The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

Of private planes, police copters, air ambulances and fire engines

Why is it that governance in this country is being done by people who are more interested in standing in front of the mirror and asking each morning: ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest and most vain of them all?’

Today, I want to honour all my readers. I thank you all indeed for your interest and perseverance in reading this column, whether the messages have been accessible to you or not. Your patronage has proved that you are made of sterner stuff than I am. I acknowledge all the messages that have encouraged me, not so much because the writers like what I am doing but because they believe in the philosophy that says it is better to let a child destroy its toys than destroy the house. This translates to the fact that they think it is better to let me write each week than to let me go around stealing.

I also acknowledge all the messages that have not been so encouraging, some even downright insulting. I have nothing but great respect for their taste in writing. I mean, a woman who takes herself and her money to the market cannot be argued against. Whose business is it if she brings home shit? Some readers have complained that my points have a habit of hiding beneath their words; why can’t I write straight? Please be patient with me, the problem springs from a personality disorder. You see, I find that I cannot walk straight.

I have nothing in particular in mind to write about this week, so I have just allowed my mind to roam around on its own. And roam it has done. First, it alighted ponderously on the injustices of life. Why, for instance, should holidays be given and withdrawn? Why should the government give a holiday on Thursday and withdraw it on Monday? What is the meaning of declaring only two days of holidays for the nation? What are the remaining days for: work? I ask you, is that fair?

Then my mind went to the recent events in the country, particularly the recent crash of a governor’s ‘private plane’ and it did some somersaults, my mind that is, not the plane. How on earth is a governor able to afford a ‘private plane’? Is his state able to afford a modern, 21st century transportation or electricity system or housing or water or hospital or living standard or any standard for its citizens? What roils the mind is that you can’t just decide to go and greet your friend with those things. Where will you pack it, your friend’s bicycle shed? And then rumour has it that there are many other governors on the waiting list for these winged animals, waiting to buy them that is, and maybe fly them and crash them. What is just wrong with us in this country that robs us of all thoughtfulness? I hear one of them powerful government people bought one of those planes, and, not having too many places to go with it, had to leave the thing hanging around all day many days in its hangar, attracting very hefty daily parking fees, of course, and increasing our fuel consumption. Now, I have to struggle for fuel with their stupid planes.

Obviously, not enough has been done to discourage governors from acquiring properties for the state and registering them in their own personal names. Too many states are doing it. It is unheard of that state structures are made and left to rot while governors feast and gorge themselves to death on public treasures. For example, while governors are having private planes, the police do not have helicopters to fight and chase after criminals; while governors are having private planes, there are no road or air ambulances to transport critically sick patients or victims of crashes (like that governor!) to hospitals quick and fast (sorry, forgot, no hospitals); while governors are having private planes, there are no working fire engines to fight fires in many states (sorry, no ready water sources); while governors are having private planes, I have to ride my jalopy on pot-hole ridden roads … you know, I could really turn this into a song if you don’t stop me. Ok. I’ll stop myself. But why is it that governance in this country is being done by people who are more interested in standing in front of the mirror and asking each morning: ‘Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest and most vain of them all?’ Ah, my mind does travel, does it not? Wait yet.

Next, my mind flitted to the weather. These days, you hardly know where you are with the weather. First, it blows hot you can almost use the tap water for tea, then so cold you need a candle under your teacup to keep it warm before you are through sipping it. Then it blows hot again you don’t know whether to remove your scalp to get some air into your brains, then so cold again you’re warming your hands on the boiling ring. Now, it gets so warm you’re beginning to think your skin is expendable, then… It has got to the point now you don’t know what temperature you want your tea: hot, so you can blow it cool, or cool, so you can blow it hot. The situation is much like the story of some European policemen on the trails of a wanted criminal. By the time they found him, he was frozen stiff in a snow storm. Yes, it was their man all right, but no, they no longer wanted him.

The weather seems to have settled on a mild, warm undecidedness, has it not? I think a little dryness is even appearing in the distance, you know, the kind that ushers in the festive period. Ah, Christmas! When I wrinkled my little nose at the air, smelling nothing but body odour, I thought I caught a whiff of some dryness too. I thought I could even spy a little star in the distance, but a little voice in my head said that could be the economy making me see stars. Anyway, there is no doubt about it, it is time to bring out the lights cause the seasons, they are a-changing! This time, I do not want to be unprepared. In the last festive season, I was a little unprepared cause there had been this rumour that it had been cancelled so when it came, it caught me napping, like the foolish virgins. I also don’t want to be like the clueless individual who said ‘Its Christmas? Nobody told me’.

That’s right, my mind has been roving; it even went over the economy. What with fuel shortage and all, prices are through the roof. Now, all I can do is rant and wish for the day I will be able to disdain a food item because of the high price and proudly display my own alternative: a farm. I also look forward to the day I will be able to disdain our petroleum product because it is inaccessible (large crowd around the pump) and expensive (don’t think anyone knows how much it is per litre now) and proudly display my own alternative: my bicycle (fresh air and exercise besides). I say, I look forward to the day I will be able to disdain the Nigerian government and proudly present my own alternative: an island of my own. Wait, I think my mind is roving too far. See you soon, weather permitting.

November 4, 2012
Fighting corruption in an unserious, horrendously corrupt country

Nigeria now holds the record of the country with the highest number of private jets in Africa

In the article, Nigeria: Corruption is thy name, 1 July, 2012, I wrote as follows: ‘Under this government corruption mushrooms by the day and the national assembly daily compounds it with disclosures of worse instances of corruption like we see in every of its probes, the Power and oil subsidy probes being the worst cases. Nigeria is daily being ripped apart by its elected officials, by party men and their over pampered children that it will not be a surprise if we woke up one day soon to learn that the country has, in fact, been auctioned by these predators and all we see is a government clue-lessly wringing its hands’, totally unable to confront the very phenomenon that ensured its victory at the polls in the first instance’’. Corruption in Nigeria is not only endemic, it is systemic. It has become the very oxygen on which the country survives. Election campaigns are run mostly on sleaze money and, at the Federal level where you could spend a million times the amount you need to succeed at state elections, appointment to key offices of state is determined by who gave the highest. An appointee’s immediate concern in office, therefore, is to make tenfold or more, the amount of money he ploughed in, even though originally from proceeds of corruption.

Nigerians shouted hurray when in ’99, Obasanjo’s very first bill was an anti-corruption bill but only the uninitiated could have been taken in by that joke knowing full well that the President had come out of Abacha’s dungeon broke and broken but yet ran a campaign which was not cheap by Nigerian standards. Money had come from sources known and unknown and a retired general and friend of the candidate, must have committed so much money to the project that he had no qualms in declaring publicly he would have to go on exile should Obasanjo lose the election.

Obasanjo had himself succeeded an administration which holds the record of depleting the country’s foreign reserve the most and, if evidence given at the Oputa panel by a one-time Abacha security chief were to be believed and acted upon, there will at least be one more person in Nigerian prisons today. Nor can Nigerians easily forget the 12.4 billion dollar oil scam of the Babangida era. This is to say corruption has come a long way in Nigeria.

But if elements within the Nigerian military have so unabashedly dealt with the country , their civilian counterparts have taken corruption to higher levels because those who should have dealt with them are themselves products of corruption. So unremitting has been the unbridled looting by political office holders since ’99, that Nigeria, a thoroughly wretched country with most of its citizens surviving on nothing more than a dollar a day, now holds the record as the country with the highest number of private jets in Africa. From the church, to the podium, from bank vaults to even direct budgetary allocations which are now routinely padded by both the National Assembly and its state counterparts, unexplainable tithes that pastors encourage with copious biblical quotations, continue to swell the number of private jets in a blighted country like Nigeria.

I laughed to my heart’s content this past week when I read the President promising that there will be no sacred cows in his government’s handling of the latest scam about to be made public from the Ribadu committee. Nigerians should ask Jonathan where he got his new voice and verve. What happened to past scams -Halliburton, Siemens etc – concerning which foreign countries have already jailed their citizens who were mere fringe accomplices? Or could it be that he has now forsaken his 2015 presidential ambition for which cause corruption and corrupt elements have to be romanced rather than punished? Or from which sources would the outlandishly expensive 2011 campaign which effortlessly dwarfed the U.S super pacs be replicated in 2015? Since corruption breeds corruption, Nigerians were not surprised that children of the political high and mighty and their business partners dominated the list of those who ate the nation raw through the fake oil subsidies which shot up more than tenfold what was budgeted for the current financial year. So what exactly will now make the President fight corruption seriously?

Nor can anything be more nauseating than the thoroughly embarrassing manner the highly compromised Nigerian judiciary has continued to collude with former governors and several politicians standing charges of corruption in courts all over the country needlessly vitiating and rendering useless, all the efforts by the anti-corruption agencies even now that it appears they are no longer deployed after political opponents as was the case during the Obasanjo administration. Mrs Waziri, a former EFCC Chairman, literally shouted herself hoarse bemoaning the role the courts played in the trial of those hauled before them. It actually got so bad Dr Odili, one time River’s state governor, has now for over 5 years, been shielded from court trials even when the charges against him are extremely weighty.

While corruption in Nigeria used to be essentially within the Police and the old NEPA today, the mother of all corruption is to be found in the NNPC which NEITI Chairman, Professor Assisi Asobie, confirmed as lacking in transparency and due process, and Pension Funds. In the case of the latter, the Chairman of the committee charged with auditing it recently reported that a minimum of N300 Million is stolen weekly from the Police pension fund whilst, not too long ago, sums running into billions of naira were discovered in the homes of government officials. So humongous has corruption become in Nigeria that the outside world has taken notice.

Recently, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation which established the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership with a $5 million initial payment and a $200,000 annual payment for life to African presidents who deliver security, health, education and economic development to their nations, and publishes the Ibrahim Index of African Governance ranking the performance of all 53 African countries released its 2012 results.

. For the first time since its inception, Nigeria was ranked amongst its lowest 10 sharing that oddity with African countries that have been declared serially as failed states, among them Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Chad and Equatorial Guinea, a country generally known as the most corrupt country in the world. That is where the largest and, unarguably, the most corrupt political rally in Africa. has taken a country as blessed as Nigeria.

In the utmost hope that the consciences of these predators, these dealers inappropriately called leaders, can still be pricked, let me conclude this week’s article by recalling .Opeyemi Agbaje’s dirge on the consequences of corruption in Nigeria. Wrote Agbaje recently: ‘‘Corruption means that at least 100 million Nigerians live on less than a dollar per day; it means that thousands of infants die before their first birthday due to poverty. It means that life expectancy for the average adult Nigerian is less than 50 years; that millions of destinies are ruined as lack of educational facilities ensures that individuals who have the intellectual potential to be university professors end up only as primary school teachers! I am convinced that corruption has reached a stage at which, if not drastically curtailed, it will destroy Nigeria’.

You can only pity these fools who stock most of their loot in faraway countries where , should they die suddenly, it is uncertain if members of their family can access it.

November 4, 2012
The teacher in Governor Wamakko

His Excellency should not have flogged the PHCN officials

Governor Aliyu Wamakko of Sokoto State reportedly flogged the business manager of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) Gwiwa Business Unit, Sokoto State, Moses Osigwe, an engineer, on October 20, for failing to supply electricity to his community, Wamako. That, naturally has brought him into opprobrium in the eyes of many Nigerians. The Acting Managing Director of Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KEDC), a subsidiary of the PHCN, Mohammed Adamu, told the story better: “On Saturday, 20th October, 2012, an unusual and unfortunate event took place which was beyond our comprehension. On the said date, our business manager, Gwiwa Business Unit, Sokoto State, Moses Osigwe, was invited by the Executive Governor of the state, Aliyu Magatarkada Wamakko to his personal residence, over the issue of lack of power supply to his hometown, Wamakko, as a result of a failed 2.5MVA transformer. He accused our staff of deliberately denying his community, Wamakko, of power supply. As the business manager was trying to explain to him, the governor just brought out a horse whip (popularly known as bulala in Hausa language) and lashed him to a pulp”.

But that appears to be only a part of the story. A report in another daily that gave what looked like a fuller account of the situation said the governor, having been worried that his people did not have light, decided to invite a PHCN official and find out what was required to make his people have light. According to that report, he was told about N17million would be needed to purchase a new transformer, cables, and other items that were necessary for the installation, an amount the governor promptly approved. It was when there was no improvement after all these that he invited the business manager and two others – Isyaku Daura, Officer 2 (Electrical) and Nuruddeen Mohammed, Staff 1 (Lines) to his office to find out from them why his people still did not have light. When the business manager could not give a satisfactory answer, the governor became annoyed and flogged him.

If the report is true that the governor actually gave N17million to ensure that the people in his town have light, without doubt, he has every reason to be pained. This is especially so that electricity supply to many parts of the country improved in the past few months. At any rate, that is what many state governments do these days to ensure that PHCN delivers electricity to as many people as possible in their states. But there are other questions begging for answers. Is the blackout peculiar to the people of Wamakko town or is it state-wide? If it is state-wide, why the special attention to Wamakko?

Without doubt, the governor should be sufficiently concerned about the welfare of citizens of his state. He should doubly feel sad that after providing what he was told was required to supply his community light (that is assuming that this was a correct version of the story), light remained elusive. But this is what millions of Nigerians experience daily in the hands of the PHCN. Although its top shots always insist that communities do not have to contribute money towards the repairs or replacement of its transformers or other equipment, the fact is that many communities still go ahead to contribute money towards the same purpose so that their cases could be promptly attended to.

In some instances, they are, whilst in many others, the problems persist in spite of the involuntary contributions electricity consumers make to have electricity. Unfortunately, no receipts are issued for these monies because, apparently, they must have gone into private pockets since the organisation insists it does not take such monies from individuals. And, in the absence of receipts, it is difficult to prove that such monies changed hands. Again, where it can be proved, not many people would want to go public that they parted with the money because of the implications.

May be Governor Wamakko has been hearing about such cases and could never have imagined that he could be a victim, at least not whilst he is governor. So, it is as well another case of the rich also cry. And it is good for the system because part of our problem is that those in leadership positions hardly understand the pains of the governed because they do not have first-hand experience of the pains.

All said, however, though I do not like the attitude of many PHCN staff to their jobs, and I am sure many Nigerians are on the same page with me on this, (as a matter of fact, many of them would say serves them (PHCN) staff right), the fact remains that the governor should have controlled his anger. He ought not have embarked on self-help as he did. This is the only reason I am supporting the electricity workers in the zone who have asked the governor to tender an unreserved apology to the three PHCN staff assaulted within seven days, and also to pay compensation to them. It is sad that the governor did not tender the apology within the seven days not to talk of compensating the PHCN staff.

It is actions like this that make many people to be clamouring for the abrogation of the immunity clause from our constitution. One gets the impression that the governor is still not convinced that he did any wrong by flogging the PHCN staff and then handing them over to his security details to ‘perfect’ what he had started.

In the interest of the exalted position of governor that he occupies, Governor Wamakko should apologise for his actions. A situation where the electricity workers in the zone would put everybody in darkness just because of what His Excellency has done is not good enough. When that happens, many people who never knew about the incident would get to know because news travels fast and far in these days of information technology. And most people will usually side with the underdog, in this case, the PHCN staff.

As I said earlier, it is painful to pay for a service that is not delivered; but then, there are some actions that one would not expect certain persons to do, one of such is for a governor to flog a public official. Did it not occur to the governor that things might have gone awry during the flogging if Mr Osigwe had engaged in a scuffle with him? We thank God however that this did not happen just as well that His Excellency was not sufficiently provoked to repeat the Amakiri episode. Amakiri was a journalist who was flogged and his hair shaved on the orders of former military governor of Rivers State, retired Cdr. Alfred Diete-Spiff in 1975.

Obviously, Governor Wamakko allowed the teacher in him to prevail (the governor was once a teacher). But that was wrong. Provocative as the case might seem, the governor should have allowed the governor in him, rather than the teacher, to prevail. It is teachers, particularly those of old that do not spare the rod so as not to spoil the child. The governor should have spared the rod.

November 4, 2012
Boko Haram’s curious peace offer

Last week, the Islamic sect, Boko Haram, unexpectedly proposed dialogue with the Goodluck Jonathan government wearied by years of uprising in the Northeast. The structure and terms of the dialogue, which the sect expects could lead to a truce and possibly peace, are truly bewildering. But the offer comes at a time of increasing turmoil in that region and amidst fears the violence could still spill over to other parts of the country and even beyond. The sect says it is prepared to give dialogue a chance if the government in turn shows some sincerity in negotiating an end to the violence that has undermined governance in that region since 2009.

Interestingly, the terms of the Boko Haram offer are neither complex nor controversial. Speaking in a telephone conference with journalists in Maiduguri, the deputy leader of the sect, Abu Mohammed Ibn Abdulazeez, says the sect wants the government to arrest and prosecute the former governor of Borno State, Ali Modu Sherrif, with whom it has a long-standing axe to grind, compensate the sect for its losses, rebuild Mosques destroyed in the 2009 uprising led by the former leader, Mohammed Yusuf, release all arrested sect members, rehabilitate displaced wives and children of members, and ensure that the dialogue take place in Saudi Arabia. It is not the business of the sect what the government hopes to do for Boko Haram victims whose lives and businesses have been shattered. But as difficult as these terms seem, it is unlikely they would be impossible to surmount.

What is in fact difficult is the structure of the dialogue. The sect has asked for what is unprecedented in the annals of peace talks, a request the federal government in its first reaction has not appeared to give deep thoughts to. The sect takes the unusual step of listing the names of those who should represent the government in the talks, and also supplying the names of those who should represent the sect. In other words, the sect does not really expect the government to have a say over who should represent the country, and definitely no say whatsoever over who should represent the sect. As a chronicler of modern history, Palladium cannot recall one instance in which those who levy war against the state have such total control over peace terms and structures. Though the sect was gracious enough to list only five names to represent it, it magnanimously conceded six names to the government side. But it retains control in its entirety over who should sit at the negotiating table. Such temerity.

If indeed it is true that the dialogue offer is really coming from the Boko Haram leadership, it is likely the Jonathan government will give the sect some attention. My private doubts, however, are that the sect merely wishes to needle the government with carrots that are far from anyone’s reach, and taunt it with an offer the sect knows will be rejected offhand. I have never supported dialogue between the government and terrorists, in particular because of the nature of the Boko Haram war against the people of Nigeria. Though Abdulazeez is now attempting to dissociate the sect from much of the violence that has brought the northern parts of the country to heel, claiming that criminal and political Boko Haram were behind some of the violence, it is a fact that the sect itself had in the past claimed responsibility for bombing places of worship and remorselessly indicated its proselytising mission to subject about a half of the country to Sharia rule.

However, I acknowledge that the poignancy of my suggestion that the sect be defeated, both because of its incendiary objectives and its cruel and divisive methods, has been considerably blunted by the scorched-earth methods deployed by the Joint Task Force (JTF) in fighting the insurgency in the region. This column had in recent months drawn attention to the complaints by Borno Elders against the indiscriminate use of force by security agents and the extra-judicial killings that have become a part of the war against the sect. As the latest Amnesty International (AI) report on the crisis shows, the Nigerian government’s unorthodox approach to pacifying the region has led to massive human rights violations. But rather than investigate the Borno Elders’ and Amnesty’s claims, the government has appeared to connive at the unlawful means employed by the JTF in tackling the crisis.

The sect is probably right to say that much of the violence taking place in the Northeast is inspired by forces outside the control of the original Boko Haram. Having set the genie loose, however, the sect’s leaders have proved unable to rein in the renegades who carry out killings in the name of the sect. This ubiquitousness of the sect and its look-alikes, apart from weakening their control, may also have partly convinced the sect’s original leaders that in the end both their goals and the control they so earnestly desire to exercise may even prove difficult to sustain in the long run. The fact is that violence in the region is spiralling out of the control of any group, whether of the real Boko Haram or of the fake Boko Haram, including out of the hands of those who are suspected to be the sponsors of the sect. And as much as the people would have loved to cooperate with the JTF to help end the menace, the security agencies have themselves virtually completely alienated the local populace by their hostile and spiteful methods.

The Boko Haram offer may be curious and dishonest, but it is even more unlikely that they sought the approval of those whose names they have haughtily put forward to represent the government side in the negotiations. Gen Muhhamadu Buhari would of course not agree to by pigeonholed by the sect, for he is smart enough to know that whatever he undertakes in the search for peace would be misconstrued and even used against him both now and in the future. Already, his party, the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), has spurned the mediatory offer to the general to be a part of the negotiating team. He is unlikely to accept the offer even if it came from the government itself.

Though I have long advocated that the sect be defeated, I do not see that prospect happening anytime soon. The reason is that the security agencies have alienated the local populace, carried out extra-judicial killings, and generally fought the terrorists with unremitting brutishness. The crisis will naturally continue to spiral. Worse, there is a high possibility that the government’s repressive tactics will gradually turn the hearts of the people towards Boko Haram, especially if the sect cleans up its act, fights those it describes as criminal and political Boko Haram, and shows more consideration to the local populace and sensitivity to their plight. To prevent this from happening, the military authorities must urgently reorganise the fighting forces in the region, insist that officers adhere scrupulously to the rules of engagement, and openly punish every infraction by undisciplined soldiers.

Given some of the recent high-profile killings in the Northeast, many of which were carried out by unknown gunmen, I believe the saddened elders and people of the region would welcome and back concrete and sensible initiatives to bring the violence to an end. The killing of the distinguished civil war general, Muhammadu Shuwa, is a case in point. The government must not think it has all the time in the world, or that the longer the war goes on the more likely the sect would run out of steam. The fear in some quarters is that the longer the war, the higher the chance that one careless killing, whether normal or extra-judicial, or whether inspired by government security agencies or Boko Haram itself, could push the country over the cliff.

Boko Haram has made its own suggestions, as dishonest as the sect may seem. Let the government, which has so far proved incompetent in fighting the menace or finding a way out, also come up with its own initiative to bring the insurgency to an end, re-establish peace, more importantly enthrone justice, which it appears incapable of, and begin the process of rebuilding the blighted Northeast and extirpating the reasons that provoked the rebellion in the first instance. Certainly, we do not have all the time in the world.

November 4, 2012
Ribadu committee, oil politics and test of leadership

In unseemly disagreement broke out on Friday among members of the Petroleum Revenue Special Task Force as the committee chairman Mallam Nuhu Ribadu submitted the final report to the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke, and President Goodluck Jonathan. The disagreement, which took place at the Presidential Villa, was triggered by two committee members, Mr Stephen Oronsaye and Ben Oti, who both tried to rubbish the report by describing it as one-sided, hasty and full of inaccuracies. But Ribadu and other committee members stood their ground and described the two dissenters as compromised board members of the NNPC who absented themselves from the committee’s meetings since the special panel was constituted in February.

The substance of the quarrel was that the report was too harsh in its conclusion that Petroleum ministers since 2008, including Alison-Madueke, gave out seven discretionary oil licences, and cannot account for the $183m (N28.73bn) signature bonuses which the government should have received. The report also contained even harsher verdicts on the unprofitable way Nigeria’s oil and gas resources have been managed over the years. Though the president tried to assuage passion by calling on the dissenters to prepare a minority report, and the Petroleum minister also indicated she was neutral in the whole affair, it was clear to everyone that the disagreement suggested that far worse scandal lurks in the Petroleum ministry. In fact, Ribadu was so peeved by both the scale of indiscretions in the management of the oil industry and the attempts to cover them up that he took the unusual step of telling the public that aspects of the report leaked by Reuters to the world last week were emphatically no misrepresentation at all.

I rejoice that the unseemly exchange happened before newsmen and in the presence of the president. As Ribadu hoped in his remarks during the presentation of the panel’s report, let us all believe that the government will have the courage to tackle the rot in the oil industry and rejigger its modus operandi. I am, however, privately pessimistic. Were it to be any other civilized country, the former oil ministers to whom the Ribadu report pointed the finger of guilt would be preparing their briefs to defend their integrity, and the current minister would be preparing to step aside.

The open disagreement in the Council Chambers on Friday is also a testimony to the consistency of Ribadu himself. I once described the former EFCC chairman as too much in haste, too ambitious, and his judgement sometimes questionable, even wondering whether he could ever be a level-headed president were he to assume that office. But there is no question that he is a patriot and is unalterably committed to the stability and progress of his country. I was worried early in the year, when he was appointed to handle that special assignment, that the probe exercise was government’s gimmick to buy time over its fuel price hike misadventure, and to exploit the credibility of Ribadu. It is a relief that the former EFCC boss has acquitted himself well, though he sometimes finds it hard to disguise his inquisitorial tendency.

Since his first public appointment, Ribadu has repeatedly given indication that he has the character of true leadership. It is not just honesty that fails most Nigerians when they face grave and impossible tests; what often fails them is the courage to look power in the face and say and do what is right. No matter how much the Jonathan president wants to dither over this report, I rate Ribadu’s performance as exemplary, and recommend his fearlessness and patriotism to aspiring leaders.

November 4, 2012
For the love of oil

Who will teach us to love something else?

From the colourful protest by walking-stick-wielding kings and chiefs in top hats and reach-down robes, as well as from the hot exchange between Rivers and Bayelsa state governments, it is clear that oil still sends heads crashing against one another in these parts. Unfortunately.

But before it begins to look as though this flammable liquid is being accused of causing trouble, it must be stated early enough that oil does not hurt anyone. It has neither hands nor feet. Nor does it have brains to think for itself. Like money, it remains harmless until man’s appetites come into the picture. You could say the thirst for oil is the root of all strife.

For the love of petroleum, nations have crossed their territories into other lands, and even deployed to battle. For the love of crude, blood has spilled and heads have rolled. For the sake of oil, a powerful cartel was formed long ago to determine how much nations should sell their natural resources. For crude oil, developed nations have been unable to abandon Nigeria no matter how rough its administrative edges, or how rudimentary its development profile.

For the sake of oil, Kalabari monarchs and their chiefs overlooked palace duties and administrative obligations to stage a protest at the nation’s capital, even dragging President Goodluck Jonathan into the matter. And was it not for the sake of oil that Bayelsa is at ‘war’ with Rivers, two neighbouring states, each hosting some communities with common ancestry and traditions?

The Kalabari chiefs in Rivers State said five of their community oil wells have been ceded with their lands to Bayelsa, and that derivation funds accruing from the ceded lands are already being paid to the state to which the lands and wells were given. The chiefs also accused President Jonathan, who hails from Bayelsa, of approving the transfer of the lands and resources.

The President, through his spokesman Dr Reuben Abati, has denied the charges. Abati also used such terms as “irresponsible” and “school-boy-style” to describe the chiefs’ protest, saying they were acting out the script of some “hidden sponsors”.

Bayelsa has not denied that the lands and wells in question belong to the Kalabari in Rivers State who have common cultural roots with the Nembe in Bayelsa. But Governor Seriake Dickson, through an aide, argued that the 11th edition of the administrative map of Nigeria recognised the contentious lands and oil wells as being part of Bayelsa State. Apparently by the same token, the governor reasoned that Bayelsa government has the responsibility to administer the recognised areas and should also receive derivation funds accruing therefrom.

Governor Chibuike Amaechi retorted that before the 11th edition of the federal map that there were first, second, all the way to the 10th edition of the same administrative map. The governor’s argument is that if the map recognised the Soku fields as part of Rivers State until its 11th version, why did the geographical status of the fields change suddenly?

Dickson believes it does not matter, and that the Kalabari can own the transfered land while Bayelsa should exercise administrative control and receive money for doing so.

Amaechi and his community leaders will have none of that. In fact the battle line has been drawn, though the Kalabari will want neutral intervention, from the National Assembly, preferably, to prevent a worsening of the crisis.

Things can actually get worse, but that would be unfortunate and unnecessary; such strife even exposes our pathetic paradox.

The bickering is not about lands or communities suddenly uprooted and tranplanted in another state in the name of state creation or boundary adjustment. It is simply about oil and the cash that it brings. We have our kins quartered in different parts of the country, even beyond the country. That does not necessarily generate any crisis, at least, not the sort we are witnessing in the Southsouth. The strife comes when oil is involved. That is the most unfortunate part. For our oil has done pretty little to lift us off the ground. As the chiefs and state chief executives bicker over Soku fields which pump out 300,000bpd, the rest of us should ask ourselves what oil has done for us and the country. It has not helped our jobs profile and our economy remains weak, susceptible to the fluctuations of oil prices. Oil has not taken our people off poverty. Our infrastructure remains unflattering. Beyond our potentials and pockets of integrity, we have pretty little to offer the world, in spite of our oil.

That is not to say lands and resources should be grabbed arbitarily. The Jonathan administration should ensure that there is justice in the matter by nudging the boundary commission to properly delineate boundaries.

But we need to tame out thirst for oil and cultivate healthier and more fruitful tastes.

November 4, 2012
How crucial is state creation?

Our legislators should amend the constitution in the direction of returning functional federalism to the polity

Creation of new states is back on the front burner of the roster of the country’s lawmakers. Senior members of the National Assembly have been falling over each other to encourage petitions for new states, even after the latest count puts applications for new states at over 30. It appears that a business-as-usual approach to the 1999 Constitution may miss the point about the country’s economic realities vis-à-vis state creation.

The National Assembly’s focus on creation of states is not in terms of changing constitutional provisions for state creation. From the Senate President’s recent of promise of state to some communities, it is clear that the Assembly is preoccupied with creating additional states. The country has had 36 states for over twelve years. The song by most states about lack of funds for development must make citizens curious about the enthusiasm of lawmakers to create state as part of the process of amending the constitution. To use the argument of bringing governments close or closer to the governed as a reason for adding to the current 36 states is to deliberately ignore the facts on the ground.

When the first twelve states were created during the civil war, Nigerians were assured that doing so would bring governments to the door step of the people. Each time new states were added to the twelve until General Abacha pushed the number to its present 36 states, Nigerians were told by petitioners for new states that the primary motive was to bring the government closer to the grassroots. This promise is yet to be fulfilled in most of the states. Apart from creation of bloated bureaucracy in each state, nothing significant has happened to most of the states created since 1975.

Residents of 36 states created from the original 4 regions still migrate in droves to Lagos in search of livelihood. Nothing illustrates the absence of economic viability in most of the existing states than ceaseless flow of migrants to become okada riders in Lagos. Of course, all the states had succeeded in creating a class of provincial politicians and rulers that have become wealthy in the last forty years of state multiplication. But creating a few wealthy rulers, civil servants, traditional rulers, and political jobbers is not enough reason for new states that are not economically viable, like most of the others created in the past.

What is driving the petition for new states may not be, as some legislators have suggested, the assumption that some communities in multiethnic states feel dominated and marginalized to the extent that they need to ask for new states in which they can realize their ethnic aspirations and identities. It may also not be for the reason of bringing government closer to the people, as this should have been achieved through 774 local governments.

There is no urgent reason for creation of new states. If our legislators need something to do, they should take a critical look at the constitution with a view to amending it in the direction of returning functional federalism to the polity, economy, and society. Adding to the existing 36 or 37 states shows that those clamouring for states and legislators that are goading them are just interested in free money from oil revenue. Creating additional states will still not remove the desire for politics of identity in a country with over 250 ethnic groups. There is a need for a more imaginative way to manage the country’s cultural diversity than creating states to gulp the meager resources that come to the federation account from petroleum and gas, at the expense of citizens living in the endangered environment of oil exploitation.

If bringing government close to the grassroots is a value to be defended, then communities now calling for new states should be calling for new local governments. But Nigeria at present has more local governments than most countries on earth. With 774 local governments, there is still no evidence that the governments do enough for people at the grassroots to feel their presence. Some states are known to donate, in the name of poverty alleviation, okada to their citizens to take to Lagos for livelihood. What should inspire our lawmakers is not the principle of bringing governments closer to the people, because the goal post is likely to be shifted by petitioners for new states. What is direly needed is some measure of legislative creativity that will make existing 36 states and 774 local governments work in and for the interest of citizens. Constitutional reinforcement of a regional approach to development and diversity management promises more than further fragmentation of existing states into sultanates.

How does one justify creating new states that will increase recurrent expenditure across the country at the expense of capital expenditure in a country where executive and legislative leaders claim that the country does not have adequate resources to provide regular electricity, create and maintain essential infrastructure, and provide functional education to citizens? What lawmakers need to do is to work towards amendment of the section on creation of new states. Communities that want to become states within existing states should first be made to conduct referendum within such communities before submitting petitions to the national assembly for consideration. Encouraging applications for new states, as provided in the current constitution, from a handful of self-appointed leaders or traditional rulers has the capacity to nurture frivolity. What can be more frivolous than the request for tens of new states in a country that already has 36 states and 774 local governments, most of which cannot carry out their statutory functions?

The list of issues that the National Assembly wants selected citizens to consider in one-day of public hearing across the 36 states portends lack of seriousness on the part of those working on constitutional amendment. The most cited complaint about the 1999 Constitution is over concentration of powers and functions at the centre and the need for power devolution to the states. Creation of state appears to be a distraction from the real problem: returning a federal constitution to the country.

November 4, 2012
To recover a lost country

The celebrated writer and fiercely independent thinker, Chinua Achebe’s new book, ‘There Was A Country: A Personal History of Biafra’, makes fascinating, stimulating and enriching reading. Achebe remains a compelling story teller. In his practiced hands, one of Nigeria and Africa’s most tragic conflicts comes alive in vivid colours. The wise old man of African letters evokes in the sensitive reader emotions of deep pathos as he paints a graphic picture of human suffering on an industrial scale in Biafra. We encounter in this work a mind that remains remarkably brilliant and profound, with an uncanny capacity to look at old things in new, refreshing and unexpected ways.

But why did Achebe have to wait for over four decades to tell his story? Why is he ripping old wounds open? Why not let sleeping dogs lie and leave better forgotten memories severely alone so that we can blissfully go on with our lives? I do not share this view. Achebe has done us all a great favour. We are fast treading that same part of elite greed, cynicism, intolerance, impunity, irresponsibility and incompetence that spawned the tragedy of Biafra. The past must speak to the present to safeguard the future. This book is a wake- up call. War is no tea party. The book’s horrific scenes of human suffering in Biafra should spur our leaders in particular to rise above current depths of sheer stupidity and mendacity to new heights of selflessness and integrity so that the past does not repeat itself on a vaster, possibly irredeemable, scale.

But then, why the title, ‘There Was A Country’? Does that country refer to Biafra? I do not think so. I think the country of Achebe’s title refers to a Nigeria that once functioned as a normal, vibrant, efficient entity with premium placed on high ethical values. It was an idyllic pre-independence Nigeria that held so much hope and promise for what Achebe nostalgically described as his ‘lucky generation ‘. Reading through the early part of the book, one finds it amazing that such a Nigeria, a sharp distinction from the current abnormal, corrupt and malfunctioning structure that only mimics a country in any meaningful sense of the word, once existed. Government colleges in Umuahia, Ibadan, Lagos and other parts of the country were centres of excellence. They had first class staff and facilities. When Achebe performed with distinction in the national common entrance examination, a British gentleman who was a distinguished member of the colonial education system actually came to greet him at home! Listen to Achebe: “Now, I had never encountered such a thing before. Surely, people of that distinction did not call on children? But here was this man, who was a very important person in the British educational system, who thought that my work deserved encouragement, recognition, and a visit from him. So, clearly I had a good beginning.” Pray, can that happen in today’s Nigeria?

Listen again to Achebe’s amazing story of life in that long lost Nigeria: “After graduation I did not have to worry about where I would go next. The system was so well organized that as we left university most of us were instantly absorbed into civil service, academia, business, or industry. We trusted – I did, anyway – the country and its rulers to provide this preparatory education and then a job to serve my nation. I was not disappointed”. Without attempting to justify British colonialism, Achebe frankly admits that “The British governed their colony of Nigeria with considerable care. There was a very highly competent cadre of government officials with a high level of knowledge of how to run a country. This was not something that the British achieved only in Nigeria; they were able to manage this on a bigger scale in India and Australia. The British had the experience of governing and doing it well”.

Is Achebe simply fantasising and justifying the exploitative economic system that colonialism essentially was? No, he was only being intellectually honest. In his words, “There was a distinct order during this time. I recall the day I travelled from Lagos to Ibadan and stayed with Christopher Okigbo that evening. I took off again the next morning, driving alone, going all the way from Lagos to Asaba, crossing the River Niger, to visit my relatives in the east. That was how it was done in those days. One was not consumed by fear of abduction or armed robbery”. Yes, there was indeed a country! Sadly, Achebe laments that within six years of attaining flag independence in 1960, the seeds for the destruction of that country had been sown. In his words “…Nigeria was a cesspool of corruption and misrule. Public servants helped themselves freely to the nation’s wealth. Elections were blatantly rigged. The subsequent national census was outrageously stage-managed; judges and magistrates were manipulated by the politicians in power. The politicians themselves were pawns of foreign business interests. The social malaise in Nigerian society was political corruption”. It was in this context, therefore, that things fell apart, the centre could no longer hold and that beloved country that once was descended into the anarchy of Biafra.

It is unfortunate that Achebe’s strong views on Biafra and his brutally frank assessment of the roles of key actors on both sides of the divide have generated such vigorous if largely unproductive debate. I disagree strongly with many of Achebe’s opinions on different aspects of the war. I do not believe that the war was inevitable had there been greater wisdom on both sides. The causes of the pogrom in the North appear to be more complex and nuanced than the simplistic picture of northerners simply waking up to massacre Igbos. But then, Achebe’s critics are calling for a standard of so-called objectivity from the great writer that is humanly impossible. I agree entirely with Ishaq Moddibo Kawu of the Vanguard that if most of us were in Achebe’s shoes we would most likely be ardent Biafrans too! It is his people who were killed in their millions for Christ’s sake! It is his people who suffered starvation, deprivation and deaths of genocidal proportions. What impracticable objectivity are we then demanding of Achebe in the analysis and interpretation of an event that had such a traumatic impact on his psyche? Can the average Yoruba man, for instance, be objective, dispassionate or unemotional in his attitude to the annulled June 12 election and the death of Chief MKO Abiola? In reading this book, I tried to put myself in Achebe’s position and was thus able to empathise with and better understand his own all too human biases and prejudices.

Even then, I am impressed by the high degree of intellectual honesty and moral integrity exhibited throughout the book by Achebe even when he is obviously biased or overly sentimental. For instance, on one hand he gives the impression that the Igbo have a monopoly of merit and talent in Nigeria and that they were entirely faultless in the events that degenerated to war. But he also admits that “there is no doubt that at all that there is a strand in contemporary Igbo behaviour that can offend by its noisy exhibitionism and disregard for humility and quietness”. Achebe’s sympathies undoubtedly lie with Ojukwu’s conduct of the Biafran war but he also with characteristic honesty notes that “The prevalent mantra of the time was “Ojukwu nye anyi egbe ka anyi nuo abha” – “Ojukwu give us guns to fight a war”…But in the early stages of the war, when the Biafran army grew rapidly, sadly Ojukwu had no guns to give to those brave souls”. In the same vein, despite his own pro-Biafra position, Achebe presents the reader with the following anti –war stance by the late Dr. Okechukwu Ikejiani: “Anybody with an intellect, with a sense would consider carefully the implication of a war. War is destructive. There’s no country that went to war that didn’t suffer, not one. When we went to war, we destroyed everything we had. That’s true”.

Even though the bulk of Achebe’s book is his personal narrative of the civil war, he concludes by giving practical suggestions on how the lost Nigeria can be reclaimed. The path to the redemption and transformation of Nigeria, he posits, lies in the institutionalisation of free and fair elections, a free and vigorous press and a strong justice system. This will facilitate the emergence of positive leadership at all levels as well as a system of checks and balances that will check corruption and promote development. Achebe’s book will be a great inspiration to forces of progressive change in the ongoing grim battle for the soul of Nigeria.

November 3, 2012
Mimiko: Why should ‘Ayobolu’s venom’ matter?

For a reasonably well written rejoinderto this columnist’s analysis last week of the Ondo State gubernatorial polls of October 20, it is curious that the piece, published in the Daily Independent of Thursday, November 1, and titled ‘Mikiko and Ayobolu’s Unceasing Venom’ carries the rather anonymous by-line of an unknown quantity, Atinuke Alatise, from an undisclosed address in the expansive town of Akure. Of course, the resort to uncouth and intemperate language as well as cheap abuse by this suspiciously fictional parsonage can be excused. Such ‘bolekaja’ gutter fare always come in handy when logic and concrete facts are in short supply. Atinuke Alatise describes me as ‘Jagaban’s sycophant’ for expressing my honest assessment of Governor Mimiko’s victory. This implies that she (?) must be Iroko’s lickspittle who lacks the capacity for independent thinking and sound judgement. She sincerely deserves pity.

Atinuke wonders if I had nothing else to do with my time for according the Ondo polls such significance as to warrant a series of commentaries. But it would appear such investment of precious time was not wasted after all. If nothing, it has at least forced Atinuke to sit down, sweat out over 1000 words and launch her career in the art of propaganda through subtle innuendo, baseless insinuations, laughable illogic, wild generalisations and outright falsehood. Apparently, the tumultuous jubilation she imagined going on all over the South West at Governor Mimiko’s re-election was not sufficient rebuttal to my position on the Ondo polls. She had to fire an ill tempered response to a column which, in her estimation, nobody took seriously. Then why the bother? Why not just dismiss and ignore the column? Perhaps her sponsors could adopt that stance only to their peril.

Launching her feisty jeremiad, Atinuke alleged that “during last year’s general election, internal split within the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) gave Oyo and Ogun states to the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Segun Ayobolu went to town singing a crass song of ACN supremacy and boasting to no end”. She provides no iota of evidence to prove this vituperation. It is simply childish. She refers me to “informed analysis…pouring in from outstanding columnists from other mediums, including, most notably, “Jagaban returns to Lagos empty-handed”. Well, that particular columnist’s journey from Temple University in Philadephia, US, to take up appointment as a member of the governing council of an Ondo state university in Okitipupa during the current administration’s tenure is an interesting one. It will be interesting to find out if he came back “empty handed”.

Atinuke alleges that I ‘berated’ and ‘abused’ Governor Mimiko before the elections only to become an ‘objective critic’ after October 20. Again, she cites no instances of such abuse. I criticised the governor for relative non-performance given the over N600 billion that accrued to the oil producing state under his watch. I cited facts and figures at my disposal as well as my own extensive travels within Ondo state. I was equally critical of the governor’s ideological inconsistency and frequent change of party platforms. Nothing has happened to change my views on that. It is most certainly daft for anybody to equate criticism with abuse. Curiously, Atinuke argues that “…it is only a dull student of politics who will claim that performance is the sole criterion for re-election”. I congratulate Atinuke on her brightness. So performance was not a factor in Governor Mimiko’s re-election? Well, very revealing.

This ‘guest columnist’ laboured in vain to disprove my contention that Governor Mimiko won a minority of votes (41.6%) as against the 57% that voted against him. His performance declined from the 55% of the votes he recorded in 2007. This is clearly no landslide. It shows an incumbent in trouble. The Punch newspaper made this point pungently in its editorial of October 25, 2012. According to the Punch, “Mimiko needs to do more to win over more of his people. He may have made some achievements in his first tenure, but the pattern of the votes cast shows that all is not well. He only got off lightly by scoring 260,199 votes. But the total votes for his rivals of the PDP and ACN which came to 299,473 are higher than his own score, indicating that those who voted against him were more in number. He and his party have to do a far better job of explaining and translating their vision and politics to the electorate. Mimiko will have to rally more citizens of the state to the relevance of his policies and programmes”. Well, I rest my case. After all, that is The Punch, not Segun Ayobolu. Apparently, none of the three major parties came away from the Ondo gubernatorial polls empty handed! Talking of professorial emptiness!

November 3, 2012
Sports retreats and reality

It is a season of sports retreats in Nigeria.

The same people have struggled to de

fend their positions in the Foray (Abuja and Asaba in Delta State), yet they have missed out on where the problems of sports development in this polity lie.

When these pundits are not canvassing the point for early preparations, they lunge the problem on poor funding with many others unhappy with the sickening manner in which sports is administered.

Indeed, we think that with adequate fund, which sets the process of early preparations, Nigeria will be a noble beater in sports. Not true.

Successful models adopted by achieving sports such as Jamaica, United States, Britain and indeed, the Asia nations have shown that enduring structures, not necessarily high profile infrastructure, good coaching by competent, trained and tested technical hands that are passionate about achieving the set objectives, patriotism from athletes and officials and a discerning roadmap hold the key to achieving greatness.

The emphasis of these sports achieving countries is on catching athletes young. And the catchment brackets are kids between the ages of 8-11 years. The search for these kids is not a blind chase. Deliberate attempts are made to establish nurseries and equip them with basic equipment to help them learn the sports adequately. Specialised coaches are fished out to teach them the rudiments, tactics and new techniques. Icons in the sports in those countries are introduced to the kids to mentor them. Their grass-to-grace stories serve as reminders to these rookies that greatness in sports is just a step away-only if they remain focused, disciplined, dedicated and are prepared not to rest on their oars with each passing feat.

Indeed, the kids are taught the doctrine of self belief in whatever game they are engaged in.

The script before the kids is that sports and education can mix. And the kids are further shown those who have combined both and became successful. An example is Barrister Adokiye Amiesimaka. They should be exposed to sporting models like him and others to engender their interest in sports.

Central to these workable models in Europe, America and the Asian countries are regulatory bodies to set the framework for the athletes, coaches and technical officials to bond into brands that the business concerns can key into, using other products and services.

These regulatory bodies must have the bigger component at the government level which sadly too in Nigeria, is not recognised by the law. But the sports Minister, Bolaji Abdullahi exposed this flaw before President Goodluck Jonathan, penultimate Tuesday at the Presidential Sports Retreat in Abuja. And President Jonathan promised to re-introduce the National Sports Commission (NSC) Bill before the National Assembly as an executive bill. The president was excited that the flaw was brought to his notice, insisting that such laws that seek to unify Nigerians mobilise the masses, create employment for the people and the big public relations tool to re-shape people’s perception of our country is being sponsored on the floor of the National Assembly as a private bill.

Good talk Mr. President. This NSC bill will re-invent our sports framework. It will ensure that administrative personnel don’t handle tasks meant for technocrats. Little wonder most of the reports submitted to the Sports Ministry eggheads end up in the ministry shelves.

Again, the NSC bill will precipitate the need for all the 36 states and Abuja to have their sports commissions. Delta State has taken the initiative to pass the Delta State Sports Commission Bill. This writer cringed with envy when Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan told participants at the Delta State Sports Retreat at the Grand Hotel in Asaba, that the state’s vision for sports has moved beyond winning the National Sports Festival. Dr. Uduaghan showed that he understood the subject when he stated categorically there was the urgent need for the NSC to throw open the country’s biggest multi sports competition for Nigerians here and in the Diaspora to compete. Dr. Uduaghan clearly situated the need for the rookies to watch, compete and get to appreciate the values associated with being icons in their sports for our celebrated stars such as Chioma Ajunwa, Mary Onyali-Omagbemi, Funke Oshionaike, Gloria Alozie, et al.

Indeed, Dr. Uduaghan scored the Oscar point when he attested to the fact that such structures as the Sports Commission would provide the template to store the data of energizing stars, in a bid to checkmate the shameful acts of age cheats that have infiltrated our sports.

Yet it is important that we have sports Institute which will provide the platform to train and retrain our coaches. Such experts must come from countries that are world beaters in such sports. The bane of most of the athletes is that they are introduced to sports at the wrong age just as they are taught the wrong approach to the rudiments of the sport. Hence, we don’t get to know the potentials of our athletes here until they head to Europe.

With more than 37 Sports Commissions and Institutes, it would be easier to package brands (individual sport) through inter and intra sports competitions for the business concerns to pick the sports of their choice. In selling the brands (Sports) to the captains of industry, we must tell them that they would benefit from such an adventure. Therefore, state governors must emulate the work being done by Raji Babatunde Fashola (Lagos), Rotimi Chubuike Amaechi (Rivers), Akpabio (Akwa Ibom) Imoke (Cross Rivers), not forgetting Kwankwaso of Kano State.

It must be stated here that there isn’t a professional approach to sell sports to the business community. There is therefore the need for these sports commissions and institutes to have marketing arms run by professional marketers with proven records of performance or they outscore the marketing aspect of sports to experts or consultant.

Such professional approach will change the chop chop attitude of our sports administrators to that of sports achieving the objective of creating jobs, mobilize people as a medium of entertainment and recreation and above all the big public relations tool to change people’s perception of Nigeria.

A professional set up will ensure accountability and transparency since no entrepreneur will want its brand image integrity and reputation to be tarnished on the altar of sharp practices, fraud and controversies.

Government- that includes all its arms should encourage the corporate world to identify with sports. Government needs to provide tax reliefs for firms that contribute to the development of the sports industry. Government also needs to exploit the window of national Sports Lottery to drive sports to its zenith like we have seen in successful climes in Europe, America, Asia and the Diaspora.

Conclusively, one will want our leaders to learn from these quotes thrown into public domain by Jamaica’s athletics legend Bertland Cameron, which formed the bedrock of the paper he submitted at the Delta State sports Retreat in Asaba on Tuesday.

Jamaica’s track and field athletics coach Bertland Cameron said: “Coaches play integral part in our athletics. Jamaica has 300 qualified coaches and I think that you have former athletes who can do it. You should not look outside to turn things around. The talent is here. “Mary Onyali is like Merlene Ottey. Innocent Egbunike is hot and there was a time I was praying he should not come to events for me to shine. I remember the Ezinwa brothers. They were never scared. I wonder why a big country like Nigeria is not doing well. Nigeria always starts strong and finish so weak. You must ask questions. Why is it like that? Is it that you stopped nurturing athletes? What about sponsorship?

“It is not that we (Jamaica) are better naturally. It is because we have learnt from the mistakes we made in the past and have put the plans and programmes in place to harness and nurture our talent. We rotate our coaches as no one coach stays permanently on one job. There is continuity in our sports. And we never forget our heroes.

“Those who started the glory like Donald Quarry, Merlene Ottey, Juliet Cuthbert, myself, Usain Bolt, Ashafa Powel. Powel is a hero and is staying back in Jamaica. He is living well, driving good cars and living in a good house. This motivates the younger ones. Everyone wants to be like him. That is our secret. At the last Olympics, we never went abroad except for Veronica Campbell who lived abroad with the husband. Her husband is a Jamaican too and a coach. We are patriotic and have the mentality and passion to win. Nigeria should not be looking up to Jamaica. We should be the ones looking up to Nigeria. Our lineage is from Nigeria,” he said.

Will our leaders lead us to the Promised Land? You tell me.

November 3, 2012