The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

  • A cog in the wheel

    NATIONAL Mirror Views of April 25 committed many juvenile infractions: “…non-performing leaders that have constituted clog (a cog) in the nation’s wheel of progress.”

    “Avoidable deaths resulting from negligence or absent (absence) of requisite facilities are the lot of the people.”

    “In the midst of this mess (a comma) members of the ruling elite live in their fool paradise.” Political choice: live in a fool’s paradise.”

    “…he must ask what the person has (had) done in the past and….”

    “That is why the judiciary must wake up from its present slumber and plays (play) its noble and….”

    Lastly from National Mirror under review: “The recent commissioning (inauguration) of a single service portal by the….”

    The Guardian Front Page of April 23 inadvertently backed Gen. Muhammadu Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu in endorsing the People’s Democratic Party (PDP): “APC better alternative, Buhari, Tinubu insist” This, in effect, means that the ruling party (PDP) is good! I disagree. There is no basis for comparison between PDP and APC because darkness and light cannot be equated. So, the headline should have read: “APC: The only alternative, Buhari, Tinubu insist” Members of the distinguished lexical parliament, what do you think?

    THISDAY of April 22 disseminated just three mistakes: “The financial services sector came top (tops) and accounted for 1.759 billion shares valued at N14.642 billion….”

    “…in what appeared as if police was (the police were) winning the war on tinted glasses….”

    Last week’s edition of this medium served its readers a few school-boy slips: “The Nigerian Communications Commission cordially invites stakeholders to the flag-off (launch/inauguration/take-off/presentation/kick-off/commencement…) of Mobile Number Portability Scheme” (Full-page advertisement by the NCC) There is no phrasal verb or noun phrase known as ‘flag-off’ in Formal/Official/Standard English—except in global sports colloquialism!

    “The initial optimism that the solution to the crisis bedeviling the Adamawa State chapter of the PDP was at (in) sight may be a forlorn hope if….”

    THISDAY of April 20 disrespected the English language right from its Front Page: “…at the funeral service for late Chief Oluwole Awolowo at Our Saviour’s Anglican Church, Ikenne-Remo in Ogun State…yesterday.” My own last respects: funeral service for Chief Oluwole Awolowo. You do not hold a funeral service for a living person! If the obvious has to be awkwardly stated, at all, then it should be: for the late Chief….

    “Rivers PDP crisis: We’ll enforce Abuja court order, says (say) police”

    “Task force arrest (arrests) informant, three other pipeline vandals”

    “With the injury which report says will knocked (sic) him out for between six to (and) nine months.” Is this a phrase or a loose sentence?

    The last contribution by THISDAY, THE SATURDAY NEWSPAPER of April 20 under review: “The Federal Government said they (it) will (would) demolish our homes but….”

    National Mirror of April 18 circulated multifarious improprieties: “…the driver of the vehicle used for the kidnap took to his heel (heels).”

    “…Mrs. Abimbola Fashola visited the home of the abducted chairman to condole (condole with) his wife….”

    “…was being driven in his parents’ Sport Utility Vehicle, SUV, when he was abducted with the driver.” News: Sport-Utility (adjectival) Vehicle.

    “…after the governor’s executive phone-in programme at (on) the station’s premises, yesterday.”

    “These are strong words, and indeed a ‘vote of no confidence’ on (in) judicial officers by the head of that institution.”

    “Meanwhile the level of crimes and the unbridled looting of the public treasury are in (on) the ascendancy.”

    “Our constitution happily (how?) guarantee (guarantees) fair hearing at all times in all cases….”

    From NATIONAL MIRROR Editorial of April 19 come the next rot and other blunders that follow: “…both the spirit and letters of the law in any way.” All the Fact, All the Sides: the spirit and the letter of the law.

    “The vicious circle is literarily complete…..” Education as I see it: The vicious circle is literally complete…. I hope you know that ‘vicious circle’ and ‘vicious cycle’ are both correct.

    “New FUTA students’ leaders sworn-in” Campus News: sworn in (phrasal verb—no hyphenation).

    “Against the backdrop of the 2nd All African Junior Golf Tournament in Abuja….” Sport: 2nd All-Africa Junior Golf Tournament in Abuja

    “PENGASSAN charges government on oil theft vandalisation” Business & Finance: vandalism (not ‘vandalisation’)!

    FEEDBACK

    “MY dear Ebere, lest you forget, ‘at present,’ meaning ‘now’. ‘currently,’ is a formal (fixed) idiom. Example: I am busy at present, can I phone you later? ‘At present’ and ‘presently’ are not synonymous. In fact, they are antonymous. ‘At present’/’presently’ always means now (or soon) in British English (BE). If we are speaking of a near and immediate future time, we must use ‘presently’ or soon. Example: ’He will come back presently’ means ‘He will come back soon.’ More power to your elbow.” (Baba Bayo Oguntunase/Language Activist/Ikorodu/Lagos/08029442508)

    “DEAR Mr. Wabara, your response to Dr. Ufot’s observation was quite satisfactory, but the correct expression is ‘hive (not beehive) of activity/industry or just a ‘beehive.’ See page 834 of Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English for Advanced Learners and other standard dictionaries, too.” (Kola Danisa/Abuja/07068074257)

    “HELLO Ebere, I discovered your column just last week and was thrilled to see it. Keep up the good work. That said, I will like you to allow charity begin at home, especially with your columnists and writers! Do you know that THISDAY contains some of the most unforgiveable slips in print media today! God bless you.” (Anonymous; 08033019836)

  • Why does strike have to be the labourer’s staff of office?

    I don’t know about you but any time I have watched the Senate President march in sedately behind the mace, I must admit that an emotion closely resembling envy always seems to pass through me. Seeing how big, strong and well-made the mace appears to be, I find myself wondering how well it can adapt to being used to pound yam for me on a Sunday, seeing as my pestle is no longer what it used to be. You thought I would be after the senate president’s seat? You! You! No thanks – you know, too hot and all that. Besides, I don’t think I like problems as such.

    I don’t think the country would like it very much if I were to solve senate problems with the mace, you know, like, sort of, using it to knock some sense into people’s heads during sessions. No, the country would definitely not like that and that would give me all kinds of problems, — (the country not liking it, that is, not the knocking bit). Anyway, I think we have all come to associate the mace with the amount of authority the leader has over the floor. It is his staff of office. So, every senate leader tries as much as possible to make sure it is the last thing he sees before going to sleep at night and when he wakes up in the morning. Just ask Okadigbo if you don’t believe me.

    So, every one of us needs one staff of office or the other. Have you noticed that teachers get handed chalk, duster (modernised now as marker and dust cloth) and a loud voice; and most of us think that nurses are born holding syringes, needles, and a sneering attitude, eh, have you? Your mechanic would tell you to bring the bolts and nuts (the kind that fits into your car, mind, not the kind that fits into Aro) and he would supply the spanner.

    Have you ever seen a new bride-to-be excitedly prepare herself for her nuptials? Phew! As a tribe, they make me want to whistle between my teeth. You see a bride go flitting in and out ordering and commissioning, purchasing and buying, comparing and judging, arranging and gathering and generally making sure that even if all else is forgotten or left behind in her parent’s house, the spoon and blender are not left behind. Then she clenches her teeth on those tools because they will be needed when the honeymoon is over and more importantly, they are, you guessed it, her staff of office. Me, I think I have bigger problems: how to find the words to tell her that she would need a great deal more than the spoon and blender to get the right mix of happiness.

    Anyway, I think that labourers seem to have been handed only one staff of office: no, not the shovel, anyone can handle that. It’s the strike. In the hands of labour, the strike is not only a work tool, it is also a work-to-rule tool. It is used to oil labour matters and also disrupt it. All things considered, strike is held in such esteem in labour relations that it appears to be the labourer’s only recognised staff of office. Just listen. Most men do not know the value of the food they eat at their tables until labour relations break down at home. Once, a man and his wife had a misunderstanding that resulted in the woman deciding not to cook again. In short, she declared a strike. Sounds familiar? Well, not particularly versed in the culinary art, our man was left stranded food wise. After unsuccessfully performing experiments with salt, spices and so on, and being forced to swallow the rather unsavoury results of those experiments, he quickly sued for peace, ‘for the sake of the children’, he said, but his friends contended that. Another friend once said he grew used to eating garri and dried fish whenever his mother declared her strike, which she often did.

    The causes and costs of strikes are best left to the industrial labour specialist to calculate, but let’s hazard a few guesses here. I have found that whenever my dog has been given a particular kind of food, he has declared an eating strike which has often been met with a counter strike: if he does not finish that food, he does not get anything else’. When strike meets strike, it’s quite a battle. A little like the government declaring that if workers do not return to work, they do not get paid. So, the dog lets the food rot, and the owner, not willing to allow the dog die for love or conscience, gives in, feeds the dog and all is well again.

    Is strike a simple matter of will versus will? I don’t think so, even if it appears to be a matter of who blinks first. Too often though, the government (the largest employer of labour in most third world countries such as Nigeria) thinks that a striking body of workers simply wants to test its (the government’s, that is, not the strikers’) resolve and responds with more will – leading to zero tolerance. ‘They are not returning to work? Then sack them!’ This simply causes more digging in.

    Can strike also be a matter of testing out who really holds the power in a labour relationship? That would be a little like the dog trying to find out how much he can make everyone in the house dance around just to please him. My dog tried to do that once. He rejected every kind of food placed before him for no reason and that had us worried. But when the vet gave him a quick run over and declared there was nothing wrong with him, everyone hissed and left him alone. Chagrined, he went back to eating again. The burgher.

    Often, money and conditions of service are at the heart of most strike actions. I have not yet met any employee who would claim that he is paid enough for what he does or is fully satisfied with his/her work conditions. Indeed, most employees believe, I think, that there is no reason why their employer cannot daily double the wages they are paid, and then triple it the next day. While most employees know that this is not feasible, nevertheless, I believe what most of them want really is a little respect. I think they would like to be acknowledged, not threatened.

    As we celebrate another May Day, I prefer to think that strike declaration should continue to be a sort of last resort tool. True, many labour conditions world over are simply deplorable, and most people are barely coping. It is even more annoying when you look at the Nigerian situation where the people of affluence are the unqualified who have gained unmerited access to governmental coffers and have proceeded to flaunt their privileges in the face of everyone. It indeed boggles the mind and stuns the heart into inaction. Nevertheless, considering that those who suffer from strikes are very often the innocent and those meant to be served and protected, there is a need to continue to use it minimally, cautiously and humanely. On the other hand, the welfare of Nigerian workers should not be an annoying interruption of the government’s jollification programme. It should be taken seriously so that strike will really be a rarely used implement of war.

  • Bala usman and the project of radical historical renewal

    In the first part of this series, we outlined the achievements and contribution of Nana Asma’u as a forerunner to the contemporary feminist movement in Nigeria and Africa whose insights enable us to come to grip with how the national project can benefit from a critical mass of individuals whose contributions are sorely needed to enhance the greatness of the national project. In this second part, we turn our searchlight to another personality whose reputation is unquestionable not only in the northern part of Nigeria, but equally in academics and the national scheme of things. Like Dudley, Kenneth Dike, Soyinka, Awojobi, Bolanle Awe and others that we have critically showcased, he constitutes a formidable part of the intellectual capital required to fast-track the national project into reckoning.

    It was Hussein al-Attas, the Malaysian philosopher, who categorised intellectuals into two: the functioning and non-functioning. For him, functioning intellectuals are repository of the hopes and potentials of their nation. They are constantly burdened by the malaise, the disjuncture and fissures in their society. The irony, however, is that such an intellectual, according to Chinua Achebe, “lives on the fringe of society—wearing a beard and a peculiar dress and generally behaving in strange way. He is in revolt against society which in turn looks on him with suspicion if not hostility. The last thing the society would do is to put him charge of anything.”

    The North, like other regions, has always been a real test of diversity and unity in Nigeria. It is made up of several ethnic components and diverse cultural manifestations that the term “North” seems to cover up. In Dr. Yusufu Bala Usman, we have a blend of northernness and Nigerianness that facilitates the making of an enlarged and enlightened mind ready to perceive through the prism of historical and radical interpretation the trouble with Nigeria and how to get out of our national wood. Like most scholars of his time, Bala Usman came to scholarship from a Marxian perspective. He strongly held on to Marx’s retort that philosophers have hitherto interpreted the world whereas the point is to change it. Transforming the world ranges from aligning scholarship to the amelioration of the human condition, subordinating knowledge to human progress and making theories socially responsible to human needs.

    The dynamics of Marxism was, in his case, confronted with the rampant injustice of his society. The justice which Dr Usman pursues is not only that which, in Anatole France’s words, “forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread,” but also an egalitarianism that is yoked to the necessity of national and democratic unity. Injustice and inequality represent for him two issues that uniquely define the incapacitation of national development in Nigeria. “National injustice,” Bala Usman would agree with William Gladstone, the British statesman, “is the surest road to national downfall.” It would have been easy for the “North” in Bala Usman to twist the course of justice into an ethnic template. However, it is part of the genius of this historian to forge a unique political and scholarly identity that defines his progressive orientation in terms of a broad national ideology that holds both the northern and southern political elites responsible for the degeneration of the polity. He was motivated by the vision that Nigeria could be rescued from the mercantilist political class which constantly sought to benchmark its material prosperity against the existential austerity of the ordinary masses. What is needed is an alternative governance space that affords intellectuals the possibility of exposing not only enormity of elites crimes but also the recipe that could bring about national transformation.

    Being a progressive therefore does not translate into merely lifting the radical cudgel of criticism against power without also applying the balm of recommendations that could point at the right direction that resolves the identified problems. Bala Usman was therefore not only functional as an intellectual who speaks truth to power, but also one who insinuates himself into social and national responsibilities. He was not only a seasoned administrator at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, he also accepted to participate in the national Constitution Drafting Committee which was set-up by the federal government in 1975. However, his radical thought on the preconditions for national unity could only be aired through a minority report he wrote with other progressives like Dr. Segun Osoba.

    Dr Bala Usman came to his nuanced critique of the trajectory of mal-development in Nigeria from a radical understanding of the methodology and role of historiography in national development. Understanding the nature of the national question requires a deep understanding of history and how it ought to be done. Bala Usman, together with his teacher, Professor Abdullahi Smith, pioneered a rethinking of postcolonial historiography and the teaching of history in Nigeria. This effort followed in the step of the Ibadan School of History masterminded by Prof. Kenneth Dike in the 60s and 70s. After its decline, the Ahmadu Bello University School of History took up the challenge of rethinking African history that had hitherto been circumscribed by colonial methodology and its emphasis on written sources as the only objective means for writing history. This methodology automatically leads to the disparagement of oral tradition and other sources as a veritable useful means of historical reconstruction.

    The implication of this historical methodology for the reconstruction of African and Nigerian history becomes immediately obvious: the largely oral basis of African history would ensure that we would never be liberated from the “victor’s history” written by the West. The colonial historical methodology essentially distils a conqueror’s worldview that is inimical to a true understanding of the achievements, values and possibilities inherent in a people’s history. Thus, as a contrary perspective, Bala Usman and others fabricated a radical historical template that ensures not only that historical reconstruction must involve a vast array of sources—written, oral, linguistic, ethnographic and archeological—but these sources must equally be subjected to strict critical and evaluative standards to authenticate their provenance and reliability.

    The radical nature of Usman’s historiography manifests in his insistence that history must be consulted to answer the question of the formation and possibilities of nation-states. The lessons of history, in other words, points at the capacities of nationalities and nations to emerge out of the multiplicities of cultural and ethnic energies available to it. Thus, the critical assessment of history from its many sources confirms that nation-building, or what Kenneth Dike called “an experiment in polytechnic state formation”, is a fact of history. In a lecture dedicated to the memory of Kenneth Dike and the Ibadan School of History, Bala Usman insisted that contrary to the European myth of a primordial and indissoluble racial and ethnic groupings that make up the state, “not only nations, nationalities and ethnic groups, but even racial groups, are products of the historical process and are formed, unformed and transformed in the course of historical development.” History therefore undermines our pessimism about the national project by confirming the possibility of mosaic of ethnic and cultural synergy that would make Nigeria an enduring dream.

    The legacy of Dr. Bala Usman is therefore that we can learn and unlearn our own histories as a nation, and from its insights take up arms against the centrifugal forces of disintegration and injustices. This legacy alone is enough to make Yusufu Bala Usman a world-historical intellectual, according to Hegel, the German philosopher. And the singular honour required for such men is to incorporate their thoughts into national action.

     

    Dr. Olaopa is a Federal Permanent Secretary, Abuja.

  • Ogbeni and his Canjab headache

    Ogbeni and his Canjab headache

    Suspicion is what is causing the Tom and Jerry game between the Christians and the Muslims in Osun State and it is not likely to die down anytime soon for as long as the two groups do not trust each other and the Christians keep raising the ante over every action of the government that seems to favour the Muslims in the state.

    This is why the Christian Association of Nigeria in the State is expanding the frontiers of its suspicion. The Muslim group is also trying to expand the frontiers of its operations. The Osun CAN is protesting the attempt by the Muslim group to influence the government in legislating the wearing of hijab by all female Muslim students in public schools in Osun irrespective of the missionary status of such schools. Osun State is therefore about to be consumed or swallowed by what the revered Yoruba historian Samuel Johnson would call “Ogun kanjabu’.

    I admit that the cassock and the hijab we fight over are garments of strong spiritual significance complimenting our dress code but for sure they are not a true reflection of what and who we are before God who deals more with our inner character than our outward appearance. Most of the so-called religious groups have developed and enunciated their own doctrines to create the impression that our inner piety is secondary to our outward hypocrisy. Coming up with the hijab-wearing demand in less than a year of being granted the hijra holiday by the state government is nothing but sheer opportunism by the Muslim group who wanted to leverage on Government generosity to get some other things they failed to get from previous administrations.

    The Muslim group should not indulge themselves in any form of self-congratulatory ecstasy because they have one of their own in power. It is sheer abuse of goodwill. The idea of animating issues that had already been resolved by previous administrations simply because Ogbeni is now the Governor is very hypocritical, opportunistic and provocative. Because the government acceded to their request for an hijra holiday is not a license to come up with other irreverent ideas and requests that can set the State on fire.

    This oliver Twist style is quite unfortunate because each time they come with some of these requests, the Christian group, knowing Aregbe’s passion for Islam before he became the Governor of the state, tend to suspect that it was the government that was flying a kite. Though it is not a crime for the Ogbeni to show passion for his faith, the best thing for him to do now is to moderate the tone and aggression of his love for his religion. The office he occupies does not encourage any form of extremism or excessiveness on his part irrespective of his personal desires. He is the father of the state and all religious groups including the traditional worshippers have become his responsibility. In my own view, I think the Ogbeni has achieved this balancing since he came to office. Henceforth, he should let all requests for any policy on religion be legislated upon by the State House of Assembly. The direct intervention of the government especially as it did on the hijra holiday would not do any credit to the Governor whose every action is now being misconstrued as part of his hidden agenda for the Islamisation of Osun State. The Governor needs the support and cooperation of all the religious groups. I believe the Ogbeni is too wise not to know that it is not politically expedient for him to risk general popularity and support for sectarian glorification and Nasfatorial martyrdom.

    CAN seem to believe that some of the actions and activities of the government have given Muslims undue advantage in the state. But even at that CAN must show or prove that these actions and activities have influenced government policies to warrant any serious insinuation. However, I find it ridiculous when people are suggesting that the Governor’s mode of dressing (he wears jalamiya very often) and the beards that he keeps are offensive to the Christians. Haba, why must it be a crime for a man to wear clothes or uniforms that he finds convenient? Or why must a man sacrifice the beards he has been nurturing for a number of years for citizens atonement? Supposing this is what his wife finds attractive in him, should he now disfigure his look and risk marital squabbles in order to pacify intolerant citizens?

    I will not under any circumstance advise the Governor to succumb to the pressure of his “adversaries” (whoever they may be), that he should delete his beards in order to look more cosmopolitan. It is taking public service too far to compel him to reconfigure the essentials of his person as a sacrifice for canpopic appeasement or electoral benevolence.

    Saying that the Sultan of Sokoto had visited the governor two times in two years is as good as raising the same query about Pastor E. A. Adeboye who I am sure had visited the Governor of the state on equal counts or more. One‘s political office or position should not be a hindrance to free association and meeting with people of substance whose influence in the state or in the country can be of tremendous advantage to the development of the state, socially, economically and politically. Afterall, all the so-called visits are not nocturnal, they have been conducted in the full glare of the public and Television cameras. It should not be a crime for the Governor to fraternise with the Muslims anytime he so desires so far the same gesture is extended to the Christian group. And I think the governor has been very fair in this regard.

    As the father of the state, the governor identifies with the Christians very actively during the Easter festivals, Christmas and New Year celebrations. Likewise he takes part in El-del Fitri, Maulud Nabiyyu, El-del kabir and now the hijra. I have seen him on many occasions attending wedding and funeral services in church holding hymn book and singing the hymns with pulsating staccato. I am sure that his attendance at these Christian gatherings is not just for political pacification but also for soul edification.

    The claim by CAN that the Governor wants to Islamise the state is reckless and unfounded. If indeed he had such an agenda, he is too intelligent not to know how to go about it. He would not have allowed the Christians to dominate his cabinet nor would he have conceded a higher number to the Christians in the appointment of the permanent secretaries in the state civil service. These are the elite corps of the policy-making caucus. Neither would he have allowed the Christians to also be dominant in the House of assembly. Even most of the aides that he personally appointed are Christians. The Islamisation of a state cannot be done if there is no structure to support and accommodate its legislation and legitimisation. And the major structure that can begin the process of such a radical change in people’s faith in a state is none other than the Executive council or even the state house of assembly. As it is presently constituted, the Christians are dominant in Osun government and it is surprising that CAN still feel uncomfortable with this present advantage.

    I do not want to believe that CAN is acting the opposition script not because I am stupid to the point of believing that we do not have corrupt Christians but because I think it is shameful and sinful that men of God are encouraging and conspiring with men in agbada to discredit and disparage a progressive and hardworking government that they have in Osun. Besides, religious bodies should not limit their intervention in the polity to only religious matters or policies. They should speak out on other issues that are germane to nation-building. The kind of activism which the likes of Dr. Olubunmi Okogie , Reverend Gbonigi and Reverend Abiodun Adetiloye displayed during the inglorious era of the military seems to have gone down significantly. While it may be true that the evils of the military provoked the kind of resistance and opposition put up by these people, are we saying such evils are still not with us even under this democratic dispensation? Recently the Governor of Rivers State, Rotimi Amaechi raised an alarm that Nigeria is sliding towards dictatorship yet our spiritual fathers are fighting over cassock and hijab as if it is more important than a nation under siege. Let our spiritual leaders speak out on kidnapping, armed robbery, unemployment , bad governance, bad roads, pensions crisis , decline in education, vanishing national values, corruption, poverty, election rigging, police killing of innocent souls and a lot of evils that still abound.

    I may not be familiar with the Quran as I am with the Bible but I am sure the ultimate objective of every religion is to win lost souls that may be heading towards hell. However, here we engage in conflict, riots and wars in a bid to win these lost souls. In the process we kill ourselves. Is it not intriguing that instead of winning souls, we are killing souls. I am now confused and disturbed that if we kill all the souls that we are supposed to win over, what do we now take to God to justify our compliance with and obedience to his soul- winning injunction?

    Each time we kill ourselves or go to war with one another over issues of religion or God, we create in the minds of those we call infidels or unbelievers, a very weak God that is incapable of defending himself. It is laughable that man who is yet to unravel and resolve the mystery of his own mortality is trying to defend a God that we all acknowledge is immortal. Is it not God himself who says in the holy books that the battle is his? Show me that man who feels he can defend God or fight God’s war for him and I will show you a fool in the abattoir of the reprobates.

    Both CAN and the “hijab group” of the “Land of the Virtuous” must be guided by the creed of the land that enjoins them to distance themselves from any form of iniquities. The land that harbours the virtuous should not at the same time spew profanities, shenanigans and territorial desecration.

    Thomas, former special aide to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,

    teaches History and International Studies at the Lagos State University.

     

  • Terrorism and tinted glass phobia

    Terrorism and tinted glass phobia

    Who says that Boko Haram has not changed the lifestyle of Nigerians? That person should ask car owners, not only those that look tense when they are on a bridge or Nigerian Christians that are afraid to go to church on Sundays and their liberal Islamic counterparts who are no longer enthusiastic about going to pray in public mosques on Fridays. Ask young graduates who are no eager to avoid the unemployment line by rushing into NYSC camps in the North where there is more need for such graduates? The latest group to ask this question is Nigerians who own new and used cars that manufacturers in other parts of the world created from innovative thinking and research. Such doubting Thomases should ask managers of the country’s security who do not want to be called losers by Boko Haram warriors and have thus unearthed a law created under military dictators to assist police in fighting Western Education is Sin terrorists.

    Terrorism is a major challenge for governments all over the world. It has led to creation of special agencies in some parts of the technologically advanced world. There was nothing like Homeland Security in the United States in the years before September 11, 2001. Air travelers and their non-travelling family members could go as far as the boarding gateuntil terrorists made it mandatory for security officers to create new policies to restrict non-passengers to the ticketing area of the airport. Hundreds of air travelers have learnt how to leave their belts at home when they need to go through security checks in all airports of the world. Even women obsessed with their femininity have had to live with small volume of face powder, small amount of perfume, and sometimes without toothpaste if they want to travel without hassles. It is therefore not strange that Nigeria’s security managers have gone into the archive of laws created during the era of military dictatorship in the country, in their search for what to do to assist them in frustrating Islamic terrorists, and unintentionally, the citizens whose cooperation they need direly.

    What is strange is that the archaeologists of military laws have not given citizens good reasons to believe that they are not just being capricious or arbitrary. No data have been provided to show any link between terrorist acts in the North and vehicles with tinted glass. Smokers did not have to complain about being prevented from carrying their matches or firelighters with them on the plane, after the experience of shoe bombers or the botched attempt of young Nigerian international terrorist to light the bomb under his underwear a few years ago. Air passengers all over the world who are lovers of peace and order have not complained about ordinances that forbid them to carry machetes, knives, and bows and arrows into aircrafts. The connection between these dangerous items and in-flight terrorism had been made clear to passengers and non-passengers.

    What has not been made clear to Nigerians is the connection between tinted glass on the two rear sides of cars and the killing of innocent people by Boko Haram bombing of the UN office in Abuja, churches, motor parks, and police stations. How many terrorists have been nabbed operating from vehicles with tinted glass? How many explosive devices have been recovered by police from cars with tinted glass? How many guns have been shot and how many bombs have been thrown from moving cars with tinted glass since the advent of Boko Haram? It is necessary for the police to use data obtained from such heinous crimes to enlist the support of innocent Nigerians that had taken loans to buy cars with tinted glass made by their manufacturers abroad.

    Reports have indicated that Islamic terrorists had thrown bombs from motor cycles while some had shot innocent citizens from moving bicycles. Is the change in our security protocols going to ban motorcycles and bicycles? Nigerians have been told that Boko Haram bombers have used empty houses and occupied houses to store explosive devices and powerful assault guns. What is the attitude of the Inspector-General of Police to thousands of such houses in the north and south of the country, board them up? Invoking an obsolete law in the books against owners of cars with tinted glass is reminiscent of erecting road blocks as a means of fighting crimes. It is obsolete and may be counterproductive.

    In a war that requires cooperation of civilian population, policymakers in the security sector need to know how to cultivate citizens. They should not create policies that anger or antagonize citizens unnecessarily. Asking car owners to obtain special permit for using cars that they had duly registered and for which they had paid duties to Customs is similar to punishing or blaming the victim. Anyone that drives an unregistered car in the country has committed a punishable crime. It should not be criminal for citizens who have paid customs on their vehicles and paid for registration with their local government or the Federal Road Safety Commission to use those vehicles. It should be safely assumed that Customs department, FRSC, and the NPF are interlinked and are agencies that share common interest in the country’s security. For the law retrieved from the archive to be fair to citizens, it must include reimbursement of customs duties and registration fees already paid by owners of cars with tinted glass.

    In the fight against Boko Haram, our rulers need to learn from best practices from other countries that have security challenges from Islamic terrorists or any other category of terrorists: Ensure that cars do not carry tinted glass that is in excess of what is allowed in other parts of the world and ensure that security officers are given gadgets that can see through tinted glass from a distance. It will be less expensive for the federal government to acquire such devices than to have to face litigations seeking refund of huge sums of money to citizens who own duly registered vehicles. It is instructive to know that when the law being excavated by the police was made, it was to give special protection to military governments without mandate to rule. Even in those days when civilians were prevented from buying cars with green and jet black colors, and owning cars with tinted glass, military rulers were exempted from the rule, an indication that the law was not to fight crime but to accentuate privileges of new class of rulers.

    Thomas Paine and David Thoreau at different times had warned makers of bad and oppressive laws about the danger in making such laws. They had argued that human beings have the capacity to resist or disobey unjust laws. The National Assembly should not engage in panel beating an unjust and unreasonable law inherited from decades of military dictatorship. What senators need to do is to jettison the law against the use of cars with tinted glass. It is absurd that, at a timethe president, governors, emirs, obas, obis, and obongs across the country are making a case for unsolicited amnesty for Boko Haram terrorists, the police is excavating laws to rattle citizens in all parts of the country or using vehicles duly registered with law enforcement agencies.

     

  • On kid gloves and Robin Hoods

    On kid gloves and Robin Hoods

    This   week,  in  Borno  State, in the fishing town of Baga,  on the border with Chad,  soldiers of  the  antiterrorist Joint Multinational Force razed the town and left over 180 civilians dead. In  a new  film  in France   recently    a driver   who  made away with stolen money in a bank van became an instant hero. Also  in Nigeria, a cartoon which  caricatured   harsh  punishment for oil thieves while oil money thieves are being left to go literally  scot  free, set  the ball rolling today  on how ready the Nigerian government is, in its self- set task of ridding the nation of the debilitating cancer of corruption. In  between these happenings come the comical or bizarre story of the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni giving out a sack  of containing $100, 000 to some youths in his country in fulfillment of his campaign  promise, which really puts one in a quandary   as to  whether to laugh or   to  cry.

    My  contention today is that these events  or news items show levity in the treatment of some serious issues by  some  global leaders,  the interpretation of which can lead to a charge of nonchalance bordering on irresponsibility in some instances. In addition,  such attitude can lead to irrational or unexpected reactions   or  conclusions, which nevertheless  attract popular acclaim   and applause due to inertia or abject inaction on the part of  those in authority. In    analytic  terms, I will   first tag each event I have highlighted and go on to elaborate on each at length.

    First  the event in Baga was an overkill, in that the army killed an ant with a sledge hammer but this  would not have arisen  in the first  instance,  if the Boko Haram menace had not been treated with kid gloves by the authorities culminating in the setting up of the Amnesty Committee. The  glorification of a robber in a legally   vibrant and active nation like France is evidence of  populist frustration and revulsion   in  French society with a president that campaigned on fighting corruption and got elected only to discover that his weapon for the anti corruption crusade is itself tainted. The cartoon on oil thieves and oil  money thieves makes a clear distinction in terms of criminality and its oil brands  and throws a challenge to the authorities  to either fish or cut bait .In  Uganda, Yoweri Museveni’s  gift   on the surface  makes a  mockery of the concept of transparency and accountability, which his  government claims to be defending  by claiming that he   did not   take the money to Las  Vegas or keep it in his private account. Now  let us  start the chain of elaborations.

    With Baga,  the army or multinational task force overreached itself in the performance of its duty. The government has said it would investigate because it had set out rules of engagement to the task force beforehand. But the task  force has said that  Boko  Haram used civilians as a human shield. Who  is the government believing – the task  force or Boko  Haram?  The  task force undoubtedly was shooting for the kill to send a message   of deterrence  which was its  mandate   to  engage  the terrorists. Is that mandate being questioned now by the same authorities that gave it? Some  Northern  leaders  reportedly said that the Baga  incident would affect the Amnesty Committees work. One can then ask – in what direction?  Is  it in the suspension   or cancellation of the Amnesty  Committees work? Or  the continuation of the   woolly,  tacit  respect or recognition, albeit    grudging or masked, that some  Northern leaders  seem to have for Boko Haram ?  Either way, the confidence of the Joint Task Force in tackling terrorism must not be sacrificed on the altar   or excuse  of investigations into  the killing of civilians, which is condemnable under any circumstances, including the massacre at Baga.

    In  France  the robber film hero  was a driver who made away with 11.6 m euros in  a bank van  while his work colleagues were on break. He was jailed 3 years but in the scene in the film at which he made away with his loot, the audience applauded. This was because on the day the film was opening  in France   the man in charge of the  French  government’s tax force   against  tax fraud, Jerome Cahusac  revealed that he had  dodged tax to the tune of   600,000 euros  in  illicit account in a tax haven,   off shore. Which means  the game keeper had become the poacher. This  was in France where  the government got elected on the promise to tax 75%  of the earnings of anyone above 1m euros which had led to some gifted rich Frenchmen fleeing France. The applause  for the robber may sound weird. But its message is clear.  What is good for the goose is good for the gander in terms of punishment and that French film audience felt that the driver had just  been made a scape goat. This  happened in  a France where‘ outrage  over ruinous bankers, rising  unemployment and political corruption has  become the order  of the day‘. At    the end of the day   however the robber Toni Musulin was   reportedly celebrated in a pop song and seen as a Robin Hood figure in France. Which  really is a great pity for the rule of law anywhere in the world, including France which has strict laws and  where  a suspect is presumed guilty until proven otherwise unlike  in our system inherited from the British colonialists which is the other way round.

    In  the Nigerian cartoon on brands  of oil thieves you may say that the oil thief is being glorified at the expense of the oil money thief and you may be right. But  the Nigerian government is not allowing sleeping dogs to lie in its fight against corruption and I will show that with two stories this week.  The EFCC  was reported to have secured a court order restraining oil subsidy  thieves from using their account in the UK. Surely  this is commendable but what of the accounts of the subsidy  thieves,  who are really the oil money thieves, in Nigeria? Anyway  an answer  to that may be long in coming. This is because no less a person than the Nigerian  President Goodluck Jonathan is reported to have said  that the extent of corruption in Nigeria  has been exaggerated. This was  in reaction to a report submitted to the US Congress  by new  US Secretary  of State John Kerry that said  all arms of the Nigerian government is riddled with corruption. The  Nigerian President   disagreed   and said that the way government business had been conducted under his presidency had led to a reduction in the level of corruption in the nation. Which  really is  assuring considering the fact that the president may be forgiven for being a judge in his own case given his usual innocence on virtually all issues  facing the nation including the Boko Haram terror. Yet  in the presidential system of government that we run,  the buck stops on his table at Aso Rock. Undoubtedly our President has a huge penchant for treating grave issues with kid gloves and must be  persuaded   that he needs bare knuckles to face the challenges confronting the nation to stop the emergence of unlikely Robin Hoods  lurking in our midst.

    In  the Museveni $100,000  sack saga in Uganda,  a  presidential aide justified the action on the ground that the Ugandan president gave the beneficiaries the money directly instead of giving civil servants  and that the money had been budgeted for, which is an innovation  in government budgeting as we know it  in today’s world. The Ugandan president also gave out 15 okadas and a bus to the youths and really Iam  at a loss on what to make of the development.  Was  Museveni right to have done things this way to fight corruption? Or  has he personified state funds to fulfill electoral promises? Is  this a matter  for condemnation or emulation in the context of African politics as we know it today? I  really do not want to jump to conclusions and would rather watch events as they unfold in Uganda which some time ago introduced zero party  politics  that also kept power in the hands of Museveni. Surely a riddle in an enigma is abroad in Uganda or indeed Africa ,  and one must   pause  and ponder   seriously, as it unfolds   right before our eyes.

  • After Ekeji what next?

    There is muted celebration in Abuja. Reason: The Director of Sports Dr. Patrick Ekeji has resigned. There will be peace in the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), many have whispered into my ears.

    A fighter, Ekeji took swift decisions, although many of such decisions would have been better applied if he had reflected on them.

    One thing Ekeji had going for him was the ability to consult widely. But he perished the gains of such exercises by refusing to accept discerning views from those he hitherto sought ideas from. They became pariahs. And the lickspittles around him fed him with lies that created gaps between him and his former allies.

    Ekeji’s failure to attain the heights where he would have celebrated today was because he fought other people’s battles. This distraction ensured that his task of instituting an enduring template for sports became a mirage. He was very firm. He was not scared to ruffle feathers. He left the NSC fulfilled, despite the fact that Nigeria finished without a medal at the 2012 London Olympic Games, not for the first time.

    It is to Ekeji’s credit that our athletes enjoyed one of the best welfare packages at the 2003 All Africa Games which Nigeria hosted and won. But he was sent to the Federal Ministry of Planning and Statistics after the Games.

    Team Nigeria project ensured that sports federations had good vehicles for their athletes. Some of the vehicles are rickety now; others are being used by staff of the federations and the NSC to take guests to parties, churches and funerals while athletes trek home after training.

    Many who didn’t interact closely with Ekeji, like Amos Adamu, see him as the problem with our sport. They felt that Ekeji didn’t know the solutions to all the problems.

    Ekeji left good things behind that we must build on. But it is the proper constitution of the sports federations that would inject the new approach for the industry here.

    We must ensure that those federations that didn’t organise credible competitions in the last terms are shown the way out. Those federations with dictator chairmen who were cogs should be sacked. The number of members should be reduced to seven; one each from the six-geo-political zones. There should be task-driven chairmen, not estacode seekers.

    Frankly speaking, all the sports federations are too unwieldy. One was shocked during the registration for the 2012 London Olympic Games seeing more board members being accredited than the athletes. We must stop those chairmen and members who use these platforms to contest elections into continental and international bodies, albeit to entrench themselves in such federations.

    Little wonder we have instances where federation members attend competitions where their athletes don’t. You ask: of what use is such an exercise, if the primary targets- the athletes – don’t benefit from their positions in these sporting bodies? Officials don’t win laurels; athletes do.

    I would love to recall what happened during the Presidential Sports Retreat earlier this year in Abuja. Former Super Eagles Chief Coach Adegboye Onigbinde, Soccerstar Editor Kunle Solaja and I were placed in one of the study groups. We met, like others, and agreed on points that would change the particular sport. In fact, what we agreed was read to us for amendments, which we did.

    Surprisingly, when our study group addressed the congregation, he reeled out what was not said during the session. And that was the general complaint from other groups – The chairmen’s interests taking the centre stage against wise counsel.

    This is the major problem with sports development. We have chairmen who run the federations like cults. They subordinate members, create camps and effectively ruin the place by running the federations from their homes and offices.

    Indeed, in re-assembling the federations, any person who has spent two terms of four years should leave the place for others to make their contributions. Those who are in continental and international federations shouldn’t be allowed into the federations, if such a body has not organised enough tournaments to keep their athletes in good shape in the last regime.

    Ekeji introduced the concessioning of sports federations under the PPP arrangement. We need to look at what they achieved. We also need to re-jig the workings of such concessioned sports federations to make them more viable. We must change the modalities under which the last arrangement was made. years should leave the place for others to make their contributions. Those who are in continental and international federations shouldn’t be allowed into the federations, if such a body has not organised enough tournaments to keep their athletes in good shape in the last regime.

    Ekeji introduced the concessioning of sports federations under the PPP arrangement. We need to look at what they achieved. We also need to re-jig the workings of such concessioned sports federations to make them more viable. We must change the modalities under which the last arrangement was made. Such flawed templates wouldn’t change the face of the industry.

    Concession should be done with corporate firms who have a history of funding sports, not friends of the undertakers of such initiatives.

    This writer is bemused by the talk of concessioning when there isn’t a sports calendar. Lovers of sports know when the next competitions of their favourite games will hold. This foresight gives them the opportunity to save cash to watch the particular tournament that interests them. By the same token, firms can interface with our sporting events when they know that the dates are sacrosanct.

    Adept knowledge of the game should form the fulcrum on which members are cleared to contest elections into the federations. The idea of having friends of top government functionaries in sports bodies is chiefly responsible for the dearth of competitions. These lackeys of men in high places get disillusioned when it dawns on them that what they have is not a money-spinner. To these political jobbers masquerading as sports federation members, traveling with Nigerian contingents is only an opportunity to shop and watch films in their hotel rooms; not a time to watch the events for which they claimed to have travelled.

    Federations populated by members who are passionate about their sport will generate ideas to ensure that competitions are held regularly.

    The National Sports Commission (NSC) must ensure that timelines are given to the federations. These timelines should be accessed periodically. Defaulting federations should be eased out. But such drastic actions must form part of the rulebook that each federation member must sign after the elections; otherwise, they will scuttle the process through endless litigations.

    Members of the federations must have the clout to attract sponsors. They must know how to market their sport to attract cash. If there are no competitions, there won’t be the need to repair facilities. Even the good ones would gradually corrode, if not used. Competitions will spur the sponsors to rehabilitate venues as the competitions transcend from the domestic scene to the international platform.

    The sports minister should ensure that those scheming to be members of federations have verifiable means of livelihood. The toga of being businessmen and women is unacceptable. They become leaches to the federations when they eventually became members. Some of them used the platform to secure entry visas for their kids, wives and relations.

    Central to good performance in sports is the culture of having qualified coaches. This idea of having unqualified coaches to train our athletes accounted for 80% of our failures. For instance, in table tennis, Nigeria doesn’t need to look too far to get a qualified Nigerian for the job. Congo qualified for the ping pong event at the 2012 London Olympic Games through the technical savvy of a former Nigerian star, Kasali Lasisi.

    The Congolese knew the mileage they would get if their nationals sat on the bench, dishing out instructions to their athletes and they dropped Lasisi. Lasisi’s savvy qualified him to lead the continent’s crew for a continental event. What else do we need from Lasisi before naming him as our table tennis coach? Of course, those in the federation have their reservations because they cannot dictate to him. Is that not the type of coach we need?

    Lasisi has seen it all in table tennis. He played the game to the zenith, discovered and trained players. His case is one of several that we can talk about. But it must be said that these Nigerians who are celebrated in their sport should take charge as we strive to reinvent our sport. The era of recycling failed coaches and administrators in our sport, I dare say, is over.

  • Curing Doyin Okupe’s ignorance

    Curing Doyin Okupe’s ignorance

    As a trained medical doctor, Dr. DoyinOkupe, Senior Special Assistant to President Goodluck Jonathan on public affairs, ought ordinarily to be in the business of curing people of their various ailments. But the good doctor has abandoned his stethoscope for so long that he may be a potent danger to any patient who dares consult him for his professional services. But more importantly, Dr. Okupe himself is in urgent need of intensive medication for wilful ignorance in the discharge of his current public duties. When he assumed office as Senior Special Assistant to President Jonathan, Dr.Okupe was quick to assure Nigerians that his mission was not to be an attack dog for the president. In fact, he emphatically stated that he could not play such a role at his age. Okupe is over 60. Yet, he has not conducted himself in his present position with the restraint, caution and wisdom that both his high office and his advanced age demand. Dr.Okupe is clearly a loose cannon. He is a huge liability to the Goodluck Jonathan administration. His views are often jaundiced and utterly lacking in credibility. When Dr.Oby Ezekwesili recently questioned the management of the country’s foreign reserves by the Jonathan administration, Okupe along with Information Minister, Labaran Maku went for the messenger rather than address the message. Instead of simply providing the requisite statistics to the public, they insinuated, mischievously that Ezekwesile corruptly enriched herself in office as Minister of Education while steadfastly refusing her challenge to a public debate.

    Dr. Okupe was once again at his mischievous best when reacting to the recent convention of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) where the party resolved to merge into the new All Progressives Congress (APC). Of course, the good doctor must earn his pay. But he must not seek to do this at the expense of truth, fairness and the public interest. For one, Dr.Okupe ought to realise that a vibrant and virile opposition is a necessary condition for democratic sustainability. This is a necessity not only at the federal but at the state and local government levels. When he thus describes General MuhammedBuhari and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, arrow heads of the emergent APC as ‘political liabilities’ Okupe does our political system a great disservice. Would he, therefore, want all leading political personalities to ally with the ruling party perhaps for obvious pecuniary benefits? Do those who decide to form a viable opposition against all odds not deserve some respect and encouragement even from members of the ruling party? Can Dr.Okupe not learn some appropriate lessons from Governor Babangida Aliyu, the Chief Servant of Niger State, who has hailed the on-going merger process by the opposition as healthy for Nigeria’s democracy?

    Incidentally, the Niger State Governor was the Chairman at the launch last Thursday of the new book, ‘Witness to history’ written by Alhaji Lai Mohammed, National Publicity Secretary of the ACN. The Niger State governor did not hide his commitment to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) even as he demonstrated the highest respect and regard for the opposition. Incidentally, the foreword to the book was written by no other than Chief Ebenezer Babatope, a chieftain of Okupe’s party. One would wish that Dr.Okupe learns the appropriate lesson from such political decency. Unfortunately, Okupe did not go into details to explain what he meant by describing Buhari and Tinubu as political liabilities. But can there be any greater liability to the Nigerian nation than a President, Doyin Okupe’s boss, who is the most divisive leader in Nigeria’s history; a man whose tenure has spurned sectarian violence only on a scale surpassed during the civil war?

    In his ill- advised press conference, the medical doctor/ politician turned attack dog narrowed down on the person of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu saying “The leader of the opposition, Chief Bola Tinubu, who spoke disparagingly about the Federal Government on a number of issues, was once a governor of Nigeria’s richest state for eight years all have a record of what he made of that position.” Again, Okupe does not specify details. All residents of Lagos know that the state was virtually a failed one when Tinubu assumed office in 1999. The internally generated revenue of the state was barely N900 million in 1999. Through Tinubu’s ingenious financial engineering the monthly internally generated revenue was approximately N8 billion by the time he left office in 2007.

    According to Okupe, “Bola Tinubu who spoke about poor budget implementation at the federal level never attained 60 per cent budget implementation while he presided over the affairs of Lagos State…”. Of course, the facts are there for verification if Dr.Okupe cares to check. The average percentage budgetary performance of the Lagos State government under Tinubu’s leadership was 71.5%.The expenditure performance of the administration was 81% for 1999, 61% for 2000, 66% for 2001, 71% for 2002, 63% for 2003, 81% for 2004, 75% for 2005 and 74% for 2006. This is why the state witnessed massive infrastructural modernization and expansion across diverse sectors including roads, education, health, the judiciary, the environment, public transportation and water supply among others. Most of the roads constructed by the Tinubu administration over a decade ago are still solid and motorable. They include KudiratAbiola road, Oregun; Awolowo road, Ikoyi; Akin Adesola road, Victoria Island; Adeola Odeku road, Victoria Island; Agege Motor road; Ikotun-Igando road; Yaba-Itire-Lawanson-Ojuelegba road; LASU-Iba road, Ojo; Ajah-Badore road, Eti-Osa; Oba Sekumade Road, Ikorodu; Adetokunbo Ademola Road; Victoria Island and the ongoing modernisation of the Lagos-Epe Expressway as the largest concessioneering project of its size and complexity in Africa. In any case, has the National Assembly not been perpetually at war with the Jonathan administration over abysmally poor budgetary performance?

    If Dr. Doyin Okupe cares to educate himself, he will discover that the Tinubu administration constructed over 6000 housing units. These include the Abraham Adesanya Estate, Ajah; Ibeshe low-income housing scheme; Oba Adeyinka Oyekan Estate, Lekki; Ayangburen Estate, Phase 2, Ikorodu; Gbagada Medium Housing Scheme; Amuwo-Odofin Housing Scheme; Abraham Adesanya Estate, Phase 2; Ojokoro Millenium Housing Scheme; Alaagba Low-income Housing Scheme, OkeEletu and Oko Oba Low-Income Housing Schemes. The administration built new General Hospitals at Mushin, Shomolu, Ibeju-Lekki and Isheri-Iba as well as upgrading existing health centres to full-fledged hospitals at Ijede, Ketu, Agbowa and Agege. This was in addition to upgrading the buildings and facilities at the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) to international standard as well as rehabilitating and expanding old General Hospitals in Lagos, Gbagada, Epe, Isolo, Ikorodu, Badagry, Agege and the Island Maternity Hospital.

    Only recently, Okupe’s boss, President Goodluck Jonathan, was the special guest of honour at the inauguration of the Eko Atlantic City project. He heaped high praise on the venture – a brainchild of the Tinubu administration. The Bus Rapid Transit System (BRT) is another outstanding success story. It continues to convey millions of commuters from one point to the other daily. That was another conception of the Tinubu administration. Of course, we do not have sufficient space here to detail other achievements of the Tinubu administration. But I think I have said enough to cure Okupe of his wilful ignorance. If a solid foundation like that in Lagos had been laid at the federal level between 1999 and 2007, Nigeria would not be in today’s rot. On his exit in 2007, Tinubu identified a capable successor, Babatunde Raji Fashola, who has elevated Lagos to new levels of developmental excellence. What have we had at the federal level? The Ota soldier-farmer-politician handed over to a physically incapacitated successor and with his passing a former “shoeless” school boy who is completely clueless about handling the affairs of a complex polity like Nigeria. Lagos offers a sterling example of Nigeria’s transformative possibilities. A thousand Okupes cannot hide that fact.

  • Official delusions and painful realities

    Official delusions and painful realities

    The ostrich would rather bury its head in the sand than confront an ugly reality. Right? I really don’t get what the nation stands to gain from the riotous umbrage that greeted the latest report on massive corruption in Nigeria, which was recently submitted to the United States Congress by the Secretary of State, Sen. John Kerry. Outraged by what the government considers to be an exaggerated and warped verdict on the true state of moral decadence and official graft in the country, President Goodluck Jonathan was flustered that the report, tagged “Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012”, failed to acknowledge the yeoman’s efforts being made by his administration to corner the monster, inflict it with the gravest injury and finally cow it into submission. How come the compilers of the report, which was mostly made up of information supplied by foreign government officials, non-governmental and international organisations, ignored the sanity that has been injected into the processes of awarding contracts for fertilizer supply and the removal of the many corruptive cogs in the power sector? Jonathan asked.

    In all honesty, it would have been a refreshing breath of fresh air if the country’s main opposition parties had not feasted on the damning report, to enjoy some form of bragging right in the political space. And it would have also been irresponsible of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party to remain silent in the face of the battering by an opposition which, in the words of the PDP, is as guilty as any other person in the mad race to empty the public treasury. But that is as far as illogic can be applied in tackling a deadly malaise that continues to impoverish the generality of the people. To this writer, it would have been more ennobling if the PDP had come out with facts and figures that would puncture a huge hole in the US report instead of its attempt to justify official federal sleaze and entrenched moral turpitude by pointing fingers at states being controlled by the opposition. How does this argument change the perception out there that the Nigerian nation is swarming with callous briefcase thieves?

    Besides, something tells me that the Jonathan government is merely being theatrical in its self- abnegating stance against the US report on the abysmal state of human rights abuses and corrosive corruption in Nigeria. No. It couldn’t have been that dumb not to see it coming after the US Government expressed serious reservations about what it termed a “setback for the fight against corruption” when Mr. Diepriye Alamieyeseigha was summarily granted state pardon after serving terms for financial misconduct as governor of Bayelsa State. In that diplomatic face-off, the US minced no words in telling us the likely aftershocks of the curious presidential pardon while the Department of State’s spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, warned about a setback in the “ability to play the strong role we’ve played in supporting rule of law and legal institution-building in Nigeria.”

    The government, it must be said, reserves the right to put any foreign government that unduly interferes in its private affairs to the task.

    In the same vein, we cannot expect foreign donors to continue releasing funds into a stagnating system that is eternally weak at confronting the corruption monster. It is, therefore, not enough to spit fire or get petulantly abrasive over what the report described as “massive, widespread, and pervasive corruption (which) affected all levels of government and the security forces.” Nothing can be achieved if we allow the rage, the dirty politicking and the shameless blame game to blur our vision. If only our leaders can have some measure of reflection or introspection, they will find the evident fact that the government needs to take a second look at the full report and ask some salient questions regarding the timelines and issues raised.

    For example, is it true that the government has failed in its duty to effectively implement criminal penalties for official graft as stipulated in the Nigerian law? Is the report right in stating that our public officials “frequently engaged in corrupt practices with impunity and is there a “widespread perception (that) judges were easily bribed and litigants could not rely on the courts to render impartial judgements? Are our judicial officers so corrupt that they now take “bribes to expedite cases or obtain favourable rulings? Was the report dead on point in its chronicling of the shameful timelines of corrupt practices in the fuel subsidy saga? The Nigerian leadership should pause and ponder.

    How far have we gone in unravelling the real culprits in the $620,000 “sting” operation involving Mr. Farouk Lawan and oil magnate, Femi Otedola? Could it be true that the Lawan committee on the fuel subsidy scam unravelled the “misappropriation of nearly half the subsidy funds, with poor or non-existent oversight by government agencies” between 2009 and 2011? Did the government lose an estimated N1.067 trillion ($6.8bn) to “endemic corruption and entrenched inefficiency” in the oil sector? Are some government officials currently facing trial for stealing 32.8 billion naira ($210 million) Police Pension Fund? Did the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission file criminal charges against former Governor of Bayelsa State, Timipre Sylva, for laundering close to five billion naira ($32 million) of funds belonging to the state?

    Was the report wrong in any matter particular that an anti-graft agency do have a glut of corruption cases  against the former Minister of Works and Housing, Hassan Lawal, for 24 counts of fraudulently awarding contracts, money laundering, and embezzlement of 75 billion naira ($480 million); arrest of Mr. Dimeji Bankole, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Deputy Speaker Usman Nafada for the alleged misappropriation of one billion naira ($6.4 million) and 40 billion naira ($256 million) respectively; arrest of former Ogun State Governor, Otunba Gbenga Daniel; former Oyo State Governor, Chief Adebayo Alao-Akala; former Nasarawa State Governor, Alhaji Aliyu Akwe Doma; and former Gombe State Governor, Muhammed Danjuma Goje? Did James Onanefe Ibori not walk out as a free man from our court until his eventual conviction in the Southwark Crown Court in London to charges of money laundering and other financial crimes totalling 12.4 billion naira ($79 million) he had committed during his eight years in office as Governor of Delta State?

    How easy is it to access information from government even with the existence of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)? How many public officials get convicted for false declaration of assets by the toothless bulldog called the Code of Conduct Bureau? And has the President acceded to the request by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project and other groups that he should disclose his assets from 2007 to 2012? Did he give a damn about what his refusal portends for the negative perception out there that we are a bunch of leeches who feed fat on the common wealth?

    To us, the picture painted above may not be that bad. After all, petty thieves still get maximum sentence at our courts. But, to others, our larceny is unequalled. Today, those who should be behind bars after surrendering their loot to the State are the ones making and implementing the laws for us. I dare say some of them are even interpreting the laws. It was so bad that a former Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Justice Mustapha Akanbi, recently lamented at a forum in Ilorin that: “Many well-meaning and responsible Nigerians have been crying foul at the turn of events and the apparent cover-up of purveyors of corruption in recent times and the lethargic manner corruption cases are being handled. More often than not, mediocre, incompetent and corrupt officials, rather than resourceful, efficient and competent hands, find their way into positions of power and authority, which they use and manipulate to their own advantage and not to the benefit of society or the public good.

    “The result is that the nation begins to drift and slide dangerously down the slippery road of economic ruination. In the process, there is the general desecration of societal and normative values, low level performance in both socio-economic and technological developments and, ultimately, a putrefying decadence, the stench of which often puts off or prevents other nations with a record of transparency and probity from wanting to interact or do business with a corrupt nation.”

    If we find it difficult to swallow the bitter pill of putrefying corruption being thrown at us by the US government, can we, at least, sift the truth from Akanbi’s Lamentations? Or is Akanbi merely gloating because he missed the opportunity to desecrate the throne of justice and become ‘madly’ rich? Could he also have overblown the issue of corruption in our country out of proportion like Jonathan suggested of the US’ damning report? Let”s pause and ponder over these things!

  • An Amazon goes home

    An Amazon goes home

    Courageous. Honest. Humble. Smart. Tenacious. Loyal. Beautiful.These are a few of the numerous adjectives that, friends and admirers have used to describe the late Mrs. Funmilayo Olayinka, also known as Moremi Ekiti, the amiable Deputy Governor of Ekiti State until her passing on April 6, 2013. She was a noble soul whose sojourn on mother earth, though short, was wrapped in meaning. According to our human understanding she left the stage too soon; but she left behind a lasting footprint on the sands of time, and, hopefully, one that can initiate a tradition of excellence and selfless commitment to public service.

    The adjectives that describe Funmi Olayinka are commonly deployed by many of us without paying attention to the reality that they depict. The danger here is that they get applied frequently even in situations where they hardly fit. It is therefore essential to remind ourselves of what they require and why they apply so fittingly to Funmi.

    Courage is one of the most important virtues. A courageous person is one who does the right thing even when it is clearly too risky. Going into politics, especially in Nigeria, and particularly for a woman carries a lot of risk. Beside the physical threat to life, there is the threat to integrity and honour. It is said that fear and courage are cousins between who there is always sibling rivalry. Victory for one is defeat for the other. Naturally, we are disposed to fear in the face of danger. The person that faces danger head-on, knowing that she intends to fight for what is right and just and is not subdued by fear, is the courageous person. That was the decision that Funmi Olayinka and Kayode Fayemi made, going into the murky waters of Ekiti politics. They were both comfortable as successful professionals. But they saw the decay and they were moved. But they also noticed that political discourse in the Land of Honour was anything but honorable. Faint hearts would cringe. But as the famous jurist, Oliver Wendell Holmes observed, there can be no courage unless you are scared. Kayode and Funmi went ahead and plunged in. That is what courage means.

    In the course of the campaign, the election, and the subsequent thwarting of the people’s will, Funmi was steadfast. She could betray the cause as some did. She could jump ship. She could make herself available to the highest bidder. Not a few did just that. But Funmi didn’t. She stayed strong even when hope dimmed and all appeared to be lost. That was courage. It was also loyalty, not to a man, but to a cause that is larger than any human.

    Funmi’s close friends and associates, including Erelu Bisi Fayemi, have recounted how she faced her health ordeal with courage and complete surrender to the will of her maker. Many of her colleagues in and outside the government hardly knew what she was going through. Indeed, as late as September 2012, when she must have been weakened by chemotherapy, she represented the Chairman of Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) at an event in Ireland. She bore the fate of her life with dignity and grace. That was courage at its best.

    It is easy, but wrong, to associate loyalty with blind allegiance to a person or cause. Dictators value loyalty which they wrongly identify with patriotism. Philosopher Josiah Royce defines loyalty as “the willing and practical and thoroughgoing devotion of a person to a cause.” By a cause, Royce means something that is objective, in the sense that it is beyond oneself, and it is good. It was clear from her life story that Funmi has always placed the cause of transforming Ekiti State in the centre of her political mission. She subscribed wholly to the Fayemi administration’s eight-point agenda and was in the forefront of the implementation. Her loyalty was not blind; it was not misplaced because the governor acknowledged her contributions and respected her as an invaluable colleague by giving her the responsibilities that befit her office and skills. And she delivered.

    Loyalty to a cause also implies honesty in the pursuit of the cause. It is easy to embrace fraudulence and deceit especially in public service in our clime. It takes courage to embrace honesty as the best policy. Indeed, as Immanuel Kant puts it, honesty is not just the best policy, it is the only policy.Funmi radiated honesty and everyone around her attested to this fact. During the campaign and the struggle to reclaim their mandate, she was entrusted with the coordination of resources and she demonstrated not just the professional competence that was essential to success but also the virtues of integrity and rectitude that were indispensable to building trust among the grass-root and foot soldiers.

    All religions and moral systems consider humility as a virtue. The humble will inherit the earth. But humility can be misconstrued, especially when it is taken by others as a sign of weakness. The goodness of humility may be abused as foolishness and taken advantage of. Even in the face of such a risk, again, the courageous person does the right thing; humble herself before her God and fellow humans. The reward is what we are witnessing today in the case of Funmi. The person who showed respect for everyone around her is now receiving an unprecedented level of respect as she takes her leave. She was humble but not humbled.

    It was in this matter of the quality of Funmi’s humility that I first encountered her. Four summers ago, I was on a short vacation and had paid a visit to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu at his Ikoyi residence. I sat in his living room with a number of guests, including Funmi who I had not met before that time. She and I exchanged greetings with her going the way of Yoruba custom and tradition. It was at that point that Asiwaju came out and asked if I had met the future Deputy Governor of Ekiti State. I was embarrassed to say no. Funmi’s gracious response was: “Prof, I am one of the fans of your column.”

    As in the matter of courage, tenacity implies hanging in even in the face of extreme difficulties. It is not being stubborn; it is being thoughtfully hopeful. A tenacious personality is persistently hopeful that things will turn around for the better while she is also action-oriented and works towards the set goal. Every aspect of her short life points to the virtue of tenacity in Funmi’s personality. You cannot have a good purposeful education without being tenacious. You cannot be on the Dean’s Honour Roll for four years without being tenacious. You cannot succeed in the murky waters of Nigerian politics without being tenacious. And in the face of the most scary health challenges that a human being can face, you cannot deal with them and still maintain your dignity and grace without the virtue of tenacity. In all of these Funmi excelled, and succeeded in teaching all of us the important lessons of life even as the avatar once taught us: it is not life that matters but the courage that you bring into it. She brought in a lot of courage and tenacity to life. For this we must be grateful.

    We must also be grateful for her smartness and the opportunity afforded the people of the Land of Honour to benefit from her intellect. It takes a lot of wit to perform successfully the oversight functions over such sensitive and strategic agencies as the Muslim Pilgrims Welfare Board, Christian Pilgrims Welfare Board, State Emergency Relief Agency, Boundary Commission, Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, and many others. One anecdotal report suggests that whenever she presided over the meeting of the State Executive Council in the absence of the governor, members dared not to be late because “mama” was going to preside. In what may be perceived as a “man’s world, Funmi earned the respect of her peers and subordinates. To crown it all, as Mrs. Funso Adegbola elegantly put it, Funmi was beautiful inside out. It appeared to me that it was the inside beauty that reflected so gracefully outside. An amazon paid us a short visit and left us asking for more. So long, virtuous woman!