The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

  • Boston’s day of vigil for justice

    Boston’s day of vigil for justice

    “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” — Wendell Phillips, (1811-1884) 

    Last Friday and Saturday, the entire world stayed glued to their satellite stations watching the CNN. They were eager to witness the denouement to the search for the surviving on-the-run suspect of the Boston Marathon bombing in the United States of America (USA). That night, the US system showed the entire world why its remains world’s number one country.

    Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, and his brother, Tamerlan, 26, from the same mother and both resident in the US, were the suspected masterminds of the dastardly act that claimed three lives, critically injuring 180 others near the finish line of that marathon race. Both of them were born in former Russian territory known as Kyrgyzstan and are of Chechen descent. In their bid to escape from justice, Tamerlan was killed in Watertown, Boston while Tsarnaev escaped on foot, albeit fleetingly. The manhunt for Tsarnaev brought out the best of America’s disdain for terrorism and her readiness to protect the sanctity of human lives and property in her territory.

    The FBI and the Watertown police launched a citywide lockdown by conducting a house-by-house search for the alleged killer. The federal and the Watertown police displayed professional agility and civilised disposition in the discharge of their police duties. They were well kitted with the best of police combat costumes as they drove round Watertown in armoured patrol vehicles. This must have informed the confidence and commitment displayed by these men.

    Their ceaseless security vigil since the day the bomb blast occurred became fruitful when Tsarnaev was eventually nabbed, after a brief gun duel with the police, in a tarp-covered boat he had been hiding in the backyard of a house. The Watertown police siege scenery was a reminder of what policing in Nigeria should be but which unfortunately, it is not. The kits adorned by the American police were procured with money and it is not as if this country does not have the funds to procure such. But corruption has been the greatest inhibition to our goal of attaining that security standard. The lives of those America police are insured against the hazards of their profession. Nothing of such is available for their Nigerian counterparts. Billions of naira is yearly budgeted for police equipment, welfare, training and overall national security but the money never gets down. Yet, we expect such policemen officers to be the veritable aegis for maintaining peace and security in our country.

    It would not happen because it is what is sown that would be reaped. That brings us down to the handling of Boko Haram insurgents in the country. Quite unlike what we all witnessed in Boston, the handling of the insurgents by the Nigerian police, military and intelligence agencies has been laughable. The handling of this intractable problem by security agencies has made mockery of the nation’s competence in making her territory a safe haven for inhabitants. Could the problem be that of waning motivation among security operatives? Could it be one of incompetence or even misplaced priority of how to handle security, especially police affairs in this country?

    For instance, the police institution that is the pride of the US has become an albatross in, especially, the northern part of the country today. Even the intervention of the military through the Joint Task Force (JTF) has exposed the military as suffering from the same official lethargy that has become the lot of the police and other security agencies in the country. At the same time the US police was commendably hunting for, before eventually apprehending Tsarnaev, the Nigerian military was struggling in a battle with the Boko Haram miscreants. At the end of that battle, not less than 185 lives were lost in the gun duel between the JTF and Boko Haram insurgents.

    Most of the people killed, according to reports, were women and children. About 2000 houses and more than 50 motorcycles were burnt in the commercial town of Baga, Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State. Baga is a fishing town on the shore of Lake Chad adjacent to the Chadian border. It is a shame that a military general commanded JTF has not succeeded in its attempts to reclaim 10 local government areas in Borno State including Marte, Magumeri, Mobbar, Gubio, Guzamala, Abadamin, Kukawa, Kaga, Nganzai and Monguno that have been taken over by Boko Haram killer members. This exercise is a complete mockery of the essence of the Nigerian military which is to quell insurrection against the state that the Boko Haram is currently championing. Yet, Mr. President could not rescue the already bad situation.

    Sometime last year January, not less than 186 people were killed in coordinated attacks by Boko Haram fighters in Kano State. Tens of others were killed, even in military barracks, by the unscrupulous sect members in other northern states at different occasions without any clue being gotten by security agencies. The approach of government has always been like begging the issue without any concrete result coming out of bombings that have become routine in the country. Could this kind of things happen in the US for this long period without a solution being arrived at by the security agencies and the government, even if there is northern elite complicity as being insinuated in the current case in the country?

    Whilst President Barrack Obama rose to the occasion as witnessed in the Boston’s case in the US, President Goodluck Jonathan of Nigeria turned to his cliché of calling for an investigation into the matter. As usual in the latest Borno state Boko Haram shootouts with the military, he has ordered a powerful probe, that would be a shameful end to the incident. He sits in the comfort of Aso-Rock Presidential Villa, Abuja, from where he is demanding from Brig.-General Austin Edokpaye, Commander of JTF in Borno State, a comprehensive brief of what transpired which even when given to him, he most possibly would not act on. The question is: Will Obama take the same position if the Boko Haram were to be in America? The question is no! The American government would have wiped them out of its territory. That is a sign of a country with serious leadership focus of how its affairs must be administered. President Jonathan’s arm-chair Commander-in-Chief approach to security matters especially, has become serious embarrassment to credible citizens of this country. The venomous situation, currently witnessed in most parts and the displayed inefficient official disposition, cannot continue if the Nigerian project is still of importance to those in the corridors of power.

    Whether against Boko Haram insurgents, unscrupulous militants or even armed robbery/kidnappers siege, when is Nigeria going to witness the type of effectively triumphant security agencies that kept vigil for humanity in Watertown, Boston last weekend? This is a food for thought for all reasonable Nigerians within the country and in Diaspora that want the country to witness peace/stability. Eternal vigilance, as deployed by America in Boston, is truly the price of liberty – apologies to that great thinker, Wendell Phillips.

  • Persona non grata in your country?

    Read this: “I the Federal Minister of Internal Affairs, being of the opinion that Shugaba Abdurrahman Darman as present in Nigeria ought to be classified as a prohibited immigrant and acting under the powers confined on me by section 18 (3) of the Immigration Act, 1963, and of all other powers enabling me in that behalf, accordingly order that the said Shugaba Abdurrahman Darman be deported from Nigeria by the first available means and of direct that the said Shugaba Abdurrahman Darman shall thereafter remain out of Nigeria.

    “This order may be cited as the Shugaba Abdurrahman Darman Deportation Order 1980.

    “Made at Lagos this 24th day of January, 1980”.

    The above Deportation Order was signed by Bello Maitama Yusuf, the Federal Minister of Internal Affairs in President Shagari’s administration. Curiously, Shugaba Abdurrahman Darman, who was then the majority leader of the Great Nigeria People Party (GNPP) in the Borno State House of Assembly, was deported in the early hours of January 23, 1980. He was deported by the Federal Government before the proclamation of the Deportation Order. At the wee hours of the fateful night, immigration team led by one Mohammed Mofio, Assistant Superintendent of Immigration stormed Shugaba Darman’s house at Mafoni Ward in Maiduguri, took him away amidst family members protest and dumped him along Sheri River along the Cameroon/Chad border about 200 kilometers away from Maiduguri.

    What followed is now history as Shugaba Darman took the Federal Government to court challenging the deportation order claiming as a Nigerian citizen, he cannot be deported from his own country. Justice Oye Adefilla sitting at the Maiduguri High Court nullified the order, ordered Shugaba Darman be returned to Nigeria and ordered the Federal Government to pay him the sum of N350,000.00 being general, aggravated, compensatory and exemplary damages.

    Today, after 23 years after this violent violation of the constitutional right of a Nigerian from Borno State, a new phenomenon is gradually crippling or building in again in which some people from Borno especially from Maiduguri are consciously or unconsciously being stigmatized or treated as prohibited immigrants or per sona non grata outside Borno.

    Provided you are from Borno and in particular Maiduguri, not withstanding your tribe or religion, to hide your identity sometimes as coming from Borno may be the “beginning of wisdom”. If you don’t, you may innocently discover yourself either in an unfriendly atmosphere or an atmosphere of suspect. Today, Borno people as a whole instead of the concerned few, are made to carry rightly or wrongly, the burden of the cross they never authored or bargained for. They are being discriminated against, humiliated and in some instances rejected in most parts of their fatherland as they are erroneously tagged “security risks”. No one has bothered to ask how feasible is it for all the people of Borno to be adherents of Boko Haram. Head or tail, it is the generality of the people of Borno especially the travellers from the state who are losers from all ends. First, there is the fear of being a victim of the Boko Haram sect; on the other hand, there is the likelihood of being treated as a security risk or prohibited immigrant outside Borno.

    Take for instance, you travel by road from Maiduguri to any part of the country, you are welcome by barrage of questions at most of the security posts or checkpoints. “Where are you coming from? Where are you going? What work do you do? What is in your bag? Show your identity card or identify yourself.”

    Meanwhile all passengers in the vehicle would be told to disembark and file up possible for search after which you will be directed to trek few meters ahead of the driver who would later meet you with the vehicle. This is the daily ritual travellers are subjected especially from this part of the country. Consequently, the journey from Maiduguri to Abuja which would under normal circumstances take about nine hours now go for 16 hours of mental torture, worries and uncertainties. For those who are unlucky to meet the rude and uncivilized security operatives, it is a bad day as you will be delayed more than expected. The same goes if you are coming into Maiduguri from any part of the country or into the state capital from the neighboring countries of Chad, Cameroon and Niger republics. Expect anything good, bad, ugly from some men in uniform you meet on the way. However, some are good, courteous and humane and would go out of their way to cheer up the passengers.

    I was in Abuja recently at Utako Motor Park to see off a friend going to Lagos. We were lucky as the Toyota Sienna bus was only expecting a passenger to be fully loaded. My friend was asked from where and he replied Maiduguri. He had two bags; one containing his dresses and the other his laptop, international passport, money (both dollars and naira) and some vital documents including his curriculum vitae (CV) as he was going for a promotional examination. The driver insisted on putting all the loads at the boot of the vehicle while my friend insisted on carrying the small bag containing his laptop by his side. I overhead the driver saying to some of his colleagues in a language that my friend did not understand that in the first instance, he was not disposed to conveying my friend because of where he came from (Maiduguri) and his mode of dress, but for the dearth of passengers. The driver then asked to no one in particular, “who knows whether he is not one of them?

    Side by side with this gradual segregation or discrimination against the people of Borno especially the travellers is the same fate people suffer with regards security accommodation in some hotels and some commercial guest houses. Get to some of the hotels or guest houses and after filling the form for accommodation and your point of origin showed Maiduguri, expect anything. The type of accommodation you want is either exhausted or not available. To be more diplomatic, you will be told if you want a single room, that only double ones are available and when you demand for this, the answer would come readily, “sorry we just discovered that even the double rooms have been fully booked”.

    A friend of mine had a nasty experience in Kaduna. He was booked for accommodation in advance in one of the city guest houses. On arrival in Kaduna, he went straight to the guest house, given the form to fill for the accommodation already reserved and he complied. On completion of the form, the receptionist told him to hold on. Having waited for over 30 minutes and discovering that some of the guests that came after him have been checked in, my friend got in touch with our colleague who had earlier booked him and explained to him the delay he was experiencing in securing the accommodation. In no time, our colleague arrived, went straight to the reception in anger as to why his colleague should be treated like that since he has brought a lot of customers to them. The receptionist took him into her office and later he came out and gave my friend a new form to fill indicating his point of origin as Yola not Maiduguri. Thereafter, he was given the key to his room. The message is clear.

    This is the excruciating experience some people from Borno (both natives and non natives) especially the travellers from the state to other parts of the country face as a result of the security challenges presently facing the state. It is the prayer and hope of all that peace will return to Borno soonest and that her abiding philosophy of “Home of Peace and Hospitality” will flourish again and its citizens move freely among other Nigerians without molestation or ill-will.

    • Izekor writes from Maiduguri.

  • If

    If

    If we were truly as intelligent as we think we are, this will be the moment in which we understand that the choices we made had never served but impeached us. This is the moment in which we agonize over what consequences we shall get to endure or what indescribable joys we will get to enjoy, according to the choices we made.

    If we had truly given voice to our rage and pain by casting our votes for the candidates truly deserving of them, we would know, from this moment henceforth; if President Goodluck Jonathan is the Messiah that we had longed to find. This moment henceforth, we will get to know if every state governor, senator, local council chairman, among others, actually measure up to statesmanship we are yet to enjoy.

    This moment henceforth, we shall begin to understand the many aces and inadequacies of “If.” And so shall we finally come to terms with wantonness, folly, and cowardliness by which posterity will define and judge us.

    If only we could ever get past “If”and its politics of regret and expectation. If President Goodluck Jonathan would scorn the beaten path, he would offer us more than time-worn “life-boats”that basically, incapacitates and obscures.

    If Mr President-elect truly intends to be true to his words, he would be done with his promises of better life, free amenities and infrastructure for in the normal conditions of existence, it is the duty of the government to provide among other things; good roads and electricity, security and a stable economy; for we do pay for them – quite painfully too; from our income as tax.

    If President Jonathan would do his bit, then he would foster a prompt eradication of the canker of unemployment; then he would seek with intent to actualize, lasting solutions to the monstrosities of bad roads, substandard education and health sectors, insecurity, erratic power supply, redundant refineries, elephant projects, ill-equipped hospitals, pervasive poverty et al. Then he would motivate his associates and fellow public officers in power to hearken and seek determinable end to the people’s cries and grunts of pain.

    And if every serving state governor among others would aspire to the noblest deeds in statesmanship and ardour, then every city and every village would be a haven for tourists to explore. If Governor Babatunde Fashola would extend his politics of progress and expansion to the enclaves that no one could manage to accept, still, as dazzling emblems of his mega-city project, then every street and every neighbourhood in Agege, Abule-Egba, and Agbado-Ijaye to mention a few, would become attractions no one could ignore.

    If Governor Babatunde Fashola would accord his studious stare beyond the bounds of Yaba, Ikoyi, Ikeja, Victoria Island et al, then he would find that there are resources yet untapped within the enclaves no one would gallantly identify as brilliant archetypes of his mega-city project. Then every lane and every settlement in Ayobo, Iyana Ipaja, Ipaja, Ajasa-Command would be a sight for the living. Then every street and every neighbourhood in Ahmadiyya, Meiran, Iju-Ishaga, Akute, Ojodu and those impenetrable streets of Ajegunle, just before Ogun state would become more habitable for every visitor and every resident alike.

    And if Ogun state governor-elect, Ibikunle Amosu, is truly the Messiah the natives claim he would be, he would endeavour to reverse every anomaly that has been foisted upon the state. He would re-energise the state by repairing the damaged roads of Abeokuta, Sango-Ota and the link roads by which Itele meshes with Lagos. He would make the filth in Ita-Elega, Itoku, Itoko, Isale-Ake, Onikolobo, Quarry road, Adatan, to mention a few disappear; he would improve the lot of Abeokuta, the land of industry, paramount royalty and the cerebral.

    If every incoming governor, local council chairman, could aspire to such noble ideal as the provision of good roads among other vital infrastructure, then, the mountain dwellers of Sankwala and their neighbours in Gashaka-Gumti, Taraba state would have no further need to travel across the border into Cameroon to seek good medical care. Then they would have no need to emigrate to till other people’s lands in Cameroon, while our land lay fallow in our motherland.

    If every public office holder would accept that we do not live for the benefit and love of “lifeboats” and that no patronising politics would serve as fertile earth in which to sow our seeds of hope, development and prosperity, they could chance on the means to improve our lives. And they could learn to institute veritable means by which we could attain it, like conscientious leadership cum service in the interest of the people.

    If they all would accept that poverty, ignorance, illness, corruption and strife as other afflictions of their kind are hardly metaphysical emergencies as we have been made to believe, they could finally attain a grasp of true statesmanship and governance.

    If they all would seek to obliterate these anomalies and improve upon our lives within the bounds of conscious efforts in pursuit of those values we seek – particularly those we are too effeminate to seek, they could eventually become the worthy representatives we have always wished that they would become.

    If every incoming public officer would evolve a personal ethic wholly derived to elevate the fundamental nature of our universe, then they could be able to revert that time-worn and insidious altruism that has been our lot.

    Then the Nigerian state could be able to refute such menacing philosophy that that propagates the notion that every citizen by his nature and stature is helpless and doomed. Then every Nigerian could be able to rebut such manner of altruism that stresses that success, happiness and achievement are impossible to you and me; that emergencies and catastrophes are the norm of our lives and that our primary goal is to combat them with the least expectation of triumph while we expect altruistic lifelines, lifeboats and other pick-me-ups from our leadership and state.

    If every newly elected public officer would endeavour to scorn the allure of the beaten and yet most travelled path, they could attain such wisdom and honour their predecessors could never have. They could get to appreciate that no brilliant degree of sophistry or double-speak could ever justify or validate such politics that seeks to asphyxiate the aspirations and wishes of the man on the street however far-fetched they are.

    They could get to understand why like the altruistic philosophy from which it is derived, such politics rests on a plethora of myths that are as outdated as supernatural as edicts legitimizing“The Divine Right of Kings” over serfs.

    And if we could endeavour to be more mindful and assertive, we could at long last, re-invent ourselves as everything but the inconsequential social elements we have been labeled to be.

    We could divest our lives of the shams that incapacitates and obscures. We could learn how not to compromise our struggle for self-determination any longer knowing that if we do, more often than not, we will suffer a succession of familiar betrayals that has overtime emboldened and fortified the power of corrupt and wholly evil leadership that we had lacked the courage to fight and conquer.

  • Okonjo-Iweala, Shuaibu and the future of Nigeria

    Okonjo-Iweala, Shuaibu and the future of Nigeria

    There is indeed crisis in the land, a lachrymal crisis. We thought our institutions were decayed but the reality is that they have become interred under the debris of insouciance and leadership malady. The day has come in Nigeria when a civil servant, a much junior one at that, would take to the national newspaper to harangue a serving minister, call her names, blackmail her and put her on the defensive. Though badly savaged as it were, it is a sad day indeed for the civil service that ought to be the pillar on which other institutions are hoisted. It is a sad day for Nigeria’s public service and it sure portends a weird augury for the nation and her public service.

    I am talking of course about the small matter between the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and a certain Mr. Yushau Shuaibu, who until a few days ago, held sway as the Public Relations Officer of the National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA. Shuaibu had recently, written an article in a national newspaper much impetuously, accusing the honorable minister of ethnic bias, favoritism, insensitivity and even throwing in a bit of intimidation, blackmail and threats in the matter of appointments in the ministry under the Minister’s purview.

    Hear a bit of Mr. Shuaibu: “Dr. Okonjo-Iweala should also note the blatant disregard for the sensitivities and sensibilities of others while arrogantly promoting only people from her tribe may expose them to hatred with potentially explosive consequences such as those experienced in the 1960s when most federal positions were occupied by a particular tribal group.”

    We ask, would Shuaibu have written such tendentious article if Okonjo-Iweala were Hausa-Fulani? Is it fair for a junior staff to put a minister through such indignity of publicly defending her official actions? What was Shuaibu thinking of committing such Civil Service sacrilege? Such gross insubordination is never condoned in the Service and Shuaibu ought to know that at his level unless he was minded to embark on a kamikaze. If every aggrieved civil servant went to the press to blackmail their bosses and undermine the institution, there would not be a Service left for Shuaibu to have joined in the first place. Even out of service, what manner of worker would go to the press to disparage his company’s chairman, board or management and still expect to keep his seat one day longer?

    Besides insubordination, there are issues of rascality, infantilism, ethnic jingoism and acute case of Igbophobia. Please how on earth does the specific case of the appointment of the head of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, FIRS, affect Shuaibu so adversely to drive him into throwing such insolent words at a minister? This certainly is not part of his schedule of duties at NEMA. If he is so aggrieved, why would he not pass his petition through his boss who would forward it through the appropriate channels to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) or the Presidency?

    Is it possible that Okonjo-Iweala could act on a matter as weighty as the appointment of the FIRS chairman without the input of FEC members and the President’s express directives? For instance, the head hunt and selection for this job was said to have been carried out by Phillips Consulting. If government wants to fill that strategic position with a professional in the mold of Omoigui Okauru, the immediate past occupant, that is the prerogative of the President. If the search for a replacement is planked on merit, are we going to ab initio, bar Igbo professionals from the contest? Did Okonjo-Iweala mandate Phillips Consulting to look out solely for an Igbo?

    What is clearly Igbo mauling has continued unabated leaving a trend that cannot be ignored anymore. Things that public servants of other ethnic groups routinely get away with become a national crisis when an Igbo is involved. But this column will continue to point out that fair is fair.

    It is common knowledge here that appointees always populate their offices with their own kith and kin. Let a panel be raised to cross check this point and I wager that Igbo public office holders are not the worst offenders. There has been a long-standing allegation that the Central Bank has been converted to the Central Bank of Kano, (CBK), turban and all, no Shuaibu has gone to press with this. It is alleged that a grand employment racket is going on at the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) which engendered the use of multiple websites and gave us that most titillating “my oga at the top” clanger. But for obviously a lesser offence, Mrs Rose Uzoamaka who headed the Immigration Service until recently, was chucked out of office as if she was leprous. Just because she is Igbo; the soft target.

    Recently, the Chief of Army Staff, General Azubuike Ihejirika, the first Igboman to hold that position in over 50 years! was subjected to media ‘bombardment’ over mere allegations of populating the army with his Igbo brothers. It was ok for over 50 years when other tribes, especially Hausa/Fulani held sway and filled up the military with their kind. No army boss was ever put through such impertinence of having to answer to the public for purely military decision. Ditto for Aviation Minister, Stella Oduah; there has been a song and dance that she has ‘Igbonise’ the sector and it does not matter that she is getting results; indeed, damn the results, her traducers seem to chant. It is all because they are Igbo, but we must not shy from singing this refrain.

    Until we elect to build this nation on fairness, equity and justice to all tribes, big or small, we will not make desired progress. I am all for ‘sensitivities and sensibilities’, to quote Shuaibu who I suspect would rather be a politician and columnist; federal character and all that merit killers are also desirable but let us do it based on facts and fairness. If only the Federal Character Commission would do its job by publishing annual report of recruitments and appointments in all MDGs. It rankles when one group acts as if it alone has license to impunity. If we have built our nation on impunity and injustice it is only fair that we all enjoyed the forbidden repast equally. Even as we bicker over one small appointment, the north is at the helm of most strategic positions in the land today from the judiciary to security agencies and specialized commissions. No Civil Servant has gone to the press on that.

    The Okonjo-Iweala versus Shuaibu affair boils down to the age-long tendency to bully Ndigbo in the Nigerian system. Igbo is Nigeria’s easy target. A sitting President once made a national broadcast on account of a ‘paltry’ N55m bribe-for-budget scandal while voiding at the court, a half a billion matter involving his cousin. Igbo is perceived as the proverbial ukwu nwanyi onye ara – the mad woman’s buttock which is at the pleasure of all manner of men.

    In summary, it has become obvious that we do not possess the filial concupiscence to sustain what would have been a wonderful Nigerian marriage. There does not seem to be a Nigerian future. We have pretended for too long that we are one people. We are not; we are a bland rainbow country, a queer amalgam of penguins, eagles and hawks – three great avian wonders but which must not be yoked in one coop. We must sit down and disengage peacefully, let us liberate ourselves so that those that fly would explore the skies; those that soar would sail, drone rocket-like, into untold horizons while those that walk would do so in regal majesty, unhindered and unperturbed by their hyperactive kindred. That is our future, really.

  • Amaechi’s political prognosis on Nigerians

    Amaechi’s political prognosis on Nigerians

    A  few weeks ago, the Governor of Rivers State, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, was reported by some newspapers as saying that the objective social and economic conditions in Nigeria called for a change, but that Nigerians were too timid to bring about such a change by directly challenging their leaders. Coming from such a highly placed public official, a state governor, his comments must be regarded as surprising and strange. He did not specifically call for a violent change, but came quite close to it. Many will be disposed to consider his comments as hypocritical, self-serving, and a gratuitous insult to his people, the same people who, through years of personal sacrifice, brought him to power after decades of military rule in Nigeria. The same views regarding possible future violent political change in Nigeria had been expressed earlier on by the respected Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Matthew Kukah, who was reported as saying that a violent change was not possible in Nigeria. Well, the Catholic Church has not been known to be in support of violent change, except when it serves its interest. In general, it has always been in support of the Establishment.

    The conclusions reached by the two prominent figures raised some eye brows in both official and unofficial circles. This paper actually wrote an editorial in support of Governor Amaechi’s comments that Nigerians were too timid to force a change in the country. But I think Governor Amaechi missed the point by his explicit dismissal of Nigerians as being too timid to organise themselves in revolt against the authorities. There is no basis for his comments. A revolution occurs only when the objective conditions warrant it. That is not yet the case in Nigeria. There are far too many cultural constraints that would make a violent change difficult. The nation and its people are too badly divided.

    Now, I have never met Governor Amaechi, but my impression of him, drawn from his frequent press comments, is that of a youthful, energetic, and thoughtful leader eager for a change in the country, precisely what the nation is in dire need of. He may be having some political problems in his state and with his party, the PDP. But one must share his concerns about the lack of progress in the appalling social and economic conditions of the poor in Nigeria. Obviously his observation about Nigerians being a timid lot, though erroneous, came from the heart and one must respect him for his concerns.

    However, there is no historical basis for Governor Amaechi’s conclusion that Nigerians are too timid to force a change in the country. They will do so if the objective conditions exist. But that is not quite the case now. Both before and after Nigeria’s independence, the Nigerian public, particularly the poor, played a crucial role in Nigeria’s political history, challenging the authorities whenever there is a compelling reason to do so. And it is only the people who can make that judgment, not their leaders inciting them to do so. They will only resort to a rebellion if they are united about it and consider it to be in their interest to do so. It is unlikely that they can be goaded into it.

    Nigeria’s political history shows that, at various times, the Nigerian people were in open rebellion against British colonial rule in Nigeria and their own post independence governments, both civilian and military. Examples of this include the violent protests at the coal mines in Enugu, the riots in Abeokuta, led by Mrs. Ransome Kuti, over the introduction of direct taxation, and the 1946 Labour strike in Lagos that virtually paralysed the colonial government. The Nigerian people participated fully in the independence movement under the leadership of the various political parties and organisations. It was the support of the masses that made Nigeria’s independence from British colonial rule possible. Without their active support the struggle against foreign domination would have been more difficult.

    After independence and at crucial moments the Nigerian people took their destiny into their hands by challenging the excesses of both civilian and military rule in Nigeria. One may recall the Agbekoya resistance movement in the Old Western Region against the unpopular Akintola government foisted on the people by the Balewa federal government. The Agbekoya movement made the state ungovernable and virtually paralysed the unpopular Akintola government. During the long period of military rule, determined resistance from the people made our military rulers very uncomfortable. They knew they did not enjoy the support of the people. More recently, under civilian rule, the federal authorities had to back down on the issue of fuel subsidy, following mass protests and demonstrations in Lagos and some other state capitals. Had the Jonathan PDP not given way on this issue it would have faced the danger of an open insurrection. So, time and again, the Nigerian masses have shown great courage in challenging the establishment where they are forced into doing so by being pushed to the wall.

    However, it should be admitted that in the context of Nigeria’s tribal politics, it can be quite difficult to mobilise the people for the purpose of challenging the authorities and forcing a change in the country. For this to happen, two things are necessary. First, there must be shared values among the various Nigerian tribes on governance and the limits of government. This is not the case now. The massive public corruption in Nigeria, the source of much public irritation, has been tribalised and cannot, therefore, be addressed squarely by mobilising the people against it. Corrupt public officials often get away with it because they know they can count on the support of their own people. Though a potent force, corruption is unlikely to be the source of violent change in Nigeria.

    The second condition for forcing a change is that this must be led by a cohesive and detribalised middle class among which there are also shared values. Again, this is not the case in Nigeria. The economic reform programme of the late 80s set the emerging middle class in Nigeria back by several decades. Their incomes and status fell dramatically to the extent that, today, there are really only two classes in Nigeria, the rich and the poor. It worsened the social and economic conditions of the poor, even endangering their very existence. For them, their survival is the first order. After all, the poor cling even more tenaciously to life than the rich and will not put themselves in harm’s way by resorting to violence, the outcome of which is by no means certain. In the event of a violent revolution, the poor will suffer even more than the rich.

    No one can be absolutely certain that a violent change will not occur in Nigeria in the light of the appalling social and economic conditions in which the vast majority of its various peoples live. In the last few years, Nigeria’s economic growth rate has been impressive, showing an annual average of 7 per cent. But there has been very little trickle down effect of this significant growth in its GDP. The economic conditions of the people have worsened. This is why it is imperative for the various authorities in Nigeria to take necessary economic measures to avert it. We already have in various parts of the country kidnappings, assassinations, violent crimes and insurrections, such as those of Boko Haram, MEND, MASSOB, and others, that openly challenge the legitimacy and moral authority of the government and the viability of the nation. Cumulatively, all these may lead to violent protests and mass demonstrations that can spiral easily into a mass revolt.

    But no one can predict with any degree of certainty when this dire security situation might lead to a direct revolution, as most revolutions are triggered off rather suddenly and at a time least expected. In fact, in most cases revolutions occur just when the economic conditions of the people, begin to show some improvement; hardly ever before. The ‘Arab Spring’ that is currently sweeping through the Arab world is sufficient confirmation of this. It was when economic conditions began to improve in most of the Arab countries that the people went into a rebellion against their governments.

     

     

  • Deconstructing the architect of Abia’s modernisation

    Deconstructing the architect of Abia’s modernisation

    It has recently become fashionable to embark on painstaking research and socio-psychological study of dramatis personae that influence and drive public policies. An incontrovertible finding reveals that a person’s background, experiences and idiosyncratic make-up contribute largely to his approach in governance and life’s issues. For Abia State governor, his mastery of the socio-political milieu (as a home boy) and the challenges he encountered, have culminated to his transformational leadership exemplified by the numerous legacy projects.

    Governor T.A. Orji has been severally described as a cat with nine lives. The booby traps and landmine that trailed his quest to govern his people turned out blessings in disguise. By a twist of fate, (Ochendo as fondly called) is usually placed in underdog positions in virtually all his political fights but remarkably and out of the blues, he has consistently emerged triumphantly, to the chagrin of the spin doctors of the opposition.

    Typical of the journey to the seat of power in Nigeria, Orji’s ascendancy to Government House was bumpy, tortuous and attracted a barrage of nasty onslaughts. Of course, the ‘all-powerful nature’ of Nigerian State and its unfettered capacity to dispense favours and punishments alike, are at the root of concerted manoeuvrings and war-like dispositions in the political chessboard.

    With a thorough-bred academic and civil service background, his candour and administrative finesse when he served as the Chief of Staff at Government House were legendary. His infectious smile and disarming humility attracted silent admirers for him. Most obviously, his knack for details and fine sense of operational balance in handling state affairs (usually intertwined with divergent interests), elevated the office as a veritable buffer ground and melting-pot for crystallization of policy in-puts.

    Interestingly, when it was mooted that he would fly the gubernatorial flag of his political party in 2007, it was not difficult to market his candidature given his huge store of goodwill across the state. Not long, the preponderance of genuine support groups for Ochendo was witnessed in all parts of Abia. His intimidating profile and wide acceptability became worrisome to the opposition. They conspired and took him out of circulation on trumped up charges in the build-up to the 2007 elections. The shenanigans in the name of litigations and unprovoked campaigns of calumny that followed his first term were enough distractions. The family dynasty that held the state down for years gave him no breathing space either. The political economy of the state that was under ‘mamacratic’ stranglehold obviously became unbearable to him. Of course, Orji in his characteristic frankness admitted that his first tenure in office was the years of the locust.

    Determined to jumpstart the state from its doldrums, he led the crack team of progressive elements in the state to chase away the merciless foxes bent on milking Abia to stupor. In fact, T.A. Orji imbibed the ideals of ‘winning without bloodshed’ as enunciated by Sun-tzu, the author of the ancient Chinese classic, The Art of War. His unassuming but amiable mien and broad-based engagement of stakeholders helped matters; as he walked the talk with unassailable commitment to leapfrog Abia from the backwaters of mainstream national politics. Expectedly, a groundswell of support for a momentous march to excellence ennobled his avowed readiness for revolutionary governance and set the stage for a giant leap and speedy modernisation processes.

    The new Abia under Orji is marked with consensus building, mutual respect among the elders and management of political differences with maturity. The state now enjoys unprecedented peace which has brought about a convivial atmosphere for development activities. The investment climate in Abia is very inviting. Abia is unarguably, one of the safest states in Nigeria. It used to be a hotbed of kidnapping, armed robbery and other violent crimes until Orji did a re-jig of his security strategies.

    Mindful of the strategic importance of road infrastructure to economic development, Governor Orji has embarked on massive construction, reconstruction and rehabilitation of roads across the 17 LGAs and most importantly, at Aba where over 18 roads are being worked on. Some have been completed. Besides the over 250 health centres scattered in all nooks and cranny of the state, the newly constructed Abia State Specialist and Diagnostic Centre, Umuahia recently got the approval of Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria for training of medical interns.

    The evacuation of power from Ohiya Power Station has increased electricity supply in the state capital and its environs while the Alaoji National Independent Power Project and Geometric Independent Power Project in Aba are part of the gains of good working relationship with the Federal Government and enabling environment that is a sine qua non for public private partnership. When these projects become fully operational, they will boost economic activities of small and medium scale enterprises and act as catalysts to industrialization.

    On the strength of Orji’s robust vision, Abia State has turned into a huge construction site with the erection of offices and edifices for the conduct of government businesses. The double three-storey secretariat, the world class international conference centre, the new government house, the new court rooms and offices, the JAAC/ASUBEB building, the new office complex for the State Broadcasting Corporation are indicative of the fact that Abia State is poised to gain a befitting status for accelerated development. Before now, the state capital- Umuahia had retained a despicable status of a rural setting.

    As a welfarist par excellence, Orji, at the beginning of his administration, had put smiles on the faces of civil servants by promoting all cadres of workers to one salary grade level and presently, he has sustained the payment of the highest minimum wage of N21,100 in Nigeria. It is equally on record that Abia workers under his administration have never embarked on industrial action as a result of healthy relationship and mouth-watering welfare packages. The tuition free education for primary and secondary schoolchildren has increased school enrolment of Abia pupils and students just as Abia students have excelled in national and international competitions.

    No doubt, the task of rebuilding Abia from the scratch is a daunting one. But the good news is that the man at the helm of affairs is conscientious and is adequately prepared to clean up the Augean stables. The unfolding development strides in Abia portend a good omen. True, the radical departure from the entrenched self-glorification and empire-building by a tiny family cabal is Orji’s greatest legacy that marks the beginning of an end.

     

    • Nna contributed this piece from Obi Ngwa LGA, Abia State.

  • Death at a border town

    Death at a border town

    Even journalists, who are known to have a thick skin, were shocked on hearing the news. 185 persons killed in the border town of Baga in Kukawa Local Government Area of Borno State! It sounded unbelievable. ‘’How can 185 persons be mowed down in one fell swoop?” some wondered. ‘’Haha, and you believe that such a number can be killed just like that when we are not at war”,others said.

    This was the situation in many newsrooms on Monday when news filtered in of the killing by the Multinational Joint Task Force (MJTF) of 185 persons. Who are they? Boko Haram members? Children? Old men and women? For now, their identities remain a secret because they have been buried in line with Islamic injunctions, which stipulate that the remains of the dead should be interred within 24 hours. The MJTF was said to have unleashed its firepower on people of the town in its bid to smoke out members of the Islamic sect Boko Haram from the community. The task force’s brief is to castrate Boko Haram at all cost.

    So, when it heard that members of the sect were in the border town, it moved in to clip their wings before they became a menace. According to reports, when the task force got there, the Boko Haram elements opened fire, killing a soldier. Since the task force operatives comprise soldiers from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon and Niger, we are yet to be told the nationality of the killed combatant.

    As a bloody civilian, I respect soldiers a lot because they don’t usually go about showing off that they have the skills to kill in over 1000 ways, as some of them are wont to say. Well trained soldiers are cool-headed; they are not moved, no matter the provocation to unleash their power on the defenceless. It is the ability of a soldier not to give in to anger or undue provocation in any situation that makes him stand out in any gathering. The hallmark of a soldier; a good soldier at that, is his levelheadedness even in war.

    A good soldier is expected to exercise restraint in the face of provocation. In any situation, when others are losing their heads, he is expected to keep his because if he should do otherwise, the end result will not be palatable. With what happened in Baga, we have seen what the uncontrolled anger of a soldier can lead to.

    If soldiers are not levelheaded, they will commit a lot of atrocities during wars, especially among the civilian population. But because of their training, which forbids them from killing, except if extremely necessary, we often don’t hear of extra-judicial killings during wars. Where we hear about such acts, as some soldiers will still behave irrationally, they are few and far between. Those are the soldiers who give the military a bad name.

    These are the soldiers who kill old men, women and rape girls in full public glare under the pretext of military operation. I wonder what kind of military assault will approve of the killing of innocent children and the raping of women. When such things happen, soldiers are no longer soldiers but savages. It is only a savage that will stoop so low as to kill the aged, both men and women, as well as children and also rape young girls. If such are permissible in war, what about in peace time?

    Nevertheless, such sadistic acts are disapproved of in war, so why must they happen when we are not at war? What happened in Baga last weekend is despicable. From the look of things, it was a premeditated act of murder. The soldiers deliberately went out to avenge the killing of their colleague without a thought for the consequences of their action. They probably did what they did in order to teach the civiolian populace a lesson that you don’t shield those who kill a soldier. But that was a wrong approach.

    In 1999, former President Olusegun Obasanjo adopted a similar strategy when he ordered the levelling of Odi in Bayelsa State over the killing of some soldiers. Yes, Odi was levelled; children, old men and women were killed, but what did he achieve? Did the action serve as a deterrence? As a former soldier, I appreciate the show of esprit de corps by Obasanjo, but he more than any other person ought to know that you don’t achieve anything through force.

    This is why till today, I respect the soldiers who arrested the late Yusuf Mohammed, the former Boko Haram leader, in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, in 2009. The soldiers treated the late Mohammed well and even treated him of his wounds. But when they handed him over to the police, the story changed. Mohammed was killed in police custody and the Boko Haram members became madder than ever. This is, however, not to justify the sect’s insensate actions ever since.

    If the soldiers could treat the late Mohammed nicely just four years ago, what could have happened to their temperament between then and now? Before the late Mohammed was arrested in 2009, members of his sect had killed many soldiers, yet when he fell into JTF’s hand, he was not skinned alive. He was treated like a gentleman and granted his full rights.

    In peace keeping as in war, soldiers have rules of engagement. The rules differ for both operations. These rules do not sanction the invasion of a community under the guise of hunting down suspects even where soldiers are killed. This is so because in a purely civilian setting as is the case with Baga, the collateral damage that may be done will be enormous during such invasion. In the MJTF’s desperate search for the killers of a soldier, they virtually wiped out a village.

    There is no way the soldierscan justify their action.

    Yes, we feel for them over the killing of their colleague, but the solution to that does not lie in killing innocent people. Those killed may not know anything about Boko Haram. Or are the soldiers saying that all those killed were Boko Haram members? We are yet to get the full picture of this massacre. We may be in for a big shock when the full details of this gruesome act become public.

    For now, all the soldiers, who took part in that bitter enterprise, should be withdrawn from this mission and courtmartialled. They should be made to tell us why they took part in these extra-judicial killings. Whether the carnalthy figure is one, 25, 37, 185 or 300, a life is a life and it should not be taken so cheaply. Soldiers more than any other professional should know that life is precious.

    How can they justify the killing of this lot for the death of a soldier, who knew from the day he joined the army that he had signed away his life? Some people are tried for war crimes in other climes for offences not as grievous as the Baga massacre; so nothing should stop us from getting those who committed this atrocity.

     

  • Jonathan and the evil forces within

    Jonathan and the evil forces within

    What President Jonathan is a deeply religious leader is not totally unexpected because his life has been a testimony to God’s special kindness. From a ‘shoeless’ school boy, God paved the way for a very rewarding position of an OMPADEC Assistant Director. From there he became Deputy Governor through the goodwill of his mentor, Alamieseigha. Obasanjo then became God’s instrumentality to change Jonathan’s life to a life of bigger testimonies. Obasanjo after jailing Jonathan’s boss, for stealing his people’s money first installed Jonathan Governor and later moved him up as vice president.

    Jonathan, the apple of God’s eye without struggle became president following Yar’Adua’s death. And in spite of PDP zoning policy and resistance from the real owners of PDP, he won a landslide victory in the 2011 election. Dame Patience Jonathan also enjoys God’s special grace. She recently gave a testimony of how God gave her another chance by raising her from death after eight days in a German hospital.

    One can therefore understand why the president not only believes in miracles but also in the existence of ‘evil forces’ working towards the disintegration of Nigeria. This also explains why Jonathan doesn’t give a damn about the alleged weakness of character of his close associates including much reviled Tony Anenih, Doyin Okupe Bamanga Tukur and Ahmadu Alli and their troublesome sons. Jonathan knows men count for little but ’with God all things are possible’.

    In 2010, instead of reducing the presidential palace to just a house of intrigue, like his predecessors, he set up inside Aso rock an annual prayer session as ‘a forum to establish God link at the Presidential villa’. Two weeks ago after one of such sessions, he alerted the nation about the evil forces trying to derail Nigeria.

    I think we must pay special attention to what was by all account a revelation to President Jonathan after a powerful prayer session. This is to prevent the president’s advisers from reducing this serious revelation to name calling and witch hunting of groups and opposition parties. We must not forget they once misled him on serious policy issues such as removal of phantom fuel subsidy and bail out for the aviation sector instead of the manufacturing sector.

    Let me therefore as a social scientist and stakeholder in the Nigeria project help our god-fearing president to isolate groups that are not likely to support disintegration of Nigeria and identify areas where he should pay greater attention to avoid unnecessary dissipation of energy.

    First, neither the dominant nor the minority ethnic groups including the oil-rich states want a disintegrated Nigeria. I think what each group wants in line with the dream of our founding fathers is fairness, justice and freedom to manage the affairs of their respective nations within the greater Nigerian nation.

    First, the Hausa/Fulani in the event of Nigerian disintegration have nowhere to go. When the intemperate Murtala Mohammed leading northern soldiers in the wake of the vengeance coup of 1966 attempted to take the north out of Nigeria, Britain and the US counselled them to fight for survival within a greater Nigerian nation. Today, there is no more a monolithic north. Secondly, the greed of today’s northern leaders have replaced the selflessness of Ahmadu Bello, the very personification of feudalism who nonetheless practiced egalitarianism by sending children of the poor and underprivileged in the north to the best schools in the world. Almost 50 years after the venerable Ahmadu Bello’s death, the new northern leaders and beneficiaries of his foresight need Nigeria if they are to survive the wrath an army of unemployed and uneducated youths forced to embrace Boko Haram.

    The Igbo, hemmed at all sides and detested by less competitive groups have no place to go outside the greater Nigerian nation. They like the Jews thrive more in other peoples land. And as Achebe puts it, they only ‘run home when calamity befalls the owner of the land, leaving behind the owners of the land who know how to appease their own gods”.

    That has also changed. Today, they are marooned in Boko Haram-besieged north. Back home, their hostile land has been taken over by an army of unemployed youths whose major occupation is kidnapping children and the wealthy for ransom.

    Of course the Yoruba in spite of clamour for regional integration need Nigeria more than any other group. An area P C Loyd said was more urbanized than Europe at the time of the colonization achieved that cultural advancement by their accommodation of strangers. It has always been the case since Obatala, according to myth descended with a rope from heaven or Oduduwa according to Ifa came with a new wave of immigrants from Mero near today’s Egypt. . Their cities and villages have today become havens for Nigerian internal immigrants from the besieged north-east and those driven by commerce and kidnappers from the south- east. The Market women yam sellers are at peace with itinerant Hausa yam sellers, motorists wait patiently for Fulani herdsmen and their flock while crossing the busy express ways, property rate has soared in Banana Island and I am sure Governor Fashola has factored into his Atlantic City Project, Igbo property speculators.

    The South-south will need more than vandalisation of oil pipelines to survive a disintegrated Nigeria. Amaechi, Imoke are some of the governors with Igbo names ruling some of the oil producing states. President Jonathan won more votes in Imo than Governor Okorocha because of his wife’s Igbo factor. In other words, a disintegrated Nigeria is an open invitation for the landlocked East to start from where they stopped before the civil war and finally resolve the outstanding issue of Port Harcourt abandoned properties.

    And finally, to exorcise the evil spirit bent on disintegration of Nigeria, the president should take a closer look at himself and his PDP. He may for instance discover that the real source of despair in our nation is PDP and its leading lights who as beneficiaries of present anarchy, stand against fairness, justice and are opposed to a national conference to discuss our differences.

    What else can be a greater threat to survival of a nation than a group of greedy men sharing of our blue chips firms on which the nation had invested over a hundred billion dollars for a pittance or when an exercise designed by World Bank to create seven million jobs became an avenue for amassing huge family wealth while millions of unemployed youths roam the streets of our major cities?

    The evil forces bent on destroying Nigeria include the president’s PDP colleagues who appointed over 140 fuel importers including their siblings some of whom defrauded the nation to the tune of about N1.7 trillion without importing a pint of fuel. And of course, the evil spirit will include senior members of the judiciary smiling to the banks for shielding felons from facing justice.

    In league of the president elusive evil spirit bent on destroying our nation are the president men who without recouping the tax payers’ billions of naira given out as bail out to the airlines embarked on another wasteful venture of borrowing millions of dollars to buy aircrafts for mismanaged air lines owned by members or sympathizers of PDP.

    And finally, if the president stopped closing his eyes during his well meaning night vigils, he may discover to his pleasant surprise that in the league of the ‘evil forces’ are some pastors who exploit the fears of our jobless youths they fraudulently reassured of miracles in spite of God’s injunction that we all must live by our sweats, and those who buy private jets with the help of governors as ‘thieves in state houses’ and bankers who stole depositors funds.

  • Hegemon in a peripheral region: Future of Nigeria’s foreign policy (4)

    Hegemon in a peripheral region: Future of Nigeria’s foreign policy (4)

    Added to this trend was Nigeria’s support for the removal of Muammar Ghadafi and his eventual killing which raised the question of whether Nigeria’s foreign policy in recent times has been hijacked by the West and whether Nigeria was sensitive to the question of sovereignty which our postcolonial leaders fought bravely for. Of course Muammar Ghadafi and Gbagbo were bad leaders, and Ghadafi in particular may not have wished Nigeria well in his past actions, but their removal by extra African forces, establishes a principle and a precedent that could perhaps haunt us in the future. This is why we must tread softly in our present entanglements in Mali, even though we are supporting a worthy cause and a principle of the non-violability and non-changeability of inherited African colonial frontiers. But care needs to be taken, so that whatever we do in Mali is not perceived as supporting Western led campaign and war against terror, in which some may misinterpret as war against Islam. Already, there is already a growing murmur in some parts of the North that Nigeria is in League with western countries to attack Muslims in Mali. This is not going to be the first time the bona fides of Nigeria would be called into question. In 1989 when there was a border skirmish between Senegal and Mauritanian forces following the migration of Mauritanian black citizens (haratin) into Senegal after their brutalisation by the Moorish regime in Nouakchott, Nigeria’s criticism of Mauritania was resented by some of our Muslim brothers right inside our foreign policy establishment. This was despite the fact then as it is now that black Malians, Senegalese and black Mauritanians are 98% or more Muslims. This lack of unanimity in our foreign policy seems to be a permanent feature of our relation in areas where religion directly or indirectly can be manipulated to undermine the unity of direction of our foreign policy.

    Future of West African integration and the role of Nigeria

    Leadership carries a cost. There would never have been a European Union without the sacrifices of France and Germany and the division in Europe in particular and the historicity of that division is much deeper than the colonially imposed linguistic division of West Africa. It is in Nigeria’s enlightened self-interest to support economic integration of West Africa as a prelude to political integration and union. The logic here is that Nigeria must continue to make sacrifices for the good of the region and in doing so; its leadership must carry along with it the entire citizenry.

    The population of West Africa is just slightly over 300million and less than the population of the United States. This population is very complex and we must not overlook this complexity, but if we create a situation in which all stakeholders see an advantage in economic integration, then, integration can become realistic practical politics. Nigeria should champion adopting a regime of a Customs Union (Zollverein) and it must be prepared to support countries that are not economically viable, through a distribution of custom duties on a demographic basis as well as basis of need. As at present, the neighbouring country of Benin, in particular, derives its economic well-being on smuggling of goods to and from Nigeria. A Customs Union would obviate this. The Customs Union should be the first step towards Economic Union. Nigeria and other ECOWAS countries for more than four decades have talked and planned the introduction of a common currency. In spite of the difficulties that dog this plan, it should not be seen as insurmountable and the goal should be fast-forwarded so that adoption of a common currency becomes a foreign policy goal in the future.

    There are other areas in which resources can be pooled together by governments and business people. This would depend on economic policies of the constituent governments in the region. Nigeria should lead the way in supporting a market economy in the region, without necessarily abandoning the role that states can play in the economy. We should not be glued to the orthodoxy of a market economy in which the state has no role at all. Even serious economists in the West are now beginning to see the positive role states can play in the economy through appropriate regulation of the market and the economy generally.

    Going hand-in-hand with economic integration should come ideological re-orientation of the politics in the region. It is now clear that development must be anchored on democratic rule. It is now proven that without adherence to fundamental human rights and the basic liberties and freedom, man would not be free to think through problems and to innovate and these are necessary conditions for development in a knowledge based world. In the past and even under military rule, Nigeria pursued a policy of spreading democracy in the region; a system of government denied its citizens at home. We must never in the future be in this invidious situation. In our sub-region, Senegal, Ghana and Benin are well ahead of us in the march towards democratic governance. We must do something about our democratic credentials so that laggards like Guinea, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Niger, Mali, Burkina-Faso, Togo, the Ivory Coast, Sierra Leone and Liberia do not find solace in our undemocratic practices, particularly, rigging of elections. It is by strictly adhering to correct democratic practices that we would make military intervention in politics a thing of the past; and unless Nigeria gets it right, it would be impossible for us to impose democracy in states in our region when anti-democratic parties seize power.

    Democracy should be seen in terms of peaceful co-existence of all the states in the region. Democratic states usually do not fight one another. This has been recognised as far back as the nineteenth century when Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) wrote about “Pacific Federations” (foedus pacificum). He wrote that it is only when there is no democracy that war breaks out; and that it is when there is no democracy that the war party of the Bourgeoisie and the military fight war of expansion and conquest. This of course would not apply totally to Nigeria because Nigeria is a satisfied and contented country and has no imperialistic design on her neighbours. But the point of the peaceful nature of democratic government should be embraced by all and should be a driving force behind our foreign policy in the region and outside; and should be a fundamental factor of our relations with other African and non-African countries.

    Without security, there can be no development. The proliferation of small arms in the region is something to worry about. This problem has increased exponentially since the overthrow of Muammar Ghadafi in Libya and the infestation of the Western Sahara by terrorists allied to either the Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb or al-Shabaab in the Horn of Africa.

  • Lessons from Boston; 2020 or 3030? Crisis of leadership, where is the love?

    Lessons from Boston; 2020 or 3030? Crisis of leadership, where is the love?

    kudos to American law enforcement and citizens’ response in the Boston bombings. Federal Nigerian budgetary authorities take note. Security costs big money in the budget and not security ‘votes’ that are stolen! Enough of police and political ‘security vote’ corruption. We have enough fingerprints from our repeated ID cards and voters’ cards, and mug shots from passports and SIM registration for a Nigerian National Police Database and you say there is unemployment. Who is afraid of being caught?

    Here we are struggling to become among the world’s leading economies by 3030. Ups, sorry. I meant to type‘2020’, but my computer chose ‘3030’. Certainly it seemed it will be 3030 to me, in darkness all weekend, my ‘generator finally dying’. It is unimaginable incompetence that 52 years after independence and ‘self-ownership’, with no colonialist to blame, we have merely 2,000 to 4,000Mw while aides, governors, ministers, politicians, contractors and civil servants take home stolen billions. Our current 2,000-4,000Mw in Nigeria is the power to a small western city. Abroad they talk in Terawatt which is 1,000Gigawatt. A Gigawatt which is 1,000Megawatt. A Megawatt which is 1,000Kilowatt. Every government in the last 40 years has failed in power. They also abandoned roads, water and education. It has taken 40 years to ‘consider’ a second Niger Bridge and 30 years to repair expressways. Schools still have no books! What is the level of incompetence – 80 or 100%? The Japanese love their people and replaced the Fukushima nuclear plant losses in three months using companies which provide urgent power through generator ships and large land generators connected to the local grid. We could have done this, years ago. Giant generators consume far less than the million+ generators in Nigeria from ‘I fine pass my neighbour’ to the 1,000KVa VIP giants powering the President, his men and women, NASS and country homes and governors, first ladies, assembly men and civil servants. If Nigeria had a people-loving leadership there would be 100,000Mw now. It is a multiple failure of power policy, commitment of professionalism, political will, competence and a power failure of love. Ultimately it is brain failure and malicious failure of responsibility. Mass transit, mass power supply are better than mono-transit like the lethal motorcycles and dangerous power sourced from belching generators and substitute power in 40 million Nigeria homes and hovels. No love!

    The economic losses in family, business and intellectual activities from political incompetence can be calculated by NISER and departments of Social Sciences. The sheer magnitude can only be realised if you, the reader, add up how many 25 litre kegs, filled to 30 litres, are used daily in your home, office, street, estate, office block, by government officials and NASS homes and offices, by your factories and those near you. Multiply that by 365 and then by N4000/keg to get the cost of government incompetence. Your tax pays for political home and office generator and you cannot even get a tax rebate for the losses you encounter paying for power substitution at home. Then add the cost of purchase and maintenance of every generator. Trillions! No Nigerian escapes paying.

    Imagine what you would have done annually, times 30 years, with that extra money in your family and office pocket! Add to that the cost of darkness and powerlessness. Your family cannot function optimally and does not read at night with resultant loss of academic potential. Many homes have been broken because the husband has proved ‘inadequate in the power supply area’ and unable to provide ‘one keg of fuel/day and four/weekend’ – a status symbol. You lose business. Business costs are too high. In fact the tax man has no right to take anything until he gives a ‘fuel allowance’ for your home and office- government officials get this free. The people making the money are the generator sellers and maintenance staff, the fuel billionaires and those bribed to keep power off the grid. Through government incompetence we have been unable to refine our fuel in our refineries. But here comes, yes of course and just in time, a brand new Dangote Refinery to the ‘rescue’ us, just as he ‘rescued’ the falling price of flour, sugar and cement, abi? Na waya o! Sometimes the cure is worse than the disease. Do we want power and fuel rescue again by Dangote billions? Do we pay another heavy price for the Dangote touch?

    No other leadership in Africa, at war with itself or neighbours, and with such large resources as we have in Nigeria will allow its peoples to suffer so much from the lack of supply of the third element of civilisation –electric power- third only to air and water. Water has gone and the air may be threatened. Can we have a leader who is willing to surgically excise political profligacy and introduce part-time legislation houses? The surgeon has to operate on a family member to save the nation.

    Under the burden of a blighted leadership and its ‘CINS: Corruption, Incompetence, Neglect and Selfishness’ a generation of Nigerians has been led badly and has missed out on Nigeria being great. Will Nigeria disintegrate? Amalgamation celebrations and ‘De-amalgamation’ debates loom. The gum cannot be forced to work. It is love that will bind us, nothing more, nothing less. Bombs and political bombast will disintegrate us. No matter how evil you are, do some good or Nigeria will be destroyed and die!