The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

Leadership, the elite and Nigeria’s democracy

We can never say enough about leadership because the lives of each nation or group of people even if they are ‘stateless’ according to UN terms, depend on the leadership in that environment. If we reference past kings and queens in all empires, even the biblical ones are today and will always be referenced for good or for bad. In essence, each leader deliberately or inadvertently writes his or her history.

However, more often than not, a people define the leadership that emerges because leaders emerge from the people and the values of a people can most often be gleaned from the leadership that emerges from them and through their actions in a democracy.

So most times when people complain about bad leadership they often forget that they have a hand either through actions or inactions about the leadership that emerges. Political philosophers like Plato succinctly described this when he posited that, “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors”.

Very often especially in a developing nation like Nigeria, the elite often shy away from partisan engagement and involuntarily cede political leadership to the incompetent and people without the gravitas to drive productive leadership. The result of poor leadership is that like a relay race, the baton is passed from one group to the other and sometimes dropped in ways that development is delayed and everyone suffers and post failure analysis fill the air.

The RoundTable Conversation sat with Dr. Otive Igbuzor, Executive Director African Center for Leadership, Strategy and Development (LSD) a civil society veteran who has spent his life fighting under different local and international agencies for justice, gender equity and good governance, an author, researcher, lecturer and gender advocate who was appointed by the immediate past United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon into the Global Network of Men Leaders to End Violence Against Women.

Asked about each nation getting the leadership it deserves, he said that there is some element of truth therein because leadership is about influence. People can influence others in different ways. In Nigeria for instance, we talk about transactional and transformational leaderships. You notice this in the ways the people often venerate leaders that dispense material and financial favors. The electoral process and the roles money play are all indicators of what one can say are the people getting what they deserve. When a people choose instant gratifications over planned nationhood and good policy drivers, they surreptitiously choose their leaders good or bad.

When the people with questionable character use money to win elections and their religious houses organize endorsements and thanksgiving services, their communities give them titles and the people call them excellences, honourables and distinguished in very adulating ways, you find that such leaders would remain deified without being held accountable. Yes, to some extent you can say that a people get the leadership they deserve.

Read Also; First Lady backs reelection of Uzodimma

However, there are leaders who emerge and are able to change the followership through who they are, what they do, how they lead, their practices and soon, so it is not a one-way traffic of a people getting the leadership they deserve. However, there are transformative leaders. We have equally learnt that leadership according to Amandla, the cultural wing of ANC once said that leaders are not born but produced during the course of the struggle.

Leaders can make the difference and that is why people say that everything rises and falls with leadership. In those days there used to be discourse about the fact that the people are the makers of history. But let’s take a trip back into history for instance the fact that Gorbachev sat over the disintegration of the former USSR and a Trump emerged in the last five years. We know the outcomes so scholars know that leadership matters.

We must be concerned with the type of democracy that can deliver dividends of development. There has been a lot of discourse about the democracy that is functional. May be thirty to fifty years ago, policies were almost analogue but the dynamics have changed in ways that democracy and development are now closer than ever. Policy science has developed in ways economic policies are more exact and somewhat inclusive, each leadership in making policies can now tell what outcomes to expect in terms of the different demographics. We all can calculate which policies can increase or reduce poverty, which ones can enhance gender, minority and youth inclusiveness.

Today we know what kind of policies can improve health, deliver progressive education enhance infrastructural provisions for better productivity. So in essence, we all know what to do. We must match theory with practice because there is always a nexus. Many years ago, there were no mobile phones on a global scale, today we have it and the internet and leadership comes easier.

All Nigerians, including media people must understand that ideas rule the world today especially now that knowledge economy is so huge and there are projections into the future where artificial intelligence and robotics have will take over. We must move with the times but we must retain the core values that drive leadership and followership. The merchandizing of politics and erosion of our value system must be checked if development must come.

We must all have to patriotically own the society at all levels. But we also acknowledge that leadership has changed due to a multitude of things, our colonial history, the military interruptions that changed the ways leadership selection processes where most politicians owe allegiance to an Abuja power hierarchy is not good enough for our democratic growth.

We must remember the effects of the truncated transition periods by Ibrahim Babaginda the former military President. When he was done and Abdulsallam Abubakar came, the people were exhausted and only ‘professional’ politicians took over government when activists, socialists, patriots and intellectuals refused to participate in a post military era Nigeria in 1999. Before they realized what was happening the professional politicians had their tap roots rooted on ground and the policies over the years like Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) pauperized the people.

The most important solutions must be ‘organizing and not agonizing’ because there are enough patriotic people who are good and as Burke advised, evil triumph when good men do nothing. In Nigeria the only leadership problems are in the political field. You do not have many problems at the traditional, religious, academic or even corporate levels. It is always the political field. We have global leaders in all other sectors even at UN level.

The way forward must be for committed and patriotic and educated Nigerians to stop showing apathy for politics but go out there and get involved to run away from what Plato said about the good people and inferior leadership.

Again the middle class must get involved at party levels. They must stop and we must think seriously about integrating women into leadership seeing that globally, continentally and sub-regionally, Nigeria is far below in gender parity in the political space. Over the past twenty years, there has been progress in the world in terms of gender inclusiveness and all the world can see the progress being made by the Scandinavian and other countries where women seem to have access in the political space.

There must be a constitutional quota for women and luckily there is an opportunity for a constitutional review in ways that there must be implementable affirmative action for women. Everyone concerned about this must reach out to their legislators to facilitate action because it has been confirmed that when women are in positions of authority, they make better policies and programmes that touch on the lives of citizens and that is why the countries on top of the human development index across the world have many women at the political field providing various levels of leadership. You see countries like Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, Estonia, Iceland, Norway etc. doing really well. To Igbuzor, women movement must prioritize women participation in politics to help the country develop.

The RoundTable Conversation has equally identified governors that have been sensitive enough to integrate more women into their cabinets and is carrying out research on their progress in comparative terms. The Nigerian global percentage of women in parliament stands at less than ten percent while countries across Africa are all at thirty percent and above with Rwanda with the global highest of 61.3%.

There are no surprises about Nigeria being the poverty capital of the world when some of her best and brightest are forced out of the country by even less brilliant and less educated men whose only qualification is their gender. An Amina Mohammed faced hostility when she was nominated for a ministerial post, today she is at the United Nations as Assistant Secretary General. Arunma Oteh is now at the World Bank but was hounded by some legislators when she was the Director General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Nigerians must, if they wish to face the task of development productively be more involved in the leadership evolution processes to select leaders with the necessary pedigree and qualifications that can make the democracy we all cherish more functional and development oriented. Transactional leaderships leave both the leaders and the beneficiaries of such formless transactions poorer and more disoriented in the long run.

Clutching unto some mundane and parochial socio-cultural and religious practices and views just so as to favour patriarchal longings would always hurt everyone at the end. Nigeria is too blessed to continue to fail its population. Good and functional leadership benefits everyone ultimately in ways that the future of the country remains assured. All stake holders in the media, civil society and governments must work together to birth more functional leadership that benefits everyone and chats a better path to the future.

The dialogue continues…

September 2, 2023
Benue office where workers battle rodents for space

The judiciary in Benue State prides itself as one of the best in the country. The environment in which the staff of this critical arm of government operates however leaves much to be desired. While the state may boast some of the best and most incorruptible judicial officers in the land, the environment in which they function is nothing to justify their status.

The work environment is nothing short of an eyesore. Dilapidated and ramshackle buildings adorn the Ministry of Justice, which houses the office of the Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice as well as those of other judicial officials.

Some buildings at the Ministry are without roofs, while rodents and cockroaches have taken over some of the buildings. Files awaiting legal advice are being eaten up by termites, while some workers have turned some of the offices into stores where they keep farming implements like hoes and cutlasses. Cassava stems are also kept in some of the offices perhaps as justification for Benue’s nickname as the Food Basket of the Nation.

Read Also: Court bars Gov Adeleke from appointing Osun Poly Rector

The foregoing is the sorry state of infrastructure that confronted the new Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice in the State, Barrister Fidelis Mnyim. The fine gentleman and legal expert, who had won many election petitions before his appointment as Attorney-General, probably did not imagine the pathetic state of infrastructure in the ministry.

An official of the ministry, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Sentry that the ramshackle buildings that dotted the premises had been there for more than 20 years.

“Since Benue State was created from Plateau State and the offices were built, no government has made any effort to renovate them, so they have remained in those conditions,” she said.

Some judicial staff, who told Sentry that they operate under trees, pleaded with Governor Hyacinth Alia to end the misery and fix the buildings for smooth working conditions.

Yet investigation revealed that the rot at the Benue State judicial headquarters is a child’s play compared to what obtains at the various courts across the state. Some of the courts have no chairs or fans, forcing judges to sit on broken chairs in hot courtrooms, while litigants share benches with lawyers.

The situation, our correspondent gathered, makes smooth and quick dispensation of justice difficult.

Concerned citizens who spoke with Sentry pleaded with Governor Alia to fix the rot without further delay.

September 2, 2023
Solid minerals and quest for diversification

Nigeria is not just rich but very rich with human talents and natural resources. But both resources are either underutilised or largely neglected. With every part of the country having a great number of natural resources that could fetch billions of dollars annually into the nation’s coffers, if the resources are well harnessed, the country has no reason to be poor or complain about funds.

However, successive governments have paid less attention to the diversification of the economy as they focused too much on oil. Besides, the country’s leadership, over the years, has not adequately addressed the fundamentals that would aid the development of the mineral resources sector as the money-spinner.

This might be the reason the current administration is changing the narrative in the sector. So far, the government has expressed its readiness to develop the non-oil sector in order to increase national revenue generation drive to propel prosperity for all Nigerians.

Before the advent of oil in the 1970s, solid mineral was only second to agriculture as the pillar of the economy. It contributed 10 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), despite the lack of emphasis on the sector. The sector was a source of pride, aptly captured as a future asset.

As the Minister of Solid Minerals, Mr. Dele Alake, begins his assignment, expectations are high. Many challenges will also confront him. Through the cooperation of stakeholders in the sector, he is expected to surmount the problems, add value and make a difference.

Already, the minister has warned interlopers in the sector to flee. He has read a riot act to speculators and illegal miners, saying there will be no business as usual.

The drop in oil earnings and associated crises in the oil and gas sector has exposed Nigeria as a country that has failed to adequately explore alternative sources of revenue. This reality has made the diversification of the economy non-negotiable. Apart from neglecting agriculture, which was the mainstay of the economy in the fifties and sixties, solid minerals development has taken a back seat. There is need to maintain a break from the past and reposition the industry.

Read Also: Court bars Gov Adeleke from appointing Osun Poly Rector

Many experts have warned against the danger of over-dependence on a single product for national earning. To them, the monolithic nature of the economy is unsustainable. Thus, Nigeria should begin to initiate and sustain policies directed at economic diversification. Besides manufacturing and agriculture, solid minerals also have the potentials to boost national revenue and generate employment opportunities.

Reality should dawn on the Federal Government that the country can no more be solely salvaged by oil. The way out is for Nigeria to start emulating countries that are reaping the fruits of natural deposits. Examples are China, India, Mexico and Indonesia. Nigeria’s natural endowments that should be tapped in accordance with law include bitumen, tin, copper, zinc, coal, gold, celica, clay and limestone. Others are: yelsolare laterate, cassilitrite, kaolin stones, columbite and marble.

According to the Nigerian Mining and Geosciences Society, of the 44 non-oil resources domiciled in the country, at least 20 are of economic value. Not tapping them means that Nigerians suffer in the midst of plenty.

The association believes that if government can devote just about 10 per cent of what it has devoted to oil and gas to the solid mineral sector, national income will be more than triple and MDAs under the Ministry of Solid Minerals will be richer than the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

Yet, there is no adequate data or means of capturing the entire gamut of our natural endowments. In the absence of close monitoring, some of the minerals are dug and smuggled outside the country. Investment drive in the poorly organised and uncoordinated sector is very low and money earned ends up with mineral resource speculators.

The former Minister of Solid Minerals, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, tried to work on a new policy and a legal framework that would have guided exploration and mining activities during his tenure. Due to the neglect of the sector, illegal miners have been on the prowl. They constitute a big threat. To Fayemi’s consternation, five million Nigerians were discovered to be engaged in illegal mining as at 2018.

The illegal miners are not ordinary people. They are highly connected individuals and groups who have persisted in their unpatriotic activities to the detriment of the country. However, their patrons are not invincible.

To curtail their nefarious activities, the ministry tried to propose a mining road map that was to define the standard practice in the sector. Also, the ministry pushed for partnerships with governors and the host communities to ensure that environmental safety was made a norm. A machinery was also to be put in place to coordinate miners as they organised themselves into cooperative societies so that they could acquire licences and work legally.

Then, the Ministry of Solid Minerals also tried to woo investors by granting them tax holiday and making their equipment duty-free. Since funding is crucial, the ministry also proposed a synergy between itself and the Central Bank, the Bank of Industry and other financial institutions, to make funding available to miners. Banks were encouraged to set up mining desks and guarantee them lease on equipment because mining equipment are expensive. The ministry also set out to work with the ministries of works, transportation, and Interior to ensure a better investment environment and tight security.

Despite these, the gap between expectation and reality has remained wide.

The solid mineral industry is beset with many problems. Although solutions are not beyond reach, it has been difficult to apply the remedies with a strong determination in order to achieve set goals.

Investment in solid mineral exploration is capital-intensive. Only few companies and individuals have the wherewithal to venture into the business. The problem of capital outlay is compounded by lack of specialised financial institutions that can offer aid to the operators. For example, until now, Nigeria does not know how to tackle the positive challenge posed by bitumen in Ondo South Senatorial District. It is said to be the second largest deposit in the world.

Although the Solid Minerals Development Fund was established in 2007, its impact has not been felt. It has often been alleged that the fund was diverted to other uses, including road construction, elections and sports sponsorship.

Investors are also said to be constrained by unfavourable laws that restrict lawful activities in the sector. The Land Use Act is an impediment and there is hazy clarification over mineral resource ownership. While some states are made to believe that the Federal Government is the exclusive owner of the vast mineral resources, some states have taken ownership of deposits in their domains. This approach smacks of double standard.

The infrastructure decay is also a mitigating factor. Inadequate basic infrastructure, such as bad roads, epileptic electricity and deficient communication facilities, tend to discourage foreign investors. Mineral resources are domiciled in local or remote areas, which are largely inaccessible.

Seven years after it was birthed, the mineral resource development roadmap is yet to be implemented. There is, therefore, no framework for guidance, direction and control. This has grave implications for the fragile sector.

Instead of yielding revenue into the national treasury, operators continue to exploit the sector. A former Minister of State for Mines and Steel Development, Uchechukwu Ogar, painted an awful picture of the colossal financial losses the sector incurs. He regretted that Nigeria loses $9 billion annually to illegal gold mining and smuggling alone. Other illegally mined minerals are not even captured in the estimate.

Efforts have been made by security agents to arrest some illegal miners. However, when arrested, their prosecution is sabotaged or stalled by some “powerful forces”.

One of the consequences of illegal mining is environmental denigration. Local inhabitants suffer enormous environmental problems, ecological challenges and other life-threatening impacts arising from mining without proper guidelines and codified directives.

The dimension of insecurity traceable to mining activities is also worrisome. Miners are said to have offered support to terrorists and bandits. For example, it has been alleged that in Zamfara State, arms were being exchanged for mineral resources.

It is incumbent on the minister to convene a meeting of genuine stakeholders and brainstorm on the problems and proffer solutions that will lead to the repositioning of the sector in national interest.

Perhaps, in the coming months, the nation might discover that it overlooked the huge wealth in its vast soil and begin to create lucrative jobs for its army of unemployed youths while also earning enormous revenue through the sector.

But the foundation has to be solid enough to withstand envisaged challenges, which are inevitable, given the interest of internal and external forces in the lucrativeness of the sector.

September 2, 2023
APC, ideology and poverty alleviation (2)

It is this column’s view that Chief Obafemi Awolowo‘s clearly incomparable standing as one of the most accomplished, results-oriented and productive public administrators in the annals of Nigeria, as demonstrated particularly during his tenure as Premier of Western Nigeria in the First Republic, derives essentially from the ideological clarity and philosophical vision that informed his policy choices as well as the focus as well as programmatic platform of the political parties he founded in the First and Second Republics.

Noteworthy in this regard is the fact that Awolowo’s scathing criticism of the ruling National Party of Nigeria (NPN) in the Second Republic was that, unlike his own party, the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN), “the NPN has no ideological direction, and Alhaji Shagari, for his part, and from his recent utterances, appears to have chosen to tread that accursed path which in yesteryears led to a calamitous end”.

The starting point for Awolowo’s postulation of ‘democratic socialism’ as the ideological guiding light of the Action Group (AG) in the First Republic and later the UPN between 1979 and 1983 was his pithy and terse submission that ‘Man is the sole creative and purposive dynamic in nature: everything else by comparison is inert”. Expounding on this philosophical postulation, the great sage writes, “In all the spheres of production, distribution, exchange and consumption, man is the only active agent: all else is passive. He is the initiator and accelerator of every form of human progress: he is the generator of every initial impulse in human evolution. Any so-called plan for progress which, therefore, places man in a secondary place is basically in error, antithetical to the natural order of human endeavors, and is bound to fail, as well as be a bane rather than a blessing to the people”.

Read Also: Niger Delta Ministry: PANDEF commends Tinubu, sets agenda for minister

This then is the philosophical basis for the adoption by the AG and UPN, respectively, of free education at all levels, free medical care for all, integrated rural development and the attainment of full employment for every Nigerian as the prime purpose of any progressive government and political party. By making education as well as qualitative health care available to the vast majority of the people as well as guaranteeing them full employment and uplifting the living standards of people in the rural areas is, therefore, he argues, not doing the citizenry a favor for which they ought to be grateful.

Rather, these are fundamental human rights to which they are entitled. Furthermore, by investing, first and foremost, in the maximum development of the human potential of every member of human society irrespective of socio-economic class, gender, creed, or ethnic origin, society is enhancing the capability of as many of its members as possible to contribute optimally to promoting the collective good of the polity.

It would appear to me to be irrefutable that in its responses to the hardships engendered by its two key policies of fuel subsidy removal as well as exchange rate realignment, the Tinubu administration is toeing the path of progressive ideological policy orientation. The vast majority of the people are the target of its poverty alleviation interventions. Its latest initiative in this regard is the allocation of N180 billion as a combination of grants and loans to the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, to enable the sub-national units of government to relieve the hardships of their peoples through palliative interventions in cash and kind. Earlier in a national broadcast, President Tinubu had articulated specific policy initiatives designed to offer succor to the majority of Nigerians who are the most hard hit, especially by the inflationary implications of the new administration’s economic policy imperatives.

Some of these policy outlines include the provision of Infrastructure Support Fund to states to improve rural access roads to ease evacuation of farm produce to markets; investment of N100 billion to acquire 3000 units of 20-seater Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses for distribution to states to aid more affordable transportation costs; investment of N100 billion for the cultivation of 150,000 hectares of rice and maize and 100,000 hectares of wheat and cassava, respectively; the release of 200,000 metric tonnes of grains from the strategic reserve for distribution to households across the 36 states and the FCT as well as the provision of 225,000 metric tonnes of fertilizer, seedlings and other inputs to farmers towards the realization of the government’s food security agenda.

In the national broadcast, President Tinubu outlined other palliative measures being implemented to include empowering 75 manufacturing enterprises with N75 billion between now and March 2024 to enable each of the firms access N1 billion credit each at 9% per annum with maximum of 60 months repayment for long term loans and 12, months for working capital; funding 100,000 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME’s) with N75 billion with each enterprise to get between N500,000 and N1 million at 9% interest per annum and a repayment period of 36 months; energizing MSMEs and the informal sector with N125 billion between now and March next year; offering a conditional Grant of N50 billion to one million nano businesses between now and March next year; and the provision of N50,000 each to 1,300 nano business owners in each of the 774 Local Government Areas across the country.

A frontline Marxist activist and public intellectual, Mr. Femi Aborisade, posited in an outline post that these policies indicate a President who is more concerned about the interest of business than the welfare of the masses. This is ideologically doctrinaire. The interventions in business will stimulate the economy, provide a buffer for the enterprises against the harsh economic climate thus mitigating the need for mass layoff of workers among other benefits.

There are others who have expressed a lack of confidence and trust in state governors through whom the federal government intends to get its palliatives across to the people at the grassroots. But the sub-national units of government are best placed to reach the people as the levels of government closest to the grassroots. The onus then lies on Civil Society groups, Non-Governmental Organizations, Community Development Associations, respected opinion, and religious leaders to be vigilant and keep pressure on the state governments to be transparent, accountable, and equitable in the distribution of the palliatives.

Given his sterling antecedents as an economist, accomplished banker, and effective Commissioner for Finance in Lagos State for eight years, there are high hopes among stakeholders that Mr. Wale Edun, Minister for Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy will deepen and accelerate the pace of reforms with positive effects for the economy as he settles down in office.

However, as I pointed out in the conclusion to the first part of this piece published in this newspaper last Sunday, there are, apart from the technical issues of inflation, exchange rate, interest rate, and other macro-economic management challenges, other essentially non-economic factors that are critical to the country’s quest for rapid economic recovery and sustainable development. Chief Obafemi Awolowo provided a sterling example of this in his management of the country’s finances during the civil war (1967-1970). His emphasis was on the highest level of discipline in the management of scarce financial resources within the context of pressing countervailing wants and needs.

Incidentally, the country faces today the three-pronged challenges which confronted her during the civil war and Awolowo itemized these as “To economize our financial resources; to raise additional revenue and to save our foreign exchange reserve from being run down to a dangerous level, thereby avoiding balance of payments difficulties and preserving the strength of the Nigerian pound”.

According to Awolowo still on his reflections as regards economic management in a period of severe crises, “In any situation similar to the one in which we found ourselves, where recurrent revenue trails behind fleet-footed expenditure, the obvious first line of attack is to economize and maximize available resources. Unless this was done, and done with Draconic firmness, it would be futile to raise additional revenue; and any claim to prudent financial management would be illusory”.

Stressing the critical imperative of rigorous self-discipline in any bid to maximally tap the country’s developmental potentials, Awolowo, while speaking on his party’s promised four-point agenda as he campaigned for the country’s presidency in October 1978, averred that “It can be seen at once that the kind of planning I have in mind calls for extraordinary industry, and severe and strict self-discipline on the part of the planners and executants. There are far too many acts of indiscipline and self-indulgence on the part of the generality of our people in all the strata of our society. These acts of indiscipline and self-indulgence have had and continue to have, among other things, disastrous deleterious effects on our finances”.

Continuing, Awolowo wondered, “What else on earth, for instance, could have made our public servants at the Federal level alone feel at ease with the expenditure in 1977-78 of over N97 million on Local Transport and Traveling, over N28 million on Vehicles, Maintenance and Running Costs, and over N7 million on Overseas Travel?”. The level of waste in the management of public resources has escalated astronomically in this dispensation. Cutting down drastically on this waste, recovering as much as possible the humongous amounts looted from the public treasury in this dispensation, and substantially cutting down on the costs of governance by the legislature, the executive, and the public service bureaucracy, in particular, must be as much Mr. Edun’s concern as the more technical economic management issues he has to deal with.

August 26, 2023
Enoh, watch your back

The Athletic Federation in Nigeria is deep in crisis with the federation’s top shots opting to shut out recalcitrant members who are insisting on doing things the old ways.

Athletics ought to be a money spinner akin to what occurs in countries where athletics blossoms. At the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games and the World Championship not forgetting the athletics’ Grand Prix competitions where the sportsmen and women used to garner points, the athletics events draw fans from where they are during such competitions to watch the 100 metres race for both men and women.

The 100-metre races to determine the fastest man and woman in the world dominate the headlines in the media immediately the winners with questions if records were broken or not. Instances were recorded, and followers of the sport asked such questions on the wind gauge. Indeed, until the athlete is subject to rigorous checks, not few purists would reckon with the new records. But in Nigeria, the trouble that has been festering in a hush tone in the past has blown open the AFN with athletes being taken off by their amiable federation president. Perhaps, the new minister of sports Senator John Enoh could call for the AFN President and his members to find an amicable resolution of the crisis for the good of the game.

It may please the minister to note basketball federation has been torn to shreds by hitherto soul mates much to the consternation of lovers of the dunking game. With the 2024 Olympic Games less than one year away in Paris, it is almost certain that the Nigerian team to the multi-sport tournament would be slim and would be clapping for her opponents rather than being celebrated.

Read Also:Enoh: Olopade rallies support for new Sports Minister

Is sports all about funding and administration? Not exactly. Without the athletes and the coaches, no sports events can be held. Athletes and coaches form the fulcrum on which sports thrive.

One of the best federations in the country is the table tennis federation – easily the federation that has a calendar of activities that keep the kids busy. What is missing in this deluge of competitions is adequate training and retraining of the coaches who teach them. When pitched against better-exposed stars, they start the process of losing games from the way they stand behind the table. Every stroke offered is decoded by the opponents who have taken their time to watch past tapes of their foes, a practice we hardly do here. No one goes to battle blindfolded, not knowing what to expect. This is the biggest problem with Nigerian athletes. Too much guesswork. No proper grooming.

Honourable sports minister, sir, if Nigeria must be seen to be a sporting nation, our sports chieftains must start accepting to host major international competitions. The best way to upgrade these facilities here in Nigeria is to host periodic sporting events in the different sports. Our administrators’ penchant for honouring and attending events held outside the country, because it guarantees payment in dollars, should be stopped.

These administrators must be tasked to take each game to any part of the country with the best comparative advantage to produce the athletes who must then be taught the rudiments of the game at the grassroots. The criteria for picking administrators for each sport should include having a passion for the game. It is only when a person is passionate about a sport that he can appreciate the need to continuously provide new ideas to develop it.

A blueprint is sacrosanct for sports to thrive and it must be anchored on the dire need to resuscitate moribund grassroots competitions that engage youths, taking them away from the vices of the society.

The emergence of a sports policy endorsed by the government will create jobs, such that this industry could in the next 10 years become the highest employer of labour.

The policy should challenge local government chairmen to build at least four mini-sports centres that would serve as playgrounds for their constituents in the absence of such structures in the schools in the 774 local government areas.

Perhaps we must re-introduce the zonal sports offices in the six geo-political zones and equip them with coaches and office personnel who should be monitored just as the coaches must be retrained. Those who are not productive should be eased out of the system.

These rebuilding processes would produce an incontrovertible database of the talents discovered. And it would help sports develop since athletes won’t be able to forge ages to play for the junior teams.

Honourable Sports Minister, let’s allow the private sector to come in to set the tone with entrepreneurial skills, and then it becomes a huge business. Imagine what it means if every week people go into the stadium to enjoy a good match; the impact and effervescent effect on the nation. Consider those who transport the fans, who sell to the fans, produce wares for the fans, produce the tickets, and the telephone companies that would gain from it, especially in this telecommunication age, where if you are in the stadium, you want to tweet it, take pictures and post on the social media, it is all so complex. That is why we are saying that sports are a catalyst to recover from the economic recession that the country is experiencing. But that is if we understand it.

The talents are here; what we lack is a sports culture that is anchored on a calendar that sports-friendly blue-chip companies can incorporate into their fiscal budgets.

Our sports facilities must be maintained. Those old ones should be upgraded to provide a platform for local and international competitions for our athletes.

The minister should ensure that the National Institute for Sports (NIS) performs like its contemporaries elsewhere. It should be upgraded to function as the training ground for our coaches. It should also serve as the brain-box of our sports where policies are implemented.

Sport is a big deal. It unites nations and enchants people. Besides, it has a global appeal, pulling fans and sponsors into a unique force that impacts positively on businesses and health. These positives can best be evaluated when the government has a template that makes it possible for businesses and philanthropists to key into the nation’s vision for sports.

Governments of sports-loving nations entice businesses with relief packages, such as tax rebates on their investments in sports. Given sports’ global appeal, governments effectively utilise the platform as their public relations tool to change people’s perceptions of their entities.

Grassroots development can be actualised through the hosting of international and continental sporting events. Most countries use these big competitions to woo the blue-chip industries to identify with sports. Besides, these competitions open up the hinterland with the facilities constructed creating jobs in the locality. The facilities would attract the villagers to learn the games and, inadvertently, improve their health.

Big sports competitions generate revenue, create jobs, improve financial bases and provide the best opportunity for foreigners to have first-hand interaction with Nigerians. Such competitions improve tourism, a sure money spinner. Need I state the benefit that business concerns will gain from the volume of foreign exchange during such competitions?

It, therefore, aches to note that we have hosted big competitions in the past and have been unable to convince the corporate world about the gains of such events largely because no government has bothered to ask the organisers what went down and what we gained – this is what economists call Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA). Facilities built for such competitions are rotting away. In some cases, the equipment has been vandalised with nobody made to pay for it.

August 26, 2023
Impact of legislative/executive feud

What could have sparked a protracted rift between the legislature and the executive in the same ruling party?

This is a big poser that agitates the minds of concerned parties in Lagos State where the House of Assembly has shelved the confirmation of 17 of the governor’s 39 commissioner-nominees.

The legislative/executive face-off, which leaders of the ruling party are now sorting out, is confounding to many people because the occupants of the two organs of government belong to the same All Progressives Congress (APC) family.

Some observers might not find anything puzzling about this kind of misunderstanding. To such persons, it is not new. They liken it to the inevitable – however occasional – disagreement that usually occurs within a family. As elder statesman Oluyole Olusi put it: “It is the side effect of the operation of democracy.”

But the pattern of legislative/executive bickering that has dogged the practice of the presidential system in Nigeria is worrisome.

The question is: could the slippery pathway of a crisis be avoided rather than resort to damage control after the collision? Could the row have been prevented instead of making appeals for dialogue after the disagreement has degenerated into a crisis?

It bears repeating that the greatest challenge confronting big progressive parties, either at national, regional or state level, is lack of speedy crisis resolution mechanism. The sluggish approach to peaceful settlement can be costly.

Read Also: Mutfwang: A new development plan for Plateau

While it is now generally accepted that inter-organ crises are normal – though better prevented or managed internally before they become subjects of public gossips – some circumstances may make it impossible. When it is eventually resolved, the collateral damage tends to stare participants in the politics of strife in the face. Egos are bruised.

It is worse when the governor and lawmakers are from antagonistic parties. The most embarrassing scenario of utter discord happened in Kaduna State in the Second Republic. The list of commissioner-nominees sent by former Governor Balarabe Musa of the defunct Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) to the House of Assembly dominated by the National Party of Nigeria (NPN) was rejected. For over one year before he was impeached by the hostile House, the governor ran the state without commissioners. Kaduna was bruised by the acrimony in the corridor of power.

Indisputably, unresolved discord and mistrust between the two critical organs have the tendency to create strains for the party on whose platform the governor and the lawmakers were elected. The impression often created is that the party is has lost cohesion, unity and harmony. That was the trend of acrimonious relationship associated with the Executive and Legislature, also in Second Republic, when the then Ondo State Governor Adekunle Ajasin and Speaker Richard Jolowo never saw eye to eye.

Majority of members of the State Executive Council backed Ajasin while majority of lawmakers backed the estranged deputy governor, Chief Akin Omoboriowo.

The reconciliation brokered by the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) Leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, collapsed. The great politician was helpless. The two sides could not be pacified. The Ondo chapter was so polarised by the executive/legislative crisis that it nearly rendered the state government comatose. The governor’s proposals to the House, including the nomination of Chief Nathaniel Aina for the vacant position of deputy governor after Omoboriowo resigned, were rejected.

Recent experience has also shown that differential styles, not necessarily related with ideology, can create a gulf between the head of the legislature and the head of the executive. Between 2015 and 2019, President Muhammadu Buhari had it rough with the Senate, led by Dr. Bukola Saraki, despite being chieftains of the same party. The suspicion, if not hate, was so deep.

The fallout was that some presidential nominees were not confirmed. When the president came to the Upper Chamber to table his administration’s budget, there was uproar and the session was almost disrupted. The founding fathers of APC were in a sober mood.

The constitution prescribes roles for the Legislature and Executive in presidential de mocracy. The Legislature is the first and the most important organ of government because of its attribute of “representativeness”. The Executive is to be envied for always stealing the show, not only as chief executor of big projects but as the exclusive custodian and controller of huge financial resources.

While constituencies send representatives to the law-making organ, they also crave representation in the Executive, the real heart of government, where things happen. The slots of commissioners and special advisers, no matter the seeming duplication, expansion or enlargement, are still relatively fewer. The scramble for the slots is always intense.

In contemporary times, societies have accommodated the criteria being evolved by political players to reshape the scramble. These include experience, competence, expertise, gender, population, religion, ethnicity, autochthony (indigeneship), preference of governor, godfatherism, quota system, slots for youth, and consideration for the physically challenge. To maintain a balance is difficult or problematic.

While relations between Executive and Judiciary, and relations between Legislature and Judiciary are smooth, there is usually tension between the legislature and the executive for obvious reasons. The principles of constitutional separation of powers and the accompanying checks and balances are guaranteed under the presidential model. In exercising its legislative, oversight and ratification powers, legislators see an opportunity to restrain or tame the executive. The implication is that the ruling executive should always moderate its activities in utter sensitivity to the presence of a legislature that is always alert.

Yet, the exercise of the role of “approval” and “questioning” should be done with wisdom. It should not be allowed to slide into a deep gulf or lack of cooperation between the two branches. There should be mutual respect, flexibility, understanding and collective dedication to the cause of good governance.

When a conflict between the governor and the legislature festers or escalates, the two arms are distracted, governance is slowed down, energy is dissipated on crisis resolution and service delivery is hampered. Therefore, legislators and members of the executive elected on the same ruling platform should have a moral voice they can defer to, and this is the Party Caucus.

Herein lies the solution to the legislative/executive imbroglio. If the party caucus is strengthened, it can affirm its supremacy, whip its party members in the executive and legislative organs into line and enforce discipline.

This is very important because the perception that a crisis has engulfed the legislature and executive means that the party ultimately is enveloped in a crisis. It thus implies that the platform is devoid of cohesion, unity and peace. It is not tidy that the executive and legislature should watch the dirty linen of the party in the public. Party followers would be confused and the opposition would be motivated to make a mockery of the feuding arms of government.

The goal of the legislature and the executive should be collaboration for good governance without jeopardising the principle of separation of powers. The achievement of the objective depends on a harmonious working relationship between both arms of government. Experienced politicians should be appointed as Laison Officer or Special Adviser on Political and Legislative Matters as the “go between” to stem or moderate the compelling tension between the two arms.

In a moment of crisis, dialogue, which may be difficult to initiate by the two organs in dispute, should be brokered by the party, which is the parent of quarrelsome siblings in the two feuding arms of government.

August 26, 2023
Sanwo-Olu’s cabinet: Politicians, technocrats at war

The decision of the Lagos State House of Assembly not to clear 17 of the 39 commissioner nominees whose names were sent for confirmation on Wednesday naturally sent the tongues of many observers wagging; not only because the development was largely unexpected but also because of the high number of nominees affected.

As it would be expected, the development provoked speculations from the observing public, with many saying that the nominees were denied confirmation because there were complaints from their constituents that they did not know them and so could not relate with them.

Sentry, however, gathered that beneath the decision to leave out the 17 names was a quiet but bruising war occasioned by rivalry between the politicians and the technocrats within the ruling party. The politicians in the party are said to be angered by the holier than thou attitude of the technocrats who tend to carry themselves as if they are too refined to act like the average politician or involve themselves in certain activities.

Read Also: Group praises Tinubu on appointments of ministers, aides

Matter were said to have got to a head during the last presidential and governorship elections when many of the technocrats did not show the required interest in the party’s activities whether in terms of material contribution or canvassing for votes despite being mobilised for the elections.

An angry chieftain of the party said: “Many of them were at home on election day. They completely alienated themselves, saying that they were not politicians. If they would not help the party, why should they be the first partakers ahead of those who worked for it?

“What are technocrats? Does that mean the rest of us did not go to school? Of course, we did, and to that extent, we are also technocrats in addition to being politicians.

“Even our leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was a technocrat before he became a politician. Why are they now making it look as if it is a sin to be a politician?”

August 26, 2023
Kogi West in dilemma as governorship election beckons

As Kogites await the state’s off-season governorship election alongside those of Imo and Bayelsa on November 11, the Okun (Yoruba) inhabitants of Kogi West Senatorial District are in a dilemma as to the governorship candidate they should support between their kinsman and flag bearer of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Senator Dino Melaye, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and stooge of the sitting governor Usman Ododo and that of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Usman Ajaka.

As one of the three major ethnic groups, the two others being the Igala and the Igbira, the Okun tribe remains the only one yet to produce the governor since the state was created by the Babngida administration in 1991. So the people should ordinarily roll their support machine behind Melaye as an opportunity to have their son occupy the coveted seat. But there is a cog: In his previous positions as a senator and as a member of the House of Representatives, Melaye did little to earn the trust of his people.

Read Also: Don’t interfere with Kano election Tribunal, APC warns NNPP

In spite of the agreements he was said to have reached with community leaders in the area to ensure the execution of certain projects during his time in the National Assembly, the former lawmaker was said to have fulfilled none of the dividends he promised to deliver before the expiration of tenures.

The people are now left with a choice between supporting their kinsman to become the governor and hope for little or nothing in return or throw their weight behind the Ebira or Igala candidates of the APC and SDP in outright disregard for their own kinsman.

August 26, 2023
Kole Omotosho on Achebe or Soyinka (2)

In his work, ‘Achebe or Soyinka: A Study in Contrasts’ on which I am reflecting briefly in tribute to the recent passing of the author, Professor Kole Omotosho, he indicates respective ambiguities in both Achebe and Soyinka’s personal reactions and responses to the colonial encounter by their Igbo and Yoruba ethnic communities. He argues that “While Achebe understands the need for the Igbo to compromise with a stronger power in order to survive, he is not in support of a generation of Igbo having been the instrument of that compromise”.

According to the author, Achebe is uncomfortable with the fact that “his parents were members of that generation raised, trained and used by the white man to communicate with the Igbo people”. Consequently, he submits, rather than deal with this difficult challenge in his creative writings, Achebe prefers to write in his fiction about the period and generation before his parents, (Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God) and the generation after them (No Longer At Ease, A Man of the People). Omotosho submits that “While Achebe’s work might not be considered complete until he has dealt with the historical experience of his parents in the same way that he had to write ‘Anthills on the Savannah’, there is no doubt that he has succeeded enormously in his chosen duty of vindicating the African past through looking at the Igbo past”.

As for Soyinka, Omotosho contends that “his own ambiguity resides…in the area of the rule of the individual and the role of the community especially at the point of creating new communities”. The author submits that against the background of the Yoruba’s acceptance of the white man as another, perhaps inevitable, episode in their history, Wole Soyinka in his works treats the colonial encounter as essentially a catalytic episode. In his words, “The catalytic effect of the colonial encounter within the Yoruba society becomes the area of his creative inquiry. This acceptance of the colonial episode as inevitable and perhaps not all evil led to Yoruba involvement in western education”.

Still with reference to the response of the duo to the colonial encounter by their respective Igbo and Yoruba ethnic communities, Omotosho is of the view that Achebe portrays the missionaries’ advent in Igbo land with a high degree of antagonism as if they found no welcome at all among the Igbo. Achebe, he submits, appears indifferent to the fact that the emergent, new missionaries’ era was “particularly beneficial to the weakest members of the society. In fact, Achebe takes the side of the ruling elite which had done precious little to help the weak among them. He does not see the survival needs of the weak and the poor in seeking salvation in the arms of the missionaries. Achebe is only interested in defending the Igbo traditional elite in both ‘Things Fall Apart’ and ‘Arrow of God’. Whatever happened to the poor and the weak and the low caste was their problem”.

Read Also: Ondo community battles First Lady over caretaker chairman

In the case of Soyinka, Omotosho avers that the Nobel Laureate has been kinder and more sympathetic to the poor and weak characters in his plays, novels and autobiographies. Citing such of Soyinka’s works as ‘The Strong Breed’, ‘The Bacchae of Euripides’ or ‘Isara: A Voyage Around Essay’, Omotosho submits that “Generally then, while Achebe seems to have eyes only for the traditional elite, Soyinka represents the weak and the poor while refusing to defend the point of view of the traditional elite”. In his elaborate depiction of daily life in representative multi-religious communities of Igbo and Yoruba land, Omotosho calls to mind the validity of the late Professor Ali Mazrui’s formulation of Africa’s triple spiritual heritage – Islam, Christianity, and African traditional religion.

Professor Omotosho analyzes the works of Achebe and Soyinka within the theoretical framework of what he calls three agendas: the Pan-African agenda, the Nigerian nation-state agenda, and the ethnic communal agenda. Many critics, he avers, have taken the simplistic approach of interrogating the works of the two writers from the prism of one supposedly unanimous and undifferentiated African culture. Thus, once their works transcend the boundaries of Nigeria, they seemingly become part of a homogeneous species of excessively generalized African writers. He however argues that the criticisms of their works within and beyond Nigeria are inadequate and questionable to the extent that they ignore the substantial differences between both writers and simply lump them into the undiscriminating category of ‘African’ writers.

Since the most important critical challenge facing Nigeria since the amalgamation of 1914 has been that of making ‘out of many peoples one people’, what political scientists depict as the challenge of ‘nation-building’, as well as the primacy of politics in their personal lives and artistic pursuits, Omotosho also extensively examines in what ways their works and persona have contributed to the emergence of a common national consciousness or otherwise.

One of the most intriguing and fascinating chapters in the book is that titled ‘Pan-Africanism and the African Writer’. Here, beyond Soyinka and Achebe, Omotosho dissects the major works of other key African writers including Camara Laye, Sembene Ousmane, Ayi Kwei Armah, Kofi Awonoor, Mongo Beti, T chicaya I Tam si, Ngugi Wa Thiongo and Es’Kia Mphalele. After an exhaustive reflection on diverse dimensions of the colonial encounter and the anti-colonial struggle, Omotosho submits audaciously that “If the Nigerian intellectual had been bold enough to insist that the encounter between the West and Africa in Nigeria had both positive and negative possibilities, we would not be where we are today, still attempting to make sense of the nation-state and modernization. If the Nigerian intellectual had been humble enough to accept that there were many ways in which the Western life was qualitatively superior to the African way of life, the encounter with the West could have been the beginning of a renaissance in African life and in African re-development”.

Continuing in this vein, he argues that “Africans must be mature enough now to accept that while theirs was not paradise on earth, Europe did not come to them bearing the fruits of the Garden of Eden. At the point of contact with the West, it is a fact that many African societies were near decay and stasis, whatever level of development they had achieved before this”. Nevertheless, he readily admits that “Arab and European slave trading activities in Africa worsened the conditions of Africans” and that “The pain is made even more unbearable because Africans collaborated in this grievous material and spiritual damage to Africa”.

Omotosho admits that diverse aspects of the colonial encounter including slavery, unequal exchange, colonization, and racial disdain were painful and humiliating for the Africans. Yet, he points out, perceptively, that “there are also aspects of this encounter which Africans can indeed be proud of: the great number of battles which African armies did win against superior western arms; the great number of African ritual objects stolen by westerners and the influence which these had on western artists and the continued existence of Africans on the African continent”.

As he rightly points out, “Africans are in fact the only natives to have survived in large enough numbers to challenge Europeans and other settlers for the ownership of their land. The North American native, the South American native, the Canadian native, the Australian native, and the New Zealand native have all been either completely displaced or else exist in ineffectual numbers compared with the European settlers in these places. Because it is the pain of African history that is more prominent, it is not surprising that the African has attempted to find compensation by valorizing everything on-European”.

In the chapter titled ‘Achebe, Soyinka and the Gods and Goddesses of their Ancestors’, Omotosho examines the orientation and attitudes of both writers especially to Christianity and Islam with reference to traditional African religious practices. Referring to Achebe’s obvious opposition to the seeming intolerant absolutism of Christianity, he quotes the celebrated novelist thus, “Wherever something stands, something else will stand beside it. Nothing is absolute. I am the truth, the way and the life would be called blasphemous or simply absurd for is it not well known that a man may worship Ogwugwu to perfection and yet be killed by Udo?”.

As for Soyinka, Omotosho avers that “When Wole Soyinka writes or speaks, then, he does so against the background of one African religion which has had the daring to take on both Islam and Christianity. He writes from a body of knowledge which is verifiable in the Ifa corpus, a system of divination which has given rise to many publications by both Western and African anthropologists”.

August 26, 2023
The trouble with patriotism in Nigeria

Ask not what your country can do for you but ask what you can do for your country- John Fitzgerald Kennedy JFK

The quote above were words spoken by the 35th President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy as he gave his inauguration speech to the American People who had just voted in the closest election race ever. Kennedy, a serving Senator prior to his emergence as president was regarded as a new generation leader who via that speech was seeking to reinvigorate the American populace to do more for the nation.

“This generation of Nigerians and future generations have no other country but Nigeria, we shall remain here and salvage it together. “

Now, this quote were the very last words of the takeover speech of a former military ruler of Nigeria, General Muhammadu Buhari, a favorite of mine, this quote too was somewhat a rallying call for Nigerians to salvage the mess that past Nigerian administrations had plunged the Nigerian nation into, a call many Nigerians barely answered.

Herein lies the difference between these two societies; the call to patriotism by two new generation leaders of two different nations and the aftermath. One society remains progressive building upon such patriotism to expand the nation’s frontiers, the other grappling from one conundrum unto another, doing what a renowned professor described as the “Forbaki” dance of progress, where it takes two steps forward and ten steps backward!

Read Also: ECOWAS’ response to coup in Niger to protect territory, says Akinyemi

In one we have had a rising spate of patriotism alongside progress, though such patriotism is worriedly springing up some sort of nationalism as a counterforce to the rising liberalism/diversity tendencies of the American society but then that is a discussion for another day and in the other, there appears to be a dwindling spate of patriotism, one where there is no shared passion with the aspiration of the state, conversely there is seemingly no meaningful progress in the affairs of such a state.

Today, on numerous skits and on social media platforms in Nigeria we repeatedly see where the nation is reportedly bashed by its citizens, yes we know that the country hasn’t been on a path or track that she was destined for but then should that make the nation the butt of jokes? No is the music here!

The United States of America is not the only respectable exemplification of what patriotism is or should be, other nations such as Germany, Israel, India, The United Kingdom, China, Pakistan, Namibia and Ghana are natural examples of a people that take pride in their national status, yes they may have had their issues with their governments but you will never see them jeer at their nation’s pride.

It is this level of patriotism that is translated into all works and spheres of life of these nations! From the leadership to the ordinary man on the streets of these nations we see a compelling need to put the interests of their nations before anything else, little wonder these nations are remarkably making fleeting progress!

Certain schools of thought will however criticize my train of thoughts, laying landmines on why patriotism is lacking in Nigeria and possibly attempt to justify such. They will make known examples of how the Nigerian State has reportedly failed its people and how it’s leadership, like a recurring decimal has repeatedly dashed the hopes of the Nigerian people while dishing out slogans and maxims that left the nation poorer while they enriched themselves! They will point to how national leaders became tribal champions undermining the Nigerian spirit for the allure of regional or prebendal politics, they will refer you to the lives of those who gave their all for the love of country and place a picturesque contrast with those who didn’t and how these persons have fared after be it in life or in death. Nigeria I have repeatedly heard is “not worth dying for!”

They argue that if we are to indeed exhibit patriotism, then the leadership class must be the bellwether of such an act, they state that it is unfair to place such burdens on the people while the leadership class fritter away the nation’s commonwealth.

One might be forced to agree with such thinking save the solemn fact that every nation deserves the kind of leadership it gets, therefore if the leadership class has fallen short of the patriotism benchmark then it is because the people too have exhibited such.

I may also agree that while nations like Pakistan, India and China had single national hero leaders, leadership such as Al Jinnah, Nehru and Mao who’s philosophy have sought to guide their people into finding the path unto national salvation whereas compared to Nigeria, where we had a motley of leaders who were reportedly more of regional or ethnic champions than nationalists complicating our march unto national unity and its salvation, but then the United States and the UK cannot be ascribed to a singular hero leader, rather they have had a cast of them each repeatedly seeking to lift the nation even as peers and as rivals, again is such an argument not lame in the fact that it’s been sixty years since the nation got her independence from her colonial masters, to continue to dwell on such is indeed laughable! Again, are we a country of over 200 million people now short of heroes?

The answer like the title of that Catholic hymn is indeed blowing in the winds!

August 26, 2023