The Nation Newspaper

Category: Emeka Omeihe

  • Averting the looming danger

    In a previous outing in this column titled ‘ominous signals’, we had drawn copious attention to the huge cloud hanging over the Nigerian political space. That damning conclusion was drawn from the utterances, actions or inaction of the political class and their body language at a time some sections were threatening dire repercussions should Jonathan run or blackmailed not to run for the presidency come 2015.

    We had then cautioned against a situation where “Any and every issue sacrosanct for the overall survival of this country is unduly politicized, trivialized and sabotaged”. The central theme of that presentation was that if the trend was not checked, we may be heading for a self-fulfilling prophesy given the predictions that Nigeria will self-destruct in 2015.

    The concerns raised then are now being given further impetus in a most dangerous manner by events of the past couple of days. Otherwise, how do we explain the scandalous allegations by the Adamawa State governor, Murtala Nyako on the motive behind the killings and general insecurity in the north-east zone that has kept this country on its knees for some years now?

    In a memo he sent to northern governors, Nyako alleged among others that the federal government under President Goodluck Jonathan was promoting genocide in the north and its fight against the Boko Haram insurgency was aimed at depopulating the north. Accusing the federal government of organizing the killings, Nyako wrote “cases of mass murder by its bloody minded killers and cut-throats are well known but it attributes the killings to so-called Boko Haram”.

    According to him, militia backed by the federal government were responsible for the rampant kidnappings in the north and virtually all the soldiers killed in the operation against the insurgents were of northern extraction.

    These are very sensitive and weighty allegations. This is more so as they are not only loaded with the frightening prospects of negating all efforts at taming the insurgency in the north but the unity and progress of the country. Not unexpectedly, there have been sharp criticisms and condemnations against the sweeping allegations by the governor who once served as the Chief of Naval Staff of this country. Most of those who spoke queried the motive of the public allegations especially given what we know about the origin, motivation and modus operandi of the Boko Haram insurgents. It is not surprising that political motive is being suspected as the raison d’etre for those allegations. In it, the desire to pitch the north against the south has featured very prominently. Thus, when Nyako spoke of systematic plans to depopulate the north, his target was to whip up sectional sentiments against the Jonathan regime. The same sectional agenda featured in the claim that most of the soldiers who lost their lives while fighting the insurgents were of northern extraction.

    Sectional predilection was very palpable from that memo even as the medium through which he sought to convey that message equally spoke volumes along the same direction.

    Again, it is difficult to fathom how the allegations will be of help in taming the senseless killing of innocent people in that part of the country in the name of some weird ideology. More worrisome is the realization that the governor whose state is home to the unbridled insurgency that has kept this nation prostrate these past years can wake up with tendentious and scandalous allegations without any account of the role of his government to stem the tide.

    As the chief security officer of one of the states that has been under a partial state of emergency on account of the blunders of the insurgents, it is not enough for Nyako to fold his hands and lay the blame on the shoulders of the federal government. Security is the collective responsibility of both the federal, state and local governments. It is yet to be seen what roles Nyako has played to aid the federal government fight the insurgents. Instead of building a synergy that will lead to the stamping out of the terrorists, Nyako has by his actions and utterances encouraged the terrorists in their dastardly acts. That is the implication of imputing ethnic motives into the daunting sacrifices of the soldiers who daily lose their lives in this senseless war.

    It is a huge disappointment for a man who was sometime ago, the overall head of this country’s navy to now go public with the allegation that deployments in the armed forces are made according to sectional preferences. This is most unpatriotic. For, it has the prospects of pitching the soldiers against each other. Its outcome could be very disastrous for the delicate war against terrorism.

    Good a thing, the expanded National Security Council meeting has in very unambiguous terms condemned Nyako’s memo as a worthless piece of paper because he cannot substantiate them even as they are capable of causing incalculable harm to the unity and progress of the country. It is very instructive that none of those at the meeting saw any iota of truth in those sectional allegations.

    The resolutions of the council also spoke volumes on how the actions or inaction of a governor could aid and abet insurgency. That is my reading of the resolve to exploit anti-poverty strategies, media capacity among others to end the insurgency. No doubt, this is a sufficient indictment on Nyako as it recognizes that Boko Haram has its roots in the squalid conditions in which the ordinary people of the affected states have found themselves overtime. It is not the creation of the federal government. Neither is the overall objective of the war to depopulate the north. Boko Haram uprising is deeply rooted in the mismanagement of the economies of that part of the country by its leaders. That has been the real issue and reason why the northern political elite have been advocating approaches other than the force of arms.

    Perhaps also, it could have served the nation better if Nyako was taken to task to produce credible evidence to substantiate his claims. It is not enough to end the matter with mere condemnations.

    But for the immunity he enjoys, the appropriate thing would have been to charge him to court. It is on account of this quick resort to abuse of power that the immunity enjoyed by governors has attracted its most virulent criticisms.

    Nyako’s reaction has shown very clearly that the war against terrorism is not receiving the overall support of some of the governors in the affected states. Yet he is supposed to be working in concert with the local governments and the traditional institutions to provide the necessary information that will lead to the defeat of these merchants of death. Little wonder the partial state of emergency declared in those states has not been successful in stemming the tide. How could it succeed with the disposition and posturing of the Nyakos?

    No doubt, Jonathan has been at the receiving end for not doing enough to end the insurgency. The recurring escapades of the insurgents and the bombing at the Nyanya motor park in Abuja have been some of the sore points of the battle. Jonathan is now being urged to do all within his powers including a full-scale declaration of state of emergency to end the battle. Those who make these suggestions are encouraged by the reluctance of some northern elite to do the needful in the fight against terrorism.

    Even as reservations have been expressed on the propriety of full-scale state of emergency, the sabotage and irredentist posturing of the likes of Nyako may garner huge support for any legitimate action that can stem the tide now.

  • Heartless Enugu officials

    The death of a 17-year old secondary school boy, Chidiebere Edeh in the hands of officials of the Enugu State Waste Management Agency ESWMA has once again brought to the fore the recurring brutal conduct of some enforcement agencies in this country. Reports had it that the boy who was sitting for the ongoing Senior School Certificate Examination, had gone out early in the morning to one of the designated dump sites to discard some refuse.

    Apparently not satisfied with the manner Chidiebere disposed the refuse at the dump site, the ESWMA officials accosted and began to beat him despite his plea that he tied the refuse in a black nylon bag as recommended by the agency.

    The beating was said to have got out of hands when the boy refused to be forced into their bus. Not even the intervention of his mother who rushed to the scene later and other sympathizers could stop the officials from inflicting mortal harm on the poor boy. He was later abandoned after being severely beaten by the heartless agency officials and an accompanying policeman. Sadly, the poor lad died few hours after the gruesome ordeal in the hands of adults who should ordinarily have protected him from such acts of unprovoked brutality.

    A doctor in the hospital where Chidiebere was eventually rushed by his mother described the gory state of the boy thus “he had a damaged brain and suffered deep wound at his back and rear of his head. His eyes propped out, the right leg was shifted and swollen”. Evident from this chilling account by the doctor is that the officials were really out to murder the poor boy for no just cause. And they must be demented for their unmitigated brutality on the hapless boy whose offence was that he disposed refused in an unapproved manner.

    The matter is more irritating as the dump site where he disposed the refuse is approved for that purpose. If there was any slight infraction in the prescriptions of the agency, the minimum expectation was for such officials to educate him on the proper way of disposing refuse subsequently. At 17 years, Chidiebere is still considered a juvenile. Ordinarily, he should not be subjected to the full weight of the law for such a minor offence which at any rate is not capital punishment. But that was not to happen. Rather, what we got was the most brutal act of bestiality and very crude display of the law of the jungle. What a big shame! Since the incident, nothing has been heard from the Enugu State government. Neither have there been any visible measures taken to identify the culprits. If care is not taken, it may turn out another case of the proverbial Unknown Soldier.

    It is still very confounding why the heartless officials kept beating the young lad to the point of death if the intention was not to eliminate him. And if one may wish to ask, for what offence? It is incumbent on the Enugu State government and the police to as a matter of urgency identify the beasts behind the gruesome murder of citizen Chidiebere. They must be made to face the full wrath of the law.

    There is no excuse why the erring officials cannot be identified as those who supervised that area on the day in question are very well known to the authorities of the host local government council.

    The incident also brings to question the character and mental suitability of those charged with the enforcement of laws especially at the local government levels.

    Often, those you find as enforcers of environmental, tax and other sundry laws at the local government levels are people who could easily pass for thugs or men of little virtue. They are easily given away by their quick temperament and easy resort to violence at the slightest provocation.

    Matters are not helped by the tendency of political office holders to compensate political thugs and sundry characters through appointments into these agencies. People who have scant regard for human life are the least qualified to handle the enforcement of such laws. Or how else do we rationalize the act of bestiality that played out in the instant case. It could only emanate from the mentally deranged and demented.

    Enugu state is not alone in this. In most of our urban centers, records of traffic officers, environmental and other sundry law enforcers speak of gross abuses and constant violation of the rights of the people. Not long ago in Lagos, a 54-year old commercial driver, Isaac Popoola was killed by officials of the state traffic management agency for a spurious traffic offence. The two officials one of who was discovered not authorized to be on duty had overtaken the commercial vehicle and demanded that the driver should disembark.

    In the ensuing argument, the officials were said to have hit the driver with the iron part of the seat belt and severally hit his head against the iron frame of the vehicle before he slumped and fainted. He died from that encounter. The two officials were quickly identified by the agency, disclaimed for acting contrary to their operational guidelines and handed over to the police for prosecution. The state government has since taken a number of steps to tame the excesses of its traffic management official. And the result has been well received.

    The Enugu state government should learn from the above case, identify the culprits, disown and hand them over to the police for urgent prosecution. Obviously, those who murdered citizen Chidiebere acted on their own and contrary to the regulations guiding their operations and must by made to pay dearly for it. We can no longer continue to give the impression that human life can easily be discarded at the whims and caprices of errant and highly temperamental officials in the name enforcing traffic and environmental laws.

    It is also very clear from the incident that character checks and the mental suitability of those prospecting for such jobs must come into serious scrutiny before they are recruited. That way, we will be reducing to the barest minimum the quick resort to the law of the jungle in sorting out issues that arise in the daily enforcement of their duties.

    Admittedly, there is still much to be desired in the overall conduct of our people to traffic and environmental matters. On a daily basis, we are confronted with scant regard by sundry drivers and households for traffic and environmental laws. These have tended to impose serious constraints on traffic control and waste management. But that should be no justification for the constant resort to killings and maiming of suspected offenders as our laws are replete with appropriate punishment.

    Citizen Chidiebere must not be allowed to die in vain. The Enugu state government on whose behalf the culprits worked must be made to pay adequate compensation to the family of the young lad who has been sent to his early grave for no just cause. My heart goes for the family of the boy whose poor parents must have invested so much in only for their dreams to be shattered prematurely. May the gentle soul of Chidiebere, rest in the bosom of the Lord, Amen.

  • Jonathan, Nyako and Shettima

    It is of immense interest that some governors from the north-east have been making spirited efforts to exculpate themselves from the raging insurgency in that part of the country. President Jonathan had at the North-east zonal rally of the PDP said, more than anyone else the governors should take responsibility for the reign of terror imposed by Boko Haram in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.

    For him, it is shameful for a governor who has stayed in office for six years or more to talk of bad leadership when in his state more than 60 per cent of the youths have not even attended primary schools and they are doing nothing about it. In Jonathan’s words, “state governors should be ashamed when our children do not go to primary and secondary schools and they decide to carry arms”.

    Governors’ Murtala Nyako and Kashim Shettima of Adamawa and Borno states respectively have risen to defend themselves of culpability, even remotely, for the raging insurgency.

    Shettima anchored his case on the grounds that he has only stayed in office for barely three years and that Boko Haram insurgency was at its full swing in Borno before he assumed office.

    He argued that the short duration of his regime and the fact that insurgency was thriving before he assumed office were enough reasons why he did not qualify for the blanket blame by Jonathan. This is even the more as he recounted the efforts made by both his administration and the federal government to make Maiduguri safer since he assumed office.

    Shettima may have a point here. And that point is that he has not stayed in office for a long time while insurgency was already thriving in the state before he took over. Therefore, he could neither be largely responsible for the abysmal primary and secondary school enrolment nor the insurgency he met on ground when he assumed office.

    Yet, that is not all there is to the issue. As germane as the issues canvassed by Shettma are, they only succeeded in shifting the blame to his predecessors. Inadvertently, he admitted that governors in states where insurgency has been the order of the day have some blame to share. That is the logical inference from his argument.

    If Shettima’s alibi can be excused, Nyako’s reaction was rather brash and puerile. He would want the blame for the insurgency in the north to be heaped at the doorsteps of the Jonathan regime for what he called poor leadership. According to him, governors cannot be held responsible for the security challenges because they have no control over the security apparatus. He missed the point because he sees the phenomenon only from the prism of curative response rather than prevention. Fighting insurgency through the force of arms is not the matter under reference here. Even then, governors being the chief security officers of their states share vicarious responsibility in it.

    It is obvious from Nyako’s responses that the heuristic value of the issues raised by Jonathan is completely lost on him. By arguing the way he did, he failed to appreciate the role of development in stemming crimes of various hues, including terrorism.

    Yet, he has been in the vanguard of those who have stridently sought to construct a positive correlation between the insurgency in the north and the high level of poverty, unemployment and illiteracy there. It was for the same reasons that agitations for amnesty and the application of the carrot and stick strategy as therapeutic responses to the phenomenon have been severally canvassed by the northern elite.

    Having recognized that poverty is at the root of the quick resort to violence in the north, Nyako could not have convinced anyone when he strove to exculpate his regime from the failure to significantly reduce the phenomenon in Adamawa after nearly eight years in office. If he could not take the blame for not developing his state, it remains a puzzle at what level of governance the blame will be heaped.

    Take the case of primary and secondary school enrolment which Jonathan cited, it will be difficult to imagine how the federal government will take the blame for the inability of the affected states to guarantee access to their indigenes to education at those levels.

    The folly in stretching this argument any further is easily exposed by the disparities in school enrolment between states. By the logic of Nyako, Jonathan should then take the credit for the high school enrolment in some other states of the country. That is the incongruity in pushing the argument any further.

    It is true the policies of the federal authority bear great influence on what happens in the states. Yet, these policies ought to be adopted by other levels of government to suit local peculiarities. But the overall responsibility for the development of the states rests squarely on the shoulders of their respective governors. Neither Nyako, nor Shettima can shy away from that responsibility.

    Ironically, the two were part of the 13 northern governors who met with US officials a couple of weeks back on how to stem Boko Haram insurgency by addressing the socio-economic factors underlying underdevelopment in the north. The import of that engagement is that northern governors must focus more on exploiting local resources to uplift their people from ignorance, disease, hunger and illiteracy which combine to accentuate the quick resort to violence. It is therefore confounding that so soon after that visionary engagement in the US, Nyako still wants to hold the federal government responsible for all there is to insurgency in that part of the country.

    With such a jaundiced mindset, it would appear that not much progress can be made in the fight until his likes come to terms with the high demands of their mandate vis-à-vis the fundamental issues of development raised by Jonathan.

    The central message in Jonathan’s speech is that governors have vital roles in uplifting the standard of living of their constituents. And when this point is internalized and realistically addressed, the objective conditions that accentuate violence will be considerably reduced. That point is unassailable as it has direct links with the massive corruption in public places that has stultified all efforts at development.

    The other value deriving from Jonathan’s contention is to raise the consciousness of the affected states against the culture of heaping blames on the federal government without doing their own part to stem violence through development. Boko Haram rose as a protest against all those directly linked with western education. Ironically, these are people directly or indirectly linked with leadership roles. The original philosophy which was displaced along the line was to stigmatize and overthrow this class of people for the unmitigated liability they had become to society. It is akin to the proletarian revolution as aptly captured by Marx and Engels.

    The northern leadership must identify and redress those social conditions that force the illiterate, the unemployed and innocent but brainwashed youths to take quick resort to violence. This is imperative given the ambivalence or suspected tacit support of sections of the elite for the insurgents. That appears to be Jonathan’s message and it tallies with that which the 13 governors got from their US trip.

  • Lamido’s un-royal threat

    When traditional rulers speak, we have every reason to take them by their words. Being custodians of our tradition and culture, they wield very great influence on people within their domain and beyond. This is even the more for those of them whose stools attract considerable national respect. For the latter, their actions or inaction bear great influence on the direction of events in an ethnically fragmented country as ours.

    That is why governments at all levels have had to rely on the traditional institution as the quickest vehicle to the grassroots. It is for the same reason that our royal fathers are insulated from partisan politics. Thus, in their actions and utterances, traditional rulers ought to place peace, orderly conduct and the common good of the disparate interests within the society over and above sectional predilections. Only then, will they be able to command the respect and loyalty of their various subjects.

    This pristine perspective came under serious challenge last week when the Lamido of Adamawa, His Royal Highness, Muhammadu Barkindo Mustapha angrily reacted to the seeming disagreement at the national conference over the mode of voting.

    Apparently piqued by the sectional tone the debate was assuming, the Lamido had warned that northern delegates should not be pushed to the wall else they walk out of the conference. He told those who cared that there will be dire repercussions for the country if the north makes good this threat.

    Defying all attempts to call him to order, he said if something happens and this country disintegrates, those shouting their heads off will have no place to go.

    Hear him, “I and the people of Adamawa and many others have somewhere to go. I am the Lamido of Adamawa and my kingdom transcends Nigeria and Cameroon. A large part of my kingdom is in the Republic of Cameroon apart from my kingdom in Adamawa”

    That part of his kingdom in Cameroon is called Adamawa State, he further revealed.

    Ordinarily, one would have been tempted to view Mustapha’s reaction as a ventilation of frustrations with the way debate had been proceeding at the conference on the voting procedure. There is no doubt that the inability of members to arrive at an agreement on it seems to have set a bad tone for the conference. Yet, it is in the nature of gatherings of this nature that serious disagreements will occur.

    The issue is not that disagreements occur (as they are bound to) but how they are eventually resolved. If there were no divergences in opinion as to how best to organize and run the affairs of this country, there would have been no need for the conference in the first place. Sharp differences abound as to the right approaches to harmoniously organize the disparate groups that make up this country and realize their potentials to the fullest.

    The Lamido may have wished that issues be resolved fast and in the overall national interest. But such issues take some time and are better resolved through compromise and persuasion rather than threats.

    Unfortunately, the course of compromise and bargaining cannot be helped by arm twisting others through threats. One would have expected such a concerned traditional ruler to have reached out to his counterparts from other parts of the country to find common grounds on the issue if he is moved by national fervour. But that was not to be.

    Rather, he became the arrowhead of sectionalism, issuing threats and boasting of options available to him and those he purported to be speaking for. By conjuring up the possibility of a section of the country walking out of the conference, the Lamido failed to play that unifying and fatherly role expected of his exalted office.

    Why opt for the line of least resistance instead of deploying his creative energies to find common grounds with his counterparts from other divides who owe their membership of the conference to the national traditional council? It is sad that the Lamido chose very early in the day to act out the script of the north which had threatened even before the commencement of the conference to walk out if they are not favoured by the direction of discussions. Such a temperament at this point in time is to say the least, unedifying as it can no longer serve the cause of this country.

    It would have been much better if such unpatriotic views came from some relatively unknown delegates out there to seek public notice. Coming from a first class traditional ruler, there is more to it than ordinarily meets the eyes. Not unexpectedly, the latest threat fits into the pattern of reactions of the north to negotiations even before independence. At the stage this country is, one had expected that such threats as a way of resolving conflicts should have been consigned to the dust bin of history.

    If we excuse the Lamido for the walk out threat, how do we rationalize the copious efforts he made to drive the point home that he has an alternative country should Nigeria disintegrate? That is the moot question. And in it may be found answers to the insecurity that has held this country down for some years now. Lamido said his kingdom transcends Nigeria and Cameroon and that there is Adamawa State in the Republic of the Cameroon where he and others can find easy assimilation should Nigeria disintegrate.

    These statements are as weighty as they are revealing. Above all, they are loaded with very frightening security implications. It could be construed that the Lamido is a citizen of both Nigeria and Cameroon with his territories and subjects in the two countries. If that deduction is correct, then there is no difference between those of his subjects living in Nigeria and others living in the Cameroon in terms of citizenship. This will further imply free movement of people from both territories in and out of the country. It will also mean that between Adamawa State in Nigeria and Adamawa State in Cameroon, the Nigerian government has vicarious responsibility for their upkeep and maintenance.

    Given the Boko Haram scourge and the fact that Adamawa is one of the three hotbeds of the insurgents, the revelations by the Lamido should not be treated with levity. Not with the suspected complicity of Cameroon in providing safe havens to the insurgents. Before now, the military high command in the three states under state of emergency had variously accused Cameroon, Chad and Niger of duplicity in the war against Boko Haram. What we have been fed with courtesy of the unguarded outburst of the Lamido may be the veritable lead to the festering insurgency in that part of the country. And such a lead can only be ignored at a great risk.

    The royal father has told us that there are no boundaries between these countries and Nigeria. Curiously, despite the obvious threats such pose for our sovereignty and survival, our leaders have failed to muster the needed political will to decisively address the matter. Lamido’s stunning disclosure should seriously challenge the federal government to evolve foolproof measures to secure our borders in those parts of the country. Our national security will continue to be at grave risk as long as our borders with Cameroon, Chad and Niger exist only in name.

  • Immigration test: matters arising

    The outrage that trailed recent recruitment test by the Nigerian Immigration Services (NIS), which left about 19 dead and scores of others injured is to be expected. Job seeking Nigerians had trooped to the various test centres by 7am as advertised by the officials. But on arrival, they had to wait for hours before being let into the stadium where the test, including some physical exercise were billed to take place.

    While struggling to enter the venue in some of the centres, there was stampede as the huge crowd defied all control measures put in place. In the resulting confusion, many were trampled on the ground resulting in some deaths with others sustaining varying degrees of injury.

    Since the unfortunate incident, blames have been freely bandied with much of it heaped at the door steps of the Minister of Interior, Abba Moro. Some have even called for his resignation or outright sack for the turn of events that brought about the unfortunate pass.

    But he has sought to exculpate himself from the unfortunate incident. He claimed the stampede was caused by applicants who refused to obey the rules for the exercise and others who were not invited for recruitment. To share in the blame in Moro’s calculations, are the social media for allegedly sending out messages publicizing the test which in turn, attracted those who had no business there. But as the recrimination goes on, 19 of the applicants have paid the supreme sacrifice for daring to aspire to serve their fatherland. In place of elusive jobs, they have harvested deaths in return. What an uncanny irony of fate!

    President Jonathan has cancelled the test and ordered automatic employment for three relations of each of the dead persons as well as employment for those hospitalized as a result of injuries sustained at the flawed test exercise. He has also ordered a repeat that is to be anchored by the Civil Service Commission.

    Even then, the House of Representatives has equally commenced public hearing to unravel some of the allegations that have been placed within the public domain since the incident. Without prejudice to what may come out of the public hearing, there are salient issues that have been brought to the fore by the flawed recruitment exercise. It has highlighted once again, the debilitating high level of unemployment in the country and the urgency for serious intervention to stem the tide. A situation where 700,000 people were scouting for about 4,500 job vacancies is that desperate. Moro had argued that a great majority of those who came for the test are actually not unemployed. He talked of some professionals who are employed but needed to change job for better career prospects. That cannot be ruled out even as its value in justifying the calamity the recruitment exercise turnout to be is very weak. Perhaps, if the organizers had admitted applicants into the venue as they arrived, the ensuing stampede would have been averted. That is the key point that is being glossed over. The stampede has little to do with professionals desiring to change job.

    That such people are still in search of jobs indicates that they may have been underemployed in whatever place they are engaged. Underemployment thrives within a high unemployment matrix. For people to take anything in the name jobs that have no bearing with their specialization only depicts how bad the unemployment situation is. It was therefore not surprising that applicants were prepared to go to any length including putting their lives on line to take the test irrespective of the very slim chances of success. The outcome of such a fatal disposition is what we have reaped in the high rate of fatalities.

    The federal government has been beating its chest on the jobs it claimed to have crated in the last couple of months. Though this claim has been challenged by the opposition, the fact remains that even if it is true that such volume of jobs have been created, it is still a tip of the iceberg considering the huge army of the unemployed in this country.

    The Jonathan administration has been blamed for the suffocating unemployment rate. It has also been chided for mismanaging the economy. Since the buck stops at their table, they have to take responsibility. But it will be uncharitable to infer that unemployment started with this administration or it is solely to blame for it. Definitely, the conditions for the embarrassing unemployment were laid long before this regime came on stream. But it gets worse as days roll by.

    Apparently prodded by political exigency, universities and other institutions of higher learning were replicated in geometric progression across the country. But the creation of industries or other employment avenues have only progressed arithmetically. Such a policy dissonance can only produce the situation witnessed in the immigration recruitment exercise. There is also the issue of corruption at all levels of government which has made it difficult for the citizenry to take maximum advantage of the immense resources nature bountifully placed at our backyard. Our perception of governance and government in prebendal terms has not helped matters. This is a country where many are qualified to work and are prepared to work but there is nothing for them to do. Yet, a few individuals wallow in questionable affluence because of the undue advantage political power confers them. Is it surprising that politics has turned out the quickest means of wealth acquisition in this country?

    Notwithstanding these more generalized issues, the conduct of the test itself left much to be desired. Questions have been raised as to the propriety in collecting N1000 from applicants in search of jobs that may turn out elusive. There are also posers as to why after collecting the so called processing fees the consultant could not even shortlist the qualified ones to prune the number. Worse still, it remains inexplicable why the three categories of applicants including those in the junior cadre were invited to be tested on the same day and venue.

    It was certain the organizers of the event paid scant attention to crowd management. They failed to let in the applicants as they arrived. And when they eventually flung the doors open to a surging crowd, the outcome was quite predictable.

    The point remains that the planning and execution of the exercise were poorly handled. It is curious that 70,000 people could be invited to the test in a stadium without writing chairs and tables and we expect miracles to happen. As it tuned out in some centres, question papers were freely hurled on the air for the fittest applicants to scramble.

    Off course, scramble ensured. Many of the scripts were torn as applicants struggled with one another. Many others, for fear of their lives kept off and could not write the test. And if one may ask, what type of outcome do we envisage in a test where candidates had to fight for exams scripts in the open field?

    In sum, it is obvious that the exercise was ab initio primed to fail. This is more so with the complaints by the immigration officials that they were sidelined from the exercise only to be drafted at the last minute. Between the minister and the consultants, there are serious questions to answer. It is not enough to offer employment to relations of the dead and the injured. Some people must be made to take responsibility for the avoidable tragedy.

  • Now, the Fulani herdsmen

    It is getting clearer by the day that something urgent has to be done to stem the recurring clashes between Fulani herdsmen and farmers across the country. If anything, last week’s attack on the convoy of Benue State Governor, Gabriel Suswam by suspected Fulani herdsmen has brought to the front burner the potent danger which the clashes have become.

    Reports had it that the governor’s convoy came under the heavy gun fire of the herdsmen when he made a stop over at Tse Aekenyi in the Guma Local Government Area of the state to assess the damages done by the invading herdsmen the previous week. In that invasion, 72 villages were said to have been destroyed while 25 residents lost their lives. About 50,000 people were displaced even as tension is very high with frightening prospects of total breakdown of law and order.

    But for the agility of his security men who forcefully bundled him back to his car and repelled the attack, the story would have been another thing altogether.

    Expectedly, the incident has attracted wide condemnations from various quarters. Chief Barnabas Gemade, the senator representing the area has raised alarm on what he termed the incessant attacks and killing of the people of Tiv and Idoma ethnic groups by the herdsmen with a warning that the destruction will destabilize the country if not quickly arrested.

    He had also alleged that most of the attackers were not herdsmen but hirelings from Chad, Niger and Cameroon with the intent to cause internal crisis or war in the middle belt region.

    Coming from such a highly placed personage, it is difficult to dismiss the issue with a wave of the hand. Not with the suspected culpability of Chad, Niger and Cameroon in the current war against the Boko Haram insurgents in the North-eastern part of the country. Curiously, Benue does not share any common boundary with these African countries. Which raises the question of how the insurgent managed to infiltrate Benue communities with the military arsenal credited to them without being detected?

    It is not that confrontation between herdsmen and farmers is new in this country. Over the years and across the country, loss of lives and property on account of such clashes has been a recurring decimal. From Plateau to Benue, Oyo to Ogun, Nassarawa to Kwara and Imo to Abia, constant clashes between the herdsmen and local farmers have been occurring. In many of these cases, the source of friction can be traced to the destruction of farm crops by the herds. In some others, the crises had their roots in cattle rustling. But by far the main bone of contention has been the crops destroyed by the herds in the process of searching for pasture. That is why suggestions have of recent been made to the effect that grazing routes should be mapped out for the herdsmen and their cattle. A couple of weeks back, the House of Representative apparently moved by these recurring clashes called on the federal government to establish grazing routes for cattle in all the geo-political zones of the country. This followed a motion which chronicled that within 30 days this year, more than 100 lives and property of inestimable value were lost in Plateau, Ogun and Benue states on account of the clashes.

    The motion by Sunday Karimi (Yagba West, Kogi State) also gave account of how herdsmen riding on about 100 horses raided border towns and villages in Guma Local Government Area of Benue State killing two soldiers, 18 farmers and displaced 3000 people. That is not all as Benue has since been the theatre of constant attacks by the herdsmen. As this article was being put together, more chilling reports of the killing escapades of the herdsmen in Benue continue to trickle in. To add salt to injury, the ancestral home of Suswam has been reportedly sacked even as the governor is yet to recover from the trauma of his encounter with the marauding herdsmen and their hirelings.

    But the Fulani herdsmen have blamed Suswam for being the brain behind the clashes between them and the Tiv. According to them, tension rose when Suswam announced that he did not want the herdsmen in his state thus giving rise to the attendant clashes. They claimed that they have lost 134 of their members and 11,915 heads of cattle to the clashes in Benue, Plateau and Taraba states in the last three months.

    Implicit in this recrimination is the fact that the clashes have assumed a disturbing dimension that must be urgently halted. The way things stand this confrontation may well become another veritable source of instability in the country. This is more so with the allegation that foreign African countries may be behind the clashes. And when it is realized that the same countries have contributed in frustrating efforts to contain the Boko Haram menace, the danger in the resurging herdsmen attacks can be better appreciated. The attack on Suswam bears uncanny similarity with the manner the Borno State governor, Kashim Shettima was recently attacked when he visited to sympathize with those attacked by the Boko Haram insurgents.

    From all indications, it is clear the herdsmen have axe to grind with Benue for whatever reasons. The claim that the crisis was precipitated by Suswam’s alleged statement that he did not want the herdsmen in the state may be part of the grouse. But it cannot account for all. Not with the sophistication in the planning and execution of the attacks by the herdsmen who do not even reside in the state. In one of the accounts at the weekend, the attackers infiltrated through a neighboring state when the indigenes were at the farms and wreaked incalculable havoc on defenseless people. It is therefore clear that these attacks have gone beyond the usual skirmishes that arise from the destruction of farmlands and crops or cattle rustling. That is why the lead that there is a political dimension to this crisis must be explored to the fullest. Gemeda alleged that there is a plan to decimate the Tiv and Idoma ethnic groups. He also averred that the intention is to simulate war within the middle belt region. These allegations are very weighty and cannot be waved aside. This is more so, given the political tension in the country as a result of the fast approaching general elections. From the bitter acrimony generated by power competition at the centre, there is no doubt that we are home to an array of disgruntled politicians. With the dynamics of realignments throughout the country, old patterns of political support are changing. Some of the zones hitherto assumed to be monolithic with very predictable support direction are now confronted with the challenges of self determination. It will not be surprising, if the resurging insecurity in the middle belt bears positive correlation with this state of flux.

    If a governor could be so attacked even with the security at his disposal, then the matter is turning into something else. That seems to be the point that has been poignantly underscored by the attack on Suswam. Perhaps also, the Benue attacks will serve to draw the attention of governments to how political grouses can find ventilation through the instrumentality of the herdsmen. That is why the idea of mapping out grazing areas for the herdsmen in the six geo-political zones cannot fly. Such exclusive areas could further provide the base for the herdsmen to now attack and conquer the zones. There are standard practices in cattle farming. The herdsmen should be made to key into them.

  • At last, the conference

    Barring the unforeseen, President Jonathan will today inaugurate the National Conference. Already names of its leadership and the 492 delegates have been unveiled. With these developments, the stage is now set for the various interest groups to engage each other on the best approaches to a stable federation. This is more so given that even after living together for 100 years, fissiparous and centrifugal tendencies have of recent been on the ascendancy.

    The pressure has been so much so that even ardent advocates and supporters of Nigerian unity have had cause to rethink that position.

    When the idea was made public sometime last year, there were divergent responses from those who spurned it and others who thought it was a thing whose time had come. Issues were raised regarding its propriety especially given the fast approaching general elections. There were other matters relating to nomenclature, mode of representation, legitimacy of its decisions and above all, the sincerity of the superintending government.

    Yet, many others felt events today make it compelling that we talk, if anything, to renew confidence in our commitment to live together. The inauguration will put paid to the debate regarding the desirability of the conference or not. Coming at a time of waning confidence in our capacity to live together, the conference will create the needed ambience for aggrieved sections to articulate their positions and seek accommodation within a common milieu.

    This is especially so given that one issue at the centre of the current tension in the country has been which section of the country should take a shot at the presidency come 2015. The north fells it is its turn in view of the zoning order in the PDP. The defections and counter defections as well as the bad political blood now flowing among politicians have their roots in this. We have been told of agreements or no agreements to serve for a single term and all that talk. We have heard of sections threatening fire, lime and brimstone should this or that happen. There is also the Boko Haram debacle that has been aptly classified as political grievance masquerading under a religious garb. All these fissures are indicators of a centre that can no longer hold. Do we need any body to tell us that it is time to sit down and address basic questions of our existence? If after 100 years we are yet to find a common handle to national integration, is it not suggestive that we have to go back to the drawing board else we risk dire repercussions? Can’t we learn from contemporary events in countries that have passed through this path?

    The point here is that Nigeria does not seem to have an alternative than to sit down and realistically craft the architecture of a stable and sustainable federal order. What we currently operate is federalism in its most aberrant form. Though extant regulations on the conduct of national affairs do exist, but they have not served the collective interests of the disparate groups that make up this country. Thus, the recurring decimal these issues have become.

    The main concern of those genuinely committed to Nigerian unity should be how to generate consensus on the vexed issues of our federation and incorporate them into the ground norms governing the country. That is the challenge. It is not enough to parrot Nigerian unity, its indivisibility and sacredness. It is not sufficient to decree Nigerian unity a- no-go-area as Jonathan and the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs have done.

    The question is, do we have the necessary dispositions and how much of the sacrifice that will stave off the constant recourse to parochial and primordial proclivities are we prepared to make? How prepared are we to significantly diminish the constant competition for the loyalty of the citizens by these cleavages? So it is not just a matter of sanctimony, grandstanding or precepts. It is a feeling that has to become manifest in the way sections react to such genuine issues of friction as fiscal federalism, devolution of powers, state police, revenue allocation and true federalism

    It is the overarching powers and influence of the centre that have in the main, accounted for the bitter struggles for its control, thriving corruption and the attendant underdevelopment despite the huge resources nature bountifully endowed this country. The need to whittle down these powers can only be discounted at the expense of national stability.

    But what you find when discussions commence will be a situation groups and sections hold on tenaciously to pre-determined views that are patently incapable of advancing to cause of true federalism. Then you begin to wonder if all this sanctimony about the unity and indivisibility of the country has become an end rather than a means to common good. You begin to wonder if the refrain has not become a subterfuge for holding others down.

    Yet, we are better as a united country especially given the attendant economies of large scale. The strength of Nigeria in its current form cannot be discounted both economically and politically. But that strength should not be allowed to become a liability. It should neither stifle intellect and innovation nor become another platform for the promotion of mediocrity. Sections that should ordinarily have moved notches higher in the development matrix are held down by a balancing process and tardiness that have left us in the current pass.

    It is not for nothing that regional development paradigms have now become very attractive options. Its proponents see in it a convenient way to circumvent the huge baggage and liability which the central authority has become. So when people talk of re-negotiating the basis of our common existence, it is a mark of their frustrations with the inability of the central government to deliver public goods and services efficiently and effectively to the constituent units. This category of people are no less patriotic than those who at the slightest chance, parrot national unity and its indivisibility but are found wanting when it comes to the necessary sacrifice and disposition that will sustain what they preach.

    That is why it is difficult to fault the views of advocates of all issues under the sun, including the unity and divisibility of Nigeria being discussed. Those who root for the inclusion of self-determination and the right to secession in the agenda of the conference may as well be more patriotic than others who do not want such issues mentioned.

    It is vital that these items are discussed and positions taken on them. They could become stabilizing factors out of our present logjam. Nigerian unity and indivisibility have been taken for granted for too long. It is time to subject our commitment to that unity to another test. There is the nebulous assumption that this unity will always be wielded by the force of arms. Yet, the force of arms has been most ineffective in that assignment. It is this over reliance on the capacity on force to wield sections together that has been the greatest deficit of our union. That accounts for the arrogance of some sections and disregard for mutual respect among the constituent units.

    Giving constitutional backing to the right to self-determination and secession will reverse all that. It may not necessarily lead to the disintegration of the country as being feared. But the fact of their existence will make all sections conscious of the need to sit up, live together and respect the feeling and sensibilities of the constituent units if they really appreciate their importance. It could turn out the recipe for a stable nation that is bound by love and mutual respect and not one that is sustained by ephemeral force of arms.

  • Arising from Sanusi’s suspension

    The controversy that trailed the tenure of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was further heightened last week with his suspension from that office. Announcing the suspension, the federal government had alleged sundry misdeeds including financial recklessness and disregard to due process.

    But many saw the action quite differently. Given the unresolved allegation on the missing $20 billion oil money which Sanusi had raised, it was not difficult for people to construct a positive correlation between that and his current fate.

    The action was therefore seen in some circles as part of the plans by the government to get even with a recalcitrant public servant who had consistently portrayed his employer in a very bad light by dishing out conflicting figures on alleged missing oil funds. This impression was further given fillip by the immediate appointment of an acting CBN governor and a designate substantive governor who will take over when the current tenure of Sanusi expires in a few months time.

    All these tended to convey the impression that Sanusi may as well, have been on his way out of that seat.

    He has been prodded to challenge the action in the courts and he never wasted time in availing himself of that option. Some have even said that there is no difference between this suspension and outright sack especially since a substantive governor designate has been appointed. These are some of the issues for the courts to determine.

    But President Jonathan has insisted that Sanusi could still return to his work if the panels investigating alleged financial recklessness and other infractions give him a clean bill of health. Insisting that he had the powers to suspend the CBN governor, Jonathan said Sanusi still remains the CBN governor and will only cease to be so if found guilty of the infractions.

    He was responding to insinuations that he suspended Sanusi because of his allegations on missing oil money and to incapacitate him from giving further evidence on the matter. But Jonathan said it had nothing to do with that since the two queries issued him by the Financial Reporting Council dated April and May last year.

    In all, Jonathan seems to be saying that Sanusi has serious issues to thrash with the CBN Board and the Financial Reporting Council. These issues were clearly itemized by his spokesman Rueben Abati in a statement soon after the announcement of the suspension. They among others included what Abati called Sanusi’s “consistent refusal and negligence to comply with public procurement Act in the procurement practices of the CBN, unlawful expenditure by the CBN in intervention projects across the country, deploying huge sums of money as the CBN did under the watch of Mallam Sanusi without appropriation and outside the CBN’s statutory mandate”

    And given that some of these issues were already within public domain before Sanusi’s whistle blowing on the alleged missing money, it will be difficult for anyone to sweep them under the carpet. It is true that Sanusi donated millions of Naira to some victims of the Boko Haram scourge in Kano. It is also not false that he had been embarking on some projects which even members of the public had to raise some issues with. The answer given then was that they were part of the social responsibility of the apex bank. But now, we are being made to understand that they are actually outside the mandate of the CBN. If that is so, the minimum expectation just as in the case of the alleged missing oil fund is for due process to run its full course. Sanusi should therefore face the Board of the CBN and the Financial Reporting Council by responding to the queries or any other inquisition that may enable them sort out the matter. After all, he has presented himself as an apostle of due process and good corporate governance. For him to continue to command respect in this regard, he must be seen to be coming with clean hands. It is a universal legal maxim that he who goes for equity must come with clean hands. Sanusi must therefore demonstrate to his teeming supporters that he is not one of those who thrives more on precepts rather than examples. That is the challenge now. But that does not in any way jeopardize the allegation on the missing oil money which must be decisively addressed either through the suggested forensic auditing or any other approach that will lead to the final resolution of the matter.

    Therefore, if the federal government has now woken from its slumber to require Sanusi to account for acts of omission or commission while in office, it is within its statutory duties. No body in his right senses will quarrel with that. What has not really gone down well is not the suspension but the appointment of a substantive governor designate that seems to have given an air of finality to the matter.

    Be that as it may, questions are bound to be raised as why it has taken the government so long to take action on Sanusi’s alleged misdeeds? Why did the government keep quiet when these infractions were being committed? Why is it now Sanusi has boasted that he can only be removed by the senate that all of a sudden, these reports are being dusted up? All these posers can be raised. They are also suggestive of ulterior motive in the dusting up of the queries in the heat of the altercation between him and other key officials of government. Yet, this does not in any way whittle down the fact that those queries were indeed issued. They do not in any manner lessen the gravity of the alleged offences. Neither will they substitute for the imperative of accountability and due process in the conduct of government business.

    Not a few Nigerians are dissatisfied with the way Sanusi conducted himself as the head of the nation’s apex bank. Not a few are unhappy with his confrontational posturing and subsequent daring of the president to the effect that only the senate has the powers to remove him. This writer marvels at his guts and courage. It will take only a CBN governor from that part of the county to do some of the things he did while in office. Did we hear one governor reminding us that we should be careful in dealing with Sanusi because he has blue blood in his veins, whatever that serves in the present circumstance? Sanusi wants to be seen as a forthright person. He postures as an apostle of good governance and due process. He is now being asked to show practical evidence of these. So even if the inquisition is ascribed to witch hunting, blackmail or an attempt to settle scores, they can only be sustained if Sanusi is not guilty of the infractions.

    Perhaps, the experience of the late musician Fela Anikulapo Kuti after the destruction of his entertainment center and residence by the military may come handy here. He had been asked to respond to the boast by Sunny Okosun that he will dethrone Fela as the Afro beat king. Fela had this to say in reply, “that Okosun, him don fight government before? Let him fight government and see how the thing be” Fela fought the government and knows how it tastes. He wanted Okosun to savor that taste first and if there is still anything left in him to challenge him, then the competition can commence. Sanusi can now tell his own story of the outcome of hurling pebbles from his glass house.

  • Foreign neighbors and Boko Haram

    There appears to be a renewed focus on the role of neighboring African countries in the festering Boko Haram insurgency that has kept this nation on its knees for some years now. It is not that the foreign dimension to terrorism is new. It is not. The experience of countries grappling with it has always shown the cross boarder angle to the debilitating scourge.

    It has not been different in the Nigerian situation despite attempts by some apologists to play down this angle to the festering problem. The military had always drawn attention to the difficulty in taming the menace because of the relative ease with which suspects flee to neighboring countries of Chad, Niger and Cameroon.

    Because of the affinity in culture, language and ethnicity between these countries and zone that hosts the insurgents it has been pretty difficult to differentiate between Nigerian members of the insurgent group and foreign mercenaries.

    The government has also been hesitant to accuse the leadership of some of these countries of complicity in this guerrilla warfare. But increasingly, it is dawning on us all that unless we get a good handle to this dimension of Boko Haram insurgency, the battle to stamp it out of our shores may turn out an exercise in wishful thinking.

    Already, there have been attempts to chide the military for lacking the sophisticated hardware and capacity to successfully conclude the battle and save the lives of innocent citizens that are regularly slaughtered in these senseless onslaughts.

    It was apparently on account of such frustrations that the Borno state governor Kashim Shettima recently took swipes on the military. His grouse borders on the relative ease with which the sect has been operating and killing innocent people in his state in the last few days. And the renewed killings have been very frequent and deadly.

    But even as the debate on the capacity of the military to rise to the challenge is yet to abate, reports of the seeming complicity of Cameroon has featured very prominently. In the last couple of weeks, the media have been awash with reports linking that country either directly or indirectly with complicity in the Boko Haram debacle. In the face of this, the Comptroller-General of the Customs Service, David Paradang came up with the shocking story that our borders are perpetually open and lack effective control.

    The first report had it that a leader of the sect Ibn Mohammed Abubakar wrote to President Paul Biya of Cameroon complaining against incessant attacks on its members by their forces. He was further said to have threatened to levy war on that country if its forces continue to lend support to the federal government’s military campaign. The sect leader according to a Cameroonian daily was piqued by a joint operation which the Nigerian troops and those from Cameroon conducted in a boarder town of Limani.

    A few days later, there was another report that the same country was not cooperating with Nigerian troops in this battle and that has made it difficult for our troops to pursue fleeing insurgents into Cameroonian villages.

    What is certain from these reports is the fact that our neighboring African countries have a key role to play if we must win this war. This fact is not in doubt. From accounts of most of the attacks that have been recorded, these onslaughts are planned and executed from outside the shores of this country.

    We hear of their sophistication in weaponry. We hear of insurgents armed with such deadly weapons as armored personnel carriers, anti aircraft batteries and rocket propelled grenades. There is also the surprise dimension and the quick disappearance into the thin air immediately after these attacks. Even with the aid of fighter jets, it is still very difficult to trace the sources of these attacks.

    But very regularly, the military speak of their escapades and constraints while pursuing insurgents into neighboring countries. Even as it has become obvious that our foreign neighbors provide safe heavens to these terrorists, not much has been heard from the government on efforts to partner with them to stamp out this senseless war.

    The impression fast gaining ground is that the federal government is tepid in its handling of this dimension to the Boko Haram menace. This impression must not be allowed to take root. It is also very instructive that of the north-eastern states entangled in these attacks and killings, all share boarders with these African countries. Does this not instruct that concrete steps must be taken to engage them on ways out of the debacle? Is the relative ease with which insurgents attack and flee without being caught not sufficient signal that this battle cannot be won without the cooperation of Chad, Niger and Cameroon? And if we cannot secure the confidence of these countries, is it not high time we secured our boarders firmly such that cannot permit of the kind of cross boarder movements that have aided and abetted this crisis?

    These are some of the issues that have been brought to the fore by the conflicting reports on the roles of these countries in the nation’s fight against terrorism.

    Take the case of Cameroon which the sect purportedly threatened to levy war against if it obstructs it or cooperates with the Nigerian troops in fighting it. If this report is true, one or two inferences can be made. It is either that government had all this while shut its eyes to the atrocities of the sect for some inexplicable reasons or it had no information on their activities. It could also be a subterfuge for Cameroon to refuse doing the needful in ensuring that its grounds are not used to carry out attacks in this country. They may have even simulated that report to give the false impression that the threat has imposed restrictions on the kind of support that country could give the Nigeria government. This is more so with the current focus on the role of neighboring countries in sustaining the scourge of terrorism.

    Whatever it is, the crucial role which Cameroon and other neighbors can play to decisively tame this monster is no longer in doubt. It is now certain that we must get a clear handle to this dimension for these senseless killings to be contained. That is the real issue now.

    These countries cannot possibly feign ignorance of the movement and storage of the sophisticated military hardware at the disposal of the insurgents. It is also instructive from all these that the terror group means business and is very well funded. This contrasts sharply with some of the patronizing perspectives usually adduced on these shores on the root cause of the Bobo Haram insurgency.

    The poor cannot afford the sophistication in armament and training which the sect has been ascribed. The poor cannot afford armored personnel carriers and the enormous logistic support that have been put into this useless battle. So Boko Haram has very strong backing both within our shores and outside of it. Those from within can be handled but not the ones outside our shores without parternering with the host countries. That is the direction to go if we must win the war against terrorism.

    But our boarders must be highly secured such that it will be easy to differentiate between citizens of those counties and Nigerians in those areas. At the moment, such a difference does not exist.

  • Now Jega is seeing reason

    It would appear the Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega is gradually coming to terms with the contradiction which his avowal to delimitate constituencies before the 2015 general elections had been. He was last week reported to have expressed doubts on the possibility of conducting the exercise before the said elections.

    Jega premised his pessimism on two planks: alleged lack of interest in the matter by the National Assembly and the controversy surrounding accurate and acceptable national census figures. For these intervening variables, he now doubts the commission can meaningfully proceed with that programme.

    It is good a thing Jega is coming to terms with the futility that he can possibly conduct a successful constituency delimitation exercise especially given the very fluid times this nation is currently passing through.

    When sometime last year, Jega and his team approached the National Population Commission (NPC) to seek data to aid them in the exercise, he was pointedly told by the then chairman of the commission, Festus Odimegwu that there were no certified data for the various enumeration areas of the country. Odimegwu had also shocked the nation when he disclosed that politicians bought numeration areas in the same manner they buy voters’ cards during election to gain advantage and that it was on account of observed flaws that the 2006 figures were not published.

    Despite this, Jega pressed on with the exercise. In his calculations, though there were issues with the 2006 census, it still remained the most credible and acceptable source of data to carry out the exercise. He had then also attempted to pacify critics by arguing that the exercise was to engender equality in electoral constituencies and not to create additional ones at the federal level.

    Apparently buoyed by this flawed perception; the provisions of the 1999 Constitution and the electoral law that permit census to be conducted after every 10 years, Jega had pressed on with the project. He signed a memorandum of understanding with some agencies of government, partnered with some others in the overall bid to enhance the success and credibility of his pet project.

    Curiously, after expending resources and energy on the obviously controversial and ill-timed engagement, he has come to terms with the subsisting reality that he was headed on a wild goose chase. In an article in this column then, we had drawn copious attention to the inadvisability in continuing with the exercise given the weighty issues that are standing against it. The issues we raised then are some of the ones Jega is belatedly coming to terms to with. It was a huge surprise that Jeja thought he could proceed with the exercise and record some success when he had been advised by the NPC that there were no reliable data for the various enumeration areas. And since the most vital data for that exercise remains the census figures, it is to be imagined how delimitation arising from an obviously flawed exercise can stand the test of time.

    It is even more startling having admitted that the 2006 census has been faulted, Jega was still led to the misleading conclusion that it remained the most credible source of data for the exercise. How he came to that conclusion despite facts to the contrary must have been a function of educated guess. Even then, he seemed oblivious of the controversy that trailed a previous attempt by his predecessor on the same issue.

    Take the case of Lagos State which was so dissatisfied with the outcome of the 2006 census that it had to embark on its own independent count which produced a figure of 18 million people as against nine million allotted to it by that census. To make matters worse, the census tribunal had annulled the figures allotted to its 20 local governments. The state has since been urging NPC to conduct another headcount so as to accord it its rightful place within the census matrix.

    Even then, since the heightened insecurity in parts of the north culminating in the exodus of people for their safety, demographic dynamics have been at play. The changes have significantly altered whatever figures that were credited to the various areas thus further stultifying any attempt to rely on them for planning purposes. At the moment, Lagos State is ‘harvesting’ from a huge chunk of those who fled the north on account of the hostilities. It is even being estimated that the population of Lagos may well be over 30 million now.

    Its corollary is that the population of those states from where these people fled has been significantly reduced. The point being raised here is that little will be gained by the current INEC proceeding with the exercise unless Jega has some other interest to satisfy before he leaves office. Moreover, after eight years of the former census and barely two years to a fresh one, the population of the country would have altered very significantly.

    The most rational thing to do in the circumstance is to defer the delimitation until after the 2016 census. If that exercise corrects the flaws of previous headcounts, then any delimitation arising it, will command more credibility and acceptability. Such figures can then be deployed for the delimitation exercise. It also does not make much sense for INEC to have said it did not intend to create new constituencies at the federal level. Our reading of this is that even where there are genuine reasons to create additional constituencies, the commission will shy away from it. This is very curious to say the least.

    Why then embark on an exercise that will not do the needful? These contradictions point to the inappropriateness in embarking on the exercise before a headcount that truly reflects the demographic dynamics of the country is in place. Anything other than that, will amount to further perpetuating the observed inequities of the past that have been at the root of continuing systemic dysfunctions. The matter of population has been so politicized in this country that serious efforts must now be made to once and for all determine the accurate population of the diverse peoples that make up the country.

    This undue politicization is further underscored by the senseless opposition to the inclusion of such vital statistics as ethnicity and religion in previous census questioners. Tell me what anybody stands to loose if we know the accurate figures of the ethnic nationalities as well as the religious denominations of our diverse peoples. There can be no other reason than some groups have thrived on deceit on these matters and are afraid of the backlash of such deceits being exposed. But how can we record meaning progress in a system that relishes in deceit and injustice without compromising our corporate unity?

    With general elections close by and mounting skepticisms on the capacity of the electoral body to conduct free and fair elections, Jega would be taking too much to think he can embark on another contentious engagement without being heavily bruised. He already has so much in his hands that he should allow constituency delimitation to wait until we have an accurate and reliable census. Then, an exercise deriving from it will have a wide measure of national acceptability.