Category: Round Table

The West African Examination Council (WAEC) just released the 2023 West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE) results but announced that the examination body would withhold the results of some of the students whose state governors had defaulted in paying  the exam fees for the students. WAEC claims that about eight states are guilty.

Mr. Patrick Areghan who spoke on behalf of WAEC refused to name all the states involved but claimed there were about eight states. He allegedly declared that the examination body was not going to reveal the names of the states as in his words, “…some are going to pay”. “However, Zamfara and Niger states are the highest debtors. Again Zamfara did not present any candidate for this year’s WASSCE,” Areghan said.

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It beggars belief that a regional examination body, WAEC would almost repeatedly be surreptitiously playing with the future and psyche of students whose obviously irresponsible governors refuse to redeem their promises to pay their exam fees. They must treat this beyond business.

The Roundtable Conversation has on several occasions urged the nation to take the future of Nigerian children more seriously through the proper running of its institutions and agencies. It is a systemic malaise that has infested the education sector like many other sectors that has been frustrating both parents and students. As a sub-regional examination body, other countries take part in WAEC-organised school certificate examinations. It is a shame that we onky hear of some Nigerian states who refuse to pay the fees for their registered students.

The West African School Certificate Examination Certificate (WASCE) is the minimum and somewhat the benchmark for a lot of progress and opportunities in the life of any student holding a certificate with five credits including Mathematics and the English language. In a very wry sense, it is the minimum that seemingly qualifies an individual for even the position of the presidency in Nigeria. Sad and strategically flawed as that is in a 21st century Nigeria where the global benchmark is much higher given educational advancement and technology. Many analysts believe that Nigerian constitution must be amended to expunge such very low requirement  that has not been of any good to the development of the Nigerian economy. 

However even as people clamour that anyone aspiring to public office must present more than a WASCE certificate or its equivalent, the certificate is a qualifying criteria for both academic and non-academic/skill acquisition ventures by anyone holding same. It is therefore very disheartening that the lack of focus in education and other sectors has affected the attitude of many Nigerians including governors to the education of their citizens.

The question we at the Roundtable Conversation keep asking is, what are the priorities of some Nigerian state governors? Why should a state governor, elected by the people toy with the education of his young people? Why would some governors use the promise to pay for WAEC fees for students as mere bait for votes from their parents? Most students who sit for the exams are minors who do not earn any income but dependent on their parents. It is therefore very wrong for some governors to promise to make the payments, get the votes or support of poor parents based on their wish for their children to sit for the exams with the hope of a better future and then renege on the payment.

2023 is not the first time that WAEC would on releasing the annual results announce the withholding of the results of some students whose state governors owe the examination body.  The world might never understand how unserious Nigerian public officers can be. What else can be the priority of a public officer if not the welfare of its citizens especially the young and vulnerable? Why do governors lead such a luxurious life but neglect the development of its future generations?

For the avoidance of doubt, paying for WAEC fees is not a constitutional requirement of any governor or other public officials. However, weaponizing  the poverty of the people for political gain is totally reprehensible and must be seen as a violation of the rights of the children involved. Every child is entitled to basic education that ought to be funded by the state or at least subsidized at some point. However,  in situations where the resources are not available for parents to pay for their children’s tuition or exam fees as in the case of WASCE, the governors who promise to pay must do so on time.

It is very unfortunate that most people who vie for public offices often seem to lack and compassion especially in developing countries especially Nigeria. With abundant human and natural resources that if well managed, Nigeria would easily be in the first world, it is stupefying that education is not a priority especially for most governors in the Northern part of the country. Nigeria is the poverty capital of the world with most of the poor from that region.

Nigeria has the highest number of out-of-school children at about more than 20million and more being added given the economic hardship and the insecurity in schools since the Chibok girls’ abduction in 2014 and the unchecked child marriages, child labour and the almajiri children system. The lack of education for the young has serious implications, the number of illiterates and unskilled youths keep increasing and with that the increase in social ills and making way for such individuals to be recruited by the marauding bandits and insurgents looking for vulnerable children to recruit.

The irresponsible governors that neglect the education of their young live to see the effects even when they receive billions in security votes to protect themselves from the same children they disempowered. The same governors that refuse to pay for the WAEC fees of their students have the least enrolment for the exams because their region is filled with children with no basic education.

The governors collect billions in so-called security funds and the irony is that sometimes, that does nothing to save them from those they have abandoned. Paying the WAEC fees of a few students is no big deal. The failure to pay the fees tells more about the defaulting governors than the students and their parents. The governors ironically enroll their own children in highbrow public schools or even institutions abroad but cannot pay the pittance in comparative terms charged as WAEC fees?

On the part of WAEC, the Roundtable Conversation wonders the type of game being played by the organization that literally has the fates of students in their hands annually. Why is WAEC always shielding the concerned defaulters? It is part of the hypocrisy in the system where there is a covert collusion by agencies and institutions with irresponsible public servants. This payment default is almost a yearly ritual at least  in the last few years. Why can’t WAEC find a way of enforcing a deadline for the payment before the exams? Why is the default in payment an exclusive Nigerian affair in a regionally owned body?

The consistent throwing of students and their parents under the bus by both WAEC and the defaulting governors must be seen as very disgraceful for Nigeria. It impugns on the integrity of the institution. Has WAEC ever wondered the psychological and long term impact of withholding a student’s result for no fault of theirs?  WASCE results are almost some of the defining moments of a child’s life on completing high school. Everyone looks eagerly to having the results whether good or bad. The psychological implication for both parents and students can only be imagined.

In a country with a huge population of illiterates, no development can take place. WAEC might not be able to compel the irresponsible governors to pay for the few students that ultimately get up to Senior Secondary School (SS3) class in their states but it can take measures to make them pay on time to avoid the anguish students and parents go through. It is very shameful that governors that drive about in long convoys most of which are bulletproof imported SUVs cannot pay the small amount for their students based on their voluntary promises.

Some individuals might wave this ugly situation away as inconsequential but it tells a lot of stories about where Nigeria is as a country. It tells a story about WAEC as an organization. It tells a story about how much those governors believe in democracy and decency. It tells the students as growing children that you can get a free pass just because you have a public office. It can discourage the students or even those who know about their experiences from pursing further education.

It is this same attitude of official irresponsibility that empowers most government institutions like the state scholarship boards and Niger Delta Development Commission (Amnesty office) to owe students tuition and allowances even for foreign institutions. It is that lack of accountability that WAEC seems to be supporting with their none disclosure of the names of the governors holding students to ransom that shows that it is not just politicians that are the problem of Nigeria.

 There must be a way that the body can compel the governors to live up to their promises. The governors have enough resources they waste on elections and fighting opponents but refuse to pay the WAEC fees of their students. A huge part of organizational responsibility is the seamless execution of the laws guiding operations and that for payment deadlines as in this case must be one.

WAEC should start by publishing the names of the governors who defaulted, then follow it up with the pre-exam publication of names of governors who have promised to pay the WAEC fees of their students. Anything short of this would and should be seen as WAEC aiding and abetting official irresponsibility and stalling the career of innocent citizens. If they feel just paying WAEC fees is a big deal, they should not use it as bait for votes.

The dialogue continues…

The long awaited ministerial nominees’ list has been sent to the senate for screening. Not many Nigerians realize that being nominated for a ministerial post is not synonymous with automatic occupation of any public office. Screening according to the Oxford English Dictionary means ‘the evaluation or investigation of something as part of a methodical survey, to assess suitability for a particular role or purpose’. Some nominees had in the past been rejected from being confirmed.

Since 1999, Nigerian presidents have all had a weird pattern of just sending the names of nominees to the Senate for the so-called screening without attaching the expected positions the nominees would likely occupy in the cabinet. This has in a way been very worrisome to political analysts and all those who are familiar with global best practices. How do you literarily interview a prospective employee without being sure what position the applicant would be filling?

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Many have insisted that this idea of merely sending the nominees for what has seemingly become a ‘blind screening’ process in the senate trivializes the process. If Nigeria has fashioned its democracy after the American model, it should be seen to copy the most functional processes. Technology and the internet has made globalization more functional than earlier imagined. Nigerians have been watching the American Senate screening of nominees and have seen how thorough the senators who conscientiously work for the nation do their constitutional duties. 

We all watched how a Hilary Clinton was grilled for almost twelve hours having been nominated as Secretary of State despite being a Yale alumnus, a former two-term Senator representing New York and former Arkansas and United States First Lady and a successful attorney. The Senators put value to the position of Secretary of State and the impact on both their national security and foreign policy objectives. There was no room for partisanship.

Screening nominees is not supposed to be a perfunctory legislative duty. It is a serious national assignment that senators must take very seriously. The senators suspending their break to carry out the national duty is commendable but not enough. They must be seen to go beyond that and take the road less travelled. They must be seen to thoroughly do a good job that would show the people that truly, they have the interest of the nation at heart.

The list of the twenty eight nominees is out, many analysts both professionals and motor park analysts have been giving their interesting opinions about all the nominees. The most interesting is obviously from those who believe that the President has through the list shown a very profoundly political strategic thinking. The list has about four past governors, seven seemingly young women making up about 25% of the list, up from the 17% that the former President Buhari administration gave to women.

It is interesting to note that the nominated women  seem to enjoy more credibility quotient than the male nominees despite having some past governors on the list like that of Rivers, Nyesom Wike, Kaduna’s Mallam Nasir El’Rufai and Ebonyi state’s David Umahi. Many are however shocked that after struggling to be elected a senator, Umahi went ahead to allegedly lobby to become a minister.  The Roundtable Conversation hopes that the screening process would shine the torchlight on his thought processes that is convincing him to ditch representing his constituents as a senator to wishing to be confirmed a minister.

A former governor Nyesom Wike screening should provide clarity on what appears to be his very contradictory political odyssey in the last few years. He was a founding member of the People’s democratic Party (PDP). He was a local government chairman, a state commissioner, a minister of State for education, a two-term governor of his state and today a ministerial nominee under the All progressive Congress (APC). He is possibly more famous for his alleged anti-party activities through the G-5 Group of alleged PDP dissidents of which he is seen as an arrowhead than any other achievement as governor of his state. The viral old videos of him saying he did not wish to be a minister or to join the APC that he likened to moving from malaria (read PDP) to a stage 4 Cancer (APC). It would be a thing for the history books to see the senators take him on on these issues among other relevant questions.

The former governor of Kaduna state, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai has been as controversial as he has been a long beneficiary of political positions. He started off as the Chairman of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to being Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to being a two-term governor of Kaduna state and is notorious for his handling of the murderous herders/indigenes clashes in the state. His often insensitive political statements have had many question his empathy quotient. 

The former governor’s very poor handling of the lingering Southern Kaduna  conflict/killings is one legacy he would have trail his tenure as governor for centuries. It would be very interesting to hear the senators thoroughly push him to unbundle his legacies as he gets ready to work on the national stage again. We would be waiting and watching to see how the 109 senators screen this former governor.

For all the political fireworks and import, the screening of these two would be a sure spectacle but we would not want anything to overshadow an objective and patriotic work by our senators.  It is unfortunate that most often politicians assume that governance is their business exclusively. That is an erroneous belief. Every Nigerian has a stake in the country. When those we elected or who the elected appoint assume offices, it is not for them alone, they become servants of the people and each citizen has a say. That is accountability.

The Roundtable Conversation is equally worried that the list is full of former senators and party chieftains both male and female. The worry is not because they don’t deserve or qualify to be there but because in Nigeria, allegiance to party, group and regional interests have impacted how governments perform. Would the APC senators who are in the majority be objective enough to understand that at the national level, capacity and merit trump any other consideration? When the ministers are sterling in character and capacity, the whole nation and the governing party take the credit.  Would the senators let patriotism trump party or other mundane considerations? We hope that they understand the implication of being in the apex legislative body.

There is equally the emotional consideration that some past senate tried to show because they felt that due to the fact that there is a global clamour for more inclusive governments, they at some point failed to screen the women but told them to just ‘bow and go’. The Roundtable Conversation has interacted with most of the nominees but being called up to national duty at this time of our national life is another kettle of fish altogether. Feminism does not confer competence or sense of patriotism. To this end, we expect that like Hilary Clinton, all the female nominees must be grilled to prove their competence and readiness to work for the nation.

We want women to be included but we also know that most of the women that served in the past administration performed below average. There are many qualified and ready women not just in the APC as a party but in the country even if they are not politicians would be in a position to work diligently for the development of the country. We need women and men who would work for the people and this can be ascertained only through a thorough screening process.

The Roundtable Conversation had before these nominations advocated the idea like many Nigerians that the names be attached to the future positions the nominees would be expected to serve in so that the screening process would be done in the best democratic style and to really scrutinize the nominees based on the portfolio. The explanation of Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila, the President’s Chief of Staff that not attaching names to portfolio would make it easier for President Tinubu to change his mind if need be seems very confusing to many. Cabinet appointment is about the team that can work with the President or governors to achieve development goals, by not naming them appropriately to help the senators ask the relevant questions, the same President or governors would be losing the confidence of the people if per chance based on wrong-headed questions the nominees are not thoroughly grilled and they fail to perform.

We feel that part of valid political strategies is to be in a position where the legislature either at the state or federal levels can help the executive grill their future teams. We have been doing the wrong things for so long and the results have not been positive. Why can’t we strategically put all the right measures to make sure that the right pegs get into the right holes?

Nigerians expected that given the socio-economic issues that is keeping the nation on the edge of the precipice. A better strategy would have been to take the road less travelled but closer to the destination. We however wait and watch the 10th national assembly as the nation expects they can only help the people by patriotically doing their jobs diligently. A President’s cabinet says a lot about the prospects of development and the ball is in the Senate’s court. The world is watching.

The dialogue continues…  

NIGERIAN governors are as politically powerful as they are influential in the political space. Since the return of democracy in 1999, we have seen the powers that state governors wield. In most cases, they often gang up, through their ‘Governor’s Forum’ to harass the Presidency. The Regional governors’ forum like the Northern, South Eastern, South Western and South-South governors’ forum are merely pressure groups not necessarily for regional interest/growth or to find common economic collaborative alliances for the good of the people but often for the interest of the governors.

The Roundtable Conversation understands that Nigeria runs a federation but it seems the federating units are not run in ways that each of the unit can coordinate and work for the welfare of the people. The governors seem to often exact pressure for self-preservation. Since 1999, it’s a bit difficult to point out governors that have truly transformed their states with enduring legacies that have made the lives of the people better in the long run beyond the pre-election razzmatazz of media ‘project flag-off and commissioning’.

With 133million people living in multi-dimensional poverty and a sad addition of extra 4million in the first quarter of 2023, the country is on a slippery slope. Understandably there are challenges from global economic issues worsened by the covid-19 pandemic but then, the Nigerian political structure seems bereft of administrative plans to engineer the states to self-sufficiency either in the security sector or for economic viability that sustains and creates jobs.

The federal government has its constitutional roles like the  general provision of certain infrastructure and the internal security of the country that has been a challenge for some decades now but the Roundtable Conversation believes that the governors in Nigeria can do better with less politicking and more creativity in governance to ameliorate the poverty in the land.  Most of the problem of the governors lack the creative commitment that can help them diversify their economies given their unique resources.

The near total dependence on the federal allocations seems to have made the governors behave like babies yet to be weaned of parental support.  All the states in Nigeria are blessed with a lot of natural resources some of which are so priced in the tech, solid minerals, hospitality and tourism sectors but lack of accountable investments in these areas which has made them totally undervalued or left in the hands of illegal miners or some foreign poachers that ferret some of the items to other countries as raw materials.

Excuses can be pushed forward about what the federal government can do but many believe that the governors can channel the same energy they exert for their group interests at various levels to get the federal government to do the needful. But to most of the governors, party or group interests often outweigh their commitment to the people who voted them in. The state governors in Nigeria know how to work for their individual political interests despite the difficulties they might encounter so what can they not do if they are truly committed to the welfare of their people?

The state governors always pride themselves as those in charge of political structures of their political parties and that is no fluke. They play big roles before and during elections. They often determine the party delegates, candidates for state houses of assembly, national assembly and they often influence how their party members vote during presidential elections. This in local parlance is often referred to as ‘from the sweeper to the speaker’ kind of influence.

It therefore goes to show that Nigerian governors have the powers to help the people better than what has been g since 1999. The governors can do better. The level of poverty is crippling and governors must get more empathetic and creative in helping the people. Series of nocturnal meetings and talk-shops have not significantly helped the people to create wealth for economic prosperity.

One of the reasons why most governors are not creatively being productive is the team they often work with. The idea  of Nigerians seeing government service as a favour often influences who is appointed. The moment governors realize that productivity stems from competence and capacity, they would understand that the engagement of those ready to work trumps the idea of just appointing some people seen as party or personal loyalists. Leadership is not often by the most intelligent but good leaders are those who can get the best teams for the jobs. It takes discernment and humility for good leaders to understand this.

The argument might be that the governors do not appoint  ministers at the federal level and these ministers often superintend the sectors that ought to work for the states to benefit. However, this argument falls flat on its face because the Nigerian constitution makes it mandatory for each state to have a minister and in most cases, because the President might not necessarily know everyone, the governors who are closer to the people are given the honour to nominate their citizens. We often see them nominating not necessarily the most competent but those that they have control over in what is euphemistically referred to as loyalty.

This is exactly why most of the ministers are either unproductive or in ministries where their competences cannot work maximally. It is ironic that most times the country fails to understand the powers of the governors in a country where most of them operate as emperors given the flawed political structure that empowers them beyond measure. These same governors often influence those elected to the legislature at both state and federal levels. They often have a hold on them in ways that many analysts believe is stifling the democracy we practice. Senate screening for nominees is often influenced by their state governors.

The series of impeachments at the state houses of assembly across the country are often fallout of executive interference. At one time in Edo state during the tenure of Adams Oshiomole, there was about four speakers of the state assembly in about two years. Edo state is not alone. Many state governorsare alleged to have had interfered in the leadership of their state assemblies in their efforts to either arm-twist or have their loyalists decide what happens in the house.

In some weird ways, successive Nigerian governors have not shown that they understand the values of good governance. The politicking to them keeps them relevant and powerful so they neglect their real duties to the people and excel in the game of self-preservation.  The true powers that Nigerian governors wield can be deployed positively to ameliorate the poverty in the land.

In every democracy, there must be a level of synergy between the different arms of government and institutions. This would ensure that there are no conflicts of interest in ways that certain functions are not compromised for some mundane interests. The country is blessed with huge human and natural resources so it needs leaders that have a vision for prosperity to harness the resources for the good of the people.

Political offices must begin to be seen as being held in trust for the people before governors especially can begin to be held accountable for the levels of poverty in their states. They might not be the ones in charge of all the sectors of the economy but they are very influential in the political space in ways that can make them more productively accountable.

Even though Nigeria runs a federation, the governors seem to only whip up that narrative when they are seeking self –preservation. When they push for their interest as a collective, they unit without the federating tag. The Roundtable Conversation believes the governors have either taken the people for granted for so long or underestimate their socio-political influence at both state and federal levels. 

The level of poverty across the country has been documented by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics across the regions. It behooves on the state governors to take some critical look at the statistics especially at regional and state levels and coordinate how to fight the scourge. The essence of government is to see to the welfare and security of the people.

The level of poverty in the nation is alarming and while no one is underrating some efforts some governors are making, the people must feel the impact of these efforts nationwide. Understandably there are issues the federal government are constitutionally meant to handle but the governors can still use their influence to get those things done for the people without pushing the burden  of party loyalty.

Already, for the twenty eight governors that were either elected for the first time of re-elected during the March 18 election, the expectations are high as more people are slipping into the poverty bracket. The political class must realize that the global political space has changed and the people are at the edge and want their welfare made a priority. The people are waiting to see actual improvement in their lives given the resources available.

The governors must think of the legacies that they want to leave behind. Today, late Micheal Okpara of the defunct Eastern region, late Lateef Jakande of Lagos, late Aminu Kano of Kano did not do miracles but their humanity and legacies have immortalized them. They might not have eradicated poverty totally but each of them have enduring legacies that the people nostalgically crave for their ilk decades after their death.

The dialogue continues…

Nigerian elections are over. The executive at the federal and state levels have all been inaugurated. There are litigations going on in courts at the different election petitions tribunals across the country but the constitution grants those already sworn in the legitimacy to function. So the President and the state governors must appoint a team to work with. The Ministerial/Commissioners’ nominees of the President and governors would normally be sent to the Senate and the State Houses of Assembly for screening and approval.

This process of screening in the Nigerian democratic setting has been fraught with a myriad of problems. Many analysts believe that the flawed system affects the outcome of the process in the long run. The idea that most political parties in Nigeria have no identifiable political ideology makes the situation worse.  Most analysts actually believe that Nigeria has not developed a strong political party structure that can help build enduring democratic structures.

At the moment, Nigerian political parties are largely dependent on single, regional or a group of individuals and many believe that  cannot be sustainable because human mortality puts an end to such restrictive influences. The democracies across the world are viable because they operate based on structures put in place that outlive humans. The purpose of political parties in any democracy is not just to win power. No, it is much more than that. Political parties are like gatekeepers in any democracy. They provide vehicles that transport individuals to political offices at both the executive and legislative levels.

It is therefore the duty of well-structured political parties to make sure that what binds their members together births a better policy articulation and execution strategies that would ultimately improve the welfare of the people which is the essence of governments. To achieve good governance, parties must be bound by strong ideologies that all members must work hard enough to uphold. In the United Kingdom and United States of America, the Tories and the Labour Party and the Democrats and Republican parties respectively are some of the most powerful political parties whose ideological choices are neither opaque or ambiguous.

Winning or losing elections are dependent on the outcomes of the influence of their ideological choices on the different sectors of the economy. There is an unspoken demand from every member especially the politicians to act in total fidelity to the ideological slant of any party they belong to. This is part of the reasons for their enduring democracies. They do not run a perfect system but the structures are solid enough to carry the individual human imperfections while undergoing checks and balances. The structures are the pillars that sustain democracies because they outlive humans.

The Roundtable Conversation has followed Nigerian democracy in the last twenty four years and it is obvious the country cannot continue on the same path and expect growth and development. There must be a change because the former system has not brought progress. Having 133million Nigerians living in multi-dimnsional poverty with an additional 4million added in the first quarter of 2023 must be the awakening Nigeria needs and urgently too.

The idea that Presidents and governors nominate individuals for positions without attaching portfolio to them before they undergo screening in the legislative houses is one of the blights in our democracy. The individuals are often screened in a vacuum literarily. It is even worse in situations where the nominees were former legislators at any levels. The patronage by their colleagues have raised questions as to the capacity of the legislators to do a thorough job having in mind that being a legislator  at any point does not imbue anyone with the capacity to hold executive positions in any capacity.

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The Roundtable Conversation believes that the idea that ‘juicy legislative committees and Ministries’ exist in our political lexicon is an indictment on the political system we run. What this means is that there has been a process that focuses on individual or group gain at the expense of the nation. The word ‘Juicy’ comes with all the semantic and political import that is at once as indicting as it is nauseous.

The implication of the existence of the prefix ‘juicy’ in the circumstance diminishes the whole essence of service and competence. This throws up the opportunities for lobbyists and political influence peddling that leave the whole system wounded in a way that poverty and underdevelopment might never leave the nation. The shameless scramble for positions at the federal and state levels often compromises merit for other mundane considerations.

In the last eight years for instance, the nation has been reeling from the impact of such short-sightedness by the political class. Merit had often been compromised because the politicians at all levels often see appointments not as national service but as a favour to the appointees. We believe that the present system gives room for round pegs in square holes.

It is regrettable that political influence-peddling determines who gets what not necessarily who can do what. This too is rooted in the flawed political party structure where appointments are given as rewards for either party or individual loyalty. Make no mistakes about it, lobbying is a political lexicon that is not only practiced in Nigeria. However, the only difference is that the Nigerian brand is often an abuse of the system and power and ends up making individuals not accountable to the nation. There is a level of allegiance that political parties owe the people.

The National Assembly has completed the election of their leadership and the country is waiting to see what the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tajudeen Abass will come up with. The nation expects that committee Chairmanship would be done with competence and capacity in mind. Given that the country is almost at the edge of the precipice, the legislature must live up to expectation by doing their constitutional duties. The leadership must realize that to whom much is given much much is expected. Committees must be headed by professionals with capacity and with track record of performance.

Oversight function is one of the three core duties of the legislature. To do an effective oversight, the committee that becomes the eye of the national assembly after inauguration must be headed by individuals with the knowledge of the different ministries and agencies of governments at all levels. It takes one knowledgeable in a sector to be able to understand the operational nuances of such sectors.

The Senate under Godswill Akpabio must realize that Nigerians are smarting from the effects of the 9th Assembly that is generally referred to as ‘rubberstamp’ assembly. The political consciousness of Nigerians has gone beyond what happened in the past. All eyes are on the National Asembly. First the allocation of Committees must not be done in the old style of patronage where favoritism and nepotism held sway. Committees must be chaired by professionals in the fields so that there can be better efficiency.

The leadership of the National Assembly must realize that they are mere firsts amongst equals and that their members owe their constituents optimal performance. The leadership must be more interested in the optimal performance of each legislator as they are all parts of a whole. Their aggregate performance is what can impact on the whole country.

The list of ministers is expected to be sent to the senate very soon. The national expectation is that this 10th senate will take the road less traveled. There are expectations that they must insist that the nominees’ expected portfolio must be attached to their names so that they can drill the nominees and ask appropriate questions according to the qualifications of the nominees.  Party loyalty and other mundane considerations must not trump national interest. Nigeria needs that efficiency that comes from core and thorough professionals that would not be learning on the job. The All Progressive Congress (APC) must realize that the people are impatient and the last eight years have been a challenge for Nigerians. There must be a clear departure from the style that never worked.

The senate must move away from being seen as giving incompetent nominees a free pass. A Hilary Clinton who had been the first lady of Arkansas and the United States was twice elected as a senator in New York was thoroughly screened.  She faced about 12-hour drilling from the US senate when she was nominated as the Secretary of State in 2009. The Senators did not tell her to bow-and-go based on her antecedents. They drilled her exhaustively knowing that service to the United States at the level of Secretary of State was not similar to any post she had held prior to the time.

Nigerian legislators and the executive must show extreme patriotism. The right people must be in the right positions for things to work. It cannot be business as usual because reviving the economy  needs the urgency of now. The National Assembly must do its job knowing they are representing the whole nation even if they are from different constituencies and political parties in the nation.

The National assembly must set agenda for the state houses of assembly and together, Nigeria might just begin a slow journey to recovery. Conceding to the scramble for ‘juicy’ committees and ministries/agencies negates everything the executive and the national assembly should stand for. No sector is more important than the other. Competence and the capacity to deliver should be key.

The dialogue continues…

The inauguration of  legislative assemblies in the states and at the federal level has been completed.  The data is in and it shows that less Nigerian women were elected into the legislature at all levels. Of the 1,019 women that contested for seats during the 2023 elections, only 48 won the elections, a ratio of 4.7%. Even though the number increased from 45 in 2019 to 48 in 2023, the increase is almost insignificant.

It is very disappointing to note that as many as 14 states in Nigeria has no female elected into the legislature. Ekiti and Rivers states lead the pack with 6 out of 26 and 32 legislative seats respectively won by women, Kwara has 5 out of 24, Akwa Ibom has 4 out of 26, Ondo has 3 out of 26, Lagos has 4 out of 40, Bayelsa, Cross River, Ebonyi, Edo, Enugu, Kogi, Ogun, Plateau, Taraba, Delta, Benue and Oyo each has 2 out of an average of 2 dozen seats. Adamawa, Nasarawa, Anambra and Kaduna states each has just one female elected to the legislature.

As if that is not bad enough, Abia, Bornu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Niger, Osun, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara states have no single woman at both the state and federal legislature. At the apex legislative body, the National Assembly, it is equally a sad not for the Nigerian women. In fact, the number of women reduced by 19% from what it was in 2019. Nigeria has moved back from 7 female senators at the 9th assembly to a mere 3% at the 10th assembly  and just 4% in the House of Representatives.

The Roundtable Conversation saw this aberration in Nigeria’s politics as a disaster foretold. In a 21st century Nigeria, everyone should be worried that there is serious exclusion in the political space.  But sadly, the problem was not manufactured on election day. There is a systemic dysfunction in the political processes and sadly, many people prefer to analyze the outcomes of wrong-headed electoral processes that surreptitiously exclude women like poverty and underdevelopment rather than holistically addressing the core issues. Many global institutions and financial experts have continually warned developing countries on the consequences of political exclusion of women that constitute almost half of the population in most cases.

Nigeria is beset by a plethora of developmental problems and with 133million citizens in multi-dimensional poverty and counting, it is obvious that the political elite are not considering the value of inclusion in an era that has produced more educated, brilliant and well-informed women.  In 63 years, no woman has been elected President, Vice-President, Governor, Senate President or Deputy Senate President. The number of women elected to the legislature continues to dwindle with almost every election.

The legislature across the country has just elected its principal officers. The leadership of both the Senate and House of Representatives are all men.  At the political party caucuses,  we are yet to see the outcome for the house leaderships at the individual chamber levels but not much might come in favour of the few women there. It might just be the usual tokenism.

The implication of the almost muted voices of the women across the legislative houses is that the voice of women would not be heard loud and clear. For the states that do not have even a single woman in the house of assembly, the implications are dire. The women in those states virtually have no impute in the law making in what ought to be a representative democracy.  The question then is, how can issues that affect women be discussed favorably without most that wear the shoe being represented on the table?

Sadly, we might be forced to clink the cymbals to celebrate Ekiti, and Rivers with 6 women elected or a Kwara with 5 women but they still are all below 25% of available seats. Democracy is about numbers and as such, the women when it comes to voice votes are already on the losing statistics. Can this be democracy of the finest hue?

Women are the hands that rock the cradle, they are the engine room of the non-formal sector that contribute hugely to the GDP. Their absence on the political table continues to manifest in the development indices but who cares?

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But the road to gender exclusion on the political field is paved by many people.  The political parties are complicit and it is not just in the abstract. Men have a monopoly of party leadership, they have the exclusive access to the finances as the operations of parties are often very opaque and even though there seem to exist some laws guarding party finances, it is often obeyed in the breach.

Beyond the socio-religious inhibitions that impact women, the political party structures often do not give women any chance. There are still seen and unseen and undocumented financial issues that influence party leaderships and when women are shoved aside, the men have a field day determining who amongst them emerge as candidates and no one wins election without first being a candidate.

While we can blame the men, most of the female party members have not worked very hard to see the equity needed in Nigerian politics.

There is the innocuous ‘Women Leaders’ position in all political parties. The office seems to be the greatest disservice to women in the country. There has been little impact by the so-called women wings to change the narrative. The Roundtable Conversation had consistently urged the women party members to fight for equity at the political leadership level but it does seem they feel very satisfied with a very passive position that only gets activated when they want to fight for men to win elections. The question is, why should the women politicians accept some ‘Women Wings’ when there is no ‘Men’s Wing’? That is an automatic acceptance of a second class position in the parties.

Since the return of democracy in 1999, the Women Leaders seem to have progressively accepted being mere appendages unable to truly fight for their positions in Nigeria’s democracy.  Granted that there are circumstantial obstructions to the achievement of equity in the political field including but not limited to finance and violence, the Roundtable  Conversation believes that given how women have excelled in fields where merit is the criteria like in the corporate world, entertainment, the academia and sports, the women in politics ought to push further for more women to have seats at the table.

It is not enough that these women coerce women voters who are often in the majority to vote for their men but for them to vie for more influential party leadership positions so as to read the riot acts to their political parties if need be. It is a bit disappointing that the ‘Women Leaders’ often fail to rein in their parties when it comes to policies and passing laws that would make Nigerian politics more inclusive. The recent rejection of five gender equity bills at the national assembly ought to have been an issue the Women Leaders ought to have taken more seriously.

No change can happen without changes to the existing laws through constitutional ammendments. The women leaders ought to look beyond sewing uniforms, organizing hapless rural women for campaigns and dancing to holding their parties to uphold certain fundamental truths that can lead to equity in the political space.

The Women Leaders seem to lend their support to the recalcitrant attitude of their party members who go to the legislative houses and turn a blind eye to laws that can engender equity. We can all blame the men in politics but as things stand the women leaders and the successive Women Affairs ministers keep behaving like some lame ducks.  Only action produces results. The women need to make more demands and reject tokenism.

It will be delusional for the women who accept mainly the lowly roles of  ‘Women Leaders’ at party conventions to assume that women would one day win the lottery without buying a ticket. The first thing is to start to reject that position. If there are no Men wings, why should there be Women Wings of political parties. Women must stand up to be counted or continue to be locked out of the political space.

The poverty index shows that women are more impacted by poverty.

Across the world, politics have changed. The field is getting more inclusive and it is a known fact that countries with the fewer empowered women often rank low in development. The women in Nigerian politics must demand equity and stop being beggarly over their rights. One begins to wonder what could have been achieved without the advocacies of the media, multilateral agencies, donor agencies and the numerous Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).

The narrative is often that the women in politics are too few but the Roundtable Conversation believes that we do not necessarily need a million women before success can be achieved. We just need women who have a passion for development and who can be fired enough to work for a change. It is even funny that most of the men often elected especially in the legislature are often not as qualified as the women who contested with them but lost due to certain irregularities unchecked by the laws. Development is work in progress and the Nigerian nation must be made functional through inclusive democracy and the women in the field must stand up to be counted.

●The dialogue continues…

The first Senate President of Nigeria was the late iconic Owelle Nnamdi  Azikiwe who was there between January 1, 1960 to October 1 of the same year.. He later went on to become the Governor-general of the newly independent country. The Senate President is the chief presiding officer of the senate and second in line to the presidency after the vice president. It is a very influential and important position.

The apex legislative house in the Nigerian democracy, the National Assembly is made up of the House of Representatives with 360 members and the Senate made up of 109 senators, three senators per state and one representing the Federal Capital territory, Abuja.  As in all democracies, the legislature is an important arm of government. However, the legislative duties are not very often well understood by some of those who seek legislative seats in a developing economy like Nigeria.

The legislature is a very strong arm of government due to their duties in a democracy; lawmaking, oversight functions and being lobbyists for their constituencies.  Many people in Nigeria tend to misunderstand the duties of a legislator. Sometimes even the voters cannot draw a line between the functions of the executive and the legislature. Because of the dysfunctional system where even the executive seems very unaccountable, the expectations on both arms are often blurred largely by ignorance and the dire needs of a largely illiterate and poor population.

The Roundtable Conversation however believes that just like ignorance is not an excuse in breaking the law, same ignorance cannot be accepted as an excuse by those elected as legislators at both state and federal assemblies to abdicate their duties in any form. But we have seen such subtle and brazen abdication of duties by the legislators across the country and that seems to be the bane of our democracy.

However, the apex legislative house in Nigeria, the National Assembly has been a mixed grill since the return of democracy in 1999.  The first Senate President in 1999, late Evan (s) Enwerem was dogged by scandal and was replaced by late Chuba Okadigbo who himself was swept off the seat by the axiomatic ‘banana pill’. He was succeeded by Anyim Pius Anyim who in turn was succeeded by Adolphus Wabara after whom Ken Nnamani took over before a David Mark presided over the 7th assembly.

Senator Bukola Saraki’s tenure as the president of the 8th assembly started in a seeming blaze of political intrigues and power play that had the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) reeling in shock due to the drama that trailed the emergence of a Saraki and an Aminu Tambuwal as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The tenure of the national assembly leadership in the 8th assembly was a very challenging one to the principal officers on a personal level, the APC as the ruling party and the country in general. The recovery of the political disequilibrium of the period seems to be ongoing still.

The 9th assembly more than ever has been in the consciousness of the Nigerian people and has the political lexicon, ‘rubber stamp’ assembly often used to address  their tenure. This tag might be deemed unfair given that the two chambers had some successes despite not fully meeting the expectations of the people. But the challenges of a developing economy should be in learning from mistakes of the past.

The 10th assembly is coming into the political terrain that is as edgy as it is expectant. Many of the legislators in the two chambers of the national assembly did not win their re-election bids. About eight ex- governors that sought to be elected as senators did not get the nod of their constituencies through the ballot box; ex-governors Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, Samuel Ortom of Benue, Ben Ayade of Cross River, Darius Ishaku of Taraba, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu, Solomon Lalong of Plateau and Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi state.

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The failure of these governors to win elections into the senate is profound and historical. In the past, most ex-governors who wished to become senators had some easy ride. The fact that some of them easily manipulated the processes in their favor made some public affairs analysts to christen the upper legislative chamber as ‘ex-governors’ retirement home’ due largely to the fact that most of them saw the senate not as a place to render service because more often than not, they denied even their states some impactful service but surreptitiously proceeded to the senate as a mere political trip for relevance and influence-peddling.

Given the political dynamics of the 2023 elections, most of the ex-governors could not survive the tidal wave of a more enlightened and dissatisfied populace eager to get the iconic pound of flesh from governors and other legislators who failed to serve the people appropriately. In a way, the election was almost a referendum on most candidates and their political parties.

For serious political watchers, the 10th national assembly is coming into a very volatile political scene based on the socio-economic and political problems in the land. The national assembly is coming with many new and inexperienced members. There are less than 20 women in the two chambers. The senate has just three women while the House of representatives have just above ten women as opposed to the 9th assembly with almost two dozen women and the senate with seven female senators. All eyes would be on these very few women but more attention will be on the whole 10th assembly.

The Roundtable Conversation finds it curious that since after the elections, the focus of the elected legislators has been solely on who becomes the Senate President and the Speaker of the House. The horse-trading and lobbying have been epic with all the fireworks and intrigues throwing up debates and permutations. The political games of tribe, region and religion are in the works too. Not enough is being dug into the competence and integrity of those vying for the different leadership positions of the 10th National assembly and that exactly is where the problem lies and that is why many Nigerians are seemingly worried that may be no lessons have been learnt.

The first Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1999, Salisu Buhari climbed to the seat on a ladder of lies, he was forced to resign. As if that assembly was under some spell, the then senate president, late Evan (s) Enwerem also became a victim of his own alleged distortion of personal records. He lost his seat to a late Chuba Okadigbo. 

Make no mistakes about it, there are no saints anywhere in the political turf but as the African proverb goes, it is he whose hand is caught in the cookey jar that is deemed guilty. Leadership in any sphere of life demands that the actors must, like Caesar’s wife be above reproach.  The leadership of any institution carries with them the integrity of all members and as such a lot of care must be taken in electing the leadership.

The legislature Nigeria must be the one that are as patriotic as they are knowledgeable about their roles. We have seen over time how the Nigerian legislators are almost the most highly paid in any democracy in a country with a minimum wage of a mere thirty thousand naira (N30.000) and a 133million people living in multi-dimensional poverty. There must be a paradigm shift in the ways business is done in the national assembly.

As President Tinubu has advised, let the 10th assembly choose their leaders amongst themselves to demonstrate their independence from the executive or political party structures. Nigerians therefore expect that given that all those elected to the apex legislative house are all adults, they must get down to work for their constituencies and the election of their leaderships will be the true test of the character of the 10th assembly.

The legislators at both the state and national levels must realize that the political awareness of Nigerian is at an all-time high. The outcome of the elections that had political parties lose in their hitherto political strongholds must be taken beyond the surface. The people might not be totally literate as in some other developed democracies but they sure know the indices of lethargic institutions and arms of government.  The people now know better and are now more than ever before ready to hold all elected officials accountable unlike in the past.

The 469 members of the national assembly must realize that they are carrying the hopes of the citizens of Nigeria. Individual, group, ethnic or religious sentiments must be subsumed under the patriotic verve that puts the country first. The legislative arm across the country must stand for the people at all times as their closest representatives in the political space. Only the best is good enough for the people.

For all those vying for leadership, there must be an understanding that Nigeria would not want to ‘go back to Egypt literally. They want a more responsible and responsive leadership of the national assembly that would not play politics with the welfare of the people and best of all be in a position to be truly independent as an arm of government whose loyalty is to the people and not some political party or ethnic interests. We advocate a mutually functional executive/legislative harmony on a bi-partisan basis because Nigeria is seemingly on a socio-economic life-support and needs all the arms of government to work together to achieve a hitherto elusive development.

The dialogue continues…

On May 29th, eighteen new governors and ten re-elected ones were inaugurated across Nigeria. Eight other states; Anambra, Bayelsa, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Kogi and Osun are the off-season states whose previous elections slipped off the general electoral timetable due to reasons bothering on either pre or post-electoral litigations. These states stand as testimony to the aberration in Nigeria’s electoral processes. It is curious that such a huge number of states have had the judiciary intervene to determine the right governor for the people.

While the judiciary is expected to do its duties in a democracy as the third arm, those who fashioned the democratic system might never have factored in the peculiar Nigerian situation that seems to burden the judiciary with so much about elections. The expectations are always that the mandate should lie with the people. The number of litigations around Nigerian elections must tell us that some things are just wrong about the electoral processes and there must be efforts to correct them as the country matures in its chosen system of government. That could pave way for a more accelerated development.

Since the return of democracy in 1999, a lot of observations have been made about the roles of governors in the development or lack of same in the Nigerian story. In a very curious political paradox, governors often seem to be under the radar while the presidency seems to get most of the blame for either bad policies or dysfunctional implementations that have resulted in Nigeria becoming the poverty capital of the world with about 133 million  people living in multi-dimensional poverty.

The people seem to give the governors a free pass while seemingly holding the presidency responsible for every  and all problems in the country. Not many are literate or politically enlightened enough to realize that there are duties constitutionally assigned to each tier of government in a democracy; the federal, state and local governments. Curiously though, the state governors in Nigeria almost exercise imperial powers and through their regional and national associations like the South East, South West, South-South and Northern governors’ Forum and the general governors’ forum formed a formidable force against the federal government, the legislature and other government institutions that might be in any way opposed to their individual and group interests.

The Roundtable Conversation has followed the activities of most governors in Nigeria since the return of democracy in 1999 and believes that if Nigerians expect a leap out of the recent past in terms of lack of development, governors must step up their game and in the same vein, the people must begin to hold each governor accountable. It is a jaded cliché to always lament about the actions and inactions of the federal government but ignore the lethargic attitude to development by most state governors.

The average age of most of the governors elected newly or as returning governors is about 52 years. This means that they are all relatively mature but young enough to be aware of the development needs of the people. Most of the governors flaunt chains of degrees and years of experience in the public and private sectors. It is therefore expected that they are in both a mental and physical state to understand the implications of the jobs they have been inaugaurated to do on behalf of the people.

In the usual Nigeria fashion, some might be carried away by the euphoria of victory. Most governors in Nigeria wield so much power and revel in the influence they have over the people so much that not much gets done in eight years that is the maximum tenure  for a governor. In more than two decades of continuous democracy, no state can boast of very remarkable development owing to the vision and works of a governor. The often over-publicized building of roads, bridges and renovation of schools with tax payers’ money must give room to real development that can improve the lives of the people.

Governors must realize that the campaigns are over and the oath of office they just took or renewed is a covenant with the people. There must have been a clear vision of the things that made them decide to vie for the office and the onus is on them to get down to business and assemble a team that can assist them get the job done. The style of elected executive in Nigeria is often to see appointments as favour and as such, minions and incompetent people get positions they often have no competence for. The result is the cycle of incompetence that yields no tangible developmental results.

Governors must realize that leadership goes beyond winning elections and that means that the ability of each governor to recognize competence and make appointments based on merit is a sine qua non to development. This is 21st century and governance is not synonymous with mere politicking for its own sake. Development stems from choices leaders at each time in a nation’s history is knowledgeable and competent enough to make. Leadership goes beyond the optics and razzmatazz of office. It is the ability of one so honored by the people to serve and in so doing understand what truly matters.

Nigerian governors must realize that the democracy they are part of is one that is about the three arms; the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. Since 1999, most governors seem to surreptitiously subsume the roles of the legislative arm under the executive. There  are allegations that they often coerce the state assemblies to abdicate their oversight functions making them very unaccountable.

This attitude has often been mischievously hidden under either party allegiance or legislative/executive harmonious relationship. While the Roundtable Conversation supports a cordial legislative/executive relationship at both state and federal levels, it would be anti-democratic to strip the legislature of its constitutional roles that strengthens democracy for the benefit of the people. While the arms of government must work together for the success of democracy, the different constitutional roles of each of them must not be compromised on the altar of either party loyalty or extracted through executive subterfuge for very pecuniary interests.

Nigerian governors must understand their duties to the people. Education of Nigerian children is in three stages, basic, secondary and tertiary levels. Governors must understand that education is one of the most important tools of development so they must go beyond the repainting of colonial and other school buildings to comprehensively rejigging the public school system to what it was and which given their ages, they enjoyed as young people. The advent and dominance of private schools was made possible because of failure by successive leaders to address the problems of education holistically to enable public schools return to what was formally very functional.

It is really sad that almost 63 years after independence, no Nigerian woman has been elected governor. On the contrary, Kenya recently swore in seven female governors because there was a constitutional amendment in 2010 that made it unconstitutional for any gender to occupy more than two third of any elective position in the country. Nigerian successive governments, both military and civilian have maintained the patriarchal streak and the country has the poverty index to show for it.

Curiously, while men dominate most elective and appointive positions at both federal and state levels, it has been discovered that in sectors where merit is the criteria for selection, Nigerian women have always excelled. In the academia, sports, entertainment and the corporate world, women are in very top positions. However, when it comes to politics, money and violence are deployed by men to disenfranchise women. The Roundtable conversation hopes that more women can be appointed by governors to do what they know how best to do, lead and manage economic variables.

About 90% of the non-formal sector is reportedly controlled by women. It therefore amounts to cutting a nose to spite the face when men assume wrongly that competence in leadership is about gender. The poverty in Nigeria is a direct result of a lopsided system that excludes women. Governors must realize that women are the worse victims of poverty in the land. They must appoint more women to strategic positions beyond Women Affairs and other stereotypical ministeries.

For too long, most Nigerian governors have neglected the primary healthcare sector. We just hope that the governors recently sworn in across the country understand that health is wealth and as such take the health sector as a priority sector. The people do not want governors using tax payers’ money to jet out to other countries to take care of their own health while neglecting that of other Nigerians they are supposed to be serving.

Nigeria has one of the highest child and maternal mortality rates in the world. The Roundtable conversation wants to see the governors prioritize healthcare not just for children and women but for all citizens. The essence of development cannot be achieved without a healthy and fit population. This also means that they must also take food security serious by doing everything possible to encourage and support  agriculture beyond what the federal government can do. 

We equally hope that the governors realize that the people are today more politically savvy than ever. The fact that about seven governors who sought tickets to the senate failed in their bid must have spoken to the governors in clear, unambiguous terms. Performance is being monitored and the people seem to be at the barricades in different forms. The voters are taking notes and the time starts now…

The dialogue continues…