The Nation Newspaper

Category: Columnists

  • Before we crucify or applaud Nnaji

    Before we crucify or applaud Nnaji

    In a country not accustomed to probity and accountability especially in public office, the resignation or sacking of a public officer over conflict of interest in the discharge of his or her official duties calls for serious reflection.
    The departure of Professor Barth Nnaji as Nigeria’s Minister of Power last week offered an opportunity to assess the commitment or otherwise of the Goodluck Jonathan administration to transparency in governance and how far or close we are to achieving that goal.
    Although it remains unclear whether the former Minister left voluntarily or forced to resign (another name for sack), his exit, coming on the heels of the administration’s new drive to promote performance in government through the recently introduced Performance Contract Agreement by Ministers could be an indication that the government was finally ready to deliver on its promises to Nigerians. And one of those promises is the provision of no fewer than 10,000 Megawatt of electricity to the national grid, a task Professor Nnaji was expected to achieve, and I think he was well on the way to doing just that. Given the very low level of electricity generation in the country prior to assuming office, achieving the present 4,400 Megawatt was no mean achievement by Nnaji and nobody could deny that things were looking up in the power sector under the former Minister. So, what went wrong? Why did he resign or given the boot?
    The man at the centre of it all said he had done nothing wrong, including the controversial conflict of interest accusation and left to protect the integrity of the Jonathan administration in the face of some powerful interest groups interested in manipulating the ongoing power sector reforms to their advantage. He had stepped on the toes of these groups in the course of his assignment.
    President Jonathan has equally defended Nnaji claiming he had done well but for a certain conflict of interest involving a company in which the former Minister had an interest showing active interest in the ongoing power sector reform.
    Depending on which spin on the sack/resignation you want to believe, the fact remains that something fishy has happened or is happening in the power sector which if not fished out and addressed immediately could affect the ongoing reform and our ability to generate enough Megawatts to power our economy. No fewer than 40,000 Megawatts of electricity, according to experts is needed to achieve this. How do we achieve this and in what way would the exit of Nnaji help?
    If truly the sacking of the former Minister was due to the conflict of interest as alleged by the Federal Government, then his exit could help on the long run as it is expected that nobody in government with interest in the power sector no matter how remote and no matter how highly placed would be allowed to participate in the ongoing reform in the sector. This expectedly should also include some serving state governors who are alleged to be eyeing some of the successor companies to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
    The Federal Government would do well also to look beyond the issue of conflict of interest and address Nnaji’s allegation that some powerful interest groups whose toes he might have stepped on were behind his decision to quit. Although it is not uncommon in Nigeria for us to blame everybody but ourselves for our woes, the allegation should not be swept under the carpet as it is not unlikely that was the situation given the culture of insider abuse in Nigeria by people in position of authority in the country.
    Rail transportation that was once the backbone of haulage business in Nigeria is in ruins no thanks to what the people believe to be the activities of some powerful individuals within and outside the government with interest in road transportation. Have you ever asked why Nigeria Airways died and some of our private airlines are still flying even in the face of harsh economic environment? The same could be said about the defunct Nigerian National Shipping Line (NNSL) and privately owned Nigerian shipping lines. The truth is that here we promote more of our selfish interest above that of the nation and protect same. So if Jonathan could kick out Nnaji to protect his flagship power sector programme, he should also not hesitate to fish out and punish those others bent on thwarting the programme or manipulate it for their selfish interest. Can he do it? On the evidence of his swift move against Nnaji, he should not find it difficult to deal with this powerful enemies within. But as it is with Jonathan, don’t expect anything and if it happens, then you are lucky.
    Gauging from the reaction of members of the public to Nnaji’s departure from Jonathan’s cabinet, one could safely conclude that the former Minister is a man of integrity, but how he got caught up in this conflict of interest mess is still a surprise. More surprising is Jonathan’s feigned ignorance of Nnaji’s subsisting interest in the power sector even as a serving Minister.
    It is public knowledge that the former Minister had substantial interest in a company, Geometric Power Limited which is a major player in the power sector. I am sure Jonathan made him a minister with a view to tapping his expertise and experience garnered over the years in the sector, including his years at Geometric. As it is the practice elsewhere,the man put all his interest in his company in a blind trust, severed all relationship with Geometric and headed to the Ministry of Power to serve his fatherland with love and strength and faith. But how ‘blind’ do we expect this trust or even the Minister to be when a business venture that will naturally interest the company comes up in the Ministry? This is where the problem lies and I think this gave rise to the doctrine of conflict of interest. I think putting private interest in a blind trust while serving the public was a legitimate window to insulate a public officer from the accusation of conflict of interest. This Nnaji did and I think Jonathan knew about it before appointing him a Minister. The SSS must have discovered this during their investigation the report of which must have influenced the Senate confirmation during his screening. With this known to those who should know, at what point did Nnaji violate his oath of office? Did he do anything while in office that was not known as at the time he was being made a Minister or did he do anything that was anticipated then? If he had not done anything new or unknown to Jonathan before to warrant being sacked on account of conflict of interest then the charge of conflict of interest cannot stand. There must be something else behind his sack; there is more to it than we are being told. Could it be those big toes that Nnaji stepped on that are behind his sack? Only Jonathan knows, but the president will not tell us. What a shame? And if the media talk now he will say we are biased.
    Nnaji himself is not without blame in this matter. How can he be so naive to think that he can eat his cake and have it? The law on this conflict of interest thing we are told is very clear, to allow a breach is like allowing insider trading on the stock exchange; it is unethical. If anyone had assured him that “nothing will happen”, now he knows better. You don’t trust the promise of a politician. Now as for those calling for his reinstatement, it is rather too late as the Federal Government has conveniently placed this charge of conflict of interest on his neck and except he or Jonathan opens up on it and tell us the truth, the charge is enough to keep him away from public office at least for now.
    That pipeline fire in Lagos
    Lagos has again experienced another pipeline fire due to activities of vandals. And at the rate this thing happens we might need a dedicated security outfit to protect this important economic facility. And since our security agencies appear incapable of doing this who is better placed to do it than the vandals themselves; the pipeline thieves. If we could hand over the protection of pipelines in the Niger Delta to ex militants and pay them millions of dollar every year, then the vandals here deserve the same thing, don’t you think so? This is the implication of implementing stupid policies. Jonathan over to you.
  • That dread month, again

    That dread month, again

    If Abuja has a favourite time of year, it certainly cannot be September. Not on account of the rains, however, though they have been unusually heavy this year, causing flooding from the desiccated Sahel through the savannah all the way to the coast.

    Nor does the unease with September stem from fear of Boko Haram, which remains alive and is even thriving, months after they said they would have erased it from our consciousness

    September, remember, is the month leading up to the October 1 National Day celebrations. It is the time of year when they will have to confront their record for the previous year, manufacture achievements, invent excuses and solemnly announce the same goals they had ritually announced in years past, all in an effort to create the illusion of momentum.

    Just how many times can you warm up yesteryear’s tired platitudes and pious declarations of intent and serve them as fresh inspiration? How many times can you celebrate a phenomenal annual growth rate of 7.8 percent when those around you see only decline and blighted hopes, with prospects of more of the same?
    September is Abuja’s nightmare.

    And it is already living up to that billing. Abuja has announced that, as in years past, the National Day will be celebrated on a modest scale or, to use their words, on a low key. Realistically, given the national condition, can the occasion be celebrated in any other way? Can you roll out the drums and bring on the trumpets and the cymbals?
    One aspect of the celebration that should have renewed confidence and optimism has instead evoked fresh disappointment; instead of signaling a clean break from a past that often valued ascription over achievement, it kept that tradition alive and even reinforced it.

    I have in mind the National Honours List for 2012 published last week, the designated recipients of which have been decorated at an investiture staged as part of the National Day celebrations. To be sure, the List contains a good number of worthy individuals who have made outstanding contributions to their field of learning, carried aloft the banner of Nigeria, and generally helped to uplift society. It is especially fitting indeed that Jelani Aliyu, the car designer who is the toast of Detroit and indeed the motoring world, has been accorded an MON.

    And to think that he came out of Birnin Kebbi Polytechnic, in Birnin Kebbi, the historic but – at the time — largely unprepossessing town in which I earned my first paycheck teaching high school physics and chemistry? Genius will out, as they say. The Selection Committee also deserves praise for nominating Dr Olufunmilayo Olopade, the University of Chicago distinguished professor of Medicine and Human Genetics and authority on cancer risk assessment prevention, whom President Barack Obama named to the U.S. National Cancer Advisory Board last year.

    But the Honours List is bloated, unwieldy, prodigal. Do they have enough medallions to go round this time?  More than a few of the individuals on the slate do not belong there at all. The padding, no doubt to satisfy all kinds of interests, among them party bigwigs, campaign donors, and federal character, has had the unfortunate effect of casting serious doubt on the worth of the entire exercise.

    By lumping the clearly unworthy and the marginally worthy with the eminently worthy, you tarnish the awards and embarrass, even if unwittingly, the wholly deserving by putting them in company they would certainly not keep if they had a choice.

    To cite just one example: One deputy governor who has been served with impeachment notice for conduct unbecoming was slated for the OFR. The impeachment is not a foregone conclusion, to be sure. But would it not have been more prudent to await the outcome before even considering him for any award?
    What qualifies him more for the award than the high-achieving Governor Babatunde Fashola who has changed the face of Lagos metropolis almost beyond recognition, or for that matter Governor Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi of Rivers State who, by all accounts, has been ploughing the oil revenues accruing to the state into raising the living standards of the residents?

    Given Boko Haram’s continuing depredations and the general insecurity in the country, should the Inspector General of Police be getting the same award as in whatever case as retired Supreme Court Justice Kayode Eso, one of the finest jurists ever to grace the Bench in Nigeria? For that matter, should some recently translated senior judges be accorded the same honour as Justice Eso who had already earned a national and international reputation well before those judges entered Law School?
    Take again the case of Ambassador Dr Patrick Dele Cole who, following a stint in academia, has chalked up a long and distinguished career as a public servant, media administrator and diplomat.

    He is getting the OFR, whereas some political adventurers who rigged themselves or were rigged into the legislature where they have served mostly as bench-warmers and freeloaders are getting the CON. There is good reason for many of the awards, but overall, there is no rhyme to them, and no proportionality.

    Progress toward a re-design of the architecture of the Nigerian state would perhaps have lifted the public mood as we face October 1. There is broad agreement that, as it stands today, the architecture is so gravely flawed that it cannot be salvaged by mere fine-tuning. Nothing less than a Constitution warranted by “We, the people” can inspire Nigeria to step into the future with confidence and optimism.

    The Jonathan Administration thinks otherwise. It thinks the people cannot be trusted to make a Constitution for themselves, and that one must be foisted on them by committees whose members he hand-picked, to deliberate on terms of reference he defined. He will then refract whatever emerges from the reports of the committees through the prism of his own interests and the interests of those he serves, before passing it on to a rubberstamp National Assembly, whose members for the most part represent only themselves, to enact into law.

    At a recent meeting with labour leaders, ethnic nationality chiefs and civil society groups, Dr Jonathan declared: “A Constitution that can guarantee true democracy must flow from the ideas and experiences of the people, not just the people in the corridors of power, but also the people in the market places and in the public squares.”
    But before you could congratulate him on his epiphany, he added that constitution-making or review in a democracy, while not being an exercise for the elite, should be “processed through a strategic and far-reaching consultation with the people”. For him, “That is the spirit of democracy.”

    Consultation. There you have it. But where are “the people” in all this? The whole thing is a charade, a transparent subterfuge, to borrow a term Wole Soyinka coined for an earlier journey to nowhere that military president Ibrahim Babangida took Nigeria through.

    Also casting a long shadow over the National Day celebrations is the uncertainty over the health of the inimitable First Lady, Dame Patience Jonathan, an uncertainty that has bred all kinds of speculations, from the ribald to the morbid. Few outside the Dr Jonathan household even knew that anything was amiss until the online journal Saharareporters said she had been evacuated to Germany for medical treatment.

    The Bayelsa State Government, in which Dame Patience serves as a permanent secretary, has called for prayers, but Aso Rock has maintained an undignified silence after it was forced, literally, to admit the substance of the Saharareporters story. The speculations will not go away, and it would be best to dispel them through occasional medical bulletins.
    It is remarkable, nonetheless, that through all the speculations, Dr Jonathan has gone about his duties with calm composure and nary a sign of fretfulness. He has kept his presence of mind and sense of occasion under the strain arising from his wife’s illness. Nor has he buckled under the mountain of unremitting criticism.
    Add steadiness, and grace under pressure, to the personal attributes of the Jonathan they still don’t know.

  • The compassionate state

    The compassionate state

    Before he became governor, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola always let the world know that he was a communist. That is yesterday’s ideology, even if North Korea and Cuba still latch on to the fragile and terminal gasps of the idea.

    Yet students of history know that communism saved capitalism after the Second World War. The welfare state enjoyed a rebirth when countries, especially those in Europe lying prostrate after the conflagrations, kindled a romance with the idea Marx and Lenin wrought. The liberal canons of democracy and free market became lost in the cloud when the ordinary citizen craved the heres and nows of food and shelter.

    The West, including the United States, strengthened the social buoy of the poor and vulnerable although the idea dated back to the years of German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in the 19th century. That way, the countries kept the communists on the fringes while the Soviet Union glamorised the fantasy in the so-called Third world with champions like Cabral, Ortega, Lumumba and Castro.

    Yet, the capitalists could not deny the idea of compassion for the poor. You cannot joy in the spoils of capitalism while the poor gnashed their teeth. In The Secret Agent, Joseph Conrad observes that the condition for luxury and opulence is security.

    Long before either capitalism or socialism became organized ideas, Shakespeare expressed the philosophy of compassion in his play, Coriolanus: “that distribution undo excess and each man have enough.”
    What Ogbeni is practising in the State of Osun is not communism, but the beginnings of what the Western countries did to save their system: protecting the vulnerable.
    In his world, the vulnerable are those in the underbelly of a rabid capitalist system.

    They are the old who cannot earn any more money, the young and old who cannot get healing, the children too poor to afford books and food at schools, the disenfranchised business person who cannot get seed money to pursue the dreams of independence. They are the people whom Abraham Lincoln referred to as the reason for government: those who cannot stand well on their own.

    I had an opportunity to sit as an observer at the state of Osun’s executive council recently and observed the essence of his style. The meeting lasted about eight hours, and two main commissioners were asked to present their stewardships in the past two years. One of them impressed me: the deputy governor who also doubles as the commissioner for education, Titilayo Laoye-Tomori.

    Its uniform and feeding projects in schools were the most telling. As Laoye-Tomori showed in her power-point presentation, in the past year the inflow into schools had leaped from between 25 percent and 30 percent. The students would now have school uniforms, spinning an industry and a jobs spur that locals are taking advantage of to tailor and provide the uniforms all over the state.

    This narrative is touching in that education is perhaps the greatest driver of development in the modern world. American dominance has been attributed to education as the supreme driver. The world we know today is American, whether it is the car, airplane, the internet, the cell phone, the ipad, the movie, the suburb, the radio, television, the electric bulb, etc.

    They did it because they drove innovation. It is a country that makes things because it knows things. The thousands of children in Osun who are abandoning idleness at home and on the streets for school are witnessing the greatest liberation: of the human mind.

    At one stage at the meeting, when he referred to the ambitious education programme, he burst into a Sunny Ade song “aiye nreti eleya mi o…”. He stood up in his characteristic soulfulness and some of his executives wafted along with him. It was a song of irony. It meant his detractors were waiting for his failure, but it was also a caution to his team not to disappoint.

    It costs N30 billion, the biggest project in the country.
    The tablet of knowledge, a computer that would have all the lessons and books for the students is a new thing, and the deputy governor said it was close to readiness. I anticipate that as it combines modernity with the potential for commerce and jobs.

    The other point of compassion is Agba Osun, and it is not its N10, 000 a month to elders that so touched me as the medical system that provides treatment to the vulnerable, especially the elderly and handicapped, in their homes. This cannot work without having all of them in a data base, and the young of the OYES programme built the data base.

    This is what the youth are doing but interlopers, in their willful ignorance, said they are militias for secession. The state has obviously a mobile medical system where communication between the deprived and the caregiver is streamlined. It is not perfect, and I am not sure everyone has enjoyed this even if the government is impressed with what it has done so far. I recall, too, that in the number of intakes in schools, the deputy governor’s figures were questioned in one of the districts, if for a negligible discrepancy.

    What is being done for the elderly in terms of free healthcare in some states, like Lagos, Delta, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Ekiti, will help improve life expectancy. But personalised care in Osun raises the stakes.

    A peep into his style was his conversation with permanent secretary. Ogbeni had accused the ministry of not making an input into the education programme. It is a tribute to his open-mindedness that the permanent secretary was at ease to lash back in her courteous way. She said they actually offered their proposals but the governor did not implement.

    It turned out she was right. But ever the irrepressible Ogbeni with his tuft of beard, lean face, eyes alert, he asked the ministry to express the ideas and they were debated. I learnt that the Aregbesola administration in less than two years has convened more executive meetings than the seven and a half years of Oyinlola’s Gestapo era.

    After the U.S. won the war of independence, Jefferson accused President Washington of apostasy for creating an elite society with Alexander Hamilton when he set up institutions for a strong federal state. This tension led to the birth of the two-party system with Jefferson breaking away from the Federalists to form the Republicans that protected the weak.

    That tension exists today with those who believe that anyone who is poor and fails is necessarily lazy. Philosopher Herbert Spencer says welfare institutionalises indolence. From the droves of children going to school in Osuns now, we know that is not true.
    It takes an Ogbeni to prove that.

  • Poll 2015 campaigns began yesterday

    Poll 2015 campaigns began yesterday

    Those who say it is too early to talk of and plan towards 2015 obviously do not understand what politics is all about, or of the crushing burden of clearing the filth and stagnation years of misrule have brought upon the country. Nothing, not even universally accepted convention, excuses leaving things undone till the last moment. If Nigeria is to be liberated from the clutches of visionless rulers, the plans and permutations must begin early, whether President Goodluck Jonathan fears distractions or not. The next polls are a little over 30 months away, but the opposition is still struggling to design a vehicle for that great task of liberation ahead, while the ruling party itself, shorn of vision and the doggedness and commitment needed for societal re-engineering and transformation, sits complicit in ruminative indifference to the country’s destiny.

    I have not encountered anyone not beholden to the ruling party who thinks the PDP has a concise vision for the country. If the party had a vision for the country in the excitable days of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and in the considerably sedate days of the late Umar Yar’Adua, it would have been fairly obvious, even if implemented shoddily. We would have blamed Jonathan for poor implementation of the vision, not condemn him for lack of one. But there really was none, and there still isn’t any. As I have indicated here so many times before, and even shortly before the last elections, we must, without necessarily being members of opposition parties, begin to look beyond the ruling party. The PDP has held the reins of power for more than 13 years since the beginning of the Fourth Republic, and in all that period, the party was never able to articulate a vision for the country beyond the routine and cavalier adumbration of five-point, six-point, seven-point or x-point programme.

    I think it is time once again to reiterate the point that it is not projects, roads, education and health, etc. that drive a country’s greatness. The first grand task is to find either a party or a leader with an inspiring vision capable of freeing the country from the mediocre orbit in which it is locked. It is ideas that beget projects that beget greatness. Ask American how they got to the moon. There is no other order of precedence. We must find a leader who has been to the mountaintop and has conceived in his mind the heights he wishes to take the country. He must be clear in his mind what the dimensions of the Promised Land would be, and must also be able to articulate how to get there. He must understand the kind of democracy required to midwife a great country and be a convinced democrat himself, not a democrat as an afterthought. He must understand how comparably high the shoulders of his countrymen must be in relation to the other peoples of the world.

    What gives concreteness to vision, however, is ambition. The leader (I use leader interchangeably with party) must himself be highly ambitious to imbue his country with great ambition. If he does not think Nigerian democracy should be better than Britain’s, for instance, or our roads better than those of Canada, we will never put the structures in place to achieve those goals. And even if the constitution provides viable structures to underpin democracy and guarantee certain inalienable rights, as indeed the 1999 constitution has imperfectly done, the unambitious leader would undermine or exploit the document, as in fact Obasanjo, Yar’Adua and Jonathan have done. The ambition described here is, of course, not personal ambition, for both Obasanjo and Jonathan, in particular, have displayed personal and humungous ambitions that war against their modest talents.

    But while it is fairly easy for a leader to generate ambition, it is not quite as easy to generate vision, for vision, much more than ambition, comes from much studying, exposure to other civilisations, private character development, and an indefinable intuition and canniness that propel him into doing the right thing and making the right judgements. As the sectarian troubles in North Africa, Middle East and northern Nigeria are showing, the quality of leadership is declining precipitously virtually everywhere to the point where the so-called leaders in many places have become captives of the prejudice, hate and populism of the rabble. It was not until I read Chief Obafemi Awolowo copiously that I fully appreciated the depth of his knowledge and ambition, the breadth of his vision, his courage both in the face of adversity and opposition, and his solid and cosmopolitan endowments in democracy, administration and planning. It was not until I read books on Sir Ahmadu Bello, the eponymous Sardauna of Sokoto, and perused his files in the days of the Northern Region, that I was struck also by the grand scale of the society he envisioned, his Spartan discipline, his administrative acumen, and the remarkable balance he maintained between his private piety and the liberalism the regional politics of the day required.

    It was also not until I read books by and on Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe that I began to understand how impossible it is for a leader to generate vision without reading about others, and without having one’s own heroes. Zik dreamt big, perhaps far bigger than his region of birth could accommodate, and probably much bigger than his country could fathom. This perhaps accounted in part for why he was in some ways the least successful of the three great leaders in terms of regional idolisation, and maybe, too, why he seemed to have been overshadowed by the more charismatic and enigmatic Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu in the East. It is indisputable that all three or four gentlemen displayed leadership and visionary qualities incomparable to the mediocrity Nigeria has been inundated with since the collapse of the First Republic. All of them were at least deeper, braver, and more imaginative than today’s leaders, and would probably have attempted to respond boldly and innovatively to the sectarian menace and small-mindedness undermining the stability and future of Nigeria. Even if they failed, it would not be because of indolence, cowardice or lack of determination.

    I also recall how imperative the visions and dreams of some of the world’s great leaders were to their societies. Recall Napoleon Bonaparte’s Grand Army (imagine the inspired name), his Continental System, and his military achievements. These followed his dream of recreating a new (Roman) Empire, equal or superior to that of Charlemagne or even the Caesars. There could also never have been the Soviet Union had Lenin not first envisioned it. And there could not have been a modern and liberal Turkey rising from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire had Mustafa Kemal Ataturk not recognised that that was the only way to secure the rump of the empire and drag it into the modern era.

    Nigeria is enfeebled and humiliated by lack of dreamers and visionaries. Much more despairingly, for the past 50 or so years, primordial and even primitive considerations have been at the bottom of leadership selection in Nigeria. The PDP under Obasanjo was supposed to lay a solid foundation for Fourth Republic democracy, but due to the limitations of his vision, his temperamental unsuitability, and the constriction of his unpresidential heart, he was incapable of laying a foundation for a modern society he could not conceive. He worsened the problem by foisting the wrong kind of leadership on equally prejudiced, fearful and passive electorate.

    You do not have to belong to the opposition to know it was a tragedy enduring eight years of Obasanjo, three or so chequered years of Yar’Adua, and now halting, half-hearted opening years of Jonathan. It would be a disaster, however, to wait till 2014 to begin planning for the country’s liberation, or to succumb spinelessly once again to zoning, tribal or sectarian considerations in selecting a liberator capable of dreaming big for Nigeria. By all means, let 2015 begin now. The task ahead is too serious to be delayed for one or two more years.

     

    Goodluck Jonathan
  • Defending bigotry and cant at both inec and the federal character commission

    Defending bigotry and cant at both inec and the federal character commission

    INEC and Federal Character Commission have to do more to convince Nigerians that they have no ulterior motives

     Nothing can be more indicative of the synergy between the Independent National Electoral Commission and the Federal Character Commission in their determined bid to protect inequity at INEC than the fact that while Prof Jega, the INEC Chairman had caused Kayode Idowu, his Chief Press Secretary, to do a lengthy defence of INEC’s indefensible management composition, Prof Oba has, himself, resorted to granting newspaper interviews to achieve the same result. But only the unwary can be deceived by either of these two professors who head very vital, indeed strategic, national institutions.

    In my article: ‘What game is the North up to at INEC?, 18 August, 2010, and sundry other publications, attention was drawn to the overwhelming preponderance of officials of Northern extraction in the management of INEC. My aforementioned article went the extra mile of accusing the Federal Character Commission of being an accessory to the fact of this out rightly illegal composition going by the constitutionally prescribed functions of the FCC.

    In his laboured defence, Prof Shuaibi Oba Abdulraheem, the Executive Chairman of the commission said as follows: ‘the Federal Character Commission is essentially focused on the public service recruitment, at the entry point only. That is when we ensure equity of opportunity of all persons to be able to enter into an establishment by drawing the benchmark for merit’. In a quick volte face, as if he could not see the contradiction, he went on: ‘the other point which we get interested in is at the management level, which is where the INEC thing you are talking about comes in. We encourage all establishments that when it comes to management positions, there must be a practice of equity of distribution of offices among the various interest groups in Nigeria. The issue of INEC is about the management structure which is arising from the internal development of the individuals within that structure up to a particular level. Yes there are some issues there, but it is not intentional in the sense that at the management level we have given instructions, guide lines. Our circulars are there, that for all establishments, all management positions must be advertised and made public, even while we are practicing equitable distribution, but some institutions have been sufficiently clever enough and have been protected by whatever forces, I don’t know how they are able to manipulate the internal structures and appoint persons into, for instance, management positions…’

    Exactly the point that critics now being demonised are making.

    But beyond that it can safely be said that Prof Oba was being economical with the truth when he claimed that FCC is concerned only with the entry point, that is, unless he has since changed the practice at the Federal Character Commission since he became the emperor.

    One of the earliest reactions to my article of the 18 August, 2012, was a telephone call from my former boss at the University of Ife, (Dr J.G.O.Adegbite who, for many years represented Ekiti State on the Federal Character Commission .As he vividly recalls, the commission was nothing but an ombudsman which guided not only entry point appointments but also ensured an effective federal character presence in the workforce, especially, at the management level. Otherwise, why would Chief Executive Officers, only, of federal agencies and ministries be invited to present and defend their extant staff positions? Indeed, Dr Adegbite remembers, in particular, an occasion when, Mallam el Rufai, as the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Privatisation Agency, was about being refused entry into the chambers believing he was not the Chief Executive Officer, because of his generous stature.

    Professor Oba should tell Nigerians if he has since changed this procedure.

    Dr Adegbite also went further to inform me that non-compliant agencies, where management placements are noticed to have been unduly skewed in favour of a particular zone were always given a 6-month grace period to make amends. I will personally not be surprised if this has changed since our professor took charge of affairs at the commission.

    And what was INEC’s effete defence?

    Let us listen to Mr Idowu.

    After berating the Media for being a washed with what he called weird tales of goings-on within the commission, he generously informed us as follows, like we were some kindergarten: It is also alleged that there is regional disproportion in the chairmanship of INEC committees by the National Commissioners. That, simply, betrays grievous ignorance of legal provisions setting up the Commission and governing its operations. Section 14 (1) (a) of Part 1 (F) of the Third Schedule of the 1999 Federal Constitution (as amended) provides that The Commission shall comprise the following members: (a) a Chairman, who shall be the Chief Electoral Commissioner; and (b) twelve other members to be known as National Electoral Commissioners. In practice, the 12 National Commissioners are appointed by Mr. President on geo-political basis: two from each of the six geo-political zones making up the country. Also, Section 7 of the Electoral Act 2010 (as gazetted) provides that “the Commission may appoint one or more committees to carry out any of its functions under this Act.”

    He then went further to educate us on the criteria for appointment into the chair of these committees which he listed as: ‘personal expertise, previous experience and ultimate responsibility.’ What he failed to tell us is that only Northerners have these in overflowing abundance since we would have required that eternal truth as proof positive of how unbiased the composition of INEC management is.

    For ease of reference, and to help Mr Idowu, I recall writing as follows in my article under reference: ‘INEC’s top management is made up as follows: 1. Prof Jega (Chairman)- Kebbi 2. U.F Usman (Director of Logistics) –Kebbi 3.A. Muktar (Director of Human Resources) –Sokoto 4. A.A Uregi (Director of Finance) –Niger 5. M. Kuta (Internal Auditor) –Niger 6. E.T Akem (Director ICT) –Benue 7. I. Biu (Director of Voter Education) – North East 8.I.K Bawa (Dep. Director, Legal) –Plateau 9.Okey Ndeche (Director, Operations) –Anambra 10. Nyise Torgba (Director M& E/Performance) –Benue 11. A.A Adamu Head, Commission, Secretariat) –Kogi 12. M.Ekwunja (Director, Civil Societies) 13. E. Umenger (Director, Public Affairs) –Benue 14. Regina Omo-Agege (Director, Political Monitoring) –Delta. 15. B.E Edoghotu (Estate & Works).

    INEC’s national commissioners who head the vital committees overseeing the most important departments are as stated hereunder though he tried to delude us into thinking that no committee is more strategic than the other:

    1. Col. Hamanga ( Chairperson, Logistics Committee) –Adamawa

    2. Dr Nuru Yakubu ( Chairperson, Operations Committee) –Yobe

    3. Ambassador Wali (Chair person, Procurement Committee) –Sokoto

    4. Prof Jega (Chairperson, F&GP) –Kebbi

    5. Prof Jega ( Chairperson, ICT) –Kebbi

    6. Hajia Amina Zakari (Chairperson, Political Monitoring) –Jigawa

    7. Membership of a newly constituted INEC 9-Man Strategic Planning Committee reads as follows: Nuru A. Yakubu, Istianus Dalwang, Mustafa Kuta, M.S Mohammed. Torgba Nyitse, Emanuel Akeem all from the North with only Mike Igini and Okechukwu Ndeche from the South.’

    What needs be added is the undue emphasis on the restructuring going on in INEC. What Nigerians have seen, and which I suspect is the leitmotif for the exercise, is Professor Jega’s undue eagerness to emerge much more powerful by being crowned the commission’s accounting officer as if not being that had, in any considerable way, stymied his effective performance.

    In all, our friends at both INEC and the Federal Character Commission will have to do much more than what they have offered till date to convince Nigerians that there are no ulterior motives at play in INEC as things stand today, albeit, without a whimper from the almighty national ombudsman..

  • False rumours, by CBN

    False rumours, by CBN

    THE GUARDIAN of September 11 lost its headline conscience, nurtured by truth, on two occasions: “Yakowa commissions projects in Kafanchan, Gidan Waya” Must this column define ‘commission’ every week? The use of the word here shows vacuity, half-literacy and shoddiness. It cannot function in this context—vide past editions of this column or standard dictionaries, please.
    “False rumours on currency restructuring” (Full-page Advert in THE GUARDIAN by CBN, signed by Ugo A. Okoroafor, Director, Corporate Communications) ‘False rumours’, connotatively and denotatively, reek of catharsis (to mitigate anger)! Do we have ‘true rumours’? A ‘rumour’ basically means ‘a piece of information, or a story, that people talk about, but may not be true’. So, what is the essence of falsehood here? We can talk of widespread or malicious rumours, among other correct qualifiers.
    “Solving unemployment crises need (needs) structural approach, says…” This is a clear case of subject-verb disagreement unexpected from a medium of THE GUARDIAN’s status.
    Let us welcome Nigerian Compass back to this column after a long skip. Its September 10 edition showed signs of stunted growth: “CJN to flag off new legal year, swear-in new SANs on Wednesday” ‘Flag off’ is unknown to the English language etymology, while ‘swear in’ does not admit hyphenation being a phrasal verb.
    “As stakeholders chat (chart) new course”
    “Again, when you look at the present political situation in the state, you will see that majority (the majority) are in support of the current government, so who is going to fight?”
    “Mushin crisis: Police arrest eight, recover 30 AK47; (a comma—not semi-colon) (AK47s), 13,742 ammunitions” Security News: ‘ammunition’ is uncountable.
    “Monarchs, clerics, others bag make National honours list” Either bag national honours or make national honours’ list.
    “Wave of attacks kill 44 in Iraq” Around the world: wave…kills/waves…kill.
    “It was gathered that the crisis between the duo blew opened (open) again as the….”
    Lastly from Nigerian Compass: “Let’s take our progress serious” Let’s take our communication seriously.
    “Such do or die attitude to power is responsible for political violence in Nigeria.” (National Mirror, September 6) Power configuration: Such a do-or-die attitude
    “The unyielding scourge of excess liquidity (excess cash) for over three decades is probably ample testimony of this failure.” (THE GUARDIAN Opinion Page, September 4) Get it right: an ample testimony to this failure.
    “In a deft political move, Obasanjo sent the workers jubilating by acquiescing to (in) their age-long demand of 12.5 per cent pay rise”.
    “Details of the other players were still kept under wrap (wraps) as a….”
    “The governor equally advocated for the setting up of a committee….” Yank off ‘for’.
    “NCP rejects polls results, demand interim govt” Why the discordant tune?
    “Lawal threatens not to handover” The governor must hand over whether he likes it or not.
    “LAUTECH re-opens next week”  ‘Reopen’ does not admit hyphenation.
    “222 wrestlers converge in Ibadan for COJA 2003” All-Africa Games history: converge on Ibadan.
    “Stand off between lawyers and Benin court deepens” No news: standoff.  And this: “INEC blamed for low turn out” Voter apathy: turnout.
    Finally, “Ex-Airways boss in police net for fraud” No to fraudulent grammar: over fraud.
    “ASUU is still closeted in the anachronistic Marxist philosophy of yesteryears….” ‘Yesteryear’ is uncountable.
    “Is it not blatant hypocrisy for our society to cry out against violation of human rights and yet support and atimes…? This way: at times.
    “We are about rounding up.”  I am not yet rounding off this treatise.  To ‘round up’ means arrest, while ‘round-up’ implies summary/conclusion/end….
    “In a few campuses, such as the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN)….” Right prepositional phrase: On a few campuses.
    “Vigilante groups warned against extortion” Get it right: vigilance groups (committees).
    “Many members of the nebulous northern power block are numbered among the nationalists” No vagueness: bloc.
    “The physical defects of damages that abortions can cause are now being experienced by very many women in addition to what denatured food is causing.” ‘Damage’ is non-count, except in legalese.
    “This has (had) in the past led to serious communal clashes resulting in loss of lives and property” No lexical disturbances: life and property/lives and properties.
    “The picture of black Africa as savages in (on) a dark continent painted by Europeans.…”
    “The congestion on our roads are (is) very unhealthy for the economic sector.”
    “A further review of the performance of the major currencies of Nigeria’s trading partners also indicate (indicates) that Euro….”
    “During the heydays of Christian missionary activities in the southern parts of Nigeria, communities were actively involved in building schools.” Thoughts on education: ‘heyday’ is uncountable.
    “Nigeria’s soccer house set to take the bull by the horn and change the face of the game.” Sports journalism: take the bull by the horns.
    “…the victim is a specie (species) from among the wretched of the earth.”
    “We could do nothing against such formidable odds giving (given) the worthless tolls at our disposal.”
    “The euphoria among workers over this year’s May Day find (finds) expression in the fact that they can now take their destiny in their (own) hands.”
    “It was an unenviable task given the palpable hostility that rented (rent) the air.”
    “The lack of adequate knowledge of the areas have (had) often made past exercises to be….”
    “…execute programmes and policies which they had promised the electorates (electorate) before being voted for.”
    “Such a fellow should not be in the corridor (corridors) of power….”
  • The case for public schools

    The case for public schools

    Early this year, I was invited by a Non Governmental Organisation to address some students of a public secondary school in Ikorodu, Lagos during a career programme.

    As I stood before the packed hall of students with some of them not having a seat, it occurred to me that some of them may be wondering if they could ever become as ‘successful’ as I appeared to be based on the introduction by an official of the NGO. I therefore started by telling the students how I used to be like them. I recalled how I grew up in Ajegunle in Lagos and attended Ajeromi Ifelodun Public School. I asked if they know a town called Iperu in Remo local government area of Ogun State where I had my secondary education- Christ Apostolic Grammar School- only two of them raised their hands.

    If I could accomplish whatever I have in journalism despite attending the obscure primary and secondary schools, I assured the students that they can do better as their future does not depend on the schools they attended, but their will power and how serious they take their education.

    I told them how lucky they are schooling in Lagos State as many of their colleagues in schools in many remote parts of the country do not have half of the facilities and teachers they have.

    I was reminded of the career talk last week while listening to a three- part phone-in programme on the quality and cost of education in private and public schools on Inspiration FM, my favourite radio station.

    Like most people of my generation, I attended public schools from primary to the university level. There were a few private primary and secondary schools then, majority of which were owned by missionaries but at a time the military government took them over.

    Because the government then at all levels largely lived up to their responsibility of providing qualitative education, the quality of instruction was good and the cost was affordable by the majority. Some governments even offered free education and bursaries.

    So much has, however, changed in recent years with the quality of education in public schools being so poor that attending private schools from primary to University levels is becoming the order of the day. If most Nigerians have their way, they would prefer to send their children to private schools in the country and abroad like many are already doing.

    Due to poor budgetary allocations for education, the standard of public schools has fallen in addition to lack of basic facilities for learning. Notwithstanding, some public schools have managed to retain an above average performance and their students sometimes do better than graduates of private schools.

    Expectedly, the fees charged by private schools are very high and not affordable by many who particularly at the university level are unable to get admission even when they perform well due to limited spaces.

    There have been concerns about the high fees charged by private institutions, which have not provided them an alternative for those who at the university level cannot get admission even when they do well in the matriculation examination.

    At the rate we are going, good education is gradually becoming the privilege of the minority who can afford them and not the right of everyone as it should be.

    Government at all levels more than ever before have to allocate adequate resources for public schools to retain the high quality they were associated with. If most of the present leaders benefitted from government funded education, they owe it a duty to provide same for all now instead of leaving parents at the mercies of some school proprietors who have turned education to big business even when what they are offering is not necessary excellent.

  • Elephant and Castle

    Elephant and Castle

    (The political economy of royal succession)

     

    Just in case you are thinking of the huge and sprawling shopping complex to the South east of metropolitan London, this is not about shopping. Or rather let us just say that this is about shopping for a president in a royal jungle. It is about the political economy of succession in an animal farm. All animals are equal, but some animals are truly more equal than others.

    Sorry folks, we have to return to the feral and furry realm of animals once more. A few weeks back, we had thought that we were done with animal tales. But there are compelling reasons to return to the magic world of crawlies and good old Comrade Napoleon. This is what happens when the tools of conventional Political Science fail dismally to explain or grasp the dynamics of an unfurling political drama.

    Conventional Political Science rests on a set of stable variables for its analytical validity and integrity. To a large extent, you can predict the outcome of the inevitable collision of human and social forces. After all, when you have eliminated all that is impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, is the truth, to appropriate the great Sherlock Holmes. But in the post-colonial jungle, nothing is set and everything is variable. It is the ultimate nightmare of the political scientist.

    You would have thought that only a year after the last presidential election and given the dire and fraught situation of the country, a nasty succession battle would be the last thing on the mind of our political class. You would have thought that amidst country-wide social unrest and given the fact that the north of the nation has virtually imploded politically and economically from the Boko Haram scourge, presidential election would be the last thing on the mind of politicians.

    You would have thought that the conventional wisdom is to fix what is broken first before deciding who should handle it. But you are profoundly mistaken. This is Nigeria, Blackman’s own country. And who would have thought that at this particular moment the Jonathan presidency would come to resemble the Yar’Adua presidency in its inert and futile probing like a stalled caterpillar and its mix of political and physiological ailments? It is all beyond our human ken. It points at some malignant tricks of some powerful occult forces.

    If anybody had thought that the next presidential election or the impending succession battle would be fought over the Boko Haram plague or how to secure the political stability of the nation by redesigning its grand architecture, they had better perish the thought. A plantain plantation or Banana Republic does not require architectonic wonder. Just allow the oil to flow and all will be well.

    It may be an economy based on extractive predation, but it is an economy all the same. After all there is demand and there is supply, which is the first law of economics. Secure the oil rig first and the electoral rigging can come later. This is the political economy of royal succession in an animal farm.

    Last week, there were some significant moves on the chessboard which foreshadow a great battle of will and wits in the coming months. It points towards another epic succession battle. It is a play of giants and both the grass and the grassroots are already trembling. Against the selectorate, the electorate have no chance. The kingmakers only vote after the king has been chosen for them. This past week, the elephant rumbled and the castle quaked as if it has suffered a tectonic concussion. Let us return to the elephant and the castle.

    With its mammoth brains, the elephant is gifted with phenomenal memory. It neither forgives nor forgets Its powers of photographic recall are a tad short of the miraculous. It remembers human faces and scant topographic features. It stalks those who have attempted to harm it with chilling resolve. It often lies in wait for those who would ambush it. When roused to fury and indignation, the elephant is a truly formidable picture of elemental rage and umbrage, tearing at and pulling out everything in sight and out of sight. Its capacity for absorbing punishment is legendary and even in death—as the Yoruba will attest—the skull of an elephant is no luggage for children.

    In anger and angst, not even the castle is safe and secure from the elephant, more so when the elephant itself has sojourned twice in the castle. A bid to secure permanent residency met with massive popular discontent in which the earth quaked with towering indignation and disgust. The elephant retreated in shame and misery. But it has not forgotten old business or forgiven old businessmen. In military parlance, it is known as discreet evacuation of troops while awaiting reinforcement.

    Last week, Nigeria’s surviving pachyderm from the Jurassic Age, the irrepressible and inevitable General Olusegun Obasanjo, finally roused himself to political battle but from the economic trenches. With well-controlled indignation and in an act of political marksmanship quite stunning for a man of his advance age, Obasanjo took the economic policy of his political protégé to the cleaners. The proposed introduction of the 5,000 naira mega-bill, he averred, was not only going to further compound the economic miseries of Nigerians, it was bound to fuel massive inflation.

    All hell was let loose at the castle. This was the political equivalent of Pearl Harbour when the Japanese suddenly overwhelmed the imperial might of America. You would have thought that as a distinguished member of the Council of States and Jonathan’s political benefactor and godfather, Obasanjo had a safe and secure communication channel, a hotline as they say, to communicate his misgivings to the presidency. But this is what late M.K.O Abiola famously described as “high-wire politics”.

    A succession war is in full swing. The elephant has bared its battle-tested trunk. Knowing fully well that transformation is the kernel of Jonathan’s message and self-declared mission, and knowing fully well that a sound economic policy is the heart of transformation, the great elephant has wrapped its trunk round the presidency’s soft and septic underbelly.

    This is a textbook military operation, a bold Panzer strike at the jugular before the mopping up operation. Once Jonathan is rendered combat-ineffective, it will be a question of time before his limping presidency is taken out of contention. Obasanjo is a past master of the politics of delegitimation. His artillery bombardment of Babangida’s “deficits of honour, credibility and integrity” prepared the ground for the Minna General’s crucial lapse of concentration and hurried exit from power.

    The same gambit led to the eventual unravelling of Alhaji Shehu Shagari, General Mohamadu Buhari and lately the Yar’Adua presidency. In the particular case of Alhaji Shagari, Obasanjo gave a damning and devastating critique towards the end. When the Daily Times deliberately published a garbled and mischievous version, the irate general sent a blistering rejoinder. Abacha who could read the game very well swiftly impounded him, but this did not prevent the goggled one from meeting a similar fate.

    For months, there have been rumours of a final and terminal parting of way between godfather and godson. It was deliberately leaked to the press that Obasanjo was eyeing a Sule Lamido/ Rotimi Amaechi ticket. This was swiftly and hurriedly denied. The stinging economic rebuke is the clearest indication so far that that the Jonathan administration is an object of stringent scrutiny by Nigeria’s power mafia and the report card may not be too flattering.

    Predictably, the presidency has been placed at the equivalent of a war footing. Presidential canine sentries simply tore into Obasanjo. There were even echoes of Michael Okhai Akhigbe’s infamous put-down of the old warhorse as a frustrated farmer.

    Leading the pack of hounds is Doyin Okupe who ironically was Obasanjo’s former spokesperson. With patronizing glee, Okupe dismissed his former boss as a private citizen who is entitled to his own views. One can almost hear the bellicose medico smacking his lips in relish. It all recalls a passage from Job: “My desire is that mine enemy hath writ a book”.

    But the icing on the cake of insolence goes to Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, the feisty Central Bank Governor. Virtually dismissing Obasanjo as an economic illiterate, Sanusi, with caustic severity, added that the old war veteran may be a successful farmer but he is a bad economist. The main plank of Sanusi’s diatribe was that it was Obasanjo himself who had introduced mega-bill currencies into the Nigerian economy.

    Yet in the very next breath, and in patent self-contradiction, Sanusi added that Obasanjo’s introduction of mega-bills did not lead to inflation due to “prudent fiscal and monetary policy”. Does that not mean that in spite of himself, Obasanjo is not a bad economist after all? In any case, the Central Bank guru has not told us how the current massive run on the naira through various sinister scams and the Sanusi-endorsed unjust taxation of the poor called subsidy removal will not eventuate in printing more and higher megawatts naira thus fuelling more tacit devaluation and inflation.

    As it is often the case with Lamido Sanusi, the ease, fluency and facility of delivery seem to have got in the way of logic and deep reflection. In Nigerian officialdom it is not a crime to speak before thinking. Yet it is quite unlikely that these vitriolic denunciations could have passed without some tacit endorsement from the presidential bunker.

    The elephant has the castle within its rifle sight. But the castle is unmoved and unmoving. It all points at a nasty roforofo fight or what the Yoruba call yanponyanrin. The old general may be trying to return to his old political base. But for once in his career, he might have made a fatal political miscalculation with Jonathan. This is because other unstable variables might have crept into the equation. The chap from Otueke is unlikely to go down lightly and meekly.

     

  • FBN Capital appoints Feyisitan as COO

    FBN Capital appoints Feyisitan as COO

    FBN Capital Limited, the Investment Banking and Asset Management business of the FirstBank Group, has announced the appointment of Funke Feyisitan as Director and Chief Operating Officer.

    Ms. Feyisitan joins FBN Capital from JP Morgan in London, where she spent 15 years in product control, financial control and business operations management, and functioned across the securities and investment banking business. She was an Executive Director running the business operations platforms for Global Equity Capital Markets, and the Debt Capital Markets and Acquisitions & Leveraged Finance businesses in EMEA. She started her career as an auditor at BDO Binder Hamlyn UK, and then worked for Banker’s Trust (now Deutsche Bank) and SG Warburg (now part of UBS), before joining JP Morgan.

    Ms. Feyisitan is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, and an alumnus of Queen Mary University and Brunel University, both in London.

  • Resolve causes of violence, Don tasks FG

    Resolve causes of violence, Don tasks FG

    Professor of Criminology, Etannibi Alemika, has urged the Federal Government to find effective and long-lasting solutions to factors causing ethno-religious violence in parts of the country.

    He spoke at the on- going 8th all Nigerian Editors Conference in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital.

    In a paper titled Cost of Insurgency in Nigeria, Alemika pointed out that necessary preventive measures should be taken to develop and sustain the capacity of security agencies and citizens to deal with all phases of terrorism.

    The University of Jos don explained that the media play a strategic role in tackling insurgency and terrorism, adding that media practitioners must display discretion in making sure reports on terrorism and insurgency do not weaken state capacity and counter-insurgency measures.

    He also canvassed for necessary information flow between media practitioners and security agencies.

    He identified the risk factors in the emergence and scale of insurgency and terrorism as economic, political, ineffective state capacity, religious and social division factors.

    Alemika explained that insurgency imposes different costs on individuals, groups, governments and the society.