The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • A mystical paradox

    Nigeria’s second place finish on the medals’ table at the 2015 All African Games is a mystical paradox of sort. Our athletes’ undying resolve to eke out a living from sports ensured that they did well. And this rubbed off on the country’s medals’ placing.

    This feat was not due to our facilities; they are in state of disrepair. Very few sporting activities are held across the country. Cases of our athletes being walked over in competitions are common. Some athletes have used their scarce resources to attend competitions in a bid to restore their rankings.

    Grassroots competitions to discover budding stars in the hinterlands are dead. Schools which produced athletes no longer have spaces reserved for sports; they have been built up. For governors, the sports industry is an appendage. They only remember sports when the National Sports Festival beckons. That is if the multisport events hold at all.

    Most governors ensure that sport remains in its moribund state by appointing politicians to supervise the ministries and the sports councils. Nothing happens in many states and the governors are unperturbed. Yet, sports have been Nigeria’s biggest public relations tool, just as youths get engaged and are taken off vices.

    Until all the governors see sports as a vehicle for empowerment of the people, we will be condemned to searching for Nigerians in the Diaspora to represent us in big competitions. Such pyrrhic feats like we had in Congo only make us a laughing stock in the sports polity. Of course, we like them because they provide the platforms for politicians to promise changes which never come.

    The drum beats have ceased. The masqueraders have strolled away with their harvest. The backslapping from the officials, athletes and fans has stopped. The critics are ruing their bad fortunes. The athletes are expectant. When will their largesse come and in what form? Purists have sneezed at any talk of a handshake and national honours for the victors. After all, they are amateurs who need to be rewarded in cash for their efforts.

    The medalists are not complaining. There are enough dollars to spend. No one is talking about how we can improve our performance at the African Games held in Congo. Congo feat was the result of the spartan fighting spirit of the average Nigerian. Our second position at the 2015 All African Games underlines the Nigerian can-do spirit. I only hope that our sports federations and indeed officials at the National Sports Commission (NSC) know that these athletes are magicians, having done so well without training grants and facilities.

    We should never use this feat to benchmark the growth of sports in the country because it would be a fallacious claim. The grassroots is dead. The states’ sports councils are venues for grumbling civil servants bothered more about unpaid salaries than applying themselves to creating events for athletes to be discovered, nurtured and exposed through local and international competitions. We have opted for the tardy option of recruiting mercenaries to represent us. And this is shameful, given our over 200 million population.

    Swept under the carpet are the pre-competition rants of lack of funds, no facilities, no training grants, poor coaching and bias selection of athletes, to mention a few of the complaints. Our officials have gone into their cocoon, waiting again for grants from the government for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

    Does anyone care how the athletes would fare until when we remember that the Olympics is just three months away? What are we doing for the boxers who only knew the rules of the art during the competition? Isn’t it strange that as many as nine boxers lost out technically due to cuts on their faces? Isn’t it the first rule in boxing to learn how to cover your face right from your stance in front of your opponents? At the London 2012 Olympics, our boxers didn’t know the scoring system. They now know. But, sadly, they lost many fights where they were clearly ahead due to cuts on their faces, mouths etc. What is the plan for their coaches? Shouldn’t they be taken on refresher courses or have coaches brought in to teach them the fundamentals?

    What are the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC’s) plans for our contingent? Where would our athletes, coaches and technical officials train and reside? When is the camp opening? Who would pay for the preparations? Or would we be hitting Rio de Janerio in batches as usual? What is the strategy to ensure that our athletes don’t get involved in drugs? What is the level of counselling on the use of native treatments to their ailment such as Agbo, Opaenyi and other aphrodisiacs? What has happened to the grants to federations whose athletes qualify for the Olympics? Shouldn’t the athletes know our plans for the Olympics? Or are we waiting for our sports minister, who is likely to be a politician, to decide?

    Isn’t this the best time to evaluate our performance and seek solutions, beginning with the problem areas? Have we identified our medalists at the Olympics and taken the right steps to aid them to succeed? What are our plans for Blessing Okagbare, easily our best prospect if we treat her like the star she is?

    Okagbare should be given all that she requires so much so that she must shun those small competitions prior to the Olympics and concentrate on winning an Olympic gold medal like Chioma Ajunwa did in the women’s long jump at the Atlanta Games.

    Okagbare’s albatross in the sprint events has been her slow start off the bloc? If Okagbare is the Nigerian project, like most athletics purists expect, she needs a specialist to take her through the rudiments of exploding out of the starter’s bloc without beating the gun. If the Americans and Jamaicans have perfected it, then we need specialists from these countries to train her or make her train with them. I would prefer the first option where her training regime isn’t exposed to her would-be opponents.

    Okagbare needs a dietician, a psychologist, a trainer, a coach and a manager to counsel her on what is at stake in Rio de Janerio next year. She needs grants that would make her shun the smaller races where she makes easy cash to make ends meet.

    Nigeria won 10 gold medals in athletics with Okagbare winning one of them in the 4×100 metres relays. Had we managed Okagbare well by prioritising her needs, she could have added at least three individual gold medals in 100 metres, 200 metres and the long jump to Nigeria’s eventual medals’ haul. Okagbare is that important to our quest for glory.

    We must be worried that the Ivoriens are the fastest men and women in the 100 metres. I would have been scared had they clinched the 4×100 metres relay, especially for women. The lesson here is for the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN’s) technical arm to draw up a template that would discover Nigerians who can run the middle and long distance races. We can get other nationals to run these races, like Britain has done with Mo Farah, the Somalia-born athlete, who is the champion in the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres.

    Farah, CBE (born 23 March, 1983) is a British long-distance and middle-distance runner. He is the 2012 Olympic, 2011, 2013 and 2015 world and 2010, 2012 and 2014 European champion in the 5000 metres, and the 2012 Olympic, 2013 and 2015 world and 2010 and 2014 European champion in 10,000 metres. On the track, he competes over 5000 m and 10,000 m, but also runs the 3000 metres and, occasionally, the 1500 metres. He made his marathon debut in 2014 in London, placing eighth. Athletics watchers have predicted Britain’s dominance in the long distance in the next decade or two.

    The odds are in Nigeria’s favour in wrestling, largely because we have a former Olympic gold medalist as the body’s chairman. A former Nigerian international, he dumped the country to wrestle for Canada and clinched the gold medal for his adopted nation. Daniel Igali is back here and has shared his experience – training and general preparations with the Nigerian side. The dividends were seen at the Congo 2015 All African Games where Nigeria clinched nine gold medals, five silver medals, which can be gold in Rio, if we plan well and two bronze medals.

    Happily, Igali is an official of the NOC. He must insist on having the grants to prepare his athletes. He knows his onions. But he still needs to bring in experts who can equally share their knowledge with the boys and girls. If wrestling excels at the 2016 Olympic Games, many won’t be surprised because of the Igali factor. Our wrestlers can deliver the gold medals if properly motivated. And it has to start now, with a discerning programme that would ensure that the wrestlers hit their top form at the right time.

    Nigerians are naturally strong. We have excelled in weightlifting in the past. Pundits were not shocked that we won eight gold medals in this game. What shocked them was the high number of silver medals, with many saying that we need to get a good coach who will tell the lifters what to do. They argued further that now less than 10 of the 18 silver medals at the All African Games in Congo can become gold medals at the 2016 Olympic Games, if the federation, the NOC and indeed the NSC do the needful- early camping, good dieticians for the lifters, good coaches and, above all, a psychologist to improve on their psyche.

    The Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF’s) board deserves commendation. They have revolutionised the game. Their foresight in recruiting a competent American coach to change the way we prosecute our matches has yielded results of quantum proportions. D’Tigers are African champions, beating Angola and securing the Olympic Games’ qualification ticket. They were there at the London 2012 Olympics. One hopes that this second appearance will be loaded with surprises. The Americans dominate the dunking game. Who says they cannot be beaten? It is a possibility, especially as the bulk of Nigerian players ply their trade in the prestigious National Basketball Association (NBA) league.

  • The bull in the china shop

    Let  me start by saying happy 55th  birthday to my country, the Federal Republic of Nigeria. In  recent times I have ended this column by saying long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria. I say  the same today but in a somber mood given the fact that 5 small girls detonated bombs in Maiduguri at evening prayers in the evening of October 1st 2015 killing 14  people and themselves and wounding over 100 innocent people. According  to Internet reports about 100 people were  killed in Miaduguri by suicide  bombers about two  weeks ago. This is a very sad way to mark any nation’s birthday  for  the simple reason that human life should be sancrosant  in any  civilized  setting or society and our beloved nation cannot be an exception. One thing is certain that  some people in our midst hate the rest of us so much that they are bent on ruining our happiness whenever they see or perceive what they  think it is,  that is why they sent mere girls to kill  and create murder and mayhem in a mosque in Maiduguri on our Independence anniversary. The solution is to apprehend these people especially those brainwashing the girls to commit  hara-kiri in broad  daylight.

    I think  this transcends merely defeating Boko  Haram as these are terrorism  planners and strategists  using human beings as a shield like ISIS  is doing in Syria which has led to  the near  suicidal migration of war victims to  Europe and has this week occasioned the military intervention of Russia in air attacks against  ISIS in  Syria.

    I put  a tag today on many issues threatening the status quo and democracy in Nigeria, the Middle East  and the world generally  and declare that we  are   up  against  the well  known and dreaded horror scenario  of a bull in a china shop on all and  many fronts.

    We  have a bull in a china shop when girls  turn to suicide bombers and we take the news in our stride as if it is business as usual to shed innocent lives in a place of worship. On the political  scene we are  distracted by a senate and its leader- who has legitimacy problems and corruption charges to answer – but who is being  given cover by his colleagues in the senate in a strange dog does not eat dog debacle. On  the international scene Russian  President Vladmir Putin has become  a veritable and dangerous bull in the china shop in the  Middle East in the way  he has intervened decisively in Syria and left the US, UK, Turkey  and those in the Middle East Coalition mopping, and whining as usual over sterile and futile negotiations, that have only allowed ISIS to gain more notoriety  and new adherents for its murderous goal of a global Islamic Caliphate.

    On  the rise of suicide  bombing as a strategy  by Boko  Haram our security  forces should change their strategy of direct  onslaught on Boko  Haram in isolated fronts in the sparsely populated and vast expanse of land that is the terrain of our North East.  Areas where people congregate are the targets of suicide  bombers who changed the balance of terror in favor of the Arabs in the Arab – Israeli Conflict. Before  the advent of the suicide bomber the Israelis used to brag that if one Israeli  died a hundred Arabs will fall in retaliation. That  made the Israelis more  vulnerable  as the battle front  shifted to bus stops and military barracks  that were hitherto thought to be impregnable and far from the usual  battle fronts. That is what Boko  Haram has resorted to as the Nigerian Army moves to achieve the target of December given it by its Commander In Chief  to annihilate Boko  Haram. We  should find out from the Israelis how they were able to cope with the  menace  of  suicide  bombers when it first reared its murderous head in their midst. This is military intelligence that the Israelis will be  more than willing to share with us because they too know about Boko  Haram and place it on the same pedestal as ISIS  and they regard  both as dangerous enemies to peace and stability any where they show up.

    On  the political  scene we have a Senate that is on collision cause with the Executive as it has accused the Executive as being behind the assets  declaration  case  that has taken the Senate President to court. 83 senators reportedly agreed  to stand  by the senate president during his ordeal. I ask  how will they do that? By stalling the trial or using their legislative functions and duties as bargaining chips to let the accused go scot free without due trial in a law court? I  do  not see them as pulling that through although as the election of the Senate president has shown anything is possible in Nigeria. One  thing  that  is  clear  is that the Senate  is creating a human shield around its president but in doing that it is behaving like the proverbial  ostrich that buried it head in the sand. Nigerians are no longer blind and  that was why they voted for change and the APC won nationwide. That  victory was hard won and should not be  stolen in the legislature. Indeed  in mounting a wall of espirit de  corps around its president the senate is breaking a bond of democracy and social  contract with the electorate that in each constituency  nationwide  voted  for the present set  of senators in our senate. This  senate and its leadership has become a bull in a china shop threatening our political stability and it should  be called to order before it brings  down  the house –  by either the judiciary or executive or both in concert in the interest of the security and safety of our presidential system and  its hallowed concept of separation of powers.

    On  the international  scene the Russian president has shown he is a man of his own in unilaterally taking the bull  by the horn and attacking ISIS positions in air strikes over Syria. Coming on the heels  of the brilliant speech by Ukraine’s President Poroshenko at the UN General Assembly in which he took Putin  and Russia to the cleaners in the way they have broken international law in invading his nation and staying put in spite of all entreaties, it  would seem the Russian leader is telling the US and its allies to go to blazes; or yield  much needed space for Russia  to take charge of events in Syria and contain ISIS in the interest  of world  peace and stability. Which in  a way  is more encouraging than the US posturing which has made the Americans infamous nowadays for negotiations with strange bedfellows like Iran which emboldened ISIS  as  endless talking seem to be the preoccupation  of  US strategy on Syria while ISIS gets stronger by the day in killing innocent people all over the Middle East.

    The  US  has accused the Russians of killing opposition forces in the air strikes  that started this week but that is neither here nor there. The  Russian opposition to the US plan to remove Syrian  President Bashar  Assad is well known. Russia  has been supporting the Assad dynasty since the days of his father Haffez  Assad and Russia’s argument is that  a strong leader like Assad is needed  in Syria  and  should not  be   removed like  Saddam  Hussein was removed in Iraq, a situation which  boomeranged and skyrocketed to the present unprecedented level of terrorism leading to the rise of ISIS. It  is difficult  to fault the Russian argument in terms of stability and the fact that they have the stomach to do what they believe is right gives them added impetus to frighten ISIS, a development which the US policy of dilly dallying on negotiations was never going to achieve.

    So  to the Americans and British Putin may look like a wayward leader with scant respect for international  law or even a real  bull in a china shop. Yet  if  he can eventually whip ISIS to size or send it packing all together he should get the admiration  of a grateful world. In  that case Putin  may well  be  the avenging angel for the millions killed by ISIS.  For  if he succeeds where the Americans have failed he may be forgiven  as  the  errant   bull   that  brings down a china ware  shop   in the  Middle  East  and Syria that has run out of ideas and thereby save humanity from the horror of ISIS in this age and time. Again  long live the Federal  Republic  of Nigeria.

  • At last pmb, Ambode’s cabinet lists

    At last pmb, Ambode’s cabinet lists

    After what seemed an eternity, President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) and a smattering of state governors, namely Mr Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos, Mallam Abulfatah Ahmed of Kwara State and Senator Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State have sent their lists of Executive Council members to their appropriate legislative arms of government for screening and confirmation. Some would argue that over three months was simply too long a period to constitute their respective Executive Councils. But it is certainly better late than never. This column had previously submitted that the Executive Councils are not ornamental decorations.  They have critical roles to play in achieving good, responsive and responsible governance. It is thus in the spirit of the constitution that they be set up as urgently as possible following the election of the Chief Executive even if the letters of the constitution do not give an explicit time frame to do so.  However, given the quality of nominees by PMB and Governor Akinwunmi Ambode in particular, the wait has been well worth it.

    Some analysts have suggested that PMB took his time in unveiling members of his Federal Executive Council (FEC) because he wanted only the best in terms of competence and character in his government and there are very few of these available. But it is also not impossible that he was faced with a surfeit of capable and qualified hands and had to take his time picking only the very best. PMB’s body language has often strongly suggested a strong distrust and aversion for politicians. He openly said in an interview during his recent visit to France that politicians as Ministers only make a lot of noise while it is the technocrats that do the job.  Of course, this is a rather simplistic and exaggerated view of the so-called technocrat/politician dichotomy. In modern politics, many outstanding technocrats are astute politicians and many accomplished politicians are respected technocrats in their spheres of specialisation.

    One can understand PMB’s aversion to politicians and their antics given his own background and experiences. For one, he is himself the product of a highly bureaucratised organisation, the military, with its emphasis on unquestioning obedience and rigid hierarchical control. Again, in his first coming as military Head of State in December 1983, it was his challenge to help clean up the utter political, moral and economic mess in which the politicians of the Second Republic had left the nation. Again, as elected President today, he is confronting the mess and decay the politicians had created over the last 16 years since 1999. However, it would be naïve and misleading to put all the blames for failed governance during civilian democratic dispensations at the doorsteps of politicians alone. The civil service technocrats are no less implicated in the gross misrule, monumental graft and utter incompetence that have left the country perpetually punching below its weight.

    In any case, the competence, seriousness, sense of purpose, focus and integrity of the council of Ministers will only be as good as the leadership qualities and moral integrity of the Chief Executive that appointed them especially in a presidential system of government. This is why the recent assertion by former President Goodluck Jonathan that the appointments of two of his former key aides, Dr Akinwunmi Adesina and Ms Arumah Oteh to prestigious international positions testify to the quality of his Executive Council is so totally misplaced. Yes, there were men and women of the highest intellectual and administrative competence in Dr Jonathan’s Cabinet but his own leadership deficiencies prevented the nation from benefitting maximally from their potentials.

    Again, PMB must be careful not to fall into the error of the PDP years. Lacking a coherent ideological world view and well thought out manifesto, successive PDP administrations between 1999 and May 29, 2015, simply surrendered the country’s policy direction to an assortment of local and foreign ‘technocrats’ particularly IMF/World Bank super star mandarins. They had absolutely no clue to the country’s deep seated problems beyond the age-long and ineffectual palliatives of the International Financial Institutions (IFIs). Indeed, one of them, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, could hardly hide her disdain for the political class in her arrogantly titled book, ‘Reforming the Unreformable”.  Thus, the PDP had the National Economic and Employment Strategy (NEEDS) under Obasanjo, the 7-poimt agenda under the late Umaru Yar’Adua and the Jonathan administration’s magical ‘Transformation Agenda all leading the country nowhere.

    One good thing about PMB’s taking his time in constituting his Federal Executive Council (FEC) is that he has been able to set an example of the exceedingly high moral standards he expects of his team. No one who falls below the bar can complain he or she was not forewarned. Again the process of his forming his Cabinet shows the character of the President’s mind and the quality of his decision-making process.  He has effectively and admirably balanced his commitment to party loyalty and supremacy with the fierce independence of mind needed by the Chief Executive in a presidential system of government. He has also sent a strong signal that the buck stops at his table as President. His Ministers must thus first and foremost be loyal to him and the constitution rather than extraneous influences.

    I disagree completely with those who contend that PMB must have 36 Ministers, one from each of the states of the federation. It is this column’s view that in as much as all geo-political zones in the country have already been represented in the list he has sent to the Senate, the Federal Character principle has been effectively met. There are thousands of appointments yet to be made at the centre, which can take care of states not represented in the Federal Executive Council.  In any case, the President shortly after assuming office obtained the authorisation of the Senate to appoint 13 Special Advisers. He can simply go on to appoint suitable persons to these positions and get ahead with the business of governance.

    It is difficult to fault the President’s proposed team. Alhaji Lai Mohammed has been the indefatigable spokesperson of the party during its opposition years in the wilderness. So lucid, stinging, pungent, perspicacious and consistent were his daily engagements with the PDP that the party promptly labelled him ‘Lie Mohammed’. In the last election, the vast majority of the electorate demonstrated that they didn’t consider Lai a liar.  Chief Audu Ogbe has a track record of cerebral discourse, moral integrity and administrative competence. Despite his catastrophic loss to the erratic and combustible Ayo Fayose in the last Ekiti governorship election, no one doubts the high intellect and managerial acumen of Dr Kayode Fayemi. Mr Babatunde RajiFashola (SAN) is an established icon of the party given the exemplary way he built on the foundation laid by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as governor of Lagos State. Rotimi Amaechi may be often rambunctious and brash but he perhaps needed these qualities to contain the Dr Jonathan rampaging forces of impunity in Rivers State.  This column is highly optimistic that this team will perform creditably in assisting PMB to lead Nigeria in a new direction of positive change.

    No less impressive is Governor Akinwunmi Ambode’s team made up of at least seven members with experience in the BRF Executive Council and others ranging between ages 39 and 47 from varied backgrounds including local government administration, the legislature, media, as well as legal practice and the private sector.  There is certainly hope for Nigeria as public office is gradually being conceived not as an end in itself but avenues for conceptualising and implementing policies towards enhancing the public good.

  • Much ado about Buhari’s appointments

    Much ado about Buhari’s appointments

    President MuhammaduBuhari has faced an avalanche of criticisms as regards the appointments he has made thus far.  Apart from the perceived lethargy in the constitution of his cabinet, the President has been accused of regional bias in the appointments he has made. Most of his key personnel, it is argued are from the north. This is indisputable. But does that detract from the possibility of good governance? I don’t think so. For me, it is the calibre and integrity of those appointed to public office that matters more than their region, ethnic or religious orientation. There appears to me to be some tension between the need to balance appointments ethnically and regionally and the utilisation of public office as a means of primitive accumulation.

    It would appear that the quest for public office is more due to the benefits that accrue to the office than the desire for public service. Yes, the 1999 constitution has its limitations. But it has its merits. For instance, it requires that the President must have a nationally valid vote that cuts across ethno-regional demarcations. The President is the custodian of a national mandate. Any appointment that he makes is subject to this rule.  This is why the hue and cry about PMB’s appointments is in my view completely misplaced. , Under the 1999 constitution, the President wields a national mandate. All his appointments are supposed to be in the national interest. Is the president, in this regard, obliged to pick Cabinet members from the 36 states? I don’t think so. Every member of the Federal executive Council is meant to serve the country’s national interest and not that of the state he or she is from.

    The unhealthy preoccupation with appointments at the federal level is a function of a more fundamental problem. This is due essentially to the over-centralisation of the Nigerian state and our current Unitarism that masquerades as federalism.  Ideally, our constitutional federalism should solve the problem of every ethnic/nationality group wanting to be represented at the national level. For, the people have also been represented at local government   and state levels.

    It does appear that the excessive concern with appointments at the federal level is fundamentally a function of the excessive concentration of powers and responsibilities and powers at the centre. Thus, everyone wants to have his or her own person appointed to one office or the other at the federal level. This is not unconnected with what the late Claude Ake described as the utilisation of state office as a means of primitive accumulation.

    Ideally, the federal constitution should ensure that everybody is adequately represented at various levels of governance from the local government through the states to the federal government. If that is so, then the pressure for appointments at the federal level will be grossly reduced. Again, what does membership of the Federal Executive Council mean? Are ministers representing their states of origin or are they meant to pursue the national interest?

    It is my view that the preoccupation with PMB’s timing and ethno-regional composition of his appointees is a function of the prebendal character of the Nigerian state. Yes, every component group of a complex federal polity like ours must be adequately represented in governance. But when public office is perceived and utilised as a means of primitive accumulation, it negates the essence of good governance in the overall national interest. I agree that any president’s appointees must reflect the ethno-regional composition of the nation. However, that must be secondary to the factors of merit and integrity’. There is, of course, merit in the view that talents abound in every nook and cranny of Nigeria. But every President has the prerogative of choosing the men and women to work with based on his antecedents, values, associations and experiences.

     

    Professor Isaac Adewole’s clarrifications on Unibadan vc race

    I received a call from the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Issac Adewole last Saturday. The distinguished academic and administrator was ever so courteous and gracious. He betrayed no irritation or anger at my critique of the UNIBADAN VC selection process. He offered to make available to me the files on the VC selection process if I desired. Contrary to my contention, he said that Professor Adigun Agbaje was indeed interviewed like all the 13 applicants for the position of VC. He raised other issues which I would have liked to contend with. However, I appreciate the gesture of the distinguished professor and will let matters rest as they are. This column wishes Professor Olayinka a successful tenure as VC of Nigeria’s premier university.

  • Conflict of powers and interests

    The African wisecrack that when elephants fight it is the grass that suffers is the compass  for our safari today into the corridors of power globally. We  shall  look at events in Nigeria where the President of  the Senate is on trial on his asset  declaration in the past and   has  declared in open court that his trial is  political. We shall  draw an inference and lesson from that in the light of Nigeria’s presidential  system which operates on the concept of strict  separation  of powers. We  then  proceed to  Russia where the President received the Prime  Minister  of Israel in the Kremlin amidst global  concern that Russia had decided to step  up militarily  its support for the Assad regime in its fight against rebels and ISIS and  the import  of  that for the influx  of  refugees to  Europe. We  then round up on the role of  German motor  giant  Volkswagon  in   using technology to fool environmental regulators in the US on  diesel engine emissions tests and  the import  of that for global  corporate  governance  and ethics.

    The  trial Nigeria’s  Senate  President Bukola Saraki  took a very political diversion when he appeared in court and decided  when asked to take a plea of  being guilty or not, to embark on a very interesting tirade. He  declared that he had not been notified of the charges on his assets  which amounts to an accusation that he has not been offered a chance  of fair hearing and that he was on trial because  he  is the Senate President. I do not think he can be correct on both counts. First  he had sent his glittering array   of Eminent SANs to the courts  to stop the tribunal on various grounds but the courts did not agree with his lawyers arguments and did not restraint the tribunal  at least for now , from trying him.  So  on what grounds were his lawyers confronting the courts to restrain the tribunal  if he the client  who   gave them their briefs was ignorant  of the charges against him? Certainly  something is amiss  with his claim  of ignorance on the charges.

    Secondly Senator Saraki is the incumbent Senate President of Nigeria but he is not above the law either personally or officially. Nobody is, according to the Nigerian Constitution.  Nigeria operates a presidential system that has a legislature , an executive arm and the judiciary.  Saraki’s  trip to the court for his trial was a private one that concerned  his past as Governor of Kwara State. It  has nothing to do with his office as President  of Nigeria’s  Senate  a position he assumed this year  as an elected  member  of the  APC which  he  betrayed with impunity in the way and manner he got elected  as Senate  President. If  he  now  sees his trial as persecution by the APC government in power then  he is either  seeing shadows  or  developing a clear malady  of   massive  political  compunction and that in his case is to  be expected.

    Shakespeare  put the  situation succinctly  in Macbeth when  he said after the murder of King  Duncan by Macbeth that Macbeth has murdered sleep and  would  not  sleep  again. Obviously the Senate president is not aware  of an elementary definition of politics which  I learnt  in my first year  in the Faculty  of Social  Sciences in the great  University of Ife, Ile  Ife. The   definition  says – Politics  is Who  gets What, When and How. It  follows  therefore that the Senate President  should  ruminate  ponderously  on his route  to power  and the  opportunity cost  of  that,  to know if indeed the end justifies  the means. For  now he can  only sleep  with one eye  open as  he is on tenterhooks with Nemesis, which  is inevitable , retributive  justice  and Nigerians are watching his odyssey to  power in our senate with keen interest and unusual  vigor.

    Benjamin  Netanyahu’s  visit  to Putin  over military  aid  for the besieged President  of  Syria was a journey  born  out of sheer desperation on Israel’s  security in the Middle  East  given the  emergence  of ISIS. Funny  enough both Putin and Netanyahu  have a common enemy arising from sheer personality clash  and that  person  is the US  President  Barak  Obama.  Indeed  it is an open secret that  both  gentlemen  don’t get on with the US president  at  all .Netanyahu  is mad  at  Obama over the Iran Nuclear Deal which he thinks is a major threat to Israel’s  security but  Obama  is hell  bent  on seeing through. Putin is furious over  US  sanctions  on freezing the foreign  accounts of his close aides after he invaded Ukraine  and Putin felt that  was  a coup  to topple  his government and there  has been  no love lost between  the two  leaders although it has been rumored they  may  meet at next week’s UN General  Assembly  meeting.

    The  lesson  history  offers  on the spat between the leaders  of  Russia , US  and Israel is  to be found  in the role of  Germany under its present  Chancellor Angela Merkel  on the refugee crisis  and the influx  of migrants to Europe.  It  is simply  ironic   that  Hitler  used the Holocaust  to wipe out the Jews and  their  settlement in Palestine in 1948 has  been the cause  of Arab  hatred  for Israel ever since  and six wars  have  been fought over this.  Now  it is a German Chancellor  leading Europe in terms  of  kindness,  money  and  foresight to accommodate Arabs  fleeing wars in Syria  and  Afghanistan. You  may say Germany is  paying  for Hitler’s  madness  but  you  have  to admit that Angela Merkel has changed  the sovereign reputation  that Hitler  bequeathed  Germany since  the last World  War and  she  has  my admiration for  Germany’s  new  found humanity and  kindness as a nation.

    On  the contrary  Volkswagon has dragged   the  sterling   reputation  of  German engineering and manufacturing in the mud in the way  it admitted  side  tracking US Environmental  Regulation on diesel emission  tests on its  vehicles – all  well  known brands – and is to recall  thousands of  sold  cars  leading  to huge  losses. The  German  company  simply  outfoxed  the Americans  by putting in a software  that gives false  data  during testing only  to revert to normal  after testing .At  the end of the day  the German cars  were emitting 40%  Nitrogen above  what the UN Environmental  law  allowed.

    The  recall  will  cost  Volkswagon  a lot in terms  of money but  far more in terms  of  Corporate Image. The  board  of the car giant  has fired its CEO in  charge  at the  time  of the dishonest  act which  of course was a technological  feat  on its  own  merit. It  was   however  an innovation that was negative in that it was meant    to deceive  and that should  not  be undertaken  by  any company  worth its  salt not  to talk  of a global  giant  like  Volkswagon.  The  firing  of the boss  and the recall have restored sanity  and good  corporate  governance  and ethics and one  hopes  the  Germans   would direct their engineering prowess  in a positive  direction  like their Chancellor  is doing in purging  Hitler’s Germany of its bad image and portraying Germany  now  as the nation of hope and succor  for those fleeing war and violence  globally.

  • Shooting for goals

    I’m a proud Nigerian. My joy has grown in geometric projection since the European leagues began on August 8. Surprise results, stunning goals and awesome talents from the matches played. The game remains beautiful, with many things to celebrate.

    My interest rests with how Nigerians in Europe fare, with the cumulative effect being how many of our stars eventually make the list of those to contest for the annual Glo/CAF Africa Footballer of the Year Award.

    It has been a harvest of goals for players, such as Ahmed Musa and Odion Ighalo. Ighalo’s case is most interesting because statisticians argue that he has been the highest goal scorer in Europe since the last season. They hinge their position on the number of goals Ighalo scored for Watford FC in last season’s Coca –Cola English Championship League to date for the same team in the Barclays English Premier League.

    Watford are debutants in the English elite class, but Ighalo, with four goals and still counting, has shown that he has what it takes to wrest the Barclays English Premier League’s highest goal scorer award from Manchester City’s Kun Aguero. Tall ambition many would say, but dreams start with efforts and Ighalo doesn’t look like one to shudder towards achieving that feat, come May 2016.

    Ighalo who? Many have asked. But the truth is, Ighalo grew up through the ranks of the domestic game. He was a junior international. Surprised? Don’t be. We don’t know how to graduate players from our age-grade teams. Our coaches don’t understand that national teams should comprise our best, even if those in the team were not discovered by the incumbent coach at any level. It is a Nigeria team not the coaches.’

    Ahmed Musa was before now all about pace, not sublime skills. Going to Europe has polished Musa’s game. He now scores goals for CSKA Moscow and Nigeria. He scored in a 10-goal thriller last weekend which his Russian side won 6-4. He has been Nigeria’s most successful player in the last one year. Little wonder h was listed among players for the 2014 Africa Footballer of the Year Award, which Cote d’Ivoire’s Yaya Toure deservedly clinched.

    Can Eagles chief coach Sunday Oliseh risk playing Musa and Ighalo as the team’s twin striking option, leaving Emmanuel Emenike on the bench in the two international friendlies against Congo and Cameroon in Brussels, Belgium? He could, after all they are friendly games. But they count in scoring points for the monthly FIFA ranking. We will see, even as it appears Emenike is beginning to understand the way Oliseh wants him. Emenike did well against Niger at the Adokie Amiesiamaka Stadium in Port Harcourt. And like the dictum states, no coach changes a winning side. Will Oliseh stick to this squad or make a bold statement about his technical savvy by cleaning out Congo and Cameroon with remarkable victories? Time will tell.

    The biggest puzzle Oliseh would have to fix is where to field Victor Moses, not after his long range stunner that left England’s and Manchester City’s number one goalkeeper Joe Hart sprawling on the turf in Sunday’s 2-1 loss to West Ham at the Ethiad Stadium. At West Ham, Moses functions from the left side of the attack, even though he uses his right foot.

    Will Oliseh give Moses the free role he enjoys at West Ham, given the enormous talent in the Eagles? Moses is a crafty player. He dribbles very well, though he is prone to injuries, but he appears to tire out easily. When he is tired, he walks on the pitch. Will Oliseh have the courage to pull him out, especially if he has scored a goal? Well, West Ham’s coach replaced Moses when he was tired against Manchester City, so why won’t Oliseh?

    Questions were asked when Kelechi Iheanacho wasn’t included in the Belgium group. But Manchester City’s manager told the international media that Nigerian kid Kelechi Iheanacho is injured, a fact Oliseh may be privy to, hence his exclusion. Still, there is the urgent need for Oliseh to tell us what informed his choice of players and why others were dropped. That is the norm in other climes where the game is seen as a business.

    My worry about the evolving Super Eagles under Oliseh is the absence of inspiring At West Ham, Moses functions from the left side of the attack, even though he uses his right foot.

    Will Oliseh give Moses the free role he enjoys at West Ham, given the enormous talent in the Eagles? Moses is a crafty player. He dribbles very well, though he is prone to injuries, but he appears to tire out easily. When he is tired, he walks on the pitch. Will Oliseh have the courage to pull him out, especially if he has scored a goal? Well, West Ham’s coach replaced Moses when he was tired against Manchester City, so why won’t Oliseh?

    Questions were asked when Kelechi Iheanacho wasn’t included in the Belgium group. But Manchester City’s manager told the international media that Nigerian kid Kelechi Iheanacho is injured, a fact Oliseh may be privy to, hence his exclusion. Still, there is the urgent need for Oliseh to tell us what informed his choice of players and why others were dropped. That is the norm in other climes where the game is seen as a business.

    My worry about the evolving Super Eagles under Oliseh is the absence of inspiring midfielders, who are enterprising in their approach to matches, dominating the midfield with their commanding play that should release the strikers to score the goals that would make the opposition appreciate our worth.

    Indeed, former Nigeria international, captain and coach of the Eagles Austin Eguavoen believes that John Mikel Obi has what it takes to make the team play at its best – always, provided he decides on his future with the squad.

    “Mikel should please understand he doesn’t have any other country to play for apart from Nigeria. He is one of the best and plays in one of the best leagues and for one of the best clubs in the world. He should put everything humanly possible into playing for Nigeria or he should tell Nigerians ‘I don’t want to play any more’, and then we can leave him alone,” Eguavoen said.

    “I have been Mikel’s coach since the U-17s. I gave him his debut in the Super Eagles. I recommended him to Samson Siasia when he was the U-20 side’s coach. Mikel is a good boy, but he is a very shy person. He is still important to our national team, as well as Victor Moses,’ Eguavoen said.

    Mikel feels he ought to be treated like a king simply because he plays for Chelsea. He should be told that Nigeria made him. He got into Chelsea after his exploits for our age grade teams. Another way to check the Mikel nonsense would be for Oliseh to play Oguenyi Onazi. Both players play as holding midfielders for their European clubs. If Oliseh wants us to believe that he is an advocate of attacking football, he need not play Mikel and Onazi in our starting line-up, except where he wants to defend any slim result.

    Mikel would be beaten into line if he sits on the bench all through the two matches against Congo on October 8 and against Cameroon on October 11, with the Eagles winning convincingly. I dare Oliseh to bench Mikel in these two matches or, at best, give him cameo appearances of between eight to 10 minutes like Jose Mourinho does.

    Interestingly, Onazi was rated the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in his Italian side’s Europa game. Onazi would be returning to the Eagles after serving out the punishment for the red card he bagged playing for Nigeria against Chad inside the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna earlier in the year.

    It is good news to hear that Arsenal FC of England’s kid star Alex Iwobi will make his debut against Congo in Belgium on October 8. I’m excited because his inclusion will increase the pool of players that Oliseh would need to pick his winning squads routinely. Iwobi is Austin Okocha’s nephew. He is as gifted as his uncle but may not be as excited as Okocha was while playing for Nigeria and all his clubs.

    Will Oliseh stick with Nnamdi Obiora in the midfield or find a wide role in the midfield for him? Onazi and Mikel are better than Obiora. Obiora is younger, making it imperative for him to get the nod ahead of Onazi or Mikel. Where will Oliseh play Rabiu Ibrahim? Ibrahim reminds us of Okocha. Indeed, he has been accused of deliberately trying to play like Jay Jay, with many coaches and fans complaining that his attempts at being like Okocha delays passes to freer mates to score goals. Ibrahim has grown with what I saw against the Menas of Niger. Will Oliseh rather opt for experience than the future? These are posers only Oliseh can answer. I only hope that the two matches are shown live for Nigerians to evaluate the Eagles after four matches.

    The Cameroon game on October 11 is the biggest test. Oliseh knows that the Indomitable Lions are bad customers. He knows that a victory over Cameroon will be the best testimony of his tactical savvy. Against the Taifa Stars and the Menas of Niger Republic in Dar es Salaam and Port Harcourt, the Eagles lacked a leader. Could this be the reason the coach has opted for the experienced players who need no further prompting on what to do after the pre-match talks?

    Leon Balogun, hopefully, returns to the right side of the defence to add steel. It appears that the central defensive pairing in Dar es Salaam created problems. Perhaps the wobbly setting against Tanzania may have forced Oliseh to return to the central defensive pair of Godrey Oboabona and Kenneth Omeruo. They did well against Niger. But the two games in Belgium will show if the coach can rely on this pair to anchor his defence. I expect Elderson Echiejile to man the left back position. His inclusion will give the team width when on the offensive. I hope Echiejile has learned how to fall back quickly, anytime the team’s attacking onslaught breaks down? Well, he has shown remarkable improvement playing for French side Monaco in the UEFA Champions League. Echiejile, as a defender, can score goals – an added fillip for him when the chips are down, in terms of making the first 11.

    October 8 and 11 are two days when Nigerians will gauge our team and see if Oliseh’s reforms Oliseh will take us to the Promised Land. Nigerians can sit back and watch both games if Carl Ikeme is at the goalpost. Regular choice goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama will be burying his mother on October 3 in Akwa Ibom State. He may not be in the best frame of mind to play any game, at least the first one against Congo on October 8. But not many will shudder, having seen Ikeme distinguish himself in his debut against the Taifa Stars of Tanzania in Dar es Salaam, earlier in September and against Niger. Besides, home-grown goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezinwa looks reliable.

    The two games in Brussels may be friendlies but Nigerians will crave for victories. Oliseh should oblige us this dream.

  • Reflections on Unibadan Vice Chancellorship race

    Reflections on Unibadan Vice Chancellorship race

    The tenure of the incumbent Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Nigeria’s premier university, Professor Isaac Adewole, expires in November. For the past six months 13 aspirants, all distinguished academics and administrators, have been vying to succeed him. In what looked like a move to enhance the credibility and transparency of the selection process, the university’s authorities recently organised an open forum that gave all the aspirants an opportunity to articulate their plans and vision for the institution before critical stakeholders. The Chairman of the session was Chief Afe Babalola (SAN) who was represented by Professor Ibidapo Obe, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Lagos, while the moderator was renowned human rights lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN). Unfortunately, it is difficult to ascertain what impact this initiative had on the selection process or what value it added.

    Last week, the Pro-Chancellor and Chairman of the University’s council, Dr Umar Mustapha, announced the appointment of a new Vice Chancellor to succeed Professor Adewole. In his words, “When the process started, we advertised in the national newspapers for the vacancy of the office of the Vice Chancellor. A total number of 13 people applied and after conducting interview, six candidates emerged. Out of the six candidates, the first three candidates were recommended and at the end, the best of them all, Professor Idowu Olayinka emerged. I hereby officially approve Professor Idowu Olayinka as the new VC of the University of Ibadan”. This sounds rather casual and cavalier if you ask me. What criteria were used to prune the number of contenders from 13 to 6? How do we know that these were fair and objective? Echoing the Pro-Chancellor, the incumbent VC says that the process leading to Professor Olayinka’s appointment was credible and adhered to due process.

    Now, the University of Ibadan is a distinguished global intellectual community. The process of selecting its Vice Chancellor must meet the highest international standards of credibility and probity. It is not enough for Dr Musa and Professor Adewole to tell us that the process was credible and transparent. Rather, it must be seen to be so. All the aspirants must be seen to have been given a level playing field and the process not skewed in favour of any. Perhaps if the aspirants’ interaction with the stakeholders had been televised nationally, there would have been a basis for the wider public to ascertain the fairness or otherwise of the choice of the Governing Council to appoint Olayinka as Adewole’s successor. Yes, the Vice Chancellor is to preside over the affairs of the university community. But the institution exists to facilitate the achievement of national objectives and the general Nigerian public can thus not be disinterested in its leadership selection process.

    Now, I do not want to be mistaken. Professor Idowu Olayinka is eminently qualified to occupy the position. But in a very competitive race in which there are other equally formidable candidates, the process must be of the highest degree of rigour and transparency. Let me explain. Born on 16th February, 1958, Professor Olayinka attended Saint Bartholomew’s Primary School, Odo-Ijesa from 1964 to 1969 and was appointed Head Boy in his final year. He obtained his West African School Certificate (WASC) from Ilesa Grammar School in 1975 finishing in Division one. In 1981 he bagged the B.Sc degree in geology from the University of Ibadan emerging as the best graduating student in his class with a Second Class Honours (Upper Division).  He obtained the M. Sc degree in geology at the University of London as well as a Diploma of the Imperial College in 1984 and between 1985 and 1987 studied for his doctorate at the Research School of Geological Sciences. He undertook post-doctoral training at the Institute for Geophysics and Meteorology, Technical University, Braunschwei, in 1996 and the Department of Applied Geophysics and Meteorology, Technical University, Berlin in 1997.

    Professor Olayinka joined the academic staff of the University of Ibadan in April 1988 as Lecturer Grade 1 and rose to become Professor of Applied Geophysics in 1999. He has supervised five PhD theses and 76 M. Sc dissertations, written one book, contributed to 11 chapters in books as well as being the author or co-author of 43 articles in referenced scholarly journals. A member of the University Senate and Governing Council, he held several key administrative positions at Departmental and Faculty level before his appointment as Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic). Olayinka is a member of several learned societies and has received several research and travel grants as well as serving as consultant to many organisations.

    You could hardly find a more impressive resume. But then, no less notable are the academic and administrative track records of those who competed for the position with Olayinka. Let us consider the case of my teacher, Professor Adigun Agbaje, for instance. He was born on 14th April, 1957 and attended St Patrick’s Grammar School, Basorun, Ibadan, where he obtained his West African School Certificate (WASC) in Division one in 1973. He was at The Polytechnic, Ibadan, for his Higher School Certificate between 1974 and 1976 – a period during which he won first prize at school level for the J.F. Kennedy Essay competition. He bagged a First Class degree in Political Science from the University of Ibadan in 1979 and was the best graduating student of the Faculty of Social Sciences. After obtaining his M.Sc degree in Mass Communication with distinction at the University of Lagos in 1981, he worked as a journalist in various media organisations including The Guardian, The Punch, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) and the The Democrat based in Kaduna.  He obtained his doctorate in Political Science from the University of Ibadan in 1988.

    A former Director General of the Obafemi Awolowo Institue of Government and Public Policy , Lagos, from 2012 – 2014, Professor Agbaje was appointed Assistant Lecturer in the Department of Political Science of the University of Ibadan in 1984 and rose to become Professor of Political Science on 1st October, 1998. He has supervised 12 PhD theses and more than 100 M. Sc degree dissertations as well as being author or co-author of chapters in at least 50 books, 30 articles in scholarly journals and 7 monographs/technical papers. A member of several academic and professional associations and recipient of scores of scores of research grants, he has served as external examiner and/or assessor for appointments and promotions in various institutions including the University of Lagos, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, University of Ghana, Legon, National War (now Defence) College, Abuja, University of Pretoria, South Africa, University of Benin and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. A member of the University’s Senate since 1998, he held several critical positions at Departmental and Faculty level before he was appointed Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), a position he held between 2006 and 2010.

    These are the resumes of only two of the aspirants. We can thus imagine if we had the space to consider the other 11 distinguished contestants for the position. The process of selecting one out of such an outstanding group of aspirants must adhere to the highest possible standards of rigour and transparency. Discussing the UI Vice- Chancellorship race with a distinguished Nigerian Professor and university administrator at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport during the week, he said “You see, both Olayinka and Agbaje are accomplished academics and administrators. Olayinka is a very nice person, very humble and unassuming. Agbaje is very strict and with him there can be no bending of the rules. If Agbaje had made it through to the interview stage, I think it would have been a 50-50 chance between him and Olayinka. Insiders tell me that as Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic), Olayinka already had a 10 point lead over his co-contestants who scaled through to the interview stage”.

    But then, how come that Agbaje the only other aspirant who had occupied the position of Deputy Vice Chancellor like Olayinka did not make it to the interview stage? Was the process cleverly manipulated to give Olayinka an advantage? In a report on page 22 of Thursday’s edition of this newspaper, our correspondent, Bisi Oladele writes, “Olayinka is said to belong to the caucus that currently holds sway in the system. It is believed that the caucus also favours the outgoing VC. Some members of the caucus attended the same secondary school or have been colleagues on several assignments and share similar worldview and ideology helping them to bond easily. Sources say the caucus backed Olatunji to pave way for continuity of Professor Adewole’s works”. It is interesting that both Adewole and Olayinka are Ijesas and old boys of Ilesa Grammar School. Without greater transparency and credibility in the process of appointing Vice Chancellors of Nigerian universities, suspicions and doubts will always arise no matter how qualified the successful candidate is.

  • Labour’s anti-corruption theatrics

    Labour’s anti-corruption theatrics

    It is amazing. He has admittedly not done much in three months and could not have been expected to even if he had not inherited the depth of rot left behind by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) after 16 years of the ravaging locusts. But President Muhammadu Buhari, has performed a veritable miracle in just a little over a 100 days in office. He has managed to convert us all into anti-corruption revolutionaries of sorts.

    We are all born again Nigerians now. Astonishingly, PMB, our emergent political Messiah, is himself no revolutionary in any meaningful sense of the word. Yes, he is ascetic. He makes no distinction between corruption and stealing. He hates graft with a passion. But PMB has always been a stout defender of the system. A revolutionary is fervently committed to overthrowing the status quo and fundamentally changing a society’s inequitable class relations.

    Paradoxically, both in his first coming as military Head of State and now elected President PMB seeks to change the system only in order to save, stabilise and preserve it. Thus, neither PMB nor his party the All Progressives Congress (APC) is, at least for now, ardently pursuing the real revolution Nigeria needs – drastically and surgically restructuring the country’s defective and deformed federal structure. The anti-corruption war is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for achieving the desired Nigerian revolution. But that is a matter for another day.

    The most astounding converts of PMB’s anti-corruption evangelism are Nigeria’s labour leaders. Like Saul’s (later Saint Paul’s) dramatic conversion to Christianity on the road to Damascus, Nigeria’s Labour aristocracy, leaders of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) as well as the Trade Union Congress (TUC) and their affiliates, have suddenly seen the light. They are quickly distancing themselves from the darkness of former President Goodluck Jonathan’s years of impunity in which they were firmly embedded. On Thursday, the labour unions organised massive rallies across several cities including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, supporting PMB’s anti-corruption crusade and even demanding death for treasury looters. Of course, this column is not taken in by the labour leaders’ theatrical anti-corruption razzmatazz.

    Listen to Mr Bobbai Kagamo, President of the Trade Union Congress (TUC) at one of the rallies: “We want everyone to turn a new leaf. We will henceforth expose corrupt persons. This is not the time to trade blames, but the time to support the institutions fighting corruption irrespective of party affiliations. We want people to account for their stewardship”. He was brilliantly playing to the gallery. Would these labour leaders have mobilised their members against corruption and irresponsible governance if Dr Jonathan had won re-election? Were they not mostly silent through the better part of the former administration’s unprecedented reign of impunity? Contrary to Mr Kagamo’s assertion, there is no better time than now to trade blames and the labour unions and other civil society groups carry a humongous share of the responsibility for the general laxity and lethargy that allowed the impunity of the last 16 years to fester.

    When the shocking revelations was made that $20 billion due the country’s Federation Account was missing, there were only tame noises from labour – no demonstrations calling for immediate accountability for the money. What did labour do when the former Minister for Aviation, Ms Stella Oduah, was indicted for illegally authorising the importation of two luxury armoured jeeps at hugely inflated costs without appropriation at a time when millions of Nigerians particularly workers and peasants were reeling in poverty? It was the intense pressure from sections of the media and civil society that compelled Dr Jonathan to reluctantly ease her ‘honourably’ out of the Cabinet. Nothing has been done to bring her to justice till date.

    What did the labour leaders do when former Minister for Petroleum Resources, Mrs Diezani Allison Madueke, was accused of squandering over N10 billion from public funds on the chartering and maintenance of a private jet?  The same labour unions now threatening courts that protect corrupt persons were thunderously silent when Diezani rushed to court and obtained an injunction preventing a planned House of Representatives investigation of the allegation!

    What about Abba Moro, former Minister of Internal Affairs under Jonathan? Under his watch, the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) in 2014 organised fraudulent recruitment exercises in which 6.5 million applicants who paid N1000 each were crowded shoddily like cattle into recruitment centres across the country to write examinations for only 4000 vacant positions. At the end of the day 16 of the applicants were confirmed dead and scores injured as a result of stampede and exhaustion in some of the centres. Yet, it was all quiet on the labour front even as the private consultant that conducted the exercise smiled to the banks with hundreds of millions of Naira. Abba Moro remained in the Federal Executive Council (FEC) till the very end of Jonathan’s tenure.

    On January 1st, 2012, Nigerians woke up to the shocking announcement of the removal of the purported fuel subsidy by the Jonathan administration and an approximately 100% increase in the pump price of fuel from N65 to N141. In collaboration with other civil society organisations, the NLC and TUC led massive rallies against the increase in several Nigerian cities including Abuja and Lagos. Yet, the labour leaders did not consult with their allies when they abruptly called off the strike following the Jonathan administration’s reduction of the fuel price to N97 per litre.

    Subsequent investigations by the House of Representatives revealed that the whole fuel subsidy saga was an elaborate scam in which a few unscrupulous persons were defrauding Nigerians of billions of Naira in fuel subsidy claims without importing any fuel. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) has since been pursuing farcical trials of the indicted persons, most with links to the PDP, without progress. Yet, the labour leaders are now commending the EFCC’s new found activism when they were so eloquently silent on the anti-graft agency’s somnolence in the Jonathan years.

    Of course, an affiliate of the NLC like the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), has been commendably consistent in holding governments to account right from the period of military dictatorship through the squandered years of the PDP feral beasts of impunity to the present. The ASUU, currently led by Dr Nasir Fagge, is likely to continue to hold PMB and the APC to their word and promise of change and that is how it should be. We can only hope that the anti-corruption rallies organised by the trade unions will mark a re-discovery by organised labour of its essence and a re-dedication to its role in holding power accountable as a key component of civil society.

    It will be recalled that organised labour played an active role in the struggle both for Nigeria’s freedom from colonial rule as well as post-colonial Nigeria’s liberation from various military dictatorships. With the democratic restoration of 1999, however, labour and other critical elements of civil society including student unions, religious organisations, formerly vibrant Non- Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and professional associations relapsed into complacency. Many became incorporated as arms of the ruling party and became elaborately implicated in the reigning regime of roguery under the PDP.

    A key component of PMB’s anti-corruption agenda should be to facilitate the reconstitution and strengthening of civil society to regain its vibrancy and capacity to hold the state in check. It is only if he bequeaths to the nation such a resurgent and resilient civil society will PMB’s anti-corruption legacy endure beyond his tenure.

  • 9/11, Nigeria and global security

    Yesterday  was the fourteenth anniversary of the bombing  of the Twin Towers  of New  York by  Al  Quada on September 11 2001,  in the first  year  of  President  George Bush the 43rd  President of the US  who  later launched the invasion of Iraq in 2003 to  oust Saddam Hussein the Iraqi president then on the false premise of his possessing  weapons  of  mass destruction. Since then a lot of water, bloody one at that   too,  has passed under the delicate and much disturbed bridge  of world peace . Quite  simply  and in  an almost  unbelievable way 9/11  has shaped the way  and manner of  world peace  and global  politics in a rather ominous manner not  the least of which are the twin problems of migration to Europe from  the Middle  East and  Africa and the rise  of  ISIS  and  Boko  Haram the deadliest terrorist  groups  of our age and time.

    It  is possible  for the world  to want to forget the horror of 9/11  since  the Americans  eventually captured and killed its engineer Bin Ladin the Saudi  contractor and  perhaps to want to  think  of the event as a closed  chapter. But  then history  is made of such  memories no matter how painful. The  fact  that the 200 Chibok  girls in Nigeria have  not been found and the daily throng of refugees fleeing to Europe on satellite TV, as  well as  the horrific and shattered spectacle of the bombing of Damascus, the ancient capital  of Syria show clearly  the scars of 9/11 as well as the fact that those at  the helm of world politics and diplomacy have not been able to keep a clean sheet on such  horrible events in the world  we live in today  .That  actually  is a tragedy  and an avoidable on at that as  I intend  to show  quite clearly  today.

    Let  me start  with  some  statements  that may sound initially alarming and  perhaps  startling but which  are really provable and ultimately true.  The  first  is that President Barak  Obama  of the US got his mandate as president in 2009 on the platter  of gold or disenchantment of the US electorate with war  and the rash invasion of Iraq by George  Bush and his accomplice on that task Tony Blair UK, Prime  Minister then. The  second is that Nigeria’s new  President  Muhammadu  Buhari  too defeated his  predecessor  and incumbent then because  Nigerians  were  fed up with the rise and bloody terrorism  of the Boko  Haram and the seeming inability  of the government of the day to guarantee the security of lives and property  of Nigerians in addition to the loss and  cruel   disappearance of the 200 Chibok girls  in our North  East. The  third is that world peace and security has been overshadowed by  the  pursuit  of civil  rights  in the west at the expense of global security as  if  such rights were a sine qua  non for world peace even in times of war and in the face of mindless, inhuman terrorism such as  ISIS  and Boko  Haram.  Let  me now explain  my motive  for these charged  statements.

    Starting with US President Barak  Obama  it is obvious  that the clock has turned full circle  for him in terms of war  and peace.  He  got elected in an anti war  electoral  mood and  proceeded to bring US troops back home in fulfillment of his campaign promise. He  embarked  on a diplomatic policy of Engagement with Russia which ended in a fiasco with Russia ending up attacking Ukraine and taking a chunk of that nation on a bizarre historical  excuse  and in blatant disregard of international law. The Obama Administration in  2011  encouraged the street protests  that toppled the despotic leaders  of Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya but left those who  demonstrated for pluralistic  democracy  at the mercy  of lawless Islamic militants who created anarchies lacking the capability to monopolise  legitimate violence to maintain any  semblance  of law  and other in these  nations. Egypt especially played  into the hands of its crafty and politically savvy army which  sided with the protesters at  Tahrir Square  and allowed  the election of President  Mohammed  Morsi  only to later depose him   for  treason and sentence  him to death to   impose a dictatorship worse  than any   Egypt   had ever  seen, since the army took power by sending the Egyptian Pharaoh away  since 1952 under the late and charismatic Gamal  Abdel Nasser.

    On  top  of all these is the crisis in Syria and the fact that Russia has refused to support the much  needed effort to remove the Syrian President Bashar Assad  to bring peace  to that ravaged nation. This stems from Russia’s correct perception of the Obama Engagement  policy as one that flinches when the going gets tough, leaving its adherents and supporters in the lurch and at the mercy of pitiless tyrants and blood thirsty religious militants. The  failure  to have the expected air  strikes in Syria  led  to the infilteration of the rebels  fighting Assad in Syria  and the rise of ISIS  at  great  jeopardy   to both regional and world peace and  security.  The  end product  of all  these is the disturbing sight  of fleeing refugees from Syria and the billions of dollars  now being contributed by EU  nations to receive them even  in the face of a grim danger  to European security given the religion of these  migrants and the prospect  of their  radicalization by militants once they  settle in Europe.  As  at  now the statement  is very  true as I read somewhere  that Europe  has been penetrated  in terms of capital, religion, labor, talent and knowledge and  it needs  to change its diplomacy and relationship with the rest  of the world to avert what has been called a looming clash  of civilization. That really is the lesson  to learn on this 14th  anniversary  of the horror  of 9/11.

    In  Nigeria Boko  Haram and its murder of innocent Nigerians as  well  as the disappearance of the 200  Chibok  girls remain  our own daily 9/11. This  is not to say  that the anti  corruption war and the expected list  of  Ministers  are not important. Indeed  they are the main political gruel we are digesting and regurgi gating for now  and  undoubtedly the political  environment will  be more  vibrant and less suspenseful  once the president announces his cabinet or gives  out the names of treasury  looters  and thieves. But  then the president  has given regional diplomacy a boost  by visiting Ghana and Togo and  firming up security  matters especially  on how  to demolish  Boko  Haram. But  it would  appear that the president speaks more on   domestic issues on foreign  visits than when in Aso  Rock  or in the country. The  reverse  should  be the case so that we do  not wash our dirty linen in public in foreign  lands.  Again  long live  the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

  • Need for executive councils

    We have not experienced much of PMB’s promised change in his first 100 days in office. Some of the promises were a little too exuberant, optimistic and unrealistic, understandably spurred by the urgent need to liberate the country from the perilous slide of the Jonathan years. Yet the ascetic General has brought about, through his basic decency, integrity, forthrightness and sincerity a dramatic change in the previous climate of impunity and this will make more meaningful and tangible change realisable in the medium to long term. But is there any concrete excuse for the President and most governors not constituting their Cabinets three months after being sworn in? I honestly do not think so.

    While this delay may not violate the letters of the constitution, it is in my view not in consonance with the spirit of the constitution. The Federal and State Executive Councils are not mere ornamental decorations. They are meant to play key advisory, consultative, deliberative and other roles to aid good and responsible governance. Of course, some state governors have a point in trying to cut costs and save revenue in a period of economic recession. But the possible negative fiscal consequences of decisions taken and policies enunciated without the benefit of rigorous debate by a sound executive council may turn out to be ultimately more costly.