The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

Anti-corruption paradox

It is as paradoxical as it is mystifying. President Muhammadu Buhari’s greatest assets are his much admired integrity, prudence and asceticism that played key roles in his ascendancy to the country’s apex of political authority in the 2015 election. In accordance with the electoral pact of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) with the electorate, he has made confronting the monster of corruption a cardinal priority of his administration in addition to containing insecurity and rejuvenating the economy. His government cannot be accused, despite certain operational, procedural and systemic lapses, of having been derelict or remiss in its commitment to its anti-graft offensive over the last three years. Yet, even though many Nigerians will place him on a higher ethical pedestal than most of his predecessors, Buhari ironically shares similar behavioural features with the government of the duo of President Shehu Shagari and Vice President Alex Ekwueme that his military regime superseded in December 1983. To borrow from the Ghananian novelist, Ayi Kwei Armah’s ironic imagery, Shagari and his deputy hated the faeces of corruption but they found no disgust or displeasure in being found in the company of aides and advisers who gorged on maggots. The same affliction may imperil Buharfi’s anti-corruption war if the Daura-born General does not act fast.

By all accounts, the Buhari administration can point to impressive gains in its onslaught against corruption resulting in the recovery of humongous amounts of stolen loots as well as scores of physical assets both within and outside the country since its assumption of office. For instance, briefing the House Representatives on the loot recoveries when he recently defended his agency’s 2018 budget before the legislators, the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, gave an indication of the staggering funds raked into government coffers from thieving public office holders between January and December, 2017. This amounted, according to him, to N473 billion, $98 million, 7 million Euros, and 294,000 Pounds. A breakdown shows that this included the final forfeiture of N32 billion and $5 million to the coffers of the Federal Government by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, the recovery of N449 million discovered at Legico Plaza in Victoria Island, Lagos, as well as the final forfeiture of more than $43 million discovered in an apartment in Ikoyi area of Lagos.

Magu also disclosed that withholding tax of over N22.7 billion supposed to have been paid into government coffers was retrieved from banks while more than N329 billion of ill acquired funds was recovered for government from petroleum marketers in Kano. Mention must also be made of the dramatic increases of revenues paid into the government’s coffers by such public agencies as the Federal Internal Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) and even the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) compared to their remittances in the past all due to the blockage of leakage opportunities by the Buhari administration. There is no doubt greater fiscal discipline, accountability and transparency in the management of public resources under this administration than was the case at any time over the last 16 years of PDP rule. Even those in positions of public authority today lament openly that there is less latitude now for unimpeded public spending than used to be the case in the past.

Against this background, how do we explain the finding of the 2017 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) just released by Transparency International, which indicates that corruption is perceived to have grown worse in Nigeria between 2016 and 2017 under the Buhari administration? Of course, we know that perception is most times stronger than reality. Perception of the country’s corruption status will no doubt have implications for foreign investment to cite just one instance. Using a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 representing highly corrupt and 100 virtually zero corruption level, the CPI ranks 180 countries and territories by their assessed levels of public sector corruption as perceived and experienced by experts and business sector operators. In 2015, Nigeria was ranked 136 out of 168 countries having scored 26/100 percentage points. For 2016, the country scored 27 percentage points out of 100 and was again ranked 136th most widely perceived corrupt country in the world. As for 2017, Nigeria scored 28/100 percentage points but with a ranking of 148 out of 180 countries thus dropping 12 points below her position last year in terms of perceived level of corruption.

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) reports that Nigeria ranks 32nd position in Africa out of 52 assessed countries for corruption perception while she is also perceived as the second worst corrupt country in West Africa in 2017 second only to Guinea Bissau. Can it be that the CPI is jaundiced and biased against Nigeria? I hardly think so. If we accepted their ratings of past administrations’ corruption perception, why should their integrity be questioned when it comes to the Buhari administration which has fighting corruption as its flagship policy plank? One area I think we should look at is the strategy of prosecuting the anti-graft war. At every opportunity, locally and abroad, high ranking public officials decry and proclaim the high level of corruption in the country. But shouldn’t we at the same time be projecting and celebrating the thousands of quiet Nigerian icons of integrity, incorruptibility and honest industry who abound within the country and in the Diaspora? Would that not have some positive mitigating effect on our global corruption perception ranking?

Again, as a war-tested General, it is surprising that President Buhari would commence such a critical war against entrenched and formidable corruption forces without a proper and thorough reconnaissance of the terrain, an assessment of the systemic constraints, cultural nuances and psychological predilections that allow corruption to flourish. The administration clearly engaged the forces of corruption without adequate preparation and have been virtually tactically and strategically, strafed, checkmated and frustrated at every point. Consequently, as CISLAC put it, “Since the current administration has come to power on the anti-corruption ticket, no significant politically exposed person has been duly sentenced on anti-corruption charges”. The lack of convictions for widely publicized cases of gargantuan fraud is another reason why corruption is widely perceived as flourishing in Nigeria despite the Buhari administration’s best efforts.

Of course, President Buhari is no lawyer. He cannot be blamed for the abysmal incompetence exhibited so far in prosecuting anti-corruption cases. But it is his responsibility to search for and appoint a competent attorney general of impeccable integrity since the incumbent occupant of the position, Mallam Abubakar Malami (SAN), has consistently demonstrated questionable capability for the job professionally and ethically. The intellect, integrity and proficiency of the occupant of the office, is critical to domestic and international public perception of the state of the anti-corruption war in Nigeria. Two other reasons have been cited for the poor performance of Nigeria in the CPI in 2017 compared to 2015 and 2016. First is the perception that the Buhari administration tends to treat its top officials and kitchen cabinet members accused of serious malfeasances with kid gloves.

This has been most evident in the hesitancy, reticence, reluctance and haphazardness with which fraud allegations against former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, D-G, Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Ayodele Oke, and, of course, the utterly embarrassing and inexplicable, controversial reinstatement into service of dismissed civil servant and fugitive from the law for alleged embezzlement of pension funds, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, before being fired by an angry President Buhari. Key members of the administration implicated in this travesty continue to occupy their powerful offices. There is also the pending issue of the controversial unilateral reinstatement into office by the President of the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Professor Usman Yusuf, who had earlier being suspended from office by the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, after being indicted by an inter-ministerial investigative panel for alleged fraud.

The second reason is that it would appear that credible international organizations like TI, do not limit their definition of corruption to financial embezzlement or fraud. Acts of nepotism, favouritism and sectionalism for which the Buhari administration has been widely criticized in many quarters are also perceived as no less virulent strains of corruption. The administration should see the 2017 CPI Report of TI as a wake- up call to go back to the drawing board and make the vital strategic, tactical, personnel and structural changes that will positively change public perception of its anti-corruption war and ensure a much better performance for Nigeria in 2018 even as the country prepares for next year’s crucial elections.

February 24, 2018
A genius at work

He needs no introduction when the issue is football. He ranks among the icons of the beautiful game, going by his achievements since he started kicking the ball around the streets as a boy in Argentina. He enjoys playing when marked, if he has a target to break. Lionel Messi, is the man for all seasons, soccer wise. He leaves a mark anywhere he plays.

Indeed, clubs’ fans pray when draws are made for competitive matches if their teams are drawn with Barcelona FC. And the word on every lip after such draws is ‘’Messi.’’ So, when the Round of 16 matches pitched Chelsea against Barca, the world looked forward to mouth-watering matches over the two legs in London and Nou Camp.

Messi doesn’t fail with challenges. He must have smiled, reading pre-match commentaries highlighting the fact that he had not scored against Chelsea in eight matches. He debunked that seeming fallacy when he finished off a square pass from Barca’s captain, Andres Iniesta into the net to tie the game a goal apiece.

Messi wasn’t the Man-of-the-Match. That accolade was for Chelsea’s midfielder Willian, who had to get medical attention twice before the end of the pulsating encounter. Messi’s side didn’t have the best chances. Chelsea had. Yet if Barcelona approaches the second leg as undoubted favourites, Messi that is responsible for that. Again, one chance, one goal. That is all he needs. And Messi got it because he, along with Barcelona’s immense forward drive, terrifies the opposition, defenders in possession in particular.

Messi isn’t known for rhetoric in the media before or after games. His feet do the talking, leaving many fans of opposing teams with broken hearts. Messi isn’t a spoilsport. He accepts defeats since he fights till the referee’s final whistle. Kudos should go to Chelsea’s manager Antonio Conte for his tactical plans which kept Messi quiet until he struck from a poor pass across Chelsea’s 18-metre box by Christensen in the 74th minute. Chelsea were unlucky as Willian’s shot hit the upright of the goalpost twice until he scored in the 61st minute from a curly kick. Willian received the ball outside of the box, paused, accelerated to the right then put it past a static Marc-Andre ter Stegen. At last, the warrior had his reward.

A tale of two warriors – Willain and Messi – with both players looking forward to the return leg at the Nou Camp in Barcelona. Soccer purists will give the game to Barca due to Messi’s records of swinging tight fixtures in his side’s favour at the Nou Camp. But Chelsea are no easy meat to chew in such winner-takes-all fixtures. Besides, Conte doesn’t park the bus in away fixtures. I see both sides scoring a goal each before the end of the first half. If Chelsea scores first, which isn’t unlikely, Barca will have a big problem on their hands.

Conte’s world class tactics anchored on not using a striker took care of the strong points of key players in Barcelona. This tactic should worry Barcelona’s coach, Ernesto Valverde given the way Chelsea’s players stuck to the system until that slip. Otherwise, Barca would have left Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night with their tails tucked in between their legs.

‘’Playing Alvaro Morata from the start, with him and Eden Hazard, without Willian or Pedro, would’ve lost our balance,’’ the Italian told the press in a post match session. ‘It would’ve been suicidal. We executed the game plan really well,’’ Fabregas said afterwards. ‘’We were compact, solid, played as a team and created lots of chances.’’

No good team plays blindfolded at this level, with coaches and players playing to the pre-match scripts. Those who think that the Barcelona tie between these two combatants is over had better read this instructive submissions by Chelsea’s highest goal-scorer this season, Eden Hazard, in a post-match conference: ‘’At least we won’t be able to think defensively in the second leg because if we think defensively over there we will be in a lot of danger.

‘’We will go there trying to win because we have to score and we will try for the perfect game as we did today, except for the small error that we made. That’s what made the difference because you’re up against Barcelona. Against other teams, perhaps you get away without letting in a goal. We played well. We had a plan to defend well. Perhaps we could have done more with the ball when we had it. It’s not over. We can still dream. Qualification is still possible,’’ the Belgian told reporters.

Fight to the death, if you ask me. Even with this can-do spirit from Chelsea stars, Hazard still feels that Messi’s class is one obstacle they have to contend with in the second leg tie. Hazard said on Tuesday night: ‘’We contained him well. When he’s outside the box he’s less dangerous than in it. He had one touch in the box today and he scored. That’s the difference he makes.’’

Is the game over for Chelsea in two weeks time? Barca’s striker Luis Suarez seems to have written off the Blues, stressing: “It was a beneficial goal for the second leg to have more space at the Camp Nou.”

“Our strength is being better at home; that’s why it was important to score. Now they have to try to score at the Camp Nou and we’ll have more space,” Suarez told Marca, a Spanish newspaper on Thursday.

So, why did Conte adopt the striker-less options against Barca? Is Hazard willing to play that role in the return leg? Hazard revealed after the 1-1 draw with Barcelona on Tuesday: ‘You don’t get a lot of balls. I might have touched 25 balls that night and 15 of them were flying towards my head. That is not really playing to my qualities. I won some aerial duels against Gerard Pique, and that’s not bad.

‘’But if I had to choose, I prefer to play like I did in the last 10 minutes, which was out wide. But it’s the manager who has the final word. On the wing, I feel more comfortable. That’s my place. In games like that you have to be 100 per cent focused,’ he said. ‘One error, one goal. We should have scored more.

‘’We complicated it ourselves. A draw is a bad result. We won’t be able to think defensively in Barcelona. If we only think about defending, we’ll be in a lot of trouble. We will go to try to win. We have to win, we have to score,’’ Hazard said.

Indeed, Messi had the night in which he had only one chance at goal and buried the ball inside the net. Daily Mail’s writer Ian Ladyman summed up Messi’s talent and his contributions in Tuesday’s game thus: ‘’So we savour nights like this, nights when the greatest footballer of our generation cheats the passing of time on the back of skills, appetite and intuitive understanding that refuse to wane. Maybe we should not be surprised that Barcelona’s No 10 retains his youthful capacities.’’

‘’There is not a footballer alive who understands the rhythm of a game and the intricacies of his own game like he does. Unlike many, Messi does not seek the ball, he does not hunt the ball. Instead he finds pieces of solitude, waiting for the ball, the game, to come to him. His mind is always switched on but the body only follows when he has possession.

‘’This could be the secret of the enduring brilliance. Certainly Messi would make a mockery of modern running stats. If there was a similar measurement available for lurking then he would top the list,’’ Ladyman wrote on Thursday.

Should Super Eagles players surrender before Messi kicks the ball in the last fixture of Group D against Argentina? No way. We thrive best when the opposition is tough. Unlike at Barcelona, Messi will have to take charge since his Argentine mates are not as talented as his peers at Barcelona. Surely, a tree cannot make the forest. Eagles will mark Messi. They will cut off supply to him. He dare not wait for the ball like he does at Barcelona. Otherwise, what happened in Russia last year would be a child’s play.

Eagles’ manager Gernot Rohr must instruct his players not to lose sight of Messi anytime during the game. Just when you think you have Messi inside your cage, he bolts out to deliver the devastating blow that swings the game in his side’s (club, and country’s) favour.

Certainly, our boys and their coaches watched the first game on Tuesday; they should watch the return leg and decide how best to mark out Messi. Did I hear you say bring on Argentina and Messi? No hurry, it will soon be World Cup time.

February 24, 2018
Anti-corruption paradox

It is as paradoxical as it is mystifying. President Muhammadu Buhari’s greatest assets are his much admired integrity, prudence and asceticism that played key roles in his ascendancy to the country’s apex of political authority in the 2015 election. In accordance with the electoral pact of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) with the electorate, he has made confronting the monster of corruption a cardinal priority of his administration in addition to containing insecurity and rejuvenating the economy. His government cannot be accused, despite certain operational, procedural and systemic lapses, of having been derelict or remiss in its commitment to its anti-graft offensive over the last three years. Yet, even though many Nigerians will place him on a higher ethical pedestal than most of his predecessors, Buhari ironically shares similar behavioural features with the government of the duo of President Shehu Shagari and Vice President Alex Ekwueme that his military regime superseded in December 1983. To borrow from the Ghananian novelist, Ayi Kwei Armah’s ironic imagery, Shagari and his deputy hated the faeces of corruption but they found no disgust or displeasure in being found in the company of aides and advisers who gorged on maggots. The same affliction may imperil Buharfi’s anti-corruption war if the Daura-born General does not act fast.

By all accounts, the Buhari administration can point to impressive gains in its onslaught against corruption resulting in the recovery of humongous amounts of stolen loots as well as scores of physical assets both within and outside the country since its assumption of office. For instance, briefing the House Representatives on the loot recoveries when he recently defended his agency’s 2018 budget before the legislators, the Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Mr. Ibrahim Magu, gave an indication of the staggering funds raked into government coffers from thieving public office holders between January and December, 2017. This amounted, according to him, to N473 billion, $98 million, 7 million Euros, and 294,000 Pounds. A breakdown shows that this included the final forfeiture of N32 billion and $5 million to the coffers of the Federal Government by a former Minister of Petroleum Resources, the recovery of N449 million discovered at Legico Plaza in Victoria Island, Lagos, as well as the final forfeiture of more than $43 million discovered in an apartment in Ikoyi area of Lagos.

Magu also disclosed that withholding tax of over N22.7 billion supposed to have been paid into government coffers was retrieved from banks while more than N329 billion of ill acquired funds was recovered for government from petroleum marketers in Kano. Mention must also be made of the dramatic increases of revenues paid into the government’s coffers by such public agencies as the Federal Internal Revenue Service (FIRS), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) and even the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) compared to their remittances in the past all due to the blockage of leakage opportunities by the Buhari administration. There is no doubt greater fiscal discipline, accountability and transparency in the management of public resources under this administration than was the case at any time over the last 16 years of PDP rule. Even those in positions of public authority today lament openly that there is less latitude now for unimpeded public spending than used to be the case in the past.

Against this background, how do we explain the finding of the 2017 Corruption Perception Index (CPI) just released by Transparency International, which indicates that corruption is perceived to have grown worse in Nigeria between 2016 and 2017 under the Buhari administration? Of course, we know that perception is most times stronger than reality. Perception of the country’s corruption status will no doubt have implications for foreign investment to cite just one instance. Using a scale of 0 to 100, with 0 representing highly corrupt and 100 virtually zero corruption level, the CPI ranks 180 countries and territories by their assessed levels of public sector corruption as perceived and experienced by experts and business sector operators. In 2015, Nigeria was ranked 136 out of 168 countries having scored 26/100 percentage points. For 2016, the country scored 27 percentage points out of 100 and was again ranked 136th most widely perceived corrupt country in the world. As for 2017, Nigeria scored 28/100 percentage points but with a ranking of 148 out of 180 countries thus dropping 12 points below her position last year in terms of perceived level of corruption.

The Civil Society Legislative Advocacy Centre (CISLAC) reports that Nigeria ranks 32nd position in Africa out of 52 assessed countries for corruption perception while she is also perceived as the second worst corrupt country in West Africa in 2017 second only to Guinea Bissau. Can it be that the CPI is jaundiced and biased against Nigeria? I hardly think so. If we accepted their ratings of past administrations’ corruption perception, why should their integrity be questioned when it comes to the Buhari administration which has fighting corruption as its flagship policy plank? One area I think we should look at is the strategy of prosecuting the anti-graft war. At every opportunity, locally and abroad, high ranking public officials decry and proclaim the high level of corruption in the country. But shouldn’t we at the same time be projecting and celebrating the thousands of quiet Nigerian icons of integrity, incorruptibility and honest industry who abound within the country and in the Diaspora? Would that not have some positive mitigating effect on our global corruption perception ranking?

Again, as a war-tested General, it is surprising that President Buhari would commence such a critical war against entrenched and formidable corruption forces without a proper and thorough reconnaissance of the terrain, an assessment of the systemic constraints, cultural nuances and psychological predilections that allow corruption to flourish. The administration clearly engaged the forces of corruption without adequate preparation and have been virtually tactically and strategically, strafed, checkmated and frustrated at every point. Consequently, as CISLAC put it, “Since the current administration has come to power on the anti-corruption ticket, no significant politically exposed person has been duly sentenced on anti-corruption charges”. The lack of convictions for widely publicized cases of gargantuan fraud is another reason why corruption is widely perceived as flourishing in Nigeria despite the Buhari administration’s best efforts.

Of course, President Buhari is no lawyer. He cannot be blamed for the abysmal incompetence exhibited so far in prosecuting anti-corruption cases. But it is his responsibility to search for and appoint a competent attorney general of impeccable integrity since the incumbent occupant of the position, Mallam Abubakar Malami (SAN), has consistently demonstrated questionable capability for the job professionally and ethically. The intellect, integrity and proficiency of the occupant of the office, is critical to domestic and international public perception of the state of the anti-corruption war in Nigeria. Two other reasons have been cited for the poor performance of Nigeria in the CPI in 2017 compared to 2015 and 2016. First is the perception that the Buhari administration tends to treat its top officials and kitchen cabinet members accused of serious malfeasances with kid gloves.

This has been most evident in the hesitancy, reticence, reluctance and haphazardness with which fraud allegations against former Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Babachir Lawal, D-G, Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA), Ambassador Ayodele Oke, and, of course, the utterly embarrassing and inexplicable, controversial reinstatement into service of dismissed civil servant and fugitive from the law for alleged embezzlement of pension funds, Mr. Abdulrasheed Maina, before being fired by an angry President Buhari. Key members of the administration implicated in this travesty continue to occupy their powerful offices. There is also the pending issue of the controversial unilateral reinstatement into office by the President of the Executive Secretary of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), Professor Usman Yusuf, who had earlier being suspended from office by the Minister of Health, Professor Isaac Adewole, after being indicted by an inter-ministerial investigative panel for alleged fraud.

The second reason is that it would appear that credible international organizations like TI, do not limit their definition of corruption to financial embezzlement or fraud. Acts of nepotism, favouritism and sectionalism for which the Buhari administration has been widely criticized in many quarters are also perceived as no less virulent strains of corruption. The administration should see the 2017 CPI Report of TI as a wake- up call to go back to the drawing board and make the vital strategic, tactical, personnel and structural changes that will positively change public perception of its anti-corruption war and ensure a much better performance for Nigeria in 2018 even as the country prepares for next year’s crucial elections.

February 24, 2018
The fear of Aguero

There has been panic in the land (rightly so) since last Saturday when Argentina’s goal-scoring machine Kun Aguero scored four goals in Leicester City’s 5-1 away loss to Manchester City in a Barclays English Premier League match. The popular thinking of soccer-loving Nigerians is that with Aguero in form, the Super Eagles will be in trouble at the Russia 2018 World Cup, given his devastating combination with Lionel Messi.

It will certainly not be the first time we have confronted the Argentines. Both teams have squared up to each other eight times since the USA ’94 World Cup. Apart from the September 11 international friendly, which the South Americans lost 4-2, the score line in games involving both teams are usually close. But the incredible form of the Manchester City striker suggests that he could take things a notch higher at this year’s Mundial.

Aguero has scored 29 goals from 33 matches this season. Awesome average, no doubt, but he could still be policed by defenders. Aguero detests being man-marked and it affects his concentration, which is good for the opposition, unlike Messi who enjoys such attention, which he sees as his best chance to show his class and style.

Aguero is stocky, but falls easily with the slightest touch to gain referees’ favours. He likes running in between defenders to elicit a tackle, which referees respond to. He is not a fast runner and doesn’t need a high back-lift to riffle home the ball. He could be an unselfish striker, if he finds better placed mates to score goals.

Past results between Nigeria and Argentina don’t suggest high scoring matches, since both teams’ players know what is at stake. Besides, Aguero is injury-prone. His record of being literarily patched up to make Argentina’s squads to big competitions is legendary. I don’t expect him to recreate his Manchester City form because the Argentines don’t have the kind of quality midfielders (Kevin de Bruyne, Ilkay Gündogan, Fernandinho, Yaya Toure, David Silva, Bernardo Silva, Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane and Oleksandr Zinchenko) which The Citizens in the blue side of Manchester have. Aguero operates best when the supply of passes splits the defence. Indeed, three of Aguero’s goals were goalkeeper’s errors with the last goal, Aguero’s fourth but Manchester City’s fifth, zooming over the head of Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel. Did I hear you sigh? I recognise your worry but I’m sure that goalkeeping won’t be Eagles’ albatross in Russia.

Aguero won’t be left unmarked by all the countries in Group D in Russia. Marking marksmen comes with crunchy tackles. This is where Aguero has problems coping while playing for Argentina. And when he is injured, the Argentines fall apart, reminiscent of what happened when Nigeria whacked them 4-2 last November in Russia. Aguero was taken to the hospital at half-time, with scores in favour of the Argentines.

Since that game, the Argentines have been talking, the latest being one of the world’s greatest players, Diego Armando Maradona, who rued the defeat by insisting : ‘’We have no midfield deserving of the name. Today, except for Lionel Messi, people have lost respect for the Argentina team.

“Nobody is afraid of us. Look at the last game with Nigeria. We almost conceded eight goals. You know what happened in my time in a game like that. But Sampaoli is lucky. If the baby (Messi) is on fire, he will cover for all the mistakes. We have a 60 per cent chance of becoming champions (at the World Cup).

“Why? Because the others can make up the choir, but they can never replace him as the singer. He’s the only singer. It hurts me a lot, but the reality is that it’s going badly for us and I don’t see a way out. The title would be ‘After Messi what next?’

“After Messi, there is nothing. It is embarrassing to rely on Icardi. Pipa (Higuain) is 10 times better than Icardi. That guy (Sampaoli) doesn’t know anything, the only thing he knows is what he’s going to eat at his friend’s house. Pipa has to have a new chance.”

Hahaha, Maradona has added another dimension to the World Cup countdown, with the rascally one stating categorically that the coach isn’t good enough for the stars in the team. Is this the cutting edge Nigeria has to exploit to beat the Argentines? Maradona isn’t a novice in the game. His fears about the players suggest that Higuian, who has been shut out of the squad under Sampoli, will trouble the Nigerians. I’m standing with Maradona on this, given Higuian’s records in Europe.

Is anyone shocked that Maradona didn’t talk about Aguero, preferring to discuss Higuain? Aguero used to be Maradona’s in-law but that marriage has crashed and Maradona’s daughter is looking elsewhere for marital bliss.

Higuain scored a brace against Tottenham Hotspurs in one of the UEFA Champions League matches but hit a penalty kick on the upright of the goalpost. This penalty loss prevented him from scoring a hat-trick. Pundits feel strongly that Aguero is a better striker than Higuain and would rather look at Maradona’s submission as expected , considering the animosity between them. There are other Argentines who could also hurt the Eagles, such as Paulo Dybala.

My excitement is that the Argentines are scared stiff about Eagles’ unpredictable performance. The Nigerians raise their game based on the opposition’s pedigree and it could be dangerous for Argentina, if they flounder in their first two matches. Argentina FA chieftains are miffed that Spanish side FC Barcelona rejected their appeal to sparingly use Argentines in their squad. Laughable; isn’t it? Barca pay their wages and the players should reciprocate with their best performance. Which European team will have Messi and not play him if he is fit? The club fans will cause mayhem, especially if the team loses at home. Barca’s revenue would dwindle if the team falters by doing Argentina FA chiefs’ biddings.

The La Albiceleste also know that they have two major weaknesses which could cause them problems at Russia 2018. The first is that like Barcelona FC, Argentina relies on Messi’s creativity and goals. The second, Higuain and Aguero seem to have the natural instinct to converge centrally, which starves their game of width, so they may struggle against centrally-packed defences. The Super Eagles would do well to take note of this.

Suddenly, Nigeria seems to be the country to beat for not just Argentina but Croatia, which is Eagles’ first game on June 16. The Croatians, like the Argentines, finished second behind Iceland in the qualifying series. They know what to expect, leaving Eagles as the underdogs, knowing that the Argentines are veterans of the Mundial.

‘’That’s right, but we’re always ambitious, we’re going to be world champions and I respect that,’’ Croatia’s manager Zlatko Dalic told Sportske Novosti.

‘’I am ambitious and want to do all the best and the best. The first goal must be to pass the group. The first match against Nigeria will be the decider. They are the key to everything. Then Argentina is where we cannot look for much. They will be the easiest, because we have nothing to lose. The last is against Iceland, and it is possible that everything will be resolved.’’

The good thing about the pre-World Cup hypes is that our players and indeed the coaches have kept mute, preferring to be modest in their submissions about our chances at the Mundial.

Nigeria’s biggest weapon towards a hitch-free Mundial is the synergy between the NFF and the coaches on the one hand and rapport between the manager, Gernot Rohr and his players. It is heartening to note that such troublesome areas as the prompt payment of the team’s entitlements have been resolved. We hope that the government would release the team’s cash and not bore us with the talk of a Treasury Single Account (TSA), whose process is cumbersome.

The 31 other countries don’t have such financial difficulties, knowing the importance of the competition. Government should design a format that will ensure that funds released for sports are brought from the source and accounted for at the end of the competition. Cash earmarked for participating teams is documented on the FIFA website. The extras from gate takings, television rights and merchandising will be made public by FIFA and accessed on the body’s website.

February 17, 2018
Professor Akin Oyebode’s prescience

The distinguished legal scholar, diligent researcher, outstanding teacher, principled academic of unimpeachable integrity and prodigious author, Professor Akin Oyebode, recently retired from the University of Lagos having attained the mandatory retirement age of 70. Of course, his illustrious career continues to be widely celebrated by his students, colleagues, relatives and numerous admirers. Unfortunately, I am one of those who only admired him over the years from a distance. I was not privileged either to be his student or to be even casually acquainted with him. Yet, his strong and impeccable character, diligent and meticulous scholarship and courage, even in times of grave national crisis, to speak truth to power, never ceased to make an impression on me. Even though I never knew him personally or had the opportunity to take refreshing gulps from his deep, ever fresh spring of knowledge and wisdom, Professor Oyebode’s collection of selected essays titled ‘Law and Nation-building in Nigeria’ has been one of my constant companions over the last few years. Quite apart from the pungency of his views, the acuteness of his intellect, I am often drawn to this book by the clarity of his thought and the lucidity with which he expresses them.

Published by the Centre for Political and Administrative Research (CEPAR), Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos, in 2005, the book, which runs into 274 pages, is subdivided into four sections and has 24 chapters. Section one deals with Jurisprudential issues, Section two with Constitutionalism, Law and Development, Section three with The Legal System and the Judicial Process and Section four with Law and the Economy. What comes across in all the essays in the book is Professor Oyebode’s passion for justice, his aversion to all forms of oppression and his commitment to the greatest good of the greatest number of the people. One of the essays which I found most interesting in the book is the distinguished scholar’s perception of ‘The Role of Lawyers in the Society’, which was the focus of a lecture he delivered to the Ekiti State Ministry of Justice Retreat, Ikogosi, on September 14, 2002.

For Professor Oyebode, as adumbrated in that lecture, the most important challenge confronting lawyers in the country today is to utilize their specialized professional skills to assist in working towards the adoption of a new constitution reflecting the various interests, needs and aspirations of the diverse components of the polity. The second challenge, he argues, is to save the legal profession from atrophy. He contends that the problem with the country’s legal system is not the absence of laws but rather the lack of a collective will to abide by the dictates of the law. Man’s movement away from the Hobbesian State of nature to a civilized existence, the author reasons, implies the existence of laws to guide and regulate human behavior and interactions. Since a government predicated on laws is superior to one dependent on the whims and caprices of men, it follows that “those who make the law their vocation always find relevance if not, in fact, preeminence in the scheme of things”.

But then this very fact confers grave and onerous responsibilities on the lawyer as regards his role in society. In Professor Oyebode’s words, “It must be emphasized, though, that the enviable status being prescribed for lawyers in society needs to be jealously guarded. Those among us who run foul of the rules of professional ethics should be prepared to be burnt at the stake! For a profession that is unable to sanitize its ranks would soon forfeit self-respect or indeed recognition and admiration from the rest of society”. For a lecture delivered over a decade and a half ago, is the distinguished professor not remarkably prescient given the state of the legal profession in the country today?

Professor Oyebode is of the view that since law is a means to an end, we must apprehend the ends of the law in order to better appreciate and correctly locate the role of lawyers in the society. He agrees with the position of the great jurist, Dr. T.O. Elias expressed in the 1970s that “the tasks confronting law in Nigeria were those of facilitating economic development, elevating our moral nature, welding our heterogeneous communities into a united polity and evolving a common law for the country”.

Professor Oyebode was equally prescient when in a paper he presented to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the University of Lagos in 1994, he made a case “that it was time we did away with the shibboleth of rule of law and embrace the seemingly novel notion of the rule of just law or, more plainly, the rule of justice in order to re-establish the link between law and social reality”. This discourse presaged by over two decades, current arguments in this dispensation as regards whether or not the ongoing anti-corruption war should be waged within the context of the rule of law. According to him, a deformed liberal state like Nigeria can ill afford a position which extols the rule of law especially given usurpation of political power by miscreants for most of our post-colonial history and the attempts by these to enforce their will through the so-called rule of law.

In his words, “Accordingly, the law must provide a framework for the realization of the yearnings of the preponderant majority of the population if it is to have any relevance to their existence. Thus, it is not sufficient for the constitution to proclaim equality before the law when legal services are priced beyond the reach of the ordinary person. Nor can we talk of the right to life when the constitution fails to guarantee the right to work. As Obarogie Ohonbamu had asked some years ago, “what, indeed, is freedom of thought and expression to someone who is a crass illiterate? What is ‘one man, one vote’ to a hungry unemployed citizen?”

February 17, 2018
Culture, democracy and leadership

Let me state clearly from the onset that I believe democracy is a form of  government that has outlived its usefulness in the modern world as we know it today. I do not buy the arguments of those who say the worst form of democracy is still better than a dictatorship. That is just plain nonsense to me and it is not because I am angry with democracy as an ideology. It is because day in day out, we see good examples of why there should be a better way for human beings to govern themselves than this present   process of periodic elections that   throw up leaders who are strangers to those who elected them into power even before they are sworn into office. As at this week the newest president in the world is Cyril Ramaphosa the man   who is taking over from disgraced former president of S Africa , Jacob Zuma, who should face charges of corruption immediately and whose party should be punished or admonished for putting up with him for so long, but whose party has such a solid majority that it will always win elections in that nation no matter the quality of leadership   it offers to   S Africans. That is democracy and that is a shame indeed for any such ideology which conscripts citizens to the servitude of avoidable poor and bad leadership.

Today however I look at events in Nigeria where the ruling APC   has now admitted that it has dissent within its fold and has now drafted its most gifted political strategist to put its house in order in order to be battle ready for 2019 elections. Which   to me   is a great   distraction and a costly diversion   of   talent that has been hitherto ignored in governance    and   is now being used    belatedly    for a fire   brigade exercise. We also look at the USA where the president is on trial as it were because he dared to say that a man working for him is a good man even though allegations have surfaced that he was a wife beater who molested his   two divorced former wives We also look at Russia where a presidential election is to take place with no one in doubt    that the winner will be the incumbent president  Vladmir Putin who is being vilified   in the US   for helping the current US   president Donald Trump win the 2016 presidential elections in the   US.

We look at these nations and their democracies   in the context of my resentment against democracy, its workings and failure, in spite of the laudable objectives of politicians in these nations.   I am not blaming the inadequacies of democracy on leadership but on the environment of democratic values especially emerging   political cultures   and expectations tied symbiotically to a game of numbers and elections that have in many instances undermined political stability and humanity without which no political system can survive. Let me   first  attempt   to highlight the political values   in these nations driving their democracy   in the directions they have now found themselves.

In Nigeria a political culture of rigging at elections is a way of life while the economic culture is corruption and the sociological attitude to work is well steeped in nepotism and ethnicity. In   the US   the political culture is that of ‘winner takes all ‘ which creates a no prisoners taken approach   to the use and exercise of power without consideration for   the feelings or even the existence of losers at periodic elections. The economic culture is laissez faire capitalism which widens social inequalities brazenly till the next elections and the sociological attitude nowadays is sexism or more appropriately sexual    harassment. In the UK the cabinet system makes the PM first amongst equals and that creates leadership competition which can at   times   be disruptive but the Parliamentary system ensures great accountability and transparency. The economic system is rooted in social insurance   and human rights hold sway even at the expense of state stability and security. Again like the US sexual harassment   is the major sociological pursuit   of the moment along with gay rights and sexual equality. How   all these political   and socio – economic considerations   and values make or mar the practice of   democracy in these   nations is what I will examine next.

In Nigeria the present government got into power on an anti-corruption platform accentuated by the discovery, on getting power that its predecessor party in power had looted the nation’s treasury blind. The new president had health challenges, which given his age, were really not unexpected but he recovered but not early enough for the   Catholic bishops to tell him to his face during a visit that he has frittered away his goodwill capital. But the government   from  the beginning really never got   its bearing right as it was derailed by a palace coup at the start by a member of the party who became the President of the   Senate, the No. 3    position in our democracy. That political wound has been untreatable   and I think   that would be part of the reconciliation assignment of former Lagos state governor Asiwaju Bola Tinubu for the APC on the eve of the 2019 presidential elections. But that too is like a political hemlock   to a leader who should be in the forefront of leading the nation   at the next elections. For now crisis management is a priority for the ruling APC. That can only mean that it has lost sight of the more nagging issues like restructuring and the killing of Nigerians by herdsmen which has made a   beleaguered   state governor to ask his people to arm and defend themselves if the central   government can not do so against well armed herdsmen. This issue will overshadow any fence mending in the APC because it is the party in power and its best captain should be deployed to nip a   problem with high potential   to foment a civil war from going in that direction, rather than a protracted mend fencing which is like closing the stable doors after the horses have bolted.

With regard to the US I want to treat their democracy on a comparative basis with that of Russia since the US intelligence community has developed a rare paranoia   and sees Russia lurking behind any action of   the US president and has said Russia aided his election in 2016, which is something that annoys him no end. But really the US Intelligence community has short changed itself professionally by playing second fiddle to Russia on election hacking. Sexual harassment too is fuelling   that Russian fiddling allegation. But it   also shows a moral depravity heightened by Trump’s background and unexpected victory. Surely there can be no sexual harassment in the fact that his three former wives camapiagned for him. That gives him a right to applaud his aides competence while condemning sexual harassment in any form. Anyway a political culture that makes great noise over sexual advances several years old is an unserious and malicious one. That is what the US   has become in spite or despite the election of Trump and that is a sorry situation indeed without much   political   value   or respect for transparency and    justice as expected in any democracy.

At the other end Russia is mocking the US’ political and intelligence establishments . Russia under Putin is getting more religious and the Church and the state are partners on moral values while American politics is dominated by gay rights and sexual harassment. In addition Russians are proud that the mighty Americans cannot manage their elections and insist that Russians intervened   to elect an American president with all the wealth and technology that the Americans claim to be at their disposal. They wonder what sort of morality Americans have, given the pursuit of gay rights and sexual harassment. So who has the better democracy between the two worthy of emulation? Of course any African or Arab will favour the Russian democracy on its    anti gay rights    posture alone which is an anathema in their culture. Of course Americans will scoff at that, while comparing   gay rights with civil   liberties but that is an insult to such people and really the Americans funeral. Once again long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

February 17, 2018
Okorocha as instinctive monarchist

Imo State governor, Rochas Okorocha, is eternally fascinated by his own elocution. When he lets go of his words, neither time nor logic, nor yet his audience’s discomforts restrain him. Last Monday, he was again at his irrepressible best as he indirectly announced his preference for the state’s governorship position. In the account released to the press of the visit by some All Progressives Congress (APC) leaders to the governor, Sam Onwuemeodo, his press secretary, gave insight into the workings of Mr Okorocha’s mind. The visitors, all of whom were APC leaders from Owerri Municipal Council, suggested, according to the press secretary’s account, that the governor should endorse his chief of staff, Uche Nwosu, for the next governorship election. Mr Nwosu is a son-in-law to the governor.

Responding to his visitors’ blandishments, the governor craftily hid his secret longings for his pick despite the fact that, like most other governors, his desire to run things down to a tee appears boundless. In particular, monarchism is instinctive with him. Here is Mr Okorocha at his elocutionary and dissimulative best: “Uche Nwosu is hardworking, and never gets tired. He is a very humble young man. Not proud. Not arrogant. So, power won’t enter his head. In spite of the position he occupies, you can’t see him quarrelling with anybody or maltreating anybody. He does not segregate anybody, whether from Orlu or Owerri or Okigwe zone. He relates with people enviously. I have checked him in and out, I have not found him wanting. What the state wants is Imo governor and not Owerri Zone or Orlu Zone or Okigwe Zone governor. Zoning does not put food on the table of anybody. The young man is a team player who does not use his office to molest anybody. He has the qualities of a good leader. If he says he will run for governor, I will support him.”

Ignore the one or two howlers in the governor’s statement. Ignore also his cautionary declaration of support. What is clear is that Mr Okorocha has made up his mind. So, too, in all probability, has his son-in-law. They can’t fool the public. Indeed, going by the nature of politics in these parts, the APC leaders’ visit was most likely orchestrated. There is hardly any governor in Nigeria who is not interested in who his successor is. Mr Okorocha is not an exception. What probably sets him apart is that he has declared support for his son-in-law, again, probably a first in Nigeria. It is possible that Mr Nwosu has all the qualities the governor adumbrated, and perhaps even much more. It is also possible that the visiting APC leaders were genuinely persuaded about the potential successor’s qualities, and were anxious to ensure that the state should be put in the hands of a person with a good head on his shoulders, someone not prone to the tremulousness that excessive ambition and bureaucratic and political arrogance confer on ill-bred leaders.

But regardless of the fears that prompted the governor to weave safety nets, it is also indubitable that Mr Okorocha is in theory and practice a monarchist. Last December, he had controversially appointed his sister, Ogechi Ololo, to the equally controversial Ministry of Happiness and Purpose Fulfilment. He defended both the ministry and his sister’s appointment thus: “The real essence of life is to be happy and to fulfil one’s purpose in life; Government officials are elected to address this. Happiness and Purpose Fulfilment ministry, therefore, is established for the lost time to correct the policy framework to guide ministries and departments on what they must do to guarantee the citizens’ happiness and contribute better to the society. This is the very reason people elect their leaders: to guarantee their happiness and purpose fulfilment. A great leader therefore, is one who provides happiness to the people. Unfortunately, this vital element of our social lives has not been properly addressed…The choice of Mrs Ogechi Ololo, a Masters Degree Holder in computer Science, USA, who has been the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Governor on Domestic Matters and Food Security, can be described as a round peg in a round hole.”

Mr Okorocha has a little over a year to go as governor. There is, therefore, not much any Imolite can do to mitigate his monarchism, let alone his insatiable romance with rhetoric. They will nevertheless hope that they can do something about coping with and penalising his offensive monarchical inclinations. He has made an inspiring case for his son-in-law as the next governor, but Imolites know that the young man is untested politically and, despite the governor’s confidence, even emotionally. Mr Okorocha is at liberty to support anyone he likes, but it is not certain that he has done so with the judgement and cleverness he seems to repeatedly arrogate to himself. Respect for democracy and its processes requires that the governor approach the issue of succession with all the restraint and gravitas the constitution enjoins those in position of leadership. But Mr Okorocha is feisty, bold, sometimes mocks people’s feelings, and above all, carries himself, in words and deeds, with the insouciant airs of royalty and snobbishness. He is, therefore, unlikely to be mortified by his choices for the Happiness ministry and the governor’s office in 2019 notwithstanding public remonstrances.

There is nothing substantial to defend the allegation that Mr Okorocha, despite his controversiality, is divisive. He is undoubtedly ambitious, and he hopes that his unquenchable zeal for his party, not to say his well-known eloquence and derring-do, will somehow earn him a shot at the presidency sometime in the future, when the country manages to achieve a consensus in favour of the Igbo. He is also quite exposed, has a crossover appeal, and regardless of the cynicism of many Imolites in an age when the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) seems to have captured the imagination of the Igbo, is well regarded by many politicians outside the Igbo region. But his inscrutable tendency for frivolity, such as his creation of the Happiness ministry and the erection of statues in honour of disreputable local and international figures, raises eyebrows not only in the Southeast but also all over Nigeria.

With the exception of Lagos State, no other state has had any measure of success in guided, but nevertheless democratic, governorship succession. Not in the Southeast, nor in the North. Mr Okorocha will hope to buck the trend if he can manage by dint of legitimate balloting to get his protégé and in-law elected into office. He himself has neither been an instant success as governor nor an enduring success, given his many questionable policies and projects. But even if he gets Mr Nwosu to occupy the Government House in Owerri, there is nothing to suggest that his trust in his chosen successor’s talents and the Owerri APC leaders’ conviction that he best approximates the state’s needs are unimpeachable.

It is of course assumed that when the time comes for the party to elect its standard-bearer Mr Okorocha will let the party’s internal processes function transparently. Equally, when it comes to statewide polls in 2019, it is hoped that he will neither contemplate nor countenance the erection of obstacles designed to thwart popular will. He may have the tendency to dominate everything around him, as many in the state and outside have suggested, but it is expected that beyond developing a preference for a candidate and announcing it, Mr Okorocha will do nothing to undermine the system. Should he do what is right, it will be unusual of him; but it will greatly enhance his public confession as a democrat and stand the state in good stead to reinforce its claim to regional and Igbo leadership.

February 17, 2018
Professor Akin Oyebode’s prescience

The distinguished legal scholar, diligent researcher, outstanding teacher, principled academic of unimpeachable integrity and prodigious author, Professor Akin Oyebode, recently retired from the University of Lagos having attained the mandatory retirement age of 70. Of course, his illustrious career continues to be widely celebrated by his students, colleagues, relatives and numerous admirers.

Unfortunately, I am one of those who only admired him over the years from a distance. I was not privileged either to be his student or to be even casually acquainted with him. Yet, his strong and impeccable character, diligent and meticulous scholarship and courage, even in times of grave national crisis, to speak truth to power, never ceased to make an impression on me.

Even though I never knew him personally or had the opportunity to take refreshing gulps from his deep, ever fresh spring of knowledge and wisdom, Professor Oyebode’s collection of selected essays titled ‘Law and Nation-building in Nigeria’ has been one of my constant companions over the last few years. Quite apart from the pungency of his views, the acuteness of his intellect, I am often drawn to this book by the clarity of his thought and the lucidity with which he expresses them.

Published by the Centre for Political and Administrative Research (CEPAR), Ogba, Ikeja, Lagos, in 2005, the book, which runs into 274 pages, is subdivided into four sections and has 24 chapters. Section one deals with Jurisprudential issues, Section two with Constitutionalism, Law and Development, Section three with The Legal System and the Judicial Process and Section four with Law and the Economy. What comes across in all the essays in the book is Professor Oyebode’s passion for justice, his aversion to all forms of oppression and his commitment to the greatest good of the greatest number of the people. One of the essays which I found most interesting in the book is the distinguished scholar’s perception of ‘The Role of Lawyers in the Society’, which was the focus of a lecture he delivered to the Ekiti State Ministry of Justice Retreat, Ikogosi, on September 14, 2002.

For Professor Oyebode, as adumbrated in that lecture, the most important challenge confronting lawyers in the country today is to utilize their specialized professional skills to assist in working towards the adoption of a new constitution reflecting the various interests, needs and aspirations of the diverse components of the polity. The second challenge, he argues, is to save the legal profession from atrophy. He contends that the problem with the country’s legal system is not the absence of laws but rather the lack of a collective will to abide by the dictates of the law. Man’s movement away from the Hobbesian State of nature to a civilized existence, the author reasons, implies the existence of laws to guide and regulate human behavior and interactions. Since a government predicated on laws is superior to one dependent on the whims and caprices of men, it follows that “those who make the law their vocation always find relevance if not, in fact, preeminence in the scheme of things”.

But then this very fact confers grave and onerous responsibilities on the lawyer as regards his role in society. In Professor Oyebode’s words, “It must be emphasized, though, that the enviable status being prescribed for lawyers in society needs to be jealously guarded. Those among us who run foul of the rules of professional ethics should be prepared to be burnt at the stake! For a profession that is unable to sanitize its ranks would soon forfeit self-respect or indeed recognition and admiration from the rest of society”. For a lecture delivered over a decade and a half ago, is the distinguished professor not remarkably prescient given the state of the legal profession in the country today?

Professor Oyebode is of the view that since law is a means to an end, we must apprehend the ends of the law in order to better appreciate and correctly locate the role of lawyers in the society. He agrees with the position of the great jurist, Dr. T.O. Elias expressed in the 1970s that “the tasks confronting law in Nigeria were those of facilitating economic development, elevating our moral nature, welding our heterogeneous communities into a united polity and evolving a common law for the country”.

Professor Oyebode was equally prescient when in a paper he presented to the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at the University of Lagos in 1994, he made a case “that it was time we did away with the shibboleth of rule of law and embrace the seemingly novel notion of the rule of just law or, more plainly, the rule of justice in order to re-establish the link between law and social reality”. This discourse presaged by over two decades, current arguments in this dispensation as regards whether or not the ongoing anti-corruption war should be waged within the context of the rule of law. According to him, a deformed liberal state like Nigeria can ill afford a position which extols the rule of law especially given usurpation of political power by miscreants for most of our post-colonial history and the attempts by these to enforce their will through the so-called rule of law.

In his words, “Accordingly, the law must provide a framework for the realization of the yearnings of the preponderant majority of the population if it is to have any relevance to their existence. Thus, it is not sufficient for the constitution to proclaim equality before the law when legal services are priced beyond the reach of the ordinary person. Nor can we talk of the right to life when the constitution fails to guarantee the right to work. As Obarogie Ohonbamu had asked some years ago, “what, indeed, is freedom of thought and expression to someone who is a crass illiterate? What is ‘one man, one vote’ to a hungry unemployed citizen?”

February 10, 2018
Update on Odu’a group’s resurgence

Whatever may be their personal idiosyncrasies, political inclinations or attitudinal dispositions, the current crop of South West governors deserve commendation for the efforts and energies they have expended thus far in pursuing the cause of South West regional economic integration. It is under the purview of the current governors, for instance, that the Development Agenda of Western Nigeria (DAWN) was established to serve as the intellectual powerhouse to generate ideas and provide a forum of robust discourse to constantly renew and strengthen the cause of South West regional economic integration.

A momentous milestone was reached in this regard when, on assumption of office of Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode as Governor of Lagos State in 2015, the region’s Megacity state officially became a formal member of the Oodu’a Group of Companies in February, 2016, through the Ibile Holdings, the Lagos State Investment Company thus bringing the phenomenal asset base and economic potential of Lagos to bear on the fortunes of the Oodu’a conglomerate. Throughout 2017, the South West governors demonstrated their commitment to the economic integration of the region and one can say that the South West is showing the light for others to find the way in this regard. At various times in 2017, the South West governors held meetings to assess and deepen the process of South West integration in Ado-EKiti, Ekiti State, in February 2017; Abeokuta, Ogun State, in July, 2017; and a South West Economic Forum in Ibadan on November, 21, 2017.

The governors utilized each of these deliberative sessions to elaborate on their plans for a collaborative developmental enterprise in diverse areas including education, agriculture, security, transport, infrastructure, trade, commerce and sports. Some of the far reaching goals and objectives the governors set for themselves include harnessing the competitive advantage of constituent states for sustainable regional development; the establishment of a Western Nigeria Export Development Initiative (WENEDI) to drive the region’s export potentials; the codification of Yoruba values and ethos to strengthen Yoruba identity and unity of purpose; building a multi-modal transportation system, including highways, water and air, energy and power and the adoption of the South West Regional Integrated Commercial and Agricultural Development Programme (RICARD) with Lagos earmarked to be at the vanguard of a structured regional food exchange programme.

It is not surprising that in their determined pursuit of regional economic integration and cooperation in the South West, the region’s governors have opted to utilize the Oodu’a Group of companies, a massive investment outfit that traces its roots to Chief Obafemi Awolowo’s visionary Action Group (AG) Western Region Government in the First Republic, as its Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) in this regard. Although the conglomerate had been largely moribund before the assumption of office of the current Mr. Adewale Raji-led management team in 2014, its resurgence and growing financial vibrancy must have encouraged the governors to place their confidence in it for the realization of their regional economic integration objectives.

For instance, the Group’s audited accounts revealed that its Profit Before Tax grew from N378 million to N597 million in 2015 thus making it possible to pay the sums of N167 million and N194 million respectively as dividends to its shareholders for the 2014 and 2015 financial years. It is instructive that no such dividends had been paid in the preceding six years. Impressed by the performance of the conglomerate under its new management, the owner State governors, after a meeting in Ibadan on January 19, 2016, resolved to help raise the company’s revenue base from N4 billion to N20 billion in 2019. They also resolved to re-position Oodu’a Investment Company as the engine room for the economic growth of the South West.

Even more importantly, the governors resolved to allow the conglomerate to run as a purely commercial and professional outfit without the political interference and partisan interventions that had impeded its progress over the years. Given a free hand to operate professionally, the Adewale Raji-led management team has also corrected critical organizational lapses that had helped erode the efficacy and profitability of the Oodu’a Group over the years. For instance, in his anniversary lecture to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Oodu’a Group in December, 2016, Professor Wale Omole (OFR) had noted that “It is disturbing that a Board of a conglomerate will have neither the Statutory Audit Committee, nor Finance and General Purposes Committee. This is a clear violation of the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990 (CAMA). How are domestic reports dealt with? Where is the heart of the business? Where are strategies formulated, evaluated, tested and refined?”.

With these gaping loopholes plugged by the Adewale Raji-led management team with the staunch support of the Board Chairman, Engineer Olusola Akinwumi, and other board members as well as owner state governors, it is not surprising that the Oodu’a Group continues to consolidate on the recovery and gains of the last four years. Thus, the company announced a profit before tax of N789 million from a turnover of N1.89 billion for the financial year ended 31st December, 2016. As a result of this performance, the Group declared and paid out a gross dividend of N277 million to its shareholders, which represents a 43% increase over the N194 million paid for the 2015 financial year.

Despite the effects of the recession from which the economy is only gradually emerging, Oodu’a Group’s revenue in 2016 grew by 11.3% while profit increased by 32% in comparison with the 2015 financial year. Even though much of this year will be given to electioneering campaigns towards next year’s elections, it is important that the South West governors do not relent or allow themselves to be distracted from their laudable efforts towards regional economic integration particularly through DAWN and the resurgent Oodu’a Group.

Icon of change

All too often, most of us look to those in key leadership positions especially at the political level to initiate and embody the change we desire to see in our society. Thus, we tend to believe that the positive change we crave for can only begin and end with President Muhammadu Buhari, state governors, national and state legislators or other leaders who hold prominent positions of influence. Yet, there are others who believe that change can actually begin with their personal examples in the little corners in which they find themselves. This was probably what the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohamed meant when he launched his ‘change begins with me’ campaign early in the life of this administration.

One of such self-motivated, highly influential change agents in their professional spheres is Dr. Benjamin, Oluwatosin, Olowojebutu, a dynamic, 36-year old medical doctor and surgeon who graduated from the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, in 2006. An alumnus of the 2017 Leadership in International Health Management, University of Washington, USA, Dr. Olowojebutu was on the 1999 Merit List for academic excellence of the University of Lagos and the best biology student in Lagos State JETS competition in 1997 in addition to several other professional and academic awards.

Olowojebutu

After stints at various private hospitals across the country, this dynamic professional established the Liberty-Life Hospital, Ogudu, Lagos, in 2016 where he is Medical Director. If the acquisition of wealth was his primary preoccupation, Dr Olowojebutu would have absolutely no problems given his consummate skills. However, this is a medical doctor with a difference. He is motivated by compassionate and altruistic considerations. Thus, in 2016, Liberty Life Hospital conducted 865 free medical screening and surgeries for indigent persons. In September 2017, his hospital undertook 85 free surgeries for hernia, hydrocele, breast lumps and Lipoma. And between October and December, 2017, he carried out free fibroid surgeries on 57 indigent women.

For 2018, Dr. Olowojebutu and his team are scheduled to carry out free surgeries for hernia, hydrocele, breast lump, Lipoma, Keloids and fibroids from April 9th – 27th; August 6th – 24th and December 3rd-21st. More than 70 indigent persons have already registered for the first set of free surgeries in April. Surely, this patriotic and selfless icon of change deserves the moral and financial support of Nigerians.

February 10, 2018
Separation of powers and clash of interests

Human experience in terms of political power has shown massively that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That was what the   ancient   Greek political philosophers elucidated on   from Socrates, to Plato and Aristotle at one end and the Italian philosopher Machiavelli weaved into a master strategy to claim power for its own ends or sheer self interest at the other end, to make a study of power and its uses and abuse   an elusive study in terms of where it starts or where it ends. An old saying says that you can never know the true nature of any man or leader till he gets power to lord it over his fellow human beings. That really is a statement of fact and is the underlying thought for our topic of today.

We start with Africa today and   the reason is not far fetched if you followed events in S Africa, Kenya   and Nigeria in this last one week. In Asia, especially in the two Koreas, a dangerous game of sports and nuclear politics is being played out with the   Winter Olympics expected to happen even as North Korea has vowed to stage a military exercise on the threshold of the Games. Which is a very dangerous proposition that can escalate in terms of violence and loss of lives at the drop of a hat. Both situations on the Korean Peninsular and the three nations mentioned before will be analysed in the context of separation powers as in a presidential system   and the conflict of interests attendant on these events.

We look first at S Africa where elders of the ruling ANC paid a visit   this week to the incumbent President Jacob Zuma and asked him to resign and he first refused. At first Zuma’s reason was that even though he was corrupt, he had refunded the money in question and he should be allowed to complete his tenure. Later sanity prevailed according to reports, and he agreed to go, after a one on one discussion with   the man expected to take over as leader of the party and president of the nation, Cyril Ramaphosa. In   addition to this the usual   State of the Union Address of the South African president was postponed as there were protests on the streets for Zuma to go with the Nelson Mandela Foundation issuing a statement that the S African nation can no longer wait for him to go.

Two issues come out of Zuma’s reaction to the prodding for him to go. The first is that power had blinded him to his corrupt practices   such that he thought restitution of stolen funds was enough punishment for him to be accommodated and forgiven by both party and nation.   He found out too late though that he was wrong. Secondly he had forgotten that he   was   to have been removed for corruption as Vice President to President Thabo Mbeki but he manipulated the same party machinery to portray Mbeki as’ holier than thou ‘and highhanded and it was Mbeki that the party asked to go instead of him. Surely Zuma should know now that even though the mills of justice may grind slowly, they grind exceedingly. Especially where there   is no shortage of brave frank leaders as the ANC has shown the world this last week.

In Kenya we saw that the newly declared Peoples President Rahula Odinga   has now asked   for new elections by August 2018. Why he chose that date is a mystery he only could solve. Which to me is like putting the cart before the horse. He could have said this before declaring himself president and exposing himself to a charge of high treason. In addition I must register my admiration to the restraint shown by the president of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta so far. Perhaps what   is holding his hand was the fact that he was charged for genocide in the post election violence of the 2007   Kenya presidential elections and what saved him then was that he won the 2012 elections in Kenya and witnesses did not come to the Hague to give evidence against a sitting president. If that is the deterrence, it is a good one and it shows that the concept of separation of   powers can on some occasions contain provocations and blind promotion of selfish power interests . Although in terms of separation of powers and rule of law the Kenyan government had disobeyed court orders to open the   shut media houses,   one can still regard that   as a mild offence in the face of the blantant provocation of the inauguration of a president other than the last elected one which for now is Uhuru Kenyatta.

In Nigeria the raging issue is that of the killing of Nigerians in some states by those said to be Fulani herdsmen. The situation has not been helped by the Minister of Defence saying that the cause of the killings was because those killed blocked the grazing routes of the Fulani herdsmen. The Inspector General was also reported to have made the same observation.

This has led to the House of Representatives passing a resolution that the President should sack the Police IG. Coming on the heels of a court order that the Senate has the authority to approve the appointment of   the boss of the EFCC, an appointment   that the Senate has refused to approve and which the government has refused to change or reconsider, then, you know that there is no love lost between the executive, the judiciary and the legislature in Nigeria’s agile presidential political system.

However it remains to be seen how the legislature can make the executive do its bidding when the duty of the legislature is to make laws enforceable   and interpreted by the other two arms of government in our separation of powers system.

Obviously the government feels that both the EFCC boss and the IG are doing their jobs to the best of their abilities and I presume that under such circumstances government will boost the morale of its appointees by giving them moral and even physical support   as it is doing at present. This may overheat the system but really it is the duty of government to bring order out of chaos and there is no doubt that its handling of the herdsmen killings has stretched it capacity to instill order and stability to breaking point. There have been reports that the army   will be conducting military exercises in the affected states nation wide. We expect such exercises to bring order and peace into the   states and areas affected by the killings At least this will be a far cry from the military exercises expected at the Korean Peninsular during the ongoing Winter Olympics which simply throws the games into jeopardy and is an ill wind that   can only fuel fear and insecurity when all that area needs for the peace of our time is friendship and stability. Once again, long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

February 10, 2018