into the House of Representatives election on March 28, 2015.

    Now Oji will not stop weeping since after the election. His is a pathetic story about a chaotic electoral process, a rotten judiciary and a society where justice is simply sold, bought and almost, always miscarried. Though his struggle for justice has gone as high up as the National Judicial Council (NJC) resulting in just punishment for some of the justices, he still insists on an independent review of his case as the only remedy for his pains. The review, he insists, would also serve as precedential milestone for both electoral processes and election petition matters.

     

     

    Igbo leaders and ‘stomach’ politics

    It’s a mad rush; a scramble indeed! Each new day another set of Igbo weasels dive into the APC gravy train as if the world is coming to an end. As one wrote, it was Senator Andy Uba who announced his ‘escape’ from PDP. Prominent among the early birds were Chief Jim Nwobodo, Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, Senator Ken Nnamani and even businessman, Emeka Offor.

    Was it not these men who led almost the entire Igbo nation to commit political ‘suicide’ by supporting PDP against APC? Regardless that APC is currently not performing to expectations, they scurry back to their excrement in search of worms (positions and contracts). People devoid of any iota of principle, they have left Ndigbo in the cold.

    But Ndigbo are not fooled because in due time, a stuffed stomach will only give off much belching…