The Nation Newspaper

Category: Monday

  • Edu’s unended matter

    Edu’s unended matter

    With the appointment of the new Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Nentawe Yilwatda, in October, the Federal Government belatedly removed Betta Edu from office. The former minister had been suspended and under investigation since January.  The long delay before her removal, which happened in the context of a cabinet reshuffle that caused the exit of some others, had encouraged public speculation that she might eventually continue in office. 

    At some point, the situation was indeed confusing as the then suspended Edu was reported to have sent a condolence message, using the ministry’s letterhead, to the victims of the July school building collapse in Jos, Plateau State. She said: “Please know that our thoughts and prayers are with you and all those affected during this incredibly difficult time.” Against the backdrop of her suspension, it was strange and inexplicable.  It was unclear in what capacity she sent the message, and why she had used the ministry’s letterhead.

    Following Yilwatda’s appointment, presidential spokesperson Bayo Onanuga clarified Edu’s status, saying in a television interview, “She is gone. Her position has been taken over by someone else. For this government, there is no place for her in the cabinet.” He added that the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) “has not shared whatever they have, but if you consider the president’s action, it suggests that the EFCC may have submitted something that justified the president’s decision.”

    President Bola Tinubu had suspended her “from office with immediate effect,”  following corruption-related allegations against her. He also directed the chairman of the EFCC to “conduct a thorough investigation into all aspects of the financial transactions involving the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, as well as one or more agencies thereunder.”

    Edu’s troubles followed a leaked memo, dated December 20, 2023 that she wrote to the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF), saying N585.2m earmarked for vulnerable citizens in Akwa-Ibom, Cross-River, Lagos, and Ogun states be paid into the United Bank for Africa (UBA) account — 2003682151— of one Oniyelu Bridget Mojisola, described as “the project accountant.”

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    “These are payments for programmes and activities of the Renewed Hope grant for Vulnerable Groups,” Edu said in the memo, adding that the payment should be made from the National Social Investment Office account.

    The OAGF had rejected her memo, pointing out that it was illegal to pay such beneficiaries through the private account of a so-called project accountant. Indeed, the memo violated Section 713 (under Chapter Seven) of Nigeria’s Public Sector Financial Regulation Act (2009), which seeks to prevent fraud.  It states: “Personal money shall in no circumstances be paid into a government bank account, nor shall any public money be paid into a private account.” It adds: “Any officer who pays public money into a private account is deemed to have done so with fraudulent intention.”

    Notably, the EFCC, in April, said it had recovered N30bn in the probe of the National Social Investment Programme Authority (NSIPA) former CEO, Halima Shehu, and the then suspended minister, Edu. At the time, EFCC boss Ola Olukoyede also stated that the anti-graft agency was “investigating over 50 bank accounts that we have traced money into.” He explained: “There are cases that take years to investigate. There are so many angles to it. And we need to follow through with some of the discoveries that we have seen… Nigerians should give us time on this matter… There are so many leads here and there.”

    Curiously, a law firm representing Edu had threatened to sue the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) regarding its report publicising the information released by the EFCC. It said she had “suffered immeasurable reputational damage, psychological trauma and anguish as a direct consequence of the publication and dissemination of the article,” and demanded “an immediate and unqualified retraction of the aforementioned article and a public apology to our client, for the false and defamatory content published.”

    It is unclear if the EFCC had concluded its investigation before Edu’s removal, and whether the findings informed President Tinubu’s decision to replace her with Yilwatda.  The situation remains puzzling.

    Interestingly, on her 38th birthday on October 27, she posted a message on X, describing herself as “the woman Jesus loves.”  She added: “Soon the world will see the glory of a great God! The lies told to destroy a daughter of Zion will lead to her elevation!”

    Olukoyede inherited “no fewer than 25 high-profile corruption cases involving former governors, ministers and senators,” according to an investigative report published in October 2023. The cases involve “not less than N772.2bn and another $2.2bn, alleged to have gone missing through money laundering, fund diversion and misappropriation,” the report said. Some of the cases seem interminable. Edu’s case should not fall into that category.

     There is no question that Nigeria needs to fight corruption and win the anti-corruption war.  The people are tired of the monotonous song about fighting corruption.  They want to see anti-corruption results.

     The country also needs to fight poverty and win the anti-poverty war. During his screening by the Senate, Yilwatda proposed a poverty alleviation formula, noting that 65 percent of poor people live in the North, while 35 percent live in the South. He said: “We should focus on the specific needs of each local government and state, with revenue allocation based on the level of poverty or wealth in those areas.”

     Figures of poverty levels in Nigeria are staggering. For instance, in 2023, the World Bank estimated that 46 percent of the country’s population, or 104 million people, were living in poverty. Nigeria’s population is estimated at about 234 million.  

    Nigeria’s poverty crisis calls into question the anti-poverty efforts of the Federal Government, and also raises questions about the seriousness of state and local governments in the fight against poverty. Poor governance provides enabling conditions for both monetary poverty and multidimensional poverty.  All levels of government in the country should deal with the poverty problem using good governance.

    Importantly, the minister responsible for poverty alleviation must not perform corruption-related acts that deepen poverty. Any public official involved in such acts should be prosecuted and punished. Removal from their position is not enough. This is why Edu’s matter is still unended.

  • Card metre upgrade or phase out?

    Card metre upgrade or phase out?

    It is not for nothing that the decision by some Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) to phase out the prepayment card meter technology has been embroiled in serious controversy. The Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC) and the Eko DICSO (EKEDC) recently announced deadlines for the phase out of the Unistar card meter technology

    Both Discos have issued deadlines to customers on their networks in Lagos and parts of Ogun State to replace their existing Unistar prepayment meters after which they will become dysfunctional.  They claim the measure is due to incompatibility of the Unistar card meter technology with the Standard Transfer Specification (STS) system currently in use by distribution networks.

    The two companies have asked their customers using the Unistar meters to apply for new ones through their websites. But application through that process involves the payment of new meters fees of about N130,000 which has in turn generated another round of protests.

    By contrast, their counterpart, the Enugu DISCO (EEDC) approached the matter from a different angle. It asked its customers in the southeast to upgrade their meters before November 24. EEDC attributed the measure to “Token Identifier (TID) rollover, an exercise that affects all STS compliant pre-paid meters all over the world”.

    That was not all. The company unfolded three sets of 20-digit tokens a customer is expected to punch into their prepayment meters in a particular sequence after which the meter will upgrade automatically.  “This exercise is free and at no cost to customers” the EEDC said.

    The position of the EEDC contradicts that of the IKEDC and EKEDC. Both Discos spoke of complete phase out of the card meters on the guise that they are incompatible with the STS system. But the EEDC said the meters are upgradable and has indeed, identified the steps for the upgrade. That is the first burden on the shoulders of the two DISCos routing for outright phase out.

    The IKEDC and EKEDC share the burden of explaining to consumers why EEDC is able to upgrade the meters at no cost and they cannot. Even then, the position of the EEDC tallies with that of Unistar Hi-Tech Meters limited.

    The company has vehemently refuted claims of incompatibility levied against its meters, stating unambiguously that its prepayment electricity meters utilising the card meter technology are fully upgradable and compatible with the STS meter technology.

    When you juxtapose the position of Unitar Hi-Tech Meters Limited with that of the EEDC, one is left with the inevitable conclusion that the Unistar meters are definitely upgradable. There is evidence to support this conclusion.

    If one should entertain any doubt on the position of Unistar Hi-Tech Meters Limited on the suspicion that they may be protecting their commercial interests, the position of EEDC clears all that. EEDC has demonstrated in very clear terms, the steps to be taken to have the card meters upgraded at no cost. And this is provable; empirical!

    Unless the Unistar meters in use in Lagos and Ogun states are substantially different from those in the areas covered by EEDC, it is puzzling why the two DISCOs insist on outright phase out instead of upgrade. The DISCOs routing for complete phase out of the meters have to reassure the public that there is no hidden motive in the indecent haste with which they are pursuing that agenda.

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    They have asked customers to apply for new meters through their websites. But that process is tortuous and confusing. Those who have tried to fill the forms through the websites in the past have sad tales of slowness of the process and inability of the system to complete the process after the requisite information had been provided.

    That is not all. The meters are not even available. Some fraudulent staff have been capitalising on this to demand bribe from customers desperate to flee from callous estimated billings. The threat of estimated billing of N185,000 per month to customers on the so-called Band ‘A’ classification has left many vulnerable to the antics of rogue marketing staff of these organisations.

    Even then, some of these DISCos do not have record of the number of consumers currently on the Unistar prepayment card reader system. Without such vital information in the face of scarcity of new meters, it is a matter of educated guess how well they have planned for eventual meter replacements.

    The situation promises chaotic, leading to unmitigated suffering among consumers should the DISCOs go ahead with the deadline to phase out the meters. Many customers will be denied electricity supply. Those on Band “A’ connected directly will be compelled to pay a fee of N185,000 per month pending the availability of meters.

    It will be licence for unconscionable exploitation of consumers through estimated billings. This will in turn, trigger confusion and compound the suffering in the land with outcomes nobody can predict. Many customers will be thrown into darkness as they cannot afford the cutthroat fees charged Band ‘A’ areas.

     A three phase Unitar card meter cost about N70,000 13 years ago while the single phase went for N50,000. There were other costs also incurred by customers to acquire these meters. These were the assets and liabilities the DISCos took over when they acquired the defunct National Electric Power Authority NEPA. Even after the acquisition, they still sold these meters to customers.

    Admittedly, the DISCos are within their rights to phase out the old meters if they so desire. But the cost of doing so must be borne by them and not the customers who are made to pay highly for the epileptic services they provide. Even then, the fact that the card meter system can be upgraded as evidently demonstrated above lends the motives of the DISCOs routing for outright phase out suspect.

    The federal government cannot afford to sit by while the social atmosphere is ruffled by the callous desire of the DISCOs to reap consumers dry through questionable guise. The chairman of the National Electricity Regulatory Commission NERC, Musliu Oseni said there is no directive for the phasing out of Unistar meters, even as he admitted such powers lie with the DISCOs.

    But his assurance that the cost will not be borne by consumers, pales in the face of what IKEDC and EKEDC have set out to do. Nothing has come from the two companies on the mechanism for the replacement of the meters either through vendor financing, DISCO financing or funding by a Meter Asset Provider with the understanding that customers would be refunded.

    There is practically no information on that. Yet, the DISCOs seem poised to make good the deadline. Neither is there evidence of any improvement in the availability of meters nor the readiness of the DISCOs to avail customers of them at the expiration of the deadline. All these have led to the cloud of doubt, uncertainty and helplessness hovering over the landscape.

    The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) toed similar path with the NERC when it stood on the side of consumers not paying for the replacement of the meters. It has indicated its intention to work with relevant stakeholders to ensure that consumers are neither made to pay for meter replacement nor unduly exploited. Good assurances.

    But they must go beyond these pious statements to seriously engage the DISCOs especially those committed to phasing out the Unistar meters instead of an upgrade. In this engagement, they should seek to establish why the Enugu DISCO can UPGRADE its Unistar meters while others cannot.

    Their findings will give a clue to the motive behind the indecent haste with which some of the DISCOs are currently pursuing the phasing out agenda. In that engagement, they should also challenge the DISCOs to furnish them with data on customers currently on the Unistar meter system and the available meters to meet their demands.

    They may discover to their astonishment that the electricity distribution companies are not even prepared for the voyage they are rushing to undertake. We are faced with a serious existential challenge that should not be allowed to throw consumers into unmitigated suffering.

    Nigerians are passing through very difficult times due to the biting effects of the reform policies of the federal government. It will be outright callousness to allow the DISCOs to proceed with the phasing out agenda without concrete assurances to pay for the meters and acceptable formula for their replacement.

    It is not just enough for the NERC and the FCCPC to say DISCOs will bear the cost of meter replacement. They must take practical measures to save electricity consumers from the impending mindless exploitation by the DISCOs. Any attempt to force customers pay for the meters without clearly established modalities for quick refund will further aggravate tension in the country. Its outcome could be dire.

  • Hero is not enough

    Hero is not enough

    Irony rattled my bones, hours after I left David Oyelowo at the National Theatre in London a few weeks ago. I had just seen him at his thespian prime performing the role of Coriolanus, one of Shakespeare’s plays. I was walking out of the building and, voila!, there was the actor, casual and in free air in the chilly London night. The embrace was cosy and sincere, and he was glad I was Nigerian. I had just absorbed with a disturbed joy his rendition of one of Shakespeare’s plays  that touched on contemporary politics.

    “I had wanted the play to coincide with the elections,” he said, referring to the British polls. I replied that it actually resonated with Nigerian politics. Coriolanus is a play of leadership and connection, of the highs and foibles of heroes.

    Speaking of foibles. I reminded him of his interview when he ribbed his father for mispronouncing the iconic movie director’s name. Spielberger instead of Spielberg. He chuckled. The Selma star then announced he would be in Nigeria soon for a shooting. He was obviously referring to the limited movie series, Biafra, another project of how and how not to connect. If he was able to connect outside the stage as he did on stage, he was, in the upcoming series, going to connect with his roots. This is what he had said on Biafra:

    “My Nigerian heritage and desire to see African stories told  at the highest level has led to Biafra being one of my most treasured projects. My parents married across the tabooed tribal lines of the Biafran conflict, and it shaped my life, much as it has done to millions of Nigerians. To be able to bring the amazing talents of director Ngozi Onwurah, who I first worked with on Shoot the Messenger, and writer, Bola Agbaje, who I’ve been seeking to work with for quite some time, makes this the definition of a passion project for me.”

    His performance just less than an hour earlier in the role of Coriolanus did not only resonate with the audience. As a Nigerian steeped in politics, crowds and power, its culture of alienation and elite aloofness, I saw Nigeria and its leaders writ large on stage. Ironically, it was a black man, a Nigerian in origin, who choreographed the tale.

    It was, first, a play about hunger, and how the people are grappling, like today’s Nigeria, with the high cost of goods. But inside the hunger, politics of division simmers. Some are pretending to be the heroes of the people and siding with them for their own personal advantages. A character wafts the air with one of Shakespeare’s immortal quotes: “Rather to die than to famish.” Hunger can be manipulated. For instance, the inspector general of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, said the six boys, arraigned over #EndBadGovernance protests who made a scene in court by fainting, were faking it. They fomented their own theatre, a mobile and staged incarnation of the hunger of innocence. One, two, three…six boys going down at once? A poor script, if you asked me.

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    I want to know whether any of them had fainted in detention before the court proceedings. Again, those who say they are malnourished should take a picture of an average al-majiri. While not affirming or denying the claim of food inadequacy, we need to be more wary of the politics of hunger. I am looking to see any evidence to ridicule Egbetokun’s assertion, especially from the medics who treated the boys. Thank God, they did not die, if they were famished.

    The play shows the main character Coriolanus (Oyelowo) as out of touch with the people. He works for the state, and leads the army to defeat the enemies. Ordinarily, he deserves an accolade. He is renamed Coriolanus, and conferred with the office of a consul. But he has to secure the peoples’ votes. That seems routine. But Coriolanus does not get a routine vote. That is the potency of Shakespeare narrative. The people want to see his battle scars. He says the people don’t have to see it before they vote. He would show it in private, not in public. They label him arrogant. His foes manipulate the public who first vote for him to withdraw their votes. His political foes make him into an enemy of the people. So they force him to say bad things about the people. He does not want to bribe the people by displaying his scars. They know it. It is the victory of the soul that matters, not the vanity of a war impresario. Hear him: “it was never my desire to trouble the poor with begging.” When someone says, “You have not indeed loved the common people,” he counters that “I have not been common in my love.”

    This is a strong theme of populism. And it resonates today. When he wins in battle, he receives a hero’s welcome. There is a hint of Christ riding into the city with chants of hallelujah. Only to be followed by “crucify him.” Shakespeare is under the spell of the Bible here. But populism sullies the play as the people see the man. We see it today how, not only in Nigeria, leaders con the people into rabbles of feigned love. Shakespeare says this in Julius Caesar when the streets erupt with Caesar’s worship, “If Caesar had stabbed their mothers, they would have done no less.” Donald Trump said a similar thing about shooting somebody on a New York avenue. The fanatic overflowed in the last election in Nigeria.

    In Coriolanus, the people wanted him to exercise state over status, but he thought he did that with his heroics. They saw status over state, the state being Romans in the streets. They wanted him to connect, be weak and stoop down. He would not. He is banished and he joins the enemies he has defeated to fight against his homeland. He eventually yields to his mother’s plea to return when the Romans fear he is going to humble them. But he is killed in the end by the same people he defeats. He is a tragic hero, and his basic flaw is hubris.

     Heroics is good, but not enough. In his play, Measure for measure, Shakespeare writes, “Man, proud man, dressed in a little brief authority.” To connect, in the modern world, is to relate, to tell them what you do for them, and tell them in the language they understand. Coriolanus hides the battle scar in private. It is not his scar. It is the people’s. He dies with it. The people try in vain to own the wound.

    It is stories like this that made F. Scott Fitzgerald to say, “show me a hero and I will write you a tragedy,” like Sophocles, like Okonkwo, like Napoleon. The French general banned the play because it reminded him of himself. Our political players should read the play and behold themselves in its mirror.

  • Brotherly states

    Brotherly states

    It is what happens when ideas and humans conjoin. It is a pivotal example of brotherly states. Akwa Ibom Governor, Umo Eno came to Lagos for the groundbreaking event of an 18-story building. With him was the BOS of Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu. It is a testament to the vision of the state of Akwa Ibom, and it is testament to the environment of prosperity created by Lagos. Wealth works with fertile minds, and the event only shows how two states can put things together for mutual glory.

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    They are not physical neighbours, but the best neighbours are in the heart, not heath. Governor Eno says he wants to grow the revenue base of his state. He chose right by investing in the gold standard in generating revenue. Governor Sanwo-Olu says, “it will serve as a beacon of alliance between Lagos and Akwa Ibom” in the world of business. This was a better fitting news for the BOS than a rancid rumour about a court case. That bad moment is now outside the radar. When water enters water, none can separate them. so, we don’t only have brotherly states, but more importantly, they are in a brotherly state.

  • Reimagining Nigeria Prize for Literature

    Reimagining Nigeria Prize for Literature

    It may well be time to reimagine The Nigeria Prize for Literature, sponsored by Nigeria Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited, 20 years after the award was introduced in 2004. Irish poet, playwright and winner of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature Seamus Heaney notably wrote: “Whatever is given can always be reimagined.”

     It is not only Nigeria’s biggest literary prize but also the biggest in Africa and among the richest in the world, with a $100,000 reward. It involves four genres which are rotated yearly: poetry, fiction, drama, and children’s literature.

    This year, it was the turn of children’s literature. Olubunmi Familoni’s book, The Road Does Not End, was announced as the winner on October 11. There were 163 entries. The author said: “The books my mum bought me as a child brought me to where I am today.” Interestingly, he was said to have missed the submission deadline in 2019.

    On the award night at Eko Hotels and Suites, Lagos, the chairperson of the Advisory Board, Prof. Akachi Adimora- Ezeigbo, praised NLNG for sustaining the prize and promoting writing, criticism, and reading nationwide, adding, “Their sponsorship of both the Literature and Literary Criticism prizes is vital in providing Nigerian writers with platforms to display their talents.”

    She said the book “tells the compelling story of street life in Lagos, focusing on children who must fend for themselves. Familoni’s gripping narrative highlights their daily struggles and resilience, bringing attention to the societal issues faced by vulnerable youths in Nigeria. The author brings to light the harsh realities of life for many young people, highlighting critical societal issues that often go unnoticed. Through the story, readers are drawn into the characters’ perseverance and hope, despite the challenges they face.”  She added that the book “stood out for its thematic depth, lyrical quality, and social relevance,” and “ability to engage both children and adults with its powerful narrative and strong moral message.”

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     The question is: What’s next? The award night usually marks the end of the story.  That explains Nigerian writer and critic Ikhide Ikheloa’s criticism of the award in an interview with 90Minutes Africa, after the latest edition.  “Why are we spending $100,000 to honour the works of writers that, at most, only a thousand people have read? It’s a waste of money,” he said. “If a book is good enough to get $100,000, we could take part of the money and buy thousands of the books and distribute them to secondary schools,” he argued. “There has to be something that the award is purposed for beyond just giving people money.” According to him, the prize winners “just get the money and disappear. Some even made great promises, like they would build a library, and that’s the end. You won’t hear from them again.”

    In the case of children’s literature, for instance, the sponsor of the award can encourage education authorities to add prize-winning books to reading lists in schools across the country. They can also support and promote book reading events featuring prize-winning authors in schools.

    In 2015, none of the 109 entries was considered worthy of the $100,000 prize money for children’s literature, the focus of the contest that year. The then international consultant for the prize, Prof. Kim Reynolds of Newcastle University, United Kingdom, said: “The entries lack the lyricism, vision, and authority to become classics that will be handed down from generation to generation and that have the potential to reach out across cultures.” If that reflects the vision of the award sponsor, they need to do more to promote prize-winning books.

    At the time, an “Enugu-based literary activist,” Adaobi Nwoye, was reported saying, “We have been complaining about the dearth of qualitative writing in Nigeria for a while now. This is the result. Nowadays many people are not writing because they are passionate about literature. Instead, they are writing because they want to make money. I think this is one of the reasons why none of the entries for the 2015 Nigeria Prize for Literature failed to win.” This is food for thought.

    The same approach can be adopted regarding prize-winning books in the other categories as well. The award sponsor can encourage the listing of such books for students in educational institutions and support book reading events by prize winners.

    In the drama category, the focus on the play to the detriment of the stage should be reviewed. For instance, in 2014, Sam Ukala, a professor of Theatre Arts, won the prize money. His dramatic work, Iredi War, was adjudged the best out of 124 plays. Ukala said: “Iredi War, being the title of my own work, happened in 1906 in Delta State. It is a true-life story of the mess put in place by the colonial overlords to overwhelm the local people. In that mess, some of the local people became collaborators and helped the white people to mess their people up. The motive behind this was to denigrate the people and their culture.”

    The judges applauded Ukala for “the masterly handling of vast historical material through the narrative and action method.” The commendation hinted at the logic of performance. Although drama may be created and treated as literature outside the context of performance, such as a closet play, it is within the setting of theatrical performance that it probably achieves the greatest fidelity to form.

    A dramatic work divorced from performance may ultimately represent a subtle subversion of the dramatic genre if not eventually elevated to the stage. It may be a good idea for the award sponsor to introduce a performance dimension, or more specifically, stage production, when the focus is on drama.

    Importantly, the selection of judges for the award has been criticised for its donnish exclusivity. It gives the impression that only academics are qualified and competent to judge literary works. This is not necessarily true. A mix of academic and non-academic judges may well be closer to reality.

    Ultimately, the award sponsor should pay more attention to achieving the greater goal of helping to develop and promote Nigerian literature. It is counter-productive when a prize-winning work does not live beyond the award night.

  • Akpabio saw the future

    Akpabio saw the future

    An online newspaper took up the assignment to establish the authenticity or otherwise, of a widely circulated video clip recently attributed to the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.

    In the eight-second video clip, a voice that sounded like that of Akpabio had said: “Times are difficult and wherever you see free food, please endeavour to avail yourself”. The statement attracted adverse public reactions coming from such a personage and especially against the background of the existential economic challenges faced by the citizenry.

    It was deemed callous and insensitive given the quarters it emanated from. The umbrage it drew, must have so agitated the online medium that it had to embark on a self-assigned voyage of interrogating the video clip.

    In setting out on the inquisition, the medium sought to establish whether Akpabio actually made that statement and if yes, when and under what circumstance. The objective was to determine whether some of the criticisms and motives imputed into the statement were after all, well guided. Good initiative one may say!

    Since the video suggested that the statement was made during senate plenary, the medium reviewed senate plenary from June 13, 2023 to January 2024. It discovered that the senate chamber shown in the video is the temporary chamber which the senate stopped using since May, 2024 when they moved to the permanent one.

    It found out that the voice in the video “is truly Akpabio’s” but he made the comment on June 14, 2023, a day after the inauguration of the 10th Assembly. The medium further revealed that the Senate President was addressing his colleagues at a dinner organised in his honour and the Deputy Senate President and the comment was not to Nigerians as the video showed senators laughing at the occasion.

    Its final verdict was that the video is misleading. In arriving at this conclusion, the medium was apparently guided by the fact that the statement is not a recent one and the audience was that of Akpabio’s colleagues in the senate. Circulating the video now was bound to mislead as it conveyed the impression of a recent event where the Senate President was addressing Nigerians direly contending with the pervading hunger in the land, the medium would seem to argue. That seeks to exonerate Akpabio from the smear attacks that trailed the video clip.

    But the conclusion is not as simplistic as presented. Timing and audience as justification for that statement cannot be stretched too far without running into some contradiction. As at the time Akpabio spoke, fuel subsidy had gone as announced by President Bola Tinubu in his speech after being sworn-in. That was quickly followed up by the floating of the Naira at the foreign exchange market.

    These reform policies immediately catapulted the price of petrol and devalued the national currency leading to a general increase in the prices of goods and services. Their adverse effects on the living conditions of the people had begun to be felt. Before then, Nigeria had been rated the poverty capital of the world, alternating in that unenviable position with India in the world poverty chart. So, the hard times he referenced upon to ask those who are lucky to find free food to help themselves were already there.

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    The fact that he was addressing his colleagues does not in any way diminish the weight and import of the statement. It rather, reinforces the gravity of the pervading hunger. If privileged senators can be reminded to help themselves anywhere they see free food because the times are hard, that should say a lot about the abject living circumstances of ordinary Nigerians.

    It also made no difference whether he spoke to an audience of senators or Nigerians; after all, senators are elected representatives of their constituents. It is inconsequential whether the senators laughed at the statement or not. At any rate, they were not expected to cry.

    The online newspaper did a good job to have devoted time to probe Akpabio’s viral video statement. But, it is not entirely correct to have concluded that the video is misleading. Akpabio had a proper reading of the times he spoke about and he also saw the future.

    The situation he painted is fully with us even as it provides no solution to the debilitating social malady. His statement resonates with the realities of Nigeria’s contemporary environment as citizens are already helping themselves anywhere they find food whether invited or uninvited.

    Those who have had cause to organise parties in recent times have tales of bitter experiences to share. It is not just a matter of people availing themselves of the food they see at occasions, Nigerians have even gone further to perfect the act. The practice now is for people to arrive at any and every ceremony with small coolers and take-away plates not only to eat, but to collect the food they will eat with their children on getting home.

    Some even go as far as invading social events with their children to enable them savour of the available food served. It is real. Ironically, these are habits our society hitherto frowned at. But they are quickly becoming the norm as general living conditions deteriorate.

    Mama Job (not real names) had a thanksgiving party in Lagos for her son who recently graduated from a military academy in the country. During the thanksgiving outing ceremony at the church, she noticed a long queue of relations, friends and well-wishers, many unknown to her family. She took it as the usual show of solidarity associated with such church outings.

    After the church service, they retired to their family house for entertainment. By the time she came down after spending some time in their apartment upstairs, she discovered to her surprise that available seats had been taken over by faces largely unknown to her, being served food and drinks.

    Meanwhile, much of the dignitaries she was expecting had not arrived. But for her quick intervention, everything could have been consumed before the arrival of the main guests. Of course, they ran out of drinks and had to rush to a nearby outlet to buy more for those they were really expecting.

    Somewhere in the southeast very familiar to this writer, a family that lives near the market recently had a social event. The occasion proceeded well without any incident. But when it got to the point of serving food, some people in the nearby market were seen filing in to help themselves.

    A friend of mine who was overseeing the sharing of the food, fled the scene in style when he noticed confusion was about to set in given the limited provision by the organisers. These are just few examples of the extent hungry Nigerians go to help themselves with free food anywhere they find one. Just organise a party in your village or elsewhere and feel the pulse!

    Hunger is real with the prices of foodstuffs gone beyond the purchasing powers of the citizens. The federal government recognises this reality and has sought to mitigate its effects through social intervention measures. But these measures have yet to make any difference.

    That accounts for rising agitations for the reform policies to be given a human face; some pushing for outright reversal to allow the citizens breathe. But the Breton Woods institutions advise to the contrary.

     The World Bank said, “Nigeria must stay the course for another 10-15 years of focussed reforms… the difficult decision taken today will not yield immediate results, but they will set the foundation for a more prosperous and stable Nigeria”. It also spoke against back-tracking the reforms as it would have disastrous consequences for Nigeria’s economic future.

    Reversing the reforms may not be the option. But the challenge is: How the citizens will fare if the reforms are sustained for that length of time in the face of the debilitating existential challenges they brought in their wake? This puzzle resonates given the inability of the gains from fuel subsidy removal and floating of the Naira to translate to the overall benefit of the citizens as touted. Rather, they have made living conditions worse.

    But we are at the crossroads because the fundamentals for the reform policies to endure were not in place before they were introduced in the manner they came. Had there been incremental and sustained efforts overtime by the leadership of the country to put in place the necessary infrastructural and social support facilities, the biting effects of the policies would have been mitigated. But they would not have that. Rather, policies meant to build sound and prosperous future for the country were brazenly opposed on the guise of political expediency. This country is yet to recover from elite dissonance even in matters where the national interest was at stake. The inability of the political elite to form broad consensus on irreducible decimals for sustained national growth and development has been the real challenge.

    It is not for nothing that the World Bank called for elite support for ‘unpopular policies’ that hold the ace for a sound and prosperous future for the citizens. Will this ever happen?

  • An afternoon at Cambridge

    An afternoon at Cambridge

    At first, the Cambridge University African Roundtable wanted me to track President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s rise. It was inspired by my recent book, Beating all Odds: How Bola Tinubu became president. Then they tweaked it, given the turmoil of the economy in the aftermath of his economic reforms. They retitled it: “Nigeria Reforms: Road to redemption or perdition. Conversations with Sam Omatseye.”

    The idea, according to the organisers, was to reconcile biography with policy.

    The afternoon event gave anyone visiting the campus a sense of its tranquil air and quaint and majestic architecture and, above all, an aura this top-tier academy, cresting the world with only a few in the history of enlightenment. Hovering between third and fifth in the world university rankings in the past few years, the University of Cambridge is cosy with Oxford – number one for nine straight years-, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, Imperial College, Pennsylvania, Princeton, Stanford, Caltech, et al. The United States still gobbles half of the top 10 and 13 of the top 20.

     Nigeria continues to lag, funding being a major headache and the absence of a reporting fidelity being another.

    It would be the first time I would be giving a talk in a top five university, although I had a given talks as alumnus of the University of Toronto, now ranked 21st.   The event took place at Westminster College, one of 31 colleges at the University of Cambridge. I spoke to a cross section of society, some PHD students, scholars, nationals, and a big Nigerian presence. The moderator was Prof Anthony Kila, who heads the Commonwealth Institute of Advanced and Professional Studies and a Jean Monnet professor of strategy and development.

    it was 19th October, so I paid homage to great editor, columnist and avatar for free speech, Dele Giwa, who, 38 years to that day, “opened a letter and extinguished in a cloud of smoke.” I continued with the remark that “I also draw his tale to tell my own story as a marker of the malice and bitter cauldron of the election that ushered in Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the president…I am saying this because I am happy to be alive  to address you today at the University of Cambridge…I wrote an essay titled: Obituary in which I predicted that one of the candidates, Peter Obi of the Labour Party, would lose the election…for close to five months, I was in hiding. That coven of followers was after me…”

    I highlighted a few salient points. One, the nation still roiled from the agony of electoral loss by a section of the people and it reverberated still because more people loathed than loved President Tinubu in the polls. And that accounted for the caterwauling of opponents, such that whether he did right or wrong, he was believed to do wrong. I referred to the fact we were living in a time where followers of Tinubu’s foes were blind to their candidates’ faults and fault lines, especially the Obidients who kept mum about Obi’s certificate scandal, offshore account and investments of official money in Anambra State.

    “When recently I discussed this with an Obidient…the fellow said he had never heard such a thing. It reminds me of Jose Saramago’s novel Blindness, a parable about how a whole people cannot see in broad daylight. In the Bible, it says “darkness shall cover the earth, gross darkness the people.” It is one of the challenges of populism in the 20th century Europe, and we are seeing it today across the world, including in the United States.”

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    I also looked at Tinubu’s biography and I noted he was weaned on a grassroots mother, Chief Abibatu Mogaji, the Iyaloja-General. He also studied accounting and worked in some of the world’s marquee firms, ending up as Mobil’s treasurer. “So, Tinubu inhabits two contradictory worlds: the mass mobiliser and the laissez-faire ideologist. The Poet Walt Whitman once asked: “Do I contradict myself. Yes, I contradict myself. I am large. I contain multitudes.” I Noted in this context, we can see his economist soul working the fuel subsidy removal and exchange rate regimes, while the grassroots person prods the student loans, CNG buses, credit schemes, food palliatives and array of agricultural initiatives with  governors. I hailed the palliatives programme but lamented it requires better institutional organization and a database. The nation was too hungry, though, to await a database. Hunger hates patience.

    The question time took all of two hours, with many asking questions from Tinubu’s grassroots credentials, to the lifestyles of government officials, change of presidential system, youth inclusion, IMF/World Bank tendency, budget accountability and monitoring, chastening the lawmakers’ spendthrift ways, the government’s poor communication strategies, the collapse of values. It got comical when one Obikwu, in a fit of surrender, said we should partner with another country and even revive the house of chiefs. He had asked earlier why President Tinubu was silent throughout the trainwreck of the Buhari years? My words, not his. The same Obikwu wondered why the nation since his days in Unilag in the 1970’s had been hoping for a change that never came. What was absent was any hint of distemper, as the audience never betrayed any partisan bickering. The organisers saw to that. It was Cambridge, not Chatham House. Why didn’t he know, as an APC man, what Buhari had left behind? Why did he not criticise Buhari even if he knew he was wrecking the economy? What sort of man was Tinubu that he still accommodated those who he made but turned against him? Was he going to change his cabinet? A few questions got personal.

    In an air of civilized affray, I answered the questions. A Cambridge PHD student, Great Nnamani, spoke about the World Bank report, and took issues with the President’s IMF ideas. I noted that his policies may seem to be inspired by IMF but they were just a “coincidence of necessity.” It is what some scholars now call the Washington Consensus. It is a coincidence that the policy of deregulation had to come because he had no choice. We could not sustain paying to keep the naira hanging on provision rather than providence. Ditto to fuel subsidy. I referred to Obi, who had no other answer in a recent interview than to borrow, which is to go back to the ancient regime of irresponsible spending. I also said those who wanted us to phase the policy did not understand that economics must work with culture or sociology. I recalled that President Jonathan started it but hit the rock. I also gave example of the CNG policy. If we had started it ahead of subsidy removal, we would continue to print money while waiting for the Godot of Nigerians reconciling with the new system.

    I also explained that Tinubu was not as close to Buhari’s government as people thought, and he played the smart politician by writing private memos to Buhari on policies he had a choice to either accept or reject. He was pressured to leave APC to run against Buhari by elements both within APC and PDP, but he said he would not fight against what he built. I disabused the mind of audience of some misconceptions lost in the melee of news agency. A questioner said the government was in cahoots with the media. I told him that only one newspaper and one television station supported Tinubu during the campaigns and even today. “If you challenge me, I will name them all and how they spin any Tinubu story.”

    It was a fervent exchange but amicable, and for me what haunted the whole afternoon was my concluding paragraph: “The (Nigerian) situation reminds me of story of one of Nigeria’s percipient writers, Chigozie Obioma, in his debut novel The Fisherman. A sibling fight leads to one throwing the other into a well. Nobody knows where the brother is until it is a time of reckoning when the stench and the body shows up to someone who discovers it. Nigeria is at that inflexion point of dealing with its own body in the well. The question is, are we ready to deal with the dead body and clean up the water? Tinubu is going ahead, and redemption beckons.”

  • If you can’t beat him, burn them

    If you can’t beat him, burn them

    Few elections happen here where the incumbent does not determine who succeeds him. Apart from President Tinubu, who Buhari dreaded and schemed against, the only other fellow who pulled it through is Kaduna State Governor, Uba Sani. Few know that his predecessor, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, did not want him to succeed him. He wanted someone else. Sani, ever a fighter with a dogged biography in civil rights and democracy, fought and bested Malam at the primary. Sani won, Malam zero. Tears for Malam.

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    He proceeded to the main election, Malam starving him of structure and resources. In the end, Sani won, Malam zero. Tears again. Out of office, Malam and his forces’ rage simmered under the table. Governor Sani did nothing to attack the man until he had no choice but to present the books to the public when labour leaders wanted his head over its lean purse. Malam is still under EFCC’s shadow. It is not a battle between Malam and Governor Sani. It is between El Rufai and the people, or, better still, between Malam and probity. The battlefield is still running with blood. Meanwhile, a week ago, his forces worked with the opposition against his “former” party APC at the local government elections. Some sources told me that forces loyal to him spent not less than half a billion naira trying to upend the APC ambition. They backed PDP. But they did not only go overboard with spending, they also tried arson. They were prevented for burning INEC offices in Kaduna, Zaria and Lere local government areas. Is it a case of if you cannot beat them, don’t beat a retreat but burn them? Well, APC cleared the polls. Sani won, Malam yet to score.

  • BOS on the bus

    BOS on the bus

    Lagos is known for many things. It is me, it is you and it is us. It is our universal psyche.

    Every Nigerian can find their place and rhythm in its variegated soul. For the artist and the cultural, Lagos bubbles with stars of the song and stage.

     For the entrepreneurial, money seeps from every street.

    For the political, to be elected is to be human.

    For the young, every hub is a hubbub. It is a city of lights but like the words of the poet Lucy Larcom, “no ray is shining for itself alone.” As it is for the hush in the GRAs, so it is for the rush in Oshodi, as it is for the Omo’onile in Ipaja, so it is for the patrician in Ikoyi.

    The city domes out a big, amoebic tent, a sweet whore for every comer. It is also a city without stop, always heading for the next stop.

    There was no better metaphor of Lagos on the move last week. Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the BOS of Lagos, was on the bus at Oyingbo, where the new rail line known as Red Line hooted off. Decked out at once like a proprietor and a staff with a cap, a badged blue  shirt, a red tie and dark trousers, he appeared among some of the big wigs of his government at the iconic station in Lagos.

    At first, he played proprietor, as he summoned all around, regular pedestrians and reporters, to see his new wonder. It is the second of the colour-coded buses, dreamed of since the days of President Bola Tinubu when he was the steward of the state. Before this was the blue line, whose work began with the then governor of example, Babatunde Raji Fashola (SAN). Today, the blue line is taken for granted by those who commute daily, sometimes forgetting that just about a year ago, it was a source of controversial hot air as to whether it was ever going to start. The Red Line provoked the same cynics to banter.

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    The BOS had said its mechanical integrity ought to be ascertained before unleashing it to the people. We don’t want any error, because a little squeak of a spoke here or oil leak there could me a family in mourning clothes. He walked in as guest hedged in front, behind and on his sides by men and women. On his face was the pride and swagger of success as he looked around, his steps slow and dignified. He took his seat as a governor, but also as a special guest but also as a passenger. Others were on the train, including Information Commissioner Gbenga Omotoso and of course Oluwaseun Osiyemi, the Transport Commissioner, also dressed in the casual style of the governor.

     The BOS became a sort of inspector, moving from coach to coach like a ticketer trying to be sure all had paid. In fact, the governor made a joke in that colour as he exchanged pleasantries.

     This was not your dour, querulous conductor who is either uncouth in his jokes or calm as an omen. He was debonair, an example too high for the qualifiers for the job. The train covers a big swath of the city, from Oyingbo to Yaba, to Mushin, to Oshodi to Ikeja, where the governor disembarked.

     The journey took less than 40 minutes all the way to Ikeja, the normal commute in the giddy Lagos roads took hours.

    It is miracle of a shortcut, the marvel of technology. But the train also chugged away towards Agege, Iju and ultimately to Agbado that abuts on neighbouring Ogun State.

     The cost is N1,500 all the way from Oyingbo to Agbado, a subsidized fare, although some have caviled that it is not fair. The governor has said transport is always subsidized. If passengers were to pay for it, it would be much higher. Even then, the governor has not shut the door on the possibility of bringing down the fare.

     Recently, the BOS visited China along with the president and signed a deal for another colour-coded train: Green. One might have wondered why the first one – the Blue line, that is – was not called green, as the first shoot.

     But on a second thought, it might be because the Lekki corridor is the newest subdivision of the city, and so the greenest with new buildings, businesses, institutions and ideas, including the Dangote Refinery, suburbs, infrastructure, seaport and an airport, a hint of the new Lagos. So, green is right. It is also to benefit the Fourth Mainland bridge, a project the governor says is held by finance.

     The fall of the naira has imperiled the ability to crunch the numbers for that project for now. We hope our currency can get back to life and enable us enjoy that all-important bridge. The image of Lagos on the move is not just for commuters but in other aspects of the state. For instance, just as the Red Train roars through the city, the governor announced a spike in minimum wage to N85,000 naira. This is a tough act to most other  states.

     Many will have to come up with some numbers as it is inevitable that they cannot fall below N70,000  in lieu of labour’s agreement with the Federal Government. The government hopes, given its financial robustness, to raise it to N100,000. We must understand this in the context of financial engineering in the state. Its IGR that began its revolution in Tinubu’s time has grown from governor to governor, and BOS is no exception. He has tripled his own budget size since he climbed the saddle in 2019. It is now N2.3 trillion, and it tops 90 percent performance.

    While hoping to close the year’s budge at N2.5 trillion. It is, like the train, hooting towards a N3 trillion mark next year. We have seen what he is doing with food and its Ounje Eko project, its various housing projects. As the food master of the west, he is coordinating efforts of the region to make food available through investments in agriculture. He says the Imota farms will soon start mass production of rice.

     For all its many ins and outs, the road network of the state is undergoing facelifts. As he himself said, work is going on in every local government area. A big-ticket chief executive, he is building a logistics hub in the city that will become where heavy-duty goods can be stored and move around the country. More to come.

  • Soyinka and Christian faith

    Soyinka and Christian faith

    In a recent interview with Larry Madowo of the CNN, Prof Wole Soyinka said many things about his life and poetics, but one thing struck me: his dismissal of Christianity.

    He said he placed Orisha higher than Christianity and Islam.

     “For me it (Orisha worship) was more artistic, creative and also more mysterious. I don’t find much of the mysterious in Christianity and even less in Islam” Segun Ayobolu, ever one to fascinate with ideas, forwarded an essay to me written by one Moses Oludele Idowu. It is titled: Soyinka, Orisha and the Deconstruction of Christianity. I had listened with casual interest in Soyinka’s comment until I read Idowu. Idowu was excusing Soyinka’s lack of understanding of the mystery of Christianity because of the Anglican faith, which he said was denuded of the required mystery. I thought both Soyinka and Idowu got it wrong. Soyinka wrong on mystery and artistry of Christianity, and Idowu on Anglican faith, especially its mission aspect. To say that Christianity has less mystery or art than

    Orisha should address why this same Anglican faith knocked away Orisha into a second fiddle in the land of its birth. When the white man, especially the British, came, they torched the African religion with their light. Since they came, you have more Christians, especially in the Egba area of Soyinka’s birth than those who worship Orisha. Even when they show adherence to Orisha, it is  an afterthought.

    The Christian faith held sway just as they gave the uppercut to similar worships across the country. Without admitting it, Soyinka fell under the Christian spell while translating Fagunwa, whose writing is overwhelmed by Christianity.

     The Anglican faith is the English variant that bouched out of the fight between King Henry 16th and the papacy, and once the church was formed it became part of its colonizing force.

    The British came with the Bible and plough, and conquered society after society. Before we say that it was arms that empowered faith, we must admit that Christianity conquered Europe and rode it.

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     To conquer by arms is fragile, but to conquer the mind you need mystery. Christianity was stronger than British arms.

     Idowu made a good point about the mystery of the faith, referring to the virgin birth, the trinity, the resurrection, et al. But we must not forget the sway it has had since the time of Christ, corralling Judaism.

     Is that not mystery like the Crusades and its triumphal moments. That can be said of Islam as well. Christianity once was persecuted and since it could not be wiped out ,especially under Nero, it rose under Constantine.

    Religions that could not conquer it now bowed to it. Christianity, just like Islam, has been on a syncretic journey from age to age and continent to continent. One of its power is the mystification of the concept of love, hitherto poohpoohed before Christ. Morality was revanchist, an eye for an eye across ages. Artworks of enduring natures have been under Bible power from Dan Vinci to Angelo. Poets and writers have been under its power; Petrarch, Milton, Blake, Dickens. One of such works is Paradise Lost. Thomas Mann’s Joseph and His Brothers is an epic of the 20th century. The Bible has been regarded even by those who loathe it as a book of great writers: the Pentateuch, Psalms, Isaiah, the Gospels, and of course, the illuminations of Paul.

     The bard of all bards, William Shakespeare, sometimes almost regurgitated the Bible. Hence Abraham Lincoln, no Christian, could not live it down. Western laws and civilisations issued from Bible tissues. French best-known novelist today Michel Houellebecq has asserted that Europe is failing because it has abandoned its Christian roots.

     Idowu’s claim that the Anglican was not alive and hence birthed the Babalolas and African churches is a contradiction. Without Anglican, where would the African churches or CAC’s have found inspiration? It is the idea of being reborn, a central Chrisian ethic. “Except a corn of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it abides alone. But when it dies, it gives forth much fruit,” says Christ. It is what happens in a dynamic society.

    The one that dies gives birth. It is therefore living in a new form. It is power that Dostoyevsky, another writer under Bible spell, described as mystery, miracle and authority. You need all that to flourish as a faith. Both Christianity and Islam have manifested these. It is from their essential power and mystery that the African churches arose. They exercised cultural and syncretic adaptations. Paul said, the law is “not a school master.”