The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Playing catch up

    Playing catch up

    Poor Victor Moses! By now, the immensely talented star will be ruing his decision to quit Wigan Athletic for Chelsea. He certainly would have asked Liverpool’s manager Brendan Rogers why he had been reduced to cameo appearances in the Reds’ quest for a league title, after 24 years.

    Indeed, Moses’ search for a solution to his problems would be further complicated by the fact that he stands the risk of not playing for any big European team next season. His fears won’t be unfounded because Chelsea’s manager Jose Mourinho has listed him for the transfer market. Not playing regularly for Liverpool this season has reduced Moses’ chances of showing other clubs what they would gain by signing him next year.

    With the door seemingly slammed against Moses at Chelsea, the poser will be if Liverpool’s manager would keep the Nigerian, who he nurtured at Crystal Palace FC, years ago. The silver lining in Moses’ predicament is that he gets into Liverpool’s squad for tactical reasons, most times late in the game. It simply means that the Reds would be prepared to keep the Super Eagles star, provided the transfer fee by Chelsea isn’t outrageous.

    Looking at the players Moses has to contend with for Liverpool’s shirt makes his case pitiable. Raheem Sterling, aside being an Englishman, has been awesome, playing for the Reds, scoring amazing goals and can be described as the fastest Barclays English Premier League player, since Arsenal’s Theo Walcott is currently out of the season. There is also the smallish Continho from Brazil, who aside performing his creative midfield role like Moses, scores goals.

    The Nigerian scores goals but they are as far-and-wide-apart as the dentition of a century-old human. Many have argued that Moses’ limited appearances for Liverpool is chiefly responsible for the inertia in his game. The flipside to this argument is the Demba Ba example at Chelsea. Ba has the same problems as Moses. The difference is that Ba seizes every opportunity to prove his mettle by scoring goals. Today, Ba can count himself as regular at Chelsea, especially as coaches don’t like to change their winning squads. This Ba feat didn’t come on a platter of gold. He fought for it and doesn’t look like one to let it slip since Chelsea look like the team with an eye for both UEFA Champions League and Barclays English Premier League diadems. Who can bet against Chelsea? Do so at your peril.

    Moses played for one minute or more against Manchester City. My joy stemmed from the fact that he is fit and was used as game-changer, which is quite remarkable. It will be nice if Rogers retains Moses next year with Liverpool as Barclays English League champions. It will guarantee Moses the opportunity to fight for a place next season. The difference this time is that Liverpool players will be having their hands full with matches. So, Moses can seize the chance to reclaim the shirt and hold on it for as long as his feet can carry him.

    Moses will be fresh at the World Cup in Brazil. He is witty and knows what to do with the ball. He will be an asset to the Super Eagles. He will find in John Mikel Obi, another talented player who has not been used regularly at Chelsea due to injury, a worthy partner. Besides, the pattern created for Mikel to perform is defensive. I only hope that the coaches can play Mikel in this role at the World Cup and not throw him into the attacking slot. But will our coaches play Moses in the creative midfield role to complement Mikel?

    Oguenyi Onazi is back in Lazio’s first 11. He scored a goal last weekend, his first this season and it could signpost better fortunes for Nigeria at the Mundial. It is likely that the coaches would opt for the fighting edge that Nosa Igiebor possesses playing for club and country. My fear is that he is injury-prone and picks up cards from games because of his gutty style. Can the coaches polish this rustic aspect of Igiebor’s game? Let’s wait and see. So, what are the other midfield options for the Eagles? Brown Ideye, Michael Ogu, Nnamdi Oduamadi and Obinna Nsofor.

    These are the men who would provide the passes from the midfield for our attackers. Who are these strikers? What is their pedigree in Europe? Emmanuel Emenike is our best. Strong and reliable, only if he is given good passes by the midfielders. Who will pair Emenike upfront? We have seen him play with Ahmed Musa, Ideye, Shola Ameobi and Nnamdi Oduamadi. His partnership with Ideye has benefited both players. Indeed, the chief coach has described Ideye as a player who works for the team. Perhaps, they need to ask Emenike who he prefers. The reliving aspect of our strikers is that they are paying regularly for their clubs. Their return is timely.

    What would the Eagles’ starting squad look like in Brazil? Many have said the coaches should be left to do the selection. True. But who do we blame if things go awry? Those who say that the people are putting the Eagles’ coaches under pressure must be told that the Argentines are also pressuring their coach to include Tevez, who plays very well for Juventus. Their call for Tevez’s inclusion is based on his current form. And it is justified, even though the Argentines are loaded to the hilt with stars. Need I name them? They are an awesome bunch of players who have stuck together since their days at the under-17 cadre. No lads have joined them since then, yet they are a delicate side to play against when the chips are down.

    An Argentine musician, Daniel Ursini, wrote a tango for Carlos Tevez. According to a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) report, Ursini is using music to send a message to national team coach Alejandro Sabella, once an elegant midfielder for Leeds and Sheffield United.

    Entitled “Sabella, you’ve forgotten Carlitos,” the song’s melancholy tones accuse the coach of having taken the wrong path. “You can’t be so stupid as to leave out one of Argentina’s most popular players,” argues Ursini.

    A year ago, Ursini wrote a song to mark the birthday of Lionel Messi, and separate songs for the two stars may well have been a wise move because it could boil down to a choice between one or the other in the Argentina national team. And that is not a particularly difficult decision to take.

    The power of soccer, most commentators would say. Soccer truly unites people. The game belongs to them. They follow it with passion. They celebrate when their teams win. They sulk and some even cry when things go awry for their squads. Some take it to the ridiculous level of maiming themselves. Yet the game rules. When the 2014 World Cup begins on June 12 in Brazil, everything will stop for people. They would prefer to follow the event. People will keep vigil to watch their countrymen. Will you blame them?

    Will Argentina’s coach bow to the pressure? Not likely because Tevez called it quits with the team. If Tevez is dropped, it would be justified just like the English have told Chelsea’s Captain John Terry to bury the thought of returning to the squad for the 2014 World Cup.

    Irrespective of what the Argentine musician has done to canvass support for Tevez, the cantankerous midfielder has restated his position about being left out the squad stressing that: “I don’t think I will be with my national team at the World Cup. I’ve already bought tickets to go with my wife and my three children to Disney World. They deserve this trip and I have been very clear in my mind where my place is. Things as they are and that is that,” Tevez said. Tevez on the hindsight has shown that he is man of honour unlike our players who can’t stand by any decision. They can’t because they know that Nigeria’s participation at the Mundial is always a bazaar for the players and coaches. I digress.

    The mind games have begun. The Iranians are boasting. Tagged the weakest in the group because of their pedigree in the game, they have dropped the Asian Maradona from the squad. The advantage of releasing the provisional list early is for the Iranians to criticise it.

    Carlos Quierioz is a tested hand. His 28-man squad has been exposed. His friendly games are known and those on spying mission have begun their exercise. What about Nigeria? Shhhh. We are still bickering.

    Indeed, the Bosnians have started talking. Those invited know themselves and are celebrating. Those dropped have kept quiet, knowing that those picked are better. Our boys are responding to the diatribes thrown at us and those talking won’t be in Brazil. That is the way we are. Like the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti sang in one of his hit albums, we are opposite people. Dem go show o; dem go show, dem go show themselves clear, clear, dem go show. Opposite people, dem go show. Everywhere dem go, dem go show.

  • The politics of GDP, energy and justice

    Nigeria rebased its GDP recently and the government gleefully announced that its new size makes Nigeria’s economy the biggest in Africa, having displaced S Africa which occupied that enviable position prior to the rebasing. On the worsening crisis in Ukraine the US accused Russia of using its supplies of gas to Ukraine to control that beleaguered nation just as the US is tightening sanctions on Russia for recent invasion of Crimea in Ukraine. On the internet this week was a story that a 14 year old Nigerian girl who was forced to marry a 35 year old husband in Kano had killed the husband with rat poison and is to be charged to court as a juvenile. It is my considered opinion that each of the news items I have identified for analysis today can stand on its own in terms of the politics behind its nature, occurrence, socio economic and even diplomatic implications. My goal today therefore is to show that in each case serious issues arise which have to be appreciated and tackled in a realistic and just manner if equity and justice in these matters are to be achieved in the local and international environment we are dealing with. We start with the $510 bn Nigerian GDP which has raised so much hullabaloo. The opposition APC has said that the government has ridiculed itself by the exercise. In response the government spokesman called the Opposition a ‘global irritant’ which I think is an unfortunate though good piece of malapropism – a ludicrous misuse of language, as the APC is just doing its legitimate duty of check mating the government in power, as expected of any opposition worth its salt in Nigeria, and I do not think that can be described as a global nuisance by any stretch of the human imagination. Aside from outpacing S Africa in economic size I do not see the real value of the rebasing of the Nigerian GDP. It immediately reminded me of what former British Labor PM Harold Wilson said when the British pound was devalued during his tenure of office. Wilson told the British people that though the pound has been devalued it does not mean that the pound in their pocket will buy less in Britain. In a cynical way one can say the same of this Nigerian GDP rebasing. It has added no value to the value of the naira on the streets of Nigeria and we all know that in terms of purchasing power of Nigerians, the naira is buying less and less, in terms of consumption of essential goods and services by the day, with the teeming masses of impoverished Nigerians. While one grants the government the right or is it the duty to update statistics on the GDP, it is an indulgence, and a provocative one at that too, to talk of so much wealth in a nation with so much mass poverty in the midst of such plenty. And such huge disparities between the rich and the poor, in a nation where youths die on employment lines while potential employers make money out of selling jobs application forms. Indeed there is something inherently mischievous and suspicious about the timing of the rebasing. It again reminded me of some wayward revaluation of assets in banks which can be either legitimate or fraudulent. Some so- called ‘smart’ bank managers can quickly revalue security assets so that more loans can be given out, even when they know the security value can never cover loans disbursed in the event of a break down in repayment arrangements and schedules. Banks have been known to revalue assets close to Annual General Meetings so that the Shareholders think their balance sheets are solid when all they are doing is to convert foreign currency holdings to their naira value. Which is so mischievously similar to this highly trumpeted rebasing of Nigeria’s GDP. With regard to the US accusation of Russia of using its supplies of gas to control Ukraine, the US should know that those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. The US is using economic sanctions to deal with Russia over Crimea and in the process has opened the eyes of the Russian bear to what it could use in retaliation. Russia has threatened to turn off its gas supplies to Ukraine because that nation is owing Russia a huge gas debt of $2.2bn. On the surface this is a normal business transaction between a buyer and a seller but it runs deeper than that. The aim of the Russian threat is to ward off future EU sanctions because Ukraine is a conduit for gas supplies to many EU nations. Gazprom the Russian oil giant has threatened that it will seek advance payment if Ukraine does not pay its present gas debts and that it would turn off the gas if immediate payment is not forthcoming. So if the US is calling the shots and muzzling the foreign accounts of Russian President Vlladmir Putin’s close aides, Russia is absorbing the pressure but turning the heat on Ukraine an ally of the US over the supplies of gas and gas debts owed Russia by the Kiev government inUkraine. So, both the US and Russia are on tenterhooks over Ukraine and we are watching to see who will blink first in the undeclared war of sanctions and gas debts that the invasion of Crimea by Russia is slowly but gradually ballooning into, in the global diplomatic theatre. In the case of the under aged Nigerian girl who killed her husband with rat poison, the interplay of culture, religion and justice come to the fore. I say categorically that it is wrong of anyone, whether adult or juvenile, to take human life except perhaps, in self- defence. It is very arguable that the culprit can claim self -defence successfully in a court of law in Nigeria. But given the huge discrepancy in age between her and her husband and the fact that she had no choice in the matter of her choice of husband, the rat option may have looked as a liberation option to her young mind, out of her incarceration in a relationship she knew she could not live with for the rest of her life. The morality or rationale of her now executed escape route from forced marriage is definitely criminal, but did she really have any option other than to commit murder so as to exact the capital punishment to give her an escape route out of her culturally approbated, infant predicament, matrimonial subjugation and slavery? I doubt, and I watch the trial of this murderous juvenile wife with great interest as it unfolds in our hallowed temples of justice here in Nigeria.

  • APC: Much ado about Muslim-Muslim ticket

    APC: Much ado about Muslim-Muslim ticket

    These are indeed interesting times in the history of the All Progressives Congress (APC), the most significant opposition political party in Nigeria’s political history. The party seeks to consolidate its position in the country’s political space. Yet, the PDP spares no effort to demonise its rival in the perpetuation of the country’s political hegemony. This is as it should be. It is up to the APC to get its act together or let the PDP, utilising its huge incumbency advantage, to perpetuate the current so obviously undesirable status quo.

    The speculated possibility of the APC, picking a Muslim-Muslim ticket, possibly General Muhammadu Buhari and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates respectively in the 2015 election has thrust new opportunities to aim daggers at the very heart of the party. It has been so entertaining watching the absolutely fascinating Femi Fani-Kayode dance his way back into political reckoning in Abuja on this score.

    The Ife political chieftain was so obviously in his elements when he was received by no less a personage than President Goodluck Jonathan at the presidential Villa in Aso Rock. On the basis of media speculations and without exhausting options for a definitive conclusion on the issue within his party, Femi Fani-Kayode has been up in arms trumpeting his Christianity from the roof tops. If the Jonathan presidency offers him an appointment, there is no doubt that the excitable chief will grab at the opportunity on behalf, perhaps, of Christians.

    In his political sloganeering on the possibility of a Buhari-Tinubu ticket for the 2015 polls, Fani-Kayode has been exceptional in trumpeting his self- proclaimed Christian credentials. He is the new champion of Christianity in this regard. Fani-Kayode believes that if a Christian is not represented on the APC’s presidential ticket, then millions of Nigerian Christians will suffer grave damages. Unfortunately, he does not tell us exactly why this should be so within the context of Nigeria’s secular constitution.

    President Goodluck Jonathan is a Christian. He has made a habit of peripatetic wandering from one church to the other in penitent worship of his God. But how has his religious belief rubbed off on the welfare of millions of his fellow Christians? Yes, Jonathan has led Christians to the holy pilgrimage in Israel. He was recently in Rome to pay obeisance to the Catholic Pontiff. But that has absolutely nothing to do with his responsibility as Nigeria’s head of state. His ineptness or otherwise is a question of personal ability and not religious affiliation.

    President Olusegun Obasanjo before Jonathan was another leader who insensitively thrust his private religious belief in our faces. He was forever preaching and quoting scriptures to us either at the Presidential Villa Chapel or different churches across the country. Yet, he left the country much worse than he met it in every respect- economic, social, moral, material etc.

    In spite of these glaring experiences, it is amazing that otherwise brilliant individuals like Fani-Kayode would make an issue of the religious colouration of a party’s electoral ticket. And this is even more inexcusable coming over two decades after Nigerians demonstrated that they had transcended such parochial considerations in the landmark June 12 presidential election.

    Tai Solarin was an atheist. He refused to bow to any God. Yet, only very few could meet the exceeding moral standards he set for himself. This was a man who resigned from office as Oyo State Public Complaints Commissioner because he was caught driving without his drivers’ licence on him. The engineering genius, Professor Ayodele Awojobi was an agnostic just like the revered human rights activist and medical doctor, Beko Ransome-Kuti. Yet, they contributed immeasurably to elevating the ethical standards of society just by their personal example.

    It is not professed religious belief that makes the man. It is so sad that otherwise reasonable and rational people would seek to evaluate the APC’s purported electoral ticket on the extra-constitutional basis of its religious colouration.

    Now, does the forgoing suggest that this column supports the speculated APC Buhari-Tinubu ticket? Not necessarily. However, the fact of the duo being Muslims cannot be a convincing reason to discredit the combination if ultimately presented to the electorate.

    Buhari is a man of sterling character and unblemished integrity. His qualities can certainly go a long way to help sanitise our society and lead us on the path to national regeneration. But, can he effectively ward off perceptions of religious fanaticism and sectional extremism that will most certainly influence voting patterns? At over 70, can he muster the energy to effectively lead Nigeria at this critical point in history? These and not his being a Muslim are the pertinent issues.

    Of course, it is exceedingly absurd to campaign against Tinubu’s electoral eligibility on the basis of religion. His record as one of the most liberal, urbane and sophisticated Muslims in this political dispensation is difficult to equal. Just like the late MKO Abiola, his legacy of philanthropy transcends ethnic, regional and religious boundaries. His example of governance in Lagos between 1999 and 2007 and successful transition to the paradigm-changing Babatunde Raji Fashola administration remains unrivalled.

    But then, what should be Tinubu’s political priorities at this time? Should it be to aspire to being Vice President of Nigeria or helping to build and consolidate the APC as an enduring political structure capable of contributing effectively to the institutionalising of sustainable democracy in the country? That and not his religion should be the vital question.

    If Buhari and Tinubu ultimately opt not to run, there are limitless combinations within the APC that can offer Nigeria effective leadership. Competence and not religion must be the watch word at all times.

    It is unfortunate that in our miracle-hungry age, the issue of religious affiliation has been allowed to shove more pertinent variables of competence and integrity to the side lines. Nowhere is this more evident than in the understandable whirl of speculations as regards BRF’s possible successor in office as Lagos State Governor.

    Thus, a frequently named aspirant like Akin Ambode, a former Permanent Secretary and Accountant General of Lagos State is analysed more in terms of his religion than his easily verifiable record as a brilliant administrator and financial engineer. In the same vein, someone like Dr Obafemi Hamzat current Commissioner of Works in Lagos State is routinely telescoped by political analysts as a Muslim and not as one of the keenest, most brilliant and articulate actors in Nigeria’s current public space that he is.

    We all have a duty not to abandon the political arena to opportunistic spiritual combatants like Femi Fani-Kayode. Of course, the brilliant lawyer and polemicist has found his way back to Aso Rock contention courtesy of his religious fulminations. But that for Nigeria is certainly not the way to go.

  • God forbid

    Ask any Green Eagles star his regrets, he will definitely list the fact that he didn’t play at the senior World Cup. Most of them were very skillful but Nigeria had not acquired the status of being a regular at the Mundial. Many have reasoned that our economy wasn’t as poor as it is now to compel the stars of old to consider the star trek to Europe. Those former stars who went abroad chose to acquire education, perhaps because of the orientation in those countries where they played the game – most times at the novelty level.

    Not for the new generation of Super Eagles players since we clinched our first Africa Cup of Nations diadem outside Nigeria in 1994. The year also marked our epoch at the senior World Cup, with many of those who excelled at the USA’94 World Cup hitting it big with European clubs. The ripple effect of Nigeria’s superb outing in 1994 at the Mundial dovetailed into our winning the gold medal of the 1996 Olympic Games’ football event in Atlanta.

    Given our achievements and the players’ exploits with foreign clubs, our football hit its apogee in 1994 and 1996. But we lost track when the demented Abacha regime barred the Super Eagles from defending the Africa Cup of Nations which they won in 1994 in South Africa in 1996. Things fell apart for our soccer. Providence intervened at the Africa Cup of Nations held in South Africa, last year. We won.

    Our exploits at the World Cup in 1998, 2002 and 2010, since we broke the jinx of attendance in 1994, have been nerve wrenching, especially with the after competition tales. Things changed last year. It appears now we are poised to shock the world, only if we settle the wrangling within the team. It is interesting to note that the NFF have chosen to work with Eagles Chief Coach Stephen Keshi. The Big Boss has also turned a new leaf.

    Equally cheery is the news that Keshi would be paid his outstanding four months salaries. He will also an upfront payment until June 30. Keshi’s assistants are to enjoy the same treatment. The salary palava over, leaving the coaches now have their job cut out for them; they should produce a good squad for the Mundial. It presupposes that Keshi would be allowed to pick his squad, even if he decides to pick goalkeeper Chidozie Agbim. The story was told how Keshi refused to go with a third goalkeeper for the game against Mexico, simply because the technical committee disagreed with his inclusion in the team. Keshi had his way because it was a one-off game. He certainly wouldn’t try that with the World Cup. For crying out loud, the technical committee should allow Keshi pick his squad on April 22.

    The technical meeting should be followed with a press conference where the list will be made public. NFF should allow the media drill Keshi over his list. Whatever reasons he advances will serve to determine his fate when the chips are down in Brazil, beginning with Nigeria’s opening game against Iran on June 13. It means that we could rule the world at the Brazil 2014 World Cup, if only all the parties are sincere with their resolve to work together.

    Nigeria’s quest for a remarkable performance in Brazil, beginning with the opening game against Iran, has being dogged with the agony of our reliable players either sitting on the bench or being left out their European clubs’ matches. But the flipside to this scenario is that we would have injury-free players, a situation most of the managers whose players star regularly for their teams would pray for.

    The pain of watching our stars in limbo has been worsened by the tale from Jose Mourinho last Friday that Eagles midfield pearl John Mikel Obi was injured. Mourinho didn’t state the nature of Mikel’s injury. I quickly swept this tale away, given Mourinho’s pedigree for mind games before The pain of watching our stars in limbo has been worsened by the tale from Jose Mourinho last Friday that Eagles midfield pearl John Mikel Obi was injured. Mourinho didn’t state the nature of Mikel’s injury. I quickly swept this tale away, given Mourinho’s pedigree for mind games before matches. It turned out to be the best option when on Sunday, Mikel made Chelsea’s squad for Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League match against Paris Saint Germain (PSG) at the Stamford Bridge Stadium. But did Mikel play against PSG? No; he didn’t, but he loosened up on the sideline in the second half, meaning he could have played had Mourinho not opted for an all-attacking formation, when Chelsea were looking for the vital winning goal scored Demba Ba in the dying minutes of the game.

    I panicked until I saw Mikel warming up. I felt he could miss Nigeria’s 2014 World Cup matches like he sadly did in South Africa, four years ago. Mikel is our biggest player – in terms of pedigree in the European game. Mikel would be the peg on which pundits would hinge their previews and reviews of Nigeria’s matches. Mikel missing Nigeria’s shirt again in Brazil, amounts to a taboo. God forbid, I said unconsciously while writing this article.

    Even Eagles’ stars would be downcast if the news comes that Mikel is out of the games. Recently, Mikel showed he is world class. In Brazil, he will give his best, knowing that he could get a new club, given his limited appearances with Chelsea under Mourinho. Even Mourinho will have a rethink. Certainly, Mikel shouldn’t leave Chelsea for Inter Milan. If Mikel must leave Chelsea, he should join any club that qualifies for UEFA Champions League regularly. I digress!

    With the European leagues drawing to a close and the quest for the UEFA Champions league diadem high on the minds of the stars in the four teams (Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid), it remains to be seen how many of these games Mikel will play.

    Victor Moses hasn’t complained openly about his bench role at Liverpool. It may not be his style. But the few minutes he has played for the Reds show that he is a damn good player. He could be benched because those playing in his position are Englishmen. Do you blame them? It is their league. If a foreigner isn’t clearly better than their wards, it is only fair the Englishman is given a run of matches to sharpen the rustic ends of his game, especially in a World Cup year.

    If Chelsea wins the UEFA Champions League trophy and Liverpool lifts the Barclays English Premier League diadem, Mikel and Moses would be star-acts of the Super Eagles in Brazil. Emmanuel Emenike is a big star in Turkey. He was voted the best player at the Africa Cup of Nations, yet he will rank behind Mikel and Moses, when pundits start to zero in on the Eagles.

    Irregular appearances for Oguenyi Onazi in Lazio in the Italian Serie A, Shola Ameobi in Newcastle, Godfrey Omeruo for Middlesbrough, Ahmed Musa, Elderson Echijile for Monaco in the French Ligue 1 and Brown Ideye in the Russian league is worrisome. Not much is expected from them when Eagles play in Brazil.

    Nobody knows how Godfrey Oboabona is faring beyond reports of his own goals. Yet the silver lining in the Eagles is that goalkeepers Vincent Enyeama and Austin Ejide have been marvelous at their clubs, not forgetting Ambrose Efe, who was part of the league winning Celtic side in the Scottish Premier League side. But soccer is like the biscuit you don’t know where it will crack, like the Sierra-Leoneans would say. The Eagles could be the surprise package for the World Cup if the selection doesn’t divide the squad.

    One was excited watching on television the video of Brazil’s manager Fillipe Scolari discussing with his players in England. He watched Chelsea beat Stoke 3-0 and also saw some other games involving his players in other English clubs. That further cemented the relationship between the coach and the players. Scolari’s dinner with his boys enhanced bonding. He must have told them his philosophy for the Mundial.

    Talking about bonding between players and coaches, this writer screamed, watching Everton’s manager Martinez and his left back Leyton Baines at the stands during Manchester United’s UEFA Champions League game against Bayern Munich at Old Trafford in the first leg game, which ended 1-1.

    Martinez told the media in England that he took Baines to the match because he wanted the left back to watch how Bayern’s captain Philip Lahm plays. He wanted Baines to observe how the German performed both in offensive and defensive positions, not forgetting how he combines his role as the team’s captain and the being the coach on the pitch.

    These are some of the ways that coaches bond with their boys and also get them to see themselves as an indivisible unit. Managers or players shouldn’t lead needless revolts.

    Up Eagles! Up Nigeria! Of course, Oba Khato Okpere, Ise!

  • Fighting global poverty, terrorism and secession

    It may seem incongruous, but I see a challenge similar to the one the civilised world is facing over Russia’s President Vladmir Putin’s annexation of Crimea by force, in the threat by no less a person than the revered Lamido of Adamawa, a traditional ruler in Nigeria to pull his people out of Nigeria, if representatives of the Nigerian president at the ongoing National Conference in Abuja do not behave with decorum. The Lamido angrily told the NC that there is a state called Adamawa in Cameroun and he can conveniently take his people there. Obviously the Lamido was indignant over something but his proposed solution reduced the entire matter to a laughable absurdity. Both actions and utterances of the Russian president and the Adamawa monarch involve potential and real threat on sovereignty and borders, the stark difference being that even the Adamawa monarch knows he cannot take himself seriously, as he has no locus or capability to implement his threat. Whereas, the Russian president not only first flew a kite over the invasion of Crimea but the kite is still very much in the air despite US and EU punitive sanctions of key Russian officials close to the Russian president. Which in my view is really getting very personal with diplomacy in the new Cold War politics of the modern era that the Ukraine Crisis has unleashed. Three pictures that I saw recently and the saga of missing funds that our legislators are discovering at either House or Senate Sub Committee sittings in Abuja, attract my attention this week. The pictures are first that of the Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan with the Pope at the Vatican. The second is that of the Nigerian president again in the midst of delegates to the 2014 summit on global Nuclear Security. The third was the CNN showing the arrival of the American president Barak Obama at the Vatican on a visit to the Catholic Pontiff. Today I want to speculate on these visits and pictures as well as the personalities involved; what they discussed and conclude how seriously they can be taken on such issues, in the context of how one can take Putin or the Adamawa king seriously over their recent actions and utterances on annexation and secession. Equally I will adapt the Lamido/Putin appraisal on relevance and capability on territorial borders to the case of the missing funds going on at the Legislature in Abuja. First, let us imagine what the Pope and President Goodluck Jonathan could have discussed. This is because they have a common ground on gay marriages and the global fight against terrorism. Both gentlemen and the nations they represent are against gay marriages and gay rights implacably. On terrorism they are in tandem as the Nigerian government recently released figures showing that over 3.5m Nigerians have been displaced by Boko Haram in the North East of the country where churches and mosques have been burned with impunity in recent times. Indeed during the last Xmas Prayer at the Basilica in Rome, Nigeria was one of the few nations mentioned for special delivery by the Catholic Pope. But the Pope also is from the slums of Buenos Aires and would ask the Nigerian president what he has done on poverty alleviation in his nation. This is because Nigeria is one of the most corrupt nations on earth and the Nigerian president knows this and would not lie on this. Surely our president must have asked for special redemption prayers on his inadequacy on this front, while asking for special delivery and victory on his yet undeclared 2015 presidential ambitions. How the Pope, who this week sacked a bishop from Germany, the nation of his predecessor over a lavish lifestyle and private pastoral renovations expenses over 40m dollars, will be disposed to pray for this ambition is better imagined than stated here. So on culture and gay marriages the Nigerian leader was like Putin while he sounded more like the Lamido on terrorism and poverty alleviation. In the global nuclear security picture, the Nigerian president looked like fish out of water as he was the only black man in his usual attire. Really, since the summit was on nuclear security, I wonder what Nigeria was doing there as we are not a nuclear power and are not likely to be one in the foreseeable future. Indeed we used to be the regional military global power in West Africa or ECOWAS when we looked after Liberia and Sierra Leone. In recent times however it is France, a former colonial power playing that role in Africa. They did it in Ivory Coast to install President Ouattara and they have done it in Mali to save the Mali nation and people from Islamist invaders fleeing from Libya. In Mali French President Francois Hollande acted decisively while Nigeria and ECOWAS were still busy pussy footing on logistics to save that nation. This explains why he was a special guest of honor at our Centenary Celebrations pledging French support for Nigeria in its fight against the terrorism of Boko Haram. Obviously the Nigerian president needs to go to France on a summit to learn on how to subdue Sahel Islamist terrorists like Boko Haram and not a global nuclear security summit which has no relevance or immediate benefit for Nigeria. Definitely the Nigerian president was like the Lamido on this nuclear summit trip. The Obama /Pope picture too could start tongues wagging on several fronts. First both are first class fighters when it comes to poverty alleviation. Obama has helped many or millions of hitherto illegal immigrants to have hope of realising their dreams of being bona fide citizens of the US. Both are staunch anti terrorists with the Pope giving support to the victims of global terrorism in the Middle East especially the on going conflict in Syria. But both know that they are meeting with their skeletons in their cupboards very much in public view. President Obama flew to the Vatican from Belgium after the EU -US Summit at which he told his audience that the challenge facing the Western world was to enforce the issue of gay rights globally. He however faced a clever Catholic pontiff who is on record as saying that gay people deserve prayers and not hostility. This is not the view of the Catholic Church which is anti gay rights, marriage and abortion. But to me the Pope is using a deliberate facade of flexibility to buy time. He is behaving like the reed that bowed in the direction of a storm and survived while the oak that stood rigid was uprooted. It is definitely not difficult to see why the Pope is like this with the US. For now the Catholic Church is in total disgrace in the US over paedophilia charges and suits and in most cases it has had to pay under plea bargaining to avert messy public trials and exposures to save the sinking image of the church. For the gay rights apologists then, what better time than now to ram the acceptability of its goal down the throat of a church suffering from compunction and loss of moral leadership given pervasive lusts of its clergy, especially during the tenure of the predecessor of the present Pope. On this issue neither Obama or the Pope have flown a kite successfully or behaved like Putin, yet they have not done a Lamido either. Lastly one cannot but commend the legislators in Abuja over the issues of missing funds they are digging up. Aside from the 20bn dollars exposed by the former CBN governor there have been several others brought to light. Of interest to me is the CBN intervention fund of 19 .7bn naira Police Equipment Fund for the Police to buy helicopters which the Police representative said they have no knowledge of. Could the CBN be wrong when it put this on the list of its acquitted interventions in society? I share the incredulity and amazement of our law makers as they fight to identifymaccountability and respect for due process in our public service. It is a tedious step but a step in the right direction. If they get this right they will get the thanks of a grateful nation. On this I think the legislators have done a Putin rather than a Lamido without any mix up in personalities, I hope.

  • Two faces of JNC

    Two faces of JNC

    Since I have consistently and vehemently denounced the whole idea of the Jonathan National Conference (JNC) in this space as diversionary, superfluous and wasteful, the temptation would be to seek to find nothing but fault with the proceedings thus far. That would hardly be fair. For instance, the sometimes contentious, bitter, and divisive exchanges at the JNC are unavoidable and quite inevitable among a congregation of 492 delegates representing a multiplicity of interests in such a diverse and complex country as Nigeria.

    Even if at the end of the day, nothing concrete comes of the JNC, it would at least have served to remind us of the depth of the differences that fracture the country. But then, do we need to squander over N7 billion on a three month talk-shop to realize the obvious? Do the daily butcheries of Boko Haram not blaze our vulnerabilities from the roof tops? How about the rampaging Fulani herdsmen who routinely despatch innocent souls to early graves?

    What about the scourge of corruption that has reached unprecedented heights particularly under the very administration that has convened the JNC?  Remember Stella Oduah and the scandalous procurement of two armoured cars for N255 million. It took four months to ease her most gracefully and honourably out of office when the scandal would not go away.

    Recall Diezanni Alison-Madueke and Her Worshipful Majesty’s continued silence on the alleged squandering of N10 billion on luxurious chartered flights. The alleged missing $20 billion from the coffers of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) as well as stupendous fuel subsidy and kerosene subsidy heists are other dazzling jewels around the neck of this graceful Amazon. Our amiable President will certainly ‘do the needful’ as regards his Petroleum Minister on the recommendation of the JNC. Perhaps, he is constitutionally incapacitated to act before then.

    Don’t forget Abba Moro who presided over a creative job recruitment exercise that reaped a bountiful N700million for a private consultant from about 700,000 desperate youths chasing less than 5000 jobs with 19 dead and several others injured in the process. Surely, we need a resolution of the JNC to remove this man from office and bring all those involved in this heinous crime to justice.

    How about the daily atrocities of kidnapping, armed robbery and cultism turning the entire country into a veritable wasteland? Must we mention the sore of dilapidated public infrastructure that stare obscenely and mockingly at us across the country? Yes, the convening of the JNC is most necessary to spur President Goodluck Jonathan, our state governors and Local Government chairmen to diligently fulfil the constitutional obligation of their offices and implement the myriad of projects for which billions of Naira are budgeted annually.

    Meanwhile, no patriotic Nigerian can blame President Jonathan for not doing his best. At least, when he is not addressing PDP ‘unity rallies’ in different states, or addressing global audiences, Dr Jonathan is frequently at various church services praying fervently for the nation. With God nothing shall be impossible – not even somebody’s re-election in 2015.

    And to show his commitment to the on-going revolutionary Transformation Agenda, our President and the affectionate Dame Patience were recently in far-away Rome to seek formidable Papal reinforcement for their local spiritual endeavours. Surely, it is well with Nigeria.

    It seems to me that there are two faces of the JNC gradually emerging. One is the face of the old and discredited Nigeria best illustrated by the outburst of the Lamido of Adamawa, Muhammadu Barkindo Mustapaha, in reaction to the then tense debate on the voting formula to be adopted during deliberations.  In addition to threatening that the Northern delegates could walk out of the conference if the 75% voting formula was not upheld, the Lamido reminded his audience that his kingdom extends to neighbouring Cameroun and he can easily relocate to that country if Nigeria disintegrates.

    Unfortunately, those like the respected Sir Olanihun Ajayi who responded to Muhammadu Mustapha implicitly agreed with the Lamido that the latter was indeed speaking for the North. Nothing could be more untrue. Yes, the Lamido Adamawa may have been speaking for those of the northern delegates at the JNC who agree with his position. He lacks the legitimacy or authority to speak for some nebulous north.

    If Northern delegates carried out the Lamido’s threat of staging a walk out from the conference, the JNC would simply collapse and life would go on. The JNC is so famished of legitimacy that if it is scrapped tomorrow, absolutely nothing would happen.

    Neither Alhaji Muhammadu Mustapha nor Sir Olanihun Ajayi can legitimately claim to be speaking for any part of this country. They are at best only expressing personal opinions or those of the respective elite cartels which sponsored them to the confab.  The lack of electoral legitimacy is a fundamental problem with the JNC.

    Which North is the Lamido Adamawa representing at the JNC? He is at best speaking for the exploitative, parasitic and visionless northern elite of which the traditional institution is an integral part. He can most certainly not claim to speak for the peasant farmers, petty traders, Fulani herdsmen, Almajiris and other oppressed elements that have been victims of the Northern establishment in post-colonial Nigeria.

    As Alhaji Balarabe Musa so poignantly put it as Governor of Kaduna State on Tuesday, 22nd June, 1981, “Our state is at the heartland of the northern parts of this country in every sense of history and culture- economically and politically. But we do not belong to the retrograde north of feudalists, slave-holders, crooks, parasites and foreign agents. We are of the cultured north of democracy, liberation and social progress for all the people of Nigeria”.

    Any wonder Balarabe Musa is not a ‘representative’ of the ‘north’ at the JNC?

    The second, more progressive and encouraging face of the conference is symbolised by the activist lawyer, Mr Femi Falana (SAN), whose contribution on the floor was characteristically incisive and patriotic. In his words “Jonathan’s National Conference provides the country a window of opportunity for us to find why majority of our people are poor and why a tiny minority of Nigerians smile to the bank. The country is collapsing. Many of the people who contributed to the mess are here. They must tell us it is their fault…The members of the ruling class is the group that engages in pen robbery, which is worse than armed robbery. Let us advise President Jonathan that he still has over a year to put Nigeria in the right place. Who says that the country cannot break? A Minister has just made N700 million from helpless Nigerians. It is the worst case of robbery, extorting money from jobless Nigerians. Nigerians have rights, the right for employment and others which must be protected”.

    And in his last Thursday’s column in Vanguard newspaper, another credible member of the JNC, Is’haq Modibbo Kawu, wrote of attempts to forge a coalition of representatives of labour, the media, youth and progressive intellectuals at the conference. This is “to help sweep the carpet off the feet of the regionalist and sectional agendas that have always proven divisive and are always going to heat up the process as we move forward. These, in the main, have been the life-long agendas of old men, many of them in their eighties and late seventies. They are stuck in a time warp and in my view are far removed from the real issues which Nigerians can unite around.”

    There are certainly interesting times ahead at the JNC as the new forces of youth and change gear up to confront the old forces of division and retrogression. Should the former triumph, the JNC report would most likely end up in the waste paper basket but the point would have been well made.

  • School boys please

    I feel sad that former Super Eagles winger and indeed one-time Africa Footballer of the Year Emmanuel Amuneke seems not to know where to find kids for the Golden Eaglets. Amuneke, having played for Barcelona FC of Spain, should know where to find kids between the ages of 12 and 16 for the Eaglets.

    Equally disturbing is the acceptance by the NFF that Amuneke should throw the camp open by allowing kids in Abuja to converge on the National Stadium in the city for screening. NFF may have bowed to Amuneke because of the freehand clause in the coach’s contract. That is the way coaching contracts are signed. However, Amuneke shouldn’t insult our sensibilities with the caveat that those kids coming for his open screening would be subjected to MRI test. If he goes to secondary schools, he will find kids who wouldn’t need to undergo any form of test. From their looks, it would be clear that they fall within the age bracket. Any kid who cannot come for screening with birth certificates should be dropped. No kid should be screened with sworn affidavits to authenticate his age.

    It would be morally wrong for Amuneke to fill the squad with kids from his academy even if they are all qualified. Amuneke needs to thread with caution because his constituency for picking players is Nigeria, not Ajegunle or wherever his club is located.

    Common Amuneke, don’t be lazy. Draw a proposal for the NFF to pay your way through Abuja to pick the kids. Didn’t Amuneke learn anything from Garba Manu on how to prepare a winning squad?

    Amuneke needs to visit all the playing fields in Abuja to pick the right players, if he wants to throw the camp open for talents. He could also task his former mates in the national team to help spot talents across the country. Otherwise, the safest places to pick kids for the Eaglets are in the secondary schools. Indeed, in other climes, the schools and academies serve as the nursery to discover and expose budding talents at the grassroots. It is for this reason that great players get rave reviews in the media, using clips captured when they played at tender ages.

    As defending champions of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, Nigeria doesn’t have any point to prove in that cadre again. What should guide us now is how we are able to graduate last year’s winners into the Super Eagles in eight years time, as we have seen the Argentines and the Spaniards do.

    There are a lot of credible soccer academies in the country which have the right players, who have been groomed in the game. Some of these academies encourage the kids to go to school while playing the beautiful game. After all, Amuneke was part of the Golden Eaglets winning squad last year. I wonder what he wants to achieve by reinventing the rule that produced world champions.

    Nigerian kids are no longer hot cakes in Europe after age-grade competitions because of the controversies over their real ages. Most of our age-grade players, who make it to European clubs, don’t compete favourably with their ilk from other climes. Except our age-grade coaches take their drive for kids in these cadres to schools, academies, streets and parks around the country, we will continue to experience stunted growth at the Super Eagles level.

    Successes recorded in our age-grade national teams should be the barometer to gauge the development of the beautiful game at the grassroots. Indeed, any adult that is fraudulently kept in the Eaglets, for instance, has robbed the genuine kid of the platform to define his future because he could be the breadwinner of his family, like we have seen with most of our successful soccer stars. Besides, kids who excel in our age-grade teams become models to lift the game at the grassroots, especially in the neighborhood where they live.

    Let’s boo Enyimba’s, Pillars’, Wolves’ managers Nigeria is a huge joke. And the jokers here find it difficult to depart from their old ways that have brought us pain, anguish and shame. Sadly, they peddle their influence in high places to get the plum assignments meant to bring joy to us. What do we do to them?

    Last week Sunday, Warri Wolves FC joined the list of losing Nigerian representatives at the CAF Confederations Cup. As usual, they are passing the buck. Truth said, Wolves, Kano Pillars and Heartland crashed out of the continental championship the day they changed the coaches – and some of the players- who won the trophies for them.

    In other climes, teams that win trophies don’t do wholesale recruitment of players. Even if they do, they hardly change the coaches. This ensures continuity in the team and strengthens the synergy among the players during matches.

    Not so for our Nigerian teams. Coaches and players win trophies, yet the club managers sack those who labored for the ticket, citing spurious grounds, such as indiscipline and need for them to get experienced personnel. The results have been the same – failure, like we have seen with the three teams.

    Sadly, these changes have been the same. They rush to take players who represented us in previous teams and failed, yet they expect different results. It has been the same vicious cycle. We can only avert this pitiable setting if the LMC and indeed the NFF enforce the rule, which ensures that players and coaches serve out their contracts. This idea of certain players and coaches oscillating around our continental teams will not yield the desired results.

    If coaches and players win trophies for teams, they should be allowed to reap the fruits of their efforts. Otherwise, the law of karma that has been the lot of our recent continental teams will apply.

    It suits the managers of our continental clubs to change guards without recourse to the fact that the team must blend to perform. What this simply means with the failure is that they are the problem, since they were the only component not changed in the chain.

    Governors should ask their managers to explain their teams’ poor outing at the continental level. The first rule of soccer – or any business for that matter – is that you don’t change a winning team. Why these managers continue to destroy teams that won trophies remains a mystery.

    Thank you Ghana, US

    The World Cup is serious business. It is the platform for excellence, not mediocrity. Countries that are lucky to qualify for it leave no stone unturned in their quest for glory.

    First-timers at the Mundial spend most of the time celebrating the feat without realising the enormity of the assignment. Regulars, simply dust up their files to find out what went wrong at their last outing. Notes recorded from the last assignment provide the clues for them to plug the loopholes noticed in the squad.

    Ghana’s Black Stars were the best African nation at the 2010 South Africa World Cup. They almost hit the semi-finals but for the penalty miss. They took the painful loss to Uruguay on the chin and dug deep into their armoury to clinch the qualification ticket. Having qualified, they have strengthened their backroom staff by recruiting a renowned placenta expert to attend to their players’ injuries, using the modern technology. Not done, the Ghana FA has got match readers and technocrats to spy on their World Cup opponents. Their findings would be discussed with the coaches.

    Put simply, the Ghanaians won’t be playing any game in Brazil blindfolded. They would get enough data on their opponents and perfect counter strategies to beat them. The Ghanaians have sent their coaches to England to understudy Liverpool FC’s coaches to know what do to do with the data from their spies. Please don’t ask me what Nigeria is doing.

    In the case of the United States, they have recruited former Super Eagles technical adviser Berti Vogts as a World Cup adviser. Not much is known about his brief. But I fathom that he would be there to psyche up the Americans. He would tell them his World Cup experiences, among other roles. What is clear is that the Americans wouldn’t play like novices. They would be mentally prepared for all their games. Are we taking down notes on what others are doing while we bicker?

  • Professor Chibuzo Nwoke and Nigeria’s’ paradox of plenty

    Professor Chibuzo Nwoke and Nigeria’s’ paradox of plenty

    What exactly are the root causes of Nigeria’s persistent and even deepening crisis of underdevelopment despite her abundant human, material and natural resources endowment? Why has Nigeria over half a decade after independence been unable to actualize her potentials, promote the welfare and well- being of the vast majority of her populace and meaningfully assert her status as the fabled giant of Africa and an influential force in world politics? These are the issues that engage Professor Chibuzo Nnate Nwoke’s mind in his inaugural lecture titled “Rich Land; Poor People: The Political Economy of Mineral Resources in a Peripheral Capitalist State” delivered at the Leed City University, Ibadan, on November 7, 2013. A lecturer at the Leed City University’s Department of Politics and International Relations, Professor Nwoke has over the last three decades researched exhaustively, written extensively and taught in the area of the role of mineral resources in the contemporary global political economy.

    His lecture demonstrates vividly that, despite the travails of university education in Nigeria, a lot of quality work is still being done by gifted and dedicated academics both in the country’s private and public universities. He also shows that there are indeed refreshing perspectives on the challenge of underdevelopment in Nigeria and Africa and that there are viable alternatives to the neo-liberal policy orthodoxy that has been foisted on the continent with dire consequences in the last three decades. Professor Nwoke’s inaugural lecture is particularly relevant and useful at this time when there are intense debates on the best way to liberate Nigeria’s potentials and set her firmly and irreversibly on the path of accelerated development.

    While exhaustively documenting Nigeria’s huge mineral endowments in diverse sectors, Professor Nwoke also argues that there is absolutely no reason why, with a visionary, competent and patriotic leadership, these resources could not be utilised to achieve self-reliant industrialization for the country as well as uplift the quality of life of the Nigerian people. He rigorously and ruthlessly challenges received orthodoxies such as the oft-cited ‘resource curse’ as being the root cause of the country’s backwardness. His wide ranging discourse examines the political economy of mineral resources, demonstrates the crucial significance of mineral resources in human civilisation while also x-raying ‘the internal and external factors of minerals-related underdevelopment’.

    His detailed catalogue of the variety and spread of untapped mineral resources throughout the length and breadth of the country prove that there is no excuse for Nigeria’s sustained dependence on oil, which is responsible for over 90% of the country’s revenues. Most of the states, which are dependent on oil revenues from the centre, are shown to have untapped mineral deposits that could have enriched the country’s resource base and facilitated their socio-economic development. A most interesting aspect of the inaugural major is Professor Nwoke’s tracing of the trajectory of the ‘resource curse’ debate in the development/underdevelopment literature.

    In the early 1950s, he notes, most mainstream development economists theorised that mineral resource abundance of backward or underdeveloped countries was indeed an asset. These resources it was argued would help such countries, who were seen as enjoying surplus labour but suffering from severe shortages of investible capital, to earn revenues through the export of primary commodities and attraction of investment. These revenues would in turn be utilised to provide critical public goods for their people. This predominant view at the time seemed to have been reinforced by the formation in the 1970s of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as well as other third world producer’s associations for such commodities as copper, bauxite, tin, groundnuts, cocoa and coffee among others. Indeed, the shock caused in the global economy by OPEC’s hike in oil prices in the 1970s led some scholars to speculate on the transition from a bi-polar to a tri-polar world in which the resource rich Third World countries constituted the third power bloc.

    “Unfortunately, however”, Professor Nwoke notes “I have also observed the gradual and subsequent erosion of the Third World’s “resource power” up to the point where, today, several scholars now speak of “the paradox of plenty” or the “resource curse”, which they say has afflicted Third World countries that God has blessed with abundant resources”. He explains the so-called ‘paradox of plenty’ as referring to the perceived inverse relationship between abundant resource availability and the economic performance of countries possessing such resources. Those who espouse this view contend that there is evidence that states with abundant resource wealth tend to post poorer economic performance than those who are resource poor.

    Writing from the perspective of radical political economy informed by the works of scholars and thinkers such as Kwame Nkrumah, V.I. Lenin, Samir Amin, Walter Rodney, Bade Onimode, Claude Ake, Paul Baran etc, Nwoke offers a fundamentally different view opposed to the mainstream capital shortage or resource curse thesis. He argues that Africa’s resource endowment problems must be understood not as a curse but situated within the context of the organisation and functioning of the world capitalist system and Africa’s historically conditioned role in that structure as a supplier of raw materials. He points out that a thinker like Kwame Nkrumah had recognised this as far back as the 1960s when he wrote in his book, ‘Neo-colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism’ that “…If Africa’s multiple resources were used in her own development, they would place her among the modernised continents of the world. But the resources have been, and are still being used for the greater development of overseas interests”.

    Contending that the validity of Nkrumah’s thesis still endures, Nwoke insists that the origin of the so called resource curse and much of Africa’s underdevelopment is due to the continent’s engagement predominantly in primary resource production, which is controlled by foreign transnational entities merely for export to metropolitan countries. Thus, the “contrived and structural development of underdevelopment is, therefore, largely externally-induced”. Nwoke criticises the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) for focussing on internal factors perceived to be responsible for Africa’s social, economic and political problems while ignoring the critical external variables. Hence the ‘resource curse’ argument seems to imply that the abundance of mineral resources inevitably induces moral laxity, lethargy and corruption among African socio-political and economic elites that are the causes of underdevelopment.

    Nwoke faults this perspective for neglecting the structural, dependent and unequal incorporation of Africa into the global capitalist economy as supplier of raw materials and importer of finished goods, a factor which is indispensable to comprehending the challenge of underdevelopment and backwardness in Africa. As a result of this misdiagnosis, the neo-liberal prescriptions for Africa’s development have been ineffective and even worsened the country’s plight. In his words “Their answer to the crisis in Africa is for us to develop agriculture, but again, with a view to export; and for us to abandon protection of domestic industry, to dismantle the public sector and make greater efforts to attract foreign capital. In short, they recommend policies the effect of which would be to aggravate the problem inherent in the specialization in raw materials exports and foreign control over the economy, which are, in fact, among the major factors causing the country’s crisis”. And this position is compounded by the fact that “within the world trade regime, despite its mantra of trade liberalisation, every effort is made, through Western protectionism, to discourage attempts to process, and add value to Africa’s raw materials export”.

  • Power of television

    The European leagues are in their critical stages. The contending teams are either targeting the ultimate prize or struggling to avoid dropping into the lower cadre. Players are using their club matches to show their countries’ managers that they are ready to “explode” at the 2014 Brazil World Cup. But the fight for the top prize is fierce in England and Spain. Pundits have watched their predictions go awry to underline the fact that the beautiful game is filled with shocking results. Otherwise, who would have thought that Arsenal won’t be among the top three in the Barclays English Premier League?

    Many had tagged the Premier League as Arsenal’s to lose, given the way they entertain fans with their scintillating soccer artistry. Arsenal played such inviting flair that their opponents’ fans applaud even in defeat. But things have gone haywire for Arsene Wenger and his thrillers, largely because the French tactician is so dogged about his philosophy of the game to change. He doesn’t believe in the armada of start which he once said could be problematic, especially when they are on the bench or not being fielded.

    Wenger’s dogma in Arsenal’s style earned him the stick from Chelsea’s manager Jose Mourinho, who, when told that the Barclays Premier League had changed, retorted: “You’re saying that the English league has changed. Has Wenger won it since I left?”

    Vintage Mourinho and his mind games. Wenger dismissed Mourinho’s jibes with the wave of his hand, insisting that he wouldn’t be drawn into discussing silly things. These scenarios were captured on television and they form the butt that rival supporters throw at another before games are played or shown on television.

    Indeed, the beauty of the European games rests with the way the leagues are packaged on television. Each contentious act, including those too fast for the referees’ eyes to pick or those the referees forgot to include in their match reports, are captured on television. Decisions are also taken decisively no matter whose ox is gored. A few of the decisions have been questionable. Yet there is the platform to seek redress and such untoward acts rectified with superior judgment.

    Only last week, referee Marriner mistakenly flashed the red card at Gibbs instead Alex Oxlade- Chamberlain. Tempers rose initially from those who saw the events. Yet no one took the law into his hands because the television captured it adequately. Of course, Gunners’ management rightly appealed against the decision. And by Tuesday morning, Gibbs and Oxlade-Chamberlain were qualified to play against Swansea at the Emirates Stadium where Arsenal was held 2-2.

    Referee Marriner wasn’t punished. His error was human and he will be in charge of Southampton’s tie against Newcastle on Saturday. However, the beauty of the decision making had to do with the fact that the arbitration panel didn’t need to secure tapes from the away side like we do in Nigeria nor did it rely on any document submitted by the home team. Instead, it relied on the master tape of the broadcast rights holder to decide the issues raised during last Saturday’s game at Stamford Bridge, which Chelsea won 6-0.

    Did you see the goal Wayne Rooney scored against West Ham at the Upton Park Stadium? “Out of this world, Wayne Rooney,” screamed the commentator on television. In a flash, the camera rolled towards the stands where David Beckham sat with his kids. Wonderful. Such is the power of television that a flashback to the goal Beckham scored against Wimbledon that had Nigerian, Efan Ekoku, starring. When that flashback was shown on television, the argument among pundits bothered on the distance where both shots were taken. Quickly, that dispute was settled when the television brought forth the measurement showing that Beckham’s was scored from 60 meters whilst Rooney’s was shorter. I sighed thinking about when Nigerian matches would be so described and covered. Thank God Nduka Irabor is doing a great deal to transform the Globacom Premier League. Irabor must stay there to withstand the brickbats thrown at him for the good of the game.

    Issues raised from Sunday’s El Classico in Spain are being handled through the power of television, with the big games getting top priority. I have taken you, dear reader, through what operates in Europe because we will soon have such matters in our domestic league. We must be prepared to handle them with dispatch and ensure that justice is done decisively.

    The power of television rests not with handling controversies. It is best appreciated when you sit at home to watch how the two teams at the stadium. The behind-the-scene pictures of the stadium’s dressing rooms push anyone within such areas in Europe to watch the next game live.

    The pre-match talks with key members of both teams on what the fans should expect compel those at home to sit tight and not miss any moment. And, of course, the post-match interviews where the most valuable player is given an opportunity to relive what he did on the pitch. It is about time Nigerians at home got a complete menu of everything that happens weekly in the Globacom Premier League.

    The present right holders are doing well. Yet they still need to replicate what we see weekly from Europe to compel Nigerians to leave their living rooms and head for the stadium nearest to them. What if the rights owners decide to show the arrival of Globacom Premier League teams at match venues? Don’t laugh. The buses will be rickety. Broken windows and marked windscreens. At the end of the matches, the television would capture our players pushing their vehicles to start; just as the smoke from the silencer would suffocate a rabbit in its hole, if pumped into it. The players’ boots would be an eyesore and, of course, different shades of jerseys. These elements would be a bad advertisement for the Nigerian game. It would take such visuals to force our clubs to do the right thing.

    Since most of the teams are government owned, highlighting these flaws would move the governors to buy their teams good buses and improve players and officials’ welfare knowing, what the implications are if they don’t.

    Who can stop Big Boss?

    Stephen Keshi has unwittingly played into the trap set by his employers, the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF). He is in big trouble because the evidence is overwhelming.

    Documents leaked to the media show that Keshi left the country without permission. Keshi’s leave request showed that he ought to have proceeded on vacation on February 15 and was expected in the country on March 10. Yet, Keshi travelled to the US, in spite of the fact that the NFF President, Aminu Maigari, told him not to. Indeed, Maigari insisted that Keshi should attend President Goodluck Jonathan’s dinner with the bronze-winning CHAN Eagles on February 13.

    Keshi defied this directive, according to the NFF. He wasn’t seen at the Presidential Villa on February 13, raising the poser if he could have acted in the manner, had the CHAN Eagles lifted the trophy.

    Keshi’s leave request showed that he should be in Nigeria on March 11, yet the Big Boss hit the country March 25, 14 days after his vacation had expired. But that isn’t NFF’s major grouse. Keshi, in his wisdom, called the head of technical department, Dr. Emmanuel Ikpeme, informing him that he wouldn’t be able to attend a scheduled meeting for March 25 from the US because he was having connecting flight hitches. This prompted the NFF to shift the technical committee meeting to April 8.

    Surprisingly, NFF watched in awe as Keshi parleyed with the media on March 25, a day that Big Boss said wasn’t feasible due to flight hitches. Peeved, Ikpeme gave Keshi 24 hours to respond to the query. Let’s hope that he responds or apologises.

    Like we do here, Keshi can do no wrong; otherwise, when the Big Boss announced his resignation on radio in South Africa on February 11, 2013, in spite of the fact that former Sports Minister Bolaji Abdullahi was there with him, we should have either asked him to apologise for the national embarrassment or wielded the big stick. We didn’t. Keshi was given the red carpet while NFF chiefs were made to look like fools.

    Is anyone shocked that Keshi could pick personal interest ahead of national interest, which is what snubbing the technical committee meeting amounted to? Please, this insolence must be checked. But who can stop the Big Boss? Just who, please?

  • From snc to jnc: A fundamental contradiction

    From snc to jnc: A fundamental contradiction

    There is an undeniably and infinitely wide gulf between the President Goodluck Jonathan National Conference (JNC) recently inaugurated in Abuja and the Sovereign National Conference (SNC), which pro-democracy and federalist advocates had demanded for decades. The proposed SNC would derive its mandate from the people. It would be made up of their duly elected representatives. Its decisions, which would bring about a fundamental change in the extant political order, would be binding and unalterable by a subsisting regime.

    Many ardent advocates of a SNC have enthusiastically jumped on the Naira-laden band wagon of the JNC. Of course, a sprinkling of them is motivated by a patriotic and ardent desire for radical structural changes that can impel accelerated national progress. But the majority see it as another opportunity for pecuniary primitive accumulation – another occasion to ‘come and eat’ on behalf of ‘their people’.

    The Yoruba Diaspora group, Oodua Foundation, in a statement signed by Dr Dejo Ogunwande, Professor Adeniran Adeboye and Professor Banji Akitoye expressed enthusiastic support for the JNC. They strongly opposed the position of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) after a meeting in Kano on March 10 and 11 that “The planned National Conference has no basis, or any form of legitimacy or authority to speak for the people of the North or other Nigerians. Its proceedings, conclusions and recommendations are therefore of no consequence and will not be accepted by the people of the North”.

    Of course, I have my problems with groups like the NEF, Afenifere, Ohaneze or others which arrogantly assume the right to speak for the North or other ethno-regional and cultural groups. For one, many members of the NEF are complicit in the crass corruption, venality and arrant irresponsibility of the pan-Nigeria political elite that has brought us to the present quagmire. Secondly, they affect the supercilious posturing of many members of the Northern elite that can be so offensive. Thirdly, it is illogical to claim that the North will not accept the conclusions and recommendations of the JNC when these are yet to be known.

    Yet, I do not think that the NEF can be faulted when they claim that the JNC has “no basis or any form of legitimacy or authority” to speak for the people of Nigeria. I challenge the Oodua Foundation to tell the world the legal or constitutional basis on which the JNC stands. Some have claimed quite absurdly that Nigerians have the constitutional right to freedom of expression and association. The JNC could as well be a Town Hall meeting in that case. It does not stand on any legal foundation.

     Yes, there are some excellent delegates- politically, professionally and ethically- at the conference. But generally, the representativeness of the body is quite hollow and diluted since the members are wholly handpicked. In a free and fair election, many of the delegates would not have the slightest chance of being chosen to represent ‘their people’. In the JNC is an assortment of groups parading sectional agendas purportedly drawn up on behalf of people who had absolutely no say in their determination.

    According to the Oodua Foundation, “In the history of the constitutional development of Nigeria, the present National Conference is perfectly in line with all previous Nigerian constitutional conferences and it is by no means inferior to any in legitimacy”. Now, there is a problem if the JNC is “perfectly in line” with “all” such previous exercises. For, Nigeria is in her present predicament in spite of all those conferences – about ten in all. Why continue to do the same thing and expect a different outcome? Again, if N7 billion is being expended on the JNC, shouldn’t it strive to be superior in legitimacy to all previous exercises since it has the benefit of learning from the limitations of all others?

    Like the Obasanjo 2005 National Political Reforms Conference, not a single member of the JNC is elected. The body exists at the pleasure of the Jonathan presidency. Even the venal Abacha dictatorship did slightly better than this. At least it made some pretence of electing a certain percentage of members to its 1995 conference.  If at the end of the day either the presidency or the National Assembly dumps the JNC’s recommendations, the heavens will not fall. And the delegates would have no excuse to cry foul since they partook of the uncertain adventure knowing fully well that the resolutions of the JNC have no force of law whatsoever.

    Now, what if against all odds the JNC succeeds in achieving its stated objectives and laying a firm foundation for the resurrection and revitalisation of Nigeria? In that case, all genuine patriots should be happy for the country and give President Jonathan his due plaudits for the feat. There must be a limit to partisanship in the process of nation-building.  Indeed, I would be quite glad if in the words of Gbogungboro, this newspaper’s passionately patriotic columnist “President Jonathan does indeed see this National Conference successfully to the remaking of our federation” and thus becoming “one of the greatest Nigerians, one of the greatest Africans of our time”.

    GbogunGboro is confident that this could very well be the case. And the basis of this optimism? His words: “I was highly impressed when he said in his speech to the inaugural meeting of the National Conference: Let me again repeat what I have been saying that Goodluck Jonathan has no personal agenda in convening this National Conference”. Now, I would be exceedingly hesitant to base my optimism on the success of this critical national exercise on such a very fragile premise. Not even General Abacha claimed that he had a hidden agenda when inaugurating the 1995 conference. And neither did Obasanjo do the same thing when he inaugurated the 2005 conference. Really, did anyone realistically expect Jonathan to tell Nigerians that he was convening the conference to pursue a personal agenda?

    Yes, I pray that by all means the JNC succeeds. That should be the hope and wish of all Nigerians. But our expectations must be based on realistic analysis and not romantic wishes. The undisguised reality is that Jonathan indeed has a personal agenda. Only someone who has been on vacation on Planet Mars will not know that Jonathan is fervently and feverishly working towards a second term in 2015. Of course, this is his constitutional right. But let us not deceive ourselves that Jonathan can be serious about radically changing a constitution which is the very basis of his seeking re-election for a second term. This is a fundamental contradiction. It is unrealistic and inexcusably idealistic to expect that the JNC can be dissociated and insulated from the on-going struggle for power in 2015. We cannot have a depoliticised National Conference in an intensely politicised context.

    Those who genuinely want radical structural change in Nigeria are understandably impressed with Jonathan’s born again stance on convening a National Conference. This suggests that he believes the country must move in a new direction away from the present path the PDP has taken the nation since 1999. But his campaign for re-election in 2015, which has begun in earnest, is predicated on continuity and assumes that the PDP has posted a stellar performance and deserves to continue managing the country’s affairs.

    In the past few weeks Jonathan has addressed PDP ‘unity rallies’ in Kano, Sokoto, Kwara, Kaduna, Katsina and Imo states. His words in Kano: “Come 2015, PDP is going to retain this zone. We will continue to retain Jigawa, Katsina, Kaduna and Kebbi states. Kano is a PDP state but some people want to take the state from us. We don’t know where they are taking Kano state to. But with Shekarau and others joining PDP, we will take Kano back”. Let no one be fooled. The JNC is not about change. It is about 2015 and Jonathan’s continuity.