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  • A Medley of Dr Tunde Olusunle’s Poetic Echoes (1)

    A Medley of Dr Tunde Olusunle’s Poetic Echoes (1)

    It is certainly not for nothing that that veritable master of the written word, the eminent monarch of the imaginative universe, Professor Femi Osofisan, agreed to lend his illustrious imprimatur to this new collection of poems by the journalist, essayist, scholar, poet and politician, Dr. Tunde Olusunle, by penning its most pungent and incisive foreword. In the words of Professor Osofisan, “These new poems reveal a voice that has matured over the years, grown wiser if somewhat more somber now, chastened by experience and adult disillusionment. The long silence of course must have been difficult for the poet, although serving in a political post, it was inevitable. But it seems to have served as a period of useful incubation, and it is a relief that Olusunle has reconnected with his muse again, and recovered his voice”. Continuing, Professor Osofisan writes, “Certainly it is a return worth celebrating. The poet has attained a firmer control of lexicon and syntax, of pulse and kinetics, tension and concatenation – all these nuances of verbal logistics that make for fluid syncopation and melodic ease”.

    This collection which runs into 78 pages is divided into four sections, namely, ‘Wandering Echoes’, ‘Sombre Echoes’, ‘Angry Echoes’ and’ Earthy Echoes’. The first section is the longest and has 16 poems. It shows the poet as a widely travelled cosmopolitan citizen of the world with a keen eye for observation and an uncommon sensitivity to the sounds, scents, smells, history and occurrences of any environment in which he finds himself both within and outside the country. The descriptive vividness of this section can, of course, not be surprising to those who are familiar with the poet’s career as one of the most perceptive, observant and imaginative feature writers of his generation during his period of journalistic practice. On his several trips across the country on various assignments for the defunct Daily Times newspaper, the author wrote vivid feature articles on the various towns and cities he visited painting vivid portraits of the geographical outlay and social life of such places as Kaduna, Kano, Ibadan, Ilorin, Jos, Enugu, Owerri, Markurdi among several others.

    In the most interesting first section where he reports poetically on various historic places both within and beyond Nigeria that he has visited, Olusunle comes across as a meticulous chronicler of the lives, strengths and foibles of diverse peoples across time and space. Writing on Istanbul, Turkey, for instance, the poet rhapsodizes: “Istanbul:/Your stone-locked streets/Ascending, then descending/Rising, then sloping/Narrow, narrower still/Than London streets./Where hotels and taverns/Microtels and motels/Adorn the cityscape/Embracing the world, all the world/In one oriental honeypot”. Continuing with his graphic lyrical portrait of the ancient city, the poet continues “Istanbul:/Intriguing mosaic/Of a million Mehmettan relics/Splashed, splattered/Across the medieval cityscape:/Churches and chapels/Museums and mausoleums/Mosques and minarets, palaces, parks/Voyeurs and locals/Savour the evening wind/In sky top clubs and wooden cafes”.

    No less fascinating is Dr. Olusunle’s poetic depiction of the city of Chicago. Here, he invites the reader to: “O, come with me/To Mag Mile/Jaw-dropping continuum/Prodigious panoply/Of glittering steel/And shimmering glass/Rock-hard concrete/And the snaking run/Of Chicago River”. Capturing with photographic accuracy the competing gigantic and iconic structures that define the city’s landscape, the poet calls on the reader: “O, witness this eyeful duel/Of skyscraping gladiators/ Where century-high Willis Heights/Casts an imperious stare/Down the metallic visage/Of the gleaming Trump Towers/Aon Centre and John Hancock’s/Twin bemused contenders in the steeple/To graze the calm-faced skies”.

    There is a hint of sadness and pain in the poet’s offering on Tinapa, in Cross River State. Here the governor of the state between 1999 and 2007, Mr. Donald Duke, had conceptualized an ambitious project designed to make Tinapa and by extension Cross River State a touristic centre, which would be the equivalent of Dubai in Nigeria. This does not appear to be a dream shared by his successors Thus, the poet reports of the Tinapa dream: “You lie lifeless, ghostly/Desolate, derelict/This Calabar noon day/Your Metalled frameworks/Rusted/Concrete driveways/Parched and dusted/Lawns, landscapes/Weedy, disheveled/Your aggregate visage/A canvass of caked spyrogyra/Echoing sad memories of Ajaokuta/Itakpe/Oku-Iboku/Taraku/And the brimful harvest/Of monuments and treasures/Dreams slaughtered/On the butcher’s slab/Of our collective amnesia”.

    The poet’s disappointment is no less evident as he ruminates on Lokoja, the Kogi State capital in the poem ‘Lokoja revisited’. In his words, “You lie there/Still/Stunted, stymied, squirming/Gazing helplessly into the/Melancholic sockets of the noon clouds/ Like the remains/Of a war-worsted fiefdom”. And what is the root cause of this lamentable fate that has befallen Lokoja? The Poet’s diagnosis puts the blame firmly on the shoulders of incompetent and visionless leadership. According to him, “You lie there/Spent/A failed harvest/Of primordial promise/Your fat, frittered and ferried/To foreign vaults by/Rogue-rulers, brutish bandits/You lie there/A humongous cadaver/The putrefaction of your carcass/Rousing the remains of Lugard/And the heroes of yestertimes/From the mortal recesses/Of deserved rest”.

    Read Also: Poetic immortality

    In poems like Makurdi and Port Harcourt, however, the poet sounds a more upbeat and optimistic note. Of the former, for instance, he literarily sings: “Makurdi beckons to me/This blistering noon/When the amber-faced sun/Sits sky-high in its luminous ate/Draped in the Zebra colours/Of the silky anger/Streams of sweat dripping down/Its torrid torso”. His ode to Makurdi gets even more melodious as the poet contemplates the local cuisines of the city with which he is obviously very familiar. As he puts it, “Makurdi drenches my ears/With the plodding, pounding acapella/Of busy mortars/Sweaty biceps strangle/The helpless necks of wooden pestles/Kneading balls and balls of luam kumen/Ah, my tongue dreams/A buffet with ashwe, and adenger/Garnished with nyam toho”.

    In the poem, Port Harcourt, the poet captures the contrast between the vast oil wealth of the city just like other parts of the Niger Delta and the desultory living conditions of the people. Thus, he invites us, “Let us go to Port Harcourt/Long-necklaced the “Garden City/Where petro-dollars gurgle and gush/Beneath seedy swamps and breeding backhouses/Luring questing minds and quisling feet From across all the earth”. He continues in this vein: “Let us go to Port Harcourt/Oil-pampered, growth-deprived/Where thatched havens sit and squat/Upon the face of spyrogyra-ed waters/In stilted slums and squirming space/Atop infinite riches and wealth”. Even then, this does not stop the poet from contemplating and savoring the culinary delights of the Garden City as he writes: “Let us go to Port Harcourt/Where the enchanting/Lavender of roast plantain/And yam slices/Croaker and catfish/Titus and tilapia/Wafts and wanders/Through the thin neck/Of evening breeze”.

    The perennial busyness of Nicon Hilton, now Transcorp Hilton, one of the most prominent hotels in Abuja and the delight of the cream of Nigeria’s socio-political and economic elite does not escape the attention of the poet. Capturing the going and coming of the elite in their assortment of luxury vehicles to and from the hotel, Olusunle writes: “Your portals, Nicon/Ever busy hosts/Of a myriad customized machines/Coming, going, going, coming/Through bump-dotted boulevards/ Like a tireless column/Of armoured-ants”. He notes further of Nicon Hilton that “Hitech shoes rap, tap a rhythm/On the sprawling mat/Of the marbled lobby/As the verbal chaos/Of lethal politicking, suicidal intrigue/And plots to lacerate our oil wealth/Rule the winds”. Olusunle reveals that “Nicon Hilton never sleeps/Liquors and lewd lyrics/Dance and prance and hawkers too/Swaying teats, juicy like apples/Swinging backsides, sculpted like artefacts/At Capital Bar and Safari Club and Nightcap/Roll each night into day/Each day into night”.

    No less vivid and gripping in the first section of this collection are the poet’s depiction of places like Ibadan, 8115 Vilakazi Street, Nelson Mandela’s historic home in South Africa, Lagos, Iyuku, a community in northern Edo State, Argungu, a town in Kebbi State and Zuma rock in Abuja. The poem, ‘Penteconmen’ included in this section is a blistering onslaught on the phenomenon of Pentecostal superstar pastors. Olusunle is clearly not enamored of their antics. Thus, he bemoans “Psyche-manipulators, emotion-fiddlers/Penteconmen garbed in Pradas/Guccis and Kleins/Prance about the face/Of marbled pulpits/Spewing alien tongues/Hypnotizing gullible followers…/Alas/Will the scales of mass narcosis/One day fall off the visage/Of our credulous folks?”. This section of the collection also offers useful geography and history lessons as the poet gives detailed background information on names of places, personalities and historic events that the reader may be unfamiliar with.

  • Big tests for Nigerian clubs

    Big tests for Nigerian clubs

    Nigeria’s flag bearers to the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF’s) inter-club competitions Rivers United FC of Port Harcourt, Kwara United of Ilorin and Plateau United of Jos won their respective matches last week Sunday’s games in the Garden City, the Centre of Excellence and in Abuja. Only Rivers United enjoyed the privileges associated with playing at home which earned them a 2-1 victory over Wydad Casablanca of Morocco on Sunday. Plateau United was compelled by CAF’s strict regulations against the poor conditions at Jos Township Stadium to confront Esperance Sportive of Tunis inside the refurbished MKO Abiola Stadium in Abuja, beating the Tunisians 2-1, after coming from a goal down in the game also played on Sunday. It was good that the Plateau State Governor,  Simon Lalong watched the game and must have realised why he shouldn’t pay lip service to the issues involved in making the Jos Township Stadium world-class if he feels strongly that the cost of building an ultra-modern stadium is huge.

    As for Kwara United of Ilorin, their choice as the country’s representatives raised big posers which made a laughing stock about the essence of the 38-week-long Nigeria Professional League if the true winner can’t emerge from the competition. Kwara United beat Renaissance Sportive de Berkane also of Morocco inside the refurbished Onikan Stadium now named after a former governor of Lagos State Sir Mobolaji Johnson in Lagos. The Afonja Babes had to fight back from being a goal down to beat the Moroccans 3-1.

    The lessons from the games involving two of our representatives (Plateau United and Kwara United) having to fight back conceding a goal to win their matches in Abuja and Lagos are huge beginning with the mastery of the playing pitches. Unfortunately, both teams played against their opponents as strangers. Indeed, the vociferous backing of their home fans was missing expect a few of them who managed to travel to the two venues. The two teams had issues with the climatic conditions of the two cities which they ought to utilise to whip the Moroccans silly with goals. Had our representatives been involved in regular league games which would have sharpened their skills and reflexes, the goals from the three matches would have been aplenty. They would have scored those goals with aplomb too.

    The positive vibes which their fans give them before, during and at half-time weren’t there and the motivational songs which envelope their stadia which galvanise them to play very well weren’t also there. They tottered to victory largely because the North Africans had problems adjusting to the Nigerian weather. The fallout from the three losses by the two Moroccan teams and the Tunisian side was that they were cheated by the referee, they complained about our pitches and of course the weather. These complaints were expected. This writer worries about how the teams would have presented their first-leg losses to their fans.

    Would the three Nigerian teams qualify for the next stage which is the group platforms at dusk in Morocco and Tunisia? My answer would have been why not if the rules of the game are applied to the letter by the match officials? Curiously, the three teams are from North Africa and their fans’ conduct before, during and after matches are barbaric, win or lose. This writer has had several lamentable experiences despite not being a footballer but a journalist.

    The fans’ harassments start from the previous warm-up sessions, with fans signifying with their fingers the number of goals the Nigerian sides would return home with. On match days, the North Africans leave nothing to chance to frustrate their visitors including coming to the stadium with Fox whistles which is what referees use to officiate matches. Players must be very attentive to recognise the sound of the whistle they would react to. Otherwise, such naive players could handle the ball in their penalty boxes thinking the referee has sounded his whistle.

    The North Africans are notorious for bringing laser lights to the pitch during matches which they use to distract the visitors’ goalkeepers during set pieces, especially penalty kicks and corner kicks. These laser lights are pointed directly towards the goalkeepers’ eyes. And they commit these atrocities unchallenged. It is part of the game. After all, all is fair in warfare.

    Would all three Nigerian crash out of the competition this weekend? The easiest prediction would be to say yes, knowing the North Africans and their football antics. I won’t be surprised if the three Nigerian sides end up with one of two red cards against them to provide the imbalance needed for the hosts to win at all costs. Besides, the North Africans have world-class stadiums at club-side level with wide pitches. Nothing the fireworks at the stand during matches, especially after a goal has been scored by their team.

    Read Also: Sacking Rohr cost Nigeria Qatar 2022 ticket, says Emoedofu

    One isn’t saying that beating the north Africans at home isn’t possible. The real problem starts with the Nigerian coaches’ mentality of being too defensive on away grounds. You won’t blame them given the shenanigans in the domestic leagues.

    Nigerian coaches aren’t daring in the technical layouts for away games forgetting that the hosts having lost the away game would be under immense pressure to gain the advantage lost in the first game. Therefore, only a high press strategy against such jittery hosts can force the mistakes that the visitors can convert into goals. Of course, as the coaching idiom goes ‘attack is the best form of defence.’ You can say it again.

    Fans would be surprised that the offensive players who distinguished themselves in the first leg would be benched for taller and stronger players – a recipe for causing penalty offences during sporadic attacking forays by the hosts, who are eager to cancel out whatever the lead the visitors have very early in the match.

    For a fact, our teams don’t have psychologists who should grill them about the psychology behind such games. It is at such sessions that the psychologists would teach them how to control their tempers to avoid being easily provoked by the opposition desperate for victories. The mood of the game most times in the morning sets the pace of what to expect from the lads in the evening. In fact, critical decisions on personnel to deploy for the game are usually taken by the players’ mindsets.

    As a patriot, I would wish that the three clubs qualify for the group stage but it would sweep under the carpet the flaws of our domestic leagues both in organisation and structure. The North Africans have taken club football organisations beyond the beautiful game. Aside, from the fact they also have female teams, they also have other sports such as basketball, hockey, volleyball etc as some of the games that they also run professionally, not forgetting that the senior soccer side has junior teams across all the age groups. Hence it is easy for them to replace ageing and/or injured players from the junior pool. What this obviously does for their future is that it inadvertently creates a unique playing pattern for the teams and region.

    Another disadvantage that the Nigerian sides would battle with is that they would play against teams in the competition. So, the cohesion in their play puts them in a vintage position to rally back to victory, with the three sides having scored first against the Nigerians in the first leg played in Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt. However, football is a cruel game. The Nigerian teams could qualify based on our Spartan fighting spirit to conquer when placed in such disadvantageous positions.

    Plateau United of Jos has a lot to play for with their game slated to be played under floodlights. When last did those boys play under that kind of setting? They would spend the better part of the first 45 minutes struggling to adjust to the illumination of the bulbs than playing their game.

    Good luck Rivers United of Port Harcourt, Plateau United and Kwara United. Up Nigeria.

  • Oyebanji: Challenges of birthing a new dawn

    Oyebanji: Challenges of birthing a new dawn

    A new chapter will open in the life of Ekiti State tomorrow. Governor Kayode Fayemi will bow out after the expiration of his constitutional second term. How will history assess him?

    It is to his credit, and indeed, a tribute to the progressive bloc in the Fountain of Knowledge that the governor is handing over to a worthy successor, an experienced politician, astute administrator and a homeboy, Biodun Abayomi Oyebanji. It is the first time an All Progressives Congress (APC) governor will be handing over to another party chieftain in the state. The jinx of continuity is broken.

    The uniqueness of the seamless transition is that Oyebanji is, more or less, on a familiar terrain. He could be said to know Ekiti “inside out”. For years, the incoming governor has moved from the rungs of administrative ladder in the state. He participated in the long struggle for state creation and served the two progressive administrations of Otunba Adeniyi Adebayo and Fayemi, as Senior Special Assistant (SSA), Chief of Staff, director of an agency, commissioner and Secretary to the State Government (SSG).

    An in-depth knowledge of Ekiti geography, sociology, peculiarity, and negligible diversity is at his fingertips. Growing up, the Ikogosi-born political scientist attended secondary school and university in the state. He also taught in his alma mater, the University of Ado-Ekiti, in the state capital.

    BAO, as the new helmsman is fondly called by admirers, will inherit power as an asset. But he will also inherit the accompanying liability and burden.

    The goal of politics is the attainment of power, which is alluring. But on Oyebanji’s shoulders now rests for the next four years – and perhaps beyond – the burden of building on the feats of his predecessor and repositioning Ekiti for greater accomplishments.

    The new governor is coming on board at a time Ekiti is in pains. The state has become an eyesore because of massive infrastructural decay due to its neglect by the distant Federal Government. Many guests who will take the Itawure/Efon-Ado Ekiti Road to attend the inauguration tomorrow will lament the extent of the rot, damage and neglect. It is as if Ekiti is not a part of Nigeria. It is more lamentable because the Minister of Works has his roots and many admirers in Ekiti.

    In 2015 and 2019, Ekiti voted for APC and President Muhammadu Buhari. The state is yet to be compensated for pitching its tent with the progressive government at the centre.

    With the glaring shortfalls in the state’s development indices, it is obvious the incoming governor already knows the tasks ahead. Oyebanji did not wait for his inauguration before hitting the ground running.

    Full of native intelligence, he waved the olive branch and demonstrated humility by visiting his rivals across board with messages of reconciliation and peace. It was not a familiarisation tour, although the visit provided a supplementary opportunity for need analysis, reassessment of the problems on the ground and proposed strategies for tackling them.

    That decisive step became necessary to pacify aggrieved contenders and ensure an atmosphere of peace and unity in the ruling party and the entire state.

    Besides, Oyebanji conveyed a feeling of readiness to foster inclusion and wider participation in governance. Thus, his tour of the 16 local councils and area offices to mobilise for the challenges of governance was the right step in the right direction.

    The new governor is expected to maintain that style and culture of consultation, accessibility and open-door policy throughout his tenure.

    The incoming governor perfectly understands the grammar of politics in rural and agrarian Ekiti. He is conscious of the fact that he cannot run a wholly elitist government. It is at the grassroots that democratic leaders can actually gauge the pulse of the public.

    Since he is not the governor of APC alone, Oyebanji has solicited the cooperation of all indigenes, residents, and all Ekiti people in the Diaspora. Stakeholders see him experience and character. But the former university teacher does not claim to have a monopoly of ideas and knowledge.

    Many observers have applauded him for visiting the founding fathers of the state, prominent elders, leaders, former governors, and other patriots, to drink from their fountain of wisdom.

    As he drums support for renewal of progressive governance, he is expected to also tap from the experience of his successor, under whom he served for eight years.

    Read Also: Build on Fayemi’s legacy, Bagudu, Zulum tell Oyebanji

    Apart from the hands-on experience the incoming governor has garnered over the years, his humility and willingness to work with other eminent sons and daughters of the highly literate state is expected to open several doors of cooperation for his administration.

    His visits to many Ekiti leaders, who cut across the political divide, may have paved the way for him as a governor who is eager and ready to push his state, with the collective efforts of fellow compatriots, to lofty heights.

    The visits have taken him to former Governor Ayo Fayose; his main challenger at the poll, Bisi Kolawole of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP); former Deputy Governors Paul Alabi and Prof. Olusola Eleka; eminent lawyers – Chief Afe Babalola (SAN), Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), and Mr. Dele Adesina (SAN).

    Others include nationalist and elder statesman, Chief Deji Fasuan; the Ewi of Ado-Ekiti, Oba Rufus Adeyemo Adejugbe; popular journalist and politician, Senator Babafemi Ojudu; pharmacist, legal practitioner and former Secretary of Health, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi; and Lagos State Police Commissioner Yinka Alabi.

    Explaining his consultative visits, Oyebanji said: “To take Ekiti to an enviable height, we must do away with unnecessary politicking in governance. Ours is a unique state and if our human potentials and resources are well harnessed, we can be sure of prosperity. As Ekiti governor, I want to work for the general good of my people without allowing unnecessary pettiness to stand barrier, hence, the need to embrace all.”

    Many believe that Oyebanji’s election was an act of God. It was also an indication that Ekiti chose to elect a rational leadership, in line with the admonition of the foremost Awoist and former Ondo State Governor Adekunle Ajasin who, while congratulating the monarchs and leaders of Ekiti when the state was created in 1996, urged the people never to depart from the path of progressive pathfinders.

    However, Oyebanji is not a man to be envied at this crucial time of national economic dilapidation, when sources of revenue are depleting. How much can Ekiti generate internally in a month? The N4 billion the Federal Government allocates the state and less than N1 billion internally generated revenue (IGR) are a far cry from the funds needed for the realistic needs of the state.

    It is also gradually becoming old fashioned in Southwestern Nigeria to flaunt the payment of salaries and pensions as a core achievement. A government will be remembered on account of infrastructural projects undertaken and how it can guarantee an atmosphere of security and peace.

    Much is expected of Oyebanji in the areas of financial creativity, prudent management of meagre resources, investment drive, prioritisation of developmental programms, and equitable distribution of projects.

    During the campaigns, Oyebanji was not boastful about automatic problem-solving. His message has been centred on the premise that “we will do it together”. But, being the custodian of the mandate, he will take responsibility. The onus is on him to muster the strength to fulfill his campaign promises to the various segments of the society. Many Southwest people also look forward to the contribution of Oyebanji to the cause of regional integration.

    Inevitably, like all previous governors have seen and those of today and tomorrow will see, the incoming governor will face challenges.

    The first is the challenge of consolidating his victory through judicial verdict. It is typical of Nigerians for the electoral battle to shift from the ballot box to the courtroom. Thus, the cost of sustaining victory is burdensome.

    Oyebanji will finally heave a sigh of relief after the determination of the litigation against his victory by the Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate, former Governor Segun Oni. Until then, his attention will be minimally distracted by the case.

    The second is the challenge of living up to expectation. The economic climate is cloudy.  Promises have been given. They must be kept. Voters expect their fulfilment. The people of the far-flung Ekiti are not likely to be patient with any administration. There should not be a gulf between expectation and reality.

    The third is the challenge of likely momentary slowdown due to the coming on board next year of members of House of Assembly, majority of who are first-term lawmakers who have to learn the ropes.

    The fourth is the challenge of assembling a team of competent commissioners, special advisers and other aides who share Oyebanji’s vision about a greater tomorrow for Ekiti. Many are already scrambling to become commissioners, special advisers, special assistants and aides. Many have a sense of entitlement. But the slots are limited.

    The fifth is the challenge of sustaining cordial relations between the departing governor and the new chief executive. This is crucial to prevent the troubling predecessor-successor crises that have characterised many states.

    The sixth is the challenge of security. Pockets of kidnapping, ritual killings and other crimes have been reported in the state. The security of the people and their property needs to be strengthened for the residents to work and do their businesses in peace. The absence or breaches of this essential element take a huge toll on the confidence of the people to go about their daily routines. It is, therefore, important for the incoming governor to make life difficult for all those at the bottom of insecurity in any part of the state. This will be achieved at a huge cost but it will be worthwhile in the long run.

    The seventh is the challenge of responding to the quest of many communities for autonomy, which has, globally speaking, become the anthem of the millennium. In those communities where there are agitations and resistance, the solution is the maintenance of fidelity to history, tradition, human rights and truth and conscience.

    It is necessary for the incoming governor to handle the sensitive issue with care  to avoid an escalation. The way to achieve this is to give every community a sense of belonging in his administration.

    As Oyebanji begins to give Ekiti effective governance, the people themselves need to cooperate with him to deliver the essential dividends of democracy.

    One can only wish him the best of luck in the tasks ahead.

  • Ogun PDP: The gambling continues

    Ogun PDP: The gambling continues

    Contrary to its earlier posturing that it had overcome years of internal wrangling and legal warfare, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ogun State may once again be going into the next general elections with its usual toga of a ‘gambling party.’

    This is down to the level of uncertainty surrounding its governorship candidate as well as all other candidates across the state. Sentry understands that Ladi Adebutu and other candidates of the troubled party may technically be out of the 2023 race as we speak unless something unforeseen happens.

    Before now, supporters of the party had heaved a sigh of relief on May 25, when for the first time since 2010, the state chapter of the PDP conducted a single governorship primary election and Adebutu was announced as the winner.

    Of course, there was disagreement by other aspirants, but many hoped that it would be resolved in no time. Adebutu and other leaders of the party regularly boasted of the new found indivisibility of the party and urged the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to start packing in preparation for leaving government house.

    But all that were to change on the 26th of September, when a Federal High Court sitting in Abeokuta, the state capital, nullified all the primary elections conducted by the PDP in choosing candidates for the 2023 general elections in the state.

    Read Also; Adebutu, Akinlade not listed in Ogun Gov candidates list

    Justice O. O. Oguntoyinbo ordered the party to conduct fresh primaries within the next 14 days from that day. The court also barred the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from recognising Adebutu as the governorship candidate.

    And when it published its final list of candidates earlier this month, INEC wasted no time before removing Adebutu’s name from its list. To further compound the situation, Segun Showunmi, a chieftain of the party in the state, headed to the Supreme Court to seek that his own name be published as the authentic candidate of the party in the state.

    He had earlier before the Ogun PDP primaries dragged the Sikirulahi Ogundele-led party executive to an Ogun State High Court sitting in Abeokuta, asking it to dissolve the party officials for alleged bias; but the court said the matter was a party affair which it could not rule over. Showunmi proceeded to the Appeal court, where two of his three prayers were granted; but the appellate court agreed with the lower court that the matter was a party affair. Not satisfied, Showunmi said he is now before the Supreme Court in his pursuit of justice against the party executive, who he said claimed to have obtained nomination forms for Adebutu.

    Very disturbing is the fact that the PDP in the state has refused to conduct fresh primaries as ordered by the court and the 14 days grace has elapsed, leaving the party without any candidate ‘known to the law’ as at today. And with INEC insisting that it will obey the courts, PDP’s hope is now hanging precariously on the chance that an appellate court will reverse the judgement of the High Court.

  • Beyond the ASUU strike

    Beyond the ASUU strike

    So the protracted 8-month strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) could be brought to an end with constructive engagement between the union and government and with both sides making compromises so that the crisis could be amicably resolved at last? If so, why the grandstanding on both sides all this while with the elephants engaged in a life or death struggle and the grass beneath – students and parents – bearing the brunt of the suffering? The eight months of the strike, which began on February 14, it is sad to say are lost ones especially for the students. And as it’s often said, time lost can hardly ever be regained. True, the National Industrial Court (NIC) and an appellate court had in separate rulings ordered the striking lecturers to call off the strike and resume work. It is doubtful if a legal solution could have been found for the FG-ASUU stalemate if there had not been a new resolve by both parties to make concessions towards reopening federal universities to enable long-suffering students to resume classes.

    Despite the justness of ASUU’s cause, it was obvious that public opinion was gradually turning against the union and its prolonged strike. Students were eager to resume classes, continue their studies, work to regain lost time, graduate and go on with their lives.  Parents who bore the largest financial brunt of the strike were no less exceedingly impatient that the strike comes to an end so that their children could go back to school. But neither was public opinion on the side of the government either. The Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr. Chris Ngige was perceived as arrogant, insensitive and pugnacious in the dialogue with the striking lecturers. On the other hand, the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, was widely seen as inexplicably aloof, his body language suggesting that he did not care much if the strike was brought to a speedy end or not. It is instructive that in the final analysis, it was the intervention of the House of Representatives in conjunction with the office of the President that helped to break the logjam and raising hopes that desperate and frustrated students would soon be back in school.

    Speaking after a meeting with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila,  on Wednesday, the ASUU president, Professor Emmanuel Osodeke, lauded the House for its intervention in the impasse noting that if the legislature had acted earlier the strike would probably not have lasted for so long. According to Osodeke “That is why we are in this struggle. We want to have universities in Nigeria where we should be earning money from children from all over the world coming here to study and paying hard currency just like our people who are going outside”. Decrying the creation of too many new universities when there were not sufficient lecturers qualified to teach, Professor Osodeke averred that “In future we should not allow strikes to linger. A strike should not go on for more than two days. If the way the National Assembly has intervened had been done long ago, or if those in charge of labour and education had done exactly this, we would not be where we are today. We would not have stayed more than two or three weeks on this strike”.

    Equally sounding optimistic and upbeat, the Speaker enthused: “We had meetings with those on the government side and we are happy to report that as a result of the consultation and intervention, very significant progress has been made down the road and we are more or less at the end of the road save for dotting some I’s and crossing some T’s.” Gbajabiamila assured that there had been significant progress on all the issues aggravating ASUU such as revitalization, salary all of which had been provided for in the budget. Indeed, President Muhammadu Buhari in his budget presentation to the National Assembly had appealed to ASUU to go back to work stating that N470 billion had been provided in the 2023 budget for tertiary education. The productive intervention in the FG-ASUU impasse by the House of Representatives is another instance of the ‘collaborative governance’ which is the hallmark of the presidential system of government. Through its oversight function, public sittings and debates at plenary, among others, the legislature is an active participant along with the executive in initiating and influencing public policy. Indeed, in the United States, with a sharply divided Congress, governance involves bargaining and collaboration between the White House and Congress with the opposition not left out of the governing process.

    Read Also; Divide and rule tactics on ASUU

    Some have expressed the view that ASUU had been unduly rigid as regards its demand for the full implementation of the 2009 agreement with the previous administration. While agreements are sacrosanct and should ordinarily be binding on all parties, their implementation will be dependent on emergent realities. When the 1999 Agreement was signed between government and ASUU, for instance, the international price of a barrel of oil fluctuated between $100 and $140 per barrel if I am not mistaken. By the time the Buhari administration came to power, the price of a barrel of oil, our major revenue earner, had plunged to less than $50 per barrel. Again, the Coronavirus, which has hit both advanced and poor countries severely dislocating their economies, was unknown when the 2009 agreement was signed. Similarly, the Russia-Ukraine war which has disrupted global supply chains has affected most economies globally leading to inflationary spirals particularly with regard to food prices and other vital necessities and was not a factor in government’s signing the agreement with ASUU in 2009. Against this background, agreements cannot be cast in stone and must be adjusted to reflect current realities.

    Was ASUU then being unreasonable in its intransigence as regards the full implementation of the 2009 agreement? I don’t think so. For, the irresponsibility and venality of members of our political class does not suggest that there is no fund to fully meet ASUU’s demands. All too often, we hear of public officers in positions of responsibility embezzling humongous amounts of public funds and nothing is heard of these cases anymore after the initial media razzmatazz. Different categories of elected and appointive public officers collect outrageous allowances and enjoy other juicy perks while highly trained and experienced professors and other categories of academics go home with pittances as salaries and allowances. During the recent presidential primaries of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), we saw even sitting public office holders coughing out substantial amounts of money to obtain forms and contest for diverse offices. Some of them quickly withdrew from the contest after President Buhari and some state governors had given deadline for all such aspirants holding public offices to resign and concentrate on their political aspirations.

    Of course, members of ASUU too must wake up to the fact that the administration of many universities is no less corrupt than members of the political class and even the sparse resources available to the universities could be more efficiently and transparently managed. Members of the opposition have understandably tried to make heavy weather of the protracted ASUU strike putting all the blame on the Buhari administration. This is rather uncharitable since I am unaware of any government, military and civilian – since 1986 that has not had to contend with strikes by ASUU. The problems of tertiary education in Nigeria thus appear to be more structural and endemic than is often realized and these must be addressed more fundamentally and creatively. Universities in particular as well as specialized research institutes are indispensable to the liberation and actualization of any country’s potentials not excluding Nigeria. But even if the Federal Government meets all of ASUU’s demands today, will the universities be able to rise to the challenge of being catalysts of Nigeria’s accelerated development? It is doubtful.

    In a paper he delivered in 1975 titled ‘Africa and Cultural Dependency’ the late Professor Ali Mazrui asked: “African universities have often been expected to serve as major instruments of development in their societies. But what if these universities also constitute links in a chain of dependency?”. Quoting Professor Pyle L. to answer this question, Mazrui writes of the university in Africa that “Technologies for the satisfaction of basic needs and for rural development have received little attention…curricula, text books and teaching methods are too closely imitative of practice in industrialized countries. This has spilled over from teaching into research expectations. Universities have sought to achieve international standards in defining the criteria for staff recognition and promotion; in practice this means using the international scientific and engineering literature as the touch stone. However, applied work directed at the solution of local problems…can rarely be associated with publication in “respectable” journals: a far better test is the local one of success or failure of the particular project in the Less Developed Country (LDC) environment”. Mazrui’s terse submission that “The ghost of intellectual dependency, continues to haunt the whole of Africa’s academia for the time being” was certainly a foreshadowing of Claude Ake’s insights and conclusions in his classic, ‘Social Science as Imperialism’.

    Although not referring directly to the dilemma of the university in Nigeria or Africa, Professor Okudiba Nnoli, at a lecture delivered at the University of Lagos in 2010, makes the point about the wide hiatus between domestic knowledge production and dissemination and the challenge of meeting local needs on the basis of local expertize, resources and technology. In his words, “Hence, one never hears of any discussion of how to modernize production that is based on local need and traditional consumption pattern. No questions are asked about the lack of improvement in the implements of production, like the hoe used by the vast majority in spite of the tremendous strides in science and technology since these implements were  invented by our great, great grandfathers. Similarly, the vast majority of our people live in the same type of houses as their great, great grandfathers in spite of advances in architecture and building technology. Is it not the responsibility of politics and the state to assist people in the rural areas and elsewhere in the country to apply science, technology and creativity in the production of food to satisfy their needs and traditional consumption habits at increasing levels of modernity using local and therefor available resources?”.

    Is it not embarrassing not just to our government but to our universities, research institutes and other tertiary institutions, for example, that since the outbreak of the Coronavirus in 2019, we continue to be wholly dependent on the supply of vaccines from outside? As ASUU gets set to resume, beyond the infusion of funds into these universities, there is the need for the fundamental re-orientation of these institutions to enable them help in proffering solutions to pressing national problems. And no less important is the need to completely rethink the funding model for these institutions. The current total dependence of the universities on government for funding is no longer realistic or sustainable in the light of current economic realities.

  • What value do ex-governors add to Senate?

    What value do ex-governors add to Senate?

    The 2023 election campaigns have started but not much is going on yet in the political sphere. Almost all the political parties are yet to make their manifestoes public. Despite prodding from journalists at different fora, mum is still the word as most of the spokespersons are promising that they would be out very soon. In reality, Nigerians are not used to scrutinizing party manifestoes.

    Since the return of civilian democracy in 1999, the electorate seems not to have held the elected to the presentations they made during political campaigns. In some ways, voting is still largely based on primordial sentiments. Ethnicity, religion, regional affiliations, and other coercive sentiments often determine the voters’ choices. Democracy is a work in progress and the hope is that at some point things would begin to be done differently if we expect a different result.

    In viable democracies, the role of the legislature at all tiers of government cannot be overemphasized. Those who fashioned the three arms of government had in mind the value of checks and balances in the system. They understood as political philosophers that humans abuse power and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The executive, legislature and the judiciary must work as the tripod that make democracy a viable system as each arm have defined roles that must be strictly adhered to.

    The relationship between the three arms of government must be that that puts the people first. All actions must be geared towards protecting the welfare of the people and building a nation. However, in the Nigerian political system, the lack of strong system has seemingly made democracy appear a bit complex. The executive at both federal and state levels act in ways that seem to present both the legislature and judiciary as less powerful arms of government.

    The presidency and governors wield so much powers that very often there are actions that question the brand of democracy practiced. This is not surprising, the effects of military incursions in Nigeria seem to show up very often. The command and control system the military taunted the country with still persists in very debilitating ways even with civilian democrats. The intimidation and seeming lack of total autonomy by other arms of government at both state and federal levels have their origins in the past militarization of the governance structures.

    The Roundtable Conversation however believes that the Nigerian political system must be weaned of the military mentality where the executive arm acts as though the other two arms are mere appendages.  The political class must be deliberate in efforts to strengthen our democracy. Each arm of government must be strong and independent enough to be in a position to develop the country through good governance.

    Read Also: 2023: That Nigeria’s tomorrow may be alright

    The Roundtable Conversation has however found that there seems to be a trend in the political system. Each election year, we see increasing numbers of incumbent and ex-governors becoming candidates for Senatorial elections.  In fact, the social perception is that the Senate seems to have become a retirement home for ex-governors as most of them end up as senators. Curiously, not many of them distinguish themselves through their contributions at plenary.

    For the 2023 elections, more than two dozen incumbent and ex-governors won their party tickets as candidates for the elections. Curiously, most of these candidates are known to have performed poorly as governors in their various states.  The argument could be made that the people would determine who wins an election. However, we all know that given the often flawed elections in the past, most ex-governors  ‘won’ their elections  anyway and this has empowered a lot more to take their party tickets.

    In a system where the electoral process is not as good as it ought to be, most of the ex-governors often allegedly use state resources to achieve victory and most times better qualified candidates lose out to the incumbency factor. It is therefore part of growing our democracy that citizens must begin to align performances of governors who have had a chance to lead their states to their ambitions to proceed to the National Assembly.

    The Senate is the highest legislative body in our democracy and the pedigree of senators has a direct correlation to the democracy the nation practices. The people often forget the very important role of the legislature in a democracy and this is why there seems to be so much focus on the presidency and the dysfunctional system that renders our democracy a perennially nascent one.

    The Legislature has three primary functions; Law-making, Oversight function and as Lobbyists for their constituencies.  If a governor ran the state aground and proceeds to represent his senatorial district at the national assembly, no miracle happens. If a governor was not empathetic and diligent enough to use state resources to develop his state, no miracle would happen when he goes to the senate.

    The idea that the senate screens and confirms ministers and heads of government agencies  and make laws for the nation speak to the role each member plays in the life of a nation. The president or governors could be genius but if the legislature at state and federal levels are not committed to development,  poverty would continue to hamper development.

    The Roundtable Conversation believes that we cannot  continue to play the ostrich if our democracy must be functional.  There must be a deliberate effort by every Nigerian especially the literate ones to feel a sense of duty to the brand of democracy we practice. Today, the focus seems to be solely on the Presidency and governorship elections and we all tend to ignore the role of the legislative arm in every democracy.

    The United States of America and the United Kingdom are the poster countries for democracy. The Congress and House of Representatives in the US and the Parliament in the United Kingdom are all strong pillars in the democracy of those countries.  These countries’ legislative arms are like strong anchors to the system.

    Make no mistakes about it, the legislature in Nigeria has made considerable progress. There are those that have made considerable impact at both at state and federal levels but much is still to be done. Each person aspiring to go to the legislative house must learn the ropes and must have enough patriotic fervor to diligently work.

    For the avoidance of doubt, the Roundtable Conversation is not by any means insinuating that being a former governor of a state automatically should disqualify a person from seeking to go to the National Assembly. The issue is that from the nation’s experience since 1999, some governors have surreptitiously displayed some covetous and entitlement behavior towards going to the Senate.

    They seem not to see it as a duty to the people but a way of retaining a presence in the corridors of power in a nation where politics is often seen as an elite game that confers a lot of privileges. We must all realize that we cannot continue to do the same thing the same way and expect a different result. Ex-governors going to the Senate should not be seen as a logical process whether the person failed as a governor or not. It must be earned.

    There have been a lot of ex-governors and ex-ministers in the senate, not many can mention the differences they have made to the lives of the people. We have to begin to hold the legislative arms accountable in ways that can reduce the pressure on the executive and the only way to get this done is by creating better awareness  about the roles of each arms of government in a democracy.

    There must come a time that we say enough of the messianic syndrome attitude of ex-governors. It is understandable that a governor that has performed creditably in his state could seek to go to the senate but for some to assume that just having occupied a governorship position is qualifying criteria must be resisted if we want a vibrant democracy that works for the people.

    The Roundtable  Conversation searchlight is on former or incumbent governors who are candidates of their political parties for the senatorial seats in their states because if more than twenty five of them are to get into the senate whether they have performed or not, our democracy will suffer given what they have done in the past through their Governors Forum that is very strong and often manipulative at regional and national levels.

    If these governors get to the senate, their allegiance would morph from their political parties to their ex-governor colleagues when bills or other national issues are at stake. Their vested interests would be overwhelming and given the system, the people might continue to get the shorter end of the stick. It is therefore good to evaluate the performance of each candidate. If out of a hundred and nine senate seats, more than twenty is occupied by ex-governors in a fledgling democracy like ours, there might be danger in the offing given that personal interests often override patriotism in developing economies.

    The Roundtable demands to know the performance of each candidate getting into the legislature ether at state of federal levels. Our democracy must be one that encourages productivity and individuals running for elections must do so on merit. If an ex-governor wants a senate seat, let voters see his report sheet, well, literally. This is the message that voter education advocates must emphasize.

    The dialogue continues…

  • Haba! Governor Soludo

    Haba! Governor Soludo

    Since his emergence as the 8th elected Governor of Anambra State, Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo has sought to impose a new and harsh tax regime on Ndi Anambra. Using the pretext of wanting to increase the revenue base of the state, Governor Soludo has rather raised the tax burdens on the ordinary Anambra people who are not inured from the worsening economic circumstances presently faced. Coming at a time when the nation has just pulled itself out of another recession and coupled with the tangential effects of the Russo-Ukrainian war, the decision by Soludo to introduce such a tax regime without any real offers of a rebate to the people has somewhat ticked off whatever goodwill the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria had on his assumption of office in March 2022.

    Appearing to be in a haste to tax Ndi Anambra, a number of citizens of the state began receiving tax notifications  on the need to pay up their Personal Income Tax even when a number of these persons were not working or earning their living within the state. The messages largely embarrassed a number of these persons and showcased Soludo’s unbridled desire to tax his people.

    Like opening Pandora’s box sort of, it seemed pellucidly clear that Governor Soludo had let out the furies of taxation and no one would be spared! Like Shakespeares Caesar, Governor Soludo had cried havoc that the state  had an outstanding bill of N513.9bn yet to be paid by its 2.1 million taxpayers and had let slip the dogs of taxation!

    Nobody seems to be free from such an insidious desire to tax the ordinary citizen, from the holloipolloi to the top hats or should I say redcaps, tricycle drivers popularly known as keke  drivers to shuttle drivers and transporters, traders and even businesses have all seen a tightening of the tax man’s noose around their already stretched necks!

    Read Also; A glimpse of Soludo’s Anambra, four months after

    Like I had earlier stated, at a point when a majority of Nigerians are already doing battle with a stagflation of sorts such as the rising prices of food staples, the increase in fuel prices and the bludgeoning cost of services as well as running a business in Nigeria, the question should be is the blanket taxation of every Okoro, Okorie and Okafor, Governor Soludo’s best foot forward? Shouldn’t the administration given these dire times that we have found ourselves in , offer tax cuts or worse offer a hold up its taxation sails for the time being? One would have expected the professor of economics to talk the same language with common sense economics that seeks to help the common man scale up with the current economic pressures!

    Yes the Soludo administration would be needing all the resources at its disposal to meet the rising challenges of providing the basic services and bridging the infrastructural deficit faced by the state, I get that but then  there are other ways to meet such a burden rather than casting ominous taxes on the ordinary people!

    Asking tricycle drivers and other transporters to pay a monthly tax of 15,000 and 18,000 monthly irrespective of whether they worked that month or not is not only harsh but unworkable, one would have recommended a daily pay as you work mode so that these transporters could cater for unexpected situations such as faulty vehicles, ill health or other emergencies that could take them off the road. This can also be done electronically.

    Likewise the increased taxes on residential, commercial buildings as well as traders all in the name of waste collection and operation of their stalls in the various markets will only worsen the economic circumstances of the payers who will in turn pass the burden to others.  Asking citizens and businesses to pay humongous fees for refuse clearing or traders at the Eke Awka market for capturing is indeed taxation without a human face. For example asking a hotel or business  that readily employs 50 people to pay a 20 percent increased amount or so  for the collection of waste and refuse will not only hurt such a business but will also force such a business to either increase the cost of their services, downsize and either cut salaries of their workers or lay off such staff! Now, not only will such a business be burdened by such payments, we are also likely to witness a sharp increase in the unemployment rate within the state.

    Rather than burden the ordinary man as I have explained in this piece, why is the Soludo administration not going after plugging the revenue leakages first and perhaps opening a series of probes into the many numerous dealings of the past administration which fleeced the state blind? Why is the Soludo administration not content with the N100bn loan it sought from the Anambra State House of Assembly for the refurbishment and construction of critical infrastructure within the state? Had the loan not been approved then one would obviously have excused such a huge drive to tax the Anambra citizen perhaps to death as necessary even in the face of the nation’s worsening economic situation. Matter of fact one would have expected the Soludo administration to perhaps show a little working , get off its own inertia and perform the magic he had so much campaigned about before asking the ordinary citizen to trust him the more with their taxes.

  • Honours, approbation and reprobation

    Honours, approbation and reprobation

    The   ceremony  to honour Nigerians who  have contributed to the growth and development of the Nigerian nation in all aspects of human   endeavour   has just  been done lavishly in the usual manner  by  the government  of the day . It  is difficult to expect all Nigerians to be totally  happy with all  the chosen people for the  simple reason  that the government of the day  must  have its own catchment area and  preferred  people who  must  be considered over and above all  others . That  is the politics of the awards ceremony and one needs to accept this clear fact to  have an open mind in congratulating the recipients no matter  how grudgingly because  that is the spirit  of the occasion  even as we wish  those  who miss out  or were forgotten this time around better  luck  next time when the government of the day  is that of their party , tribe or  kinsmen .

    Today we attempt  to look at such honours award objectively and as humanly  possible ,  devoid  of any extravagant  emotions  and affectations . That  really is a tall  order    but  it is  a task   worthy of the exercise  so  that we can learn  to appreciate  our  national   awards in the context of the political  culture  and  society   from which  the honours  are given to  the  recipients . We  must  remember that one  man’s  food  is another  man’s  poison and we must  not be in a hurry  to  approbate or  reprobate national   honours . At   least   in the pursuit  of objective  appraisal  of such honours   we must endeavor not to reprobate and approbate at the same time .  A  good example of this was the return of national  honours by some award recipients who  were angry  that they  were given the same awards  in the UK as the Beatles by the Queen . Any   way  the   responsibility for national  awards is that of the government of the day  and we   the   people  in a democracy   must  learn to live with  this fact  as the awards  , once given,  become  a’ fait  accompli  ‘ and no one can make them untenable .

    This  time however  we not only look at national awards but also  national  events and occasions  that nations celebrate and  use to show appreciation for services rendered by leaders and politicians   to  their environments , nations and societies .  In Nigeria past heads of states automatically  qualify  and are given the highest honour of Grand Commander Order of the Niger . There is no distinction between those elected into office and those who seized power through military intervention . You  can compare this with the fantastic funeral the British gave their Queen after a reign of 70  years   . Yet  Britain is a Parliamentary  democracy in which  elected party politicians govern and give  the Queen a list  of people to be honoured in what  is called the  Queen’s Honours  list and not a list of the government of the day which nevertheless  wields   raw  political  power to govern Monarchical Britain .

    Read Also: Bringing dishonour to honours event

    I  want  to compare the way the Queen  was appreciated as a leader   with  approbation   for her   with the way some Japanese protested against  the state  funeral of the Japanese assassinated  former PM  Shinzo  Abe  . It  is my intention  to use  these different reactions  to show again  that one man’s  food is another man’s  business . We  shall  compare this with the  situation in Nigeria and leave the reader to his or her conclusions  on the entire acceptability or otherwise of the last list of Nigerians  who receive national  awards .

    You  have  to look back at the Nigerian  civil  war to know that those clamoring for secession  in the east can  not expect to be on national  awards  list  . Similarly  those creating  unrest and their leaders  , against the Nigerian state cannot  be honoured . These include kidnappers , armed Fulani herdsmen ,marauders and those killing Nigerians in many parts of the North  , especially . Such  people  certainly  should never be on the honors list of any sane Nigerian government of the day and I am  sure that was the spirit of the awards given to all Nigerians in all aspects of life .This  respect for our national  security and the hatred of the government  for those disturbing the peace of our nation is what I want to commend in the last list of those given these Nigerian honours in this last exercise . It  cannot  and should not be otherwise and I commend the government  for maintaining the integrity of these  national  awards .

    Let  us  now examine the reasons for the Japanese protests at the  state funeral of Shinzo  Abe a two  time  PM who  was also its nation’s longest serving PM . You  have to remember that Japan  fought on the side of Hitler’s  Germany and lost World War 11 [  1939 -1945 ] to the Allies led by the US, Britain and Russia .As  a result  of the detonation of the atomic bombs on two Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,  the Japanese  became a  pacific nation  and  that was reflected in their post  WW2 constitution . Shinzo  Abe as PM complied with this constitution but was aware that China  was arming with a view to dominating its contiguous environment and could subdue Japan if war broke out  given  the anti war and pacific nature of Japan’s  constitution . Abe was accused of tinkering with this pacific constitution and the protesters were against  this as they  do not ever want to experience the atomic   bomb   tragedies  of Hiroshima and  Nagasaki ever  again in their life time .

    Abe’s  assassin  said  he killed   him because he belonged to a church  that had treated the assasin’s mother poorly and   shot  him with a home made gun while Abe  was campaigning  for a candidate of his party in a  local election outside the capital Tokyo .  Abe’s brand of economics was called Abenomics and he brought Japan into proactive and beneficial trade  partnerships  and diplomatic relationships in the Asia Pacific region.  But  he could not   bear   to fold his arms and watch China  dominate his part of the world and acted strongly and in terms  strategies to make sure Japan does  not become a sitting duck in terms of security if war  should break out in their area . That  was the grudge of the protesters at his state funeral ,  although    they   were  a minority  . He however has  my admiration  for  doing his best to prepare his nation militarily for war both  domestic   and foreign  . That  was   what    informed the state funeral  which  was a great  honor even though he was out of office  It was an honor well  deserved as security any where in the world including Nigeria  should  be the main occupation of any government worth its salt  .  That  state funeral  was like our national awards   last  week  in which  those who kill and maim our people  cannot ever expect  to be partakers or beneficiaries in any way .

  • Tinubu’s indelible Lagos record

    Tinubu’s indelible Lagos record

    An oft-stated tale of Lagos’s once-notorious traffic jams is that of a taxi passenger stuck in a snarl-up who left the vehicle, wandered into a roadside restaurant to eat, drank a beer, took a nap, and returned to the vehicle that had not moved an inch. He reached his destination several hours later.

    First-time visitors to Lagos about 10 years ago were warned, “This is Lagos.” That meant that you should not expect help from anyone – but brace up for hard times ahead. Fast–forward to 2016 and the traffic congestion, high crime rate, clogged drainages, and roads filled with garbage could soon become just a bad dream. These days Lagosians still regale each other with anecdotes of the dystopian city even as positive changes can be seen in Africa’s most populous city, with 21 million people. These days the greeting “Welcome to Lagos” portends better news.

    Those were the words of the journalist, Kingsley Ighobor, writing in the April 2016 edition of the United Nations Journal, ‘Africa Renewal’, in the magazine’s ‘Focus on Cities’ section. He continued, “The transformation of Lagos started during the tenure of Bola Tinubu, Lagos State governor from 1999 to 2007. Mr. Tinubu set forth a rescue operation that his successor, Babatunde Fashola, later continued. There were political and economic benefits for such efforts. “Lagos is Nigeria’s richest state, producing about $90 billion a year in goods and services, making its economy bigger than that of most African countries, including Ghana and Kenya, notes the Economist.”

    Yet, despite the glaring evidence of positive change across Lagos before their very eyes, there are some public intellectuals and journalists who purvey what can only be described as a deliberate falsehood that the country’s commercial nerve centre has made no progress since 1999.

    An example is The Punch columnist, Abimbola Adelakun, who in her column of Thursday, July 14, 2022, wrote, “Lagos is one of the most dysfunctional cities in the world, and several objective assessments have demonstrated so. Lagos sits at the bottom of every rating that measures the liveability of cities worldwide. Year in and year out, the administrators of Lagos get exposed as a bunch of phonies. During the rainy season especially, their shoddy infrastructure collapses on their faces and their cluelessness is revealed. The only thing going for those who trot out the silly defence of their paymaster is that most of their audience have never seen an actual city before in their entire lives, and therefore have no framework for a reasonable comparison. That is why they dutifully regurgitate the lines of “Lagos is working” when they do not know what a working city looks like.”

    Not minding the condescending and insulting arrogance of a columnist who probably moves around blindfolded anytime she is in Lagos, what is astounding is the magnitude of the sheer intellectual dishonesty of Adelakun. She is an Assistant Professor in a prestigious American university and unflinching fidelity to truth is supposed to be the hallmark of the genuine intellectual. The way she resorts to careless and empirically unsupported generalizations does not indicate the sobriety, cautiousness and restraint of the meticulous scholar. It is pertinent to wonder how and what she teaches her students. Is it true that there has been no positive transformation in Lagos whatsoever over the last two decades? This is entirely fictional and does the reputation and credibility of this otherwise brilliant writer no good.

    A look at the news reports and feature pages of the major newspapers when Tinubu clocked 100 days in office in August 1999 reveals the utter chaos and anarchy that prevailed in Lagos at the time. The entire city from the rural areas to the elite residential preserves was suffocating under mountains of refuse. Heavy and destructive flooding accompanied rains as a result of either blocked or non-existent drainage channels. That was not the flash flooding witnessed now, which drains off in less than an hour after rains, and is a normal feature of coastal cities even in the most advanced countries in the world. The short journey from Ikeja to Ojota through Oregun, for instance, could take several hours on the then one-lane road that was riddled with potholes and craters. Today the Kudirat Abiola Road, Oregun is a double-lane highway equipped with sidewalks, traffic lights, duct pipes, drainage channels, and traffic medians. Two decades after its construction, the road does not have even a single pothole.

    The same is true of other major roads constructed, dualized, and modernized under Tinubu such as Awolowo Road, Ikoyi; Akin Adesola Road, Victoria Island; Adeolu Odeku Road, Victoria Island; Agege Motor Road; Ikotun-Igando Road; Yaba-Itire-Lawanson-Ojuelegba Road; LASU-Iba Road, Ojo; Ajah-Badore Road, Eti-Osa; Oba Sekumade Road, Ikorodu; Adetokun Ademola Road, Victoria Island and the Lekki-Epe Expressway to name a few. No more is Lagos routinely described as one of the dirtiest cities in the world as used to be the case in 1999 as an effective Private Sector Participation (PSP) system in waste management has been institutionalized and the Lagos State Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) has been re-equipped and modernized to handle industrial waste in Lagos. Indeed, the challenge of refuse has been turned into a job creation opportunity with thousands of men and women gainfully engaged through the PSP scheme.

    Read Also: Nigeria 2023 and the Tinubu Question (3)

    As at 1999, car snatching and bank robberies in broad daylight were daily occurrences in Lagos. The security situation in the state was anarchic. An insensitive President Olusegun Obasanjo described the state as an urban jungle in Y2000 without lifting a finger to help Lagos or compensate the state for her enormous economic contribution to the polity. Lagos contributes the highest component of Value Added Tax (VAT), Petroleum Tax Fund (PTF), Education Tax Fund (ETF) among others all of which accrue to the Federation Account and are shared among all tiers of government. Through re-organizing, re-equipping, and providing better motivation for the Rapid Response Squad (RRS), a detachment of the Federal Government controlled Nigeria Police Force (NPF), as well as the establishment of the Lagos State Neighbourhood Watch Security Corp, among other initiatives; the megacity has become one of the safest havens in a country confronted with severe security challenges. The Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola administration consolidated on the foundation laid by Tinubu on security through the establishment of the Lagos State Security Trust Fund (LSSTF) just as the Mr. Akinwumi Ambode administration enhanced the state’s employment generation capacity by creating the Lagos State Employment Trust Fund.

    Anyone who asserts with Adelakun’s kind of authoritative ignorance that Lagos has not progressed over the last two decades must be living in outer space. Before 1999, the transport landscape in Lagos State used to be dominated by the notorious molue buses as well as the unruly yellow danfo buses. While the former is becoming extinct now, the latter is gradually and methodically being phased out. The riotous and dangerous okada operators are also being eliminated from Lagos roads in phases by the governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu administration. The Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), which is a permanent feature on Lagos roads today maintaining traffic sanity, was non-existent in 1999. Today, the revolutionary Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system begun by the Tinubu administration is being systematically extended across diverse routes throughout Lagos State. The ultra-modern buses are decent, clean, comfortable, and safer despite inevitable mishaps on occasions. The 27 km Lagos Blue Line Rail Mass Transit which will run from Lagos Marina-Orile Iganmu- Mile 2- Okokomaiko and ultimately down to Badagry will commence commercial shuttles in January 2023 while the Red Line which runs from Agbado to Lagos Marina will come on stream in the first quarter of next year.

    As the Commissioner for The Environment, Mr. Tunji Bello, explained on an online platform recently, “Asiwaju Tinubu designed seven rail lines for Lagos in 2005 and I was a member of his cabinet as well as a member of the committee that designed it including the present governor. First was a cabinet team sent to three South American countries that came back and we decided through modifications that Lagos needed part of what we saw. Out of our committee came seven rail lines out of which Fashola who succeeded him started the Blue Line. And Sanwo-Olu who was also a member of the team started the Red Line. The Green Line is for the Lekki corridor all the way to Epe and Epe to connect the Purple Line to Ikorodu.

    Mr. Bello continued: “Tinubu also started the Lekki-Epe Expressway and I was in the negotiating team with the consortium that financed it. A senior lawyer in this our estate was one of the lawyers for the consortium. Setting up the toll gate was part of the ways to be able to pay back the funds raised by the consortium. Just like when they claimed Tinubu owned Oriental Hotel and I laughed. My ministry gave the Hong Kong owner of the Steel Company in Ogba, Ikeja, and the famous owner of the former Golden Crown Chinese restaurant since the 1970s the drainage clearance to build that hotel and when they were opening it they labeled the underground restaurant thereafter Tinubu and some have repeatedly said Tinubu owned it despite the owner’s repeated claim.”

    Incidentally, the whole stretch along which such iconic structures like Oriental Hotel, the Civic Centre, and the Boat Club lie today along Ozumba Mbadiwe Way, was as at 1999 a vast refuse dump. Before 1999, there was a perennial flood at the Bar Beach, which not only destroyed properties on Ahmadu Bello Way, forcing the Federal Government as well as state governments to abandon their guest houses and liaison offices along that stretch but also threatened the submergence of large swathes of Victoria Island. The Federal Government annually spent about N4 billion to pour sand into the ocean to prevent flooding to no avail. At the request of the Tinubu administration, the Federal Government handed over the beach to Lagos State and a bar beach flood prevention line was first constructed later this challenge was transformed into the ongoing construction of the Eko Atlantic City, a brand new city emerging from the bowels of the ocean. Last month, the United States announced that it is building its largest embassy in the world in Eko Atlantic City.

    Today, the entire country is waiting on the take off of the Dangote Refinery to stop the embarrassing importation of refined petroleum and the massive fiscal hemorrhage occasioned by the opaque and fraudulent fuel subsidy payments. The facility is located on the Lekki Free Trade Zone, another notable Tinubu initiative, which is only one of several signature projects being undertaken in that axis, which certainly ranks among the fastest developing corridors in Africa. There are those who argue that Lagos State would still have developed at this pace even without Tinubu as governor. That is crass ignorance. Yes, Colonel Mobolaji Johnson helped lay a solid foundation for the state, Governor Lateef Jakande made impressive path-breaking strides and General Buba Marwa had flashes of brilliance in his short term as administrator. But Tinubu’s administration brought a paradigm shift in the governance of the state that unleashed the current unprecedented level of transformation.

    A former Solicitor-General of the State and Commissioner of Lands in the Tinubu administration, Mr. Fola Arthur Worrey, gives an example of Tinubu’s exemplary developmental leadership in this regard in a 2012 essay. In his words, “For special projects, Lagos State was the first state to approach the capital market to raise development funds through the issuance of bonds, and these development bonds were successfully floated. Again this was a first even though the laws enabling the process had been on the books for years. It was a very involved process requiring a deep understanding of the financial and legal requirements and market factors especially how investors would react to state government bond offers, but the mix of Tinubu’s top-notch knowledge of financial systems with the legal and financial knowledge inherent in his team and among the civil servants in the finance and budget ministries and the debt office, the fact that Asiwaju had ensured that there was an up-to-date state finances audit report (a rare event), and with the input of external experts, we saw it through…Now, virtually every state relies on the floating of bonds to raise vital development funds, though not all of them get it right as we saw in a recent case. So here again was Asiwaju, changing the paradigm and setting the pace for the rest of the country to follow.”

  • Soccer is business no longer a sport

    Soccer is business no longer a sport

    The hue and cry associated with the NFF elections have melted like ice cream left under the scorching sun. Nothing changed about the pattern in which the winners emerged -predictable winners with unseen hands dictating how candidates got elected. How do you contest an election and score zero votes? Who does that? How can you be in an election hall, and get one vote in spite of how you reached out to fellow voters? It becomes laughable when a voter representing a zone doesn’t vote for the candidate chosen from his area despite firm directives from the henchmen in such states instructing the person who to vote for.

    Former Nigeria international goalkeeper Peterside Idah described all that transpired on election day as a crime scene littered with foreign currencies meant to induce voters. Idah attested to the fact that he witnessed the shenanigans, including his teasers whether to demand a refund of what he gave an unnamed voter to appreciate him.  The Bishop whose church is in South  Africa gives credence to the crime scene as he referenced his situation on election day. Clearly thrown into the lagoon was the competence of the candidates. In other climes, each aspirant would have been subjected to a session probably on television a few hours before the election where they would unveil their plans for the federation since the major target for any federation member is to source cash independent of governments’ to run their programmes.

    Many people argue that all electoral exercises are expensive and riddled with bizarre situations for which in the larger world people lose their lives. It shouldn’t be so for sports. Sport is a leveller. Sports are measured by picking the best in a fair and square manner—no undue advantage. Aspirants ought to have been judged by well they campaigned around their zones, leaving the final day o the day before the election for them to face Nigerians on national television telling what they would do to improve the game with timelines which we would hold them accountable.

    The scene of the crime was so shameful when those who offered bribes as high as between $5,000 and $10,000 went after those who didn’t vote for them and a refund of their cash. Interesting. They executed this despicable exercise by hiring thugs or roughnecks including having to prevent parked cars with theirs to stop their debtors from escaping as early as 4 am.  Shame! Culprits have gone away unnoticed with most of them carrying their shoulders in ‘buga’ fashion, having collected a large chunk of what they had used to induce voters. I hope we would know who to hold when these urchins turn around tomorrow to molest voters for not giving what is their due. Brigand starts from crime scenes such as what happened last weekend in Benin City.

    The other takeaway from the election in Edo state is that the tripod on which the administration of Amaju Melvin Pinnick has been destroyed, leaving in its wake no real new members but throwing forward silent members of the past administration and those rubbing shoulders with members around the federation in the past eight years.

    Have we heard the last about all the things that happened before, during and after the NFF election? Certainly not. What happened to the law issues before the voting was held? Stories in the media suggest that the federation’s operating officer may be on his way out for insolence to his bosses with word rife that he is busy trying to get former government officials to plead for him. Expectedly, a deluge of congratulatory messages from the high and mighty to the winners at a time one would have wished that the newly elected members converge on Abuja to do their first meeting to take stock of what they would be facing in the next four years.

    A visit to the honourable sports minister would have helped to open a new vista for them by listening to what he expects from them to have a seamless relationship for the good of the game. A workable relationship between the ministry chiefs and the NFF officials would help the game develop at the heights expected from a big country like Nigeria. It doesn’t make any sense for the government to fund the federation’s programmes yet can’t be told how much cash was expended.

    The federation’s new members should ensure that their books are audited quarterly to douse suspicion of sharp practices. Nothing stops such audit reports to be made public for transparency’s sake. Tales of the unexpected don’t encourage investors to associate their brands or services with bodies enmeshed in controversies bothering on corrupt practices. Indeed, football is no longer a sport but a big business which can only achieve its aims and objectives when all doubts are cleared.

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    The majority of those on the new board did a few things with the last board while others were key members in the federation’s transactions in the last dispensation and know where the shoe pinches. Debts of astronomical proportion predate the Amaju Pinnick administration largely because of the federal government’s fiscal budget regime. Perhaps, this new board and the minister can collaborate in such a way that the government can reconsider a different budget approach as we have in other developed sporting countries. Ibrahim Gusua cannot feign ignorance of the legal issues the body faces with every new administration. Therefore, he should seize the meeting with the minister to assure him of his administration’s readiness to implement the recommendations of the 10-Year development plan for Nigeria’s football since they sought views from all strata of the country’s football fraternity before arriving at the document which has been commended by everyone who has painstakingly read its contents.

    Gusau, therefore, should ensure that there is synergy between the federation and the domestic leagues across the country.  The people who run the domestic league think that corporate sponsorship is like buying a lottery ticket from any hawker on the streets before the draws are made. These league organisers feel that they can knock on sponsors’ doors anytime they are ready, forgetting that cash from the corporate world is investors’ contributions to such companies’ fiscal outlays.

    No investor throws their money on any project without critical analysis of what is in such investments for them. The investor also needs to know how viable the new interests are in the open market.

    Budgets are done based on companies’ fiscal year, making it imperative on those who want to showcase their wares on such platforms should come with strong credentials aside from being credible business concerns. In the business world, things are planned. No firm would do business with any venture without a market plan for them to evaluate such a venture’s true financial strength. Every kobo spent is discussed before putting it in the annual budget.

    We should allow the private sector to come in to set the tone with entrepreneurial skills, 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.

    Nigeria’s elite class in football started in 1990, with no record of how much it has realised from inter and intra-club transfers. Nobody can tell any investor how much the league realises from merchandising, television rights, etc things are done by the hunch with each group choosing what appeals to its fancy. The resultant effect is that 30 years on, we cannot appropriately lay our hands on an authentic audited account of the league that would stand the tests of time. How can the league’s accounts be audited without telling the stakeholders what the body generated from intra and inter-club transfers? The interesting thing about these two components is that one is done in foreign currencies.

    So, governors, please ask your club chairmen where the cash over the years has been kept.