The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

  • Needless debate on President’s tenure

    Needless debate on President’s tenure

    Since the news filtered out a few days ago that the Senate is angling for a six-year single term tenure for the nation’s President in the new constitution expected to emerge later in the year, the nation has been polarised into two camps of those who cherish the idea and those who oppose it. Actually, the idea is not one for which the upper legislative chamber deserves credit. It is a mere modification of the seven-year single term tenure President Goodluck Jonathan proposed to the National Assembly a few months after he assumed office in 2011.

    In justifying the proposal, the President had argued that it was impelled by the need for an incumbent President to focus maximum attention on the execution of his developmental programmes rather than exert vital energy on re-election issues. “President Jonathan is concerned about the acrimony which the issue of re-election, every four years, generates both at the federal and state levels,” presidential spokesman, Dr, Reuben Abayi, said in a statement. “The nation is still smarting from the unrest, the desperation for power and the overheating of the polity that has attended each general election. The fallout of all this is the unending inter and intra-party squabbles which have affected the growth of party democracy in the country and have further undermined the country’s developmental aspirations. In addition, the costs of conducting party primaries and the general elections have become too high for the economy to accommodate every four years. The proposed amendment Bill is necessary to consolidate our democracy and allow elected executives to concentrate on governance and service delivery for their full term, instead of running governments with re-election as their primary focus.”

    Other proponents of the idea believe that it will reduce acrimony in politics and create a level play field for all candidates during elections. But as would be expected in a country where the people are perpetually at war with their leaders’ desperation to cling to power, the President’s proposal was discounted as a subtle move to perpetuate himself in office. The opposition parties, the Transition Monitoring Group, civil society groups, socio-political organisations like the Afenifere and Arewa Consultative Forum, and even the House of Representatives all believe that the proposal is nothing but a ploy by the President and sitting governors to add more years to their tenures through a back-door arrangement.

    The idea of breaking the President’s tenure into two terms of four years each emanated from the need to give the electorate an opportunity to assess the President’s performance in the first four years and use that as a yardstick to determine his continued suitability or otherwise. He would be voted out, if he is deemed not to have lived up to expectation or voted in to continue his good works, if he is deemed fit and able. The arrangement imposes on an elected President the responsibility to hit the ground running in order to merit a second term. On the other hand, the President elected for a single term of six years is a fait accompli. The people have no choice, but to endure him for the period, no matter how patently incapable.

    However, both arrangements are premised on the presumption that the votes count and the power to elect resides with the people. Unfortunately, that is hardly the case with us. Hence I have a feeling that the debate on the President’s tenure amounts to putting the cart before the horse. Our most pressing political need at the moment is not how long the president stays in office, but the ability of the people to get the kind of leaders they desire. Of course, it is obvious that the nation has not profited from the present arrangement. But there is also no guarantee that shortening the maximum tenure of the President from two four-year terms to a single term of six years would guarantee the dividends of democracy the people have so wistfully longed for. The constitutional innovation that would help the nation at the moment is one that guarantees that every vote counts so that the electorate can choose trusted individuals to lead them.

    This is important because the success of any administration is a function of how much trust the people repose in it. Once the people believe that they are being led by individuals in whom they repose a lot of confidence, their trust in the administration is boosted and this results in maximum cooperation between the leader and the led. In June 1993, for instance, prices of food items in Lagos markets and elsewhere began to crumble as soon as the news filtered out that the late Bashorun MKO Abiola had won the presidential election. This was without any prompting from any official quarters. It was believed that many traders started bringing out the food items they had hoarded because they believed that an Abiola presidency would flood the economy with them.

    Two years ago, traders in Sango-Ota who had narrowed the streets and obstructed traffic with their makeshift shops began to demolish them on their own as soon as they learnt that Ibikunle Amosun of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) had won the governorship of Ogun State. Conversely, not a few people believe that the Boko Haram and other forms of crises the Jonathan administration is witnessing are direct consequences of diminishing trust in the government.

    There is no doubt that what is uppermost in the mind of the average Nigerian now is the chance to elect a President that would run a responsible and responsive government. Given the disappointments they have suffered from successive governments since the nation returned to democracy in 1999, Nigerians would tolerate a President that guarantees adequate security, good roads, regular electricity and potable water longer than Libyans tolerated Ghadaffi.

    Rather than waste time and energy persuading Nigerians to accept a single six or seven-year tenure, President Jonathan should revisit the recommendations of Justice Mohammed Uwais Committee on Electoral Reforms and adopt them without any exception. That, to me, is the most auspicious way to begin our search for a fruitful democratic system.

     

  • Kalu’s Njiko and a tear for Ndigbo

    Kalu’s Njiko and a tear for Ndigbo

    You probably know the scientific fact that the sun rises from the east but I tell you today that that assertion may no longer hold true. Not for the Southeast region of Nigeria at least, indeed the sun seems to have left that part of the world entirely. The celestial element probably finds no pleasure in blazing upon a land and a people remorselessly in retreat. Today, the entire Igbo miasma would make any keen observer drop an unconscious tear. You know there are no flowers where the sun does not shine, where there is no vegetation there is denudation of monumental proportions, a phenomenon we glibly call gully erosion. And laugh if you will, but it has been said that any land that cannot harbor the white man in this age is doomed. You will hardly find a white man in Igboland today. Yes, perhaps mixed mulatto or earth-brown white, and even fugitive white man on mercenary duty, but hardly any real white man on legitimate assignment. Such is the state of the vast oriental land east of the great Niger River.

    You will shed a tear for Ndigbo if you understand the historical odyssey of this people; how they got trapped in the proverbial Nigerian rain and how they are still under the torrential downpour drenched, cold and shivering. I got another tear-evoking glimpse of it when I read an interview granted by Chief Segun Odegbami to Sunday Punch (May 5, 2013 page 76). The great national team footballer of yore who could have been something of a Cristiano Ronaldo were he playing today had this to say when asked how the Nigerian civil war affected him: “Like I said, we were reduced to just 17 pupils in my school (as a result of the pogrom and ensuing war, only 17 students were left of the entire St. Mulumba College, Jos populated largely by Igbo students). And as a young boy, I experienced the pogrom; the killing of civilians. I was walking to school one day and the people I knew, young boys and girls, were running away from the people who were trying to lynch them. For the first time in my life, I saw a dead body. I saw people throwing stones and actually killing people. I saw it, I experienced it. It was horrible and the pictures are still etched in my mind up till now, even though I didn’t quite know what was going on as a young boy…

    “But I trekked three kilometers to my school and I saw all the way from my house to the school, killings along the way… I saw it all and it was horrible. For me, we don’t want such things to happen again. In that regard, the pogrom affected me, the war affected me and many of my friends were killed, so many of them fought in the war but I did not experience the war myself. But it left a permanent scar. It’s something I dread; it brings back those ugly pictures and I pray that our country does not degenerate to that level again.”

    If the searing of Odegbami’s innocent, little mind does not break your heart, how does it make you feel that those people who were hunted down like wild hogs and mauled to death on the streets of Nigeria never learnt any lesson from their sad history? You are bound to worry if you conjecture that these fellows are still being literally chased down and targeted at every opportunity. And if perchance, an implosion results, they are likely to face the same fate as in the 60s because they have remained out there in the same vengeful rain. Since after the Biafran war, Ndigbo have not managed to come together as a people; not under one voice and not under one platform. The so-called Ohaneze Ndigbo has long become Ohaneze ndi oshi na ama. In the last 14 years, the body has been turned to an ugly bird of prey that feeds on the entrails of Ndigbo. The recent election by some mealy-mouthed young turks simply rededicated the already prostrate body to Aso Rock for the purpose of 2015. The prize is a putrid pot of porridge.

    Would you not feel sorry when Igbo statesmen hold landmark birthdays in Abuja, Lagos, London and anywhere else but their homesteads in Igboland? Many now conduct traditional marriages in the cities because they dare not return home. Home has been abused and desecrated; home has become a place of anguish for the Igbo. Your heart is bound to sink when you see some popinjays posing as monarchs of Igboland visiting Aso Rock on your behalf; people who are largely impostors with made-in-China totems and imaginary kingdoms, they are the veritable face of the unchallenged ruse and refuse that has become Igboland. You are bound to cry when you see Igbo’s biggest politicians celebrating worthless board appointments and ambassadorial postings. One becomes weary when Igbo stakes in the polity are tied to unfulfilled and unfulfillable promises like a Second Niger Bridge, dredging of the River Niger, inland port and the dualisation Onitsha-Owerri-Aba roads, among others.

    Finally, you will sob, knowing that the caterpillar defoliating our tree lives in the tree. When you see mushroom groups such as Njiko Igbo, C- 21, Aka Ikenga, Igbo Kwenu, etc, spring up purportedly on behalf of Ndigbo but otu awughi n’eshi. They are all masquerades dancing for the coins, for survival. Consider Njiko Igbo for instance, founded (though being disputed) by Chief Orji Uzor Kalu, former governor of Abia State. It is only in Igboland that leaders hold series of very high positions yet do not grow to prominence or to be statesmen. The last we heard was that Chief Kalu, the new-day champion of Igbo cause took our matter to the British House of Commons (BHC). What a calamity! What a scandalous calamity.

    If only Kalu consulted, he would have been tutored that it was the same British colonialists who wilfully impaled Ndigbo by crafting their current status in Nigeria’s political equation. How they would laugh him to scorn for his astounding ignorance of Nigeria’s recent history and how they would enjoy the comic relieve! What could the BHC possibly do anyway? Can’t Kalu see that the solution to Igbo problem is hidden somewhere here at home among Igbo leaders, elite and people? Should we overlook his past political philandering and missed opportunities, is he capable of leading change? Only if he would allow some light to filter in. But first, where is the new moon, the very symbol of a rebirth? Has he swum the stream of no return that imbues one with the spirit of self-immolation or has he carried the sacred sacrifice of the people to the cross roads to offer up his self?

    As it stands we all can see through Kalu’s veil of hidden motives in Njiko. On the other hand, this assignment requires self cleansing, Spartan discipline and dogged enlistment of other Igbo leaders; it must be a concert of all stakeholders tediously meshed by a visionary, tenacious (and for the umpteenth time,) selfless leader. And where is the philosophical underpinning, the institutional backbone and the administrative platform? The very pillars that will stand when human energy wanes and our frailties bob up to subvert the grand idea.

    Make no mistake about it; to lead a people out of their peripatetic history into a glorious new dawn is not a champagne party. It is often a life-time endeavor needing extreme sacrifice. The reward of course is to own a chunk of history. Does Kalu have such wisdom, grit, rigor, stamina and temperament to change the course of Igbo history? I think not but will be glad to be proved wrong.

  • Indebtedness

    Indebtedness

    Debt, like promise, is a bond. No responsible person reneges on it without facing the wrath of law or that of God. To be indebted is to be bonded in one way or another. Such indebtedness does not necessarily arise from pecuniary loan.

    In Islam, debt is not about money or material substance alone. The entire life of a Muslim is a debt which he must pay promptly or by deferment. Whoever reneges on a debt or deliberately fails to fulfil a promise is a hypocrite. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) gave a vivid description of such a person when he said that: “Hypocrites are known by three traits: when they speak they lie; when they promise they renege and when they are trusted they betray”.

    The issue of indebtedness is so serious in Islam that the verse of the Qur’an which explains the law guiding it is the longest in that Sacred Book. Qur’an 2:282 states as follows:

    Oh believers, when you contract a debt for a fixed period, put it in writing. Let a scribe write it down for you with fairness; let no scribe refuse to write. The person incurring the debt should dictate but if he is infirm or ignorant, let his guardian dictate in fairness. Let there be two male witnesses to the writing. But if two men cannot be found then one man and two women whom you judge fit to act as witnesses; so that if one of them forgets the other will remember. Witnesses must not refuse to give evidence if called upon to do so. So, do not fail to put your debts in writing, be they small or big, together with the date of payment. This is more just in the sight of Allah; it ensures accuracy in testifying and is the best way to remove all doubt. But if the issue in hand be a bargain concluded on the spot, it is no offence for you if you do not commit it to writing. See that witnesses are present when you sell to one another, and let no harm be done to either scribe or witness. If you harm them, you shall be committing transgression. Have fear of Allah. He teaches you (what is right); He has knowledge of all things. If you are on a journey and cannot find a scribe, then, let pledges be taken. If anyone of you entrusts another with a pledge, let the trustee restore the pledge to its owner; and let him fear Allah, his Lord. You shall not withhold testimony. He that withholds it will have a sinful heart. Allah has knowledge of all your actions”.

     

    Material Indebtedness

     

    Allah’s decree on material debt as contained in the above verse of the Qur’an is for Muslims to avoid arguments that may lead to rancour. There are other forms of debt not mentioned in that verse but which have far-reaching effects on Muslims. For instance a Muslim becomes indebted when he strikes a deal with a woman on marriage. As soon as the deal is sealed according to Islamic injunctions both parties become indebted to each other.

     

    Matrimonial Indebtedness

     

    The husband is bonded to all matrimonial responsibilities just as the wife is liable to all matrimonial duties. And that kind of indebtedness is for life barring any unforeseen circumstances. Parents are indebted to their children as soon as those children are born. They are expected to ensure that the children are given good names and relatively comfortable life by providing them with all the necessary materials to ensure their survival. Not providing such materials as shelter, clothing, feeding and protection against danger will amount to a breach of fundamental rule of indebtedness.

    Thus, indebtedness may be moral, psychological, social, political, spiritual and physical. An example of a moral indebtedness is where, as a Muslim, you come across an accident spot where people are dead or maimed and you stop to give a helping hand. Once you see such a spot, it becomes a moral debt on you to help your fellow human beings bearing in mind that anybody, including you, could have been involved in such an accident. A psychological indebtedness is one in which you live in affluence or extra comfort when your immediate neighbour or your friend or mate is wallowing in abject poverty. As a true Muslim, you must share such God’s endowed pleasure with those in your neighbourhood who have nothing to live on. You must remember that without sheer opportunity you could have been one of those people. And you do not know why Allah has provided you with such comfort in the midst of those who are wretched. Whatever you possess in that circumstance is a test from Allah which a true Muslim cannot afford to fail. It is in reference to psychological indebtedness that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said: “Whoever passes a night with his stomach filled after dinner while his neighbour goes to bed on empty stomach is not a Muslim”. Claiming ignorance of neighbours’ plight is not tenable before Allah. The emphasis of Islam on neighbourliness is such that everyone should know and care about everyone else in the neighbourhood. That is why the institution of Zakah as a pillar of Islam was established.

     

    Moral Indebtedness

     

    The example of social indebtedness is one in which orphans, abandoned babies, widows as well as aged people are adequately taken care of. If any or all of these are neglected the society will eventually pay for the social nuisance they will constitute. This is where the social activities of some Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) which sincerely engage in helping such people come handy. Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said: “ Whoever amongst you sees something abhorrent, let him correct it with his hands; if he is incapable of that, let him use his tongue to correct it (by inviting other people or reporting it to concerned authorities). If he is still incapable of that, then, let him resort to good intention (by showing disapproval of it).

     

    Parental Indebtedness

     

    Indebtedness to parents shifts onto the children when those parents attain old age. They become like little children that need care for survival. At that point, it becomes incumbent on their children, who are now adults to take good care of their aged parents just as those parents had taken good care of them when they were incapable of caring for themselves at infancy. Allah also decrees on this by declaring as follows:

    “Your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him, and show kindness to your parents. If either or both of them attain old age with you, show them no sign of impatience, nor rebuke them; but speak with them in temperate words. Treat them with humility and tenderness, and pray for them always by saying: Oh Allah, be merciful to them as they were merciful to me when I was an infant”.

    By following the letters of this supreme decree, a Muslim is simply fulfilling the rule of indebtedness. There can be no room in paradise for anybody who shuns his or her parents or treats them with disdain. The Prophet laid strong emphasis on this when he said: “Paradise lies at the feet of mothers”. This does not mean that caring for the aged parents is for mothers alone. The prophet mentioned mothers here because they are closer to children at infancy than fathers. Therefore, the care for both parents in old age is a debt which all Muslim children owe their parents and must pay if they want ‘Al- Jannah’ to be their last abode.

     

    Job Indebtedness

     

    An employee is indebted to his employer in terms of service as long as he earns his living in that employment. A teacher is indebted to his pupils or students once he accepts responsibility to teach those pupils. A ruler, be he a king, president or governor, is indebted to the ruled with respect to good governance, as long as he utilizes their mandate. Ditto the legislators, the civil servants who live on public revenues. And for the judges, justice is a debt which they owe those who are seeking justice in their courts. Denying them is like challenging the rule of Allah in a Court of law. On the other hand, the ruled too are indebted to an upright ruler to the effect of their allegiance so long that ruler holds fast to the rule of law and maintains justice in his governance.

    Security agents are equally indebted to the citizenry whose lives and property they claim to be securing. Their duty is to ensure that such citizenry are of good conduct and law-abiding. To terrorize or ride roughshod over them as is generally known with Nigerian police is to breach the rule of Allah on indebtedness. By protecting lives and property of the citizenry, the police are not doing anybody any favour. They are merely carrying out the duty for which they are paid. And, it is only by carrying out such duty diligently that they can enjoy the cooperation of the citizenry and earn their respect. Those security agents must remember that their source of income which comes in form of salary is from the sweat of this same citizenry.

     

    Spiritual Indebtedness

     

    For Muslims, spiritual indebtedness starts with the declaration of ‘KALIMATU-S-SHAHADAH’ (testimony) and it extends to other fundamentals of Islam. That declaration is the foundation of faith. To renege on it is to demolish the house over one’s head. It is impossible to remove the foundation of a house without demolishing the house. And, when a Muslim stands up for Salat five times a day, what he does is to reconfirm the oath he had taken before Allah. Suratul Fatihat (the opening chapter of the Qur’an is so heavily pregnant with meanings that only a devil can turn round to disclaim its contents or deny his allegiance to Allah thereafter. The most committal verse in that chapter is the fifth verse which reads: “You alone we worship and to You alone we look up for help”. That commitment, which we repeat not less than 17 times daily, is so fundamental that to act in contradiction to it is spiritually criminal. And that is why Allah states categorically that He can forgive any sin committed by any human being except associating anything else with Him.

    Also, as a Muslim you are permanently indebted when it comes to ‘SALAT’. Not only must you observe it at its ordained time, you must also observe it with full attention and complete dedication. SALAT is one of the most telling debts on Muslims. It should also be noteworthy that good deed can elicit debt. SALAT is a major debt which Allah does not overlook. Even at the point of death when a Muslim is incapable of standing on his feet he is supposed to observe SALAT even if he will do so with his mind. No good Muslim will owe SALAT and feel comfortable. You may not be queried on it by any human being but your conscience will surely not allow you a breathing space. Just as no one wants to be owed in whatever form, no one should think of owing any other person.

    The consequence of betraying the rule of indebtedness is beyond human imagination. Nigeria is gradually sinking into a quagmire today because of the insensitivity of the rulers to the plight of the ruled in that regard.

     

    Governmental Indebtedness

     

    Ventilating the atmosphere for peace and harmony in the country is a major debt which the ruling class owe the populace. If such a debt is not paid by the ruling class the breakdown of law and order in the land as now being experienced must not be blamed on the ruled. Security is never based on guns and soldiers. Insecurity is like a huge smoke hovering furiously on top of a chimney. Anybody who wants to dispel it must quench the fire from which it oozes out. No sensible government can expect any prevalence of peace and harmony in a country which is as rich as Nigeria but where over 70% of the populace live in abject poverty while the so-called rulers continue to feed fat on their blood. If the current spate of corruption continues for some time more, the corporate existence of Nigeria as a country may be just a matter of time. Let the lotus eaters within the political class reflect on this and repent before it becomes too late. Nigerians’ docility must not be taken for granted indefinitely. Elasticity has its limit.

  • Baga: Where truth is casualty

    Interestingly, the public is caught in the crossfire of claims and counterclaims over the devastation that has put the spotlight on Baga, Borno State. However, the expanding story has taken fresh turns with recent clarifying developments. These are the presentation of a “ Satellite Imagery Analysis of Baga and Environs” by Dr. S.O. Mohammed, Director General, National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA), Abuja; the findings of the Senate Joint Committee on Defence and Army, National Security and Intelligence, and Police Affairs; and the first-hand investigative report by Al Jazeera.

    It is significant that these sources, working independently of one another, have provided new and striking single-thread perspectives to the controversy over the alleged deployment of flagrantly excessive firepower by the military in the infamous April encounter with Boko Haram, the Islamist terror militia, in Baga. The figures of fatalities in that conflict, particularly in connection with the civilian populace and the vulnerable, and the scale of structural damage, have been open to inventiveness, a situation that has been exploited by critics of the government. Quick to jump to conclusions, devoted antagonists of the administration seized the opportunity to level charges of human rights abuse and crimes against humanity at the army. Indeed, international observers, notably the United Nations (UN), Britain and the US, understandably expressed concerns about the alleged atrocities and called for a probe.

    There were, perhaps, fertile grounds for such reactions, to go by the earliest reports of the disturbing incident which highlighted varying degrees of the alleged death toll, ranging from 183 to 228. A community leader, quoted by Daniel Bekele, Africa Director of New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), claimed to have participated in the burial of 183 bodies following the clashes. The Red Cross reportedly said that 187 people were killed in the fighting. The highest figure came from the Senator representing Borno North in the upper chamber of the National Assembly, Maina Lawal, who reportedly put the number of the dead at 228.

    In addition, the level of destruction of buildings in the community was the subject of contentious commentary from adversarial quarters. So-called witness accounts quoted by HRW said that the locals counted over 2,000 burned homes in the aftermath of the hostilities. Indeed, according to a statement by the rights group, “Satellite images of the town analyzed by Human Rights Watch identify 2,275 destroyed buildings, the vast majority likely residences, with another 125 severely damaged.” On its website, it posted images depicting aerial shots of the community on April 6, contrasting them with images of the same scenes on April 26, 10 days after the clashes. The body said further that satellite data “indicated that damaged structures were likely caused by intense and widespread fires,” and concluded that “such fires were intentionally set and not inadvertently sparked by the detonation of rocket-propelled grenades or improvised explosive devices.”

    It is noteworthy that the May 6 reaction by NASRDA to the HRW damage assessment of Baga not only provided a counterpoint to its conclusions; it also sought to enlighten the rights group on the “best-practice” method of interpreting such satellite data. NASRDA stated that its alternative perspective was informed by “multi-stage imageries (Image sets used by HRW, NigeriaSat-1, NigeriaSat-X, and NigeriaSat-2)” and faulted HRW findings and conclusions, which it said were based on “critical technical assumptions.”

    Among the high points of NASRDA findings and conclusions was the statement that “the estimation of the number of damaged buildings were about 80% exaggerated, because the process of generating the information was purely a desktop approach and without any ground truthing exercise to validate the time, extent, trend, and land use activities; leading to huge misinterpretation of features.” The agency argued that buildings, trees, fences, open court yards, uninhabited plots, etc were counted as same features. It said further, “ It is worthy of note that the effective damaged areas can’t logically house 2,400 damaged buildings (2,275 destroyed and 125 severely damaged) claimed to be identified in the study area by the Human Rights Watch.”

    While the agency conceded that “It is very true that images don’t lie,” it however ended on a cautionary note by pointing out that “the interpretation of features that occur in an area, and captured with scientific satellites must be interpreted with effective ground knowledge (in situ), history and land use activities for accurate results.”

    Beyond the question of structural devastation, however, is the more important issue of alleged mass killing involving non-combatants, which provoked intense emotions both locally and internationally. Following the visit to Baga from May 7 – 9 by the Senate Joint Committee headed by George Sekibo, mandated to investigate the alleged massacre, a member of the team reportedly told journalists that they found no mass grave in the town. He said he counted about 26 fresh graves at the cemetery the committee visited.

    Given the media’s reportorial role in this story, it is appropriate to play up the professionalism exhibited by Al Jazeera, the international Islam-oriented TV news station, whose Nigeria-based West Africa correspondent visited the troubled community for an on-the –spot assessment, and provided perhaps the sort of credible presentation needed to illuminate the murkiness. According to him, “It was important for me to get to Baga to see for myself, first-hand, what had really happened and try to figure out how many people might have been killed. We were escorted around Baga by the Joint Task Force (JTF) and allowed to talk to villagers we encountered freely, and film the damage caused by the fighting, mainly burnt out homes and businesses. But what I really wanted was to get to the bottom of reports of a “mass grave” in Baga where the 200 civilians who had been reportedly killed had been buried. “

    He regarded with professional scepticism the “one gravesite” showed to him by his escorts, where they said about 20 Boko Haram fighters had been buried. “So I decided to ask three or four villagers close to where we were filming as to whether they knew anything about a mass grave in Baga. Throughout the rest of my time in Baga, I did not see any mass grave. Neither were we prevented by the JTF from moving freely around Baga,” he reported.

    Evidently, truth is also a victim in Baga, considering the juxtaposition of the latest information about the fallout from the conflict and the initial publicity. It is not clear where the allegations of mass murder and deliberate wide-scale burning of buildings by the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) sprang from, and how and why they gained such ground, but the course of the clashes is apparently outside the realm of speculation. According to the Defence Headquarters which organized a fact- finding visit to Baga from April 24-25, the community served as a base for Boko Haram terror champions, who ambushed MNJTF troops on patrol on April 16, killing one soldier, Aramaja Ololaja. The fire fight that followed was said to have “ended with a mop up operation on Wednesday April 17, when the terrorists were effectively overpowered and their base destroyed.” The military said only 37 people were killed, 30 of them Boko Haram fighters, one soldier and six civilians. So, where in this intriguing maze, lies the much sought truth?

    • Macaulay is on the editorial board of The Nation

  • Emergency declaration: Reason, not politics, please!

    Emergency declaration: Reason, not politics, please!

    Indeed, most Nigerians may not be fans of President Goodluck Jonathan because of his dowdy and most times grouchy approach to public affairs. As president with awesome powers, his country men and women would have wanted him to deploy his supposed high educational attainment for good causes by coming up with inspiring policies and actions that are rare in history. As a minority from the South-South, most of us, ab initio, looked up to him to rise to the occasion by proving to doubting Thomases that a good leader can also emerge from his ethnic region; and also make the nation’s political kingmakers regret decades of denial of leadership roles at the centre for people from the Niger-Delta. But he absolutely failed to so far lead the nation aright, leading us to the question of whether he thinks that the Nigerians unnecessarily disparaging him on virtually all his actions.

    In all conscience, the truth is that the president has clearly run adrift on salient issues of power generation, economy, employment generation, poverty alleviation and other developmental matters that Nigerians daily crave solutions for. Worse still, insecurity has bloomed to a level that can modestly be equated with that of a state of war. In view of these, most analysts have always viewed every policy decision by the president with contempt. It should not be so, especially on his latest action of state of emergency. Before now, most Nigerians wanted the president to take decisive action against Boko Haram that means, “Western education is sinful.” The sect comprises Islamic insurgents that have rejected western values and is calling for replacement through enthronement of Islamic education. The group has constituted itself into the greatest threat to the nation’s corporate survival today. In Adamawa, Bauchi, Borno, Yobe, Kano, Kaduna, Abuja and Nassarawa states, among other northern states, the foot paths of Boko Haram have been awash with indelible blood-stains of innocent Nigerians. The churches were its members’ prime target; mosques are not spared, while public buildings, including police and military stations and barracks respectively, have witnessed devastating bombings. Even market places do have a dose of Boko Haram’s cruelty against humanity.

    The group refused to dialogue with the government. It actually has the effrontery of rejecting the amnesty shamefully canvassed for it by the northern elite. Yet, the killings of innocent souls continue unabated. The president had folded his arm long enough before waking up from his deep slumber. Yes, he did wake up; thus early this week, he declared a state of emergency in three states – Adamawa, Borno and Yobe. Deafening hullabaloo greeted the emergency rule declaration. The president deserves commendation for complying with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

    But most analysts still believe that a state of emergency will not solve the problem that is an equivalent of war that the Boko Haram has unleashed on the northern part and by extension, the entire country which lives under the fear of the cankerworm. A state of emergency is actually a governmental declaration suspending within a jurisdiction, few normal functions of government arising from a total or imminent breakdown of law and order. Such declaration could on some occasions be the consequence of natural or contrived disasters like the Boko Haram’s. But most times, it arises during periods of civil unrest, internal armed conflict or a declaration of war.

    Those that are averse to the declaration of war on Boko Haram by President Jonathan might be right to an extent when viewed from the aphorism that the greatest test of leadership is the ability to recognise a problem/crisis before it becomes an emergency. The reality today is that this current president failed that test having failed to recognise early enough that the Boko Haram insurgency is serious subversion until the problem now inevitably called for an emergency. As a result of his dithering nature, the president could not muster in good time, the desired courage, despite having been imbued with such constitutional powers to act in the nation’s interest before the matter gets out of hand. Now that Boko Haram members in some parts of Borno State have hoisted their subversive flag and have shown considerable disdain for the sovereign entity called Nigeria, our irresolute president has finally acted.

    There is a truism that it is better late than never. The issue now is not to berate the president for acting late. Rather, we should all be elated that the man, for once, realised the need to not only act but to also talk tough after his many years of timidity in power. Those that are talking about true federalism, state police and sovereign national conference as means that could finally solve the Boko Haram cankerworm could not be completely right because the motive of the promoters of the sect is far from these germane issues threatening peaceful coexistence among the various ethnic groups in the country. The undisclosed fact is that promoters of Boko Haram are only goading foment of trouble for President Jonathan so as to create a leeway passage for the return of a northerner to power at the centre in 2015. It is too bad that the president has, due to so many false steps until the last one on emergency, failed to impress anybody, which is why it has become the norm for every sane Nigeria to desire a change of leadership come 2015. How are we so sure that if a northerner emerges as president in 2015, he will carry out the much-desired surgery on the Nigerian Federation?

    However, the political leadership of the other regions must be careful so as not to fall prey to the selfish agenda of the northern elite that are already seeking amnesty for members of the group they created – an insurgent group hiding under the guise of Islamic religion (of peace), to foist mayhem on Allah’s creation. The president should not be deterred by criticisms against his declared emergency. One could only hope that he would quickly seize the moment by mustering effective force which yours sincerely believes will quell the insurgents and send a signal to their promoters in the hierarchy of the northern elite that their waterloo is imminent unless they jettison this inimical act to our national stability.

    Whatever any group or persons might say about the state of emergency declared in the three states, the fact remains that force, according to Dwight D. Eisenhower, when effectively deployed, can protect in emergency even when ‘only justice, fairness, consideration and cooperation can finally lead men to the dawn of eternal peace.’ Even if Jonathan has obviously failed woefully in our collective estimation, can we in all assurances say that the northerners can guarantee all the above desired true federalism ingredients if they reclaim power in 2015? This poser is why we must, on this emergency rule matter, allow reason, not politics, to prevail.

  • Useful idiots (3)

    Useful idiots (3)

    We speak in several pitiful tongues. And every tongue reels a different story of identical loss and misery. And so one comes to callousness, a savage ruthlessness and culture of protest that drives us to ruin our world; dateline Boko Haram, MEND, Ombatse and the complex bigotry, avarice and bloodlust characteristic of all. Yet this page will not contain the genocide, amorality and grotesque body count we have learnt to perpetrate not because they are too horrendous and unwieldy to keep tab of but because there is neither wisdom nor tact in rehashing the consequences of our towering idiocy and bloodlust.

    We blame the older generation for everything. We claim they created a very difficult world for us to live in; a world that is rigged to booby-trap our efforts to survive and that is why many of us fail. We also accuse the ruling class of keeping us unemployed, prone to corruption, exploitation, crime and the devastation of our economy and social infrastructure. We accuse them of denying us access and right to the Nigerian dream.

    What have we done with such world that they have given us? What are we doing to make it better for you and me and the generation that will succeed us? Nothing. Rather than evolve in thought and attitude, we choose to rant impotently and wallow in self-pity. And when we choose to productively engage our faculties, our conscious quest is marred by our inclinations to self-destruct.

    If our world is ruined, we are to blame for it. This is because we are major actors in every tragedy and perpetrators of every calamity that accentuates our ruin. We are the hoodlums causing chaos at random, according to the whims of benevolent godfathers. We are the policemen mounting road blocks to fleece hardworking compatriots of the little money they manage to make, everyday. When they refuse to cooperate, we simply shoot them to death.

    We are the bankers pilfering the lifesavings of the poor. We are the bank chiefs stripping Peter to pay Paul and robbing the downtrodden to feed our wantonness and greed. We are wives to the thieving governor, and gigolo to the rogue bank chief. We are the journalists who sold out, the watchdog who became lapdogs and then, dung-dogs. We are armed robbers and thieves. We are the activists exploiting the downtrodden to perpetuate our grand schemes of greed.

    No matter the ills visited upon our generation, we lost the right to howl and cry ‘foul!’ the moment we agreed to do everything and anything to make money, including serving as instruments for the attainment of the perverse goals of the criminal ruling class. Shame that we have to look unto the same generation that we accuse of ruining our world to take measures necessary to save our world. The current ruling class won’t save us. They can’t. And that is because like you and me, they are held captive by greed, irrationality and base immoralities.

    Every generation considers itself uniquely challenged like we do and each generation truly is, in different ways. But I don’t buy into over-generalizations and self pity. Like we accuse older generations before us, successive generations will accuse us of ruining their world claiming we had better chances to resolve our crises and recreate the world that they would inherit from us.

    Our sense of entitlement goads us to believe that we are entitled to a good, fair life but for the ruling class and older generation that thwarts our dreams of bliss. When the older generation claim that we are ill-educated and unemployable, we respond in kind, claiming that they render us so with visionless leadership and substandard education. Truth is, school is a bore to many of us. And artisanship doesn’t quite do it for us. We breeze through school and apprenticeship unenthusiastically, thinking that somewhere or somehow, something would give and we would chance on bliss.

    Notwithstanding, some of us enter the labour market thinking it wouldn’t hurt to be exploited a little. Having being raised on the mantra that “Slow and steady wins the raise and tiny drops make an ocean,” we subject our will to the grindstone and stoically tread the path of obedience and honest labour. But the path of industry and honesty hardly ever pay off in the long run.

    Eventually, we realize that the system is designed to thwart our dreams while enabling the dreams of the exploitative one per cent at the top, and we get mad. We get mad because our leaders do not see us as human beings with cosmic value and rights anymore. But despite our dissatisfaction, we keep them in power and keep asking them for handouts. Our rage and rant hardly ever articulates our towering need for realistic opportunities.

    We do not choose to be treated with dignity. That is why the government and our employers become entitled to take away our dignity. That is why we are entitled to expect nothing from our politicians anymore. We should be ashamed of our sense of entitlement. We should be embarrassed by our failure as a generation. We should be ashamed that we go through life thinking the world’s a sweepstake.

    We believe the world is for the taking by a lottery; this is understandable as a carrot on a stick that the top one per cent – comprising government and big business – perpetually dangle before us. Thus the Nigerian dream has evolved from a promise and belief that every Nigerian will get to have a good life, a job they enjoy, a generous paycheck, affordable housing, healthcare and transportation and a secure retirement, into some reality show fantasy and a pipedream.

    Today, the Nigerian dream comprises a tall fantasy that every Nigerian will get to live a charmed life. It offers attractive fantasies of palatial residences in exclusive neighbourhoods home and abroad, fancy cars, easy money, consequence-free indolence, sex, fraudulence and violence to mention a few. The Nigerian youth consider these perks their birthright and they heartily pursue them on the streets and now ubiquitous reality TV shows where parents and their children from relatively humble backgrounds engage in funfest of foolishness and inordinate lust for unearned riches. The tragedy of this development resonates in the number of‘has-beens’ and reality show runners-up still loitering the red carpets for the barest chance to hug the limelight for no justifiable reason or attainment.

    Each generation has a responsibility to wisely develop itself and become indispensable to the world despite all odds. It is the only way we could equip ourselves to take over the country’s leadership and use the resources and power available to us to provide this generation and the next, a secure, sustainable country that will be stronger than the one inherited.

    We need to stop whining and begin to take action now to reverse the rapid decline of our country. If we wait until we are older, it will be too late. Life in the future will be worse.

    Our hubris and sense of entitlement is sickening and truly mind boggling. It’s about time we seek our Nigerian dream not because we are ‘special’ but because we truly deserve it.

     

     

    • To be continued…

  • Akpabio: Honours without end

    Akpabio: Honours without end

    Let me crave the indulgence of my readers to adapt the above title from a piece I did on Babangida at the height of his power and glory 21 years ago (The Guardian, November 2, 1992). Babangida, after his palace coup bought over, some said ‘bribed’ the members of the Fourth Estate of the Realm by expunging Buhari’s obnoxious Decree 4, giving

    relief to journalists who had fallen foul of the decree and appointing their leading light along with intellectuals known for their independent views into his administration. His regime was immediately ‘legitimized’ by the press. He even got away with a comical title of president. And overnight, the lowly-born General was transformed into ‘The Prince of Lower Niger’ by hagiographers.

    What then followed was a deluge of honours. He became the ‘Opu Omatu Alabo’ (Chief warlord) of Rivers State, the Oka Ome (Man of his words) of Enugu, the Ukphoro Uwana of Cross River, the Comforter of the Igbos and so on. He and his wife were chased around with honorary doctorate degrees. There were fellowships from the Performing Musicians Association of Nigeria, the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations, the Association of Advertising Practitioners of Nigeria, the Nigerian Medical Association and that of West African College of Physicians, among many others. The most whimsical and specious but for its tragic consequences came from Nigerian Economic Society (NES), the most authoritative body of Nigerian scholars on Nigerian

    economy and social problems. Theirs was “fellowship” for “bold economic programme” and for distinguishing himself “as a visionary in the management of our economy.”

    I ended the satirical piece declaring: “Shame on to you all critics of “IBBnomics”, including the apostle of ‘SAP with human face’, the mischievous Keeling of Financial Times with his imaginary $5 billion Gulf War oil windfall that never was. The troika of IMF, World Bank and the Paris Club who view our government’s penchant for generous donations in aid of all kinds of causes, as fiscal indiscipline and recklessness can now be seen for what they are – saboteurs’.

    There has been no other Nigerian leader since Babangida years of glory that ended tragically that has received as many honours as Akpabio, the hard working governor of Akwa Ibom State. As usual, the newspapers started the deluge of awards. He was named an “Emerging Tiger” by Thisday, a few years back. To the Daily Times, whose new owners was accused of ‘asset stripping’, Akpabio is “the Uncommon Transformer,’ who ‘has transformed his state from an unknown rural area to one of the most beautiful cities in Africa.”

    Similar verdicts also came from Daily Independent, Tribune and National Daily. He was The Sun Newspapers’ “Man of the Year, 2011”. Last year in spite of the schism between the parasitic elite of the north and the vultures of Niger Delta (apology to Saro Wiwa) he still managed to clinch the Abuja based Leadership newspapers’ award as the ‘Leadership Governor of the Year 2012’ for “uncommon transformation of his state with quality infrastructure”.

    With no other media award left to be won, the leadership of NUJ went to felicitate with him in Uyo. It was on their way back they were attacked by armed robbers/militants who kidnapped their car containing an undisclosed amount of money the governor gave them as fare.

    After the newspapers deluge of awards, the next most important honour came from no less a person than Akpabio’s wife , Ekaette, an award winning first lady in her own right. She gave her husband an award for making Akwa Ibom “a state with limitless opportunities, and for delivering over 3000 projects’.

    For ease of reference, Akpabio’s media aide, Chief Usoro I. Usoro, has listed some of the awards starting with that of African Church that named Akpabio “Nehemiah of our time”, for “rebuilding Nigeria”. Then the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) also named Akpabio “the Best Governor in Nigeria”, ‘in terms of micro credits and empowerment of

    the masses as well as the institutionalization of free and compulsory education”.

    This was soon followed by the award of a Doctorate degree in Public Administration and Strategy because of “mammoth, wonderful and historic contributions to the development and growth of our society in particular and humanity in general” by Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, and Anambra State.

    The Nigerian Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS, Kuru, slammed Akpabio with another honour for making his state the ‘best state in terms of infrastructural development.” NIPS even canvassed for more funds for him.

    The Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) which is probably yet to produce a Ph.D candidate was not left out. It awarded the governor an honorary Doctor of Management Sciences for ‘unparalleled feats in management of resources’.

    The Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) has also awarded him a Special Presidential Merit Award for his “immense commitment to infrastructural development of (Akwa Ibom) state in particular and Nigeria in general”.

    He has also received recognition from far away Houston, Texas, where the United States Congress described him as ’exceptional’. Even the notorious Wikileaks, the nemesis of western governments, identified him as ‘one to watch in good governance’.

    Akpabio is loved by his party. His party, PDP, through intrigue recently appointed him chairman of PDP Governors Forum while the Conference of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) in Akwa Ibom recently applauded him “for the development initiative in the areas of infrastructural provision across the state as well as the institutionalization of free and compulsory education”. ACN Oshiomhole of Edo has equally praised him.

    Akpabio’s political opponents, perhaps out of envy are, in spite of this string of hours, accusing him of profligacy. First they claim he gave two Prado SUVs valued at N30m to Tuface, Idibia, and wife, Annie as wedding gift, donated N230 million on behalf of the newly-formed PDP Governors Forum to President Goodluck Jonathan’s hometown church and alleged to have made “multimillion donations to journalists and unscrupulous party and government officials”.

    They have also accused him of acquisition of an exotic multimillion dollar bullet-proof sprinter luxury vans from US-based Texas Armoring Corporation (TAC).They even criticized his donation of a measly N50 million to Nollywood, and of becoming “a near constant guest at child naming ceremonies, marriages, funerals and sundry events” where he made generous donations. They seem to have forgotten the man is a

    politician who must not lose touch with the grassroot.

    Akpabio has rightly ignored the diatribe of malcontents insisting all his donations were captured within the state budget duly approved by the state House of Assembly. His media aide has appropriately quoted Kaiser’s caution: “When your work speaks for itself, don’t interrupt.”

    While pursuing with vigour his mega projects like the 15-floor 250-room 5-Star Hotel with Galleria with 10,000 sitter dome and multiple cinema halls, shopping malls; Akwa Ibom International airport with maintenance, ‘first of its kind in West and Central Africa’, Akpabio must realize there is no cure for envy. The envious and critics are

    the least of his problems. He should worry more about those praising him for doing his job including Oshiomhole of Edo who earns in 12 months what Akpabio earns in a month and yet has quietly changed the face of Edo state for the better, even without a single award yet.

    Akpabio should learn from Babangida tragedy. The same press he bribed to secure legitimacy after an illegal act at the end delegitimised his regime and forced him to step aside. His hurrah boys emerged as Abacha politicians while some of them are today calling the shots in the National Assembly.

    His economic wizards deserted him. Idika Kalu was on the streets the other day protesting on the side of the people. Olu Falae denied being the initiator of SAP which failure he attributed Babangida’s profligacy. Today Babangida is the only man held in contempt for setting in motion the gradual destruction our once buoyant and

    resilient economy through institutionalization of corruption. In 1983, the BTA for any one going to Britain for holiday was N500 which fetched about $480. Today N500 cannot buy two loaves of President Jonathan’s cassava homemade bread. Babangida must be very lonely.

     

  • Thoughts on emergency rule

    Thoughts on emergency rule

    WHEN  President Goodluck Jonathan declared a state of emergency in beleaguered Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states on Tuesday, the news did not shock many. There had been speculations that a drastic measure to rein in insurgents was in the offing.

    Dr Jonathan was fuming and frowning. The whole place was shaking under the unusual presidential anger. Gone were the broad smiles that usually brightened his boyish face to exhibit that innocent pastoral mien, the gesticulations of an artiste, the clumsy platitudes and the biblical allusions. No niceties.

    The presidential proclamation was the climax of days of unprecedented violence against security agents. In one day last week, scores – 56 in Nasarawa and 38 in Bama, Borno State – were killed. Many innocent citizens bearing no arms have also been killed. Schools, homes and many government facilities have been razed. Anarchy has been at the door in many parts of the Northeast.

    Truck-loads of security agents were on their way to Alakyo, Nasarawa State, on a mission to arrest the leader of a hitherto unknown cult group, Ombatse, that had become a big pain in the neck for residents, forcing people to pledge allegiance to its chief, Baba Alakyo. The security agents moved after a tip-off. The cultists, apparently after a tip-off, mounted an ambush for the invaders. The security men came under massive fire. They could barely reply. Apparently, they were unprepared for such a bloody resistance. Two key bolts went missing in the machine – the enemy was underestimated and the surprise element was lost. The security agents paid dearly for these mistakes.

    It was a moving sight these past few days. Enraged wives, decked in the police uniforms of their husbands who went on the disastrous mission, protesting and demanding the bodies of their loved ones. One lapped a baby, weeping, surrounded by her friends and relatives consoling her. Their kids have been talking about broken dreams and shattered lives. Oh dear! I do not remember anywhere in our recent history where security agents have been so massacred, not even in the Niger Delta at the height of the militancy. What happened? How equipped were the security agents for that mission of no return? Who was the mole that gave the cultists the vital information about their movement?

    Not all the bodies of the security agents have been recovered – one week after the failed operation. Are the cultists holding the bodies? Why is their leader yet to be arrested? Now that the security agencies know that it will require a military operation to subdue the cultists, what next?

    Since the proclamation of the emergency rule in those states, there have been many reactions. The resort to emergency rule is understandable. Desperation. It is like the case of a man who unknowingly touches a piece of iron that is red hot. He will dip his hand anywhere, including a gutter – in sheer desperation to restore the distressed hand. The government shouldn’t have allowed itself to be boxed into this dark corner.

    But, there are many questions arising from this major development. Is this the most creative way of resolving this matter? If the government knew that emergency rule was the way to go, why did it wait for this long, until the body bags started coming in hundreds? What will be the fate of the Presidential Committee on Dialogue and Security Challenges in the North, the one that claimed to have met the Madalla bomb suspect, Kabiru Sokoto – he denied ever seeing the committee – ? Will it continue its road show, despite this and the rejection of peace proposals by Boko Haram? Where are those blokes who called a press conference the other day in Maiduguri, renouncing violence and vowing to pursue a ceasefire? Can there be peace talks in an emergency?

    The President spoke of “those who are directly or indirectly encouraging any form of rebellion against the Nigerian state, and their collaborators; those insurgents and terrorists who take delight in killing our security operatives, whoever they may be… we will hunt them down … and we will bring them to justice.”

    Some obfuscation there. Do we know the collaborators, the faces behind the masks? If Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau and his lieutenants are hard to seize, are their sponsors also ghosts? Where are their weapons coming from? Can’t the government lean on Nigeria’s big weight to compel our neighbours to stop Boko Haram from planning and launching attacks from their countries? The Bama attacks could not have been planned in Borno, considering its massiveness. How far has the Mali expedition helped in weakening the al-Qaeda backed insurgents? Isn’t this more of a technical-cum-intelligence war and not a game of mere brawn and weaponry?

    The troops have been accused of extra-judicial killings. Now that they have got the licence to search homes, arrest and detain suspects, among other powers, will they be responsible in using these powers? I doubt it. Will this seeming hammer blow against the insurgents rein them in? For an enduring solution, the extra-judicial killings should stop; it can never help. The troops should find a way of ingratiating themselves with the locals so as to be able to separate the insurgents from the innocent folks who can give them information on how to track down the trouble makers.

    There are those who believe that the compelling factor is politics, politics of 2015. Of the three troubled states, two are in the opposition. Adamawa belongs to the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). The party’s power brokers and some hawks in the Presidency, it was learnt, insisted on full emergency rule –collapse of the democratic structure. Thankfully, they did not have their way. How will the military chiefs relate with the governors? Who takes orders from who? Will the Assembly be making laws in a vacuum? Soon –mark my words – soon, the real motive for this action will emerge. The game players, the sincere guys and the jokers will all be exposed.

    The government may need to be reminded of how this ogre was let loose on the land. Mohammed Yusuf was a young man preaching against western education. He and his followers were merely exercising their freedom of association and expression. In fact, many saw them as no threat to peace. Then politicians found a window of opportunity in the group. They moved in. The authorities, apparently sensing some dangerous deviation, tried to stop the group. Yusuf was arrested by soldiers who handed him over to the police. The police, for some inexplicable reasons, killed Yusuf. Then, members of the sect became violent, attacking police stations, prisons and other government facilities.

    Boko Haram has since stopped making so much fuss about its original goal of imposing sharia. Now, it is demanding the release of its members, their wives and children, who are in detention. On Monday, Shekau made a video appearance in which he claimed that women and children were being held captive by the sect, adding that they would not be released until their members in custody are let off.

    No matter how the matter goes, it will be at a huge cost. The immediate solution may come from bombs and bullets. The enduring solution will come from a massive reorientation of our people, justice for all, separation of governance from politics and non pursuit of power not as a means to an end – the wellbeing of all – but as an end in itself – for self aggrandisement.

    The government should not delude itself by thinking that those three are the only states that are ill. Kidnappers are yet to take a break in the Southeast. Armed robbers are at work, killing and maiming, in many states. When will they get attention?

    By the way, what happened to the emergency on power, the very one the President and his predecessor, the late Umaru Yar’Adua, declared at the beginning of their tenure, the one that is supposed to give us 6,000 megawatts and pave the way for a 24-hour electricity supply? Is it still on?

     

     

     

  • State of electricity supply in Nigeria

    State of electricity supply in Nigeria

    Fourteen years ago, when the PDP government came to power, we were told then that the installed capacity of electricity in Nigeria was 6,000 megawatts and that within a year, this would go to 10,000megawatts. The late Chief Bola Ige who was then one of the leaders of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and who was also popularly known as Arole Awolowo, some kind of khalifa or successor, was persuaded by many including my humble self to accept the invitation to join Obasanjo’s cabinet. The only reason for our suggesting to him to accept to serve in Obasanjo’s cabinet was that he was the only person who could give the government credence and credibility at least in Yoruba land. He accepted this offer reluctantly and he was then given the charge to revolutionize the power sector. On getting to the ministry, he found the whole place riddled with corruption, inequality of charges for power consumption between some institutions in the north and south and regular payment of riba to certain political groups and traditional rulers, but he decided to do his best to clear the augean stable. Six months later, he apparently stepped on people’s toes; he was fired and made the attorney-general of Nigeria from where he was brutally murdered a few years later in his own bedroom. Up till now, nobody has been arrested or charged for his murder.

    There had been many other ministers in charge of power and electricity since then, but it has been a story of motion without movement. A bright person like Prof. Barth Nnaji was brought in by President Goodluck Jonathan, only for him to be disgraced out and replaced by Prof. Nebo, former Vice-Chancellor, University of Nigeria, Nsukka and Federal University, Oye-Ekiti, as if he was born to be vice-chancellor in a country where there are other capable young people who could have been given a chance to serve.

    Fourteen years later, we are daily told that power generation has increased from 3,000megawatts to 4,000megawatts. This is after close to 50 billion dollars have been spent. Rather than progressing, we seem to be retrogressing. I am sure many Nigerians are confused. Our President says that by the end of 2014 which is next year, Nigerians who have generators would be giving them out free to others because there would be no need for them anymore. I say Amen to this. If this happens, all Nigerians would be ready to march to Abuja to ask our National Assembly to change the constitution and to declare Nigeria an empire with Emperor Gooodluck Ebele Jonathan ruling over us forever. In the meantime, all kinds of directors including recently a lady said that by December this year, we would have reached 10,000megawatts in power generation. The same week, the new minister, Prof. Nebo said that Nigeria actually needs 200,000megawatts in order for power to be stable. Then a delegation of Senators led by their President David Mark, went to the Mambilla Plateau to inspect the hydro-electric dam on which one billion naira had been spent and from which Nigeria was promised 2,000megawatts of electricity, but only to find that nothing has happened and that the one billion naira spent had gone into the pockets of some people without any road constructed to the site of the hydro-electricity dam, nor any clearance of the dam site.

    We also know that several Independent Power Projects (IPP) were started by Obasanjo in conjunction with some oil producing companies in Nigeria. Several of them were located appropriately in the Niger-Delta to facilitate access to gas instead of piping the gas across the country, and being subjected to sabotage by militants and other kinds of saboteurs. When these IPPs were started, we were told that this would boost generation within one or two years to over 10,000megawatts. We are all aware of the facts that when Umaru Yar’Adua took over as President, he suspended all these projects while setting up a so-called fact-finding committee to investigate spending on the power sector, the National Assembly under one Ndudi Elumelu also set up a probe committee on the same issue. This charade went on for about two years without any progress on the power sector. The National Assembly Committee’s itself then ended up in a cloud of suspicion and corruption and its members stole 100million naira for which they were arrested and taken to court for which we never heard anything again.

    I think one of our writers should make our power sector a subject of a novel and I am sure readers all over the world would think they are reading fiction, whereas it is faction. What exactly is going on is beyond me. Our president in recent times has been to South Africa the country we are supposedly competing with for leadership on the continent. He would have found out that South Africa which is about a quarter or a fifth of Nigeria’s in population is generating about 15times of electricity as we are and is planning to increase its generation from about 45,000megawatts to 100,000megawatts within three years and would probably spend a tenth of the amount we have used in the last 14years only to retrogress from 6,000megawatts to 4,000megawatts. Apologists would say that the electricity infrastructure in South Africa was done by the Whites. By saying this, we confirm our inferiority complex. Shall we therefore invite white people to come back and take over rulership of Nigeria? It would be useful and desirable if either the President of Nigeria or his Minister of Power would come out and tell Nigerians the truth about our power sector. We don’t need the kind of recent information provided by the Vice President that the Jonathan administration has given a sum of 3.7billion dollars to the power sector this year alone, while almost immediately the new Minister of Power said Nigeria would need 100billion dollars over the next 10years to arrive at power Nirvana.

    We are all sick of this confusion and we are sick of our people dying of blown out generators and of generator fumes. If we cannot provide ordinary power in the 21st Century, then the reason for the existence of government becomes unclear, especially in a situation where individuals are generating more power than the state itself. We hope that recent privatization would alleviate the problems, and if it does, all Nigerians would celebrate this government.

     

  • My visit to Ekiti State Teaching Hospital

    Humpty-Dumpty, me that is, had a great fall. It happened on a wet Sunday evening when we arrived home after a visit to Ikogosi Warm Spring Resort in Ikogosi, Ekiti. Just as I was walking into the house on this wet Sunday evening, I slipped and fell in the mud and landed my whole weight on my butt rather loudly. Humpty Dumpty just had a great fall. I got up picked my pieces together and walked into the house without the aid of the king’s horsemen. A warm shower and some analgesic later, I forgot about the fall until Monday morning when I was riding to work. It became obvious to me that I needed to see a doctor as soon as possible.

    Everyone I asked advised me to go to Ekiti State Teaching Hospital, Adebayo in Ado Ekiti. It only made sense to then go and try seeing an orthopaedic doctor at the teaching hospital. I tried to get a number of a doctor or any senior member of staff at the hospital so I could get a fast track service when I get there. However everyone I approached told me there was no need for that. The refrain I kept hearing is, once you get there you will be attended to regardless. After a long listless night I got up early in the morning determined to go see a doctor while preparing myself for the long horrendous queues and delays associated with government owned hospitals. Again, I reached out to a couple of other friends on my way to the hospital, in a last minute attempt to get a name or a number of a doctor or influential hospital staff but drew nothing.

    On arrival at the hospital I went straight to the Accident and Emergency ward. What first struck me was the cleanliness; the whole place smelt and looked clean. I saw patients who were on admission and the doctors doing ward rounds. I approached one of the nurses on duty, explained to her my mission and asked to see a doctor. She directed me to one of the doctors in the Accident and Emergency ward who politely directed me to the outpatient department where he said I will be attended to. My natural impulse was to just leave the hospital and go to the court premises where I needed to attend to some issues but then the pain got the better of me. I found my way to the outpatient department. On the way there I met a young doctor who gave me directions and assured me the process was fast when I asked sceptically how long the process was going to take. I got a hospital card and a case note opened for me in about twenty minutes. It took four simple steps: get a bill, pay at the cash point, get your teller converted to a receipt and get your records taken at the medical health records desk.

    I asked the young man at the records registry if it was advisable to wait or try and come back some other day. He again confidently told me that I will be attended to in a matter of minutes. I stood by the side patiently as I could not bear the pain of trying to sit while I mentally took note of the people who I met waiting and those who arrived after me. I was also trying to see if there were some patients getting fast track access to the three consulting rooms. Three nurses sat at the nursing station. Two were taking vital signs while the third nurse was in charge of sending in case notes to the consulting rooms. In about 15 minutes I was called to get my vital signs taken. I again asked the nursing sister if it was better to come back later in the day but she urged me to be patient, saying that once the doctors start seeing patients it would be my turn in no time. I finally sat back and continued to watch. The patient’s line to see the doctor soon started moving fast. It was soon my turn to see the doctor who examined me and answered all my questions while explaining to me why the effect of the trauma was worse when I sat or climbed the stairs and why he was prescribing the pills for me. I left his consulting room feeling better.

    Next was the outpatient pharmacy department where I was I spent about half an hour, the longest time I spent at a service point. The fact that no money exchange happens between patients and members of staff is also commendable. The cash point is manned by representatives of the hospital’s bankers while a staff also recorded the transaction. At the time I began the process of registration and getting a case note, no doctor was on duty at the outpatient department even though patients were already waiting. By time the nurses had taken my vital signs some of the people I met were already getting impatient and loudly asked the nurses when the doctors would arrive. However, the time between getting my vitals taken and walking into the doctor’s consulting room was about 20 minutes. In all I spent a little over one hour at the hospital. This is not to say that the State Teaching Hospital in Ado Ekiti is perfect.

    I write only about my experience at the outpatient department and not the entire hospital. There is always room for improvement even in a near perfect system. The process of getting a prescription filled was a bit cumbersome; you get your prescription billed, pay your bill in the next room, get the teller converted to a receipt and you then pick up your prescription from the first point where you got the bill. The medical health records department is a disaster waiting to happen. The whole unit is swarmed and overflowing with files and more files. The people working there must have a magic spell for getting out patients files from that maze. There is no privacy at the medical records unit. You stand across a counter while you are asked your age and that of your next of kin. The members of staff there seemed over worked even though there was clear cut division of labour.

    Overall, the members of staff were all very businesslike and professional. I didn’t see any fast track patient or queue jumping by patients. Everyone sat patiently while we all waited to take our turn. There were enough chairs and benches for the patients. The television at the corner by the nurses’ station was tuned to Africa Magic Yoruba. Some of the patients were following the movies such that they didn’t hear their names called out when it was time to go in and see the doctor. No one asked me to grease their palm or wash their face before I was attended to. I was very impressed and happy. In all it was a good visit. I must commend the government and people of Ekiti. Healthcare service delivery is a key part of the eight-point agenda of Governor Kayode Fayemi’s administration. I saw the attention to ensuring this goal during my time at the state teaching hospital. Ekiti is working. The people are happy. Health is indeed wealth.

     

    • Olorunfemi, a Barrister at law, wrote from Ado-Ekiti