The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

  • Greedy legislators? Try Kenya

    Greedy legislators? Try Kenya

    people who think our legislators are the worst in terms of their desire for primitive accumulation and ostentatious lifestyle will tender unreserved apologies to them when they see what their Kenyan counterparts earn, and are still yearning earnestly for more. As a matter of fact, I now believe that truly, it is one who has not travelled far that does not see squirrels with hunchback; if one travels far, he is likely to see ants that are lame.

    That exactly was the impression I got on reading the story of Kenyan lawmakers who want extraordinary end-of-term bonuses and other mouth-watering pleasures. They want their bonuses tripled; they want diplomatic passports for themselves and their spouses, bodyguards for life, of course paid for by taxpayers; they also want State burial for themselves when they die, a thing reserved only for their president and notable achievers. Thank God the legislators have President Mwai Kibaki to contend with. At least twice in three months had the legislators made the demand, and twice had Kibaki turned them down.

    And, as if to prove that they were actually being driven by what a newspaper called ‘eccentric greed’, the lawmakers, in their lack of regard for time and space, did not even care that they were repeating the demands in their last act before the parliament closed for the March 4 elections. One would have thought they would have been mindful of the coming polls, and at least pretended as if they cared about reelection or the people more than they did about themselves; but they didn’t. “But even the most cynical among us would not have bet on the lawmakers sticking their hands in the public pocket on the last day in office … one would have expected that politicians facing an election would have had the decency to exit without creating a ruckus”, the Standard Newspaper said on January 12. If the Kenyan lawmakers’ prayers had been answered, the taxpayer would have incurred an extra cost of two billion shillings to pay the higher bonuses alone, to people considered by the electorate as already overpaid, lazy and corrupt. As a matter of fact, Kenya’s lawmakers are seen as among the best paid in the world.

    I know Nigerians are very clever; (most of them now take Panasharp) they would therefore want to remind me that $107,200, the end-of-term bonus being demanded by the Kenyan lawmakers (about N17,152, 000) is only a fraction of what our National Assembly members take for Constituency Project; that is true. But you can only see the sense in my point when you note a few things about Kenya. Kenya’s lawmakers earn about $13,000 (N2, 080, 000) a month, the bulk in tax-free allowances. This may look small, but is no doubt huge in a country where an unskilled urban labourer may earn as little as $60 (N9,600) a month, and with a per capita GDP of $800. In 2011, the legislators refused to pay back taxes demanded by the government, then bought new seats, worth $2,400 (N384,000) each, for the members in the chamber. For a country facing a ballooning wage bill to meet pay raises for teachers and doctors, and at a time when economic growth has slowed and unemployment remains uncomfortably high, this is simply outrageous.

    So, when compared to their Kenyan counterparts, we will see that our own National Assembly members only want to be spoilt a little, unlike their counterparts in Kenya who want to be spoilt big, irrespective of whether their pleasure would amount to pain for the average Kenyan. I will give you just one example to prove that our legislators here care about how they spend public funds in a way that it won’t tear the people’s pockets. Just a few weeks back during the unnecessary debate on how much we should sink into our vice president’s palace (remember I told you then we don’t just spend or procure when the issue is such high-class project, we sink money into projects), whether it is N14billion, or N13billion or even N16billion, one of our senators who himself was enraged by the big big billions being mentioned for the project rose in defence of the people by rounding up the figure to a moderate N10billion, which he felt was adequate. Instead of clapping for him, some of us still condemned him because we did not think our Number Two Citizen deserved to live in such opulence. I can only imagine the kind of embarrassment we must have caused the gentleman vice president by subjecting his abode to such debate in the market square.

    Back to the Kenyan legislators. Who says they do not know what they are doing by making those extraordinary demands? When you see people who spit on the ground and quickly rub it with their foot, it is because they know what spittle could be used for. After skinning the Kenyans while in office, the legislators need life bodyguards in retirement lest they get torn to shreds by the people. Of course they need State burial so Kenyans would also be responsible for their funeral expenses. After serving the people so lazily and corruptly, there cannot be a better way to complete the insult than to ask the people to pick the bills of their burial as well. I think they must have heard from the Yoruba people here that Aye l’Oyinbo nje ku (the Whiteman enjoys till he dies). Kenyans have to carry the responsibilities of their legislators in life and death.

    Bad as our own legislators could be, have they been asking for diplomatic passports for their spouses? Bad as our lawmakers are, I have not seen anywhere that they ever asked us to give them bodyguards for life, maintained by the taxpayers. The best we see is for those of them who have the means or have stolen enough, to acquire bullet-proof jeeps. There are no accident-proof cars yet; otherwise Nigerian lawmakers and political office holders generally would scramble to have some. May be this is an area Nigerians have to pray to God to grant the White Man speed, wisdom, knowledge and understanding to manufacture accident-free vehicles to at least spare these leaders from knocking down the people they lead in their attempt to get away fast from God-knows what on our death traps called roads! Bad as our legislators are, I have also not seen them asking that they be given State burial when they die. So, we can now see clearly that if we compare children, we will flog one to death for the other.

    The point is that people do not appreciate what they have until they lose it. We may never appreciate our crop of legislators until they travel to Kenya to see how their Kenyan counterparts are doing it and return to insist on the same measure, after being bitten by the Kenyan bug. Unlike the Kenyan legislators who would rather follow dead bodies to the grave in their quest for insatiable wants, our own lawmakers know the limits of their greed. At least they are not as lazy, corrupt and overpaid as their Kenyan counterparts. We owe our Senate President David Mark and House of Representatives Speaker, Aminu Tambuwal, a debt of gratitude for the enormous sacrifices they are making in order to make laws for our good governance!

     

  • For Mali, for Nigeria

    For Mali, for Nigeria

    More than ever before, Nigeria has been at the receiving end of attacks from terrorists operating from not only within the country, but from members of the international network of terrorists’ organisations that are determined to make the country one of their major bases in West Africa.

    Some of those arrested for various terrorists’ related offences in the northern part of the country have been found to be non-Nigerians who sneak into the country to carry out their dastardly acts which have left thousands of persons dead and property destroyed.

    The Boko Haram members behind most of the terrorists’ attacks in the country are reported to have received weapons and training from the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb (AQIM) which has gained a foothold in Mali and is gradually spreading its influence to Mauritania and Niger.

    As The Times of London rightly noted in its January 18 editorial, titled: Today Mali, tomorrow Nigeria for al-Qaeda, the biggest prize for the al-Qaeda would be the destabilisation of Nigeria to the southeast. Evidence abound that the insurgent group is determined to accomplish their goal and everything has to be done to stop them.

    The Chief of Army Staff, Lt-General Azubuike Ihejirika, during the week confirmed that Mali-trained militants are in the country and security agencies are working together to track them down.

    It is against the background that the Federal Government ordered the deployment of 1,200 Nigerian troops to join the African-Led International Support Mission to Mali. Much as we have not been able to effectively contain the various conflicts in the country, we cannot afford not to be bothered about the situation in Mali.

    Undoubtedly, we are currently facing daunting security challenges as President Goodluck Jonathan admitted in his letter to the Senate to seek approval for the deployment. But true to his claim, our proximity to the Sahel region makes the regional intervention compelling to avoid a spill over to Nigeria and other West African countries with grave consequences on the security, political stability and development efforts.

    The deteriorating situation in the north of Mali, where the terrorists had taken the law into their own hands in total disregard for the government of the country, requires swift response and the time to act is now before we all get consumed by the actions of the lawless gang who don’t have any respect for human lives.

    Good enough, Nigeria is intervening in conjunction with other African countries based on the resolutions of the United Nations Security Council in response to Mali’s request for an international military force. The best strategies must be adopted to avoid a failed mission. The troops must be well equipped and taken care of to enable them go all out to accomplish the task of routing out the terrorists.

    Minimum force except where maximum force is the only option should be applied for the sake of the people who have been held hostage under and subjected to all forms of inhuman treatment in the guise of enforcing Islamic injunctions.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Nigeria a giant by 2050?

    Nigeria a giant by 2050?

    Forecasters are at it again. A projection has gone out that Nigeria may, by the year 2050, become one of the world’s leading economies, enjoying a handsome 13th position among 20 nations of the world. The forecast, published last week, came from PricewaterhouseCoopers, an accounting firm. It sounds good, doesn’t it? In fact, the report suggests that even lowly Vietnam could also join Nigeria in outpacing such developed economies as Australia in a mere 37 years. The reason for this, PwC economists believe, is that developed economies are still struggling to recover from the recession of 2008 and 2009, while emerging ones like Nigeria and Vietnam have been “relatively insulated despite the slowdown of 2011 and 2012.”

    According to the projection, the area Nigeria may out-muscle other economies is in purchasing power parity or PPP. Economists say PPP is a theory which states that “exchange rates between currencies are in equilibrium when their purchasing power is the same in each of the two countries.” They explain that this simply means “the exchange rate between two countries should equal the ratio of the two countries’ price level of a fixed basket of goods and services.”

    Non-economists, like this columnist, understand this to mean that by 2050, the naira could be strong enough to fetch Nigerians goods and services of appreciable value, not minding the geographical location. By this lay perspective, the miserable, flip-flop tale of our national currency would have since been forgotten, replaced by a respectable profile of power and value. By this same unsophisticated appreciation of the PPP forecast, I should hit the roof for the good times are not so far off.

    But I won’t, for this piece of projection hangs on nothing else but a mighty, big IF. Nigeria can become an economic giant in the world IF…Nigeria can be a giant in the world IF it can put a few things in place. Nigeria can overtake the leading economies, all things being equal.

    That is the language of economists; it is their stock-in-trade.

    The accounting firm’s forecast makes little sense to me, for obvious reasons. It reminds me of the 2020 mantra much trumpeted by the late President Umaru Yar’Adua administration. It was projected that by 2020, which is now only seven years away, Nigeria will be among 20 industrialised nations of the world.

    Industrialised nations are giants. As such, they have power and voice. As giants, they are reckoned with. When their leaders speak, no one pretends not to hear. That was the league our country was projected to join by the year 2020. But as everyone knows, no nation climbs to that platform merely by imagining it just because motivational speakers say whatever your mind can conceive you can achieve. Everyone knows that no nation attains giant status without stable electricity, good infrastructure and, crucially, a credible anti-corruption stance.

    PricewaterhouseCoopers even reckons, though, that nothing is easy. “Nigeria,” it said in that projection, “could be the fastest growing country in our sample due to its youthful and growing working population, but this does rely on using its oil wealth to develop a broader based economy with better infrastructure and institutions as regards rule of law and political governance and hence support long term productivity growth –the potential is there, but it remains to be realised in practice.”

    Now, that’s where the frustration of these forecasts lies. We all, including non-economists, know what the forecasters know. They know, like we do, that our oil should make us wealthy. The economists, like all of us, know that we have a young, schooled, skilled and energetic population, willing to work and turn their country around. We know that we have all it takes to join the big league.

    But just as all that is clear, so is it also beyond question that we are our own biggest enemies. It is paradoxical. Nigeria’s potentials have so far failed to enrich it. Its oil has not lubricated its engines. Rather it has remained a source of perpetual worry, eliciting a pile of questions. Why, for instance, have otherwise lowly nations, without oil, even in Africa, outpaced us in development? PricewaterhouseCoopers believes Nigeria’s oil can support “a broader-based economy” but why has that economy continued to elude us? We know that nothing can be impossible for us and that we can do all things with the riches God has lavishly given us. What we don’t know is why even the simplest of things seem too difficult to accomplish.

    Forecasters seem to wonder why our infrastructure is woeful. They worry about rule of law. They are concerned about governance, about accountability. They know that these things matter.

    Truth is, so do we. We have always known what they know. So, what use are their projections?

  • Party deformation in perspective

    Party deformation in perspective

    Party formations in post-military Nigeria are in a serious crisis. But this much should be expected in a military assisted democracy and from societies in the throes of traumatic transition from despotic rule to a democratic empowerment of citizens. It is usually a tense and fraught process with the possibility of reversal and regression. Since there is no global roadmap for recovery and recuperation, every nation is a unique patient with its own unique pathologies .

    In such circumstances, even the fundamental principles of party formations in modern societies are called to question. However, in countries that have successfully weathered the inclement storm of autocratic and anti-democratic adversities, notably in Ghana, South Africa and Latin America, there has always been one cultural product which makes a signal and significant contribution. That is the quality of human capital at the apex of leadership.

    This is why it is unfortunate that while party formations in Nigeria are in serious crisis and the country itself is roiling in deep dysfunction, the ruling party, the PDP, the self-advertised largest party on the continent, should be openly squabbling about posts. For a party that has ruled Nigeria for all of 14 years since the departure of the military, the PDP is nothing short of a national tragedy after the opportunity cost to the nation has been factored in.

    The fixation of its ranking members on the politics of allocation of resources devalues politics as a struggle for the allocation of values. The degeneration of politics to a fierce struggle for state loot hobbles everything in its wake because it makes it impossible for political society to operate at a level compatible with the more refined ethos of a truly civilized polity. This subsistence politics with its violent and crude Hunter-gatherer code of conduct reduces everybody in its orbit to the level of primitive cave-dwellers.

    In the end, nothing probably could beat the brilliant description of the PDP by one of its founding fathers as a rally. Rallies are usually very riotous and sometimes have to be broken up when they degenerate to sheer anarchy. The political preferences of this column are very well known, but since we are talking about the crisis of party formation, we are talking about a crisis of the nation-state.

    A national crisis is not an opportunity for crude recrimination or insult-vending. But it must be noted for the benefit of analytical clarity that unlike some of its lesser competitors that can be held down to and measured against some professed ideals, the PDP, despite its array of organic intellectuals and free-floating technocrats, boasts of no ideology apart from a nebulous pan-Nigerianism which masks its true provenance as a mere power-grabbing machine.

    Yet it must also be stated that until the opposition groups transcend their own limitations, the PDP will remain rampart and rampaging and they will remain its mere dialectical mirror image. In an under-developing nation, power grabbing is a cogent manifesto because it puts food on the table and under the table as the case may be and until the ghosts also summon themselves to the banquet. In fact, until the opposition parties come up with the formula for a merger or mega-alliance, the next supper is not the Last Supper and the political gourmets will continue to dine in some style. The mind boggles not just at the culinary logistics of making a meal of a whole country and the crude arithmetic of the feeding frenzy.

    For the sake of objective analysis, and as it is at the moment, the Peoples’ Democratic Party is a prebendalist machine for scientific extortion and extraction; a perfect instrument of primitive accumulation based on industrial corruption. The savage oxymoron of this formulation is a perfect example of what happens when instances of old feudal formations take on the garb of modernity and its cutting edge technology. When prebendalism which is a throwback to old feudal Europe becomes a modern phenomenon and when corruption is industrialised, scientific precision is brought to bear on primitive extractive predation. The nation is frozen in a time-warp. Cavemen parade as statesmen.

    But we cannot complain too loudly about the sluggishness of a river in midstream without examining its source. It is only through this kind of holistic analysis that we can achieve true illumination of our precarious predicament. Like its old forebears, the PDP is a product of certain structural, political and economic configuration of Nigeria as engineered by the dominant faction of the old military and as designed by the original colonial conquerors of modern Nigeria.

    In the event, it is doubtful whether the two military transitions we have had so far are real transitions from military rule to genuine democracy or a mere transfer of power and personnel for the same predatory purposes. In business parlance, it was just a shuffling of Holdings. The same can be said for flag independence and the ceding of power to an indigenous political elite which did not represent a fundamental rupture of political praxis but a continuation of colonization by other means.

    In the case of colonial transition, power was ceded to a compliant and complacent political class superintended by a master-nationality which had demonstrated superior political organization and the military initiative required to hold down the country by feudal fiat or by force if and when it became inevitable. In the subsequent political order, only the Action Group, of all the major parties, showed signs of a discernible and coherent ideology and a master plan for national development but was regarded as the most dangerous customer by both the departing colonial masters and their local inheritors. The party was to suffer savage persecution.

    For Nigeria’s ancient and modern power-masters, ideology does not matter and neither does a master plan or even democracy. But as we have been taught in school, this is also an ideology and a default master plan , a modern manual for political and economic bankruptcy and a cover for anti-democratic gaming. Famously, General Obasanjo, the superintending military Caesar of the first transition, rumbled that it was not always the case that the best man would win a political contest.

    Up till that point, the relationship between Awo and the military establishment had been wary and cagey. Despite the admiration of many ranking officers for his sterling personal qualities, the dominant military establishment viewed the Ikenne titan as a dangerous customer and a threat to their collective aspiration which they equated with national stability and order.

    In fairness to Obasanjo, he had tried to help the old man broaden his national base and appeal by transferring him from the chancellorship of the then University of Ife to Ahmadu Bello University. But in all his political career, the late philosopher-politician had fought against the homogenization of the Nigerian ruling class which was not based on principles and shared ideals. It was a non-starter. An earlier warm and cosy relationship with the urbane and affable Governor Robert Adeyinka Adebayo had ended in a public spat over the Agbekoya uprising.

    Chief Awolowo repeatedly insisted during his epic campaigns that he was not interested in probing the military as an institution. It was the wise thing to say. But as the heat of political commotion got to him, the old man issued a tense clarification. While he was not interested in probing the military as an institution, any departing military officer who wandered into the murky waters of partisan politics would have his background subjected to “searching scrutiny”. It was the shortest and sharpest political suicide note in post-colonial history. It led to a frantic and messy exit for the military through a legal legerdemain of dubious mathematical provenance.

    With General Babangida’s permanent transition, we got to the realm of political football with neither fixed goalposts nor fixed time. Injury time began immediately after the referee’s whistle. The game ended abruptly after an angry crowd invaded the pitch. The umpire lost his empire and almost his life. Babangida had famously quipped that while he did not know who would succeed him, he knew who would not. It became a self-fulfilling anti-democratic prophesy. Babangida was forced to hand over as a holding device—or is it Holdings device?— to a colourless interim contraption. Three months after, the military dropped all pretences and swept back to power.

    It is this anti-democratic gaming that is the basis, genesis and nemesis of the Fourth Republic. In a supreme instance of irony, when General Obasanjo collected back power in !999 from General Abubakar, he was doing so from the parade ground commander who bade him farewell as a departing military head of state twenty years earlier. But no two historical conjunctures are similar. Obasanjo’s erstwhile military subordinates were ceding power to him based on a constitution he himself admitted he had not seen up till that moment.

    In the event, the “constitution” turned out as an explosive-laden device; a patchwork of incoherent rambling that vouches for the people without the people and with the sole aim of indemnifying the departing military against loss and loss of face. Fronting for this historic fraud as usual is a grand coalition of “big” people from all over the national spectrum, a coalition of contraries without any shared notions or beliefs except a shared obsession for capturing power for the sake of loot.

    But it must be obvious to even a political fool that you cannot continue to gourmandize on the national cake without baking something in return. Both the cake and the nation will disappear one day. In its classical incarnation, the nation-state paradigm was designed as a wealth and cake-creating machine meant to liberate humanity from the throes of feudal servitude and the realm of feral necessity where people are not better than foraging animals. As it is evident in Jonathan’s tragic presidency, the “turn by turn solution” is no solution because it is based on preferment without principles and eating without first sweating.

    As we can see, the PDP is a victim of its own provenance and genesis. Its implosion is almost inevitable. As it is today, it is like a sealed pool of barracudas that have sniffed blood. We must pity the poor man from Otueke who does not seem to comprehend the Leviathan nature of the forces ranged against him. If the PDP implodes without a clear alternative, then it is going to be a national catastrophe of unimaginable magnitude. Stateless Somali would be a child’s play.

    To our beleaguered compatriots, it should be clear that much as this is a crisis of party formation and democratization, it is also a fundamental crisis of nationhood. But if we get the crisis of party formation and democratization off our back, we may find ourselves in an advantageous position to resolve the crisis of nationhood. What is needed now is a broad-based national movement of all known agencies of peaceful change which will come up with a blueprint for national emancipation and act as a countervailing force to a failing and flailing PDP. If Jonathan wants to aid the process and retain a measure of the initiative, then he should urgently set in motion the mechanism for the convocation of an Emergency National Summit that will take a critical look at Nigeria since 1914.

  • Farmer Oaks versus Farmer Hoax

    Farmer Oaks versus Farmer Hoax

    It is far from the madding crowd of Wadata Plaza, the PDP’s intrigue-soaked headquarters. For the umpteenth time, it is meet to alert fellow countrymen —as they say about the ease with which superior reality trumps and trounces outlandish fiction in Nigeria. Even the most accomplished novelist must now shiver in reverence about how actual reality in the country often outstrips the most malarial of imaginative constructs. Nigeria is a great novel perpetually in progress.

    It has been reported that the youthful and bubbling Minister of Agriculture in the latest edition of OFN (Operation Fool Nigerians) has officially countermanded his own permanent secretary, Ibukun Odusote, to insist that there was no going back on spending 60 billion naira to procure mobile phones for farmers. Phew, what a phoney racket!!! How a supposedly tested technocrat could find himself embroiled in this seamy scam remains one of the great twists of an engrossing novel. In the past, it was fertilizers that fertilized unconscionable looting, now the World Bank wonk and policy whizz kid has introduced his own Mobile Banking. Farmer Hoax finally meets Farmer Oaks.

    Ever heard of Gabriel Oaks? If you haven’t you are not likely to have heard of Thomas Hardy. Hardy was one of the greatest novelists of all time. In the glorious sixties, his classic novels such as Far From the Madding Crowd, Jude the Obscure and The Mayor of Casterbridge constituted the staple fare of those tortuous O and A level exams. Farmer Oaks was the protagonist of Far From the Madding Crowd. It was a riveting tale of roiling passion and unrequited love. Oaks was a man of pious virtues, uncommon nobility and sturdy integrity. In a moment of trusting stupidity, he allowed a knave shepherd to run his entire flock over the cliff. Poverty and penury became his lot.

    We must watch how reality abuses fiction. In the nineteenth century, Honore de Balzac, the great French novelist, was so stunned by the outlandish and improbable reality of French society that he simply appointed himself a Social Secretary who would record happenings for posterity without any embellishment. In the end, Balzac himself could no longer distinguish between reality and fiction. On his deathbed, the great man called out for a certain Dr Banchioc as the only physician capable of saving him. “Call me Banchioc!! Only Banchioc can save me now!!” the novelist screamed.

    The great snag was that there was no such living doctor. Banchioc was one of Balzac’s own great fictional creations. And there the matter rested. But so too did the great novelist. As the Yoruba will say, a farmer who planted a hundred tubers but who claims to have planted two hundred must eat his fictional yam after consuming his real harvest. Can any rural farmer forward the telephone number of the honorable minister? Agrarian communication, my foot.

     

     

  • On our nation’s unity or uniformity (2)

    On our nation’s unity or uniformity (2)

    We said in this column last week that political and cultural leaders, particularly those from the north are fond of putting the cart before the horse of Nigeria’s unity. They often argue that all discussions must begin and end with the inevitability and non-negotiability of the country’s unity in a language that is reminiscent of military government’s famous No-go Areas. Many leaders who see themselves as owners and guardians of the country’s unity have the tendency to reduce all issues pertaining to the health of the country to their understanding of what it means for Nigeria to be united. Today’s focus is on homilies, particularly from retired or serving military leaders from both north and south about unity as the panacea to all problems facing the country.

    Response from military leaders to complaints about the health of the nation falls into the same pattern with those of most leaders from the north. For example, when General Obasanjo was civilian president, he was fond of calling calls for re-structuring of the country as a means of restoring true federalism as synonymous with calls for secession or disintegration of the country. Even after his departure from power, his views on calls for true federalism remain the same. The military dictator that General Obasanjo succeeded in 1999, General Abubakar Abdulsalam, is also not left behind in the race to use sermons to keep the country united. He has said on several occasions that Nigeria has been together for too long for it to break, regardless of untoward events that threaten the country’s unity. This sermon is in preference to discussing the threats to the nation’s unity and looking for ways to neutralise such threats.

    Even one of three executive presidents that is not a civil war hero like Obasanjo, Abdusalam, and others, President Jonathan, is more eloquent that retired generals in his effort to oversimplify the issues that have potential to affect the country’s unity. He has chosen the metaphor of marriage to convince Nigerians and friends of Nigeria that there can be no threat to the nation’s unity, after 100 years of marriage of proverbial Northern Prince and Southern Bride. Saying this to the hearing of Boko Haram, President Jonathan’s optimism about the age of a married couple as a guarantee against divorce is ample. Nobody should expect the president to feel otherwise, as no sane person would want a country that he rules to disintegrate. At the same time, citizens should expect more than homilies from the president.

    The latest vibrant voice in support of the sermon of uniformity or the ideology of unity at all cost is the governor of the Central Bank, Sanusi Lamido. In his own variant of efforts to cover the contours of the nation’s diversity with the blanket of uniformity, Sanusi takes advantage of his exalted position to ask for banning of religious and socio-cultural organisations such as CAN, JNI, Afenifere, Ohanaeze, and other and groups that feature the country’s cultural diversity. Sanusi’s call falls into the pattern of thought that believes that muzzling signals of diversity is the best way to ensure the unity of the country. His recommendation is in sync with a view more prevalent among political and cultural leaders in the north (than among their southern counterparts) that uniformity is the answer to the question of how to manage and optimise the country’s diversity.

    Our concern is not that there is no space for sermons from political and cultural leaders. Sermons are an intrinsic part of socialisation of citizens, especially of efforts in all cultures to create compliance habits in the citizenry. For example, all major religions of the world exist and thrive on sermonising. One indispensable tool of politicians and their supporters is sermonising or preaching. It is a universal practice that leaders whose interests are likely to be affected adversely by calls for interrogation of the status quo and for change by those that feel that the status quo does not promote their interests have to adopt the sermonic mode to keep what they perceive to promote their own interests. Otherwise, such political and cultural leaders resort to violence, to sustain their current advantages.

    The point at issue is the danger inherent in leaders’ proclivity to use sermons as a way of skirting issues that may be fundamental to the health of our nation. It is an understatement to say that our country is at risk. It is at risk at the hands of Boko Haram forces that set out to destroy western education; impose Sharia jurisprudence on the country; and kill or maim innocent citizens with a view to browbeat the government and citizens into accepting their worldview. The nation’s health is also endangered because citizens feel that the governance of the country is circumscribed by a constitution that citizens from various sections of the country believe to have been imposed by a handful of military dictators who appear to have set out to remove most of the federal principles and practices that nurtured the country’s unity from 1946 to 1966.

    It is reassuring that the most authoritative cultural leader in the north, the Sultan of Sokoto, has called on all interests in the country to respond to the nation’s security and other challenges with a high sense of realism. He has asked all parties to the Nigerian experiment to enter into heart-to-heart dialogue on how to keep the country peaceful, united, and progress-friendly. One hopes that other leaders of thought in the north and in the military will pay attention to the Sultan’s sermon on conditions for peaceful co-existence of diverse cultures in one nation-state.

    The tension militating against progress in our country will not go away because articulate leaders and organisations are able to use the mantra of unity as the beginning and end of political debate, just as the call for visionary leaders may not be at variance with demands for a conducive political structure and a constitution that reflects the yearnings of citizens. Most modern democracies thrive on constitutions negotiated by citizens or those given the mandate to prepare a constitution on citizens’ citizens.

    As we have argued several times in the past in this column, a major source of tension in our country today, apart from the worldview and ideology of Boko Haram, is not opposition to the unity of the country. It is the opposition of many of the country’s leaders to calls for open dialogue on how to manage the nation’s diversity in a manner that will sustain and enhance the nation’s unity. A conducive constitutional framework is (more likely than not) to enrich the qualities of political leaders with inclination for good governance.

     

     

  • Re: Beyond promises of deliverance

    Re: Beyond promises of deliverance

    Your article of January 6, 2013 was, as usual, highly cerebral and thought-provoking and I am proud to say that as one of your ardent readers, I have come to derive so much from reading you and your other very brilliant columnists over the years. However, for the very first time, I want to disagree with your analysis that seems to suggest that the people and not leadership is the problem with Nigeria.

    Is it really so that Nigerians “have contrived to make their homeland the most wretched on earth”? Evidence suggests that, on the contrary, those who Nigerians have been unfortunate to have as rulers (I hate to call them leaders) since independence have been solely responsible for the sorry state of affairs. The author of From Third World to First World paints a graphic word picture of how Nigerian rulers shortly after independence exhibited so much corruption, ostentatious living, selfishness and inept leadership while he and his team were frugal and laboured selflessly to transform their country. Now, the result is there for all to see. Sir, I ask, what has changed between then and now? You yourself admitted that President Jonathan’s team is not “Nigeria’s finest”. So, what miracle are you expecting from such a collection? Or, did the people put them there?

    It is indeed very worrisome that the President does not see corruption but attitude as Nigeria’s greatest problem. Is the practice of corruption not an attitude, albeit a negative one? If the various revelations of mind-boggling figures from various sections of government in corrupt practices do not bother the President, it simply means that our situation is hopeless. Let the looting continue. The common man is certainly not responsible for the outrageous and over inflated N16 billion that the government wants to spend on the Vice President’s official residence. Nor are they culpable in the annual allocation of N150 billion to take care of less than 500 individuals in the National Assembly. Mark you, nobody oversees the budget of the National Assembly and no audit is carried out at the end of the year to know how this stupendous sum is spent. If this is not corruption, then lexicographers should give us a new definition! Yet, we are talking of transformation. If our rulers are not transformed, it is asinine and the height of hypocrisy to ask or expect the followers to transform.

    You talked of Nigerians going back to their old ways shortly after Major-Gen. Buhari left the scene. Agreed. But what kind of leadership did General Babangida provide? If succeeding governments had sustained that legacy of enforced discipline, it would have been part of us by now. That was how organised countries were able to institutionalise order and it has become part of them today. It is a fact that humans by nature need sanctions in order to rein in their excesses. Where there is no sanction, the tendency is for people to act with impunity. The recent riot in Britain when youths went on a looting spree just because there was a breakdown of law and order for a few days is a classic example. Also, a little over a decade ago, policemen in Brazil went on strike and several hundred decided to commit all manners of infractions. This only proves that lawlessness is not peculiar to Nigeria, it is a worldwide malaise. But where leadership is seen to be firm, just and leading by example, the people have no choice but to follow the lead even if reluctantly. I agree with you that “No government will work… as long as Nigerians retain their contempt for the rule of law.” But who is the greatest violator of the rule of law? The answer is very obvious. Take a look at the issue of traffic you mentioned. Have you ever experienced top government officials being chauffeur-driven? It is always an exhibition of sheer madness. Woe betide you if you are sluggish in getting out of their way. Your vehicle will be vandalised and you will be lucky if you escape without a few bruises. The recent altercation between Governor Okorocha and Senator Chris Anyanwu over the right of way is a good example. All this happened right in the very presence of their security details. Remember also former Governor Ohakim. There are so many others. What example have these top government officials set? Is it any surprise then that their subordinates also terrorise road users on their own in the absence of their masters? Even money bags that are not entitled to the use of siren used it with impunity, complete with police escorts and also harass other road users.

    And, talking of people “stripping off miles of transmission cables with a view to selling same”; while admitting that such an act amounts to sabotage and deserves severe sanctions, have you forgotten so soon that a former President spent US$16billion on this same power problem without results and did not honour the invitation of the National Assembly to come and explain how? Or, of the House of Reps committee members who did the probing but were also found to be corruptly involved? How did the case and so many others bordering on corruption involving the high and mighty end? Such malfeasance, I dare say, is the exclusive preserve of our rulers. While it is so easy to pillory the wretched-looking policeman who collects pittance from motorists, it is meet to ignore an IG who stole N17billion but who today is a free man. If “ripping aluminum railings” to make profits is a “deranged behaviour”, then certainly, our overfed but irredeemably kleptomaniac public officials in all arms of government surely need the services of a world-class professor of neuro-surgery to examine their brains, because, only demented minds can carry on such senseless acquisitions in the face of grinding poverty and dwindling national resources.

    I do not believe that Nigerians are as bad you portray them. Yes, there could be very few malcontents. As we all know, just a handful of Nigerians in the Diaspora have contrived to give Nigeria a bad image by their iniquitous activities compared to the hundreds of thousands who are living clean. As you rightly observed at the outset of your article, Nigerians are among the “best minds”. The problem with Nigeria is that we have been saddled with a succession of horrible rulers lacking in vision and selfless service but abundant in shenanigan, selfishness, and other forms of despicable attitudes. As long as such people continue to rule us, we should not expect our situation to change except we are ready to call them to order. In a situation where unworthy people are appointed based on party patronage, cronyism and other sundry considerations; where our law-making chambers are peopled by indicted governors, pedophiles, corrupt ex-military autocrats and others with malformed personalities, the people will only be too glad to follow in their bad footsteps. Like Tatalo Alamu once said in one of his articles, Nigeria is a great country waiting for a great leader (I add, leaders). When those leaders appear and take charge, mark my words, the followers will be inspired to emulate them and things will certainly take shape. For now, Nigerians only have bad examples to emulate.

     

  • Azazi: Tribute to a noble man

    Azazi: Tribute to a noble man

    Life is good but death is inevitable. Opulence is desirable but good health and longevity are divine gifts. That is why the Holy Bible states in Psalm 39: 5, 6 & 11 that: “Indeed You have made my days as handbreadths, and my age is as nothing before You; certainly every man at his best state is but a vapour. Surely every man walks about like a shadow; surely they busy themselves in vain; he heaps up riches, and does not know who will gather them. …You make his beauty melt away like a moth; surely every man is vapour.” (NKJV).

    It is in confirmation and conformity with this truth that many people die in fearsome and tragic circumstances that reflect quick disappearance of vapour into the air. Hence, death is an irretrievable loss of human life just like vapour cannot be retrieved from the air. The fact remains that no tragic event is ever anticipated or welcomed; but one of the most shocking of such bad occurrences in 2012 was the air mishap that claimed the lives of General Andrew Owoye Azazi, the immediate past National Security Adviser, NSA, the amiable Governor of Kaduna State, Patrick Ibrahim Yakowa and four others on Saturday, December 22, 2012 in the home state of Azazi, Bayelsa.

    Azazi’s death, like that of Yakowa or any other tragic incident, still remains a nightmare especially to those who were close to him through official and personal relationships. He was a complete gentleman. He related very warmly with people not on account of their status or the level of intimacy with him but as a lifestyle; he treated and addressed people with humility, respect and candour.

    He was a congenial person to work with. Azazi never for once made his staff or subordinates feel that he was the boss but a team leader. Even as Chief of Army Staff, those who knew him intimately maintained that he was “very civil and fair minded in all his dealings…too gentlemanly that some people could not believe that we still had his ilk in the military.”

    Azazi’s disposition to issues had never been hinged on any other factor than merits and facts; unlike some other ‘big bosses’ whose mood often dictate their reactions. He was a good listener and a meticulous decision maker. Regardless of who was offering an idea, the late Army General usually respected, accepted and applied superior views, arguments and ideas. He enjoyed engaging his aides in sound intellectual debate as a norm towards taking feasible and defensible decisions.

    Azazi was very desirous of good governance, peace and credible public administration while in office as the NSA that he willingly offered help and co-operation to a few MDAs not only in the area of security but in some ways of enhancing their operations. Labaran Maku, Information Minister, had in a live telecast in January 2012 acknowledged this co-operation offered to his ministry by the office of the NSA.

    Poor information management is a major but often ignored problem of government. Azazi believed that if your employers (Nigerian people) are not getting correct assessment of your performance, it would give them the reason to give your tenure a poor rating. This, he believed had been the major channel often appropriated for misinforming the public and blackmailing the government. Hence, Azazi nurtured a robust relationship with the media through which occasional interactive sessions were held with media executives.

    Azazi changed the cult-like administration of national security. He believed that Nigerians should be adequately and regularly informed about their security situation; whereas withholding information for too long often encouraged foreign media to inundate Nigerians with distorted facts.

    He was a patriot of the highest order. He would stop at nothing to defend the corporate interest and integrity of Nigeria whenever the need arose. One of such instances was when the United States alerted its citizens, nay, Nigerians that some designated spots and hotels had been marked for attack by a terrorist group. Hours after the announcement, Abuja, indeed, most parts of Nigeria were struck with fear as vocal Nigerians asked what our security chiefs were doing if information like this could elude their notice.

    Azazi was miffed not at the piece of information but at the needless sensation and panic the announcement generated. Explaining to a select media executives at an interactive session barely a week after, he said the information was not new. “We had been on top this situation since we got wind of this plot. In fact, we alerted our security collaborators and the management of the facilities concerned to step up security checks and surveillance. Thus we moved security personnel into the marked areas to void the plot.

    “But when we asked the US officials (after the announcement) if there was any development on this information other than what we already know, they said none. But in the US, security alerts flow in torrents per minutes yet they won’t send such panicky alerts to their public. All you will notice is the swarming presence of security agents, gadgets and dogs within the affected areas. They won’t throw their people into needless panic or fear like they often do to us.” The beauty of it was that the US officials did not only apologise but also reversed the statement less than 48 hours later.

    The perennial bombing of public and worship edifices and killing of innocent people by an extremist Islamic terror group, Boko Haram, characterised most of Azazi’s tenure as NSA. In fact, the dare-devil activities of the ruthless sect eventually led to his removal and a few others from office. Explaining the reason for his abrupt sack, President Goodluck Jonathan said Azazi and others had been quite efficient at fighting the terror upsurge, but their removal was a way of responding to the security challenge as a change of government’s tactics.

    While maintaining the norm of working behind the scene to ensure adequate security, his prognostic approach to information flow with astute military intelligence had been the pivot upon which the national security network had been sustained. He supported the idea of dialogue with the sect leaders. He strongly believed that government could use the ‘carrot and stick’ method. While dialoguing with the terror group, military force would be used to counter its insurgency. “We will not fold our arms because we are discussing with Boko Haram and allow them to keep killing people. We will of course repel and foil their planned onslaught, burst their hideouts and arrest their members while still appealing to them to embrace dialogue,” Azazi had said at another parley.

    In proffering solution to the security challenge, Azazi was a proponent of state police option. I’m not sure if he ever made this public but he believed the tendency for abuse of the process by state chief executives could be taken care of in the provisions of the law. He also had a feasible idea on how to achieve effective policing. Meanwhile, Azazi had embarked on a strategic overhauling of national security network through which enhanced security system would be put in place. This project, for which he desired to be remembered as NSA, could not be nurtured to fruition unfortunately because he didn’t stay long enough in office.

    His Asaba (Delta State) statement which traced the unabated upsurge of terror attacks in the country to the conflict of political interests in the ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, was typical of Azazi’s candour. Even when I told him that President Jonathan seemed not to be on the same page with him over his statement, he said: “I can’t join issues with Mr. President. He’s my Commander-in-Chief. I have simply expressed my mind and those concerned know very well what I’m talking about.”

    Azazi’s life after his tenure of office was that of rest; this was evident in his fresh look. Also, he had more time for his family and private business. On August 30, 2012, he celebrated the wedding of one of his children in Lagos. The joyful event took place a few days after an on-line publication alleged that he bought a choice property in Abuja at a very costly amount. He wasn’t perturbed as he asked the authors to forward the details of their findings to any anti-graft agency. Unknown to many people, Azazi went into real estate business immediately after his retirement as Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) in August 2008. In fact, he was on his way to the airport on a business trip to the United States in October 2010 when President Jonathan invited him for the NSA job. He usually reacted to such spurious allegations with witty anecdotes believing that cheap blackmail was a burden of leadership or success in our nebulous society.

    As NSA, his duty primarily was to advise the President on security matters based on of information and intelligence reports at his disposal. While his office co-operated with that of the Inspector General of Police and other service chiefs, NSA’s office directly supervises the State Security Service, SSS, and the National Intelligence Agency, NIA.

    A brilliant and consummate intelligence officer Azazi had one of the fastest growing military careers in the present day democratic Nigeria. Between May, 2006 and June, 2007 the late General was decorated with the ranks of Major General, Lieutenant General and General.

    Many who called or sent sms to express grief at his sudden exit described him as a “great man.” His ilk are few among the top echelon of the society. He had seen it all but not blinded by the spoils of office. He was philosophical about life; hence he said to me: “Whenever I was in a convoy with siren blaring ahead of us, I often asked myself ‘is this what life’s all about?’ of course not. I see opulence and power as ephemeral and I was never excited about them. Though it was a privilege for me to experience this for a little while, making the best of every opportunity for humanity is enough satisfaction for me because I know there is more to life than all these.” This was the personal creed of General Azazi and he lived a noble life spurred by contentment, service to humanity and fear of God. Good night Azazi the Great.

     

    Awe is a Lagos-based media

    consultant

  • Obama inspires brother to run for office in Kenya elections

    Obama inspires brother to run for office in Kenya elections

    KOGELO, Kenya – U.S. President Barack Obama’s message of hope and change has inspired his half-brother Malik to launch a political career of his own, with his eye on elections in Kenya in March.

    “If my brother is doing great things for people in the United States, why can’t I do great things for Kenyans here?” Malik Obama said in an interview in the village of Kogelo, President Obama’s ancestral homeland.

    Malik, 54, is running for governorship of the rural Siaya county as an independent candidate.

    His sibling’s message resonates with a Kenyan electorate angry over a political class widely regarded as greedy and corrupt.

    However, the odds are stacked against lone candidates in a country where ideology is trumped by tribe or clan ties. This is the first time independents have been permitted to run in an election after a constitutional change in 2010.

    For Obama, the inspiration comes from elsewhere.

    “He is an inspiration to me and I feel that he is an embodiment of my father’s dream,” he said of the U.S. leader.

    “All he told me is ‘brother, it is not an easy thing to get into public office. Just have a thick skin because people will be targeting you. The media will be saying this and that. There will be people who love you and people who won’t love you’.”

    He said his younger brother has flourished by following the footsteps of their father, Barack Obama Snr – the first African to attend the University of Hawaii before returning home to work in the senior echelons of the Kenyan civil service.

    “The old and tested way has not really worked for us. Right now we need a bold, radical and fresh approach,” he said.

    To capture the governorship, Obama will face a bruising battle from the likes of Oburu Odinga, brother to Prime Minister Raila Odinga, and a new and popular entrant to the political scene, William Oduol.

    Oburu Odinga is a long-serving member of parliament in the area, while Oduol, 35, has won favor with the youth.

    “As much as the brother has done well in the U.S., the truth of the matter is that he (Malik) is not very close to the people here on the ground,” Amos Owino, a 29-year old clinician, said.

    Malik Obama, a resident of the United States, has lived in Washington DC since 1985 where he worked with various firms before becoming an independent financial consultant.

    In his office are framed photographs of himself with President Obama in the Oval office and another at the president’s wedding, where he was the best man.

    He lives partly in the United States where he takes up work contracts from time to time and Kenya.

    “We are very proud of him (Malik), but Oduol has better policies especially on education improvement and roads construction,” said Irene Sindih, a 24-year old businesswoman.

    Obama said he is running as an independent to avoid being beholden to party grandees whom he blames for what he says is the failed leadership in the country of 40 million.

    Obama said the U.S. president also urged him to be honest with the electorate and to be true to himself.

    His campaign slogan is “Just as it is in United States, I want it here”, he said in his office in a recreation centre he set up with the Barack H. Foundation, a charitable organization he founded to build houses for women and orphans.

    With a population of 832,000 people, the main economic activities in Siaya county are subsistence farming and small trading. Many residents live in mud huts with thatched roofs.

    Obama wants to help build new roads, water and electricity supply, hospitals and small-scale industries once he is elected governor. After conquering this, he has eyes for an even bigger prize, the Kenyan presidency at the next elections in 2017.

     

    …begins second term with 51 per cent approval rating

    President Barack Obama embarks on his second term in office on Monday with half the nation giving him a good performance review, according to a New York Times/CBS News poll released yesterday.

    Fifty-one percent of Americans surveyed Jan. 11-15 approve of how Obama is handling his job, the poll said. Forty-one percent disapprove.

    The Times’ Marjorie Connelly notes in her analysis that Obama’s approval rating is similar to the one held by former President George W. Bush at the start of his second term, but far below ratings garnered by former President Bill Clinton (60 percent) and former President Ronald Reagan (62 per cent) at the beginning of their second terms.

    The “fiscal cliff” negotiations didn’t alter public opinion of the president’s ability to handle the economy, the poll said.

    Forty-six percent of adults surveyed said they approve of the president’s ability to handle the economy and 49 per cent disapprove. The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 3 per centage points.

     

  • Foreign Intervention, Diplomacy and Stability

    Foreign Intervention, Diplomacy and Stability

    The  decision by French President Francois Hollande  to send French troops to Mali to fight rebels who have seized  the northern part of that nation was predicated  on the need to save a friendly nation’s sovereignty and preserve regional stability according to French diplomatic sources.

    However, foreign intervention generally has always been condemned in diplomatic circles because it violates the territorial integrity  and sovereignty of  the victim nation  as more often than not such incursion or intervention  is  military and without the invitation or the approbation of such a nation. Indeed foreign intervention is an option of the last resort in the comity of nations nowadays  as the  Syrian   fighters trying ardently to remove the blood thirsty regime of Bashar Assad  in Syria have found to  their cost  as they have asked for the intervention of the international community  to help overthrow  the tyrant in Damascus to no avail.

    Yet  many Africans  undoubtedly breathed a sigh of relief when the news broke early this week that France the former colonial power  in Mali has sent troops to that country to drive out the rebels that have seized the northern part of the country  for some time now. While one could scoff that France,  like the proverbial dog has returned to its vomit,  which nominally is a repugnant act, there is no denying  that this intervention has boosted the prestige of France   as a decisive and humane member of the international community and the reasons are not far fetched.

    Firstly, procrastination, it  has been stressed   many times,  is  the thief of time but it has  unfortunately  also been the   unnamed Mali Policy of ECOWAS,  the sub regional group that was given approval by the UN Security Council to secure Mali and drive  out  the invaders of that nation.

    ECOWAS had announced it was raising an army of 6000 troops with Nigeria expected to contribute  600  but till the French landed in Bamako  this week  there was no ECOWAS troops on ground in Mali. Indeed it was when the internet showed pictures of French tanks said to be about 50 moving into the interior  of Mali  that Nigeria announced that it was sending 200 troops and Chad also said it would send 2000.

    The French had sent 800 men initially and expect that to be beefed up to 2,500 eventually. It is apparent that France is more concerned and committed to the salvation and sovereignty  of its former colony, Mali, than its neighbors and fellow members in ECOWAS with which it shares propinquity and contiguity. Which throws up the inevitable question as to which is more important in diplomacy  in African nations  – the umbilical cord  of colonialism  or the regional bond of diplomacy and international relations. Given the way the Malians cheered the French Army on the streets of Mali as they moved north to oust the invaders of Mali, there is no doubt that colonial ties have ousted the weak kneed, dithering  diplomacy of ECOWAS nations as the savior of Mali,s  soverengty and  integrity  in its hour of need. This is not to say that the French by merely landing have routed the invaders and  accomplished their mission in Mali. We  are just saying that France’s decisiveness has given hope not only to Malians but also other West Africans who can see the danger of not containing the invasion of Mali and the consequences of that for the ECOWAS sub region.

    The danger lies in the fact that the north of W Africa which is called the Sahel has become a danger to ECOWAS members and what happened in Mali could happen in any of them. Nigeria already has a foretaste in the menace of Boko Haram which wants to introduce Sharia law and has been bombing Churches in the  north for some time. In Mali’s case there are three types of insurgents  in the north namely the Malian Tuaregs who want to secede , a  branch   of Al Qada in the Magreb  and a body that aims to unite jihadists in West Africa. These are the groups that have invaded the northern part of Mali after driving the Malian army sent to contain them out of the north and back to Bamako, Mali’s capital .Obviously the French president has seen the danger that ECOWAS leaders are shortsighted about and France has moved to nip in the bud a contagion that it can not afford to   allow   to destroy its prized assets and connections  not only in Francophone Africa   but  in the entire W/Africa sub region.

    Again,  one can accuse the French of being led  to  act by business I and commercial interests or  scold  their president   for  using a  foreign adventure to divert attention away from growing disaffection over his economic policies at home in France especially the 75% tax  on 1m euros that is driving   young and bright entrepreneurs away from France.

    Yet  one must admit that France has always had a soft spot for  its colonial subjects for whom it formulated a policy  of Assimilation  aimed at turning them into black Frenchme. Whether that has made the subjects incapable of ruling themselves after independence and without France is another matter.

    This is because the French  have  had to intervene earlier in Ivory Coast to drive out Lawrent Gbagbo and install Alasane Ouattara, the present president of Ivory Coast and Chairman of ECOWAS after a bitterly contested presidential election result

    Indeed, in the recent past,  after the  independence of African nations  especially the Francophone ones in the  fifties and sixties,  the French always provided troops to keep the status quo and prevent coups in Francophone states. It was the advent and popularity of elective democracy  later that  made  France to withdraw into its shell and look the other way while military coups toppled its favorite allies  in some Francophone   African states.

    Now France is back with aplomb to rescue  a former colony and  you want to wander whether Mali’s independence  on June 20  1960 so many years ago was worth the celebrations and   gaiety that accompanied it; given the fact  that France in  2013  is literally   still   helping Mali to wipe its bloodied nose arising from the blatant   and   easy assault  on its territorial integrity  and sovereignty by roaming desert warriors.

    Lastly, one cannot comment on this French invasion of Mali without making some observations on the attack on the BP oil facility in Algeria and the holding of many hostages from European nations. It  has been widely reported   that the  attackers have asked  that part of the conditions for their release is that France should stop its invasion of Mali.

    It  was  however  nice to know that the Algerian authorities   have not only  vowed not to negotiate   with the terrorists but the Algerian  military  have surrounded the facility, which from its picture on internet is an isolated desert facility  whose  location  should tell a story of its own.

    This is because Northern Mali is  in a similar location   or environment  to the BP facility in Algeria. It  follows therefore that ECOWAS  should send troops prepared and trained for desert warfare  or train them for such, before sending them to Mali. We  have read that the French troops in Mali are from an elite brigade well versed in desert warfare  and are on familiar grounds in Mali as such.

    As  events unfold however   is difficult to resist the temptation to give a name to this French intervention in  Mali and its Algerian connection. Since the first  Gulf War   over the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq was called Desert Storm  one needs a more imaginative and different name.

    I call the French intervention in Mali  the  ‘Sahel Assault ‘as  a mark  of respect for the foresight and precocity of the French President Francois Hollande, in showing decisively that a stitch in time saves nine in terms of regional security; and that in diplomacy, intervention can be justified pragmatically on the grounds  of regional stability  and   the protection of territorial integrity.