The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • The legend Odegbami @ 70

    The legend Odegbami @ 70

    Travelling anywhere within the country during the rainy season by air is forbidden. I offer reasons not to visit the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the rainforest areas, not forgetting the South-South zones, especially Port Harcourt and Warri. So, when last Sunday text messages appeared on my phone announcing the need for a trip to Abuja on Monday, August 22, I was reluctant in accepting the invitation to attend. The Secretary of the committee Olalekan Alabi pleaded that all members should attend except for those living outside the country, pointing out that we would be submitting the final report to President Muhamadu Buhari the next day at the seat of government in Aso Rock. It was an offer nobody would reject especially as this writer is apolitical.

    I went back to the committee’s group chat on WhatsApp and was encouraged to make the trip by the fact that one of Nigeria’s greatest footballers, Olusegun Odegbami stated that he would love to be part of the trip to Abuja on our preferred airline (name withheld).  Quietly I was praying that the trip is shifted due to pressing official engagements by the President. It never came. I was left with the option of informing my employers about the impromptu meeting in Abuja. I was granted the request to make the trip to the Federal Capital Territory on Monday morning.

    I normally get to the airport at least three hours before the flight takes off to read my newspapers and greet some of my old friends who may be using the facilities as has always been the case. Behold Odegbami appeared at the airport and I beckoned at him to sit beside me. he did initially but politely told me he wanted to sit inside the lounge. For a celebrity of Odegbami’s stature, I understood his ‘fears’, especially in a soccer-crazy country like Nigeria.

    Wao, how could I have forgotten that today, August 27 is Olusegun Odegbami’s 70th birthday?  The legend of our time has attained the Biblical three scores and ten age line in good health although he limps slightly because of hurting knees caused by defenders he left sprawling on the grass as he waltzed past in majestic fashion. Odegbami was a prolific striker, a master dribbler and a scorer of goals with aplomb. ‘Big Sege’ as he is also known has no airs. He forgives easily although he recalls certain articles I have written up till Monday when he introduced one of his friends to me at the airport.

    Odegbami and I boarded the aircraft and sat apart oblivious of what was ahead of us when the ‘big bird’ taxied on the runway for takeoff. I’m always alert to listen carefully to the pilot’s messages before takeoff to hear the weather reports. On this day, the pilot said among other things that: There would be slight turbulence as the big bird lifts itself off the ground. He informed everyone that the cloud movement was nothing to worry about. No sooner did the aircraft hit the skies to gain height did we start to experience the kind of turbulence ahead of us. It wasn’t a laughing matter considering the stoic silence inside the aircraft as we rocked and rolled to the rhythm of the ‘big bird’ as it pierced through the dark clouds in the sky en route to Abuja from Lagos.

    The jerky trip through the skies can be akin to some of the stories we hear about hell being uncomfortable. Besides this writer was an elderly who read her Rosary asking Our Father who art in Heaven to guide us through this difficult path. Another elderly man about two seats away from where I sat also had his Muslim equivalent Tesbi offering prayers fervently. It was apparent that the pilots were meandering through the skies losing heights and struggling to climb back up for a smooth cruise. It never happened, but they were pretty masterful in handling the situations.

    If we thought we had seen the worst of the cloudy weather from Lagos, we were jokers. A thin voice gripped with fear could only mutter ” we are just making our first descent into Abuja and stopped. Where I sat, I knew because the aircraft lost its height sharply. It wasn’t funny. I still regret not waiting to salute the pilots for their efforts. Would it shock anyone to read that the landing of the aircraft was the worst ever? The ‘big bird’ dropped its full on the rough tar on the runway. We all felt it but it was the fallout of the hell we had gone through in the sky.

    The passengers in the capacity-filled aircraft had seen enough and their hands were still morbid as we flew through ‘hell.’ Perhaps regular flyers had seen worse and have taken what happened in their strides. Certainly not this writer. Did you ask to know what happened on our way back? Wait for it.

    Would I be writing what hasn’t happened if I write that the flight back to Lagos was ”delayed due to operation reason, according to the airline owners?” Guess many of us are familiar with this aviation jargon. On the return trip, I sat at the window side unlike the aisle for the initial trip out of Lagos.

    Homecoming wasn’t anything different except that the takeoff out of Abuja was smoother and we enjoyed about 10 minutes of normalcy until the return to the journey through ‘hell’. A new dimension was added when the aircraft hovered in the sky looking for an opening to make a descent into the airport. We eventually were saved from the trauma when the aircraft made its descent through R18 at the international airport tarmac.

    Relief? Yes, life must go on. For this writer, it was an opportunity to seek 70-year-old Odegbami’s opinion about the return trip. Odegbami simply shrugged his shoulder, preferring not to discuss it. This writer has had the course to be close to Odegbami in the course of attending committee meetings and my perception of the dribbling wizard has changed. Unassuming but a deep thinker, Odegbami’s knowledge of virtually any discipline is awesome defying the fact that he is a civil engineer.

    Conscious of his fame, he introduces himself cautiously as Segun forgetting that is a lead for those who watched him play the game which he made beautiful with his style of play, deft touches and commanding presence on the ball and the majestic manner in which he scores goals with aplomb. Most of them hug him immediately saying Segun Odegbami. Indeed, on one of our trips to Abuja, the owner of the airline spotted him sitting in the economy class, typical of Odegbami and insisted he must move to the business class. He humbly got up. Only then did many of the passengers know that there was a legend of our time inside the aircraft sitting like a commoner.

    At meetings, he listens, though he may interject to point out errors or wrong interpretations of facts. Yet, when it was time for him to contribute to the conversation, his short sentences and worldview of the subjects accentuates the genius that he is. At close quarters with Odegbami, one could see that he is a voracious reader of any literature. What does Odegbami think of this writer? No harsh words but he is always quick to mention that one was one of those who thwarted his ambition of being the NFF President. He says to this writer’s face. But it doesn’t affect his disposition towards me –  a fantastic gentleman.

    What else do you want to know about him? Hmmm! Amebo. I don’t know much about Odegbami personal’s life. And I won’t discuss it. No being is perfect. Odegbami’s attributes are awesome. Who cares about his negatives?  I care less.

    The only individual Olympic medallist of Nigeria to date, ASP Chioma Ajunwa, is a product of Chief Segun Odegbami. Ajunwa was faced with difficulties here and there and with the intervention of the Mathematical as her manager, her life changed for the better. First, Odegbami got sponsorship to send Ajunwa to the UK for intensive training in preparation for the Atlanta Olympic Games. And he was also acting as the psychologist of sorts to mentally prepare the athlete for the challenge. At the global event, her 7.12 jump earned Nigeria a gold medal and a new national record which was only erased 25 years after by Ese Brume. Big Sege, ma soro ju. Enjoy your day to the fullest. Best wishes.

  • Who is afraid of Electoral Offences Commission?

    Who is afraid of Electoral Offences Commission?

    Is the National Electoral Offences Commission desirable or not? Will it fast-track the trial of electoral offenders? Will the proposed commission reduce electoral malpractices and enhance the quality of elections in the country?

    These questions are critical to the resolution of the controversy triggered by the proposal for the setting up of a special commission for the prosecution of suspected electoral pirates and establishment of special courts for the trial of election riggers.

    But opinions are divided on the issue. Taking an exception to such a commission, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) pointed out that its establishment would amount to a duplication of functions, unnecessary expansion of federal bureaucracy and soaring cost of governance.

    To the EFCC, government should strengthen the existing security agencies to tackle crimes, including electoral infractions.

    The anti-graft agency explained that electoral offences are already covered under the penal and criminal codes, the Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offences Act (2000) and the EFCC Act, 2004. It further argued that there is no need to create an agency solely for the purpose of investigating and prosecuting electoral offences because the electoral process is seasonal in nature; elections are held once in four years in Nigeria.

    But the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) appears to have a more persuasive and convincing arguments. Its chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, said the proposed electoral commission should be viewed as an exception, stressing that while there are other security agencies that deal with economic and financial crimes, nobody, in good conscience, thought that it was unnecessary to establish the anti-corruption agencies.

    Yakubu emphasised that INEC is incapacitated to prosecute electoral offenders because it is currently overburdened with other responsibilities.

    Also, the electoral body has no capacity to arrest offenders or conduct investigations that could lead to successful prosecution of high-profile offenders.

    To buttress his point, Yakubu said since the 2015 general election, 125 cases of electoral offences were filed in various courts out of which 60 convictions have been secured so far, including the most recent one in Akwa Ibom State.

    Periodic elections are core elements of democracy. But electioneering creates a nightmare in Nigeria. Instead of being a festival of choice, it has become a national burden of uncertainties. Anxiety has always enveloped the polity, ahead of the general election.

    The polity is heated up as desperate politicians make highly inflammable statements. They threaten fire and brimstone. It is usually a do-or-die situation for them. Personal interests tend to override the push for sanctity of the ballot box and the quest for collective survival.

    It is because the system has bred political barons and manipulators who have always refused to play by the rules. To worsen the situation, most of the political gadflies only get counter-castigations from rival politicians. No serious punitive deterrence is in place to put such leaders in the cooler and make them pay severely for their misconducts.

    The dimensions of irregularities are confounding. Since elections are very expensive, no candidate wants to lose because of the heavy investment in the contest for power. The reigning trick now is vote-buying and selling.

    During the presidential primaries, and the recent Ekiti and Osun polls, EFCC had to deploy its men to fish out unscrupulous elements alleged to be involved in vote trading.

    The scenario creates a credibility crisis for the ballot box and, indeed, the entire democratic process. It also creates the impression in the international community that government that is elected swims in the pool of legitimacy crisis.

    As recently observed by House of Representatives Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila, electoral crimes lead to low quality and corrupt political leadership. They also help election riggers and offenders to take control of governments against the democratic will of the electorate.

    Rigging has other consequences. It can trigger civil disturbances and violence, which threaten peace and security.

    Ordinarily, a discredited poll is a panacea for violence. In earlier dispensations, rigging and other forms of malpractices or irregularities provoked popular unrest. In the defunct Western Region, malpractices were perceived as a colossal rebellion against the people. It led to burning of houses and mass killings in the First Republic. It provoked the infamous “Wet E” (Wet It or Burn It Down) in the region. Hundreds of lives were cut down in spontaneous reaction to rigging. Many properties also became rubble in that era of tempestuous politicking. The political unrest was repeated in the Southwest states of Oyo and Ondo in the Second Republic.

    The only time rigging was kept at bay was during the aborted Third Republic when Nigeria practised a two-party system.

    In this Fourth Republic, elections have become more problematic. Cultists who were armed with sophisticated weapons beyond the reach of the police were drafted to create panic, molest voters, scare away the electorate, invade polling booths, inflict pains, maim and kill in the interest of the highest bidder and in expectation of a fat reward for unleashing terror.

    Floodgates of litigations trailed the 2007 electoral foul play. A former President, the late Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua, acknowledged that the presidential poll was severely flawed. But the flaw was injected into all the elections of that year to the extent that most of the governors later went to court to seek redress for being rigged out. The ugly development was the baseline for the setting up of the Uwais Panel on Electoral Reforms.

    The harassment of the opposition by security agencies characterised the out-of-season 2014 and 2018 elections in Osun and Ekiti. It was alleged that police and other security agents took sides.

    INEC has a duty to organise the elections without compromising ethics and sacrificing the rules of the game on the altar of partisanship. Stakeholders, especially leading actors, also have a role to play in ensuring a hitch-free exercise.

    Malpractices are either committed individually or jointly. They are planned ahead of the contest. They are not limited to the general election. Primaries are also susceptible to irregularities. Perpetrators usually include voters, candidates, party leaders, supporters, townspeople and other interest groups.

    Rigging with precision can be accomplished by those holding the levers of power and authority. In the past, the fear of federal might was the beginning of wisdom.

    Aiding and abetting by security agencies can contribute to the subversion of the procedure. Polling staff and electoral officers who are unable to resist bribery and other forms of graft can assist in undermining the popular will of the people. The greatest onslaught against the ballot box can come from an unpopular government bent on retaining power.

    The gradual deployment of technology, particularly the electronic transmission of poll results, may have reduced electoral fraud and rekindled public confidence in the electoral system. It may have boosted the prospects of transparent and credible exercise. But, it is not enough. Many loopholes still exist. More pitfalls should be avoided.

    The proposed Bill is targeting many electoral vices. The first is thuggery, which appears more ubiquitous than other malpractices. It is a lucrative venture. Jobless, vulnerable youths accept to become willing tools in the hands of unscrupulous politicians who supply arms and ammunitions. Educated thugs now comple ment the efforts of motor park louts in wreaking havoc. Rich politicians who keep their children in good schools abroad recruit the children of the poor for nefarious activities and as sacrificial lambs.

    Ballot stuffing and falsification of results were common in the past. Due to surveillance by the voting public and influence of the social media, ballot snatching or hijack has also reduced.

    Despite the improvement in the conduct of elections, some party agents still dispute results tendered at the final collation centres. They cite discrepancies in results. It is noteworthy that some polling workers and highly placed electoral officers have been prosecuted and jailed to serve as deterrent to others. It is an effective way of sanitising and restoring the dignity of the electoral process.

    Other electoral offences include: double registration, unlawful possession of voter’s cards, selling and buying of voter’s cards, giving false information while applying for registration, hindering voters from casting ballots, impersonating a registration official, forgery and illegal registration.

    Others are: defacing a nomination paper, signing a nomination paper as a result form, registration as a candidate in more than one constituency at the same time, disorderly behaviours at political meetings, possession of offensive weapons, improper use or transfer of voter’s card, voting when not qualified, interfering with a voter casting his ballot, canvassing for votes on Election Day, violation of campaign timetable ad announcement and publication of fake results.

    It is incumbent on INEC to build on the recent successes recorded in Ekiti and Osun elections and sustain its improved operations. Poorly organised elections are usually counterproductive. The contests should not be characterised by the late arrival of electoral officers and polling materials, shortage of ballot boxes, shoddy accreditation of voters and malfunctioning of card readers and divers.

    Rural coastal areas pose some challenges. These include the deployment of logistics. In the past, boat drivers in Edo disappointed INEC. It was discovered that while on the sensitive electoral duty, they got drunk. Besides, it was said that dubious figures were returned by some of the coastal areas.

    Many Nigerians are anticipating the passage of the Electoral Offences Commission Bill into law. But, before its passage, INEC should be ready to invoke the various provisions in the constitution and other laws against erring voters, INEC workers and ad hoc officials, and security agents.

    If votes will not count, voters will be discouraged. This could lead to apathy. Also, when elections are rigged, public confidence is diminished. Besides, the contest often shifts from the ballot box to the court. Consequently, the poll becomes somehow inconclusive. The candidates are saddled with the additional cost of protracted litigation. There is suspense. A winner may even lose to legal technicality in the court.

    There is no better effective method of curbing electoral fraud than the speedy trial of offenders in a special court where they earn jail terms and fines for indulging in unpatriotic activities of subverting electoral democracy.

    Only the guilty would be afraid.

  • 2023 and the need for an issue – based campaign

    2023 and the need for an issue – based campaign

    As Nigerians are gearing to vote for a new set of leadership come 2023, there is this fear that the political class who would be wanting to secure the ballots for themselves may not pursue an issue based approach to the campaigns which in turn would be a minus to the Nigerian people and the development of our democracy.

    Rather these politicians are seeking to employ all manner of below the belt tactics in order to launch various levels of smear campaigns against their opponents. In the forthcoming weeks, we are likely to witness a deluge of fabricated stories and deployment of fake news with the sole intent of tainting the imagery of their opponents while they leave pertinent issues asides.

    The advent and heavy use of social media has also made this style of campaigns very possible. Coupled with what is termed as the  children’s of the mob who descend with hate and vitriol upon such candidates, the tendency for an issue based campaign in the 2023 elections is very minimal.

    I will not also fail to mention the other evil in the use of propaganda with the sole aim of skewing the narrative to suit the interests of one candidate, party, ethnic group or religion to the detriment of the other.

    The use of such is however not alien to the Nigerian people. I have heard and read about the propaganda methods deployed by the New Nigeria and Radio Kaduna mediums in the hey days of the First Republic. The other regions which were dominated by the NCNC and AG respectfully engaged equally in such macabre dance. The Second Republic was not so different despite the emergence of states instead of regions, with each state controlling its own electronic and print mediums with the sole intention to wade off any political interloper. For example in Anambra the broadcast mantra was “East for the Easterners, West for the Westerners and North for the Northerners” A simple analysis of the statement would be quite easy. The Nigerian Peoples Party or NPP was seen as the party of the East or Igbo party, the Unity Party of Nigeria, UPN was seen as a Western Region  or Yoruba party and the National Party of Nigeria, NPN despite its national spread and coloration was reduced to a Northern party. This was simply a recourse to the events of the First Republic which saw the three main regions jostle for power using their regional parties.However,  this was yet the general trend as even the NPN deployed the heavy use of ethnic and religious politics in areas where it suited it.

    The botched Third and the Fourth Republics didn’t witness much of such, as  they were under the stern eyes of the military, and the politicians did fear that any foul play could give the military the excuse to stay put and so the politicians then like little rascals under close observation from their guardians pretended to behave themselves.

    The 2003 to the 2019 elections were thus no different. 2011, saw the infusion of the new media into electioneering and its dominant use afterwards.

    For the 2023 elections to be termed as totally successful, there is need for the candidates, political parties and the media to ensure that whatever content going out for the consumption of the voting public is one that is centered on any of the issues affecting the common man and how such issues can be confronted to make life better for all. The media houses in particular and the  broadcast regulatory bodies must see such a challenge as a responsibility or duty. The concept of gatekeeping imposes on the media such responsibilities, thus the media regulators must ensure that whether it be print, broadcast, or online, the principles of fair journalism must be implemented. Now while this may be easy for the print and broadcast sectors, it is not same for the online media which has since its advent become the enfant terrible of mediasphere particularly in Nigeria.

    Armed with a laptop or any mobile device with access to data, millions can be reached within seconds causing spontaneous reactions to such items. Now in a country where media literacy  is quite low, such elements of disinformation would readily be consumed and believed. So with the mob mentality, an individual can allege that a candidate has collapsed and is being rushed to India or France, while another could be accused of swallowing a very big morsel of Amala without drinking water!

    Each party it seems is guilty of such misdemeanours, however the opposition parties are on overdrive in their race to paint each other with their very tarred brush.

    Nigerians would readily appreciate a 2023 campaign that dwells mainly on issues, nothing more would be acceptable.

     

  • Tinubu’s indelible Lagos record

    Tinubu’s indelible Lagos record

    An oft-stated tale of Lagos’s once-notorious traffic jams is that of a taxi passenger stuck in a snarl-up who left the vehicle, wandered into a roadside restaurant to eat, drank a beer, took a nap, and returned to the vehicle that had not moved an inch. He reached his destination several hours later.

    First-time visitors to Lagos about 10 years ago were warned, “This is Lagos.” That meant that you should not expect help from anyone – but brace up for hard times ahead. Fast–forward to 2016 and the traffic congestion, high crime rate, clogged drainages, and roads filled with garbage could soon become just a bad dream. These days Lagosians still regale each other with anecdotes of the dystopian city even as positive changes can be seen in Africa’s most populous city, with 21 million people. These days the greeting “Welcome to Lagos” portends better news.

    Those were the words of the journalist, Kingsley Ighobor, writing in the April 2016 edition of the United Nations Journal, ‘Africa Renewal’, in the magazine’s ‘Focus on Cities’ section. He continued, “The transformation of Lagos started during the tenure of Bola Tinubu, Lagos State governor from 1999 to 2007. Mr. Tinubu set forth a rescue operation that his successor, Babatunde Fashola, later continued. There were political and economic benefits for such efforts. “Lagos is Nigeria’s richest state, producing about $90 billion a year in goods and services, making its economy bigger than that of most African countries, including Ghana and Kenya, notes the Economist.”

    Yet, despite the glaring evidence of positive change across Lagos before their very eyes, there are some public intellectuals and journalists who purvey what can only be described as a deliberate falsehood that the country’s commercial nerve centre has made no progress since 1999.

    An example is The Punch columnist, Abimbola Adelakun, who in her column of Thursday, July 14, 2022, wrote, “Lagos is one of the most dysfunctional cities in the world, and several objective assessments have demonstrated so. Lagos sits at the bottom of every rating that measures the liveability of cities worldwide. Year in and year out, the administrators of Lagos get exposed as a bunch of phonies. During the rainy season especially, their shoddy infrastructure collapses on their faces and their cluelessness is revealed. The only thing going for those who trot out the silly defence of their paymaster is that most of their audience have never seen an actual city before in their entire lives, and therefore have no framework for a reasonable comparison. That is why they dutifully regurgitate the lines of “Lagos is working” when they do not know what a working city looks like.”

    Not minding the condescending and insulting arrogance of a columnist who probably moves around blindfolded anytime she is in Lagos, what is astounding is the magnitude of the sheer intellectual dishonesty of Adelakun. She is an Assistant Professor in a prestigious American university and unflinching fidelity to truth is supposed to be the hallmark of the genuine intellectual. The way she resorts to careless and empirically unsupported generalizations does not indicate the sobriety, cautiousness and restraint of the meticulous scholar. It is pertinent to wonder how and what she teaches her students. Is it true that there has been no positive transformation in Lagos whatsoever over the last two decades? This is entirely fictional and does the reputation and credibility of this otherwise brilliant writer no good.

    A look at the news reports and feature pages of the major newspapers when Tinubu clocked 100 days in office in August 1999 reveals the utter chaos and anarchy that prevailed in Lagos at the time. The entire city from the rural areas to the elite residential preserves was suffocating under mountains of refuse. Heavy and destructive flooding accompanied rains as a result of either blocked or non-existent drainage channels. That was not the flash flooding witnessed now, which drains off in less than an hour after rains, and is a normal feature of coastal cities even in the most advanced countries in the world. The short journey from Ikeja to Ojota through Oregun, for instance, could take several hours on the then one-lane road that was riddled with potholes and craters. Today the Kudirat Abiola Road, Oregun is a double-lane highway equipped with sidewalks, traffic lights, duct pipes, drainage channels, and traffic medians. Two decades after its construction, the road does not have even a single pothole.

    The same is true of other major roads constructed, dualized, and modernized under Tinubu such as Awolowo Road, Ikoyi; Akin Adesola Road, Victoria Island; Adeolu Odeku Road, Victoria Island; Agege Motor Road; Ikotun-Igando Road; Yaba-Itire-Lawanson-Ojuelegba Road; LASU-Iba Road, Ojo; Ajah-Badore Road, Eti-Osa; Oba Sekumade Road, Ikorodu; Adetokun Ademola Road, Victoria Island and the Lekki-Epe Expressway to name a few. No more is Lagos routinely described as one of the dirtiest cities in the world as used to be the case in 1999 as an effective Private Sector Participation (PSP) system in waste management has been institutionalized and the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) has been re-equipped and modernized to handle industrial waste in Lagos. Indeed, the challenge of refuse has been turned into a job creation opportunity with thousands of men and women gainfully engaged through the PSP scheme.

    As at 1999, car snatching and bank robberies in broad daylight were daily occurrences in Lagos. The security situation in the state was anarchic. An insensitive President Olusegun Obasanjo described the state as an urban jungle in Y2000 without lifting a finger to help Lagos or compensate the state for her enormous economic contribution to the polity. Lagos contributes the highest component of Value Added Tax (VAT), Petroleum Tax Fund (PTF), Education Tax Fund (ETF) among others all of which accrue to the Federation Account and are shared among all tiers of government. Through re-organizing, re-equipping, and providing better motivation for the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), a detachment of the Federal Government controlled Nigeria Police Force (NPF), as well as the establishment of the Lagos State Neighbourhood Watch Security Corp, among other initiatives; the megacity has become one of the safest havens in a country confronted with severe security challenges. The Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola administration consolidated on the foundation laid by Tinubu on security through the establishment of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) just as the Mr. Akinwumi Ambode administration enhanced the state’s employment generation capacity by creating the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund.

    Anyone who asserts with Adelakun’s kind of authoritative ignorance that Lagos has not progressed over the last two decades must be living in outer space. Before 1999, the transport landscape in Lagos State used to be dominated by the notorious molue buses as well as the unruly yellow danfo buses. While the former is becoming extinct now, the latter is gradually and methodically being phased out. The riotous and dangerous okada operators are also being eliminated from Lagos roads in phases by the governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration. The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), which is a permanent feature on Lagos roads today maintaining traffic sanity, was non-existent in 1999. Today, the revolutionary Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system begun by the Tinubu administration is being systematically extended across diverse routes throughout Lagos State. The ultra-modern buses are decent, clean, comfortable, and safer despite inevitable mishaps on occasions. The 27 km Lagos Blue Line Rail Mass Transit which will run from Lagos Marina-Orile Iganmu- Mile 2- Okokomaiko and ultimately down to Badagry will commence commercial shuttles in January 2023 while the Red Line which runs from Agbado to Lagos Marina will come on stream in the first quarter of next year.

    As the Commissioner for The Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, explained on an online platform recently, “Asiwaju Tinubu designed seven rail lines for Lagos in 2005 and I was a member of his cabinet as well as a member of the committee that designed it including the present governor. First was a cabinet team sent to three South American countries that came back and we decided through modifications that Lagos needed part of what we saw. Out of our committee came seven rail lines out of which Fashola who succeeded him started the Blue Line. And Sanwo-Olu who was also a member of the team started the Red Line. The Green Line is for the Lekki corridor all the way to Epe and Epe to connect the Purple Line to Ikorodu.

    Mr. Bello continued: “Tinubu also started the Lekki-Epe Expressway and I was in the negotiating team with the consortium that financed it. A senior lawyer in this our estate was one of the lawyers for the consortium. Setting up the toll gate was part of the ways to be able to pay back the funds raised by the consortium. Just like when they claimed Tinubu owned Oriental Hotel and I laughed. My ministry gave the Hong Kong owner of the Steel Company in Ogba, Ikeja, and the famous owner of the former Golden Crown Chinese restaurant since the 1970s the drainage clearance to build that hotel and when they were opening it they labeled the underground restaurant thereafter Tinubu and some have repeatedly said Tinubu owned it despite the owner’s repeated claim.”

    Incidentally, the whole stretch along which such iconic structures like Oriental Hotel, the Civic Centre, and the Boat Club lie today along Ozumba Mbadiwe Way, was as at 1999 a vast refuse dump. Before 1999, there was a perennial flood at the Bar Beach, which not only destroyed properties on Ahmadu Bello Way, forcing the Federal Government as well as state governments to abandon their guest houses and liaison offices along that stretch but also threatened the submergence of large swathes of Victoria Island. The Federal Government annually spent about N4 billion to pour sand into the ocean to prevent flooding to no avail. At the request of the Tinubu administration, the Federal Government handed over the beach to Lagos State and a bar beach flood prevention line was first constructed later this challenge was transformed into the ongoing construction of the Eko Atlantic City, a brand new city emerging from the bowels of the ocean. Last month, the United States announced that it is building its largest embassy in the world in Eko Atlantic City.

    Today, the entire country is waiting on the take off of the Dangote Refinery to stop the embarrassing importation of refined petroleum and the massive fiscal hemorrhage occasioned by the opaque and fraudulent fuel subsidy payments. The facility is located on the Lekki Free Trade Zone, another notable Tinubu initiative, which is only one of several signature projects being undertaken in that axis, which certainly ranks among the fastest developing corridors in Africa. There are those who argue that Lagos State would still have developed at this pace even without Tinubu as governor. That is crass ignorance. Yes, Colonel Mobolaji Johnson helped lay a solid foundation for the state, Governor Lateef Jakande made impressive path-breaking strides and General Buba Marwa had flashes of brilliance in his short term as administrator. But Tinubu’s administration brought a paradigm shift in the governance of the state that unleashed the current unprecedented level of transformation.

    A former Solicitor-General of the State and Commissioner of Lands in the Tinubu administration, Mr. Fola Arthur Worrey, gives an example of Tinubu’s exemplary developmental leadership in this regard in a 2012 essay. In his words, “For special projects, Lagos State was the first state to approach the capital market to raise development funds through the issuance of bonds, and these development bonds were successfully floated. Again this was a first even though the laws enabling the process had been on the books for years. It was a very involved process requiring a deep understanding of the financial and legal requirements and market factors especially how investors would react to state government bond offers, but the mix of Tinubu’s top-notch knowledge of financial systems with the legal and financial knowledge inherent in his team and among the civil servants in the finance and budget ministries and the debt office, the fact that Asiwaju had ensured that there was an up-to-date state finances audit report (a rare event), and with the input of external experts, we saw it through…Now, virtually every state relies on the floating of bonds to raise vital development funds, though not all of them get it right as we saw in a recent case. So here again was Asiwaju, changing the paradigm and setting the pace for the rest of the country to follow.”

  • Culture, conflicts and dialogue

    Culture, conflicts and dialogue

    I start   on the premise   today  that one man’s food  is another man’s   poison   and   with  the addendum that culture   is relative  and I do not believe  in ethnocentricity  . I   illustrate   this   stance   first with  a meeting  between   the US  and  Nigeria’s Attorney  General of the Federation  on further recovery   of the Abacha   loot ,    where the US representative  gave a  lecture to Nigeria and Nigerians  on the evil consequences of corruption on society at large .  It  was  a lecture that fell   obviously   on deaf ears and   was   nonchalantly oblivious of the fact that Nigerians are used to looting and are   focused   for   now on the next presidential election in 2023  and corruption  is not an issue on the table. Not only because it is an obvious distraction  ,but   simply  because it is our way of life or political  culture .

    Compare  that with Malaysia where a former PM  was jailed recently for embezzlement  and had pleaded in his defence  he  was misled into thinking that the money he was accused of misusing ,  was a gift  to him from the Saudi Arabia  government  and Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim nation .Whereas in Finland ,  the PM ,   a lady  had  been asked to resign because of the way she was filmed dancing and wining with her friends at a party in her home and she was  ,  in  public  alarm  ,   asked to take a drug  test on account of her unusual and energetic hilarity ,  but  she passed  the test .Load  these  events with a finished but contested election in Kenya ,  and the coming together of three former and hostile presidents in the chocolate nation , Ivory Coast   and you will  see ,  as I  will  soon show  that it is not  always the case that what is good for the goose is good for the gander   where  culture ,  especially  the political  type is at stake .

    Starting with  the  Abacha  loot , the story was that the US has returned 23m dollars stolen by the former Nigerian military ruler and Transparency  International has estimated that Abacha looted up to5bn dollars of Nigeria’s  public  money  but was never charged .That alone should  have informed the US ambassador Mary  Beth  Leonard that her announcement  in the latest deal  that  the US had agreed to repatriate more than 337.4 m US dollars is not news to Nigeria because Nigerians and its leaders have learnt  to live with the Abacha  loot and its shady and subsequent  mismanagement  and mis application . Indeed at election time this is extravagant and boring news for the simple fact that eligibility to rule Nigeria is not possible at any level without turning a blind eye  and nose  to our pervasive , malodorous  and strong stench  of corruption at every  level of political  competition and participation . That  really is our road map to power and that is just sheer   political  reality and pragmatism .

    In  the Malayan PM Najib Razak’ s fall from grace  to grass on account of corruption  , the Supreme Court upheld an Appeal Court sentence of 12 years imprisonment  linked to  a multi billion dollar looting  at  the 1MDB state fund . Now  this was a PM who ran a very controversial but bubbling administration and was a from a great political dynasty as his forebears had been PM before in Malaysia but he fumbled and the judiciary  dealt with him to show that justice in the application of   the law  is blind . The excuse that the looted money was from Saudi  Arabia was an appeal to religious  sentiment in a nation that is Islamic but the judiciary  saw that rightly as the last  excuse of a guilty  ,sinking man who  will grab  at a straw  to save his hide  . It  did not work  and the Malaysians  have shown vividly  that in their political structure and culture ,  no man or leader  , no matter how highly placed is above the law , as the jailed leader  was taken away  to a  prison  forty  miles from the capital  immediately   after the verdict of guilty .

    Finland  presents a show case of a pleasure society where the western values of adoration of the LGBTQ culture is in ascendancy . Finland’s PM Sanna Marin is 35  years old and is the youngest PM in  the world .In her party at her official residence pictures of ladies kissing each other and baring their naked breasts surfaced and there was public outcry . She felt the pictures should not have been made   public  and initially said she was not drunk or on narcotics  at  the party ,  which a drug test confirmed  . She however apologized later even though her party found nothing wrong with her  behavior . Certainly  Finland  is in a world of its own and the ladies run the show . Yet that is their business or funeral , depending on how you as an African view the LGBTQ culture which is anti family and anti marriage and distinctly  anti African culture .

    In  Kenya’s recent  presidential elections the declared  loser Ralia Odinga aged 77 lost  to the winner William Ruto aged 55 . Odinga has contested for the presidency and lost five times . This time however he  is supported by the outgoing president Uhuru Kenyatta who did not support his VP . The unique thing  about Odinga’s  electoral  appeal is its quality and bold ness as well  as the fact that four out of the seven members of the Kenyan electoral  commission did  not sign  or approve the final election results leaving ball on the integrity of the election in the court of the Kenyan Supreme  Court  .In  addition Odinga called the Chairman of the Electoral  body  ‘a rogue’ which is very  harsh  language indeed .  It  seems Kenya is about to teach the rest of Africa a lesson on the veracity of election petition unlike the bloody post election riots of  the  2007 presidential elections that claimed over 1200  lives . This  is a step in the direction of sustainable electoral  contests and integrity and  Odinga  should  be commended for his insistence and tenacity in getting the results  right for the sake of not only Kenyan democracy  but that of African  nations at large  .Election  results should not be made fait accompli once there are glaring evidence of blatant electoral irregularities  and  anomalies such as Raula Odinga has portrayed so  vividly in this last Kenya Presidential  elections .

    In  the Ivory Coast the détente between the last three presidents of that nation is a lesson in political accommodation  for the rest of Africa. This was  a nation where former President Laurent  Gbagbo was  arrested in his presidential palace after refusing to accept  the victory of incumbent President Allasane Ouattara at the polls. Gbagbo  and his wife were arrested half naked and he was taken for trial at the Hague at the International  court of Justice but was freed by a judge there for lack of evidence . Now  he has returned and has been pardoned by incumbent president Ouattatra  who  recently  got elected for an unconstitutional  third term  .Even though Ouattara has promised not to contest again provided the two former presidents stay out of politics ,the accommodation shown  by the leaders in Ivory Coast is one to be emulated by other African nations . The lesson is clear . Politics should not be a do or die affair and that even after  bloody  civil war  ,  dialogue and tolerance  are still  possible against all odds . It  is a beacon for peace and stability  for all of Africa and beyond .

  • A candidate’s nightmare scenarios

    A candidate’s nightmare scenarios

    Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, must be wandering whether the forces of hell have been unleashed against his aspiration.

    He had barely had time to savour his victory the party’s primaries when all-out war broke out between him and his closest rival, Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike. If he thought this was one storm in a teacup that would soon subside, he was mistaken.

    His emissaries have been severally rebuffed and it has taken a pow-wow in foreign land to procure the semblance of a truce. But it might just be the peace of the graveyard given the comments of Wike since his return from talks with multiple parties in London.

    Ordinarily, the opposition party would fancy its chances given the challenges faced by the incumbent administration over the economy and insecurity. Despite these troubles, the ruling party continues to maintain relative harmony, while the PDP swims in turmoil from week to week.

    As if Atiku’s Wike woes are not bad enough, he has to worry about what Peter Obi and his Labour Party could do to his chances in the Southeast. Even those who don’t give the former Anambra State governor a snowball chance in hell at winning the presidency, acknowledge that he could peel away sufficient votes from PDP to  cripple the former VP’s bid.

    Part of the thinking in the main opposition for foisting another Northern candidate on the party when the incumbent who is from the same region would have served eight years office, is that ethnic and regional sentiments would favour it in the game of numbers. Never mind zoning, just do whatever it takes to win.

    Well, they didn’t factor into their calculations a certain Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso. The former Kano State governor sensing he couldn’t win the PDP ticket quickly went to set up camp where he would be king of the hill. Given his strength in his home state, his New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP) is likely to, again, rubbish whatever arithmetic Atiku was calculating on regarding Kano’s massive votes.

    Even in his home Northeast zone, things are not going too well. The candidate couldn’t have imagined that APC would home in on the vote-rich Borno State for its running mate. Now it is a reality he has to contend with that with Kashim Shettima on the ticket, he can kiss the state goodbye.

    The Southwest is home territory for the APC candidate, Bola Tinubu. Realistically, Atiku knows his salvation doesn’t lie here.

    So, North, South, East and West, the pathway to the presidently is closing for the opposition candidate unless he can come up with a Houdini trick fast.

  • Kenya seven, Nigeria zero

    Kenya seven, Nigeria zero

    As many Nigerian male politicians were airborne enroute London for what many have described as PDP reconciliation jamboree, the first female Chief Justice  Martha Koome was making another history appointing 45 judges to preside over the swearing in ceremony of the incoming governors that includes seven women.  The increase in the number of women from the three elected in 2017 is a development that is very commendable not just for equity and gender justice but significant for Africa.

    The journey of more women getting elected in 2022 has been on for years. In 2010, the constitution established a gender quota that mandated that “not more than two-thirds of the same gender” be elected at any election period. However, there has not been total adherence to this constitutional requirement. Even though women suffer certain discriminations globally, in most African countries, women substantially face extra challenges when it comes to political inclusiveness. There are issues of culture, religion, financial capacity, violence and all forms of discrimination in the political space.

    However, the Kenyan constitution has made it possible for more women to be elected and be appointed into positions. It may not be totally Uhuru for the Kenyan women but this year’s election shows a remarkable improvement. On the other hand, the Rwandan parliament holds the global record of having more than 60% of women parliamentarians. Circumstantial as that is given the tragic 1994 genocide, the country seems to be doing very well seeing that it is today a tourism and investment hub in Africa. Their contributions to the governance in the country cannot be over-emphasized.

    A Nigeria with a population of about 200 million with at least half of the population women has a very low percentage of women in leadership position  politically. There has never been a female President, Vice President or even governor. The first woman to be sworn in as the governor of Anambra state, Dame Virgy Etiaba only got to the position by default after a former governor Peter Obi was erroneously impeached by the state house of Assembly. The courts later reinstated him.

    The political parties in Nigeria have continually created huddles that have kept many women away from elective and appointive positions. The Senate of 109 members has a paltry seven women while the Federal House of Representatives  with 360 members has  just 22 women. Most Houses of Assembly in the 36 states have less than 5% of women while some states have no single woman. What this means is that there is either no women affairs commission or even in places where there are they are headed by men who know next to nothing about issues that affect only women like reproductive health and maternal and child mortality issues.

    The recent Kenyan election clearly shows that most African countries are getting the message that no one can clap with one hand. Leadership is supposed to be complimentary between men and women and Nigerian women have proved even in global institutions that they are as competent and ready to contribute to nation-building more than they are being recognized for. Nigeria being the poverty capital of the world cannot be divorced from the fact that the male monopoly of leadership has been an aberration. Ideas rule the world and that means that inclusivity is key and more productive.

    The Roundtable Conversation has closely followed the Nigerian electoral processes leading to the 2023 general elections and has at various stages decried the flawed political strategies deployed by political parties during the ward/state congresses , party conventions and primaries that have produced candidates for the various elective positions come 2023.  There is a dearth of women in the political space and the party leadership styles is responsible for this aberration.

    Prior to the party primaries, there were five bills sponsored by women in the House of Representatives to enhance female participation in the electoral and governance processes through laws that can mandate an increase in the legislative seats for women and more appointive positions. The men in the National Assembly threw the bills out. This goes in line with the recalcitrant attitude of the country to series of international treaties and agreements that the country had signed in the past to enhance the welfare of the girl-child and women.

    The result is that the Nigerian women are reduced to canvassers for votes for men. At the party conventions of the two frontline political parties in the nation, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the women were given token positions that often are not mainstream administrative positions.  Mainly Women leader and her Deputy are left for the women. They are meant to work and mobilize voters for the men.

    Some Presidential candidates of most of the political parties were recently invited to the Nigerian Bar Association Conference in Lagos and each of them had time to address the conference on what in their view should be the qualities and strategies the next president ought to possess and adopt. All the candidates marshaled out points and talked about their vision of a new Nigeria but not one of them recognized the aberration that gender inequity has affected development  in Nigeria. None of the candidates is a woman.

    A few days ago some of the Presidential candidates, some state governors and other political players were in London on some personal and intra-party reconciliation or strategizing mission, not one single woman was there. So the world gets an impression that Nigeria runs some mono governance structure in a democracy that should be inclusive of every demographic.

    Since the return of democracy in 1999, the number of female participants in the political scene in both elective and appointive positions seems to be on a downward spiral. This has had very dire implications for the development in the country. Ironically, in every sector where merit is the criteria for selection, women have shown profoundly impactful presence.

    In economic issues, former finance Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who was equally hounded by some male politicians while in office is the Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and is on the board of many global institutions. Ibukun Awosika was Chairperson of the premium Nigerian bank, First Bank, Arunma Oteh is at the World Bank after being hounded  by some male politicians  as director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In fact, most of the viable banks in Nigeria are headed by women.

    In the academia, many women have risen to become Vice Chancellors, Registrars, Senior Research fellows and top rated lecturers. In entertainment, women like the matriarch of the Nigerian entertainment industry,Taiwo Ajai-Lycett is an institution and contributing immensely to nation building through arts of varied hues. The face of Nollywood is obviously seen around the world through veteran actresses contributing at global levels of entertainment.

    In sports, the Tobi Amusans have been flying the Nigerian flag as world’s best. The female National team,  the Falcons have recorded more victories than the Super Eagles with very passive recognision. Chioma Ajunwa set a record at the 1996 Olympics. Many of the gold medals being won internationally are by women. In fact the just concluded Commonwealth games in Birmingham saw the bulk of gold medals being won by Nigerian women.

    In all sectors, Nigerian women have shown the stuff of their excellence but the patriarchal attitude of the men on the political space has ensured that not many women with political ambition get to play on a level playing field. The Roundtable Conversation has over the years been documenting the hurdles women face in Nigerian politics but sadly, the men seem to enjoy the solo ride merely for their ego aloneand not national development..

    Sadly though, the consequences of the monopoly of the political space by the men are more on the women. Bad leadership affects the women the more as the offshoots like insecurity and poverty have great impacts on them. If Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world according to global poverty index with more people falling into the poverty bracket daily, it beggars belief why the political space continues to be monopolized by the men.

    The Roundtable Conversation would in the coming weeks begin to interrogate candidates for the next election on their plans for women beyond the usual rhetoric. The Nigerian economy is at a stage where all competent hands must be on deck to alter the socio-economic situation.  It must not continue to be business as usual while we run a stagnated economy.

    It beggars belief that smaller nations across Africa like Liberia, Malawi and Tanzania and others all have had female Presidents or Heads of government while the most populous black nation on earth continues to exclude women. If Rwanda can have the historic global highest number of women parliamentarians and Kenya has gone from having three elected governors to seven in 2022, what is really happening with Nigerian male politicians? How can men continually deny women the level playing field in politics by refusing to amend the constitution or even accent to bills seeking to give women more voice in the democracy?

    Democracy is the government of the people by the people and for the people. It is not a solo run by men who in the case of Nigeria has really done a bad solo job and continually reneged on international agreements that could enhance the welfare and political participation of women and by implication development for the country.

    The dialogue continues…

  • These Obi-Kererenke children (2)

    These Obi-Kererenke children (2)

    How will they exonerate Obi from the obnoxious religious schisms he created in Anambra while he served as governor. Such schism did not exist while his predecessors were in office, how can the Obi-Kererenke children know such? How can they understand that their “Go and verify” trumpeter single handedly turned Anambra into a Neo-Catholic State? Today he is visiting these churches, he openly discriminated against like some Mecca of sorts.

    We cannot even call the Obi-Kererenke Children a political base but what motivates these guys should be a case study. One thing is for sure, they bear some antipathy to establishment politics and blame such for their numerous woes as a society, but then they somewhat forget that their man has also been a part of the establishment politics and cannot recuse himself from such politics. On the other hand, it will also be unfair to blame the establishment for a majority of the woes faced by the nation, these challenges or woes did not start with the return of democracy or the emergence of President Muhammadu Buhari as a number of these people would want to make one believe. Were these Obi-Kererenke children to queue behind a Sowore or Kachukwu then one would have no qualms with such a choice but then one must understand that democracy despite it being the best form of government is also prone to suffer from the personality cult deficiencies experienced in other forms of government.

    They love spinning saintly narratives about their candidate, and so day in day out, they are quick to mutate his campaign from Peter Obi the container economy philosopher to Peter Obi the economic genius who  claimed to save 75 billion Naira while Anambra State was in dire need of quality infrastructure that would have helped reposition the state’s economic base and attract immense investment opportunities ! They scream “from consumption to production” but then I cannot marry the two given the fact that Obi is one of the biggest importers of finished goods into the Nigerian market. Shouldn’t this be a case of one practicing what he preaches! If Obi was indeed serious about moving the economy from consumption to production then we ought to have seen him initiate such moves with his private businesses?

    The Obi-Kererenke also exhibit some hubris and believe that they have already constituted themselves into a plurality or that they represent a plurality already, it is like the butterfly thinking itself a bird of prey, the Obi-Kererenke children are yet to have tested their electoral will at the ballot box, nay, they seem to be satisfied with their noise making on social media and their 10 million man marches similar to Daniel Kanu’s Youths Earnestly Ask For Abacha and Ifeanyi Ubah’s TAN which had promised to deliver over 20 million votes to former President Goodluck Jonathan but then could only muster less than 13 million votes inclusive of those that were manipulated.

    Read Also: These Obi-Kererenke children (1)

    In concluding, the Obi-Kererenke children should be allowed to exercise their right to support any candidate of their choice but then should respect the rights of others to support other candidates. This is a democracy and not a totalitarian state, otherwise we may be returning to Nazi Germany where demagoguery and populism would attempt to hold sway!

    Good News From The Second Niger Bridge

    After many years of promise and fail, starting from the Shehu Shagari days to that of President Olusegun Obasanjo and then to Goodluck Jonathan. The Second Nigeri Bridge would soon be ready for use as the asphalting  Binder Course and streetlights have begun to spring up on the bridge that spans Delta & Anambra States.

    The bridge which is divided into three phases, will bypass Onitsha and Asaba connecting the Owerri-Onitsha Expressway and then cross into Atani in Ogbaru Local Government to the Asaba-Benin Expressway at Okpanam with a total length of 44km.

    Upon  completion, the Bridge will much help to ease traffic flow to and fro as well as enhance economic opportunities for locals and Nigerians in general.

    The Second Niger Bridge is a promise kept by the Muhammadu Buhari administration to the people of the SouthEast, something the People’s Democratic Party failed to accomplish in its 16 years of power despite the humongous votes it rigged to itself year in and out.

    Matter of fact what the PDP leaderships did then was to use the bridge as a campaign tool, only showing up at the river banks when it got to election periods. It was such a sorry sight that Goodluck Jonathan had to commission the project twice without us seeing even a pontoon bridge!

    Today, the Buhari administration without drama and fanfare will be completing the bridge in record time of seven years. So much for a man alleged to  harbor deep seated hatred for Ndi Igbo.

  • BOS: Apapa, okada, rail

    BOS: Apapa, okada, rail

    When he spoke on the then appalling Apapa traffic gridlock that hitherto defied all attempts at an enduring solution at the formal handing over of three new improved traffic-prone junctions along the Lagos-Expressway over a year ago, Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu (BOS) of Lagos State sounded tentative and somewhat hesitant. In his words on that occasion, “What we are seeing is the beginning of the lasting solution we have brought to Apapa. Our appeal is that we are not out of the problem yet. Our citizens can now see that a journey that took three hours can, indeed, take between 15 and 20 minutes to commute. Everyone can now see that when we work together, indeed we can solve our problems internally. We have taken some troublesome people are benefitting from the gridlock out of the way. We know they will want to fight back. We will not stop at anything to ensure that anybody that tries to retract the progress or wants to take us back to gridlock in Apapa will be fought against”.

    Answering a question from Seun Okinbaloye in his recent interview on Channels Television, however, BOS sounded a more confident, upbeat and optimistic note as he enthused on his administration’s record in resolving one of the most notorious and intractable neighbourhood traffic, environmental, public health and urban planning conundrums in Lagos State. According to the governor on that programme, “I am looking straight into the camera and I can boldly say that I have fixed Apapa gridlock. NPA has written letters to commend us. All of the major businesses in Apapa have equally written. I get daily video recording of what is happening in Apapa. I have gotten one for today and I am sure I will get more between seven o’clock and nine o’clock, between one o’clock and three o’clock on a daily basis”. Incidentally, having personally been held up in the horrendous Apapa traffic gridlock for hours a number of times I had avoided the area like a plague for years. Extensive enquiries however revealed that the governor is right and sanity has been restored on the highways in huge swathes of the area particularly the approaches to the ports.

    On assumption of office, BOS had approached the Federal Government for the disbandment of the Presidential Task force on Apapa gridlock set up to find a lasting solution to the protracted challenge. The state government then set up a Special Traffic Management Team to take over the responsibility of restoring normalcy in Apapa. BOS is honest and modest enough to readily admit that the success recorded on the issue thus far is not a solo effort of his administration but a function of collaboration with several stakeholders including the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Federal Ministry of Transportation, Maritime operators, seaport unions and security agencies. A key factor in this collaborative effort at finding solutions was the inauguration by the NPA of its Electronic Truck Call-Up system, operated by Truck Transit Park Limited (TTP), which has largely eliminated manual management of truck movement and access to and from the Lagos ports by employing technology to ease the traffic gridlock in the axis.

    In a recent interview, the Special Adviser to the governor on Transportation and Chairman of Apapa Traffic Management and Enforcement Committee, Mr. Oluwatoyin Fayinka, said “Before now, for you to move a truck during the TTP time people pay as much as N150,000 to N200,000 to move a truck from Ijora-Olopa to Apapa Port because it was based on manual operations and anything that is manual has human interference”. An official of the company responsible for operating the Electronic Truck Call-Up system, estimated that the cost of moving containers from Apapa Port to warehouses has drastically reduced by over 62.5% depending on the location of the importers’ warehouses. But has the Apapa traffic gridlock been completely solved? BOS does not pretend so. As he told Okinbaloye, “What used to take two hours, three hours, now takes 15 to 20 minutes. But what is the remainder of the problem? The Federal Government is doing the route from Sunrise in MTN from Mile 2 end and going towards Apapa. That is the portion that has not been completed. I think it is a stretch less than a kilometer. That stretch needs to be completed for you to have a complete cleanup of it”.

    BOS also noted that there are still trailers on some of these roads because of some internal sabotage of the NPA’s Electronic Truck Call-Up system although the initiative has worked reasonably well. To assist the NPA with additional trailer parks to take trucks off the roads, he said the state government is building a trailer park for the agency in Orile to accommodate about 2000 trucks “and with an effective call-up system in place, trucks that have not been called  up would have no business coming to Apapa”.  According to the governor, “There are the little glitches we have to finalize with them, but in terms of blockages to citizens, we have done a good job”. Indeed, the achievement of the administration in Apapa is no less momentous than the much applauded success of the Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola administration in salvaging, upgrading and transforming Oshodi from the veritable urban jungle it used to be.

    As the BOS administration sustains and improves on its salvage efforts in Apapa, scores of residents and businesses that had relocated from the axis will no doubt gradually begin to return, the quality of the environment will be elevated, property values will be enhanced, new enterprises will spring up creating jobs and boosting prosperity while Apapa will once again begin to realize its hitherto trapped economic potentials to the benefit of Lagos State and Nigeria. During the week, the BOS administration had the opportunity to appraise the impact so far of the total ban announced by the governor on 18th May, 2022, of Okada motorcycle operations in six Local Government Councils and the respective nine Local Council Development Areas under them at a Stakeholders’ Forum organized by the Ministry of Information and Strategy as well as the Ministry of Transportation with the theme: ‘Okada Ban – What Next’. This ban being enforced by the Lagos State Anti-Okada Squad in collaboration with the police and the military was in response to rampant violation of traffic regulations by the Okada riders, the high injury and death rates caused by the frequent accidents of the motorcycles on the highways as well as the widespread implication of the Okadas in criminal activities across the state.

    Speaking on the effects of the Okada ban in the affected areas on the Channels Television interview referred to earlier, BOS had said: “Not only are we seeing a drop in issues around security, traffic, robberies and so on, we do not see people maimed or limbs being cut in hospitals again. These were things that terminated people’s lives unexpectedly. Therefore, we have seen tremendous improvements in that area. In terms of rate of mortality in the last two months, at the peak of it, we were seeing about 550 Okada related accidents per month in January-February. Now, it is down to 100 direct accidents that we have seen from our hospitals. It has significantly gone down”. Participants at the Stakeholders’ Forum, which included traditional rulers, residents and Community Development Associations among others, unanimously agreed that the ban had been positive and beneficial and urged that it should be extended to other parts of the state.

    A communique issued at the end of the event stated that “The enforcement of the ban should be sustained to ensure that the gains of the ban are not reversed. The pockets of riders still found operating on forbidden routes, especially highways, should be arrested and made to face the consequences of their actions. The Lagos State Government should enforce a total ban on Okada to further improve safety and security in Lagos”. It was obviously in accordance with the public mood and sentiments that the government has extended the ban to additional four Local Government Areas and six Local Development Areas in the State. Speaking on television this week, the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr.Gbenga Omotosho, said the former Okada riders were being encouraged to undergo training in various trades in the 19 Skills Acquisition and Vocational Training Centres across the state after which they will be empowered and equipped to set up small businesses as part of alternative means for them to earn a living.

    It will be recalled that last year BOS had launched 500 units of locally assembled First and Last Mile seven and eleven- Seater buses (FLM) for deployment to 286 community routes in the state as alternative means of transportation to Okada. The fleet which comes with a premium insurance cover on the lives of passengers and drivers is to be gradually increased to 5000 buses ultimately. And according to the Managing Director of the Lagos State Ferry Services (LAGFERRY), Mr. Abdoulbaq Ladi Balogun, the BOS administration has invested heavily in water transportation over the last three years in accordance with the modal transportation component of its THEMES agenda. Its efforts in this regard include the procurement of 15 state-of-art boats to enhance water transportation in the state bringing the total fleet to 20 operating daily across 14 routes in all divisions within the state, aggressive dredging of the waterways, removal of wreckages along the coastline, construction and rehabilitation of terminals/jetties to open new areas to water transportation and investment security and safety equipment through the construction of Real-Time Command and Control Centres to safeguard the waterways and ensure quick emergency response. Of course, this is work in progress as so much still needs to be done to eliminate incidences of boats capsizing and lives being lost on the state’s waterways.

    Also this week, BOS personally flagged off the laying of the last track beam (T-beam), which signals the final phase of the journey towards the actualization of the 27km Lagos Blue Line Rail Mass Transit at the Marina station of the rail project. The governor announced that the Blue Line, which will run from Lagos Marina-Orile Iganmu-Mile 2 – Okokomaiko and ultimately down to Badagry will commence commercial shuttles in January 2023 while the Red Line started from scratch by the BOS administration and which will run from Agbado to Lagos Marina will come on stream later in the first quarter of next year. The governor also said that the state government would soon reveal feasibility studies on four new rail lines that are already in the rail master plan that produced the Blue and Rail Lines.

    As the Commissioner for The Environment noted in his contribution on an online platform recently, “Asiwaju Tinubu designed seven rail lines for Lagos in 2005 and I was a member of his cabinet as well as a member of the committee that designed it including the present governor. First was a cabinet team sent to three South American countries that came back and we decided through modifications that Lagos needed what we saw. Out of our committee came seven rail lines out of which Fashola who succeeded him and a member of the team at that time started the Blue Line. And Sanwo-Olu who was also a member of the team started the Red Line. The Green Line is for Lekki corridor all the way to Epe and from Epe to connect the Purple Line to Ikorodu”. Surely, under BOS, Lagos continues her steady and steadfast match towards her rendezvous with her historic destiny as a model, smart African megacity.

  • Making NFF committees work

    Making NFF committees work

    The next elections into offices of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) would be the fiercest with gladiators having scores to settle with the establishment. Those who have signified their intention to run for the different offices believe they have what it takes to rejuvenate the place to meet the standards globally. What fascinates this writer is the large number of people who have either worked in the federation or are members of the states’ associations which makes the trajectory of the next occupiers of the Dankaro House in Abuja look like one for celebrations if the guidelines are stuck to the letter.

    The rush to have the elections held on a particular date in September makes this writer to ask if there aren’t guidelines for this exercise. We must tread with caution lest one interloper heads for the courts and render all that would be done otiose. We need to fix the federation in its entirety such that the leadership problems are resolved to make things work seamlessly.

    This column isn’t one to blame anyone nor is it one to coronate anyone as the messiah. Rather, it is one to appeal to the supervisory ministry to be on top of the different scenarios that are bound to emerge from the elections. The composition of those to supervise the electoral processes should be one that would inspire those sitting on the fence to pick up the forms to make the next election the most competitive in the annals of the federation.

    If the history of the NFF or is it NFA is anything to guide us, then the first challenge would be to elect officers who would make the new board truly better than the one they have tagged the worst in the federation’s existence. How certain individuals who have been part of the inner workings of the place can exonerate themselves from the mess in which they tagged the place is difficult to understand. Indeed, every succeeding NFF board has been said to be worse than its predecessors.

    The next NFF President should ensure that the different departments in the federation are reorganised with the members nominated to serve allowed to do their work. Members of these departments should know what each department entails just as the nominated members be experts in the fields relevant to each department. Previous NFFs have failed because the boards refused to allow the departments to work. Under this tardy setting, it was difficult for the board to get robust ideas to guide them in the course of the board’s lifespan.

    Previous NFF departmental heads and personnel have been populated by Lilliputians whose stock in trade is to protect those who nominated them into the place. The resultant effect of this clumsy setting in the deluge of toxic materials of the shenanigans in the place which was brought to the public court the moment they are replaced with fresh changes. With such allegations thrown into public space, in no time it affected the workings of the body in its drive for self-sustenance with the corporate world reluctant to establish any form of relationship involving their brands or services with a body burdened by tales of corruption and scandals.

    NPFL chiefs must use this saga to ensure that clubs are truly professional such that the problems bedevilling them are removed no matter whose ox is gored. Clubs must be told what to provide if they hope to remain in the NPFL structure.

    The NFF’s Annual General Assembly (AGA) held at the Best Western Hotel in Lagos, Thursday and many people were shocked that there  were  no  casualties  arising  from  fights

    among the gladiators. Nothing like that occurred. The former footballers who were at the forefront for a new dawn in the country’s soccer suddenly found that were gum struck by their own medicine. The players’ union was split into two with each side holding out as the authentic body. Of course, NFF men stuck to the old document which excluded former players from the body’s congress to oust the power bloc which spearheaded the whole exercise on Thursday in Lagos.

    This serves as pointer to the fact that the new board should ensure that the centre of football at the Dankaro House is less attractive. Those who should be elected into the new board ought to be people with enviable dossier of how they have revamped their different states’ local football. Except the game is reconstructed from the grassroots with special emphasis on the primary, secondary and tertiary educational levels, the game would totter for recognition against countries with discerning football templates.

    Many of them currently angling for the NFF seats have failed in their states. They cannot point to any befitting edifice or competitions currently running that they instituted.  Their states’ FA secretariats have beer parlour rubber chairs, they are not digitalised which means they cannot be accessed on the internet. Most of them are looking desolate with old type writers etc and are situated in their states’ stadium premises.

    NFF, therefore, needs to relate properly with the State Football Associations to get the authentic register of all soccer academies and youth clubs within their local government areas. If such a register exists, we can trace the scouts, coaches or managers since they would be on the acceptable list to do such business here.

    Academies which are nurseries for warehousing the game have been standardised to protect the sector and backed by law for effectiveness. It is at this level that countries’ playing patterns evolve depending on what the coaches feel could bring the best from their nationals.  Standards are set for owning such academies including their curriculum to shut out quackery.

    It is always a laughable but intriguing sight watching these kids in the hinterlands tying their legs with long stockings, for those who cannot afford to buy boots. Those who wear boots are the skilful ones whose parents scavenged to buy them. What stands out here is that the road to the national teams is tortuous, making it imperative for the willing parents to expect returns on their investments.  Once they gain national prominence, parents who hitherto whipped the boys at dusk after training begin to encourage them to reach the heights set by others. Since these kids come from poor backgrounds, they embrace the game with awful clothing and funny kits.

    These meddlesome interlopers in our soccer won’t stop crippling the game here. Each time they lose out, they strive to destroy it. Sadly, we have refused to relate with the State governors who fund these teams during crises. I know that some governors who are tired of those who run their clubs stifle them of cash to see if these acolytes of political bigwigs will quit. They never do. It’s alien in our clime.

    These interlopers come up with different nomenclature seeking relevance. They are back in the trenches of our football seeking to be educated on issues they ordinarily can find answers to in the rules books. If any club has issues, shouldn’t the owners be allowed to ask the necessary questions? They are the trouble makers who heat up the polity whenever their parochial and mercantile interests are threatened. With the elective congress fixed for September 30 in Edo State, it is only normal that the new executive board members fashion out a workable template in which the league can be attractive. This should start with proper club licensing of the teams in line with FIFA’s dictates. The thought of having a 24-team league format is foolhardy. The English league is a 20-team structure except those proposing it want to accommodate the four teams relegated to lower ranks in the new but dubious 24-team format. We say no.