The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Two years without the girls

    Time’s famous therapy has failed to heal the Chibok wound. The schoolgirls, all 276 of them, were reportedly busy prepping for their exam on April 14, 2014 when Boko Haram insurgents showed up in their school in Chibok village, Borno State and took them away. En route to captivity, 57 managed to escape, we heard, leaving 219 with the abductors till today. It was two years on Thursday since that grim event.

    Usually, good old time has a way of sucking off grief and pain in the human system after a period, making it possible for estranged lovers, say, to make up, look each other in the eye and say I forgive you. A cheated businessman grits his teeth and says, Well, I can’t live the rest of my life brooding over that crook. A robbery victim, like the biblical Esau, with murder in his eyes, finally learns the wisdom of forgiveness.

    Time does wonders.

    But in Chibok, its magic may well have disappeared or, at the least, been dulled. On the gloomy anniversary of the abduction, grief surged through mothers’ plagued bodies afresh, clouding their eyes and, I guess, their minds as well. One woman grabbed her head with both hands, moving her upper body in a split second downward jerk. It was a gesture with a clear message, one of something too hard to bear.

    The women were before a computer screen on which was being shown a video recording of some 15 hijab-clad girls believed to be among those abducted two years before.

    It was a CNN master report, a scoop, in industry language. The women peered intently. One pointed to one image, as though saying, That’s her, alright. Another reached out and touched the screen, appearing to draw momentary comfort from virtual contact with her beloved daughter.

    That footage has been beamed to the world in what has been dubbed the hope of life, almost in the same manner as the image of such celebrities as Michelle Obama clutching BringBackOurGirls placards were viewed globally in those ineffectual days of the Jonathan presidency. Across the world, from Europe to America and beyond, and before world leaders and entertainment icons, such as Wesley Snipes, Nigeria was making all sorts of hideous headlines.

    How did the then president and commander-in-chief respond? He responded with an emphatic I-do-not-believe-it, a disposition that would last for nearly three weeks before he set up a committee to determine if it was true or not. Before the committee turned in its report, which in any case confirmed the obvious, it was a good one month since the girls were taken away, in which time hope of rescue was all but foreclosed.

    If Dr Goodluck Jonathan realised that he had lost valuable ground, that the missing girls were as tormented, wherever they were, as were their parents, and that the eyes of the world were on him, he did not show it convincingly. Thus, when he was dressed up in some ill-fitting military battle gear and headed for the Northeast, then stomping ground of the sect, he could only draw a hopeless sigh from the people over whom he presided. When he announced languidly on national TV that the military had combed the much-trumpeted Sambisa forest and found nothing, even he knew that he could not in all honesty expect even the obligatory applause.

    As the  nation and its people resigned to fate on the abducted girls, to say nothing of Boko Haram’s other atrocities, Dr Jonathan would kick off such an ambitious reelection campaign whose funding schemes may yet go down in the country’s history as the most bizarre. And while we struggled to come to terms with all that, the Office of the First Lady or OFL came alive with some reverse entertainment, especially on the Chibok issue.

    If Dr Jonathan lost his reelection bid simply because he failed to prove his leadership bona fides, his handling of the Chibok matter did him little good. His super minister Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has reportedly said her boss had no will to save money, a failing the Buhari administration is now paying for.

    It is also safe to say Dr Jonathan blew the opportunity to rescue the Chibok girls, leaving his successor with quite a mountain to climb. Two years after the Chibok and other abductions, and about 11 months into the Buhari presidency, the Boko Haram profile has thankfully diminished but the sect’s horrors endure.  That much was clear at the screening of the Chibok 15 video in Abuja. Chibok parents are no longer keen on talking to reporters or showing up for protests. All they want is seeing their daughters again.

    Can President Muhammadu Buhari pull it off? Yes, but probably not with military efforts. The sect seems to want a negotiated release. The government should negotiate, but be sure with whom it is negotiating. The administration before it had little discretion in this regard and the nation was the worse for it.

    One last word. Some have said the whole abduction thing is a scam designed to throw Dr Jonathan out of power. If it is not all faked up, they ask, why has none of the captured Boko Haram fighters volunteered any information on the missing girl’s whereabouts?

    Supposing the captured insurgents have such information and do share it, is it now being contemplated that the full complement of the military should risk swooping on their location and expect to safely ship out all 219 girls?

    Perhaps only credible negotiation leading to the safe return of the girls will heal this two-year-old wound.

  • Budget, authority and leadership deficits

    A  writer  in an Economist of  London’s  publication some years  back identified  what  he called Authority deficit in global  politics leaving a  security  vacuum being filled  by Islamic  militancy. Having been used  to budget deficit in economic scenarios  and analysis, I  found  the terminology  fascinating and it has fired my imagination for the topic of today. I  will  therefore  shed  more light on the notion of authority deficit before going into the  more familiar budget deficit of Economic  Planning.  I will   then plough  back the two into  the arena of leadership deficit as  both fall under the purview  of political  leaders  both local  and global who  take decisions on them and are  thus to be held responsible  for the  consequences of their actions  and inactions, as  the buck stops on their powerful  tables  – as  the saying goes.

    The  Economist Analyst  spoke  then  about a decline of world order since the end  of  the Cold War   and  the hope  of the civilized world   that order  will  prevail  and  be sustained  in a  Unipolar world   led   by the US   after   the fall  of  the  Berlin Wall  and the  collapse  of the former  Soviet  Union. Unfortunately  America’s moral  authority  took  a fatal  blow  from the invasion of Iraq  on the false premise   of   the existence  of weapons  of mass destruction  and  human  rights  violation  at  Guatanamo   Bay. In addition  the analyst  wondered  at the justice  of a world  order and global authority based  on a UN Security  Council   made  up  of winners  of  a  World  War  which  ended  in  1945  and which pointedly left out  Emerging world players and new  powerful    world markets like Brazil  and  India who  are part  of the BRIC  nations namely Brazil, Russia, India, China  and  S.Africa.  This perception of an unjust  world  order has therefore led to a global lack  of respect  for an unfairly  constituted  global  authority.

    Thus creating the authority deficit  which Islamic  Militancy  has exploited and  this too  has led  to the emergence  of  ruthless terrorists groups  like Al Quada, Taliban, ISIS and  Boko  Haram which  are trying to create  borderless  caliphates in a world castrated by  an  authority  deficit  crassly  unable   to check and bring them to order.

    This  analysis  was  written in 2007 a year  before  George  Bush the 33rd  US  President  and the scapegoat  of the  2003  Iraqi invasion with  British PM at the time, left  office.  America’s  loss  of moral authority which created the authority  deficit we  are  talking about now,  created  the political  and electoral  climate  that made present US President   Barak  Obama the next and 34th president of the US   in  the 2008  presidential    elections. This week   in  2016 as  the presidential   election  campaigns  to  elect his successor takes  steam   US  President  Barak    boldly  if not  naively lamented  that the worst  mistake of his administration in foreign policy was in not planning for  the aftermath  of the overthrow  of the Muammar  Gaddafi, the former  ruler  of Libya. He  went  on to say that because  the US  and  its allies have  blocked  or chased ISIS  out  of Syria  and   Iraq, ISIS  fighters  are  now regrouping in Libya and  that is responsible  for  the present  state  of anarchy that  Libya  is experiencing. That  to  me is very brilliant  and candid  analysis  by the US  President. But  it  is also an admission of responsibility by  the leader  responsible  for the best illustration of the  notion   and   existence  of authority deficit in our time.

    The  Obama lamentation  on  Libya can  be appraised from  a troika  of perspectives,  all of which confirm his vintage credentials  as an exponent of authority  deficit in foreign  policy  and none  of which is pleasant for him,  his  legacy, his political  party and  the world at  large.  This  is not difficult  to see and that is why the lamentation was so  difficult  to believe that  he was the one saying it and not someone else and  I will clearly show this.

    Let  me  start by  looking at the impact  of the Obama Libya lamentation on the ongoing  US  presidential  election campaigns especially with the chances  of Hillary  Clinton, the front runner for Obama’s  party, the Democratic  Party.  Of  course there is no need to  imagine what  Donald  Trump, the Republican  Party front runner would  make  of the lamentation as he would certainly take Obama,  who  he once called a security risk  to the cleaners  on that. With  regard  to  the Democratic  Party which   Vice  President Biden literally asked  to  campaign on the  Obama  legacy  when he stepped  down from  contesting for the presidency to succeed Obama, lamentation  has  become a  political  albatross  or hemlock  for Hillary  Clinton and  Bernie  Sanders, the two  front runners  for the Democratic  Party’s Presidential  nomination. This  is because  a policy of mistakes on foreign policy is hardly  a good sales  pitch to sell a presidential  candidate not to talk  of a candidate  of the party of  the  outgoing president making an admission  of failure or mistake  in that regard. In addition the timing seems calculated  to harm the nomination chances of Hillary  Clinton as she was the Secretary of State with Obama  at the time  Gaddafi was deposed and Barak  Obama has hailed that as the high point of her foreign  policy achievements.

    Definitely  the president’s   Libya   lamentation  has given her achievements a kick  in the ass out of the  window  and  made  her a sitting duck  for wicked  jokes of lack  of leadership qualities and judgement  from,  first Bernie  Sanders her opponent in her party  and most dangerously  from the Republican’s Donald  Trump. But then  as Hillary’s  presidential  ambitions  take  a turn  for the worse her  boss  too must  accept  responsibility  for the authority and leadership deficit  so much  on display in this Libya lamentation.  This  is  because  after Hillary left as  Obama’s  Secretary  of State Obama  made  a worse  mistake in Syria than  the one he is now lamenting on Libya,  on  Syria by drawing a red line for that nation to cross  on the possession  and use  of chemical  weapons on  Syrians by their own President Bashar  Assad. The  Syrians  crossed Obama’s  red line amply illustrated by the famous  –  We  know – speeches  by  Hillary’s  successor as Secretary  of  State,  John Kerry  who  gave  graphic  accounts  of the use of chemical  weapons by the Syrian  leader against  his people and prepared the mind of the world and the Syrian  rebels  against air strikes against  the  Assad regime.

    This  however  never happened  against  the  observance  of violations  of American  values  going  on  in Syria because President Obama  lost the stomach  for the air strikes and  that led unfortunately to the rise  of ISIS, the  destruction  of Syria, the establishment of a Russian  base in Syria, and  the mass  flow  of Syrian  refugees  into  the  EU  nations,  which  has become  the huge  humanitarian  crisis  of our  time. Really  the  Obama  Libyan lamentation is unbelievable  but there   is no doubt on the real source of both the authority and leadership deficits and  the attendant  seen  and  unseen dire,  tragic   diplomatic   and global consequences.

    We  go  next  to the Nigerian scene this week on the topic  of the day. Two   issues strike my attention  for  comment and analysis. The first was   the  President’s trip  to China ostensibly  to seek funds or loans to finance our budget  deficit. The  second was  the statement  credited to the president   in  China  that he  would defeat  pipeline vandals  like he defeated  Boko  Haram.

    Starting with the China deficit  financing trip I think  it is a step in the right  direction and a welcome departure  from  IMF  and  World Bank  loans whose repayment terms  have ruined  not only our  economy but that  of several African and developing  nations. China has  a growing economy and the largest population and  consumers of goods and services in the world  and needs minerals, oil and many products that  we  have  for its population. It  is in order  for it to fund infrastructure loans to have access to the needs of its blooming population  and we certainly need  the money  to grow our economy and provide jobs  for  our  youths. In  addition  we are in the fight against  corruption  for which China has zero  tolerance and  has a penalty  of the death  sentence  for  corruption  which it regards as economic sabotage. We should  borrow a leaf there before China  gets wise on that and makes it  a  loan  conditionality. Looting of state funds  needs to  attract lethal deterrence  certainly  above  media ridicule  and  mere opprobrium  as  we  have  now.

    On  the  issue  of defeating  pipeline vandals like  Boko  Haram  we should  be more careful as  comparisons  can be odious and escalating where  terrorism  is concerned. Pipe line vandals are thieves  and not terrorists  we should  not  give them  importance they  don’t deserve so that it does not get into their heads. Boko  Haram started with youths on motor bikes  who  should have been  sorted  out speedily  by the appropriate security  forces  who  looked the other way.  Now  Boko  Haram  has gone international and is threatening not only  the Sahel  but even  Ghana. Pipeline vandals should be apprehended  and  dealt  with pronto  and effectively but  should never  be compared to Boko  Haram, please. As  at  now  the government  has  an authority  deficit  on  Boko  Haram if only because the   200 Chibok  girls  have  not been found for two years now and this government   has been in power  for almost  a year now.

    On  the budget and  leadership deficit as I have  analysed  the government  has my kudos and  is moving in the right  direction. Once again long live the Federal  Republic  of  Nigeria.

  • Global corruption, the law and the state

    It  would  appear-   from  the latest Panama Papers  Scandal involving the release of millions of deals by a law  firm  through  which the rich  and mighty use stolen funds by creating phony companies-  that  the  war  against  corruption in  Nigeria is just  the tip  of the ice  bag. Like  I  said  last  week  corruption  is  not  a distinctly  peculiar  Nigerian  malady  as some  people  would  have us believe. Indeed  the scale  of the  Panama Papers Scandal  seems  to  have  stolen   our  thunder and resolve to crush  corruption but   we  must  remain  focused  and resolute  as  a nation   and people   to   sanitise     and   cleanse  our  nation    and   society   of  the cancer   of  corruption.

    The   Panama Papers  leak involve transactions and  phony  companies’ fixed’ for the rich by a Panama law firm and  the import is even greater  than that of Wikki  Leaks  which  focused  on diplomatic information  and confidential  matters. Already  the  impact  has been global and volatile.  President Vladmir  Putin of  Russia who  was  not named but  whose friends were  credited  with  billions of dollars  has  rebutted  the Panama Papers  as transparent  but has nevertheless  said their release  was  a  plan by the west  to  destabilize  Russia. But  his  critics  have  pointed out that his friends and cronies  could  have been  fronting for him  and  keeping money  for  him   by proxy as is the practice  in tax  havens globally. Some  Nigerians  too  have been  named although I  will  not discuss  or name them  yet  as the  title  of this piece  has a different focus  on the state  and the law  in the face  of global  corruption which  I shall  look  at from the perspective  of the Nigerian state, the law  and its practice  in  Nigeria.

    Indeed  corruption  has gone global and  has already  claimed powerful leaders  as victims while preparing  to  gobble  others  even  more  powerful and  hitherto thought  to be untouchable  and  above  board. The  Panama  Leaks  has claimed  the Prime  Minister  of  Iceland  who was  involved  in cleaning the banking system  but had phony companies  owned with  his wife  while still holding public  office. In  Brazil  as noted  last  week  the  President  Dilmar  Rousseff  is  fighting  for her political  life and this week a Congressional  Committee  gave the nod for  impeachment  proceedings  to start  against  her. Even  Brazil’s Vice  President  who  should take over  from Dilmar  in case of impeachment  is also to face investigations  on  charges  of  corruption  too which  means that the Brazilian political  system  and state  is under  siege  from the scourge  of  corruption and  this is a testy time  for Brazilian  law  makers  and the nation’s  legal  system.

    Similarly  the S African  President Jacob  Zuma    this  week  survived an impeachment scare  in  Parliament in that   nation  mainly  on the  majority  strength  of his  ruling  ANC  in  Parliament. Before  that  he  had  apologized  to  the  nation claiming that as at the time he was using state  funds to  renovate  his country  house he did  not know  he was violating the  constitution. For  now  all  what  one  can  say  is that every  dog   has its  day  and  Zuma   has  definitely  had  his way  this time  around. No thanks  though  to party  loyalty  and    rather  dubious   party   discipline  that  has   not this  time served public  good, transparency, and    even   public  discipline, which  should  be the choice weapon  to fight  corruption  globally, including  in  Zuma’s  and sadly  the   incorruptible  and   immortal Nelson  Mandela’s  S  Africa. Which  really  is a  great  pity.

    It  is  on that  note and  mood  that I charge into the topic of today  and  the self – given assignment  of  two  eminent  Nigerian  lawyers   to  burnish  the   public   image  of  lawyers  in  Nigeria. The  first  is Abubakar  Mahmoud,  a Senior  Advocate  of  Nigeria who  is seeking  the office  of  President of the Nigerian Bar  Association who  openly  lamented  that Nigerians think  that 90%  of  Nigerian  lawyers  are  crooks and who  promised  to  change  that perception or  image  if elected  President of the NBA.  The  second  is  veteran politician and lawyer  Ayo  Opadokun, a  brave  voice  against military despotism in  Nigeria who reportedly lamented  that the anti  corruption  war  has shown that  the legal profession  needs  to rescue its hard  earned reputation as a learned profession from  the jaws of  the  opprobrium  of  corruption  and  criminality. It  is in the light  of the concern of  these  two gentlemen for  the image of  their profession which  is  called ‘learned’  by its practitioners  that  I  look  at the  issue  of global  corruption, the law  and the  state.

    I  start on the premise  that  the law  is  the basis of  the rule  of  law and the state  derives its security  and  stability from observance and enforcement  of its laws.  A  government  or  the state or the political system therefore  must  monopolise  the use  of force  in maintaining  its  rule within its given territorial  area to assure its  territorial  sovereignty and integrity  as well as ensuring  the safety of life and property  in its area of control and jurisdiction. In Nigeria  today government  or  the state is  a democracy  based  on the presidential  system  of government with  separation  of powers into  the executive, legislature and  judiciary. The  executive  is  the presidency  which rules  while the legislature makes  laws and  approves budgets and  war expenditure while the judiciary  adjudicates  in litigations involving individuals, the state and institutions. Today  our  focus  is on the third arm of   government the judiciary not  only as the  temple  of justice  but in the way lawyers  and litigants  operate  there and  how  that  is affecting the  political  system  generally and  the  war  against  corruption  in Nigeria  in  particular.

    It  is pertinent  to  note  that in Nigeria lawyers  are  well  regarded   as  well  educated  and  well  informed. It  is  not  unusual  to hear  admonitions asking if  you  are a lawyer on simple arguments  with a lawyer. Indeed  elderly  people  are  wont  to tell  you that you don’t argue  with a lawyer even if you  are an expert on a topic  that you feel a lawyer is dabbling into dangerously  ignorantly. It  is  therefore  highly  lamentable  that a SAN  is  seeking the presidency of the NBA on the platform  of rescuing the reputation of lawyers as  crooks  in society   and a much  older lawyer is sharing  that same concern.  But  then it is  not  a situation  to be wished away as it will  not, given the fact  that lawyers will always represent those involved in litigations with the EFCC on  corruption  charges  and over  50  lawyers  were said  to be present when  the EFCC  arraigned a SAN on  bribing a judge  recently. In  addition  the ongoing trial  of the  Senate  president as well as the way defence lawyers first walked out  and tried  to stall  the case on the issue of jurisdiction and  quorum up to the apex  court  and  tried  to repeat  the process after that cannot  but show  that lawyers  have  a penchant  for making an ass of the law in  Nigerian  and laughing all  the way to the bank  in  the process. How  that has  affected the image of the profession is the  root  of the quest of a SAN  for  the presidency of the apex lawyers  union and the fight of a veteran and  dogged  democrat  to salvage  the  remnants  of the reputation of  a profession  whose practitioners should  have known better that money  is  the root  of all evil. Lawyers  should  learn  that no  force in the universe can put  spilt milk  or  broken  egg  together,  and such  is the nature of reputations, even  of people and professions  of people claiming to be more learned  than  others in  the discharge  of their  duties  to  the state  and those  seeking their  services  in  the pursuit  of justice.

  • IMF and World Bank as patrons of poverty? (2)

    As we noted in the first instalment of this piece, Dr  Sylvester OdionAkhaine , in his book, ‘Patrons of Poverty: IMF/World Bank and Africa’s Problems’, traces the root causes of contemporary disorientation, disarticulation, disillusion and mal-development in Africa to the historical forces of slavery, colonialism and now neo-colonial imperialism. He cites the concrete examples of Senegal and British-Gambia to demonstrate that his thesis is no mere ‘leisure of the theory class’.  Those two countries were forced by the colonial administration to engage in overproduction of groundnuts for export to the detriment of the production of rice, which was their staple food crop. The consequence was that they became heavily dependent on rice importation from French Indo-China and India respectively.

    All across Africa, the emphasis of colonial economic policy was on production of cash crops for export leading to the persistent food crisis due to overdependence on food imports. As Dr Akhaine puts it, “Rodney saw in it what he called ‘irrational contradictions’ due to non-industrialization. Africans grew cotton and imported finished cotton goods, grew cocoa but imported chocolate beverages in a process of product round tripping…colonial production never allowed Africans to produce what they consumed and consequently became outward oriented economically”.

    Perhaps the two most important chapters in the book are the fourth and fifth, which interrogate the Western and African solutions, respectively, to the continent’s crisis of dependency and underdevelopment. The western policies propounded for Africa through the IFIs and mostly adopted by intellectually slavish and timid African policy elite include modernisation theory, Import Substitution Industrialisation, Washington Consensus/Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP) and Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. None of these policy initiatives helped to ameliorate the plight of African countries – indeed they only sank deeper into the morass of underdevelopment.

    Modernisation theory, for instance, Dr Akhaineexplicates, posited that African countries were backward and traditional societies that had to tread the trajectory of highly industrialised western countries to achieve modernisation and development. The rich industrialised countries of Europe and North America were put up as the developmental role models that African countries must seek to replicate. They did not realize, or perhaps did not bother, that this kind of development model by imitation engendered a feeling of inferiority and psychological inadequacy on the part of Africans that only made it more difficult for the latter to find a way out of the dark labyrinths of poverty, misery and despair.

    This dilemma was perhaps best captured by Professor Claude Ake, who lamented that “The colonisers convinced themselves and tried to convince us that our level of civilisation was sub-human…Now, two decades after political independence, the cult of inferiority continues to be nurtured by the ideology of development which Europe has foisted on us; this ideology represents Western society as the ideal state of being and African society as thoroughly bad and needing drastic change. It is no wonder that we the African elite suffer from an inferiority complex”.

    Modernisation theorists who drew up the immediate post-independence development plans for many African countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, Uganda among others emphasised external capital inflow in the form of loans and grants as well as increased agricultural production for exports to the detriment of domestic food sufficiency. The rich bauxite deposits of Ghana, Akhaine notes, could easily have supported a viable aluminium industry for the country. But there was a snag. Western experts deemed Ghana’s bauxite inferior and needing further enrichment from the West to enhance its suitability for industrial purposes.

    Thus, Akhaine describes these policy options as being “in the main, mechanisms for reproducing the unequal economic relations of the colonial epoch in a post-colonial setting, which many have referred to asneo-colonialism, the continuation of colonialism by means of economic dependence”. The author agrees with Professor OkwudibaNnoli that what was achieved was at best the ‘acquisition of artifacts’ such as bridges, trunk roads, stadia, ports etc which were not products of the indigenous productive or technological capacities of African countries.

    In a similar vein, the Import Substitution Industrialization strategies suggested to African countries by the IFIs only increased further import dependency, encouraged massive foreign exchange (capital) outflow and high budget deficits. This is because the strategy was based on large scale importation of equipment, machinery and high level technical skills to produce locally consumer and intermediate goods that were once imported.

    And despite the emphasis on Agriculture, rural development and employment, particularly by the United Nations (UN) development agencies, the 1980s was regarded as a lost decade for Africa with severe food shortages across the continent, drought in some areas, increased malnutrition, marked slump in manufacturing, manipulation of commodity prices by Western multinationals to the detriment of African countries and monstrous corruption by African countries all combining to drive the continent deeper into debt.

    As from the mid- 1980s, the IFIs began to urge the adoption of stringent Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP) by desperate, fiscally distressed African countries as a condition for external financial support. The same set of policies –exchange rate devaluation, market liberalisation, deregulation of controls, privatisation of public enterprises, removal of subsidies to the most vulnerable, downsizing of the public sector etc – were forced on practically all African countries irrespective of their peculiarities. At the end of the day, the SAPs practically wiped out the middle class in most African countries, destroyed social services, increased both poverty and inequality, compounded the debt problem and generally worsened the plight of these countries.

    The Western solutions to Africa’s crisis of development are juxtaposed by Dr Akhaine in chapter five with proposed home grown African solutions. Two major solutions to Africa’s problems originating from Africa are examined by the author. The first is the far reaching organisation of African Unity (OAU) 1980 Lagos Plan of Action (LPA), which, unlike the Western solutions focussed on concrete problems confronting the continent with the objective of achieving collective self-reliance for accelerated, non-dependent development. Areas covered by the LPA include food and resources, human resources development and utilization, science and technology, transport and communication, trade and finance, economic and technical cooperation, environment and development, energy, women and development, as well as development planning, statistics and population.

    The second major home grown development agenda by Africans for Africans is the African Alternative Framework to Structural Adjustment Programmes (AAA-SAPs) articulated by the UN Economic Commission for Africa. Summarising the thrust of AAA-SAP, Dr Akhaine writes that “Whereas SAP compels adjustments to the crisis in the global financial architecture in its domestic and external dimension, the alternative framework proffers for African economies structural transformation from its ‘structural disarticulation’, diversification and increased productivity in order to improve the lot of the African people and bridge the gap in the standard of living between them and the rest of the world”.

    It is a measure of the stranglehold that the IFIs have on the policy process in Africa and a confirmation of Dr Akhaine’s central thesis that these alternative home grown solutions were shot down by the IFIs and African leaders abandoned them for the IMF/World Bank-inspired African Priority Programme for Economic Recovery (APPER) – 1986-1990. The economies of African countries have unfortunately degenerated even further since then. Poverty has risen astronomically, the debt burden worsened and meaningful development more of a mirage than ever.

    To launch Africa on the path of true development, Dr Akhaine stresses the need for the requisite political will on the part of African leaders as well as the replacement of the current rent-seeking, neo-colonial African elite with new patriotic afro-centric elite. But then one wonders how this can be achieved without a far reaching revolution, which seems a remote prospect given the constellation of class forces in today’s world.

     However, it is difficult to fault the author’s endorsement of the position of the Tony Blair-inspired Commission of Africa that “Africa’s development must be shaped by Africans. History has shown us that development cannot and does not work if policies are shaped and forced by outsiders. It is Africa’s actions and leadership that will be the most progressive in generating resurgence in Africa, advancing living standards and taking forward the fight against poverty”.

  • Sylva, Kwankwaso: A puzzle

    Sylva, Kwankwaso: A puzzle

    Is the world fair to politicians? Or are politicians fair to the world? Deciding this week to write on two politicians-Timipre Sylva and Rabiu Kwankwaso- I did a quick check on the world’s favourite professionals and found that politicians are not among them. Indeed, most of earth’s walkers hate politicians.

    That may be unfair, if not unwise considering the age-old warning that all of us are indeed political animals and that from the house to the neighbourhood clubhouse, the playground, the farmland all the way to the school, the church, the local pub down to the smallest political gathering and from there right up to Aso Rock itself, there is politics aplenty.

    That’s not all. Hated as politicians seem to be, we depend on their decisions on almost everything we care about. They decide which roads to build, for instance, when to build, where to build, and which community to give water and which to deny.

    Bicker and twiddle your fingers all you want or scratch your head interminably, the decision on when to pass the budget, say, or what to knock off it or add, is not yours or mine to take; it is the politicians’, their prerogative.

    Isn’t it about time the world revised its rating of this breed or brood of professionals?

    In these parts we reserve the most uncharitable words for our politicians, though we are less persuaded and forthcoming when it comes to documenting our rating of them against other professionals. Elsewhere, though, in America, say, great trouble is taken to ascertain how much their people love or hate their professionals. In one poll taken back in the year 2006, 63 per cent of 1,020 people said they preferred their firefighters over and above anyone else. Next and roughly in that order, most people surveyed chose doctors, nurses and scientists as closest to their hearts. Military officers also did well in the people’s minds, even first responders in crisis situations (Remember September 11, 2001). So did teachers, specifically mathematicians.

    What about the politicians? They were neither here nor there, hated more than loved, and doing perhaps just a bit better than lawyers, for whom some 21 per cent polled said they had no respect whatsoever.

    In 2011 teachers trumped everyone else followed by medical people such as nurses, even physical therapists. Politicians were overlooked more by design than by oversight.

    This year, it has been suggested than most Americans would first embrace a pilot and then, again, those who help the weak regain their health before considering who next to bestow their love on. No mention was made of those who campaign for votes and then proceed to decide, for good or ill, the fate of their compatriots and their nation.

    Hate or love them, Mr Sylva and Alhaji Kwankwaso, at least once in their political career, did indeed prove they had a mind of their own and were not afraid to declare where they stood on issues or personalities. Several years ago in those unfortunately conspiratorial days of the ailing Umaru Yar’Adua presidency, when the word ‘cabal’ was nearly as frequently used as, if not more so than, the word ‘president’, when the president’s wife, with help from a few hirelings, carried on as though she were the de facto president, Mr Sylva did remind everyone that Dr Goodluck Jonathan, then a much sidestepped vice president, was indeed the right person to take up the office of president. Mr Sylva made his case for Dr Jonathan quite early, if not earlier than anyone else. Before a book presentation event at which I played a minor part, the then governor of Bayelsa State seemed to speak out of conviction and courage and a sense of propriety. What would later become a clamour, even a movement, for the Jonathan presidency against the cabal, had not begun at the time. A Niger Deltan was fit to rule the land, he told everyone.

    At that event, Mr Sylva also revealed something rarely seen in our political class, especially among those who govern us. He spoke of a poem he wrote and then proceeded to read it by heart so effortlessly and so confidently.

    So our governors do read and write?

    I was just as pleasantly surprised at his Mr Sylva’s literary side as I was deeply concerned when he fell out with the same Dr Jonathan he fought for. Such was the disagreement that Mr Sylva would blame his failure to govern his state twice on presidential machinations. Eventually he fell out of the PDP altogether, pitching his tent with the APC on whose platform he contested and lost the December 5 governorship election. Last Saturday Mr Sylva was suspended by the party for, among other alleged infractions, visiting a PDP governor and attempting to form a parallel state executive of the party. The state party chiefs suggested the matter was being investigated and I suggest the investigation should be thorough so that, at least in one instance, it will be determined when a visit to a rival party governor amounts to antiparty activity.

    If the Sylva profile is not a puzzle I don’t know what else is.

    About 16 years ago, Alhaji Kwankwaso, then governor of Kano State, had gained quite a stature in the state and would so build on it that in the run-up to the presidential election he was quite a pillar in the APC house. Such was his relevance that when Ekiti State Governor Ayo Fayose was firing his ill-advised salvos against Candidate Buhari, it was Alhaji Kwankwaso who seemed to be speaking for the North in defence of not just the APC presidential candidate but also in defence of good old decency and propriety. The result of that election in the North spoke volumes of the efforts and loyalty of people like Alhaji Kwankwaso.

    Today Alhaji Kwankwaso is being accused by no less a person than a former protégé Kano State Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of plotting against President Muhammadu Buhari’s political ambitions.

    Is this what is usually referred to as the murky waters of politics, which can mean anything from the more you look the less you see, to you never know with politicians? Did Mr Sylva and Alhaji Kwankwaso show their good sides when they needed to, only to reveal their true colours when they felt the time was ripe? Or is there a rock-solid conspiracy against them?

  • The minister is busy

    The minister is busy

    Sports Minister Solomon Dalung is very busy. He is so occupied with the youth affairs arm of his job that he forgot that it wasn’t his duty to apologise for Nigeria’s ouster from the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations. Not different from others before him, he summoned the NFF to explain why the Super Eagles failed after his apology. He should have done this first, then ask the NFF men to apologise to Nigerians. NFF must convince Dalung on everything that they do.

    Dalung  is too busy to take firm decisions that affect sports. The result is what we have in our hands today, with the fresh crisis at the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). We are courting FIFA ban, except the minister calls the party in court to order. The minister can now see why he shouldn’t have resurrected a case that had been thrown out by the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), delisted in the law court and some of those in the trouble-making NFF board are in the board that some want sacked? So, who are the members of this trouble-making group?

    We had a Nigerian contingent to the last All African Games whose athletes were tainted with drugs, who are roaming free on the street, despite the shame they brought to the country. These drug cheats’ crimes are not bigger than our ouster from the Africa Cup of Nations. Not a word from the minister nor has any panel been constituted to probe how the athletes spiked their systems with drug. Nor is the minister worried about a repeat of the show-of-shame, if the culprits are not punished. It doesn’t matter, after all their medals have been allotted to the rightful winners. Is this the first time it has happened to a Nigerian contingent? What a shame, if this is the perception of those whose duty it is to chart a way forward for the country in sports.

    We are going to the Olympics in August; who are the coaches? What are we telling the athletes who want to win medals at the Games about ingesting banned drugs? Do we have a history of our athletes’ feeding habits and medicals? When last were our athletes to the Olympics tested for drugs? Or do we want to drag our image in the mud like some countries are doing because they failed to abide by the doping rules?  Well, is anyone shocked at the inertia shown to the drug cheats? Not with the dismissive manner in which Dalung supported the reasons why the National Sports Commission (NSC) was scrapped when he spoke at the National Assembly.

    Said the minister: “I asked the National Assembly members, when they accused me of scrapping NSC, if they were aware that sport is not legislated in Nigeria. They were looking at me and wanted to know if the billions they were appropriating to NSC and NFF were illegal. I was assertive and said that is left for them to determine.

    “I am an executive. I don’t make law; I implement law. NFF is one of the decisions I inherited.”

    He went on: “In law, any legislation that never receives the attention of government is dead. There is no law backing NSC and I did not see it when I arrived as the minister as the product of the merger of two ministries.”

    Whose job is it, honourable minister, to start the process of getting the NFF and the NSC to be backed by the laws of the land beyond the scrapping of the latter? Perhaps, but for the fear of FIFA, NFF too could have been scrapped, following the minister’s submission. Now that the NSC has been scrapped, does it make the NFF known to the law, given your reasons for scrapping the NSC?

    Even with his busy schedule, Dalung was the first to inform everyone that NFF wanted to appoint a foreign manager, insisting that he needed to be convinced about this adventure, even when he told SuperSports channel that the quest for a European manager in the Eagles won’t happen under his reign. True, NFF has had issues with coaches, players and officials. But, is the federation adequately funded? How can a body which funds 11 national teams be solvent, where most of its expenditure is done in foreign currencies? How much is the naira to any of these – pound, dollar, Euro?

    But would the NFF be the first sports federation to recruit a foreign manager to turn their teams’ fortunes for the better? When Basketball Federation recruited a foreigner (William Bryant Voigt), the dunking game witnessed a new dawn. We overcame our nemesis Angola in the male category. The girls are on the verge of qualifying for the Olympics like their male counterparts. Our boys are at the Olympic Games for the second consecutive time. Under Voigt, Nigeria won the Afrobasket (the equivalent of the Africa Cup of Nations) for the first time. It has taken the presence of a foreigner to restore confidence in our basketballers, even when many of them play in the home of the dunking game – United States of America (USA).

    Our table tennis players did well with their European clubs, yet they couldn’t conquer the Egyptians. The Table Tennis Federation boss, Enitan Oshodi, in his wisdom, recruited a foreign coach. Today, Nigeria has toppled Egypt as African kings. Aruna Quadri is the best African table tennis player for men. Our boys and girls in the junior categories are creating upsets against big names in ping pong, a rarity when we were stuck with our domestic coaches.

    One lesson from these two examples is that the game is dynamic. Indeed, coaching has left the realm of appointing ex-internationals as coaches. It is now a function of man-management, teaching the players the latest tricks of the sport and ensuring that they are properly psyched up before competitions. Expatriate coaches don’t call for prayers before a competition. Their templates for success are flexible, depending on the trends of the game. Their training methods are scientific, not the rustic type our local coaches adopt which border on exploiting our players’ physical features and power. Sport now is more of how athletes use their intelligence to outwit their opponents than brute force. Sport is anchored on systems meant to exploit the opponent’s lapses to win matches. It isn’t guess work like our coaches seem to think. It isn’t a function of luck like our coaches assume.

    Dalung has celebrated our wrestlers’ feats, even when they left the country without proper funding. It has taken Daniel Igali’s expertise and pedigree in the game, which he acquired wrestling for Canada where he won an Olympic gold medal for our wards to grab the Rio 2016 Olympic Games’ tickets. Igali joins the wrestlers to train. Surprised? Don’t be because Igali is a former Olympic Games gold medalist. Wait for it – fighting for Canada. We can invariably call Igali a foreign coach, having harnessed his skills as a Canadian wrestler back in the days.

    As the dictum goes, you cannot give what you don’t have. Igali and the two foreign coaches mentioned impacted knowledge to their wards because they went through the grill that made them what they are today.

    Honourable sports minister, sir, football is just one medal at the Olympics. Athletics is one of the multi-medals events, yet no one knows if Blessing Okagbare’s preparations have been paid for. I’m sure the minister cannot tell us how many medals we are expecting at the Olympics, now that the former supervisor of the country’s Olympic Games’ athletes has been demoted and sent to the ministry of Niger Delta.

    Interestingly, the crossfire between Dalung and the former NSC Director-General, Alhassan Yakmut, won’t augur well for the industry, especially as it concerns getting the business community to identify with sports. If there were issues, they ought to have been settled in-house, not in the media.  I don’t like putting the minister on the spot but it appears he sees sports from the prism of football, which isn’t good for the growth of the industry.

    Some volleyball players were hauled out of a hotel outside the country. Their belongings littered the streets. No word was heard from the sport’s chiefs. Nor did anyone bother to authenticate the story at the Sport Ministry with a view to averting a repeat of the shameful act. If it was in football, heaven would have come down.

     

    Not again, Wenger

     

    It is true that the Olympic Games isn’t one of the competitions where European clubs are compelled to release foreign nationals to play for their countries. Most European managers have used this alibi to destroy developing countries’ plans, such as ours -to rule the Olympic Games’ soccer event.

    Interestingly, Arsenal’s manager Arsene Wenger feels strongly that any young boy who has broken into his country’s senior side shouldn’t be asked to participate in age-grade tournaments such as the Olympics. This is why he stopped Nwankwo Kanu from an encore Games appearance at the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Wenger’s decision contributed largely to Nigeria’s absence from the final game in 2000. Had Kanu made the Nigerian side, given the fact that he was still very hot, we would have played in the finals. At that stage, anything is possible.

    Wenger is up with his antics again. He wants to stop Alex Iwobi from playing for Nigeria at the Rio 2016 Olympics because it would stop the Nigerian kid from participating in Gunners’ opening matches next year. It also means that Iwobi won’t be part of Arsenal’s pre-season preparations, which most European managers don’t toy with – it serves as the only opportunity to get the players fit for the new season.

    We are stuck with one of Wenger’s philosophies like we were in 2000. One only hopes that Iwobi would be able to persuade Wenger to free him for the Olympics the way Lionel Messi did with Barcelona at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Iwobi would be a wonderful addition to the Dream Team VI. I also hope that Iwobi can include in his new deal a clause that would make it mandatory on Arsenal to free him to play for Nigeria whenever there is a clash in fixture or interest like we have now.

    This is the time for the NFF to establish a relationship with Arsenal and Wenger. It is the only way to resolve this matter. We can assure Wenger that Iwobi won’t be injured during the Olympics. But can we really guarantee that?

    “We have to respect his choice. He had the choice between England and Nigeria and in the end he chose Nigeria,” Wenger told reporters at Thursday’s press conference, according to arsenal.com.

    “We respect that, and also the possibility that he will go to the Olympic Games, that he will also go to the Africa Cup of Nations and travel a bit more than he would have done here. We have to respect that.”

    Can we believe Wenger? Let’s wait and see.

  • Okada rider shot dead at filling station

    Okada rider shot dead at filling station

    COMMERCIAL motorcyclist aka Okada rider was killed yesterday and three others injured when Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) officials allegedly shot at customers at a Forte Oil Filling Station in Festac, Lagos.

    Ossy Emeka died on the spot; the injured – Smart, Kabiru Yusuf (KB) and Diran – were whisked away by the NSCDC officials.

    According to his colleagues, the late Emeka, who recently started an auto spare-parts business, after his mother gave him N600,000, was about quitting commercial motorcycling.

    The NSCDC officials, who came in a patrol van, reportedly attempted to seize jerry cans of petrol from some black marketers.

    The officers, it was learnt, were led by some motorcyclists who were beneficiaries of the seized product.

    The motorcyclists were said to have led the officers from Second Rainbow into Festac Town because the petrol is given to them. They reportedly pointed out some of the black marketers and where their kegs were hidden.

    In anger, some youths and others, who queued up for fuel with their generators and motorcycle fuel tanks took on the beneficiaries of the seized fuel. The NSCDC men were said to have stopped a commercial bus and asked a passenger identified as Smart, who just bought petrol in a keg, to surrender it.

    Smart was said to have refused and the NSCDC men allegedly started beating him. Smart was said to have doused himself with the petrol.

    An eyewitness said: “Immediately he poured the fuel on his body, a female officer cocked her gun; shot Smart on his buttocks and kept shooting in the air. Then, she went and asked for permission from another man who was inside their vehicle and when she returned, she shot Diran alias Kowope and KB (Kabiru Yusuf) on their legs.

    “They shot sporadically for about 20 minutes here. Meanwhile, at G-Close, opposite the Festac Town Muslim Community (FTMC) Mosque, the NSCDC woman shot Ossy three times on his neck and chest.

    “As they were shooting, people were running in the confusion. Ossy was carrying his motorcycle’s fuel tank and heading towards the filling station to buy fuel. He was not a black marketer and he stays on Sixth Avenue.

    “They shot him three times and ensured he was dead.”

    The eyewitness, who gave his name as Emmanuel said the NSCDC officials abandoned his Eze’s body and took about five people hostage including the three with gunshot injuries.

    Another eyewitness, who gave her name as Ada, said all was calm until the arrival of the NSCDC officials.

    She claimed the army, navy personnel and policemen from the Area E Command were inside the filling station maintaining order, adding that the NSCDC men arrived after they left.

    “The army, navy and police were here. They were flogging people who were not maintaining peace and also chasing black marketers away from the filling station. Everywhere was peaceful and calm.

    “But when they moved upward few minutes later, the NSCDC people came with some Okada riders. Those NSCDC people are not even from Festac division, they came all the way from First Rainbow where they have been seizing fuel and giving it out.

    “Before they shot Ossy three times, they cut him with knife first. It was the NSCDC people that cut him. After cutting him around his upper arm, they shot him three times.

    “I really do not know why they killed him because he was not selling fuel. He’s a very quiet Okada man. They left his body there, it was police that came and carried him away. The woman who started the shooting is fair in complexion,” she said.

    There were blood stains on the ground of the filling station when The Nation got there yesterday.

    The Area E Commander, Chris Owolabi, an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), and the Festac Divisional Police Officer (DPO), Monday Agbonika, led their men to pacify the angry youth.

    Soldiers attached to the Operation Mesa have taken over the area; the sale of fuel has been suspended at the station.

    A woman, who described herself as Kabiru Yusuf’s mother was seen begging policemen to rescue her son from the NSCDC men.

    According to her, the officials took her son to Alausa, alongside two others.

    “I really do not know what happened. But I got a call that my son was taken to Alausa that’s why I came here. My son does not sell fuel. I heard he was not shot, others said he was shot, so, I do not know which one to believe,” she said.

    At the time of this report, the police were still gathering information on the NSCDC men and their unit.

    Police spokesperson, Dolapo Badmos, a Superintendent (SP), said investigation was on to identify the civil defence operatives.

    “Some yet to be identified civil defence men in a patrol vehicle had scuffle with some men at AP filling station which led to indiscriminate firing from the civil defence personnel.

    “One motorcycle (Okada) rider Emeka other name yet unknown was shot dead while three others severely injured. The men of Area E Command were called upon, the Area Commander ACP Chris Tokunbo Owolabi is currently on ground restoring normalcy in the area; the command has commenced investigation to identify the civil defence operatives that were involved,” she said.

  • Man bites off friend’s lip

    A 26-year-old man, Anthony Nwokpoku, has been arrested by the police for allegedly biting off part of the lower lip of his estranged friend, Jonah Ogbonna, during a fight.

    The Nation learnt that Nwokpoku and Ogbonna, both from Anambra State, were friends until last month when they quarrelled and stopped talking to each other.

    Last March 28, they met again at a shop and a fight broke out.

    The incident happened around 7pm at a shop in the Langbasa area of Ajah in Eti-Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State.

    Ogbonna had gone to the shop to buy provisions when he met Nwokpoku buying soap.

    The men abused themselves and began trading punches. Ogbonna said he felt Nwokpoku’s teeth chomping into his lower lip.

    The incident was reported at the Langbasa Police Station, Ajah, and Nwokpoku was arrested.

    It was learnt that Nwokpoku told the police that he bit Ogbonna in self defence after Ogbonna smashed a bottle on his head.

    On March 31, prosecuting Police Inspector Philip Osijale brought Nwokpoku before a Tinubu Magistrates’ Court on one-count of assault occasioning harm.

    He pleaded guilty.

    Magistrate L. O. Owolabi, who stood in for Miss M. B. Folami, granted Nwokpoku N20,000 bail and adjourned till today for facts and sentencing.

  • Power, corruption and impunity

    The  decision  of the highest  court in S Africa   this week  that the  country’s President  Jacob  Zuma  has failed  to defend, protect  and respect the constitution by  diverting  public  funds    up  to 15m   pounds to renovate his house   forms  the basis  of our  discussion today. The  court  likened  the public  protector that brought the case to court to the biblical  David  fighting the Goliath of  Impunity  that is corruption. That  is a description after  my  heart and should  be a source of encouragement to the anti  corruption brigade in Nigeria led by the EFCC  and  the   hard  working prosecution team of   the  Code  of  Conduct  Bureau [CCB ]    and   the Code  of  Conduct  Tribunal  [CCT]  in  Nigeria. The  judgement  in S Africa  has  serious implications  not only for that nation  but for the rest of Africa  and indeed  the whole world on the  workings  of  democracy, the rule of law and the establishment of transparency  in  governance in any part  of the world.

    A  youth  leader expelled  from  the ruling ANC in  S Africa and  now an opposition leader of the  party called  Economic Freedom  fighters, Julius Malema has declared in jubilation that President Zuma cannot continue as President and that  if he comes to parliament he will physically challenge him by pushing him. Whether  President Zuma  takes up the challenge or not is not an  issue here. What is important is that the court in S Africa has shown clearly that no one is above the law in a democracy. The  court  even went on to chastise Parliament for not doing its duty of checkmating the president on misuse of public funds as it should  have,  as part of its constitutional  duty,  and asked the errant president of S Africa to return the embezzled  money  within 60  days.

    It  is  necessary  to  compare  what  is going on in S Africa  with events in Brazil  where  the president is facing looming impeachment over corruption charges including the manipulation of budget deficit figures to  win reelection  for her second term and the resolve of the Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari  to scrutinize the  2016  budget figures already  passed by our  legislature before fixing his signature of approval as the executive  authority. Which  sounds  like putting the cart  before the horse but  is really a case of once bitten twice shy.

    Firstly,   the way  the  S  African  political  system  reacts to the decision of Constitutional  Court will  be a  good  test  of the quality  of the rule of law and use  of democratic   power in that nation. Julius  Malema  has  asked that Parliament be dissolved, the president should be sacked and fresh elections held. But  that is largely wishful  thinking because the ANC would still  win because blacks  are in majority in S Africa  and would not lose that majority  for a long time. There  have  been calls for Zuma to be relieved of his duties and replaced like  his predecessor   Thabo  Mbeki, and that may be the real  workable political  solution .It would  also serve to show Zuma that corruption  does not pay   after  all, for it was  to preempt such charges against  him as Vice  President that he executed  the  palace  coup that removed his predecessor from  office   before  the end  of his second  term. Now  the chicken  has come home to roost  and the nemesis of corruption is  hanging on his neck  like the proverbial  sword  of Damocles. The  third  option is for the ANC to pardon Zuma after returning the money and to expect politics to go on as usual.  That  would be a tragedy  for the rule of law and   a clear  misuse    and   abuse   of democratic power.  Certainly  that would overheat  the S African political  system and polarize the ANC. It  may  indeed  be the death  knell of the sure majority  that made Zuma think  he could get away  with murder on the renovation  matter.  It  will also  send a clear  signal to the world that Africans are perhaps  not ready for majority democracy  and that would be most  unfortunate  indeed.

    With  regard  to Brazil  the president is fighting for  her political life, if  not indeed her personal  freedom as there have been  calls for her to be impeached for padding the budget   deficit   figures in her re election bid. So  padding the budget  is  not a distinctly  Nigerian corruption or malady.  But  after corruption charges at the Brazilian oil giant  Petrobas  swept the  Brazil,  involving the former President Lula da  Silva who incumbent   President   Dilmar  is protecting by making him her  Chief  of Staff, the coalition  partners of the ruling Workers Party of Dilma  and  Lula have withdrawn their support  in Parliament and the threat of impeachment is real for the incumbent Brazilian  president, Dilma Rousseff. Seven  of her ministers  have resigned and the cabinet  is wobbly while  the only silver lining on a  cloudy political  horizon  was the decision by  Brazil’s Constitutional  court to take on the trial  of  Lula which  was Dilmar’s original  ploy in bringing Lula to her cabinet in the  first  instance. Whether that court  will play  ball with  Lula and Dilmar and give them succor and longer political  life in Brazil or  like the S African court strike  a blow at  impunity and  corruption  is the interesting political  drama   unfolding before the world  in the next  few months or days in soccer  loving Brazil and we are watching very  keenly.

    With  regard  to  President  Buhari  going through the budget figures  even  after legislative  approval  he  should  not  be distracted by those calling for speedy implementation as what is worth doing is worth doing well. Even  the legislature which gave approval  was reported  to be still working on what it has approved  and  passed  to the presidency.  Of  course that is simply  to prepare a fall  back position for an  anticipated executive rebuke on padding. Nevertheless the  presidency should look at legislative fringe  benefits and constituency  allocations  and prune or jettison them  altogether as they cannot be executed without executive fiat. If  we lose revenue because of fall in oil  prices the best thing to do is to cut  administrative  costs across board on  all  arms of government   to  improve earnings  and  accruals to projected  budget revenue. That  is cutting your  coat according to your cloth and size. Once  again  long live the Federal  Republic  of  Nigeria.

  • Before cattle have right of way

    THESE days of reckless slaughter, all manner of decisions including bizarre ones are being taken in the name of ending the bloodbath and ensuring peace. The federal government’s plan to map out grazing routes and reserves for herdsmen’s animals is one of such wacky decisions. One is not ignorant of the need to stem the blood-flow. As hinted in the opening line, the wanton killings can move a stone statue. Boko Haram fighters are running wild in the North, wasting thousands of lives and wrecking businesses and social infrastructure valued in millions of naira. They have sent families fleeing their homes and sources of livelihood. They have attacked military facilities, even claiming lives in those confrontations. Three states in the North are under emergency rule, yet insurgency seems to be increasing in frightening proportions, one of the latest instances being the abduction of the Chibok schoolgirls in Borno State. Any wonder why the Jonathan administration, among other things, contemplated talking things over with the terrorists? Lay down your arms and renounce violence, and we will forgive your atrocities, even rehabilitate you, the federal administration told the fighters. What was the answer? We will have none of your overtures, Boko Haram replied. If anything, we are the ones to forgive you if we choose to. Deadlock? Yes, deadlock, but the bloodletting has worryingly continued apace.

    Consider, too, the onslaught of the presumed herdsmen. They have run riot across the land. Of the 36 states in the federation only a tiny few have been spared their attacks. In Ogume in Ndokwa-West Local Government Area of Delta State, 10 youths were reported killed by invading herdsmen on April 6, 2013. The killings reportedly resulted from a disagreement with host community farmers. Nigerians are well acquainted with plenty of such invasions and killings in Plateau State. Although many attacks go unreported, everyone knows that herdsmen’s clashes with farmers are as much an issue in Taraba as they are in Nasarawa, and indeed in much of the federal land. In Benue, local residents have been reduced to refugees, huddled up in primary schools or open camps after their homes were attacked and their farms and produce wasted by invading herdsmen.

    Any wonder that federal authorities are about to establish tracts of land, from the North to the South, where cattle will literally have right of way?

    A panel has been reportedly set up to, as we say, work out the modalities of such dedicated grazing reserves. This is strange and unlikely to help in any way. It may well be argued that since the herdsmen are Nigerians, they reserve every right to graze their cattle everywhere within the confines of their country. This argument is cheap, too simplistic and even likely to create more problems than it may solve. Here are the reasons why. One, the days of innocence seem over in the country. To the shame of the populace, ethnic harmony has since been replaced by mutual suspicion and in some cases even hostility. In Jos where I lived for a decade and relished my time there, I hear the tin and temperate table land has since been divided along ethnic lines, destroying the peace and harmony we knew back in the 80s and early 90s. Back then, the sight of Fulani herdsmen in their wide-brimmed hats and trademark sticks across their shoulders was not frightening. They led their animals up and down the rocky hills with hardly any incident with farmers or locals. In all my time in the Tin City, I never saw a herdsman clutching an AK 47. That is why some of us ask, why do otherwise simple herdsmen now carry sophisticated weapons? Where do they get such arms from? Who is backing them?

    There is another reason why the dedicated grazing reserves will not solve any problem. There is nothing to convince anyone of the willingness of the authorities to genuinely resolve herdsmen’s squabbles with farmers? How many troublemakers have been tracked down and punished according to the law after such clashes? How many of those who killed the 10 Ogume youths have been arrested at least to explain why they did what they did? How many killers in those Plateau attacks have been apprehended? Has anyone been held by the police and the law for throwing Benue farmers out of their homes and farmlands and into misery? Why should anyone be hopeful that the grazing reserves will end the hostilities? Before cattle start roaming and grazing freely in reserved land from North to South and from East to West, the federal government should consider these few points. Since some of the reserved land is likely to be someone’s source of livelihood, what compensation, if any, will be adequate for the farmer? Will it be fair to dedicate a Northern community’s fishing waters to, say, the Ijaw who mostly depend on water and fishing for sustenance considering that much of their waters is polluted by multinational oil firms? What about hunters from the Southwest and Southeast having the go-ahead to hunt game in designated parts of the North, and as frequently as they please?

    In the final analysis, it is even unhealthy, crude, backward, risky and costly to take animals across the length and breadth of this vast country in search of grazing fields. With the huge resources available to government, it is wiser, healthier and more economical to breed and graze cattle in the home states of their owners. What is required is developing and fertilizing the land for the animals. That way you solve more problems than you would create allowing the animals a free roam up and down the country.

    • This article was first published during the Jonathan administration.