The Nation Newspaper

Category: Saturday

  • Fuel scarcity, rising price of PMS: Has Buhari dropped the ball? (1)

    Fuel scarcity, rising price of PMS: Has Buhari dropped the ball? (1)

    By Igboeli Arinze 

    The recent scarcity of PMS in the FCT and Lagos much did remind me of my first time and firsthand experience of such chaos and its attendant rigidities during the Abacha years as the Junta then grappled with strikes and industrial actions carried out by NLC and the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas (NUPENG) in solidarity with the June 12 mandate which the Abacha administration had tried to suppress. As administrations entered the stage, the trend much became a learning curve, particularly during the Yuletide periods and whenever such administrations wanted to bring about an increase in the cost of PMS all in the drive to deregulate the downstream petroleum sector. However, with the emergence of the Buhari administration Nigerians began to heave a sigh of relief as the fuel queues began to disappear, particularly during the festive periods thus ending the series of recycled hardships for homesteads and families during that period. Today we cannot sing the same song as regards such with the reemergence of these queues as a result of the scarcity of the product. On three occasions within one year, Nigerians have had to suffer the attendant symptoms of such supply side disruptions such as very long queues and the high cost of getting the product in alternative markets. This has resulted in a hike in transportation costs and the loss of man hours by businesses , particularly those within the transportation sector who have to wait for long hours to get the product.

    This situation, many will agree with me is indeed an embarrassment to a nation that  produces the parent product of PMS,  crude oil but then has a near zero refining capacity as none of its refineries seem to be working for now as past administrations looked on while the refineries moved into a state of massive decrepitude, even defying several attempts to resuscitate them with billions of dollars going down the drain, the latest been the nation’s biggest refinery in Portharcourt which is currently undergoing what the administration has termed as rehabilitation at the cost of $1.5bn with the mandate to return the refinery to its 210,000 barrels per day capacity within certain phased timelines starting from December 2022. Like Caesar to the Soothsayer, Nigerians will be quick to remind the Minister of State for Petroleum that December 2022  has surely come.

    Read Also; Let there be petrol

    The Kaduna and Warri refineries are also performing at subpar capacities, and even with the coming of the Dangote refinery, which would be churning 650,000 barrels per day there is little or no respite as Nigeria would still not be able to meet its 1.52 million barrels per day demand for domestic consumption.

    Even with the snail speed attempt to fix our grim refining status, a country that has largely been in the business of importing a large chunk of its energy needs ought to have perfected such an endeavor that its citizens do not have to groan over the supply of such a product. Given our heavy reliance on such imports a serious nation would have long resolved such supply chain problems, when we thought we had resolved such an impasse with the coming of the Buhari administration, the Nigerian system very much scoffs back at us.

    Nigerians are then forced to ask why after many years of enjoying a steady supply of the product we are right back in the middle of the conundrum. Has the Muhammadu Buhari administration somewhat dropped the ball? Or how can we explain such shortages with the chucklesome and ludicrous set of excuses such as the fact that Nigerians are celebrating Muslim holidays or that access roads in Lagos are currently been worked upon thus the lack of supply! Are these roads been worked upon in the moon or did the construction company just give notice of such works that the NNPC which is saddled with ensuring that the country is duly supplied could not have taken advantage of such due notice as it is given by construction firms and state agencies upon which such palliative works are to be carried upon? Why didn’t the NNPC take advantage of such a notice? Perhaps seek to meet such  projected shortfalls in a proactive manner? Excepting the Lokoja flood impasse, the NNPC could have on the other two occasions avoided the untold sufferings been presently meted on the Nigerian people.

    While the NNPC is busy blaming roads, others such as the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association (IPMAN), have blamed such shortages on the non arrival of vessels bearing the product leading to a drop in the stock levels of the product. It is even been alleged that a number of inland depots are without the product, while those with the product have seen prices in such depots rise from N165 to N177 and N178 per litre. Other depots may even be selling more and by the time the product is transported to the various filling stations in the North, a number of costs are unwantedly attracted pushing the final cost to as high as #285 per liter in some areas.

  • Free speech, religion and power

    Free speech, religion and power

    There is  serious fuel scarcity in Nigeria especially Lagos the commercial capital and the effect is biting economically mostly , with the attendant escalating effects on all aspects of human life . Yet  it is booming business for some people and cartels benefiting   illicitly  from it .  Especially the black markets selling near closed and impotent petrol stations  ,  involving virile  , strong youths of both sexes   and the bigger petrol importers  and   marketers   . Yet it  seems   brazenly    offensive to  those in government and in the deep and shallow corridors of power  , to hear people complain of    fuel  scarcity   and  the obvious   government inertia  , indifference or outright  callousness to  fuel  scarcity   and  the suffering of the teeming masses , the electorate in the all  important 2023 presidential election  .As  if this is not an issue  of deep concern to those who will  vote in the same election and   decide  whether to stop or continue  the suffering ensuing from frequent power  shortages and long queues  at petrol stations  on the eve of Christmas  and on the highway to the all important 2023 presidential election .

    The way those in power , especially elected representatives in a democracy react to criticism or dissent form the kernel  of my investigations and discussions today and I will reach far and wide to make my illustrations and conclusions .I  will start with  the new owner of Twitter Elon Musk’s   declared objective to ensure free speech on Twitter but not ‘ free reach ‘ . I will  endeavour to  make a connection between religion , history and politics  in the forthcoming  December 6 run  off and   last    mid term senatorial   election in the state of Georgia in the US  between two  black men [ Raphael Warnock  of the Democratic Party and  Herschel Walker  of the Republican Party , ]    and the Muslim Muslim ticket of the APC in Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election .I   will  round up with the keen observation of a comedian  Charlemagne tha God  in the US  , of    the  new but  dangerous    trend    he identified  in the US  of some powerful people labeling those who  disagree  with them  as suffering from one sort of phobia   or the other .

    Read Also: Culture, colonialism and change

    Obviously , the acquisition of Twitter by Elon Musk is having serious political implications not only in the US but also  in the western world ,   if not the world at large . Musk  is creating his own brand of democracy involving polling those on Twitter to make far reaching  and important communication and information decisions . He used that to return vocally  castrated  and politically  silenced former US president Donald Trump   to Twitter . Musk  has declared himself a ‘ Free Speech Absolutist’  and he has  vowed  to bring in place automated censorship on content integrity on Twitter . His return of Trump who has not accepted the offer on Twitter  but who cannot  deny that Musk has been his salvation army   or Robin  Hood   of Sherwood  Forest on his  loud silencing by pre Musk Twitter    that   probably made Trump to  lose the 2020 US  presidential election  , has put Twitter on collision course with those who hate Trump both in the US and EU . Pro LGBTQ EU has already  threatened that it will deal squarely with the new Musk  acquired Twitter and would impose massive fines if it violates EU technology regulations  . Which is normal  but is ominous as Musk  has insisted that free speech does not imply free reach which  means Twitter will censor    the information  it deemed dangerous to societal  good and that may not coincide with  EU values  . Current  EU values conflict  with  what  new  Italian PM  Giorgia  Meloni  has  described  as  placing  priority  on  ‘ God Family and nation ‘. Meloni  has  said  that the new radical in today’s world is the conservative   person and that is at odds with EU and US present governments’ values on the social and  religious institutions highlighted by Meloni  They    are   however compatible with why Musk acquired Twitter and what he will do with his powerful and influential  acquisition on the nature  of the radicalism  of the  new  conservative  identified by Meloni and which brought her party to power in Italy .

    With  regard to the run off elections in Georgia  I  will draw a parallel between  it and the Muslim Muslim presidential ticket of the Jagaban and Shetima  of the APC . It  is not as if I do not recognize the challenge of the PDP and ‘  the rest’  to the APC ticket but with regard to the PDP my advice is that  a house  divided  against  itself  cannot stand and until  the Wike  challenge  and menace are  resolved  , the PDP is  like  someone sleeping  in a house with thatched roof  on fire  . That on its own gives the APC ticket  a straight passage to power ceteris paribus as the economists will say ,  even though  they know that all  things are not always equal .

    I  say  boldly  that  the origin and history of the Georgia senatorial election and the APC Muslim Muslim ticket   are rooted in the quest  for equity both amongst  blacks in the US and Nigerians in colonial Nigeria . The  two  candidates for both the Republican and the Democratic Party contesting in the election are  both blacks yet  the concept of run offs was created to ensure  that blacks cannot  get elected after slaves were freed after the US war on slavery  won by Abraham Lincoln .Run  offs were originally designed to eliminate  blacks eligible to contest until the coast  is clear for white candidates to face each other .  The Democratic Party  candidate is a black  pastor  Raphael  Warnock  credited by   opponents  as  being an agent of white rule because his opponents think he is  preaching a white man’s religion which is Christianity .  His  defenders however pointed out that he is a proponent of black theology  or liberation  theology which  uses religion to fight oppression and racism . The  Nation of Islam in  the US rejects black  pastors because it says they  cannot preach the truth against racism because Christianity is both a  Jewish  and  white man’s religion . The champions of black  theology  however counter that  the Nation of Islam criticism is important because it is a  check  on black pastors to speak  the truth on their pulpits and not succumb to white supremacy in spite of their Christianity which they say is colour blind and honest in its entirety . Which  is an argument  I buy and which  should be applicable to the Muslim Muslim ticket as both Islam and Christianity were imported to Nigeria from abroad and adherents  of both have been living together peacefully ever since and I see no reason for any extravagant or  negative opinion on  a matter vindicated  by history  and human  tolerance and understanding .

    I end with the bold observation of Charlemagne tha God that calling those who disagree with gender surgery in the US should not be branded as transphobic .  He said people should  learn to respect other people’s opinion . This is not the case in the US  and  in a way  in Nigeria with people who do not agree with the APC Muslim Muslim  ticket in  and I buy this comedian’s argument  even though his name seems godless to me . In fact branding those who disagree on sexual orientation  as hateful as racists    surely  are ,  makes a mockery   of  serious  discrimination  like racism or religious discrimination and   violation  of religious freedom . It  has  been observed that the US Transportation Secretary a gay man married to a man , his husband  , sees most  issues on identity terms which invariably condemns those who frown at his own identity . That surely is wrong for a man who has an important public office who  will  surely  be jailed in Nigeria which has anti gay laws punishable  with imprisonment  for 14 years .  Charlemagne also  disagreed with those who practice cancel  culture on behalf of BLM – Black lives matter or racism . He  said  such  people are practicing ‘ outrage culture ‘  and I agree with him  . He  went on to say that comedians are social critics  but should not be punished or vilified for their jokes and comedians too should not feel bad if people don’t laugh at their jokes sometimes .  Such honest and pragmatic  opinions are  needed more amongst the high and mighty , the powerful  in society  who  should  cultivate a mature culture of tolerance to make leadership in a democracy meaningful and beneficial . Which  really is the essence of elective democracy  ,    freedom of speech  and true religion  .

  • Technology, power and control

    Technology, power and control

    An  elderly friend of mine once lamented in my presence  , when told of the action of  someone he helped greatly to put in power  , that until you have given a man power  , you cannot  really   know the sort of man he is .Obviously  my  friend did not approve of the way his protégé  has used the power he helped him  get  . It  is the  use of power in a democracy  that attracts our attention today and we do that on the initial  premise that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely . We  also  assume that political  power while obtained at the ballot box is not the ultimate   power in any  democracy .Especially when  technology is the dominant means of  mass  communication ,and  information as at the beginning of the Information technology revolution ,   and more so  now   in our   present  era  where  disinformation and misinformation   have become  common place and almost  the  norm.  Just as   nations   compete   to use   technology  to   influence elections in adversarial and enemy nations so that  they can wield more power than they have now in global power politics  , diplomacy  and International Relations .

    Nothing  illustrates  this technological  development more   than the claim of Russian influence on the election of Donald Trump as US president in 2016  and the attendant but failed probe to prove that claim . It did  not end there as the big tech  companies in the US silenced a  US president that Americans claim to be’ the most  powerful man in the world ‘ because they  elected him when unelected  Twitter banned Trump  from its  platform .Thus eliminating this American president from  power on the eve  of   the next election then of 2020  which Trump  consequently lost  . This  technological  power grab  has  now reached full circle  with the purchase of Twitter by the world’s  richest man Elon Musk and the reinstatement  of Trump’s twitter account just as he announced that  he wants to contest to be president again in the US in the forthcoming 2024 US presidential election .Certainly  one can say what goes up  comes down on  this issue and it is on that light that  we consider the  effect of technology on world  politics as we know it today .

    We  shall  look at  the   analysis  of some issues  and see  how technology is   being used   to  further  political    goals  at  the expense   of  objectivity   and the pursuit  of the truth   as expected in journalism  We  shall  prospect  if there is any foreign or technological  influence on Nigeria’s  on going  presidential campaign .We  shall  delve  into contemporary  history to see if Cold  War politics in a bi polar  world is resurrecting  through   technology and if so  whether its  location has changed from its colonial genes to the  fertile  and highly  technological  territories of the US and  the EU .  A  tough task  you  might say  , but very much worth the try .

    We  start  with  both the US and Nigeria in the use of technology to analyse  issues   and influence public opinion and voting .In  Nigeria  social media is being used to push  the candidacy  of both Peter  Obi and Rabiu Kwankwanso when it is obvious that these candidates lag far behind in the race with the big candidates of the ruling APC and the PDP . It  is wishful  thinking  to put   the Jagaban on the same level with Peter  Obi  when talking about national  politics . It reminds one of what our late PM  Tafawa Balewa  said of Ghana under the its highly  vocal president Kwame Nkrumah that Ghana’s noise on the international  scene against Nigeria is like comparing the elephant  with the ant .The facts are there but not seen in plain sight by those who  cannot see that no one can   stop an idea whose time has come .You  cannot concretise on the social  media platform what is not pragmatically  on the ground politically .Media platforms or pundits pushing  Obi and Kwankwanso are hoping for a scenario  that brought the likes of Zelensky  to power in Ukraine or  Macron  to power  in France in his first victory when he was a political  unknown but still  managed to win . Nigeria is neither Ukraine nor France and  the stage of our technology is not as sophisticated and advanced as  in these two  nations . I  cannot see how in a nation that the national grid is always breaking down the masses who  have no light can tune in to vote for  candidates who are just paper tigers or to use  the appropriate language mere platform  champions with feet of clay   on the   rugged  terrain of mass mobilization of the electorate to come out and vote at  the polling booths rather than the anonymity of cell  phones and phantom  popularity .

    A  similar situation is on in the US media on  the recent  killings of gay  people and recently the gunning down of five people in a  gay  club .US media in support of gay and  against gun rights usually attribute such killings to hate  speech  and expect such  killers to be anti gay people  or  pro  gun  activist  . Events have shown  however that the latest  killer is a transgender person him self while  another killer of gays later told the police that he is gay  himself . There is no substitute   for  fact   finding in journalism   and verification  of facts should precede the creation of opinions to be published and pushed about as truth with the aid of rampant and very  fast information technology .Such  misrepresentation can lead to false conclusions from which  people or  the electorates will get the wrong information on which parties to vote for and what  issues will  determine the results of elections .

    Again  on Nigeria ,  it is apparent that the Americans are very  much interested in the outcome of Nigeria’s  2023  presidential  election and they do it in such a patronizing  way.  As if Nigerians have no right to complain in the same way they dealt  mercilessly with Donald Trump  over the false claim of Russian collusion in the 2016 US presidential election .  They  should  know or be told that Nigeria is a sovereign  state and can conduct its  own  election  .They do not have much  to teach  us after the stolen election of 2020 in the US and the frantic effort nationwide to ensure election integrity after Trump trumpeted that the election was rigged . On our part  we already  know where the shoe pinches on election rigging but   are  prepared to paddle  our own canoe . The  struggle  definitely  continues in this regard .

    Lastly we end on the use of technology to make the Russian invasion of Ukraine a global  war at the expense of Russia the invader . Russia was wrong to have invaded Ukraine but the western media has come out fully to demonise the president of Russia Vladmir Putin as the devil  incarnate . Western  weaponry at state of art quality have been unleashed against Russia and big  tech companies in the west have bolted from Russia and are using the technology of hysteria to arouse Russians  against their leader .I doubt if Russia will win the war but it needs some  face saving diplomacy to withdraw but the technological impact has damaged its president’s  prestige and personality globally . The only respite in the technological  assault on Russia’s  leadership   is  for the new   mid term Republican  House  majority in its  expected  technological  assault on  the Biden presidency through the examination of the contents of the   long lost laptop of the president’s  son Hunter   to  stifle aid to Ukraine and ask  questions of the war leadership of Zelensky and the way  he has treated the opposition  during the war that Joe  Biden   has  such  massive personal and lucrative interests  in supporting .Again ,  a lap  top,  an instrument of technology ,  is setting the pace for the next  round of America’s  very combustible politics and culture nowadays.

  • Tinubu, the South-East and 2023

    Tinubu, the South-East and 2023

    It seems such a long time now away from August when a group of Igbo youths under the auspices of the Coalition of South East Youth Leaders (COSEYL) issued a statement warning groups and individuals promoting the presidential aspiration of the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, to steer clear of the zone in their campaigns. The President and Publicity Secretary of the group, Goodluck Ibem and Okey Nwosu, respectively, citing litany of reasons why they opposed Tinubu’s candidacy described as unfortunate the decision of some persons in Igboland to lend their support to the actualization of his ambition. This was widely condemned in many quarters as not only the highest exhibition of political intolerance and ethnic hatred but surely not the path to tread for the realization of the Igbo presidency as ardently and rightly desired by the South-East. Obviously realizing the wrong impression that this kind of stance would create of the Igbo, many individuals and groups from the region were quick to denounce and condemn the directive of the COSEYL.

    In a statement, the Ohanaeze Ndigbo Youth Council Worldwide (OYC) through its National President, Mazi Okwu Nnabuike, said “…we make bold to say that Tinubu’s promoters are free to campaign for him anywhere in Igboland. Similarly, other presidential candidates should also have a smooth sail in taking their campaign to every part of the country…We advise all interest groups in the South-East under whatever guise to exercise restraint and not take actions that would lead to regrets in the future.” This wisdom has obviously prevailed as Tinubu, in the course of his ongoing campaign, held a Town Hall meeting with leaders of the private sector and trade associations in Owerri, the Imo State capital on November 16 while also addressing his party’s presidential campaign rally in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State on November 23. Both events afforded the APC candidate the opportunity to share his vision and programme for the South-East with the electorate of the region.

    At the Owerri event, Tinubu referenced his psychological affinity with the acknowledged entrepreneurial spirit of the people of the South-East as the son of a trader and market leader. Of his mother, the late Alhaja Abibatu Mogaji, he said: “She gave me the grit and determination that has served me well in politics. More importantly, she taught me that patience, wisdom, tolerance and generosity are the hallmarks of a good leader, be they a market leader or as a candidate aspiring to the highest office in the land.”

    Articulating his plans for the region, he said: “My government shall build an economy with a growing industrial base, more and better jobs for our youth and more high-quality, home-grown goods to sell and merchandise. We shall establish industrial hubs throughout the nation and modernize existing ones. We will encourage and facilitate greater production in places like Owerri and Aba. At the same time, we shall broaden opportunities for you to engage in more international commerce by steering more activity towards ports outside of Lagos such as Onne. I envision the Owerri-Port Harcourt and Aba-Port Harcourt corridors becoming more active and lucrative trade and manufacturing corridors than they already are.” Stressing the importance his government would accord to making credit available to businesses, he said: “Working with the state governments, the CBN and the banking industry, we shall embark on a two-pronged credit revolution. First, on the sale and supply side, we shall seek to drive down interest rates on business loans, especially for investment in manufacturing as well as small and medium-sized enterprises.”

    He continued, “Second, we seek to make consumer loans more available. This will allow more people to afford and buy more high-quality goods from you. By empowering the consumer, we will increase economic activities and prosperity for the overall economy as well as for your individual businesses. We will put in place policies that will boost trade and commerce. We will solve the forex crisis and ensure that traders like you have easy access to a unified forex market.” While promising to make the Sam Mbakwe International Cargo Airport fully operational to facilitate large-scale movement of goods across the region as well as according priority to the completion of the Abakaliki-Benin section of the rail project to integrate the South-East into the national rail system, Tinubu said, “Our national infrastructure plan shall pay great attention to roadways eaten by erosion and flooding. We shall give traders the sound roads they deserve to move goods for the rest of the population.”

    At the Abakaliki rally, Tinubu, who had earlier commissioned some infrastructural projects executed by the governor David Umahi administration, reiterated his pledge to address issues hindering commerce and enterprise in the South-East. In his words, “I believe in the entrepreneurial spirit of the Igbo. I encouraged a lot of Igbo businesses and investments in Lagos and will even do more if I become President. If elected, there will be no discrimination. Igbo’s interests will be respected and protected. I will also encourage policies to support South-East states to reach their full potential.”

    A major highlight of Tinubu’s presentations in Imo and Ebonyi states was his promise to take steps to address the grievances of the Igbo in the Nigerian federation if elected President. In Abakaliki, he pledged to “engage the leaders of the South-East in a heart-to-heart discussion on all issues agitating their minds” while in Owerri he said, “For me, the unity of this nation is sacrosanct. However, I realize that many people have genuine and painful grievances in need of fair and durable resolution. My government will be comprised of people from every section of the country and ready to discuss legitimate grievances with those in search of a peaceful resolution”. The importance of this promise of inclusivity in the governance of the country as well as a readiness to address grievances that hinder national cohesion and stability cannot be overemphasized particularly in the South-East region where a pervasive feeling of alienation and marginalization in the Nigerian polity runs deep.

    As the history and international relations scholar at the Lagos State University (LASU), Dr. Dapo Thomas, argued in his recent theoretical explications on the Nigerian civil war, part of which we reflected on last week, although the Nigerian civil war of 1967-1970 was terminated over five decades ago, the conflict could not be said to have been brought to a definitive closure in any meaningful sense of the word. According to him, “Besides, the resurgence of insurgency in the South-East through the activities of the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra (MASSOB) and Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB) has also compelled a revisit of the Nigerian Civil War. Though the Federal troops won the war, the latest actions of these two movements have shown that the war was only terminated but never ended. A side surrendering when the war was on was only an indication of war termination, not an end to the conflict in question. The fact that the reasons for the Biafran war and the agitation of MASSOB and IPOB correlate lend credence to the undying spirit of the Biafran State. Ensconced in the euphoria of a victory over an adversary, the Federal Government abandoned the underlying issues of the war, believing that victory over Biafra signposted the death of the agitation.”

    Continuing on this note, Dr. Thomas avers that “Unfortunately for the federal government, more than five decades after the war was terminated, the Biafran ghost has risen again this time with more aggression and intensity. Two separatist organizations, MASSOB (founded in 1999) and IPOB (inaugurated in 2012) by Biafran elements to promote the Biafran struggle, should have sent a strong message to the federal government that it was a strategic blunder on its part not to have engaged the Igbo in a dialogue since the termination of the war…War termination entails the formal end of fighting, not necessarily the end of conflict.  A classic example that shows the difference between these two words is the Korean war of 1950. Fighting in the war was terminated in July 1953 without resolution of the underlying issues (until this day)”. However, the Igbo are not the only components of Nigeria who feel alienated and marginalized with the current structural configuration of the Nigerian polity.

    In a sense, the Boko Haram insurgency in the North-East, the protracted militancy and unremitting violence in the Niger-Delta that raged during the early years of this dispensation until the belligerent agitators were pacified to some extent, the menace of kidnapping, herdsmen-farmers clashes and sundry forms of terrorism in large swathes of the North-West and North-Central in particular and the clamour for an autonomous Yoruba nationhood in some quarters in the South-West, are all manifestations of dissatisfaction and disenchantment, directly or indirectly, with the failure of the Nigerian state to fulfil its responsibilities to promote the welfare and wellbeing of the vast majority of the Nigerian people.

    To some extent, Chief Obafemi Awolowo in a speech he delivered to the Nigerian Trade Union Congress in March 1970 agreed with Thomas’ distinction between war termination and definitive closure of the war by addressing its root causes. In Awo’s words, “That is to say that whilst reconciliation must, in the circumstances, necessarily begin with the removal of Ojukwu from the scene, it would be disastrous to think the work of reconciliation is ipso facto completed by the mere act of such removal. It must be realized that the causes of the last war are much deeper than Ojukwu’s reckless intransigence. It appears to me that they lie embedded in the nether realms of such degrading and depraving evils as unemployment; mass ignorance; endemic and debilitating diseases; low productivity; abuse and misuse of power; bribery and corruption; favouritism and nepotism; ethnocentricity and tribalism; ‘much poverty’ and ‘much discontent’”.

    These factors identified by Awo as being the root causes of the war are the characteristic features of underdevelopment. A fundamental question to ask as Nigerians ponder their choice of a successor to President Muhammadu Buhari is which candidate has the requisite competence and demonstrated track record of being able to effectively address and significantly resolve Nigeria’s multidimensional crises of underdevelopment that breed much of the discontent, violence and instability in the country today? Did Peter Obi demonstrate such a capacity in his largely lacklustre eight years as governor of Anambra State? It is difficult to answer the question in the affirmative. How about Atiku Abubakar as Vice-President of Nigeria particularly during the first four years of Obasanjo’s tenure when he was fully in charge of the economy? His record is not salutary.

    Tinubu’s supporters in the South-East believe that he has the capacity to tackle the fundamental challenges of under development which are at the root of Igbo disenchantment with the country. While hosting Tinubu, Governor David Umahi emphasized that the APC candidate believes in merit and competence and had demonstrated this in his past record of service as governor of Lagos State. In his words, “Asiwaju knows the road. We must follow him. He has shown that he loves and trusts Igbo and our people. He has been here since yesterday. He slept here in Abakaliki and ate our food. Only a man who loves you eats your food”. Major traditional rulers in Ebonyi State surely agreed with Umahi when they conferred the title of Dile Di Orama 1 of Ebonyi (the warrior the people like) on the APC candidate. In Imo State 2,000 businessmen donated the sum of N1 billion to the Tinubu campaign as a measure of their support. Surely, the unfolding politics of the South-East will be quite interesting and intriguing in the run up to the 2023 election.

  • Reconstitute Super Eagles

    Reconstitute Super Eagles

    Please forgive me, dear reader, if I’m sounding like an alarmist. I should raise the alarm since it has become apparent that those who administer the beautiful game in this country are deaf, dumb and have eyes that cannot see that the world has left us in the trenches. Soon, Nigeria’s green-white-green flag won’t be hoisted among the polity of nations at the four-yearly soccer carnival -the senior World Cup – the platform to celebrate excellence, not mediocrity which is what the Super Eagles represent today.

    A more responsive soccer federation would have reacted to the provocative de-marketing of the country’s football by Manchester United FC midfielder Bruno Fernandes with his very unkind words, though he spoke truth to how decadent the game is here. Fernandes pointed to the fact that Super Eagles weren’t competitive enough, clearly indicating the team’s technical crew’s inability to assemble good players in a country whose population is said to be over 200 million. In spite of this high figure, we still ‘steal’ into Europe to shop for talents whose ages can’t be contested to fill leaky positions in our national teams, including age-grade teams.

    No country’s football grows at the senior level. Growth in any soccer side starts from the nursery which is situated at the grassroots. Nigeria’s case can be found in the 774 Local Government Areas in the country, only with proper organisation. Sadly, all manner of people including the federation’s chieftains have corrupted the nurseries such that youth clubs now loan players to professional teams in the country. Youth clubs owned by top federation chiefs dominate the country’s age-grade squads with the squad’s coaches filling the few spaces left with their mercantile choices. Isn’t this the reason we don’t know how much the domestic leagues are worth in the country despite the star trek to Europe of our youth who strives to eke a living from playing the game?

    Back to the Portuguese friendly against the Super Eagles.  Fernandes in reacting to how poorly the Super Eagles played in a 4-0 loss to their World Cup-bound Portuguese counterparts in a friendly game played in Lisbon said: “Our match against Nigeria was not on the standard we wanted. Their level was not on a world-class required standard. So here in Qatar, we will face the World’s best. We wanted to play a tough national team, but all of them were already occupied. Nigeria was the only one available. They didn’t test us at all”.

    Fernandes threw into the lagoon the fact that Super Eagles were handled by another Portuguese with damning words virtually tasked the NFF to dispense with Jose Peseiro’s services for training the Nigerian side to be a team was at the world-class level the Portuguese expected since they would be playing only against world-class countries. Fernandes argued further that Portugal wanted to play against a tougher opponent and thought they had found one in the Super Eagles, regrettably so in hindsight.

    One only hopes that the NFF won’t be surprised if in the future they don’t find Grade A friendly games to play when they would have woken up from slumber since they have left Fernandes’ statement unchallenged. His disturbing quotes trended for over four days and one is almost sure that canvassers for friendly matches for the Eagles would be shown it repeatedly to underscore why a game against Nigeria won’t be worth their while.

    The Eagles were picking up in the second half with the introduction of Samuel Chukwueze culminating in the penalty kick. It is apparent that Peseiro isn’t the type of coach to take the Eagles to their Eldorado if he has spoken about the banishment of Emmanuel from the team for ignoring pleas to allow the team’s captain Troost Ekong to take the kick since he is the team’s first choice penalty taker. What happened on that was a big shame and showed exactly the kind of coach Peseiro is. Other coaches would have immediately substituted Emmanuel as the first step to his banishment from the team. Nigerians recall how Clemens Westerhof benched Samson Siasia for refusing to pass the ball to a freer Rashidi Yekeni, of blessed memory in an away game between Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria. Super Eagles lost the tie 2-1 but Siasia sweated before he could get his shirt back in the team. That Westerhof’s action served as a deterrent to anyone who sought to emulate him.

    In fact, the critical question to ask the NFF’s technical committee is how Emmanuel found himself in the team after the harrowing experience he put the country into by virtually doing nothing to plead with his now-relegated Watford FC officials to allow him to play for Nigeria, whose team had been weakened by injuries to key players. Granted the NFF didn’t send Emmanuel’s letter of invitation early to Watford’s management, but Emmanuel would have shown patriotism by talking to his coach about his release. Not a few Nigerians prayed for the team’s demotion, though Emmanuel has now jumped ship to join Nottingham Forest in the elite class.

    Emmanuel doesn’t look like a model player for the Super Eagles, going by the way he held on to the ball while VAR checks were being conducted was clear that he wanted to take the kick by fire and by force as they say in Nigeria. He is simply an unruly character.  Had Ekong converted the penalty kick, the outcome of the game would have been more respectful and saved Nigeria from Fernandes’ scathing remarks? I digress!

    Qualifying for the Mundial since Nigeria recorded her debut appearance in 1994 in the United States has been a battle with Clemens Westerhoff’s relationship with the departed Vice President Augustus Aikhomu being the saving grace. Westerhof had unlimited access to the President and was given whatever he needed to sustain his rebuilding processes. Super Eagles until Westerhof came had become super chickens with jesters having a small comedy where a little child preferred staying with the Super Eagles than his mother for the simple fact that they don’t beat anyone.

    Westerhof wasn’t a renowned coach but he knew what he wanted to achieve and went for it from his first assignment against Cameroon in 1989, dropping the big-headed boys. Nigeria lost 1-0, but the lessons learned were such that showed the calibre of players he invited to the team to fight for shirts. Westerhof took risks and wasn’t scared to field a rookie who had the attributes he needed to make the team members fight for their shirts.

    Westerhof was the boss. Players knew it and dared not challenge his authority no matter such a player’s pedigree in the squad. Westerhof lived and visited match venues unannounced. He spotted good players in the domestic league and ensured he took them to Europe to hone their skills. Little wonder George Finidi played for Calabar Rovers the previous week only to star for Ajax Amsterdam the following weekend. Friday Elaho, Benedict Iroha, and Uche Okechukwu cut their professional teeth playing for Brondby FC courtesy of Westerhof. What those exported to European leagues rub off on how the team played. Everyone saw a team unfolding and they were eager to see it blossom which is what we saw from 1990 to 1996, though Westerhof never returned with the team after the World Cup in 1994.

    Dream Team 1 which won the Atlanta’96 Olympic Games’ soccer gold medal had Westerhof’s signature written all over it. Our administrators who couldn’t stand Westerhof opted for Johannes Bonfrere who was a Lilliputian before Westerhof. Indeed, players who were in the 19996 team attested to Bonfrere’s tactical ineptitude insisting that in many matches leading to the gold medal conquest, they jettisoned the wiry Dutchman’s game plans.

    Westerhof’s era would forever be the reference point of our football because he didn’t leave anyone in doubt over who called the shots in the team and his set goals and objectives. He set a benchmark in picking players known to everyone which he stuck to. A player would be exceptional for him to appear from the blues to make Westerhof’s team.  Sunday Oliseh was one of such star boys the Dutchman celebrated with glee. The apogee of our football was under Westerhof. Let’s revisit his templates and implement them. Let’s reconstitute the Super Eagles now, lest we miss out on the next World Cup.

  • Binani and the spirit of Beijing

    Binani and the spirit of Beijing

    WOMEN in Adamawa State and beyond are celebrating the Appeal Court verdict that reinstated Senator Aishatu Dahiru Binani as governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 2023 general elections.

    The applause is largely from the ranks of women across party divides in the Northeastern state. Obviously, the female gender are solidarising with the embattled woman politician in the spirit of the Beijing Conference.

    Several women groups have come out to applaud the verdict and called on Binani’s opponents to respect womanhood by throwing in the towel. Human rights group under the aegis of the Adamawa State Chapter of Women in Politics, (WIP) had earlier lamented the continued marginalisation and discouragement of women’s participation in politics in the country, following the October 14th judgment of the Federal High Court sitting in Yola, which nullified Binani’s candidacy. The women expressed their displeasure at a rally held in Yola the state capital.

    But they are now rejoicing after the court reinstated her as APC candidate. The judgement was delivered by a three-man panel of justices, namely Tani Yusuf Hassan, M.O. Bolaji and James Abodego. It ordered that Binani’s name be submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) immediately.

    Minister of Women Affairs, Pauline Tallen, has applauded the ruling.  She said women would lead Binani’s electioneering campaign through the length and breadth of Adamawa State. “I knew that we will make it. Today is a day that we are going to celebrate. From here we are moving to the house. We will move to the streets and watch what will happen in Adamawa. We will lead the campaign, Adamawa women already are fully mobilised, they have said that if she’s not given her mandate, they will not come out to contest or vote in any election,” she said.

    The decision of a governorship aspirant, Nuhu Ribadu, to approach the lower court to seek the nullification of Binani’s candidacy over alleged irregularities, had angered many women organisations.

    Ms. Comfort Ezra, a leader of the WIP in Adamawa, noted that according to the INEC, women and youths accounted for over 75% of the registered voters, but lamented that despite the figure women are still being sidelined and discouraged from aspiring for key political leadership positions.

    She said women appreciate the wisdom of the justices for upholding issues raised by appellant in the earlier judgement by the High Court. Of course, her anger and that of numerous other women, against the judiciary, appear to have fizzled out as they celebrate the victory of one of their own.

  • Can G5 swing votes?

    Can G5 swing votes?

    THE cracks on the wall of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have widened. Things appear to have fallen apart. Can the centre still hold?

     

    What reconciliation can take place in the PDP to pacify the five aggrieved governors and unite them with the camp of the party’s presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, before the general election?

    Time is running out. Less than three months to the poll, the main opposition is in disarray. Every now and then, it wakes up to find more troubles at its doorsteps.

    On May 28, Atiku got PDP’s nomination ticket at the national convention in Abuja. Six months after, the post-primary crisis has continued to stare the party in the face.

    The lesson is instructive: it is dangerous to underrate anybody in politics or dismiss a camp as inconsequential, based on imaginary hierarchical mentality.

    Governors Nyesom Wike (Rivers), Seyi Makinde (Oyo), Sam Ortom (Benue), Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) and Okezie Ikpeazu (Abia) are consistently up in arms, not against their party per see, but against three dominant party leaders – Atiku; PDP National Chairman Iyorchia Ayu and Sokoto State Governor Aminu Tambuwal, who is the Director-General of THE campaign.

    They are not alone. With them are former Governors Ayodele Fayose (Ekiti) and Olusegun Mimiko (Ondo); PDP Deputy Chairman (South) Taofeek Arapaja, Chief Bode George, and many chieftains from the North and South.

    Bauchi State Governor Bala Mohammed seems to be gravitating towards the G5, judging by his recent accusations against Atiku.

    Evidently, the governors are largely in control of their state chapters. They are working hard, trying to make a statement: Atiku should not have contested at all.

    The trio of Atiku, Ayu and Tambuwal are from the North. Therefore, it is the bone of contention. The question on the lips of Wike and his colleagues is: where is the place of the South in the PDP? To them, equity, fairness and justice have taken a flight from the party.

    More importantly, the governors have an axe to grind with their Sokoto State colleague and co-traveller, right from 2014. Indeed, Wike had supported Tambuwal for his presidential ambition then. But four years later, he failed to reciprocate the gesture. Apart from throwing his hat into the ring, Tambuwal later opted out, due to an inexplicable regional pressure, and stepped down for the former vice president.

    To Wike and his camp, the move smacked of betrayal. A day after the presidential shadow poll, Tambuwal was applauded for deserting his friends as Ayu proclaimed him the hero of the convention. After his sudden withdrawal from the contest, his votes went to Wazirin Adamawa.

    Trust and mutual confidence were dismantled. Rebuilding trust is a herculean task.

    The grouse of G5 against Ayu is clear. The national chairman was assisted by all the governors, coordinated by Wike, to assume party control. Atiku was comfortable with their disposition to Ayu because he is a long-standing ally. Both are founding fathers of the party when Wike, Makinde, Ugwuanyi, Fayose, and Ikpeazu were still “boys”.

    But Ayu made a promise. He had acted before thinking about the implication of his action. He promised to step down, or yield his position as national chairman to a chieftain from the South, if Atiku eventually became the party’s presidential candidate.

    Atiku won the contest, but Ayu is reluctant to vacate his position. The goalpost is being shifted during the match. To Atiku, the chairmanship slot cannot come to the South, as, according to him, it is against the PDP constitution. If the constitution is to be followed, the Deputy Chairman (North) is the right man to succeed him. Wike and his group cried foul against the current party hierarchy.

    They, therefore, remembered that they have an unfinished business on their hand. Should power be retained in the North? they queried. In their view, the PDP, like the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), ought to have zoned its presidential ticket to the South in the first place. The reason is that in a diverse country like Nigeria, it would be odd for another northerner to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari, who is completing his two terms of eight years on May 29, next year.

    Wike has accused Ayu of being reluctant to keep his promise to resign because he wanted to preside over a party with a fat purse. Elsewhere, the Rivers State governor said he visualised a rich chairman building institutions. Ayu has simply ignored the tirade.

    The takeaway from the party’s feud is underscored by the fact that the PDP leadership is handicapped and can neither suspend nor expel the “rebellious” governors, members of the Integrity Group.

    If the energy and resources being deployed into the battle against Atiku and Ayu have been deployed into the PDP presidential campaigns, would it not have put the party on the path of victory? Can the G5 spring a surprise? Can Atiku win without them?

    Wike:

    The arrowhead of the battle is Wike. Ever combative, the Rivers governor has not fully recovered from his defeat at the primary.

    Shortly after the exercise, Atiku had approached him. It was said that the running mate was offered to him. But it slipped off and landed on the palm of his Delta State counterpart, Ifeanyi Okowa.

    Wike does not believe that he is fighting a personal retaliatory battle. He believes he is fighting for the South, and for equity and justice.

    At the home front, the Rivers governor is hugely popular. He is rated as a performer, a fact recently acknowledged by President Buhari, who gave him a national award for infrastructural development.

    Also, Wike has a solid structure. Although Atiku has reached out to some chieftains from Rivers at the back to pull the rug off his feet, it has been futile. The pro-Atiku former Transportation Minister Abiye Sekibo, and former House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Austin Opara cannot match Wike in political mobilisation and organisation. The governor wields the power of incumbency.

    Besides, like his predecessors – Peter Odili and Rotimi Amaechi – Wike has a deep purse. He has access to huge resources to fight a war.

    Ortom:

    Before the presidential primary, Ortom and Atiku seemed to have parted ways. He had criticised the ethnic nationality of the President for being behind the herder/farmer clashes and several killings in his state. Atiku is from the same ethnic group as the President. Therefore, he had transferred the aggression to the former vice president. To Atiku’s supporters, Ortom is whipping up sentiments.

    Wike has been a supporter of the Benue governor, unlike Atiku, who he had criticised for abandoning him when Benue was in turmoil. It is debatable.

    Ortom had supported the rotation of the presidential slot to the South. That was in virulent conflict with Atiku’s interest. Group pressure may have largely been responsible for his membership of G5, which has consistently demanded the resignation of Ayu, his Benue kinsman.

    Unfortunately, Ayu has turned the heat on Ortom, a veteran of some political battles who fears nobody. He has despised Ayu by naming the road leading to his house in Makurdi after Wike.

    Ayu has tried to mobilise ethnic kinsmen against the governor, threatening that he has the power to deny him his senatorial bid. The governor is unperturbed. He said the threat will not make him jettison his conviction. However, there is no evidence to show that other Benue chieftains – former Senate President David Mark, former Interior Minister Abba Moro and former Governor Gabriel Suswam – will desert Atiku during the poll.

    Ikpeazu:

    Abia, like Rivers, Enugu, Benue and Oyo, are PDP states. That Ikpeazu is in charge of the party structure is not in doubt, judging by the way he ensured the victory of his anointed governorship candidate at the primary. But, can Ikpeazu steer party members away from Atiku, or Peter Obi, whose supporters are campaigning on the platform of ethnicity?

    Ugwuanyi:

    He looks gentle like a dove. But beyond that mien is a heart of steel. He is not a talker like Wike, but he is equally resolute in demanding for Ayu’s resignation and choice of a new party chairman from the South.

    Also, in Enugu State, former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani appears not to be working for Obi. Fanatical supporters of Atiku in the state are wary. They do not want to incur the wrath of the governor. Senator Ike Ekweremadu, who would have rallied support for the PDP presidential candidate, is also not at home. He is battling with organ harvesting charges in the United Kingdom (UK).

    Makinde:

    Makinde, an engineer and the lone PDP governor in the Southwest, has never minced words. He is an advocate of zoning to the South. He had become governor in 2019, following the division in Oyo PDP. Since then, he has strengthened his structure and projected himself as a performer, judging by his infrastructural battles in the state. His position on the PDP crises may make it increasingly difficult for Atiku to make an inroad into Oyo.

    But sources have said Oyo PDP is divided on his anti-Atiku stance. If Makinde, who is also seeking a second term, does not work for Atiku, can he prevail on other loyal party chieftains to abandon the PDP candidate? Only time will tell.

  • Nexus between weak legislature and dysfunctional democracy

    Nexus between weak legislature and dysfunctional democracy

    GOVERNMENTS exist to carter to the welfare and security of citizens. Any government that fails in these two cardinal issues can be said to have failed. Democracy seems to be the most admired system of government because it is a government of the people by the people and for the people. The power resides with the people in democracies.  The people are empowered in democracies to use their power at the polls to choose those who can lead them and ensure that the duties of governments are fulfilled.

    The political philosophers who fashioned democracy as a political model built it on a tripod; executive, legislature and the judiciary.  This is based on the principle of separation of powers because as someone like Baron De Montesquieu believed,  “the separation of powers among the different organs of the government is the best safeguard against tyranny”. He went further to beseech that, “each power must be exercised by a separate organ and a system of checks and balances should thus be established for solidarity and harmony of the state”.

    In essence, the functionality of any democracy is dependent on how well each arm of government effectively carries out its functions. It might not necessarily be a perfect situation but the margin of error must be insignificant not to disrupt the system considerably.  It is therefore, the ability of each democracy to fully identify and implement the different roles of the arms of government  that makes for development.

    Recently, the United States had its mid-term elections and it was a battle for the control of the Senate and the House of Representatives and luckily for the Democrats, the exit polls ended up not playing out as predicted. The Republicans won the House with a very slight majority while the Senate remained under the control of the Democrats.  Prior to the elections, both Republican and Democratic strategists were working to have real advantages. Presidents Biden and Obama were on the roads especially in the swing states and they somehow succeeded in winning a few more seats than projected. President Trump was not  lucky as most of those he clearly supported lost the elections. Most candidates put in the efforts even if top members of their parties were out there campaigning for or with them. The results of the elections were clearly the voters voting based on the political ideology they feel would better serve them.

    Conversely though, the Nigerian electoral processes cannot be said to be structured in ways that the people and their choices matter during elections. The executive arm of government in the Nigerian democracy seems to be nearer imperial than democratic.  Since the return of democracy in1999, the executive at both state and federal levels have wielded enormous powers that have often disrupted democratic processes. The office of the President and state governors are too powerful and the occupants over the years seem to have acted as monarchs.

    The result, the executive often go beyond their constitutional powers to disrupt electoral processes. Most times presidents and governors determine who succeeds them and as such they unduly influence political party congresses and primaries often leading to flawed elections that in turn lead to series of litigations some of which last for years or months. What this flawed process does is to rob the people of their voices as those who ought to choose their leaders at all levels.

    In essence therefore, Nigeria seems to be practicing a corrupted form of democracy and the Roundtable Conversation believes that it is better for the country to re-evaluate the present system and restructure the whole process for better functionality. As it stands, for the Nigerian Bureau of statistics to publish the report that about 133m Nigerians are poor and for that to be traced to bad governance means that we must take stock and do the right things one of which is re-evaluating the whole electoral processes in ways that candidates for each elective position earn the votes of the people and does not stand under the shadow of any other and stands to be held accountable.

    As the campaign for the 2023 elections go on around the country, it does seem that the whole focus is on the Presidency and the candidates for the legislature at all levels seem to be hiding and not marketing themselves independently enough for the voters to make informed choices. For a country with this level of poverty traceable to bad governance, it means that many elected people are not doing their jobs. Today, very few governors are in their states doing state duties, most are wasting time, money and energy gallivanting around politicking for their individual interests not necessarily for the people.

    The legislative arm of government is a very important arm of the tripod. However, not many of those who have been there over the years even understand their roles. Some leadership failure of the executive as seen across the country is traceable to legislative inertia. The legislative arm has such important duties as; passing laws, oversight functions on the executive, confirming executive appointments, impeaching and removing from office dysfunctional members of the executive and catering to the needs of the constituents that elect them.

    The failure to do their duties might have contributed to the failure of leadership that has pushed the country to the poverty capital of the world despite huge human and natural resources. There must be a total restructuring of the present system that tend to leave elected people especially the legislatures from being held accountable. It is not enough to blame the president and in a country with a considerable number of illiterates and the poor, it is wrong for the legislators to hide behind one finger and push all the blame to the president.

    The Roundtable Conversation spoke with Anthony Kila, a Jean Monnet Professor of Strategy and Development and the Center Director,  Center for International Advanced and Professional Studies (CIAPS). We asked him his opinion on the lack of a vibrant individual-focused campaign by candidates for the legislature across the country. He believes that there is a seeming disconnect in the people about what a functional democracy is. They often erroneously believe that the Presidency and the governors are all there are to democratic structures and so there is undue attention on those executive positions to the detriment of the legislative positions.

    To him, the Nigerian democracy seems  too centralized  and that points mainly to the presidency at the national level and governors at the state levels. So in some way, all other elective positions look up to these two. Again the media can share a bit of the blame too as they focus largely on the two executive positions and sadly the states and local governments do not have sufficient local media to focus on those regional or state positions which in any case is localized.

    Asked for solutions, Prof. Kila believes people who are able can help by focusing and reporting on activities at those levels and increasing advocacy in ways that enough awareness is created. He also believes those who are running for such legislative positions should step up and stop seeing themselves as mere appendages of the central positions. He believes that the Parliamentary system is admirable but Nigeria seems to be running the negative aspect of the presidential system. The parliamentary system compels parliamentarians  to focus on their constituencies and vice versa.

    Again, Prof. Kila sees the fact that the Presidential and National Assembly elections take place same day just like the governorship and State Assembly elections  as an enabler of the present situation. The legislative candidates seem to always hide under the presidential candidates and state governorship candidates and never vigorously campaign on their own merit. He believes that most states have their local media that can draw attention to the issues under discourse but somehow attention and the functionality of those media companies is never central as things that matter.

    Nigeria must jettison the unitary system and restructure to run a truly federal system that will be more democratically functional. He believes that there isn’t enough checks and balances that can make the executive function optimally. At the moment they seem to act like emperors. What can be done in the short term before any restructuring can effectively happen is for people to develop deeper interest in their state and local governments instead of looking up to the center for everything.

    There must be better advocacy for people to understand the duties of the different arms of government so that they know who to hold accountable. It is wrong for the people to expect for instance a state house of assembly member to provide major infrastructure when his only duty is to appropriate budget for and carry out oversight function while lobbying for their constituents to get amenities needed for a better more productive life.

    There needs to be a restructuring not just in government but also the  mindset of the people. In education for example which is a vital aspect of development, people do not often realize that primary, secondary and tertiary education are constitutionally handled by different tiers of government. Everything is not about the federal government, the local, state and federal governments have obligations to the people in a democracy.

    The Roundtable believes that in future Electoral Acts amendments, the present electoral timetable must give way to a system that makes each candidate win or lose on his or her merit. The present system seems a calculated attempt by those who initiated the plan to run away from electoral accountability.  May be it is time to introduce Mid-term elections as a way of sanitizing the system and holding candidates accountable.

     

    The dialogue continues…

  • World Cup: Messi’s or Neymar’s show?

    World Cup: Messi’s or Neymar’s show?

    The die is cast. The best of world football would take the centre stage in Qatar with 32 nations fighting for the ultimate prize in the World Cup on December 18. Pundits across the globe are at their wits’ best predicting the results of matches with many of the punters desirous of predicting correctly the eventual winner of the Qatar 2022 World Cup held in the winter in the competition’s 92 years of history. The World Cup began in 1930 with this year’s edition slated to end on Sunday, December 18 at the majestic Lusail Iconic Stadium at 3 pm. The Lusail Iconic stadium can hold a whopping 80,000 fans and is situated 10 miles outside of the Doha city centre.

    Messi’s World Cup campaign with back-to-back appearances in 2006 and 2010. Would Neymar or/and Messi depart Qatar with a knockout punch? Argentina has won the trophy twice, the first victory in 1978 and the second in Mexico in 1986, with  Diego Maradona being the tormentor in chief. Brazil has won the World Cup five times, but it is the feats of Arantes de Nascimento King Pele that raised the biggest poser over who among Pele, Maradona and Messi are the greatest?

    It is easy for the older generation of pundits to pick Pele ahead of Maradona and Messi for those who saw him play at that level. Others, that is the younger generation would easily pick Maradona based on his feats with Argentina and with his Italia Serie A side Napoli which are either watched on television or watched live. However, admirers of the equally talented Messi are short for words in comparing him with either Pele or the late Maradona because he hasn’t won the World Cup with Argentina.

    Messi is reported to be cautious as he prepares to lead Argentina at the World Cup, seeking to crown a glorious career by lifting the trophy in Qatar. The South American side has won the trophy twice — in 1978 and 1986 — with Messi a defeated finalist in 2014.

    “We are very excited,” Messi said in an interview with Conmebol, the South American football federation.

    “We have a very nice group that is very eager, but we think about going little by little. We know that World Cup groups are not easy.

    It is this missing jigsaw in his soccer career that would be Messi’s focus when the matches of the Qatar 2022 World Cup begin with Qatar versus Ecuador.  Ecuador has been absent from a World Cup since 2014, when the country was eliminated at the group stage. A total of 32 teams, initially split into eight groups of four, will compete for the prestigious trophy in the last tournament of this format, with 48 nations set to qualify for the 2026 edition, set to be staged in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

    Would this World Cup in Qatar be Messi’s last? Perish that thought. After all the 35-year-old soccer icon reneged on his celebrated retirement from international football in 2016, with words rife that Argentina’s manager was ready to beg Messi not to hang his boots. Lionel Scalaoni wants the soccer star to play at the next World Cup in the USA when he would be 39. Modern-day footballers take far better care of their health and fitness. It won’t come as surprise if Messi is still playing for Argentina four years from now.

    Read Also; Qatar bans sale of alcohol at World Cup stadia

    “After playing in a World Cup, everyone makes assessments. I’m not in the heads of the players to know what they’re thinking,” continued Scaloni. “In any case, you have to enjoy it. You don’t have to think about the future, enjoy their spectacular present. It’s the rule of life and at some point, it will happen. It’s useless to think about what will happen after the World Cup.”

    These are indeed interesting times, dear Scaloni. One thing is sure, Messi would quit the game when the ovation is loudest this year, if Argentina lifts the World Cup on December 18 inside the Lusail Iconic Stadium at 3 pm, like many a football fan would wish. La Selección on Wednesday night in an international friendly game extended their unbeaten run to 36 games after a 5-0 win against UAE with Di Maria scoring a brace. What it simply means is that the Argentines are ready for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.

    The Mundial in Qatar would be Messi’s fifth while for Neymar, the immensely talented and showboating Brazilian, Qatar 2022 World Cup is his third, making this year’s edition one which not a few pundits would be praying for a South American final game between Brazil and Argentina. This writer would have loved France to play either Argentina or Brazil, had the French been in Qatar with their two midfielders Ngolo Kante and Paul Pogba, who are both injured and out of the World Cup permutations for 2022. France also has the personnel to retain the World Cup in Qatar to equal Brazil who retained the World Cup in 1962. Since then no World Cup champion has retained the trophy since it happened in 1962.

    On the current form of both countries’ players, a final game between Brazil and Argentina would be a box office game for world football. Don’t forget that Brazil is currently the world’s No. 1 soccer although they suffered a 7-1 semi-finals drubbing in 2014, losing to eventual winners Germany.

    However, football is a ruthless game. It is a level. One game filled with surprises for countries parading players with bloated egos. Neymar has scored 75 goals for Brazil in 121 caps and is just two goals away from Pele’s record 77 goals. The PSG star hopes to score the desired goals and even more at the Qatar 2022 World Cup which begins today with the opening game between Qatar and Ecuador.

    Eder Militao, Vinicious Jr and Rodrygo who are Real Madrid players would give Neymar the fillip he needs to be as creative as he chooses to be. But Neymar’s temperament could be his undoing if left unchecked by Coach Tite.

    But Messi isn’t looking at just making Argentina the World Cup champions on December 18. In an interview with CONMEBOL, Messi said: ”The candidates are always the same. There are a few surprises but in general, the big teams are the candidates. Above the rest? Brazil, France, England. Today, they are a little above the rest but anything can happen.”

    This writer would want Belgium among the likely winners, except that the Belgian manager Martinez doesn’t have what it takes to deliver the expertise needed for the big moments in the course of critical games. Outside bet winners include Spain, Holland and possibly Portugal whose biggest star Ronaldo is enmeshed in a big squabble with his current European club Manchester United’s manager.

    African countries Ghana, Senegal, Tunisia, Cameroon and Morocco are expected to be also-ran teams at the Mundial, except for the game between Ghana and Uruguay which is a rematch of a quarter-final tie at the South Africa 2010  World Cup, where Luis Suarez held a goal-bound shot which would have earned Ghana her first semi-final ticket in the 92 years old competition. It would also have been Africa’s berth in the semi-finals. The resultant penalty kick was shot over the bar by Asamoah Gyan to the consternation of fans in the capacity-filled stadium.

    As for Senegal, the absence of Bayern Munich star Sadio Mane, the team’s captain and talisman due to a corrective surgery on his foot on Thursday in Germany would affect how the Teranga Lions would play. Otherwise, the world was waiting in bated breath to see how the country which shocked the world with a quarter-final ticket at her debut appearance during the Japan/Korea World Cup in 2002 would perform in the competition. Senegal is Africa’s number one country in FIFA’s monthly ranking.

  • Dapo Thomas, the civil war and Nigeria’s perceived Igbo problem

    Dapo Thomas, the civil war and Nigeria’s perceived Igbo problem

    Is there an ‘Igbo problem’ that has persisted and increasingly grown more complex, compounded and nation-threatening in post-colonial Nigeria? In chapter 9 of his slim classic, ‘The Trouble with Nigeria’, titled ‘The Igbo Problem’, the late Professor Chinua Achebe dilated on this issue. According to him, “Nigerians of all other ethnic groups will probably achieve consensus on no other matter than their common resentment of the Igbo…Modern Nigerian history has been marked by sporadic eruptions of anti-Igbo feeling of serious import; but it was not until 1966-7 when it swept through Northern Nigeria like a ‘flood of hate’ that the Igbo first questioned the concept of Nigeria which they had embraced with much greater fervor than the Yoruba or Hausa/Fulani.” Vigorously debunking what their critics perceive as the ‘clannishness, aggressiveness or arrogance’ of the Igbo, Achebe contended that the open, relatively democratic and merit-oriented character of Igbo society as well as the adventurous, industrious and competitive spirit of the Igbo tends towards a level of success and achievement on their part that makes them the envy of others especially in other parts of the country where their itinerant disposition has led them.

    Five decades after the tragic Nigerian civil war, a conflict in which an estimated 2 to 3 million lives were lost, the grievances that triggered that avoidable conflagration remains well and alive and the South-East remains one of the most aggrieved and thus unstable and volatile parts of the country. This is obviously why Dr. Dapo Thomas of the Department of History and International Studies, Lagos State University (LASU), casts an analytical searchlight on the war in the research essay titled ‘The Nigerian Civil War (1967-1970): New Theories, Old Problem, Fresh Crisis’ published in volume 10, Number 3, May-June, 2022, edition of the peer-reviewed journal, ‘International Relations and Diplomacy’ issued in the United States.

    Although scores of largely descriptive works have been published on the war, many of them by combatant participants in the conflict, Dr. Thomas seeks to bring conceptual and theoretical clarity to bear on the tragedy arguing that “some of the underlying issues that precipitated the war still exist and need to be de-established in order to attenuate their resurgent capability. The article makes a case for constructive and functional integration of the multiple nationalities that make up the Nigerian state as a way of preserving the corporate existence of the country. It also submits that perceived injustice is not just injurious to a system; it is capable of causing a dysfunction within the state because of its inflammatory war potential”.

    Dr. Thomas dwells at length on various theories that seek to explicate the triggers of civil war onset in diverse empirical settings obviously in the belief that clarity at the theoretical level will facilitate learning of the appropriate lessons therefrom as well as empower society to more effectively deal with the onset of fresh crises and nip them in the bud before they implode uncontrollably as in the case of the Nigerian civil war. According to him, “Most writers of the Nigerian civil war refrained from the theoretical underpinning that could help illuminate the discourse on the war. The theoretical shyness is responsible for the visible incoherence in the arguments, analyses and logical processing in most of the literature…For instance, most of the books focused their attention on the causes of the war without emphasizing the theoretical signification of the war. No doubt, lack of theoretical understanding was one of the reasons why we have a resurgence of insurgency in the South-East as efforts and energy were channeled towards the history of the war rather than the conceptual fundamentals of the war”. This writer does not subscribe to the ethno-regional causal interpretation of crises and instability in Nigeria. There is no such thing as an Igbo problem in Nigeria just as it is shallow and diversionary to talk of a Yoruba, Hausa-Fulani, Kanuri or Ijaw problem for instance. Nigeria’s fundamental problem is not one of ethnicity or regionalism but that of an essentially corrupt, exploitative, inept and visionless governing class which is pan-Nigerian in composition and character. No faction of the ruling class can be exempted from responsibility for the protracted crises of poverty and underdevelopment in post-colonial Nigeria. The Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa-Fulani and other ethnic fractions of the political class across civilian and military regimes and transcending partisan political divides have been responsible for the massive looting of the treasury and poor governance that has led to the trapping of the country’s abundant but latent potentials and the consequent continued ‘immiseration’ of the vast majority of the people.

    The collapse of the first republic in January 1966 was a function, largely, of the vicious and unstructured competition for power among the contending factions of the political class as represented in the dominant political parties of the period – Northern People’s Congress (NPC), National Congress of Nigerian Citizens (NCNC) and Action Group (AG) – as well as the smaller parties such as the Northern Elements Progressive Union (NEPU) and the United Middle Belt Congress (UMBC) which went into alliances with one or the other of the major parties. In the unbridled and unrestrained competition for power among the elite and their parties largely for the purpose of venal material accumulation, democratic structures and processes were eroded and abridged while both structural and physical violence were deployed on a scale that made it virtually inevitable for the professional experts in the mechanics and instruments of violence, the military, to forcefully step in to displace the politicians and project themselves as the new political Messiahs.

    Unfortunately, the ethno-regionally skewed nature of the killings of civilian and military leaders in the process of executing the coup suggested that its masterminds were not themselves immune from some of the vices they accused the politicians of. No matter what, it is unfortunate and remains a monumental act of injustice that a humongous number of innocent Igbos who had nothing to do with the coup perished while millions were forced to flee in the pogrom in the North attendant on the counter coup of July 1966. This remains a sore point in our history which must be addressed as part of the basis for continued national cohesion.

    Although he describes the use of the Marxist social conflict theory to interpret the Nigerian civil war as anachronistic as it has been overtaken by more contemporary explanatory schemas, Thomas nevertheless offers a brilliant depiction of the radical perspective which, in my view, continues to be relevant to the understanding of conflict, alienation and instability in contemporary Nigeria. In his words, “Social conflict theorists believe that tensions provoked by economic and social misplacements are largely responsible for disagreements and conflicts…Material insufficiency engenders bitter struggle for control not only of the insufficient resources but of the power to allocate the resources or to appropriate the resources. Constrained and restricted by knowledge deficit, the dregs of society have resorted to violent conducts to redress prevalent social inequalities and rampant oppression by the political class”. It was as a result of his understanding of the economic and class basis of the country’s socio-political crises that Chief Obafemi Awolowo warned in a lecture in Akure in January 1980 that “The rich and highly placed in business, public life and government are running a dreadful risk in their callous neglect of the poor and downtrodden”.

    It is remarkable that less than a decade after the civil war, in 1979, an Igbo man, the cerebral Dr. Alex Ekwueme, had become the elected Vice President of Nigeria on the platform of the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN). But for the military intervention of 1983 that disrupted the country’s democratic evolution, is it not most likely that an Igbo man would have inevitably become President at some point in the unfolding dynamics of the political process? But that is what historians would refer to as a counter-factual question which may not be of much use now. Unfortunately, the leaders and principal actors in the post-1983 military regimes – Muhammadu Buhari, Tunde Idiagbon, Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha – were combatants in the Nigerian civil war and their psychological disposition to the National Question was that “the unity of Nigeria is non-negotiable”. This also is the obvious worldview of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration even when the context in which the supposed non-negotiability of Nigeria’s unity was tenable has altered fundamentally.

    As Dr. Thomas puts it, “The war of 1967-1970 was fought under a military administration at a time when there was no proliferation of small and light arms. The situation has changed now; what we have today is a situation where small and light arms are being smuggled into the country by faceless merchants whose economic interest can only flourish when there is national instability. This time around, it is the politicians that are in power. I do not want to imagine the catastrophe that we are likely to witness should there be an outbreak or escalation of hostilities? Must we then allow another outbreak of war and lose millions of lives, disrupt social and economic activities, displace innocent citizens and destabilize a system that is just being nurtured before we act on the wish of the Igbo?”

    It is of course beyond dispute that as a major ethnic group in the country, an Igbo presidency is a necessary condition for the closure of the psychological wounds of the civil war and the stability, peace and cohesion of Nigeria. But in the context of liberal democracy in a complex, plural polity like ours this objective cannot be achieved by the kind of social media terrorism, bullying and intolerance persistently exhibited by fervent members of the ‘ObiDient’ movement even when the Labour Party (LP) candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, has repeatedly claimed that he is a national and not a sectional candidate. The question of the strategy and tactics for the realization of Igbo presidency was brilliantly addressed by Governor Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State in his recent explosive public treatise on the issue. The late Ikemba Odumegwu Ojukwu had founded the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) for that purpose and handed over the party to Obi to nurture and build. The latter inexplicably abandoned APGA to join the PDP at the expiration of his eight-year tenure as governor of Anambra State in 2014, was its Vice presidential candidate in 2019 and only left the party this year for the LP when it became obvious he was unlikely to emerge either as Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate of the PDP.

    Soludo argues that it is wiser and more practicable to build APGA into a formidable political structure to negotiate and bargain with other blocs and major parties to promote the interest of the South-East in the Nigerian federation including the vexed issue of Igbo presidency. It is difficult to disagree with him. Even then, it does not require a President of Igbo extraction to decisively address the questions of justice and equity as it concerns the Igbo in Nigeria. For instance, there is no reason why expeditious action cannot be taken to create an additional state in the South-East to bring the nation to par with other major ethnic groups in this regard. As Soludo argued, the post-Buhari administration must pursue the equivalent of a Marshall Plan for the South-East in fulfillment of the reconstruction pledge of the Federal Government to the region in the aftermath of the civil war. Indeed, is there any reason why we cannot have an annual National Biafra Day to allow for unceasing reflection on the lessons of the civil war and ways of ensuring our continuous march to ‘a more perfect union’ as the American founding fathers so delicately and aptly phrased it?