The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

  • PDP’s dirty wars

    Ordinary Nigerians bear the burden of PDP gang wars, viciously fought over the sharing of our common patrimony among its members through their ingenious creation – privatisation and commercialisation of public utilities built by Nigerian taxpayers. As it was during Obasanjo and his group including those who masterminded the failed third term agenda, and Atiku Abubakar’s group of loyal governors one of who is today serving jail terms, so it is today as President Jonathan, Tukur and their 16 governors that resorted to self-help after losing a governorship forum election and the self-proclaiming new-PDP’s gang of seven dig in for final battle. Having concluded that we all suffer from collective amnesia, both groups have continued to assault Nigerians by proclaiming their love for a nation they have jointly ravaged for 14 years.

    Following last week’s showdown of the two PDP’s on the floor of the National Assembly, the new PDP has donned a new cloak of a messiah, set to liberate the people from 14 years of PDP economic exploitation and impoverisation of our people. As if a part can be holier than the whole, chairman of new PDP Alhaji Baraje has ‘unequivocally condemned’ the rape of the country’s economy by Goodluck Jonathan administration insisting that with “the massive scale of officially-induced oil theft, the dwindling returns from oil and massive looting going on at the federal level, Nigeria is surely on the brink of economic collapse despite claim to the contrary by the administration, in futile bid to deceive Nigerians”.

    But our new liberators that today swear by their love for the poor have been active participants in the ravaging of our land since 1999. They were there when poor Nigerians were visited with a callous taxation following monumental stealing of about N1.7 trillion by some of the 140 oil importers appointed by Ahmadu Alli, then chairman of PDP as well as chairman of PPPRA and Diezani Alison-Maduekwe, Minister for Petroleum Resources. We did not hear a moan as the people groaned under the weight of taxation of over 200 percent in the guise of removing phantom fuel subsidy. They joined government apologists, Sanusi Lamido, the CBN governor and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the Minister for Finance who falsely claimed it was only the middle class car owners that would be affected by the callous taxation.

    There has not been a murmur from our new lovers about the ongoing efforts of government to force vehicle owners cough out about N30,000 on an already registered vehicle. As our university students roam the street, there has been no condemnation of the insensitive declaration by the National Assembly members that N190bn which they dismissed as only three percent of the national budget is not too much for the lawmakers even when government says the economy cannot support the payment of N88bn, representing four years cumulative indebtedness, made up of miserable allowances ranging between N8, 000 and N15, 000 for university lecturers supervising Masters and PhD candidates.

    In the same vein, President Jonathan who has been accused by his PDP family members of imposing hardship on nation while protecting those he once personally identified as saboteurs of the economy, last week chose United Nations headquarters in New York to proclaim himself as the lover of the people. Hitting back with use of innuendos, he had told the world that “in the country’s past privatization, we know what happened there and yet those who sat over the exercise are the same people who are opening their mouth wide to attack this administration”. And awarding himself a pass mark in the ongoing privatization of public utilities including the energy sector which he said is very transparent, he claimed the nation has made a bounteous harvest of $3bn.

    But the president was silent on what it cost the taxpayers to build up those public utilities in the first place. What we have are conflicting figures from PDP leading lights. For instance, Umaru Yar’Adua, on assumption of office claimed $10b was spent on the power sector by President Obasanjo, with little to show for it. The then Speaker of the House Representatives, Dimeji Bankole, claimed the sum was over $16 billion, while the House power probe committee chairman, Hon. Ndudi Elumelu, gave a figure of $13 billion. But Suswan, on behalf  of the Presidential Review Panel on the NIPP set up by National Economic Council, NEC, said the panel found “that as at 2007, total project allocations/ estimates to NIPP was $10.231 billion inclusive of the $2 billion Federal Government counterpart funding for Mambilla Hydro Power project”. With the different figures being bandied around, the president’s celebration of a harvest of $3bn will appear too hasty.

    Of course the president on whose table the buck stops, more than anyone else is better placed to tell us all the under hand dealings that accompanied the privatization programme during the  Obasanjo presidency,  vice president Atiku Abubakar as chairman of the National Council on  Privatisation and Nasir El Rufai as BPE boss. The reports of some of the sordid deals about the privatization as revealed by his PDP warring family members are on his table.

    It was through aggrieved PDP members that Nigerians learnt that NITEL, a successful outfit that posted a profit of N53bn in 2002 before PDP government embarked on its fraudulent privatization recorded a loss of N19bn in 2003 when BPE sold it to unqualified Pentascope, an alleged proxy company hurriedly registered only three months earlier with staff strength of six. It was from them we learnt BPE could not find a buyer after trying both Investors International (London) Limited (IILL) and a more renowned TELNET to buy 51% of NITEL at $1.317b.

    It was also from the PDP warring members and their fronts we learnt Folio Communications, buyer of the Daily Times had to sell Daily Times asset including NSE House on Customs Street and some properties in London before it could pay BPE N1.2bn. It was from them we learnt that the entire Trade Fair Complex was sold to a company for as low as N10bn. There were more revelations. ALSCON, built with $3.2b dollars was sold to a Russian firm for $250m out of which it paid only $130m. NICON and Nigerian Reinsurance were alleged to have been bought through questionable deals by Global Fleet Oils and Gas Limited.

    From Christopher Anyawu, a former boss of Bureau for Public Enterprises, BPE, we learnt that sales proceeds were first kept in commercial banks before transfer to the CBN. Former deputy director of BPE, Charles Osuji who claimed OBJ and Atiku killed  the privatization dream’, admitted collecting a thank  you bribe of $100,000 from the successful bidder for the National Oil for El  Rufai who in turn claimed Osuji was directed to return the money. Ms Onagoruwa, former DG of BPE alleged Obasanjo concessioned the Ajaokuta Steel Company to Global Infrastructure without recourse to BPE.

    Musa Mohammed  Sada,  appointed minister of Mines and  Steel Development in April 2010 by the then acting President Jonathan  accused the firm which also acquired Delta Steel Company of asset stripping in Ajaokuta by moving out equipment from Ajaokuta to Delta, and cannibalising them as spares.  For this reason, Sada says ‘the steel sector is in a sorry state, we have not been able to move forward’.

    Instead of escaping to New York to point accusing fingers at some of his troubled PDP family members who had engaged in bare- faced stealing and sharing of our common patrimony, what Nigerians expected of President Jonathan who has sworn to an oath to protect the interest of the nation is to act on the above documented report of PDP’s handling of privatization programme up till 2010.

    And finally, I think it will be hard for President Jonathan to persuade cynical Nigerians that his privatization programme is more transparent. Some of the names behind the newly licensed independent operators have featured prominently in the past efforts of government. The segment of PDP that claimed Professor Barth Nnaji who was pushed out as a minister because he stepped on power toes and not because of divided interest as claimed by government, seem to have been vindicated when no eyebrows were raised with Professor Jerry Gana, a PDP stalwart, leading a delegation of registered Independent Power Producers (IPPs), to plead with government for import waivers and government participation in their private companies.

  • Boko Haram hits Nigeria hard at 53

    Nigeria was preparing to celebrate its 53rd Independence anniversary when it happened. Even though the event has become a yearly ritual, those in government place a store in its celebration. At times, when they read the nation’s mood and see that the people are not happy with them, they will say the celebration will be low key. When they are riding high with the people, they spare no expenses in celebrating the anniversary. Whether low or high key celebration, the truth is they waste public fund on it.

    To those in power, this jamboree is not a waste, but a necessity which must be marked, come what may. The Independence anniversary cannot go unsung, no matter what, except perhaps, if something untoward happens to one of our mighty men of power. That is when it will dawn on them that there is need to cancel the celebration. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong in marking our National Day, but I believe that we should know where to draw the line when certain things happen in the society.

    Leaders who care about their people feel for them in every way. When the people are happy, they are happy, when the people are sad, they share in their sorrow. Those are leaders, who sleep and think about their people because they know that the power they wield flows from the people. In Nigeria, our leaders are too far from us to appreciate our worth. They know that they can get to power without our votes because they can rig elections and still declare them free and fair. To them, the people do not count, but they pretend that we do.

    Most times, we fall for their tricks. Or is it their sweet tongues? With sweet words, they woo us to vote for them and where in some cases, we do not, they use underhand tactics to get the votes and with a pliable electoral umpire they are returned as winners and the real winners declared the losers.

    Nobody is a second class citizen in this country. The president was born the same way other citizens of this country were born. One’s lowly birth should not make him a second class citizen and those born with silver spoon should not see themselves as superior to others.

    We should all learn a lesson from the humble background of President Goodluck Jonathan. We heard the story from him when he told us the harsh conditions under which he went to school. He had no shoes, he said, when he was going to school. He also had no bag as his bare hands served that purpose. Today, as Providence will have it, he is our president. Now, the days of no shoes are behind him and we thank God for that. We have many others like that in other high offices in the land. Many of them have forgotten those days of little beginning, contrary to the teaching of the scripture, but some still remember and tread with caution.

    The beauty of a grass to grace story is the lucky person’s remembrance of where he is coming from and the uncommon favour he found with God. He is not the only person, especially in a country like ours with a population of over 160 million and counting, before he was singled out for such favour. His remembrance of this is expected to temper his attitude and guide him in everything he does.

    But, what do we see often times? People tend to forget their background and turn themselves to tin gods, oppressing members of the class they once belonged to. That is what power and money do to people, especially the unwise, who forget that vanity upon vanity all is vanity. Did we come to the world with power? No. Did we come with money? No. Will we go with our power and money? No. We came with nothing and we will return with nothing.

    Boko Haram, the dreaded Is

    lamic fundamentalist, which

    believes that “education is a sin” has been on the loose now for over four years. The group has rebuffed all peace entreaties, perhaps, because it feels it has what it takes to pursue its devilish agenda. It has been killing, maiming and looting and there are no signs yet that it will soon stop. The Federal Government went out of its way to court the group, yet it did not embrace this hand of fellowship. This misguided group has turned itself into a terror in the land. The Northeast has since lost its peace to Boko Haram’s hideous activities.

    Between 2009 and now, it is believed to have killed over 3000 and the group, it appears is not done yet. In the days ahead, it is likely to kill more people. Boko Haram, for reasons best known to it, is waging a war against society. Granted that a mistake was made in the extra judicial killing of its leader, Yusuf Muhammed in 2009 has the group not killed, enough people in retaliation all these years? Should it not cease fire now and allow peace to reign? Does it think that these senseless killings will bring its leader back to life? Boko Haram has bitten more than it can chew, but unfortunately, it seems the government lacks the will to stop the group.

    The group is emboldened by the government’s seeming helplessness in the face of its atrocities, which it is in no hurry to end. As long as Boko Haram can kill people with ease in the Borno – Yobe axis, it will continue to carry out this dastardly act until it is dislodged by superior force. With what the group did on Sunday, some 48 hours to the celebration of our 53rd Independence anniversary, there is no need to beg it to lay down its arms again. If the group knows how to kill, the government too should devise means of stopping it from carrying out these fatal acts. Or is the government saying that Boko Haram cannot be stopped?

    The government should not give the impression that Boko Haram is such a fiend that it cannot match it guns for guns. What the group did on Sunday was to challenge us all to a duel. What Boko Haram did on Sunday was not new, but to have done it on the eve of the country’s 53rd anniversary is a challenge not only to the government but to the society at large. Boko Haram is spoiling for a fight with the people and I think it is high time we gave it to the group. We have appealed to it, we have cajoled it, yet it keeps on killing school children. It is time for the government to remove its gloves and fight Boko Haram with bare knuckles. What it did on Sunday is not different from what some militants did on October 1, 2010, when they stormed the Eagle Square in Abuja with bombs during the celebration of our 50th Independence anniversary.

    If we are a nation that values hu

    man life, what happened on

    Sunday was enough to have stopped us from celebrating the 53rd Independence anniversary. But the government appeared unmoved by the cutting down of some of its youths in their prime. If anybody in government had a child or two in the College of Agriculture in Gujba, Yobe State, would it have reacted in the lukewarm way that it did? We don’t pray for tragedies, but when they happen, we should be able to show concern as human beings because of the casualties. The families of the slain students will forever see those in government as a bunch of uncaring and inhuman people.

    To show feelings with those in grief is not a sign of weakness on the part of those in government. Rather, it shows that they too are human and know how it feels when people die, especially in such barbaric circumstance. Being in power should not make us lose our sense of humanity. We will leave office one day, but we will continue to live in the midst of people until our time comes to go. Would the president have lost anything if he had cancelled his media chat that night in memory of the slain students? Would we have lost anything as a nation if we had cancelled the Independence anniversary celebration? We would have lost nothing because there will be other anniversaries to celebrate.

    But those who died in that gory circumstance will not die twice. So, it would have been befitting to honour the dead by cancelling last Sunday night’s Presidential Media Chat, considering the circumstances under which they died. If somebody high up in government had been involved, that chat may not have taken place. Even Tuesday’s celebration would have been called off, no matter the amount already spent on preparations. Remember, we nearly skinned former President Shehu Shagari alive for travelling abroad when the NECOM House was on fire during the Second Republic. So, which is worse travelling abroad when a public building was on fire or celebrating the National Day when over 40 of your citizens were killed.

    If people in high places could bellyache that some people did not pay them condolence visit over the death of their beloved ones, I think we should also not keep quiet when government fails to honour its massacred citizens, no matter how lowly they may be. Every human life is precious, whether that of the poor or the rich. Otherwise, the rich will not cry because certain people did not visit them personally when they were bereaved.

  • Like Anini, like Kelvin

    Either for good or for ill, history has a way of repeating itself. Remember Lawrence Nomanyagbon Anini, the notorious armed robber dreadfully called ‘The Law’ or ‘Ovbigbo’ in the defunct Bendel State? In the 1980s, Anini and his gang of blood-thirsty armed robbers held Benin City, the capital of the then Bendel State, comprising today’s Edo and Delta states, by the jugular. The hoodlums held everybody spellbound as they raided, robbed, maimed and killed at will. It was such a sadistic exploit that kept security agencies, especially the police, on their toes while their criminal ‘regime’ lasted.

    In the fight to contain their dare-devilry, many policemen lost their lives, many more were maimed, while the list of their victims read like a classroom register. The escapades of the notorious gang entered into national consciousness in 1986, when the then military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, gave Etim Inyang, the then Inspector-General of Police, a marching order to produce Anini “dead or alive”. A worried Babangida had confronted Inyang after one of the Council’s meetings with the question: “My friend, where is Anini?”

    That brief encounter appeared to be the final straw that broke the camel’s back as the echelon of the police deployed all they had – men and materials – in search of Anini and his gang. There were fears and apprehension in the then Bendel state while the hunt for Anini lasted. This was because of certain diabolical mysticism associated with Anini, who was largely rumoured to have heavily fortified himself with charms and amulets to evade arrest. At a point, the fear of Anini was the beginning of wisdom, as many of the policemen literally took to their heels whenever he was on the prowl.

    At the end of the day, Anini and his gang, including his fearsome deputy in the underworld, Monday Osunbor, were reined in. But before then, Christopher Omeben, then an Assistant Inspector-General of Police, who was dispatched to head the team of investigators that plotted Anini’s arrest, narrowly escaped death in the hands of the gang. If Omeben, now a pastor, was lucky, his driver, one Albert Otue, a Sergeant, was not that lucky. The driver was abducted by the gang members led by Osunbor and murdered.

    The arrest of the gang opened a Pandora’s Box as Anini started singing like a canary bird in police custody while begging for leniency. The trial of Anini led to the conviction and eventual shameful execution of George Iyamu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, who was, until his arrest, the head of the anti-robbery squad of the Bendel State Police Command. Anini and his gang members had confessed that Iyamu had abandoned his call to service as a police officer and, instead, became the godfather of the criminal gang. He aided them with information on security movements which enabled the gang to beat police operations as well as supplied them with arms and ammunition. And when the end came, both Anini and Iyamu, including other members of the notorious gang, went down in a hail of bullets when they were publicly executed by firing squads at different times in Benin in 1987.

    Today, 26 years after, another hoodlum who goes by the name Kelvin Ibruvwe seems to have stepped into Anini’s shoes. This time around, his bestiality has gone beyond armed robbery. Kelvin and his band of well-armed hoodlums have made their satanic marks in kidnapping, rape, pipeline vandalism and all sorts of heinous crimes. He has become well known as the brain behind high profile kidnappings in many parts of the country in recent times particularly in parts of the South-west, South-east and South-south geo-political regions. His victims include eminent persons like Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, late Chudi Nwike, a former Deputy Governor of Anambra State, who was killed in captivity by the gang, as well as Adedoyin Rhodes-Vivour, wife of a Supreme Court judge kidnapped with her daughter and driver on their way to Benin on May 10.

    A fortnight ago, unknown to him that his cup was about to be full, a boastful Kelvin appeared from nowhere, flanked by some of his gang members – all in military camouflage dress – and addressed a gathering of his kinsmen at his Kokori native town in Delta State. There, he gave President Goodluck Jonathan a 60-day ultimatum to address the degradation of his native land and other communities in the Niger Delta or face grave consequences. All that has now proved to be hollow bravado and nothing more than a façade that it is, as he was arrested in a hotel room in Port Harcourt in the wee hours of last Wednesday. His arrest, along with five of his gang members, was carried out by a combined team of the Army and Department of State Services, DSS, operatives, in a coded lightning operation.

    However, a few hours after his arrest, a shootout ensued between Kelvin’s ‘boys’ in his country home, Kokori, Ethiope-East Local Government Area of Delta State and soldiers. Nevertheless, the soldiers succeeded in arresting the chief priest (Ose Igba), said to have provided native charms for Kelvin and his gang to evade arrest over the years. All the while, Kelvin knew he was being monitored, but he did not know his end was so near. The security agencies only re-doubled their operational strategies after his infamous declaration where he handed over an ultimatum to the federal government to develop the oil community or his group would blow up oil facilities in the area. At that declaration, the hoodlum described himself as leader of the newly-found Liberation Movement of the Urhobo People, LIMUP, and said he had become a freedom fighter. That is now history.

    Kelvin lived like a kingpin. His tentacles and business interests cut across Delta State, Port-Harcourt, Enugu, Ibadan and Lagos. The kidnap baron shocked security operatives when he pulled a daring mission in Warri, some months ago, killing a number of prisons officials, as his gang ambushed warders and snatched two of his men being taken to court for trial. It was learnt that the police were deliberately sidetracked in this latest operation by the army and DSS, as neither the police in Rivers and Delta states were aware of the operation until it was concluded. Since then, his hometown, Kokori, has been taken over by soldiers, in an attempt to round up his boys as well as their arms cache. I am sure the aim is to put him away before he begins to think that he is a hero.

    Kelvin is believed to be currently undergoing serious interrogation in Abuja, where he is said to have made substantial revelations. I am quite sure such revelations will have something to do with his collaborators within the security agencies who gave him cover for his nefarious activities all this while. The fact that the police was sidelined in the operation that led to his arrest, shows that something is definitely wrong with the police hierarchy who might have been compromised all along. His interrogators will also have a lot to do to unravel his godfathers who are suspected to be mainly politicians and other highly-placed people in his community and state who may have benefited immensely from his criminal extravaganza.

    We are now being inundated with the fact that the crowd of people who gathered around him in Kokori on Tuesday, September 17, when he made his boisterous declaration, did so because of a promise that ‘oil money’ will be shared at the event. What that goes to show is the level of moral decadence in our society where the love of money has relegated decency and patriotism to the background. It is simply a rehash of the Anini episode in the 1980s, when the robbery kingpin was fond of gleefully spraying his booty in crisp naira notes along the road for people to pick each time his gang raided a bank’s vault. This was to divert people’s attention while they made good their escape.

    Surely, anything that has a beginning must certainly have an end. Like every criminal, the end has come for Kelvin, just like the end came for Anini and his gang in the 80s.

  • Kwankwaso’s China mission

    No one is contesting the fact that Kano under the leadership of Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso is poised to make a date with history. Taking into account the unprecedented developmental projects in education, infrastructure, healthcare, water supply and the economic transformation recorded under his stewardship, any attempt to compare him with his peers will be trite.

    On coming on board as governor of Kano State for the second time on May 29, 2011, the governor came up with myriad of programmes aimed at improving the lot of the people of the state, who in his view were made to groan under the biting fangs of abject neglect by the immediate past administration.

    The fire-brand governor was saddened by the fact that despite billions of naira which had been pumped into the coffers of the state government in the past, Kano was made to fiddle on the lower rung of the ladder in areas of trade and investment in addition to making no effort in the area of fostering economic diplomacy.

    He also noted with dismay, how some reputable industries were allowed to fold up without conceiving some palliatives to cushion the effect of the mass closure, a bad omen that made Kano lose its reputation as one of the leading commercial hubs in the West African sub-region.

    It is a fact one cannot dismiss by a whimper that the governor’s predecessor had been making overtures in seeking foreign investors’ support to agree to oblige to his request to come to the state and invest. Junket upon junket, no investment was forthcoming. It seemed the investors had noticed the suitor had feet of clay.

    The lukewarm attitude exhibited by such investors might not be unconnected with the fact that, the terrain was not favourable to their business interest since every intention he had expressed in that regard only stopped at the level of rectory.

    The people of the state naturally lost confidence in the immediate past administration given that administration’s failure to deliver on the promise to establish a high profile independent power station to inject succour into the industries that had been folding up. With the Kwankwaso administration talking every step to fulfil its promises and even surpassing expectations, Kano people now savour the sweetness of the nectar of democracy.

    His recent mission to China epitomises his readiness and resolve to foster economic and investment diplomacy with reputable multi-national corporations owned by some business tycoons in the communist state. This is in recognition that China has assumed the status of a global economic super power.

    Kwankwaso’s critics would readily attest to his frugality. In Kano, members of the ruling party are seen as the paupers because of the governor’s husbandry of public resources. His mission to China (and previous foreign travels) was in the best interest of the people, part of his persistent quest to propel Kano to the pinnacle of excellence — a measure of his high ambition for Kano.

    Instructively, his ability to attend the 17th China international conference on investment and Trade in Xiamen, an international gathering mostly attended by those who possessed the clout to enhance global trade and investment ties, was to make trade and investment in the state take a global shape.

    The governor was praised for his ability to convince investment gurus that despite the prevailing security challenges in the country, Kano remains a safe haven for robust trade and investment. While parleying with international investors, who equally marvelled at Kano’s rich potentials, the governor stressed that the opportunities when fully harnessed and exploited, would yield considerable dividends and put the state on the pedestal of economic growth.

    With the vast presence of China’s business moguls in Kano markets most especially those dealing in textiles, the atmosphere of unimpeded business transaction with China’s leading multi-national corporations is created with other investors from notable industrial democracies willing to take a cue.

    With the burgeoning population of Kano, the governor’s intention to build additional 1,000 housing units to be constructed by China and the establishment of a befitting modern market and textile industry, there is no gainsaying Kano is in dire need of accommodation.

    What will be of immense benefit to the people of Kano State as far as Kwankwaso’s mission to China is concerned, is the fact that under the Chinese law, every major construction firms or multi-national corporations handling projects in foreign land must be subjected to rigorous scrutiny by the Chinese government to ensure that something is not done to smear the good reputation of their country.

    It was the contention of the Chinese that it is a heinous crime for a Chinese firm to renege on a certain contractual agreement, hence the benefit Kano is set to derive as a result of the contractual agreement it entered into with leading Chinese firms who are currently executing projects in the state.

    • Safiyanu wrote from Sani Mainage Qtrs, Kano

     

  • Anambra 2013 and Ngige’s Senate report card

    Since the commencement of the processes leading to November 16 Anambra governorship election, I have been watching with utter dismay and disappointment the distortion of bare facts and orchestrated propaganda to bring the down one of the most formidable candidates in the race, Senator Dr Chris Nwabueze Ngige of the All Progressives Congress (APC). Hired for the dirty job by those afraid of Ngige’s political antecedents and value in the politics of the state, were hatchet writers, bloggers and internet warriors.

    Their first task was to demonise Ngige by labelling him a dormant senator, alleging that he has not sponsored or co-sponsored any bill in the Senate since he was elected. In short, it was governor of Anambra State, Peter Obi who first raised the false alarm in a function in Awka and the jobbers cashed on it. That was when the strange and divisive politics of zoning which governor Obi introduced to the state’s politics ahead of November 16 election appeared to be failing him. It is very obvious to Nigerians who are keen watchers of Senate’s proceedings that Ngige remains one of the most vibrant senators in the upper chamber today, despite being in opposition. Ngige apart from sponsoring and co-sponsoring some bills participated actively in 2011/2012 Appropriation Bill and made significant input into the money bill that will be beneficial to the people of the state. He is also a constant contributor on the topical issues on the floor of the senate.

    When moves were made to weaken the labour unions at the peak of subsidy protests, Ngige was among the senators who stood solidly behind the unions, by opposing the bill which was allegedly sponsored by the Presidency through a senator from South-south zone.

    At a time Ngige was the only senator from Anambra State because Senator Andy Uba’s election was nullified and nobody was representing Anambra North following the protracted legal tussle between Senator Margery Okadigbo and Senator Alphonsus Igbeke over the seat. During this period, Ngige made sure that projects of great benefit the entire South-east, his state and constituency were inserted in the appropriation bill. This is easily reflected in the increased power projects in the entire South-east. He is in seven committees of the senate, and as a senator from the opposition party, he cannot be chairman of a committee.

    As a workaholic deputy chairman of the senate committee on power, he worked round the clock with other members to ensure that progress was in the sector as being witnessed today across the country with improved power supply in some cities including Anambra. Ministers of Power past and present, namely, Professor Barth Nnaji and Prof. Chinedu Nebo can testify that.

    He single-handedly moved the motion for the immortalisation of the late Prof. Chinua Achebe. As a result of that motion, Achebe was given a plenary session, an honour reserved only for National Assembly members. As a result of the motion also, the federal government gave Achebe a befitting national burial.

    Apart from this, he sponsored Robbery and Firearms (Special Provisions) Act Cap R 11,LFN 2004 which seeks to provide for more judicial discretion and flexibility in the sentence imposed for robbery, depending on the facts and circumstances of each case, rather than having a pre-fixed maximum sentence and to clarify that hospitals and clinics must first administer necessary treatment to gunshot victims, before reporting the matter to the police within a reasonable period of time

    He also sponsored the amendment of the Federal Housing Authority Act Cap F14, LFN 2004 which seeks to provide for tenure for some of the members of the board of the Federal Housing Authority, and the General Manager who is CEO of the organization; and to remove the monetary cap on the borrowing powers of the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) and substitute presidential approval with ministerial approval for borrowing. Other bills sponsored by Ngige includes Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria Act Cap T3,LFN 2004, Flag and Coat of Arms Act Cap F30,LFN 2004, Flag of Nigerian Ships Act Cap F31,LFN 2004, Fertilizer (Control )Act Caps F25,LFN 2004, Public Officers Protection Act Cap P41,LFN 2004, Farmers Registration Council Bill, National Health Bill and National Health Insurance Bill.

    In addition, he has provided jobs to some of the unemployed youths in the state.

    All these incontrovertible facts are in the record of the proceedings of the present Senate, but the political jobbers and hatchet writers who are very lazy in research or investigation are capitalizing on the availability of the social media and non-sanction of it to try to deceive and misinform unsuspecting Nigerians, particularly the people of Anambra by fabricating all manners of allegations against Ngige. But they forget that Anambra people and Nigerians have become wise and cannot swallow all their lies hook, liner and sinker.

    Nigerians and the people of Anambra know that Ngige is not daft and was never one. He is a very deep and articulate person with great pace and zeal to get result on anything he engages himself. He is a selfless politician who believes that public fund should be used to better the lot of the people through the provision of basic infrastructural facilities, instead of sharing them from hand to hand under any guise.

    This is because he had a humble beginning. During his days as pupil at St. Patrick Primary School, Ogbete, Enugu, which he left in 1964, Ngige was an outstanding pupil both in academics and other extra-curriculum activities. He was never found wanting in anything. Not many were surprised when he made distinction in his school certificate examination at St. John Secondary School, Alor in 1972.

    Many had thought that he would be a lawyer, because he had studied arts and commercial subjects to class four before switching over to science subjects, leaving his younger brother, Emeka Ngige (SAN) to continue with arts subjects – a feat many never tried because of fear of failure.

    As if that was not enough and without much delay, Ngige secured admission to study Medicine at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, UNN, where he graduated with flying colours in 1979. This was at a time most his mates were still retaking our school certificate. While in the university, he was actively involved in student union politics, which he never allowed to affect his studies and performance.

    Upon his graduation, many of his colleagues travelled to overseas, while others picked jobs in multinational companies, but Ngige in line with his deep flair for public and humanitarian services, opted for a job at the Federal Ministry of Health where he worked creditably for years before leaving voluntarily in 1998 as deputy director of hospital services, federal medical centres and teaching hospitals.

    While in Federal Ministry of Health, he was instrumental to the establishment of permanent sites for most of the federal medical centres and teaching hospitals, especially in the South-east zone. In continuation of his burning desire for public service, he ventured into the murky waters of Nigerian politics as one of the founding fathers of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP. No wonder he was appointed the protem zonal publicity secretary of the party in the South-east in 1998 and later the assistant national/zonal secretary of the party in the zone between 1999 and 2002. The same year he was conferred with the national honour of Order of the Niger, OON, for his diligence and accountability in public service.

    It was from there that he emerged the governorship candidate of the PDP in Anambra State in 2003. Though his initial ambition was to become a senator, he was persuaded by the party stakeholders to run for the office of governor.

    Having been in public service all his life, Ngige is always conscious of Harold McAlindon’s words: “Do not follow where the path may lead, but go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” So from childhood, he never believed in bandwagonism, but in carving a niche for himself in anything he does.

    As senator currently representing Anambra Central Ngige has continued to identify with the people through his quality debates and contributions on the floor of the Senate. He has continued to remain his self and the man of the people, mindful of the fact that being oneself in a world that is constantly trying to make one something else is the greatest accomplishment.

     

    • Obiajulu, a teacher wrote from Awka, Anambra State

     

  • FEEDBACK

    FEEDBACK

    As the reader can see, I have decided to dedicate today’s column to reactions to three of my last four columns, i.e. those of September 4, 18 and 25. Between them the three attracted a total of over 200 texts and several emails. Two weeks ago I carried a somewhat lengthy but thoughtful reaction to that of September 11.

    Among the more thoughtful reactions to the last two columns which I wanted to publish but couldn’t for reasons of space are two; a 689-word piece from Sahalu Saidu, and a shorter one from Dr Nura H. Alkali. I’ll publish them next week, God willing.

    For last week’s column the editors of The Nation used the portrait of Sarkin Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris, in place of Sarkin Zazzaun Suleja’s Alhaji Awwal Ibrahim’s. Nearly a third of the 58 texts I received on the piece drew my attention to the error. Below are the correct portraits. The mistake is regretted.

     

    Gen Danjuma, Suntai and Taraba

    Sir,

    Let me start this rejoinder with a disclaimer. I’m not here to defend the famed Abonta Kwararafa, General T.Y Danjuma. No. The colossus can do that himself or, if he likes, engage better hands to do that for him. All I seek to do is to widen the arguments of ace columnist Mohammed Haruna, and probably shed new lights on some of the issues he raised in his column of September 4 (“Another open letter to General T. Y. Danjuma”) on the current constitutional and political crisis in Taraba state. By accusing the General of silence, the writer probably thought the Jarmai Zazzau would just act without carefully checking what is going on. In Haruna’s piece, there was even a veiled attempt to even make the detribalized and patriotic general appear to be siding with Christians in this whole drama.

    Ladies and gentlemen, the Taraba political logjam may appear to a distant watcher as a religious struggle between Muslims and Christians but on a closer look, it is what it is: a crude cold battle for power. Speaker Haruna Tsokwa, for instance, who is hell bent on sending Governor Danbaba Danfulani Suntai back to the US for medication is a dyed-in- the-wool believer and elder in the conservative, predominantly Jukun, CRCN church. Hon. Josiah Kente who leads the anti Suntai army is a born-again believer. Some Christians in the Taraba state House of Assembly oppose any idea of a Suntai continuous stay in Government House.

    For the teeming people of the southern part of the state, power shift to that zone is at the center of it all. In a recent meeting at Takum, Sen. Emmanuel Bwacha, the senator representing the zone at the National Assembly, said he was prepared to lay down his seat as a senator(if not his life even) for this aspiration. That is the measure of his and our resolve on this matter. Not for him to be governor but that the zone produces one! Every true son and daughter of Southern Taraba feels this way too. All the other zones in the state have produced a governor and we have played second place for far too long since Taraba was created.

    We in the southern zone don’t hate Muslims! We can’t afford to!

    Emmanuel Bello,

    Former Commissioner of Information,

    Taraba State.

    Sir,

    How do you expect the general (T. Y. Danjuma) to intervene when his foot soldiers in Christ (Jerry Gana and John Dara) were at the airport to receive Suntai? My opinion is that you may be asking the wrong person to intervene on the crisis in Taraba.

    +2348039753275

    Sir,

    I disagree with you on the assertion that the so-called Middle Belt which is located in north-central Nigeria is mainly Christian, because looking at the states that make up the Middle Belt, only Plateau and Benue are mainly Christian. And by the way, is General Danjuma from the Middle Belt? Methinks he is from Taraba State and the last time I checked, Taraba State is geographically in the North -Eastern part of Nigeria.

    Abdurrahman,

    Galadima Road, Kano.

    +2348102884060

     

    Ten Tears of Etsu Nupe

    Sir,

    Yours on “Ten years of the 13th Etsu Nupe” (September 18) refers. Mallam Dendo had seven sons namely, Mamman Majigi, Abdugboya and Usman Zaki by his Fulani wife Adama; Mustapha, Mamudu, and Masaba, by his Nupe wife Fatima; and Ibrahim by another Nupe wife. Umaru Majigi was the eldest grandson of Mallam Dendo and son of Mamman Majigi.

    Garba Abdul,

    +2348037860515

    Sir,

    I completely disagree with you that Etsu Nupe has been too liberal in awarding his emirate’s traditional titles. The Etsu has NEVER EVER given title to any undeserving person. I expected you to have given instances. I have known the Etsu Nupe since 2nd July, 1973 when we assembled at the Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, for cadet training as members of Regular Course 14. In fact, one of our Indian Instructors, Capt Grewal, saw the good leadership qualities in him and gave him the title chief. That became his alias as we began to call him chief or sarki.

    Capt Momy G (rtd),

    Publicity Secretary, NDA Regular Course 14.

    +2348050802000

    Sir,

    Thanks a lot for your incisive Wednesday articles. However sometimes factual errors do crop up in them. For instance, in the Etsu Nupe piece you stated at the end of the third paragraph that the Dan Fodio’s jihad was carried out in the LATE 19th century instead of d EARLY part of the century.

    Muhammad,

    +2348037037462

    Sir,

    I am from Ogidi (the town where, as you pointed out, the Nupe army defeated the British cavalry on June 26, 1896). A distinguished delegation from Bida was with us on the occasion of Ogidi Day on June 15. The team comprised Manko Babayitso (Ciroma), Yakawu, Yabagi Shehu, Prince Ndayako and Bako Mustapha. That was the first time since 1897 that Ogidi would receive that level of Nupe visitors.

    Tunde Ipinmisho,

    Head, Corporate Communications,

    Federal Housing Authority, Abuja.

    Sir,

    Your column of September 18 refers please. It is NOT correct that of the five Etsu in Usman Zaki’s House Etsu Yahaya’s 10 yrs is longest. The longest reign to date in that house is that of Bello (1915 to 1926). Also the similarities between Nupe and Yoruba languages and cultures are not products of 1804 Jihad but due to close interaction between the two people that dated much earlier than the Jihad. One of the most popular Alafin of Oyo, Shango, was said to be half Nupe.

    Ahmad.

    +2348150618353

    Sir,

    I read with nostalgia ten years of the 13th Etsu. Having finished from Federal Polytechnic, Bida, in 1981 and still living among the Nupe 32 years after, I find them similar in many ways to my Igbo people. I have spent the greater part of my life here in harmony and wish that the promises of an integrated nation shall not elude us. Long live the Nupe Kingdom!

    George Dike,

    Haske Hotels,

    Minna.

     

    Twenty years of Sarkin Zazzaun Suleja

    Sir,

    Sarkin Zazzaun Suleja Awwal got his emirship courtesy of “ogas at the top.” (“Sarkin Zazzaun Suleja, the (almost) rejected stone…” September 25). Pray for the day ogas at the bottom will decide both traditional and political leadership

    NAT,

    +2348028233050

    Sir,

    A superb “historical” write-up, that is, despite some few uncharitable, unnecessary and uncalled for insinuations, particularly as the columnist went into wild imagination about the role of the late Etsu Nupe, Alhaji Umaru Ndayako, in the saga as Chairman of the Niger State council of emirs. Objective comment and history will commend the Etsu Nupe for electing to protect and defend the custom, tradition and choice of Suleja people above the selfish interests of his state Governor and the nation’s then military president, which showed rare courage.

    Two: there was nothing like “a classic case of how tenacity in the pursuit of one’s objective is more likely than not to pay off” in Alhaji Awwal Ibrahim’s ascension to the throne. Rather it was just a case of the common sense Hausa adage of “kowa yasamu rana sai yayi shanya” (literally, we are all opportunists) that was vigorously exploited by varying shades of elite friends and acquaintances in the run down to President Ibrahim Babangida’s 1992-94 political engineering.That was when the likes of Sultan Ibrahim Dasuki, Abiola, Bashir Tofa and many others from the military, academia, bureaucracy, business, etc, were created, empowered and imposed ostensibly to facilitate the perpetuation of the military President in power.

    Thirdly, there are no problems any longer with the emirate kingmakers and so-called two ruling houses as feared by the columnist. The then governor, Dr. Musa Inuwa, was instructed to amend the custom, tradition and kingmakership as they related to ascension of the Emir of Suleja and to remove all restrictions previously placed on aspirant Awwal Ibrahim. The kingmakers now are the Santali, Sarkinyaki and the Mallams. Whether the ruling house is one or two is to be determined by political interest of the “oga at the top” of the day.

    Musa Mazawaje,

    Suleja.

    +2348032547200

    Sir,

    I always enjoy your column due to the fact that it is always well researched in great detail with the facts well documented. This piece on Sarkin Zazzaun Suleja is a case in point reaffirming the fact power belongs to Allah (SWT) and He gives it to whom He wills. In addition to that just imagine how many unpopular leaders we rejected who might have been our salvation in this country just like the emir. This is food indeed for thought for every Nigerian.

    Ahmed S. J.

    +2348036133653

    Sir,

    As a fellow journalist, I’ve kept track of your articles primarily because of your skills in writing and sticking to the cause you believe in even if it is pseudo sectarian. However, in the article you wrote on Sarkin Zazzaun Suleja, you misunderstood what a linguist means. A linguist is not a person who speaks many languages. He is a person who does a scientific study of languages. He who understands and speaks several languages like Emir Awwal is a polyglot.

    Donatus Okpe

    Lokoja

    +2348069615027

     

  • Still planning–and polling-without facts

    Still planning–and polling-without facts

    Back in 1966, the American economist, Dr Wolgang Stolper, on secondment from USAID to help prepare Nigeria’s First Development Plan (1962-68) accented the difficulty of the task, with a book appropriately titled “Planning without Facts.”

    This past week, the World Bank Country Director for Nigeria, Marie-Françoise Marie-Nelly, warned during a workshop in Lagos for statisticians that there could be no meaningful development or evaluation of national strategies without quality statistics to identify socio-economic challenges.

    Little seems to have changed during the nearly five decades between.

    They have continued to draw up plans on practically every aspect of national life without facts. without even knowing how many people they are planning for, nor how they are constituted.

    The point of departure for serious national planning is the population census. It is the body of data – the sampling frame – from which field investigators draw up a representative sample for the kind of study and analysis that will make it possible for them to apply their findings to the general population with confidence.

    But nobody knows the population of Nigeria to the nearest 25 million. From the 1950s, the population census has been padded, for political reasons. Instead of rectifying the errors of the preceding census, every subsequent census has reinforced and even amplified them. Each exercise has been in effect an exercise in programmed inflation.

    So much for the population size.

    When it comes to the distribution of the population, especially the pattern of distribution, census after census has been marked by a sharp departure from the laws of demography. The Sahel, much of it semi-arid, is credited with a larger share of the population than the coastal, forest and savanna regions.

    It is true that the North occupies a much larger area than the South. But even this larger area does not satisfactorily explain the population distribution as manifested in the national census. Neither the ecology nor the economy can support the large populations with which vast stretches of the North are credited.

    Even where there is a large population as in metropolitan Kano, not to be confused with the rest of Kano State – it still defies reason that, after Jigawa was excised from it, Kano is still credited with a larger population than Lagos.

    Nobody, it is necessary to insist, knows the size of the national population to the nearest 25 million, or, to be quite generous, the nearest 15 percent. Now, if a study reports findings with a margin of error of plus or minus 15 percent, we would reject it on the ground that it is no better than guesswork. Even if the findings fall within the acceptable margin of error, they would still be questionable because it is impossible to use flawed data to arrive at valid findings.

    But we continue not only to plan with the census figures confected every ten years, but also to invest them with the sanctity of actuality. This is the aeronautical equivalent of flying blind.

    And it explains, in some measure, why nothing in Nigeria works the way it was designed to work. To be sure, corruption and incompetence play a large part in the national dysfunction, but the dearth of reliable facts and figures must also be accounted a major contributory factor.

    Take as an example the oil industry, the lifeblood of the economy. Nobody knows how much oil is extracted from our waters or shores. In 1980, Professor Ayodele Awojobi, the University of Lagos polymath, revealed that the barrel used for lifting oil in Nigeria was four gallons larger than the standard barrel. The situation may well have been rectified, but the fact remains that nobody knows how much oil is actually lifted.

    When they say that as much as one-fourth of Nigeria’s oil output is stolen, that is just guesswork based on guesswork.

    Just as nobody knows how much oil is extracted, nobody knows how much oil is consumed. During the last oil ‘subsidy” crisis, the NNPC and the Department of Petroleum Resources gave wildly different figures for national daily consumption. It follows that, if consumption of petroleum products was indeed being subsidised, it was impossible to calculate the amount of subsidy. Yet a trainload of projects was rolled out, to be funded with the money that would be realised from cutting the alleged subsidy.

    Hardly a day passes without one official declaring with certitude how many billions would accrue to the federal exchequer from ending rice or wheat-flour or cement or sugar or poultry imports, and how many billion tons of cassava would be harvested in the next season as a result of improved seedlings provided by the government.

    Whenever they put out the inflation rate, you have to ask: “In what country do these people live?” For the figure bears almost no correspondence to the experience of the people. And just the other day, two government agencies gave different figures for the rate of unemployment, each of them guesswork at best.

    Because there is no reliable census data, and thus no reliable sampling frame, it is impossible to draw a probabilistic sample – one in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being represented. In the absence of such a sample, it is impossible to conduct meaningful public opinion polls in Nigeria. Yet, results of opinion polls conducted by the media or third parties are routinely reported in the news, especially during elections.

    In one notorious instance, a newspaper lavishly published “exit polls” on an election that was yet to be held. In another instance, the forecast for the presidential election published by the same newspaper, in conjunction with a foreign polling agency that refused to submit its methodology to scrutiny, was matched in every particular by the outcome. Nate Silver, the statistician who predicted Barack Obama’s victory in the 2102 presidential election with near-perfect accuracy, could not have done better.

    But given the flawed sampling frame on which the Nigerian poll was based, it is perfectly permissible to infer, as many commentators did, that the election result had been determined, and the task before the pollsters and the newspaper was to fix their findings to that result.

    The entry on the Nigerian scene two years ago of NOIPolls, a partner with Gallup USA qualifying itself as “the No. 1 for country-specific polling services in the West African region,” promises to improve opinion polling in the country. NOIPolls says it enhances decision-making across all sectors of the Nigerian economy by delivering “forward-thinking research and relevant data,

    Dr Goodluck Jonathan will no doubt be heartened by the finding in its August 2013 poll that that six of every 10 Nigerians (the actual figure is 57 percent) approved his job performance, up four points from the previous month, and the highest since January 2013.

    Not bad for a month marked by tumult within the ruling PDP, nationwide strike by university teachers, and killings the Boko Haram on a blood-curdling scale.

    He will most certainly be surprised to find, however, that his approval is strongest not in his South-South redoubt (66 percent), but in the South East (76 percent), followed by the North- Central (70 percent).

    To borrow the language of election analysts in years past, could Dr Jonathan’s strong approval rating in the South East be due to the Anyim Pius Anyim Factor – Anyim being the dynamic and high-achieving Secretary to the Government of the Federation? By the same reasoning, Dr Jonathan’s impressive approval rating in North Central will have to be attributed to the Namadi (Vice President) Sambo Factor.

    General Muhammadu Buhari, where are you, sir?

    No prizes for making it out that Dr Jonathan’s less-than-robust rating in the South South has got to be a manifestation of the Amaechi Factor.

    Dr Jonathan has nothing to fear concerning the Southwest, where 33 percent of the residents were neutral about his job performance, unlike the Northwest where 36 percent disapprove his performance. Could that be the Babangida Aliyu factor?

    NOIPolls is a huge improvement on what previously passed for opinion polling in Nigeria. Its latest poll, conducted from August 12 through 15, was based on a random sample of 1009 phone-owning Nigerians aged 18 and above in the six geopolitical zones. The reported margin of error is a healthy plus or minus 3 percent.

    One question arises from the survey, however. Do the findings also reflect the views of the 30 percent of the population that, according to a previous NOIPolls investigation, does not own phones?

    By the way, is it true that the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, owns the outfit wholly or substantially?

  • The giant totters on at 53

    We’ll probably hear the same old cliché repeated at several venues in the 36 state capitals plus Abuja today: our behemoth with the feet of clay has several reasons to celebrate at 53. As it was in the years past, so it will be this year, next year and perhaps forevermore. It is a ritual that Nigerians, long used to living on that intangible staple called hope and its derivatives are well familiar. It comes in the simple and perhaps familiar prose: the over-sold Nigerian dream and its infinite possibilities may have turned dross and forlorn, hope, abided still.

    And what do they say is proof? That the geographical entity called Nigeria still exists?

    Guess it’s time to paraphrase the lines of the scripture: in hope we live and have our being.

    At 53, no one denies that Nigeria is anything but a huge disappointment. Everything from the economy, to the infrastructure, politics, education, right down to the value system has suffered denudation to various degrees. Our fathers truly, may have munched the sour grapes; it is our generation’s teeth that are set on the edge. The sins of our fathers have returned to haunt us; so we hang on the straw of hope.

    Where is the hope in an environment where things continue to get progressively worse, not better? Where millions of children still die of malaria and other preventable diseases? Where is hope when in spite of the boom in numbers of educational institutions, the real indicators are of decline in access?

    Want proof? How about the record 10 million out-of-school kids? Or the 1.2 million candidates who, for reasons of limited spaces in our tertiary institutions, have no hope of securing a space. Where is the hope in an environment where it is possible to shut down the university system for three months running without those in charge wincing?

    The situation of the economy is all-too-familiar. We grew up in the 60s to behold the wonders of the groundnut pyramids, the stacks of the cocoa beans, the rubber, and the timber – all made for export. All that now belongs in the history books. Despite our record earnings from oil, we are comparatively a poor nation. Check this out: In 2012, that is, 52 after independence, our per capita income was US$ 1052.34. South Africa by comparison in 2012 had a per capita income of $6003 and Singapore $33,988. With monthly import bill of close to $7 billion, our manufacturing comes to zilch in real terms.

    So where is the hope when nearly every manufactured item is imported; where the few indigenous manufacturers are rendered uncompetitive by inclement policies of government?

    Today, one out of every four eligible Nigerians is believed to be out of work. Among the youths, one out of two has no gainful employment. At a time many more factories are either closing shop or about to, the government continues to make a song of foreign direct investment as well as outlandish claims of economic growth. As for inequality, this has since grown in leaps and bounds with few Nigerians displaying stupendous wealth in the midst of pervasive squalor. Once a thriving class, the middle class has virtually disappeared.

    So, where is the hope of security where such large numbers of youths are kept idle even as the few rich have no qualms about living ostentatiously?

    Today, the security situation is not only parlous, life, as in the famed Hobbesian jungle has turned brutish and short. In the East, citizens have the scourge of kidnappers to contend with; in the North-west, it is the Boko Haram; elsewhere it is everyone to himself and God for us all. How do we turn the tide without confronting the problem of under-performing economy which has since awakened the old daemons of religion and ethnicity?

    Now, I do not seek here to understate the structural problems of the Nigerian state. Only the most incurable believer in the unity would fail to be wearied by the tell-tale signs of Nigeria’s degenerative disease. Of course, I agree that our federal structure as currently practiced is not only problematic but clearly dysfunctional. My task is to point at the possibilities even within the current warped framework.

    The first challenge is to make the economy work. Part of the problem in my view is our increasingly bizarre definition of productive labour. To the extent that rent has remained a pervasive feature of the economy, there is at the moment very little incentive for work. That has to change if Nigeria will ever survive her current travails.

    One other thing that must happen is to ensure that the economy is made truly competitive. Now, the place of modern infrastructure in the making of modern competitive economy cannot be overstated; too bad that the attention has been either too slow or too late in this regard. The road infrastructure needs to be improved upon; ditto the railways. Electricity is of course given; just as the banks needs fixing to catalyse the economy.

    It seems to me however that one of the greatest challenges facing the Nigerian economy is how to develop and grow the critical skills pool for industry and the real sector. Once upon a time, the nation had a pool of artisans, masons and other crafts to draw upon; these were graded and remunerated accordingly. Today’s artisan class is a laissez faire class with poor work ethic – a class that seeks rewards over and above the value delivered. Improving their capacity seems to me the surest strategy to address the unemployment problem in the long run.

    Would these moderate the resurgence of incipient ethnic nationalism? It may or may not; I am convinced however that the chance of Nigeria’s survival depends on growing the economic base. A prosperous Nigeria would seem better positioned to deal with the centrifugal forces currently assailing her. The matter, as it is, goes beyond hope.

     

     

     

     

     

  • SNC: Beware of Greeks bearing gifts

    The war to reclaim from Troy, the beautiful Helen Paris the Trojan had stolen from Sparta, had lasted 10 years. Yet, the Greeks could not sack Troy.

    Achilles, the charmed Greek with the fatal heel, had died in battle. So had Hector, the bravest of the Trojans, defending their city from the besieging Greeks. It was fated to end a bloody stalemate – until Odysseus sold perhaps the greatest war dummy in all of antiquity: the Trojan horse.

    Odysseus contrived to be built a gargantuan wooden horse, on which was etched: “For their return home, the Greeks dedicate this offering to Athena.” It was a sacred gift to Athena, the sea goddess, to pilot home the retreating Greek navy. But in its cavernous interior were hidden soldiers.

    The Trojans fell for the trick and pulled the horse inside their city. Once inside, the crafty Greeks wasted no time: Troy became history.

    Beware of Greeks bearing gifts!

    This is no foray into the Classics and its enchanting stories. But David Mark, senate president of the Federal Republic’s sudden conversion to the idea of a national conference – like some Saul turning Paul on the way to Damascus – is somewhat reminiscent of the Trojan dummy.

    Even more surprising has been the almost uncritical zest with which the traditional advocates of the Sovereign National Conference (SNC) have rushed at Senator Mark’s seeming conversion. The prodigal has finally come around; their body language seems to scream, so it’s time to celebrate that landmark!

    That, to be sure, is not completely out of place. For one, Mark was simply one of the most notorious anti-democracy elements of the military era, particularly after the annulment of MKO Abiola’s 12 June 1993 presidential mandate; with even some literature alleging that he threatened to shoot MKO should he become president, a charge the former army brigadier-general has denied.

    For another, Senate President Mark is one of yesterday’s many democracy anti-heroes that nevertheless sit pretty in today’s democracy. So, literally eating their cake and also keeping it, such scions of impunity, for whom “democracy” is just a continuation of perpetual power gravy in another guise, have no need to stomach any gobbledegook some quaint political geeks call SNC.

    So, maybe for a Mark to even acknowledge a national confab, under any guise, is a thing to cheer!

    Still, in fairness to Mark, even as a national conference seeming convert, via his September 17 speech welcoming the Senate to a new session, he has maintained his centralist essence.

    While the romantics talk of an unfettered talk of “ethnic nationalities” to chart a future for Nigeria – with the people through a grand referendum endorsing or rejecting their decisions, and not some dissembling parliament cherry-picking these decisions – Mark has insisted on a limited palaver with no-go areas.

    But that very preference ought to have triggered the alarm, immediately awakening a sense of the déjà vu.

    Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, the greatest dissembler of them all, probably has the patent for “no go areas” when, during his imperious military reign, he declared the Nigerian national question as settled. Of course, he fancied himself some Juan Domingo Peron of Nigeria, who would march from martial rule to democratic triumph; and under his blissful suzerainty, everyone would live happily ever after! That was some dream – until it all blew up in his face!

    Then came Sani Abacha, the most virulent of them all, gifting a naive country some “National Constitutional Conference with full constituent powers”. All Abacha wanted was to buy time, get rid of the likes Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and consolidate his power. He succeeded more than he ever dreamed. But Nigeria went further down the mire, as a developmental disposition that should spawn prosperity for its longsuffering citizens.

    Olusegun Obasanjo too, during his second coming, in 2005, staged his own gambit, which he called National Political Reform Conference, not programmed for any fundamental change.

    It is the turf of centralist gamers, gaming away while their country sinks further in the mire!

    Even current national conference converts are not unlike a cluster of the blind, arrayed around an elephant. Some feel its tusk, and swear indeed, the elephant is as smooth as ivory. Yet, others feel its limb and swear, with equal vehemence, the mighty beast is as gross and coarse as they come!

    Indeed, aside from military-era centralist gamers, a southern lobby has of late been championing SNC, with Awo franchise-seeking elements from the South West, teaming up with Ijaw nationalists from the South-South. While the one seeks relevance in rapidly changing South West political equations, the other evinces a more civil approach to the Goodluck Jonathan presidential cause, beyond insane threats from the creeks.

    Only the SNC classicists, however, would appear clear in their mind, on what they expect of a grand national talk; and how its decisions must be handled. It is to see how Frederick Lugard’s amalgam of 1914, always threatening to abort at the slightest pressure, could somewhat be re-processed into some more enduring compound, that could stand the test of time.

    But even these classicists are no united phalanx. They are more like voices of Babel, which din somewhat drifts toward the same direction. In contrast, the confab gamers, with their perennial see-saw, appear committed to causing maximum distraction to buy time. The snag, however, is: time is running out!

    For the umpteenth time, SNC is no game. It is a last-ditch effort to restructure Nigeria – potentially great, but perhaps fated to carry its greatness to its self-dug grave, without ever actualising its potentials, unless something drastic is done – into a productive and prosperous entity.

    That is a much better and brighter vision than the present parasitic state, at war with itself; and its citizens, tragic sacrificial lambs on the altar of self-caused chaos – the latest being the September 29 Boko Haram slaughter of 40 students at the College of Agriculture, Gujba, in Yobe State.

    Incidentally, today is the last October 1 before the centenary of Lugard’s troubled amalgamation. But from shortly after 1 October 1960 independence when the young country ran into political storm, the initial duo of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe (President) and Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (Prime Minister), had been succeeded by a relay of others on the anniversary dais: Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Muhammed, Olusegun Obasanjo, Shehu Shagari, Muhammadu Buhari, Ibrahim Babangida, Sani Abacha, Obasanjo (second coming), Umaru Yar’Adua and now, Goodluck Jonathan.

    Each year, aside from plastic celebrations by those in power, the National Day almost always provokes a lament on the Nigerian question. This lamentation cannot go on much longer, with Lugard’s amalgam unravelling with avoidable tragedies.

    For gamers buying time, the game is well neigh over. Nigeria cannot afford a Troy-like dummy, though self-sold, that could consign it to history.

    To the establishment playing for time, therefore, the choice is stark: embrace SNC or go bust.

    That is the peaceful way to salvage Lugard’s patchwork – or lose everything.

     

  • Nigeria will still be great

    I  congratulate Nigerians on the 53rd anniversary of our nation’s independence. But as we celebrate, we must also take time to reflect on the state of the nation. The Nigerian project is a bold experiment in nation-building. It is an experiment that has proved to be a challenging undertaking. But, for me, building Nigeria is an experiment that is well worth the attempt.

    At independence, on this day in 1960, Nigeria was a country full of high hopes, and good prospects, with its diverse peoples filled with aspirations. But somewhere along the line, we got it fundamentally wrong, with the consequences that, today, 53 years on, we are still struggling to get the basics right. The country is faced with tough difficulties and mortal dangers on multiple fronts. Our efforts at nation-building are being affronted by manifold crises of under-development – bad governance; poor planning; industrial collapse; decay of basic infrastructure; socio-economic backwardness; political instability; insecurity; widespread poverty; social, ethnic and religious tension; high incidence of crime and criminality; and terrorism among many other woes.

    These are undeniably serious setbacks to our development march; but they do not amount to any permanent incapacity for us not to move forward. Indeed, setbacks are necessary but temporary impediments along the path to progress. Therefore, I am at one with American entrepreneur, Les Brown, who counselled that: ‘Anytime you suffer a setback or disappointment. Put your head down and plow ahead’. Hence, I remain convinced that the Nigerian project is a viable one. And I am optimistic that we may yet get it right as a country; and convert our much vaunted great potentials into actual benefits for our people. All we need is sound leadership and good governance.

    Indeed, our story on the independence path has not been doom and gloom only; it is also strewn with bright patches and shades of greatness. We have had sporting glories, a Nobel Prize in literature, representation in the top universities in the world and a Nigerian got in the Forbes 100 top list. For the most part, we groan so much at the cup being three quarter empty that we forgot it’s also one quarter full.

    As someone in leadership position, I set my sight firmly on the promises the future holds and the opportunities that our great country can offer. My aspirations are for Nigeria to be able to overcome its development challenges, and to become one of the top 10 economies in the world in the shortest time possible. But we need to work towards achieving these goals. As a matter of urgency, we must shift our economic paradigm from sole dependence on oil towards productive diversification. Agriculture is a viable alternative here. We must develop our agriculture towards achieving food security. We must give primacy to food production as a strategic national imperative, for it is a sure basis for sustainable economic development.

    Indeed, pursuing food security as a strategic value goes beyond merely feeding the people. Food security is a core pillar of national security. No nation can have genuine national security without food security. Therefore, if we make food security the driving force of our agricultural development, the accompanying spin-offs it will generate can only add greater value to our overall economic development efforts.

    My conviction about agriculture as a viable solution to our unemployment problem lay in the fact that, an agricultural economy that is grounded in food production cannot fail. People can give up luxury items if occasion demands it. But for as long as we remain human, we will eat; food is a biological necessity! Luxury item are a matter of choice. People for instance can very easily forgo chocolate; but it would be hard to imagine them forgoing staple food like rice or potato. Food security is an essential condition for national security.

    Related to this is the need to gainfully and meaningfully engage our youths by creating jobs and employment opportunities. Our present chronic youth unemployment situation is a potential source of social explosion. There is profound wisdom in productively engaging our youths. Young people are some of society’s greatest assets; but they can also be a major source of its problem. In Nigeria, youths constitute the bulk of our productive population, and that bulk is overwhelmingly unemployed! In other words, we have a potentially advantageous youth bulge in our population, which could also be turned into a bug by prolonged lack of employment.

    Young people are energetic, talented, innovative, aspirational, and daring. These are good qualities for economic enterprise. We only need to be creative to harness them for the rapid socio-economic transformation of our country. Again, agriculture presents enormous possibilities in this regard. Our huge population offers immense opportunities as a market, and for massive job creation, that can absorb our teeming unemployed youths, and help in eradicating poverty.

    Another area of great promise is information and communications technology. ICT also offers enormous possibilities for creating jobs and for meaningfully engaging our youths. After all, ICT is a field that is not only a product of innovation, it is driven by human creativity. Innovation and creativity are an area of strength for young people. They will have their imagination taxed and their minds energised. It can help focus the vibrant energies of our youths on positive development. In addition, it is a fertile area of almost infinite possibilities where the only limitation is the human imagination. Again, all we need do is to get our acts together; think and organise so that we can make the most of the opportunities available to us.

    Essential to modern life and any economic endeavour is power, but this is an area in which the nation has been badly struggling. The circa 4,000mw the nation produces is a huge joke. This, when the economy is in full throttle, cannot even serve the Ikeja business district. Admittedly there have been great efforts at addressing the problem but they have amounted to little. This is the time to discard the old approach and tackle the problem of power squarely. We must be jolted by the realisation that without sufficient electric power, all other efforts will come to nought.

    I am not trying to make light of the formidable challenges involved in making a success of the Nigerian project; my point is that the difficulties are not an excuse for failure. In fact, they are a compelling reason for us to try to overcome them. I am an unflinching believer in the assertion of George Bernard Shaw that ‘[t]he only real failure in life is the failure to try’. It is in our utmost interest not to fail to try. Success is only born of trying, and I am in no doubt at all that if we genuinely keep trying, we shall surely overcome.

    October 1st of every year offers us the opportunity to review the journey of nationhood and to come to the awareness that just as we have the prospect of greatness, so also are we faced with the grim possibility of tipping over the brink; the probability of outcomes now depends on the choices that we make. It is my fervent hope and prayer, however, that we will always make the right choices and realise our greatest potential.

    Once again, I congratulate us all and wish us happy independence celebrations.

     

    • Aregbesola is Governor of the State of Osun